#same episodes but it’s a pretty cool and crazy fact that this happened

[mazzystar24]

Anyone else wanna cry over the fact that in s2 buck mentions how Maddie told him “to go after what he wanted, be confident, girls aren’t scary”and now in s7 he’s gonna be having a similar conversation with Chris as he starts dating

Also mind you that that season 2 episode (2x08 /buck actually) was the one with the see me Norman! Thing and the fact that that couple are the ones that are gonna be appearing in the same episode in season 7

ALSO that same episode is the one where he points out how madney act like more than friends without realising it - I’m not saying nothing I’m sideeyeing heavily tho

[notafragilething]

Late Night Buck & Tommy Ramble: I'm Feeling Good About Thursday

I know I haven't posted one of these in several days, I had a super busy weekend with lots of fun events. But I'm back now and super excited about the stills that dropped today. With only about 46 hours left until the finale, I'm feeling really excited as a BuckTommy fan.

Now, I know there are a lot of people out there saying that BuckTommy is bones or saying Buddie is happening but I'm fairly confident that is not happening. In fact, I think a lot of people have the timeline wrong. Please keep in mind that everything I say here is speculation and I may be wrong. But I spent a lot of time today looking really closely at these pictures in an attempt to put a timeline together.

So let's get into it:

Let's start with my timeline of events, that is pretty different than what most people are going with. I've seen really heavy speculation that the date is the opening scene but based on the end of episode 9, all the stills we have, behind the scenes photos and the promo? I think that's wrong. It simply does not work with the timeline.

I think the episode starts with Athena waking up in the hospital, talking to an unconscious Bobby in his hospital room and then taking off to find Amir and try to solve who started the fire. Note that we don't see her with any of the other characters in the hospital. She's likely gone before they show up.

I think after that, we're going to jump to Eddie's house that morning. He's clearly wearing a different outfit than what he got caught with Kim in. I think those stills of him and Buck talking in the living room are him explaining to Buck what happened. After that I think his parents will show up and we find out that Christopher called them the night before and they flew in. That will lead to Eddie telling his parents about Kim and showing them a picture in the kitchen. Buck will interrupt because he will have gotten a phone call about Bobby (the still of him entering the kitchen from the living room with his phone) and the two will take off.

Next we'll get all the hospital scenes that we've seen. I actually think this is going to be shorter than we expect (kinda similar to bachelor party and the medal ceremony). I think people who said it's Bobby waking up in the promo and trying to remove his breathing tube were correct. Everything we've seen from the hospital has those four in the same outfits. There is a no second day there. I think he wakes up sometime that afternoon. Pretty sure Bobby waking up super early is one of the many twists we're getting and is meant to throw us off about what is really happening this episode.

Which means I think the Buck and Tommy date? It happens after the hospital when Buck gets home. I was initially thrown by Buck looking so happy but if Bobby had just woken up? He'd be happy. Similar to how we see Hen, Chimney and Maddie looking really happy in other stills from this episode that clearly happen after the hospital. So I actually don't think we're going to see Buck leaving this date early.

In other good signs for Buck & Tommy moving into season 8:

The official instagram posted 4 stills from this episode not that long ago. Of the four, one of them was Buck and Tommy. It was also the first one so it shows up first for everyone. That most definitely was not accidental and is another shift showing they're using BuckTommy to promote the show.

The Reel of the BuckTommy hospital kiss is about to hit 1.5 million. It was at 1496k when I checked it. It's currently the 5th most viewed reel out of the 147 on the account.

This isn't BuckTommy related but I'm very intrigued that the Kim/Eddie boat BTS reel has hit 10 million. Which is a crazy outlier for this show when it comes to reels. I think it's because they invented a new technique to make it look like they were sailing on the water and it's cool to see the technical side of things so it likely got shared by a lot of people in the field. Very cool thing to see.

That's it for now. I'll definitely pop in tomorrow and let you know if there is anything new. Since we got the photos a day or so early, I'm really hoping that means they have something in store for us tomorrow as well.

If you have any questions or just want chat send me messages. I have so many thoughts and feelings that I'd love to talk about.

[kiirotoao]

Awkwardness, tension, and lies part 2: Michael, I damn well know who you are.

I’m trying to be funny with that title, but I’m also so not. It’s crazy that we have the airport scene at all to highlight tensions, but the fact that Mike acts the way that he does around Will astounds me most about that whole situation.

Here’s why.

Mike argued in the Rink-o-Mania fight that he focused on sending letters to El, that Will should have reached out if he wanted to talk, that it was Will’s fault that they drifted apart. Once he blamed his prioritizing his girlfriend, twice he blamed Will. He never blamed himself. But then he did by episode 4. He called himself “a total self-pitying idiot.” He made up with Will. It was pretty clear that he missed Will, especially when he said that “Hawkins, it’s not the same without you.”

So Mike did miss him. Right? And if that’s true, then he was lying in that fight, right? He could have done better. Dare I say it, Mike probably wishes he could have done better.

Backtrack to episode 2 with the airport scene, the first hug. Mike misses Will. Thanks to foresight, we know this for a fact. And even if Mike wasn’t truly thinking about missing Will at the time, it’s there. It exists. Missing someone - even if it’s only realized in a short amount of time - doesn’t happen overnight. It’s a slow burn. Why then doesn’t he hug Will, say that he missed him, and let the fact settle in his mind?

The thing is that the show seems to answer this as Mike “worrying too much about El,” as said in the apology in episode 4, which leads me to believe that he was expressing indifference in that airport scene because he wasn’t really thinking about Will. But then how might Mike explain his behavior towards that painting? He takes two looks at Will and clocks it and immediately asks about what it is. He might be inquisitive for a number of reasons that we don’t get. Maybe it’s because of El mentioning it in her letter. Maybe it’s because Mike’s never seen Will brandish such a large piece before, and he’s curious. Maybe it’s because he’s trying to make small talk. Whatever the weather, Mike is interested in Will by asking. But he also doesn’t try to show it. He takes Will’s answer about it and cooly says, “cool.” Dead-faced. So, hm. Every which way you look at his reactions and composure in that airport scene, it seems like there’s no clear way to understand his motives.

Unless he’s hiding something. Because to me, this all sounds like Mike is hiding something, and him hiding something would quite frankly answer everything.

See, the thing is that for Will, he hasn’t changed so much over the seasons. He’s still sassy, he’s still strong at heart, he still fights for what’s right. And he still. Loves. Mike. I said in my last post that they both changed, but in actuality, Will was ready to welcome Mike with open arms, give him his painting, and love him no matter what, just like before. It’s Mike who stifled that by being withdrawn. Mike changed. And it’s Mike’s withdrawal that caused Will to change his attitude.

So notice how the story becomes so labyrinthine and Byler-centered at the get-go in season 4 because of Mike. I think that the show being in either El or Will’s perspective/focus whenever Mike is on screen is so interesting because we know that Mike has changed, but we never quite understand how, and it leaves us guessing.

In that airport scene, is he happy to see Will? Is he nervous to see Will? Is he trying to ignore Will? It could be, and I believe that it is, all three, but one thing is for sure: Mike isn’t truly indifferent. If he was indifferent, he wouldn’t have pulled the gayest most heartwarming apology for what he said in the Rink-o-Mania fight and basically ask Will to be in his life exactly as they were again. No, Mike isn’t one for indifference with Will. We’ve seen this in season 3 in him bringing Lucas to go biking to Will’s house in the rain to apologize. Mike pursues Will. And for Mike, that never changes.

With all of this in mind, with Mike factually and expressively missing Will, with Mike changing and being withdrawn, with Mike still choosing to pursue Will later on, in that airport scene, what could he be hiding?

To answer this, I bring back the concepts of awkwardness, tension, and lies. Guess what ties all three of those things together along with his missing, withdrawing from, and still pursuing Will; that’s right! Deep-seated, internally homophobic, hidden feelings.

Mike hugged Dustin after Erica won Eddie’s campaign. He hugged Lucas at the hospital. He’s not immune to hugging his best friends or something. This is about Will. There’s something different about him, to Mike. And I hear the question, well, wasn’t it the distance that was different? Mike stayed in Hawkins with Dustin and Lucas. Maybe he’s just more comfortable with them. But to that I say, okay, so, if we believe that, then Mike didn’t hug Will because he doesn’t know Will anymore, and he’s uncomfortable being close to him after a long time. But from the way that he chose to reach out to Will and remain close to him emotionally tells me so much otherwise. Even after all that time, Mike made amends first after their fight. He gleaned that Will wanted things to change. He knew that he was at fault all on his own. “Oh, I didn’t say it.” “You didn’t have to.”

And, mind you, they fought because of the tension at the airport scene! I think that I need to really make that clear. I’ve been using the Rink-o-Mania fight as a crutch to my case, but truly, it’s on the main page just as much as the airport scene! The tension culminated with their fight. They were mad at each other. They had reasons to be, too. They left off unresolved. Things could have soured and we may have never gotten answers as to why Mike walked away. And then that could have been it! That could have been the end of Mike and Will! The Duffers could have had their storylines no longer intersect and their chemistry fall completely flat, but no. Mike gave an entire heartfelt apology and that was one of the only times that seasons that we heard from his heart and his thoughts. And it was all to Will.

Mike undeniably still knew Will; he knew him enough to know what he did wrong and came around realizing what Will had argued to him. Mike wanted to be comfortable with him again. So no, he didn’t truly alienate Will nor become too uncomfortable with him not to wish “best friend”ship again with him. But he wasn’t that way at the airport, so what gives? What first impression hampered him from being close to Will if he, deep down, wanted closeness with Will? What complicated things so much that he had to hesitate with Will at first?

Truly, the moment that Mike made the airport scene awkward, I think that Bylers won. We didn’t get Will tripping over his feet, down bad for Mike and giving him the painting right then and there to be rejected. We didn’t get them hugging like it was nothing. We didn’t get comfortable smiles. We got tension, conflict, resolve, and betterment. We got everything. And we saw Will’s van confession, so we know that he’s been pining after Mike. And from the setup of the airport scene, with the question of what is Mike hiding? I think that Mike could damn well be pining after Will, too. I believe that there’s love at work here, a kind of love that binds people together. A kind that fights and makes up. A kind that slowly figures out how to navigate life together and confronts and mollifies pain as needed. A kind that gives advice and listens. A kind that can’t stop watching the other for assurance. A kind that gives each other their all.

I love the airport scene because, in my mind, it solidifies the fact that something’s up with Mike that we don’t know explicitly yet that we’ll have to explore next season. We’ve been given Will’s heart, we’ve been given El’s heart, but Mike has deflected self-vulnerability time and time again for the sake of others. But interestingly enough, the one exception is his apology to Will. (And, no, I don’t count his monologue to El in the final episode of season 4 as true vulnerability. Truth is, El was dying on that table and Mike had a sense of obligation to save her - wholly or not, a sense at least, and if you disagree with that then you don’t know Mike at all - so all of his words might not have been true.) I hope that he gets to be a little selfish for his own good next season and focuses on himself.

And maybe, just maybe, we’ll know what hindered him at that airport. What he was truly thinking about. Perhaps who he was truly thinking about.

[kendizzzzzzzzle]

okay, it’s the time that I write a whole post about kames and why I love their friendship! warning: it’s a long post.

firstly, I’d like to mention that I have nothing against kogan/jarlos/jagan etc. I just love these two tall boys caring for each other and having this love/hate relationship throughout the show.

so we start off with the pilot. the whole episode was kind of based on Kendall and James relationship, because what’s the most intense moment in the pilot? yes, Kendall defending James when Gustavo called him “untalented”. he doesn’t hesitate a second when it comes to James, he cares so much and it shows. when Gustavo came back Kendall declined the offer for two reasons: 1) he has his life here with guys in Minnesota, 2) it wasn’t his dream to become popular, it was James’. the scene on the parking lot showed that first reason was solved pretty quickly but second reason… it still wasn’t his dream but he didn’t care. he gave up his own dream and left his life in Minnesota behind his back because he cared about guys, cared about James.

we can’t forget about what James said to Kendall though: “call that guy back… he wants to make YOU famous”. he was clearly upset that his chance of becoming famous was taken away from him but more than being popular he wanted Kendall to be happy. and he tried to make it real even if it meant giving up his own dream. they were ready to do anything to make each other happy and truly cared.

when they were interacting in the show there was this weird but warm connection between them. they have completely different personalities but have so much in common (anger issues haha). Kendall is compassionate, single-minded, a little bit hot-tempered and a leader. James is confident, persistent, emotional and a little bit selfish. they are opposites - one is calm and other one is energetic, one is a strategist, other one is spontaneous, but at the same time they are very similar. James drives Kendall crazy, makes his blood boil and likes to play jokes on him but Kendall doesn’t mind at all - he loves it. “I said that I hate you with a smile on my face” - that’s what they friendship was like. while James is all cocky and sassy, Kendall is a down-to-earth kind of person - that’s what makes their friendship so interesting to watch at.

some really cool moments I noticed while watching the show:

1. James never sides with Kendall for some reason and gets mad when other guys do. sometimes they just have different opinions on things, sometimes it looks like James doesn’t want Kendall to be right all the time. maybe he’s a bit jealous, who knows?

2. Kendall’s the one who makes him calm down faster than others. we barely see Kendall being emotional and in need of help, but in “big time movie” James was the one who calmed him down after Kendall started panicking.

3. the “big time tests” episode warms my heart. they be acting like a married couple and then James wants a divorce - basically the whole plot. interesting fact: James knows basically everything about Kendall.

4. also the ending where Kendall was reassuring him and building his confidence once again. previous time happened in “big time single” and of course Kendall finds the right words to cheer him up, who else would it be?

5. James was being VERY supportive of Kendall and Lucy going out. he had a crush on her, but so what, Kendall wanted to be with her and James didn’t hesitate to help him out.

6. I just love Kendall’s desperate and annoyed “jamESS” whenever he starts to freak out. (ex. “big time terror” and “big time girl band”) oh and one more thing: James always listens.

7. the looks and little hugs they give each other😩 we were robbed, they deserved way more screen time.

some quotes:

Kendall, about James: “you forgot to say pretty. he is a pretty idiot”

—

Kendall: “whose place is this?”

James: “does it matter?”

Kendall: “IT MIGHT!”

—

James: “do they hold the answers… TO THIS?”

James: *points light saber at Logan*

Kendall: “DON’T! we need him :)”

—

James: “please :D”

Kendall: *sighs* “I can’t believe I’m doing this”

—

Kendall: “James, a pop-tiger test is not going to answer whether you’re a good boyfriend or not. you’re a great guy”

James: “really? ‘cause according to this WE SHOULDN’T HAVE EVEN BEEN GOING OUT”

Kendall: “uhhh… we’re NOT going out”

James: “oh, just cause I’m so terrible to be around, huh? yeah, THANKS”

—

James: “tell me you have something to cheer me up!”

Kendall: *gives him an orange peel smile*

James: :)

[animehouse-moe]

Undead Unluck Episode 4: Do You Love The Change In Me?

You know, I was so ready to talk about the episode in terms of stuff like the extension of the SHAFT-style focus on eyes to things like Gena's hands and the incredible lighting and whatnot, but I mean, this just sort of takes the cake. Truly insane work that just threw all other thoughts out of my mind. Save for a select few though, which I'll detail below.

It was really interesting to find out during the episode about Gena requiring space to walk in her Unchange. Truthfully, it wasn't even something I factored into my theory that Gena was unchange, so very cool to see that. That said, I did clue into the fact that Gena was barefoot pretty early on this episode. Obviously, I didn't get the answer right away, but I still felt that something was up.

More interesting than that though, and really the main thought that remains in my mind is two things Gena mentioned.

The first is 'Rules', with an intentionally capital R. If I'm not mistaken Andy mentions rules (lowercase r) when explaining himself when he meets Fuuko.

That's all to say that we now have three categories given to us in this world: Negators, UMAs, and Rules.

If I were to take a stab at the order/hierarchy, I'd say that following the anime's order of events makes the most sense. That being that Negators are at the bottom, UMAs are in the middle, and Rules are at the top. Whether or not Rules are an animate or living thing in "this world" though I'm unsure of. What I am sure of is that they can change, which is very interesting.

Also, the "this world" thing. Maybe I'm reading too far into the idea of time travel or looping, but the grammar and use of it makes me feel weird.

You say "change the world", not "change this world". There's a few cases where you can reference the world via "this", but in all examples you're placing the world within a temporal boundary.

For example, "Change this world we live in". You are referencing the world in the present that you exist.

But yeah, maybe I'm just crazy because I've been told nothing's really wasted, but it just feels like another piece slotting into place with the idea of looping.

At the same time though, Gena's death certainly feels like the best "catalyst" for a doomsday clock. I mean, Unchange died? Just sorta on the nose I feel, but it makes me wonder what happens when a Negator dies.

Is there a cooldown before the ability is passed onto someone? They have to be passed on somehow because there's no way you get to the modern day with Negators unless negations are transferred/maintained within humanity..... that is, unless the time loop doesn't simulate the entirety of the world and instead it's actually like a sort of death game where people are giving negations at the beginning of the loop and once they die that negation is out of play for the rest of the loop. But then that also means that Negations were introduced artificially in the world, meaning there's someone that's able to do that. Would that include someone that created these rules for humanity? Did they create the UMAs as well? You might argue that UMAs could have been created by the presence of Negators as they mess with the rules of the universe, but considering the (proposed) hierarchy, it seems more likely that UMA would be formed by Rules, no? But then they would be animals or creatures, and the system for creating UMAs would be somewhat arbitrary. Unless that is, that Negators are the direct will of a Rule and that inherent connection creates the existence of a UMA within that system. But we don't have any UMAs to confirm if they have an existing counterpart as a Negator, or if there can even be a connection made between Negators and Rules in the first place.

But yeah, bit a mind boggler episode if you think about theory as you bounce around from a million places all at once. One wrong assumption causes the whole pile to collapse, and I think that makes wondering about theory incredibly fun and interesting. So much potential and so many option, but only one route will get you to the truth.

Really great Undead Unluck episode once more (I'm just begging David Pro hurries it up and we get out the other side of this crass sexual humor, put a real damper on the middle-ish of the episode where it appeared).

[coredrill]

as foretold, bang brave bang bravern was crazy good this week

it's just. gosh. for as much as i talk abt bravern being unhinged the fact of the matter is that it is actually SO restrained. ESPECIALLY for something in a medium that is already a little self-indulgent and referential. like for all of bravern himself's clear love for mecha there have been so few explicit references to other shows? and then this ep had so fucking many - ttgl (which - fucking hilarious to use it against a character KONISHI is voicing and then have that DD be fucking useless except for wanting to see some cool fights LSKDJFH) and flcl and symmetrical docking and rider kick and jeeg and gundam and the fuckin uhhhhhhhh exkaiser i think but i dont remember for sure its the same one that showed up in the earlier fight w superbia too. like w the other mecha on the roof framing. and probably about thirty more that i'm for sure missing or not recognizing or forgetting ON TOP OF all the obari posing and punching which have been sneaking into the visuals before this - but it was all for the purpose of having us watch this hype battle and get all excited to make the ending hit THAT much harder. and holding off the first gattai until episode NINE???? the thing we're all expecting to happen at any fucking moment, because there was no way that the souls of isami and bravern could've combined and actually resonated for a true gattai until that point????? like it's ALL in service of the story rather than wow cool robot even tho it IS a pretty damn cool robot. this show makes me feel like i did my homework and i'm acing the test AND I HAVENT EVEN WATCHED THAT MUCH MECHA TBH. LMFAO. all the "who is this show even FOR (eyeroll emoji)" comments back in like ep2 get funnier every week bc bravern knows its audience like the back of its hand and it gets clearer and clearer every week that its execution is fucking razor sharp. this show is SO SUCKING GOOD and I LOVE IT. that was supposed to say fucking good but sucking works too

the fucking NOISE superbia makes when bravern is like "don't u want to fight me when i'm EVEN STRONGER" took me the FUCK out

[gets beer sponsorship] [makes Consumption Of Food And Drink a tether point to Humanity] [out-cooks the cooking show] i'm gonna buy more kona beer (<- fucking hates beer)

fish jumpscare !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

i honestly don't think i've seen any anime with a fucking ED DROP before. lmfao

lewis smith. you want so badly to be the protagonist. to be the rival. to be the one who dies to motivate the hero. to be the MECHA ITSELF. and yet you are the love interest!!! you are GOING to be saved whether you want it or not!!! you ARE rain mikamura. you ARE the heroine. Let Isami Save You. you've got a family of people who fuck with time in different and fun ways to save each other and its his turn now whether you like it or not!!!!!!!!

he rly did put that mask back on right before he died…………..subtext, cowards, so on and so forth

thanks bravern for inventing gay ppl. was surprised to get a literal love confession AND an almost-kiss here but tbh at this point i think isami could use a good old-fashioned hug more than anything else. like one of those that cracks his spine. poor baby rice cracker is goin thru it LMAO. also i keep calling isami baby rice cracker and i cannot stop myself anymore………..baby rice cracker…………

me after saying every week that this show has done something to my brain "guys i think this show has done something to my brain"

wow this post is allover the place moreso than usual. like i said earlier this ep was so fucking DENSE and GOOD that i'm gonna need some time to process All That. gosh. [bravern voice] BRAAAAAAVEEEERN!!!!!!!!!!!

[aceofwhump]

hi! so this might be really out of the box and i am kinda unsure about the unwritten rules of the whump community... but how do we feel about actors getting hurt on set and the scene being used in the movie? we all know about the broken toe of viggo mortensen in lotr, but i just found a similar little fun fact and I HAVE NOT BEEN ABLE TO STOP THINKING ABOUT IT. So, lately, i have been really obsessed with scream, and skeet ulrich. (I assume you saw the movie since you saw the 2022 requel, but if not then SPOILERS) So, you know how there is this scene where Sid breaks out of this closet and stabs billy in the chest with the umbrella. well, the stuntwoman messed up on the second stab. apperently, skeet ulrich had open-heart surgery when he was a kid and still has a stainless steel wire in his chest, and if you touch it puts poor guy into excruciating pain. They put protective pads to where he was supposed to be hit, but on the second stab the umbrella or the pad slipped and he got stabbed right there, which obviously led to him screaming out in pain and collapsing. AND THATS THE SCENE THEY USED IN THE MOVIE and i know its weird but i just cant get over it, i just keep going back to it cause ouch (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zVMLqnFqRh0 if yyou are interested, i think it is around 1:45 I think)

I don't think there's any unwritten rule against actors that I know of. I know there are people in the community who dislike it when they learn that an in show injury is actually real and happened to the actor. Personally I'm pretty indifferent about it I guess? I don't get whumperflies with it or anything but I am fascinated when I learn that an actor got injured on set and that scene is real. So long as the injury isn't serious I'm cool with viewing it positively like you do. If the injury is bad and/or dangerous I tend to feel more sad/worried and it turns off all and any potential whumperflies that I could feel. But things like the Viggo LOTR story or learning that Colin O'Donoghue actually broke his ankle filming Revenge is Gonna Be Mine in the musical episode of Once Upon a Time, I do find those interesting in an I guess whump interest sort of way. I didn't know that about skeet though!! Damn I'm never gonna watch that scene the same way again lol. Poor dude but damn that scene is accurate as fuck then?! Crazy!

Anyway, that's my very scattered and rambly way of saying I think it's fine if you are interested in those sort of behind the scenes stories. We all like what we like and it's not like your actively wishing for actors to be hurt or going out an hurting anyone one. I'm certainly fascinated by those stories too.

[alaffy]

X-Men '97, Ep1x05 - Remember It (1 of 2) (Spoilers)

Mid-Season episodes are usually known to set up the second half of the season, or have some sort of shocking moment/cliffhanger.  But this episode really outdid itself.  In fact, there’s so much to talk about in this episode that I’m actually going to create two posts for it.  This first post is going to be about the events leading up to the Gala.  The second post, naturally, will be the Gala itself and the aftermath.

The episode begins with Trish Tilby doing an expose on the X-Men.  Also, a bit of flirting with Beast.  Not too surprising as the two did date in the comics.  During these interviews we find out that Magneto, Gambit, and Rouge have gone to Genosha at the request of the UN.  It seems like the idea that Genosha should be part of the UN wasn’t just talk. 

We find that Genosha has been turned into a paradise for mutants.  We also find out that Madelyne has become part of Genosha’s governing counsel.  While Magneto goes to speak to the counsel, Nightcrawler (who’s part of helping with the interfaith based relations) decides to show Gambit and Rouge around.  And What I like about this moment is the little misdirection.  Genosha is being portrayed as the mutant utopia.  Yet Gambit notices that the price of food seems very steep.  If this had been the original show, this would have led to the X-Men finding out that something is not quite right about the island.  But, no, what Nightcrawler says is true; the high prices are one of the stumbling blocks they’re facing while creating this new government.

Speaking of government, Magneto is in for a big surprise.  So, the new government is led by several familiar faces.  Besides Madelyne, we have Callisto, Banshee, Emma Frost, Sabastian Shaw, and Moria McTaggart. Val Cooper is also there, but as a representative of the UN.  However, there’s one position that still needs to be filled; Chancellor.  They are hoping that Magneto will take the job.  Eventually, he agrees but under one condition.

Meanwhile, at the X-Mansion, the interviews continue.  Sort of.  Trish is interviewing Scott, while Jean and Logan talk.  Things are still pretty awkward between Scott and Jean.  Yet they just happen to tell Trish and Logan the same story about a time they went on a picnic (because they’re so in sync, I guess).  Anyway, Jean is still unsure of everything, so Logan tells her that he’s only seen one of her (which is a lie.  Madeline is still a clone of Jean, so he's seen two).  This makes Jean decide to ramp up the drama feel special I guess, and she kisses Logan.  But Logan just tells her she belongs with Scott and walks away.  Honestly, I really don’t see the need to bring this back. 

Meanwhile, Trish is asking Scott about his baby.  Scott says he doesn’t have a child.  And, honestly, I really can’t tell is Trish is just extremely stupid or just a bitch because she keeps hounding Scott about the baby and demands why he lied.  Seriously, for all you know, you could be hounding a parent about a recently deceased child.  Not exactly going to look good on your resume here.

However, what happens (and what probably saves her ass) is that Scott loses his cool.  And let’s be clear, everything he said is completely accurate and justifiable; but it also could make one wonder if someone is about to follow the path of Magento’s old ways.

Back in Genosha, Rouge finds out that Magneto agreed to rule the country…so long as Rouge is able to rule by his side.  And not in a platonic way.  Which, my God, where to begin with this.  I mean, yes, he’s leaving the choice ultimately up to her; but the whole thing is manipulative as fuck.  She can make a difference for Mutant Kind, by becoming his queen.  Here’s a crazy idea, how about she become a part of the council?  She could help mutants that way too.  And then, if you two get more closer…..

Anyway, back at the X-Mansion Scott is talking to Jean about how he can’t believe he lost control like that.  Jean asks Scott to talk about his son.  He does and they kiss.  And at this point, we find out that this is all in Scott’s mind.  And he isn’t talking to Jean, but Madyline.  And we find this out, because Jean realizes what Scott’s doing.  Let’s just point out that Jean is being hypocritical about the kiss between Scott and Madelyne given the fact that she just kissed Logan.  Like, ma’am, you ain’t exactly innocent here either.

This leads to a huge fight between Jean and Scott.  Jean demands to know who Scott loves, her or Madelyne.  Scott says both.  And this leads to Scott demanding if Jean’s “love” is what she feels or a product of her memories (memories that might actually be Madelyne’s).  And I feel sorry for both of them here and I can see both of their points of view.

Both want reassurance that they are loved by the other.  Jean wants to know that she means more to Scott than Madelyne does.  The problem is, up until a month ago, Scott believed Madelyne was Jean.  And there are experiences that he shares with Madelyne, like having a son, that connects him to her in ways that he’s not connected to Jean.  So, to expect that connection to just go away is unrealistic.

Meanwhile, Scott wants reassurance that Jean’s love for him is based on emotions, not just what her memories (which may not be her memories) are telling her.  The thing is, though, he should know that Jean loves him.  Hang on, let me rephrase this as it sounds like I’m blaming him.  It is understandable that he is uncertain because no one knows when Jean was switched.  However, it is very unlikely it happened before she joined the X-Men (realistically, it probably happened sometime during the original series).  And the series has made it clear they fell in love when they were teens.  Therefore, Jean’s feelings for Scott are real.  However, they may not be quite as deep as they would have been had she not been switched with a clone. 

What they need to do is to acknowledge that something tragic has happened to them, that has put their relationship on shaky ground, and it’s not their fault.  And then discuss where to go from here.  And that might mean that they’re going to have to take a step back in their relationship.  Now, I’m not saying they should get divorced or even separate.  But kind of accept that they need to work on feeling comfortable with each other again, before they try to fix their marriage.  If that makes sense.

But, this being a drama, their fight ends as Jean suddenly has what looks like a psychic attack.

Ok, up to the last part of the first half.  Now, we have the conversation between Gambit and Rouge.  Again, this is one of those things where I feel for both sides.  I feel sorry for Gambit because, not only is he losing the woman he loves, but he knows this is a bad idea.  Like, he knows that Rouge is agreeing for all the wrong reasons.  Although he does have that one moment were he snaps at Rouge for not telling him the truth sooner and I was just…didn’t you conveniently forget to tell Rouge you had an ex-fiancé?  Like, I’m not saying she shouldn’t have been honest, but in Rouge’s case she thought it was all said and done.  Gambit, on the other hand, abandoned his Ex. 

Ahem.  Anyway, so the thing with Rouge…she’s making a bad choice.  However, she’s making a bad choice due to a very understandable reason.  Humans, in general, need physical contact.  Now, everybody has a limit to how much contact they need, but if they are denied the contact that they need…I do think, of the two men, Rouge is in love with Gambit.  I think she is attracted to Magneto, not just because he can touch her, but because he can be a charming person; but she loves Gambit.  But she can’t have physical contact with him.  And, in her mind, without physical contact they can’t have a relationship.  Something I think Gambit disagrees with.  He doesn’t say it directly, but his line about it being “skin deep” is very clear.  But Rouge, ultimately, is choosing a physical connection over an emotional one.  And she’s using the idea that she can help others as justification (and honestly, I do think that she believes that’s the reason why she’s choosing Magneto even though that’s more what’s she’s telling herself).  Anyway, Gambit decides to let her go. 

So, that’s the first half of the episode.  It’s amazing how much they got inside this episode and yet it didn’t feel like it was all crammed in.    

[talkingpointsusa]

The profound laziness of Dave Rubin

No, but you posting a video about it for clicks is. (source: Rubin Report on YouTube)

Dave Rubin is a pretty regular source of truly insane and stupid takes and today is no exception. This was the episode he put out on January 31st and as usual it breaks new ground in the realm of stupidity. Lets get into it.

Dave starts off by declaring the theme of todays episode, or lack thereof.

01:24, Dave Rubin: "The theme of todays show is there's an awful lot happening in the world right now. This WW3 situation seems like it's ramping up a bit. I'm gonna try to cool the jets as everyone loves talking about 'Oh my god WW3 is happening and oh my god the civil war is happening and oh my god the alien invasion is happening.' Sometimes, maybe we can have some calmer heads prevail so we'll do a little bit of that. But what I wanted to start with that'll kind of prime everything is that Jon Stewart-"

Brief pause, so what's the theme? If the theme is WW3 related stuff, how on earth is Jon Stewart even remotely related to that?

01:51, Dave Rubin: "Jon Stewart, I guess former comedian. I don't know what we call him at this point, he's basically a progressive activist now."

"Yeah, imagine being a former comedian who became a political activist. Man, I can't even imagine. That's so sick."

First of all, the sheer lack of self awareness is stunning. Second of all, watch that video in full if you want to get an idea of the sheer lack of talent that Dave brings to the table. It's three minutes of Dave being a complete moron constantly trying to do crowd work and getting absolutely no laughs out of anyone.

02:18, Dave Rubin: "Jon Stewart left the Daily Show, what was it? About six years or so ago. Ends up bringing a new show, The Problem With Jon Stewart onto Apple TV and he just goes all in on the crazy leftism."

Jon Stewart is back at the Daily Show for a limited time and Dave Rubin isn't gonna take it! He's only hosting on Monday nights to cover things related to the election cycle.

Jon Stewart was always a pretty big leftist. Here's him absolutely demolishing fellow blog favorite Tucker Carlson all the way back in 2004. I can't help but feel a tinge of jealousy in Dave's coverage of Jon. Jon also stood up for his free speech, something that Dave should love, by walking away from his show on Apple TV when they told him he couldn't talk about AI and China.

Dave doesn't even understand the most basic facts about this story...like the fact that Jon isn't the only person hosting the Daily Show or the fact that they are making more than the Monday episode.

02:30, Dave Rubin: "But the machine is bringing him back now, putting him back at the Daily Show at the chair on a weekly show not a daily show. So the Daily Show's going to weekly, alright they're going to struggle with that."

Here's what happened, Dave read some headline somewhere about Jon Stewart returning to the Daily Show and instead of trying to learn the facts about the story that he's trying to cover, he just barged in and started talking about it on his show.

If Dave actually read about what he's trying to talk about the subject he's talking about, he'd know that Jon is only hosting on Monday’s and that other people are hosting the show on all the other days of the week. It's also only for the election cycle.

Dave plays some clips of CBS for him to react to.

03:36, Dave Rubin: "We're doing PR, we're owned by the same people and we have to tell you he's really great. Yeah, ok! So you guys get how the whole machine works, right? There's no reason for CBS News to be covering that on their nightly news program."

At the end of the clip he plays, the reporter discloses that CBS and Comedy Central are both owned by Paramount, in short disclosing the conflict of interest. Should they have maybe not covered this? Yeah, I wouldn't have because it's a conflict of interest. But they did disclose it.

03:51, Dave Rubin: "And the damn shame about Jon Stewart and we'll illustrate this in just a moment is that at least for the first couple of years at the Daily Show he was doing something kind of new and poking and prodding at the media the way I kinda do on this show."

Dave Rubin and Jon Stewart have one key difference; Jon is funny and insightful and Dave is well....Dave.

04:07, Dave Rubin: "He's sort of gone off the deep end, or I don't even need to qualify that, he has completely gone off the deep end when it comes to progressive politics and I would say become everything that he probably once despised."

Just to recap some of Dave's career; Dave started off at the Young Turks, a progressive news outlet, and ended up starting a conservative news show after leaving the Young Turks. His sudden pivot to conservativism coincidentally dovetailed with receiving money from the Koch Brothers.

So who has became everything they once despised here?

Dave plays a clip of Jon confronting a Republican attorney general about gender affirming care for minors. If I were Dave I really wouldn't have played that clip as Jon does a really good job dismantling the Attorney Generals arguments. Dave does cut the clip and this was his takeaway.

06:51, Dave Rubin: "And it goes on and on, what an absolutely smug unlikeable person he became for the cool one million plus per episode he was making on that now defunct show."

More of Dave describing himself. Seriously, take some time to watch a Dave Rubin episode if you have time. He talks in this really slow and condescending way that's near unbearable to listen to.

07:10, Dave Rubin: "Jon Stewart, if you are watching this you might want to read Irreversible Damage by Abigail Shrier, thank you, who wrote an incredible book about how so much of what's happening to our children is a social contagion. Particularly when it comes to young girls thinking they can transition and become young boys."

Abigail Shrier is one of those right-wing grifters who has made a cottage industry of spreading misinformation about transgender youth. Blog favorite and professional sociopath Matt Walsh is another example of that. Shriers book is filled with massive amounts of misinformation and outright falsehoods.

Also, the idea of Jon Stewart even knowing of Dave Rubin's existence is laughable. You just know if Jon stepped foot on Dave's set, Dave would be tripping over himself to get Jon a beer and a pillow for his feet.

08:04, Dave Rubin: "No you cannot take a boy and actually make them a girl, that's just not reality."

Say it with me; absolutely nobody is giving transgender surgeries to small children. Dave's entire framework is simply denying the existence of transgender people.

I've said this before but I find the fact that Dave is a member of the LGBTQ community and still has hopped onto the right-wing transphobia bandwagon really infuriating. Years ago his ilk would be trying to make his marriage illegal and guess what? They still want that! It's so frustrating to watch this guy run defense for guys who hate who he is.

And talk about "smug and unlikeable". Dave hasn't even bothered to meet up with the families of trans youth like Jon has and is handwaving legitimate medical treatments because "my billionaire sponsors don't like it".

Anyway, lets move on before my head explodes. Dave plays another Jon Stewart clip, this time him interviewing Gavin Newsom. Dave then plays some clips from the Daily Show when Trevor Noah was hosting it. Dave proceeds to call a transwoman a "creature" and I want to throw my laptop out the window. I'll elaborate on this in the conclusion, but I'm starting to realize that Dave Rubin is a profoundly lazy content creator.

14:22, Dave Rubin: "Now the reason I'm showing you all this and starting the show with this Jon Stewart thing and everything else is because the Daily Show became this cultural touchpoint. 'More young people get their news from the Daily Show than anywhere else.' So when you wonder how did this all happen? That so many kids are confused about their gender. How did it happen that being not racist made you racist? It's because this is the crap that Hollywood pushes on us."

"The Daily Show is turning people trans" is an argument that I never thought I would hear and yet here we are. The median viewership age of the Daily Show in 2024 is 63 years old by the way so this argument makes even less sense in this day and age.

Dave plays another Daily Show clip. This time it's one of the guest hosts talking about migrants.

15:54, Dave Rubin: "Illegal people are here illegally. Even if there are jobs for them then what you do is you have them come legally and you figure it out."

Except that the pathways to legal immigration are borderline impossible to fulfill. If Dave is saying that we should loosen those pathways, I agree. But that's not what he's saying so this is just him being an obtuse idiot.

Dave does an ad for Tax Network USA and then he expands on his broader point.

18:10, Dave Rubin: "What I'm trying to lay out to you, and that's all well and good, is that all the ideas that we just talked about there are the things that get into the culture and you wonder why everything is wrong, why our politicians suck, why we don't know up is down and up is up and down is down and all these things."

Dave Rubin: Master Orator strikes again.

"Up is down and up is up and down is down", truly profound stuff right there. Seriously, who the hell watches this unironically?! How does this guy have 2.14M subscribers?! At least guys like Ben Shapiro have certain airs around them that make them seem like intellectuals to people who don't know any better.

18:25, Dave Rubin: "But now I want to drive this a little further into the cultural piece of this because Law & Order where a white woman is raped by a black man but doesn't want him to go to jail. Take a look at this."

Dave then plays the clip from Law & Order. Again, this a ridiculously stupid thing to talk about, especially since Dick Wolf seems like a pretty conservative guy from what I can tell.

19:40, Dave Rubin: "Could we do a road trip after the show? Would you guys be interested in doing a road trip after the show? Drive cross-country, go to Hollywood, bomb the place?"

Law & Order has been filmed in New York for a million years.

Also, the episode ends with the rape victim testifying against the rapist so this whole story is a complete load of nothing even if we follow the parameters that Dave laid out.

20:11, Dave Rubin: "The messaging that they are sending to the brains of young people and I guess middle age people who watch Law & Order, everything is freaking backwards. They have taken art and made it activism."

Does....does Dave not realize that art and film has been a form of activism since its inception. Also, I love how he realized in the middle of his sentence that young people tend not to watch Law & Order and threw that "middle aged people" in there at the last second. Nice save.

Dave talks about the Disney Snow White remake. This is such an insanely old story. Ben Shapiro even announced a "competitor" version that will be hosted on the Daily Wire what feels like a century ago. Old news and an immediate skip.

21:21, Dave Rubin: "I do wanna back up for just a second. I don't condone or call for terrorism in Hollywood or anywhere else. I didn't mean bomb the place, I meant like glitterbomb it, you know what I mean? Just go there and pour glitter all over these people, that is what I meant. Lets be clear about that because Media Matters I'm sure is watching every moment of this 'Rubin just called to bomb Hollywood.'"

I've got bad news for Dave, he's not even important enough to get clipped by Media Matters. He's been mentioned by them in passing but the last time he got clipped was February of 2023. Really the only people criticizing him are a Twitter account called "Dave Rubin Clips" on Twitter, his own subreddit, and me.

Dave plays a clip from SNL. He does an ad for the Wellness Company, it's the same company that makes those emergency kits that Charlie Kirk was hawking in our last episode.

Now, its time to get serious. Dave wants to talk about the news...it involves playing more stupid freaking clips. He plays an MSNBC clip and here are his thoughts.

26:11, Dave Rubin: "Ok, I'm only showing you that because these people that they put on there, they just offer them the red meat. And of course their kind of brain damaged progressive audience eats it up."

"And then I play a clip of it so that my audience can eat up my commentary on it"

Also, the brain damaged comment was stupid as all hell. Anyway, Trump lost the defamation suit against E. Jean Carroll and Dave comments on it the only way he can...by commenting on a clip he plays from The View.

28:13, Dave Rubin: "It really, it's so horrible. And watching the women applaud. If they all felt like this woman really got raped, again rape is pretty bad, they wouldn't be celebrating today, right? Like, it wouldn't be a day of celebration. It would be kind of a somber like, 'Oh there was a verdict in the defamation thing related to the rape and Donald Trumps gonna have to pay up.' But they know it's all bullshit, it's all a show."

"Woah, a rape victim celebrating finally getting justice?! That makes no sense!"

This argument makes absolutely zero sense. Imagine if you got raped and the court forces your rapist to pay you millions of dollars. You'd be pretty damn happy. Does Dave think that after you get raped you are incapable of feeling anything outside of sadness?! And what's more, if you manage to score a win against your rapist you are still going to be sad.

Lets play a game. Do you think that Dave is going to;

A): Offer insightful and nuanced commentary on the verdict that considers the evidence and leads to an informed conclusion.

B): Play another stupid clip and then say something stupid.

The answer is A....just kidding! This is Dave Rubin we're talking about, of course it's going to be B! Dave rolls a CNN clip and mumbles about some stupid shit.

30:20, Dave Rubin: "If she got raped, which Donald Trump was not convicted of, would you want to make a show of all of this?"

The guy was extremely wealthy and that was before he became president. She's celebrating getting a form of justice against an extremely powerful adversary.

Also, Trump was found liable of sexually abusing Carroll which is commonly understood as rape. So he didn't even get that part right. Again, laziness.

Dave comments on a joke Carroll made to Rachel Maddow that she would "buy her a penthouse". It was a joke and apparently Dave is pissed about it. Whatever. Dave plays more clips of Carroll and then plays a Megyn Kelly clip. Again, letting others make his arguments for him.

35:16, Dave Rubin: "This is why Megyn is just so consistently great. I don't know what happened, you don't know what happened, Megyn Kelly doesn't know what happened."

So the bar for trusting a rape victim is if you know for sure what happened? That's ridiculous! Plus the evidence was clearly compelling enough that Trump was found liable for sexual abuse.

Also, wasn't the theme for today supposed to be about WW3? "Cooler heads shall prevail" and all that?

37:03, Dave Rubin: "But now I wanna connect that to something that's happening in the world and show you Trump at his absolute best. Because these are the moments that we could use a real leader in this country and I think he has an interesting opportunity. And as I've been telling you for the last two weeks, I wanna nudge him to be the best Donald Trump if possible."

Oh yeah, that's gonna happen. I can just see Trump now;

"I was gonna make this decision but Dave Rubin said that would be a bad idea! Guess I'm not gonna do that!"

Anyway, Dave's next story is about the drone-strike in Jordan that took the lives of 3 US soldiers. He reads some stuff from the Daily Wires website (and here I thought he was going to play a clip of Ben Shapiro, he's evolving!) and then launches into his take;

38:44, Dave Rubin: "So now you might be wondering 'Dave, what does this have to do with the E. Jean Carroll thing?' Well, Donald Trump issued a statement on this and I think he nailed it."

Dave reads out a Donald Trump post that he very clearly didn't write (not enough random all caps). Again, Dave can't really make content of his own capably and just relies on everybody else to do the heavy lifting. Also, I love how quickly he switched over from being a Ronnie D simp to being a MAGA moron. Those boots need a lickin'!

40:20, Dave Rubin: "Look, I don't know if Donald Trump wrote that himself. It's obviously irrelevant, they have speechwriters and everything else."

It's relevant when you spent the past four minutes hyping this post up as "the Trump we need" and "Trump at his absolute best". If Trump didn't write it then it isn't Trump. Unless you are saying that Trump is at his best when he isn't in control, in which case me and Dave might have more common ground than I thought.

40:26, Dave Rubin: "But the clarity, the moral clarity, 'peace through strength'. The reality of the fact that three, four years ago, when Donald Trump was still president, especially pre-COVID, that the world was peaceful and Middle East peace deals were being signed left and right. The Iranians were doing absolutely nothing."

It may have seemed more peaceful compared to right now but it's important to remember that the conflict between Israel and Palestine has been going on for way longer than October 7th. The Abraham Accords, which I assume is what Dave is talking about when he mentions about peace deals, was brokered between countries that weren't engaged in conflict and did nothing to impact Israel and Palestine. Also, nothing happened with Iran? Remember the assassination of General Suleimani that nearly pushed the US and Iran to the brink of war? That certainly didn't help peace in Iran.

41:30, Dave Rubin: "The first thing that Donald Trump did when he got into office was drop the mother of all bombs, the MOAB, the mother of all bombs, dropped it. People didn't even know why he dropped it but it made it seem like he was kinda crazy so don't mess with this guy."

So Dave's brilliant foreign policy strategy is acting like a complete lunatic?

41:43, Dave Rubin: "He killed Suleimani, right? And everyone was like 'this is gonna start World War Three', actually it caused Iran to not do much of anything while he was president."

The reason we are seeing so much action from Iran is because of Israel/Palestine, a conflict which finally boiled over after decades. Blaming Irans increased action on Biden is stupid.

Again, I don't think Biden is faultless. His continued funding of the genocide in Palestine is awful and I fundamentally disagree with it. But criticizing him for stupid made up reasons is well...stupid.

Conclusion:

Ok, so Dave playing a lot of clips and not adding a lot of original ideas to his commentary took me off guard the last time that I talked about him but this time I was ready for it. This episode didn't break a lot of new ground but I felt that it would be a good opportunity to talk about something about Dave that needs to be said and it's that his content is so deeply lazy.

Think about it. Your average Dave Rubin episode is just him playing television clips completely out of context and then saying a two second conservative culture war related soundbite after it. Dave Rubin basically gets mad at TV for a living.

Even when he's trying to make an argument, he just mumbles something that doesn't really make any sense and then lets someone more articulate like Megyn Kelly pick up the pieces. It's to the point where I would be willing to wager that a good 50% of his show is just clips of other people talking.

This is because Dave Rubin is a grifter who doesn't really bring any new ideas to the table outside of "I'm gay and I'm also conservative". I feel like a big part of him realizes that when he talks for long periods of time he usually ends up making a fool of himself.

And it's not just the clips either, he barely researches what he's talking about. Take for example, the Daily Show coverage. With a five second Google search I knew more about the story than Dave did and as a result was able to point out his inaccuracies and make him look like a complete idiot. Same thing with him not realizing that Trump was found liable for sexual abuse. This is basic shit that you need to know when you are trying to act like the authority on a subject. But Dave doesn't even look into it because he's too busy clipping NBC and being deeply lazy.

Anyway, cheers and I'll see you in the next one.

[sebfreak]

Hi, I saw your post that you recommend watching Undead Unluck. I'll be honest, I'm on the fence about watching it because it looks like an anime with annoying fanservice (how it looks reminds me of Seven Deadly Sins for some reason) but I don't really know anything about it so I don't know if that's true. I know a lot of anime has fanservice so it's whatever, I can get over most of them, but if it's too much or too annoying, I might not watch it. I kinda dropped Chainsaw Man for that reason because it's just not my type of humor. I was gonna ask, is the fanservice bearable? It does look funny so I'm interested in watching it. I'm sorry if this is a weird question!

Hey :D

We are pretty much the same. I don´t like ecchi/harem anime because they have always this specific fanservice you don´t like. And I´m totally the same with seven deadly sins. When the anime came out i only saw the first episode and was really annoyed by it. With chainsaw man it was... I did read the manga up to 10 chapters until i decided to drop it because i didn´t like the main character. And i saw here and there some comments, when the anime came out, that it had this fanservice thing and yes I´m not a fan either of it.

In most cases they do this and you sit there and think: "yeah but they didn´t have to, because they story doesn´t need it!"

In Undead Unlucks case i started it because the summary did sound interesting. I never read the manga, so I don´t know what will happen but i saw yesterday episode 2 and yeah i wasn´t annoyed. When i saw the first episode it kinda reminded me of Kill la Kill. I don´t know if you know this anime but although it has ecchi in it it was a really cool story. Also the comedy aspect is very enjoyable and the same goes to Undead Unluck. The fact that the Undead (uhm yeah i´m so bad with names lol) is most of the times naked isn´t a fanservice, it´s more comedy and also he is very respectful. You´ll see. Yeah the jokes here and there are a little bit ... i don´t know how to explain it... gintama like? (yeah i try not to mention gintama so much but this is the humor that explains the best) Like this situation comedy. The girl isn´t annoying. I like her and the dynamic she has with the guy. So all in all I didn´t have this annoying feeling while watching it. And yes again I can assure you the guy is naked and everything but at this point i would say it´s his characteristic in this story. It belongs to him and you can accustom to it very fast because the censor is the best i´ve seen until now. 10/10 XD And for me they didn´t show the characters in a fanservice light where you might be thinking: "hm we don´t need that, it´s not helpful for the story!"

But yes as I´ve said I didn´t read the manga, I don´t know what will happen next but if this story will be like that than it will be a crazy and yet interesting adventure with some... kill la kill and gintama vibes. And I would really like this.

[billy-theratking]

Runaway Max: Chapter 1 Review

I find the entire first interaction at Fort Fun between Max and Billy fascinating because we get an in depth look at how Billy acts in canon and it's crazy to see how Max's initial impression of him upon meeting him.

At this point, it's pretty much a fact that he has a tendency to put on a charming front around strangers and that it may seem that he acts very oddly around Neil if you don't know about the abuse.

Max doesn't know anything about Billy or his really shitty circumstances yet, so we get to see it for the first time from a point of view without bias, which is great!

Billy was late to the meeting and I'm assuming that was intentional since he probably sees Max and Susan as a waste of his time. And if he can lash out against Neil's need for control at the same time? Even better.

That being said, Billy definitely knows how far he's allowed to push Neil before he's getting into dangerous territory. Which is why the fact he didn't look up at his father stood out to me so much. His choice to not meet Neil's gaze has a number of meanings depending on how you look at it.

First, in western culture eye contact is a sign of confidence and respect, so if Billy had avoided looking at him as a sign of disrespect, that would just further fuel Neil's already building anger with Billy's rebellious nature.

Second, it could also mean that Billy is uncomfortable (which is likely), whether or not him being late was intentional. And even though he's trying to hide it behind swagger, his fear of Neil still shows in his body language.

And three, Billy is avoiding eye contact as an act of submission in the hopes to appeal to Neil's ego and soften the oncoming blows once they get behind closed doors.

Only Billy knows.

When Billy and Max talk he comes off as playful (Max even described him as friendly) and I'm inclined to agree. Billy was polite even if he came off as a bad boy type, with lines like:

"Billy gave me this slow, cool nod, like we already knew each other,"

"Billy glanced back at me. His face was slack. Then he smiled a sleepy smile."

Though, paired with some of the more ominous lines, those interactions take on a darker tone and Billy seems much more dangerous. For example:

"He was smiling when he said it. He laughed again, pinching the end of his cigarette and throwing it away. His eyes were bright."

"-he never really looked awake, except... sometimes. Sometimes his face went suddenly alert, and then you had no idea what he was going to do or what was going to happen next."

With this information, it encourages the us to read into the conversation with a filter, one that paints the entire interaction in a bad light and makes us uncomfortable.

I also love the parallel between the book and in Episode 1 of Season 2 Mad Max (a nickname that he gave her btw).

Final thoughts:

'"Max," he said in a sly, singsong voice."

Which is the same thing he does when he's in the car and tells her to say whose fault it was that they were forced to move to Hawkins.

The line I'm going to share really goes to show Neil's character and parallels Billy's physical abuse. It's terrible and really made stop reading for a moment to process the implications of such a line.

"Neil always called me that [Maxine], no matter how many times I told him to stop."

Neil likes to act like a kind gentleman to lure in weak women, so when his true colors show, they won't leave him in the misguided belief that if they just do what their abuser wants then they can have the man they married back.

If blatantly refusing to respect someone's boundries isnt a red flag, then I don't know what is.

I'd also like to note that we get to see some similar behaviors from both Neil and Billy in the first chapter when it comes to putting on a facade in front of both Max and Susan.

That's how women get trapped in abusive relationships. That coupled with the fact that they are almost always isolated with nowhere to go even if they did want to leave.

But both Billy and Neil drop that mask from time to time when their emotions (anger or frustration) get out of hand. Which was why Neil seemed so aggravated when waiting for Billy to finally show up.

Quote of the Day:

"He was watching me in the flat, empty way he always did--heavy-lidded, like I made him so bored he could barely stand it--but under that was a glittering edge of something dangerous."

[blackbird-brewster]

Hhnnnggg yeah I'm going to say some initial fan suspicions about the 16x04 ending are going to be correct.

Cw: Terminal illness, potential parent death

--------------------------------------------------

So I've seen lots of discussions about what's going to happen with Will after the bombshell in 16x04. And this newest interview with AJ really leads me to believe they really are just going to have JJ/Will mirror AJ/Nate's real life experience.

My character, JJ, is a mom and she’s exhausted. Erica has always been really good at writing true to life. We like to do that as much as we can. Case in point, I have two kids, and we’ve written that into the show. I think what makes our show special is that we do like to mirror our own lives, so that it’s all very personal. That comes across in the performances, so it’s genuine.

This year, I directed again, and with this episode, I had to direct both of my children. I thought I might be a complete crazy person for signing up to do that, but it ended up being such a really cool experience. I kept having all these pinch-me moments on the day that we were shooting at J.J.’s house. What a unique and beautiful opportunity that I’ve been given here. I’m not only acting with my kids, but I’m directing them.

This year [directing] was a little more challenging, in that there’s a pretty strong J.J. storyline in the episode that I directed. I hadn’t had to act and direct, at the same time, that much before, so that was a bit of a challenge. But you surround yourself with really good people around the monitor, and you’re like, “Did that work? I don’t know. I can’t watch it.” It takes a village. It was definitely a little more challenging this time around, just because I had to wear multiple hats and still make the day.

Based on the above, I suspect that they had her direct the episode where JJ/Will tell the boys that Will is sick. I think since AJ and Nate have been through this in real life with the kids, it would make sense that AJ would want to be able to direct her sons for the fictional mirror of those events (even though I still think this is really fucked up to put them through?!!)

(When asked about JJ & Will) :

The divorce rate for people in this line of work is very high. The fact that this family is still standing and trying to get through the day is pretty impressive. Anytime we can dive a little deeper into the minds of our heroes, that’s what makes it fuller. They become more relatable. They’ve written in some really great personal storylines for all of us, so it’s a lot to play with. The cool thing about JJ this season isn’t a new story for her, but she’s always been able to juggle work and family life. What I think is really unique about this year is that they’re evolving, as a couple and a family. Her oldest isn’t a kid anymore and he’s starting to see things and hear things that they would normally be able to protect him from. Now, they’re trying to figure out how to parent a teenager. This is new for them. They’ve never had to do this. That’s very similar to my life too. It mirrors a lot that’s going on in my life. As an actor, it’s been really lovely to get to really dive into that.

I just really hate it. Genuinely fully hate this storyline already. And I don't even like Will. I just really hate trauma porn. I'm chronically ill and disabled and I know people who are disabled and have lost loved ones to terminal illness and I just DESPISE using it as a plot device. I really fucking do. Media so often portrays things in such a sanitised way so the viewer usually takes away bullshit like 'disabled/sick people' are so brave. Or the make it all seem 'easy' because media has a time limit. Illness isn't easy. It's not. And I just really know this show (that LOVES using unnecessary trauma as 'character growth') is going to be absolutely horrible with this plotline.

I have not been impressed with the reboot in general. The entire overall plot of the serial killer network is really ridiculous. And they kept teasing fans with how much we're going to get to see of our fave characters' personal lives... But apparently that just means they're focusing on JJ/Will with an unnecessary trauma plot.

I'm so tired of shit like this. Especially on a show who has done this type thing for 17 fucking years. You'd think they'd at least try to be original

[bykalopsia]

agito 31-5, "a new transformation" special, & 36-40 notes

it's very funny how much more i enjoyed these episodes.

it was really as simple as i laid it out. 1) more focus on the superhumans 2) make the unknowns talk sometimes 3) gills came back 4) shouichi identity crisis/personal reflection

mana's arc about her powers and feeling alienated from everyone else was so good................. i love mana so much :( i think i will go to war if she's ever hurt ever

literally the second shouichi got the flashback the first time he saw the el of water i said to myself "oh. this is the show i've been waiting for."

also burning form fucks. shining form is a bit lamer but he still uses the cool ass dual sword so it's fine.

the special was soooooooo good. kunieda was such a cool character i wish he was in the actual show.................

i know i've said that shouichi is dumb but i take it back now bc hikawa. mr agito fan number one over here somehow looked at kino's weird ass agito form and thought it was shouichi's agito. how does this happen. there is simply nothing going on up there whatsoever. (mind you shouichi literally transformed like 5 feet away from him in the special and he conveniently was distracted by something else at the time. mind you he should literally know there's more than one agito bc he's literally fought with agito and gills at the same time. good god it's so incredibly stupid) anyway this development paralyzed me with second-hand embarrassment so bad i literally started watching like 30 seconds at a time. like i think the whole "hikawa thinks kino is agito" thing only lasts about like an episode and a half but it took me two days to muscle through it. thank god ozawa has common sense......

also i'm wondering if kino's sudden "no other agito needs to exist but me" complex comes from him being further along in his agito evolution process (like, it's a territorial instinct or smth) or if he's just crazy. [note: after writing all this i'm pretty sure that agito powers may have some corrupting quality to them. that probably checks out]

either way his whole deal with him and his transplanted arm is wild. the spirit of his brother preventing him from killing ryou on the operating table.......................... it's so silly. also the gratuitous shower scenes were so much. like thanks i guess. but jhfskdfhksdhfjshdfskjdfk

also yippeeeeeee hojo is back :))) i need him around being a bitch for my sanity i think.

also the apostle having his judas moment. (i mean he's been in the moment for a while but now he's outwardly said he's going against god so lol) very timely for the season. except tbh Prettyboy Jesus is kind of more like god than jesus actually thinking about it. idk man i was like 12 the last time i actually read some of the bible

hikawa getting stunlocked seeing shouichi detransform was so...... fdhsjfhdjsfksd. idk man whether or not his stupidity lands correctly for me is really at the flip of a coin sometimes it's hilarious and sometimes i literally cannot watch it.

also i have Things To Say about exceed gills but i shant bc i should hold myself to at least the minimum level of tact and decorum in these notes. i have already said too much.

anyway i think the fact that the apostle's name was shouichi (and that shouichi probably took his name bc of the whole amnesia thing) is finally going to be relevant and unless it's super quick (which i can only foresee if shouichi regains his memories again very quickly which i doubt)

also floating god children? they're probably telling us wtf went down on the akatsuki soon i'm exciteddddd. we're in the home stretch!

[cookinguptales]

Okay, I’m gonna start with Freddie. Now... when the spoilers first dropped and I heard them without watching the episode, I was actually fully expecting to feel as bad for Freddie as I do for Marwa. But then I watched the episode and was like... you know, very few people would deserve what happened to Freddie here but I think he might be one of them. lmao

(Full disclosure before I start, I did go to a fairly prestigious school for many of the exact same subjects that Freddie seems to have studied. I also talk about Genji Monogatari and the Palatine Hill for fun. So I am in a very unique position to hate Freddie specifically because I went to school with so many douchebags just like him. But I will freely admit that I might be projecting.)

So, other than repeatedly just calling him “That ‘Elgin’ Marbles-Fucker” to my friends over the past week, what do I think about Freddie?

Hmm... I think Freddie’s character can actually be summed up very well by the list of activities he showed the screen. That crazy motherfucker wanted to go see The Met, The Whitney, and the Chelsea galleries in the same fucking day. That sounds like the action of an art lover until you realize that means that he’s not taking enough time to actually look at anything.

Freddie, I think, is the type to race through a gallery simply for the experience of it -- and not fully appreciate a single thing he saw there. The kind to have a conversation about an archaeological site without actually saying a damn thing. The kind to have a boyfriend without ever putting in the work to learn who he actually is.

I very strongly get the impression that Freddie grew up fairly rich and privileged and probably got a lot of things handed to him over the course of his life. He strikes me as narcissistic and self-involved while being very willing to let Guillermo shoulder a lot of the emotional load of their relationship alone, as well as being the kind of person that will flit from interest to interest without a lot of care for price or fallout because he’s always been able to.

I do think that some of this may be the writers just writing the most British character alive and some American writers just always associating British people with poshness but... yeah, there were a lot of markers for privilege in him, from his job to his attitude to the way he carries himself that I think are difficult to overlook.

The narcissism is pretty self-explanatory, tbh. Nandor used hypnosis to make both Freddies be cool with the fact that they were cloned, but he didn’t make them get along with each other. He certainly didn’t make Freddie 1 cheat on Guillermo with Freddie 2. So we’re already working with a character here who’d rather spend time with himself than any other person, is perfectly happy to have academic conversations where he just goes in circles with a person word-for-word agreeing with him (which would be literal hell for me, but I digress), and who doesn’t mind cheating on his partner at least once, arguably twice.

Freddie is oddly like Nandor, in a way... I don’t think that Freddie ever set out to hurt Guillermo in this episode. He just... didn’t think about how his actions would affect anyone but himself. Nandor treated Freddie like a shiny, but Freddie treated Guillermo like one, too. He moved on from Guillermo and cheated on him and really ignored his feelings for the whole episode because he didn’t think it would be a big deal. Freddie just approaches everything in his life with this surface-level interest that he never actually commits to. It’s a happiness without true satiation and a sort of bland niceness without kindness.

He just kind of... alights on things like a butterfly. He seems nice enough and people like him and he’s happy enough to be there, but he’s ultimately going to fly away because at heart, that butterfly does not give a fuck about you.

I’m also fascinated by the way that Freddie approached this whole trip. While it was ostensibly a trip to go visit his boyfriend, he really made it about what he wanted to do 90% of the time and it’s not even really made clear if he spent any intimate alone time with Guillermo whatsoever. (And I’m not even talking about sex -- I mean genuinely any quiet time where he actually got to enjoy Guillermo’s presence without distractions.) 

He was just as happy to do his list of NYC stuff with someone else, he was okay ditching Guillermo to hang out with other people (including himself), and he showed a remarkable lack of interest in Guillermo’s feelings, worries, or even his hobbies. Like... it really felt more like this was him gallivanting halfway across the world for a NYC vacation than it was ever actually about Guillermo. Which makes me so sad for him, tbh.

And I’ll get into this more in another essay but just... it didn’t seem like he was that invested in Guillermo. He never seemed that intimate with him, never really listened to what he was saying (hello, showing up at someone’s house without warning them??), and dropped him like he was nothing the second a new shiny showed up. It makes sense that he’d use Guillermo as an excuse to visit NYC, but why even carry on this relationship for all these months in the first place...?

My theory is that Guillermo was a very convenient person for Freddie to be around. He spends a lot of his time talking him up, he’s always learning about Freddie’s interests, and because he’s lying to him for the entirety of their relationship, he never really asks Freddie to do any emotional heavy lifting. So I do think that Freddie likes Guillermo. He has affection for him. But Freddie is also on a fundamental level okay with a surface-level relationship that flatters him while not actually asking anything of him. This relationship was always innately casual to him.

I think it says a lot that by far the most successful relationship Freddie has is with himself. Not only does this feed into his narcissistic tendencies, it is also the easiest possible relationship you could ever have. There are no arguments. You don’t have to learn about the other person. You don’t have to care about someone else’s feelings. You never have to do anything you don’t want to do. You can just have these boring, surface-level conversations where the two of you speak in circles without actually saying a damn thing.

Honestly, I just think that Freddie is one of those selfish douchebags who seems nice until you realize they’re not actually talking to you specifically. They’re just... talking. And saying vaguely nice things. This kind of person is not remotely dependable; they have all the trappings of niceness without actually caring about you. You are basically the same as talking about the weather to them. They’re happier if it’s a sunny day, but it’s not exactly a make or break situation for them either way.

Freddie never actually cared about Guillermo. He didn’t care about Nandor, either. He didn’t even really care about traveling the world studying art; he sure gave that up quickly enough and he wasn’t exactly studying the art in NYC to start with. He really just cared about himself and living an easy and unexamined life that allows him to go from interest to interest without actually demanding anything from him.

And some of that is probably that he was designed to be a plot device, but some of that is just... Freddie. That “Elgin” Marbles-Fucking Douchebag. lmao.

[5-puthyyy]

My Thoughts on Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (SPOILERS AHEAD)

No, seriously, there are heavy spoilers so don't read this if you haven't watched the movie yet.

TRIGGER WARNING: mentions of death and brutal violence, mentions of suicide, mentions of depression and trauma, mentions of PTSD.

Look, these are just my very fresh thoughts 4 hours after watching the movie in the cinema. I will explain the good and the bad and I will try justify my opinions (despite the fact that no one needs to justify their opinions on movies lol but we all know how crazy some fans can be when it comes to their fav directors/actors/characters). Please, I don't need comments telling me 'hey, it's just a fictional character, fictional movie, blah blah.' Everything is subjective and this is content being made for us, so we are allowed to have opinions!!

Elizabeth Olsen absolutely NAILED this performance. It is by far the best thing about this movie. I can not fault it at all; her parts were the most interesting and engaging (and while it was heavily because of her performance, the directing was a big part of that too). Every line, every expression (physical or facial), everything Elizabeth did was perfection. She had me gripping my seat every single time she was on the screen. I was gasping, crying, filled with excitement and every emotion possible at different times. I was practically hypnotised by her acting and felt like I was being pulled into the screen. It’s all in the eyes, man. It’s the EYES and the amount of emotion she’s able to convey in them. She can turn from panicked to calculated to cocky to broken in seconds and all we need to do is look at her eyes and we’ll know. You know how people say ‘Heath carries’ in The Dark Knight? I felt this way here (TDK fans don't attack me). Elizabeth carries CRAZY. Perfection and she deserves all the attention and praise for this performance.

This did not feel like a Doctor Strange movie. Or a Stephen Strange one. Or both. Probably both. God, we’ve seen this all before and I’m getting so tired and bored of it. I adore his character and I was so excited to see some progression, some complexity, some more depth to his character. But nope. It’s the same ‘I am an arrogant man and so what? But wait, I fucked up? Okay, my bad, I’ll fix it and my actions will have no direct consequences on me.’ And it’ll be the same thing in his next movie, as it was in his first one. It’s Tony Stark all over again. And I hate it. Please, PLEASE, Marvel, come up with something different! Men are not all egotistical people who have one weak spot which happens to be their girl, the girl they can’t have but is always ‘almost there but not quite’ with them. It’s ‘man have ego, man realises ego bad, man fixes problem’ and then we see the SAME THING in the next movie. Where’s the character progression? Please. Please. Stop butchering your characters, especially the men.

Speaking of his character, why the fuck are we barely seeing his powers used? His best fight was the first one saving America. Dude was cuffed the whole Illuminati/Mordo fight and they save the use of his powers until he fights Evil Strange. And WTF was that fight? Look, I’m all for artistic freedom and whatever, but that was not it. They have so much power, so many abilities, and y’all are fighting with music notes? PLEASE LMFAO. Nope, not it. I did not like that scene, especially with how hyped everyone was when the trailer came out. They had us thinking Strange vs Strange would be on another level of insanely cool power, like the 'What If' episode. But nope. Pretty disappointed in that.

While there were a lot of variants of him, they barely had enough time on screen for me to give a shit about them. I’m sorry but what is up with these 5 minute appearances just to be killed off? Is this Marvel’s way to show off ‘hey, we have a multiverse now!’ like the way they fucked up Pietro/X-Men Peter’s appearance in WandaVision just to make a Boner joke. Gross. Please. The world doesn’t have to revolve around ‘our’ Marvel universe (which is 616...lol I'm not even going to address how ridiculous that is). I want to see more. Now that you’ve opened up the multiverse, why does it feel like you’ve closed it all in one movie? Especially with the way the Illuminati all got killed within a few minutes. Why? Just to show off Wanda’s new fighting skills? Or as a desperate attempt to solidify this ridiculous villain narrative you’ve given her? (I’ll get into that later). I wanted to see more, I wanted to see these new multiverse characters in the future projects at the very least. But with the way these very important, big, and powerful characters were killed off AND the way America Chavez is now being trained in the mystic arts…well, it looks like they’re closing off this multiverse concept and I’m not happy with it. Maybe I’ll be proven wrong, but for now that’s what it looks like to me.

DUDE. YOU BUTCHERED WANDA’S ARC. I’m sorry but did you seriously make her not only kill people (and be okay with killing a CHILD), but make her BRUTALLY kill them in ways that can only be described as horrific to the point where she’s enjoying it and playing with her powers and think we would just...accept it? Bruh…did they just…forget how broken she was over Lagos? How she broke down crying after realising she’s been giving the people of Westview her pain and grief? Villains don’t feel guilt. She’s an anti-hero, sure, but not a full blown villain. I get that it can be justified because of the Darkhold, but if it was corrupting her to this extent, then her motives would be more than just wanting to be with her kids again. That’s something WANDA wants and it’s not a ‘villain’ motive to be buried in so much trauma and grief that you just want to get back the people you lost. It’s different to Zemo turning the Avengers against each other because that was revenge. Vengeance, if you will. This is Loki wanting the throne and power to prove his worth to his father. And Loki is very much an anti-hero. Loki killed people, but we don’t see this level of brutality, we don’t see him cutting people in half, bursting their fucking heads. It’s just…so out of character for Wanda to be doing things like this. Although they were great scenes, visually and horror-wise. I loved it, and I loved Elizabeth. But it was just so out of character and I feel it was done only to justify killing her in the end. Because even if she didn’t sacrifice herself, they wouldn’t let her live on when she’s been seen on screen brutally killing heroes. Y’all just can’t have powerful characters, can you? I feel like Marvel just don’t know what to do with them because they’re so hard to work with. Trying to find a villain to use that’s big enough to be a challenge for these powerful heroic characters is difficult, which is also a reason why they nerfed Hulk, and nerfed Thor in Endgame. They do much better with these street heroes than the Godly powerful ones. And it’s just really disappointing.

Carrying on with that ending that I will never speak of again after this, I really think the message Marvel have been sending is dangerous. Before people start trolling with ‘they’re just comic book movies, they’re not realistic, blah blah blah I lack critical thinking skill and social awareness’, what Marvel give to their audience has an impact. It always has and it always will, and representation is important. That includes mental health and people who struggle with theirs. When you have Bruce Banner telling the Avengers he’s tried to off himself just to have the entire team brush it off and never speak of it again, when you have Thor’s trauma being turned into a joke, when you have Tony Stark’s PTSD turned into a sacrifice that apparently is the only way he can ‘rest’, it becomes problematic. And what really tips the iceberg in this movie? The fact that we have a character who has lost everyone, her parents, brother, her country, every home she’s ever had (Sokovia, Avengers compound, Westview house), her love (I’ve lost count of the amount of times she’s lost Vision at this point), AND her kids…and what do you do with that? What message do you send? Die. That’s the message. She just…sacrifices herself? Despite the fact that was all know Wanda is very capable of surviving that collapse, you still had her practically kill herself because she can’t handle being alone. Are you fucking serious? Time and time again Marvel have refused to take mental health seriously for these characters and there are REAL PEOPLE watching these movies, real people relating to these characters that comfort them in a way, real people that see their own trauma on the screen and think ‘wow, I get this. I feel this. I’m heard’. And time and time again, they’re not taken seriously, don’t get given the help they need, or they die in some sacrificial way. Tony, hell even Natasha was haunted by her past, and now Wanda. Just because you made her realise her wrongs doesn’t make it okay, it doesn’t make it a ‘for the better good’ situation, not when she’s had no problem exploding a man’s head earlier on in the movie. Butchered her arc, butchered her characterisation, and sent the worst message possible to the thousands, hell, millions of Wanda fans that resonate so much with her character to the point where some of them feel watching her saved their lives. Shame on you, Marvel.

Shame on you, Marvel, for introducing an LGBT couple just to have them killed off/sucked into some multiverse portal within seconds. Bro…you really needed that token representation so you can get your pat on the back? Come on. Do better. Other than that, America Chavez was great. I loved her character, and yes, it’s very ‘MCU formula’ with the whole troubled kid with powers they can’t control/don’t understand yet. They get taken under the wing of the parental figure (daddy strange lol) and eventually figure out the power/control/confidence was within them this whole time. It’s stereotypical, but it’s needed. I don’t think it’s that bad because we’re being introduced to new characters, new heroes, and they will have similarities with the old ones. They have to have the one thing that makes a hero, well, heroic. It’s overdone but I don’t think that makes it bad. Not everything has to be new and different. It’s okay, guys. She’s a kid. She’s supposed to be like this. I like it.

The visual effects, cinematography, CGI was great. Some CGI was a little off (like the third eye lol let us not talk about that) but overall it was a very visually appealing movie. My absolute favourite scene was when Professor X went into Wanda’s head. God, the white, the broken debris around, the horror, the hole, the RED, it was just so beautifully done. I need it as my new laptop wallpaper or something. I absolutely loved it. I’d go watch the movie just for those visuals again.

Okay…the directing…I’m sorry but it felt like Feige and Raimi were just competing with each other the whole time. The Raimi parts felt too Raimi and the Feige parts felt too Feige. It was very…contrasting, and it did not mix/balance well for me. Raimi had too many of his classic zooming in shots, and Feige had too much of your typical MCU funny formula. Although I did very much prefer Raimi’s takes. The horror is just done so well and executed amazingly. Again, it may also be Elizabeth’s acting for that lol but the directing is great for those. I loved the eerie vibe, the witchy vibe, the dark vibe. Which is why I’m just so disappointed it didn’t balance well. It felt like too many directors in there, too many takes, too many vibes. Very inconsistent.

Also, my love for the witchy-ness is also why I’m so disappointed with Wanda’s ending. Does this mean we won’t be seeing this sort of type of directing anymore? This vibe, this horror, this character? It feels like were just getting started and it just had so much potential. I would have loved to see Wanda as a consistent anti-hero or even with a better villain arc in the future. I love this witch mystic mythical shit so much and unless she’s going to be in the Agatha Harkness show, I’m worried she really is dead/gone from the MCU now. I don’t think I’m ready for that.

And Strange’s ending was very strange…He drops down and the third opens…okay, cool. So I guess we’ll see how the Darkhold corrupted him in the next movie? Wrong. He seems completely fine with having the third eye in the first post-credit. So another thing they opened just to resolve right away…this movie just felt like they were trying to resolve and close everything off and I don’t really like that. I prefer things being kept open, endless possibilities, a problem that still needs solving etc. It keeps it interesting. Again, another reason to hate the Wanda ending lol, like why couldn’t she have just hidden herself, teleported away after destroying the Darkhold. Or I’m just desperately clutching at straws or whatever the saying is lol I just can’t believe she’s actually just…dead. I refuse. Sorry.

So. It wasn’t horrible, it also wasn’t amazing. But it could have been if the directing was so inconsistent, if the characterisation of Wanda wasn’t so off, if Doctor Strange has some real character progression that isn’t overused with every egotistical man in like every comic book movie. It was fun to watch, it was beautiful to watch, and it’s definitely one of my favourites just because of the horror and visual effects. But Elizabeth carries HARD and I will forever stand by that statement.

[multiples-fandomswontkillme]

~Metal Family headcanons~

These are like my... general hcs)? which means I didn't include my main hc that Glam, Ches and Vicky are polyamorous, married and started dating after Glam met Vicky, and absolutely everything that implies for the kids and the relationships between each member of the fam. Maybe I'll make a separate post for that or maybe not! Who knows lkfwnlfqnf

Glam

Bisexual

Glam has constant nightmares and ocasional night terrors ever since he ran away home and is an active sleep walker. Ches helped him through the worse ones when they were younger, and learned how to deal with them, always preferring not to wake him up but being with him until the episode passed. Vicky has learned how to deal with them, though she normally asks Ches for advice with it cuz she comes out short sometimes.

He has PTSD. I bet it's diagnosed too, he takes medication and goes to therapy, it doesn't mean he still doesn't have his bad days anyway. He's trying to get better.

Glam has talked to Vicky about his past, his father and his family. This is a direct contradiction of Alina's confirmation that Glam doesn't talk about it with anyone but man FUCK THAT. We love good communication in this house, Vicky tries her best to help him, but there's only so much she can do to help.

Glam enjoys gardening, cooking and making models, he also likes doing his make up, painting his nails and dressing up in fancy, extravagant clothes even if he has nowhere important to go.

He likes taking care of everyone's hair, and constantly helps Vicky brush her hair cuz there's so much of it, Dee when he gets stressed over how tangled it can get, buys Ches hair products so he actually takes care of it, and chases Heavy so the kid actually washes, untangles and brushes his hair.

This one is kind of weird, but I refuse to think any adult in the family is unarmed at any time. Glam owns a taser and pepper spray. They're bright pink and sparkly.

This man cried his eyes out while watching Coco. He's hell to watch movies with cuz he talks and predicts what's gonna happen during the movie, judges them with scores at the end and all.

Vicky

Also bisexual!

Vicky's the one who does everyone's laundry most of the time. She prefers it that way since she's the only one that knows how to wash their black clothes so the colors stay vibrant. (This is based on my gf shaming everyone but Vicky cuz their black clothes always look so muted and almost gray, but Vicky's whole outfit is always the same vibrant black colors, so we decided that neither Glam or the kids know how to wash dark clothes)

She has anger issues, if it isn't obvious. I think she also has PTSD, mainly survivor's guilt due to her surviving the accident her brother died in. She blames herself and cannot bear to talk about it, in some sort of deep denial. If she can't remember, it can't hurt as much, right?

She has scars on the right side of her back and her hip, from the road rash she got on her brother's accident, she never treated it due to grief and it scarred badly. Apart from that, the scar of the caesarean section from Heavy's birth. She doesn't really mind both of them, they happened, nothing to do about them.

She likes watching boxing competitions, brawling matches and motorcycle repairing on TV. Loves doing BBQ's and going to the pool. Also an enjoyer of teasing her kids, kissing and loving her husband at random times, spending time drinking and bonding with Ches and bragging about her family and punching anyone who thinks they're not that cool.

Not particularly a fan of make up, skirts and dresses or any traditionally femenine-perceived stuff. But has been making exceptions due to Glam and Ches being unashamed of being seen as femenine, and actually rocking the looks. The internalized misogyny is kind of slowly dissapearing.

Apart from the guns she carries in each arm (I mean her biceps, have you looked at the size of those?? She strong) she has brass knuckles on her at all times. Glam gifts her new ones sometimes, she loves having multiple choices to punch people teeth in.

Loves horror, thrillers and action movies. Falls asleep during rom-coms and dramas. Ironically, loves gossip and talking shit about people. Enjoys hearing Ches talks about the gossip going on in the nursery home even if she doesn't know who the hell he's talking about.

Rest of the family under the cut!

Heavy

Heavy is a trans boy! He doesn't know his sexuality yet though, he's still figuring himself out. When he's older, i think he definitely dated some men but had better luck with girls.

Heavy has had innocent crushes on some girls on his class before, but they never turn into anything more cuz he's not the best at expressing himself. He follows the bother-the-girl-to-death-until-she-hates-you gimmick, and unsurprisingly, it doesn't work.

I'm sorry to break this to u but Heavy totally had an among us phase, and uses so much reddit and twitch slang... You know he does.

Likes bullying and teasing his brother to death. You know that when Dee had his first romance, Heavy was ALL up in his business being a tease and a bad attempt at a wingman. He means well tho.

He's not squeamish at all. Also has great pain resistance. This kid has picked cockroaches with his bare hands and loves cats, of course the cats have scratched him. He's tough!

Grows up to be the charming himbo he was always destined to be.

Dee

I hc him as demisexual. Kind of inherited his dad's tastes for the takes no crap, intimidating but pretty kind of people.

Can't cook. He tries but he can only do basics like rice, cereal, chicken nuggets or eggs. Complicated meals always burn or don't taste like anything at all. It drives him crazy.

Dee was a quiet and very well behaved toddler before Heavy was born. He never threw tantrums or got whims. After Heavy was born though, and despite the fact he understood his brother was small and needed special care, he started craving attention often and cried and got mad at little things. Typical jealousy of the oldest sibling.

The first time Dee fell in love with someone, he didn't recognize it was love at first. He just thought his interest on the person was born out of curiosity and aesthetic attraction, but as soon as he realized he seeked validation and companionship, that he liked seeing them smile, that he wanted to protect them, that he yearned for more time alone with them and that he wanted more than what just a simple friendship implied, it was an instant 'oh hell no'. He wanted those feelings to get the hell away, but unfortunately, they were there to stay.

Canonically likes MLP, psychological and horror anime like Death note and Hellsing, so I'm deciding he also watched Death Parade, had a FNAF phase, is very into The Walten Files. This guy enjoys any kind of specially dark ARG's and knows a ton of lore of real crime, unsolved cases, ghost appearances and other stuff. Doesn't believe in the supernatural, but sure is entertained by it.

He's a mess at romance. Flirting? His attempts at compliments are hardly flattering. Giving gifts? The best he can manage is jewelry and you can kind of tell he asked his dad for help. Dates? He's so nervous he's silent for most of it, but begins getting comfortable and having fun if his partner really knows how to get him down from his negativity cloud.

Ches

Pansexual.

He's very good with kids. He has the patience of a saint and he's laid-back, chill and fun but still is an authority figure who knows how to put limits. Sure, he's gonna let the kids light up a house on fire BUT hey, now they know everything about fire precautions, burns and how to treat them AND how to get away with arson. What an educational evening, am I right?

Due to certain info from the "Goodbye" official comic, I headcanon Ches as depressed. I don't want to elaborate a lot 'cuz of spoilers, but... God, everything related to his mom fucking hurts, man. How did he deal with all that?

Ches has been Dee and Heavy's babysitter so many times he cannot count them with all his fingers. He learned how to put those kids to sleep almost immediately (Sing Bon Jovi's "This ain't a love song" and any cheesy love song in a slow lullaby style and they're out), which movie were their favorite as kids (Heavy loved 'Monsters Inc.' and Dee never looked away during 'Meet the Robinsons'), how to console them after nightmares (Heavy needed reassurance, sweet words, and to be with someone until he fell asleep again. Dee just had to be tucked in, get his nightlight turned on and kissed in the forehead). He practically raised those kids along with Vicky and Glam.

More than once, Dee and Heavy have slipped and called Ches "Dad". Ches immediately gets his shit eating grin on and answers "Yes, son?" and does a couple of dad jokes just to mess and embarrass them. He's actually very flattered and surprised at how proud of himself he is for being a father figure to both kids.

Has a scar on the left side of his forehead due to a bottle his mom threw at him when he was younger, around the time he met Glam. He hates the scar with passion, it's a permanent reminder of the fact she never cared, that's why he always keeps it covered with his headband. Gets sad about it sometimes.

Ches likes to spend his time with a group of grannies of the nearby nursing home. He genuinely considers them his friends and gossips and hangs out with all of them on weekends. Bingo, billiards, walks in the park, soap opera marathons, you name it. I even designed them, gave them names and backstories... God, i just love the concept too much. I'll make some art about Ches and his granny gang FOR SURE, you're NOT ready for them.

Carries a pocket knife on him at all times. This man grew up on a bad neighborhood and absolutely knows how to defend himself, he can be intimidating when he wants to be and will pose a threat if needed. He's fucking terrifying when genuinely mad. Just cause he looks harmless doesn't mean he is, darling.

That would be all!