#season 3-4 is a dumpster fire but i love it SO MUCH

[babylon-berlin-gifs]

my fav part about having this acc is that once in awhile ill get a shitton of notes and its always ppl thirsting over Edgar

[iambicpentameterhamster]

Every umbrella academy character ranked (seasons 1-4)

After that shitshow of a fourth season, i felt it necessary to redo this.

#36 -The Sparrows (Jayme, Alphonso, Fae etc.)

The show had no clue what to do with these characters. They sit around being evil for a little while only to promptly die within four episodes. Also one of them is a fucking cube?!? Whats up with that?

#35 - Sloane

How come she disappears in season 4 but not sparrow Ben? So much of this makes no sense.

#34 -Sparrow Ben

I hate this character with my whole being. He goes around calling people emo as if HE DOESNT WAKE UP EVERY MORNING WITH A SCOWL ON HIS STUPID FACE AND EMO HAIR ON HIS STUPID FOREHEAD. He's so rude and awful and i'm given no reason by the show to give a shit where he ends up.

#33 -Carl Cooper

This one speaks for itself.

#32 -Reggie's wife

The two of them annoyed me so much.

#31 -Viktor

Moochy emo sod. Elliott Page's acting got progressively worse throughout the series (and i like Elliott Page, but this wasnt his best work.)- season 1 Vanya was tolerable, beyond that i couldn't stand this character. All his jokes land flat and he has the charisma of a piece of cardboard.

#30 -Season 4 Five

For the sake of this ranking, i am treating seasons 1-3 Five and season 4 Five as seperate characters. Seems like the writers were doing the same. What the fuck, guys? How do you bulldoze a character this badly?

Season 4 Five was unfunny, selfish, cowardly, and most of all on a different plane of being from the Five we all knew and loved. Screw you, season 4 Five, you're not canon.

#29 -Season 4 Lila

I'm treating Lila the same way. Season 4 Lila was an injustice to seasons 2-3 Lila.

#28 -Harlan

Couldn't care less about him. He represents to me when the umbrella academy started going to shit in season 3.

#27 -Jennifer

Again, we are given no reason to care about her.

#26 -Pogo

He was just there for the exposition. They never explained why Reggie was doing experiments on monkeys??

#25 -Reggie

He was quite a good villain but i still hate him. Really goofy at times, too.

#24 -Jean and Gene

They were quite good actually. If season 4 wasn't a dumpster fire, i reckon they'd have been able to really shine.

#23 -Cha Cha

This is getting into better territory. I liked Cha Cha, she was badass, but not well developed.

#22 -Detective Patch

Again, i liked her, but she wasn't given much time to develop as a character.

#21 -The Swedes

They were funny, whimsical villains that were fun to watch on screen. Funny and whimsical are two adjectives that TUA used to embody.

#20 -Elliott

My guy just wanted to eat fish and be a conspiracy theorist 😔

#19 -Sissy

Welcome back, Sheldon's mum.

In all seriousness, she was well acted despite Viktor's actor giving her nothing to work with, so props to her.

#18 -Dave

WE GOT ZERO MENTIONS OF DAVE IN SEASONS 3-4?!? DESPITE HIM BEING A HUGE PART OF KLAUS'S CHARACTER?!?! WHEN I CATCH YOU WRITERS-

#17 -Destiny's children

I am in fact an active member

#16 -Luther

I have bumped Luther up my list because in seasons 3-4 he sort of embraces his goofiness, but in seasons 1-2 he is an insufferable, incestuous moron. He is up here for good character development and i wished he could have ended up with Sloane.

#15 -Agnes

She was really cute and sweet, i liked her a lot. RIP season 1, you were peak.

#14 -Herb and Dot

They were sweet and funny too, and i miss the whole idea of the time commission.

#13 -Kenny's mum

An honourable mention

#12 -Grace

Grace was super well performed and poignant. I have no issues with Grace.

#11 -Stan

Live, laugh, love Stan. I hate that the trauma of losing him was never mentioned in season 4 for Diego or Lila.

My top 10

#10 -Lenoard Peabody/ Harold Jenkins

I stand by him being one of the best-acted and most cleverly written villains of all time. He is not only a well-executed surprise villain, but a scarily accurate one, and the actor plays him to perfection. We even start to like him before the cracks show. Also he looks like a creepy version of Lin Manuel Miranda.

#9 -Ray

Season 4 did Ray DIRTY. It was completely out of character for him to just walk out. They could have at least have him die in a tragic accident or something. Season 2 Ray is the perfect, most charismatic, ideal man and i hold him in my heart forever and in my head Alison and Ray ended up together.

#8 -Hazel

He had one of the best arcs on the show, period. Continues to represent everything good about the first two seasons of TUA. He was flawed, he was human, he was loveable.

#7 -Umbrella Ben

He seemed like he could have been a brilliant character with more screen time. His sacrifice in season 2 was a genuinely moving moment. The backstreet boys moment is SO FUNNY and his and Klaus's dynamic is something i really miss.

#6 -The Handler

We don't appreciate The Handler enough. The show started rolling downhill as soon as The Handler was gone. She was the glue that held the show together, one of the best villains/antagonists in TV history.

#5 -Allison

Yes, season 3 Allison made some stupid choices and did some terrible things, but a lot of it came from grief and she redeemed herself in season 4 imo. Seasons 1-2 Allison was one of the most charismatic, endearing and empathetic characters on the show.

#4 -Seasons 1-2 Lila

I love you. I miss you. Come back to me.

#3 -Diego

Bumped up the list for being a CONSISTENTLY good character who is flawdd but still extremely loveable and hilarious.

#2 -Seasons 1-3 Five

Seasons 1-3 Five would shoot season 4 Five in the face. He is the daddy here, and season 4 Five is the creepy uncle.

Original Five is a masterfully crafted, hilarious, unique, intelligent character and i will not let season 4 ruin it for me.

#1 -Klaus

This needs no justification.

What do you think? How far do you agree?

[maximoff-forevermore]

Tumblr Wrapped: BLORBOS!!

thank you sm for the tag @healmydesires 💋🫶🫶

tumblr wrapped canva template<3

i have SO much to say, but then again, i always do

i’ll start with my top five, and then do some honourable mentions because five fics is NOT a big enough list for me

1. Red Light by @kiwisbell

you may NEVER hear me stop talking about this fic. EVER. Red Light!Joel has taken up more headspace than anything else in a good long while, and i’ve reread this fic so many times if you asked me to rewrite it from memory i probably could, but i wouldn’t, because i’d never do it the justice kiwi did. this fic basically belongs to me, because no one can love it as much as me. i could go on and on, but there’s not enough time in the world.

2. The Dress Series by @janaispunk

can i let y’all in on a secret? i got the outrageous honour of talking to jana about the third part in this series, it’s like getting a shoutout from an artist winning a grammy, only better. this series restarted my obsession with dave, and i’ve had such brainrot about him since i started. LORD HAVE MERCY ON MY SOUL it’s so good, and the taylor titles GOD.

3. Las Mañanas by @kiwisbell

i had to be very careful, or else every fic on my top five list would be one of kiwi’s and people would think i’m biased (i am, just a little). so i only chose my two favourites, and this series was one of them. it brought so much light and life to the minutes i spent reading it, and i just had the best time!! javi my beloved, you have such a special place in my cold, dead heart, you wife-loving POOKIE!!

4. The In My Hometown Series by @swiftispunk

A SERIES INSPIRED BY ‘TIS THE DAMN SEASON *buries face into pillow and screams* ‘tis the damn season is one of my all time favourite songs, and it was done SUCH JUSTICE. this fic had just the right amount of everything, and i’m so grateful i got to read it!!

5. Punishment by @joelsgreys

OOOOOH HOT DAMN. there was something about this fic that made me drool, because hELLO JOEL MILLER?? gods that man is FINE AS FUCK, and this fic so perfectly captures that😫😫 i had the time of my fucking life reading it, and it was so SO worth every second. my next, pls joel🙏

those fics have such a special place in my heart, but so do many others, let’s go through them!!

Is It Over Now? by @planet-marz1 OH this one is my SHIT!!! angst is so delicious for twelve months of the year, and this one shot was me being FED. i loved every minute, and fuck joel, not in the horny way this time🙄

Sexfiles.mp3 by @beskarandblasters tim rockford, the grandma investigator, and love of my life WHERE have you been all this time?? this fic gave me that alligator-jiggling fever

the Seams series by @fuckyeahdindjarin MY BELOVED POOKIES!!!! i love lucy to the ends of the earth, and joel and pins have the CUTEST fucking relationship on the planet

A Lover’s Pinch series by @hier--soir pull me out of the dumpster and fuck me sideways GOOD MORNING TO YOU TOO??? gods the sex is just so BXKANDIWNSKW clawing at my fucking WALLS!!!! i haven’t finished this series yet but when i do you may NEVER hear the fucking end of me🗣️🗣️

the Pretty Little Wife series by @beardedjoel OH MAMA, i need a fan because it is HOT AS HELL in here😫😫these fics give me such housewife-fever, i love them just a bit TOO much

Real Gods Require Blood, by @pr0ximamidnight you guys have no FUCKING idea how obsessed i am with this fic. the minute it’s possible to make fics into physical things, i will turn this fic into cocaine and snort it faster than you can scream “he’s evil!”, and even if you did scream it, i wouldn’t care, because WOW is he hot as hell

Feelings on Fire by @joelscruff CAN WE TALK ABOUT IT. CAN WE TALK ABOUT IT. CAN WE—im so obsessed. and i don’t mean that lightly. this series has CHANGED ME. i am moved. i am reborn. i am SOMETHING ELSE. i can’t get over this series i’m not sorry, it’s just so so SO good

and last, but definitely NOT least, Truth or Dare, ALSO by @joelscruff I’M SO UNWELL. I NEED HIM. I NEED THIS. I AM IN DIRE, DESPERATE NEED OF THIS FIC. it’s so so close to my heart, i actually physically cannot get over it. like, guys, GUYS. this fic is such a go-to of mine, and so close to my heart.

and that was my long, long, LONG list, but honestly, i’m not even halfway done. so many fics and so many fic writers have changed my life, and if i was less tired and had more energy to type, i’d list them all<3

all the love to every single fic writer out there, you are doing the most, and if you need someone to read something you’ve written or you think i’ll enjoy something, don’t hesitate to send it my way!!

tagging everyone who wants to participate!!!

as always, my obligatory taylor gifs:

[edenvinity]

ranking the f1 driver pairings as amazing race teams

me and my family have been watching amazing race for years so you KNOW i had to combine my interests !!!

amazing race is basically a show where teams of two race all around the world and preform a series of challenges rhat can range from physical to more mental, and the team that reaches the “pit stop” last is eliminated. plane flights + transportation around the country is also often up to the teams, having to buy their own plane tickets + hailing their own taxis + driving themselves around a country which works against one team dominance

KEY:

detour - teams can choose to complete one of two challenges

roadblock - one person in the team completes a challenge (one person cannot do every roadblock)

express pass - by doing an extra challenge, one team can get this pass that allows them to skip any one challenge

teams are ranked based on how far i think they would make it in a fictional all-f1 season of amazing race :)

10. pierre & esteban

sorry you KNOW they would be a dumpster fire. like the couples who go on and are like “i love my partner so much :))” and then immediately implode the second aomething goes wrong. would start off polite enough before the first detour where one of them is like mildly slow and the bickering starts. they would start rushing in an attempt to catch up and leave an important item behind (passports, clue, etc) and thats just the nail in the coffin for them

9. lance & fernando

tbh i could see them making it maybe 1 or 2 legs more depending on the challenge but. nothing against lance but hes a rich kid. the challenge would be like “find all the items on this shopping list at a wet market” and hes LOST. fernando gets 3/4 of the list AND has to find lance who is desperately looking for duck eggs (it was at the first stall) and then they get back and lance bought regular eggs anyways for a massively jacked up price. sorry but as entertaining as it would be they are doomed to flop

8. alex & logan

SORRY WILLIAMS BESTIES they would be such a silly team and fan favorites but respectfully i dont see them being very good 🥲 i think they would have a very good dynamic but other then that based on the pumpkin carving/drawing challenges,,,, they would not go far 😭 they would get a challenge to deliver something to several different locations (without map) and eventually get lost and be so far behind that when they get to the mat its like. nighttime. but they would be very cheesed and happy still !!

7. yuki & daniel

THE FUNNIEST PAIR EVER can you IMAGINE the dynamic when trying to navigate or drive a stick shift car. one of the friendlier pairs, willing to help point other teams in the right direction at challenges. also between the two of them they have a pretty decent skill set so i think theyd do pretty well at the challenges, plus be able to get around the city well enough. theyd eventually go out on a leg w more physical challenges just by virtue of the remaining teams being better but they have SO MUCH FUN and SO MUCH banter

6. kevin & nico

solid guys overall !! could see them maybe making it another leg further over the next team. definitely one of the most chill teams, sightseeing/enjoying the travels more (not to say that they arent competitive tho) and overall having a great time !! i think their experience with raising children would also factor in well (patience/calmness) and thus would keep them from making little mistakes and stay consistent. would eventually go out in a leg where they start from a lower spot and cant manage to find any earlier trains/flights and thus cant make up any ground and end up going out

5. lando & oscar

they are the most unstable team LMAO they (lando) always take big gambles with challenges to try and get ahead and as such always end up gaining/dropping tons of places in each leg. impeccable dynamic tho !! oscar is def the grounding force and keeps them on track, navigator to landos driver, while landos creative strategies often help them gain places where they might otherwise be stagnant. would eventually go out on a leg where lando insists on trying to catch an earlier train but ends up missing the connector to their destination (setting them back) and they cant catch up, eventually resulting in their elimination

4. valterri & zhou

i actually cant really explain this one guys its just a gut feeling. like i know that valterri is reasonably fit from biking a lot and zhou could help them get around more reliably in asian countries but other then that i dont have an explanation. theyre chill and like just kind of cruising/enjoying themselves. theres a roadblock where they have to name several different types of beer by taste and valterri crushes it. theres a challenge where its watching this person dancing and having to recreate the entire outfit that zhou kills. they go out right before the final because theyre beaten in a footrace to the mat

3. lewis & george

these guys are EFFICIENT. lewis somehow manages to get them on the earliest flights possible. george reads the map once and immediately find the fastest routes from place to place. they are reasonably good at most challenges. their downfall is challenges requiring them to work together closely, which happens in the final where they are required to learn a traditional wedding dance and preform it and they just cant sync up, costing them major time, and the entire experience just leaves them irritable which eventually leads to them claiming third

2. max & checo

similarly to lando & oscar, max is the competitive force with checo grounding their team. highly competitive (though not to say they dont enjoy themselves), always going for express passes and valuing efficiency. their strategy works for the most part, with them racking up the most leg wins. their downfall ultimately came during the final challenge, where they had to match moments from previous legs with their locations, and neither of them really remember LMAO. just barely misses out on first which goes to…

1. charles & carlos

impeccable dynamic. gets one express pass and uses it strategically. very supportive of each other during challenges. they are just a generally overall solid team but not outstanding, never really winning and just beats out valterri/zhou for the third spot in the final. but in the final leg they are just incredibly in sync which allows them to complete the challenges efficiently, and at the end challenge they have memories tied to each place and are able to figure it out faster then max/checo and beat them to the mat to take the win !!!

okay thanks for listening to my rambles ☺️ maybe a part two of this later ranking old driver pairs OR an f1/survivor ranking

[mumbledbeginnings]

My basic off the top of my head Love Island USA opinions:

Season 1: happened. boring

Season 2: did i like Season 2. or did i just love Cely and Justine That Much

Season 3: dumpster fire. don’t mention it to me

Season 4: loved the cast, Sarah Hyland was there! Would kill for the women. Men were also there ig

Season 5: loved the cast, Sarah Hyland was there, even loved some of the couples, got to see a man called a cunt and a girl make out with the girl her guy cheated on her with, but it was a slow start and could be kind of boring sometimes

Season 6: love the cast more than usual! Entire show firing on all cylinders! There have only been like 2 episodes where I was bored. First season with Aftersun so I also got a weekly dose of both Cely AND Maura, which appealed to me personally. Also I love Ariana Madix as host and I hope she stays forever

[beesandfigs-abandoned]

hi!!! i stopped playing litg a few episodes into s3 when i unfortunately just got busy. i adored s2 (the litg season of all litg seasons) and i’m wondering if you think the newest season is worth it for s2 girlies?? i thought you’d be the best to ask considering how much you love bobby, who was my personal all time favorite!

Hey!! I don’t blame you, first of all. Nothing will ever top LITG season 2 lol. Season 3 was a mess and I personally wouldn’t bother continuing it if I were you. Season 4 has soooo much potential. If you like Bobby, you might like Bruno tbh. He makes that disaster season worthwhile lol.

Season 5 is irredeemable. I don’t think anything can make that dumpster fire season recommendable. And btw this is just my opinion, if you’re curious and want to play, you should! Who knows, you may end up having a different opinion than me lol.

Now, I feel like we’re too early into the new season to know if it’s gonna be good or bad. I already like a few of the islanders (Jamal is very Bobby-coded and Lewie is a sweetheart 🥲), so I’m not completely knocking it. I say you do play it if you’re really curious!

[metalandmagi]

The Real Anime Awards of 2022

Last year, I made my own categories for the Crunchyroll Anime Awards (including worst girl, prettiest protagonist, and biggest disappointment, among others), and it was so much fun, I decided to do it again this year, but with different categories. So without further ado, here are the nominees for the real anime awards of 2022.

Biggest Chad

    Shikimori (Shikimori’s not just a cutie)

    Tengen Uzui (Demon Slayer-Entertainment district arc)

    Marin Kitagawa (My Dress Up Darling)

    Najimi (Komi Can’t Communicate)

    Aileen Dautriche (I’m The Villainess, So I’m Taming The Final Boss)...girl really said “fuck the rest of the harem game, I’m marrying the demon lord him

self”

    Ranko (Akiba Maid War)

Show With The Most Drip:

Rent A Girlfriend season 2

My Dress Up Darling

Ya Boy Kongming

Vanitas No Carte season 2

Shadows House season 2

Birdie Wing: Golf Girls’ Story

Best Trash:

    Rent A Girlfriend season 2

    That one harem sex slave isekai, idk I didn’t watch it

    World’s End Harem

    A Couple of Cuckoos

    The Rising of the Shield Hero season 2

    Love Flops (Yes, I know about the twist. No, that doesn’t stop it from being an amazing dumpster fire.)

Best CONCEPT For An Isekai:

    The Executioner And Her Way Of Life

    Isekai Ojisan

    I’m The Villainess, So I’m Taming The Final Boss

    Reincarnated As A Sword

    Life With an Ordinary Guy Who Reincarnated Into A Total Fantasy Knockout

    Trapped in a Dating Sim: The World of Otome Games is Tough for Mobs

Anime whose OP Goes The Hardest FOR NO REASON:

    Gunjou no Fanfare (”Move The Soul”- JO1) ...this is a show about horse racing...

    Teppen (”Top of the Laugh”- Teppen All Stars)...this is a show about stand up comedy...

    Isekai Ojisan (“Story”-Mayu Maeshima)

    Akiba Maid War (“Maid Daikaiten”- Ton Tokoton Staff)

    Golden Kamuy season 4 (”ALI”-Never Say Goodbye feat. Mummy-D) Yes, it’s technically a drama, so the OP fits it, but we all know it’s more of a comedy. Half the time they’ll be telling a dick joke, and it will cut to this OP.

    Call of the Night (“Daten”-Creepy Nuts) Seriously, think about it. Why does this OP go so hard? The show is about a guy walking around at night. They didn’t have to come for us like this, but they did, and I love it.

Best Couple: I know this used to be a Crunchyroll category, but I’m bringing it back anyway.

Sasaki and Miyano (Sasaki to Miyano)

Yor and Loid (Spy x Family)

Desumi and Fudo (Love After World Domination)

Kaguya and Shirogane (Kaguya-sama Love Is War season 3)

Tsukasa and Hinata (Life with an Ordinary Guy who Reincarnated into a Total Fantasy Knockout)

*This is technically a spoiler, since the show doesn’t start as a romance...so just fyi* Aharen and Raido (Aharen-san is Indecipherable) 

Biggest Surprise

Birdie Wing: Golf Girls’ story

Ya Boy Kongming

Shinobi no Ittoki

Akiba Maid War

Romantic Killer

Akebi’s Sailor Uniform (went in expecting a cute slice of life…got an uncomfortable nightmare)

Smartest OP:

    Chainsaw Man

    Chainsaw Man

    Chainsaw Man

    Chainsaw Man

    Mob Psycho 100 season 3

    To Your Eternity season 2

Most dunked on protagonist:

    Nagomu Irino (Deaimon)

    Kabe-Taijin (Ya Boy Kongming)

    Izumi (Shikimori’s Not Just A Cutie)

    Kazuya (Rent A Girlfriend)

    Ataru Moroboshi (Urusei Yatsura)

    Mikoto Shiratori (Ryman’s Club)

Most Ridiculous Concept For A Sports Anime That Actually Works:

    Birdie Wing: Golf Girl’s Story

    Ryman’s Club

    Gunjou no Fanfare

    Tribe Nine

    Blue Lock

But who cares what I think? What categories would you make for your own anime awards?

[wasterella]

okokok, so I know you’re not in SnK anymore (i respect that bc i fell out of it in 2015 and came back like a couple months ago lmao) but i just want you to know I’m so glad I’ve found and read your fics. Good Enough to Eat is like my fucking ereri bible, every ereri fic i read I’m like :// “but would GEtE!Levi do this?” LMAO really when i finished reading every single one of ur snk fics i audibly groaned bc i thought that now i have to wade through the piles of really shitty ereri fics on the tag that have insane kudos (and I’ve already reread GEtE, which is my utmost favorite of ur ereri fics, twice already)

I do know teen wolf though (seen every episode) but like you’ve said to other people, i fell out of it and don’t feel the urge rn to come back but when i do (and who knows when that’ll be, a couple months or years from now? I’ll circle back eventually), I’m immediately hitting the books with ur long list of fics for that fandom!

and reading ur reaction to the plot of SnK is so funny to me bc that’s exactly how I reacted when i came back to half the people dead and other mind blowing shit like eren having a brother lmao! Frankly i wanna watch it (i only saw season 1 bc that was all there was at the time) but i think I’m gonna stop at season 3 and pretend like the plot didn’t do a 180 and start flying off the map bc I’m not crazy about the end game plot lol also mainly bc season 3 levi gives the same energy as the exact way u write levi it’s so comforting

wow this was a very long ask I’m so sorry but i just felt like i had to say something after i tried to do the walk of shame back to the general ereri tag and felt miserable, truly i love your writing so so much i feel like i could trust heart and mind with ur writing and i wouldn’t have to worry about whether or not I’m gonna like reading a fic, bc if it’s yours i know i will. I hope you’re doing well these days and that ur have a blast with Derek and stiles :)

You are so, so sweet, omg ;~; Thank you so much! Seriously, I really appreciate it, and I'm so glad you liked GEtE!!! It was so fun to write (and honestly what made me move from SnK to TW so whoops? lol Turns out I like writing about Werewolves HAHAHA!) Seriously, you're so sweet, thank you so much!! 💕💕

Awww, that means a lot to me, thank you! I know a lot of people have fallen out of TW, both because it ended and because of HOW it ended (and the dumpster fire that was the movie recently) but idk, I like the characters. I never even saw past season 4, so I just have fun with it haha. But totally understand the falling out of it. If you ever do come back, I hope you know there's tooooons of new TW stuff out there from so many amazing new creators to enjoy :)

WAIT EREN HAS A BROTHER?! Omg when tf did that happen??? Did he knows? Is he a half-brother? Was he hidden in the basement?! IS THAT WHAT IS IN THE BASEMENT?!?!?! Man, SnK... the series that keeps on giving me explosions in the brain. Wow. Well. I don't even know who all is alive or dead anymore tbh haha. They could all be dead by now and I'd never know |D Oh wellll... But thank you ;~; That's amazing to hear about S3 Levi, thank you so much!!!

You are just the sweetest bean, thank you so, so much. For real, this ask was lovely, you are lovely, and this was so kind. I appreciate you so much, thank you!! <3<3<3

[lindsaybob]

For the fandom asks, tell me about 7 - your favourite episodes! And also 5 please.

I’ve been putting this ask off for ages because I’m finding it really difficult! I’m so bad at choosing favourites.

I’m starting with 5, because it’s a little easier. “Favourite song, album, or artist to listen to this year.”

Well, as usual Taylor Swift came top on my Spotify Wrapped, so I’m going to go ahead and say she was my favourite artist to listen to this year. However, I discovered a few new artists/songs that I really enjoyed towards the end of the year, via the Spotify radio function, including Betty Who and Gatlin. I listened to “Wanna Be” and “What If I Love You” many, many times in November/December and I’m still listening to them now.

I also rediscovered my love of K’s Choice, who are a band I used to listen to all the time but hadn’t really listened to at all for years until earlier this year. They released a live album a few years ago that is essentially a ‘greatest hits’ concert and I listened to that a LOT this year.

Also, honourable mention for “Hold My Hand” by Jess Glynn for giving me an idea that inspired me to start writing fanfic again (even if the fic may never actually be finished, as the most important scene seems determined to stay stubbornly in my head rather than let me put it in the document with the rest of the fic…). It isn’t a song fic, but that’s definitely where the idea came from and I’ve listened to the song a lot while writing it.

Now onto the really difficult one - “Favourite TV show episodes of the year.”

I’m not going to limit this to shows that actually released new episodes in 2022, but I AM going to limit it to shows/episodes I watched for the first time in 2022, because if we get into all the rewatches I started, or the earlier seasons of longer running shows, we’ll be here all day.

So, we’re looking at the second half of Prodigy season 1, Strange New Worlds, Lower Decks season 3, Picard season 2, The Orville season 3, Discovery season 4, The Librarians, The X-Files season 11.

The X-Files season 11 and Picard season 2 were both raging dumpster fires, so no favourite episodes there. Prodigy I really enjoyed as a whole, but no particular episodes really stood out to me as favourites. Same with Discovery season 4.

Strange New Worlds is so difficult to choose favourite episodes for, partly because I loved the whole show much and also because some of my favourite individual scenes are in episodes that I wouldn’t choose as my favourite overall (e.g. the breakfast scene in ‘All Those Who Wander’). I don’t think it will surprise anybody who’s been paying attention to this tumblr if I say that my favourite episode is probably ‘Ghosts of Illyria’. I also really enjoyed the pilot, ‘Strange New Worlds’, ‘Memento Mori’ and ‘Spock Amok’. (Does it really count as choosing favourites if you name 40% of the episodes that exist at this point…?)

Along with SNW, The Librarians was probably the best new thing I watched last year, even though it’s actually coming up on 10 years old. For favourite episodes at this point I’m going with ‘The Loom of Fate’, ‘The Hollow Men’, ‘The Point of Salvation’, ‘The Happily Ever Afters’, ‘The Trial of the Triangle’, ‘The Wrath of Chaos’, ‘The Silver Screen’, and ‘The Echoes of Memory’. I don’t think I’ve done too badly to narrow it down that much, given that I watched all four seasons in about a month! Many episodes I’ve still only watched once, so some of my favourites will almost definitely change on rewatches.

Lower Decks, I particularly enjoyed the season premier, ‘Grounded’, as well as ‘Mining the Minds Mines’ and ‘Crisis Point 2: Paradoxus’.

That leaves me with The Orville season 3, which I loved! Favourites were probably ‘A Tale of Two Topas’, ‘Twice in a Lifetime’ (even though it made me angry) and ‘Domino’. With honourable mentions for the scenes in ‘Future Unknown’ where Ed comes to talk to Kelly, Claire and Talla while they’re drunk and when Claire tries to make Ed help her choose a dress, and the presence of Dolly freaking Parton!

This was more information than you wanted, wasn’t it @the-lady-general? 😂

[picathartidae]

Thanks for the tag, @vestigialpersonality!

Three Ships: I’m not a big shipper and I don’t really understand shipping as a concept (blame it on my aro/aceness). It isn’t how I prefer to engage with media, but I’ll try to come up with some pairings I like anyway. 

Resist!Dark Urge/Spawn!Astarion, Baldur’s Gate 3. To the surprise of absolutely no one, I like these two together a whole lot. I tend to prefer a male Durge over a female one, but whatever. It’s a good fun time and they vibe. I like how Durge is the one character that forces Astarion to step up and be the responsible stable one. I love how you see this more emotionally available side to Astarion in a Durge run. I love how two objectively terrible people can end up bringing out the best in each other, despite the odds. I love the mutual and simultaneous redemption arcs. 

Jonas Kahnwald/Martha Nielsen, Dark. These two are a fucking disaster and I am so taken with how their weird obsessive love for each other is so destructive but also so pure and how that is so tied up with the themes. The way this show deconstructs relationships and the lengths people will go to for the sake of their loved ones is really compelling to me.

Shen Qingqiu/Luo Binghe, Scum Villain’s Self-Saving System. Another trash dumpster fire of a pairing, but whatever they are my boys and I love them. All of MXTX’s main pairs, really, but sqq/lbh are my absolute favourites, likely because Scum Villain is by far the easiest read of them all for me. I like the relationship in how it is used to actively deconstruct masculinity and support the overall themes of the novel.

First Ship: I’m pretty sure it was Scott Summers/Jean Grey from X-Men. Scott was always my #relatable vaguely autistic king, and Jean was genuinely just so cool and interesting to my young self. I’m still salty about it and I will never forgive Marvel. 

Last Song: I have been playing Die For You (ft Grabbitz) on a loop for maybe a month now. This is what happens when my partner rewatches Arcane and then listens to all of the League of Legends and Valorant music and sends me their favourites. And also the song perfectly fits in with my stupid Durge and his stupid Durge vibes, so… yeah. A song from Valorant for you. I have never played it and I barely know what it is, but this song is great.

Last Movie: I think it was Dune Part 2? It’s fine. It’s a good movie. I think it had the same problem as the book for me, in that the messaging was like getting hit repeatedly in the head with a sledgehammer because it didn’t seem to trust that people would get it, but since I’ve seen plenty of people completely miss said message, I can’t really blame it for that. It's very visually impressive and Denis Villeneuve is an insanely talented man who clearly knows the book series so well. Give him all of the awards.

Currently Reading: an eclectic collection of BG3 fanfictions.

Currently Watching: I’m making my way through Teen Wolf for the first time, because I’m legitimately shocked I never watched it when it was on (I was directly in its target demographic and never saw it? Who even am I). At the moment, I’m about three episodes into season 4. It’s a whole experience and I have so many feelings. Is it good? Not even slightly. Does it make sense? Barely. Am I kind of loving it anyway? Fuck yeah. Teenage me would have been all over this show. I’m so mad.

Currently Eating: Carbs! Always carbs. Just finished some spinach and feta scrolls, specifically.

Currently Craving: a decently written character-driven genfic. Please, I am begging.

Favourite Colour: dusty blue

Current Obsession: pretty much anything D&D related. Mostly BG3 specifically.

Last Thing I Googled: lots and lots and lots of Forgotten Realms lore. 

Favourite Season: Autumn, purely for the aesthetic.

Skill I’d Like To Learn: figure drawing, for sure. I am desperate to be able to produce decent character art for OCs, especially since I am poor and can’t currently afford to commission someone.

Best Advice: You shouldn’t have to justify every facet of your existence to others. You’re allowed to take up space.

Tagging: I think everyone I would tag has been tagged already, so I’m just going to leave it as anyone who wants to participate, consider yourself tagged. 

[lovestuckyhatemarvel]

My cataloguing if shit I never noticed or forgot from season 1 of Stranger Things. I’m on episode 3 of my rewatch!

1.) I forgot Nancy heard Barb for a moment during the make out session

2.) forgot Barb screamed for Nancy as she died. Also I’m keeping my eye out to see if the show actually has the characters know she died in the pool because fanfic insists they know but I don’t remember that being confirmed to Steve or Nancy

3.) Karen Wheeler really is trying to be a good mom

4.) I forgot Joyce starts with all the lamps in the house

5.) I think the reason people fell in love with Steve, including myself, is despite being called a douchebag by other characters, I can’t think of a time he’s randomly doychey or a bully in this season

6.) hopper was like mostly mild mannered and charming at this point. Like obvious self destructive behaviors but idk he’s quieter than I remember him

7.) dog spotted again. Seriously how did I forget their damn dog????

8.) ‘staying one step ahead of the Russians’ got said as a quick line

9.) I forgot the super secret lab couldn’t be bothered to pull footage with rain for a night that rained. Like surely you could have edited like 5 minutes out of the actual night, right? It didn’t take El all night to enter a damn tunnel

10.) people talk about Steve being rich and he is but the Wheelers are definitely solidly middle class. Nancy has her own phone and her own tv in her room

11.) carol had a mark in her ankle that she thinks is frostbite even though the pool is heated

12.) I know he doesn’t have a personal dark room but I forgot he develops the stalker photos at school and a classmate sees them and is visibly uncomfortable

13.) aw Karen brought Joyce a casserole. I forgot about that

14.) oh yeah I forgot Hopper’s dating life is a dumpster fire

15.) I spy Terry Ives’ name

16.) Ok the key to holly smiling is Christmas lights and flashing lamps

17.) it would have been fucked up if holly had been eaten by the wall in the Byers house

18.) the breaking of the camera was excessive but I think a solid amount of people would vote JAH and NTA if it was a story posted on aita. I didn’t forget this. I just wanted to say this

19.) I think it’s funny how the Duffers made it so El can’t just remember her own trauma at random but rather has to be guided by very deliberate items. Coke commercial leads to coke can crushing, cat leads to cat memory, etc. like I don’t actually think we needed our hands held this much with her memories

20.) Forgot that hopper immediately suspects Brenner

21.) literally forgot how this season was paced and that we first get a good look at the monster in episode 3

22.) forgot the fake body is found this episode too

23.) I forgot that Mike gets home and just sobs into Karen’s arms while Nancy and barb’s parents sit in the living room

[your-friendly-neighbourh00d-fag]

3, 6, 14, and 18 for that second st ask game

hi nons :)

3- arrange the seasons from your most favourite to least favourite

hrrmmm for the seasons as a whole i'd probably say 2, 3, 4, 1

i think season two was the most balanced, like i can watch s2 from start to finish no problem, whereas 3 is kind of like that but some of the jancy plot in s3 was so painful and dragged on a lot. then four is an absolute dumpster fire /aff, but with some really top tier moments in it. like hawkins plot? fantastic. no notes. cali plot? oh you're being gay, good job, carry on. russia plot and lab plot??? SKIPPPPPP. sorry. my b. its unbalanced. and then i don't really love season one because 1, peak mlvn season and it made it very hard to watch, 2, where is will. i know where he is but i want him back (i just think its better when the whole party is together), and 3, it was kind of smaller scale which i don't like as much. s2 felt more important. on the other hand s1 was stoncy time so i do love that. anyway i have rambled enough, sorry.

6- Which top 5 dynamics that haven’t been explored yet would you want to see?

Madwheeler. MADWHEELER. M A D W H E. E L E R !! ! ! ! !

og party. they've kind of been explored, but not enough!!! give me lucas mike dustin and will back they were literally babies the last time they were all together for the main plot :(

will + nancy// mike and jonathan. come on. the drama. the angst. will and nancy stuck somewhere dangerous and mike and jon stuck somewhere else dangerous and they can't get to eachother. and nance/jon are like 🤨 why do you care so much. gay.

robin and mike. HE NEEDS A GAY MENTOR. COME ON. ROBIN AND MIKE FRIENDSHIP!!!!!

hopclair. elumax gang it has been confirmed for season five this is hOW WE CAN STILLL WIN--

14- Which romance are you indifferent too or just hate? (Fanon and canon)

y'all know my feelings on like, stncy, mlvn, hrringrove, stddie, but idk if there's many im actually indifferent to. i mean, kind of rockie at the moment (just because they haven't fleshed vickie out at all, once she gets a personality and more screentime i think they'll be really cute), probably like, steve/argyle, jon/argyle, + all the chrissy ships. like, im not sure about that, but you could probably convince me. im open to it. stargyle is a pretty ship name though.

18- Which season of st do you think had the best balance between character dynamics/character growth and plot line ?

oh season two for sure. hop/el bonding, byler centric, lumax + dustin + steve, jancy teamup, it was just great with the pairings. the plots were also the best balanced. good job s2. ily.

[khunvegas]

i basically just stole this ask from @gunsatthaphan​, partially because i’ve been wanting to make a post about it and after almost 3 years watching bls, i might as well. right? right. anyways.

Compilation of Bad Kisses in BLs (Part 1)

mind you, this is only for the ones i’ve seen. if i put every single bad kiss out there, this post would go on forever.

i strongly believe a kiss, whether is good or bad, can make or break a show and in my personal opinion, a lot of them fell off simply because of the fishy kisses. they are truly hard to watch, so much so that you have to look away because they are ugly and this is something we CAN and SHOULD blame both the actors and the company. sometimes, workshops are not enough.

i also believe that these actors shouldn’t play dumb. like, they HAVE to know there’s gonna be a kiss at some point. put in the work, pls.

LET’S GET IT

1. My Engineer (MekBoss)

at the time, i didn’t think it was that bad. i just thought they needed some work, a little bit of help because clearly it wasn’t that good either. now, i just see two walls kissing and we might not see these walls kissing ever again.

2. YYY (NottPun)

imagine watching this mess of a show, they promise you a kiss, and once you’re sure you’re gonna get it, they literally bring the sun out, block the view and that’s how the season ends. but honestly? the little i can see it’s still awful.

3. YYY 2 (NottPun)

well... there it is. no words.

4. 2gether (SarawaTine)

maturing is accepting the fact that 2gether had two straight bros playing these characters and that’s how they kissed and then the high five. it was a bad kiss, bestie. we were all just blinded by the pandemic and though this was high cinema.

5. SOTUS (ArthitKongpop)

i’m not afraid of the girlies still caught up on this show. this was a bad first kiss and i’m ready to die on this hill. granted, this was 2016, the actors were still iffy on playing queer characters, they were calling each other wife and the obsession with pink milk was at its peak. gmmtv had $5 and a dream and you could tell.

6. ‘Cause you are my boy/My Tee (TeeMork)

this was frankdrake’s first roles and you could tell. you could also tell that they were in the trenches because everything was bad with this show and i truly think it was a cry for help. they did the best they could with what they had but there was no way in hell they could save this show and honestly, i’m not surprised that their first kiss was like this. it goes well with the quality of the show.

7. Love By Chance (TinCan)

and it doesn’t get better after this. i’m gonna be the devil’s advocate, mean actually tried to make these kisses better but there was no helping with this couple. a mess.

8. Oxygen (SoloGui)

as far as first kisses go... yeah. granted, oxygen wasn’t really that good either but they could have salvage this show with a decent kiss. nothing. nada. it was a let down.

9. Make it right (FuseTee)

make it right paved the way for angle kisses.

now listen, i’m pretty sure boom and peak were 17 or something when they filmed this and back in the day, this was already too much. like, cheewin was pushing it by directing this show. still, it has to be on this list (it’s not like it hasn’t changed anyways. boom and peak would never EVER kiss. this was the closest we could get).

10. Where your eyes linger

i mean, come on. COME ON. i know this was like the first kbl and you know, they paved the way. give credit where credit is due and all that but LOOK. it’s bad. it was a good show, for the plot that it had and the limited time, it was good. BUT THE KISS WAS... it was a letdown. 

11. Gen Y (MarkKit)

how are you gonna be a senior in the industry and still kiss like this? kimcop are one of those settled ships that are hard to break and to ship with someone else. with that in mind, you would think they would do wonders. gen y was a dumpster fire and so were the kisses.

12. WISH YOU: Your melody in my heart

this is where you start to understand that it’s not about the production or how short kbls are and that’s why the kisses are so bad. no, it’s because workshops apparently don’t exist in korea and they put these men to kiss without practicing first. this is the product. this is what you get.

13. Color Rush

i know some of you call it the best kbl out there because the plot was different, which is true, but like... their lips are not even touching... so yeah. next.

14. Nobleman Ryu’s wedding

i’m pretty sure this was supposed to be an angle kiss and they changed their mind at the last minute and we got... this. i mean, compared to others in this list is not that bad but is it good? far from it. this was also the first period kbl we got and it was kind of forgettable too. it was very low budget and you could see it with the kiss

15. What Zabb Man

BOTH COUPLES because both of them were such a let down. i was here mainly because of the toxics from gen y and with the crazy tension they had going on, i thought they would go off. not even that. don’t even get me started on the main couple. the manipulation that went down between them UGH but i can’t even get a good kiss out of this mess anyways.

[spectral-kitkat]

Miraculous Rant.

Where the hell do I begin…

Season 1:

The show was decent in season 1. Some episodes were just mindless filler and probably weren’t needed in the grand scheme of things but they helped us get introduced to the characters, we got to know the plot and the world our characters inhabit. It was good. The love story between Adrien and Marinette was cute and off to a touching and fluffy start.

Season 2:

This season was immediately better than season 1. It had character development, it went more into detail about the lore surrounding the Miraculous and we got to learn more about our characters and their families and the villian’s motives. (HM really went from “I wanna destroy the world” to “I wanna wake my wife from the coma she’s in”).

We got to see new heroes which was fun! We got new characters like Luka and Kagami.

The season finale was epic! The Miraculous team all taking down all the previous villains in the show was awesome. At the end we even got Mari kissing Adrien on the cheek. It was great! (Even though it clearly reset itself in season 3 cause it’s never mentioned again)

I really enjoyed season 2 and it’s probably my favourite out of the 4.

Season 3:

Season 3 was kinda good and kinda bad. We had some great episodes but this is where the show took the wrong turn.

Marinette lost some of her character in season 3. This was the start of her descent into being the Queen of Mary Sues. It’s also where she was crowned the Queen of Stalkers! Her character took a fucking nose dive in this season. We had so many moments that just creeped me the fuck out.

1. The ENTIRETY of Puppeteer 2 🤢🤢🤢 I could not stand that episode. When we reached the dreaded statue scene I physically had to pause it like 10 times. That scene takes about 3 minutes to watch… it took me about 20. I cringed so fucking hard because of the secondhand embarrassment I was feeling. That was not sweet, it wasn’t romantic, it wasn’t the least bit cute… it was a train wreck! It was creepy and stalkerish and it’s a wonder Adrien even spoke to her again after that atrocity!

2. LB delivering the present in Chat Blanc. Two words: STALKER BEHAVIOUR!!! I genuinely could not believe my eyes when I saw LB run her hand across everything in his room and then actually SNIFF Adrien’s pillow. Like WTF!!! 🤮 I’m pretty sure whoever was responsible for that scene clearly thought it was the equivalent of when someone gets their S/O’s jumper or something and it still smells like them. But this turned it up to the nth degree and way passed the line of sanity.

Adrien was extremely under-utilised in this season. He didn’t really do anything. The only episodes we got about him didn’t really focus on him. ‘Felix’ whilst focusing on Adrien’s family didn’t really feature him. ‘Party Crasher’ while a beautiful mess was more about Mari trying to get into the party than the party itself. ‘Chat Blanc’ again focused more on Mari trying to fix her mistake.

We got even more heroes in season 3, not in the right order but they were there. It was fun seeing everyone’s transformations.

Season 3 was also the season of destroying redemptions. The big one obviously being Chloe. Season 2 was setting up this amazing redemption for her and before it could go anywhere it was wiped off the face of the earth during the finale (and don’t worry we’ll get to that dumpster fire later). Gabriel also had any remaining sympathy ripped away from him. How did the guy who stopped Gorizilla from letting Adrien die when he only thought he was CN go from that to using his son like fucking baseball in Chat Blanc when he knew his son was CN. Like I knew you were a shit father but you still cared about Adrien in some way shape or form but after that episode I can see I was clearly mistaken!

Before we get to the finale I want to talk about probably my 2 least favourite episodes from this season: Desperada and Reflekdoll

Desperada:

I fucking hated this episode! The only good thing was Luka getting to be Viperion, other than that this episode was awful!

Marinette was a selfish cringey bitch. Completely ignoring Luka to gush about Adrien to Jagged. Brushing Luka off as soon as Adrien turns up. Immediately cuddling up to Aspik and flirting with him when she needed to focus on the akuma (something which she has told CN not to do many times before)

Adrien, I love you kid but Jesus Christ you were a dumbass in this episode! Aspik’s design was terrible! Aspik himself was awful. I know Adrien tried his best but dude you were given the Black Cat miraculous for a reason! He shouldn’t have tried to be Aspik but even when he did he should’ve called it quits after like 5 resets not 25,913 times.

The only person with a brain this episode was Luka. So well done guitar boy, gold star!

Reflekdoll:

This episode was annoying! It was basically the start of the Marinette can do no wrong streak! When they have to swap miraculous I was happy cause it meant we got to see new outfits and see how they each handle the different powers. It would also serve as a way to get LB and CN to see what their partners role is first hand. Until we actually get to it…

LadyNoire is of course amazing and needs no introduction to using this new miraculous that she’s never used before. She’s cocky and confident and basically just LB in Chat’s costume with his powers.

Mister Bug on the other hand is just useless. He struggles with this new miraculous (like anyone would!) and is stupid and goofy. He has to rely on LadyNoire to solve the lucky charm. They swapped miraculous so shouldn’t that mean that Mister Bug should get the lucky vision and the creative powers that the earrings give him.

Overall Reflekdoll is awful. It was shitty writing and the start of Adrien getting the short end of the stick.

And now the season 3 finale… Just what the fuck. That is my only reaction: what the fuck!

Chloe you poor fucking child! What did they do to you!!! So much potential SQUANDERED!!!!

What was the point in bringing in all these different superheros with unique skill sets, costumes and transformations if you were just going to immediately reveal them to the main villian so they can’t be used again. That’s stupid! If you wanted the shock value that is “Oh no HM knows some of the heroes identities!” Then keep it as only some. Have like Max, Kim and Kagami outside trying to find somewhere to hide but unfortunately they get hit. Or Nino and Alya are hiding but the windows open and they get hit. Have some of the heroes hide so they’re fine! Taking away every ally of LB and CN’s was a stupid move! (Even if they wanted Alya to become a spy have her as part of the like 4 that get revealed or something, it’s not that difficult)

Season 3 was 50/50 for me

Season 4:

So I know season 4 isn’t even halfway through yet but so much is wrong with this season already that I need to vent!

So my biggest problem with this season of Miraculous: Tales of Ladybitch and Rena Rouge, I mean Rena Furtive… shit, Chat Noir! Is that CN is basically pointless! Adrien has been flung over a rainbow and is only remembered when he’s needed as

1. Marinette’s love interest

2. Someone for LB to shout at

3. A plot device

He has basically been sidelined. Partners my ASS!!!

Adrien is being blown off by pretty much EVERYONE! It’s coming to a point where this poor sweet summer child is going to crack! And it is not gonna be pretty… I definitely feel like the writers are leading up to a big fight between CN and LB which will probably end with Chat Blanc 2.0.

I REALLY HATE MARINETTE/LADYBUG!!!! In Season 3 I said it was the beginning of her descent, well in season 4 she’s done it. She’s descended, she has hit rock fucking bottom. She is so unlikable I don’t actually care about her as a person. She has entered full blown stalker territory it’s only a matter of time before she starts killing people for even looking at Adrien! Not to mention that Miss Mary Sue here can’t do anything wrong! She never has to suffer the consequences of her actions, she is always perfect no matter what she does… it pisses me off!)

She’s the Guardian now big whoop. I know what it feels like to be stressed and under pressure so I do understand why she needed to tell someone about it all. I just don’t see why that person had to Alya! Especially considering she has someone by her side every akuma attack going through pretty much the exact same thing. I know she’s worried about CB happening again but as I said before the more she leaves him out the more she is actually pushing that to become a possibility! Plus it makes sense for them to reveal their identities now since LB is now the guardian it’s probably a good idea to know who holds the cat miraculous, she knows everyone else’s identities!

Even if she didn’t want to tell CN her identity she could still explain the situation to him. If she didn’t want to tell him anything (which she doesn’t anyway) then instead of Alya she should’ve talked to Luka! Her boyfriend for all of half an episode (thanks writers…). He’s so sweet and caring and clearly loves her so much! If she wanted someone to confide in then why not choose the person you clearly wanted to date but couldn’t because of that very reason! (Yeah I know it’s kinda a moot point now since Luka knows both identities but still). He wanted to try and comfort her so it would’ve been the perfect moment for it. That way you could still date him and he’d know why you had to suddenly leave dates halfway through! But no break the boys heart instead!

Adrien and Marinette were both such fucking idiots in the first 2 episodes. Like why would you start a relationship with someone when you know your heart isn’t in it! That’s called leading someone on and is a really shitty thing to do to someone! No wonder Kagami and Luka ended up akumatized!

Another aspect of season 4 I don’t like is Rena Furtive. Yes ok having a spy for your side is a good strategy but when said spy basically tells an important member of a duo that the 2 person job doesn’t involve them… it just really ticks me off! Alya you are the sidekick to LB and CN! Chat isn’t!

Miraculous specials:

The Miraculous World specials suck! Shanghai is better than NY but still has its problems. Both specials add nothing to the overall plot/lore of the show apart from trying to set up some weird cinematic universe…

NY special:

One of the worst things I’ve ever had to sit through! The plane scene alone I paused a few times. I want to say well done to Mari for trying to move on from Adrien (especially considering I’m pretty sure she’s dating Luka at this point) but I can’t help but think it’s just to give her character some pointless development that goes nowhere and doesn’t actually develop anything!

LB can pretty much fuck off at this point! I hate her! She put all this shit on CN (like she doesn’t know exactly how that feels). It’s like why does she get to go off on holiday but CN can’t. LB should’ve stayed in Paris for 3 reasons:

1. She’s recently become the guardian meaning it would probably be best that she stayed with the Mircle Box

2. She’s the only one who can purity the akumas

3. If she’s so sure about being the boss then she should take responsibility of Paris and the citizens.

What really pisses me off about her is what she says to CN during the big fight. “I can’t trust you”… surely you could have this conversation afterwards since you’re supposed to be focusing on taking down the villian! Plus everyone bashes Adrien for giving his miraculous up in this episode but look at it from his point of view: His partner and best friend just said she couldn’t trust him which in turn caused him to cataclysm someone and essentially kill them. That’s gonna take a toll on anyone, especially a 14 year old! He probably thought in that moment. “Ladybug needs a partner she can trust and someone who won���t mess up and kill someone. She needs a better partner.” It makes sense he renounces his miraculous! I’m just upset that in doing so he loses Plagg who is pretty much his only friend who actually understands what Adrien goes through at home.

When Uncanny gets CN to come back, LB acts like it’s not her fault in the first place that he feels inadequate! She didn’t even apologise for saying what she did! He apologised for lying about not being in Paris but nope LB wasn’t in the wrong at all and didn’t have anything to apologise for 🙄… (yes the LadyNoir hug was amazing but I just wish it was under different circumstances!)

Also are we not gonna mention Gabriel Agreste almost starting WW3??? He wanted to launch a fucking missile!!!

Shanghai:

As I said before, this special is way better for several reasons.

We got MariChat! (Best side to the love square imo). This special actually had some semblance on a plot. Fei, whilst a bit op, was a cool character. It was nice to see Wang Cheng again.

However once again there were many problems.

A big one being Marinette yet again! (What a shock! 😒 I’ll come back to this). Another was that once again HM’s motivation has changed. How is getting the Prodigious gonna help bring back Emilie??

Back to Marinette… The fact that the words “Huh?! There must be some kind of mistake! I always know what's up with Adrien! … His 5 first names and every corresponding name date, his yearly schedule, even his shoe size! If there were anything to know about him, I would know it!” come out of her mouth whilst she is flipping through his schedule that she keeps in her pocketbook is a hugh red flag!!! That is not cute or adorable! That’s messed up and Adrien needs to fucking run and maybe possibly go into witness protection… Marinette is a full blown stalker! Not to mention the GPS she has (that could just be the find my friends app on iphone but still).

It also is extremely rude of her to use not only her great uncle’s birthday but also a lie about wanting to know her Chinese heritage in order to go to Shanghai to stalk her obsession, I mean crush. This could’ve been avoided if the Dupain-Chengs were going to Shanghai for the purpose of celebrating Wang Cheng’s bday and then Adrien just so happened to be in Shanghai.

Also this means LB left Paris without telling CN! I know CN did the same but again he can’t purify the akumas. Plus he has a reason he couldn’t stay in Paris, Mari just went cause her crush did. Great guardianship there Marinette.

This was also the last time CN actually did something. Even if it was for a short while before LB and her female partner took over (the beginning of a theme…)

Other things:

There are 2 other things that I wanna say but felt they needed a separate bit.

In Furious Fu, Su-Han has a rule book that he uses to tell Marinette which rules she has broken. At the end of the episode he tells her that is she breaks 1 more rule that he will take the Miraculous and the Miracle Box off her, which fair enough but wouldn’t it be helpful to leave the rule book with her?! How can she be wary of not breaking anymore rules when she doesn’t even know what the rules are??

Now the big one: Master Fu…

Where do I even start with him. He is so fucking manipulative!! He is Asian Dumbledore!

He decides to leave these extremely powerful jewels in the hands of 13 year olds! Surely leaving the miraculous to someone in their 20s would’ve been better!

He clearly favours LB over CN even though the Ladybug and Black Cat are supposed to be partners! Wouldn’t it make sense for them both to be in contact with the guardian from the start?? He randomly started introducing rules such as if LB and CN find out each other’s identities they would lose their miraculous… what kind of bullshit rule is that? It also came out of fucking nowhere!

Final Thoughts:

But to summarise all of that: Miraculous is on quite a steep decline but I’m invested at this point and I am genuinely curious as to where the fuck this will go.

Marinette needs professional fucking help before the writers even consider canonising Adrienette cause at the moment she is not what Adrien needs!

Adrien needs to stand up for himself! He needs to pull LB to the side and tell her what he feels and what he’s going through cause he is on the precipice of a breakdown!

(Small point that’s more to do with the fandom: when searching for fanfics it’s really annoying that Adrien Agreste/Chat Noir Bashing is a tag but Marinette Dupain-Cheng/Ladybug Bashing isn’t. Why does everyone think Marinette can do no wrong???)

[lilmissbacon]

Miraculous Ladybug Redesigns

So I've taken upon myself to redesign most of the new looks that have come out is season 4 of Miraculous 😅

I had completely accepted how bad this show was and how much a of a dumpster fire season 4 had been thus far but as an artist, Penalteam was the last straw. Also, I've already posted my redesigns for Marc and Nathaniel here.

I also really appreciate the love the comments, reblogs and likes I got for those redesigns. It really helped encourage me to keep on with these. So thank you 💕

Also just to note it here, Juleka's super-outfit is the only really great look to come out of this season but I would've named her Panthera than just Purple Tigress.

Let's Go! I wanna die

Dog Sabrina

She was the one I did right after Marc and Nate because her look was the most atrocious and as much as I don't have any feeling towards her character, I can't let it stand.

I'm never gonna let go of the fact that her final design in show was just her civilian clothes in a different font. Not to mention that UGLY-ass hat with the ears glued on.

So in my redesign I made her hair to be the ears and instead of giving her a literal collar, I gave her a belt to look like one. The miraculous itself is just hidden under the turtleneck.

I gave her 2 little tennis balls instead of one so she can throw them as weapons like Erina from Dingo Doodles' D&D story (if you don't know it, you can see it on YouTube.) I like to think that the balls can magnetize back into her hand like Captain America's shield and if you look closely you can see the palms of Sabrina's gloves are white.

Miss Hound is just a no for me in terms of names. Honestly, Miss Mutt would've been a better name. But overall I decide that Sabrina be renamed "Cavalier," which is a breed of dog that looks strikingly similar to how I ended up designing her.

Ox Ivan

His superhero look was once again, another look that was just fine but I'm upset they made his suit gray when the ox is literally the only hero that's blue. Also he looks like he's wearing a winter coat and the fact that they didn't change his hair despite how distinguishable it is, kinda makes me mad.

I kept the shoulder bits because I thought it was nice but flattened out the rest of his torso. He's already big and bulky, he doesn't need the extra padding.

I actually really like the superpower they gave him but the name Minotaurox is a mouthful. So I decided to rename him "Bullock."

Pig Rose

As cute as her design is in the show, I still had problems.

Mostly her bangs and the tutu. I didn't think a tutu was even really miraculous canon to how the hero costumes work and honestly, it still doesn't feel like so. Plus it was a slightly different shade of pink from the rest of the suit which is irritating. She looked more like she was wearing the miraculous of the lolipop than the pig.

So I 1) made the hoof patterning on her feet to be a dark brown so it looked like actual hooves. 2) Moved the lolipop thing from her chest to a belt buckle and made it look like a pig snout. 3) Changed her bangs to be more flattering and the pigtails to look more like pig ears. 4) Flip the colors on her mask.

Idk what the designers were thinking with Rose or Sabrina that made them choose to put the white on the top half of their masks. It's practically a rule of thumb that you put the darker colors on top because otherwise it looks like cancer. And it does, it makes Sabrina and Rose' eyes look sunken in and like they have cancer.

I mean can you imagine how the Hex Girls would look with their lip colors flipped?

I rest my case.

I did keep the swirls in her arms and legs because the curls are clearly supposed to be in reference to pigs tails. I didn't change her name or power. Pigella is a cute name and while her power isn't spectacular, it can be useful for distractions in battle.

Also I just didn't feel like drawing the ankle bracelet. I'm tired.

Bee Zoe

I hate this character's existence entirely but we'll ignore that for the sake of focusing on the art.

In her canon design, not only were the random black bangs stupid but she doesn't even remotely resemble a bee or wasp. She also has more black then yellow in her suit+hair and looks more like a villain then Queen Banana did. Also hate the shirt/pants color ratio and those dumbass sneakers.

So I cut off her bangs, gave her a thigh-high boot look and the same gloves Chloe had. I also kept the suit the same shade of yellow as Chloe's because the fact that they made Zoe's a warmer shade of yellow is not just such a copout, it actually makes her less distinguishable from the other heroes with gold/yellow.

I did take into consideration that the original designers were clearly trying to give Zoe's stripes a V shape to them since her name is Vesperia. So I kept that when rearranging the stripes in my redesign.

It's a much more simple design which is actually a blessing because it's on par with Queen Bee's and even Ladybug's looks. Her canon design has so much going on that it's a mess.

So I hope you like this

My redesigns will forever be canon in my mind/au because what is canon just sucks and I hope you enjoy this art post.

[mostlymovieswithmax]

Movies I watched in May

Sadly, I kind of skipped writing a post for April. It was a mad month with so much going on: lots of emails sent and lots of stress. I started a new job so I’m getting to grips with that... and even then, I still watched a bunch of movies. But this is about what I watched in May and, yeah… still a bunch. So if you’re looking to get into some other movies - possibly some you’ve thought about watching but didn’t know what they were like, or maybe like the look of something you’ve never heard of - then this may help! So here’s every film I watched from the 1st to the 31st of May 2021 Tenet (2020) - 8/10 This was my third time watching Christopher Nolan’s most Christopher Nolan movie ever and it makes no sense but I still love it. The spectacle of it all is truly like nothing I’ve ever seen. I had also watched it four days prior to this watch also, only this time I had enabled audio description for the visually impaired, thinking it would make it funny… It didn’t.

Nomadland (2020) - 6/10 Chloé Zhao’s new movie got a lot of awards attention. Everyone was hyped for this and when it got put out on Disney+ I was eager to see what all the fuss was about. Seeing these real nomads certainly gave the film an authenticity, along with McDormand’s ever-praisable acting. But generally I found it quite underwhelming and lacking a lot in its pacing. Nomadland surely has its moments of captivating cinematography and enticing commentary on the culture of these people, but it felt like it went on forever without any kind of forward direction or goal. The Prince of Egypt (1998) - 6/10 I reviewed this on my podcast, The Sunday Movie Marathon. For what it is, it’s pretty fun but nowhere near as good as some of the best DreamWorks movies.

Chinatown (1974) - 8/10 What a fantastic and wonderfully unpredictable mystery crime film! I regret to say I’ve not seen many Jack Nicholson performances but he steals the show. Despite Polanski’s infamy, it’d be a lie to claim this wasn’t truly masterful. Howl’s Moving Castle (2004) - 8/10 Admittedly I was half asleep as I curled up on the sofa to watch this again on a whim. I watched this with someone who demanded the dubbed version over the subtitled version and while I objected heavily, I knew I’d seen the movie before so it didn’t matter too much. That person also fell asleep about 20 minutes in, so how pointless an argument it was. Howl’s Moving Castle boasts superb animation, the likes of which I’ve only come to expect of Miyazaki. The story is so unique and the colours are absolutely gorgeous. This may not be my favourite from the legendary director but there’s no denying its splendour.

Bāhubali: The Beginning (2015) - 3/10 The next morning I watched some absolute trash. This crazy, over the top Indian movie is hilarious and I could perhaps recommend it if it weren’t so long. That being said, Bāhubali was not a dumpster fire; it has a lot of good-looking visual effects and it’s easy to see the ambition for this epic story, it just doesn’t come together. There’s fun to be had with how the main character is basically the strongest man in the world and yet still comes across as just a lucky dumbass, along with all the dancing that makes no sense but is still entertaining to watch. Seven Samurai (1954) - 10/10 If it wasn’t obvious already, Seven Samurai is a masterpiece. I reviewed this on The Sunday Movie Marathon podcast, so more thoughts can be found there. Red Road (2006) - 6/10 Another recommendation on episode 30 of the podcast. Red Road really captures the authentic British working class experience. Before Sunrise (1995) - 10/10 One of the best romances put to film. The first in Richard Linklater’s Before Trilogy is undoubtedly my favourite, despite its counterparts being almost equally as good. It tells the story of a young couple travelling through Europe, who happen to meet on a train and spend the day together. It is gloriously shot on location in Vienna and features some of the most interesting dialogue I’ve ever seen put to film. Heartbreakingly beautiful.

Tokyo Story (1953) - 9/10 This Japanese classic - along with being visually and sonically masterful - is a lot about appreciating the people in your life and taking the time to show them that you love them. It’s about knowing it’s never too late to rekindle old relationships if you truly want to, which is something I’ve been able to relate to in recent years. It broke my heart in two. Tokyo Story will make you want to call your mother. Before Sunset (2004) - 10/10 Almost a decade after Sunrise, Sunset carries a sombre yet relieving feeling. Again, the performances from Julie Delpy and Ethan Hawke take me away, evoking nostalgic feelings as they stroll through the contemporary Parisian streets. There is no regret in me for buying the Criterion blu-ray boxset for this trilogy. Before Midnight (2013) - 10/10 Here, Linklater cements this trilogy as one of the best in film history. It’s certainly not the ending I expected, yet it’s an ending I appreciate endlessly. Because it doesn’t really end. Midnight shows the troubling times of a strained relationship; one that has endured so long and despite initially feeling almost dreamlike in how idealistically that first encounter was portrayed, the cracks appear as the film forces you to come to terms with the fact that fairy-tale romances just don’t exist. Relationships require effort and sacrifice and sometimes the ones that truly work are those that endure through all the rough patches to emerge stronger. The Holy Mountain (1973) - 10/10 Jodorowsky’s masterpiece is absolute insanity. I talked more about it on The Sunday Movie Marathon podcast.

The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014) - 10/10 Another watch for Grand Budapest because I bought the Criterion blu-ray. As unalterably perfect as ever. Blue Jay (2016) - 6/10 Rather good up to a point. My co-hosts and I did not agree on how good this movie was, which is a discussion you can listen to on my podcast. Shadow and Bone: The Afterparty (2021) - 3/10 For what it’s worth, I really enjoyed the first season of Shadow and Bone, which is why I wanted to see what ‘The Afterparty’ was about. This could have been a lot better and much less annoying if all those terrible comedians weren’t hosting and telling bad jokes. I don’t want to see Fortune Feimster attempt to tell a joke about oiling her body as the cast of the show sit awkwardly in their homes over Zoom. If it had simply been a half hour, 45 minute chat with the cast and crew about how they made the show and their thoughts on it, a lot of embarrassment and time-wasting could have been spared. Wadjda (2012) - 6/10 Another recommendation discussed at length on The Sunday Movie Marathon. Wadjda was pretty interesting from a cultural perspective but largely familiar in terms of story structure.

Freddy Got Fingered (2001) - 2/10 A truly terrible movie with maybe one or two scenes that stop it from being a complete catastrophe. Tom Green tried to create something that almost holds a middle finger to everyone who watches it and to some that could be a fun experience, but to me it just came across as utterly irritating. It’s simply a bunch of scenes threaded together with an incredibly loose plot. He wears the skin of a dead deer, smacks a disabled woman over and over again on the legs to turn her on, and he swings a newborn baby around a hospital room by its umbilical cord (that part was actually pretty funny). I cannot believe I watched this again, although I think I repressed a lot of it since having seen it for the first time around five years ago. The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 1 - (2011) I have to say, these movies seem to get better with each instalment. They’re still not very good though. That being said, I’m amazed at how many times I’ve watched each of the Twilight movies at this point. This time around, I watched Breaking Dawn - Part 1 with a YMS commentary track on YouTube and that made the experience a lot more entertaining. Otherwise, this film is super dumb but pretty entertaining. I would recommend watching these movies with friends. Solaris (1972) - 8/10 Andrei Tarkovsky’s grand sci-fi epic about the emotional crises of a crew on the space station orbiting the fictional planet Solaris is much as strange and creepy as you might expect from the master Russian auter. I had wanted to watch this for a while so I bought the Criterion blu-ray and it’s just stunning. It’s clear to see the 2001: A Space Odyssey inspiration but Solaris is quite a different beast entirely. Jaws (1975) - 4/10 I really tried to get into this classic movie, but Jaws exhibits basically everything I don’t like about Steven Spielberg’s directing. For sure, the effects are crazily good but the story itself is poorly handled and largely uninteresting. It was just a massive slog to get through.

Darkman (1990) - 6/10 Sam Raimi’s superhero movie is so much fun, albeit massively stupid. Further discussion on Darkman can be found on episode 32 of The Sunday Movie Marathon podcast. Darkman II: The Return of Durant (1995) - 1/10 Abysmal. I forgot the movie as I watched it. This was part of a marathon my friends and I did for episode 32 of our podcast. Darkman III: Die Darkman Die (1996) - 1/10 Perhaps this trilogy is not so great after all. Only marginally better than Darkman II but still pretty terrible. More thoughts on episode 32 of my podcast. F For Fake (1973) - 8/10 Rewatching this proved to be a worthwhile decision. Albeit slightly boring, there’s no denying how crazy the story of this documentary about art forgers is. The standout however, is the director himself. Orson Welles makes a lot of this film about himself and how hot his girlfriend is and it is hilarious.

The Mitchells vs. The Machines (2021) - 4/10 More style over substance, Sony’s new animated adventure wants so much to be in trend with the current internet culture but it simply doesn’t understand what it’s emulating. There’s a nyan cat reference, for crying out loud. For every joke that works, there are about ten more that do not and were it not for the wonderful animation, it simply wouldn’t be getting so much praise. Taxi Driver (1976) - 10/10 The first movie I’ve seen in a cinema since 2020 and damn it was good to be back! I’ve already reviewed Taxi Driver in my March wrap-up but seeing it in the cinema was a real treat. Irreversible (2002) - 8/10 One of the most viscerally horrendous experiences I’ve ever had while watching a movie. I cannot believe a friend of mine gave me the DVD to watch. More thoughts on episode 32 of The Sunday Movie Marathon podcast. Don’t watch it with the family. The Golden Compass (2007) - 1/10 I had no recollection of this being as bad as it is. The Golden Compass is the definition of a factory mandated movie. Nothing it does on its own is worth any kind of merit. I would say, if you wanted an experience like what this tries to communicate, a better option by far is the BBC series, His Dark Materials. More of my thoughts can be found in the review I wrote on Letterboxd.

Antichrist (2009) - 8/10 Lars von Trier is nothing if not provocative and I can understand why someone would not like Antichrist, but I enjoyed it quite a lot. After watching it, I wrote a slightly disjointed summary of my interpretations of this highly metaphorical movie in the group chat, so fair warning for a bit of spoilers and graphic descriptions: It's like, the patriarchy, man! Oppression! Men are the rational thinkers with big brains and the women just cry and be emotional. So she's seen as crazy when she's smashing his cock and driving a drill through his leg to keep him weighted down. Like, how does he like it, ya know? So then she mutilates herself like she did with him and now they're both wounded, but the animals crowd around her (and the crow that he couldn't kill because it's Mother nature, not Father nature, duh). Then he kills her, even though she could've killed him loads of times but didn't. So it's like "haha big win for the man who was subjected to such horrific torture. Victory!" And then all the women with no faces come out of the woods because it's like a constant cycle. Manchester By The Sea (2016) - 6/10 Great performances in this super sad movie. I can’t say I got too much out of it though. Roar (1981) - 9/10 Watching Roar again was still as terrifying an experience as the first time. If you want to watch something that’s loose on plot with poor acting but with real big cats getting in the way of production and physically attacking people, look no further. This is the scariest movie I’ve ever seen because it’s all basically real. Cannot recommend it enough. Eyes Without A Face (1960) - 8/10 I’m glad I checked this old French movie out again. There’s a lot to marvel at in so many aspects, what with the premise itself - a mad surgeon taking the faces from unsuspecting women and transplanting them onto another - being incredibly unique for the time. Short, sweet and entertaining!

Se7en (1995) - 10/10 The first in a David Fincher marathon we did for The Sunday Movie Marathon, episode 33. Zodiac (2007) - 10/10 Second in the marathon, as it was getting late, we decided to watch half that evening and the last half on the following evening. Zodiac is a brilliant movie and you can hear more of my thoughts on the podcast (though I apologise; my audio is not the best in this episode). Gone Girl (2014) - 10/10 My favourite Fincher movie. More insights into this masterpiece in episode 33 of the podcast. Friends: The Reunion (2021) - 6/10 It was heartwarming to see the old actors for this great show together again. I talked about the Friends reunion film at length in episode 33 of my podcast.

Wolfwalkers (2020) - 10/10 I reviewed this in an earlier post but would like to reiterate just how wonderful Wolfwalkers is. If you get the chance, please see it in the cinema. I couldn’t stop crying from how beautiful it was. Raya and The Last Dragon (2021) - 6/10 After watching Wolfwalkers, I decided I didn’t want to go home. So I had lunch in town and booked a ticket for Disney’s Raya and The Last Dragon. A child was coughing directly behind me the entire time. Again, I reviewed this in an earlier post but generally it was decent but I have so many problems with the execution. The Princess Bride (1987) - 9/10 Clearly I underrated this the last time I watched it. The Princess Bride is warm and hilarious with some delightfully memorable characters. A real classic!

The Invisible Kid (1988) - 1/10 About as good as you’d expect a movie with that name to be, The Invisible Kid was a pick for The Sunday Movie Marathon podcast, the discussion for which you can listen to in episode 34. Babel (2006) - 9/10 The same night that I watched The Invisible Kid, I watched a masterful and dour drama from the director of Birdman and The Revenant. Babel calls back to an earlier movie of Iñárritu’s, called Amores Perros and as I was informed while we watched this for the podcast, it turns out Babel is part of a trilogy alongside the aforementioned film. More thoughts in episode 34 of the podcast. Snake Eyes (1998) - 1/10 After feeling thoroughly emotionally wiped out after Babel, we immediately watched another recommendation for the podcast: Snake Eyes, starring Nicolas Cage. This was a truly underwhelming experience and for more of a breakdown into what makes this movie so bad, you can listen to us talk about it on the podcast.