#so maybe he can be replaced with a more obscure character idk

[quibbs126]

Oh yeah so I had this idea earlier when I was thinking about Beast Wars, only reason I didn’t post it earlier was because I got dragged out to dinner

Anyways, so basically I had this thought of a Transformers series where basically the Autobots and Decepticons crash land on Earth, and due to them having no clue where they are and no current way of getting back home, they decide to work together, at least for the time being

So like, the main group of protagonists would consist of both Autobots and Decepticons

But also it wouldn’t be the entirety of both groups working together, as members on both sides refuse to work with the other for one reason or another and instead decide to do their own thing, being their own separate parties that probably cause trouble from time to time. But every member here has their own reasons why they are or aren’t fine with teaming up, and why they’re on one side or the other

I kind of don’t want Optimus and Megatron there, probably because I was thinking of Beast Wars which doesn’t have them, and also because I want to see this alliance come from characters other than them. But at the same time I feel like they kind of have to be there. My current solution is that the two were on a different part of the ship that came off during the crash landing, and in current day (assuming they all were unconscious for a bit like g1 or Animated) the two are missing, which might be a reason for the two groups to team up. Their goals are to: find fuel, find everyone that might have gone missing, find a way to contact/get back to Cybertron, and find their leaders

I’m not entirely sure what’s going on with Optimus and Megatron here yet, just that they’d probably be absent until like, maybe the end of the season or something

But one concept that did come to mind is that whoever found them basically decided to stitch the two of them together using each’s body parts into one powerful robot (probably not knowing what they really are), and so the two are pretty much fused together into one, with them having to deal with this, assuming they still have a mind anymore. And also with this concept, this Frankenstein of them is specifically not one or the other with the other’s body parts, it’s both of them in there, through whatever magic means. Or neither if we just want the body horror and the new team having to put them down. Or I suppose you could have instead their minds/sparks being fused into an entirely new being. Didn’t really think about that concept until right now. But yeah, might not be the concept I stick with, but it is the one in my head right now

Edit: all I know is that I don’t think I want it to just be “they decide to work together”, because while I’m down for a solo Optimus and Megatron team-up side plot, the rest of the group is already doing the team-up, so it’d be treading the same ground. I want to do something different with them, and fusing them together into one being certainly is that. Throws a wrench into the whole war thing too

And yeah, I just wanted to share this concept because I thought it was neat. I would try to develop it more, but I have literally no clue who would be on either side, because the only characters I think about are Optimus and Megatron, and I also don’t really want Starscream and probably Bumblebee here either

[sugasugawarau]

Synopsis: You knew that Kageyama Tobio was not your soulmate - and that was why you could not help but succumb to the waves that lulled you away from the shores of fate + semi inspired by Eyes Blue like the Atlantic by sistaprod ft. Subvrbs. Also part of @yacoka‘s collab <3 (2.4k words)

Warnings/notes: Some angst near the end, soulmate red string au, gender neutral reader. No beta we die like Rex Lapis so if I ever feel like it this may be edited at some point asdahdhj idk LMAO

— Prologue

There are as many reasons to fall in love with Kageyama Tobio as there are fractals made by the ocean’s breath as the world inhales and exhales, flourishes and wilts, conquers and surrenders. It would not even be a hyperbole to say that in number, they remain unrivalled to the plethora of stars that stain the waves with their reflection and run deeper than the scars of lightyears that paint lines from Cassiopeia to Aquila.

After all, he is the darkest hue of navy blue.

Determination that moves in an orchestra of thundering waves, brandishing on its crest an admirable recklessness, heeding not for the need to call upon courage or confidence; polished instinct that endued one with the same awestruck feeling when facing the beautifully suffocating obscurity of their life in this world, a mixture of raw fear and the need to impart a piece of their soul in everything they do despite how fragile the skin shielding their heart is.

But the best part of loving Kageyama was that you were not - or will ever become - destined to be.

— Shoreline

Red.

It was a word that was always thrown about in conversations, the fuel to the catastrophes that were high school gossip chains, and the colour that held the mangled passion of the string of fate. Garishly predestined and easily tangled by unnecessary complications of jealousy and confusion, it is needless to say that you hated red with more passion than the love it emptily promises with a title as shallow as soulmates.

That was not to say you despised love. There was nothing wrong with love itself, a fact which you had decided firmly since the spry age of four years old. What was wrong was its combination with soulmates: a rigid formula, nothing like the walks with your grandmother on the bright summer roads littered with flowers as her calloused palm gently guided you, or the laughter you shared with your friends after a long run in the rain, hugging each other goodbye at the end of the day despite the muddy battle scars covering your arms and legs from falling countless times.

Your mind could have kept you engaged in your internal debate for longer if you were left to your own devices, but an awkward cough and the sound of a desk shifting towards your right brought you out of your reverie, bringing your drifting thoughts back to the classroom surrounding you.

Perhaps your look of confusion came off as hostile, for the dark-haired boy now sitting next to you looked at you with a slight glare that felt forced, an automatic effort to defend himself.

His tone of voice only confirmed your unconsciously off-putting expression as he gruffly stated, “Group project.” to explain his sudden presence.

“Oh. What’s the topic on?”

An awkward silence had ensued while you tried to calmly collect yourself by gathering a handful of pens from your pencil case after being caught in your heinous crime of not paying attention to your English teacher.

“You don’t know?” Came his reply, causing you to occupy yourself by finding extreme interest in a lime green highlighter you did not have any recollection of ever buying.

“Well, I clearly wasn’t paying attention.”

“You… weren’t?” The slight intonation in his tone was a stark contrast to your initial impression of him and caused you to look up at him, almost letting out an amused snort at his befuddled frown to which he furrowed his brows and shot a challenging “What?” in return. Realizing that he was genuine in believing that you were deep in thought over the lesson, a burst of laughter blossomed past your lips, attracting a few odd looks from your nearby peers and an abashed glare from him.

You paused to take a breath, a repetition of sorries stumbling their way out to appease the onslaught of nagging you thought would follow shortly. Instead, all the boy muttered was a simple, “You’re weird.”

“Sure, but that’s beside the point - were you paying any attention?”

“No.”

Seeing your face contorted to stop yet another bout of laughter to roam its way into the world as a result of his bluntness, he shot out of his seat and announced that he would go ask the teacher, unable to hide his puzzlement as he walked away. He would come to regret this decision when the teacher began to lecture him, earning more heads to turn his way as she scolded him before sending him off dismissively with a sticky note that you assumed had your now long-awaited topic.

Before you could thank him for enduring what could only be one of the worst things to experience as a high school student, he wordlessly handed the piece of paper to you and sat down.

“Kageyama, right? With this project, you’ll have me to thank for the A we’ll get,” you promised confidently, to which he responded with a halfhearted “Good luck.”

If he had been a close friend, you would have taken the small textbook on his desk and gently hit his head at his evident lack of belief in his capabilities, but settled for a clipped sigh instead. After all, you did not want to further contribute to the premature wrinkles Kageyama was making himself prone to with all of the brow-furrowing he did.

This is going to be one long month.

— Largo

Like how the ocean reluctantly caresses the sleeping shore as it wakes from its slumber during low tide, your lives slowly flowed together.

During the first week of your group project with him, he would greet you curtly, and on a few occasions, you would have short conversations about the outline of your book review.

And this singular week was enough to show that there was some (okay, maybe a lot) of backing behind the teacher’s warning about Kageyama’s dismal grade.

While you flipped through A Midsummer Night’s Dream, you would catch the all-too-familiar confusion on his face - it was written on his features so blatantly that it was almost comical, as if taken straight out of a shonen manga.

“You know if you’re stuck you can ask me for help.”

A slight scowl greeted you over the hedge of pages he had been burying himself in, followed by a biting, “Who said I need help?”

You could only roll your eyes in return.

“Please drop the prideful act. You've been glazing over the same page for about twenty minutes now."

After a few seconds of grumbling did he finally comply, and with your explanations, his bookmark was now comfortably sandwiched between the double-digit page numbers right as the bell rang. You hummed in satisfaction before returning your desk to your original spot, expecting him to rush out along with everyone else - so to turn around and see him still standing there was a bit of a surprise.

“Did you still need help with the last few lines?” You settled on asking, not really wanting to plague your break with work but offering nonetheless. Thankfully, he shot a look of disdain at the play as he stuffed it away haphazardly in his bag.

“No, I just wanted to,” he trailed off a bit, the tinge of red on his ears an out-of-character detail you decided not to comment on, “to say thanks, I guess.”

You smiled softly at the unexpected gesture of appreciation before giving him a teasing nudge which he stiffened slightly at.

“Well, I can’t have you bringing down my mark now can I?”

“Nevermind, I take it back.”

“Too bad, I have those words of gratitude stored nicely in my hippocampus already.”

From there, tutoring sessions with Kageyama became the norm, with you sometimes asking about his volleyball team after he had let slip that you were a better teacher than Tsukishima (something you would be sure to smugly share if you ever met the infamous middle blocker).

By the end of the month, all of the hard work - and a couple of all-nighters due to procrastination - brought forth an A as you had promised.

Even your relentless teasing, varying between “I told you so!” to “You owe me at least three meat buns now” which were all met with an annoyed “Shut up”was not enough to dim the smile he tried to hide.

— High tide

With the force of nature, the tide rose without warning; from goodnight texts to confessing to the first “I love you” uttered shyly between shameless souls, neither of you was sure where things began, but found comfort in such liberating chaos.

In times where he needed to be held, you were there, and the insecurities you would hide, he would turn beautiful. And today happened to be a day for both as you stared absentmindedly at his bedroom ceiling.

“Hey Tobio, what’s your take on soulmates?”

“We’ve been together for almost a year now, what do you think?” he put his phone down and turned towards you, “I could care less about soulmates or whatever else is worrying you enough to make your overthinking go into overdrive.”

“Rude, have some respect, it’s my profession after all,” you shoved him playfully as he snorted in reply, “It’s just... If your string ever appeared, wouldn't you rather-”

“Listen Y/n, did you know that I’m scared of dying but I’m even more terrified of the thought of living without you? I could never and don’t ever want to replace you. People can talk all they want, if I could find a love like ours without something as stupid as a piece of string then I don’t need a soulmate.”

“Really?”

With a flick to your forehead, he huffed in fake exasperation. “Really.”

“Huh, who knew you could be so romantic.”

“It's not romantic, I'm just being honest, idiot.”

“You sure could make do with some more lessons on manners and social tact. It's too bad you can't pick up on those as well as volleyball drills.”

Before he could retaliate, you enveloped him in a familiar embrace, burrowing your face into the large hoodie he donned.

It was effortless, his company.

— Ebbing away

But it wasn’t all romantic.

You fiddled with your phone as you waited for any sign that Kageyama had seen your messages, the pack of meat buns you had bought on a whim no longer letting off their fragrant steam. You knew he had an important match coming up against Seijoh, that he had to prove himself, that he lives hungrily and foolishly like no other. But his missing presence went beyond volleyball practice, keeping his distance from you even when he was right by your side.

Why am I stuck reminiscing about the past when we still have each other?

Why does every step I take towards him feel as if I’m only drawing myself farther away from him?

A carousel of rhetorical questions spun around your head as you stopped your slow pace towards Karasuno. You were not blind; you knew the rumours and dirty looks from your classmates were not something anyone could be immune to, that he tried his best to spend less time around you at school. The only conclusion you could reach was that he was ashamed: either of you, or the fact that he had begun to see his red string and could not bring himself to face you.

Ignoring the urge to let yourself cry, you glanced down at your phone once more, 8:30PM flashed across your eyes, followed by your empty notifications. There was no way he’d still be practicing at the school now and even if he was, you doubted he would be happy to see you. Maybe - no, definitely - it would be better to head home, and maybe stop by the convenience store you had bought the now misshapen meat buns from to get some tea and call it a night.

If only fate did not reciprocate your hatred towards it.

Stepping into the small store, the first person you are greeted with is none other than Kageyama Tobio. The whole situation was like a fever dream, and you would do anything to be able to let out a laugh and have him call you weird all over again. But all you could bring yourself to do was blearily stare at him.

He turned around quickly, as if not wanting to be caught before ushering you outside. “Y/n? Why are you here?” he hissed, a stiffness that he had recently adopted to his body language that you were now all too familiar with.

“What? Am I not allowed to go into any and all convenience stores I please?” You challenged, a part of you waiting for him to care enough to see how tired you were, to actually look you in the eyes for the first time in weeks.

He did not, opting to turn his head towards the door again.

“It’s not that, it’s just-”

“Just what? Tobio, what is up with you lately?” A pause ensued, broken by a small hiccup as your eyes dampened - God, how much more pathetic could you get than crying in front of some dingy convenience store - “Do you even love me anymore?”

How odd. You thought that by finally uttering the final question that had been dancing around your mind free to the world, you would feel better. That he would reassure you, as he always had.

Not that he would at last meet your gaze, grabbing your hand to look at the red string wrapped around your ring finger.

The taste of tears and Kageyama’s eyes as blue as the Atlantic all felt miles away from you as an orange-haired boy stepped out of the store, his mouth dropping into an o-shape when he saw that his string led to you, a disheveled mess arguing with his teammate.

“Kageyama…You knew? Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Because I didn’t want to face the reality of it all. Because I was afraid of losing you.”

“But I wouldn’t leave you-”

“I know you wouldn’t but you should!” Kageyama’s furrowed brows, once a quirk of his that you were fond of, now elicited a sick turmoil in your stomach, “You have to. Please.”

You wanted to yell at him, let the blood pour out of any and all raw words of anger and hurt.

Who was he to decide what was good for you, to throw you at some boy you never met before, to give up?

Then again, you could never say you would not have done the same for him if you knew he had found his soulmate despite the sweet words he had told you so long ago.

So you let yourself go. For his sake.

[yarrowleef]

Started thinking about this as I’m slowly rereading the first series, but I think more people who are doing rewrites of the first series should think about cutting out Redtail completely and just replacing him with Lionheart.

I know a lot of people cringe at the idea of cutting any character because warrior cats are like pokemon, doesn’t matter how forgettable or pointless they are individually, every one is still SOMEONE’S favorite for some obscure reason or another. And I know Redtail became a fan favorite for many because....idk actually, cause he’s pretty??? maybe just b/c he’s inherently nostalgic due to his death kicking off Tigerclaw’s murder-journey? it’s not like he’s got much canon personality. but imo if you don’t have some specific fixation on Redtail for personal reasons, the story would be better off just combining him into Lionheart

As I’m going through Fire and Ice, I can’t help but feel like this focus on Fireheart wanting to solve the deputies death would feel more personal and impactful if we actually...knew who he was. Redtail had no canon presence for years, we just have to HEAR over and over that he was a great and noble guy and his death was a tragedy and that second hand info alone is driving Fireheart. But Lionheart, Fireheart knew him, he was one of the first cats he met, he helped welcome him to the clan, he was his best friends mentor etc. His wrongful death has reason to actually stick in his mind and trouble him so much.

And its so anticlimactic that through the murder-mystery part of the books, its driven in over and over how awful it is that Tigerclaw murdered the deputy so he could take his place! but then........the deputy he replaced isn’t even the one that he murdered?? honestly its so weird looking back on it that they just shoved an in-between deputy, kind of takes the grandiosity away from the act because lmao it didn’t even WORK. You’d think he’d only do a murder when he was sure no one would be chosen over him, but then he just. Wasn’t chosen. Didn’t do anythign to secure it apparently lol. 

But the story still repeats over and over that Tigerclaw killed the deputy and then took his place. It’s so bizarre that it lead to a whole lot of people misremembering Lionheart’s death and mistakenly think that Tigerclaw had something to do with it, that would make sense after all, but like. He didn’t. He had nothing to do with Lioneart’s death at all, he presumably just sat on his hands fuming that his murder plan didn’t work and then stumbled into the deputy position later on by pure dumb luck that ShadowClan happened to attack and get Lionheart out of the way for him (wow what a master strategist out main villain is). It was such a weird delay that its like. Why was Lionheart even made deputy just to force him to have a pointless completely unrelated death? why did that happen? And why is this deputy’s death, the guy we actually knew and started to form a bit of attachment to, overshadowed for the rest of the series by this Redtail guys death, someone we’ve never met?? 

As i’ve made fun of in the past with my one popular post, it’s SUPER WEIRD that Firepaw’s intro the the clan was interrupted by the death of Redtail, because the story CLEARLY doesn’t actually want to deal with the traumatic death of an important clan member right now, it doesn’t have time to. What needs to be happening right then is “Firepaw is accepted into the clan, shown around camp, introduced to clan life, and he is excited about it” and that’s it. Fighting Longtail is more then enough excitement for that section. Redtail’s death is glossed over and ignored and incredibly awkwardly put in, and  Firepaw doesn’t even have time to notice or care that it happened. A sudden bloody death is very at-odds to the emotions Firepaw is supposed to be feeling right then (how can you be excited after just seeing a dead body for the first time???? seriously, all you 1st series re-writers out there, however you do it PLEASE MOVE THAT SCENE AND HAVE IT HAPPEN AT A DIFFERENT TIME IT’S SO AWKWARD ASDHFBRJHGJRHD)

Anyway, Lionheart should have just been the deputy right off the bat, that 2nd battle with RiverClan should have happened a little after Firepaw joined, and it should have been Lionheart murdered by Tigerclaw so Tigerclaw’s evil plan could *actually succeed* and he can immediately take his place as deputy. Fireheart has more personal stakes in avenging the murder (and so does the reader), and his first exposure to death is more impactful for him because he knew who they were.

Also I just think Lionheart is cooler and I wish he got the attention Nobody-tail gets now instead of having a pointless overshadowed death in-between them. Redtail stans don’t come for me

Idk what the point to this long post was, I just felt like rambling about unimportant topics this morning b/c i’m procrastinating doing work.

[baltears]

doing the ask meme thats been going around with westworld even though nobody asked, because i wanted to 😌

blorbo (favorite character, character I think about the most): william 😔 he’ll be appearing in several different answers bc he has the range. also dolores obviously but my thoughts on her are a little more mixed because her characterization changes so dramatically and sometimes i feel like the writers forget she has to have things to care about and the occasional moment of levity or enjoyment of things in order to not be a stone cold bummer of a character. (i need more of her Seeing Things So Full Of Splendor) but either way she’s bananas and i adore her

scrunkly (my “baby”, character that gives me cuteness aggression, character that is So Shaped): bernard <333 mr. soft and gentle and kind who accidentally murders people like every other day <333333 theresa is the most valid actually because she zeroed in on him and was like owo a perfect man? (they’re such a failcouple but i love them actually) also clementine :( justice for my baby!!!

scrimblo bimblo (underrated/underappreciated fave): idk if maeve counts as underappreciated by the fans (probably not) but she definitely is by the writers, give her an interesting arc and actual things to do that incorporate her interiority and inner world goddammit. also stubbs :) i think he’s fun and he adds a lot to every scene he’s in and im glad he got to have his little buddy comedy moment with bernard. oh and akane because she’s like maeve 1.0 and had just as much intelligence and will and potential to evolve but didn’t want to and i just think that’s interesting

glup shitto (obscure fave, character that can appear in the background for 0.2 seconds and I won’t shut up about it for a week): akecheta <3 he did get a single episode of focus but i love him so much and i want him back and even the slightest mention of him prior or subsequent to his day in the limelight make me froth at the mouth. peter, he’s not obscure given how important he is to the plot on a technical level but he gets very little screentime actually being himself and i definitely love him a disproportionate amount and think they low key totally squandered his potential as a character. and ANGELA ily bestie. also i have a weird soft spot for the replacement hosts that get tacitly rejected by their surrounding hosts like an organ getting rejected after a transplant. do they notice. do they recognize it and feel sad that the love and acceptance shown to them is only a performance and has none of the authenticity that it did for the host they’re replacing. if they do notice do they understand why. Let Them Speak

poor little meow meow (“problematic”/unpopular/controversial/otherwise pathetic fave): william <3 he is so horrible and i like him so much. unfortunately if he were the only character i would definitely still watch the show that is how much i like him. lee sizemore does not really count after the end of s2 because he’s no longer anywhere near as pathetic and has had his full redemption arc but the versions of him in earlier seasons are still this for me :) incompetent and ridiculous king

horse plinko (character I would torment for fun, for whatever reason): william (obviously), entire delos family but esp logan, wyatt!dolores

eeby deeby (character I would send to superhell): serac. and maybe also charlotte to keep him company :)

[charmspoint]

THANK YOU FOR SAYING THAT ABT THE BSD MANGA ILY THANK YOU I FEEL LIKE MY OPINION IS FINALLY VALIDATED WHICH IS: BSD has turned meh. I have become indifferent towards the plot due to the fact there are no real stakes - I feel like the OP characters like Dazai will always have a solution with a deus ex machina feel to it, making it impossible for me to care. With the recent chaos happening in the manga (I too gave up on the manga a year or so ago!), I was baffled to find out I could no longer enjoy it. My memory is poor, and I can't really pinpoint it at the moment, but BSD just... doesn't engage me as it used to. Keep in mind I was an obsessive fan of it and analyzed it to the tiniest details, but all of my great love for the series has long died, sadly. But! I am glad to hear you feel similarly about it because, yes, the potential was there, but it got terribly wasted.

Bruh don't I feel it, me and @autumn-foxfire have like monthly bitch sessions about the state of bsd at this point. I was also super invested in it in initial arcs (Up until the guild arc ended) and then slowly started petering off only to drop it the first time around the hunting dogs introduction. Then after some time i was like okay ill go give it a second shot, came to the vampire arc went 'wow this is really fuckin stupid' and dropped it again. Idk will I pick it up again, maybe I'll just stick to being an anime only, even tho I also have problems with some adaptation things but that's BESIDES THE POINT.

Please click under for The Point

The thing about Kafka is: He's really good at coming up with interesting concepts and ideas and REALLY BAD at executing them in any sort of satisfying way. Like, when I say I only like bsd until the end of the guild arc, I don't mean it was perfect. It could have handled it's female cast better, it would have been fun to see more mafia and agency team ups besides soukoku and shin soukoku, I still don't get why shin soukoku is supposed to be a replacement in training since Dazai and Chuuya still work together perfectly and even if they hate each other they hate each other less than Akutagawa and Atsushi AND have way more experience fighting together but that once again is besides the point. The point being those arcs of bsd were SATISFYING. We got introduced to two organizations, seen them butt heads and then have them forced to work together against a common enemy. It's very simple but it's effective and it's satisfying.

And then the rats struck.

While up until then bsd wasn't perfect it was fun and had lovable characters and an interesting plot and engaging dynamics. Rats arc wasn't horrible per say, the idea of the cannibalization was really fun (Though I think Kafka should have used it to get rid of Mori, nobody fuckin likes Mori) but this is where we slowly get introduced to what I think are two main failings of Kafka's writing: That he's unable to handle characters properly and that he likes writing smart things but doesn't know how to write smart things.

Kafka has a very, very bad habit of INTRODUCING TOO MANY FUCKING CHARCTERS. Every arc is a new massive group with like a bunch of members, one of who may actually end up being fleshed out before they are inventiblely replaced by another large group or maybe two why the fuck not. The mafia and the guild left lasting impressions on me and I can still name all the main members but fuck me if i know a single rat aside from Fyodor (AND ILL GET TO FYODOR). Kafka feels like someone who's idea of rising conflict is 'introduce a bigger enemy each time' and it's just so annoying. Chapters and arcs end up centering around these groups of new characters while old characters, who we loved the manga for, just fall into obscurity. He almost had me in the hunting dogs arc by giving Yosano a backstory. I was so excited! I was like!!! finally development for the agency!!! But that barely went anywhere did it. I've talked about this with Foxy but it really feels like Kafka is just BORED of the og characters and is trying to silently sideline them for his new shiny characters. When's the last time we saw Chuuya again, you know, the ex partner of one of the series protagonists? The next predicted mafia head? Is he important? Foxy tells me Dazai's been sidelined too, fUCKIN DAZAI, for a good while I was sure Kafka liked Dazai a lot better than Atsuhi for protagonist and now he's getting sidelined. I know bsd is still really popular in japan but at this point i think it would have been more merciful for Kafka to just end bsd and start a new manga with new characters instead of doing whatever weird metamorphosis this is turning out to be.

Introducing new characters isn't a bad thing of course, but bsd has become mcdonalds of new characters. They are cheap and disposable. I can't feel anything for them because I know nine times out of ten they'll barely make any impact and they'll disappear as soon as the new group slides in. When adding new characters you should do so while knowing what role those characters will play in your plot, what will they bring. If a character is just there to waffle around until they get shoved away they should probably be cut because they are wasting time and space. AND YOU SHOULDN'T SIDE LINE YOUR CORE CAST FOR UR SHINY NEW CHARACTERS YOU'LL GET BORED OF IN COUPLE OF ARCS ANYWAY, ARE YOU A TODDLER???

I still think that bsd could have been SO much better if instead of focusing on the next big evil group they just focused on shifting tension between the agency and the mafia. I mean they've had to team up for the guild and then they immediately got thrown into the cannibalization. It would have been interesting to see them pull against and pull towards those ties made during the guild arc when they are forcefully pitted against each other again (and decide that killing mori would be in everyone's best interest). Instead we got, idk I already forgot what the rats arc ended up being about, atsushi and aku team up again yadda yadda yadda, Chuuya gets done dirty and never recovers, Fyodor ruins Dazai

SO ABOUT FYODOR. As I said, Kafka strikes me as someone who REALLY likes to write geniuses and who wants people to think he's super smart but also has no idea how to show his work. At first this was okay. We had Dazai and Ranpo who were very good at pushing the plot along and sometimes you'd get explained how they got to that conclusion and sometimes you didn't but it usually wasn't a big deal. But then the writing became more and more and more of 'well he's smart so he figured it out so just trust me' without actually explaining anything and as you said, it ended up feeling boring, unengaging and very deus ex machina. You know what Kafka's writing reminds me off? That video about how Sherlock is so happy to stroke itself to how smart they look while never showing their work, you know the one. Kafka likes writing smart characters but doesn't actually know how to write smart characters so instead of giving us reasons and clues and explanations to how they come to some conclusion, how they predicted or planned or whatever, he just goes 'oh well they are super smart so they figured it out'. I don't think I need to explained why this is bad, annoying and unengaging writing. This is why i say Fyodor ruined Dazai for me, Dazai was fine as a genius but then they had to pit him against Fyodor who's another genius and things just got ridiculous. You know how in that sherlock video the guy points out the one scene that encapsulates every irritating thing about sherlocks writing. This had been it for me and BSD (thank you Foxy for helping me find the panels)

THATS NOT HOW CODES WORK, THATS NOT HOW ANYTHING WORKS, THEY WOULD JUST BE COMING UP WITH TWO DIFFERENT SETS OF CODES HERE. Even if they were both smart enough to remember every conversation in detail, how on earth are they supposed to 'guess out' what the other means. How are they supposed to confirm or deny that's what a certain word means in a way that can be understood, how can they even guess what the word the other guessed is IF THEY ARE BOTH TALKING IN CODE. KAFKA'S ANSWER: THEY'RE MONSTERS, THEY ARE JUST THAT SMART, NO NEED TO EXPLAIN IT BECAUSE THEY ARE JUST THAT SMART AND THAT'S YOUR SOLUTION AND THAT'S BULLSHIT. This scene broke bsd in half for me and honestly made me dislike Dazai for a long time (I got better), but it honestly shows so well how Kafka wanted to make his characters so smart he actually made his manga really fuckin stupid, ruining very good and interesting concept he had started with.

In the end, Kafka writes how I wrote when I was 15. With no idea where the plot is headed, adding new characters and situations whenever it strikes his fancy whether they work for the story or not, ending up just flopping around plot holes and fizzled out character arcs and boring ass writing. And that's fine for a 15yr old writing fanfiction. It's not fine for a presumably grown ass published author of a relatively popular manga.

Thank you for coming to my Ted Talk.

[notebook-13]

Hi!! I liked your Hawks thing and I was wondering if you would say more about his visor?

Sure! I’m not sure if you mean say more about the times when his visor is removed, say more about patterns in how he wears his visor, or talk about his visor as a symbol of something. So, since I’m most interested in fanfic, I’m going to talk more about the first two things and only briefly about thematic stuff.

Like I said in my other post, the thing I pay the most attention to is when it’s removed from his eyes. (The various times I say “remove” or “take off,” what I mean is removed or taken off from his eyes, not necessarily his head.)

This happens when…

Endeavor confronts him post-ceremony about his shenanigans, and Hawks strategically pulls down his visor to persuade Endeavor he sincerely admires him, wants to thank him, and wants to help him.

When the nomu shatters it, and Hawks thinks about how he admires Endeavor, and he thinks the line about how his back isn’t reassuring.

When Hawks watches Endeavor leave Fukuoka, he pushes up the visor and remembers his promise to get his hands dirty if it’ll save people, and then he repeats his line about wanting a world where heroes have time to spare.

And, ofc, when Dabi stomps on him while shouting that sentiment tripped Hawks up after all.

Besides the automatic potential meaningfulness of removing the visor, Horikoshi also gives these moments meaningfulness through his art style: Hawks earnestly looking up at Endeavor while he thanks Endeavor for being reassuring, and Hawks grimly thinking that he’ll make a better world happen at his trademark speed, are both large, detailed panels without backgrounds, putting all the focus on his newly-bared face and eyes. The panel where the nomu shatters his visor is smaller, but it’s given meaningfulness through the slow-motion effect of the nomu’s tentacle approaching Hawks’s face.

So: there’s something important about these moments, and given how dishonest Hawks is, I’m inclined to think that they’re important because they’re honest.

The only transition moment I’m iffy about is this one:

So far, this is the only time Hawks removes his visor by lowering it around his neck instead of raising it to his forehead, and the effect is that he covers his mouth. This post is actually what inspired me to think about Hawks’s visor in the first place, and it points out that Hawks is often drawn with his mouth covered—and even something like his gesture where he zips up his mouth resonates with his position as a spy and secret-keeper for the Commission.

So, I think Hawks may not be all that honest about his feelings for All Might—it could be more complicated than he’s letting on here.

I’m ambivalent about whether the visor has meaning when it’s already in place…I don’t really see a pattern of him being more honest when the visor is off versus on. But I’ve puzzled over it enough that my brain feels like mush when I think about it, so here’s an info dump.

I think I got this all accurate, but hey, I might’ve made a few mistakes.

Times when he wears the visor:

185 - Hero ceremony

185 - Talking with Endeavor post-ceremony

186 - Lunch with Endeavor

187-189 - Nomu fight (until it shatters) (involves flying)

191 - Receiving the spy mission from the HPSC

192 - In off-duty clothing, saying goodbye to Endeavor

199 - Training Tokoyami (involves flying)

231 - Hauling Jeanist around (involves flying)

240 - Applauding the PLF rally (while remembering delivering Jeanist to Dabi)

243-5 Delivering the MLA book to Endeavor (involves flying)

246 - Interacting with the PLF (including Hawks’s internal monologue about being glad that Class 1-A is faster than him)

258 - Every interaction with Twice (“I wanna fly free”)

263-264 - Attacking Twice

Times he doesn’t, by choice:

199 - Post-patrol, when he invites/kidnaps Tokoyami to take him on a night flight (but he wears it while they talk and fly)

231 - When Dabi phone-calls him to assign him the assassination mission (involves leisurely flying)

231 - In off-duty clothing, when he pays Jeanist a visit

240 - He removes it off-screen while greeting people at the PLF rally, sometime between the end of Shigaraki’s speech and before Dabi comes over.

255 - Teaching Twice (when he receives the hint about the hospital and goes “the pieces are in place!”)

Times he doesn’t, by obligation:

190-192 - because it’s broken. He helps Endeavor defeat the nomu, prepares to fight Dabi to save Endeavor, later confronts Dabi about their mutual sabotage, and then visits Endeavor in the hospital.

191 - childhood, didn’t own it yet.

Unclear:

While delivering Jeanist’s body to Dabi, Hawks is strangely faceless, we never get a proper look at him. I think there’s a blurry visor on there, but idk.

So?

My brain is mush again and I don’t have much insight into how Hawks decides whether or not to wear his visor at a particular moment. He wears it where it’s sort of pointless (i.e., indoors) and he wears it when it’s kinda rude (one-on-one meal with Endeavor). Bidding farewell to Endeavor is the closest Hawks comes to being off-duty, but he’s wearing it then, so I don’t think the visor is purely part of his hero costume. He has it off during ch255 while he tutors Twice, but he has it on in ch258 while he tutors Twice—did something change?

I think there could be a weak correlation between the visor and Hawks feeling guilty or nervous. Hawks wears it as much as he can around Endeavor, and once he grows attached to Twice, maybe he starts to wear it around Twice, too. He wears it during the PLF rally while he’s shaken over how formidable the PLF is, but once he acclimates and gets down to work chatting people up for info, he takes it off (off-screen).

It’s also possible that not wearing the visor is a sign that he’s excited. He’s not wearing the visor when he nabs Tokoyami and takes off, he’s excited that Dabi has folded and contacted him again, he gives Jeanist a very special smile, and he could’ve been excited when he was first befriending Twice.

Or there could be a connection with how hard he’s trying to seem sincere. In ch185, he takes off the visor to try to persuade Endeavor that he is sincere (and in this case, is sincere), and maybe after that he’s not so concerned with appearing earnest, so he puts it back on. Wanting to appear truthful could explain why he’s not wearing it while he’s chatting with people at the PLF rally or when he’s initially charming Twice, but it wouldn’t explain why he wears it around the PLF so much in general (other than battle-readiness), or why he wouldn’t wear it while he’s on the phone with Dabi.

…I know it’s not much, sorry. Maybe someone who reads this can come up with a better idea?

I think the most suspicious—and therefore, most potentially meaningful—incidences of him not wearing the visor are when he’s on the phone with Dabi (Hawks is flying, but he has it off) and when he visits Jeanist, which is the only time Hawks voluntarily doesn’t have a visor with him at all. (Did he take public transit to and from Jeanist’s apartment? Or did someone from the HPSC drop him off/pick him up?)

Anyways, my favorite of my three ideas is that he doesn’t wear the visor while he’s excited, so that’s what I’d go for if I were writing him in fanfic. It meshes well with the honesty-gesture of removing the visor.

Misc interesting notes:

When Hawks is flying, he is obliged to wear his visor as protection against high winds. Flying=freedom is generally common, and it’s especially poignant in Hawks’s case since his ability to fly diminishes the more feathers he sends out to save people. So if the visor itself symbolizes something, then I think that “something” is important to his freedom as well as his honesty. He can fly without his visor…but he won’t see where he’s going. (Unless he has a third eyelid.)

Both of his iconic lines about flying, “Those who can fly, should!” and “I wanna fly free,” are spoken while wearing his visor.

Both Twice and Shigaraki wear things on their faces (or in Shigaraki’s case, previously wore). There could be a foiling between the visor and the mask or hand.

It’s also worth considering, who is Hawks’s honesty for when his visor is removed? For the audience? For himself? For whoever he’s in the scene with?

I don’t think Horikoshi has ever drawn Hawks putting his visor on; he’s only shown Hawks taking it off. In the first scene with Endeavor, Hawks replaces his visor off-screen, potentially while Endeavor’s back is turned. He also replaces it off-screen before flying with Tokoyami.

Horikoshi avoids the cliché of “light flashes off the visor to obscure Hawks’s eyes while he’s being deceptive.” because then we would never see hawks’s eyes Instead, when Hawks’s visor obscures his eyes, it’s usually either during comedy or to make him seem menacing. It is interesting that the same technique is used for both amusement and fear.

The only time I’ve noticed Horikoshi use the cliché is in ch245, when Hawks remarks he recommends everyone to read this book because it’s going to be very important going forward.

Edit: Whoops, I forgot to mention! I read an interesting post yesterday that talks about how vision and telling the truth are such integral parts of Hawks’s character that they’re included in his name. Definitely worth considering in relation to his visor.

[dbphantom]

BACKSTORIES BACKSTORIES BACKSTORIES BACKS-

Amara layers on the bravado and 'wants a bigger fight' shit not just because she's confident but also because she feels bad about leaving Partali since she was basically the only thing protecting her friends/family there, but she believes if she succeeds at Vault Hunting that she'll be able to bring the wealth back and help the community in a bigger way than just punching bad guys. Its sort of a 'I'm incredibly strong physically, but clearly not enough because I can't even help with this simple little problem' situation.

- the art book confirmed Amara is wearing a vial of water from Partali around her neck- I like to imagine the city has some significant statue/fountain with water in/around it that she finds comforting/inspiring

- Amara got her Siren powers in grade school during a schoolyard fight (she won, obviously)

- Amara's family has been threatened more times than she can count. She's always ready and has defended them before but sometimes she worries, especially now that she's not there. She spends a lot of her free time getting in touch with them. I like to imagine she has kid brothers who look up to her. She gives me an older sister vibe, I dunno.

- Amara is lowkey glad her fame hasn't followed her to Pandora/beyond because she was getting tired of interrupting her fights to take selfies and sign posters. She stills likes seeing just how far her name has traveled tho. Is a good confidence buff.

- Amara is sorta like Axton with her bravado. She also believes she's the 'main character' of the four Vault Hunters. It makes her a very good leader, but it can get slightly overwhelming.

Moze runs away from the Vladof army and 'abandons' (they think she's dead) her responsibilities to live her life and do what she wants with IB and also lives with the crushing (ha! Oh no.) knowledge that her poor leadership skills are what killed the squad she had just become captain of and definitely was not the Vladof corporation trying to keep their IB mechs from leaving circulation. Definitely not. She gravitates to Amara because Amara is pretty much the group leader and a v good one at that, and Moze likes that Amara is a lot of things she isn't. Also nice arms. She needs the money from Vault Hunting to support her free lifestyle cuz she doesn't want to work.

- Moze will cook and eat literally anything. Her family grew up poor so her palette is pretty much open to anything at least twice. She sent the money she got working in the military back home to them. When she fakes her death she contemplates moving back but she knows they'd spend money they don't have to make her stay with them so she watches from afar, mailing them her most expensive loot anonymously to make sure they'll be okay

- Moze really enjoyed video games as a kid, like the free ECHOnet ones where you played against other people. She ends up joining the Vladof military a) for money and b) because she doesn't have a viable career path after playing video games all of her youth

- Moze is a really good liar. She can make up anything on the spot and get away with it. On a totally unrelated note, Moze was a little delinquent as a kid. Smoking (-> bubblegum to break the habit?), underage drinking. Wasn't doing anything bad, just breaking laws she thought were dumb- passive anarchy. She fit in great at Vladof.

- Moze is super protective of the other VHs, to the point she's willing to self-sacrifice to ensure they survive even the smallest squabble. Amara is always like 'no wtf stop'. But Moze still tries anyway, in spite of the group's blood pressure. Which I guess maybe she ought to be taking into consideration.

Fl4k slowly gains sentience over time and begins to realize they despise their job despite being programmed to enjoy it (their hardware had begun to malfunction as the biologist researchers were using them long after their expiry date- so replacing bits with more modern parts led to some unintended interactions. they were found in an abandoned factory on the planet that was so dilapidated/overgrown nobody knows which megacorporation it belonged to). They were working on a species preservation planet, basically a giant safari/zoo planet where a bunch of species were brought to ensure they didn't go fully extinct because the borderworlds are crazy. The planet has lots of history books to see how the animals were meant to behave/look/be cared for and it's how Fl4k gained their affinity for animals. Long story short, during a walk in the jungle where they contemplated their newly-gained sentience, Fl4k met what is essentially the personification of death (not the grim reaper- he's different, like uhhhh the Raven Queen and Kravitz from TAZ- literally death itself) watching them nurse a dying spiderant back to health and they became obsessed with The Hunt (TM) in order to win her affections (and also pay back their debt to her for keeping a soul from coming her way because Fl4k gaining sentience wasn't supposed to happen, so that spiderant is off schedule but whatever mannnn).

-Fl4k is the best healer on the team because they know so much about biology due to the hours of reciting scrolls and sorting books they had to do. They also have a lot of obscure, random history knowledge

-Fl4k can eat, they have taste receptors (given they know greeble snot is mild), they just prefer not to because it is inefficient and not worth anything to them. I'm also not sure how yet.

- Fl4k was allowed to choose three more animals out of the thousands dying on their home planet the day they met death and nurse them back to health in order to have four companions join them on the hunt. Because. Idk. Sounds cool to me. They chose a jabber, a skag, and a rakk hive. Death didn't vibe with the rakk hive, so she gifted Fl4k the ability to summon a couple rakk instead, just like the hive.

- Death doesn't want the Destroyer getting loose because that's a lot of paperwork ahead of schedule, and Fl4k is more than happy to oblige and go on the greatest hunt to stop it. Death gifts them with some powers (gamma burst, rakk summoning) to help them on their mission. Also just to keep things tidy Fl4k is unaware of their end goal until it's mentioned in the story. All they know is that Death wanted them to become a Vault Hunter and go to Pandora to go on The Hunt (TM).

- Fl4k can be fairly bossy/commanding and does tend to tell the other VHs what they should do like they are part of The Pack. They had tried to take the leadership role in the beginning, but it did not work and Amara naturally fell into that position. They're still commanding, but the others take those more as general suggestions now and everything works fine.

And you already know Zane's, is pretty much just: 'How to Develop Trust Issues: the 7th edition (Written by the LGBT+ Community, Anotated by Cryptids)'. He gave it to Zer0 once during a full moon and he's 90% sure it was used for assassination practice. He gave it to Hammerlock next because at least Hammylock can treat a book right, you fucking heathen.

[dbittz]

Godzilla King of The Monsters Thoughts/Review

Just got back from seeing Godzilla: King Of The Monsters a second time and I got to say that it was just as enjoyable. Warning Spoilers. The movie had a lot great moments and some beautiful shots like Dr. Serizawa walking up the steps of the hidden city to see save Godzilla and Ghidorah on the volcano with the cross to name a few. The story felt like a Godzilla story with the humans trying to control the monsters, the environmental message and the all out monster brawl. Now yes the story and the human characters were typical of a monster movie but that’s what KOM was, a movie about monsters fighting. Godzilla 2014 followed the typical Godzilla movie route where you spend a lot of time with the human characters and see the monsters every now and then before their big fight. Just like in the classics, I felt bogged down with the human characters in Godzilla 2014, that wasn’t the case in KOM. My interest was kept throughout and the battles were worth the wait. 

Now on to my thoughts. I’ve seen a few theories about Kong vs Godzilla (KvG) and the post credit scene (more on that later). As I was driving back from the theatre I started to spitball some ideas and I came up with some that I’m really shooting for. Now a lot of people doubt that KvG is going to be “They fight and one dies” type of movie. I agree, for one that would be stupid and would upset a lot of people depending on who wins (how do you even decide the victor anyways?). Two, The creators are really shooting for a Monsterverse and while the box office sales of KOM may have slowed or even scared them, KvG is bound to sell crazy because of the iconisim of the two title characters. People are going to want to see this. So it doesn’t make sense to kill off one of the two characters you are going to use to set up the rest of the universe. I’m a fan of the theory that while Kong and Godzilla are going to start fighting, the two are going to join forces in the end to defeat a greater enemy. Kong and Godzilla are set up at the end of KOM to be rival Alphas. Makes sense since they are two imposing characters that have kicked a lot of monster ass. Once Godzilla arrives on Skull Island, Kong is probably going to defend his territory so they’ll fight. However, a greater threat is going to cause the two to join forces and live as like co alpha’s or something IDK. 

The question is; who is that monster? Now a lot of people think Ghidroah’s head that Jonah buys in the post credit scenes is going to lead to a new threat with contenders being a Mecha-King Ghidorah, Destoroyah, Bagan or maybe even Desghidorah. I don’t think Mecha-King Ghidorah is going to happen because that require the full body and while Ghidorah may regenerate or be cloned from the severed head, I don’t they are going to go that route. Just seems too far fetched. With the introduction of the Oxygen Destroyer in KOM, a lot of people are expecting Destoroyah to show up. So am I, I just don’t think they’ll use him in KvG. There was a leaked Monsterverse movie plan/timeline awhile back that showed all of the movies they were going to include or attempt to do in this shared universe of theirs. With all the talk that sells of KOM has derailed or delayed their plans to continue the Monsterverse, I think KvG is going to be the deciding factor in if they continue or not. Now, one of the movies they had planned on that timeline was Destroy All Monsters (DAM). Depending on if KvG does sell well and they decided to do a few other movies before DAM (I can’t remember where it was on the timeline) they might save Destoroyah for the end. Which I think is a great plan because Destoryoah is the type of villain that you save for the end. He’s what Thanos is to the MCU. When Destoroyah was first introduced he signified the end of the Heisei era, killing that Godzilla. If Destroy All Monsters turns out to be the end of the Monsterverse, with Godzilla dying at the end, Destoroyah is the perfect monster to replace Ghidorah as the villain all the monsters team up to fight. If and when Destoroyah is introduced, I can see him being “used” as a weapon by the humans (who despite the apparent good Godzilla and Kong do) still seeing the titans as a menace so when they realize that the Oxygen Destroyer had spawned a monster(s) they are going to try to use that as weapon against the Titans only for it to backfire and for Godzilla and the others to save the day from Destoroyah who the humans now realize is going to kill everything. Bagan is just an obscure monster that is the cross between Godzilla and Ghidorah that I would love to see finally on the big screen. I saw a post that mentioned Desghidorah, who appeared in a Mothra movie, could be the villain as a potential spawn from the Oxygen Destoyer and Ghidorah’s head. I however came up with an idea that, while far-fetched, I think would be a really interesting choice. 

The monster that I think will unite Godzilla and Kong is: Megalon. That’s right, the big beetle with drill arms from Godzilla vs Megalon. Now here me out. In KOM we are introduced to an underwater civilization that exists in the Hollow Earth. Megalon, was the guardian of Seatopia, an underwater civilization. The credits of KOM make a lot of mention of the Hollow Earth civilization and it’s center being located around Skull Island. With the nuke being used to awaken Godzilla destroying the city Godzilla rested at, what if that combined with Ghidorah awakening all of the Titains and the activity heading towards Skull Island, it awakens another monster hidden deep bellow. A third god or guardian who was to awaken when the civilization was in danger. With it completely destroyed, Megalon wakes up to cause havoc to avenge his followers causing Kong and Godzilla to team up to stop him. Now I’d be surprised if they introduced the Seatopian’s or living ancestors in KvG who awaken Megalon but it could happen. Now, Megalon isn’t the sharpest or strongest Godzilla villain as demonstrated in the movie with the Seatopian’s calling in for help in the form of Gigan. This got me thinking, what if KvG not only gives us Megalon but also the original form of Gigan before he was turned into a cyborg a Primal Gigan. Primal Gigan and Megalon show up, wreck shit and cause Godzilla and Kong to stop fighting to put these two down. This opens a path for us to get a normal, cyborg Gigan with Jonah or someone else taking the Primal Gigan remains and turning it into a controllable cyborg, something Gigan has always been. Now I think Megalon is a huge curve ball to be thrown into KvG but he’s my alternative if it means saving Destoroyah for the finale to the Monsterverse. I saw something about a “robotic activity” or something on Skull Island and while I’d love to see a Mecha Godzilla or Mecha Kong, I think it’d be best to save that as kinda of the first weapon used in Destroy All Monsters with it showing up to help end Destoroyah, similar to what happened in Godzilla vs Destoroyah. 

Those are my thoughts on Godzilla KOM and what might happen. We’ll know for sure as more information and the trailer for the movie arrive. I’m excited about KvG and hopeful for the future of the Monsterverse. 

[multimetaverse]

Andi Mack 3x09 Review

Secret Society was a boring filler ep, not bad like 3x03 or 3x01 were, but just boring. I did like the twist at the end though. Let’s dig in!

Positives: 

Loved that Buffy straight up said no!  I was muttering please don’t say um during that entire scene. Finally someone on this show is clear and direct with their feelings and for once the show isn’t going to put off the resolution for a few eps

That was Lauren’s son at the locker, it’s nice that they’re slipping in family cameos this final season

The dress was nice; I wonder if that’s the dress Bex gets married in, they were very careful to make sure we didn’t see any photos of Lilan when they were filming the wedding

The first Celia and Bex shopping scene was funny, I love that thrifty Celia fell in love with the dress again when Rick said it was 25% off. It was funny when Ricky played along during the second shopping scene with Andi

Sweet of Bowie to wear his dad’s tuxedo, Bex was thirsting for him all ep. Interestingly, Bowie doesn’t wear his dad’s suit at the wedding but he is in a tux (whether the same or not idk) at the party in the finale which makes me think he wears it because he wants to feel connected to his father when they celebrate Bowie and Bex having their second child

This ep actually put some effort into Wuffy. Walker’s suit was very sharp and the floral pattern was exactly what a hip artist type would wear. I don’t think the kids watching will pick up on it but there is some subtextual character growth for both Jonah and Andi. Jonah was the first one Walker went to for help and Jonah managed to wrangle the others. Andi was genuinely happy for Walker and Buffy and was clearly hoping that Buffy would say yes

Jonah putting his arm around Cyrus and walking off was a nice platonic moment and shows what a difference Cyrus no longer having a crush on Jonah can make it what the show is allowed to do with them. I do suspect though that the show pulls moments like these because it has to obscure the difference between platonic and romantic interactions involving Cyrus as much as possible until the end of the season

They clearly edited about 3-4 minutes of Ham scenes, that cut to the upper window after Bex went to get the dress is a huge tell as were the odd close ups on Celia. It was probably a sweet scene that touched on Ham and Celia’s wedding. It wouldn’t surprise me if Ham had a scene with Bowie talking about his dad as well

The reason this ep was so short at only 18 minutes is they likely didn’t have enough time or enough footage to recut the ep. Luckily for them they have time and footage for eps 16-18 to avoid the eps being too short. The wedding will be hell to edit but they can at least just air everything they shot for Jandi and Muffy to help pad the run time and the audience won’t complain. The Disney statement about cuts never explicitly said they’d cut every single Ham scene and I wonder if that will even be possible for the wedding. Ep 20 which had a lot of Ham and no other guest stars will almost certainly be another short ep; maybe even shorter than this one

Negatives:

There have been some vast peaks and valleys in terms of quality this season. 3x06 and 3x07 were some of the series best and 3x01 and 3x03 were some of the series worst. This ep was just boring. Ep 8 wasn’t good by any means but at least it had some style and energy to it. This was really a waste of time; the wedding dress could have been fit into another ep and the spark for Wuffy sinking could have been moved into another as well

This ep was clearly filmed in like 2 or 3 days on a much lower average ep budget (not many extras or locations). Terri knew from the start of S3 that she’d get 21 eps so I don’t know why she wasted this one. Perfect Day 2.0 was filler as well but it had some very nice moments and lines and really showcased the GHC and their deep friendship. This ep showcased nothing really

And I was very disappointed in Paul Hoen. He’s always delivered strong eps but this one was uninspired and I can’t believe he didn’t notice that their trailers are clearly visible through the library window. I can only hope that none of the remaining 11 eps are like this

A real mistake to have so little happen in this ep then pack way too much into the next ep

I feel bad for Walker but the show has never put any effort into building Wuffy up so is this supposed to hit home for the audience? Wild that he’ll have been in 5 of the first 10 eps but he’s contributed nothing to the show this season except to drive a wedge between Andi and Buffy

It was funny to see that Andi was so hyped by Walker’s promposal; I don’t think Wandi was ever meant to last but I do think that the writers probably wanted them to actually date for a bit before sinking it so Jandi could be endgame

Looking Ahead:

We finally get Marty back next week. Him returning in ep 10 and Machel sinking in ep 17 and him going with Buffy to the wedding in ep 18 should hopefully shut up the people who claim that Terri is all about slow burn ships. Muffy should be a very satisfying story line

Wuffy and Jibby sinking the same ep is interesting. And from Buffy’s wardrobe it looks like she has a scene with Marty shortly after her talk with Andi and Jonah and Cyrus about breaking up with Walker but before she actually breaks up with him. I can’t wait to see how it plays out

I suspect that what the show will ultimately go for is the idea that Marty understands Buffy in a way that Walker never did and even her friends sometimes don’t, ‘’and you’re the only one who gets that’’ but taken even deeper. I think we’re likely to see something similar but more coded between TJ and Cyrus in 3x11 as its likely that TJ is the one who knows how to comfort Cyrus best

The first and possibly last girls game, guess Andi has to save the day? 

Hopefully the last dance class as well. Maybe replaced by whatever it is Cyrus gets up to with Gus later on

We’ll see if the wish is revealed next ep. It seems like this ep would have been the perfect time to reveal it if it was Bex’s or Celia’s

[bthump]

frame-to-frame replied to your post “frame-to-frame replied to your post “chaoticunneutral replied to...”

That’s fair, this prob does partly come down to semantics – i.e. his being purposefully v. unconsciously unaware. B/c I agree in those terms that Griffith is purposefully unaware of his guilt, but I’m resistant to Griffith being unconsciously unaware generally, which this can easily be conflated with – that he’s so emotionally stunted he can’t recognize his feelings for what they are. A valid take ofc, just I think not my cup of tea? Though I’m open to being convinced lol. This is such a subtle point to debate lol, but I still think both can be at play wrt his feelings for Guts – purposeful unawareness alongside an acknowledgement (on some level) of his attraction to him. Griffith is all about emotional repression, we know that, he needs it to keep his dream alive. I just don’t think this is incompatible with him also pining for Guts I think it comes down to how in control of his feelings he thinks he is. What sells me on this reading is “How long ago did someone I was supposed to have in hand instead gain such a strong hold on me?” b/c that brings control right into the way he thinks about his attraction to Guts. He can still acknowledge his attraction & even try to seduce Guts while also writing those feelings off as a crush/lust (which he can tell himself he’s in control of) Where the purposeful unawareness comes into play is wrt the true significance of these feelings: that they pose a threat to his dream. B/c however you read Griffith’s awareness, the “do I need a reason” scene is significant in that he has no coping mechanism to explain his actions. He clearly goes the route of purposeful unawareness afterward, but ofc it didn’t have to go that way if they hadn’t been interrupted  I’m not sure I understand why the ch12 friend speech interferes w this, I think your meta still works with this reading, so you’ll have to elaborate pls! B/c to me it seems that either way he’s trying to diminish the depth of his feelings for Guts in response to a perceived rejection from him – and he can still know that what he’s saying is BS in his heart of hearts. Sry for length

Yeah I’d say it’s definitely more of a purposeful unawareness. While I think he is emotionally stunted in some ways, he’s not at all ignorant or lacking in emotional intelligence. LIke he’s actually really (uncannily at times, eg Foss) good at picking up on other people’s feelings, he’s empathetic (eg his interactions with Casca after saving her from the nobleman), he’s very socially aware and competent, etc.

But imo where his own feelings are concerned he has a giant blind spot. And tbh I do think that he is kind of incapable of recognizing a lot of his own feelings, not so much because of naivety but because he’s too used to avoidance and not used to confronting them directly. Like, it’s a willful blind spot, like we’re saying, it’s an ingrained negative coping mechanism. Maybe it started when people started dying at his orders, or maybe earlier, but yk, imo he deals with negative or inconvenient feelings by not dealing with them, by denying them entirely, and because of that he just has very little experience actually trying to understand his own feelings. But yeah like, I don’t think that’s exactly undeniable canon or anything lol, it’s more of a headcanon, and fair enough if it’s not your thing.

Hmm and while I definitely lean heavily on his emotional repression to be fair I def don’t think he’s incapable of examining his own feelings without lying to himself. We’ve seen moments of vulnerable emotional sincerity, eg “maybe it was my dream that killed this boy,” “am I dirty?” “do you think I’m cruel?”

I guess that to me those moments feel fleeting and quickly replaced by the denial and the mask, while I could see others reading those moments and seeing them as glimpses of Griffith’s more typical inner thoughts, which he just hides from others, rather than from himself. But yeah to me it always comes back to that monologue in the river - I just can’t read it as Griffith knowingly lying to Casca, imo it feels like pure bullshitting himself through a near breakdown, and it feels like a very powerful encapsulation of Griffith’s character as a whole. His moments of emotional self awareness don’t last because they’re painful, so they get buried.

But when it comes to Griffith’s feelings for Guts, ia that his denial method of dealing with his feelings isn’t necessarily incompatible with him still pining for Guts. Like guilt is a very different feeling from love, so it makes sense that he’d bury guilt but yk maybe not love. And I agree that self control is a big factor for Griffith, so yeah I could definitely see that if he feels like he’s got a handle on his feelings he wouldn’t need to avoid them/deny them.

And also because thematically Griffith’s feelings for Guts do lead to greater emotional self awareness in contrast to how he buries most of his feelings in pursuit of his dream, it makes sense on that level too that he’d be more aware of his feelings for Guts.

But I like Griffith being an unselfaware idiot who doesn’t even know he’s in love until he’s in a torture chamber lol. I love pining, but I also love the idea of Griffith lying to himself about Guts too, telling himself Guts is just a tool to help him win a war, that Guts will in all likelihood die for him so he has to does see him as just a soldier, etc. And steadfastly refusing to think about his feelings when he can’t cover them with a lie.

Idk I get that it could seem like, awkwardly naive and weird, but the way I imagine it is more like... bear with me because I’m about to get self indulgent and just talk about my Griffith headcanons lol, but basically I don’t picture Griffith sitting down and dwelling on his feelings if he can help it. It’s not like he saved Guts’ life the first or second time and thought “oh why did I do that? weird, idk, he’s a good soldier I guess, that must be it.” The way I see it it’s more like he just puts it out of his mind and doesn’t think about it. He socializes, he reads every book in his study, he learns to be the best at the sword as a teenager, he leads and fights and thinks of tactics, etc etc. Guts spends a lot of his time navelgazing about his feelings, but I don’t think Griffith does

He can think about intellectual things, like his goals and fate and his life philosophy but to me those all feel like smokescreens obscuring the emotional truths behind them. And when he gets too close to thinking about those emotional truths, he would have a million ways to distract himself, like by now I figure he’s just pretty pro at derailing his train of thought onto safer territory.

But yeah like the “do I need a reason” scene could’ve easily lead to a moment of emotional honesty and awareness if they hadn’t been interrupted imo. I mean it already was, it just didn’t get a chance to get very far. And afterwards I could definitely see Griffith contemplating his feelings for Guts honestly, giving thought to the way he cares about him and what it means, because he doesn’t automatically avoid those particular emotions. Maybe he already knows he’s attracted to him, or maybe he doesn’t bc of internalized homophobia, but the realization of love is burgeoning. Or I could see him already knowing and accepting how he feels and wishing Guts would catch up and finally understand that he’s not just another soldier to him. Or I could see him turning his thoughts towards seducing Charlotte, buying more books, investigating the attempted assassination, and deciding to ask Guts for help because he trusts him innately, without ever stopping to properly think about what saving Guts from Zodd meant. (And I default to the last one but I like all three.)

Lastly wrt the Promrose speech I just meant more generally that it’s a direct contradiction in the story that requires the reader to put some thought into Griffith’s character to reconcile it. Griffith prioritizes Guts above his dream, 5 chapters later Griffith says he has no friends. (It also contradicts the river monologue nicely, “for no other’s sake, for him, himself alone... a dream” vs “but if for their sakes, for the sake of the dead, if there’s something I can do, that thing is to win.)

And imo that basically just means that the Promrose speech has to be bullshit because it’s contradicted by actions and words in a much more emotionally revealing moment, but it’s up to the reader to decide if it’s bullshit Griffith has convinced himself is true, or if he’s just lying to Charlotte. Not that it contradicts anything we’re discussing.

[krutomu]

who’s your favorite character? -DIFFICULT QUESTION…. Hmmm. It’s a harsh collision between Matt L and Mello, but I would say L

least favorite character? -Near…… sorry….. -He got all of Ls cash and threw it all over the fucking ground I would’ve rathered that he got caught. -They brought him in like right after L died which was so horrible because he was clearly a replacement for L -He acted all high and mighty and above Mello which I hate because Mello is better.

what do you think about [specific character]? -BEYONE BIRTHDAY!!! Love him. A lot. I think he’s a super interesting and underrated character, like he has all the potential In the world to go so far. Creepy and silly. Goofy and crazy. Eats jam with his bare hands and crawls around on the floor. Perfection, absolutely what I want to see in a character. I love the way that his existence confused Naiomi. Love how he did all of his murders and stuff to fuck with L. Doesn’t care but still pisses everyone off. And he is smart too. Go BB!! Oh and also his name, beyond birthday is so fucking cool I love that.

who’s your favorite underrated or obscure character? Beyond…Birthday..

how do you feel about Kira’s idealogy? Idk. Making the world a better place?? Sure. People can live happy and safe. But man you gotta look farther than just dumb crimes. Maybe there’s a reason for good that they committed a crime. And ur killing them?? Kinda sounds like what happened to you light yagami… also don’t agree with one high school student having the power of the world in his hands..

was L a good person? Yes, and no.

was misa just as guilty as light? Not really I don’t think. Light just decided one day to become a god and misa was upset about her parents and shit and literally only cared about light. She would probably stop killing people if he did.

what do you think [specific character] would have done if they had gotten the death note? -BB.. hmm. I would say that there is 2 options. I feel like he would have done the same thing snd killed quarter queen snd everyone else, but not using the death note. Maybe he used the death note at the same time but on completely random people to fuck with L even more. Alternatively I could see him sitting on his bed with his feet in the air kicking them back and forth and writing a whole huge three page long death sentence for QQ, etc. sometimes he is more lazy than others, but I feel like he wouldn’t see that as like- actually killing people. To easy.

what would you do with a death note? -For people who I didn’t like, I would probably make the deal for shinigami eyes. Find peoples names and dates of death, and then write down that they die at that same date, same time, but I would just mess up their life snd make it miserable. Maybe I would kill a few people here and there, definitely people like jeff bezos

do you ship any characters? Mello… and Matt….. I will not believe anything other that they were gay and in love. Nothing else.

what do you think about [specific ship]? -Lawlight!!! Canonly, it’s okay I guesssss…. They should’ve kissed during the foot scene. They had so much potential together I swear to god death note would’ve been so much more interesting if they were in a relationship. Just based on head cannons and stuff though oh my god shitting my pants. They are the only people in the world who knows how to deal with the other. Both little shits. Babies. I bet when they first got together L told light and then light threw a full body screaming sobbing and flailing around kind of tantrum because he didn’t get to tell L first, before he realized he had a boyfriend and actually semi-enjoyed someone else’s presence for once in his life. He cooks things for L and L makes sure to make each dish seem like it is the most delectable food out there. Light makes cookies out of cricket flower for protein. L does not know this.

manga or anime? Haven’t worked up the motivation to read the manga yet…. Would really love to once I can

Light or L? L!! Light is a great character but L is just so much better. sorry.

Ryuk or Rem? Ryuk. I absolutely love how for like- the whole show he was just sitting there watching everything happen. And eating apples of course. I also like his earring(s?).

Near or Mello? MELLO MELLO MELLO. Not only can I relate to Mello but I also kind of hate near. A lot. Maybe.

who do you believe is the smartest character? -L. Light was good but he had the help of misa, rem, ryuk, the death note, and like a million other things when L had a group of people who didn’t believe him. Mello and near and Matt were up there too but like not as good as L. Beyond birthday is the only person who I would put closest to L intelligence wise

what are your thoughts on season two? SEASON 2???

what do you think about Wammy’s House? -shit to do that to kids but Everyone (except near) who came out of there was incredibly attractive.

was Near a worthy successor of L? NO

did Light deserve to die at the end? yeah. I loved his death scene actually, I think it was done perfectly. I wouldn’t have changed anything.

if you could revive any character, which would you save? Hmmm. L because he is my fav (I elaborated on this in a diff ask so I’m not rewriting it all sorrryyyy)

which moment was the most painful to watch? LS DEATH… I was so confused and then he started to die and I was like oh shit oh shit this is really happening man it’s really going on oh shit. May or may not have almost cried. Or at least I felt like crying.

what was your favorite moment and why? I think getting to see Mello on his motorcycle was great. Also whenever L was eating anything. Adorable.

any headcannons you want to share? Matt and Mello live in some shitty apartment together. I love this idea very very much. -Matt is walking around leaving trash everywhere and Mello is following him and. “cleaning it up”. (Picking it up and throwing it at him and telling him to clean his shit((lovingly)) -Matt used to try and braid Mellos hair until one day he knitted together a clump of it so bad that it needed to be cut off. -Matt cannot cook food. At all. Tried DEFROSTING chicken nuggets and somehow gave Mello food poisoning. He can use the microwave though. The toaster is a maybe. -Matt absolutely lives for baby carrots, dipped in anything. Mello is the only one who knows this. -One time Mello cried because his monthly shipping was of white choclate instead of dark. He was going through shit at the time and made Matt swear not to tell anyone. -Matt is just there. All the time. Like Matt and Mello just sit and talk and hang out together. They love eachother lots. -Mellos favorite blanket in the entire world is this shitty leapord print one with a bunch of rips. Matt CAN actually sew. A little. He fixes the rips. -Matt buys Mello these halariously cheesy aprons and oven mitts that say things like “hot stuff coming through”

ramble on about whatever you’d like to I already did… my Matt and Mello headcanons..

@artificial-ascension

For the Death Note Ask, all of them. When it asks for a specific character, B, I wamt to know what you think of the mad man.

OK hold on this is going to take me agessss

i will reblog it with all of my thoughts when im done thping

[brodorokihousuke]

Remember that post I recently posted about how it was insane that Apollo survived that cave adventure? Okay, yea, he has immunity because he’s a main and extremely important character. But, me and @au-tumn-al​ have been discussing how that case would’ve turned out if Apollo did die.

It’s quite long, even though lots of details are still missing.

Okay, first off, we changed something to allow the case to still work. Instead of Apollo, Dhurke, and Atishon being the only ones in the cave when the latter pushes the former, there’s actually another guy in there with them. His name is Jay Strigy, and he’s looking for some rare owl species that apparently nests in caves. He’s brought his fancy camera (the lens is big and it cost a lot) with both a normal and infrared setting. Or just two separate cameras. That doesn’t really matter. He also has a real nice microphone, which’ll be important later.

Anyways, so he’s sitting behind some sort of rock outcrop in this cave when Apollo and Dhurke walk in. Jay already has his camera on, so they’re recorded on that. As they go over to the ledge, either 1. the area is too dark for Jay to pick up anything on the normal camera setting or they’re obscured by a thin rock formation. Because of this, Jay switches to his infrared setting/camera. There’s a bit of a problem with this- the camera isn’t very high in quality, meaning only a blurry outline of Apollo and Dhurke is visible.

Just saying, since this is in the usually-wildly-unrealistic AA universe, I don’t care that IR cameras probably work quite differently.

At this point, Atishon sneaks in. Jay moves the camera slightly, making Dhurke move out of frame for a brief second. In this small amount of time, another figure moves behind them and pushes. Since Dhurke wasn’t in frame, it’d almost appear if he came back on frame and pushed Apollo! That, of course, will be important later.

Oh, here’s another detail that we changed- instead of Apollo and Dhurke hitting the cave floor without any considerable injury, Apollo either breaks or badly sprains his ankle. This makes him yell/scream/etc. in pain, which is both heard by Jay and picked up on his nice mic. This spooks Jay, and he quickly sprints out of the cave and eventually makes it back to Kurain Village, where he alerts the authorities of the crazy stuff he just saw. That doesn’t happen for a while, though.

Back to Apollo and Dhurke- from Apollo breaking his ankle to the point where the mossy cavern floods, not much changes. The only thing that’s different is Apollo is probably leaning on Dhurke so he only has to use one foot to walk.

Jumping forward in time, the cavern has just started to flood. Apollo is either sitting down or leaning on a wall, though it’s probably the former. For the sake of the story, we’ve decided that the current of the water rushing in is quite aggressive and strong. Since the water appears to rise quite quickly in the actual game, this is undeniably possible. Because of this, Apollo is pretty much swept off the ground and bashed against the cavern walls. If you haven’t already realized where this is going, he dies.

Oh, and here’s a diagram of the cave. I guess it makes it easier to imagine stuff..?

Dhurke eventually makes his way back to the cavern, only to find Apollo’s lifeless body. In shock, he pulls it back to the boat. Remember, Trucy is also on that boat. Great. So she’s scarred for life. Dhurke is still in shock, so he isn’t saying anything to her or the (probably freaked out) captain.

They make it back to the dock. Trucy sprints back to Kurain, still sobbing, while Dhurke carries Apollo’s body somehow. Trucy makes it back first, where she finds her father and hugs him as hard as she can. Phoenix and the others ask what’s wrong, but since Trucy won’t say anything, they don’t know what’s going on until Dhurke makes it back.

Obviously, everyone freaks out. Dhurke walks away to some secluded spot almost immediately. Since the police are already there to investigate Jay’s claims of shady dealings, they immediately call in more people, including Ema. Of course.

Phoenix tells Trucy to go home, since this ain’t exactly a nice situation. The authorities immediately pin the death on Dhurke, though he kind of disappeared. Since Phoenix knows that he most definitely wouldn’t kill Apollo, he finds Pearl and they go off to try and find him. They eventually do, but Dhurke won’t really tell them anything. He does say that Maya is safe, though. 

Phoenix and Pearl return to the village, where they learn that a murder charge has been officially put on Dhurke. Phoenix takes on his defense, though he doesn’t say anything about where he is. The authorities look for him, but all they find is Maya passed out in her house with a piece of lined paper filled both front and back with Khura’inese. There’s an ink stain on her finger. Interesting.

Since Dhurke isn’t found, they use Datz as a kind of stand-in for him. Since he was also involved with the orb stuff, this makes the most sense. I dunno.

As the police investigate, they acquire Jay’s footage and audio recording. 

You find out that Nahyuta is prosecuting, and had specifically requested to do so. It’s basically The Cosmic Turnabout, but with ‘Yuty instead of Apollo and Apollo instead of Clay. Ga’ran doesn’t know about their relation, so she doesn’t really care what he’s doing. This also means that Ema is the head forensic scientist. Also, since Nahyuta knows that Dhurke didn’t do this, he secretly tells Ema to relay all the case info to Phoenix.

Okay, the trial portion isn’t really that fleshed out yet, so I’ll just put what we have so far.

At some point, Phoenix receives the video and audio from Jay’s equipment, as well as Apollo’s autopsy report (Cause of death was a combination of drowning and blunt force trauma. Body is heavily bruised and sustained a broken ankle at some point). 

The first point that the prosecution makes is that Dhurke pushed Apollo off the ledge in the cave. Phoenix objects, pointing out that the figure is shorter then both Apollo and Dhurke, meaning that it definitely isn’t the latter. Jay confirms that he thought he heard someone else enter the cave, he just forgot until now.

So they’ve been pushed off together, okay. Now Nahyuta insinuates that Dhurke must’ve killed Apollo right after they fell, due to the fact that both Jay’s testimony and the recording imply that Apollo sustained some very bad injury down there. Phoenix points out that that could’ve been the broken ankle.

There goes another argument. Sorry, Nahyuta.

There isn’t much decided for anything after this, so it’ll be more of bullet points now.

- At the middlemost recess, Phoenix gives Nahyuta the paper with Khura’inese on it. He goes off to read it. Turns out, it’s a letter written from Dhurke to Nahyuta, apologizing for everything, sad things, etc etc 

- When the trial resumes, Nahyuta has a completely different demeanor. They end up replacing him with some other prosecutor after deciding he isn’t fit to prosecute.

- Maybe they could channel Apollo? Idk I just like having people channeled

- The last day of the case is similar to the end of the existing case (solving the murder from 2006), except Apollo (obviously) isn’t there.

That’s... real long, man

I probably forgot tons of details eheh

[kinetic-elaboration]

June 18: Thoughts on 1x07 Contents Under Pressure

Finally continued my The 100 Season 1 rewatch yesterday. Wrote some notes:

It kind of looks like the Council is also the judicial system on the Ark, which honestly shouldn’t surprise me at all. Whatever hearings they do seem to take place in the Council chamber. I still think Marcus is basically the prosecutor or otherwise sort of in charge of the judicial function—Jaha is fine and still Chancellor but it’s Marcus reading out the summary of Abby’s case. She’s spared because her “medical expertise is still required” which fits with my theory about the Ark class hierarchy.

Raven identifies herself as from Mecha Station, so if I ever need to establish the canon nature of this fact, this is where it is, 1x07. Also, she identifies herself to Sinclair as if he didn’t already know her but that could just be because she doesn’t recognize his voice.

That moment when Abby hears Clarke’s voice was so lovely. Nothing in the second two seasons stirs my heart like small moments in the first two. Also when Jaha hears that Wells isn’t alive, fuck, that’s too sad. Get it away.

Apparently this is Miller’s first episode.

Also man I love storm episodes. Big weather events get me EVERY TIME.

They say at the beginning that Monty, Jasper, and Bellamy aren’t back yet—I know it’s been a while since I saw the last ep but weren’t they all in at the end of it? I remember Bellamy closing the gate and dramatically saying “there’s a storm coming.” And if you know there’s a storm coming, why would you wander the fuck off? Okay never mind, Bellamy went Grounder hunting. And this is also where Miller was introduced—his first scene is dragging in Lincoln.

Raven taking a drink of moonshine before sterilizing her hands and Clarke smiling fondly at her = why I ship (S1) Princess Mechanic.

OMG little doggy made out of nuts and bolts that is the most adorable thing. I miss the Ark aesthetic SO MUCH.

Honestly, that Clarke has assisted her mom in surgery, meaning she’s trained at least partly directly under Abby, makes me wonder how close they are/were. Like, a combination of them starting the show estranged and fan fiction too often painting Abby as a bitch or their relationship as strained has somewhat obscured what I think is canonically a strong bond between Abby and Clarke—not just because they’re mother and daughter, I mean they genuinely were close beyond even that.

The Bellamy, Miller, and Lincoln scene: First, it’s my headcanon that Lincoln was the spy on the camp the entire time, including back to the pilot (IDK who that actor was, I’m not saying it was Ricky Whittle, just that I think it was Lincoln-the-character in a lot of war paint and shadows), and that his reports might have been designed the whole time to keep Anya et. al. at bay, and also that he might have volunteered for the spying job because he was curious about the Sky People—and that fits with this scene. Second, when Bellamy says they’ve “lost” 10 people, I wonder if he’s counting exile Murphy. I hope so.

Bellamy sees a picture of a big furry creature and asks “What is that thing? Friend of yours?” which, first, haha Bellamy joke, and second, YEAH WTF IS IT? IT’S BEEN FOUR SEASONS WHAT IS IT?

Clarke’s grumpy cat get out of the way face = A+ more content like this please.

I love that Miller was introduced as a surly Bellamy minion and the whole time he was gay and only Jarod Joseph knew.

“In case you didn’t notice, his people are already killing us. How many more of our people have to die until you realize we’re fighting a war?” Interesting because actually most of those people didn’t die at Grounder hands at all. Two died when the dropship landed. Wells died because another delinquent killed him. Charlotte committed suicide. Murphy, if he’s being counted among the ten, was exiled after a series of events having nothing to do with Grounders. Trina and Pascal, who I’m pretty sure are already dead, died of acid fog, which is a Mt. Men weapon (I know Bellamy doesn’t know this but we do). And the other three were killed by Grounders, fair enough. Plus Jasper and Finn’s injuries. But still, ten Grounder deaths there were not. Also none of them were killed or injured at the dropship camp, which fits in with my theory that this was never a dispute about territory or a case of mean colonialists stealing native people’s land. The dropship camp doesn’t bother the Grounders at all.

There’s a little American flag at the memorial to the culling victims. Also, here we see the exact moment when Kane’s redemption arc begins. And a continuation of Jaha’s… I don’t want to say ‘redemption’ but like…transformation?

Okay, that’s ridiculous to say the people in the culling died for nothing—it wasn’t nothing because there aren’t enough life boats NOW there definitely weren’t 320 people ago. I mean I understand why the populace is angry but, haha, little do they know that between the Unity Day attack, the Exodus ship explosion, and all but 3 stations either exploding, crashing, or getting lost on the way to Earth, there are many more population-reduction events to come. Oh yeah and then radiation comes in a ridiculous overwrought wave and kills them all in a terrific shark-jumping explosion of silliness.

More Ark life details: “I swore an oath to protect and defend these people.” There’s something called “station representatives”—the same or different than Council members? Also they have a “mess hall.”

The dropship is three stories. Did I think it was two? Clarke has amazing boots.

The torture sequence makes me intensely uncomfortable, which is of course obviously the point. Again, nothing that the show’s done in the last two seasons accomplishes this. They just…try so hard to be constantly shocking and tense but it reads poorly to me, it reads like overcompensating for having nothing more to say.

I don’t get the station representatives thing. First, they’re not the council. Diana Sydney is one of them. And also there are, what, like a hundred of them? Why so many? What do they do? Is this like a primarily administrative job? An advocacy job? The Ark’s not that big, direct communication with the council doesn’t seem like it would be that hard. Are these also elected positions? How many does each station have, and how big is each station that they need, like, 10 reps per station? Some of them are pretty young, too; is this like an every-sub-group-has-an-advocate thing? Diana refers to her people as “the workers,” which I always assumed meant she was a rep for one of the worker-stations, like maybe Factory, but maybe it means she literally, specifically, represents “workers.”

I want a prequel that’s just like the political rivalry between Jaha and Diana. Actually, I want a refund on Season 4 and for it to be replaced by this prequel.

Say what you will about Octavia, but Bellarke’s torture plan was stupid as fuck—yes, it makes sense on the level of a preschooler (a very violent preschooler) but anyone with real cognitive skills should honestly be 10000% distrustful of any answer Lincoln did give because, like, why would he tell you the truth? If I were him, I’d get the torture to stop by pointing out the wrong vial. I mean he has literally nothing to lose; they’ll kill him but they would have done that anyway, and at least he takes one of their own down too.

That said, I feel like the more they made Octavia violent, over the seasons, and played up her ridiculously unrealistic amazing warrior skills or whatever, the more they ignored how smart and resourceful she used to be.

Abby didn’t “turn Jake in” though—he hadn’t done anything wrong, there was nothing to turn him in for. Like don’t get me wrong I love Jaha, but HE’S the one who floated his friend for a non-crime, so maybe he should take some of the blame for that.

I love Kane’s mom. Honestly, they used to have such good minor/side characters and they threw them away so willy-nilly and I thought, okay, I get it, we need casualties and there will be more good side characters but frankly there haven’t been. The quality of side character has declined precipitously. I literally cannot remember the last time a new character was introduced that I gave an honest shit about. After S2, there’s been like…no one on the sidelines who holds any interest for me. Probably because they’re all Grounders.

Finn’s using Raven’s jacket as a pillow, which reminds me of Jasper using Monty’s jacket as a blanket.

Finn’s basically just this totem Clarke and Raven pass back and forth. They’re both under the impression they literally need him to keep going (“he’s all I have;” “I can’t do this without you”) but like, really, what does he bring to the table? Certainly no literal skills, but not even that much by way of emotional support or devotion—especially not to Raven, obviously. And Clarke’s known him all of a week so the concept that she needs him for anything is like, I can see why she herself thinks that (in a normal situation she and Finn would be in a honeymoon phase, plus she just lost Wells so like I can see how she’d latch on to someone else in a pinch)—but it’s still laughable.

I’ve seen that shot of Bellamy and Clarke’s hands touching a million times but totally forgot they were handing off a torture weapon. And that their dialogue can basically be summarized as “deep sounding shit we tell ourselves to excuse our guilt for the reprehensible things we’ve just done that had literally no actual justification whatsoever.” I mean, I’m not judging per se, the show needs conflict and also they’re basically fetuses so they should be imperfect but still. How romantic.

My characterization of Clarke, most of the time, is so bad. I feel bad about this.

I’m trying to get a better sense of the delinquent camp but it’s difficult.

It looks like there are only 6 Council members, which semi-confuses me because it just seems like it would make sense to have one representative per station. I don’t think they’d give Prison Station a council member, but counting the Chancellor, that would still make 12. But then—do all stations have living quarters on them? I’ve been assuming yes but why should I assume that? Go-Sci very well might not—nope, never mind, that’s the only part left and I bet we’ll be seeing living quarters on it next year (by “we” I mean probably not “me” but you know). Anyway. How are the Council members elected then? At large? Also, post-culling, post-100, there are 2,237 people on the Ark. And Jaha says there are “only enough dropships to carry 700.”

I can’t believe people still know what the Titanic is to be honest. And would reference it so casually.