#sorry for all y'all on mobile who have to scroll past this

[penname-artist]

You all are NOT READY for these notes. I JUST finished watching the ENTIRE Cars on the Road series (before 9:00 at that) and my guys. There is SO MUCH to talk about. This is just what I was able to think up and react to during my binge here, I will probably come back with much more detailed look throughs at a later date. But here is my reactions, raw and unedited! SPOILERS WARNING Y'ALL (and I apologize now that I need to post this on mobile so I don't have my "keep scrolling" bar BUT I WILL EDIT IT ON PC AS SOON AS I POST THIS so you guys don't have to see the spoilers yet if you do not want to. Anyways!)

-"I love Mater, but that is a LOT of Mater

-That explains Mack then! So he's there but Maters just like "no we gotta do it the old fashioned way!"

-Lightnings instant love of dinosaurs is so incredible, this precious bean

-I fucking adore that Lightning watches National Geographic, that's fucking amazing

-If you look in the dinosaur building to the top left you can see CARS HAVE CANONICALLY EVOLVED FROM SUBMARINES!?!?

-Lights Out immediately feels like my favorite and it is SO clear that this is a take on Haunted Mansion AND I LOVE IT

-I also find it interesting that 99% of the fandom says that cars/planes have a sort of sleeping mat like a mattress at night, yet in the hotel there is a complete lack of all comfort style, even just carpet or a rug. It's just a headboard mounted to the wall. A *little* bit anticlimactic BUT I will let it slide because at least it was there and the headboard thing was cute.

-The fact that Mater is initially scared and then Lightning happens to be the one who is up all night is just perfect

-RACECAR SPELLED BACKWARDS IS RACECAR HAHA WE SCARED YOU HEHEHE (I love this so much)

-THE EIGHT POINT TURN OF DEATH! (I love how this motel just fucking forgets that cars need to be able to turn around, making this such an inconvenience on McQueens part)

-ANTIFREEZE OH MY GOD

-The animation of the dance/spin sequence was stellar, 10/10 please don't hurt yourselves animators!

-I feel so bad for and relate so much with Lightning leaving the hotel. I get horrible sleep at hotels, cannot actually sleep worth a wink.

-Randy, you poltergeist, be nice to the cars of today's century!

-Salt Fever just started and holy shit were they singing songs together!? That's incredible XD

-I am so in love with their casual banter, it's so cute to see and I'm so glad that McQueen is finally given the ability to RELAX and not be straining for some personal goal.

-The way that Lightning's eyes fucking bulge as this l o n g c a r comes past them is awesome. Like. Yeah. Yeah that's their full length. Take that as you will.

-OHMYGODOHMYGODOHMYGOD WOULD MARU COME DOWN TO VISIT THIS SPEED TRACK!? DOES HE KNOW THE MECHANICS, ARE THEY FRIENDS? REALATIVES? RIVALS? AHHH THE POSSIBILITIES ARE E N D L E S S

-oh my God. OH my GOD. they actually did a whole scene of Mater reaching a sort of afterlife (well more of a limbo) and we have a winged car. And his concern for breaking the news to Lightning! Ahhh!

-"Do yOu kNOw WhAt a sEYoNce is?"

-HOW DID- BUT HE- HIS- H O W ? HIS D O O R!?!? HE OPENED HIS OWN DOOR AND JUST WENT BACK INTO HIS HEAD!?!? H E L P!?!?

-Leave the whole field hanging man, I like it. Just book it and run!

-"Mostly avoided...MOSTLY."

-Wayne County family campground. Wayne, hmm. I need to use that...

-Again. I feel Lightning's road trip pains. I too have family members who drag random strangers from the campground to hang out with us, and am then usually very disappointed and/or antisocial.

-I'm sorry issat, is that- is that some relative of Miles Axlerod? Help? Is that- i-is-?

-"thanks I'll just be going" "I said we would go" "I'm sorry w h a t?"

-hahahaha Lightning just trying to get rid of Bigfoot like it's a cat, "go away! Shoo!" Yeah that'll work man

-Man that's gotta hurt though. Also how in the fuck did him crashing into a fallen tree not damage even his PAINT in the slightest??

-Ivy is already precious and I am claiming her.

-Lightning trying to weasel out of the scenario and then Mater shows up, and in his mind you know he's thinking "God damn it Mater"

-OH MY GOD YES THE LIIIIIIGHTS AHAHA LOOK AT THAT ANIMATION MMM MOTHERFUCKER THIS IS SO BEAUTIFUUUUL

-Lightning alien, light- Lightnalien?? Lightnalien McQuextraterrestrial???

-I agree Mater. Cooooold.

-THIS REMIX IS AWESOME AND I WANT THE WHOLE SOUNDTRACK

-Submarine wash. Yes. I accept your perilous mission.

-I can never skip the theme my guys. I cannot. It's not possible. I love it too much.

-Lightning absolutely had it RIGHT UP UNTIL the appearance of the circus. Oh my God I cannot wait to see the story behind this one.

-Car makeup interests me, ngl. How does it work exactly? Is it more temporary than getting a paint job? Exactly how OFTEN is it used instead of paint jobs for those who want a fresh look but not a permanent one, how is- okay okay you know what Apollo is going to be the one delving into that area because I need answers

-She said babe. I- I- I am just gonna- *ahem*...LESBIAN CARS H O L Y S H I T HOLYSHITHOLYSHITHOLYSHITHOLYSHITHOLY-

-Exposure therapy things. Oh my God. Does Lightning do therapy already? Ohmygodohmygodohmygod aaaaaa the headcanons, aaaaaa the open possibilities! Aaaaaaaa my brain! It's not even 8 AM!

-Aww Ivy found a new place to stay! That's really sweet. And it really fits as well. I like it.

-T r u c k s (seriously though this one hits home because my grandfather and a good friend of mine are truckers and I've been out there to see them before)

-HERE WE GO BOYS

-THE LYRICS MMMM

-HAHAHA I totally vibe with Lightning, "they never have my name!" (OH MY GOD WAIT DOES HE MEAN LIGHTNING OR MONTGOMERY OHMYGODOHMYGODOHMYGOD)

-Lightning humming the song in the end was so cute

-Not a *whole* lot of notes on this episode BUT I LOVED IT. The animation and the music was fucking amazing.

-Rustville!

-IN A MOVIE!?!? BABY YOU'RE IN THREE!

-S P I D E R C A R AAAAAAAAAAHHH

-Bella sounds really cool! And possibly pushy. But cool! (*I was right*)

-"that's technical, it comes out of a computer!...somehow" this. This feels like they're very faintly denting the fourth wall here. Help? H-help?

-Okay maybe the spotlight in a film isn't for you Lightning, and that's okay. XD

-I honestly love the dress up with the two, like Mater is kinda trying to cheer Lightning up. It's touching.

-The way that Mater describes Lightning as "being good at everything" actually really makes me wonder whether Lightning grew up a gifted kid and had those really high expectations pushed onto him. It's no wonder he's so wound up all the time when something doesn't work out for him the way he expected it to. This could be a really neat place to dive into on headcanons.

-I really like that Lightning apologized about being a jerk even though it was for a very small thing. You can tell he's grown a lot and is working on himself.

-Ivy is back! Dadgum how'd she catch up with them already? Also fucking love how the story script changed so instantaneously XD

-Maters president speech reminds me of Cars 2, in his tone I think?

-Oh my God they're arguing, ahh the best part about a road trip, am I right?

-"your breath smells like a carpet fire" damn that's a new one! *Writes down for later*

-"I got this" WELL SHIT Y'ALL GUESS WE'RE FUCKED

-For the record I know nothing about Mad Max so I am not picking up any of their references, BUT, I love the tribal theme and the breakneck wasteland aesthetics

-Shovelbeard. Need I say more!?

-I like how they are so okay with all of this because they're more just angry with one another, and then they're like "hey wait where's everyone else?"

-Oop guess we gotta join em then! TO WAR!!!

-Lightning made a very good call asking what they're fighting for. The guy answering gave him a REALLY bad answer of "I don't even know" and now we are totally fucked!

-Lightning made another right choice and HE APOLOGIZED FIRST. THIS IS GROUNDBREAKING.

-Oh good, everybody made up! Yes Lightning, buy them a whole stores worth of sippy coolers. Get the fandom some as well, we need them.

-HERE WE GO FOLKS, THE FINAL EPISODE!

-Aw poor Mater backfiring with anxiety. I know the feeling all too well, I'll get really fidgety

-HOLY M A N S I O N! :O

-HE GREW UP HERE!?!?!?!?!? W H A T !?!?!?!?

-CRUUUUUUUUUUUUZZZZZZZZ!!!!!!!!!

-So Cruz's cousin is the guy marrying Mater's sister! How interesting! I love it!

W-wow that's his sister, she looks nothing like- OOOOHHHH THEY ARE SIBLINGS ALRIGHT

-MATO! TO-MA-TO WITHOUT THE TO, OH MY GOD

-HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT THATS WHY MATER HAS BEEN PUSHING HIMSELF THIS ENTIRE TRIP TO BE GOOD AT SOMETHING BECAUSE HE'S ALWAYS BEEN PUT LAST OH MY G O D

-1 2 3 ROCK! 1 2 3 ROCK! (*Okay but how does rock paper scissors even exist to them then*)

-"Did I MENTION I dabble in FAMILY THERAPY?" God bless you, Ramirez. God bless you.

-Oh my God though Cruz how many things do you do, you're about to fuck your own canon over. I HOPE ALL THESE THINGS STAY CONSISTENT, YA HEAR???

-oh my God Mater is gonna make me cry man

-may headset DIED, RIGHT AS I FINISHED IT WHAT THE FUCK

-oh my God Mateo and Mato stuck in the tire maze was hilarious

FINAL THOUGHTS!

-I will say that I AM a little disappointed that we did NOT see any reappearances from any characters outside of the Radiator Springs gang and Cruz. OR PLANES. But, I am very certain that both with their pushing and nudging and our screaming and waving of dollar bills, we will get a second season to give the team a chance to give us SOMETHING of these guys. My hope is that they finally actually go up north into Minnesota and see Dusty. Or, they stop at an air race! I would be totally cool with that! We would all be TOTALLY cool with that! Also for the sake of all of us: we NEED to have reappearances of the other characters from the other films. We need them. Desperately. We are being robbed of reunions with our old favorites

-Some old patterns they did in Cars 3 did kinda stick, such as the brushing over of Sally and Lightning's relationship, as well as the whole happenings of Cars 2, but it was less forcefully forgotten than Cars 3 was because at least here, they had the road trip chaos happening to kind of match for Cars 2's spontaneous spy plot. Truly though, could we get Finn and Holley back? Like PLEASE???

-Those negatives aside, I LOVED EVERY MOMENT OF IT. They took great care to flesh out both of their personalities and likes+dislikes, even some old traumas that we learned about for the very first time. It's so refreshing to see these two in the combination of settings just being buddies. Mater is helpful and understanding, McQueen is relaxing and trying to do the right thing, and both are trying to make sure they're each having a good time. The fact that Lightning apologizes for his mistakes multiple times is really really touching, and as someone who can strongly relate to Lightning's struggles, I can say that this is the kind of positive growth I needed to see in a television series. Even arrogant people can turn around and learn to be kinder and more open-minded about the world. It's possible and it's wonderful. Fucking thank you Pixar, this is the one character of your collection who hits closest to home and I am so glad to see he is growing and changing for the better, too.

-The ANIMATION is jaw-dropping. From the look and feel of the characters to the tiny details in the worldbuilding, as small as wrench bouquets on the hotel wallpaper. It was so interesting and so unique and welcomed. I need to comb through it again and see just all the car details that they added into the series. I also have absolutely no problem with them reusing background characters and making them with previously seen models, because the quality of animation and lighting and effects makes up for them a hundred MILLION percent. They really did not have to go above and beyond for the look of this series BUT THEY DID, and I give them my heartiest applause and kudos to every person who had a hand in this passion project. This team is goddamn phenomenal.

-I will absolutely be turning back to this series a LOT for inspiration and motivation. I'm very tempted to draw and write more Cars content since I am known to be much more Planes oriented, and I'm excited to see where that interest goes from here! I haven't got many headcanons for the Cars cast, so this is a clean slate for me! I'm really eager to see what I can do with it.

Alright, I'm going to go ahead and get ready for the rest of my day now, I have a dental appointment to be at. I will be back with more things very very soon! I hope you enjoyed this REALLY long ass post. Til the morrow!

[coldtomyflash]

What do you think about Killer Frost? Like the concept of her... of Caitlin becoming evil... maybe not what the show has done with her, per se, but... the idea of her.

Thanks for your patience on this one. I’ve been collecting my thoughts on it, because it’s a broad question that actually cross-sects a couple of seasons, different versions of a character, and there’s the issue of the meta-textual analysis of the character versus the within canon one.

I’ve broken them down below the cut, but the tl:dr for anyone who doesn’t want to read a full analysis: the metaphor for dissociative identity disorder that Killer Frost represents is ableist and bad, but the narrative for the character is unarguably the best she’s had and lends something to the team and the conflict. There are ways they could have navigated all of this better though, and them chickening out of making Caitlin into Killer Frost full time is where we lose the most in canon from what this story could’ve been.

Metatextually, I’m not sure I like what they’ve done with Killer Frost. This is largely because it’s ableist, and it’s sexist.

On the ableist front, Killer Frost represents the science fiction version of dissociative identity disorder. It’s pretty blatantly the case - she’s an alter who takes command and who’s actions Caitlin has little to no recollection of, though Caitlin is aware of her prescence and some of what she gets up to (e.g., that she went to Burning Man). She comes out to protect Caitlin more often than not, and when Caitlin ‘sleeps’. And she remembers all of what Caitlin does.

They are distinct identities sharing the same body, and not in a way where each has ever existed separately but where Frost explicitly developed out of Caitlin. 

It’s science-fictiony because it involves metahuman powers, hair colour changes, and isn’t really that in keeping with actual practice of people who have DID, and it’s ableist because it’s a very toxic representation of DID. Pretty much everyone who has DID has suffered typically pretty severe abuse and pretty much always in childhood. Symptoms manifest through that and over the lifespan, and not when a person gets magical (metahuman) powers. 

Also, representing what basically amounts to DID as evil and villainous and uncaring? Not good. People with DID are victims, not violent and cruel and cold-hearted. This issue is repetitive across most representations of DID in media, including the movie Split. 

So… I have issues with that, ultimately. Mostly in the “stop making mentally ill people evil” vein. Even if it wasn’t a perfect representation of DID, I know they’re basically trying to pretend it’s not DID - “she’s a metahuman, it’s different, that’s why it is this way”. Which to me falls a bit flat, particularly with how they’ve done it, but if she wasn’t evil then the overall connotations wouldn’t be so bad.

(And yes, she might be ‘less’ evil moving forward, but she started as a villain and it’s only because she has a ‘good’ side that she stopped hurting people and trying to kill them, so???)

And it’s sexist too. Why? Because The Flash has done this before, but only with female villains. Remember Magenta?

Basically the same deal, though at least they represent her storyline of abuse in a much more accurate and respectful manner. The DID likely existed before the powers, but her powers manifested largely through only one of her alters and gave that identity the power to fight back against the abuse instead of just suffer it. 

But guess when else we also saw this?

Anyone else sensing a theme here? Eliza’s (Trajectory’s) issues came about as representing an issue of addiction, but it seems like Velocity made her have hallucinations of an alternate identity that she became after she took the drug. Also just a really terrible and ableist way to represent drug addiction, hallucinations, and potentially alters.

Note that we’ve never seen any men on this show have quite this same pattern of issues. Like women, powers may exacerbate their underlying angers and resentments, but they don’t seem to manifest these issues on The Flash the same way that female villains do. And I’ve talked about this before with these three characters, but let it said again:

“…things like Velocity or meta-powers… make (in this case) nice and sweet women turn into demon harpies but it’s not “their fault, that’s not who they really are, it’s the drug/powers.”

Basically, it’s a tired trope, and given that they’ve only had it play out with female characters, it smells a little like “all women are [secretly] crazy/hysterical” misogyny.”

So that’s… one side of the Killer Frost coin. And of The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly, it’s definitely the Ugly. But a within-canon and narrative evaluation goes in a few different directions instead.

Within-canon, Killer Frost is the most interesting thing to happen to Caitlin and was narratively necessary to make her add to the story instead of being sidelined by it.

First off, Caitlin’s narratives were… floundering, before this. I don’t think I need to explain why rehashing her constantly finding love and losing it and grieving over and over became a very tired plot and ultimately made her character feel like she wasn’t even that secure on the team eventually.

Earth 2 Killer Frost was (to me) the most exciting part of S2 for Caitlin. An evil version of her, one who became conflicted, one who disavowed even her own name, one who saved the team but was still selfish. One who was so diametrically opposed to Caitlin as this intense foil.

This was interesting. This was fresh.

So when, in S3, they set Caitlin on the path to being Killer Frost, I was pretty excited. The team was (is) overpowered in terms of metas, and losing Caitlin and making her a villain was an exciting way to balance that out. Not to mention that she finally got a story that didn’t revolve around falling in love and grieving, but which was about herself and an internal struggle. While I still hate the “powers make you evil / powers gave her DID and her alter is evil” element they went with, the narrative balancing act gave her character more purpose to the main/ongoing story than she had had in a long time.

For the first time since helping find Ronnie in S1, Killer Frost as part of Caitin meant that she was driving her own story and driving the plot instead of helplessly strapped to whatever direction it took her.

And then, of course, Caitlin died, and to ‘save’ her, Julian stole her meta-dampener and caused her to go “full Killer Frost”. This isn’t just my idea, I read someone else say that Caitlin truly died at that moment, and I think that’s something to consider. 

The problem with the narrative moving forward is that this was a turning point for Caitlin and should have remained The turning point, the definitive one.

Narratively, I think it would be useful if we could conclusively think of this moment as the death of Caitlin and the birth of Frost, full stop and forevermore. It would take care of a lot of the DID stuff, to be totally honest. It wouldn’t be that Caitlin and Frost are two separate identities or that Frost is an alter of Caitlin, it would be that once the cold (her powers) gripped Caitlin’s heart, she was fundamentally altered and became different. Still kind of a “powers make you evil” story but that’s at least balanced out by how many people we’ve finally seen with powers who aren’t evil (though seriously, more benign metas, please).

This complete change into Frost wouldn’t have ultimately changed much in S3, if anything. We’d seen Caitlin use her powers for good ends, before becoming Frost, and we’d seen E2 Killer Frost use her powers to help the team and for semi-altruistic acts (well, mostly helpful revenge) as well as selfish evil ones. We also saw Frost help the team get Barry’s memories back, and hesitate more than once. It was often like she was trying too hard to be evil, to be ‘Killer’ Frost.

It was too much. Even Savitar knew she wasn’t truly evil.

So we could have accepted after the end of S3 that it wasn’t that she was evil, it was that she didn’t know what else to be or how else to live up to this legacy and navigate the powers she didn’t want and which changed her. This would be especially with all the anger and resentment she’s built up over years of job loss and grief and being used and having some post-traumatic stress from being kidnapped (thanks Zoom), not to mention not being fully in control of her own brain and body once she got powers, and then Julian disrespecting her wish to die without becoming this.

So this scene at the end of S3…

…would still stand. Everything pretty much stays the same until then, I would argue. The only thing I would add is that she would say that no, she’s not Killer  Frost. She’s never going to be her E2 counterpoint. She’s just Frost. And that would be her proper name moving into S4. 

So the major problem now is that Season 4 is missing the boat again with this character.

Because now we have Caitlin ‘back’. We lost her and thought she was dead and forever altered and now that’s been essentially retconned. Her saying she isn’t Caitlin and isn’t Killer Frost was pointless. That duality is back.

And because of that, we’re essentially re-hashing the S3 struggle between her and Frost, though Frost isn’t ‘evil’ per se at this point. Her and Caitlin manage to navigate their differences in a much better manner. But honestly? I don’t know they wrote it as there being anything to navigate. I don’t know why we saw this:

Cold without powers. What does it add? 

I mean, I understand: Caitlin is a team member, and there is sentimentality there. It’s a hard pill to swallow if she were truly ‘dead’. But it was the implication of S3. And the best scenes of her in S4 so far have been Frost. It’s been Frost interacting with other ladies in particular, but especially Frost interacting with Iris.

This shit, right here. I would have preferred a narrative where Frost listens to Iris and almost no one else, because Iris is the person who’s death she almost orchestrated and Iris is the one who killed Savitar and set Frost free of his manipulation in doing so.

Wouldn’t it be so neat to see Frost slowly become friends with Iris and make amends to her for that? To become genuinely close in a way that Caitlin never managed to be with Iris? To tell it like it is and have more cutthroat ambitions and comments than Caitlin did, not because Caitlin didn’t think them, but because Caitlin was too soft to voice them. Have it become more clear over time that Frost is so much of what Caitlin was, just without the inhibition. Have it become clear over S4 that Caitlin isn’t dead (but she is, but she’s not) because Frost is still her. 

Caitlin the bartender was dull. Frost the team anti-villain (antihero?) is narratively rich.

And can you imagine Cisco and Caitlin in this scene in episode 1 if she was still Frost instead?

Him basically saying “I know that you’re different, but you’re still my friend” and her accepting that yeah, okay, she is different, but maybe she can still help the team. Note, this wouldn’t be Caitlin saying it, it would be Frost. The identity, the person, who wreaked all this damage, acknowledging that yes, despite the cold in her heart, she is willing to help them.

And I mean… maybe Cisco wouldn’t go to her immediately, in that case. Maybe he’d wait until they unstuck Barry from the speedforce and he was unwell, and then Cisco would ask Caitlin to help him with that, to see if something was wrong with Barry that she could detect or figure out. 

And that’d be when she realizes that even though she’s hurt these people, she can also still help them. (And wouldn’t that say something more about culpability and about making amends and learning to be a better person despite your anger and coldness?) The rest of her arc with Amunet and everyone else would still hold true, it would just be all Frost all the time.

(Of course, in a perfect world such as this, Dibny wouldn’t be a main/recurring because Frost would already create enough friction on the team as-is, especially the first time she meets Harry. Not only did she help cause HR’s death, she’s also so much like the Killer Frost from E2 who helped Zoom, and Harry might have a Reaction to that. In my dream world we’d also still have Wally around but now I’m getting off track. I’m also super curious how Cynthia would respond to Frost, to be totally honest. See, there’s just so much potential!).

So that’s… all I have to say about that. :)

[goingknowherewastaken]

Gotta vent about two roommates quick cause this has been a source of irritation for me

I'm on mobile and don't have a read more option and I apologise so please scroll past this if you don't want to read it

These two roommates are a couple who have a cat. The cat is adorable, a little sassy, and super sweet.

But these two hardly ever clean the cat's litterbox.

Like, this cat is lucky if these two bother to clean it twice a month. It's been about three fucking weeks since they last cleaned the litterbox! I know this because I'm almost always around and haven't seen them clean it and it's essentially overflowing with shit and urine clods!!!! Of the past five cleanings of this box, they only cleaned it twice on their own accord. The other times we have had to ask one of them to clean it. And it's not like they're having to clean multiple boxes. It's only one fucking litterbox that this cat has!

If you decide to get a cat, you need to take responsibility of cleaning their litterbox regularly. The fewer boxes you have, the more often you should clean it. The more cats you have, the more otlften you should clean it.

Once a day would be the best case scenario, but if you can't swing that then you should try for a few times a week. Once a week at the least. Your cat should not be forced to use a box where shit and urine is way more prominent than litter.

And to just say this - no one likes cleaning the litterbox. It's gross and smelly and I totally understand it because it's not something I enjoy doing either, but it's something that has to be done. It's part of the deal with having a cat! And the more often you clean it the less gross it is!

And before anyone starts in with "well if it bothers you why don't you clean it" or "why don't you talk to them about it" or whatever else:

We have talked to them about it, but it just goes in one ear and out the other cause these two are in their own little world.

And I'm not about to clean the litter box because it's not my cat! She is their cat and it's their responsibility to take care of her and all of her needs - from the cute needs to the gross needs. It should not be passed off on other people who are not her owners. We all live in the same house but we did not agree to talking care of their cat

They have more than enough time each week to clean the box (more than once). One of them works part time and uses they're time off to play video games and watch TV. Which I get, but you can easily take 20min of your time to scoop the fucking litterbox

The litterbox is not in a hard to reach area. It's sitting in a room right next to their bedroom, there is plenty of room to move around, the room is well lit, and it's on the first floor of the house.

These two are in their 30s and have also been dating for a while (an on and off again situation that spans a decade) and they've had the cat for a few years. Checking in on a litterbox a few times a week should not be a new concept and they should know the responsibility of cat care

They make all these fancy boxes and gadgets now to make litterbox cleaning even easier so you can absolutely invest in one of those

Y'all can train cats to use a fucking toilet for God's sake!!!!

You can set alarms and reminders and mark calendars to make sure to remember to clean it if you have difficulty remembering

So yeah sorry for interrupting your dash with this rant but this has been pissing me for months and I feel really bad for this cat for having to deal with this disgusting litterbox. It was either venting here or absolutely losing it on those two...which still might happen

[starrybouquet]

I realized today that we have very few episodes left of Lower Decks and that after that comes Discovery. I was... surprised by how much I am scared of Disco s3, and how said I'll be to see LWD go (for the time being). In general, I'm not anti-New Trek, but BIG WARNING IN RED LETTERS: I am rather critical of Disco and especially Picard here. I'd put it under the cut, but I'm on mobile, sorry.

I wasn't alive when most of Trek aired and so this is kinda my chance for actual current Trek during my lifetime, so I feel like I have possibly more of a right to be upset about this than someone just wishing for "the good old days". However, if even a bit of anti-New Trek is not your thing, don't bother reading this. I just needed somewhere to rant, and if I can't rant on my fandom blog on this godforsaken site, then it's not serving its purpose 😂

---

Thoughts in bullet form, cause that's how I roll:

I want to like New Trek. I want to like it so, so desperately. I'm too young to remember anything about Voyager/Enterprise airing, and I didn't enjoy the reboot movies (too actiony). This is my chance for real, new Trek content, and I love TNG and Voyager to bits, like DS9 and TOS and ENT well enough, and I want to feel like I'm watching "current" scifi for once. Also ideally sci-fi that does not put one of their main women cast members in a bodysuit. Thanks.

So I was very excited about Disco. I liked the first episode. I liked how Burnham was portrayed, and I liked Georgiou, and Saru, and I thought, this is promising.

And then (spoilers ahead)...Georgiou died. And then we did this whole mirror universe thing which seemed to have a lot of violence for shock value and a lot of Burnham soliloquizing and that's it

I love Picard's soliloquies and Janeway's soliloquies and Sisko's soliloquies and I'm even okay with Archer's. But it was just wrong to me to have Burnham soliloquizing when she *wasn't the captain*. She's a crew member, rank stripped, and she's standing here taking up all the airtime? Everyone else just listens to her? I like the concept of doing a show not centered around the captain. But in practice, it's...tough. Especially when you aren't focusing on the XO, which I think is possible.

So I suffered through s1 because it was Trek, and I didn't love it. There were some good parts. But not enough to outweigh the bad. But I tried s2, because hey, maybe it would be better.

And you know what? I loved Pike. I liked it better overall. I wished it had been slightly more episodic, more character-driven, less plot-driven, but I liked it. Especially because of Pike. Burnham still had an inordinate amount of power for a science officer, and also randomly decided to leave the ship, but okay. I was okay with it.

So, the funny thing is, I actually think Discovery is okay. So why am I dreading season 3?

I don't know. I mean, Pike is gone. I'm worried about how they'll portray our future--it looks like the Federation is in shambles, from the trailer? To be very honest, though I'm happy to see trans and NB rep, I'm afraid of that plotline overshadowing all the characters we already have who already don't get enough character development. I'm afraid of the plot overshadowing that char development in general, I guess.

But the saddest thing is that this dread is new, and I'm pretty sure it's because of Picard. It's not Disco's fault.

I'm sorry. Yes, there were some redeeming qualities. Yes, I really dislike Picard.

As y'all know, I am a HUGE fan of TNG. I can't say Picard was my favorite, because four TNG chars are tied for that spot, but he was one of my favorites. And I hate--HATE--how Picard the show has changed my view of him.

I don't really dislike Picard himself in Picard. He's okay. Maybe not exactly the character we remember, but I could have lived with that, IF HE HAD A GOOD SUPPORTING CAST.

And here is where it starts to get really ranty, I'm sorry about that, but these thoughts have to go somewhere. Scroll past if you don't want to read this, I won't be offended.

Mostly, there's a bad case of "show not tell" and also a lack of redeeming qualities with all the characters.

Let's start with Jurati. Why, exactly, am I supposed to care for her? I just...she betrays them, betrays everyone, and never shows that she's changed. We're told all about her brilliance, how she feels. She never shows that to us. I so wanted her to be a good character, because he's a scientist and a woman and I'm a scientist and a woman, but I ended up hating her. Sigh.

I actually like Rios. I find his character well fleshed out and likeable and let's face it, he's exactly my type. So, why oh why is he with Jurati?! He deserves better...

Raffi. Ah, such potential. And some good background. But her self-pity routine is way overdone, and we are only told about her friendship with Picard, not actually shown that. Sorry, but I'll accept someone who calls Picard "JL" when even the TNG crew all calls him Captain or Jean-Luc only when I actually *see* why they're close.

I liked Dahj a lot. But Soji was somehow...so unlikable in contrast. I don't know why? And I have so many questions plot-wise, so many holes that I feel got cut out in editing and were never fixed. Anyway.

I LIKED ELNOR. HE WAS NICE AND A GOOD CHARACTER AND WE SAW A GOOD BSCKSTORY AND THEN HE JUST DISAPPEARED. WHAT.

Oh, and killing Icheb for shock value was totally cold-blooded and pure malice and evil and God clearly the producers didn't care about Voyager. Even though Beyer was one of them.

And unfortunately, this has not made me feel better. Just more upset about Picard. There are so many other things I want to pick at. The plot, the weird editing, the weird pacing, killing an Imzadi kid for a completely stupid reason. Ugh.

I'm sorry for subjecting you all to this.

On a more positive note, I've loved Lower Decks and am really hopeful and excited for SNW? So there's that. Hopefully I don't have my hopes dashed.

It should also be noted that despite all this, I'm still going to watch every show, probably, which explains why CBS doesn't care if I like it or hate it. Gotta love that. Take my money, CBS.

[overlyemotionalbreakfastcereal]

Mini Zuko Meta

Heyyy everybody I know I’m not an ATLA blog but a lot of you prob saw the post I made about ace zuko and whatever and I really wanted to write up my thoughts on maiko/zutara. Y'all can scroll past this if you’re not interested, idk how to put a keep reading while I’m on mobile sorry

Ok so I have issues with both maiko and zutara.

First off: Mai isn’t an inherently compassionate person. I guess she tries, but she never really appreciates what Zuko does for her. Mostly stuff like the shell and the ice cream, but she also just doesn’t understand him. She doesn’t understand why he left to join the Avatar, or even really the issue with the meeting. She doesn’t seem to know ANYTHING about Ozai’s and Zuko’s relationship other than what anyone could know. The scar. The banishment. And I mean, Zuko tries too, but never really goes out of his way to find out her interests or anything about her really. How much did both of them change while he was in exile? But this is mainly because he’s going through so much, and that’s not his fault. I’d bet money that if he had been at his emotional best, he’d be going out of his way to make Mai happy while she did barely anything in return for him. Mai deserves someone who understands her, who likes what she likes and can push her back when needed and can have a stable relationship with her. Zuko on the other hand, needs someone who can be gentle and patient with him. He’s never going to find a person who’s going to completely fix Ozai’s abuse or completely understand all his family problems, but he needs someone who can be sympathetic and stay with him through his darker times, someone who can cool his temper.

Speaking of, I don’t believe that Katara could do that for Zuko. She IS sympathetic and kind, but is also hotheaded and passionate. When she gets angry, she tends to bottle it up until she explodes at whoever’s around her, like in ‘The Kyoshi Warriors’ with Aang. If Katara and Zuko ever got angry with each other, it’s likely that both of them would be too stubborn to admit they were wrong. Katara needs someone who can coax her into logical conversation about whatever’s wrong instead of a screaming match. Again, not saying this is Aang.

On the topic of the Last Agni Kai, would any of you think that Zuko wouldn’t take that lightning bolt for Toph? Or Sokka? Would he just stand there and watch? It’s not in his character to sacrifice other people for his own gain, even to defeat Azula he wouldn’t do that. It’s shown from even the early episodes, when he saved the soldier and tried to save Zhao. I think that anyone could be standing in Katara’s place and he would have leaped in front of it. Not to say he doesn't care about Katara, he obviously does, but I don't believe it's in a romantic way.

Im not saying any pairing is better than another. Zukaang has it's flaws, Kataang has a fuckton of flaws, in fact I don't believe that any ship on the show is perfect. But I'm sick of people using the really bad relationships to prove that theirs would be better. Hell, most relationships look good when you compare it to Maiko. I'm sick of Maiko being used to prove Zutara and vice versa so that's why I made this post. I don't think I'm pro-any ship in ATLA, except maybe Sukka. Or Yukka.

Anyways, I'm pro-Zuko, and I'm sick of seeing him in pairings that wouldn't be good for him. Better than before does not mean best.

[cherryphobe]

🤔🤔 "incredibly unapologetically gay/transphobe". See, I thought They issued apologies for that shit and are putting forth the effort to LEARN. Guess you can't let things go and let people grow?

Hey y'all sorry bc I talk too much but I can't make a read more on mobile but this wound up being longer than intented. Scroll fast if you don't care I'm sorry!!CW Game Grumps discourse...See, I was a Game Grumos fan for like, 4 years years, buddy. I defended them to the grave. I gave them dozens of chances. Danny was literally an angel it my eyes, I had a huge crush on him, I loved his music, he grew up in my hometown & entering into young adulthood, I experienced alot of things he has spoken about in personal length.Do you know how many apologies they have stated? & how quickly they would, go back to making the same jokes soon after? How many excuses they've given? I'll even go as far to say Arin was a bit more willing to apologize & grow, & I don't blame Dan for not being vocal about apologies, cuz he was never very active on social media in the first place. But the Content they Created was harmful. & their faux apologies were so easy for me to accept when I wanted to love them So, so much.But I vidily remember two moments that made me realize, they're never going to change.One was Dan constantly excusing his racist jokes. He is a jewish american, so I actually don't mind his jokes about being jewish, thats entirely within his own personal moral stances. But his (& Arin's) jokes about asian & black people were never okay. & once - after half hearted apologies were given - Danny stated that a black fan once told him he thought those jokes were funny. Which meant to him that the entire black community should lighten up! Because One Person thought they were funny, so everyone else must just be too sensitive.Red flag. I started to very seriously cut back on how often I watched them after that. But, the Game Grumps (& the entire YTLP community) were such a big comfort to me, one of my only mental escapes, that I still decided to to back to them. & this, I remember, was in their bloodborne run, that people keep trying to tell me they've apologized for & learned from but honestly this isn't the only time this has happened, it was just the one that hit me the hardest & was my last straw.The introduced the episode with a very enthusiasticD: Hey whats up guys & girls!!!!!!!A: [hesitates, then excitedly] & everybody in between!D&A: genuine pleasant laughterI had a very emotional moment of really thinking they had changed, after a greeting like that. After the jokes I'd heard before, this meant so much to me, & I actually got hopeful, & then, I can't remember who said what, but'Hahah, yeah, whats up otherkin!!!!! My Foxkin!!! Hahah my MARKIPLIERKIN!!!!!!!!!'at the time, kinjokes were very common on tumblr, of 4chan/redditors harassing people on here who had their kin in their bio. Some of the people being harassed were friends. Some were minors. & some people, like myself - agender NB, felt a trickle down of also being harassed, & of having genders & kin types being confused & compared, both of us heing told we werent legitimate. Jokes like the Game Grumps decided to make. It was like a punch in the gut to have them great me & pull the rug from under my feet.Then, after being so hurt, it became easier to notice all the shitty stuff theyd done in the past that I turned a blind eye to because I was so starstruck. They are racist, transphobic, homophobic, misogynist (yeah cool Arins a fucking feminist but of youve ever seen a single NSP video then you know why that doesn't mean Anything), & they wear a thinly painted veil of heroism bc they do things like charity events for sick children or, I don't know, & back & help produce an LGBT+ dating sim!The Game Grumps are fucking garbage. Their apologies are empty & their past is just as relevant as their present. Any minority or marginalized group has a right to feel hurt & distrustful of their oppressors. & we are allowed feel uncomfortable or Fearful of the fact that these Bigotted Grown Adult Men had a heavy hand in Content targeted at LGBT+ young adults.You are allowed to like the Game Grumps.You are allowed to like the Dream Daddy.You are even allowed to ignore everything wrong they've done.But please do not tell us that we just need to accept their 'apologies' & move on.