#telling her she was the reason he died and they wouldve killed themselves if they were her son. he died in a freak accident

[cursedvibes]

you!!! you get it!! yuki's entire existence feels like such a slap to the face for the spvs. shes the only one that escaped n has a ct but she still ended up fighting n dying for tengens sake, despite building up herself from the ground (i dont think the higher ups wouldve rly empathized with her situation, most definitely made it wayy more difficult to deal with, if geto n gojo had such a hard time she prolly got much worse 💀). i wonder what it wouldve been like to hear all the spv xP but alas we can only hope gege remembers this bit....yeah honestly i wish we got more drama out of their interactions n a bit of yukis own childhood instead of choso crying abt his brothers for the nth time 😭 pls tell me more abt the thoughts u have abt those two its always nice to read see ur thoughts (me who has read every single kenjin fic on your ao3 😁😁😁) the tengen situation rly showed who all read the manga n who all just saw the pictures n came up with their on hc for the situation 💀

Thank you for reading my fics <3 it means a lot to me

Well, we don't know if she's the only SPV with a CT, but I'm sure it's why she was able to escape. Riko doesn't seem to have one and that might be one of the reasons why Tengen saw her as an ideal candidate. We don't know about the other two that got merged, but it would make sense for Tengen to choose the ones that would have less means of defending themselves. The Heian one might've had one because that was probably still more of an experimental phase and she might have had less options, unlike now where there are multiple popping up in one generation and she picks the ones with characteristics she likes most and who probably also have a closer match.

So Tengen most likely knew Yuki's CT, but didn't tell the higher-ups, since Kenjaku got their help, but couldn't find it out. They basically promoted her to special grade based on mission results and I assume a good word from Tengen. That might've also helped her break through the glass ceiling of misogyny. As we see with Maki, it really doesn't matter how skilled you are, you can only advance as far as they let you and if you're a woman or they don't like you for some other reason, you're not getting anywhere. But she had her results to show off and what Tengen says goes, so they couldn't protest. It's impressive that she managed to keep her CT and status as former SPV a secret for so long, although the foreign missions definitely helped there.

I'd also like to have a bit more background on Yuki. Did she have the same religious upbringing as Riko? She was likely groomed into a sacrificial mindset too, so what made her be able to resist that? Did Tengen wait too long and teenage hormones ruined it for her? Just natural instincts? She is very rebellious in general after all. How did her first meeting with Tengen go down? So many questions that will likely never get answered. But that also means there is no limit for how we can imagine it all happening.

It's a real shame that Tengen and her intentions and past never really got questioned by anybody besides Kenjaku. Yuki has her complaints, but she ultimately doesn't do anything about them. Gojo suggested at one point to kill Tengen if she wants to force the merger with Riko, but apparently completely forgot about that once Toji came into the picture. He was so close to the root of the problem, but then didn't act on it. Riko would've died anyway, even if Toji wasn't around, just in a different way. And even if they managed to rescue Riko, it would've been some other kid that got sacrificed in her stead.

Mind you, I don't think Gojo could ultimately do anything against Tengen, certainly not at 16. He wouldn't even be able to touch her and she knows the capabilities of six eyes users better than everyone else. But I feel like an effort should have been made. The issue should be addressed. There could've been a lot of interesting stuff between Tengen and him too. After all, she also created him to make him protect her, so if he went against that, that would be a nice source of conflict. But I don't think he knows about his purpose and will likely never find out about it.

Either way, I would've liked more skepticism of Tengen in general. Kenjaku brings up right to Yuki's face that there is something very important about the Culling Game that Tengen has been keeping from them, but nobody fucking listens to them. It's so frustrating. Megumi also brings up that they should maybe not 100% trust Tengen, but nothing comes off it. The kids get so caught up in their plans and the opponents that keep popping up around them, that they forget who put them in this situation in the first place. That's how Tengen likes things to go I guess. Make people just forget about her and that's how she keeps getting away with it. And she relies a lot on the influence she established early on.

[vaugarde]

on my commute today i got like this fitness inspiration ad on youtube where it was like cheesy “defy the odds” kinda stuff and it blasted me back to high school where like this guy who had lost his arm as a kid came to the school and did like this really forced (well meaning but i hated it bc the student they had running it was the same girl calling me slurs and assaulting me with books and they took this opportunity to bully me further bc they kept insisting on being assigned to me) anti bullying session based around like “you can do P.E. without being fully able bodied” and again i personally hated it but my teacher that hosted it at the time just played the video and took the opportunity to just mock him for losing his arm and the whole class and her just laughed and joked about calling him “stumpy” or something and i feel like. this paints a decent picture of my high school personally

[fictionkinfessions]

Stop demonizing my sister for making sure the traveler didnt get themselves fucking killed.

Sure it wasnt the /best/ way to go about it, but traveler is so clearly not thinking through that whole scene that there was no better options.

Tell me travelers, did you really think you could waltz up to the Raiden Shogun for a casual chat then walk away? Did you genuinely think you could do that? Especially considering you'd basically have to fight through the entire shogunate to even GET to Raiden.

Did you all forget that traveler almost died WITH all of Inazuma behind them? Traveler wouldve died in seconds if Ayaka didnt step in.

Her words were not being listened to because traveler was frantic. So close yet so far from their sibling, obviously they wanted to try to speedrun when their sibling had already told them to.. Not do that. In the previous quest. She had to do SOMETHING or the game wouldve fucking ended right there.

But honestly youre gonna tell me Ayaka essentially saying "hey before you make up your mind can you talk to these people?" Is high teir manipulation and guilt tripping? That her forcing traveler to take a step back and think about how they approach Inazuma is irredeemable?

Look look I also kin Aether. I get it. I get being angry cause YES we just wanted to find our sibling. But for fucks sake think rationally for two seconds. Ayaka saved the travelers god damn life, even if it didnt even seem like it. Theres no outcome that involves not speaking with Ayaka AND leaving Inazuma alive. There just straight isnt.

Im not trying to say we should praise her or anything, shes flawed like everyone else.

But so many people blow that scene out of proportion on AYAKAS SIDE, when Traveler was the big asshole through that scene. (Ofc due to being tired and frantic over the previous Dain quest, so I do not hold that against them either btw)

Just.

God fuck I swear people have no reading comprehension sometimes. I get our source is released slowly as all hell and people eat up all the new content in a single day, but if anyone could start to actually look at the story how its SUPPOSED to be seen (i.e. no several month gaps between the story additions), so many of these problems wouldnt exist. (Seriously, my brother, who began playing after Inazuma began, DOESNT SEE WHY everyone hates the starting quests so much. Because he played it all only days apart. While everyone who is angry played it months apart.)

So many people looked at the start of Inazuma and just forgot that traveler had just seen their sibling for the first time in MONTHS like.. Barely a week before that piece of the story. Traveler was NOT thinking rationally in that moment. They werent until Ayaka sent them on that little fetch quest. Because SOMEONE had to make them take a step back and learn about Inazuma before they went and killed themselves.

Making sure a frantic person doesnt put themselves in harms way is NOT a valid reason to demonize someone. And Im tired of seeing people say my sister is iredeemable for doing just that.

~Kamisato Ayato 🕯️♟

(Really this is hardly even a kinfession, everything pointed at here is stuff Ive been angry at the fandom about since the quest released. Its just put in a new light with this kin I guess... Also this wasnt supposed to be this long OOPS, cant stop myself from overexplaining)

[kdramachitchat]

An uprising that created a dystopian Seoul gave birth to a monstrous judge and a live court trial setting.

The Devil Judge episode 1; A Monster Emerges

Episode 1 of The Devil Judge begins in a dystopian Seoul with chaos everywhere in the streets. There’s a unknown plague covering the entire country that made companies fallen and people homeless. The chaos which made the poor lead an arson and acts of terrorism. This created the Gwanghwamun riot and the Social Responsibility Foundation has send out a press conference.

The virus that created the monster

President Heo says a powerful speech. The economic troubles are part of the past. The plague will be forgotten as it’s been resolved by the government. While President Heo speaks this event, the important guests are being introduced: Seo Jeong Hak who is the Chairman of Social Responsibility Foundation, Cha Kyung Hee (Minister Of Justice), Min Yong Shik (Minbo Group Chairman) and Park Duman (Saram Media Chairman). The president also promises to create more jobs and to bring back Korea to the grand country as it was before. We also see on the screen how donations kept on rolling and another character was introduced. Jung Sun Ah (Executive Director of CSR Foundation) commented how the President overreacts whenever a camera is on his face. They know that he’s a clown and the attitude never goes away.

The president adds, they must rectify their law and order. He has passed a bill for a powerful judicial reform which allows the public to participate as jurors. Im not sure if that is such a good idea. Here comes Kang Yohan who is being introduced by the President as a ruthless judge. Judge Kang will preside over the trials and hands out sentences in a live television setting. Here comes the judge who exudes with much charisma and suave. Alot of concerned questions were raised like how the live broadcast is a anti-humanitarian act and it’s only for show. Another comment was mentioned that Judge Kang punishes too severely and are inconsiderate of the weak. Judge Kang interrupts and asks “Who’s weak?”.  The journalist made a sample of the disadvantage but he retaliates that they are still the defendants. He mentions that he doesnt care if there’s a powerful person or not. Another journalist asked if he can hand down a hefty sentence on a defendant for the live show. A sample was made with Chairman Joo Il Do, who is known for being well connected. He then makes a statement saying “I am power!” and how he exercises the judicial power that was delegate to him and who is above him (the public). He then ends his speech which made many people impressed especially the President and the Minister of Justice. After the speech, Sun Ah congratulates him for the sexy power he has and the rest of the influential people stares at him.

Kim Gaon

We see another character who Kim Gaon using a public transportation watching the speech of Kang Yohan about to go to The Supreme Court. He then enters the office of Chief Justice Min Jungho who is apparently his former Professor. Gaon and Jungho discusses the live program which made Gaon question Yohan and his intentions. Jungho describes Yohan as no ordinary judge. He is a revolutionist who will eradicate court corruption. He is the nation’s only hope.This made Gaon realize that Yohan is extremely popular. As the riots dies down Jungho compares Yohan as a monster that emerges from turbulent times due to the absurb bills he keeps on passing. Yohan doesnt thinks more of a politician, politician for the people. Gaon realizes how Chief Jungho has a dislike with Yohan and asks why he wants him to be part of the live show. Jungho wants Gaon to observe Yohan and compares himself to Judas.

Gaon and Yohan finally meets at Yohan’s office. When Gaon left, Yohan opened his personal information file with a picture of his parents an a article title “We Just Wanted To Do A Good Deed”, “Conned Restaurant Owner Couple Kills Themselves”. He makes a comment on how he looks just like the father. I wonder if Yohan has met the parents before and if he has anything to do with them being dead.

Gaon enters to his office and we’re introduced with Oh Jinjoo (Associate Judge). They both introduced themselves and Jinjoo made a comment about Gaon’s smile. She mentions how he looks good when he smiles and realizes that there’s a criteria on picking judges base on their visuals. Being charming enough creates power.

Bus incident 

As Gaon leaves, we see a group of young students crossing with their teacher. There’s also a incoming bus that is speeding and out of control and is about to enter the Supreme Court entrance. This prompts Gaon to be alert as he sees a young girl about to get hit and covers to protect her. While he does, Yohan was seen shooting the bus driver which made the bus topple. The bus is about to explode with the driver still in it. Gaon continues to be a good citizen and saves the driver on time. There’s a news coverage with the important members of the live show watching. The coverage mentions a arrest warrant for the chairman of JU Chemical Joo Il Do (who was at the presscon) was suspended and the kindergarten driver is connected as a act of protest. The Ministry of Justice says to the President that its a challenge to the authority but SongA responses and says its a outcry. CEO Joo created an incident leak of toxic waste water. Another comment was raised that the many of the public are still out of work and the government can’t collect taxes. If they dont solve this, another revolt would break out. They move on to the live show and asked the Saram Media Chairman how the process is doing. The president mentions that Yohan wanted to do this case personally and makes sure that it goes well.

Gaon sees Yohan leaving and thanks him for saving his life but comments on how Yohan didnt hesitate to shoot. He asked Yohan if he was going to kill the bus driver and Yohan answers back to Gaon with a response like “If i had to?!”. Gaon unsure with his intentions, Yohan counteracts and says if he didnt do anything the bus wouldve continued to spiraled straight. Gaon says that Yohan doesnt care if the bus driver dies or not and makes a calculation stating saving 2 is better than 1.

1st case preparation

There’s a meeting discussing what case they’ll do for the first live show. Yohan wants to take on the JU Chemical case as his first states that it’s a appropriate case and is confident that he’ll go by the law. Yohan makes it clear that its not the people’s court and just wants to make the trials transparent.

Chairman Joo and his lawyer discusses before the first trial. They talk about how hard it is to get clear evidence related to environmental issues. Since itll be difficult to find evidence they’ll plead not guilty. If things turned not well, the judge will charge them with professional negligence resulting death which will lead to 5 years imprisonment. Chairman Joo asks if he can trust the lawyer and says that he will.

Gaon and Jungho talks privately. Jungho asks why Yohan wants the toxic waste case to be his first. Gaon answers the obvious. Jungho also added that Chairman Joo is the biggest donator of the Social Responsibility Foundation. The reason why Yohan is there is because of the Foundation and the Ministry of Justice being his back support. Jungho thinks he has a ulterior motive, despite being in a awkward situation and yet still took the case. Ji Yoonsik and Yohan discusses the bus incident. Ji tells Yohan that he doesnt want to create a scandal and thinks the incident is carelessness but Yohan mentions that its noise marketing (since the incident is related to Chairman Joo). I assume that Yohan only cares for his status and following the law without caring how it affects others.

Gaon makes a comment that the 3 year old is a daughter of the bus driver is part of one of the many deceased related to the JU Chemical Case. The grandmother committed suicide over the case. Gaon internally looks frustrated after Yohan looks like he doesnt care. He says that Yohan rejected Chairman Joo’s warrant and yet want to incarcerate the bus driver.  Yohan mentions that the bus driver was caught on the scene but Gaon talks back and says that they must take the motive into consideration. Yohan says that despite being a victim, does this give them a right to hurt others? Well you have to agree with Yohan on that one though. Gaon then mentions that the bus driver is injured and Yohan says that they have a medical detention center so the issue is solved which lead Gaon to become quiet. Do you think Gaon is putting his emotions over the law?

A news report about the incident broke out that the child named Yu died from the toxic waste water leakage incident of JU Chemical. The grandmother of the child committed suicide. The result of the incident led 11 dead, the rest of the alive victims are receiving treatment.

Gaon and Jungho ate out. Gaon made a private investigation on Cha Kyunghee. During the time Chairman Joo caused trouble as a startup business, Ms. Cha was the person who helped him as a elite Seoul prosecutor. To return the favor when Cha became a assembly woman Chairman Joo is the head of her campaign club. Jungho made a assumption that theyre both helping each other and since Yohan was forced to be part of it, he still wanted to put Joo on a trial. Cha is watching on the sidelines with no objection. What do you think are the intentions of Cha and Joo? It’s not for the good right? Its all speculations for now. They compared the scenario as someone’s first love. Gaon continues to spy on Yohan to find more evidence and puts in spy devices around his office. Yohan almost caught him as he entered the office. Gaon continues to spy and spots Chairman Joo’s lawyer about to enter a restaurant meeting Kang Yohan. Gaon and Jungho meets up after discussing the scenes which makes them even more suspicious over Yohan. They just need to watch him closely at court.

Gaon’s childhood

As Gaon comes home, we are introduced to Soohyun who is a RIT Lietenant who is a childhood friend of his. Soohyun compares the 2 of them and says how the public loves judges with different backgrounds. We learned that Gaon doesnt want to move out as the place reminds him of his parents. Gaon and Soohyun continues to joke around, Soohyun mentions that she has a crush on him but he had rejected her. Gaon didnt want to lose his only best friend.

While Soohyun was doing her rounds, Soohyun hears a woman screaming for help. A highschool student was being attacked on the streets and saves her. This makes Soohyun becoming a likeable character. Ironically a poster above with the caption “A safe Korea will be realized from now on.”. Not so safe yet isnt it?

Ms Jung and Ministry Of Justice meeting

Ms Jung starts the discussion stating that the sponsors are becoming worried with the upcoming trial. The reason why theyre holding the mock trial is to ease the citizen’s anger over criminals. Suspicious to why they put a businessman on trial and if he receives a serious punishment, itll become a negative precedent for the business people. Cha says a rhetorical question if Yohan has ever made a mistake, but he hasnt. Song still adamant and wants the case to be a lighter trial. Asks why Cha is adamant about this being the first case and also mentions that Ms Song has overstepped by being arrogant. Before Jung leaves she commented on how everything from the office to her expensive car was paid by her foundation. Damn, straight fire. I like her. She also adds statistics information that the Ministry of Justice lacks budget and added that her foundation should create more prisons themselves. OMG

The First Live Trial

Before the trial begins, Yohan begins to be reminded of his past with a shadow that looked like Gaon surrounded with fire.

How to watch the trial?

Install the DIKE app, tap the statue and you’re in! While watching the trial 2 buttons will appear: Red button - To be punished and otherwise they can tap the other button. Votes will be collected and visualized in court. The judge will be able to see the people’s opinions and decide easily.

The court case is about a chemical company who caused sewage leak and didnt do any treatment. The water was used by the residents for their daily lives.

Yohan comes a conclusion and decides that there was intent murder. Five years is the maximum. As mentioned during the beginning of the episode, Yohan became a monstrous judge by passing insane bills. One of the bills is about the number of years accumulated for the sentences, based on the victims. To make it more dramatic since its a live tv show, he lowered down the blinds and lights mentioning all the names of the victims. He also mentions that there were 11 dead and 36 disabilities. The case resulted from 5 to 235 years of imprisonment, which equates to a life sentence. Ministry Of Justice watching from behind the tv looked in shock. While Yohan mentions the names the President continues to watches and compliments how Yohan is a true master.

The trial resulted to professional negligence and 235 years of imprisonment. The ratings also were soaring high and the Ministry of Justice is pissed while the President smirks. Yohan speaks to Chairman Joo and wishes him a long life..

HAH.

The live trial ends and a victim’s relative thanks Judge Yohan. While the victim’s relative was crying and hugging Yohan, Yohan was seen yawning as if he was bored. Gaon saw it and continued to stare at him. Yohan stared back acting like a devil. We see a flashback of Yohan handing out a USB and mentions that there will be a flash of the victim’s pictures will be put out during the show. Yohan then smirks at Gaon. The scene fades with Yohan standing facing off with Gaon. A flashback of his tragic past shows him and a look-a-like Gaon (Yohan’s brother or a former colleague maybe) facing each other surrounded by which looks like a burnt old church. They both continued to stare at each other as the scene concludes. It looks like there’s a past which needs to be disclosed.

--

Comments:

+ Good acting (Ji Sung, Kim Minjung, Jang Youngnam)

+ Live trial setting

+ Buildups of the faceoffs: Yohan vs Gaon / Ms Jung vs Ms Cha

+ Buildups of the 1st case

+ Good suspenseful bgm

+Script looks full and engaging

- Dystopian setting looks poor production wise but is made up by the + cinematography

+/- Needs a 2nd rewatch for the pilot incase you miss something out

7/10 so far for the pilot. I look forward for the rivalries and the upcoming cases.

[potatowitch]

finding out that the star wars sequel series was written on the fly rather than actually planned out makes so much fucking sense but also pisses me off EVEN MORE because i watched the force awakens in 2016 and within a day of leaving the cinema had a fully fleshed out idea in my head of the direction the next two films would take and the plot points they would cover, all brainstormed in the shower. 16 year old me was more capable of writing a cohesive storyline than disney was. so here you are - i rewrote the sequels to be ten times better than what disney actually gave us. enjoy.

- after rey finds luke they train for a bit then he's like "gotta tell u something. u ever heard of mara jade? she's ur mum" "wait weren't u two dating for a bit" "yeah" "does that mean ur...." "...yeah"

- "why did u leave me on jakku?" "i didnt. she did. i only just learned u existed i wouldve come for u" "oh."

- "...can i call u dad or" "i would be honored if u did"

- meanwhile at the resistance base leia realises finn is force sensitive, gives him her old lightsaber she had in the comics

- because come on. rewatch the force awakens and tell me that man aint fuckin feeling the "shitloads of voices cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced" when starkiller goes off

- and he picks up a lightsaber and instinctively knows how to use it?

- also: two main heroes in a star wars film being a queer coded woman and a queer coded black man.

- and the whole "used to be a stormtrooper and defected, becomes a jedi" is a TOTALLY NEW storyline? not some tired old "white boy villain is a dick for three movies then suddenly turns Good TM right at the end" trope

- make rey explicitly asexual. she's beautiful and smart and got abs that make everyone who sees them MELT but she is NOT INTERESTED in anything but JUSTICE and PLATONIC HUGS

- finn and poe are also making out because come on, disney, if u wanted to show you're becoming more progressive having a loving interracial gay romance is the fucking easiest way to do it. BB8 has two dads and they share The Jacket

- turns out finn is a kenobi because u cannot tell me obi wan didnt Fuck. jedi code says "dont form attachments" but watch the clone wars - obi wan plays fast and loose w the jedi code at the best of times. now we got a skywalker and a kenobi working together being best buds again, THE WAY IT SHOULD BE.

- the destruction of starkiller has crippled the first order. don't fucking look at me like "the resistance just won a major, VERY VISIBLE victory but OOO no somehow they're still very low on numbers and infrastructure" NO. the public destruction of starkiller has earned the resistance an influx of allies. the republic has started publicly supporting them. the first order spent years building that thing and now not only is all that time, effort and MONEY gone, they lost a shitload of staff and military personnel when it blew up

- "the first order is rich" is a plot point I DO NOT UNDERSTAND because it directly contradicts what's going on in the expanded universe books. the first order was built from remnants of the empire that had been banished to the outer reaches of the galaxy to live out of broken down, shitty old star destroyers.

- it's the reason hux, who was raised in a decrepit old academy in the ass end of the universe by an abusive father, is SO anti republic. in his head, it's the reason he starved as a child. it's the reason his mother is dead. it's the reason he had to be raised by a father that beat him. his hatred for the republic is PERSONAL

- disney learn how to write a good villain challenge? hux EASILY could have been terrifying AND sympathetic

- hux and kylo now have to deal with how absolutely PISSED snoke is that both of them failed with starkiller. hux gets force choked and threatened. kylo gets snoke very painfully rooting around in his head. it is emphasised that snoke's relationship with these two is downright abusive.

- somewhere in there, they realise that the whole five years they've known each other snoke has been deliberately pitting them against each other and sneakily forcing them to undermine each other's authority

- they realise it was snoke's shitty leadership that lead to the destruction of starkiller. they realise that maybe they'd be better off on their own

- the two of them plot to murder snoke themselves. while this is happening, the resistance is happily building an army, gathering resources, and forming alliances. luke and rey have reunited with the resistance and now rey and finn are both happily training with luke.

- snoke dies. hux decides to take the mantle of emperor. kylo LETS HIM because he realises he doesn't know shit about fuck when it comes to leading anything more than his knights. has a crisis of confidence about how useful he actually is, then hux decides he wants to keep the knights of ren around as his personal "fuck up the resistance" squad.

- the two of them working together turn out to be fucking terrifying, competent villains. the films have short, five to ten minute sections where they explore their VERY SIMILAR traumas to make them sympathetic WITHOUT making them seem like "uwu they're not actually bad people" because THEY'RE STILL AWFUL GENOCIDAL MASS MURDERERS

- on the kylo trauma side: it's made obvious in the books that from about age 6 snoke has been in his head deliberately grooming him away from his family. make that obvious in the films. make its impact on kylo obvious in how unsure of himself he actually is. don't make his "redemption arc" one where he suddenly goes light side. give him a bastardisation arc where he realises his whole life he has never made a choice - and then make THE FIRST ORDER his choice. (it is the wrong choice! emphasise that! but make him MAKE THAT CHOICE)

- the resistance thinks they're doing well. they have two new jedi. they've seen very little of the first order outside of small operations that they've been squashing. they think "hm. starkiller's loss must have crippled them. we're doing well!"

- until they learn actually. they've got an emperor now. and the commander of the knights of ren is INCREDIBLY loyal to him. the first order is PISSED OFF and VENGEFUL. they're back with a force. they've started invading and subjugating planets even with their forces cut as thin as they are because hux is a military mastermind and kylo and the knights of ren are a fucking TERRIFYING unit in combat.

- also why did disney decide to present hux in the films as a weak pissbaby when he probably topped his class in all combat situations and fights dirty in close quarters. man can SNIPE. man will bite your fucking finger off if you manage to disarm him. he is a 6 foot beanpole and he will kick your ass

- kylo has a crisis about actually having to kill his mother, uncle and cousin. he still feels a bit bad about han - despite everything, he still loves them and is struggling. he actually confides in his knights about this. we get to see that the knights of ren have a found family dynamic with their commander and they comfort him.

- kylo realises it will be painful to murder the last of his bio family but it must be done, because he's come around to hux's view that the resistance and the republic are standing in the way of true peace in the galaxy. he actually believes that reinstating an empire is the best thing for the galaxy. this makes him a more effective villain because he actually believes what he's doing is right.

- more stormtroopers defect to the resistance. finn is there to welcome them and help them adjust. there's a couple of lowkey force sensitive troopers in there too. we learn more about how horrible, soul crushing and traumatic stormtrooper training is. this is a good way to keep painting the first order as an organisation that violates human rights and the geneva convention at every turn.

- the first order makes up for this loss of troops in picking up recruits from the planets they've taken over in the outer rim because they've been providing stability. again - it is SO EASY to write the first order as sympathetic villains WHO ARE STILL FASCIST ASSHOLES. this would've been such a good opportunity to show the moral argument between stability vs freedom. show the flaws in the republic because they do exist!! we see that throughout the ENTIRE expanded universe! every iteration of the republic fails in some way!

- the fight against the first order becomes increasingly more difficult, but they're actually on pretty even ground. it doesn't make sense to me that disney decided to go for the route of "the resistance should've been squished easily by the might of the first order but uwu kylo can't make up his mind and thats what saves them!" that is not a compelling storyline! they are relatively evenly matched and the resistance only JUST comes out on top!

- kylo kills luke in actual combat, not just "luke randomly dissolves for ... no good reason?". this hits the resistance HARD. rey and finn have to struggle with their desire for revenge. leia realises her son is beyond help. it nearly breaks her. she has a moment where she feels like she has lost everything. poe has to step in to remind her she still has him. it is revealed that he joined the resistance after the first order killed his family HORRIBLY when he was a teenager and he and leia sort of have a mother/son relationship.

- this is also a good way to juxtapose hux and kylo. they took their trauma and it made them awful. poe takes his trauma and it makes him kind. it makes him want to protect people from what he went through. also gets rid of the "haha we made the latino man have a drug dealer background" bullshit that disney did

- poe also has to comfort his boyfriend and best friend and remind them that they are fighting to make the galaxy a better place, NOT for revenge. then they have a discussion about "yeah, don't make revenge your main priority, but the jedi were a bit wrong in saying that you shouldn't enjoy it anyway. it's going to feel good to fucking murder kylo and that's okay". acknowledgement that the old jedi code was garbage and too restrictive for actual PEOPLE to follow it.

- kylo still can't kill leia or chewie. we get flashbacks of her singing to him, braiding his hair, comforting him after nightmares. we see baby ben riding on chewie's shoulders. seeing the conflict between kylo recognising his family loved him and still choosing to be a villain would have RUINED ME. he tells hux this, expecting hux to shoot him for it. hux understands - he had a mother, once. the republic killed her.

- (they actually didn't. she was an imperial slave and was probably left behind when an imperial settlement was being razed. the only reason hux actually survived was because he was his father's only heir. there's a whole spiel in the books about brendol going "this kid is a piece of shit bastard i dont want him" and imperial officials being like "the empire needs kids. go pick him up")

- hux decides to kill leia instead. he nearly dies doing so because woman is STILL a force to be reckoned with even at this age. remember she is actually trained to use a lightsaber AND guns. the only reason hux doesn't die? kylo steps in at the last minute and kills his own mother. he's made his choice. he mourns, and then he steels. there is nothing left to pull him to the light side anymore.

- anakin has given up trying to bring his grandson to the light from beyond the grave. him and obi wan are focusing their force ghost attention on rey and finn. now luke and leia are both there too. we get the same "all my jedi ancestors are rooting for me" moment that disney gave us, except now it's shared between rey and finn.

- the two of them plus chewie cut through the knights of ren until they get to kylo. he kicks the living shit out of them, but they manage to kill him. rey earns some gnarly, sexy scars. chewie needs a hug and goddamn does he get one.

- poe is the one to kill hux. he's not just doing it for the galaxy, he's doing it for leia. the first order already stole his first family from him. he won't lose his second family to them. bonus points if BB8 joins the fight and like ... tases hux in the leg a few times.

- we get some gratuitous "c3p0 and r2 are sneaking through an imperial base and fucking shit up but like, badly because 3p0 never stops talking" scenes

- you want to bring rose tico into it? she's head of the resistance's infiltration team. she's with the droids taking down shields, stabbing people in the back, freeing prisoners, stealing plans, sowing chaos. she's the one who finally takes down phasma.

- without their emperor and the knights of ren, the new empire crumbles pretty quickly. the resistance has taken HEAVY losses but they have won. we get a very beautiful funeral scene for luke and leia. there's a gorgeous group hug between finn, rey, poe, chewie and bb8. poe and finn smooch against the sunset.

- we see finn and rey going into crystal caves to get kyber crystals. poe, chewie, bb8, r2 and 3P0 wait outside the cave in the falcon for them to be done picking up their crystals, then we see finn and rey inside the falcon building their new lightsabers with guidance from a bunch of force ghosts. we get to see that rey has chosen to decorate the inside of the falcon with a bunch of potted plants so she can be surrounded by greenery at all time. the found family aesthetic is STRONG

- rey builds a saber pike. it comes out golden. finn builds a standard single blade saber that comes out white, like ahsoka's. gold to emphasise protection of the weak and the perfect blend of combat and scholarly pursuits. white to emphasise free will from both the jedi and the sith. it is emphasised that these two will NOT be your traditional jedi.

- we see an epilogue where poe is working to help shift the republic's focus from political squabbling to actually protecting its citizens. he leads reconstruction efforts, helps establish more of a presence in the outer rim, constantly fights for moving resources from protecting the republic's assests to providing food, shelter and safety to its citizens.

- finn is constantly by his side. we see him protecting his new husband, on the front lines destroying remnants of the empire and the first order, and using his combat prowess to absolutely murder slave owners.

- rey has taken to training new force sensitives with chewie by her side, however she recognises the jedi code has been failing force sensistives for millennia, and instead her teachings are more aligned with the grey jedi philosophy. she recognises that people feel anger, hate, grief - and that they are all valid emotions. it's what you choose to do with them that is important.

- she actively encourages personal connection, believing that loving your friends and family is righteous and the true path to the light side. her apprentices all adore her, and she is always there for them - she'll listen to their worries, from something as small as "i am 13 years old and my first crush just rejected me" to "i am a former slave coming to you after the first order murdered my family and tortured me. i am having nightmares and am afraid of the anger i feel".

- she encourages apprentices to stay in contact with their family, and she becomes that family for the ones who have lost theirs.

- you get the feeling that this time, peace in the galaxy is actually going to last. anakin, obi wan, luke and leia look on from the Force in pride at their children and grandchildren. they did good. they can finally rest.

- the sequels have made personal choice a major theme. finn chooses to defect. poe and rey choose to be kind, when they have every reason not to be. hux and kylo make the wrong choices. there's no flip flopping like a dead fish between good and evil until the very last second. the lines between kindness and freedom and hatred and subjugation are clearly drawn again and again.

- i sit in the cinema after the screen goes black and i weep. i am satisfied. this was a fitting end for a franchise i have loved for most of my life.

[sense8screencaps]

If you feel like putting into words everything that went wrong/made you dislike the finale, I'd love to hear it

plotwise, it’s under the read more below! and it’s more of a rambling i had 2 years ago + what i remember 2 years later now lmao. logistically, what went wrong i think i’ve answered before. basically if netflix didn’t give the show a tight timeline for filming the finale, i think things would have turned out smoother. if it took an extra year or two to release the finale, i think it would have turned out with much higher quality and more consideration with regards to like everything really

act 1: the plan

planning and subsequent rescuing of wolfgang in the first 30-40 minutes instead of the whole thing taking an entire goddamn hour. cut out wolfgang trying to kill himself. a waste of 5 minutes that should have directly introduced the chairman.

cut out lito’s meltdown and don’t have rajan show up at all. it was a lazy plot device to help jonas escape and a waste of 7 minutes

will and riley meet up with felix and bug instead of that French lady riley like can we get some more lito and kala instead

will fighting bodhi was absolutely pointless??? An excuse to have a fight for no reason like it wouldn’t have made bodhi trying to stab whispers in the club any different (it would’ve made it better imo coming out of nowhere)

the dani and amanita scene was good but a serious continuity error since the show is supposed to be from the perspective of one of the 8

river el-sadaawi was a completely useless character to introduce like it should’ve just been hoy and yrsa talking with riley

convo between hoy, Riley and kirsty was a solid waste of 3 minutes

act 2: the exchange

rajan should not have been part of the exchange lol just swap him out for Felix and it’s all good

Considering Whispers does nothing in this finale other than being a hot potato passed around by people if he died in the club when Bodhi stabbed him it would’ve made an interesting turn of events

hot take: mun shouldn’t have shown up and a more creative resolution to sun’s story could have been written better

I feel like puck should have been part of this scene somehow

everything else pretty much okay

act 3: the lacuna

instead of staying at rajan’s random friend’s place just say it’s riley’s friend? literally makes more sense that way

no lacuna or bodhi shit. it was all deux ex machina like something could’ve been written better by strictly having old man of hoy and yrsa without needing to introduce new mythology

The lacuna concept felt cheap and removed a lot of what I thought kept the sense8 universe grounded in reality.

The mother was pointless to introduce like they could have gotten yrsa or some shit to get them the info on lila being in naples with whispers or just simply have his damn blockers wear off momentarily for will and wolfgang to figure out where he is instead of some weird old lady telling them her son’s backstory and somehow omniscient power of knowing whispers’ location

If Bodhi really didn’t want to be complacent with her stance on Milton and BPO why only NOW did she bother to take action? Why did the Mother only contact them now when God knows how long this weird zombie shit has been happening?

Also why the fuck did Bodhi not even bother to go with them to Naples to kill Milton? She didn’t want to remain complacent and yet she remained so throughout.

act 4: naples

another hot take: they all should’ve sang “rather be” by clean bandit instead on their way to naples. also diego didnt need to show up lol

capheus, felix, wolfgang, kala in the car. rest is the same

this scene should have happened halfway through at the ~90 minute mark

exposition of talking with lila could have been more elaborate. i don’t like that they cut out lila interrupting their pizza party

The transition to Sun and Riley meeting Alphonse and Sutra was messy and badly edited. Everyone in the cluster suddenly is there too? Like at least give some sort of indication they all went to meet Puck

trojan horse/forcella was good but not written or executed well

Kala should have been with Felix and Wolfgang while infiltrating the Forcella. Capheus should have been driving Nomi, Bug, and Amanita and picking up the rest of the cluster along the way/during infiltration of the Forcella.

“My wife... you’re a killer! Teach me!” seriously uncomfortable with Rajan saying that as if he didn’t sound like some kind of sociopath

Kala shouldn’t have gotten shot anyways it was literally 5 minutes of screen time that could have been allotted to a more satisfying confrontation between Lila, Milton, The Chairman, and our Cluster rather than an attempt to get an emotional response from a shock moment.

Jonas’ last monologue went on for too long; for some reason he really had to explain things instead of just “showing” and letting the audience infer to figure it out (particularly the psychic ligature/psycranium stuff)

the bad guys died in literally the most emotionally unsatisfying way. i didn’t need the chairman in this. say shit about whispers manipulating everyone from the top. the chairman being the zombie of like whispers or lila would’ve been way more elaborate. seemed like the writers somehow wrote themselves into a pit where they couldn’t think of anything better. Will and Wolfgang not confronting Whispers for a final time detracted from the emotional and psychological impact Whispers had on their well-beings.

Also like the bloodbath overall was a bit unsettling considering we saw pretty much everyone we know from the show kill bad guys which wasn’t really justified? Like Sun and Mun just knocked people out and killed maybe 4 or 5 people but damn the rest of them not even the slightest hint of trauma? Idk it was weird and I didn’t like it

my queen lila shouldn’t have died

there was so much bad editing here especially with trying to make it look like miguel/lito wasn’t absent

act 5: wedding

if they just cut out a bunch of the bullshit i mentioned earlier we could have gotten a montage or at least some sequence of the sun, lito, kala, and capheus’ stories getting resolved. maybe even some shit with nomi and the guy.

Cutscene to talking about a penis joke with rajan and kala instead of updating us on Cepheus or lito’s lives? Yeah totally makes sense

Hernando should’ve officiated the wedding

Transphobia curing weed brownie? No thanks

rajalagang... cool motive but terrible execution for the most part? idk i needed more rajan and wolfgang being gayer with each other. but then again if rajan wasnt in all of this it wouldve not really made any difference other than probably having just kala and wolfgang kiss 

the orgy should have strictly been the 8 + hernando + amanita + mun + zakia. no one else.

[justinstolemybike]

sigh. season 3. here we are. 

i watched the first five episodes and... i felt so uncomfortable. it was bad. not all bad but... pretty bad. so bad, that it wasn’t enjoyable for me and i didn’t care to watch it all the way through, so i read other spoilers and i am not sure if i will watch the final season. but with it being said that i did not watch the whole thing, this can’t be a full review. so, here comes my first glance. spoilers obviously. 

instead of weaknesses and highlights, lets just say likes and dislikes. likes first.

LIKES

- tyler’s storyline. last season, i was skeptical of how they would handle his rape and emotions about it, but i am relieved they gave his character proper care and devin druid did a magnificent job. my only gripe is that i wish they had him do something other than boxing to channel his anger. like, i understand why he would be learning self defense but i would like to see him do something less violent?? 

- jessica’s reclaiming of her body. at first the whole intro to the sex toys was weird but it actually was really touching (no pun intended) to see jessica begin to love her body and love sex again after what she’s been through. also, female masturbation is so underrated. nice to see it encouraged. know your bodies, ladies. 

- the classic jensen tour. i’m surprised they still allow him to do the tours. like, none of the exchange students from the last time reported him? oh.

- chloe and the abortion. as a character, i don’t care for chloe, i’m sorry. she’s not a character to me, just a plot device. also, she gets no cookies for lying for bryce in the trials (i know abusers and victims have a twisted dynamic and that’s why that happened but nah chief) but i do like how they showed that some pro-life clinics will mask as abortion clinics and manipulate women into coming and trying to get them to keep their babies. totally real and fucked up.

- bryce was held socially accountable (kind of) and i think that makes an interesting point about rape culture. in the real world, jail doesn’t scare men in power because they can buy their way out. they don’t care about women and what they feel, obviously. what’ll really fuck sexual assaulters up is when they have no friends and no one likes them. that’s what they (kind of) showed with bryce this season. and he died which, yes fucking rad awesome wow.

- i know that justin also had a kind of darker storyline (with seth, i think? you can tell me if i’m wrong but don’t be rude) but he was a lot of the comic relief it appears and brandon flynn was great at it.

- alex and jessica broke up. hallelujah.

- justin is a abuse survivor. makes sense with his background. 

- monty died too AND went to jail. cool amazing beautiful.

- tony is still ferociously loyal and apparently there was a scene where clay and tony said they loved each other. rise clony. rise up from the ashes.

- “i write fanfiction” - clay jensen.

DISLIKES

-ani. ani, ani, ani. i can understand why people find her annoying and she was probably the biggest reason i was uncomfortable watching but i didn’t hate her. she just... didn’t make sense. the things she did,the things she said, how she was involved and everyone just takes to her and loves her immediately, no questions asked, no buildup necessary... none of it felt natural or believable. a new girl comes in and it’s just a coincidence that clay gives her a tour and she decides to go up to jessica and says shes amazing and lives in bryce’s house and connects herself to the house of horrors that is the tape club (which was so dumb on the tape club’s part by the way, as she could have snitched and destroyed them all) instead of just finishing out her high school career in peace considering she moves around a lot and she starts college in a year and half and probably won’t talk to any of them after that. no, she’d rather potentially go to jail for a bunch of fucking strangers and criminals and rapists. sure, okay.

and for someone who just fucking got there to basically insert themselves in the traumas of these kids and make things worse in some respects and do some fucking shitty things (not listening or caring when she heard about bryce being a GODDAMN RAPIST, accusing jessica of SLEEPING WITH HER RAPIST, accusing clay of being the killer, yelling about chloe’s pregnancy in the street, the list probably gets longer) and think they’re allowed to pass judgment when THEY JUST FUCKING GOT THERE. LIKE, WHY IS SHE SO INVESTED? WHAT DOG DOES SHE HAVE IN THIS FIGHT? DOESN’T SHE NEED TO STUDY OR SOMETHING? WHY IS THIS MORE IMPORTANT THAN ANYTHING ELSE SHE HAS GOING ON IN HER LIFE?

now, i get what the show was trying to do here. they wanted another, fresh perspective/narrator and i guess a love interest for clay (a wayyyy too convenient love interest, ‘she loves robots and drawing and not minding her business too! swoon!). but they could’ve had both of those things without adding someone to the payroll. honestly, i don’t think they needed a narrator at all but if they really wanted one, they could’ve added an ACTUAL ADULT detective, with no biases so they can be completely reliable to the audience and their investment would be justified. for love interest, yall already know how much i love and miss sheri. she could check clay without sounding patronizing and had chemistry with him and actual nice, romantic history. she could have been his second cop and they could have reconnected and become a couple and... we could’ve had it all, rolling in the deeeppp. 

it’s like with ani, the show wanted to kill two birds with one stone but they missed them both and i think the backlash on her character says it all. i’d just like to remind everyone to give the actress who plays ani respect and courtesy because it’s not her fault. 

- was it just me, or does it seem like the tape club has learned nothing from what they went through? they’re still keeping secrets and trying to hide shit and keep it all inside and i’m like..... but.... this behavior is what got ya’ll fucked up in the first place? and i totally understand it’s about protection and whatever but.... it also feels like an excuse to not be held accountable for wrong doing. like, alex killed bryce. although he had all the reasons to do it and i’m glad he’s dead, he killed someone fam. that’s not okay. and his dad is wrapped up and it’s just... i just... i dont know. then, there was the whole “let’s not tell on tyler so he doesn’t go to jail” thing and i have mixed feelings about that. i think they should’ve turned him in and got clay’s mom to rep him for rehabilitation and therapy instead of a jail sentence. they’re hiding the guns and trying to trust tyler and luckily that worked, but how long? what if someone fucks with him again and it’s too much for them to help him with? 

- speaking of help, clay needs it. oh my god, does that boy need it. they were so focused on getting tyler professional help but, clay’s out here putting guns to his head and having night terrors. he needs therapy more than anyone. honestly, what i would have liked to see, wayyy back in s2, is as soon as justin saw that, he wouldve went to clay’s parents and got him back on his meds and seeing a counselor. he’s been through so much trauma and guilt and he’s tired of his own fucking hero complex. it’s enough man. 

- they tried to have their cake and eat it too when it came to clay stopping tyler from shooting up the school. they tried to be like, clay shouldn’t have done that but oh, he was so brave and what a great guy he is for doing that. no, that doesn’t work. clay should not have confronted tyler in that situation. period.

- zach was disappointing because i agreed wholeheartedly when he said that they should have called the cops but... he didn’t. he was blaming them for letting tyler go free but he was too. damn, zach.

- it’s like they give clay a new lackey every season and.... ok, i guess.

- i also thought it was kind of weird that after everything they’ve been through, they still walk on eggshells with each other? like i guess because now we’re dealing with murder but... i would think they would trust and care for each other a lot more than to accuse each other and spy and interrogate and not just simply ask... like... this season made me not understand the tape club’s relationship. like are they friends? allies? allies trying to be friends? friends out of necessity? do they know? 

- bryce does not deserve to be humanized. that’s all.

- monty does not deserve to be humanized. that’s all. also, it’s so disappointingly predictable that he’s closeted. 

- the new characters (ani, caleb, chloe, winston, cyrus ) i still don’t care about. plot devices, all.

i may edit and retract some things, should i decide to watch all the way but i’m tired.

[insomniac0330]

Ugh. I still feel like Bonnie and Damon shouldve ended up together. I just felt like in the end Elena didnt deserve Damon. I used too REALLY hate Damon, but then I learned the reason why he is the way he is and that made me feel for him and I grew to love him. Like after learning everything, I felt that Elena and Stefan deserved each other and I felt super sorry for Damon. Like they both put him through a lot. Oh! And I hated how Elena was essentially leading Damon on the entire time she was with Stefan. I also especially hated how she would manipulate him into doing things by saying “do it for me or I wont talk to you anymore” like I get it she wants him to do the right thing, but sometimes he would do the right thing without her having to say that. Like, yeah, he talks a lot of shit, but he still has some sort of moral compass. At least he isnt an outta control ripper who cant control his compass. And also I hate how they ALWAYS deem Damon to be the bad brother always up to something bad bc of this he often chooses to live up to their expectations. And omg Bonnie’s reaction to Damon’s letter like that is like the only thing I vividly remember from the entire show. Just her saying how much he hurt her and then him telling her what was in the letter like they was so much love like romantic love.

And I feel that Bonnie makes Damon a better person and their banter back and forth is cute. And they also have a lot of cute moments. I loved their friendship and could totally see it blossoming into a relationship if Elena wasnt there. Also Elena’s relationship with Damon made her even more annoying than she already was.

Btw rewatching it from the beginning, Bonnie and Damon couldve totally been a thing bc they def fell into the trope of “enemies to friends to lovers.” And lmao they both tried to kill each other abt an equal amount of times. And from the ep when the 60s dance it seemed like Damon genuinely cared for Bonnie and it didnt seem like it was for Elena’s sake. He was very concerned that she would die and tried to find a way out of it. And Bonnie is the only one who he truly thanked and was grateful too. Like he was willing to be vulnerable with her. He couldve been like “Aight cool thanks” and omg when he found out she died. When he kept telling Jeremy to not say it like there was so much love. AND Elena has even said that she thinks Damon loves Bonnie.

Also I think my favorite episodes of Delena were when they admitted they were horrible for each other and that they dont want to see each other anymore. Like they literally were spitting out facts. And when Katherine was a passanger in Elena and told Damon how she thought he should live for himself and not focus so much in her like forreals the doppelgängers kinda dont improve his life that much. And to add it wouldve been better fitting for Damon to not end up with a doppelgänger bc it would’ve meant he really let go of Katherine bc him being with someone who looks like her but actually reciprocates his feelings is kind of sad.

I just feel like if fans werent pushing the whole delena thing so hard we wouldve gotten Bamon bc it just really felt like they dropped hints here and there. But idk at the same time maybe it’s a good thing it didnt happen bc maybe Plec wouldve ruined them and their characters.

I was just reading someone else’s post abt how Damon was obsessed with Elena. Like he loves her but not in the way he shouldve and I totally agree bc that doesnt leave room for a healthy relationship or ppl to be the best versions of themselves.

[scottsumrners]

avengers: flopgame, a rundown

most of the spoilers were right to some degree: cap does go back to peggy, iron man does snap thanos out of existence, all that jazz. they were wrong in several other things (cap doesn’t break the soul stone, he doesn’t receive a letter from peggy)

the plotline is very bareboned, and honestly i still dont know how it lasted for three hours. thanos does the snap and then “retires” to some planet in a corner of the universe. captain marvel rescues iron man, who promptly tells everybody to fuck off while he mops. the avengers + carol go out and beat thanos’ ass, but they found out that he used the stones to erase the stones

this part is hilarious when you look back after a certain part of the movie because the ancient one literally says that if the stones are removed from existence, the universe is fucked. but i guess it was already fucked either way?

five years pass. thor is fat and depressed. cap is handsome and depressed. natasha is depressed. captain marvel has a lesbian haircut. tony is living his best life with his daughter and pepper, because it turns out tony didn’t lose anybody in the snap! fun, i know

then scott is accidentally freed fro the quantum realm when a rat steps over the controls, reaches a grown up cassie (how did she go from 9 years old to 17, god only knows). then he goes after the avengers with the idea of going back in time. this is where the plot starts to unravel completely.

they go to tony for help, but he refuses because of his kid. then they go to “mr. hulk”, who tries to help but doesn’t know much. then tony changes his mind and helps them, under the condition that they don’t go back to when the snap happened, but instead just...ressurrect everybody who died. this completely overlooks the fact that FIVE YEARS HAVE PASSED, people have moved on, and many more have died/committed suicide/done a lot of bad things to themselves and others in the awake of the snap and afterwards. clint is proof of that

clint, by the way, lost his whole family, so he decided to get a haircut and become racist. he literally goes to, like, mexico and japan to kill criminals. “people died and you didn’t”, he says to a mafia boss. there are no mafia bosses in america apparently.

so they go back in time, because hulk and tony say that whatever they do in the past doesn’t count because of fixed timeloops. and then when they get to the past, the ancient one says that if they remove an infinity stone they create a fringe timeline, which is unprotected because the stones are meant to be the guardians of the universe or something

by the way did i mention thanos destroyed them? right?

there is a moment which is just. like. okay. steve goes back in time in the end with the purpose of not messing with the timeline by putting them back there, except steve whispers “hail hydra” to brock rumlow to get the mind stone and loki disappears with the cube, which is like. a massive fucking alteration in the timeline? but who the fuck knows! not the writers, thats for sure.

and then they fuck up even further because when nebula goes back in time, her systems interact with past nebula, who gets hijacked by thanos and literally tells thanos the whole plan. so evil past nebula replaces present nebula, goes back to the future, and when the team assembles to undo the snap (which they do), she brings thanos’ ship from 2014 to the present.

bearing in mind that scott literally says they only have fuel to go one back-to-back trip, but nebula manages to an entire ship using the pym particles *after* she has returned, and it is never explained how except there is a moment of her showing thanos the pym particles

so they undo the snap and everybody is back, but so is thanos from the past, who decides that only killing half the population doesn’t work because there will always be those wanting to undo it, so he wants to kill everybody and start anew. cap, thor and iron man go toe-to-toe with him while the hulk is buried under a bunch of rubble (thanos’ ship destroys the avengers compound) with rocket and war machine, and hawkeye is running from thanos’ creatures with the gauntlet

by the way did i mention that natasha had to sacrifice herself to get the soul stone? lmfao that was like....terrible. alas

the final battle is cool. cap wields the mjolnir (and thor says “i knew it!”. also he got the hammer back when he went to get the red stone) and beats thanos’ ass until he gets the upper hand. and then when all appears lost, the rest of the heroes show up to help and there is the big battle, with the goal of carrying the gauntlet from hawkeye to antman to send the stones back to the past

which they can’t do, and thanos gets them all back, but before he can snap he and carol have a beatdown. carol has three moments in the whole movie: rescuing iron man, as a hologram showing off her lesbian haircut, and this moment destroy thanos’ ship and beating his ass (and a cute scene with peter). then tony steals the stones from him by...literally grabbing them out of gauntlet, which is apparently something he COULDN’T have done in the original timeline?

also thanos has a gauntlet even though the gauntlet wasn’t made in 2014. but who is paying attention

and then iron man snaps thanos out of existence, he dies, people in my session were crying a lot. there is a funeral scene with everybody there; clint and wanda mourn natasha and iron man (hilarious bc tony put her in a straight fucking jacket, but alas), thor passes down the mantle of king of asgard to valkyrie and fucks off to be with the guardians of the galaxy, and steve goes back in time to put the stones back, but then he doesn’t come back. he is back as an old man there to pass down the mantle of captain america to sam, with the shield and all.

did i mention that cap and bucky have one (1) scene together? and he and falcon also only have this one? bucky seems super chill with all of it. he apparently could telepathically already know that steve was gonna do this bullshit.

the last shot of the movie is steve and peggy dancing, which made me nauseated. or maybe was the sugar. but probably steggy.

the positive points:

beautiful cinematography, except for the moments where it was too dark to see what the fuck was going on

less of a barrage of jokes, which was a welcome change. much of the joke was the fact that thor is fat and depressed and is a drunk now. haha. hilarious.

also there is a moment where they joke about captain america’s ass and two shots of captain america’s ass, which may just save this movie from being a complete disaster.

they aged cassie so there is real hope for a young avengers movie now

that’s it

the negative points:

the movie is extremely long for a plot extremely thin. but also it passed super quickly. wouldve been quicker if my bladder wasn’t full

iron man was, throughout the entire movie, completely selfish. he was arrogant and rude and he put his stupid ooc family above the rest of the universe. if he had been smart and gone back to the moment of the snap, he would have survived to have morgan stark again

when he goes back in time and meets his father, howard literally tells him he regretted putting his job above his family, which for tony translates on forcing the team to not undo the snap properly

natasha’s plotline was that she was lost and lonely and her “family” had died so she had no reason to keep living. so she kills herself. INCREDIBLE message to the audience

robert downey jr and jeremy renner are very ugly and old and the fact that we get getting these extreme close ups of both of them was. uncomfortable.

people kept saying that steve’s farewell was touching and beautiful and it would make sense but it didn’t. steve’s existence in the past changes hundreds of things - and if it doesn’t, the alternative is that steve knew what would happen and chose to do nothing, which is just. taking a shit on everything steve rogers stands for.

like, literally - and this makes me angry - the entire movie they kept hammering the idea that cap needed to MOVE ON. that he needed to go on with his life. when they showed peggy in the past and steve is watching her, the idea is that she has carried on with her life, only holding on to the memory of who he was as a memento. and then they take a shit all over it

the resolution of thor’s plotline from the last several movies being “thor doesnt actually want to be king, he just wants to be a space hooligan” is just. baffling. 

steve, bucky and sam have ONE SCENE TOGETHER. IN THREE HOURS OF MOVIE!!!!!

the moral of the avengers: endgame is that never try to do a movie about superheroes and time travel because you just wont be able to do it right. and that’s that on that.

[one-night-story]

Echoes of You (Spike Spiegel)

A/N: The formatting on this is h e l l. But when nostalgia slaps you and says “Fall in love with Spike Spiegel again.” You do as it’s says. Thus this

Roman Holiday had changed who she was so many times she didn’t remember who she was when she started. She’d been a drug lord, a spy, an informant, a bounty, a runaway. But these days, with blue and purple hair and a coat large enough to hide a pistol, she settled on being a ghost among the streets, listening and picking up information as she went. She found herself on Mars, mourning friends and paying dues. She was going to have to disappear again soon. But first, she needed food, scissors, and some hair dye; though she was uncertain what color. She tried walking into a convenience store when she ran into someone.

“Sorry about that.” The guy said. From that one comment Roman almost got whiplash. That voice shouldn’t be talking to her. That voice should’ve been dead. If not from the first time, then definitely the second time. She looked up at him and sure enough it was him. Spike Spiegel in all his blue suited, disheveled glory. And he looked just as shocked to see her. “Ro-?” He didn’t get to finish her name because she took off, sprinting in the opposite direction as fast as she could. He of course went after her, he always would, and she scaled a building to get to the roof. She pulled her pistol and waited for him to catch up.

“Who are you?” She asked.

“Ro don’t do this.”

“Tell me! Stop playing cruel tricks and just tell me!” She yelled. It couldn’t be him, it shouldn’t be him.

“Roman, it’s really me.”

“Bullshit, you died.”

“I didn’t,”

“Then you died again.”

“I’ve had worse.” He said with his trademark lazy smile. Roman almost let up at that. He still knew her weak points.

“Gimme the word.” She said, lowering her gun but not putting it away. He furrowed his brows and then figured it out.

“Lily.” He said. Roman lowered her pistol entirely and put it away. Her flower of choice. Julia had roses, she had lilies. Her whole form softened, though she was far from the Roman he used to know. Spike took a step forward to see if she’d let him and sure enough, she didn’t move. “It’s good to see you Roman. Glad to know you’re still picking up information.” He said. Roman shrugged and sat down, still keeping her distance.

“Nothing better to do on this dirt rock. You know you threw the whole operation into chaos, right? There’s a power vacuum with at least seven people trying to fill it.” She said. Spike sat across from her, a little closer than she would’ve liked, but she allowed it. She chalked it up to some primal part of her brain still wanting to keep him as close as she could. He pulled a cigarette from his pocket and stuck it in his mouth.

“What’s next for you then? Figure you’re not gonna stick around for that mess to sort itself out.” He said as he fished out a lighter and lit the cigarette. He took a drag and offered it to Roman. She took it and copied the movement. She never smoked unless she was with Spike. Again, she chalked it up to that primal part of her brain that was still 13 years old and hoped that she still stood a chance against a far prettier half-sister.

“I cut my hair, redye it and catch a flight out of here. I’m thinking Ganymede. Or the asteroids. Hell, I could go be a small fry in Tijuana.” She said.

“And what color will it be this time?” He asked. Roman’s mood was usually determined by her hair. She changed it with regimes, mood, the music she was listening to that month, and sometimes when she felt she had no control of anything. He watched as she thought over her answer.

“Red. Probably. Or pink. Julia always thought I’d look good with pink.” She said muttering the last part.

“You would.” He said. Roman tried to not flush to the color in question, but she never did take compliments well. “I remember she was constantly trying to push you out of the shadows.”

“I like the shadows. No one judges me there. I’m useful there.” Roman argued. Spike chuckled and took a drag from his cigarette. The motion was repeated when he passed it to her to take a drag.

“Maybe, but you have no reason to stay there. Unless you wanna start working for the police.” He said.

“I could be a bounty hunter.” She said with a shrug.

“Oh no, I don’t think I could have you competing for my dinner money too.” He said with his trademark smile. Roman laughed at his comment, a real laugh. Something she hadn’t done in a while. As she laughed, Spike watched her. Her face was lit up by the beginnings of sunset and neon. Her and Julia had no personality similarities, but sometimes they did have physical ones.

“I haven’t done that in forever.” She said when she finally calmed down. Spike smiled at her. She seemed lighter now, more at ease. It was like the laughter fit had locked her into a time machine and she had shed so many years of cynicism with ease. “What about you? What becomes of the great Spike Spiegel? Now newly undeceased again.” She asked. Spike thought it over. He wasn’t certain. He didn’t know if he could go back to the Bebop. But he didn’t know any other way of life. Maybe just him and Jet could strike out again. Maybe he needed to go forward. Maybe he needed to disappear.

“No idea. Maybe dye my hair and change planets.” He said. Roman rolled her eyes.

“Hey, don’t steal my one thing.” She said. Spike chuckled and actually gave her a genuine smile. They were silent for a minute, casually passing the cigarette between themselves. For a moment they felt like teenagers again, sharing cigarettes and sharing a moment of uncertainty. At least that’s how Roman always felt in moments like these. Until finally she broke the tension.

“Annie told me you came to see her.” She said as she looked down.

“Yeah. Thought I might finally kill him.”

“Ignored my bounty then.”

“Always did. Whenever it came up, no matter what the price, no matter what name you were under. I wouldn’t do that to you Roman.” He said. It felt like a whisper on the wind. Like if he said it any louder, he’d lose her like he lost Julia. Roman leaned into this, allowing one of her knees to knock into his. She needed this. She needed him. Outside of just that primal part that told her she was once 13 and crushing on the one person in the whole galaxy she couldn’t have.

“I look at you and I think… god what have we done with our lives? And what did it get us?” She said with what Spike could only describe as the truest form of sadness he’s ever seen from her. Roman Holiday kept all her cards close to her chest until one day, she’d die. But now? He felt like he was peering through a brick in her wall. “I loved my sister more than anything in this life. And I chose her happiness over mine, time and time again.” She scoffed and leaned back on her hands. “God I can’t believe I’m saying this.”

“What?” He asked. He wasn’t sure what was coming next, but curiosity killed him to know.

“A million years ago, she said to me “this one’s mine.” So, I stood by.” She said. “And I knew I shouldn’t do anything, I should just leave and pretend I never met you. But Julia,”

“She was too kind for that.” He said as his brain was slowly putting the pieces together. He had always wondered when they were kids, even before Roman became a shadow figure, why she always seemed to fall into that point, even when Julia brought her out, or when he tried to talk to her. But now he got it. She’d been hiding pain this whole time.

“I should go.” She said. She stood up and dusted herself off. Spike stood up as well and grabbed her wrist before she could go anywhere.

“Don’t disappear again.” He said. Roman looked down at her beat up shoes, trying to hide what had just come to pass.

“You can’t ask that of me.” She said.

“Ro, you’re all I’ve got left.”

“And who’s fault is that?” She snapped. Spike wanted to get offended. But he remembered an incident when they were younger, where he’d gotten too close and she’d snapped, and he retaliated. They didn’t speak for a month. Not until Julia forced them to, and not until after he’d brought her lilies. He sighed and plucked the nearly burnt out cigarette from his teeth and passed it to her. She took a drag and then stomped it out. She was still looking down at it when Spike brought her face to look up at him. Roman unintentionally leaned her cheek into his hand, blinking at him a couple of times.

“I won’t let this be the last time I see you Roman.” He said. Spike, at his core, was a deeply sentimental person. He couldn’t lose Roman. She reached up and brought his face to hers, giving him a small, soft and what Spike could only describe as a ghost of a kiss. Like she was afraid of what fully kissing him would mean. He kissed her cheek in turn, letting it sit there a little longer than either of them expected. When they separated, they put the distance back between them. Once again, afraid of what the closeness would do to them. She tossed him a comm unit she had pocketed off some guy and he caught it with ease.

“Call that ship of yours.”

“Wouldn’t that be going backward?” He asked.

“One step backward to go miles forward? I think it’s worth it. Call them Spiegel.” She said. Spike nodded.

“Remember, pink.” He said. Roman gave him a small, soft smile and nodded.

“See you Space Cowboy.” She said as she ran off the edge of the roof, scaling down the building to go buy some scissors, some food, and some pink hair dye.

[thanksfornothinguselessreptile]

A Shifting World Chapter 4: Goodbyes and Departures

First Chapter

<– Previous

Work Summary: Things have been going great since Hiccup and Toothless have defeated the Red Death. He has his father’s approval, a group of friends his own age, and is leading the integration of dragons and the Vikings of Berk. When neighboring tribes call together a meeting to discuss rumors of Vikings riding dragons, however, Stoick decides to keep their alliance with dragons under wraps. Hiccup must decide whether he should listen to his father or seek to teach the other Vikings of the archipelago the truths about dragons.

AO3

Rating: T

Characters: Hiccup, Toothless, Astrid, Stoick, Fishlegs, Ruffnut, Tuffnut, Snotlout

Pairings: Minor Hiccup x Astrid

Chapter Summary: Hiccup makes a promise to his best friend. Meanwhile, the twins are the twins and Mildew is Mildew.

Chapter Warnings: Discussions of death and murder, food mention

“You guys are all so lucky,” Tuffnut said as he shook his head at the nearest ship. “You all get to go to the Thing and we don’t.”

“I’d kill for the opportunity to go.” The scariest thing about that statement, Hiccup decided, was that Ruffnut sounded like she genuinely meant it. “The Thing is the prime pranking opportunity, and none of you are going to take advantage of it!”

“We’ll keep that in mind, I promise,” Hiccup said. He found himself regretting that the twins wouldn’t be coming along, even if it cut down the risk of other tribes declaring war on Berk due to missing beards and painted helmets.

Still, with a whole village to terrorize and no one else in their friend group around to entertain them or hold them back, Hiccup was sure that the missed opportunity would soon be a long distant regret.

Luckily enough for Hiccup, if not for Berk, it turned out that many of his friends were coming along, too. Astrid’s mother, Phlegma, was among the Berk Council, as was Spitelout, Snotlout’s father; both had decided their children ought to come along and get a better understanding of the other tribes. Fishlegs, while he had a mother aboard their ship as a sailor, had been chosen to come because Stoick believed he could have potential as a future ambassador of Berk.

Beyond them, all of the Berk Council were going as well. Well, all except for one, who was heading this way with a frown.

Hiccup was suddenly very aware that the twins had seemed to have vanished into thin air. They must’ve pranked Gobber somewhat recently, then.

“Ah, Toothless, there you are!” Gobber said as he wagged the wooden hand cutout attached to his prosthetic arm attachment as he prepared a lecture. “Remember that you aren’t going on this trip, you sneaky reptile.”

Toothless grumbled in irritation and glanced over at Hiccup as if asking him to reverse the decision.

“Sorry, bud,” he said instead, and gave Toothless an apologetic smile. “You know that Dad would kill me if I smuggled you aboard.” And anyways, even if he did go through with showing the other tribes that dragons weren’t inherently violent and were actually amazing, intelligent beings who were willing to live in peace if humans were, he wanted Toothless here, safe, if things went wrong. Again.

Toothless snorted and shook his head, his pupils narrowing slightly.

“Don’t worry, bud, it won’t be for forever.” If Gobber wasn’t there, Hiccup would have told him he’d try and make it so he could go to the next one, too. However, Gobber was still there, listening. He wouldn’t exactly be the sort that would keep quiet if Hiccup started making plans to go against his father’s and chief’s wishes behind his back.

“Yes,” Toothless said with a disgruntled huff.  

Hiccup could understand why. He wasn’t too happy about having to leave his best friend either.

Anything else he had to say, however, was swallowed up by a loud yell several feet away.

“I’m telling you, Stoick, this must be a sign from the gods to give up this unholy alliance with the beasts.” Hiccup had heard that voice enough times since after the Battle of the Red Death that he frowned and prepared to sigh with exasperation even before properly recognizing its owner.

Just as there were dragons too affected by the years of conflict to want to move onto Berk, there were Vikings who resisted the peace with the dragons with their heels dug into the ground. But where dragons were happy enough to avoid Berk, Mildew had decided to make his “opinion” everyone’s problem.

And especially Hiccup’s and Stoick’s.

“If the other tribes catch wind of us ‘befriending’ these monsters–” Mildew swung his staff straight toward a nearby Monstrous Nightmare who’d just dropped off a pallet of supply crates tied into groups with fishnet, ignoring their filthy look “–then we might as well kiss our lives goodbye!”

Stoick, half turned toward Mildew and half toward the freshly delivered stack of supplies, rubbed at his head in a way that told Hiccup that he was sensing an oncoming headache. “You’ve already brought this up. For sixteen Gripe Days in a row.”

“And you wouldn’t listen!” Hiccup winced as the vibrations of the resulting slam of the staff end into the wooden dock made their way up his prosthesis. “But now that the other tribes have come knocking, maybe you’ll finally care!”

Stoick cast Mildew a glare so sharp Hiccup almost expected to result in Mildew bursting into flames without a dragon’s intervention. Unfortunately for all of Berk, it didn’t. “Enough, Mildew. I am sticking to the answer I’ve given you every time before. We are not driving the dragons away.”

Mildew’s voice dropped just a fraction, and turned even more bitter and accusing. “Is it something you’re willing to bet the whole village’s lives on?”

“I assure you,” Stoick said, his voice unyielding, “I have the village’s best interests on my mind. And, like it or not, that includes yours.”

“Besides,” Gobber said, walking from beside Hiccup up to Mildew, “is right before Stoick’s about to leave to ensure we continue living in peace really the time to bring this up? Especially since he heard it before?”

Mildew snorted, sounding for all the world like a particularly stubborn sheep not unlike the one that often followed him around.

“I thought so. Now I suggest you go back and tend to your cabbages, unless you want to help load up the ship.” Gobber used his hand prosthesis to gesture at the supplies.

With one last scowl and “Don’t tell me I didn’t warn you,” Mildew stormed off the docks, staff tapping each wooden board along the way.

“Thanks, Gobber,” Stoick said, sounding more relieved than he’d been since the announcement of the Thing.

Gobber shrugged. “Eh, I’ll just add it to list of stuff you’ll owe me for while you’re gone.” He shuddered overdramatically. “Including the Gripe Days you’ll be missing. Not looking forward to those, I’m telling you!”

Stoick laughed and shook his head. “It makes dealing with the other chiefs seem like a picnic.”

Hiccup and Toothless walked toward them. “Can’t you do something about his attitude problem?”

Stoick frowned and sighed. “He gets under my skin as much as yours, son, but I’m afraid I can’t.”

“What does he have against them, anyways?” He leaned over to pat Toothless’s side, to calm himself and his dragon. “They hardly attacked his farm.” Cabbage, to no one’s surprise, was hardly a dragon’s preferred delicacy. In fact, they seemed to avoid them more often than most other crops.

Gobber and Stoick shared a solemn look.

“You see, years ago he set his farm up there,” Gobber said, sounding like he was getting into a long story that had no happy ending. “No one particularly minded, given he was always that… well, Mildewy, for the lack of a better word.” He shrugged. “And he married a woman who was just as grumpy as he was, and they had kids who took after the both of them.”

If Gobber and Stoick hadn’t looked so serious, Hiccup would’ve shuddered at the thought of a family of Mildews.

“They all seemed happy, though, and they kept mostly to themselves, so everything was fine.” Stoick shook his head. “And then, one day, his wife and children were picking up supplies in town when a dragon raid hit.”

“It was the worst in decades.” Gobber bit his lip. “Our best could hardly keep up defending the town from the dragons.” He sighed and shook his head. “By the time dawn came and they retreated, so many had died, even those who hadn’t fought.”

“Including Mildew’s family.” Hiccup never thought he’d feel anything regarding sympathy for the man, but then again he’d always summed his irritability up to stubbornness beyond the usual Viking levels.

“And that wasn’t the end of it.” Stoick’s tone caused Hiccup to brace himself. “Mildew somehow got it into his head that we let them die intentionally because no one liked them.”

“Well, no one did like them,” Gobber jumped in with a conciliatory tone. “But no one hated them that much,” he added when Stoick glared at him.

“Everyone kind of understood that it was mostly the grief talking, and things kind of died down after a while.” Stoick stroked his beard. “And eventually he ended up taking another wife.”

“And that’s when a dragon came to his farm and burnt it to a crisp.” Gobber shook his head. “Mildew escaped. Not his wife.”

“And after he got over that, he married another woman. She was from the Northlander Tribe, I believe.” He glanced at Gobber as if to confirm.

Gobber nodded. “Aye. And I bet you can get what happened to her.”

Hiccup’s stomach clenched. “I’m guessing not a peaceful death by old age.”

“After that, he became obsessed with killing dragons.” Stoick stroked his beard, lost in thought.

“Not himself, of course.” Gobber shrugged a single shoulder. “Let’s just say he chose to keep a farm far from the raids for a reason. But he bought dragon parts off those who did kill them. Bones, scales, heads, the lot.”

Toothless made a nervous sound, and Hiccup reached over to scratch him under the ears in an attempt at reassurance. “Don’t worry, bud. No one’s getting your head.”

“He was always advocating for crueler ways of killing them off entirely, not just driving them off our land for good.” Stoick frowned. “In any case, any intention he had of making his peace with them died with his wives and children.”

“But now we can make sure that no one else has to go through that.” Hiccup knew that losing family to dragons hurt; he’d lost his own mother to a dragon when he was a baby, and that had definitely stung after finding out that it was the Red Death’s fault. Still, he couldn’t imagine preferring being at war with dragons to the peace they had now over it.

“I know, and I wouldn’t change it for the world.” Stoick placed a hand on Hiccup’s shoulder, being careful not to knock him over. “However, he’s been bitter since the day he was born, and circumstances only made him worse. When you’re chief, you’ll have to deal with worse than the likes of him.”

Hiccup resisted the urge to roll his eyes. “Encouraging pep talk, Dad.”

Stoick shook his head and laughed, and the somber tone the conversation had taken seemed to disperse like that. “Next time, I’ll let it surprise you.” He glanced around the docks and the ship, scanning everything. “Well, it looks to me like we’re just about ready to set out here. You get on the ship and I’ll get the loose ends tied up.” With that, he walked off.

Hiccup turned back to Toothless. “Well, I guess it’s time to say goodbye, bud.”

Toothless warbled in a very unenthusiastic tone.

“I promise I’ll be back, with a whole new bunch of stories to tell you.” A gathering of Viking chiefs was certainly never boring, as Stoick had often been inclined to share. “I’m sure you will too, since the twins are staying behind.”

At that, Toothless snorted and rolled his eyes.

Hiccup couldn’t help but smile at that. “You never know, you might have too much fun watching them get in trouble to even notice I’m gone.”

Toothless snorted and shook his head. He didn’t sound particularly convinced.

“It’s just for a few weeks, I promise.” Hiccup held out an open hand. Toothless stared at it and hesitated, then leaned his head over until his nose met Hiccup’s palm.  “Take care while I’m gone.” He let himself give his best friend a crooked, mischievous smile and wagged a finger at him in warning. “And no helping Ruff and Tuff with their pranks, alright?”

Toothless seemed to raise the draconic equivalent of an eyebrow, but nodded. “Yes.”

With that, Hiccup forced himself up the gangplank and looked for a place to sit. It was going to be a long journey.

So this is probably the last chapter I’m posting to Tumblr before the Log Off Protest. While the next chapter will likely be published on AO3 around the same time next week, I won’t crosspost it to Tumblr until the protest is over and I log back in. After that, crossposting should continue as usual. Thank you!

Next –>

[irregodless]

so i just finished virtues last reward and im kinda angry because now life is strange kinda makes sense

DISCLAIMER: so its been like.... what.... two or three years since i even watched someone play it? im going off of what i remember which means POSSIBLY i didnt remember an explanation or didnt pay proper attention to it, so be warned

DISCLAIMERx2 COMBO!!!: this is probably some old ass news but even in the height of its popularity i kinda came into the story late and even then i wasnt crazy about it. it was good. i really enjoyed it. but it was easier for me to kind of passively mock it for having bullshitty trumped up time logic. the reason for this AND FOR MY FIRST DISCLAIMER MOSTLY is because the game doesnt really explain it to you or why anythings happening. which is fair i guess. max isnt really a time travel geek or a scientist and short of having mr “time guardian” come out and exposition dump there wasnt much to do. maybe if warren was our protag he wouldve figured it out but i cant really blame max for NOT. especially since it was reality for her. to us we can examine it objectively and understand the rules governing it as we observe the limitations. i mean for all she knew she couldve gone back in time three times and it be over and she could never do it again ever

for my explanation ill be referencing 999 and its sequel zero escape virtue’s last reward as well as homestuck (because for all intents and purposes it makes intelligent use of time travel and with colloquialisms that make it sort of easier to digest than just abstract names.) naturally some spoilers may apply to all three as well as life is strange (obviously)

if you boil the story of life is strange to its most core element, itll start to make sense. life is strange in its simplest form is this: “max caulfield solves a murder/kidnapping mystery.” everything else that happens is just kind of extra or a direct component to that outcome.

i would often complain about how max could get mr jefferson arrested and save kate with her time travelly powers but not chloe when she couldnt have done anything about those things without her power either. i was under the assumption that her abilities were an anomaly and the universe was trying to fix itself by voiding out her effects on the timeline (ie saving chloe). but in retrospect thats kind of really dumb!! why make a story where the protagonist can travel through time but then have the story ultimately be about the universe trying to make it so that everything was the same as before??? it’s silly!! so heres the thing: it was not about that. it was about max getting the information she needed to ultimately solve the mystery (and save kate i guess. im not sure how contingent her survival was to the timeline being “alpha” but if you want to say God or the Sentient Timespace Universe [”Skaia”] were in control of the outcomes and thus dictating maxs actions mayb u could say They wanted to reward kate for being such a devout follower??? maybe her life or death was ultimately inconsequential to the outcome and it couldve gone on with or without her and max was just a good person and saved her. its hard to tell.)

in homestuck there are doomed timelines. timelines wherein something goes wrong that was NOT preordained by skaia (the self-aware universe, essentially, trying to maintain homeostasis in itself) or that directly cause a paradox. one example is davesprite. an action that causes a doomed timeline is john getting himself killed (with a little help from terezi) which leads to a strand where rose and dave are stranded in their game for months. dave then goes back along the timeline to the point that determined whether or not it became doomed. although incidentally, it was the act of him going back in time to stop john from killing himself that splintered the timeline between doomed and alpha (the right one)

thus the doomed timeline was necessary for the alpha timeline to be sustained. and thereafter it ceased to be. in other doomed timelines it either disappears entirely as with davesprites timeline, or everyone just DIES like in the one where vriska and gamzee collectively get everyone killed. it’s the price u pay for not playing the part the universe wrote for u

so in order for max to go along her story to figure out mr jefferson was.... who he was, she had to slip through doomed timelines. timelines that ultimately purged themselves if they went on too long by the means of the big storm. something similar happens in 999 where a certain character gets sick if the story goes in a direction that would lead to a paradox and cause them to not have existed. and if the timeline becomes too far gone, they vanish entirely. this is basically the role of the storm. its not to eradicate the stuff max had done with her powers because she “shouldnt have had them” but because that timeline shouldnt have BEEN to begin with! max was SUPPOSED to have her powers. whether it was all morphogenetic fieldy sciencey reasoning or if “skaia” gave them to her to solve this case, who knows, but its not really all that important.

i could probably explain some of this more easily by using the name of paradoxes, but i forgot most of the official names for them and my computers being kinda silly so i dont feel like taking the time to look them up srry

anyway

max alters the timeline by stopping chloe from dying. they then go on this great big adventure where chole is the ONLY person who could have possibly helped max unravel the mysteries. which i think is fair to say she was the ONLY person to be capable of it bc of her stepdad and her rebellious attitude!

so the two go on adventures and discover what i figured out within the first five minutes of story: MR JEFFERSONS A HORRIBLE PERSON

and chloe dies a bunch along the way because while shes needed to solve the mystery, shes STILL doomed. its like in final destination. you can run from death and avoid a few attempts on your life for a WHILE, but youre still slated for death and gonna die eventually. im not sure it was the universe trying to clear her out like an antibody so much as it was... she was just more susceptible to danger. it also could have been to make maxs powers stronger. the 999 series puts an emphasis on the psychic-y powers being strengthened and honed through LIFE THREATENING SCENARIOS

now in both 999 and vlr (i havent referenced the latter nearly as much as i thought i would!) the events of the games essentially unfold because certain characters figure out that... well... thats what happens!!! so they recreate the event so that it DOES happen so that they CAN have these abilities. they hone their abilities to see and interact through time so that they can avoid MAJOR DISASTERS and fix them, all the way establishing the very parameters that allow them to do so in the first place!

so small summary:

max gets the power to swap out her consciousness from a certain place on the timeline. she does so to save chloe (as a good person and for sentimental purposes) chloe proves to be the key to discovering the mystery behind the shady shit going down at the school she was still ultimately supposed to die though so she dies a bunch along the way because thats just what she does best by working alone doomed timelines where chloe is the only one who can help unearth the mysteries (and to be fair she deserved to be there too since it DID involve her ex-girlfriend) max finally discovers mr jefferson is basically straight up evil and can go back and use the information from her travels to bring him to justice chloes still supposed 2 die tho so shes either wiped out with the timeline by means of the storm that fucks up everyone elses life or she dies unceremoniously in the bathroom because one way or another: SHE WILL DIE max then uses the information to expose jefferson. its kinda weird but i guess paradoxically makes sense that the alpha timeline dictated that for life to progress properly, max had to just MAGICALLY know it was him. (maybe it meant to import me into the game so i couldve called him out as soon as i saw him. or maybe it was only one option. like kate living or not. max can expose him and save the day OR it can go on and be terrible. but that one doesnt have any justice in it so.....) kate lives and thats important? maybe?

basically it was not about trying to undo maxs “rulebreaking” powers

but it was about ENABLING them to do the job the universe/”skaia” (not that life is strange even.... HAS a skaia, but its easy for terminology) had planned for her. which was to fuck over jefferson HARD

the only problem is that to my memory the game never explains this is whats happening. and so when chloe dies youre like “wow nothing mattered.” but the game was never about saving chloe. it was always only ever about solving a kidnapping/murder mystery

it was ALWAYS about that

chloe was never going to stay alive. ever. the final choice was whether or not to return to the alpha timeline or not stay with her as an act of love and get wiped out along with the timeline

but the game doesnt explain this. or how the time travel powers came about or how they work or what they are AT ALL (from what i remember) so it all just seems convoluted and bullshitty

but in reality there IS something driving it. it only took me playing two other games to actually understand what that was.

which is why im not sure i can actually give the writers credit for it because i dont even know if THEY knew what was up or if they just made it up and it was just convenience i was able to apply meaning to it

the fact they (again as i remember) didnt address it in the game makes it really suspect though! and it makes it hard to support them as having done something intelligent. especially when it ended up with tons of players feeling cheated because it fell in line with popular “the illuion of choice telltale style” game lines. so when the final moment came it confused them because nothing informed them that it was ALWAYS a quest of futility and despite maxs emotions or feelings about it, it was never about saving chloe. she was only a tool to achieve the goal of outting jefferson

which i cant say i totally approve of from a general point of view! especially in light of “bury your gays.” but from a time travel-esque mechanic point of view.... yeah it makes sense....

but it doesnt really leave a good feeling. because max and by proxy the player were always under the misunderstanding they could save chloe when in reality they never could.

and the entire game was just. a quest of futility. (in that regard)

but we didnt know. to make it proper, the game shouldve let us into the secret. even if max didnt know and felt cheated at the end, the audience wouldnt feel the same. itd be dramatic irony. wed feel bad but wed know why it had to happen.

anyway, as the Old Woman says in virtues last reward:

“Death was always inevitable.“