#that boy was only in like four episodes and he still got an official ship name

[thoughts-of-the-unheard]

idc what anyone says, tree adams is the biggest shipper of them all, he literally named his songs stuff like "Bellarke Theme" "Clexa Theme" "Kabby" "Marper" "Octillian" "Bellamy and Clarke" "Miller and Bryan" "Kane and Abby" "Raven and Shaw" "Delilah & Jordan" "Bellamy and Clarke Suite" like whos doing it better

[staytinyville]

Righteous

part 1 part 2 part 3 PART 4 part 5

Reiner Braun Soulmate AU

- Soulmate AU (childhood friends to lovers. afab!reader. The entire chapter is flashbacks. Soft!Reiner. Depressed!Reiner. Clueless Children.)

cw: Season Four Spoilers (specifically episode 3 : The Door of Hope)

I wanted to become a warrior because I thought it would make my mothers wish to live with me and my father come true. But my father never wanted any part of us. Mom lived for a dream she knew was hopeless. I should've never been chosen; I should've died today. Why apologize? And why save someone like me? This can't end with me doing nothing. Knowing nothing. Before I die, I need to change something! I need to make the life I want. The life (y/n) deserves. I need to make it back; for her.

(y/n) stood at the entrance of the docks, waiting behind everyone as families and army officials were standing there. Her hands were shaking at her chest, the girl gripping onto each one to try and calm her nerves.

A lump formed in her throat, watching as the boat was slowly crawling closer to the shore. The sails were the only thing in her view, but she was still over anxious. The crowd went silent for a bit, a thunk heard as the stairs to get off the boat hit the dock.

At the landing of the metal piece, the crowd stayed silent, waiting for someone to walk off the boat. (y/n) scooted herself back, trying to stand a bit away from the anxious crowd. She decided to look down, not wanting to come in contact with anyone.

There were generals and commanders up at the front, the first to greet the warriors as they got off. Her father was one of them, but this really didn't matter to his family, it was part of his job. She could've joined him at the front, joined with the other warrior unit cadets, but she felt scared. The anxious feeling gnawing at her body as she was terrified of not seeing the boy walk off the boat.

Man, she told herself, he's a man now.

Just like she grew older, he must've as well. They had gone through puberty. Adulthood was approaching them. What if she wasn't the same to him anymore? What if he wasn't the same?

She looked up again, watching as the crowd parted and people continued to softly congratulate those who got off the boat. They brought a girl out, pushing her to the ground as she winced. She didn't try to fight her captures, didn't try to look up. She rather kept looking down, holding her head in shame.

Had they brought back an island devil?

There was a pained scream, (y/n) turning back as she watched the old warriors families stand with uniformed men, the old Warriors at their side. Her body froze up, muscles trembling as her anxiety began to flood her body. She choked on air, hand going to her hand as she watched them.

There were three in total standing somberly there. Five had been sent on the mission. The crew was left to take things off the ship, no one else was going to come down from the boat.

There was relief in her chest, painful, but it was there. His hair had grown over, very much unkempt. His nose became more predominant, his boyish cheeks gone. He had filled out, his shoulders wide and strong.

But no matter how much muscle he had, no matter how intimidating he was now, he wasn't holding himself like that. He kept his eyes to the ground, eyes unmoving as they dared not to look up. She wanted him to; wanted him to look up and just glance in her direction.

But he was busy, she told herself. He had just gotten off the boat from his mission. He lost his friends. Disturbing him wasn't something she wanted to do. He had his family to see first, show them that unlike the other three, he made it home safely. She saw him from a distance, she knew he made it back. She'll just wait to get her chance later.

Just as she got movement back in her body, ready to walk out of the landing, his head moved up. Their eyes met and suddenly everything in her body became disheartened. He missed her, she could see it in his eyes. But she also saw so much more.

Even as his mother cried and wrapped her arms around her son, he was too busy keeping eye contact with (y/n). Tears pooled at his eyes, the man biting his lips to keep from letting out any noise.

She could care less, she sniffled loudly, rubbing her nose to keep from having it runny. Her lips curled up, a shakey smile falling from her mouth. The rest of his family rushed at him, the little girl with brown hair noticeable as she tried to climb on her cousin to give him a better hug.

She didn't dare to get closer to him, she allowed him to see his family before all else. But she raised her left hand, the mark on her pinky clear to Reiner. He let out a sob, hands moving around his mother finally as he saw her raise her hand.

He was going to see her after this. He needed it. He waited for it. He deserved it.  

She waited at the alleyway she had last saw him, trying to calm down her burning nerves. Clenched in her arms was a medium sized box, filled to the brim with paper. She gazed at the ring she had placed on her left hand, her pinky mark directly next to it on her ring finger.

****

Footsteps down the small space alerted her, hands clenching harder onto the box. But it didn't matter once she looked up. Watching him walk slowly towards her, eyes staring directly at her. She dropped the box in a rush, not caring about the contents in it. It wasn't as important as her rushing to him and having him in her arms.

"Reiner." She sobbed, arms circling his neck in a tight grip. The man sniffled, head falling into her shoulder as he leaned over her, his body giving out from the high emotions.

"You're okay! You're here!" (y/n) cried, trying to be as close to him as possible.

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." Reiner cried, his arms around her waist tightening as he felt soft and content with being in her arms.

"You didn't do anything, Reiner! Nothing was your fault!" She spoke into his neck, shaking her head to try and get him to move on from thinking about that hell.

"You're here with me! We can talk about it later, but for now just let me hold you." She pulled back, hands moving to his cheeks to look at him in the eyes.

He had matured, he looked handsome to her. Even if he was holding in dark things and his mind was amok. He was still her Reiner, her best friend from all those years ago.

Reiner moved his hands up to hold hers, his breaths coming out rapidly. He watched her give him a sad smile, eyes going over his face. He spent the past five year trying to finish his mission. Trying to keep his head screwed in correctly. And the only time he would come back from his scout personality, was remembering he had her back home.

He learned so much more on the island about soulmates. Meeting a pair in his cadet class. His love for her only grew immensely, thinking that one day he would get the freedom he wanted to be with her. Looking down at her, having grown so much and gaining more knowledge, he could see that she loved him just as much.

So he hastily grabbed her cheeks, pulling her closer to him as he sealed his lips against hers. She was quick to react once her brain comprehended that he was kissing her, only wasting a millisecond.

"I love you." "I'm so sorry." "I love you, so much." Reiner cried between kisses, pulling her into his chest, softly crying into her shoulder again.

"Hey, you're okay! You're here. You're with me, now." She soothed him, rubbing the back of his neck. She pulled him back, moving to hold his head between her hands.

"You're not going back." Reiner tried to smile, he really wanted to, but there was just a dark cloud over him. It was weighing on him.

He tilted his head, feeling something cold rub against his cheek. He moved back, grabbing a hold of (y/n)'s left hand and rubbing against the small metal band and tiny diamond sitting at the top.

"It fits." He whispered, remembering how she had it on a necklace before he left.

His hands were always bigger, but holding her now he noticed just how much they both had grown. She had grown taller, her child-like features were gone and replaced with that of a woman. He had spent five years, replaying her face over and over in his head. Before he went to sleep; before he woke up. But he now that he was back, the remembrance of her 12 year-old self did it no justice.

"I started wearing it a year ago." She spoke, breaking him out of his trance of trying to memorize her face again. "Odd that no one has mentioned it."

She chuckled sadly, rubbing away at her ring. Reiner looked down, softly brushing over the mark on her pinky as well.

"I met these soulmates." He told her. "On the island."

She didn't make a comment, noticing how he said it with a tenderness. She wasn't going to pry, he would tell her when he was ready.

"She gave up herself, knowing that her soulmate was on that island. She decided to come back."

(y/n) gripped onto Reiner's hand, allowing him to get what he needed off his chest. She wasn't going to interrupt, watching as his mood seemed to change. She didn't want to cause him to have a meltdown.

"The girl on the island reminded me so much of you. Well of what I remember. I'm a little regretful to admit that I had a crush on her when we met."

(y/n) giggled sadly, hands squeezing Reiner's.

"But it was just an admiration. You were always on my mind when I did anything." Reiner's eyes suddenly went dull, his PTSD flooding his eyes. "Even when I broke down that wall."

"I have a job in the Warrior unit." (y/n) spoke quickly, trying to get Reiner from thinking longer about something that would bring him discord.

"What?" He asked, eyebrows pulled together. She gave him a nervous smile, chuckles falling from her lips.

"The advisor job opened up last year. I applied to it." She told Reiner. "I regret that I had my dad help me but I did not want any other job."

Reiner only looked at her in confusion, wondering why she would put herself in the area of war.

"I did it because I was waiting for you to come back. It was my one chance of being close to you, so I took it." She smiled at him.

"I had so much faith that you would come back. I just knew that you were. It was a feeling that you were." She looked behind her, letting go of Reiner to walk up to the box she had dropped.

She gathered the envelopes that fell out, thankful that the ground wasn't wet this time around. Closing the lid back up, she turned back to Reiner who had caught up with her.

"I spent the last five years writing to you." (y/n) told him, handing him the whole box. "I know I couldn't send them, but I still wanted to hang onto them."

Reiner carefully took a hold of the box, opening it up and glancing over the dozens of letters neatly filed into it. He looked back up at her, eyes once more filled with tears.

"I learned so much more, so much about what I wanted. I get that we were kids, we still practically are. But I realized how much I loved you. I learned what it truly was."

Reiner leaned back down, giving her a kiss once more.

"You're my soulmate, (y/n). And I will always come back to you."

****

Ymir sat shackled in the jail cell, her head hung low as she tried to get rid of any emotion she might've had. She couldn't tell how many days it had been, her brain short functioning as she wanted to get this hell over with.

There was a clank on the ground, the metal food tray placed on the ground carefully rather than harshly like it usually was. Ymir looked up, confused on who was the new guard to bring her, her food.

The guard was much smaller than she remembered, a cap on their head as they had it down to prevent Ymir from looking at their face. However, when they finally did look up, Ymir noticed their feminine features. This was not her normal guard. They had stayed squatting, watching Ymir just stay shackled to the wall.

"I tried to pick out the best food they had." Their voice was that of a girl's; Ymir clenching her hands as she was suddenly reminded of Krista. "There weren't many options."

"Why are you here?" Ymir asked, wanting to get the small talk out of the way. She didn't want to be here; she didn't want to talk with anyone.

(y/n) sat down on her bum, crossing her legs to sit comfortably. She pulled out a pen and paper from her pocket, placing them down to the floor. Ymir glanced between them and the girl, squinting her eyes in suspicion.

"Reiner told me about you." (y/n) spoke. "He told me you had a soulmate."

Ymir unconsciously clenched her left hand, mind set on the mark she had.

"What's it to you?"

"I have one too." (y/n) told her, raising her hand to show Ymir the mark. "I just...I wanted to ask you about the island."

"Why don't you ask Reiner? If he told you about me, I'm sure you guys are buddy enough to have him tell you about it."

"Reiner isn't Reiner...anymore." She told Ymir. "I wanted to ask you if you knew what he saw. I don't want to cause him anymore damage by having him remember his time there than need be."

"Why do you care? Aren't you just a Marleyan?"

"He's my soulmate." She answered Ymir, the girl flinching some. "I want to know what he saw. I want to understand why he's different."

Ymir took a moment, looking the girl over. She glanced at her hand, the mark easy to see if you knew it was there. She was looking at Ymir with patient eyes, the titan shifter feeling as though the room was becoming suffocating.

"There was nothing." Ymir finally told her. "There was absolutely nothing wrong with the island."

"The people were just people. They were living their lives, in ignorance. They didn't know about the evil in their bodies. They didn't know about their Eldian curse."

(y/n) swallowed the lump that formed, listening intently to what Ymir had to say.

"Reiner just doesn't know who to trust anymore. None of us do."

The girl sighed, rubbing the anxious sweat on her pant legs before looking down at the paper she had brought.

"I wrote letters," She started. "These past five years while I waited for Reiner to come back. They never got mailed to him, but it kept me from forgetting about him."

(y/n) looked up at Ymir, watching her face for any form of expression.

"I was thinking maybe you would like to write one to her."

Ymir huffed out, a chuckle falling from her lips.

"You and your soulmate think alike." She told (y/n). "Don't worry about it. Your man let me write one before I came here."

"You willingly came here?" (y/n) asked.

"I had nothing left to do." Ymir shrugged. "But you had your soulmate." The brown haired girl suddenly looked off to the side, irritated with the girl's statement.

"I was the one who ate the guy. I needed to atone for what I did. I didn't want that on my conscience." she took a bit to recollect what else to say. "Besides, I only have so many years left."

"But that doesn't mean you should end it early. You still have a lot left."

"13 years isn't nearly enough time to be with the person you are destined to." Ymir suddenly scoffed. "Maybe it's just how fate turned out to be. Maybe that was why we found our soulmates, because none of us have time to be with them."

(y/n) looked down, trying hard not to think about how much Reiner had left and how much would be spent together. It was every little girl's dream to marry someone she loved, start a family with them, and grow old together. But (y/n) spent the last 5 years knowing that it wouldn't be possible.

Though she told herself, no matter how much time was left, if Reiner came back, she would live with him for however long he got. Whether it was 5 years or 5 days, she was going to try her best, to feel what it was like to be with your soulmate.

"That maybe true," (y/n) told Ymir. "But everyone wants to experience the chance to meet their soulmate. Even if just for a fraction of the time."

Voices down the hall were beginning to turn up, their footsteps falling to the floor. (y/n) made quick work to get up, snatching the pen and paper back into her hands and putting them in her pocket. As she was about to leave, she paused at the cell door.

"What was their name?" She asked. "Your soulmate."

Ymir looked up at her, sighing a bit.

"Historia," She told her. "But I called her Krista."

"Oi!" Someone shouted, opening up the cell door causing (y/n) to look down quickly. "What are doing in here?"

"They were giving me my food." Ymir answered for her, skeptically eyeing Reiner who stood in the hallway. "Is it time already?"

(y/n) moved out of the way as some guards walked into unchain Ymir, the girl's body slipping out the door. She began to walk away from the scene, but was stopped as a hand grabbed onto her bicep. She only took a glance at it, looking up slightly when she recognized Reiner's body.

"What are you doing here?" He asked her, eyes trained on the people who were hauling Ymir.

"Just curious." Reiner squeezed (y/n)'s arm as a form of reassurance.

"Reiner?" Zeke called, waiting for the man to catch up.

"Coming." The blonde called, taking one last look at his lover. Ymir was hauled out the cell, being pulled by a chain in the opposite direction (y/n) had been walking to.

"I had five years." Ymir spoke over her shoulder. "And I owe my thanks to that kid."

(y/n) didn't turn to look at Ymir, but Reiner took a glance at her retreating back. The man walked up next to Ymir.

"Take care of that girl of yours." She told him, looking directly a head. "They don't deserve us."

"I know."

If you want to be added to the tag list let me know!

@rosec0urtz​ @quirked-catastrophe​

[miraculouscontent]

(non-Miraculous asks)

Anonymous said:

Ok this may just be me but I hate deconstructions. I feel like they are always mean spirited and try to be dark and edgy and thinks that every single person is an asshole because that’s “realistic” when no it’s not. This maybe because I like superhero stories and love it when the heroes overcome their struggles.

I can agree for the most part. Whenever I hear “okay but what if it was dArK--” I’m just okay, gonna stop you right there.

Anonymous said:

I swear, nothing bothers me more than people who want Miraculous Ladybug to literally just be Yandere Simulator(with Marinette as Ayano, Alya as Info-chan, Adrien as Taro, Chloe as Osana, Lila as Kizana, Kagami as Megami, and Luka as Budo). It just grinds my gears, especially because they're, once again, framing Marinette as a stalker, which just makes her look bad, AND pits all the girls against each other for Mr. Generic Harem Protagonist, once a-fucking-gain. Just go play the actual game, ok?

All I'm hearing is that now I have to ship Ayano and Budo and write a fic where the ghost girl uses fancy fantasy magic to merge her soul with Ayano and lets her actually have emotions, healing her from being a yandere while the ghost girl (in a way) gets to live a life she was cut short of, also allowing Ayano to be happy and go onto be friends with all the rivals.

Extremely convoluted but that’s the only way we get happy endings in this house.

Anonymous said:

I remember how, when writing Sailor Moon, Naoko Takeuchi refused to bow to older male writers wanted, say, for the girls to be stereotypical manga characters, with one being overweight, one being a stereotypical nerd, etc. But Naoko wanted each of the girls to be beautiful and feminine. While I don't like that they all share a body type, I admire how she didn't listen to grown men when writing for and about young girls. And I can't help but think about how Madoka is the antithesis of all that.

I can appreciate writers who put their foot down to stick to their values. There are limits of course, but yeah, a women writing women probably shouldn’t be listening to a man’s input. I’m sure good advice exists buuut...

Anonymous said:

What is your ranking of the seasons of the year from most to least favorite and why?

Summer - I work best in the warmth

Spring - Always brings images of flowers blooming to mind

Autumn - Things are getting cold and I don’t like it

Winter - It can go choke for all I care

Anonymous asked:

Someone on TV Tropes actually said that the name Feminist Fantasy should be changed because "feminism excludes men the same way meninism excludes women" and actually had the nerve to link that to the "Not So Different" trope, as if women haven't been excluded throughout the history of almost every human society. Fortunately, someone responded to them in a way that technically amounted to "do your damn research" but I'm still facepalming so hard at TV Tropes' "what about the men" rhetoric.

I feel like I lost braincells reading this.

Anonymous asked:

I feel like in fiction written by men there are only three flaws that female protagonists are allowed to have: clumsy, boy-crazy, or ashamed of their flat chests. I hate it.

Don’t forget, “having to listen to the men for how they’re supposed to feel.”

Anonymous asked:

Jatp. Nominated. For. Seven. Emmys. SEVEN!!!! Miraculous could NEVER. Literally.

omg!! Congrats to Julie and the Phantoms!

Anonymous asked:

WHAT ARE YOUR FLASHBACKS TO EVER AFTER HIGH?? I GOTTA KNOW? OMG?

Oh, I’ve seen basically the whole series, though the one I remember most is definitely Epic Winter. It was my favorite one though Beauty and the Beast is my favorite Disney movie so I’m biased.

I also like a lot of the “twists” and just--crazy concepts they rolled with, like with Red Riding Hood’s story and how Apple White gets woken up from her slumber.

Anonymous asked:

You're gonna be happy to hear this...I just started watching Cardcaptor Sakura today, and holy shit not only do I love it, but I also love how freaking META it is! I know you said you're not all that knowledgeable about Magical Girl, but this show is AWARE that it's a Magical Girl show! From Tomoyo(the main reason this show is so meta, tbh) realizing Sakura is a Magical Girl and asking if she has a transformation pose, to designing outfits for her(more on that later) to videotaping her(aka literally making a Magical Girl anime out of her Magical Girl friend), it just has fun with itself and plays with Magical Girl tropes without making a mockery of them like all those "dark" male-aimed ones do(lookin' at you, Madoka Magica and Yuki Yuna!).

And not only is it hilarious and adorable(especially with Sakura's crush on Yukito, Tomoyo's crush on Sakura, and Touya picking on Sakura, but playfully), but I love how it's riddled with girl power. While watching some of the first episodes I was looking forward to seeing Syaoran(partly because I love male Tsunderes and partly because I can't pronounce his name), and was surprised that he wasn't in the first few episodes, but more importantly I was so happy to see a show that treats its female characters with respect and shows women unironically receiving support from other women and being shown possessing power and authority.

I love Sakura and Tomoyo's friendship even if I hate the trope of "Lesbian Never Gets The Girl"(not that I think she's entitled to Sakura's affections or anything, but still.) and watching her support Sakura in her magic endeavors without being jealous or vindictive, I love that they're allowed to be independent and smart but that the show doesn't forget that they're kids, instead of making them like Manon and Chris, and I love that the show passes the Bechdel test in pretty much the first or second episode, and that pretty much every important and unimportant character we meet that's not Sakura's family members, Kero, or Yukito(plus maaaayyybe the Shadow Clow Card) are female.

Even little things, like all FOUR of Tomoyo's bodyguards in the second episode being female without there being a "reason" or the show making a big deal of it(either in a "yay girl power!" way or a "what but women can't x" way or an objectifying way) fills me with insurmountable joy. Also, I love that the show follows the Magical Girl trend of pretty much admitting that femininity is power, since frilly dresses are stated to be the most "fitting" thing for a Cardcaptor to wear, as without it, they might not be mentally up to the task, and this is an unironic truth rather than a joke(although Sakura is shown to be embarrassed, but it's much more likely that she's simply not used to that kind of gear due to not being rich as Tomoyo is.) or a gag.

I just thought I should tell you this because I know you like Cardcaptor Sakura, and with the crappy episodes that just came out of this show, I think you deserve to read an ask that's about a GENUINE girl power Magical Girl show, instead of yet more Miraculous Ladybug salt or Madoka Magica hate(not that there's anything wrong with either of those two, but it just gets grating after a while.). Overall, I'm looking forward to watching this show, since I've been looking for a Magical Girl show to watch nowadays(I've been meaning to watch Star Twinkle Precure but I can't find the third episode and all of Cardcaptor Sakura is on YouTube now, so.). So excited!

Hey, I’m glad that you’re having fun with it!

Though, just a warning, you might wanna steer clear of the Clear Card arc. It’s a sequel to the original series made waaaay after the original (think the equivalent of Yashahime for Inuyasha, though continuing with the original characters) but omg I hated it.

Anonymous asked:

With the crappy Season 4 episodes that just came out I'm glad I got into Cardcaptor Sakura when I did. Who needs "Marinette needs to make a mistake every episode and learn something from it" when you can have genuine girl power and sweetness incarnate?

Alya could never compete with Tomoyo, I’m just sayin’.

Anonymous asked:

Your comment about white men feeling "disenfranchised" because more shows are about black people and/or women(I say and/or because the two aren't mutually exclusive.), as if there aren't a million other things they could be watching instead is so true! It reminds me of how I was talking to someone recently about the new generation of MLP, in which I stated that we didn't need a male mane pony(spoiler alert: they have one, sadly.), and he claimed that it would be beneficial since many shows aimed at boys at least try to include at least one main girl, and that it would be good for G5 of MLP to have at least one strong male lead so that boys could have a role model and know that the show isn't "girly".

Okay, so far, so good, but this I could chalk up to just unconscious internalized misogyny, especially since he didn't say it in any sort of "way". So I respectfully told him that the scale regarding representation is already not equal and that boys can look up to girls and that a show being girly is not a bad thing and all that stuff that you already know about. Then he responded claiming some stuff about how he keeps trying to pitch stories about straight white male characters and how nobody is accepting his offers and so this means that straight white men are underrepresented compared to everyone else. He even explicitly said, and I quote "White people are actually critically underrepresented in media right now. Especially boys."; I swear to the Goddess above.

At this point I was officially upset as a black girl, to hear this white(and presumably adult) man telling me that he was underrepresented in media compared to me, even saying that the media execs are practicing "quotas and tokenization"(and yes, he repeatedly used those terms for any instance of representation, even when I asked him politely to stop.) by replacing women with men or white people with pocs and are making white men look like incompetent doofuses.

He also kept saying stuff about how shows are always shoehorning people of color in where they don't belong by casting them in settings such as Shakespeare and medieval times when "realistically" there were no people of color during those time periods(which is obviously not true, it's just not what the history books show us.), and made a really insensitive comment about how black children in the USA today don't know the significance of having the first black president because the media supposedly already shows them black people in various professions(despite also claiming he couldn't speak to the "black experience" and yet here he is whitesplaining that shit.).

It got to the point where he was seriously and unironically using the word "blackwashing". When I pointed out to him that white men aren't underrepresented and that it's just his self-centered ego telling him that they are, that the word "blackwashing" isn't a thing, and that mis/underrepresentation in media DOES affect black kids negatively(even citing myself as an example) he went on to claim that I was being tone-deaf and that "blackwashing" is just as bad as whitewashing, and that making Ariel black is just as bad as making Jasmine white.

At this point I had to bang my head on the table and explain to him the difference; his ass still wouldn't get it. Eventually he started saying some really skeevy and hypocritical shite that white men say all the time when whining about how "oppressed and underrepresented" they are: that black people and/or women

(it looks like there might be an ask missing here, in which case, sorry if Tubmlr ate it!)

avor of supporting the commonly believed LIE that "women and/or minority groups don't have as much history worth learning about, so there's no point in focusing on them." He also kept using patronizing, condescending, mansplaining language such as "let me explain it to you" or "you still don't get it do you?", and when he said women had nothing to contribute to society because "oppression" he even had the nerve to tack on "welcome to the unequal society" as if I hadn't been lecturing him about just that.

Because obviously only white men did anything worthwhile or important in history. At this point, I had to block him. I couldn't take it anymore and this was on an MLP site of all places(although I'm probably just as guilty of that part, but at least I wasn't an ass!). I just can't stand white men who "want to be oppressed so bad" but still want to claim that their achievements are more important and deserve to be more prominent. Honestly, so many white men are so fragile the second they're not in the spotlight. I can't help but think that despite all the privilege afforded to their class being a white man sounds like the worst thing ever.

“he claimed that it would be beneficial since many shows aimed at boys at least try to include at least one main girl, and that it would be good for G5 of MLP to have at least one strong male lead so that boys could have a role model and know that the show isn't "girly". “

I might be looking too deep into that but I don’t like the idea of, “Well WE squeezed in a girl and therefore YOUR SHOWS--” like it’s some sort of matter of “fairness” or that boys’ shows aren’t putting in girls out of a genuine like for them but because they “need” one or it’s some sort of obligation.

Also, we need to stop this idea that boys can’t look up to female characters and vice versa for girls. You already said it but yeah.

And yeah, I hear "quotas and tokenization" and I officially tune out of whatever the person is saying, lol. White men are critically underrepresented???? Newsflash, maybe it’s just because others are being represented more??

Just the whole thing about whites being “underrepresented” boggles my mind. White people don’t have some sort of special ability or skill that other races can’t do themselves unless you count the “superpower” of white privilege.

Like, oh my god, all that “whitesplaining” and having to read the word “blackwashing” was physically painful. I don’t know whether to laugh or cry. I don’t know how they got hold of the technology to communicate with you from whatever time period their from, presumably the Stone Age.

Don’t even blame you for blocking them. There’s just a level of absolute... blindness? Arrogance??? That comes with the territory with them sometimes, I swear. You had every right to be upset; other races come to ask for equality and fair representation and suddenly you have these white men (not all obviously but damn) coming by and crying that they’re being oPpReSsEd. U_U

Like, honestly, my father in particular is absolutely that kind of person so I’ve heard that kind of stuff before. it’s all gross.

On a slightly unrelated note (trying to end this with some positivity), I hadn’t even heard about a fifth generation of MLP until I read this, and just wanted to let you know that I really hope you have a really good time with it! Hopefully the male character isn’t... well, you know.

[prince-toffee]

TRUE COLOURS

Here we go!

Oh no, there’s no intro. Oh fuck, it’s happening.

Flashback!!!! Marcy!!!!!!!

‘PSAT Prep for the soul’

‘Look at this cool bug I found’ I love Marcy

Oh is this going to focus on Sasha’s and Marcy’s relationship? So far we’ve only explored the dynamic between Sasha and Anne.

Oh my god was that Bill???? Wait I have to go back what was on the cover of the book? ‘Dr P’s Extraordinary Guide To Magic and Mystery’ Oh I sense another book for sale. Is this going to be like their ‘Magic Book of Spells’ from Star vs and ‘Journal 3′ from Gravity Falls? You know I’d buy that in a heart beat.

Dad? ‘Come home. We need to talk?’ Oh no. What’s going on?

Yep, divorce, it’s a bitch.

Destiny.

Marcy Wu and Crew. That’s their official team name, like the Justice League or Avengers. u can’t tell me otherwise.

Oh boy, this isn’t going to end well.

GASP IS- IS IT LEGS????? LEGS????

Aww that would be sweet, if the Plantars could go to Earth with Anne. Oh. Do you guys think that’s season 3? It’s a sort of reversal with them being in a different world.

That fucking tower, what is it? A clock? A... a lighter, or a it has to be like a clock, but like a cosmic clock, or whatever.

Real quick before Andreous appears on screen. He said he and his master want to undo the prophecy, what led Marcy to the Box was destiny, all of this is meant to happen, but what ever they do, they need to stay on Amphibia to do it, because Andreous wants them gone.

Keith David, always a win.

Yep! Knew it!

Andreous on all fours, horrifying.

Yep, told you. ‘Maybe I don’t want to rule a school, maybe I want to rule a kingdom.’ She wants power, more importantly she enjoys power!

Come on Andreous, really that’s all you got?

Marcy and Andreous must know each other well and have a lot of trust in each other, if they can understand a nod from the other. It’s heart braking that he’s a villain too. Everybody’s getting betrayed.

Come on, kick her ass Anne!

Oh no, I see it now, Marcy wants to fix the friendship because she doesn’t want Anne and Sasha split apart because it parallels her parents getting divorced, oh god, poor Marcy. That worries me she’s willing to be hurt and betrayed and walked over for them just to stay together with Sasha.

No.

*sigh of relief* Why didn’t it work?

OH BECAUSE OF ANNE NOT CHARGING THE CRYSTAL FULLY!!!!

YES ANNE KILL KILL KILLL

HEADBUTT!!!!!!!!!!!!! CHAD ANNE!!!!!!!!

I HAVEN’T CLAPPED FOR ANYTHING IN THIS SHOW BEFORE BUT THE TRUE HERO HAS ARRIVED! GENERAL YUNAN

HOW DARE YOU SILENCE HER

I love her face.

ANOTHER GASP Are we going to the basement???? No just outside, okay.

Sal’s!!!! See? It’s all connected. And definitely not filler.

‘They do.’ I love her.

Hop Pop finally living out his dream.

Kick their ass Polly! I want Yunan to become Polly’s mentor.

What’s the present?

‘What’s the matter? You don’t like it?’ Worried Toad DadTM

HOLY SHIT WHAT

‘If it is, then it’s a really good thing we stopped him.’ Oh no, so many ‘oh no’s today

Hold on, back up, I need to see the evil-ass painting again, and analyse it using my English Media skills I learned at school. Uh huh, uh huh, I see, it’s the PowerPuff Girls fighting against Him. IT’S A SPACESHIP!? OF COURSE IT’S A SPACE SHIP! IT’S ALWAYS A SPACESHIP! Yep there’s the moss people being eradicated, the music box somehow powering the castle spaceship. Andreous, or maybe an ancestor of Andreous, his father or grandfather maybe, wielding the box under the Sauron Pinecone. Oh and a lot of dead frogs and or toads, nice. Some flame over Anne too. The spark inside our hearts, I’m sure.

Alright, that was a lot, resume please.

Oh no, we’re not even half way through the episode, that’s not good.

Ah you see! The boy who cried wolf! Anne’s not gonna believe you now!

Oh I love the animation on this fight.

‘My one good eye.’

Yeah, but also no, but yeah, but no... this is a lose-lose situation.

Oh no, still an entire half of the episode to go.

Oh god that face.

What’s gonna happen?

LORE TIME IS EVIL TIME!!!!!!

OH SHIT OH SHIT UHHH A LOT IS HAPPENING RIGHT NOW

IT’S A FUCKING GUN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

IT’S A FUCKING GUN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

THE TOWER IS A FUCKING GUN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

IT’S NOT A CLOCK, IT’S A FUCKING GUN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Best reveal.

...what... she... she knew...

EVERYBODY IS GETTING BETRAYED!!!!!!

‘TRUE COLOURS’ THIS TITLE HAS SO MANY MEANINGS

THAT WAS THE PROPOSITION! FUCK!

THE NOISE I JUST MADE

WHAT IS HAPPENING!!!????

MARCY YOU’RE SOUNDING INSANE!

No.

‘I gave you this.’

Nice flame sword.

No, no, no, I’m crying.

So Anne’s a super saiyan now.

THE ANIMATION

WHAT

WHAT DO YOU MEAN INTO THE PORTAL, WHERE ARE YOU GOING?????!!?!!!!

.   .   .

what

[yiliy]

Trying to figure out Thrawn's age

(It's a long post so if you just want my conclusions read the bullet points)

Timothy Zahn never gives us Thrawn's age specifically, and I think that's on purpose to leave himself enough wiggle room to insert another novel as necessary.

But there are some clues to make a rough guess.

We don't even know if Chiss mature the same as humans do but from the remarks in Chaos Rising it seems to me they do. If not exactly the same, then at least very close.

When Che'ri insist she's not a child

Thalias’s first reflex was to point out that ten years old was well within the definition of childhood.

That sounds very much the way humans would think about a 10-year-old.

When Vurawn is still in school, before he joins the military academy he is referred by Thurfian as a boy.

If the boy lived up to even half of his potential, he would be a worthy addition to the Mitth family.

Anything below 18 would be considered a boy.

When Thrawn is on his way to the Academy for the first time he meets 13-year-old Al’iastov. From her point of view

A full year ahead of the usual schedule, her life was over.

At age thirteen.

“Are you all right?”

Al’iastov stopped short, rubbing away the tears that had kept her from seeing the other person’s approach. A young man in a black uniform stood facing her a few steps away.

And then, to Al’iastov’s surprise, Thrawn got down on one knee in front of her, putting his face a little lower than hers. Grown-ups almost never did that.

She sees him as young, not a boy, but a grown-up. That could still be 18 from a perspective of a 13-year-old.

So it's possible it's not much different than for us, high school roughly from 14-18 depending on the country, and then higher education, in this case a military academy.

It's unlikely Mitth family would get Vurawn much before he would be able to attend an academy as they wanted their family in the newly formed Chiss Expansionary Defense Fleet as soon as possible. He was probably close to graduating school.

How long does Chiss military academy take? At least 4 years:

In nearly four years at Taharim Academy, Senior Cadet Irizi’ar’alani had built up a spotless record.

Since Ziara is a senior cadet it seems she is close to graduating so the academy takes 4-5 years. More likely 4.

So rough guesses:

Student Vurawn was between 14 and 18 when Ba'kif spotted him and Thurfian recruited him as merit adoptive for the Mitth. Probably 17.

Cadet Thrawn was 18-19 when he met 13-year-old Al'iastov on his way to Taharim Academy on Naporar.

Ar'alani is 2-3 years older than Thrawn.

Senior Cadet Thrawn was around 22-23 when he graduated the Taharim Academy.

Those are clues from Memories chapters. As for the rest there's only one big clue:

It had been two decades since Thalias had had to even read a military timetable, let alone follow one.

I don't know if this is rounded number or if it has been exactly two decades, but she was 13 when she last flew a military ship so she's around 33 now. Thrawn is at least 5 years older than her so he's over 38.

Thalias is around 33 when she joins Springhawk as Che-ri's caretaker.

Che'ri is 9 and three quarters.

Senior Captain Thrawn is 38, or slightly older, when they join his Springhawk.

Che'ri is still not 10 when she and Thrawn fly off and meet General Anakin.

At the beginning of Thrawn: Alliances Padme asks Anakin tiredly if Clone Wars will ever end. Anakin muses that it has already taken longer than he expected. Clone Wars lasted 3 years and Anakin was 19-22 during. Episode II - Attack of the Clones takes place 22 BBY.

So when 9-year-old Che'ri and 38-year-old Thrawn meet Anakin he's 20-22.

Thrawn novel when Thrawn meets Eli Vanto officially is listed as taking place "between 13 and 11 BBY - 2 BBY."

Eli is close to graduating from Imperial Academy, so again, a rough guess is that he's about 22 and it seems to take 10 years after Thrawn met Anakin so Thrawn is around 50.

Thrawn: Treason takes place a few weeks following the events of Thrawn: Alliances.

"Exiled" Thrawn is around 50 when he meets 22-year-old Eli Vanto.

Grand Admiral Thrawn is around 60.

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

There, I tried. If you spot any mistakes or have any more insight, please add it to the post.

[stop-breaking-my-heart-telltale]

Top 5 Characters in ANF Who Would’ve Made Better Love Interests Than Kate

There are a lot of mixed opinions on TWDG: A New Frontier. Some people like it, some don’t, and some people hate it so much that they refuse to accept as canon in the series. Extreme? Yeah, but hey, to each their own. 

One thing that always bothers me when I do my replay of the series and this game is how much Kate is forced on us and even kinda punishes us for not romancing her. Like, no offense, but I’m not really interested in dating my sister-in-law, especially when her husband is actually alive, and even if she wasn’t my brother’s wife, she’s still not a character I have chemistry with, y’know? 

And every time I play, I can’t help but think that almost anyone else in ANF would’ve been a better romantic interest for Javi over Kate, so I decided to make that the list for this week. 

I would’ve loved more choices and for the game to actually show Javi’s canon bisexuality outside of a flirty line with Jesus that most players didn’t even pick. Just sayin’.

I do want to note that if you enjoy the romance with Kate and the relationship between her and Javi, that’s totally cool. Just because I don’t like it doesn’t mean you can’t ship them, y’know? I’m not here to try to change your mind or tell you you’re bad for shipping something I don’t because I’m not a dingus. You do what makes you happy, friend. :)

Besides, going off the stats, a majority of players romanced her so if anything, I’m the weirdo. This list is just for fun! 

Before we start, just wanna say a big thank you to @pi-creates​ for helping out with this one! Really appreciate it! Now, here are my top 5 characters who, in my opinion, would’ve made better love interests for Javier than Kate.

5. Jane if the writers didn’t turn her into a dead potato

Oh man, you should see your face right now. 

Wait, wait, stop! Before you click outta here in a huff with your “Kenny good Jane bad” grunts and come yell at me, just hear me out-- this entry is mostly a joke and the other four on this list are serious, okay? 

I needed someone to put at #5 and after talking over some options and going back and forth.... Jane came up as a joke and then kind of made the list. Because really, I thought about it. I was like, “Would I really rather have dingdong “whatever happens stay out of it” potato face Jane as a love interest over Kate? Do I dislike Kate as an option that much?” and Pi and I talked about this for a while and yeah.... yeah I would actually. 

When I said anyone but Kate, I guess I really meant anyone. 

Trust me, I know, I’m just as surprised. I guess this really says a lot about my feelings for Kate. I didn’t know I disliked her this much either.

But for fun, let’s entertain this idea of the writers NOT pulling the ol’ character assassination on Jane and she made it to Richmond with Clementine and AJ because--

Jane: "One time I ate glass because I was drunk and thought it was sugar."

Javier: "I gambled on my own baseball matches and disgraced myself for money."

Jane: “Well, I dragged my little sister around with me after everything went to shit until I finally gave her what she wanted and left her to die.”

Javier: “I wasn’t there when my dad was fighting cancer and when I finally showed up, I was too late and he was already dead, then he turned and I bashed his skull in with a piece of wood.” 

Jane: “I shot a dude’s dick off once.”

Javier: “Oof. I insulted an old lady’s cake and then shot her eye out.”

Jane: “I screwed a guy when I was supposed to be securing a place for some lady to have her baby and it resulted in the death of a teenage girl.”

Javier: “I screwed my brother’s wife.” 

Jane: “...”

Javier: “In my defense, I thought he was dead.” 

Jane: “That’s fair.”

Clementine, exasperated and emo: “Oh my god.” 

....I mean... we might be onto something here, c’mon--

Okay, now onto the more legit entries. 

4. Conrad

Now listen... I know, okay? I know. I know this one can be seen as a bit problematic considering the fact that Conrad, in his grief and anger over Francine’s death, held a gun to Gabe’s head and threatened Javi and Clementine.... plus Javi can literally murder him.

...and if you don’t do anything, Conrad with murder both Gabe and Javi and you’ll get a “YOU ARE DEAD” screen...

But we don’t talk about that because it’s not canon.

I know, but listen... I’m allowed to have ships that are difficult, as are you, and this is my list so... there.

If Conrad was a love interest that’s the route I’d take because I love him and I think a relationship between him and Javi could’ve been so damn good if properly done.

I just find Conrad to be an interesting character with a great arc that you only get to see if you don’t shoot him... which is what most people did, so they missed out. And like, I get it, I get why y’all shot him but maybe next time you play, you could consider not doing that?

So here’s the thing, Javi and Conrad share something-- they both lost loved ones because of shithead Badger. Javi is heartbroken after Mariana’s death, Conrad is devastated after Francine’s death, and they both handle that in different ways. Conrad becomes so focused on revenge and getting into Richmond, that he’s willing to threaten two kids in order to get what he wants but the thing is... that’s not him.

He even says so himself when you keep him alive-- he genuinely apologizes for what happened and will end up coming back to save Javi’s life in ep4. The potential for this to work as a relationship? It’s there... the only problem is that my confidence in the writers handling something like this is low, but let’s pretend they used their time and brains wisely-- ya got yourself a classic slow-burn friends to enemies to friends again to lovers romance and I’m here for it. 

3. Paul “Jesus” Monroe

A lot of people really like the idea of Javi and Jesus and wanted him to be a romantic option, and I don’t blame them. They have chemistry in the scenes they share, and Javi can straight up flirt with him at the end of the season, and it’s super cute... of course, I wish we had more but Telltale was too scared to actually show Javi’s bisexuality outside of that one line, I guess.

But, anyway, this ship has a lot of sweet fanart that we love to see.

The only real reason he isn’t higher on the list is that Jesus is apparently already in a relationship at this point? I guess? From what I’ve been told? Listen, I don’t read the comics, I don’t watch the show, I just go off what y’all tell me. Plus, I believe Kent joked about Jesus having someone in each community during the commentaries so like... that’s a thing?

But let’s pretend that we throw that all out and Jesus is single and ready to be in a committed relationship with our boy Javier here. Like I mentioned above, these characters have a believable chemistry from the moment they meet and I think that has a lot to do with how charming they are by themselves. Those different charms work well together.

I also enjoy how much of a badass Jesus is when it comes to fighting off walkers. Javi has a lot of force that you feel with each hit, while Jesus almost has a lighter but just as impactful hit? I dunno if I’m explaining that well-- basically, Javi strong but Jesus can bounce off walls and do cool shit with weapons that feels effortless.

It’s a combo of fighting styles that I love, so these two fighting together? *chef kiss*

There’s also Jesus’ morality and how he wants to see Javier make “good” decisions, y’know? Sure, he gets pissy if you murder the shit outta Badger, which is mostly just Telltale showing you consequences, but I get it. He sees a lot of potential in Javi, more than Javi himself sees. And unlike certain characters, Jesus doesn’t completely hate you for doing something he doesn’t agree with to a frustrating degree.

If the game gave us the option to pursue Jesus as a love interest, he and Javier would’ve been such a badass couple with a sweet romance.

2. Eleanor

This one might come as a surprise to those of you who know my feelings about Eleanor... as in, I don’t like her. I never forgave her for the shit she pulled in ep4/ep5, and now every time I replay ANF and she shows up? Well, all I really hear is the hissing of a snake.

But, putting those feelings aside and looking at her from a different perspective, I do believe that she would’ve made for a better love interest than Kate assuming that if you romanced her, she wouldn’t rat everyone out to Joan, y’know?

Hell, most people believed that Eleanor was going to be the second option with Kate back when the episodes were coming out, and for good reason. The chemistry is there in the flirting, and their relationship could’ve been super cute.

Of course, Eleanor being a love interest also comes with things becoming awkward with Tripp, but c’mon-- as awkward as pursuing a relationship with your sister-in-law and never telling your brother after finding out he’s alive? Nah, I don’t think so.

Plus, for the first three episodes, Eleanor’s not a bad character. In fact, she’s pretty damn likable, she deeply cares for the group and wants to use her medical skills for good.

And you can tell through the dialogue that she and Javi are fond of one another... well, I guess until they shove the Kate thing in our faces and suddenly Eleanor’s like “oh, I thought you two were a thing??” like... Eleanor, we were flirting and I totally rejected all of Kate’s advances last episode I mean??

If she were a love interest, instead of turning on us, she would... y’know, not do that and instead help us out. We have a couple cute moments like back in ep1 where she’s patching Javi up but this time with a smooch? Super cute.

1. Tripp

Okay but seriously, why wasn’t Tripp a love interest? 

He’s the perfect option. I just-- uuuughhhhh. 

They already have a great believable bromance, so why not take it a step further and make it an official romance? Oh wait, that’s right, ya gotta kill off 95% of your determinant characters, I forgot. Sorry Tripp. 

Well, fuck that. Out of all the other adult characters, Javi has the most chemistry with this man. I believe them more than I believe him and Kate. Sure, they got off to a rocky start the progression of their relationship felt natural with every episode. 

That scene where Tripp is confiding in Javi about his feelings for Eleanor? And in turn, Javi can confide in him about Kate? One of my favorite scenes. I only wish there was an option to tell Tripp he can do much better and set the path for the romance. 

Seriously, I’d probably feel more okay about the romance with Kate if Tripp were the second option. That way, Kate wouldn’t be so forced onto the player, the writers confirming Javi’s bisexuality on Twitter or whatever wouldn’t feel like they were trying to earn points without actually showing representation, and we would’ve gotten the beauty that is Javier and Tripp. 

Also, then Tripp could make it to the end without dying that dumb death of his that no one likes. 

And if I haven’t convinced you yet, then look at these swaps Pi did--

--and tell me they aren’t fucking perfect?? You can’t, because look at them. 

Where’s my Tripp route, Telltale??

---

Honorable Mentions

-If I wasn’t sticking to just ANF characters, Luke probably would’ve made the list because that’s apparently a popular combo and I dig it.  -Pudding... because Javi fucking loves pudding.  -Honestly Max probably would’ve been a better love interest than Kate oof--

---

So, whattya think? Do you agree with this top 5 or nah? Do you have a favorite Javi ship? Let me know, I’d love to hear from you. :D

Next week’s T5F Top 5 Times Lee was the Absolute Best

[theodore-themilkman]

That's Not On The Script

In which you go a little off script.

Ships: JensenxPregnant!Reader

Reader Gender: Female

Reader Age: 25+

WARNINGS: mentions of premarital sex (is that even a warning?), the reader is pregnant, sandwich scenario is heavily based off of an incident that occurred when my cousin was pregnant, character reader plays is named Lora

-There Is No Road So Far So We're Jumping Right In-

"Goddammit Lora!" Jensen, or more Dean, said with obvious frustration is his voice. "I can't read minds! Just tell me what the problem is. You've been acting so different lately, hell if I didn't know any better I'd say you were possessed."

I glared at him fiercely, crossing my arms. "There isn't a problem Dean, you're just looking for things to criticize."

He laughed humorlessly. "If that's the case then I don't have to look very hard. You don't think I've noticed? You avoiding me? Running out of the room when I come in? Is it because you regret it, that night?"

My eyes had gone glossy as he spoke and for a moment I forgot we were only acting. Although it was easy to forget, after all Lora and Dean were in the same situation Jensen and I were in. In the last season, filmed about four months ago, Lora and Dean had hooked up on the show and the sexual tension that had occurred while filming got to the both Jensen and I and we slept together. Only, much like Dean and Lora, Jensen and I refused to bring it up. Except now, in the scene where Lora was supposed to admit that she had fallen in love with Dean except that isn't what came out of my mouth.

"I'm pregnant, okay?" It was quiet, I don't think anyone had expected me to say that. "And you're the father," I added in a whisper.

Jensen stared at me mouth open in shock. "But that night... we used protection." I don't know if he was continuing the scene or if he was speaking as Jensen, either way I continued.

"I know," I choked out, "but it must've torn or something and now -" a sob broke out, "-now there's this baby growing inside me and I can't bring myself to get rid of it."

Jensen stepped forward and wiped the tears rolling down my cheeks, then his hands went to my stomach. As he placed them there I was sure he could feel the small bump that was concealed by the baggy flannel I wore. "And I would never ask you to. We'll get through this, okay? You, me and," he looked to my stomach, "our baby."

"Cut!" Both our heads snapped to look at Robert and the rest of the crew, they all stood there staring at us.

"Wow," Robert told us walking closer to us. "That was unexpected but it works. When did you two discuss changing the scene."

I looked to my shoes. "We didn't."

"Wait you mean..." he trailed off looking between Jensen and I.

"Yeah, I really am pregnant."

-Line Break-

I smiled warmly, placing my hands on my swollen abdomen as I watched the boys answer another question in that funny way that only they could pull off.

"Y/N," I looked to the young blonde girl that had spoken and nodded indicating that she continue. "I was wondering is you could tell us how Jensen reacted when he found out about you know the whole pregnancy thing?"

I laughed, as did Jensen and the rest of the cast. "Well, I assume you've watched the latest episode?" She nodded. "That scene where Lora reveals the pregnancy to Dean is also when I revealed that I was pregnant."

Her mouth fell open. "So that was genuine, no lines or scripts or anything?"

I shook my head. "In the script Lora was supposed to admit that she had fallen for Dean but I kinda broke character and it slipped out."

"The best is that everyone else thought that we'd talked about it before shooting and Y/N had to explain that nope, she's actually pregnant."

"Jared punched Jensen," Misha added.

The blonde looked perplexed. "Why?"

"Y/N is my little sister and best friend or not no one can sleep with my baby sister and face no repercussions," Jared explained.

Misha started laughing remembering what had followed after Jared punched Jensen. The crowd and cast alike stared art him in curiosity. "Y/N's reaction to the punch," he said as if that would explain it. 

J2 both started laughing at the memory and I flushed, embarrassed at what I had done. The fan that had asked the original question glanced between all of us looking intrigued. "What happened?" 

"Do you want to tell them or should I?" Jensen asked me teasingly.

I flushed further and shook my head, unable to speak of the embarrassing moment aloud. "All right, I'll tell them," he laughed. "So I had just been given a good right hook in the face by sasquatch over there then Y/N burst into sobs and stormed off. Misha, Jared and I followed after her (albeit in a bit of pain on my part). We met her at the kitchen and she was making a sandwich but she was still heavily sobbing. Being the oh so clever older brother Jared stepped forward-"

"Something you didn't do," Jared said cutting off his co-star.

"Are you kidding? I'd rather take on a demon than approach a crying hormonal woman. What you do is ward them off with hot bubble baths and chocolate until they calm down and then admit that you're wrong about whatever they're upset about ," Jensen explained as if it were a science he had perfected. "Anyway, Jared stepped forward and the next thing you know there's a moose covered in tuna, mayo and bread in the middle of the kitchen. Y/N is screaming at Jared that he's her least favourite Supernatural character and that she wished his character would be cursed to turn into a moose for the rest of the show. Misha and I just stood there, the rest of the crew must've heard the commotion because they were there too. And after 20 minutes of angry Y/N she turns around and offers to make everyone sandwiches."

"Did you guys have her make the sandwiches?" A fan called out over the laughter.

"Are you kidding? She had just thrown bread and tuna mayo at Jared, we weren't going to risk saying no," Jensen quipped good naturedly. He then proceeded to put an arm around me and rest his hand atop my swollen belly. "No but seriously, despite all the hormonal rage fits and the crying when she couldn't get a scene right I couldn't ask for a better baby mommy. Which is why," he removed his arm from around me and slipped onto one knee, "I'd like to make this official. Y/N L/N, Lora Pierce, Chipmunk, would you do me the honour of becoming my wife."

My hand had gone over my mouth in shock by the end of his proposal and tears blurred my vision as I caught sight of the ring he held in his hand. 

"Y/N?" He asked worriedly after a beat of silence.

"Okie dokie," I squeaked out.

-Bonus-

Misha stood up and pointed at me as if accusing me of something. We all looked at him. "That was part of a Destiel fan fiction!"

Laughter broke out throughout the hall.

-Cue End Music- 

[shinidamachu]

So here’s the thing...

From day one, I knew Hanyou no Yashahime was created to profit off childhood nostalgia. In fact, some people pointed that out quite exhaustively. I have always been aware of it. Still, I gave it a shot (and was super excited to do so). Why? Three reasons: Inuyasha, Kagome and the child born from their love.

I also knew there was a real chance Rin would be the mother of Sesshoumaru’s twins, but I gave Sunrise the benefit of the doubt. Which is why I watched the four episodes on an illegal site, just in case they were playing me.

That’s what kept me going. That, and the certain no matter who the mother was, it would only be revealed at the very end, so I wouldn’t have to worry about it too much and could just enjoy whatever glimpse of Inuyasha, Kagome and Moroha I could get.

And boy, did I enjoy it. Moroha is everything I needed her to be and more. And it was really fun to see this super creative fandom making theories and being so active here every saturday. I had a great time.

Unfortunately, as for this saturday, this wasn’t the case anymore. When I first got the spoilers it was Rin in the tree, I started to mull it over, but decided not to make any judgements until I watched the episode myself, so I could get to my own conclusions.

Here’s where I am at: I have been getting strong vibes from episode four that Rin is, after all, the mother. Granted, the fact that the narrative have been hitting so early and so strongly toward this path can also mean the exact opposite, for the sake of plot twist, since it’s one of the biggets mysteries of the show.

However, there is no actual confirmation at all. So Sunrise waves to Rin being the mother while simultaneously not officially confirming. That way, Sessrin shippers are getting the content they want and the antis still stick around because as long as there is no official confirmation, there is still hope it’s not Rin. We had already called out that would be their game, though: profiting off both sides. I just thought they would drag the issue until the very end instead of straight up writing Sessrin fanfiction.

This is just disappointing, and that’s coming from someone who had very low expectations from this sequel. I’ve seen people complaining about the art style. I’ve seen people complaining about the plot(holes). I’ve seen people complaining about the characterization (me included). None of it was a deal breaker to me, because I’ve never expected too much. All I wanted was for them not to follow the path where one of the main characters had children with someone he meet when she was a child and saw him as an authority figure for the entirety of their relationship. It baffles me that apparently it was too much to ask.

So if this is what Hanyou no Yashahime really is: Sessrin fanfiction, then I’m not the audience for it. And I hate to feel they’re using Moroha and Inukag as baits to keep me watching. I hate to feel like they’re not doing Inuyasha and Kagome any justice. Again: Inukag and Moroha are the reason I ever started this show to begin with, so it’s just not worth it to feel this uncomfortable when I can get the bits that truly interest me through Tumblr posts, gifsets and youtube videos.

I promised myself I would drop it as soon as it stopped sparking joy and today was it for me, so that’s what I’m doing. I might be right, I might be wrong. Maybe by some miracle Rin isn’t the mother in the end of the day. I just really don’t have the energy to stick around until we finally find out, anymore. They were never going to see my money anyway (not that it would make any difference), but my time is far more precious. I don’t want to be invested in this if I’m so certain it will end badly.

And this isn’t about ship wars. In my headcanons, Sesshoumaru was always asexual. Sure, I also saw a lot of potential on his relationship with Kagura and I would have loved if they had gone down this road, too. The truth is: I never cared enough for Sesshoumaru to actively ship him with anyone. But I do care about his character development, which Sessrin would inevitably ruin. And I care about the little girls watching this show, growing up to think this is a healthy kind of romance.

All of that being said: I don’t feel like watching Hanyou no Yashahime anymore.  Sessrin shippers can have it, it was clearly made for them. I can see myself writing Moroha on my future fanfics for sure, but as far as I’m concerned  Hanyou no Yashahime is not canon and nothing anyone say will ever change that.

There’s still probably some Hanyou no Yashahime in my queue. After that, I intend to refrain from reblogging original content from the show. I don’t want to be a part of it, so I’ll probably only reblog fanarts.

For those of you who will still watch the show, good luck and enjoy yourselves. Other than keeping track of my daughter Moroha, I pretend to ignore it completely and that means I won’t be making any negative comments on it, either. This is my issue and I don’t want to rain on anyone’s parade. I will still be very vocal against Sessrin, tho. If that bothers you, feel free to unfollow or block me, it’s the healthy thing to do and I promise: no hard feelings about it.

To be very clear: this post is not me trying to tell people to stop watching something they like. This post is me venting and getting some heavy shit off my chest. I can give the show a second chance later if I change my mind or if the mother is confirmed to be someone else, but right now this is it. Thank you for reading. 

PS.: I won’t be replying to any comments of this post.

[medea10]

My Review of Don’t Toy With Me Miss Nagatoro

How did I get into this anime? I saw a lot of recommendations and ads for this particular series while I was watching Uzaki-chan. Only problem is that this wasn’t in anime form until April 2021 and I was watching Uzaki-chan in late 2020. I’m guessing the manga has a lot of volumes out and ads love targeting me.

Naoto Hachiouji is a timid boy. This will also be the only time outside of the sub and dub talk where I will use this guy’s real name. For the remainder of the review, he will be called “Senpai”. Senpai doesn’t like confrontations or hanging out with anybody. You’ll usually find him in the art room or library working on his drawings. His quiet world is shattered one afternoon when he finds four loud girls sitting in the library. One incident of Senpai dropping his drawings sparks interest in one of the four girls. Hayase Nagatoro has an immediate fascination with her quiet and shy senpai.

Now when I say “fascination”, I mean Nagatoro teases the ever-loving crap out of this boy every chance she gets. It’s usually customary for an underclassman to respect their senpai. But all of that is thrown out the window with this anime. You can say this is just Uzaki-chan in a high school setting and the main heroine doesn’t have a big rack. Also, Nagatoro is just fucking brutal. Senpai was reduced to tears by the end of episode 1 this bullying was that bad! God damn, even Uzaki never went that far with her teasing of Sakurai.

While I’m on the subject of Uzaki-chan, let’s talk about that! You might notice that there’s a lot of similiarities between Uzaki-chan and Miss Nagatoro. You might even think this anime stole from Uzaki-chan! In actuality, Uzaki-chan’s manga came out 3 weeks after Nagatoro. It’s just that Uzaki got the anime adaptation first.

But like I said, it’s an anime about a young lady teasing her senpai. That’s it. That’s the anime.

BETWEEN THE SUB AND THE DUB: This was one of the popular picks for anime fans on Crunchyroll. The sub had many familiar voices. And yet another character Daiki Yamashita plays that’s such a dork. No word on if Crunchyroll has any plans on doing an English dub. Probably not this late in the game! If they decide to do an English dub however, I officially predict Aleks Le to voice Senpai. Here’s what you might recognize these folks for.

*Nagatoro is played by Sumire Uesaka (known for Shalltear on Overlord, Dekomori on Chuunibyo, Aya on Tonikawa, Anastasia on Idolm@ster: Cinderella Girls, and Yoshitake on Genshiken Nidaime)

*Naoto is played by Daiki Yamashita (known for Goh on Pokemon Journeys, Deku on My Hero Academia, Yushirou on Demon Slayer, Joro on Oresuki, Umino on Sailor Moon Crystal, and Shion on UtaPri)

SHIPPING: You think just because Nagatoro finds other boys uninteresting and sticks to picking on her senpai I’m going to automatically support this ship…Think again! I seriously hate the trope of teasing the one you like or hurt the one you love. I especially hate it in real life, but that’s a story for a different day. Yes, I was a little bit on board with Usagi and Sakurai hooking up on Uzaki-chan. But this bitch is just torturous to her senpai. Never once did I ever see Usagi tease Sakurai to the point of tears. Nagatoro does it almost on an episode by episode basis.

Oh look at this, she’s disinterested in other boys and she shows hostile jealousy to her girlfriends who even touch her senpai. Like I’ve never seen that shit before!

Sigh…to tell you the truth, I’m actually warming up to this ship. Not by much because, I don’t forget the torture Nagatoro put that poor boy through in the first few episodes. Uzaki-chan was abrasive, but she never tortured Sakurai to a point of tears. But in my non-annoyance mode, I recognize that Nagatoro has the good sense to turn down every pretty-boy that comes her way and applaud her for sticking to senpai. And the torturous teasing eased up midway through. But I’m not a very forgiving person when it comes to bullying so I’m still not too satisfied about those two hooking up.

THE CONTROVERSY AROUND MISS NAGATORO: Just like Uzaki-chan, Nagatoro has gotten her own bout of controversy. The good news is that Nagatoro isn’t as “well endowed” as Uzaki-chan is in the chest department. We all know what’s going to be discussed. This has to do with the first couple of episodes with Nagatoro tormenting her sensei to the point of tears. Yeah, I’m on the boat with this one. As someone who was bullied as a child, yeah I was just sitting there talking to myself and saying, “Why the fuck am I even watching this? I know I’m a sick, sadistic fuck, but I should have limits. How is this not giving me PTSD?”

But then the whiny shits of Twitter found fault with a subtitle. Not sure if this was the real translation or Crunchyroll’s doing. Something tells me it’s the latter. I’m not hip to anything recent anymore, but what the hell is wrong with the term “sus”? I just thought it was lazy people shortening the word suspicious. Then again, we’re living in a modern world where everything is offensive to everyone.

ENDING: Hmm…what event are they going to end the season on, sports festival, cultural festival, or Christmas? Cultural festival! Okay, then. As we all know, Senpai is usually seen hanging around the art room. But he’s actually the president and quite possibly the only participating member as all the upperclassmen are focusing on their studies this quarter.

So imagine Senpai’s fear when the former art club president comes in with a disbandment form and a fierce tongue-lashing. She’s very disgusted to hear of the art room being used as a hangout for snotty underclassmen. Nagatoro did a very admirable thing and stood up for Senpai by telling her of all the hard work he does with his art work. So the art president is willing to reconsider the disbandment if Senpai proves himself at the upcoming cultural festival. Senpai has to compete against the art president with their art work. And she’s quite the formidable foe. Her self portrait the previous year was something else.

Wow. Um, I need a minute to just let this soak in.

Can I…Can I get a Craig and Smokey moment for this self-portrait?

Thank you.

Senpai was very worried as his work is nowhere on the level the art president is on. Hell, I’m not on that level and I’m in my mid-thirties with a BFA. He wasn’t sketching like he normally does and Nagatoro sees it. This is really intimidating him. He thought for a second he could get away with doing a still-life painting. Even the president pointed out that it won’t work and that his painting lacked any kind of love. She in the meantime is doing another self-portrait. Great, another one to show off that 36-24-36 figure! Nagatoro came to check on Senpai and jumped to the wrong conclusion with seeing Senpai and his senpai who is only wearing a bathrobe covering her body.

Nagatoro was angry that she thought Senpai decided to use the president as a model and not her. And in a chase scene that ended with a splash in the pool, Senpai wanted Nagatoro to be his model and even said she was cute. Oh, this’ll go over well with the ones who hate this ship. So the festival days have begun and we saw Senpai’s work on display. He decided to do several paintings of Nagatoro, just being her own natural self. Meanwhile, Art Student President did another self portrait…

Are we sure Senpai doesn’t have a booty shrine of his senpai? Because that would totally make sense!

Unfortunately for Art Student President, her painting was deemed dirty to show in the public. I was actually very shocked to see a high school student doing a nude naked self portrait. In my experience, I wasn’t able to do that until a ways into my college years and by then I was in my 20s not giving a fuck to be honest. Que sera sera, I suppose! She ends up being scolded by the student body for her lewd painting. And surprisingly, Nagatoro, her friends, and Senpai all came to the art student president’s defense. Yeah, she was a bitch to them and threatened disbandment because it seemed like there was more merrymaking than art-making. But they stood up to her regardless. In the end, she decided not to disband the art club and commended Senpai on a job well-done.

And we close with what we all thought was going to be another cock-tease with Nagatoro. Because after 12 episodes, it is what we’ve grown to accept! But instead, we got a Nagatoro and Senpai kiss. Cheek kiss, but hey who’s complaining?!

Okay, boy…I actually grew to like this. I didn’t think it was possible after the first 2 episodes left a bad taste in my mouth. Just watching Nagatoro tease Senpai to the point of tears was enough to launch mine and possibly every other bullied viewer’s PTSD up. But I noticed a change in both characters as the episodes went on. Senpai wasn’t a sniveling crybaby throughout the entire series and he kinda nutted-up here and there. But he really can’t win when he’s with Nagatoro and her posse. And Nagatoro’s teasing wasn’t as hurtful in the later episodes…though I was still wary about all of this. I’ll give Nagatoro some credit once more about her not wanting to get involved with any other boy than Senpai. And I’m not talking about getting romantically involved, I mean Nagatoro flat-out ignored any other boys existence.

I’m gonna give the go-ahead and recommend this with a cautionary tale to those who might have bullying PTSD. Beware of the first couple of episodes.

If you would like to give Don’t Toy With Me Miss Nagatoro a chance, Crunchyroll has all 12 episodes available for streaming.

[yessoupy]

the @imetyouonljpodcast episode this week gave me lots of thoughts and feelings about star wars. more like, reminded me of all my thoughts and feelings around my first fandom. thus, I decided to write my own journey into and throughout star wars fandom, and what it means to me. buckle up, this story spans decades.

my very first memory of anything star wars-related is a yoda puppet that my grandmother had. it had to be from the original run of the movies, because I was maybe 4 in my first memory of it, and i was born in '86. my sisters and I loved it, and one of our cousins was deathly scared of it so we'd chase him around the house with it.

my second memory of star wars was going to the movie store with my dad and sisters and seeing our favorite yoda on the cover of a VHS. "yoda yoda yoda! daddy, it's yoda!!! can we get it?" we were holding up the display cover for return of the jedi. dad said no, we couldn't get that one yet because we had to watch them in order. so we rented a new hope and all I remember was falling asleep while artoo and threepio were trundling across the tatooine desert sands. at five I guess I was too young.

in early 1997 the special editions of the original trilogy were aired in theaters and I was in 4th grade. dad took us to see one of them (I think empire, at some point we'd finally finished a new hope). at school that grading period I sat next to a boy named mark and he noticed I was drawing little x-wing silhouettes on my paper. "you like star wars too?" he asked. when I said yes, he declared that because of my name, he was going to call me skywalker. that's the name on the back of my high school letter jacket.

in fall of 1998 I started the 6th grade and I came home from school one day to a hardbound book my mom had checked out for me from the library. heir to the empire by timothy zahn. mom pointed out where it said on the cover it was a trilogy, and I could get the other books when I finished this one. she hadn't found the young jedi knights series for me. she'd checked out a GROWN-UP star wars book.

in spring of 1999 the phantom menace came out and my parents' friend took me to see it on opening day because neither of them were free and I HAD to go that day. later on that year she took me to a star wars exhibit at the museum of fine arts. that was also the first time I saw a monet and a renoir. the exhibit had costumes (real costumes!!!) from the original trilogy and the newest prequel. I bought a book about the myth of star wars in the museum gift shop.

I read every expanded universe book our local library had, which was a lot. I had a lot to catch up on, too, since heir to the empire had been published in 1992. you never saw me at school without a star wars book. I read while walking in the hallways, even. in 6th grade I read during lunch, since I was in varsity orchestra with 7th and 8th graders and was terribly shy. they'd tell me I should socialize at lunch, not read my books, but... I wanted to read. I had a lot to learn. I have a lot to know.

I was in 7th grade when I read vector prime, the first in the new series. my first class of the day was science, and the boy I had a crush on was in that class. we had DEAR time at the beginning of that class - drop everything and read. not a hardship for me. that day, I read the part of the book where chewbacca was killed. I looked up, astonished. heartbroken. I locked eyes with the boy I liked. he nodded at the book and I showed him the cover. he nodded sympathetically. "they killed chewie," I whispered. he said "I know."

I wrote original characters in star wars fan fiction when I was about 13. I had an internet friend named rachel who lived in brisbane. then there was dave and 'roswell' who gave me ideas for my story. I loved being able to talk about the wide world of star wars with other people. we used aol instant messenger and email. my username in those days had 'skywalker' in it. I am pretty sure we met in an aol chatroom. I didn't find much of use on the official star wars site and I have probably visited it fewer than 10 times since 1999.

I read those books all through middle and high school. they were my christmas presents and my birthday presents. I moved into our family beach house after college. it sounds really nice but I didn't have running water because it was the summer after Ike hit. I would go to the used book store on 23rd street and buy a stack of star wars books and read them while I waiting for calls to interview for a teaching position. weekends I'd go into town to stay at a friend's house and help her with wedding stuff. I'd shower there, too. that's where my new stash of star wars books started, with me catching up on the legacy of the force series I hadn't read in college and then finishing up through the fate of the jedi as those came out. I felt that I had grown up with these characters. I remembered when kyp was just an orphan han rescued, when jacen and jaina were five years old, when corran horn had no wife, no kids, and was just finding out who his family was. I had capital o opinions about what color lightsaber i would have and why (silver; bc corran), I knew the geography of the galaxy and where everyone was from and my favorite planet was dathomir because women ruled it. I knew all of these characters' histories and motivations and the difficult decisions they'd made and had to live with. I loved them.

i never ventured into the online fandom space for star wars, even after I'd found other online fandom spaces, because I didn't feel like there was anything anyone could add to it for me. I was satisfied with all I'd gotten. sure, favorite characters had been killed (after chewie, the one who stung most was Mara, luke's wife), but people die. and in such a long-running series spanning so many years and trillions of miles of space... you come to expect it.

people would ask me ALL THE TIME when the sequels were coming out and I said never. then, disney bought star wars. initially I was excited (tears of joy happy) to have sequels confirmed. my mind raced, imagining a trilogy centered on the events surrounding jacen's descent to the dark side. the original actors would be the right age for that. who could play jacen?

then, the announcement came that the canon was now 'legends' and they wouldn't be taking any of it into account when writing the sequels BUT that didn't mean we wouldn't see old canon favorites. they announced adam driver as the villain and I thought "jacen." I held onto the idea that this knowledge I had, these years of knowing these stories, would still be worth something. that I'd be able to add new information to my mental bookshelves and maps. that my universe would expand further.

the force awakens was a bitter disappointment. I was upset from the crawl, leia's title making it clear to me that she wasn't chief of state, she wasn't the mother to three children, han wasn't her husband, and all of her history I'd grown to love really was gone. what I saw was the older version of a woman I'd met when she was 18 and hadn't seen her since her early twenties. I didn't know her.

I didn't know the galaxy, either. starting with the new jedi order series, a map of the galaxy was included in the front of each book with the planets named so you knew where everything was happening. the new galaxy was bare. it was small and knowable. while the hosnian prime system was destroyed in the movie, I'd never known it, and all the planets I DID know were similarly blasted out of memory. where was dathomir and its fierce warrior witches? if their planets were gone so were their people.

as the movie trudged on, a retelling of a new hope, I kept thinking, "at least let his name be jacen." I hung my hopes on this sith character being han and leia's son and sharing that name of the boy I'd known and the man who'd grown up to turn to the dark side. at that first shout of 'BEN!' I was angry. Ben?? that was the name of LUKE'S son! that was MARA'S child! Ben??? with three letters jacen solo and ben skywalker were also dead to the galaxy.

I know, I know. I should get over it. I AM thankful for poe dameron. the x-wing books were always my favorite. poe was familiar to me the way other new characters weren't. he was part of the new republic navy. I knew what that was. he flew an x-wing. I knew what that was.l and what company manufactured them. he was from yavin IV, I knew where that was and what it looked like. finn was a stormtrooper, yes, but the empire had not stolen children to be raised as stormtroopers. they were recruited like any other position. his story wasn't real to me, it wasn't something I could easily accept. and the idea that the new republic just LET the first order rise? leia's new republic would NEVER. but leia wasn't chief of state in this universe. leia hadn't had that power.

I read a lot of articles about the force awakens and the reactions to it, and never saw myself in any of them. the star wars fanboys whom I'd never known were painted as being angry because their fan knowledge was useless and "boo-hoo poor widdle fanboys" they would be mocked, rightfully. but that's why I was angry, ultimately. everyone I knew and loved was dead. worse, they'd never existed. "what do you think will happen?" some unsuspecting coworker would ask. I'd shrug, but inside I was yelling "who the fuck knows! my favorite characters don't exist anymore. nothing I know as this person you know as SKYWALKER means anything anymore."

it only got worse from there. One day I spent four hours figuring out how far the casino planet was from the drifting ships in the last jedi and doing math to figure out how long it would REALLY take to get there, using old canon star wars physics. I couldn't suspend my disbelief during that movie. everything was wrong. (the other space physics quibble I had was from TFA when poe is using comms while in hyperspace, and dropping out on a command and not... when nav told him to?? you'd fly right through a star!! were they HOVERING in hyperspace? none of it made sense.) I knew too much and too little to enjoy it.

TROS was a narrative mess already retconning new canon and I decided that I would only keep what I liked about the new canon (poe and his family) and pretend the old canon is all there is. one day I'll write the story of poe being part of the storied rogue squadron being sent by leia's new republic to put down the fascist upstarts at the edge of the unknown regions. one day.

one more quick story -- i met my college friend’s three kids for the first time when the oldest was 6. i’d sent a toy lightsaber as a gift when he was born, because i believe every child should get their first lightsaber from a skywalker, and his father had shown him the movies when he turned 4. when i walked into the house i said hello and he said, “i have some questions about star wars.”

we sat on the couch with the tfa visual dictionary, a book he’d gotten out of the library. every question he had was an excellent question, and i couldn’t answer any of them. “why does his lightsaber look like that? and why does he have the extra blades?” 

“well, kiddo, let’s see what it says here about how lightsabers are made. i used to know all about it, but they changed everything on me.”

---

what i love about star wars since disney bought it:

poe dameron, cassian andor (and all of rogue one, i got over the fact that the movie wouldn’t be about rogue squadron it was PERFECT), solo (a fucking DELIGHT), the mandalorian, and i’m sure the cassian andor live action will be amazing and i’ll love it. 

[hippychick006]

12.06 - Celebrating the life of Asa Fox Episode Review/Recap

Honestly, I see a picture like this on a promo and I have no hesitation diving straight in. Okay, you all know I have a hurt!Sam fetish, complete with writhing on the floor padabooty, let’s not bang on about it.

Official episode summary: THREE WINCHESTERS ARE BETTER THAN ONE – When hunters gather together to celebrate the life and tragic death of one of their own, Sam (Jared Padalecki) Dean (Jensen Ackles) and Mary (guest star Samantha Smith) must take action when a demon starts picking off hunters one by one. John Bedham directed the episode written by Steven Yockey  

My optimum number of Winchesters is two but yeah, I don’t mind a buy two get one extra free here and there.

Overall, I do really enjoy this episode, even after rewatch but putting under a cut to save space.

There’s a lot of things I don’t like about the Dabb era, and in terms of this episode, retconning Mary to be a hunter after parenthood is one of those things that niggles a little (I know she was a hunter before parenthood which also irks for different reasons) so there’s a lot I have to shake off from my mind in order to be able to enjoy an episode. And on rewatch, I had less issues than I did the first time (but given I’m coming at this straight from season 15, it could be a case of me just grasping onto absolutely anything that isn’t terrible).

Aside from the Mary thing, I love so much about this episode, not least because there isn’t a single mention of feathers who I am seriously going to struggle watching in any episode going forward thanks to 15.18 debacle.

Anyway moving swifly on…

First up is the intro and I love the introduction of Asa Fox as a character. We first meet him as a child, who Mary saves from a werewolf attack. And then we see him become interested in hunting (as Mary tells him she’s soon going to retire, and he’s worried that if she does: who’s gonna save people like me?)

Asa decides it’s going to be him and through a montage set to Bachman-Turner Overdrive’s Roll On Down The Highway, we see Asa grow up to become a pretty awesome hunter. Throughout all this time, he writes postcards to Mary, but doesn’t send them (no address) so he has quite a collection by the end and I think it’s all his hunts.

I’m so caught up in how awesome Asa is and how much I like this new character, I’m completely jarred when he comes to a sudden and unexpected end via hanging which also brings the music to an abrubt halt.

Great intro, Asa said very few words but I’m already mourning not getting to know him more.

After the opening titles, we switch to Jody who is chilling out at home about to watch Netflix when there’s a knock at the door.  Turns out it’s Sam and Dean who have just finished up a hunt and stopped by to visit. Unfortunately the cardboard cutout “just add water” instant girl hunters are at a concert. Jody offers to feed them, and Dean lets her know that he killed Hitler since the last time they saw her.

Sam: *huffs and walks away Jody: *blank stare “thank you?” Dean: You’re welcome

Love it.

They have pizza and watch Netflix and have a debate about rom coms. Sam says Dean is more of “an animated Japanese erotica chick.”

A little oversharing on your brother’s habits there Sammy, but Sam is not concerned in the least.  In fact, I love how totally relaxed Sam is sitting here. He’s clearly comfortable at Jody’s slumped on her sofa.

The phone rings and Jody goes to answer it, Sam and Dean have a conversation about Sam oversharing which Dean’s uncomfortable with.

Sam: Dude, be proud of your hobbies. It makes you who you are.

Supportive Sam encouraging his brother!

Jody returns and walks past them, she’s clearly upset. The boys follow to watch her start packing.  They ask what’s wrong and Jody says a friend of hers died – it’s poor Asa from the opener and I wasn’t expecting a link from Jody to Asa.  

The name is familiar to Dean and he’s trying to figure it out when Sam says it’s the guy Ellen used to tell stories about at the Roadhouse.  Asa apparently killed five wendigos in a single night and now I’m even more mourning his loss. Seems Jody met Asa when he came to town on a hunt, she caught him out when he tried to pretend to be an FBI agent by the name, Fox Mulder. He’s worse than the Winchesters!  Anyway she helped him out on a ghoul hunt and they kept in touch.The boys decide to go with her to the wake, John didn’t let them go to hunter gatherings outside of bars as he always said they were trouble.

Turns out Asa lived in Manitoba, Dean says “oh Canada” when he gets out of the car on arrival.  Sam is impressed with the house which yes, nice digs for a hunter.

We meet Asa’s mother, Lorraine and she knew her son was a hunter. She’s heavily in to the drink but she’s just lost her son, so I’m cutting her some slack as I can’t imagine anything worse.

Dean finds his way to the kitchen (and the beer) which has no label. He’s concerned but “Bucky” homebrewed it himself and it’s strong.  Dean introduces himself which gets the attention of the several hunters in the room,

Randy: No freakin’ way. Aren’t you dead? Like, four times? Dean: Yeah. It, uh, didn't take.

Just wait till they hear about Mystery Spot where he died over a hundred times in a single day!

Sam fanboy hunter: Wait. Your brother here? Sam? Dean: Yeah, he's still alive, too. He's –

Fanboy doesn’t even wait for Dean to finish, he’s off to find Sam.  Same fanboy (named Elvis), same tbh

While Dean’s making friend’s in the kitchen – and learning not to say the name ‘Wendigo’ which turns out to be a trigger word to take a drink - Sam’s homed in on hotboy Max and his equally hot sister Alicia.  Turns out their mother is a good witch who taught Alicia how to hunt bad witches.

Sam (to Max): What did she teach you? Max: Uh, mostly how to seduce men. Alicia: She also taught him some magic, which is actually more useful. Max: Eh, mostly the men thing.

Max is definitely getting his flirt on, making sure Sam knows he’s into hot men, and we cannot deny, Sam is a hot man. Before Sam can flirt back, Elvis interrupts and introduces himself and then makes Sam feel awkward when he asks Sam about being possessed by the devil. Bad Elvis!

Max (and Alicia) are both pissed on Sam’s behalf,

Alicia: Dude, you don't just ask someone about something that messed up. Max: Seriously, back off.

Protective!Max alert, I’m going to need a few minutes with my new ship Samax, though to be honest, the way Max and Alicia are sitting together, it might need to be Samaxia, which no issue other than it sounds like a drug that gets advertised on television with all kinds of side effect warnings, like may cause death...)

Elvis makes Sam feel so awkward that he runs off to go find a beer. Elvis then tries to talk to Max and Alicia and they outright just tell him to go away. Love them.

Aww, Sam got his beer and then went off to find his big brother. In fairness, I think they’ve been separated five minutes at this point and in that time Sam was accosted by Elvis. Dean’s looking through Asa’s office and discovers he has a real angel blade. Sam asks if Dean knew people tell stories about them.

Dean: Yeah. Apparently, we’re a little bit legendary. Sam: Yeah, but, I mean, so was Asa. Then a hunt went bad, and he ended up hanging from a tree, alone in the woods. Dean: He died on the job. No better way to go. Sam: You really believe that? Dean: Yeah. What, you don’t? I mean, come on, Sam, it's not like we're in the “live till you're 90, die in your sleep” business. This? [Dean points at Asa’s hunting wall] This only ends one way.

It’s difficult watching this knowing the ultimate end as I know Sam’s never agreed with this, being the one to want to see an end to hunting at some point; but you can’t deny Dean has been consistent in how he thinks he’s going to go out and has always seemed at peace with that.

Sam says they should get back and Dean agrees but warns Sam not to say “wendigo” to anyone. I love that he warns Sam. Every time Dean is a good brother, it just reminds me how much of a bad sister I am as I would not have passed on the warning. Sam’s confused about why he can’t say it but seems to just accept it.

Only a few people are around by the end of the night, still telling stories of Asa’s epic hunts - mainly Bucky. Why show, why give us this amazing man and kill him off in the first five minutes?!.

Anyway, turns out that the “ghoul story” from earlier had more to it. Asa and Jody got together for some “sweet sweet time alone”. Jody plays it down, says it was more of a casual thing. Turns out Asa could beat Dean in the ladies game and I think even Alicia and Max mother was one of his conquests (we saw this in the opening montage as well, Asa kissing a different woman in his car in between hunts).

Randy asks if people want a beer and heads to the kitchen, and I fear Randy is not long for this world as he walks down the hallway alone. We stay on him as he returns and my anxiety is kicking in, even with expecting something, it’s sudden when his throat is slit and he’s dragged off down a side corridor by someone wearing black.

Alicia walks back into the living room carrying two beers – and we’re reminded she’s dressed all in black?!  Alicia? Surely not.

We see someone enter the door and only see their boots as they walk, they stop just outside the living rom where everyone is talking. Loraine hears the footsteps stop and tells the stranger to come in and not hover.

Turns out it’s Mary.  Awkward Winchester family reunion, given I think from memory Mary walked out an episode or so ago.

Sam, Dean, Jody and Mary go somewhere more quiet to talk.

Mary: What are you doing here? Dean: What are you doing here?

I love the reversed dynamic of Sam being go between Dean and Mary (where it was the reverse between Sam and John).  Sam introduces Mary to Jody as their mother.

Jody: I thought– I thought you were... Mary: I was. Jody: [quietly] Wow. Wow! [She hugs Mary excitedly] It is so nice to meet you!

She belatedly sees the awkward tension and ships out to give them “some family time”

Dean asks where Mary’s been and she responds she’s been using John’s journal to work through a few things.

Dean: You could’ve just asked us, you know. Sam: Dean, come on. Dean: She could’ve. Mary: It’s okay. He’s right. But… This is something I needed to do alone. I… Listen, most of the people I knew are dead. And then I remembered Asa. He was so young when I met him, I thought he must still be around. And then… I saw an article about his death, and, uh… Dean: So you’ll text us once a week, maybe, but you’ll drive all the way to Canada to see some dead guy? Well, that’s awesome. I’m gonna get some air. Mary: Dean, wait...

Mary tries to go after Dean but Sam stops her. Sam knows his brother.

Jody on the other hand stops Dean at the door and pretty much says she’s here if Dean wants to talk about anything other than killing Hitler (which Dean spent the five hour drive telling her in excruciating detail.). She talks about giving anything to have her dead husband and son back but at the same time she would be worried it wouldn’t be the same which gives Dean some food for thought in regard to his complicated relationship with Mary.

Mary’s in the kitchen getting a beer, Lorraine introduces herself as Asa’s mother. Mary introduces herself as Mary Winchester, which Lorraine can’t believe as Mary should be her age. Mary: It’s a long story. She says she’s sorry. Lorraine says she should be, Mary’s the reason her son didn’t become an astronaut. She’s very bitter and hands Mary the box with the postcards Asa wrote to her. Mary defends herself and says she saved Asa’s life.

Lorraine: [scoffing] What am I supposed to say to that? After you, Asa got so… Hunting was his whole life. He never married. Never had a family, kids. And now… enjoy the wake.

I love this next scene between Sam and Mary. Sam finds Mary and asks if she’s all right. She thrusts the box of postcards at him and says she’s fine. She goes into Asa’s office and tells Sam she saved Asa when he was a kid, and this is all on her.

Sam: Well, no. Obviously, mom, he made his own decisions. And he helped a lot of people, you know?

Sam and free will and then we have Season 15 debacle. Pfff

Mary tells him that everywhere she goes and everything she does just feels wrong, but she’ll get used to it.Sam tells her he understands, she just needs space and so does Dean, (who we see outside drinking from his flask), He says Dean is just scared they are going to lose her again,

Sam: “that – that because we're (Sam and Dean) hunters, you're gonna walk away. But I know that’s not true. Even looking at these… [Sam holds out the box of Asa’s postcards to Mary] I mean, you saved Asa in 1980, um, after Dean was born. After everyone thought you quit hunting. Seems like you couldn’t stop then, and… I’m guessing you can’t stop now, either. This job, this life, is crazy and insane. But it’s in our blood. Come on. [Sam puts his arm around Mary] Mary: Where we going? Sam: To say goodbye to Asa.

I love that Sam understands more than anyone the desire to have normal/safe, pulling against the need to save people/hunt things so I love this scene between him and Mary and I like Mary a little bit more because of it. Damn you Jared! You even got me to like Claire once!  

They go to say goodbye to Asa and I like when Mary undoes the cover over his face and we get blood dripping onto Asa’s forehead. It’s interesting to have both Sam and Mary in this scene in a callback to Sam’s nursery scene.  They both look up and it’s Randy, tied to the rafters, dead and bleeding from his neck wound.

Back in the living room, Bucky is still telling stories about Asa. Sam and Mary rush in and Sam tells everyone they need to leave because Randy is dead. I like this, it’s like a murder mystery now. All of a sudden, water is shut off (this is new canon?), and the twins can smell Sulphur. Lights are flickering. Demon alert!

Bucky tells them it’s Jael, a crossroads demon who hangs people, which is his thing, snaps necks (Asa), slits throats (Randy). Turns out Asa exorcised the demon but now it’s back. Bucky tries to open the door, Elvis helps but it slams shut.

Max (trying to impress Sam): you’re wasting your time [he waves a hand in front of the door and we see red symbols] Max says the entire house has been warded.

Not sure if that impressed Sam or not but Max had me at “Seriously, back off” and now this?  *Fans self

Anyway, it means they are trapped inside.

Back outside with Dean, he’s still drinking from his flask. He hears footsteps and doesn’t bother turning around, just tells the person to “go away”. I think he thinks it’s Mary, but turns out to be Billy saying “you’re not the boss of me.”

Dean: Billie. What’re you doing here? Billie: My job. [Dean chuckles] Well, I’m not dead yet. Billie: Shame. But actually, I just finished inside. I was reaping a fresh soul.

Wait, what?  But Dean’s brother is in there! Dean’s pissed and marches to the door.

Inside, Bucky is telling the group more about the demon Jael. Asa exorcised the demon but not before it killed a first nations girl by tying a noose around her neck.

Outside Dean is rattling and banging on the door

Dean: Sam. Sammy! Hey! Billie: You can huff and puff, but that house is on supernatural lockdown. They can’t even hear you.

Bucky is still expositioning and Dean is still trying to get past that old Winchester nemesis “the door”, even throwing a solid statue at it, but nothing is happening.

Okay, we’ve now reached the only part of this episode I have an issue with. We’ve got a group of hunters standing around wondering who the demon is amongst them and not one of them can remember the tests for a demon. Sam come on!  You knew Christo in season 1 and you performed a reverse exorcism in season 8.

Anyway Elvis accuses Alicia of not being in the room and Max says Dean wasn’t in the room either (uh Max buddy, accusing Sam’s brother isn’t going to win you any points in the whole wooing thing, just fyi - of course wooing Sam in the first place is pretty dangerous terratory)

Finally Alicia remembers about holy water but they are all out. Elvis says they can just make more but Mary reminds them the water is off. Uh? The toilet bowl?

Dean’s stopped attacking the door and turns to Billie and asks, What did you do?  Billy says it wasn’t her, she’s just cleaning up the mess but “it’s always nice to see a Winchester who can’t get what he wants.”

Dean: You think this is funny? Huh? Hunters are dying in there. Billie: Everyone dies.

Dean is pretty much losing his shit and I’d like to remind people that at this point, he doesn’t know which hunter has died.

Back with the group, Sam finally remembers his brother is outside so all focus is on Alicia who starts coughing. I think she’s faking it to screw with her brother (totally what I would do) but no,

Alicia/Jael: Alicia’s not here right now. [Her eyes glow red] Leave a message. [she punches Max] Oh, you’re a fun group. We’re gonna have a good time tonight.

Jael leaves Alicia in a cloud of demon smoke and flies into the fireplace. Sam and Max get Alicia up (Samaxia forever – warning for side effects which may include internal bleeding and even death)

They now need to figure who in the house Jael has jumped into. Jody gives the orders (I’ll forgive this, she’s a cop) and they pair off to search the house (why not sweep room to room?), Anyway, Sam’s with Mary and Jody’s with Bucky.

Dean’s worked out that Billy got in to reap the soul so if she can get in, she can get Dean in.

Billie: I could, I suppose. But– Dean: Do it! Billie: But it’s a one-way ticket. And you’re gonna owe me one.

Billie, Sammy is in there, do you think Dean cares about “cosmic consequences” at a time like this? There is a door between them right now ffs!  Sammy may even be dead and Dean does not want him decomposing before he can find a crossroads to make a deal!

Elvis who was supposed to be partnering with Lorraine, left her briefly to get her a double (vodka I presume?).  Anyway Dean comes flying through the door like the overly dramatic bitch he is whenever Sam is in danger.

Dean (whipping out demon knife): Where’s my brother? [he’s already marching past them btw to go look]

THIS IS MY SHOW!  What moron thought this show was going to end with DeanCas?  Come on, don’t be shy, show yourselves so we can point and laugh because you are going to have an epic tantrum approximately 3 and a half years from this episode which could have been prevented if you’d watched the damn show, instead of wallpaper. By the way, in this episode, Castiel was played by the statue Dean threw at the door. [It represents the violent nature of the Destiel relationship – I have a 500 page meta on this if anyone is interested].

Lorraine accuses Dean of being the demon.

Dean: Demon? Lorraine: Kill him! Dean: Whoa, whoa, whoa. Easy, lady. Look, I’m not a demon, okay? I’m one of the good guys. Now stick with me, do what I say, and everybody’ll get out of here, okay? Everybody!

Elvis – making far too much use of his screentime matches Dean’s dramatics by pulling out his own knife and saying ominiously “well, not everybody” [complete with red flashing eyes].

In this episode, Dean is allowed to be a proper hunter and is able to fight.  He taunts the demon, “You’re kinda slow for a demon, aren’t you?” which, he seriously is, no idea how this demon got my wonderful favourite side character “Asa” killed (if he’s not in the final watching Kansas play at the Road House along with all my other favourites, I will be pissed and have a full week meltdown on Twitter – just fyi) [*I won’t really because I’m not insane. Please don’t report me.]

Dean tells the demon to go to hell. The demon tells Dean that Hell is a “complete train wreck” (uh, no, what is a “complete train wreck” is most of season 12-15) Hell is much more pleasant.  Dean repeats for the demon to go to hell and starts reciting an exorcism (finally, the smart brother is in the room).  Love hearing Dean recite the exorcism. Demon says nuh uh though and snaps Elvis’ neck complete 180 which causes Lorraine to scream, the black smoke escapes from Elvis still standing body. Elvis collapses on the floor and Lorraine is wailing. And I can say “Elvis has left the bulding” which I’ve been waiting the entire episode to be able to say. I’m marginally disappointed Dean didn’t.

Dean helps Lorraine up while shouting “Sammeh!” which brings Sammeh running to the living room. 

Mary: Dean. We thought you were outside. Dean: Yeah, I got back in. Sam: How? Dean: It was a one-time deal. Won’t happen again.

Thankfully, there’s no time for Sam to initiate the Spanish inquisition on THAT right now. They account for everyone – except Elvis obviously. The lights go out and everyone puts flashlights on (Max and Alicia have the phone torch on – me as a hunter!) but Dean pulls out the knife which Alicia and Max look at.  

Alicia: Mm, impressive. Dean: Demon blade. Kills ‘em dead. Max and Alicia in unison: Nice.

While I try to work out a Sam/Max/Alicia/Dean ship name, Bucky suggests lighting candles, Dean says they need a devil’s trap. Sam says “on it” and Dean is right there with him “yep”.  My boys working in sync!

Dean’s plan is for them all to stand in the devil’s trap. The person who won’t get in, is the demon. Clever plan. Mary is impressed and it’s nice for her to see how well one of her sons turned out as a hunter and the other is a cute dumbass – at least Sam had a flashlight.

Mary goes off on her own for some reason and goes to get the angel killing blade from Asa’s office.

Max tries flirting with Sam again, asking what kind of pentagram they are doing

Sam: Standard pentagram. Nothing fancy. Max: I like a Fifth Pentacle of Mars. It’s got more character.

Max bringing his A game to the flirting, I like it. Alicia doesn’t like all the flirting: “Because character is really what matters right now.”  They are just like Sam and Dean! Spin off of codependent witch siblings right tf now. Please and thank you.

Jody sees Mary return and is suspicious she was off on her own. She whispers to Sam that she thinks Mary is possessed, she gets increasingly worried which draws the immediate attention of Dean who comes over and asks what is going on (demon knife drawn out and ready once again). Sam quietly tries to tell Dean that Jody thinks their mom is a demon, but Jody shouts, No, I don’t think, I know! I know she’s a demon. [points accusingly at Mary] which prompts Bucky to steps away from Mary and reaches for his knife.

Mary: Hey! Jody: Kill her! Use the knife! Kill her now! Sam: Whoa, whoa, whoa. Wait. Hold on a second, [turns to look at Jody] Jody, you… You don’t sound like yourself. Dean (not even looking around):That’s because she’s not herself. Are you?

Oh my poor Sam Dumbchester, on rewatch, this episode did you dirty, I was sucked in by my love of Asa Fox and the whole door thing and the Sammeh! I’m so ashamed. Hands my bitter Sam girl platinum membership card back to the bitter Sam girl club in recognition I am no longer worthy of holding it Jody turning into the red eyed demon is in the running for worst “playing of a different character ever” but it’s up against stiff competition from Casifer, Empty!Castiel, Gestapo!Castiel and gayforpay!Castiel and is mercifully short. My main issue with this demon is there is no real consistency through the different bodies it inhabits. They should all have agreed how to play it imo and I do think Kim goes Disney villain OTT but not enough to cause embarrassment, just would have been better if the performance had been toned down some.

Demon Jody had hoped they would kill their mom “wouldn’t that be a riot?”

Dean (sarcastically): Yeah, super fun

Sam tries to attack Jody and is thrown. Big brother is pissed and tries to attack but is thrown too. Uh, how come the lame demon can fight now?

Anyway, Mary attacks and tries to kill Jody with the demon blade and manages to scratch her arm, but Sam says no and pulls Mary away. .

Mary: What are you doing?! She’s a demon. We kill demons. Sam: No, but she’s Jody.

I like this that Mary doesn’t know you don’t just go around killing people, you try to save them first. 

The demon is bored and claps her hands, and everyone collapses onto the ground and cannot move (where was this kickass power earlier?).  The demon says she’s heard so many stories about the Winchesters, she stands over sam and says, “The idea that he left a meatsuit alive is just so deliciously weak.” Sam gives his “bite me” face.

As for the rest, she’s been inside their heads and starts spilling out secrets – the twins are Asa’s children (I forgot about this detail), Lorraine apparently tried to sabotage Asa’s truck to stop him going out hunting (which is a nice call back to him trying to fix the truck in the episode earlier).  She says Jody fantasized about a life with Asa.  Bucky manages to get up to attack but Jody grabs him and holds him on his knees.

Jody/Jael: And you. Bucky. Brave, brave Bucky. I was there that night. Tell these nice, stupid people what you did. Tell them what you took from me. Asa was mine.

I like this next scene, Sam manages to stand up and start the exorcism before he’s thrown across the room again. Dean picks up where Sam left off, until he’s thrown through a glass door, the twins are next and get pinned to the wall.

Bucky finally confesses that he killed Asa [and the way he’s dramatically thrown to the floor would never have made it into a scene in seasons 1 to 5]. Oh show, weeps for the quality that once was. Season 12 (heavy sigh).

Mary stands up and finishes the exorcism which sends the demon back to hell.

Sam rushes over to help Jody who says, “That… sucked”

[Try re-watching your performance Kim!]

Lorraine: Bucky, what did you do?

They all turn and look at Bucky.

Bucky says they were hunting in the woods for Jael and he wanted to go back and get the angel blade. Asa wanted to keep hunting but Bucky pushed him and Asa fell and cracked his head and died, which I feel kind of sorry for, not like he did it deliberately and he lost his best friend [and lets be real, it’s not the worst thing a supposed “best friend” has done on this show].  It’s a very tragic end for a great hunter (don’t fast forward to 15.20)

Bucky asks what they are going to do to him.

Alicia: Tell everyone, every hunter we meet. They’re gonna know your name, Bucky. Know what you did. Max: You like stories. This is the story everyone’s gonna tell about you. Forever

I guess I get Max and Alicia’s anger, Asa being their dad and all. It’s just tragic all round because I do feel it was an unlucky accident and Bucky clearly misses his best friend.

I like the setup of the funeral pyre, now 3 hunter bodies being burned, Jody, Lorraine and Mary are standing in front of the pyre. Alicia and Max are resting against their car and Dean and Sam are doing the same against baby.  

Lorraine tells Mary she was wrong, “Asa did have a family. He even had kids. I’ve got grandchildren. Suppose I should go meet them.” She walks over to hug Alicia and Max.

Jody and Mary are left at the pyre,

Jody: I don’t know what’s going on between you and your boys, but I gotta tell you, mom to mom, they are good men. Best I’ve ever met. Mary: I know. They’re not the problem.

Jody walks away and leaves Mary on her own, which is Dean’s opportunity, he taps Sam and they both go over to Mary. They ask if she’s okay but Billy appears and says, “She’s really not.” Mary asks who she is and Dean says she’s a reaper that got him back inside.

I would like to have much preferred to have seen Sam’s reaction as well as Mary’s but we don’t get this and it’s a bad choice of angle for me. Billie says Dean owes her one and looks at Mary, “This one. This one right here.”

Billie is still on her “what’s dead should stay dead” kick. She’s a stickler for the laws on that (and never really changes tbh, I don’t really get Billie’s overall arc.)

Mary says she didn’t ask to come back, Billie agrees but says the dead man’s look in Mary’s eyes says she hates it, that she feels she doesn’t fit, like she’s all alone.

Dean: Well, she’s not alone.

Billie (still looking at Mary): Tell me I’m wrong. [Sam and Dean turn to look at Mary and kudos to Jared once again for saying so much with no words as to how he looks at Mary here]

Billy says she’s not here to hurt Mary, “I’m here to offer you mercy. A one-way ticket upstairs, away from all of this.”  [Again poor choice of camera for this scene as we see Dean but not Sam].  Mary asks how it would work.   

Sam: Mom. [My poor boys!] Mary: You just kill me again? Billie: Reapers don’t kill people. Rules. Mary: Well… then… [she looks up at Sam and Dean] Me: Don’t you dare break my boys fragile hearts! Mary: Then I guess you’re just gonna have to wait. Billie: Winchesters… Me: Same tbh Billie Billie: …if you change your mind– if any of you change your minds– you know my name. [she disappears]

Sam asks if this means Mary is coming home. Mary says yeah, but follows up with: Not quite yet. I just need a little more time.

Sam looks disappointed ☹ but he understands

Dean: Can we buy you breakfast at least? Mary: Bacon? Dean: All the bacon. Mary: I would love that.

I love that Dean and Mary can find a common bond through food. Sam hugs Mary as they walk together towards the Impala

Despite a couple of wobbly bits sprinkled here and there and my poor Dumbchester Sammeh, I still really love this episode overall, the good far outweighs the issues I have and I’ll happily re-watch it as a stand-alone MOTW.  I loved the introduction of the witch twins and wish we’d got to see a lot more of them *coughs* and a lot less of other “fan favourite” characters.

It will be interesting where this one will ultimately fall in my definitive list.

[yugiohcardsdaily]

In honor of my 25th birthday, here are 25 facts about me and our beloved franchise, Yu-Gi-Oh!

I’ve been collecting the cards since I was 6.

I watched the original anime when it was first coming out in America. Back when it was on KidsWB, I believe.

The dubs are the only way I’ve ever experienced the shows. I can’t bring myself to watch the subs because of it. Also it was a wonderful thing to look forward to every Saturday morning, back when they still had cartoons on at the time.

When I was little, I’d pull cards out of my collection and duel one of my sisters. We didn’t know all the rules, so we’d end up with huge hands and a lot of nonsense turns. So it was almost like Season 1 of the original anime, except in real life.

I learned how to duel properly in high school. For some reason, Yu-Gi-Oh! became really popular to play when I was a junior/in the 11th grade, so I got to enjoy it with other people. Ran an Agents deck, wasn’t very good, but I had fun.

I’ve written Yu-Gi-Oh! fanfiction since I was in the 5th grade, which was roughly about 2006 or 2007. I also started writing Naruto fanfiction at about the same time, but I haven’t written that nearly as much as I’ve written Yu-Gi-Oh! stuff.

My first three Yu-Gi-Oh! OCs are characters I still use to this day. They’ve evolved a lot over the years, kind of growing up with me. In case anyone’s curious, their names are Carrie West, Jessica West, and Mirage. Carrie’s the main one, Jessica’s her sister, and Mirage was originally just supposed to be like a “Yami” for Carrie. She’s much more than that now, but I won’t bore you with the details.

The first time I saw anything 5Ds-related, I thought it was stupid and avoided watching it. Thank the Crimson Dragon I gave it another try.

This isn’t news, but my favorite characters in the franchise are Yugi Muto and Yusei Fudo. Still bitter about how much Yugi is ignored in favor of Yami/Atem, even in official merch. And also bitter that a lot of images of Yusei on official stuff erases his criminal mark, even though he’s had it since like Episode 6 and always had it in the manga, from what little I’ve read of it.

I met my best friend through fanfiction for this franchise. I posted my work on good ol’ Fanfiction.net, she reviewed, and the rest is history.

That friend got to go to Japan and see Darkside of Dimensions there. She also sent me some Yu-Gi-Oh!-related stuff that she bought while in Japan, including a DSoD booklet thing.

Said friend also got a recording of LittleKuriboh using his Yugi voice to say that I’m “super-special-awesome” as well as his signature in a 3-in-1 manga for the original series. It was at AnimeNorth, I believe, a few years ago now.

I was introduced to Yu-Gi-Oh! Abridged in high school by one of the boys I played the game with. The first Abridged thing I experienced was Leather Pants.

I thoroughly enjoyed Marik Plays Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines, which is why I bought and played the game myself. Wish he’d go back to it, but until then I’ll just rewatch the videos every now and then.

Some kid on my school bus stole my Uria, Lord of Searing Flames card (which came from the tin based around it; I mistook it for Slifer at first) and my Black Luster Soldier card (might have been from one of Yugi’s early Starter decks.) I let him look at my card binders and the little shit took them out. >:/

My older sister wrote fanfiction that included a couple of my characters as a big part of the plot. This was because our characters were cousins. Anyway, I looked through it while chatting with my best friend. It. Was. Fucking. Awful. Carrie was completely out of character. Mirage wasn’t being utilized correctly. I anonymously ripped my sis a new one through a review on FF.net, which caused her to take it down and come to me, saying something about how I had great fans who would defend my OCs and she was sorry. She still doesn’t know it was me.

As a result of the above, I stopped including her OC in my writing, and I actually had the character killed off in a OneShot because I didn’t want her lingering in my plots in any way. Said character was also paired with Kaiba in a very out of character fashion, so I set him free from her shackles. Now he’s in a crack ship in my universe with my bestie’s OC, nicknamed KaKa due to their names.

I have a couple of Yu-Gi-Oh! 5Ds OCs. They’re twin sisters who, because of me deciding how much time passes between the original series and this spin-off, are the great-granddaughters of Yugi Muto and one of my OCs.

I tried to play...Duelist of the Rose?? a game for the PS2 while at a friend’s house. Couldn’t get past the first fight which was with...I want to say Rex or Weevil. But the characters were using names from like King Henry and shit. Yugi/Yami said his name was Henry, but to call him Yugi, like what???

My current card collection count (try saying that five times fast) sits at 2813. I have them split among four binders, three of about the same size and one thin. Two of the four are just Monster cards.

I wish they’d stop making new rarities for cards. Toon Chaos was basically scalped because of that, but also it’s just unnecessary. There are lots of rarities available. They just stopped using some of them for whatever reason. Like, gimme more Ghost Rares and less Collector’s Rares, please!

I have ships I ship, which obviously include some OC x Canon ones, but I won’t name them. Shipping wars are dumb.

My favorite female character in the franchise is...a tie between Mai Valentine and Akiza Izinski. Don’t get me wrong. I like most of the lady cast in general. Also, I prefer Mai before her voice changed and Akiza during the Dark Signers stuff over who she becomes later in the series, which is just Yusei’s love interest.

There’s kind of a running gag in my Yu-Gi-Oh! fanfiction between me and my bestie. For the longest time, even if the story didn’t involve him, Kaiba kept appearing. I made a “meme” image to commemorate the reoccurring event, which is simply a pic of him with the words “Kaiba appears nonetheless” in impact font.

I started this blog on a whim. No idea why I did, but I’m glad that I never deleted it like I did so many other sideblogs. It has been an honor to be a part of this community. You guys have been amazing <33

[darkestwolfx]

Bolt from the Blue - Re-Review #42

“Isn’t that something else?”

Yes, because when has a giant, blue laser in the sky transmitting solar energy down to Earth ever been a good idea in the world of Thunderbirds Are Go? Oh no, nobody panic, this is a completely innocent piece of machinery.

Look at Parker getting all technical.

“Mr Kinnear!”

This poor man just can’t catch a break can he? He finally came to his senses and left behind the waste of space that is Fischler - honestly I wouldn’t have stayed working for that man as long as this guy did - only to end up with what seems like his sister?

And after all this, he ends up saying;

“This still beats working at Fischler Industries!”

That, can only tell us what an absolutely terrible employer Fischler was. Considering we don’t see him again I’m wondering if the GDF finally did something about him...

“Don’t you worry your pretty little head about that. We have some... safety overrides to make sure nothing could possibly go wrong.”

And you were saying? Honestly, this show has jinxes everywhere.

Did Miss Edmunds remind anyone else of another familiar face that makes your skin crawl? I’ll leave you a hint.

So, I love this episode. It might partially be because there’s a panda in it - and yes, I work with pandas - but there are other reasons too and I’m sure we’ll get to them.

Firstly let us address the plane struck by ‘lightning’.

“The plane’s gilding but losing altitude. There are four in need of evacuation. Two pilots, one child.”

“That’s only three. Who’s the fourth?”

“Brains, you want to tell them?”

“It’s transporting a rare giant panda in the cargo bay.”

“Ok, four to save, one’s a panda.”

Scott - honestly the way he says that line gets me every time!

“Gordon can go with Virgil and help with the evacuation.”

“Yes! I’ve always wanted to see a giant panda up close!”

“That’s not likely to happen.”

“You’re crushing my dreams, Brains!”

“But it’s in a sealed, environmentally controlled container-”

“La la la la la - I can’t hear you!”

Honestly, weren’t Gordon and EOS made for each other? They could encourage each other to be like children forever.

And so now we’ve got to another of those reasons I mentioned - it’s Gordon’s facial expressions (throughout the whole episode). So, this is officially the world’s most disappointed face.

“They appear to be highly charged plasma bolts.”

Hoorah for that... Just what we need. Well, we’ve never had a rescue like it, that’s for sure.

“Can’t you see I’m in the middle of a pre-sentation?”

“Perhaps you should see what he wants.”

“Oh I’m sure it can wait. The safety commission will shut us down without your approval. So I want to make sure you approve.”

Yeah... definitely a relation to Fischler.

Brains, John already got what they were without you.

"A solar collector.”

Shall we send Thunderbird Three to investigate?”

“We may not have to. Lady Penelope’s already on board.”

“John, to what do I owe the pleasure?”

Not sure it’s a pleasure to nearly be torn apart by plasma bolts, but hey.

“Hang on Captain, we’ll get you out of there.”

I think this is a speak too soon moment.

“We’re about to go critical.”

“Does that mean ka-bloom then?”

“ka-bloom”, I love that, it’s very Parker.

“Surely you have a way to reset something like this?”

“I’m a sales director, not an engineer! Did I mention we have three delightful colours to chose from?”

No you didn’t until now, and please don’t mention it again. I think the colour of the episode is set at blue anyway.

This episode really does get off to a dramatic run.

“Thunderbird One’s been hit!”

“Same here! We’re all going down!”

“No one panic! That bolt must have overloaded our circuit breakers. We’ll try rebooting.”

I love how Scott is completely in control here. I mean, it’s believable considering that TOS always made him out to be a honoured pilot. We saw him save Anderbad City with some pretty good flying to in ‘Fight or Flight’. Also, as the eldest we would expect him to have more experience and considering he’s taking over as leader from their dad, you would have expected him to have a pretty level head. This is a complete change however to his reactions in ‘Up from the Depths’ and a little in ‘Heavy Metal’ where he was reliant on others to help him fix his own ship and flight pattern. Either we’re meant to see that he learnt from these events, or that these are anomalies in the writing process.

“Gordon, flip the switch.”

“No problem, just like when your hairdryer blows a fuse at Tracy Island.”

“What? What do you mean my hairdryer!”

Another nice little TOS reference here - in ‘Operation Crash Dive’, Gordon saves Fireflash by treating it like fixing a fuse before he later fixes the TV on Tracy Island, claiming the same.

“Gordon has flight control. Try to keep us in the air!”

“Relax, if more plasma bolts hit, I’ll use your hairdryer trick again.”

“One time. One time that happened!”

Admittance is still admittance, Virgil. I love how Gordon can get things out of people by just being persistently annoying.

Just taking some air, ey, Virgil? Big brother to the rescue. I sense Scott likes doing that.

“Scott... little help!”

“I’m jetting down now. Try not to move.”

“Ready, step!”

“Got it! Thanks for the boost.”

“Any time.”

In fairness, I think this scene is a little piece of genius and it’s another scene that contributes towards my love of this episode. So, here come the reasons;

1. I think it would take an awful lot for Virgil to ask for help, even from his brothers. Even in ‘Skyhook’ and ‘Earthbreaker’ when Thunderbird Two was going down, he didn’t ask for help. He accepted it yes, but he didn’t actually ask for anyone to come and save him.

2. So, accidentally, Virgil ended up in danger of either falling into the ocean, or worse, being hit my a plasma beam. As a result of that, Scott’s comes to his rescue. Now this, puts Scott in danger too, because if either of them took a direct hit there would be bad things. But this isn’t even thought about or discussed, which totally fits in character (especially for these two). The level of reaction here is what matters, and the danger they throw themselves into for each other will be thought about later.

3. The worry and relief. You can tell they have shared worries about this and the dialogue projects this so, so well. In those five lines is everything we need to know about their emotional states.

4. It’s not often these boys have to rescue each other, but when they do (like with Alan&John in ‘EOS’, the instant response seems to be to cover up the fear; “Thanks Alan, I was really sweating there at the end.” “I noticed.” And this dialogue is doing the same thing. The clock is ticking, the situation is precarious and yet what we get is the use of simple words as part of a conversation meaning something completely different. The power of words is transformative, and whenever they can be used with double meanings, they carry so much more strength. People in real life often never say things as they mean. It’s like with death - we don’t often use the word in conversation, we’ll refer to it as something else, and this is exactly what the Tracy boys do - they face danger head on, and they skirt around the less nice possibilities, whilst knowing what they are potentially confronting the whole time, just without saying it. Because we all know once things are said, they are hard to take back.

5. Childlike brotherhood. The nature of this scenes very much takes me back to imagining a younger Scott and Virgil helping each other out with the simplest of things like learning to ride a bike. There’s a very clear, well-built, brotherly relationship shown in this scene, and that comes across so well, in the dialogue that could refer to nearly any other situation, than hanging for your life from a doomed plane only miles above the ocean with plasma bolts trying to hit you.

So, who was the mastermind behind this excellent scene? Elly Brewer is mainly known for writing episodes for the Tracy Beaker series’, which is a completely different kettle of fish to something like Thunderbirds Are Go. She wrote ‘Lost Kingdom’ which was another fantastic episode, and this is (unfortunately) the only other script she wrote for this series. I think this is an absolute shame as her handle on the brother’s was perfect, and her use of dialogue was perfectly balanced out to disguise/contain other feelings whilst commenting on the action. A someone who also has ambitions to be a writer, she is a real example of how to write character interaction. I believed every inch of this script - not only for this scene, but for every scene and every character - and okay, the acting brought it to life, but a good script often allows for good acting, so they come as a pair most of the time.

I’ve already mentioned above my feelings regarding Scott in this episode (who is portrayed again, as a really strong pilot, just like how Dan Berlinka wrote him in ‘Fight or Flight’.) I’m not trying to slate or show anyone up here, but I feel like compared to Ben Townsend, Brewer and Berlinka had a much better handle on the character of Scott Tracy. Don’t mistake me here, Townsend has written some amazing scripts for Thunderbirds Are Go - ‘Heavy Metal’, ‘Up from the Depths’, ‘Brains Vs. Brawn’ (and more I won’t list them all) - but interestingly two of the above I’ve mentioned, are also the two episodes where I felt the discrepancies with Scott’s skills as a pilot creeping in. I love both episodes for their content and some perfect moments, but it definitely feels like Townsend is uncomfortable or at conflict writing for Scott (in places, because he did give us some amazing moments like Scott&Ned, but I think there are definitely points where I question his decisions, especially against strong episodes like this and ‘Fight or Flight’ which put Scott very much in the driving seat). ‘Inferno’ -which I think is one of the best scripts written for this series, with it’s realism and excellent interactions - is also one of Townsend’s works for this series and (apart from maybe ‘Up from the Depths’) is what I consider to be his best work. It is interesting that Scott does not appear here though.

Remember that this is all only my opinion, and as always, I’m more than happy for you to disagree with me. That’s the whole point of discussions, and please feel free to discuss it (I will reply, although it might be at some point later in the week). Dropping it to my ask box may be easier than in the comments if you do with to have a full length discussion.

“Virgil, we’re almost at the water!”

“Release the plane and pull out. Repeat, pull out!”

Some of that quick thinking made towards an awesome rescue. I mean, the plane went down, but really who cares about that? There was nothing in it, and a plane can be rebuilt.

“Sorry Brains.”

“For what?”

“It’s time for you to go.”

Lady Penelope has way better aim than I do!

“Careful Parker, the walls are burning up!”

“You don’t ‘ave to tell me twice. hOh boy, hit’s ‘ot hin ‘ere. Blast! Missed.”

“Go on, Parker! I’ve got you!”

“Much hobliged, M’Lady.”

Parker is just a grade one badass. Look at him go! And Parker and Lady Penelope are an absolute perfect duo. Their teamwork is always spot on and their relationship is brilliantly explored in scenes like this. Lady Penelope has always been a considerate character, but high society (in the past at least) have always been assumed to have had a lack of care for those below them (I’m sure there were those who did, but history just records the majority). Lady Penelope has such care for Parker - probably as much as he has for her - and scenes like this are perfect for showing exactly what makes their partnership work. It’s very give and take, even when it seemed like Parker is just driving her around. She’s always got his back and it was lovely to have another scene showing that off.

Still think it’s “a perfect take your daughter to work day”? They definitely picked a day!

“Woah, I’m in Thunderbird Two!”

“The panda’s doing just fine. I heard him munching on bamboo.”

“Aww!”

Look at that thinking face of love and affection.

“Thank you for saving him.”

“You’re welcome. We love having satisfied customers.”

“Yeah, furry or otherwise.”

“Mmm-hmm.”

“Oh...”

“Thank you.”

“Can I go see Mr Panda now?”

“I think he’ll like you.”

“Really?!”

And this is the world’s happiest face! Gordon has achieved his dream. Having seen pandas myself, I can completely understand why it was a dream of his. Also, the Gordon and Virgil interaction (in this whole episode, but especially here where words aren’t even needed) is just absolute perfection!

And now to tie up some loose ends;

“I may lose my job over this, but I am not gonna lose my life!”

I think you might have lost that anyway. I mean, I think the GDF are gonna be putting her on trial for this.

“Oh now, isn’t that sweet! I didn’t expect a welcome back committee!”

“She realises that we’re arresting her, doesn’t she?”

“I don’t know.”

Don’t worry mate, I don’t think any of us would really know how to deal with her. She’s positively crazy.

See what I did there? Her annoying talking has rubbed off on me!

[gotmilk5101520]

Miraculous Ladybug Rewatch Episode 63 Desperada

*Hiss in French*

“You're so talented, Luka. How long have you been playing for?”

“Since I was in diapers” When Luka was born there was a guitar with him.

“They're so cute together” Mood.

“I agree. That boy and your friend seem to get along very well. I think the four of us can get along really well“ “What?“ “Nothing”

“We're officially at fencing practice right now”

“But -- Oh, no, Kagami. Isn't this the wrong address?”

“Oh, dear, I think you're right”

Adrimi is a cute couple.

“It's a good thing Adrien's found someone he can get out of the house with at last I think the four of of us can get along really well” “What?” “Nothing”

“I wish Luka would give me some lessons as well” “...” “...” “...” “...” “...” “Uh... No homo”

“Kagami might be on to something, you know”

“Luka? You know he's just a friend”

“Marinette? Yeah, of course! She's a very good friend”

“No she’s not. Marinette is just a friend”

“Me? Going after Marinette? No! She's just a friend”

“You know perfectly well you were my first choice. You're the only one, Nanarky”

“"Nanarky"?”

“You can't fool me, pirate. I bet you threw your guitarist overboard again!”

“ No, I swear, I didn't. She sailed away from me, she left me in the lurch”

“Look how perfect we were together. Come back and play with me, Nanarky”

“Jagged and our mom?”

“We're not co-captains anymore. I sail alone now, skipper. Luka! Juleka! Where’s my gun?“ “Mom, we’re not telling you where your gun is” “Your gun is under Luka’s bed” “Thank you Juleka” “Juleka!”

I like how everyone is like "What is going on?" And Kagami is like "Yeah you tell him"

“I-I can play a few notes on the flute” Season 4 better give us more Marinette playing the flute.

I think the funnest thing about this scene is Kagami’s reaction to the whole thing. You can really tell what she’s thinking right now.

“Adrien plays the piano, not the guitar. Marinette. You’re pretty, but stupid”

“Marinette he has a guitar right now, and he was teaching you like 5 minutes ago. Plus during the Zombiezou Apocalypse he was beating up some kissing zombies with it. Wait no one has told you that story yet. Shit”

“This is so stupid. Why the hell am i even in this episode?”

Oh hey it’s my (Now old) Discord avi!

“Thanks Luka. I always wanted you to teach me how to play the guitar. Again, no homo” “No problem” “More like all of the homos” “Kagami, did you say something?” “Nope. Nothing”

“Jagged Stone! So you fire me, and now you want to replace me with what?”

“A school-kid? And what are you doing girl? Protecting your boyfriend? Is it banana hair? Or blueberry hair?” “Yes” “Hey Luka, who do you think Kagami is referring to. Me or you?” “Yes” “I still don’t get it”

“Vivica? Is that you?” *Rage in French*

“Ah-hah! You ship rat! I knew you were lying. Vivica didn't leave you. You dropped her just like you would drop me before...! Fortunately i found  my gun!” “Mom no!”

“Wait Kagami! You can’t just charge at her-”

“Well i tried to warn her. But she never listens. Always been like that even during the Zombiezou Apocalypse” “The Zombiezou what?” “Wait, Nathaniel hasn’t told you guys about it?” “Well he tries, but there’s never anytime for him to explain”

“I never should've given that guitar to Adrien. Why did I do that, Tikki?” “Marinette, what does that have to do anything?”

“Not there. You'd be a sitting duck in that cabin” “So where can we make out?” “What?” “Nothing”

“We'll be safe here” “Thank you, Luka. So we can make out here?“ “What?” “Nothing”

“May I?” “Are you going to hit her on the head with your guitar?” “That’s my plan”

Ha! Gay!

“You can count on us whenever you need help”

*Stares lovingly at Luka in Ladrien*

“Could I... borrow that, please?” “You know how to play?”

“Let's just say I have my own personal style” “If you plan to hit her over the head with it, then be my guest”

“You can hide in here. Or maybe the both of us can fit” “No there’s only room for one” “Damn it”

“You  can hide in here and i’ll go somewhere else” “You sure you don’t want  to hide in a locker?” “Thanks. But after that one commenter on Instagram, who wanted me to go to their school so they can shove me in a locker, i’ve been afraid of them since”

“The snake's power is a very strong one, Marinette. Whoever uses it must be wise enough, not to be tempted to manipulate time for their own personal gain” So has people like gone insane cause of it’s power? It’s pretty much a Groundhog Day Miraculous. Have past users seen people they love die over and over again that it drove them to insanity?

“I understand, Master Fu, I know just the perfect person. I can't believe I didn't think of him before -- a perfect match”

“Master, you already know where this is going to go right?” “Yep. Hopefully Adrien doesn’t go insane after this”

“I have to find Adrien Agreste!”

“You wanna entrust him with a Miraculous?”

“You're not supposed to know, but now that you do, i need to find someone else“ “Oh. Okay good luck finding someone” “Thanks. Now where is Luka?”

You really fell for it huh?

Look how happy he is!

They’re gay everyone.

“This is my chance to get her to love me as myself! "Adrien"!” *Laughs in Irony*

“Amazing!”

“But what am I supposed to do?” A+ acting.

“Sass, My Anaconda Don't!”

“Uhh... Is the egg head necessary?” “I just think if my father ever got a Miraculous, then this is what he would look like”

“Wait who is that?” “It looks like a new hero using the Snake  Miraculous” “Wait a minute. That’s my son Adrien using the Snake  Miraculous!” “So what are you going to do sir?” “I am so proud of him. He went with a egg head just like me Nathalie”

“Aspik” “Aspik? That sounds like Ass Pick” “Huh. Well that name makes sense now. I’m an Ass Pick for this”

“Here. As a thank you for choosing me”

“Oh! Uh, thanks!”

*Screams in Ladrien*

“Hey! You stole Luka’s idea!”

Fail.

Fail.

Fail.

Fail.

“You know, Ladybug?”

“I'm actually also Chat Noir and I've been in love with you since our eyes first met” “Take this! No more  evil-doing for you, little Akuma” “Oh well that takes care of that” “You’re also what?!“

Again it isn’t over.

“No, I can't bare seeing Desperada capture you every time without ever being able to save you” *Cries in French*

“I've been trying for months. It was 25,913th time” “All to save me?” “Well some. I’ve done some other random things during those loops” “Like what?” “Well i made out with Luka in a locker” “What?” “Second Chance!”

“But... who could possibly wear this Miraculous beside to you?

“Ladybug? Oh, I see you found Adrien. I'm glad, I was worried”

“Brave?  Determined? Caring? Hot? Plays the guitar? Makes guys like me realize that their not straight? Why don't you give him the Miraculous?”

*Screams in Ladrien again*

Have some Lenny Face Ladybug.

“Ah! It’s a giant snake! Mouse? Snake-Mouse!”

“Sass, My Anaconda Don't!”

“Hey my lady. Who’s this hunk?” “Just in time. Chat Noir, I'd like you to meet“

“Viperion. Can't wait to work with you” “Nice to meet you too Viperion. Wait is that your abs?” “Uh yes?” “Oh okay.... Oh shit”

“I would have preferred a horseshoe for my first mission”

“I love your sense of humor!”

“Perhaps you would've preferred a lucky horseshoe for your first mission”

“Chat!”

Great they just turned the Eiffel Tower into the Leaning Eiffel Tower of Pisa.

“History repeats itself, Ladybug! But rest assured, one day I will be the one who rewrites it!” This is really helping my theory.

He knows does he?

“Besides,I get why Anarka no longer wants to play with me. And I respect her decision, what's past is past, isn't that right, Nanarky? Though i didn’t expect you to have kids in the 16 years since you left. Your son Luka is great at the guitar. How old is he? And who’s their father?” “Uhhh...”

“I was wrong about you and Luka, wasn't I? So does that mean he’s still available?” “What?” “Nothing”

“But you'd better hurry up and choose, Marinette. You don't always get a second chance when it comes to love”

“Well, Adrien and Luka can choose too, right? And they haven't made their choice yet, either”

“I think they already have”

“But you'd better hurry up and choose, Marinette. You don't always get a second chance when it comes to love” “Well since it finally happened! So now i  can say-” “We’re out of time” “Oh come on!”

New Hero: Viperion.  Identity: Luka Couffaine. Power: Intuition.

So how are we suppose to have Christmas in 2020?

[thebrochtuarachs]

The Making of Outlander: The Series Author Tara Bennett on Why She is Thankful for What Sam Heughan and Caitriona Balfe Shared

By Paulette Cohn

The countdown to season five of Outlander continues with three months left to go until the Feb. 16 premiere on STARZ. But in the interim, author Tara Bennett has a little something to help the time pass more quickly and provide you with an Outlander fix. It is her new book, The Making of Outlander: The Series: The Official Guide to Seasons Three & Four, which takes a deep dive into the making of the series, and is now available in stores and online.

“We spent a lot of time on the first one trying to frame it with new voices and different ways of telling the stories, or with people that aren’t covered by typical press for the show, and it went over well,” Bennett tells Parade.com in this exclusive interview. “Because of that, we wanted the second book to look and feel similar, as if you were making a collection on your shelf, and so we kept the format, we kept the relative design, and then we looked into spotlights and head-of-department features, so we could change it out, so you didn’t feel like you were learning the same thing but for a different year.”

The Making of Outlander: The Series is a beautifully crafted tome, and what makes it a must-have for fans of both Diana Gabaldon’s novels and for fans of the Starz TV series – as well as a great holiday gift — is the large number of photos, many that have never appeared in print or online stories.

“I did a cross check of everything that was available to the public via press versus what was made available to us for the book,” Bennett says. “We tried to put in as much new stuff as possible, otherwise, why bother buying the book? I literally made a huge Excel spreadsheet of what was given to press, and then what was given to us, and then made sure that we leaned into those things. If there was a beautiful picture that STARZ and Sony gave the regular press, it was still nice to be able to find a way to feature it, so that you could really look at it in a different way than looking at it on your tablet or your laptop.”

Bennett was also able to coax some interesting tidbits that hadn’t been in print before out of series stars Sam Heughan (Jamie Fraser) and Caitriona Balfe (Claire Fraser), like what lengths they went to for season three and four to accurately portray being parents, as neither of them are in real life.

“They both spent a lot of time trying to establish and understand that dynamic and really create that rapport with their costars,” Bennett relates. “Sam has some really great stories about the hesitancy of that, working with the little boy that plays Willie, his son, and creating that rapport. Then several of the actors also talk about watching him with the young actor and how endearing that was. I think that’s just a nice testament to both of them as actors is the level that they go to, to try to create the authenticity with Jamie and Claire.”

You’ve told us what’s the same about this book, what’s different other than the seasons?

We went into a lot more, specifically, about the production design and visual effects, how they worked in tandem, which was a lot more subtle in the first two years. Then in season three and four, you had tall ships that had to be created in visual effects, you had shooting Scotland for the United States, so for a lot of the environment, they would have to use blue screen to create Jocasta’s plantation house in season four. That doesn’t exist in Scotland.

And so, they basically had to do a lot of visual effects to that house, including an entire second floor, and the environment around it to make it look like it was truly in Wilmington. We decided to peel back a layer with that.

We did a lot about the First Nations, basically, the big immersive sets that they created and then really tried to look at some of the new cast, so that we could give them time in the sun. So, it’s people like Ed Speleers, who played Stephen Bonnet, and, of course, giving much bigger spreads to Sophie Skelton (Brianna) and Richard Rankin (Roger), because they’ve been bumped up in terms of presence, especially by season four, so they equal Sam and Caitriona now in terms of the spreads that they get in the book.

To me these are special coffee table books. I keep mine out, so I can flip through it any time.

Yes. That’s nice. That’s why we try to make sure when we play around with the color and the brightness of the pictures that you’re really getting the best possible version of the picture on the page, so that you really get to look at details that your eyes will get a little tired from looking at on a computer.

In the first book, there was a story about Caitriona’s casting, which was something that I didn’t know before I read it there. Do you have stories like that in this book? Is there one you could share?

David Berry, who is Lord John Grey, is a character that the book readers really, really love and that TV fandom has embraced. He’s Australian, and the story that both the casting director and he tell in tandem — she in her section and he in his — is that he was really part of a wide net that they put out for the show, because there’s so many television shows being produced now that even since the first season of Outlander, it’s harder to find actors who aren’t already engaged in something. So, what they used to do was just look in England and Scotland, but now they have put it out to the world when they’re doing a new casting call for a major character.

So, David Berry has a good story about how, in a casting sense, they went to Australia and were really starting to look for Australian actors who are very good, and then about how quickly his turnaround was. He had to deal with playing that character on the fly the entire first season. He’s been intermittent in the show, so his stories have been really fun about trying to get into character, but really not being with the show very much so that’s been a challenge.

How involved were Sam and Caitriona in the second book?

I have to thank them. It’s been a benefit that I’ve been able to cover the show as a reporter and then also be able to do these books. I first started covering Outlander for print and online outlets, and so, they’ve known me. Then when I started doing interviews with them for the book, there was already a recognition factor. The really great thing is that over a span of — now they’re into production for season five, they know me even more.

As it is with all lead actors in a television show that’s over four seasons, it gets harder and harder to get them, because they’re really busy, and when they’re on breaks, they’re doing other projects. But they have always made time to say, “Yes, I’m going to talk with Tara,” and so I’m always super grateful because, at the end of the day, there is no companion book of value without the two of them. Claire and Jamie are the books, and so, I would’ve really been devastated if we hadn’t gotten them. I ended up sitting on the phone with each of them separately.

In some instances, Sam was in a car literally heading to LAX, so a good way to combat traffic is to talk to me. With Caitriona, she was on a break from shooting, and so, we talked when she was doing a little bit of other press for season four and so it ended up being really great.

I always try to approach their interviews, in particular, as they’re covered a lot by mainstream media, so I try to talk a little bit more thematic and about the work that they do to progress the characters from year to year. I think they really appreciate that kind of deeper conversation that they don’t always get when they’ve got 10-minute hits with media outlets. So, that was always my focus and they were always really gracious. I always know that they really get thoughtful and dig deep to think about those moments that mean a lot to them and how they progress the character.

Any conversations about working with Rollo or the horses?

All those animals make noise and create problems and they’re never fun, so they look like they’re happy around them, but John Bell, who plays young Ian, is the only one that really likes Rollo because he was the one that had to, basically, help train him from its youth, so that he would respond to him.

Everybody else had had enough of those animals. There are good stories about how Matt Roberts, who’s the new show runner who took over from Ron Moore, had to go around the globe to find those animals and bring them back. They would basically make a global search for multiple puppies and other animals that would fit what the readers’ expectations were, so it’s not just going to a shelter and yanking an animal, it’s this whole thing that the book explains as well, which was surprising to me.

And this coming season, they had to look for Adso, too.

Adso will be, hopefully, in book five and six if people buy this book.

Did Diana participate at all? I know she’s been busy working on the next novel in the franchise.

For the first book, Diana, obviously, was establishing the transition, and so, she did the foreword. Then she also was a cameo actor and she also wrote episode 211. So, for season three and four, because of her own book deadlines and production timing, she didn’t end up doing an episode for either season three or four, and we wanted to leave her alone. We didn’t really want to bug her unless she really had free time, which she didn’t.

So, we asked the foreword go to Matt Roberts. So, she isn’t present but she’s been super gracious in terms of doing book signings and with approval, saying she appreciated what we did with the companion for the seasons.

But the nice thing is, she announced that she’s going to be doing episode 511. She’s writing that one, so I have a hope that if this book does well, then she will be back in the next tome, which is great.

In addition to photos, there’s sketches of some of the different sets.

We were able to get some sketches from Jon Gary Steele, who is the production designer, and then we were also able to get sketches from Terry Dresbach, who was the costume designer through the middle of season four.

That was something I wanted for the first book, lawyers sometimes don’t always make that easily happen, and so, because we knew we wanted them and could get the request earlier for this book, we were able to get the sketches directly from Terry and from production design to be able to give a flavor of some of the things that they built. So, you get a general idea of mood board things, which are very important for Terry in coming up with the overall ideas of what a character looks like, especially as they progress through the eras.

Then, for Jon Gary Steele, who really uses the facilities of the warehouses in Glasgow to basically repurpose, he’s a fun part of the book. He really explains when you see a new set what it came from, why he created something so that he could easily retrofit it to something for the next year, and there’s always a sense of they are borrowing from last year to use the footprint for what they’re going to need to do for the next year. So, there’s basically a taste of everything that came before and everything that he builds going forward.

[b-listbadboy]

Castlevania Season 3 was disappointing

(Spoilers for Castlevania Season 3, if you haven’t seen it yet it’s out now on Netflix. I suggest watching that first before reading this review)

I won’t say it was an awful season by any stretch of the imagination but man was it a drag to get through.

Almost nothing of significance happens for the majority of the season and the things that did happen felt extremely off and weird. 10 episodes, 25 to 30 minutes each, and every single one except for the fucking TWO LAST EPISODES were spent dicking around with a mystery that had little to do with anything from season 2 beyond a really out there twist that I’m sort of iffy on. Top that off with a lackluster arguably stupid ending to leave us off on a needless cliffhanger, and that’s the magic remedy that will leave me feeling pretty damn frustrated.

The best parts, in my opinion, were with Isaac’s massive undead crusade he was waging throughout his journey for revenge, and Trevor and Syph’s interactions with each other as well as with the little villagers. Isaac’s arc going from a servant of Dracula to slowing evolving into the master of the damned felt genuine, intriguing, and badass! I really wish he was the next main villain instead as it makes sense thematically. He carries out Dracula’s nihilistic views of humanity in a similar but now more direct way and that can lead into something really intriguing. However, for some reason, this season left him and his whole journey on a back burner, and virtually everything else that is implemented into main villain role fell flat on its face execution wise.

For example; The new vampires of this season are Camilla’s three other empress sisters, and while they do have a plethora of personality at the very least, that kind of comes at a cost of the main threat being extremely diluted. We go from this hurting sympathetic undead overlord with the power of an anchent GOD, to a couple of wicked sassy sisters who just wanna eat people forever? It’s a bit lame of a progression from what we once had, we know Vampires like to eat people that’s nothing new or exciting. There’s no real twist to it besides it being “led by women in the dark ages” and granted that makes sense here since it IS the dark ages, but come on we literally just had arguably the BEST adaptation of friggin’ Dracula! This shouldn’t be all they got moving forward from that.

Now, I have ZERO issue with the main antagonists being female or even two of the four sisters (not by blood don’t worry) being a lesbian couple. I hate that I have to emphasize this, hell I often defend Cinder Fall in RWBY more than anyone in the fandom at all despite her issues as a complex and sometimes flat out badly written character. However, The four of them in this season have the most basic of plans that it seems arbitrary status quote fluff at best. It felt like just because it’s Castlevania, we HAVE to have the vampires as the villains. Even though in the games the Belmont’s were literally fighting werewolves, dragons, skeletons, and the GRIMM REAPER??

Therefore, the sense of urgency and tense calculating plans of ‘survival vs extinction’ is completely gone. And yknow in a way, I can kinda initially SEE that working in a sort of “Empire Strikes Back” esque plot. Yknow, with Alucard and the gang go around cleaning up Dracula’s leftover horde only for Isaac or even Camilla to have this huge vengeful comeback of dominance? But there’s no one exactly “striking back” or even taking any kind of immediate initiative after Dracula’s death. It’s been MONTHS after the whole event and no one seems like they really care about that world changing event from the last two season’s. Everything is fine and dandy, no one has a single worry in the world! How enthralling...I miss Godbrand 😑

Besides the plan the four empresses have as well as Issac’s revenge, which I hope will both be more explored in season 4, no one really has any goal to warrant THAT kind of length of a season. This is more of a Netflix problem that I have with most of their shows and it’s one of the reasons why I don’t like watching them. Almost every singe show Netflix produces now, feels the need to overstuff itself with needless filler that gets us really nowhere until the very end where it SUDDENLY all comes together. But because of the nature of binge watching and considering how Netflix wants to desperately keep their subscriptions in fear of intimidating competition, they make these shows 12 episodes long with HALF HOUR OR MORE amount of filler content that’s supposed to satisfy us cause it’s “cute”?! No, stop this shit! Granted, Castlevania wasn’t nearly AS bad as the live action shows, but honestly, what exactly was shown to us that couldn’t have been reduced to like 5 solidly paced episodes focused on one or two plot lines ONLY like before? It worked perfectly back then, why change what ain’t broke?

As much as I don’t like the immediate rush of Trevor and Syph’s out of nowhere sexual relationship, I didn’t overall mind it too much since they still somewhat felt consistent. Their characteristics play off very nicely with one another and it’s pretty easy to see the chemistry between the two....HOWEVER I’M STILL GONNA COMPLAIN ABOUT IT SO HERE WE GO!

I get that they were setting them up as an endgame ship of the series, there’s no denying that, but they start fucking for what feels like (to the audience) two days after and I think that’s a bit ridiculous! Even if Alucard states that it’s been at the very least a month worth of time since the events of Season 2, there’s no real physical signs showing that statement to be true. Hell, Trevor’s beard and hair remains the same despite a HUGE passage of time where it would naturally grow out to indicate said time passing by. But both him, Syph, Alucard, and damn near everyone else looks the exact same as last season. So for all I know it could have been like a week since Season 2 and that to me doesn’t feel exactly earned. The Season 2 finale didn’t explicitly leave off Trevor and Syph officially a couple, they felt more like partners in crime more than anything else. Not to say that there wasn’t any chemistry there to develope INTO a relationship GRADUALLY, but going from a little spark of interest to the immediate jump of them sleeping together naked all comfortably as if they’re a goddamn married couple is a STRETCH! Even Trevor himself thinks so too so don’t jump down my throat about not being immediately swooned by the shipping fanservice given to us. I don’t dislike them as a couple at all, in fact I think their dynamic is cute! However, I would have also liked to have this couple feel natural and earned. They most certainly do not feel earned this way, at least to me.

Oh god, then there’s this out of nowhere sexual tension between Alucard and his new two recruits from another region hinted at in the previous season? Mind you, Alucard was doing literally NOTHING throughout the entirety of Season 3. Yep, literally the ONE DUDE WHO BASICALLY KILLED DRACULA gets about fuck all story progression afterwards out of the three. But what they DO give him are these two new vampire hunting student’s who look identical to one another (no racial they just literally look like fraternal twins) so I assumed they were either siblings or a couple, which makes it REALLY WEIRD WHEN THEY BOTH FUCK ALUCARD OUT OF NOWHERE?! I’m NOT making this shit up I promise! What makes even less sense is that it was really just a ploy for them to steal the Belmont knowledge of killing vampires to show to their people who have been enslaved. Which of course ends with them being killed so it really makes this entire conflict in his character damn near pointless besides “sad vibes check”, but here’s the thing...why didn’t they just keep doing training with Alucard?? There were virtually no downsides to having him teach you how to kill Vampires to save your village from being enslaved, he was teaching you both very well and gave you like the eternal knowledge of how to kill literally EVERY MONSTER and even let you live in the castle FOR FREE, food and wine included! What was the turning point for them to want to kill him all of the sudden? Cause he’s a vampire?? THEY FUCKING KNEW THAT ALREADY!!! Why was is suddenly not a problem at first but then coincidentally a problem now? If they wanted to use this to somehow depict this notion of “Oh my dad/Dracula was right humans are the worst” mindset, trust me, it was better conveyed with Isaac. These twins side plot not only made no sense, but also felt unjustified for Alucard to be an emo boi. I get that it’s supposed to be symbolic of him going through the same issues that both of his parents went through, but none of that really showed how bad human’s are. Just that those two twins didn’t think things through apparently. So the point of Alucard having this odd character convenience shift feels by the numbers cliché, and most importantly CHEAP.

It really makes no sense to me why they’re adding so much of this filler for such a long time, especially with some of this filler being oddly sexual. I don’t mind honest depiction of sex between consenting adults of course, but it just felt so misplaced and awkward at parts where it showed itself. I felt like I was reading a mediocre fanfic of Castlevania instead of the actual show itself! Granted, Season 2 had somewhat of a similar dilemma but the lull in between was still showing the character specifically doing things to further the story along. Towards the end, it gave us a way more satisfactory closure of that saga with Dracula that felt natural and well earned. This season however, felt like they were scrambling with different ideas here and there and didn’t know which to go with. Alucard training new recruits in his castle, Trevor and Syph figuring out an estranged (and BORING/GENERIC) cult of Dracula’s plan, Camilla setting up an army with her fellow sisterhood of evil vampires to gain ultimate power, Hector surviving captivity by using his wit and charm, Isaac raising up the dead for revenge on his deceased master, a new character introducing an all new world to the lore of Castlevania as we know it, all of these interesting concepts and ideas that could easily make up for a good season alone! And instead of focusing on one or two ideas to develope into something natural, they ended up saying “FUCK IT! Fucking I dunno what to- WE’RE DOING ALL OF IT I DUNNO!” and mixed the whole thing in a blender of different flavors that don’t necessarily blend together well enough for a tasty satisfactory meal. It just ends up being a mesh of okay at best, and gross at worst.

IN CONCLUSION, Castlevania Season 3 had a rocky start, an okay middle, and a kind of cool end. There was definitely some cool and exciting ideas implemented in here, but not enough to warrant that lengthy amount of time that Netflix seems to love to give to most of their TV shows. Sometimes less is more, and all that shiny cool glitter isn’t necessarily going to turn out to be gold. I’ll give this season a 5/10. It’s not the worst I’ve ever seen but it certainly could’ve been a lot better.

P.S. “Who Do Ya Voodoo” from Dead Island is Isaac’s new theme song, you can’t convince me otherwise.