#they didn’t resolve shit in season 2

[mamayan]

Okay imagine this - (you don't have to do it, you can delete this if it makes you uncomfy, I love you and you have done nothing wrong ever) - but IMAGINE okay?

Bakugo Katsuki, The Dynamight, number two hero, and his child with you is quirkless (bonus if reader is also quirkless)

Imagine the disappointed ambition - he was so sure the kid would inherit his quirk or something similar, he was so sure - especially since the kid looks like Katsuki - and yet...

I guess I'm in mood for hurt-comfort 😔

Honestly, I see this affecting our dearest mama here, as it’s likely for Katsuki to really fall for someone after being a bully/jerk to them.

Imagine his quirkless sweetheart, desperate to please and impress at all times because they’re just useless without a quirk (thanks to his bullying in the past) and realizing their child inherited their quirkless gene?

Pro-Hero Katsuki Bakugo x Quirkless Fem! Reader!

Growing Pains

cw: SFW • Language (R) • Hurt/Comfort • Bully to Lovers • Child Care (tis the season) • Pro-Hero Katsuki • Fem! Reader • Marriage • Katsuki learns how to communicate a little better

A child is a gift so precious one must always be careful never to forsake it.

That’s what his hag-mother always said at least. The endless joy though which his daughter brought truly lived up to her words though. A gift. A precious, incredibly tiny and fragile, gift he swore to never forsake as he held the bundle in his arms at the hospital.

You looked beautiful even after so long in labor. Joy painting your features and making his heart ache from the sugar being injected into his veins. The love and adoration in your eyes only making his resolve harden further, to protect you both and love you two till his last breath.

So what changed from that moment till now? As a normally happy rambunctious toddler sits in complete stillness with eyes wide in horror. You didn’t look any better, skin perspiration more than his own on a usual day, lip being chewed until the skin breaks and he’s forced to grip you tightly.

“Hey—,” his gruff voice wakes you up.

“I’m so sorry…” his brows furrow in confusion, your apology unexpected and odd.

“The fuck are you sorry for?” He feels the atmosphere in the room start to divulge, his child and you both acting as if you’d heard a cancer diagnosis and not something he’d already considered the possibility of. Of course he’d wanted his daughter to have a quirk, but it didn’t call for such a grave reaction.

“It’s all my fault… I’m so sorry baby…” the tears freak him out more, your tears flowing endlessly as you stare at him with such hopeless eyes he’s startled to his core. Dark garnet eyes widening as a sick feeling enters his gut, something churning he can’t even name. “I failed both you and our daughter, making her weak and worthless like me—,” He’s going to be sick for sure, the sterile little clinic room starting close in on him.

He’s Dynamight, number 2 pro hero, and only because shit for brains Deku was better with the media but still, he’s not sure what to do. How to fix it, as you hold your child and cry, asking for forgiveness from him.

It makes him remember every instance of the past he cringes and does his best to avoid thinking on. Every tug of your hair, every shove to the floor, every time he made you feel small for something so superficial as not having a quirk.

Your tears were endless, and they seemed to spur on his daughter as well, her little sniffles making him nearly enraged as the door creeks open at the worst moment and the doctor returns.

The woman’s sympathetic gaze make him want to punch her, the way she seems understanding and not offended as himself.

“It can be a hard acceptance Mrs. Bakugo, I’m happy to recommend some quirkless support groups for the two of you, then we can look at some family care plans—,”

“What. The. Fuck. Are you talking about? Support group? They don’t need a fucking support group, your raggedy ass bitch—!”

“Katsuki!” “Mr. Bakugo?!” “Papa?”

It didn’t matter, he wasn’t hearing words anymore, top blown and his tempter unleashed as he nearly blows the door off after throwing you both over his shoulder and storming out. Cursing the entire way, uncaring of the phones being pulled out and people whispering and recording. He’d get an earful from the agency but it hardly computed in his mind.

Your fault? It seemed clear enough it was his fault. When all he ever did was make you feel belittled for your quirklessness, small and weak because of it, and now what did it do?

It passed on to his own fucking kid. His fault. This was his fucking fault.

His own eyes were admittedly wet as he shuts you both up in the car. Making sure you both are buckled in safely before he nearly screams once he’s seated behind the wheel. He wants to scream more, yell and break something to deal with the flood of guilt and shame washing him like an old friend.

He never apologized, only pushed it all away like the bullying and harassment never occurred when he started courting you. He’d been in love with you, and that bullying was his sick revenge for making him feel so much adoration for a single individual.

His frame engulfs the seat, muscles taunt and wide chest heaving as he calms down slowly to your silent tears and wobbly bottom lip.

“Katsuki… can we not have any discussions with her in the car…? Maybe we…,” you lick your lips as you fumble over yourself like a nervous wreck in the passenger seat, eyes wide and pacifying as you give him a look filled with a plea. “—Maybe we could have her stay with your mother tonight?”

Because you think he’s angry at you and at her.

For being quirkless.

The most defenseless and precious people to him, the two he’d sworn to never hurt or mistreat, now looking at him with complete devastation and heartbreak. His daughter is never usually so silent and still, sitting like a little doll in her car seat.

He’d always been a confident man. Unshakeable and firm in his resolve because he refused to settle and let himself be anything less than the best.

For all he is though, he’s never felt more helpless and human.

You flinch when the first tear falls.

The sight just as jarring as the realization your child is like you.

Katsuki’s eyes widen before narrowing as he grits his teeth and bares them like a hurt animal, tears spilling as he slams his head on the steering wheel in frustration. The windows tinted and thankfully adding a touch of privacy he’s grateful for now.

“I’m sorry—!” It’s wobbly and hissed like a curse, his apology burning his throat as he forces it out. He can’t look at you as he wipes at his face, shaking his head as he clears it to focus long enough to repeat himself.

“I’m so fucking sorry—never, never did I think less of you ‘cuz you didn’t have a damn quirk—! I was an asshole, a piece of shit that didn’t know how to deal with my crush on you, so I fucking ruined it by picking on you.” His eyes are blood shot, kept wide to prevent anymore liquid spillage but the way his entire face and body scrunch up, it’s difficult to believe he’s able to stop himself on sheer will alone.

“Papa…?” It’s like a slap to the face when he looks over at his daughter to see a spitting image of you both in her, features more like him but personality following you in a way that makes him melt.

“Y’listen good,” he gathers himself up better as he addresses your daughter now. “You will never be less than anyone else, quirk or no quirk, y’hear me?”

“But—,”

“No buts. It’s not up for debate. A quirk doesn’t classify a person’s value. It never has. We just associate them with power when in fact, a bunch of useless quirk havin’ shit stains run the country. A quirk ain’t power kid, power is in will, and that’s all you.” He’s glad you kindly dismiss his slip in language, watching as her little eyes widen and well with tears too.

“So I’m not bad?”

“You’re the best damn thing that’s happened since I met your mom. I love your mom, don’t I? She’s great even if she doesn’t have a quirk. Strong and resilient, patient and smarter than I’ll ever be.” He’s gripping the steering wheel so tight it may break soon if he doesn’t release his grip.

Then he’s being met with you. Your arms wrapping around him, your own muffled cries in his shirt. His hands are around you just as quickly, pulling you into him as much as the small space in the vehicle allows, breathing you in and calming himself as he reaches out and unbuckles your daughter to pull her little body into the bear hug too.

“You mean it…?” Your whisper barely audible as he holds you both close.

“I don’t say shit I don’t mean.”

And that’s enough for this moment. While he’s not a great man, Katsuki truly never lies, sometimes honest to a point it’s painful.

This is a bittersweet pain though.

Dividers/ @cafekitsune

[rosemariad]

SUPERNATURAL SEASON 15 - THE BITTER END - SERIES FINALE

We finally made it here.

Ooooooooh boy. 😬

The opening for THE series finale felt out of place to me.

You’re gonna waste minutes on this really?

How about a discussion about how they beat God, like they actually managed the impossible - 2 dudes just take the fight to the OG master & creator of the universe and won that shit with some plan they pulled outta their asses. Their surrogate child went on to become the next primordial being to reign over the universe. But no, we’re not gonna even talk about any of that.

Coulda done a million different things even with the COVID restrictions (the two actors in a room across a table, do whatever to keep them safe) but whatever 🤦🏾‍♀️

So after God comes vampires w/ masks? Really SPN?

The minute Dean slammed the Impala’s trunk shut after sundown made me nervous (that would be the last time he’s with his Impala, the last time he ever sees her w/ his own eyes 🥺😭)

Out of all the folks to pull outta the SPN peanut gallery you pick that random chick from 1x19?! Jenny?! Just to kill her off anyway (so I spoke too soon, vampJenny is the official last female to die on this show)

Ah…the nail of imminent demise

That final shot of Sam & Dean was toooo fucking intimate.

Suddenly the Wincest people aren’t so crazy. Why are y’all encouraging this?! Dude, they’re brothers!?! #brothersnotlovers. They could’ve done it like the end of Pearl Harbor where they got Ben Affleck crying over Josh Harnett’s body in the crash. Gimme weepy Sam, that Oscar moment. Dean died sooo young 🥺😒 younger than Mary (I know she was technically in her thirties but TBH she was 64/65), bobby, Rufus, Ellen & John. This is why we can’t have nice things😔

Cas is gonna be so saaaad. He always fought so hard for Dean's sake, only for the guy to die so young…it’s an insult - an outrage really. Dean fought so hard for so long only for him to say - it was always gonna end this way?! 😡

He didn’t have to make it to old age (though he deserved to) but don’t let him die like this. All accepting so soon after resolving the meta plot 😔 there were things Dean probably wanted to do and now, he’ll never get his chance. He could’ve settled down with someone (it wouldn’t have been Cas since he got killed off already but shit I would’ve settled for Dean to settle with anyone for a minute, like Sam did) - also would’ve been nice to hear from Jody or Donna and others one last time but hey fuck the side characters 🤣 (oh COVID the scapegoat that keeps on giving - it’s like the showrunners forgot the convenience of modern technology).

So Chuck definitely won - he's no longer burdened by having to deal w/ the universe and one of the Winchesters died anyway. Not exactly as planned but they never broke free, not really. I totally subscribe to this theory. Especially since it’s alluded to that Dean Jr - Sam’s son - is a hunter also at the time of Sam’s death by old age (we think…I’m just saying that’s an awful not of tubes and stuff for the old man, maybe just to monitor his heart rate/health - eh)

The Sam wig is bad but eh - doesn’t bother me - we’re talking about a CW show wrapping up a project, it’s not the end of the world people, the plot is what matter s and the plot here is a fucking shit show my lord. It’s not the first show to suffer a shit ending to a show that captivated worldwide audiences but damn this is a bummer.

Especially since it’s alluded to that Dean Jr - Sam’s son - is a hunter also at the time of Sam’s death by old age (we think…I’m just saying that’s an awful not of tubes and stuff for the old man, maybe just to monitor his heart rate/health - eh) But yay for Sam apparently - couldn’t think of a better name for your son than Dean Jr.? It only makes sense to make the kid a junior if it was Dean’s actual kid, like Dean would’ve been Dean Sr. And his boy would’ve been Dean Jr. or Dean W. The II. And and hello there women whose face we don’t get to see (really committing to limiting women’s presence in the show - again probably blaming in on COVID but if you have a literal baby with this giant man, you can chance a woman being there in an actual camera shot where we can see her face 🙄) Back to Dean - again cuz of COVID? I guess - we don’t get to see him reunite with anyone (not his MOM even?) except Bobby for like 1 second and then he’s just driving around in his car. No roadhouse, no fishing, nothing but sitting in his car, alone killing time until Sam inevitably returns to him.

Oh what a shame…

So that happened I guess. SPN was something else, for better or worse. Probably never gonna get a show like that again. They tried it with the Winchesters spin off about a supposed alternate universe MaryxJohn thing and friends but honestly if its not about the Winchesters brothers or Destiel who cares 🤣 they pretty much wrapped up Sam & Dean’s stories thanks to this finale but Dean (per the Winchesters flop) could be brought back into the fray somehow if they wanted - but hey that’s what fanfiction’s for 😁

Well SPN it’s been interesting…sort of.

On that note…

I wanna thank the fans of the show, your hot takes, memes and general fervor over this show/story is what finally made me watch it all. Cuz I remember the TV spots from back in the day, cruising the CW channel on weeknights after school. I was too busy watching other shows to give SPN a chance while it aired. So thank you 🙏🏽

[writeroutoftime]

Could you write where you were Carmys high school crush and he sees you again and gets so shy bc he thought you liked his brother brother but you actually had a crush on him ?

words: 0.7k

a/n: okay, this is set somewhere during season 2 before the opening of The Bear…anyway please enjoy!! (and maybe let me know what you think?)

oOoOo

It was a gray and cloudy day in Chicago as Carmy leant against the rough bricks of the building, slowly taking a drag of his cigarette. He was so caught up in menu ideas, dining room setups, and how everything was going to get fucking paid for, he didn’t recognize the figure that had stopped right in front of him.

“Carmen? Carmy Berzatto is that you?” a voice spoke from above him, sweet and melodic.

He squinted up, eyes opening suddenly as his brain put the mental puzzle together. “y-y/n.” he choked out, throwing his cigarette to the ground and quickly stomping it out. “What are you doing here?”

“I’m back in Chicago for a while.” you shrugged half-heartedly. “Can I give you a hug? I’m gonna give you a hug.” you told him before you launched forward and wrapped your arms around his frame.

Carmy found himself melting into your touch, transported back to high school when you had been one of his closest friends. So many afternoons spent in the dining room of The Beef, laughing at each other and dreaming about what you would do when you were finally free from high school. All that time Carmy had the biggest crush on you, but stayed silent, always assuming you had a crush on Mikey instead.

“But enough about me.” you insisted, stepping away to give him his space once more and pulling him from his thoughts. “How are you? What have you been up to, Mr. ‘one of the best chefs in the country’?”   

Carmy felt a blush spread across his face at your praise. “You know, pretty good. Uh, it was definitely hard there after Mikey, but things, things are good. Gonna be opening up a new restaurant soon.” he shrugged, as calmly as if he had told you about going to the dentist.

“What? Carmy that’s amazing!” you shouted, ignoring the stares of the people of Chicago walking by. “I’m so proud of you! And I know that Mikey would be too.”

“Thanks.”

A moment of silence passed, more nostalgic rather than uncomfortable. You couldn’t help the way your heart skipped a beat over seeing Carmy again. It was easy to tell how worn out he looked, and there was a pang of guilt over your lack of connections the past few years. Resolved to be better, you held your hand out expectantly.

“Give me your phone.” you said followed by an exasperated look when Carmy simply stared back at you. “Fate brought us back together, but I don’t want this to be it, so give me your phone and I’ll give you my number.”

Realization clicked in his mind, and Carmy fumbled for his phone. “Uh, yeah, sure. Here you go.” A few taps later and the phone was safely back in his hands, and his grip was tight as if it had suddenly become his most prized position.

“I have to go now, but I’ll talk to you later. And I can’t wait to eat at your new restaurant!” you told him, pressing a quick kiss to his cheek before strolling away.

The rest of the day, Carmy fell into a pattern of typing out a text, hovering his finger over the send button, before chickening out. He briefly considered asking for Sydney's or Sugar's help, but he knew Richie or someone would over here and then the entire staff would be giving him shit over it. Finally, as the night carried on, Carmy said fuck it and sent a text.

8:50, carmy: hey, nice seeing you today 8:53, y/n: I'm glad we ran into each other 8:54, y/n: and that you agreed to me giving you my number 8:57, carmy: yeah? 9:01, y/n: yeah, you were one of my best friends, and I want us to be close again 9:01, y/n: plus, I had the biggest crush on you back in high school so 18-year-old me would be freaking out now. I thought it was so obvious lol.

Carmy couldn't stop himself from reading your last message, three times over. You had a crush on him then? Maybe, just maybe you still did. Fuck he thought, how was he gonna respond?

[luci-in-trenchcoats]

Restless Man (Part 3)

Summary: Things aren’t good when Frisch shows up at the station with some men but the reader isn’t going anywhere with him...

Pairing: Beau Arlen x reader

Part 1 Part 2

Word Count: 1,600ish

Warnings: language, angst, bodily injury, kidnapping, threats, mentioned minor past minor character deaths

A/N: Spoilers for Big Sky season 3! This will be the final part of this impromptu little series. Enjoy!

_______

To say things had gone to shit would be an understatement. It turned out a police station really wasn’t all that safe when there were no cops in it. Nearly every officer was at the craftsman on the way far edge of town. Frisch had definitely been staying there and planning to have taken you there. 

Unfortunately, with everyone gone, that left the station vulnerable which was exactly what he’d been planning on.

You, Beau and Pop were currently hunkered down in Beau’s office, you and Pop on either side of the door while Beau was passed out on the couch. He was out cold and was not waking up anytime soon. The doctor had prescribed a mild sedative to help him sleep and, well, his timing couldn’t have been worse.

“Pop,” you whispered as you heard Frisch’s hired goons search through the station. “Can you carry Beau?”

He stared at you disapprovingly, furrowing his brow. “Y/N, you can’t go out there.”

“He wants me. You and Beau? He’ll have no problem killing the two of you. If I go out there, can you get him out through the window?” 

“Yes but giving yourself up-”

“I said I’m going out there. I never said I’m going anywhere with him.” You winked and cracked open the door. If Pop could have stopped you before you stood, you knew he would have. Quickly you reached over to Beau’s bookcase, grabbing an item off the shelf. 

This needed to end before they got to Beau and Pop or the people in the back of the station.

You ducked outside with your weapon, three men before you. Two of them you didn’t recognize but smack dab in the middle of the room was Frisch. For some reason, he didn’t seem as frightening as he once did. Maybe it was fifteen years of aging or the training you had but all you saw was the man who tried to hurt someone you cared about. Again.

“Y/N-” You didn’t let him finish before you took a shot at the two men closest to you. The man on the right went down, Frisch diving behind a desk and just barely avoiding you. “You know, I was expecting you’d be angry. But you’re making this more complicated than it has to be.”

You held up the canister and pulled out the pin with your teeth before tossing it across the room. All three men groaned when the flashbang went off. From a far hall, one of the officer’s in the back ran out, helping you get a gun on Frisch and the other man. You kicked away their weapons, cocking your own when Frisch tried to move towards you.

“Why don’t you just do it,” he growled. “Get it over with.”

“You’re not worth the paperwork,” you said, narrowing your eyes. “You got no idea what kind of shit storm you made for-”

“Do it!” he shouted, reminding you for a moment of the man from your home all those years ago. You only cocked your head though and smiled.

“Nah. I want you to live, Henry. I want you to live for a very long time, knowing I love someone very deeply and that that person isn’t you.” Pop came out of the office, helping to secure Frisch before you went over to the man you shot, currently clutching his leg.

He glared at you while trying to put pressure on his thigh, his resolve breaking when you knelt down beside him. “You know he’s a sack of shit, right?”

“I didn’t know you guys were cops when I took this job, I swear,” he said. You nodded, pretending to mull it over. “I’m so screwed.”

“Probably. You talk, I’m sure some kind of deal can be made, though. Think it over while you’re in the hospital. That sicko’s going away for life. I’d advise not following in his footsteps.”

“You,” grumbled Beau. You stood, finding him partially sedated, leaning against the doorframe of his office. He huffed, slipping and sliding down to the ground, clutching his ankle in pain. 

“Better make that ambulance for two.”

“You’re so stupid,” muttered Beau for the thousandth time that evening. You just hummed, flipping through an old magazine in his hospital room. “This is all your fault!”

“I told you to use your crutches,” you sang song. He grabbed your wrist from the bed beside you, green eyes full of fury. “You’re just mad because I used your lucky flashbang.”

“I’m mad for a whole lot, missy,” he growled. You raised your eyebrows, smirking back at him. “Stop making that face.”

“I’m not doing anything,” you teased, still smirking as his nostrils flared. “I knew what I was doing. Risky? Yes, but so was letting three armed men run rampant in the station with people locked up in cells and you out cold. I made a call, the same one you would have made in my position.”

He grumbled and got in your face, hot breath fanning over you. “Never do that again. Swear.”

“I pinky promise.” Beau grumbled, kissing you roughly as he kept you close. He sighed when he inched back, closing his eyes. “I’m okay. Question is are you?”

“I’m better now that he’s locked up and not getting out,” he said as the doctor walked in wearing a frown not too dissimilar to the one Beau had been sporting. “What’s the verdict?”

“You fucked up your ankle, Beau, that’s the verdict.” You crossed your arms, Beau trying to brush it off.

“It can’t be that bad-”

“You need surgery. Then I’m shoving you in a cast until I know your ankle is healed. I told you not to walk on it and it looks like you’ve done nothing but ignore that direction since you’ve left. Your body went through a major trauma. You’re lucky you’re young and healthy and you should have no problem making a full recovery.” The doctor turned to you and sighed. “He won’t be able to stay by himself that first week. You said his home isn’t suitable for crutches?”

You glanced at Beau, seeing his puppy dog eyes. “Alright, Arlen. You can stay with me until you’re better. Don’t think this means we’ve moved in together or anything though. We’re still new to this.”

“Your surgery is planned for the morning. Do me a favor and don’t leave the fucking bed for the rest of today,” he said, his beeper going off. “I’ll be back soon to explain the surgery in more detail. And Arlen? Next time you damn well listen to me.”

Beau gave a mini salute, chuckling after the doctor was gone. “Surprised he wasn’t more pissed at me.”

“I’m guessing you know him based on that wildly unprofessional interaction.”

“Oh we go way back,” said Beau, scooting over on the bed. “Sit with me.”

You crammed yourself in, Beau sliding his arm over your shoulders. “So you’re all better cause Frisch is locked up, just like that.”

He shrugged, waggling his hand. “Maybe not all better. I promise when I am stuck at home on my ass or on desk duty because of this fucking ankle, I will make time and talk to someone too.”

“Good. I don’t want you to try and do it on your own like after what happened with your old partner. It’s not good for you,” you said, massaging his scalp, Beau’s eyes fluttering closed. “I’m going to stay tonight.”

“You don’t have to. I’m sure the station is going nuts.”

“They can survive. We need a moment,” you said, Beau absently curling into your touch. “So. I know last night’s dinner wasn’t amazing but if you could have anything in the world right now, what would it be?”

“Man, I could go for a greasy burger and fries. And a strawberry milkshake. And some of your mashed potatoes. Those were, despite what you may think, the best thing I’ve ever eaten in my life.” 

“You were literally starving for a week.” 

“But the were so good,” he laughed. “Would you mind running home and getting me some?”

“For you, bud? Sure,” you said, kissing his temple. “I’ll get your other food and bring you some clothes since I’m sure you’ll be here a few days. Apparently you’re a troublemaker who doesn’t listen.”

“I wonder who I got that from,” he teased, resting his head on your shoulder, closing his eyes. 

“Take a nap while I’m gone,” you whispered, sliding out from beside him, tugging his blanket up over his waist. “We’ll call Emily when I get back, okay?”

“Oh crap,” he said, running his hand over his mouth. “Is she okay? I haven’t talked to her-”

“I know. I called her yesterday after we found you, let her know you’re safe. As far as she’s concerned, you’ve been resting today and will call her tonight.”

“Thank you,” he said with a soft and sleepy smile. “You know your relationship with her will change when she finds out.”

“She has a mother Beau. I will be what she needs me to be. She’s old enough to make that decision for herself,” you said. He nodded, leaning back in bed. 

“I love that you care about her,” he said, almost as if to himself. You gave him a quick kiss, Beau smiling when you crossed the room for the door. “Hey, Y/L/N. Soon as I’m back on my feet, I’m taking you a proper date like a gentleman.”

“I’d like that,” you said, lingering by the door. “Beau?”

“Yeah?”

“I’m really glad you’re home again.”

“Me too, baby.” You shook your head, Beau laughing. “What I’d say?”

“New pet name, I don’t do baby.”

“Missy?” 

“I’m drinking your milkshake for that,” you said, walking out the door, gratefully to the sound of his laughter.

_______

[alevolpe]

I'm really curious about the second arc based off your hcs!

EXTREMELY LONG ASK! I’ll put a super quick TLDRL at the end, but this is my longest ask by FAR.

I’m really not a fan of time travel in sailor moon, so season 2 is very different in my hc.

I still rlly like Ail and An, so I think I’d keep them for the first section of season 2, but introduce them as regular students that attend the same school as Usagi and Ami in season 1.

I thought even having An as Usagi’s classmate and having a Rei like bantery relationship. Show them being kinda weird and a bit more comic-y side characters during the season, but never have them fight or meet the senshi directly. They attack with more subtlety to avoid inciting suspicion and honestly, just have them act like they are trying to live a regular life, which they are, but they have to feed on energy to survive (no tree needed).

The Ail and Ann section would be more low key, let’s try to get our shit together and recover front he trauma we just witnessed at the end of the first season type deal (they didn’t die), but layer a level of quiet but ever rising uneasiness. Something is changing, the girls are changing.

Venus contact with Minako is getting stronger and stronger. Ami’s black hair (i hc her having jet black with a blue shine hair as a civilian, which turns blue post transformation) is starting to grow blue roots. Mako is getting ever so slightly taller and muscular. Rei’s visions get way more frequent and her powers are starting to bleed to her human form. Usagi’s is starting to behave a bit off, few strands of white hair start to poke out among her blonde hair.

They eventually square off with Ail and An, who found out their secret identities. Due to an accident, the building they are in collapses splitting the girls and Ail and An in odd groups. All the girls, but Usagi ready to kill the threat and An battling internally as well, not really wanting to fight, but at the same time being unwilling to believe Usagi would be a Sailor Senshi.

For Ail and An backstory. They were forced to evacuate their planet as kids cause Galaxia attacked their protector (who is also a senshi, but they don’t know that yet) and devastated their planet. This caused an immense resentment toward the sailor senshi kind by both Ail and An, but Ail being the older more mature of the two, just wants to let peace and to live a peaceful low key life on Earth. An doesn’t believe that could happen, because these other senshi will come after them again and kill them, cause that’s what senshis do.

They eventually resolve their conflicts and Ail and Ann get to live on Earth among them (with some restrictions on what type of energy they get to consume, limited human energy, just don’t attack people in general terms lol).

Skipping to the second section of season 2, this is where the bigger more dramatic stakes come in. As I stated in a previous ask, both Serenity and Venus used Venus’ sword to make their souls persist through their reincarnations and they are staring to resurface from within Usagi’s and Mina’s bodies.

Luna is very perplexed by all the changes going on among the girls, at this point knowing the whole deal with the Moon Kingdom, the now gone ‘Dark Kingdom’ and Artemis, but still not having any memories of it. One particular night, she takes a walk to reflect, trying to focus and remember, and that’s where, while crossing at a green light, among the public she spots a Sailor Pluto towering unmoving among the walking crowds. Just staring her down with a blank expression on her face. This causes her to stop everything and just stare, pieces of her memory slowing unblurring, one by one, Venus, Jupiter, Mercury, Mars.. Serenity.. Serenity! Just like that she misses the lights turning red, a truck barreling toward her at full speed.

The girls all meet having looked for Luna everywhere. Makoto joins them a few moments later with a small plastic bag in her hands, having seen a couple of trash collectors in her neighborhood getting ready to load a fresh roadkill into their trucks, Artemis being with her commands her to stop them, having smelled Luna’s scent.

The girls all have different reactions to this. Ami immediately going and taking the bag, in complete denial and desperation she just cries holding Luna. Rei is just left absolutely stunned and in disbelief. None of her other premonitions ever came true.

Rei is constantly plagued by visions, most of these visions are futures that will never happen. She’s seen all her loved one die in all of different ways, events out of apocalyptic scenarios, all of which never happened, so she just stayed silent about them. Choosing to not cause unnecessary stress for what it’s basically a fortune cookie prediction. But this one was the one, the one to actually come true, seeing Luna on a snowy night getting hit by a truck while crossing a sidewalk.

Rei and Luna’s relationship was a bit strained. Rei always turning her nose up at Luna’s attempts to be a force of authority to Rei (never goes well). Though throughout season 1 Rei learns to ‘tolerate’ her after a talk they had, Luna stating that she was never trying to replace Rei’s mother and that she truly wants to be there for them, but that Rei is free to not accept her that way and keep healthy boundaries between them.

This next section is an excerpt from an outline I have saved of the scene following Luna’s death. (Warning I suck at writing so go easy on me. This isn’t meant to be read as a story, but just a dialogue outline for me to keep as a guideline)

______________________________________________________________

Rei, at the sight of Luna’s body in the bag blurts out loud that this isn’t possible and they it doesn’t make sense. None of her predictions ever came true, it doesn’t make sense, Mina coming to her side to calm her down and trying to understand what visions Rei is even referring to.

Ami overhears this while still crying, devastated.

“You saw this?” With the widest and most blank eyes Rei has ever seen on Ami.

“No, I mean yes.. but it never happens. I just see some much, all the time, with you, with Luna and I can’t-”

“Murderer”

“ …What? What did you just fucking say?”

“MURDER!!” And with that she jumps at Rei, blinded by rage, genuinely ready to start a beat down. And Rei doing the same, being also blinded by rage and betrayal of Ami accusing her she would ever withhold such information on purpose. Fortunately Mako and Mina intervene, Mako keeping Ami at bay while Mina severely struggles with Rei.

Ami keeps throwing accusations and insults toward Rei, knowing very well of Rei’s poor treatment of Luna, but being unaware of the small bridge of agreement they came to just among themselves a bit prior. Though she’s just genuinely blinded by grief and rage, she would’ve never accused Rei of such things with a clear mind. Luna was the closest, among all the others to Ami, being the first to be awakened by her (I have a different join order for the senshi, I have a diagram for it right HERE! But it’s basically Luna awakens Ami, Rei and Usagi, in that order, while Artemis awakens Mina and Mako). Their bond has genuinely become one of a mother-daughter relationship, so losing Luna hit Ami the absolute hardest.

Mako has to knock Ami unconscious to help Mina with Rei and Rei, obviously threatened by Mako, plus he’s herself off of Mina. While Mina instructs Mako to just let her be and that she just wants everyone to calm tf down.

Rei still in utter shock and denial looks toward Usagi “WOULD YOU FUCKING SAY SOMETHING?!”.

Usagi was just holding still silent this whole time, eyes widened in shock, but.. not balling. Small tears at the edge of her eyes are all she’s given. She’s just shocked and speechless, but not the Usagi way. She seems empty..

Mako puts Ami to sleep in Rei’s bed and gives Mina instructions to go home and that they can deal with everything in the morning. She’ll stay with the others at the temple to keep the from going crazy once during the nigh. Very reluctantly Mina accepts and leaves with Artemis, leaving Rei, Ami, Usagi and Mako at the temple for the night.

The next morning Mina and Artemis make their way to the temple. The anticipation of the girls at each other’s throats eating at them.

Mina opens the door and finds something that just leaves her absolutely speechless.

All the girls are sitting at the low table eating breakfast, chatting like absolutely NOTHING happened the night prior. Usagi super cheerful from eating Mako’s delightful cooking, Rei sipping tea quietly and Ami reading one of Rei’s books while enjoying her breakfast.

Mina has no words and obviously asks Mako what happened. Mako with a very friendly and peaceful expression just says that everything was resolved. Mina attempts to prod the others for clarifications too, but with no different results. “We talked it out” “YOU’RE NOT MAD ANYMORE?!?” “No” “why are you being so weird Mina” “yeah Mina, we’re a team! Come on! We can’t let stuff like that divide us!”

Something’s not right. It can’t be. And fortunately, by an absolute miracle for Mina she takes a peek at Artemis and the same exact expression of ‘something’s is not right here’ is plastered on his face too.

At this point Usagi finally refers directly to Mina very casually “have you seen the silver Crystal, I can’t find it?” (At the end of season 1 Usagi gave it to Mina to keep). Something’s absolutely not right, Mina states she hasn’t seen it lately and makes an excuse to leave, Mako raising at the same time, a way more serious expression on her face, repeating the princesses’ question. At this point both Mako and Ami looking at Mina with eye peering through her, Mina and Artemis making a mad dash for the door, running as far away from the temple as they can, Ami and Mako right on their heels.

Artemis separates from Mina, stating he knows something that could help them, but that’s he has to leave Mina to deal with the situation alone for the time being. Agreeing Sailor Venus has a chase with across the streets of Tokyo, both Mercury and Jupiter on hot pursuit, while Usagi and Rei slowly walk the same direction.

______________________________________________________________

The real enemy of season 2 is Princess Serenity, being reawakened within Usagi’s body, the trauma of losing Luna being the last straw Serenity needed to shove Usagi in the backseat. The rest of the senshi, especially Mako and Ami have also sort of reawakened, but as hollowed soldier powered by the will of the Serenity and the Crystal. Sailor Venus being immune to the “control” cause of the deal her and Serenity made in the their previous life, preserving Venus’ soul inside Minako (here, toward the end), while Sailor Mars is temporarily controlled, but not fully cause she died in season 1. This unexpected course of events braking the connection of the silver Crystal to her body and reincarnated soul. She will break out the spell and escape joining Mina to fight Serenity, Mercury and Jupiter and bring their friends back.

Tho they aren’t alone, as Artemis returns after a small absence, bringing back our favorite lesbians Sailor Neptune and Sailor Uranus, whose whereabouts and goals are unknown for the time being, but due to the dire situation they are in, questions will come later.

The season will resolve with Mina being able to permanently kill Serenity’s soul and being Usagi back (all while bettering Venus’ soul and the temptation to kill Usagi, knowing there has to be another way to stop Serenity without killing the body) shattering her sword in the process and freeing Mercury and Jupiter who have been under Serenity’s control all this time and have being fighting Uranus and Neptune.

TLDR for hc SEASON 2:

Ail and An are forced to confront the senshi after the first season of living as regular humans who secretly fed on energy. The senshi wan to kill them, as well as An, but Usagi and Ail just want peace. They resolve it and Ail and An get to continue living on Earth as normal people with some restrictions on attacking people for energy.

While all that was happening, the girls start to bleed aspects of their senshi selves into the human forms (ie Ami’s blue hair is poking out of her natural civilian black hair and so on). Luna dies in a car accident while being distracted by Pluto, the girls discover her and Ami violently accuses Rei of withholding the information of her death to her (Rei saw her dying in a vision but didn’t say anything to anybody, cause all her other visions never came true).

A violent ruffle goes down, and Mina is instructed to leave the temple to let the waters cool. She comes back the next morning to find them all eerily serene and quiet and sensing something is wrong she runs away. The rest of the senshi and Usagi, now having been taken over by Serenity. Rei manages to break free from the control and joins Mina, who has now the hold of the mysterious Uranus and Neptune and they all set out to stop Serenity.

[cancerian-woman]

https://www.tumblr.com/cancerian-woman/743951767695474688/it-would-be-nice-if-klope-had-as-many-scenes-and?source=share

yeah and I say this as someone who doesn’t even like Hayley, it’s weird that they barely mentioned her but emphasised her relationship with Klaus. Hope barely even knew Klaus, out of the two of her parents, she spent more time with Hayley, so the emphasis on her being “her father’s daughter” was always so weird to me. Like yeah, she’s the daughter of the OG hybrid, but Hayley was more of a parent to her than Klaus was.

people say that Phoebe Tonkin bought the rights to Hayley, but be so fucking fr. Why would she do that. Does she even have the money for that? Why would she do that, be fr. Julie just didn’t know what to do with Hope.

Wake it up lmao 😂.

Like I said in my tags. TO prioritized Hayley’s relationship and parenting with Hope. While never making those similar connections with the Mikaelson’s (besides Freya..). Now I’m not blaming Hayley or Freya but the writing.The writers bent over backwards to break TVDU’s rules and yet… Hope does not know her family well.

Klaus should’ve had time where he got to raise Hope. Do I think he would’ve made terrible choices? Yes. Should it still happened? Yeah. Klaus season 2 was at his best when it came to wanting to protect and love Hope tbh.

Phoebe did not buy the rights to Hayley. I think people were confused because Danielle said Phoebe did not consent for her images to be used. Julie and the other writers are petty like that. I assumed whatever issue they had it’s been resolved as Phoebe and Julie been at cons together. I believe Phoebe was supposed to make a guest appearance? Somebody correct me lol.

Hayley is a saint (yes she does fucked up and manipulative shit)next to Klaus. Everyone’s reasonings for being afraid of Hope was because of Klaus not Hayley. The writers didn’t know what to do with Hope and was just recycling former storylines. Hayley did deserve more credit though.

[evelili]

okay I’ve been reading your magnum opus fic and I’m at the chapter with fluttershy and the manticore and GOOD GOD this fic is amazing. Your writing of twilight is stunning. Her steadfast belief in science at the start seemed odd but now that her past bullying has been revealed it feels like she was just clutching to the one thing that couldn’t hurt her. God sunset getting possessed is so cool and I am TERRIFIED of when twilights going to be forced to see her like that. Your characterization of Celestia blows me away, she’s this perfect mix of a loving mentor and a woman who would do ANYTHING to keep her demons locked away. I really like how you write that there’s this shift between her when she is talking to twilight normally vs when she’s talking about magic. She goes from loving to almost cold, it’s brilliant! I’m halfway through fluttershy’s chapter and good god. Applejack’s speech about it not being Twilights fault she got bullied and having to trust her in spite of all that has happened nearly brought me to tears but GOD. Twilight being a bit possessed by the manticore is such a cool shift from the original episode it makes it all so much more intense. Fluttershy and twilight talking about how twilight didn’t deserve to be bullied and it’s alright that she didn’t get over it!!

“Something’s wrong with me,” she whispered back, her mouth dry with guilt. Fluttershy nodded carefully, the stinger still inches away from her throat. Twilight didn’t trust herself to move, and instead added, “I don’t mean just right now. There’s still—” She choked on her words. “I didn’t get over it,” she said instead. “I couldn’t. Not like you.”

Like!!! This bit right here fucked me UP. Your descriptions of the emotions she’s feeling and how she’s expressing it physically between her mouth and her voice and how the wings and scorpion tail are reacting are BRILLIANT!!

Twilight didn’t try to move away. “But I’m not better,” she admitted. Fluttershy’s hand brushed against her cheek, gently tucking a piece of her hair behind her ear. “And I don’t know why.”

This line is the one that broke me and made me write this. GOD. I don’t have words besides just. oh my god. Fluttershys gentleness is so good and so heartbreaking and I love it

I’ll be honest I’m not yet sure how to write long comments on fimfiction, but when I finish this fic you’re eithering getting a long ass ask in your inbox or a comment on there if I figure it out. Love this fic so far!!! Ah!!!!

AHHHHHH tysm for taking the time to write such a lovely comment!!! like holy shit you have just given me enough serotonin for WEEKS omg, it makes me so happy to know that you're enjoying the story!!

celestia is a rlly interesting chara to me, and im super happy w how the version of her in the fic turned out! actually, most of the reason for the 30k epilogue jumpscare is that i really needed to properly resolve her "arc" with twilight, so if you are a fan of this version of her please look forward to that! and, sunset as a "villain" was something we only saw briefly in eqg1 (and for my tastes, i wasnt a huge fan of how it was done) but there's so much POTENTIAL there i couldnt help myself in exploring it :)

chapter 5->act 2 is the real "turning point" i guess of the fic in terms of tone, and even tho it was a struggle to write shy's chapter i think over time i've rlly come around to liking how it turned out :D in the fic i ended up writing fluttershy as more of a later season version of herself (less cowardly maybe?), but the essence of her chara to me is someone who can be kind even in situations when she is receiving unkindness in return. and sometimes, this "fighting fire with kindness" is actually the only solution, and one that only shy can find.

wahhh i never know how to properly express how much i love and appreciate these sort of detailed responses, so please also accept a little doodle of the scene you mentioned liking as part of my thanks!

[rdng1230]

lemme just say that even if Izzy hadn’t died I still think this finale was shit. 1. Ed and Stede’s conflict is still NOT ACTUALLY RESOLVED Ed just says I love you and that’s all it took? No guys you actually have to fucking talk to each other. Ed didn’t meaningfully realize he wanted to be with Stede, he just got rejection dysphoric when that fisherman was rude to him. That is not meaningful character growth! Ed deserves better than that! 2. Really the only emotional issue that was resolved through open communication was Zheng and Auntie. And it was a really sweet scene! But let’s be real of the laundry list of lingering issues that needed to be solved, did anyone have Zheng and her aunties relationship in even the top 5 things? 3. The British are just not a well established big bad. They barely appear in this season at all up until the end of episode 7. Izzy’s speech to Ricky was great, but it would’ve been way more cathartic had we actually seen any character struggle to live their life due to the British navy. For Christ sakes, Stede and crew was able to take down a whole squad of officers in episode 1! Ed and Stede immediately escape from the act of grace academy and no one even seems to be really after them! Ed pulls off 90 days straight of raiding completely unhindered! 4. All of the final sweet moments to me feel rushed or unearned or both. I’m happy for Lucius and Pete but I’d loved to have a follow up conversation about Lucius’s obvious lingering PTSD. I love that Stede and Ed get to run an inn together but you’re telling me we don’t even get to see them having that conversation? How does the crew respond to both their captains leaving and their first mate dead? Who is even the captain now? This shows most interesting and meaningful moments are the messy in between bits and they steamrolled through all of them. 5. Every single thing izzy said was things that he had shown himself perfectly capable of telling Ed and/or Stede even when not bleeding out. He’s told Ed that he loves him, he’s told Ed indirectly and Stede directly that he thinks they make a good couple, he’s literally singing love songs to the crew including Ed, name one thing that he said with his dying breath that he wouldn’t have gotten around to saying if they hadn’t fucking killed him with a stray bullet like every other queer character that finally carves their way into a happy place.

[1im-perfect1]

Thinking about Nandor and his word choice how much of an open book in a foreign language he is, how he wears his heart on his sleeve while not even comprehending his own decisions and motives and him being dumb not stupid.

The sound effect in 3x08 when he says “I relinquish you of your service” it’s genuine all of season 3 is him slowly changing his behavior with Guillermo and the whole “vampirism is a curse” feels real and genuine because he’s being disingenuous, he has to tell 1 truth and 3 lies “I care about you” drowned by “My cold dead heart” a lie “your just okay personality” another lie “just a little bit” the biggest lie after the heaviest truth, from then on familiar is used as an insult he doesn’t really think of Guillermo that way, 3x09 and 3x10 are all about Nandor playing a part (and all of season 4), 3x09 is pure survival and self-preservation he’s hurting so it means it’s everyone else’s fault, they’re all beneath him and still underneath all the coping there’s tenderness that spills out with Guillermo (that he was so scared was gonna grow apart and instead Nandor is the one that constantly tries to get away).

3x10 is the most strategic Nandor and the most serious we see him, he’s carrying out a plan and that’s why I don’t think Nandor is as stupid or oblivious (as the show might make you think) he knows Guillermo enough to play him, he starts talking about leaving when he hears the door opening, he knows he hasn’t told anything to Guillermo (he would have been the first to know), he mocks him about not being a vampire and giving him one last duty, but at the same time has already a goal in mind he finds someone to plan the journey to rid Guillermo of having to work, he gets a little too excited when he sees Guillermo because he’s getting really happy about it to then before the fight recompose himself and go back into character telling things that would make Guillermo mad, the “You shooed away some assassins who gives a shit” is such a dead giveaway after him fighting a whole month to save Guillermo’s life and how grateful he was about having his life saved also I’m 75% convinced that he knew about the hypnosis...tiny problem he underestimated Guillermo’s reaction but I also think that’s why Nandor is so interested in him, he’s unpredictable.

But Nandor can’t predict others’ actions (Laszlo’s) and can't see through anyone else's lenses so the only way he can explain to himself why Guillermo didn’t come is outright rejection, it’s setting yourself up for failure "the worst outcome" accepting it without listening because you have to come to peace with it, knowing that if you heard it from that person it would tear you apart so you forgive because you don’t want to hear it. But how does he get Guillermo to stay now? He relinquished him of his service in 3x08 so he’s not his employee anymore and in 3x10 he gave him his last duty...mmm he’s been really lonely lately...without...him...check mate, he’s gonna propose in the same exact way as last time but this time to be his best man hoping that he will be jealous...he isn’t...Guillermo’s gonna stop him because it’s too hasty and ridiculous...he doesn’t...he’s gonna ask him impossible stuff for the wedding...he gets everything and also gets Nadja and The Guide to help him...he’s gonna object to the wedding...he’s the only person that doesn’t, well at least Nandor got what he wanted but his wife stops him from spending time with Guillermo and he has a boyfriend, if Guillermo likes his boyfriend what if he likes Guillermo’s boyfriend too but he can’t steal him away that would be cruel and he’s not a cheater, if there’s 2 of the same thing are there 2 or just 1? Everything is resolved him and Guillermo like the same thing but they’re not the same thing but they are, Guillermo is being confusing first he says they are the same thing but when Nandor tries to give him his Freddie he says it’s different, this isn’t fun anymore...well everything is back to normal and it’s wonderful isn't it? Guillermo isn’t his familiar, nor bodyguard, nor best man but here he is and single too...should he question why he’s still there or why he wants him there...nah

[thefirstpaleontologist]

OFMD S2E8 SPOILERS

Right so. Izzy is my favourite character. And I don’t mind when characters die. I think if it adds to the story and is a good end for their personal story arc then it can be the best choice. But. I didn’t really like how they chose to go about it.

the story gave him a redemption. he protected the crew and suffered and tried to kill himself. he apologised and was apologised to. he changed and grew and found love and family. he had the respect of his friends and crew, the pirate nation as a whole, and even his enemies. He had the chance to give a speech about the purpose of piracy and a chance to say goodbye to Ed.

Logically this should have meant that his death should have been. Idk like not fine but gratifying.

But for some reason it didn’t feel like that? Usually if a character I like dies I’m some mix of “this is devastating, shouting at the screen, how could this happen” and “holy shit my fav guy is getting so much attention and is narratively important and will get so much fix it fic about them”. But with this i was kinda just like “wait what”.

And I think the reasons for this is because

1. I didn’t think the show would go that far. I personally wasn’t expecting any of the main characters to die. Like ACTUALLY die. This is the show that had Lucius miraculously survive being thrown over board, had stede find his marooned crew on a tiny island in the middle of the ocean, Izzy survived his leg being cut off and was walking on a new prosthetic immediately after, Ed had a canon ball bashed on his head and came away with literally no bruises despite apparently dying… For the muppet cartoon rules to suddenly not apply was jarring. But I suppose Izzy has always operated more in the real world than the rest of the cast.

2. the whole episode was rushed. The pacing was very quick and a lot of stuff happened without much time to process. Having a character die in the last episode means we didn’t get to see much of the other characters responding to it. This isn’t the shows fault cause it was originally meant to have 10 eps but still. i don’t feel it was given the appropriate amount of weight that it should have.

3. Izzy didn’t go down fighting in an epic battle. He didn’t die protecting those he cared about. He was hit by an idiots lucky shot and bled out. Izzy is the first main character to die. He was someone that by the end carried the same narrative importance as Stede and Ed. This is just a personal pet peeve but I think his cause of death should have been hard earned.

4. giving an angry miserable character a redemption and letting them find community and happiness only to then. die. is just very sad. Especially coming from a show that before this has been mostly very kind to its characters and audience.

That said, I think a lot of this can be resolved in s3. I think it is very likely that Izzy will remain in spirit in s3, through flashbacks or hallucinations or dreams etc as we have seen utilised for other characters, and we will see more of Stede and Ed and the crews grief (akin to how the goth crew reacted to Ed shooting Izzy at the start of the season). Izzy’s death isn’t meant to be a punishment for either himself or the audience. And I think the main issue was just a lack of time to flesh it out.

tl;dr: The show usually operates on muppet world rules so to have a main character actually die was unexpected. Since the final episode was rushed the appropriate weight could not be given to such a narratively significant characters death. the fact that izzy did not get to go down fighting or protecting others meant it felt kind of random and unnecessary. And having a show that is usually very kind to it’s characters and audience kill off a character right when they’d finally changed and found community kind of feels like a betrayal. BUT having both first mates (buttons and izzy) “leave” is likely symbolically significant to Ed and Stedes development. And the show will likely give due attention to Izzy’s death in s3.

[ctoan11]

Still more Season 3 thoughts:

S3e9

Only Michael and Fi would have a gun as a memento of their relationship

“Yeah but you like Fiona right?” Sam never lets Mike hide from his feelings

The way he drags the chair to make as much noise as possible

S3e10

People need me so I have to — gutted

And just like that, Maddie is okay with what he does because he fixed everything for her

Can we talk about Tyne Daly? I love that these two got to work together again and be friends. I didn’t watch Cagney and Lacey when it was on — it would have been on at 11pm and even as a teenager I wasn’t allowed to stay up that late but my parents did and I was definitely aware of it and the uniqueness of portraying 2 female detectives working together. And they are both so good. I loved Tyne Daly on Judging Amy and then her brother is Tim Daly and he’s so good too.

S3e11

Face first repelling—so cool

S3e13

They base a whole episode around the idea of Sicario! And it’s 5 years before JD is in the movie. Hahahah

S3e16

Garrett Dillahunt — swoon. I love him in Raising Hope and Justified and Deadwood and... everything I’ve seen him in. He does comedy and psychopath equally well.

Maddie is such a badass. She is always underestimated and plays the naive mother so well but has deep resolve and reserves for putting up with shit. Michael thinks he needs to protect her from the bad things hes done but she knows bad things.

[boy-with-the-demon-blood]

AND ANOTHER THING

people who bash on 2012 raph need to get some fucking perspective. like. okay so in the middle-end of s2 there’s an interaction that kind of boils down all of raph’s issues into a few sentences.

also this whole analysis is coming from someone who just finished season 2. so if anything changes by the end of the series rip

raph just yelled at casey until he left because he was worried he would get hurt and he doesn’t know how to express his feelings, and then this happened:

mikey: you can’t do that dude! people have feelings! real, squishy feelings!

raph: well i’m not “people”

raph shut down all emotional responses to anything except anger because he was raised in an environment where showing any weakness was basically giving a neon sign inviting ppl to attack. and bc he did this, he’s fallen into the fallacy that everyone else should too, bc it protected him. “why should i have to deal with other people’s feelings? no one ever cares about mine!” is his mindset and it’s. really really damaging. to himself and everyone around him.

at first when i realized this i was like “aw he needs a hug” but no he needs someone to respond to his emotions decently. he needs to be given the benefit of the doubt and that’s really fucking hard when he reacts to vulnerability with anger. if someone tried to approach him with these problems bluntly he’d react by telling them to eat shit and die. like every time leo or splinter brings up raph’s anger issues, he storms out and doesn’t come home for hours. and he still doesn’t apologize or realize that if he wants to resolve his issues, it’s gotta be on him at least a little bit. sure, the others using every bit of vulnerability he shows to pick on him doesn’t help, but that’s just bc they give as good as they get.

he needs a kirishima to his bakugou, or an iroh to his zuko, and he just. doesn’t have one. he’s not as lucky as them and it sucks. and that’s what’s heartbreaking about his character. he’s realistic about his reaction to complex trauma, but he never gets the chance to heal from it. venting to spike was his one healthy coping mechanism and now spike is slash and slash tried to kill him and his brothers.

also splinter doesn’t help anything with his style of “parenting.” he’s like “why is my second son so rebellious and angry? surely not bc i regularly ‘make an example out of him’ and refuse to give actual real advice on how to manage feelings of fear and inferiority. it’s just that something is inherently wrong with him.” he raised the turtles to be ninja. he didn’t raise them like children. his only point of reference for children up until he had the turtles was his experience training other ninja. he raised them like any other ninjutsu master would teach his students. the difference is that those students had parents they went home to. having the person you train with and inevitably get hurt because of be the same person you call “father” is gonna mess up anyone’s head.

anyway all that to say: i project onto 2012 raph like a goddamn movie screen.

[dipstar1489]

Why Did The Acolyte Fail

Heads up, spoilers for the Acolyte. Also, I’ve seen other people criticize the show for being “too diverse,” and let me just say, that’s the laziest complaint I’ve ever heard. Even if you recast the actors to be the most basic looking people you’ve ever seen with the same acting skills, the show would still have the same rating. So, I figured, fuck it, I want to dig deeper into why this show flopped narratively.

The Acolyte focused on a less interesting mystery, which is incredibly poor writing for a mystery story. In the trailers, we were expected to figure out who the new dark force user was, with several theorizing him to be Darth Plaguies, yet the series wanted us to figure out what happened on Brendok, a planet that had no tie in to other Star Wars series. It also didn’t help that the series tried to divert our attention from the actual mystery, and then leave us with even more questions to Mae and Osha’s existence. We don’t know how their soul is split into two bodies, we don’t know why they are considered a vergence by Sol, and we don’t know what would have happened if Osha acceded with Mae.

We should have saw Osha’s time as a padawan. When Qimir asked why Osha isn’t a Jedi, she finally breaks down and says “because I failed,” yet we didn’t see her trials. We never witnessed Sol training Osha or if the trials were rigged. We never saw Osha and Sol’s supposedly strong relationship develop. If we had those scenes, we would be able to better empathize with why Osha turned to the dark side and hint to the Jedi’s motives.

We should have also saw Mae meeting Qimir for the first time and how they parallel Osha and Sol’s relationship. What caused Qimir to come in contact with Mae? Why did Mae trust Qimir’s persona when the only other people she trusted were Osha and her witch family? How long was she alone for? These are details we should know to better understand who Mae was in this stage of her life.

We don’t see Osha or Mae use traditional witch force outside of their backstory, which should have been seen more often, ESPECIALLY with Mae, because they were born into a witch family and culture. The story has us return to a setting where witches lived and killed for their use of the force, so why didn’t the twins try to keep their culture alive through their use of the force? Also, I’m not certain if it’s just my shit eyesight or if the make up blends in too much, but I didn’t even notice Mae had that mark on her head until it’s outright stated, but even then I still don’t know what it looks like, which is a rather poor character design choice if it’s meant to indicate which twin is on screen.

The time period is too far behind from the current timeline. It’s a 100 years before the prequel stories, making the audience less invested in the characters’ story because they wouldn’t have been alive by then, they are completely new characters that have never been alluded to, and the ending has Osha and Qimir in hiding. After this series finale, we should of known how they impact current Star Wars, but it’s still left in the air.

The only explanation that possibly could answer why these issues showed up could be because they wanted to do a season 2. However, maintaining a long lasting mystery series that’s still successful is extremely rare because the first season needs to resolve one key aspect of the grander mystery at large to keep the audience still hooked. The writers need to hide enough to not spoil the mystery, but sprinkle enough evidence to award the audience for figuring out the mystery on their own. The Acolyte was too focused on setting up season 2, that it neglected season 1’s plot.

[macdenlover]

the state of television right now is so so bad that i’m so scared of what happens after sunny ends for me??? shows are getting canceled after 1-2 seasons theres no room for slow, multi-season arcs everything has to be so fast paced, and writers are trying to resolve storylines as quickly as possible to wrap up a whole season in 6-8 episodes. no filler episodes. no fun. you don’t get enough time to get to know the characters at least not enough to fixate on them. there’s not enough content to drive transformative fan work that lasts beyond the first couple of weeks after a release because everything thats established by the canon is meant to drive itself forward. nothing left to the imagination (until the show inevitably gets canceled by a streaming service’s algorithm). shows don’t get the grace to find themselves and figure out how to play to their strengths after a rocky first season or two. you don’t get to fall in love with the characters gradually. you choose who you like and who you don’t like by the steering of the narrative and even in the few cases where you do earnestly end up fixated on a character on a show that’s a season long it will never be the same evergreen familiarity that comes with liking characters that have been around for 15+ seasons. if sunny got canceled after season 3 it would be an obscure blip in television history. i’m awfully brainrotted by this show and even i wouldn’t give a shit about any of these characters if all i had to work with was the first couple of seasons. i’m mourning everything that could have been in shows that never got a chance to lift off the ground. i didn’t get to fall in love with you because you cut me off after the 2nd date. i don’t know your parents names or your embarrassing third grade crush or the craziest dream you’ve had but if you gave me the chance maybe i would have loved you. and i’m so scared that i’m never gonna be able to have that with another show again.

[in-kyblogs]

For the top 5/top 10 meme: top character growth/change arcs!

Oooh I love this.

1) Fleabag. Well, everything about that show really. But I love mostly that the first part of her growth happens off screen, between season 1 and 2, and then we see her again when everything starts going to shit once more. She lets go of us in the end and we let go of her, and that tells us that she has grown even if her story doesn’t have an happy ending. Yeah that’s my favorite one. Accepting that even when things don’t go well for you it doesn’t mean you’re doomed and learning to not self destroy over it is a very powerful arc.

2) Nora from Past Life. At the end of the movie she is in a place where she can be better resolved than at the start. Confronting her unresolved feelings didn’t make her doubt herself, instead she is firm in the choices she made for her life without this having to mean that she can’t be emotional and sad over the things that couldn’t come to be. You can see that movie is written by a woman, no man can write a love triangle that insightful without demonising any of the character or infantilising the female protagonist. Really a breath of fresh air

3) I’m gonna go Anakin Skywalker for the corruption arc. Yeah those movies have problems and yeah they could have been written better, but for his corruption I think all the emotional beats really hit and for a character you already know is doomed there are enough instances in which you can hope that he still could be saved, and that is devastating exactly in the right way.

4) Zuko from atla. I know but just that show shaped my teenaged mind and I will never forget it. His arc is still one of the best redemption arcs and a masterclass in how to write a character that was, for all intents and purposes, a villain at the start.

5) I’m gonna include here an italian book by Alessandro Baricco, it’s called Novecento and really it’s more a theatre play than a novel. It’s one of my favourite reads ever and it kind of flips on his head the theme of a character growth arc, because the protagonist tries to change everything about his life and in the end chooses to remain exactly the same, with extreme consequences. I’m trying to be non spoilery because it really is a great book and everyone who can should read it: there is an English translation by Ann Goldestein!

@platoapproved Thank you I had so much fun with this! 🫶

Ask me my "TOP 5/TOP 10" anything!