#to clarify im not saying the plot is bad as it is and it's probably my fault for having expectations

[hopelesslyromanticshark]

HI, HEY, HELLO can i get leo with apollo!fem!reader? (plsplsplsplspls i'm beggin') where she performs a song like solo concert for camp (for inspiration new romantics by taylor swift) and leo is just so in love

i think new romantics is freakingly well describes her personality and exactly the energy that she wants to give to the camp (y'know about circumstances)

take your time, lovely! ♡

⋆ ˚｡⋆౨ৎ˚ He Can't See It In My Face, But I'm About To Play My Ace

content: leo valdez x daughter of apollo! reader fic warning: language, i believe, but that's about it!! author's note: okay okay, this was the secret fic with the explanation. i do not listen to taylor swift, in fact she's a blocked artist on my spotify, and let me explain why. my best friend is her biggest fan, like huge huge fan of hers. and i love in strange ways. my least favorite colors, colors in which i refused to buy anything in, are the favorite colors of my loved ones. because i associate them with those colors and see it as their thing. and id know how id feel it someone was trying to take something i viewed as mine, i guess??? its the same way with music. i feel like if i become a huge swiftie, then we're competing and i dunno. it sounds stupid writing all this out, BUT me and her have had talks about it and she understands and tbh, that's all that matters to me lmao. sooooo yeah that's just what i wanted to say and i wanted to say it here with the fic because i think it would have been strange as a sort of stand alone comment, ya know??? anyways, to surmise, nothing agaisnt taylor swift, huge fan of her like as a person or human being, but unwilling to listen to her music because i love people weird. okay okay im done ranting lmao (also i shouldn't have to clarify this but i will; IT IS NOT FOR PICK ME REASONS FR IF I HAVE TO BEG A MAN TO PICK ME BY BEING QUIRKY I DO NOT WANT THAT MAN)

admittedly, it had been a stupid bet to take. but the stoll's were egging her on and she really wasn't one to let clarisse of all people walk all over her. plus, she had some minor confidence in the athena cabin to keep their flag out of the ares cabin's grimy hands. apparently, it was misplaced. but, really their were worse bets she could have lost, like shaving her head or getting a tattoo, all bets the stolls have had to follow through with.

"can't wait to see your next show, songbird," clarisse mocked playfully as she marched past with her siblings, laurels proudly set on her curls. you sighed, sticking your tongue out at her back. and really, you weren't sure why you were complaining. you loved to sing! but, it's probably tied to the fact that you hated to lose. then, you started to plot, growing more excited with every passing second.

no one said this bet had to be a bad thing.

leo knew something was up from the moment he sat down for lunch. he could just sense it in the air, glaring over at the stoll's suspiciously. they shrugged and leo couldn't quite tell if they were playing innocent or truly were innocent. damn hermes genes. then a beat started playing through the pavilion, everyone looking around in confusion. chrion and mr. d both stood from there seats, also glancing around in confusion.

"what-" mr. d tried but then you were standing from your table, a played up face of confusion plastered on your face. leo squinted suspiciously at the girl of his dreams, having already caught on that this was her doing from the twinkle in her eyes alone. that twinkle that had his stomach doing flips and his lips curling upwards.

"hey, what's going on?" you called over the music, trying to hide your smile as one of your other siblings shot up from his seat.

"i dunno, y/n, maybe someone lost a bet?!" he called, the apollo cabin giggling among themselves as though they were in on an inside joke. and while the rest of the cabins weren't entirely sure what was happening, they couldn't help but smile and laugh too. except for chiron and mr. d, who were growing increasingly more upset at the interruption to their lunch.

"miss l/n, if you will-"

"oh yeah. i did!" you cheered before using one of your sibling's hands and pulling yourself up to stand on the apollo table, eyes scouring the crowd before pulling a microphone to your lips.

we're all bored we're all so tired of everything we wait for trains that just aren't coming we show off our different scarlet letters trust me, mine is better

as per usually, y/n was an amazing singer with a natural stage presence. she was dancing while singing, her siblings doing some choreographed moves. following the end of the first verse, some sunkissed hands shot up and tugged at the girl's sweatpants and baggy shirt, ripping it off to reveal a sparkly, frilly, and short dress that had leo questioning if he needed to take a 'bathroom break' during the performance.

we're so young but we're on the road to ruin we play dumb but we know exactly what we're doin' we cry tears of mascara in the bathroom honey, life is just a classroom (ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah)

y/n now moved from where she was dancing on her father's table, with the help of her siblings. she was now, basically, prancing around the dining pavilion. clearly, a lot of planning went into this, as the apollo cabin perfectly presented their camp necklaces whilst y/n sang about life being just like a classroom. the group had now danced it's way to jason's table, who looked at the group with a raised brow, causing y/n's giggles to waver her voice in a way that had leo falling deeper in love with her.

'cause baby, i could build a castle out of all the bricks they threw at me and every day is like a battle but every night with us is like a dream

whilst singing about bricks, the apollo cabin presented them to jason, who in turn laughed and shoved them away kindly. this caused an uproar in the pavilion, laughter spewing from most everyone's mouths as someone (leo) had made them aware of jason's past with bricks. you patted the ares cabin as you raced by, singing off battles that was met with kind hearted 'boo's. then, whilst singing of dreams, you dramatically draped yourself across the hypnos table, clover hovering a bundle of grapes over your mouth like you were a goddess. which leo was starting to come to the same conclusion as you shot forwards and caught one between your teeth, quickly swallowing it as your next verse came up.

baby, we're the new romantics come on, come along with me heartbreak is the national anthem we sing it proudly

we are too busy dancing to get knocked off our feet baby, we're the new romantics the best people in life are free

by this point, you were waving over at the hermes cabin, which leo has vague memories of being on your capture the flag team last time, who pretended to be surprised before shooting out of their seats and joining in the flash mob. they weren't nearly as fluid as the apollo kids, but their atrociously bad moves brought a lightheartedness to the whole thing. long ago, chrion had given up, sitting back down and enjoying the show like the rest of the campers. but poor mr. d was attempting to chase the flash mob, which they must have predicted as lou ellen, another capture the flag member of the losing team, shot her hand out and caught y/n's, the girl disappearing for a moment before reappearing, this time standing proudly on the ares table.

we're all here the lights and noise are blinding we hang back it's all in the timing it's poker he can't see it in my face but i'm about to play my ace (ah)

y/n danced around on the ares table, hopping and skipping as they pulled their plates out of the way. she made an exaggerated movement towards her wrist while singing about timing, though there was no watch there. then, seemingly from nowhere, she produced a playing card, holding it proudly up in the air between her two fingers so that everyone could see it.

we need love but all we want is danger we team up then switch sides like a record changer the rumors are terrible and cruel but honey, most of them are true (ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah)

with a wink during the final line, y/n threw down the card. a puff of smoke quickly covered the ares table. when it cleared, the girl was gone, along with the rest of the flash mob. everyone looked around, knowing it wasn't the end, many refusing to be jump-scared by a stupid flash mob. then they came running back, basically flooding the pavilion with how many of them there were.

'cause baby, i could build a castle out of all the bricks they threw at me and every day is like a battle but every night with us is like a dream

baby, we're the new romantics come on, come along with me heartbreak is the national anthem we sing it proudly

once more, y/n waved another group over to join in the dancing and fun. this time, the aphrodite cabin bounced out of their seats and raced to join shouting about heartbreak just a little too loud. and you were smiling so widely that leo couldn't help but smile too, completely enamored by the shameless daughter of apollo.

we are too busy dancing to get knocked off our feet baby, we're the new romantics the best people in life are free oh-oh (oh, oh, oh-oh, oh) so, come on, come along with me (oh, oh, oh-oh, oh) the best people in life are free (oh, oh, oh-oh, oh)

the third and final group was summoned, annabeth proudly pulling her siblings up from their table and linking arms with you and piper. percy was laughing loudly from his lonely table, clearly unaware that this was going on, let alone that his girlfriend was involved. then, with another clasp of lou ellen's hand, you were gone. only to appear before leo, standing on his father's table, your eyes darting around until the landed on leo, who swallowed thickly at how pretty you looked in that moment.

please take my hand and

you presented your hand to leo from your higher position and he wasn't even thinking twice before grasping it and allowing you to pull him up to stand on the table as well.

please take me dancing, and

without needing to be prompted, leo spun you and you blushed, which was blurring due to the spinning and leo just barely caught on that it was happening. you then, subtly, pulled him towards the edge of the table, the boy too starstruck to notice until you rested a hand against his heaving chest, the only thing between our lips was a couple of inches and your bedazzled microphone.

please leave me stranded

you punctuated your words with a push against his chest, sending him falling backwards safely into the arms of your siblings. you couldn't help but laugh at the shocked look on his face and leo couldn't help but look at you like you were the whole world, the only thing that'd ever matter to him, and so much more.

it's so romantic (it's so romantic) (ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah)

[mqfx]

so a passing thought about post-canon sangcheng occurred to me & i would like to receive any wise counsel you'd like to give on my thought processes... 🙇‍♂️ they're a little disjointed. disclaimer that i havent read the novel in a while!

im not super convinced by the idea that nhs was able to control eeeeverything that occurred in his Great Revenge--i imagine a lot of it was incidental and opportunistic.

im not clear on whether jiang cheng would figure out that there was a masterminding aspect to the grand finale at the temple at all, bc while i think he's smart! he's also, like, so uninclined to overanalyse things that might uncover something painful for him (see: wwx's behavior post golden core transfer--unless you have to adjust for shixiong admiration/how jc places wwx on a competence pedestal? if wwx says he can handle it he can handle it, until he doesnt handle it so hard he dies. i guess.)

ANYWAY. i dont think jc would be friendly, or maybe he wouldnt like that he Was friendly with nhs if he thought nhs intentionally put jin ling in danger. im not sure if nhs DID! but im thinking in circles about whether jc would think that would have been the case. in my mind he is both endlessly capable of knee-jerk trust recindication (is that a word.) AND trust extended way past reasonable limits. but do you think that would be discussed (with jiang cheng loudly in tears about it in front of many rubbernecking witnesses, mdzs style?) at all? the most i can imagine is jiang cheng yelling obscurely around whether he can trust nie huaisang! clarifying details & inside voices are for the next generation.

i feel like there something to be said about how he trusts wwx with jin ling's safety, too...

this kind of doesn't have a conclusion im just interested in what you think of post canon sangcheng en generale-- it feels like a very different relationship from anything i can imagine in like... cloud recesses era. they're both miserable i think 😀 but actually post canon jiang cheng is doing better than usual than he has been for a long time, in a sense, and nie huaisang is probably thinking he should be doing better.

sorry this is so long!

ok firstable i must address "rescindification" bc it compelled me and apparently the noun form of "rescind" would be "recision" or "rescindment". heeheehee

now my thoughts on the matter:

2019 me wouldn't have agreed with this but remember 4-5 years ago i was only a college sophomore and was less capable of independent thought. since i was more caught up in fandom back then i generally went along with the headcanon that NHS Planned Everything, especially since it gave him more BAMF-ness(??) to, i guess, make up for the fact that he's not a "strong" cultivator. i would Like to delete the fic i wrote about it then but people like it a lot and i'd feel bad just taking it down. it's kinda like my sorrows of young werther (in that goethe regretted his first published work. not that im like goethe ew)

2023 me obviously thinks that's kinda eeehhh and i agree with you more now bc (flips through my memory of Hot Strategist Tips) no plan survives contact with the enemy. nhs wouldn't have been as effective if he had clear strict play-by-plays from the get-go. i think overplanning is what got jgy, because he kept stacking plots to cover his tracks but nothing makes a crime obvious quite like a cover-up

(unrelated question: if you're stark naked in the street, do you cover your ass or your balls? the correct answer is, you cover your face.)

as jgy's narrative foil and winner of that year's political oscars, nhs wouldn't make those exact same mistakes. not to mention, his strength (i think) is in recognizing patterns and doing the least amount of work for maximum effect--the hallmarks of the "lazy" (efficient) genius. plus it's not like he was starved for opportunity (again, bc jgy really was doing too much..... he really could've not gotten caught if he would just focus on the damn infrastructure)

also re:jc yes you're right my man's the king of repression and sublimation lol the whole "who is the REAL mastermind" would be the LEAST of his problems right nyeow!!! he has to help his nephew secure the succession and keep those scheming little rats of jinlintai away from jl, THEN he has to reckon with the fact that his brother is back, which comes with 15+ year old unopened baggage. wouldn't it be funny if he's like, an old retiree before nhs even tells him "yeah it was me lol" and that's finally the thing that kills him LOL sorry

ok that aside let's imagine a scenario where jc gets a whiff of an inkling of an idea that NHS Risked JL's Life (whether he did or not is irrelevant in this case). i'd like to believe that as an older sect leader, like yeah sure emotionally he's stunted like evel kneivel* but at the very least he should have the presence of mind not to scream at a fellow sect leader in the streets about Serious Accusations. (he is not as logical about wwx in canon because that's his big brother and no younger brother is ever logical about his big brother. also he knows wwx well enough that he can trust wwx Wouldn't Endanger Kids)

*get it. bc evel kneivel was a stuntman

imo jc would go in circles thinking "but no..... nhs wouldn't do that" then "but that's what i thought about jgy too......." and then working himself up to a froth. this will probably result in the most intense assessing death glares and some shady little quips in public. coin toss whether jc would decide to confront nhs about it privately. at least for as long as jl hasn't fully settled in on the role yet, i highly doubt jc would let his guard down for anyone, even nhs. maybe wwx

postcanon sangcheng...... keep in mind i have shipper goggles on. but they're not getting married babes im sorry if i'm keeping it realistic they both have Duties to fulfill and they live in a Society where they don't have time to...... governance is not just Paperwork, it's their lived reality and not everyone has the privilege of a living family to hold down the fort while one goes off traveling (@ lwj, but he can do whatever he wants forever). not saying that they'll get married to other people and have babies, mind you. especially in societies based on martial strength i think it would be less important to have an Unbroken Bloodline than it is to pass down sect techniques

at the end of it IF there's a romance then they're living off of stolen time, sneaking around during hunts and conferences. and i highly highly doubt it'll be a soft epilogue my loves they are two jagged broken people who have given up too much and gotten back so little. they are not gonna make each other better, but hey the consolation is that they also can't make each other worse! at least they'll have someone else who somewhat Understands what it's like. "miserable but not alone" is a boon if you've lost everything else that mattered

[writingquestionsanswered]

Hi! writing prompt anon here! I understand that writing prompts aren't shortcuts, my question was more in line of.. do you have any tips or exercises or ways of thinking ab prompts that can guide me to come up with something? I find it easier to write when a random idea pops in my head but I want to grow to be one of those people who can write something based on whatever prompt is presented to them

and also since i mostly write fanfics, coming up with original characters and a completely brand new plot is not something im used to so I don't know how to go about it, would you happen to have any tools or advice on how to improve in this aspect? I'm not even trying to be good right off the bat, i just need help starting if that makes sense

I probably should've been more clear in the first ask, my bad!

Writing Prompts, Take Two :)

Just so you know, I didn't think you thought of writing prompts as shortcuts, and I'm sorry that was your take away from my reply. I was just trying to clarify that all those amazing stories you see coming from writing prompts aren't the norm. In fact, they're extremely rare in the grand scheme of things.

Since you brought up fan-fiction, I want to clarify that writing prompts are viewed somewhat differently in the fan-fiction world. In fan-fiction, writing prompts are meant more as a challenge, to inspire the writer to write a lot of stories (such as a prompt table) or unusual stories (such as theme or picture prompts.) The goal is less about practice and more about producing a finished piece of fiction that can be shared with the community.

In original fiction, writing prompts are meant more as personal exercises for the writer. The goal isn't really to write a story that will be shared with anyone. It's just about exercising your writing skills and pushing boundaries you don't normally get to push. If you're struggling to come up with plot, characters, setting, etc., you might be overthinking it. Writing prompts aren't really meant for you to sit down and come up with a cast of characters, a watertight plot, and a well-developed setting. They're really meant more to inspire free writing. You're meant to push your brain to come up with those things in the moment. And they don't have to be good or well fleshed out or make sense, because you're not sharing this story. It's just exercise. It's just for fun.

And that's not to say you can never use a writing prompt to inspire a story that you would share. It's just not really the intention. :)

So, my advice is to just not overthink it. The point of a writing prompt is to push your mind to figure those things out without a lot of advance planning. If you're really struggling, make sure you have a full Creative Well to pull from.

I hope that makes more sense! ♥

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

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[kazhewbrekker]

january book reviews

the stolen heir : holly black ⭐⭐⭐⭐

it took me about a week to read this book and by that i mean i read half, wasn’t impressed, took a week and came back and finished it. like with the cruel prince, the beginning and middle of this book aren’t all that exciting in my opinion, but holly takes the cake as usual for her incredible endings. honestly at this point reading a holly black book is worth it just to see how she wraps it. but yeah, i think it was a good starting point for the duology, im positive the prisoner’s throne will be better, as was the case with tcp > twk. im happy to say towards the end i had really connected with oak and suren/wren, however i feel like despite how fun of a concept it is to put wren and jude in direct opposition its...hm, bad ? to clarify, i wish that i felt conflicted on who’s side i was rooting for. but even if wren was in the right, which...bridle aside she isnt, i would still be in jude’s corner simply because even with all the time spent with wren it’s not enough to...connect with her on the same level as i did with jude. and thats a heavy ask to be fair; jude is one of my favorite character’s in the ya/new adult genre. but i think a understandable worry with this duology is that the folk of the air series might overshadow this new story holly black is trying to tell. i can’t say definitively if it has or has not, but i think she’s done a better job of balancing the new characters and plots with reference to the old. it’ll really be a testament to how well she can keep both separate and important in the next book as she’s hinted that jude and cardan will have a bigger role (which makes sense, since we’re uhh going to war. uh oh).

the invisible life of addie la rue : v.e. schwab ⭐⭐⭐

i read 60% of this book probably over a year ago. maybe two. on a plane. this is a reoccurring problem. but i gotta say, schwab is the queen of concepts. she hasn’t had a single book concept that i wasn’t at least a little intrigued by. unfortunately, uhh, this doesn’t always translate to an interesting plot. the beginning of this book is good, it’s engaging (as far as i remember), bestie lost me when she introduced the most uninteresting man in the world: what’s-his-name. no actually, what was his name--hold on--henry ! his name is henry. he is boring. i understand his purpose in the story, but uhh, the most interesting thing about that man was...the deal he made with the devil i guess ? and that gets revealed so late in the game you have to wade through addie being infatuated with this Regular Guy (not that i blame her when he’s the only one that can remember her), but god, yeah that’s a pretty comprehensive reason for me putting this book down for so long. the ending though, see this is the important part, the ending was very good. i was happily surprised how open-ended it was. though the hopeless romantic that lives deep inside my chest and chews on my bones will continue to believe that the dark could learn to love, okay. i don’t think that should be held against me, either way addie wins. slay queen.

daisy jones & the six : taylor jenkins reid ⭐⭐⭐

very different book from the two other before this, lol. im pretty sure i picked up this book offhandedly the last time i went to b&n, i read the seven husbands of evelyn hugo last year and wasn’t...super impressed ? authors tend to hit me a lot harder with their debuts then second or third releases. for some reason. i really respect reid for her use of journalism styles to tell these fictional stories, how much historical research probably goes into making everything seem realistic. i do think--as a personal opinion--writing about music is a very challenging thing. it’s very difficult to properly convey how music sounds, or feels, without being able to hear the music itself. (i feel the same about dancing, but that’ll probably come up another day). but the story is as much about the music as it is about the complex interweaving relationship of the characters in and outside of the band. shout out to my girl, camilla, the best character in that book. i think the most impressive thing to me about the book, besides the stylistic choices (aka the interview aspect), is how the waves minor characters like camilla or teddy or simone make deeply effect every aspect of the story. very akin to real life, there’s so many people that can change the game for you--especially for character’s like daisy and billy who are so deep in substance abuse and addiction at certain points. overall, really great book, the very last page made me laugh out loud.

beach read : emily henry ⭐⭐⭐⭐

emily henry books feel like a guilty pleasure to me at this point. i started reading her books on my flight to new york last summer, which is coincidentally where i picked up a physical copy of beach read that slept in my suitcase for uhh...six months ? anyways i finally decided to read her after talking about emily henry and her books with a friend of mine. it was a very good decision on my part--this is my favorite of her books. i feel like i need to start with the things i dont like about this book, lol. my biggest pet peeve with contemporary romance is that every single one of these characters is an author, or a publisher, or does something in the literary industry. please stop. i get thats where a lot of these authors have experience, it is their field, but jesus christ can we just have like. an illiterate main character. someone with an undeniable hatred for everything book-related. let’s be quirky and different...please ? all that said, january and gus have some actually great conversations about writer’s block and how it feels to write outside of your comfort zone. i’ll say out of all the books ive read in recent years that have to do with writers (another of which being an emily henry book 🙄), this is the best its been done in my opinion. the relationship development in this book is just very gradual and i love that, the fact that they knew each other before, but not deeply enough to be friends so we still get to see them get to know each other beyond their work is really important to me. sidenote: completely understand what january means when she’s talking about the sad and depressing shit people write about in an undergrad creative writing program. good lord. the heavy topics in this book felt very well handled in the context of...yknow a romance novel, it was kind of nice to have a love interest that wasn’t like...secretly a huge asshole who’s hiding the worst secret in the world. they had me worried for a second there when the exwife showed up, but the swerve at the last second was very appreciated. this book would have a very different review if that had been handled differently. lemme tell you, lol. overall, very enjoyable, probably the most fun ive had in this genre since the hating game. wow.

[versadies]

i found your fic "evermore" by chance, and golly, i hope you don't mind me spilling everything about it.

now to clarify...i am someone who's distant with genshin impact (as in, ive put a ton of hours into it, played it an launch even!) but due to the overwhelming fandom and hoyo being....like that, I haven't been able to get into it with good feelings. its still a fun game, despite it all.

so when I got into your fic, I had....how do you say.... less attachment to the characters. I didn't think much of ayato, since his banner started when I quit playing. but I was intrigued with the plot! I'm super familiar with angst! I thought to myself, this will be a fun read.

and....quite frankly...your fic made really invested in these characters. I could feel the reader's pain reminiscing their time with ayato, the small dips and feels with diluc, how thoma has been pining for them this whole time- a very fresh, very interesting perspective to these characters, in a scenario that you couldn't see ingame.

while i expected the "im in a arranged marriage" plot with ayato, I certainty didnt see the twist with diluc! I can see why you said he wasn't leading on, and the revelation makes a bit more sense with ayato's comment of "the wind is going strong" because not only there were rumors, but the fact that those rumors could've reached jean before she could arrive. it would've been messy if she knew, right?

although...on that note, I might be misremembering on my part, but everyone else seems to be...pushing? or rather, interested with how diluc and the reader's relationship. rather than feeling he was leading us on, it was rather you who "lead us on" (im putting this in quotation marks bc i dont like the connotation of the word) which is why I can understand people feeling disappointed because it wasn't clear, even if there was shifts into diluc's pov- why hasn't there been an instance of him thinking about her? i think something like that would better ease in the readers about the ship, but also, since you never mentioned diluc's plus one, i assume this was the road you wanted to take- which isn't bad at all! i respect your decision, and im amazed you went through with it, even if it can cause backlash. many respects for you, even moreso you were willing to write an alternative version.

anyways, all in all, amazing fic. I cant wait to see what's next on the board. maybe more angst? haha!

hii !! this is such a late response so you probably thought i ignored this ask, but im not one to ignore ppl’s thoughts on my fics sooo here’s my response :DDD !!

im glad evermore managed to bring you attachment to the characters and how you enjoyed the things evermore has <333 there was acc a few more “hints” (i wouldnt consider these hints seeing how it doesnt hint the fact that diluc is engaged, but rather there’s something secretive about him) i put in some chapters — as for the shifts where the pov is on diluc, ig thats for you to find out in chapter 14 🤫🤫🤫

but overall, it was my bad that i lead you guys on in hopes in hiding the secret plot twist 😣😣 i didnt consider the fact that doing so would lead ppl to be very disappointed so i apologize for that 🙏🙏 thanks for respecting my decision and for staying until this series ends, i hope youll enjoy what’s to come for the future chapters <333

[1tsjusty0u]

zelda ask game!! 🐦👑😔

!!!!!

🐦 - Any Opinions or Headcanon(s) about a certain Zelda Race?: OUGH ok so. i had a ramble for disconnected races, and im going to keep that in my notes for now. however for a specific race. hahahahehahaha for a Specific race. im going to talk about the zonai. i also have hcs for them however those hcs completely disregard who and what they are in totk it might as well be a different race entirely. so anyways; i think they suck 🎉🎉. sorry zonai lovers. mostly in execution honestly, if there was a separate game that had no lore ties to other games or wasnt a direct sequel to one the zonai Could Work. theres still some problems (raurus imperialism but thats mostly a character thing, the secret stones couldve been handled. A Lot Better, they could have actual motives), but it could work. like how the minish cap handles the minish. however in the context of specifically botw they contradict Everything, as well as just make for bad plot elements in totk. theres the obvious stuff, like the hamfisted zonai ruins being in placed in odd locations, the zonai replacing the ancient sheikah as a whole and it going completely unmentioned, building the Majority of ruins including gorondia for some reason??, plus more things i cant think of off the top of my head. but to add something new ish to the conversation is how it goes against botw. like . before totk the terminology for the people who made those animal ruins all throughout faron and the ones who made the thyphlo ruins and the thundra plateau were considered to be the zonai, a barbaric tribe who may or may not have descendants from lurilen. like we had the barbarian set, we knew where all the ruins were (including doorframes. thats not a joke), we knew their crest and we had creating a champion info that contextualized some of it back then but now doesnt align with what totk did if that makes sense. theres still some similarities (dragon motifs, powerful magic users), but theyre clearly not the same race (gestures to the architecture and just they way theyre spoken about before and after totk). they try to handwave it by saying those ruins were either a monument to king rauru (thyphlo ruins), or in game the animalistic ruins try and cover zonai ruins for some reason, hiding it. even then the trailer ruins were different and fitted more closely to the style of the animalistic lomei labyrinth ruins. and on one hand this kind of feels like mad man ramblings because. we Didnt get that. all the thoughts made about the zonai pre totk could theoretically fit (worshipping a water dragon, the pillars being used for magic), especially with how vague the totk zonai Are. plus who cares it didnt happen. plusplus its probably just because i Expected something and didnt get it. it just feels like the set-up of the zonai was either a prank or Was thought about until being scrapped. and its like. i dont want to more or less justify theory videos here? if they made a game without the zonai At All that was a sequel to botw that would be alright! some of the conclusions made In those theories kind of suck! you wouldnt have to call them the zonai or even have them Be There. but take creating a champion and the trailer for an instance- when you Specifically give us information only to go back on it like it wasnt there . Why. you can even see the divide in what we thought the zonai were from ocs like in the prince ganondorf au i believe or just. searching up zonai oc before:2023. like keep in mind when i say “the barbarians/zonai” im Specifically referring to pre totk zonai and its so hard to clarify that. i dont know i could probably come up with more substantial arguments here its just. brain ramble. on the bright side it creates a neat time gap and a point in History. i dont like totk as a whole for multiple reasons but it sure did that. should probably just call them the faron tribe. also sorry i didnt talk about any actual problems but you get the gist.

👑 - Favorite version of Zelda?: HM!!! on one hand you. should not be asking me this i have chronic starting but not finishing games for zelda. from what little i know . actually hang on i think ive been spelling sheikah wrong. or sheik. or both shit. Ok Anyways n NO I HAVENT ALRIGHT!!!!! ok but firstly the kakariko sheik gif is so funny out of context

cringefail gamer moment 10/10. though. i dont know if they exactly count as a zelda in this sense? given the differing pronouns + people tend to separate sheik and zelda. which makes sense because nintendo does this too. so uhm. honorary mention? otherwise i like alttp zelda both for her casual design but also just because you can talk to her. she has one piece of dialogue (except for telekinesis tiles) and she doesnt do anything, but for halfish? of the game you can Go Up to her. and Talk to her. im so used to cutscene zeldas or just. no zeldas. i also like tetra though i do wish we got to see her more. or i may need to replay it as my memorys probably spotty. design wise i also like casual sksw zelda. the belt and the.. ccoat? and the fabrics and the ribbons in her hair. its great. also i like botw zeldas subtle crown, her braid being similar to a crown braid though not exactly. i also like young oot zeldas design specifically the headpiece. tis neat. anyways ! either oot or alttp.

😔 - Least Favorite Zelda character? something something they hate me and are going to beat me with rocks. thats a bit how i feel right now. alright so. once again i am zeldas georg adn should not have been counted. that being said i dont! have many! well. alright so im sorry for the slander but. so far what ive played of tp (ive gotten to the very start of wolf link) im not too much of a fan of ilia so far. rival love interest or just love interest whos done kind of poorly to me. she might get better as a character but for now. meh. then theres the alttp npcs in kakariko who send a guard towards me. on one hand yes i am wanted from. the story that is fair. however Cmon.. i dont even talk to them they just spot me and run into their houses as the guards come to kill me. i guess its because the other kakariko residents are chill with link that it bothers me slightly but it does make sense. however free my man he did nothing wrong!!!!!

[takemus]

🛒✨🧐🤩🎉!!!

Fanfic Writer Emoji Ask || Still accepting!

this got kinda long so im putting it under a cut 😭

🛒 What are some common things you incorporate in your fics? Themes, feels, scenes, imagery, etc.

HMMM i've never really thought about this tbh...i do tend to write a lot of romance bc i'm a sucker for that, and love including themes like overcoming obstacles (i blame the whole 'fight god' shtick going on with jrpgs bc i ate that shit right up) or the struggle with destiny (free will vs predetermination). struggling and fighting is such a big part of character development and plot and i love thinking about different ways this can be portrayed depending on the character(s)

i also love including a lot of introspection and internal thoughts bc i enjoy diving into the thoughts and ideas of characters!! what they're feeling or thinking at a certain time, their justifications and motivations--it's soo important to me, esp if i want to include that sweet sweet yearning,,

✨ Give you and your writing a compliment. Go on now. You know you deserve it. 😉

NOOO I CANT THINK OF THAT MANY MORE

i am proud of how much ive written cumulatively tho, bc apparently i have like 50k words on my ao3 account alone, and although id say about half of that is from rp/collab fics and not written on my own, i still have a good amount that i did write by myself! not to mention i dont post all of my writing onto ao3, so there's a lot of wips in my drive and uh...old fics on my ffn account LMAO (i do not perceive them) that i havent accounted for

ik word count doesnt mean anything, but i do consider it to be evidence of the fact that ive written. a reflection of how much ive come up with? id like to write again once im in the mood again and add to this and maybe one day, ill finally finish a chapter fic (even if it's short!)

🧐 Do you spend much time researching for your stories?

it depends on what i'm writing about, but when i do, i spend an embarrassing amount of time 😭 ive spent hours reading wiki articles for franchises i know enough about bc i like rereading things, or i accidentally wind up going to other pages and reading about them. it's not too bad tho bc sometimes ill wind up learning something new, clarifying a misconception, or just discover something i flat-out missed

on the other hand, ill sometimes just go 'fuck it we ball' bc ik i spend a little too much time researching that i wind up not writing at all, or it winds up being really complicated and i'm not able to understand it well enough to correctly convey in my writing

🤩 Who is your favorite character to write?

OH MAN this is kinda hard...but im gonna say it's probably alex, simply bc he's literally THE culmination of things that i love from other characters (archetype, features, that kinda thing). i love putting him through a lot and pushing his development. plus, the way he is makes it easy for me to bully him (affectionate) while also being able to get in my fix of angst

i just don't enjoy writing how he speaks bc i have this nebulous idea of what i want for his speech pattern, yet i'm not quite able to execute it in a way i like 😭 i'm p sure this is bc i love him a lot and want to be perfect with how i portray him, so thats holding me back

🎉 What leads you to consider a fic a success?

probably if i finish a fic. im still at the point where i dont consistently finish that many pieces so id like to at least be able to do that 😭

otherwise, if im liking my writing and how the fic's coming along, id consider that to be successful too and that i'm doing the right thing so far!

[crybabyddl]

I WOULD VERY MUCH LIKE TO REITERATE SOMETHING

Yes, let’s circle back to the beautiful performance of Edge of Great. More specifically the BODY LANGUAGE, particularly Julie and Luke’s, which I will be analyzing with gifs.

Exhibit A

Jealous Luke looks over at Julie and Reggie vibing

Julie is aware that she’s avoiding Luke, which she is doing so bc she realized her feelings for him thanks to Flynn earlier in the episode.

Since Julie has put the task of ignoring Luke upon herself even though she has no obligation to, she ends up failing her own mission. She sees Luke’s reaction to the lack of her attention.

She literally FREEZES. She’s emotionally worried to confront what she’s feeling and it’s beginning to manifest physically.

Exhibit B

It gets better y’all. After Luke finally has even a crumb of Julie’s attention, he beckons her over with his signature head tilt. This is important bc he did this with his longtime bandmate during the soundcheck of what would’ve been their biggest performance. If he feels comfortable enough using that body language with a girl he’s only known for, what, a week and a half(?) then you know this puppy boy’s got it BAD.

Julie is well aware that Luke is getting jealous. But in classic Julie fashion, she will try to tune it out instead of addressing it. Our wicked beauty doesn’t like confrontation and would rather just deny and avoid than potentially make things awkward, especially when she knows Luke would ask her about it at a later time.

The look on Julie’s face. Her eyes widen and the classic tight-lipped awkward smile is present. She’s literally saying “ok enough of that let’s get back to work doo doo doo” with her face. The way her body SWINGS back into performance mode as she faces the audience again. It may have been a split second, but when you’re deliberately trying to avoid looking into the dreamy (dead) eyes of someone you shouldn’t be crushing on, any amount of time feels too long. Plus, she knows Flynn is watching and doesn’t want her to lecture her (but she does anyway bc Flynn is observant and knows her bestie too well to let any action slip past her).

Exhibit C

Keep in mind; NONE OF THE GUYS KNOW WHY JULIE IS AVOIDING LUKE. Flynn, Alex, and Reggie have noticed the Juke chemistry, but it’s still too soon for them to get past the “we like each other but we’re too clueless to notice that we reciprocate” phase, so even though their respective besties know, they are still denying. Besides, Reg, Alex, and Flynn know better than to keep pestering if they want to keep their kneecaps. In reality they’re both smart enough to tell by this point, but for the sake of the plot and to make everything more adorably frustrating, Flynn has the collective brain cell under lock and key, leaving Juke to be like *dog tilting its head and making that “a-roo?” noise*

Anyway, Reggie notices Luke being snubbed after realizing that his extra dose of Julie time was slightly out of the ordinary. Luke is clearly concerned (look at his eyebrows and how his eyes travel from Reggie, to Julie, then to the audience to trying and get his mind off it and bring his focus back to the main goal; the performance.) If he can’t have the moment of connection with Julie that he so desperately craves, he’s gonna fill that void as best he can by connecting with the audience. >:’)

But Reggie’s trying to help Luke brush it off by conveying his reaction as ‘look at julie coming into her own! i told you she was a star! and you thought you were the lead singer? think again buddy this girl’s got you beat!’

But since Reggie isnt a master at hiding his feelings yet, especially around Luke, —who was able to get under his skin earlier (“girls, am i right?”)—Luke was easily able to see through that and interpreted what Reggie was saying as “look at julie go, she all in the zone. you’re literally making heart eyes at her get a grip you’re slacking lmao” (hence luke’s right eyebrow quirking at reggie like ‘dude seriously gimme a break u know i need attention like tinkerbell’) even though Reggie’s true message was a bit less harsh and more lovingly teasing, but it’s Luke, he sees things through his eyes and at his intensity, regardless of who it’s coming from. (This is one of the reasons why Luke comes off as selfish at times.)

Exhibit D

Poor Lukey boi can’t seem to catch a break today! Not only does Julie ignore him, then has a cute lil (platonic but it’s luke so it still makes him jealous >:P) moment, but now she has the AUDACITY to interact with Alex? The guy who was out learning Ghost 101 with this Willie guy instead of rehearsing with the band? What gives?! What’s he got that your moody ghost bf doesn’t? >:’(

He literally just watches, and even glances back in a way that, to me, screams ‘did i see that right? did i just see what i just saw with my own dreamy (but dead) eyes? say sike rn.’ \_(*_*)_/

Meanwhile, Alex pays no mind. I like to think that Alex is fully aware that Luke is an angry boy rn, but has learned to ignore it, especially this bc literally NOTHING happened. Either that or Alex has no clue and just truly thinks nothing of it and is having too much fun to think about Luke’s moody and childish behavior. Either way, Alex is just straight chilling and we love to see it *^_^*

Notice how Reggie is right there vibing with Julie and Alex. Luke feels a bit betrayed like ‘not you too! i know you were the first to turn on me but i figured since you’re such a golden retriever you’d be loyal and come back to my side!😠🥲’

Also; Luke approaches the rest of the group, wanting to be included in at least SOME of the vibing, but when Julie starts dancing and smiling with her buddy Alex, he backs up like

“you know what? nope. nevermind. not doin’ it.”

and the group’s like “i mean hey it’s your loss, but luke we want you to-”

“no, bc you chose to piss me off right in front of my face so no luke time for any of you! no cuddles, no hugs, no nothing! you made your bed, now lie in it and perish.”

Exhibit E & F: This is where it gets a bit interesting and theorized hehe...

Now we all know that this moment is just fucking ICONIC

WEOWH NEOW NEOW!!! WEOW NEHR NEHR NER-NER-NER NEHR NEHR NEOWHR!!! (wer nehr-nehr-ner-ner-nehr-nehr!!) WUEHNER-NEUHNER-NEHR-NEEOW-NEOWH! DLOOLOODDUH-DOODLAH-HOOBLUEH-NEOWHR-NEUEHR-NEEEEEEUOWRH!!!!

But hear me out– HEAR ME OUT!

What if... now don’t shoot the messenger who just so happens to also be the theorist... but what if...

WHAT IF!!! Luke didn’t!! plan this?!!!

Listen i know you’re probably thinking:

“Well uh Nicole, isn’t that kinda the whole point? It literally wasn’t planned until Charlie realized Madi was gonna be standing on the piano so he suggested the idea for the guitar solo to Kenny.”

And you’re right! But here’s the kicker:

What if Luke THE CHARACTER, just decided to do this as an “Alright that’s it! You wanna be like that? Well what if I just hit you with my super awesome radical totally cool wowza guitar skills & make a moment between us? Huh? What do you think about that? Hmm? HMMM???!!!”

He licks his lips & that to me read** like he was nervous (**read rhyming with bed just to clarify) so that means it could’ve been a spontaneous, spur-of-the-moment thing.

In the second gif, you can see that Julie’s head is tilted, as if she’s a bit confused, but she’s also delightfully surprised.

Julie is quick to smile and scrunch her nose at Luke, something she does often. It tells Luke his impulsive action garnered a positive response from his favorite girl. Julie also starts to shake her head, but doesn’t go through the motion in full, which means she’s still a bit nervous to let her guard down. This is probably because she doesn’t know what he’s thinking or what he will do next. The lopsided smile mixed with the suave, gliding steps towards her probably brought her back to her daydream lol.

Luke’s happy bc Julie’s no longer ignoring him. He smiles like a GOOBER bc this chump is simping HARD for our Julie. So cute! :’)

Exhibit G

And hear me when I offer this:

What if Luke poofed the guys out???

I know, I know. It’s a bold claim to make. But the boys are special, considering they are a threat to Caleb (3 gay-variant himbos vs. a gay magician that could’ve been on broadway but decided to make some sort of deal with a devil so he just entertains capitalists who most likely sold their souls to get into the hgc which i will probably elaborate on in a future theory so dont do that bc im gonna lmao idc we all have big brains) So it’s not too crazy to think that they could share some ghost powers.

We know Caleb transported the guys during You Got Nothing to Lose. And the guys have left a place at the exact same time on more than one occasion.

And you may be thinking “well what if the guys poofed out to give juke a moment alone together?” And to that I say...

Look at Reggie. He isn’t looking back at Alex like “dude let’s give them some space.”

The timing of him turning around, at least to me, makes me think Reggie was surprised by Luke approaching the piano. (But also he lowkey was waiting for Luke to prove him wrong by doing something to get Julie’s attention so Reggie isn’t mad. Neither is Alex but he doesn’t like being told how or WHEN to ghost) Luke doesn’t even give his bandmates a warning eyebrow quirk, a hand signal, nothing. Reggie turns to Alex like ‘dude what is he DOING?’ And before he can even really convey that, they go *POOF*

This man had a plan and he was gonna do it, so he did. Whether it’s the power of love, they stopped performing, or Reggie and Alex actually poofed out, the odds worked in Luke’s favor so he and Julie could have a super special moment, a moment special enough to make an actual living person (Nick) wonder if a “hologram” has a better chance at connecting with Julie than he does.

Again, regardless of who made them poof or how they poofed, they mf poofed so Luke’s a happy hamster. (Idk it just sounded fitting instead of happy camper lol wait what if someone had 3 pet hamsters and named them alex reggie and luke🥺 someone buy some hamsters and let me be their godmother or their aunt and i’ll love them from afar.) Anyway, Luke’s thriving, flourishing, his crops are going to grow in time for the harvest.

You can see Julie lean back as she turns to see Luke. It’s... almost as if... She. Wasn’t. Expecting. Him. To. Be. There..??

Honey badger Luke bc he DGAF <|:) Bitch, it’s Luke mf Patterson and he’s gonna,, GET! IN! YOUR! FAAAACE!!!

You CANNOT tell me he’s not doing the absolute MOST to try and seduce Miss Juliana Mariposa Rose Molina.

Yes I’m making a headcanon that Julie has TWO middle names and that one of them is the spanish word for butterfly and that the other is her mother’s name. Also yes, I believe (i believe that we’re just one dream away from who we’re– oh, that’s not what we’re doing? okay, sorry!) that Juliana is Julie’s full name.

In this house we love and respect Juliana Mariposa (Dahlia)** Rose Molina

**I’m just putting Dahlia there for fun bc I can. :) Whether I’d consider it a possible middle name of hers depends. Anyway I just thought it was a cute thing to add bc it goes along with the other middle names I gave her *^_^* Also, I feel like I made a post giving a bunch of the characters middle names lemme see if I can find it later)

Ok i’m done this took me basically all day from like 10am until 4:08. I obviously took breaks in between, but not long ones...😶

[proudfreakmetarusonniku]

okay ive been keeping this take to myself for a while, but i dont like when ppl use "length" in arguing between the severity of exile vs pandora. for one, exile took 11 days in OUR time, but is implied to have been much longer-- months even, if i remember right. however, due to wanting to pace the story well they streamed daily to move the plot along.

....which is the exact OPPOSITE of all of s3. s3 has had sooooooo many pacing issues due to the CCs being unavailable, which also means.... well, pandora's been around a long while too. so long i'm unsure if it was MEANT to. i mean hell, its been HOW long since TECHNO got locked up????

like genuinely its a sign of how bad pacing is irl in s3, yeah, but it also skews the fuck out of its perception. if things moved with a s2 pace, how long WOULD dream genuinely have been in prison? we dont know. same with if exile had s3 pace: it would've probably lasted the actual months it was supposed to. And it would've sucked lmao

like ive kept it in bc i know, esp if i said it on twt, i would get dogpiled with qrts saying im downplaying prison abuse or whatever but its just.... story critique. the pace between the two are so absolutely non-comparable due to CC availability that using it feels... off, i guess. kinda wish the CCs would just step in and word of god place down a solid timeline, or at minimum clarify the exile timeline was sped up for viewers

Tbf like I’m p sure none of the cc's knows the timeline (except that it’s shorter than 13 years since wil died)

[jae-daddy]

Blind

jaebum!dickhead 

masterlist

pairing: jaebum x reader genre: angst plot: you overhear your boyfriend Jaebum and his friends talking rudely about you.  a/n: this was written a long time ago lol. I thought I’d post it instead of deleting it. not edited. hope y’all like it

“Dude, I can’t believe she followed you here,” you heard Yugyeom, as you neared the pool table the boys were surrounding.

Your eyes easily found Jaebum, as he leaned forward to take a shot. His black leather jacket stretching over his broad shoulders, his hair styled in a perfectly messy way. Even with his back towards you, you still felt butterflies flutter in your tummy as you thought of the way he looked tonight.

You thought back to the car ride. His hand on your thigh, inching higher until it slipped under your short skirt. He loved it when you wore short skirts and tight tops. It drove him crazy, he could never keep his hands off you. 

Just as he had struggled to keep himself from parking his car at some random place and fuck you before you reached the party. You remember his throaty growl as he ripped his hand away from tracing your panty and to the steering wheel. 

His jaw tight as his clenched the wheel, his knuckles turning white. 

“I won’t be able to stop if I start baby,” he looked over at you, his eyes dark and filled with promise. You wanted him to do it, you didn’t care about this party. 

But Jaebum did. 

It was his friend’s party, and as a part of the popular kids troupe, he needed to show up. 

“She didn’t follow him, she just misunderstood,” Youngjae clarified, his voice teasing. “Right, Jaebum?”

You stopped in your tracks, feeling your stomach drop.

“You really need to learn to draw boundaries with her bro,” Jackson told Jaebum as he missed a shot. You saw Jaebum grimace at the missed shot, before looking up to meet Jackson’s eyes. When he didn’t say anything, Jackson sighed, “She can’t keep following you-”

“Y/n is not following me,” Jaebum cut him off. You let go of the breath you were holding in, the tight line your lips were drawn into relaxed slightly.

“Was she invited?” Nate asked, shooting Jaebum a knowing smirk.

“No,” Jaebum sighed.

“Did you invite her?”

“Well, no.”

You felt like you were about to vomit. 

“Y/n is always clinging to your side,” Nick told him, before taking a sip of his beer. “You are never free to do anything. You are always with her, it’s like y’all are in a relationship.

“If you were hitting that, then I’d support you, bro,” Yugyeom mumbled, shrugging.

“Yeah right,” Nate snorted. “like anyone would hit that.”

You watched Jaebum, waiting for him to say something, but he didn’t. He just stared at Nate, with a grimace barely noticable.

“Dude, be honest,” Nate smiled at Jaebum, “would you hit that?”

When Jaebum didn’t reply, Nate’s smile grew bigger, “Has she tried hooking up with you?”

You felt sick.

Your mind instantly went to that night when you had kissed Jaebum. The night that had started it all. You were at a party just like this, and somehow you both ended up in the same bedroom hiding away. 

You were waiting for your friend to finish hooking up and were tired to creeps so you hid the room. Jaebum stumbled in a few minutes later. 

You were scared at first, thinking it was a drunk boy. You were terrified because the music was so loud you weren’t sure if anyone would be able to hear you if you had screamed for help.

But your panic turned into interest as you saw the staggering figure straighten as they closed the door. You watched Jaebum fall onto the bed and let out an exhausted sigh. You saw him pull out his phone, dialling someone as he pinched his nose, “Hello, 911?” 

Jaebum wouldn’t let you out of his sight after he spotted you. You knew too much. You had the power to ruin his popularity. So you ended up spending the whole night with Jaebum, talking about random things. 

By the end of the night, you realised there was more to him then the superficial bad boy act he puts up. You couldn’t help yourself but kiss him before you had to leave. 

it felt like a final goodbye. You knew that after that night ended, you would never get the chance again. So you took the chance, you kissed him. 

And, he kissed you back. 

He had pulled you in, bringing you to his lap. He had stopped you two before things got too heated. And then, he snuck into your bedroom for more late night conversations. 

Jaebum had asked you to be his girlfriend a month ago. A month had passed and no one knew that you and Jaebum were together. People thought it was a unlikely pair, but it was friendship at most. 

“No way!” Yugyeom gasped, “For real? What happened?”

Jaebum just shook his head. You could see the smug smile on his face, and it hurt your heart.

Just an hour ago, he was holding back from railing you in the backseat of his car. 

You snapped out of your thoughts as you watched Jaebum move around the table. You watched his face as he spoke. 

“I told her I was coming here tonight, and she kind of just tagged along,” Jaebum sighed, ignoring the comments. He scratched the back of his head nervously, as he studied the guys staring at him. The other boys looked at him with knowing looks as they shook their heads. “I know I should’ve clarified, but I feel bad for her.”

You were actually going to be sick. You dug your nails into your palms, biting your lip tightly to stop yourself from crying in the middle of the party. You knew you should walk away, but you wanted to hear it. Even as it hurt your heart.

Even if it felt like Jaebum sunk his claws into your chest and wrenched your heart out. You wanted to hear what your boyfriend had to say about you.

There was Im Jaebum, your boy friend, standing in a group with his friends, talking about how he felt bad for you.

You felt your heart sink, and your stomach churn, as you heard him continue.

“She's been through a lot. None of her friends talk to her anymore, I can’t just tell her to buzz off,” Jaebum explained, his voice coated with desperation wanting his friends to understand, to agree with his justification. “And it’s not too bad. She’s here doing her thing, and I’m doing mine.”

“Bro,” Yugyeom gave him a dry look, snorting at Jaebum, “how can you be doing your thing when you can’t even hook up with other girls because you have to take her home?”

“I don’t need to-”

“Sara is here,” Youngjae smirked at Jaebum. You saw Jaebum freeze at her name. He had said her name a few times to you before, “She asked about you.”

“Bro!” Yugyeom gaped at Jaebum who still hadn’t found it in himself to start moving again. “Sara!”

Finally, Jaebum leaned against the table. His hands grabbing the edge, as his shoulders fell with his head as he sighed, “Fuck.”

“You could be hooking up with Sara but you’re stuck babysitting,” Youngjae laughed.

“Hey, but she looked kind of all right tonight,” Nate shrugged. “That little crop top of hers really shows those,” he held up his hands in front of him gesturing to your boobs. “I mean, I would pity fuck that. Give her the gift of knowing a good time.”

Your feet began moving backwards as you started moving away from the group. You couldn’t hear anymore. You can’t stand there and watch as your boyfriend acted like you didn’t matter to him. You can’t stand there, listen and pretend that what they said didn’t hurt you, that it didn’t hurt you that Im Jaebum might have never loved you at all. 

You bumped into someone, and you turned around apologising.

You didn’t want to hear what else they had to say. You didn’t want to see how else Jaebum would let them talk about you. You didn’t want to find out how Jaebum thought of you.

“Shit, sorry,” you whispered, your voice shaking. You lifted your gaze to find soft brown ones looking at you with sympathy. His hands gently rested on your shoulders as he steadied your stumbling feet.

“It’s okay,” Mark said, softly. He was part of their group. If he wasn’t behind you, he would probably be standing next to Jackson, laughing along with them. You didn’t want his sympathy. 

You didn’t want anything from him. 

Your eyes began burning as his eyes drifted behind to the group of boys laughing, before settling back on you.

“Are you okay?” Mark asked. You brushed his hands off your shoulders and took a step back.

You didn’t meet his eyes as you nodded, unable to speak.

You walked around him, and headed straight for the door. You didn't look back at Jaebum or stop until you were outside the house. 

Even then, you kept walking down the street, your feet picking up speed as you tried running away from the loud noises in your head.

You felt sick, you felt tired.

Your heart broke into a tiny million pieces as their words kept replying in your mind. But that’s not what broke you.

The thing that hurt you the most was Jaebum. He didn’t do anything, he didn’t say anything. He just let them, he laughed with them, he agreed with them.

You stopped when your lungs started to burn, and you couldn't go any further. 

You called for an Uber and waited on the side of the road. You stared at your phone, waiting for Jaebum to notice you were missing. 

You wanted him to text you, to call you. You wanted him worry about you, to show any proof that he did like you back. Even a silver of how much you loved him, you wanted even the slightest of his love back. 

It was all you needed to help you stay together and not fall apart. 

You stared at the screen as the Uber pulled up. You stared at it all through the ride. You didn’t look up as you thanked the driver. 

You locked the door as you entered your house. You stared at the phone, biting your lips. 

You shouldn’t send him anything. He hadn’t even noticed. 

But then, against your better judgement, you decided to send it, ‘I’m home.’

You changed and got into your bed, covering yourself with your blankets. 

You didn’t shower. You were too tired to shower. You were too tired to do anything. You were too tired to even close your eyes and pretend to go to sleep. 

You knew sleep wasn’t going to come easily tonight. Not when you kept on thinking about the smile on Jaebum’s face as he listened to his friends talk about you. Not when you remembered the way his shoulders and head slummed with defeat when he found out Sara had asked about him. 

There was no way sleep was coming easy to you when all you wanted to do was cry.

You didn’t cry though.

You tried not to cry, you tried to hold back the tears, at first. But then, you couldn’t stop them. The tears silently rolled down your face, as you lay on your side.

You felt the pillow get wet, but you ignored it as you blankly stared at the wall instead. Your hands desperately clenched the blanket, as you tried to calm yourself down, before you began uncontrollably sobbing. 

Jaebum’s reply came a few minutes later. ‘What?’

‘Are you alright?’

‘Are you sleeping?’

‘Should I come over?’

After five minutes, your phone rang.

You saw Jaebum’s name on the phone. 

Your chest ached seeing his name on the phone. You wanted to pick it up. 

But, you ignored it and turned the phone over as you slipped it under your pillow.

It rang again, and again. Three more times, before you picked it up.

“What the fuck?!” He gnarled into the phone, you could hear the wind rushing past him. It sounded like he was speeding somewhere. 

You didn’t say anything, just waited for him to continue.

“Are you okay? Why did you leave early?”

“I’m okay,” you rasped, your voice hurting your throat. “I don’t feel well. I’m going to sleep.”

“You sound horrible,” Jaebum replied softly, the panic in his voice subsiding. The softness in his voice made new tears escape down your face. You moved away from the phone and wiped your tears.“Do you want me to come over, babe?”

You hated it. 

You hated how your heart trembled when he called your baby. 

“No,” you rasped, your lower lip trembling as you held back a sob, “I just need to be alone.”

You sniffled your nose as you swallowed, your vision blurring.

Jaebum remained quiet for a moment, the wind rushing past slowing down now, “Okay, take care. Call me tomorrow, okay, babe?”

“Goodbye, Jaebum,” was all you said before ending the call.

You didn't hold it back anymore.

Your body curled into a ball, as it began shaking furiously as sobs raked through you.

Your hand clasped over your mouth as you sobbed into the dark night.

Your heart, broken and bleeding by the one boy you had trusted.

[heyheydidjaknow]

Why do I not have the option to copy and paste formatting? Why is that an option I am not given? Who thought that I wouldn’t need that when I’m on my phone? Screw that guy, who I am arbitrarily calling Adam. If anyone knows how to do that, please tell me.

Chapter 6 Pt 2

“There is no fucking way you got a date with her.” Raphael does not even look it up. “No way in hell.”

“And yet the flow chart worked.” He laughs from his lab, shutting off any excess equipment as to not overwork it. “It worked like a charm and she asked me to go to her place so ha.”

”You didn’t show her the chart, did you?”

“I did not.”

“Well, there you go.” Leo looks back at him from his seat on the couch. “What time?”

“Seven o’clock.” He slides the door closed. “But I’m planning on being there at six fifty-five so that she knows I value her time.”

“Does the sun set that early?”

“Why do you even ask?” Raph turns a page in his once periodical periodical. “You know he looked it up.”

“As a matter of fact, I did. Forgive me for also valuing preparedness.”

“Nobody likes a know it all.”

He grins smugly. “That’s where you’re wrong. See, I,” he gestured to himself, “have a date with a gorgeous girl tonight, one where she has already invited me into her home, and you,” he gestured to Raphael, “are reading a magazine from a company that went out of business two years ago alone.”

“Donnie, don’t be a jerk.” Leonardo looked back at the television. “Raphael brings up a valid point; you tend to act like you know everything, and the actual request wasn’t for a date.”

“How else can I interpret one on one time with her?”

“Well,” he counters, “how do you interpret one on one time with us?”

He blinks. “Wait, so you’re saying she’s… how do you put it?”

“Nah, I don’t think she’s friendzonin ‘im.” Mickey looks up from his drawing. “Think she’s sending signals she doesn’t mean to.” He sets his half-shaded piece aside. “Think about it; she said she’s been all stressed out, right? She died like two weeks ago.” He shrugs. “She’s probably just lonely and needs the company.”

“That’s… actually really insightful of you.”

He grins. “What can I say? I’m a modern McPherson.”

Raph snickers at that. “Donnie is more of a McPher—how old is that movie, anyway? A hundred?

“Hey!” He shoots a glare at his brother. “Respect the classics.”

“Not to interrupt your riveting intro to film class,” Donnie interjects, losing his shit, “but I really need to know what this is before I go, and it’s already fifteen ‘till.”

“Look, maybe she’s interested, maybe she’s not.” Leonardo’s eyes are back on the screen. “Just try to tread carefully and you’ll probably be fine.”

“Probably?”

“Again, Raph had a point.”

He groans, walking to the entrance and exit of their home. “You guys aren’t helping.”

“Not our job.”

Leo calls after him. “Be home before six!”

He turns the corner, cradling his head in his hands. ‘I am totally and thoroughly fucked.’

--

GoodFellas.

Of all the movies in the world, that is the movie you have decided to use to explain these concepts. This is the example piece that you are going to show to the vigilante. All you know is that you had started watching the Phantom Menace and had decided against explaining the concept of racial coding and this is the only other movie that you can think of right now. You have decided to commit, and you are already regretting it, but you decide to figure it out as you go.

You set the pizza on the coffee table, throwing a bag of popcorn in the microwave to pop. You do not expect Donatello to be late, so you decided to start now so that they could get started right away. You start walking to the window, stopping at the mouth of the hallway. You look yourself over one more time in the bathroom mirror despite yourself. You do not exactly know why you care so much; this was not a date, and you had not advertised it as one. Still, impressions are important, and the last thing you need is for him to not listen to you because of it. That is what you are telling yourself, anyhow.

You hear knocking against the glass. You check your phone for the time. ‘Five minutes early.’ You smile softly. ‘How responsible.’ You open it up, smiling at your guest. “Welcome, Donatello.” You take a step back. “Please, make yourself at home.”

He barely makes a sound as he steps off the windowsill, looking around your apartment, fully illuminated, for the first time.

After about thirty seconds of his investigation, you clear your throat. “Donnie?”

He snaps out of it. “Huh?”

You smile gently. “You wanna sit down? I bought pizza.”

“Uh, yeah.” He nods, sitting down and facing the television screen. “I like your place.”

“Thanks.” You sit down next to him, tucking your feet under you as you flip on the television. “How do you feel about gangster movies?”

“Gangster movies?”

“Yeah.” You list a couple on your fingers. “Scarface, Godfather, all that jazz.”

He shakes his head, brow furrowed in confusion. “How can you make gangster movies legally?”

“That is a long answer. The short version?” You lean forward, taking a slice from the box. “The police are kind to those who cooperate, and people think their stories are fascinating.”

“So they’re documentaries?” He mimics you.

You shrug. “Sometimes. Not always, but sometimes. You want something to drink?” You hear the microwave beep as you stand up.

“Water?”

You nod, walking over to pull the popcorn out of the microwave and grab your drinks. “I trust the walk wasn’t too bad?”

“Not at all.” The small talk is torture. “Getting to your window was a bit of a challenge, but it wasn’t anything too bad.”

“That’s good.” You pour him a glass. “I’ll have to get something for that; maybe a planter or something, so you have a bigger ledge.”

“It’s alright.” He taps his fingers against his knee. “It’s wide enough to stand.”

“Still.” You place his cup on the counter, dumping the kernels into a large plastic bowl. “I wouldn’t forgive myself if one of you guys got hurt trying to come in through the window.” You grab a can of soda out of the refrigerator, sitting down and handing him the glass.

He smiles slightly. “You’re really sweet sometimes, you know that?”

You grin. “I try,” you hum, starting to pull up the movie. “I think you’re pretty cool too, Hamato.”

He chuckles. “You make me sound like I’m fifty.”

“Oh, totally.” You nod in agreement. “You’re an old soul.”

He blinks. “Old soul?”

“Mature, I mean.” You shrug. “I mean, handling the stuff you do with any degree of tact, to me, displays a great maturity you don’t see in most teenagers, myself included.”

“Is that a bad thing?”

You get back up for napkins and plates. “Not at all.” You hand him one of each. “It’s an admirable quality, though not one I particularly envy.”

“You think?” His hands linger for a moment longer than typical as he took them.

“Yeah. You want me to turn down the lights for the movie while I’m up?”

His face goes red. “I-I mean,” he stutters, “if you want to.”

“Then I will; shows the image better when it’s dark.” You walk to the wall, flicking off the lights and sitting down next to him, setting your slice on your plate as you turn on the movie.

Your reactions to it are different.

He does not seem what you would call disturbed, but he gets grossly invested in the story extremely quickly. He is noticeably more interested in watching you watch the movie, but he studies the plot intently, noting the more domestic plotline between the lead and his wife in particular. His reaction to the violence is strange to you; he is not aloof, so to speak, but he does not flinch much until the fighting is between Henry and Karen.

You have seen this movie what feels like a thousand times. Whenever you think it applicable, you lean over and whisper to him about the directing, the script, the plot—it is supposed to be a lesson, after all. But you realize that your attention, every so often, shifts to the bed, to your pillow with the knife underneath it. The violence of the movie makes you edgier than you are used to.

About halfway through the movie, you move closer to the boy sitting beside you. You lean your head against his shoulder, closing your eyes as you listen for cues for comments. You don’t notice his reaction, but you do notice how his arm snakes around your waist, pulling you closer to him. You do not object; you were the one who initiated, after all.

“Here’s a psychology relationship thingy you can tell your family about.” You cringe at that poor little girl standing in the hallway. “’That’s all in your head’ is classic gaslighting. I dunno if that’s really your area or not.”

“Oh, yeah, I see what you mean.” He fiddles with the cloth of your jacket absentmindedly. “It’s kinda hard for me to wrap my head around, people staying like that. I mean,” he clarifies, “I get why, but—”

You both tense up as a young man on screen is shot dead by Joe Pesci’s character.

You exhale. “Yeah, I get what you mean.” You shrug. “But folks get scared, ya know? In her case, she doesn’t want to break the family apart, and she’s really into him.”

“What? No way.”

“Yes way.” You look up at him. “What can I say? We fall into infatuation so fast with bad people who say what we want to hear.”

“Don’t you mean fall in love?”

You watch as Lorraine Bracco holds a gun to her husband’s face. “Nope. Love is entirely different.”

“Yeah?” He glanced down at you.

“Apples and oranges.” You gesture to the television. “Love is supplementary, a beautifully imperfect connection between people.” Your voice becomes smoother, airier. “It’s a bond built on trust and respect. Infatuation is more of an addiction than anything.” You sigh as Liota meets to discuss his relationship with Sorvino. “At least I think so. That’s why love at first sight is a bunch of bullshit; you can’t have that kind of profound trust with someone you just met.” You shrug, looking back up at him. “Then again, what do I know? I’m an inexperienced, fifteen-year-old girl.”

“That makes a lot of sense, actually.” He looks back down at you. “I get what familial love is, but whenever Master Splinter talks about his wife, he has a hard time putting what he means into words.”

You hear their guilty verdict. “Totally get that. Articulation is not easy to do.”

A few minutes go by.

“May I be frank?”

“Please.”

You watch as a man drags his wife out of a Christmas party. “This movie is exactly why I don’t ever want to learn how to do the stuff you do. It changes you, all that violence; desensitizes you.” You bring your knees to your chest. “Especially Raphael. I swear, that shift was as dramatic as his, at least at this point in the flick.”

He pauses. “Please, tell me you’re kidding.”

You close your eyes, breathing slowly. “I’m going to try my best,” you swear, “do everything in my power, to see to it that you guys don’t experience more than you have to.”

You mean it. He can tell.

You two are quiet for the rest of the movie. You explain why certain directing choices were made, connect the beginning with the end, talk about the theme, all while you two watched their fall from grace. When the movie ends, you realize how tangled up in him you are; your head on his chest, legs draped over his with his arms around your waist. You feel the icy air against you, as if his skin attracted it to you. You push the hair out of your face. “So,” you stretch, turning the light back on, “do you wanna see another movie, or do you have a curfew?”

He pauses. “I should honestly probably get home,” he sighs. “If I’m not home early they’ll start getting ideas.”

“Oh, yeah.” You nod, completely understanding the reasoning. “You can take the leftover pizza home if you want; the guys’ll probably eat it before I do.”

“Mikey’ll be on cloud nine.” He picks the box off the coffee table. “Thanks.”

“Any time.” You stand at the window, opening it for him.

He climbs onto the windowsill, looking down at you from his perch. “I had a good time.” His face flushed. “We should do this again.”

You nod in agreement. “Definitely.” You rub the back of your neck. “I’ll pick a lighter movie next time.”

“Alright. It’s a plan.” He gives you a thumbs up.

You steal yourself, cupping one side of his face and kissing him gently on the cheek. “Goodnight, Donnie.” You smile. “See ya tomorrow.”

You are a bit concerned he’s going to fall off the windowsill. “Y-Yeah,” he grinned, words slurred. “See ya later, Y/N.” He waved, climbing up and out of your window.

You smile softly, sigh. You flop back on the bed, rolling over. You have not been this at ease since you died.

‘I really like that guy.’ You close your eyes. ‘I really, honestly do.’

You drift off to sleep, dreamless for the first time in too long.

Table Of Contents

Chapter 6 Part 1

Chapter 7

[smellycinnamonthundahfudge]

The Black Widow Essay

one of em anw, lol

i'm just gonna start with the very beginning of the film, cause start to finish, they put so much detail in and you can tell everyone really cared to make natasha's story as full & vibrant as they possibly could.

them showing how early on she liked dying her hair or was used to it, even as a child?

as well as such innocent sweet things as this scene

all possibly subtly hinting these girls’ physical capabilities and their dark upbringing or who they really are as spies???

just, how seemingly normal child like things could be subtle hints toward something darker??

but it was STILL something innocent and sweet nevertheless whether they were able to do that cause of their training??

LOVED THAT.

the fact that NAT HAD FRIENDS??? WHEN SHE WAS A KID???

so important to me...

(cause they didn't really need to add that,... but they did)

how the whole operatives pretending as fake families made perfect sense cause they do it all the time in spy movies…

and how yeah, if there were child spies, then they could be used for spy families,

but this was the first movie that DARED to talk about the complexity of it all…

of a fake family being the only family that you had.

I bring this up because I just fucking love it and it reminds me of what they did in wandavision

rushed holidays and birthdays and normal family occasions all in one, because that was all they could get…

the idea of fake empty families in both bw and wv and jac schaeffer being involved with both of em??? gods im in love hahahah

in other spy movies, it’s just so plot focused…

they’re disguised as this to get to this and blablabla

they don’t dare to talk that they were more than their mission

that they have interests hobbies hopes dreams AND LIVES, beyond their work

(say what you will about captain marvel, but I will repeat, it was the first to show women had lives interests hobbies dreams beyond the work that they had...)

i just... the spy families thing is always so plot-centric, but this one, the infiltration aspect had an emotional side to it since it meant that they could all get a reprieve from their normal horrific lives

that's what i ADORE from this film, when they do something, they always hit for the most emotional, most moving, compelling way it can be told or shown

because, all this time we’ve been told, she’s a child assassin, she’s a child spy, she started when she was young dadadaaa

in other movies, they probably could’ve explored this by showing the violence

what was done to her, to show the meaning of what they did to her…

but you know what I absofuckingtutely die for??

they showed the meaning of the violence through this

that BECAUSE of what was done to her…

she could do that

SHE COULD PROTECT SOMEONE ELSE FROM SUFFERING THE SAME FATE AS SHE DID

all, in the first FIFTEEN 15 FUCKING MINUTES…

I just love how the never endless mention of the child assassin thing

the heaviest meaning of that was so beautifully shown like this…

like, YEAH

THIS.

THIS IS WHAT BEING A FUCKING CHILD ASSASSIN MEANS.

SHE’LL STEAL YOUR GUN, SHOOT TO KILL

ALL TO PROTECT HER INNOCENT, YOUNGER, SISTER

oh wait, I also just love the action of the plane scene

it had so much stakes, I was genuinely panicked and fearing for all of them..

melina was shot, nat was flying the plane, yelena was a terrified baby, alexei was even hanging from the freaking wing…

it wasn’t just weightless action, random kicks and punches on screen…

it was a family fleeing for their lives.

I just wanted to commend the incredible stakes the creatives made sure to put into the film’s first action scene is all.

they could have phoned this in and just have hopper punch some dudes

but they WANTED you to root for this family

they WANTED you to feel scared for them, care about them.

THEY CARED.

the first action scene nat ever did, was to protect her sister…

they could have shown her take down some men following after them…

but they DECIDED for nat to show her full capabilities… when it would matter most.

THEY CARED.

AND… NO ONE, NOT NEARLY ENOUGH PEOPLE ARE TALKING ABOUT IT.

you know what I love about the budapest reveal??

they could have just kept it at the clarifying what actually happened thing

and all of us in the audience can revel in the fact that

shooting it out with the hungarian guard and blowing up a building

was in nat’s eyes

just like a literal alien invasion of floating monsters descending from a portal in the sky

just… bask & appreciate the comedy of this guys…

nat’s so funny, I cant…

no okay, they could have just kept it at that…

but they decided to add WHAT HUMANITY THEY COULD IN THAT BACKSTORY.

and they had nat & clint play tic tac toe in the air vents they were hiding out on…

they didn’t have to do that, but they did…

and not enough people appreciate it enough.

people are already talking about how excellent and wonderful it was, the conversations and commentaries on choice are and I’m only here to say YES MORE OF THAT SHARE IT TO EVERYFREAKING ONE GODDAMN IT

in most marvel movies, the female character & the hero usually just either butt heads or the female just helps out the hero in whatever they need to do, they’re the infallible support structure that keeps the hero up

I think… this is why the dynamic between yelena and nat, hits so goddamn hard…

your pain makes you stronger

so much of this film talks about how their pain made them stronger, the best example of this I believe, is the scene in cuba

what I said about the child assassin repetition all concluding to that “I will kill you all, DON’T TOUCH HER” scene…

her pain was LITERALLY what enabled her to do that.

but I bring back the film’s crux line, cause it’s what I think truly separates and makes yelena and nat’s dynamic so much richer more complex and beautiful to me…

the pain of their past.

nat’s insistence of their time together in america not being real, and her dismissing everything in her past as a widow of the red room as horrible and just something she needed to get away from…

it reminds me of a scene from a show my family watches,

new amsterdam. in it, a woman, escapes a house of neglect and abuse. but she also left behind her younger sister in that household, and naturally, feels deeply guilty about it.

but, her therapist said to her, “you saved the only person that you could.”

and, … I can’t think of anything better to fit nat’s situation.

her dismissal of everything in her past as horrible was a fucking coping mechanism…

it made leaving everything behind, easier…

“it wasn’t real, so there isn’t anything to hold onto” nat herself says

she saved the only person she could… herself.

sigh…

most marvel movies usually just have its theme as “be who you were meant to be”

tony, thor, quill, & rocket learned selflessness

peter parker learned to appreciate what HE had, and not focus on what he was escaping from and to

steve figured out who he was in a new world

t’challa reckoned with the sins of the past

(scott’s just a dad)

carol learned to own her power and who she truly was

but nat??

yeah, sure, she could also fall under that theme.

but I just… I honestly believe the abuse, the pain she endured… makes her arc so much more meaningful and poignant…

because it wasn’t just the hero struggling, then the female side character reassuring them & giving them the strength they needed to be who they needed to be

it was her reckoning with what she did…

it was her shutting off yelena who cared about her, because she didn’t want to think about what she left behind

it was her, keeping her heart… when her mother could not.

how despite melina felt she was a rat in a cage

what SHE taught nat, was what kept nat alive…

the pain nat escaped, still found its way to her, in that because of that pain, she caused pain to the little happiness that she had in her past

she caused pain to yelena, because it was all she could associate to her past, which she NEEDED to escape

pain was inflicted on her, and she inflicted pain too

she also just casually stated her mother throwing her out like garbage

was I the only one who was utterly shaken by her statement??

to only then after say, she thought of her everyday even if she didn’t admit it to herself

(don’t even get me started on this search & importance of her past to her being fucking hinted in the place she died, vormir, where she learned her father’s name.

how even after she defeated dreykov… she still didn’t know it, til then…)

I just…

the creatives put so much effort into making nat’s story so full of heart, humanity, and meaning…

the humanity of tic tac toe over hiding out from an army

playing in the yard and colorful dyed hair hinting the dark upbringing

reckoning with what one did to survive…

black widow, is such a heartfelt humanely painful and beautiful film…

it isn’t just another spy movie

it isn’t just another marvel movie

they talked about abuse in it, guys…

they acknowledged it, unflinchingly

the good, the bad, all of it, the entire truth of it…

that alexei wasn’t allowed a chance to be forgiven for what he did

that he can wash himself clean, and that they give him their forgiveness, for HIS benefit…

that it was the very pain inflicted on them, that enabled them to take their abusers down

You think I can’t take a punch?

it was literally her pain threshold & strength that enabled her to break free from dreykov's control

her capability of severing the nerve borne from the training she endured

her pain was literally what made her stronger

they made sure to show that oksana and antonia wouldn’t be forgotten

they let the other widows do their part

and the ones the family saved, came back for them and saved them too

even antonia, as taskmaster, had someone who cared about her. the young widow who told her to smile, went to her when she was no longer controlled.

it was fighting for control, it was looking & focusing on what WAS there

just like how nat learned to accept that not all of her past was horrible,

I want to show you how this movie shows that not all of how nat was treated in the mcu was horrible

the thank you for your cooperation scene, yes

but, one parallel that I haven’t seen anyone bring up yet is this one…

nat did her job, and it’s how they took down hydra

nat did her job, and that’s how they took down the red room

because of nat’s intelligence, due diligence, they had the intel they needed to take down hydra

and to find and save the other widows…

because that’s precisely why I would die for this film…

they. care.

they remembered that small, for most people forgettable, thing that she did- BUT WAS ACTUALLY THE KEY TO THE WHOLE THING

AND MADE DAMN SURE TO SHOW & HIGHLIGHT ITS IMPORTANCE IN HER FILM.

(her copying the data needed to SAVE THE OTHER WIDOWS IN THE WHOLE WORLD WAS GIVEN THE FOCUS & ENERGY NEEDED TO HIGHLIGHT THAT SCENE'S SIGNIFICANCE CAUSE W/O THAT DATA, THOSE WOMEN WOULD BE LOST)

they KNEW that HER COPYING THAT INFO in the lemurian star in tws IN THE FIRST FUCKING PLACE is HOW NICK FIGURED OUT HYDRA’S PLAN

AND DECIDED TO FUCKING PARALLEL THAT TOO IN HER FILM CAUSE THEY KNEW THAT DESPITE HOW SMALL THAT SCENE WAS, IT WAS ACTUALLY THE KEY TO THE ENTIRE THING

they know the significance that nat’s story has, how it’s about abuse, and what it does to people

it makes them want to run away & dismiss everything that happened as purely horrible

sometimes, it makes them betray people (like melina & even to some extent, nat…)

they did all this in a marvel movie

the importance of choice, control, autonomy, of women’s lives, every aspect of it

the mundane, their intelligence, their pain, their relationships, their humor & happiness & love…

this was a marvel movie, starring women, produced by women, written (jac schaeffer, wv creator too), directed (cate shortland), and edited (leigh folsom) by women.

this was an excellent beautiful painfully heartfelt luminescent movie, from start to finish.

so much care compassion complexity & love, woven into the story

they cared about what nat DID manage to do in the mcu, not that she was forced into the sidelines

(though, honestly, I think that line about nat never letting herself be alone long enough to figure out what her story is was such an interesting & cool way of acknowledging it…)

nat never spoke much in the films, and they went with it, she’s not the inspiring speech type, she herself says

behind the scenes, they were making nat look as cool as possible with those poses

but in this film, they made it HER character trait

that SHEEEE, WANTS TO POSE LIKE THAT.

I just think that’s so funny… a cute character trait of her wanting to pose all the time and denying/not acknowledging it??

I think it’s a sweet & funnily humanizing trait of hers :’’’))

they made her funny like that, heh…

most mcu movies, they have arcs, they have great interesting moving stories…

I just think this film is chockfull of love over natasha romanoff, a hero, an avenger’s story…

they put so much in to give her as full of a life as they could… a complex, heartbreaking, painful, happy, tragic, loving, human life…

most mcu movies… they’re so plot focused. find this, follow that.

for me, this film wasn’t.

it was women getting their control back.

behind the screen, and on screen, it was women getting their control back…

after a decade and more of getting bits of meaningful crumbs here and there, the creatives of this film gathered all those up, and built a full complex life and story from it…

it dealt with something so real and tragic but also beautiful and full of love.

I don’t think most mcu movies did this.

and it’s why I wrote all of this.

give credit where it’s due.

black widow is the most heartbreakingly painful and beautiful film marvel’s ever made…

it was a full and concise and finished and complete story, start to finish, about the hero who’s earned it, the goddamned most.

acknowledge what they did with this film.

it’s what they, nat & the creatives, deserve.

acknowledge it.

they didn’t work this hard to give nat such a meaningful loving & complex life and family and story, only for it to be called lesser

than films who tackle their themes in much shorter times

and with themes that aren’t as rooted in reality

acknowledge what they did.

acknowledge it.

I’m not really that knowledgeable over what framing and lighting really means…

but I think those details mean something

how their life at ohio, playing in the yard was flickered with sunlight, and fireflies

how it turned to night when they were forced to flee and return to russia

how it was night when they first entered the red room

but then there’d be more and more light as nat had progressed with their plan, with beams of light, flashing through the window behind her

and then once the dust had settled, the sun was rising on them, the survivors.

but… the most poignant & meaningful of all these lighting shots that I found…

was nat’s endings,

when she said goodbye to her family…

it was almost like, she was saying goodbye to us too…

with daylight, shining all around behind her, as she walked away and whistled her goodbye

this happening with her goodbye to her family

and with her official final shot of her, heading into the horizon, to her destiny

saving the universe, and saving her family

they cared so much to give her these beautifully poetically luminescent images of her, guys…

my heart breaks as I don’t see anyone else acknowledging this…

so please… acknowledge it.

acknowledge, what they did.

acknowledge it.

[kareofbears]

persona 5 strikers thoughts and feelings

This is going to be a long post. Like, the type of post you’d only really have time to read when you’re trying to sleep but you’re not ready to be unconscious yet so you’re just looking for something to do to spend your time with minimal effort. 

So in 2018, a masterpiece was born into the world: Into the Spider-verse was released and it was amazing—it’s honestly the best spiderman movie we have without a doubt, and it’ll be very far into the future before Spider-verse is beaten as the best spiderman movie. Them’s the facts. Then in 2019, Spider-man: Far From Home was dropped. It’s a great movie! Great characters, great continuation of who these characters are and works fantastic as a continuation of a story. It’s really hard trying to take the torch of a previous movie (or in Marvel’s case, juggling twenty something movies) and come up with a new movie that both works on its own, as well as being the next step in this series of films. Thus, with that idea in mind, I think it’s kind of unfair to judge into the spiderverse and far from home, because these are two movies with two completely different objectives in mind. 

Okay, so this is still a persona 5 strikers post, I promise, but the idea is the same: Persona 5 could basically do whatever it wanted—new story, new characters, new everything, and it’s just plain old awesome. However, Persona 5 strikers did not have that sort of freedom. It was bound to the original game, and it had its own rules and stuff it had to keep intact, characters they had to work with, and on top of that, it had to justify its existence as a sequel (lets pretend money doesnt exist lmfao). 

SO, the big question is: did it do that? Did it justify its existence? 

And my answer: holy fuck did it ever do that

I came into this game knowing the extreme bare minimum. I knew there was someone named Sophia, and i knew there was roadtrip, and i knew there were Personas. That’s my knowledge of it before i played it on the Switch.  I should also clarify like, early on, that i was not expecting anything from this game. At all. I was the world’s biggest cynic of this game—if you scroll down my p5s tag far enough, youll just see me complaining about a game that hasn’t even come out yet. I was fully expecting to have this be a Waifu show, and any male character that isn’t Akira to just be shoved aside like some kind of nerd in a high school hallway, and i have never been more pleased to be wrong. In fact, i actually owe it an apology, because of how fucking rude i was for no reason!!! Because this game deserves everything to be honest. 

Persona 5 strikers is, frankly, insane. Insane in the sense that it got to pull shit off that just would never have existed in the original game, because the original game is scared. It had to be as impressive as possible and garner as much attention as possible. Strikers does not have that problem—every single person who bought that game does not need to be convinced that persona 5 is a good game. They already played it. That means Atlus can just fuck around and have a good time, and man did they have a good time. There’s still scenes that still shock me if i think about it too hard, because i’m used to atlus having to follow this sort of rule set when it comes to persona 5 (or any of the main games im assuming, but i havent played them.) And on top of that, there’s still shit that’s Atlus Trademarked Branded in a good way. The style of story of story telling, and revealing the mystery that is so integral to what p5 is, is still there. 

So, to make this even a little bit comprehensible, i will make a list! 

First of all, What is this game?

In short, this game is an OVA of an anime. It’s bonus side content that has one thing in mind: to showcase these lovable characters more by putting them in fun situations. That’s it, and it is just phenomenal. That was the main point of, i’d say, like forty hours of the game. It’s just fun times with fun characters. 

But to get deeper of what i think is happening, or what they were thinking during the development, is that this is a second opportunity. Persona 5 (as we all know) had a lot of problems, and we were not quiet about those problems. We yelled it all out, made posts, made complaints on every social media platform ever. And Atlus heard all of them, and Strikers is a way to mitigate those mistakes. Aside from being a fun OVA, Strikers also works to be a deeper exploration of these characters—more specifically, the characters that did not receive much in the original game. Creating this sequel is having the ability to redo what they felt (or to be more specific, we felt) in the original game while adding new ones. I will get to that in a second.  

The format of the game 

Absolutely brilliant to throw them on a road trip. P5V already forced us to experience Shibuya for 200+ hours, and im so glad that they didn’t do that again. Going from town to town, making us experience these new places alongside our favorite characters is so good, and it just makes sense. It’s fun, it’s lighthearted, and it’s actually shockingly good. But one thing i do want to talk about early on is the way the story unfolds and the villains that they use, and what they do with it because it’s very interesting. 

So as we explore japan and stuff, we encounter jails, and with those jails comes an antagonist. This antagonist works to be a parallel to one of our characters. That character will find it in their hearts to feel bad for the antagonist, because the antagonist could have been them had the original game not happen. At first I thought all of the thieves were gonna get an antagonist, and i was really hyped for the ryuji one. And then came to hour forty of the game where i realized “yeah that’s not gonna happen. There’s just not enough time.” And i was right, and the game ended. But i am not salty at all, honestly, because the people who got a direct antagonist were: Ann, Yusuke, and Haru. (we wont count zen and sophie). 

Is there a trend??? Yes. these are all characters in the original game that have received the worst treatment by atlus. The three of them are basically cast aside the minute they finished their original arc, and its horrible! BUT that’s why this is the path that atlus chose for them—to give them more depth, and screentime, and a way to show their inner self. That isn’t to say that the ones who aren’t those three (makoto, futaba, mona, akira, ryuji) didn’t get anything. Futaba still has her thing at the end with ichinose, and she was very prevalent and animated during the rest of the game. Mona and Akira have to be a focal points, that’s just the nature of the game. The other two though, I will talk about in depth in a second.  

Makoto

Y’all i poke fun at shumako fans sometimes cause its kind of easy and fun, but i honestly love makoto. In my very first playthrough of p5 (my first ever jrpg game, first persona game, i had no idea what i was doing), i had only maxed out two characters: ryuji and makoto. And i know she had a lot of screentime and love in the original game which is great, but i truly felt like she was dissed in this game. Her only roles were

A driver

Someone to tell them “we don’t have a choice. Let’s keep going and see where this takes us.” (seriously, if you replay this game, you will see how much she does this)

Idk, i just wish she had more to do, especially compared to how much love they gave the other characters. 

But let’s talk about some of the new characters! 

Zenkichi

Damn you atlus. Damn you and your insistence at bringing in cop characters. I was fully on board with hating zenkichi, i was fucking ready for it. I was convinced that there was nothing they could do convince to like zenkichi. I was immune to their copaganda. 

And then i ended up loving him, which makes me sad a little bit. I didn’t realize how desperate i was to have an adult who has a persona. Someone who wants the world to change just as much as they do, while still having that aspect of them that makes them adult. Like??? As someone who is technically an adult, its a breath of fresh air. An adult. Who fights. For justice. Using a persona. And god i love akane so much, and her obsession with the thieves (that scene is probably in my top ten fave scenes of the game). Also what i loved about zenkichi is that he fucking hates the cops!! He hates the system of the cops!! And thats why i actually really started to love him!! Because i thought it was atlus saying that the systematic problem of the police cannot be solved by one person, and zenkichi threw away his badge. I actually cried at that part!! 

But then he became a cop again, and i was just :/ but as a character, i really love him to bits and would love to do a study on him, or at least use him as an outside pov. But! i absolutely love his persona, since im a les miserables fan hehe

Sophia 

she’s probably my favorite new aspect of the game. I was ready to not like her—again, i just suck like that, lmfao—and when i saw her, i was scared that she was just another waifu. I mean, she was very cute after all. But then as the game went on, i thought she was a little too cute. And even further into the game, i finally slapped myself in the face and realized oh my god shes not a waifu. Shes a sister. 

That blew my mind, im ngl to you. A female character that isn’t supposed to be romanced? By jove, what a miracle! 

And she…is an amazing character. Im sorry, i just love her so much. I love her so much that she  probably ranks as my fifth or sixth favorite character which is surprising even to me. Everything about her is delightful and invigorating. She’s funny??? Her comedic timing is amazing, and she has such chemistry with the rest of the team. She’s actually useful to the plot, and while her character design is a little too on the nose for me in terms of cuteness (i mean, good god she’s wearing oversized sweater to show how cute and tiny she is, and her hair has literal hearts in it), she is absolutely lovable. 

But what i actually really wanna gush about for a second is sophia at the last stage of the game. You get the idea, i dont really like to get excited over things, so at this point i figured that there was nothing this game could do to shock me. 

And then sophia had a persona awakening. 

Like. holy fuck did i yell. I didnt realize what was happening until the music had already kicked in. and its just so fucking smart!!! Sophia??? The ai?? With no heart?? gOT A PERSONA???? AWAKENING??? BECAUSE SHE LEARNED WHAT THE HEART IS AND THE PASSION THAT YOU NEED IN ORDER TO GET A PERSONA??? I started crying honestly, because it was just so smart. And looking back on it now, its obvious!! Of course it would lead to this, it only made sense that the culmination of her character arc leads to her getting a persona, nothing else would have been as good. Also, her voice actor is just amazing?? When she was talking to ichinose at the end, i actually got incredibly emotional because of the line reads. Its just so spot on and it really captures the essence of sophia.

Muah. five stars Atlus. You got me. 

Ryuji <3!!!!

Oh man. Oh boy. Okay. so where do i start. 

Yall know i love him. Hes probably my favorite fictional male character of all time, and he is the one i was the absolute most cynical about in this game. I was expecting literally nothing. Nothing. Like. nothing. I thought he was just gonna keep being used as a joke, or a gag, and he’s gonna be super horny all the time for the other girls and it was gonna make me mad and there was gonna be some insane homophobic/queerphobic jokes in every other scene and i know i was being unfair, but i cant help it. 

And then i played the first two hours of the game, and i cried the entire time. Because ryuji has never been better than he is in this game. Its crazy. 

The ryuji in persona 5 strikers is who ryuji should have been/how he should have been treated this entire time. From the actual funny jokes (for example, the gold bar joke + his reaction to it in the beginning of the game), defending his female friends instead of being the one people need to defend from (natsume arc), and the fact that he was the one to be there with morgana and akira in the very beginning of the game. Its such a small thing that they didnt even need to do, but it was such an integral part of the original game for me, that i just was convinced that nothing like this was going to happen. But then it happened. Its just small stuff like that that could have been overlooked but it wasn’t because this game? Persona 5 strikers? Fucking loves ryuji. 

The actual respect they gave this boy is insane and i wasn't ready for it. Like, they gave the shujin trio lunch, they gave the little charm of the katana when they were in natsume’s jail, and, in my opinion this is the second-best thing that they could have given ryuji is sophia. Ryuji and sophia are the pinnacle of a brother & sister bonding relationship in the game that isn’t akira & futaba. And its really prevalent too?? Small stuff from the beginning of the game (pulling her out of a jail, calling her shorty), but then you have the iconic “shut the fuck up” scene, and that scene was so well characterized and written and voice acted, that somehow him saying “fuck” was the least exciting part of that scene to me. Ryuji is an older brother to her, like its undoubtable, and its only further cemented at the end of the game where Ryuji helps out ichinose because he knows how much sophia cares about her. This game. Love ryuji. And i love. This game. 

You know what else i love? Akiryu. 

Guys. i was fully prepared to starve in terms of akiryu. But theres just. So much of it. I wont get too deep into it, because i think this aspect of the game for me still needs marinate a little bit. Like, what was that last shot when EMMA died and Ryuji walked to approach Akira so they could relish in their victory together?? And the smile from both of them??? What the fuck. That was amazing. Also Joker being saved by Ryuji when he was about to fall from the cliff to save sophia??? WHAT. The LEADER AND HIS RIGHT HAND MAN? WHAT. anyway. If theres anything i want to keep for myself in my own brain, its the akiryu aspect of this game, so i wont talk too much about that part of things (instead, itll probably manifest in fic lmfaooo). 

Sure, there’s tidbits of stuff i dont like that they gave ryuji: sexualizing ann in that one cut scene and making him touch the jails even though it hurts, and i recognize those and frown at them, but for the most part, i am blown away with how they treated him.

Basically, Ryuji has never been better. From the opening of the game with him being the first text message and the one to sling his arm around akira, to the very last cut scene where it was ryuji wordlessly leaving because he’s so confident that they would never be separated for long, this game adores Ryuji and i am so so happy to say that.

The Royal aspect of things

Yeah, i had to talk about this, but itll be a short thing i just wanted to point out. Because the last part of this game...is persona 5 royal. Which is curious. Like taking reality and giving that power to someone else so you dont have to experience suffering anymore? And even like, the final section just looked a lot like the top half of maruki’s palace?? And whats even crazier is that we had a boss fight with sophia, just like how we had a boss fight with sumire? Royal and Strikers have like, the same thesis statement. It’s kind of uncanny.It’s interesting, it’s like atlus came up with these two ideas, and then just decided they liked both of them so much that they just did it twice. I don’t mind though—actually, in terms of how the last Palace/Jails go, i probably like them both about equally. 

Though i did love the final battle in this one more than i did in royal. Splitting into teams?? Thats cool as fuck, and really innovative and i didnt see it coming. It also kicked my ass. A lot. 

Now for the last stretch: the small stuff!

The music — bomb as fuck. In my heart, Daredevil is ranked the same as Rivers. Axe to grind is also amazing, but Daredevil owns me

Akechi — i really debated whether or not to talk about him, but i figured a bullet point should be enough. Im really shocked that he wasnt in this at all. Like not even a name drop. If this is an OVA, and the point of the game is to please the fans, and akechi is arguably the fan favorite character, i was really ready for something. But there was nothing, except for the pancake hallway if that even counts as a reference. Thats it. Thats all i wanted to say about him.

The humour — FUCKING HILARIOUS im convinced that in my fifty hour playtime, five of that is dedicated to me laughing and unable to continue the game 

Akira — so much personality! His lines of dialogue are crazy sometimes (like. Whats up with him saying Ryuji has ‘nice abs’ when they were in bath? Im crazy and even i dont know what the fuck that could mean) 

Battle system — oh my god i almost forgot to talk about this. I love it! I kind of miss the turn based aspect just because i found it very comforting for some reason, but this hack and slash style of gameplay is so invigorating because i do feel like it justifies shit like the baton pass and huge attacks.  This battle system fully encompases how the Phantom Thieves are supposed to fight, you know what i mean?

Anyway, thats my thoughts on strikers. Loved it. Amazing. 9.3/10, wouldve been higher but Konoe’s Jail almost bored me to death. Also im a monster and i didnt do any requests that isn’t a fun one, teehee. As if i play persona 5 for the persona aspect of things.

[nymika-arts]

Why did people hate the recent episode? Like was it my favourite? Hell no, but I think it was necessary to develop esp Michael’s character and to close a chapter for Athena.

Also the Eddie & ana scene was also necessary for the development of Eddie realizing that he needs to heal and that she totally wasn’t right for him due to it just being down to “she’s good with my son” and him to not put himself and his health on the back burner.

The only thing i hated was maddie saying “yeet bye” (though the actress just had a baby so I get that they had to put her on the sidelines for a bit at least that’s what im hoping)

but uh yeah idgi of why people disliked it. Ik it wasn’t the best or most plot moving episode but it’s major for a build up of things in the future!!!

well i can’t speak for everyone of course, but from what i’ve seen (and my own personal opinion) the main reason was because of the huge amount of blatant copaganda that was on display throughout athena’s storyline. it was bad in the first 2 eps as well, but it really came out in full force tonight and i hate watching it. there was such a clear statement being made and the fact that they put this into my favourite show, and involved my favourite characters, just makes me so angry. it was such a deliberate choice to frame everything in that way, and i’m not sure why they decided it was a good idea to put it in the show, but i’m hoping that’s the end of it. it goes against everything the show is supposed to be about.

i liked the eddie/ana scene, and i agree that it was a very important moment for him, so i don’t have much to say about that! i think some people found some bits of it cringey but yknow to each their own

as for maddie (and just fyi to anyone reading this, anon did send another ask clarifying that this wasn’t meant to sound like maddie hate) i was hoping they would go in a different direction for her, but i understand that they probably had limited options given that jlh just had a baby and is taking some time off for that reason 💖 so i’m holding off on judging that one until we’ve seen a bit more of it unfold.

so yeah tbh i did not like most of this episode because of the cop stuff, but the last like 10 mins were just fine

[noona96n]

Omg I am sorry for sending that long ask, I write that at like 3 am after finishing my assignment so I was so sleepy lol

Anyways I was just saying that I do trust that Shu Yi’s love but I think that even if he does want to still have revenge, he still wants them to be together at the end if that makes.

The thing that makes doubt about the following plot is the pool scene, like idk if is going to happen as a joke like the bridge scene or is it going to be serious. What do you think?

Finally I think that they have to fix their communication and insecurities issues for their relationship to work because otherwise is going to still keep bringing conflict in the future.

They are both really obsessive with each other which can really be toxic (so glad is just fiction 🤡) so yeah they really have to solve their communication problems, really hoping season three is just about them being a married couple that work on fixing their insecurity issues so that they can be a happy family with many children and dogs lol.

Like I nee to seem them being dads, especially after seeing Shi De with his baby brother, he would be an amazing dad, he has such big dad vibes yk.

oh, i thought the bridge scene 2.0 is quite serious... i mean, it essentially revolves around Shu Yi & Shi De joking around, yes, but that scene was like a loaded gun where they had an honest conversation (for the 2nd time this season), and Shi De understanding that he’s forgiven by Shu Yi, and  they also addressed some of the underlying issues (but still not resolving it 100% lol)

i think, Shu Yi forgiving Shi De and Shi De finally understanding that he’s forgiven and fully believing that Shu Yi loves him and wants to be with him forever is a step toward building a healthier relationship. i think it’s a pretty big milestone all thing considered... it’s just that the scene was written to be light-hearted; maybe it was to balance out the deep, emotional conversation and implications that were taking place? idk 

@soundsaboutrighttumblr​ also think that the bridge scene 2.0 is quite serious as they wrote a textpost on it.

(also, i’ve been saying that Shu Yi has always wanted to forgive Shi De and i do think that’s true... Shu Yi loves Shi De too much to stay mad at him. and, as u’ve said, that’s bcs they’re so in love and so, so obsessed w/ each other and that’s def not healthy at all! but i wanna clarify that forgiveness doesn’t mean forgetting or condoning the wrongdoings that were done to him. the way i see it, Shu Yi forgiving Shi De is just Shu Yi coming to term that Shi De caused him pain and that he still loves Shi De despite all that pain, that he’s now willing to heal the pain & fix the fractures of their relationship, and he’s ready to move to a better future w/ Shi De)

as for the pool scene, i think it’ll be an affirmation of their affection for one another. it’ll probably be very sweet and not too heavy... and that’s the end of their struggles/doubt for one another (coming to a full circle of their relationship). they’ll probably have another honest conversation in S2EP5 in a more neutral ground (?) im not sure lol but i don’t think they’d “taint” the beginning of their relationship w/ “bad” vibes ya know? and i think the writer would want the pool scene to be sweet and romantic more than it is heavy and emotional. 

as for marriage, yes, yes, yes! i’ve always been preaching about it lol i need them to get married! i don’t think they’ll be able to have kids (as of now) bcs Taiwan doesn’t allow gay couples to adopt kids just yet... however, if one of them have kids prior to their marriage, then their partner can adopt the kids as their own! im also unsure if surrogacy is a legal thing in Taiwan so yeah... probably unlikely that we’ll be seeing little baby Shu Yi or Shi De running around.

im sure Shu Yi will spoil Oscar rotten tho ;3 bcs he’s sappy for his bf and he loves his bf’s mom to pieces haha also, i really wanna see when Shu Yi finally meets the blonde lady (which i’ve been saying is Shi De’s stepsister!) 

anon's initial ask:

i really don’t have anything to say about Shi De tbh like, he’s my favorite character but i can’t get into his headspace or understand his mindset. his love for Shu Yi is to great and i always end up going ‘who is Shi De if he’s not in love with Shu Yi?’ like i legit dk who Shi De is... loving Shu Yi is his identity and his direction in life. i know people is capable of that kind of emotion but don’t understand it. 

thanks for ur insights into Shi De! and thank you for sending in ur ask again! it was lovely to read what u have to say! 

also, if ure sending in more asks, please break them into more manageable length! 

[firebunnylover]

LoSH S2 discussion

I love Legion of Superheroes. And i love season 2, but that doesn’t mean I don’t think about how it could have been improved. In terms of quality, it varies more than season 1. Some parts are top tier while others… eh.

Season 2 is darker than season 1. And there’s the inherent stigmatism that darker means better. But it’s not true.

A horror schlock film is not inherently better than an animated film.

I don’t blame the staff on all its shortcomings. Kids WB was on its deathbed, so they probably had less time to work and iron out ideas. And executive meddling.

The second season had a lot of good elements, but there are things that weighed it down. I am here to discuss how to improve said things.

Heads up: ended up editing part of this post after rewatching the episodes.

This first bit is more of a personal preference, but instead of the 41st century, maybe move the original source of conflict to a farther region of space, one that the UP doesn’t interact with, and has been growing in terms of turmoil until they finally resort to bringing the Legion over. In other words, it has just been put aside by everyone else to the last minute.

Parallel to Brainy’s relationship to Brainiac. He doesn’t want to deal with it. He never brings it up. But maybe if he did, he wouldn’t have gotten corrupted.

This place still has plenty of old documentation of the original age of superman, so Kell is disillusioned with the ideal glory days. Keep Kell Edgy.

Kell’s home and K3NT still gets destroyed - reflects Krypton’s own destruction.

SPEAKING OF KELL:

Make his story more apparent that it’s one realizing that kindness is not an inherent weakness. And neither is being soft. He was raised for fighting and killing Imperiex, and was taught to think that they were weaknesses. Have him realize his identity can be beyond the Clone of Superman made to kill Imperiex. Or rather, have him react more to realizing that he’s moving beyond his given identity.

To clarify; they do address his development in the show a few times, but I want more continuous development instead of the rapid nods we get. Have him try to interact in a more humane way with others. Especially with other members of the Legion. Where they have to take a double take in seeing him acting not that edgy. Maybe offer more flashback of him fighting Imperiex in comparison, and how he treated allies then.

Also put K3NT’s story under the microscope. I doubt Imperiex just came out of nowhere with his attacks. Plus the fact they went far enough to send a hitman after a fucking child? That screams yikes and maybe we need to double check the story.

And an overall issue to be addressed is what rights do robots have and what conditions need to be met? Because let’s face it, we make robots to do complex work for us. But Colu is a culture where the main people ARE robots. Like in Transformers. What line do we draw between non-sentient robots vs the sentient ones in the 31st century? And what about cyborgs/people who give up their original bodies for robotic ones?

Plus Imperiex himself came to be because of the perfected combination of organic tissue and robotics. This topic of robots and individuality/personhood could have been a fun topic to explore.

Don’t sideline the girls. Leave TG alone. 

Don’t put SG in a coma for nearly the whole season - seriously it’s the reason why the guys make one bad decision after the other. Although with that said, it’s because she’s not around we got the majority of s2 plots. She’s the goddamn mom of the squad. Just make her busier and unable to keep an eye on her idiot boys for the plots based on bad decisions to happen. 

Or have her deal with after-effects of what Esper did to her. Maybe after a whole season of being the emotional support character, have her be the one in need of emotional support or not being able to help directly, especially when the group needs emotional support. Emotional support paradox.

Maybe don’t make Cosmic Boy appear as much as a dick in the episodes where he does show up. He’s trying to hold this goddamn team together, and there’s a goddamn tyrant trying to conquer the galaxy. HE’S FUCKING TIRED AND STRESSED. AND IM SURE THERE ARE A BUNCH OF JERKS WHO WANT TO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THAT TO DISSOLVE THE LEGION. Better yet, throw in some more backstory with him and his little brother Pol!

And in regards to Imperiex… The dude has a lot of potential. I like his voice actor, Phil Morris. The guy voiced Dr. Sweets from Atlantis.

But his writing needs help.

In the original DC comics, he’s the embodiment of Entropy. Anyone who’s seen Madoka is probably familiar with what that is. But if you're not, here’s a definition: “ the measure of a system’s thermal energy per unit temperature that is unavailable for doing useful work...” He’s the embodiment of that energy that cannot be used for anything. And Entropy grows over time.

Another definition of what Entropy is “lack of order or predictability; gradual decline into disorder.”

In the comics, he’s more of a cosmic being as a result of him being an embodiment of unusable energy. He’s been in existence since, well, the beginning. He had destroyed the universe and recreated it multiple times. Okay, so that lines up with how the show portrays him. And technically, he does get the universe to reset itself in the 41st century when he alters the 31st century enough.

But I personally feel that making him a cosmic being is kinda… meh?

I personally prefer more personal villains most of the time. Don’t get me wrong, an Eldritch being done right makes a great character, but I can’t see Imperiex as one. At least not LoSH’s version.

Plus I like it when the protagonist sees the villain has a point and has changed as a result for the better.

You know, over a year ago, I used to think that it was impossible to make a tyrannical villain who’s presented as real evil seem complex.

And then… I was introduced to TFP Megatron.

Now for you LoSH fans who haven’t watched Transformers Prime, Megatron was once Megatronus. A low caste member who worked in the mines and Gladiator games. He wanted to fix the growing corruption of Cybertron. To make things better.

But his worse personality traits took over, and he lost that good motivation. Now he’s just fighting to win and defeat Optimus Prime. 

But despite the change of goals and ideals, he doesn’t want to simply abandon his relationship with Optimus. He and Optimus, or as he used to be called, Orion, were fighting for the betterment of society. And they meant something to each other. Megatron doesn’t want to just get it over with. He wants fanfare for his victory over Optimus. And he doesn’t want anyone else to rob him off that. But he isn’t opposed to getting Optimus/Orion back on his side. It’s because of this you can still argue that there is a remaining shred of good in him.

They were the best young lovers anD NO I AM NOT CRYING OVER THEM!

Also, the fact we know he was part of a minority group in the form of the lower cast  that was enslaved can make us sympathize with Megatronus of the past, as well as understand how he came to be.

It doesn’t mean we forgive him for his actions - and he has done a lot of shitty things. And I mean a lot.

But his history is more understandable. TFP Megatron’s a fall from grace.

OK I’m done dissecting TFP Meg’s writing.

We know Imperiex was a slave, and was originally organic, who’s from a society where his purpose is literally just to fight, and was gradually stripped of his original body. He was originally stripped of any agency before then though.

But he says this was a good thing. Calling his original body a weakness. And refers to his old self as a pathetic slave.

He gave up whatever softness he had.

Also, this is where K3NT’s story needs to be reexamined. Imperiex was made during what K3NT described as “A Time of Extended Prosperity”. That time had freaking slaves. And K3NT says that when Imperiex did rise up, they were unprepared. So… they were prosperous, but lacked defense to prevent anything like that happening? Or perhaps those who were in charge were that unpopular that it was easy for Imperiex to start the war.

What made him decide conquering the galaxy was the next thing to do after he had every bit of his original self stripped away? Why go as far as destroy it?

What I’m trying to say is that they could borrow a few pages from the Megatron book. Maybe he was once trying to better the society he was part of, but he decides to play the violent card at some point. And somewhere along that strategy, he starts to lose sight of the initial goal. With that, being the victor and in control becomes the main one.

Or perhaps he has grown cynical of the galaxy as it is and decides it just needs to go all together, and then start from scratch.

Like the second definition of Entropy, he gradually declines in predictability and descends into disorder.

Maybe to juxtaposition the fact that Brainiac became the main threat at the end, make him the opposite or foil to him. Rationality or logic do not serve as first-or-second influences to decisions under pressure. Emotions and his own perceived ideas do.

Speaking of Brainiac, maybe offer more of the OG Brainiac. Give us more of that smooth-voiced Corey Burton. 

Or TFA Megatron.

Seductive Bastard.

I’m sorry I have fallen for the shady-business-mafia-boss-but-morally-grey robot.

Also, the members of the legion that only get one episode focus? Give them more screen time. You can’t just introduce superman’s new adopted son Karate Kid and just not bring him for another speaking role again!

Actually, that brings me to another point.

As @spandexinspace​ pointed out, his episode is not the best, and is arguably the worst written of the whole series. Things that are issues do get brushed off to the side.

So a proposal on potential rewrite:

First, have the legion look over its current rules and what exceptions/changes they need to make.

Explore the subject of kids having to participate in these fights.

To clarify, kid shows are meant to be escapism for kids.

Shocking, I know.

So it makes sense that some characters would be the same age as the viewers. 

But while this is good representation, as you get older, you find yourself going “WHY WOULD THE ADULTS LET THEM ENDANGER THEMSELVES?!”

Kids having to fight at that age does have consequences. Batman Beyond certainly addressed it. So did Steven Universe Future.

Steven ended up being responsible for so much, that when he no longer needed to take care of things, he was unsure of who he was. And then there’s the fact he ended up with PTSD because of him having to fight so much. Then you have the fact that Greg and Rose never intended to raise him like their caretakers did... but as good as their intentions were, they still caused damage. Rose for… all the gem stuff. And look, Greg is a great dad, but not enforcing anything for Steven when he’s growing up still has it’s cost.

With Batman, he’s obviously going to do his damn best to keep kids safe, including the Robins. But sometimes, it’s not enough. He wasn’t able to keep Tim safe in the event with the Joker in Batman Beyond. Where he was held captive and tortured.

But the Batkids are never expected to resolve this stuff by themselves. Because Batman knows how much you can get screwed up as a kid. He fucking cares.

And to be fair, in most continuities I’m aware of, the other sidekicks came out pretty okay overall.

Except Jason Todd.

So my proposal?

Have Val originally with Grimbor, as a sort of Protege. But have the legion capture him, only to go “uhhh this is a child with no powers”. And Superman, being the good, wholesome paragon we all love, takes him under his wing.

In all honesty, I want Superman pulling a batdad for Karate Kid in his intro episode the whole time. That was the best part of the episode for me.

Plus after the events of “Cry Wolf”, the Legion should examine the no-killing rule. Because they do need to kill Imperiex to save the universe. But that goes against the code. But they can argue it’s a necessity. But Mar Londo is also a monster. He’s the everyday monster some of us have grown up with.

When do you need to make exceptions to kill someone?

And my final main suggestion:

Add more Mekt.

What the heck were you guys expecting? You all KNOW me by now. I LOVE MY GARBAGE BOY.

Joking aside, here’s what I would do.

Have the Chained Lightning episode pushed back, but have Mekt with Imperiex earlier. Most of us would yell “Why the heck would you join the guy whose main goal is to destroy the galaxy?!” But this is one of the easiest things to address.

Explore more of his past. Use the comic sources with him being outcast for being a solo on Winath. With that in mind, him deciding to side with Imperiex can make sense.

Why try protecting something that has done nothing but hurt you?

There’s actually a pretty good reason why he would side with Imperiex, as seen in Champions and Lightning Storm. Remember, Mekt was willing to cheat to get ahead of the sports competition he was introduced in. And also was thrilled when fighting Garth and was beating him on his own. He likes being in power.

Imperiex offers him that.

As for why Imperiex would bother with Mekt? That’s a little harder to answer. He knows that Mekt has a soft spot for his brother, and in turn sister, which proves to be the reason why the Tachyon Cannon fails. You’d think Imperiex would remove a huge fatality.

But he doesn’t.

Maybe he could hold another type of value for Mekt. Perhaps... nostalgia?

I’m still sold on the idea that they were sleeping together.

Also, give us a conclusive answer on where Mekt stands with the LSV. In the comics, he was the leader, but that role was given to Tyr in the cartoon more or less.

OK I think this has been polished enough for me to post now. What you guys think? Feel free to add on!