#trollhunters fandom i hope you agree with me on this one

[ink-for-dinner]

hey what the fuck is a troll hunter

How do I even answer this💀

So Trollhunters is this fucking amazing piece of art of a show on Netflix that everyone should watch cause it's just so good and THIS my anonymous friend is a the troll hunter ✨

He's awesome

[changelingchangewing]

Hi, Em!! Feel free to ignore any of these that you want, I just wanted to give you a wide variety of options :)

Hiccup (HTTYD) 1. Why do you like or dislike this character?

2. Favorite canon thing about this character?

9. Could you be roommates with this character?

Jim Lake (T:TOA) 5. What's the first song that comes to mind when you think about them?

12. What's a headcanon you have for this character?

18. How about a relationship they have in canon with another character that you admire?

23. Favorite picture of this character?

Number Two (MBS) 22. If you're a fic reader, what's something you like in fics when it comes to ths character? Something you don't like?

7. What's something the fandom does when it comes to this character that you like?

24. What other character from another fandom of yours that reminds you of them?

Hope you're having a good day!!! <3

Hi! Thanks for the ask. I hope you’re having a good day too!

First off, I’d like to apologize for taking so long to answer: life has been crazy, but I’m on break at the moment, so I should be able to respond to asks sooner.

Anyway, let’s get started on the answers!

Hiccup:

Why do you like or dislike this character?

I love Hiccup as a character because he wasn’t afraid to speak up and fight for what was important to him. When he found out that dragons were not as violent as everyone else made them out to be, he fought for them. I just find that very admirable. He’s also super resourceful and able to build things which is cool.

Favorite canon thing about this character:

Definitely his snarky remarks. The “EXCUSE ME, BARMAID! I THINK YOU BROUGHT ME THE WRONG OFFSPRING!” Scene never fails to make me laugh.

Could you be roommates with this character:

On hundred percent. I’d love being roommates with Hiccup!

Jim Lake Jr.

What’s the first song that comes to mind when you think about them?

I asked my friend @superstar-blue about this and the rest of the Jim-related questions because we share a lot of the same headcanons. If you see this Star: Hi!

Anyways, one song that I associate with Jim Lake is “Hold Me While You Wait” by Lewis Capaldi. To me (and Star!) it really speaks to Jim’s journey throughout the TOA series and his mental process behind his decisions he makes throughout the show.

What’s a headcanon you have for this character?

A really simple headcanon that I have for Jim is that he likes cows. He just looks like the kind of guy that would like cows. 🐄

A relationship that this character has with another character that you admire:

I really admire the relationship Jim has with his mom. It’s not often we see positive son/mother family dynamics in shows (in my experience at least) so it’s refreshing to see that depicted in Trollhunters through Jim and Barbara.

Favorite picture of this character?

This one for sure:

Number Two:

Something in fanfic that you like when it comes to this character:

I love it when in fanfic the writer really goes into depth about just how much Number Two’s insomnia affects her. There’s a fic by phtalgreenpoison on ao3 that does this beautifully and it’s definitely one of my favorite tmbs fanfictions so far.

Something the fandom does when it comes to this character that you like:

I like that the fandom collectively agreed that show! Number Two should have done whatever she was going to do with the mold. That would have been terrifying, crazy, and very girlboss of her.

What other character from another fandom of yours reminds you of them?

Definitely Mabel from Gravity Falls. Maybe it’s because they share the same voice, but really, it’s because Mabel provides the perfect image of what Number Two was like when she was younger and lived with Nicholas and Rhonda. They’re both pure chaos and I love it.

…

Thanks for the ask!

[fill-me-with-your-memes-daddy]

Watching the Rise of the Titans movie and I'll be documenting all of my thoughts/reactions here. [Spoiler Warning]

So instead of reblogging every new update, I'm just going to have this post up on my phone as I watch and type my reactions in a bullet list format.

Nari's human disguise is so cute. As someone who does have a cottagecore aesthetic, I want to cosplay her so bad

Are Skrael and/or Belroc non-binary coded? Regardless, I'm also obsessed and I want to fuck Skrael and be Belroc.

STEVE CARING ABOUT JIM BEING HURT YESSSS!!! My god his redemption has probably been one of the greatest there is because he doesn't just suddenly go from being a bully to a completely good person. You can see the gradual shift in learning better throughout the shows which is awesome.

IN NEW YOOOOOOORRRRRRRK!!!!!! CONCRETE JUNGLE WHERE DREAMS ARE MADE OFFFFFFFFFFFFF!!!!!

The mugshot montage reminded me of season 1 of trollhunters when toby and Jim were arrested at the museum.

STRICKLER PUT A RING ON IT??? HE'S THE ONLY DILF IVE EVER ACTUALLY AGREED WAS HOT WYM I CAN'T HAVE HIM??? well I'm still really happy about his arc over the series probably one of my favorite character growths.

Eli my guy got his growth spurt!!! As an 18 year old who is still 5'0", I'm happy but envious for him

So I went into this movie without watching any trailers or promo, but I doubt anything could have prepared me for the existence of mpreg. In fact, I wasn't going to document my reactions until I saw that.

NAMURA!!!!!!!!! MY BELOVED!!!!!! I CAN STILL THIRST FOR YOU WITHOUT GUILT

The coach teacher just called the kids zoomers so I have to dock one point from my final rating just because of that. Unforgivable

Those husky animation models suck lmao

Oh fuck the titans got power ranger zords!!

God why did they include the mpreg??? This movie would have been perfect without it.... After that plot point being revisited only one time I'm already beyond done with it

Like it's bringing me back to the v*ltron days where they're was a suspiciously high amount of klance omegaverse and mpreg fics and art created and it physically hurts because Steve and Keith's voice actor is the same person meaning this is especially cursed to me since I was unfortunately in the v*ltron fandom and remember all of that

But like on another note, how old are these characters again??? I haven't checked any wikis because of spoilers but is Steve an adult??? I know aja might be technically a lot older than 18 because alien but is whatever age she is equivalent to an adult as far as emotionally and physically in Akaridion development??? IS THIS A TEEN (M)PREGNANCY IN A KIDS SHOW????

Like bruh I saw a singular post on here before going into the movie that was like "rott spoilers without context" and there was a pregnant belly but I was absolutely not expecting the actual context of it. I'll find the post after I finish and edit this post to tag the creator right here: @makoden

This entire post is just gonna be me ranting about mpreg huh

Anyway I love the whole roundtable allusion to the legends of king arthur (not the toa version but the one he's based off)

THERE'S 3 TO 5 BABIES????? I need to take a break bruh this is just too much

Alright I've taken a 30 minute break got some food and did some things i love (decompressed by tactile stimming with some owl plushies and watched some videos on my favorite owl, Garu. He lives in Japan with his owner and is a domesticated eagle owl who basically just acts like a sky cat. If anyone else needs some eye bleach, here is their YouTube channel)

Blinky and ARRRGHHH!!! saying their "if one of us doesn't make it" talk my god one of them is going to die I can see it and I will be utterly crushed. Jim can't lose another father figure and Toby can't lose his wingman again I will riot if this happens

On a similar but unrelated to the movie note, can we just talk about how toa started with Jim having 0 dads and (if strickler and blinky live to the end) will end with 2 dads? Like I just really feel happy for him that he has two dads who actually figured out how to put the past behind them to not have any infighting between them so that both of them are healthy father figures. Jim has already been through literal hell and back losing his actual humanity in the process so if he loses one of them, I'm going to be really pissed because at this point, this is just Jim torture porn. Y'all know how as SpongeBob SquarePants went on, the show just became Squidward torture porn? It's starting to feel that way for toa and I really hope they cut the shit by the ending

Jlaire is such a good ship but like I feel like it's too perfect they never disagree with each other

YESSSSSSS Someone finally doesn't treat toby like a fat waste of space who messes stuff up!!! I think out of all the characters that would have been most deserving of a rewrite, it's Toby. Sometimes I just feel he's only comic relief and any heartfelt moments he's had in the series was also born of stupidity (ie his flour baby project being unharmed was seen by him as divine intervention from his parents but was actually just Eli and Steve behind the scenes).

Ohhhhh yesssssss Archie's father!!! I was hoping I'd see him again because we got so little of him last

Ooooooooooh Asian trollmarket!!!!!

Oh never mind slavery trollmarket

Bruh titanic camelot

I feel like we're not seeing enough of the villains because I completely forgot about the power ranger zord things

NAMORA NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO MY LAST CRUSHHHH

STRICKLER NO NOT YOU TOO PLEASE

WHAT THE FUCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

THE ONLY TWO CHARACTERS I SIMP FOR ON THIS SHOW DIED WITHIN FIVE MINUTES OF EACH OTHER

THAT WHOLE ASS RANT I WROTE IS COMING TRUE FUCK THIS MOVIE THIS SERIES IS JUST JIM TORTURE PORN

WAIT JIM'S SPERM DONOR INFO?

Oh thank God I don't want to know anything about that person

For the record, I call that man Jim's sperm donor because he has no business being called a father to him. All he did was donate some swimmers to the creation of him and give him abandonment issues

Oh another blind troll elder???? This fucker is just if vendel was a bad guy

Bruh I was grieving

PACIFIC RIM WITH GUN ROBOT VEX AND THE BELROCZORD? I've never seen that movie but I know the reference

Bruh Blinky doesn't read horoscopes? Does he realize conspiracy theories are just the manly version of horoscopes?

NO DON'T KILL VEX STOP KO-ING FOUND FAMILY MEMBERS

Oh thank God he's okay

NO NOT ARCHIE AND CHARLEMAGNE OH MY GOD

oh never mind they're just gonna coup de tat I believe in them :))

But I want to see him again

But I'm glad to see vex

Yay they're in arcadia!

But yeah I wondered why the trolls and Merlin didn't keep the whole "daylight doesn't hurt trolls" feature from the eternal night but now Guillermo del Toro I see you were playing the long con in that just to kill my girl Namora :(((

Oooooh I love the animation of the Narizord over Chihuahua!! It looks very good and realistic (if only they could have put some of that into those huskies from before smh)

Bruh the character designs of the arcane order are so good I want to be them

Nari making sure the Skraelzord doesn't crush the bus

DAMN DOUBLE HOMICIDE

Bruh I'm just glad we finally have an answer on why arcadia had everything going on as opposed to literally anywhere else!! I always found that as a weird coincidence for plot convince.

BRUH WERE BACK TO THE MPREG IM SO JEALOUS I FORGOT ABOUT THAT EVEN THOUGH IT WAS BECAUSE I WAS GRIEVING THE LOSS OF MY LOVELIES.

Oh that's real convenient that the ninth configuration meant all of them. Way to not decide which character gets more attention. Though it probably was a smart way to not have any infighting in the fandom between each character's stan group.

Bruh I just realized where is Barbera did they just ditch her on the Camelot ship???

And where are the other trolls that migrated at the end of trollhunters s3? They said something about new jersey but obviously Jim and the other main characters got on Camelot instead.... This feels like a plot hole

And we never learned the process of how changelings are made and bonded to humans and stuff. We just know it's super painful but I'm curious ffs!!!!

THE DONT THINK BECOME HERO SPEECH ALL SAID TOGETHER!!!

BRUH THEY REALLY HAD TO SHOW HIM GIVING BIRTH??????? WAS THAT AN ABSOLUTE MUST??????

Plus the main audience for this series is little children (the rating for the movie is literally TV-Y7) so even though my adult ass is not in the target audience, I STILL DONT UNDERSTAND WHY WOULD MPREG AND ANAL BIRTH WOULD BE AN IMPORTANT THING TO 7 YEAR OLDS???? THIS IS A LITERAL FETISH HIDDEN IN KIDS CONTENT ITS ELSAGATE ALL OVER AGAIN Y'ALL 😭😭😭😭😭

Though it's probably hypocritical of me to think fetishes don't belong in kids tv when I've openly admitted to thirsting for strickler and namora

HUZZAH

NEW AMULET WAZ GOOD????

STAB THAT BITCH JIM

WAIT NO I SAID STAB NOT GET STABBED

Alright good job just missed the directions at first but you fixed it

SEVEN KIDS?????????

T O B Y ????????????

W A I T NO

N O

IS HE ACTUALLY

OH MY GOD THERE'S HOPE

NO THERE ISN'T

F U C K THIS SHIT THEY REALLY JUST HAD HIM TO BE BULLIED THEN KILLED

Y'ALL IM ACTUALLY CRYING THIS NEVER HAPPENS

I NEVER ACTUALLY GET SO EMOTIONAL OVER MEDIA THAT I CRY IT ONLY HAPPENED ONCE AT THE END OF VOLTRON BUT AHHHHHHHH

W A I T

HE'S GONNA BE BROUGHT BACK?????

HOLD UP THEY'RE JUST GONNA BRING ALL THOSE DEAD PEOPLE BACK??????

WAIT IS HE

BLINKY CALLED HIM A SON

HOLD ON IS THIS GOING TO BE A CLIFFHANGER???????????

BRUH THEY REALLY JUST CAN'T END THE SERIES WITHOUT CLIFFHANGERS like there's always an open ending

TROLLHUNTER TOBY????? You know what forget the whole rants I had on how toby was written they just redeemed it all

And that's all! I'd rate it a 6.5/10 because it's definitely the weakest of all the sequels but still had amazing animation and some good plot points. It's just really hard to look over the bad stuff enough to rate it any higher.

[threewaysdivided]

Yes, the weak writing in TOA is what mellowed me out on the series. Despite my distaste for all the decisions after the first third of the movie I can't say it disappointed me because no matter how excited I was I didn’t have high expectations because I know what it's like. It's funny because I never completed the series. I got through half of Trollhunters and 3lbelow before I just had to leave. It took me a month to finish Wizards and that one's my favorite. So yeah.

(Following on from this ask.)

That's fair. Like I said before, I'm in a pretty similar boat when it comes to Tales of Arcadia. Trollhunters was good and - barring a couple of episodes which I fast-forwarded through because the tropes/ execution of the premise wasn't for me - I had a really enjoyable time with it. But then it reached the end and it felt like there were a lot of questions (changelings etc.), worldbuilding (heartstones etc.) and general complexities (Merlin as he was talked about throughout the series vs Merlin as he appeared at the end) that were left hanging to a frustrating degree.

Now, in fairness, I tend to experience "wait, that's it?"-ism at the end of a lot of TV shows that run for more than a single season - it's probably just the nature of the medium/production environment that makes it hard to match the impact of hours of build-up in just a handful of final episodes, especially since a lot of shows won't know they're on their final season until that season - but with Trollhunters, it was a very intense feeling of "wait, that's it?".

Part of the reason why I initially watched 3Below was that I had hoped it would continue building on the unanswered lore questions from the first series (a fairly common thing for sequels/ spinoffs to do) but instead it took a hard right-turn into aliens and sci-fi. And - much as Douxie is probably my favourite ToA protagonist - by Wizards it became clear that even when we were going back (heh) to the more Troll-adjacent fantasy world, most of those questions still weren't going to be satisfyingly answered, if at all.

Part of me wonders if this might be a small blind-spot of Del Toro's when combined with Netflix, since outside of ToA most of his resume is film, and film has different structural/ worldbuilding/ storytelling conventions due to the much shorter run time. A 'film ending' would probably feel underdeveloped at the end of a TV series because shows by necessity have to add and flesh out more concepts to fill their run time. Just speculation through.

By about halfway through 3Below I was definitely watching more out of a sense of analytical curiosity and 'might as well see it through' than because I was still invested and suspending my disbelief. If I'd made it dedicated watch (rather than something to have on while sewing the Purrloin Plush) I probably would have stopped at about midway through 3Below, so I totally get where you're coming from with that.

As a sidenote: The way Wizards handled the Merlin/amulet/Morgana's-hand point from Trollhunters felt almost like a cop-out to me. Like they were trying to walk back/ distance Merlin from the morally callous nature Trollhunters both showed and suggested in some antagonists' dialogue, by making it seem like far less of a deliberate scheme from him, having her turn 'bad' for unrelated reasons ahead of time and someone else being the one to actually cut her hand off. Which kind of retroactively makes it weird that she claims he "took her hand" in the first series. That line made it seem more morally complex (that maybe she became a villain' because she was directly betrayed/ wronged by one of the heroes) but then her character gets weirdly flattened. Tales of Arcadia's moral stance on Merlin is just very unclear and strange in general.

With all that said though, I think there is value sometimes in going in to something with no expectations - or knowing/ expecting it to be bad - as an exercise in analysing storytelling. One upside is what you said; because you're not really invested/ aiming to become invested you don't end up being as disappointed by bad writing. (It's that weird sort of optimistic pessimism - if you expect the worst then you'll either be right or pleasantly surprised).

Consuming media with the intent to dissect it from the start does give a different experience... but then again no-one watches True Crime Documentaries or Mayday: Air Disaster because they want to experience a perfectly normal day where everything goes well and no-one gets hurt. Some days you just want to watch a train wreck in slow motion and try to work out what went wrong.

I actually did this with Dreamwork's Voltron - I went in having already read discussions, watched a full analysis and knowing it was going to go downhill, because I was curious to see how it was going fall apart so thoroughly that the fandom almost unanimously agrees that it's a mess. Funnily enough I was kind of surprised: not because it wasn't bad (although the first three seasons are genuinely fun) but because it got bad in ways I didn't expect. Most of the discourse I had seen was ship-related so I'd sort of expected a generically mediocre story with some 'Kataang vs Zutara' level character chemistry fanning the flames, but no - the central narrative and structure of Voltron just completely falls apart. It's wild.

And - much as it's always is sad when a series doesn't live up to it's potential - I kind of prefer when a story 'shows its hand' so to speak fairly early on in terms of writing weaknesses. For me, it's almost more tolerable to see the flaws and accept that you have to look past them as the price of entry. It lets you manage your expectations - you're consuming the story in spite of known problems, so it doesn't feel as bad if/when those flaws get big enough to make the story not worth continuing with.

Call it honesty, or maybe just closure, but I'd rather a series that's kind of stupid from the start to one that starts off strong/competent and then gets really unexpectedly stupid all at once. The former tends to sting a lot less.

[moonsofmars-writes]

and in the dark i can hear your heartbeat

Fandom: Trollhunters - Daniel Kraus & Guillermo del Toro, Tales of Arcadia (Cartoons) Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Relationships: Jim Lake Jr./Claire Nuñez Characters: Claire Nuñez, Jim Lake Jr. (Tales of Arcadia), Blinkous "Blinky" Galadrigal, Trolls (Tales of Arcadia) Additional Tags: Fluff, Slice of Life, Post-Season 3 (Trollhunters), Canon Compliant, the trolls are going to new jersey, oh my that's a long trip, Poor Claire, claire is tired, Jim is a good boyfriend, jlaire, jim carries claire, because I say so, they are cute, rated T for kissing, blinky is there too, He is trying

Summary: The Trolls are travelling to New Jersey and everything would be great, if only it wasn't so damn exhausting. Or, Claire is tired but will not admit it and Jim tries his best to be helpful.

It turned out that walking for hours every night was exhausting. Claire huffed but kept going, careful not to stumble on a rock or a root; the moon was almost full in the sky but barely filtered between the branches of the dense trees, leaving her and her companions in a thick, cold darkness. They had been walking for a week by now, travelling from dusk till dawn and camping during the day, always making sure to keep away from inhabited areas. Her Trollhunter training had helped her to keep going until now, but she wasn't used to hiking this long.

At her side, Blinky walked carelessly, showing no sign of tiredness. He kept his eyes fixed on the map he was holding, brows furrowed. She considered asking him when he planned to stop, but she quickly discarded the thought. To stop they first had to find a place where the Trolls could camp comfortably, protected by the daylight. That was the reason why Jim had left the group, an half an hour before, to explore the wood that extended in front of them. Besides, Claire didn't want Blinky to worry about her. She was perfectly able to walk another few miles, despite the aching of her legs. Well, or so she hoped. Sighing, she looked down. Her first days had gone better, but then her feet had started to hurt and now her leg muscles contracted painfully every time she took a step. She had even taken out the armour Merlin had made for her - she loved it, really, but it wasn’t made for long trips.

Luckily, her caravan didn’t move too fast. She soon found out that Trolls didn’t tire easily and could keep walking for hours without much effort, but they were slow and there was always someone who got lost or stayed behind, forcing the whole group to slow down or even stop to find them. Out of curiosity, she glanced behind her back, but the thick mass of trees prevented her from seeing much of the long column of trolls. Hopefully they were learning to stick together.

"I found a place!" 

Read on AO3

Claire jerked and almost stumbled as she turned around, just in time to see Jim emerging from the wood. She hadn't heard him approaching - how was he getting so good at sneaking up? He smiled at her before turning towards Blinky, "The branches are tight, so the sun shouldn't be a problem, and I found water!" He moved closer and bent over Blinky's map, "It should be ... ah, here," he said, finger brushing against the paper. "A little farther, keeping on the right. We will surely be there before dawn."

"How long will it take?" Claire asked, moving forward to reach for his hand and lace their fingers.  

He immediately squeezed her hand back. "At this pace, a little less than an hour." She nodded, holding back a sigh. Her calves would have hated her.

“That will do,” Blinky said, folding the map. His eyes lingered for a moment on the couple and their joined hands, a faint smile curving his lips. “I will inform the rest of the group while you start leading them,” he said, turning around, “I have no intention to waste other time looking for lost fools! Not again!”

Jim chuckled, “Good luck with that.”

“You know you are helping me when it happens!” Binky’s voice faded in the night as he disappeared behind the first group of Trolls. Jim and Claire exchanged a look and giggled, then walked away, still holding hands.

“I guess we are going to spend some quality time chasing gnomes later,” Jim said.

Claire let out an exaggeratedly heavy sigh, “Please, not again! I didn’t bring with me my entire wardrobe, I can’t get another shirt ripped because one of them has decided to hide among brambles. I'm sure he did it on purpose!”

“You could stop by the next town, you know,” Jim said softly, “I could get you close enough before the sunrise and come back for you at dusk. You could buy new clothes, have a proper meal, sleep in a real bed -”

“Hey, I’m perfectly fine sleeping with you guys! And I’m not that sick of camping food yet. Besides, I don’t want to leave you alone during daylight hours.”

“We can handle ourselves for a day,” he made her a confident smile, “no one is going to move anyway. I … I am very happy that you came with me - with us,” he added, his eyes full of affection and warmth, “and I don’t want this to feel like a torture for you.”

“That’s not possible! I -”

“Just think about this, okay? Soon or later you’ll have to get supplies anyway.”

He had a point. Claire nodded, murmuring a small “okay” and squeezing his hand a little tighter. They kept walking in comfortable silence, broken only by the creakings and rustles of the forest and by the distant sound of the Trolls moving and chattering behind them. They must have outdistanced them, and it wasn’t hard to see why: Jim’s gait was fast. Claire found herself struggling to breathe regularly and felt her tired muscles contracting painfully; she wouldn’t have been able to keep up that peace for a long time. She frowned, eyes pointed on the ground, and focused only on taking a step after another, and then again, one step after the other, and again, and -

And then Jim was suddenly slowing down and she could breathe a sigh of relief - at least until he asked, voice filled with concern, “Are you alright, Claire?” When she turned, he was bending over her, eyes wide, “Do you want to take a break?”

“No! Well,” she added, “maybe could you slow down a little? We have left everyone behind.”

“Oh?” His eyebrows rose when he glanced back and noticed that the wood was empty. He immediately stopped and gave her an embarrassed smile, rubbing the back of his head. “Sorry, I didn’t notice.”

“It’s alright,” she panted, taking advantage of the break to stretch her legs a little, “We’ll just wait for them, okay?”

“Sure, but what about you? You are tired, aren’t you?”

She bit her lip, looking down. “Just a little,” she admitted, “but I’ll be fine. We are stopping soon anyway.”

He frowned, mouth clenched. “I’m sorry,” he whispered then, “I should have realised it sooner, Since I became … ah, this,” he vaguely gestured at his body, “I don’t get tired as I did before. But you are human and this is not a simple hike in the woods around Arcadia. I should have thought about it. I’m sorry, Claire. You shouldn’t have to -”

“Jim.” She put a hand on his arm and smiled at him when their eyes met. “It’s alright. You had other things to think about. Leading the Trolls it’s been exhausting! Besides, it’s not that bad. Give me another few days, I’ll get used to it!” Hopefully, she added in her mind. New Jersey wasn’t exactly around the corner.

Jim sighed. “I just wish I could make it easier for you! Maybe I could -” He suddenly fell silent and his brows knitted, as he was thinking about something.

“You don’t have to do anything, I don’t want to slow us down even more, or we’ll take forever," she reassured him.

“You are right but, uhm, I thought I,” he cleared his throat, looking away, “I could carry you.”

Her eyes widened as she stared at him. He avoided her gaze, and even though she couldn’t see it clearly, she would have sworn that his cheeks had taken a slightly darker colour. She couldn’t help but grin - he was taller and well, bluer, but he was still Jim. Then her mind registered what he had said. “Wait, what?”

“It wouldn’t be a problem,” he muttered, “I’m not tired at all and I got stronger - I mean, you know I did, I just - I wouldn’t mind carrying you. If you want to.”

“There is no need!” She could literally feel a blush creeping into her cheeks. “I  can  walk, for another little while.” Her legs didn’t really agree about that, but she knew she would have made it. She didn’t have any other option - or had she?

Jim finally looked at her. “Are you sure?” He asked, tilting her head.

Claire took a moment to seriously ponder his proposal. Would have it been that bad? She was tired and he was offering and she trusted him. He was her boyfriend! And he was without a doubt strong enough to carry her. “We can try for a while if you are really okay with it,” she carefully answered. “But if you  start to get tired, I’m walking!”

“I won’t!” He hurried to nod.

A chuckle escaped her lips, “Okay then, Superman! How do you want to do this - Ah!” In the blink of an eye, Jim’s arms were around her and she was lifted from the ground. She yelped and instinctively put her arms around his neck, seeking stability, but there was no need to. His arms felt firm and strong and she simply knew he wouldn’t have let her fall.

“See? No effort!” He said cheerfully, a spark of pride in his eyes.

This time, Claire laughed. “Great job, Trollhunter!” She patted his armour with her palm and took some moments to make herself comfortable in his arms. When she was finally at ease, she glanced over his shoulder and noticed that the other Trolls were finally getting closer. “I suppose we can leave now.”

He turned briefly to check the group and nodded. “Let’s go.”

Claire wasn't used to being carried like that, and at first, it felt - well, new. It didn’t take her long, though, to get used to the pace of his walking and the solid feeling of his arms supporting her body. Resting her head against his chest, she decided that this was nice, actually. And admittedly way more comfortable than using her legs.

During the rest of the trip, they quietly chatted about the people they left behind. Claire showed him some pictures of Enrique she had received from her parents - "I already miss him," she admitted, "he will have grown up so much when we'll come back!" - and then it was his turn to show her all the baby pictures his mother sent him.

"I can't believe your mother and Mr Strickler are really going to raise them all."

"I can't either, but they trying to make it work. Mom texted me to ask if I knew how what exactly she should put in baby food. I've never even tried to make baby food!"

"I'm sure you'd made something awesome if you tried," she laughed, "you are the best chef in Arcadia!"

"You really think so?" He hummed happily before adding with a smirk, "Only in Arcadia?"

She snorted. "Don't get too cocky! My guacamole is still unequalled."

"I've never doubted that!"

Like this, time passed faster. Claire didn’t even notice that Blinky had joined them until the conversation died and she checked again if the other Trolls were still in sight. He nodded at her with a smile and she waved at him before resting her head against Jim’s chest, listening to the comforting thud of his beating heart. This wasn't just nice, it was comfortable, so comfortable that her mind started to cloud and her eyes to close against her will. She tried to keep them open, to keep herself awake tracing senseless patterns on the plates of his armour. With her finger, she followed the edges of his amulet with her finger, again and again, until she knew it by heart and the metal was warm from her touch. She didn't want to fall asleep, not yet. They would have needed help later and she was the only one among them who could walk in sunlight now. So, she definitely had to stay awake. She had to.

She was failing miserably.

When she was about to doze off, her eyes closed and her hands resting on her belly, Jim finally halted. "We are here," he said quietly, probably not to disturb her. Claire heard him anyway and lifted her head, blinking. The wood around her didn't look much different than before, though, she realised looking around, it was a little darker. That would have been helpful at sunrise. “There’s a pool over there,” Jim continued pointing somewhere on their left, “and there should be enough space between the trees for us to sleep.”

Blinky nodded, then let out a sigh, “Now, let’s hope we will be able to camp quickly for once.” Raising his arms he turned around to approach the other Troll. “We have arrived! Now, please, just do as I say ...”

“We should probably help,” Claire said, unable to hold back a yawn. Not that she really wanted to get down, but she knew for sure that Blinky needed all the help he could get.

"Are you sure?" Jim asked, gently putting her down when she moved and supporting her until she stood. "You can go to sleep. I am not tired, I can take care of them alone this time."

"No, it's okay." She stretched and smiled at him, "I feel definitely better now that I got some rest! We will finish faster together."

"Okay, you are right. If you feel like, you can take care of who's already here. I will check the rest of the group to make sure that no one was left behind. What do you think?"

She nodded. "Good plan! But first, let me thank you."

“There is no need to -” he started, shaking his head, but before he could finish she reached for his shoulder with both her hands and dragged him down, making him yelp in surprise. Even like this, she still had to stand on her tiptoes to kiss him.  

They hadn’t got many chances to kiss since his transformation. His lips still felt a bit different under hers, not quite hard but somehow solid and cool. She traced the profile of his temple and buried her fingers in his hair until she could scratch the base of his horn. Suddenly he pulled her closer and enveloped her with his arms, lifting her little to reach her better. She smiled against his lip, brushing his cheek with her hand. Yes, she was definitely getting used to this.

When they parted, his cheeks were definitely bluer. He beamed at her, scratching her back with his fingers, “Okay, I like this kind of thank you."

“You better!" She grinned, patting playfully his arm, "Now we should go, they will never set this camp without us.”

He chuckled, “I’ll see you later then! Good luck.” He kissed her forehead before disappearing in the wood, quick as a wild cat. Claire stood for a few seconds, staring at the trees, before heading for the rest of the group. Leg pain or not, she thought, this trip was totally worth it.

[magic-and-moonlit-wings]

Hi, I've decided to make Mowgli's wolf parents their own characters, named Nisha and Vihaan, with Akela as the leader and grandfatherly mentor to Mowgli. Are their any sequels you think are better than the first movie? For me, All Dogs Go To Heaven 2 is much better that the original. Are their any relationships in Trollhunters that you feel could've been explored, ie, Claire and Draal? And how would you have done Troll!Jim and the final battle with Gunmar?-The Sapphire One.

I’m happy for you, making so much progress on your fanfic.

I would prefer if, in the future, you directed any further requests for advice on your Jungle Book fic to someone who is actually in the Jungle Book fandom, though? I’ve been trying to be courteous and supportive, but it’s getting exhausting to devote so much mental and emotional energy to determining, “what can I say that is helpful but also gently conveys I am not interested in discussing this topic further?”, especially since I don’t seem to be successfully conveying the ‘polite disinterest’ part.

When I have said, repeatedly, that I am not invested in The Jungle Book, what I mean is that it’s an okay story and I have nothing in particular against it, but it is not a fandom that I am in, and therefore fanfiction for it is not fanfiction I am inclined to read or discuss. I would rather devote my time and energy to stories and fandoms in which I do have an emotional investment.

I wish you good fortune in continuing this project and hope it finds the audience it deserves on whichever platform you choose to share it.

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The All Dogs Go To Heaven duo is a neat one because each movie appeals to me in different ways.

The sequel had stronger music. “Let Me Be Surprised”and “It’s Too Heavenly Here” convey the same ideas, but “It’s Too Heavenly Here” has a lot more energy, possibly because Charlie’s had more time to go stir-crazy.

I respect the first one for not shoehorning in a romantic subplot with all the other plot lines they were already working with, but I respect the second one for introducing new elements a bit more cohesively - I mean, the alligator in the first one basically showed up out of nowhere. He did eat Carface in the end, so he was plot-significant, but he was still really jarring - so jarring a whole trope got named after the Big-Lipped Alligator Moment.

The timeline between movies is a bit confusing? I think the first one is set in the 1920s, or maybe the 50s. I’m basing this on partially car designs but cutting out the 10s, 30s, and 40s due to lack of mention of the Great Depression or either World War. But the second one, based on the humans’ clothing, looks like it’s in the 1980s, maybe 90s? So, unless dogs have a natural lifespan similar to a human one in this universe, it’s weird that the second movie starts when Itchy dies. (He’s be thirty, or seventy, depending on which of my time period guesses are right.) I guess there could also be a long time-skip between “It’s Too Heavenly Here” and Carface stealing Gabriel’s horn.

Overall I’ve found movie sequels tend to be lesser than or equal to the original movie. Shrek 2, for example, was really good, but I wouldn’t say it was better than Shrek.

Cinderella 3: A Twist In Time was exceptional, with how the writer’s took advantage of the opportunity to expand on the prince’s character - although he still doesn’t get a name - and Cinderella’s character as well, along with the different specific reasons her stepfamily was jealous and vengeful. (Lady Tremaine wanted the social status, Drizella wanted wealth, and Anastasia wanted emotional security.)

TV series, on the other hand, are often a bit stronger in their second season than the first, because they don’t have to introduce how the setting’s culture or magic/high tech system works unless something new is happening, and likewise they don’t have to introduce new characters every episode or two in order to build the initial main cast, and the main themes and conflicts of the series have been set up.

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Draal’s relationships with everybody could have been expanded on. We don’t really see relationship development between him and anyone else other than Jim and Kanjigar’s ghost. There are some minor scenes showing him getting closer with AAARRRGGHH and Blinky, too, but that got cut off by Draal getting brainwashed before the audience got to see much of it.

You know who else didn’t get many relationships developed? Barbara.

There is exactly one scene, a one-sided phone conversation in Season 3, which implies she has a social life. Also, what is the relationship between her and Nana Domzalski? Jim and Toby are close, and their families live across the street, and Barbara addresses her as Nana, so clearly they’ve met, and yet Barbara never spoke to Nana on-camera in Season 1 about her concerns after Jim and Toby got arrested together and Jim started ‘acting different’?

And furthermore [insert rant about how Stricklake was fumbled in Season 3].

… Not to mention Blinky! She’s friendly with him when he gets turned human and Jim passes him off as a guidance counselor, but their very limited interactions do not explain why she was willing to let Jim go off to New Jersey with the trolls and didn’t even suggest she come along, basically temporarily turning custody of Jim over to Blinky when Barbara and Blinky have had all of one on-screen conversation since she got her memories back.

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Okay, final battle redo, gotta keep Jim a troll …

First of all, Troll!Jim is a klutz. He just went through a massive growth spurt and hasn’t had time to adjust yet. It is acknowledged by him and others (though probably not Merlin), “Wow, this was a really bad idea to do right before getting into a fight, Jim is nearly back to beginner skill-level. At least he’s fast and therefore better at dodging, and can take a hit better.”

Alternately, shuffle everything around so that Jim turns into a troll by S3E6, so the audience has half the season to get used to him, because I think having Jim get trolled right before the final battle is one of the reasons Troll!Jim ended up being such a controversial character.

Either way, the Trollhunters fight Gunmar as a group.

Gunmar is facing Jim. Toby, using the Warhammer to fly, sneaks up behind Gunmar and hits him over the head. Gunmar reaches for Toby, but Blinky throws a dwarkstone in Gunmar’s face, and AAARRRGGHH charges in (possibly via portal so Gunmar won’t see him coming) and punches Gunmar in the gut. The combination of explosion and punch forces Gunmar to drop his sword, and Jim grabs it.

Jim, wearing the Eclipse armour, discovers he is able to hold the Decimaar Blade. (It is implied by how Gunmar conjures it that Decimaar is magically bound to the Gumm-Gumm warlord in a similar way to how Daylight is tied to the Trollhunter, so this might surprise Jim. At the very least, AAARRRGGHH should look surprised.)

Gunmar is distracted by Claire, who portals Blinky out of the way of an attack. Gunmar has seen Claire before, when Morgana agreed to help bring about the Eternal Night. “Morgana’s child …” He is confused and suspicious to see her on the Trollhunters’ side.

Toby swoops Jim above Gunmar and Jim drops down, doing that diagonal swiping attack but with the Decimaar Blade instead of Eclipse, and striking from behind. Gunmar doesn’t turn to stone right away - he turns and starts charging at Jim, who conjures the Eclipse sword stabbed into Gunmar’s chest, like how Jim stabbed Gladys and Bular with Daylight in Season 1.

Gunmar turns to stone and crumbles. Decimaar is still there. The blade’s highlights are blue again instead of gold. Jim picks it up and his eyes glow blue. The other Trollhunters exchange worried looks.

“Jimbo?”

“Master Jim?”

Jim sends out a blast of blue lightning-looking energy from the sword, like the red stuff that happened in the show when Gunmar died, except instead of exploding the Gumm-Gumms it un-brainwashes them. He then drops the sword and collapses. His friends rush to him. (He’s fine, just exhausted. Jim isn’t used to doing magic.)

Angor Rot wasn’t there when Jim and Gunmar started fighting. He saw Strickler and went off to kill him, as revenge for the magical enslavement in the second half of Season 1. Angor changes his mind when he sees Strickler get injured fighting a Gumm-Gumm to protect some humans who haven’t gotten to shelter yet, which prompts a flashback to Angor’s time as a hero. Angor goes off again, this time to hunt down Morgana, nonchalantly killing any Gumm-Gumms who cross his path on the way. (At this point, Angor may still want Strickler dead, but he’s willing to wait to kill him until after the Gumm-Gumms are defeated.)

The thing with Morgana happens like it did in canon except Angor gets thrown back instead of exploded.

Draal is with Nomura and Strickler protecting the civilians from the Gumm-Gumms, or possibly he did die because Draal would have smashed down that bathroom door in negative five seconds and stopped Jim using the potion. If he did die, they revive him later with the Creeper’s Sun antidote.