#unfortunately fan wiki says he's in exactly one episode

[startrekandstarcrises]

don't think i realized how much of a sucker i am for the Found Family trope until a one-off character i barely had an opinion of said "can i come home now?" to the main character he was staying with meaning, obviously, "can i ditch this weird dinner you've sent me to and come back to your house, which i am spending a few days at" but my whole brain went "HOME??? adopt him? new son/nephew/precocious younger sibling/protege? 11/10 yes please. i love him i want to protect him etc."

[cornus27florida]

CPC WIKI NEWS (reality check, basically)

We're the cpc wiki editors all over the place that gathered in CPC wiki server has things to pointing out I guess

First about naming conventions for images, I am still not sure how... but if relating to Frederick, I think we could find some ways... My idea of delegations based on likability is sound fire suggestions ^^ it's slow job but now not impossible to do! Also I am honestly in lose about naming as it's politic xD

I always hate politic stuff, I prefer to be biologist nerdy :3

I am very happy for the return of Peri, which gives light at the tunnel that we won't doomed for the Daily Pass! @cpcwiki

Hey, sorry I fell off the face of the earth for a few months… Life got busy and unfortunately some stuff happened that’s left me unable to really edit anymore, completely wrecking my plans of expanding more pages. I do wanna say, I know there’s been some concern about screenshooting Daily Pass being illegal? I wouldn’t be too worried about that. I think it’s more of a gray area thing, AFAIK it says that if you screenshot any episode in the app, even non-daily pass, and I’ve seen wikis for Daily Pass series that have uploaded screenshots post-series ending and they haven’t gotten in trouble. -> it's more about once series in DP, for most case of people (like me who using android phone, or accessing CPC on website as eben thou my PC is MAC...) - they can't screen shooting any panels of CPC webtoon anymore

DP does not prevent screenshotting -> for Apple only, likely

In the worst scenario as CPC truly goes DP and we can't do these impossible tasks.. At least people with iphone could still screenshooting CPC panels that necessary for wiki stuffs

So in nutshell, this gives some breathes for CPC wiki staffs to not obsessed with reaching the impossible task of images

Major character page editing espc about relationships basically the whole Plaids, then Pastel - thus the CPC

Leland is the hardest because he shrouded with the mystery and even the recent FP ep still not make sense of things - it seems if the CPC decide to make prequel story, I am gonna to hope it's Leland (fans in the past like it to be Aurelia, but she essentially a minor villain-turned to be supporter midway which her story likely only about her blood father and how exactly she got cursed) - that's not many engaging story for prequel unlike Leland - despite all the flashbacks so far and his interactions with everyone possible, he still shrouded with mystery. Yes, me and many others like @the-giggling-guava makes so many HC about Leland backstory but at the end it is just fanon theories that could be debunked ig

Close to the series finale, refreshment and transformation!

In the way of changing image and article preview there

Frederick

There's so many quotes in Frederick's page - but this one imho fitting the most as depicting him to be "the narrator"

"Just a few months ago, I would have never wished to encounter any cursed people outside of a story book. And when I did, I thought they were monsters at first. To be fair, they were attacking me... And yet here I am now... really happy to get to be their friends... I don't think any of that would have ever happened if I hadn't met Gwen..."

Prince Frederick of the Plaid Kingdom, also known as many aliases including called as "Sunflower" by his bullies, is the third prince of the Plaid Kingdom which formally engaged with the third princess of Pastel Kingdom - Gwendolyn. Initially against the idea of getting marrying with Gwendolyn because he both disappointed (as he mistaken Gwen with Jamie from the portrait, thoughts Gwen as haunted spirit instead) and scared (his first thought over Gwen is thinking her as a witch that will poisoned him with apple pie that she bakes after meeting with the real witch that poisoning Jamie) - to the point screaming in frustation to his oldest brother about his thought that Gwen is ugly. Gwen that overhears him feels so hurt and then running to the haunted forest which lets her to meet the CPC, the cursed royals that later on as the story progress - helps both Gwen and Frederick to healing from their trauma as living in their extreme abnormal family while having romantic relationship together.

this, I've shown in bare how flawed Frederick is - but he just human. I dislike anyone that can't understand that his mistake in the past which depicting clearly of his 'shallow' judgemental ice-cold Plaid Prince is just a mask. The mask that everyone in the CPC actually have, not only Blaine. Even sweet Gwen, the cinnamonroll sweet protagonist in her wrong take of selfishness - she hopes that she can skip to her happily-ever-after without the pain of hurt... When in reality, there's always gonna be "earn your happy ending". To anyone that wondering about what's CPC actual message is.. the means actually not simple notion of "Self-Love" - is always about the mask, our 2 faces

This page trivia literally the thing that make me fighting for the nail of preventing any character bashings in the fandom while stopping the infantilized of any characters espc the princesses... Everyone has flaws, mistakes, sins, shameful dark pasts or embarassed current self (like getting cursed) - but none depicted the character fullfily, it's more than that

this the hard job for us wiki editor, to put everything as objectively as possible - but I know I could manage! I just need more knowledges about things and understandings

I'm ceritified CPC deranged with no one yet breaking my record of rereading CPC... as rereading is so fun, on certain episode or scenes that we see again from another's person perspective.. we could get understandings of things. Nice example is Prez' backstory of getting cursed VS Whitney's backstory of nearly killed by someone that he accidentally cursed and meeting 'healer' like people which transform him

The Closing, new image for "featured image" - Whitney!

there's so many contrasting groups of the CPC fandom regarding Whitney which in nutshell : I am simping for Whitney so hard as he's so hot which also I want him to be happy so please LambCat make WhitPelnia canon so this make ZuTara ship-like to be canon in the story VS are you guys are blind? He's literally the person that cursing Prez which makes her miserable to transformed as werespider every month.. Prez never entitled to returning his feeling after all, and Prez clearly never wants romance w anyone

Both of the 2 groups are valid tbh, in extreme 'ship wars' of wanting Prez with Whitney VS Prez as a true single girlboss

^^ but no matter what, let's love Whitney as a character and a justiable hunk to be simping as that image for feature? Dang so hot as he embracing his curse of tiger stripes (followed with tiger hoodie) while putting one of his leg in bossy pose. Whitney is so fine and as he's truly redeemed - anyone that simping him won't be part of hypocrite dual standards that put "still in villainy role era but put on pedestal" + "infantilized the main characters and believe they won't do any wrongs"

IMHO in the engaging retelling of Fairy Tales as CPC is... Whitney, the ultimate villain in his story at the past that didn't care of anyone as long as he could get what he wants... Also ultimate perfect example of the heel-to-face turn (is a group of trope, as Leland the secret fairy tale lover know tropes) as from villain role in the past he becomes the good guys allies - the main supporter for the hero wannabe role, Frederick. In the awkwardness of him, he's the catalyst for Frederick to transform to be a better person (that he knows he can, but just not sure how) - in the name of him getting healed from his past trauma(s) that solidified as his inner child, make self-questioning about himself espc his relationships with his brothers, and the most important one to realizes that he likes Gwen - as it's become the rationale depiction of the strongest power in the fairy tales stories.. the power of love

All of that just from one meditation session from Whitney! Although like Whitney say, it's need to be repeated ahahah.

I like to expand CPC wiki pages by taking deeper about physchology, as boy it's giving birth of so many things! Plaid Royals Family dynamic for example, is easily an example of abused family that could happen to anyone and anywhere - but most didn't notice, espc the victims

There's so many great quotes in the CPC but imho Whitney's quote to Frederick, my fave ever quote in the series.. Is basically telling the life message for everyone.

"Pain is not a competition. The painful emotions you feel are valid, Frederick. But you do get to choose when you’re ready to heal from them and change your story."

literally just ep 145 of Frederick's monologue...

"...I wasn't the hero at all. I was the one responsible for all for all of her sadness... ...and all of her pain ...But now, it seems like I've been on the wrong side the entire time. --Except I can't really say that either, ...because even they didn't want me!!" When will I stop deluding myself with these stories... I'm not a hero or a villain. I'm nothing but a loser. Just like Blaine said."

"If I just sit here... ...that means I don't get to see her again. And I don't want that!!"

"I get to choose my story! And in my story, I AM the hero, and I'm gonna pull myself out and reach Gwen!!"

this such a strong (shounen) protagonist moment from Frederick, which make me thinking that CPC delivered as shounen manga which making him as the protagonist (MC, ML) with Gwen as his destined love interest (FC).. nothing change from the overall story? It's also checking out itself as anti-mainstream shounen by making following things:

debunked protagonist trope to be an orphan, and gives interesting plot twist that the main bad guy is his father all along with his mother is the red herring villain

make the love interest role to be more powerful as to not make her just standing there awaiting for the protagonist to come - but her mere existence is the motivator for MC

..etc xD

[steely-eyedmissileman]

The Vampires Diaries, Ep. 1x11

Bloodlines

as i learned from the wiki, this episode shares a title with an episode of star trek: the next generation. i have not seen this episode of tng, so i am unable to comment on further similarities. unfortunately, no episode of buffy was ever called bloodlines. i hope that one day tvd will use a title of a buffy episode... or maybe i don't hope that, actually.

this episode picks up exactly where the last one left off, further leaving us in a confusing place where time is moving forward at the pace of reality as the show airs, but it has also been max one month since the beginning of the show. the timeline is so confusing that i've given up on it. but it's still better than teen wolf!

since we are where we last left off, elena has just been in a car accident. stefan is calling her to find out where she is. he says she must be confused by the picture of katherine. i don't think she's confused, stefan. i think she's creeped out. because you're a creep.

at the car, elena is being approached by the vampire (probably) that she crashed into. luckily, she is saved. unluckily, it's by damon, who is being unprecedentedly helpful!

luckily, he immediately stops being helpful when he kidnaps elena and brings her to georgia. in the best music cue of the show so far, we get to hear cosmic love by florence and the machine! (which garnered this reaction in my notes: florence florence + the machine florence + the machine florence + the machine!!!!) damon insists that elena can trust him (she can't) and that he won't hurt her (i wouldn't bet on it).

back in mystic falls, stefan is trying to find elena. he asks bonnie if she can do a locating spell, but she is unable to do any magic at all. my theory: she was drawing power from the necklace itself and doesn't know how to do spells without that reserve to fall back on. (i turn out to be wrong [though i will argue that i'm not necessarily wrong, there's just also another thing happening]) this entire conversation involves stefan being as awkward as humanly (or vampirely) possible. bonnie runs off (in the middle of a school day) to go home and search through her grandmother's books.

in georgia, gina torres gina torres gina torres its gina torres!!!! gina torres is a witch!!!!! i want bonnie to talk to gina torres! (these are my direct notes on this portion of the show.) gina torres is damon's ex girlfriend. (on tvd as well as angel, she has bad taste in men. [i would like to formally apologize for invoking season four of angel the series, the worst season of television ever made by anyone ever.]) while damon is talking to gina torres, i begin to get a pretty good idea of his plan: he wants to manipulate bonnie into opening the tomb. i am not a fan of this plan: for one thing, i don't want twenty-seven bloodthirsty monsters to be released on the world. for a second thing, if that has to happen, i don't want bonnie to do it. but gina torres has been making plans of her own: she's going to kill damon! hell yeah!

back in mystic falls, the girl that i wish more than anything was in georgia is traipsing through the woods on what might be my favorite set of the show: the old church ruins. bonnie's grandma told her that she has a mental block against doing magic. this block is due to fear, and she needs to face those fears in order to access her powers again. obviously, bonnie interprets this to mean: wander around in the woods alone next to a tomb of vampires. unfortunately, she falls through a sinkhole into the pit next to the tomb. the rocks she falls on (in true star trek fashion) could not more obviously be made of styrofoam. bonnie begins freaking out because there's a pentagram and she hears weird voices. which, granted, is pretty freaky. also, she's trapped in a pit underground and no one knows where she is.

luckily, stefan has gone to bonnie's grandma's to try to find her. he learns that bonnie is trying to get over her mental block due to fear. he knows what she's afraid of and where she would go to face that fear. he runs out into the forest and saves her from the pit. this involves him jumping twice his height from a standstill, otherwise known as not how humans work. bonnie is saved! after the two get back to bonnie's grandma's, it is revealed that stefan knew the grandma from the sixties when he went to her sit-in. did stefan fuck bonnie's grandma? (almost definitely not, but it's funny to pose the question.)

meanwhile, damon is being unforgivably weird. 'vampires can't procreate... but we love to try.' that is an incredibly creepy thing to say to a teenager. especially a teenager you know your brother is (possibly) dating. (my girlfriend's thoughts on this topic: is that worse or is actually fucking the teenager worse?) damon then insinuates that stefan is creepy, as if he isn't much creepier on the regular (only one of the brothers has stroked elena's cheek while she's asleep). he then drops a very important fact that vampire bodies work like those of normal humans as long as they have enough blood in their systems.

then, gina torres's plan is revealed when lexi's boyfriend shows up to kill damon! hell yeah! unfortunately, elena has a deep desire that damon continue living, so she talks the boyfriend down. then, damon goes inside and kills gina torres (no!) by sticking his hand into her chest and pulling out her heart (okay, at least it was a cool death). damon then says he had a good time with elena (she was 'all damsel-in-distress-like.') he's now going to take her back to mystic falls. for your information, this is about a nine hour drive, so i have no idea how this episode is feasible at all.

elena and damon get home, and elena talks to stefan. this conversation is groundbreaking. it introduces so many very important plot threads and gives none of them the time and space they deserve. we learn that stefan was there the day elena's parents died. in fact, the reason that she's alive is that he pulled her out of the water. then he did a serious deep dive on her because she looks like katherine. and he was afraid she would be like katherine. luckily, 'you are the opposite of everything that she was.' (stefan has huge angel vibes here. very much that one scene in becoming part one where he's in the car looking at buffy on the steps of her high school.) and then elena keeps pushing. why do they look exactly the same? stefan says, 'and then i learned the truth. [beat] you were adopted, elena.' what the fuck?! (also, that still doesn't totally explain why they look exactly the same. it also means that katherine must have had a child before she was turned. or she had a sibling. but probably it's a direct genealogical relationship.)

it is weird that stefan knows this much about elena, and that he's suddenly willing to just say all of it in one fell swoop. what's weirder? elena seems not only fine with this, but into it. like now they're confessing their love for each other?! i guess. and then she collapses into his chest and they have the awkwardest hug ever. then elena goes home and jenna gets mad. and elena snaps at her. i get it; elena's upset because she just learned she's adopted. but, she disappeared for over twenty four hours and she's mad that jenna's mad about it. you're sixteen and you crossed multiple state lines with a strange man. i think jenna's anger is entirely justified.

now for the two plot lines i didn't care enough about to discuss as they were happening but did turn out to be important actually. jeremy has met this girl at the library. she's homeschooled, and he's doing research for that project. they have this argument about vampires, where he says, 'the union soldiers! i've read the stories myself. they talk about the enemy, the demons that attack at night.' now, we know that these demons are literal demons. they are vampires. but jeremy in this scene has said that union soldiers are demons. now, this is not great optics. it's not the worst thing that's ever been said on tv, but it's not great either. like this whole conversation left me with a bad taste in my mouth. it doesn't strike me as a coincidence that stefan talks about joining sitins in the sixties in the same episode where union soldiers are called demons. just seems like one was designed to cancel the other. it doesn't.

the other plot line is about ht. he's definitely not a vampire. :( so why does he act so much like a vampire? (it's a deliberate bait and switch.) we then learn, at the end of the episode that damon killed ht's wife. which is a reveal that is far less impactful than the adoption reveal from five minutes ago, so it's a bit wasted here in the episode's final seconds. putting that reveal at the end weakens the entire episode. which is a shame because it's otherwise quite good.

[rawwkfingers]

The Creature from the Pit

That was, something I guess

Starting with the good stuff: I liked the majority of the last episode. The special effects around the ending were pretty cool, the plot twist that the Creature was a (mostly) peaceful ambassador was interesting (if very obvious,) the idea of a communicator using other peoples voices was done well, and I liked that the Creature was initally willing to let the whole planet burn but was convinced that saving them was the right thing. A far cry from the usual pointlessly evil aliens we see

Thats about all I can say in this serials favor unfortunately. The episodes before the last one all felt like they were just treading water so that they could have their big "the monster is peaceful" twist, especially the inclusion of the like, buffoon cavemen guys? They added literally nothing to the plot, everything they did could have been done by the queen's guards, and they weren't funny enough (or even at all) to justify the several scenes they had. Really they just felt like a way to buy time so the episode hit 23 minutes

All the characters felt extremely one not. The caveman leader guy is greedy. His groupies were dumb. The leader lady was demanding and cruel. Her lackies were sycophantic (until suddenly they werent because the plot demanded it.) The only interesting character was Organon (which its fitting that hes also the only one whose name I remember. I finished the serial five minutes ago) but even he was fairly one-note. Just happened to be funnier

I also have questions about the whole neutron star thing? Not the way it was resolved, according to the wiki a lot of fans at the time thought that was dumb but I didnt mind it. I'm more confused on how the Creature knew its people had sent the star, and why that was their first action at all? Like, we arent told that it can survive a supernova, so were its friends at home just willing to kill it in revenge for how it was treated? It knowing the exact timeframe implies that it was in contact with its home planet, so they knew it was still alive. If they're so vengeful a race, why woiud they be open to trading? It just makes no sense

Also, I'm sorry but I do NOT like K9s temporary new voice actor. I dont need him to sound exactly like Leeson, in fact I always feel bad when a voice actor takes on an iconic character and cant use their own voice, but Brierley just does not fit the character at all. He doesnt hit any of the same qualities that made Leeson's work so lovable

All in all a really shallow storyline with shallow characters and one of Baker's weakest stories by far

[ace-whovian-neuroscientist]

3, 12, 24, 31, 49, 60, 75 and 90 for the dr who ask game!

Thanks for the ask! :))

3. First DW episode you ever saw?

Rose! I unfortunately have 0 flexibility about (myself) watching shows in order.

12. Your favourite Doctor?

An impossible question, but I have to say Nine! Nine is so open compared to the other Doctors: it's always obvious how deeply he cares and how hard he tries to be kind. There's so much pain but he makes a choice to not pass it on to others. It looks like he has a harder outer shell but he's a total softie. And the sass is unmatched! Twelve is also high on my rankings for similar reasons, but Nine imprinted on me like a baby bird.

24. Best TARDIS Team?

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaa this one is even harder. I think I have to go with the Ponds, but Rory is doing the heavy lifting here as one of my favorite companions! I think the juxtaposition of Rory pushing back against the Doctor against Amy's complete faith in the Doctor is such a cool dynamic. They also just have so much fun! Also love the familial vibes. Speaking of familial vibes, the fam!!! I love the fam so so much, but I can't put them as high on my list because we don't get as much domestic time with them. The enhanced version of the fam that lives in my brain and in fan works gets an honorable mention.

31. Favourite episode ever?

Maybe The Caretaker? Honorable mentions: The End of the World, School Reunion, Smith and Jones, Fires of Pompeii, The Doctor's Wife, The Power of Three, The Rings of Akhaten, Robot of Sherwood, The Pilot, The Tsuranga Conundrum, Spyfall, The Power of the Doctor, and Wild Blue Yonder. Considering how many episodes there are, this is at least significantly narrowing it down

49. How much of Classic Who have you seen?

I'm in the middle of season 3! Not as far as I want to be, but I have a really hard time watching things without subtitles and it wasn't available (without paying) until very recently. I also keep getting stuck on the missing episodes since I make an effort to at least read the wiki summaries and those are less rewarding to get through. I wish I could make myself skip around and enjoy a sampling but I can't :((

60. Best one time villain/monster?

The Teller from Time Heist! Both terrifying and heartbreaking.

75. Favourite Doctor outfit?

Hmm either Twelve from season 10 (hood and blazer) or Thirteen in the Spyfall suit! Whatever is going on there is so gender

90. Would you travel forwards or backwards in time first?

Finally one I can answer easily! Forwards all the way. I want to see a world that makes me excited and hopeful for the future. And while history is cool, it's not exactly safe to hang around for longer than a quick tour, both from a time travel perspective and a questionable ethics perspective. Not that we're perfect either, but I want to see how all of the work we put in to make the world better bit by bit matters. Plus all of the cool tech and presumably aliens depending on where we go?!?!? And the fun game of telephone of how the history + culture of our time gets passed down?!?!? It would be so much fun.

[tielt]

Ësti

in many languages Ë has the sound of the vowel /ə/ . This is sounds like the middle eh in pay without the pah leading consonant. Many languages this character represents the 'schwa' particle as is seen in this wiki entry.

You can make a symmetry anagram with it like this

itzəsti (it zesti)

below the fold is an analysis

Ë corrects to E if a western computer reads my birth certificate.  The name Estee also has some interesting lore from the bible, Estee as in Ester. I won't try to transcribe what the book meant, because I'm not Jewish/Christian but I want to point at this entry:

"In an apparent connection made by Hitler between his Nazi regime and the role of Haman, Hitler stated in a speech made on 30 January 1944, that if the Nazis were defeated, the Jews could celebrate "a second Purim". Indeed, Julius Streicher was heard to sarcastically remark "Purimfest 1946" as he ascended the scaffold after Nuremberg."

I won't read my schwa name, but I think esti is fitting because thats the same vowel as hold schwa. If you watch Kino's Journey ep 8, the implication of what it meant to me was that Christ was reborn from the removal of all of his Karma with a painful process and encountered Ascension and the episode points at the inherent duality between these two forms of thought. I don't like the bible, but I'm not a critic of anything Jesus personally said or did. The swastika is now a real stigmata whether it's personal or not.

"It's spicy" is my middle name and there is a lot of context there and to me the least interesting is that its the evil e. I personally believe unfortunately every human has some diffuse karma related to this and part of getting out is in it's removal. I think that the weight is a diffuse thing that isn't at our current stage particularly personal to ones own person.

My favorite part of that Kino's Journey ep 8 is when they at the end it was like they were compelled to suggest to Nimia how to get off the ground and they didn't even believe it would work. Some people say all religions preach basically the same, this projection solves exactly the one that makes it difficult to believe is true. This is basically the only thing that manages to fuse two completely different forms of thought. You know I don't share the Christian views. We all exist in weird intersecting manifolds far above our ability to experience or transcribe and I'm in general a fan of fusion.

I stay agnostic, personally it looks like a rule of this place. You can not agree with someone and still treat them well.

[another-silly-mixels-blog]

What’s your ranking of all of the tribes from least to most in terms of favorites?

Ok time to rate every single fucking tribe from Mixels, starting with the worst and working my way down to the best.

24, Munchos: this tribe always just felt kinda pointless to me, they’re basically just the Fang Gang but purple and with none of the aspects that made the Fang Gang cool. in my eyes the Munchos are the only tribe where they basically wasted a tribe slot on a stupid idea.

23, MCFD: Turnip before you come to my house and hold me at gunpoint for putting the MCFD this low, please allow me to explain myself. It’s not that I hate the idea of a firefighter tribe, in theory that does sound kinda cool, my problem with the tribe is that in practice, the MCFD are actually a very limited tribe to come up with design ideas for.

22, Nindjas: not that I hate the concept of a tribe based on ninjas/Japanese mythology and culture, but to me at least this tribe feels more like Lego simping over Ninjago than actually making a tribe that represents what are basically the Japan Mixels in any meaningful way. not to mention that their color palette is basically identical to the Flexers, they should’ve been white with red and/or pink accents smh.

21, Trashoz: ok so you guys may be wondering, ”Golly gee Mod Niksput, why the fuck did you rank the literal fucking GARBAGE TRIBE higher than the ninja tribe?” and to that I say, I honestly don’t know. I guess I’m just that salty about how the ninja tribe was executed. at least the garbage tribe is a bit more accurate to it’s inspiration? granted I constantly forget which Trashoz are which and sometimes even forget that the tribe even exists, but still at least they have a color palette that isn’t basically identical to another tribe.

20, MCPD: wow I must really not be a big fan of the 2016 tribes, but anyway for what they are, the MCPD are actually pretty alright. the main reason why they’re so low is because, well, they’re basically cops. and nowadays cops aren’t exactly seen in the most, positive light, and seeing how Lego decided to stop making Police-themed sets in the Lego City line around the time police brutality became an issue, I wouldn’t really be surprised if the MCPD was erased from the canon in a potential Mixels reboot/revival.

19, Lixers: I’m mostly just kinda neutral on the Lixers, I honestly don’t have much to say on them. on a semi-related sidenote, did you know that Turg caused a controversy and was actually temporarily banned in another country because his Lego description contained an offensive word? granted he was shortly unbanned after his Lego description got changed and it was the UK that got offended so does it really matter that much?

18, Fang Gang: oh hey it’s the tribe that Lego made useless lean-coloured ripoffs of! I also don’t have much to say about them, I do like jawg though.

17, Medix: the medical theme these guys have is pretty neat, that’s about it really.

16, Flexers: I don’t have much to say about these guys, but I do sometimes like to think that these guys were secretly the air tribe this whole time because they live in these floating sky houses.

15, Mixies: if it wasn’t for how cool Jamzy was in EKHID, this tribe would probably be way lower, they do get some points docked however for Trumpsy basically just being a background character and Tapsy not even showing up in the episode outside of the intro.

14, Newzers: Screeno has basically become a meme in the Mixels Wiki Discord server, so I’ve kinda warmed up to the tribe because of that. the Max looks fucking awful though.

13, Spikels: this tribe is actually pretty good, it mostly places so low because of Scorpi’s dead weight.

12, Pyrratz: ok first of all, love the pirate theme, it’s a really fun idea and a more interesting and less creatively limiting concept for a water tribe. second, the Max is easily one of if not the best one that Mixels has to offer. unfortunately this tribe suffers from the same problem as the Mixies, where one of the members of the tribe, Lewt in this case, doesn’t even show up in the episode besides the intro.

11, Medivals: here it is, my favorite 2016 tribe, it mostly ranks this high because of EKHID, but also because Mixadel has the same VA as Kaos from Skylanders and I love it. I’m also one of Camillot’s surrogate dads now (even though I’m a female) so I’m kinda obligated to rank his tribe higher up.

10, Weldos: chainsaws are cool, what can I say? they also have a pretty cool max too, a shame that they barely did anything in Mixamajig and literally only showed up at the end.

9, Klinkers: steampunk is cool, what can I say? too bad that Gox seems to be basically Mr Krabs but a Mixel.

8, Cragsters: I just think they’re neat

7, Glorp Corp: they’re G R E E N . also I like the idea of them being a poison tribe.

6, Frosticons: ice tribe, admittedly it’s mostly Flurr and I guess also Krog and Lunk carrying the tribe, because admittedly the others have kinda meh designs and the only other one with an interesting design, Snoof, is an asshole. overall they’re a pretty solid tribe though.

5, Electroids: this is a really good tribe, a perfect electricity tribe, they also have easily the best Max of series 1.

4, Wiztastics: good ol’ magic tribe! fantastic tribe concept, wonderful execution of said concept, great personalities among the individual members, just A+ scores across the board.

3, Glowkies: can I just say that I’m so glad that they didn’t make this tribe all evil and edgy and stuff like how other franchises do with darkness and bat-themed creatures/characters? in fact they went out of their way to make the Glowkies the exact opposite of that, highly social party animals that live for the art of performance and probably only live in the moon caves because its basically the only place that’s fully habitable. all that aside I love these guys, the way they completely subverted expectations with a tribe like this is absolutely amazing in my eyes and I love the glow-in-the-dark eyes that the lego sets have.

2, infernites: fire is cool, what can I say? this is easily the best of the 6-member tribes, and I think that all 6 of them are all really great Mixels in their own right. these guys are easily the franchise’s most iconic tribe, with Flain basically being the Agumon of the series. Burnard was even in Lego Worlds! despite all this, there’s still one more tribe that ranks even higher than them…

1, Orbitons: yeah, you guys probably saw this one coming from a continent away, but what can I say? the Orbitons are just such an amazing tribe. amazing concept, a tribe based on astronauts and aliens that live on an isolated colony on the moon. they’re G R E E N . the fact that one of them is literally my all-time favorite character. but the one thing that I think the Orbitons have above all the others is one simple thing: mystery. think about it, in M3, the Orbitons do explain why they abduct the Infernite cousins, and we even get to see the highly advanced technology they have access to. but we never get an explanation as to WHY the Orbitons live on the moon, and more importantly, HOW they even got there in the first place. were they just kinda always there like the Glowkies are? were they artificially created through secret government experimentation on a secret lab on the moon for some unknown purpose but then were just abandoned there for equally unknown reasons? and a little observation about Niksput, but he seems to possess a lot more black on his body than the other 2, he also seems to be much less mechanical than the others as well, is this a sign that Niksput is actually an Orbiton/Glowkie hybrid? and I can go on and on all day about theories and speculation on the Orbitons, of course this kind of speculation can be done with the other tribes too, but there’s just something about the Orbitons specifically that makes theories about them extra juicy and intriguing.

So there you have it, my ranking of every mixel tribe from worst to best, hope this gives you an accurate look at my preferences in terms of mixel tribes because hoo boy this took alot of time to write!

~ Mod Niksput

[mrs-bartowski]

My dudes. My guys. My pals.

I’m about 10 seconds away from going feral.

So, I’m the kind of unfortunate chump whose brain requires continuity. Meaning, when I started thirst watching Supergirl during its mid-season-2 hiatus and came across the realization that it had crossovers with all the other arrowverse shows, my brain tasked me with watching them all. I won’t put you through a recount of this arduous feat, but it does leave me with the certain advantage of having immediate and full-contextual access to any parallels between supercorp and canon CW DCEU couples.

Normally, this is a good thing, because it’s just another crumb to obsess over. But I just finished watching Legends 6x02 and...I. AM. FUMING.

I literally don’t even know where to start, but know that if you’ve made it this far you’re in for a long ride because my entire being is in Scream mode right now and I’m not sure I’ll be able to stop typing until it passes.

OKAY. So.

Meet Sara Lance (lol jk y’all thirsty gays know who she is I mean look at this flawless human)

Next, meet her ******* Ava Sharpe (who is literally the definition of white European beauty standards-based perfection because she’s a clone from the future)

And finally, meet Gary Green. He’s...well, he’s Gary.

Sara started out on Arrow and is now the captain of the Legends. Ava was the director of the Time Bureau and Gary was an agent, and now they are also members of the Legends. Sara has been there (and been the show’s effective lead) since season 1. Ava and Gary both came in at the beginning of season 3. 

Gary is (as pictured) an absolute fool, but he is also kind of regarded as the one the Legends Must Protecc. The whole team is considered a family, and, while they are not necessarily labeled as best friends, Gary has been Ava’s longest and most loyal companion, and Sara has a way of adopting him because she’s the best equipped to keep him out of trouble.

So, why is all of this relevant to why I want to go feral? Because it sounds a bit familiar, yes? Member of the team that is somewhat a black sheep, doesn’t get included fully or all the time but often comes in with save-the day type shit (even though with Gary it’s more of a distraction than a save because he’s a mess of a man). Close friend to one of our two main heroes and, subsequently, that hero’s closest companion puts them at the top of their Protecc list. Has little faith in his relationships with the team so he is constantly going out of his way to help in whatever way he can to prove his usefulness. And so on and so forth.

Well, 6x01 marks exactly 3 years since Gary’s first appearance, and what did we find out in that episode? That Gary is an alien. And not just any alien - an alien who was sent (by the woman he was traded to) to get close to Sara because she has been labeled as one of the world’s most dangerous creatures. Not to mention, his species of alien feeds on humans (not him of course, he’s reformed, but nonetheless not a friendly species). And we find out all of this because he and his master abduct her.

Sara finds out in person while Ava and the rest of the Legends solve the mystery on their own. Now, I’ve drawn a lot of comparisons between Lena and Gary to make a point about the time frame and nature of their relationships, but let’s take a look at Sara, shall we? For starters, she’s been “dead” either literally or supposedly about...what, 15 times now? If you think that’s an exaggeration, here’s the link to her fan wiki which says she’s been presumed dead 10 times and actually dead 5. The sg writers tried to sell season 5 as “the fight for Lena’s soul” but Sara LITERALLY LOST HER SOUL when she got resurrected in the Lazarus pit. 90% of Sara’s character development has been based on her certainty that she is too close to death and evil and destruction (getting possessed by a demon, perhaps, had something to do with this?). She was an actual literal assassin and she has left civilization out of anger and pain to go back to that life once before.

She has always believed that she is too dangerous to have real love or relationships or friends. And now she has found and built and led this family through time and space and she’s done so with this goofball by her side that is endearingly attached to the love of her life. So, how does she react when she finds out Gary is an alien? Well, clearly, she goes down a dark path, right? She cries and screams and talks about betrayal because she’s had such a hard time with feeling like she only ever puts the people she loves in danger and now here she is finding out there’s been a human-eating alien in her family for three years that was tasked with observing her and keeping her in check because she is exactly that dangerous?

Yeah...try again. This is how Sara reacts:

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And then there's another scene that apparently no one even bothered to put on YouTube where you can see the pain in Sara's eyes when she asks him “why me?” You can see how hurt she is that after 3 years she’s just finding out that their friendships is based on lies and that she has trouble keeping her faith in it. But in both of these instances where are the “crocodile tears?” Where are the fearful, shaky confessions from Gary about his fear of losing the only people who have ever really loved or cared about him and desperate justifications about how he just wanted to protect them and keep them in the dark so his master didn’t come after them? Where is the outrage from Sara about how everything Gary has reassured her about over the past three years when she was scared to let the damaged-soul assassin inside of her out was a lie and he doesn’t get to tell her who or what she is again? Where is the determination from Ava to make Gary pay for not only lying for three years but for ABDUCTING THE LOVE OF HER LIFE TO HAND OVER TO A FLESH-EATING ALIEN??????

Nowhere. Those things...they’re nowhere. There’s anger. There’s pain. There’s doubt and heartbreak and fury. There’s betrayal and helplessness and desperation. But there is no scene with Sara standing on a balcony and Gary looking up at her longingly because he wants to talk to her about the secret and he knows it will change everything between them. There is no scene with Sara and Ava lamenting over what this means for Gary and the team and the world because he’s no longer the person they knew. There are no romantically-scored scenes of them looking teary-eyed at the pictures they took together or reassurances that the others’ intentions are good and trustworthy now that the truth is out in the open. There is nothing to imply that the last several years of friendship are now entirely suspect (damaged, frayed, clouded, maybe, but definitely not voided) because Gary kept this secret to protect them. And Gary isn’t made to feel obscenely guilty or shameful because his intentions were good and he only did what he felt he had to. But most of all, the world doesn’t feel like it’s going to end.

And I’m not talking about we’re now scared Gary will take his master’s side or Sara will suddenly decide that she never wants an alien to fool her or hurt her again so she’s going to make sure he doesn’t have the choice. I’m just talking about the way they address each other. There are no sobbing tears or laments over the biggest mistakes of their lives - even though it’s quite possible Gary could see this as his. There are no screaming matches over betrayal and mistrust and years of doubt and confusion. There will be no episode dedicated to going back and seeing what could have happened - what kind of danger they could have avoided from the alien(s) controlling Gary - had he told them the truth sooner because that’s the only way to save him and the world. There will be no episode where he has to single-handedly save them multiple times as some example of redemption. There will be no adamant looks and declarations about how the team knows his intentions were good and they forgive him. There won’t be any of that. Because Sara is not in love with Gary. And Ava is not in love with Gary. And Gary is not in love with either Sara or Ava. They’re just close friends. Family. Loved ones who mean a lot to each other but whose betrayal and seeds of doubt don’t bring on emotions whose force and ferocity could be acceptable for finding out the apocalypse is nigh.

I have many, many more feelings about this but right now I’m going to go write things that will make me feel better and not things that make me want to gather every writer from every CW show in a line and run down the line smacking them all in the face while the Legends writers watch and cheer. But I’m fuming. THIS is what it looks like when a years-long, heavily weighted lie is revealed between close friends/family. So, in conclusion, Supercorp endgame or die.

[pilferingapples]

TMA S2 Natter I guess!!

LORE LORE LORE LORE WHOOO

under the cut for massive major spoilers of course

- I’m really glad I’m binging this, it helps me remember things to have a big chunk of story and lots to pick up on all stacked together and reinforcing itself. I still have to check and double check the Fan Wiki for names here and there, when I hear someone I KNOW I recognize from earlier; I’ve inevitably run across some spoilers that way, thanks to the structure of the wiki, so I’m really glad I’m needing to do that less and less as the show goes on; I don’t think I had to check anything in the last ten episodes, thought I did still have to go to the wiki to get links to the Transcripts, because 

- I find the tunnel-echo effects make the dialogue pretty unparseable no matter how loud I have the show, unfortunately. I could understand Michael,and not much else. (I mean,I could understand Michael’s voice, the Spiral’s motives and all are fairly opaque to me still.) The voices and acting lend so much ambiance, I would have been happy to watch along on the YT vid with subtitles , but it doesn’t have subtitles? Frustrating, but I do  really appreciate there being transcripts! 

- Michael makes me really, really sad. He was just a kid who stayed out in the rain a second too late! It wasn’t even his idea! And he got Marked and he lost his whole damn life to this thing before he was even old enough to have a good grasp on what reality is in the normal swing of things. Poor kid. Poor Michael-that-should-have-been. (ETA so I don’t answer this multiple times: I’m aware Lightning-and-Tower Michael might not be Hallways and Hands Michael, but this is just name-association, really.  Also, there’s a growing horror in S2 in finding so many people who seemed to escape their encounters showing  up again in much worse shape in other Statements...)

- Thanks to Tumblr Osmosis , I’m  sure the Endgame OTP (at least so far) in Jon/Martin, and while I’m currently not a fan of that (though totally prepared to change my mind according to character/relationship development!) I am  delighted to be able to enjoy Jon and Basira’s relationship without worrying that her character is going to be suddenly smashed flat to make her The Love Interest. I love their weird uneasy alliance!  I hope she comes back but also hope she goes somewhere Far Away and lives Ordinarily Ever After. 

-on that note, Daisy Daisy Daisy bring back Daisy, I don’t usually get into cop characters but WEIRD CRYPTID FORCE COPS are apparently a potential weakness for me  (..also I know, I know  they are probably Hunt-aligned. I’ve already said I’m unfortunately Weak for The Hunt ).  

-I miss Actual!Sasha >:

- Tim is seriously the only person in this whole damn institute with any self preservation either supernatural or normal??  “Yeah you’re right I don’t like the boss who stalks me and keeps secrets about a situation which is directly about my own personal safety like I was the enemy and takes his trauma out on me directly while I’m recovering from,in this case , exactly the same trauma thanks “

Martin: Wow Tim you’re so selfish, how can you even think about fleeing our supernatural hellscape, why aren’t you more concerned with the guy who is very overtly considering you a potential enemy and crossing all boundaries in a way that, in any normal job, would right off be enough to get HR and maybe the cops involved?  WHY ARE YOU BEING SO UNREASONABLE, TIM??...Now excuse me while I run to my probable death with no preparation in defense of a guy who seems to go out of his way to hit my very obvious emotional weak points and considered me so useless  he thought I might be dead already, because unlike you I am making good decisions!!! LEEEROY JENKINNNSSSSS”

-honestly the apparent connection between why the Institute/Elias accepted Martin as sacrifice an employee and Martin’s emotional Everything is both screamingly apparent and worth an essay all on its own , that’s some Good Charactering

-I never trusted Elia-- Never Trust the Boss Of Shadowy Organization With Mysterious Backers, that’s my motto-- but HE KILLED THE INFODUMP SOURCE. HOW DARE. INSTANT LEAST FAVE.

- I KNEW LEITNER WAS A RESEARCHER I KNEW IT I KNEW IT, who has a vast occult library BUT never really figures in any accounts of actually DOING anything?? AN OCCULT NERD DOING RESEARCH.  (I say, well aware that *I* did not do my research as fully as I’d like here, to avoid spoilers, and thus may be forgetting a Big Thing he apparently did)

- I did NOT know he was still alive?? and totally didn’t see him working with Gertrude (it was actually Gert’s Occult Book Hunting that made me slap my head and go OH RIGHT about Leitner!) 

-I want to know more about Gertrude 

- The OH NO moment I had during Leitner’s description of obvious multiple entities working together to just wreck his shop!!  BAD, BAD, THE INJUSTICE LEAGUE OF AAAAAH IS BAD 

- also now I know for sure that the Web and the Stranger are enemies? this puts at least 2/3 Fear Entities that could, I am aware , pretty much have me as a pawn for a cheap ice-cream cone allied against the one  Entity that makes me absolutely go into Screaming Phobia Murder Mode, I don’t know if everyone’s feeling the same way or if this is just the show happening to find my particular keys like that 

-...listen Elias is THE WORRRRSSSST and I am sure The Institute is Not Good but if The Stranger existed and was A Thing like this then they wouldn’t have  to Play me to get my assistance on taking it out , every single episode about it makes me go Mad Raccoon in A Box ,  I want it gone, the enemy of the Stranger is my ...slightly less enemy 

-Jonnycakes Sims is the Avatar of the Human Trainwreck, but I did not realize until this episode that he does not drink coffee??  I’m torn between thinking he should and thinking all caffeine should be taken away from him forever. 

-Also, Dammit, Jonet, this “keeping info about supernatural horror schemes from my team For Their Own Good” nonsense?  BAD , you are not a Victorian patriarch and they are not your children, GIVE THEM A FIGHTING CHANCE YOU GOOBER, DID YOU EVER READ ONE GOTHIC NOVEL, IGNORANCE IS DEATH 

- ..HOW DID YOU DECIDE TO SMASH THE TABLE YOU. GOOBER PIE.   I take it back, definitely Jonny needs to drink all the more caffeine. 

--in conclusion, ELIAS TOOK MY LORE HOOKUP AND HE MUST PAY FOR HIS CRIMES. 

(Supplemental:P) 

I'm getting the impression, from responses to my earlier little post, that people don't? like Tim ?? and I am Afraid this means he is Something Horrible?? but he's fun and friendly and smart and reacting like a human with normal human self-preservation instincts + a touch of Heroic honestly?? why do people not like Tim, is he a secret Horror, NO DON'T ACTUALLY TELL ME but  D:  NERVOUS NOW

[timeagainreviews]

The Doctor visits Villa Diodati... Again

It’s rare that an episode of Doctor Who can upset the fandom before it ever airs. Even rarer is the fandom actually having a valid reason for being so hacked off. The reason for this week’s outrage? That would be none other than the inclusion of the famous writer Mary Shelley into the story. If you’re a fan of Big Finish, you may know already that Mary Shelley acts as a bit of a companion in the Eighth Doctor audios. So when she shows up with the Doctor on the same night when she meets the Eighth Doctor, you start to wonder if anyone thought to actually check.

There’s a really great thing called the TARDIS Data Core. It’s a wiki maintained by the type of meticulous nerds (see: me) who care about this sort of thing. And it’s absolutely free to use. So if you want to throw in someone like say, Houdini, you can read up on the many instances when the Doctor met the man. I’ve said it before, and I will say it again, Doctor Who writers have a bizarre fascination with that man. I won’t fault Maxine Alderton for having not listened to the audios with Mary Shelley. I’ve only listened to one of them. But hell, check the damn wiki.

The world of Doctor Who gets its mileage out of perception filters. They play a huge part in the mythology of the show, and especially tonight’s episode. Maybe this is why the Thirteenth Doctor doesn’t remember her travels with Mary Shelley, it’s filtered out. And maybe that’s why when Lord Byron answers the door to Villa Diodati, he reacts with shock despite the massive windows with a clear view of the Doctor and her companions. Was he shocked by the fact that literally nothing changed? Pro tip- if you’re going to show someone surprised by who is on the other side of a door, wood is more effective than glass.

The Doctor and her companions have arrived at the Villa Diodati in the rain-soaked summer of 1816. The very same rain that has relegated Lord Byron, Mary Shelley, Claire Clairmont, and John Polidori housebound, has also forced the TARDIS crew to seek shelter at the villa. The episode wastes no time reaching for cliches as the Doctor says to her companions to brace themselves for meeting some of the greatest minds of human history, only to have the door open to a room of drunken buffoons. They did the exact same joke when the Tenth Doctor met Shakespeare. It’s not egregious, but it’s played out none the less.

Rebounding from cliches, director Emma Sullivan gets some great horror movie vibes as the appearance of a skeletal hand stalks through the house like a spider looking for prey. Clips of ghostly apparitions flicker in and out of existence. I was already very excited about where this was headed. Lord Byron is quite taken by the Doctor, who pays him very little mind. But this doesn’t stop the sleepwalking Dr Polidori from getting jealous when Claire appears to be flirting with Lord Byron. Much of the information about these four is conveyed by their proclivity to gossip, which I thought was a very clever way of sneaking a history lesson into the story. Once again, they’re making better use of edutainment moments by incorporating them into the story.

However, it is Lord Byron who has Claire’s eye. Unfortunately for her, she doesn’t stand a chance against the Doctor, or whoever catches Lord Byron’s attention that week. Claire laments Lord Byron’s mixed signals in a conversation with Yaz, leading Yaz to convey her own issues with someone she fancies. She never outright says it’s Ryan, but I’m guessing it’s Ryan. I’m also guessing we’re still doing that? She also very well could have meant the Doctor. Meanwhile, Graham is lost in this labyrinthian house whilst searching for the loo. I love that Graham is the companion that thinks about eating and going to the bathroom. I’ve always wondered why there weren’t more action movies where someone needed to take a piss. You never see Ethan Hunt stop a bullet train while needing to poop. Now that’s an impossible mission.

With Dr Polidori being a sleepwalker, his demeanour is anxious and agitated causing him to take Ryan’s playground trash talk as a major slight on his character. He challenges him to a duel, but before he can put a cap in Ryan’s backside, they’re interrupted by the presence of the skeleton hand. I really have to give it up to Tosin Cole here. His comedic chops this series have been spot-on. Watching him try and fight off a flying hand was just as funny as watching him try to impress Mary Shelley with a stumbling rendition of "Chopsticks," on the piano. After a bit of hot potato, the skeletal hand is taken out of commission by the valet, Fletcher with the serving tray assist. The hand smacks into the ground in a fine powder.

The Doctor reveals that she believes the house is giving off really evil "vibes," and they set about looking for answers. It’s at this moment that the perception filters begin toying with their minds. Stairwells lead down to their tops and exits lead to their entrances. It’s a very wibbly-wobbly moment that leads you to wonder what exactly is going on. Is the house haunted? Does it have anything to do with the bones Lord Byron is keeping at the villa? Why are vases breaking against the wall? Who is this apparition that keeps blinking in and out of existence? Who are the woman and child that supply Graham with a sweet plate of sandwiches?

Stuck in what seems like a time loop, Mary begins to panic as she hears her infant son William crying from a room she is unable to reach. It is then that the sleepwalking of Polidori actually comes in handy as he is able to walk through walls as he is unaffected by perception filters while asleep. This allows everyone to navigate the house by closing their eyes. The Doctor assumes that whatever is happening has turned the villa into a sort of panic room to protect it from something horrible. Perhaps this something has to do with room they’ve discovered which is covered in mad writing scrawled in an alien language. I’ll forgive them the cliche of the madman furiously scrawling walls as at this point, I am fully invested in the story.

It takes them almost no time to discover who the house is protecting them from, as the Lone Cyberman as warned about by Captain Jack arrives looking like Frankenstein’s monster. I absolutely loved the horror movie visuals. The decision not to reveal exactly what the Cyberman was at first, really amped up the anticipation. I knew he was coming at the end of the series, but I didn’t expect him so soon. His image cut like a hunched monster in the darkness of the hallway portrayed a man or monster that has clearly travelled a very long distance to get here. We’ve never had a chance to see a Cyberman look so fatigued and battle-worn. This concept is driven home as we’re able to see the human underneath the mask. One of his hands is left exposed calling back to the Cybermen’s first appearance in "The Tenth Planet."

The Doctor kicks into Doctor mode as she commands her companions not to follow her. The Cyberman goes about looking for "the guardian," which doesn’t pan out too well for poor Fletcher or the maid watching William. However, the Cyberman spares the baby because, after all, this is a family show, and we are still pre-watershed. The Doctor confronts the Cyberman who is unable to attack. Noting his emotions are still intact, the Doctor tries to negotiate with him. This is a rare opportunity for the Doctor to do something more with a Cyberman than exploding his head. However, it would appear this lone mechano man is the cause of all of the freak weather happening, as he recharges himself with a very Mary Shelley style lightning.

Meanwhile, the companions and their new friends have discovered Percey Shelley in the cellar. The Doctor reads Percy’s mind to discover he had found something shiny in the bottom of Lake Geneva, like some sort of sexy Smeagol.  Upon picking it up, it begins seeping into his skin, connecting to his mind where it would attempt to hide from the Lone Cyberman. The object is a sort of intelligent liquid metal known as the Cyberium. Within it resides all of the knowledge and history of the Cybermen. In its attempt to hide, Percy returns home to discover nobody can see him no matter how many vases he throws against the wall. The Cyberium puts up a series of perception filters that obscure him from sight. Who sent it back in time, and why it wants to hide from the Lone Cybermen is left a mystery.

The Doctor is forced to make a decision- ignore Jack’s warning not to give the Lone Cyberman what he wants, or allow the Cyberium to destroy Percy’s mind. Ryan tries to make like this is a simple decision as one life weighed against billions is an easy choice. However, the Doctor’s curt response shows the situation to be far more impactful. I loved her speech about being the lone person at the peak of a summit. That was some "curse of the Time Lords," level pontification which I have yearned so much to hear from Jodie’s Doctor. She almost seems disgusted with Ryan here. She doesn’t hide her contempt for always having to be the strong one. This may be one of my favourite Thirteenth Doctor moments as she seems genuinely pissed about being the one to make the big decisions.

Mary Shelley has a moment that clearly sounds like she was working out the basis for what would become her book "Frankenstein," as she tries to reason with the Cyberman. She sees the monster made of disparate parts, but she also sees the man within. But it would appear that this man within has the brain of a criminal as he thrashes about wildly looking to harm. Percy passes the Cyberium to the Doctor. Once again they touch on cliche by claiming the Doctor is the perfect host for the Cyberium. I found this odd considering they have always said the Doctor is not compatible with Cyberman technology, but whatever. The Doctor makes her decision which is to give the Cyberman the Cyberium. That’s step one of the plan, step two is to fix the problems she created with step one. I’ve never heard Doctor Who so succinctly summed up. The Doctor just keeps putting out fires until the problem is solved. Brilliant.

For now, we’re left to ponder the future of this Lone Cyberman. How will it play into the Timeless Child if at all? Is this the beginning of storyline spanning three different episodes? I’m hoping the answer is yes. That would be really cool to see not just the Timeless Child and the Lone Cyberman come together, but also the Master as well. If Chris Chibnall can actually find a through-line with all three stories, I would be very impressed. There’s a lot to like in series twelve, which makes it almost sad that so many people have been tuning out. I’ll admit I understand the trepidation people may have after series eleven. There was a sort of aimlessness that series twelve definitely does not share.

I wouldn’t sit here and say the entire series has been home run after home run, but I’ve not hated a single episode. Even the weaker efforts like "Orphan 55," and “Can You Hear Me?” were completely watchable. Even if "The Haunting of Villa Diodati," does mess with the Eighth Doctor canon, it doesn’t waste its time. That Cyberman reveal was so effective that I audibly said "Woah!" as he beamed his way into the house. And it’s still too early to say what is and isn’t canon at this point, as the Timeless Child could play into it. We could be dealing with pocket realities or alternate timelines. All could very well be revealed in the end. If not, well, it just gives Big Finish a chance to do what it does best- retcon the shit out of something until it fits. It’s Doctor Who, it can take the strain.

[murfeelee]

Alright, I’ve been talking about The Witcher TV show for months and months, and now I’ve FINALLY seen it.

I've skimmed through the books here and there, but really I’m a diehard fan of the video games, particularly The Witcher 3 (I’ve played TW1 and TW2 as well). Because of all the hype, attention and love the TW3 got over the years, with even Henry Cavill being a major fan of the video games, Netflix went and made this tv show, with Cavill as Geralt of Rivia, The Witcher.

MY THOUGHTS

It was GOOD! \(^0^)/ I really liked it!

Alright, don’t get excited, I think this show had some serious problems. But we’ll start with the good before getting to the bad and the ugly.

THE GOOD

THE ACTING

Everyone was top notch, and did a fantastic job. I freaking LOVE Grandma Calanthe, omg. I wanted more of her, and Mama Tissaia, and the different sorceresses (when Sodden started I was like hooo boy, I know how this goes; the finale is WORTH the price of admission, folks).

I even liked Eclipse-Princess (her name escapes me, my bad; I was calling her Arya 2.0 in my head). Don’t think I effing missed how they threw in a nod to the Eclipse Princess from Blood & Wine; that was awesome, featuring the Black Sun “curse” again.

I already knew I was gonna HAVE to tune in to see Yennefer’s story, and it was every bit as superb as I suspected it would be. Dare I say it was THE most interesting story arc of the three? Caught me tearing up a few times. I still don’t see book/game/Polish Yennefer with her, but she did a GREAT job, nonetheless--her emotions and delivery and everything was excellent.

She sounds so dang young though, which throws me off with the timeline, cuz when exactly does Yenn’s story take place in all of this? It’s hard to match her with the more...well....matronly/mature persona we’re more familiar with in the games. But I guess she develops that over time, after getting to raise Ciri. Though this does put in better perspective why she was so mean to Ciri at first, calling her ugly and everything. She wanted a child so badly, and Geralt just...gets one by surprise, and she was feeling bitter, I see it now.

THE ACTION

And I gotta give it to Cavill. Boy can MOVE. My favorite moments with Cavill were when he was sword fighting; whoever choreographed all that needs a frikkin award. I imagined the Butcher of Blaviken just tearing up mofos, and that’s exactly what we got. And he was WERKING them pants! XD

Except we never really saw my favorite sign, Igni. Oh well. And I hate that he doesn’t have cat eyes. And the Toxicity ISTG makes him look like a vampire and makes no effing sense, but whatevs.

And sometimes he was sounding WAY too Batman or demonic with this really deep and gravelly voice -- I appreciate that he was trying to give us that gruff and sandpaper dry video game Geralt, but when they’d make him yell or be mad I was like JFC NOT TODAY SATAN. But an attempt was made, and I appreciate it. ^_^ He was fine for the most part. More than fine, even. As I said, the acting & action was great, and they played to Cavill’s strengths.

THE SPECIAL EFFECTS

I also thought the CGI was fine--not the best, no, but I’ve seen way worse in shows with bigger budgets. The dragons...eh.... And that kikimore.... Well, I’m just remembering the Polish tv show, the Hexer--BIG improvement. Trust me. O_O The practical effects were excellent. Even though they messed around A LOT with the Striga plot from TW1, and what it looked like, I did like that they stayed pretty faithful to the fight. 

THE STORIES & CHARACTERS

IMO, the best episode was E04, with Pavetta & Duny. It was just REALLY well done, and the one I was LEAST expecting. My favorite episode was E06, with the dragon, because of course. Reminded me of Hercules the Legendary Journeys, IDKY. The finale was really good, too; I love the sorceresses and all the magic. And E07 when all the plots and flashbacks come together was great.

And now for MY COMPLAINTS

THE BAD

#1) OMG WTF WAS UP WITH THE TIMELINE?

I feel BAD for anyone who’s watching this show fresh, who’s never played the games, read the books, seen the Polish Hexer tv show, played Gwent, or anything related to the Witcher world.

I was thrown off several times, as they shot from Ciri running for her life or Geralt fighting a Striga in the present time; to Yennefer learning magic in the past. Geralt & Dandelion go on adventures Shrek & Donkey style--I ASSUMED in the present, with the Sylvan, Djinn & Dragon, until an episode or two later they’re in Cintra together in the PAST, and Ciri’s not even born yet, and we’re seeing a drunk Ermion/Mousesack and young Crach an Craite (I squeed, my dad~!! His accent was on point!), and Ciri’s mom and grandma. (And WOW, the lady they got to play the mom looks just like the actress playing Ciri--are they related?)

And they do this over and over again over the episodes--present day with Ciri, eff knows when with Geralt or Yennefer. Especially since you know from the books/games that they’re both almost 100 years old. Yenn keeps throwing out “it’s been decades“ this and “years” that. But W H E N though!?!

I mean, I could follow along, sure, but they REALLY needed to make it clearer SOONER for people who have NO idea who TF these people or which kingdoms are which, that some things are happening YEARS apart from each other. Pay attention to how many times GoT shoved those maps of Westeros and Essos in our faces. Or how different shows use color filters for flashbacks or something. Properly situate the audience in time AND space--we’re not Cirilla, who can travel willy nilly between both. They bounced back and forward between past and present with the toss of a frikkin coin.

And speaking of coins...

#2) THE MUSIC WAS...Well.

Oh, Dandelion. XD

Anyone who knows me knows I fangirl HARD over the Witcher video game OSTs. And unfortunately, the music on the tv show was just...alright. :\ And for a franchise so closely connected to iconic music like the band Percival, it’s a crime against nature that the tv show never had a single track that made me go YES. Give it up for POLAND. The end credits song is okay, but I only started getting into it at like Episode 6, soooo... :\

And no, I didn’t like Toss A Coin to Your Witcher in this show. It didn’t sound like part of this medievalesque universe AT ALL, but something kinda pop/country, aimed at I don’t even know who. Sure, the dude playing Dandelion can sing. But so can Ed Sheeran, and when GoT got him to sing on the show, he sure AF didn’t bust out with the next Billboard Top 40 on us in the middle of nowhere.

#3) THE CHARACTER BONDING?

The acting was top notch...it was the plot/writing I didn’t like. Or rather, the relationships between the characters. I felt more for Yennefer & Istredd, and Geralt & Roach, and Ciri & the Elf boy (and her grandma), and even Pavetta & effing Duny/Emhyr (that royal piece of sh!te) than I did for any other characters on this whole show. And that’s a bit of a problem.

First off, I HATED how they made it seem that TEENAGED Ciri had no idea who TF Geralt was. TV Ciri’s gotta be what? 15? Geralt said something about it having been 12 years since Pavetta & Duny, but even that’s too old. Book!Ciri met Geralt IN the Brokilon or whatever forest with all the water drinking and the dryad queen and mess.

They were already obsessed with each other before the fall of Cintra even happened! Ciri was like 10 already when Geralt took Ciri to Kaer Morhen to start her Witcher training, but this girl on the show’s way older, and effing clueless. They don’t even meet til the final few SECONDS, wtf!! It’s just Destiny~! Destiny~! Child of Surprise, but we never even have a scene together~! Destiny~!

Speaking of children, we have Yennefer and Geralt, which was better, but again, WOAH with the pacing. I felt effing BAD for Istredd! :( I don’t really GET why Geralt & Yenn fell so hard for each other; I don’t really feel that connection. Geralt had just as much bonding time with that eclipse-princess! They only had the Djinn episode, really, and by the end of the Dragon episode it was already over!

I mean, yeah, in the books/game they have A LOT of ups and downs, but come on; we’ve already wasted so much time on Geralt & Triss (that homewrecking wench, I’m glad her airtime was minimal), and I just want more BAMF battle couple parents Geralt & Yenn raising Ciri already! >_<

Same with Geralt & Dandelion. Geralt’s kinda mean to him, which is fair; Geralt hates everyone. But I don’t feel where they’re friends at all, and they part at the end of the season on NOT great terms. I kinda feel Geralt doesn’t really like Dandelion at all. :( Even with the whole comedic relief Shrek schtick,

THE UGLY

#4) THE LENGTH

I dunno what’s up with all the 8 episode miniseries lately (GoT, Mandalorian, Witcher, etc), but it REALLY isn’t enough to really flesh out a story. Especially not one as convoluted as The Witcher, AKA the GoT of Poland.

Again, I REALLY feel for the casuals watching, who probably don’t know what the Conjunction of Spheres Istredd keeps referring to is, or what exactly a Witcher is, or why Ciri’s so dang special -- was Lara Dorren or the Elder Blood ever even MENTIONED???

We know Yenn’s got elf blood, but it’s waaaay more than that with Ciri -- though I don’t think they mentioned her elf blood, either, just that Calanthe’s grandmother or someone had their Banshee powers before Pavetta & Ciri.

BTW, wtf with Ermion/Mousesack? That’s gotta be a red herring or something. Cuz we know this dude’s old AF and thriving in Skellige, sooo....? TF. Why the Doppler? Why?

TBH this felt like Season 1A, if anything. I don’t feel the plot really progressed much at all, other than us getting Yennefer’s story. Ciri & Geralt finally meet (cliffhanger supreme right there), but jfc this felt like a prequel -- so much of the season was dedicated to backtracking us in a roundabout way up to the fall of Cintra, then skipping ahead to the Battle at Sodden Hill.

And why the heck did they wait so long to get to get to Vigelfortz!? That’s what I was sitting here WAITING for! You mean I gotta wait for Season TWO to see my Hanse in full force!? :( URGH. Reeeeeeeegiiiiiiiis~! :(

Maybe cut out some of the unnecessary nudity every frikkin where and tell the full frikkin story, hmm? (Yenn’s boobs look great, we got it the first 5 times. Meanwhile these cowards won’t even have a dude’s left testicle be shown on screen, but whatever.)

So yeah, those are my 4 biggest complaints.

Well, and that wig’s hard AF hair line, jfc.(I was DYING during the Pavetta & Duny scene, when Cavill was holding on to that wig for dear life. XD XD)

Otherwise, I really liked the show! B+!

[courage-a-word-of-justice]

Misfit of Demon King Academy 1 | Healin’ Good PreCure 13 - 14 | Lapis Re:Lights 1 | God of High School 1 | Muhyo and Roji’s BSI s2 1

Misfit of Demon King Academy 1

This originally had the ecchi tag on its anime entry on AniList…or, at least, that’s how it was in my memory…but now that I see it doesn’t have that, it’s just another reincarnation isekai-type series. Let’s dig into it!

I…think this guy is meant to be portrayed as “hot” because he has the piercing eyes and he’s tall (against the girls in what will presumedly be his harem), but he kind of looks like your standard Potato-kun in a white outfit…so, uh…*shrugs*

Uh…is that guy meant to be Indian? You can’t get more obvious than the “Indu” family. Update: You see his brother later and Leorg has fairer skin, so maybe not.

LOL, “Flame of Darkness” makes someone nothing but a chuunibyou.

Uh…this is called The Misfit of Demon King Academy, y’know? Anos (Anoth?) is gonna get in, you bet your butts.

The owl is cute.

…guy, that 3 second rule thing was actually funny, but the more you think about the joke, the less funny it gets. Show: 1. Me: Infinity -1

Just from appearances, I wanna guess Misha is an ice or light magic user, or whatever equivalent the show has.

Is this what Assassin’s Pride could have been…?

How did the mother (Anoth’s) think her kid maturing that fast wasn’t weird?

Mushroom gratin? Is that an actual dish?...Yep, seems so. Sounds nice. I like mushrooms.

What’s up with young mothers in anime these days? Then again, the only other point of reference I have is Masamune-kun’s Revenge…

I thought it was the other Indu guy we saw earlier. This guy’s…not that bad-looking, though (LOL, my preferences ring out loud and clear…)…welp, spoke too soon. There he is. Update: Leorg kinda looks like Hakuto Kunai from Demon Lord, Retry!, come to think of it.

If Zepes died several times over the course of this episode…would one more death actually matter? (Not really, to be honest. Zepes is a scumbag.)

Come to think of it, this anime got postponed due to COVID, yeah? Was that why there was a sakuga spot earlier…?

Was that Sasha (Misha’s sister)? I found her name while checking if the anime was postponed.

I like the colour choices in this show, at least.

I don’t think this show has the best sense of comedic timing. Let your jokes breathe, dammit! That’s what comedic beats are for!

In a season with more offerings, I might get rid of this or pause it, but the season’s fairly sparse as it stands (darn virus!) so it stays.

Update: I didn’t notice, but an Anime News Network staff member wrote that Anoth’s surname is familiar…if you read Harry Potter.

Healin’ Good PreCure 13

Gotta start in the middle for this and work our way back. Note I did watch the 1st 2 eps without subs earlier this year when they were on the official PreCure YouTube, so I’m ahead of most people.

(From wandering the wiki and the news) I’ve seen nothing but pink/blue/yellow Cures these days, so I kind miss the more adventurous colours like green and orange…but then again, I never really liked green. It’s the colour of envy and…as petty as it sounds, I think I developed that bias because green is stereotypically the colour of rot, vomit (aside from anime’s rainbow vomit) and stinky things.

I didn’t notice this, but there’s a faint highlight on the Cures’ eyes (red for Grace, purple for Fontaine and blue for Sparkle).

It’s a drone! In PreCure! Yay! (It finally hit me exactly how much of a distant dream it’s been – from watching Suite and episodes of most of the other PreCure ‘til now – watching PreCure legally as a simulcast is! It’s crazy and it only took, what…5 years between Suite and this? 16 if you count from Futari wa to Healin’ Good.)

Is it that drone?

Hah? This is almost like the electricity-themed PreCure I came up with on the fan wiki. It’s not like I could sue Toei for it, though…they own that stuff, I only own what came out of my own imagination.

The subs say “Rate”, but “rate” has a meaning in English. No wonder the initial wiki translations say “Latte”, especially because the queen is “Teatine” to match.

Okay, so Mei is the sis and Yota is the brother. Got it.

Hey! What if there was a PreCure where the villains had devastated another world before? That would really raise the stakes.

“[T]hunders” (sic)? Thunder is the sound, lightning is the flash. Which one is it?

I see. As soon as they identified it as the Element of Lightning, I sort of guessed they could add it to their repertoire later, and I was right.

Its’s nice to see they put a woman in the moving company as well. Proves that girls can do anything they set their minds to, even what are supposedly “men’s jobs”.

I guess from the face I should’ve expected the element to talk, like the Fairy Tones from Suite, but I didn’t really figure that out until I saw it talk,

I feel like Hinata should’ve gone to see how Mei made her juice. That way, the two might be able to make similar-tasting juice…but that’s just an idea.

Healin’ Good PreCure 14

I feel like Byogens were responsible for Nodoka’s sickness, much like they are for Latte.

“Energy Source” seems to refer to a place where energy appears…I know that sounds a bit dumb if you don’t realise genki hakken means something like “appearance of energy (for a person)”, but…yeah, the PreCure series is like this. Unfortunately, that’s what you have to deal with.

I feel like this “teamwork overcomes all hardships” message is important in this time of COVID-19.

Guaiwaru = “condition is bad”, or ill health (guai ga warui).

Is that the element of air? I thought the PreCure would’ve used their element of lightning to fix the steamer, but hey, teamwork works too.

I’m a weeny bit peevy they translate minna to “girls”. It’s correct in context when it’s been translated that way, but minna means “everybody”.

I imagined Hinata saying “Watashi no smartphone ga!” instead of “Atarashii sumaho ga hoshii!”

Lapis Re:Lights 1

Eh…COVID-19 means I gotta sample things I’m not so crazy about.

Why is one of the first lines in this show “My behind hurts!”?

Bristol? Is this England?...Nope, it’s a place called “Mamkestell”.

I was thinking this girl…I think the reviews said her name was Tiara…was going to sing to the flower to make it perk up again, but nup, she whistled to it. That seems a bit irrelevant, to be honest. (I would prefer an all or nothing approach to a wish-washy approach like this…as in, if this is an idol show, then either go all in with the singing and dancing, or do something else that’ll catch my attention.)

Tiara’s face looks hella generic.

For some reason, I get this ominous feeling when the word “witch” is mentioned…must be the instinct from Madoka popping up again.

Lemme guess. Lynette is the bookworm?...*sigh* Just another method of showing a character is a bookworm without actually showing their reading a book, which I think is counterintuitive.

Get some protective gear, girls!

Rosetta keeps saying “Yes” (in English).

Lemme guess…people ship the dumb one and the smart one? They’re like a gender-flipped Dice and Gentaro, only the smart one is more uppity and the stupid one is more sporty.

The word appears to be noumei, but that exact word doesn’t seem to exist. Lavie seems to say the word is the opposite to something else, but I can’t tell what that is either…

Albino rabbit, eh?

…people probably ship Rosetta and Tiara too, right? *sigh*

So there’s…no singing in this fantasy/idol show. Whistling is how you invoke magic…so how is someone who can’t whistle supposed to invoke magic?!

Whose idea was it to put the OP in the middle of the episode?

It was “Neechan, daikirai!” “Forget you” is a fairly loose translation…

Little Miss Rosetta = Rosetta-chan.

I think Tiara called Rosetta “sensei” when the former wanted the latter to take care of her (i.e. take her to their dorm).

Titi = Tiara. I didn’t actually figure that out because I thought it referred to the rabbits.

Gah! These almost-real-world names (or real world names, in regards to “Bristol”) are gonna drive me NUTS!

*sigh* Boob jiggle.

*sighhhhhhhhh…* Lemme guess, there’s a potential expulsion on the horizon? Update: Yep. Dropped.

God of High School 1

First Webtoon series I’m covering here.

Oh, I checked out the first chapter of the webtoon because CR linked it to their anime page. The only difference I’ve seen from that, aside from fleshing out the backgrounds, is…that creepy skull (?) on the wall.

You can tell it’s Korean when I don’t understand what the text says. (I don’t know Korean, but I do know some Chinese and Japanese.) Update: This is Japanese-dubbed, but they left the Korean text in.

That intro is much more powerful now that the backgrounds are fleshed out.

Ooh, the colours in the OP are very nice!

Hmm? They’re starting with the grandpa, rather than starting with “I’m Mori Jin, 17 years old”? Good choice.

The expressions in this show are funny. I like them already.

Waittttttttt…I dunno how Korean names work. Is Mori Jin’s first name “Mori” or “Jin”? Update: I checked it up, and I got even more confused!

KORG Arena seems to be…from Marvel? Like BnHA references Star Wars???

*sigh* Moonbucks? Again?...and of course the girls only talk about “hotties”. We need a Bechdel test in this thing.

The comments on ch. 1 said “A new Luffy is born”, so now I agree with it…but they’re not going to show how Mori Jin was enlisted for GOH (as they seem to abbreviate it)?

There’s Japanese, English and Korean in the afro dude’s comments.

I’m amazed that tall dude with the spiky hair wasn’t more surprised about Mori Jin and the girl passing by…

Would those glasses on Mori Jin’s head be any help? Update: Turns out those aren’t “glasses”…they’re a sleeping mask.

Kamina glasses!

They put CR and Webtoon advertising over everything in this anime…geesh.

These red parts of people’s noses are gonna bug me, aren’t they…?

It should be battle royale, right? Update: Okay, so I checked and both are correct spellings.

This seems like the sort of thing that would never get funded because you need to pull off every battle scene right.

They cut the initial fight with “Blondie” out, but that actually makes things more interesting! Good choice.

Lemme guess – Mori Jin is going to have to fight this Kang Manseouk guy at full power one day? *shrugs* (Can I stop referring to people by their full names already??? I can’t stop until I know which is the first name and which is the last.) Update: So the wiki finally helped me out and Mori is the first name and Jin the last, meaning I can call him “Mori”. Got it.

*Mori suddenly pulls the prisoner’s pants down* - That was…random.

I liked it more than I thought I would! (Just for reference, the other protag dude is called Han Dae-wi and the girl is Yoo Mira.)

Muhyo and Roji’s BSI s2 1

(Update for the Tumblr fans: I finished s1 outside the seasonal format.) 

Kokkuri-san never goes well in anime…

Where does Nana work again…?

I don’t think Muhyo and Roji are legally (magically legally?) obligated to tell Nana anything about what they do.

Yay! Goryo is animted for the first time! He has such a beautiful voice~!

Notably, Roji wouldn’t have had a smartphone in 2004 (or whatever year close to that when the manga put this bit out).

Goryo (5) vs Muhyo (6). Didn’t figure this out at the time I read the manga.

I think the subbers misgendered Goryo. Goryo is a dude, as can be gathered from the name “Daranimaru”.

“Waka”? Does that stand for “young head [of the office]” or something?

Okay, whose bright idea was it to pair Now on Air (female vocalists) with Muhyo and Roji’s (a series dominated with dudes)…?

Ah, Funimation is on the production team of this anime. That would explain the dub rights.

[grim-on-the-darkside]

George Lucas involvement in The Clone Wars Series

This subject is being talked about by some here on Tumblr, so I thought I’d break open my Star Wars Quote files and share what I could to facilitate others who are already in discussions about it. I hope this aids them in that.

That said, Ohh boy, here we go. =]

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"This series [Clone Wars Series] at least to George is NOT EU, it is a part of Star Wars as he sees it. I think if anything there was a period where Henry [Gilroy] and I had to learn exactly what it took to be a part of George Lucas’ Star Wars, and tell the Star Wars story his way. We had to learn how to look at the Galaxy from his point of view and let go of some of what we considered canon after we found out the ideas were only EU." ~  Dave Filoni 2008

----

"This is Star Wars, and I don't make a distinction between [The Clone Wars] series and the films." ~ George Lucas, SciFiNow, October 2011

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"The TV series is exactly like the movies, exactly. I mean, you can see it in the clip. It’s basically just the movies only with cartoon characters. It’s basically a dramatic series, there’s a lot of action, a bit of humor." ~ George Lucas, 2008 Interview about the Clone Wars series.

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

One of the main characters in the feature film, a 90 minute introduction to the series that hits theaters August 15, is Anakin's teenage Padawan, Ahsoka. Lucas said:

   "[With Ahsoka] I wanted to develop a character who would help Anakin settle down. He's a wild child after [Attack of the Clones]. He and Obi Wan don't get along. So we wanted to look at how Anakin and Ahsoka become friends, partners, a team. When you become a parent or you become a teacher you have to become more respnsible. I wanted to force Anakin into that role of responsibility, into that juxtaposition. I have a couple of daughters so I have experience with that situation. I said instead of a guy let's make her a girl. Teenage girls are just as hard to deal with as teenage boys are."

~ George Lucas 2008

https://io9.gizmodo.com/george-lucas-spills-all-about-clone-wars-at-skywalker-r-5033398

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"I get all my information on the Clone Wars from him. [George Lucas]"

"I can pitch him ideas and say 'lets do certain things', but at the end of the say he will say 'yes' or he will say 'no', and than that is the way it's gonna go."

~ Dave Filoni, 2019

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"The importance of The Clone Wars that cannot be understated is that it was the last huge expansion of the Star Wars universe that came directly from George Lucas." ~ Pablo Hidalgo

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"Star Wars: The Clone Wars is the biggest education on how George Lucas saw his Universe. Over 44 hours of his storytelling compared to the 13 hours or so he spent in live action."

~ Pablo Hidalgo 2018 https://ibb.co/ryvk5K2

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DAVE FILONI: The First Time George Lucas Talked About Ahsoka https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VAjnLseHQwA

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"In discussions directly with George, he was very adamant about Jango not being Mandolorian, which is the entire reason that scene existed that moment. To have that specificity that Jango was not Mandolorian at least not to Mandolorians."

~ Dave Filoni, 2019 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H6p9sM7OLFk https://ibb.co/WgCGf1X https://ibb.co/Y2wLHd0

FROM THE FILONI FILES: In the season 2 episode of STAR WARS: THE CLONE WARS, Mandalorian prime minister Almec made the claim that Jango Fett is not a Mandalorian warrior. This info stunned many fans who always assumed he was pure Mando. Many claimed Almec was lying, others claimed it was a cover-up. This topic came up a few times during our conversations with Dave Filoni. In this compilation, Dave addresses the issue and sets the record straight.

https://ibb.co/x7j5BhK

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This of course resulted in massive retcons of the Expanded Universe version of Mandolorians. This wasn't on accident, this was intentional on Lucas part because he was pissed at some of the liberties and things people in the EU were saying that went against the agreement in allowed the EU to come into existance at all.

Seperate Universes. This wasn’t figurative, this was meant literally, and Lucas said it over and over. Plus he found out they were using the term  'canon' in reference to EU things, and that was a massive no no. Only his direct works were canon. This went against the agreement he made with Howard Roffman, who really didn't keep his side of the bargain officially. They were essentially lieing and being deceitful about the EU's standing. That whole Canon Tier, that wasn't a policy, that was the filing system Leland Chee used for the Holocron. It was only used by Lucas Licensing. It was all a big shame to make people think the EU had more standing in the SWs than it did by the legitimate agreement. Roffman was concerned that if people knew it was a separate universe and it wasn't canon that they would be less likely to spend their money on it because 'it didn't count'.

Roffman couldn't get Lucas to agree to it being one universe, he tried over and over again, but Lucas wasn't having it. This was behind closed doors at the time of course, Roffman comes clean about in a live broadcasted interview with a studio audience when taking questions.

They couldn't get Lucas to budge, and Lucas didn't really care about the retcons he might cause, and there was a lot of fighting over it. But, of course, Lucas was the boss and it was his final say. This had been ongoing thing, it wasn’t something happened overnight.

That's why you have accidental retcons of major story lines, opps... He says what is and isn't canon, no one else.  People weren’t following the guidelines he set, and he had been a pretty good sport about it overall. Again, this wasn’t overnight. It built up over time.

There’s some speculation about the specifics, but that there had been many angry words said, back and forth in the background. Roffman and Lucas apparently had a lot of loud conversations.

“So we would have very interesting skirmishes because we had a bunch of stuff that became to the fans pretty much canon [Head-canon] about what happened after Return of the Jedi, what different places in the galaxy were called, lots of different things and if he was proposing to do something in the prequels that contradicted that we would have long debates which usually ended at least after the first session with "I don't care this is what I'm doing", but after he 4th or 5th session sometimes "Alright 'maybe' we can change it this way."

~ Howard Roffman, 2017

[I’ll be sharing more very important quotes from that Interview with Howard Roffman soon.]

A great deal of the time, Lucas wouldn’t budge. The Mandolorian Storyline in The Clone Wars being one such example of that.

This resulted in Karen Traviss losing her mind over the Mandolorians Lucas made in canon, and she was saying she wouldn't go along with it because they were 'changing canon', which is totally untrue, but she made some public statements about it

"Please also be aware of one basic fact - all writers for a franchise have to follow official canon. You can't go off and do your own thing, or else the book won't get approved and printed. It's that simple. So please don't keep asking me to carry on in the old canon, because I'm just not allowed to."

Karen Traviss EU Author, 2009.

[This is what insanity looks like when you write it down. - Must follow canon, but wont let me carry on in the old Canon? Earth to Karen, please respond. The EU wasn’t canon!! ]

So Lucas shot back thru his head writer on the Clone Wars series, Henry Gilroy whom himself had been an EU author in the Clone Wars comics before being tapped for Canon Clone Wars series who responded, although not directly to her, but in response to her being unwilling to go on and leaving over it.

"It is unfortunate that [EU author Karen Traviss is] moving on because [of] her opinion that canon is being changed. I guess the big problem is the assumption that her work is canon in the first place.  After working with George on The Clone Wars series I know there are elements of her work that are not in line with his vision of Star Wars.."

~ Henry Gilroy, The Clone Wars series Head Writer/ EU Author [Comics] 2009

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

To Lucas, the entire Saga is about Anakin Skywalker/ Darth Vader, of course he was going to be heavily involved in the Clone Wars series, Anakin was one of the major reoccuring characters in it, that's Lucas pride and joy. But I digress....

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

“For me and my training here at Lucasfilm, working with George, he and I always thought the Expanded Universe was just that. It was an expanded universe. Basically it’s stories that are really fun and really exciting, but they’re a view on Star Wars, not necessarily canon to him. That was the way it was from the day I walked into Lucasfilm with him all through Clone Wars, everything we worked on, he felt the Clone Wars series and his movies were what was actually the reality of it all, the canon..."

~ Dave Filoni 2017

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"In the same interview, Dave Filoni said that George Lucas told him, that the movies and The Clone Wars television series, were the only thing Lucas considered canon." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Wars_expanded_to_other_media

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"That’s one of the biggest debates in Star Wars, what counts? *The idea of what is canon? When I talk to George I know that he considers his movies, this series and his live-action series canon." ~ Dave Filoni, SW:TCW 2008

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"I always think of the research you speak of as what I knew about the EU before I took this job. As I stated above, working directly with George changes the way you see the EU and everything in it."

~ Dave Filoni 2008

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What do you think about Star Wars: The Clone Wars not following the continuity established previously in books and comics for the timeline between Episodes II and III? Could all those events that are being unfolded ever be folded into a coherent timeline? Some time ago you started a podcast related to The Clone Wars, will there ever be new episodes?

"As far as continuity, I see The Clone Wars as being no different than the arrival of the prequels in 1999. We fans knew that those movies would be a representation of the true Star Wars universe as imagined by George Lucas, and in some cases, it would not perfectly match the stories told by Expanded Universe authors. So, we had to unlearn all we had learned about the Mon Calamari being discovered by the Empire, about Boba Fett being Jaster Mereel, and about the Republic having a standing military.

I think with each episode, we start to get a better understanding about what the real Star Wars universe is like."

Pablo Hidalgo 2010

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"There's this notion that everything changed when everything became Legends. And I can see why people think that. But, you know, having worked with George I can tell you that it was always very clear -- and he made it very clear -- that the films and the TV shows were the only things that he considered Canon. That was it.

"So everything else was a world of fun ideas, exciting characters, great possibilities, the EU was created to explore all those things. But from the filmmaking world I was brought into, the films and TV shows were it". ~ Dave Filoni speaking about working with George Lucas

This is the actual video of when Dave Filoni said the above quotes during an interview on 'The Star Wars show' [41.40 mark] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hcNXPNXOv2A&t=16s

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"What George did with the films and The Clone Wars was pretty much *his universe ,” Chee said. “He didn’t really have that much concern for what we were doing in the books and games. So the Expanded Universe was very much separate." ~ Leland Chee, 2017 - SYFY WIRE

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“Lucas’ canon – and when I say ‘his canon’, I’m talking about what he was doing in the films and what he was doing in The Clone Wars  – was hugely important. But what we were doing in the books really wasn’t on his radar.”

–Leland Chee, 2018

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Pablo Hidalgo on Lucas and the EU being separate Universes. https://i.redd.it/3fpbkocr43q01.png "He [Lucas] only considers his movies and TV projects as his universe, and told the Clone Wars writers to only worry about those."

[That really says it all.]

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“The most definitive canon of the Star Wars universe is encompassed by the feature films and television productions in which George Lucas is directly involved. The movies and the Clone Wars television series are what he and his handpicked writers reference when adding cinematic adventures to the Star Wars oeuvre. But Lucas allows for an Expanded Universe that exists parallel to the one he directly oversees. […] Though these [Expanded Universe] stories may get his stamp of approval, they don’t enter his canon unless they are depicted cinematically in one of his projects.”

   -Pablo Hidalgo, Star Wars: The Essential Reader’s Companion, October 2nd, 2012

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"Canon is only what's on the screen. - Episodes I-VI, TCW and what's to come." Pablo Hidalgo, 2013 - https://ibb.co/S0fYM7q

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“Working on ‘Clone Wars,’ it was always canon.” ~ Dave Filoni

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[Orginal commentor] - "Some facebook site just posted a "Bring back GeorgeLucas" petition....wrong on so many levels. With Ep. lll & TCW he went out ona high."

[Pablo Hidalgo]   "Why would he ever come back to these folks? All that love and goodwill from the internet.=]"

[Second commentator] - "I remember the EU fans in the early-mid 00's trashed George endlessly, and now they act like he's their savior."

[Pablo Hidalgo] - *"And yet we are following his model of regarding the EU vs. his canon. Weird."

[Second commentator] - "Well they get the false impression that George was a big EU fan and stood by it."

[Pablo Hidalgo] - "Where do they get this stuff? =] It's like his last 3 movies and six seasons of TCW didn't happen!"

https://ibb.co/Q9GXSbd

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Q: Hi Mr Chee! I’ve got a question about continuity – are all the various different media of Star Wars (the films, TCW, the video games, the EU) intended to form a single universe, or is the EU intended as a parallel, alternate universe (like, for example, the different continuities between the various Batman comics and films)? I realise that fans tend to each have their own personal preferences, but I was wondering what the official Lucasfilm company policy regarding this was? Many thanks!

"The dual universe question comes up often. I know George Lucas has mentioned it being two universes, but that’s not how I see it. His vision is definitely not beholden to ours, but ours is definitely beholden to his."

Leland Chee 2012

[Nabbed!!! He was still talking his 'singular universe' garbage the week before heh]

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“Star Wars continuity, even EU continuity, does not rest on my shoulders. Our licensees submit product directly to either our editors or our product development managers. The Holocron serves as a tool for them to check any issues regarding continuity, and after that, if the editors or developers have any questions, they pass it along to me to check for continuity. At the same time, I am constantly on the lookout to make sure that any new continuity being created gets entered in the Holocron. With regard to the the films and The Clone Wars, I am not involved in continuity approvals though I have often been asked to provide reference material.”

~ Leland Chee

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"..at the end of the day there is a difference between what you see in the Star Wars films and TV series and what you see in those books." ~ Dave Filoni 2012

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These are pretty much all about the Clone Wars series, and him working with Lucas on it.

DAVE FILONI: George Lucas's Origin of "Mandalore" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4yCjKTHjE0I&t=270s

DAVE FILONI: Is Jango Fett A Mandalorian? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fPw08Bimr0Y&t=80s

DAVE FILONI: Working with George Lucas on The Clone Wars https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qaq8jRVtfnQ

DAVE FILONI: Incorporating Mandalorians Into The Clone Wars https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=whHJc3jX2AE

DAVE FILONI: Learning Star Wars from Lucas https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zG_yLWLdDdQ

[This one is interesting, *if I remember it correctly* in this one he tells the story of how he and Henry Gilroy and Lucas were speaking and Lucas was telling them how things work and he told them that "He was teaching them how to make Star Wars for when he was gone".]

DAVE FILONI: Ahsoka vs Vader Duel Breakdown https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=196kd-UvGEM

DAVE FILONI: Growing Up With Star Wars https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xB0tMecj51s

Dave Filoni on Ashoka vs Vader and Midi-Chlorians - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rBKQfbN7Vaw

These are just some of them, there are alot more and even in ones where it doesn't specifically site Lucas in the title, he comes up in all of them at certain points and talks about working with Lucas on the Clone Wars, so if your interested in this subject, it really pays to listem to all of them, they're facisinating insights and you learn so much about so many things both in story and out of story, some really good stuff.

They're call ins for Rebel Force Radio, They interview Filoni constantly, theres a ton of of them on Youtube. This should get you started and than you can go from there on your own if you were interested and hearing more. Really good stuff.

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There’s a lot more, but I think this should serve as a good example of just how pervasive Lucas’ direct involvement in the Clone Wars series was.

Lucas loved it. He saw it exactly like the movies in terms of importance.

[lifeisdabubbles-undersalmondean]

La Pomme ~ Chapter 12

Pairing: Sam x OC (eventual Dean x OC and Dean x Castiel. And I mean eventual.)

Series summary: George is a casual French-Mistake-universe Supernatural fan living in no-COVID 2020, who's life is upended when she's suddenly launched between realities, two years into the boys' past (S13E22). What begins as an insane, immersive fan experience turns into more when Jack goes missing and George offers up her AU information to help track him down. Soon it's discovered that she and Sam may actually have history. But that's impossible, right?

Word Count: 5,500

Warnings: {smut, fluff, angst, show level violence, swearing, mentions of suicide} ***Detailed warnings will be tagged for specific chapters.

A/N: Following the events of my prequel Paradise and second story From My Eyes Off. Reading those first gives context but isn’t necessary to start this one.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

George was lounging in the warm bath water, trying to use breathing exercises to clear her mind and calm herself. It had been a long day, capping off a long almost-month inside the Supernatural Universe. There were so many questions she couldn't answer and she wished she could turn her brain off; focus on anything else.

"George?" She heard Dean's muffled call from the other side of the bathroom door. "You OK in there?"

"Yea," She answered quietly. "Just humiliated," She added with an eye roll.

"Don't sweat it," Came his unusually sympathetic reply. "We've all been there, or somewhere similar… or somewhere worse," He added off handedly, taking another bite of pie. It occurred to him suddenly that the two of them were alone and Dean had a thought. After a moment's hesitation, he swallowed his bite of pie and called timidly, "George?"

"Yea?" She responded curiously, her voice raised slightly to compensate for the sound barrier. There was such a long pause with no answer that she wondered if it had just been her imagination. As she was about to call out again, she heard him finally.

"Can I ask you something?" Came an inquiry so quiet she almost didn't hear it. He sounded uncharacteristically troubled and… nervous?

"Yea, sure," She answered gently.

"What do you know about Michael?"

"Michael who?" Came her quick, confused reply.

"The archangel? Asshole that's been wearing me as a suit the last few weeks?" She was suddenly reminded of the fact that she was living inside of a TV show and it stunned her into silence. "That Michael? Has he not been on the show or...?" The nervous huff in his reply shook her out of her stupor. She realized this must be a hard topic for him. Unfortunately, though, she didn't have any insight to give.

"Oh fuck, right, Michael," She swallowed and gathered her thoughts before replying with a sigh, "I'm sorry, Dean, I don't really know much. I hadn't started this season yet," She finished apologetically.

"Thanks," Came a sarcastic reply.

She frowned and defended, "Look, I have a life, dude! I get behind, I can't always tune in every Thursday! Trust me, no one is more sorry about that than me right now. Maybe if I had, I could have done something to prevent this insane situation." A heavy sigh dotted the end of her sentence pointedly. Then she had a strange, disconcerting thought:

Would you really have prevented this from happening if you had a choice?

The thought startled her and she guiltily refused to answer herself.

A welcome distraction for her was noticing the silence that followed her answer to Dean; George could tell he was still concerned. Reaching over and grabbing the door handle, she cracked it just enough to spy Dean sitting on the edge of the mattress, holding a take out box. He glanced at her almost imperceptibly and she could tell her eyes weren't exactly welcome, so she turned her head away but left the door open.

"Here's what I've heard/seen on accident," She started, pausing to think and then saying carefully, "He comes back somehow," She heard him bristle but kept going, "And you do something to trap him. Some kind of box… or maybe a walk-in freezer?" She was trying to organize the spoilers she'd seen and identify what was related to Michael and what wasn't. "I know that doesn't make a lot of sense and I'm sorry, but that's all I've got."

Dean sighed and shrugged, "It's alright, George. I'm just… feeling lost. Was hoping for some clues, but it's not on you to save my bacon." George gave a wry smile to the bath water and sat quietly for a moment.

Finally she turned her head to look at him and asked, "You want to know what I do know, Dean?"

Slowly, he turned to look at her with an intrigued eyebrow, "I don't know, do I?"

With an amused eye roll she spoke, "I know this--right now--this story line with alternate Michael? It's two seasons behind where you and your brother end up in my reality. And--at least as far as I remember--this alternate Michael isn't a starring role for very long."

Dean furrowed his eyebrows at her in consideration, "Meaning?"

She shrugged and offered, "Meaning, you figure this out. Like you always do. You will figure this out and you will beat Michael and be onto the next big bad, whomever that is. Which, don't even ask because I really have no idea. Haven't watched those seasons at all yet… I think there's one episode where you meet Scooby Doo?"

Dean smirked and rolled his eyes, telling her matter-of-factly, "We already did that."

"No shit?! That already happened?" When he nodded in confirmation George 'ughed' loudly, rolling her eyes, "Damnit, that must have been one of the ones I just watched. What was it like?! Was Shaggy really high? Was Daphne really hot? Was Scooby just adorable?!"

Dean chuckled and answered, "Uh, yes, hell yes, and duh! It's Scooby Doo! Of course he's adorable!"

"Was it weird to be animated?"

He shrugged a little, "Eh, kin-"

She cut him off with a gasp, "Wait! Was all of you animated, like.. did you have all your-"

He shook his head and proclaimed, "That's none of your business!"

"Sorry!" George apologized defensively, then begged, "Tell me you and Daphne-"

"George!" Dean admonished with feigned offense, "I don't kiss and tell."

She scoffed and guessed, "Struck out, huh?"

Dean frowned and simply said, "Her and Fred are an item. I didn't want to break that up," to which George laughed in disbelief.

"Yea, I got it. I think things are starting to come back to me now," George teased him and he shrugged in defeat, unable to deny the fact that he definitely struck out with Daphne. When her laughter died away, she looked at him again and said, "I'm sorry I can't be more of a help. I know, I know, it's not my job to save you but that doesn't mean I enjoy not being able to." They were quiet again for a minute and she sighed, "If I could just call Ryan."

"Who's he?"

"She is my Winchester Wiki," She explained very matter of factly and Dean stared at her with an annoyed expression. With a smile she continued, "She's my friend and she's also a fan of the show; Got me back into it later in life and, well lets just say, she pays closer attention than I do. She'd be able to help you with this whole Michael problem without breaking a sweat. Oh and she's gorgeous," George tossed on and Dean raised a curious eyebrow. She caught his curious expression and asked, "You don't happen to have a phone with trans-universal long distance coverage by chance?"

Dean snorted and shook his head in bemused defeat, "Not on me." He was frustrated that she didn't have more insight on Michael, though somewhat comforted by the fact that-at least in her reality-he wasn't dead yet. That was something, he guessed.

"So," George smirked at him, glee in her eyes, "American's Next Top Model, hmm?"

"What, are you surprised? A house full of attractive models?" Dean gave her an obvious expression.

She shark-mouthed understandably and nodded, "Fair point. Allison cycle 12? Ooof. Hello!"

Dean considered her assessment for a moment, then nodded agreeably but offered, "Mercedes, cycle 2."

George had to remember who that was for a minute but then nodded emphatically, "Yes! Gorgeous and she was good. She ended up top three, right?"

They compared notes for a few minutes, until he finished the last bite of pie in the container he was holding. Then he whipped out his phone and muttered in her direction, "Finish your bath. I'm gonna text Sam for more towels."

When Sam got the text he snagged a pile from a housekeeping cart on their way back to George's room. They had also stopped by the car and brought up a few bags, per his request. Dean carefully handed George the towels through the bathroom door, so as to not accidentally see any bits, and then turned to Sam for a room update.

"Bad news: no adjoining rooms. The best I could do was five doors down. Even more bad news: only one queen bed." Sam held up the room key with a feigned wince. "But listen, I don't think we should leave George alone, so I'll just crash on the floor in here and you can take the room."

"Wow, what a sacrifice," Dean chuckled knowingly at his brother and snatched the key from him. "Shouldn't we have Cas handle it, though?"

"No, why?" Sam protested a little too fast.

"Because he doesn't need sleep. He can keep an eye on the little deserter. Make sure she doesn't do it again?"

Sam frowned, "She's not going to. And if she does, I think I can handle it. How is she supposed to get any sleep with Cas staring at her all night?"

"I don't stare at people when they sleep," Cas interrupted. With a huff he clarified, "I stare at the wall."

Dean looked at the offended angel and shrugged, "It's not that bad. He's quiet. Honestly, it's kind of comforting when you think about it." There was an awkward pause and Dean added, "Sometimes he'll sing for you if you ask nice-"

"Dean," Castiel admonished him for sharing something so intimate. Cas only did that for him.

Sam looked between the two of their sheepish faces and then assured sarcastically, "Yea, a singing angel staring at the wall in the dark. Totally not creepy."

George came out of the bathroom wrapped in the clean towels from Dean. She was now looking a little sheepish as well, "Hey, sorry about earlier. All of it. I jus-"

"Ah, ah, ah!" Dean held up a hand to her. "Save it for the morning. You can spill your guts over breakfast. We couldn't get adjoining rooms, so Cas and I will be just down the hall; Sam will stay with you tonight. On the floor," He said pointedly with a 'behave' look toward Sam, who rolled his eyes in irritation. George nodded, barely listening, and let out a tired sigh.

Then she had a startling thought and groaned, "Shit. I'm going to have to put those crusty clothes back on."

Dean grinned proudly, "You're not the only one with surprise gifts." He took the bags that Sam and Cas had retrieved from the car and set them down on the wooden table.

"What's this?" She asked, grabbing one of the handles and peeking into the bag where she spotted the Friends logo hoodie she'd picked out at Target. "My clothes? My deodorant?! Oh Dean! Thank you so much! I would kiss you but you have pie like… all over your face, but thank you!" As she dug into the bags to search for the PJs, Dean looked questioningly at Sam and Cas who nodded in confirmation.

"Why didn't you say anything?" Dean grumbled, moving over to the sink to wipe his face. Sam shrugged in feigned innocence, laughing internally at his idiot brother.

"How did you get all the clothes I picked?" She asked, impressed.

"We got lucky; Sam happened to hear one of the employees complaining about a nutty woman who'd run from the store like a bat outta hell and abandoned all her stuff," Dean gave her a pointed stare.

She looked first at Sam, and then Cas and Dean, with immense gratitude, "Thank you, thank you, thank you!" Her spirits had been lifted a little. The fresh underwear alone was going to make her feel a thousand times better.

"They mentioned they'd already put back one or two items when we asked about it, so hopefully we got the right replacements." Sam warned her.

"I don't care! I can apply deodorant and brush my teeth; I'm sure I can put together at least one clean outfit with what's here! So I'm hap-" She suddenly stopped and froze, having discovered a strange item in one of the bags. "Wha?" In one swift motion she pulled out a pale pink lace bodysuit and held it up for them to see. With an annoyed, yet curious expression she looked at Dean and asked, "Someone care to explain this?"

Dean held his hands up in innocence and Sam inspected the garment in confusion.

"It looked nice on the mannequin and the Target associate who helped me pick it out said it was bold, yet feminine. Perfect for the new woman in my life," Castiel happily explained, sounding as though he was reciting someone else's words.

George blushed a bit, looking at Sam and Dean like 'is he for real?', unsure how to respond. Both men shrugged unhelpfully, avoiding eye contact with the item she was still holding, and remained quiet. Cas seemed so proud, she didn't want to ruin it.

Finally, she stuttered out, "Wow. OK, well… thanks. Very thoughtful of you, Castiel…"

"If you wanted to provide me with your exact measurements, the sales associate offered to help me pick out a 'matching bra and panty se'-"

"OK, why don't we quit while we're ahead, eh Buddy?" Dean grabbed up four of the remaining takeout boxes and motioned for Cas to do the same. He then reached for the pink, lacey material in George's hand, jokingly trying to take it from her.

She swatted him with it and held it out of his reach, "Hey! You're the old woman in his life."

He couldn't help but laugh in response, though he shook his head in annoyance, and then headed out the door with the angel in tow, "See you crazy kids in the morning!"

When they left George looked at Sam curiously, "Is it wrong that I kind of want to give Cas 'my measurements' and then watch him try to pick out lingerie?"

Sam smirked in amusement but nodded, "Yes."

"Oh, you're no fun," George chuckled and tossed the teddy back into the bag.

"Perhaps the wrong audience?" He suggested with a chuckle.

"Yea, that's fair," She agreed. While she rifled through the bags and grabbed out some black PJ pants, a light blue, short sleeved t-shirt, and a pair of underwear, Sam watched her quietly. To say he was relieved to find her safe and unharmed was an understatement. He'd also been thrilled by her admission that she liked it here, but, like Cas, he was curious what it meant. And what it could mean for him.

Does she like it enough to stay maybe? He cursed at himself for even thinking it.

"Uh, George?" He finally pushed through the nerves and forced himself to speak.

"Hmm?" She responded curiously, not looking up from her bags just yet.

He tried to adopt a nonchalant, yet comforting tone and asked, "When you were saying earlier that you felt… comfortable here? Like you belong? What did you mean?"

Pausing her rummaging, she glanced over at him, caught off guard by the question. Truthfully, she didn't know if she could answer it. She was quiet for a long time, trying to decide how deep she wanted to get into this.

Finally, she turned to him and said, "Back home I… I've always had this strange, out of place feeling. Major dysphoria my whole life and kinda irritatingly painful too, like... full body restless leg syndrome. I've always imagined it similar to how a trans individual might experience feeling like they were born in the wrong body, ya know?" Sam made a noise of confirmation and she continued, "Except, my body is fine--well, it's not the cause of this problem anyway," they chuckled together.

"It's more… my whole being was wrong somehow, like I didn't belong. Anywhere. I had trouble connecting with people and making friends; even my own family seemed so different from me. I felt like I was on a different wavelength than other people, and not in a snooty, I'm-better-than-anybody way but like a sad, I-have-hardly-any-friends-because-I-can't-relate way, so it sucked. Hard. My family wasn't much help; though they tried to help by testing me for every 'disorder' you could think of. Nada. I was just… inexplicably different and no one could explain why. I could barely explain what I was feeling. They--my parents--were surprisingly relieved when I came out after college. For them, my 'struggle with the fact that I liked boys and girls throughout my childhood' explained everything away so perfectly, that they wrote it off right then and there. But it never had to do with that; my sexuality was nothing I ever struggled with, I just didn't feel like I needed to tell them. And since I'm still queer in this reality..." She trailed off her point, allowing him to fill in the blanks, with a chuckle.

Sam nodded with a sympathetic smile, clearly reading on her face how painful her experience had been. Gently he asked, "And now, being here, i-in this reality, you feel...?"

Her head tilted to the side and, looking at him wide-eyed, she sighed deeply, "Now? God, now, I feel… normal? Or, at least what I can only assume normal people feel like." Suddenly her voice was heavy with deep emotional relief, "I don't know how to explain it… and I don't know why, maybe I don't even care why, but I feel so good for the first time in forever. Emotionally, spiritually, physically... The constant restless buzzing is mercifully just gone. Sometimes I think I feel it again--that terrible, agonizing discomfort--and my heart skips a beat. But then my brain registers that it really is gone and I still feel good! And that feeling is almost better than the best sex I've ever had."

Sam shark-mouthed in surprised appreciation and teased kindly, "So, I guess you did know how to explain it?"

George let out the breath she hadn't realized she was holding with a chuckle and nodded, "Yea, I guess so. Honestly, I'm a little scared to go back," A few tears that had welled up as she was proselytizing spilled down her cheeks uncontrollably and she reached up to wipe them away, blushing lightly.

As George contemplated her admission in the silence, the guilt she felt over leaving them earlier was back. Why the hell did she leave if she'd felt so damn good here? She also felt like a stupid, impulsive child running away from the only people who seemed to care about her, at least insofar as they didn't want her to die. She felt especially guilty that Sam had stuck his neck out for her with Dean and she'd basically stomped on it.

Sam stood awkwardly, watching her with an empathetic grimace. He nearly leapt over to comfort her but… Christ, was this situation complicated. Maybe if things were different, maybe if she wasn't safer in her old reality, maybe if they hadn't handcuffed her to a chair and interrogated her, maybe if she hadn't spent the last few hours crying through an existential crisis, maybe if he wasn't terrified she would push him away in disgust? Maybe if she wasn't practically naked right now... maybe then he wouldn't feel so torn about walking over and wrapping her up into a bear hug.

After a moment of nervously wringing her fingers, George met his eyes and took a deep breath, apologizing, "I'm sorry I ran, Sam. I don't even really know why I-"

"Hey, you don't have to explain anything to me," Sam shook his head definitively, taking a few small steps toward her, now within arms reach. "I understand what you're going through-sort of, and you know, in reverse but still-I get it. Don't worry about it," He reached over and took her hand, squeezing it, "I'm just happy I found you."

At his touch, her heart skipped a beat and she felt her whole body flush, goosebumps forming on her skin. The sincerity in his voice and the look in his eyes nearly made her physically swoon. Was that an admission of something or just a subtextless statement of forgiveness? Staring into his eyes made her feel like she was on the downswing of the world's tallest roller coaster. She had to force herself to break eye contact before she could breathe again. He squeezed her hand once more before slowly letting go and as he did she had a realization.

"Thank you." Mustering up a smile through her butterflies, she clumsily grabbed the clothing she needed. "Anyway, I'm suddenly very, very aware of the fact that I'm naked-oh and have been since the three of you got here," She realized, blushing again. Jesus, I took a bath with Dean Winchester in the next room. Her legs felt like jelly as she tried to remain cool, calm, collect, walking toward the bathroom, "Uh, so, I should probably go put some clothes on, now."

Sam nodded understandingly and said with an earnest expression, "Hopefully not on my account." When George froze mid step and jerked her head towards him, burning red from head to toe, he faltered, "Er-uh-I just meant, you don't need to feel uncomfortable naaak-err-without-I mean you aren't making me uncomfortable while-without… clothes." George was relaxed by his shy, adorable stuttering, although at this point 'shy' surprised her. He'd been just as bold back at the bunker, more than once. He sighed and gave her a meek smile, "Uh, somehow this sounded less creepy in my head."

With a chuckle she put him out of his misery, "Relax, Ravenclaw, I understand. It's not on your account, it's on mine," She assured him, to which he nodded thankfully, a relieved expression on his face. She turned back to the door of the bathroom, pushing it open and stepping in.

When she exited the bathroom again, now fully clothed, the only light in the room was now the small, soft light above the bed. At first, the room seemed empty and George wondered if she'd scared Sam away with all her emotions. She was about to call out for him when she finally noticed a pair of big old feet sticking out from along the side of the bed near the window.

"Sam? What are you doing?" She walked over and found him lying on the ground on top of one solitary blanket.

"Just relaxing." He shrugged boyishly.

"On the floor?"

He clarified, "On my bed."

"Sorry, this tissue paper is supposed to be your bed?" She asked for clarification.

"Standard issue motel comforter. And, yea, it's perfect," He reached down on his side and pulled the right side of the blanket over himself. "See, you just fold the top over and it becomes a mattress and a blanket in one!" He seemed genuinely pleased about his makeshift accommodations, as though he was sharing a trade secret with her.

"Wow," she tried to sound impressed, "clever." She hopped onto the bed above him complimenting a bit sarcastically, "Quite the boy scout, aren't you?"

His head jerked up to look at her. There it was again. Another line direct from his dream falling familiarly from her lips. Hearing the pet name conjured images in his mind of the dream woman saying it. It felt identical.

But, how? That dream wasn't real. It was just Gabriel. George is a different woman, it's just a coin-

"Hey, can I ask you something?" George cut into his internal panicking with a soft voice suddenly.

"Yep?" He tried to seem nonchalant.

"Well… OK, I'm just going to say this because fuck it, I have nothing to lose at this point," She wasn't looking at him but sensed his nervous curiosity right away. Ignoring her own butterflies, she said, "Seems to me that the Sam I met at the bunker would have committed to that earlier 'unintended' innuendo." She raised a sideways brow at him, checking out of the corner of her eye to make sure he understood what she was referencing. When she could tell he did, she finally turned her head to meet his eyes and with a shy smile asked, "So, what gives?"

Sam considered her question for a minute; he wasn't sure where to start. Finally he folded his hands in his lap and shrugged sadly, "Actually, uh-about that, I feel like I owe you an apology."

Oooh, that doesn't sound good, George tried to hide her grimace. Her stomach started twisting in painful knots. What's that you were saying about nothing to lose?

"Por que?" She was trying to stave off a cold sweat.

"For… Well, I guess, how about handcuffing you to a chair and interrogating you for starters? For allowing you to be sexually assaulted by a demon? For letting you risk your life to come with us on this hunt? For hitting on you when you were obviously going through a difficult time? Take your pick."

She let out a breath of surprised relief and smiled curiously, "Oh… well in that case, let me just say: one, your brother was the one who handcuffed me to the chair--and it was understandable. Two, it's not your responsibility to protect me from the likes of Tim. He wasn't the first creep and he won't be the last." He seemed thoroughly unsatisfied by that response, so she tried to lighten it up by continuing, "And three, you didn't let me come on the hunt. Clearly I strong armed you." A tiny snort of amusement emitted from him and she smirked, then added curiously, "And, lastly, just to be clear… you were hitting on me?"

He huffed in humiliation, running his hand over his face, unable to look at her, "God, I feel like a real jackass." A blackhole was growing in the pit of his stomach. "Your world was literally turned upside down and you needed help not--not some weird, bunker dwelling asshole making advances."

"Uh, Sam," At first George laughed; the absurdity of the hottest man on television apologizing for hitting on her struck her funny bone. However, when it registered just how sober the tone of his voice was, the reality of the situation hit her again like a ton of bricks. She realized that part of her was still anticipating Jared to break at some point and reveal all of this had been an elaborate set up. It hadn't occurred to her yet that, for Sam, this was all real. His sincerity touched her.

She swallowed down the rest of her laughter, along with her typical smartass response, and smiled kindly, "Thank you for the apology and I appreciate the thought, I really do, but it's not necessary. You had no idea, considering I lied to you--which I'm also sorry about if I haven't already said that." That last part came out quickly upon realizing she might not have apologized yet. He gave her a kind smile and waved her off gently, so she continued, "So, please don't feel guilty. And I'll let you know if your advances are ever unwanted. Promise."

The deja vu hit him again so hard it knocked the wind out of him. His eyes snapped up to meet hers from his spot on the floor. A blush creeped across her cheeks as he stared curiously. She was back on the roller coaster, butterflies tumbling in her gut, but forced herself to keep eye contact, allowing him to conduct his search. She wasn't sure what he was so determinedly looking for but she hoped he was finding it.

A mix of emotions wrestled within him at the moment. Though he knew logically it made no sense, he was having a harder and harder time denying that he knew this woman, intimately--in every sense of the word. But, how?! And, holy shit, was she saying what he hoped she was saying? He could feel his hopes skyrocketing while he struggled to hold them down in self-preservation.

A huge yawn broke out on her face, ruining the moment and snapping Sam out of his stupor.

"Whoa, Jesus," She laughed a bit, surprised by the force of the yawn.

"Time for bed?" Sam tried to mask his disappointment at the disruption. She nodded agreeably.

"Listen, could you at least take a pillow, please? One pillow? For me?" Pulling the sheets back, so she could climb in, she yanked a pillow out and tossed it over the edge of the bed. She heard it land with an audible POOMPF right on his face. "Oops," she said with a snicker, reaching over to turn off the lamp on the table while he adjusted the pillow behind his head.

Sliding up under the covers, she settled down on her back. The deafening silence in the room allowed her mind to wander freely while she stared up at the ceiling. After a moment she rolled onto her side and peeked over the edge of the bed, surprised to find Sam's beautiful hazel eyes staring intensely back at her in the dark.

She whispered, "Sam?"

"Yeah?" Came a soft, low rumble, as he continued to stare back.

"How did you find me?" She wondered.

"Uh…" He turned away from her quickly and shifted nervously. He felt compelled to be honest with her; luckily the shroud of darkness made him bolder than he would have been in the harsh light of day. "We tracked you through the cab company mostly. Lost your trail at the diner and then… I'm not really sure. We were driving around and when I saw the sign for the motel I… uh, just had a strong feeling that you were here?"

"...uh huh." His answer surprised her. So much so, that she had to break eye contact and lay back down. She stared at the ceiling in shock.

What did that mean?

Though even as she asked herself the question, she had a feeling that she already knew. It was a feeling that didn't exactly put her at ease; raising more questions than it answered. She mulled it over for a few moments, before deciding she was too tired to pull at that thread.

She finally shrugged a little and said, "Good instincts?"

"Yeah… that must be it," He trailed off, having a nearly identical conversation with himself, and they fell silent again.

"Sam?" She said, choking back a nervous laughter. When she heard him respond with a curious grunt she hesitated. Finally, she blurted in a quiet, definitive whisper, "Samgirl. No question." When she could hear the smile behind another, practically silent--as though he was trying to hide it--grunt of confirmation she smiled wide, adding quickly, "And just so you know, that is the first and last time you will ever hear me utter that silly term of my own volition."

"Understood," He murmured in a teasingly serious tone, making her laugh quietly.

With another big yawn, she forced herself to stop engaging. Before rolling over, she tossed over her shoulder, "And don't tell Dean. He'll be devastated and we have a job to do." The sound of his joyful chuckling was the last thing she heard before sleep overtook her.

[roguepythia]

Meta: Characterizations to Cling to

rose-for-dead-alice replied to your post “Honestly though, I was a hardcore Spuffy shipper. S6 wrecked our shit...”

                       Honestly yeah as much as I kind of hate the loss of a potential canon gay romance on a hit TV show....At least it isn't like what Buffy did with that attempted rape scene, Buffy got way too sexual and I always felt so violated by that part of the show.                    

So many people felt the same! And “violated” is the perfect word choice too. It’s exactly how the entire fandom felt.

Putting this under a read more as I meta about Spuffy and Nygmobblepot characterizations, world-breaking, and fandom/show relationships. It’s a long one people, grab a snack first. 

BtVS S6 just got so dark, dealing with themes like self-hate and using sex as self-punishment. They had spent the entire season completely objectifying Spike and turning him into basically a giant sex toy. And made it seem all “a-okay” to do cause he’d had his own sex toy for awhile in the Buffybot. Plus, Buffy was the “hero” so she “couldn’t” do any wrong. It was all Spike’s fault that he was willing to put up with it. Either because he loved her so much he was willing to take on her pain or he was a monster that couldn’t tell the difference between love and self-hate therefore didn’t think she was doing anything wrong. Considering his keen ability to see through the bullshit my take was the first. He knew she was hurting and wanted to take that pain from her, if he got his leg over in the process so much the better for him.

And then they pulled the rug out from under us when all of sudden he attacks her. They completely ignore all of their world-building to make him out to be the bad guy that can’t see where the line is, when she’s been crossing it all season. Even though at his most evil self he had limits. And then it’s been proven that Buffy is 10x more powerful than Spike but because she got a little banged up earlier that night, all of a sudden he can overpower her? It was also so completely out of character for both of them. Buffy the “hit first, ask questions later” Slayer begging Spike “Love’s Bitch” to stop rather than just kicking him through the wall. Which she can do as she’s a Slayer. Which leads me to my next point.

The audience reaction. They didn’t make this show in a vacuum. There was an audience and a large fanbase. As a college-aged young woman watching this show, I identified with Buffy. She was for my generation what Wonder Woman is now to this one. We looked up to her. She fought the good fight. She stood up to right the wrongs of the “demons” that tried to take her power. She was a metaphor for girls to say to themselves, “I matter. I have power. I have a voice!” So of course when she gets attacked like that, by someone who claims to love her, we all feel attacked as well.

And the Spike fans were doubly betrayed. We identified with Buffy and Spike. The Heroine and the Outsider. They had been such a powerful team and Spike was on his redemption journey already. He spent the entire summer being The Protector to her younger sister and asked for nothing in return except for someone to buy him Wheetabix every once in awhile. Yes, he was still a demon but he was fighting his nature to be something better than himself. Even without a soul he was still trying. That character development was completely destroyed in one scene. The only way to reconcile what happened was to headcanon that even Spike was so appalled by his own behavior that he sought his soul. He basically said, “THIS ISN’T WHO I AM! Screw this, I’m outta here.” Which as noted by the below, might have been their plan.

The following quotes are from the wiki page on this ep and very enlightening as apparently the scene was shot in such a way as to evoke sympathy for Spike....while he was attempting to rape Buffy. Let that sink in.

In the DVD commentary, James Marsters said that filming the scene in which Spike attempts to rape Buffy was one of the hardest he ever had to do. He has since said that he will never do such a scene again. That scene has also generated controversy between fans and the writers,[2] but writer Jane Espenson says that moment was necessary to set up a powerful motivation for Spike's quest to gain a soul.[3] As James Marsters points out, "How do you motivate him [to] make a mistake that’s so heart-rending that he’d be willing to do that?"[4]

Marsters would later say in 2012 that he understood the idea to have come from "a female writer, [who] had a situation in her life where she was and her boyfriend were breaking up and she decided if she just made love to him one more time, that they wouldn't break up. She ended up trying to force herself on him and decided to write about that. The thing is, if you flip it and make it a man forcing himself on a woman, I believe it becomes a whole different thing... I'm not really sure it expressed what the author was intending and on that score it was not successful." [5]

In her essay on sex and violence in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Gwyn Symonds calls the scene itself "technically and emotionally intricate" in that, unlike most depictions of attempted rape, it "encourages a complex audience engagement with both... the perpetrator and the victim."[6] The action was "very carefully choreographed" according to James Marsters,[4] with the camera alternating between close-ups of Buffy and Spike separately to reinforce the audience's shifting empathy with both Buffy and Spike.[6] Writer Rebecca Rand Kirshner agrees that the viewer "could feel how [Spike's] very innards were twisted into this perversion of what he wanted," and she found that experiencing the scene from his perspective was additionally disturbing.[7]

The above makes it clear that the most egregious crime of that scene was against the fans. Not only was it bad decision making on several levels to portray an attacker as a victim but to also believe that you can swap genders in such a scene without a problem. But the most obscene aspect of all, is the world-breaking. In the Buffyverse, Spike is a Demon. Buffy is a Slayer. They are NOT HUMAN. They don’t live by human rules. But the fans are human and we do live in a sometimes ugly, cruel world. By making these supernatural creatures act within human boundaries, the analogies were broken. It was no longer a metaphor. This brought a show that wasn’t just steeped in supernatural elements but solidly based in them, kicking and screaming into the “real world”.

The fandom reacted. All of a sudden fans were labeled “rape apologists” or had to relive the most harrowing moments of their lives to explain how deeply the show had hurt them. Sometimes both. I don’t think the show or the fandom ever recovered. It was a breech of trust that the show writers could never mend.

Even now as writers for the show head other projects, BtVS fans know who they are and what they’ve done. When I found out  Steven S. DeKnight was taking over directing duties for Del Toro on Pacific Rim 2, I wanted to barf. Now the story I love about all of humanity coming together to fight a common foe; full of love and pathos, resolute in its determination to never give up, to go down swinging, to stand up and maybe even pay the ultimate sacrifice to protect those that cannot..... “Today we are cancelling the apocalypse!“ Now it’s in his hands. It’s now going to take a dark and twisted turn full of some type of self loathing and hatred, I’m sure of it. Ug. Fifteen years later and I’m still so appalled at how all this went down.

And if anyone is still reading this long essay at this point, (you get a virtual cookie) but I guess you’re wondering how this all relates to Nygmobblepot. Well, my main point of contention about the above is that they took the characters out of their world. They took supernatural creatures and made them act as if they were human. It wasn’t just that it was OOC for both characters, it wasn’t BtVS either.

The Nygmobblepot and Gotham fandoms are “alive”. Our feelings about the show, the characters, and the fandom itself shift with each new piece of content we receive. And unfortunately, we receive this content in a lot more ways now.  

When BtVS was around, we didn’t have “social media”. Facebook didn’t even exist until one year after BtVS concluded. There wasn’t a twitter page dangling our ship in front of us with colored hearts and cute images or coy phrases. There was an on-line presence, yes, but fans only really interacted with fans and fansites. We didn’t have a direct line to the creators and/or actors on the show on a daily basis like we do now. And maybe we were better off? It is a double edged sword. We can now make our voices heard so much easier but then we are subjected to constant pandering to get “all eyes focused here!!” so advertisers can rake in the money every time we click on a site.

But that isn’t part of the show itself. It’s not. It’s the social media arm run by the PR department, whose job it is to generate buzz and a “click this!!” mentality. And it works! Every time we get sucked in and think something said on those sites will have some correlation to what happens on the show. And that’s not the case. We don’t even know if the PR team knows what will happen in the episodes before they post. For all we know, they have no clue. Somehow we’ve forgotten they are two separate things and the creators need to be reminded of this as well. Because looking back through the social media posts is painful. And it didn’t need to be that way.  

The show itself has actually managed to do the one thing that BtVS could not, and that is to keep their world in tact. After everything that has happened to Oz and Ed, through it all, they have remained in character. The world hasn’t shifted out from under them, nor us. They are still who they’ve always been at their core. Even Ed, who is searching for his identify, has been handled in a way that stays true to his Gotham characterization.

There is a lot that can be said about how the story unfolded and how it didn’t go the way we wanted. Many sectors of the fandom are legitimately angry. Many of us, myself included, were casual viewers until this ship jumped off the screen at us. And it wasn’t social media that sucked us in. It was Robin and Cory’s portrayal of these two broken, damaged villains finding each other that spoke to us. Knowing that even if you are “irredeemable”, there is still someone out there for you. That there truly is a “lid for every pot”. It was that connection we fell in love with, romance or not. And now this beautiful friendship seems to have been ruined for little to no payoff. But at least the story line still all made some kind of sense. I think I’ll be more upset at this point over a lack of explanation for Isabella than anything else.

And the reason why, is that the show hasn’t broken my trust. Their social media PR team can kiss my ass. But the show stayed true to itself and therefore us. It made Oswald canonically gay but never made him into someone he’s not nor made him do things he’d never conceive of. And poor Edward, who falls so easily and simply can’t help himself at times, continued his decent into madness and villainy. Oswald and Edward remained Oswald and Edward, much to Ed’s consternation.

The show makes it clear that this isn’t “the real world” pretty much on an episodic basis. “This is Gotham” isn’t just a catchphrase, it’s a way of life for these characters. It’s how the show is able to make us care about serial killers and psychopaths that we would run from if we met in “the real world”. Their world is filled with color and flair and the characters continue to reflect that. For all of the show’s purported faults in the story line this season, failure to understand their characterizations isn’t one of them. They have not committed the ultimate sin. At least not yet, not in my eyes. I guess we will see what the finale and S4 holds for us.

[mlpandminecraftgirl1]

My Thoughts on the New Steven Bomb (WARNING: SPOILERS)

WELL THEN

I’ve finished watching the new Steven Universe episodes (not JUST finished watching, mind you. I watched them about a week ago) and I thought, with all of this time on my hands, I’d share what I thought about it.

And what I’ve got say is: - WHAT?! and - DOUBLE WHAT?!

(WARNING: These next sections concern the new Steven Bomb and will most definitely contain spoilers. I was unfortunate enough to have the new characters spoiled for me via Instagram (and my impatient non-suspense-wanting self looked at the plots on the wiki before watching the episode on YouTube because I couldn’t watch them on my TV, long story) but I am aware that some people excel at being spoiler-free (whoever you are, you’re very lucky) and I can not and will not be held responsible for anyone who ends up have the Steven Bomb spoiled for them. I apologize in advance).

Ok, so the plot of the first episode (“Doug Out”) starts out simple enough: A simple “filler” episode where Steven and Connie hang out with Connie’s dad while he’s on a stake-out. A very cute episode that I personally enjoyed and one that I know a lot of the fandom wanted after seeing the events of “Nightmare Hospital” unfold. (Also, I’d like to point out that Doug already seemed to know about Connie taking up sword-fighting and all of that at this point, so I’m guessing they already told him, which I thought was a very nice personal touch by the Crewniverse, seeing how this took away the stress of revealing this stuff to him). I also liked how he seemed genuinely O.K. with it and how he seemed more comfortable and friendly around Steven than Connie’s mom was. And of course, the bit at the end with the new gem silhouettes sent me for a loop. It was some good quality filler if I ever saw any, and I have.

The second episode, “Are You My Dad?” (I’m covering “The Good Lars”, along with “Stuck Together” as a whole because I have a lot to say about it.) was a very clever concoction of plot points and drama. We get a throwback to a VERY old episode (A very clever throwback, I might add) and we get to see two new gems: Aquamarine and Topaz.

Aquamarine is….well, she seems to be a very interesting character. It’s very interesting to see a character who is actually villainous and doesn’t also have any emotional problems like Jasper or Blue Diamond. (Inner me: You forgot about Eyeball. She’s villainous and she’s unemotional, sorta. Real me: Shut up, me).

Not that I don’t think that you can’t have real emotions and still be a villain. It’s just that I felt like the Diamonds got a little bit of hate from the fandom because they weren’t really what the fandom expected, which were intergalactic tyrants (Connie’s words, not mine). Granted, they were pretty mean-looking and they seemed pretty evil, but they were really just big ladies with insecurities for days. Jasper was the same way. She was an interesting antagonist and character but it turned out to be her insecurities that were her downfall. Appropriate concept, but a little cliché, you know? There’s a way for character to be developed without touching on sensitive emotion-y bits. So it was nice to meet a gem like Aquamarine. Her voice actor fits her perfectly and I hope to see more of her.

As for Topaz, I have just three words to say about her (breathes):

I. LOVE. HER.

Not just because of her quality voice acting, which is so cool, because her voice is so unexpected for her character yet it FITS SO WELL. It’s like how Kevin Hart and Thomas Middleditch are voicing George and Harold for the Captain Underpants movie (which I am very excited about. I’ve read all of the books at least once, except for the last two). Kevin and Thomas make George and Harold sound older than elementary kids, but they tackle it so well, I can’t imagine anyone else voicing them.

No, the reason I love this character is because I relate to her SO. FLIPPING. MUCH. Particularly, this line:

Topaz: They’re always sending me on these miserable missions. I’m always pretending that I’m fine with it. I have to pretend I’m fine.

And this is one of the relatable things I’ve heard on this show so far. If there’s one thing this show has taught me, is that it’s ok to feel bad about something. It’s ok to be sad or angry about something you can’t control, and yes, there are people out there who have these problems who like to pretend they’re fine. Most people think that this is the person’s own choice, but some people (bless their hearts) they don’t HAVE a choice. Some people know that it’s better to just hide it than to drag people down with them or to have to justify it or to keep it from slowing them down. It’s not healthy or wise to pretend you’re fine when you’re not, but most people do it because they don’t really have a second choice on what to do most of the time.

And I should know. I am (or at least, used to be) one of those people.

Anyway, I can’t wait to see more development on these new gems!

Now, for the main event…..

The Lars episodes.

“The Good Lars” and “Stuck Together” were, in my opinion, some pretty good episodes, mostly because of the Lars character development (that’s not the only reason I liked them, of course). I mean, we get to see these new sides of Lars, which show that he loves baking (which is awesome) and that, just like everyone else, he’s scared of what people think of him.

But that’s not what I want to talk about. You see, I’ve been hearing rumors (and seen fan art) that suggest that Steven and Lars are gonna fuse. Now, none of my friends really watch Steven Universe, but if any of them did, I’m sure they would’ve asked me “Do you think that Steven and Lars are going to fuse?” And my answer to that is: yes and no.

You see, I don’t exactly know what level a relationship has to be on in order for two beings to be able to fuse, but I’m guessing it has to be pretty high. I mean, Connie and Steven are the best of friends (“Alone Together”), Steven and Amethyst had a pretty strong relationship already (“Earthlings”), the Rubies were a pretty strong team (“Hit the Diamond”), Pearl and Amethyst are a good team (“Giant Woman”), and Garnet is….well, Garnet (“every episode ever”). I know that consent has to play a role, too, given the circumstances with Malachite. (I’m not going to mention Jasper’s fusion with the corrupted gem, because, as sad as it is, that gem wasn’t in its right mind to give consent at that moment, so it doesn’t apply).

Also, since Steven can fuse with Connie, a human, it’s a good guess that he can fuse with other humans as well.

So why Lars?

You don’t really need to watch every episode with Lars and Steven together to see that Lars can be a bit of a jerk, especially to Steven, but we know that Lars is just covering up the fact that he’s insecure (Inner me: just like everyone else on this show. Real me: Me, what did I just say? I said shut up), but I can’t help noticing that we’re getting a lot of character developments with Lars, and since I don’t think it would make sense to have all of this development without something big happening (and no, I don’t think he’s going to die, despite what they’re saying on Instagram), then it is definitely a possibility for a fusion to take place. Maybe we’ll end up getting a “defining moment” for their relationship like we got in “Earthlings” during this bomb.

On the other hand, the reason I say no is because of something I’ve noticed in the show, but something I’ve noticed in general, and I’m pretty sure that fandom has noticed it, to

No disrespect to the Crewniverse, but when it comes to giving people what they want, they can be a little late on their delivery.

Now, I know what that this isn’t their fault, but let’s be honest, they’ve made it a habit of raising fan’s hopes, and then shattering them. I mean, people have been asking for a Lapis/Peridot fusion for Lord knows how long, and don’t even get me started on the hate I saw on Instagram about “Rocknaldo”. I’m not trying to be disrespectful or trying to question their methods of storytelling, but if there’s one thing that this show has taught me, it’s that when expecting something big to happen, one shouldn’t hold their breath.

Like I said, I’m not saying a fusion between Steven and Lars is impossible. After all, another thing this show has taught me is to expect the unexpected. No one expected Steven and Connie to fuse, and look at them now.

Also, in Rebecca Sugar's defense, she may not give us what we want, but she gives us what we need. Anyway, that's all I have to say about this bomb so far. I can't wait for the next new episodes, because I'm sure they're going to be mind-blowing, and thank y'all for listening to my VERY LONG post about what I thought. Please like and reblog if you want me to keep on posting stuff like this and I will see you guys later! Adios!