#until I ultimately destory you and you me

[technicallyaminecraftsimp]

Guys how the hell am I supposed to explain to other people why I love the Antenna Galaxies so fucking much without the “this too is yuri” meme

[kittykatinabag]

Astarion really taking a page out of Mary Shelley's book by initiating romantic happenings over his grave.

[presidentlokis-hornyhelmet]

Holding On

Pairing: Pavitr Prabhakar x gn!reader Summary: You had been his first -first friend, first crush, first kiss, first person to know his alter-ego.. You had been his everything and he lost you. Warnings: Major Character Death, Depression, Grief/Mourning, Unhealthy Coping Mechanisms, Angst, Jealousy (pt 2 to "Six Feet's Never Felt So Far" but can be read as a standalone too)

Also read on ao3

🎶🎵 I'm still holding on to everything that's dead and gone Here I am alone, between the heavens and the embers 🎶🎵 In The Stars by Benson Boone

Pavitr clutched your photo tightly in his hands and hugged it to his chest, tears streaming down his face as he stared blankly at the ceiling. The sound of the fan was the only indicator of life in the room. His eyes caught on it's dizzying rotation, face stoic and expressionless. His heart wasn't broken, it was ripped out of his chest and burnt right before his eyes. 

It'd been six months, but to Pavitr, Y/n's death felt like only yesterday. 

Pavitr had refused to believe your were gone. He even went about seeming unaffected or "moved on" but in reality, it was just denial. Deny, deny and keep denying. Until the 13th day ritual of Preta Karma -a ceremony where rites are performed in honour of the late family member and prayers are done. 

He broke down, refusing to attend the ceremony. He was only invited as Y/n's best friend as their relationship had been a secret -known to none else except Gayatri- which hurt even more. 

And, in the months that followed, Pavitr had refused to leave his room unless it was for school or superheroing, grieving and mourning your love in silence. 

He tried to distract himself with Spider-Man-ing through Mumbattan, as Gayatri suggested, but ultimately failed. It felt like a chore now that you were gone. 

"Y/n will always be with us in spirit, Pavi. What would N/n think if they saw you like this? You know, they would want you to be happy.. not, not destroy yourself." 

It was true what Gayatri had said, Pavitr was destorying himself mentally and physically by skipping meals or over eating, playing Benson Boone's In The Stars in an endless loop as he laid on his bed and stared at the ceiling passively. 

You had been the light in his darkness after the death of Uncle Bhim. Back then he dealt his uncle's death the same way: starvation, overeating, locking himself in his room and refusing to interact. 

It was you who reached through the dark web he'd woven around himself and pulled him out, helped him through his guilt and depression. 

"How long are you going to stay like this, lying in your room and staring at the fan?" 

He moved not a muscle, but you knew he was listening. 

"You know, Pavu, uncle Bhim would hate to see you this way."

Still no reply. You sighed and combed your fingers through his hair, pulling his hair in a soothing motion. He turned his face in your lap, eyes sore and dry as dull brown orbs greeted yours. His face was blank and devoid of emotion as if he lost the will to live. 

This won't do. 

This boy had to get up and move on; even Maya aunty was concerned. She had accepted her husband's death and come to terms a while later, but Pavitr stubbornly refused to let go. 

You caught his gaze, gently leaning into him. When he made no notion to move, you pressed your lips to his, kissing him softly. 

Pavitr was slow to realize you were kissing him but when he eventually caught it, he reciprocated fervently. 

You pulled away, breathing hard. His eyes opened slowly, watching you with dilated pupils. 

"You... kissed me." 

"Yeah..", you blushed slightly, "I.. I hated seeing you down in the dumps.. you really need to move on, Pavu. Bhim uncle wouldn't want you to look so sad." 

"You kissed me." 

"Yeah, I did- but, please, don't think I'm taking advantage of you", you add quickly. 

He knows you didn't; he knows you better than he knows himself. 

"Pavu, you need to get up and get back. I'm not asking you to become the Old Pavitr, but I want you to accept Uncle Bhim's death and move on. I know it's hard, but promise me you'll try." 

The fact you were crushing on him went over his head at that moment, but he had plenty of time to realize it later. 

Though his smile didn't fully reach his eyes, you were content with any reaction other than blankness. Baby steps. 

"I will try, N/n." For you. 

You hardly expected the drastic change. Pavitr got up early the next day, showered, did laundry, recited prayer and left the room. When you came to check on him later, you found him doing chores around the house, his room spick and span. Uncle Bhim's photo on the wall was neatly adorned with flowers and incense sticks, to your delight. Maya aunty was so happy and silently thanked you. 

He kept his long hair as you suggested, as a sign of growth and to never forget what the past taught him. For Bhim Uncle. 

It was the first ever you saw him smile after Uncle Bhim's demise. And, maybe you didn't know, but it was because of you: his sun. 

Pavitr rolled over on the bed, clutching the framed photo to his chest and stared at your bright orbs in the picture. It was taken on his birthday last year. 

You had begun to spend more time with Hari Oberoi recently and it was nagging Pavitr. He knew you guys were just as much as friends as he and Hari were, and he knew you only had platonic feelings for him, but jealousy reared it's ugly head. 

It's been a week and you have refused to spend more than fifteen minutes alone with him and he was getting increasingly anxious. 

Did you not like him anymore? Did you suddenly realize you have feelings for Hari? Are you going to break up with him? Is that why you won't hang out with him anymore, to let him down gently? 

A million questions plaguing his mind and everytime he saw Hari with his arm around you, he felt lost, betrayed and jealous. Hari was stealing you from him. 

"Who are you texting, Y/n?", he asked the next time you met, eating pani puri from a street vendor. 

Had you been aware, you would've noticed him not calling you the usual nickname. 

"No one." 

His heart broke into peices, because isn't that what you say when you're seeing some one else? 

He was just about to ask you the same when you stood up from your table and paid for your snack, asking him to meet you later that evening on your usual spot before disappearing into the crowd. 

It was confirmed. You were breaking up. 

The whole afternoon, Pavitr talked to himself on the different ways he'd convince you, eventually giving up and deciding to just accept it. 

It was half-past the time you had agreed to meet when Pavitr got dressed and put on somewhat decent clothes. He opened the door of his room, sad and hopeless, only to be greeted by Hari holding a giant cake. Maya aunty, you and Gayatri were standing beside him, popping confetti on him as he stepped outside. 

Oh, heck. He'd completely forgotten. 

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY, LOSER!", you all yell as Maya aunty shot you a playfully disapproving look. 

You collide onto him in an embrace, subtly kissing his cheek as you whisper in his ear. "Happy birthday, baby." 

He hugged you tightly as Hari and Gayatri joined in, Maya aunty flashing pics as his face was smeared in cream. 

He wasn't losing you, after all! 

Pavitr's nails dug into the frame and it breaks under his spider strength. Tears rush down his cheeks on their own as he cries harder, gritting his teeth in guilt and kicking himself.

You had been his first -first friend, first crush, first kiss, first person to know his alter-ego.. and the first to make him question his existence. 

You had been his everything and he lost you. 

________

Hope you liked it! :)) reblogs and comments feed my fic dragon uwu

[mathewryf]

A rant about Prime Sonic and Perfect Chaos

Okay I'm fucking losing my mind right now because of all of those Nine posts, and there's something I need to state again.

The version of Sonic that Sonic Prime presented flies completely in the face of the Sonic that we used to have, and that ending is where things make it REALLY apparent.

Regardless of the whole continuity problem that official channels have presented, there's a fundamental misunderstanding of how Sonic does things that makes Nines fate upsetting.

To diplay what I mean, let me go over a specific scene. You could even call this my "One Heroic Scene".

Let's talk about this scene from Sonic Adventure, the leadup to the final fight against Perfect Chaos.

From the beginning of this game, Sonic has been fighting Chaos, and up until the last chunk of his story he's assumed it's just been some sort of mindless beast under Eggman's control. Regardless of how many setbacks there were, he fought chaos off with no qualms.

He, along with the rest of the cast, gradually learn more about Chaos through Tikal's visions, and he eventually pieces together how Chaos came to be so violent. Sonic doesn't encounter Chaos again after he gets that information, at least not until it snatches the last Chaos Emerald in the Mystic Ruins Jungle. After that point it floods Station Square, completely destorying the city.

That's about where this scene picks up. Tikal shows up, begging Sonic to seal Chaos away in the Master Emerald once more... and Sonic blatantly refuses. Knowing what he knows at that point, he refuses to seal Chaos away again because it won't actually solve anything.

Chaos would have still been in turmoil.

Chaos would have still been in pain.

Chaos would have continued to suffer. Further, Chaos would cause more suffering the next time the Master Emerald broke (and there definitely would have been a next time, even without SA2).

Whether Sonic knew about the whole "positive/negative energy" thing or not, he had the conviction to resolve the situation then and there. More importantly, he chose to forgo the easier route of sealing Chaos away for the sake of sparing it that cruelty.

Even though Chaos had lashed out and caused so much pain, Sonic was still willing to take the harder path for the chance that the turmoil in Chaos's heart could be dispelled.

He did all that for someone that he considered his enemy, and he fought his heart out to reach that goal.

SO, if he would do that for Chaos, who was at best a stranger, and at worst his enemy...

Why the hell wouldn't he do it for Nine, whom he considers a friend?

That's why I can't stand the ending of Prime. If Sonic in Prime had been written closer to the version that Sonic Team envisioned, he would NOT have left Nine alone in the Grim.

Because leaving Nine in the Grim wouldn't have changed anything.

And yet Prime Sonic did that.

He left Nine's heart in turmoil.

Nine is isolated, alone, and still in pain.

And thanks to the show not getting a further season, he'll probably be left in that state forever.

Before anyone comes to me about Nine getting what he deserved.

I need to remind you that Chaos leveled an entire metropolitain city.

Chaos would deserve being sealed away, too. But Sonic disagreed with that because Chaos didn't deserve to be left suffering.

Ultimately I don't think Sonic would have cared all that much about Nine trying to destroy multiple realities, either, once he finally got through to him. That's still a hurt kid at the end of the day.

[despair-to-future-arcs]

Teruteru's time at Hope's Peak

[Part 1]

Well... I wouldn't say that my time at Hope's Peak was good and while our teacher was beautiful...

Or was... until that event happen...

—————————————————————

What event...?

—————————————————————

Hahahaaa, le...let's just say that while all of us were getting use to each other, Yukio - the Class Rep wanted us to all be friends and that's when he suggested I cook some food... I think our class called 'sexy soup' and we promise to ne-never speak of it again...

...

...

...

Date: April 15th, 2010

*A fight was happening between 2 Ultimates, Nekomaru and Akane*

HIYAAAAH! *Akane rush over as she kicked Nekomaru*

*Dodge and block the kick* TRY BETTER!!!

*As then Nekomaru chucks Akane to the front of the class*

WAAAAAAA!!!!

*SMASH!!!*

Da-Damnit... your strong...!

But damn... talk about a strong foe, I never faced anyone like this! LEEEET'S GOOOOO!

*Akane rushed in and the fight continue...*

*The other students watch...*

Seriously... when would those 2 stop fighting already...?

And the class is getting rip apart, should we do something?

Do wish for me to act and face them...?

No no... don't do that, you'll just get hurt if anything...

But what got them to start fighting each other.

Hyahahahaaa, man look at them go! This is waaay more entertaining then those fighting games!

But even then, those 2 are going to get hurt and the class is getting destory, who told them to fight each other?

Weeeell maybe I did give a tiiiiny suggestion to Akane to fight Nekomaru, after all she is dumb enough to fall for it!

Wait that was you?! Hiyoko, you realize that's a bad idea - what if the teacher comes back!

And? After all, the teacher totally loves me and knows how to treat me how I want to be treated, unlike the rest of you lowlifes!

Seriously?! Hiyoko what the hell!

YAHOOOO! FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT, YEAH THIS AWESOME!

Indeed, the fight must continue - this truly is an exciting event at Hope's Peak!

The fact Miss Sonia's into this makes me worried... should we stop this?

I don't think so, if anything they are working towards being Ultimates so we should let them fight it out!

*A desk gets flung and misses Nagito*

Ah, see this is truly wonderous luck!

GYAAAH! *Mikan jumps out of the way as she falls to the floor*

NOOOO, FORGIIIIIVE MEEEEE!!!

[bansheeoftheforest]

I Am Once Again Giving You London Gang!Jekyll Content

Okay but AU where Jekyll accidentally starts a gang though. He just helped people on the street way too often and then one day someone who opposes the Society just.. gets absolutely destroyed by a carriage out of nowhere. Jekyll gets a box with money and a note that refers to him as 'boss'. There are three routes this could then go.

Route 1: Jekyll is HORRIFIED, he did not want to start a GANG, he does not want to be a gang BOSS, but he can't tell them off because firstly, he doesn't know how he'd even do that, and secondly, they just KILLED SOMEONE, who's to say they won't kill him, too?? Jekyll must now try and figure out a way to solve this problem while Hyde has way too much fun (until he realizes the gang wants him dead for lighting their boss's building on fire).

Route 2: Jekyll is the most oblivious man on earth. He thinks one of the Lodgers gave him money as an apology. People who oppose the Society keep dropping dead and Jekyll keeps patching up the same people over and over who really like him for some reason, it is business as usual with how weird everything in his life already is. Someone (maybe your Crawford guy??) keeps trying to point out all the murders and link them to Jekyll but life hates this man specifically and nothing ever gets looked into because of the most ungodly amount of coincidences ever.

Route 3: Fuck it, he needs the money. He'll just wear a mask whenever he's duking it out in gang fights. He is surprisingly good at fighting, or maybe this could tie into the idea of Jekyll having been in a Scottish gang as a kid, but either way he mops the cobblestone streets with his opponents. He becomes one of the most feared and notorious gang leaders in London, and has a habit of targeting aristocracy that he knows are corrupt and abusive from meeting them as Dr. Jekyll at fancy events. Everything is all fine and well until Brokenshire approaches him saying they need to protect the doctor because clearly those in his social circles are being targeted. Sitcom level hijinks ensue.

(Bonus because I know you love your crackships: Jekyll gets challenged to a gang fight and meets a man in a tophat. He struggles a bit more than usual, but ultimately beats him. He is then held at gunpoint by this guy's sister demanding to know how he bested a trained assassin and whoa wait despite this guy having a bruised face now courtesy of himself he is actually very handsome haha ummm wait a minute did he just say that out loud and maybe invited him to get drinks as an apology for nearly kicking his teeth in uMMM- (bi disaster Dr. Jekyll strikes again!!))

Jeks. Jeks, my guy, thank you for making me laugh so hard, this is just... glorious. I love it all. Oh my god.

I don't know that route is best-- I honestly love the oblivious route bc of all the hijinx and Crawford wanting to rip his hair out in frustration and especially if it is a Syndicate au and it's the Crawford Starrick I based him off (which would make a lil less sense since he is gang leader tycoon and probably could have Jekyll killed but sssuuusshhhh) but I also love Henry just... Getting a goddamn Phantom Of The Opera-esque mask, deciding to go absolutely bonkers, painting entire alleyways red with the blood of his enemies, etc etc, and I absolutely love the idea of Brokenshire directly or indirectly approaching him asking him to protect himself, like they know that Jekyll's persona is well feared and a gang leader but they don't know that it is his gang that is targeting people so now Jekyll is the one sending assassins after abusive and corrupt aristocrats but also has a mission to protect himself from himself. Nice. I absolutely love it. I love it all. And I just... Hyde being do giddy until he realises that the gang wants him dead??? Fuck yes. Give me it all. I just love it so fucking much jfc i cant put it inTO WORDS.

Ok. Ok can we please combine the oblivious route with the masked gangleader phantom being the terror of london route??? Henry at first being completely oblivious, not realising why everyone that has ever insulted him and his work are suddenly disappearing one by one, Crawford wanting to rip his hair out in frustration bc "GUYS IT'S FUCKING JEKYLL HOW IS NO ONE SEEING IT" And jekyll just goes "ahah don't be silly Ricky, I'm not a gangleader lol". Henry being completely oblivious as the Lodgers suddenly get stalked by the gang members, only to be protected by them from other gangs or anti-sciences dudes, the Lodgers retelling the story to Jekyll who just goes like "oh wow man. Huh aren't those the people I have been patching up a lot lately. Strange. What a strange coincidence :)" but then a gang member gets really injured and Henry saves them from death and the gangmember is just... going like "wow, you are the best gang leader I have ever had, you are so much better than everyone else." and henry is just like "ahaha i'm a WHAT NOW"

Cue Henry deciding that, fuck it, if they already think of him as a gangleader why not take advantage of it. He has already been in gangs as a kid so he knows how they work. Quickly becomes a gangleader Tycoon, the lodgers/Rachel/Robert are all confused as to why people suddenly have stopped targeting them for robberies and shit and as to why Henry suddenly has a lot of money he spends on the Society and the bills. Henry telling them not to worry about it. He hears about a dude who suddenly has been swiping through all the ot her London gangs like a hot knife through butter, suddenly his gang is targeted so they are challenged to a gangfight. Henry beats the absolute shit out of him, he has him pinned to the ground when he hears a gun loading and he feels the hilt against his back. He is too busy staring into the beaten up guy's eyes to really care, wow he is so hot, the gangleaders demand that he takes off his mask or he gets shot. He instead lets go of the guy and just... Stands up, brushes himself off, tells them "ahaahh thanks but no thanks. also please stop destorying my gang we literally have not done anything provoking to you."

Anyways they agree to have their gangs work together (oh my god what would Henry's gang be called??? I imagine them wearing the colour blue bc the Rooks are green and the Blighters are red (since it's a specifically a syndicate au lol) but they probably would wear red if it's just tgs anyways off topic hehe). Henry invites them to a drink, his tab, they agree, they find out about all the accidental bullshit that Henry accidentally started and just... Yes pls. Also Jacob and Henry getting drunk and flirting like nobody's business, maybe Henry asking if Jacob likes guys and if he doesn't, is his sister single? Evie almost kicking his teeth in, Jacob laughing his ass off. Yes please.

ALso almost completely forgot the absolute scooby doo mystery of the twins trying to figure out who Henry is since he wears a mask and disguises his identity. Imagine them just being like... Who’s that pokemon? It’s dr. henry jekyll-- WAIT IT’S DR. HENRY JEKYLL????

[calliecat93]

Top 15 Star Trek TOS Episodes (Part Two)

(Part One)

Continuing from the last post, here are the remaining seven episodes~! Also picking Number One was SUPER hard. I was stuck between it and two for a long while. But I finally picked, so here we go!

#7. The Trouble With Tribbles

Up to this point, I hadn’t been crazy over some of the goofier episodes of Star Trek. Shore Leave was a mindscrew that left me uncertain about what was even happening by the end, though my opinion has lightened up upon looking back. The Squire of Gothos had a villain that I found far more annoying than entertaining and it remains one of my least favorite episodes. The only more silly one I did like was I, Mudd which remains an utter laugh riot once everyone acts as illogical as possible, including Spock. But then this episode came along, and Dear Lord it is hilarious. Our heroes stop at a space station, but it’s also occupied by Klingons. But wait, it gets better! A sleezy guy convinces Uhura to buy a Tribble, these little puff ball things that are kind of cute... until they begin to reproduce so rapidly that they infest the ship and base. To put it simply, it’s not a good time for Kirk. Honestly Kirk is the best part just because of how much he LOATHES every single thing about this episode. The scene where a whole bunch of Tribbles just topple over him and he just resigns himself to his fate and later his epic death glare at Bones when he orders him to figure out what killed the things. And then there’s what makes him come aorund to them, their shared hatred of Klingons. Seriosuly, Kirk is just So Done in this episode and it is amazing~

But seriously, it’s a very entertianing episode. Far more than I thought it was going to be when I read the description. It’s not an episode taken seriosuly, but not in the ‘they just gave up’ kind of way like in certain S3 episodes. The cast seem to be legit having a fun time with this one. The brawl between Scotty, Chekov, and a few other guys against the Klingons was super fun as was Kirk sulking when Scotty revelas that he got provoked over the Enteprise being insulted and not the captain. Poor Jim XD Cyrano Jones was also just a fun delight with how scummy yet amusing he is. The scene with him and the drinks during the brawl had me laughing so much XD Seriosuly there’s just so many good moments. Spock not being immune to the Tribble’s comforting effect and being embarassed at this revelaiton, Spock and McCoy’s snark, the Klingons utter horror at the tiny little furballs, it’s just an entertaining ride from beginning to end.

Not anything to really note flaws wise to justify the ranking. It doesn’t have that emotional or philosophical umph that I normally seek out in shows like this, so it’s here at seven. But that ain’t a bad thing at all. Not every episode has to have deep meanings or complex stories. Sometimes it can just be something fun and amusing, and the effort was still there to make it entertaining. It’s one of those episodes that I would watch above the others on a bad day just so I can laugh. Probably the most fun episode I have on this list, and that’s nothing to snuff at~!

#6. The Doomsday Machine

Our heroes find a Starship where the only survivor is Commadore Decker, his crew having all been killed when he beamed them to a planet that a planet destroyer... well, destroyed shortly after. The destroyer is still active and now the Enterprise is in danger. As Kirk remains on that ship, Decker is determined to destroyt he doomsday machine once and for all, including taking command of the Enteprrise and risking their lives to do so. Yeah, this is a pretty intense one. Decker, while his sucicdal actions were wrong, is VERY sympathetic. His crew was killed through no fault of his own, the machine that did it is still loose, and the losses have left him utterly broken. He’s very much traumatized but as he is the highest ranking officer and they can’t officially prove that he’s too mentlaly unfit to be relieved (which imo is idiotic cause even someone who isn’t a psycologist can tell he’s mentally unfit, but whatever), they can’t do much to stop him. Spock DOES finally manage to do so, and it leads to Decker’s ultimate choice that leads to his tragic end.

This one really gripped me. There’s this tension throughout. We have an unstable, suicidal man taking control of the Enterprise and willing to get them all killed to stop the doomsday machine. It’s scary to see how broken the man is. Again, he’s wrong to be willing to sacrifice everyone on The Enterprise to destroy the thing even though none of them want to die, but you understand why. I mean imagine if that happened to Kirk, he’d probably snap too if his actions in Obsession is any indication of how he handles major losses like that. Then we have Decker’s final act. Once relieved of command, he steals a shuttle and goes at the machine himself. He knows that he’s going to die and accepts that fact if it means some chance, any chance of destroying the machine once and for all. While he fails to destory it, he DOES give Kirk the opprotunity needed to do so with the ruined ship. A move that almost gets Kirk killed, but still Decker’s act was not in vain. It’s a very interesting character study with themes of guilt, trauma, and desperation. Kind of like in Obsession in a way, only Kirk manages to survive and pull himself together before it was too late. Decker’s only goal was to take down the machine that took his crew’s lives, even if that meant losing his own.

As I said, these are the kinds of episodes I live for. I guess self-sacrifice is also genetic consideirng what happened with his son in The Motion Picture, haha. Flaws... ugh... I guess McCoy disappeairng after the first half sucked? But that’s a me thing that doesn’t affect anything. I just remember watching it wide-eyed despite fully well knowing that everyone I cared about were going to be perfectly fine. It really gripped me! A great episode with great character exploration and themes which for a one off character, is pretty dang impressive!

#5. Journey to Babel

Meet the parents epidsode! Yay! The Enteprise is transporting various ambassadors of various planets to the Babel Conference. This includes the Vulcan Ambassador Sarek and his human wife Amanda, aka Spock’s parents. Yep, it’s time for some good ol’ fashioned family issues! Sarek wasn’t exactly happy with Spock choosing Starfleet and their relationship has been strained ever since. But when Sarek has severe heart problems, the only way to save him is via blood transfusion with Spock the only one compatible. But to make it worse, Kirk gets stabbed and put out of comission, forcing Spock to take command... at the same time that his father needs the surgery. Yeah... it sucks to be Spock in this episode. I know that Sarek is a bit divisive, but I like Spock’s parents. Sarek comes off as good at his job, but not great as a parent. He’s far fromt he worst and we do see that he does seem to still care about his son, he’s just God awful at admitting it and his previous mistakes. Like father, like son I guess. Amanda was a delight, especially when she tells McCoy about the sehlat aka giant teddy bear. Anyone who can make Bones smile that big deserves our thanks. Spock trying to make it less embarassing only made it funnier XD But back on topic, they come off as interesitng characters. They ain’t ideal, but they seem to genuinely be in love, which is nice.

Spock was just great here as we see him in one of the roughest spots he’s been in. He’s naturally not happy about being around the father that cast him aside again, though after his heart issues it’s clear that he IS concerned. Leonard Nimoy once again does such a fantastic job at having Spock express so much but without breaking character. It’s all in the eyes and the strained tone of voice. Then when Spock is more than willing to go through with the tranfusion, Kirk is injured. He has no choice but to take command, knowing that in doing so his father will die. While he COULD give command to Scotty, with the VERY intense circumstances of an assaliant on board and a ship ready to attack wit a number of ambassadors on board, he’s the best bet in handling it. Amanda is of course upset and even smacks him which IS overly harsh, but she’s about to lose her husband and her son, despite clealry hating the fact, has to place his duty above all else. Sarek dying is the least worst outcome to everyone else being killed. It’s the most logical route. Fortunately Kirk is able to pull himself together long enough to take over and the transfusion goes through perfectly despite the fight making it more difficult. Which again, McCoy is the true MVP here for managing to pull that off successfully under those conditions and Thank God that the episode rewarded him by letting him finally get the last word. He earned that one!

It’s such a great episode for me. Family drama, Spock conflict, political tensions, and just some relaly fun bits. Seriosuly, the teddy bear bit will NEVER stop being funny. Hoenstly these last five were all pretty tight and this ende dup here cause the other four had just a little bit mroe to keep me invested for reasons. Spock and Sarek don’t really reach a resolution but we do see that it has the chance to improve, and the movies do show that Sarek DOES truly care about his son and even admits that he had been wrong. It takes a lot for a man, even a Vulcan man, to do that. Although I DID double take when I realized that Sarek is played by the same guy who did the Romulan Captain in Balance of Terror. Guess he was that good XD. But yeah, a really great episode and very much my favorite Spock-centric episode.

#4. The Empath

TRIUMVIRATE FEELS BABY~! Our heroes end up trapped by a duo of aliens and encounter a mute empath woman that McCoy names Gem. They try to figure out how to escape as the aliens known as Vians plan to use them for an experiment as they have others. Shenanigains happen while elad to Kirk getting totured p, and then given the ultimate sadistic choice in having to decide if either Spock or McCoy get tortured to the point of either death (McCoy) or permenant brain damage (Spock). Now the episode has it’s issues, like why the Vians needed to do this to decide that Gem’s people were worth saivng is..l really baffling. But I’m also not a Vian so what do I know anout their mindset? But due to those kinds of plot holes, it landed here at four. It also kind of reads like a hurt/comfort fanfic, which isn’t a surprise when you find out that this was written and submitted by a fan. Which is freakin’ awesome and I can’t complain tbh cause it’s a good hurt/comfort fic. What it fails in some plot tightning it succeeds at in emphasizing the relationship between the main trio and it’s themes of emotion and self-sacrifice. Because OF COURSE that would be relevant for these three numbskulls at some point!

The second half is really what sells it. Kirk of course can’t make a choice like that, so Bones hypos him so that he’ll be spared of it. But that means that Spock is in command and he fully intends to hand himself over to the Vians to spare the two. Just the scene where he looks at Kirk, knowing that it’ll likely be the last time he sees him and Gem touching him to feel his emotions. Her smile sums it sll up. Which sidenote, the actress for Gem was freakin’ fantastic in how she displayed so much emotion and character without saying one word. Excellent acting. Anyways, Spock’s plan seems full-proof... except that he forgot that he’s dealing with McCoy, who promptly hypos him as well and sacrifices himself to the Vians. That was when McCoy became my favorite character, the moment he chose to be tortured to near death to save his two best friends and an innocent woman and even took the time to try and comfort her before being taken away. When we see the ifnal result and are greeted to DeForest Kelley looking at the camera with the most dead expression that he can muster... yeah the image STILL haunts me. Then Bones is dying with the two unable to do anything but try to give him some comfort and Gem is just so distraught and... heah this episode mad eit this high simply because it hit the emotional beats perfectly. That’s not even going into Gem trying to heal him to drive home the themes of the episode, also done VERY well.

This episode really shows how much the three care for one another. They’re all willing to be tortured and die to spare the other two. Ultimately McCoy gets the ‘honor’, but Kirk and Spock were absolutely ready to throw themselves to the fire. The characterization, interactions, and dynamic are just done so well that it’s why I can forgive the plot issues. I’m a sucker for feelings okay?! So yeah it’s not perfect but what it got right it got right. As such, it managed to land here at Number Four with only those plot holes keeping it from Number One. And trust me, I was tempted.

#3. The Tholian Web

Season 3 hadn’t been doing it for me with only one or two episodes really getitng my attention up to that point. This one though? This was the best episode in the seaosn bar none. Our heroes end up in a subspace where they find a starship and it’s crew all dead. Whien they teleport back to The Enterprise, it disappears... and takes Kirk with it. Okay, doesn’t sound liek anythignt hat new right? Kirk goes missing, the crew have to deal without him and find him as quickly as posisble. But this one has a bit of a twist... they cut Kirk out completely. Yeah, from the moment he vanishes in the first act to the very end he is out of the episode. Not only does the crew not know what happened to him, but neither does the audience, this ramps up the fear and emotional weight big time as the longer the crew is int hat space, the influence of it drives them to insanity. Bones wants to get out because of this, while Spock is unwilling to leave Kirk if he is alive. Needles to say, things go off the rails quickly.

With Kirk out of the equation, we keep our focus on Spock and McCoy. Their arguing is probably at the most personal it’s ever been with Kirk seming dead, the crew losing their minds, and it looking more and more uncertain that they can both treat the crew and ge tout alive. While one can say that McCoy may be too harsh here, I think along with the space affecting him in a less intense way, he’s also stressed from all the patients as well as his grief about Jim. Spock is the only one that he can take it out on, especially since his chocie to not leave is why they’re now int he mess that they’re in. Spock is trying to perform his duties despite the hostilities and his own grief that he’s trying to keep a grip on with all the responsibility of the crew and whatever happens due to his choice firmly sititng on his shoulders. What finally starts to get them to resolve this? A tape that Kirk made for them in the event of his death. He gives them his confidence that they can perform their duties withiut him, but that they need to lsiten to and support each other. They CAN go on without him. It’ll hurt but they’re now all that they each have and they need to work together now more than ever. It’s a sobering moment for both with McCoy realizng how ovelry harsh he had been and Spock expressing genuine grief. They do still bicke rone more time, but McCoy catches himself before it goes too far, apologizes, and Spock simply says what Jim would: “Forget it, Bones”. Cue Bones fainting like the Southern Bell that he is, haha!

Now of course Kirk is alive and they manage to save him and get out of the situation fine. But I just loved this because of the focus on Spock and McCoy without Kirk. Why? Because Kirk is the one thing that can unite them. It’s not the only thing, but if anything can make them get over their disagreements quickly, it’s Kirk. So what happens when it looks like he’s gone and never coming back? How will the two deal with it now that that balance is gone? They don’t deal with it well, being at each other’s throats until they see that tape. But it DOES show that if they did lose Kirk, they CAN work together and go on. Like I said, I adore these two’s relationship and while not as slashy as All Our Yesterdays, this is such an excellent one for that relationship as we see that yes, they will bicker but they will also be there for each other when it all comes down to it. It’s such a great episode for that reason and the plot was just well done. Like I said, casitng out Jim and leaving us unsure of what happened to him was an excellent move for this one and I enjoyed the exploration that it allowed.

#2. The Immunity Syndrome

Out heroes are scent to investigate what caused a whole solar system to disappear just as they also receive a message from a Vulcan science vessel. Unfortunately, Spock senses he vessel’s destruction and the Enterprise finds itself against a giant space amoeba that will devour everything unless stopped. That may not sound like much, but it leads into what I think was the most intense situation that the Enterprise has been in. Everything, and I mean everything, is pushed to their limits here. This amoeba can outright destroy galaxies and utterly mindless, so there’s no reasoning with it. But it gets especially tense when, in order to understand exactly what’s going on, Kirk has to send someone in the space shuttle to observe, but in doing so, he’s sending someone to most likely die. And his choices? Either Spock or Bones... yeah.

This is what makes this episode great. Spock and Bones are already on rockier than usual terms due to McCoy treating the Vulcan deaths more like a statistic while Spock sensed all of it outright. That itself is an interesting observation on how we treat these kinds of things, not really understanding how horrific it is unless we’re involved in it outright, otherwise it’s sad and unfortunate but just another number. But then we have the suicide mission. Bones originally volunteers himself, after all he’s a doctor and would have the knowledge to make the necessary observaitons and likely the most fit for it. But Spock is not only also perfectly capable even if not specialized in medical science, but he’s also more fit physically and emotionally to undergo the risk and come out alive. In the end, Kirk picks Spock and McCoy ain’t happy about it. The scene with Spock about ready to go with McCoy still unhappy even when Spock asks him to wish him luck. He does... once the doors have shut and Spock can’t hear him anymore. It’s a very strong scene and it only gets more painful when it looks like Spock is truly going to die and his final words are that McCoy should have wished him luck. Bones’ face says everything.

The episode is just excellent. Great character moments. Great emotional weight. Great stakes that keep going up and up and it truly feels like the darkest hour for the crew. Kirk and Spock outright begin to record their respective final words. Even they’re convinced that this is most likely the end, which is just... dang man. I couldn’t look away during this one. They hit everything perfectly with pretty much everything. If I have any issues, none of them come to mind. It’s just an excellent episode and the best of Season 2. I had a REALLY hard time picking between this and my Number One for the top slot. The top one just had a little bit more emotional impact to get it, but it just barely topped this one. Regardless, it is still an excellent episode and one of the best by far. But what is Number One? Well...

#1. The City on the Edge of Forever

Yeah, yeah, obvious pick I know. I normally don’t go wth popular opinion... but sometimes it’s that way for a reason, and this one I can’t argue about. When McCoy gets badly drugged on accident, he goes into a derranged state and beams onto a planet. The crew is unable to stop him from entering a portal known as the Guardian of Forever that sends him into the distant past where he does something to change histry. In order to figure out what changed and to stop McCoy, Kirk and Spock travel into the 1930’s a few days earlier to cut him off and must now navigate their way though the time period where they end up at a soup kitchen run by a woman named Edith Keller. Which Edith is an excellent character. She’s kind, optimistic, charming, hard-working, ad caring towards those who need it. Kirk ends up falling for her, and... it’s legit really cute. Kirk isn’t being forced to make out with a woman or doing so for information. We see how Kirk is when he genunely likes someone, having been drawn to Edith’s optimism and hopes for a better future. A future that he is from and knows will be reality. He’s really sweet and it’s just cute... which makes what happens at the end all the more tragic.

The 1930’s were fun with Kirk trying to come up with an excuse for Spock’s ears having me dying from laughter. The acting was excellent with DeForest Kelley as drugged!Bones especially being both crazy and scary. I quit doubting that he played villains in Westerns after this episode, haha. But of course Spock soon discovers that the change that McCoy is to make is saving Edith form death, and in doing so she leads a pacifist campaign that delays America’s entry into World War II and... well, things go badly. They are in a time where sadly optimism and peace are simply not options, which is even crueler. In order for time to be restored, they have to let Edith die. Kirk is horrified by this and when the time comes (sidenote, the Triumvirate reunion is utterly adorable), he just grabs Bones, keeps his back turned, and can only listen as Edith screams and is killed via car colission. Whatever grievances I have about William Shatner, he absoluteley nailed Kirk’s utter heartbreak and pain as Kirk just looks utterly boken. His final wordds after they return to the 23rd Century simply being a bitter “Let’s get the Hell out of here” sums it all up perfectly. Bones’ horror at it, especially since he DID have to watch it and him being upset at Kirk is also heartbreaking as he asks him if he knows what he just did. Spock can only somberly inform him that yes, he does.

It’s one of those cases where I wish serialization was more of a thign cause DAMN this is some major emotional baggage for everyone but as per usual. It happens and they go on from there with no lingering development. I guess if I had to complain, that would be it but that’s jut the nature of these shows at the time. Kind of feel like Bones getting as bady overdosed as he did pretty much got forgotten after they enter the 1930’s, but I also know nothing about 23rd Century drugs so... ah well. But the rest of the episode is so good that I can forgive those issues and they clealry did nothing to impact the placing. It had a storgn story, great emotion, great acting, great pacing, and a heartbreaking but fitting ending. The episode has a LOT of history behind it’s making that could be a post all it’s own, but no mater how this episode came to be, it is very much the best of Star Trek TOS. It was fun yet sad and had me gripped form beginning to ed and just htinkign about it now still makes me sad. Thus, it earns it’s place as my favorite episode of Star Trek TOS.

And we are done! There were a lot of really good episodes and some i REALLY did consider. A Piece of the Action, The Enemy Within (that was skipped for... certian reasons), Is There in Truth No Beauty?, This Side of Paradise, and plenty of others that I enjoyed. There were others I.. well, didn’t, but I can’t recall outright hating anything. Regardless I came in apathetic at best, and I left a fan for it’s characters, interesting ideas, and I just had a lot of fun. It’s outdated in many ways, but still relevant in others. Overall, I’m glad to have finally watched it, and I hope that I enjoy TNG just as much. But if not, I’ll always have this~!

(Image Source: TrekCore TOS Gallery)

[aldahi-rp]

Reaching for the Stars

@deals-and-the-chipped-cup

The Doctor couldn't believe this very, very selfish human. The worst kind of human.

The kind of human that lead to futures where the Earth becomes unable to support life. The kind of human that tortured the last star whale to force it to become their vessel through space. The kind of human that conquers other planets with endless wars and violence.

Every time the Doctor found herself in a horrible potential Earth's future it was usually because of humans like this one.

It wasn't fair to put such a heavynburden onto such a young child... But apparently there was no other option. The adult who was supposed to be her moral guide, didn't care if his actions lead to a tear in reality that swallowed his planet whole.

The Doctor turned to Kertin. "That depends" she said, when Kertin asked about the hole in reality and why it didn't seem to be effecting his time line. She looked directly at Dawn. "On what choice DAWN makes today." Then she spoke directly to the child "If you give me the crystal, the Earth had a glorious future! Your people touch the stars! They create wonders you can't even imagine! Or you can take the crystal across the line. You'll have a few centuries of "magic" but ultimately the entire planet will be destoried... It's not fair that you have to make that kind of a choice, but that's is the way it is."

Dawn clutched the crystal closer to herself. Her father had said, not in code, not implied, but straight up said he didn't care about families other then their own. Dawn was only seven, and even she knew that was wrong. Because Dawn loved her mom, and her mom was friend with Ruby and Grumpy, and they all had their own friends, and their friends all had their own friends... So the people you needed to care about branched out and out like a tree. How many layers out was it officially okay to start hurting people?

And then people were talking about the whole PLANET not exsisting! So wasn't that everything? Like Disneyworld, and hot chocolate, and birds, and Christmas, and fish, and EVERYTHING? Wasn't the whole POINT to go out and expirence the world? Not for the whole world to go away!

But her father was her father. He loved her with all his heart and would never ever do anything to hurt her. He had been through so much. Controlled and even dead and... And...

And even what happened with Bae...

She couldn't betray HIM either.

How could Dawn choose between betraying her own family who she loved, and betraying her whole planet and species?

She felt her body heating up... The kinda way that if she wasn't careful her Papa would have to come and rescue her from. The kinda way that could actually hurt stuff. The kinda way that made her parents argue in hushed tones about if Dawn should really even be using magic at all...

Dawn started fainting glowing.

The Doctor pulled out her sonic and quickly swept the child up and down. Dawn was being super charged with that same intense ionic energy the crystal held.

"Dawn" she said, changing her tone to a cautious, urgent, placating one. "Dawn, listening to me. You're emitting a dangerous level of unstable elemental ionic energy. You're going to have to try to calm down..."

But Dawn couldn't calm down. What she had to do was not start a fire her father would have to rescue her from. Not let the aliens or the doctor or her father or anyone get the crystal, cuz every option was bad. Not betray her family OR her world...

The crystal began to vibrate with the heat Dawn had not let escape. It began to glow with a hot white light, and then melted into her, until she herself was glowing with that same hot white light and burning hot energy.

The Doctor looked alarmed (and intrigued, and curious, and concerned) and quickly scanned the child again.

"She's merged with the crystal, but she's highly unstable." She told everyone around her. "We need to get her energy stabilized before something bad happens!" Wait! That was a bad way to phrase things in front of a child expiriencing unstable emotion-based energy flucuations. "I mean... Everything's gonna fine, just fine, en't it, guy? Course it is! Don't worry about a thing, Dawn. ...But do try to calm down and get yourself stable... Just... You know, because."

Yep, still essentially awkward

[vreugd-madelon]

The Lord of the Rings Series Review

The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien is a 4 part High Fantasy story and regarded as a classic in it's genre.

I read it while listening to the Audiobook via Storytel and Scribd, which is read by Rob Inglis. Which I absolutely adore to listen to. His voice is amazing, with a wide spectrum of different and distinct voices. His voice is naturally gruff and deep and with the many male characters it really fits.

I also got half the series (the first 2 books) while I was on Holiday in Edinburgh, Scotland in March 2020. The other 2 volumes I got in my favorite 2nd hand bookstore.

In this series we follow the journey of the One Ring. Of how it was found and how it was ultimately destoryed. Along with the making of friendships, overcoming stereotypes and deep loyalty.

The Hobbit rated 4 Stars. I loved my time with this book. The story is full of action and the pacing is really well done. Before I read this I was only familiar with the 3 movies based on this book and I must say all is pretty one on one until you reach the part where they are in Mirkwood and escape from the elves. From that point on the movies are way more detailed in the events that follow. I also believe that the characters such as Thorin Oakenshield is much more establisched in the movies.

Speaking of characters, I do like them all. From Bilbo Baggins to Gandalf the Gray to Fili and Kili. Many are destinct from one another, but others often blend together and get no real tme in the spotlight; Oin, Gloin, Bifur, Bofur, Dwalin, Dori and Nori (While writing this down I had to look up those last two, just saying.) I do like the Gollum in the book a lot more than the movies, wherin I always found him creepy and gross.

There is also a lot of singing and songs in this book, more than I realized in the beginning, and I hope this trend will be continued in the next books. Also the humor in this book, especially some of the comments made, caused me to laugh which I always appreciate.

The Fellowship of the Ring rated 3 Stars. Once more I wish to praise Rob Inglis on his voice work. Even now Gimli sounds different from all the other dwarves previously met in The Hobbit. Also the trend of songs continue in this book and each have a different cadence and are original, very fitting to the story. It's something I do like.

In the beginning of the book is a mention of how this was written during WW2 and J.R.R. Tolkien didn't want his story to be influenced by the event. Which is very nice to know, but that and including the official Prologue, makes the 1st hour of the audio book almost pointless when reading. Then comes the rest of the book where there are many infodumpy moments. I don't need to know who was the great-great-great-great grandfather of Gimli of whoever. But I quess that it does show how intricate and complex the world is. Also, due to the long journey that they are on, the plot progression feels very slow. And most of it happens when they are visiting another place, like Rivendell or Lórien, when they're stationary. When we first hear of Saruman, when Gandalf is explaining, I disliked him because he spoke ill of Radagast (in the Hobbit movie he's my favorite character). And eventually it's told why he was acting that way. If I'd read the book without audio, I woul've skipped many of the descriptions and explanatory writing to get to the Dialogue, because I feel that that is where the good things lie.

The Two Towers rated 3.5 Stars.

I read this right after the Fellowship of the Ring, and it takes off right where the previous book has ended. A nice detail in this is that the pagecount continues from book to book. So this book runs from page 403 to 725. It's really interesting to see that the closer we get to the end the songs and rhymes crease to be spoken. In the beginning we still have some, like the Song about Boromir which gave me chills, while at the end there are none.

On of my favorite side characters within this story is Treebeard the Ent. Interesting species, and way of life. I hope we do get to meet the Entwives. I also love how the friendship between Legolas and Gimli evolves. To see people as different as they are putting aside said differences and work towards a common goal. The banter they have over the death count at Helm's Deep is wonderful.

*Please, someone give me fanart of Legolas and Gimli on a saddle-less Arod. That scene made me laugh.*

For the 2nd half in this book, I'm a little less impressed. It only dawned on me then that the 1 part is completely without Frodo and Sam. Then it seems that the 2nd runs at the same time as the 1st, which is really nice, but confusing. I do still think that Gollum/Smeagol is creepy and weird. I do think that he is a well crafted character, but I dislike to read anything surrounding him. He gives me the chills and not good ones. The last 2 chapters are really exciting and do make me want to read the last book within this trilogy, so, Let's Continue:

The Return of the King rated 2.5 Stars. I do have a lot less to say about this, because my enjoyment was average. It was an okay book. The resolution is nice, the good guys won! But it was not something extraordinary, something special. This book as a lot more action than the previous two, which is somethinhg it has going for it. It's very good in stating the stakes and making them high. But the resolution comes too early in my opinion. We still have a half of book 6 to go, and that is just filled with the travel home. To see everything they loved changed and they need to reclaim their homeland.

This last book just wasn't my cup of tea.

If you have any questions send me an ask here on tumblr or tweet me. If there are any books that you want to recommend, be sure to let me know!

[fedonciadale]

1 F have u seen the script? I have two major observations. 1st, they cut Js line "I love her" in the final editing. Apparently they realized that it wasn't possible for J to love D after what he's seen while all along undercutting their own romance with underwhelming scenes/lines. Also, it contradicts the "he knows what this means for those he loves most". 2nd, what I initially overlooked, the entire DP meeting seems like Js sentence is sth like a trade for Ts freedom,which really turns my guts.

(2) Sorry, same anon. It's like two different stories. One in the script, where Jon loves Dany; and one on screen, where he loves Sansa. Did they even know which story they were telling? Did the actors sabotage them? In all season 8 they were telling the same story as in season 7, only without the blatant Jonsa scenes. And then in the script of the final ep they turned it around, but kept it on screen. Wtf? What on earth happened to this show? Deep sigh.

Dear nonny,

I really don’t know. In hindsight, season 7 and 8 definitely feel like another show of much less quality. I am not saying that there were no consistency errors in previous seasons, but they were not as bad or at least I was emotionally invested enough to not care. I mean in a way it bugged me that we never got a good explanation why Sansa did not tell Jon about the Knights of the Vale, but the triumph of the BotB felt good enough to let me overlook that.

Actually, if you look at the DP scene as a big maneuver of Tyrion to save his ass and put the blame on someone else that would be a very Tyrion move, that would actually make sense, if he was still the Tyrion of say season 2 or 3? But it did not give the vibes of “Tyrion outsmarts them all”, it just gives the vibes of “Does this make any sense?” (the answer obviously being “no”).

I still think that Jon using Dany for her dragons, and then being stuck with her because of honour and then being forced to kill her because she became a tyrant and he ultimately chooses his Stark side, is sort of what is the outline GRRM gave D&D. This is what we saw on screen. Actually, Political Jon and after the battle for Winterfell Sacrificial Jon is the only theory that makes sort of sense. Even the cringeworthy scene with Tyrion could be explained like that. There were Unsullied listening in on the conversation with Tyrion and while Tyrion was already arrested and had nothing to lose, Jon could still have been guarded. And sry, not sry, we never saw Jon in love with Dany, so I don’t believe he was in love.

So, even if you interprete anything in the least sympathetic way for Sansa: Have her trying to betray Jon in the BotB, have her at least contemplating of betraying Jon in season 7, have her rejecting Dany not for the political reasons that have been outlined from season 1 onward, but for sheer pettiness, have her blurt out Jon’s secret not for Jon’s sake but just to get back at Dany.... It would all be possible, and still in the end, Jon chose her life over Dany’s. As much as the scripts made it look like both Stark sisters were in danger, the actual show showed something else. This is the core, that even D&D could not destory with their abysmal writing. In the end, Jon was the treason for love, and he became a traitor to Dany, because he loved Sansa more than he loved Dany.

You know, it could have been such an interesting story, even if you had the characters end up at the same place they were at the end of episode 6, if we would just have seen a little bit of what motivated the Starks.

It will be my headcanon for the years to come until ADOS will be published - which probably means that it will be my headcanon until I die - , that D&D chickened out of making this explicit. They were afraid of the fandom backlash that would have happened. I think season 7 and Starkbowl was a test to see if the fandom could be won over to support Sansa and then this did not happen, although Arya was clearly portrayed as the ‘villain’ (and Maisie even confirmed that she was directed to play this as the villain), they did not dare to go all the way.

On the other hand, they also did not dare to deviate from GRRM’s ending completely. So they chose to let everything be ambiguous, not even having an explanation ready for everything (feature: Jon’s and Sansa’s goodbye: scripts, screen and synopsis - official sources all - differ on why Sansa asked for forgiveness and if Jon forgave her).

So, what happened to this show? I think we saw what happens, if writers care too much about surprising the audience and do not care enough about a consistent story. We saw D&D caring for the “wow, did not see that coming!” instead for “Wow, should have seen that coming, that makes sense”. We saw them caring for twists instead of consistency, we saw them concentrating on one character and making it all about Dany (and possibly Tyrion), and arranging all the other characters around that, without taking the time to explain their actions. We saw D&D being obsessed with fan theories, trying to avoid hitting any of them, messing up everything in the process. They even messed up DarkDany, the twist that was supposed to carry the last season.

It could have been good, it could have been superb. DarkDany could have been one of the most important statements on tyranny of our decade, and how it can happen and how we can fall for a tyrant, even though her agenda was in the open the entire time. Instead it was just a “got you” moment, and nothing else.

Actually, I think the most accurate description of my feeling about season 8 are this: When you have a hiccup, it supposedly helps if someone scares you. You give a start, and then the hiccup should vanish. Only, most of the times, people who want to scare you by crying “boo” or something, don’t really scare you and the hiccup stays anyway.

Sorry for the rant and thanks for the ask!

[kittenshift-17]

Hi I hope you're doing ok I just wanted to ask a question. What do you think of Daenerys from game of thrones,I'm sorry its really random right but I've always wanted to know.oh and those christmas stories are really great are you going to continue those or were they just a one shot ? And as always I love you and you're writing.

Christmas stories? You mean the 👀👀👀 side-eye ask-responses fics? Because they weren’t Christmas stories, so much as people sending those “inviting creators to share something in progress that they wanted to finish in 2019, but didn’t manage to” asks to me and me sharing snippets of WIPs. Eventually all of them will be completed fics and will be shared on the appropriate archives, but until then, they’re just sitting in my “In Progress” folder, waiting to be worked on.

As for you query about Dany, I’m very on the fence about her. Throughout the books and the early seasons of the TV show, she’s my least favourite character because she’s so far removed from all the other plotlines all the way over across the Narrow Sea. There are some sections in the middle where I quite liked her, and I confess that in Season 7, I was all for having her take over as Queen of Westeros.

Unfortunately, D & D ruined that. And though I can see WHY they had to play it that way from an author’s perspective (particularly since they’re not the original authors, essentially making the last couple of seasons a D & D version of fanfic, if you think about it), I didn’t like her by the end. She went too far (no matter how Cersei pushed her to get there) and honestly, she became too hell-bent on ruling the world. Early on, her acts of violence were all for the sake of rescuing the oppressed and championing freedom. She weeded out injustice and beat it back with fire and blood, and that was great. 

The continuity of that is where D & D (I beleive) were trying to take it all, but they forgot one uncomfortable thing.

When she overthrows the Khals, she rescues the men and women of the hoard and the vast number of peoples they enslave. When she overthrows the Masters of Pentos, she resuces the enslaved and downtrodden. When she overthrows the Salvers mutilating boys for their armies, she’s resucing future generations of boys from that fate. When she ‘overthrows’ Cersei, on the other hand, she rescues no one. She loses sight of doing it to protect the innocent and to help the down-trodden. Instead she roasts those very same innocent, frightened, downtrodden, terrified people of King’s Landing alive, and for what? 

Power. Revenge. 

There is a theme throughout her timeline that she defies those who look down on her and those who say no to her, and she does do ruthless things to the people who refuse to support her cause, but she was perceieved to temper it throughout those things as a champion for the weak because she herself had once been weak.

She loses sight of that when she faces Cersei. And in fairness, Cersei is a vicious cunt who deserverd far worse than was done to her throughout the series, but Dany lost it. The saying of the Targaryens being doomed to madness or greatness was supposed to fall on the line of greatness with her. Under her reign, I beleive Westeros could have been properous and happy. But D & D, just wanted to do a big scene with the dragon(s) I think. 

And okay, yes, being traded to the Dothraki for their army and treated like a common whore by Viserys made her brittle, and losing Khal Drogo hurt her deeply. Losing Viserion to the Night King, and Rhaegal to something so stupid as a lance in broad daylight when the beast could literally have flown in any direction to dodge it was just dumb. That broke her, I think. To couple it with the ‘betrayal’ of Jon’s true origins and the threat he then posed to her rule, and then losing Missandei to Cersei’s bitchiness definitely pushed her over the edge, I think. All of these things would certainly have fucked with her mental health, and it’s not unreasonable to state that she could’ve slipped into madness.

Which I suppose, is the point, in the end, isn’t it? She becomes the very monster she slayed so many times for the sake of her people, and she acts in the ways she has always done when the people in between her and her throne won’t bend the knee, and give her what she wants. The only thing that changes is that she loses sight of who is an enemy, and who is just a helpless victim.

And I empthaize with that. The longer you spend as a survivor, the less you recall the days of only being a victim. The longer you spend rising above your trauma, the less patience you have for those wallowing in their own. It becomes easy to forget that those other victims are scared and helpless and suffering, when you want them or need them to be strong, and brave, and valiant. By the time Dany reaches King’s Landing, most of her army is destroyed. Two of three dragons dead, her lover a traitor (and her nephew, ewwww) her friend captured and killed, and so all of these things could and probably should have broken her again, like the crying, broken, helpless girl who let herself be sold for an army, and raped like a helpless female dog. 

Throughout the series we watch her overcome the early trauma, and we watch the way she learns to solider on in the face of new traumas, too. They’re hurting. They’re like limbs being hacked off, I’d imagine, but she’s got to go on. She doesn’t have the luxury of breaking down in tears. She is Khaleesi. The Unburnt. The Breaker of Chains. She can’t just crumple. She’s got an army at her back relying on her strength and her guidance. 

She’s toughened, maybe a little dead inside by the end after all she loses.

So she has no patience for those victims still in the early stages of their trauma journey. The small folk of King’s Landing know suffering under Cersei, but they’ve seen everyone else who stood up to the Lannisters decimated in one way or another. Ned, beheaded. Renly, slain. Robb, beheaded. Catelyn, slain. Stannis, slain. The Tyrells, murdered. All three of Cersei’s children were killed, too, but just like Dany, she soldiered on. When all the other contenders have fallen beneath the mighty paws of the Lannister tyranny, what indiciation did any of them have that Dany would be any different? What else could they do, but follow orders or be beaten to death? Die on the outside of the gates by the hand of people claiming they want to protect you, or follow orders and scurry inside, beleiving that once again, the Lannisters will be the victors?

But Dany didn’t consider any of that, because everyone else she liberated hadn’t lived through battle after battle, war after war, watching their oppressors win. The Unsullied knew only how to follow orders, and being sold to a new Master meant doing only what they were told. The enslaved rose up against the masters because before Dany, only individuals had tried to fight back, not entire armies. When you are downtrodden and someone says, “Hey, if we all rise up, we can win” and it’s the first time anyone has tried, you are filled with naive hope and courage.

But the people of King’s Landing aren’t naive and courageous. They’d seen 5 kings rise and fall at the feet of the Lannister Queen, 6 if you count King Robert. Already, many had tried to rise up and overthrow her, and already all had failed. A new queen riding in, even on the back of a dragon, wasn’t enough to rouse them from their hard-learned slavery and acceptance. No one else had won before, so better to avoid trying again. Dany’s lack of understanding for that scenario - her unwillingness to heed what Varys and Tyrion tried to tell her to educate her about the way things worked in Westerous compared to Braavos - is ultimately what made her the monster she died as.

She refused to recall that others weren’t as brave as her; weren’t as hard-hearted as her; and she refused to recognize that the people she sought to ‘free’ had already been ‘freed’ five times over, at least, and still their tyrant queen stood tall. Dany’s impatience and her anger got the better of her thanks to the suppressed agonies she endured, and her unwillingness to see reason and understand that this time, things had to be different, was ultimately why she jumped into the role of brutal overlord doomed to die. 

I suppose, too, that when you flip the coin for madness or greatness, with only 2 Targaryens left on earth, you have to pick on, don’t you? Viserys was the mad one, and Dany the great one, but then Jon came along, and you flip it again, and to stay true to Jon’s nature throughout everything else, he must be the great one, so Dany has to be the mad one. 

So I suppose, in answer to your question on my thoughts about Danerys,  I’m... disappointed. She’s brave and brilliant and courageous in all she faces until excessive trauma makes her angry, makes her sloppy, and makes her foolish. She tries what she’s tried before and when it doesn’t work as it has every time before she throws a tantrum vile enough to end the world and to seal her fate, once and for all. I tolerated her until I liked her, and then I liked her until I didn’t. Now, I think of her as a tragic plot piece used, ultimately, to chart the course of valiant saviour to all right up until the Army of the Dead problem is resolved, a tool to batter down the walls without killing any more Starks in order to finally see Cersei dead once and for all, and then she’s tossed aside as being superfluous and in the way of the overall goal to see the Starks rise from the ashes of their destoryed family.

It’s hard to fathom in a tale with so many majoy players, but Jon Snow has always been the MAIN protagonist of the story; and everything else, including Dany, is all just circumstantial plot device to keep the story moving and to ultimately further Jon’s arc. That’s why he, alone, despite breaking every oath he took, and still trying to do what’s right, survives to the end, but gets no hero’s reward.

Based on what I know of G.R.R.M. from interviews he’s given and the overarching theme of this series as a whole, Dany’s end is fitting. You can’t stay a hero forever, you know? Eventually someone takes your hero’s crown or you become a tyrant to keep it, and someone else has to rise up and kill you, as you once rose up and slayed monsters, yourself. His whole schtick has always been that being a good person doesn’t mean you’ll get to live and doing the right thing for noble reasons will just get you killed sooner (Ned), but even those willing to do the wrong thing for the right reasons must pay their penance in the end. 

After all, valar morghulis.

[fitwithkimber]

Getting to Know Me.

Welcome to FitwithKimber!

Approximately a year ago I decided it was time to wake up and take control of my life. Meaning it was time to stop dwelling on the past and live for the present and future.

My story begins when sadly both of my parents passed away at the tail end of 2018 one tragic the other heartbreaking. This caused so much greif I had no clue what I was going to do next, and with the start of 2019 coming I was a complete mess. All I ever did was gett high or just never leave my bed when I didn’t have too. I couldn’t really function properly when I was sober and it was to the point I honestly did not want to be alive anymore. I ended up getting into a relationship with a man who was a really amazing guy but.. wrong timing and with where my mind was at I destoryed the relationship along with myself. Why you ask? because, I couldn’t be happy both parents died I didn’t deserve it, I didn’t deserve this amzing guy.. this life we were building or anything. I felt like a hollowshell everyday, managed to emotionally destroy the guy I was with and pushed away every other caring human being out of my life so I could just disappear. Until, someone came at the right time to stop the ultimate decision of... ending my life.

I was done, broken, I could not see a way out. But, you were there, you held on to the promise you made my father. You are my family and you kept your word, you made me see that there was still people who want me around and that even though I’m drowning in the deepest part of my mind, there is still someone willing to go in find me, grab my hand, and pull me out. So thank you. I can’t really begin to explain the amount of graditude I have towards you, as it is unending, I am so blessed to have you in my life as one of my closest firends. 

Some time after my lowest point I began to realize I gained weight, my eating habits were terrible, and I was just simply unhappy with myself. Which honestly was the moment I realized that “if I want to become someone who can help other, I need to be able to help myself first.” 

So with that I started my personal growth journey which inculdes my passion for fitness and living a healthy life style, along with learning to fall in love with myself; flaws and all. I am still currently working towards mentally accepting myself for who I am as an indiviual but, I can surely tell you I am proud of my accomplishments thus far, and I am so much more pumped up to see where my decision lead me. Along with finally being confident enough to finally speak out about everything that I have been through mentally and emotionally.

Which I guess finally brings us to now, I am finally stepping into a new chapter of my life and I could not be more thankful! Closing the door on all of my past stuff, all of my negative shit because I am done with all the negativity and all the hate that this world gives and I want to create a space, a brand, a moventment, a way of living that just lets you be whoever you want to be, because that’s the type of world I want to live in. 

That’s all for now Queens xoxo

[duhragonball]

Dragon Ball Z 261

Last time, Gotenks and Piccolo escaped the Hyperbolic Time Chamber, but not soon enough to prevent Majin Buu from turning everyone on the Lookout into chocolate and eating them.    Gotenks, now a Super Saiyan 3, is determined to avenge his mother(s), so you’d think he’d finally make some headway in this fight.  But not really.  He seems to be able to go toe-to-toe with Buu this way, but he’s not exactly dominating the guy.

At this point in the battle, Buu is using his elastic body to stretch and contort himself out of the path of Gotenks’ blows.   The first time I saw this, I wondered why he hadn’t done anything like this before, but now it’s clear to me that Buu never needed to before.   Until now, Gotenks’ punches and kicks weren’t even hurting the guy, so there was no need to dodge him at all.   The only thing SSJ1 Gotenks did that hurt Super Buu was the Super Ghost Kamikaze Attack, and even that wasn’t enough to put the guy down.  

Even now, I doubt Buu really needs to bother with this.  He’s just toying with Gotenks here.

Then Buu swings him down through the Lookout, and chases him through the hole he just made. 

Buu follows Gotenks to a lake on the Earth’s surface, and somehow Gotenks manages to sneak up on him, commando-style, which seems kind of odd considering how much power he must be putting out just to maintain SSJ3.

Then he busts out a new move: Brain Crush Hammer.   

This... cuts Buu in half, which is pretty cool, except it doesn’t exactly live up to the name “Brain Crush Hammer”.

Gotenks blasts both pieces with the “Finish Flash”, which I guess is like the Final Flash only he keeps his hands apart and fires in two different directions.  

From the Supreme Kai Planet, Goku, Kibito, and the Supreme Kai watch the battle in a crystal ball, and they’re all pleased with Gotenks’ performance.  Goku’s so high on the job he’s doing that he’s beginning to think Buu will be defeated before Gohan even gets a chance to fight.

This is especially frustrating to Gohan, because he has to sit here for 20 hours as part of the Elder Kai’s power-up spell, or whatever it’s called.   He’s got to be at like 19:57 by now, but he can’t watch the battle with his dad, and if he gets distracted, it’ll just take that much longer to finish the work.   On top of that, even the Elder Kai isn’t required to focus on this.   He’s been reading comic books this whole time.

Stop me if you’ve heard this one, but Gotenks did this big flashy move on Majin Buu, and he thought he had this in the bag, only for Buu to reassemble himself and turn the tables on him.  This is pretty much every fight Buu has been in.   The only difference is that stronger characters just manage to last longer, but the results don’t really change.

I think that’s kind of a problem with this guy.    It’s not as bad as Frieza, where people knew he was invincible, attacked him anyway, and then they were all surprised to see that he wasn’t even scratched.  It got old really fast, and that’s why I always get bored watching the Frieza Saga up to the part where Goku turns Super Saiyan.  

I’d suggest that this is part of the reason why I like the Saiyans and Androids better as villains.   We know the Saiyans are beatable, because Goku’s a Saiyan and he could be beaten, provided his opponent is strong enough.  The androids were presented as invincible, but #19 is the first one we see in action, and he gets beaten without a lot of trouble, so it offers a glimmer of hope that the stronger androids that follow have their own weaknesses.   

What makes Cell so awesome is that he’s eminently vulnerable.   He needs to feed on humans to get stronger, and then he’s dependent upon the androids to achieve his final form.  Even in his ultimate form, he still takes all sorts of hits, if only to show off his regeneration powers. He’s a daunting challenge, but there’s still lots of ways to attack him. 

WIth Buu, I think the idea is that no one really knows what they’re getting into when they fight this guy.   Dabura thought he was a joke, and even Babidi was worried when Dabura ran him through with a spear.  Except Buu could just regenerate and turn Dabura into a cookie.   Vegeta seemed to do better against Buu, almost lulling you into thinking he had a chance, but really, that fight was just a repeat of Dabura’s effort.  Vegeta could damage Buu, but Buu would just pull himself back together and keep fighting.  

This move right here that Gotenks is using is called the “Super Balloon Bomber”, but it’s basically just more exploding ghosts.   The SBB is simply Gotenks making thirteen ghosts all at once instead of making ten ghosts one at a time.  Also, he says these ghosts pack a bigger wallop when they blow up, which makes sense, considering Gotenks is at Super Saiyan 3 this time.   

And Buu can’t dodge these guys as easily as the last set, so maybe these ghosts are faster too.    Makes sense.

But the outcome is basically the same.    Buu gets blown up, but he can still pull himself back together.  

It irritates him whenever he has to do that, so I don’t know, maybe this is draining his stamina every time, but it sure doesn’t seem like it.   No one ever observes that Buu ki is getting slightly weaker.

And Gotenks is lulled into this false sense of security, because he did an impressive move on Buu, and even Buu is upset about it.  He thinks he’s winning, but when you get down to it, what did the Super Baloon Bomber accomplish that the Finish Flash didn’t? 

And this is why I have my doubts that Goku ever really stood a chance against Fat Buu back in episode 245.  He only thinks he might have been able to beat him, but all he really proved was that he could last longer against Buu than Vegeta did.   Just like Gotenks is proving that he can last longer than either of them.   But it doesn’t do any good to last longer if you can’t put the guy away.

Now, I’m pretty sure the whole fight down on Earth was filler.   If I recall correctly, Buu and Gotenks stayed on the Lookout the whole time until it was destroyed, but in the anime, Buu knocks him down to the ground, they fight there for a while, and then Buu shoots him back up to the Lookout, and they resume there.  But it’s hard for me to tell the difference, because the filler parts of the battle scenes fit almost seamlessly with the ones adapted from the manga.   It’s a simple formula. Hero does a big move, Buu either no-sells it or recovers a few seconds later.

Meanwhile, Piccolo’s been having a nervous breakdown over the Lookout getting destroyed by all this fighting.   It’s easy to lose sight of this, what with everything else getting trashed.   The world below is nearly deserted, most of the main cast is dead, and there’s really nothing stopping Buu from just blowing up the whole planet if he wants.   But the Lookout has been an institution on this show for years.    It’s pretty wild watching it get smashed to pieces like this.  It’s like Toriyama decided he would use the Buu arc to just tear down the entire world he had built over the past decade, and it’s awesome to watch it all fall apart.  Z stands for the end.

Meanwhile, Mr. Satan and Bee are still trudging through the wasteland.   Satan seems to think there should be people here, which I don’t understand, since this place looks like it would be deserted even before Buu showed up. 

Then they spot a city, and that boosts Mr. Satan’s spirits somewhat.    Surely, there must be survivors there.  

But no, this town might have been spared from Fat Buu, but Super Buu wiped out the population with the Human Extinction Attack.   Mr. Satan doesn’t realize that, because even though he saw the attack like everyone else, he never got hit, and he never saw anyone else get hit, so he doesn’t realize what it was intended to do.  

There’s something very tragic about how he calls out for a hero’s welcome.  We’ve seen before how much Mr. Satan’s self-esteem depends on his fame and celebrity.   He was terrified of being the runner-up in the 25th Budokai, for goodness’ sake.   Jewel was the runner-up in the 24th Budokai, and everyone seemed to love that dude, but it’s not enough for Mr. Satan.  Now, he’s stuck in a world where he can’t call upon his fame because all his fans are dead.  

But at least there’s food and water.   Satan loots a grocery store and gives Bee a dish of milk.  Not sure that’s good for dogs, but this is Dragon Ball Z, so who cares?   All those pterosaurs in this show have big fat bodies and tiny li’l wings and they can still fly.    Dogs drink milk here.

Satan still can’t figure any of this out.  He knows Buu was a decent person at heart, and yet he’s destoryed the entire world.    Why? It just doesn’t make sense.

Then they move on, and Satan sees Fat Buu in the clouds.   I don’t really buy into Satan/Buu slash, but I get why people do.  You could write a gay romance story about Batman wondering why Superman turned evil, and it would look a lot like this. 

Yeah, yeah, the Lookout’s destroyed.   I already covered that.    Why do some of the pieces float in mid-air, while others lie on the surface of the big piece that’s left?    How does anything in this world work?   Let’s move on.

Buu does this thing where he bends over backwards and grabs his ankles to make a ball, and then he starts crashing into the Lookout multiple times.  He’s supposed to be trying to hit Gotenks, but I think he’s more interested in breaking he Lookout down to pebbles. 

But that sets him up for Gotenks’ next move, which is...

OH COME ON, PICCOLO.   Do you really have to touch your forehead to do Special Beam Cannon?   You know how this works, so shut up and let him do his thing.

So Gotenks does “Continuous Super Donuts”, which is basically the same as the “Cosmic Halo” from a few episodes back, which made a ring around Buu that closed in on him.  Only this time, Gotenks makes multiple rings, which seal Buu up in a ball of ki energy.   But Gotenks knows he could bust out of this, so he plans to follow up with another move....

ULTRA BUU-BUU VOLLEYBALL.   Now, I know what you’re thinking, this is a lot like Tien’s Volleyball fist from the 22nd Tenkaichi Budokai.  We’ll you’re wrong, because...

DAMMIT PICCOLO STOP WHIMPERING ABOUT THE LOOKOUT AND HELP.

GOTENKS IS GOING TO PASS IT TO YOU, BECAUSE IT’S A TEAM ATTACK.   THERE’S NO “I” IN TEAM PICCOLO.   YES, THERE’S A “ME”, WE ALL HEARD THE TAYLOR SWIFT SONG, BUT THIS IS NO TIME TO BE TALKING ABOUT THAT.

LOOK, GOTENKS CAN ONLY STAY IN THIS FORM FOR A FEW MINUTES, AND IF BUU GETS OUT HE’LL KILL US ALL, PICCOLO.   WOULD YOU STOP THINKING ABOUT TAYLOR SWIFT FOR LIKE TWO SECONDS AND SAY YOUR LINE?

YES FINALLY THAT TOOK FOREVER WHAT ARE YOU DOING OUT HERE?

All right, so Piccolo sets the ball, and Gotenks spikes it down in to the earth, where it explodes and makes a huge hole.   That might have killed Buu, except Piccolo screwed up the timing so it was only 99.2% effective.

Piccolo yells at Gotenks to quit screwing around.  Yeah, you’re one to talk.

So Gotenks knows Buu survived that, and he taunts for him to come out and continue fighting.  He even says that he can’t stay in this form much longer, and it’ll take him an hour to re-fuse and do this again.  Why would you tell him that?

But Buu doesn’t show himself, and Gotenks wonders if that last attack really did finish him off.

I blame Piccolo for this.

[moonlitluca]

Same anon. How could I forget the ultimate KINK? Police Abbacchio. I would want him to cuff me up, treat me roughly until I break. Destory me in your police uniform Abbacchio. 👀👀💦💜

Anon holy fuck lmao

You guys are fucking awesome

[comicbookuniversity]

Ten Thoughts on Avengers: Infinity War

I’m writing this the day after my second viewing, but by the time you’re seeing this, I’m hoping the majority of you have seen this.

So if you haven’t seen it yet, SPOILERS.

1. This was easily one of Marvel’s better films. The scale of it all could have easily collapsed this into a mess, but McFeely, Markus, and the Russo Brothers kept this film moving along at an exciting and steady pace that built into an intense climax- insert sex pun. I loved this film and loved it more the second time around. I don’t think it was as good as Black Panther or Civil War, but neither of those films operate in the same way as this one. This film was a rollercoaster experience, and a fantastic one. I think this film has to be judged in a different manner, because even Black Panther and Civil War still operate by relatively conventional film standars. Infinity War is a different beast; one must be fluent in the language and conventions of the MCU to really understand it. There has never been another film quite like this; the closest examples don’t operate on the same scale. Never has it been more true to think of the MCU as the world’s biggest and most expensive TV show than it is when you’re watching Infinity War. I will need more time to think upon where it lands on my list of Best Marvel films.

2. Between this film and Ragnarok, Marvel has made an excellent case for Thor traveling around the stars in a similar to the Guardians of the Galaxy. I would love to see Thor and Valkyrie gather up a crew and bring the fight to whatever cosmic asshole is trying to threaten the innocents of the universe. They should be called the Thor Corps. I am surprised at how Thor had somehow become the protagonist after Thanos, if you don’t want to consider the bad guy the protagonist, even though he functionally is whether you like it or not. Until Ragnarok, Thor had been more muscle than heart, and when you consider how much more focus and success has been built out of the characters of and the relationship between Tony Stark and Steve Rogers, its surprising to think that Thor would be given so much screentime. It makes sense that he is the Avenger with the best chance of actually beating Thanos in single combat, but you don’t build stories around military tactics- you build them around emotional journeys. Thor has lost nearly everything, whereas Steve and Tony still have more to lose. When that is considered, it makes sense to focus on the building rage of a god while you build towards the ultimate loss of the great leaders of men. And Thor with his new hammer was freaking great.

3. I’ve seen a few critics argue that there were few characters arcs and that humor was used as a substitue. Plenty of great comedies have used humor as character work, and I think Infinity War also substantively used humor to efficently establish and advance character development in between the dramatic moments of the film from wherever the last time we saw them. This film had so many moving pieces to balance and it did so artfully.

4. Dr. Strange might have jumped significantly higher up my list of favorites thanks to Cumberbatch’s effective performance and the incredible fight sequences the movie utilized him in. Holy crap, you guys, Dr. Strange was fucking awesome in this film. Speaking of the weilder of the Time Stone, I decided to rewatch the Dr. Strange film the next night, and something occurred to me. I’m still debating whether this is just a common factor or a deciding influence, but I looked up the run times to all the Marvel films and had my hypothesis mostly confirmed. Generally speaking, the longer over 2 hours (including credits) the film goes, the better it has been recieved both financially and critically. This makes sense, because Marvel has even more time to develop all the relationships between characters; and the greater we are invested in these relationships, the greater the payoff. I think the Dr. Strange film would have been better if it had an extra 10-15 minutes to develop all the relationships at Kamar-Taj and a little extra for Rachel McAdams. I say only a little for McAdams, because I don’t think the film really needed that much more time in that arc since it was about him leaving her and the world she represents. My larger point is that Marvel should embrace two hours as the new minimum for their films.

5. Thanos is definitely one of Marvel’s better villains and that’s largely thanks to the brillaint performance of Josh Brolin, who commits to seeing and bringing the vulnerbility under all of Thanos’ power and evil plan. He’s still not Marvel’s greatest villain as that honor belongs to Killmonger, who will likely hold the honor until the next Black Panther film. Despite Thanos’ plan, Brolin, the writers, and directors of the film really give him certain amount of sympathy in seeing his commitment to his cause and the fear that ultimately drives him to act as he does. And it is fear that ultimately drives Thanos to act, because he sees the injustice in Life’s capacity for growth at the expense of the living. Thanos is someone who cannot and will not accept that Life is unjust and rages against this existintial condition with all his strength, and by the end of the film, the strength of the universe itself. But despite the great work of Brolin, what really helps Thanos is the sheer amount of screentime that the studio was willing to give him. With so many characters, many of of whom anchor their own franchises, it makes sense center the film on the least well-known character and force others to react to them, because it’s not about them in this moment. It’s all about their lives being interupted and forced to react to this almost natural disaster like situation, where winning doesn’t feel like an option and losing less feels like the only prudent mindset to have. Against the threat of Thanos, the superheroes are reminded of their own vulnerablity and mortality, and they feel more human than ever in this dark moment.

6. As introduced by Jonathan Hickman, my favorite members of the Black Order were Corvus Glaive and Proxima Midnight; look they all had wonderful names, Black Dwarf, Supergiant, Ebony Maw, and then they had the other name for their group- The Cull Obsidian. Damn those are wonderful freaking names, so I’m a little disappointed that the members of the Black Order didn’t even get named, outside of Thanos’ passing reference to Ebony Maw simply as “The Maw.” Also, this Ebony Maw has a different power set than his comic counterpart, but damn was he great; easily the creepiest and best member of the Black Order. Black Dwarf did have a weapon that kept changing into different modes that I thought was awesome. I wasn’t ever expecting them to be big and I was never certain if they would last beyond this film, but would it have added that much time for the Black Order to have gotten called by their names?

7. I thought Vision would have recieved a more significant arc in this than he did; Peter Quill did and all he did was lose his girlfriend, whereas Vision litterally has an Infinity Stone in his head and is willing to sacrafice his life to destory it. Vision spent most of his time being stabbed instead of being a hero. He would have made a good point of contrast to Doctor Strange; they’re each the weilders of Infinity Stones, but have radically different ideas of how deal with the stones when presented with the threat of Thanos. I guess it makes a certain amount of sense, due to the fact that he he is a Thor class fighter and that he hasn’t had much of a chance to develop as a character. To me, Vision is a low-key Superman figure of the MCU (or more accurately Martian Manhunter in direct compairson, but he’s just a more stoic version of Superman), and he suffers from the projections of Superman as tedious and boring figure being placed upon him. I think Vision suffers from the same problem that Star Trek does when compared to Star Wars; instead of treating the intellectual and philosophical pursuits with respect and excitement, the filmmakers assume that the audience is going to find it boring and treat it as boring instead of finding away to actually make it exciting. I think the best examples of the superhero genre are essentailly philosophical and ethical works that present the issues in a dynamic, colorful, and charming story, but because of what can be best called an attitude of anti-intellectualism based from ignorance, rather than something worse, the philosophy is often overlooked in favor of the simpler steps that would tie the character arcs and themes to larger philosophical concerns. I know it is not the most well liked of the MCU, but Vision’s scenes in Age of Ultron are some of the most earnestly poignant on the fragile beauty and duty of and to life itself. And these scenes also speak pretty directly to the core of Avengers philosophy, which has now been summed into a single line thanks to this film: “We don’t trade lives.” I just think Marvel missed an oppurtunity to really sell Vision as being more than a secondary figure and someone who is a product of the moral core of the MCU.

8. Considering how thoroughly representative of nearly every tone and narrative aspect of the MCU this film is, it only serves to highlight how underrepresented women and people of color are in the MCU. None of the Avengers or other characters who would typically hold franchises of their own are given nearly the same amount of screentime or material to work with in this film, because of it’s epic scope and the relatively simple nature of the conflict; but that being said, the women of the MCU are still given very little to do overall. They are supporting players while the men are off leading the charge or creating strategy that determines the fates of hundreds of trillions. The first person to die on screen is a black man, and there’s only one black man who is in a real position of power. Marvel still has trouble of thinking beyond America’s history of slavery and a segregated citizenery with African-Americans to see America’s other troubled relationships with national, ethnic, and religous groups and also give them some kind of positive representation. The only woman or person of color given a significant role similar to the signifcane of say Iron Man or Dr. Strange fighting Thanos on Titan is Scarlet Witch. This is a film where Scarlet Witch really gets to unleash her full power, and it’s seen in a tragic moment of where she is forced to kill her lover for the sake of the universe while holding back a nearly omnipotent being who defeated the Sorcerer Supreme just moments ago. Before I go on with this analysis, HOLY CRAP that’s kinda crazy to think how powerful she must really be, so I 1000% agree with Okoye when she asked why Scarlet Witch was not on the field of battle the whole time in Wakanda. Like, damn, she must be so powerful, so can we please get a film where Elizabeth Olsen is given more to do than play rookie and wear a sexy corest? And while there admittedly is a certain value to seeing her power arise from her love to Vision in this tragic moment, the fact that we have seen so very little of Wanda compared to her many male peers and her moment of great power is defined in part by her romantic relationship is not the most progressive choice. Had we had more time with Wanda in previous films, I don’t think I would find this choice as anything other than a sad moment in a star-crossed relationship, but because she has had so little time by comparison (and even without comparison) to her male counterparts this moment loses a little bit of the power it could have had as a symbol of female power equaling male power.

9. I’ve seen a few people complain about how the drama and value of the deaths of half the universe is undercut by the knowledge that these characters will be back in their own films within the next year or two. But I call bullshit on this complaint because it is based in cynicism and ignorance. There are three parts to this complaint: the first two problems are tied together in that the characters don’t know they’re going to come back, so if the film had botched its execution of setting up the emotional beats in this film to continue and progress our attachment to the characters, then it would have all fallen apart. But the film didn’t botch it, every line and edit is proposeful and effective in engaging and reminding us of why we love these characters in the first place, so since the film was executed well, we can sympathize and empathize with the characters in their sadness and shock at all these deaths. Second, even if we didn’t know from announcements made by Marvel or somehow guess from Marvel’s previous works that these characters would be coming back, the film establishes that its not over. Dr. Strange clearly knows what is going to happen (or at least something extremely close to the victory he searched for in all the possible futures). And even if Dr. Strange didn’t know, do we really believe these characters who we just watched try so valiently to fight Thanos from achieving his goal would allow him to go unpunished for his crime? Let’s assume for a split secon that there is not some way to fix what Thanos did, do we really believe that the film would spend so much time on all these different characters for it to just end on the one guy sitting on a hill when all their emotional threads are just left unfinished? The answer to all of these scenarios is no. There was never a version of this film that was a single part or the final film; this is clearly the first half of a story, so the audience value of all the deaths comes from thinking about and then later finding out how it all be fixed to as much as the heroes can fix it. People who compalin about the deaths as having no value or drama are just being babies about having to wait.

10. After having seen this twice and considering how well Marvel has been doing since the release of Civil War, I really think Marvel has found it’s groove and I am so excited for the future. While I would understand if they want time to do other projects, I would hope that the Russo Brothers, Stephen McFeely, and Christopher Markus always have one hand on driving the MCU. Feige has been there since the begining, but I feel like working with these four has really helped him focus overall and loosen his grip to trust the filmmakers he hires to execute their visions within the MCU. Gunn, Watts, Waititi, and Coogler all breathed new life into Marvel with their style and emotional honesty, and it’s this trend Marvel should continue to follow if they want to keep their success going. Infinity War is representative of many of the best elements of Marvel, and everyone involed in it should be proud of the work they’ve accomplished with it. That being said, Marvel still has progress that needs to be made, and it looks like it is going to be able to effectively do this by closing one chapter of the MCU and starting the next. I am so very excited for the journey we’ve all got ahead of us.

[blacklister214]

The Last Jedi: AKA The Story of People Making Questionable Decisions

The Last Jedi Spoilers Below!!!! Also note that some of these decisions were made well before the Last Jedi, but we learned about them this movie, so it still counts.

1) Luke not giving a **** about Snoke and Ben’s growing darkness when he was being trained. Luke himself says he sensed Ben’s darkness growing, but he chose not to thoroughly investigate until it the kid was a hair trigger from murdering all his fellow students. Apparently this darkness was Snoke’s influence, so a few questions a little earlier and a stranger danger lecture, might have solved quite a lot of problems. Personally if some psycho was trying to corrupt my super-powerful nephew, I might send the kid back to his parents’ loving arms and take out said psycho before resuming his training. Certainly seems smarter than waiting until the kid’s asleep, and then looking into his mind. I don’t care what Luke says about turning on that light-saber in a moment of instinct. Sneaking into Ben’s room, armed, in the middle of night, smacks of some premeditation to me.  

2) Luke’s retreating to the Island after his big mistake with Ben. Following Yoda’s tradition of Jedi Masters disowning personal responsibility for their screw-ups, instead of trying to do something about the Sith lord who turned Ben. This move doesn’t make a ton of sense. Since he had no intention of training more Jedi, and claims he wanted to die, why not at least try to take out some Sith while he was doing it? Clean up your own mess, Luke.

3) Purple haired Lady not sharing the plan with the Resistance fighters.  Why not prevent panicky potential deserters by assuring people there was a plan in place? Even if you can’t share specifics because of the possible First Order spies, give these people some reason to suspect they might survive this. I don’t blame Poe for thinking the woman was full of it. Leia smug little “well she wasn’t concerned with looking like a hero”, didn’t sway me. She should have been a little conscious of the potential for mutiny when she appeared to be talking out of her ass...Just saying. 

4) Poe, Rose, and Finn not sharing their plan with Purple haired Lady. Why wouldn’t she have okayed this plan, at least as a contingency option? How many times has a small band of rebels on a crazy mission been critical to the survival for the resistance? It’s not like Finn and Rose were needed elsewhere, or that they couldn’t afford to spare one shuttle.

5) Finn and Rose ignoring the meter maids for no good reason. The beach wasn’t even that close to the casino. Why couldn’t they have just move the shuttle to where they were directed when it became clearly they weren’t getting away landing there? The casino people didn’t seemed to have an issue with the underdressed crashers being in their building. Why then would they give Rose and Finn trouble when it came to parking. The illegal parking ultimately cost them a ton of time, not to mention their shuttle. I know they are rebels, but sometimes it is wiser to play by the rules.

6) Rose stopping Finn from taking out the blaster cannon, then trying to sell it as a winning strategy. The idea was they needed to buy time for help to come, or else everyone was going to die. To buy that time they needed to destory the blaster cannon. Finn’s actions had merit, sacrifice for the greater good. If not for Luke’s showing up, Rose’s actions would have doomed everyone, including Finn.   

7) Luke not straight up telling everyone that he was stalling for time. Why leave them to puzzle this out for themselves? Clearly the rebels aren’t that bright...