#we didn't even get an Omega cameo...

[theprinceandthewitch]

When Sonic said Shadow had no friends I was SHOCKED because like.... bro why is this show trying to gaslight me into thinking Rouge isn't one of his friends?? 😭

[thankskenpenders]

After a recent interview where Iizuka said it was possible for IDW characters to show up in the games, I've seen some discussion about how the characters need to be introduced "the right way" for people who don't read the comics. And, like, this is obviously true to some extent. You want to convey why people unfamiliar with them should care about these characters, instead of just assuming everyone already knows who they are and their whole backstories and everything. (Anyone who's watched Disney+ Star Wars already has some easy examples of times where they were like "you guys already know this character from the cartoons, right?" and casual fans were completely lost.) But I think people are overestimating how much work this would actually take, especially people who argue that the characters need full-blown reintroductions in the games that depict their backstories all over again and treat them as characters Sonic doesn't already know

I think it's easy to forget that not everyone who plays Sonic games has played every Sonic game. Kids especially. Every single major recurring character in the games debuted before today's generation of Sonic kids was born, and as such every new game is someone's introduction to those characters. The games with the introductions for the Chaotix, Blaze, Silver, Omega, Cream, the Babylon Rogues, Fang, Mighty, Ray, etc. are straight up not available at all on modern hardware without resorting to emulation. To many people picking up Team Sonic Racing or Mania or whatever, those characters are already some random characters Sonic apparently already knows from some previous story. These are not things that every single person who picks up a new Sonic game is intimately familiar with. And yet the games don't feel the need to stop and recount their entire backstories every time they appear.

Also, like, even if you have played every single game, Sonic already has a long history of introducing new characters with little to no fanfare, often treating them as characters Sonic has already met. Core characters like Tails, Amy, and Metal Sonic were really just dropped into Genesis era sequels with no explanation for people who didn't read the manual (i.e.: most players). Sonic has a kid sidekick and a girl who has a crush on him and a robot duplicate now, just roll with it. The modern era would continue to do this with characters like the reimagined Team Chaotix, or Orbot and Cubot, who just appeared in the games one day with no setup. We got along just fine.

(This is to say nothing of the nature of the creative medium the IDW characters originate from, where every new comic arc is treated as somebody's first and supporting characters are periodically given reintroductions to get newer readers up to speed. We've been over Whisper's backstory multiple times now.)

Again, obviously I do want characters like Tangle, Whisper, and Surge to show up in the games with compelling introductions that do the characters justice, but I think people are overthinking how much effort that actually takes. You do not need a whole elaborate adaptation of Whisper and Surge's backstories in the games just for them to have a cameo. You can have Sonic already know them, and if the details are even relevant you can convey that stuff in other ways - brief exposition in the dialogue, context clues, in-game character bios, new stories that showcase their important character traits without 1:1 recreating the stories that have already been told, out-of-game promotional videos and animated shorts like the ones they did to get people up to speed on who the hell Fang is, etc. This is pretty basic stuff when writing for a long-running multimedia franchise.

[lornaka]

Some TBB s3 trailer reactions/thoughts

If you follow me on twitter/IG you probably saw these already

First of all, FEBRUARY 21???? SO SOON. I'M NOT READY TO SAY GOODBYE WHEN IT ENDS AAAA

Secondly, CROSSHAIR. They kept Crosshair's old armor, even as they had to lose and repurpose and probably sell parts of their own kits while surviving.. they kept his armor intact NOBODY TOUCH ME.

As I thought, it seems Hunter and co will reunite with Omega and Cross in the premiere. This isn't surprising bc I couldn't imagine Omega being in captivity for long, she is the central kid character and has to be in the thick of all their adventures.

Re: Tech. I know in my heart that Tech is alive but tbh I'm one of the few people who doesn't want the brainwashed Imperial Tech plotline bc it feels redundant at this point, we already had Echo and Cross as victim of experiments/brainwashing.

Mostly I'm just tired of seeing clone characters getting stripped of their agency to a ridiculous degree when it's not necessary for their character development at all, at some point it starts to feel like angst for angst's sake bad fanfiction style. I just want to see him being his capable self, not another victim in distress.. Combined with how a portion of this fandom has a tendency to infantilize him, I'm feeling some level of trepidation if Imp!Tech is indeed where this is going. But I ofc will take any scenario where he is alive > any scenario where he is dead. The family must be complete :< So while I have my reservations, I'm totally open to seeing whatever they have cooked up and reserve all judgement until I get to experience the story as it's told. I'm just cautious about this particular possibility bc I keep seeing fandom folk clamouring for it. As for THAT character cameo... God I so wish this means that godawful book was yeeted from the canon once and for all. This is a Dark Disciple hater household, sorry to those who liked it for whatever reason. I have nothing against Vos as his own character, but Ventress didn't deserve an ending THAT shitty so please keep her away from that bullshit.. please.. I'm so happy to see her again ;_; and I'm so happy that the big cameo wasn't Ahsoka lmao I would've thrown something. Anyway aGHHH I'm overflowing with emotion rn I love that show sm!! *cracks knuckles* opens up a folder of wips from almost a year ago titled "Crosshugs"

UPD. So apparently DD is still canon. So let me get this right.. TBB s3 is supposedly aligned with DD being kept canon.. but DD takes place before order 66?? Does it mean that Asajj faked her death to get the jedi to leave her alone lmao literally being "the reports of my death were greatly exaggerated". I get it girl I would've faked my death too to get out of a toxic relationship.

[morethansky]

***TBB SPOILERS***

My primary takeaway from these last six episodes is that Hunter and Crosshair ARE SO MARRIED OH MY GOD. They do everything together, even little chores.

And my Crosshair-is-Hunter's-second agenda continues to thrive; since their reunion, Hunter has hardly made a decision without checking with Crosshair first.

The way I cackled at Crosshair looking up at a ship careening in the sky and being all put upon: "Uh-huh. That's the idiot I married. Unfortunately."

And then the way he hurriedly reached for his binocs when they saw the ship crash, and how the camera lingers on him to show his relief, sob. I see you and thank you for your service, shippers on the crew.

Finally a glimpse of the cadets! Thinking about them tasting ice cream for the first time makes me want to cry. How many clones have never tasted it...

I like that "Identity Crisis" was like a mirror of "Confined," but I think it could have been 15 minutes. To be fair to them, I feel this way about like 75% of the franchise.

So we were all very wrong about what was in the Vault. What was Palpatine even going in there for, honestly. I do quite like this foreshadowing of the Inquisitorius though.

The ominous hint about Emerie's past is interesting. Is the implication that Nala Se took Omega under her wing and abandoned the rest of the Omega clones? Like Jango, I guess.

I love that Tarkin's cameos are all about funding. Something about the Imps squabbling over government spending just delights me. I wonder if the end of that conversation actually means he's not going to be killed by the clones but by Palpatine instead? That'd be kind of disappointing tbh.

Hilarious to me that Fennec got an entire episode and Cad Bane got like two minutes of screentime. Like Asajj, he knows when to stay out of the plot. They did my boy Todo justice though, love that dumb droid.

I, a plushie enthusiast, approve of how this is adamantly a pro-plushie show. But how am I supposed to believe that Omega, who missed Lula so much she effectively cloned her, was just going to leave her there??? I guess that whole scene was just a way to remove her and the goggles from the ship before it exploded.

I'm in the middle of writing like five different Tech/Wrecker whump fics and even I wouldn't have written CX-2 effectively shooting Wrecker. My heart!!!

I was so worried about Gonky. Glad he's okay.

"Point of No Return" needed 15 more minutes, actually. I continually find it so jarring how quickly this show breezes through reactions. It would've been nice to see at least a little more from the Batch at the sight of their ship being blown up.

That ending...was not for me. Crosshair missing that shot after he was given an entire episode to figure out what was wrong and meditate is such a frustrating choice. What even is going to be the arc here? Is it really going to be him abandoning his weapon entirely? That should be an upswing in the plot, but at this point it'd be more believable for him to be like, "Man, fuck this, I'm over it," lmao.

I'm glad Omega at least chose to get captured. Everyone knows I've been pissed about the anti-heroic messaging of this show from the start, and given how afraid I was that they would just abandon the other clones, I'm very relieved Omega's had this arc of worrying about them. But it's so silly to retread this line of plot after the three kickass episodes covering this exact thing. These next episodes are absolutely about to be messy af, and it's a bummer how it'll take away from the impressive clarity of the first three.

Why does this show keep cutting the titular team off at the knees?? Seems like Omega will probably work with Emerie and Nala Se to contact the Batch and Echo/Rex with the coordinates, but that will mean that Hunter's group will once again be lost and searching in the meantime. And they didn't even get to find her the first time!

Truly the quintessential fandom show. Half of it makes me tear my hair out in frustration and the other half makes me shriek in delight.

[lunarspiral1127]

Alright, now let's actually talk about X-Men 97 episode 9 *SPOILERS ALSO SOME RANTING INCOMING*

The results of Magneto's worldwide blackout

Uh, I think Magneto's omega level moment to stop the Prime Sentinels and the Spider-Man cameo got me distracted on what his EMP also did to the world, which is not good.

Yeah, so thousands have died because of this, mutants are being hunted down more than ever, and the world's gonna end in less than 12 hours. So....Magneto made things worse for everybody, mutants and humans.....god dammit.

So, because of this Magneto is also something to deal with as well as Bastion (even though this was all Bastion's fault and the mastermind behind everything, including the massacre, but okay 😒). This means he's back to being an enemy, which I don't like. He was doing good as a protagonist, and just for him to revert back to being an antagonist again?! I mean, I get why, I just don't like it. Even when, again, BASTION IS RIGHT THERE!!! *sigh* I guess with the time limit, they gotta deal with both of them and fix Earth.

Asteroid M again? Didn't Magneto try this before back in the previous show, and it backfired? In fact, he only recruited two others, which I'll get to later. Why isn't he saving more of his kind and bring them to Asteroid M? Maybe he just started and went to the X-Men first before going to find and rescue other mutants Yeah, as you can tell, I'm liking where this is going for Magneto.

Storm and Forge

THANK GOD SHE'S BACK! AND SHE'S BACK IN THE INTRO WITH HER BLACK OUTFIT TOO, I MISSED HER SO MUCH! 😭

Jubilee and Jean hugging her at different times was so nice. And, Beast and Forge greeting each other was nice too. Gotta cling to the good moments cause things get bad....REAL BAD.

More of Storm and Jean's sisterhood which was sweet. But, did they let her know about Nate being Cable and that it was Madelyn, a clone, that she interacted with during that timeskip before she left? Cause I feel like Storm needs to know about that.

As bummed out as I was that the two wouldn't confront either Sinister or Bastion, I do understand why. Storm's powers are great for taking out multiple targets, and we do need more moments with the two.

I don't believe their dead. It'll be total bullcrap for the two to reunite with the others as well as them caring for each other, just for them to die like that. So, yeah, they'll be fine.....they freaking better.

Still wish Forge contacted the rest of X-Factor to have a big team up and get some extra help.

More classic outfits

I do like some of them, like Storm's, Rogue's, Cyclop's (although, I'll miss seeing his hair), and Wolverine's brown and yellow.

However, I'm not a fan of Jean's Marvel Girl outfit. I like her 90s outfit that she had before better.

Also, Morph's outfit is just the yellow and blue but with big shoulder pads....why?

So, Roberto's a member of the X-Men now? So, he got an outfit too, but I wish we could've seen the buildup for him being a member. Last time I checked, he wasn't interested in being a member, but still hung out with Jubilee and became his boyfriend. The outfit's not bad, but it doesn't feel like it's been earned.

Xavier

*sigh* I'm probably the only one here that feels bad for the professor. But, I also feel like it could've been handled better. Have Xavier actually stay in contact with them while away. Have him still be recovering but still too sick to go back home. Hell, have him be in a coma! Many things in this show could've been done to give Xavier more of a reason why he wasn't there during that year time-skip instead of the black hole excuse.

Now, things are tense between him and Scott because he picked Magneto to lead the team. Okay, Magneto was doing fine, he was just more strict is all. Plus, I thought we were done with the distrust of Magneto after episode two.

Even Rogue is mad at him, which I get why. And, Magneto won't listen to him, which again, I also get why. I just where all this conflict is gonna lead to in the finale.

Rogue and Sunspot

So, those two chose Magneto, and not gonna lie, I got upset with that. When she was talking about leading the mutants at Genosha, I thought she rejected the offer back in episode 5, so I didn't understand what she meant by that. I get that she doesn't want to see more mutants die, but they're dying anyway and more are gonna die. I get that she's pissed at what happened, and she still has that anger and grief over what happened to Gambit, but when all this is done, where is she gonna go? Back to the X-Men? That is if there's still a team left.

Roberto.....okay, I get why he sided with Magneto, and I'm trying to like this version of Sunspot. But, I'm sorry, but I couldn't. Not after hurting Jubilee like that. Her being there for him wasn't enough after everything that happened wasn't enough. Plus, he has no idea what he's getting himself into. He's new to all this, he has no idea what Magneto has done or what he's capable of. So I was okay with Jubilee fighting back.

Rogue's choice made Nightcrawler sad....I hate seeing that precious blue elf devil man being sad. Thank god, we didn't have those two fight, otherwise, I'd be more upset. But, it was sad seeing her fight Wolverine cause the two are friends.

Also, she was wearing Gambit's coat....why does this show keep hurting so much?

Gold Team vs. Bastion and Sinister

So, Bastion really did love his mother. At least they kept that part of his backstory in this. I don't think she's dead, cause the Prime Sentinels should be alive, just not working. But, what happened to his father? Did his dad die? I've been noticing a lack of dads in the show aside from Scott.

Hulk cameo.

The fight scenes were really good. Especially Sinister vs. Jean. She was so bad@$$ in that fight. Although, I thought Morph was gonna confront Sinister too due to what he did to Morph. But, this is the Summers' family moment.

When did Sinister get control over Cable?! Well, apparently he did, and now he's forced to fight his kinda sorta other mom? At least we got to see his mutant power again.

Is Jean gonna die? Again? Cause, she and Scott are back in good terms in their relationship.

Well, the plan kinda backfired, but there's still a chance to turn it around in the finale.

Blue Team vs. Magneto

Okay, I know that Xavier tried to talk to him, but words ain't gonna reach Magneto anymore. Although, I did laugh when Magneto told him to shut up.

Cyclops disobeying Xavier's orders. Is that the first time that ever happened? Cause damn.

Not gonna lie, I thought Wolverine succeeded in killing Magneto. But, he probably should've kept stabbing and slashing or go for a more vital area. Maybe then Wolverine wouldn't have gotten....that at the end.

Yeah, the end....how freaking dare you do this to Logan! His adamantine ripped out of his body! He still has his skeleton, but to do that to him?! Just....WHY?!?!?!

I know this happened in Fatal Attractions in the comics, but it doesn't mean I wanted it to happen to him in the show! I feel so bad for Logan.

Also, WHY DID YOU BRING THE GUY WITH METAL IN HIS BODY TO FIGHT A GUY WHO CAN MANIPULATE METAL?!?!?! Did it ever come across their minds that this would've been a bad idea? I know that the writers want this comic moment to happen, but come on! Logan should've been with the gold team!

I think that's all I got at the moment. I made a post of potential outcomes for the finale from the comics at the result of what happened to Logan. And, I'm dreading what might come to fruition. As for the stuff with Bastion and Sinister, they gotta turn things around for that one. But, I'm worried that the finale will lead to a dark end instead of a hopeful one. The finale will have to make it or break it for me, cause I love X-Men and all this conflict and stuff is just hurting so much. I still like the show, and it's way WAY better than the What If series in the MCU. But, we'll have to see what happens next week.

[soaps-mohawk]

I honestly wouldn’t mind having a second omega if we get to be a power couple and torture all the boys with how cute and sexy we are tbh.

Would also love to see how the reader handles seeing the omega from the place again

Happy? Nervous? Excited?

Would love to see what you would do with it

(But im also selfish and would be iffy at dirst but it sounds like a cool idea)

That's basically the concept of my idea that involves two omegas 😂

I'm going to use your ask to explain that idea finally lol. I didn't nap but I am more awake now than I was lol.

But essentially, that idea exists sort of in a world like the one in CRCB, except the CIA is less involved and it's just more governments that require omegas to join the omega initiative and it's not exclusive to military, it's more just widespread in general packs are required to register and omegas get assigned based on things like personality tests, skills, temperament, etc. This fic would focus more on the opposite end of things, though, as the main omega would not be an institute trained omega.

Basically, TF141 already has an omega at the time the fic starts. She's institute trained (not the reader from CRCB though, would be an OC), and bonded and claimed by Price and Gaz. The fic would focus more on Simon and Johnny because Simon likes Price's omega but just isn't feeling it. Of course, the imbalance is starting to cause some tension within the pack, even if they don't mean for it to. That's a big no no, so Laswell does some digging for them and finds who she thinks is the perfect omega for Simon and Johnny and thus enters the reader.

I don't have much decided on as far as the reader's backstory goes (I'm trying not to entertain this idea too much yet lol) but she didn't attend an institute. So, she gets to go get her life upended and live on base with a bunch of crusty stinky military dudes (i'm kidding...mostly...) and of course there's some adjusting and tension and angst and sweet bonding with everyone. (again, I haven't thought much into the details on this one) But, eventually, the omegas kind of band together since they're in the same boat and they're together and alone a lot of the time while the guys train and are sent out on assignments and such.

Of course we get that sweet wlw goodness in there and it's kind of borrowing a lot from that line in CRCB where the reader remarks that some alphas like to watch omegas together 👀

Probably would be a lot spicier than CRCB has ended up being. Of course there will be angst (it's Ghost what do you expect lmaoo) and drama and probably a lot of tears but yeah. That's the basis of that idea.

Switching gears here, I have played around with the idea of bringing the other omega in for a cameo or something, but I wouldn't bring her in for like a full time kind of situation, a second omega type thing or anything like that. As much as my heart years for some wlw representation, I'm leaving it as just being something that happened in the past and focusing on just the reader and the guys cause I know that's what people have come into the fic expecting.

[tootalltech]

tbb s3 review

okay. now that i've gotten a full nine hours of sleep and am probably a bit more coherent, i'm going to give a post summarizing all my final thoughts on season 3 of the bad batch. bc while i am annoyed about the way things were handled with tech, there were absolutely parts of the season i enjoyed as well.

i LOVE royce hemlock as an antagonist and i have since he first appeared. this season continued to show just how far he's willing to go and how completely removed from any empathy or compassion he really is- all hidden behind a cold, calm, scientific front. he ties very nicely into the overarching theme of dehumanization in this show, whether with the clones or the force-sensitive kids he captured. all in all, he's very evil and very cool and i didn't dislike anything they did with him. not even his death (bc get fucked poison boy and also he died about the same way tech did which was very much deserved). 10/10 no notes.

on the subject of tech's death though. it was very frustrating to me that they didn't show crosshair finding out. i feel like it's still very unclear when he even did; i was questioning if he knew or not by maybe the 3rd or 4th episode based off the exchange between him and omega about tech having her memorize all the plans. crosshair discovering he's dead could have been a good moment between him and omega, it could have been a good moment where we get to see just how much he misses his brothers and feels bad about everything if he somehow finds out alone while still imprisoned at tantiss, it could have been a good moment between him and HUNTER if it was discovered before they worked things out a bit more and it would have been a bigger catalyst for their fighting in "the return", etc etc etc. i don't think there was any good reason to just have crosshair find out at some point offscreen. that is his brother.

i thought the cameos from characters we've seen in earlier seasons were generally cool. fennec shand showing up pretty much made sense seeing as the batch already kinda knew of her so i thought that one was fun. cad bane seemed a LITTLE unnecessary (like it could've been another bounty hunter and nothing would have changed) but i didn't hate it. ventress was cool i'm glad omega has a new lesbian aunt and i thought it was funny when the batch decided they were gonna try and fight her because that was SO OBVIOUSLY not going to end well for them.

and then doing a separate thing for other clones bc thats really its own category. i loved seeing howzer again i missed howzer <3 rex is always a winner. wolffe's thing was cool although i feel like he's going to die now? like. if anyone ever found out that he just let them go. yk? and then we got to see gregor for like .2 seconds but whatever. in true tbb fashion the only other named reg clones on the batch's side that we met died or were never seen again within 1-2 episodes. which is fine. it is called the bad batch. no matter how much it functions more as a tcw sequel show...

speaking of the tbb/tcw world though. echo. is just. i don't understand why they make the choices they make with him. him helping rex makes sense, but he also has a good dynamic with the bad batch (especially tech honestly) and he's a part of their squad? like. this is really more of a renewed complaint from season 2 because it continued into this season but. why have him join clone force 99 if he's then going to leave again and just kind of exist in the background occasionally halfway through the clone force 99 show? i wish we saw more of him in season 3. especially after they lost tech, i feel like there was a way writing-wise to have him be with them more. if some corny "we need to stick together" shit is what it takes then so be it. BECAUSE THEY DO.

i'll go back to antagonists now. I LOVED THE ENTIRE PLOT LINE WITH RAMPART. for one thing, the beard looked GOOD on him. he was a dramatic bitch the entire time he was with the batch and his dynamic with them was hilarious. like hemlock, he died in a very deserved way, although i did see someone else say that his death didn't really make sense and i'm... inclined to agree. like, nala se isn't ever going to be redeemed in many fans' eyes and i don't think what they did with her in the finale was going to cut it. and rampart. GET OUT OF THERE DUDE. why would he be so interested in that data all of a sudden? especially given that he famously DOES NOT LIKE CLONES. why would he care? i know he wanted to bargain with the empire, but come on, that would never work and was a pretty stupid idea. it really did just seem like a moderately lazy way to try and show nala se doing something good while killing a villain in the process. i have no qualms with rampart dying, but why not have him die as a result of like. refusing to side with the clones or something? that would make more sense than him making a really dumb decision when he's supposed to be a smart guy. he didn't make it to vice admiral on looks alone remember!

and now for the cx-2/tech rant. i might make this into its own post, but for now what i'll say is that it simply would've made so much sense to have that goddamn operative clone be tech. we never saw his body. hemlock literally taunted the batch about this, which is SO something he would do if he HAD TECH. hemlock had a very hard-to-kick habit of doing weird science fuckery which would ABSOLUTELY lead to him trying to make tech into one of his operatives if he had him. we already know that the clones he tried to condition into being his operatives with this deep-cover program did not have to be willing to do it at all, because he tried it with crosshair. and we know that if the conditioning took, the clones would "come out different", so it would make PERFECT sense for tech to BE CX-2 and have no qualms whatsoever about hurting his old squad and a kind of different voice. like, look what happened to crosshair's hand. there are clearly physical side effects, and the process didn't even work on him. there were also tons of similarities between tech and cx-2 in my opinion, and all in all it just would've been a good choice narratively. he even could've stayed dead! like i said. i'll make a separate post.

finally, i feel like i should devote some rambling to tantiss, crosshair, hunter, wrecker, and omega. in the same way that i liked hemlock, i thought most of the choices with tantiss and the connections to omega were very cool this season. i think they handled crosshair coming back decently although it could've been a little more fleshed out. i liked that crosshair immediately became omega's fifth dad. i liked batcher! and omega's doll going to eva! all the force-sensitive kids were really cute and i liked them. emerie karr was like. alright i guess? i didn't find myself ever really caring about her a bunch but her story still made sense. and onto the male clones, i do feel like narratively they haven't really known what to do with wrecker for a while besides have him like. blow things up. which is unfortunate because i really enjoy him. then again it's just also not always an incredibly deep show and they are all clones who don't know how to talk about their feelings which i've been saying for a while now <3. i liked hunter going back to defending crosshair in "infiltration" and wrecker's "just like old times!" callback in the same episode. and i REALLY like omega becoming a rebel pilot, i think that makes a lot of sense for her and it also is, of course, sweet because tech taught her how to fly and all that. and finally, the scene with older hunter and omega itself was nice although i think they could've had crosshair, wrecker, and echo there. we all know hunter is the main dad, but he's not the ONLY one and the others are also very important. but oh well...

in conclusion. i do still absolutely adore this show and all of these characters. season 3 did not give me everything i wanted but it wasn't necessarily bad either. and i have to acknowledge that i am very biased and never going to get over them killing off tech so i mostly just can't think about that and have to live in denial. but anyway. season 3 was a mostly solid end to a show that started off so strongly i made a tumblr for it, and i will always love the bad batch for being my first ever hyperfixation and the show that really got me back into star wars <3

[salty-rey]

The Bad Batch: Plan 99 Spoilers!!

.

.

.

HOW COULD YOU DO THIS TO ME??!?!?

THEY WERE BUILDING UP THE DEATH OF TECH!!!

THEY MADE US GROW A BIGGER ATTATCHMENT TO HIM THROUGHOUT THE SEASON

HE WAS SLOWLY GETTING A LOVE INTEREST

ONLY FOR THEM TO SNATCH TECH AWAY!!

AND THE GOGGLES!!

That's fucking ACID TO MY ALREADY BLEEDING HEART MAN!!

WE DIDN'T EVEN GOT TO SAVE CROSSHAIR

AND OMEGA HAS A SISTER!!!?!?

My chest and head hurt, man...

That cameo of Krennic and Project Star Dust was pretty cool, though.

BUT STILL!!!

[petrichor-reminiscence]

more restoration thots

so, this is me just copy-pasting my original notes i was taking while watching, and i took them on my phone so uh apologies for any spelling mistakes or grammatical errors lol ^^; i cleaned it up the best i could but if i missed anything uh no i didn't

note below the cut, spoilers!

the retro convention opening is WILD lmao, keepsake coozie

lmao box canyon bozos 8 love that

this convention is so funny

typing on my phone im dying

all mysteriously disappeared

???

undisclosed oooooooh lmao

Dylan Andrews hasn't met the reds and blues, confirmed retcon then?

KAIIIII

WOOOOOOO

her intro music? iconic

oh shit

"you bitches are on your own"

"epic" LMAO

OMFG IS THAT LOCUS

NO ITS META

OH FUCK

FUCK FUCK FUCK

IM DYING KFKGKKGKGK

why does this intro feel like a marvel movie

THE REDSSSSS

WOOOOO

WHERE IS DONUT

WHERE IS LOPEZ

SCREAMING

"that's me hi I'm grif"

IN CHARGE OF AMMO LETS GO HAHAHA

"I'm morally opposed to counting"

"I think counting is a gateway drug to mathematics" LMAOO

THE BACKWARDS ONE HAHAHAHAHA PHENOMENAL WAY TO SAY DIVISION

DND REFERENCE

"why are we even here"

WHERE ARE THEY

GRIF STOP GETTING META I WILL CRY

he'll have Lopez do the inventory BUT WHERE IS LOPEZ

BLUE BASE?!?!

SHEILA SOUNDS WRONG

so does caboose, but that's a given

I've gotta gonna stomach it jfjgkgkg

Lopez also sounds wrong

CABOOSE CAN SPEAK SPANISH?!?!

W H A T

HAH can only speak but not understand that is so caboose

okay Sheila is starting to sound a bit more normal

oh fuck is the light epsilons message?!

IT IS THEY PULLED A STARWARS

OH SHIT

OH SHIT OH SHIT OH SHIT

LOPEZ SPEAKING IN ENGLISH WITH THE SPANISH SUBTITLES

IM DYING HOLY SHIT

is this after thirteen or seventeen? I'm thinking thirteen because Dylan hasn't met them but I can't fucking tell quite yet

unsc military hospital?!?!

IS THIS WHERE WASH IS

OMFG IT IS HE HAS A KITTY ON THE NIGHTSTAND

DOC

he's in pt bitch what happened

screaming

kfmgkkglgmf

"I think I've earned my issues with authority"

DOC KNOWS ABOUT HIS IMPLANTATION TROUBLES NOW?!

he doesn't remember a lot of that??

I'm screaming omfg

someone else's memories? man wash is goin through it

WASNT MUCH OVERLAP IN THEIR PERSONALITIES?!?!? SCREAMING

doc and omega are similar

wash DID feel everything alpha felt confirmed

where tf is tucker

shipyard?

WHOM

is this locus give me locus

NO ITS META TUCKER

theta sounds like apple bloom lmao

tucker is flashing?!?!

SIGMA SHUT

omfg poor tucker I'm gonna start fucjing crying

w h a t

omfg the ship charons ship

Simmons is in charge of zingers

Simmons stop saying sick burn ill cry

caboose sounds so wrong but I'll still have to suck it uppppp

tucker been missing for months again JDJKGKG

everything feels so off im gonna cry

why is grif so aggressive rn?!

oh shit here comes sheila lmao

grif holy shit what is WRONG with you right now?

the music is so evil omfg

CHURCH

he's still dead

lmao I love him

so the rest of the seasons WERE simulations!! gotcha gotcha retcon confirmed

Simmons oh my god you are going crazy

wait no wonder everything feels off

they've been going insane by themselves after everything at chorus ofc they'd act differently

"did you tell ALL the simulations they're real?" "... no?"

"I can't predict how to communicate with caboose" I love this

HAHA HIS WEIRD BRAIN I LOVE THAT

he's literally pyroland tbh

he's so off but I still love him

animated infographic LMAO

there better be fucking sand cutting or slime videos to the side lol

"I hope there's ads!"

OMFG DAVID CAMP CAMP CAMEO

lmao ofc sarge is in a political echochamber lmao

LMAO HE MADE A META JUMPSCARE CHURCH THAT WAS SO UNECESSARY I LOVE YOU

he added a bow-chicka-bow-wow for tucker

aw tucker :(

the visuals omfg

CRYING BABY NOISES IM KFKGKG

CHURCH ON A THERAPY COUCH

LMAO THE DIRECTOR IS THE THERAPIST

"I'm taking full accountability for holding someone else accountable"

oh shit tucker was the great destroyer! holy fuck!

destined to destroy their enemies, the humans

oh shit felix

he's a mix of fucking EVERYONE?!

even felix?

HOW DOES THAT MAKE SENSE?!

lmao real tucker was the best soldier

he sells tshirts

fuck he withheld the epsilon fragment uh oh

uh oh potential alpha that's unpredictable and terrifying

lol the reds are gonna say no aren't they

this whole epic build up with the help us question? they're gonna say no

HAHA THEY JUST LEFT CALLED IT

LMAO

jesus grif be nice to caboose im gonna have to smack him

simmonssss cmonnnn

caboose noooooo

my heart is breaking rn

oh fuck meta tucker

HES BACK ON THE SHIP

the echo of tuckers actual voice im screaming

oh shit gammas time deception shit noo dont torture my boy

sigmaaaa you are so evil you bastard

oh shit omega

TUCKERS ECHO IM SCREAMING

I can't tell if sigma is actually elijah or not rn

oH shit ten years of torture??

NOOO!!

TUCKER NOOOOOOO

HIS SCREAMING IM GONNA DIE

oh fuck

i'm kfkgkfllskdogo this is more heartbreaking than i expected

YAY WASH TIME

the fucjing recording in the hospital i hate this

this feels like a containment situation not an actual hospital

DR GRAY

oh fuck them treating him like he's crazy

no I'm gonna

gray I will have to fight you

ADMIRAL DONUT?!?!

DOC YOU TOO?!

screaming

CALLING HIM DAVID OH SHIT

gray I wanna hit you

oh poor wash this fucking gaslighting I'm idkgkvkv

oh my god they need to get him out of there wtf

they're treating him like a crazy dementia patient

omfg there they go

there goes the reds in the warthog aka puma

omfg sarge shooting him while talking to him kdkgkvk

479er!!!

SC REAMING

cant tell if its her same va but at this point that's to be expected

omfg epsilon never liked her lol

haha serial killer caboose

THE SLOW TURN CABOOSE AHAHAHA

omfg they are going back to hargroves ship

oh shit they're going for the recovery unit!

his random shut up caboose moments lmao

uh oh pure stealth

lmao immediately abandoning it just like i expected

lmao sarge talking about blasting through everything for eight minutes

lmao even epsilons fragment memory message shit is sleeping haha

dammit sarge

omfg caboose still has his confetti gun

WHERE IS FRECKLES GIVE ME FRECKLES

caboose yelling pew pew omfg and him and sarge back to back im loving this

there's no one in the room

CABOOSE WINS THE PARADE

HAHAHAHHAHAHAHA

lmao command went to zoom LOL

THEM COMING IN THE ZOOM WITH THE FUCKING GREENSCREEN BACKROINDS AND POUNTING WEAPONS LMAOOO

THE CAT FILTER AHAHAHA

he muted himself

screaming omfg

SOMEONE SAID CHAT

HOLY SHIT

oh shit they're in the main room

grif better find the gridshit

*grifshit

fuck

whatever you get the idea

oh fuck the metas armor TUCKERS THERE

OH FUCK

they're so dumb

they're so fucking dumb

"we're so fucking dumb" EXACTLY WHAT I SAUD

SARGE SAID MONKEYING ABOUT AHAHAHA

oh fuck

chrome dome lmao

oh fuck they're getting their asses kicked

church's late warning lmao

LMAO HES BEATING THEM WITH THE HEALTH KITS

OH FUCK

aw simmons standing in front of caboose trying to talk to tucker

im gonna cry

I'm gonna fucking cey

I fucking jfjgkkgkvb

stop stop stop it stop it

simmons is just making him mad by talking about how shitty blue team i'm fuckin oasigjsdaoigj

NO NOT CABOS

OH FUCJ

NO NO NO NO

I swear to god

THE REDS FUCKIN LEFT

or well they tactically advanced

tucker coming through at intervals

"dont feel bad afterwords I forgive you" FUCK

TUCKER LETTING HIM RUN OFLGKBKH

IM GONNA CRY

did sarge go to save caboose?!

OH ,my GOD

NO NO NO

TUCKER META IS MAKING ME WANNA DIE

SARGE HUZZAH

FUCK YEAH SARGE LETS GO

OH SHIT HE WAS BADASS FOR A MOMENT UNTIL HE RAN OUT OF AMMO

OH FUCK HES BADASS RIGHT NOW

YO

sarge is killing these one liners holy shit

OH FUCK THE SWORD

SARGE JUST GOT STABBED

NO NO NO NO NO NO

NONONONONONONO

FUCK OFF THAT ONE TUMBLR USER WAS RIGHT IM SO PISSED

OH FUCK DID THEY REALLY KILL HIM

FUCK

him holding simmons arm im kfkgkgk

grif on the verge of tears with his voice cracking nooooo

HES TALKING TO THEM LIKE THEYRE HIS SONS

HE SALUTED SARGE

HES GIVING SIMMONS HIS SHOTGUN

HE TOLD HIM HES PROUD OF HIM

"grif?" "I'm here sarge" like INSTANTLY

GRIF AND SRGES MOMENT

SARGE BELIEVED IN HIM

FUCK

NO THIS HURTS

"remember that for me" OH FUCK OFF NO

HES GONE I CANT I CANT I CANT I CANT

okay back to wash

let this man free ffs

doc with a medical mask as a disguise

omfg doc busting him out

BLOOD GULCH

THEY BURIED HIM IN BLOOD GULCH

this time they had to actually bury him for realsies

aw he's got a button for vaguely southern insults

them talking about sarge I'm gonna aklglgkhkb

aw he the official leader and his first decision is??

he's discharging grif

OH MY GOD HES SETTING HIM FREE

OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH MY GOD

"come with me" !!!

NFKLGLGKGKGKG

they're together they love each other and they need to make out right now

omfg

simmons is gonna stay and help as a good leader

I love him so much OH my god

WHY ARE WE HERE KFKFKVKG

grif please don't leave please

OMFG YAY

FOR OLD TIMES SAKE

SARGE WOULDVE WANTED IT

he never gave up on grif im gonna cry

I'm already crying what am I saying

GRIF SALUTED SARGES GRAVE KDKFKKF

omfg is church gonna get his body back??

I KNEWIT

CABOOSE WAS GONNA DO HIS THING

I KNEW IT FROM THE MOMENT HE GRABBED THE OTHER MEMORY UNIT THING

HES GONNA TELL CABOOSE HOW TO BRING HIM BACK

we lost one leader in 13, then got one back kinda with his messages, then lost one AGAIN, then maybe gaining another one

omfg them trying to tell him they can't bring him back

him repeating memory is the key im fkkgkvf I'm screaming

aw their memories of blood gulch

them sitting there reminiscing on old memories I'm gonna fucjing cry

THE MUSIC DOESNT HELP FUCK OFF

FUCK OFF FUCK OFF FUCK OFF

they're all laughing and reminiscing I'm gonna jfkgkkgkg

omfg the memory unit glowing

THE FLASHBACKS I CANT

the three worst soldiers ever

it's so true though, they are The Worst and I love them so much

oh fuck metas here

oh no

HE HAS THE GRIFSHOT WOOOO

"ready?" "no simmons I am not" about sums it up

simmons fumbling with the shotgun

them charging so slowly with like no motivation omfg it hurts

DOC AND WASH JFKGOGOKGG

oh fuck wash is gonna do something stupid

lmao I love them

OH FUCK WASH

OMFG

"one last story to tell"

omfg he's telling the story about church and tex

kfkgolglglgkvk about og leonard and allison

I can't

"one last adventure grif"

i'm screaming

they're all gonna die aren't they

oh fuck meta is kicking their asses

please church or anyone come back im kfkglg

istg are they gonna kill off everyone except for church?? reverse season 13?

oh fuck there goes diamond arm

*simmons

caboose telling the whole story of church and alpha and the whole lineage is fucking beating me up

the memory shit

CABOOSE SHUT UP IM GONNA DIE

the best memories never die"

CHUR CH OMFG CHURCH????

[7:54 AM]CHURCH CHURCH CHURC H CHURCH?!

lmao grif calling him sir

SIMMONS A CC EPTING HIS LEADER ROLE

FUCK

someone stepped on him, meta?

oh fuck is meta

OH FUCK

omfg Simmons is being a badass

"cmon you dirty blue"

FUCK SIMMONS IS BADASS TN IM KFKKGKV

why is he showing off

OH ITS CUZ HIS ROBOT ARM BROKE HAHA

reminding me of why he was my literal first fictional crush- i mean what who said that

THE SHOTGUN NOOOOOO

WASH SHOW UP RIGHT NOW

WASH COME ON

OMFG CABOOSE

he got thrown?

THEJEEP?!

WHO THREWW THE JEEP

WHO TF THREW THE JEEP

CHURH OR WASH MAYBE

UH OH

TEX?!?!?!

TEX!!!!!!

TEX!!!

TEX IS BACK TEX IW BACK TEX IS BACK

HER IN CHURCHS BODY IM

HEYRE FIGHTING OMFG

jsjfkgkJGKVKVKKGKG

:because I wanted to win" I LOVE HIM

he brought back tex ON PURPOSE

OMFG THEYRE GONNA HELP

ope there they go, so helpful

fucking wash you're a dumbaaa

oh fuck recovery beacon?!

Oh FUCK

LMAO

wash is a dumbass he broke his leg

oh fuck what did he do

wash what did you do

NO HE PULLED A SEASON 8 TEX ON HER

HE BROKE HER BACK LIKE SHE DID TO META IN 8 NOOO

NOOOO

TEX NOOOOO

OMFG THE DROP POD MAINES DROP POD

MAINES DROP POD WHO IS IN IT

CAROLINA!!!!

CAROLINA SHES HERE SHES HERE

YES I MISSED YOU

"she's tex jr" LMAO

CMON LINA THE DEATH BATTLE PREDICTED YOUR WIN COME ON

at least I think she won the death battle vs meta ^^;

TEX!!!

OMFG SHES GONNA GO THROUGH THE PORTAL AND TURN BLACK

OMFG MOTHER AND DAUGHTER REUNITING

THE MUSIC HER MUSIC

JRJFJ B B JGKGI

"she's back in black... stuff" ICONIC

HOLY FUCK

KICK HIS ASS GIRLS!!!!!

THE MUSIC FOR ROUND ONE BULLFIGHT LETS GOOO

FUCK

omfg caboose wtf are you doing

caboose

holy shit

caboose what the fuck

I love him

oh shit

the wall is crumbling

oh fucl

oh fuck blood gulch is breaking

this is symbolic somehow to me but my brain is dead too MUCH

"not my fault, someone put a wall in my way" YES ICONIC YES WOOO

THERE GOES THE SWORD

FUCK

LINA NO

LINA NO

TEX FUCK YES FUCK HIM UP

Istg if they make washilina canon im killing myself

oh fuck tex!

NO!!!

I'm sad now

FUCK NO HE HAS HIS GUN META HAS TAKEN BACK THE GRIFSHOT

NO HE STABBED HER

SHIT

SIGMA HOLY SHIT

SHES IN A ROBOT BODY THO SO MAYBE SHE'LL BE OKAY???

stop calling her a shadow :( I'll cry

LITERALLY SEASON 8 REFLECTIONS HOLY SHIT

DAYUM SIGMAS CHEEKS

are they gonna use the car again

holy shit she's based on caboose and the rest of em

YES SHE ALWAYS KICKED THEIR ASSES

YES TEX LETS GO

SOME T ING SOMETHING ABOUT OTHERS MEMORIES INSTEAD OF DIRRCTORS SDAJGOIASDJ SCREAMING

HAHA SHE GOT HIS NUTS AND ITS NOT GRIF FOR ONCE LOL

LETS GO

"like some kind of ball? from sports?"

SARGE IS BACK LIKE MUFASSA

DONUT IS BACK IN A CHEERLEADER OUTFIT

YEAH

WOOOO

"that was the best throw... ever. of all time." SCREAMING

FUCK YEAH THAT NERD HAS A REALLY GOOD ARM

TEX GET HIM PLEASE

she got him!!!

[8:06 AM]OH ,fuck

THETA NO MY HEART HURTS :(

HAHA SIGMA FUCK YOU CRY ABOUT IT

TEX NOOOOOO!!!!

I mean she had to go too ig

:(

CHURCH?

tex!!

OMFG HIM AND TEX HIM AND TEX

THEYRE TOGETHER AGAIN FINALLY

THEYRE TOGETHER AGAIN THEYRE TOGETHER AGAIN

THEM WALKING OFF IOSADJGOASDJG

LEANORD AND ALLISON FJVKGKKVKBKVKVLGPPFOG

TUCKER PLEASE BE OKAY OH MY GOD

HES OKAY THANK GOD

OH MY GOD

FUCK YEAH

they're back home:) I'm crying

"ow-sicka-ow-ow

Simmons I love you

Simmons I love you so much

but tucker is right dont ever do that agai

lmao kept asking if there were hot nurses I love you tucker

aw them reminiscing about tex and carolina handling it well!

CABOOSE DESTROYED IT

THERE THEY GO

ITS OVER

SHE SAID GOODBYE TO TEX

HE SAID GOODBYE TO CHURCH

NO

IM HURTING

it's over Lina is right

"the right part is the part that is the sad part"

me too buddy

lol wash breaking his leg, dumbass

doc being an actual medic? lets go lets go

OH FUCK OH FUCK OH FUCK

HES BEEN IMAGINING DOC THIS WHOLE TIME?!?!?!

FUCK

HOLY FUCK

OH MY GOD

OH MY GOD OH MY GOD

"is the floating eye in the room with us right now wash?"

OH SHIT WAIT

NORTH!!!!!

YORK!!!!

FLORIDA FLOWERS!!!1

CT!!!

MAINE!!!!!

I'm screaming I'm actually screaming

omfg it was all Carolina talking

her and wash having the sweetest moment

if they kiss I'm killing myself

"am I gonna be okay?"OIASJGIOSDJGIOSDAJGOIAS STOP BEING ME AGENT WASHINGTON

MY HEART BREAKS FOR HIM OASIDJGSDA

"were gonna be it together" they better be siblings or I'm killing myself

oh shit it's 9er!!!

OMFG ITS ONE LMAO

AHAHAHAHAHAHAHHA AND THE FUCKIN MUSIC TOO

lol ofc had an entire room full of shotguns

grif is gone now? :(

he's leaving I cant my heart hurts

omfg there they are

"hey Simmons"

"yeah?"

"did you ever figure it out?"

SCREAMING

GRIF YOURE GONNA MAKE ME CRY

FUCJ GRIF IS REALLY LEAVING

THERE HE GOES

FUCK THIS HURTS

MY HEARTBHURTS

lmao caboose screaming at him

"beat it!"

lmao I love them

he's apologizing for the shitty war lmao

HAHA THEY WERENT GOOD CABOOSE YOURE RIGHT

that's it

it's over

everything hurts

it WAS og sheila!! i wonder why she sounded so off to me

META WAS MILES LETS GOOOO good for hm!

the pictures of their old stuff too

I'm so fucjijg

jfjgkkg

ouchies

like can you not

SECRET ENDING AYO?!

"bow-chicka-bye-now!" TUCKER IM GOING TO KMS

(after a good sob-sesh lol)

now that i am semi-alive and semi-coherent, here are some (potentially) rational thoughts and feelings

wash's ptsd? FUCK dude. doc being a hallucination the whole fucking time?! FUCK dude. i, that hurt me so much, i'm fucking OWIES. as a ptsd-having bitch myself, uh, hey OUCH. carolina reminding him that the memories will live on, that it wasn't his fault, and it all manifesting in the old freelancers i'm gonna oijdgoidasjg i'm gonna kms i swear to god i swear to gOD this is it this is the last fucking straw

and SARGE

fucking SARGE

that was fucking awful

i loved it and i wanna kms

the way he died sacrificing himself for a fucking blue

the way he told simmons he was proud of him, told grif he never gave up on him even when grif himself had given up, giving SIMMONS HIS SHOTGUN.

man.

them burying him at blood gulch, simmons becoming team leader and having a badass moment only to be instantly cut down by the meta is both so silly and so fucking aosidgjdsoaigjd hhhhh

badass simmons supremacy

missing season 15 knife simmons right about now :((

and the fucking GRIMMONS

FUCK DUDE

simmons finally getting everything ready and in order for grif to be free

if you love something set them free or whatever

FUCK DUDE MY HEART HURTS SO MUCH

and the new va for caboose was trying his damndest and i'm so proud of him

and caboose bringing back TEX INSTEAD OF CHURCH BECAUSE HE KNEW THEY'D NEED HER?! AND TEX BEING RESURRECTED IN THE MEMORIES OF THE ONES WHO SAW HER AS BADASS INSTEAD OF A FAILURE?1 CHURCH AND TEX FINALLY GETTING THEIR HAPPY FUCKIGN ENDING?!!??!?!?!

im

thank you burnie for that one at least

you did angry mom and angry dad a service

tex just being forgotten, being fucked over, that was never satisfying to me, it always just hurt so much, i'm so glad they got the ending they deserved

i'm screaming

i'm gonna fucking cry

AND SO MANY FUCKING CALLBACKS TO SEASON 8, CUZ LIKE AFTER THAT I'M PRETTY SURE THAT'S WHEN BURNIE WASN'T WRITING IN THE FRONT SEAT ANYMORE

I'M ACTUALLY GONNA FUCKING OIADSJGOISDAJG

and poor wash, no wonder i felt so fucking sick to my stomach watching all of the scenes with him, just, the ptsd and everything like that FUCK dude

he just like me fr man :(

and can we talk about ADMIRAL DONUT?!

FUCKING ADMIRAL?! DONUT LET'S GO YOU'RE THE FUCKING BEST

and him appearing to simmons in his mind in a cheerleader fit was fucking phenomenal 10/10

everything feels so empty right now

fuck nothing has made me wonder 'why are we here?' more than this moment right now

my dread is gone, it's all over, we've reached the conclusion and i've seen it and i don't have to wait anxiously anymore

but everything hurts right now man :(

and the ending with wash and lina i genuinely could not tell if they were pushing romance or not

i think they were purposefully keeping it vague to keep shippers from going haywire, or maybe it was really just platonic sibling 'i'll be there for you' love

they are the siblings ever. of all time.

AND SIMMONS HAVING A DAMN GOOD THROWING ARM?! HELLO?!

WASHINGTON SAYING THAT WAS THE BEST THROW EVER OF ALL TIME?!

CABOOSE SYAING NOT MY FAULT SOMEONE PUT A WALL IN MY WAY?!

i'm

this is too much

idk i want him to sleep but i am so unwell right now i fucking dioajgoidsjgiodsjg

but tex and church got their ending and i'm gonna try to focus on that

plus, it's fictional, we can write all the fix-its or aus we want

i need to remember that

it's impactful to me, it's been my whole fucking life basically, but it's a story and i don't want to let myself suffer genuine consequences from stressing out over a story

it'll be okay

church and tex got their happy ending it HAS to be okay

aaaaand these were my brain-rot notes! lmao hope any of y'all enjoyed reading my reactions here to some scenes haha

[bearpillowmonster]

Bad Batch S2

I figured finish 2 before starting 3. 2 just wasn't appealing to me because I didn't like the first one enough, it seemed like it was littered with too many cameos, some enjoyable but some way too pandering, it felt like it couldn't stand on its own two feet. It wasn't bad overall though so I gave two a shot after some many months and while it sounded appealing with them being treasure hunters, I just couldn't get behind it. S2 is like every good episode has two bad ones but they aren't necessarily in order so you might get 4 bad ones before you get 2 good ones.

People pit Dave Filoni as the master of the franchise now but I'm not necessarily convinced because this was all him, as far as I can tell. Picking a successor to lead Star Wars is like picking a quarterback to win your Super Bowl, while Dave has experience and has produced the most enjoyable bouts (especially having Atla under his belt) he hasn't necessarily been consistent in my opinion. Sometimes I wonder if expanding the Skywalker era is even a good idea in the first place because they're at planning retirement for the clones...with pensions and all that junk. They're trying to solve the veteran problem...in Star Wars. While that digs deep into the lore, it treads close to what I was saying about Andor with it showing us too many unnecessary bits. Don't get me wrong, that was one of the good bits, I feel like the Bad Batch sort of started showing the actual transition of clones to stormtroopers and I really like that idea but it's few and far between a lot of the time.

But it feels like you're out of luck if you don't like a character, Cid for example is pretty unlikable for a lot of people, maybe she's meant to be that way, whatever but we see a good bit of her. Organa? We see him almost every Star Wars series now, I get that he jumped the rebellion but isn't there something about bringing about the remaining scraps of the alliance on Alderaan after its demise to take down the Empire in the first place? Now there's a billion rebels, now there's a billion lost jedi, which I've complained about before but I'll do it again. Again, if it's the point of the series, it makes sense, Jedi Fallen Order did a great job with this because it was the point, to get the list of jedi, attaching a number to that could only make it more tense and I believe at some point, it was George's plan was to have a Vader saga where he hunted these jedi down. All those ideas sound cool but if they show up time and time again in a story unrelated, it just seems like you have a jedi there to have a jedi, like it's some sort of propaganda similar to the ending of the Last Jedi. The best episodes here are ones that don't involve lightsabers. It's all overexposed.

With that said, I dropped S2 until I saw S3 was coming and brought back Asajj. So, their propaganda worked in a way. And really, S2 didn't have as many cameos as I thought it might, in fact, I found myself getting attached to one of the characters. I've always liked the crew ever since I saw them in TCW but I thought about who I would be most sad for if something happened, it's Echo. He just has always stuck out in my mind, Hunter too, but Echo has the story. The others were born that way and grew to be brothers but Echo was an accepted family because of his condition and I just find that so loving. I also really love where they leave this season off, it has a lot of potential for this next season, having Omega sort of visit another side of everything, so I can at least say that while S1 didn't get me hyped for S2, S2 got me hyped for S3.

[m-s-justice]

Peter McCain is such an interesting character as he in practice is essentially a living plot hook, despite in text being a real nifty guy.

He was a spy in Group 935, alongside Harvey Yena, for the Americans. That's already a pretty cool backstory, except by the time we, the players and therefore the audience, come in he's already been outed and needs to be extracted. He serves as Dempsey's plot hook, his "damsel in distress". He directly leads to Dempsey's capture by hitting him with the ol' Your Princess is in Another Castle. Though, by the time of his [Dempsey's] formal introduction in Shi no Numa, Peter is already dead. After that, he no longer has much effect on the narrative other than set up and set dressing. In BO1 he is almost entirely forgotten about, with the most influence he has being Richthofen's paranoia about spies in 935, which Yena uses to his advantage to get Maxis to babysit him.

(and maybe the one recording in Call of the Dead where Richthofen refers to Dempsey as a spy, perhaps implying that he has confused him for McCain.)

I'm not even going to dwell on his BO3 cameo. Just know that I don't like it.

BO4, for all its narrative flaws, was SO RIGHT in bringing McCain back, even if it was kind of an asspull. [pretty much all the writing in BO4 was an asspull but hnnngrh] Now, he's alive and is interacting with the narrative.

He gets ress'd with *visions* of the Great War [but they subside for some reason?? Despite him being pretty much the only dude to be directly affected by the Elemental Shard :/] and joins Broken Arrow to work alongside his former handler, Cornelius Pernell. Peter gets to witness his descent into madness and even pulls an intervention as he calls the Department of Defense to remove Pernell when Peter believes that he's become too unstable to lead. Which is AWESOME! Peter is almost directly responsible for Pernell's immediate ascension into the Avogadro and his confrontation with the DoD, and the presumed reason for why Camp Edward is in disarray. HUGE ramifications for my boy Peter.

Of course, he doesn't get to see it, as he is promptly locked in solitary confinement and then booted into an ADAM Unit before all that happens. His narrative influence is understandably minimal, until the events of Alpha Omega.

To be entirely honest here, I could write an entire different post about Peter in AO, but to be as succinct as possible, he essentially just gives Rushmore the thumbs up about the Gaggle of Idiots, gives Ultimis Dempsey some character depth if he's present, and then ponders the orb. I mean, becomes the orb and then fucks off into who knows where.

The POINT I'm trying to illustrate here is that Peter McCain was a character best described as missed potential. He is either killed off or otherwise incapacitated before he can really do anything of major importance. He was an on-the-run spy who could've been a running side character the way 935 personnel were, but instead he is killed parachuting. Now, Peter was likely retconned into being the dead body and Treyarch didn't expect to have the sprawling narrative they ended up with. This is still WaW story-telling. I can cut some reasonable slack.

The BO4 treatment, however, is entirely inexcusable. Now, I have a bit of a bone to pick with BO4's writing that deserves a series of posts, but it was glaringly obvious that Peter was being set up for something important, some "unfinished business". Hell, Rushmore refers to him as "someone very important to humanity's future". And then the very next map, Tag der Toten, ends the entire storyline. Of course, he could always come back through the Dark Aether, with a possible explanation being his interaction with both the Elemental Shard and his soul residing within the Elemental Orb at the time of the universe's destruction allowed him to withstand the Agarthan Device's erasure. It's still somewhat of an asspull, but it has some logical and narrative backing, so I think this outcome could slide.

Will that happen? Probably not. Do I hope so? Absolutely. My call to action for this essay? make Peter McCain content my boy deserves it.

[measuringbliss]

Spider-Man Read-Through 044: Peter's Graduation (ASM 181-186, Ann 12)

MASTERPOST

Len Wein's run finished with an astounding Green Goblin story, what will Marv Wolfman bring to the table?

Oh wow, we're not wasting time, huh!

I also know some little kitten is coming soon...

Our story begins a grave. Uncle Ben's grave!

And what a striking first page. Beautiful colors, smart positioning for the artists, overall really impressive beginning.

This issue is just a recollection of how our hero came to be, with a subtle retcon of Harry Osborn existing back when Peter was in high school. There's an entire page about Jameson's various ways to attack him--he really tried his best! The issue features really nice art, and there's a page where it recounts Spidey's foes... including Will O'The Wisps and Stegron. Uh, sure. Not gonna let me forget the latter now, are we?

My boy the Prowler also gets a cameo, which is quite lovely.

At the end, a penniless father steals Peter's old microscope he just dropped to Ben's grave. That's another kid who'll be happy!

#182 time!

Marv Wolfman's first tenure is to bring beloved supervillain Rocket Racer. Huh! Paying respect to your predecessor, I can appreciate that.

More importantly, this issue starts with one of these panels that Ross Andru seems to love and that, for me, have come to define his tenure:

Mindbending perspectives.

And you know what?

I think Ross Andru loves Rocket Racer, because their chase gives him the occasion to have fun angles and draw specific buildings, and i'm sure it was pretty much Christmas in his head, hahaha. Good for him!

So Spidey loses RR, who blackmails his employer who wants incriminating evidence against himself to make it disappear.

First off: those angles in the first three panels are a rare kind of thing, I feel! And secondly: Hmm, who might that be? A small, thin figure... I'm intrigued!

At the hospital, May tells Peter that married life is really cool. Uh-oh... Are we going to get a proposal, folks?

I didn't notice that right away, to be fair. It's MJ who lampshades it as they leave the room, and she's even about to say she's sad she doesn't have anyone like that (at least, before she gets cut off: where's Anna in all this?) when Peter, who doesn't care in the slightest, has a bad feeling. Doesn't notice anything though, although we definitely see some focus on a character...

Later, the blackmailed guy tries to end things, but Rocket Racer saves him--he wants money after all.

There's a fun scene where two police offers try to catch RR, to no avail. It channels Spidey's chase with the Tarantula through the city a bit. Just a bit.

Interestingly, Spidey says that he'll be graduating "in a few months" and he's been offered a scholarship to teach at ESU and pay his PHD. Nice!

While chasing RR, Spidey notices that his web has been getting weaker for months now... something affecting the original formula (um sure Peter, let's go with that). Set up! Set up!

Anyway, RR escapes once again, but it doesn't matter because...!

Aww that's cute! I admit the scene made me smile.

You know, that was a fun issue. The hero side was fun, and the human side was fun as well!

In #183, Spidey tells us that MJ hasn't answered the proposal yet (oof, that "gulp" was sinister enough...) and we get this...

Lmao, why does Peter look so smooth in the middle panel? Get outta here with that omega man stuff, hahaha.

So Weele, the guy blackmailed by RR, goes to the Tinkerer and decides he wants to be a supervillain too. So the Tinkerer's effectively becoming "that guy every villain comes to to become a supervillain", given that he already built RR's suit.

At the hospital, May's gonna be fine, but "Robert" is there too. His mom is not fine, and the hospital bills keep piling on. He's definitely doing something shady to pay stuff, but what?

Turns out Robert is Rocket Racer. Nice, we get backstory and motivation! Interestingly, both heroes fight while wanting to protect their mother figure in the same room, it makes for a nice moment.

You know what is bonkers?

Weele's new alter ego: Big Wheel. The famous one. I'd heard he was pretty remarkable, and. Yes. I can see that.

The fights ends with Big Wheel rolling into the Hudson. Oops. It was nice to know you!

More importantly, Spider-Man's appearance at the hospital has put May in need of intensive care, says the most asshole male nurse I've ever seen. And then MJ comes... to give back the ring. Oof.

Poor Peter. Who is this in his apartment? That era where you let anyone go to your place, I swear...

Anyway, good issue too! I definitely enjoy the tighter focus on the personal lives of the characters.

Hehehe. A lot of people had guessed it was him! I think having multiple months during the storyline definitely was in their favor.

Some people are NOT happy, but I personally am. They're not yet ready!

In #184, Betty Brant is back! Is she gonna be a serious romantic candidate? I don't feel like Peter's ready for a new partner just yet... and isn't she with Ned Leeds?

Look, if I'm putting this here, it's because Peter Parker is fine as fuck. I think he looked better some 50 issues ago, but he's fresh regardless. He doesn't look as cute anymore... Then again, he's been through some stuff.

Oh right. The plot!

So Betty just left Ned, which means Peter and Ned can finally start dating. I've been waiting for this!

Her story is kind of sad, but also, I really understand it. Not speaking the language can be pretty isolating.

Peter quickly thinks that hey, Betty and him could rekindle their old romance, but he immediately thinks that's not a good idea. She's still married, and he's a good Jewish man.

...I kind of want to see that, though. A bit of drama. Scandal!

And she's into it too, clearly, because she's not going to let Peter go alone to his graduation practice. Is that a thing? I don't have my high school diploma, and I'm still not entirely sure how/when I'll be able to get my university diploma hahaha. Oh, Americans.

Nice to see Marla's still here. And continuation of the Man-Wolf storyline, that's great!

At university, Peter and Betty have a nice time, at least until they cross the path of Philip Chang, who obviously has some PTSD.

Let me enjoy hot Peter in peace.

There's Spidey business for a bit, then back to our betrayers! Betty says Paris is depressing, and she's entirely right. It sucks! It has beautiful things, but it sucks!

Oboy.

Unfortunately, their water is Philip from earlier! Philip is not jazzed up about it, but Peter once again tries to reach out to that lonely figure that calls back to his past self. It's heartwarming, I like it!

So turns out Philip is threatened by this gentleman below.

The White Dragon kidnaps Philip and in consequence, Peter quickly gets rid of Betty, but she seems enamored still, and he has to admit he's also not indifferent to her.

Turns out, Philip has to choose between one of 4 gangs to belong to. Oh. Spidey gets rekt by the White Dragon, and if he wants to save him, Philip has to pick a gang.

But Philip can't, and Spidey's thrown in a gigantic vat of burning oil. Poor guy.

In the comments on *a certain website*, one guy tells his own horror story, about how he also proposed to his girlfriend, who accepted the ring without saying yes or no... then they gradually stopped talking. Oof. That's rough. Hang in there, buddy.

In #185, Spidey gets off fine because while the oil burns his chains, it somehow doesn't burn HIM. Suuuuure. After drowning in the nearby river, he goes back to free Philip. Turns out Philip's dangerous activity back in Hong Kong caused the deaths of his parents, and he vowed to never use violence again. Naturally, that means he can't enter a gang.

These are fun panels. The White Dragon is easily defeated.

Now, onto the graduation! Robbie brings a TV to May's room so she doesn't miss anything, that's sweet!

All of Peter's friends are there (well, not Ned, nor MJ), but there's bad news... he's not on the list! No matter, he still goes to the ceremony. Jameson does a speech that literally lasts "several hours" until, at last... he concludes with "Excelsior" and a reminder that everybody should subscribe to the Bugle.

Peter's name is never called though. The dean tells him he misses one credit, for his sports class. How ironic!

Well, at least, he can always catch up in the summer.

...Wait. What is that.

Is Ross Andru leaving? Is he gone? Was it his final issue? It's a great issue to end on, with a sense of finality, but god damn it, to say I was so happy to have him all this time! Are you kidding me?!

#186 time! Hello, Keith Pollard. Let's see how you're faring.

It's like Ross Andru never left.

Spidey saves a guy from this burning building, to Jameson's despair, but the guy's not happy...

Ooh, that outfit has aged terribly. But the Chameleon seems gay for Spidey so I'm invested.

Anyway, Peter needs money because May needs to be treated and the US health system sucks. So...

Oh my god, they actually fucked.

This is awful, I love it.

The next page helpfully informs me that no, they didn't, they just spoke all night while very obvious sexual tension threatened to ruin their lives. I'm into this too, but it's a bit disappointing, I'm not gonna lie.

Spidey is fed up with being considered public enemy, so he goes to the feds, but...

What. DOC OCK "DIED" IN A SIDE NOVEL?!

Spider-Man is starting to look dangerously like Danganronpa.

Oh well.

Spidey gets an interview in Central Park, but the Chameleon tricks him and his reputation is once again ruined.

It looks right out of a horror movie, I love that left panel hahaha

Aww, Flash, baby! My babyboy

Hmm, we haven't seen Electro in a hot minute... Okay, alright, why not!

So that was alright, this issue. The artists did a good job!

If you're wondering, Annual 12 is ASM #119 and #120, so nothing special. I covered them here already!

Overall a really good batch, I loved the amount of social life we got to see, and I'm curious to see what happened in Spectacular throughout this batch. Next time, folks! I do seem to recall we've got a mystery...

Should be fun!

[staytiny-angel]

For Grace and Country 1/?

'Hangman' Adam Page/F!OC, One-Sided Kenny Omega/F!OC

Rating: Eventually M, right now PG

Warnings: Canon Typical Violence, Kenny Omega being an asshole and a creep, Cameos from WWE wrestlers.

Written with my partner in crime @lilmissriottbliss

Taglist: @axelwolf8109 @moxleyunstable

Notes: Takes place in the alternate universe created by @lilmissriottbliss, @swifteforeverandalways and myself known as the Emoverse, but no prior knowledge is needed to enjoy this fic.

Fic Playlist:

Summary: Ava-Grace came to AEW with a purpose, to be the best wrestler she could be, but also to maybe win the heart of a certain cowboy. Unfortunately standing in her way is an overprotective Dark Order and the unwanted advances of the AEW Champion Kenny Omega. 

--------

Ava-Grace Sinclair looked in the mirror backstage at Dynamite carefully checking herself over. She had to look perfect, tonight was her Dynamite debut. After months of working dark matches tonight she was wrestling Thunder Rosa. She popped her airpods in and cranked up BTS to get herself hype as she eased into her stretching routine. She had to do well tonight, she wanted to make her trainer, Seth Rollins proud and prove that the months he'd spent training her in Iowa weren't a waste.

"Ava…" a sickeningly sweet voice said from behind her. Kenny Omega frowned as he realized Ava couldn't hear him. Kenny didn't know what it was about the 5 foot 4, curvy African American woman but he was….interested. Unfortunately for him Ava had spurned his advances at every turn, preferring the company of herself or rarely those misfit losers in the Dark Order.

Kenny tapped her on the shoulder to get her attention, causing Ava to spin around hand raised to defend herself, only to groan when she caught sight of Kenny and Don standing there smirking at her.

"Ava." Kenny smiled at her, "Tonight's the night isn't it? Your big Dynamite debut."

"Yes it is and I'm getting ready for my match. Why don't you both go away and continue ruining Impact?" Ava said rolling her eyes

 Kenny smirked. "Ouch, that was low" 

"What do you want, Omega?"

 "After your match maybe we can….hang out?" Ava was cut off by Moxley loudly clearing his throat. 

"Do you have a problem?" Kenny sighed in annoyance. 

"Nope, just leave the Newbie alone before I call my emo baby sister's twin"

"I didn't need the save," Ava told Moxley, shaking her head and continuing to get ready for her match. 

"You're one of my brother's kids. Me and Sethie may not currently see eye to eye but...I promised I'd look out for any of his that ended up here" he said gruffly before walking away.

"Mox" Ava called out

"Thank you" Moxley nodded and gave the smallest of smiles. Darby Allin nodded at her while Pac talked to Rebel. AEW definitely seemed like everyone knew everyone and they were all BFFs. And then the Dark Order came in, Silver tripping over himself while Anna cussed at him. Evil Uno was reading and Adam Page was drinking, and Ava's heart soared

Hangman Adam Page. The reason she signed with AEW, instead of joining Seth in WWE. The secret Becky had promised to take to her grave. The redhead had thought her crush was cute. To Ava it was an annoyance she couldn't shake. She'd been watching him for years and had always been infatuated with him and now after years of hard work here she was, same company, same show as the love of her life….except...the Dark Order was super overprotective of their cowboy and tended to shield him from newcomers for fear of someone taking advantage of him or hurting him while he was still healing from his breakup with The Elite. 

Ava took a deep breath as first Thunder Rosa's then her own music hit. There was no time for annoyingly sexy cowboys or their even more annoying defense squads right now. Right now? It was time to kick some ass.

"Nice debut," Miro praised. "Seth has never trained a bad student"

"Not sure about that but thanks" Ava smiled then frowned. 

"What's wrong?" Penelope asked.

 "I can't find my phone, I swear if Kenny took it" 

"I'll go ask" Miro handed his title to Kip.

"I'm hanging out with Violet from WWE tomorrow, the last thing I need is that getting leaked" Ava groaned.

 "Excuse me?" Adam knocked on the wall. "I found this by Malachi" 

There it was, a phone with a purple case

"My hero!" Ava praised causing the denim clad man to blush.

"Uh...nice match tonight, that finisher of yours is a showstopper" Adam said rubbing the back of his head with one hand as he took a sip from his ever present whiskey glass.

"Thanks! Seth was really excited that I decided to use one of his moves." 

"He sure must be proud of you," Adam replied. 

"I hope so, I worked really hard to get here" Ava smiled at him causing something to flutter in Adam's chest. 

"Time to get ready" Anna came over to them pulling Adam away from both the odd feeling in his chest and Ava herself

"Guess I'll see you next week?" Ava said looking up at him 

"Yeah, next week" Adam softly replied before walking away with the Dark Order trailing behind him, some of them giving Ava oddly hostile looks. 

"You got it bad, girl," Penelope said, shaking her head. 

Ava sighed "I know" 

----------

The next day Ava sat at an outside table of a restaurant in Texas waiting for her friend, former Raw and NXT champion Violet Gillath-Balor to show up. Soon enough the pale blue haired woman showed up, baby carriage in tow.

"There's my girl," Ava cooed at the baby girl, giggling when she blew a bubble.

"Sometimes I think you're more excited to see the baby then you are to see me" Violet took off her sunglasses and rolled her eyes. 

"It's because I am" Ava replied cheekily "She's cuter and talks less" 

"Saw you kick Thunder Rosa's ass last night, a picture perfect tv debut, if I should say so myself" Violet says as she sits down and picks up the menu. 

"Thanks, Seth even posted about it on his socials, said he was proud of me" Ava grinned at the thought of the praise from her mentor. He hadn't been happy when she'd chosen to sign with AEW instead of joining him in WWE after her stint on the indy circuit but they were slowly working past it and she had many friends in the rival company, including Violet, the wife of Finn Balor and Seth's own wife Becky Lynch.

"You deserve the praise" Violet smiled at her  "You did really well for your first appearance on national TV" 

"Now it's time to claw my way up the ladder" Ava grinned back as she took a sip of her wine. 

"Well, enough of that, time for the dirt. Did you see him?" Violet asked with a smirk 

"Oh my Goddess, you would not believe it.  I misplaced my phone like a total spaz but he found it for me! And he called Grace Under Pressure a 'Showstopper'" Ava said tapping on the table in her excitement 

"Tell me everything" 

-------

After a long lunch with Violet and her daughter, Ava stopped by her hotel room and changed into her comfortable but fashionable workout clothes and headed to the gym the roster was using while they were in town.

"Do you have anywhere I could dance?" She asked the attendant as she walked in the brightly lit space, already spotting Miro and Kip working out.

The woman pointed to an area off to the side where there was a section of wooden floor, a mirrored wall and a barre. 

Putting in her earbuds she put on Perfect World by Twice, and stretched her muscles before starting to dance to the upbeat Japanese song. Unbeknownst to her Kenny was in a different part of the gym and had just walked into the main room, his eyes immediately drawn to the dancing wrestler, his eyes following her movements as she twisted and turned to the music only she could hear. 

"Your obsession is showing" came the snide voice of MJF from behind him.  "You're practically drooling, give it up Omega, the entire roster knows she's got her eye on the cowboy. You don't stand a chance" he laughed as he walked away. 

Meanwhile Adam and the Dark Order were entering the gym, Adam's eyes also immediately drawn to Ava as she switched from a cuter style dance to a sexier one as the music changed. 

John Sliver came up next to him and asked "You like her huh?" 

"I don't know her, but I think I could," Adam said honestly 

"Omega ain't gonna be happy, he's got his eyes on her too" Anna chimed in 

"That's not exactly a deterrent" Adam said with a smirk. 

"I….we just don't want you to get hurt, all anyone knows about this girl is that she was trained by Seth Rollins but declined a WWE contract to come work with us" Anna said softly 

"I'm a big boy Anna" Adam reminded her, he swore he appreciated the Order ever since they'd unofficially adopted him but their over protectiveness could be stifling at times. 

Oblivious to the two men who's attention she'd garnered Ava took out her airpods and took a long guzzle from her water bottle.

"Ava-Grace...didn't know you could dance like that." Kenny came over to stand behind her.

Oh goddess, not again

Ava thought to herself as she tried to avoid being as rude as she'd been the night before, Kenny Omega was still the AEW Champion and one of the higher ups in the company, the last thing she wanted to do was aggravate him, but there was no way she would ever date an asshole like him even if she didn't have her heart set on her precious Hangman.

"What do you want Kenny?" Ava asked as politely as she could.

"For you to go on a date with me tonight" Kenny answered

"For the last time...no" Ava said

"But look at us, we look so good together " Kenny says pointing to their reflections in the mirrors

"Your just not my type Kenny, I'm sorry, " She said as sincerely as possible

"Besides, the lady already has a companion for the evening" Adam chimes in out of nowhere

"I do?" Ava looked up at Adam in shock. This could not be happening. Was he really asking her out?

"If you want to, that is" Adam said blushing.

"Sorry Kenny, I already have a date" Ava says in a slightly awestruck voice.

"Are you serious? You'd rather go out with him instead of a champion?" Kenny laughed sarcastically

"Absolutely" she says looking up at Adam dreamily