#we on the other hand were the definition of a ragtag team of misfits

[dawnstarranger]

Kinda wanna change my blog name on here but I’m too lazy lmao

[tardisman14]

Wing It: Chapter 2: Tough Practice

A novelized version of Wing It Like Witches, told from Amity’s pov. A look into what was going through her mind in that episode, with snippets of happenings in-between scenes. Told in 4 parts (3 main chapters, plus the prologue), rated to be safe, and obviously Lumity.

Prologue

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Sorry it took so long for this chapter to come out. Writers block combined with job stuff is not fun. Hoping to get the next and final chapter out soon.

Did Luz really just challenge Boscha to a game of Grudgby on Willow’s behalf?

“Luz, what are you doing?”

“I’m just following Amity’s advice. Boscha only speaks in grudgby terms. Trust me, I have a plan.”

Okay, this was NOT what Amity meant when she told Luz that. Also, she really hoped that Luz mentioning her name would result in Willow blaming her for this.

“Okay, maybe it’s the altitude of the second floor, but I thought I heard you say that Leaf Girl wanted to challenge me to a grudgby match.”

“That’s right! We’ll settle this once and for all on the field.”

“Or we could just talk about our issues.”

“Let’s do this.”

“Oh, no.”

Yeah, Amity was with Willow on this.

“If Willow’s team wins, you don’t get to pick on her anymore.”

“Fine! And when we win, Willow and your team will be our water gofers.”

“Ha! That’s not even a punishment. I love water.”

Luz had no idea what she was getting them into. During Amity’s time with Boscha on the team, any water gofer they had never lasted for more than a few weeks because-

“And we get to use you as target practice.”

...because of that. And if the hole Boscha just put in that nearby tree was any indication, she wasn’t going to make it easy for them.

“See you after school, losers.”

And now said tree was on fire. Yeah, someone’s definitely gonna be in the healer’s office later.

“Woo-hoo! Willow verses Boscha!”

Okay, as much as Amity hated seeing Willow getting picked on, this likely wasn’t going to make it better.

“Luz, this isn’t a good idea.”

“Yeah, I’ve never even played grudgby before! How am I supposed to beat Boscha?”

“But you’re the better witch. I don’t know much about sports, but I know about sports movies. We, too, are a ragtag team of lovable misfits joined together to defeat a powerful enemy. With a little team spirit and a training montage, we can win.”

Well, it looks like there’s no talking Luz out of it at this point.

“Well, if you think this’ll work, then I’m in. How about you, Gus?”

“In seasons past, these flags have waved in support of grudgby greats. Now they will wave for the greatest: Me!”

“What about you, Amity?”

Right then, Amity’s head was filled with mental pictures of her and Luz. Playing a contact sport together. Being within VERY close proximity of each other.

“Me? On a team with you? Running around in cute uniforms? SWEATING?”

At this point, Amity was in full-on panic mode. Her mind failing to come up with a response, she could only act on instinct. And right then, her only instinct was to bolt it.

“I GOTTA GO!”

Alright, Amity would admit that probably wasn’t the best way to respond. But she was a 14-year-old witch working with new, intense emotions. What else was to be expected?

Once Amity had gotten some distance, she started to calm down a bit, giving her some time to think clearly. There was definitely something she knew. Even if she hadn’t gotten flustered around Luz at that moment, she was still unsure about whether or not it’d be a good idea to accept her offer to be teammates. She’d already gotten two teammates injured last season due to her cocky attitude during the championship. She didn’t want to risk it happening again with her friends by playing.

---

Bonesbrough Library,

Afternoon

Once Amity had settled in at the library, she got started on the assignments for the night. Most of the work was relatively simple, so she was able to get through about half of it in 30 minutes. However, during that time, her mind couldn’t help but wander back to Luz, Willow, and Gus. While she knew that they’ve already been through a lot together, none of them really had any proper experience with Grudgby. On top of that, she also knew that there was no way that Boscha was gonna go easy on them.

Not to mention what this says about Amity’s efforts to make things right with Willow. Sure, she had told off Boscha that morning. But when Luz challenged Boscha, Amity really made no effort to back her or Willow up. And when Luz asked her to be a part of the team, she got so worked up over the idea and just left without any explanation. Why couldn’t these new feelings just be simple?

Amity thought that she’d be able to get her mind off of it by trying to focus on school work. But it seemed that wasn’t going to happen any time soon. And if that was the case, she knew that just sitting there worrying about it wasn’t going to do much good. So, that just left her with one option.

*SIGH* “I can’t bail on them now.”

Amity looked at the clock and figured that they were probably still practicing at that point. Knowing that she owed it to Luz and Willow to be there for them after everything that’s happened, she decided that the homework could wait. Right now, she needed to, at the very least, offer them her moral support. If anything else, maybe she could even give them some pointers.

---

Hexside School for Magic and Demonics,

5 minutes before the match

After hurrying back to the school, Amity went straight for the Grudgby field. Hopefully Luz, Willow, and Gus would be understanding about her sudden exit earlier. However, when she got to the field, something was off.

Luz was just sitting in the bleachers. Looking sad. Amity figured that it might have something to do with why she didn’t see Willow or Gus anywhere nearby. Curious about what happened, she started to approach Luz.

“Tough practice?”

“I pushed Willow and Gus too hard. It’s just, I hate seeing Willow get picked on. She’s one of the best friends I’ve ever had. Winning this game is the only way I know how to help.”

Pushing her teammates too hard, huh? This was starting to sound all too familiar to Amity. Although she could at least tell that Luz’s heart was in the right place.

While Amity had been trying to avoid the subject all day, at this point, she could maybe think of one way to help cheer Luz up.

“Did you know, before Boscha, I was the grudgby team captain?”

“Really?”

Well, Amity supposed that this was bound to come up sooner or later. Might as well be sooner.

“Well, once I left the team, I decided that was a part of my life I wanted to forget. We were playing Glandus High for the Island Championship. We had a move planned, and it was a good one. But, at the last minute, I decided I wanted to do something a bit flashier. I changed our game plan to... the Thorn Vault.”

“Good Witch Azura 2: Field of Deadly Fates! You watched it too?”

“Uh, yeah.”

It would seem that even a saddened Luz is still just as enthusiastic about Azura as ever.

“It went disastrously wrong. My teammates got hurt. All because I had an idea of how things should be. I pushed them too far. I never played again after that day.”

Well, at least Amity was able to get that off her chest, and-

OH TITAN, LUZ’S FACE WAS RIGHT BY HERS!

Next thing Amity knew, she was lying flat on her back due to the surprise.

“Ah! Sorry. I just really love backstories.”

As Luz helped Amity up, both of them had noticed that Boscha’s team had just arrived. Right then, Luz was putting something into Amity’s hand.

“I know what to do to make this up to Willow. Thanks.”

As Luz walked towards Boscha, Amity looked in her hand and saw… Willow’s hair clip. Wait, if Luz needed to hand it to her, what was she about to do?

“It’s after school. Where’s the leader of the loser brigade?”

“I’m here on her behalf. We forfeit.”

Wait, what?

“And I’m here to tell you that I’ll take Willow’s place as your water gofer, target practice, whatever you need.”

Okay, while Amity knew this was a nice sentiment, she had a feeling that Boscha wasn’t going to be swayed by this.

“Wow, you’re really a good friend.

And unfortunately, she was proven right seconds later as Boscha lit the ball of fire.

“And a perfect target.”

Oh no.

“Think fast!”

[shirtlesssammy]

8x18: Freaks and Geeks

Then:

Dean Winchester is not a dweeb. Only dweebs say ‘dweeb’.

Now:

Our old friend Krissy is making out with a boy in a car --but it’s all for show to draw out a vamp and kill it. Other young hunters emerge and while looking at the corpse, set their plans for their next hunt. 

Sam and Dean are on the case of a vamp as well. They take a moment to rehash recent events with Cas taking the angel tablet and the trials. 

Sam wants Dean to talk about his feelings (WE ALL DO.) Anyway, Dean’s not talking. 

They head into talk with the sheriff and learn more about the recent deaths. The sheriff shows them security coverage of Krissy’s little hunt. Dean sees her in the video and asks the sheriff to back down. They’ve got it. 

Krissy and her vamp gang have tracked the other vamp. We spend a gross amount of time with the dude hitting on Krissy before they head out on their hunt. 

Sam and Dean are in hot pursuit. 

They find Krissy, learn that her dad is dead, and that her team is actively hunting a vamp at that moment. Sam and Dean bust in just as the vampire is about to take out Krissy’s friends. The vamp escapes. 

Krissy downs the vamp and her friends rush up to accuse the monster of killer one of their families. The vampire denies it all. He gets his head chopped off. 

Dean and Krissy talk and he learns that she banded together with the others because they all lost family from this nest of vamps. Dean tells her that she’s too young to hunt (lolZ), and that they’re taking her to her aunt’s. They work for Victor though, and Krissy doesn’t need Dean’s help. 

Sam and Dean head to talk with Victor. 

He’s a dweeb of a man that rules his house with a firm but kind hand. Sam and Dean struggle with the work/school balance that he’s offering these kids. 

He has a plan to train the next generation of hunters. They’re going to be so much better than ragtag team of misfits currently running the club. 

Later, Dean is still adamant that kids shouldn’t hunt. Like, he’s really holding on to some long seeded resentment from his own childhood. Dean decides to work the hunt so the kids don’t have to. He heads to interview the captive the last vamp had in his motel room, leaving Sam to watch the kiddos. 

Meanwhile, a mysterious van pulls up outside Victor’s home.

Morning dawns bright and cheery. Victor is wearing an actual apron, making waffles for the kids. Sam slides into the domesticity extremely uncomfortably.

After the kids race off to school, Sam gets Victor’s tragic hunting backstory. A wendigo killed his whole family when they were camping. Instead of taking to the road like a typical hunter, Victor proposes his wholesome hunting house as a good alternative for vengeful kids. (I’m reminded of the Men of Letters murder approach to initiation and I guess I’m at least grateful that Victor isn’t staging prospective hunter cage-matches.)

At the hospital, Dean talks to the former captive. She tells him that she was abducted by a guy in a blue van, and woke up later in the hotel room with Jimmy. He was crying and scared - certainly not Mister MurderVamp. 

At the house, the kids storm in early from school. Victor’s found the vampire that killed Krissy’s dad. 

Sam’s suspicious about the origin of the security camera footage shots Victor presents as evidence. Krissy will brook no uncertainty. She’s ready to do some choppin’. 

Dean calls Sam, and their spidey senses are tingling. Dean learned that Jimmy was only recently turned, and the pattern of attacks seem off. Sam reports that there was no time stamp on Victor’s evidence, so it could have been from any time. After getting off the phone, Sam notices the blue van parked outside. He brings Victor’s attention to it and they prepare to stalk its occupant. 

Dean questions the hotel clerk, who reveals that hoodie guy was there yesterday and grabbed a flyer for a seasonal motel - abandoned this time of year. Dean heads up there to investigate. The lodge seems quiet.

For Misty Beauty Science:

Dean stalks through the rain and finds an open door. Inside, Dean finds a terrified woman who begs for help. She was abducted by someone in a blue van and stowed away at the lodge. Oh, she also appears to be dealing with a brand-new vamp transition.

The three juvenile hunters sneak up on Dean from behind and try to urge him away so Krissy can enact her revenge. 

Sam and Victor close in on blue van guy, but Victor sneaks up on Sam at the last minute and delivers more head trauma for poor Sam. Victor and the vamp exchange conspiratorial smiles.

Krissy immediately jumps to paranoia, asking why Dean’s with the killer vamp. Dean tries to tell her that the woman is innocent - a fresh vamp. Dean easily disarms one of the kids and tries to convince them to help him save the woman. “Hunting isn’t always about killing,” is definitely a message I need to hear from this show periodically. 

They all head back to Victor’s house, where Sam’s waking up from his head trauma. Victor casually walks around overturning furniture while delivering his villain speech. Sam’s death will further entrench the kids in his charge into the hunting life. Dean and the kids arrive before Victor can finish crowing about his plans to the guy he plans to kill. Um. Awkward.

The full story emerges, half told by the Winchesters and half by these smart cookie kids. Victor’s pet vampire kills their families, so they would turn to hunting. Victor tries to convince them that they’re fighting a war. Krissy’s not interested in reconciliation. She shoots the vampire full of dead man’s blood and confronts Victor. 

Dean tries to talk Krissy down. “We don’t kill people,” he tells her. (I spend some time musing about the fragile nature of the human/monster divide. This show has always had some damn shaky moral ground.) 

*We interrupt this after school special to bring you this very attractive still of Dean*

Krissy tells her crew that they’re going to let Victor live with the weight of his regrets. Victor decides to leave “his kids” with just one more horrifying trauma, and kills himself in front of them. 

The kids give the vamp woman a nice mug of vampire cure. Dean tells Krissy that they’re ready to bring her to her aunt’s house. LOL, Dean, she’s staying with her crew. Dean notes that she seems into Aiden, which must help her decision. Readers, I have mapped these three onto Harry, Ron, and Hermione. Josephine the National Merit Scholar is obviously Hermione. Krissy’s gotta be Harry, so that leaves Aiden as Ron. What is that ship even called? Rarry? Hon?

Dean agrees to leave them to their own devices, as long as they allow Garth to check up on them from time to time. Honestly, the Garth network of hunting care was the best. Krissy bids Dean a fond farewell.

Sam emerges from the house feeling optimistic, which Dean immediately counters with a reminder that the gates of Hell are open. Ooooh right. The mytharc. “What do they have to do with [Krissy and her crew]?” Sam asks. They’re hunters now, Dean reminds him, which means they’re in danger from demons as well. If they shut the gates of Hell, that increases the chance of kid hunters leading a normal life. Sam reflects on this in the golden dawn - he’d like a slice of that life as well, thank you very much.

Indeed, Sam.

Welcome to Quotewarts:

Does it look like my bacon needs saving?

Never trust a guy that wears a sweater

Take the damn guns off me or someone is gonna get hurt

He’s not a person, he’s a monster

Want to read more? Check out our Recap Archive! 

[rvb-is-gay]

ok so now that the final episode of rvb0 is out for everyone, lets get into some discussion about it! please note that post isnt a topic of debate but rather just my personal thoughts about everything, so dont go arguing in the replies

(fair warning ahead of time for any fans, this is mostly criticism and negative feelings about it, so keep scrolling if you dont wanna read it)

When RVB0 was first announced, I remember everyone was first upset that the Reds and Blues weren't in it, including me. But now that I've watched the whole thing, I can say with confidence that my only issue with RVB0 isn't the lack of the Reds and Blues, but rather everything. the dialogue, some of the animation, the characters, the delivery, the pacing, the ridiculous amount of clichés, etc. I don't dislike RVB0 just because there's no Reds and Blues. I dislike it because I just found the entirety of it bad.

When I first started watching it, I went in with an open mind that maybe this season could actually be really good. I’d also be lying if I said that there wasn't a single scene that I liked. There were actually a few, but they still didn't make up for just the overall badness of the season. But please note that I don't blame the voice actors for any of this or even just Torrian Crawford for the season coming out a giant mess. Many people worked for this season and always had the opportunity to improve or change things but didn't. But anyways, let’s get into some of the criticisms I have for this season.

1. Smaller and more opinion oriented criticisms

This isn’t really criticism or anything important, but rather just a few things I found a bit weird to me personally.

First, the term “ragtag team of misfits” was used to describe Shatter Squad (and was even actually said out loud by One in the last episode, which sounded just so cliché and dumb in my opinion). I don't think this describes them at all?? Everyone has, at the very least, decent relationships with each other (save for One and East who were competitive with each other (which I also fucking hate in RVB that all the girl characters are always competitive with each other)), but that still doesn't really fit the term ragtag) and they all fight very well. I think ragtag fits the Reds and Blues more than it does Shatter Squad; they're bad at fighting, they argue and fight all the time, they're idiots, and that's why we love them. If they had just stuck with “a team of misfits”, that would've made more sense, but again, this is more of a personal opinion than genuine criticism.

Second, I don’t really like the aesthetics this season had. Everything felt a bit too neon and bright and then some stuff just felt like it came straight out of World of Warcraft or something. It didn’t really feel like RVB.

Third, my feelings about Carolina constantly calling Wash David can be summed up by what Michael said in the first episode of Halo 4 LASO: “Now we’re just gonna throw his name around all willy nilly. It used to be a secret.” When someone is called by their real name in RVB or just any story in general where everyone goes by code names, it’s usually a big deal and indicates something serious. Carolina wore out Wash’s name the first time she said it and it just got more and more irritating from then on out and lost its value.

Fourth, who was the blue and purple soldier in the first teaser we got? Was that One? Did they decide to change her armour colour? I don’t know, I just randomly remembered that and thought it was weird but I guess it must’ve just been a colour change.

Now, onto the more serious criticism.

2. Animation and dialogue

The second thing I wanna talk about is the animation. Don't get me wrong, the fighting animation is probably the best compared to everything else and it was pretty good to watch, but the talking and idle animations and gestures were..... kinda yikes. I know that it could be chalked up to “well we’re not used to seeing animated gestures since all of RVB usually has everyone just holding their gun and using the regular Halo models” but there were still some pretty bad parts.

Take the scene from Encounter at 3:26 as an example (I uploaded the scene to YT to put here, but obviously it was blocked for copyright):

This scene is probably one of the worst when it comes to not only the animations, but the dialogue, pacing, and delivery. When I first saw this, I honestly laughed. Here's a list of my problems with this scene and what made it so laughable:

The overexaggerated hand gestures. I get that because everyone's in armour and a helmet, it can be hard to show expression, but this feels like a bit much. Especially when One says “what? You’re pulling us off the mission? You cant do that!” I think that one scene in season 15 when Grif stays behind on Iris while everyone leaves and it slowly zooms in on Simmons’ visor somehow does a lot better at expressing feelings than this.

East immediately making the connection between Axel and Zero feels weird. I don't know if its just me who feels this way, but I think it should've been a little bit longer before she immediately is just like “you know Zero don't you”

Axel saying “I... I do... I did”  also sounds weird and like he was trying a bit too hard to sound dramatic. I don't really know how to describe it its just such a weird delivery of the line.

The way they all immediately start yelling at each other.

One saying “Axe, I trusted you” right after saying “tell us the truth”. Girl, you gave him no opportunity to explain and just immediately jumped to not trusting him anymore. Speaking of which, I don't think this was ever really mentioned again and had no meaning or importance to it.

The echoing of “I trusted you” also feels cliché to me, but this is more of a minor thing.

I think this one comment on one of the episodes on the RT site that says the dialogue “seemed acted rather than natural. It didn't really sound like how people normally talk, more how actors talk in plays” is how I feel about all of the dialogue in RVB0.

3. The villains

Zero and Diesel both felt like they didn't really have any motivation at all for being villains. Phase is probably the best when it comes to this. She was essentially abused by her father as a child and forced to undergo being experimented on. This is an actual good and understandable motivation.

Diesel we know basically nothing about, and then on the other hand, all Zero wants is power. But for what? Why? I can understand that power is a pretty common thing for people to want, but it still kind of felt like there wasn't really anything there.

Some previous good villains in RVB include:

Temple: Temple witnessed his best friend be brutally murdered right in front of him by 2 soldiers who didn't give a shit and just left him to die, especially right after he told him he was having a baby. Of course it’s understandable that he has a hatred of Freelancers after this. Any normal person would.

Felix: Felix was probably the best villain of all of RVB, to be honest (right beside the Director). He was just somehow so likeable and had so much personality, despite being an asshole. His ultimate motivation was money and being rich, which is another thing I can understand; the more money you have, the more you can essentially do whatever you want and live in luxury. I mean, even so many people in real life do horrible things just for money. I don't even have to give examples for this. Felix in general is also just a psychopath.

The Director: The whole reason the Director did what he did was because he lost the person he loved most in the world: his wife. He was willing to do literally anything to bring her back, leading to all of his actions in the Project Freelancer saga. You can find many examples of movie/TV/book/etc characters/villains seeking vengeance as a result of loss of a loved one and grief. Despite being a horrible person, the Director actually managed to be a villain you could even sympathize with, making him even better.

Sharkface: Although a bit of a more minor villain, similar to Temple, Sharkface is a villain because he wants revenge on the people that killed his team, the people he considered to be the only family he’s ever had.

4. Tucker & the swords

The fourth thing I wanna talk about is the whole thing with Tucker and the swords. I always found it kinda weird how both Tuckers sword and now Locus’ sword in the chorus trilogy were the same, but then in RVB0, Zero’s sword looks and acts completely different, but that might just be a little nitpick of mine.

As for Tucker, it was so good to see him. Although I don’t know if it was just me, but he seemed a little OOC. What I didn't like about seeing Tucker again was that he did literally nothing the entire episode. He was useless. He said “I can fight” at one point but then all he does during the battle is get held at knife point, run away, and then get stabbed and have his sword taken. Tucker isn't an amazing fighter, but he’s definitely a lot more capable than just this. We’ve seen him in action many times and I just feel like he could've done a bit more. It almost feels like he was purposefully nerfed and tossed aside just to advance the plot.

Another thing that I and probably a lot of people are upset about is the fact that Tucker might not even own his sword anymore?? When East stabbed him, he apparently died and the sword was rebound to Phase, but it wasn't very clear that this was the case. Although the beginning of the next episode starts with hospital beeps and a flatline, I don't think it was still really clear enough that Tucker actually died long enough for Phase to reclaim the sword because I saw a handful of people confused in the comments and, like me, even thought it was just bad writing at first and that the writers completely forgot about the rules of the sword established over several prior seasons.

When in the hospital, Wash tells Tucker that he almost died. Although I actually liked this scene because it was nice to see wash and tucker bantering again, I think it could've been made better and made the plot clearer if instead of saying he almost died, Wash said something along the lines of “Tucker, you died. Your heart stopped, but they were able to bring you back thanks to their advanced medical tech” and then in response Tucker freaks out because that means his sword will now work for Phase and now they know how urgent the situation is.

I really really hate that Phase just has Tucker’s sword now and nothing is even said about it. If Tucker was to give his sword away to someone, I think many people would prefer that it was at least someone close to him, like Junior for example, but instead it goes to a random girl he hardly knows.

5. Pacing

The fifth thing I wanna talk about is the pacing. This season was definitely a lot shorter than normal and I think that’s one of the things that really prevented it from being good. The entire story just feels rushed and while I understand that it can be really difficult to build a good story and characters in such a short time, I think there’s still ways you can do it without it feeling like there’s so much missing. I think the long intros and outros are also responsible for less time and maybe they should’ve considered cutting them to give more actual episode time. Here’s a few things that were poorly done as a result of bad pacing:

The final battle against Zero: The whole battle just somehow felt like a typical video game boss battle that ends super quickly to me. Shatter Squad didn’t even defeat Zero, he just up and got disintegrated or whatever from Black Lotus.

Shatter Squad giving up on their mission: After receiving the silly deep voice filtered message from Zero, everyone on Shatter Squad just immediately gives up on finding him.

One’s speech: One’s speech wasn’t awful or anything and I didn’t really have any problems with the speech itself, but rather just how quickly the team went from “we can’t do it.. it’s over..” to “you’re right! I’m in! Let’s go get them!” Compare this to Doc and Sarge’s speech to the Reds and Blues after Church and Carolina leave in season 10 episode 20. It just felt a lot more genuine (this is probably because the Reds and Blues had a lot more time to be developed, though) and was only given after some time passed rather than 2 seconds later. The scene and context also transitioned well into it and at first, nobody was on board with what Doc was saying, which is more realistic in my opinion. People’s minds won’t just instantly change, they’re still gonna think about it and maybe have a few doubts at first.

Phase and West: During their fight, West talked a lot about how he regrets giving Phase away to Starlight, that he won’t hurt her, and is even willing to die for her. Their scene together ends with Phase punching him in the head and then leaving to join the others and nothing else about them is mentioned. We don’t know if Phase forgave him or not, we don’t know how West feels, etc.

Tucker’s sword: Phase still has Tucker’s sword and like the scenario with West, nothing about it is mentioned. We don’t know what she’s going to do with it, if she’s going to keep it, if Tucker’s gonna do anything about it, etc.

6. Clichés

Clichés aren’t inherently bad and can be really impactful and good if done right. But when it comes to RVB0, it’s jampacked with clichés that aren’t good. Here are a few examples:

Everyone gives up until a speech is given: All of the points for this are the same as above, but I wanted to include this scene as a cliché as well.

Every female character is competitive with each other: RVB falls into this a lot, like I mentioned earlier. It happens again with East and One, although luckily they seem to resolve it, but not until literally the end of the season.

West’s fit about East: All of the lines and delivery in this scene were just atrocious and cheesy. I think West’s dialogue just could’ve been a bit more original, but instead we’re given this boring predictable “I won’t lay a hand on her. I promised her. I promised her mother. I promised she’d be safe” spiel that has no emotion to it in his voice.

The whole “I got this, you go ahead” thing: This isn’t like a super cliché thing, but I found it pretty interesting how it happens twice in the same episode.

I think this is pretty much all I can think of at the moment. If I think of anything else, I’ll add onto this. Overall, I think RVB0 would’ve done a lot better as just an RVB spinoff so that it could have more episodes and seasons dedicated to developing characters and a good plot. I’m really disappointed with this season and I hope whatever comes next is better than what RVB0 was. I hope the team that worked on it can learn a few things that come from the good and valid constructive criticism given to them. And if I had to pick, I think I’d say Raymond was my favourite out of all the new characters. He just felt the most relatable and realistic to me.

[softschofield]

Could you give us more headcanons about sco and the lot of the convoy pwease

oh gosh okay, WELL

they’re all best friends in The Convoy Lot, but the smaller friend groups are as follows: 

jondalar and rossi (the parents of the group, they’re so tired) (but jondalar is the more stern, responsible, outwardly sentimental one who will give lectures and warnings and isn’t afraid of them being annoyed with him if it means they’re safe, and rossi oscillates between being the snarky enabling uncle friend who likes seeing cooke try to impress everyone and end up falling in the mud, and the long-suffering, loyal parent who loves them and does want to keep them out of trouble... mostly) (and also jondalar is the only one rossi lets take the piss out of him)

rossi and malky (they’re best friends, they’re the best of friends, i’m in love with their friendship)

cooke and malky (feral sad boy meets the sweetest lad this side of kilgour, a lot of mutual pining that shows itself as fighting) (and by fighting i mean cooke has made malky cry more than once and then he’s as guilty as he is cowed and sulkily subdued by rossi’s silent warning glare)

cooke and jondalar (cooke is the only one who brings out jondalar’s inner feral working class energy and all hell can break loose if you leave them alone together, because they’ll end up teaming up instead of picking on each other and when you pair jondalar’s brains with cooke’s pure manic tendencies? mad scientists) 

parry and atkins kinda gravitate at the edge of the group with parry’s chaotic energy and atkin’s gentle, lumbering henchman vibes. they’re the fan favourite secondary characters who show up for 3 episodes in a season with a new terrible business plan or scheme, like “we’re going to befriend elderly people and steal their homes out from under their children when they die”, “we’ve invested in the organic toothpaste industry”, “we got heavily indebted to the local mafia because turns that dilapidated old bread factory we bought at an auction a few months back is infested with asbestos and now we can’t pay back the loan sharks, so we’re going to start a hand-made, hand-baked etsy mug shop and-- ATKINS THE MUGS ARE BURNING IN THE OVEN I CAN SMELL THEM GO CHECK ON THEM-- anyway rossi we need to borrow $300, and yes we are using your oven hope that’s okay”

they have identical vibes to these secondary characters in some children’s show or movie or something but i cannot put my finger on it. but yes either way i adore them and parry has absolutely slept his way through most of The Convoy Lot (right now he and cooke are having a thing and malky is definitely not jealous) but he never gets attached. but he’s also secretly very soft (see: parry keeping an eye on scho in the background as smith is leading him to the end of the convoy, just to make sure he’s okay). in terms of group hierarchy, parry is rossi’s equal.

once scho joins them, he’s been taken under the wings of the group parents, so no one else can complain. that’s how most of them were adopted into this ragtag bunch of misfits, after all, because either jondalar or rossi saw someone who didn’t quite fit in, who was struggling to make friends, who was lonely or different, and took them under their care. 

cooke throws his weight around a lot at first, testing boundaries and pushing buttons and teasing scho to the point of cruelty, but rossi gives him a look whenever he pushes too far and cooke backs off. butler joins in sometimes too, but he’s more quiet than cooke in general and as grumpy and displeased as he is to have someone new around, because he doesn’t like change and takes a long time to get used to new people, he just settles for giving scho dirty looks. 

rossi’s more empathetic than anyone, despite the hooded eyes and apparent lack of interest, and he always keeps an eye on scho; he can see when something hurts or triggers a bad memory. and of course jondalar and scho are just an iconic duo - jondalar doesn’t have as much tangible influence in the group as rossi does, so he looks after scho in a more personal way, with gentle words and soft touches and small smiles. 

at night, scho and rossi often sit away from the rest of the group around their own little fire, talking about literature and poetry and art and how much scho has always dreamed of going to scotland. scho and jondalar get on because of those same interests, and also because scho, in love with the whole world before the war, still has enough life in him to be quietly fascinated by india; jondalar tells him as much as he wants to know, getting dreamy-eyed as he loses himself in his old home and laughing as he talks about his younger sisters’ antics, and scho just watches him and listens with a small, wispy smile and dead eyes that slowly grow a little less dead, especially when tears sometimes well in them as jondalar talks about a particularly happy memory. 

slowly, slowly, they all help scho heal a little more.

god i love them

[queercapwriting]

A Fitzskimmons Holiday (ft. the SHIELD fam)

“Mack, can you please disentangle those three so we can keep cooking without setting anything on fire?” Yo-Yo called from the bus’s kitchen, where she and Coulson were half-sauteeing onions and half-watching May chop carrots and celery with ruthless efficiency.

“I’m not trying to you myself quaked,” Mack held up his hands, covered in biscuit dough, as they all turned to look at the couch.

Daisy was whispering something - probably something dirty, if the eyes-fluttered-closed-lips-slightly-parted look on Jemma’s face was any indication - into Simmons’ ear while she and Fitz held hands across their girlfriend’s lap.

May glanced up with a barely perceptible smirk, not breaking rhythm with her chopping. “They seem pretty unlikely to start any fires right now. Unless Simmons has developed the ability to spontaneously combust.”

“Not completely out of the realm of possibility, May,” Hunter smirked, pulling at his beer and nudging Bobbi with his elbow.

Bobbi nudged him back - hard but playful - and checked on what all was in the oven.

“You know you keep opening the oven like that, it’s going to make the cooking temperature uneven,” Coulson warned mildly.

“Please, when has Bobbi been about patience?” Hunter and Mack asked at the same time. She shoved them both, earning a hug from Mack, a lopsided grin from Hunter, and a proud smirk from May.

“I’m getting the impression you were talking about us just there,” Fitz said suddenly, like he was just realizing how the conversation had started.

“Hey, look who’s back from love town,” Yo-Yo grinned.

“Oh, no, I’m... to be clear, I’m not back, I haven’t gone anywhere. Nope, I’m definitely always in love town with these two. I think I’ve taken up permanent residence.”

Jemma laughed and framed his cheeks with her hands, kissing him both thoroughly and playfully. Daisy kissed Jemma’s neck relatively chastely before leaning over and taking Hunter’s beer for herself.

“You know this is all very nice,” Coulson grinned, “but none of it is helping dinner get made.”

“Oh, no, we’re fully planning on helping. We’ll be so helpful there won’t even be leftovers by tomorrow,” Daisy assured him. “And anyway, Jemma did all the prep yesterday.”

“I certainly did,” Jemma straightened up proudly.

“Because she likes to be in control, that one,” Fitz nodded. Jemma pretended to glare, but Daisy gave Fitz a hand to slap. Jemma turned her fake glare on Daisy, who pretended to be intimidated.

“But really, if you do need more help, I’m more than happy to -” Jemma started standing, but Daisy and Fitz both grabbed her hands and tugged her back into their laps.

“Jemma, you were on your feet doing food prep all day yesterday, it’s okay to rest and let other people take care of you,” May reminded her. And because she rarely spoke that many words in a row, Jemma obediently let herself rest.

“Yeah,” Trip added, coming down the stairs with two entire boxes of wine in his arms. Bobbi and Hunter jogged over to help him. “Come on, girl, you deserve to relax. All three of you.”

“I still think that if we programmed a holographic monkey with tactile capabilities, we could all rest while -”

“You’re not programming anything, Turbo.”

“Absolutely not.”

“I love you, Fitz, but I swear on everything that’s holy -”

“Let’s not go there.”

“Right, right, fair enough.”

Fitz fell silent while Daisy kissed his hand and Jemma kissed his hair, just to reassure him that they all loved him, still and forever and unconditional.

“But I’m just saying,” he started again after a moment, “if it was a monkey -”

“Someone feed him so he stops talking about this monkey,” Yo-Yo winked at him, and May lifted her foot to give Yo-Yo a seamless foot five.

“I can be fed, yes, definitely. But I can also help!”

“You and Tremors have officially been banned from the kitchen,” Mack reminded him.

“I’m still traumatized by how big that fire was,” Hunter smirked, grabbing his beer back from Daisy.

“Get your own,” Daisy whined, swiping for it, before Bobbi laughed and gave her an entire bottle of wine from the boxes she was putting down with Trip. “Ooh, this is even better, you can have that, Lance,” Daisy grinned.

“I like you,” Jemma told Bobbi, as they beamed at each other.

“I like all of you,” Coulson sighed, looking around at their ragtag team of misfit agents and lovers and friends.

Family.

“You’re not so bad yourself, boss,” May almost smiled with her lips, but her eyes definitely did.

“Awwwww!” Daisy, Jemma, and Fitz said before May could pretend to shoot them a threatening look.

But, of course, the threat failed, because by this point, they all knew better.

And they all knew exactly what they were thankful for.

In the midst of everything... there was always each other.

[unholysunblade]

Okay but what if Seaa and Gin meet during the Siege of Lordaeron. *props chin on hands*

     That would be interesting, especially because come BFA, Seaandra isn’t necessarily serving Sylvanas anymore. Seaandra is present during the Siege of Lordaeron, but not as a combatant unit. She and a squad AKA a ragtag team of misfits I have yet to name (but we do have a centaur with us) are leading a Search and Rescue operation. If they were to run into each other, Gin would likely find Seaandra diving into the fray and scooping out the wounded to safety, regardless of faction. She has a hideout in Silverpine that they’d all be moved to, medics and healers on hand to bring them to speed, then toss them to a portal back to their faction’s capital or something.

     So she’s basically pretending she’s still playing a prot pally lol. Seaandra would have her super serious face on, and if she caught Gin there, she’s definitely inclined to keep her out of harm’s way and tip her which areas to avoid if she wants a better chance at surviving, barking out directions as if she’s some kind of commander. 99% chance she’ll spew out something edgy too

[sage-nebula]

i don't think ask boxes have 500 word limits but here's a section!! "As he finished tugging his sleep clothes on, Keith made his way over to his bed. There, taped up along the wall, was a collage of photographs. Ezor had gotten her hands on a small tablet camera during one of their visits to the Space Mall, and had gone on a photo taking spree. She had not only snapped all manner of candid photographs of all of them, but had insisted on taking hundreds of selfies with them, too."

(From: Revolutionary)

Ooh, okay! So, with this little bit here, I actually had a few thoughts behind it.

The first thought was thinking about to Keith’s room in the Castle of Lions back in the canon reality. If you’ll remember his room from season two, it’s completely bare. He has a bed, but that’s about it. In stark contrast to Pidge, Lance, and Coran, Keith has not decorated his room at all. He hasn’t made himself at home even a little. And this is also in stark contrast, too, from how he set up in that shack in the desert. He had things and possessions all over the shack in the desert. He had lived there for a year, he had clearly made himself at home. But in the Castle of Lions, he didn’t. In the Castle of Lions, he was always prepared to leave.

So with that, I wanted there to be a note of contrast between Keith’s room in the canon reality, and Keith’s room here in the Revolutionary reality, while still making it clear that this is Keith, and so the change isn’t that stark. The change, additionally, doesn’t even necessarily come from him, but rather from an outside force. In the canon reality, there’s a definite separation between Keith and the rest of the Paladins. The Garrison trio are the Garrison trio—they have their tight-knit friendship, and it’s clear that they don’t really want to pull Keith into it (Tyler Labine pretty much confirmed as much in an interview circa season two). Keith is close with Shiro, but it’s evident that even at their best there’s still something of a wall there, as we see when Keith declines to tell Shiro what’s weighing on his mind and giving him anxiety in 2x06. For the most part, canon Team Voltron is content to let Keith be a��“lone wolf”, and Keith plays along with those expectations because—well, there are a lot of reasons. We don’t need to get into all of them now. The point is, although we do see Allura trying to reach out to him in seasons three and four, there’s still something of a separation there that prevents any of them from really trying to pull Keith out of his shell and into their fold, which contributes to allowing Keith to leave his room in such a state that he can be ready to go in under five minutes and it will look as if he never stayed there at all.

But in the Revolutionary reality, it’s different, both because of the circumstances and the people involved. This team is essentially a ragtag bunch of misfits (+exiled prince) that have come together not because they had to due to the circumstances, but rather because they wanted to, they all agreed to. Moreover, while there are some within the group that are closer than others (Keith and Acxa have known each other the longest, and after that they both traveled with Lotor for a time before finding Ezor, then Zethrid, then Narti), they all have close relationships with each other, they all care about each other, as more than just teammates. They’re friends. They’re family. And in that, in this reality, while Keith might have still left his room mostly bare for a few reasons (it’s not as if he had belongings to take with him from Revender aside from the clothes on his back and the sword Lotor gave him when they fought their way out, and plus he really is always ready to Go™ at a moment’s notice, which means not having stuff strewn all over the place), the others in the Castle would have reactions ranging from confused to upset if they had any indication that Keith didn’t think this was just as much his home as it was theirs. As a result, while Keith might have left his room mostly undecorated, an outside force—Ezor, specifically—took it upon herself to change that, to pretty solidly and firmly say, “No way, nu-uh, you can’t just leave your room all boring, what are you doing?!” Keith is still Keith no matter the reality, but he’s with a different group of people in this reality, the dynamics and relationships that he has with them are different, and that reflects in the way they react to and behave around him, as well as the measures they take to make sure that it’s clear that they’re all in this together, one bonded group.

In addition to all of that, though, I also wanted a way to show—I mean, it was important to me to show throughout the entire fic that they all have bonds with each other, that they’re all close. It was important to me to show that although this is (was?) a Keith/Lotor fic, I didn’t conceive this reality solely so that Keith could have a relationship with Lotor and no one else. It’s not healthy to only have one important person in your life—that’s dangerous, actually—and it would also be such a waste if Keith didn’t also have good relationships with the other generals. There’s so much potential there for him to bond with the other four as well, and to not have that would be not only unrealistic, but also a massively wasted opportunity. So I tried throughout the fic to show Keith has bonded with and gets along with the others as well (shown most prominently with Acxa, given their closeness), but I also figured that the photo wall would be a good way to show that.

Although this team is spearheading a revolution and, as such, are quite busy and focused on their goal, they’re still a bunch of young people living together who do, at times, have fun as well, and I wanted to show that. I wanted to show the fact that they have lives, that Keith is living a life here, with these people, that there is evidence of that. They have plenty of serious moments, but they have moments of downtime as well. The photo wall was a good way to show that. It was a good final reminder that although Keith is in love with Lotor (and vice versa), that although they’re about to start that relationship, he also has bonds with the rest of his fellow Paladins just as they have bonds with each other. Ezor making sure he has the photos on the wall is one thing, but I also wanted to show a glimpse of what their lives are like outside of this fic, to show what sorts of things they’ve potentially been up to before this fic took place, and the photographs were a good last chance to do that, I felt.

There was one of him and Acxa simultaneously drinking pechaya juice while using their other hands to try and block Ezor’s camera; there was another of Zethrid lifting him off the ground in a massive, full-body hug as he gasped out that he had ribs she was breaking; there was one of him and Narti having fallen asleep on the sofa together, Kova curled up on his chest; one of Ezor herself pouncing on his back so she could take an impromptu selfie with him; one of him and Lotor playing a game of Crowns & Claws, Keith’s brow furrowed in concentration as he studied the board before him, and Lotor smiling at him from across the table; and other snapshots of the rest of his teammates, from one the many selfies Ezor took of herself dancing with Narti, to one of Acxa after she had fixed new barrettes in her hair to keep her bangs out of her eyes, to one of Zethrid arm-wrestling Lotor.

I really wanted to take an opportunity to show, in one last burst, the fact that there is a lot of history behind this reality’s team, that they’ve been together for a long time, that they have strong bonds between all of them, that Keith has a real life here and that he is, despite the war and anything else, happy. So in addition to providing some contrast between his room in this reality and his room in the canon reality (subtle contrast though that may be), I also wanted to take the chance to send one last message about just how well he does fit in here—how well this team all fits with each other.

[inhumansforever]

Secret Warriors #2 Review

spoilers spoilers spoilers spoilers spoilers spoilers spoilers spoilers spoilers

Daisy Johnson’s ragtag team of Inhuman heroes continue their battle against the evil Secret Empire in this second issue from the creative team of Mathew Rosenberg, Javier Garrón and Israel Silva.  Full recap and review following the jump.

The Secret Empire cross-over event is a rather grim tale.  With authoritarianism having become something so many of us have to deal with in real life, the idea of Hydra taking over America doesn’t exactly provide a sense of fantasy escapism.  And it is for this reason that I especially appreciate Rosenberg and Garrón et al.’s Secret Warriors.  It plays up the goofier aspects of Secret Empire and injects a much needed sense of humor to go with the pulse pounding action.  And while Secret Empire itself is rather dreary, Secret Warriors is hugely fun.

Just two issues in and Rosenberg and Garrón (along with colorist, Israel Silva) have achieved a really good synergy.  The script and art match each other quite well, with the funny sight-gags acting as punchlines to the pithy dialogue.  The team itself is made up of an oddly composed squad of misfits, yet Rosenberg and company have already got them feeling like a family (a family that constantly argues with one another, but a family nonetheless).  

Whereas the first issue focused mostly on Daisy ‘Quake’ Johnson, this second issue is much more balanced.  Some extra space is offered to Inferno and the tale of how he ended up in Hydra’s custody.  Several flashbacks show Hydra’s take over of New Attilan.  The Inhumans never had a chance to fight back, most of their heavy hitters now off in space (as detailed in the pages of The Royals and Black Bolt).  Inferno, Naja and Grid flee, hoping to somehow get help so to eventually free the others.  Inferno is reluctant to hide and his rash, hotheaded actions ultimately leads to his colleagues getting captured.  Inferno himself is able to escape but it it clear that he feels a great deal of guilt over having left his friends behind.  He was later captured himself, which ultimately led to his being rescued by the others in the Secret Warriors #1.

Having busted up Hydra’s Inhuman internment camp, the Secret Warriors pile into a stolen car and head west under the assumption that doing so will eventually lead to crossing paths with The Mutants (who have in their possession the one Inhuman most critical to Karnak’s plan).  Moon Girl asks to drive…

Taking the back roads to avoid detection, the squad comes across a group of Hydra goons who appear to be accosting innocent civilians on a farm.  Daisy insists they continue on, but Inferno won’t have it; he pulls over and intercedes (and it later becomes clear that his motivation is to make amends for having left behind his teammates back when the Hydra takeover first went down).  It turns out that Daisy’s instinct were correct and the whole matter is actually a ploy to ensnarl our heroes, as The Warriors find themselves face to face with a brainwashed version of Shield’s monster unit, The Howling Commandos.  

A wild battle ensues.  The Warriors are able to take down most of the commandos, but have much more trouble with the commandos’ clean-up hitter, Man-Thing.  Inferno tries to take on  the monster on his own, possibly looking to nobly sacrifice himself to allow the others to escape.  Fortunately, Karnak saves the day by plowing into Man-Thing with their car (so we can now assume that the ‘flaw’ in Man-Thing is the inability to hand;e the forward tork of a Volkswagen Golf GTI).

Having defeated the Howling Commandos, The Warriors pilfer a new car (this time with a horse trailer to hold Devil Dinosaur (sort of)) and continue west.  Moon Girl finally gets to drive and Karnak insists on listening to Beyoncé on repeat.  It isn’t lone before they find what they are looking for and are stopped by an interesting collection of X-Men who we can assume are the Mutants of Tian.  And it is with this cliffhanger that the issue ends.        

The Secret Empire event in and of itself hasn’t been for me, but this tie-in series continues to be loads of fun; and this second issue is even better executed than the first.  Again the script and art pair really terrific together and Rosenberg’s wonderful knack for dialogue sells the idea of these disparate characters coming together to form a team.  

While the team works together well in terms of telling a fun story, it’s clear they have a long, long ways to go before coming together as a cohesive unit.  Daisy is the de facto leader, but the others aren’t really following her lead.  It’s evident that the ideological differences between her and Ms. Marvel will be coming to a head rather soon.  Inferno has a chip on his shoulder and his impulsivity keeps getting him into trouble.  Moon Girl still doesn’t really know how to play well with others... she makes me think of an only child suddenly asked to get along with new siblings.  And Karnak, well it’s still not clear what Karnak’s motivations are other than he is happy to go wherever Moon Girl goes.  All of their interactions with each other are both satisfying while still leaving me wanting more and I’m very much looking forward to the next issue.  

Definitely recommended; Four out of Five Lockjaws.