#what a stupid stance to have jfc

[mskatesharma]

Simone's LA Times podcast left me so ambivalent...She was delightful per usual and I'm glad she has some TBA projects so I can support her work elsewhere. But I think I'm finally over the show....

TVWLM is the only Bridgerton book I like, so I was happy to peace out from the fandom after S2. But S2 left me so dissatisfied and Simone and JB have made it seem like they'll have a decent story in S3, so I was gonna stick around. But Simone's reveal that they had written a backstory and flashbacks for Kate—but ultimately scraped it—has just left such a sour taste (compounded by everything else) and IDK that I can't reconcile it anymore. Like do I still want to follow this show?

They've got no problem giving all the white women characters their due (Eloise, Daphne, Penelope, Violet), but Kate, her family, and Lady Danbury have been horrendously written. There's no reason to be optimistic they'll try to course correct next season. Obviously Simone & JB have some idea of what their storyline is (seems she's been permitted to hint about a baby), and it sounds promising when they sell it, but I doubt it'll actually be that substantive/thoughtful...They didn't care to do right by Kate & Kanthony their own season, and now they've got a new central romance plus a million subplots to contend with S3.

Just feeling very disillusioned about a show I once really enjoyed despite its many issues.

I LOVED the LA Times interview, the questions were really good, and they actually asked about stuff other than representation. I also feel like Simone felt comfortable, especially seeing as she offered to tattoo the interviewer lol. I’m so excited to hear about what she has coming up, and I hope there’s an announcement soon because news about Bridgerton is just depressing as shit.

Anon, I am so tired of the shit that we continue to find out after the release of season two. Like it’s no secret that I have my issues with how shit the writing was for season two, but this latest thing is just...yeah. Part of me wonders if the way Simone (and Jonny) continue to bring stuff up is their way of trying to get it included next season? Like trying to force the show’s hand? (Also, I did start answering this ask yesterday but got annoyingly angry and depressed while answering so I had to leave it lol, sorry)

I am so fucking annoyed. And you’re absolutely right, it does leave such a bad taste in the mouth.

And you know what I find quite insidious about the whole thing? Is that they had these flashbacks included in the sides that Simone auditioned with, giving the impression of a somewhat thorough exploration of Kate's background and cause of her trauma and grief, as well as making it seem that Kate's background (including being Indian) and life in India was going to be given consideration, only for them to scrap the scenes entirely once Simone was cast. I honestly find it somewhat disgusting, and to be honest, it makes me feel sick. It’s like they enticed her with those scenes, and the promise of that kind of thoughtful focus, only to get rid of them once she was cast. Those scenes were bait.

And look, I know just because these sides and scenes were used for audtion purposes, doesn’t mean they were always going to be included in the show, but that makes it even worse? I didn't necessarily want flashbacks of Kate's time in India because I didn't trust the show to handle such scenes sensitively enough, but the fact that these scenes were written in the first place and then scrapped, ENRAGES me. It makes me feel violent. They wrote and included this stuff because they knew it was important for Kate's character, to understand her as a character and her motivations, and I don’t understand why it wasn’t included. So we could watch Jack and Portia have the same conversation over and over again? So we could watch any of the other sideplots go nowhere for far too long? WHY DID THEY TREAT KATE’S GRIEF AND TRAUMA AS THOUGH IT WAS MEANINGLESS AND THAT IT DIDN’T MATTER???

The WOC on this show are so poorly served, and I fucking hate it. I think maybe they’re saving Lady Danbury’s backstory for the Queen Charlotte spinoff, but, that’s still shit because not everyone who watches Bridgerton is going to watch the spinoff. Plus, if they keep the main elements from RMB, then Lady Danbury is involved in Polin’s story as well? And it’s gross, because her sole purpose in life is not to be the Bridgertons’ romantic fairy godmother?? Like fuck off with this shit. It’s offensive. I really thought they would expand on Kate and Lady Danbury’s relationship, and have Lady Danbury confide in Kate about her life and why she gave Kate the advice she did after the non-wedding...but they didn’t. And then you have how they treated Kate in HER SEASON. It honestly felt like she was a side character in her own season at times and I just...FUCK.

Like, my expectations for season three regarding Kanthony were already rock bottom, and with everything new that comes out, my expectations just get lower. It’s depressing, and I just...it gets more and more obvious that this show doesn’t actually care about ‘diversity’; for them it doesn’t actually have to be substantive, it’s just icing that they can sprinkle on the top and then ask for the plaudits for their superficial diversity. And it pisses me off that their superficiality gets hardly any traction or criticism.

[falinscloaca]

cat hacker reintroduces mspec lesbian discourse into my life my brain obliterates itself in ocd-fueled recursive self-argumentation

[atopvisenyashill]

What is Corlys loyal to, during the Dance? What are his ambitions, as you see them?

Corlys wants

To keep his family safe

Access to power

To prove he’s as good as a Targaryen

His family name on the Iron Throne

A dragon rider in his family

Very similar in many ways to most of the other adults during this time, especially Otto Hightower. I think in many ways, he’s kind of an echo of Tywin here - he’s trying to prove that the Velaryons are worth just as much, that they’re just as Valyrian, just as special, just as ~chosen by the narrative~ as the Targaryens are. To him, proving that means he has to have a Targaryen wife, dragon riding children & grandchildren, and in a perfect world, his own family on that ugly spiky chair.

[not quite a sidebar but - while I do think Aegon makes all the right choices in his initial conquest of the seven kingdoms, I think the Velaryons resented not being made a powerful, Paramount house in their own right. Installing them as overlords for the Riverlands or the Reach would be a bad idea the same way that both conquests leaving a Tyrell in Sunspear to help take over is a stupid, malicious idea that probably made both wars worse bc it pissed Dorne off. AND YET. they’re a valyrian house! one of the last lines of valyria left!! but all they have is driftmark!!!! i do think this sticks in their collective craw a bit but it seems to especially bother Corlys!]

I say “family” and not “blood” because Corlys is clearly willing to stretch the definition of “family” if it means he gets continued access to power. It’s why he is extremely forgiving in the Laenor/Rhaenyra marriage - I do think he realizes to an extent that he put them both in a weird situation and is willing to look past it a) because looking past it gives him access to power b) because Rhaenyra didn’t do it to sleight him, as shown by her friendship with Laena & the betrothals of their children and c) he grows to genuinely love and care for Jace & Lucerys, and probably Joff as well. There is that theory that it was Corlys who killed Harwin & Lyonel and I think it has its merits! Despite his affection for the boys, I do think he takes insult at the way Harwin & Rhaenyra so publicly carry on - he himself has a long(ish) standing love affair that he keeps hushed up and I imagine he felt Rhaenyra should be more discreet, and was insulted when Joff was born because like, you already have an heir and spare stop cuckolding my son jfc. Do I think he actually killed Harwin? Eh, up in the air about it tbh (seems more Viserys’ style if I’m being honest) but I can absolutely see the justifications he’s making here that Jace & Luke are necessary sacrifices of his pride but Joffrey is a step too far.

Now, while I put “keep his family safe” first because I DO think it comes first, notice I used “safe” and not “happy.” He doesn’t give a shit if they don’t like his decisions but Corlys does actually keep an eye on all his kids to make sure they are not being harmed. He doesn’t just wash his hands of Laena when the sealord he betroths her to turns out to be a dud, he actively puts off the marriage, and allows Daemon to get involved. He turns against Rhaenyra when Addam and Alyn are put at risk, then turns against Aegon II, even making the extremely risky move to kill the king, in an attempt to protect Baela.

I shittalk him a LOT for completely usurping his own daughter/granddaughter as well as counseling Rhaenyra away from a more proto-feminist stance, but I have to commend him here the way I do the Tyrells. Aegon II has gone mad with grief over Sunfyre, he’s probably in a lot of pain, high off his ass, we get that convo about him taking the black so he’s also running out of steam, which makes him erratic and dangerous, and he turns all of those built up feelings on Baela (if there isn’t snot and tears and spit dripping down both their faces when he takes her to the block in the show i’m suing!!!). Corlys attempts to calm Aegon but when it reaches a certain point, he doesn’t dick around trying to rationalize with an irrational person when it comes to the safety of his granddaughter - he just fucking offs the problem. Power and the Throne mean little and less if his entire family is dead and he knows this. It doesn’t mean he’s not willing to gamble, not willing to force his kids into shitty situations, not willing to usurp his own fucking granddaughter because a son is worth more, but in the end, Corlys really does love his family. It’s why he rages when Rhaenys dies. It’s why he’s devastated when Jacaerys dies. Corlys is very much A Man Of Westeros but in conversation with others like Tywin, Ned, Doran, Jon Arryn, Robert, etc., Corlys is willing to admit when he’s in over his head, grab his family, and get the fuck out of dodge. We are scraping the bottom of the barrel here on what a good father means, but well, that’s Westeros!

[fnafcraze1991]

Really wish the aita would stop fucking letting dumb ass teen drama and shipping discourse things in. If you have any pro stance on proship you’re automatically getting esh period i don’t fucking CARE if you think ‘but I think liking these things means you don’t endorse it’s shut the fuck up shut the fuck up shut the fuck up shut the fuck up why are you in a community with pedos in it in the first place you loser I don’t care what you think. The moment you said you were pro ship your opinion became invalid.

As for teen drama jfc you’re children. You’re going to do stupid shit. Sometimes it’s assholish yes but that’s part of growing up.

[ceruleanwhore]

Let’s talk about LoK’s shit worldbuilding

Technology is what I’ve seen the most people the most opinionated about, so that’s where I’ll start. Plenty of people out there share my opinion that having LoK be set in basically the American 20s is just some really shitty worldbuilding but I’ve also encountered plenty more who are of the opinion that since it’s technically possible, that means it’s good. For those who aren’t aware: just because something is technically possible does NOT make it good. AtLA is set in a more traditional fantasy world with a hard magic system where the setting, character design, and everything else are meant to feel older (even though this time it isn’t modeled after Europe). There is some technology in AtLA and what is shown works with the nature of their world and their society so it isn’t like, say, a lamppost from England being dropped right into this little fantasy world and disrupting things. The trains in Ba Sing Se are a perfect example of this with how they are operated by benders and also fit, visually, with the surrounding buildings and whatnot.

The issue with LoK is that it seems that there was no real thought around the development and incorporation of new technology in the context of the world. Instead, it’s as though they copied and pasted the American 20s in there and it’s really jarring. This would be the part where I said that just because it’s possible doesn’t mean it’s good writing- just because our industrial revolution was at breakneck speed doesn’t mean that having your fantasy world develop the same way is a good idea. For a little context, let’s compare this to the Lord of the Rings. Imagine that Christopher Tolkien one day decided to write a whole new four part series set a century after the end of Return of the King. So now, seemingly out of nowhere, boom, technology. Minas Tirith is basically 1920s Chicago, they have cars and stuff. And the thing is that there was a little bit of technology in LotR, just like with AtLA, so that is a fair comparison. 

Also, like I said earlier, it feels lazy with how they’re just throwing in some of these different types of technology. For example, a glove that electrocutes people with no explanation whatsoever on how it works doesn’t make sense. Not to mention, the fact that anything relies on lightning bending, which is SUPPOSED to be super fucking rare (more on that later) is beyond stupid. 

I think this reflects an ongoing issue with Korra where they clearly think that they should be trying to make things more “realistic” but either don’t realize or don’t care that in the process they’re wrecking that ‘fantasy’ feel their world used to have, which brings us to our next topic: people.

Just like how they decided to go the ‘realism’ route with a breakneck industrial revolution, they also decided to go that same route with homosexuality and, more importantly, homophobia. Friendly reminder that if you’re writing fantasy and you spice it some with some good, wholesome gay content, you DO NOT have to ruin it with fucking homophobia. It’s supposed to be fantasy, you dense fuck. It has its own problems but the Dragon Prince is an absolutely perfect example of how to write gayness in fantasy, i.e., perfectly common with zero homophobia to be seen. Writing it like Bryke did just to double down on “it’s been like 90 years since the war ended but did you know the Fire Nation is fucking TERRIBLE and Sozin is basically HITLER?” is weak, stupid, and fucking annoying.

The other thing I want to touch on is race. Basically, put whoever you want in your story and have them look however you want them to look but keep in mind that the way you do or do not introduce groups of people can affect the quality of your writing. What I mean is that with a fantasy universe like this, it’s all wysiwyg. When the gaang traveled around *the world* meeting and interacting with all kinds of people from all kinds of places in all 3 remaining nations (and showing memories of the air nomads that are now gone), that’s your chance to showcase all that wonderful diversity. By the end of the series, when their tour of the whole world is over, you should have a complete picture. 

Again, think about LotR for a second. By the end of Return of the King, you’ve encountered all the different types of men that ever existed in any of Tolkien’s writings (kinda sorta including the dunedain, and there’s even a reference or two in there with Aragorn tying that in all nicely), multiple kinds of elves, dwarves, goblins, hobbits, ents, huorns, the eagles, Tom Bombadil and Goldberry, the Nazgul, and multiple maiar (some good, some corrupt). The only race that hasn’t appeared in any of this that does exist in Tolkien’s other works is the valar but, otherwise, you, as the reader, along with characters like Frodo have been introduced to each and every race in middle earth, and, frankly, the Valar can be excused because they all are in the Undying Lands (plus Manwe might have been mentioned with the eagles.) Now, compare that to LoK where, with a Rowling level of retconning, they decided to just add some more races out of nowhere with no explanation 90 years or whatever after the original series. 

I just know that, for myself, I would’ve loved to see all this included from the beginning and incorporated into the original series and the travels of the gaang. Instead, we have it so AtLA is pretty set one way and then in LoK there’s just that one random dude with an afro and then, going into the comics afterwards, they decided to start incorporating different races in a way that feels like a JK Rowling tweet (“Hermione was black all along, even though I described her in the books as having light skin and picked a white actress to play her, I swear!”) So, basically, when you’re writing fantasy, you kind of have to include everything like that because that’s how the genre works and it’s not like in normal fiction where you can just have a black character without any explanation. Once again, the difference between how fantasy writing works and things being “realistic”.

As for realism, yanking the white lotus out into the open by their ear like an errant child is so unspeakably dumb and unrealistic. They’re a SECRET society who transcend the four nations and operate in SECRET jfc. After the war ended and the old folks home was no longer fighting the Fire Nation, the rest of them should’ve been able to go back into hiding no problem. But to drag their asses into this mess just to make them like Korra’s personal bodyguards and guards at high security prisons is so fucking stupid it hurts.

So then, to finish this up, let’s talk about bending. First off, there’s the issue of how bending forms have just… ceased to exist and/or been replaced with vague yet aggressive punching. Remember when Katara had to learn all those water bending stances and there was even a scroll of them? Or when Aang had to learn fire bending forms from Zuko? Well fuck that, now everyone can just punch at stuff instead. Never been able to airbend even with what should be proper form? Try waving your fist around!

The other thing is how so many of these characters are just “so naturally gifted” and can either successfully bend well with little to no experience or casually do stuff that’s supposed to be hella difficult. An example of the first point is Zaheer who just got his airbending like 3 days prior but suddenly can fucking fly and an example of the latter would be the blood bending, just all of it. That’s kind of another thing, though, how they’ve taken these things that were special and notoriously difficult and then watered them down and made it so literally everyone can do it. You know how lightning bending was a really cool thing only Ozai and Azula, the Fire Lord and princess who are both also known to be especially skilled benders, could do? Not anymore, now pretty much any fire bender with a pulse can shoot lightning out of their fingers. Same goes for blood and metal bending.

Also, can I just say that I’m mad at how pro bending was done? The earth bending stuff with the Boulder and all that worked because that framework of wrestling is really well suited to the element. Now, it’s what I’ve been saying where it’s like ‘oh yeah we can just put all the elements together in this boxing type shit because everyone in this fucking series can bend by punching, right?’ They had an awesome opportunity here to figure out different styles of fighting sports tailored to the different types of bending and they said ‘nope, fuck you’ and gave us that shit. Or just sports, in general, based around if the people playing and benders and, if so, what type of bending they have.

The last main thing with bending though is the absolute horseshit of harmonic convergence and kinda just season 2 in general. For starters, Korra getting her bending back because dead Aang was like “here ya go” was bullshit. I feel like it would’ve been better if that had been when Unalaq got introduced as her spiritual guide and, through working with him, she eventually was able to reach Wan, see his whole backstory like we got in episode 7, and then, afterwards, she could contact Raava directly and somehow with her get her bending back. Then, afterwards, she could go back to Republic City and give everyone their bending back and start helping with reconstruction from Amon. Season 2 doesn’t need a villain and it most certainly does NOT need that dumbass ‘dark avatar’ bullshit. 

Also, in terms of the air bending, seriously, fuck that shit. If air bending is going to come back then maybe, I don’t know, after following my other advice have Korra realize that not only can she take bending away (like Aang) but she can also give it so she could just go around to all the acolytes and make them airbenders. Or, if that would fuck up the balance or some shit, have her go around and make all the people who lost their bending to Amon into a fresh batch of air benders. You can’t really introduce something like energy bending and then expect us to believe that the only way to bring air bending back is for Aang to fuck a lot and then rely on following generations and subsequent incest, plus hc is fucking stupid when you have a character who can straight up just give people bending.

Oh and all that convergence shit brings up my last point of discussion, the way they retconned and fucked up the lore. Just like with what they did with lightning, blood, lava, and metal bending, they also decided to just do everything they could with those fucking turtles. Just like with Azula’s lightning bending, the entire fucking reason the lion turtle works so well is because of how it is so rare and special and all that so once you take that away, it doesn’t matter anymore smh. For most peope, champagne is special. You know why? Because most of us aren’t out here drinking the shit by the gallon every day. So yeah, between that and the way they threw away already established lore (that was further reinforced by experiences of characters in the show) makes it just a big old “yike”. All they had to do was fanagle a bit to keep Raava and Vaatu but ditch the whole hc shitshow and just maintain the parts that are already established.

[burnedbyshoto]

Can we get the same thing dealing with Uraraka and Momo? People hate on them soooo much and I dont see the reason why. Most of the time its just because they interrupt peoples fave ships, and Ive noticed a lot of the hate they get is from other girls. Like. Though a lot of quieter anime girls get a lot of shit from fandoms, mostly from the girls and with the idea of them interrupting whatever ship they like a lot.

I think... dealing with female characters is very hard in terms of shonen manga. especially for us western fans.

as always this is my opinion on how I see and interpret the manga and anime, you’re free to disagree and hate my interpretation!!!!

number one thing you need to know is that I don’t hate a single female character in bnha. i don’t. my least favorite female character is like... I don’t even know, I like them all really. but when it comes to hating on female characters in shonen manga it’s hard for me to find a true stance.

for us westerners I don’t think we’ll ever be satisfied with female empowerment within shonen unless we have more series like sailor moon honestly. to be honest i’m not well versed in anime and manga, I haven’t like watched more than 5 series and all of them have been popular and mainstream things, so they’re all pretty formulaic in the same way.

strongest male main protagonist, not as strong as main protagonist but can kick his ass still male protagonist, and the female protagonist that’s meant to serve as an equal but is sorely unequal to both her counterparts and will grow to be strong but not that strong but strong — can probably beat up the two protagonist in a playful way but never ever in a serious match.

all things considered from what i’ve seen females are plot devices for one arc and one arc only.

westerns — female fans specifically — want our female characters to be as badass as the men, to be able to go toe to toe, to be loud and obnoxious and still be loved, to be crusty and ugly villains and still be loved. from what I gather people just want female characters to be more than just love devices and hold their own weight and not cry.

we also have to take into consideration that bnha is literally designed for young boys — it is a shonen after all — and while it’s by means no excuse for lack of female character building, this series is meant for young boys to see themselves within these characters. and within our cis heteronormative world that does mean letting these young boys see themselves within these male characters. again, not an excuse, but an insight we do need to take into consideration.

now applying this to bnha we have our main female protagonists within uraraka and momo.

I think that they’re pretty well written all things considered. I know they’ll never be like winry or hawkeye in fma and that’s literally the only anime i’ve seen where the female characters were developed in their own field of expertise in strong ways.

uraraka has been made to be the love interest of izuku, there is no denying it, but I don’t think that’s her only character trait. she’s 16 years old going to a school that people dream of getting into, and is best friends with someone she admires. it’s without a doubt that feelings catch on, but izuku isn’t the one driving her to be a hero.

from episode what 5??? of the anime she states that she’s becoming a hero for her family. she’s becoming a hero so she can use her quirk to help her family and to rescue people. uraraka wants to be a rescue hero (and tbh people often forget that that’s what izuku wanted to be too). she learns a few fighting skills because she experienced first hand that her inability to fight is going to cost her big time. so she thinks “what would izuku do” once gets called out about it from aoyama and suddenly no one can shut up about it.

the entire sports festival battle against bakugou she fucking had him, tbh the fact that bakugou was able to clear the entire air of concrete chunks and only get a 5 second arm cramp is ass. bakugou always says quirks have a limit but that’s the only time we’ve seen him near a limit and it wasn’t even that impactful seeing that he was ready to roll again. but uraraka did THAT!!! she pushed bakugou to the point where she has been the first person to ever really put him at the brink. sure bakugou and izuku go at it many times leaving them bloodied and bruised, but never have they been like: “OMG MY QUIRK IS GONNA BE INEFFECTIVE NOW”

uraraka takes her initiative to do things, and hell if it really bugs you that she’s getting stronger because she wants to be like izuku idk what to tell you. she’s becoming a hero to help her family, and her getting a little side piece along the way isn’t a big deal to me as long as she doesn’t throw her entire life away to save izuku (which she hasn’t). uraraka is a self sufficient queen, she’s dirt poor and is thriving. she’s 16 years old with a crush, that’s not a big deal in my eyes.

now momo is ehhh idk how to explain it. okay, so like, I love momo. but I don’t see her becoming a fighting hero and that’s okay!!!! why do we have to have girls being able to one hit KO other heroes when it’s been made perfectly clear that not all heroes are alleyway boxers. momo is fucking smart, with the ability to create whatever the fuck she wants, sure she can pull gun after gun from her chest and mow down any villain who comes her way — but that’s not who she is. momo is a leader through and through. she is a take none give none, and battling isn’t her expertise but she’s still good at it. momo has scored first in every single UA exam validating her intelligence every time.

if momo becomes a hero similar to todobakudeku, which I severally wish she won’t because that’s not her, I know she’s not going to be the best. her quirk makes her have to be sneaky, smart, and faster thinking than anyone else on the field. I mean look at her fight with tokoyami, her inability to think fast cost her the match really.

to be honest I don’t know much hate on the girls because it’s so stupidly irrelevant to me that I just go “scroll!!!!!”

I do think costumes need to be redone, but like can we also remember that heroes are also superstars in a hero society so looking hot af for popularity is needed. these girls were also 15 years old when they decided on their costumes and idk about you but I would’ve picked a costume that made me look hot as hell!!!! if i’m going to be fighting for living, people best know that I am hot as fuck!!!! besides, these costumes weren’t meant to be fought in outside of training!!!! they should see how their costumes work, how to improve them!!! they have 3 years and even more changes outside of UA to make them the best!!!! uraraka didn’t want her suit to be skin tight, but because the support company took into mind appearance it became tight. momo doesn’t want her costume to be regularly destroyed through her quirk, so she wanted to basically be naked because she thought there was no way to save her clothes!!! I hope hori gives her the ability to make her costume from her hair like mirio did so that way it can phase through her outfit without tearing it into smithereens.

but we also have to remember that female characters don’t have to be like male characters. would I love a female character to be able to best all might, shiggy, todobakudeku??? yeah, what female wouldnt??? but then we’d all have problems with her not being realistic enough and yadda yadda yadda. females not being the best is okay in my eyes as long as they get the proper growth and attention.

undeniably momo and uraraka have been on the back burner but with how the manga is going there hasn’t really been time for them to be on the front, but maybe it’s coming??? idk. I just want another stupid school arc but noooooooooo people hate it when the kids are being kids!!!! why do you want them to suffer all the damn time jfc 😫😫😫

if you want girls to be as strong as the boys I say look at girls like ryuuku neijire mina and miruko, i’m positive these ladies will be your saving grace once japan figures out that mina is amazing and that it’s okay for girls to be on the front lines kicking ass too

[phoebehalliwell]

Hi! I’ve recently fallen down the Charmed rabbit hole again and I fount your blog, which is amazing btw !! I LOVE YOUR CHARMED NEXT GEN FIC!!!! I also really enjoyed your thoughts about Phoebe's kid! I wish they would have lived in the actual show. How do you think Phoebe’s child living would have impacted her relationship with Coop? And the whole twice blessed prophecy?

!!!!!!!!!!! thank you!! and i’m so glad you like my fic (which i promise i am still working on)!!

as far as phoebe’s kid + the twice blessed prophecy, i have written on that au here, but i think if the baby really had been born it would not be the twice blessed but i do think they would still probably give that plotline to wyatt just bc. i also think that having a child and being a single mother would really further the need for coop bc dating as a single mom while still having a career is hard enough but dating while you’re a single mom with a full time job and a magical half demon baby who was lowkey the antichrist for the better part of the first trimester is a whole new can of worms. i think she still would have had a relationship with jason dean but i think it would be very short lived as i don’t think that he would be ready to commit to a family. and then by the time we hit season six and piper and leo have broken up and jason has left phoebe and yada yada yada phoebe would really be like huh. love isn’t real. we’re all gonna die alone.

and so she’s sitting at a cafe with paige at the end of love’s a witch and is completely ranting about how love is dead or whatever and paige is just like yeah. uh huh. yep. totally. yeah. yeah. i know what you mean. yeah. uh huh. bc it’s totally Not the time to bring up the fact that she has a date with richard on friday and phoebe’s just going on and on like “okay bc look at olivia! she was doing what she was doing out of love!! and she was killing people!!! just an evil, sad, lovesick, ghost. like me. you know cole was my longest relationship? that was like,,, the most successful relationship i had, and it wasn’t even remotely a success!! he turned me evil, paige. i became evil. because that’s what love does. it bring out the worst in people.” and paige is sitting there like jfc i think i need to bring in a shrink or something when all of a sudden the dude pulls up a chair at their table and is like “hi hate to interrupt but i couldn’t help but overhear and you’re wrong” and phoebe’s like who the hell are you and paige is like yeah fuck off buddy private conversation here and this guy’s like “look. love is the strongest magic we have” and paige is like “ehh i think other, stronger magic” and phoebe’s all like “okay, i don’t know who you are, but you don’t know me and you don’t know what i’ve been through okay so you don’t get to sit down here and try to talk to me about love. bitch.” and this guys just like “actually, i do. my name’s coop. it’s nice to meet you, officially.” and he holds out his hand for a handshake and phoebe’s looking at him like imma judo flip u motherfucker but then something catches her eye and she snatches his hand and flips it over, staring at his cupid ring and she’s like no. she grabs her coffee and storms out leaving coop and a Very Confused paige sitting at the cafe table. she turns around at the exit and gestures to paige like come on let’s go get out of here so paige grabs her croissant and purse awkwardly and leaves and coop’s like “i hope everything goes well with richard!” and paige is like????? so she pulls phoebe aside like Who Was That and phoebe’s like “that was the most annoying, pesky, interfering magical creature there is out there. that was a cupid.”

and later that night phoebe would be tucking her child asleep (who in this story is a little girl named prudence) when she hears “you love her, and it doesn’t seem to bring out the worst in you.” and she whips around to find coop leaning in the doorframe and she’s like “you better leave before i vanquish you” and coop sorta just laughs softly and he’s like “i get it. you’ve been burned before. but actively fighting love? it’s not you, phoebe.” and she’s like “tf do you think you know about me” and coop’s like “i know you believe in love. true love. the kind that takes your breath away, where it's the first thing that you think about when you wake up in the morning. you wanna know how i know that?” and phoebe just glares at him in a very defensive stance like yes i want to know but no i will not play into your stupid little monologue and coop’s like “i read your column. not many people could write like that. you help people find love every day, you help them reach out, take risks, open up their hearts-” “okay you know what i’ve had enough of your little sugar coated soap opera speech. go bug someone else.” and phoebe pushes her way past him and beelines for her bedroom, slamming the door and coop’s like :|

and the next morning phoebe’s eating cereal and by eating a i do mean just pushing wheaties around in a pool of milk while dency and wyatt play in the playpen and piper comes in with a mug of coffee like “good morning how are-” “am i a cold hearted cynic?” “...you doing this fine friday morning??” “i’ve got a cupid on my ass” “i’m going to hope you mean the magical kind and not some bad tattoo situation” “i mean, yesterday i was saying that love brings out the worst in people and now i’ve got this 6′2″ cupid with a square jawline following me around. but like,,, don’t i have the right to say that??? all love has done is hurt me. i’m allowed to bitch a little about it!! like! mind your own business??? goddamn! and you know-” “phoebe i just woke up save the onslaught until after 10am please” and phoebe just sorta pauses and goes back to pushing her cereal around and piper says “and i’m not calling you a cold hearted cynic but... you have changed” and phoebe’s completely ready to rant again like “pfft of course i’ve changed you think you can be married to the source of all-” “zp! not til after 10!” and phoebe slumps back and watches as dency draws a small pattern in frost on the tile floor and you can tell she’s sorta mulling over what coop said blah blah blah this episode is the vortex demon she gets knocked into a world based on her innermost desires and in it she’s happily married and in love in an apartment of her own raising her daughter and writing her column blah blah blah she takes one look at her finger that very much has a wedding band on it and is like “cupid!!!! cupid u fuckin bastard get down here!!! cupid!!!” and no response and she’s scowling like “coop??? coop!!!!!!!!” and he’s no where to be seen and she’s like wait shit i think this is the alternate whirlpool vortex things i gotta find my sister blah blah blah chris knocks paige into phoebe’s world and paige is like “okay what’s the catch” and phoebe’s like “what catch” and paige is like “you know, the catch! what makes this not reality. like in my world, magic was practiced openly, and everyone knew about it. come on, chris said the realities were shaped my like our fantasies or wants... is anything different here??” and phoebe’s like “oh you know uhh not really everything basically the same um but you know i have my own apartment here where i live with dency...” “oh my god wait where is she now who’s taking care of her?” “oh uh well that would be my husband.” “cole’s alive????” “no! not cole! i don’t know who he is actually but he seems nice :)” and there’s a beat where you can tell paige really wants to Get Into What This Means and phoebe really Doesn’t Want To Talk About It but then they both seem to agree that they’re being hunted by a demon so maybe this can take a back seat rn blah blah blah they kill the demon and the end of the episode paige is about to go on her date w richard and her and phoebe have a little heart to heart and paige is like i think you should talk to the cupid bc i think maybe your whole hating love thing might just be a front like i think you’re trying to convince urself of something blah blah blah and phoebe’s just like :/ maybe so.

alright blah blah blah next episode phoebe’s like “coop?” and coop, suddenly appearing behind her is like “yeah?” and phoebe’s like “i give up. so uh work your little cupid magic or whatever and i guess let’s do this thing.” and coop like lights up he’s like so happy and he’s all like “great! let’s get started!” and phoebe’s mentally preparing for a series of really boring dates but then coop surprises her by not doing that??? like he doesn’t set her up with anyone at all bc he’s all like you need time to heal and find urself again???? which honestly phoebe isn’t complaining about and like phoebe will be feeding baby dency in the kitchen and coop will pop in like “what are your thought on taking a pottery class?” and it’s happened before where she’s been so swamped with work that she doesn’t have time to pick up supplies for dency so coop will just go out and like buy diapers?? and gradually phoebe feels herself opening up more and more and one night she’s at p3 and this guy come up to talk to her and she doesn’t just scowl him away and she finds herself having a great conversation and she see coop wink at her from across the bar.

and you know things go well with this guy yada yada yada but one night she goes out on a date and her sisters weren’t able to watch lil dency for her so coop was babysitting and she comes back home to see coop sending out small pink glowing projections from his ring and her baby just laughing uncontrollably trying to catch them and phoebe gets why she has been ready to dive fully in to the guy she’s been going out with. coop says it’s just nerves bc of her past relationships and that it’s completely fine and understandable but phoebe knows better. or at least now she does. she’s in love with coop.

[naruhearts]

13x14: Use Your Words!!!

Cas looks so resigned :’(

This is what I meant when I said Dean has to keep that closet door OPEN. He may be willing to compromise, listen to, and understand (yeah, progress) Cas’ chest-shattering soldier stance on ending the war instead of ungraciously rebuffing what he did to Donatello (though Dean’s not aware that Cas did it “for you”), but Cas BELIEVES Dean doesn’t reciprocate his feelings. He’s still carrying around the residual sadness and paranoia instilled in him by Empty!Cas. Cas believes there truly is fucking nothing for him on Earth since DEAN WON’T DISCLOSE ANYTHING TO HIM–THE TRUTH ABOUT WHY HE GRIEVED, about why he was ready to leave his own brother behind, the suicidal ideation, the festering self-deconstruction, anger, the pessimism. 

(god, that stupid bag).

I literally held my breath, because for a moment, a singular moment of crackling anticipation, I hoped Dean could finally terminate the NEED and confess, embrace the WANT.

Then–

I’ll never get over Cas’ face (in fact, this scene was verbally/visually reminiscent of–)

(I know, I said Dean was LEARNING to refer to himself and his respective emotions, learning to use I vs We, and he IS learning, but I also said Dean possesses niggling fears. What if he loses Cas again? This is his greatest fear, which explains why Dean the Scared Rabbit scurried back to his comfy safe burrow of pluralities instead of playing, spending time, talking to Cas the Pheonix outside. And in both above scenarios, they are interrupted. Dean is interrupted from leaving his burrow. Interrupted by what? Another apocalypse. Another end of the world. Another day, another Will They, another Won’t They. He’ll keep darting in and out of his burrow until Something gives—-the Big Endgame Something).

Like others have said already, Dean’s answer yanked any smidge of remaining hope out of Cas’ heart. Dean ripped off the bandaid for him. AGAIN. CAS THINKS HE’S EXPENDABLE–personally reduced to nothing else but a weapon, a tool, a gun that is discarded later. PAINFUL narrative symmetry carrying over from 13x13. Jfc Glynn!!! As I mentioned in this post:

Cas = ‘tool’ for the Winchesters: expendability –> when they don’t need Ketch anymore, what happens to him? Dean has indirectly told Cas previously that he’s not expendable ie 12x12 “Let’s go home” but it ain’t enough—-he must be 100% direct and tell Cas why he’s different…why Cas means way more to him.

If Dean wants Cas to STAY, to stop going away as a SOLDIER on a mission (when he is NOT a soldier but a beloved brother, son, father, lover), he must USE HIS WORDS—the right words—and I just can’t deal with all this miscommunicative storytelling angst right now ;-;

[inconveniencedneutrons]

Tobi before Hashi sees him for the first time in this outfit and after he is finished with the brotherly overprotectiveness:

more under the cut

Tobirama: Brother what are you doing?

Hashirama: There are pervs out there, Tobi. You can’t walk around like this. What if you get attacked?

Tobirama: Brother I’m a god

Izuna: It’s indecent!

He is currently trying to revive his own brother, who seems to have stopped functioning. They are both turning very interesting colors.

Tobi banishes Hashi’s whatever and conjures some sheer pants, that help absolutely nothing.

Tobirama with a raised eyebrow: better?

All of the others: NO!

Madara kinda halfway functions again. He is still lowkey screeching but it’s less noisy now. It gets louder every time he looks at Tobi’s anything, though. Tobirama raises a judging eyebrow at him and cocks a hip. The whistling aprubtly raises to deafening loudness again.

A little behind the scenes of drawing my two gods:

Tobi, I‘m not Hashi, you can‘t just exasperate me into doing shit. Yes, we are both incredibly sad that I can‘t incorporate the fluff or the crop-top into this but it‘s just not feasible. Don‘t make this any harder for both of us.

I tried to draw five different backgrounds for this asshole. five!! He turned his nose up at every fucking one of them! Tobirama is such a high maintenance drama-cat, I can‘t even.

And don‘t get me started on the hair, by the god, every time I was even half a milimeter out of line, Tobi was like nope, not me, I‘m out of here. And then suddently Obito was there?? Like, where did you come from?? What is happening???

Finally, after I sacrificed a Uchiha to him he was appeased. Well on the hair, at least. The background not so much, that‘s his win. Please nobody ask after Obito. He is... uhhh.. somewhere.

You know, if Hashi could see you right now he would flip his shit, Tobi. Here let him drape you in clothes. Or mummify you, that works too.

Success! I have pleased the demon cat cleverly disguised as a human being! The offered bg has been accepted!

Madara is suspiciously well behaved. Something is clearly wrong. Is it the anatomy? His stance? His face? Is he going to pull a Tobi and suddenly I will have, I don‘t fucking know, Gai here? Am I getting paranoid? Wait, is that what he is after...

Look, Madara, if you just stew sullenly and don‘t talk to me, then I can‘t fucking figure out what you have in your hand there, you moron. Do I have to redraw your arm? I have to redraw your arm. Ok then, could have just fucking told me so but nooo.

What even is your hair? Why did I decide it was feathers? This was clearly a fucking stupid idea on my part, I‘m so very sorry.

Laughing my ass off, oh shit, you look like a rooster! That fell into primary colors!

I wanted to put him into a loincloth thingy like Tobirama but he screeched like a banshee, so I gave him some more clothes to hide behind. Prude.

Hell yes, Disco-ball Madara! Izuna will have a field day. I should make Tobi sparkly too...

Ok, Tobi refuses to be sparkly, I nearly lost my fingers, jfc. Diva.

Ha, I will make you a glowstick instead. Yes, yes, Madara will become a glowstick too, stop threatening my fingers.

Madara refuses the bg and I‘m running out of time if I want to post this on Tobis birthday.

Why are backgrounds so hard T.T

There you have it, finally finished, the prude and the diva forever unified in godly grumpiness.

For the whole pictures, just click my tag ‘god au’

[doux-amer]

Part 2 of Infinity War blabbing (about the characters)! Much more positive than Part 1 (general stuff) which is here. As always, if you want to avoid spoilers, look away.

Loki - BRUH, I knew he was going to die in the first five minutes before the movie came out, and HE DID. But my Thor and Loki feels...I knew Loki would come through with his love for his brother, but he waited a long time to, I don’t know, call Thanos’s bluff except I have a feeling he knew Thanos would have nothing holding him back from really killing Thor so maybe he really wanted to see how far it could go and then realized that, no, he seriously couldn’t deal with that happening? “ONLY I CAN HURT MY BROTHER!!!” Lmao. And then his little hero moment where he lies because that’s what he does best and of course that would never work. YOU SNEK FOOL. ;_; His death was what I expected, but it was still violent and his face afterwards was...well, what you expect someone who suffocated to look like somewhat and I liked that because wow, finally, something that feels horrific and fitting with war.

Thor - God, THOR. POOR THOR. MY BOY IS ALL ALONE NOW. A TRUE ORPHAN. AND HE’S GRIEVING AND THE BEST PART IS WHERE HE GOES UP AGAINST THANOS AND ALL THE ANGUISH HE BOTTLED UP COMES SPILLING OUT. That and the lust-inducing part where he shows up to smash in Wakanda. I love my god of thunder. Really liked his teamup with Rocket and Groot too. IW Thor is also how I imagine Thor to be, with a little more silliness when the world isn’t in danger and he can be a goof. Kind of wondering how people took him after Ragnarok. He has one of the best arcs in the MCU. *blows kisses to my golden boy*

Peter - MY SON. MY CHILD. MY BABY WHOM I GAVE BIRTH TO AND RAISED MYSELF. He was so cute! Little baby with his suit that his papa gave him that’s so cool and shiny. His dad just wants to protect him. He doesn’t listen to Tony which is a classic kid move. Peter being pure and good! ALL OF HIS INTERACTIONS WITH TONY ARE SUCH PARENT-KID INTERACTIONS. I’M WEEPING. LITERALLY EVERY SINGLE ONE. WITHOUT FAIL. TONY, YOU DON’T NEED A SON BECAUSE YOU ALREADY HAVE ONE ON THE TEAM. One of the only moments that made me emotional was the part where he died because he’s so scared and he sounds like a kid. He’s so scared and he stumbles towards Tony who he looks up to and trusts so much because Tony will know what to do and Tony will keep him safe, right? Right? And he keeps babbling and I’m crying and Tony’s crying and everyone’s crying and we’re all dying and crying!!!!!! AND HE SLUMPS ON TONY!!!!! TONY HOLDS HIM SO TIGHTLY AND HE CLINGSSSSSSS TO HIM. AND THEN HE SAYS HE’S SORRY!!!! LIKE THAT’S GOING TO HELP WHEN THAT’S GOING TO MAKE TONY’S SURVIVOR’S GUILT SO MUCH WORSE!!!!! AND HE DISSOLVES AND TONY WATCHES HIM DIE IN FRONT OF HIM AND TONY! CRIES! LISTEN, DO YOU UNDERSTAND?! FOR THE FIRST TIME IN TEN YEARS, TONY’S EYES JUST DON’T WELL UP WITH TEARS. TEARS FINALLY FALL. OH MY GOD. IT’S BEEN 84 YEARS. HALLELUJAH. I LOVE THIS SONG. 

Tony - TONY WAS RIGHT (TM). HE’S ONLY BEEN SAYING THIS FOR A MILLION YEARS AND NONE OF YOU DICKWADS LISTENED TO HIM!!! LOOK WHAT HAPPENED! THE CASSANDRA OF THE MCU, EVERYONE. His worst nightmare has come alive and he doesn’t have time to panic. There’s too much going on and he needs to focus, but then Titan happens and oh my god, I was braced for him to die in Avengers 4 or something that I clenched my armrests when he got stabbed because I WAS NOT PREPARED FOR HIM TO DIE IN IW AND IT LOOKED LIKE HE WOULD. And then he didn’t. Can people just effing LISTEN to him? Even in this movie, they’d fight him on things. *throws hands up* My boy was in so much pain and Thanos knew who he was. I’M SCREAMING. And the “I hope they’ll remember you” line or whatever!!!!! And oh god the ending when he’s all alone. No one knows he’s there except Nebula. HE’S ON A PLANET THAT’S COMPLETELY DESTROYED FAR OUT IN SPACE WITH NO ONE TO REACH HIM AND NO ONE KNOWING HE’S EVEN ALIVE AND HE JUST SAW EVERYONE DIE IN FRONT OF HIM AND IT’S NOT WANDA’S VISION 100%, BUT IT’S STILL SOMEWHAT SIMILAR. God, his suit is so sexy too. We finally got Bleeding Edge in the MCU, and we are BLESSED. 

Steve - Oh, Steve. I missed you. Thank you for reminding me why I love you so much. That line about not trading lives? OH MY GOD, OH MY GOD, OH MY GOD. THAT’S MY BOY. THAT IS 100% STEVE ROGERS. And with that and all the IW shenanigans, I had Hickmanvengers on my mind, but anyway. God. That’s so Steve. Even when the most logical situation is to do as Viz says, he says that that’s unacceptable and that they need to find another way which can be infuriating under certain circumstances, but not this one because that pushes them to go at the problem from a different angle. My heart was so full, but tbh that was me as soon as he stepped out of the shadows. I just. God. I missed him so much? These two years did a lot to calm me down. I remember when I was so afraid that CA:CW had irrevocably soured my feelings for him which was devastating because Steve means so much to me, but with the help of @aslightstep and time, I calmed down. I was basically heart eyes every time he showed up and thought about how he was so worn down being out in the cold which doesn’t come naturally to him because he needs a support system and being all emo over losing Tony’s friendship (Chris Evans Confirmed Fact TM) because it really showed at some quiet moments. And of course he’d run straight into battle with T’Challa and of course he’d run straight to Viz because Viz needs help and of course he’d be a dork and okay, I know he doesn’t understand Groot, but “I am Steve Rogers.” YOU EFFING POLITE, CUTE DORK. I HATE YOU!!!!!!!!!!!! And omg the phone. Tony was about to call Steve and omg I hate that we didn’t get to hear Steve pick up the phone when Bruce called like hdu rob me of that because you know that boy picked it up immediately and was like “BEYONCE? TONY??” God, he doesn’t know that Tony was about to call him, he doesn’t know that Tony’s alive because of the news that he’s missing, he doesn’t know that Tony’s alive because of Thanos wiping out half of the universe and Tony doesn’t know Steve’s alive because of that either, and he doesn’t know that Tony’s stranded light years away alone (with Nebula) without a team on a dead planet and just saw everyone die in front of him including someone he cares for a lot and feels responsible for! KILL ME!!!!! 

Thanos - Seriously needed more fleshing out. I felt nothing when it came to Thanos although I liked how they tried to humanize him and I’m sure that had they developed him, those scenes might have killed me. Tbh he cried more than the good guys which was different and unexpected, and he was softer in a way that I didn’t expect. He’s mad, but it’s almost like you can talk to him and he’ll hear you even if he rejects your idea if that makes sense. It makes me mad because instead of doing stupid, zero impact winks at him sitting on his ugly throne, if they had actually developed him throughout the six years we’ve seen him glimpses of him and revolved the GotG franchise around him (or at least one of the GotG movies), then he would be an incredibly nuanced villain, but no.

Gamora - I’m really glad she got to have a lot of screen time, and it was moving how she was so hellbent on disavowing and killing Thanos from GotG1 and on, but she was so conflicted here. Not about what she had to do, but how it made her feel to do it despite knowing in her heart what she needed to do. ;_; My girl. Love the scenes with Nebula too and how far these sisters have come. I wish her death scene had a bigger impact on me, but it didn’t because this guy two seats from me whom I was ready to throttle several times throughout the movie laughed in a “OH WOW!” and because we didn’t get to see her backstory with Thanos at all. Again, not the fault of the Russos or M&M. They only have so much time, and Gunn reallyyyyyyyy should’ve focused on this a lot more in the GotG franchise. But you know, let’s focus on the irrelevant Quill!

Quill - Goddamn do I hate this guy. GotG2 redeemed him in my eyes, but jfc he was unbearably obnoxious in this movie as soon as he showed up. How is he more immature than Peter and Shuri who are ACTUAL KIDS? He’s like that insecure douchebag manbaby in his 20s/30s who needs to grow tf up. He’s insensitive and thinks that everything is a competition because he feels so threatened by Thor who’s doing nothing but existing and not showing off or making moves on Gamora which....dude, you don’t own Gamora. Like his thing about losing his mom and killing his dad? Thor just lost his entire goddamn family, you dangling gonad. He doesn’t contribute whatsoever to the fight against Thanos because lbr that plan on Titan was either something he didn’t come up with alone or he didn’t come up with at all despite what he says. He singlehandedly destroyed their biggest advantage over Thanos to stop him from killing half the universe. But you know, dude can’t even keep his temper under control for two seconds, when Baby Peter’s getting close to getting the Gauntlet off and when he’s not the only one who lost someone or suffered at the hands of Thanos (Drax and Nebula are right there!). You can beat the hell out of Grape Man all you want afterwards, oh my god!!!!!! I was relieved to see that he was one of the people who died tbh because I know he’ll be back, but at least he’ll be MIA for a good while.

Rhodey - I’m...not entirely happy, but fortunately not too unhappy with how they backtracked on Rhodey’s stance on the Accords, but I’m happy to see him and to see him walking again and goodnaturedly taking the piss out of white people who never know how to act around people of color lmao. And I really adored the little bits of Rhodey and Sam interactions in this.<333 My boys.<3 GOD, I’M SO GLAD HE’S NOT DEAD FOR NOW.

Bucky - Lmao the Russos really don’t care for Buckaroo at all. CW showed that and now this. The reunion with Steve was touching, but okay, I hatehatehatehatehate that One Side of Fandom Every Single Corner of the Marvel Fandom hates, so I lowkey laughed that that was all they got. Anyway, dude can’t get a break. Please, he just wants to chop some wood and live an idyllic life and now he’s dead after two seconds.

Vision - Poor Viz was little more than a plot point, and I barely cared about him because of that. The two scenes I liked, though, were when he was like “Yoooo Wanda, who cares about my dad! I’m an adult! I want to be with you! Bye, Tony!” and then his face crumpled with guilt when he saw Tony was missing and when he convinced Wanda to destroy the Mind Stone while it was in him. They went from testing the waters to full-blown romancing each other which was a lot especially because I reallyyyy wish they kept Viz in his actual form and not his human one since the age gap was awkward, what with everyone calling Wanda a kid (You want to see kids? Peter and Shuri are kids) even though she’s an adult. But really, I wish they toned it down or showed their love for each other through other ways than them macking on each other because it would’ve been more effective instead of “Let’s try to cram in as many hetero kisses in this movie as possible (and for the Wanda/Viz one, while Paul’s not in makeup)!” That last scene between them was perfect for that imo, with Viz saying one of the sweetest lines (Wanda not being able to hurt him and all he can feel is her).

Wendy Mcdonald Wanda - As usual, I’m whatever about Liz Olsen’s performance aside from the whitewashing which I’m never getting over, but I was okay with her in this film. I think it’s because for the first film ever, she’s not putting anyone else in danger because tbh she never exactly redeemed herself for the terrible things she did. Here, she’s selfless. Still didn’t care that she died though lmao.

Bruce - Really wish they utilized Mark’s acting chops better because I feel like all Bruce did was act confused or exhilarated by cool things. I did love the reunions with him and the others, though (same with Thor and the Avengers), and lmfasdfoihfsihashfs Bruce/Nat, okay. The Russos had to address it, but it was just that. An acknowledgment. Get this Wh*don ship out of my sight, please. But yes the reunions were sooooo good and heartfelt because it’s been three years since they last saw him and they didn’t even know if he was alive because he was entirely off the grid.  Tony and Bruce!!!!! EVERYONE WITH BRUCE!!!!! And the conflict between him and Hulk here was new and refreshing because this time it’s Bruce wanting Hulk to come out and Hulk refusing to and because Hulk seems scared, but it could’ve been handled better because a lot of his scenes felt very corny to me. :/

Strange - Strangely (heh oops, not intentional), I was okay with him. I think it was because I liked his interactions with Tony especially because we see the jerk side of Strange showing up, but it’s not the same variety of jerk that Quill is. And he butted heads with Tony and I’m okay with that because it was mostly due to differing opinions on how to approach the situation. The cloak probably gave him some points as well. But idk he’s just....there are a lot of things with him where I was like, “But can’t he do ___?” I was talking to @hoteloblivion earlier and we were thinking about portals and how they could have been better utilized especially considering how they were shown earlier (couldn’t he just have chopped off Thanos’s arm and then teleported them out of there?). Also, I guess I should watch his solo movie (gagging because yay Mighty Whitey and whitewashing) to understand the Time Stone better. 

T’Challa - Damn, I didn’t think he’d go because they were saving all the important “main” characters and I know he’ll be back, but I thought he’d have more to do. Tbh when M’Baku (god he was so beautiful as usual as were my baby genius Shuri and goddess of my life Okoye) didn’t die and we cut to Okoye and T’Challa, I thought Okoye would go, but nah? I love Wakanda’s shields too. 

Sam - Oh Sam, I forgot how much I missed you. Fly, birdie, fly! And his warmth and little comments on what’s going on like the awkwardness at the compound were good.

Natasha - She was just there, but it was still nice to see her in action. Not really much to say about her tbh. Oh, I liked how we got to see a few minutes of just women fighting together although movies love to do this thing where they pair up female villains with female heroes and it’s tiring. 

Pepper - The beginning was cute, but man, IW seals the deal. I dislike Pepperony. I used to like it, but they’re so incompatible at this point and it’s unfixable because her inability to reconcile Tony’s lifestyle with hers and accept that side of Tony, which is the biggest part of him and the essence of who he is, keeps showing up time and time again. Does that make her a bad person? No. But it almost feels like the textbook example of love not being enough in a relationship where two people love, care deeply for, and admire each other. She deserves the stability and a life away from danger, and he deserves someone who’ll accept him wholly. It was why CA:CW made sense and why Homecoming felt wildly out of left field especially in the wake of CA:CW, and I hated that they swept everything under the rug at the beginning of this one, but ignored it to focus on them being cute and then BAM. It’s not like I don’t expect her to be scared and to try begging him to come home because of that; I do. But it’s more that she goes on about it and kind of worryshouts and I’m like, “OH MY GOD, PEPPER! HE’S AN AVENGER! WHAT DO YOU EXPECT HIM TO DO?! IGNORE WHAT’S HAPPENING? YOU KNOW WHO HE IS AT THIS POINT. ARE YOU GOING TO DO THIS EVERY TIME HE GOES ON AVENGER BUSINESS?” 

Rocket and Groot - Liked them. Liked them with Thor. Liked Groot chopping off his arm. Liked Rocket and Bucky shooting aliens together.

Drax - Thank Godddddd he’s more likable in this because I liked him in GotG1 and disliked him for most of GotG2. 

Mantis - She’s so cute! Remember her jumping in the background on Titan? And I like her and Peter’s interactions. Spidey, I mean. 

Nebula - She deserves better, but at least she saw how much Gamora truly wanted to make amends and be her sister. KILL YOUR BARNEY DAD, NEBS! He deserves to be dead for that torture/dismantling scene alone. :( I didn’t realize to what extent her body was modified. No wonder she hated Gamora for so long.</3

Wong - Yay, we got one Asian in the MCU (Pom’s Asian, but Mantis isn’t). Yay we get to see him do some fighting. Booooo, we see him disappear.

So yeah tl;dr, some good and some bad. There were way too many people in this movie and I get why that’s the case, but now that we got all the introductions out of the way and we downsized by half (lol at all the original Avengers still standing), I hope Avengers 4 ends up being really good with a lot to sink into character-wise. Also, Carol. Bruh. I died seeing Fury and Hill. I missed them and lmaooooo at Nick’s resignation with dissolving. AND THE PAGER!!! WHO HAS PAGERS NOWADAYS?! IS NICK CALLING INTO THE PAST? IS CAROL IN SPACE? BUT IT’S A PAGER AND THAT’S SO OUTDATED AND THAT’S SUCH A SPECIFIC CHOICE. I shouted in the theater when that scene ended and we saw her insignia on the pager screen lol. CAROL’S GOING TO SAVE US ALL.