#why even bother with a redemption arc.

[tytonnidaie]

trigun so easy to sift through people worth following the litmus test is just "what do they think of knives"

[wisebeth]

why does the pjo series have to unnecessarily villainize goddesses (hera & athena) or show them as silly ladies (aphrodite & demeter) BUT posiedon and apollo are somehow shown as the coolest/most likeable gods, even though arguably, they're right after zeus on terms of corruption?

ares shown as the worst god after zeus and hera amuses me. last time i checked, he was the patron god of amazons and literally killed a man for attempting to rape his daughter but guess who cursed women for rejection? apollo. guess who raped women when they said no (aside from zeus)? posiedon.

[nostalgia-tblr]

It's time for me to admit something.

I am still a bit confused about how back in the beginning of the Loki series Mobius is introduced to us as "special[ising] in the pursuit of dangerous Variants." But like. That doesn't seem to be a thing that the TVA really... do? They mostly seem to spot nexus events and pop to the new branch and prune it, bringing back the person who caused that nexus event to give them a show-trial and then prune them too.

There's no reason they can't do more than one thing, but what exactly are "dangerous variants"? From the TVA perspective they're all equally troublesome, and they'll be picked up as soon as they do something 'wrong', and the TVA/HWR don't actually care about the moral value or otherwise of that 'wrong' thing. Have I got that right?

They're chasing Sylvie but a) she's targeting the TVA themselves and b) she's got a means to travel from one timeline to another, which she got from the TVA and unless those get stolen a lot..

I'm willing to just roll with it anyway if it doesn't really fit but what am I missing here? EXPLAIN. (pls?)

[lyxchen]

I don't like this season

[merchantarthurn]

i dunno man. this reaction to the finale squicks me out so much. i am deeply uncomfortable with people acting like it would have been better if adrien was told everything on the spot (eventually? yeah. right then? god no), or that gabriel was textually redeemed, or that the writers weren't aware that gabriel had done wrong despite them actively avoiding having him take ladybug's offer (which would have been far more like a redemption than what he actually did - violently reject her path and took his own in the end. like be serious)

i say this as someone who has been worried for a while about how they would handle gabriel as a clearly abusive man. and as someone who has been emotionally, socially and financially controlled and threatened by my own father (the height of it being when i was adrien's age, isn't that wild), but as in adult still struggles to call it abuse because like. sometimes your dad is horrible but you also have good happy memories with him. and a couple of weeks is not enough time to fully accept your dad did you harm and should have known better - especially after he fucking dies - and that's the case regardless of whether he's considered a hero or a villain by everyone around you. adrien expressing admiration to his father is not only consistent with his desire to see his father improve (because shockingly with the kind of abuse gabriel was up to, adrien was always going to hope for the good he saw in him to prevail. that's just how it feels) but is also not guaranteed to last - we have no idea how adrien will process his father's abuse alongside the grief he's also processing????

like i guess this finale made me so emotional, specifically that last part, because fuck if it didn't speak to something that felt pretty emotionally real. at least to me, as someone who can see a snap shot of my life in this family relationship. and to see people boil that down to "urgh the abuser got away with it" is kinda agonising honestly (not to mention everyone collectively losing their wit and forgetting that like... time exists, and shit changes? idk maybe the monster-of-the-week seasons broke people's brains or something).

just... like goddamn when i think about what i wanted re: dad like... what i wanted was to be safe and happy. if that happened by dad being gone and/or him never being 'punished' for the hurt he caused me then like... would i fucking care? the hurt is over. even as im still disentangling myself from him that's still all i want. i don't want my dad to face justice, i want MY justice - and that's to have some fucking peace!!! i am deeply glad they let gabriel die rather than find some way to save him so he's out of adrien's life, i am deeply glad he did it in a way that wouldn't entirely devastate adrien, i am deeply glad marinette chose not to tell him.

like. i get that so many people do not understand the complexity of recovering from this particular abuse-flavour (because there are many) but. justice is for the victim. justice prevents future victims. it's not justice for me to prioritise exposing gabriel over protecting adrien's happiness? the desire ive seen expressed to expose adrien to all of this and rend him apart is pretty goddamn ghoulish in this context - if you wish to explore that alternative, write a fanfic instead of insisting the only morally good way to resolve abuse is to further traumatise the victim of it

[bluespiritshonour]

Why is it always Robin has to prove himself to Batman? Be it any Robin. And no, I'm not talking about characters, because Bruce—Bruce is like “Everyone must prove themselves to me but I'm not answerable to anyone” that motherfucker. Very IC.

I'm talking about stories, about narratives—why does every Robin-centric narrative has a “prove themselves to Batman” arc—but Bruce's arc never involves proving himself to anyone?

Why, after the events of the Tower of Babel, Bruce didn't have to work to gain the Justice League's approval? Why didn't he have to work to redeem himself, dammit!

Yes. He had to reveal his identity. But then, it wasn't his idea. It was Clark's. It's fundamentally different from Dick unmasking in front of the Titans: Dick feels in his bones that it isn't fair that he's the only one masked and the Titans are up for mutiny, so he made an executive decision.

It didn't even occur to Bruce to do it. Dammit, the fucker wasn't even trying to get back into Justice League. Clark had to persuade him. And no, I don't mean he should have gone and begged them to let him in. He doesn't need them.

But let's be honest: none of the Leaguers need the League. But humanity does. That's why they put their differences aside and band together.

Bruce is selfless when it comes to sacrificing his family a la Batman : Ego. Oh!—it's Bruce's children that are dying in Batman's mission. Isn't he so noble?—the picture of tragedy? The greiving father? The man who can't even have a steady romantic relationship because Batman wouldn't let him? So selfless—until he isn't. Until the JL—in other words, a planet full of people—need him to swallow his pride. Then, he isn't selfless anymore.

He's selfless when he's a father sending his children to war for the greater good—but he's not selfless when it's time to swallow his pride, to take the risk of trusting someone even after being traumatised and betrayed—for the greater good. (And honestly his trust issues seem narcissistic when surrounded by people like Dick, Alfred and freaking Commissioner Gordon!)

You know who does it? Dick Grayson. That's who. The “trust no one” maxim has been drilled into him by Bruce, but even then he chooses to trust. Not because he's stupid, but because it's a requirement. He totally expects to be stabbed in the back; he isn't naïve. But he'd rather be betrayed than have someone be barred from help because they seemed suspicious. It's canon in Titans. He says it in words, look it up. To Brother Blood, I guess.

Bruce didn't have to work to get on the League's good side. He just had to reveal his ID to regain trust and that, too, was Clark's idea.

And that's not an attempt at redemption, because if it was, then why did Clark have to do it too? Clark didn't do anything to deserve it. But Bruce forces him to and Clark agrees: for the greater good that the League trusting each other would ensure.

Clark Kent, who chooses to forego a mask so that people trust him. Literally, it comes down to that. Who has to built his whole civilian life around the fact that he shows his bare fucking face to the whole world.

And honestly, if I were to throw genre convention aside and read the text the hard way, Bruce doesn't seem really all that bothered with keeping his ID a secret. He's nothing compared to Clark. I mean. Come on, look at the number of people who know Bruce's ID and the number that know Clark's and tell me. Fucking tell me who's more serious about that stuff.

Bruce's entire existence hinges on other characters’ kindness, in and out of universe. In-universe there's this massive brigade of people who know his ID and keep it a secret. Out of universe, writers who show him to be the best even though Clark, Diana, Dick are all more worthy than him.

This is what you get when you let little incels run creative industries.

What did Bruce ever have to do to redeem himself to anyone? Literally anyone? Bruce would let Gotham burn if it meant he keeps his colossal pride intact. But oh, send his children to die: woe is him, this greiving father, so tragique—would absolutely do that.

He isn't even a hero. You know the impact of Batman: Ego and BtAS pales when put next to his very selfish acts when it comes to himself.

Because always—ALWAYS—the uwu factor in Bruce's stories aren't personal.

Not like it's in Clark's who has to face xenophobia because he's an alien. He's natural existence—his powers that are a part of him existing—being called a threat. He still helps.

Not like Diana who comes to the Man's World and decides to stay behind despite it being, well, a Man's World. That would never really respect her as much as it respects a man, any man, even though she's a literal Goddess. Coming and staying in Man's World for her means loneliness. Being immortal and watching every friend she ever made become a memory. But she chose to do it. Because at the end of the day, it's not about her. It's about helping people.

But for Bruce, in true male-is-default fashion, it's about losing people. People he loves.

His parents' death, Jason's death and so on and so forth. I'm not saying losing someone is not painful. I'm just saying it's always about his manpain.

Making the victim's pain his.

[lightwise]

WHY MAYDAY IS A MIRROR OF REX (AND ALL OF CROSSHAIR’S BROTHERS)

AKA How Crosshair predicted his own redemption arc.

There have been many comparisons made between Mayday and Rex/The Bad Batch, but I have kept myself from ranting about The Outpost for too long and I figured I should get this out there before this week’s new episode hits. 

Crosshair is cynical and snarky when we meet him in The Clone Wars (as is the norm for his personality, but there’s a special edge to it in S7 E1). The first words out of his mouth are “we don’t usually work with regs.”

(I am not sure who first posted this image set, so if you know who to credit please reach out).

Now in TBB E12, the episode opens with Crosshair watching regular clones being told about the retirement bill by an imperial officer. His helmet is off and they have no armor on. He’s face to face with them. He seems interested in their conversation but is still removed, separate. He still thinks this doesn't affect him.

Once he ships out to Barton 4, we meet Mayday by hearing his voice before he rounds the corner into our view. The immediate thought that flew into my mind was, “that’s Rex’s voice.” Other than Rex himself, we as the audience and especially Crosshair as a character have not heard that warm, snarky, calm tone that signifies that commanding officer’s “regular clone voice” much this season. Mayday’s voice is a little deeper than Rex’s, but he has the same commanding yet casual tone and demeanor. As weary and frustrated as he is at the lack of support from the Empire, Mayday chooses to express it with a level of snarkiness that would have made Tech, Echo, or Rex himself proud. 

Or as Rex once said, "It's Captain, sir."

"Experience outranks everything."

Mayday and his squad are wrapped in mummified cloth strips, and he states that his men are all “dead. We’re all that’s left.” Three of them, to mimic the three troopers being forced into retirement that Crosshair had seen before arriving. They are dead men walking. And so are the rest of the clones. 

Mayday brings the light to Crosshair. And starts talking to him, man to man, like a friend. Like a brother. He asks him his name. Crosshair’s first encounters with Rex were Rex going after Echo, pulling him free from mindless programming and reminding him what his name really was. 

“What brought you here.” “Just lucky, I guess.” Luck isn’t a word that Crosshair typically uses to describe his experiences. He usually relies on and points out his superiority, his skills, his uniqueness. He knows he hasn’t engineered this meeting, and yet Mayday’s mannerisms are already starting to find the chinks in his metaphorical armor. 

“I’ll give you the lay of the land.” Like Hunter would. “Conditions have degraded our equipment.” Like Tech could have helped with. “I’m not an explosives expert.” Wrecker is. 

Mayday lays out the helmets of his fallen squad in a memorial, the same way Rex and Ahsoka do after order 66. Reverence and respect for the dead, even when it seems meaningless. Crosshair has let himself be deadened by the Empire, yet Mayday treats him with interest and respect, drawing him back out of himself. Mayday even shows the same respect for the raider who had been attacking his base, saying that he was bothered that his men had left him there to die. 

Crosshair is still throwing up his shields, like he did at the end of season 1 when he tried to convince his brothers to join him. “We’re not like the regs, we never have been. We’re superior.” 

And all of a sudden, Crosshair will die if Mayday doesn’t save him. If he doesn’t fully trust him to disarm the pressure mine he has gotten himself into. He has continued to choose to step in places that are a pressure mine waiting to go off, waiting to swallow him whole. And until now he has made enemies of anyone who has tried to help him.

Mayday saves his life, and now they’re working as a team, silently and in unison. They realize that all this effort and loss of life has been for mere equipment (that’s for their replacements, no less). Their lives really are worth even less than the epithet "used equipment" that Nolan spits in Crosshair’s face when they first meet. 

Hunter had tried to tell him on Kamino: “Can’t you see they’re using you? We’re loyal to each other, not some empire.”

Crosshair: “YOU weren’t loyal to me. I was one of you. You may have forgotten, but I haven’t. I’m going to give you what you never gave me–a chance.” Only now, after Mayday gave him that chance, is he willing to admit that Hunter was right.

How many times have those words haunted Crosshair’s thoughts?

Now this was interesting to me. Crosshair incidentally causes an avalanche by targeting a group of explosives in order to end their shootout, cracks fissuring up the mountainside. Once before he was maneuvered into a situation not of his own free will (when his chip is enhanced on Kamino), yet he stubbornly pursued that scenario when he chose to stay on the platform at the end of season 1. Once again, he is put into a situation against his will by being brought to Barton 4, but this time, he ends up creating a scenario where his choices from this moment will now have the opposite effect.

Mayday shoves Crosshair out of the way, saving his life once again. A pile of snow rips Crosshair’s helmet off of his face, and as Mayday is buried, Crosshair re-emerges his true self. 

“We have to move.” Rex’s words throughout almost all of their Clone Wars arc. Rex is selfless, telling Echo to go with the Batch if that was the best place for him. Letting Echo leave him behind, essentially. Mayday begs Crosshair to leave him behind and save himself. They both want what’s best for others. And their examples rub off on the men they save. Echo constantly does what he can to help his brothers escape the Empire. Crosshair’s sheer stubbornness that up until now has kept him tethered to the Empire, refuses to leave Mayday behind. He can’t watch another brother die in front of him. Not anymore. 

"You're still their brother, Crosshair. You're my brother too." Omega's plea to him.

So Crosshair risks his life to carry Mayday back. A REG. He refuses to let go of him the whole journey. He lets him use his sniper rifle as a crutch. All of his defenses are finally down, and he not only cares, but is willing to show he cares, BEGS ON HIS KNEES to his commanding officer for help, to show that he DOES CARE.

Finally, this struck me. We almost never see Crosshair using a hand blaster. He’s a sniper. Yet both in his encounter with his brothers on Kamino in season 1, and his confrontation with Nolan here, Crosshair picks up a regular blaster. He’s not being the sniper, distant and removed, making a kill from afar with his own rifle. This is up close, personal, a messy choice. With a hand blaster, a regular clone’s weapon. 

Crosshair’s conversation with Hunter on Kamino reads back as though he is pleading with himself to not make the same mistake twice, to stop running from his fears, to finally embrace who he is–a clone. To embrace his real purpose–protecting his brothers.  He’s made his choice. He doesn’t expect to survive. The vultures are circling both of them. In season 1 Hunter stuns him and he falls to his knees and then to the floor, passing out. Here, he snarls “Lieutenant,” in a sarcastic tribute to how Mayday had first addressed Nolan, and becomes an Angel of Death. He avenges Mayday and redeems himself, and once again falls forward and passes out with the last of his strength gone.

[winns-stuff]

LO RANT:

TRIGGER WARNING: SA

Okay I’m back again and it’s only to say this.. The comments on the new fastpass are genuinely disgusting. I don’t care how you put it or feel about both characters it’s absolutely deranged to ship or want a redemption arc for a rapist, maybe I’m being too harsh but I can’t find soft words to use for this. The fact that there’s so many people girlbossing this entire situation as a “I got the entire lineage on my shoulders!!! I slept with the brothers and the father!!!!” thing is weird to me because these fans are all missing the point of Hera’s entire story and it makes no sense that as I’m ALWAYS saying these fans are quite literally shipping rapists with their victims when the entire point of Lore Olympus was to shed light and bring awareness to Sexual Assault that is not violent or gruesome in physical action.

And we all know why this is happening, Rachel doesn’t know how to properly handle this situation and it’s clear that that’s how this is coming across to her fans. They don’t see this as a rape survivor story they see this as another dark romance since she doesn’t bother on actually addressing the assault in a respectful and dignified way, every single time she adds another sexual assault in her story she’s always glamorizing it or diminishing it whenever she gets tired of writing about it and it’s infuriating. Your fans should know better than to ship victims with their abusers and you wanna know why? Because you pride your comic on healthy relationships and mental health talks, you use the sexual assault as some kind of badge to show everyone that you know what you’re talking about when it’s clear that you will abandon all real representation of a situation that affects millions of people around the world just for crappy fan service.

Lore Olympus fans are groomed to dismiss these arcs since they’re not even treated like they’re serious and it doesn’t seem like Rachel takes it serious as well, she’s never taken any advice from survivors who aren’t pleased with how she portrays SA and she completely ignores the feelings of those truly affected by the traumatic events that she shoves into her webcomic just so it’ll stay “interesting”. I’m tired of Rachel getting away with drawing absolute trauma porn and I’m sick of her sexualizing every single woman we come across, how many times do we have to continue this long and excruciating pattern of giving the women of your comic terrible consequences and make them suffer just for drama and nothing else. How many other situations are you willing to completely spit on just to look self aware?

This is honestly the last straw because there’s been so many people genuinely shipping Hera and Kronos and also saying borderline disgusting things just to defend stuff like that. Rachel needs to say something, you cannot just sit back and be quiet while your fans openly admit to wanting to see a rapist and his victim together for the sake of your own comic and “beloved” main character hell even for a lot of your fans you need to speak up about this and address it letting a mindset like that fester in a fandom probably filled with survivors of assault is a disservice to them and it’s a slap in the face to the comfort that your webtoon gave them.

[my-rose-tinted-glasses]

Rose Recaps 2023 - Korea

I started with Japan because this year it gave me everything I could possibly want. Korea gave me some very nice surprises. Let's go.

The one that had me question if watching it was good for my mental health.

The Eighth Sense

Much like what I said about Tokyo in April is... it was not a good decision on my part to watch this one live. I related way too much to Jae Won and I wasn't in a specially good place at the time. However, I love it so much. I have rewatched it since then and it's such an incredible journey.

I think they used the time very efficiently and they didn't try to skip too many steps to make it a happy ending. I would be okay without any redemption for those two but on the plus side the other friends were brilliant.

Favourite Moment

The one that came out of nowhere

Sing My Crush

This show came out all at once and I had no idea it was coming. But I'm so glad it did. There were I think 4 kbls that came out all at once this year. And with the exception of this one, they were all worse because of it. First of all I fell in love with the song instantly and Han Tae immediately after. He's so cute and in love and it takes him way too long to realise it, but his devotion to Ba Ram is unquestionable from the beginning.

Favourite Moment:

The one that was a sequel but not really

Love Class 2

The first couple of episodes I wasn't sure about this one. The first couple of episodes were kinda of confusing, starting with such a dark scene on the roof, and so many different types of relationships to keep track of.

Joo Hyuk was my instant favourite from the beginning. The way he was instantly smitten and committed from the first moment he saw the TA was delightful.

It took me longer to warm up to Min Woo and Maru. But I love their arc. Even the jealousy experiment didn't bother me, Maru needed a push. Much like Lee Hyun said, it was so obvious.

Lee Hyun and Kim An were the last ones to reach me. I think the whole backstory around Kim An muddied the waters a bit and I'm not sure it was necessary to have so much of it, but I did love that when Kim An gave in, he did so with no reservations.

Favourite Moments:

The one that had me considering moving to a farm

Love Tractor

Ok. Not really, But look how pretty. Funny story, I actually rewatched part of this show in an orchard not that much different from the one here. I was on holiday in the countryside and just thought it would be incredibly amusing.

Anyway. I love Ye Chan an unreasonable amount. He's so dramatic and so earnest. And honestly if I ever had to move to a place like this I think I would pretty much have the same reaction as Seon Yul. I just want my peace and quiet.

But I really like their dynamic all throughout and considering the time restraints I thought that the development of Yul's feelings was done quite well.

Favourite Moment:

The other one with Love in the title

Love Mate

There was absolutely no reason for me to like this show has much as I did. Ha Ram should've bothered me. This whole concept should've annoyed me. The whole separation bit should've made me angry. Why didn't it? I have no clue. But I loved it. I've watched it more than once and love it every time.

Favourite Moment

The one with coffee and pottery

Unintentional Love Story

I adore this show. Pick an episode, any episode, I love it. Was it perfect? No. Was the kissing the thing that made it not perfect? Perhaps. I love it nonetheless.

[Confession time. Is there one thing about this show that bothers me no matter how many times I rewatch it? Yes. Is it the kissing? No. Is it something absolutely and stupidly tiny that only I could possibly be that bothered by it? Yes. What is it? " Let me at least do this." It's such a great moment. But why did whoever was in charge of the editing felt the need to show us the scene that we saw 17 minutes before? (it's really 17 minutes and 40 seconds, I checked because I'm nowhere near sane). Did they thing we forgot about it in that time? It lessens the moment and it insults the audience. I hate it an unreasonable amount. ]

There are so many moments in this show that I love. The four mains are amazing, the confession scene by HoTae in the coffee shop floored me, the writing in the sand moment was delightful and the soundtrack is my favourite of the year.

Favourite Moment:

The one that was perfect

Our Dating Sim

What's there to say. There's nothing wrong here. They are delightful, I had a great time with the video game format at the end of the episodes, their chemistry was amazing, and Ki Tae is my favourite boy. Also, my second favourite soundtrack this year.

Favourite Moment

See you next time with Thailand I think.

Thanks for reading💜

[marvel-starwarsfangirl]

Why Crosshair Will Live

(aka an essay by a Crosshair girlie who loves her clone husband too much)

So, I've been thinking long and hard about the final season and how it could end. Obviously, it's gonna be an emotional rollercoaster and all that. However, there's always going to be discourse about who's gonna bite it, especially since our main characters don't have plot armor and this show is allowed to go way darker than Rebels. Crosshair is my favorite character and I don't hide that at all. He's all over my page. But looking at his character, there's a part of me that believes he actually might make it out in one piece. Let's get started!

"Redemption Equals Death"- Out of all the tropes, this is the one Crosshair embodies the most. He was the villain for a season, but now he's changing his ways. In past seasons, I would've said this is how his story ends. His brothers find him and Omega on Tantiss and he goes out protecting them, proving he deep down he still loved them. But after season 3, I don't think that's the case anymore. I think he's passed the point. Crosshair in season 3 is actively redeeming himself through his actions and words with his family and the other clones. We don't need to see him go out in some big self-sacrifice because we already see the person he truly is inside. More importantly, his family sees the person he's become. He's already proven it in so many ways. Crosshair openly admitted his mistakes, saved Hunter from the wyrm, is very protective of Omega, and saved his brothers, Omega, and Rex + Howzer from CX-2. At this point, Crosshair has passed the "redemption equals death" marker. His redemption is playing out and the people around him are seeing the changes.

His Character Arc- Crosshair's character arc has always been about loyalty and identity. Go all the way back to season 1 with the infamous "this is who I am" line and his whole spiel about the Batch not being loyal to him. "Aftermath" shows us this poor man already beginning to struggle. In season 2, Crosshair is going through every hurt no comfort fic trope in the book. This man was pushed to the brink, with every sense of his being questioned. And he almost didn't make it. Crosshair in "The Outpost" was so close to dying after trekking through the blizzard and shooting Nolan. He's suffered through so much already from being severely burnt to freezing, and now almost drowning. Pretty much half way through season 3 and Crosshair's trials aren't over. His hand is still bothering him and he's still trying to find himself.

Although Crosshair has made peace with his family, I believe he still needs to make peace with himself. He's been humbled sure, but there's more to go. Who is he if he isn't a soldier or sharpshooter? Crosshair's arc will probably finish with him realizing being a soldier isn't entirely who he is. His hand tremor still could be related to his internal conflict, we don't know. So far, he's doing a great job. We've seen Crosshair begin to find peace on Pabu and comfort with Omega. It would be so satisfying to see him make it out of this mess alive. My best BB ending would be him (and his brothers) alongside Omega retired somewhere. They have each other and that is enough.

His Poster and Theme- Crosshair is the only character as of right now in the Batch who has a separate poster for season 3. Not even Omega has a separate one (although I can see her getting one later). In fact, Omega shares her with Crosshair. Both are wearing their prison outfits, showing their shared situation and stand against a white/grey backdrop. We also see Cross gripping his right hand, referring to the issue he's having with it. However, he also has one of himself in the same golden lighting as his brothers. Crosshair stares at his helmet with a calm look on his face and appears to be contemplating. That has to mean something. From my POV, I get the sense he's wondering about who he is. Wouldn't it be a great ending if Cross finds himself and lives to see that self be happy?

He is also the only member of the Batch (Omega aside) to have his own theme/leitmotif. He has two actually: his Imperial one and his heroic one. His heroic theme aka the "Mayday" theme is stunning and highlights his struggle perfectly. You can actually hear it in season 1 fun fact but it's faint. The fact that he does have a separate poster and theme from the others does give me hope that he will make it. Not to say that the others aren't important, but something about Crosshair and his journey is very meaningful to have warranted this. You can argue that he shares the title of "heart of the show" to some degree because his arc is the most dynamic of all the Batch. His struggles and fight back towards the light truly raise this show to greatness.

Crosshair is also season 3's "Batcher of Year" award and so far, they're doing everything we wanted and more. For two whole seasons, his character has been building and building towards this season. And they better give us a great payoff. Crosshair's character going to continue to soar as the season progresses. I can definitely see him making it through to the end because of the focus on him.

Omega- how can we forget about the kid who never gave up on our grumpy sniper? Omega (and we can argue Cross to a lesser degree) is the heart of the show. She gives the Batch a new outlook on life and it is through her that they grow and change. Omega brings out the paternal and softer side in each of her brothers. Crosshair, however, takes a bit longer to get there. He's the only character whose main development happens away from Omega. When he finally gets home, he becomes Crossdad. But Omega is still a kid, despite her capabilities. If the other Batchers die, who will take care of her? Omega being on her own just doesn't feel right. We also know going off with Rex wouldn't feel satisfying either even though he would take really good care of her.

Now that Crosshair is back, it feels like the show is propping him up to take over Hunter's role. Hunter parented for 2 whole seasons. As the mentor figure, he might bite it. But wait! Crosshair is still here. There is no way the writers would just let Omega finish alone or get killed off. She will have someone with her. Crosshair, having spent the majority of the show away, will probably be the best candidate narratively speaking. As mentioned above, he gets two posters showing just how integral he is this season. He's also been getting a lot of screen time with Omega. So, I can definitely see the show ending with just the two of them left. It would be bittersweet, but still satisfying.

Disney- let's ask the question: would Disney kill off an entire family aside from their child? My best guess is no (this isn't a Disney movie with a prince to save the day). Tying into my last point, I can't see this family-friendly company letting a literal child lose her entire family and end up all alone in the end. We all saw Rogue One and we know that this is a plausible option. However, I'm beginning to think that they aren't gonna do that because again, Omega is a child. She's gonna hopefully have one, if not all, her brothers alongside her. And I swear, if they give her to someone else not named Crosshair, Hunter, Wrecker, or Echo, I will blow a gasket. She needs her family. Disney and Star Wars is all about hope and it's not very hopeful to me if all of the BB but Omega dies.

Rebuttal- let's get this out of the way: if Cross dies, it will be with his brothers, protecting Omega, and defeating Hemlock. There is literally no other way he could go out that would be satisfying. He's redeemed and fought the Ghost of Crosshair's Future (aka CX-2). Backpedaling on his character arc would suck. If he dies, it will be as a Bad Batcher, a loving brother, and the best sniper the galaxy has ever seen.

But I don't think that will happen. I do genuinely think Crosshair has a chance to survive. But what do you guys think? Obviously, I'll still be nervous about the whole thing, but I'm trying here.

[thestrangestthing89]

Reasons I think Byler is getting together early... 1) Everyone thought byler would get together at the end of S4 because there was so much build up and tension between the two. It made sense with the story to fit that at the end of the season, so much so, that people were anticipating it. 2) The constant interruptions, mainly by Jonathan. They don't need to be interrupted if nothing is happening. Both scenes in Lenora that get interrupted were flirty scenes with a lot of tension. If Jonathan hadn't interrupted this, what would have happened? There is a strong implication that something would have. Otherwise, why bother doing it. There are several other conversations that get interrupted, like the one on top of the car, where things were getting personal and they were on the edge of saying something. They are close to saying what they want to say and being honest. 3) The original plan of Jonathan's that Will and Mike agree to, is to go back to Hawkins and help their friends. It wasn't to find El. When Mike realizes this he goes to have his second talk with Will (the one where Will is kneeling on the floor). He stresses they are a team. If their original plan was to go on a less stressful road trip back to Hawkins, what would have been happening with them? Because that letter El left Mike was a break up letter that Mike is moving on from. (I don't know anyone who would have thought they were still together with someone after being told they weren't going to see that person again for months, possibly years, and weren't going to be able to communicate with them during that time. Who would be waiting around indefinitely? Mike was moving on the second he threw that note out.) 4) The audience needs to start rooting for Mike again and he needs a redemption. Will brings out the best in Mike and he knows him best. So I'm not surprised we have hints that they are filming a lot together. Getting to see the side of Mike who is in a healthy romantic relationship is an important part of his character arc. Especially given how much this show likes to compare Will and El. We need to actually see him with Will to know that this is better for him. Without seeing this side to Mike, there isn't as much of a chance for the audience to reconnect with him because we would still not get to see him when he's at his best. 5) Will's character arc has been about embracing his sexuality and using that as a source of empowerment. A thing that doesn't have the same impact if he doesn't actually get to act on his identity/sexuality until the very end. Seeing both Mike and Will be confident and comfortable with themselves would provide closure to both of their arcs. 6) Other character arcs relate to byler getting together - mainly Jonathan. Jonathan is struggling to find himself and feels very strongly about protecting his family. He feels responsible for them and doesn't want to leave them. Part of this is because they moved away from Hawkins (where their friends and support are) and part of it is the loss of Hopper, who has been helping protect them all. Hopper returning helps a lot. But there is also the added component of Will being gay that I think would still make it harder for Jonathan to want to get his own life if he isn't sure how Hopper would respond to this. Plus, I don't see him leaving Will if Will feels sad and alone and is still having problems with Mike/El. El's character arc also plays into this because her independence has to do with her and Mike breaking up. A thing I suspect already happened by the end of S4. But El really hasn't seen what a healthy romantic relationship even looks like at this point. Byler could be a good example of that for her. Not to mention would be a good reason for Mike and El to clearly end things with each other. El has had trouble separating herself from Mike and uses him as a safety net/backup caretaker when Hopper isn't there. It's not good for her. Knowing that Mike wants to be with someone else could push her to stop being so fixated on him and learn to rely on herself instead.

7) I suspect that one of the main themes of the show is going to be how love saves the world - in opposition to how El's anger has saved them (and not been affective at saving them). Byler being the key to this, and Mike being the heart. There needs to be more interaction with their relationship. Will is the main character and the hero of this story. If his romance is saving the world, we need to see it. And Will deserves to have this whole story play out and not just have it be quick at the end. 8) Just because a lot of other shows have the main couple get together at the end, doesn't mean this one has to do the same. They have inverted plenty of tropes already, this could be another one. Plus, all of the other endgame couples are already together (or mostly together). Byler not getting to have a relationship that we see sticks out as them not wanting to show the gay couple specifically. Which I don't get the impression is an attitude they have. 9) The outfits we have seen Mike and Will wear so far in S5 have been a lot of blue, yellow, and green. They match. Couples on tv shows usually match and they have for several seasons now. But the green is an interesting addition. We have seen blue be associated with Mike and yellow with Will and now we are seeing them wear their own colors along with the other persons. The green (a mix of those 2 colors) suggests that they are already together. 10) I don't think they are going to push this as a love triangle. The time to do that would have been S4 when there actually was one. We got Will pining for Mike, Will standing between Mike and El, tension with Mike and Will, El being confused by some of Mike and Will's interactions. There was something going on with the three of them this season. But the promo/posters didn't suggest this. We know mileven is either over or almost over so there is no point pretending like this is ambiguous. Especially when most of the audience is rooting for Will/byler.

[sealnoodlesoup]

My stupid opinion that will get me killed by the entire She-Ra fandom

Shadow Weaver had a better redemption arc than C4tra

Yes, I know that Shadow wasn't fully redeemed, was terrible, and never apologized for her actions. But at least she was useful and helped the rebellion, unlike C4tra who was just getting in everyone's way. Shadow had many chances to betray the rebellion but she didn't meanwhile C4tra (who committed more and worse crimes than Shadow) would probably betray them all if someone offered her greater power because she only joined the rebellion when it was her only chance of survival despite being offered to join them many times before. And while C4tra did say she was sorry she never properly apologized for everything she did (like killing Angela and almost destroying the universe) and her apology always felt like she was just trying to earn sympathy from others. And she continued treating everyone horribly even after that. Shadow Weaver stayed loyal to the rebellion until the very end and even died for them, I know many people say that she only killed herself to traumatize C4tra, but the only proof of that they have is the "You're welcome" and it still can be argued what she meant by that (In my opinion it was "You're Welcome, now that I'm dead I won't bother you anymore" I'm not gonna explain why I think that here because this post is not about that). Shadow was the one who found a way to stop Horde Prime and did everything to make sure it worked, meanwhile, C4tra was being a nuisance and a distraction just so she could be with Adora and didn't care that the world might get destroyed because of it. She tried to stop Adora from taking the failsafe even though Adora was the only person who could survive it and got angry when Adora chose to save the world first instead of making out with her. Just to be clear I'm not talking about who was a morally better person, but who made up for their actions more.

In conclusion: Actions speak louder than words, Shadow Weaver was useful to the rebellion while C4tra was not.

[adoreeenina]

I wanna be yours - Ch. 4

(Recom! Miles Quaritch x Sully! Reader x Recom! Lyle Wainfleet)

(Warning: Polyamorous relationship. Angst. Enemies to Lovers. Slow burn. Falling in love. Redemption arc. Canon deaths (but not really). Romance. Smut. Jealousy. Threesome. Anal(both F & M receiving). Mention of suicide, self harm, depression, anxiety. PTSD. Feelings being revealed. Jake and Neytiri not being good parents to reader. Reader being a motherly figure to Spider.)

•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•

“The hell is this?” You scowl at the cloths that’s neatly folded on the table in your cell. First was being shot, second being held captive and now this? They couldn’t at least give you a day or two to heal.

“Cloths” Quaritch deadpan with his arms cross as he eyes you. You’re still in that hospital gown, and instead of giving you your cloths back, they decide to give you theirs.

“This” you pinch what looks like a shirt that Quaritch is wearing, you hold it up as you eye it suspiciously , “this is not cloths, these are blankets” they obviously look to big on you.

the man in front of you is more muscular and taller than any other man you’ve seen from your clan, instead of your father of course. The cloths will drag you down.

“To bad darlin’, you have to wear them”

You bare your teeth, ears pinning to the side of your head, but lets your grief go with a sigh.

“Why do I have to wear this?” you reluctantly grab what looks like sweatpants from the table and hold out in front of you. You hate this so much.

“I don’t need my men getting distracted” Quaritch simply shrugs as he shamelessly stare at you.

“Then tell your men to stop perving” Quaritch doesn’t bother to answer with a reply.

you grab the shirt and hold it against your body, seeing it reach to your mid thigh, you curse yourself for being short, the runt of the litter, even Neteyam is taller than you and your older than him.

You grab the shirt from the middle, using your sharp fang, your rip it the shirt on half, you notice Quaritch ear twitch, obviously agitated seeing you rip RDA property, and you take it as a small win. You hold the shirt once again, against your body seeing it reach just above your navel.

You grab the sweatpants and do the same thing, the legs obviously puddles the floor, using your teeth, you rip the material. You hold the pants againt your legs seeing they reach just below your knees, humming In approval, you turn to see Quaritch still in the room, quietly watching you.

“You gonna watch me get dressed too, Peeping Tom?”

“You got a mouth on you. You talk to your father like that?” Quaritch quirk an eyebrow.

“As a matter of fact Colonel… I do” you smirk.

“Fucking brat” Quaritch mutters amusingly before pressing a button on the side, letting the door open, he ducks down, leaving you alone to change.

“Asshole” you hiss as aggressively put the cloths on. Mentally cursing, seeing how the shirt is showing a lot, showing a bit of your side boob and a bit of your ribs.

Your head snap towards the door, hearing it hiss, seeing the bald Avatar that you now know as Lyle, ducking down to enter.

“C’mon buttercup, turn around” holding his hand up and making a twirling motion. You got the hint and turn your back towards him, letting out the yellow cuffs on your wrist.

•~•~•~•~•~•~•

Lyle has a hold on you as you walk briskly towards a familiar ship, the same one you seen back at the train tracks.

“Hey! Keep your hands to yourself!” You snarl at Lyle, feeling his hand a little too low on your backside.

“Sorry buttercup” Lyle smirks down at you, still hasn’t bothered to move his hand at all.

“I ain’t your buttercup, you perv” you hiss, Lyle rolls his eyes as he pushes you forward. You look around, zeroing on Spider who is being held by Quaritch.

“Get on the ship. Find a seat, and keep out of the way” Quaritch shouted over the roar of the engines, shoving Spider towards the ship. Quaritch turns around as he claps his hands to hurry everyone else.

“Let’s go! Chop-chop”

Feeling Lyle’s hold tighten on your arm, you were quickly urged forward, jogging over to the samson together after Spider. Lyle helps you, as you have no choice with your hands still bound behind your back. He guides you to sit down as he stands in front you, twirling his finger again, he gets behind you and unlocking the cuffs.

“Sweet” hearing Spider, you turn seeing him playing around with the mounted gun as he aims it playfully.

“Spider!” You scold at him.

“Whoa, hold on there, hotshot” you watch as Quaritch rushes, grabbing Spider by the arm to push him away from the gun and force him to sit down.

“You listen up” Quaritch brings a hand up to poke the dome of Spider’s exopack, “there’s a tracker built in that mask”

“When we hit the ground,” He starts, moving his stern gaze to you before continuing,” and you take off,” he almost smirks before looking at Spider again, his big hand dwarfing Spider’s bicep. “I’ll have you back in two minutes and I’ll give you an old-school ass whippin’” you try your best to prevent a laugh coming out, instead you just manage to smirk

“understood?” Spider rolls his eyes as he tries to yank his arm out of his his grip. Now he knows how you feel when Jake scolds you. “Understood?!”

“Yes sir” Spider responds sarcastically, making you snort as you hide your face.

“And you-“ Quaritch turns to look at you as Lyle instructs you to hold your wrist out, putting on a tracker around your wrist.

“I wouldn’t threaten me with a good time” you glance over at Spider and watched him hide his face, of course your stubborn ass would say some dumb shit like that. Quaritch shakes his head as Lyle fights back a smirk.

“See that bracelet around your wrist.” He points, you glance down at the black bracelet “That’s a tracker. You take off and we’ll find you just the same, I know damn well you won’t leave Spider behind” you turn to glare at Quaritch, you know he’s right, you rather die than leave Spider behind with these sky demons.

“We up?” Quaritch looks at Lyle, he nods as he hoist himself up and sits next to you.

“Hey asshole, ever heard of personal space” you irk making Lyle chuckle. You don’t understand what’s so funny, making you more pissed off.

“Someone should teach you some manners”

“Like you?” Lyle glance down at you with a smug smile. You feel someone lightly shove you, you turn to see Spider with an exasperated look.

You sigh as you turn to look forward, facing Quaritch as he slaps his hand against the window, giving the sky demon behind it a thumbs up , before squatting down before you. His long arm is holding onto the side as the metal flying machine lifts from the ground.

Soon after leaving Bridgehead, you hear Rawm calling for you, his big wings flapping in the distance as he follows. Seeing Z-dog behind the mount gun twitch before aiming it at Rawm. 

“Don’t” you shout at her as she turns to look at you, “A tamed Ikran will not attack unless provoked. Rawm will not hurt you” you pray to the Great Mother that she’ll listen, if she doesn’t, you’ll show them just how far a bond between an Ikran and a Na’vi goes.

“Colonel” Z-dog calls not taking her eyes off Rawm. Waving her off, he doesn’t take his eyes off Rawm, spreading his wings wider to keep up the speed of the Samson. his dark blue frame imposing on the bright skies, his black and red stripes glittering as his wings take him forward.

“So how do I get one of these Banshee, darlin’”Quaritch finally turns away from Rawm to face you.

“Ikran” you repeat in Na’vi.

“Ikans” he poorly repeats, making you sigh before slowly pronouncing the word to him.

“Ikran”

“Ik-ran” he slowly pronounce it, it was a bit choppy, but you take it as a win.

“You going to show us how get one of these banshees, sweetheart?” Lyle ask from beside you, your face scrunch up at the English word for Ikran.

“Ikran. To become Ikran Makto is to pass your iknimaya” you tell them. You watch as they both look clueless making you sigh before turning to look at Spider, asking for help on how to explain what Iknimaya was.

“It’s a rite of passage for Na’vi warriors” Spider offers before turning to look at you with a goofy smile, you smile back in return before turning to look at Quaritch and Lyle who both seem to be deep in thought

“To become a warrior, you have tests you must pass. To choose an Ikran, you walk among them until you find the one. If it is the right one, it will try to kill you,” you instantly see how Quaritch face light up and Lyle’s shake his head with a snort.

“What’s wrong? You scared, handsome?” You couldn’t help but tease with a smirk. Before Lyle could respond with a comeback, you feel Spider shove you once again, making you turn to him with a scowl.

“Can you quit it with the flirting” Spider scolds you in Na’vi.

“I’m not flirting” you say with a forced smile, “I’m just being extra friendly to someone who is extra attractive” you respond, making Spider roll his eyes.

“Gross”

•~•~•~•~•~•~•

As the Samson dropped them off, Spider and you jump on a fallen tree, you crouch down as you tug on the shirt, feeling uncomfortable. Quaritch talks to the Recoms as they all stand in a circles.

“All right, listen up. Jake Sully’s gone to ground. Don’t matter. Wherever he is, we’ll find him, and his batshit crazy wife, too” The Recoms laughs lightly, you tried but failed to fight back a snort. No one can’t deny how accurate that statement is. Spider bumps his shoulder against yours, as he gives you a ‘what the fuck?’ Look. He probably expected you to defend Neytiri.

“Where’s the lie? We both know where I got my craziness from”

“To do so, we go Na’vi. Full tilt, all the way. That means we eat Na’vi. We ride Na’vi. Think Na’vi”

“Fuck Na’vi” you mumble, thinking no one hears you, but Spider did by shoving you, making you laugh.

“And that starts with speaking the language” you and Spider laugh at Quaritch poor attempts of speaking the language. The whole squad turn to look at the both of you.

“You call that speaking the language? You sound like a three year old!” You shove him as he speaks down at the recombinants. Now is not the time to be a smartass.

“All right, smart guy. You just went from being our monkey mascot to official interpreter” from behind Quaritch you see Lyle chuckling.

“Whatever” Spider rolls his eyes.

“You just had to open your big mouth” you scold

“Oh like you wouldn’t?”He gave you a dirty look and you beam at him

“We both know I would, but I know when not to be a smartass, Skxáwng” you lightly hit the side of his head, making him laugh.

“Alright, alright” Quaritch cuts your fun, making you and Spider to look at him with dirty looks, which he ignores.

“So that’s your plan? To learn to love as Na’vi” Quaritch nods, making you smirk.

“Well then this should be fun” you clap your hands together as you stood up to your full height.

“Well Colonel, hope you ready cause I’ma teach you the same way my mother taught my father” you smirk, Spider stands next to you with his arms crossed with a huge grin.

“Yeah? What way is that?” Lyle’s amusement was poorly hidden.

“It’s either learn fast or die. My father learned everything in 3 months, can you top that?” You challenge. You notice the challenging look on Quaritch face. Yeah this would be easy.

“This Ikni-maya” Lyle steps forward with curiosity clearly visible behind his sunglasses “what prepares us for it?”

“When you train to become a taronyu and tsamsiyu, you must know the language, make a clean kill, tame an ikran, and go through your uniltaron. That’s how you become Na’vi”

“Uniltaron?” Lyle says it in perfect Na’vi, which surprises you.

“Dream Hunt. Now first thing first” you point at their boots, “boots off”

“That’s not happening darlin” Quaritch cross his arms, the others snort, thinking you’re joking.

“You need to feel your ground, you won’t be able to if you leave the boots on” you hop of the log and walk towards Lyle who stands behind Quaritch, swatting at his own tail to move it out of the way.

You slap his hand, Lyle looks at you flabbergasted, almost like he’s surprised you would even slap him.

“Stop fighting your damn tail, use it as a counterbalance, that’s what it for when you’re on the trees” you sigh. It was easier to teach your younger siblings. You turn to walk towards Spider who was still standing on the log.

“All of you need to realize that you aren’t human anymore. Take time to get accustomed to your new bodies and the differences. It’ll make your lives easier, trust me. It’ll be like a walk in park” you shrug as you hop over the log, landing swiftly on the other side, Spider hops down to follow you, leaving Ronan and the barbarians behind to follow.

•~•~•~•~•~•~•

Quaritch decided to set up camp for the night. You, Spider and Quaritch had a heated argument about where to sleep, you wanted to sleep on the trees where is safer from predators and of course Quaritch being a stubborn prick, wanted to sleep on the ground in tents.

You sadly lost that battle, you were so close to clawing out his eyes if it wasn’t for Spider holding you back.

“Your old man teach you how to fight like that? You knocked the wind out of Mansk” Quaritch crane his neck towards Mansk who is a few feet away, setting up his tent with Z-dog.

Mansk looks over at Quaritch from the mentioned of his name before looking away to go back to fixing his tent. You glance at Mansk seeing him with a bruise around his temple and his left cheek.

“Not entirely” you mumble as you fumble with the tent, getting agitated you throw the sticks to the ground with a huff.

“Here. Let me help you” hearing Lyle voice, he gently pushes you to the side as he kneels down to works on your tent, Spider joins him, to teach him so the next time they set up camp somewhere else, he could do it.

“Well that wasn’t some Na’vi moves, I can tell you that” Quaritch stands next to you as the both of you watch Lyle and Spider set up the tent. This almost feel too normal. And you don’t like it.

With Quaritch standing next to you for the first time, you notice the height difference. You barely rich his chest, it’s almost embarrassing to you, not only was he taller than you, he bulky.

“Yeah” Lyle laughs, hearing your conversation, not taking his attention away from the tent, “they look like moves from Black Widow”

“They are” Spider admits as he slides the rod into the proper hole.

“What?” Both Quaritch and Lyle turn to look at Spider before looking at you.

“I spend a lot of time with Spider. Some of the humans shows him old movies and shows to keep him occupied, he favors the Avengers” you shrug, not entirely understanding the shock looks on their faces.

“That still doesn’t explain on how you know how to fight like that” Lyle pipes in.

“If you can’t already guess, I’m short” you point at your figure, “I’m a runt, even my younger brother is taller than me” you huff as you frown.

“My dad used to tell me my height is my advantage. I didn’t understand him till I saw Black Widow. She doesn’t let her height stop her from taking down men more than half her size. So I copied her moves, I practiced a lot with my brothers and sometimes even with the other warriors from the clan to perfect them. I even-“

“I DID IT!” Spider celebrates as he throws his fist up. You couldn’t help but smile seeing him get excited over completing the tent with the help of Lyle.

“Hey Kobato Hasegawa” you hear someone shout, seeing Lopez toss something at you, you barely manage to catch it. You hold it up as you appraisingly stare at it.

“What the hell is this?”

“An MRE. It’s food” Quaritch deadpan as rolls his eyes, as he snatch the bag from your hands, opening it and hands it back to you.

You look inside, you sniff almost gagging, pulling the bag away from you.

“This not food. This looks like dog food” you scowl, you hand it to Spider who looks inside and gladly eats whatever it is.

“How do you know what dog food looks like?” Lyle ask.

“I watch human movies” you say simply.

“Na’vi needs real food. Human food won’t fill you up. We need the proper nutrients” you explain. You yawn as you rub your eye with heel of your palm.

“We must rest, tomorrow I will teach you” you walk towards your tent, with Spider following close behind you.

“Hey, wait a second” Lyle calls for you, you lazily turn your head to look at Lyle who is walking towards with a couple of folded blankets.

“Here. For you and the kid” you reach your arms out, letting Lyle place them in your arms.

“Thank you” you mumble, flicking your eyes to look up at Lyle who hasn’t taken his eyes off of you. Your breath hitch at the way he looks at you, no one has ever looked at you like that, not even Tarsem, your suppose mate.

You know that moment when you look at somebody’s eyes and you can feel them staring into your soul and the whole world goes quiet just for a second? Yeah that’s how it feels.

“Ahem” hearing Quaritch, you instantly look away, feeling blood rush to your cheeks.

“Goodnight” you mumble before rushing into the tent. You close the tent behind you, seeing Spider fast asleep in the corner. You couldn’t help but smile at Spider’s sleeping form, it gets chilly at night in Pandora. You grab a blanket and cover Spider. A quiet laugh escapes you, watching Spider snuggle himself into a burrito.

You grab a blanket for yourself as you lay down on the ground and get your self comfortable. Letting your mind ponder.

What the hell were you thinking? You can’t be fooling around with a sky demon. You’re doing this to protect Spider

Taglist: @alexandra-001

(If you want to be added to the Taglist, let me know and I’ll gladly add you)

Masterlist: https://www.tumblr.com/aninelover21-blog/731326408887042048/bound-to-you-masterlist

[viridianevergarden]

This again. I just want to break down my thoughts here so bear with me.

(I did the math and calculated ~ 7.9k people voted that 55%) 💀

First of all,

Elain doesn’t just enjoy gardening for the aesthetic, but rather for the fruits of her labor through hard work. Spring Court’s flowers and nature are only in bloom by magic (The High Lord’s). Not work. Not labor. But rather for convenience and aesthetics (to embody the very domain that one, being Tamlin, High Lord of the SC, resides in). That, to me, goes against Elain’s very enjoyment of the craft of her gardening.

Couple that with the fact that she has completely neglected using those gloves that Lucien gave her. She put them down after they were gifted to her, not even bothering to look at them as if she didn’t care for them. She doesn’t seek protection from the labor of her craft. She doesn’t want to make it easier. She enjoys the challenge. I think Feyre’s perspective on that made it clear.

And again, why would Elain in her right mind willingly go to be with her younger sister’s abusive ex? Why would she? I’m pretty sure she is well aware of what transpired between the two. That she is aware of Tamlin’s actions. Especially when he is partially, if not entirely, responsible for her life quite literally being turned upside down. Having her mortality stripped from her and her love and happiness (or simply content) gone along with it. If she is so visibly uncomfortable with Lucien, who was an accomplice, I’d imagine she would also hold animosity or discomfort for Tamlin tenfold.

Secondly,

Regarding mating bonds being rare: This is a story that encompasses a main group of protagonists. 3’s are SJM’s specialty. Just because 3 brothers may get with 3 sisters does not automatically mean that mating bonds aren’t rare. As a fae romance series with mating bonds clearly being a significant staple throughout, we will encounter mating bonds. Especially with our protagonists. That just seems like logic to me. Even then, it’s been stated and shown time and again that not every mating bond works or is positive. That just because two individuals have a bond doesn’t mean they’ll have good chemistry.

Also take into account that our dear Inner Circle is not the entire continent of Prythian. The Inner Circle does not equal the entire population. So therefore, a small group of mated individuals ≠ a common occurrence.

What’s wrong with the storyline matching up to have a 3:3? Is the perfectionism so wrong? I think that the phrase “too perfect” should be replaced with “complete/completion”. One last brother to one last sister is the remaining piece of the puzzle. Yes, you can argue that the cliche of 3:3 is boring or too simple but this is SJM’s world. She is a cliche author. She always has been.

Lastly,

I believe that Tamlin has had his redemption arc. If you want to call it that at least. In my opinion, he doesn’t need one. His prime arc is over. The series is way bigger than just Tamlin now. I simply see no reason as to why SJM should take more time for Tamlin , who arguably has done more than enough, rather than anything else. I feel like it’d be a backward progression.

Not every character has to be redeemed.

Not every character should be able to find peace or become good after selfish or morally questionable acts.

Not every character calls for major development.

To me, it’s just bad writing to redeem and develop every single character.

Even then, Tamlin is a well written character. He doesn’t need more depth. (I think this post alone proves that people don’t understand him already). He doesn’t need Elain to come in and “fix him”. No one can. No one but Tamlin himself. And we see that if anything, he’s wasting away rather than trying to help himself. He’s wallowing in his grief, anger, and hatred. Be it for others -like Rhys- or himself. It’s on him. Hell, even Rhys tried to help him. Yet he remains unmoving. That is Tamlin’s choice. Elain shouldn’t need to be his catalyst for change. He should.

To Conclude,

I see no logical reason again as to why people think this is a possibility. It just seems like a terrible writing choice for the story of ACOTAR. Of course, SJM can indeed surprise us. She wields the mighty pen after all. But then again, why would she turn around and completely dismiss 4 books of chemistry with a certain shadowsinger just to pitch our third sister with someone like Tamlin or Lucien? If she had planned to do so before, why would there be 4 books worth of obvious chemistry? It’d be a waste. If she has planned or plans to have Elain go with Lucien or Tamlin, why hasn’t she written any semblance of true chemistry between them? If Elain should allegedly have a balance with Tamlin or Lucien, why isn’t there any chemistry? All I’ve seen from Elain is obvious discomfort.

“I thought it was obvious…” - SJM

I could write more about Lucien and Elain’s dynamic but I think that is a whole different matter that doesn’t pertain to the current topic so I’ll leave this here. Thanks for coming to my ted talk.

[reblogs-and-writings]

Inspired by @chaifootsteps

Everyone's sending in their Hazbin character rewrites, and that looked fun so I want to toss my own hat into the ring. Sorry for the long post. What really bothers me most about Hazin Hotel is that it claims to be a show about redemption, but it seems to be a show about lack of consequence. The reasons why the characters are in hell are never really explained. There are things you can infer about certain people: Alastor's murder, Husk's gambling, Angel's drug use, etc. However, the show never explains why those behaviors are wrong and how they can improve. More often than not, those behaviors are used as jokes. It's funny to have a cannibal town. Angel Dust's name is a pun on the drug that killed him. It's just tonally very wierd to purport that anyone can be redeemed, ANYONE, even people in HELL, can be redeemed and then not continue that very messy and difficult ethical conversation.

Nifty is boy-crazy. Taken to its extreme, what can that mean? What causes attraction so vile it sends you to hell? Was she was one of those "Boy Moms" who excuses his son's horrid actions at the expense of women's safety? Did she cover up a rape her child committed, because Mother's special little boy couldn't possible do something so vile! Or maybe she didn't love her children enough. Maybe her obsession with "bad boys" comes from being forced into an extremely suffocating and unhappy marriage. Maybe she ran off with some 50s biker. Maybe she abandoned her children because she was too obsessed with being loved herself that she couldn't love her children if it meant not having a man's attention. Maybe her boy craziness evolved into a raving jealousy if she didn't get her feelings reciprocated. She's a maid, right? She wants things clean and tidy. Did she murder a man? Did she spend hours scrubbing the floor so none of his blood would remain? Then maybe her arc could be about loving herself and not needing a man to define her identity. Maybe it could be unpacking internalized misogyny and coming to terms with the real pain she caused other women.

Mimzy is opportunistic. She only comes around when she needs a favor. She has no loyalty and only uses Alastor to get her out of problems. Why is she like that? Who taught her that relationships were transactional instead of committal? Maybe she was once a naive young girl who got 'used' for something, and it soured her opinion on other people. I mean, she's plus-sized during the FLAPPER era, where thin was like 1990s level of in. But there's a lot of plus-sized women who talk about being some guy's sneaky link, because he wants to prey on her insecurity and get her into bed, but then never be seen with her, because she's not a socially acceptable dating option. Did Mimzy get her heart broken, and now she doesn't trust anyone? Now she just uses people for what they're good for, because hurt people hurt people, and she's continuing a cycle she herself was a victim to? Maybe Mimzy's redemption could be about letting people in, about not letting trauma turn her into a bad person.

Husk is an alcoholic and a gambling addict. Most people don't just pick up those hobbies for the fun of it. Husk is a miserable little man, and he was probably driven to drink because of his own unhappiness. He was pansexual in the 1970s, right? Maybe he couldn't accept himself or he was forced to not accept himself. Maybe he was forced into a loveless marriage, and he started to go out to the casino to get away from the wife and family he never wanted. But more and more and more he spends time over there, because he doesn't want to go home. And soon he becomes dependent on booze and gambling because it gives him a little joy in his miserable life. But addiction doesn't hurt just the addicted person. It hurts everyone around him. He starts skipping work to gamble. He loses his job. He steals money from his wife. He bets the car. Then the house. He leaves his family destitute, and he's convinced he's the victim because he never wanted to be a husband and father in the first place. When he dies of alcohol poisoning, his family doesn't even claim his body. His redemption could be about how when your own life sucks, it's not an excuse to hurt others. You have to find better ways to cope with a bad hand.

Angel Dust is too many things. He's a prostitute and a porn star and a gay man in the 30s and a gangster and a drug-addict. But if we were gonna try and make all of that make sense, Angel Dust is very family-oriented. He grew up in a mob family. Loyalty is EVERYTHING. So in his mind, killing people was a lesser sin than "betraying" his family by not getting rid of their enemies. His family is everything to him. So he can't be gay. He can't. He can't. He's SO repressed. He refuses to acknowledge it. He spends his entire, short life, trying to fit the mold of a perfect, loyal son. But… he did kill a LOT of people… So when he dies in some shoot out, he goes to hell, and he snaps. He did EVERYTHING he thought was right. He did everything his family told him to do. He was the perfect son, and when he dies he gets sent to hell. He immediately loses all inhibition. He's still a sex/drug addict, but only after he winds up in hell. He's going to spend eternity giving into every single base desire he denied himself while alive. It's destroying him. He's selling himself to men, but deep down he's still ashamed and wondering what his family would think. He drowns out those thoughts with more sex and drugs. Angel's redemption arc is about balance. Yes, he should have been able to be true to himself while alive, but complete indulgence is just as hurtful to him as complete denial.

Sir Pentious… why is he even in hell? I mean, he's a little annoying, and in the pilot he was involved in a gang war, but what did he do in life to justify being sent to hell? Well, he was a Victorian Englishman, so I'm gonna say racism! Horrible racism and colonialsim. He was raised in a time where those were the dominant thought patterns, and he did not analyze them one bit. Conflict can come when black-coded characters like Alastor and Husk expect to be treated like human beings. And Charlie has to face the difficulty of believing a person can change, but how to deal with the current harm they're causing the people she cares about. Maybe Sir Pentious isn't a recorring cast member. Maybe he came to the hotel because he thinks he should be in Heaven. He brought glory to the British empire. He was a kind gentleman. He donated to charities. But he leaves the hotel because he doesn't think "those people" are good enough for Heaven. He refuses to acknowledge his behavior as needing to be changed, but Charlie tells him there is a spot at the hotel when he's ready to change. His character is about how you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink. He can be offered all the chances in the world to be better, but until he can come to terms with his own capacity for evil, he can't be redeemed.

Cherry Bomb doesn't exist, because she's a superfluous character that doesn't fit in my rewrite. Sir Pentious doesn't get a love interest, and Angel Dust's friend is now Vaggie.

No fallen angel crud. Vaggie was a prostitute that got murdered like Viv originally planned for her to be like 10 years ago. I think Vaggie shows some really codependent traits in the show. Charlie seems to be her entire world. She sings about being her armor. She's willing to put herself in harm's way to defend her, even die for her. She doesn't seem to care much about the other patron's of the hotel apart from them being facet's of Charlie's dream. Maybe Vaggie was one of those poor women who gets trafficked by their boyfriend (or maybe girlfriend in her case). A single person becomes her whole entire world, and she's willing to do ANYTHING for them. Even put herself in dangerous situations that lead to her death… But she did it for love! <3 She hurts herself for love.. for approval. And maybe the show can get into a conversation about what sin really is. So many people define sin as harmed caused to others, but what about harm caused to yourself? Viv originally stated that Vaggie's feelings for Charlie were one-sided, and I think that detail would be even more poignant in this interpretation of her character. She's trying so hard to be noticed and to be loved, and Charlie's become a goddess in her eyes. She puts her on such a pedastal she has no room for her own worth. Her arc is maybe a bit too similiar to Nifty's depending on how we choose to interpret her character, but it's also about finding identity outside of others and being able to set boundaries. Because loving someone and wanting to help them and wanting to protect them are not bad impulses, but like anything else, when taken to extremes it becomes something bad. Dependency can twist love into obession.

Lucifer is the Devil! He's evil! No sad-man, Dad-trying-his-best nonsense! He's evil! The big twist of Hazbin Hotel is that they're not in Hell! They're in Purgatory. There are no sins that cannot be forgiven, but sin can also not enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Purgatory is a place where your sins are burned away so that eventually you can join God in heaven. In Purgatorio, Dante depicts Purgatory as a place of effort. People are in constantly motion striving to get closer to heaven. Purgatory in Hazbin could be a place where people get a second chance to work on their vices. If they couldn't be a good person in life, then they have all of eternity to try again. But Lucifer, the prince of LIES, has convinced everyone they're in Hell. There is no redemption. There is no getting better. He causes the sinners to fall into a great despair. Why try getting better if there is no hope? So when people learn they're in hell, they dig in their heels. They lean even further into vice. They cannot experience love or laughter or joy again. So they settle for booze and sex and violence, anything to numb the pain of knowing they're trapped forever. But is a hell of their own making, little do they know. By tricking generations of sinners, not a single soul has redeemed itself and gotten to heaven in centuries. That's why no one believes it's possible. That's why when Charlie suggests it, he's furiously disapproving of her. He doesn't want people to get better. He doesn't want to improve. He wants everyone to be as miserable as he is, because misery loves company. But he can't tip his hat too much or the older souls might get suspicious. He is the Prince of Lies. His power comes not from strength but from manipulation. The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn't exist. In Hazin, the greatest trick he ever pulled was convincing people there's no hope for themselves. I was once told that Judas's great sin was not betraying Jesus, but his own suicide after falling into despair. How glorious it would have been to go to a church named after Judas the Repentent. But alas, it is not so. The greatest sin you can commit against yourself is thinking you're too far gone.

And that's why I think Alastor is the central sinner to the narrative. Because he shares Lucifer's viewpoint. People can't get better. Nothing ever gets better. People are bad or people are good, and you can't be both. And who could blame him for having that idea? Let's just pretend that Alastor's lack of visual black-coding is because he is a VERY white-passing creole man. And because of that, he was treated so differently than his mother. And he was treated differently when people found out about his heritage. He became a big radio host. He was popular. He was famous. But he wasn't seen as an equal human being. He was a performer to be enjoyed, but never a person to be respected. He was "one of the good ones" at BEST. And he believed in the good of people. His mother was such a kind soul. She instilled in him that everyone has good inside of them. So he waited to see it. He waited and he waited, and he only saw increasing racism and violence towards his people. One day he just snaps and kills someone, and he considers it a justice. People like that are never going to change. The world is better without them. So he just keeps murdering racists until he gets shot in the head. And when he finds himself in hell, he believes even LESS in the good of people or God or heaven or whatever. If killing racists sent him to hell, then God is evil, and the idea of objective morality in and of itself is perposterous. Positioning Alastor as a vigilante killer would also make some of his comic depictions make more sense. Like he's a really nice guy to Rosie and other women, but he's also a violent murderous man. It's because he thinks people are good or bad, and if you're bad it justifies whatever he does to you. The cannibalism might also be like a power thing. Alastor's arc is about believing in Charlie's mission, genuinely. Eventually, it's not about watching people stumble and fall, because there's a cosmic humor to the cruelty of the universe. He starts to genuinely see people improve, but he fights against the idea, because his life was defined by static, perpetual, instituional evil. Maybe a soul gets redeemed before his very eyes, and he still doesn't believe it. Because to admit a human's capacity for moral growth is to completely restructure his entire understanding of the world, and that's scary.

Finally, Charlie. Princess of Hell. I've always been rather fond of Tolkien's sentiment that evil cannot create, only corrupt. So I don't think Lucifer is her real father. I think Charlie was like… a baby angel. And when Lucifer was leading his rebellion he stole children and forced them to fall to hell with him. It was just another way to bring misery, forcing the innocent to share the burden of his punishment. I think he got a sick pleasure from raising her. He "loved" her, or at least she thought he did. He was very, very good as playing Father. Prince of Lies and all that. He gets a chuckle knowing she's so happy here rotting in hell and has no idea what she's missing from her true destiny in Heaven. But that goodness inside of her can't be extinguished. She's an angel. She has a natural instinct to help human souls and fight evil. But because she was raised in Hell, she doesn't understand the complexities of sin that the elder angels would have informed her about. She's naive, and she certainly has to learn how to help guide people towards a brighter path, but she doesn't change her stance. So many times characters who believe in the good of people end stories with some pessimistic maturity where they realize that some people can't be helped. But Charlie doesn't change. Charlie stands firm at the end of the series believing that EVERYONE can be redeemed. It won't be easy, and you could argue it's not even fair, but she believes it. Lucifer chastises her, saying it'll take an eternity to change a sinner's mind, but she just smiles. Because an eternity is what she has, and she'll spend it helping people.

Also Chalastor is canon.

[genericpuff]

Wait, what's this about the retconning of Minthe's BPD?

There's a lot you can find on it online as it is (I've talked about it plenty in previous posts as well) so I'm gonna try and keep the explanation brief if that's ok!

Basically it was confirmed ages back that Minthe was initially written with BPD, but that was later retconned and removed. While there's no definitive reason as to why she retconned it, I think it's fairly obvious it's because it wasn't a good look for her to write the character with a very stigmatized and severely misunderstood mental illness who would be 1.) an abuser and 2.) inevitably turned into a plant.

But there's still proof of Minthe having BPD evident in S1 of LO, particularly with Episode 76 which was literally called Splitting.

"Splitting" is a very BPD-specific term, in which an individual with BPD experiences severe mood swings, impulsivity, and difficulty in viewing things outside of a black and white perspective. We actually see Minthe experience splitting, hence the episode title, it's all very intentional.

Minthe is viewing this entire problem as her vs. Hades. And it's not entirely owed to her being self-centered, she shows through her inner monologue that she's very self-aware of the fact that she's being harsh, that much of what happened was due to her own actions, and even blames herself for acting the way that she is but not knowing why. This is very much what splitting can feel like for individuals with BPD (especially undiagnosed BPD!) experiencing splitting - an inability to connect inner rationalizations to outward actions and vice versa, even if you're aware of it and trying to draw that connection.

When this was retconned, it was done specifically by Rachel's mods within her Discord. No other clarification through her socials or through the comic itself was done.

It already wasn't a great look to write a character who was doomed to be villainized with a highly stigmatized mental disorder. It comes across that Rachel only gave her BPD in the first place because she herself had fallen for those misconceptions and went "well if we give her BPD that'll be the reason why she's so mean and nasty all the time, it's the perfect way to make her the obvious bad guy!" But it makes it an even worse look when Rachel bent under the pressure of people discussing how problematic it was (and hoping Minthe would get some kind of redemption which Rachel never planned to give her) and reversed the decision. It really only really made it worse because 1.) you can't retcon out what you clearly intended in the beginning when it's so visibly there (such as through Ep 76) and 2.) it just goes to show that she was never planning on giving Minthe any sort of redemption arc or chance to learn from her actions/heal from her mistakes, she just wanted to use a mental illness she didn't bother to understand or empathize with to make an abuser.

It really just further stigmatizes BPD as a whole because now we only see the absolute nastiest parts often affiliated with BPD (with what remains in the comic pre-retcon) with no closure or resolution or hope for people who either have BPD or want to understand it more.