#worst part it doesn’t have to be human. show me an android or alien in intense pain or dispair and I’ll feel the same way

[headofocs-inklesspen]

The thing is, I can watch things like The Last of Us. I grew up on Bones and Supernatural and the Forensic Files, gore doesn’t necessarily bother me.

I just can’t watch them with other people because I do have to routinely pause in the middle of really emotionally intense scenes, like someone getting tortured or having just been fatally shot, just to like get through it.

Because it’s not the violence that bothers me, it’s watching something or someone, even something I know is fictional, in pain that gets to me. Like you may as well just stab me too, while you’re at it.

[sunkern-plus]

very good trope set

-two characters: a strong character who doesn’t really have to work hard but they have very strict or cruel parents that don’t let them be who they are, vs a weak but skilled character who is very freespirited despite circumstances but is constantly treated as a joke because they are weak.

-weak but skilled and strong but unskilled’s meeting is foreshadowed in a sentence by a minor or incidental character. good example would be (IDEALLY, IN A PERFECT WORLD) seth’s servant to seth saying “a fighter named dan hibiki squeaked by with just enough points to qualify”, with seth seemingly getting interested. this way, the strong but unskilled character is interested in the weak but skilled character’s power but is still going to underestimate them because they’re meant to be weak.

-strong but unskilled is a “gifted kid trauma” trope but not in the “white kid who feels sad they’re not special anymore because they’re not in the gifted program” way, more like “the gifted program straight up traumatized me and now i want to be perfect or my parents will abandon me” way.

-weak but skilled is an “underestimated special ed kid joke character passing” trope. think usopp from one piece; someone who is seen as “not very smart” or as having a lot of deficits especially in the attention span/impulsivity area but can make up for it with their kindness, charm, and knowledge of the very specific things they are good at. and the specific things they are good at...that’s where the skilled part comes in.

-weak but skilled and strong but unskilled eventually have a fight, preferably at the tournament arc. strong but unskilled is like “hmph, too easy, i’m gonna knock out this wimp in 5 seconds just watch” and then weak but skilled saikyo style’s them with their mind games and ingenuity and perseverance. they end up becoming rivals to friends (to lovers) after this typically.

-strong but unskilled AND weak but skilled typically have shared problems with obsessing over things to the point it consumes them, making their trauma their identity, and social skills, but they go about it differently. strong but unskilled typically obsesses over negative things very openly; they will openly let the worst of their traumas consume them, and believe that to be special, they HAVE to make their identity all about their trauma and negative traits or they won’t be “human”. (this is usually compounded by strong but unskilled possibly being an alien, a robot, an android, or some other creature that isn’t human.) meanwhile, weak but skilled is usually open about their positive obsessions, sure, but keeps a lot of their negative obsessions hidden. however, when you push them, and scratch under the surface, you can see that weak but skilled is driven EXTREMELY so by their trauma. when it comes to social skills, both weak but skilled and strong but unskilled are terrible at masking their (typically accidentally coded as) autism and autistic traits, but both come out in different ways. weak but skilled is like luz from the owl house in these autistic traits involving the social realm: they are clearly blatantly “weird”, are excitable and overemotional (and likely have co-occuring bpd if adults), they typically only talk about their positive persevative interests, and they have trouble fitting in with their peers to the point they only have one or two friends in real life, typically younger than them or neurodivergent as well. strong but unskilled, however, typically shows their autistic traits in ways that often make them seem like “the spock”: they have a hard time showing their emotions (and may indeed experience periodic feelings of emptiness), they get dark intrusive thoughts often, they’re often aggressive, they’re quiet to the point of silence, and they often prefer to be solitary.

this is way too long but basically: wanted to make the danseth dynamic

[annebl4cksworld]

Cold Blood pt.3

WARNINGS: None really, I don’t even think there’s swearing ^^”

NOTE: I do not own any rights to Marvel or The Originals, I have taken content directly from the shows in order to give you a better image of what’s happening! 

A/N: Sorry i haven’t posted in a while, I’ve been going through a lot lately and haven’t had the chance to sit down and keep going.... also I haven’t figured out how to link my chapters yet so I’m sorry for new ppl

Word count: 1,500 (smaller than normal but the next part will be longer so it will make up for it) 

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Weak from the hours of spells and torture Rebekah stumbled trying to get away from Klaus, running through doors, falling against walls and eventually ending up in the basement where she met a dead end

“Tired of running?” he called behind her

“I know how much you love the chase and I’d like to deprive you of it” huffing against a wall, watching him round the corner. Klaus was suddenly on his knees and tossing someone away from him, it was Marcel 

“Ah! The lovers reunited, this is actually perfect, I can deal with you both at the same time” pulling the dagger from his belt he waved it in the air. 

“Klaus, it was my idea to call Mikael, he had nothing to do with it” she wheezed moving to stand in front of Marcel, unconscious on the floor.

Before anything else, the blade in Klaus’ hand was driven into his chest. Outside Briar gasped in pain, everything halted to a stop and she fell towards the ground; as the energy field dropped Steve ran for her, grabbing on at the last minute before hitting the ground himself. Briar groaned turning in the arms of the super soldier, she placed her hands on his chest and pushed herself up “Nice save capsicle” 

He turned and sat up after her “don’t call me that” 

“Somethings wrong” Briar brushed his comment off looking over at the sanatorium, she stood and watched as her aunt and Marcel sped out of the door and off into the night. “Oh no” she breathed turning back to see Elijah carrying Klaus with Tony and Natasha right behind them,

“Uncle-”

“He did it to himself Briar, I’m taking him back to the compound” Elijah interrupted as he walked past, he placed Klaus in the car and turned back to his niece “What about aunt Rebekah?”

“In hiding; a necessary sacrifice. Go Briar, you don’t need to be here for what comes next, you did your job beautifully. This is between siblings” Elijah placed a kiss on her forehead before getting into the car and driving off.

Briar turned to face the avengers “Ok, when do we leave?” Tony then turning to face Steve “You gonna fight me on this?” Cap clenched his jaw and looked away 

“Seems you’ve already made up your mind” Steve turned to Natasha, “and I for one would like to get out of this city before any other vampires come sniffing around” the redhead flipped her hair and grinned at Briar. 

Once on the quinjet Briar leaning against the wall next to Tony who was flying, she watched steve and he adjusted his uniform, 

“He doesn’t like me” she whispered, Tony shook his head 

“His loss then” winking at Briar she rolled her eyes, “He’s not so great, there’s times where I want to punch him in his perfect teeth” 

“Down boy” Briar glanced Tony's way “what’s got your panties in a twist about him?”

“Grew up listening to how my dad ‘knew captain America’ as if it was some great feat, as if that made him some superior being. What I hate most of all is how freaking polite he is”

“Polite?” Briar scoffed I must have missed that 

“Guy dies and wakes up 70 years later, finds out there’s aliens, androids, wizards and now vampires, witches and werewolves. Let alone someone who is all three; he’s bound to be suspicious. Stand off-ish, hell, maybe even a bit of an ass” 

“Are you defending him? The guy you just said you want to punch in the teeth? I mean he’s got a hell of an ass but-”

“How close are we?” Steve asked cutting Briar off coming to stand behind Tony’s chair 

“Friday?” 

Nearly 20 minutes out, sir 

Steve nodded and walked away eyeing Briar as he went, she winked, giving a devilish smirk. 

“You were saying?” Tony asked, turning as Steve left. Briar shot him a ‘nevermind’ look shaking her head, she looked out the window as they flew closer to the compound.

Once on the landing strip, the back opened and everyone gathered their belongings. 

“Labs all set up boss” a demanding voice called from outside the ship,

“Oh, no. He’s the boss” Tony turned to face the brunette, who was now on the ship, pointing to Steve who turned his head not making eye contact with anyone,

“I just pay for everything, design everything, make everyone look cooler” 

Briar shrugged and turned to face the brunette, “what’s a girl gotta do to get a drink around here” 

“Hill, status report” Steve called coming to stand in front of them “Sir-“ before she could continue; Steve pulled her from the ship and spoke in hushed tones. Briar huffed, feeling an arm snake through hers, “c’mere darling, I got you” Tony whispered in her ear pulling her off the ship.

Steve watched as they walked by, “I have everything you could dream of and if I don’t I’ll have it flown in, promise.” Tony announced loudly for everyone around to hear, Nat watched Steve watching you, “She doesn’t seem so bad” 

“What’s her deal?” Hill asked 

“Nothing, she’s not a part of the team” Steve stated grabbing the tablet from Hill’s hands to sift through the photos. 

“Top shelf for little old me? Tony you spoil me” Briar winked taking the drink he handed her,

“You’re going to be meeting the rest of the team soon, a god, an Android, a witch, a rage monster, you know a little of this a little of that. Try to be nice, some of them have-“

“Anger issues?” Briar twisted the glass in her hands “They sound fun, who’s first?” 

“Tony…” a timid man called from the doorway, 

“Banner, - Tony smiled at Briar - Banner is first, what’s the word?” 

“Uh- I need you -um in the lab” without making too much eye contact he walks off 

“He gets nervous around beautiful women, it’s no big” Tony waved his hand dismissively and followed Banner, Briar close behind. 

“The scepter, we were wondering how Strucker was getting so inventive, so I’ve been analyzing the cube and take a look at this.” Banner brought up a holographic image of the cube onto the floor.

“It’s beautiful” Briar commented leaning against the doorway 

“It is; it’s like it’s thinking- i mean this could be- it’s - it’s not a human mind, i mean look at this. They’re like neurons firing.” he paced around the image

“Down in Strucker’s lab I saw some pretty advanced robotics, they deep six the data but… I gotta guess he was knocking on a very particular door.” shrugging Tony watched Banner come to a halt.

“Artificial intelligence.”

“This could be it, Bruce. This could be the key to creating Ultron.” 

“Ultron?” Briar asked sipping her drink,

“Peace in our time Briar. Imagine that?” Tony beamed 

“That’s a mad sized ‘if’ Tony” Bruce rubbed his neck 

“Our job is if what if you were sipping margaritas on a sun dried beach turning brown instead of green? Not looking over your shoulder for veronica” 

“Don’t hate I helped design veronica” Bruce started pacing again

“As a worst case measure right? What about best case? What if the world was safe? what if next time the aliens roll up to the club they can’t get through the bouncer” 

“The only ones threatening the world would be people” Briar stated leaving the doorway to stand beside Tony, offering her drink.

“I wanna apply this to the ultron program but friday can’t download a data schematic this dense, we can only do it while we have the scepter here that’s three days, give me three days” he took a sip of the drink

“So you’re going for artificial intelligence and you don’t wanna tell the team?” staring at Tony nervously,

“Right and you know why because we don’t have time for a city hall debate. I don't wanna hear: the man was not meant to meddle, medley. I see a suit of armor around the world” 

“Sounds like a cold world Tony” Bruce looked back at the image in front of him.

“I’ve seen colder” Briar locked eyes with Bruce 

“this one, this very vulnerable blue one, needs ultron. Peace in our time Banner, that’s all I’m saying” placing a hand on the small of Briars back he led her out of the lab and into the hall.

[currantlee]

Joss Whedon is overrated.

Alien: Resurrection is not only a prime example for Deus ex Machina (literally!) writing at it's worst, but it also shows pretty much every single problem I have with Joss Whedon's writing, which... No, I won't get into every single one, but I will talk about the literal Deus ex Machina here because lol, this is the most ridiculous one I've seen so far! Apologies for my bad jokes in advance.

To be clear, I do not want to talk about the allegations against Joss Whedon. I do not feel comfortable doing that. But don't worry, I'm going to drag him anyways.

I think Joss Whedon is overrated to be honest. His writing is just... Not that good in my opinion (he isn't the worst writer, but people pretend that he is far better at it than he actually is IMO). The fourth Alien movie might not be a bad movie, but it isn't even a good one either, and that is mostly because of the writing.

But hey. At least the literal Machina looks good, right?

Joss Whedon usually attempts way too much with his writing - which leads to him having to use a Deus ex Machina (in this case, literally!) in order to resolve his plot somehow, and in Alien: Resurrection, this comes off as extraordinarily lazy. Spoilers for the movie under the cut.

Annalee Call (the person played by Winona Rider you saw in the GIF above) turns out to be an android who could have hacked the ship's computer system all the time - which we learn in the last twenty minutes of the movie. No, I'm not kidding, we literally learn this in the last twenty minutes of a 104 minute (111 minutes in the extended version) movie.

This is indeed surprising in a way, but not in a good, satisfying one. It's the kind of surprise that comes out of nowhere, the kind of surprise that was never properly built up upon before it happens.

You don't have any idea that Call might be a synthetic person (and thus, a literal machine) until she is shot, falls into a pool with Xenomorphs in it and appears several minutes later and she is completely fine. Someone actually asks her if she had a bullet-proof vest, and that would have been a more believable explaination in my opinion.

It's almost as if Whedon killed her off, then decided to keep her for whatever reason and then thought he might solve two problems with one "brilliant" writing decision by making her the Deus ex Machina (literally!), and didn't revisit his script at all. But that's pure speculation.

This is not good writing in my opinion.

Deus ex Machina (literally and not literally), as with any trope, can indeed work - but it's either a hit or a miss. This complaint isn't exactly a new thing; Aristoteles already criticized Deus ex Machina over 2,000 years ago, and for a good reason: because it rarely even is a hit, and even if it is, it is rarely satisfying or the best resolve to a plot.

Call's reappearance isn't shocking either, it's annoying. Yes, she is needed for the plot because she is literally the Machina Deus ex relies on, but now that I've established why this trope isn't a good idea, I can say this: everything this accomplished was creating another stupid, false character death.

You know what would have been impactful in my opinion? If Call died for real. She was built up as an important character the entire time. To be honest, she is the only character I emotionally bonded with watching this movie (Ripley doesn't count because she's been in the plot for three movies already). If this had been her final moment, it would have felt immensely impactful.

Finally, the entire thematic about Call being "more human than human"... *sigh* I see what Whedon did there and while I would normally be happy to see a Blade Runner reference anywhere, this doesn't make this mess any better (and this is actually another problem I have with Whedon's writing: whenever he messes up, he tries to cover it up by throwing an easter egg in somewhere).

You know what I find the saddest part about all of this? It's never explored any further than "I was programmed to know better than humans" and "I don't like hacking into computers because my organs feel like they're being liquified" (just saying, but she managed to do a pretty good job with that one and even taunted the... Who was he again? Anyways, this unfunny joke made the scene even worse than it already was IMO).

Which brings me back to what I said right before the cut: the core problem of Joss Whedon's writing is that he tries too much and gives the story too little time to grow and flourish. Instead, he throws in concept after concept, explores none of them and then uses a Deus ex Machina (in this case, literally!) to clean up the mess... I mean, resolve the plot, all while taking his stories completely serious. Because yes, throwing in concept after concept can work, if you don't take your work completely serious, but Joss Whedon doesn't do that.

... And then he uses easter eggs to try and cover that up. He seems to do a lot of covering stuff up, really.

[ezrisdax-archive]

Thoughts on a fun way to make a Star Trek/Mass Effect crossover? Or characters interactions cross-series?

like a full crossover? hmmm, certainly it’d be a parallel worlds type situation where I feel in Trek world the Leviathans didn’t evolve and create the Reapers and thus life wasn’t constantly wiped out and that’s why there’s more of an alien populace in the galaxy to explain the stark differences. And then time travel would get involved too since ME takes place before Trek.

So depending on which Trek you’re gonna go with (which for me I can pick any) there’s some wormhole shenanigans going on only what they call wormholes are the dark energy spots that Reapers use in ME time. The crew is investigating them when they go through it and end up in ME time (or if you want the ship accidentally goes through a la Voyager crossing over quadrants).

At first the crew is clearly trying to not get involved but can’t resist the chance to explore and learn the differences and when they realize this isn’t their actual past and can interact with the place more, which brings them into contact with the Normandy which has been sent to investigate the strange readings so we get to crew interactions of (which I’ll put under a cut cause it got long):

Spock and/or Tuvok, and Liara discussing the Vulcan Mind Meld versus the Asari meld and coming to the conclusion that they might have a genetic link back

Tali and B’Elanna having a field day comparing notes (and complaining) on what it’s like keeping a ship together when you don’t have all the parts you really need since Tali used to do that with the Quarian ships and B’Elanna does that now

Kirk and Shepard discussing choices made that shape worlds for better or worse despite the best of intentions and geeking out over model ships. You can’t tell me that doesn’t happen.

Bashir and Mordin are the only people able to understand each other in their speed talking and excitedly sharing notes about different aliens.

Worf and Wrex and Grunt immediately start a fight (bonus points for Wrex insulting Worf for sounding like Uvenk whom Dorn voices)

Seven and Legion (in a world where he lives, what do you mean he dies) discussing what it’s like going from a hive mind to being individuals and coming to find yourself and who you are as a person, like Legion clearly was more involved in finding this aspect for his people as opposed to Seven who had it forced on her but they share the desire now to learn and become an individual and protect those they care about

Janeway and Shepard blow something up by accident while trying to investigate something because of course they do

Samara and Deanna sitting down and just discussing life because I feel like these two would be friends and smirking at their friends antics and secretly betting on who’s gonna get into what danger

I actually have a lot of thoughts about paragon!Shepard and Michael being similar characters in the sense of having this burden of the galaxy placed on them and speaking out against things that people refuse to see except for the crew they’re apart of and trying to warn people of a war and do their best to prevent it and bring people together

Tilly and Tali and Gabby together would be a delight I feel, just talking excitedly about everything under the sun. including the sun.

Sulu and Joker arguing who's a better pilot and Sulu being fascinated how Mass Effect fields work when it comes to piloting and Joker proudly explaining it

Sisko tries to adopt Grunt from Shepard (no I’m mostly kidding, I think that Sisko and Shep have a great deal of respect for each other in caring for the crew and having in placed in an almost god like reverence in certain situations and the struggles with that. and then also Sisko brings back baseball to the Mass Effect world. Shepard absolutely hates that)

I figure the EMH would actually be most interested in biotics and the science of that and writing down to make a paper to publish as the first hologram to do so.

Likewise EDI is fascinated with hologram technology that Trek’s have and if the ships have ever developed sentience in any way and if she can incorporate some of that technology into the Normandy to further her own development

I think Kira gets along with Wrex and is angry at Salarians on his behalf once she hears what was done to the Krogan because the genocide of a species hits hard with her

Tilly and Samantha are even worse than Bashir and Mordin at talking so fast no one gets it but them and they very much do enjoy talking to each other

Tom and Steve have shuttle races until they’re ordered back by their bosses because really guys

Geordi has a lot of talks with EDI, some about his friendship with Data and the human side of interacting with a being that’s trying to learn about humanity themselves but most about the ship and the benefits of integration with it that allow you to be aware of everything that’s happening on it

also Data and EDI tell the worst jokes and everyone regrets this

Picard and Thane drink tea together and discuss philosophies and Thane talks about his species old artifacts and how they were lost to his culture and Picard just listens with interest and some ideas on how you could maybe get those back

Jadzia and Jack get along surprisingly well, they have a holodeck fight at one point and Jadzia takes tricorder readings of biotics and then they go out drinking together

on the flip side Ezri and Miranda get along in terms of being forced to live up to unreasonable family expectations (all though far less harsh in Ezri’s case) and having to carve out your own identity and also like...weirdly everyone hating you for no other reason than your character exists

Bev gets into playing poker with Kaidan and Steve and now they’re all trying to beat each other constantly at it

Saru and Liara get along the easiest at first and discuss the wild things their crews get up to and how they eventually just started to go along with the madness

Kasumi keeps trying to steal from Tuvok but can’t manage it and thinks it’s the best challenge she’s had in years. Tuvok just wants to talk to Thane and get back to the Delta Quadrant already captain.

Harry and Jacob get to talking about having to prove themselves and always being looked over and the troubles of trying to get your own command

Bones hates all of this, Kirk what the hell have you done now. That said he and Zaeed get to drinking and talking about the bullshit that comes from space travel. All though Zaeed’s is more about how annoying it is to try to kill someone in it. Bones thinks he’s just over exaggerating and not a mercenary at first.

James keeps showing off for literally everyone and turning things into a competition with whoever he can when it comes to physical activities, he’s still sulking that Data beat him until he finds out that Data is an android and then calls foul on it.

Odo and Zaeed grumble about everything together

B’Elanna and Ashley have a book club that they don’t tell anyone about and share romance novels and poetry while complaining about how everyone doesn’t expect it from them and that’s part of why they don’t tell people those parts of themselves

Uhura gets the translators turned off on the Normandy to listen to everyone’s dialect and language and is quick to pick up on it, she’s especially good with Drell and enjoys conversing with Thane in it

Liara is absolutely freaked out that Deanna sounds like her mother and Deanna is absolutely using this to troll her whenever she can because it amuses her

Grunt and Chekov get into arguments about history of all things despite that people keep pointing out that they’re from alternate worlds and therefore it’s different anyway

Chakwas and Chakotay sit down to talk about what it’s like sorta taking care of the crew and just ridiculous stories of things they’ve put with

Riker at one point talks to Miranda about clones and dealing with someone who is the same genetically as you but isn’t you and do you have a relationship with them or leave them be (they don’t come up with an answer really)

Mordin gets banned from taking samples of other aliens

Nog and Gabby talk one point about being sorta new to the experiences of war and frontline suddenly and the horrors that come with it and share their experiences of being trapped by the Reapers vs being in a Jem’Hadar fight and coming back from that

Guinan doesn’t care much for Javik but they do have one good discussion about what it’s like being one of the last of your species and seeing so many of them die due to a machine race (and worse, converted to serve that race) that you just can’t fight back against no matter how much you try (or that’s what they thought at the time)

Samantha and Spock and Kirk and/or Airiam have strategy game nights and really get into it and Spock will typically leave while Sam and Kirk are still geeking out over it until the morning

Quark is banned from the Normandy point blank

Worf tries to get everyone to appreciate Klingon opera, the only one he manages to get into it are Grunt and Legion

Scotty is especially fascinated with the drive core of the Normandy and talks to Adams about it constantly

Chakotay and James having a boxing match at one point

Jake interviews like everyone and is thinking about turning this experience into a novel and enjoys listening to everyone’s stories

O’Brien and Garrus get caught up in calibrations, can you come back later

okay this literally is getting too long already but I could keep going. I think then there’s a group discussion about the Borgs vs the Reapers and the troubles everyone faces in those fights and a lot of back and forth about things that have worked for one crew that may help someone else out (like the Changeling cure to maybe help the Genophage cure or vice versa)

[danwhobrowses]

Dragon Ball: Why Tien Shinhan deserves respect

Not a Tinfoil Discussion because there’s no theory crafting going on but this is one of those rants that has often sat below the surface. Here I’m going to sing the praises and express the undervalue of the Dragon Ball franchise’s side characters: Tien Shinhan

So I’m gonna start this very easily: Tien Shinhan is perhaps one of the most disrespected characters in Dragon Ball. Sure, Yamcha is now a parody but he was happy to bow out of fighting post-Androids, and I can easily express disappointment in his character arc in a later date, but Tien Shinhan gets mistreated something rotten.

The Mistreatment of Tien Shinhan Imagine if you will the uproar if someone like Piccolo or Vegeta didn’t just lose to some secondary villain, but was quickly swatted off by someone who didn’t even have a name until now, that is the level Tien has to deal with in anime and manga. This guy is a Tenkaichi Budokai Winner in a tournament that involved Goku, Krillin and Master Roshi, fast forward to now and this guy is considered weaker than Krillin - the same Krillin that in Super could be harmed by bullets because he stopped training - and Roshi - the same Roshi who Tien’s power dwarfed in the Saiyans Saga. And it’s not just that, all people seem to remember of him now is the multiform technique and the Kikoho, both very self-harming techniques. Don’t even try to have him learn new attacks since ki sense has rendered the Solar Flare redundant even though he’s constantly shown up to aid Goku. Fight Semi-Perfect Cell and Gotenks-fused Super Majin Freaking Buu by himself and he’s not even considered the strongest non-saiyan earthling of the damn planet, in the manga he gets eliminated from the Tournament of Power OFF-SCREEN just been shrugged off as a ‘weak human’. And you know what the worst part of that is? Toriyama made Tien with so much power potential; his Third Eye is supposed to have untapped godlike power, he trains so much he’s a human equivalent of a Saiyan, his story is one of redemption and true dedication to friendship and the warrior’s way and he derives from a Journey of the West character (Erlang Shen) who is the greatest warrior god of heaven and frequent rival to Son Wukong. All this and his reward is being pictured as ‘that weird stoic guy who’s not Piccolo’ If you are one of those guys who don’t know why they don’t take to Tien Shinhan, maybe this will enlighten you Tien Shinhan is Vegeta before Vegeta Let’s play a game shall we? It’s called Tien or Vegeta. I’ll say some statements canon to the Dragon Ball Series, you tell me if I’m talking about Tien or Vegeta. Simple? Then let’s begin

A rival of Goku who trained in solitude to best him

A humanoid character who started off as a brutish, merciless villain with a weaker companion

A character who has unique powers due to his non-human heritage

A character who stood against an Alien ruler amassing the Dragon Balls for Immortality on a road to redemption, but failed 

A character who was defeated by said Alien ruler’s powerful subordiante until Goku arrived with new power to easily wipe them out

His love interest is a blue haired woman from the OG Dragon Ball series

Their second true canon battle with Goku comes years later in a Tenkaichi Budokai

In an attempt to kill an arc villain, they use the last of their energy into one attack, dying in the process but failing

Not that easy now was it? That’s because the answer is both of them. It is worth remembering that many people nowadays were first introduced to the Dragon Ball Franchise through Z, the ‘first come’ effect may’ve just been a term I made up on the spot, but usually when you see something for the first time you consider it the first instant, so to many the traits of Tien seem like a copy from Vegeta and Piccolo Jr - characters he in reality preceded quite a bit. Sadly the fact is that a lot of Tien was in a way ‘Vegeta in Beta’, so Vegeta’s traits came off a lot more polished - but even now with Super’s latest chapter we have Vegeta embarking on learning Ki Control to multiply, which is basically Tien’s Multiform Technique (Meanwhile Tien was referred to as one of ‘those baldies’ to basically fill numbers), so even now the mistreatment doesn’t end.

Where did it go wrong with Tien? You may’ve watched a video called ‘Japan hates Tien’ and believe straight off that the reason Tien got a short straw, but this is a misconception; people in Japan are fans and non-fans with Tien just like the rest of the world. The problem mainly lies with Toriyama ‘moving on’ from an idea. It was clear that initially there were bigger plans for him, but they were written off as the story took a life of its own. The series more or less moved on from the Z-Fighters from Namek, with Piccolo and Krillin salvaging themselves because of arching storylines in the current arc (Namek being Piccolo’s home planet and Krillin having his romance with 18). There is also the misconception that ‘if you’re not a Saiyan or some super alien you’re weak’, and despite having a third eye, Tien gets associated with the ‘weak human’ category, so despite him being a character constantly training he’s never been treated as good enough or worth being powerful. The third downfall was that Toriyama failed the characters around him, Chiaotzu and Yamcha never amounted to even being viable allies and his love interest (regardless on whether you feel it requited or not) Launch was completely dropped from the series after his death - we can discuss that another time. These three factors left Tien in Limbo, he has no arc that he can legitimately contribute to, he’s not comic relief, he’s not a mentor and he’s not a love interest, but this realisation is not without its silver lining.

Tien can be Saved He won’t, this is an ‘if it ain’t broke’ scenario where Tien is not popular enough to be considered worth salvaging in the eyes of Toyotaro (also Merus is making impressive waves), but even if it’s not this arc there are easy ways to bring Tien back on a high level. Firstly is to bring back Launch, even if it’s not for love interest Dragon Ball is better when you bring back Launch, in seriousness Tien’s strength should be acknowledged (not just his too, Humans get thrown down the gutter but it’s often cited that Gohan’s human half is why he has so much potential, if Jiren boring as his character is can achieve unimaginable strength without Zenkai hax then why not a constantly training human?), a way to make it understandable is by having him, like Vegeta did, branch out of solitude and learn something unique, and the answer is looking you dead in the eye: The Third Eye. Toriyama said that Tien’s eye has the capability of a God, but his dark past had closed it from him, I think decades is enough to bring it back - maybe track down his ancestors to unlock it using the TOP as incentive and Beerus and Whis as people who would know their whereabouts. From there we can have Tien learn newer moves and then find a proper purpose for the series, like one of the Earth’s Protector since Goku is picking fights across Space, Dimensions and Universes, he could even be Trunks and Goten’s sensei and actually fix up their characters. Fact of the matter is that opportunity is there to reintegrate Tien as a valuable ally to Goku and the Earth, maybe not as the Universe’s strongest fighter but the Best Martial Artist

So Why Does Tien Deserve Respect? Tien as a character has been through a lot, but as the first proper Dragon Ball character who went through an effective redemption arc and still sought to train his own way, Tien should deserve respect by default. But it is more than just humble hrm nodding respect, Tien may not be the strongest character in the Franchise but he has been one of Goku’s most consistent allies, almost every threat to the Earth he has come to their aid; King Piccolo, the Saiyans, Mecha Freeza, the Androids, Cell, Buu, Beerus, Golden Freeza and the Tournament of Power, compare that to the likes of Chiaotzu, Yamcha and Roshi and you’ll realise that Tien is on par with Piccolo and Krillin when it comes to backing up his friends. The moves they show him doing do severe harm to himself, reducing his power or his lifeforce, but he also had unique moves he innovated that helped characters out way down the line, also the Four Witches is still awesome and the Dodon Ray is technically still stronger than the Kamehameha (which Tien also knows by the way). The man is fiercely loyal, cares deeply for his friends and even in the face of certain defeat he has stood his ground. This is the man whose triangle made a square hole with Semi-Imperfect Cell - who prior had bested 16, 17 and Piccolo - at the bottom, this is the guy who took on Super Buu with Piccolo and a SSJ3 Fusion Gotenks absorbed within him and had just beaten Mystic Gohan, Tien has bigger balls, courage and warrior spirit than anyone gives him credit for Like him or not, all this should at least be worthy of respect.

[wufflesvetinari]

fighting off amanda through the power of my dad

LISTEN....i have been telling liz about an EXTREMELY niche dbh fic idea that started as a joke but i’m now completely obsessed with, which is a My Best Friend’s Exorcism homage about the “give up” ending with connor and amanda if north led the revolution

(i don’t think you’d need to read the book to understand the fic; you’d just have to know that MBFE is about the power of deep friendship fighting off demonic possession. which, like, amanda is close enough)

i’m putting the chat log under a cut mostly for my own later reference but also for all 2 of you who think this would be as AMAZING and ABSOLUTELY WORTHWHILE as i do

---

SeaTonic: the more i think about the "give up" ending where amanda takes control but you still get the hug scene, in addition to that one fic where connor is scribbling notes to try to get a message out, the more i kind of want like a "my best friend's exorcism" homage

SeaTonic: connor is suddenly the most popular boy in the precinct but he's mean to hank 

SeaTonic: hank calls connor's brain to find him for something mundane and he hears connor from what sounds like a tinny connection in a snowstorm being like "hank??? hank where am i????"

bluejay: oh my god

bluejay: most popular boy in the precinct.......

SeaTonic: everyone wants to be part of his clique

bluejay: Connor passes up a chance to be a lil shit to Gavin and extends an olive branch instead

bluejay: Hank: where's my son

bluejay: who gets the biologically improbable tapeworm infestation

SeaTonic: i wish we knew more about these police officers. you could make it like jericho instead and it's a simsense addiction [NOTE: we are talking about these]

SeaTonic: connor's like "no this is cool and harmless"

bluejay: Ohhhh that could work really well, actually

SeaTonic: because taking down jericho from the INSIDE

bluejay: addiction to BTLs

SeaTonic: amanda's plan all along

bluejay: In that case, Hank could be the main character figure

bluejay: Alienated from the androids (who in this case actually have a good reason to be wary of him)

SeaTonic: so they don't believe him fully yeah

SeaTonic: connor's been feeding them hints that hank is like trying to control him and they're like "let us save you from the evil human my poor boy"

SeaTonic: but instead of passive-aggressively ignoring hank north almost murders him

---

SeaTonic: the problem with the my best friend's exorcism fic would be that in order to make it spin off from a canon ending you'd have to have all named jericho characters killed

SeaTonic: and connor would be too busy running the revolution to really interact with hank or other non-jericho people as much as i'd want

bluejay: What about deviant Connor dies in hold > rooftop fight with Hank > quasi-deviation and rejoins Jericho?

bluejay: that's definitely less perfect

bluejay: but, oh hey then the Jerichrew wouldn't know anything weird happened with Connor at all. he could've just showed up like "Cyberlife didn't realize I deviated so I came back and pretended you guys had killed me and escaped"

bluejay: "don't listen to that human saying something is weird with me, he's a dick"

SeaTonic: so you mean that when amanda tries to take him over in the crowd she succeeds but then doesn't make him shoot immediately?

bluejay: mm hm. so, it contradicts her canonical behavior, but I think you could spin it as an AU that's reasonably in line with her canon behavior

---

SeaTonic: god i'm trying to think around the like.............okay so ra9 is god + deviancy

SeaTonic: and in my best friend's exorcism there's god + exorcism

SeaTonic: but that doesn't save her in the book

SeaTonic: it's like THE STRENGTH OF MY LOVE FOR YOU AND THE POWER OF THE STUFF WE ASSOCIATE GOOD MEMORIES WITH

SeaTonic: i think you could do something with that

SeaTonic: wow i keep accidentally wanting to write about quasi-deviancy

---

SeaTonic: see im now completely obsessed with this fic idea because you'd have to have a scene of hank “exorcising” him by rattling off things that he and connor bonded over and it's probably just like. "by the power of the chicken feed! cholesterol levels! dogs! not...killing yourself!"

SeaTonic: kamski is the exorcist except instead of being a bumbling, earnest dude whose understanding of his role springs from the wrong place it'd be like "huh. well, guess this isn't working. my advice is to throw out the whole connor and get a new one. bye"

bluejay: pft, yeah

bluejay: Kamski taking notes on what to do differently for the next Connor

bluejay: "if my super good rA9 plan and backdoor didn't work, it must be over (shrugs)"

SeaTonic: "yeah he was cool while he lasted but hey, at least i got this very detailed error report. thanks for bringing him over. i can have chloe dump him out back"

---

bluejay: if you do use a simsense angle, that could be a hint about the existence of the Zen Garden for Hank

bluejay: because it indicates that androids work in such a way that Cyberlife can replace their sensory input with VRtrap em in the fuckin Matrix

SeaTonic: yeah that makes sense, and i think i would have the accidental phone call to connor's soul before then too so all hank knows is a) connor is acting weird and b) he had a phone call where he sounded like he was in huge trouble but was apparently completely fine and unaware of the call when he finds him

SeaTonic: so he might be able to put that together with him knowing about simsense stuff

bluejay: maybe Hank played Shadowrun in college

SeaTonic: alwkwjte;awoh god

---

SeaTonic: OH writing this would also give me the chance to do "amanda talks to someone using her own mannerisms in connor's body" because the demon talks to abby as she's trying to exorcise gretchen

bluejay: hell yeah

bluejay: oh... Amanda is based on Kamski's real life mentor....so he probably gave her a lot of Amanda's personality, mannerisms, capabilities, etc and then it had all this other shit welded on top of it sloppily

bluejay: an Amanda that managed to defeat Deviant Connor might be the one being that could really fuck with Kamski's head

SeaTonic: incredible

bluejay: or even worse... what if he's not bothered by her

bluejay: Amanda didactically lecturing Kamski about how Deviant Connor failed and he's like "fascinating"

bluejay: maybe AI Amanda would be more fun and interesting to him than Deviant Connor at this point lmao

SeaTonic: KAMSKI NO

SeaTonic: god he's like "nope this isn't working, throw connor out, bye" and then amanda's like "i thought more of you, elijah" and he's like "...never mind, i'm keeping him. that's fine with you right hank. he's broken"

bluejay: oh my god he's the WORST

---

(it would absolutely have a happy ending though!!! and some creepy shit with the real connor stuck in the zen garden probably, because the scene with the accidental phone call to gretchen’s soul in MBFE fucked me up!!!!!)

[thestuckylibrary]

Mod’s Reads: June 2018

Here’s the list of everything the Mods have read this past month!

Mod Iamnmbr3

in cayenne and honey, in vinegar and lime by alby_mangroves, Nonymos* (complete | 27,604 | E ) *Bucky/M’baku ; mutually clear endgame stucky and M’baku/Okoye 

M’Baku fought for T’Challa. But should he keep fighting for T’Challa’s vision? The king is professing change, such deep change, while the Jabari are supposed to be the guardians of tradition.

It’s a complex problem, which demands a cool head. So M’Baku could really do without an old love coming back to haunt him, an obnoxious royal teenager, and T’Challa’s secret one-armed guest.

Scents and Sensibility: The Working Assassin's Guide to Supersoldier Seduction* by galwednesday, silentwalrus, skellerbvvt (WIP | 52,925 | T ) *gender spectrum society AU

Captain America wakes up from the ice in 2013. The Winter Soldier wakes up in 2009, or rather defects from HYDRA, for a value of defect that’s closer to decimate. He ends up working for SHIELD. In April 2014, he’s assigned to Captain America’s mission as a sniper. Steve’s just trying to get some kind of life together. Bucky is too, or at least he was until tall, blond and Captain shows up and starts just - being there, all the time. It’s terrible. It’s the worst. He has to do something about it.

no way out but through* by hollimichele (complete | 9,515 | T ) *canon divergent catws AU 

Steve never sees it coming.

Lover's Eye by RedRowan (complete | 16,148 | T ) 

It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in want of a good fortune must be in want of a wife. Yet for Steven Rogers, painter of miniatures, it is not the company of ladies, but the acquaintance of Captain James Buchanan Barnes, Royal Navy, that captivates his imagination.

Thyme and Tide by leveragehunters (Monkeygreen), seleneheart (complete | 21,630 | T ) 

Bucky might be only a one-armed ex-mercenary who'd washed up, half-drowned, on the shores of Sciatha with nothing and nowhere—never mind how hard Captain Rogers, head of Sciatha's Royal Guard, was trying to change that—but even he knew better than to get involved with the fae.

Unfortunately, that wisdom had somehow bypassed Sciatha's ancient kings…and fae bargains always came due.

Mod Blue

Death & Taxes by TheFemale_Accountant (WIP | 14,431 | E)

Bucky is a rich, good-looking partner at the accounting firm Fury & Coulson LLC. Steve is a new tax associate coming into the firm. One look is all it takes to ignite something they never saw coming.

Family Doctor by buckbarners, savepowbuckybarnes (Wholocked) (oneshot | 9,645 | G)

As a kid, Steve had more than his fair share of health issues. When his daughter, Sarah, was born she inherited all of them. After Steve gets a new job back home in Brooklyn, Sarah’s new doctor is much more than he was ever expecting.

Thyme and Tide by leveragehunters (Monkeygreen), seleneheart (complete | 21,630 | T)

Bucky might be only a one-armed ex-mercenary who'd washed up, half-drowned, on the shores of Sciatha with nothing and nowhere—never mind how hard Captain Rogers, head of Sciatha's Royal Guard, was trying to change that—but even he knew better than to get involved with the fae.

Unfortunately, that wisdom had somehow bypassed Sciatha's ancient kings…and fae bargains always came due.

A Sky Full of Stars by BrighteyedJill (complete | 15,124 | E)

The dappled sunlight played over Buck’s face, making him look like a magical creation, some kind of illusion. Steven reached out a hand to touch, to make certain he was real.

Buck started and pulled away when Steven’s fingers made contact.

“Sorry!” Steven snatched back his hand. “I didn’t--”

“No, don’t. It’s only that I have never touched a human before.” Buck captured Steven’s hand in his and guided it back to rest against his cheek. “Go ahead.”

an unfamiliar coast by brideofquiet (oneshot | 19,048 | M)

He doesn’t have a concept of how long ten years is anywhere. Not even before he’d been yanked out of a natural, linear progression. He’d been six years old once; he’d been sixteen and then he’d been twenty-six. But the breadth of time between those moments—what the hell is ten years?

A long, long time. That’s all he knows.

(Bucky goes to war. Ten years later, he comes home.)

Love You More by Loeily, Squeaky (complete | 36,477 | T)

Steve is fine raising his young son as a single dad. He misses his late wife, Peggy, every day, but his job with Stark Industries is fulfilling and he loves his friends. He doesn't need anything or anyone else. But then Pepper Potts hires Bucky Barnes, the new daycare provider for Stark Towers, and everything changes.

Steve knows that Bucky is attracted to him, but Steve totally, completely and utterly will not allow himself to feel the same. He can't. Because he has a million-and-one excellent reasons to not fall in love with the smart, funny, kind and sexy-as-hell Bucky Barnes.

If only his heart had gotten the memo...

The Stars They Sewed On Us by Khaleesi_onthemoon, Speranza (complete | 9,554 | not rated)

"Do you remember the time I was only Steve and you were only Bucky? Do you remember when we were only two boys from Brooklyn?"

who needs a bodyguard? by deceptivesoldier, moblit (complete | 14,658 | T)

“Rogers!”

The door whooshes open to reveal a lithe man with haphazardly messed up blond hair and squinty blue eyes, being swallowed by a blanket.

“No need to shout, Peggy. I told you I was awake,” he says, his voice low and rumbly. He looks to Bucky and hums approvingly. “That’s the ugliest suit in the world, but somehow you still look hot. If you wanna forget about being my bodyguard, you could just join me in bed,” he says flirtatiously, blinking at Bucky through way-too-long eyelashes.

Ooooh, Bucky is in trouble. __

Or, the one in which Steve is a flirty model, and Bucky is the bodyguard he doesn’t need.

Linger by evieeden (complete | 7,661 | M)

Bucky Barnes has always loved Steve Rogers. It's just a shame that he never felt the same way.

Written for the 2018 Captain America Reverse Big Bang!

Electric Hearts by crinklefries (complete | 73,625 | M)

Three hundred years ago, Earth was destroyed. Only by shipping offplanet and transitioning into robots does humanity survive--barely. Now, centuries later, what was once their saving grace, Androids, have become expendable. Distrusted, mistreated, and forcibly deactivated, Androids are under attack.

Steve, former human, political dissenter with an ardent love for fire, and now full Android with an inability to keep his goddamned mouth shut, is tired. Bucky, former human, war survivor who was rescued from a self-loathing spiral out of a literal trash can, and now full Android with emotional turbulence, is lonely.

When the two meet, they find that living is not about what makes them robots, but the spark that makes them human.

But is it too little too late? Because to survive the threat of this new world together, it's possible that simply feeling human may not be enough.

the last good day of the year by belovedmuerto, djchika (oneshot| 15,699 | T)

Just after the fall of the Triskelion, Bucky collects Steve from the hospital, and they go on a road trip.

Steve's just going with it, for once in his life.

A Week in the Life of Scott Lang: Superhero (featuring Steve Rogers) by djchika (oneshot | 9,591 | T)

“So what kind of mission needs all of you plus the Ant-man?”

“We are in need of your suit but, more than that, we need your expertise,” Shuri gestured at the others, “As you said we have a genius, a spy and we have our soldiers. What we need is a thief.”

If Scott was in a TV show he’d be staring straight at the camera right now.

The Voyager by notlucy (complete | 76,741 | E)

On the day aliens fall to earth through a hole ripped in the sky, Bucky Barnes is pulled from the rubble of the Battle of New York by a mysterious man wearing a costume and a cowl.

The next day, he wakes up in the hospital and makes a new friend named Steve Rogers - a certified weirdo with a deck of cards and plenty of time on his hands.

A postcard, a text, and a thousand miles of asphalt later, Bucky's still trying to understand the man who came from the stars.

Steve, meanwhile, is finally putting the journey ahead of the destination.

i'm flicking through the pages, written in my memories by Hazloveshisboo

Bucky has his first nightmare around Steve.

Part 14 of We Know Where We Belong

take my hand (take my whole life too) by layersofsilence, SgtGraves (complete | 36,848 | T)

HYDRA may have been revealed and taken down in the span of a few hours, but the repercussions are far more extensive. Steve Rogers, now ex-SHIELD agent, expects to be feeling them in his life for years. What he didn't expect was for them to reach into him and change the most fundamental thing he thought he knew about himself - that he doesn't have a soulmate.

Northern Sky by littleblackfox, WarlockInTraining (complete | 50,470 | M)

Bucky casts around the field, the light rapidly fading as the storm clouds grow denser, swallowing up the weak winter sun. The spirits are here, he can feel them, their amorphous thoughts, panicked and trembling. They can feel his own fear, rising in the back of his throat, fuelling their own terror. Bucky reaches for the chain around his neck, fumbling for his amulets. His fingers close around the two pieces of silver, fine and bright as the scars on his arm. Please. Please keep me safe.

We Never Had a Choice (But I Choose You) by capsiclemycaptain, DrowningByDegrees (complete | 37,360 | E)

When Bucky Barnes is abducted by political activists, the circumstances are simple enough. Desperation breeds all sorts of terrible decisions, after all, and Bucky's captor is clearly woefully out of his depth. Maybe, just maybe, he can talk his way to freedom, but the more Bucky learns about the circumstances of his capture, the more complicated things seem to get. On the run and forced to trust the man who abducted him, Bucky comes to realize that kidnapping is the least of his worries.

Of Dragons and Alchemy by EstherA2J, Lovesfic (me23) (oneshot | 5,235 | T)

In a world where skilled alchemists blend magic with science, an experimental "dragon procedure" is meant to end all weakness. But something goes wrong.

A Marriage of Ice and Fire by alby_mangroves, Mystrana (complete | 75,056 | E)

Steve Rogers hates James Barnes. The feeling’s mutual; their families have been at war for longer than they’ve been alive. But King Odin has had enough. He orders the two of them wed to end the fighting.

It’s not enough that they have to look at each other’s faces without spitting; the King has declared the year’s tournament in their honor. They’ll have to lead the events together. They’ll be wed in front of everyone.

They’ll have to share a gods-be-damned bed.

And if being married to their worst enemy wasn’t enough, now there’s rumors of assassins and talk of a new war and somehow, Steve and Bucky find themselves in the middle of it all. They’re going to have to set aside their hatred long enough to stay alive. And if they start to realize that they might have feelings for each other?

It might not be soon enough.

Mod Julia

hear your call by silentwalrus (oneshot | 6,348 | E)

“You can be rougher,” Bucky says. “If you want.”

They’re about four minutes post orgasm and Steve is still trying to figure out where his legs are. “Muh?”

A Real Boy by itsnotbleak (oneshot | 5,625 | T)

It took the Winter Soldier three weeks to remember that human beings needed to sleep and eat.

It took Steve far too long to realise the Winter Soldier was sleeping in his bed.

tezeta (nostalgia) by vowelinthug (oneshot | 20,139 | E)

Steve Rogers is a terrible tourist, and a lousy house guest.

Bucky Barnes waters his plants and tries his best.

__

set in that sweet spot between Black Panther and Infinity War, in a little valley in Wakanda

where the leaves fall not by dudewhereismypie, obsessivereader (complete | 23,239 | E)

“Sir.” At the uncharacteristic interruption from JARVIS, everyone falls silent. “There is an unauthorized person in the back left-hand corner of the room.”

Steve turns around, already knowing who he’ll see as everyone scrambles to their feet. Sure enough, it’s Bucky, curled up in an armchair, loose-limbed and relaxed as a cat. Long brown hair cascades around his shoulders and the tips of his ears are exactly as pointed as Steve remembers.

Nat whips a gun out from somewhere and points it at him. Tony has a repulsor on his hand. Wanda’s hands are up and surrounded by a red glow. Only Thor seems unworried—resuming his seat after an initial moment of battle-readiness.

“Bucky,” Steve says.

Bucky glances around with bright, inquisitive eyes. The corners of his lips tip up in a smile, as though amused by the chaos his appearance caused. “We meet again, Captain.”

Tony’s eyebrows are parked halfway up his forehead as he studies Bucky. “I see what you mean by Lord of the Rings, Cap.” Then, aggrieved, “JARVIS, how did he get in?”

In which Captain America meets a flirtatious elf...

just the right fit by deceptivesoldier, talkplaylove (oneshot | 3,234 | M)

“There should be a tetris vibrator. The blue line one! Or the other shapes if you wanna get kinky.” Bucky says, wiggling his eyebrows. He grins, maybe a little bit maniacally. “Clint, we gotta start a line of Tetris-themed sex toys. We could put it up on...on Kinkstarter!”

“We gotta find a designer.”

Famous last words.

A Midsummer Knight's Dream by cobaltmoony, GoldBlooded (complete | 29,050 | E)

Sir Steven, knight, alpha, and baron of a small countryside estate, receives an invitation to a Royal Tournament: It’s a winner-take-all competition, and the prize? The hand of Prince James, the kingdom’s most eligible omega, in marriage.

It seems like a lifetime ago that young Steven left the palace – and his best pal, the prince - to attend to his familial duties. Since that time, he’s dreamed of reclaiming his friendship with the prince; if not as a companion, then perhaps as a member of the prince’s guard.

Prince James, royal, omega, and heir to the throne is tired of being reduced to his designation and pressured into an arranged marriage like a political pawn. He devises the tournament as a means to an end: winner claims his hand in marriage, but if he wins? He’ll get to claim his own future.

Let the tournament begin...

We Never Had a Choice (But I Choose You) by capsiclemycaptain, DrowningByDegrees (complete | 37,360 | E)

When Bucky Barnes is abducted by political activists, the circumstances are simple enough. Desperation breeds all sorts of terrible decisions, after all, and Bucky's captor is clearly woefully out of his depth. Maybe, just maybe, he can talk his way to freedom, but the more Bucky learns about the circumstances of his capture, the more complicated things seem to get. On the run and forced to trust the man who abducted him, Bucky comes to realize that kidnapping is the least of his worries.

If a Train Leaves the Station at 60 mph, How Fast will Bucky Barnes Fall in Love with Steve Rogers? by jinlinli (oneshot | 24,369 | T)

There are three things Bucky needs to do to survive high school: 1. Ace the SATs. 2. Stop falling in love with Steve Rogers. 3. Fail horribly at number two.

Actual House Cat, Bucky Barnes by bisexualstarbucky (oneshot | 2,958 | T)

Bucky loves food and naps and Steve Rogers.

take my hand (take my whole life too) by layersofsilence, SgtGraves (complete | 36,848 | T)

HYDRA may have been revealed and taken down in the span of a few hours, but the repercussions are far more extensive. Steve Rogers, now ex-SHIELD agent, expects to be feeling them in his life for years. What he didn't expect was for them to reach into him and change the most fundamental thing he thought he knew about himself - that he doesn't have a soulmate.

Lover's Eye by RedRowan (complete | 16,148 | T)

It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in want of a good fortune must be in want of a wife. Yet for Steven Rogers, painter of miniatures, it is not the company of ladies, but the acquaintance of Captain James Buchanan Barnes, Royal Navy, that captivates his imagination.

A Marriage of Ice and Fire by alby_mangroves, Mystrana (complete | 75,056 | E)

Steve Rogers hates James Barnes. The feeling’s mutual; their families have been at war for longer than they’ve been alive. But King Odin has had enough. He orders the two of them wed to end the fighting.

It’s not enough that they have to look at each other’s faces without spitting; the King has declared the year’s tournament in their honor. They’ll have to lead the events together. They’ll be wed in front of everyone.

They’ll have to share a gods-be-damned bed.

And if being married to their worst enemy wasn’t enough, now there’s rumors of assassins and talk of a new war and somehow, Steve and Bucky find themselves in the middle of it all. They’re going to have to set aside their hatred long enough to stay alive. And if they start to realize that they might have feelings for each other?

It might not be soon enough.

[phantom-le6]

Film Re-Review - Star Trek: First Contact

Carrying on the re-reviews of the TNG films, it’s time to look in on the film many consider to be the best of the films focused on Picard’s crew, namely First Contact.

Plot (as given by Wikipedia):

Captain Jean-Luc Picard awakens from a nightmare in which he relived his assimilation by the cybernetic Borg six years earlier (shown in the television episode "The Best of Both Worlds"). Starfleet informs him of a new Borg attack against Earth, but orders the USS Enterprise-E to patrol the Romulan Neutral Zone so as to not introduce an "unstable element" to the fight. Learning that the fleet is losing the battle, the Enterprise crew disobeys orders and heads for Earth, where a single, damaged Borg Cube opposes a group of Starfleet vessels. The Enterprise arrives in time to save the crew of the USS Defiant which is being commanded by Lieutenant Commander Worf. After Picard hears Borg communications in his mind, he orders the fleet to concentrate its firepower on a seemingly non-vital section of the Borg ship. The Cube is destroyed after launching a smaller sphere ship towards the planet. 

The Borg sphere generates and enters a temporal vortex. As the Enterprise is enveloped in the vortex, the crew briefly glimpses an Earth populated entirely by Borg. Picard realizes that the Borg have used time travel to change history, and orders the Enterprise to follow. The Enterprise arrives in the past, on April 4, 2063, the day before humanity's first encounter with alien life after Zefram Cochrane's historic warp drive flight. The Borg sphere fires on the planet; realizing that the Borg are trying to prevent first contact, the Enterprise crew destroy the sphere and send an away team to the Montana missile complex where Cochrane is building his ship, the Phoenix, to look for survivors. Picard sends Cochrane's assistant Lily to the Enterprise for medical attention, then returns to the ship and leaves Commander William Riker on Earth to make sure the Phoenix's flight proceeds as planned. The Enterprise crew sees Cochrane as a legend, but the real man is reluctant to assume his historical role.

 Borg survivors invade the Enterprise, and begin to assimilate its crew and modify the ship, planning to use it to attack and conquer Earth. Picard and a team attempt to reach engineering to disable the Borg with corrosive coolant used in the warp core, but the android Data is captured and meets the queen of the Borg Collective, who gains his trust by giving part of him human skin. A frightened Lily seizes the captain but he gains her trust, and they escape the Borg-infested area of the ship by using the holodeck. Picard, Worf, and the ship's navigator, Lieutenant Hawk, stop the Borg from calling reinforcements with the deflector dish, but Hawk is assimilated. As the Borg continue to assimilate, Worf suggests destroying the ship, but Picard angrily calls him a coward and vows to continue the fight. Lily confronts the captain and, reminding him of Moby Dick's Captain Ahab, makes him realize he's acting irrationally. Picard activates the ship's self-destruct mechanism, orders the crew to abandon ship, and then apologizes to Worf. While the crew heads to escape pods, Picard remains aboard to rescue Data.

 As Cochrane, Riker, and chief engineer Geordi La Forge prepare to activate the warp drive on the Phoenix, Picard confronts the Borg Queen and discovers she has grafted human skin onto Data, giving him an array of new sensations. She has presented this modification as a gift to the android, hoping to obtain his encryption codes to the Enterprise computer. Although Picard offers himself in Data's place, the android refuses to leave. He deactivates the self-destruct sequence and fires torpedoes at the Phoenix, but they miss and the Queen realizes Data betrayed her. Data ruptures a coolant tank, and the corrosive substance fatally dissolves the Borg's biological components. Cochrane completes his warp flight, and that night, April 5, 2063, the crew watches as Vulcans, attracted by the Phoenix warp test, land and greet Cochrane. Having repaired history, the Enterprise crew returns to the 24th century.

Review:

Back when I originally reviewed this film, I didn’t quite agree with the consensus of many that this film was somehow the high point of the cinematic run for Picard’s crew, but coming back to it several years later on the heels of watching and reviewing the whole preceding TV series, I’m re-considering my previous position.  It’s certainly an improvement over the previous film Generations, in large part due to the writers not being constrained by a wish list of plot elements from the studio, as well as long-time Trek actor and director Jonathan Frakes being allowed to make his cinematic directorial debut.  The films helmed by Frakes (who of course plays Riker in TNG) tend to be the best TNG films to me, which supports the idea that Trek films are best tackled by people who know Trek from having already worked with it.

 Now annoyingly within the wider TNG timeline, First Contact is the third feature-length time-travel story; we had Picard time-hopping in the feature length series finale ‘All Good Things...’, then Picard and Kirk meeting via the Nexus and doing time travel that way in Generations, and now we have First Contact. However, the reason for the time travel this time has more than enough resonance to compensate for this kind of repetition, because this time we’re going back to the birth of Trek itself. TNG’s best villains the Borg go back in time, and they pick the moment in the franchise’s history where Zefram Cochrane makes his initial warp flight and triggers the eponymous first contact with the Vulcans.

 Original series fans probably had some issues with how the film portrays Cochrane, due to the character having once appeared in that series, but as someone whose interest in Trek began with the Next Generation series, I don’t have that issue.  In addition, I also tend to rail against how much Roddenberry hamstrung the earlier incarnations of Trek with his infamous rules of Trek, known by writers as the ‘Roddenberry box’.  All too often, Roddenberry set the idealism of Trek too high, and at times probably didn’t think all of his concepts through (the no money one comes up in one scene), so I find it refreshing that this film took that character and made him flawed, suggesting the veneration of Cochrane within Trek is a kind of historical exaggeration of the man.

 Of course, it’s largely thanks to actor James Cromwell that Cochrane comes across as a great character, and to be honest all of the cast perform their roles well across the three plot-threads of the movie.  The first thread is an away team on Earth led by Riker helping Cochrane.  Second is that as Borg begin to over-run the Enterprise, Picard begins to fall prey to his past trauma at their hands and has to be talked down from putting vengeance above the greater good, and third is Data’s arc with the Borg Queen.  The last of these is interesting in that it brings Data a bit closer to his goal of becoming human by offering him the chance to take on flesh and experience physical sensation.  It’s a great expansion on Data’s ‘Pinocchio’ arc within the series.

 Picard’s arc used to be a bit non-sensical to me in terms of its timing, as Picard ran into the Borg a couple more times between his assimilation in the series and this film, but what I’ve realised after watching the show again is that actually it does make sense.  Not because of the whole trap of the ‘Roddenberry box’, but because the circumstances of each story in the overall Borg narrative doesn’t really allow Picard’s trauma to really come back at him.  After the follow-up episode to ‘Best of Both Worlds’ where Picard finally unburdens himself of the initial impact his assimilation had on him, he only faced any of the Borg twice, and in both cases, he dealt with one or more individualised Borg.  First Contact is the first story since ‘Best of Both Worlds’ where the Borg collective itself is involved, and rather than being on some distant planet or being on their ships, they’ve decided to hit at Picard on his home ground.

 In addition, the Borg just deal set-back after set-back to Picard and the Enterprise crew as the film goes on, which fuels his speech to Lily (played by Alfre Woodard) when he refuses to destroy the Enterprise;

 “I will not sacrifice the Enterprise. We've made too many compromises already. Too many retreats. They invade our space and we fall back. They assimilate entire worlds and we fall back. Not again! The line must be drawn here... THIS far, NO further! And I will make them PAY for what they've done.”

 I think this line speaks to everyone who at some time or another has been forced to compromise something in their lives to someone or something else.  For Picard it’s having to give ground to a race of cyborgs who violated him, but this could just as readily apply to people seeking equality in the present day, who perhaps to compromise just to make progress or avoid being penalised for seeking equality.  It could apply to people in relationships that are one-sided at best and abusive at worst, always having to give ground to be ok in the short-term.  It’s not something that’s necessarily been with Picard all the time, but something that builds, and it takes the objective viewpoint of someone not of his era to call him on it and bring him back to the Starfleet officer he’s supposed to be.

 This leaves the away team story to provide comic relief (the Deanna drunk scene is a great example), and when you look at the plot and the performance together with a fantastic score and the new-style Enterprise, it really is a great film.  For the benefit of fans of wider Trek, the film even takes care to provide an explanation for the return of Worf, who after the previous films had become part of the main cast on Deep Space Nine, and we get cameos by Robert Picardo and Ethan Phillips of Voyager in the film as well.

 Now discounting the fact this is the third time-travel story in a run as well as past quibbles I used to have with the film and don’t now, there’s not much I can say against First Contact.  I’m a bit concerned that so many men claimed to be slightly aroused by the Borg Queen if the film commentaries I’ve watched are to be believed, but that’s more about the film’s viewers than the films and to each their own, I suppose.  It’s also probably the most accessible film to an audience not versed in the Next Generation, though it requires some patience to reach the areas of exposition in the film that compensate for anyone not having that series knowledge to start with.  So, this time round, I’m going to up the film’s score.  Where Generations went down from 8 to 7 out of 10 on re-review, First Contact had risen like the Phoenix from 8 to 10 out of 10.

[kylosrehn]

Fitz, Aida, Jemma & Trip for the character thing!😃

Fitz:

general opinion: fall in a hole and die | don’t like them | eh | they’re fine I guess | like them! | love them | actual love of my life hotness level: get away from me | meh | neutral | theoretically hot but not my type | pretty hot | gorgeous! | 10/10 would bang (from like, mid s4 onwards, lol.)hogwarts house: gryffindor | slytherin | ravenclaw | hufflepuffbest quality: He always tries to see the best in people. Also, his resilience—he’s been through so much shit in his life but he’s never given up. worst quality: He backs down from arguments, even when he’s right, just to let certain people *cough* Jemma *cough* “win” for the sake of peace, to keep her happy and to prevent her from leaving again. He has critically low self-esteem and thinks he’s not good enough, even when it’s shown that he clearly is. Tends to do stupid/dangerous things in order to save others—jumping into random portals to weird alien planets, screaming at dangerous melting space rocks, etc. Look after yourself, dude!ship them with: Ophelia (in the Framework, or in a redemption team au scenario), Daisy.brotp them with: Jemma (I love them as a platonic friendship, but I never shipped them romantically, and I lowkey hate that they went there in canon and the way they went about it too), Hunter.needs to stay away from: His father, literally. misc. thoughts: He’s had the most significant character development out of all the characters on AOS, imo. I didn’t care about him all that much in the beginning, he didn’t have much depth beyond designated nerdy friend/tech designer/occasional comic relief, but he’s grown into one of the most brave, kind-hearted (and now also attractive and badass) characters on the show. Honestly, I’m mostly just sticking around for him. I think I’d have noped out of the show if it wasn’t for him. 

Aida:

(See, this is always hard, because I love Ophelia, but the actual android Aida in the first few eps, not so much. So, uh, I guess I’ll just do both? lol)

general opinion: fall in a hole and die | don’t like them | eh | they’re fine I guess (Aida) | like them! | love them (Oph) | actual love of my life hotness level: get away from me | meh | neutral | theoretically hot but not my type | pretty hot | gorgeous! | 10/10 would banghogwarts house: gryffindor | slytherin | ravenclaw | hufflepuffbest quality: She’s determined, and she’ll work towards her goal no matter what (lol, literally.) She has the capacity to see the error of her ways and want to change for the better (eventually surrenders the tablet to Fitz in the Framework, expressing her regret over her actions, saying that saving Mack was the best moment of her life, asking if the team will be able to forgive her, etc.) worst quality: Anger issues is an understatement, lol. Driven by vengeance. Needs to learn how to communicate better. Use your words, not your fists, girl, lol.ship them with: Fitz (again, in the Framework and in a redemption au scenario.)brotp them with: I always thought she’d get along well with May. They always had this…weird connection (plus, her “heart”/power source literally saved May’s life, that’s kinda special), she really seemed to care about May and her well-being and respect her. I think she admired her strength and resilience. Plus, she was in favor of keeping her alive, giving her a chance and potentially trying to rehabilitate her when the team were having a vote on what to do with her in 4x21. I would’ve loved to see May take on a mentor kind of role with Ophelia. I think Daisy could potentially warm to her, and maybe Elena and Mack would come around with time, too.needs to stay away from: Ghost Rider, lol. Also, the Superior, whose brilliant plan to get the Darkhold literally got her killed. Damn it, girl. lol.misc. thoughts: I think she deserved better. She had potential. I was 100% on board with a redemption arc for her (which seemed pretty likely until…that scene.) We’ve never had a villain-turned-team-member redemption arc, and I think it would’ve been really satisfying to watch her trying to navigate being human and working as part of a team unit. 

She wouldn’t even have to be romantically involved with anyone, I just wanted to see her struggling to adjust but being driven by this desire to repent and do good (she literally said she doesn’t want to hurt anyone again, and that saving Mack brought her joy, I mean, come on) and just learning to be human with the help of the team. Also, she was weirdly…on top of things after coming out of the Framework. There was a lot of telling, not showing (which, tbh, is a prevalent problem on this show.) She’d talk about all these emotions she was feeling, but at the same time she was so…I don’t know, graceful? lol. I kind of wanted to see her being all over the place, fascinated and a little overwhelmed by everything, all the sensations and the sudden ability to smell, touch, taste, etc. Aside from that one scene with the sand and water on the beach, we didn’t really get to see a lot of her actually experiencing things for that first time, which I think would’ve been quite fun to watch. 

Jemma:

general opinion: fall in a hole and die | don’t like them | eh | they’re fine I guess | like them! | love them | actual love of my life (this largely depends on what she’s doing/what season we’re talking about. For example, I liked her well enough in S1, her endless fascination with all the scientific/magical weirdness they encountered and her excited babbling was delightful. I still like her when she’s sciencing. But aside from that, she’s one of my least favourite characters, definitely out of the mains, and probably tied with Coulson. I just don’t like the way they’re writing her.)hotness level: get away from me | meh | neutral | theoretically hot but not my type | pretty hot | gorgeous! | 10/10 would banghogwarts house: gryffindor | slytherin | ravenclaw | hufflepuff (I think her love of science and constant desire to discover and understand the weird and wonderful are her defining traits; however, I see S3-onwards Jemma also having Slytherin qualities since she started developing hard edges and is often shown to be driven by the desire for personal vengeance—Hive, Aida, etc.)best quality: See above. Her fascination with science is downright delightful, and I always love those moments with her on the show.worst quality: She’s very domineering. She and Fitz aren’t exactly on equal footing in many instances—she has this need to “win” in some ways, like, “oh, you think you’ve had it bad? Well, I’ve had it worse” or “yeah, yeah, I don’t care what you say, I still proposed first”, stuff like that. It’s frustrating. Let him speak his mind, lol. She’s very Hermoine-esque in that sense.ship them with: No one, really. Or, well, that’s not true, but none of them are on the show/alive anymore, lol. I liked her dynamic with Ward in S1 (the way they balanced each other out but also somehow complimented each other, the soft scientist and the “unfeeling” built-like-a-house specialist) and then later on with Trip. Also, *controversial opinion*, Jemma/Will wasn’t all that bad. I mean, I wasn’t crazy about it (there really isn’t all that much to glean from just one episode, not for me anyway) but I don’t think it deserved the absolute outrage and flame-throwing hatred it got in the fandom. Then again, I never shipped FS romantically, lol, so all alternate pairings are more than welcome in my book.brotp them with: Fitz and Daisyneeds to stay away from: Monoliths, lol.misc. thoughts: I think part of my problem with Jemma’s character (aside from the writing) is fandom’s reaction to her. I don’t know, I just find that *some* people have the tendency to put her on this imaginary pedestal and praise her for every little thing she does, acting like she’s some saintly martyr or something. In the eyes of the fandom, she can do no wrong. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a complaint or any sort of constructive criticism about her character (in the public posts anyway), and that’s so frustrating. Of course she’s got flaws. They all do. But idk people just tend to think she’s this ever-suffering, Holy Mother type of character, all the time, no matter what. It’s like, yes, you can be critical of your fave and still have them be your baby. 

Trip:

general opinion: fall in a hole and die | don’t like them | eh | they’re fine I guess | like them! | love them | actual love of my life hotness level: get away from me | meh | neutral | theoretically hot but not my type | pretty hot | gorgeous! | 10/10 would banghogwarts house: gryffindor | slytherin | ravenclaw | hufflepuffbest quality: Kindness, loyalty and bravery. Also this easy, almost effortless kind of chemistry he had with the team. They all lit up a little bit whenever he walked into the room, and happiness is something they always need and never get enough of. Like a portable sunshine, lol.worst quality: I don’t want to say selflessness like it’s a bad thing but…I mean, you probably shouldn’t touch weird smoking crystals of unknown (and suspected alien) origin, right? Naivety, maybe? A little bit?ship them with: Jemma, mostly, I think. I know TripSkye is pretty big in the fandom, but I always saw it as a more platonic, big-brother type of thing, whereas there was definitely some flirting going on with Simmons, imo. She wasn’t exactly shy about fancying him, lol.brotp them with: Skye and Fitz (they deserved more scenes together, seriously.)needs to stay away from: Terrigen, lol. misc. thoughts: I liked him, he was a very positive character, but he wasn’t around enough for me to develop an opinion beyond that. Like, he virtually had no flaws, or, well, he was never shown to have any in the time that he was on screen anyway. That’s…never realistic, really. We don’t really know much about him aside from the fact that Garrett was his S.O., that his friend died because of the Clairvoyant/Garrett crap some time before canon, that his mother is alive, and that his grandfather was a Howling Commando. So, not much backstory. I mean, they don’t even bother to expand on the backstories of their existing mains, but still, I would’ve liked to know more about him. That way, you get more attached, you can relate to them more, and it hurts that much more when they kill them off, lol.

[stacks-reviews]

New Releases 6/27/17

Happy New Release Day! This weeks consists of robots in space, everyday life of a fledgling superhero, a trip across Europe, a power called Geass, a class made of assassins, and more.

In Books --The Adventures of a Superhero Girl by Faith Erin Hicks “What if you can leap tall buildings and defeat alien monsters with your bare hands, but you buy your capes at secondhand stores and have a weakness for kittens?” The everyday tales of a super girl as she saves people, as she updates her family on how she is doing, and as she tries to keep a part-time job but forgets to remove her mask before work. With an arch-nemesis who’s only superpower is letting our hero know she is doing the superhero thing wrong. This particular version of this graphic novel is a expanded edition. It was originally printed in 2013 but has been reprinted a few times since. This edition will include two new stories and new art. I have never read it before but I really wanna give it a try.

--Descender volume 4 by Jeff Lemire, artist Dustin Nguyen One day giant robots appear out of nowhere bringing death and destruction across the galaxy. As a consequence all robots are now outlawed and are hunted and destroyed by bounty hunters. Ten years after the attack an android named Tim-21 awakens to find his home destroyed and the human boy he was bought for gone. Tim sets out to find his human along with his robot dog and a mining droid. But Tim will be hunted down as his robot DNA might just reveal how to defeat the giant robots if they ever return. I love this series. This is probably my favorite release for this week. I started reading this series early this year. It is very good and the art is amazing. Dustin Nguyen did a wonderful job with the watercolor. There’s a great cast of characters but Tim is probably my favorite character. I would definitely check it out. I recommend it to everyone that I help in the graphic novel section at work. If you love robots, robots in space, and the exploration into what defines being human (there’s rogue robots who just want to live instead of being destroyed and will fight back) then read Descender.

--The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue by Mackenzi Lee I first wrote this down to research it because I was imagining the worst. I was thinking something along the lines of, ‘they are not publishing a book that says treating women in such a way is okay’. But then it became so much better. Henry Montague’s days of pleasure and vice; with both men and women, are rapidly coming to an end. His father is going to force Henry to start taking care of the family estate. As a final hurrah, Henry invites his best friend and secret crush; Percy, to travel across Europe with him. When one of Henry’s reckless decisions sends him and Percy into a manhunt it will have Henry questioning everything he knows. Including his thoughts about the boy he secretly adores.  The description of this book did not go at all the way I was expecting. I’m really excited to give this a try. I love everything about it already. As long as it doesn’t end up supporting treating people like crap, basically. 

--Land of the Lustrous volume 1 by Haruko Ichikawa The Lustrous are crystalline lifeforms; each gem has unique powers, who are hunted by a group called lunarians who would turn the Lustrous into decorations.  I mostly want to read this cause I immediately thought of Steven Universe when I read the description. 

--The Waking Land by Callie Bates Lady Elanna Valtai is fiercely devoted to her King who raised her like a daughter. But when he mysteriously dies, Elanna is accused of murdering him and must flee to her homeland full of magical legends. And to her birth father who was branded a traitor. Now she must confront the powers that have stirred within her and seem to grow as she connects to the natural world. Now Elanna must stop the threat that has chased her to her homeland and rebel against the kingdom she once called home. It reminds me of Uprooted by Naomi Novik and I really enjoyed that book.

In moives/tv shows --Assassination Classroom S2P2 The conclusion of Assassination Classroom is finally out today. The truth about Koro-Sensei will finally be revealed. But once Class E learns the truth, will they be able to assassinate the best teacher they’ve ever had? If you haven’t seen this series before or haven’t read the manga yet, you should. This series has had surprisingly good character development. When I first started reading the manga I thought it would just be this silly series but then it became so much more that just silly. It’s a really good blend of comedy, action, and can be very sweet. I haven’t seen the anime yet; although I own the first season, but from what I’ve seen and heard it follows the manga very well.

--Blue Exorcist Complete Box Set (blu-ray) For the first time the hit anime is out in a complete box set. Twin brothers; Rin and Yukio, were raised by an exorcists named Father Shiro Fujimoto. One day their home is attacked and Rin finds out his biological father is Satan. In order to avenge those that were lost during the battle Rin decides to train to become an exorcist in order to defeat Satan. Blue Exorcist is a really good series if you haven’t seen it yet. I’m not sure how well it follows the manga though. I think the end of the first season was different from the manga but I’m not 100% positive. I did flip through some of the volumes when season two started and it looked like the first part of S2 followed the manga pretty well. The set does cost $159.98 but the first season is available for streaming on Netflix and both are on Crunchyroll.

--Code Geass: Akito the Exiled The OVA series of the hit anime Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion. It’s five episodes but each episode should be around 50 minutes. Characters from the series will make an appearance. I’m really excited for this release but all it has made me want to do is to rewatch the original series. Characters will be returning for this but I’m not quite sure how or what part they will play. 

--Panda Go Panda (on blu-ray) A little girl who lives with a Panda and it’s baby. I didn’t know much about this title until it was mentioned in a panel at a con I went to this year. Afterwards, I found out that it was getting a blu-ray release. From what I remember our main character either thinks that PapaPanda is her father or PapaPanda offers to become her father while her family is away. Throughout the town tries to let her know that her Papa is a panda and the police and most the town try to catch them. It looks really cute. It’s only 80 minutes long. It’s two episodes.

--Sea Prince and the Fire Child (on blu-ray) One long ago fire spirits and wind spirits lived as one till one day the Lord of the Winds drove a rift between the Queen of Fire and her brother, the King of Water. Ever since then, the fire spirits and water spirits have been at war with one another. One day the Prince of Fire and the Princess of Water met and fell in love. Their only chance of living together means traveling to a distant star where fire and water spirits live in peace but they much reach the hill of Elysium by the next solar eclipse. 

--Sword Art Online Box Set (blu-ray) One of the top favorite ‘getting stuck inside a video game’ series around is now available in a box set. All 25 episodes with some special features. The blu-ray is $159.95 and the dvd set is $69.98 BUT the dvd won’t be out until 8/1. Personally, I am holding out a small, small hope that I might come across the limited editions of the parts. I have the first one but missed out on the rest. If I break and buy the set someday, I’ll probably get the dvd. Unless the blu-ray set happens to have a good sale someday. I’m in no hurry cause my heart still heavily belongs to .hack//sign. SAO has some great fight scenes but I have stronger feelings toward .hack//sign. 

--Yu-Gi-Oh Dark Side of Dimensions The original crew is back! Yugi and the gang are about to graduate from high school. Then trouble starts when a boy named Aigami arrives. He blames Bakura for the death of his mention; and former holder of the Millennium Ring, and it out for revenge. It’s up to Yugi to save Bakura and the rest of his friends. I managed to catch this movie when it came to theaters. It was great because I hadn’t seen Yu-Gi-Oh in a long time. Most of the original voice actors returned to dub it which I was very happy about. There was a minor change in a characters back story but it had been so long since I had seen the series that I didn’t notice it until someone pointed it out to me.

[calliecat93]

Star Trek: TNG Episodes 9-12

Hide and Q: Okay, this one was mostly pretty good. It has a very interesting concept, what happens when a normal human gets granted God-like power? First we get Q again, who was by far the most entertaining part of this episode. Then we have Riker. So far he’s been the ideal First Officer... admittedly he may be a bit too much like Kirk except not a captain, but still. Kind of reminds me of the TOS episode To Where No Man Has Gone Before except Riker isn’t an ass like Gary and doesn’t have the weird eye effect thing. Things go pretty well with Riker having used his powers to save the crew and promising Picard that he won’t play God... until this promise prevents him from saving a dead child. That would make anyone upset. But it allows Q to pro him into using it for what seems like good things like granting what he thinks the crew wants, with all of them declining. Data and Geordi’s refusals were especially excellent... though Worf and Wesley’s ugh... desires were stupid. The ending was also very abrupt which puts a damper on what was otherwise an interesting, philosophical episode. They don’t even say if Riker lost the power or not and he gets zero resolution. Also Picard came of as ana ss with how he talked to an understandably conflicted Riker regarding the dead child. So far one of the better episodes with Q, the theme of humanity with power that doesn’t go into some kind of power mad direction, and some nice character bits from Data and Geordi. It needed a MUCH better resolution though. 3.5/5

Haven: So... Nurse Chapel was actually an alien and by the 24th Century got over her crush on Spock, married a human, had Deanna, and now is putting her daughter in an arranged marriage. Damn it Chapel, did seeing what happened with Spock in Amok Time teach you nothing?! Sure Pon Farr is off the table, but still! Okay, okay it’s not Chapel, just the same actress playing Troi’s mother cause I guess Roddenberry needed to get his wife in another ST show somehow. Anyways, Lwaxana is... kind of obnoxious. Majel Barrett does it well though. Anyways, the episode... it was okay. It got some laughs out of me like Data asking for the petty bickering to continue after Troi stormed out. That got a BIG laugh out of me, haha! But otherwise it was meh. Most of the petty bickering annoyed me and felt more in place in a sitcom, whatever romantic hinting I’m supposed to get from Troi and Riker falls flat since there’s been nothing since The Naked Now AND the episode began with him checking out other women so... sorry, no real sympathy for Riker. Troi was okay and her storming off when she gets sick of her mom and future mother-in-law was exactly how I felt. The ending felt kind of convenient to get Troi out of the wedding. I guess it’s kind fo sweet how Wyatt is willing to risk the plague to be with his destined lover and help her people... but IDK if it was a Disney movie I’d find it cute for for Star Trek... eeeehhhh. Just a full, unfunny episode. I was hoping to learn more about betazoid culture like how we found out more about Vulcans in Amok Time... but the time was wasted one the annoying sitcom antics or a forced romance. It had it’s funny bits, but otherwise Troi deserved a better focus episode than this. 2/5.

The Big Goodbye: Holodeck episode! Finally! I’ve been waiting for this! I really like how Picard got to be more light-hearted and... well, kind of a dork. Aside from a few bits, he’s overall been a hardass. So seeing a more fun side to him really helps make him more likable and fun. Data may be the only one who was a bigger dork, haha! The noir setting was nice and the concept of the holodeck allows a LOT of fun concepts that I’m excited to see in other episodes. And of course things go horribly wrong cause it’s Star Trek with the holodeck malfunctioning while the others are dealing with aliens. The moment the new guy gets shot and bleeds for real with everyone realizing that it’s not in good fun anymore got me wide-eyed. It’s the most fun episode so far. Not quite as much as TOS’ A Piece of the Action, but still fun. More fun than the last one at least. 3.5/5.

Datalore: So... Data has an evil brother. Welp. So far I’ve really enjoyed Data. I guess he’s supposed to be The Spock of the group, but instead of trying to shove away emotions and his human half, Data is an android who doesn’t have emotions and so far he comes as fascinated about it and what humans do. Similar deal but different enough to let Data be his own character and not just an attempt at copying Spock. Which, from what I can tell, is a big part of why a later S2 character failed but that’s for then, this is now. Learning more about where Data came from and his history/creation were great to learn about. Lore is a great contrast, appearing to be more human-like but also much more intimidating, manipulative, and villainous. His offer to help Data be more human and using that to knock him out and try to take his place to lure the ship to some Crystalline Entity. Major props to Brett Spiner for not only managing to play both Data and Lore and make them distinctive, but when Lore poses as Data he does a great job at acting as Lore acting as Data. That takes some major acting talent. It’s not a perfect episode, Picard comes off like an idiot for trusting Lore so easily and acts like an ass to Wesley when he expresses concern about it which not only makes Picard look incompetent and disregard one of his men’s understandable concerns, but again makes Wesley look better than the trained adults. Also the clue that Lore was Data was using contractions which Data doesn’ do... except I’m very sure that he HAD used contractions in past episodes so that comes across as a MAJOR ass pull that the writers didn’t bother to check continuity for, INCLUDING AT THE END OF THIS VERY EPISODE. Unless it turns out later in the show that Data was Lore all along, that is a HUGE continuity flub going against this very episode’s logic. That stops me from giving it a 5/5, but the episode is by far the best so far with great focus on Data (he didn’t deserve ANY of this), Lore is a really good villain and my mom already informed me that this isn’t the end of him, and it was an enjoyable episode that really held my interest. By far more than any episode so far, though we still have a loooong ways to go. 4/5.

Okay, it’s starting to get better. I can say that the last two episodes helped finally grab some interest from me and even Hide and Q had some interesting ideas. Haven was... blah, but not the worst thing ever. Datalore, despite the glaring flaws, continuity issues, and it again making me care less and less for Wesley, was a really good episode that really gripped me for at least Data, kind of like how The Naked Time did with getting me invested into Spock and to Kirk to a lesser degree. Fourteen more episodes of S1 to go. More to come tomorrow. Think for now I’m gonna do four a day, maybe more if we’re near the end of a season or something. But I’ms tarting to finally get invested, so yay~!

[starfreightersays-blog]

Alien: Covenant

Spoilers ahead.

Alien Covenant is a sequel to Prometheus, which are both prequels to the original Alien film made in 1979. Prometheus was said to explain the space jockey’s from the first film, however, most people were disappointed with the result since it didn’t answer any of the questions from the first film and instead created more questions which confused most people. Because of this I had hoped that Alien: Covenant would answer these questions and set us up with the origins of the Derelict ship in the first film.

The film starts off with David’s ‘birth’, Peter Weyland, and we get an idea of David’s superiority complex as he’s already asking, ‘who made you?’ to his creator and pointing out that he will out-live him. We are then taken to the Covenant, a colony ship on its way to a planet to start a new civilization. Suddenly, a solar flare hits the ship while the solar sails are out causing several of the colonists to die as well as the Captain of the crew. Other than the flat screens and holograms, which bother me because of the inconsistency with the originals big chunky cathode ray TV’s, I was happy with this start. It shows the isolation of space which sets up a good atmosphere for the film.

We then follow the crew as they attempt to fix the solar sails. Other than everything sounding like it’s underwater rather than breathing this part is fine, there are only very nitpicking criticisms. When Tennessee (Danny McBride) is returning to the airlock a transmission strikes him as he is outside the ships signal blocking influence. Once back on the ship the crew inspect the transmission and they find that it is coming from a planet which looks like it was made for humans. When they clear up the transmission Tennessee points out that is clearly ‘Take me home country roads’, one of my favorite points in the movie. Since this planet is much closer than their destination the newly appointed captain decides to check it out.

They arrive at the planet and find that there’s a large ion storm so they make their first stupid decision, like impatient children they just go in anyway despite knowing that the storm will affect communications between the ground team and the mothership. This seems like a ridiculous idea seeing as they know hardly anything about this planet and there is a mysterious human transmission where there shouldn’t be any humans.

When they land on the surface and straight away step out without any helmets. I thought they were stupid in Prometheus taking off their helmets at all, but here they don’t even bother! But we see that they have lots of guns, so who needs helmets, am I right? They now realise that communications aren’t great with the mothership but they decide ‘Hell, let’s go on an adventure!’. I wouldn’t have such a problem with this if they used their common sense later in the film but they never find it so I feel they deserve all their mistakes pointing out.

As they make their way towards the mysterious transmission they find wheat growing, like actual Earth wheat. One guy seems to realise the craziness of this but everyone else just seems to brush it off. And in case you’re wondering, they don’t explain why there’s Earth plants. The team goes all Scooby-Doo and they split up as a scientist and her bodyguard go off to do some good sciencing, which makes sense, she’s doing a better job than most of them! She starts collecting samples when her bodyguard says he needs to take a leak, which turns out to mean ‘I need to go smoke a dubey’. He then proceeds to step on what, to me after playing a lot of Zelda, looks like it could only be a hearty truffle so I’m going to refer to it as such. After stepping on the hearty truffle it releases these spores which are reminiscent of the black goo from Prometheus. These spores apparently have a mind of their own and fly into the guys ear and burrow into his skin.

Elsewhere, the rest of the crew have found the source of the transmission: a crashed engineer ship, the very one we saw Shaw and David leave in at the end of Prometheus. When entering the ship one of the guys (wheat guy I believe) finds and starts poking a hearty truffle which leads to him getting a face full of the spores. But he’s like ‘I’m cool’, and they carry on inside the ship. They get to the cockpit where one of the guys accidently activates a hologram recording of an undiscernible Shaw sending the transmission, even though last time David needed an understanding of the alien language to activate a similar function. But hey, at this point I’m still pretty interested and have hopes that we will soon find out what happened to David and Shaw.

We then go back to science-lady and her bodyguard where he’s not looking so good. They decide to head back to the ship and the others decide to do the same. The science lady and her companion are almost at the ship when he throws up blood on her face, which should been kinda disgusting but it was just funny to me. They are then taken to the med-bay which is very poorly placed up lots of stairs and walkways.

Once in the room the dropship pilot examines the poor guys back which is now doing pretty disturbing things, when his back stuff just pops on her face! She, like any normal person, decides that’s enough of this shit for her and she locks the guy and the scientist in the med bay and runs off to tell her husband, Tennessee. Following this the guy with the ear spores starts wobbling violently until a ‘backburster’ pops out in a pretty gruesome manner. On the floor lies a small pasty alien looking thing which unlike the original chestburster doesn’t flee but takes on a human straight up and mauls the science lady but not before she slips on the pool of blood from the creature’s birth. The pilot returns with a shotgun, because creepy alien babies need to be killed, and she runs in the room where, like a slapstick comedy, she slips on the gore and shoots the ceiling. I mean one person slipping was funny but two is hysterical, especially when they’re trying to scare you. The woman then tries to shoot the baby but keeps missing until she shoots the explosive red barrels that someone carelessly left lying around in a med-bay.

The ship then explodes just as the rest of the crew arrive so that her husband, the Captain, can see her burning body collapse. At this point it feels like these people are having the worst day imaginable and you’ve just got to just laugh as bad things just happen one after another. But remember, wheat guy also had some spores! Although instead of the baby coming out the back, this time he just vomits it up and it runs away. I just want to point out at this point that these creatures have been developing for a maximum of 2 hours and in that time they’ve gone from spores to something the size of a small cat…that’s crazy, but let’s continue.

The crew then set up a camp for the night when they are attacked by the two pasty alien like creatures which have been called neomorphs. The attack begins when one of the neomorphs sneaks up on Daniels and is saved by Walter, the android of the Covenant who is identical physically to David, as he sacrifices his hand for her. The two creatures then go crazy on the crew and some people get killed, but you don’t really care because you only know a couple of them and it’s really dark anyway, so who cares - Death! Excitement! The crew then manages to shoot one of the creatures but the other is scared off by a signal flare which is shot into the sky by a mysterious figure in a cloak. The figure tells them to follow him so they do because he helped them. Daniels must go back for the Captain though as whilst all of this was happening he was still standing by the dropship wreckage crying about his dead wife. I mean I’m just saying, if these neomorph were anything like the original alien then I think they would have silently taken out the guy on his own who’s oblivious to everything around him rather than bumrushing a whole group of dudes with guns, but since these neomorphs seem less intelligent and more feral, I’ll let it slide.

The mysterious figure leads the crew into what appears to be an engineer structure since there are lots of black fossilized bodies around the place. Someone asked whether the neomorph will be able to get in too and the figure reassures them that it can’t. Everybody seems cool with this despite there not being any proper doors or anything. The figure then reveals himself to be David with grown his hair, which I didn’t realise was possible or necessary for an android but who am I to judge Mr Weyland. He reveals that their ship accidently deployed the black goo and in the confusion the ship crashed, killing Shaw! Now at this point I’m really bummed. Firstly because at the end of Prometheus Shaw asked the question ‘why did the engineers create then try to kill us?’ which I think is a good question to ask since it doesn’t make much sense, I mean you don’t make a sandwich then seconds later want to throw it out for no good reason! The second thing that annoyed me was the off-screen death of Shaw. I hate offscreen deaths, especially between films, it’s like Hick’s and Newt dying at the start of Alien cubed, it just feels like a cheap way to get rid of a character who they didn’t have room for.

The crew tries to contact the Covenant but can’t get through the ion storm, which they should have thought about before running onto the planet with guns blazing. At this point, Tennessee is worried about his wife so takes the Covenant in closer to the storm to see if he can contact the rest of the crew because he’s understandably panicky about his wife, who he last heard screaming in horror.

The next part gets a bit weird since David teaches Walter how to play a flute, and although it sounds very strange it seems to fit in with the rest of the film. David then shows Walter the devastation of the city and reveals in a flashback that he purposely released the black Goo onto the engineers and the he supposedly loved Shaw, which is weird. I’d like to point out now that the black goo which supposedly weaponizes life just turned the engineers to burnt looking corpses, which makes what it does even more confusing. I would also like to note how the engineers are just as stupid as the humans since they allowed a warship which carried world destroying black goo to reach the surface despite it being missing for so long and the fact they didn’t even check to see if there were any engineers on board either. So maybe David killed them because they just lack common sense! However, we never do find out why David suddenly decides genocide is what he wants for the engineers. David is disappointed by Walter and for some weird reason he decides to kiss Walter and then kill him, which is actually the scariest part of the film because damn Walter’s creepy android face as he dies!

While David’s with Walter the other, now fully, grown neomorph sneaks into the building through an open window, which isn’t really surprising, and it decapitates some woman who, if I’m honest, I didn’t recognise. David then finds the neomorph and tries to befriend the creature. The Captain sees this display and shoots the neomorph, because you know, it’s already killed people. The Captain then shows some more initiative and asks David for answers. David leads him to a laboratory where we see similar neomorphs that have been dissected. David explains that he’s been studying the black goo and perfecting the life it created. Now at this part any normal person would take out David cause he’s being a crazy man but the Captain just plays along which leads to the most ridiculous part of the film. David says he’ll show the Captain the results of his experiment as he leads him to a room full of alien eggs. And the Captain is still pretty chill, it’s like he completely forgot about what the pasty aliens were like. One of the eggs then open and David says ‘look! It’s perfectly safe I assure you’, why this man trusts this guy nobody will ever know but next thing we know…there’s a facehugger on the guy.

Now at this point Tennessee is way too close to the ion storm but it pays off since the crew get a message through and Tennessee prepares an industrial crane thing to pick the crew up since they only had one dropship on such a big ship (makes sense right). Anyway, some time passes, like 5 minutes maybe, the Captain wakes up and immediately a chestburster pops out! Usually this takes several hours but Alien: Covenant doesn’t care. What’s more is the chestburster isn’t the pasty worm like creature that we are familiar with, but for some reason it’s just a really small alien which looks like a cross between an alien and Baby Groot.

Now the rest of the crew go looking for all the missing people and they find David’s laboratory along with what looks like Shaw’s dissected body. They go into the room with the eggs and unlike the Captain, they realise that they should probably start running. However, one of the guys gets a facehugger latched onto him but luckily before it gets on properly his friend cuts it off, causing him to get acid on his face! Unfortunately, his hero friend pulls the short straw as he gets ambushed by a fully-grown alien…. that’s right, in the space of like 5 minutes a tiny Baby Groot Alien grows to 7 foot! Ridley Scott just disregards the other movies and just reduces the alien’s growth from egg to full size to about 10 minutes, I swear it takes longer than this in the AVP movies! At least the alien is acting right its hiding and waiting to ambush but this doesn’t make up for everything else that has happened.

While this is happening David and Daniels are fighting and, suddenly, David kisses Daniels! Was David really horny after being alone for 10 years? It really makes no sense. But Daniels is saved at the last moment by Walter who, being an upgrade from David, has a self-repair function and knows his moves! This leads to a pretty cool fight between two Michael Fassbenders as Daniels makes her escape. As the two fight, we see Walter on top about to finish David, yet before we see him finish it we’re shown David’s hand reaching for a knife…and the scene cuts, totally not insinuating anything.

Tennessee reaches the surface just in time for everyone to get on board. Those people being Burny face guy, Daniels and now David who is dressed like Walter who I guess we’re supposed to think is Walter but after not showing a death and David going for the knife it’s pretty obvious what’s happened. As the dropship takes off the alien manages to get on board. Daniels being a badass decides to take it on. What follows is some crazy antics and flying action where Daniels is being tossed around in ways which would kill most humans and the alien being crushed in a crane jaw thing.

They return to the ship and everybody is happy and nobody checks Walter despite him being identical to David who is a crazy android who wants to kill everyone. They patch up burny face guy with some playdoh and relax…But wait! It’s not over, the alarms go off since they detect an unknown lifeform on the ship. A strange piece of technology which would have been useful in Aliens so they could have known about that Queen sneaking on-board but hey I hear technology gets worse in the future. Anyway, Daniels and Tennessee go to investigate, only to find burny face guy all dead and chestbursted. Once again, this film can’t even keep to its own canon of gestation time since this guy would have had the alien in him for at least 30 minutes or maybe even an hour! What’s more, this guy never was properly facehugged. The facehugger needs to knock you out in order to get the eggs inside you since otherwise you’d throw them up, and not only that but as we’ve seen in all the alien films (including this one), the facehugger takes time to implant the eggs it can’t do it in a couple of seconds! But anyway, the super helpful computer knows where the alien is heading which is towards the only other crew left, who are having a shower at this point. We then see them get snuck up on by a fully-grown alien who takes them out. I think if this scene was somewhere else it would be great perfect sneaky alien and a good way to sneak up on people. I mean I can kinda justify the fact they didn’t hear the alarms, but this one scene can’t save a whole movie. Enough of the praising because I’m not sure if you notice but the alien has grown up even faster this time, it’s gone from chestburster to 7-foot alien in about 2 minutes or 3 at the max, and presumably without eating! Either that was one heavy baby or these aliens are just balloons that just puff themselves up after they pop out.

Anyway, Daniels and Tennessee find the carnage and Daniels has a plan. They lure the alien to the terraforming bay and trap it in a truck to send it out the back into space. Once again, if not for the rest of the film this would have been cool, but it’s not over yet of course. Tennessee gets put into hyper sleep and as Walter puts Daniels in her pod she finally figures out that it’s actually David, but it’s too late.

David then proceeds to go to an embryo holding tray and reguritates up a couple of baby facehuggers trapped in bouncy balls….no joke. Tiny facehuggers that can fit in your palm and incased in a clear sack. I mean at this point I want to exclaim “what are these…Facehuggers for ants?!” because this is just ridiculous. And talking about these facehuggers, why can’t the omnipotent ship computer not detect them or for that matter detect David not being Walter? So to end it we’re left questioning what will happen next, and also, for me at least, how did you screw it up so bad?

So, I want to summarise some of the main problems with this film. Firstly, everyone is really stupid, they need better scientists in the future. Secondly, David’s motives are never explained, what made him so crazy on the way to the engineer planet that he killed Shaw and committed genocide on a whole species. Thirdly, they completely screwed up the alien’s life cycle by shortening its growth to minutes which makes it unrealistic even for a sci-fi. And relating to that they made the once mysterious and ancient creature a product of a human creation since humans created David who created the aliens. Fourthly, it contradicts the other films, I was a cheesed off when the engineer’s elephant faces turned out to be masked but this time they actually change the lore. Now the ‘fossilised’ space jockey from the first film is less than 20 years old and for some reason is carrying eggs created by David, it doesn’t make much sense at all. Also it contradicts the painting we saw in Prometheus of an alien in the dreadnaught, the alien skull in Predator 2 and the AVP films (although they’re awful they’re still pretty fun) not to mention it strips the aliens of their mystery and did I mention those eggs on LV-426 must have been there less than 20 years! And the last problem is the technology being more advanced than it is in the future, but only diehard fans of alien will understand my pain.

This film could have been so great! For example, if David had found the eggs in a lock up on the planet, it would have kept some mystery. When David and Walter were fighting, they could have made us actually think David was killed so that the reveal would have actually been good.

I don’t just criticise it for no reason, I want to criticize it so Ridley Scott will make a worthy Alien prequel, hell in my opinion Prometheus was better than Alien Covenant since it didn’t have repercussions for the entire alien universe!