I’ve just picked out a few of the comments @mellenabrave put on my post to clarify (sorry for my shitty paint edit but I wanted to get it all in one pic) 

That post was not me saying ‘AH-HA! I found a plot hole!’ so much as me lamenting what could have been had the writing not been so shitty. Because what you’re saying is actually super cool! But the show worked real hard to meet that potential. 

The second half of that message being a misdirect; well yeah, obviously. But what’s the point of having it in there if the characters or plot don’t acknowledge it? The only thing that came out of that sequence was Ben getting the Omnitrix, which he could have just decided to do when he thought his grandpa was in trouble with aliens again. 

When Ben replays the message to Gwen, she could have said something like ‘Why did he specifically refer to me as your cousin? You know who I am,’ or even just pointed out that weird flicker at the end. And then it could have been an exciting mystery, what happened to Grandpa Max, are these messages from him or the aliens, who do we trust, etc. But we didn’t get any of that. They gave us a really cool, subtle setup and then played almost all the cards in their hand at once. 

im in awe at how incompetent the plumbers are, both individually and as an organisation 

In the first scene of the first episode of Alien Force, the DNAlien that speaks to the Highbreed sounds a lot like Max. I think it’s the same VA (I have never checked and don’t care to) 

Now, when Ben watches the holoviewer from Max, there’s the initial message, and then a second segment about the Omnitrix is added like a post-script. When the second segment ends, as Max’s figure disappears... 

...a DNAlien figure can briefly be seen flickering in Max’s place. 

WHERE MY MIND WENT  

It’s established that Max is fighting the Highbreed and the Highbreed are hunting Max. The DNAlien with Max’s voice made me think that was Max, and that he had already infiltrated the DNAliens and was working as a double-agent in their ranks. That would have been so cool - could have led to an amazing moment where the kids thought they were facing up against the enemy only for Max to reveal himself at a crucial moment. I love a bit of subterfuge. 

Thanks to the holoviewer thing, I thought that perhaps the DNAliens had already captured Max, and were masquerading as him to mislead Ben. Imagine Ben and his allies chasing after the spectre of Max, following his orders through messages left behind on his heoric quest. Only to find out, at what they thought was their crowning moment of victory, that they’d been tricked. That the whole time they’d been helping the enemy they thought they were fighting. Maybe Max is a prisoner still, or maybe they find out the truth when he escapes, or maybe he’d been dead the whole time and they were chasing an actual ghost. Subterfuge and sadness. Nice. 

I also thought that perhaps Max wasn’t captured or dead, that he really was absent of his own alien-fighting accord like in the show proper, but that the Highbreed knew who he was. They had planted the second half of that message in an attempt to make Ben reveal the location of the Omnitrix to take it from him. Things would kick off from there. However this idea died pretty quickly when it was revealed Ben was keeping the all-powerful Omnitrix in a trinket box under his bed. Clearly, a trinket box with great security. 

Anyway. I hate my favourite show. 

I’ve watched it all before a million times and I’ll be the first to admit AF is shite despite it being My Fave. I love the concept and the characters and a lot of the ideas in it, but the actual execution is... not good. 

That post was just about the weird pacing - everything from Ben’s soccer game until he and Gwen meet the plumber has about the same emotional energy as waiting for the bus. 

The plumber shooting at them? Everything about Kevin? THE BIKE THING, my god, I actually physically squirm with secondhand embarrassment every time that scene plays. 

And there were so many things I thought were little hints of future plot points that just... never came up again. I could write a small essay on the cool things I thought they were going to do but which got completely ignored. 

Oh boy, the first ep of Alien Force has weird pacing and energy. 

A very good image

Two gal pals just hanging out doing magic together.

Gwen and Charmcaster <3 I soo wish they had more interactions in the show and ending up being bffs (tho they kinda were frenemies cause you know she was crying on Gwens shoulder after Michael was the biggest of jerks)

late in the month, but let’s have our favorite aromantic teen hero show some pride!

Ashi was never shown eating on the show so I’m assuming she has no idea how to eat food properly.

Aw geez this is good O_O 

4 Page introduction to my comic, Jack and the Scholar! And if you haven’t guessed it, She is the descendant of an old friend. Woo! I’ve been working on this for weeks! Synopsis. Taken place in the beginning of the 50 year time gap proceeding the events  of Season 5, Jack has recently lost his sword and we begin to see his transition into frustration and mental distress. Here he is buying the first weapon of his new armor, his pistol. Something that he is not too pleased about. The merchant suggest he could ‘sneak up from behind’ which is a very un-honorable way to conduct yourself in battle. Especially for Jack. But he needs a weapon non the less. He bumps into a field laborer distracted by her reading. In passing she casually mention historical facts and stories that Jack hadn’t heard in so long and honestly didn’t think anyone else knew. When he finally gets a good look at her, he senses something familiar, he just can’t quite put his finger on it. Of course, she’s a woman of science and fact, so when Jack tells her that he is a time traveling Samurai from feudal japan with no sword named ‘Jack’…she doesn’t really believe him. Brushing him off, the woman turns to leave only to have her facts corrected by Jack. It may of struck a nerve with her, perhaps she had lost something in translation? Jack’s mind is in the beginning process of deteriorating.  It begins to play tricks on him, taunting him of a childhood friend and fooling him into believing that perhaps he still in his own time. However the thoughts only destroy him more, he’s haunted by what he can not chase nor escape from. But the woman seems to have an agenda of her own. Perhaps they just got off on the  Hopefully you like the introduction! If I get a good response I’ll finish chapter 1! Special thanks to  @ricksybusiness @deyasworld @jjamiefawkes For their help with editing / script! 

Feedback appreciated! 

she fight

Oh yeah, it wasn’t a criticism of the kids looking up to him at all! Of course they do! At that age, and from their subjective point of view, Max is a total hero. They don’t at all have the perspective to say ‘hey, this supposed guardian keeps putting us in harm’s way and putting far too much responsibility on us, I don’t think he’s good for us’. They’re children, he’s their grandfather and he’s also pretty manipulative, of course they look up to him, and love him and trust him. Given the dynamics of their relationships and situations they’re in, how could they not? I don’t blame them at all. 

Saying that the kids looking up to him is fucked up is more about the whole situation being fucked up, because Max’s behaviour is fucked up. My biggest complaint is that the show never went heavy enough on pointing out just how bad Max was. Watching the show as an adult with at least some functional parental instincts is disturbing pretty every time Max says or does anything, because he does so much shitty stuff and the narrative does not punish or contradict him nearly enough. I would have loved to have seen the kids eventually become disillusioned with him. 

What little we see of Verdona and his sons’ feelings about him kind of confirms that he’s a manipulative dick, too. There are a couple of mentions of them knowing he lead this ‘double life’ and I always got the sense that he neglected and lied to his family while he was running around indulging his hero complex. And again, we kind of get this rose-tinted image of him because they’re his family and they still love him, but that doesn’t mean his behaviour was okay. 

Honestly please just drag Max Tennyson as much as you like, I’m here for that all day every day. As far as I’m concerned he completely ruined the lives and futures of no fewer than three children through his delusions of heroism. 

You know what pisses me off most about Max as a character?

The show had a *huge* emphasis on selflessness, to a unhealthy amount even, especially when Max is promoting this kind of message, but Max is like the most selfish character on the entire show!

Like the entire reason why he was keeping the plumber thing a secret after the omnitrix appeared was him being too chicken to confront his family and rather opted to endangering two children to an extreme degree.

He never has the goal to get ride of the omnitrix, the thing that makes his (10 year old!!!!) grandson a fucking walking target mark! Instead he projects his own hero complex on his (10 year old!!) Grandson and encourages him to bring himself and his cousin into danger ‘for the greater good’.

But at the same time he always complains about Ben’s selfishness and that in the most fucking terrible way possible. “No Ben, you can’t use that alien device which I’m pretending to know less about then I actually do because I’m a asshole to at least make your life somewhat more easy! You have to use it to bring yourself in danger and save a bunch of people.”

Like dear god, this.kid.is.10! And lets not even start on how Max’s hero complex and his constant encouragment of Ben putting himself in danger is the reason why Vilgax can find them so easily in season 1!

Like it’s really most apparent in the season final. The first and *only* time Max doesn’t want Ben to play hero is when he realizes he could be fucking killed.

Like how fucked up is that?! You almost fucking caused your grandchild to die! And you don’t even reflect on your actions and maybe think giving a 10 year old a hero complex is fucking dangerous and probably counts to child abuse?

Well anyway, Max Tennyson is the worst parental figure ever and you can fucking fight me!

I love hating Max Tennyson, thank you for this post.

You know what pisses me off most about Max as a character?

The show had a *huge* emphasis on selflessness, to a unhealthy amount even, especially when Max is promoting this kind of message, but Max is like the most selfish character on the entire show!

Like the entire reason why he was keeping the plumber thing a secret after the omnitrix appeared was him being too chicken to confront his family and rather opted to endangering two children to an extreme degree.

He never has the goal to get ride of the omnitrix, the thing that makes his (10 year old!!!!) grandson a fucking walking target mark! Instead he projects his own hero complex on his (10 year old!!) Grandson and encourages him to bring himself and his cousin into danger ‘for the greater good’.

But at the same time he always complains about Ben’s selfishness and that in the most fucking terrible way possible. “No Ben, you can’t use that alien device which I’m pretending to know less about then I actually do because I’m a asshole to at least make your life somewhat more easy! You have to use it to bring yourself in danger and save a bunch of people.”

Like dear god, this.kid.is.10! And lets not even start on how Max’s hero complex and his constant encouragment of Ben putting himself in danger is the reason why Vilgax can find them so easily in season 1!

Like it’s really most apparent in the season final. The first and *only* time Max doesn’t want Ben to play hero is when he realizes he could be fucking killed.

Like how fucked up is that?! You almost fucking caused your grandchild to die! And you don’t even reflect on your actions and maybe think giving a 10 year old a hero complex is fucking dangerous and probably counts to child abuse?

Well anyway, Max Tennyson is the worst parental figure ever and you can fucking fight me!

“All that stuff you did, it’s not you. It’s that charm.” ♫

With how often Jack gave up the chance to return home so he could help people in the future in seasons 1-4, I really thought this was where the ending was headed. It made so much thematic sense to me.

As someone who’s only casually familiar with Samurai Jack but is very interested in storytelling and tropes, I figured they would go for an ending where Aku is defeated in a way that leaves Jack stuck in the future. He lives out the rest of his life there (just say that his not aging was something Aku did to him and that it’s gone now) and does his best to help rebuild society. He has to deal with the knowledge that he couldn’t save his family and will never see them again, but he can honor the memory of them and everyone who suffered during Aku’s reign by making the world a better place. You still have that element of tragedy and loss and needing to heal, but without the mean-spirited and random as fuck method that the actual ending used.

HAHAHAHA WOW WASNT THAT LOVLEY TOTALLY HAPPY WEDDING TH E ENDING THAT EEEVERYONE DESERVED???? LIKE WOW THEY GOT TO BE TOGETHER FOR THE REST OF THEIR LIVES WOOOW 

The Scotsman’s daughters!

They all have names and I lost count of how many there are of them.

UPDATE: Their names are in the iTunes captions and there are 28 daughters named in this scene! They are:

1. Flora 2. Maeve 3. Isla 4. Bradana 5. Murdina 6. Alana 7. Oban 8. Ardbey 9. Fiona 10. Assie 11. Bonnie 12. Lorna 13. Mawina 14. Shona 15. Nora 16. Piesil 17. Shanath 18. Euspeth 19. Edme 20. Freya 21. Gilbartha 22. Gesha 23. Grizela 24. Innes 25. Dawntha 26. Cora 27. Davina 28. Kina

…I’m going to try and make myself feel better…

(Samurai Jack spoiler related stuff below)

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