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iamanartichoke · 3 years

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Another totally unprompted ask, on the assumption that you are definitely no longer in need of them… another thing I’m trying to work out about Loki characterisation in preparation for perpetrating fic torture on him is how suicidal the poor sod is most of the time. This is another thing I’ve seen referred to a lot but only in passing. Though obviously this is a pretty triggery topic, so ignore if you want.

I am always in need of totally unprompted asks, otherwise I just assume no one wants to talk to me lmao

So, hoo boy. I have been mulling over this for, apparently, three days now bc there's just ... there's a lot to unpack here. Putting under a cut for obviously triggery content and also for length bc fml.

In my opinion, the response to "how suicidal is Loki most of the time" is "very, but whether or not he wants to do anything about it varies from moment to moment" (see what I did there? I'll see myself out). In other words, I have always had a headcanon that Loki is consistently, passively suicidal. This is a headcanon that comes straight from TDW, bc I'm certain that Loki never had any intention of surviving their mission. And that could be a whole other post, really, but the point is that even though this is a TDW-centric headcanon, I have come to adopt it as applying to Loki in general as well, not just in those specific circumstances.

When I say passively suicidal, I mean that Loki is just sort of ambivalent about the value of his own life. He feels like he doesn't deserve to be alive, and feels like there's little point in being alive. Which - I don't mean to sound all gloom and doom, like, poor uwu emo Loki (and I kinda hate that I have to pause to disclaim that, no, I don't just have a fixation on Loki being depressed for funsies/the aesthetic/whatever); I think that this mindset stems from really complicated places that I'm not sure I can articulate, but I will try.

I view Loki as someone who suffers from a severe inferiority complex, and I feel like it stems from being abandoned as an infant. Loki's life started with a traumatic event and, even if he doesn't remember the event itself, the feelings he experienced stayed in his subconscious. Feelings of loss, of fear, of despair and abandonment, of suffering - these are all feelings that burrowed into his bones and lived there for his entire life, feelings that colored how Loki viewed himself as a person as well as how he compared to the people around him.

Keep in mind that Loki didn't know he was abandoned until the events of Thor 1, obviously. We don't really know how old Loki is, in human years, but I have always assumed that he and Thor were at least adults (not teenagers), maybe the equivalent of early twenties - and the reason I bring that up is because it means Loki made it all the way to adulthood carrying the weight of a trauma that he did not remember or even knew had happened, so to him, there was no real reason for how wrong he felt. There was no explanation for the feelings of loss, of neglect, of fear. So on top of struggling with those feelings, Loki was also burdened with the alienation that comes with wondering why one can't just be like everyone else, why one can't just "snap out" of depression, why one's sense of self-worth has always been lacking.

So imagine what it's like to grow up as Loki. He was traumatized as an infant. The trauma has been with him his entire life, along with the confusion/alienation of not understanding why he feels the way that he does, and then on top of that, his basic personality lends itself toward introspection and isolation, so he likely felt even further removed from Thor and from his peers. Loki's too smart for his own good, and he's got an enormous capacity to feel and I feel like this is a combination that works against him as much as it does for him, bc it probably means he spent a lot of time examining himself and identifying all of his perceived flaws - and then berating himself for said flaws.

People with depression are probably pretty familiar with the bully that lives in your head, the one who is always there to remind you that you're stupid, or ugly, or that nobody likes you, or that you have nothing of value to contribute to anyone, etc. Loki's no different; he's got that bully in his head, too. Add onto this the fact that his brother is literally perfect, that he feels his father doesn't love him (or love him as much), that his interests in things like magic are looked down on in his culture, and that he's a prince (meaning that along with the privilege comes pressure, and being in the public eye, knowing that everyone around him is comparing him to Thor as much as he compares himself to Thor, well.) and you have a total clusterfuck of a mindset, and Loki's been existing inside of that clusterfuck for nearly all of his life.

I always go back to the quote where, when filming I think the vault scene, Kenneth Branagh directs Tom by saying, "This is the moment where the thin steel rod holding your brain together snaps." And it's such a significant moment for Loki bc this is where it all crumbles for him, learning the truth, but I also fixate on the "thin steel rod" part of the quote bc that's not how one would describe a healthy, stable person's mind. The implication, to me, has always been that Loki wasn't that stable to start with due to his general upbringing, his internal struggles, and his personality, so of course the devastation of learning he's adopted, and Jotun, would send him over the edge. One doesn't go from zero to 60; one doesn't fall over the edge unless they were balancing fairly close to it in the first place. And to me, the "thin steel rod" basically equals the aforementioned clusterfuck of a mindset.

THE POINT IS. (Holy shit, I ramble.) This is the foundation on which I'm basing my headcanon that Loki neither values his life nor feels as if he even deserves to live it - bc his default mindset is one of inferiority, of loss, of pain. And I think that going from being a general unstable person pre-canon to being passively suicidal post-canon is a thing that happened because, somewhere between the vault in Thor 1 and the dungeons in TDW, Loki just stopped caring.

Life is exhausting for everyone, but even moreso when your mental load becomes more than you can carry. Loki is exhausted. His experience is that things just keep getting worse and worse for him - he's never been valued, he's always been found wanting. He discovers that he was literally thrown away as an infant, unwanted and left to die, and things haven't gotten much better for him since then. Everything that can go wrong, does go wrong. His plans spin out of control. He's unable to prove his worth and his value and when he is, in fact, rejected, he literally tries to kill himself (only to survive and end up in an even worse situation).

It all just continually goes downhill, and Loki is fucking exhausted. He's done. He has no hope that anything is ever going to change - he will never be valued or even seen, he's unable to connect to anyone, he has no family (aside from Thor, but their relationship is so fraught with pain). As far as he's concerned, his life has been nothing but a waste since he was born and if no one else values it, why should he?

So - passively suicidal. He places no value on his life, and doesn't shy away from situations that could cost him his life. It's possible that the only reason he's not actively suicidal is bc his previous attempt not only failed but led to such a horrible situation that he's probably too afraid to intentionally seek out death again. He doesn't want to fail and end up worse off for it.

And - not that you asked this in particular, but - my biggest disappointment in the series is that none of what I've just written is addressed in a satisfying way (to me). That is, we don't get any real explicit acknowledgement of the trauma of Loki's abandonment as a baby or how that affected his mental health growing up; we don't get to explore how devastated he was to learn of his adoption; we don't ever see him reconcile his ingrained belief that jotuns are monstrous savages with the fact that he is jotun. He says "I betrayed everyone I loved, but I'm different now" and we're supposed to infer what he means without Loki actually articulating why he feels that he's the only one who should be held responsible for all these things that had happened or what "I've changed" even means to him (aside from not betraying Sylvie).

I would have liked to see these things addressed for a lot of reasons, but one of those reasons is that I would want to see how Loki comes to terms with all of his issues and his pain enough that he stops being passively suicidal. We never get to see that; after TDW, the time that passes allows for Loki to kinda chill, resulting in the Ragnarok version, but if there was any real healing or recovering going on, it was happening off-screen, with the audience expected to just go with "yeah Loki was going through it for awhile but he's kinda better now."

Furthermore, much of what I've written here is based on prime Loki's development through TDW, but doesn't account for series Loki's split from that timeline nor the theme of "Lokis survive" that's so prevalent in the series. So I don't think the "passively suicidal" headcanon is really appropriate for series Loki but, at the same time, I'd like to have seen why. I'd like to have seen Loki learning to value his life, or where the "we survive" mindset comes from, since that's not really been a thing before now. (Out of universe, I suspect it comes from the context of Loki just not dying whenever he tries to, but since TDW and IW haven't happened, and Loki didn't intend to survive his fall from the bifrost, framing Loki as an innate survivor doesn't really make sense, but to be fair, I'm just being picky.)

So, yeah. I'm not saying Loki doesn't experience growth or development in the series, I'm just saying that his arc left much unsaid and, furthermore, framing his growth as "wanting a throne to not wanting a throne" without addressing that Loki doesn't actually want the power of the throne, he wants the value and self-worth he associates with the throne, is - well, again, unsatisfying. Not bad, but it leaves viewers like me wanting bc we're cognizant of how much more could have been done.

I ... am going to end this now. This is probably nonsensical and all over the place, so I'm very sorry, and I'm sure this is why I don't get meta-starter asks lmfao bc no one's out here trying to read my dissertation submission for a Ph.D in Loki, but well, sometimes it just be like that.

Thank you for the ask and the opportunity to ramble.

#asks #charlotte replies #loki pokey artichokey #loki series #loki series criticism #loki meta #tw suicidal ideation #tw suicide attempt #tw suicide #tw mental health #tw depression #i spent two fucking hours on this yet i still feel like it's rambly nonsense #i hit stream-of-consciousness at some point and just went with it #and now i'm too lazy to revise #so i'm sorry #this'll probably only get like 10 notes anyway bc that's how it be on tumblr #put effort in and get little validation; put no effort in and everyone loses their minds

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songtoyou · 3 years

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Tempting Fate - Part Six

Paring: Tommy Shelby x Reader

Warnings: Nothing major.

Word Count: 1,815

Story Summary: Tommy is not a believer in fate or destiny. However, a new resident in Small Heath will question his beliefs and push his boundaries outside his comfort zone.

Chapter Summary: Tommy gets attacked by Sabini’s thugs. You help him recuperate at home. He tells you of his plan to meet with Alfie Solomons to join forces against Sabini.

A/N: While this story takes place during season two of the show, I made some changes to the timeline. For instance, Tommy meets May before meeting Alfie Solomons. Tommy also gets attacked by Sabini’s men long after meeting May. I just wanted to make that clear. The Garrison got bombed and rebuilt before the start of the story.

Please do not post any of my fics to other sites without my permission.

Tag list: @owenniasstars

You knew it was not a good idea for Tommy, Arthur, and John to go to London to appear at the Eden Club. The jazz club was owned by Darby Sabini, the man who currently controls half of the southern racecourses. These are racecourses Tommy desired to take over for himself. To no surprise, the Shelby brothers more than let their presence at the club be known, making sure to cause a raucous and leaving destruction in their path. Typical antics by the Shelby brothers. You and Polly adamantly told Tommy that being reckless was not how to get noticed by Sabini, but Tommy merely brushed them both off.

"Sabini is aware of us now. That was the whole purpose of the trip. He'll make his move, eventually, and when he does, we will be ready," Tommy voiced nonchalantly.

You merely shook her head in disapproval at Tommy. "Okay, the fact that you gave Sabini the upper hand is a really dumb move," you said honestly. "Why would you do that, Tommy? Do you have a death wish or something?" you asked him, concerned for his wellbeing.

Tommy got up from his chair to stand in front of you. He placed his hands on your shoulders and began to gently rub them to help calm your nerves. He softly spoke your name and told you that everything was going to be okay. "You got nothing to worry about, love. You got to trust me on this. I know what I am doing; nothing about my plan is out of place," Tommy reassured you.

However, the small voice inside you was telling you otherwise. It did not take long for your fears to come to fruition. You were at the betting shop helping Polly and Esme on little tasks when they got word that Tommy was in the hospital. Apparently, Tommy got set up by the Jews who asked him for a sit-down only to be attacked by Sabini and his thugs. You told Polly that you were going with her to the hospital. Before she could refuse, you held your hand up to say, "I'm going. Don't try to stop me."

Polly waved you along to follow her to the car and told Esme to watch the house. On the way to the hospital, you kept shaking your leg right leg and fidgeting in your seat.

"I told Tommy something like this would happen, but he didn't listen. He never listens," you almost shouted.

Polly could only sigh, "That's Thomas for you. He always claims to know what is right. He never takes what others think or feel into consideration."

You pinched the bridge of his nose and took a deep breath, and let it out. "It's always going to be like this, isn't it?" you asked, looking towards Polly. "Always worrying about him?"

"Yes. If you are going to be with Tommy, then that will be your life from now on. Think you can handle it?"

"I don't know. But I know no other woman would be able to. He needs someone to look after him, even though he may not think so," you told Polly, who let out an amused chuckle.

"What?" you asked her, confused.

"Nothing, dear. You really were made for Tommy. The two of you are written in the stars," Polly praised happily. "I'm glad Tommy has you around to look after him. Helps ease off my load."

When you and Polly made it to the hospital, it didn't take long to find Tommy. The doctor told you both that Tommy was lucky to be alive. Polly asked you if it was okay for her to see Tommy first. You agreed and waited until she was done.

Polly was only in the room with Tommy for fifteen minutes.

"We're leaving," said Polly.

When she reached for your arm, you pulled away. "What? No! I need to see him!" you shouted.

"Shhh!" ordered Polly. "He says he doesn't want any more visitors. He needs to rest, now let's go."

But you pulled out Polly's grasp and walked towards the hospital room. You saw a row of beds, and Tommy was at the very end. You slowly walked up to him and sat down. It pained you to see him in such a state. Cheek cut, eye swollen shut, ribs bruised and broken. It took all of your strength not to break down in front of him.

He looked at you but didn't say anything. Leaning his head back on the pillow, Tommy let out a disappointed sigh. You didn't say anything. The last thing you wanted to do was scold him or tell him, "you told him so." That wasn't what he needed. So you reached for his hand and intertwined it with yours. He squeezed it tightly. It was his way of thanking you for being there with him.

Nothing was needed to be said between the two of you. Tommy was grateful to have you next to him, even if he didn't actually say it. Your gesture showed him that you were not going anywhere and that you would stay by his side no matter what happened.

What's worst is that Sabini's men also accosted Ada. Thankfully, Tommy already had some of the Peaky Blinders watching out for his little sister. But it was Ada who eventually fought off the thugs herself. You had yet to meet Ada but heard a lot about her from her brother's and aunt. You found out that Ada's husband, Freddie, had recently died from pestilence, and they had a young son, Karl. Ada decided not to move back to Birmingham but chose to stay in London for she didn't want much to do with her family. However, Tommy was not too keen on letting his little sister cut him and the others out of her life so easily. Typical Tommy, you thought.

You visited Tommy every day at the hospital for the first week. By the second week, you could tell he was getting restless. "I need to get out of here," he kept telling you.

"Tommy," you began, "You need to rest and heal."

Unfortunately, Tommy didn't listen and checked himself out of the hospital. Luckily, you caught him as he was getting ready to leave.

"What do you think you are doing, Thomas?" you scolded him. But he didn't say anything.

Tommy struggled to put on his coat. You let him struggle as you knew helping would only make him feel emasculated. When Tommy finally looked at you with pleading eyes, you walked over and helped him into his coat. You folded his collar down and smoothed out his shirt underneath.

While his face had healed up nicely, it still pained you to look at him. His ribs were still bruised but still managed to be able to move around. You offered your arm for him to take, which he did.

Slowly, you both walked out of the hospital.

"I couldn't stay there anymore. Sabini's men would have come to finish me off eventually or someone else," Tommy told you. What he did not tell you was that Chester Campbell visited him earlier. Campbell found out that Tommy killed Eamonn Duggan and threatened Tommy to work for him as a spy or be jailed and hanged.

"Take me back to your place," Tommy instructed. "I'll finish healing there, okay."

"Well, that makes me feel a little bit better," you said with a small smile.

When you got Tommy home, you took him up to your bed, where he slept for the remainder of the day. You fed him when he got up and cleaned his wounds. You told him to stay put when you went for your shift at The Garrison. He was already asleep when you returned. You snuggled next to help and held him while he slept peacefully. Polly, Arthur, and John would make trips to your house to check on Tommy and give him updates on the business. This routine occurred for another week before Tommy became eager to get back to work physically.

He told you that he was heading back to London to meet Alfie Solomons, the leader of the Jewish gangsters in Camden Town. "I'm going to offer Solomons to join forces with us. I also need to stop by Ada's home to see how she is doing. If she is going to stay in London, then she needs a better place to stay, so I bought her a house," Tommy shared with you that morning.

"How are you getting to London?" you asked him curiously. "More than likely, Sabini's men or folks he hired are keeping watch to let him know of your whereabouts."

"I got that covered. I'm meeting up with Charlie and Curry in an hour down by the canal. Curry will take me to London on a barge. It will take a couple of days to get there…"

"Is anyone else going with you?" you interrupted Tommy.

He shook his head 'no' and lit a cigarette. "I need to do this myself," Tommy said to you.

While Tommy knew that you more than likely would have wanted to go with him to make sure he stayed safe, you nodded your head as a show of understanding. You realized that it would be in your best interest to trust Tommy and not doubt him.

"Well, while you are gone, Esme and I are going to meet up with Johnny Dogs to head to a fair not too far from here. The kids have been bugging John and her about going to a fair. John couldn't go, so I offered to go with her. I think Esme is a little bit homesick. She misses traveling."

"Please stay out of trouble while I'm gone," Tommy advised firmly. "I don't want to picture the trouble you and Esme will no doubt get into. Both of you, please behave yourself."

You couldn't hold back your laughter. "We're going to have the kids with us, so not much trouble the two of us can get into. But don't worry, we will behave ourselves," you told Tommy and got up to kiss on the lips.

Before you could step back, his hand grasped the back of your head and deepened the kiss. With Tommy's injuries, the two of you hadn't been intimate with one another in a long while.

When Tommy stood up, he began unbuttoning your blouse and walking you back to the bedroom.

"Tommy, we can't. You're still hurt," you pleaded, but it went on deaf ears as Tommy guided you to the bed.

"I need you, love. It has been too long. Trust me, being inside you will make me feel better," Tommy uttered while kissing your neck and chest.

Who were you to deny the man? You needed him just as he needed you.

#tommy shelby #tommy shelby x reader #peaky blinders #peaky blinders fic

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filmadaydiary · 3 years

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1/22/21 to 1/23/21

Marvel Part 3

This is the biggest chunk of the films by a bit, and a lot happens in here. I think there are four origin stories, and there’s even a sequel to one of those origins within the same group. A LOT happens, and in general things have been settled into a comfortable formula. And yet here we have some new directors, a lot of new characters, and some new takes on old favorites. Now that the MCU is so established, it seems people were more comfortable taking risks with these stories, and I think it pays off in audience satisfaction. Also, yes, we did watch seven movies in two days. What can I say? We’re good kids staying locked down.

1/22/21

Ant-Man – Peyton Reed, 2015

I’m very disappointed that this could have been an Edgar Wright movie. It comes so close, with the way Luis tells his stories and the structure of the final battle between the two tiny men. And yet it is definitely not Edgar Wright. It’s a pretty basic superhero origin story. That being said, Paul Rudd is a national treasure and absolutely carries this film. He is a delight to watch as the funny, clever lead, as he always is. He was made to be a quippy genius in a cool suit. Okay, that makes him sound like Iron Man. In a way, Ant-Man is Iron Man Lite. He’s not rich, he’s just an everyday guy. He is an engineer, but maybe not a genius. Most importantly, he’s genuinely funny, not rude, and he cares about his family. I do think the characterizations are what make this movie compelling, not the plot. It ties in very nicely to Civil War, and I enjoyed watching it directly before the epic crossover event. Having light-hearted characters with less worldly stakes keeps the MCU grounded and keeps superheroes from being too out of touch.

Captain America: Civil War – Joe and Anthony Russo, 2016

I hesitate to say this, but I think this might be my favorite movie in the MCU. I can’t quite put my finger on why, because there are certainly more epic team-ups, and I hate when friends fight. And yet, I still love this film. One, you get Hawkeye in a non-Avengers event, which is always terribly exciting. Two, you get the character intros of some of the best characters ever (Spider-Man and Black Panther). And three, you get an intense debate about morals that actually gives you something to talk about after you leave the theater. It feels rare to have a superhero movie that doesn’t have morals hitting you over the head with righteousness and love. This movie really makes you think about control and consequences. And I love a movie that makes you think. I’m also slightly biased because I had a great premiere experience, I got to see an early screening and the exclusivity made it more exciting too. It pulls on a lot of existing threads within the MCU and brings the conflict to a head in a spectacular way.

1/23/21

Spider-Man: Homecoming – Jon Watts, 2017

The stand-out role in Civil War, seeing Spider-Man on the big screen under Disney’s purview was certainly a treat. I appreciate that they didn’t go for yet another Peter Parker origin story, instead jumping in after he’s already become Spider-Man. We all know the story of the radioactive spider bite by now, so getting to see Spider-Man grow as a friendly neighborhood guy is delightful. It’s a high school coming-of-age movie that happens to feature superheroes. The stakes are brought down to a relatable level. Asking out the girl he likes is just as important as catching the bad guy, perhaps even more so. Tom Holland is the absolutely perfect casting choice, capturing both being an awkward teenager and being a web-slinging badass. And Tony Stark gets the opportunity to right his wrongs and step up to be a father figure for someone who desperately needs one. I do wish we got to focus on Peter’s story a little more, instead of using him as a pawn to fulfill Tony’s character arc. But that’s a small criticism for an otherwise lovely movie.

Black Panther – Ryan Coogler, 2018

Black Panther rocked the world when it came out, and rightfully so. Here we have a Black superhero who brings a respectful version of African traditions to the big screen. The worldbuilding of Wakanda is spectacular, showing that this hidden nation knows more about technology than anyone else in the world. It flies in the face of negative stereotypes about African peoples and blends aspects of tribalism in without making them feel like tokens. I think I like the Dora Milaje the best, the squad of women warriors who protect the king. They are so strong and beautiful with their shaved heads and spears and I love them. After Black Panther’s introduction in Civil War, it was nice to go into this movie and see what he dealt with in the weeks after his father’s death. Once again, seeing things in chronological order helped clarify any confusion I had about the timeline of things when they came out months apart in theaters. T’Challa had a really rough couple of weeks in there. Oh, and Michael B. Jordan is also excellent in his role as Killmonger. It’s a great movie for so many reasons.

Doctor Strange – Scott Derrickson, 2016

I feel like a lot of people don’t like this movie. It is true that Doctor Strange is a little bit like a discount Tony Stark, a man who thinks the rest of the world is below him because of his superior intellect. At least this movie has the decency to break him down to nothing before giving him ridiculous superpowers that serve to reaffirm that belief. I think this movie is fine. It’s definitely one of the more visually arresting films, which I always appreciate. On visuals alone, I’d pick this over something like Ant-Man or Thor 2. The concept is also relatively cool, making it seem like wizardry can be learned by anybody. However, it does feel out of place in the timeline. We’re getting close to the end of the line here, and all this movie does for the overarching plot is introduce the Time Stone. But while I think it’s a perfectly passable origin story, it doesn’t make sense here at this point in Phase 3 of the MCU. Plus Marvel didn’t really need another overpowered quippy white man. Again, this is a fun movie to watch, but for the first time in awhile, this is better on its own than in sequence.

Thor: Ragnarok – Taika Waititi, 2017

Taika Waititi is a creative genius and should be allowed to take over the entire film industry. What We Do in the Shadows is one of my favorite movies of all time and I’m so glad that he is now on the map and taking over the Thor franchise going forward. He took the goofy Thor we all know and love and turned up the humor without compromising character, adding in nods to the previous movies and the fans without offending anybody. To say nothing of Korg, arguably one of the best side characters we’ve seen in the MCU thus far. After seeing it for the first time on my birthday, my brother announced upon leaving the theater that this was his new favorite MCU movie. I do think that this ranks pretty highly for me. It makes Thor fun again. Plus it’s just a really good movie. Like it features characters we already know, and then uses characteristics we haven’t seen before to make them well-rounded and more interesting to watch. And it’s stylistically very well done too! The scene with Thor using his lightning and the flashback with the Valkyries and the fight on the rainbow bridge... It’s all so good. And I haven’t even mentioned Jeff Goldblum. There’s a very good reason my brother likes this movie so much. It’s because it’s excellent.

Ant-Man and the Wasp – Peyton Reed, 2018

Now, Thor: Ragnarok leads directly into Infinity War, so I do sort of wish we’d gone into that next. But it was more important for us to watch Infinity War and Endgame back to back, so we decided to throw the Ant-Man sequel in here. This movie is about what Ant-Man and his friends were up to immediately before the events of Infinity War, maybe even during, because he wasn’t in that movie. And it sets up some VERY important plot points for Endgame. It makes a lot of sense to release these in the order they did. This is still an okay movie, but it ultimately feels like filler. Which is a shame, because these are good characters. Paul Rudd is still a delight, and so is the supporting cast of thieves. At the end of the day, it does feel necessary to watch this movie at some point so that the other ones make sense, but it also doesn’t feel like it has much impact on its own. The villain is interesting enough, the dialogue is still snappy, but the most impactful part of the film is the end credits scene when you see the Pym family get dusted. It’s a preview of what’s to come, even more haunting if you know it’s coming. But the part of the movie that makes you sit up and pay attention should not be hidden away in the credits.

#filmblr #filmcommunity #filmmaking #Film Review #film

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less--beans · 4 years

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lihn asks: 2, 9, 14, 19, 20, 22, 27, 28, 39, 40, 47

2. Fav scenes?

can i just say the whole musical? i really want to just say the whole musical. i’ll not mention any scenes with songs, bc that’s a whole other thing, but i’ll pick a few (i said a few but it’s a lot more than that, i’m very sorry) top scenes. i’m pretty sure most ppl answer this with like 3 scenes but i’ve never been very good at picking so here, have 10. i’m going to make a list bc if i just put it all in a paragraph it would be way too long.

-i love sheila and susannah’s first actual conversation. it’s funny how nervous and awkward susannah is, and how many questions she asks and weird things she says. i love how sheila just rolls with it, answering her questions and ignoring the weirdness. francis’ little interludes are funny and it makes my heart melt when sheila goes ‘but in the good way,’ especially after seeing that susannah believes francis and everyone else when they tell her she’s weird in the bad way, and i can’t help but die when i remember that sheila is probably the first person who saw how weird susannah was and didn’t insult her or act like it was a bad thing but instead just rolled with it.

-it’s a short scene but i love when they’re teaching susannah how to smoke and she visualizes francis being torn apart. it’s the funniest thing. so short and yet so good.

-another short yet awesome scene is right before the other one, when sheila spends a solid 20-30 seconds just staring at susannah and listening to her write songs. very gay. also, in the same scene, sheila listing what she likes and then adding that susannah’s interests weren’t too bad either. her acting like she usually does and just kind of putting down the other person’s interests a little before letting her walls drop and acknowledging susannah as a person was amazing. again with the walls dropped thing is her respecting susannah’s boundaries and not demanding to know who the letter was from. we love character growth.

-yet another short scene is right before oh well when sheila’s kind of teasing her about the morse code thing and being like ‘you’re obsessed.’ it was hilarious. and then it kind of clicked in their heads with the nonsense syllables and the secret code and it was like they were finally on the same wave length. it was very very sweet.

- i loved the scene where sheila got taken to solitary. phenomenal acting. my heart broke. i’ve watched it so many times and i love looking at various reactions of the girls (judith being victorious, sheila being hurt and scared and angry, dorothy in shock and still trying to comfort others, ya-ya collasping, kitty being angry and disappointed, rat just watching concerned and scared from the sidelines) as it all goes down. it’s painful and it was such a different ending to act 1 than i thought would happen just two minutes prior, and it’s a majorly emotional scene.

-in the beginning of act 2, she’s like ‘no, this is my fault!’ and all the girls just agree with her, and then judith tells the history of harriet. i did not see her backstory coming at all. that part made me physically sick and very horrified. i didn’t necessarily like that scene, but i respect it bc of the acting, and the effect it had on me is proof that it was good. also, when kitty comes from judith and reveals that sheila took out her eye? that was the second huge revelation in the same scene and i had to pause it to process. plus, that was a sick burn. go kitty.

-the scene with kitty and susannah before masochist!! powerful, emotional, had me in tears. I adore kitty so much. some real stuff was said there, and i, as someone who is part of the lgbtq+ community, was really affected by that scene. also masochist, but again, we’re not going into songs right now. that’s a whole other thing.

-i died when the music was building up and susannah was on the steps and she was giving her whole rousing speech and she finally admitted that she loved sheila. the music stopped, susannah stopped, my heart stopped, and the girls gave a wonderfully funny fake gasp. the girls’ reactions in that scene were impeccable and so hilarious to me, and there’s of course the fact that susannah, after stumbling over her words and feelings the entire show, finally admitted out loud that she loved sheila. not only that, but she did it in front of everyone. very big character growth, plus the growth of my heart as it swelled and burst in my chest. i loved it.

-the transition of judith being like ‘there’s no way she just thinks the plumbing sucks’ to sheila loudly complaining about her hatred of the sucky plumbing was perfect. also, i can’t watch sheila’s slow realization of what’s happening without laughing. she’s such an idiot and i love her. her slamming her head into the pillow and slowly raising it up again as it sinks in? comedic genius. just the parallels of susannah being like ‘she’ll figure it out soon’ at the exact same moment sheila figures it out is amazing. judith going ‘i will happily eat my own sh-’ and then being cut off by sheila knocking back was hilarious, and kitty’s ‘do you want fries with that judith?’ was so iconic.

-them being like ‘how are we going to do this??’ in the middle of the song and everything going dark and quiet for a few seconds other than that sign of ‘four minutes and 38 seconds later’ before going ‘that’s a great plan’ was so freaking funny. we’re going to skip the moment where sheila and susannah reunite for now bc i’m probably going to make another post about it and this post is already so long. also, i love how they outlined the plan as they put it into action. it was poetic cinema. perfect execution of one of my fav tropes and i really enjoyed it.

9. Fav lighting moments?

I love the beginning transition where the lights flash and show the silhouettes of the girls, it’s so powerful. I also love the emphasis the lighting gives when it changes in the pre-reprise of teenage delinquent and also in susannah’s song reprise (basically whenever everything stops and susannah has a gay moment). the lights shining through the smoke to give the illusion of fire? amazing. that was exactly what the scene needed to take it from incredible to literal perfection. on that note, i liked the ghostly feel the lights gave as they shone through the windows once the girls were outside. lastly, i loved the lights in the end of teenage delinquent. that was a very emotional moment and the lights just added to it.

14. A major(s) character you love?

I love sheila a lot. she’s so tough and yet so sweet. i first met her and i was kind of worried about if she was going to be one of the stereotypical mean tough girls, but she managed to be strong and kind, and it’s amazing. i love how she’s a little aloof and yet totally willing to take down anyone who hurts the people she cares about. she fights asp, buzz, and even judith, all bc they hurt her family. plus, that girl’s been through a lot. i’ve made a few other posts just based on what i got from the three failed escape attempts but i really feel sad for her and all that she’s been through.

19. Fav (pre)reprise?

So we obviously have the oh well reprise when susannah is delivering the esp to sheila and that’s such an amazing one that always gets me. i’ve cried a lot at that scene. sheila smiling and trying to hide it while half-heartedly trying to get susannah to stop playing by warning her that she would get in trouble... ugh. my heart. another one that i really like, however, is when sheila and susannah first met. the pre-reprise of teenage delinquent gets me almost as much as the oh well reprise does. it’s so short, only a few lines, but we see susannah immediately fall for her. it’s so sweet and it sets everything up so perfectly, and i especially love the percussion. in the last line the drums kick in and crescendo and it’s just a masterpiece.

20. Headcanon(s) for what happens before the show?

i’m very sorry to announce that i forgot who the creator of this (if anyone knows please message me!) but some created this amazing timeline. it’s phenomenal. i’ve pretty much accepted everything on that list as canon.

22. Headcanon(s) for what happens between Teenage Delinquent and Finale?

judith definitely became a chill therapist. 100%. she keeps in touch with ya-ya and they try to arrange meetings every now and then. sometimes they see certain plays together. ya-ya went to hollywood with dorothy. she made it big in special effects, and dorothy prefers to act in smaller gigs in underground places. ya-ya helps out with dorothy’s plays sometimes. they share an apartment together. sometimes dorothy sees rat in the audience of her shows. she doesn’t question how rat knew where she’d be performing and she doesn’t question the money and cigarettes that are pushed into her hands after. she also doesn’t question it if rat ever shows up in need to stay for a few days. it happens every few months, and dorothy just makes sure there’s good food in the house and slips some money into rat’s things when she’s sleeping. kitty keeps in touch with susannah, and she attends all of susannah’s performances she can. susannah goes on tour with her band, and she could’ve sworn in their tour in hollywood she saw three familiar faces in the crowd. she’ll never know for sure though. sheila stays in mexico for a while before deciding to go back to the states. she doesn’t know what happened to francis. at the border she told him he was lucky she didn’t kill him and left on his bike, never to see him again. she traveled around the us with that bike, eventually deciding to visit hollywood. she saw a familiar name in an underground club and immediately went to the next showing available, watching with barely held back tears as dorothy starred in a play. she saw rat in the audience and ya-ya’s name credited in special effects, and she had to leave at intermission to keep herself together. she wasn’t sure how to approach them or what she would do or say, so she took off that night to keep the temptation away. she went all the way across the country to nyc, figuring it was about time she visited some old friends from mexico. she walked into a record shop to ask for directions and caught a thief stealing from the store a few minutes later. she walked in to return the record.

27. Teenage Delinquent or Revolution Song?

how am i supposed to choose?? from the moment i heard teenage delinquent pre-reprise i loved both versions. it’s such a pretty tune, and it’s so meaningful, and the emotion in it is so powerful. it makes me cry every time, and the end... wow. they’re gay and in love and i get very emotional about it. i absolutely love teenage delinquent. revolution song, however, was one of the first ones i ever heard and probably the one that made me watch the show. it’s so energetic and so great, and i cannot listen to it without wanting to start my own rebellion and take down some terrible patriarchal system. it’s constantly in my head and it’s so catchy and fun. plus, i love watching it in the show, and the girls throwing things and burning down the building is one of my fav things. i love both of these songs so much and i physically can’t choose which one is my favorite.

28. Something you like/have noticed about the show that you haven’t seen anyone else mention yet?

both of these things are only briefly mentioned in the show but i’ve still never seen anyone talk about them. this show takes place over the span of only 17 days (excluding the finale, obviously). in the beginning, when susannah had just arrived, asp got the call about the interview and she mentioned it being in 17 days. a lot happened in 17 days, especially since they were locked up for 8 of them. all of the events of act 1 took place over 9 days at most, and probably less, bc we know sheila didn’t respond right away in solitary and we’re not sure of how much time passed until she did. that feels like such a short time span to me. another thing is that they’re on the fifth floor. i don’t know why this stood out to me, but it’s probably something to do with the fire. they would have lit the fire and gotten out really quickly. i feel like imagining them on the first or second floor is different than imagining them on the fifth floor for some reason, and i just felt like pointing it out.

39. What got you interested in LIHN?

I was bored in between classes and so i watched a random youtube video of musical clips. there were three clips of lihn in there, and they interested me enough that i watched the entire musical a few days later. i immediately fell in love and i’ve watched it almost every day since.

40. What does LIHN mean to you?

love in hate nation means so much to me. i absolutely love this show. there’s so much to think about and so much to build on. musicals are amazing bc there’s choreography and lighting and lyrics and sets and so many things with hundreds of little hidden messages, and deciphering potential meanings for those messages is so fun. this show is no different. there’s so many things to analyse, and it’s such a good show that i want to analyse everything about it. i can’t put into words how much i love this show. just know it’s a lot.

47. A single wish for the future of the show?

it says a single wish, but i have three, so i’m going to list them all. if i could only have one it would for sure be the first one. first and foremost, i want a cast album. goodness gracious, i want a cast album. so bad. second, i really want this to get to broadway. more people need to know about this show. it’s so good and it’s worth everything. i want this to get big. third, i believe joe posted something about a potential proshoot? i could be wrong but that would be amazing to have.

my grammar is terrible and this is so much longer than it should’ve been, so i’m sorry about that. thank you so much for asking!! it was really fun to answer these. if anyone wants to ask more questions, the link to the asks is here

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thorne93 · 4 years

Text

Unforeseen Chasm (Part 28)

Prompt: Two sisters fall for men that are absolute enemies. The love they have could tear all of them apart, or it could bring them together.

Word Count: 4516

Warnings: Language, fighting,arguing,jealousy,trust issues,torture flashbacks,angst

Song for this part: Time by NF

Note: This is by far the longest thing I’ve ever written (including my novels). It’s a collaboration with the amazing @mrs-dragneel-stark-solo. It started as a funny “What if…?” and it evolved and got huge. This took two years to write. We are both proud and happy and we hope you enjoy it. It follows from Thor 1 to Endgame in the MCU. Some of the timelines may be off in order to fit certain people, and some characters may show up earlier or in different ways than they have in the movie. But for the most part, it follows the MCU. It also has a bit of crossover with some other Marvel characters throughout the story.

Masterlist for Unforeseen Chasm

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The day had finally come for you to leave the cell. When Shannon had told you she got all the obstacles tackled, you were in awe. How did she convince Fury to let you out? Then again, it seemed everyone did whatever Shannon asked of them.

But she had told you that you being out had to be a secret and to do your best not to be seen by anyone. This was strictly a need to know basis, and so far, only five people knew.

It was early morning when Shannon came down to receive you. She was on the phone with someone, when suddenly Kurt appeared in your cell. It made Loki jump slightly and frown. He probably wasn’t expecting it. You had to make the escape fast so no one would see it on the cameras so you kissed Loki quickly, and Kurt grabbed your hand, and you were suddenly in an SUV with pitch black tinted windows.

“Thanks, Kurt,” you said with a smile as you saw who was driving. “Hi, Steve,” you greeted with a coy smile.

“I will see you at the mansion, ya?” Kurt said, his accent heavy.

“See you there.”

And with that, he was gone.

Shannon was still in the cell room, talking to Loki. “I am not sure when we’ll be back, but if you could do your Loki thing and cast an illusion of Y/N/N while we’re gone…”

“I’m already ahead of you,” he stated with a smile as a carbon copy of you walked out of the bedroom, reading something.

“That’s… incredibly unsettling,” she commented. She shivered and shook her head, then gave him a beaming smile. “But, for our purposes, it’s great. Thank you.”

“Anything I can do to help.”

She grinned, nodded, and left, meeting you in the SUV, sitting in the passenger seat.

“Are we really supposed to trust you?” Steve asked, catching your eyes in the rearview mirror.

“No,” Shannon stated, and you started to feel disappointment run over you before she added, “You’re supposed to trust me.”

This made you smile quietly to yourself in the backseat.

Steve checked the traffic, and then pulled out. In order to alleviate some of the tension in the car, Shannon turned on the radio and the ride upstate was rather… pleasant. You stared out at the city the entire way, taking in people, the way they talked, moved, walked. It was amazing how several months without much human interaction could really make you go stir crazy. You were hungry for all the lights, the noises, the sights… Even watching people walking a dog, or grabbing coffee made you smile.

The ride upstate turned from the city, to the country and it was just as stunning as the city. Asgard was like a golden heaven, it truly was beautiful, but all you had known for nearly the past two years was one desolate, windy rock, and an isolated cell with four rooms.

As soon as you turned into the familiar drive, you were nearly like a kid arriving at Disney World. You could hardly contain the excitement. Once Steve parked the car, you jumped out, making him nervous.

“Woah,” he said, getting out and holding his hand up.

“What?” you asked, confused.

“Just...slow down,” he said, eyeing you.

“Yes, Captain,” you said with a polite smile as you folded your hands behind your back and stepped in front of him, so that he could keep an eye on you as Shannon went up to the door and knocked. Storm let the three of you inside, where you stood in the foyer, trying to remember the last time you’d come here.

In an instant, it seemed like the foyer was filled with X-Men. Kurt had appeared, Jean and Scott came up holding hands, Logan, Jubilee, and Marie were all there. Charles arrived only a second later, where he and Shannon traded a hug and he smiled to you, welcoming you back to the mansion.

“Thank you, Professor,” you said sweetly before glancing to Jean and bounding over to her. “Jean! Scott!” you greeted wrapping them both in a tight embrace.

“And just where is my hello?” A cajun drawl suddenly pulled your attention away.

Your head snapped up to the top of the stairs where Remy stood, a shit eating grin on his face.

“Remy!” you all but squealed, dashing up the stairs to greet him.

Without any warning, Steve launched into his super soldier mode and took off quickly. He hurled over the circular wooden table in the middle of the foyer, knocking over the vase full of flowers, before he bounded up the stairs and grabbed your biceps, pulling them behind you.

“What the--?” you asked calmly, looking to see what had just happened. “Steve? What the hell, man? Let me go. I’m just trying to hug my friend.”

The X-Men shared a look of strong confusion, but Charles simply waved it off.

“Steve, it’s okay, let her go,” Shannon commanded. “She’s known Remy for a long time.”

Remy gave Steve an incredulous look before Steve stepped back one step and let you go. Ignoring your perplexion over the event that just occurred, a warm smile spread on your face and you wrapped your arms around Gambit.

“How have you been?” you asked.

“Uh, Y/N/N, we need to utilize our time here,” Shannon reminded, making you turn around.

“What? Hmm, oh! Right! Point me wherever I need to go,” you said happily.

Charles spoke up. “Jean, Logan, and Remy, go with Y/N. Shannon, my dear, you can come with me and Scott.”

With that, everyone went their separate ways. Charles escorted Shannon to the large training room, while Steve, Logan, Remy, and Jean showed you to another training room underground in the backyard.

----------

When Charles got settled in, he began questioning Shannon.

“So when did this start?”

“I think it was around the time I ran into… what was that kid’s name that had the emotional power? Where he could feel what people felt?” she asked.

“Ah.. Adam, the empath,” he remembered. “And you think that’s what’s wearing on you?”

She shrugged lightly. “It’s the only thing I noticed. When I use any of my powers, I get a little weak. But it’s nothing like what’s compared to when I have an emotional high or low,” she informed.

“Interesting… so the powers themselves aren’t bothering you, but your emotions are wearing on you?”

She bobbed her head side to side.

Just then the infamous Wade Wilson comes skipping in having heard that his favorite none avenger was in the mansion.

“ Spicy Buttercup!” he stops right in front of her and lifts her off the ground in a strong hug. “It’s been way too long since the last time I saw you.” he mock pouts knowing she wouldn’t believe it.

“Too tight….Wade” she gets out feeling light headed from his surprisingly strong grip. “Hah! Wow it has been a while also you never come by I told you, you’re always welcome.” she brushes her hair back and takes a deep breath in.

Steve had moved to stand closer unaware that the man in the mask was a friend of Shannon’s. “If you could not do that, it would be very appreciative.” he said in a stern tone noticing how she was taking a moment to catch her breath. “We’re a little busy at the moment, would you mind letting us get back to it?”

“Well hello to you too star spangled man,” he snorts and bumps his shoulder with her. “What’s up his butt?” he shakes his head and looks to Shannon for an answer. “Did stark finally get you a babysitter!” he laughs at his own joke.

“Hahaha very funny Wade, and no Steve’s just a little protective of me with my powers going haywire lately.” she bumps her shoulder back into his. “And Steve has a point there’s something that we are doing that's a little more important.” She makes it to move near Charles.

“Hey wait a darn damn minute!” he playfully scowls. “How come everyone else gets to hang with you and I don’t?” he cocks his head to the side. “I thought I was the fun friend.”

“Wade.. you are the fun friend.” she giggles at his expressions behind his mask. “How about this you let me do this and we can hang out and watch a movie or something?” she offers hoping it’ll satisfy the man-child

“Alright fine! But the moment they finish I'm stealing you away!” he claims looking at everyone to let them know he was serious. “Your treat by the way I’ll be in the background letting all you guys work.” he gives Shannon a peck on the cheek and moves to give them space.

“Okay doll you get your stuff done i’m gonna go keep an eye on Y/N make sure she’s keeping out of trouble,” he hugs his friend and walks off. “Call me if you need anything.”

“I will Stevie and be nice to her would’ya?” she smiles at the Cap but he was out of earshot. She turns to the professor. “Now where were we?” she motions to the man to continue where he left off.

“Lie back and let me run some tests,” he offered. With that, Hank entered the room and they began talking to her as if she were in a doctor’s office. They hooked up electrodes to her head and placed heart monitors on her.

------------------

“So tell me about these new powers,” Jean coaxed.

“Well… Long story short, I went to Asgard,” you began explaining.

“Mhm, and what happened there?” she urged, looking at her clipboard.

“Well, we found out that the longer I was on Asgard I got the same power Remy does,” you informed, glancing to your friend. “I could take the potential energy of any object, and turn it kinetic, as well as absorb energy that’s thrown at me.”

“And that’s bad?” she inquired, perching an eyebrow.

You shook your head. “No, no, that isn’t what the problem is. That power is a part of me, but… But I got pushed into a bad situation and someone gave me another power, a dark one. This one is just straight energy, but whenever I’ve used it, I’ve felt angry. It’s just so… dark.”

She nodded, frowning, looking at her notes. “Okay, let’s do this. Let’s get your blood going, get you angry, and let’s see what triggers this power.”

You bobbed your head.

“Why don’t you and Remy do some contact training? You did say you had the same power as his, right?”

Again, you nodded.

Luckily, the training room had a few objects you could use -- yoga ball, sports balls, weights, metal rods, vases, glasses, empty cans.

“Are you okay with that, Rem?” you asked, glancing to him.

“Whatever I can do to help, cher,” he said with a lilt and a wink.

The two of you took your positions opposite of each other, getting ready to spar.

“Begin whenever you’d like,” Jean sweetly instructed as she stood off to the side with Logan and Steve.

You picked up an empty can, charged it, and threw it at Remy, who deflected it easily. A grin popped onto both of your faces. This grin suddenly sparked something very competitive in both of you and the training quickly became rapid fire shots and dodges. The two of you were throwing anything you could get your hands on. You started out small, but Remy was building up impressively quick. One second it was empty cans and vases, the next, you were lifting entire gym machines and launching them. On the very last one, Remy had to tuck and roll.

“Y/N, have you used your dark energy, at all yet?’

You turned and faced Jean, frowning. “Uh, no, I guess I haven’t.”

“Go ahead and try that for me,” she suggested.

“Um… I don’t know. On Remy it might be too much,” you said, looking to your friend and shaking your head.

“Don’t worry about me, mon cheri,” he assured, nodding towards you, encouraging you. “We gotta find out what’s eatin’ away at ya, don’t we?”

“I suppose,” you said uneasily. You lifted your hands, ready to fire the dark energy, but when you did… it didn’t reach him. The dark purple, electric looking power barely fizzled out of your hands. “What the hell?” you asked, peering down at your hands.

“Interesting,” was all Jean could say.

“All that talk and no action,” Logan mocked from the back corner. You stared back at him, an unreadable expression on your face.

“Try again,” Jean urged.

You turned back, getting ready to aim the power at Remy. You lifted your hand, felt the charge under your skin, the tingling in your hand, but when you actually pushed it from your body -- it simply fell to the floor.

“I don’t know what’s happening,” you stated, staring down at your hands with worry. What if they thought you were lying about needing help?

“When was it at its peak?” Jean asked.

Her question made you think back to months ago when you were a monster, when you were hurting everyone you loved. You flinched involuntarily, it didn’t go unnoticed by the others.

“When I… when I was trying to take over New York,” you explained, shame entangling in your voice and body language.

“How’s everything going in here?” Shannon suddenly asked, stepping into the bunker style training room.

Seeing her felt like a wave of fresh air and sunshine. You instantly straightened up and smiled.

“We’re trying to get to the bottom of exactly what makes her dark power so powerful,” Jean explained. “She said it had to do with the terrorist attack on New York and her hand in it?” she said, looking a little puzzled as she turned to Shannon.

She looked to you silently asking if she could explain what had exactly happened and how you were involved in all of it. You nodded your approval.

“Well it’s a long story but to summarize her hand was forced into helping another Asgardian open up the portal to letting the creatures in. At the time she brainwashed and was completely unable to do anything but do as told or fear losing not only her life but seeing the lives of her loved ones taken one by one before her,” she said trying to keep it as clean and with little detail possible so as not to shed a bad light on you, she knew how much their opinion of you mattered.

You looked to her and silently thanked her for not telling them of all the horrible things you had done to her and the people that you cared about. You felt as if though they were looking at you in a different light and began shrinking in on yourself and she could see that this topic was beginning to bother you.

“There is one hint I will give you as to what happens to be a part of what triggers her dark energy,” she said looking at Jean.

“Well, what is the hint Shannon?” Jean asked, wanting to figure out quickly how to help you.

“Your hint is a who, rather than a what, that goes by the name Loki,” she went on to say.

“And who might this Loki be?” Gambit asked her, looking to you curiously.

“He’s a man that she is very connected to,” was all that Shannon had said. She really had no place in telling them of who exactly Loki was to you so she kept it at that. She also realized that there was indeed a connection between the dark energy and Loki, Shannon remembered how upset you got when you two had been fighting and she kept bad mouthing him and your powers getting stronger.

—————————

The very first session of testings were out of the way. Shannon had gone off to speak to someone at the mansion and told you she’d see you back at the tower later on. Not being one to waste time, she quickly went to look for her masked friend.

“Wade? Wade Wilson if you don't appear in the next 2 minutes I'm heading home!” she giggled feeling someone’s emotions were playful. She walked closer to where he had been earlier with her. “Hmmm, I guess I’ll have to find someone else to go eat some chimichangas with.” she shrugs her shoulders and makes to leave the room.

“Woah there! Now just wait a minute no one else likes chimichangas as much as I do.” He rushed to stand in front of her.

“I got you!” She smirked. “Come on dork lets go catch up.”

“Hey no fair.” He mock pouted. “You used my weakness against me.”

“That's what happens when you have a spy as a friend.” She smiled up at him.

He pulled her close and messed with her hair. “Alright off to go watch a movie what are you in the mood for?”

The two had walked to the lounge area and spent the rest of the afternoon together. Wade had made a ton of questions about the event of New York, the issues that occured between her and you. She had left feeling a bit better about what happened, she knew she could always count on Wade to help her.

—————————

Kurt popped you back into the cell and left instantaneously, as to not be seen by Tony or any other prying eyes. Loki dismissed his illusion of you that was currently sitting on the couch with a mug.

“Was she good company?” you asked with a coy grin before sitting next to Loki on the other couch.

“She was... Didn’t talk much, but then again, isn’t that a good thing with girlfriends?” he teased and you shook your head at him. “How was it?”

“It was… good, I suppose. They don’t know what triggers my powers. Well, we might know, but they need to run more tests.”

“So...you’ll have to go back?” Loki inferred.

“Probably. We’re thinking it will be in two days. Shannon can’t exactly keep sneaking out without raising suspicion,” you informed with a shrug. “I just hope it goes a little better than it did today,” you remarked, getting up to go make a drink and make Loki something for dinner since he couldn’t cook for himself.

“Oh? Why? I thought you said it went well?” he questioned, concerned.

“It was,” you answered, “until Steve almost tackled me.”

“The soldier? What on Midgard for? What could you have possibly done?”

You turned to face him. “It’s silly really. I was running to hug my friend Remy and--”

“Your friend?” he questioned, frowning at you, the slightest tone of anger in his voice.

“Well, yes.You remember Remy. I told you about him. We kind of grew up together in the same foster home,” you explained. “He’s a character,” you said with a laugh. “You may like him.”

Loki closed his eyes and held his hands up. “Wait… So while I waste away in this cell, you went and had brunch with friends?” he asked, his voice rising dramatically.

“What? No. It’s not like that. I was exhausting myself physically and mentally trying to figure out why I feel so different. Trying to find a way to feel normal. I thought you were fine with this?” you asked. “You told me to go find answers.”

He shouted, “Yes! Answers! Not off having mimosas with some man you used to know!”

“I wasn’t off ‘having mimosas’,” you mocked in his voice. “I was trying to figure out what the hell that asshole put in my head, in my body!”

“Okay so you just think Shannon was helping you out of the kindness of her heart?” he pressed.

“Yes, I do. What else would she be doing?” you challenged.

“How do we know she wasn't just installing more surveillance when she gave you that tablet?” Loki asked as you worked on making him tomato soup in the small kitchen.

“What? Loki, there are literally cameras in every room except the bathroom. What more could they install?” you asked incredulously.

“I’m merely saying… do you trust her?” he said as he stood close to you like a shadow.

“I guess,” you answered unsure. Sure, she got you out for the day, and she helped you, and respected your privacy about New York and Loki, but both of you had a long way to go before there would be full trust again. She was still on the side of the heroes, and you on the villains afterall.

“Your level of confidence astounds me,” he mocked.

You sighed, frustrated at you laid down the stirring spoon. “I don’t know, Loki. She says she believes us, she came inside the cell--”

“Romanoff, the spy? She fooled me on that helicarrier. Shannon did the same thing to me in this tower. She pretended to be you for gods’ sake, and stabbed me in the back.”

“And I threw Tony out the window,” you reminded with a gleeful, fake smile, sarcasm behind it. “We’re pretty even.”

Loki took a deep breath before he said, “All I am saying is that she doesn't exactly stand on moral high ground. We don’t know her intentions. Coming in here, saying she believes us, all of that could’ve been a ruse. Trust me, I’m a master of trickery.”

“Moral high ground? Have you forgotten what we did?” you asked, turning to him.

“No,” he told you flatly, his eyes cold. “But she stabbed me in the back, Y/N. Not figuratively, like I do, but literally. What if she does the same to you?”

“Stab me or betray me?” you teased.

He gave you a cold look. “Neither is a joking matter,” he chastised.

You rolled your eyes. “Lok, she isn’t going to do that.”

“Oh, you’re right,” he said, putting his hand on his forehead dramatically. “I forgot that humans are so prone to forgiveness.” He gestured to the cell around you, looking at the concrete walls outside the glass cell.

You pursed your lips. “What do you want me to do?” you asked in a huff. “Send her away? You want me to say, ‘Oh, no, Shannon, that’s fine. I only spent the better part of a year trying to get you to come and see me, to forgive me. But now that you believe me, you can go’.” You crossed your arms and stared at him.

“No, I just… I want you to be cautious. I don’t want you getting hurt by her. I can't bear to watch it,” he stated.

“You know, not everyone is a fucking snake, looking how to double cross someone. That’s pretty much your department,” you snapped, shoving napkins in his chest as you started to walk to the bedroom. “Your soup is done.”

Loki stood, hurt evident on his face, sighing in frustration before he turned around. “The last I checked, that was hers. She was raised to lie, to gather information on the enemy. Or am I wrong?”

You froze.

“Look me in the eye and tell me I’m wrong. That her background doesn’t lay solely in lies, betrayal, pretending…” He demanded. “I may be a snake. I may do what’s best for me, but at least all my friends and foes know that. I don’t pretend to hide behind some innocent facade,” he hissed.

You turned and slowly advanced on him, your eyes dark. “I thought you were happy for me? I thought you were happy for us? She’s on our side! Tony couldn’t care less if we rot down here. She might be our only chance at ever getting our freedom! She got me out today. She is trying to get me help! And even if she wasn’t, even if we never got our freedom, that’s okay, because we don’t deserve it. I’m lucky she even wants to look at me after what I did...Just her talking to me is just as good as freedom. Why can’t you see that?”

In low tone, he looked down at you and said, “Because I can never see the good in people. If you always expect people to betray you, you’ll never be disappointed.”

You flinched away from him. “Is that what you think about me? That one day I’ll betray you? That one day I’ll somehow leave your side?”

His wild blue eyes met yours for a long moment before looking away.

Tears sprang to your eyes. “Wow. How fantastic. Does nothing I did prove my love to you? I lost my freedom for you. I stabbed my best friend for you. I threw Iron Man out a fucking window for you. I jumped into a portal for you. I endured brainwashing and hellish conditions for you. And you still think that I could just turn on you?”

“You wouldn’t be the first,” he remarked with hatred. “If history has taught me anything, it’s that I will always end up standing on my own. Remind me again who got to leave this cell today and who didn’t.”

You pulled away from him even farther. In a whisper, you asked, “How could you even say that to me? I have been by your side through everything when no one else was. I never once said, ‘This is all Loki’s fault. I plea insanity, let me go.’”

“Ah, so there it is. You do think it’s all my fault.”

“That’s not what I said,” you argued through clenched teeth.

“It’s just a matter of time before you cast me aside like all the others. You’re already leaving without me, maybe one day you just won’t return.” A cold smile fell on his lips as he cocked his head to the side.

“Maybe this is why!” you cried. “Did you ever think of that? Maybe it’s because you expect the worst from people and eventually they’re tired of trying to show you that you’re wrong, so they just betray you anyway. It’s easier just to prove you’re right, rather than to constantly fight to prove you wrong!”

“Then it’s best I do it first, before they do it to me,” he said, his eyes narrowing as his voice got low.

You held up your finger, warning him, “Shannon is a good person. So long as she doesn’t hurt you or me, we will go on trusting her and believing her. Do you hear me?”

“Loud and clear darling,” he cooed darkly.

“Just… eat your soup,” you said finally before turning and going into the living room to read. You sat with your back to him, hoping he wouldn’t hear you crying. Of all the people you could fight with, you really didn’t want it to be the one man you were literally stuck with for the rest of your life.

Was this your life now? Constantly choosing between Loki and other people? Choosing Loki or freedom? Choosing Loki or a normal life?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tag List: @essie1876 @magpiegirl80 @letsgetfuckingsuperwholocked @iamwarrenspeace @marvel-imagines-yes-please @superwholocked527 @missinstantgratification @thejemersoninferno @rda1989 @munlis @thefridgeismybestie @bubblyanarocks3 @igiveupicantthinkofausername @kaliforniacoastalteens @feelmyroarrrr @kaelingoat @friendlyneighbourhoodweirdo @damalseer @heyitscam99 @yknott81 @sorryimacrapwriter @glitterquadricorn @xxqueenofisolationxx @little-dis-kaalista-pythonissama @bittersweetunicorm @alyssaj23 @sea040561 @princess76179 @thisismysecrethappyplace @sarahp879 @malfoysqueen14 @ellallheart @breezy1415 @marvelmayo @random-fluffy-pink-unicorn @cocosierra94 @hardcollectionworldtrash @capsmuscles @marvelloushamilton

@paintballkid711

Loki: @lostinspace33 @ultrarebelheart @lenawiinchester @esoltis280 @tngrayson @wangdeasang @harrymewmew @jayfantasyatyourservice

UC:

@lokis-high-priestess

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mobius-prime · 4 years

Text

253. Sonic the Hedgehog #184

Chaos Angel

Writer: Ian Flynn Pencils: Tracy Yardley! Colors: Jason Jensen

As Enerjak and Super Sonic take off to begin their epic duel for the fate of the world, their clash causes an explosive beam of light to shine so brightly it's seen as far away as Albion (which, if you'll recall, is located somewhere around the area of modern-day England, whereas we're currently closer to New York), which Nicole barely raises the New Mobotropolis shield in time to deflect. Super Sonic snaps Enerjak's staff, and when Enerjak blasts him with a wave of deadly energy in response, he casually reminds him that in his Super form, he's totally invulnerable, making this essentially a stalemate battle between two living gods. Below, Julie-Su is shocked that Sonic survived the blast, but Locke is grumpy and hopeless, saying again that Sonic should have let him kill Enerjak with the Brotherhood's weapon while they had the chance.

It's amazing how clueless and callous Locke is here. I mean, I expected nothing more from him, really, especially given that he has yet to reach the point of redemption that he did in the M25YL timeline on his deathbed, but still, he doesn't even seem to show a single ounce of remorse that this is what his son has become. As the battle rages on, the Destructix watch from somewhere else on the island, and decide they definitely don't want to get caught up in it (which, really, I can't blame them).

Scourge reveals his supercharged warp ring, with enough energy to warp them to another zone entirely, and when Fiona expresses some doubt about leaving Mobius he merely reminds her that the ongoing battle is a battle for the fate of the world, and it's better for them to take their chances elsewhere. She decides to tag along for some "fun," which is after all the reason she left Sonic for Scourge, while Super Sonic continues to try to beat some sense into Enerjak above. He manages to get a yell of "crunch time" from him, giving him hope that his plan to bring Knuckles back is working, but it's not fast enough, making him worry. Julie-Su and Archimedes teleport to the Master Emerald's shrine, which has mysteriously been transported from the Chaos Chamber to become a small island floating in its own right at the edge of Angel Island (it's literally not explained at all how this happened, but I'm assuming it's Ian's creative license to once again make the world of the comics conform to that of the games a little more). They confront Finitevus, who merely states that even if he wanted to stop this, he couldn't by now, as the hex he put on the Master Emerald totally enslaved Knuckles' mind when he tried to tap into its power. He's uncertain about why the hex didn't affect Sonic when he transformed, but is mostly unconcerned, as his plans are proceeding regardless.

Finitevus, I don't think you understand one bit what actual heroes are like. Julie-Su and Archimedes immediately start arguing over which one of them will die in order to bring Knuckles back, with a baffled Finitevus looking on. Locke then rounds the corner, having arrived unseen, and announces that he, in fact, will sacrifice himself, finally regretting what he has brought on Knuckles with his actions in trying to protect him from the devastated future he foresaw. Finitevus, enraged, leaps forward to attack the three of them in an attempt to stop them, but Archimedes grabs onto him and poofs him away, leaving Julie-Su and Locke momentarily alone. Locke sadly looks down at Julie-Su, and explains that for all their extreme methods, in the end the Brotherhood really did love every single member, and only ever wanted the best for Knuckles. Julie-Su begins to cry as Locke takes his place atop the emerald, and begins reciting Tikal's prayer one last time.

Okay, I'm just gonna say it. As much as I genuinely liked Locke's deathbed scene in M25YL, I think this is a much better version of his death, narratively. It's also ten times more heartbreaking. The last time Knuckles ever spoke to his father, Locke hit him with a thinly-veiled threat to his family's safety, and Knuckles punched the screen and screamed at him in response. And now, without a chance to ever apologize or say goodbye, Locke is gone, having sacrificed his life to save his son. I have never doubted for a moment that Locke truly does love Knuckles and has always done everything with the best of intentions, which is precisely why I always felt he would make a better villain than a hero. The Sonic series, as much as I love it, is sorely lacking in three-dimensional villains, with most being either like Eggman - wanting to conquer the world - or Finitevus - wanting to watch it burn. Locke, as I've gone over before, would have been a fantastic antagonist. I think it very true that the best villains are the ones we can relate to in some way. Loving your child and wanting the best for them is very relatable to many people, and permanently messing up your child because of trying to do the best for them is a very real fear for the majority of parents. And Locke realizing this at the end of his life and then giving up said life for the sole purpose of undoing everything he helped to cause is the logical narrative conclusion of this character arc. Because of this, I think Ian ultimately writes Locke much better than did Kenders, despite Locke being based on Kenders' father (which is why I kind of feel bad even saying this, but eh, I've already made the argument that he should have been a villain, I don't think I can make it much worse from here). And as sad as this is, it just gets worse as Knuckles regains his right mind and returns to the ground, asking Julie-Su where his father is. Julie-Su merely starts sobbing and babbling incoherently about how she couldn't stop him, and just as horrible understanding begins to dawn on Knuckles, Finitevus returns through a warp ring, incensed that Locke stopped his plans after all. He yells that with his luck, Knuckles will even remember his time as Enerjak, to which Knuckles furiously replies that he remembers -

An exit fitting for one such as Finitevus. Julie-Su tentatively says that they should head back down to New Mobotropolis to let everyone know that the day's been saved, but Knuckles curtly cuts him off, refusing and claiming that as the last living Guardian of Angel Island, he's never leaving this island again, and he'll guard the Master Emerald alone for the rest of his life. And thus, we've finally come full circle. Knuckles started out as the lone Guardian of the island with no one else to help him, and now he's become such once again. Come on though, man, for real - your father sacrificed himself so you could have your own life free of the destiny he's forced on you, don't immediately try to isolate yourself!

Anything

Writer: Ian Flynn Pencils: Tracy Yardley! Colors: Stingray Grafik Wurks

Well, there's still one loose end we have yet to tie up - namely, the fate of the Dark Legion. While those who were happy to be free of their cybernetic trappings were transported to Albion, those who regret losing them have remained with Lien-Da, who now seeks the help of a mysterious figure to get her people's way of life back. Her speech is actually quite fascinating, because for basically the first time we actually get to see what a lifelong member of the Legion thinks of their own history, without immediately being made out to be a cackling evildoer. Turns out… their position is kind of reasonable.

I mean, I did just go over why Locke, and thus by extension the Brotherhood, are not really good people. I don't think they're evil - misguided, more like - but it's clear that in the end, extremism was the name of the game on both sides of the technology debate, and if anything both sides have only gotten more extreme over the past several hundred years. Ultimately, while the Dark Legion has absolutely employed some really messed up methods in their pursuit of their goals, their actual ideology is not unreasonable at all. In the end, they really were just a group of people who didn't want to tacitly accept being thrown back to the stone age by their government, and rebelled when said government - a literal theocracy, if you'll recall - created an entire goddamn task force operating outside of the normal legal system to try to drag them all into a world without technology regardless. I mean, literally, think about it right now - if your government, after a bad incident with one scientist going nuts and trying to seize power, in response decided to ban all technology and mandate that everyone had to regress back to a medieval lifestyle, how many of you reading this, right now, would just accept it and give everything up? And how many more of you would say "No way in hell is this okay" and join a revolution? Use technology in secret, rebel, fight for your right to live life as a modern human being with modern comforts? The Legion was twisted over time into a force that fought for all the wrong reasons, looking for power instead of freedom, but in the end, they were more wronged than anyone else in this whole debate, and absolutely had a right to be angry over the way they were mistreated.

Lien-Da, treacherous nature aside, clearly does believe in her people's way of life, and so she crafts a deal with her mysterious contact - if he makes her the Grandmaster of the Legion, a title which she feels she deserves after watching her late brother and the decrepit Dimitri take the reins before her, she'll join his cause and have her soldiers act as his new ground forces since his were destroyed by Enerjak. Gee, I wonder who this mysterious figure could be? Ah, what the hell am I acting all coy for, it's Eggman, naturally, and he's more than happy to accept this deal. However, to Lien-Da's incredulous disappointment, the position of Grandmaster has already been filled - by none other than Dimitri! Yeah, Eggman's given him some upgrades, turning his dreadlocks into bizarre tentacle-like appendages sticking out from his head bubble. Aw, yeah, Eggman, no need to give him a proper body or anything like that, just give him hair tentacles, it'll be fiiine!

#nala reads archie sonic preboot #archie sonic #archie sonic preboot #sonic the hedgehog #sth 184 #writer: ian flynn #pencils: tracy yardley #colors: jason jensen #colors: aimee r ray #colors: joshua d ray

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winterune · 4 years

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Pet - Thoughts and Musings

I am back with my seasonal anime musings/analysis/reviews/whatever. Because of various reasons, I have not written any of these posts since...I don’t know...last spring anime season? LOL I still have soooo many on my list from last year to watch gahhh. But I did caught up with Beastars and Araburu Kisetsu no Otome-domo yo - both of which were awesome, by the way. I wanted to write some things for them (especially Araburu, because I felt like there’s a lot of things I wanted to say), but...I don’t know. Life caught up?

Anyway, here’s Pet, with an average score of 6.57/10 on MAL. Quite a low one for my taste, as I rarely watch anything with a score below 7. However, this is one of those anime I decided to see not because of the MAL score or anyone else’s influence, but because I wanted to. Heck, when it was first announced, I was immediately excited, because 1) it’s directed by Omori Takahiro, who directed some of my all-time favorite anime, such as Natsume Yuujinchou, Durarara, Baccano, and Hotarubi no Mori e; 2) the screenplay is done by Sadayuki Murai, another favorite who has also worked alongside Omori-kantoku-san and was also the one behind Sidonia no Kishi’s series composition; and 3) the entire synopsis just sounds...soo good?? Not to mention that short PV-like thing they released way back when

youtube

OK, yes, I’m not fluent in Japanese, but the music and Hiroki’s voice acting really caught me.

However, time passed, and there was no word on the anime at all until it was announced that the anime was pushed back until the winter season of 2020. Now, I still had my initial hype, but I also had my doubts. It probably had production issues and so on. Things like that often don’t bring their best to the table and ends up becoming a disappointment. It showed on the first episode.

That episode was weird. I read what people thought about it on some forums and none gave me a positive image of the anime. But I thought, what the heck? There’s no harm on checking it. Though it wasn’t entirely bad, it was weird, and I had no idea what was happening. There was so much going on and the art felt a bit weird and the story seemed all over the place and I thought, ah, it shows.

My impression of it was: this show seems like it will have a good story, but not until some time later, so maybe I should wait for several more weeks and binge-watch it then. However, I came to learn that episode 2 was much better than its predecessor. It cleared up any kind of confusion and erased some doubts. It piqued my interest again. And now that I have finally caught up with the show, I am glad that I did not drop it.

Because so far, Pet is amazing.

Since it’s been two weeks since I saw the first episode, it took a while to grasp the meaning of the terms and so on, but once I’ve got it, it was quite easy to get absorbed inside the show. There were a few time jumps and technical terms were thrown all over the place, and I needed to remind myself that is the director who made Baccano and Durarara. Durarara had a relatively continuous timeline, but the way it jumped POVs in those first few episodes were quite baffling and you only understood what was what much later on. Baccano was crazier imo, as I read that, unlike the light novels, Omori-san took the liberty to rearrange the story in the anime to make it so that there are several stories set in different timelines in one episode, and there are those terms and whatnot and though it makes a good mystery, it doesn’t make much sense, until that one episode where everything finally clicks into place.

I have a similar problem with Pet. I can see that the story so far is intriguing. We have these “crushers” and then “pets” and then loci in the minds containing memories, divided into “peaks” and “valleys”. And then there are “images”, which I think is some kind of protection armor? A form they take to get inside other people without letting themselves be consumed by the other’s memories and feelings. Aside from that, we have a “Company” with people who have the ability to get inside other people’s minds and alter memories. What’s worse is that we’re immediately dumped in the middle of the action with not much introduction, so all we can do is just sit tight and hang on, hoping for the best that everything will make sense in the end.

And then of course, we have our enigmatic characters.

First up, Hiroki, your shounen character in a serious drama. The longer I listen to him, the more annoyed I am haha. I don’t know. His voice kind of irritates me. Maybe because he’s this naive kid with a strong ability that doesn’t really understand what’s happening around him. And then there is that dependence toward Tsukasa, whom I will get to after this. Episode 3 makes me like him though. His heart is clearly in the right place, just that he’s in a bad environment, so he doesn’t know what to do. He is the character who will question the righteousness of their actions. I believe he hates his abilities, but using it has been ingrained into his body that sometimes, he’s unconsciously using it. Like when he almost got inside Katsuragi’s head, or when he showed the girl in episode 3 what her boyfriend was like (though it was partly his imagery of him, and he knew that and that’s why he was so conflicted when she came back). I can imagine what his childhood must have been like. Probably shunned. Probably lonely. Much like how Satoru had been before Hayashi “saved” him. And then Tsukasa came, who showed him how to protect himself and to utilize his powers. Tsukasa was his savior. That’s why in episode 2, though he was reluctant to kill, he also wanted to show Tsukasa that he could do it. They didn’t have to kill. He could save this man using his powers. he wanted to prove himself to Tsukasa. I am amazed that his heart has not been tainted, and I have high hopes for his character.

Next, we have Tsukasa. Even from the posters, this guy already looked fishy. In the first episode, there’s something off about him. He’s just too good. Too accommodating toward Hiroki. Hiroki wants something, then he’s going to give it. Hiroki says not to go with Satoru. All right, I won’t go with Satoru. Hiroki wants a shop. Here, this is for you, but I used the Company’s money, so I’m going to have to pay them back by doing jobs for them. Yeah I know you told me you don’t want to do any more of them, but I’ll be the one doing them, not you. You just need to sit tight and work on your little shop. You know that’s not what Hiroki meant. Still, I like him. So far, he’s a cool character, and I like him even more on his solo job in episode 3. But what I love the most is:

That smirk! Because yes, all this time, all we’ve seen are his facades. His facade when he is with Hiroki. His facade with Katsuragi. His facade when he does a job. And then we have this moment, this small moment, and much like how that small moment with the girl who buys guppies and her boyfriend builds up Hiroki’s character, this small moment between Katsuragi and Tsukasa, when Katsuragi tells him that his next job will be Hayashi and Tsukasa pauses for a moment before asking if Hayashi has been found, it speaks volume. Because then finally Tsukasa shows us his true self (or, at least, part of his true self). His tone changes. He scolds Katsuragi for being happy or pleased.

You seem strangely happy for someone who was outwitted for two whole years.

Tsukasa is clearly talking down to him. Katsuragi, who we thought was the boss. Katsuragi, who was the jerk who would kill people to get the job done quickly. He is surprised at the sudden change and becomes visibly nervous. He stiffens and keeps his eyes on the road. Tsukasa goes on to give orders to Katsuragi. Then Katsuragi nervously puts out his cigarette and says, somewhat formally, “Understood.” (though he’s just saying “hai” in Japanese, but it’s vastly different from the Katsuragi we know in the last two episodes). He obeys Tsukasa.

I did wonder if Katsuragi was under Tsukasa’s control, but it didn’t seem like it. Heck, Tsukasa might actually be one of the Company’s higher-ups (or he might even be the Head of the Company, if I want to stretch it). And then we have that split-second smirk, that shows he is in complete control of the situation. It makes sense with how he refers to Hiroki as his “pet” in such an off-handed manner. It also makes sense with how he makes cold, calculating judgment. Of course he’s using the Company’s money to buy the shop. Of course he’s still doing odd jobs for the Company. He’s not the good guy he shows Hiroki he is.

Right now, I can actually see Tsukasa being the “big bad boss” of the series, if this series has any kind of villain. Or, well, I think he’d make a pretty good anti-hero. Just imagine a showdown between Tsukasa and Hiroki... So far, I am most intrigued with Tsukasa and I hope he will have a great arc.

#pet 2020 #pet anime #pet #anime #musings #anime musings #pet musings #pet analysis #lol i wrote a lot for something that only has 3 episodes

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wolftheidioticfan · 4 years

Text

THROWS fanfic at Count Lucanor tag before running away in fear of being seen.

I wrote this at like 9-10 am after staying up all night long and I do not know how to write and this is rooted so deep in headcanon that I will die of sheer embarrassment from having interests and writing. Also kinda rushed because I started getting way too self conscious midway through oop. B nice to me ok bye Ahhhh-

Nights without much going on in terms of the trial were nice enough, he supposed. Quiet, calm, and no unnecessary death at the hands of some blasted old man’s curse. Usually, peaceful nights like this were spent in his room, conversing with his closest friend and most trusted castle official, but tonight had been...a little off for the kobold. He was much more lost in his own head, leaned back against the bed as he stared blankly at the ceiling above.

He could hear The Camerlengo speaking, rambling about whatever was on the very strange man’s mind that day, but for the love of it all Patronio could not make out a single word of it, too focused on his own mind. Tonight’s worry was just how much the world had changed since this awful, awful curse had befallen the castle. The jester sighed softly to himself. This was never how he had imagined things would end up, cast aside by the rest of the world and put in-charge of some horrid ‘tests’ that did little more than dismember anyone who would dare take part in them.

It just wasn’t fair. He was in a time period far, far from his own, and completely unable to even take part in a single activity, nor know a single soul outside of the castle. Just how much had passed by? Advanced? While he was here to rot away, forgotten.

The sudden quiet of the room caught his attention, causing Patronio to let out a confused hum in response.

“You are not listening!” The Camerlengo’s loud, boisterous voice sounded out in the small room, “You know one person cannot have a reasonable conversation with themselves!”

The kobold chuckled, keeping his eyes steady at the dusty ceiling, “Sorry...I’m sorry, really. I’m listening now.”

“You are not!” The tall monster of a man snapped back, pointing a finger into the jester’s side, “The Camerlengo would like to know why you are ignoring him!”

Patronio squealed from the clawed jab to his ribs, squirming away, “I’m just- a little lost in thought is all. I’m sorry my dear friend, truly, it was not my intention.”

“Oh!”

And then it was quiet again. Uncomfortably so for the jester, causing him to sit up and see just what exactly his friend was doing. He blinked once or twice when he noticed the other’s eyes directly on him.

“Well! What is it you are thinking about?” The Camerlengo grinned, “That could be a good conversation piece!”

Patronio sighed heavily, pressing his fingers down into the soft paw-like pad in the middle of his palm, waving his other hand dismissively, “No, no, it’s really nothing interesting. What were you trying to tell me again, something about the garden?”

His friend’s eyes narrowed slightly, placing his hands on his hips in a disappointed manner as he spoke, “Well! He thinks you keep far too much to yourself lately! Very unlike you, Jester.”

Rolling his eyes – though with a lack of pupils, the action was mostly pointless- the kobold sighed heavily. He knew how this would go, this was a common pattern the two had gone through many times before. If The Camerlengo was set on something, it was rare for him to ever give up on the subject. Something he could admire in the tall man’s work, but something he’d utterly loathe when it came to things he’d much rather keep to himself.

“I don’t have a choice here, do I?” Patronio half hissed, flopping onto his back once more, resting his hand on his cheek with a puff.

“Not if you are going to be so gloomy and distant, no!”

He groaned in response.

“Besides, it is not a good idea to hide things! You know this. What else would friends be for?”

He hated when the other was right like that.

“...Fine,” the jester huffed, “You win.”

Quiet for a moment. Then two.

“Well?” The Camerlengo prodded, “Are you to talk or not, Jester?”

Nope, no getting out of this. Patronio loathed the serious conversations about emotions and fear...They were never any fun at all and only reminded him of the harshness of the situation the castle had been tossed in. With another annoyed groan, he began with the first thing on his mind.

“...A lot of time has passed, you know,” He blinked at the ceiling. When had he last dusted up there?, “The towns and world we once knew is now….very different. Yet, we are still stuck in the same days as before this wretched curse.”

He expected a quip or two, or something stupid and unrelated to be uttered from his friend, but for once found disappointment when no words were spoken. Great, he was simply listening. Why did he have to be quiet now, of all times? Discussions like this were not the kobold’s favorite! He knew this, right?

Of course he did, Patronio realized. That was exactly why he was silent, knowing the small blue creature would leap at any small opportunity to push this awkward conversation aside and change the subject. Blasted.

He gripped his cloak tight, thumb running across the slightly worn fabric as he continued, “I’m unsure how much has changed, what with being bound to this castle and forest. It is frightening to know that I-...That all of us have been forgotten to time. We have nothing to bind us to this timeline, no one to...remember who we were.”

Balling his fist, he fought back the crack he felt coming in his voice, “Is it not cruel, to be cursed to forever roam in a world that does not need you? Only to exist as a pawn for a game that no one, not even the one ‘in control’ can win? Isn’t it cruel to have caught all the innocents in it as well, forcing them to look to a lonely, foolish court jester for their guidance?”

“Jester-”

“And isn’t it just awful? Awful to know that after being forced into this terrible leadership, that everyone who has died blames you? And that-...if you really think about it, it is all true after all? But what are you supposed to do then, let down everyone else whom wishes not to be apart of this curse? Doom them to an enteral prison because you don’t want to be blamed? Selfish! Selfish to become so cowardly! Perhaps you are deserving of your shame then!” His voice had raised without realizing it, hissing and spitting his self-anger freely, “Yes! Cower away dear fool, cower away and let others die as you lie to their faces about these trials!”

Was he crying? Patronio felt like he was crying. It hurt.

“Jester! Jester...” He simply whined when The Camerlengo’s thumb brushed his face, wiping off the cascade of tears he was now very, very aware of, “What has gotten into you?”

“...I...I never asked for this,” the kobold murmured, shoving the other’s hand off himself, “I never wanted this! I am merely a jester-….How could one ask me to just let others die? I only wanted-...I wanted to bring joy.”

“...He knows, Jester,” It was always strange when the tall man was quiet, soft spoken even, “The Camerlengo knows you are not to blame for this curse.”

“Yes, I know you understand that,” He grumbled, shoving the hand away once more, “Knowing so many people’s blood is on your hands however-...”

“But it is not! You know that. You did not….cause this.”

“But I continue to go along with it.”

“For the sake of the castle, yes? The Jester is no coward, he is only doing what has been forced on him!”

“...Hm,” Patronio sighed in half acknowledgment, “Yes, this is…for everyone...”

“Then why blame yourself so harshly? He...does not see the reason to.”

“I know, I know my friend,” He hummed, “Not much ever makes sense, does it?”

“No, not often.”

“...I’m aware this is no fault of my own. I suppose it’s just morphed into guilt due to well...I am the “face” of this entire operation now, since The Count’s death.”

“Ah...He sees, then.”

Quietness took over again, mixed with the heavy breathing of the previously sobbing kobold. Why had it gotten quiet again? He didn’t like it. Would he just speak already? This-

“Augh!” Patronio hissed, feeling himself quickly lifted from his very comfortable spot, “Let me go!”

The small male thrashed wildly from being so suddenly grabbed, slowly turning into small squirms as he was firmly pressed against his friend’s chest in a hug. A half growl escaped him, dying off in his throat as a hand gently rubbed the back of his head.

“...Do you still want to be let go, Jester?”

He puffed a bit, gripping The Camerlengo’s coat in his hands tightly, “...No. But do warn me before you do that! I don’t appreciate being grabbed like that.”

“Well! You looked like you needed a hug, so The Camerlengo decided to help with that!” The tall man smugly smiled.

Settling further in his friend’s arms, the kobold just let out a soft ‘eugh’ in response, squinting when he was met with a loud laugh. Whatever, this was fine.

“You worry of being forgotten?”

“...We already have been, my friend. There is not a soul left to remember any of us here.”

“Hm, well that certainly can’t be right!”

Patronio arched his eyebrow in confusion, “What do you mean by that? Years- Centuries have passed.”

“We are still here, are we not?”

“...Yes?”

“Simple! We remember eachother, yes? He remembers you, you remember The Camerlengo! We are not forgotten then.”

“Hah...” The kobold snickered once, slowly elevating into a full laugh, “Yes, yes...Of course we remember each other, you strange man! We’re friends, after all.”

“Well then! Someone remembers you, then! And therefore, someone does not blame you either!”

His giggling continued, rubbing his face further against his friend’s coat, realizing perhaps he truly did need this conversation after all. The other’s laughter joining in only heightened the strange joy the silly words had brought the kobold.

“See, you see? The Jester is very good at bringing joy!”

He snorted, squeezing just a little harder, “Stop, you’re going to make me cry again...You goof...”

#saltie fics #the count lucanor #OK TIME TO IMMEDIATELY BURY THIS IN A BUNCH OF REBLOGS #YOU ALL SAW NOTHING I NEVER WROTE ANYTHING BYE #I HAVE BEEN HOVERING BY THE POST BUTTON FOR LIKE 6 MINUTES LORD HELP ME #AHHHHHHH-#I love writing but the mortifying ordeal of being known online kills me

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mysaldate · 4 years

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About chapter 183...

Manga spoilers for KnY under the cut, just need to rant for a bit.

And so the time has come for KnY to fall down the rabbit hole so many other shonen series did. And it’s a damn shame. Up until the current arc, while there were a few slip-ups, Kimetsu no Yaiba was an amazing series that had cunning and powerful villains, realistic (within limits of man-eating demons and magical fighting styles) obstacles to overcome, one that paid attention to injuries of its characters and made a great deal about showing us the limits to human power.

HOWEVER

Ever since the Infinity train arc, something has been a little... different. The Infinity train arc was what started the very very annoying trend of downplaying a villain that was accidentally made too strong rather than actually dealing with his power and coming up with clever ways to overcome them. Enmu is estabilished early on as an excellent strategist. He came up with a way to use his blood demon art so subtly not even a demon slayer hashira suspected a thing, he made human lackeys since he knew the slayers would never kill a human and he even fused with the train to be hard to kill. All of this is excellent set-up for what could be an incredibly interesting fight. Except... it was not. Because rather than having to work out his plan, Enmu simply... made a slip of tongue? Let Tanjiro in on his plan? And completely forgot about Nezuko and didn’t notice when the other slayers woke up? A character smart enough to come up with such an amazing and smart plan? Yeah, something is off.

And let me tell you, it did NOT get better overall.

There were minor highlights. The Red-light district arc was beautifully crafted and the fight was won on a relativelly reasonable conditions (except for Uzui being totally overpowered but that’s something less irritating than what they’re doing now). The fight with Hantengu and Gyokko had several Mary-Sue moments but no downplaying on the villains’ side. The Pillar Training arc had no major fight but it was a really good way to show the growth of our characters. Even in the current arc, there were good moments. The fight with Akaza was very satisfying and enjoyable even and the conclusion to it was perfect. Sadly, everything else about this arc is not.

The premise here, again, is outrageously good. Being trapped in the Infinity Fortress with Muzan and all his Upper Moons is a beautiful concept that could’ve made for SO. DAMN. MUCH. of interesting fights, character-building moments and terrifyingly epic power show-downs. And instead, it just rings hollow.

The main issue with this arc is how awfully downplayed Muzan and most of his demons were. The author suddenly decided to ignore a lot of what has been estabilished about Muzan, Nakime and their abilities in particular. Of course, Douma, Kaigaku and Kokushibou also got downplayed horribly but really, what pissed me off the most was Muzan and Nakime suddenly losing or forgetting about their abilities.

Look, I love KnY and I love the good side – or parts of it anyway. Tanjiro is a near perfect character, the first protagonist ever to actually pull me in and get me to cheer for him. Nezuko is, after Makai ouji’s Sitri, first character meant to be cute and actually striking me as such. I even came to like Inosuke to a certain extent. Yushiro and Tamayo were one of my favourites the moment they first walked on screen. The hashiras are a little wacky and I still think some of them are just completely unneccesary or wasted potential and I still find Zenitsu horribly cringy and annoying but if there ever was a series where I wanted the protagonist to achieve their goal, it’s this one. And that’s another reason why I’m so dissatisfied with what I’m getting.

And chapter 183 is exceptionally bad for such a huge multitude of reasons.

First of all, there’s Yushiro making up a plan against Nakime. Nakime, as we’ve been shown multiple times, knows of everything that happens in the Infinity Fortress. She can transfer people she doesn’t even see and she can send multiple people to various locations at once. Yet, Yushiro was somehow able to come up with a plan, share it with Mitsuri and actually go through with it, all without her noticing. At all. Because she suddenly turned blind for that one spot of the Fortress or something. And even if Yushiro used his illussionary ability, he still had to share the plan with Mitsuri. So there should be no way she wasn’t aware.

That’s another thing as well. As far as we are aware, it was Nakime’s job to keep the slayers separated. Again, she knows of everything happening in there. She knew about the other Upper Moons getting to a disadvantage. She knew about them being close to dying. And yet, she did nothing to get them away or to move the slayers out of their presence, she couldn’t move her hand and play a note on her biwa and just send them all anywhere else? Anyone else feeling cheated yet? Well buckle up because it gets even worse.

Because now we get to Muzan. And, yeah, remember the Demon Moons meetings? Remember that he can just snatch anyone’s head off, both lethally and non-lethally? Yeah, good thing you do because he doesn’t! Does this affect only demons? He still could’ve killed Yushiro ON THE SPOT. Does it only affect demons created by him? Still cool, he could’ve snatched Nakime’s head off without killing her and take Yushiro’s seal off her eye. But no, instead he’s not gonna do anything of that. He’s gonna mind-fight Yushiro inside her head and then he’s gonna kill her. And not even immediatelly kill like he killed Mukago or Kamanue or Rokuro, no, he will let her die slowly so Yushiro can keep using her power.

Remember when he pumped his blood into people by shoving a finger or a hand through their head? Well, good thing you do, because, yes you guessed it, HE DOESN’T. He scratched Tanjiro’s eye out and he that’s it. This is the demon who’s supposedly the most powerful demon EVER. And the most damage he’s done so far is scratch Tanjiro’s eye.

Remember when he could grab anyone from anywhere in the Fortress like he did with Wakuraba? Well, he doesn’t remember that either. He doesn’t NEED Nakime to access any place in the Fortress. He can get in and out as he pleases without needing her biwa AT ALL. He has more control over the place than Nakime herself. But guess what, we’re going to ignore all of that because if we actually stuck with the abilities estabilished for him, our heroes might need to think before they act and come up with clever plans and maybe there might even be some ACTUAL loss!

You know, not just a supporting character-type of loss! You know, like a loss of a character we really, whole-heartedly care about! A character we were given enough time to come to like and enjoy and support! A character we saw grow and get developed! How horrible!

Let it be known now that while the Infinity Fortress arc blessed me with countless (actually there’s somewhere below 500, I counted) pictures of my sweetheart Douma and gave me the TamaYushi angst I longed for, I still find it to be the worst arc KnY has had so far.

Maybe I’m wrong. Maybe all of this is a part of Muzan’s masterplan. Maybe he’s actually far more cunning and terrifying that we thought and we’re yet to see his true potential. But I seriously doubt that.

If anything like this is revealed, if we get to see any sort of reasoning for why nobody seems to have a brain anymore, I will gladly take this rant back and apologize but I kind of don’t feel like that will happen. This whole arc feels incredibly rushed and like the author just wants to be done with this series. It’s no longer the gem it was when it started and you can’t feel the love poured into every frame like it used to be. It’s just meeting the similar end as DGM.

How ironic that when I saw the first episode, my first initial thought was “Oh, this is just DGM for the new generation!” Now it seems KnY will meet the same fate, downplaying its villains, disregarding the rules it estabilished in its own universe, boring its creator and disappointing the more demanding parts of its audience.

To put it as simply as possible, there is no way the Demon Slayer Corps should be getting off this easily and there is no way Muzan and all his demons would be this stupid if they have already survived for long long centuries. Muzan doesn’t need Nakime and he doesn’t need his twelve demon Moons, he did just fine before he got them. So him suddenly forgetting about his powers and options is especially disheartening and irritating. At this point, we can only hope the creator realizes this and makes SOME effort to fix these mistakes otherwise, well, there goes another great series, ruined and corrupted by nothing but the bad writing and the author not knowing how to (or not bothering to, pick your favourite) make smart plans without disregarding their own characters’ abilities and parts of what makes them what they are. Muzan was written as an extremely powerful enemy, a cunning master of all things evil, a nightmare in human (or demon) form, something ancient and terrifying and able to spawn centuries of troubles for everyone around without ever – except for the one time – losing the upper hand. And that one time, he was STILL able to make it out alive and well.

Well, this was one extremely long rant and if you’ve read this far, kudos and a cookie to you. I may be expecting too much of a shonen series but am I really? Is it too much to ask for keeping some damn consistency at least in your characters if you can’t even be bothered to research for your timeline properly? The more I look into the Infinity Fortress arc, the more sudden plotholes and mistakes I find and the sadder it all gets. It’s like the author no longer has the strength to keep up the high quality series they started and if that’s actually the case, maybe a hiatus would be a better option than forcing themselves to continue and possibly ruin their entire franchise with a rushed and plothole-filled event.

On a slightly related note, you know what would be the one thing that would make me drop my jaw to the floor? A plottwist of unseen scale. Something on par with literally everything since the Infinity Train arc being STILL just a dream. Something on par with “Muzan” as he is now being actually the new Upper Five while the real Muzan stands back and enjoys the show. Something on par with this “Muzan” being just an illussion or a projection of something, or someone, who’s been in the Fortress this whole time while the real Muzan heads over to Urokodaki’s place to devour Nezuko. Or something even crazier. If you have any ideas, damn hit me with them, I want to hear all you have to say and feed this little flame of hope that this series is not yet entirely lost!

#kny #kimetsu no yaiba #kimetsu manga #kimetsu no yaiba spoiler #chapter 183 spoilers #infinity fortress spoilers

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firestorm26621 · 4 years

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Top 10 Most Anticipated Movies of 2020

A new year is upon us, and with it being such a visually impressive numbered year as 2020, it’s hard not to think we’re living in the future. For me, though, it mostly means another year full of movies, many of which I’m very much looking forward to.

So, without any further ado, here are the ten I’m looking forward to the most...

#10 – A Quiet Place Part II

A Quiet Place was #4 on my list of favorites movies of 2018; at that time I praised it for being tense and riveting but mostly for doing an excellent job of using the monster scenario to illustrate its themes of anxious parenthood in a dangerous world. A sequel, in theory, was probably not a good idea, especially considering the track record on sequels to horror movies in general. And yet, I still find myself excited; it has the same hand behind the wheel and cast, and the trailer looks like it is maintaining the intensity if nothing else. This one has the greatest potential to disappoint, but I remain cautiously optimistic.

#9 – The King’s Man

The first Kingsman movie was a fun blast that walked a fine line between bad-ass, charismatic action and goofy, over-the-top comedy, and it did it wonderfully. The second film fell way over that line, becoming a goofy pile of cartoony gimmicks. Thus, I was very nervous when I heard they were making a third, but based on the trailer, they are trying their best to reclaim some of the more serious elements that worked the first time. Plus, I think it was a smart move to make it a brand new story with new characters in a new time period, as it allows them to make unburden themselves of the weight of the previous films. I won’t be terribly disappointed if this ends up being bad, but I will be very happy if it rights the Kingsman ship and recaptures the charm of the first.

#8 – The Gentlemen

Guy Ritchie is making another gangster movie, and I am here for it. In all honesty, I kind of fell off with Ritchie as a director over the last ten years; Aladdin could have been directed by anyone, the Sherlock movies are fine at best, and his takes on King Arthur & The Man From UNCLE were genuinely bad. He can bring his style to anything he directs, but it seems he has devolved from gritty yet charming film-making to be more of a director-for-hire, without much artistic vision in place. But go back in time, to RocknRolla and Snatch and Lock Stock, and he could bring a style that no one has been able to replicate to date. With this, I hope he can bring the old magic back, even if it’s been absent for a whole decade.

#7 – Black Widow

This one is a pure MCU fanboy entry, for sure, but I can’t help it. I’ve wanted a Black Widow for a long time, since back when it would have actually made sense in the timeline. I do still think this timing is odd, but it is absolutely a case of better late than never. I’m unfamiliar with the director who seems to have done television and a couple female-led thrillers which I haven’t seen. But what’s really exciting is the trailer, which recalled the way The Winter Soldier trailer played out, and since that is still my favorite MCU movie, I’m alright with getting my hopes up.

#6 – Top Gun: Maverick

This one is a bit of a surprise to me to be excited about. I have no real nostalgic feelings for the original, I think I saw it far too late for that. Instead, I recognized it as a pretty great, if dated, action drama full of repressed homoeroticism and a very cool style (I’d later fall in love with Tony Scott’s style, but I didn’t know who he was at the time). No, as fun as that movie is, my excitement for this has nothing to do with then, but now. Namely, the two names attached, the director Joseph Kosinski has been doing solid films with fantastic visual styles for a few years, and recently proved he can do films with real heart with Only the Brave; and then, of course, there is Tom Cruise, who has reinvented himself in the last few years as a high intensity, all-or-nothing, thrill-seeker willing to go to any lengths to put dangerous scenarios on the screen. The kind of person who would actually learn how to fly a fighter jet for a movie; which seems like a good fit here.

#5 – The Personal History of David Copperfield

Armando Iannucci is one of my favorite comedic directors working right now. His comedy is of a sly, sharp, often cunningly cruel variety while also somehow seeming whimsical, which is a feat. With Veep ending, it leaves a hole where I can experience bad people saying mean things to each other in hilarious fashion, and this will fill that nicely. Add to that a fantastic and sizable cast, which is an almost given for his work now, and I can’t wait for this one.

#4 – No Time to Die

The Bond franchise is wildly varied in quality, especially Daniel Craig’s run, going up and down in succession for years. I still think Daniel Craig is the best Bond we’ve had, and I still think his first entry, Casino Royale, is the best Bond film, it’s just that the franchise has changed hands so many times and everyone seems to have different ideas of what he should be, which leads a bizarre jump where he goes from brand new 007 in one film to aged, retiring Bond in the next. So, for the most part, I’m trying to take these one at a time, not together, and basing my estimations of them by who is helming them. And this one is being helmed by none other than Cary Fukunaga, a director who exudes artistic vision. I haven’t loved everything he’s done, but nothing has been middling; he swings for the fences with everything he makes, and so I’m very excited for what kind of vision he’s going to bring to the latest in the 007 series.

#3 – Last Night in Soho

I know almost nothing about this one, but it’s a new Edgar Wright movie, and that’s really all I need. Seriously, there is a very vague description about a girl time traveling to meet her fashion icon, but it honestly doesn’t matter what it’s about, Wright never fails to bring his intricate, precise, magnetically charming style to anything he does, so a new movie from him after three years without is all I need to get excited about it.

#2 – Tenet

Much like the previous entry, I don’t need anything else to get excited for a Christopher Nolan movie. He’s an unmatched storyteller who revels in complexity and telling stories in unconventional ways, and with this one, he is going back to messing around with time, something he seems to love doing, with a story that seems set to dig down into that particular inclination to an extremely high degree. The first trailer was promising if vague, and that’s perfect; I don’t want to know any more about what I’m going see, I trust Nolan to take me on a memorable, mind-bending ride.

#1 – Dune

I don’t want to say that this film was crafted specifically for me, but it just might have been. Dune is my favorite book of all time, and I’ve read a good number in the sci-fi/fantasy genre, but it has eclipsed all of them with the sheer power of its ideas; ideas that have lodged themselves firmly in my head and formed a good deal of my personal philosophies. And then, it is being directed by Denis Villeneuve who is one of, if not the single greatest director working today. Sicario was one of my favorite movies of 2015. Arrival was my absolute favorite movie of 2016. Blade Runner 2049 was my favorite movie of 2017, and one of my favorite of the decade. And unless something disastrous happens, there is very little chance that Dune does not become one of my favorite films of all time. How’s that for getting my hopes up?

#a quiet place #part 2 #dune #tenet #the gentlemen #the kings man #black widow #the personal history of david copperfield #last night in soho #no time to die #top gun maverick

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steve0discusses · 5 years

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Yugioh S3 Ep 46-47: We Have an Extra Episode, Just Blow Up the Island, I Dunno

Yo can you even believe this season is over?

It was honestly a two-season season, when you think about it. This tournament that was only like a week in showtime but two years in watch time if it was 2001 and I was tuning in every week. Kinda nuts when you think about it.

Anyways, it’s over, and not even the Kaibas are willing to really let it end. They’re camping out in their bunker they just set to explode, just watching everyone run around like ants while the sirens wail across the island (do you NEED emergency sirens if no one else lives on this island?)

And we get one more time for the writers of this show to flip over the Kaiba timeline like pancakes and I just...

I can’t believe they did this to me, but at the same time I can totally see how they just let this one fly under the radar, just wait for it, it’s coming.

(read more under the cut)

So this sort of explains a little bit more of why Kaiba insists on building Kaibaland when it already exists, as apparently the Japanese Kaibaland was just the first of a franchise. Like seriously what child dreams of Franchising? He has Kaibaland but is like “I won’t be truly happy at all and I will try to cut people up with card games until there are more Kaibalands. That will surely make me happy. More Kaibalands.”

But then, sitting in the middle of the orphanage, he stands up in his 70′s ass sweatervest and proudly proclaims:

This borked timeline.

Back in the present Joey is feeling stressed out so he’s turned to his only coping mechanism, that’s right, he’s hassling people.

Duke, who has a million motivations to want to kill Kaiba, since he works for Pegasus, brings up the bright idea of “or I dunno, we could leave them? Like they very much caused every event of the last week to happen outside of the random ass cultists.”

And so, now that Joey has exhausted things to hassle, let them be Roland or the massive engines on the blimp-plane, he decides to board the helicopter. I kid you not, Tea turns to Joey as they’re boarding the copter and says basically along the lines of this:

WTF, show. Like what? Like whaaaat? Anyway, don’t think about how big a helicopter is on the inside, because we’re just gonna shove everyone in here like it’s a mosh pit. Good thing that no one actually packed any luggage or pajamas, so at least that will keep the weight down.

Please admire the height of Yugi compared to Roland.

What followed was an explosion that the show did for...some reason. This didn’t need to happen. This was needless anxiety and it’s like..the season’s over why are we doing this???

So this is just a very Yugioh moment where...they didn’t really HAVE to blow up the island at the last minute. They didn’t HAVE to break the engines on the blimp-plane and they absolutely didn’t HAVE to put Seto Kaiba in a jet in the same very un-aerodynamic shape of a blue eyes white wife.

But they did.

If I’ve learned anything from watching Yugioh is that you must always, at every moment, be going 400%.

Seto just wanted to make a simple visual statement of “I want to move on from the past” so he decided to uh...do a very theatrical statement that was so theatrical that everyone thought that not only he and Mokuba had died, but that they, themselves, were about to die (and they were, they absolutely were)

Please admire the way they drew Seto from the side in this scene.

Anyway, now that the completely unnecessary “lets blow up the island and destroy the ecosystem” drama is over, and Kaiba’s off to encourage Global Warming in some other part of the globe, it’s time to send Marik off on his boat. It’s time for him to go have Marik Boat Time and never ever become a spinoff series although you know I would absolutely watch the hell out of that.

So, they choose the most idyllic landscape to do it, here in the abandoned warehouse district, surrounded by shipping cranes and strangely empty cruise liners. Ah, that twilight hour sunset. The way the sunlight kisses the corners of the abandoned warehouse’s windows.

I am absolutely shocked our background artist didn't use the chance to paint it neon orange. They love neon orange so much but I guess they save the neon for dramatic scenes. This one they left a more natural Instagram creamy color palate.

(PS at this point I guess Bakura decided to go home or go to the hospital. Whichever reason he decided to bounce, he bounced without saying goodbye to anyone apparently. That or the show just decided that no one cares about Bakura so he was the only one we didn’t say a farewell too, which is hilarious since he’s one of the most popular characters on this show.

Bro broke it to me, this whole story line of the puzzle and the tablet and all that--nah. By the time we get to it I’ll have forgotten all of the lore, pretty sure. Bro did ask me if we could skip S4 and I said no we are here for the worst parts first, Bro. When it gets horrible is when we’re finally getting to the good stuff.

Then, Duke suddenly remembered that before this tournament, he was only going on a walk between laundry loads but ended up abducted twice over, stranded on a submarine, an island, and nearly exploded. That and he had to sleep on one of Kaiba’s weird cube couches and that probably sucked. But it’s time for him to pull out his colors and add some bounce sheets to his whites for the dryer.

Can you believe they had Duke Devlin for two seasons but he only dueled once? Lol.

I can’t believe there was never a purpose for Duke Devlin other than to be eye-candy. I’ve only ever really seen this trope done to girls.

Mai also suddenly remembers that she doesn’t live here.

TBH, if Mai wasn’t put in a coma, I think she would have just left the tournament after she lost. She’d have pulled out a hang-glider from her pack and just sailed away rather than spend another minute with people she isn’t absolutely required to hang out with. That seems more her jam.

And then they had to frame up this Joey/Mai ship and...it’s just so funny when you remember that Mai is like waaay to old for Joey. She’s like 24 and he’s a baby but he’s pretty sure that he’s disappointing her so much by not telling her all about how he’s crushing. He’s pretty sure she just has no idea when it’s like, no, she does, and she does not want you to acknowledge it.

As she goes off, Tea for some reason decides to make it her responsibility for Joey to go out there and I guess...mortally embarrass himself in front of his much older crush? I mean you don’t really have to admit to your teachercrush that...you like her? Like, Mai is just a teachercrush right? Like he respects and admires her, she’s pretty, and there’s no other girls but Tea and Miho? Like that’s it?

This weird ass couple. And I mean it’s a weird pairing just because it can never happen on screen, but as some of you have pointed out--it is probably the healthiest couple in Yugioh. Mostly because we know that it will never happen. Unlike everyone else where it’s like, Joey better go eat both those pieces of paper with those phone numbers on it because holy hell a 16 yo dating a 12 yo is pretty freakin wild. What are those boys even going to talk about with Serenity? How wild fractions are? How to make a replica of a cell out of Jello for the science fair? Because that’s the level she’s at.

I was an architecture student once (I know. Ya’ll who’ve read many of these have probably noticed I attempted to major in nearly every art alignment so it’s probably very confusing to figure out wtf I actually ended up finishing in school (it was Illustration) ) so I just can’t with Yugi’s house. We have seen several rooms inside this house and none of them, absolutely none, line up with the outside of Yugi’s house (which is smack dab in the middle of the inner city for some reason??? Like does Yugi have PARKING? This is the most expensive two story house in Japan, it comes with free parking.

And like...I have tried to lay it out but it doesn’t make sense. The stairs of the shop go directly into the front door. The second floor would be half a staircase, so where is this living room? And assuming that Yugi is on the top floor with the slanted roof window...how? Is it the entire floor? what is going on here?

It’s a cartoon, I shouldn’t think about it, but this house is a Dr. Who police box. Anyways, Yugi decides to sneak out of the house by going down the stairs that are again, right in front of the front door. You cannot go through the front door of this house because these damn stairs are directly in the way.

Hey check out who’s alive, it’s Grandpa. I guess he’s...fine? I guess he just woke up on the floor of Bakura’s hospital room and was like “Screw that, I’m going home.” and then just peaced out here until Yugi came back.

I respect his moon pj’s to go with Yugi’s star pj’s.

I can’t imagine being in Grandpa’s position and seeing your boy go out there and get nearly killed by crazy ass cultists again and Seto Kaiba (who put him in a coma), and then catching him Sneaking Out. Like if I were Grandpa I’d just set up camp right outside of the front door because holy hell Yugi is so attracted to danger he’s just gonna waltz around the city in the middle of the night to play cards.

++++++++++RANT ABOUT TACO BELL, FEEL FREE TO SKIP THIS IS JUST ME TALKING ABOUT THE TACO BELL MENU+++++++++++++++++++++++++

Also I looked up Taco Bell in Japan thinking that this wouldn’t be a thing (from what I’ve heard, the only food Japan cannot do is Mexican) but not only does Taco Bell in Japan completely exist, guess what the menu is like? Just go ahead and guess in your head, I’m gonna go over the menu right now because this is very important.

I was expecting it to be pretty wild with a black taco shell made out of squid ink or something but surprisingly, it’s mostly the freakin same but different meats. Like they have a few more pork options (I guess instead of chicken?) and they have a shrimp taco--which I feel like we’ve done in the States before but everyone didn’t like that. Also, you can apparently get a crunchwrap, but it’s in a triangle shape instead of an octagon. They just changed the shape and called it a “stuffed grilled giant nacho”.

Obviously, they do not have a Ranch Doritos taco since America is the only place that is fully obsessed with Ranch. I have heard from so many people from Asia that “can we just not have Ranch today? Can we have a single spread without this weird garlic sauce? And...are you dipping your pizza with it? Is there one thing you haven’t coated with Ranch Dressing?” and it’s like no. There isn’t. Would you like to try our taco bell taco that is frosted in messy Ranch dust?

Like it really feels like this is the one fast food joint where everyone else has the normal Taco bell, and weirdly WE are are the people with the weird ass version of Taco Bell. Even Japan was like “you guys do you over there with your pink Starburst flavored frozen icee and your Quesarito...we’re just gonna put some extra cheese on a taco and call it ‘double cheese.’”

But here’s the craziest thing on the menu--the Taco Bell in Japan has FRIES.

I KNOW.

WHAT????

What would Taco Bell fries even taste like? Would they taste...tacoey? I mean I know that nacho fries are a thing that kinda comes and goes but I’ve never had them actually. Its never the right moment for nacho fries when Nacho fries are still on the menu.

but, I will say they do have one kind of weird thing on the menu I see online. I say “kind of” because it’s...just weird, it’s not actually all that out there as compared to our weird things in Taco bell. They got something called the “honey cheese pocket” which was a small plain flour tortilla filled with melted Monterey Jack cheese rolled into a cigar that you dip into honey.

...I mean...it probably tastes good, but if you released a honey cheese pocket in the States and pretended that’s Mexican food, I’m pretty sure every state touching the south border would cry a single Zesty-ranch-doritos-taco-shaped-tear. I know I would, at the same rate I’m stuffing honey cheese pockets directly into my mouth.

AND...apparently you can just serve alcohol in a Japanese Taco Bell. Which is interesting, because we had that episode of Season Zero where Yugi had to find alcohol in a burger joint, which seemed really odd to me at the time, but I guess you can just serve alcohol in whatever restaurant? Anyways, Taco bell has alcohol so now Yugi can light people on fire in a Taco Bell, if he really felt like it. Go ahead and append your fanfictions accordingly.

+++++++++END OF TACO BELL RANT, BACK TO CARDS ++++++++++++

So, can you imagine having a friend who forces you to wake up at o-dark hundred in order to play cards when you already attend all of the same classes and see eachother every minute of the day otherwise? Can you imagine having a friend like this?

Then again I’m not 100% on whether Pharaoh needs to sleep. It’s pretty clear that Bakura’s ghost doesn’t sleep much (or apparently eat much) so maybe it goes the same for Pharaoh as well that he needs Yugi to remind him how to be human.

Then there was this weird review episode they slapped on at the end. I...don’t know why they put it there, it was really more of an afterthought since nothing really got added or taken away from the finale. It was just a review episode of “in case you didn’t watch this season, here’s what happened this season” But the episode wasn’t over before Tea angsted the hell out about this kid that I guess she’s...

Tea thinks in her head about Yugi more than she talks directly to Yugi. That’s really my biggest issue with this couple. Tea can be so lukewarm towards Yugi and visa versa and then occasionally Tea will just snap and obsesses over this boy, but never tells him about it directly. Except for that one time in the blimp, which was more about “please don’t die”. But have they talked about how freakin anxious she is about how he’ll die? Nah.

It just feels like the writing team had one person who really liked Tea/Yugi, and then the rest who were like “fine, wtv” and so we get a real inconsistent narrative of this pair, that only seems to come up for drama, but then goes right back to being invisible moments later. Like sightings of a giant squid.

Ah, back where they started, on a date with a ghost. I think. This might be a date? It started at 2 PM so I don’t know that counts as a date yet.

These two are a lot.

And honestly...If it was going to happen it should have happened at some point in the end of this arc. She made such a big deal about him going off to card war, and now he’s back and she’s like...ok, cool.

They’re not gonna even talk about it? Or like...maybe high five it out? High five out those feelings? Man I feel so bad for anyone that shipped these two.

But anyway,

I’d add it to the Yugioh Death Count but that’s assuming that I don’t find an excuse to use this font again.

So yeah, that’s it for Season 3 (I wrote in Season 4 just now and had to really think about it because like...it really does feel like I went through 4 seasons, at least, of this show since every season is like 50 episodes)

Originally, when I started this, I thought there were only 3 seasons of Yugioh total. This was the end goal.

But I guess I’m committed now, so we’ll start up Season 4, which bro tells me is “completely different and not what you expected” but I probably won’t post until 2 weeks from now because this is a side hobby and I don’t need to wax long about my main-life stress, but youknow how it is: the more stuff I add the more stuff adds up. However, I do cope with stress by typing, so maybe I’ll just make sooo many updates to combat it? I dunno. But the blog will be back for S4. Eventually. When I get to it.

Many thanks to all y’all who’ve left many kind comments, I’ve been kind of tasked for time lately, so I haven’t really responded to many, but know that I see them and I’m thankful for them and I tell bro about them and he finds many of them amusing and y’all are just very, very nice. Wish Tumblr had an actual comments system since the only way to reply is like...it’s weird. If I reblog my own post I run the risk of it then being out of chronological order for people wanting to read that link I put at the base of each post so...I have to either make a new post to reply or reply within the post and I dunno if y’all can even see that type of reply...it’s tumblr problems.

Anyway, I’ll have a Graveyard for next weekend, maybe an art post, I dunno. But, I’m not dead, just watching how weird the next season is and making a buffer.

And here’s that link to read all these recaps in chrono order from the beginning

#ygo #yugioh #s3 #we finished s3 #s3 ep 46 #s3 ep47 #I might have those episode numbers wrong because 47 is a weird episode to end on #but I'm not gonna double check because we done #yugi muto #tea gardner #tristan taylor #duke devlin #serenity wheeler #seto kaiba #mokuba #mai valentine #a very long rant about taco bell

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pi-cat000 · 5 years

Text

MSA time travel idea (part 24)

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, Vivi POV, 8, 9, 10, Lewis POV, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, Lance POV 18, 19, Lewis POV 2, 21 , 22, Vivi POV 2,

Part 25: here

The transition from ‘skewered on a stone spike’ to the real, physical world, is jarring. It’s like being thrown against a solid, brick wall of sensation. Touch, smell, and sight all crash into Arthur simultaneously, several times more intense than reliving the reconstructed memories.

Artificial fluorescent light, the lingering smell of petrol, and distant sounds of a car engine, all compete for his attention. Internally, Arthur wrestles with his new world view. He is still trying to process that, not only does he deserve every misfortune suffered since Lewis’s disappearance in his original timeline, including his own death at Lewis’s hands, but he has also managed to wreck his second chance. Failure. Complete, catastrophic failure. That’s what this whole trip into the past has been.

While he struggles to mentally recalibrate, his physical body is already strolling forward across the underground parking lot unhindered. The thing controlling his body knows exactly what it’s doing, walking up to where Darrel is unconscious and sprawled on the ground. The hospital car park- because this is definitely the park under St Peter’s Emergency Centre- remains devoid of people and appears unchanged despite Arthur feeling like he’s just lived through several days’ worth of unpleasant memories. How does that work? Arthur tries to reconcile the idiosyncrasy amongst his disorientation. Not even a second’s past!

“Actually, it’s been about two minutes,” Comes the cheerful verbal reply. Arthur goes very still at the address, his chaotic thoughts finally quietening to focus in on the second entity sitting alongside him. He doesn’t try and respond. He’s not sure if he should. Honestly, he’s half terrified that responding is going to draw unwanted attention when he desperately needs time to pull his thoughts together without being derailed. Bad enough that he’s struggling to think coherently, he doesn’t need someone else making it worse.

His?…Its?... body, snorts in amusement but reframes from commenting further, crouching down next to Darrel, scanning the unconscious man for an elongated second. It is odd. Arthur can feel himself move. He just can’t control any of it.

More disturbing, is how oddly happy and satisfied he feels. Sure, stress and fear are around, but they are muted and faded to a background hum. Logically, it makes sense. Emotions were a physical reaction, triggered in the brain. If the demon controlled his body, then it also controlled his body’s emotional responses. Just because Arthur remembers some high school biology fact does not make the experience any less jarring. It’s wrong to feel euphorically happy while his world crumbles around him. No wonder he’s having trouble thinking straight.

“I should probably find somewhere a little more private for this shouldn’t I?” The demon remarks after its short inspection, glancing around, attention fixing onto his van.

Arthur is pretty strong, physically, for his size, a side effect of an active lifestyle and demanding mechanical work. However, Darrel is tall and on the weightier side of things, meaning the demon is forced to drag the unconscious man by a leg across the concrete.

“Jeez, go on a diet or something,” The demon criticises, knocking and jostling Darrel about like he’s a sack of potatoes. It obviously shares Arthur’s physical limitations because it struggles for a good five minutes before finally forcing Darrel into the van. Arthur maintains an anxious, worried quiet, silently watching the doors to his van slam shut with needless force.

The demon mimes wiping dust off its hands in an exaggerated action, “Speaking of diets. Man am I hungry. You could definitely stand to feed this thing more, we’re running on empty here.”

Arthur feels his body stretch its arms up, loosening his shoulder muscles in a move he, himself, did habitually after lifting something heavy. Next, they’re moving around to the driver’s seat, pulling out keys, and Arthur finally puts two and two together. They’re leaving the hospital and going somewhere else. In amongst all the suffering and confusion, he’d forgotten the reason he was at the hospital to begin with. Uncle Lance. Was his Uncle even in the hospital? Or was it all a trick?

“Oh. That was all true. Our dear Uncle really is in dire straits,” The demon answers his unasked question, flipping the van’s ignition. The engine vibrates under them.

‘What did you do?’ Arthur is almost dreading the answer, but he needs to know. The need momentarily outweighs his fear, pulling his focus away from thoughts of Lewis and his rediscovered memories.

“So now you want to talk? Thought I was getting the silent treatment for a second there.”

Frustration and apprehension bubbles across his mind. ‘What did you do? Tell me!’

“Calm down,” The van jerks forward, spinning towards the exit, “We’ll get to Uncle Lance soon enough. That’s a promise.”

Arthur mentally recoils at a sensation of saccharine delight. It’s not him feeling that. It can’t be.

“…and I always keep my promises.”

A renewed weight bears down upon him, studying his reactions, watching him squirm. He tries to retreat, but there is nowhere to go. It makes for a disorientating car ride on Arthur’s part, knocking his cognitive processes askew, so he barely notices the passage of time. Lost in memory, his mind and body out of sync, he misses the trip through town, only getting shocked back into the present when the van turns suddenly onto an unsealed road. Rough and marred with potholes, the small track isn’t made for larger vehicles, causing everything to shake unsteadily.

The clock on the dashboard reads 3:52pm, meaning he’s lost about forty minutes. The demon is humming along to the radio, utterly relaxed despite the bumpy ride. Apprehension grows as Arthur focuses on the scenery visible ahead. The area is mostly flat, littered with stone bluffs and tall cactus. Empty of civilisation. There are no good reasons for them to be out here.

The van lurches to a stop, smack in the middle of the uninhabited terrain.“This should be far enough.”

The demon pivots around, leaning over the seat divider, scanning the Darrel-shaped lump in the back, “How’s the passenger going? Good? No complaints? That’s always a nice change.”

Next, they are clambering over the seat, pushing aside camping gear, and reaching over Darrel to throw open the back doors. Darrel groans, having been accidentally kneed in the stomach.

‘What are you doing!’ Arthur panics. He has a horrible suspicion, and he hopes he’s wrong.

“We,” The demon emphasis the word, shoving Darrel towards the open doors with a foot, “are tying up a loose end.”

‘What does that mean?’

“Oh, I think you know what it means.”

Another groan from Darrel who is stirring awake.

“Waking up I see. Just in time too,” An unceremonious kick, the demon braces its back against the front seats for leverage, and the barely conscious Darrel goes tumbling out onto rock and dirt with a heavy thud.

Arthur would have had to have been an idiot to have not to have realised the demon’s plans by now. Even is his state of disorientation.

‘You don’t have to do this! He wouldn’t tell anyone about any of this. Who would believe him even if he did say anything? No one believes in this stuff,’ He tries to argue, thoughts coming out jumbled and half-formed, memories of The Cave resurfacing. Specifically, memories of returning from The Cave, of knowing that something usual had happened, and no one believing him.

“Ha. Tell me about it. No one believes me about this stuff either,” The sharp tone pulls attention back. The demon climbs after Darrel. Its movements have taken on a predatory likeness, hyper-focused, buzzing with coiled energy. Arthur can feel its excited anticipation at odds with his own panic.

‘Stop!’

Arthur tries to do something, anything, but there are no footholds. He’s nothing but disembodied thought. He might as well be smoke, trying to stop a landslide.

The demon stalks forward, nudging Darrel onto his back, resting a foot on the other man’s chest and leaning in. The sun overhead is relentlessly bright, causing a shadow to fall across Darrel’s face. The multi-tool on Arthur’s keyring is brought out, small knife flipping open and held up.

“Wakey-wakey,” The demon taps a finger against Darrel’s forehead, causing the other man’s eyes to flutter open. There is a moment of confusion.

“You know his biggest fear was dying an insignificant death,” Arthur hears himself comment conversationally while they seemingly wait for Darrel to focus.

‘Stop. Whatever you’re doing. Just stop.’

“It’s funny because the only reason he’s here is because I needed a way to get to you. I’m sure he would have lived a long, fulling life otherwise.”

Darrel’s eyes have widened, clearing with renewed awareness. They shift to meet Arthur’s gaze, then move to land on the knife he’s holding.

“An extra in your own life. Isn’t that sad?” A patronising tutting sound and an exaggerated disappointed head shake, “Doesn’t get much more insignificant than this....”

Arthur’s body raises an arm, flicking the knife effortlessly across the other man’s throat. The jab is so quick and precise that Arthur doesn’t have a chance to object future. Blood splatters across the weeds and dirt. Whatever Darrel may have said comes across grabbled, choking off and dying.

“Insignificant and worthless to the end,” A chuckle. The demon flips the knife shut with a flourish. Tiny blood splotches speckle Arthur’s face and clothing.

Arthur’s brain freezes, thoughts grinding to an abrupt halt.

“Oh, come on. That was funny,” The creature laughs, amusement echoing, rippling out towards Arthur. A sick joy at Darrel’s misfortune. Guilt and horror build as well, faint but there, buried under the delight and satisfaction. At least Arthur can say that that is all him because there is no way this creature feels guilt!

A disappointed huff, “All those wonderful emotions and you pick that? Humans. No appreciation for cosmic irony.”

It’s not like he can control anything anymore. This isn’t him. IT’S NOT HIM!!! He doesn’t know why he’s trying to defend himself. He’s just killed a person, and he’s happy about it. That’s not him feeling that. It’s not!

“Sure, it is. It’s just a matter of perspective.”

Arthur’s too busy mentally freaking out to give callous statement much attention.

Note: RIP OC Darrel (and your two pages of unused character notes/backstory) you will be missed. Better watch out Lance.

Part 25: here

#MSA #mystery skulls animated #fanfiction #fanfic #arthur kingsmen #the demon?#mind control #posession #dark #angst #character death #emotional disorientation #possible disturbing imagery #a shity situation gets a whole lot shiter

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homespork-review · 5 years

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Spork Introduction

CHEL: Hi! I go by Chel, they or she pronouns, and I’m the one spearheading this project. I still like at least a fair percentage of Homestuck, but after the ending disappointed me a great deal, I got bitter, and when Hussie pissed me off further by Godwinning himself, I decided to do something about it. I’m no longer angry about it, but I felt I’d benefit from picking out what I hate from what I love so I can focus on the latter without annoyance getting in the way, and also to benefit my own writing efforts.

BRIGHT: Howdy! I’m Bright, and I got into Homestuck fairly recently. After ploughing through the archive and digesting for a while, I realised that I was thoroughly annoyed by how something enjoyable had fallen apart so comprehensively. I am looking forward to the time-honoured practice of ripping the story apart to identify its weak points and shout at them.

FAILURE ARTIST: Hello, I’m Failure Artist (call me FA for short), she/her/herself pronouns, and I’m so old-school they burned the school down. I was introduced to Homestuck via Something Awful’s Webcomic thread. I checked the old mspadventures.com site and the latest update was [S] John: Bite Apple. After watching that bizarre piece of animation, I had to know what the hell happened before then. I found I enjoyed the wit of the comic though I didn’t really care much about the plot. It was only when Act 5 came around that I became a serious fan. I currently have 122 Homestuck works on Archive of Our Own. I have a lot of free time, you see. I am very disappointed in how Homestuck ended. Possibly there was no completely satisfactory way it could end but it still could have been better. I feel like Hussie was a juggler who threw a lot of balls into the air and ignored them as they fell to the ground and some fans think not catching them was a master move since you’d expect he’d try to catch at least one. Sadly, lots of the problems with the ending are embedded deep within the canon.

TIER: Hi hi. I am Tier, a very late newcomer to the wonderful world of Homestuck (2018 reader!) and average fan overall. I love this webcomic to bits, but the low points are deep and I enjoy seeking out what the heck went wrong. Not particularly analytical myself, hope that's cool!

CHEL: Cool by us! We’ve already done plenty of analysing before we started, as you may realise from my Tumblr’s “homestuck ending hate” tag (at @chelonianmobile).

FAILURE ARTIST: But let’s put that aside for a moment and talk about the good stuff.

Homestuck is incredibly innovative. It is the first true webcomic. It’s not just a print comic posted online. It uses not just still images and words but also animation, music, and interactive games.

Homestuck is the latest adventure in the series MS Paint Adventures. MS Paint Adventures started as a forum adventure. In forum adventures, the OP acts as a sort of Dungeon Master and other forum members give them prompts. Andrew Hussie’s previous works under MS Paint Adventures were Jailbreak (which is little more than Hussie dicking with the prompters in scatological ways), Bard’s Quest (Choose-your-own-adventure), and the actually-completed Problem Sleuth. Problem Sleuth lacks the music and animation and despite the weird physics shenanigans is a simpler story than Homestuck. The characters aren’t even two dimensional.

Homestuck (and the previous MS Paint Adventures minus Bard’s Quest) are set up like adventure games. Adventure games are where the player is a protagonist in a story and are usually focused on puzzle-solving though sometimes there’s combat. In the beginning, these games were purely text. The player would type what they wanted to do and the game would spout back text describing it - assuming the computer parser understood you.

CHEL: Oh god, I HATED that. I wasn’t around for the heyday but I’ve played a couple and

Pale Luna

was barely an exaggeration (horror warning).

FAILURE ARTIST: As graphics improved, adventure games started using them, but the commands were still in text. Only later was the point-and-click interface created and players didn’t have to guess what exact sentence the computer wanted them to type. Homestuck and the other MS Paint Adventures play with that frustration while paying tribute to the genre. The game within the comic uses RPG elements but the comic itself is set up like those good ol’ adventure games. In the beginning, Homestuck was guided by commands from forum members. Even after he closed the suggestion box, he used memes and fanon created by readers.

CHEL: How good an idea this was varies, as we’ll be showing.

We probably don’t need to describe Homestuck much more. Everyone here who hasn’t read it will doubtless have heard of it. Almost everyone with a Tumblr will have seen fanart, almost anyone at a convention will have seen cosplay. Shoutouts have been made to it in professional works such as the cartoon Steven Universe, and the Avengers fandom latched onto “caw caw motherfuckers” as a catchphrase for Hawkeye to the point that it’s now often forgotten it didn’t originate from there.

FAILURE ARTIST: The Homestuck fandom term “sadstuck” for depressing stories/headcanons somehow leaked into other fandoms. Using second-person is actually cool now and not just for awkward reader fics. Astrology will never be the same again.

CHEL: Now, in the interests of fairness, we will say that when Homestuck is good, it’s amazing, and it’s good often. The characters at least start out appealing and are all immediately distinguishable; even with the typing quirks stripped, it’s easy to tell who said what. The magic system is one of the coolest I’ve ever seen, who doesn’t love classpecting themselves and their faves? Hussie also shows a lot of talent for the complex meta and time travel weirdness, and it is fascinating to watch a timeline thread unfurl. And whatever else one says, it’s a fascinating story that’s captivated millions. I think it is deserving of its title as a modern classic.

However, as the years have passed, we have ended up noticing problems, big and small, and they nagged at us until we decided it had to be dissected. Our intention here isn’t to tear apart something we loathe entirely. It’s to take a complex work and pick out what works from what doesn’t. As I said, when Homestuck is good, it’s very very good. But when it’s bad, we get problems of every scale from various offensive comments to dragging pace to characters ignoring problems and solutions right under their noses to an absolute collapse of every theme and statement the comic stood for before.

The comic is ludicrously long; eight thousand pages, or thereabouts, to be specific. Officially one of the longest works of fiction in the English language, in fact. Naturally, we can’t riff that word by word in any timeframe short of decades, and we can’t include every picture, even if that was permitted under copyright law. Instead, as comics have been done here before, we’ll recap most of the time, and include sections of dialogue and pictures when particularly relevant to a point.

Here are the counts we’ll be using, possibly to be added to later if we find we forgot anything. Most of these counts will only start to climb post-Act 5, but we’ll be keeping track of them from the beginning. Most of them could have been fixed with a decent editor, which is sadly a hazard of webcomics, but still frustrating to read.

TIER: Note: we started this endeavor months before the thought of a "technically not but still we'll count it" set of canon epilogues were a twinkle in the eyes of the fandom. That is, by the way, a whole 'nother can of worms that will be dealt with at a later date if that ever comes around. We're judging Homestuck the Webcomic as a whole, so no after the credits stuff is to be noted for whatever reason.

ALL THE LUCK - Vriska Serket constantly gets a pass or gets favored over every other character. This count is added to every time she pulls some shenanigans with which others wouldn’t get away. ARE YOU TRYING TO BE FUNNY? - Sometimes it’s not entirely clear whether a thing is supposed to be taken seriously or not. We don’t require hand-holding through every joke, but when, for example, we’re supposed to take one instance of violence seriously while a similar case is supposed to be funny, this count goes up. CALL CPA PLEASE - Instances of creepy sexual behaviour (and perhaps particularly gratuitous acts of violence) from the thirteen-year-old cast. Now, mileage may vary on this one. We won’t pretend that thirteen-year-olds are perfect pure angels, especially thirteen-year-olds growing up in what is openly supposed to be a nightmarish dystopia. However, when full pages focus on said behaviour, there comes a point of it being very uncomfortable to read. Clarification: does not refer to cases where the adults do something heinous, this is strictly when the kids do. CLOCKWORK PROBLEMATYKKS - When an offensive joke or comment is made, particularly when not justified by the personality of the character involved, or presented in the narration as being okay. GET ON WITH IT! - When the pace drags. ‘Nuff said. Hazard of the format, but it makes archive bingeing very annoying. GORE GALORE - For unnecessary and/or excessive torture porn which is treated less seriously because it features troll characters, and therefore less “realistic” blood colours. HOW NOT TO WRITE A WEBCOMIC - When the comic does something mentioned in How Not To Write A Novel, and it isn’t justified by the webcomic format. HURRY UP AND DO NOTHING - Characters repeatedly neglect to do something about or even react to terrible happenings, either because they don’t care even if they should or they forget they have the capacity. Not necessarily anything to do with their magical powers, either - characters ignore personal problems that are right under their noses, too. IN HATE WITH MY CREATION - For reasons that are unclear, Hussie chose to create characters he apparently hated writing, or at least ignored in favour of others. Every time he’s clearly disrespecting one of his own characters, this goes up, whether it’s by nerfing their powers or changing their personalities. RELATIONSHIP GOALS? - Romantic relationships in particular get fumbled quite often. Ship Teasing is used with skill, but that skill tends to be lost when the characters actually hook up. Fumbled friendships and family relations can also come under this heading. SEND THEM TO THE SLAMMER - When characters other than Vriska get away with something morally questionable. Covers everything from sexual harassment to not trying to save people from the apocalypse. SOME OF MY BEST FRIENDS - Later on in Homestuck’s run, Hussie tried to make up for the offensive humour and casual -isms counted by Clockwork Problematykks above. How successful he was at this varied. This count goes up whenever an attempt at progressivism is waved in front of the reader but doesn’t stand up under scrutiny. WHAT IS HAPPENING?? - When the already confusing plot kicks it up a notch. Admittedly this is as much a selling point of the comic as it is an issue, but either way, we’re going to keep track. Points will be added to when it gets confusing, and taken away when a previous confusing thing is explained adequately. WHITE SBURB POSTMODERNISM - What is shown about Alternia repeatedly contradicts what we’re told about how different it is from Earth. For example, trolls still use heteronormative terms even after it’s established they reproduce bisexually, and the demonstration of the class structure doesn’t always add up. This count goes up every time that happens. It also goes up every time something happens which strongly implies Hussie was envisioning the human kids as white, despite his later claims that they were always supposed to be “aracial”, and every time their economic statuses don’t add up either.

#homespork #homestuck #review #literary critique #sporking #let's read #reread #homestuck meta

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statusquoergo · 5 years

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We all knew this was going to be a disaster, right? We didn’t know how, but I mean, we knew. We were ready.

We were not disappointed.

Harvey, on the phone with Donna, enters his apartment with an indignant exclamation that he can’t believe she’s not coming over tonight, after he went to all the trouble of getting pizza with “those stupid yellow tomatoes” she likes. She really can't, though, because she has plans with an old friend who called her at the last minute out of the blue; he asks her instead to come over later because, though it’s not something he advertises, he watches Survivor and was hoping to get her into it. (First Oprah, now Survivor; I could've sworn Harvey’s media tastes tended more towards the classics.) She takes a rain check, he asks who this “old friend” is, and wouldn’t you know it, here’s Mike Ross.

“Survivor? What are you, a thousand?”

(Given this show’s trans-dimensional timeline, that actually wouldn’t surprise me.)

Okay, real talk. Considering the amount of promotion this show and USA Network did to brag that Mike was coming back, it’s incredibly unlikely that anyone in the viewing public was surprised by the “big reveal” (which also explains why they got it out of the way in the first thirty seconds), but…they could’ve tried. At least a little.

Harvey rounds the corner into his kitchen area thing and finds Mike, leaning against the counter as he delivers his opening salvo, and this is where it starts getting weird. (Yes, already.) Mike is settled in like he belongs there, fine, but Harvey, even though he’s smiling, kind of, doesn’t seem remotely surprised to see him. He doesn’t even respond to Mike directly, instead telling Donna: “I get it. The plans weren’t for you, they were for me.” She tells him to have a great time, he hangs up, and right away we’re into some old-fashioned banter.

Minor detour for the first hint that Korsh is going out of his way to replace Marvey with Darvey: Harvey and Mike haven’t seen each other in over a year. Mike appears suddenly, without warning, in Harvey’s apartment, and opens with a joke, dropping them right back into their usual patterns without missing a beat. I’m not expecting Harvey to start screaming and jumping up and down, but you remember how big and bright his smile was when Mike got into the bar? This is like, a third of that, at best. One option that might’ve been better than “The plans weren’t for you, they were for me” might be, I dunno, “Sorry Donna, I have to go. An old friend just showed up out of the blue.” Instead he treats Mike like he’s been expecting him, tidying things up with Donna before he can be bothered to respond to what I assume is actually a huge surprise. I’m starting to think all the promotional buildup might've been a mistake, because this is even more underwhelming than I ever thought possible.

And that’s just on the emotive level; let’s talk about the dialogue.

“You know, just because she gave you a key doesn’t mean you’re staying here.”

Harvey, to Mike, “Tricks of the Trade” (s01e06): “Remind me to have Donna get you a spare key.” Mike’s had a key to Harvey’s place since forever, this isn’t news. (And let’s not forget the metaphorical connotations of Mike having a “key” to Harvey’s home, and the fact that their lives are no longer intrinsically intertwined, i.e., he’s here but he’s not staying. They’re definitely there. Even if it’s by accident.)

“Why would I stay here? I’ve got my old apartment that you’re pretending to rent for me. ‘Rick Sorkin’? You’ve gone soft.”

How does Mike know about that? Has he known for awhile and not brought it up for some reason, or did Donna tell him about it an hour ago? Second hint of Darvey replacing Marvey, tied right back to the first time they pulled this shit in “Everything’s Changed” (s09e01): Harvey used the name “Rick Sorkin,” the Harvard grad who Mike impersonated in the pilot, to maintain a connection to Mike, and he might’ve treated it like a touching callback joke when he told Donna about it, but it’s actually pretty sad. Don’t forget, he came up with the idea about a year before he and Donna got together, so for all that time it was just a little thing that he had all to himself to keep Mike close by in any way he could. Point being, if anyone was going to tell Mike about it, it should've been Harvey, but Donna, the new most important person in Harvey’s life, evidently needs to be wedged into every facet of his business, no matter who else was there first.

“I was using it as a tax shelter.”

Wait, I’m confused. Was Mike supposedly making money off this rental or not? Has Harvey been sending him “rent checks”? Do they have a joint account where Harvey’s been making deposits? Did Mike just give Harvey the apartment? Did Harvey take out a mortgage for some reason?

“And what’s the name of that tax shelter? ‘I’m a Softie’?” “Maybe I’ve always been a softie.”

What the fuck is happening right now?

“What happened to uh, ‘Caring makes you weak’?” “I think you’re confusing ‘caring’ with ‘moving to Seattle.’”

So…moving to Seattle makes Mike weak. And Mike just smiles and nods over this one (seriously, his expression is the nonverbal equivalent of saying, “You got me there”), so does that mean he agrees that moving to Seattle was weak? (It was definitely a weak plot point, but I don’t think they’re that self-aware.)

“Speaking of Seattle, don’t you have some old ladies looking to sue the condo association, or whatever big case you’ve got going on these days?”

He takes class actions against Fortune 500s, that would have to be one hell of a condo association.

“Yes I do, but those old ladies are gonna have to wait, because I always have time for an old friend. It’s good to see you, Harvey.” “Great to see you, Mike.” “Is that Gionno’s?” “It is. You like yellow tomatoes?”

I hate this hug. I hate it so much. I was suspicious when I saw it in the promos, but at least then I could hold out hope for a real hug before the end of the episode, something à la the attempted-handshake-cum-goodbye-hug in “Faith” (s05e10) or the other attempted-handshake-cum-goodbye-embrace in “Goodbye” (s07e16). But no. This is it. This is all we get. The most performative bro-hug (complete with patronizing back patting) I could possibly imagine between two dudes who literally tried to go to prison for each other. Mike doesn’t even take two seconds to savor the moment before he’s asking about dinner! He seems so disinterested and distracted, I had to watch this scene three times to be sure he wasn’t using the hug as an excuse to get a better view of the pizza box. (He isn’t, but only just.)

I don’t know if anyone gives a shit, but the big secondary plot of this episode is that Sheila has some totally legitimate but previously unaired anxieties about balancing her job with motherhood and because no one on this show knows how to use their words, she expresses these fears by yelling at Louis for not understanding this thing she’s never tried to explain to him. Oh also they’re sexually roleplaying Cinderella with some $9000 glass slippers, and Sheila spent a whole meeting at work calling some major donor by the wrong name (and he didn’t correct her…why?) so he pulled his $50,000 donation and she feels like a failure.

Back to the prodigal son for an abbreviated rundown of the Journey of Darvey: “Let me get this straight: I tell Donna to kiss you, she does, and then, as a result, you ask another woman to move in with you.” No he absolutely fucking did not tell her that; he said, and I quote, “Tell Harvey how you feel” (s07e10). Because that’s, you know. Not sexual harassment. (Also he was there for that, why did Harvey just recap it for him? I know why, because Korsh assumes the audience has been zoned out for awhile now, but still, that's so narratively inconsistent. Well, I suppose that's their brand, I can't blame them for leaning into it.)

Anyway Harvey says “it was a complicated situation,” and Mike shoehorns in another summary (“Must have been, because then Donna starts dating a client, breaks privilege for him, and then you two end up together”) that makes me think Korsh is expecting to bring back a lot of viewers for this episode who bailed on the first four; joke’s on him, this episode actually pulled the second-lowest number of viewers so far this season (0.96M). Harvey dismisses this unnecessary recap with the point that they discussed all of this on the phone “like a month ago,” and SINCE FUCKING WHEN? They can’t just casually drop in that Harvey and Mike have been talking on the phone when every other instance of them on the phone for the past two seasons has been Harvey leaving depressing messages on Mike’s voicemail. That is not fair, they’re ruining my melancholia.

Harvey reasonably points out that Mike didn’t come all the way to New York for no reason, Mike says he’s there on business, and Harvey makes an odd choice with his rejoinder: “The business of begging for your old job back? Because it’s too late. We’ve replaced you.” Now, I’ll freely admit to having read and written so much fanfiction that at first viewing, I thought I remembered Harvey telling Mike, at some point or another, that he’s irreplaceable (he did not), but this is still a weird (and somewhat bitter) direction for him to take the conversation. The fact that he mentions Mike coming back to the firm at all reads to me like a not-so-subtle admission that he misses him (which we already knew from all the times Harvey said he misses him, s08e01-04), but to immediately say not that the firm isn’t hiring, but specifically that Mike has been replaced, is just mean. Like, on a personal level, that is…not nice. Mike takes it as a joke (as I’m sure it was intended) and they have a little more banter, and it’s nice and nostalgic and all, but the content is pretty weak; particularly Mike’s line that if Harvey had Mike’s memory, he wouldn’t forget things like checking to see if Mike’s replacement has a law degree, makes feels like I’m being beaten over the head with reminders of what was fun about this show back in the day while simultaneously being cajoled into sticking with it until the end.

Mike divulges that “the asshole [he’s] going up against” is “Harvey Sphincter. He plays it real tight,” and I would pay good money for Harvey to retort, “You would know,” but no such luck. Mike represents Jeremy Wall, a professional basketball player who wants out of his contract with Brick Street Athletics, that client Harvey gave to Samantha as a gesture of goodwill back in “Everything’s Changed,” and now I understand why I had no hope of correctly guessing what would be the plot of this episode: This suit has nothing to do with Mike’s firm. There are currently only seven apparel companies on the Fortune 500 list and of those seven, only one, Nike, is a major sponsor of professional athletes, so the odds that this is a Fortune 500 case are insanely low; aside from that, this suit is so far from a class action that I don’t know how it even came across Mike’s desk to begin with. But it did, and he’s here, and Harvey correctly deduces that Mike’s main goal isn’t to convince Brick Street to let Jeremy out of his contract, but to challenge Harvey, and. We’ll get to that in a bit.

Before we move on, though, because I’m me, I have to mention that when Mike kicks off the suit with an accusation of breach of contract, Harvey proposes holding a deposition the next day, and that is not how that works. Even if Mike and Jeremy have been secretly preparing for the possibility of a deposition for months, Mike can’t just spring on his client that, surprise! You’re testifying to opposing counsel tomorrow afternoon! Plus Brick Street Athletics might be Harvey’s client—or, might have been, I guess, since now they’re Samantha’s, but anyway, regardless of how well he knows their business model, he isn’t ready to go into a deposition for a suit against them totally off the cuff; he needs time to prepare, and the fact that he is the one who suggests having the deposition tomorrow is absolutely insane.

Ready for a subplot roundup?

Louis asks Alex, who has two kids and thus “survived two pregnancies with Rosalie” (real nice), for help in not upsetting Sheila; Alex tells him to listen to her and do nothing, Louis thanks him, and we all, including Alex, know that Louis is definitely not going to do that.

Wanting to repay Katrina for protecting her vote with the code of conduct thing, Donna decides the best way to do this is to peer pressure her into calling Brian because she hasn’t picked a new associate (what happened to Susan?) and she hasn’t seemed herself lately (she’s been one of the most in-character characters so far this season). Katrina says she’s fine, which in Suits-land is basically the same as admitting that she isn’t, and Donna says she’s here if Katrina wants to talk.

Rather than do nothing, Louis goes to Benjamin, who is still pissed about the whole hack-into-the-NYSBA-and-then-get-fired thing, but Louis brought bacon (nice callback), he says he’s sorry, and also he’s willing to put up $50K of his own money to make Sheila feel better about herself, so Benjamin agrees to give him a hand in order to “run a proxy through a financial institution to create the appearance of an anonymous donation from a tax sheltered company,” which is the most romantic thing Benjamin has ever heard in his life.

Okay, cool.

Part II

#suits usa #s09e05 #season 9 #marvey #analysis

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anneapocalypse · 5 years

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[RvB 17.12] The Finale: Theogeny

For the most part, I did enjoy the finale.

Donut and Doc got a hot second of screentime together! It's a small thing but I ship them and it made me smile.

I really, really enjoyed Doc getting a moment of introspection, accepting his O'Malley side as a part of himself, and asserting agency of that side of him. And Doc swooping in to help Wash in his part of the Labyrinth was its own kind of poetic.

They're doing the thing where Donut doesn't swear again, and I still don't understand why.

The Grif siblings scene was one of the best parts, I think. Kaikaina's childhood doesn't really have anything to do with the main story, but in her case I don't think it needs to, and it opened up an avenue not only for character development but also for us to see more of her relationship with her brother. It was an interesting choice to retcon Grif's one-man draft, and I don't think it was a bad one. I think it does feel significant for Grif to have joined the army just to get away from a home situation where he felt lost and stagnant... only to have the army feel just as meaningless and stupid. Overall, this scene was a really great moment for both characters and I dig it.

I can't say I understand why Sarge is in... Normandy, instead of revisiting his old ODST days or some other real military experience of his. I liked what they were setting up with him in the previous episode, but it feels to me like they lost the thread a little. Still, I think the overall idea—that Sarge is restless for glory in battle but when he actually gets there he finds it's just imminent death—works well enough.

Simmons... definitely got the shaft in this episode. His illusion is stupid. (And if you want to get into the weeds with me, it doesn't make any sense that Simmons' fear would be 1960s-style UFO movie aliens when this is a world where aliens actually exist and there was a war with them that spanned Simmons' entire life—aliens can't be Movie Monsters representative of cultural anxieties in a society where aliens are real. Anyway, moving on.) I wouldn't care that his Labyrinth vision was stupid if everyone's was stupid, but when all the other characters got an illusion that was at least going for serious and meaningful—well, it kinda sucks for Simmons. RvB Tonal Whiplash strikes again, I guess.

I'm less disappointed about not getting Serious Character Development for Simmons than I am about not really getting any resolution for Grif and Simmons' relationship, which since the beginning of season 16 has been pretty much dropped in a hole and left there. It's fine to have Grif picking on him given that that's the basis of their entire relationship, but it's not so great to end the whole story arc that way. It's especially not great when Grif's whole arc, which hinged on his relationships with his friends, also got dropped last season, and while he had a great moment with his sister, it didn't do anything to resolve that arc. So that's a shame.

Tucker's scene was brief but it worked fine, and his character arc was already resolved as well as it could be. I'm completely find with the Labyrinth being unable to torment Caboose (even though it makes the Labyrinth a much more on-the-nose ripoff of the True Warrior test) for the simple reason that I do not need to see Caboose sad again. They definitely could have done something meaningful for Caboose in a longer season but I completely understand why they didn't have time for it here and if anyone didn't need to be tortured, lonely and sad here it was Caboose.

I said what I had to say about Carolina's Labyrinth vision last episode, though I could probably write a whole other post just about how badly the recent seasons misread Carolina's relationship with her team in Freelancer, and I might still do that. (And for the record, this episode pretty much nukes the possibility that past!Carolina is intentionally wildly distorted, as they have present!Carolina comment out loud on how accurate an imitation she was, so... heavy sighing. You didn’t believe me when I said maybe this is what Jason really thinks Carolina was like in Freelancer, did you? I hate it when I’m right.)

But I will also say that I deeply appreciated the way Carolina's illusion resolved. As soon as Carolina said, "Leave her to me," I thought, nah, that's not how she wins. Present!Carolina is stronger than her past self because she has people she can trust. That's the lesson of the Texbot battle back in season 10, and of "Great Destroyers" in season 13. She is stronger with friends at her side.

That the finale picked up that thread and delivered was a highlight of this episode to me.

And honestly... I think it was a strong decision to follow through on Wash getting re-shot. That doesn't mean I'm confident about how Wash is going to be written in future seasons (because uh, I'm not, especially without knowing who's going to be writing them) but both as a story decision and in terms of writing a character with a disability I don't think it's a bad choice to follow through with it and have the characters resolve to handle it together, versus just erasing it.

I'm glad Lopez is alive, and I liked the way they brought him back!

It sounds as though Donut is going off to do his own thing for a while, which is unfortunate because we just got the team back together at long last, but I suspect that's probably about voice actor availability more than anything else, and we're setting up an in-universe reason for his possible absence next season—better than the alternative, as Donut just being forgotten would be particularly bad after all this.

It is kind of a shame we didn't see Huggins again. We know she's alive, but she did just kind of disappear into the plot and never return, so that's too bad. Nor did the Reds and Blues get a face-to-face resolution with the Cosmic Powers, though we did at least get to see them.

Ending with the whole gang at the hospital on Chorus getting news about Wash was about as emotionally satisfying an ending as I could imagine for this arc, and I'm happy with that—and happier still that they apparently all returned to Chorus together, instead of splitting up.

Plot-wise, however, that does raise... questions.

Because if Huggins warned the Cosmic Powers of Chrovos' plan to escape before it ever happened, and Donut didn't get zapped by Loco's machine, and they all returned to Chorus together... then they changed the timeline.

And since this change will prevent them from ever receiving the time guns and time traveling, this isn't a closed loop. By the established rules of time travel, this is just as much a paradox as saving Wash. If season 16 never happens, then Huggins can't know about the plan and warn the Cosmic Powers. Maybe the Reds and Blues having become unstuck in time and able to freely traverse the Everwhen means that now they can make changes without consequence where before they couldn't, but if that's true then they should have been able to save Wash... I don't fucking know, this plot was, is, and remains dumb as rocks.

I mean this season does literally undo all of season 16, so I supposed I should appreciate that even if it doesn't make much sense.

But I said from the start I wasn't here for the plot this season. We got some emotional resolution and I can live with that.

I still think the best thing for Red vs. Blue would be to bring the show to a close. This is as good a stopping point as we're probably going to get at this point, or they could do another anthology season and then end it (and there would be something poetic about 19 seasons, as the first season was 19 episodes long). I'm not holding my breath, but that would be my preference.

Either way, I'm glad it's finished and I'm looking forward to a good old Off Season—no stress about New Canon and new writers, just chilling and writing fic, and probably returning to my happy place of "RvB ends at 13 and everyone stays on Chorus."

Looking damn forward to that.

#rvb17 #rvb critical #but also positive #rvb first spoilers

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