why are you, as a man, bringing up a man thats not related to the conversation that youve only seen twice since he dissappeared for 4 years. why are you bringing him up? to angrily ramble about him? when hes not even in the conversation? when hes barely related to the topic? is it cause hes on your mind? huh?

Ninjago au where none of the ninja think death is a real thing and never conclude that one of them has died within the many fakeout deaths.

Wu got eaten by the great devourer? He’s literally the son of the fsm I think he can handle a bit of stomach acid

Zane exploded? Sucks yeah but he’s tough, everyone just stressfully scavenger hunts for his limbs so they can put him back together. It gets a bit complicated when it turns out Chen had Zane’s head but he was fine in the end

They hold a funeral for Garmadon going to the cursed realm but everyone knows he’ll come back so theyre not too worried

Morro stands there screaming about how he died and the ninja just say “sounds fake ngl” and he’s like “I’m right here!”

Garmadon tells Lloyd he’ll see him in about 3 seasons time

S6 Jay becomes the only ninja aware of death because he saw Nya die but he erased the timeline because he disagrees with death

Morro being so pissed that the ninja invalidated his death that even though in dotd he’s on their side he chooses not to get resurrected with Cole just so no one can use it against him and say death isn’t real

Kai and Nya being unfazed that their parents are alive

Harumi hates the ninja specifically bc of their view on death and she tries to kill them partially to prove them wrong. She keeps failing. They point out that she technically brought back Garmadon proving their point

No one thinks Mystake is actually dead, she’s an Oni who’s survived multiple wars, she’s probably being a rat somewhere

Lloyd died in MotO but then the fsm master came to him and said he also doesn’t believe in death and then Lloyd woke up again

Zane gets zapped to the never realm and Aspheera was like “aha! I have killed him” only for the ninja to say that god already confirmed death to be fake and aspheera was like “ok I lied”

Cole’s mum is the only dead person in the series. She is the singular outlier to the stats. Vangelis, the munce and geckles all are shocked to find out she’s dead

The merlopian king actually survived the stabbing he just passed out. But he thought he died and was too embarrassed to show up for the rest of the season. Poor bentho doesn’t even know

Even if Nya didn’t actually die, being sea is just as bad so nothing changes

Crystalised spoilers but Harumi is even more angry to be wrong again but she has to keep her pro-death is real beliefs to herself because the overlord is anti death alongside the ninja.

How would you rank each season and why? What did you like and dislike about them?(Including wildbrain if you want to)

ooooooooooh okaaaaaaaay fiiiiiiiiiiiiiiine

*cracks knuckles* Just remember you asked for this

Buckle up bastards and bitches, we're tearing this shit apart!!! Going from worst to best so we can end on good taste!!! *loads my opinions into a bazooka like Lloyd with an Ice Cannon*

Rebooted- *drags hands down face* ....I really don't actually hate NS3, but as I mentioned on another post, a lot of things this season tried to pull off (read: practically everything) at least one other season did better. And I know it's not really this season's fault that it's such a mess, since it was whipped up in a whirlwind of unexpected serendipity, and it had less time to explore its ideas, but when people only truly remember and constantly bring up the worst parts about it, rather than few (if not far inbetween) good things that it brought to the table? Or people consistently straight up forget other things about it (primary shoutouts to Techno!Wu and the ninja going to literal space???) Yeah, probably not a great season overall.

Pros: Fun aesthetic, wasn't afraid to try new things, attempted to expand and build on previously introduced ideas, did well with the emotions and aftermath generated by Zane's sacrifice, Pixal, killer music, X-1 Ninja Charger, Sensei Garmadon, had the agenda of getting people back into Ninjago after it supposedly hit its grand finale and did succeed in that if nothing else Cons: Absolutely breakneck pacing to the point that its hard to recall what happens where, when, and even why, you could literally take out like 3-4 of the episodes (half the season!!!) and very little would be ultimately impacted, poor execution of: the established character arcs, dynamics, and motivations within the season (with exception of Garmadon); the attempts at further world building; and the ultimate impact of the antagonists (...people rave about Cryptor but he doesn't even really do anything!! And why did they need to bring the Overlord back at ALL—if this was really something of a Zane-centric season, Cryptor would've already been the perfect foil for him!! AND WHY PYTHOR. I AIN'T ACTUALLY MAD ABOUT THAT TBH BUT WHY THEN)

Hands of Time- This season's biggest issue is that it's...boring. Technically doesn't even do anything wrong, but even when trying to follow a mystery as big as what the heck happened to Nya and Kai's parents, or watching Lloyd begin to come into his own as a future master, or exploring the downfall of two ex-Elemental Masters who turned to evil...it comes off so...stilted and stale. Literally an episode is called 'The Attack'. The whole show is full of attacks, this gives me nothing!!! (But, to be fair, most of the other ep titles this season are pretty kickass). It's like NS6 in the way that a bunch of things happen (and not even nearly as incoherently) but 85% of it doesn't have any lasting or satisfying pay off, and most of it doesn't really mesh in a natural way either. A lot of it feels very contrived, with events happening just for the sake of it happening, and that probably contributes to why it's not quite as compelling as other seasons, despite absolutely having the foundation to be.

Pros: Has an interesting way of drawing parallels between several characters, added a good chunk of lore that generated fresh interest, Kai and Nya Sibling duo, introduced villains with unique motivations and complex history with the main character (directly or indirectly), Jay got that cool bike moment, getting to meet Ray and Maya, actually mention of Skylor being a "bad guy" previously and exploring some of her insight of that, previous EM info + flashbacks, Cons: ...executes a lot of the best things about it in such bland and unsatisfying ways, and could have been much tighter with tying its events all together–would've helped the ending (whether it was a "cliffhanger" or not) feel a lot more deserved and less....empty.

(Also not a real con for the season itself and its literally just a nitpick but I hate those outfits. How are they simultaneously overly-detailed yet so monotone??? There's no pleasing contrast nor a place for the eye to comfortably rest! How are my eyes to last beholding a season with THAT fashion?? This is literally the only time where the gi are a distraction to me because they're...clunky, in a way? But...y'know, given that impression, I suppose they do fit the season to a t, then— *bricked*)

March of the Oni- This season is like a collections of puzzle pieces for a good finale season...but, someone lost a few pieces from the box. Or a lot of them. Isolated, there's a lot of good bits that could've really thrived in a normal season format...but, once again, the limited number of episodes strangled the potential out of its own plotline, SO. Plus, it feels extra weak following off the heels of Hunted's already high stakes, and with these stakes supposed to be even higher, it just doesn't quite hit in the way it's supposed to. That being said, there's a lot of fun and/or intense character dynamics and moments interspersed throughout, and the ending was so cozy and bittersweet but lovely that I can't be too upset with it. It stuck the landing it wanted to, and I can respect that!

Pros: Very strong character moments, (mostly) well-placed use of nostalgia, beautiful music, and overall a suitable little wrap up to "Masters of Spinjitzu" Cons: Not enough room/time to let some plot points breathe (a problem common to a few other seasons as well), and the antagonists could have done more, especially given their previous build up.

The Island- I don't even really count it as a season but it's going here. It was just...okay. Not actually all that bad, but not out-of-this-world great either. Laid the foundation for lore expansion for Seabound which is appreciated, utilized the characters well (EXCEPT RONIN WHAT THE FUCK NO), and again, I can respect it for what it was trying to do. Just didn't do anything that really stuck with me in a mind-blowingly positive way.

Secrets of the Forbidden Spinjitzu- Kiiiiinda wish this season was strictly about "Forbidden Spinjitzu and it's secrets", rather than the "Forbidden Spinjitzu" leading to...assorted shenanigans. Could've made for a good Wu season, honestly. Also kinda wish they'd taken the concepts for the Fire and Ice Chapters and made them into more focused stories on Kai and Zane (especially if they were going to go on and do or attempt that exact thing for Jay, Cole, Nya, and Lloyd properly). Wishing aside, while there was a bit of a lull getting things started, the excitement did pick up soon enough. This season did eventually introduce some fun twists, (mostly) enjoyable character dynamics, and having a little lighter of an adventure until it wasn't after MotO was a refreshing change of pace.

Pros: Lots of individual moments to dig into and get invested in, a nice expansion on the lore of Wu's past + other realms beyond Ninjago, Cons: A little hard to initially get into, and can be even harder to keep wanting to push through and watch to the end. Both the Fire and Ice Chapter have points where they feel a bit "aimless" in their middle portions of their acts, and the season as a whole simultaneously feels like it's longer than it needed to be + didn't always use the time it had efficiently.

Legacy of the Green Ninja- Fellas as I've been finishing up my planning for Legacy!S2, I have to confess this Season isn't quite the masterpiece we remember it as snksnksnksnk. There's literally 2-3 episodes that are ENTIRELY pointless, and none of them are even the """"filler"""" ones. It felt like it was trying to be a wacky shenanigan-of-the-week thing and a "dramatic world-ending thriller adventure" at the same time in both halves of the season, and that didn't always pan out in its favor, giving this season a bit of a lost/confused identity—especially one that so explicitly implicates Lloyd as being important, and yet most of the episodes are spent following the escapades of the Core Four still (which is not inherently a bad thing, but WHERE'S THE SO-CALLED LEGACY?!?! WHERE'S THE GREEN NINJA?!) ........anywho, negativity-fueled-by-recency-bias aside, even its short-comings still make for a highly enjoyable watch and rewatch, which isn't something that can be easily said for the previously mentioned seasons. And, there is still a LOT of funny, heartwarming, heartbreaking, and downright epic moments! But, not always immediately memorable ones.

(but also like please you have to UNDERSTAND there's literally a scene during the final battle where Wu, Misako, and Julien are on the ultra dragon and one of em's like "WE HAVE TO HELP" and, i swear i timed this this is legitimately accurate, TWO SECONDS LATER they make like two wing flaps going nowhere and Wu or Misako's like "THIS AS FAR AS WE GO" LIKE WHAAAAAAT?!?!?!!?! HELP LMAO)

Pros: Easy to get into, easy to keep watching, god-level music, and the simple ass humor still makes me laugh like a lunatic all these years later ("O'GRANDMA???" "I can make a little extra if I do the human piñata." "BEQUEATH! BEQUEATH!" *wordlessly using Zane as a battering ram* *the entire absurdity of Wrong Place, Wrong Time* *Dareth's existence*) Cons: The inconsistency of its overall direction still gives me whiplash all these years later, and I wish it had better embraced a singular identity, as that probably would've helped immensely both with character focus and the at times odd pacing of the plot.

Prime Empire- Finally, some good food! Similar to SotFS, this season took a while to kickstart and find its groove and keep it, but by the end it was sooooo much off-the-walls fun that it's hard to actually hate it. Lots of missed opportunities to expand on Jay's character though, especially when those Prime Empire shorts primarily focused on Jay released alongside the season would've been GREAT to see in actual episodes, and probably could've been what tipped it higher onto this list. While what we did get towards the end was super cool, it would've have MUCH more impact if it had better prior buildup. But, this season is incredibly solid in ways that may not be immediately obvious, though does still a bit to be desires at times too.

Pros: Fun and glorious setting for adventure, some very potent and very memorable character moments, SUPERSTAR ROCKIN' JAY, and a very strong finish that still gets me buzzed when it think about it. Cons: Slow start, many missed opportunities, left me wanting just a bit more (in the not-good way) despite the satisfying finish.

Crystalized- *folds hands in front of face* I probably should put this lower than Prime Empire overall quality-wise, but idk man, Crystalized scratched a lot of my personal itches...and also sent me banging my head into a wall, so. While I genuinely, honestly did enjoy my time with this season (I laughed, I cried, I "what the fuck"ed), there's the other half of my mind that just couldn't stop questioning sooooooo many decisions for the direction of the main characters, and constantly doing so did take me out of it way, way too often. For something that was going to serve as (another) big, grand send off...this one may have stuck the landing better than Hands of Time, but. IDK. Something still felt off at the end of everything.

Pros: (Mostly) incredible fight scenes, and action moments, we got to see perspectives of certain character dynamics that hadn't been explored before or not as often, there really is a lot of cool shit in here, loved the return of so many old faces, honestly very enjoyable if you're able to turn your brain off just a bit Cons: WHAT THE HELL DID THEY DO TO NYA, WHY ARE Y'ALL SLEEPING SO HARD ON THE PERFECT OPPORTUNITY TO FINALLY GIVE LLOYD SOME REAL ACTUAL DEVELOPMENT THAT MADE SENSE, IF YOU WERE REALLY PLANNING ON "REDEEMING" HARUMI WHY DIDN'T YOU PACE IT OUT BETTER, WHY ARE THE CORE FOUR NEAR USELESS, DID WE REALLY HAVE TO SPEND A FOURTH OF THE SEASON IN A PRISON WAS THERE NO BETTER WAY TO GET OLD VILLAINS INVOLVED OR FOR RUMI TO INTIMIDATE LLOYD FROM THE SHADOWS, WHAT WAS THE POINT OF THE NEW NINJA, THERE'S SOOOO MUCH MISSED STUFF SURROUNDING NYA'S SACRIFICE/RETURN, AND WHY DID THEY SCRAP SO MANY ACTUALLY NEAT IDEAS FOR THISSSSSSS *dies*

Hunted- Gonna be honest, it's been a hot second since I've watched NS9 because everyone being in such distress stresses ME out just thinking about it (I'm apparently the people Jay was worried about lmao) and I haven't quite brought myself to subject myself to it again. However, I do remember it being an incredible watch and every episode bringing something epic to the table, and honestly I just see it as a sequel or a part 2 to SoG. Good music, strong character beats, satisfying in pacing all the way through; a great and surprisingly introspective season, just got outshined a bit by some of the pure spectacle and overall enjoyment of other seasons.

Not gonna give Pros/Cons here because I genuinely don't remember specifics—not because any of it was "Forgettable"; I literally just technically only watched it once snksnksnk. I know it's mostly nothing but good stuff with maybe a few snags here or there, but a superbly solid season.

Sons of Garmadon- Ah yes, one of two fan favorites. And a favorite of mine as well! Just...well, it's not really a Season I ever have the urge to go back to often, which is something the following seasons to come are about to have in common. It's got a rock solid plot, delicious twists, always kept me on the edge of my seat, had a lot fascinating locations and new lore...all wrapped up in a gripping entertaining time to be had. Though, it's kind of a season where you watch it once, are completely satisfied with, and then maybe only come back to it if and when you're rewatching the whole series (at least for me—that being said, I've watched season 8 waaay more than I've watch season 9 snksnk).

Pros: Well-thoughtout plot, fully compelling antagonists, another shout out to the music, dared to take some risks as the show entered a new era, and for once everyone felt like they were contributing as a single group, which was nice to see until they weren't Cons: As stated, already a very solid season; it's just a few scenes that probably could've used some polish for extra impact in hindsight.

Way of the Ninja- Well, if I'm including the Island, might as well include the Pilots! It's only above Hunted/SOG here because *I* happen to like it more and have rewatched it a great many times haha. Honestly the only cons are that I wished we'd had some little adventures in the Ice Fortress/Floating Ruins, and that the ninja themselves had more of a presence in the ultimate confrontation with Garmadon. Otherwise the Pilots did an absolutely fantastic job of laying the groundwork for the show to come, and using witchcraft to hook many of us into adoring these characters with insane chemistry from the get-go with nothing but the bare minimum. Nothing but love and respect for my pilots! <3

Skybound- Only reason this is higher than the previous three on this list is because *I* personally enjoyed it more, that's all. For overall quality and consistency, Hunted, Pilots, and SoG clear it easily. ANYWAY I LOVE SKYBOUND. It's probably actually my second favorite season these days but I'm already about to be crucified for putting it this high on the list rip. Oh there's plenty of things wrong with this season: out of character moments including but not limited to misogyny, contradictory statements, contradictory actions, saying things they would never say prior to this season; the antagonist has wildly changing motivations almost every episode along with uncomfy tendencies, every episode feels wildly different and/or disconnected from the others, the things are happening all over the place at any given time...it's chaotic, messy, and I LOVE IT. It's a mess but it's my mess and if you dig deep enough there's a lot to love buried in the muck that I, as an individual, feel that makes the season worth it all <3

Pros: PIRATES, everything about Jay, Watching Jaya develop over the course of the season for better or worse, getting some insight into the other characters via the wishes they make, watching Jay get his moments to be the absolute badass and even Nadakhan acknowledging that (just with some horribly misguided but well-meaning intentions of the heart but he's HUMAN), the HUMOR, the Ninja Replacements and Jay getting to show off some leadership FINALLY, Jay whump, Lloyd's pirate impression, Lil Nelson!!!, Jay with an eyepatch, crashing a wedding, Echo Zane!, a commentary on how people perceive us and how we perceive ourselves can lead to great inner and outer conflict, pretty ass animation scenes esp for being in the earlier era, we got the greatest gi to ever grace our unworthy presence despite being folded the wrong way, did I mention Jay— Cons: Literally everything stated previously and probably more I'm sure you already know. But also why did they randomly MAKE DARETH LIKE THAT GOOD LORD WHY this is on par with Ronin in the Island IS2G

Rise of the Snakes- The vintage classic!!! Not ~perfect~ by any means BUT it told a cohesive story while giving everyone (even including Nya!) a little bit of spotlight and some significance and brought it all together so neatly with emotion and FUN that of course it had the power to reshape our childhoods (or teenhoods. Or adulthoods. Or nowhoods). Really its biggest flaw is simply that it was first, thus of course having a little less polish and therefore had to pave the way for better seasons to follow, but it was still a mighty tough act to follow.

Pros: Many establishing moments for the main crew for their adventures to come, antagonists that were funny, threatening, and had some pretty convincing motivations, Lloyd, highly memorable overall, easy to jump back into, gave us the legendary Weekend Whip (unless that was in the credits to the pilots too i don't remember) Cons: A bit dated nowadays, and rough around the edges, but doesn't do anything inherently wrong either. I'd say the pacing is a little quick, but in this season in particular its masked so well that you really only notice if you're looking for it (which I had been)

Master of the Mountain- And now, the truly cream of the crop. NS13 was the thing we've always wanted and always knew we needed and finally the powers that be delivered. I could rave day in and day out about Cole finally getting some much deserved focus, but for as strong and heavy-hitting as his whole arc was, the stories of the other ninja pale a bit in comparison, leaving this season unable to break the top three. Otherwise a masterclass in storytelling. And Cole.

Pros: COLE SEASON, HYPE AF FIGHT SCENES, COLE'S MOMMY, VANIA, THE UPPLY, WU AND COLE DYNAMIC, ZANE THROWING ROCKS AT KAI, THE VOICE DIRECTION (esp Lloyd, Cole, and Kai), THE SUBTLE MYSTERY OF IT ALL, THE MUSIC, THE INTRIGUE, AAAAAAA Cons: NOT ENOUGH COLE, antagonist was a bit bleh (though those fight scenes he had SERVED), could have had a little better utilization of the characters outside of "Cole's crew"

Seabound- MMMMMMM EVERY SINGLE EPISODE HIT SO GOOOOOOOOOOOOD!!!! NYA EATING FOR REAL!!! THE GODDAMN INSANE FIGHT CHOREOGRAPHY!!!! THE PEAK VILLAIN!!! THE MUSIC! THE EMOTIONS! THE PAPERGIRL! THE BENTHO! THE PILLOW MINT! THE CRUMBLING COOKIE! THE JAY ALMOST DYING FOR HIS FRIENDS! THE NYA BASICALLY DYING FOR HER FRIENDS! THE SILENT I LOVE YOU!!! THE UTTERLY GUTTING WAY IT ENDED AND LEFT ME COMATOSE FOR THREE DAYS!!!!! IT WAS SO BEAUTIFULLLLLLLL WHO GAVE THEM PERMISSION TO POP THIS HARD

Pros: *gestures wildly* Cons: It made me sad

Possession- Here we have the other fan favorite season, the bible for all people Morro-obsessed. Essentially the Seabound of the older era but with significantly less emotional devastation snksnksnk. Top-notch characterization—the Core Four have never been better with their dynamics, humor, and teamwork, it's the first real time Nya (and if we wanna be picky, Cole) get some dedicated introspective time, Lloyd is truly put to a very personal test, Ronin is there, and Morro serves as both a fantastic antagonist and a foil for all those he opposes. Simply isn't the top spot strictly because when I think of my favorite season...this ain't it, though it absolutely deserves to be.

Pros: THE CHARACTERIZATION FOR ALL, AMAZING ANTAGONIST, ALSO BEAUTIFUL ANIMATIONS, HUMOR AND HORRORS IN ONE GO, EXTREMELY REWATCHABLE, MOAR MUSIC, ENDED BITTERSWEET BUT WITH HOPE AND A SICKASS QUOTE Cons: Perhaps a touch overhyped but that's not actually the season's fault nor is it actually a con I just needed to put something here this thing is honestly airtight perfect when it comes to seasons gfgsfddfdhfkls

Tournament of Elements- yes. Yes. YEEEEEEES. To be fair this should be #3 or #4 overall quality wise MMMMMBUT I THINK ITS POTENCY CLEARS THE GAP! Season 4 ran so Season 5 could fly!!!! THE RECIPE FOR A PERFECT STORY, just, perhaps a touch undercooked, BUT THE INTENTIONS WERE FELT AND I VIBE WITH THEM H A R D

Pros: IN A SEASON WHERE THE VILLAIN DIVIDES PEOPLE WE LEARN THAT THERE IS STRENGTH IN KEEPING AND MAINTAINING MANY DIFFERENT KIND OF RELATIONSHIPS EVEN IF IT SEEMS HARD AND IMPOSSIBLE AND IN SPITE OF OUR DIFFERENCES AND EVEN IF WE DO FIND OURSELVES DIVIDED, WE SEE WE ARE STRONGER WHEN WE ARE ABLE TO COME TOGETHER AS ONE. THESE THEMES ARE SUPPORTED BY THE CHARACTERS, MUSIC, PLOT, THE ANIMATION OF THE EXPRESSIONS, AND I THINK THIS IMPORTANT OVERARCHING MESSAGE TRIUMPHS OVER EVERYTHING ELSE AS IT TRULY RESTS AT THE HEART OF NINJAGO AS A WHOLE *mic drop* Cons: Wish it delved just a bit more into the other EMs–what in the world have they all been up to??? Also wish the season ran with the tournament theme throughout the whole season rather than suddenly bouncing around in like the last three or so episodes–that kind of killed its momentum when it needed it the most. But, it still definitely stuck the landing!

In defense of Skyler White.

Skyler :3

Skyler White, the wife of Walter White from breaking bad. Skyler is one of the most, if not the most hated character in all of Breaking Bad, for what? Sure, she's not perfect but we have a cast of non-perfect and other characters that deserve venom way more than Skyler does.

I've seen people argue that she is simply annoying, she wasn't able to keep her mouth shut about her husband's meth business that put her whole family in danger, or that she didn't love Walter. I've got no idea how people defend Walter so easily, but can't defend Skyler. Walter is by far, much worse than Skyler. Say all you want, he is. She is unfairly judged and not judged by the same standards her husband is. Walter cooks meth, has killed people, helps in killing people, and just so much more. And what about Skyler? Oh, she wasn't initially supportive of her husband being a criminal, boo-hoo-hoo.

Skyler is expected by Walter and the audience to just go with what her husband wants or deems "necessary" by her husband. Good ol' ball and chain. At the episode Skyler found out about her husband's drug involvement was season 3, episode 1, No Más. At this point in the series Skyler and Walter had a newborn daughter, Holly. Skyler had argued with Walter where Skyler had to go through her whole process of finding out what Walter had done and he expected her to simply accept "But I did all for my family."

Walter had put Skyler through a lot of emotional turmoil up until the point she confronted him about being in the drug business. She was stressed as hell and it was unfair. Walter would disappear, lie, and lie again even when Skyler knew he was lying. She was pregnant with their second child for crying out loud. She had every damn right to not want to be with Walter anymore. She had a realistic reaction to the situation, people were just mad she didn't let Walter walk all over her.

Skyler is a woman of strong morals. Good ones. She is family-orientated and doesn't like when people go against the rules, like any good citizen. This is shown when in season 1 when her sister, Marie, was shoplifting. Skyler confronts her about it and tries to get her to return the stuff Marie stole. Back to Skyler being really stressed around this time, she handled the situation terribly. On another hand, it was realistic and Skyler didn't know or understand the underlying issue with Marie's stealing. Neither sister was right in this situation.

Skyler does have flaws, as any good character does. She DOES tend to confront people in bad ways. She'll rage at people with not a lot of proper evidence.

Ok. Ted needs to be brought up eventually. Was this a good thing she did? No. She wanted a divorce with Walter because, y'know, he was making meth. Walter was refusing. So, in a desperate attempt to get the man she didn't trust anymore and no longer felt like she knew, out of her house with their newborn baby; she cheated on him. She knew Ted was into her, she wasn't into him but she wanted Walter to accept the divorce. She only slept with Ted to show that she was no longer in love with Walter and didn't wanna be his wife. It wasn't even technically cheating considering they were in the middle of a divorce.

In conclusion, she's not the worst, annoying, tyrant that people make her out to be. She's just a flawed human in a cast full of others way worse than her.

♡ all my suffering ♡ chapter 2

˗ˏˋ hello ˎˊ˗    & thx for reading... again :3

Chapter Two

masterlist | Prev. Chapter 1 | Next Chapter 3 | ao3 | playlists (dabi & shigaraki)

Pairings: Shigaraki x f!reader x Dabi

A/N: Sorry this took so long to update. I want to get on a more consistent schedule. Also, this will soon have some season 6 of bnha spoilers! Please read with that in mind :)

Warnings: Specific to this chapter - blood, character death | (current, may change throughout the story) PSTD, Death, depression, angst, abuse (physical and emotional), possessiveness, memory loss, eventual lemon, smut, slowburn

Word Count: 5k

You had just gotten used to sleeping in Dabi’s bed when Shigaraki ripped away the one thing that brought you comfort. He dismissed Dabi’s role of babysitting you and made you Toga’s problem. The days passed quickly but you chalked it up to sleeping them away. Since you were kidnapped by the league your sleep schedule changed drastically. You became a night owl and it took some getting used to. The league was warming up to you though, Toga and Twice became your closest “friends” since you were technically “under” their “supervision”. They were kind to you and treated you as one of their own. This group really felt like they had an unspoken rule to look out for one another and you liked that, especially since you didn’t recognize that feeling from your past. Your past was complicated. You longed for remembering it all. The daily confusion was becoming unbearable. There were some memories that slowly started to come back over time, waves of deja-vu. Some came to you in your dreams, like meeting with an old friend, or your life before ever being a pro-hero and attending U.A. Those were the nice dreams. After a while, the nightmares began. You dreamt of not being able to save people who were in pain. They would beg and beg and beg but you were stuck, sunken, and unmoving. You couldn’t help them, forced to watch them suffer. They were right there! Why? Why couldn’t you help them? You were failing. Again. You tried and tried, night after night with no give. You would wake up in a complete panic with your heart racing. Some nights you would scream yourself awake, arms flailing scanning the bed for your knives. Toga would sleepily rub her eyes awake and tell you it's alright. She would hold you close, coddle, and shush you so that you could eventually fall back asleep. Toga was so patient with you and you were grateful. But then your pro-hero dreams started, the ones where the public eye would belittle you and say that you weren’t good enough to be a hero. They would scrutinize you for working at a hospital and not being out in the field saving as many lives as you can with the quirk you had. The world would knock you down over and over again. They would spew hate online, an ongoing battle between being pretty enough or too pretty or how they wished you would wear something tighter to show more or cover up because your outfit was too tight. They hated you. No matter what you did, you weren’t good enough for them. The league felt different though like the world hated them just as much. Maybe that’s why they are the way that they are. You almost felt yourself growing comfortable with them, they looked out for you while the pro-heroes saw you as a threat like you would take away their precious moment of fame. Something you never understood, the life of a single-digit hero on the rise in the popularity poll. Either way, those nightmares carried weight outside of your dreams. When the league would speak negatively about heroes some of them would silence themselves so they wouldn’t hurt your feelings, Spinner and Toga mostly. You wanted so badly to speak up and tell them that you agreed with everything they were saying. You held your tongue though, never actually saying how you feel or telling them what you thought. You didn’t want to make the wrong move. What if they didn’t trust you yet and this feeling of safety was a façade? 

A few weeks had passed and you met two other league members. Magne, a tall and strong woman with smooth, reddish magenta hair. She was cruel and brutal but had a soft spot for you and befriended you almost instantly. Her quirk was the magnetism of the genders, she carried a large magnet block that allowed her to pull or push people at will. She was very loyal to the league, which made you feel safe. The other member was Mr.Compess, a brilliant thief who wore a long mustard yellow trench coat, black and white mask, and a top hat. All of the members were coming out of hiding so it felt like Shigaraki had to be planning something big. All this commotion made you notice Dabi’s absence over the course of the last couple of weeks. He wasn’t at the bar much so you had assumed it meant Shigaraki was sending him out on missions, but when he was, he would spend a lot of time in his room. Was he okay? Was he avoiding you? You hadn’t seen much of Shigaraki either after your strange encounter the night he choked you and forced you to activate your quirk. Alas, here they both were, Dabi and Shigaraki, across from you at the league meeting. Everyone gathered at a random, abandoned warehouse on the outskirts of the city. Shigaraki called a meeting but didn’t inform anyone as to why. All the villains sat around on wood pallets and plastic containers. You decided to take a seat next to Magne and Toga at a small wooden table with mismatched chairs that looked like it had been left by the old employees of the warehouse. Toga had her legs crossed over your knees in a way that made you remember wanting a girl bestie at her age. You were sometimes glad that you could be that for her. The only league member missing was Twice, you wondered where he was. The league was quiet when suddenly the large garage doors were yanked open, the metal scraped against the concrete ground and the high-pitched screech made your skin crawl. Shigaraki, who was sitting atop a makeshift thrown of stacked wooden pallets at the back of the warehouse, adjusted his height and slouched lower in his position. Dabi leaned on the wall next to Mr.Compress who was to the left of Magne. It felt like he didn’t care to be here. 

“You brought us the top dog, huh, Twice?” Shigaraki’s low and scratchy voice radiates throughout the warehouse. Another masked man enters behind Twice, alone. The man is tall and pale, with short, shaggy auburn hair. You’re seated further back but from what you can tell he has golden eyes and long eyelashes. His eyebrows are thin and dark and he has three piercings on his left ear. The biggest, most notable features are his plague doctor mask, fuzzy purple coat, and white gloves. He sent chills down your spine and you didn’t understand why yet.

“Hey, hey, hey, Who’s he?” Toga speaks up, making you feel better about not knowing what's going on. 

“He’s what you’d call ‘yakuza’, the young leader of the Shie Hassaikai. You can call him Overhaul,” Shigaraki is irritated by Toga’s question, or maybe irritated by Overhaul. He seems very irritable in general today, more so than you remember.

“So,” Magne stands up, “why is he here?” moving her magnet block in front of you and Toga. Her body language makes you tense up, she doesn’t trust him.

Before anyone gets the chance to answer, Overhaul walks closer to the group, staring at Shigaraki with his hands crossed behind his back.

“Hero Killer: Stain, Muscular, and Moonfish. They were all first-class game pieces, but you lost them right away didn’t you?” Overhaul starts with a condescending tone. His voice is hoarse and much deeper than you expected. He raises his head up at Shigaraki to see his reaction but there was none. Finally, he starts scanning the room taking the league in. His eyes landed on yours and you shift your eyes away from his uncomfortably. He ignores this and turns towards Shigaraki’s covered face once more.

“Are you here to challenge me?” Shigaraki leans closer and crosses his hands to let his hand rest on top of his palms, elbows on his thighs, and legs spread and hanging off the edge of the pallets. He felt a rush of excitement at the thought of being challenged by a notorious gang leader. “I’m the one in charge here.”

Overhaul speaks directly to the league now, completely ignoring Shigaraki’s remarks. “Come work for me, I’ll show you how well I can use you,” he glances back over to you again, his eyes not leaving your form this time. Dabi notices his lingering eyes and slowly inches himself off the wall he was leaning on. He steps past Mr.Compress and Magne to be in closer proximity to you. Shigaraki’s eyes start to follow Dabi’s movements and then move to Overhaul’s line of sight almost instinctively. He notices Overhaul's fixation on you too. “Make me your new leader,” Overhaul nearly growls under his mask. You could tell by his mannerisms that he was used to getting what he wants. He sounds entitled and his request feels like a demand.

The air went still and you could almost hear Shigaraki’s jaw clenching from anger. No one said anything. There was a long pause and Shigaraki considered this for a moment. He decided he was going to dust him. Before he could act on his vexation, Magne jumped up out of her seat and swung her giant magnet at Overhaul in one barreling motion. She didn’t like him questioning her leader. Suddenly, her quirk activated surrounding Overhaul in a blue aura. His whole body was being pulled towards Magne, his feet dragging at their heels in front of him. Oh no, this was going to be bad. Without thinking, you immediately take action and skid across the table, knocking Toga’s legs off of your knees in the process. Once Overhaul got closer to Magne, you could see him pulling off the white glove on his left hand. Without knowing what his quirk was, you figured you’d have the upper hand by rushing him. While running, you swiftly take out the knives in your hero suit’s holsters thankful that your memory of combat came back. You tried to run as fast as you could to the center of the warehouse where Magne had Overhaul in her magnetic field. Once she had him close enough in range, Magne pulled back and hammered down her magnet. Your brain had processed what was happening in slow motion. His hand slowly reached out for her at the same time, just slightly faster. You gather momentum by lowering yourself to the ground and spinning in a circle on your heel, simultaneously flipping one of your knives over in your palm to pull back and aim before releasing the knife full force at Overhaul. Once you take the shot you start running again. Overhaul yelps in pain, clinging to his forearm where your blade hit. You were only a few feet away now when you noticed Magne’s skin starting to bubble up. It was too late. Within seconds she was gone, her upper body exploding in front of you. Instead of continuing on the pursuit to stop Overhaul you instead slide on your knees to catch Magne’s lower body, not knowing if your mind was playing tricks on you. What the fuck? The now lonely magnet emits a loud thud on the ground behind you, covering you in her blood. You didn’t notice Mr.Compress was running after you until he was also face to face with Overhaul.

“Noooo!” you scream, but your voice comes out shaky and weak. Warning him was futile. Overhaul had already grabbed Mr.Compress' arm and pitcher swung it clean off, leaving the villain in a pool of his own blood. While you were trying to process what was happening, Shigaraki leaped from his throne of pallets and pushed toward Overhaul. Before he could reach him, a deafening boom came from the garage doors of the warehouse. It was Overhaul’s backup. You covered your face in an attempt to shield yourself from the falling concrete and debris. A giant mutated plague doctor now stood where the doors used to be. The explosion caused Shigaraki to slide backward and he was now standing only a few inches away from you. This was becoming a usual thing for the two of you, Shigaraki blocking you from danger and you cowering in fear behind him. You were still holding Magne’s lower body when your lower back started heating up. It was hot, way too hot. You look over your shoulder and see a vast wall of blue flames that Dabi sent out to protect you and Shigaraki. It was also a warning shot to the Hassaikai. Through the flames you see Overhaul’s group retreating. The rest of the league had already sprung to action but the Hassaikai didn’t care, they were done. 

“Let’s cool down and talk again some other day,” Overhaul haphazardly throws a peace sign into the air while walking out of the building leaving the League of Villains to burn. His arm dripping in blood from your knife.

Your shock wears off and you remember you’re holding Magne’s limp lower body. Tears start to fall on their own and you’re not sure if it's because a friend just died in front of you or if its from the smoke caused by Dabi’s flames. You attempt to activate your quirk, not knowing if it would even work or not. After all, you’ve never used it on half-bodies before. Your eyes glow white and your hair begins to float. You drop your head at Magne’s belt line and your tears soak your face. Before you know it you’re a crying mess. Her blood mixed with your tears caused your hair to stick to the sides of your face. She was so kind to you, why’d she have to die? It’s not working. With your head still down you feel something softly brush your shoulder. The last thing you recall is being cut off from the rest of the group and surrounded by Dabi’s flames. Who could possibly be touching you right now? You open your eyes and stare at the ground through wet lashes. It was Shigaraki, you could tell by his red sneakers. The leader was standing in front of you. When you didn’t look up at him, he took a moment to kneel down to your level and carefully freed his face from his hand mask. What is he doing? He places his hand on your shoulder, one pinky as far away from you as possible causing you to finally look up at him. Your glowing white eyes met his sad carmine ones. Neither of you pulls away from the eye contact. He looks tired like he hasn’t been sleeping at all. You wouldn’t know if he has or not, he never comes out of his room. With the same hand that brushed your shoulder, using his thumb and pointer finger, he grabs your chin to angle your face up slightly. What is this feeling? When he touched you, time froze. If you were paying any attention to your surroundings you could've sworn that even Dabi’s flames stood still. You looked deeper into his eyes and let your quirk deactivate, letting your guard down around him once more. If he wanted to, he could dust you right where you sat, but he doesn’t. Your eyes take their time returning to their normal color. Shigaraki looks at you the whole time they change, unblinking. You have a really hard time deciphering what your feeling but you’re curious if he feels it too. His presence brought you solace at that moment. Was this an understanding? Maybe mutual respect? Maybe he was just trying to comfort you. You couldn’t tell. He finally breaks eye contact by looking down at your lips. His eyes are heavy-lidded and you stare back at him with wide eyes, unsure of his motives. With his fingers still on your chin, he starts rotating your face to check your head and neck. You were covered in blood so he wanted to make sure it wasn’t your own. 

“You’re ok, c’mon,” he gruffs, dropping your face causing you to release the breath you’d been holding, “let’s go”. He then stands up and places the stray hand over his face once more. Shigaraki knells again and dusts the rest of Magne’s body leaving her ash sticking to your bloodied palms. He gets up a final time, turns on his heel and walks through Dabi’s flames without extinguishing them as if he didn’t care if he got burned. You wipe your tears and grab your knife that was a few feet away on the ground, covered in Overhaul’s blood. Good. It’s what he deserves for what he did to Magne. You close your eyes and follow Shigaraki through Dabi’s flames. This time they didn’t feel hot.

♡

A few days had passed since losing Magne and coming into contact with Overhaul. Back at the hideout you healed Mr.Compress to the best of your ability, you felt bad that he lost his arm but a few days later he just returned with a robotic one anyways. Everyone else seemed on edge and not happy about Overhaul possibly knowing where they were at all times. Apparently, Twice made sure it was only Overhaul with him but somehow his men still found the league, meaning one of his guys has a tracking quirk. You on the other hand were trying to figure out what had happened between you and Shigaraki and the feeling you had when he looked at you. Too bad he was nowhere to be found so you couldn’t explore it deeper. You ended up keeping to yourself for most of the week when Shigaraki came out of hiding and called for another LOV meeting. It was a quick meeting that ended in Shigaraki deciding to move everyone out of the hideout because it wasn’t safe anymore. 

Shigaraki had you all hole up in an abandoned, multi-family house in the middle of the woods in the countryside. Toga decided that no matter what, you would share a bedroom. You liked that idea especially since she was the only one who knew your nightmares and how to help you fall back asleep. It was the day of the move. You were walking in the woods with Toga and she was telling you about the flavor of birds' blood. You weren’t really paying attention though because you heard shuffling in the bushes to your right. Suddenly, Dabi jumped from the bushes to scare you both. Toga screamed at the top of her lungs which elicited a giggle from you. Uh, oh, she’s mad. You watched her punch Dabi as hard as she could in the arm. He kept laughing at her so she flipped him off before running toward Spinner and Twice leaving you alone with Dabi and the trees. Dabi was still laughing at his prank so you rolled your eyes at him with a smile and turned around to keep walking. He let his last few giggles out before catching up to you and matching your pace, walking beside you now. It was cute to see him happy, you felt like that was rare. When you looked over at him again you noticed one of his staples coming undone from him laughing so hard. It was bleeding slightly and you couldn’t help but feel sorry for him. Even in happiness, he was in pain. It was getting colder as the night went on so you wrapped your arms around yourself. It had been weeks since you both had the chance to talk so it felt a little awkward at first.

“So,” Dabi’s voice came out small, “we’ve come full circle, you and I,” he falls back a little to walk behind you now, “haven’t we?” 

“Yeah, last time we were in the woods together you tried to fry me,” you let out a girlish laugh, making Dabi’s heart flutter. The moonlight was dim and he couldn’t help but watch the way your hips swayed when you walked. He caught himself grinning like an idiot as you were walking toward the group's next hideout. Up ahead, the house looked sad and solemn all on its own and covered in foliage. It was elegant still and three-storied accompanied by a wrap-around porch. It had brick arches on the bottom floor and a green rooftop. Dabi couldn’t help but imagine watching you walk up to this house under different circumstances. Maybe even a life you shared together, holding hands, bearing his child, and building a life together. He wishes. He could never have that though, his life was predetermined from birth. His fate.  “Dabi, you okay?” you turn around and see him standing a few feet back looking down at his feet lost in thought. You walk over to him and nudge his shoulder. 

“Hey, can I tell you something no one else knows?” Dabi looks at you, excitement in his voice. Whatever it was it sounded like he wanted to get it off his chest badly. 

“Of course, you can,” you smile sweetly at him.

“Dabi isn’t my real name, it’s my villain name,” he says, voice changing from excitement to sadness in an instant. He finally notices the blood from his staple so he wipes it away gently as if he was wiping a tear from his cheek. “My real name’s Touya,” he adds in a more serious tone, still looking down at the ground.

“Touya,” you repeat back to him, in a sing-songy tone. He finally looks up at you and flashes you the slightest smile. It felt like a weight had been lifted off his shoulder. Hearing you say his name, his real name, brought a sense of nostalgia that he wanted to hear so badly. “So, would you like me to call you that instead?” you ask shyly. 

“Nah, that’s ok,” he pauses, “It’s a dead name after all,” he sighs and the breath he was holding came out shaky, “I’m still Dabi, I just wanted you to know.”

“Okay, Dab-” you try to get out. Fuck it, he thinks. He grabs both sides of your face and kisses you under the moonlight. How could he not with you looking at him like that? For a moment you’re shocked. What is happening? He steps closer to deepen the kiss causing your head to lift slightly to adjust to his height. Why can’t he have this? He thinks, after all, he’s the only thing standing in the way of having what he wants, and what he wants is you. 

You kiss him back. To both his and your surprise you kiss him back. Your hands trail up his chest, his neck, and land on the sides of his face. You gently place your fingers across his stapled and scarred skin. Whether you needed this or he did didn’t matter as the world around you became a blur. Dabi rubs small circles on your cheek with the soft part of his thumb while he laps your lips slowly with his own. Soft and delicate lips meet charred and tight ones. He liked the way your lips felt against his, and the way you tasted. He tenderly bit down on your bottom lip eliciting a small yelp from your mouth causing your lips to widen which he took full advantage of to get closer to you. 

“I’m not supposed to do this,” he breathily whispers into your mouth. What did he mean by that?

Dabi knit his eyebrows together in bliss before he went back for your lips, swiping the tip of his tongue across your bottom lip where he had previously bit. He pulled away slightly to plant small kisses on the sides of your lips and on your cupids bow.

“Y/N!” Toga yelled out for you. It was too dark to see her on the porch but you figured she was there. Damn it.

You shared your last breath together with Dabi before breaking your closeness. 

“I’m coming!” you yell back at her. “I-uh gotta go,” your lips partially sore from his kiss, “maybe I’ll see you later?” you look up at Dabi and his powder-blue eyes are glistening in the moonlight. His staples are as shiny as ever. He looks so beautiful.

“Cool,” he answers nonchalantly. He nods his head towards the house signaling you to go on ahead so you do. He puts his hands in his pockets and stays back to create some space. You take off in a light jog up to the house. He looks up at the moon and laughs silently to himself. What the fuck did he just do? Shigaraki was not going to be happy.

Gale Talks: Outcomes of ML Season 5

So if you haven’t seen the Season 5 finale of Miraculous Ladybug. This is your warning.

Spoilers will be discussed. You have been warned.

Gabriel wins and gets his wish.

Now before anyone says “But he doesn’t get the wish he wanted. So it’s not a real victory” or “This is all set up for season 6 so it could get undone.”

I’m gonna be real clear.

Gabriel made his wish on Gimmi, and Gimmi “Read his heart and Soul” so he Gimmi is granting his wish. And he’s dead. He is dead and seen as a hero. So he definitely got the wish he wanted to make.

As for the second part.

I would LOVE for it to be undone, but even if it gets undone, doesn’t really matter. Gabriel does vindicated. He’s no longer there to take any consequences. He died vindicated, unless they show he’s in hell or something and watching it all. But I doubt they will.

Now that I got that out of the way, I’m here to talk about what each of those outcomes/wish That Gabriel made. And what is the best outcome.

1. Gabriel used his wish to heal Nathalie.

That being the only change, it is the simplest of the possible outcomes and in a way has Gabriel getting the least amount of win out of the situation.

However, it does have Marinette, Nathalie and a few others covering up the fact that Gabriel was evil, hiding it from Adrien, and likely Chat noir. (The later of which has no reason of not knowing. Because they don’t know eachother’s identities)

It makes Marinette look the worst because it basically tosses out everything season 4 and most of season 5 did in building up how important chat noir is to the team.

2. Gabriel wished that Nathalie never used the Peacock miraculous, and used his life to bring back Emilie.

This way he ensures Nathalie never gets sick and it alters things so Emilie could be the one brought back with his life force. This would explain if Emilie was brought back. But this would make Gabriel’s win more Final and more evident.

Still has the same problems as the first solution as it makes everyone look worse for being an accomplice. In a way it makes the most reasonable sense but with more character assassination

3. Gabriel wished for Nathalie brought back, and for everyone he knew that knew his true colors to remember him differently.

This gives Gabriel a clear win, as it has him still being viewed as a hero, but it at least makes it so Marinette and the others in Adrien’s life aren’t purposefully lying to him. The wish just manipulated them into doing that. So Marinette not telling chat noir would be cause the wish interfered.

4. Gabriel brought back Emile, wished Nathalie never used the peacock miraculous, AND altered the memories.

This is the most Gabriel win of the four, but it also takes away any blame that could be placed on the others for not telling Adrien what really happened, and explains why Adrien doesn’t hate his father life he did in representation.

5. Gabriel wished he was the one that created Adrien with the peacock.

Now this sounds like a weird choice, but by doing this, he makes it so Emilie and Nathalie are alive, he would also change things so much that he would be remembered fondly, and also why there is no iconography of Emilie in the mansion anymore. The change would also shift things so much and the consequence of the wish would be that Lila/Cerise would have the miraculous.

Marinette not explaining what really happened because even SHE’s not sure. It would still technically be a win for Gabriel, but it changes so much that maybe he wouldn’t even have been monarch in that timeline

Ranking every ninjago season and why :3

(Yall are gonna 100% hate me for this)

(Spoilers for Dragons rising kinda)

I hate it sm, it literally could've been one of the best seasons in ninjago history, but there was WAY too much filler and was so underwhelming and predictable. Didn't even feel like a Zane season during the second half it felt more like a Lloyd season. ALL of the ninja should've fought Zane + Pixal, and she should've come as well. AND THE FACT THAT ZANE'S TRAUMA WAS NEVER BROUGHT UP. LIKE HUH????? I will forever hate this season with a passion no matter what anyone says.

18. Forbidden Secrets of Spinjitzu

17. Prime Empire

I really can't care for it at all it just feels like the ninjago writers ran out of ideas(which I completely understand, but still) you could literally skip the entire thing and the whole plot line would STILL make sense. The only time I genuinely rewatch this is if I'm THAT bored. Really should've stuck the to idea with Jay's mother running away from something(which they 100% should've done in the first place)

16. Skybound

Before yall come to my house and beat the shit out of me, HEAR. ME. OUT. Kinda the same situation with Prime Empire. You could skip it, and the show would still make sense. It's never addressed after the season, and all of it is just...wack. Nadakkan is a fucking creep towards Nya, like mf BACK OFF. And Jay isn't any better. He's constantly disrespecting Nya's boundaries throughout a majority of the season, and I do NOT understand how Jay fans justify that. And the amount of sexism in it??? I just don't like this season in general and would very much like to stay away from it.

15. The Island

It felt like it was just there for the purpose of being there. It's important to the plot the next season but I felt like that could've been resolved with a little b plot. Ik it's technically not a season but idc. That's it. Nothing else I can say abt it.

14. Crystalized

It had sm potential, but the second half felt so rushed. The first 12 eps were really well paced, but the last 18 felt like a whole other season. The entire ending was rushed, and it was so hyped as well. I was at the edge of my chair waiting and waiting but....nothing. I never really believed that Pixal was gonna die, but I 100% expected Wu to die or SOMEONE to make a huge sacrifice. The original ending wouldn't have been much better bc at that point, there would've been only 2 eps left. AND NO ONE BROUGHT UP THE FACT THAT ZANE DEFEATED THE OVERLOAD. NOT EVEN LLOYD???? "Third time's the charm," MF ZANE DEFEATED HIM THE THIRD TIME FOR WAY LONGER THAN YOU DID AND NOT EVEN THE OVERLOAD MENTIONED IT LIKE WHAT??? AT LEAST REFRENCE IT OR SUM.

13. Hands of Time

To get something out of the way, the animation reminded me of Miraculous Ladybug.(IM SORRY) The season felt odd but in a good way. And knowing that Pixal was in that Samurai X suit makes her personality in s7 10× more funnier. I don't hate it but I don't love it at the same time. It's a 50/50

12. The Pilots

Since it's the start or it all, it's going to get a decent ranking. I really like it and it did just fine for a pilot ep(s) But other seasons are just better :3

11. Master of The Mountain

It's a really nice season to get back at I fricking LOVE the little flashback of Cole's mother. But at the same time it's a bit forgettable.(don't come for me) That's it. :3

10. Legacy of The Green Ninja

One of the classic seasons. It's good enough to make it to the top 10. This was where ninjago was originally supposed to end. Its really nice and seeing Lloyd battle his dad was sad :,) All the episodes are really fun and entertaining but other seasons are just better :3

9. Rise of The Snakes

The first season of ninjago where it all truly started. Much like s2 all the episodes are really entertaining. It's really heartwarming to watch all the ninja grow up and change throughout the rest of the seasons. It's always a classic you can come back to. But other seasons are still just better

8. Possession

It's a really nice season and the pros outweigh the cons but I really don't like Morro(atp yall finna hate me) He's like Kai if his "I'm supposed to be the green ninja" phase never left. His redemption arc was so fricking boring and forgettable that I don't even REMEMBER what happened and i'm too lazy to go back. But the episodes are also really entertaining and a bit funny.

7. Rebooted

TOO MANY PPL DONT LIKE THIS SEASON AND IDK WHY. Okay the love triangle was extremely unnecessary and didn't help progress the plot at all. But all the good really outweighs it. It's the birth of the best Canon ship(which is pretty much all I post abt here) Really entertaining. AND HAS ONE OF THE BEST SCENES IN HISTORY. Ik yall were in TEARS after the last ep.

6. Dragons Rising

It's a really well paced season and MASSIVELY improved from crystalized. THEY ACTUALLY GIVE ZANE A PERSONALITY AND I AM HERE FOR IT. It gives off a really well based story, and it's really entertaining. Ik a majority of Jay fans were upset bc he only got like 14 seconds of screen time if that, but with everything going on and at that point there were 3 eps left. The story pacing would've been extremely rushed, so I'm kinda glad that happened. Nothing else to say.

5. March of The Oni

Really great season. Just really hits you in the feels. Nice season you can always rewatch. I love the Pixal/Cole/Zane interaction in the first ep really funny. The rest of the season is pretty self explanatory

4. Tournament of Elements

This season is one of the best in the show. Like S10 it's pretty self explanatory. Introduces us to a bunch of new concepts. GARMADON SACRIFICING HIMSELF WAHHHHHHH. The only thing I genuinely have a problem with is the Zane amnesia part. I really wanted it to last the whole season like make Zane have little flashbacks bit by bit. That could've been really interesting. The rest is amazing.

3.Sons of Garmadon

SO MANY PPL WHO STOPPED WATCHING AFTER THE REDESIGNS MISSED OUT OMG. It's so good. Good characters. Good villains. Good story concept. GREAT execution. Just mwah. Crystalized kinda ruined Harumi's arc. Like I would've been fine if she stayed dead. HER ARC WAS PERFECT. I love her sm. Also has one of the best outfits/weapons. THE REDESIGNS DID THEM JUSTICE THEYRE SM BETTER THAN THE OLD ONES(don't find me pls.) It's great would recommend :3

2. Seabound

ONE OF THE BEST SEASONS JUST MWAH. Nya's arc was really nice, and her merging with the ocean pulled on my heartstrings istg. HER INTERACTIONS WITH HER MOTHER JUST...*cries forever*

1. Hunted

MY FAVORITE SEASON OMG EVERYTHING ABT IT IS FUCKING PERFECT. The music. The characters. EVERYTHING. Has one of the best intros in ninjago. I love how Lloyd was trying to cope with his friends being "dead" and being so relieved that they're actually alive. The designs are so good. The story progresses really smoothly and just...*chefs kiss*

Okay bye now.

LIST OF PEOPLE I’M ESPECIALLY ROOTING FOR IN LIMITED LIFE

Jimmy - I actually kind of prefer he dies first but if he doesn’t then he NEEDS to win. LET HIM WIN. If not… DEATH!!!

Impulse - CLOCK!!!! THEME!!!! HE DIED TO A CLOCK IN THE FIRST SEASON. LET HIM WIN CLOCK SEASON!!!! IT WOULD BE AMAZING

Bdubs - CLOCK THEME!!!! But people associate him with clocks more often (he has been wearing the clock that made him kill Impulse for multiple seasons now). IT WOULD BE AWESOME- BUT!! He doesn’t have a pov. Which kind of makes it even cooler imo? Imagine how like… mysterious and haunting it would feel for the winner to be the one guy who you can never really know what he’s up to. I think it’d be cool and everyone would be watching second place pov instead lol

Scott - I am a Scott is best life series player truther. I want him to win so he will have basically won 3 out of 4 seasons (double life can technically be counted as a Scott win if you decide that soulmates win together). I want people to be like “ugh scott wins every time 🙄”

Martyn - HE BROUGHT BACK THE LORE!!! AND THIS TIME HE’S TEAMED WITH SCOTT??? I’m unsure if the watchers still care about what Scott did in Last Life, or Double Life for that matter (I feel like Scott’s actions in DL would’ve also upset the watchers had they spoken to Martyn) but if they are still upset then the drama… plus they wanted Martyn to betray Ren in 3L too I think, so they might just want Martyn to betray Scott this time too, and win. I want to see that. The lore.

Skizz - pretty much the same reasons anyone was rooting for Joel in Last Life. I hope Skizz gets to at least go on a killing spree too.

Tango - because Martyn joked about leaking the script on stream and said Tango wins

And then I’d be happy for anyone else to win cuz I like everyone! Nosy Neighbors win could be fun (if it was Pearl it would almost feel like double life lol), Cleo and Scar I’d also like to see win, any of TIES so that one of those teams ACTUALLY succeeds for once… Joel cuz he’s my blorbo. Grian cuz I want a two time winner. Am I the only person who wants someone to win multiple times lol I think many ppl might hate that actually but I think it’d be fun.

"Masquerade" review

Angel deals with things.

You could instantly tell this was going to be a porno since Angel never tried to use the 3rd set of arms he hides to escape.

Charlie I think everyone else wouldn’t mind if you had said that Angel’s work was very inappropriate to show. Where was that same courage you had when dealing with Adam?

Again though I’d be okay if one of these problems Charlie has is about her parents, I’m still hoping it’s not on the same level as those with similar problems in Helluva Boss.

So were finally getting the “abusive relationship” story with Angel and Valentino. Nice to see Charlie instantly noticing it.

Admittedly I got a chuckle at the animation of Charlie banging her legs on the floor.

I brought this up in my Charlie and Vaggie “trailer” Tumblr post (link) but I think throughout the series (definitely later this season) we will learn that Charlie sees her royal status as a bit burdensome (maybe it’s also connected how this is related to how she canonically doesn't like wearing dresses XD) like maybe she always just wanted to be treated like everyone else but for her it was hard given she was nicer than most demons and I bet it was even harder to tell who liked her for who she was or if they were doing so out or obligation or using her for fame. That last part could be another good reason why she broke up with Seviathan von Eldritch. Another reason I bring this up is that we will likely see Charlie struggle with doing this until near the end of the season as seen with that makeshift army she makes of her friends and Rosie's people she recruited via singing which does seem to make Charlie a bit confident.

I think what you’re describing their Charlie is getting close to the definition of intimidation. DO IT!

Travis is back, and is an employee of Val’s. Guess the fandom really liked him.

Great first Adam NOW Val, you have the right to defend yourself Charlie! There better be a lot of fan art of Lucifer kicking Val’s ass posted soon.

Val’s robe are his wings. Does this mean if he was in a cold area, he would have to put a jacket over them to actually keep warm XD.

Uh oh here it comes :(

Is that angelic paper Val has or could all contracts look like that?

Since Charlie is the princess of Hell, you think she or someone else could get Angel out of his contract with Val? 

That song number was cringy to watch and I hope something is done soon so we don’t see another one like it.

Looks like Charlie was beating herself up all night for causing Angel’s miserable night.

Angel’s extra eyes are out. Oh crap Angel is going crazy! Its Fizz at M’s clown contest all over again!

Wait it’s still the same day? I thought Val told him to work all night?

Charlie seems to have learned her lesson about boundaries.

Were finally going to get some true Husk and Angel interaction time.

Nice throw Husk, The Joker would be proud.

I think the writers did a good job at describing/showing how self destructive people are like.

Husk being a former Overlord confirmed. Well technically the theory was that he was a still an Overlord but that was being kept secret, no one accounted him losing his title. Hey I guess Overlords can lose titles.

Looks like the Cat in the Hat’s Nobody found his heart! No wait his heart grew 3 times that moment XD

Did Husk just flirt with Angel :3

Angel says because Val has bad eyes he can’t count, but I’m still going to think that it’s because he is so dumb that he can do math.

Aww Angel is starting to change, even making Charlie proud that she cries. 

That or, and I hate ending this on a bad note, the crying could be related to something deeper like people never expressed such emotion to her before. PLEASE LET ME BE WRONG, at least when it comes to her mom and dad.

I’m mix on this episode.

Yeah I know this was going to happen eventually but it was still a bit sad to watch Angel go through all of that, yet still deny help from Charlie. At least it looks like Angel had a breakthrough and will likely decide to finally start to heal himself as well as aid Charlie in achieving her dream. It was also nice to see Husk not be the cranky old cat we know and love him for, bet those who ship Angel and Husk are happy too.

The biggest flaw of the episode was that the plot was a bit hard to get into since the shows spinoff series Helluva Boss has pretty much done this 3 times already, so we know how this is (probably) going to end and are just waiting for the inevitable scene where Angel stands up and finally becomes free of Val. Still it could have been worse when it came to the similarities (check out my review of Seeing Stars) and a few points for not having Ange’s character storyline end in just 1 episode.

We are already halfway done with the first season, and I can already tell that the last 4 episodes are going to be the most intense episodes yet, especially since the next one will have Lucifer in it. I hope that one won’t be as cringy as this episode given the franchise’s history with parents (specifically dads) but at least the good news is that this is only the first season so if it is, there is a chance the characters will change.

hi hi hi! this is @/cptainjones ! what is your real/fake au? 👀👀

Beloved new OUAT mutual HIIIIII~~~<3

SO fake/real is a ridiculous AU fic series that @naivesilver probably makes look a lot cooler and more fascinating than it probably is...

Sooooo way back in 2017 or whenever season 6 first aired, I watched the episodes that first introduced the idea of the Wish Realm. And, at the time, I felt so frustrated by two things: 1) that everyone in the Wish Realm was treated like they weren't real (and that they were treated this way by both the characters in canon AND by the show as a whole (until they decided to utilise the WR again in Season 7)). and 2) that Wish!Robin was brought back through the wardrobe and just...hated it immediately and was eventually sent back to the Wish Realm ANYWAY. So, I decided I wanted to write a fic dedicated to some of the (Season 6) Wish Realm characters.

The main concept of the fic was that Wish!Robin would stay behind in the Wish Realm, rather than leaving with Regina and Emma. It started off as a one shot that mostly involved WR!Pinocchio and Robin having a slightly awkward conversation with one another about being 'real' (or...fake) and the fic was originally supposed to end there. As a one shot.

Then Nottingham got involved...and it evolved into something longer. And then it evolved again...and again...and now it's a very long and bizarre AU set entirely in the Wish Realm.

Main characters include the Wish Realm versions of: Robin, Pinocchio, Lizard (from Wonderland), Lampwick (from Pinocchio), Henry and Rumple. Also Peter Pan.

It's a very self indulgent series that allows me to write some bizarre and intricate backstories for various pre-existing characters and a couple of OCs as they journey through the WR. Each chapter is structured as though it were an episode of the show, sometimes involving character flashbacks, sometimes not (although it's still written in regular prose and not in a script format or anything like that). It's a fic where I try and fix canon plot holes that irritated me (see: Why didn't Robin OR Nottingham age in the WR??), whilst simultaneously making brand new plot holes for myself <3

It's a fic kind of about a bunch of lonely bastards trying to find a bit of meaning in their life. Lots of action/adventure and angst. A little bit of comedy and romance here and there. Some betrayal. Sea monsters and mermaids. Captain Nemo is also here. Cruella de Vil shows up a little later. They all spend a lot of time on various boats (no Killian though, sorry! I didn't want to mess with his own timeline involving Alice and Season 7 plot). Warlord Bo Peep gets a mention. Technically Willy Wonka is also in this AU, although he's never mentioned by name, only alluded to briefly in book 2.

Truthfully, I always find fake/real a really hard thing to describe. It's a project very close to my heart but it is REALLY fucking niche and weird, I won't deny that :')

(fic link here!)

So do you feel like talking about a Transformers AU you’re writing? Any AU.

asjgjdh one i am writing no unless you mean one that's partway published because turtles is still kind of eating my brain so right now in transformers i am writing 1. mushroomverse 2. fathomless 3. that's it. fathomless is currently either self-explanatory or spoilers and i never know where to start with mushroomverse.

oh i guess technically i have the romance novel TFA au! that's started. haven't worked on it in earnest for a while but it exists! it's plotted out in my head as a series of four shipfics in a cybertronian high society divided not on gender lines but on 'land management' vs 'military'. autobot and decepticon affiliation has nothing to do with it. the decepticons are like. Scottish nobility.

so we go from JazzProwl friends to lovers mutual pining to MegOp 'love and hate tension 'you profited off my family's ruin and ugh now you're HOT' to one that's just a comedy of errors involving BlitzBee and ShockBlurr (one of those chained idiot plots where person c is helping person b, who c has a crush on, help person a, who b has a crush on--a=shockwave b=bumblebee c=blitzwing) and in the background the chaperones are distracted from this mess by Bulkhead getting seduced by married couple Strika and Lugnut who love him for his brain and his body.

jazzprowl side of this au is Mutual Restrained Longing and Respectful Intellectual Exchange. jazz is a sea captain prowl collects fossils and they go to lectures together. megop is Belligerent Sexual Tension and Good Things One-Upsmanship. optimus was supposed to go to military school but his family lost all their money and so he's back for his second season after he left his first very early to help blackarachnia, so he's no longer a shy young thing and he's very over these fawning young military officers who can't even beat him in a strategy game.

Ratchet and Arcee are chaperoning the canon autobot team. they have their work cut out for them. i may or may not ever write this more than the one scene i already have (start of Jazzprowl one, below the cut) but if i do it will be so much fun.

“...and of course, for embellishments, our establishment is up to date on all of the latest trends, my lord. Circuit boards are especially popular right now—one may arrange them to convey any and all manner of messages, with of course varying levels of discretion depending on their placement.”

Prowl was barely listening. He turned in front of the mirror as the modiste prattled on to Ratchet about current fashions, skirt held up in one servo so he could better watch the dark swish of the fabric. He had been skeptical of the merits of clothing, but he supposed he could see the decorative value. The dark fabric flowed like oil. Like the ocean.

“Prowl?” Ratchet sounded annoyed, but that wasn’t a sign he’d let them leave yet. He’d sounded annoyed ever since he’d found Bulkhead and Bumblebee in Prowl’s kitchen, and that hadn’t stopped him from shepherding Prowl off of Yoketron’s derelict estate and through all the forms and fancies that preceded a season in Metroplex. “You got an idea on the stenciling?”

“The point of this is that I present myself as a suitable candidate for conjugation, isn’t it?” Prowl asked. He didn’t look away from the mirror, turning again to watch the swirl of mesh floating around his plating. “Whatever is fashionable will be fine.”

Ratchet sighed. “If all I needed was an assembly-line opinion, I would’ve brought your measurements and not you,” he grumbled. “The point is that you find someone who can tolerate your personality. You have to show a little of it for that to happen. Primus knows you’ve got plenty to spare.”

“I don’t have time for—” Prowl clenched the fabric tighter, catching himself before he could turn in a temper. Ratchet was trying to help him. Prowl needed his expertise.

Seeking harmony with the universe, Prowl released the fabric, smoothing his servo over the wrinkles in the mesh. It did smooth beautifully. Like sand washed by the tide, before the sheen of the water faded.

“Ammonites,” Prowl said, into the silence that neither the modiste nor Ratchet had broken. “You can pattern it with ammonites. I’ll send you a design if you require one.”

regarding thoughts on secret life mechanics

SO there are a lot more mechanics going on this season than i realized bc not all of it was mentioned. ill list out what i know/heard:

the tasks, of course. you complete it and you get: 10 hearts and/or rare items. if you have enough room for the 10 hearts, you dont get items. its like an overflow. if you dont finish your task nothing happens. if you fail the task you lose 10 hearts. you can role for a harder task which gives more hearts (? 20?)

you have 30 hearts for each life. imo better to phrase it as you have 30 hearts for each phase-- green is 1, yellow is 2, red is 3. you cannot regen.

you can gift one heart only one time per session.

you can enchant anything with whatever enchant and whatever level, no limits (but no helmets as always)

i have not watched every pov and only heard this from martyn's so correct me if i explained this one wrong: you can get mob eggs, which allow you to make a spawner out of them?

thats... every one that i know of and boy thats so much more than i thought. for the last one, i saw mumbo get an egg but i just thought it was a one off spawn and a rare item from the secret keeper.

most of my criticism for the Life series comes from mechanics because its what ultimately makes the season feel good. it directs how ppl play and act.

third life was exactly what it needed to be for a first season- simple.

LL brought in an active threat, and proper desperation (boogeys were killing and made it hard to trust, more lives with the ability to gift meant getting for more in order to stay alive).

While while DL wasnt at the top of my list after 3L and LL its concept was still simple and they didnt add more to complicate what was already a tough concept to handle-- two players health tied to each other.

limlife is where i started to feel a little off with the mechanics and how it made people play. it was just one new thing (like DL) with just the boogey again, otherwise it was a timer controlling life. its cool but that concept was too complicated imo and even from a technical view it was a bit broken/hard to manage. it was a strong force to make people kill but the consequences of dying got a bit too intense, and the behavior become chaotic to where the killing methods were insanely op. it was imo, hard to follow once the numbers got too low and things were just going back and forth of losing and gaining time.

now we are on SL and i know we are only one episode in so im not hating on it- just observing this series of mechanics... the new mechanics are tasks, giving one heart per person, 30 hearts w no regen, and these spawn egg things (armor enchants are not a mechanic exactly just an adjustment). this is sooooo much stuff!! i was really hoping it would just be 30 no regen hearts and maybe one other thing. because i already feel like the gifting one heart this is kind of pointless? one heart? thats like. nothing. i have little knowledge on this spawn egg stuff but i am trying to understand why its a thing, if its a task thing i think its still kind of unnecessary?? idk.

imo this season should have had one of the things: 30 hearts w no regen (w 3 life phases) or just the tasks (with some kind of tie to lives, but not the former mentioned). honestly the task thing as cool as it is, starts to make this all feel more convoluted when it starts to stack up with more and more. i dont feel like we're focused on the system of limited lives as much and its because the way you gain and lose lives becomes more complicated and in many cases the gaining and losing of hearts is so.... quick? you dont seem to stay on one of those phases for very long before you manage to get back up, there isnt really a limit of saying "nope! you cant have more!" like there was for LL when people who had another life were losing them and eventually ppl had no one to ask for more, and boogey's didnt make you gain more either ya know? Limlife let you gain more time but youd die and lose some, but then go right back and get more, with no limit to it. now, you gain a whole ten hearts which seems like way too much? and you can again just do more tasks to get more hearts without anything stopping you.

the point of this series imo is the intensity of having no way or very limited ways to get more lives and in the end, facing the fact you cannot get out of your red life. 3L kept it simple, LL made sure to stop you at some point, and DL just made it a little different but was basically the same as 3L. i think this is kind of my consensus on whats already making me unsure of this season.

Ok so I watch way too many time travel shows to not think that bringing The Professor and his parents to the present won’t significantly mess up the in-universe timeline. My main evidence from this comes from the fact that in ep 1, Ryan reads the article about The Professor’s remains being next to his parents’ but obv this couldn’t have been written because they survived, but it has to have been written because it clues Ryan in abt The Sub. If I had to guess this is going to create a paradox 1/?

I’m also going to overthink this line so much, but I don’t trust The Genie saying “nice doing business with you.” to Ryan. Now. This is a normal phrase that people say, but the show uses so much foreshadowing, esp with phrases like this. So, we know the Genie hates Prof + he was probably the one behind the s4 deal (I could go on abt that but I digress). So, genies typically can’t refuse wishes, but they can if they break the genie’s rules. (2/?)

The Genie could potentially consider bringing The Prof back from the past as resurrecting the dead, which is usually not something genies can do. At this point I think it’s fair to say that Ryan and The Genie probably wouldn’t want to help each other after last season. So, the Genie could play by technicalities and give a reason not to bring Prof back. But this doesn’t even cover his line after Ryan very clearly uses the lamp to wish for Prof back (3/?)

I think it’s in the realm of possibility that The Genie would allow Ryan to get Prof back, if Ryan offers him something other than one of his wishes. And I don’t think that the Genie can’t being people back, I think he’s not supposed to, or it would mess up the timeline. I think the Genie said he’d bend the rules if Ryan used something other than a wish in his deal to get Prof back. It would def set up two conflicts, not even counting the Sub, who is def still alive. (4/5)

Why else does this work? Because Ryan has officially entered final girl status, and there's always the sequel where the final girl has to go through it again. idk whether or not time travel or the sub would be the main conflict next season, but im very excited to see where it goes - connie m anon (5/5)

oooooo there’s so much here !!! i’m kinda along the lines that there was a sacrifice made by ryan to get him back (human/puppet/other ??) orrr your paradigm comment made me consider that there are now two dino profs in-universe, one here present day and one that got hit by the meteor and the genie bent the rules that he brought him back but it’s a Not Him situation whic would kinda explain the article that ryan saw. now that’d be a lot and prob highly highly unlikely buuuuut u never know

and as much as i just want them all to be happy and learning you just know shane “lore” madej has some plot twists up his sleeve

all i need to see is final girl ryan in his not this shit again era

Season 3 of Kung Fu really sucks. The plot with Xiao is so boring, and why did they bring Pei-Ling back from the dead? For Zhilan? I hate her redemption arc, it's so rushed and cliché. They really made it easy for her by first bringing Kerwin back from the dead so she technically didn't kill him, and then bringing back Pei Ling for the same reason and so she could forgive her. They even brought back that idol who was a guardian that she killed with Kerwin so she could redeem herself... Such lazy writing... So unsatisfying.

Also, why break Nicky and Henry up for no reason, especially when that plot with Bo went nowhere like we all knew from the beginning. There were no stakes because we knew she'd end up with Henry in the end. They dropped the ball on Bo so bad; they stopped caring for his character after Xiao came back. And Henry and Nicky were better together than apart. They certainly weren't interesting before getting together so why would they break up just to spice things up? There was never any spice at all, but the longer they were together the more I liked them. Breaking them up just made me like both of them less. They were so in love, but Nicky couldn't even stay single for 4 months before she "had to move on".

Moving on, they killed Mia for the shock of it, I guess? But I don't think anyone cared about her so whatever, so... I can't believe they killed Kerwin off just like that without him and Zhilan getting a last moment together. They had actual chemistry, Zhilan experienced realistic growth with him and because of him, and Kerwin was a good character. Him and Juliet were the only good villains besides Zhilan (Kerwin wasn't a real villain though). They brought him back just to get rid of him like that? I'd rather Zhilan had died with him, like my interest in the show. And why stop Althea from coding? She was still helping the others out, but it was even more ridiculous because how can she walk a layman through to how to break into the government's site? They made hacking and coding seem even easier than they already did with Althea and Bo. And what was even Henry's storyline? There was nothing interesting about this season. I only liked the elder Shen's stories, and Dennis. Nicky got on my nerves a bit. After season 2, which was so good, why did they ruin the show like this? The show was dead to me when Kerwin died for real, but it's still disappointing. Season 3 is supposed to be the best or second best season of every show, but this one was incredibly weak, like TVD latter seasons. I don't even care about the ending. Low key wishe everyone died.

things i loved

jonathan knowing about will being gay and letting him know that he loves his brother unconditionally. that whole scene was fantastic, they both brought in their A acting game. i love that it was never stated explicitly, but they both knew what the other was talking about. Very realistic

eleven not accepting brenner's bullshit "apology" and leaving him to die

lucas beating the shit out of jason and the rift splitting the motherfucker in half. that came out of Nowhere, i audibly gasped and i Loved it

murray frying the fuck out of the demogorgons. i'm obsessed with how that was the catalyst that weakened vecna and allowed them to fight back. narrative payoffs baby!

speaking of fire, steve and robin throwing the molotov cocktails!! very badass. nancy shooting him too, but i thought the one in s3 was even better, so

the real genuine scare of max's bones breaking and the fact that she didn't end up 100% fine in the end. some plot armors apparently can be made of glass and i'm here for it

we're Getting our protagonist!will storyline back in s5 ladies!! we win

eddie playing master of puppets fuck yeah dude

my favorite line from a show from here on out: "i piggybacked from a pizza dough freezer"

some of the best acting i've ever seen! shout outs: millie doing eleven's piggyback thing and while vecna was talking to her; noah forever and always, everything he does all the time; sadie and caleb while max was dying; joe quinn and gaten while eddie was dying, and gaten while he was talking to eddie's uncle

things i hated

their overdone trend of introducing loveable new characters just to kill them off as a way to protect the protagonists. eddie was so good, they're so lazy for not keeping him and trying to figure out a way to resolve his being wanted for the murders

I'm Not Here ‼🚫🚫 for stancy. this is a stancy hater zone, i hate everyone involved in this show for reviving it. 1) i don't care for jancy, so i refuse to accept they made me sit through a part of this show i don't care about just for it to be unmade. 2) technically the best for nancy is some time single. 3) that is Such a peewee weakass """resolve""" for steve's character. let him move on ffs, there was a very satisfying way his arc could be heading (was heading!!) and this is not it. he's one of the best parts of the show and it's definitely not because of his relationship with nancy, it's because of his chemistry with the kids, with robin, and his want/need to be protective of them. it's fine that he dreams of having a family but him telling that to nancy and saying she's the one was sooooo ooc. ew

the pacing was 😐 questionable. some strange cuts while some scenes lingered on foreverrrr. i def 1.5x-ed a lot of that shit

i've always been team "will likes mike who knows but doesn't reciprocate" so with that in mind mike's characterization this season doesn't make any sense. why was he weird about will? wasn't will his first and best friend in the world? soooo weird that mike lives and breathes for eleven now and has forgotten how much he and will meant to each other, romantic feelings or not

speaking of eleven, i was really hoping that the strength she would find to fight back would come from within herself, since her arc was building up towards her finding herself, and not from mike saying how she's his superhero

back to the cali gang, i saw someone say how everything they did this season was give pep talks and that's so true. jonathan > will > mike > eleven. such a waste of once the core of the show

+ the very 🤨 moment of will's feelings for mike (in the way will verbalized them to him) being used for mike to verbalize his feelings to eleven was very sus. an embarrasing lack of tact by the writers there

top 5 star trek episodes that were so close to being something incredibly compelling and then weren’t

ough ok I’ve already talked about these first 2 at length but like 3 people total followed me back then so it’s new to someone at least. also this is long as hell. preemptive readmore.

1. tng 4x5 remember me is in a dubious position in that I do still like the episode as it exists and it’s certainly not Not compelling, but tng lacked a beverly and wesley episode, and i firmly believe this one should have been it. for being like the #1 key dynamic for these characters for the last 15 years before the show, we never got to see anything super interesting, and this episode seems like it’s set up to be that, and then it gets picard syndrome. this doesn’t even fully count because I still like the episode but I’m counting it

2. tng 3x23 sarek. the sarek/picard plot is fine, no real complaints there iirc, but the rest of the crew getting angry at each other should’ve had way more interesting character moments than it did. the arguments all being based off of surface level annoyance, rather than starting there and then digging into legitimate conflicts, really feels like a missed opportunity. it didn’t have to get into Darkest Secrets territory necessarily, I’m not looking for characters to hate each other given the constraints of episodic storytelling, but I think it would’ve been fun for characters to air some legitimate grievances with each other even if they’re the kind that could be neatly resolved with an apology at the end. idk I love writing about anger so this one stands out as a missed opportunity to me.

3. ok time for a little controversy i dont think the tng finale is Bad by any means but i don’t worship the ground it walks on yknow. i think the central storyline is generally good, and i was pleasantly surprised by the way it brought the series back to the beginning, both with the q plotline and the examination of how the crew dynamic has shifted, but it does....kinda fuck over a not insignificant number of the characters. troi/worf/riker drama consumes way too much of their storylines for something that showed up in the last half of the last season, and troi being dead so they can fight about it for 20 years is so. really? this is what we’re doing? idk troi at least has some good moments in the earliest timeline piece so at least there’s that, but given that they’d finally started giving her some solid episodes about her career aspirations, I was just kind of disappointed that that was the choice.

4. ds9 7x9 covenant. ive talked about this one at length too bc i just say every thought that comes into my mind all the time forever but this is me coming back at the end of the season so i guess it’s technically different. on one hand i understand that they wanted sisko’s ending to tie into dukat and sisko’s ending needed to tie into the prophets so like, i guess. but on the other hand i think this as a more bajor-focused storyline could have been really interesting? like how does sisko deal with this religious schism given that he’s the emissary of the prophets, but also acknowledging that some subset of the bajoran people are coming to terms with the fact that they feel betrayed by what the prophets allowed them to suffer, and maybe they’re right to feel that way (and like, maybe dukat allies with them at some point so they can put him in there, but the focus is still on the people). it was never going to be that and this is solely wishful thinking based on what i personally find interesting, rather than with some of the earlier ones where im like “yeah this feels pretty objectively stronger,” but i think realistically i’ll always want more depth on bajor and the bajoran people themselves lmao.

5. ok this is kind of a cop out answer in some ways bc i’m sure there are others i actually feel more strongly about and im just forgetting, but ds9 5x8 things past is just like. i wish this episode was just better written on a sheer technical level. it deals with things that are compelling in theory, like odo’s past working under the cardassians and the things he did to maintain what he believed was order at the time, and it also touches on garak’s ideology, but it handles all of these things with the light touch of a fucking sledgehammer. everything in this episode is said far too plainly and is repeated like four times to the point where it both doesn’t reflect the characters and kind of just gets annoying, and while it doesn’t have the significant structural issues the other episodes i talked about have, i just think this one was lacking on a basic writing level despite having an interesting concept, and i found that frustrating

additional notes:

- I was tempted to put journey’s end but the thing is like. the core arc is compelling to me but I have no idea what I’d do with the episode itself. the problems with the arc also mostly come from not having a s6 episode I think and that’s out of scope here.

- naked now was too easy everyone knows that’s a missed opportunity so I removed it from my lineup. same w/naked time being kinda too early imo.

- i had a harder time nailing down ds9 ones because i didn’t have as many individual episodes that came to mind as “close but a little off.” maybe with more distance i’ll have some, but so close to s7 im mostly just thinking of the broader arcs that got kneecapped by pacing issues. i did have a cheating answer that was “what’s compelling about inter arma enim silent leges is its placement as episode 16 of season 7 and the missed opportunity is that they didn’t use that timeslot to start the damar plotline earlier, thereby giving it more room to play out with slightly more believable pacing, and also that they didnt put a jake sisko plotline here” but instead i did my best lmao