#GOD i will not stop thinking about the implications of that storyline whether intended or not

[theminecraftbee]

hermit horror week day 4: season 7 or taken over

Xisuma slowly blinks at the console logs for the server again. He's very tired; he's been collecting blackstone again, and it's very tiring, collecting blackstone. He's been building a lot of pretty houses, and stocking a lot of shops, and he hasn't had time to look at the console much recently. He probably shouldn't be now, because he's tired, and tired people make mistakes.

He makes a lot of mistakes; he's silly like that. A big derp. It's why he has to be careful, since he's been tired so much lately. He definitely shouldn't have the console open.

It's just, earlier Impulse had a question, since his moss farm kept lagging, and Xisuma thought it would be easy enough to try to find the root cause of. And he did find the root cause of it--Impulse's farm is too fast and his storage simply doesn't keep up with the amount of moss--but there's... some other things...

He blinks again at the dates on the server files. The last edited dates. Slowly, he clicks again on his own player data, and tries to make sense of what he's reading. Files like this, they aren't really meant to be that human-readable. It's--well, it is mostly json, so it's mostly human-readable, actually, but a lot of it is still encrypted, for player safety, which would. Maybe explain what he's looking at? He thinks? He's--well, he does have root access, is the thing, because he's the admin, but he still shouldn't be able to look at any player willy-nilly.

He's a little too much of a derp to be trusted with that. He probably shouldn't even be looking at his data! It's just. That last edited date. Xisuma doesn't edit his own player data. That way lies madness. He's, uh, pretty sure he knows some people who went a little mad doing that. So the fact of the matter is--well, it's not the only file that's been edited recently, he tells himself. Just because it's a lot of memory files that seem to have been edited, as well as access permissions--that's... normal enough for a new season, right?

He's...

He doesn't notice his other self walk up behind him.

"Oh, hey Xisuma. You finished gathering materials for our next build, then?" Evil Xisuma says. All of Xisuma's hairs stand on end.

"I mean, I've gathered enough to get started," Xisuma says.

"Pity. I was really hoping you'd manage to get everything. I thought maybe we'd finish today, but I guess we can't now."

"I--you're right. I'm really sorry."

"No, no, don't worry, don't worry, my friend," Evil Xisuma says. "We probably couldn't have finished today anyway, even if you said you'd try for it."

Xisuma's heart is in his throat. "Sorry, my head's just been. You know how I am. Silly me, forgetting things."

Evil Xisuma shakes his head. "It's awfully lucky I came back this season. Think of all the important things you'd be forgetting without reminders!"

Xisuma looks down and away.

"Gosh, and now you're... playing around in the admin console?"

"Oh!" Xisuma says. "It's, er, nothing really big..."

"Can I see it?"

He barely resists the urge to close out of his player data and hide that's what he'd been looking at. He doesn't know why he wants to hide it. It's not like--well, if Evil Xisuma got mad about it, it would be... right, wouldn't it? Because, well, Xisuma knows full well he shouldn't be looking at or editing his own player data. Editing your own data is the way to madness, and Xisuma, well, he's been so tired lately. He could easily accidentally hit a button. He could easily accidentally hit delete. He has root access, after all.

His heart is in his throat again. He shuffles his feet. "Sure," he says, finally. "I, er, I promise, I wasn't doing anything. I just noticed the last edited date on, uh, files that aren't automatically created by the system? And I thought, gosh, that's weird. I'd only been in there to check on Impulse, really, after he'd had some lag issues. I was just finishing up. It's nothing--the date's weird, though, right? That's all I was noticing."

He watches Evil Xisuma's fingers scroll through all of Xisuma's data. It's not quite fast enough that Xisuma isn't sure he's reading it, and suddenly, Xisuma feels very small.

Finally, Evil Xisuma hands Xisuma's tablet with the admin console open back to him. Xisuma looks down, and Evil Xisuma has closed out of the player data again.

"You just forgot the last maintenance date," Evil Xisuma says.

"Really?" Xisuma says.

"Oh, yeah, for sure. You're so tired lately. You silly derp. You've just been forgetting things easily. You should really get more rest!"

"Oh, but then we won't finish our projects," Xisuma says.

"I guess we wouldn't," Evil Xisuma says back.

"It's just--it's. Most of the time, access permission for player memories isn't edited during maintenance, and I just--I don't remember putting your name down?"

"Why wouldn't you?"

Xisuma tries to think.

"I don't know," he says finally, small, unable to meaningfully articulate anything about what's wrong with it. "I guess it only makes sense, if I'm forgetting things so easily."

"Exactly! Gosh, we make a good team," Evil Xisuma says, and he smiles at Xisuma. Xisuma crookedly smiles back.

"Yeah, we do," Xisuma agrees.

"Don't pull that out again unless I say so, okay?"

"Okay," Xisuma agrees automatically, and then he knows he will not. It makes sense. If he was upsetting himself over nothing like this, why, imagine what he'd do if he could open it whenever? He'd just constantly be upsetting himself!

"Now, my friend, let's return to building the Evil Empire."

"Let's!" agrees Xisuma, and just like that, the entire encounter slips from his mind.

#hermithorrorweek2023 #a bee fic #hermitcraft #xisuma #evil xisuma #emotional abuse #mind manipulation #(like genuine warning for emotional abuse here albeit like. somewhat subtle manipulation type.) #if this fic is late in my time zone. no it isn't. #anyway. i will never stop thinking about. whatever was going on between xisuma and evil xisuma in season 8. #anyway. ANYWAY. god one day i'll write the Very Dead Serious Take on that plotline. maybe this is one piece of it. #anyway the horror here is only barely the implied possession it's more the implied. emotional abuse. #GOD i will not stop thinking about the implications of that storyline whether intended or not #like. i'm forever like. did he INTEND to imply the abuse that so many of those cutscenes imply #or was he just trying to write evil xisuma acting like a villain? #anyway this isn't how i'd write evil x for any season that isn't season eight specifically btw you can blame it on jeff if needed

[bigskydreaming]

Can I just say, I am so on board with Duggan showing that when Bobby is really mad, like icy rage kind of chilling mad, all puns intended, like....he is an elemental Terminator jacked up on steroids. He literally just dropped temps so low he smashed through the thick steel hull like he was here to huff and puff and blow their house down, and I personally found it very sexy the way he responded to them trying to kill him by simply making all their trigger fingers snap off from frostbite. What? I’m a very vindictive reader and they deserved it.

And after just ranting the other week about how they needed to just up and let Bobby use his teleportation power all the time without help.....*sobs* here we have him teleporting himself and Bishop across the world just minutes after teleporting himself there in the first place, all without any help or even breaking a sweat. FINALLY!!!!!!!

But that said, on another note, examining this all more seriously:

So, while all of us readers know that Kate’s return is inevitable, as this series has been literally telegraphing this story direction from issue one, with it clearly only being part of her over-all story in this book rather than the end of it.....the characters themselves have no reason to be confident she’ll come back at all, let alone soon, given their concerns about her not being able to interact with Krakoa the way other mutants do.

(Personally, I suspect the reason they’ve paced things the way they have is because Kate’s murder and the mystery of whether or not she can be brought back the same way as everyone else, like...I half suspect that’s going to be among the first things X-Factor deals with, given the premise of that book, and that’s why they’re lining things up for all of this storyline to lead into right around the time X-Factor debuts. But maybe its something else entirely. Who knows. There does seem to be something going on with Lockheed, given the way the last couple of issues have framed focus around him, though I’m completely baffled as to how that could be crucial to this story, but guess we’ll see).

ANYWAY, so we know Kate’s coming back, and likely pretty soon, but the characters don’t know that, not for sure. And when you consider that Bobby, as well as being one of Kate’s really good friends and even dated her in the past, has a kind of unique perspective here....it makes total sense for him to be the one that just goes stone-cold killer here. (Again, pun absolutely intended. Look its me. Its Bobby. Read the room. I’m gonna be doing this a lot here).

Of course, he doesn’t actually kill anyone, as Bishop’s there to remind him to cool it in time, but he is merciless in his own way, and calculated and deliberate. So again...one of Kate’s dearest friends, no doubt feels guilty for being away with Christian while Kate was murdered instead of with her and protecting her......and one other element:

Bobby’s one of the few mutants that already was facing the prospect of immortality before they came up with the resurrection process. Its been an underlying source of angst for him for a long time, and IMO the true cornerstone of why he’s so often been resistant to exploring his powers and examining the implications of them, and what they suggest about his future:

See, more than anything, Bobby fears being alone. He loves people, he loves the people who are dearest to him, he craves normalcy in the sense of things that are familiar and comfortable to him....and his powers are antagonistic to all of that. Because the many times they’ve proven able to bring him back from the brink of death without him even consciously using them, and the glimpses of futures where centuries from now he’s still around as this jaded, bitter ice wizard or elemental being.....force him to constantly be aware of the potential and even likelihood that he is going to VASTLY outlive pretty much every single person he’s ever loved and ever will love.

People often note Bobby’s tendency to be drawn to various villains or antiheroes, describing this as him having a thing for the bad boys (and girls, before his coming out)....but there’s never really been any sign of the usual hero/bad guy narrative with most of these. He doesn’t actually ever ‘try and change them’ or really think he can, and there’s never anything that suggests that he like, finds their ‘dark side’ itself appealing, nor does being around them make him act more uninhibited or less altruistic or anything, at least not to any strong degree I don’t think.

But IMO, the focus on the bad guy attraction is only one way to go with that. I’ve always noticed there’s another common element that can be found in the more unexpected people Bobby tends to be drawn to:

And that’s the fact that from Mystique to Daken to the occasional cosmic being or god.....they all tend to be people who have the potential to live as long or longer than Bobby himself. People he doesn’t have to worry as much about losing, if he were to fall in love with them.

So consider that Bobby has for so long consciously and subconsciously limited himself and his own development, avoided touching on or examining the many times and things that have foreshadowed his own longevity....because he’s afraid to face it, afraid to even contemplate the idea of there coming a time when most if not all of his closest friends and loved ones are all dead and gone, and he’s still here, still alive, because his powers kinda ensure he’s always among the last standing.

And then along comes Krakoa and all its changes and bounty, and the resurrection process which is almost too good to be believed, a gift for all mutantkind that offers the potential for longevity, even immortality for all of them....

Overnight, everything changed, not just for mutantkind as a whole, but for Bobby himself. Because the resurrection process doesn’t actually offer him anything he really needs HIMSELF. Its not likely he’ll ever need to use it, or that it would even work on him at all (since Bobby’s powers have fairly recently evolved to make him extremely hard for psychics to read, especially when in his ice form, but also even while flesh and blood....so its not a given that Xavier even COULD ‘back up’ his consciousness in Cerebro as easily or as frequently as he does other mutants).

So the resurrection process doesn’t change much for Bobby himself....but its existence and ramifications....they changed EVERYTHING for him. All of a sudden, everything he’s dreaded and feared about his future, everything that’s been underlying his fear and even hatred of his own powers at times.....just like that, its no longer relevant. Everything looks different to him now. The future is no longer something to avoid imagining whenever possible, its something to look FORWARD to......because now he can picture still having his friends and loved ones with him, far from now. He can PLAN for things, he can WISH for things. He can finally start to embrace his powers and thus himself, his full self, without fear of it taking him further and further away from everyone his own immortality has always threatened to leave behind. (I find it very interesting that its NOW of all times that Bobby finally unlocks his teleportation ability, for instance).

But just as Bobby’s started to finally be less cautious with his powers and his relationships, started to just...live, without being constantly afraid and waiting for the day his loved ones start to leave him for good....just when he begins to wrap his mind around that hopeful future.....

Kate, one of the people most important to him, dies.....and all of them are terrified she’s an exception to the new status quo, and resurrection won’t work on her.

So yeah. Bobby lost it this issue. Cold Snap was a particularly fitting title, and if ever there was a moment to showcase how dangerous the widespread death of X-Men and various of Bobby’s loved ones could be for the world and the future....it was this one. Because while I say “Bobby lost it” and you could see Bishop fearing that was exactly the case....I don’t think that means that Bobby was out of control, rather than just he lost sight or willingness to throw up barriers between his most vengeful impulses and reasons to hold himself back. I fully believe everything Bobby did this issue was willful and calculated....he knew exactly what he was doing, and he’s not remotely sorry for any of it, because they took away one of the people he can’t bear to lose JUST as he was starting to get used to the idea that now he might not ever have to actually lose them.

So. Iceberg dead ahead, indeed.

Below the cut: More about the specific ways Bobby and Bishop’s powers work almost exactly opposite, and what that implies for how vulnerable Kate’s true murderer Sebastian Shaw is to the specific friend of hers who appears to have taken point on avenging her death.

Also, me getting rambly again about Bobby’s ultimate potential as the Phoenix/Jean’s true thematic opposite - the inevitable heat death of the universe - and why their fire and ice dichotomy was never a coincidence when the two of them in specific were made the original omega mutants.

Also also, more puns. Because can’t stop won’t stop and they’re necessary. I have a mandate, back off.

So. It was also particularly fitting that Bishop was disturbed by what Bobby was doing because I mean.....again, this isn’t OOC for Bobby, its just he very very VERY rarely gets like this because he IS so aware of how destructive he can actually be and isn’t fully comfortable being a walking force of nature in human/twink form. He signed up to be a disaster gay, not a natural disaster gay. Okay enough with the puns. POINT BEING.....add to that the fact that Bishop, of all the X-Men, has always been the most conscious of the threats they could each be if unchecked, given his original focus on ferreting out who the X-Men traitor was that was destined to lead to the team’s early deaths.

Which means, although it comes up VERY rarely, Bishop has always kept in mind that despite how formidable he himself is, the precise nature of their powers makes him one of the people LEAST suited to deal with the possibility of an out-of-control Bobby Drake on a rampage.....because Bishop’s power is to absorb energy, any kind of energy, and turn it into something he can use offensively himself.

Problem is, despite how often Bobby’s depicted shooting ‘ice beams’....he doesn’t project any kind of energy at all. Its the exact opposite. Bobby’s power at its core is basically a middle finger to the laws of thermodynamics. Cold isn’t an energy after all, its just the absence of heat.....which in turn is really just energy produced by the frenetic kinetic motion of molecules.

Bobby doesn’t project energy, he takes it away. And not even by absorbing it himself, its more he just....makes it go bye-bye. Through some process nobody truly understands, least of all him, but there’s no transfer of energy from one source to another when he uses his powers. Its more that all that kinetic energy in the area he’s focusing on, no matter how small or large it is, the molecular activity responsible for the production of any amount of energy at all.....just....stops.

Again, its why I’ve always said that despite how he’s usually depicted compared to her, Bobby truly is the most ideal thematic opposite to Jean and the Phoenix Force, and its why it was a perfect choice to make him the other original omega mutant, alongside her.

After all, Jean as the Phoenix was always shown as a force of fire and light...and her ultimate potential/destiny was usually written as the reincarnation/resurrection force....essentially, the Phoenix is meant to be the spark that reignites creation, that begins everything again, once destroyed.

Bobby, in contrast, isn’t just the Iceman.....his ultimate potential and destiny could just as easily be described as the natural and NECESSARY counterpart to the Phoenix Force....the inevitable Heat Death of the Universe.

Since, much like global warming, the heat death of the universe is a somewhat misleading title. Because of the emphasis it puts on heat, most people hear it and tend to think of the end of the universe being an explosive thing, one last blaze of glory. But in actuality, another name for the heat death of the universe is The Big Chill or The Big Freeze. The whole theory behind it is that the ultimate fate of the universe is that it will someday reach a point where there is no untapped thermodynamic free energy LEFT to power entropic cycles. 

And as entropy is the natural state of the universe....no more entropy means no more universe. It doesn’t imply that the universe would be destroyed or explode, implode, cease to exist....its more that everything would just....stop. Not because it dropped to some specific temperature or anything, but simply because.....there’s no more molecular movement happening. Nothing in motion....and without that molecular motion to PRODUCE energy that in turn powers all the other natural forces/states of being in the universe....nothing can ever happen again, from that point on, basically....

At least not without an outside catalyst, an external force acting to restart, reignite molecular activity, a self-contained power source that could funnel enough external free energy back into the machinery to jumpstart it again....a fuel source for essentially...a Big Bang, an explosion so big that it produces so much free energy that everything starts up again, in whatever new configuration it all settles into in the wake of that primordial explosion. And thus, a universe is born anew, like a phoenix from the ashes, etc, etc.

Anyway, got off on a tangent there, as I am wont to do, but in the vein of my fondness for usually super nice characters who are actually super dangerous if you go about pissing them off in just the right ways, and who could absolutely be the most villainous villains to end all villains if not for their willful and constant choosing of GOOD over self-service and prioritizing their own wants and needs over that of innocents.....

Well, in actuality, the goofy, eternal frat boy, pun-loving, deliberately and consciously immature ‘little brother’ of the X-Men, Bobby Drake....he’s not just an ice sculptor and snow cone maker, for all that he mostly uses his powers just for that stuff, by CHOICE. Because nobody’s more conscious than he that when he really puts his mind to it, there is literally not a more ideal killing machine in the entire Marvel Universe than Bobby himself.

Like, Thanos? Fuck that guy. Thanos would have Bobby-envy if he ever pulled his head out of his own ass long enough to notice someone other than himself. 

Plenty of other mutants, superhumans and even cosmic beings are extremely dangerous killers in all kinds of ways, capable of enormous destruction.

None of them are more suited to one specific part of the Celestial endgame than Bobby himself:

He’s the end result of the attempts to engineer a new generation of cosmic beings that could be the architects of a whole new universe, just as they were the architects of the current one. 

But in order for a new universe to someday begin, the current one has to someday end. 

And the X-Men’s goofy gay twink is the one being noted by Marvel’s current roster of cosmic beings, as being the potential killer of universes needed to make that part of the eternal universal cycle happen. 

The guy who one day, thousands or millions or even billions of years from now, in whatever form he exists in by then...

(since omega mutants were originally described as evolution incarnate, those mutants who are constantly evolving themselves even as they live, so that there is no upper limit to how their powers can grow, change, adapt, mutate, with a by-product of this being they all at some point evolve some way of transcending the limitations of physical bodies and mortality).....

....could just snap his fingers and make everything, all energy, all motion, all molecular activity, just.....stop.

Anyway! Obviously, most of that is just hypothetical and conjecture even within universe, and a long way from ever happening in-universe, if at all, and Bobby for all his power now is still nowhere near that point.

BUT....the reason I brought up Bishop’s disturbed reaction at the start of all this, and noted how Bishop himself is uniquely unsuited to dealing with the Iceman on a rampage....

Is that there’s one specific character whose powers work an awful lot like Bishop’s....which means he shares that specific vulnerability to Bobby in particular.

With that being...Sebastian Shaw, the man ultimately responsible for what happened to Kate, the one who actually killed her and set all of this in motion.

Because just as Bishop absorbs all forms of energy and reprocesses it into offensive energy blasts he fires back on his attackers....Sebastian Shaw absorbs all kinetic energy and converts it into superhuman strength. Making him an almost unstoppable tank, as pretty much everyone’s attempt to fight him only makes him stronger, while doing no actual harm to him.

Except...enter Bobby. Who doesn’t need to hit Sebastian to hurt him. Doesn’t need to feed him any energy he can use at all. All he needs to do, is take all the heat in Sebastian away, and he can shatter him into a million pieces, just like he did all those mercenaries’ trigger fingers. 

And when people find out Sebastian’s part in all this, he’s going to run, no doubt. He’ll probably slip off the island before anyone can manage to get their hands on him, and he’s got so many resources and connections of his own, he can easily flee to any part of the world without needing gate access, and buy his own private army to defend him.

But when you look at how Bobby was this issue, how relentless and implacable, and how little he cared or even acknowledged any of the armed men before him as any kind of threat at all....

Its very easy to remember that as long as he stays in his ice form, Bobby doesn’t need to eat or drink or sleep or ever stop. Period. And as shown in this issue, he can now teleport across the globe in an instant. There’s pretty much nowhere he can’t reach on his own now.

Like I said. An elemental Terminator jacked up on steroids. There’s nowhere Shaw can go that he can’t follow. No obstacle Shaw can throw up in his path that Bobby can’t shatter and just walk through without slowing. No amount of mercenaries Shaw could hire, that could actually pose any kind of threat to Bobby. And absolutely nothing Sebastian or his own mutant power could do to protect him from the specific advantage Bobby’s own abilities give him in any kind of direct confrontation between them.

In summation.....Bobby Drake, killer of universes, might be billions of years away from reality, if ever.

But even right now, at this point in time.....he’s already evolved into nature’s perfect Sebastian Shaw killing machine.

And I think after this issue, that’s particularly relevant.

[canonicallysoulmates]

Supernatural 14.20 (Season Finale)

After watching this episode, and if I’m being honest for the last couple of episodes, I can fully understand why j2 decided to end this show and while it’s still painful and I’m still not ready to let Sam and Dean go, sometimes letting go of the things we love is for the best and I think this is one of those cases. The love and thought and quality is not there anymore from the EPs/writers, so I’m thankful j2 decided to end Supernatural. I’m sure it wasn’t an easy decision because I have no doubt in my my mind that they love this show but it was the right thing to do. It’s time to say goodbye to this show, I’m just sorry we have to say goodbye to it with Dabb at the helm. 

I don’t know where to begin and I have a lot to say so this isn’t going to be very linear, in fact, it’s going to be the opposite and I apologize in advance for that but hopefully, I will be able to express what I feel and my points in a way that is understandable. 

I’m going to start this opinion post off talking about Chuck being turned into a villain and what I feel is a very unpopular opinion cause I didn’t like that, I know for a lot of y’all Chuck has always been the villain of this story that’s fine and dandy, I’ve never subscribed to that, and I can understand why some would be excited or find it interesting that God is the last big bad, go big or go home and all that, but I take issue with it cause to me this character has never been a villain and making him one is changing who he is, now I’ve never hidden that I like this character just as I’ve never hidden the fact that my views of this character are slightly influenced by my own personal beliefs nonetheless I am going to try my best to explain why I’d never seen him as a villain without getting into those beliefs. 

There are two ways I see this character: as a character and as a representation of Kripke/the showrunner. In neither of these views have I ever seen Chuck as anything other than flawed but loving his creation. 

Looking at him as a character only, I completely understand the argument some might make that Chuck has played Sam and Dean like puppets, but I’ve never seen it that way, to me he’s never been this master puppeteer who has controlled every aspect of Sam and Dean. I’ve always viewed him as a flawed but complex character that regardless of whether or not he put things in the boys path or how many those things were, which is not an argument I’m going to get into in this post, he’s rooted for them, he wants them to make the right choices and win - cause he’s always given them free will, even in this episode when they don’t play along and do what he wants he still didn’t take away their free will even though he easily could have, and in Swan Song the whole point of it the beautiful aspect about it is that the boys chose each other, that Sam and Dean’s life was theirs, that they playing or not playing along with heaven and hell’s plan was up to them and they chose not to play along-, and in a way he loves them like to put it in the most basic of terms before this episode where he’s turned into a villain I would have said Sam and Dean were his favorite creation. 

So, I’m not just not ok with the implication that this whole time Chuck has been controlling everything, that everything that has happened has been because Chuck wanted it that way, or that Sam and Dean never actually had free will, I’m just not ok with any of those things. I don’t like it.

If I look at him as the representation of Kripke and stop looking at him as a character, I can understand even more why he is the way he is and be more...forgiving I guess; he was an accurate representation cause Kripke did write Sam and Dean to be in those situations but at the same time he loved his creation. 

I feel like I made no sense so to put in hopefully more understandable terms: 

As a character: I have put you in or let you to some of these situations but I have given you the free will to choose how you handle them and I’m rooting for you to make the right ones and win.

As the representation of a writer talking to their creation: I have put you in these situations but I did it because I love you and I needed you to grow and take a life of your own. 

Not sure that’s any more understandable, my thoughts on this character are very difficult to explain but the gist of it is, I’ve never seen Chuck as the bad guy. 

[And, as to the argument of why hasn’t he stepped up more to help the boys, if he did there’d be no show. He’s an all knowing all powerful character if he appeared to help every time the boys had a problem there would be no show cause he could solve the problem with a snap of his fingers so I can understand and forgive the writers for not...using him?]

Anyways, to me, his personality in this episode doesn’t make any sense and Dabb changed him to make him into a villain [Note: I do not believe for even one second that he was always intended to be a villain, Chuck was introduced by Kripke back in s4, Kripke had no plans for this show to go past s5 and nobody expected it to reach s14 so saying him being a villain was always the plan makes no goddamm sense to me so save your breath]. I will say however it’s fitting that Dabb would turn Chuck, a representation of the show creator/showrunner, from flawed but loving, into a villain who throws a temper tantrum and undoes all of Sam and Dean’s hard work, I didn’t know Dabb was so self-aware!  

I don’t know, maybe if this character had never been introduced, or if he had been written differently or if I didn’t see him as a representation of the show creator/showrunner, maybe then I could get behind the idea of him being a villain but as it is I got issues with it. 

From a story POV I’m also not the biggest fan of God being the last big bad, I actually don’t find it that creative. I think it would have been a lot more interesting and creative if they had actually killed him and they either had to deal with the repercussions of that or even more fun if Sam had been the one to kill him and turned into God. Which I actually thought was going to happen for like 3mins after Sam shot Chuck (I watched this epi live and there was a commercial break in between I can be given some leeway for this), well to be honest, I thought he was either going to become God or King of Hell or return of his powers, either way, any one of those three would have been 100% more fun than what we actually got, but I guess I should have known better than to expect Dabb to ever give Sam a storyline, it was probably torture for him to write Sam doing something as badass as shooting God in the first place. 

Now, to be fair, we might still get Sam with powers or King of Hell!Sam, the shows not over yet but I’m not going to hold my breath for it. And maybe something cool will be done and I’ll warm up to the idea of Chuck being the villain but as of right now that’s not the case and I don’t see my view changing anytime soon. 

That being said, it was great to see Rob Benedict again! He’s looking good! 

Moving on from all that, this episode could have been so much more. It should have been so much more, this is the last season finale ffs! But this didn’t even feel like a season finale, the only time it did was at the very end during the last, I’d say, 5mins. the rest felt more fitting for a pre-season finale; take the last couple of minutes away and this would have been more fitting as 14.19. Or even as a standalone episode it would have been better, cause there’s a concept used at the beginning of this episode, that imo would have been good for a standalone, and it’s that Jack made it so people can’t lie, I think that could’ve made for a fun standalone and it’s a pity that instead it was thrown in here cause it didn’t contribute to the plot if anything it actually played a large part in making this feel like less of a season finale. 

I’m not gonna lie to you guys the ending with all the monsters and the zombies appearing did make my jaw-drop and for a minute I felt something akin to excitement for s15, but as the scene continued that excitement started dying down and something about it started bugging me. It wasn’t until the episode finished and I started thinking about it and what that ending could possibly mean that I realized why that was and it’s because that little spark of excitement I felt when the woman in white appeared was because of nostalgia. 

It’s because I saw her and the creepy af clown and bloody Mary and I didn’t imagine current Sam and Dean fighting them, my mind saw them and immediately went to s1 and s2, that little spark was because I was reminded of the show I love so much, the show that is now coming to an official end and never coming back, and again I won’t lie, for that minute my mind considered the possibility that s15 would be a throwback an homage to the beginning but as the scene continued on I realized that while s15 does have that potential to be something beautiful that pays tribute to the early seasons there’s a way bigger opportunity for it to be a destruction of the legacy j2 have built. And now that the opportunity is there, there’s a big chance that s15 will be a revolving door of secondary characters instead of being about Sam and Dean. 

I’m worried that instead of Dabb doing something beautiful that pays tribute to the early seasons it’s just going to be a lazy retelling full of retconning. And it frustrates me that he undid everything Sam and Dean have done, that instead of original new stories we’re bound to get a retelling of the ones that we know and love and are already perfect. 

Also, I fucking hate that feathers is gonna be around for the last season especially if the last season is meant to be an homage to s1-s2 cause that useless prick wasn’t introduced till s4...maybe they can start with s4, work their way backward and kill him off. 

I won’t deny that there were good moments cause there were! When Dean was about to shoot Jack that was legitimately tense, Sam shooting Chuck was badass, I loved Sam standing up to Dean and telling him that he couldn’t lose him and Jack, I liked the conversation between Sam and Chuck in the Bunker, I loved Dean making weapons for him and Sam at the end, so there were legitimate good moments scattered throughout but for me in the overall scheme of things those moments, as much as I enjoyed/loved them, are not enough for me to consider this a good episode and sure as hell, not enough for me to consider this a good season finale. Especially considering this is the last season finale and even more, if I compare it some past season finales like my beloved AHBL. 

If you liked this episode, that’s wonderful I’m happy for you, but...I don’t like the way it left me feeling. It left me feeling hollow, and frustrated, and angry and conflicted and worried about s15. 

I wish j2 the best of luck in making s15 a good one, they have an uphill battle ahead of them. 

As for me, I’m happy this season is finally fucking over and I’m looking forward to the break before the last season begins. 

#spn negative #anti andrew dabb #anti castiel #anti dabb #anti dabbernatural #Opinion on Supernatural #spn 14.20 #spns14 finale #mine

[itsclydebitches]

RWBY Recaps: Vol. 5 "Unforeseen Complications"

This is a re-posting from Oct. 28th, 2017 in an effort to get all my recaps fully on tumblr. Thanks!

This RWBY review had to be put on hold while I finished Stranger Things 2. In all honesty if you're reading this instead of watching the new season... please re-think your life choices.

For those of you who have binged properly you'll already know that though RWBY doesn't do holiday-themed episodes, they're still bringing in the Halloween spirit this week with the rather terrifying title "Unforeseen Complications." We open on Blake, Sun, Kali, and a pacing Ghira, wearing his tiny reading glasses that everyone was gushing over when the promo picture first dropped. Luckily we haven't lost the adorable cat Dad (yet), but things aren't looking good, especially when he's given this much screen time in a show that just loves breaking up happy families. Ghira is prepping a speech in regards to Adam's recent power-play and the only thing that eases the tension is a warm, family hug.

And Sun's awkward fourth-wheeling. Honestly, that was funny about ten episodes ago. For a side character that's been thrust into one of the main cast's storyline, Sun sure hasn't justified his place there yet. He's done little in the way of really assisting Blake in her work and the injury that worried everyone last Volume was explained away this very episode, amounting to nothing. The guy either needs something to do or finally needs to clear out--which, I should add, Blake wanted him to do weeks ago.

Sun aside, Ghira remains a favorite among fans for his sweet nature, fair views, and unending support of his daughter. His speech here, laying out Adam's rogue faction in the White Fang and his involvement in the Fall of Beacon, isn't anything that the viewer didn't already know about. In fact, the scene is a little confusing if you don't catch that Blake's story is apparently taking place a month behind everyone else's. There's no overt indication of this using text on screen and given that we're following so many characters, there's no easy way to imply an ellipsis, let alone that we're jumping around a suddenly non-linear timeline. I had originally taken Ghira's warning that Adam intends to kill Sienna as an indicator that news of her death hadn't reached the island yet. However, it was pointed out to me later that Ghira mentions Haven opening in two months time whereas Ozpin, later in the episode, says that school starts up in a month. I'm not sure why RT has chosen this form--or why they've made it so convoluted--but I'm trusting that it will somehow benefit the overall structure of the Volume.

Ghira's call to assist the humans in Haven certainly doesn't get an outcry of support from the crowd, but he's entirely undermined when Ilia (dramatically) throws off her cloak and reveals herself, shouting that they should never help the humans when they've done nothing but harm the faunus in turn. Sun tries to grab her (he fails) but the damage is already done. As we see through the camera focusing on our two creepy fox brothers, Adam's splinter faction has wormed its way in deep. We know thanks to Ilia's scroll that Adam not only plans to attack Haven but take out their CTT tower as well. RWBY is chock-full of themes surrounding communication (or the lack thereof) and literally taking out the kingdoms' one way of contacting one another is highly reflective of that. Combine that with Ilia’s few words sowing so much discord. Divide them and they’ll fall, and all that. 

The real action of the episode though is with Team RNJR. After a full two weeks we finally get to see the gang's reaction to Professor Ozpin's return and oh boy, it did not disappoint.

Ruby: "Isn't it weird?"

She's so excited about this! Qrow reminds the kids that this is strange for everyone involved, including the boy you're hounding, so they sheepishly give Oscar some space. He admits that he's a little nervous because he's never met real huntsmen and huntresses before, which is a wonderful callback to Ruby's excited, "Can I have your autograph?" to Glynda in Episode One. She's come far enough now that she's the one people look up to with awe. There's also perhaps a bit of rosegarden here, but that's obviously a ship that can only happen if Ozpin gets a body of his own.

We then (bless) finally get some actual information regarding this Oscar-Ozpin situation. Oscar shows everyone his "parlor trick" where, with a flash of green aura, gold eyes, and white hair, Ozpin takes control of his body, making everyone emotional with a sincere, "It is so very good to see you again, students."

It's a remarkably light scene for all the revelations. Like I've been noting in all these recaps, Ozpin admits how pleased he is that Ruby and the others can retain their sense of humor in the face of confusing and traumatizing circumstances. We get another callback as Ozpin apologizes, saying that he wasn't exaggerating when he once told Ruby he'd made more mistakes than any man, woman, or child. We learn that he has been “cursed” by the gods for failing to stop Salem centuries ago. For thousands of years Ozpin has lived, died, and reincarnated in the body of a "like-minded soul," though there's still no explanation of what exactly constitutes "like-minded” in this scenario. 

Jaune: "So who... what are you?"

Ouch. Though not an entirely unwarranted question when you’re suddenly dealing with the impossible. Ozpin says that he is the "combination of countless men" who have spent their lives trying to protect Remnant. The implication that he only reincarnates as a man aside (seems like a missed opportunity there), this seems like a pretty firm confirmation of the merging theory. The person we know as Ozpin might not entirely erase Oscar, but it certainly sounds like they won't remain completely separate people for forever. Indeed, Ozpin says straight out that at some point, "eventually," they'll “merge” and become the new Ozpin, a man who retains the memories of all his past lives. It’s all still horrendously murky, but honestly, if Oscar doesn't have at least a little bit of a freak out over this I'll be sorely disappointed.

We still don't know who or what Ozpin was originally. Was he just a man who took on too much, cursed by the gods for his failure or arrogance? Was he the wizard, one of the few capable of wielding magic in Remnant, thus making his survival (and the curse to ensure as much) a necessity? Ozpin isn't saying just yet. After assigning Qrow to find them more huntsmen he turns his sights on Team RNJR, telling them that they'll need to get into "fighting shape" before they can face Salem.

There is nothing that I don't love about this scene. Bringing back Ruby's lack of skill in hand-to-hand after Yang's character short spent so much time emphasizing it? Check. Implying that we'll finally unlock Jaune's semblance this Volume? Check. Ozpin confirming that outside the confines of his headmaster persona he's a happy, dramatic showoff?

Triple check.

All poor Oscar asked is that Ozpin not do anything embarrassing while he has control of their body and what does this man do? Act extra as fuck of course, performing a backflip onto the chair and spinning his cane far, far longer than he needs to. Nora is the only one unimpressed by this display, but I personally can't wait to see Ozpin training the kids. It should be especially interesting given his sudden loss of control--Oscar coming back unexpectedly and losing his balance, toppling them off the chair. Training is hard enough. Training while you're stuck in the body of a weak, undisciplined child... that's something else entirely.

The end of our episode takes us back to Weiss, still guarded by Raven's bandits. It's a moment of psychological torture, with her captor taunting Weiss with her own weapon and demonstrating that the one tool she has, information, is severely outdated. Ironwood has recalled all his troops from Mistral, including Winter. She's not around now to save her little sis’ like Weiss had hoped.

Which is hilarious, because in no world does Weiss Schnee need saving. Our last shot is of the miniature knight she's made out of a tiny glyph and her confident smile. Can't wait to see what she's planning to do with that.

Other Details of Note

I was incredibly nervous during the later half of Ghira's speech where he's just going, "We have ALL this INCRIMINATING evidence on this ONE SCROLL that I'm going to WAVE AROUND out here in the OPEN where anyone could EASILY STEAL or DESTROY IT..."

The faunus press all using their scrolls instead of cameras or old-fashioned pen and paper. It's a small but enjoyable bit of world-building.

The voice acting for Ozpin as Oscar was incredibly well done. Jury's still out on whether the echo is just a byproduct of his control or is somehow more meaningful. One theory currently says it's used whenever Ozpin says something that references all of his past lives, not just his last two.

Qrow immediately gets Ozpin coffee. Or hot chocolate. Whatever it is. He might be in the body of a 14yo, but you know as soon as he has control he needs a mug in his hands.

... Qrow then breaks the table and the mug. Hello, semblance. I'm looking forward to seeing more of that as the Volume goes on. Does the bad luck get worse the longer Qrow stays in one place? Is that why he's so eager to leave and recruit more huntsmen? What exactly are the rules here? No one has laid them out and (like silver eyes...) no one seems very interested. 

Oscar upon learning that he'll be training too: "Wait, what?"

And you've gotta love Nora. She went from thinking over how she could bribe her powerful, dignified headmaster ("No wait, he has a school") to flouncing about and calling him their "little cute boy Ozpin." I really hope she ignores his request and keeps calling him that indefinitely. It's very amusing.

#rwby #mymetas #RWBY Recaps

[atoutlines]

The Kingdom Of God and Vocation: Work Transformed By The Gospel

Introduction:

Last week: “From the Garden of Eden to the Heavenly City: A Theology of Work.”

This week: How then do we integrate our faith and our work? What does it look like for the gospel to inform and transform our jobs? How can we be faithful citizens of the Kingdom of God where we work? 

There are numerous proposals as to what this looks like. My proposal (as we will see this morning from God’s word): work transformed by the gospel will look like ordinary Christians doing ordinary work with excellence to the glory of God.

A Renewed Story For Work

Key Text: Romans 12:1-2

Human beings are shaped and formed by stories; we make sense of the world and make sense of ourselves through story. Stories form our vision of the world, capture our imaginations and affections, and inform the way we live our lives.

Reviewing the story of work (from last week):

1. Creation and the Dignity of Work. Work was in paradise, and is inherently good and dignified. Humanity is commissioned to work as image-bearers of God, and given a task that is worldwide in scope. 

2. Fall and the Distortion of Work. Because of Adam and Eve’s sin, the ground is now cursed, and work becomes complicated, difficult, and frustrating. Work is now full of tension. 

3. Redemption and Distinctive Work. Because of the redemptive work of Christ, Christians are called to image God in our work, and we work to love God and love our neighbor in our jobs. 

4. Restoration and the Destination of Work. In the new heavens and the new earth, eternal life will be spent in a city, where work will take place without the devastating affects of sin; work will be all that it was intended to be in the garden, only better and perfected. 

The “Big Story” of the Bible (and the story of work contained within) is not merely information for us to learn; the storyline of the Bible is meant to be a lens by which we see and interpret everything in our lives.

Paul instructs us in Romans 12:1-2: “Do not to be conformed to this world...” We need to think critically about the cultural narrative being told about our work and analyze how it is formative in our own approach and perspective.

We see two competing and predominant narratives about work in our culture today:

Work is a necessary evil

Work is ultimate

Paul’s second instruction in Romans 12:1-2: “...but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” One of the best ways to “be renewed” in our work is to recover the doctrine of vocation.

A Renewed Call To Work

Key Texts: 1 Corinthians 7:17, Jeremiah 29:4-7

“Vocation” comes from a Latin word that simply means “calling.” 1 Corinthians 7:17 urges us to “lead the life that the Lord has assigned to him, and to which God has called him.” This is applicable and helpful in the realm of our work and our jobs.

Martin Luther said our vocations are the “masks of God.” God works behind, in, and through our vocations to provide and care for his creation and humanity.

This has massive implications for our work! This means we are all deployed as citizens of God’s Kingdom to accomplish his purposes in the world through our vocations in ALL different kinds of fields and work.

We embrace a false “dualism” when we pit the “sacred” against the “secular” in evaluating the importance and calling of our work. We are all “full-time” followers of Jesus, but we are called to follow him in diverse callings and fields. All of this work is dignified, valuable, and good when placed properly within God’s Kingdom.

Far too often, we’ve failed to engage in the work and in the culture God has sovereignly placed us. Consider God’s instructions to the Israelites in Jeremiah 29, while they are in exile in Babylon. They are to:

Build houses and live in them (29:5)

Plant gardens and eat their produce (29:5)

Get married and build families (29:6)

Multiply and increase (29:6)

Seek the welfare of the city (29:7)

God is urging the Israelites to fulfill the cultural and creational mandates given to humanity all the way back in Genesis 1 and 2, even while they are in exile. 

We are called to be ordinary Christians who do ordinary work... and all of this work has great significance in God’s economy.

A Renewed Power For Work

Key Texts: Philippians 3:7-9, 4:11-13

Ever since the fall, all of humanity has an identity crisis; we all seek to establish and find our true identities and purposes for our lives apart from God. One of the primary ways we try to find our identities is in our work.

“When work is your identity, success goes to your head, and failure goes to your heart.” ~ Tim Keller

The gospel gives us an identity apart from our work that empowers our work. In Christ, our identity is received not achieved.

Philippians 3:8-9: “I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ  and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ.”

If our identity is rooted in Christ, we can stop looking to work to give us what it was never designed to give us in the first place. Otherwise, we will be devastated with self-loathing and failure, or our thirst for success and advancement will never be satisfied.

This is the secret of contentment and freedom in the workplace. Paul knows the secret to contentment in both “plenty and hunger, abundance and need” (cf. Phil. 4:11-13). An identity found in Christ gives us the foundation to weather the storms of life that come in the workplace.

A Renewed Motivation For Work

Key Texts: Colossians 3:23-24, 1 Corinthians 10:31

What motivates us in our jobs?

Colossians 3:23: “Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ.”

1 Corinthians 10:31: “So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.”

What does this mean about the quality of the work that we do? If we are truly working for the Lord, and if we are seeking to magnify the glory of God in our work, what does this look like?

“It’s not just a matter of loving our work; it’s about loving our work for God. It’s pursuing God in our work. God provides us the vision that pulls our labor toward his Kingdom.” ~ James K.A. Smith

Ordinary Christians doing ordinary work with excellence to the glory of God. Are we working in a way that reflects we are ultimately working for Jesus and working to the glory of God?

A Renewed Rhythm For Work

We are often unsure (and maybe even nervous) about what to do with the “Sabbath” and how to apply it to our everyday lives. It is important to trace the different motivations for the concept of the Sabbath given throughout Scripture:

1. The Sabbath is God’s creational design (cf. Genesis 2:1-3, Ex. 20:8-11). Rest and the Sabbath was in paradise, even before sin entered the world, and thus should be embraced.

2. The Sabbath is connected to redemption (Deut. 5:12-15). Understanding redemption in Christ leads us to rest. 

3. The Sabbath is intended for humanity (Mark 2:27). The Sabbath is not intended to be legalistic, but rather a lifestyle. 

4. The Sabbath finds its fulfillment in Christ (Matthew 11:28-30, 12:8).

“The Sabbath is a sign of redemption, and as such, it depicts the eternal rest we have received from Jesus in salvation. Just as it was a reminder to Israel in the Old Testament, Sabbath is a reminder to the New Testament Church both of our identity as blood-bought sinners and of God’s promise of eternal rest in him.” ~ David Jones

Practicing a Sabbath and finding a rhythm of rest and work is an exercise of faith. It is a declaration that we are not ultimate, that work is not ultimate, and is a picture of the redemption we have been given through Christ’s finished work.

Are you regularly giving way from your work to rest? Why or why not?

Work transformed by the gospel: Ordinary Christians doing ordinary work with excellence to the glory of God.