#I still can’t believe this is 60 episodes long....

[fan-a-tink]

Young Royals S3 thoughts

EP5

Even just hearing this scene’s echo was horrific. It must have been so much worse to actually go through it. 

It must be so hard for Wille to reconcile how he knows Erik which what he now knows about him. And he is not here anymore to defend himself. Uuuurgghhhhh!

Please talk to Simon. Please talk to him. Shutting him out will not make anything better.

Sara and Felice doing desserts together, that’s the best idea anyone has ever had :) A chance for them to talk, yay!

This Micke is starting to be a dad too good to be true. This is sketchy behaviour. He is too happy, this is going to spiral out of his control. Oh Sara I am worried for you….

Ok, I am just going to say it (even 2021 me would judge me so hard for this) but August „redemption arc“ is working. Like I honestly believe that he is trying to be a little bit better as a person. I want him to be alright. And yes, I am shocked that I think this. 

Whose locker is number 60? Is that Sara’s? 

Wille once more calling his parents because he needs support. And his dad once more not stepping up. Nobody is perfect, not even Kronprins Erik….!

Edvin Ryding, the actor you are…

This episode it’s Wille’s turn to look as if his soul has left him. 

Oh shit this will be the music room fight. I am not ready. I am not ready. No no no no no noooooooo.

RIP Wille in the choir. Those scenes in episode two were worth it though :)) 

It is so typical for Simon to think that he has done something wrong. Simon, my love, you are not ‚difficult‘ for asking questions!! You are wonderful. 

Wille, those are your thoughts, not Simons. They are your fears, your doubts, your anxieties. And they are completely valid. But please don’t put words in Simon’s mouth and push him away like that. „Maybe he gave in to peer pressure. What do you know?“ Like, Simon is trying to help you here, he’s trying to talk it through with you and help you out. Nooo, don’t walk out on him?!!!

Simon being left behind in the music room is just as devastating as Wille being in there after their fight last season. I am done with this music room. 

The 36 on Simon’s locker is now always going to remind me of that fan exam :)) I was sooo unsure about that question haha

So she takes the letter, but is she reading it? Should we assume she read it? Or is she just not going to read it? I am confused…

Oh no. Micke has forgotten. The hope and desperation in her voice that she’s trying to conceal while leaving these voice messages for her dad is killing me. Also, ruuuuuun! You can still make it :) 

Why is Wille only ever with Felice when he’s had a fight or something with Simon? Like, when they’re good, he never hangs out with her. 

I also do believe he would have accepted and embraced Wille’s queerness. But I guess it’s the fact that we’ll never know that is so hard to deal with.

Purple nail polish ✨ slay :)

Sara made it :) But also, it’s stressing me out that she just puts her id back into her bag and doesn’t close it properly. It could fall out!

That is so heartbreaking seeing that Micke is falling back into the habit of drinking with his friends. And the worst possible moment for Sara to find out, mid-driving test, in the middle of the road. 

Linda giving Simon the long overdue hug and telling him he’s not doing anything wrong. YES!

„Love shouldn’t be this difficult“ - Linda, I trusted you!!! Don’t give Simon ideas.. 

Sara turning up at the house, breaking down. Simon hugging her. Forgiving her. I am in actual tears now. Can’t handle it. I’m sooo glad he is forgiving her. This was soooo necessary. Finally some healing…. 

That’s a decent apology text, Wille, I’m proud of you :)

The nail polish looks sooo good!!

And its off 😂 That was shorter than Wille’s career in the choir..

The Happy Birthday Song Scene will forever be my favourite Wilson scene. I am crying my eyes out because I know it’s all going to go wrong soon, and this might be one of the last moments of happiness. And it is SO BEAUTIFUL!!!!! 

Also I am sooo glad the ‚Is everything ok between us?‘ line happened here and now was immediately answered with a ‚yes‘ - that takes away one of my biggest fears from the trailer… 

Also, he made him a sandwich? Asjdnä oajbef lskdfb .sjdnfsldnf lsdn 💜

I like Farima. Also her green suit is gorgeous :) 

They are holding hands in the car !!!!

„Maybe it was stupid to tell you that thing about Erik. I get that it must’ve been tough to hear.“ Yeah, no shit, August.

Simon is just chilling, living his best life eating cake :) 

„Cause there’s a risk of poisoning.“ Oooff. Simon’s expression is golden :))

I think Simon will never get used to having staff to take care of everything. And to Wille being absolutely ok with that and not even noticing it. 

Spotted Lisa Ambjörn, hihiiiii :))

Please make Simon feel welcome. Please. 

Why are they all pretending like everyone’s happy and fine? 

August is just so happy to be near Sara, it is actually adorable. 

Felice and Sara working side by side. I have so much hope that they can find their friendship again. Like, they are both loving being in each other’s company..! And Felice wanting to be a chef? I am here for it!!!! That whole little scene was beautiful :))

That is the most awkward dinner conversation ever. Poor Simon. Poor Wille. And they really don’t make it easy for anyone just bringing everything back to Erik. Like, that just adds so much pressure on Wille, and also this is such a vulnerable topic for him right now… 

Class Bad Boy. Lol

I love that he hates the title. Like, season 1 August would have loved it! That is GROWTH, ladies and gentlemen!

„It’s not very long. I’ll read it to you“ - dude, she can read, she just didn’t want to! 

His voice breaking up a little while he reads the letter. Malte is really on the next level this season…

The way he leans his head into that hug…! I have so much hope for them…. Please, please, please!

Yes, I can see that from Frederike’s point of view this looks bad. But you don’t know anything about the situation. And you’re just going to cause problems. But of corse she runs straight to Felice. Uuughhh, and things were just starting to look like they could be friends again someday. 

Wille playing a bit of the school song. Is that the only thing he remembers how to play, because he taught it to Simon? 

Wille, you’re being unfair. Yes, it’s hard for you. But Simon is also allowed to find it hard. And he is only trying to support you.

I’m sorry, but Wille’s parents could not be more useless right now. I am so glad Wille is finally speaking his mind. Maybe the delivery is not the most productive, constructive, diplomatic, but a child should not have to beg for his parents to be there for him. And they should not just leave the room when he does. Like, I understand that you are ill and struggling and that it must be absolutely terrible to deal with your eldest son dying tragically in a car crash, but Wille is right, you still have a son, and he needs you!!! 

The way Simon looks horrified and genuinely scared when Wille smashes the gifts. Like, he looks kind of scared of Wille. I bet he witnessed these kind of violent outbursts from his dad when he was younger. Oh Simon….

There it is: „Love shouldn’t be this hard.“ And it hurts just as much as I thought it would. 

Wille’s cheek is so wet, he must have been crying a lot already. 

Simon’s voice cracking when he says „Maybe it just can’t work.“ - he is breaking his own heart admitting this. 

The lyrics just before the cut „I got addicted to a losing game“ - KILL ME NOW!

I am in tears. Like, I knew they were going to come to a point like this, but that doesn’t mean it’s ok!!!

#young royals #young royals season 3 #yr season 3 spoilers #young royals s3 spoilers #yr s3 spoilers

[loyal04]

Actually offense. The Percy Jackson Tv show had no suspense. Everything was stated out right we never got to wonder or be suspicious/surprised because everything was stated. Some Examples Medusa, The fates, Furies, EVEN CRUSTY FOR GODS SAKES. There was no build up, even the Summer solstice failed. It was supposed to be a DEADLINE but they went passed it and brushed that off in one convo with Zeus. Hades complete mood switch???? Why was Athena so petty?? Like yes Athena is most likely petty but she wouldn’t take a risk like that its, NOT smart.

Dont get me started on the last episode Traitor reveal. NO SUSPENSE No dramatic drop just. “Your the lightning thief..” LIKE BRO WHAT WHERES MY 60 SECONDS.

Im sorry to say this but I wasn’t content or happy with the tv show. Even the Cgi was weird and the fighting was terrible. The sparing they did with Luke and Percy was the best fight scene in that while show… and that is just sad. Even the fight with ARES was underwhelming. Im hoping they’ll take this criticism and really change that for season two I want dramatic drops, build up, TIME TO BREATH. MAYBE EVEN A LONG FIGHT? They drop so much lore and so fast you don’t have time to digest.

Im pissed about the May lore drop WE DIDNT KNOW ABOUT HER UNTIL BOOK 5. ANNABETH WASN’T EVEN ALLOWED INSIDE (or it was just the kitchen I believe) BUT STILL. Annabeth was almost as clueless as Percy if I remember correctly. Even if she wasnt she doesn’t have the right to spill that secret of Lukes like girl what?? Luke shouldn’t have told about Thalia but still at least she was his friend as well but his trauma about his mom was not yours to share also guilt tripping Hermes??

May’s fate wasn’t even really Hermes fault. He tried to talk her out of it and it was Hades who cursed the oracle in the first place. Im just so upset about all the secrets that were revealed early.

The acting didn’t have much emotion or I felt they portrayed it wrong. For instance Percy reacted to almost everything with the same face. The show was way to dry for my liking. Percy jackson is supposed to be funny. Sally kind of seemed like a mean mom iykwim. I mean she just had no patience for Percy at all and it constantly felt like she was guilt tripping him… no just me??? I get that shes a struggling and single parent but Whattt???? She’s supposed to be supportive, kind and loving. If I met that sally I wouldn’t expect her to sit me down in her kitchen offering us a blanket and cookies.

THEY DID GABE FOWL. They did him so poorly that man did not deserve to die sure he was a dead beat but seriously?? Tartarus would not smell like him. They should have just let him get divorced it would have made sense but turning him to stone?? For what being a lazy, grouchy stepdad??

Gabe in the book was abusive manipulated just a straight up Piece of sewer gunk. He HIT them he abused them and manipulated them into staying quiet. The entire scene with the cops and everything. The guy in the show tho?? He looks like he’d fall over from the raise of a hand bro wouldn’t even be able to throw a punch. He doesn’t even have a job?? He looks like the worst he would do is yell and make fun of you because he’s probably projecting because he’s completely useless but deserving death?? He was more of a nuisance he didn’t deserve to die being divorced and alone forever I can’t understand but seriously??

Also the Percabeth slow burn… they’re pushing it they were just friends in the first book maybe in the second we start getting into it. But seriously the first season? She just started opening up to him in the first book. WE DIDN’T EVEN GET THEIR TALK LIKE UGH WHAT I wanted the Annabeth backstory about her dad but they didn’t have the convo about her going home for the summer we didn’t get into it. They’re overcooking my 5 book long slow burn.

They stuffed to much into too short of episodes that we didn’t get time to breath or get to know our characters. It was just a one minute battles here and there, a few conversations about impending doom and Percy being sad about his mom like. I know I’m being Petty but they should have split most of those episodes into two so we had more time to learn about our characters or digest the info dumps. The first episodes had me reeling I swear my head was swirling. The characters themselves didn’t have time to breath “Oh your claimed by poseidon now you have to go on a deadly quest to find the master bolt everyone thinks you stole but we think hades stole it also he probably has your mom.” Why are they shoving everything in our face. Percy in the books had 3 DAYS to come to terms with his parentage but show percy had like a day AT MOST.

I don’t know, they just could have done so well but they didn’t. I swear Mikey mouse must have tied Rick to a chair no way he said yeah this is amazing or a good script decision. THERE WERE SO MANY PLOT HOLES or decisions that didn’t make any sense.

#pjo tv show #pjo tv series #opinion #just an opinion #dont need to agree it is just what I think #pjo spoilers #pjo series #show criticism #pjo show criticism #I apologize if I offended anyone

[virtie333]

One Year Ago

I almost didn't post this. I wrote it for catharsis, but a friend said I should post it as it may help others. I can count on one hand the number of people who know about this. I don't know, maybe I'll delete it....

One year ago today, while cleaning Chester’s paddock, I made plans.

A few days earlier, I had received an email from my brother-in-law that involved some very hurtful and offensive accusations. My sister responded a few days after that, but not with an apology. She defended him, and added her own opinions.

When someone you have loved and trusted your whole life essentially says you are worthless, then it must be true.

So, the next day, I made plans.

I would have to complete my will, first. I would have to make sure Chester went to a local rescue. He wasn’t ridable and though I know a friend might take him as a ‘pasture pet,’ if push comes to shove and they ran short on money, he would be the first to go. The rescue would care for him, and I would make sure that if ever they could no longer do so, they would euthanize him.

My brother would get the other animals and all my belongings. He could sell my truck, trailer, etc. and use the funds to care for my dog Jackson, my cat Rodney, and Stache, the barn cat I had just brought home from work a month earlier. He would take care and love them.

It would have to look like an accident so my life insurance would pay out. God forbid my sister would have to pay for my funeral! I am an avid hiker, and there are trails very close that follow the canyon rim, with a 60 to 100 foot drop straight down. I usually hike with Jackson, but I could say I was leaving him home because he was sore. It would be very easy to slip while checking out the view. It’s happened before up there.

Could I actually do it? Was I brave enough? It was the only way. And I needed to do it soon.

That was my plan.

But wait. I can’t do it right away. Moon Knight just started, and I waited so long for this show and it’s even better than I had hoped and only two episodes have aired so far. I really want to see the rest. It takes my mind off the pain. I’ll wait.

Then I started posting a new story I had written. I didn’t think it would be very popular, as it was very different from my last, popular one, but I have loyal readers. I can’t just leave it unfinished, and have them wondering what happened to me. And I can’t post it all at once, because that will give away the fact that it was planned. So, I’ll wait.

An acquaintance that hated Moon Knight complained and criticized it over and over and I finally broke. I said things. I don’t regret them, because they were the truth, but I immediately became the villain to the rest of the group. Once more, I was reminded that I was unimportant, that my thoughts and feelings were inconsequential. How could I tell them? How could I explain this show literally kept me alive?

So, I waited.

A spark of hope. My brother and I worked toward a future we could both live with. I prayed, and found that I began to believe again for the first time in a long time. The story I was posting, the one I thought would not do well, became my greatest hit. Not only did its success thrill me, but once again, I had something to thank for keeping me alive.

Though low on funds, I made a trip west, to California, to meet up with my best friends in the world. They were the only people I told about my plans. They made sure to let me know how grateful they were I hadn’t followed through. I loved every minute of Galaxy’s Edge and I continued to hope for a better future. And I waited.

The hope was realized just before Christmas. My future wasn’t as dark and scary as it had been. Unfortunately, the loss of Rodney just before New Years kept me down. I was still depressed and full of non-stop anxiety, and on the anniversary of my mother’s death, I once more started falling into that darkness. I left a group I cared a great deal about because I realized a lot of my anxiety was coming from there; it’s hard caring more about people than they do about you. I bawled my eyes out while I clicked that ‘leave’ button, but I don’t regret it. It’s been over two months and only two people have even noticed I left. That says something right there.

Now, for the first time since Tariq got very sick in November 2020, I actually have the desire to do things. I’m not working and writing just to keep sane. I’m reading again. I’m playing with Chester. I’m taking Jackson on walks. I’m going back to mass, not because I have to but because I want to. I still resent my brother-in-law, and I’m still waiting for an apology from my sister, but I’m not holding my breath. I’m still alone. I’m still uncertain of my worth. But I have my animals, including two new cats, and my home. I have plans. New plans. Better plans.

One year ago today, while cleaning Chester’s paddock, I made plans.

But today I’m alive. And I’m happy. All because I waited.

Don’t give up. Things WILL get better.

#suicide awareness #tw: suicide #depression #anxiety #worthlessnesses #family issues #loneliness #hope #fanfiction #moon knight

[the-derpy-duck]

For the world is hollow and I have touched the sky makes me think a lot of thoughts.

Yippeeeeeee!!! McCoy is my favorite Star Trek character. He might be one of my favorite characters in general. I like that he is empathetic but not exactly ‘nice’. He doesn’t express empathy in the way that is generally expected, but he obviously has empathy in a way that Kirk and Spock do not. His actions are driven by his emotions, him and Spock come into conflict because of this. The main two three characters make up a large portion of the show and it’s one of the easiest things to see in any given episode because both Spock and McCoy are extremely stubborn and believe themselves to be in the right. To Spock, McCoy acts irrationally, to McCoy Spock is sociopathic in everything he does. Despite coming from a planet filled with people who have minor telepathic abilities Spock has a difficult time understanding the feelings of those around him, and McCoy can’t fully understand Spock or his emotions despite being so empathetic. He knows that Spock feels emotions and he calls him out a lot because he wants to be right, Spock disputes him with logic every time because (logically) he also wants to be right. Long way of saying, they are fighting and the reason why they are fighting is fairly ironic.

I’ve been watching a lot of Star Trek. I’ve watched more of a show from the 60s then I ever wanted to. A lot of the episodes are really good. A lot of them are really bad. All of them are from a show that was made in the 60s. I think that the best and worsts parts of shows often stem from when they are made, as attitudes change with time so do the ways actions and ideas are presented in media. As we develop better technology we are able to do more. TOS Star Trek has a lot of charm and it is fun, it also is unapologetically and unforgivably from the 60s and I love it for being that. I think the show has told many good stories and I think ‘For The World Is Hollow And I Have Touched The Sky’ is one of them. That’s a really long title holy shit.

The episode is centered around McCoy. He is the main character for arguably the fist time and he is dying. The episode opens with him telling Kirk that he is going to die (after a small fight with Nurse Chapel) and asking him not to tell anyone. Kirk agrees but is clearly upset because his friend and CMO is dying and he has one year to live. The enterprise runs into an asteroid that is going to collide with another planet in 390 days. Kirk, Spock, and McCoy beam aboard the asteroid which is actually a spaceship. Nurse Chapel says ‘a lot can happen in a year’ to McCoy. He is probably leaving Star fleet due to whole death thing and this is probably the last time he will ever go on a mission for the Enterprise. Kirk wants him to stay on the ship because it is a lot safer for him there, McCoy refuses and insists on going. Spock has probably clocked onto the fact that they are both acting weird. They are confronted by the people who inhabit the spaceship and are overpowered. McCoy is knocked unconscious for a very short period of time and Kirk explains that they come in friendship. He also helps McCoy stand up again. The priestess, Natira, takes them to see the oracle which is their leader. It is also explicitly stated that they think that the spaceship is an actual planet. The oracle shocks all three and they are all knocked out. The group is then taken to their own little space. Kirk and Spock wake up but McCoy is still unconscious. Spock comments that he must have been hit with a stronger shock. Kirk explains to him that McCoy is dying. When McCoy wakes up Spock puts his hand on his shoulder for an extended period of time. This is his way of showing support and that he is upset about the fact that McCoy is dying. It looks like he squeezing his shoulder, McCoy moves and he keeps holding on. He doesn’t say anything and I think this could be representative of Spock’s need for his friend, although they may bicker a lot they are friends and Spock’s life would be a lot more empty without McCoy in it. He isn’t ready to let go of him yet. Kirk tells McCoy that Spock knows and they move on. A man enters and he explains that he knows that the world is a spaceship because he climbed a mountain (which is forbidden) and touched the sky. He says this as he is out through an extreme of pain before he dies. A devise is in his head and it glows red when it is hurting him. Natira enters with some other women and she gives them food. Kirk notices that she likes McCoy and it seems to be reciprocated. Kirk comes up with the idea for McCoy to talk to her and stay with her while Kirk and Spock find out what’s going on with the oracle. Things go very badly and Natira wants to kill them but doesn’t because McCoy doesn’t want them dead. An interesting thing to note is that when McCoy was talking to Natira he says that he was never happy. He also wants to stay on this planet and I don’t think it’s entirely for Natira. He likes her a lot but I think another factor is the fact that he doesn’t want his friends to have to watch him slowly wither away and die. He wants them to suffer as little as possible and staying on this spacecraft living with someone he loved would be a way for them to think that he spent his last moments in peace. It would line up with the way he’s been characterized up to this point. Eventually the gang figures out that this is a ship from a galaxy long sense destroyed and it has been floating for around 10,000 years. This detail is important. McCoy becomes apart of the society and the obedience thing (what killed the old man from earlier) is put in his head. McCoy figured out how to access a book that Spock can read to fix everything. He contacts the Enterprise but almost dies in the process. Spock removes the obedience chip and he fixes stuff. They also find a large database of medical information so McCoy isn’t gonna die anymore.

That was a lot and a very bad summary, I highly suggest watching the episode as it is very good. I think the ship is a metaphor for how religion is used to manipulate and hurt people. Hear me out. So Natira is a priestess and whenever Kirk and Spock go see the oracle on their own it is called sacrilege, which is when there is a violation of what is considered sacred. The man walking up the mountain despite it being forbidden could be an illusion to a few different biblical stories but none would line up exactly. The book is the largest thing for me though. This could be interpreted as just humanity in general with facts and science and studies and whatever, but my own experiences make me lean more into religion. The people are not allowed to read the book. They have also been floating around for 10,000 years which I think is about how long our recorded history is. I could be wrong though. The people blindly follow the oracle and it will use its power to make sure that they stay in line. This is demonstrated with the old man, McCoy, and even Natira.

Widespread literacy was not always a thing and this was especially true during the Middle Ages in Europe. Art was so important because it was how the people could learn and know about their faith, but the upper class (which did include preachers) were able to read. The general population was unable to check to see if what they were being taught was accurate to the original text which created a power imbalance and an exploitable population. During the time a bit before the French Revolution (not the Middle Ages or when widespread illiteracy was a thing) the clergy used money from the peasants for their own gain.Religious groups have also used their power to silence people. Galileo was put under house arrest because the church believed in the geocentric model whereas he presented evidence for a heliocentric model. Despite this Galileo was still Catholic and believed in the Christian faith when he died. The old man who we see in the episode could very easily be a Galileo stand in. He climbed a mountain, a forbidden thing to do, in pursuit of scientific discovery relating to space. He spent a large portion of his life being unable to share this information but was willing to die to get it out. Natira is upset by his death but doesn’t seem to recognize it as a failing of the oracle but of his outspokenness and his need to spread his word. I’m not very knowledgeable about Galileo’s history but my astronomy teacher said that he believed that Galileo wasn’t put to death in large part because he was Christian and because the people who wanted him dead knew that he was right, but he was too loud about it. Old man is Galileo. Mistranslations and misinterpretations of the Bible specifically are widespread today and it causes a lot of people to be shunned and othered in certain communities. As a queer person who is also Catholic I have experienced this firsthand. I also live in a generally conservative area although it is very close to a city. Although my parents aren’t actively homophobia and I am very lucky that they were mostly chill they still have issues regarding the lgbtq community. I don’t think that this episode is specifically about gay issues but it is about control. McCoy no longer has control over how long he will live. Spock cannot control the fact that his friend is dying. Kirk can’t control McCoy. Nurse Chapel encourages McCoy to take control over the little time he has left and to live a good life. The oracle works to keep control over the people. I don’t fully think that the motivations of the oracle matter that much, because it’s not about the oracle it’s about what the oracle does and how it affects these people’s lives and how it reflects onto us. The oracle works to maintain control, because if the people read the book then they would be able to understand that they are not where they need to be. And the oracle would be corrected, as it is done in the episode. More connections to religion can be very easily spotted in the episode, the people kneel when they are in the presence of the oracle, they are promised a paradise that will eventually come and they are never given a date for this paradise (note that when the asteroid arrives at its destination it will crash into a planet and both the people on the asteroid and planet will die, creating a small Armageddon), the ‘creators’ gave the people a book of teachings that is hidden in a rock, and even the star that’s on the oracle has a bit of religious imagery. When Jesus and two of the apostles went up the mountain and Jesus either showed them god or turned into a heavenly form it was stated that his face shinning like the sun. The three wise men also follow a star (I think it was the brightest star) to find Jesus, and in old Catholic art (and modern catholic art but it’s a lot more toned down) people who were important characters were depicted as having a yellow halo/ring around their head.

Also this is the biggest stretch but I think the cure to McCoy’s illness being found in the data logs could be a reference to Jesus healing people, preforming miracles, and bringing people back from the dead. Look. It’s an explanation, that doesn’t mean it’s a good one.

A major part of this episode is McCoy facing the fact that he will die. Religion helps a lot of people feel calm about death and the potential of nothing. It brings people peace and that is not something anyone will ever have the right to take away from a person. McCoy joining this world could be like when people who are dying turn to religion. It can be inferred that McCoy is Christian through a few comments and context regarding where he is from. McCoy is from Georgia (or at the very least the American south but I think he’s specifically from Georgia) and that’s apart of the Bible Belt, aka lots of religious people live there. McCoy also makes a few references to the Bible, mainly in regards to the Garden of Eden. The spaceship (a religion) helps give him a sense of belonging, purpose, and community, as well as a sense of control that he lost earlier in the episode, but it doesn’t take away from the fact that this world will kill a lot of people. But the people on the asteroid, at this point in time, do not know or have the ability to change the fact that they are gonna crash into a planet. It was a malfunction and one that was actively hidden from them. It’s sort of comparable to Fahrenheit 451 in the sense that they never got to live in a world where they had a choice. This is how they were raised basically. Montag and co were never in control or their world, their parents and their parents’ parents were the ones who made the world the way it was, they were just raised in it. They didn’t choose to not read because it was never an option. They have only known propaganda and they were never taught media literacy. The same logic can be applied to the people of a Yonada, the decision was made for them centuries before any of the characters were born. They aren’t stupid, they just didn’t have a choice.

Another interesting thing to me is that McCoy doesn’t seem to be that good at lying to people about how he feels. We’ve seen Kirk flirt with women a lot of times but it is almost always because he is lying to them and trying to get something. McCoy doesn’t flirt, the one time that he does have a love plot he genuinely cared about the other person. Kirk doesn’t consider how his actions will affect people in the way that McCoy does. In the Omega Galaxy episode McCoy is very compassionate towards the captain of the other ship for the first third of the episode. Kirk is very compassionate, which is why he is (mostly) a good leader, but he isn’t exactly empathetic and definitely not in the way that McCoy is. Anyway, I do believe that McCoy genuinely cared about and loved Natira. Apart of why he wanted to stay was because he genuinely enjoyed her company, I think the other part has to do with not wanting his friends to see him die but that’s already been stated. McCoy has never come off as the type of person who would lie about emotions, he makes it clear when he is being sarcastic but I don’t think he has ever lied about his emotions to gain something. Although when Kirk and Spock lie it is mostly out of necessity so they can return to the Enterprise. Kirks main solution to every problem sometimes seems to be lie and flirt basically. But I think that’s mainly because I’ve been binging the show and watching like three or four episodes per day sometimes. McCoy isn’t very good at being manipulative or flirting but he is very good at disobeying orders.

The interpersonal relationships between McCoy and everyone else is developed quite a bit. He fights with Chapel at the start of the episode and they are implied to be very close friends. She genuinely wants him to spend the rest of his time doing things that would make him happy. Which makes sense, I would imagine that working closely with someone for such a long time would cause people to become very close. Spock is also affirmed to be McCoy’s friend multiple times, the whole logic vs emotion debate doesn’t really ever start because it doesn’t matter. It doesn’t matter if something doesn’t make logical sense in this scenario because in a year McCoy will be dead. Spock cares a lot about both Kirk and McCoy, and despite how much they fight both of them do (begrudgingly) respect each other. When Spock asked McCoy to come with him and Kirk for the thing in ‘Amok Time’ he agreed without question or any snarky comments, he also did try to learn how to do the Vulcan hand salute. He said that it hurt but I think that was meant to be taken literally. I think most people need to train their hands to do the thing and I don’t think McCoy would actively go out of his way to insult Vulcan culture past the whole being obsessed with logic thing (not gonna get into the debate on if or not Vulcan is obsessed with logic or if a culture can be obsessed with something. Not what this is about.) the main issue that McCoy seems to take issue with is the way that Spock handles things. They are set up to fight but they are friends. The fact that McCoy wouldn’t have told Spock on his own is also interesting to me. I think a large part of that is because he is extremely prideful, but I also think that no matter how Spock were to react McCoy would be upset by it. If he had an emotional reaction (which he arguably did) then that would be bad because he is a Vulcan and that’s a big no no. But if he didn’t care then that would mean something else entirely and I don’t think that something is else is something that McCoy would want to confront in his life. He wants to die not knowing exactly how his friend would take this news because his friend is a repressed prick emotionally unavailable 99.99% of the time and is never emotionally available for McCoy. Kirk is also very badly affected by the news that McCoy is dying. He respects McCoys desire to not have anyone else be told. I think the way that he is portrayed in the episode is very well done, Kirk values the lives of all the crewmen on his ship but he is friends with McCoy. They are extremely casual with each other and I think that McCoy is the only person who constantly will go against Kirks’s orders in sound mind because he does not agree with them. In general I thought that the acting was well done in this episode, DeForest Kelly did an amazing job and I think he generally just plays the character of McCoy extremely well.

Outside of a religious reading, this episode has a lot of general commentary about dogmas and how misinformation spreads through generations. It’s fairly one to one for both a religious reading and a general secular reading, the asteroid spacecraft has been traveling for around 10,000 years which I think is roughly how long we’ve (humanity’s) recorded history. We’ve lost a lot of history due to the burning of books, purposely or accidental, and the longer we exist and the more history we record the harder it is to teach our history. Schools have to cut out parts of history because there isn’t enough time to teach everything (speaking in the us, I took ap history classes so it was very different for me I got to learn a lot more history but for on level classes I know it’s a bit different). We also just loose stories and we loose bits of history. Movies and books get lost because copies weren’t made, people cover up their own tracks to make sure they are safe and that makes looking back harder. There is that one Russian composer who was gay and his letters to his brother were censored for many years. Gay and trans people have existed for a long time and so has their works, but they get hidden and destroyed. A binary gender wasn’t fully the normal in native cultures to my knowledge and understanding but I’m also not an expert on that. We will never be able to learn everything but we can still learn a lot. But we have lost things to obscurity. People will continue to lie for their own gain and benefit, but sometimes we don’t realize that we are lying. When a fact becomes widely accepted it is what is true, which is part of what this episode is warning against. This also gives it another connection to F 451, in a very broad sense the societies are similar. They are both oppressive, the main population had no power in making the world, and the messages and themes are similar.

McCoy and Kirk are so similar yet so different that it makes me think they are almost character foils of each other. They both are compassionate and use emotions when making decisions, but McCoy actually understands and feels the emotions of those around him, he’s a bit more considerate than Kirk but he’s not as good with words or as tactful, he’s still blunt and he’s not necessarily nice about what’s happening. McCoy’s own emotions often blind him to all sides. Kirk doesn’t always consider how his actions will impact those around him, he lies to save himself and his crew numerous times but this ends up leaving a lot of people out of the loop when they really should have known what was happening or what the plan was. He’s a good leader and cares about others a lot, he is aware of the emotions others feel and he uses that to his advantage when he needs to. Which is something McCoy clearly struggles to do. Kirk didn’t expect McCoy to stay or to want to stay on the asteroid. I think he thought that McCoy and Natira were both physically attracted to each other and he probably didn’t think anything much would develop. He wanted McCoy to keep her distracted. But McCoy wasn’t able to do that because of the way he experiences the world around him and emotions. Kirk definitely feels sympathy and some empathy but, for the seventh time, not to the extent that McCoy does. McCoy would be an awful captain because he rarely considers logic in non medical situations. Even then, I don’t think he would actively consider the risks of providing medical aid to someone (who he is confident operating on), he just would. He is impulsive and can be a voice of reason when he isn’t the one who is in charge of the enterprise. He is a good doctor and is presumably good at leading the medical team. Kirk is sort of if you combined McCoy and Spock, which is why he is a good leader as only focusing on logic or emotion will lead to failure or at least a breakdown. Kirk very clearly wants McCoy to come back to the Enterprise, but he does let him stay. Kirk and McCoy both have a mutual respect for each other which is part of why he lets him stay. But Kirk (mostly) shows respect to those around him. Which is probably why people like him. McCoy is 100% willing to disobey Kirk if he is asking him to do something that goes against his moral compass. Also this is a small thing that doesn’t fully relate to anything but McCoy didn’t tell anyone that Miranda was blind because it was her choice on if or not she told the others. And I just think that’s neat and didn’t fully expect that from the show. Anyway McCoy is one of the few characters that will openly go against Kirk when he is of sound mind. He is definitely loyal to Kirk but it doesn’t make him blind to Kirk’s flaws and he’s usually one of the people who will point out when he is doing something wrong or out of character. Spock does it as well but I don’t think he’s as willing to go against Kirk. Like he will, but he won’t like it and he’s a lot less aggressive when compared to McCoy, who will tell Kirk that he’s being an idiot and that yes we need to go investigate the mental hospital you idiot.

I feel like the romance aspect of this episode was done pretty well, and I think I do have an explanation for the insta love thing. So McCoy is someone who is isolated, not the way that Spock is but he still is isolated. In TOS it is never confirmed that McCoy had a wife or kids. It’s also not outright denied but McCoy’s family isn’t mentioned to my knowledge. He is friends with Jim, Spock, and Chapel but he states in the episode that he is unhappy and the implication is also that he is lonely. I think that he was desperate for any sort of connection after getting his diagnosis, he clearly found a lot of joy and purpose in helping others but (from what I know) working in the medical field is stressful and death is an inevitable part of the job. McCoy isn’t unfamiliar with death, he’s the main person who confirms that people are dead in the show, but he was actively putting off confronting his own mortality and loneliness. I also think that it is possible that he just couldn’t connect with anyone else on the ship the way that he could connect with Natira. He obviously has friends, but it isn’t that difficult to take a queer or neurodivergent reading from the episode (if your a bit off like I am). Kirk and Spock are both fighting back when they meet Natira, but McCoy choses to surrender and that makes her take an interest in him. He cannot fight very well (it’s explicitly stated and shown in one episode) which makes him an easy target but it also shows a clear difference. Him initially surrendering could have been a sign that he was more friendly than Kirk or Spock, the latter of which insulted Natira when she welcomed them although the insult was not unwarranted or even that harsh. It wasn’t even really an insult actually. He was just sort of rude. Regardless, McCoy is different. He is physically weaker than the other two and he was the first to try and make peace. He also was the first to point out that they didn’t know that they were on a spaceship. Natira notices that McCoy was struggling and she wanted to stay with him. I do think they were both intended to be physically attracted to each other, but they don’t express it in the same way that Kirk or Spock would with their own love interests. McCoy asks about the Oracle and wants to know more. Even if he was just trying to get more information about what they are dealing with but it’s more fun to think that he did take genuine interest in her and her culture. McCoy also does say that he values truth and I don’t think he would lie in this situation. Like he wouldn’t have a lot to lose but I don’t think he would lie. McCoy saying that he valued truth makes me think that he was being genuine about his feeling for her. Natira seemed to also be lonely. McCoy said that he was lonely and Natira talked about how her heart was empty until she saw McCoy, saying that it sustained her but that it was empty. Her job likely isolated her in a way similar to McCoy. Her job is important and everyone knows who she is but she has so few connections to others. She could choose a partner but she doesn’t even consider it until McCoy shows up. This could be viewed as a metaphor about relationships, specifically queer ones. Neither character felt attraction to others before they met each other and that could speak to a gay awakening or dating and having crushes when you are asexual. It could represent finding a person who understands you and how your brain works when you’ve previously been surrounded by people who simply cannot understand how you. It’s definitely a stretch, but I do think it is a potential reading. I don’t think it was intended at all to be anything remotely like that, but the author is dead and I killed them.

Overall I really enjoyed the episode. Again, McCoy is my favorite character from Star Trek and I like that he got his own episode, even if he needed to be diagnosed with a terminal illness to get one… Regardless of everything I said I think it is a powerful story about having a terminal illness and being forced to face the fact that you/your loved one is dying. Kirk struggles to let go of McCoy and he very desperately wants to stay with him (he was actively fighting that one star fleet officer so he could stay near the Asturias for just a little longer) and it’s very understandable. I could write a whole other post about how much Kirk struggles to let go of loved ones but I think this one is long enough as it is. Actually fuck it. Kirk spends the entire episode attempting to grieve his friend who is still alive. He’s going to lose a person who is so very clearly important to him. I haven’t watched The Search For Spock yet but from reading the little blurb thing I do know that Kirk is not handling his friends death well. Even in The Wrath of Kahn (which I have watched) Kirk has a really hard time accepting the fact was gonna die. He was clearly shaken when he was giving the eulogy at Spock’s funeral. Which makes sense because he just lost a person who was very very very important to him. When McCoy is telling him about how one of the crewmen has the terminal illness he is not happy but when he is told that it is McCoy he is devastated. He continues to be upset after the fact and he starts to treat McCoy like he is made of glass afterwards. He openly objects to McCoy coming with him and Spock on the mission and is more protective of him than he would have normally been. He very briefly freaks out when McCoy doesn’t wake up when his name is called. It’s sort of a blink and you’ll miss it type thing but it is there. He’s not coddling McCoy or even that controlling over him, Kirk treats McCoy with respect and dignity. He recognizes that McCoy is still a person who has the right to make his own medical decisions. Kirk is upset and he doesn’t want to leave his friend but he cares for and respect him. He isn’t the type of person who would force his friend to do something he didn’t want to do, especially if said friend was dying. He spends the entire episode in shock and just morning his friend while he also needs to do his job. He isn’t ready to let go of McCoy, multiple people tell Kirk that he needs to let go, including McCoy although it was indirectly. If they actually had the balls to keep the terminal illness and have everyone deal with the consequences it would have been really interesting to see how Kirk would continue to grieve. Spock as well because I’ve noticed that he has this tendency to literally hold onto people. He does it to McCoy in this episode and in ‘The Empath’ and he does it to Kirk in ‘The Motion Picture’. You can definitely get some interesting analysis out of that, which I sort of talked about but not that in depth.

McCoy and Spock have a very complicated relationship and it gets explored in a few episodes which I really like. Most of those episodes also have Spock in command which I also like seeing because it does a good job at showing why both Spock and McCoy fail as captains (for extended periods of time at least). Spock often ends up being so logical and distant that he comes off as cold, uncaring, and apathetic. This is most obviously seen in ‘The Galileo Seven’ where everyone gets more and more upset with him as time goes on. But the relationship that Spock and McCoy have when Kirk isn’t around and they are under pressure becomes antagonist in a more genuine way. McCoy verbally rips Spock apart in the episode where the one ship disappears for a bit and everyone looses their minds. He was under an extreme amount of stress but it’s one of the few times where we actually see McCoy loose his shit with Spock. Despite the fact that they have opposing personalities and philosophies they are still friends, the fact that they both care about each other is very clear to the viewer. If or not the characters both understand this is a bit more unclear. They mutually are fiends and they both know that they care about the other, but I don’t know if McCoy thinks Spock cares about him. If he is so lonely, it would make sense to assume that he feels disconnected from the world around him and also makes sense to me to assume that he assumes (or knows) that the people around him do not feel as strongly as he does. He has three friends that we know of; Kirk, Spock, and Chapel. He’s also on a giant spaceship floating around in empty space. Being lonely and isolated makes sense but it makes more sense when you consider that one of his closest friends is emotionally unavailable, although you do know that he feels emotions. You’ve seen him show emotions, but never for you. You care deeply for him but he can’t feel the same way for you, even if he is your friend and he feel friendship for you he doesn’t feel the same amount of friendship and he doesn’t feel it as strongly. And I mean that it a completely platonic way. It sounded like I was describing an unrequited crush, which I guess you could see it as. I get why people ship Spones. Silly little guys. Anyway Spock’s general disconnection makes McCoy’s worse, even if it wasn’t intended. They don’t mean to hurt or isolate each other but they do. McCoy didn’t want to tell Spock he was dying because no reaction would have been a good one. I also think that he doesn’t want to know that his friend wouldn’t feel anything or care about McCoy’s death. He has a year left and he doesn’t want to spend that year dealing with the aftermath of him telling Spock. Sorry this repeated a lot of stuff I already said but I wanted to talk about McCoy and Spock’s relationship in a more complete way.

McCoy doesn’t want to let others know that he has been diagnosed with a terminal illness and he doesn’t want to tell Spock. It’s an upsetting position to be in and McCoy really can’t do anything about it. Apart from kind of the oracle there isn’t a real villain in the episode. There is a conflict but not a person who is actively being antagonistic. The conflict is generated by two inevitable outcomes, McCoy’s death and the asteroid colliding with the planet. They both are ultimately changed but for most of the episode death was the only real outcome that could happen. Anyway, thank you for coming to my Ted talk.

#Star Trek #trekposting #tos bones #tos spock #tos kirk #star trek bones #dr mccoy #leonard mccoy #anaylsis #character analysis #episode analysis #long post #well not really #bones mccoy #duck screams about things #fandom #religion #i’m so gay #i’m tired #i’m sorry #Star Trek analysis #is that a tag? #it is now I guess

[winns-stuff]

LO APPRECIATION:

Lord, I am so upset at myself for forgetting about one of my most favorite character in the series. I’m sorry y’all I’ve been doing so many damn rants that I’ve been lacking with the appreciation side of my page. Anyways, I would like all of you to give a standing ovation to a nymph who’s more than worthy of the spotlight (although I hated the way they decided to present her) and is more beautiful than half of the main cast because she was absolutely gorgeous, I’d like you all to give a warm welcome to Leuce.

Listen, I wanna get out one thing. I love her so much, I was literally one of the people defending her when the fans tried to tear her a new one for even being close to Hades. I’m gonna say it now, if Leuce was really into Hades and genuinely wanted him for herself she could’ve had him in any universe. But he honestly doesn’t deserve someone as beautiful as she is. I love everything about her and she didn’t deserve half of the haters she gained from that fucking chapter, it will forever irk the hell out of me. Now y’all know how Minthe felt when Persephone literally did the SAME THING.

But onto the things I love about her, one thing is her personality. She seemed so kind but she had so much self confidence, like in that moment I felt like she could flip the conversation to her at any given moment. I never had such interest in a character, or no that’s a lie I have but it’s been a while since that interest had been brought out. I’m glad that Leuce knew who she was, even when Hades declined her she still held her head high and walked out of the room, unlike Persephone who can’t take no from anyone and starts begging and crying like a literal baby, Leuce was always mature and so sophisticated. She never spoke out of turn or tried to manipulate the conversation to be in her standard, no meant no with her and I’m glad that the “replacement Persephone” was way better than the actual one.

Also speaking of that nickname, Leuce was never a replacement just an upgrade.

Next thing I wanna talk about is her aesthetic, she has one of the most beautiful designs ever and I absolutely hate the fact that she was really just used as more HxP leverage. She’s so much more than that, she was so pleasing to the eye and whenever I saw her it was like smelling a person who bathed in lovely soaps for like 60 years (weird analogy but think about it cause that’s how it felt for me) and whenever she spoke every word made me want to hear more from her. There’s never been such an alluring and captivating character like that in the whole series! Yes, I know it’s a shame that Rachel didn’t try to make Aphrodite more like that but what can you do I guess.

Another thing I loved about her is her dress, I know we’ve seen similar looking dresses in LO but something about hers is just gorgeous to me. I love everything about it that dress is amazing to me. The silhouette, the little corset in the middle, the armband, the way it just mysteriously travels down her body and everything is amazing. I’ve never loved an outfit more, except maybe Artemis’ god form, but none of the outfits in LO have been as good as hers and there’s a few people I can think of who equate to her but not many.

I adored the way her hair looks as well, I’ve never been so mesmerized about seeing curls in so long but everything about it is so amazing and wonderful. The length is perfect, the way the curls sit on top of her head are perfect, everything about her hairdo just exudes perfection. I feel like if they gave her any other hairstyle, believe me she’d still look absolutely amazing, it wouldn’t have the same effect as the bun does. Especially since the little flowers are just decorated in her hair, it’s amazing and even though I wish she were more accurate and not a flower nymph because let’s be real, flower nymphs are not the only nymphs in Olympus I’m still so obsessed with the way they look on her and her only.

Last thing I loved about her appearing in the episode was how many beautiful redesigns came out of it. I personally love seeing redesigns because they’re all always so good and well thought out but the way that Leuce’s appearance brought out so many talented people is crazy. No matter who it is they’re always so good.

Anyways, that’s the end of the appreciation for this post but it won’t be for me of course. I’ll always love and appreciate Leuce, she could’ve been one of the best characters honestly. But I just hate that she was just supposed to be a sugar baby for Hades, not that the sugar baby part is the bad thing I just hated how Rachel tried to make it seem like that was all she was. I hate how Leuce was only used to make Persephone look like “the better woman”, it’s always with women who are either more confident or comfortable in their own sexualities. Like it genuinely irks me so much that no woman is deserving of a good ending or happy love life in LO if they’re not HxP. There’s more things about the way Leuce is introduced that pisses me off but I can’t think of it now and besides, this is supposed to focus more on the appreciation of Leuce not how terribly the comic treated her.

#lo critical #anti lore olympus #anti lo

[magnorious]

Review: The Last Airbender Episodes 4&5

Why was Netlfix so hell-bent on adapting this show instead of making something new in the ATLA universe? Make a Kyoshi spin-off! Everyone would have been hyped to watch Kyoshi crush skulls between her thighs. Make some other avatar we’ve never heard of with complete freedom to do whatever you want with their story. The 100-year war can’t be the only conflict in the history of this world and the gap between Wan and… I believe Kuruk is the earliest-named Avatar in canon after him, is massive.

It would have been free from all the “the cartoon did this better” nitpicks and legit complaints.

If they wanted to Game of Thrones-ify it, they should have taken notes on how to deliver exposition. Opening the pilot spoiling the best reveals of season 1 would be like opening GoT with Jaime Lannister stabbing the Mad King with full context for why he did it, instead of waiting for that reveal when he’s confessing to Brienne.

“The Storm” was perfect, and you soiled it!

—

Season 1 of the original is the weakest in terms of consistency. This season has both “The Storm” and “The Great Divide”. It didn’t have the biggest budget and didn’t have the intense overarching story of 2 or 3 with the struggle over the Earth Kingdom and the climax with the Fire Nation.

So skipping and rushing a few episodes like “The Great Divide” or even “Bato of the Water Tribe” and just sifting out all the important beats wouldn’t have made too many complain. I didn’t have a huge problem with shoving 3 episodes worth of content into one menagerie because it still worked, even if it didn’t stick the landing.

But it just keeps going. If they hadn’t cut away to the Fire Nation scenes, maybe they could have reworked all this Omashu plot into one episode. I’m bored. I’d rather be annoyed, than be bored. Boredom is the cardinal sin of entertainment. They take forever in the Spirit World too with all these unnecessary flashbacks for Sokka and Katara.

Still don’t like Iroh. “It seems we are always getting on or off boats, perhaps that is our lot in life, Prince Zuko.” Wow. Sagely wisdom. I want that on a t-shirt. Totally.

*Side note: Couldn’t you keep any of the original episode titles? Name the premier “Boy in the Iceberg,” episode 2 “Warriors of Kyoshi”, episode 3 “Jet”, episode 4 “The King of Omashu”, episode 5 “The Winter Solstice”.

Aang’s conversation with Iroh in the crystal cave prison cells looks and feels like they stole it from “Crossroads of Destiny”, except that Aang is way more vitriolic than he should be. He gets indignant, but he never gets so judgemental.

When I said in my last review that these characters aren’t cartoonish enough — Bumi is supposed to be over 100 years old, as old as Aang. His actor looks 60. Costume is pretty, though and coding the kingdom of Omashu as Indian and the rest of the Earth Kingdom as Chinese implies they were their own kingdom for a very long time and got annexed so, kudos.

Bumi’s voice attempts to fill the cartoonish void but because everything else is so grounded, it’s just awkward. He got turned into a royal jerk, not just a crazy old man like he used to be. Also not letting the “Bumi” reveal happen, that even one of Aang’s ties to his old life is still kicking, is disappointing. This isn’t Bumi. Not to mention that Bumi, in season 1, would never let this happen to his city, or his prisoners of war. Manufactured drama is manufactured and we all noticed.

~Secret Tunnel! Secret Tunnel! Through the mountains! Secret Secret Secret Secret Tunnel! Yeah. ~

I am actually shocked they kept the hippies. Very well brought to life.

I didn’t mind episode 3 playing fast and loose with the episode order and content, but butchering the “Cave of Two Lovers” is a crying shame (and dragging it out of season 2, no less). The story of the two lovers (read by Katara, not the hippie whose name escapes me) was reflected in Katara and Aang’s journey through the caves. Romance has never been Avatar’s strong suit, but the episode was still entertaining. Now it reads like Katara and Sokka are the lovers, which is a *choice*, but no, they just bicker.

Iroh’s side plot with the Earth Kingdom soldiers, with this unnamed dude we don’t care about, certainly fills the more adult tone they insist on going for, it just doesn’t need to be here. Once again, the original got away with implication flawlessly, instead of preaching the horrors of war explicitly.

I can’t remember exactly, but Lu Ten was danced around as a topic until Iroh’s mini-sode in “Tales of Ba Sing Se”. We could see that he wasn’t all smiles, we knew the wacky uncle was a bit of a mask, but that episode showed you exactly who Iroh is when no one saw it coming. All this filler is just a whole lot of unnecessary scenes and dialogue hammering home a backstory done way better with far less.

And, that episode was in season 2. Once again, the writers can’t hold out on a mystery for anything.

*Side side note: For shame slipping a piano into the score! For shame! Get that Western percussion out of here. Maybe GoT is just on my mind thanks to that rumor, but the theme music for the Southern Water Tribe sounds a lot like the Winterfell theme in the beginning. Hell and gone from any asiatic influences.

“It wasn’t the crystals that guided Oma and Shu,” no, actually, it was. You just didn’t want to animate the wolfbats so you turned the gentle giant badger-moles into snarling beasts.

Oh, there’s Zuko’s sympathetic side in that flashback about Lu Ten. Nicely done, no notes. That’s the Iroh I want the entire season. I hear that Leaves from the Vine in the background.

—

Episode 5 opens with some ham-fisted exposition and wow, that was impressively bland. 

I… spoke too soon about omitting Bonzu Pipinpadaloxicopolis. My mistake. And I spoke too soon about enjoying Azula and Ozai. They’re both still great, they just don’t need to be here yet.

Because they have to make up scenes for these characters, they still say a whole lot of words without saying much at all – except that Ozai now randomly actually respects his son and chastises his daughter for mocking Zuko. That’s new. Ozai is all about “self-serving flattery and coy whispers.” Dude named himself the Phoenix King and invented a rank above Fire Lord for his own vanity. He would be a loser if he wasn’t so powerful.

Okay, the show got me. I actually laughed out loud when Zuko tried to bribe the Earth Kingdom tavern keeper and it didn’t work.

Nice to see they paid as much attention to the “Great Divide” as the Ember Island Players, but for shame about “The Waterbending Scroll.” That was a decent episode. They also skipped most of “The Fortune Teller” and carved out June and *man* is that some rushed CGI on Nyla.

Wan Shi Tong?! *checks notes* 20 episodes early?! His VA is great. Gravely goodness.

Iroh accidentally reads the script notes when he says “Zhao is already making his moves and we have yet to draw our tiles”. These two are aimless, leadless, and hitting plot points like potholes.

Regarding Aang dragging Sokka and Katara into the Spirit World with him, as far as I know only avatars and Iroh can enter the Spirit World. They don’t need to be part of these scenes. When I said the writers did their homework in the pilot, they must’ve read the SparkNotes for “The Winter Solstice”, and instead filled it with stolen flashbacks from season 3.

I take it back. I take back wanting to skip “Bato of the Water Tribe”. Hakoda never got the chance to do Sokka’s ceremony, that’s why it was Bato’s job, that’s why Sokka was left behind and so much older than the rest of the kids in the village, because he wasn’t a man yet. Are all these supposed to steal from “The Swamp”? They aren’t from season 1.

Koh looks great. That’s the best part of this whole over-long sequence. Koh. Even seeing Gyatso again doesn’t feel earned when this scene doesn’t need to exist. It’s not like Katara and Sokka are learning new information, nor are they the bridge between the worlds. Aang doesn’t quite feel like the “last airbender” if he can chat with Gyatso’s ghost whenever he wants, he’s supposed to be utterly alone, 100 years divorced from everything he’s ever known.

Gyatso’s speech is nice, if I extract it from its context.

—

This show is missing artistry. Some beautiful establishing shots and cinematography, scenes I can freeze-frame and stare at and turn into wallpaper – not to mention that once again, it’s too damn dark to see anything in night scenes.

Once again, the VFX is very obvious and distracting. I know the artists aren’t to blame, but, gee, had the whole thing been a cartoon, there wouldn’t be a need for realistic CGI.

Slamming all these episodes together like this makes them messy. The plot isn’t a meandering adventure filled with side-quests anymore. It’s not written like a show where you tune in once a week for a good time. It’s written like a bingeable Netflix property, and released all at once like one. They could have at least staggered the release to two episodes at a time.

I don't think I'm actually going to finish it. At least not now. I don't want to give Netflix the view thinking I watched beacuse I was invested. I wish it were as bad as the original movie, if only so I could make fun of it.

#review #avatar #last airbender #avatar the last airbender #netflix #iroh deserved better #atla

[sarah-dipitous]

Hellsite Nostalgia Tour 2023 Day 342

Last Holiday

“Last Holiday”

Plot Description: Dean accidentally releases a wood nymph in the bunker named Mrs Butters, who proves to be super helpful—but she doesn’t take so kindly to Jack

ABADDON MENTION IN THE PREVIEW!!! ARE WE???

Would I Survive the First Five Minutes??: only thing that died was the air conditioning

Dean mocking Sam wishing they could call a repair person to come look at what’s goin on at the bunker was unreasonably funny

Dean, I’m begging you. Stop calling yourself Meat Man. It’s accurate, but at what cost to my sanity and dignity that I’m still watching this show? Hmm??

HE HAS SCOOBY DOO BOXERSSSSS. That’s actually adorable. Sadly, I like that. Or maybe it’s not sad. I dunno. I just think if you like something you should wear stuff about it

I hope this lady gets out. She shouldn’t have been doing the laundry for the Men of Letters, she should have been at the club. Or in the woods…nymphing

It’s like 60 years AFTER the year she thought it was and she thought the full grown men she did the cleaning for were still around??

Dean, you could have told her they’d be 80 or 90 years old. You didn’t have to say Abaddon killed them

I can’t believe the bunker had monster radar this whole time

They weren’t doin nothin!!! They were watching movies and…admittedly drinking blood that could have saved someone’s life, but they didn’t KILL anyone!!!

Dean, you are only just BARELY not a millennial. SAM is a millennial. Also what in the Scrooge going to bed, what in the ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas are you even wearing??

I mean, it’s hard to like someone if in the first conversation you have with them, they confess to having killed their friend who was the mom of the last two remaining Men of Letters in the US

How…how long is this goin on?? And why does Sam have Mjolnir??

Mrs Butters…worked with or for the nazis before being conscripted to serving the Men of Letters?! I knew something was gonna be off about her, but did it have to be that??

Oh mrs butters won’t like you saying “son of a bitch,” Jack

Aw!! Sam and Eileen are going on a date!!

I hate the ideas Mrs Butters is putting in Jack’s head. I mean, it IS weird that in the (undetermined) amount of time she’s been out, he’s not been allowed out of the bunker (also no Cas that whole time??), but it’s…it’s not because Sam and Dean are scared of him

Why can………….omg, she incapacitated Jack. She basically nullified his powers

Fuck fuck fuck…how’s he gon—what’s that now?? Mrs Butters just expects Dean to kill Jack?!

Sam is in his 30s. He doesn’t have a curfew

I love that Dean knew his life was not in enough danger to call Sam and ruin his date

Is she gonna try to brainwash Sam??

Omg is your idea to magic blast Jack into the locked door?? I mean, it’ll probably work but dammit Dean

Oh. No. She’s just gonna torture Sam. Cool. Too bad for her, she doesn’t know he’s been tortured before. (But I can’t watch)

It did work! (Dean’s plan, not Mrs Butters’s torture)

Lady, please go nymphing in a forest. Oh, her traveling outfit is cute tho

At least this episode got Jack out of his room…there are six episodes left…

DEAN MADE JACK A BIRTHDAY CAAAAAAKE

#hellsite nostalgia tour 2023

[dreamingsushi]

Eternal Love - Episode 33

I know, from already having watched the series and read the book that some very unpleasant events are coming. Don’t worry, nothing as painful as when Bai Qian was a poor human stuck in her palace, waiting to give birth to her baby. But still, it makes my blood boil just to think about it. So I’ll try to remain nice, but I don’t make any promises that I will.

Bai Qian fell asleep and when she wakes up, Ali is nowhere to be found. Fortunately, she had the bronze mirror and could see where Ali was... which was in a brothel. He followed a girl in there because a guy forced her in and he wanted to save her. Bai Qian tells him that he has to keep this adventure a secret between the two of them, not let his dad know. Yehua comes just back in time to save Bai Qian that is being harassed by a man. She brushes the incident as something unimportant, he just touched her a little. So he kisses her just a little, that’s fine then right? Then he goes back for the Emperor’s birthday while Bai Qian takes Ali back to Qing Qiu.

Even though I knew what was coming, I’m still so disgusted by Sujin. So her plan was to trick Yuanzhen, the second prince’s son, to her room. There she makes him unconscious and forces him to drink a whole lot of alcohol. She sends her maid asking for help because she’s going to pretend hang herself following being sexually abused by Yuanzhen. Who’s like a teenager, barely. I know I know, they are old and all in terms of years, but he’s still a kid. Like how could you do this to a child? People selfish like Sujin should be banned from existing seriously. I can’t fathom how can one destroy anybody’s life for their own little games. That’s not working hard to earn what you want. You don’t deserve anything. Ugly wench!

Yehua and his uncles are going to his palace where the Emperor is already dealing with the situation. I love how Yehua is just rolling his eyes at Sujin. He’s definitely like: I know you’re full of shit. Why do I still have to deal with you? She’s like please, let me die, please. I wish Yehua could just say alright, go hang yourself, good riddance. Unfortunately, the Emperor won’t let that happen, he likes Sujin too much and trusts her too much. That old dude is always in the way. Poor Yuanzhen, he tries to state the truth, but the Emperor won’t believe him. Of course. He doesn’t know to what lengths Sujin may go to “get” what she wants. So he gets sent to the mortal world to go through a 60 year long trial. The logic of the Emperor “You, his father, left with a woman and I never thought you would do something like that! No wonder your son did something so bad!” That guy... How did he even become the Emperor to begin with? So dumb.

Yehua warns her that next time she does shit like this, he won’t let it slide. The only reason she’s still alive right now is because she has Susu’s eyes in her eye orbits. When she dies, Susu’s eyes die with her. You see how worthless she is to him? And she made herself even more worthless. There you go, your stupid plan worked to perfection, right?

Since as Susu she never had any good memory in the palace, Yehua wants to start over with Bai Qian and have her fall for him. It’s alright she forgot.

More of Donghua and Fengjiu’s love story in the mortal realm. Very boring.

And that is all for today. I’m sorry if I offended any Sujin fan here, but she has no excuse for her behaviour except selfishness unlike other dislikable characters (for example Meng Yao in the Untamed who was an awful person, but I could still pity him for his sad sad sad life). Sujin’s only life problem is that her parents died. She was raised like a princess, sister of the Crown Prince. We can’t say she really has anything to be bitter about. I’m not trying to say that losing your parents is nothing, it’s hard at whatever age you are. But she had a happy life and only her own desires are guiding her.

#eternal love #yang mi #zhao youting #dilraba dilmurat #gao weiguang #xuanhuan #xuanhuan drama #costume drama #c-drama #cdrama #chinese drama #drama recap #drama reaction #drama review

[mitochondriaandbunnies]

While doing other things, I’m half-watching a 60′s cowboy show that I have deeply, deeply mixed feelings about-- under the cut for length and for my unstructured babbling about racism in 60′s TV.

As with many 60′s cowboy shows, it asks you to sympathize with a character who was once a confederate soldier and plantation owner... but also one of the main characters is the literal first ever Black lead in a western, and he’s really fantastic? And the whole premise is that they team up as bounty hunters, which is an exceptionally uncomfortable concept, but they also don’t exactly just hand-wave their partnership as easy or comfortable, either? It’s a very odd mixture of 60′s “racism can be solved easily through contact between races” naivete, total obliviousness to the rancidity of its concept, and very earnest attempts to punch above its weight emotionally and thematically.

Like. Frankly, the central “former slave and former confederate become partners” conceit damns the entire show from conception. It *wants* to be a treatise on how even the worst kind of racist can change (and therefore YOU, WHITE VIEWER AT HOME IN 1968, CAN *TOO*), but how well it succeeds at that kind of depends on whether one can believe the main white character in any way at all deserves an opportunity at redemption. (Is it better to believe anyone can change and attempt to atone, or are some things-- like owning a fucking person-- sins so abhorrent that the only absolution is death? Or, to put it differently-- is there a good reason to tell this story and not a story about someone who wasn’t a confederate?)

Both of the lead actors are excellent, and you do genuinely get the sense they felt they were doing something really positive. They have excellent chemistry (which... in and of itself is kind of. Hmm. Should they have excellent chemistry??) The writing is surprisingly thoughtful and consistently willing to bluntly address racism without perpetuating it (and doesn’t shy away from pointing out that the main white character is still racist because he lives in a racist society even though he likes the main Black character and has chosen to change and learn to be a decent person.) The episode I’m currently watching gets into how the “states’ rights” clause in the Emancipation Proclamation kneecapped any so-called countrywide emancipation, and has a long and serious conversation between two former slaves about how things have and haven’t changed for Black people in the United States. They connect over shared traditions, their mutual attraction is treated as beautiful and important, they’re given the bulk of the plot and important dialogue in the episode, and their romance is treated with gravitas. The lead actress in the episode has a whole speech about how it’s incredibly difficult to learn how to be a whole person when your life hasn’t ever belonged to you before. I can’t think of a lot of other shows from 1968 that did that...?

And yet! I can see why this has never been released on home media, and why it was cancelled after one season. It’s a fascinating piece of television history, but not really a show I can heartily recommend.

#my personal assessment is: despite the premise less racist than the vast majority of 60's tv so far #i like the writing and the two leads #i'm consistently surprised by how it doesn't pull punches #but every time the two leads pal around and make each other laugh and smile i'm like 😬 #because. SHOULD they be friends? should this story have been written? #deeply. deeply mixed feelings #the outcasts 1968 #don murray #otis young

[woonietune]

Calling your attention to fandom contributions by my fandom wife thememoryofthatday. She's been regularly posting episode summaries of Warrior Baek Dong-soo every Sunday on Archive of Our Own. Not your ordinary summaries--they are full of wit and charm and historical links and behind the scenes info; they call out all plot holes like Swiss cheese in the script and poke fun at characters while maintaining a total adoration for (most of) them and the glory that is the Dong-soo/Woon ship (and others). Memory is a history nerd and will zero in on sageuk crazy errors, but she’s also caught some storyline inconsistencies I’d never noticed in all my years of fangirling and ficcing for this drama (Hong-do can teleport! Dong-soo rides a horse that flies through time and space!) The comment section is full of rambly, fun meta (and alternate Gwang-taek thirsting/bashing, relentless jokes about Chun’s alcoholism, the size of Dong-soo’s dong, and a decidedly WHY CAN’T THE GIRLS FIGHT MORE pissiness). 

Each ep summary includes 1) a 60 sec recap 2) a long-ass recap 3) beautiful screencaps and gifs 4) funny captions 5) tally of body count, awards for dumbest moment, most romantic moment, etc... 6) Clips from the official SBS YouTube channel. QUITE THE GIFT TO FANDOM. Since I kinda hate the show (really), I’m using this episode guide instead of the show as my major source material for fics in the future, so I don’t have to fast forward through so many scenes that are yuck, boring, or downright triggery for me (ohhhhhhh, wait until you see what Memory has planned for that trainwreck of ep 29 and... um... an all new interactive ep 30!)

Recently, Memory covered covered the famous jailhouse scene in EPISODE NINETEEN HERE. Go look.

Also, Memory is at work on a longfic that I’ve been telling everyone will be the best the fandom’s seen. Just you wait. It’s characterization of Woon is so razor-sharp, true to canon, wonderfully imaginative yet fair to the “what if” of a very believable canon divergence.

In the meantime, enjoy the latest in her Under the Sun series. From the viewpoint of Gak the royal guard, this is just a wonderful short piece that makes sense and saves Woon (YES, LET’S SAVE WOON--I Iove stories that save Woon) in a way that honors canon. I beta-ed this fic, but I still haven’t put my mind together as to what to say about it in the comment section because it’s just such a beautiful piece I have to measure my words. At the very least it’s tiny scene with Yi San has inspired my next fic (and yet again postponed another chapter to my WIP).

Sunrise

thememoryofthatday

Summary:

(Sequel to Second Favorite.)

Baek Dong-soo wasn’t the only one with Yeo Woon in the wheat field... nor is he the only person on Woon’s side. A companion piece to After Sunset with a much happier ending.

Notes:

For Tepid_T.

If Warrior Baek Dong-soo is new to you, you may want to start by reading my guide for fandom-blind readers.

Many months ago, I wrote a story that I still hate called After Sunset. It’s a short piece about the aftermath of Woon’s canon death, as told from Gak’s POV. Ever since I posted that story, I have been promising to rewrite it with a happier ending - which obviously means Woon has to live.

So this is the rewrite I’ve been promising for the better part of a year. I’m sorry it took so long.

This story falls into the Under the Sun series and overlaps with the events at the end of my first WBDS story, Shadows of What Would Have Been. If you haven’t read that story, this one should still make sense, but that longer story provides more details about why Woon survived, as well as some of the conversations that you don’t get to see here. Because this is an alternate version of After Sunset, some of the dialogue and events are the same as in that story. Self-plagiarism is fine, right?

Thank you to my lovely beta shalomdebbie for fixing all of my errors and convincing me not to delete most of the things I write.

Finally, this story is dedicated to Tepid_T, whose first experience of this fandom was that cursed canon-compliant story I mentioned above, and who loves Sang Gak so much that she wrote him a fabulous porn story that everyone needs to read: The Threat to Hanyang.

Tepid, you are a marvelous writer and an even more marvelous person. I’m so happy we met, and I can’t wait to see what you do next.

#warrior baek dong soo episode guide #dong-soo/woon #warrior baek dong-soo fanfiction #thememoryofthatday #I love my fandom wife #read this

[kelvintimeline]

Could you explain the story w mbenga? I don't watch star trek but I'm so intrigued by everything you are reblogging

I don’t know if I can do it justice because it sounds nonsensical out of context 😭 But sure. Spoilers for both TOS and SNW, obvs.

M’benga is a medical officer on board a star ship. He’s a character from the original series (from the 60s) who hasn’t been fleshed out too much (he only appeared in a handful of episodes, I can’t remember how many) but has been beloved for a long time.

With Strange New Worlds (a prequel to the original series), we’re finally exploring his struggles as an officer on a starship. And it was revealed that this entire time he’s been hiding his sick daughter on the ship, putting her body into stasis so she can’t get sicker. There’s no cure for what she has, it’s terminal, and the way he’s been hiding her on the ship could get him fired (and almost destroyed the ship).

So… he’s alone. He’s alone and his daughter is dying and he can only ever read her her story books in secret and short intervals. They can only meet in the sterile office, her reclining on a medical chair, him hunched over and counting down the seconds until she has to say goodbye.

Eventually, he gets caught. His team is supportive but they can offer him nothing other than approval of his continued hiding of daughter. They have no way to help, they just won’t get in his way. A small comfort but she’s still dying.

He gets so close to potential cures—a genetically modified coworker, an alien planet that has figured out how to eradicate ailments on a molecular level but refuses to share with outsiders—but… this isn’t any way for her to live. A young boy (destined to his own fate where he gives up his life to save the planet with the possible cure) finds her when she’s out of status and they have fun. It’s her only contact with someone her age she’s had in a long time. M’benga can’t let her have that again, there are no other children on the ship and she still just remain a secret in stasis.

She has no sense of when she is or how long she’s been kept away. But she knows it’s been a while.

And M’benga just… has to carry on. He works shifts saving lives from explosions and phaser shots, can even temporarily change peoples DNA so they look like other alien races, but he can’t save his daughter from her own body.

And this season brings their arc together to a close. They run into a nebula with a consciousness. The nebula can offer his daughter a life, albeit an imagined one, where her body is strong and not dying. She’ll get to grow up. She won’t hurt anymore.

But M’benga cannot follow her. But if it’s what she wants, he’ll take on the hurt of her absence so she doesn’t have to suffer anymore. He knows the life he was giving her, contained in the ship, effectively unconscious except for when the twenty minutes he can read to her, isn’t enough. She was alive but she wasn’t living.

She leaves, he stays. It hurts but life on the starship demands he keeps on going regardless. He has people to save and just has to hope giving up his daughter to the nebula was his way of finally saving her too.

At least this way he gets to say goodbye.

She tells him it’s the right choice, coming back briefly as an older version of herself that looks so much like her dead mother, and he has to believe her. It’s all he can do to believe her.

No one even remembers the nebula that took her away. Except for him.

[shivvroys]

multiples of 3 for that one ask post!

oh god i’m ashamed of how long it took to do the math 😭😭😭

3. 3 films you could watch for the rest of your life and not get bored of?

there are soooo many but if i had to pick only three, probably rocky horror picture show, moulin rouge! and kill bill vol I

6. what’s the best and worst part of being online/a creator?

the best part is gaining a sense of community, the worst part is you may not realize how easily that community can turn into something that closely resembles a cult

9. tell a story about your childhood

you know how when you’re a kid you feel really cool pulling up to school after being sick or showing up with a cast or a band-aid? yeah, when i was about four or five i went into kindergarten and proudly declared to all of my peers that i had roundworms 💪😎

12. what’s some good advice you want to share?

when you feel like you’re inside out, taking a shower or a going for a walk if it’s nice outside will make you feel like 60% better.

also this one too, honestly rewired my brain chemistry:

15. what do you think of when you hear the word “home”?

warm potato stew <333

18. do you believe in ghosts and/or aliens?

not really but i do occasionally enjoy suspending my disbelief

21. are you a spiritual person?

i honestly don’t think i have that complex of a belief system except for like. kindness being the point of it all. maybe something about being out in the sun, too

24. what’s one thing you’re proud of yourself for?

that i’ve stopped looking for reasons to be angry at myself all the time

27. any nicknames?

lia :)

30. what’s one thing that never fails to make you happy/happier?

the little “hello!!” sound they make in penguin diner 🥹

33. any hobbies?

writing?? drawing too maybe but i haven’t done it in ages, and i used to love making gifs or edits but my laptop couldn’t take photoshop anymore :(

36. are you an open book or do you have walls up?

probably the latter

39. youtuber you’ve been obsessed with and why?

ughhh there are a lot of ppl that i used to b obsessed with as a kid but i can’t really remember their usernames and i don’t know how to find them anymore :((

the biggest one was probably jenna marbles. i used to watch her religiously and i still miss her like a mf. she was like a very cool older cousin that i grew up with :)

i also loved watching ppl like dodie and rebecca brown bc of how open they were about their mental health issues

there’s also a british dude who used to make poundland food/toy reviews on his brown couch that for some reason i was obsessed with 😭

god and the chokehold the fine brothers and buzzfeed had on me as a preteen/teen. FOUL!!!!

nowadays i don’t really watch youtube that much, and when i do i’ll just click on whatever sounds interesting and will last me through my dinner or randomly pick an episode of katya & trixie’s podcast or the basement yard 😭

#bless u claire i hope i did the math right 😭😭😭 #<3333333 #ask

[aery-c]

1. drink - Coca Cola

2. 📱 call - my bf

3. text - my bff

4. song you listened to - misbehave by one true god and arius

5. time you 😢 - like last year

HAVE YOU EVER

6. dated someone twice - yup who hasnt gone on second dates

7. 😘 someone and regretted it - ew yes

8. been cheated on - yup and cheated too.

9. lost someone special - milo my pupper

10. been depressed - 100%

11. gotten drunk and thrown up - way too many times

FAVORITE COLORS

Silver, pink, mauve, black, white.

in the last year have you...

16. made new friends - yes

17. fallen out of 💛 - I haven’t

18. 😂 until you 😢 - yes

19. found out someone was talking about you - yup. A customer who was a stranger and it was rumoured by another customer.

20. met someone who changed you - hell yeah!

21. found out who your friends are - yah

22. 😘 someone on your facebook friends list - lots

GENERAL

23. how many friends from your facebook friends list do you know irl - maybe like 400 but like obvs I don’t still talk to them all 

24. do you have any pets - 1 kitten

25. do you want to change your middle name - nah its been changed lol

26. what did you do for your last 🎂 - airbnbed at docklands and chilled w 2 friends while video calling boyfie, dipped in jacuzzi and had dinnerly.

27. what time did you wake up today - about 11.30am

28. what were you doing last night at midnight - watching westworld s4 the epic episode of generation lost

29. what is something you can’t wait for - meeting up w boyfie irl

30. what are you listening to right now - nothing

31. have you ever talked to a person named tom - yeah

32. something that gets on your nerves - people who disrespect women

33. most visited website - does ig count as a website?

34. hair color - black

35. long hair or short hair - short hair but i have medium

36. do you have a crush on someone - does my boyfie count

37. what do you like about yourself - my openmindedness

38. want any piercings - yes. Tongue and snakebites

39. blood type - A+

40. nicknames - catan, cey, aery, vinnie, 女女

41. relationship status - in a relationship of 1 whole year

42. zodiac - gemini

43. pronouns - she/her

44. favorite 📺 show - westworld

45. tattoos - none

46. right handed or left - right handed

47. ever had surgery - does dental surgery like wisdom teeth extraction count?

48. piercings - ears n belly button

49. sports - hate it. Except iceskating and roller skating roller blading

50. vacation - dying for one

51. trainers - adidas ultraboosts

MORE GENERAL

52. eating - nothing rn

53. drinking - nothing rn

54. i’m about to watch - my bf

55. waiting for - bf to wake up

56. want - to be financially well off

57. get married - I want to... but it’s unlikely :c

58. career - design innovator or inventor

WHICH IS BETTER

59. kisses or hugs - hugs

60. 👄 or eyes - eyes

61. shorter or taller - taller

62. older or younger - younger

63. nice arms or stomach - stomach

64. hookup or relationship - date to marry so relationship.

65. troublemaker or hesitant - hesitant

HAVE YOU EVER

66. 😘 a stranger - yup

67. drank hard liquor - of course

68. lost glasses - I dont wear any

69 (oof). turned someone down - yup 

70. sex on first date -  surprisingly yes

71. broken someone’s ❤️ - im a heart breaker

72. had your 💔 - oh for definite

73. been arrested - nah 

74. 😢 when someone died - yeah

75. fallen for a friend - yes

DO YOU BELIEVE IN

76. yourself - sometimes

77. miracles - yes

78. 💛 at first sight - yeah

79. 🎅 - nah

80. 😘 on a first date - yeah

81. angels - yup

other

82. best friend’s name - cece

83. eye color - brown

84. favorite movie - currently bladerunner

85. favorite actor - maybe the main guy from blade runner... Cant remmeber his name rn lol

aery-c

#50 sex questions

[millennialdemon]

Unironically, I Wholly agree with your criticisms of the Black clover anime, entirely because the first 50/2 or 3 seasons of the anime were done so dirty by the studio, you could tell this was NOT their priority budget project.

As someone who got into it through the manga, the amount of stuff they changed is so much, I'd be writing essays about it. There's a reddit thread SPECIFICALLY about how they butchered Gauche's entire character and its eye opening for someone who never watched the anime but read the manga. A comparison of both anime and manga showed that manga Noelle only hit Asta could be counted on hands (3-6 I think) while anime Noelle's numbers were over 60.

I cannot stress how that's reflected on the anime. They also cut out a lot of smaller detail scenes in the beginning while adding entirely unnecessary bits in some episodes.

I'm writing this mostly to say that, the reason why so many drop it is mostly because they start with the anime and the series does not get good until very much later, which a lot of viewers understandably don't want to deal with. No idea where the people writing about how the anime itself is good come from.

If you feel like you genuinely cannot stomach the anime anymore because it feels like the potential is entirely unused or parodied, I say this honestly, you are valid in this but I ask that you give the manga a try, at least. The art style of the creator is at least better to look at if the quality of the animation is the biggest turn off.

I do not liveblog/review manga on this blog, but even if I did, for me to pick up the manga and compare it to the anime I would have to make a whole new blog just dedicated to that like I did with Fist of the North Star back in 2017. I believe you could write multiple essays about the differences between them, and I would be compelled to do so if I read it, but that is just too large of an undertaking for me these days honestly. It doesn’t help that based on the cursory research I am willing to do, I don’t think I would enjoy the manga that much more than the anime.

I can believe the claim that the anime grossly exaggerates the gags and the most trope-ish traits of each character until they are literally parodies of themselves. But as much as the treatment of the characters in the anime specifically irritates me, it should also be known that I take issue with a lot of the fundamental narrative of Black Clover. I could presume that the pacing of the story is better in the manga because that is pretty much always the case, but I doubt that it isn’t more or less the same tired story that I have been scowling at since it premiered in 2017. I think the way the story handles its magical caste system is messy and underdeveloped, I think the aesthetic of the world is uninspired, I find the king and all of his magical knight captains wildly unlikable on the best of days and think their rank is a total sham that goes uncalled by the narrative. I think it’s absurd that our protagonist looks up to any of them, supports his insanely dishonourable comrades like Gauche and insists upon magical knights having honour by just, being magical knights I guess, and has no issue with promising the wizard king that he will hide the corruption of the magic knights from the citizens. I think all the comparisons to other, better shounen series preceding Black Clover are completely fair because it is so brazen with its “borrowing” and, as I have said on this blog somewhere before, I’m not holding out for a satisfactorily subversive shounen series. Based on what I have seen, I just can’t.

I can hold out for the possibility of it eventually becoming better though, even though I will criticize it forever for taking so long when/if it does get there, and I still probably won’t fall in love with it. Mostly because I’ve seen 42 episodes and the only character that has struck even the faintest of chords has been Noelle, and most of the time when I feel something for her, it’s just frustration at how bluntly her story is told – and that’s on the increasingly slim chance it isn’t being ignored completely in favour of tsundere gags. Considering most 12 episode anime have a handful of characters I like and that keep me engaged, that’s very discouraging. 

But I’m pretty stubborn when it comes to finishing things, and while I will stand on the street corner and hold up a sign that says “BLACK CLOVER IS INSANELY SEXIST LIKE UNIRONICALLY” for as long as I am on the internet, it isn’t despicable enough otherwise for me to drop. Though I came close👌 because of that Godforsaken arc with Gauche and the orphanage and the midnight sun. That took me 2 years to get through. I feel like I and everyone else who watched/read that could be financially compensated to be honest. 

(Speaking of Gauche, I scrolled the Black Clover reddit and came across a bunch of posts trying to explain why he is like that and how the anime plays it up way too much. But I still think he is utterly despicable in both the anime and manga and will probably write a long ass post about how deluded I think the person that wrote this one in particular is. Woof. I can agree he seems a bit less extreme in the manga but the excuses and explanations I have read in the reddit threads are not convincing insofar as proving to me there was all that much to butcher in the first place.)

Still though, there is some merit in being so transparently poorly written – it provides ample opportunities for me to wonder about what it could be like if it were better, or just different. I like transformative fiction and fix-its and redesigns, and I think Black Clover is a good candidate for that kind of engagement. I don’t hate Black Clover because I’m a snob or anything, I actually tend to become obsessed with less than perfect media (Marchen Awakens Romance is a similarly trope-ish shounen manga that dominated my teenage years) because it makes my brain work and it can be a lot of fun to try to fill in the gaps or write your own meta. I would love to read something in the tag other than y/n fanfiction prompts (sorry to everyone reading this and I will concede – it’s better than the nothing that would be there otherwise), especially analysis, critiques, and source comparisons!

So if you or anyone else would like to write essays comparing the anime and manga, I would love to read them.

#:Black Clover #black clover #preston.txt #I had more to say than I thought I did whoops

[piratesofthedarkwidesea]

I posted 1,101 times in 2022

That's 323 more posts than 2021!

58 posts created (5%)

1,043 posts reblogged (95%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@divineandmajesticinone

@mr-iskender

@dadthinksdoctorwhoisacrimeseries

@mutantenfisch

@christianeriksen

I tagged 1,086 of my posts in 2022

Only 1% of my posts had no tags

#interview with the vampire - 195 posts

#polizeiruf 110 - 78 posts

#art - 73 posts

#photography - 62 posts

#tatort saarbrücken - 60 posts

#lol - 51 posts

#me watching stuff - 48 posts

#fanart - 44 posts

#nice edit - 40 posts

#spatort - 37 posts

Longest Tag: 140 characters

#(like okay i know this is problematic on a whole number of levels but i still managed to enjoy this movie and sometimes it be like that 🤷‍♀

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

25 notes - Posted October 24, 2022

#4

Here, have my comments on 365 Day: This Day

(I kinda gave up with the comments after half the movie tho)

See the full post

30 notes - Posted April 30, 2022

#3

So I’m just re-watching episode 3 and... I really love the scenes between Louis and Jonah and.. it just occurred to me how extremely human these scenes make Louis look? Like his accent getting all strong makes total sense in the context of him talking to someone from his youth, someone who is a Black man as well.

But it it also occurred to me this is the first (and only?!) time we really see Louis flirting? Like we’ve never seen him have this kind of confidence before? He was very much denying and fighting his homosexuality when he meets Lestat (you can see it quite explicitly in a couple of scenes, also him concluding this could never happen again after having sex with Lestat for the first time). But Jonah is somebody he is familiar with, someone he knows is also queer, plus it is already established there is some mutual attraction which is being rekindled. But it is Louis actively flirting with him. Asking if he remembers their shared youth [and their “early fumbles”], which is in part due to Lestat watching them, I guess, getting even with him in a way, calling him out on his “of course”. 

But but BUT what I really wanted to say (sorry for getting off track a bit there ahsdhoas) is... there is no vampire moves to it. There is no indication he’s reading his mind, influencing him in any way with his newly won powers (which he is also still rejecting to a degree at this point). Just some very human “do you remember” and “look at my cool car” (aiosdadhs Louis I can’t even 😂😂😂). It’s just so abusrdly cute and very deeply human in a way? 

And I do kinda see how Lestat is jealous here, because Louis has never been flirting with him like this. And he keeps telling Louis (and us) how much he wants Louis to explicitly say / show he loves him? 

I mean of course it is on the other hand very obvious how Louis wasn’t like that with Lestat when he met him. One part being him struggling a lot more with his sexuality and his shame about it there. But also Lestat is being very active in pursuing Louis. Louis describes it as being hunted (we’re gonna ignore the unreliable narrator level here bc I don’t wanna go this deep here - and also bc I do believe it in general terms, I guess). Like there are parts where we see Lestat taking it kinda slow, including Lilly there to ease Louis into it. But also then getting very insistent, basically jumping a distraught Louis who is in shock over the death of his brother (with he witnessed first hand, his mother blaming him for it etc.), not leaving him alone... But then here on the other hand also Louis isn’t being only passive here. I love how it is very clearly him initiating the kiss with Lestat after Lilly is out of the picture. All these nuances and complexities really are what makes their relationship so compelling I think!

And uh... I guess I also have some thoughts about Lestat courting Louis and Vampire Moves tbh (bc I introduced the absence of them in Louis flirting with Jonah) but this post is already so long 🙈 What it does probably boil down to though (not 100% sure bc I haven’t really thought this through yet). But, in my view, he isn’t even using his Vampire Moves much? Like yeah he is in Louis’ mind and showing some tricks but... more in a showing off way than in a manipulative way? Like whatever Louis is trying to tell us here, he is just really attracted to that French guy. He may also be repulsed by him in some ways (or maybe more by his visceral reaction(s) to him, hm, Louis?) but damn he wants to fuck that guy so bad it makes him look stupid. 

And yeah you might raise the argument that Lestat does use his Vampire Moves when he’s in Louis’ head, pestering him about how he is not gonna be ignored  right after Paul died. But he first walked up to him when the family were on their way to the cemetery and.. was pestering him in quite mundane ways there, you know? Like him being in his mind was driving it to a head a bit more quickly and dramatically maybe but... knowing Lestat he would probably also have been able to be an absolute pest, just showing up again and again, not taking no for an answer (and he basically does so in ep 6, doesn’t he?). So yeah Louis is talking about vampire bonds and mind gifts but... he attracted to him. Big time. I ain’t buying your angle here, Louis.

(Only that of course I kinda do, bc Lestat is a narcissistic manipulative shit in certain ways as well. And doesn’t take no for an answer. Neither in ep 1 nor in ep 6. But then ep 7... weeelll... layers and all 😅😂 But I hope you still get my point.) 

43 notes - Posted November 22, 2022

#2

Me watching Vikings Valhalla like

You call this a man? He doesn't even have hair on his chest. What kind of Viking is he supposed to be? Where is the chest hair? Okay who am I kidding he hot but. Still. Where?? dggdfhg

Well now, this is a man. A fine man.

See the full post

44 notes - Posted March 1, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

Okay erm... episode 1x05 is certainly very visceral and also very complex and I’ve already seen a lot of interesting thoughts about.. 

I just wanna concentrate on a very small thing and how I read it, and it’s Daniel slapping Louis. Because to me it was very very clear that that slap was a desperate (and very obvious to everyone in the room) attempt of Daniel trying to pretend he has any kind of control over the situation. Because he very clearly has not. Louis could literally tear him apart without lifting as much as his little finger and he kinda knew all along but that scene is when he really *got* it like rationalized it and he was freaking the fuck out about that. 

And Louis and Rashid also understood that for what it was and therefore let it slide in a “yeah let’s all go with the pretense the human can defend himself in any way, shape or form here” when he very very clearly can’t? Like let’s all take a deep breath and pretend it’s fine / nothing of that happened.

Which says nothing about Daniel being an asshole but... man was frightened to death there tbh

64 notes - Posted October 24, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

#tumblr2022 #year in review #my 2022 tumblr year in review #your tumblr year in review #can't believe i've got more notes here than on my main blog #football tumblr really is dead huh? #also pretty sure the problematic movie referred to in the longest tag is top gun maverick lmao

[self-loathing-angel-of-thursday2]

Beautiful Spouse’s Rewatch Thoughts SPN 03x14

Long Distance Call

🎶they’re going to talk to the other side🎶 “that’s my guess anyway”

“That little shaky face thing Jensen did during the demon scene was perfect horror”

🎶drugs and alcohol yeahhyeahh🎶

“Drinking like that at night gives me a headache”

It’s true. Spouse can’t handle his liquor anymore

“Sha33? That sounds like an encryption thing but it’s not”

“oh yeah. Isn’t the person dead but begging the people to kill themselves?”

“Can’t remember what Sha33 stands for. I think I remember this one though? So I can pick up nuance details like the drapes, which are very drape colored”

“Well you didn’t break it hard enough dude”

“like squishing a grape but maybe more like hitting the grape with a tennis racket”

“he’s literally talking with his mouth full”

Pointed out that Dean hasn’t worn John’s jacket for a while

“Even Jensen can make eating with his mouth full look sexy. It just takes my breath away. You know how it is”

“Linda Bateman or Linda Babeman?”


“So when a trucker uses a piss jug, and if they die randomly, and they’re super angry, are they still floating around as spirits too? Are they tied to their piss jug? Am I tied to my piss? If I die angry, will I come back, too? Do all I have to do is piss in a bottle and make it so that if I die, I get to haunt you? Or do I need to add fingernails and stuff, too?”

What in the actual fuck

“Is the guy actually going to run the number?”

Why would you want to jerk off at work? Ew.

‘Idk why they put that in there”

“I feel like if thats going to make it worse to tell the kid that she isn’t crazy, because she’s going to believe her mom now”

“I don’t remember that part”

“If it really is dad, you got a man on the inside and figure out how to get out of your hell deal”

“very 70s divider. Oh maybe 60s. Idk”

“I know they made that cringey on purpose, but it still cringed”

“They had Caller ID back then. I guess that’s the joke”

“oh shit. The demon is here or whatever the fuck”

“Fkn instant messenger, dude”

“Oh my goddddddddd”

“I’ve always as a kid thought it was funny that computers are so expensive and do all of this gene-folding calculations, but we just use them to talk to people.”

“Is Mom going to come out of the computer?”

“How many more until Castiel?”

“No evidence it can’t? That’s very positive way to think of things”

“That’s how these things work, though. Dean gets the call after Sam leaves so of course Dean is going to go somewhere; it’s what he does”

“911 emergency”

“what in the McDonald’s shit is this?”

“that’s the dramatization I’d expect - hundreds vs millions.”

“Simon be fkn dead yo”

“making holy water in a plastic jug”

“He didn’t stop? He would’ve stopped”

“Is it the gross telephone guy after all?”

“that was unfortunate, but that’s what you get for messing with the phone company dill weed”

“nice”

“is he deep-throating this bitch or what?”

“Isn’t there some other creature like the Darkness that eats souls too or something?”

“I want raspberries. All that jelly on the knife makes me want butter bread”

I wish I could convey how much I say “I’m not writing that down” during each episode

“Not much has changed in the last 15 years - we’re even more connected nowadays. It could be worse or better; depends on how you look at it”

“this is going to be a really awkward conversation for dean once he’s done fighting that guy”

“Oh hell yeah brother. Skewer that bitch”

“Splat”

“that’s not a very good answer dean”

“stupid fkn looks”

“Without the extra expressiveness, this show would have sucked so bad”

Jensen really brought Dean to life

“Douche”

“they made up with a beer. It’s fine”

#beautifulspouserewatchesspn #supernatural #supernatural s3 #supernatural rewatch