WHAT A DISAPPOINTING AND HEARTBREAKING FINALE? To have the man who was abused, mutilated, and disabled for protecting the crew, to have a suicide attempt survivor who crawled on the ground, to have someone who battled depression and alcoholism, to cement his role as the 'Ship's Unicorn" (the figurehead that protected the crew) only to reduce him as someone who "had to die" because he had no more narrative feeling, what a slap to the face.
DJenkins said he didn't want to fall back into old tropes and burying your gays, but there's an elder disabled queer man you just buried for what, to absolve Ed of his abuse? Izzy died thinking he DESERVED the torture done upon him. What a disgrace.
Izzy fans rallied and kickstarted a S3 renewal Campaign. And many of us are heartbroken and grieving for a show who promised kindness but only justified the abuse we've gotten the past months? We stayed and hoped better because of kindness and belonging.
"This show is kind" has never rang more hollow. I'll still love and create art for him, but I don't think I can trust any other queer show again. I thought this would be different.
Do you want a queer show full of kindness and found family, for all queers, the disabled and survivors and the rough around the edges ones? It's not Our Flag Means Death.
I personally think that Leo took the wrong lessons from the movie. I definitely think he grew to understand the importance of teamwork and making sure he takes others into account so as to not harm them by proxy of whatever scheme he has cooked up, however based on the ending events I’m not quite certain he fully grasped two things.
The first thing is communication. Oh, he can communicate, and he does, when he deems it necessary. When he’s setting up a plan prior to the action. But this is where the second thing comes in.
The second thing I don’t think Leo truly grasped is “it’s not about you.” It’s so unbearably easy to take that the wrong way, especially when taking the rest of the series into account.
What I believe Leo took from this message is not “it’s not just you, everyone matters and can contribute, can help and be helped” but “put the whole of everyone above yourself” which can both be a good lesson…and a fatal one.
And it is fatal, we see as much in the movie.
Even after the big hope speech, when Leo is “fighting” Krang!Raph, he takes a huge risk. Sure, it worked, and Leo managed to get through to Raph through a well deserved apology, but it could have so easily ended in his death and yet he barely even hesitates to go for it.
And then again, to the big scene at the end, where Leo sacrifices himself not only for the sake of his family, but for the whole world.
To him, that’s the message to take from this. That the lives of everyone, of the greater good, matters…more than him. That the risk to himself is worth it if others can be saved.
Leo learned that gambling with his life as the betting chip is always the best move to make in the end.
And to make matters worse…this thinking is what works.
These risks are ultimately what is needed to save the day, so why would Leo look away from it now? Clearly it’s the right move and everything worked out!
Thing is, Leo did grow from the events of the movie. He learned to take things more seriously and be more mature, he learned to value his team’s input and capabilities enough to rely on them more, and he learned to be less self-centered and realize the turmoil others were going through (especially if that turmoil is a result of his actions.)
But still, he’s grown to accept the gamble of his life as a viable answer to their problems.
Personally, with how Leo has been shown to toy around with the idea of “it’s better me than them” I think this goes beyond sacrifice in the name of love or even sacrifice in the name of responsibility, and pushes over into sacrifice in the name of worth.
sunnys admin deserves an award or something bcs their understanding of their character is completely unmatched. that thing sunnys doing where bcs tubbo died she was talking to her rabbit, who was moon, and got upset at him for 'saying mean things about tubbo' is. first of all it's all set up so well but the emotional conflict is literally set up from the day we meet sunny.
She's violently hypersensitive but most importantly she has abandonment issues like no other. Every other second she's on screen from the moment we meet her she's begging her father not to leave her in any capacity clinging to him like a lifeline nonstop. When he leaves for purgatory 2 it devastates her to the point where when theyre saying theyre goodbyes as she heads to bed she can't even acknowledge him leaving as like a viable thing that's happening. tubbo apologizes that hes being dragged away and she goes "it's okay bcs your not leaving me pa"
When tubbo comes back and it's clear he values his own life less and less everyday sunny makes sure that after every morbid comment he assures them that he's not gonna die. he's not going to leave her anytime soon bcs she needs him. she says it so so many times. she needs him. Even outside of tubbo sunny clings onto what she loves hard with her "MY pas" and her "MY panadas" and her "MY mustache boy" I've said this before but she's so 'everything I let go of has claw marks on it' coded
So. When tubbo like, fully dies, ofc she barely processes it. she makes a cake at home all by herself and travels all the way to his corpse to share it with him bcs he's a mermaid like her Ma now. Except they know he's dead and all the empty promises of him promising no matter what he would never leave her fester in her so she handles it the way she handles most of her negative emotions. she separates them from her bcs theyre too big to handle and lets moon do it. She scolds him for saying mean things abt her pa who she loves more than anything but that doesn't stop her from feeling like he failed her, he abandoned her, he broke his promises. They're just a little baby :((
what if instead of jason coming back to gotham and becoming a crime lord and fighting the bats he’s put into the suicide squad. whether by coercion or choice you decide. like none of the bats know he’s alive until a squad mission goes off the rails in gotham which is where jason mainly operates due to his knowledge of the area. batman finds out that jason’s alive and also that wallers been hiding it from him. batman vs waller. he wants his boy back. maybe still some jason/bruce moral conflict. mostly angst because jason’s stuck in the suicide squad constantly risking his life and he can’t even spend his second chance living a normal life. jason in the suicide squad would be wallers wet dream. it’s batman but he’s got less of a thing about killing. sure he only kills scumbags but waller can work with that. he’s angry with bruce too. even better.