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itsclydebitches · 3 years

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RWBY Recaps: Volume 8 “The Final Word”

Well, we made it to the finale, everyone, and if you're reading this it seems you've survived the watching of it too. Barely. To say that some questionable choices were made across these 20 minutes is... an understatement.

But before we delve into the episode, I want you to cast your mind back to November 7th, 2020. A horrible year that heralded a horrible RWBY volume. There, coming off the shaky writing of Volume 7, I posed a number of questions and concerns that the show needed to tackle, with the promise that we would return to these expectations in four months time. Now, here we are! Let's refresh everyone's memory, yeah?

Taken directly from that recap, what RWBY promised us, through various teasers and Q&As, included:

Emphasis on Ruby’s leadership and how Summer’s death has impacted her

Insight into Ren and Nora’s flaws

May Merigold will supposedly have a larger part

More information about The Long Memory (Ozpin’s cane)

Theme of the volume is that you can respect someone but that doesn’t necessarily mean you agree with them

Very short timeline (supposedly just two days)

Yang in particular is very suspicious and distrustful

And you know what? They did all this. In the spirit of being fair and honest to this show, RWBY succeeded in delivering on everything they promised... it was just our foolishness that expected that these ideas would be delivered well. Ruby's leadership took center stage in the form of her hiding for multiple episodes and then others telling her she's still The Best before the plot dropped a solution into her lap... one she could have used at any point prior to this. Summer's death certainly has an impact, though it's an impact born of a crazy reveal that Summer likely isn't dead, but turned into a horrifying grimm monster. Ren and Nora both delve into their flaws, but heaven forbid either grow from that reflection. Ren learns that if he pushes past his primary flaw of keeping his emotions buried and actually expresses his doubts for once, he'll be yelled at and ignored until he admits how wrong he was. The "real" flaw is being a bad friend, with "bad friend" equaling "Not agreeing with Ruby 100%." Meanwhile, Nora considers that maybe she shouldn't rush in recklessly and hit things with her hammer... which is why she rushes in recklessly, hits something with her hammer, gets grievously injured, and is told that this is just who she truly is. No growth there, not unless we count her sudden desire to figure out who she is without Ren... but that exploration hasn't started yet. Too bad she wasn't the teammate separated at the end of the volume!

Meanwhile, May did indeed have a larger role to play, one I quite liked, it's just that this role — like all the others — inevitably circled back to realizing how wonderful Ruby is. May challenges Ruby to make a decision, but instead of being the catalyst for Ruby's growth, May becomes another forgotten side character who does a sudden about-turn regarding her perspective, leaving the group with the contradictory message that Ruby is actually doing her best, she's just a kid, no need to try any harder... everyone who claimed otherwise up until now was mistaken. May is another Cordovin. She's another Qrow. She's another Maria.

Fun fact: we don't even know if Maria is alive right now. That's how little she means to the show!

Actually, wait... anyone remember this nonsense from Volume 7?

I was too lazy to change the date.

Moving on, Ozpin's cane turned out to be a stakes obliterating bomb that came out of nowhere, makes no sense logistically — how do battles store energy that only hurts grimm? — yet nevertheless seems to have killed Hazel? It's a disaster of unanswered questions. Similar to the disaster of our two day timeline when, I'm fairly sure, we've had an unnatural number of sunrises and sunsets. I'll have to take a look back at the volume as a whole now that it's complete to be sure of that though. As for our themes... did we really explore the idea of respecting someone even if you disagree with them? Because Ironwood wasn't shown any respect. Ren wasn't shown respect. I think the closest we got was Oscar calmly validating Yang's worry about getting buddy-buddy with Emerald, but the whole point there was that Yang was wrong. She wasn't wrong, but that's what the text would have you believe. She is indeed "very suspicious and distrustful," but that's hardly unjustified in these circumstances. I'm still boggling at the fact that it took the group three volumes for forgive Ozpin, even while he was actively working to assist them, yet I-helped-destroy-Beacon-and-tried-to-kill-everyone-you-love Emerald is the group's new BFF after she... ran away with Oscar? She didn't save him, she just went along for the ride. At the very least we might have gotten a scene where Penny was like, "Hey, why are you all laughing with the woman who just tried to kill my dad?"

But oh yeah, the story doesn't remember Pietro exists either. His daughter is DEAD and he hasn't been on screen since Episode Five, let alone there when she passes.

I had my own list going in, including such expectations as "Ozpin bb you got done dirty please acknowledge this" and "Queer baiting, queer baiting… you’re on thin ice at this point, RWBY. Just skate on over to the queer snack bar before you fall straight into the lake." Obviously these needs were not met.

So what, given this mess of expectations, did we end up with?

Our finale — for some reason — breaks the one word title trend with "The Final Word." It's an expression that refers to the final word in an argument or a discussion, the idea of winning by making a last, devastating point. It can also refer to making the final decision on something, which is the best way I'm able to apply the title to this episode (outside of any “final” comparisons). Penny's death is certainly all about choice and making some kind of decision... but on the whole, this title doesn't feel like it fits well. Not like "Worthy" or "Creation" or "Risk." The two latter titles had obvious connections to the episode in question through dialogue and plot, while the former was a deliberate callback to Watts' speech. "The Final Word" feels... less obvious in what it’s trying to say.

That's a minor nitpick though. Let's get into the meat of the episode.

We open on the grimm whale still disappearing, which is weird. I get that it's massively bigger than any other grimm we've seen, but they all turned to dust near instantaneously and it's been, what? At least an hour since Oscar blew it up? Likely longer when we factor in their walk back to the manor, the fight with Ironwood, fixing Penny, and this entire evacuation. It certainly makes for a nice visual, but like so many details in RWBY, it raises unnecessary questions along the way.

The important bit though is that amidst the whale carcass a blob of evil is swirling about. Salem, obviously.

She’s not reforming in time to actually do anything though, don't worry.

Instead, we cut to the Ironwood vs. Winter fight and there's at least some dialogue this time. Ironwood yells that he's sacrificed everything to keep Remnant safe. Winter yells back that he actually sacrificed everyone else. Obviously, Ironwood should be called out for things like, you know, his unprompted murders, but instead they have Winter listing stuff that she was never shown to have a problem with before. The embargo? "Squeezed Mantle until it broke?" She, as Ironwood's second hand, understood and supported both the decision to close the border and the need to collect resources for a plan designed to take out Salem. I hate that no only did she turn without an ounce of hesitation or grief, but now they're having her act as if Ironwood forced these decisions on everyone, rather than everyone supporting him through them. We all remember Volume 7 when Ruby pressured him to finish Amity, right? And in trust RWBY fashion, most of these words are meaningless. Mantle "broke"? What does that mean? The class disparity did not come about through Ironwood: that's been in the works for generations. The lack of resources made things harder, yes, but when they were reclaimed by Robyn nothing improved. Watts is the one who turned off the heat and Salem attacked Atlas, leaving Mantle alone. Now, all the citizens have escaped through magical portals. So how is Mantle "broken" exactly? More importantly, why is Winter upset over this vague, nonsensical dilemma when she could be yelling about Ironwood wanting to bomb Mantle?

Again: this woman watched Ironwood shoot the councilman, shrugged, and continued to believe in him up until she realized his bomb threat was real. That was one of the main reasons why I thought the councilman might be alive, with Ironwood only shooting a warning shot past him. Because this is how you react to a good person unexpectedly killing someone else

whereas this is what we got from Winter and Harriet.

Hell, Weiss has more of a reaction to Yang telling Ruby things aren't super great right now.

So either Ironwood didn't do something that bad, thereby justifying these tame reactions (unlikely, given where his character ended up), or we should believe based on the animation that everyone was super chill with him killing an unarmed civilian. Which is then directly contradicted when they're like, "You're going to shoot Marrow? Bomb a city?? How could you do such horrible things??? 😲" Friends, buddies, fictional pals... you already watched him murder a dude.

The point is, there's a lot for Winter to be upset about, but she's not upset about that. There's a lot that Winter herself believed in, but the writing has forgotten that. This entire arc went off the rails a volume ago.

Also, why is Ironwood fighting with that giant gun? This is his final battle, presumably ever, and he's wielding this awkward, sluggish weapon we saw him randomly pick up two episodes ago? Let him use his regular guns! Give us a fantastic battle like he had with Watts! Instead, RWBY's final showdown consists of him using this no-name weapon as a unwieldy club in some of the most boring choreography we've seen to date. It doesn't help that this fight needs to share time with three others. Instead of an epic showdown, we're given glimpses of the battle before continually cutting away from it.

During that first cut we return to the Team RWBY battle where Penny, doing her best to stay out of Cinder's reach, is whisked away on Weiss' wasp.

Too bad she didn't do that for Yang...

Jaune and Nora watch this horror unfold until Jaune says, "Priority one!" and they split. Except... what is priority one exactly? Helping the civilians? I guess, because they don't enter the fight until the very end of it, when everyone else seems to have made it to Vacuo. And you know what, I like that. For once it feels like the group — or at least the B Team — is acting like huntsmen, putting the needs of the people over their own, personal desires. I'm sure Nora wants to help the group after Yang's (presumed) demise and that Jaune would like nothing more than to get his hands on Cinder, but they put those grievances aside to do the work they signed up for. Good job!

My only real gripe is that we don't really see this struggling in the animation, I'm just assuming it's there. In particular, there's a moment when Jaune sends Nora through the portal for reinforcements — not knowing they can't return — and they seem a little too jovial when, by this point, three friends have died.

There's letting your cast be supportive, and then there's having them ignore that three teammates have perished in an abyss. It really doesn't help to sell the idea that Yang, Ruby, and Blake are in any danger here.

But I'm getting ahead of myself.

Penny tells Weiss that since Cinder is really just after the Maiden powers, she can buy the rest of the group time to escape. Weiss, obviously, isn't fond of this idea... and then the both of them are blasted off the wasp by Cinder's fire. Which they deserve, frankly. They're just having this casual conversation about sacrifice while in the middle of a battle. Did they somehow forget that Cinder can fly too?

Note that multiple attacks from Cinder, another blast, and a hard landing on the pathway gives their auras a knock, but doesn't break them. The primary defense for Yang's aura shattering in a single, simple hit was that everyone is exhausted and running on little to no power... yet here the rest of the cast is, tanking multiple hits as we've come to expect. There is no explanation for Yang's defeat except that the writers chose to ignore the rules of their world for a dramatic death scene... even though that drama was erased a week later as half our team falls into the void too.

We'll get to that though. For now, Cinder corrects Penny's belief with "I want it all" and proceeds to try to finish them off, only for Blake to arrive, having made her choice from last episode about who to help. It's a legitimately nice attack, but I happened to pause at the bEST MOMENT

Anyway.

We leave that fight to return to Qrow and Harriet who have, off screen, started an entirely different battle. What I mean is, last we saw Qrow had broken through the windshield of the airship, roughly pinned Harriet, and was taunting her about getting the fight she wanted. Now, suddenly, he's going “You’re making a mistake, Harriet, what happened to Clover—” as if he's been trying to talk her down this whole time. It's jarring, especially when we consider that Qrow had a volume long "kill Ironwood" arc that was dropped because... Robyn reminded him that murder is bad? RWBY feels like a storytelling pinball machine. Characters bounce from one personality to the next, one perspective and another, round and round until you don't know where they'll end up.

Harriet screams for Qrow to just shut up already and honestly? Same. I love Qrow, he's one of my favorites, but I can't deny that he's been done dirty like so many others since Volume 6. I love who Qrow was, not the mess RWBY has created the last few years.

Time to delve back into fic after recapping!

Sadly though, this strange dialogue wasn't the only "wtf" moment. Harriet is still trying to drop the bomb — which is its own mess of confusing motivations — when Vine and Elm show up on Harriet's ship. Elm begs Harriet not to do this "because you’re our friend!”

Am I glad that they finally acknowledged that the Ace Ops have always been friends? Sure, but why did we spend two volumes claiming otherwise? They were friends, a fantastic team, then Harriet announces that's a lie and we get a bunch of "Team RWBY is superior because they're actually friends" messages. Except this entire time we're still watching the Ace Ops be kind and playful with one another. But they're not friends, the story says. Not friends as they fight these battles. Not friends as they grieve for Clover. Definitely not friends as they react in horror at Ironwood nearly shooting Marrow. No, there's nothing there... until Elm claims there is! Then Harriet reacts in shock. I have friends?

Except Elm was labeled the one "just following orders" by Yang. Elm is the one who shook off Vine after the whale exploded. This isn't the story of one character, Harriet, thinking she was alone and then realizing that people do care for her, this is a story that, seemingly at random, had this group being BFFs or acting like they hated each other — and at each point the visuals are contradicted by the story's message. When they act like friends, we're told they're not friends. When they don't act like friends, we're told they really have been this whole time. I mean, do any of them even care that Marrow teamed up with Qrow and Robyn to take them out five minutes ago? All three were going along with Ironwood's scheme until they were physically stopped, but now Elm is convinced this is a bad decision she needs to talk Harriet down from with the power of friendship?

None of these characters are characters, they're just slapped together reactions based on whatever the plot needs. Who is Elm? I've got no clue. Her personality changes every episode.

Also, love that Qrow moves to stop the bomb from dropping and Harriet screams at him to "Get out of the way!" rather than just... attacking him? She even throws her hands out like she's having a temper tantrum. This feels like schoolyard bickering, not a life or death struggle.

Even though, you know, the audience is aware that the people of Mantle have already been evacuated and Qrow's group is aware that Atlas is falling on top of Mantle as they speak, so... why does the bomb matter? It's going to, what? Destroy the city thirty seconds before Atlas does? Oh no, the horror.

Things then, if you can believe it, get even worse. The bomb is still about to drop, so instead of doing anything to stop it — I mean seriously, we know it takes four people to shoulder the bomb's weight, but you're telling me Qrow and a reformed Harriet can't snag it in a pinch? — Qrow sits there, looks at Clover's pin... and the bomb careens towards the side of the airship instead, stopping.

Because I guess Qrow has good luck now? Or always did and somehow never noticed it? Or his semblance evolved?? Again, we don't know, but it's a bad moment any way you slice it, imo. Qrow has always been defined as the guy with a bad luck semblance and, much like Penny's android struggles, the allure was in watching him overcome those challenges, not having the show erase the challenge entirely. Especially when we don't even understand how it was erased. Qrow just... stops drinking, stops caring for Ironwood, stops wanting to kill Ironwood, stops causing bad luck, I guess. RWBY takes major character traits and flips them off like a light switch, leaving the audience with no emotional tether. We didn't watch Qrow overcome his drinking, or realize he can't bear to kill Ironwood, or discover a way to live life with the horrible hand he was dealt, he just blinks one day and those things are gone. Why? No one is sure. Not even the writers, I'd wager, because otherwise they would have written explanations into the text.

Many in the fandom insist that any basic information provided by the story amounts to "hand holding" when in fact there is a massive difference between the sort of unnecessary exposition that bogs down a tale, and having facts enough for the audience in its entirety to be on the same page about what is actually happening. For example, recently someone argued strongly that the "Penny is human" take is incorrect because Penny isn't human, she has an inhuman body made entirely of aura... yet where in the world does this exist in the story? Ambrosius may have been unsure about what Penny would be prior to removing her robotic parts, but that ambiguity is gone once her body forms, the equivalent of worrying about that gun only for a flag with 'BANG' to appear instead of a bullet. Worrying about something doesn't mean that something actually occurred. Penny appears human, expresses human sentiments, and then, this episode, dies as a human. If it walks like a duck and talks like a duck and succumbs to the mortal peril that all ducks face... it's probably a duck. As I said in a recent ask, I implore the fandom to stop writing RWBY's scripts for them. Or rather, do so in some amazing fanfics. Don't do it on critical posts as a means of insisting that your revision is canon.

So Qrow has good luck now, maybe, but this character change doesn't amount to anything because Watts remotely starts the bomb's countdown.

At least he’s entertaining and competent. We had that for a time.

Back to the main battle, Neo is kicking Ruby's ass. Why? Because there's no consistency in power levels in this show. The ancient woman who hasn't fought in decades dances circles around Neo, highlighting how weak she supposedly is, yet now Neo dances circles around our main character. None of us should expect fights to follow the logic of the world, only what drama the plot wants to stir up. Ruby is eventually knocked down from a hard hit — yet her aura's intact! — and is saved at the last second by Weiss tossing Neo into one of the portals.

Far more of a problem than the power leveling is that Ruby gives no indication here that Neo just murdered her sister. Again, that's what the characters are meant to believe, yet Ruby is as stoic as she would be fighting a bunch of White Fang grunts. If you showed this scene to a RWBY fan on its own and asked, "What do you think happened prior to this?" the answer would be, "Uh... nothing? Ruby is just fighting Neo like she did on the airship in Volume 3." Nothing about this scene — from dialogue to animation — sells the idea that Ruby just lost the person most important to her in the world.

When we do finally mention Yang, it's Weiss who goes, “Come on, we have to do this for Yang” and the delivery is... meh. Honestly, I normally don't pay much attention to the voice acting, but I had a problem with most of Weiss' lines this episode. The "Leave her alone!" during this fight and later a "Get back!" as she attacks Cinder both fell really flat for me. Given the devastation and charged emotion that's supposed to be here, we can't give her anything better than generic cries that, again, she’d throw at any grunt? In that later scene the animation absolutely helps sell Weiss' distress, but the dialogue is common and the delivery has no emotional punch, leaving it feeling like Yang is just hanging out in Vacuo and they promised they'd beat the baddies before catching up with her. No one but Blake is acting like Yang died.

In fact, we see more emotion from Ruby when Weiss shoves her back, taking the brunt of Cinder's blast.

Weiss' aura breaks, not that that's a danger or anything. Everyone falls before they're injured, Winter gets the Maiden powers, Ren barely has to fight. Losing aura in this show used to be a moment of peril, where just last volume Winter was bruised, bleeding, and now needs an assistive device because she had to continue a battle with no aura. Now it's a joke. Aura breaks left and right across the volume with no repercussions attached to that.

We see a bit of the Blake and Penny vs. Cinder fight where Cinder blasts Blake off the edge. Penny rushes after her because at least one character remembered that they can fly.

Ruby, meanwhile, remembers that she can fly when it benefits her. After getting hit down onto a lower level and watching Crescent Rose plummet, she taunts Neo into an attack with a move that's actually quite good. I like the confidence with which Ruby riles her up and I like the strategy of darting behind Neo to knock her off the path instead. “Whatever you wanted, I hope it was worth it."

The only thing I don't like is that this speed and ingenuity had to disappear to justify Yang falling.

Cinder breaks Ruby's aura from behind though, sending her over too and grabbing onto Neo's leg. In an obvious moment born of the trope, it looks as if Cinder is reaching to help Neo, only for her to snag the Relic instead. “You should have never threatened me," she tells Neo and to Ruby: "you should have never been born.”

Love that they erased all that cool growth from last episode! And by "love" I mean "hate." As I said last recap, I'm not going to pretend that Cinder's character isn't riddled with problems, but realizing she was stronger by teaming up with Neo and Watts was one of the best things they've ever done for her. It made Cinder dangerous again and showed Watts' speech having a clear impact. It also made her more entertaining, creating a new dynamic among the three villains. Now though, Cinder is just... Cinder. The same boring, stupid Cinder we've had since Volume 4. She betrays Neo and then later betrays Watts.

So Cinder kicks Neo and Ruby both over the edge because why would we want to make her interesting? Neo falls, but Ruby has friends there to catch her! Unlike Yang. Jk. Weiss’ aura is gone and Blake actually tried both times, so major kudos for her. Using momentum supplied by Penny, she snags Ruby and hooks her weapon into one of the pathways... only for Cinder to cut the ribbon. Both plummet and once again Penny has a more believable reaction to all this, just like she did last week

Speaking of reactions, does anyone else find it weird that Cinder finally succeeded in killing Ruby and... doesn’t seem to care?

No? Just me?

At least we get that good animation with Weiss I was talking about before, even if the dialogue is lacking. I love that she snagged Blake's weapon and uses it to try and take out Cinder, shaking the whole time. Those are some great details.

Back to the bomb, Qrow is trying to escape, but Harriet says there isn't enough time to get out of the blast range. "I've killed us all." Vine has the solution though, using his semblance to wrap up the airship, thus containing the blast when it goes off. His final words are to reassure Elm that he can give his life, "if it means saving all of my friends." Just in case you missed the part about the Ace Ops being super close this whole time. Even though they also weren’t. Trying to eat your cake too, RWBY?

Frankly, I didn't feel much of anything during this scene, not when Vine made the sacrifice, nor when Elm and Harriet look on sadly while Robyn pilots them away (that's her contribution this episode).

All I can say is, good on RWBY for not killing one of the three dark skinned characters, or just murdering the Ace Ops as a whole. What the story is going to do with them though, who knows.

Jaune and Nora have that ‘You can do it!’ moment after three of their friends have presumably been killed. I swear, about 80% of Jaune's scenes do not work tonally and oh boy, things only get worse from here.

First though, I like his entrance. He slams into the fight against Cinder and lines up with Penny and Weiss, who is still dual-wielding her and Blake's weapons. That's an epic shot.

It looks as if they stand a decent chance against Cinder — Weiss' lost aura notwithstanding — except then Cinder's arm starts going crazy and she gleefully announces that Salem has returned.

Working on a time limit now, Cinder unleashes a volley of attacks that Penny steps in to protect the other two from. It's here that Cinder grabs hold with her grimm arm.

It's here that Penny dies. Again.

For the third time.

Friends, I am tired. This moment honestly deserves the most epic of rants, but that, in turn, requires energy. Energy? In this economy? Ha! That's hilarious. Taking this seriously though, the problem here can — as usual — be boiled down to a single question: What was the point?

Penny died in a horrible attack that shook the cast and audience both to their core.

That emotional impact was erased through her resurrection.

The resurrection did not create a new emotional impact for our heroes to grapple with.

Penny is given the Maiden powers, solidifying the fact that she's always been a "real girl."

That lesson was erased when the story decided to make her human for unexplained reasons (because no, she never needed to be human to survive the virus).

Penny then dies, passing the power to Winter... who was set to get the power in the first place.

We have, once again, come full circle. You can take Penny out of the story and nothing changes. Does Ruby lose any lessons or emotional growth? No. Does anyone survive who would have otherwise died? No. Does her getting the powers lead to someone unexpected snagging them upon her death? No. Penny's existence was filler. She was put in the story to take up time and, that done, was removed from the story once again. It's a choice that wouldn't be half as horrible if that filler hadn't done so much damage along the way.

First is the obvious: that Penny didn't deserve this. As a character, she didn't deserve to be brought back just to be killed off again, seemingly without narrative purpose, serving only to draw in viewers who RT knew loved the character. Second, keeping her in the story led to her entire arc unraveling. Initially, Penny died as an android in the world's eyes, but those who actually knew her — Ruby and Pietro — mourned the girl she really was. Now we have this horrible message that being a machine isn't real enough, so she has to die as a human being. It's a disservice to her character and, as an allegory for many minorities, downright insulting to the audience. Third, this offensive 'better to die as a human than live as a robot' message is wrapped up in the claim that Penny finally gets to choose something — “Let me choose this one thing. Trust me” — but she already did that when she chose to take the Maiden powers. We already had the better written version of this last volume!

And the fourth issue...well.

Fourth and fifth are the real kickers. Fourth is that Penny's death was an assisted suicide. She explicitly asks Jaune to kill her so she can ensure she's thinking of the right person when she passes (never mind that her thoughts would probably be on Jaune while this is happening) and that's... pretty horrible. Look, I'm no purist. I like a great deal of dark, gritty stories whose plot exists to make us uncomfortable. That's a valuable emotion that fiction can generate. The problem is not that RWBY is tackling a sensitive topic, but that they aren’t tackling it well. Yes, they put in a content warning and (from what I've heard) a suicide helpline as well, but providing the already necessary resources is not the same thing as writing that kind of scene with respect and care. All of the above tells us that, no matter what RT may have intended, that respect and care weren't communicated to the audience. Like Yang, they didn't even bother to keep Penny's death within the rules of their world. Jaune is right there ready to heal her and Penny says no, there's supposedly not time.

Um... since when?

Jaune's aura boost is instantaneous. The second he amplifies aura is the same second the healing starts and their talk could have been spent saving Penny. There was certainly time to save Weiss in Volume 5. To have a character go, 'Nah, it's too late' when the solution is right there is the ultimate cop-out. Suddenly announcing that the solution will no longer work For Reasons is not a legitimate limitation and it's made doubly insulting that RT didn't simply use the limitations already available to them. Jaune has been running low on aura since the whale. He then expended a great deal of aura boosting Penny to keep the virus in check. Every other ally has had their aura broken in this fight so, there. That's your solution. Have Jaune take a few hard hits from Cinder, his aura breaks, and then when Penny is mortally wounded he no longer has a semblance to heal her. It's that easy! Yet instead they had Penny reject help so that she could ask to die. That's what's offensive here.

Finally, reason number five... why is this moment given to Jaune? That's another easy solution: Jaune has gone through the portal and can't get back to heal Penny. There. Done. But logistics aside, this scene should have gone to any other character. Who is Jaune to Penny? Or Penny to Jaune? No one! They don't have a relationship. I get that the writers didn't want any of the girls at her side because then it would be hard to justify Penny not passing the power to them (which I get: making one team member a Maiden changes the show drastically), but you know who should be there instead of Jaune?

Pietro.

Pietro, who built Penny as a weapon and who was never given the chance to apologize for that. Pietro, who told Ruby he could only rebuild her once more, setting up an expectation that he'd sacrifice himself for his daughter (despite the complicated racial issues that would bring up). Pietro, who watched Penny plummet and has no idea what happened to her, let alone that she's been made into a human girl. Pietro should have been at her side, saying goodbye to his child and helping her complete her last wish.

And it would be so very easy to pull off. All it takes is a single line where Penny remembers that her father exists, asking Ruby to ensure a portal opens up in Amity. There's a quick reunion along the pathways before Cinder attacks. We hear a cry of despair as Penny falls and she looks, seeing her father racing towards her, though she thought he'd already made it out. There, you’re done. We open ourselves up to a lot of attacks whenever we say, "Why didn't RWBY just do ____?" because those who vehemently defend the writing like to go, "Oh, you think you could write RWBY better?" and no, I don't. I struggle with long-form storytelling and massive casts. I don't think I could do justice to the sort of show RWBY wants to be, but I do think I'm a decent enough writer to spot when there are major problems like this. The question of "Why doesn't Penny remember that her beloved dad exists?" and "Why, out of that massive cast, is Jaune the one to do this deed?" are both things that a newbie writer can spot, and a sometimes okay writer can figure out how to fix them both simultaneously. A good writer will start thinking about themes — what might it mean for Pietro to kill the creation he made? — and a great writer will find a way to pull that off without having that insulting, discomforting feeling pop up. At this point, our RWBY crew feels less like new writers making mistakes (because they're not new, not at all), but rather just writers who haven't bothered to learn from their mistakes after eight years. That's a lot harder to watch.

Because putting Jaune here doesn't just mess with RWBY's internal rules (not using his semblance) and it's not just useless in terms of Penny's development (she doesn't know him outside of "dude who boosted my aura for an hour"), but it also falls back into a pattern I thought RWBY had finally broken from: making Jaune the story's emotional center. This is not the JAUNE show. It's the RWBY show. Yet here, once again, we have Jaune in the spotlight. Why, after a whole volume of Ruby avoiding making decisions, does Jaune finally make the hard call? Why, after a scene where Penny asked Ruby to kill her, does Jaune do that deed? Why, after a divisive arc where all the grief for Pyrrha went to Jaune, is Jaune now set to shoulder the grief of Penny? At least Jaune had a relationship with Pyrrha, even if Nora and Ren did too. Yet with Penny he seems to be there solely because the writers can't bear to keep him out of that center spot for long. All of Team JNOR make it through to Vacuo... except Jaune. Jaune falls into the abyss too because, if the show goes this route, we apparently can’t have a volume just about Team RWBY, the main characters. The main characters are separated from the rest of the team and it's Jaune, not Oscar and Ozpin with a connection to the lore, not Nora or Ren whose development now hinges on them learning who they are without the other, it's Jaune who follows the title characters into a new dimension.

The issue is not whether Jaune deserves to grieve over the truly traumatic thing he just did now that he’s done it. He obviously does. The issue is the writers setting up a scenario where Jaune is situated to do that emotional work in the first place.

I like Jaune as a character. I don't like how the writing uses him as a character. RWBY is built on the idea that these four girls are the heroes of this tale, not the expected blond, blue-eyed, sword wielding guy we’ve seen in so many other stories. So why does that guy get the most important scene of the finale? Yes, Jaune had much less screen time this volume than he did in the past, that’s a good thing given the number of important characters RWBY has to balance, but that hasn't erased the problem of him being given significant moments that should be going to title characters. Does Ruby’s team rescue Oscar and take on Salem? No, Jaune's team does. Does Ruby's team save Penny? No, Jaune's semblance keeps her grounded and then holds the virus off. Not everything is a problem — we've also got good choices like having Ruby defeat the Hound and Ruby's team take on Cinder for the majority of the fight — but that doesn't erase that Penny’s death wasn’t something Jaune should have been a part of. Not unless he was going to heal her. Doing better than they have in the past doesn't mean that RT isn't still slipping when it comes to giving him undeserved focus.

They took one of the most controversial characters, controversial because of how much emotional focus he's gotten in the past, and had him help a fan favorite commit suicide while he cried about it, showing more emotion for a near stranger than our title character showed for her sister. This is a character who, up until two or three episodes ago, had no connection to the victim and still has no reason to thematically be the one committing this act. That is why the fandom goes, “The crew loves Jaune and does everything they can to put him in the center of the action.” Ruby, as main character and Penny’s first friend, is the obvious choice here. Pietro, as Penny's father, would be a good choice too. Hell, Nora is a better option given their moment in the Schnee manor this volume. Or Winter given their moments in Volume 7! Have her escape Ironwood, find Penny, receive the powers, and then finish him off. Literally anyone would be better than Jaune, not because Jaune is a bad character, but because Jaune has no emotional stakes here and putting him in a position where he could heal Penny but doesn’t is massively stupid. No one should be surprised that a lot of the fandom is upset about this. It was one hell of a reach to give him this moment and, since Jaune's problem has always been getting too much screen time and emotional nuance compared to our main cast, it's no wonder this act brought up a lot of bad memories. RT fell back into an old pattern after two volumes of improvement and they did so at the worst possible time.

The tl;dr is that Penny's third death is a writing travesty, just like her second. I shouldn't be surprised, given that this is the same volume that tortured a kid and the only thing they did with it was have him blindly trust his torturer... yet I find myself surprised nonetheless. Because Penny had such potential as an android Maiden and, as much as I personally hated it, potential as a former android learning to be human too. But why explore any of that when you can kill her off instead? Again.

As a final, far smaller note about this scene, we have the continuing problem of what purpose Cinder's arm is serving. If everyone recalls, its threat comes primarily from the fact that she can "siphon off" power from other Maidens.

She did it to Penny during the Amity battle and now she does it again, a great deal of green energy absorbed into Cinder. So what's left to give to Winter? Why doesn't Cinder become noticeably stronger with each successful theft? Like so much else in RWBY, we're told it exists without actually seeing the impact of that. Winter isn't a weaker Maiden for having lost power and Cinder isn't a stronger Maiden for having snagged it. It's just.. there, hanging out and looking vaguely menacing, I guess.

Outside of this unnatural not-transfer, we get to see how the power normally passes as Penny meets with Winter in some in-between place. It's a soft, heartfelt scene... with the exception that Winter says, “You were always the real Maiden at heart. I was just the machine. Just following orders."

I don't know how any viewer can doubt that RT now believes machinery = evil. Penny's machine body is magicked away so she can be a real-real girl. Yang announces that the arm she worked hard to make a part of herself is just "extra." The man with half a metal body is made this volume's villain and losing his second arm is, by the authors' own admission, a symbol of his lost humanity. Mercury with two metal legs remains a bad guy while Emerald and Hazel are hastily redeemed. Tyrian with his cybernetic tail is the most devoted crazy of the bunch. Maria, blind and in need of assistive lenses, is so forgotten by the story she was left in the tundra nine episode ago and won't be mentioned again until next volume (if then). Pietro, the guy in the wheelchair, is forgotten too, despite it being his daughter who dies on screen.

Now Winter, also bearing an assistive device, says that she's the real "machine" here and tells Penny, now human, that she was always the "real Maiden." I don't know what happened to make RT do a 180 lately, but the disability rep is no longer what it was.

Penny reassures Winter that she'll always be a part of her and then passes on, for good this time.

The rest of the episode feels lackluster, if I'm being honest. Images of Cinder beating Weiss are intercut with Ironwood beating Winter, getting her to a point where her aura breaks.

But then the powers appear and, as we'd expect, she easily turns the tide.

Gorgeous animation there.

But RT once again rewrites earlier scenes by having Ironwood claim that the "destiny" he chose for Winter has finally arrived — isn't that Cinder's MO? — and Winter shoots back that he chose nothing, this was a "gift." Except, it was never about destiny or orders? This was why Weiss' anger in Volume 7 was ridiculous. She acted like Ironwood forced Winter to accept the powers and Winter told her point blank she chose this. Ironwood didn't decide anything, he offered and Winter chose... kind of like how Penny is choosing now. I hate how nearly all of Ironwood's character has been ignored or, during times like this, outright lied about to make him seem super duper evil. He tried to bomb a city! You don't need to make him seem evil anymore, that job is done! Like their sudden change regarding disability, RT now seems to be allergic to nuance. Heaven forbid Ironwood be allowed to have valid points like he did in Volume 3. No, if you've got an antagonist every single thing they've ever said must be twisted into a display of their evilness.

Unless you're Hazel, who Oscar trusts for #reasons. Unless you're Emerald, who the group immediately embraces. Unless you're Cinder, who gets to cry on a rooftop and secures the trust of her allies long enough to betray them again.

But Ironwood? Nah, screw that guy.

Salt aside, the fight is pretty boring. Winter literally just throws up a wall of ice and Ironwood's blast rebounds, taking him out.

Winter flies through the portal and we return to Jaune. His sword is broken by Cinder, so weapons should be quite the problem in Volume 9.

There's a bit of sword vs. sword Maiden battling — this episode really pulled heavily from both Volume 3 and 5's finales — before Cinder gets smart again and attacks Weiss, currently trying to escape with Jaune. Weiss goes right off the edge and Winter isn't able to reach her in time. That's the entirety of Team RWBY, lost to the magical void.

Kudos to Winter's VA and the writing here though. This feels like an appropriate reaction to losing a sister. Screaming, sobbing, falling to her knees and beating the floor... Ruby, take notes.

A roar sounds through all the portals though, the sort of roar a pissed off witch might give. Jaune convinces Winter they need to leave Cinder behind, but before they can escape Cinder... makes a new wish?

Look, it works on all the major fronts. Cinder has the staff, check. We've basically established that Ambrosius can make an unlimited number of things per era, check. We know the previous thing disappears when a new wish is made, check. My only question is the timing. In all honesty, I'll have to re-watch the scene to be sure, but at the time it felt like the portals began disappearing almost the second Cinder left. Did she really have time to summon Ambrosius, deal with his explanatory nonsense, and get him to make a new wish without any fiddly concerns? Sure, fire is just fire, but it still felt like way too much happening too fast off screen.

Either way, the portals are gone and Winter makes it through in time, but Jaune does not. He falls through the void along with Team RWBY. And Neo.

Neo is the only addition I'm looking forward to here.

We get a few shots of our other characters as Winter arrives, saving the day by taking her grief out on the grimm. So glad something came of Ren breaking his aura again! Maybe they'll be more fighting at the beginning of Volume 9? If we see any of this group outside of 9's finale. My worst fear right now is that we'll spend an entire season away from the main action — remember how I said it would be stupid for Team RWBY to go on a side adventure while Salem is attacking the world? — and when they return there will have been some major time skip. Salem has destroyed most of Remnant, only pockets of survivors remain, it's all dark and dystopian... and oh look, every bit of character development happened off screen. How did Nora discover who she is without Ren? She did it while Team RWBY was gone. That merge we've been teasing for five years? That happened while you were gone too and, btw, Ozpin has ceased to exist. So sad, right? Not that anyone will actually mourn. Just take comfort in the fact that his last line was an "Oh no" about Ambrosius and his last major scene was apologizing for how the group treated him. Emerald's redemption? Off screen. Winter's grief? Off screen. Any and every one of these challenging beats to tackle can be waved away with, "We went through that arc while you were lost in the magical realm. Just get to know our new, improved selves now!"

Please, oh writing gods, don't let that happen.

Though I do worry because my last prediction came true.

But we all knew we’d end up here. My current theory? The portal should still be open at the vault. Winter will fight Ironwood, escape through it, and it will close right before he escapes too. He’ll fall with Atlas and everyone will act as if it’s some beautiful, poetic justice for him to perish with the city.

Ironwood didn't make a break for the portal — too busy being unconscious — but we got everything else. Winter left him, he falls with Atlas, and this is some poetic justice, I guess. Really, it's just an undignified death. I'd hoped for a sympathetic kill, something that showed the characters still cared about him even if they knew Ironwood had to be stopped. Baring that, I'd hoped for an epic battle that took him out with style. Instead, no one even bothers to kill him. Ironwood is now beneath the entire cast, not even worth finishing off. Winter casually tosses his blast back at him and leaves. Cinder throws out a "that's checkmate" and leaves. I don't think Salem even looks at him. Ironwood (presumably) dies with no one and nothing, just a casualty of the city Team RWBY made fall. And I say "presumably" because the audience isn't even given the satisfaction of being sure he's passed on. Like Hazel, Ironwood's death is this weird, ambiguous moment that, based on the other character reactions, isn’t meant to be ambiguous. Is he dead? Most likely. Is it possible, based on what we've seen, that he'll pop up two volumes later like

Yes and, memes aside, that sucks. I don't want to be wondering for the next couple years if Ironwood survived and if they'll bring him back just to drag his character through the mud again. Move on.

But no, we don't even get that.

I've spoken at great deal about Ironwood both in these recaps and on my blog more generally. Last week, I said I'd covered it all and there was no need to rehash it all again. I stand by that, so let me just conclude this travesty with a final note: if your bad guy's final moment is using the last of his strength to point a gun at the actual villain of this story, and you don't realize the problem of how this image contrasts everything else the story has insisted about his character? … I just don't know what to do with that.

Oh, actually, final-final note: Ironwood’s semblance is officially a Schrodinger's semblance. It is both canonical and noncanonical simultaneously. Wooo.

Cinder tells Salem she used her wish to "add more flames to the first of Atlas" and we cut to Watts, trapped in a roaring fire, unsuccessfully trying to break his way out. Wow, I hate that too! Next to Tyrian, Watts was our last remaining, entertaining villain. He carried a lot of the last two volumes and, I had hoped, was going to add some bright spots to the coming volumes as well. Apparently not.

Just another waste.

In addition to this casual, second murder of her ally, Cinder successfully convinces Salem that Neo killed Ruby and Ruby used the Lamp's last question, but she's back in her good graces since she snagged the Relics anyway. “You’ve done well, Cinder. Our work here is done" and they leave, blasting off like a less cool Team Rocket as Atlas plummets into Mantle.

Let's spend a second to tally things up then, shall we? What happens if Ruby, instead of throwing a moral fit, says, "You're right and we never should have lied to you, or betrayed you. But we want to help now. You get the Relics and the Maiden to safety in Atlas, if you can, we'll defend the people of Mantle"?

Well, they can still tell the world about Salem and call for help, much more easily now since Ironwood would likely just give them the code rather than them needing to spend an episode stealing it.

The Staff at least may not have ended up in Salem's hands and the group could have actually focused on getting the Lamp back (also solved if they'd been smart and just put it in the vault to begin with).

Mantle would still have been safe because Salem was never interested in Mantle to begin with.

Atlas wouldn't have fallen.

Ironwood wouldn't have died.

Penny wouldn't have died.

Even Vine wouldn't have died!

Our heroes unambiguously made the situation worse. Rather than banding together with their allies to fight the real enemy, Salem, they pushed until they made enemies of Ironwood and the Ace Ops both. Then they asked for help — which a pinch of logic said would never arrive — and twiddled their thumbs waiting for it. When it was clear none would come they...did nothing. They sat around, upset that the people were in danger, but not willing to do anything about it. It's only when one of their own, Penny, is threatened that they kick into high gear, hitting on a solution that they could have posed to Ironwood from the very start if no one liked the fly away plan. Yet instead of taking a few minutes to brainstorm other ideas — doing anything other than denouncing Ironwood to the rest of the group and attacking the Ace Ops — they spent two days sitting around, fixing minor messes they’d helped to create, then rushed through the portal plan, messing up the wish and stranding an entire kingdom in a sandstorm, with only Winter now to protect them from grimm.

Fantastically done, team.

The villains won, yes, but not because the villains were smart and compelling. Watts' hack on Penny and the heat petered out to nothing and Salem... well, she sat around for the whole volume, expending energy only to torture Oscar and try to (unsuccessfully) stop some escapees. Neo and, miraculously, Cinder did the most damage, but only in the final hour, with this "damage" being that our characters fall into a void that we now know looks remarkably like a paradise! Everything bad that happened was a result of our heroes being stupid and stubborn. That's a compelling story to tell... but RT isn't trying to tell it. Our heroes caused so much damage, yet that damage goes unacknowledged — or worse, ignored into silence like with Ren — and everything else is waved away with the magic wand the series claims isn't there. The cold doesn't kill anyone. Oscar has no problems walking off the torture. Nora hops back out of bed. Ruby one-shots the Hound. The civilians lost to the void must have survived too. The entire kingdom successfully makes it to Vacuo... unless you count the massive army we never saw making use of the portals, but who cares about them, right?

The villains won, there was indeed something resembling consequences, but none of it was emotionally satisfying. Not even when the series tries so hard to insist that emotion is there.

Qrow watches Atlas fall, mouthing Ruby and Yang's names, but it's too little, too late. Where was this care for his nieces when he was obsessed with killing Ironwood? When did they care about him? Was it when Ruby shrugged at his arrest, when neither cared that he was missing, or when they were designing an escape plan that didn't include putting a portal where Qrow could reach? RWBY markets itself around the found family-ness of its cast, but they're done a poor job in recent volumes (not others) of convincing me that most of these characters care for one another. We went from Ruby denouncing all adults, to Ruby pulling an Ozpin with Ironwood, to Ruby watching blandly as her sister falls to her presumed death. This is my hero? This is the simple soul we're supposed to rally behind? Ruby doesn't feel like a character who cares about other people anymore and, given that she leads the charge, neither do most of her friends. Or, when that emotion appears, it's jarring and undeserved. Jaune cries over Penny's death? That's tonally and characteristically backwards.

This volume was the culmination of so many mistakes over the past two years. No, Covid couldn't have made things any easier for the crew — the fact that they got a volume out at all is amazing — but the pandemic isn't to blame for the problems in the story. These seeds have existed since Volume 5, with some (like Jaune) going back even farther. I don't think we're ever going to get that flawed, but emotionally fulfilling RWBY back. The show has dug too deep and unless it somehow manages to create a clean slate — those time travel ideas get more and more alluring! — there's nothing they can do but keep on digging. At this point, I can only hope that the series does wrap up within the next two volumes, rather than dragging RWBY to a Supernatural-esque length.

Our final shot of the episode proper feels fitting for what this volume has been. Atlas and Mantle flood rather than exploding, something that makes a certain amount of sense, sure, but definitely wasn't what I was expecting. And after all these shocking images — Penny dying, the grimm attacking, our main characters disappearing in a puff of gold dust — we end it all with bits of random debris. It's strange and underwhelming. Out of everything you could have done with the options you had, you choose to do this?

Of course, RWBY always has an after-credits scene (RIP Raven's, still amounting to nothing). Here, the sounds of water return to show us a beach. Crescent Rose imbedded in the sand, mirroring its classic pose in the snow.

There's a tree. It's a very different kind of tree from what we saw in Volume 6, but the height and shape is nevertheless reminiscent of Light's domain.

A tree of life, anyone? After all, the group has fallen into a dimension created by a Relic, the gift of Light himself. It certainly seems as if RWBY is heading towards another encounter with the Gods, though what that will look like and how narratively satisfying it will be remains to be seen.

As for our bingo board, RWBY certainly pulled its weight! Only three squares got gold stars: Watts and Jacques didn't manage another team up because both are dead, Oscar didn't apologize for getting shot because he was too busy being tortured, and Qrow didn't drink likely because he didn't have access to any alcohol across the whole volume. Can't say that's a stellar result. The final image is something to behold though lol.

What a mess.

And on that less than exciting note... we’re done. This has been the volume of desertion, with a large number of fans telling me that they will no longer watch RWBY, but baring something entirely unexpected in my future, I'll be back next volume, for whatever that's worth. It never ceases to amaze me that even one person would give these nonsense recaps the time of day, so in all seriousness: thank you for reading. You rock.

Now go forth and fill the hiatus with great RWBY content!

✌️

#suicide tw #rwby #rwby spoilers #rwby volume 8 #mymetas #rwby recaps #rwby the final word

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malecdiscordserver · 4 years

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We’ve officially come to the end of the Malec Discord Mini Bang 2020 presented by the Malec Discord Server. We had a fantastic turnout with 35 writers, 21 artists, and 22 betas making it across the finish line. I hope you’ll join us in giving everyone a huge round of congratulations for this fantastic content.

Take a look at the AO3 collection here!

Without further ado, here is a masterpost of all submitted pieces for this event. Please be sure to give all of these fantastic creators the credit they deserve for these amazing stories and incredible pieces of art.

The Games We Play by @accal1a

Rating: Explicit Summary: Alec and Aed play a diabolical game, Magnus and Francesca look on, teasing their partners all the while.

When Life Doesn't Give You Lemons by @jesssssah

Rating: Mature Summary: Magnus and Alec are contestants on Masterchef. Without a recipe, they must each make a dessert by celebrity chef Jace Wayland or risk elimination from the competition. Magnus' talent is for desserts but Alec is inexperienced at those. So to save him from going home Magnus must give him some lessons in baking.

The Angel's Treasure by @notquiteascrazy

Rating: Mature Summary: When a change of life circumstance gives Magnus the means to go in search of adventure, there is only one person he can think of who should accompany him: his college friend, Alexander Lightwood. After all, what could possibly go wrong with taking the man you've always had a secret crush on to explore a tropical island on the hunt for long-lost treasure? Link to completed fic

You Are The Music in Me @brightasstars

Rating: Explicit Summary: Alec wakes up one morning, in a hospital’s bed, alone and far away from home, only to discover that he has lost his lower leg and all that he had, is now gone forever. With his new life, comes new relationships and encounters, and Alec finds himself working on his dream with Magnus, a famous cello player, who shares with him more past than he could imagine. Heart grows fonder as they get to know each other but it terrifies Alec to reveal everything to Magnus, scared that it would be too much, for he isn’t ready to lose everything all over again.When truth is forced out of him, even his own skin doesn’t feel safe enough. Luke’s question echoes through his mind, is he ready to let someone see him? let someone love him? A story of losing and winning and everything in between. Link to completed fic

hollow crown by taurussieben

Rating: Teen Summary: He nodded at himself in the mirror, took the keys from the bowl on the sideboard in the hallway, checked for his pockets for his card and phone, and stepped out. The door closed behind him with a soft click.

“I think we should take a break.”

A story about how we shape our own world and that sometimes, that shape is much more different then we thought it is.

of track meets and heartbeats by fallenhurricane

Rating: General Summary: Alec takes a deep breath and rolls his shoulders, bouncing from foot to foot. He adjusts his grip on the pole one last time before starting his run.

His run feels good and right; his knees are pulling up high and the pole is steady, if a bit lighter than normal, in his hands. As he approaches the crossbar, he straightens and speeds up a bit, extending his arms above him. The bottom of the pole settles into the plant box and Alec swings himself forward and up, just as he’s done hundreds of times before.

But.

While Alec has plans to clear this jump and advance to set his personal record, the pole that Camille loaned him has a different idea.

OR: The high school track team injury AU nobody asked for.

Please, Don't Turn Back by hmweasley

Rating: Teen Summary: Once they're 18, both demons and angels must visit Earth with their own personal missions before they come of age. For angels, this means saving souls. For demons, it usually means little more than corrupting a human or two, but Magnus isn't a run-of-the-mill demon. He's the son of a Prince of Hell, and his mission must reflect that. What Asmodeus gives him is a mission that's rather straightforward on paper: kill Alexander Lightwood, the son of high-ranking angels.

There's just one thing the plan doesn't account for: how Alexander makes Magnus feel.

Dormancy by Hermit

Rating: Teen Summary: Love used to be a weed that threatened to choke him. Now, it will never again be in the cards for him. Magnus absolutely, and with all the certainty of centuries, knows this. Until Alec Lightwood unknowingly waters his heart. It decides to grow. This is undeniably a problem, but both Alec and Magnus have to choose if it can bloom.

catch me when i fall by @mirrorofliterature

Rating: Teen Summary: When Magnus Bane walks into Alec Lightwood's office on one frosty fall night, fresh from a conference about a particular world-destroying lie-detector, the Damocles sword doesn't drop onto their heads.

Or: Robert Lightwood doesn’t tell Alec about the Soul Sword, and things change. Magnus and Alec stay together. Yet -

How much more does he have to lose - how much more does he have to suffer - before he’s finally left alone?

In the perpetual, lonely silence filling his home, Magnus Bane falls to his knees, and cries.

Meet Me On The Ice by @aceon-ice

Rating: Teen Summary: Magnus is at the top of men's figure skating, with a solid winning streak, but he's no longer interested in the sport- until he meets Alec Lightwood.

Alec is a pairs skater struggling with competition anxiety whose life takes a turn for the better when he's approached by Magnus Bane.

AKA the figure skating AU nobody asked for but I wanted to write.

Artwork for Meet Me On The Ice by @koryandr

the way to a chef's heart by @lecrit

Rating: Mature Summary: After a scorching review on his restaurant in one of the world's most famous food magazine, world class chef Magnus Bane is set on finding the food critic who dared to slander his art and make him change his mind. He doesn't expect someone as stubborn or infuriating as Alec Lightwood.

Artwork for the way to a chef’s heart by @whatanexcitingfewdaysithasbeen

I loved your colours (before I loved you) by @hopesilverheart

Rating: Explicit (Chapter 10 only) Summary: Magnus Bane is a journalist who's always dreamed of modelling for Lightwood Fashions. When the CEO Alec Lightwood starts looking for new models for their spring collection, he jumps on the occasion.

In the meantime, Alec Lightwood is struggling with the idea of finally announcing his role as co-designer. When Magnus Bane strolls into his life, Alec is torn between keeping his secret or throwing all caution to the wind. Link to completed fic

Artwork for I loved your colours (before I loved you) by @calliartss

Bleeding Heart by sivan325

Rating: Explicit Summary: “Are you sure? Maybe there is some other alpha out there for you?” Jace asked.

“What other alpha?” Alec asked as he stared at the beta, and added, “I don’t have a choice in that anymore, I’m without an Alpha, I’m more like pack less, someone that does not belong anywhere.” Link to completed fic

Artwork for Bleeding Heart by @miss-shiva-adler

They Call Me a Thief by @lightwormsiblings

Rating: Teen Summary: The Lightwoods are relatively new to the criminal scene but are quickly making a name for themselves. What happens when they run into world renowned con-artist Magnus Bane and his team when on a job after which Alec realizes he and Magnus might be after the same thing.

or a Shadowhunters Leverage AU

Artwork for They Call Me a Thief by @killiarious

Love, but Make it Fashion by theweird1

Rating: Explicit (Chapter 9) Summary: Alec couldn't stand corporate life anymore. Now he needs a job and Izzy is the girl to help. Unfortunately, it is to be a PA to the most overbearing and annoyingly handsome fashion designer to ever grace the pages of Vogue. A man with a heart of ice, but even ice can be thawed with enough care. Ghosts from the past will surface just when it looks like love is in the air. Suddenly Alec finds himself in the most awkward position of pretending to be his boss’ new fiancé. Magnus and Alec will have to decide if their fake engagement can become a reality before they are completely torn apart. Link to Chapters 1-5 Link to Chapters 6-Epilogue

Artwork for Love, but Make it Fashion by Kuro

To Shine A Light by Nadja_Lee

Rating: Mature Summary: Alexander Lightwood is a very old and powerful Warlock, who has risen to become a leader for the Downworld. When one of his people, the Warlock Andrew Underhill, is accused of breaking the Accords and faces sentencing Alec shows up at the New York Institute to set the record straight. Camille, leader of the NYI, has plans for the powerful Warlock, plans she is eager to see carried out. She has Idris’ best soldier, Magnus Bane, assist with the interrogation of Alec, unaware what she is setting in motion by doing so as Alec and Magnus are instantly drawn to each other. Soon Magnus will have to choose between helping Alec and his oath to Idris. Will Magnus dare to risk it all for the possibility the powerful Warlock will take a chance and open his heart to him? Link to completed fic

A Bit of Space by @facialteeth

Rating: Mature Summary: Alec and Magnus are the sole survivors after their spaceship crashes on an uninhabited planet. They have no way to contact anyone to let them know they’re still alive but somehow, they make it work. In the end, all they really need is each other. Link to completed fic

Artwork for A Bit of Space by @accal1a

A Prince of Gold and Glass by @harkasun

Rating: General Summary: When Magnus sends himself to Edom in order to protect Alicante and the world, Alec must come to terms with the possibility that the man he intended to marry has sacrificed much more than his freedom. Meanwhile, in the demonic realm, The Queen of Edom finds a warlock, the half-breed son of a Prince of Hell whose corruption can ensure that the throne of Edom is once again claimed by a creature of demonic royalty: one who will become her Prince of Edom. Link to completed fic

Artwork for A Prince of Gold and Glass by DarayFlair

Cradling the Sun by @cuubism

Rating: Mature Summary: Alec’s known for a long time that Magnus is a hard person to hold. He’s so much—so much power, so much energy, so much brilliance, so much love. He shines so bright he’s hard to even look at directly, never mind try to hold in one set of hands. Now that Magnus himself is losing his grip on all of that, well. Alec will just have to hold him a little bit tighter. Link to completed fic

Artwork for Cradling the Sun by @faejilly Also found on YouTube and Spotify

A piece of night sky by myulalie

Rating: Teen Summary: There are rumors that Valentine is back. And he's searching for something. When his dealings with dark magic cause swarms of demons to crawl New York, the city is not safe at night, especially for downworlders.

Alec is doing his best to keep the city safe. With no support from the Clave, the New York Institute is desperately understaffed. He begins patrolling with help from the Downworld factions - which proves to be tricky at best, and becomes almost impossible when the werewolves start hunting Alec.

His siblings have no idea of what he’s up to at night and to keep them all safe Alec needs to keep it that way.

Then, he meets the High Warlock of Brooklyn. Suddenly, patrolling also includes pop songs and bird puns in between watching someone's back when fighting demons.

But, what’s one more secret to keep? Link to completed fic

Artwork for A piece of the night sky by @jesssssah

Dona Nobis Pacem by lawsofchaos

Rating: Teen Summary: “When Alec kneels before you on that dais, Magnus,” Jace keeps going, “he’s telling every person present that it is your judgement, your respect, that he places before all others. In you placing that rune on his neck, Alec is publicly proclaiming that it’s your blessing and your judgement on him and on his reign as Head that gives him the right and the authority to uphold the Covenant.” Link to completed fic

Artwork #1 for Dona Nobis Pacem created by @cloudburst-ink Artwork #2 for Dona Nobis Pacem created by @cloudburst-ink

isn’t it just so pretty to think (an invisible string) by @iambeingcoy

Rating: General Summary: alec had jumped at the chance to work in paris when the offer presented itself to him. it was a chance to run away from new york for a year under the guise of a good career opportunity. there, he meets magnus. while falling in love with the other man, alec finds himself falling in love with the city too. when the year begins to come to a close, alec doesn't realize that what you're running away from can always catch up to you and, just maybe, he isn't the only one who has been running.

it's easy to fall in love in paris.

Artwork for isn’t it just so pretty to think (an invisibly string) by @spark-draws

Copper, Gold, Silver, and Glitter by YourAverageNerd

Rating: Teen Summary: "Oh. Yeah. You know how you invited Magnus Bane to Jace and Clary's wedding as a joke?" Alec shrugged. "He actually showed up. We went out for lunch yesterday."

Silence. It was silent. The kind that Alec craved and usually could never find and wow, he should drop bombs like this more often because he really liked it.

Then Jace ruined it by nearly screaming, "I'm sorry, what!"

(In which there's a wedding, some celebrities may be nicer than they appear, and Alec is trying to keep himself from turning into smoke.)

Blame It on the Fairy Dust by slyvir

Rating: Mature Summary: Pandemonium is Magnus's territory, the lack of Alec's presence by his side despite the latter's apparent open stance on downworlders is slowly brewing into political issues. That clubs are not Alec's scene it is not a surprise, the reasons why he tried to avoid nights at Pandemonium however blindside Magnus, especially when they came out in the open in a fashion that is uniquely normal for them.

Both Alec and Magnus are ready to give away a piece of themselves for the other. Suffering in silence, with the intent to protect their partner from pain or guilt. But the way to Hell is paved with good intentions. And the more one let someone else in, the more one can get hurt. No one has any doubt that Magnus Bane and Alec Lightwood are deeply in love, they show it all the time, even when no one’s looking. So it should not come as a surprise that they end up being each other’s reason to hurt so much. Link to completed fic

Artwork for Blame It on the Fairy Dust by @a-ghost-named-k

In Every Universe, We Find Each Other by EternallySilverMagnusandAlec

Rating: Teen Summary: Tensions have been rising between the Clave and the Downworld to the brink of near revolution in the wake of Valentine's return. Magnus is asked to lead in these trying times, pushed to fight at the forefront of his people and the downworld as he has for centuries. Despite this, Magnus and Alec still meet and dance around with whatever is growing between them, time stretching into months of stolen interactions despite the swelling conflict, and fall in love. And Alec Lightwood still makes the decision to choose Magnus Bane. Or: A collection of moments in a time of growing tension Magnus and Alec share, and the product of their final choices

Artwork for In Every Universe, We Find Each Other by @greentealycheejelly

Codename: Bane by @bidnezz

Rating: Mature Summary: Magnus Bane meets Alec Lightwood by pure coincidence on two occasions: one morning in a quaint coffee shop, and again during a mission briefing for The Clave. It’s only supposed to be one mission, but leaked information and the kidnapping of his friend and mentor Ragnor Fell lead to undesirable predicaments, and hard as he tries to keep it professional, Magnus can’t help his growing affection for the spy he’s hired to watch and navigate through the murky treachery of espionage.

Artwork for Codename: Bane by @myulalie

A Wonderful Institution by @rhosyn-du

Rating: Teen Summary: Magnus doesn’t have time for this bullshit. Warlocks are disappearing in New York City—five people in less than three months—and Magnus is determined to find them and protect the rest of his people from whatever took them. He doesn’t have time for politics, and he certainly doesn’t have time for whatever nonsense the Clave is proposing about marrying a Shadowhunter to a Downworlder as part of the new Accords. He doesn’t really have time for a pretty Shadowhunter who’s surprisingly kind to warlock children, either, but, well, he’s always been good at multitasking.

Alec always knew he couldn’t have what he wanted, but he’s spent the nearly four years since the newly-appointed Consul recalled his parents to Idris without explanation making the best of what he can have. When life suddenly offers up almost everything Alec actually wants on a silver platter, he can’t quite bring himself to trust it, especially when it comes with a million caveats and a side of impending disaster. But he knows how to handle disasters, even if the return of the Circle on top of Clave secrets that could destroy the Accords is way beyond the disasters he’s used to fielding. Hope, on the other hand? He doesn’t know what to do with that. Link to completed fic

Artwork for A Wonderful Institution by @bidnezz

Coming to America by PisangGoreng

Rating: Mature Summary: His Royal Highness Asmodeus Magnus III is the crown prince and sole heir to the throne of Edom. He has never left the island and is pretty desillusioned with the royal treatment. The law says he needs to wed before he turns 30, so on his 29th birthday his father arranges a marriage for him. But when his fiancée turns out to be an awful familiar face, Magnus takes matters into his own hand.

He bargains with his father, who gives him 3 months to do whatever he wants. So Magnus comes up with a plan: he's going to live life as a normal guy and find a partner all by himself in New York.

Not wasting any time he starts looking for love, with little success. Until he encounters the most handsome, intelligent and charming man he has ever seen! Without realizing it himself Alexander Lightwood sweeps Magnus off his feet, and along the way Magnus finds that he's in deep and has no plan, his dream guy is already in a relationship and every day he is closer to his return to Edom.

And even if he manages to get Alec's attention, will there ever be a good time to tell him he's been a prince all along?

An adaptation of the 1988 romantic comedy Coming to America (but probably a lot less funny). Link to completed fic

Artwork for Coming to America by amillustration_

until death do us part by ColorfulWarlock

Rating: Explicit Summary: In the past, a still traumatized six-year old Magnus thought he would have to endure the darkness of Edom alone. Until another child – a boy with dark hair, pale skin and bright hazel eyes – found him and lighted up his heart.

In the present, the High Warlock of Brooklyn Magnus Bane works with the Shadowhunters and other Downworlders to bring Valentine down. What he doesn’t expect is that Valentine controls a very powerful being, and how to fight someone to whom you give your heart centuries ago?

Artwork for until death do us part by @eternallysilvermagnusandalec

Keris by AlterEgon

Rating: Mature Summary: A recent death shakes Magnus Bane with some eerie parallels to his own past. As the supposed suicide turns to probable murder, he begins questioning the circumstances surrounding his own mother's death. When proximity to the dagger that took his mother's life brings him visions of details long forgotten that do not fit into the narrative he had taken as truth regarding her last days or weeks, he, Alec, and their friends and family begin to investigate, uncovering unexpected connections and a killer who has been on the loose for far too long

It's What You Do With Life That Matters by @skylar102

Rating: Teen Summary: Alec has come to the Sinnoh region in search of a rare pokemon. Along the way, he meets a trainer who is more than willing to help him out. Is there more to the stranger's generosity? Will Alec be able to capture the pokemon he's been long searching for? What secret is Alec hiding?

On this journey, Alec is going to make new friends, finish a long overdue promise, and finally confront a piece of his past.

Aligned by @jaackkitty

Rating: Teen Warning: Non-con in a chapter (not descriptive or explicit) Summary: In six months, Prince Alec Lightwood is set to become King of Idris. He’s been waiting to take the throne since his parents' unexpected death at sea eight years ago. Since then, Valentine Morgenstern has been serving as king. Needless to say, Valentine’s rules & regulations only serve Valentine and his trusted followers, with no regard for the well-being of the people of Idris, least of all the magic users. Afraid of them, he created a law to bind their magic to another. By circumstance, Alec finds himself aligned with magic user, Magnus Bane. Link to chapters 1-9 Link to chapters 10-16

Artwork for Aligned by @greentealycheejelly

My Fearless Love, I Will Not Say Goodbye by @arialerendeair

Rating: Explicit Summary: When their first time together results in an accidental mating bond, Alec and Magnus have to decide how they want to proceed. Especially since they were both sure that the other didn't want a full mating...right?

Also known as: Alpha Alec, Omega Magnus, and a fuckton of pining. Link to completed fic

Artwork for My Fearless Love, I Will Not Say Goodbye by @skylar102

Sixteenth Sunset by Nhixxie

Rating: Mature Summary: NASA astronauts Magnus Bane and Alec Lightwood spend one year living and working together in the International Space Station. They fall in love one astounding view of Earth at a time.

Artwork for Sixteenth Sunset by @miss-shiva-adler

Untitled experiment by @imandras

Rating: General Summary: But it happened at the time that in one of Alec's lectures the proposal to conduct an experiment was presented so convincingly, that Alec and his guitar were allowed to (or rather had to) spend some time (with considerably less wages) in the subway.

And as fate would have it (she was in a good mood this morning) Magnus went to work earlier than usual, because he wanted to start the day pleasantly with his dear friend Cat and an extensive breakfast together.

Remember, it's all Simon's fault!

Artwork for Untitled experiment by @a-ghost-named-k

#malec #shadowhunters #malec discord mini bang 2020 #magnus bane #alec lightwood #magnus x alec #alec x magnus #mini bang #big bang #malec big bang #masterlist #writing #writing challenge #fanfiction #fanfic

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theyearoftheking · 4 years

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Book Thirty-Two: Needful Things

“Why is it that so many people think all the answers are in their wallets?”

When I started this blog, it was kind of funny how life events were lining up with the books I was reading. I finished The Stand just as we were starting to learn about Coronavirus. I read Misery while we were all stuck in quarantine. And this weekend I finished Needful Things just as riots were starting to break out all over the country.

I’m not egotistical enough to think my reading of these books is bringing them to life, but I’m also kind of terrified to crack into The Dome... just sayin. And I guess we did avoid murderous clown shenanigans with It, so maybe it’s just a freaky coincidence. But I might skip Sleeping Beauties just to be safe.

I might have discovered my new favorite Steve book. This was my first time reading Needful Things, and the story captured me in a way I wasn’t expecting. I was immediately reminded of Something Wicked This Way Comes; which my husband admitted to never having read/watched the movie, which is a real tragedy. But the book truly feels like one big piece of Bradbury fan fiction. And I’m not at all mad about that.

Before cracking into Needful Things, I recommend going back and reading Sun Dog, the last novella in Four Past Midnight. Sun Dog brings us back to Castle Rock, Maine, and introduces the characters we explore further in Needful Things. Reading it isn’t mandatory, but it does make for a richer experience. In the introduction to Sun Dog, King explains Needful Things is the last book he’s going to set in Castle Rock (lies). For those keeping count, we’ve got Cujo, The Dead Zone, The Dark Half, and The Body (Stand By Me). All these stories are referenced in Needful Things, and we even find out what happened to our friend Thad Beaumont from The Dark Half. Spoiler: it’s not great.

“By virtue of Thad’s drunken phonecalls, Alan had become an unwilling witness to the crash of Thad’s marriage and the steady erosion of the man’s sanity.”

Additionally, Thad’s wife Liz took the twins and deuced out. I mean... not surprising. I don’t know how one recovers from being stalked by their alter-ego, and having their house busted into by a bunch of sparrows. In case you need a reminder about all the shenanigans and bad luck Castle Rock has endured, here’s the Cliff’s Notes version:

Before I get into the plot of the story, I’m going to issue a Trigger Warning. Needful Things does deal with the suicide of a young boy, as well as the murder of two seperate animals.

Needful Things is a quaint little shop which just opened up in downtown Castle Rock, and it promises oddities and strange little finds. The proprietor of the shop is Leland Gaunt, and he seems to have something for everyone. Everything from aviator sunglasses worn by Elvis, to autographed Sandy Koufax baseball cards, to a splinter believed to have come off Noah’s Ark, to a necklace believed to cure arthritis. Every little oddity in the shop is wildly affordable, but comes with a few strings attached. Gaunt asks a favor, or a “prank” of each patron that comes into the shop.

Slowly but surely, he’s got the entire town feuding. It starts with two old women dueling on a street corner, because one believes the other killed her dog, and the other believes she threw mud on her clean laundry and broke her windows. Gaunt plays on the already growing tensions in town: the Catholic church wanting to have a casino night fundraiser, and the Baptists who are fiercely opposed to the idea. The embezzling city official who parks in the handicapped spot, and the deputy who is pressured by his boss to give him a ticket for it. Before long, these “pranks” and “favors” are adding up, and the town is thrown into a state of chaos. Meanwhile, Leland Gaunt just sits back and smiles.

It falls to Sheriff Alan Pangborn to try and figure out what’s going on in town, and how the riots started. He visits little Sean Rusk in the hospital, who witnessed his older brother Brian commit suicide. Brian had stopped into Needful Things and left with an autographed and personalized Sandy Koufax card, which of course came with a few small strings attached. Brian ends up committing a few acts of vandalism that led to the old lady duel. The guilt eats him alive, and he shoots himself. Sean tells Sheriff Pangborn Brian was acting strange lately, he had caught him mooning over a random, ratty baseball card. NOT the autographed, personalized Sandy Koufax card Brian thought it was... Because, dark magic.

So, Alan starts to get an idea of who is behind the madness plaguing Castle Rock. As his city is looting, rioting and falling down around him, he goes to confront Gaunt with prank snakes in a can. You know... a real prank... not like killing someone’s dog, or ruining their laundry. The snakes take on some kind of magical power, and send Gaunt on his way to Iowa. I speak for all midwestern folk when I say, “God speed to Iowa, Gaunt. That state could use some livening up...”

The book was fantastic; there were so many threads that came together at the end, it was masterful. And I speak for everyone who has bought crazy, random shit off the internet during quarantine... at least my Keds/truffle infused hot sauce/Christian McCaffrey jersey/protein powder/2 liter water bottle didn’t come with any strings attached. Just sayin.

There were two Dark Tower references... at two different points in the book, Steve referred to people battling as, “gunslingers”. No Wisconsin references, and I’m kinda glad. The last thing we need is some Leland Gaunt up in our already messed up state.

Total Wisconsin Mentions: 25

Total Dark Tower References: 25

Book Grade: A+

Rebecca’s Definitive Ranking of Stephen King Books

The Talisman: A+

Needful Things: A+

Misery: A+

Different Seasons: A+

It: A+

Four Past Midnight: A+

The Shining: A-

The Stand: A-

The Drawing of the Three: A-

Nightmares in the Sky: B+

The Dark Half: B+

Skeleton Crew: B+

The Dead Zone: B+

‘Salem’s Lot: B+

Carrie: B+

Creepshow: B+

Cycle of the Werewolf: B-

Danse Macabre: B-

The Running Man: C+

Thinner: C+

Dark Visions: C+

The Eyes of the Dragon: C+

The Long Walk: C+

The Gunslinger: C+

Pet Sematary: C+

Firestarter: C+

Rage: C

Cujo: C-

Nightshift: C-

Roadwork: D

Christine: D

The Tommyknockers: D-

I hope everyone stays safe amid the riots and protests, and the ever-looming threat of Coronavirus. I’m one hundred pages into The Wastelands, and it’s the ultimate escape reading for me. Walking into Roland’s ka-tet is like coming back to see old friends. Lovely.

Until next time, long days & pleasant nights,

Rebecca

#stephen king #constant readers #needful things #castle rock #dark tower #ray bradbury #something wicked this way comes #cujo #the dark half #sun dog #the body #stand by me

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animation-recaps-by-sean · 4 years

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She Ra and the Princesses of Power Season Five Recap

In the finale season, Catra is forced to reevaluate her life, without the sword Adora discovers new things about She Ra, and Horde Prime makes his move. We’re in the endgame folks. Spoilers below.

I loved this season. I love it to pieces. It’s been awhile since I’ve seen a season finale that was as great as this. This was a packed season, but they did a great job of having everything flow together.

The season begins with Adora throwing herself into battle. She doesn’t really know what to do without She-Ra. The rebellion is left in shatter, with Horde Prime forces running amok. I do wonder what happened with Hordak’s horde. Lonnie, Kyle, and the Lizard guy get a cameo in the last episode but the other ground troops just aren't mentioned. Not important but curious to what became of them.

Entrapta was big this season. Maybe the writers were making up for her being absent most of last season. It starts with the other princesses pissed at the tech girl as they think she only works for the science. I mean they're not wrong. But Entraptra does care for people she just doesn’t know how to show it. She’s also bad at reading people, as she didn’t realize all the princesses were mad at her until knee deep in a mission.

Meanwhile Adora realizes that thinking about her friends she contacts the power of She Ra without the sword. This could have used just a bit more information on how it works, but I’ve seen a lot of anime, I’m used to this sort of thing. Bow, Adora, and Entraptra blast off into space to find Glimmer.

Speaking of Glimmer, she and Catra find themselves trapped on Horde Prime’s ship. I was worried that Horde Prime would be underdeveloped compared to Hordak or Catra, but he is fantastic. He is absolutely in control of every scene he’s in. I’m in awe with how charming and fighting they make him. That dinner scene was amazing. I am amazed with how quickly they set him up. He’s almost like White Diamond, genocidal lunatic with a light motif, like to hijack bodies, but with actual time to develop. Can you believe I didn’t like Keston John when I first heard him back in season one? He’s so great! He plays each Horde clone with the same voice but his acting makes them distinct from each other. It’s like listening to H. Jon Benjamin in Bob’s Burgers than Archer.

Catra realizes that her game of thronesing doesn’t work in an army made up of drones and clones with a hive mind. Realizing she has nothing left, Catra is focused to be introspective and spend time with Glimmer. Thinking she’s about to die Catra teleports Glimmer back to Adora.

When Adora realizes Ctara did something for someone else, she instantly goes into hero mode. She flies into Horde Prime’s base. They split up; Adora confronts Horde Prime, Bow and Entraptra try to hack his system for info, while Glimmer looks for Catra in the holding cells.

Entraptra sees a clone in a pod who she thinks is Hordak, so she gets him out but the clones freaks out being separated from the hive mind. Hoder Prime shows Adora a mind controlled Catra with shaved hair. He has Adora fight Catra, the chip on the back of her neck gets damaged, giving Catra just enough control to jump off the edge. Adora leaps off to get her but it’s only a few feet to the bottom so the both survive; drama queens. Seeing Catra hit sends Adora all Ultra Instinct.

Adora and everyone escapes, even Wrong Hordak (the name they give the freed clone). Catra acts like, while Catra, and tries pushes everyone away. But she realizes that Horde prime can trace her through the chip. While Entraptra works on the chip, Catra apologizes and the two have a moment. I was worried they would drag Catra’s redemption arc and the series would end on a fight between her and Adora like Saskue and Naruto. I am so glad that is not the case. I love Bow and Glimmer teasing Catra about her sneezes. Or Catra bonding with Glimmer and Bow over bonding teasing Adora. And they changed the opening, when Catra and Adora cross weapons, they’re smiling at each and Catra is in the hero group shot and it’s wonderful. Also Catra rocks that pixie cut.

With Wrong Hordak’s help, they find a planet that Horde Prime gave up trying to conquer. This sends Wrong Hordak into an extensional crisis. I love Catra realizing what idiots the best friend squad actually are. Like, she lost to these guys? They realize that Horde Prime is afraid of magic as he can’t understand or control it. Catra then meets a shapeshifting cat creature called Melog, who is a combination of a one shot shapeshifting mud monster, Catra’s own shapeshifting powers from the original series and her pet lion Clawdeen who looked exactly like Lion from Steven Universe.

Meanwhile back on Etheria, Mermista leads a James Bond heist with Sea Hawk, Perfumia, and Scorpia. They’re looking for a clairvoyant in a nightclub, but it ends up as just Double Trouble. This is properly one of the strongest episodes in the show. Horde Prime has started assimilating everyone; including Mermista, Spinnerella, and Scorpia are all chipped.

It is strange that at the eleventh hour Spinnerella and Netossa are given so much attention, but it works. They actually became characters after four seasons of them being joke characters. The show really sells the heartbreak Netossa feels at Spinnerella’s mind control. Netossa has spent the last four seasons cataloging every princesses weakness, a surprising amount is fire. Catra’s is of course a spray bottle.

This is the environment that The best friend squad find themselves in when they arrive back on Etheria. They get around with the help of Wrong Hordak, it’s hilarious. Perfurma is ecstatic that she doesn’t have to be in charge anymore.

While searching the Fright Zone, Adora and the gang run into the controlled princesses. And now that she is connected to the garnet crystal, so now she has op electric powers. Catra all like why could she do this when we were on the same side. And of course Catra also has to fight the water princess.

Horde prime realizes that he can access the heart of etheria without She Ra, and sets out to do just that. Entraptra runs into the real Hordak this time and tries to awaken him, he doesn’t capture her but he doesn’t go with her either.

Bow’s dads discover that there is a fail safe attached to the heart and destroy it. Shadow Weaver pops up and reveals that she knows where the fail safe is, Mystacor. So the rebellion goes on, and Shadow Weaver gonna Shadow Weaver and starts to be little Catra and needling Adora about getting stronger. She even flat says that Catra is holding Adora back. But when they reach the failsafe, Catra realizes that Shadow Weaver was tricking them. She's been here before and went back for them.

Shadow Weaver realized that the failsafe sucks all the magic out of the heart and sends it to the person, incinerating the user in magic. Only She ra has a chance of surviving. Adora being Adora, jumps at a chance to literally kill herself to save the world.

Catra can’t watch Adora do this so she leaves the group. You can see the heartbreak when she says that Adora will never like her the way that she likes Adora. Shadow Weaver goes to congratulate Adora on Finally getting rid of Catra, but Adora is having none of it. She tells the sorceress off and departs on her own. She even leaves Glimmer and Bow trapped in a hologram so they won’t try to save her.

While sulking, Catra sees Horde prime loudly announcing his plans to hijack Etheria. Fortunately for sour heroes, his control is visible as green light. Catra rushes to warn Adora but runs into a properly drunk Shadow Weaver. They rush off to save Adora. They bump into Glimmer and Bow and warn them of what’s happening on the surface. Glimmer and Bow go off to help the princesses, not both Glimmer and Catra have a really nice moment.

Meanwhile Adora sees Mara. Adora is so weirdly excited to sacrifice herself so everyone will be happy. But Mara sadly points that it didn’t work for her. Adora is attacked by a monster the first ones left to protect the heart. Catra and Shadow Weaver catch up and Catra gets Adora out of there. Shadow Weaver does one decent thing in her life and sacrifices herself to save the children she hurt so much. I’m not thrilled about her face heel turn but at least she died. I think there is something about the inherent narcissism of self sacrifice and how Adora shouldn’t do that but it is a small thing.

Entraptra sneaks into Horde Prime’s headquarters so she can unassimilate everyone. She is joined by Bow while Glimmer helps her remaining friends fight her father. Bow fights Scorpia when Entrapia is captured by Horde Prime himself. Hordak is with them. Entrapia encourages him to remember how he is. Hordak gets control of himself again and throws Horde prime over the edge; declaring himself his own man. But Horde prime just mind hopes right into Hordak’s body.

Back at the heart, Adora has a vision; her, Catra, Glimmer, and Bow old, safe, and having fun on the way to Scorpia’s ball. The real Catra appears; holding her hand out while the real Catra cradles Adora’s unconscious body. She confesses that she loves Adora. Adora awakes and says that she loves Catra too. And they kiss and the moment is perfect and earned and I’m so glad they got this to work. I wasn’t sure if the exces would let them do this and I’m so glad they got this moment. Your shipping getting canon is not always necceriassy but it is a fantastic feeling.

Bow and Glimmer had a moment too where Glimmer said she loved Bow and he kissed her forehead. It’s much more ambiguous than Catradora, but in an interview, Noelle realized that yes it was romantic but it was a last minute call, made literally in the recording booth.

Powered by lesbian love, Adora truns into She-Ra activates the failsafe and survives. But Horde primes figures if he can’t use the heart, he’ll kill everyone including himself, purged in the white light of fire. She Ra confronts him and banishes him from Hordak’s mind; leaving him to die without a body. Hordak remembers finding dear Adora as a baby.

Glimmer meets her dad and Catra reconciles with Scorpia. Razz nods in approval as the magic restores the planet. Adora declares that she’ll travel space spreading magic with her friends and her girlfriend.

The ending is too abrupt. I don’t need a five year later epilogue but just spending a bit of more time with these characters to say goodbye. Catra and Scorpia and Glimmer and her dad get no time which is a big shame. Razz, a huge character last season, being reduced to a one line cameo is sad.

It was also weird that no one made a move to save Angella, when the show said she was trapped between dimensions not dead, so I thought they were sitting up a save her plot line. Maybe it was a censorship thing and trapped between dimensions meant she was dead.

I don’t know about anyone else, but I would love to see this version of She-Ra meet up with He-Man. I love crossovers and the two characters are literally siblings. Seeing this creative team tackling such ironic characters would be great. However, I don’t know if they could do this with the rights issues or if they would even want to do this. I know the popularity of this show has caused Netflix to greenlight two new He-Man shows; He-Man Revelation, a sequel to the original show helmed by Kevin Smith and a complete reboot. I’m sure both will be fine, but it won’t be the same.

This season and series is a triumph. The series started good but it wasn’t great, I remember thinking Bow and Glimmer in particular were very twee. Bow was basically diet Sokka in season one. But the characters grew and took on a life of their own. I’m glad I watched this show; I’m glad it was in my life.

4/4

#she ra #she ra spoilers #she ra spop #she ra catra #catradora #netflix #animation recaps by sean

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hans-writes-things · 5 years

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Sunday Morning Short: Fairy Dust Backstory - The Therapist

Hey folks. Decided to do something a little different today. I want to assure you I’m still working on fairy dust, don’t worry. Some of it (ok... a lot of it) is gonna get rewritten and reposted, if not here than elsewhere, and you’ll absolutely positively get to know where, so no worries.

In the meanwhile, I wanna tell you about some of my side characters. For the main characters, you’ll just have to read Fairy Dust, it’ll all get revealed there eventually, probably, or however much I want to. But for some of the side characters, I “know” a lot about them that may never need be referenced in the story at all, so instead... I’ll give you their backstory to some greater or lesser extent with their first moments coming into contact with the main event that kicks off Fairy Dust.

Here’s chapter 1 of Fairy Dust btw, if you want to know what this is all about.

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Introducing Barbara (Fairy Dust side story)

It was an ordinary morning, at least to begin with. The alarm went off at 5:30 and Marcus slapped awkwardly at it from the comfort of the warmth and softness of his bed. His wife Helen murmured her usual complaints and they spent their first few minutes of the new day bathed in the golden light of dawn as it poured through the white curtains. It was a part of their ritual, to wake up a little earlier than they needed just so they could take it slow and say hello to one another before it was time to rush off and tend to their lives outside their home.

There was something off about this morning however. He couldn't quite place it but he felt uneasy, like there was a cold chill sitting firmly over his shoulders, like death's hand being placed there to warn, or maybe to comfort. Marcus was no stranger to death. He'd joined the local police service as a young man, eager to follow in the footsteps of his father who had recently joined the homicide department, then everything had fallen apart. He shuddered as the memory came crawling back to him once again but it was a familiar ghost by now, one that he'd long learned to face and acknowledge and then let go. Today it was particularly vivid however and the echo of the gunshot took longer than usual to fade and the ghostly scent of blood and gunpowder lingered even as he stepped into the shower.

His wife started the coffee maker he had set up the previous night and put away the dishes from the dishwasher as he showered. Their rituals had the practiced rhythms of the years behind them. The moment he was finished with his shower he turned the heat down a little bit for her and stepped out into the bathroom as she entered. He flicked a couple of drops of water at her and she laughed, her bubbly voice and bright smile melted away the last of the chill still lingering across his shoulders and he pulled her towards him and kissed her. She smiled and poked at his chest, giggling still, and jokingly scolded him for getting her nightshirt wet. He watched her undress out the corner of his eye as he toweled off and took the moment to just feel happy. Then she stepped into the shower, stuck her tongue out at him, and closed the door.

Marcus had met her after the tragedy, when he was just starting on the path to find out who he was all over again, and she had been a friend when he really needed one, someone who didn't know, someone who he could just exist with, without the weight of all the history. He had been a few years older than the other students at the school. He wasn't the oldest there, and it was only a few years, but it still made him feel a little out of place. She was a year older than him and so they had first bonded over how strange it was to feel so young out in the world around them but then attend classes and feel surrounded by children. She was studying law, while he was studying psychology. She hadn't asked him why, or why it took so long to figure out what he wanted, and he hadn't asked her. They were happy to just have someone to talk to.

Marcus got dressed for work and then tied an apron around his hips to protect them as he milled about their little kitchen, getting the rest of breakfast together and listened to his wife's voice singing in the shower. He hadn't turned on the radio this morning, as he usually did, and while he noticed this he decided not to wonder why. He didn't want to acknowledge his morning's premonition. He had always been a little bit psychic, which is a little uncommon among the humans of the realm, but far from unheard of. He probably inherited it from his father, which is probably why Charles Barbara had risen through the ranks as quickly as he did. He had been an excellent cop with fantastic instincts, or that is what everyone had said, but there's always a price to pay for knowing more than most. Charles had been barely eighteen when he became a father and had done his best by Marcus and they had been close. Marcus looked up to his father, respected him, emulated him, even modeled himself after him to a degree, so when his father died he felt he had lost himself as well and it quickly began to show. They had sent Marcus to speak with the department shrink and it had been an unmitigated disaster.

Helen snuck up behind him while he was stirring the scrambled eggs, lost in thoughts that seemed to be going nowhere, and wrapped her arms around her husband. They weren't the most usual of couples. Marcus was well over six feet tall and looked as though he could pick up a car if he wanted to, though these last few years his visits to the gym had grown fewer. Helen was only a hair shorter than he was and her strength looked to match his. He had taken some judgement from friends and family, first for leaving the police service to become a shrink, and then for marrying a half orc, but he knew that she had it worse. There was no hiding her heritage, not with the slightly greenish gray tint to her skin, the point of her ears and the slight tusks in her bottom jaw, and people held it against her, expected her to be savage, slow, and simple minded. She had taken these prejudices and made them into advantages in her early career and earned the respect of her peers, but this didn't mean that the sidelong glances and words of strangers couldn't affect her any more. She held him tightly for a moment, then softened her grip and the ritual resumed.

He had never met someone with as much passion or compassion as Helen and while she had all the skill and intelligence to become yet another high price lawyer with wealthy clients she had opted to become a public defender instead, taking the occasional pro-bono job in between. She in turn told him that she had never met anyone like him. When he had first told her that his dad had been a cop and that it was what he'd always thought he wanted to be too, he had seen her stiffen at the mention. Then he had told her what had happened to his father.

He'd lost his mother when he was very young and had very little memory of her. He had been raised by his father and his father's mother. His father's father had been a cop too, back in the day, and died in the line of duty, so he had always known that that was a possibility and that used to terrify him, the thought that one day his father might go to work and never come home again, but what had happened was worse. Marcus had been one of the youngest men to be accepted into the police service and had barely been given his first uniform. He was at the bottom rung of the ladder with a small walked beat with three others, in a fairly safe area of the city center, working in the early morning, getting a feel for the chain of command, writing tickets and babysitting shoplifters until a patrol car would come pick them up. He hadn't seen his father in a few weeks, he'd been busy working, taking point on a case, a bad one. Marcus didn't know all of the details, but it had been a particularly brutal murder with a ritual element. Necromancy. His father had seen something, been exposed to something otherworldly and wrong, and something within him had broken. When his father and his partner had attempted to apprehend the suspect something went terribly wrong and his father was the lone survivor. They had sent him to the department shrink but it had only made things worse. A few nights later Marcus had woken up in a cold sweat and rushed to his father's apartment just a block away only to hear the gunshot as he approached his father's door. He could feel it before he entered. His father was gone, a note laying in a growing pool of blood below him.

They sent him to the same shrink as had handled his father. She had meant well, surely, but she wasn't well equipped. She was barely older than Marcus and spoke from a place of innocence. She wasn't familiar with death, not like he now was, and nothing she had to offer felt right, or helpful. She had painted her little office in the colours that were meant to invoke comfort, but they clashed with his reality. There were plants in the window and a crayon drawing on the wall behind her desk. He had felt alien, out of place in her office, as if the interviews had nothing to do with the reality he inhabited. She began to grow frustrated with their interviews as time passed on, and their personalities clashed. It was no one's fault, he knew that, if not then, then later, but it built up over time until they both lost their temper. Him feeling as though she was playing pretend and lacked any true understanding, and her feeling as though he didn't take her seriously or want to even try to improve. He had shouted, she had shouted, it was unprofessional, sure, but she was new and young and he might have been trying to get on her nerve. The breakthrough came when he shouted that he could do her job better than she was doing it, and she had looked him straight in the eye and dared him to prove it.

Now, he had her office. She held no grudges. She knew she was in over her head and had quit the same day as he did and a couple years later he had apologized to her, properly. They were on friendly enough terms now.

Helen had in turn told Marcus her story, a common enough for half orcs. Her mother was orc, a single parent, and they were poor. There are only so many jobs for orcs in the city and back then it was even worse. They did what they had to to survive. He hadn't asked about her father, but she had told him anyway. She wasn't sure, but she expected it was the landlord. Her mother had died a couple of years ago, an accident, but an easily preventable one. She had decided to sue the people responsible, though it hadn't been easy. Most lawyers who would even meet with her had spoken to her slowly, using simple words and gesturing a lot and refused to take her seriously, more than one had made sure they had some of their law firms security personnel in the room with her. Eventually she had found someone to take her case, a woman with slightly pointed ears and a taller than average height, a half elven woman, and in her relief she almost got ripped off. When she pointed out the error in the contract before signing it, where the percentiles had been switched in case of any damages she'd receive, the half elven woman had corrected it, but ever since that moment Helen knew that she needed to watch her own lawyer. She hadn't expected her to be able to read the contract, let alone catch the error. She hadn't sued for the money, but to see justice served and to make sure the problem was solved, but she had received enough to be able to go to school, study law, become the person she had needed the most.

In a way they were both working to help the people that they used to be and along the way they had found each other and they made each other happy.

Marcus plated the eggs while Helen pulled the mugs from the top cabinet and made their coffees ready. They sat together in the silence of their little kitchen and ate breakfast with their knees touching under the table. They breathed in each other's presence and the blooming gold of dawn bloomed into warm morning sun. They touched each others hands and clinked coffee cups together. They told jokes and laughed, smiled, and basked in the sanctuary of their morning ritual. After a while she washed the pan and put away their bread and juice and he loaded their plates and cups into the dishwasher. Practiced moves from their years together. Then they put on their coats, collected their briefcases, kissed deeply and whispered their i love yous and see you laters.

It wasn't until Marcus sat on the bus that he heard the news of a massive shootout over in the dust district that left at least three police officers dead and several more severely wounded. The news reader went on to say that there was very little information as to what happened exactly and no comment on who was responsible, but there had been a report of a troll and at least one other assailant of unknown race or origin. The cold weight pressed down on Marcus' shoulder again. Something really bad was coming and he would have to try and help the survivors pick up the pieces afterwards. He could feel it, deep in his bones, that whatever this was, it was only the beginning.

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#Sunday Morning Shorts #support your local artists #short story #fairy dust #urban fantasy

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popculturespiritwow · 5 years

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THE WICKED + THE DIVINE #28: COMING OUT PARTY

FLOAT LIKE A BUTTERFLY

For me, the beginning of issue 28 especially on reread and knowing a couple of the twists to come is sort of like boxing Ali. Gillen floats around catching you off guard again and again until you’re just sort of dancing there on your own. Not only does David have a son and a long-departed Asian (ahem) wife but his son is Woden (supposedly) (nice job bro) and yet another riff on Larkin playing out. Oh and all of that is a lie, Woden having totally played the moment (and Cassandra) brilliantly with a classic super villain origin story, complete with school for evil geniuses mental institution vibe. And woven in we’ve got this tremendous argument about identity between Woden and Cass which takes everything to such a deeper place.

Each one of those steps is so unexpected and pleasurable as a reader, I find it leaves me less interested in “figuring it all out” (aka trying to assert control) and more interested in just going with it. Woden’s words to Cassandra really are a challenge to us: comic book-as-puzzle readers, screw you.

There is one mystery I can’t let go of, though. Whose room are we in those first pages?

It’s gotta be Jon’s right? We’ve got that poster of a Transformer type robot, the de rigeur poster of women in slinky outfits (do we still say slinky?) and another of a Terminator-like shirtless sunglasses guy with a gun. It all screams teenager.

But that family photo Cass finds there, Jon as a baby with his parents, I don’t know, it seems much more a “parents remembering the beginning of their family” photo than the kind of thing a kid has in his room. Maybe it’s the last picture before David drove Jon’s mom away? Or the only moment of happy family he has?

Or – and this is a reach – could this actually be David’s room? It seems small, admittedly, again much more child’s bedroom than parent’s. But most of those posters absolutely fit Woden’s gross adult-adolescence. (The Transformer not so much, though it, too, is quite an image of male power.) And somehow the idea that this could be Woden’s room makes him even more disturbing than I already had him at, which makes me think it absolutely has to be at the least a space he spends time in and oh God can we please move on?

PREY-ER...

I go back and forth on what exactly Laura has been up to with Sakhmet. She doesn’t want to talk about her feelings, Laura, why do you keep bringing them up? To me, it reads a little like a false lead to keep “But is she the Destroyer for real though?” alive.

Maybe it’s another form of driving your motorcycle into the embankment – I’ll just keep poking the tiger until it rips my throat out and takes me out of my misery?

In this particular issue, though, it’s clear that Laura is also trying to understand the horror she sees herself as having caused/causing. Who better for the Destroyer to hang with than one who destroys. Some dark dark stuff going on there.

...AND PREY

Meanwhile being an unfeeling sex monster is about not getting hurt. Except as it turns out, it’s precisely in bed–and at the hands of Ammy of all people--that Sakhmet is forced to face her own vulnerability.

In his Notes Kieron has really interesting things to say about how he and Jamie think about sex scenes.

In part, those scenes are meant for us to observe, they’re about us watching, and all the chars here are POV, we don’t want them to be the objects of our view.

Also, we don’t learn anything from the sex. We learn from the choice to have sex and how you feel afterwards. So do lots of that.

What I love about having sex be the context here is that it is Sakhmet’s seat of power, the place she feels safest: here she is the mirror that prevents her being seen, the hunter surrounded by prey, and it is here that she ends up being hurt. It’s brilliant. Even as she is completely wrong in her judgment that everyone thinks her a fool and has been laughing behind her back (can you imagine ANYONE EVER laughing at or about Sakhmet except maybe Luci? I mean, those claws...) – in fact the scene reveals that she is indeed a fool, precisely because she has thought she was safe.

At least when all’s been said and done and revealed she takes the time to eat a little something.

AMMENTO MORI

Is it notable that this is the first time we’ve seen an Ammy service since the very first issue? Probably, though they don’t make a point of how Laura’s life has changed since. If anything the comparison is more about how Ammy has changed, how much more confidently unhinged she is. Most specifically...

This sequence is such a fantastic contrast with the pure apotheotic godliness of our first experience of Ammy in in issue one.

In fact, it leaves you wondering what did we even see in her back then. Which I guess in a way is what Laura must be feeling, too...

DEAR DIARY

Obviously there’s a lot to consider in the very fact that Ananke precedes her likely death by writing a heartfelt letter. It tells us there’s someone else out there that not only knows what’s going on but has the power to get involved. Someone who seems to care for her.

Knowing what we know as of a few issues down the road, it’s almost certainly Baal, isn’t it? He’s the one she’s told the most, and manipulated the best.

Of course, there’s also the question that has floated through the series all along like oil scum on a pond, is it possible that Ananke is actually in some awful way a white hat? We’re definitely in the realm of both/and here – you can’t do what she’s done to any of these characters and not be a full and total monster. But it’s hard not to see this private moment and not gain some degree of pathos for the lady. (Dagnab it.)

(Just realized -- is it me or is this also the very first time we’ve seen Ananke without some kind of mask? God, she’s actually being vulnerable here, isn’t she? ARGH. LET ME KEEP MY PREJUDICES.)

#wicdiv #kieron gillen #jamie mckelvie

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theonceoverthinker · 6 years

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OUAT 1X16 - Heart of Darkness

Howdy! It’s been well over a week since I wrote my last review, so will this episode get me back into the swing of things or just leave me with a heart of darkness?

Your answer to this most deliberating question lies below the cut.

Press Release Mary Margaret hires Mr. Gold as her attorney when Emma is forced to arrest her for the suspected murder of David’s wife, Kathryn. Meanwhile, back in the fairytale land that was, Prince Charming sets out to stop a determined and unhinged Snow White, whose memory is still clouded by Rumplestiltskin’s potion, from assassinating the Evil Queen. General Thoughts Past Snow’s character in this episode is just phenomenal. Her character builds on the aspects introduced in other episodes. In addition to seeing almost this path she’d walk if she’d never met Charming come out in full force, demonstrating just how much love is necessary in Snow’s life, we see some of the snarkiness (Such as in her scene with Red in the flashback of “7:15AM”) taken to eleven. And what I think works even better is that while Snow is undeniably showing unfavorable behavior, especially to her friends and roommates, until we get to Charming, just like Rumple in “Skin Deep,” it’s kept funny. It’s domestic (A term that the fandom often abuses and can sometimes demand too much of, but here it works because those scenes act to better the story) and snarky - and most importantly, fully enjoyable for the audience. Annoying characters should be annoying to the other characters, not to the audience, and Snow fulfils that so well. I found myself cracking up so much here! And at the same time, the tonal shift for when things need to get serious lands. Originally, I thought it happened after Snow went to Rumple, but I was shocked when we saw just how horrifying Snow could be in the second flashback. Not only do we see her viciousness in that attack on the knight, but those bits of manipulations towards Grumpy do a good job reflecting her change and lack of concern. Present The conflict in this episode is richer than a bite of the world’s finest cookie, and by that I mean that it’s tragic as all hell, but so fascinating to sit through. The main relationships are being picked at and brought to their limits - friendships, romances, power dynamics, rivalries - and it all works so well. Everyone’s motivations are laid out and you can see where they are coming from because they’re all from real places - even those on the more fantastical side of things. For the first time, we’re seeing Emma in this impossible lose-lose position where to help Mary Margaret, she has to hurt her, and Mary Margaret’s expected frustration is so understandable. While they make it clear that she logically understands what’s going on, her frustration at having to be the person going through all of these consequences is - while hard to watch - a reasonable reaction, especially as the evidence against her grows that much more. And that in turn fuels Emma’s frustrations, though those are kept more reserved, a very in-character move for Season 1 Emma. And I love how Regina is there - making things as painful and complicated for all involved. From her mere appearance to her fake shows of sympathy to her brief shows of her hand, Mary Margaret and Emma’s conflicts rise like gas prices in every instance of her presence. It gives this episode the feeling of breathlessness because you never know when she’s going to show up next. Both I feel like the episode was trying to push a theme of “maybe you don’t really know the people in your life as well as you think you do,” but the fact that the people judged are either being framed or have their memories wiped makes it fall flat. It works better in the present, since Regina’s the one who is setting everyone up to fail (Another instance of Regina bringing up the theme of the episode), but in the past, it’s weaker. Insights -Ruby taking off that hood makes me feel things. Very gay things. :D -I think that opening in the flashback may be in my top 5 opening flashbacks in the entire series! -I know that this is more of a “That Still Small Voice” things, but it just came to mind: Do you think a post-finale Jiminy is still immortal? Will he die as soon as Marco dies? Blue mentioned that he’d live as long as it took to help Gepetto. Did the curse take that away since he wasn’t a cricket anymore? -Why did no one let Jiminy out of that thing?! -Damn, I love Regina’s dialogue throughout this whole interrogation scene. In addition to touching each and every nerve of Mary Margaret, David, and Emma’s as I stated before, because we know now what happened to Regina, everything she says has this double meaning. -I shouted “FUCK” when Snow attacked that guy. Snow...I know you go on to kill Cora and all, but that was just fucking brutal. -I love how (1) Emma’s knows that Henry’s going to sneak out to hang with her no matter what and is now just making moves to ensure he’ll be safe about it, and (2) the MM picture with Henry reflects on her too, as if that’s her ideal life now. -The more I see August and Henry, the more I wish they’d bro’d out a bit more in the later seasons after Henry became the Author. I know they wanted to give more of an impression that Henry was going into his authorship blind so he wouldn’t have all the answers and make conflicts too easy, but I feel like since August was pretty flawed and didn’t fully understand what it meant to be the Author, he and Henry could’ve still had some interesting conversations about it. -”As real as I am.” August, was that a backhanded compliment I spied? -Gold, you glorious bastard! That smirk as Emma’s leaving fucking kills me! -”If you can bottle love, you can do anything.” That is just a cool fucking line, and it sort of comes back in Season 3 with the time travel recipe. -Fuck, I’m always so impressed by the double meanings of these lines, and half of what Rumple says in his flashback scenes can go here. -And the way that Rumple sells himself as a madman to make others underestimate him is so genius. The way that he only lets that down for a few individuals throughout the flashbacks shows just how much he respects them. -Snow, that was a very good reaction! Charming, love you man, but you are such a dolt sometimes. -JMo’s “holy shit” faces are priceless! The door opening was incredible! -Josh’s eyes are so blue! They’re like the color of the ocean in Florida! -Davie, my boy. If MM killed her, how did she suddenly grow and de-grow all of that hair? -Why no rainbow of love from that Snowing kiss? -Can anyone tell me the timeline of Snow living with the dwarfs? Like, Charming was getting married at most one day after Snow’s visit. Then Grumpy tells Snow that the wedding was off, presumably on the day of the wedding, and that’s when Snow took the potion. And after an undisclosed amount of time, Snow became Bitchy Snow. How long did the dwarfs have to get to know the real Snow before that ended? -Why weren’t the keys court-worthy? Is it because she’s the mayor? I still feel like they should count for something? Phoenix Wright, anything to add on this? Arcs Kathryn Nolan’s Kidnapping - The strength of this arc comes not from the mystery itself, but from all of the character interactions we get out of it. Like, last week, I found the search for Kathryn that didn’t touch upon Ruby’s character to be confusing and a little boring. However, those character moments between them? Amazing! For instance, in this episode, I feel like things were better structured because they played around with and prodded their most engaging relationships. Emma’s search for evidence probably wouldn’t have done anything for me had Henry not been there to hang out with her and help her solve things. The strain on Mary Margaret and Emma’s friendship that this case and Regina was causing was heartbreaking and drew my attention like a fly to a house light. But the development of the mystery did work, hitting all the plot points it had to to bring out everyone’s desperation. Favorite Dynamic David and Mary Margaret - Because I haven’t really liked this dynamic for the most part in the present, I felt especially impressed with them here. David’s determination to help save Mary Margaret, even at his own expense, is just inspiring. Taking a fall like that shows the dedication I wanted to see out of David and it really makes me feel like he learned his lesson from “Whatever Happened to Frederick?” And that just makes those subtle bits of manipulation, the horribly timed bits of memories returned, and his discussion with Mary Margaret so sad. On Mary Margaret’s side, it’s so awful to see that someone who believed in her who wasn’t bound to a job turned on her. From her perspective, that just happened on a dime and it makes that scene between them so profoundly powerful. Writer Chambliss and Goldberg are at it again! These guys are so solid together. They have a way of taking advantage of these story ideas and making the nitty gritty of these conflicts so nuanced. While I’ve only adored their use of theme in one episode (“Fruit of the Poisonous Tree”), they do a great job balancing out their episodes through their use of story and characters to make the ride fun! Rating 10/10. I genuinely had no problem with this episode. While the theme isn’t an especially strong one, the story and character interactions more than make up for it. We finally get to see what so much of Regina’s plotting and scheming is starting to add up to, and it brings everyone to their brink. And in the past, we get to see so much of Snow with other characters and understand what a Snow without love could become. This is such a tragic episode to watch, but it’s so engaging seeing everyone try to figure out this mystery as obstacles are introduced and allegiances are tested. Flip My Ship Snowing - I love how these brief windows of time when Snow and Charming can actually be together show how strong their love actually is. Their lines are poetic and their actions are big and dramatic but not at all off-putting. Additionally, unlike in “Whatever Happened With Frederick,” we see what Snow’s life would’ve been like without love, and we see just how much Charming has changed and benefitted Snow’s life just by being there for her and showing her that she can be there for someone too. Additionally, their banter is just fantastic. Finally, Snow said the full line for the first time! Squee!!!

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Another winner! Let’s see if the next episode can pull something similar out of it’s hat!

Thank you again to the fine folks at @watchingfairytales for putting this together and giving me some space on their pretty page!

Season Tally (139/220) Writer Tally for Season 1: A&E (41/70) Liz Tigelaar (17/20)* David Goodman (24/50) Jane Espenson (36/60) Andrew Chambliss and Ian Goldberg (29/40) Daniel Thomsen (8/10)* (* = Their work for the season is complete)

Operation Rewatch Archives

#ouat #once upon a time #watching fairytales #ouat 1x16 #ouat rewatch #jenna watches ouat #ships mentioned #snowing #basically every character in this episode is discussed

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youre-not-my-real-mom · 6 years

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Ruin It All

Warnings: Angst, a little fluff, death

The mission was going fantastic… until it wasn’t. Everyone got into position and we all entered the Hydra facility simultaneously. Nat and I were making our way to the file room to retrieve the intel we needed. We got in, got the files, and were out in no time flat. I had just said to myself, “This seems too easy.”

Then I got shot.

I fell – hard. My head literally bounced off the floor and I began to see stars. My vision cleared enough for me to take note of Nat kicking the Hydra guards ass. Soon enough, she was running back to me and speaking. No, shouting. She was shouting. I couldn’t hear a word she said at first.

I shook my head slowly, hoping that would help. Somehow it did and I heard the huge fuss my friend and colleague was making.

“Hang in there, Boo! We’ll get you help!”

I smile at the endearment. She started calling me Boo the first day we met.

“Hi! My name is –”

“I know. I read your file.”

I looked down at the ground in shyness. “Oh…”

She just smiled, noting my uncomfortableness. “Relax. I do it with every newbie we get. Don’t flatter yourself.”

I don’t know if it was the way she said it or her easiness at the whole situation, but I returned her smile with one of my own. Still a little on the shy side, but a smile nonetheless.

She continued to grin at me. “Let’s get you introduced to the rest of the team.”

She walked around the corner and as I went to follow her a figured popped out from said corner half-yelling, “Boo!”

It scared the shit out of me.

I jumped back and got into a defensive pose until I heard laughing.

“Oh, I am almost sorry. That was one of the best reactions I’ve gotten yet!”

Natasha stood there and proceeded to laugh uncontrollably. She laughed and clutched her stomach for what seemed like ages. Meanwhile, I was trying to catch my breath and cursing myself for not being more on guard.

Finally, the woman calmed down enough to form more coherent sentences.

“I think I’m going to like you. Although, your name doesn’t fit you. I’m gonna call you Boo from now on, kay?”

It’s not like I had a choice. She was walking away before I could respond.

She didn’t even throw a glance over her shoulder when she shouted back to me.

“Come on Boo! There’s lots to show you!”

I smile at the memory. Natasha seemed so intimidating at the time. Who knew she would become one of my closest friends?

I hear more shouting and turn my head slightly to see Steve sprinting up the corridor towards us.

Stevie. Oh, Steve is another good friend. What would I have ever done without him to guide me back then?

“Good morning.”

The chiseled blonde smiled at me as he cooked his breakfast. I was still getting used to the fact that I lived with Captain America. I meant to ask Natasha to pinch me to see if I was dreaming. I thrived off stories of this man. How he was just a scrawny kid from Brooklyn. How he joined even though it was unlikely he’d get picked. How he got picked. How he lost his best friend in combat not once, but twice. How he selflessly risked his life to end the war by piloting a plane headfirst into the frozen ocean.

The day I heard he was found in a sheet of ice and returned to the land of the living was one of the best days of my life. I remember screaming so loud the neighbors had called the police thinking someone was being murdered. My mom gave me a stern scolding, but I didn’t care. Captain America was alive! No one could bring down my smile for over two months. I wanted nothing more than to meet him and now there I was: living with the man, the myth, the legend.

“Good morning, Mr. America.”

His smile remained intact when he said, “I told you. You can call me Steve.”

He had only said it a thousand times in the week I had been there and I know he must be tired of telling me. He was just so kind and patient. The stories don’t lie.

“I know. I’m sorry Mr.—” I realize my mistake and quickly correct it. “Steve. I just guess I’m still a little starstruck is all.”

Again, he smiles warmly, understanding lacing his bright blue eyes before turning back to his cooking.

“Would you like some breakfast? I made some extra.”

Of course he did.

“Yes, that would be lovely. Thank you.”

He fixed both of us up a plate and joined me at the table. We ate in silence for a while. I assumed I was bouncing slightly because he soon spoke up.

“Penny for your thoughts?”

Smiling down at the table, I shake my head. “No. It’s nothing. Really. Sorry.”

He chuckled. “No need to apologize. And if you have something on your mind, you can tell me. I’m here to be your friend.”

I believed him. How could I not? He’s Captain America.

I bit my lip, debating whether to voice what was on my mind. Looking up at his sincere expression made my decision for me.

“I was just wondering...”

He nodded at me, but didn’t push. Like I said: kind and patient.

“I was wondering if you could tell me about… before. Ya know? Before…”

I trail off but the change in his expression lets me know he understands exactly what I was asking.

“You don’t have to. I’m so sorry if that hits a nerve. I just… I was a huge history nerd. Still kind of am and I had heard stories but was hoping for a more detailed, accurate account of things from someone who has been there and you were and… yeah…”

I was rambling. I’ve always rambled when I’m nervous and that day was no exception. Luckily, Steve didn’t take it to heart. He smiled his warm smile and placed a hand on my shoulder to gain my attention which I have since given my half-eaten breakfast in front of me.

“Hey. It’s fine. I don’t mind a little story telling. Plus, how could I say no to a huge history nerd like yourself?”

My shy grin poked through at his gentle words and I nodded.

We spent the rest of the day talking about his time before the army on the streets of Brooklyn, his time in the army (save for a few difficult pieces that I knew better than to ask about), his time after waking up in a new world, having to figure out all this new technology and new way of life pretty much. I sat mesmerized, but at some point, relaxed a lot more as the day wore on and his soft voice soothed my racing mind.

Since then Steve has been my history buddy. We’ve gone to every museum in New York City. I found out about his love of art and we hit every art gallery and showing as well. It was safe to say, after my awkward crush was pushed aside, Steve was one of the truest friends I could’ve asked for.

I’m now being carried through the facility by Steve. I don’t remember how we got to this section. My head starts spinning and I want them to put me down. I look up to find the same chiseled jaw that really should be in a modeling catalogue.

Steve’s face looks upset and worried. I don’t know what made him so upset. So I got shot. I’ve been through worse. I would heal. I always did. In fact, I could barely feel the bullet wound. That had to be a good sign, right?

Somewhere in the back of my head, my brain was telling me that no, that was not a good sign. I didn’t care. I just wanted to go home a curl up on my bed watching Netflix. That reminded me: Nat, Wanda and I had a girl’s night planned for this coming Saturday. I couldn’t wait.

Sam joins us at the next turn and his face falls at the sight of me in Steve’s arms. I want to reassure him that I’m fine, but the words won’t release themselves.

I see Wanda in the distance racing for the jet, but not before taking in the sight of our little pow-wow group.

Thinking back to my meeting Wanda and Sam has me giggling in Steve’s arms. By the look of his face, he didn’t understand I am just laughing, but I can’t help it.

I had just finished my workout with Nat when I walked in on an impromptu card game between Wanda, Sam, and Rhodey. Rhodey excused himself to go to bed, leaving an open chair.

“Hey newbie! Come show us what you got!”

I tried to wave them off, but Wanda smiled so sweetly at me and I couldn’t say no.

I sat down and Sam cheered, very loudly… in my ear.

“Yay! Now we can scam someone new!”

I scoffed at him, giving him my best “don’t fuck with me” stare.

He just laughed and knocked his shoulder against mine. “I’m joking. Well, sort of. It all depends on how you play.”

He began to tell me the rules and how to, dealing the cards as he went.

We played until the wee hours of the morning, which made for a bitch of a time getting up for my early training with Steve. It was so worth it. We talked and laughed. I learned about how they joined the Avengers. Wanda was still really quiet around me, but I couldn’t blame her. Heck, I was shy too. But over the night, she loosened up and laughed more and more at my stupid puns.

Sam, however, was a riot. I began to think he didn’t think the guy had an off button. What Wanda and I lacked in words, he made up for in everything else. He was loud and proud. The only time he got quiet was when I talked about losing my mom when I was young in a car accident. I was in the car also, but miraculously unharmed. I didn’t tell them that night about the hard years after when I acted out and rebelled against everyone. That was the time Wanda told me about losing her family. I saw the understanding in her eyes. She got it. She knew. That night marked a change in how I saw her. Any time after, if I was angry or upset at my past, I would go to her. We didn’t talk as much as Nat and me, but when we did talk, shit got deep quick.

Sam became my crazy friend. We loved getting drunk together. The alcohol only made him louder, if that was even possible.

The quinjet is now in view. I spot Bruce waiting with the same anxious face everyone else is donning. Didn’t my friends understand I am perfectly fine?

I could hear snippets of conversation pass between Steve and Bruce. Something about the bullet in me, an artery being hit, internal bleeding. They went on but I stop paying attention. I’m fine. Sure I wasn’t wearing a vest, but that was only because Nat and I were the sneaky team (my words, not hers). We needed to be able to move quickly and quietly. Armor and vests didn’t help us in that department.

I feel the jet take off and Nat’s face swim into my field of vision. She looks funny though. Almost… blurry?

“Boo! Can you hear me Boo? We’re going to be home shortly! I need you to stay with me!”

Well of course I’m going to stay with her. Where else was I going to go? We’re on a jet. Her voice sounds funny too. Distorted, kind of. I think I nod, but I can’t be sure. I suddenly feel overly tired. I need a nap. Probably from one too many Netflix marathons. I really should cut back on those.

I don’t know how long it takes, but, sooner than it should’ve, we arrive back home. Steve carries me through hallway after hallway. It feels like a de ja vu moment. I try to laugh, but I ended up choking. Wiping my mouth, reveals blood. Lots of blood. In my mouth. How did I not notice that before?

I hear a loud voice and it hurts my aching head. So did the lights. They should be turned down.

“BABE! DOLL! WHAT’S GOING ON? STEVE! STOP! LET ME SEE HER!”

I think Steve replies but I can’t hear anything besides a weird bussing noise. I feel myself being placed on a stretcher and shortly after another face spins into view.

His voice lowers when he speaks again, which I am extremely thankful for. “Doll. Doll, can you hear me?”

I try to nod my head but don’t know if I succeed. I just try to focus on the face in front of me. It’s that moment that I notice they’re all moving, fast. I want them to slow down. The pace makes me dizzy.

A big hand grips my much smaller one.

“Doll. I’m here, okay? I’m here. You’re not dying on me today.”

Bucky’s words hit me like a brick. I’m dying? I don’t feel like I’m dying. I feel pretty nice considering I had just gotten shot. I remember feeling the initial impact and pain, but there’s been nothing since the hallways. Maybe they gave me something there. God knows I couldn’t recall.

Everything passes by in a blur, but Bucky remains consistent. The pressure of his hand in mine and his eyes boring holes into my own make the whole situation seem silly. I couldn’t have been hurt that bad. Bucky is here and I am safe.

Bucky was my first and only love, even though I thought he hated me when he first arrived.

It was about a year after I had arrived. Bucky showed up and was introduced to all of us. He seemed quiet, like me, but he had a different sort of energy around him. Mine was playful and more puppy-like. His appeared dark and brooding. It was that first day that made me determined to see him smile.

I tried everything from inviting him to watch Netflix with me to baking him his favorite goodies (which Steve clued me in on). Nothing worked. If anything, I only seemed to piss him off. Lucky for him, I was persistent.

It took me two months to wear him down. One day, out by the pool, he snapped.

“Why can’t you leave me the hell alone!”

He didn’t shout exactly, more like yell-whispered. My smile faltered a little, but I glued it back on. This man was going to smile whether he wanted to or not.

“I just want to be your friend Bucky.” My voice was extra sweet.

“Why would you want to do that?”

“Because I’m a nice person.”

He scoffed. Scoffed! “Well, I’m not nice so I can tell you to leave me the fuck alone.”

I continue to smile, not letting him see how his words affected me so.

“Everyone needs friends.”

“Not me.”

He shut his eyes and went back to his sunbathing. I pouted and stared at him. He reluctantly looked back up to find my eyes glued to him.

“Can’t you take a hint?”

“Obviously, not.”

I didn’t mean for it sound so flat and sarcastic. I was going for nice, but had managed to screw that up.

My eyes widened in horror as I had realized what I’d done. Bucky’s eyebrows raised as well. I was ready to turn tail and run when I hear him laugh. Laugh! He laughed almost as hard as Nat did my very first day.

“Oh, Doll. You do have a feisty side.” He continued to chuckle and smile to himself.

I was confused. “Huh?”

“I thought you were all sunshine and rainbows. Never say a mean word to anyone. Hell, I didn’t even know how you were on a team that dealt with violence most of their lives. But now I see it.”

I tilted my head even more. “I said two words.”

He smiled, genuinely smiled at me. “Yes, but it was enough.”

Over the next year and a half, Bucky and I became a thing. Three months of being friends lead to our first date on the rooftop. A week later, our first kiss. A month later, we became exclusive. Two months after that, we christened his bed in our throes of passion. From then on out, we were what most people would call a couple. We never put a name to it due to our lifestyles, but we knew that we each belonged to the other and no one else.

Everyone else gave us crap for the first few months, until they saw Bucky’s huge improvement. He talked more, actually, he engaged more altogether. He smiled more and laughed more. Steve even pulled me aside to thank me for helping his best friend out. I politely informed him that I wasn’t doing anything but being myself. All credit was due to Bucky.

I could see what Steve was talking about though. Bucky was like a whole new person.

We always knew what the other meant to us, but we never voiced the feelings aloud. That is, until one night.

After a very strenuous workout session, Bucky and I laid in his bed. I was resting on my stomach, while he drew lines over my back with his fingers. Everything was so relaxing.

“Doll.”

I hum a response, too comfortable and tired to do anything more.

“You know you mean a lot to me, right?”

I hoped his super soldier hearing could pick up my muffled voice. “Yes, Bucky. I do. As do you to me.”

“I want to tell you something… but I’m not sure how you’ll take it.”

This caught my attention and I raised myself up to face him.

“You can tell me anything. You know that.”

He nodded his head, but I knew he wasn’t paying much attention. He was lost in whatever he felt needed to be said.

Finally, he schooled his features and faced me.

“Doll. You have made me a better man. Without you, I don’t know if I would’ve made it. I care about you, deeply. Probably more than I should considering we’ve only known each other a short time. I can’t help it. You’re intoxicating. I can never seem to get enough of you and I don’t want to.” He stopped to take a deep breath. “I think I love you… but I’m afraid to tell you because if you don’t feel the same way I might implode. I have no right to ask this of you and I’m not even sure I know what love is, but I think I have it… with you. If you’ll let me.”

Time froze then and there. My breath caught in my throat and I had to pound my chest to remind my lungs how to work. It was only about a second or two before time started back up again.

“Bucky…” My voice was a breathless whisper. “I think I love you too. I was always afraid to tell you. I didn’t want to scare you considering your recovery” I smiled shyly at him, hoping I didn’t say something wrong.

His returning grin put the sun to shame. He lunged at me and hugged me tighter than ever before. He didn’t let go for several minutes and I was okay with that. Pulling away, his eyes shone with a newfound lust. All my tiredness ebbed away at his words and before I know it we were back at it again, tangling his sheets even more.

We stopped in a room. People were milling about, shouting to one another. I only recognized Bucky and Bruce, who now had on his doctor garbs. Bucky’s hand still gripped mine as tightly as his hug so many months ago. I think back to all the other times we shared. Him taking over my training. Getting ice cream on super-hot days. Introducing him to Netflix marathons. Missions together when one of us got injured and the other would wait on the injured until they were fully recovered.

I’m not sure if it was the gunshot wound or the thought that hit me that knocks the breath out of me. I had just realized that I’m probably dying. All the blood, the word “artery,” the people prepping for surgery. I was dying… and I never got to tell Bucky how I truly felt. We left the words at “I think.” I needed to tell him that I knew I love him. He deserved to know.

As if he read my mind, he looked down at me with tears in his stormy blue eyes.

“Doll. If you can hear me, I need you to know—” His breath hitched and he had to collect himself again. “I need you to know I love you. Whole heartedly. With every fiber of my being. So because I love you. Let me ask you to do me one favor.” He paused another second and I wanted him to just spit it out. “Please. Don’t die. Please don’t die. I will do anything. Anything. Just don’t die on me Doll. Not now. We still have so much to do—” His voice cut off and tears were streaming freely down his face.

I need to tell him that it’s okay. I was going to be okay. I would pull through like always.

I needed to tell him I loved him too. Whole heartedly. With all my being.

I couldn’t though. There was too much blood in my mouth and no air left in my lungs to spare. I could only watch as he cried over me.

Black started to seep into my vision and I fought. I fought with everything in me because Bucky needed me and I wasn’t going to let him down. Sadly, the darkness was winning. Slowly, but surely, it seeped until it all but covered the bright, white room. The only thing I could clearly make out now was Bucky. His grip in my hand loosened, or maybe I stopped feeling it.

Bucky was the last thing I saw as the darkness took over and my eyes closed. His cries, the last sound echoing in my ears as I drifted off, pleading for me not to go.

#angstilicious #bucky x reader #bucky barnes #marvel #angst #slight fluff #i need help #ruin it all

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