#my baby girl is back and she’s getting development and plot relevance <3

[courfeyracs-swordcane]

Who are the ballad brothers I have seen you tag them on a variety of posts and I am intrigued

THREE MONTHS LATE BUT HERE WE GO!!! I also did a post about this ages ago which I’ll link HERE but! There’s been a lot of development since then!!!

This is going to get long. Sorry in advance. (Also I’m keeping it to just the Ballad Brothers themselves (and co) but lmk if you also want to know about the saints! They’re not at all relevant to the main plot (two and a half exceptions) but they live rent free in my head)

TLDR. Little guys took up residence in my head when I listened to music in the car and it’s become a whole scifantasy worldbuilding exercise.

Anyway!

KYRIE ALEIDIS BALLAD

- she/her

- 29 years old

- 5’11 (and a half)

- Massive Fucking Tech Sword

- Enneagram 8w7 if you’re an enneagram guy

- she is YOUNG she’s FANTASTIC she’s GOD’S FAVORITE and she’s NEVER GOING TO DIE

- The main character!

- She is the city (symbolic) and her name is god

- Former sword-for-hire/star player/golden girl/mascot/diversity hire (whatever you want to call it) for evil organization(tm) Rekah’s Finest

- (named after St Rekah of the Guard)(think somewhere between the CIA and the Pinkertons)(National guard type of thing that staged a very quiet coup/government takeover about a decade before Kyrie was born and is gradually got to the point where they’re running the city-state where this all takes place as a police state)

- current renegade and aspiring vigilante

- she fucked off the minute she turned 18 to join the metaphorical army/become a cop (same difference)(except there’s also regular cops and they kind of suck shit) and very quickly became very good at it!

- wound up as essentially the Special Little Guy they have as the face of the organization doing a lot of like. Public outreach and shit. Also doing a lot of assassinations inside and outside of the city

- A few years before the story starts she Realized Some Things about how her and Alonzo were orphaned and quit her job EXTREMELY publicly and extremely dramatically and left with nothing but her Massive Fucking Tech Sword and the clothes on her back and fucked off to go hide/live in a massive tower monument at the center of town

- It’s… legally difficult to get her out of there due to the historical site preservation regulations so she’s just been kind of vibing there ever since

- Theoretically. She’s trying to take down the RF and get them Out Of Her Damn City

- In practice she’s one singular burnout and has no idea how the hell to go about doing that so she’s mostly just hanging out in the tower and evading arrest

- She’s a fuck boy dirt bag piece of shit (etc etc etc) and I love her for it

- She gets no bitches despite being a local celebrity with one of The Fanbases Ever (she would do numbers on scifantasy Twitter) bc She’s So Sucks <3

- (no bitches except she does have a weird homoerotic thing going w her roommate/childhood best friend who’s kind of a reincarnation of St Ely who built the city and lives in the tower)(she’s not looking at it)(she’s got bigger problems called Avoiding Confronting Any Emotion bc if she looks at any of them she’ll have to process all of the Guilt she has irt. Pretty much abandoning her baby brother on the streets to go be a hero and then Never Contacting Him Again)

ALONZO BALLAD

- he/him

- 25

- 5’4

- two regular guns

- Kyrie’s aforementioned baby brother!

- Enneagram 3w4 which if you were friends w me 2019-2021 you’ll know exactly how much that says everything you need to know about this guy (derogatory)

- Most repressed mfer on the planet and a neurotic little freak

- Considers himself to be the only guy in this found family with a braincell. (Untrue, even if you don’t count An)

- His first instinct in a lot of situations is Improv Theater. (Seeing his sister for the first time in more than ten years? Better wear a hood and prepare a whole dramatic reveal about it. Ran into the guy he kissed at the office holiday party while trying to get his expense account wrangled for an upcoming assignment? Time to launch into an extended bit about how he’s so sad and poor and he’s gonna starve and freeze to death all alone on the street and Only They have the power to help him. please.)(they think it’s hilarious but jfc what’s wrong with him)

- The main issue with him is that he gets his apartment and all of his necessities directly from his employer, so his first priority at all times is Preserve His Job At All Costs

- He thinks of the way he lives as self care. I think of it as masochism.

- His main idea of a Life Plan from the ages of 15-his early 20s was Look At What His Older Sister Did And Then Do It Too

- (his main idea of a life plan from the ages of 3-20 was Don’t Get In Trouble Ever or They Will Come And Kill You To Death)(these are not especially compatible philosophies.)

- So he’s a sword-for-hire (gun for hire. And not even a fancy tech one. They’re not trusting any more Ballad brothers with any more expensive technology.)

- This is not working out well for him. he’s not overwhelmingly good at the job. He doesn’t find any purpose in killing people. He doesn’t even like blood.

- He is, however, very good at following orders. But only when he wants to.

- He’s also very good at Lying To His Boss’s Boss

- They keep sending him to try and assassinate Kyrie as like. Kind of a power move? Trying to show her that they’ve got her only family at their beck and call and they can make him do whatever they want

- Unfortunately Alonzo has no interest in killing her so those missions pretty much just wind up with him going to hang out in the tower and shoot shit for a couple days and then going back and turning on the big sad wet eyes for his report to tell them that he did his best he really did but she’s always been stronger and he just couldn’t take her— but he’ll do better next time he promises 🥺🥺🥺

- Kyrie had been their best guy for several years and Alonzo is, in all other regards, the perfect employee (turns in all his paperwork ahead of time, does every other mission very efficiently and never gets caught, goes to all the company mixers even though everyone can tell he’s exhausted, always has his uniform meticulously clean and pressed) so this is plausible, and they go “aww okay better luck next time :) go get some rest :)”

- Also he’s lowkey a hostage here. What are they gonna do? Fire him? No they need him for leverage

- It drives his immediate supervisor who knows EXACTLY what’s going on up the fucking wall. We will get to them.

- Gets Fucking Shot With A Cheater Bullet (very small timed action grenade) on an assignment midway through the story and his first instinct (instead of going back to the office where they have like. Actual doctors and medical equipment to deal with that) is to head to St Ely’s tower, where they have his sister and his kind of boyfriend and also his sister’s roommate who can sew and his childhood buddy Jonesie down the street who knows first aid

- He’s not thinking especially straight due to the Panic and also the Blood Loss from the Bullet In His Ribcage and he’s got a whole emotional thing about how he wants to die at home w his people— and then it goes off and he Fucking Dies. Whoops!

- He gets better his boyfriend (for real now lmao) is an aspiring necromancer and God’s Pet Freak (there’s a lot. Behind that. more later) and he very pointedly doesn’t believe in magic or saints or anything but also his chest cavity did very much get exploded and he’s fine now (besides the lingering Effects) so like.

- He deals with this by 1. Contacting his supervisor who lets the higher ups know there’s been An Incident. 2. Going back to work as soon as they’ll let him (like three days later). and 3. Getting himself transferred to the security division and becoming Ari’s dad’s bodyguard so he doesn’t have an excuse to go hang out at the tower anymore and he doesn’t have to look at any of those emotions he can just Focus on his Work <3

- Obviously that does not go well for him.

SENECA “ARI” FINCH

- they/them/any

- 25

- 5’2

- Enneagram 5w6

- Mad scientist

- Nepo baby

- Front desk intern for the RF financial department

- Aspiring necromancer

- God’s Pet Freak

- If you’ve ever wondered what happens when you raise a child in one of those beige instagrammable influencer houses. It’s this.

- Their dad is the puppet city governor for the RF (Kyrie wants him dead so goddamn bad)(he’s kind of a useless twink but he’s an easy guy to blame for all this shit)

- Their mom died when they were like 8 of something pretty regular and they have since dedicated pretty much their entire life to Bringing Her Back

- (No they were not especially close or anything why do you ask?)

- TECHNICALLY their dad, knowing their passion for Science (and not much else about them) got them a cushy RF job developing biotech to make the cool individualized tech weapons

- In practice, they got their funding and their fancy work lab and immediately proceeded to squirrel just about everything useful from it downstairs to their own personal lab in the basement (not on the floor plan) where they don’t have to worry about things like “supervision” “safety regulations” “proper ventilation” “their job” etc

- They are still doing their job but they’re getting it done in like. Two days out of the month and spending literally all the rest of their time on the necromancy

- It’s gotten to the point where they’re not even clocking in upstairs anymore so they made them take a couple shifts a week at the front desk of the financial department just so they have something on record to pay them for

- They’re okay with this! it’s fun to switch it up and there’s snacks in the breakroom

- I cannot emphasize enough how much they Do Not Leave the horrifying unventilated unethical science basement. there’s a couch in the corner and a sink and an employee bathroom in the stairwell what more could they need.

- One of the early plotlines is centered around Getting Them To Go Outside (really outside, not just to the regular parts of the RF building) and like. Idk. Maybe seeing a leaf or smth would be good for them)

- where they also wind up meeting and hanging out w Kyrie and El, doing some upkeep on Kyrie’s fancy sword, and being Absolutely Fascinated by St Ely’s Tower (there’s some generally buried Magic Shit that perks up when them and El are in the room together)

- BECAUSE!!! (And this is why they haven’t succumbed to the Fumes in the horrifying unventilated unethical science basement, or the gas leak in there from the pipe main running through the middle of it that they’ve been siphoning off of, or any of the experiments they do on themself bc they can’t get any other test subjects and also bc they wouldn’t trust anyone else’s testimony as to What It’s Like) the magic, which is how Ely built the city (and how all of the other saints Did Their Things as well but that’s a whole other can of worms) is a vapor that lives underground and speaks no human language but saw this little freak trying to defy the laws of nature from their hole in the ground and took a liking to them

- It can’t bring their mom back bc she’s been dead for fifteen years and it never met her so it wouldn’t even know where to start

- But it likes them! It follows them around and keeps them alive and helps with their experiments :)

- (they remind it of Saint Ely, who was a similarly tiny passionate freak, but that’s also a whole other can of worms)

- Ari is not aware of this in the slightest.

- Their second arc is getting Disappeared from legal existence (very easy. They live in a basement and barely ever leave it and don’t really talk to people), realizing that they are in fact mortal and could potentially die someday, and trying to contact their dad to make sure he knows they’re okay. (Doesn’t work. They’ve been disappeared and are no longer allowed past the front desk.)

- Their third arc (during the communal breakdown era. Kyrie’s abandoned by god arc where she decides to run away from her problems in a literal sense and Alonzo’s evil arc where stops speaking to everybody and dives headfirst into his job at the war crimes factory) is deciding that the same thing happened to their mom and the necromancy isn’t working because she’s NOT actually dead which means she’s out there somewhere and they can find her! :)

- That is not even a little bit true. :(

EL (no last name)

- he/him (woman)

- Doesn’t really have an age. They don’t really exist in time in the usual sense

- 5’0

- Enneagram 9w1

- Lives in the tower

- Just kind of showed up there one day as a kid and has been living there ever since

- There’s a nearby convent of some kind that fed and clothed them growing up (same place that looked after Kyrie and Alonzo after they were orphaned)

- Kind of a reincarnation of Saint Ely. not in so many steps bc again. Out of time and who knows how long he’s been there but like. He’s back for more but he’s a lady with an ounce of common sense this time. It’s unclear how much he’s aware of this part of it. He knows the tower is important, and he knows restoring the murals inside of it is important. I don’t think he knows why.

- only guy in this found family who’s even remotely capable of coping with the idea of death (he already did that)(kind of psychopomp coded about it)

- Kyrie’s best friend and second in command so much as she has a command. Weird homoerotic gay thing going on there. I assume there’s some of the traditional St Ely brand of devotion but like

- (And by traditional I mean I don’t think that’s a widely known thing about Ely the Saint but it is one of the more prominent things about Ely the Guy)

- Spends most of his time restoring the tower and the murals inside that nobody has seen in years

- (That’s a whole thing)(different can of worms)

- This is @nosongunsung11’s guy so I’ll tap them in for the details but I think that’s the basics!!

AN “PUNK” JANG

- they/them (lesbian)(in gender moreso than practice)

- 35 but they’re lying about it. actually 33

- 5’5

- Enneagram 1w2 😬

- Twin fancy tech rapiers

- The previous Special Little Guy/Mascot/face of the RF

- Ran away from home, changed their name, and lied about their age to join up when they were 16 and they’ve just kind of been going off that ever since

- Went by Punk for a while towards the beginning of their career bc they were 16/17 and it Sounded Cool and it would up becoming almost like their callsign (that’s what Alonzo calls them bc he was very much an enjoyer when he was a kid. They were like Spider-Man to him. Blorbo from the news.)(and he continues to call them that bc he’s a little shit.)

- (They wound up naming themselves after Saint Anjane of Strength not because they believe in any saints but because they desperately wish they did and this way at least they can pretend they know what it might feel like to have that kind of faith.)(in a fun and funky coincidence, they’re actually very very similar to Saint Anjane herself. El has some Complicated Emotions about this.)(long story. It’s Saint Ely’s Monument but it’s also the closest thing he has to a grave— he pulled it out of the ground so he could be alone w/ Anje’s body after he got to her execution too late to talk her out of it)

- Got shunted when Kyrie showed up and was infinitely more personable due to her heroics in SciFantasy 9/11 (long story. Building exploded.) and general bright-eyed and bushy tailed unjaded Disposition

- And by shunted I mean promoted to middle management in the Murder Department

- They’re fine with this it’s significantly less work on their end

- They do make sure after that to have everything they need for basic living separated from the job though

- Only guy in this found family with their own actual apartment. And basic cooking skills. And healthy sleep schedule.

- When Alonzo gets into the Murder Department they wind up as his immediate supervisor!

- Exciting prospect at first! He’s a high profile assignment (hostage) and also an easy assignment (does all of his paperwork on time, completes his missions Quietly and Efficiently, doesn’t really do anything interesting at all)

- Less exciting prospect once they actually work with him. He’s a little shit and a motherfucker and he knows exactly what he’s doing

- They can’t stop covering for him at this point without doing a hell of a lot of paperwork and jeopardizing their own job so they’re stuck now

- Also. unfortunately. they got attached. They’re not the step-older sibling, they’re the older sibling who stepped up.

- They’re the one who arrests Kyrie at the beginning of the story and kick off the whole first half of the plot, but they also wind up putting in their two weeks after Alonzo Gets Fucking Killed and then immediately goes back to work

- They do it significantly better than Kyrie tho they keep their apartment and their bank account and return most of their uniforms so the rf doesn’t have any reason to come after them besides Aiding and Abetting (and also trespassing. On the protected historical site that is St Ely’s monument. But that’s the least of anyone’s worries here.)

- They wind up kind of taking charge of the. whatever the hell these guys are doing. during the Communal Breakdowns arc. they would really prefer not to be doing this but somebody has to. So.

- Also during that arc they wind up facing off with Alonzo and boy howdy is there a reason they got assigned as the rf’s Special Little Guy and he didn’t, bc he doesn’t have a snowball’s chance in hell even with them holding back

AND THAT’S THE MAIN CAST! Thank you for coming to my ted talk! (Get it?) I’ve hit the image limit on mobile so I’ll come back and add the before/after pictures in a reblog bc I had fun making those

#THANK YOU FOR THE ASK BLUEBERRY I AM SO SORRY IT TOOK ME SO LONG #ballad brothers #please disregard the world’s Shittiest Low Effort Backgrounds on the art I slapped them together in like ten seconds #Kyrie ballad brothers #Alonzo ballad brothers #Ari ballad brothers #El ballad brothers #An ballad brothers

[bytedykes]

use this ask as a free pass to talk about jfa!!! what was ur favorite part/case/character/etc !! >:0

omg thank u for the pass <3 !!!!

ok omg i did like the lost turnabout i thought it was stupid (affectionate) but entertaining, i assume they just did that to refresh how to actually play the game for the player? either way it was so dumb absolute 10/10, i wouldn't give it up for anything. phoenix is already dumb in court always but no memory phoenix being dumb in court? amazing. showstopping. unparalleled. also i like maggey :) <3

episode 2!!! aaaaaaauughhh i really liked this one too! i love pearly she's my baby she's my favorite little girl she's the one and only <3 i want to put her in a centrifuge (affectionate) also i think franziska is introduced in this case right ? i love her as well she's one of the most mean lesbians of all time

umm about the case itself i was rlly into them showing more feys! i liked getting to explore more or kurain village and they feys' family dynamics etc, i think ini/mimi and morgan working together to do evil tm was done well! i like ini also. absolute rocks for brains girlie i want to draw her but havent yet <3 AND MIMI, i felt so proud of myself when i was putting the clues together akkadajdsk!! im generally rlly into all of aa's sibling dynamics so this was like a little treat for me <3 stealing ur dead sister's identity and faking your own death… real !

yeah tho the way they developed the fey family lore in this case. very good. im a fan <3

its been a while since i actually played case 2 because cases 3 and 4 took me like a month each 😭 im missing a lot about it probably but ghjhdjdjf i also liked seeing lotta again, she's one of my beloved side characters and it was nice to see her again! god my brain is so empty. the magatama being introduced in this case! also very cool, i had to google how to use it because im stupid but once i figured it out i thought it was really neat and had fun with that

(also mia's boobs becoming plot relevant in this case?? mkjskd also A Moment for sure)

(omg i just remembered pearly ran from kurain village to the courthouse in this case? just straight up sprinted? she's an icon she's so real she IS the moment!!! 💞)

ok case 3 i hate case three <3 i hate it i hate it i hate ittttt sooo much!!! doubly mad about it because i am a circus + clown enjoyer and around the time i was playing it i got to see a history of circus museum so like UGH turnabout big top could have been genuinely so good but it just wasnt! it was gross! :/ all the characters rlly did have like potential to be cool and interesting but instead they were all child predators like come on 😭 the one decent guy is the murderer (i was excited for seeing a wheelchair user too :( but nooo we cant have good things in the aa circus!!!) and hjhfdjshj idk <3 yeah least favorite case for sure. my friend warned me it was gonna be bad but no one could have truly made me understand how bad it was until i played it lmao. genuinely like its even shittier bc it COULD HAVE been good :(

(i did like some of the franziska moments in case 3 tho… shes a shithead and i love her <3)

CASE 4 MY BELOVED i loved case 4!!! going to try to organize these thoughts a little because its freshest on my mind and i have the most to say about it lol

will powers!! i was excited that they brought back will powers, he's another side character im an enjoyer of, and i liked seeing him :) and lotta again!! i love her <3

i love pearly in this case she's sooo <33 i love her! she's so cute and makes me sad sometimes i want to hold her

engarde ! he was cool! i like the whole stage persona thing, the constant fucking repetition of "refreshing like a spring breeze" got so annoying but like in a satisfying way? like. jdhfjd it was annoying bc it was supposed to be i guess, not bc the writing was bad if that makes sense? i liked his twist, i liked the stupid sprite of him pushing his bangs out of his face, i like the random materialization of the brandy(?) glass, i like?? his general cuntiness?? sdsdskd idk he was fun i liked him as a character and as a villain

OHH i was. hm i dont wanna be like i was a fan of the misogyny but hghdjfj i felt very strongly about how both corrida and engarde were shithead assholes and how willing both of them were to like. use this woman's life and death for their own gain. and how that affected adrian and subsequently maya… idk!!! lots of thoughts but no words, but that did feel well written to me and definitely made me feel strong things

also i really like how in aa1 phoenix breaks down zero doors but in aa2 he breaks down two doors. 10/10. let this man break down doors

edgeworth trying to give ppl (mainly phoenix) life advice throughout this case is?? so funny? i get he went on his self actualization and learned the real meaning of being a lawyer etc but hguhjfdhjd miles "i heart repressing my emotions" edgeworth?? claiming to be well adjusted and qualified to give others advice?? hilarious. 10/10. even better that it actually WORKS on phoenix ubfdjhdjfh

(not saying edgeworth DIDN'T successfully work on his emotional state and go to therapy etc but like. come on. its edgeworth. u know what i mean lol)

THE AFTERCREDITS SCENE BROKE ME LMAO everything about it makes me want to put my head thru a wall <3 franziska and miles interacting in general, her telling him that she will no longer be living in his shadow, her crying sprite, her leaving for germany, THE FOURTH PIECE OF EVIDENCE CARD AAAAAAA it fucked me up it really did!! maya drawing nick on the card she found while she's kidnapped really made me feel things! they are siblings your honor!!! i have so many feelings about this and the way it was set up + revealed but aghhh i cant put any of them to words it just made me yell really loud and screenshot the card a hundred times !

uhh yeah those are most of my thoughts i think!! tldr i liked this game it was fun (aside from case 3 the motherfucker) and id play it again for sure!! my favorite case was two i think, four is a close second but even knowing how it would end (im not immune to scrolling the aa tag for hours and getting spoilered rip) it was pretty stressful with the kidnapping djdjdj

yeah :) good game good game

#ty ferne for giving me the opportunity to run my mouth <3 #this took so long to put into words bc my brain is sooo empty hdjdj #im probably missing so much stuff but yes!!! here are some of my thoughts #asks #aa #jfa #misc #tumblr ate this so i had to repost it and idk if it removed anything i typed so umm hoping that did not happen lol!

[himekotoga]

darling i’ve missed you so much

#nejireh -> himikou #TOGA RETURN TOGA RETURN TOGA RETURN #my baby girl is back and she’s getting development and plot relevance <3 #leaks.t #bnha spoilers

[kuekyuuq]

Gloria, Jet-lags and Imps [6x11]

Let’s jump right in:

Kinda love how Kara lamp-shaded addressed the fact she didn't tell the gang about her adventures in the PZ. She’s not wrong, tho.

...what do I want to say about Mxy using what's basically a well-known gay-anthem to tell his tale? I mean, it didn’t lead anywhere. The original song is about freeing oneself, liberation, stepping out of a (gone bad) relationship and moving on, stronger for it - empowerment. The only connection I could make, is that originally it was Nyxly’s aim to just do that (freeing herself and her kind from an oppressor), but in the way Mxy performed it, that part of the parallel was long over before he even reached the chorus. It’s also a popular Karaoke song, tho, so... he chose it because it’s catchy? I’ll try not to overthink it for now. At least, the Superfriend’s reactions were fun.

Nia exiting the elevator, "And what's this Old Stone?" I love it when ppl enter a room / situation and pick up on words that they couldn't have possibly heard. I think cinema sins ding such... Are we to assume, she dreamed Mxy's rendition of ‘I will survive’? Or is the elevator not sound-proof at all? (If it’s the latter, Nia later apparently telling Brainy “in private” between scenes / during the elevator ride about her Nyxly adventures, was a silly thing to do.)

So, "Jared" created the ring Old Stone to rule them all, it got shattered into the Paragons totems? Nyxly needs the totems and to get them she needs a crystal which also belonged to "Jared" - who happens to be Mxy's ancestor, which is why she needs Mxy / his blood, too.

I have one important and incredibly relevant question here, tho... 

With the introduced imps and their names... Why’s dude named Jared of all things?!

Really, did I mishear that? If so, I’ll leave it as is and never edit, bc that would be hilarious in its own right 😋

...

Not sure what to make about Supergirl paraphrasing a Dirty Dancing quote.  "Nobody puts Mxy into a power crystal on my watch."  ...is he Baby now? (Seriously, though: Which of the writers thought that was a fitting quote to use in that particular context?)

...now, is the exposition section of the episode over yet?

Sensitive Brainy sensed something was up with Nia. He can relate... Nia doubting Kara would understand, too, is ridiculous. But I get it... insecurities and all. But, I mean, just 5 minutes later Kara announces she wants to save Nyxly despite her wrongdoings. And yet Nia still remains convinced, Kara wouldn’t forgive her own personal mini-me... After having witnessed Kara forgiving Lena for a whole season of the writers being stupid messing up to the nth degree. But I digress, Lena’s Lena.

...how old is Nia meant to be again? Just asking out of completely unrelated curiosity.

F*ck. They really went with NewFoundland...

Imma assume it was an executive choice after realizing they couldn’t find enough actors and actresses with a convincing Irish accent... maybe. Again, no offense to Newfoundland! Just... we got the insinuations of Ireland, not Newfoundland... And truthfully, when I think of magic, Ireland is an easy association. Whereas I only due to this whole debacle learned Newfoundland has Irish ancestry. So, okay, the show forced me to learn something new... I give ‘em that.

An easy journey, she said.

Lena's been off-screen for two whole episodes, Kara announcing at the beginning of ‘Dreamweaver’ [6x09] Lena being “back east” (at least insinuating Lena’s left the west-coast already), which span over at least one full day (feat. a scene at night), and ‘I still rise’ [6x10] at least another a whole day (the whole Nia’s mom back for a day deal). And, now, after at least 48 hours she barely just arrived.

Lemme check how long a regular plane would need to fly from California to NFL......... ... .. .. So... approx. 10 hours with at least one layover. 

Yeah, using a private jet made it easier, but apparently also much, much slower...

Or, Lena randomly went some other places / did some sight-seeing in NFL before she decided to finally visit her mother’s hometown...  [Either that or the timelines don’t match up and Lena’s scenes are flashbacks of sorts.]

Optimistic and relaxed Lena is a sight to behold. I rewound 3 times, just to enjoy it for as long as possible. We all knew it was going to be short-lived... 

Let’s check off a few more items...

OMG, Kara hiding behind Alex at the mere sight of the PZ-projector broke my heart!  😢

"Elisabeth Walsh" is the new 'the one you shall not name'. ...poor Lena. 😭

Oh, so Mxy wants to be Patrick Swayze instead of Baby... gotcha.

...is this going anywhere?

KITTY!!! Okay, this must be the best opponent in the history of CWSG. 

Despite the horrible CGI, SG using her heat-vision to project a laser-beam to distract the cat had me in (happy-) tears! 🤣

Gotta love the civilians of National City quickly returning to business as usual once the giant cat is gone. Even the police officers looked rather chill...

Nyxly did look fabulous this episode ^^ 

Andrea being Lena's rock is both great and annoying. I can't fault Andrea. It's just, that we still have to see an on-screen interaction between Lena and Kara and that bugs the heck out of me. I can’t help it. I’m sorry, Andrea.

Nia: "...is my fault." Kara: "Nu, is MY fault!" J'onn: "Stop fighting, kids!" Space-dad has spoken.

Mxy used an LuthorCorp copy machine... and of cos it's faulty. It's not an L-Corp product.

Kara forgiving Nia came as a surprise to her... Oooookay. I mean, the show has been writing Kara a bit inconsistently the past two seasons... so, yeah, maybe being unsure which of her traits apply this week was not such a far stretch...

Maybe it's the hair, but I wished, Florence was played by Alex Kingston.

So, not-Alex-Kingston shows Lena herself with a funny wig and tells her how her mother was still watching her...

If it wasn't for Katie's acting skills (I love her.) I would have already hit my head against the wall repeatedly. Something about these scenes had me constantly cringe and I made it through 5.5 seasons of this show already... Can’t quite put my finger on it, but it was highly distracting from the story that explained Lena’s mom was special even to another witch, where there was domestic abuse, and an accidental murder. Y’know, important stuff, deep-cutting stuff! 

At least, poor widddle Lena got some closure there. Elisabeth was a good cookie. And filled with magic. And Lena’s gotta have that ‘spark’, too... 

....so... Lena’s gonna stay in NFL for how much longer, to train becoming a witch?  Please, just hand her a how-to manual and send her back home, to figure it out on her own, please... (Yes, that would be horrible decision-making, but I need her back with the team!)

On to the finish line: 

So... Mxy IS Nyxly's brother? Wait, that doesn’t sound right... then Nyxly would have the same blood... Did I miss something? Can someone explain, please? Or is he her ex, and that’s where his rendition of “I will survive” makes sense?

Hnn... I can't help, but think Kara's speech for Nyxly was 85% based on her experiences with Lena in s05.

Awww... he said "stronger together"... Mxy... I hope, you'll be okay!

Lena believes in magic now. And I absolutely love how Lena wants to science magic XD

...but apparently magic isn’t science that hasn’t been explained yet, but parallel... powers? concepts? ether strings?

Nyxly has a loyal henchman now. Which was a bit heavy-handed. Took way too much of screen-time, so it better leads to something interesting.

And Kara is on a warpath now. Wooooot! Girl’s got enough.

...what else? 

Did I miss a third Patrick Swayze hint / quote / mention?  I learned, these things come in threes... Y’know, basic writing rules... 

I guess, for once the episode title was meant to be taken literally, Mxy popping up between characters, to try and help. (I need in-show footage, of Mxy sneaking up on ppl, without his powers, on all fours / crouched, just to get the desired effect.) I mean, I’ve never really watched Malcom, but wasn’t he like what Mxy usually is? A bit of a trouble-maker, prankster, chaos-ensuing wherever he goes? ...well, in that case, the episode title didn’t hold up, as Mxy’s scenes were not fun or really goofy. Yes, there was some superficial humor, but just to serve Mxy dealing with not being able to use his powers, which in turn was only barely scratched at (although it turned out to be his final character development crisis, appreciating not having powers and - in turn - facing consequences for once). Again, a whole lot going on in the episode, so a lot of that may have ended up on the cutting-room floor.

...where’s Kelly? Secretly adopting a kid, maybe?

...Kara’s still a reporter, right? I mean, whenever it serves the immediate plot, yes? ...Not even a throw-away line, that she has to pop up at CatCo for appearances sake? Since Andrea is already upset with her AND looking into her friends’ identities? At least, Kara should take a peek to make sure Andrea hasn’t uncovered anything yet... No?

Well, that’s all I’ve got for now. Kue out.

#Supergirl #supercorp #Mxy in the middle #6x11 #mxy #nyxly #lena luthor #magic #lena's mom #fiction dissected #fandom #episode #Nia nal #dreamer #brainy #brainia

[mango-dolphin]

a look into those fanmade kids for that jason prequel fic because ari enabled me and i love being enabled

@thegodswereneveronourside​ HI. HEWWO. HEY. HI

so honestly i think there’s going to be. a Lot of characters. in this fic. primarily because of the focus on family and collectiveness that’ll generally be going on? i don’t have a lot of them fleshed out atm, some of them Will be ascended canon thus technically OCs (because Fuck it. why not try and fit the puzzle pieces of canon together)...

and uh. a lot of them aren’t fully developed yet for the sole fact that they are baby, and i have not figured out the whole story (thus places for characters to act in), so things will be fleshed out in Due Time. characters i HAVE thought up enough to be confident sharing a wee bit about them, though, i’m more than happy to share.

for STARTERS, there’s Octavian’s family, which i’ve talked about a little bit Here, but i can talk about the Twins in depth since they’re more relevant than anyone else :) probably :) most likely

1 & 2.) Ceicilia and Septimus are pretty big names in the camp by the time the fic truly gets going. not only is their family pretty damn powerful, but the two are very accomplished members of the legion.

Ceicilia has essentially been fostering a Girl Gang™ in the legion and her charm & sarcastic enthusiasm has been one of the sole factors keeping the morale in Camp Jupiter as high as it can be. On the other side of the coin, Septimus worked his way from the bottom after nearly failing Lupa’s training and has grown to become one of the most disciplined and efficient centurions in recent memory, in spite of his lack of powers (as opposed to the rest of his family).

The both of them are some of the camp’s best warriors as well, though due to their unintentional influence, some gossip tends to arise about them from time to time... usually about their little brother, who happens to be the new augur-in-training.

3.) I don’t have a name for the augur before Octavian, much less pronouns, but I know that they’re a pretty snarky, laid-back person. They were given training by the brilliant (but tragic) Quartana, and have been trying to lead a brighter legacy in order to bring the Twelfth Fulminata some much-needed hope. However since this takes place during the Titan War that’s gonna be kinda hard buddy. Feels a little outpaced by their student Octavian, but they aren’t exactly chomping at the bit to shun a little kid.

4 & 5.) the praetors before Reyna! I’ve already posted a bit about Antonius Daryush, though I’ll mention for awhile he’s leading with a character whose NAME i FORGOT she’s a grand/daughter of Bacchus and her retiring is a plot point (and will lead to Reyna being instated haha). Haven’t developed her too much yet, but she’s pretty cool.

Anton is a whole other bed of worms and I love him. Due to the circumstances of his birth and, uh, whole family line that’s practically brimming with divinity, there’s a lot of fate and destiny weighing on his shoulders. He’s supposed to occupy a similar space to Jason where his entire life is staged for the benefit and detriment of the gods, and he takes an entirely different approach to all of it. He masks most of it with a laissez-faire attitude and complete gentleness, but when he’s on the battlefield, he becomes a whole other person without raising his voice.

I love Anton. He’s a good boy. He grows flowers and learns how to sew as a stress relief. :)

6.) Nancy. Oh my god Nancy. A normal, every-day mortal that was minding her own business, completely oblivious to the world of myth, and then her parents got murdered on a camping trip and she’s just had this nightmare odyssey across the forests of California until stumbling across Lupa (and, later, Camp Jupiter). She’s 15 when she arrives, thus 14 when things went to shit. (She’s also four years older than Jason.) She’s got a lot of pent up rage and confusion, and since she’s not even clear-sighted, she has trouble adjusting to Camp Jupiter (as well as being accepted among the ranks). Has a lot to prove. Is also a trans girl, which is accepted in the camp, but still provides a lot of stress to her anyways due to having to bring in Gender Baggage™ to camp.

Nancy and Septimus get along really well.

7.) There’s this weirdo kid almost Jason’s age on the Titan’s side named Jupiter who keeps running around wreaking havoc ??? He proclaimed himself as a son of Saturn, which seemed like bullshit, but he very obviously has immense time powers that he can abuse the fuck out of and well he’s that obnoxious, better-than-you asshole who steals all your pepsi and calls you a bitch. His favorite hobby is causing problems on purpose. He has a giant fuck-off sword that also has time powers. Jupiter what is your DEAL. Fuck him

8.) talk to me about Isidore Storm, senior centurion of the Fifth Cohort for majority of the fic! They’re a child of Janus who’s trying to seek justice and reparation on behalf of their father. As important as Janus is to the Romans, his loyalties to the camp have been called into question after one too many omens and disasters start adding up. Isidore wants to prove that their father, their siblings, their entire family... they’re as Roman and as loyal as any other, and they shouldn’t be looked down upon nor feared.

They’re a pretty chipper person, though they can be very intensely passionate when they’ve got an opinion on something. Their powers have to do with halves, splitting, and one’s sense of self. I don’t wanna elaborate because a specific power of theirs is VERY very fun, and I want to keep it a surprise.

I also figured it’d be interesting if they were the original owner of the IVLIVS. idk it seems like a very janus-esque weapon, what w/the two faces, two possibilities, etc. ALSO it makes the destruction of the weapon feel a lot more potent themes-wise once i get my fuckin HANDS on this story

9ish.) there’s gonna be a pretty sizeable number of clear-sighted mortals and distant legacies in this fic, and there are a Handful that i’ve started to shape out and develop a little bit (nancy included). i’m not gonna pull a twist that one of them is Actually the child of a God and Has been this whole time Wow!!! because i feel like that misses the point. some of these guys are just fully mortal and they’re working with what they’ve got.

one in particular is this alchemist that i’ve fallen in love with. similar to Jason, they were found and claimed by a god at a young age and brought to camp as an orphan, meaning Camp Jupiter and New Rome has been their whole life. however, the Alchemist is a clear-sighted mortal, thus has no powers. so, as you can probably tell by their moniker, they tinkered around with different ways to be useful to their only family and discovered alchemy & potion-making.

they’re prolific at it. one of the best, in fact. but they have a tendency to use themself as a guinea pig, which means their body chemistry is a little... volatile, sometimes. chemistry and fighting for the Legion is their entire life, and they only foresee themselves continuing their scientific craft for the benefit of their family, even if it kills them... or worse.

10.) OH UH. there’s this other child of Janus, January, she comes into the fic a little later and is inducted into the fifth cohort alongside Jason and others. she’s a little shy and doesn’t really want to mention anything about her past--she just wants to make the legion proud, as it’s the only family she has. she and Isidore get very close, as they’re both passionate about their father Janus... but in slightly different directions.

#thegodswereneveronourside #my OCs #OCs #pjo OCs #jason grace prequel fic #fanfic #fanfiction #my writing #mango's writing #i keep forgetting. ymy tags. Helepe #WOAH I DID IT. i started getting self-conscious by the time i started actually describing them #this doesn't even go into All of it ofc. but that's what i'm comfortable sharing for now :3 #i don't mind answering more specific questions tho!! it's just the general description that i tend to flounder through #ceicilia #septimus #anton daryush #nancy #isidore storm #jupiter #january #octavian #once i name the other ones i'll tag them fkjsenmfkjesnfa #these guys are characters that will get. Multiple lines. #TY FOR INQUIRING I HAD FUN #long post #januaia

[elizabethrobertajones]

Did Bobo really create the Wayward Sisters? If so, why weren't Jack and especially Cas included in that episode? That's my biggest issue with that pilot honestly, I mean, the fact that the show abandoned Claire and Cas' bond after season 10 and gave that storyline to Salmondean. Her bond with Cas is more interesting because of their connection to the Novaks. I also think that Claire and Jack would've made a more engaging dynamic and spin off together, I think they're strong characters & actors

Hi there!

Bobo isn’t the “creator” of Wayward so much as it can even have one, as it was a very organic idea, which even involved a healthy amount of fandom input. The original campaign in season 10 was for Wayward Daughters, and the idea picked up so much steam the altered title for, I guess, a mix of copyright and thematic relevance was the Sisters one. I’d say 10x08 was the real genesis of it as something that could be really solid. Once Kim and Briana were put together the chemistry and star power they could have had together was really meteoric as far as our small SPN world was concerned. Phil Sgriccia directed 9x13 and wrote 10x08 and was more of the parent of Wayward than any specific writer in that sense. Jody and Claire were pretty much common property of the show by that point. Claire was really introduced again in relation to plotlines and questions about Cas and less to do with them really going out of their way to re-launch her. I think they’d have been much cornier about it from the start and while YA protagonist diary writing her way through the end of Wayward Sisters was cute, it’s the sort of cutesy that really has to be earned. If she STARTED that way, like maybe me and 3 friends would be stanning her and everyone else would be revolted :P

(I am a YA fantasy novel author, but I do think everyone should make room in their hearts for this level of cheese)

In any case, Bobo just threw his hat into an already crowded ring with Alex, but obviously loving the characters and having his own personal wayward child to contribute did help elevate him to the prospective showrunner seat, but also all the other writers who’d written these characters except Dabb had left at that point. If Bobo was going to shepherd them through to their new show, he’d be the legacy writer, even though he was a new baby writer in the season Donna was introduced... Attrition aside, he did genuinely write them very well, loved their stories and was great with writing Jody when he could get her, so he would also have been a good choice even if all the others were left still... 

But anyway. Season 10′s subplot for Cas was about Claire and learning some stuff about himself along the way, but she was used very much for his personal development and for Dean as well, being a mini Dean herself in a season where he had lost a lot of his sense of self. It’s a total accident of scheduling but Angel Heart (10x20) being the last episode before 10x22 is a nice touch in that regard. And while Cas tried really hard with Claire and awoke his inner Dad side so that he’d be more prepared for fatherhood next time, it was pretty insurmountable between them to have anything more than a bittersweet relationship where the best he could do was make up with her and see her somewhere safe. The fact of him looking like her actual dead father is horrendous the more you think about it and while she managed to see him for who he was instead of a horrible monster, that’s more than enough trauma to inflict on an already traumatised girl for the sake of helping Cas’s manpain and tidying up the sticky question of Jimmy and Cas’s right to the vessel. 

Angel Heart very specifically ends with TFW mailing Claire to Jody because they know she’s already good with Alex in a genuine way and can handle these sort of issues and has done it before. And also because she can be a guardian who will not constantly remind Claire that her father is dead but something is walking around wearing a perfect reconstruction of his face. Carver era did a few things here and there with bodily autonomy and the problem of angel and demon vessels, but it was also really hit and miss. They’d get random waves of feeling guilty about it but then by necessity go back to stabbing angels in their still-living vessels an episode later. Claire was a way to address at the very least that whatever Cas was being put through was only a punishment on Cas and not on Jimmy as well, which is probably why we got such sappy Heaven scenes. We NEEDED to be shown he was in Heaven and largely okay with what was going on so that the show could justify using Cas at all as a character without breaking the code of ethics they tried to make their own characters adhere to. Aside from that it also gave Cas a side plot for when he wasn’t needed in the main plot, and any emotional connection to anything that wasn’t Sam and Dean.

Anyway 10x20 caused this huge fandom high which was followed by one of the lowest lows of the fandom immediately after, and both centred on female characters (in fact, now we know, 2 lesbians even! Though I’d wonder if, The Gay Agenda aside, Bobo spite-wrote that specifically because of the roots of Wayward) and I think that galvanised the whole movement of fans and hopefully some self-reflection in the show. They DID start making an effort in season 11, which shows some of the early signs of better inclusion but also backtracking or edging nervously away from the more intense Carver era stuff. Not just because Dean didn’t have the Mark any more but in general it was like someone had opened a window and let in some fresh air... Even before Carver bailed somewhere around the midseason to go do a different show and Dabb started to step up. 

All this to say that the Wayward stuff was always about the female characters and making up for the past sins of the show. It’s even a riff on the “wayward son” line which obviously centres around male protagonists and their journey. Claire stumbled into being a part of it in the lucky way of being in the right place and time, but the journey had already started even in the season 10 momentum with earlier work and it was that which suddenly made the prospect that Jody had two young women living with her now seem like a starter for the next generation of the show as it was a mirrored format to season 1 in a way, if you took Alex and Claire as the new Sam and Dean. It was exciting but people flipped out after Angel Heart because stuff had been bubbling since season 9 and earlier in season 10, so this was just pouring more candy into an already visibly full bowl of potential tasty gems. It made a possibility seem real that hadn’t before because we already had Kim bitterly complaining that the CW refused to hear the case for a Jody spin off because she was too old. The next best thing was a Jody spin off where she was the Gandalf to some CW age appropriate characters.

(the CW is and always has been garbage)

Anyway in season 13 Jack was introduced as a Claire 2.0 but as a male character with staying power for that reason, but he was filling the space she left for Cas. He couldn’t be a father to her and neither really wanted that set up anyway. But thematically it had created the possibility of Dadstiel and the space he had in his heart for that. Since the show was in its waning years they would be looking for endgame and handing Cas an easy win with a son he could unconditionally love who would love him back unconditionally absolutely filled that gap. It was a non SamnDean thing that Cas could have for himself outside of whatever happened with them. Not sure the memo came back that he was supposed to have mORE than that but oh well it’s not real if you don’t watch it :))) But yeah Jack was always going to be linked to Cas’s endgame, he wasn’t a free-floating character such as Jody who could go where she wanted and do as she pleased. He was main story relevant from start to finish and tied inexorably to another main character’s fate. Because the show wouldn’t do that with its female characters they could be bundled into spin offs but in practical terms Jack was both never what the Wayward as envisioned by fans or writers was about, nor would he have been free to go. 

Since it would have been about centering the stories of people overlooked by the main story, Claire a case in point that she had her life ruined in season 4 and it was a footnote until season ten, and then metaphorically more the concept of having queer and non-white characters in the mix of main characters, it would have represented a future of the story where the main show was unable to tread. Probably because of the CW. Also inherent biases in the writers. Bad cocktail. Jack is both too white and too male to fit the brief to ever leave SPN, and not only that but he is so as a precise mirror to the main white male characters, being passably any one of their sons if you squint, and meant to be instantly instinctively read as such... he was one of the safest bets of representing the show as the network wanted to imagine its target demographic.

So I really don’t think that Jack has any place being in a spin off of the show unless you want more of the same. They tried to give us something different and the CW didn’t like it because it wasn’t more of the same. Ironically a Jack spin off, with or without Claire, would have more chance of being greenlit and more chance of success. But the spin off they put their heart behind was Wayward Sisters as it was. And I think it was absolutely correct that never mind leaving Jack out of it after his work was done in the lead up episode to help set the table, but honestly they could have cut all the middle scenes of Sam and Dean wandering in the woods and gained precious seconds with the girls and still had a functioning story with those guys. It was like some cowardly missive was sent that the show couldn’t actually go more than 10 minutes without showing a flesh and blood Winchester or the whole thing would spontaneously sizzle out of syndication and the money tree would wither on the spot. And in the mean time, we could have been having Banter with the girls. Or Claire and Kaia holding hands some more. The good stuff :P 

[j-reau]

SO YOU WANT TO KNOW JENNIFER JAREAU?  PT. 1

[I’m sorry I took forever to answer this because I kept saying I was going to come back and finish it so for now you get part one.]

The reality is, Criminal Minds is 15 seasons of television. And in this show that means roughly 15 years of these character’s lives. A LOT happens. But at the same time, this is a pretty old show and it’s a CBS procedural. It’s designed to be digestible even if you don’t follow the main plots. Unlike some other procedurals, it tends to have more of a serialized (week to week) plot going through in terms of the characters’ individual developments and the occasional bigger arc. But that said, when I say an episode is a “good JJ episode” that may mean it’s an episode where she has a good scene or two. It may mean it’s an episode where she has a defining character moment. It does not necessarily mean she will be the entire focus of the episode. The character development in a show like CM is slow and really, really built over time. And the moments you’ll see me piece together on my blog and talk about as important moments for JJ, may often feel like blips on the radar of an episode. Do not expect a 2019, golden age of TV, stop your heart kind of plot and drama. It’s just not that kind of show. It’ll do that now and then, but not all the time. 

So without further ado, I plan to break this episode list up into three subsections: *** means the episode is a must watch to know JJ’s plot and development. This will be saved for Major JJ episodes. ** is for episodes that are JJ focused or have good JJ content but may be simply a good emotional episode, and are not required in order to follow plot moments. Lastly, * means that the episode is just one that I love. It may be another character’s big arc. It may be a mystery I just think is great, or an episode that is considered classic CM. So start at the top. If you don’t have a lot of time at all, stick with the three stars. If you want a full JJ adventure, do three and two. If you want a little bonus stuff because you’re having fun and you like the other characters too, do the three stars, two stars, and ones. 

SEASON 1

*1x01: Extreme Aggressor - JJ isn’t even in this episode. But it’s the pilot. It gives you the backstory and establishes the team.  ***1x02: Compulsion - While not extremely plot relevant as most of my other three start episodes, this is in fact JJ’s first episode. So especially if you’re not going to watch 1x01, give this one a go.  [JJ is not an incredibly important character in season 1. So she’s not in much of it. But with that said, I’d suggest bopping around and watching a few random episodes just to get a feel for the team/vibe/etc] **1x14: Riding the Lightning - JJ is so awesome in this episode. It’s also considered a CM classic so def watch it. It’s not on my must watch list because rules say it’s not plot relevant to JJ’s story specifically but I’d still call it a must watch.  *1x21: Secrets and Lies - not plot relevant but it does have some delightful JJ and Garcia friendship scenes and we love them here.  *1x22: Fisher King Pt 1 - Finale. Not relevant to JJ beyond the fact that it’s the season finale. I will likely put most finales and season premieres on this list because they tend to include the big, team wide, more personal cases. 

SEASON 2

*2x01: Fisher King Pt 2 - like I said, all finales and premieres. This one is a two parter.  **2x06: Boogeyman - a CM Classic. Elle Fanning guest stars. JJ has some great moments with kids because that’s her thing. Not plot relevant.  ***2x07: North Mammon - Not SUPER plot relevant but this is the first time JJ really gets an episode of her own, that’s her arc and feels like her case. It’s a good look into her character and provides some insight into who she is. Also it’s a wild case straight out of a CW show.  *2x09: The Last Word - not important for JJ but it is Emily Prentiss’s intro episode and we just love Emily in this house and she’s a very important character in JJ’s life.  *2x12: Profiler, Profiled - again like most early season episode, not JJ centric. This is a Morgan centric episode and is really a CM classic. Goes into Morgan’s backstory and is heartbreaking and well done. If you’ve gotten this far and find yourself into him, watch this.  ***2x14-2x15: The Big Game/Revelations - This is a two parter with a case that goes in CM fandom history books. It also features some important plot stuff for JJ and some real heartbreaking trauma for the team.  ***2x18: Joneses - JJ has some romance related stuff in this episode that is p important for her arc and life in general.  **2x21: Open Season - Not super plot heavy but a good JJ episode with good scenes a decent case. Does a lot to show what JJ does in her part of the job. AND features Criminal Minds iconic girls at the bar scene. 

SEASON 3

**3x01: Doubt - I left out the season 2 finale so take it or leave it but the Season 3 premiere is good fun. Has some good JJ emotions in it.  *3x02: Name in Blood - Not JJ relevant but a good Emily episode and a case that weirdly becomes relevant in a JJ/Emily episode WAY THE FRICK in season 14 or something.  **3x04: Children of the Dark - No big plot things just a great JJ and Emily episode of them being great together acting like moms.  **3x05: Seven Seconds - No big plot things again but a good perspective of the extent of what JJ’s side of the work deals with.  *3x09: Penelope - HUGE episode, very important. For the team, For JJ, for Garcia. Watch it. [Also maybe watch the last 5 minutes of the episode before it] **3x15: Higher Power - Not that big plot wise but always assume if a plot description/case has suicide in it that it’ll have good JJ content. ***3x18: In Heat - JJ and Will stuff. You need it to know who JJ is.  *3x20: Lo-Fi - it’s a finale so it goes on the list.

SEASON 4

*4x01: Mayhem - again it’s a premiere so it goes on the list *4x03: Minimal Loss - not JJ related but a good CM classic, guest starring Luke Perry and a great Prentiss episode - JJ goes on Maternity leave / AJ goes on Maternity leave mid season 4 so there’s a big gap in JJ content But she has her baby i 4x11 if you want to see it. She returns in 4x14 *4x17: Demonology - no JJ but a huge backstory ep for Emily. Really pretty, really good. I highly recommend.  **4x23: Amplification: Not hugely plot important but a good JJ episode. Deals with her getting used to being both a mother and an agent.  *4x24-4x25: To Hell / And Back - Very disturbing season finale. Not JJ focused but a CM classic. 

#jennifer jareau #criminal minds

[time-to-write-and-suffer]

I wouldn't mind that post on VNs!

So I was gonna write three different lists, but then after writing the first part I realized this is very long and takes a while to write and nobody cares anyway so I’ll just post my recommended list only. Well, I mean, you asked, but I doubt you wanted all this lol. Thank you for giving me an excuse to talk about this stuff, though. Hope you enjoy my ramblings!

An explanation for what this list is: Sometimes I know a game isn't perfect in many aspects but I still had a genuinely good time playing it, hence why I'm recommending it. Also I should mention that I could talk for hours about some of these games so if anyone’s curious about more of my thoughts, let me know.

Alright, now that that's out of the way ...

How to Take Off Your Mask / How to Fool a Liar King / How to Sing to Open Your Heart (f/m): This is a trilogy of smaller, single-RO games where you can take one of two routes depending on how you act, and they’re all interconnected where you get to meet and interact with the previous games’ characters in the sequel games. I went into this expecting very little but what I got blew me away with how funny, charming and cute the games were. They don’t take themselves too seriously, at one point an angsty male character monologues deeply about some shit, and another one just slides into frame and starts mocking him. It was so fucking funny, holy shit. Also, a central theme is literally racism against catgirls? Which is monumentally stupid, and probably the games’ main flaw, especially in the final game where it pairs up a catgirl with a catgirl racist, but that one still ends with a literal bisexual queen literally making a man her malewife because she fell in love with his cooking, so like ... It speaks for itself. My favorite game of the three is the second one, where you get to play a punchy fake catgirl and romance a pink-haired prince. And honestly, all the female protags in these games are lovely and a breath of fresh air, and the male characters are fun and not abusive assholes either. There’s full Japanese voice acting, and two out of three female protags are literal catgirls who pepper in “nya” and “mya” into their dialogue, and it’s just treated as a quirk of their catgirl race. I AM NOT KIDDING. Yet somehow it never comes off as cringe, because it doesn’t take it self too seriously. These games are just cozy. That’s the only way I can describe them. Cozy and hilarious. Play them yesterday. Dream Daddy (m/m): Man tumblr did this game dirty. This is just a cute, wholesome daddy dating simulator with gorgeous art. Coming out on Top (m/m): So you know Dream Daddy? What if it was EXTREMELY, MAJORLY NSFW? Though I realize how bad the comparison really is, the only thing these games have in common is that they’re gay dating sims and don’t have an anime art style and oh, yeah, they’re both really well-written. Or at least, extremely funny. COOT (heh) is DDADDS’ horny older cousin, and I first encountered the game on a lesbian letsplayer’s YouTube channel. Yes I watched a lesbian play a gay porn game and it was GOOD. I was there for the cringe and fun and got surprised by how genuinely funny and sometimes actually touching the game was. I can’t give it my universal endorsement because it’s not a game for everyone, as I said, it’s extremely NSFW and the menu theme literally includes the singers screaming “SEX SEX” at the top of their lungs. There’s more to this game than the porn, but there’s just so much porn. It can be censored in the settings but it’s unavoidable. However, I still think it’s worth a look just because of how funny it is and how charming the characters are. If you don’t want to play it yourself, at least watch Anima’s playthrough of it. It hasn’t aged super well in some spots but I still go back to it every now and then. Akash: Path of the Five (f/m): This game markets itself as a more “professionally produced” western dating sim, and that’s accurate in some superficial aspects. The game is pretty poorly written, but it’s absolutely gorgeous and has really good English voice acting by actual professional voice actors. The premise is quite self-indulgent, but I genuinely respect that about it. You play as the only female elemental in a village with only men, and all five of your classmates want a piece of you. It’s clear the writers have put some thought into the lore and worldbuilding of this world, but barely any of it comes through in the actual writing and plot, which is basically just a vehicle for you to get together with your boy of choice. The ROs aren’t very well-developed either, and the plot is the same in every route with only minor variations depending on which guy you pick, up to the point where the protag has the same voice lines in some parts regardless of which guy she’s talking about. It also has one extra half-route that’s so bad and pointless I genuinely wonder why they wasted resources on making it instead of spending a bit more on the writing/adding some variations to the main plot. So why am I recommending this game? Well, it’s pretty, and it sounds nice. This game is a himbo, gorgeous but dumb as rocks. Enjoy it for what it is. I know I did. Get it when it’s on sale, I think if I hadn’t gotten it at half-price I would’ve felt a bit more cranky about it. Also Rocco is bae. Mystic Destinies: Serendipity of Aeons (f/m): Yes that’s the full title, no I don’t know what it means either. You may have noticed how most of the games so far I’ve enjoyed because they don’t take themselves too seriously? Well, this one does. It takes itself SO FUCKING SERIOUSLY. Like, way too seriously. It’s a little embarrassing at points because baby, you’re an urban fantasy dating sim. Calm down. But the game has gorgeous art and 3 out of 5 routes are very good. The last route, the one with your teacher, is both the most problematic yet somehow the one that breaks down the very concept of a dating sim within its own narrative (yes, this shit gets fucking META) and it got so wild at the end that 1) I still listen to the soundtrack for that route and 2) I still remember it to this day despite finishing it ages ago. My favorite route is Shou, he’s a sweetheart, but the mindfuck route is so buckwild that I think the game is worth playing just for that. There’s also a route that’s like a neo-noir mystery? I Do Not Know. This game is many, many things and it does them so sincerely and tries so hard, you can’t help but respect it. It doesn’t always stick the landing but man, just let this thing take your hand and wax poetic at you for a bit. Also get this one at a sale because it’s very expensive to get the full version. I got it for 9 bucks on itch.io and I felt that was a fair enough price, I’d say I wouldn’t have minded paying more for it because there’s a lot of content to enjoy and/or be baffled by. Arcade Spirits: This one’s a bit more weird from what I recall, and I honestly couldn’t tell you much about it, but I remember having a very good time with it and recommending it to a friend when she was going through some tough times and she said it made her feel better. I remember it making me feel better, as well. This is a VN about an arcade and the ROs are wonderfully diverse, with very real human conflicts that get explored in each of their routes. It can get quite existential and heavy at times, but in the end it’s a kindhearted game that I think everyone can enjoy. The main character was also, how you say, mood. It’s a game about getting possessed by a video game and then learning self-love. Ebon Light (f/m): This one’s free/name your own price on itch.io so go play it. It’s a weird plot where you play as a girl who ate an elven relic? And then the elves kidnap you because you’re the relic now. All the ROs are extremely pasty (like, literally white, as in literally the color white) dark-haired elves, except for one, who’s an extremely pasty blond elf, so ... diversity? I honestly don’t know what this game is aside from unique. I used to be a bit put off by the art style but now I think it contributes to the general atmosphere. It’s a weird game that technically doesn’t do anything groundbreaking but still left an impression of “huh. weird” in my mind and I think more people should play it. The ROs are all pretty generic dating sim archetypes but done well, with bonus points to Duliae who’s just a massive creep and I love him, and also Vadeyn who’s the only bitch in this house I respect. The worldbuilding is honestly a bit buckwild and I can’t give enough credit for how unique the elves’ culture is in this game. Definitely give it a go. Hakuoki: Kyoto Winds / Hakuoki: Edo Blossoms (f/m): These two are newer releases of an older Japanese visual novel. I wouldn’t call it a dating sim, it’s ... it’s more of a super depressing historical fantasy epic with some minor romance aspects awkwardly wedged in. It’s seriously some of the heaviest and most grimdark shit I’ve ever played in a VN/otome. I don’t understand why it’s a dating sim, it doesn’t read like one, it’s just historical fantasy based on real world events with characters based on real people, and they kill and they die and they grieve and they suffer. The games are literally about the downfall of the Shinsengumi, there’s no way of avoiding everything going to shit and you get to watch and be in the middle of it all as they struggle to stay alive and relevant in a world that doesn’t need them anymore. And there’s the protag in the middle of it all, being useless and submissive and bland just the way the usual otome protag is. I don’t think these games are necessarily fun, and the romance is certainly a lot more downplayed and deeply problematic just based on the age differences alone with some of the men, but the sheer amount of horror and sadness in these games make them stand out above its peers. It’s like watching a war movie. Since most of the characters are based on real people, they feel like real people instead of the usual otome archetypes, and they are so, SO flawed, it’s interesting to just watch them deal with the shit the world throws at them. It’s an Experience, and if you’re up for it, I think it’s worth the time. Cinderella Phenomenon (f/m): This game is free on Steam so go get it. You play as a really, genuinely shitty princess who gets cursed to be poor and forgotten and she has to help one of the ROs break his fairy tale curse so that she can learn about being a good person herself and return to her normal life. This game doesn’t look like much, but it has a genuinely well-written main character who’s actually at the center of each of the stories and in the overarching plot instead of just being around to make eyes at the real protagonists, aka the love interests. Aside from the main character, my favorite part of this game’s writing is how each route slowly but very smoothly expands upon the overarching intrigue. If you play them in a certain order, you get more and more info revealed to you that you didn’t see in other routes, gaps are filled in as you find out more about what actually happened and why, but every route also stands on its own as a full experience and none is more canon than the rest. There’s also some really heavy emotional parental abuse explored, which I found quite potent at times. The romances themselves were alright, I think Karma and Waltz were my faves.

#eff plays

[battlestar-royco]

here is part 2 of my sci fi recs masterlist! again, i could’ve gone on with even more recs but i decided to draw the line here. this set for the most part errs on the darker side, thematically, visually, conceptually etc. i personally find it super thought-provoking and intriguing but that’s just me. i highly recommend reading the tw under the cut if you’re thinking of watching, especially the matrix and space gothic slides. please view at your discretion <3

part 1/2

If you like WLW (um idk why I only made this slide based on identity; it just kinda happened lmao but I think it works):

Siren: (tw: parent loss, grief, thalassophobia) a mermaid surfaces in a cove town looking for her lost sister. Polyamorous relationship between a man, a black/indigenous woman, and the mermaid!!!! Environmentalism! As a person who has thalassophobia, I didn’t find this too hard to watch. There aren’t that many underwater scenes, thankfully.

Black Mirror: San Junipero: (tw: grief, but otherwise none that I recall; it’s pretty lighthearted) two women meet in a beach resort in the 80s and fall in love. Interracial wlw!

Orphan Black: (tw: suicide, infertility, rape implication, VB, language, drug use) a woman realizes she is one of several clones and uncovers an elaborate corporate conspiracy. This is one of my personal favorites with great rep of complex women of all ages and bodily autonomy. Several central queer characters and a black male secondary character!

Starfish: (tw: grief, a few jump scares and brief monstrous imagery, blood) after the death of her best friend, a young woman breaks into the deceased’s apartment and discovers a chain of music tapes that could save the world. Weird, subtle, and experimental. Not to sound like a surfer but you kinda have to allow yourself to be in the vibe. The main character and her friend were definitely a thing imo.

Annihilation: (tw: body horror, VB, disturbing imagery) a team of women scientists explore an anomaly that rapidly mutates genes. There are canonical and coded wlw and multiple (light-skinned) POC in this but the rep is short-lived. I put it on because although it should’ve been more ambitious with the casting, I think it breaks *some* ground for Hollywood sci fi with the all-woman team and more than one WOC. Wack ending though.

Mad Max: Fury Road: (tw: rape implication, violence) I think everyone knows about this one but: in the apocalypse, a woman breaks 4 younger women out of a harem. A badass car chase across the desert ensues. A bit light on plot/worldbuilding, but sooooo cool-looking and very thematic!!!!

If you liked STRANGER THINGS:

It: (tw: VB) don’t actually watch this lmao I’m serious. It’s really stupid, and not in a funny way. But I do think Stranger Things was inspired by this story overall. The modern It films are better but they’re also really kjslsklskls stupid? Stephen King in general is obsolete imo.

The Thing: (tw: VB) an alien that can take the form of others wreaks havoc on a scientific facility in Antarctica. It’s dark and vibey, but I feel like it’s just Alien in Antarctica with truly terrible special effects tbh?? Others feel differently. It’s also classified as sci fi/horror, so stay away if you’re easily scared! Not too good on representation.

Super 8: (tw: some language) a group of preteens witnesses an alien-caused train crash as they’re filming a home movie. Not diverse but I definitely think it inspired a lot of sci fi for the 2010s, ESPECIALLY Stranger Things. Not too scary either!

ET: (tw: it’s been a really long time since I watched so I don’t remember but it’s rated PG) I think everyone knows what this is about!

Alien: (tw: VB) truckers in space discover a deadly evolving alien. One of my favorite movies of all time! I love the aesthetic and the mood and worldbuilding so much. Ellen Ripley is one of the first Final Girls in the horror genre. I personally found this more of a sci fi than a horror movie but I’d say stay away if you’re nervous!!

Terminator: (tw: VB) a deadly android is sent to kill a woman who’s destined to birth the man who saves the world. Terminator 2 is way better imo because it centers on Sarah rather than the dudes saving her and trying to kill her. But it’s still worth a watch, you know, for the culture.

If you liked CONTAGION:

War of the Worlds: (tw: blood) pretty straightforward aliens come to Earth to take over. Sorry to rec another T*m Cruise movie but I really like the alien design and the apocalypsey feel of this one. Baby Dakota Fanning is in it too!

Falling Skies: (tw: VB, body horror, rape) alien invasion yada yada but the alien lore gets more interesting as it goes on. It’s kind of cheesy and yeah maybe I did discover it by looking up the iCarly boyfriend (and what about it??) but it’s nice to have on in the downtime. An Asian woman co-stars.

Knowing: (tw: blood) school students unearth a time capsule that contains a sheet from a girl who predicted all the tragic world events between 1959-2009. This is NOT a good movie but it’s SO hilarious to me because of the acting and contrivances. Fun to group-watch!!!!

10 Cloverfield Lane: (tw: VB, emotional abuse) a woman wakes up in a bunker to a captor who tells her that the world has fallen to alien apocalypse. I think this movie elevates the original Cloverfield in pretty much every way. Again, super tense and moody. The conflict revolves around whether or not the captor is being truthful.

Train to Busan: (tw: extreme VB and disturbing imagery) a man and his daughter are on a train when a zombie hops on at the last minute. It’s Korean with an all-Asian cast; Choi Woo-shik co-stars. I definitely wouldn’t watch if you’re scared of blood and gore. It’s very gross and violent.

12 Monkeys: (tw: ableism, violence) a man from the 2030s is sent back to the 1990s to prevent the plague that will end the world. I think the aesthetics of this are really cool but otherwise it’s not a favorite. But I think it appeals to people who like apocalypse and time travel stuff!

If you liked THE MATRIX:

Strange Days: (tw: rape, sex, nudity, VB, racism, police brutality) memories can be saved to hard-drives and sold on the black market for exorbitant prices. Very problematic and triggering presentation of rape, but young Angela Basset stars and there’s a condemnation of police brutality that’s still relevant 20+ years after its release.

Upgrade: (tw: ableism, VB, fridging) a disabled man installs an AI in his spine to help him move and investigate the murder of his wife. The premise is glaringly ableist and I feel weird even recommending it tbh but it’s got great visuals and a few good twists.

Altered Carbon: (tw: VB, weird interracial body switching, uhhh I haven’t finished this one IDK) in a society where human bodies are interchangeable, a man wakes up in a new body after 300 years of his mind being dormant. A Latina woman co-stars, two Asian characters in a subplot, a few other POC here and there as well. I think season 2 stars a black man.

eXistenZ: (tw: VB, anti-Asian racism, general weirdness? IDK it’s hard to describe. There are guns made out of bones and weirdly sexual visuals.) after someone tries to assassinate her, a video game designer and her bodyguard must play through her virtual reality game in order to save the only copy of the game.

Minority Report: (tw: VB, eye removal/insertion) all crimes are predicted and criminals reported before they are committed. The main character is preemptively accused of murder. This one is really white but it was one of the first movies that got me into sci fi. Early 2000s Colin Farrell <3.

If you liked WESTWORLD:

Humans: (tw: uncanny valley, objectification) androids are household helpers and public assistants throughout Britain until one day they start developing consciences. It hits a lot of the themes of Westworld without all the unnecessary pretentiousness, “edginess,” and “grittiness,” and it stars Gemma Chan and Colin Morgan!!

Blade Runner 2049: (^) an android is ordered to find and kill a human/android hybrid. It’s not without its issues but it’s one of my favorite movies of all time, right up there with Alien. So beautiful, so thematic, so thought-provoking (to me, anyway. I know a lot of people thought it was way too slow).

Ex Machina: (^) a man is invited to a private estate to help test the intelligence of an android. It’s kind of predictable imo but you know Oscar Isaac and Sonoya Mizuno are in it so we have to stan, and so is Domhnall Gleeson, for the SW fans! I like how isolated and quiet it feels.

I Am Mother: (tw: blood, gaslighting) after an extinction event, a young woman is raised by a lone android in a human repopulation facility until one day a woman knocks. It starts off slow and a bit generic, but I’m obsessed with the 2nd and 3rd acts of this movie---good acting, dialogue, and fantastic visuals. It has that same isolated feel as Ex Machina with only three characters, all of which are women/woman-coded!!!

If you liked ALIEN (space gothic):

Battlestar Galactica (2004-2008 reboot): (tw: genocide, war, colonization, VB, uncanny valley, rape, infidelity) space opera that follows humanity as it fights the ever-evolving and powerful enemy of their own creation: androids named Cylons. Um? I  L O V E  THIS SHOW SO MUCH and I truly do think it’s everything sci fi should be. There is a really unfortunate Miss Saigon-esque romance plot in season 1 and a lazily-written love triangle involving a black woman in season 3, but otherwise it’s one of my all-time favorites and I highly recommend. It’ll spin your mind and tug your heartstrings for years.

Black Mirror: Men Against Fire: (tw: genocide, war, nudity) soldiers in the near future protect citizens from mutant zombies, but one soldier starts experiencing strange hallucinations in the field. This is such an underrated Black Mirror episode starring a black man. There’s brief objectification of a black woman but it’s very anti-military and it has an interesting sterile aesthetic that reminds me of Alien.

High Life: (tw: rape, black holes/space anxiety, very disturbing) prisoners are given the option to join a space expedition and serve as experimental subjects en route to a black hole. Please please stay away if you are triggered by sexual violence of any kind. There’s almost no physical violence in this movie but it’s psychologically haunting imo.

The Faculty: (tw; VB, drug use) high schoolers discover their teachers are being possessed by an invading alien race. I LOVE THIS MOVIE LMFAOOOO. The cast is SO wild---Elijah Wood, John Oliver, Usher, Salma Hayek, Josh Hartnett??? And I’m probably forgetting more. The combination of the cast, the terrible dialogue, and shitty special effects is PEAK comedy imo. But bear in mind it’s bloody!!

Prometheus: (tw: body horror, VB, uncanny valley) a crew of scientists heads on a deep space mission to find the aliens who created the human race. A prequel to Alien, but I kind of view it as its own thing. Despite the plot holes, I love this movie too! It was one of my sci fi gateways and the visuals are stunning. It’s pretty gory though so if that’s not your thing stay away.

Life: (tw: extreme VB) a lesser Alien, but it provides all the space gothic tropes (jokey crew, shots of space, really pretty spaceship, everyone dies, creepy alien) with a well-known cast---Gyllenhaal, Reynolds, etc.

The X Files: (tw: a few episodes contain 90s racism, sexism, queerphobia etc but you can skip them) a lot of people have watched this so I barely have to explain, but it’s one of my favorites. Two FBI agents investigate multiple aliens and get involved in government conspiracies along the way. A good gateway!

A Quiet Place: (tw: child loss, VB, tension) I think most people know what this is about too. Alien apocalypse with aliens that hunt by sound. The daughter in the family is deaf, and so is the actress who portrays her. The representation of deafness was critically acclaimed.

#maxine talks sci fi #movie recs #maxine did you read/watch

[spacenoise]

Essential Steven Universe Episodes

Hello everyone! 

Looking to watch Steven Universe, but not drag yourself through all the episodes? Never fear! I’ve made a list of what I believe to be the most essential episodes of Steven Universe with unnecessary ones labelled as such (and my reasons why). Now here’s some things to keep in mind before looking at the list:

When I say “essential” I mean ones that introduce important elements to the story. New important characters, new powers, episodes that develop the character and plot-relevant episodes fit this category. 

Episodes that develop certain characters will be labeled as “unnecessary” if they don’t contribute enough to the plot or their growth.

There may be some personal bias since I found one or two filler episodes to be enjoyable despite their uselessness to the overall plot but I’ll label them as well so you know.

 Avoid reading ahead. The labels for unnecessary ones may contain SPOILERS so if you care about that kind of stuff: you’ve been warned.

On to the list!

Season 1

1. Gem Glow

2. Laser Light Cannon

3. Cheeseburger Backpack: Steven’s first mission

a. Together Breakfast: shows off gem rooms and a monster but that’s really it.

b. Frybo: introduces PeeDee but he doesn’t ever really do anything so...?

4. Cat Fingers

5. Bubble Buddies

6. Serious Steven

a. Tiger Millionaire: while there is some character development, there isn’t really enough to make it worth watching since most of the episode is focused on wrestling.

7. Steven’s Lion

8. Arcade Mania

9. Giant Woman

10. So Many Birthdays: a peek at how dark this show can get

11. Lars and the Cool Kids

a. Onion Trade: mainly about Onion; if you like his character, feel free to watch but if not I’d avoid it since it ultimately doesn’t mean much.

12. Steven the Sword Fighter

13. Lion 2: The Movie

a. Beach Party: Gems piss off the family that runs the town’s pizza shop and try to make it up to them by inviting them to hang out. Shenanigan ensue, but has no lasting impact on the story.

14. Rose’s Room

15. Coach Steven

a. Joking Victim: develops Sadie and Lars’ relationship; skip if you don’t really care about either

16. Steven and the Stevens

17. Monster Buddies

18. An Indirect Kiss

19. Mirror Gem & Ocean Gem 

a. House Guest: shows why Steven has trouble with his powers, but nothing too important happens other than that; watch if you wanna see more Pearl & Greg interactions

20. Space Race: shows Pearl’s fondness of space; develops her character and background but not necessary; skip if you want

a. Secret Team: if you don’t like episodes about characters making temporary truces I’d avoid this one; not enough character development to make it worthwhile.

b. Island Adventure: another Sadie and Lars episode; Lars opens about his feelings but not much else happens.

21. Keep Beach City Weird: relevant for SU: Future reasons, but if you don’t like Ronaldo skip

22. Fusion Cuisine

a. Garnet’s Universe: contributes nothing, but is a kinda cute episode.

b. Watermelon Steven: introduces a character(s) that is only used a total of three (maybe four?) times; also introduces a power that is rarely ever used when it matters.

23. Lion 3: Straight to Video

24. Alone Together

25. Warp Tour

a. The Test: some good character discussions, but not important overall.

26. Future Vision

27. On the Run

a. Horror Club: if you don’t care for Ronaldo, Sadie or Lars: skip. Even if you care about Lars, skip this one since you kinda get the gist of his character at this point.

b. Winter Forecast: a few nice moments, but ultimately a big “what-if” episode

28. Maximum Capacity

29. Marble Madness

30. Rose’s Scabbard

a. Open Book: a Steven and Connie episode; fun if you like them, but skippable

b. Shirt Club: focuses on one of the Cool Kids but ultimately means nothing

c. Say Uncle: Uncle Grandpa Crossover; some funny moments from the Gems but if you don’t like UG avoid this one.

31. Story for Steven

32. The Message

a. Political Power: addresses certain concerns the Gems have, but nothing important crosses over into the next episode; most about Mayor Dewey anyway

33. The Return

34. Jailbreak

-------------------

Season 2

1. Full Disclosure

a. Joy Ride: Steven messes around with the Cool Kids; there’s a bit here briefly referenced in SU: Future I think, but other than nothing really happens; skip it if you want

b. Love Letters: properly introduces Jamie and shows his character, but he never does anything for the plot. All you need to know if him and Steven are friends.

c. Reformed: introduces Amethyst's new form and shows more of her insecurities but that’s all this episode is really good for.

2. Sworn to the Sword

a. Rising Tides, Crashing Skies: a Ronaldo episode; need I say more?

3. Keeping It Together

4. We Need To Talk

5. Chille Tid

6. Cry for Help

7. Keystone Motel

a. Onion Friend: another Onion episode; addresses how Amethyst feels regarding the current situation, but other than that nothing worthwhile.

b. Historical Friction: Jamie puts on a play and some gem stuff is involved; no action, but tells us about the Gems’ history

8. Friend Ship

a. Nightmare Hospital: mostly about Connie and her mom; some cool scary bits, but skippable.

b. Sadie’s Song: entirely about Sadie and how her mom makes her feel; skip if you don’t care much for Sadie.

9. Catch and Release

10. When It Rains

11. Back to the Barn

a. Too Far: develops Peridot and Amethyst’s relationship, and develops Peridot’s character, but not enough to make this episode necessary

12. The Answer

a. Steven’s Birthday: fun episode, but ultimately contributes nothing

13. It Could’ve Been Great

14. Message Received

a. Log Date 7 15 2: shows how Peridot got to where she is (as a character) and fills in some holes between Catch and Release and Message Received; fun and worth watching but skippable regardless

-------------------

Season 3

1. Super Watermelon Island

2. Gem Drill

3. Same Old World

4. Barn Mates

5. Hit the Diamond

a. Steven Floats: introduces new power but not much else

b. Drop Beat Dad: Explains where Greg gets his money, and I guess if you’re a Sour Cream fan watch this one? Skip if you’re not. 

6. Mr. Greg

7. Too Short To Ride

a. The New Lars: focuses on Lars mostly, but Sadie also shows up at one point; skip if you don’t care about them.

b. Beach City Drift: watch if you like Stevonnie; skip if you don’t really care.

c. Restaurant Wars: pointless fight between the pizza shop family and the fry stand family. I guess if you like food watch this one, but you can skip this one.

d. Kiki’s Pizza Delivery Service: focuses on certain member’s of the pizza family. Skippable, but watch if you like pizza I guess.

8. Monster Reunion

9. Alone at Sea

a. Greg the Babysitter: a “stories of the past” episode where Rose shows up; nothing important really happens though

b. Gem Hunt: a certain character makes a return, but not until the end of the episode; skippable

10. Crack the Whip

a. Steven vs. Amethyst: develops their relationship but skippable overall

11. Bismuth

12. Beta 

13. Earthlings

14. Back to the Moon

15. Bubbled

-------------------

Season 4

a. Kindergarten Kid: Looney Tunes-esque episode; fun but skippable

b. Know Your Fusion: certain fusions return but still skippable

c. Buddy’s Book: shows off more of the Gems’ history and has Rose in it; still skippable despite all this since none of it is super important.

2. Mindful Education

a. Future Boy Zoltron: skippable since it focuses on Mr. Smiley and a former colleague; watch if you want to see some fun interactions.

b. Last One Out of Beach City: fun episode and shows some of Pearl’s development, but still skippable.

c. Onion Gang: it’s an Onion episode so: skippable.

d. Gem Harvest: Thanksgiving episode; reveals Steven’s real last name but nothing else important.

3. Three Gems and a Baby

4. Steven’s Dream

5. Adventures in Light Distortion

6. Gem Heist

7. The Zoo

8. That Will Be All

a. The New Crystal Gems: shows us what Connie, Lapis and Peridot did while Steven was in space. Nothing really happens so just skip this one.

9. Storm in the Room

a. Rocknaldo: features Ronaldo once again and is arguably one of the worst episodes. Thankfully, it’s skippable.

b. Tiger Philanthropist: callback to an older episode; doesn’t contribute anything to the current plot

10. Room for Ruby

a. Lion 4: Alternate Ending: goes no where and contributes nothing; reveals possible name for Steven if he was a girl though so...cool I guess? Skip it.

11. Doug Out

a. The Good Lars: develops Lars’ character a little, but not much else

12. Are You My Dad

13. I Am My Mom

-------------------

Season 5

a. Stuck Together: Steven and Lars’ relationship develops further along with Lars’ character; some dramatic moments make it an overall a good episode, but you can skip it if you want.

1. The Trial

2. Off Colors

3. Lars’ Head

a. Dewey Wins: Steven realizes why Connie’s upset with him; saved you from watching Mayor Dewey for almost eleven minutes.

b. Gemcation: another good episode, but skippable regardless.

4. Raising the Barn

a. Back to the Kindergarten: shows how Peridot feels after a certain event, but nothing else really happens.

b. Sadie Killer: Sadie starts a band and that’s it. Skip if you don’t care much for Sadie.

c. Kevin Party: watch for character drama and one resolution, but skip if you can’t stand Kevin.

5. Lars of the Stars

6. Jungle Moon

7. Your Mother and Mine

a. The Big Show: a Sadie’s band episode; skippable

b. Pool Hopping: shows off Garnet’s fears and insecurities but is still skippable

c. Letters to Lars: basically amounts to Dewey finding his place in town after losing his job; nothing else so just skip this one.

8. Can’t Go Back

9. A Single Pale Rose

10. Now We’re Only Falling Apart

a. What’s Your Problem: develops Steven and Amethyst’s relationship further; skip if you want, but it’s a good episode to watch.

11. The Question

12. Made of Honor

13. Reunited

14. Legs From Here To Homeworld

15. Together Alone

a. Escapism: shows how Steven contacts the B-team but overall just feels kind of out of place? Skip if you want.

16. Change Your Mind (four parts; almost an hour long btw)

  -------------------

Watch Steven Universe: The Movie if you plan on watching Steven Universe: Future

 -------------------

Steven Universe: Future

1. Little Homeschool

a. Guidance: skippable since nothing in this episode is mentioned ever again. Smoky Quartz is in it though so watch if you like her.

2. Rose Buds

3. Volleyball

a. Bluebird: introduces Greg’s new look and a new fusion that’s never brought up again.

b. A Very Special Episode: fun episode but contributes nothing to the overall story.

4. Snow Day

a.  Why So Blue: shows other Lapis Lazulis and shows us how far Lapis has really come; watch if you’re a Lapis fan, but skip if you want.

b. Little Graduation: skip if you never really cared too much about any of the human characters since this is mostly about them.

c. Prickly Pair: downer of an episode; no one ever mentions anything that’s said in this episode, but check it out if you wanna see Steven more of Steven’s plant powers!

6. In Dreams

7. Bismuth Casual

8. Together Forever

9. Growing Pains

a. Mr. Universe: Greg’s history is revealed but doesn’t contribute much so skip if you don’t really care about that too much.

10. Fragments

11. Homeworld Bound

12. Everything’s Fine

13. I Am My Monster

14. The Future

And that’s it! I guess let me know if this list was helpful or not, but other than that: I hope you enjoy Steven Universe!

#steven universe #steven universe future #su spoilers #suf spoilers #space noise

[stop-breaking-my-heart-telltale]

I Need to Talk About “Problematic Faves” within TWDG [3/?]

Character design, being drawn towards characters we find visually attractive, and how big of a role in plays in our feelings towards them.

“He's a murderer but like.... a cute murderer, y’know?”

This goes hand in hand with the whole first impressions thing we’re talking about, but rather than talking about the character’s traits, dialogue, history, and overall character, we’re talking about physical appearance.

This is something I want to touch on even though I already know the answer to it. It’s just a food for thought sort of idea that I wanted to explore given how much we talk about our favorite characters appearances while discussing them with one another.

Let’s face it: We’re all a little shallow at some point in our lives.

“Don’t judge a book by it’s cover” is bullshit. I pick up that book in the first place because it’s pretty and has sprayed edges. The only reason I put it back it is because I can’t find an actual summary of the book because publishers think we want to read a bunch of “Best book of da year!” by Who The Fuck Cares written all over the place rather than an actual summary...

....What was my point?

Oh, right, character design.

When we’re first introduced to a character, we immediately make a judgement of them based off their looks.That’s not to say that our opinions remain the same based on our first impressions after only looking at them, but it’s something we do initially. 

Game developers, artists, writers, and directors will usually strive to make their characters as visually appealing to us as possible because that’s what makes us go “ohhh they pretty *picks thing up.*” 

There are issues that develop from this, such as unrealistic expectations of what true beauty is and how it actually affects the audience. After taking in so much of this content, I started to wonder if it had any affect on why we have “Problematic Faves” and if there IS something linked within the way we view them as physically attractive. 

While I believe that appearance is an important factor in character development and is what draws us to them, it’s also a bit more complicated than that.

One of the many things I adore about the final season is it’s character design for all the students at Ericson. All of the Ericson kiddos have their own unique looks and manners of which they hold themselves.

Sure we’ve got Louis and Violet, who we all gush about all the time on how beautiful they are. How many times have we talked about Louis’ freckles or Violet’s eyes or just how gosh darn pretty we think they are while incorporating it into writing our fanfics or headcanons or creating out artworks of them?

But what’s great is that they aren’t all “conveniently attractive” or someone a shallow Hollywood director would look at one time and say “there’s our star!”

Willy is a fan favorite among many in our community. What I love about his design is his teeth. He’s a kid growing up in the apocalypse without proper dental care. His teeth are crooked, there are gaps between them, and he’s even missing some. If that same Hollywood director were to look at him, they’d either slap some extreme braces on him or cast him as a tree troll. 

But not everyone has those perfectly straight pearly whites. Some of us have crooked teeth, or we’ve had painful braces to try and straighten them, or we’ve lost or broken a tooth at some point. You know how refreshing it is to see a character as likable as Willy show up with that smile of his while still being considered a fan favorite? 

Speaking of refreshing, what about Ruby? Everyone loves Ruby. She’s not tall and thin, she’s short and thicker. 

I remember seeing nasty posts questioning why someone like Aasim would have any interest in her because of the way she’s built, and that that pisses me off. 

It’s so damn great to see someone like Ruby portrayed the way she is in this game. As someone who IS more on the shorter and heavier side, it’s hard to find a character like this who doesn’t suddenly become slim therefore “prettier” over the course of the story or who isn’t a terrible or whose weight and build is all their character is. The last movie I watched that featured a plus size main character was that god awful Sierra Burgess movie on Netflix and that character made me want to punch things. 

All I can say is thank god for Ruby.

Speaking of which, how about Omar? He’s short and stocky, too, but y’know what? We made this dude a GOD. What does that tell you?

These are examples using more minor characters that fall into that non-”Problematic Fave” tier, but what about our characters that do?

I used to have a strong theory that some characters got more love and attention JUST because they’re more attractive to the audience, even if their character is boring, holds little to no plot relevance, or is an “evil” being beyond forgiveness.  

It’s a theory that I believe still holds some truth, though I think that truth lies more with the younger fans, or those who aren’t quite as mature. 

As someone who has worked around elementary school children, as well as 13-14 year olds, I think I can safely make the assumption that they tend to take things at face value a good chunk of the time.

Pretty person = Good!

Not pretty person = Bad!

That sort of deal. 

So, the question I pose is:

Does a character’s level of attractiveness have an effect on our willingness to forgive some of their more problematic behaviors?

I’m sure most of you read that and said “Uh, is this a trick question? No?”

When you think about the kinds of stories that we’re always told about the beautiful princesses who are pure and good and the ugly stepmothers who are evil and bad, it’s not hard to see why the younger ones would see things as more black and white rather than a shade of gray. 

If the pretty princess poisons her “evil” stepmother during their morning tea, how easily do we forgive her just because we’re told that she’s a pure, pretty princess? We know poisoning someone is bad, but... if the stepmother was ugly and evil, then the princess must have had a reason for doing this, right? So... it’s okay... right?

Is the princess justified in her actions, even if the stepmother wasn’t doing anything more than drinking her morning tea?

I look at that and say, “No,” whereas a much younger person might say, “Yeah. The stepmother was evil.” 

Young children are fascinating to talk to, by the way. They’re sponges who absorb knowledge like you wouldn’t believe but somehow they still take everything at that face value and believe whatever the “good” person says in a story until you help them see the bigger picture. That’s why they tend to be more susceptible to falling for twists. 

But once you explain to them the more complicated elements of the princess and the stepmother, they’re intelligent enough to grasp that the princess is wrong. 

I believe once we grow older and open ourselves up to more complex stories full of gray characters, learning about them through experience, we start to see that beauty isn’t just in the eye in the beholder, but also that it doesn’t mean shit at the end of the day. 

You can have the most beautiful person in the world be your main character, but if that beautiful person drowns a bag full of kittens, suddenly they aren’t so attractive, now are they?

One of a kid’s favorite example of a good-looking antagonist is Hans from Frozen. 

While I think the whole “he was actually evil the whole time haha we fooled you” thing in that movie is garbage, I give it credit for being the first exposure of this concept to young kids, sending them down a path of looking at different characters they see in a new light. 

We like characters who are attractive because, well, they’re attractive. But we’re  also mature enough to know that their attractiveness isn’t solely based on their appearance. It’s merely the seed that only grows with development, personality, and an arc. It only makes up a small portion of why we like a character in the first place. We know that just because someone is good-looking, it doesn’t justify their actions. 

But for those who are still growing out of those black and while fairy tales and just starting to expand their views of different characters while learning that looks can be deceiving, are they more likely to forgive a character or not fully understand that they’re in the wrong just because they’re visually pleasing? 

Another example outside of TWDG that I can give you is Nathan Prescott from the game Life is Strange. I’ve mentioned this game several times before, and even wrote a whole segment on it in my Louis and Violet essay from a while back. 

When I was a young lass, I picked up this game and really liked it. I wasn’t as into it as I am TWDG, but I liked it enough to play every episode as it came out and then check the tag to see what everyone thought. 

While browsing this tag, I noticed that a lot of the fan base seemed young. Makes sense, it IS a game starring teens set in an academy setting and I was young, too. 

But with that, one thing that always bothered me was how a number of young people talked about Nathan. 

Nathan who, if you haven’t played the game, is one of the antagonists. They would gush about this kid, seeming to make up excuses for the appalling things he did and it felt very tied to his looks. 

I’m sorry to any Life is Strange fans who might’ve been one of these young fans... but that really is the impression I got at the time.

Maybe I just didn’t get the hype about this dude who drugged girls so he could pose and take pictures of them because of his weirdly under-explained relationship with the surprise villain of the story, but he doesn’t seem like the type of guy to get all “Poor, precious, beautiful baby boi didn’t deserve this !” about. 

Then again, if writing this has taught me anything, I might have missed something by not being involved with that fandom, but what I gathered was that he didn’t become the redeemable character they all thought he would be and they didn’t like that, so it becomes harder to try and justify the things he did because he didn’t end up being good in the end even though they all thought he would be. I guess. 

But, gathering that a lot of them were so young and going off the content I predominately saw... I don’t know. It didn’t ever feel right. I had suspicions that lead to this theory. That’s what I’m saying. 

This can apply to other fandoms, too, where a group of people will take a character/person they find attractive and gush about how pretty they are rather than anything else that makes them interesting. Not everyone, of course, but I get the feeling you all know what I mean and have come across something like it before. I’m just trying to explain it. 

Or maybe it is just me and you have no idea what I’m talking about. 

Either way. 

Returning back to our “Problematic Faves,” lets ask this question about them in particular. 

How much of David’s attractiveness plays into my love of him? 

I mean, he’s not a bad looking dude. In fact, I dare say that the Garcia brothers are both very attractive guys. I give ‘em both a 10/10. 

But does that actually aid in my actual feelings towards him at all? 

What about the others we’ve talked about so far?

I don’t see many people talking about how pretty they think Kenny is... though his mustache IS majestic and that’s something we all agree on.

And Lilly’s okay. I guess. 

Nate could be a good-looking dude if he’d just put his crazy eyes away.

I believe our best bet it in getting a more clear answer to this question would to be take a quick look back at Minerva.

Remember how I said Minerva was so hyped up based on a two second appearance in the ep3 trailer? Granted, we did have more than JUST her appearance to form this hype around.... but admit it, a huge part of the hype was how good she looked.

She looked awesome.

Hell, just seeing her had me excited to see what she would do in ep3, even though I had the feeling she wouldn’t be an ally.

I used to have a hard time wrapping my head around why so many people love her as much as they do, and I previously thought it was based a lot on her appearance.

Is it ignorant and shallow of me to think y’all loved her based solely on her looks?

Probably. Yes. Yes, it was.

Now that I’ve looked into this further, I see that there’s more to the love and interest surrounding her, but..... it’s kind of what my first thought was? In the beginning? 

Either way, it’s still an interesting idea to consider when thinking about a character you love.

With that said, what if we apply this question to a character who is less of a “Problematic Fave” and more of my “God Tier Fave.”

You all know that Louis is my favorite character across ALL the games. My love for him is vibrant, but one of the many things I love about him IS his character design. He’s a visually appealing guy, and his personality, different traits, dialogue, flaws, and character arc only build onto the attractiveness of his character.

If Louis didn’t look like this, would I still love him?

Assuming that everything else about him is the same, then yeah. 

What if the developers went with the concept art of him that looked like a odd Harry Styles knockoff? Would I still love him?

Again, I want to say that I would, assuming that everything else about him be the same. But going with that certain concept art does take away an important aspect of his character and his relationship to Clementine.

Many of you have told me how much you appreciate the fact that Clementine and Louis represent a sweet, healthy black couple. That’s important to all of us. If we went with the first concept art, then that’s something we’d lose. Would we still ship clouis? Probably, but again, that important element and representation is lost and that would affect our overall opinion of it, even if just a bit.

But, what if Louis looked exactly as he does now, but were to do something awful? Would I still love him?

Well, my first instinct is to say, “Yes.”

In ep3, Louis tells us that he purposely broke up his parents marriage because his father wouldn’t let him take singing lessons. He broke into his father’s credit cards and made it look like he had a mistress, then made sure his mother knew about it. He did this over the course of a year. Then, when the divorce was finalized, he threw his father’s words back in his face: “You get to be happy or you get to be rich. You can’t be both.”

Knowing this, I still love Louis.

What he did was awful, but the reason I don’t hate him or even like him any less is because of how he acted while telling us. You can feel the guilt and remorse in his voice, the shame that he was once a person who thought that was okay to do.

He did that a long time ago, he learned from this terrible mistake he made, went as far as to punish himself by taking on a irresponsible, piano-playing jokester persona who anyone rarely ever took seriously. Louis changed for the better and he’s still a likable, relatable, lovably character despite this.

But in order to dig a little deeper into this idea of attractiveness and just how far we’ll go to try and justify a character based solely on their looks, I then thought:

 “Okay, then consider this: What if Louis and Minerva switched places with him doing all those things she did that made me dislike her? Would I still love him?”

And things got a little complicated.

Because my immediate first thought was “Yes.”

That shocked the hell out of me.

Why the fuck would I be okay with LOUIS acting the way Minerva did, but not MINERVA herself? That makes no sense.

Louis betraying us on the boat by knocking Clementine out and locking her in the cell isn’t suddenly okay because it’s LOUIS.

Louis showing up on the bridge to try and murder Tenn isn’t suddenly okay because it’s him and not MINERVA.

The reality is this: If Louis and Minerva traded places, I wouldn’t love Louis. I don’t care how attractive his character design is, I would feel the same way about him that I feel about Minerva. I love Louis for who he is within the context of the canon game, but if Louis traded places with Minerva, he wouldn’t be that Louis that I love.

The problem with asking myself this is I know Louis’ character and I want to think the best of him. I’m attached to him. I don’t want to imagine him doing anything that horrible because I know that would be an breaking of his character. His appearance has nothing to do with it. 

But my first instinct was to side with him. 

That’s when it all came together.

A character’s appearance is important in the first impression, but our perception of that character’s attractiveness is only elevated or lowered based on the important things: personality, backstory, relationships, flaws, fears, regrets, change, and complete character arc. 

So how does this apply to my love for David?

Well, it eliminates any possibility that I only like David just because he’s pretty.

Perhaps I’m not so shallow after all.

Yeah, that’s the conclusion of this segment: something I already knew. But, I felt it was a concept that could spark some thought about what attractiveness really means while debunking any idiots who may grasp at straws with the insult of, “You only like [blank] and excuse their toxicity because you think they’re hot!”

... except the Life is Strange community might come after me for implying a nicer version of that towards one of the antagonists... but hopefully you understand the point I was attempting to make in bringing that up as an example.

I like David’s design, but him being an attractive dude isn’t why I like him. If anything, his looks being appealing to my eye is at the end of my long, complicated list of why I like him.

Conclusion:

Looks matter initially, and our perception of a character’s attractiveness is either elevated or lowered based on the more important qualities of their character, problematic or otherwise.

[continued in 4/?]

#long post #'problematic fave' essay #twdg david #twdg clementine #twdg louis #twdg violet #twdg willy #twdg ruby #twdg omar #twdg javier #twdg lilly #twdg kenny #twdg nate #twdg minerva #twdg aasim #next part will focus on the actual problematic behaviors #while exploring the character's relationships and how these behaviors are reacted to #again i'd like to hear your thoughts on any of this #the whole reason this ever occurred to me was because i was a kid once #and when i think back to certain characters i used to like #i started questioning why i even liked them in the first place #and i came to the conclusion that i focused primarily on their appearance #and easily overlooked their behaviors #just something i wanted to throw out there

[mtvswatches]

Wynonna Earp 2x09 Forever Mine Nevermind

Click here for previous recaps!

Stray thoughts

1) The writers are actively trying to use Waverly to awaken the lesbian/bisexual in all their confused female viewers, right?

2) Wynonna just fucking did a backflip WHILE PREGNANT and then proceeded to high-five her unborn child, and here I am, eating pancakes and struggling to reach the remote that fell under my chair.

She’s quickly climbing up my favorite characters list, though.

3) Wynonna is not the only one interested in Doc’s ring, apparently.

And this old demon dude reminded me of the old demon dude from Buffy? You know, the one that sliced Dawn up in the tower? Same creepy old evil guy vibes.

4) Dolls just gave Rosita a gift card so that she can take Doc on a couple’s retreat or something? Weird way to get rid of the competition, but okay.

5) WYNONNA ASKED THE NIGHT OFF AND THE HOUSE TO HERSELF BECAUSE SHE INVITED DOC OVER FOR DINNER AND I MIGHT JUST DIE OF ALL THE FEELS.

6) They found The Creepster’s body, and I’ve never been so happy to see a carbonized corpse, hallelujah!

7) The Creepster’s sister is trying to make up excuses for his creepy, criminal behavior and Nicole is not having any of it but Waverly told her to stop... telling the truth? And I get that they’re not seeing eye to eye at the moment and I do not condone what Nicole did and I get that Waverly is trying to be respectful of the Creepster’s sister’s feelings, but… being dead does not erase all his wrongdoings and awful behavior, people do not automatically become saints once they die. If you were an awful person while you were alive, then you should be remembered as such. And the fact that his sister is trying to justify his behavior by saying that he loved Waverly “in his own way” is vile.

8) Doc bought the picture for Wynonna and the baby and I knew the old demon guy must have put some kind of glamour on him (or it?) because the painting did not look as creepy when he decided to buy it…

9) Wynonna made dinner for Doc and she’s feeding him and he’s pretending it’s tasty and this is everything I have ever wanted.

10) And the painting keeps changing…? Is it alive?

The freaking doll is straight-up staring at them. 

11) The cupboard just opened by itself when Wynonna said the third seal was Doc’s ring and I’m here wondering if it is just a coincidence or if some Paranormal Activity shit is about to go down. I’m hoping it is the latter, tbh.

12) Well, the reason Wynonna was trying to sweeten Doc up is that she wants his ring so that she can break it and release Clootie and release the demon that is WORSE than Clootie so that she can kill them both, while pregnant, I presume. Doc is less than excited, of course. And now the creepy doll is out of the painting and I’m 99% sure she’ll show up soon…

13) Rosita invited Waverly to the spa and this is definitely one of the scenes I’d seen a million times on my dash when I hadn’t watched the show. I’m trying to figure out why? Is it only because it’s two girls wearing bikinis in a hot tub? Or does something relevant to the plot or to the characters development happen here?

14) And yes, something creepy is watching both Waverly and Wynonna.

15) I’VE DIED AND GONE TO HEAVEN. THIS IS HEAVEN.

Wynonna is trying to convince Doc to willingly give up his ring so that she can destroy it and release both Clootie and the very, very scary unnamed demon, and he’s not having it. He believes destroying the ring would be his death sentence, and Wynonna argues that he’ll just be as mortal as any of them. Doc is truly terrified of dying, isn’t he? I guess the question is, does he love his agelessness more than he loves Wynonna…?

16) And now she called him selfish – which is kind of accurate, to be fair – but that’s not going to get you what you want, you impulsive doofus! He wants to leave but they can’t find the keys, and I’m 99% certain the little girl from the painting stole them. Yep.

17) Wynonna just stopped Doc from leaving by baby-bumping him????

18) Doc told Wynonna how he hid and listened to his dying mother cry and beg and pray every night until she died, and you kind of understand why he wants to hold on to life so much, right?

19) Waverly just texted Nicole…

WAVERLY: “Dear Control Freak. I will talk to you when I want to talk to you. Until then, have a nice life hurting the people that you love.”

And now I’m afraid something terrible will happen to Nicole which will make Waverly regret sending this text.

20) Oh. I get it now.

WTF Waverly! This is a million times worse than the text! Also, kind of love how Waverly got all hot and bothered with Rosita’s SCIENCE TALK. 

21) I TAKE IT BACK, THIS IS WORSE!!!

22) And now he says that he came back to save her from his sisters? WTF, Frosty Creepster!

23) By the way, IS ROSITA REALLY DEAD?!

24) Wynonna and Doc are arguing about the ring and they’re about to physically fight and this creepy doll is responsible, right?

25) Oh, shit, they weren’t dead, the creeper’s sisters were NOT DEAD!

The widows stole their faces?! I guess they probably wish they were dead. 

26) Ugh, Wynonna and Doc’s argument really escalated and she’s saying some awful stuff and now…

…which she said she would never do? I gotta believe it was the creepy doll’s influence.

27) ROSITA SAVES THE DAY!

WTF!!!!!!

She’s been a revenant all along?!!!! Is that why Doc offered her protection when they first started working together? 

28) Dolls hung up on Jeremy because he was being annoying and Jeremy just threw himself in front of Dolls to save him from the Widow!

29) Oh, no, Doc just said he’s always known Wynonna would be the death of him and threw the ring at her and…

Phew, Wynonna shot the doll, but the things they said… they’re out there. And while they may have used the cop-out of saying it was the influence of the creepy doll, they basically admit that the doll might have brought those feelings to the surface but they were there, to begin with. Awkward, am I right? 

30) This is as close to an “I love you” as he’ll ever get, right?

WYNONNA: Doc, this is it's about something bigger than us.

DOC: The demon Clootie.

WYNONNA: Our baby. I mean, I need to do that on my own terms, but I promise I won't break the seal. Not until after. We we need a plan. But when that plan is in place, I will break it with you by my side.

DOC: Do you swear?

WYNONNA: I do.

Fuck, it’s almost as if he was proposing, isn’t it?

This show fucking plays with my emotions because I feel these two are not getting back together (I may or may not have seen gifs of Wynonna and Dolls as a couple... oops!) and yet they keep putting them in situations like this, and I feel like it’s baiting, you know? 

31) So…

She paralyzed him, told him she’d be his girl, and proceeded to… eat him? I’m not sure I understand what’s going on.

32) And the other sister seems to have figured out where the third seal is. Coolio.

33) I KNEW IT! Waverly thinks she’s half-revenant!

34) OH FUCK!

I knew that text meant Nicole would be in danger and Waverly would regret sending it! But why is the widow there??? That’s not where the third seal is, is it?

35) Fun episode, I really liked how the characters were paired up and sort of on adventures of their own but which are all connected to the main arc somehow. But it lacked the epicness of the previous episode, which is definitely one of my favorites so far. Of course, this one served to pave the way for the season finale as we quickly approach it. Can’t wait to watch the next one!

36) Hope you enjoyed my recap, and, as usual, if you’ve got this far, thank you for reading! If you enjoy my recaps and my blog, please consider supporting it on ko-fi.Thanks!

#Wynonna Earp #Waverly Earp #Melanie Scrofano #Doc Holliday #Xavier Dolls #Nicole Haught #mine #WE recap #WE 2x09 #recap

[greatfay]

Sabrina

Ohhhhh boy.

my all-time ultimate fave character:

Ambrose Spellman. First of all who are his parents? How is he Sabrina’s cousin? Whatever. This man is so beautiful right like all the time, or 90% of the time, idk why the other characters don’t just record his voice and play it back whenever they have a dumbass moment, a sort of audio “What Would Ambrose Do” recorder because every single time, Ambrose ends up being riiiiight. And there’s still so much about him that’s gone unexplored imo. The Vatican plot, the group he was a part of, him grieving his boyfriend from season 2?? Just saying, considering the character of Salem was split into the not-talking Cat and Ambrose, he really should be more intertwined into the plot.

a character I didn’t used to like but now do:

Prudence. She also grew on me, though there’s some issues with this show’s writing and I think it comes from Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa trying to be Ryan Murphy in the worst way possible. Yes you can quote me on this, don’t @ me, argue with your mama. Prudence and her Weird Sisters are basically the Unholy Trinity of CAOS, except that unlike Brittany and Santana, Agatha and Dorcas never get real character development, and Prudence’s cold outer shell slowly melts only to pop back up unexpectedly and cruelly, so it’s like I like her! But then she’ll say/do things in random moments that makes it hard to like her because The Writing. Liiiike her blaming Ambrose at the end of Part 3 for that thing that happened. Also casting a person of color to play a fictitious fantasy race that calls other races “half-breeds” is never cool lmao, I’ve noticed this is a trend in fantasy, basically take your character who’s supposed to be a race supremacist and cast a black person to be them and suddenly it’s not as bad—it’s worse. And anyway I’d take a whole spin-off miniseries of Ambrose and Prudence with her TWO FUCKING SWORDS prancing across the Scottish countryside and down New Orleans streets on a quest. Geralt is shaking.

a character I used to like but now don’t:

Nick. I love a bad boy. I love a bad boy with layers. Everything about his character was supposed to be a tempting fruit to convince Sabrina to sign her name in the book, and for the most part it works!!! So the Dark Lord might ask you to sacrifice a baby here and there, you get to have magic! And do sex magic with Gavin Leatherwood. And I had very different expectations for where his arc would go in Part 3. Sulking was not a good look for him. Jealousy was also not a good look for him. And the foot thing was gross af. I don’t see how his character can remain relevant moving forward if he’s not even Sabrina’s friend, let alone her boyfriend.

a character I’m indifferent about:

Sabrina. At first, I liked her characterization because as much as I’m a sucker for magic, it would be hard to just ghost all your friends. Especially if you have real friends, people who would be there for you, people you know are vulnerable and want to protect. I liked Sabrina as this half-in/half-out girl who wants both worlds and does the right thing. I also don’t mind a hero who does shady shit to save the day because I’m all about that moral complexity. But now she’s a bit annoying, like pull out your moral compass and pick a point! So I feel nothing toward her. My positive and negative feelings cancel out.

a character who deserved better:

Lilith. She should’ve been Queen of Hell. That whole plot point should’ve been stretched out WAY longer, especially the “they’re praying to ME” scene. BUT. I’ll say this. As much as I would’ve liked a whole Queen Lilith/Church of Lilith thing, miss thang didn’t really market herself at all. Lucifer knew exactly how to get these people eating out of his hands, and Lilith does… nothing! When they prayed to her for the first time, she should’ve made all the statues cry milk, butterflies sing with the voices of the dead, and a rainbow appear in the sky. It’s about the Drama, she could’ve a whole following but spent the whole season being Sabrina’s Unholy Godmother. Which of course, is due to the Writing. I’m just surprised she never betrayed Sabrina, and also her getting stuck with her abuser again is disgusting.

a ship I’ve never been able to get into:

Sabrina/Harvey. They’re portrayed as endgame in the beginning but I knew he’d always be the thing holding her back from Plot Stuff, so he had to go; plus he never had a positive experience with magic and was never going to be onboard. Next is, surprisingly, Ambrose/Prudence. I really like the Sherlock/Watson thing they have going on, but Ambrose is just so nice and Prudence so blunt that they only have chemistry when they’re fucking, and tbh my “ships” are actual relationships, not fuckingships, there has to be shared emotional baggage and communication, which they didn’t have. Ya know what… Sabrina x Prudence. Now there’s a couple I would root for.

a ship I’ve never been able to get over:

Sabrina/Nick because it was the sneeze that never happened. Feels like I didn’t even see it onscreen. Next is Tommy/Life because he shouldn’t have died, and my OTP is Faustus/Jail because he’s a fucking creep.

a cute, low-key ship:

Theo/Robin. Listen… not only are they cute as heck individually, but together it’s too powerful. And it’s such a big deal that a trans masculine main character can be the object of someone’s affections that were so strong that the character in question betrays their own family, a group of mythical creatures and gods, to do the right thing and protect him. Runner-up is Zelda/

an unpopular ship but I still enjoyed it:

I don’t think I have one  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 

a ship that was totally wrong and never should have happened:

Zelda/Faustus. Literally I vomit, I euuuughhh, euuuuughhh 🤢 listen I am not a woman, I don’t think I believe in incarnations? But watching their interactions triggered like… flashbacks in me as if I was a suburban housewife in the year 1958 and my husband will be home in 5 minutes and the “shrimp jello salad” I was supposed to have ready for him is a complete disaster and he’s going to beat me. I got Game of Thrones flashbacks watching their interactions.

my favourite storyline/moment:

When I actually thought Sabrina killed one of the Weird Sisters was a great moment for me personally, also liked the flashbacks of Lilith in the dawn of Earth, also loved Ambrose and Prudence’s adventures across the world.

a storyline that never should have been written:

That whole nightmare hallucination where Theo (before he changed his pronouns and name) woke up in a “boy’s body” was so intimately disgusting and terrible and problematic, it almost completely undoes every good thing about Theo’s storylines and the representation.

Harvey getting accepted to some artsy private school only to be haunted by nightmares of the Dark Lord??? Where did that go again? I forgot.

my first thoughts on the show:

Dark, creepy, stylish. I like it.

my thoughts now:

Messier, sometimes frustrating, still dark, still stylish. I like it? 

Ask me about a tv show/movie series/book series!

#zerograviga #caos #chilling adventures of sabrina

[ruoyeming]

My Fav Books, another chaotic list

Another quarantine review fest! I know I ranked my top anime but this is seriously too hard so I’m just going to list them to avoid hours of debate. Enjoy!

1) The Skulduggery Pleasant series

This whopper of a series (now at 15 books jesus christ I didn’t know there were that many I’ve only read about twelve) has a special place in my heart. I was FULLY obsessed with it throughout my tween - and teen - years, and for a reason. This shit just butters my bread like nothing else. The story follows a young girl Valkyrie Cain (who eventually becomes a young woman through the series) and her partner in crime, a fashionable living skeleton called Skulduggery Pleasant. They’re MAGICAL DETECTIVES!!!! Bitch!!! They use elemental magic - water, earth, fire, air - to fight off magic-wielding bad guys and look good doing it. The duo is hilarious and seriously shaped my sense of humour, the dry wit and comedic writing style stuck with me and influenced my own writing style to this day! As the series progresses we get a massive cast of characters but to me they’re all memorable, likable (mostly) and well-developed so that’s not an issue. I have no fukcing clue how Derek Landy comes up with his stories because every book in the series has an absolutely wild (yet unique) plot with its own twists and turns. It gets REALLY dark and depressing at times, gory, brutal etc etc especially in the later books I have no idea why this is labeled as a kids series.

10/10 for badassery, humour, and MAD codependency issues

2) The Feverwake series

This bitch is one hell of a YA series. It’s actually only a 2 book-series which is rare, but that’s not the only thing that sets it apart from other creations of its genre. It’s hard to explain the setup without waffling so I’ll just quote the blurb of the first book: “In the former United States, sixteen-year-old Noam Álvaro wakes up in a hospital bed, the sole survivor of the viral magic that killed his family and made him a technopath. His ability to control technology attracts the attention of the minister of defense and thrusts him into the magical elite of the nation of Carolinia.

The son of undocumented immigrants, Noam has spent his life fighting for the rights of refugees fleeing magical outbreaks—refugees Carolinia routinely deports with vicious efficiency. Sensing a way to make change, Noam accepts the minister’s offer to teach him the science behind his magic, secretly planning to use it against the government. But then he meets the minister’s son—cruel, dangerous, and achingly beautiful—and the way forward becomes less clear.”

As you can tell from this, the series is heavy on its politics but in a grounded, realistic and relevant way which is different to many other YA series. Marxist theory is brought up, and you can make some pretty strong links between the books and real events. The magic also has a semi-scientific explanation which is cool and adds to the realness. Anyways this series is action packed and full of twists, plus there’s a bisexual main character and queer romance at the core!! Wig!!! Very good for moral debate - how far is it acceptable to go to protect the oppressed before you become one of the oppressors? Dark and exciting series.

10/10 queer representation and political themes.

3) Spin the Dawn

It’s probably obvious that I’m biased towards YA books but they’re just so exciting and cool! Anyways this is about a girl living in a kind of alternate universe ancient China where magic exists. Maia Tamarin is a skilled seamstress who dreams of being the Imperial Tailor, a position that can only be held by a man. She poses as her brother to go to the royal palace and enter a competition full of skilled tailors, all vying for the role of imperial tailor. She also meets Edan; a mysterious, annoying, but SEXY mage who seems to know her secret identity? Oho? IMO this would be an elevated book if Edan had been a girl but that’s just me being gay. As the final challenge Maia is tasked with making 3 dresses from the sun, moon, and stars - a mission that takes her to the ends of the world in search of these magical materials (obvs Edan goes with her and they kiss kiss fall in love). It’s a fairly classic YA plot and characters but the combination of Project Runway, Mulan, and kind of Lord of the Rings(??) vibes makes for a very entertaining read. It’s also really fun to imagine what the clothes look like, plus the romance between Maia and Edan is very cute. Second book is yet to be published but sounds lit.

10/10 magic fashion and romance (despite its heterosexuality)

4) Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe

Usually I steer clear of angsty gay stories because I’ve consumed too much of the depressing narrative which is all about suffering because of being gay, but fuuuuuuck this book is like the definition of bittersweet. Mostly bitter to be fair but it has a happy ending which was lovely after the emotional torment of the book. It’s about two teen boys - Aristotle is angry and repressed, Dante is eccentric but kind, and the two eventually form a strong friendship after meeting at the local pool. It’s kind of obvious that Ari is in denial about a few things, which leads to some real sad boi hours. There’s also a devastating moment around halfway (not sure) through with a car accident which makes the whole thing 10x heavier. Despite all this, the book has its sweet moments - parents play a big role, but not in the way they usually do in queer stories - and like I said the ending is the bandage for your broken heart. I’m not sure what it is about the writing style, maybe the way it just cuts between scenes randomly or perhaps the way the dialogue and actions are so realistic, but it’s so different to any other book I’ve read that it’s stayed in my mind for a while after reading it.

10/10 really good philosophy plus supportive parents

5) The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue

Okay if this was a ranked list, this bad boy would be on its way to the top spot. It’s got everything: historical setting, gays, pirates, alchemy, humour, adventure, angst, character development, and some healthy second-hand embarrassment. It’s not complicated or philosophical but reading this book all in one go is like taking five shots and diving into a pool. It’s exciting and witty, but deals with darker themes like child abuse too. One of the MCs also has a disability and doesn’t treat it as something to be cured, which is a lesson our protagonist has to learn. Speaking of protagonists, Henry ‘Monty’ Montague is a great main character. He’s obnoxious, oblivious, and hedonistic yet quick-witted and passionate, and he has a good heart. Sometimes you just want to grab him by the shoulders and shake him for being such an ignorant idiot, but throughout the book he grows and learns to open his mind more (as well as becoming more humble). He’s a great example of a flawed yet likable main character. He is also a bisexual icon.

Oof forgot to even talk about the story. Monty embarks on a tour of Europe, usually taken by lads his age to get all cultured before they settle down and inherit the family company or whatever. With him are his younger sister Felicity, a girl with a brilliant mind for science who isn’t taken seriously by anyone because of her gender, and the lovely Percy, Monty’s lifelong best friend (and crush). Monty ends up stealing a very valuable object that turns the Tour into a manhunt across Europe, and drags the trio into a big ol’ conspiracy involving something that may or may not be the philosopher’s stone????

Issues of race, gender, and disability in historical context are really well done, and it’s an absolute banger of a book.

10/10 very exciting adventure, plus GREAT GAY ROMANCE

6) Heaven Official’s Blessing

HOOOOOO BOY. This is probably my absolute fave on this list. It’s a webnovel (originally Chinese but the full translation is online). Set in ancient china in the cultivation world (difficult as shit to explain if ur not into all of that but I’ll try), basically there’s three realms - the heavenly realm, the human/mortal realm, and the ghostly realm. If a mortal reaches a certain point (good deeds, power etc), they ascend to become a god - or if they fall far enough, they become a ghost. 

I’ll just quote the author’s description again cause I don’t have the brain cells required:

 “Eight hundred years ago, Xie Lian was the Crown Prince of the Xian Le kingdom. He was loved by his citizens and was considered the darling of the world. He ascended to the Heavens at a young age; however, due to unfortunate circumstances, was quickly banished back to the mortal realm. Years later, he ascends again–only to be banished again a few minutes after his ascension. Now, eight hundred years later, Xie Lian ascends to the Heavens for the third time as the laughing stock among all three realms. On his first task as a god thrice ascended, he meets a mysterious demon who rules the ghosts and terrifies the Heavens, yet, unbeknownst to Xie Lian, this demon king has been paying attention to him for a very, very long time.”

It’s hard to describe the enormity of this story and all the emotions it encapsulates, you really have to read it for yourself. But bitch the undying, pure, Hozier-devotion-level LOVE is by far my favourite part of this story. If you’re looking for an epic, god-tier gay romance, then this is it baby!! This story has comedy, action, and downright harrowingly depressing moments, but throughout is this achingly beautiful love between fallen god and last believer.

I don’t wanna give too much away cause there are some big ol’ plot reveals, but oooh this shit made me cry. The protagonist is MY FAVOURITE EVER I didn’t think it was possible to like a protag so much!! He’s legit my fave character! At first he seems oblivious and carefree but he’s just doing his goddamn best after all he’s been through and he’s so fukcing kind and just wants to help everyone for fuckcs sake excuse me I need to go have a breakdown.

Okay I’m back, anyway there’s a great cast of characters, even the background characters are all incredibly memorable and all given their time to shine and develop. My faves include Quan Yizhen, a rowdy himbo who just wants to fight, and Shi Qing Xuan, a friendly genderfluid god who controls the wind. Read this shit I’m not joking it’ll change your life. 

10/10 for everything

#book review #book recommendations

[the-working-class-guide-to-films]

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker

SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS

Well, where to begin. After 42 years and 8 films we’ve finally come to number 9, the last film in the Skywalker Saga. Star Wars has probably been the most controversial film series in history, creating more anger and division than Brexit. Some fans prefer the originals, some fans prefer the prequels. Some fans love The Last Jedi, some fans hate The Last Jedi. It’s been a rocky road for these films, no matter how much us fans moan, we love Star Wars. Btw, you’re not a fan if you get annoyed about a black actor being a stormtrooper or give shit to Kelly Marie Tran, you’re a wanker. I personally, get annoyed about every one of the Star Wars films. The originals are too boring and not enough action, although the story is better and using practical effects. The prequels use way too much cgi, however they are much action-packed and they are different from the other films e.g. blowing up ANOTHER Death Star. I was always hoping that the sequels would mix the best things from both lots of films, yes boomers, there are good things about the prequels. Whilst they felt more like the old-school style of the films, they stuck to the same story plot and I was never blown away with the lightsaber/force battles. The Rise of Skywalker unfortunately follows suit. Whilst it’s a great film for fan satisfaction it’s a terrible film that lacks logic, story and imagination. 

So here’s the plot. Emperor Palpatine, you know that guy who died in Episode 6, he’s somehow alive in a weird half dead trance and has been controlling Snorke and every bad guy. He wants Kylo Ren to bring Rey to him. Palpatine shows Kylo the army he has been building for him, which is massive, and that he’ll gift Kylo this if he delivers. Rey has been mastering the force and she’s become a bit of bad-ass. The resistance find out about this super army and Rey decides to go and defeat Palpatine to save the world. Finn, Poe and Chewie go with her. Space adventures happen. Turns out Rey is Palpatine’s granddaughter! What? Rey stabs Kylo and then heals him using the force. Cos that’s a thing. Rey goes to confront her grandad whilst Kylo casts aside his dark side ways to be Ben Solo and goes to join Rey. Palpatine doesn’t want to kill Rey but instead wants Rey to kill him so all the Sith, including himself can go inside her and be Empress Palpatine. She doesn’t agree but then sees that The Resistance (currently fighting the big army are being outnumbered). Kylo then turns up but Palpatine drains their life force bringing him back to life. Rey, after hearing the voices of previous Jedi masters, gets up and kills Palpatine, she dies. Ben finds her, he uses that weird force healing skill, she wakes up. THEY FUCKING KISS FOR SOME STUPID REASON. Ben dies and he becomes one with the force. The end.

I’ll start with the good points. Adam Driver was great and has been awfully underused in these films. The fight scene between Kylo and Rey was good and entertaining. Ian McDiarmid is a fantastic actor, and although I think it was such a batshit crazy idea having Palpatine back, it was great watching his performance. It was good to see Finn and Poe have that relationship that we saw in The Force Awakens. That was missing big time in The Last Jedi and I’m glad we saw them together again because it works really well. And it did have some great fan service, I can’t lie. I won’t spoil that bit just in case, but you can’t be a Star Wars fan and not get a bit giddy about that.

However, I do think fan service has been the biggest problem, not just with this film, but with these sequels. They keep bringing back dead characters and in Carrie Fisher’s case (rest her soul), dead actors. It need’s to move on. The characters Poe, Finn, Rey and Kylo are all really cool and interesting characters but I feel like their development and the films progression has been thwarted by this insistence of having the old characters being around. It was great for the first film. I think The Last Jedi had the perfect opportunity to kill them off, but they kept Leia in it. Her appearance in RoS looked dodgy and her death to me was disrespectful. It looked like they had just run out of unseen footage and had to do with what they didn’t have. Having her, and more importantly Palpatine back jut lacked the new characters being the main vocal point. Having Palpatine back as the main villain was a weird decision and shows any lack of planning from the writers/guys in charge. There’s been no hint that Rey was related to him, it’s just really outside the box that it becomes ridiculous. If we had seen hints, or gone ‘oh that makes sense because of that bit in The Force Awaken’ I’d be ok with it, but I don’t think that has happened. I think what has happened is because TLJ was so divisive, J.J Abrams has turned his back on all that the last film set out to do and gone back to a safe, boring and unimaginative film that forgets the previous events. It would be interesting to know what ideas Rian Johnson had for the ending of this saga. As good as it was seeing Finn and Poe back together, their story wasn’t that exciting, they just go from place to place without any real meaning or relevance. The kiss we all wanted was between these two men, their bromance has been used throughout the films and I think it is a shame we never saw that. Not just because it would have been a relevant to what the other films have done but because it’s such a huge moment in Star Wars history for young girls and boys seeing that. Instead they showed a lesbian kiss between two people who were basically extras. We know that will be cut it, it won’t mean anything. What was more annoying was that Zorii, Poe’s old friend, was basically there to make Poe look more straight and manly. You can be manly and gay, and his name is Poe Dameron. And that was a terrible thing about the kiss between Rey and Kylo. They had no sexual tension, yes there was always tension but never sexually. Why these two possible heterosexual characters got this key scene is beyond me, unless it’s society showing us that that is the norm. It wasn’t needed, at all. Also, why did the film try to make Chewie’s ‘death’ emotional, when 3 minutes later we saw him again? Either kill him for real, or pretend kill him and then bring him back at the end for a hero’s return. We didn’t see another transporter that took him away so that was a really odd choice that lacked emotion and sense. 

For those reading and probably think I’m a hater, I’m not. These aren’t silly little things like ‘Rey’s hair shouldn’t be that length’ or ‘Poe said that in The Last Jedi so that doesn’t make sense in canon’. These are real film and basic writing points. This film is similar to Avengers: Endgame. It doesn’t do anything new. It’s going back to old characters that will please the fans. And yes it does because it looks cool. But they’re taking the piss out of you, they’re making you look foolish because they’re just showing you lovable old characters without any risk or real emotion. 

And one last negative. 

THE STROBE LIGHTING RUINED THE MOST INTERESTING BITS OF THIS FILM. FUCK SAKE YOU COULDN’T EVEN MANAGE TO DO THAT RIGHT.

Seriously though, this was incredibly annoying, I had to keep looking away. I don’t know why it was done, it wasn’t needed. Strobe lighting can be a useful tool, but it just became frustrating doing most of the final third. If you guys have epilepsy, beware. 

p.s I’m not apologising for the slightly irrelevant baby yoda gifs, that guy is the cutest.

2/5 I went in to The Rise of Skywalker with the lowest possible expectations, I still came out disappointed. The story was ridiculous. Logically, it didn’t make any sense. Even though it did have good fan service and fans would be happy with the surprises that RoS has throughout, it was still massively frustrating.

p.p.s 

for those who are wondering, here’s my list of Star Wars film in favourite order. 1 being the highest

1) Revenge of the Sith

2) A New Hope

3) Empire Strikes Back

4) The Phantom Menace

to be honest now they are muddle up into one big pile of crap but for continuity problems...

5) The Force Awakens

6) The Last Jedi

7) Attack of the Clones

8) Return of the Jedi

9) Rise of Skywalker

#movies #movie review #film #Film Review #cinema #cinema review #new #rise of skywalker #star wars #star wars rise of skywalker #Disney

[zayadriancas]

What do you think are best and worst written episodes from each season of degrassi & why?

I don’t have a reason (or at least not a good reason) for all of these, but:

Season 1:

Best: Jagged Little Pill, Coming of Age

Worst: Basketball Diaries. Idk it was a boring episode and I hate that Spinners ADHD was used as a plot device then never mentioned again.

Season 2:

Best: When Doves Cry, Shout, Karma Chameleon, How Soon Is Now, Dressed in Black, Tears Are Not Enough

Worst: Hot for Teacher. It’s not very memorable and idk it just felt like an uneccesary filler plot

Season 3:

Best: Father Figure, Never Gonna Give You Up, Don’t Dream It’s Over, Our House, Whisper To A Scream

Worst: This Charming Man. Again it wasn’t very memorable and it just made Sean look like more of an ass, like they began that plot in Gangsta Gangsta but they just made him look worse in this episode instead of expanding on what was really going on with him. Thankfully they redeem him later but idk this episode just felt weird. And the subplot was boring and not memorable

Season 4:

Best: Mercy Street, Time Stands Still. Back in Black, Voices Carry, Secret

Worst: Bark at The Moon and Goin Down The Road. BATM was an unnecessary filler episode with two unnecessary relationships starting and GDTR just felt unrealistic and stupid and contrived idk it was weird especially the Kevin Smith stuff

Season 5:

Best: Turned Out, Redemption Song, & Our Lips Are Sealed

Worst: I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For & Together Forever. TF because the Liberty having her baby plot was so rushed and barely shown & this was the only time the pregnancy was actually from her POV.

Season 6:

Best: Eyes Without A Face and Free Fallin

Worst: Honestly pretty much every other episode lmao but If You Leave, Sunglasses At Night, True Colours, Here Comes Your Man, Don’t You Want Me, & Crazy Little Thing Called Love. HCYM because they screwed over Sean’s character for no real reason, tried to make Peter look good when he wasn’t, and the plot itself was just plain stupid. And neither of the subplots were likable. If You Leave just made Emma look like a bitch and was unnecessary drama and it made Dylan look like a bad guy again for no real reason (I never liked Dylan but they just made it worse in this episode and tried to make it seem like Marco was being irrational). CLTCL further damaged Sean’s character and the subplot was just filler cuz it never was mentioned again even though it actually did have potential. DYWM was actually a good episode for Alex even though it was heartbreaking but it still could have been written better and honestly my main reason for putting this episode under worst is because of the subplot. Emma’s “pregnancy scare” and Sean suddenly leaving again was so rushed and horribly written. I don’t really have a good reason for the other two episodes.

Season 7:

Best: Standing In The Dark, Live To Tell, Death or Glory, Hungry Eyes

Worst: Got My Mind Set On You, Owner Of A Lonely Heart, Dont Stop Believin’, Love is A Battlefield, Broken Wings, We Built This City, & Talking In Your Sleep. GMMSOY was one of the most boring episodes of Degrassi that I’ve ever seen. I never liked Derek but they just made him and Danny fight over a girl that was never mentioned again and Danny actually faced racism which is serious but that’s never mentioned again either. I know filler episodes exist but this one was one of the worst I’ve ever seen. The subplot made it worse. Emma/Damian was such a rushed and unnecessary relationship. Owner of A Lonely Heart was barely memorable either. I feel like all of Marcos plots in the later seasons were badly written/unmemorable. And I love Janny but their relationship was really rushed too. Don’t Stop Believin was just weird. I understand what the writers were trying to do but there was no reason for Ellie and Marco to make out/almost hook up to realize they were too dependent on each other. It was just really awkward. I don’t hate the episode but it just wasn’t written very well. Love is A Battlefield just made Paige look like a diva and was a bad write off for Alex’s character who went through so much development. Alex did nothing wrong but they tried to make her look like she was inferior to Paige and that’s not the first time they did that either. That’s the main issue I had with their relationship. And the subplot was an unnecessary filler. There was no reason for her and Damian to start another relationship only to end it in the same episode and then have Manny accused of being racist. It was so stupid. I don’t really have a reason for Broken Wings, it was just boring and not memorable. We Built This City just made Liberty look bad for no reason and made me wonder again what anyone saw in Damian and why his character existed. This class deserved a better graduation episode. & Peters subplot was random and boring and unnecessary, I mean they probably had no idea Shenae would be leaving when they wrote this plot but they have Darcy begging him to stay only for her to leave like 3 Episodes later. Peter could have just left and then we wouldn’t have had to sit through Pia or any of Peters other boring plots. Talking in Your Sleep was bad writing partly because Paige/Griffin being interested in each other was rushed but mainly because the whole HIV thing was never brought up again. I know there wasn’t a high chance of Paige getting it but still it just felt like they didn’t care enough to explore this plot further and Griffin wasn’t even a relevant character so they probably wouldn’t have done this plot to its full potential anyway, which sucks.

Season 8: (ugh why does mobile app keep spacing things so far apart?)

Best: Causing A Commotion, Jane Says, Heat Of The Moment, Lost In Love, Heart Of Glass, Fight The Power, Didn’t We Almost Have It All, Up Where We Belong (most of these are for the main plots, the subplots in Heart Of Glass, Fight The Power and Jane Says sucked)

Worst: Uptown Girl & Degrassi Goes Hollywood. I know DGH wasn’t meant to be realistic but it still could have been written a lot better. They had Paige turn into a total diva even though acting isn’t even what she wanted to do in the first place and it just tainted her character for no reason. What makes it worse is they had Paige specifically tell that Hayley girl or whatever her name was that she’d never treat people as bad as she treated Paige, but then Paige ends up treating people just as bad anyway. As for Manny’s plot, it was great to see her dream come true at the end but the whole teacher/student relationship cane out of nowhere. I know Manny didn’t play a big role in Season 8 but we still did see her throughout the season so even though that relationship should have never happened in the first place, they should have built up to it at least. Ellie’s plot was the only one written decently but that wasn’t enough to me up for half of the movie being awful. Uptown Girl was equally unrealistic but this wasn’t some special movie so it really had no excuse for being that way. Mia becoming a model was a terrible uneccesary storyline and the fact that she slept with the Tom guy but still got to keep the job didn’t add up. I know it wasn’t publicly revealed until later and I know Danny and Leia didn’t say anything but still. It just was stupid.

Season 9:

Best: Shoot To Thrill, Why Can’t This Be Love, Waiting For A Girl Like You, Somebody, & You Be Illin

Worst: Just Can’t Get Enough, Close To Me, Holiday Road, & Degrassi Takes Manhattan. JCGE handled Peters meth use terribly. It was so rushed through and felt pointless. Close To Me tainted Janes character for no real reason by having her cheat on Spinner. Holiday Road just made Emma into controlling girlfriend when they could have instead just focused on the fact she was hiding that she flunked out of college and how hard it was on her. Degrassi Takes Manhattan was just…a mess. Between the rushed, random, unnecessary and pointless Spemma marriage to Janes boring plot, it was just awful. Nothing about Spemma made sense, the writing was awful, it was the most rushed relationship I’ve ever seen. This movie was a train wreck.

Season 10:

Best: Purple Pills, What A Girl Wants, Breakaway, Hide and Seek, Chasing Pavements, Halo, Drop The World

Worst: Love Lockdown. I liked the two subplots but the Holly J/Declan plot was awfully written. I can understand Holly J. not wanting to start anything by admitting that she thinks she was raped and instead just wanting to say she regrets what happened, but the fact that Declan pressured her and didn’t listen when she said no does qualify as rape but they let Declan get away with it which is disgusting. Sure, Declan may have not realized what he was doing but that doesn’t make it okay.

Season 11:

Best: Boom Boom Pow, Idioteque, Take a Bow, Paper Planes, Can’t Tell Me Nothing, Hollaback Girl, Smash Into You

Worst: Love Game. I just hate how they wrote Clare in this episode.

Season 12:

Best: Zombie, Waterfalls, Rusty Cage, Never Ever

Worst: Come As You Are & Walking on Broken Glass. The whole situation with Katie and Drew was written so terribly. They worked so hard to make Katie look like the victim. Yes it was wrong of Drew to cheat on Katie, & he should have been honest and upfront from the beginning about wanting to break up, but what Katie did was way worse. Yet they don’t show everything that happened so we’re made to believe that Drew just “had sex while drunk and forgot because he blacked out” and we’re supposed to think he’s so terrible for dumping Katie after they “had sex” though he made it clear he didn’t wanna be with Katie anymore, he wanted his first time to be sober and with Bianca, there was no way he consented to having sex with Katie, he was too drunk and honestly that whole video of Drew cheering about having sex was so contrived. At the end of the first part of the episode he just says “I did it” which could have meant that he thought he broke up with Katie. Then he falls down the stairs and hits his head, then regains conciousness and looks confused but keeps jumping around and dancing but it’s never implied that he thought that he had sex or that he did have sex. Yes we see him and Katie kiss but that doesn’t automatically mean sex and either way kissing does not equal consent. The next day Drew is completely confused as to why Katie thinks they’re back together, it doesn’t matter why he doesn’t remember, what matters is it’s clear he didn’t want it to happen. So they just created that part of the video to make Drew look like he “wanted it” even though 1) HE WAS TOO DRUNK TO CONSENT 2) It was clear he never wanted to have sex with Katie, he went upstairs to break up with her, even telling her he lied about Courtney to get him to break up with her cuz he wasn’t happy. Katie thought that just cuz Drew said “he might be dead if it weren’t for her” that somehow meant he didn’t want to break up, even though when she was saying all that BS about how he shouldn’t be able to make decisions about their relationship on his own, he just sat there with a dazed expression on his face. He never said he still wanted to be with her. 3) Drew would never talk like that if he were sober. It’s just like Zoe saying “do you think I’m sexy” when she was blackout drunk and assaulted. Drew didn’t even remember saying or doing any of that stuff just like Zoe didn’t and she obviously didn’t want it either. So yeah. Come as You Are & Walking on Broken Glass were both terribly written. The only good part of CAYA was Maya’s plot. The other reason WOBG was terrible aside from the Katie/Drew stuff was also terrible because Eli acted like such an entitled ass and even though Becky was ultimately wrong for being homophobic, Eli only changed the play to spite her even though he said otherwise, and before she was revealed to be homophobic he was totally condescending and rude to her. Eli didn’t deserve to be the director because he acted like he was the only one who was allowed to be in charge of plays. I’m not really saying this was badly written because it made sense for Eli’s character, it just annoyed me. Oh and, Tristan pretending to be Maya to talk to Cam and when Cam finds out, he says he will never be friends with either of them but that’s completely forgotten later. I think the whole plot of Tristan impersonating Maya was dumb but the plot itself wasn’t bad writing it just was a bad idea but the part about Cam saying they’ll never be friends was inconsistent writing.

Season 13:

Best: Unbelievable, How Bizzare, My Hero, Enjoy The Silence, The World I Know, Better Man, You Are Not Alone, Believe

Worst: About A Girl, Cannonball, Honey, Black and White, Who Do You Think You Are, Barely Breathing, Spiderwebs, Sparks Will Fly, & Thunderstruck. The main reason of course for Honey is Adam dying and the fact that it was so poorly written. But also because the Maya/Zoe/Miles drama was so cringeworthy. And they tried so hard to make Alli/Leo look like a good relationship for several episodes and I know abuse isn’t always immediate but in this episode and in episodes prior they try so hard to make it seem like Alli and Leo have an epic romance and by the time we see Leo become aggressive for the first time it feels underwhelming, like it’s obviously heartbreaking and they do better with the abuse storyline in later episodes but idk the writing was just really weak in this episode. With About A Girl, again I hated the petty Maya/Miles/Zoe/Tristan drama, & Adam impersonating Becky was stupid and felt honestly out of character. With this episode & with Cannonball, they had a great opportunity to explore Connor being asexual but it’s dropped after these episodes and just used as an excuse for relationship drama. Cannonball also sucked because of Adam crashing into a tree of course which was such a sloppy way to write him out of the show, he deserved better.  With Black and White, they all the sudden had Winston try to ruin Drew’s presidency and have something against him even though Drew never did anything to him. They tried to make us feel sympathy for Winston even though the way he treated Drew was out of line. Who Do You Think You Are & Barely Breathing were both awful because the plot of Dallas getting kicked off the hockey team and developing a drinking problem wasn’t even from his own point of view. The storyline had great potential but they fucked it up by not making it from his point of view. Then the Maya/Zoe drama was so ridiculous. Both of them were in the wrong for different reasons. What Maya did was awful and she definitely deserved punishment for it, but Zoe also deserved punishment and the way they tried to make her look innocent pissed me off so much. With Spiderwebs, the Drianca break up was so rushed and random and written so awfully. I can understand if Alicia couldn’t or didn’t wanna come back but it could have been written better and it was pretty clear that they only broke them up so Drew could be free to have ridiculous relationship drama plots, even though none of those relationships lasted long (or even happened in the first place like Clew) and all of those plots just dragged Drew’s character down. Drew and Drianca deserved better. Then there was the Eclare plot. Clare took Eli back so quickly even though he made little to no effort to earn her trust back. And then we have Alli supporting Clare taking Eli back even though Alli herself has been cheated on before and she used to strongly dislike Eli and had even more of a reason to now. I could also say that the cheating plot in BOW was written badly but honestly Eli doing shitty things doesn’t surprise me but in Spiderwebs the whole thing was badly written. Clare deserved better. With Sparks Will Fly, Clew finally is about to start an actual relationship after several episodes of build up only for Eli to show up, thus Clew doesn’t happen. What was the point of building up Clew if they were just going to keep bringing Eli back? Then there was the Zig/Maya/Miles triangle, that had both guys acting like assholes and they had the episode to make this episode about why Maya was so scared of rejecting Zig/hurting Miles but instead they made it about relationship drama, yeah they had Maya say “I can’t be with a guy who scares me, not again” and “last time someone I cared about disappeared they never came back” but we don’t see Miles even react or care about those statements which is one of the many reasons Matlingsworth sucks, he never truly cared about her feelings. Yes Zig was an ass in this episode too but he’s proven to care about Maya’s feelings on more than one occasion despite making a lot of mistakes. Miles only ever cared about himself. With Thunderstruck, I didn’t hate the episode but it was badly written. We’re supposed to believe Drew and Becky are romantically interested in each other even though in past episodes they were just shown to be friends. Yes, they spent a lot of time in the woods together in the last episode but nothing about it was romantic. Even though they were friends throughout most of the season, they were never super close yet somehow Drew suddenly knows all this stuff about her. I can buy him being attracted to her, but not actually having real feelings with her. Everything about Drecky was rushed and unnecessary. Then with the Maya/Zoe plot, Zoe and Zig suddenly are interested in each other, again yes they spent time together in the previous episode but nothing about it was romantic. Then, despite Maya supporting Zoe at her trial and them being on better terms, she hates her again all because Miles almost cheated on her with Zoe, even though Zoe was literally out of her mind drunk and was assaulted the same night. Yes Maya was mad at Miles too but Miles was really the only one who deserved blame in this situation. I can understand why Maya was upset, especially because Zig agreed to go to the dance with her after already saying he’d go with Maya, but the way she acted was immature whether she was drunk or not. Yes, Zoe was never a good friend to Maya but Maya still acted irrationally. And Zoe saying she was trying to be Maya’s friend all year was bad writing as well because that was total bullshit and not true. Then the Eclare plot, Clare conveniently hits her head, has to go to the hospital, misses her interview, all the hotels are booked so she has “no choice” but to stay with Eli. Hmm, how convenient. Then the random ass revelation of Clare being pregnant at the end. Which of course leads into more terribly written plots for season 14.

Season 14:

Best: (You Drive) Me Crazy, Wishlist. Get it Together, Give Me One Reason, & The Kids Aren’t Alright

Worst: Anything involving Degrassi Nudes and Clare’s pregnancy in the first half of season 14. Most of the episodes really only suck because of those plots, like they’d be fine otherwise without those plots. It was hard to pick a specific episode. I also didn’t like Finally, I hate how badly Drew was screwed over throughout this episode when he did nothing wrong, and I hate how Imogen and Jack briefly reuinite only for Imogen to once again feel like she has to do everything to please Jack whereas Jack puts in little to no effort, and then they break up again. There was no point in any of that, and once again Imogen loses her girlfriend on the prom/graduation episode :( I know it was Imogen’s choice both times but like with Fiona it was because she didn’t want to hold her back and also because the writers wanted to bring Imogen back for another year. Imogen deserved better honestly. I also felt like the Hunter plot was out of place even though I did like the plot, it didn’t really fit in this episode.

Season 15/NC season 1:

Best: YesMeansYes & ButThatsNoneOfMyBusiness

Worst: NotAllMen and ThisCouldBeUsButYouPlayin. With NotAllMen, I felt like the whole plot with Zoe thinking David was her dad was a bit random and also felt unrealistic, like it would have been great if Zoe had a real plot about finding her real dad but idk, it felt poorly written. and then they have Gracevas kiss and still Grace isn’t honest about her feelings. It would have been great if Grace actually returned her feelings, but seeing where the next episode goes, they didn’t need to tease us like that, it was fucked up. Then there was Frankie’s plot. It was clear Frankie was struggling and instead of going deeper into that, they have Jonah think he knows Frankie, being condescending and rude to her, and having Frankie’s friends guilt her into staying with them even when she wanted to try and go make a difference and volunteer. Jonah had no right to treat Frankie the way he did, it was uncalled for, but somehow this is the build up to their relationship which never needed to happen, at least not the way it did. Frankie could have been given a real depression storyline but instead it’s all about boy drama. I know they also do this in three other episodes of the season but this particular episode’s plot was the most poorly written. TCBUBYP was awful because of the contrived cheating plot that instead could have been Zig talking to Maya about his insecurities, or if he had to talk to Zoe she could have just been there for him as a friend, there was no need for them to hook up, and the fact that Zoe recorded it was even more disgusting. And then of course setting up Gracevas only for Grace to not return Zoe’s feelings and randomly say she likes Zig which made zero sense. Everything about this plot was contrived and awful. It just tainted Zaya, Zig, Grace, and Zoe for no real reason and they couldn’t even write it in a way that made sense.

Season 16/NC season 2:

Best: ThatAwkwardMomentWhen & BuyMePizza

Worst: TheseAreMyConfessions & ThrowbackThursday. & ToMyFutureSelf. TAMC because Grace liking Zig was obviously forced and it was extremely awkward, and the way Grace treated Maya was out of line but we’re supposed to feel sympathy for her and she never even apologizes (like maybe she did off screen but I doubt it because anytime someone screws Maya over they rarely face consequences or apologize, or if they do its not sincere). There’s no real explanation aside from Grace’s illness why she acting the way she’s acting, but her illness is no excuse to treat Maya like crap and it doesn’t explain why she lead Zoe on either (you’re my best friend I tried for you isn’t a good excuse), And her liking Zig was so random and made no sense and it was obviously forced. ThrowbackThursday was badly written in my opinion because the alumni’s lines mostly felt forced and awkward and they deserved more screen time. And while it was great that the writers wanted to bring attention to the BLM movement, Tiny getting suspended wasn’t because he was black, and then they don’t even have the storyline from his point of view. I know that they brought up that Frankie barely got in trouble for her racist banner, they should have done the plot about that with Shay leading the protest, or they could have had Tiny fight a white kid who went to their school and have Tiny receive more punishment than the white kid if they wanted the plot and protest to make sense. ToMyFuturseSelf just made Grace seem like a bad friend and her reasoning for being on Zig’s side for most of the episode even though she called him out the most after he cheated on Maya made no sense. And they just made Zig look even worse in this episode for no reason. The other plots were just boring and hardly memorable.

Season 17/NC season 3

Best: Honestly all of them

Season 18/NC season 4

Best: Obsessed, Fire, KThxBye

Worst: I thought the Zig/Esme/Frankie plot in FactsOnly was poorly written but the rest of the episode was great

#degrassi #long post #anonymous #answered