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ashestospace-fics · 3 years

Text

Gross Otaku

Character: Leviathan from Obey me

Reader: Male

G: NSFW

Word count: 3,797

Masterlist

-MINORS DO NOT INTERACT-

Tags: degrading, humiliation, topReader, BottomLevi, teasing, slight FootJob, swearing, reader kinda of a ass

It wasn't rare for you to always find your way back into Levi's room. Most of the time you two ended up either playing video games or just watching a new series he was gushing over. You liked spending time with him, even though dealing with any of the demon brothers might be a pain, you had the same interests as the 3rd born Otaku, so it was easy for you two just to get along when he realizes you aren't just some normie trying to pretend to like his same interest. Might be one of the reasons he fell for you so easily from the start. You like the same things he did, and actually, we're into rambling about your shows with him.

But one of the things he didn't expect from you while playing online or any competitive game was to go full-on sailor on anyone who would start shit. Sure he already used to lobbies with people insulting each other and swearing, but it just hit different when it was you. A human full-on destroying other demons who would start insulting other players unprovoked. It was almost terrifying how you drag the filth into some of these guys with a few phrases and just roast them alive. Levi found it arousing, even though you were insulting and being a dig without mercy, sometimes he wanted to degrade him to the point of killing him with humiliation. But oh no, that will be way worse for him. What would his dearest friend think if they found out he was actually turned on by something like that?

A dirty Otaku who gets turned on by being called filth? Oh, he could never live past the day if it were to come. You for sure will never talk to him ever again and go for one of his brothers instead! That would be so unfair, Levi quickly brushes those thoughts away. Now wasn't the time to indulge in his fantasies, you were gonna be coming soon and he was almost done setting the table for your nightly gaming session. This time making sure that extra sodas and sweets were around as he sat up from the coshing on the floor. His computer place opposite to where yours was gonna be.

Levi was a sucker for this setup, both of you got matching PC covers and set and he just loves that you weren't far from his reach if he was to accidentally stretch his hands on the desk or his foot to brush against yours, it would be by the distance and he wouldn't get caught being weird. It was just so perfect in his little head. Already multiple scenarios were starting to reach upon his head to hear you knocking on the door. If you were to tease him or push him around, his mind always wonders about that somehow.

You quirk a brow as you open up the door. Levi standing in front of the table staring down on the light-up screen fail to notice you approach behind up. You notice the light blush on his cheeks as you stood behind him.

"watcha thinking about that got your face all pink like that?" You spoke, Levi screech as he jumps slightly at the sound of your voice. Face going Pinker as he lifted his arm up in a normal fashion to cover his face.

"Oi! W-what are you doing sneaking up to me like that?! Learn how to knock!" He blurted out as he steps back a bit. His leg hitting the table, you scoff back in return as you went around to put your PC down.

"I did, Maybe you would have heard me if you weren't spacing out like a dork" you flop down on the cushion on the floor. A groan passing your lips as you use your arms as support to look up at him.

"Oh..." He mumbled out, the pink on his face slowly calming.

"Yeah, Oh's right, Now come on and sit down I'm hype to start!" You motion a hand towards him.

He just sighs in response as he sat down. Levi's eyes glance up to you putting on your headphones as you got everything ready. You two already had planned before what games you will play and order, so far all of this was like normally scheduled game night. But still, a part of him felt embarrassed that you caught him spacing out while thinking about you. That just so uncool, Levi groans again as he started the match. Maybe he can just play this off and get in the zone when you two start playing. Ignore all about his stupid crush on you and about how close you are and how it will only take a bit for him to move his hand and- darn it Levi concentrate! He can let his fantasies of being with you ruin your relationship now.

Regardless of Leviathans inner monologue to fight back his thought, you on the other hand already notice he was shifting in his spot. You caught on time to time on this, but just brush it off as one of his anxieties tics so you put not much thought into it. Now as you two play a few rounds, everything seemed to go as normal. A few normal lobby encounters here and there. Until the last round of your match, there was this one guy just shit-talking for no reason and everyone was starting to get annoyed at this point. Levi could see your eye twitching from his spot the more this guy kept talking. Just a few more minutes and it would be over and you'll two will move on to the next game.

"You guys suck, what the fuck even is that shot dude? Crappy aim and a shit load of fuc-"

"Man shut up already, I get it, you don't have any friends and no one likes you at home. Your mom gotta deal with her shitty unemployed son living in her basement who doesn't shower. No one wants to hear how fucking pathetic your life is under all those big words buddy so how about you shut your pipe already?" You spat venom in each word as you kept on playing. Levi's eyes darted back up at you, face flushing pink quickly at your words. The guy got caught up in his words at your sudden outburst.

"man you shut the fuck up-"

"see? There you go only using curse words because your vocabulary is so limited. God you're so... pathetic, why don't you do us all a favor and stuff your mouth with one of those overuse sex toys in your room since you clearly never touch anyone before in your life" you said in a mocking tone, it was so clear against Levi's ears, he finds it unfair that you were saying all those things to some random dude and not him, his practically all those things you just said. He bit down on his lip as he shifted on his spot.

The people in the lobby commented their "ooh" and "damn" a few admitted how weirdly sexy your voice was while insulting the guy who was just mumbling cusses at you now.

"awe what's wrong? To shame to admit you're a gross stuck up who hides behind that overly big mouth of yours?" You let out a chuckle as you took the last kill of the game. "Fucking weirdo" you blurted out as you lean back while stretching your arms. Levi stares intensely at his screen. God, it was so so unfair that you talk like that right in front of him. He completely froze in his place as his eyes tried not to look down at the tent in his sweat pants.

Dammit

"jeez, could you believe that guy Levi? What a pain in the ass...huh your score went down in the last few minutes" you mumble out as you took a sip from your soda. Eyes trying to look over at the Demon whose head was looking down at the screen.

"hmm-hmm" he hummed back a response. His mind was going crazy as he prayed you didn't notice. Maybe if he just didn't move you'll just ignore him or he'll turn invisible by pure luck! Yeah Levi that's a great idea. You squinted your eyes at the top of his head. Shifting in place you stretch your leg under the table to push him slightly.

"Oi, Levi you gonna talk back to me-wow!" you pull your foot back as soon as you felt the hard tent between your sock. Eyes shotting open as Levi let out a surprise screech/moan as he jolted from his spot at your sudden actions.

Both of you froze as his eyes finally met yours, his face flush bright red as you stare in disbelief as you realize what you just felt by accident. You didn't mean it though, you were just gonna push him by the leg not shove your whole foot between his legs.

" w-wait y/n I c-can ex-explain! This so uncool, it's yo-your fault I didn't I mean I was-" Levi became a stuttering mess as he got caught. Your face going blank as you glance down the table to see that he was hard. You press your lips together in a thin line. Your expression on readable made it worse for the Otaku trying to make up any poor excuse on the spot. A hummed left your throat as your foot made contact with his hard-on again, just that this time you put full pressure as his hands flew down to grab your ankle as he let out a choked whine at your sudden action.

"W-what are you doing?!" He exclaims, humiliation washing over him as he made little effort to push your foot away as he didn't dare look back up at your penetrating gaze.

"My fault? You said it was my fault? How are you popping a Boner while in the middle of our game my fault Levi?" You scoff as you place a hand under your cheek as your elbow resting on the table. Levi panted as he tried to make a fail attempt to push his foot away. Face burning with embarrassment at two heavy his breath got against his chest.

The friction was about to be his guilty pleasure as you rubbed your foot up and down. A small pathetic whine leaving Levi's mouth as you press forward into his shaft. The sound of your chuckle made his whole body shake as you took another sip of your drink.

"wow, you really are enjoying this huh? Even though you're a demon and you could easily push me off, you just letting me step on your hard-on just like that?" Your eyes glance down, his feet reaching your side of your thighs as Levi legs feet and stretch. Your hands took a hold of his ankles and pull him closer as your feet press dangerous painful against his pants. Another scoff passing your lips as you watch his back arch at your sudden action. A shaky moan passing his lips as he finally looked up to you.

"so tell me, Levi, what was it that got you like this? You thinking about your anime girls or...." He quickly averted his eyes, a hand flying over to cover his face as he shook slightly, your previous motions stopping as you figure out.

"you got turn-on by me insulting that loser?" You let out a laugh as he tried squirming away. A quiet "n-no" reaching your ears as you retreat your foot and stood up. Making your way over to tower, Levi, as you looked down at him with your hands on your pockets.

"well?" You asked quietly, your voice dropping as you could see the corner of his eyes tear up as he refuses to look at you.

"i-I'm sorry I know I'm gross, I'm just a gross Otaku-" oh there he was, his normal phrase. You crouch down his height as looked at him. He quickly shut up, he was embarrassed to a godly extent but he would be lying that this wasn't making him hornier. I mean this practically one of the many ways he imagines you would take him. Humiliating him just like this, but the fact that you just touch him was already enough to make his mind start to go hazy.

"Yeah you're right, you are a gross Otaku, one that got turn-on by me insulting some guy, or were you just imagining that would be you? Hhm Levi?" You took a hold of his chin to make him look at you, his face felt warm against your fingertip as he bites down on his lip. It was hard for you not to strip him down and take him with that look on his face. But self-control is key in this current situation, and you were determined to see how far you could get.

"y-...yes.." he whispers out. A smile grew on your face as you pulled him closer.

"you know... you're really fun to tease, I wonder how far you letting me get away with this, look how pathetic your acting for a demon..." you breathe out, your lips barely grazing his as one of your hands rubs his thigh, legs close instantly as your palm press against his boner and your fingers dig down into his covered hole. A loud whimper passing his lips as you brought him for an eager kiss.

The hand holding his chin now on the back of his head as you pulled him closer. Teeth clashing between the heated kiss as Levi's hands hold onto your shoulders. Moans passing freely from his throat as his eyes shoot open wide. Body becoming warm as your hand-kept teasing and rubbing his covered cock. He felt already weak with what was going on, everything felt like was going on so fast and rough but was crabbing more and more by the second. The taste of the sweet you were eating prior still lingers in your mouth as you lick again his lips. His jaw going slack as he opens his mouth for you. Another breathy moan left his lips as he felt your hot tongue enter his mouth. This was what Levi was dreaming about and even more.

He gripped on your shoulder as you pulled away. Now both hands stopping your assault as you force him to lay down on the cushions scatter around the floor. Moving both his legs to straddle yours as you started taking off your shirt. If it was even possible Levi's face went redder as he stares at your torso in awe, a smirk rose to your lips as you grip the edge of his shirt and jacket.

"what? Enjoying the show you gross Otaku?" This time it was your turn to let out a groan as you grinded against his groin. You were already hard with all this foreplay, your breathing was starting to hitch against your throat. Levi whined at your words, his slender fingers fumbling around to get desperately rid of his clothes. Your teasing and words already had him in state at this point and you enjoyed how easily he was crumbling to them.

A low sigh passes your lips, your hips rocking against him slowly as your eyes trail up his chest, he was slim but still fit. Both your hands trailing up his bare skin until reaching his already hardening nipples. You lean down and kiss between his chest as you grinded harder against him. Quiet moans passing his lips as he covers his face as he still peeks over to look at your actions. Embarrassment written all over his cute flustered face had you smiling slightly before trailing higher as you left a trail of kisses. A shaky moan passes his throat as you licked up, your lips meeting their way up to his earlobe and nibbling it.

"you like it when I tease you, Levi?" You asked quietly, a moan In a response made you stop grinding. You wanted to hear him say it, god you needed him to be a good boy and admit that he's gross for being turn on like this. Levi shooked his head as he gripped your shoulders, he feels the outline of your cock against his sweat pants and he felt like he was melting on the spot with how close it.

"y-yes.." he whispers out, he tried grinding his hips pathetically to make you continue.

"you like it when I call gross? Hmm? You wanted this whole time to point out how nasty you are for being an Otaku who's choices to gets stuck at home?" Your tongue swirls the back of his ear before biting it.

He arches his back as his grinding became desperate. A loud cry left him as hold into you. He couldn't control how hot his body was feeling, he felt like he was gonna burst if you didn't keep touching him.

"y-yes! I like it, I love it when you call me gross, and I r-really need you to fuck me and put me in my place now! Please d-don't stop Y/n!" He kicks his legs as he shouted. Your eyes winded as you pulled back to look at him, tears falling down his face as his breathing became a mess. Your thumb brushing it off as you lean down to kiss all over his cheek gently as your free hand pulls his waist up to get rid of his sweats and underwear in one go. A sigh of relief passing Levi's lips as his length press against his lower stomach.

"Jeez, your so needy for my cock is makes you look pathetic Baby" you chuckled, truth be told that your heart was beating against your chest widely. You pulled down your pants, the cold air hitting your dick made you shiver slightly as you kick the clothes out of the way. Levi's hands flying over to cover his mouth as you spread his legs apart even wider.

You swallow hard, the view almost made you dizzy as his hole clench around nothing as it glistens with his wetness. A brow crock up as you press a finger inside of him slowly, it sucked you in eagerly as Levi moan loudly.

"How are you this dripping wet down here? You look like a bitch in heat or is that something Demons go through?" You bite your lip as you push another finger in with ease, pumping them fast with how eager he was taking your hand.

"h-hm, oh f-fuck, um uh ye-yes?" Levi squeaks out the answer as he holds into the cushion under him. Your fingers felt so good, he for sure felt like he was on cloud 9, he was craving so much more than your fingers but even with them, he was falling apart.

"hmm, that should be interesting when it comes heh" you press your fingers upwards, hitting his prostate with so much ease it almost amazes you how loud he screams just by that, as he threw his head back. You let out a whistle as you pulled your fingers away from his aching hole. Another whine left him at the absence of your digits, he almost came just by that.

"quit whining, If you wanted me to fuck you" you hiss out, your cock press against his dripping hole was making it twitch. Levi looked back down, eyes glossy as he lifted his legs to his chest as he holds them for you. One of your hands made it to his waist as the other hold your cock, slapping it against him before thrusting yourself halfway in without warning.

Both of you groan loudly as you stood still, he was tight no matter how much he was leaking. He was clenching down on you hard, Levi could feel his mouth water as you push the rest of your cock in his tight hole. He could feel every vein pulsating inside of him, that pre-cum was leaking out his tip. He curses loudly as you pulled back and thrust back into him. Starting with a fast speed as your hips snap against him every time.

"f-fuck your tight, you practically sucking me in" you groan loudly as you grip on his waist, the smacking sound of both your flesh hitting against each other vibrating against the whole room as Levi said your name like a mantra. It felt so good, he felt like he was going to pass out with how good you were fucking him. He didn't want anything but your cock to stuff him full.

"w-what's wrong? You little anime waifu can't fuck you as good as my cock?" You hiss out. "M-mh a-ah fuck n-no! I only want your cock, fuck I only want you to stuff me like this all the time" Levi screamed as he panted between each thrust, you were not slowing down at all. Each time thrusting into the bundle of nerves that was about to make him snap and tip over. His mouth hanging open as drool fell down and his eyes cross, God you thought it was the hottest shit ever.

"Good, good little Otaku, Be good and cum all over yourself like the gross nerd you are- fuck" you moan as you fell on top of him, you never been this riled up. Your hips never stopping once as you kept thrusting harder into his aching hole. Levi's hand made their way up to your face and kiss you roughly. Drowning each other moans as you kept abusing his poor prostate until he came over you and his stomach. A loud cry left his lips as you kept thrusting into him trying to reach climax. Your lips silencing his cries as you gave one final thrust, pressing deep into him as you cover his inside white.

Both of you panted loudly as you regain your breaths. You pulled away slowly, both of you hissing at the feeling as you rolled over next to him. Now staring into the ceiling as your brains process your previous actions as your panting quiet down. You sat up, whipping your forehead as you looked back at him. His face still flushed as you brought your hand to push his bangs off his face.

"you look gross and sweaty, let's take a shower" you blurt out leaning down to kiss his cheek before standing up. Levi covers his face once again as he rolled over.

"This...is so unfair" he breathed out.

"yeah yeah I love you too, but like seriously, we need to shower you made a mess".

#obey me x reader #obey me x male reader #leviathan x male reader #leviathan x reader #obey me smut #obey me #x male reader #x male reader smut #obey me shall we date #swd leviathan #leviathan avatar of envy #leviathan x male mc #leviathan x mc

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trashyswitch · 3 years

Text

Family Reunion: 40 years later.

Michael winds up getting taken while he's asleep, and brought to an alley way. What he expected to be a murder waiting to happen, turns into a family reunion he had no idea he needed...

This fanfic is for that anon that suggested this Scrap Family Reunion idea! Here's the link!

So Sweetheart, wherever you are, I hope you enjoy!

Michael was hanging out in his apartment, cleaning some things and fixing a couple items here and there. It was often a messy apartment that always had more broken things than fixed things. Though the apartment was crappy and he had the money for a better one, Michael actually didn’t mind fixing things. You could say that Michael had become ‘Henry’s special nephew’ since the moment Michael told him he had signed up for an apprenticeship. Though he found that building wasn’t really his thing, he found that engineering and some circuit-building was fun and doable.

Ever since Michael found out about the fate of his sister, Michael did as his father said and put his sister back together. But now his sister was off doing who knows what with the funtimes, and Michael was struggling to find her. But even though he attempted to find him, he knew that Elizabeth had likely found his Dad already and would be back to let him know of his state and whereabouts. How long that would take however...was a mystery.

Michael groaned and wrapped his arms around himself before pulling the blanket more onto himself. He felt really chilly in his bedroom. Did the heater break again?! God, he hoped not. Michael groaned and got himself up to check his room heater. But he quickly yelped and covered his body when he realized he wasn’t in his bed.

The man wasn’t even at home! He was on the side of the road!

No wonder he was freezing!

Jeremy quickly doubled his comforter and wrapped it around his half-naked body. Everyone knows that a man often sleeps in their underwear. But the fact that he was no longer in his house, made him really regret his decisions.

“Hello Michael.” A familiar voice said.

Michael let out a breath of relief. It was Elizabeth! Elizabeth was okay!

“Elizabeth! Thank goodness...Come out, I wanna see you!” Michael reacted gratefully.

But the bit of excitement that Michael had, immediately vaporized the moment he took a look at the animatronic. Circus baby looked completely unrecognizable! Like a completely separate person...This wasn’t the Elizabeth he grew to recognize...This was a stranger!

“Elizabeth...I…”

“A lot has happened since I left…” she said. “I can put myself together on my own now.” She showed Michael the hand that she replaced with a claw. “I have real hair now.” She showed him the orange wires and flicked them like any regular girl would flick their hair.

Michael nodded very hesitantly. He was still trying to get used to what she looked like.

“I brought you clothes.” Elizabeth told him as she handed him folded clothes.

“We should’ve gotten a sweater for him.” someone else said.

“His blanket will work just fine, Daddy.” Elizabeth replied.

Michael widened his eyes. His father is here too?!

The ruined bunny animatronic walked out of the shadows and revealed himself to Michael. When Michael saw Baby, she was completely unrecognizable. But his father...was somehow a little more recognizable in his much more ruined state. It probably helped that the bunny mask had rotted away so much that a lot more of his father’s skull was able to be seen better.

Michael took a few minutes to get dressed, and comprehend both his family members brand new appearances. It felt long. But eventually, Michael was dressed and wrapped in the blanket.

“Now Liz.” The bunny told her in a sour voice.

Suddenly, Michael felt his body being lifted up by the claw that had taken over her left hand. Elizabeth’s Baby eyes were glowing red while William’s icey silver eyes stared into Michael’s soul.

“aaAAH! WAIT! WHAT?! BUT ELIZABETH, I SAVED YOU!” Michael protested and begged.

“Did I catch you off guard?” Elizabeth asked. “Let's see how many pieces I can cut you into.” Elizabeth decided with a threatening voice. Her permanent smile made everything all the more terrifying and real.

That’s the part that scared Michael the most. “You’re gonna have to fight hard to make sure I die. But I KNOW you’re gonna make my death slow. I’ve seen your tricks before.” Michael spat.

The scrapped bunny readied his bone spear. “A little lower, Lizzy.” William told her.

As Scrap Baby lowered Michael down a little more, Scraptrap leaned his arm back to shove the spear into Michael’s chest or leg.

He was about to kill him slowly…

Right about then…

...Maybe now?...

Why the hesitation?

Michael refused to open his eyes. So, it was a huge shock to him when he felt the spear very slowly grazing his middle. Michael finally opened one eye and saw that the villainous expression on Scrap’s face had softened.

“...Daddy what are you doing?” Scrap Baby asked.

William smirked as he remembered something very interesting and…personal. “Sometimes one of the worst things a broken person can experience...is happiness.” The bunny spoke. Scraptrap wrapped his other hand around Michael’s hip points, and started digging.

Michael gasped and widened his eyes as a wobbly grin filled his face. Oh gosh...This couldn’t be happening. Was his long-time emotionless father…

Tickling him?!

Michael tried leaning the other way to get his hand off his hip. But William’s hand followed with it and continued digging and massaging. “Being tickled was never something I personally enjoyed…” Scrap Trap admitted as he paused his attack. “But I did grow to miss tickling others…”

Scrap trap used the pause to his advantage and cut the sharp edge of his own bone, right off his arm. With the end of his arm more like a pole rather than a spear now, the bunny used it to poke and prod at Michael’s side.

Michael had started snickering and struggling to keep his laughter in. “D-Dadstahap!” Michael started trying to push him away with his foot. But Baby grabbed onto his foot and stared at it intently.

Scrap Trap looked over at Baby, and smirked. He looked like he had just developed the greatest idea ever! Scrap Trap grabbed onto Michael, removing him from Baby’s grip, and wrapped the one arm around him. “I’ll hold him. It’s your turn, Liz.” Scrap Trap told her.

“Very well. I have his foot too.” Scrap Baby grabbed onto Michael’s foot like a headlock and started skittering her right hand fingers all over Michael’s foot.

Michael wheezed and wiggled around like crazy! “HEHEHEHEY! HAHAHAHA NAHAT THE FEEEHEHEEHEHEHEET!” Michael begged.

“Kitchy kitchy koo Michael~ A kitchy kitchy koo~” Baby teased. “This is fun, Daddy. Michael was always the one who tickled me. I rarely tickled Michael without getting tickles too.” she recalled from back when she was a human kid.

“Tickle him as much as you want, sweet Elizabeth.” Scraptrap told her. “I can tickle him effectively from here.”

Sure enough, Scrap Trap was tickling his upper ribs with the hand that was wrapped around him, while he poked his belly button with his left arm nub. Michael was wiggling around to get out of his grip, but it was like his father had developed super strength from his springlock accident!

“DAHAHAHAD! ELIHIHIHIZAHAHA! STAHAHAHAHAP! IHIHIHIT TIHIHICKLES SOHOHO MUHUHUHUHUHU!” Michael couldn’t even finish the last word due to all his laughing!

“Has Micky-wickey been too long without the tickles? Such a shame…” Scraptrap teased.

“Hey Daddy, do you remember how ticklish Michael’s ankles were?” Elizabeth asked.

OH NO...NOT THE ANKLE!

“BUHUHUT HOHOHOW?!” Michael asked. He couldn’t comprehend how the heck Elizabeth remembered that over 30-40 years of her possession! The only way he could really explain it, was that her memory was still quite intact after all these decades.

“30 years being possessed will give you lots of time to think and remember the good times…” Scrap Baby told him.

Michael soon wrapped his arms around the scrap animatronic’s arm that was holding him. Sensing something was up, Scraptrap stopped tickling him and wrapped his nubby arm around Michael as well. “I missed you. Not seeing you for 30 years made me grow to miss you.” Scraptrap told him.

Michael smiled a little as he comprehended that the same man that neglected him and abused him as a child, was actually treating him half decently. “I...I’ve missed you too, Dad.” Michael admitted.

“You missed me, old sport?” Scrap Trap asked.

Michael nodded and leaned his head back onto Scraptrap’s boney, but surprisingly comfy shoulder. Scrap Baby took this as a sign to maybe stop in order to keep this moment going. Scrap Baby lowered Michael’s foot down and reached her regular hand out to hold Michael’s. Michael reached out, and grabbed hold of Baby’s endoskeleton, human-like hand.

“Ballora was put back together…She is a little rusty from being scrapped.” Scrap Baby told him.

“Is it true that you based Ballora on Mom?” Michael asked.

Scrap Trap looked down a little and thought for a moment. “...Yes.” He replied. “Ballora’s design was inspired by your mother.” Scrap Trap told him.

Michael smiled. “What did she think?” Michael asked.

Scrap Trap looked at Elizabeth before looking back down. “...She didn’t appreciate it at first…”

Michael looked at Scrap Trap in surprise.

“However one day...I did see her dancing with Ballora...and imitating her dance moves...She looked so natural and graceful compared to Ballora. Ballora was built to be a strict ballerina...yet your mother didn’t follow the tense rules that belonged to ballet...she danced more gracefully and with more flow and beauty…” Scrap Trap explained.

Michael closed his eyes and took in a deep breath.

“I’m dying, Dad…” Michael admitted. “Ennard used me as a disguise to get out of the pizza world and wander the streets...I lasted a total of half an hour with Ennard inside me...But then…”

Michael looked down at his rotting self. “I threw him up...and somehow, I’m still alive…” Michael admitted. “I don’t understand...Why have I survived such a physically traumatic experience?” Michael asked.

“You have a power that most of the Aftons possess: Athanasia. Or rather...the ability to cheat death and prevail.” Scrap Trap said. “I possess it, your sister possesses it, Charlie possesses it...and now you possess it.” Scrap Trap moved some bangs out of Michael’s eyes with the boney nub, and returned to hugging him.

“Hm…” Michael looked down for a moment and over to Scrap Baby.

“Were you with Dad the whole time?” Michael asked Scrap Baby.

Scrap Baby nodded and rocked left and right like a child would. “Yes...I was.”

Michael looked at the sky as a sunrise started to form from afar. Michael watched the sunrise with wide eyes. “I...haven’t seen a sunrise in a long time.” Michael admitted.

Scrap Baby wrapped the comforter around Michael and hugged him from the side. “Me neither.”

“It’s beautiful.” Scrap Trap admitted. “We’re finally back together after all these years…” Scrap Trap told them. “I missed it.” Scrap Trap added.

Michael patted his shoulder and rubbed his back a bit. “Me too, father...Me too.”

A while after the sunrise, Michael and the scraps walked him back to the apartment. Michael gave his unusual family one last hug goodbye, and walked into the bedroom.

Michael grabbed onto his comforter tightly, and flopped onto the bed. He looked like a human burrito in his comforter. Michael took the time to sleep in and make up for the sleep that was taken from him as a sacrifice for ‘family time’.

2 hours later:

Michael’s phone started to ring from across the room. Michael groaned and covered his face with the blanket to shoo away any light that tried to peek through his comforter. The ringing went on for a couple more seconds, before stopping. Michael let out a sigh of relief and started to try and fall asleep again. But as he moved his foot around under the blankets, he felt a strong pain on his foot. He uncovered his foot and chuckled to himself as he looked at the massive bruise on the top of his foot. It was pretty much the size of his inner arch.

Michael covered his foot back up and started to fall asleep again…

BRRRRRRIIIING! BRRRRRIIIIIING!

Michael growled and got up to get the phone. He picked up his home phone and clicked the answer button. “Hello?” He asked, his voice still raspy.

“Michael, I have a plan to end the animatronic mess once and for all.” the person on the other line told him.

“Hm? Henry?” Michael clarified.

“Yes, it’s Henry. Only Henry would talk about animatronics, Mike.” The person said on the other line.

“I know. That’s how I guessed it was you.” Mike admitted.

Henry started to start off with an explanation. “Listen: I have been haunted for years by the animatronics. I want my daughter, your family, and those poor souls to be set free.” Henry told him.

“Right, right. So start explaining.” Michael encouraged.

“Okay. Here it is…”

#dysfunctional family #family bonding #the afton family #pre-fnaf 6 #ticklefic #ler!trap #ler!baby #lee!michael

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clatterbane · 2 years

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Interesting observations I ran across about some conflation that goes on a lot. (Plus, yeah, the DSM being crappy in so many ways.)

I think it comes from some stuff getting mixed up in the 80's. Back then two big ideas about narcissism existed.

The older one was not a diagnosis. It came from the beginnings of psychology. In the beginning, everyone had some amount of narcissism. A healthy amount helped a person balance their self with society. For example: the feelings of healthy narcissism told a person when to say "no" or.advocate for themselves or their values. But they can do this is ways consistent with social values and not harming others.

Unhealthy narcissism had to forms: too little and too much. Too little is what we call "being codependant". A person who places others far above their own sense of self to a point where there a unhealthu consequences.

Too much is called "maligniant narcissism". Erich Fromm described this as the root of human evil in the 60's (70's?) in a very influential book at the time. Malignant narcissim does read like a "how to" for being an abuser. With the focus on using a scapegoat and other abusive dynamics to maintain their self image. Especially malignant narcissists often use behaviors that are very at odds with their self image but lack the self.awareness to address that. The classic example beinging someone who insists they are a good person but then commits harmful behaviors to get what they want. And then blames the victim or society for "making them do it" or misunderstanding their intent.

But malignant narcissism isnt a diagnosis. Its an attempt to scientifically name a particular pattern of behaviors. It was basically the professional label for a self centered jerk who was so self centered their jerkiness routinely harmed others.

Self help authors like M Scott Peck make this label common in the 80's. And it was the first time people with abusive parents had a label for it without issues like alcoholism being involved.

But another thing happened in the 80's: the APA published the first offical form for the DSM. This was an attempt to "medicalize" mental health the same way physical health was managed.

The APA, via the DSM, created the idea of the "personality disorder". To the medical professional a personality disorder means a person who has a long term pattern of behaviors and thinking that cause suffering and reduced functioning in daily life. Because thats what a personality means in in professional mental health: patterns of acting and thinking that are consistent over years. Its is not their self, it is their habits (to.paraphrase Alan Watts)

But to the public a personality was who a person *is*. Its the core of who they are. So a personality disorder seems to mean a person who is is broken at a some fundamental level. In fact, many professionals will not diagnose a personality disorder because insurance will use this is deny coverage. They argue the personality is "just who someone is and you cant treat or change that."

So in the 1980's two definitions for "narcissist" existed: Fromms' malignant narcissist who was a person who's ego needs resulted in them harming others and the DSM's Narcissistic Personality Disorder, who was a person's whos ego needs resulted in them being unable to healthfully function as an individual.

The enforced popularity of the DSM made NPD the domimant name. Self help authors in the 90's and later used the NPD to help survivors release tje shame and blame of their past abuse. "Oh it wasnt that my mom hated me, she had a disorder. I dont have to hold onto my anger or pain."

Furthermore, using the DSM "legitimized" the issue. Ie: I didnt just have a bad family, it was legitimately "sick." It also legitimized any actions taken after the fact from therapy (i have to fix myself because people with personality disorders cant be helped) to unhealthy avoidance (once you realize a person is a narcissist, you shouldnt have anything to do with them ever again)

It worked so long as one didnt look at it closely. Because so little of this actually means what we think it means. The DSM made entitlement one minor details of NPD, focusing mostly on the self focus and need for positive reflection. Fromm's definition that the DSM rejected made tje sense of entitlement a core issue and what made the malignant narcissistnl capable of (and willing to) harm others.

Well meaning people wanting to sell books then used the DSM label to legitimize the issue while applying the non-DSM meaning of the word. Which was them picked up by the general public.

Personally my abusive af mother does not match the criteria for NPD at all. In fact her behavior defies DSM diagnosis entirely. But it matches beautifully for Fromm's malignant narcisissism. Oh if only the the establishment hadnt thrown that out over 40 years ago and is now trying to slip it in the backdoor again.

Seriously, if you read Pecks descriptions of "narcissistic" patients in *The People.of the Lie* it makes way more sense. And then remember his work *predates* the DSM.

Sorry for the novel. This has been lecture 17 in "why the DSM is crap"

So yeah, another case of words getting used to mean some rather different things--and, so, helping fuel misunderstandings and people talking at cross purposes. Very much like with the (incidentally related) subject of empathy.

#long post #abuse mention #medicalization #words

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hellothere-generalangsty · 3 years

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I HAD A BRAIN WAVE MOMENT

DO YOU REMEMBER WAYYYY BACK WHEN EVERYONE HATED ASOKA? DAVE DID THAT ON PURPOSE SO HE WAS IN CONTROL OF WHAT PEOPLE HATED ABOUT HER. OK NOW THIS MIGHT BE A LONGSHOT THAT HOPEFULLY DOESN’T END UP LIKE LONGSHOT THE CLONE, BUT, IM HOPING THATS WHATS DAVE IS DOING WITH TBB. BEING IN CONTROL OF WHAT THE FANDOM HATES ABOUT IT AND THEN IMPROVING IT SLOWLY BIT BY BIT.

PLEASE IM DESPERATE FOR A EXPLANATION!

(also where’s my explanation about why the clones are white washed, dave? hmm? where is it dave?)

OMG LOOK.

It wouldnt excuse the whitewashing or the weak scenario, because he got us used to some good stuff now (tcw s7, Mandalorian, that kind of things)

But it would make sense - to a certain extent - to work that season as a "cliché team in a cliché scenario" and see how people react to be able for a second season (if there's a second season) to improve it

Disclaimer: I'm a white, abled person so I'm not trying to speak on behalf of poc/disabled people, but I think it's important to support them and listen to the critics they make about SW and it's content

Also this is quite long I got carried away but worth it it is!

I linked some of @rebekadjarin 's post here because I read a bit through her blog today and agreed with her posts; and I invite you to check out the "#whitewhashed tbb" if you want more extanded and developed information about that matter! (As my knowledge on the matter is still quite limited/ incomplete due to my privileges, and this post is more of a summary than a real analysis)

So here, we know that the fans are unhappy about:

- the whitewashing of the Bad Batch (especially since they proved they could animate dark skinned people/ more generally poc with the first seasons of tcw, Kanan in Rebels and the Separatist in the latest TBB episode)

It is a real problem and it shouldn't have happened in the first place. Even if they are different, the Batchers are still clones and it's really not that hard to show their enhancement while keeping Temuera's features and skin colour (I mean, look at all the artists who did and do it everyday on this app; no excuse here)

Star Wars has wasted a lot of potential on numerous occasions because they keep doing stuff like this; and it's quite ironic (and very sad) to see that racism, ableism and stereotypes are prevalent in a universe where people fight for equality and peace...

Here and here are two posts about it (if you're the author of these posts and want me to delete them from my post please tell me so; I took the liberty of adding them because I think they highlight quite well the issue and do a clear job at showing the whitewashing in SW/ around the clones)

- the way Crosshair is treated; both by the Batchers and the writers, he's manipulated by the chip yet no one is talking about rescuing him and we see nothing about the effect of his absence on the Batchers (they don't mention him, don't try to save him, and Hunter is more distraught by Omega's absence than by his own brother's)

And don't get me wrong, Omega is a kid and she's nice, of course they have to take care of her and protect her

But they also don't know her purpose; why is she here? She could be a bad omen (maybe she doesn't even know it! The Kaminoans probably didn't tell anyone about her real purpose and I stand by the idea that the infos they got about her are all wrong and purposefully misleading) and I have the dark feeling that she will be the end/ death of the Batchers by the end of the serie, even if she didn't wanted it that way

But Crosshair is never mentionned, except for when he's needed in the scenario. Which is a shame, because he's a Batcher too even if he's mind-controlled and (for now) working for the Empire. He's supposed to be a main character, and he's a key element to the plot; yet out of 10 episodes we saw him in only 3, and only the moments where he was acting bad (i'm excluding the lonely moment at the end of ep2 because it had a lot of potential about him fighting the chip but that was all we had and i'm still bitter about it lol)

Here is a post about it

- speaking of plot; I feel like it's always the same disk playing since episode 2-3: They have a mission given by Cid, they do it, things go wrong, Omega saves the day and they get the money.

Crosshair is doing bad guy stuff so no need to tall about him (haha right?)

Now. I'm a good public. I know when to activate the Dummie™ in me and enjoy a show about a found family doing crazy jobs for a criminal and raising a newly adopted daughter at the same time. It's fun, it's sweet, sometimes it get emotional and the animation is beautiful (the lights are amazing I am always in awe)

I can enjoy it and be in awe and see Echo sniffing food and Tech smiles and Wrecker playing with Omega and feel happy about it.

But I also expected more. I hadn't any clear idea because I didn't wanted to set expectations (how ironic) but I can't help but feel sad about the wasted potential around Empire! Crosshair and the rise of said Empire.

If you want to antagonize one of the main character, do it, but do it fully and do it well. Show us Crosshair getting really invested in a plan to catch the Batchers and suddenly making a scene for a tiny detail that could blow it up; show us Crosshair and Hunter fighting each other hand to hand after they disarmed each other, and Crosshair getting the upoer hand until something holds him back; just enough for Hunter to take control again

Show us a complex character who suffers but doesn't fully realise it, and show us brothers mourning yet hoping to get the family back again you know?

- the way Echo is treated by the Batchers. And as much as it saddens me, they do him dirty in the show.

Echo is a war veteran, an ex- prisoner and a disabled character. He went through a lot; first he lost the Domino squad, then he lost brothers on Kamino (including 99 who was close to his squad), then the Citadel happened and he lost both his legs, an arm, his freedom, his brothers and probably any hope to be saved.

Then they found him in that freezer, and he probably realised that, if Fives wasn't here to save him, it meant he lost him too.

Then he left Rex to go with a team of 4 because he probably didn't feel like he belonged with "regs" anymore; he chose strangers over brothers because he thought he couldn't find his place there. Which in itself is sad and problematic.

And now he's with the Batchers, and they don't seem to grasp the importance of his trauma. I mean; they always had the 4 of them and never lost a brother (apart from Cross; which is another wasted potential here because they could have exploited that trauma and made a parallel with Echo being so used to losing brothers and them experiencing it for the first time on such a personal level you know) and they do some crappy stuff to him.

Selling him as a droid? Not cool.

Brushing off his trauma for a mission and some credits? Not. Cool.

And Echo can't say anything because he chose them, and now he has nowhere to go anyway because Order 66 happened; and he probably doesn't want to be a burden to Rex, and he probably doesn't want to abandon his brothers especially now that Cross is gone and they have a child to take care of

But yeah there are a lot of things happening - or NOT happening - around Echo and his trauma and his disability that are wrong and people are right to talk about it

Here is a post I read and I agree with it

- Overall, the way the show and the characters are handled; they often feel very stereotyped/ cliché and the basic plot doesn't really help for character development or improvement

I read a post about it and it was really interesting; they linked the whitewashing of the characters with their abilities/enhencement

Tech and Crosshair are the smartest and the whitest in the group (which is bad)

Wrecker is portrayed as the Bid Dummie™ and he's the one with the "darker" skin and the features closest to Temuera/ Maōri features (also very bad)

Hunter is straight up a Rambo with a face tattoo, and Echo - and you guys know I love him - is whiter than a sheet of paper (all so bad)

Not only this, but there is no improvement in their personality or thinking

They don't seem to evolve, and just like their mission, they end up playing the same song over and over again

Hunter is the broody soldier and though people enjoy talking to him as a Dad (count me in) but he's not a good dad for Omega (he calls her soldier and is always acting awkward and uncomfortable around her)

Wrecker could be a better dad for her; but again they display him as a big dummie and give the impression he couldn't take well care of her

Tech is here to be the smart one, we only see him when they need someone to do the smart speaking and the complicated computer things

Echo is the grumpy reg, the "more droid than man" and sometimes the Mom™ but they never show him talking about the Empire or the trauma or how the I am not Freaking Out™ I did came back for this Shit™ he's just here to... Be here and be grumpy and bring the oldest clone wars fans to watch TBB

And Crosshair is almost non-existent.

Here is another post about it

What could it be then?

So either Dave is pulling a Ahsoka on us; but he'll still have a lot of things to correct and explanations to give because I can excuse a bad plot but I draw the line at blatant racism ans ableism (especially when they KNOW the fans and they KNOW what people want and they KNOW it would probably bring more people to enjoy and get invested in the show)

- If he's doing this, he will probably work with the animator to correct the whitewashing (because it really is the only really wrong thing in the animation, the rest of it is quite good to be honest like the light, framing and all)

- Understand that Tbb and Mandalorian are two different shows and cannot be treated the sale way; so he'll get back to the main plot and hopefully work on Crosshair's arc and hos his absence/ him being controlled by the chip affects him/ the Batchers/ their relation

- He'll probably work more on displaying the effect of their trauma; collective and personal, and see how it reflects on their relations (and give Echo the healing he deserves)

- By extension, give the characters more depth and complexity, dig their stereotypical surface and reveal their true nature (show me a ruthless yet easily overwhelmed Hunter; a smart but constantly anxious Tech, a very emotional Wrecker playing the big explosive dummie to protect himself, etc.)

Well, that's what I would do

Or he's just... Doing this and not planning any changes; in which case I'll probably do what I did with SPN s15: stop watching, scroll through tumblr to get some infos and gifs and tell everyone about how dirty they did the characters, and they did us.

But I really hope he's hearing us and taking our remarks into account; the show in itself had a lot of potential and I'm still hanging on the thin hope that the ending could "save it"; but I also have no expectations and am in fact waiting for a disappointing ending

On a brighter note, I'm glad the fandom exists because I see artists and writers and gif-makers and theorists and all kind of people creating and sharing their own content, headcanons, art, writing and they all feel right and better than the canon

Like yes, give me a in-character dark skinned clone who deals with his trauma and the sudden changes around him in a realistic way

Tell me about the real effects of the war on soldiers, and the truth behind the corrupted government taking over the galaxy, and the efforts everyone has to make to survive, exist and live together

If Dave and his team cannot do it, I know you guys can and that's why I'm glad to be here too; you give me hope when they fail to do so 💙

I hope I like... Answered this correctly? 😂 I got carried away but yeah, though I'm usually not vocal about it and try to enjoy it with my Dummie Energy™ I still see and read about what you all think, and usually I agree with you; the show deserved better and we deserved better

Now back to ignoring the canon and writing a fic about my very much alive and beloved Fives 🥰

#star wars #the bad batch #tbb #mesa shitposts #mesa answers #namesmox 💗#thank you for your ask!#it's a long rent #but I'm glad I did it #if you feel like I said something incorrect please do tell me #I am still learning #and I want to educate myself about these matters because it's important #echo #crosshair #tech #hunter #wrecker #omega #personal opinion

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no2da · 3 years

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for a long while i used to blame being on tumblr in my teens for the intense shame i felt for liking literally anything. i got over that now but i also think it wasnt tumblrs fault entirely. first, my mom jokingly mocking everything i ever showed interest in cause thats her weird way of trying to be funny and relatable. and second. scene kids.

seeing scene kids mock eahc other for being posers for liking bands not hardcore and obscure enough really did a number on me. like. it even got progressively worse as i got further into the scene? at first you were a poser for liking MCR and Fall Out Boy cause theyre pop punk not emo!!!! and then you became a poser for liking BMTH or Escape the Fate cause their newer albums got too mainstream!!!! and then you somehow ended up only listening to bands with no more than 20 followers on myspace and listed them all like some proof you werent a poser on your profile.

conclusion. peer pressure is a weird fucking thing and im glad im over it

anyways were that thought came from is that i always kinda go back to listening to my old favs except that crappy shit i used to listen to in my emo phase. there are like two bands i still like and the rest i kinda only listened to to prove my non-poserness

#and that though connected to guilty pleasures #cause now im listening to uehara bin again #and theres so many many war songs #about loving japan and his comrades lol #and i know it sucks but im vibing #put that on my call out post if i ever get one #but yeah. only calling actually guilty things guilty pleasures now #i am not calling having the hots for psychotic anime man a guilty pleasure #dont mind me

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danwhobrowses · 3 years

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AEW - Best and Worst Booking Decisions from Double or Nothing 2020 to 2021

As I promised back in my WWE Post Reviewing the Booking of Mania 35-36 it is time for me to run down AEW's booking over the last year.

Double or Nothing 2020 was AEW's first PPV of the Empty Arena Era, which they pulled off with the inaugural TNT champion being Cody'd, Brian Cage's debut and murder of Darby Allin, Hikaru Shida began her mammoth title reign, Moxley and Brodie Lee put on a fantastic show with their short build and we finished off with the wacky Stadium Stampede. But since then, it's had some ups and downs.

As I said with the WWE one, these are my opinions: some of which will act within hindsight rather than within the moment.

There will also be spoilers from the Dynamite after DoN 2020 to the end of DoN 2021, you have been warned

May 2020 Best - FTR They told us one day they would wrestle the Bucks and the world shall rejoice, and after several teases on BTE following The Revival's release from the E, FTR arrived and the division got even more stacked because of it.

Worst - Mike Tyson loses to his shirt AEW did try with Tyson, pushing for some shared history with Jericho as they began to stand off with one another. But his struggle to cleanly tear off his shirt really made the confrontation awkward and it wouldn't go anywhere.

Best - Baker becomes the Roll Model Baker's injury was a huge blow given how she was finally getting over thanks to her heel turn and bloody battle with Shida. It would've very easily killed her momentum to be off TV, but AEW instead played into Baker's injury by making her flaunt her heelish hilarity, starting with her being a wheelchair-riding 'roll model', this would begin Baker's time entertaining in spite of injury.

Worst - Allie and QT begin What was this huh? Now Allie in a red dress was a sight to behold but the whole romance angle where a very married Allie had a brief period as a babyface and pairing with the also very married QT Marshall. We all knew it was gonna lead to Butcher and Blade jumping the Natural Nightmares, but it really overstayed its welcome.

Best - The TNT Open Challenge We will get more on this but Cody's win of the TNT title was met with concern given the monster push of Lance Archer - not to mention the dismal design of the championship itself. But Cody did his best to add prestige via the weekly Open Challenge, which would showcase a lot of talent in a similar way to Cena's US title Open Challenge.

June 2020 Best - Brodie goes on the Recruitment Prowl Being the leader of the Dark Order, Mr. Brodie Lee needed a new direction after being felled by Jon Moxley. What he decided was to add to his ranks; bringing in Dark Standout Alan Angels, enticing Colt Cabana and extending a hand to Anna Jay. These choices bolstered the Dark Order's ranks to last much longer, especially with their segments in BTE showing all their comedic flair.

Worst - Sammy Guevara eats his words The Speaking Out movement affected AEW just as it did most of wrestling, leading to the release of Jimmy Havoc. But Sammy Guevara also got done in by his egregiously vulgar comments he made regarding his attraction WWE's Sasha Banks in an old interview that had now surfaced. While this isn't a booking decision per se, it was the fault of AEW to have not caught this on their background check. Sammy would rightfully be suspended with a full apology, seminars taken and a direct conversation with Banks herself to make amends.

Best - Red Velvet stirs in Red Velvet would debut on Dark in June, showcasing talent which would later be enhanced and explored later in the year, adding Red Velvet did indeed bolster the women's division a bit more, showing AEW's dedication towards building new stars was still alive.

Best - Wardlow vs Luchasaurus rocks the house Lumberjack matches are more miss than hit, but the long-awaited match between Wardlow and Luchasaurus was a sleeper hit for the month. Big time spots of athletic hosses slapping meat and flipping feet continued to showcase Wardlow's dominance with a big win over the Dino-man, just a good wrestling match worth the wait.

July 2020

Best - Open Challenge Opens Doors Cody's open challenges started with the AEW roster, but they soon expanded to being for indy talent and cross-promotional challengers too: Enter Eddie Kingston. The Mad King made an instant impact in his hardcore challenge against Cody, which quickly earned him a contract with the company. Also among the challengers was Ricky Starks - who would also get a contract - and Warhorse, who had rallied the fans into giving him a shot - and AEW did play into his popularity, having an answer for a lot of Cody's offense until he hurt his leg for the finish. It was smart booking even if Cody was bound to win.

Worst - Cardona's time is Radio Silence You gotta feel bad for Matt Cardona, he has all the makings to be a great star, but he just suffers from either company disinterest, injury or poor timing. The latter was the case for his AEW time, since AEW were having to deal with WWE's COVID outbreak by extension of any partners, Cardona only had a rare appearance backing up Cody a few times and while he did find himself in Impact, it's sadly not as green as the other side.

Best - Sue is Over The Best Friends as babyfaces walk the line perfectly of being a group of goofball man-children but also legitimate and talented wrestlers. The cherry on the top though was the Friends' entrance to Fyter Fest in Trent's mom Sue's mini-van for their tag title match, immediately getting Sue over with fans. Sue would also be a cult figure for BTE in her skits with the Dark Order, being the only person ever to make Brodie Lee break character and corpse.

Worst - Cody cannot elevate Hager Cody's defenses led to Hager (and his wife) looking for a title match, the sale of it being a more legitimate bout with the weigh in and packages didn't pull off in the match though, being quite slow and simplistic. Hager still remains a wrestler who lacks any more potential than what he has now but knows the right people.

Best - Taz promos around Mox's COVID absence Due to the aforementioned outbreak, AEW were forced to reschedule their main event when Renee Young had contracted the virus, exposing their world champion Jon Moxley by extension. This meant that Brian Cage would have to wait longer for their match (though not as long as UK fans are waiting for AEW to come overseas), so AEW decided to let Taz carry them over this predicament, which he did marvelously by reviving his FTW title and handing it to Cage. It added some extra heat and something for Cage to carry around as if he had won the personal victory over Moxley already, and it would lead us into the following week's rescheduled Main Event at Fight for the Fallen.

August 2020 Best - Brodie Destroys Cody After a lot of defenses and Cody getting the 'finished product' TNT title, fans wondered how Cody's defense against Mr. Brodie Lee would go. And boy did we get a spectacle, the Exalted One demolished Cody, Anna Jay then choked out Brandi as the rest of the Dark Order held the Nightmare Family at bay, and we were left with the visual of Brodie on top and Cody and Brandi at their feet, covered in the shredded remains of the old TNT title that Cody had reigned with. It was great storytelling and a great way to elevate Brodie as well as finally putting the Dark Order over, the stable rode the highest they had been since their debut while Cody disappeared to film for the Go Big Show.

Worst - Bea and Sadie get released, Mel stays AEW did their best to keep as many people they could during the Pandemic, but due to the travel restrictions Bea Priestley was very much land locked and Sadie Gibbs was not getting a second chance at her botched debut. It was a shame because of how talented both women were, Bea especially since rumor has it she might be en route to the E. What was baffling was that Mel, of the failed Nightmare Collective, remains on AEW's payroll despite not having appeared for over a year, hard to add that up.

Best - Thunder Rosa makes her challenge Before the Forbidden Door, NWA opened their doors to AEW while the pandemic prevented them from filming shows. With champion Hikaru Shida lacking a built-up challenger, fans were interested in Thunder Rosa's intrigue about Shida's challenge, and would be pleased to see AEW roll with it too. Rosa and Shida made for a great cross-promotional feud which'd lead to a great match in the following month. To this very day, Thunder Rosa's appearance on AEW is one of the brand's most vital steps in terms of strengthening their women's division.

Worst - The Deadly Draw is on Youtube Speaking of the Women's Division, AEW had also decided to have an all-women's tournament called the Deadly Draw. 'Random' tag teams would be forged in a tag tournament that'd give women some time to show their stuff. Unfortunately, this would mostly be on Youtube - save for the Finals - and be dominated by Fans' disdain that Allie and Brandi were making the finals. The method of picking was not handled well since we didn't really get any mismatch teams aside from Nyla, and the amount of women we got were not all spectacular with Rache Chanel and the former Cameron being a part of it. While Ivelisse and Diamante would win too they only got some crappy medals, all of which leaves a bitter taste following Ivelisse's release.

Best - Deadly Draw gives us Conti, Diamante and Savoy That being said, the Deadly Draw had its saving graces. For one the use of Veda Scott on commentary, Madusa as the host and Shaul Guerrero as the announcer were nice touches, we also got to see Tay Conti, Diamante, Ivelisse and Nicole Savoy wrestle - the middle two win. Conti would turn out to be the most important of the lot with her team and friendship with Dark Order's Anna Jay, getting over because of their chemistry and making it to the semi-finals.

Worst - Conti to Dark Order doesn't develop Conti and Anna's friendship meant that soon after, Jay had extended an offer for her friend to join the stable. For weeks we saw Conti carry around this invitation but then: nothing. Conti never joined Dark Order and this didn't beget any friction between the friends either - in the end it became a missed opportunity as Conti dances on the edge of being supported by the Dark Order but not a part of the Dark Order.

Best - Jericho and Cassidy Debate With Mike Tyson unable to appear more to feud with Jericho, AEW slotted over-as-fuck Orange Cassidy to face Jericho. While Jericho got the win in the first match, we were graced with a fun 'debate' hosted by Schiavone and with a guest appearance of Eric Bischoff. Cassidy's monologue during the debate was great too.

Worst - Cassidy's first win over Jericho isn't as big as it should be Unfortunately, when Cassidy did get the win over Jericho was not as good as the first, getting clunky at times with some miscommunication and slow pacing. They would have their rubber match in the gimmicky Mimosa Mayhem which would also be a bit of a mixed bag.

Best - Hardy and the Mad King Squad Up Despite solid starts, Private Party, Lucha Bros and Butcher & the Blade had struggled a little to find success in AEW, but they would gain some benefit by associating with Matt Hardy and Eddie Kingston. Hardy worked well as a mentor to the similar styled tag team to his younger years, while Kingston's evil grin to the camera did signal that Kingston's new squad would be up to no good.

Best - Moxley and Allin make another classic Allin and Moxley somehow just click, they click so well that you could put them in a match every week and people wouldn't complain, hell there's fanart of Moxley essentially adopting Allin in the same vein as Shota 'Shooter' Umino. Anyway, Allin vs Moxley is always fantastic, and it made sense for the feud that was growing.

Best - You're Out of the Elite! Hangman's slow burn storytelling has been sublime, and it was at a new height when FTR started sniffing around Hangman like lions around a wounded gazelle. Feeding into Hangman's alcoholism - established since his inability to beat Jericho or PAC in his hunt to be world champion - FTR exposed doubt within Page that the Bucks were ousting him out and would soon turn on him. All of which were mind games to sow discontent between him and Omega in their bid for the tag titles. The cherry on the top came with Hangman's removal from the Elite, after a stellar feud in Revolution being brought up, Hangman impulsively screwed out the Bucks from getting another title match, after a dressing down and being kicked out of the group we pan to a shot of Hangman staring into a mirror cracked - perfect storytelling.

Best - MJF campaigns against Moxley MJF had been undefeated and fans have wondered when rather than if he would get his shot. And when he set his eyes on Moxley it is spectacular. The faux presidential campaign was right up MJF's alley as he looked to write out Moxley's go-to finish of the Paradigm Shift, this also had great easter eggs like MJF emulating Samoa Joe's shove on him to one of his entourage, as well as his lawyer Sterling being a good addition for the feud.

September 2020 Best - Allin/Starks, Johnson/Carter are bangers September came out with some very impressive matches, for Dynamite it was the culmination of Allin and Starks' feuding but on Dark we got unsigned Lee Johnson and Ben Carter blow the roof off, immediately both names were a topic of scouting and it remains a top level match.

Worst - Billy Mitchell's cameo Early into Miro's debut we got some vignettes of 'The Best Man' enjoying his other past-time as a gamer. While this wasn't the right way to go in hindsight, the cameo of Billy Mitchell - a controversial figure in Arcade Gaming - was quite out of place for AEW as well, many having to look up who the dude was anyway and why many gamers were disgruntled about it. 'Celebrity' Cameos can only really work if you know who they are.

Best - Kingston stories a weird finish into a Title Match It would've been a Worst moment on this list when Eddie Kingston lost a battle royale for a title shot by being pushed off the turnbuckle despite leaving to the apron via the middle rope. However, when winner Archer came down with COVID, AEW was put in a reverse Fyter Fest scenario, a champion but no opponent. This allowed Kingston an in to use the fact that he never technically went over the top rope to barter a title match, which he used to impressive effect.

Worst - Sydal Slips The Shooting Star Press is a difficult move to pull off, and dangerous to botch. It had also been the staple of Matt Sydal, who was the Joker in the Casino Battle Royale of All Out, but when he did his Shooting Star he slipped and faceplanted. While it's not a booking decision it is a sore spot, Sydal has partly recovered as a full time worker and a mini-feud with Nakazawa to save face on the botch, but he has only once tried the move again.

Best - Will Hobbs impresses When Sydal botched and hit the floor though, Will Hobbs was the one you saw roll over inconspicuously to check he wasn't hurt. The youngster had already been impressing on AEW Dark on a regular basis and his appearance alone in the Battle Royale was an encouraging sign. Hobbs would also put on a strong performance in that match, which would lean in on being more utilized on Dynamite, his momentum would also carry to Double or Nothing with another strong run in a Battle Royale mostly pitted against Christian Cage.

Worst - The Matt Hardy incident Perhaps the lowest point of All Out was the Broken Rules Match. Hardy and Sydal had overshot their spear spot from a forklift to a table and Hardy hit his head hard. Hardy wobbled with signs of concussion as the match to and fro'd about being called off, Hardy though was having none of it - since the stipulation would have him retire had he lost - he would continue for a scaffolding spot for the finish but it did put a lot of heat on Guevara and AEW for allowing the match to continue. Matt would make a recovery and have a cinematic match with Sammy to finish the tainted feud, but from there BROKEN Matt Hardy was seldom seen.

Best - Deeb arrives Serena Deeb is one of the most technically gifted women on wrestling. Someone so grossly underutilized by WWE that it's baffling that the best thing they would do with her on the main roster is shave her head for the admittedly great Straight Edge Society but then release her for not keeping up kayfabe in her personal life. This was the month though that the current NWA Women's Champion debuted on AEW Dark and would later get signed, Deeb adds veteran experience and technical mastery to AEW's women's roster and she is a cert to be AEW Women's Champion someday.

Worst - Fans fight Tooth and Nail but Swole/Baker doesn't deliver Despite Britt Baker's rise to superstardom, her return feud with Big Swole became a bit of a mishit. The build was fine with Swole often getting the better of the wheelchair-bound Baker, so for Baker's return AEW had set a cinematic match in her dentist's office. The match was placed on the Buy-In, which pissed a lot of fans off and had them strong-arm Khan into putting it as the opener, and it didn't pay off. The match was par at best, ending with Baker losing as well, while the quickly-put-together match of Private Party vs Silver & Reynolds shone brightly on the Buy In in the spot this match should've taken. Listening to fans is of course good but AEW had the hindsight to judge whether the match was worth it in the eyes of the fans and they picked wrong.

Best - Parking Lot Brawl But for every par match AEW has they always sneak in a blinder, and it was Best Friends' 5-Star Parking Lot Brawl against Santana & Ortiz that pulled it off. With Orange Cassidy coming out of the boot of the car, Santana & Ortiz's Dead Presidents' appearance and Sue getting a brand new minivan and flipping off the Inner Circle duo at the end, the match was a fantastic closer for the night.

October 2020 Best - Brandon Cutler gets the W Brandon Cutler had AEW's longest losing streak, and they loved to ham it up, except Peter Avalon also had AEW's longest losing streak too. They had tried working together but couldn't find the common ground, so when Avalon turned on Cutler we were set for one of these men to get the win. After two no contests due to double count outs and double disqualifications, Cutler and Avalon had a no rules rubber match on Dark and it was great. Cutler got his win in probably AEW Dark's best feud storytelling - though it probably should've been on Dynamite or even the Buy In of the PPV - giving a payoff years in the making.

Worst - Nyla/Shida II is built on Dark Hikaru Shida had gone through the majority of the Women's Roster, so with new manager Vickie Guerrero, Nyla Rose wanted her title back. The problem however was that all of Vickie's calling out of Shida after a Nyla squash was on Dark, so the match was poorly built. You feel bad for Tony Khan because he tried this so more eyes would go on Dark but it was also a reminder that title matches should be built on the Main Show.

Best - MJF and Jericho get musical MJF had decided once again to try and get in with the Inner Circle, only this time he was faring better thanks to his chemistry with Chris Jericho. What we got was Le Dinner Debonair, a pompous, broadway-esque musical scene that fit the larger than life and delusional heel aura of both men's ego. While some people called it 'too goofy', it was also named one of the best TV moments of the year.

Worst - Miro feuds over an Arcade Machine Fans wanted one thing from Miro: the beast, but AEW did not lead with that. Instead they had him feud with Best Friends because they were thrown into an Arcade Machine he was playing. While it's not the level of feuding over shampoo, it was still rather dumb and contrived given how the rest of this weak feud was telegraphed leading up to Kip and Penelope's wedding - despite Miro's attempts to subvert Wrestling Wedding Tropes.

Best - Leyla legitimately impresses In October, 'Legit' Leyla Hirsch came out of nowhere and made the best of her moment. A non-title debut against champion Hikaru Shida on Dark proved an extremely entertaining affair as Hirsch got to showcase her physicality, and then that was followed instantly by a NWA Women's Title shot against Deeb on Dynamite - which she also really impressed in. While it took a while for AEW to announce Leyla as a signing, it was a definite plus to see Olympic qualities in the Women's Division.

Worst - Jericho can't get Luther over When Jericho got a whole Dynamite to celebrate 30 years in the business he had a lot on his plate, several cameos from Slash and Hiroshi Tanahashi made it a special moment but the Main Event didn't work. Luther is sadly another one of those Brutus Beefcake cases of knowing the right people, and while Luther could probably go when he was younger, currently he isn't the best. People wondered if Jericho could carry Luther in his match with Chaos Project but unfortunately it didn't land, Luther after all has his place on the undercard throwing Serpentico around, he doesn't need any more than that.

Best - The Cleaner shows signs of returning After an Anniversary Show meant that Moxley had gone through another opponent in his mammoth title reign, AEW had set up a tournament to name the new Number 1 Contender. At this time as well FTR had already dealt with Hangman and Omega but their post-match embrace was not reciprocated by Omega, who had more or less washed his hands with his partner. The two were in different places, Page had descended further into the bottom of a drink without any of his friends while Kenny had become focused upon being a singles competitor again. Metaphorically winking to the hard cam, Omega would enter in an over the top fashion with cheerleaders of the Jacksonville Jaguars dancing with brooms to hark the slow arrival of the Cleaner. His disgruntled face after squashing Sonny Kiss was also meme quality.

Worst - Brodie's Reign is cut short Brodie Lee's TNT title reign was great, it had put the Dark Order on top and his segments on BTE were extremely entertaining too. An emphatic return of the dark haired Cody Rhodes did invite a rematch which would be a more brutal affair than Cody's prior squashing, but sadly Brodie would not retain. His reign only lasted a month and in hindsight that would be the only time Brodie held gold, while he stated he had no regrets on how short his reign was it was not great booking to put it immediately back on Cody as if Brodie only held it because Cody had another show to record.

Best - Dog Collar Match was great Result notwithstanding though, the Dog Collar match proved as brutal as it was entertaining. Another match that elevated the TNT title's prestige, Lee and Cody tore into each other in a match that could've easily screamed Vince Russo late-WCW failure. But the men pulled it off with their raw talent and nobody looked bad out of it.

November 2020 Best - Kenny vs Hangman I Since AEW's inception, Hangman Page has been on a slow course to squaring off against Kenny Omega. This came to a head in the finals of the No.1 Contendership Tournament, the confident Kenny vs the angsty Page proved an effective opener which further spiralled Hangman into depression while Kenny would return to the top of the card.

Worst - Hornswoggle in a nappy? The Inner Circle's Vegas skit was probably too much, it had some good moments like Hager and Wardlow continually staring at each other as they beat up people in the club, also the appearance of an Elvis Impersonator and Konnan. But the bit finished on a weird note trying to homage The Hangover by having WWE's former Hornswoggle appear in a baby's nappy, it was just weird no ways around it.

Best - Cargill and Top Flight make an impression November saw the debuts of new members of the Women's and Tag Division. The Martin brothers impressed as the new vibrant and athletic tag team, putting on a wild show against The Bucks. Jade Cargill would start AEW by confronting Cody with the tease of one Shaquille O'Neal, but the moment the camera panned to Cargill she had one word printed on her and it was 'Star'. While Top Flight are halved by injury, Cargill has continued to show her growth.

Worst - Shida vs Abadon has a short build When Abadon debuted on AEW Dark she put on an impressive match with then-not-champion Hikaru Shida, the story being that Shida was weirded out by the Living Dead Girl. Since then, Abadon had been undefeated in her sporadic appearances - partly delayed by injury - so she was put on a course to reignite this storyline with Shida. However, they didn't get enough time, only a couple segments of Shida trying to prove herself not scared and an AEW Dark segment when Abadon jumped Shida and hit a Cemetery Drive on her. A decent match would follow, but we could've done a lot more.

Best - Hobbs turns to FTW Will Hobbs had grown more and more impressive with each appearance, put over as well in promo by Jon Moxley too gave him a lot of credit. During Darby's feud with Team Taz, Hobbs had often come to make the save to prevent Darby from being injured, however he did have a habit of arriving a little late. This proved to be intentional when Hobbs turned heel, aligning with Team Taz to learn under the ECW Legend. While Hobbs has yet to taste gold, he has of recent found himself elevated by the feud with Christian Cage and should Brian Cage move away from Team Taz, he would clearly be the top choice to take the FTW belt from him.

Worst - Cody Hogan's his title loss When it was time for Cody to drop the TNT belt again, fans would hope that it would be a similar case of Cody putting someone over red hot like he did Brodie. However, instead Darby defeated Cody with a series of roll ups which Cody kicked out in 3.1, a very Hogan vs Warrior title change with Cody also having to keep the spotlight on him by handing the belt to Darby before Darby's moment was further interrupted by Team Taz's attack.

Best - Darby has gold At the very least, Darby being crowned TNT champion after finally beating Cody was a perfect narrative for the talented and albeit batshit crazy masochist Emo Skater Boy. Darby's reign would also be consistently good and maintain Allin's star aura against opponents of all shapes and sizes.

Best - PAC is BAC Due to COVID, several of AEW's international talents were land-locked and unable to appear, but when the UK's borders loosened slightly The Bastard PAC made an emphatic return to reestablish Death Triangle. This had also come off the heels of Eddie Kingston trying to sway Penta away from his brother and kick Fénix out of his group. PAC's mini-feud with Kingston would remind the world that AEW had some world class talent to put in against Kenny Omega as well as reminding the world that PAC is just amazing as a wrestler.

Best - Bunkhouse match blows the roof off Dustin Rhodes seems to have carved an interesting spot for himself as the 'Obscure Gimmick Match Master'. Currently teasing a Bullrope match with Nick Comoroto, he shone brightly in the culmination of the long-winded QT/Allie storyline which lead to a Bunkhouse Match against the Butcher and the Blade. It had old school qualities with amazing spots that continued a long chain of AEW pulling off impressive gimmick matches even if the feud wasn't as impressive itself.

Best - Mox and Kingston, Feud of the Year 2020 You know what was an impressive feud though? Jon Moxley and Eddie Kingston. Imagine winning feud of the year for something set up in September to November? And most of it was promo, but these were two of the best promo guys in the world, touching on their roots, their former friendship, the lengths either would go and all coming to a head in an I Quit Match. Kingston made you believe every word he said when he declared that he would never quit and he wouldn't stop until he was champion but come the match Moxley proved more resilient than words can be. Getting Feud of the Year is not bad going for what originally started as a one-off title match because Archer got COVID.

December 2020 Best - Brodie Lee Memorial Show Near the end of December the wrestling world was shocked by the death of Brodie Lee, the Exalted One was someone fans really wanted to see be a major world champion someday, but he had tragically succumbed to a Lung condition. At this time too AEW were promoting a 2-part special of New Year's Dash, but delayed the shows a week to put on a memorial show for Brodie. With matches picked by Brodie's eldest son, AEW did perhaps the perfect tribute show, with a perfect blend of clips and tributes paired with matches that honored the Big Rig. Brodie's influence was shown with Silver emulating Brodie's outfit, Eric Redbeard appearing, FTR renaming their Goodnight Express to the Big Rig, and the TNT title being handed to Brodie Lee Jr. - who became AEW's youngest signing - and a special t-shirt being the highest selling t-shirt of 2020, with proceeds going to Brodie's wife, Amanda. Brodie's influence still reigns in AEW as the Dark Order have become somewhat gatekeepers to the TNT title and the quote 'It's [day], and you know what that means' being frequently used or displayed via signs to start off an AEW show.

Worst - Ben Carter slips through their fingers Ben Carter had proven a sensational talent on his AEW showings, quickly having rose to having a match on Dynamite. However, AEW did not get his signature on the dotted line, and the E came a-callin'. The loss of the now-Nathan Frazer was a rough blow for AEW business since it showed that WWE could still outbid them if they wanted someone enough, and AEW made the mistake of not signing him before other companies started sniffing around.

Best - IT'S STIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIING! The 'Winter is Coming' special had many big things happen, but one of the biggest of all was the return of Sting. Instantly Sting's T-Shirt sales broke records in AEW (until the Brodie shirt would break Sting's) as the WCW legend had made his return to TNT in a veil of snow staring down Darby Allin, nostalgia was high on this moment.

Worst - STIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIING does nothing for a month But. There was a problem with Sting's arrival on AEW, he wasn't exactly spry in his 60s and AEW were cautious in wanting him to come back into the ring despite being classed as an active talent. AEW did miss a mark by promoting Sting to just do the same interview over and over, more than once in fact, you gotta do something with Sting to get the fans excited.

Best - Taz chokes out Cody While feuding with Darby, Cody became involved when he dropped the TNT title to Darby and got attacked by Team Taz all the same. When this led to a verbose conflict between Cody and Taz over the legitimacy of the FTW championship, Cody made the mistake of turning his back on Taz after diminishing his philosophy because Taz's son Hook was training under his factory rather than his father. Jake the Snake did warn him not to turn your back on someone you respect, but maybe he should've warned him to not turn your back on a Human Suplex Machine, because Taz immediately put him in the Tazmission - to a huge pop from fans - choking out the younger Rhodes to further personalize their feud.

Worst - Dynamite Diamond Ring doesn't change MJF had used the Dynamite Diamond Ring sporadically as a weapon to cheat in matches, but it anything it was a glorified brass knuckles that had limited prestige. When AEW had the chance to give it new prestige by having it fought over a year after MJF won it, they decided to simply keep it on MJF's pinky finger. As a result we had a battle royale and a match that kinda went nowhere narratively, and AEW should've really just made the ring a one-off or given it to someone else to signify a young up-and-coming talent getting a rub.

Best - The Acclaimed prove they're not all talk Not to be outdone by Top Flight, who they seem destined to have an eternal rivalry with, The Acclaimed put on an impressive showing in their title match with the Bucks too. Max Caster's diss tracks continue to slowly win fans over but this was the moment the Acclaimed turned into a mainstay of AEW's tag division.

Worst - TNT ask for no more surprises While reported months later, fans were alerted that after Sting's debut, TNT had asked AEW to not do any more surprises. Business-wise it made sense since they wanted to promote any big moments on the show for a greater viewership, but Wrestling-wise eliminating the shock factor would be a detriment to the business as a whole. AEW have managed to work their way around such things by promoting 'mystery entrants' or debuting surprise characters between other promoted segments but it is still a questionable decision by TNT to request such a thing.

Best - This is Bear Country Next on the 'XX impress on Dark, get signed up' is the tag team of Bear Country. Different to Top Flight's flippy talent and the Acclaimed's knack for mind games and more technical wrestling was two big hoss men running roughshot War Machine-style, there's not much else you need to sell with that, Bear Country was just good stuff and provided another style AEW's tag division could use.

January 2021 Best - Negative One With Brodie Lee Jr. now signed to AEW, he started to make appearances as Dark Order's new leader 'Negative One'. And instantly, Brodie Jr had become an excellent presence. With great understanding of the business for such a young age, Negative One would delight audiences on Dark and Elevation be it on commentary or simply being the feral prince that often accompanied Preston Vance, Anna Jay and/or Tay Conti. The kid was having the time of his life too.

Worst - TNT title doesn't get revamped enough With the original finished product of the TNT title handed to Brodie Jr, there was an opening to make a new TNT title which learned from the criticisms that the original had. Unfortunately we did not have this, we mostly just got a Black strap. Granted COVID would've been a part of that but given how long Darby's reign was, we could've put work towards giving us a better looking TNT championship.

Best - Dark Order turn face, help the Hangman On BTE Dark Order found their feet with their flair for comedy, one of the segments that began this was Evil Uno's selling of Brodie's throwing of papers, the bit originated from Lee discovering that Hangman had once reached out to the Dark Order website sometime at the beginning of his depression spiral. Because of the rejection, the Dark Order had fostered an animosity against Page with frequent 'Fuck Hangman' chants, and yet Hangman would sporadically appear in their hangout, starting his own 'Fuck Hangman' chant when kicked out of the Elite in a brutal show of Page's self-loathing. From there though the Dark Order had softened to the Anxious Millennial Cowboy and after a face turn they had grown to become AEW's most popular faction and a much-needed friend for Page. While Hangman wouldn't officially join the Dark Order, it definitely proved to be an entertaining chapter in Page's story from an unlikely source.

Worst - Team Taz will jump Darby, but not Sting During their feud, Team Taz were seen to jump Darby Allin whenever they could, didn't matter if he had Cody or Moxley on his side they would still try to get the upper hand on the TNT champion. But now that Sting has arrived, Team Taz decided to stop doing that. As much as it was AEW protecting Sting from bumps, it really diminished Team Taz as well because five men that included Ricky Starks, Powerhouse Hobbs and Brian Cage were scurrying away from a lone 60 year old with a baseball bat.

Best - Bullet Club in AEW Tama Tonga might refute it, but the appearance of Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson in AEW was big, and their arrival to aid Kenny and then to two sweet him with the Bucks was an image definitely worthy of closing the night. From Gallows and Anderson's arrival to AEW led to Impact's doors being opened, which has recently led to Omega being the Belt Collector.

Worst - Callis' feud with the Bucks is gimmicky When Kenny won the AEW World Title at Winter is Coming, he had began a full on chaotic turn with Don Callis as his manager of sorts. The Young Bucks however were still firm babyfaces and were perturbed by Callis' actions that were ousting the Jackson brothers out of Kenny's social circles. Some bits were good, Callis really laying in thick the fact that he felt the Bucks had lost their edge, but the majority of it was a bit too much soap opera for my liking, the fake shiner was probably where it jumped the shark.

Best - Tay Conti shows her improvement against Deeb Tay Conti had grown a lot as a wrestler since her debut, and when set to challenge Serena Deeb for the NWA Women's Championship we had the story of 'Jack of All Trades vs Master of One'. Leaning more into her Judo and martial arts background, Tay Conti showed the wrestling world that she had arrived as a wrestler thanks to the AEW machine. WWE's loss had officially become AEW's gain as Tay Conti continues her rise to perhaps being one of the biggest female stars in the company.

Worst - Archer can't win a feud Having lost to Cody in May and then Moxley on the Anniversary episode, Archer was put in a no-win situation by feuding with Eddie Kingston. Now Kingston is great, but the problem was that both men desperately needed to win a feud for credibility, and Archer was the one who lost. Archer continues to be sold as a monster but also someone who will lose all his major feuds. Suffice to say, more can be done with the Murderhawk Monster.

Best - MJF sows seeds of discontent Having officially gotten in with the Inner Circle, MJF now had Chris Jericho's ear and he was ready to spread his poison. This started with the ousting of Sammy Guevara - Jericho's protege of sorts - before moving on to sowing tension between Jericho and Santana & Ortiz. This would be the beginnings of an excellent swerve by AEW, which we will get to later.

Worst - Santana and Ortiz aren't even the Inner Circle's tag team? Because of MJF's sowing though, we had a weird scenario where the Inner Circle were debating who was their official tag team? Debating between Jericho and MJF the singles competitors, Sammy and Hager the singles competitors or Santana & Ortiz the tag team. In this as well MJF and Jericho won, which was more sowing on MJF's part but it does still leave the worrying sense that AEW's tag division is perhaps too big as Tony Khan waits for the right moment to introduce a Trios title.

Best - Wardlow vs Hager was surprisingly good Another recurring narrative of MJF joining the Inner Circle was Jake Hager and Wardlow staring each other off whenever they could. In order to 'bury the hatchet', Hager challenged the War Dog to a match, and surprisingly this was Hager's best match in an AEW ring so far, big men slapping meat with the right conclusion of Wardlow winning.

Worst - The Waiting Room fades out While Britt Baker was injured but not Wheelchair bound she had started an interview show on Dark called 'The Waiting Room', it had a few flaws here and there but eventually it showed on Dynamite to decent effect. But after that it was gone, which is a shame because it could've easily been a longstanding segment for either of AEW's shows at the time to give some promo segments or interviews to AEW's talent.

Best - Private Party are leeched After working under the wing of 'Big Money' Matt Hardy, Private Party turned heel to compliment Hardy's newfound persona as the Company Leech. The heel turn has somewhat revitalized the once-promising tag team and proved they can play either side, it even got them an Impact Tag Title shot and an impressive match on the PPV.

Worst - Whatever Snoop Dogg was doing Snoop Dogg made an AEW appearance where he was insistent on doing a spot, but it didn't really work - much like it didn't really work when he tried it in WWE. Snoop as a guest wasn't the worst idea in the world and it is good that he's willing to bump on the show, but could does not always mean should.

Best - Jungle Boy and Dax put on a masterclass In the middle of FTR's midcard feud with Jurassic Express - the one that'd involve Marko Stunt being kidnapped - Dax Harwood and Jungle Boy crossed paths in an excellently technical match. The match received high praise that'd further put Jungle Boy over while also giving worthy praise for Harwood's wrestling ability.

Best - Jungle Boy gets some Baltimora While on the subject of Jungle Jack Perry, Tony Khan had decided that he had a library of songs he owned or could own and use as entrance themes for some of AEW's more earmarked talent. This would begin with Jungle Boy, who was given Baltimora's 'Tarzan Boy' per the suggestion of Joey Janela. Immediately Jungle Boy had something the fans could use to rally behind, a chantable song that embraced all that Jungle Boy's character was.

February 2021 Best - JD Drake makes an impression JD Drake does not look like AEW's typical wrestler, but that's the point. On his debut on Dark he surprised many with his great offense and agility, even able to pull off a moonsault. Quickly Drake was signed and becomes the odd one out but also the oft-ignored voice of common sense in the Wingmen faction of prettyboys. He's having a lot of fun with it too and has put on good matches, recently against Rocky Romero.

Worst - Women's Eliminator Tournament partly goes on Youtube The Women's Eliminator Tournament opened up the Women's Division in a big way, but COVID meant that not all of it could be filmed in Jacksonville. So like the Deadly Draw, the tournament had to spend some of its time on Youtube. Now I have no problem with Youtube being used, it's a wider medium that can be accessed at any time, but it did mimic the downsides of the Deadly Draw and alienate the TNT-only audience, especially since Dynamite rarely showed highlights of the tournament progress.

Best - Women's Eliminator Tournament exceeds expectations That is however, the only criticism with hindsight one can give the Eliminator Tournament. Because not only did it give us the return of Riho, Yuka Sakazaki, Ryo Mizunami, Emi Sakura and Aja Kong, but it also graced us with the talented debuts of Maki Itoh, VENY (aka Asuka, who also wore Hana Kimura's robe) and Mei Suruga. In addition Shida provided Japanese commentary for the Joshi matches sporting a strikingly beautiful white suit. The tournament did not have a bad match at all; with VENY vs Sakura, Suruga vs Sakazaki, Sakazaki vs Sakura (which had Sakura perform a fantastic entrance), Serena Deeb vs Riho, Leyla Hirsch vs Thunder Rosa, Riho vs Rosa, Baker vs Nyla, Conti vs Nyla and the finals were all great and unique matches. The non-tournament 6-woman joshi tag match was also excellent and so was the surprise winner of Ryo Mizunami and her title shot against Shida at Revolution.

Best - Moxley brings the IWGP US Championship Jon Moxley may've lost the AEW World Championship, he still had a title on hand he could use: the IWGP US Championship. While NJPW had intended to keep it mainly on NJPW Strong during COVID, New Japan also allowed Moxley to bring his title on rare occasions to AEW, later to the point where he could defend it. It was definite good business and the next thing is why it was such a big deal.

Best - THE FORBIDDEN DOOR OPENS! 'New Japan will not work with AEW' - that was what we were told in the early stages of AEW, but we held out hope. We got more hope when Harold Meij stepped down from NJPW but still the 'Forbidden Door' remained shut, all the way until Beach Break when a hooded figure came up to Jon Moxley, hit a GTS and revealed himself. KENTA, the holder of the IWGP US Championship Briefcase he won in the inaugural New Japan Cup USA tournament. The internet went wild, the forbidden door was open and there was no way fans will let it close again.

March 2021 Best - Sting debuts cinematically Team Taz's feud with Darby came to a head with a Tag Team Street Fight. It was Sting's first AEW match and fans were concerned on how many bumps he could take - memory of his 'career-ending' match with Rollins echoing in the mind. AEW though would not make that mistake, deciding to go cinematic to protect Sting and give him time to recover from any bumps caused - as well as win the match like one HHH refused to do - the match itself was fantastic with Team Taz and Darby fitting in a ton of extreme spots and Brian Cage just flexing all over the place.

Worst - Archer feuds(?) with Sting After said Street Fight though, Sting continued said momentum with: Interviews. Worse yet these interviews started being interrupted by Lance Archer, who wanted to take Sting's TV time from him. This amounted to nothing as well because after Sting put an endorsement on Archer, the Murderhawk Monster would decide not to fight for a spot and come in to save Sting and Darby from time to time. If we were gonna establish this alliance we could've done more with it, sadly AEW keep on following up Sting wrestling with a ton of Sting talking.

Best - The Pinnacle debut MJF's snaking in on the Inner Circle was paying off dividends, but after an unsuccessful challenge for the tag titles, the Inner Circle had announced a 'War Council' to discuss their future. It looked as though MJF was gonna completely oust out Jericho from his own group, but out came Sammy Guevara. Absent since leaving the group, Guevara had unraveled MJF, revealing that the Inner Circle was wise to MJF's plot all along: except they weren't. MJF had played 5 steps ahead of the Inner Circle, because he wasn't trying to steal his faction, he was setting up his own. FTR, Spears, Wardlow and MJF swarmed the Inner Circle for an epic debut which would be known as the Pinnacle.

Worst - Cody beats Penta despite a shoulder injury At this point fans were beginning to wonder how Cody Rhodes would write himself off of TV. His wife Brandi was halfway through pregnancy and the Rhodes had announced a Miz & Mrs-esque reality show too. So when Cody was kayfabing a shoulder injury and pitted against Penta El 0M, fans were hoping that this time Cody could not finagle his way into defeating a charismatic and popular member of the roster who could use the rub and has a history of kayfabe breaking arms, and yet he did. The feud set up ended up being a one-off that harmed Penta more than it did good, he had done the arm breaker but Cody just shrugged it off and won anyway. It was growing all too apparent that clean Cody losses will remain to be few and far between.

Best - Penta Says that Alex is a Great Hype Man There is one saving grace to the Penta/Cody mini feud though and it's that pseudo-Dark Order member, Spanish announcer and interviewer Alex Abrahantes had been paired with Penta as his translator/hype man. Sporting some Rollins-esque outfitting of gloves and jackets, Abrahantes added extra venom to his translations which of course gave Penta a lot more vibrance. Alex as well seems to be having a whale of a time doing so.

Worst - Team Taz Dissension starts, but will pause for 2 months In the aftermath of their Street Fight defeat, Cage had drawn the ire of his Team Taz comrades by showing Sting some respect. This led to some light tension between Cage and the rest of the team, especially Ricky Starks. While this could've worked towards a Cage face turn, the tension fizzled out, only reigniting recently.

Best - Jade, Velvet and Shaq impress at a Crossroads The special episode 'The Crossroads' had been set up to promote a mixed tag match which served as Jade Cargill and Shaq's AEW wrestling debut. Competing against Cody and Red Velvet, the match did put fan minds at ease by keeping Shaq's spots simple but classic, while Velvet and Cargill ran the show in the ring. Shaq took a table bump as well which was cool and the match started Jade's star-level momentum on a high.

Worst - Shaq just, disappears In the aftermath of the table spot Shaq was put on a stretcher and into an ambulance, but when we went backstage to get some comments from Shaq before being sent off we found that the ambulance was empty. A weird thing considering that in a few days Shaq would be back on TNT anyway like that had no continuity, it was a strange decision nonetheless.

Best - Exploding. Barbed Wire. Deathmatch! AEW and their penchant for gimmick matches is an interesting relationship, but the moment this match was announced it had garnered a lot of hype. I mean it's not every day you see an Exploding Barbed Wire Deathmatch, and Kenny and Mox had already tore into each other in Full Gear to the point where they legitimately broke state laws. The match was every bit as brutal as promised, homaging Onita many a time through Mox but also with the wired up baseball bat, 99% of the match was freaking awesome.

Worst - Fizzling. Barbed Wire. Deathmatch. Sadly, that 1% that wasn't would be the final visual of the PPV. Moxley is defeated and the whole ring is gonna blow, Kenny and co have scurried and Mox is handcuffed and KO'd in the middle of the ring. Disregarding the warnings of the Butcher, Blade and Bunny, Eddie Kingston rushes in to help his former friend, past enmity be damned, he cannot free Mox in time and in a narratively pivotal act of self-sacrifice drapes himself over Moxley to take the blow. And all we got was a fizzle, a few sparklers and fireworks would end the night unfulfilled, undoing all the good the match had delivered. It would be AEW's most unsatisfying moment caused by a botched ending that could never be undone.

Best - Mox and Kingston reunite to rule the promos Although they could not take back the botched finish, the storyline still allowed a new dynamic of Moxley and Kingston reuniting as chaotic street brothers eyeing up the Elite for a fight. One King of Promo would be enough but two was just fantastic, you could watch Kingston and Moxley bounce off of each other all day and still remain thoroughly entertained.

Worst - Kingston doesn't get a crack at Kenny It was however a shame that draping your body over your friend to protect him from an intended explosion was not enough to validate a feud between said person and the creator of the explosive device. Kingston looked all but set to try and avenge his friend by facing Kenny, but it would not turn out to be. The closest we got was a jump and a One Winged Angel, which is a shame because Kingston vs Kenny would've been fantastic - but alas, Mox and Kingston jumped over Kenny and just went for the tag teams instead.

Best - AEW support Cezar Bononi and his wife Cezar Bononi was doing fine as part of the Undercard faction of the Wingmen with Pretty Peter Avalon, Ryan Nemeth and JD Drake. Behind the curtain though Bononi's wife Camila was suffering from Leukemia and needed a Bone Marrow transplant, her sister was a match but she was in Brazil so they needed an emergency visa so to do the transplant on time. Thanks to the collective efforts of fans and the continued exposure AEW provided for Bononi, Camila's sister would make it in time and Camila herself got her transplant and seems to be doing well.

Worst - Big Money Matt loses his quarter, but it doesn't go anywhere In the conclusion of the chapter where Matt Hardy tried to leech his way into Hangman Page's profits, Hangman had defeated Hardy in a 'Big Money' match which meant that Page had won all of Hardy's money over the last quarter. This opened an avenue to see what Big Money Matt could be like with No Money, but it amounted to very little. In fact the worst we got from Matt was eating olives, a missed opportunity for sure, we could've even had Matt be hounded by loan sharks and debt collectors but alas, it didn't dent his money in the end, at the very least Hangman got his lawnmower.

Best - Elevation elevates Mizunami, Leyla and Limelight In March, AEW debuted a more canonized version of Dark called Elevation, which'd be used to show off a bit of the undercard and allow more opportunity to climb the rankings. In the first month of Elevation, we were graced with several good matches, usually including one of three Elevation Regulars. The Eliminator Tournament Winner Ryo Mizunami would go on a series of bouts with female talent such as Tesha Price and KiLynn King where she effortlessly fit into the role of AEW's women's division gatekeeper, meaning that whoever beat her would get a solid rub - and Abadon did. When Mizunami returned to Japan, one of the people she felled took over from her duties and that was Leyla Hirsch, Hirsch had teamed successfully with Mizunami a couple of times as well and has effectively used her spot to get some wins in. On the men's side, NJPW Strong regular Danny Limelight was given his namesake with some high profile matches including Jungle Boy, Frankie Kazarian and Dark Order's 10, not to mention Takeshita, Omega, Kingston and Moxley in later months, the Team Filthy member definitely taking the show's name to heart.

Best - Cassidy wonders where his mind is Not long after Jungle Boy had obtained Baltimora, plans had been made to give Orange Cassidy a new theme too. The pick was an inspired one with The Pixies' 'Where is My Mind?' - which many would be familiar with as the ending song to Fight Club - the song suited Cassidy really well, and after positive testing on Dark it was used for the next Dynamite to close off the night.

Best - Arcade Anarchy delivers in spite of a weak feud It should probably be a word of caution to not face the Best Friends in a gimmick match in AEW, because they hit a new gear whenever they do. The feud with Miro and Kip was poor, and fans were more than happy for it to end on the PPV when Miro got his win, but AEW insisted on one more match: Arcade Anarchy - agreed to by Kip. In spite of fears this match ruled: Trent's return with Sue was great, Kris Statlander's return was a huge surprise, it took all 3 Best Friends to keep Miro down and we finished the night with Where is My Mind playing us off. Despite the weak feud, AEW had finished strongly which made reheating Miro a lot easier.

Best - Tully Blanchard wrestles in 2021 The culmination of Jurassic Express vs FTR came in the Crossroads in a 6-Man tag match. Made extra bonkers because Tully Blanchard was FTR's third man in the match. They of course limited his spots and a Shawn Spears return would prove the difference, but it's an entertainingly ridiculous thing that Tully Blanchard both wrestled in 2021 and won: wrestling is just crazy.

Best - Final 4 of Casino Tag Royale put on a Show AEW have played around with the 'Casino' concept for a few stipulations; regular battle royale for men and women, ladder match, and then tag royale. This royale finished strongly though with the final 4; John Silver, Fénix, PAC and Jungle Boy. Four absolutely over stars brawling out in mini-matches that left fans salivating for more, after Silver and PAC were eliminated Fénix and JB put on an absolute treat of a finale, which ended with Fénix getting the win for Death Triangle to face the Bucks.

Best - Silver earns Sting's respect with a Dislocated Shoulder John Silver was voted by Dark Order to take Darby Allin's open challenge for the TNT title - offered because it was the anniversary of Brodie's debut. Silver vs Allin became a great match, made even more impressive since Silver dislocated his shoulder early in the match and kept going. While Silver couldn't bring the title home to the Dark Order, he got a show of respect from Sting - which in turn would lead to the Dark Order coming to Darby and Sting's aid at times.

Best - Maki Itoh breaks America Fans of TJPW or twitter's tdegifs were very familiar with the charismatic foul-mouthed hard-headed former idol Maki Itoh, and seeing her in the Women's Eliminator tournament paid dividends despite her first round elimination. Itoh's popularity skyrocketed, she had an It factor which pissed off Jim Cornette for extra adulation, and come Revolution's Buy-In, Maki Itoh had arrived in Jacksonville for one of the biggest pops of the night. Itoh proved charming and entertaining even though she was aligned with the heels, to the point where she even main evented the inaugural Elevation against Riho. Sadly Itoh would have to return to Japan and unsuccessfully challenge for Rika Tatsumi's TJPW Princess of Princess Championship (her tag partner/former longstanding rival/sauce boss/Pink Striker Miyu Yamashita would however win), have her twitter hacked and set up a new division of her faction 'Saitama Itoh Respect Army 2021' with Yuki Kamifuku and Marika Kobashi, but she had made her mark and then some, the world was a simp for Maki Itoh, and she allowed it because she needed the monies.

Best - Rosa/Baker break the ceiling Itoh vs Riho wasn't the only cross-promotional women's main event AEW gave us, because 2 days later on St. Patrick's Day Smash, Britt Baker and Thunder Rosa's unsanctioned match would deliver on one of the highest rated matches in modern women's wrestling. A bloody and fantastic affair instantly rose Baker and Rosa's stakes in a fitting end to their rivalry, but one that also didn't cost Baker any standing because it technically 'didn't count'. It remains to this day AEW's best match in the women's division.

April 2021 Best - Miro ditches Kip After months of hanging with Kip Sabian and Penelope Ford, Miro had become fed up with Superbad. The acceptance against his wishes to fight the Arcade Anarchy proved the last straw as Miro set his focus on capturing any and every title within his reach, with or without Kip. After a few weeks of not seeing Sabian, Miro attacked him, writing Sabian out of action with a legitimate wrist injury while Ford was dealing with an allergic reaction to her eyelashes, with Kip gone Miro could finally be who we were waiting for: at freaking last.

Worst - Interference finishes beget questions of Faction Bloat Although not as bad as WWE, many matches on AEW seemed to end one way or another with factions fighting one another, clean finish or not. This did of course grind on fans and cause questions to arise that perhaps there are too many factions in AEW, they have a point, though easily fixable without splitting any factions up.

Best - Bucks descend to heeldom Don Callis had been a thorn in the Bucks' side for a while, but his words had got in their head, they were indeed the most successful when they were cocky assholes. Although they did save Moxley from being swarmed one time, the six-man tag proved too much for them: they didn't want to see the feral Moxley take out their old and storied friend and so they chose Kenny over morality. No longer annoyed by Callis, the Bucks became absolute shiteating heels again, which benefits the climate of the tag division.

Best - Jade is elevated by being sought out While Jade Cargill would only sporadically appear for squashes, AEW have done well to slow burn her star power by having managers try to get her as a client. It's simple storytelling but effective, because people want Jade it means that Jade is desirable and that makes her more important as a talent.

Best - Baker DeManDs her title shot Because the Unsanctioned Match 'didn't count' Britt Baker had carried the acclaim of that match even in defeat. Baker had stopped dossing around too, legitimately rising up the ranks to the Number 1 spot like a looming shadow to have her crack at Shida's title. It could've been easy to give her a shot by virtue of her performance but AEW did it right - and gave Tay Conti her shot in the process - which made Baker much more valued in her title hunt.

Best - Cage upsets the Hangman At the Number 1 Spot, Hangman Page looked like he was on course to fight Kenny Omega, but when asked about this prospect Page dodged the subject entirely. The thought though would weigh on his mind in his match against Cage, where he was practically squashed in an upset fashion, it was a surprising plot twist and delays Page's clash with Kenny while also adds to Cage's reputation.

May 2021 Best - Varsity Blonds add some Hart The Varsity Blonds had done well considering that they started as being an undercard pair-up and grew into a talented young combo homaging Brian Pillman and Steve Austin's team of the Hollywood Blonds. But adding Nightmare Factory upstart Julia Hart just added the missing piece for the blonds, as a trio they look the part, and their rise feels earned as they put on a great showing against the Bucks.

Worst - QT loses to Cody after all that Cody's Ace Problem had transitioned to the point where QT Marshall was picked to turn on him next, collecting a small portion of the Nightmare Factory who felt that the students were secondary to Cody's ego. When it came to the exhibition Cody won by DQ, but got assaulted by the Factory, so when they had a proper match we had a choice: elevate this new faction or have their leader lose, guess which they chose? QT tapped out to the Figure Four and Cody prevailed.

Best - SCU put it on the line For several months, SCU had put a challenge on themselves that if they lost in tag competition (not singles or battle royales) they would split up. It had worked well because they were undefeated since, but being at the top of the rankings with a heel Young Bucks signalled the inevitable clash between the two teams. The question would be could the Bucks really end the team they welcomed to AEW on Day 1, their friends, the first World Tag Champions of their company, and the answer was yes. A bloodied affair of near falls and the Bucks hamming up any emotional bonds they once had led to a fantastic match that has put a tragic end to SCU.

Worst - SCU's embrace is cut short But immediately after that we cut to Mox and Eddie trashing their locker room. AEW would return to show SCU's final embrace but a 'previously on' is not as effective as seeing it when the wound is fresh, it was the end of a partnership that had spanned a decade, all the way back to Fortune, Bad Influence and then The Addiction, it deserved the time to linger.

Best - Blood and Guts! Last year it was planned that the Elite would face the Inner Circle in a WarGames-esque match called Blood and Guts. But COVID had prevented this, so we changed to Stadium Stampede. With the Inner Circle feuding with the newfly formed Pinnacle, AEW made the right call in bringing Blood and Guts back a year later to clash the two factions against one another. And it truly did live up to its names, a brutish match which cemented the Pinnacle as one of AEW's top factions.

Worst - Blood and Guts (nor Stadium Stampede II) doesn't finish the feud Big gimmick matches like these should be feud enders, but AEW wanted to put the two factions at odds again. With the threat of disbanding, the Inner Circle got a rematch for Double or Nothing for Stadium Stampede and while it wasn't bad fans did feel that the feud should've ended at Blood and Guts. In addition, Stadium Stampede wouldn't even finish their beef as they look to divide into 3 mini-feuds again.

Best - Miro crushes Darby Without Kip, Miro was a monster and he immediately went for gold. A perfect usurper for Darby Allin's TNT title reign, Miro destroyed the fearless and near-indestructible daredevil - who was protected from the squash because Ethan Page and Scorpio Sky had thrown him down some stairs last week - his look over to Sting as they both accepted that they were likely losing this match was a great moment between Miro's destructive force. And as TNT champion Miro is great, his thanking of God for various things are both charming and hilarious but he also manages to pair it with psychotic menace, long may the Best Man reign.

Worst - Cody's American Dream wins over Ogogo's valid points After submitting QT in his match, Cody's celebrations were cut off by Anthony Ogogo, the Olympic Bronze Medallist and former Boxer in QT's Factory, who KO'd Cody and covered him with the UK flag. A feud with Ogogo could've been the saving face moment for the Factory but instead Cody opted to zone in on the flag thing. Painting Ogogo as the 'Anti-American Foreign Heel' did not sit well for anyone who wasn't an uber-American 'Patriot' since the concept was heavily outdated, in addition Ogogo was making real valid points about why he disliked America: pointing out the gross flaws in the country's healthcare system and Cody would reply with how his pregnant wife and unborn daughter were black, choking up his words to garner sympathy. This all falls flat given how Ogogo is also black and never once implied that Cody was a racist. With the chance to put over the Factory with a charismatic young competitor, Cody instead decided to win without even using a finisher - because it was Memorial Day Weekend and America always wins, at this point the Factory remain pretty tainted now since Cody has beaten every member he's faced (and Dustin beat the other one). Saying things worked out on 'Focus Groups' didn't help Cody's defense as to why the feud went the way it did either, it was an outdated narrative with a result that all but screws over the Factory.

Best - The Forbidden Door opens again While none have risen the heights of KENTA's shocking arrival, the Forbidden Door did remain open for some more appearances from NJPW's personnel. Yuji Nagata made a big return to TNT to fight Moxley for the IWGP US Championship but also Ren Narita and Rocky Romero made appearances, the latter having a mini Roppongi Vice reunion with Trent. AEW had also extended the forbidden door to DDT with Konosuke Takeshita impressing on AEW's first house show and on Elevation, and recently a Joker Card appearance for Lio Rush.

Best - Shida gets recognized, and a revamped title After a year of holding the AEW Women's Championship Hikaru Shida had been the subject of criticism from neckbeards acting like she was the 'female Brock Lesnar'. Some were annoyed that Shida's title reign had lasted so long and were blind to the fact that this was clearly intended so Baker could win in front of a crowd. The Dynamite before Double or Nothing though AEW did right by recognizing Shida's work ethic and title reign and by presenting her with a new and larger Women's Championship. While people may complain that they could've unveiled this new title at the PPV I felt it was right to at least let Shida enter the PPV with this title considering how long she had held the Women's Division down. Some poor builds aside, Shida had carried the division with strong matches and worked behind the scenes as well for improving the division, as well as producing the Women's Eliminator Tournament. In this house we do not disrespect Hikaru Shida.

Best - Double or Nothing 2021 And we end on the crescendo, and what a crescendo. The full-time return of fans were graced with an excellently feel-good PPV - aside from Cody beating Ogogo - which had all the competitors perform at a high level. Starting hot, giving Jungle Boy a big unexpected win, Mark Henry debuting and topping it off with Stadium Stampede signed off a big and entertaining year for AEW and closing off with the returning crowd chanting Judas: masterful chef kiss level idea.

The aftermath of DoN while mentioned will probably not be touched on next year because damn were these posts long, but at the very least I did it for WWE and AEW as I said I would. Let's hope that both companies can rise to higher heights and avoid lower lows in the next year when we retread these ppvs again.

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animegenork · 4 years

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Fruits Basket Season 2, Episode 16

Okay, so I know I express my love for just about every Sohma every single week, but I must stress how much I love Momiji. Rabbits are my favorite animal, and he is the Rabbit and every time there’s an episode like this for him I end up crying.

So, yeah. This week’s episode made me cry!

Once again, Fruits Basket pulls off its special sort of magic in which the subsequent storylines/developments end up tying closely together, and I can’t help but admire the sheer skill it takes to pull off writing like that.

We open (after the theme song) with Tohru realizing Uo’s pining for one of the Sohmas, but based on Tohru’s brief interaction, Uo’s like, “Nah, can’t be him.” I think that speaks to how Kureno acts in front of the Sohmas as opposed to when he’s outside the Sohma estate and the effect of the family in general. After all, most of the Sohmas do the same thing once they’re outside the estate; ironically, they feel much safer the farther they are from Akito. Yuki and Kyo are some prime examples of this pattern, and I just think it’s really interesting to point out how Kureno exhibits it as well. We don’t know much about this guy, but after - what - three episodes (?) featuring him in some way, we can tell that he has some huge burden on him that is Sohma-based.

What else do you do when your friend clearly wants to see this guy but won’t pursue any leads about him? GO TO THE SOHMA ESTATE, OF COURSE!

Seriously, Tohru is just amazing. She’s shouldering everybody else’s feelings and trying to hep them the best she can, all while wondering if she’s selfish for doing it?? There is a reason she is so beloved by just about every character in this series! You want empathy incarnate? YOU GOT IT!

Anyway, Tohru ends up bumping into (literally) Momo, who is Momiji’s little sister. Not that she knows that. Or does she? She helps Tohru sneak in, and they see Momiji playing violin. Damn, that boy can play. Puts my ten years of crappy playing to shame. The great thing is, Momo asks Tohru to ask Momiji if he’ll be her big brother, and the irony, paired with the fact that she wants to get to know this boy she barely knows is so sweet and adorable. NOT TO MENTION! She’s doing all this despite what her (and Momiji’s) father wants.

Now, I understand what Mr. Momiji (that’s what I’m calling him now) is trying to do. Thrusting Momiji into his mother’s life could disrupt the memory suppression she begged for. Also, it would be confusing to Momo - why does Mom not remember Big Bro? That sort of thing. However, Momiji himself makes a good point, too - his father’s being a wee bit selfish in trying to protect this happy little bubble he’s got. Where does he stand? (I would put up the “That ain’t right!” gif again but let’s not get ahead of ourselves.)

This entire escapade is beautiful to comprehend, because, as Tohru explains the Momo thing to him, Momiji starts crying because he’s happy. What’s important to understand about Momiji is that, for the most part, he’s only playing at happiness. A lot of us do. The thing is, Momiji is fantastic at masking his own emotions, especially considering Tohru genuinely does make him smile. He’s sad that his father basically makes him live separately from his family, but he does it anyway, because he’s always taking care of others. He says, “I can only be this happy because there’s someone who will cry for me.” Similar to Tohru, Momiji is ALWAYS thinking of others before himself, despite what his innermost desires tell him. So to have Tohru think about him and tell him that something he desires - that is, the chance to get to know Momo - is okay fills him with a joy he probably experiences rarely.

I. Love. Momiji.

Momo desperately wants to see Momiji, and Tohru sees a connection between this situation and Uo’s. She wonders why it is that being unable to see someone makes our feelings intensify - really, it is a CRAZY phenomenon emotionally, if you think about it - and realizes that Uo is a lot like Momo: she wants to see someone she physically cannot. Of course, Uo herself has no fault in this, and really, neither does Kureno. Like every other Sohma, Kureno is trapped by the family and by Akito’s expectations.

When Tohru finally ends up meeting up with Kureno (after some... bad attempts at hiding), we see a glimpse of someone who I honestly thought was Akito at first. Until he said “Akito” and I realized who exactly it was.

Not looking forward to the formal introduction.

But anyway.

Tohru asks Kureno if he knows Uo, and he does his equivalent of the “pffft nO” reaction. Suuuuure, Kureno, sure. Tohru continues and tells him how Uo misses him, that it takes a lot for her to outwardly complain about something (and in so saying “She likes you!!!!”), etc etc. His answer, however, is that he doesn’t plan on seeing her. He has other responsibilities (Akito) to, and that’s what he keeps telling himself. When asked if it’s because he’s part of the zodiac, he denies it, but doesn’t explain further. (THIS IS IMPORTANT: WATCH HOW HE LOOKS AT THE BIRD THAT FLIES OVERHEAD AS HE TRIES TO SAY SOMETHING ABOUT IT. THIS IS IMPORTANT LATER.)

Tohru has one of her moments where she goes on a tangent about how his feelings may change later about seeing Uo again, and he doesn’t respond. Which is understandable. They barely know each other and here she is totally picking apart his brain like a GENIUS. But in any case, he decides not to do anything about her sneaking around the Sohma estate and reveals that Momiji followed her.

Such a cute bunny.

Later, Tohru’s on the roof AND WE GET TO SEE KYO! He asks her what’s wrong, and she’s thinking to herself about Uo’s situation again. This poor girl needs some sleep, man. Kyo says something about how if she finds someone she loves, he’ll be there to help her out.

I could tell it killed him to say that.

This speaks a lot to Kyo’s feelings for Tohru; he’s already accepted that he despite what he wants, he probably won’t be able to stay by her side forever. The idea of anyone else loving her definitely kills him (Momiji pushed this particular button a while back, if I’m remembering correctly). But he wants to be there for her in any way he can, because he loves her.

Dammit, Kyo.

Tohru starts crying again, and neither of them are really sure why. Her heart broke a little bit during this episode for Uo and Kureno’s inability to be together, and I think she starts crying because she knows the exact implications of Kyo extending some kindness her way. She knows what’s at stake with him, and she doesn’t want to think about a point where she won’t be able to see him anymore.

How is it we’re only on episode SIXTEEN of this season?! I’ve gone through enough emotions to last at least two years, all in the past two-ish months. Like damn. Fruits Basket does not fuck around when it comes to this stuff.

I couldn’t exactly tell by the title or the voice what next week is going to bring, but if this week had anything to say about it, I’m not done crying over these characters.

Prepare thyselves, friends. This rollercoaster ain’t even CLOSE to ending.

#fruits basket #momiji sohma #tohru honda #kyo sohma #kureno sohma #arisa uotani #fruits basket spoilers

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banhchao · 3 years

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That whole beet tee ess meal is so funny like why did my mom n two sisters go buy two 7.15 meals like it was the best thing ever and now two hours they're like "should we give mcd's more money when they did such a poor job?" And nitpicking Like. Its mcd's yall the ones who fell for capitalism. It's so sad but I can guarantee they'll buy more because that group rots your brain 😔 they said the employee was "mean" because she thought it was dumb and girl I agree

LMFAOOOOO I COULD NOT AGREE WITH U MORE BUT DAMN THAT SOUNDS NUTS. like idk where to begin picking that apart lol... a) it’s McDonald’s, quality in both their products and processes and how they treat their workers is shit so we all know what we signed up for (even so, the food is delicious lol) b) what is there to nitpick ? It’s a McDonald’s meal... like BTS is not above McDonald’s packaging that it has to be of the highest quality???? they are just dudes that sing and dance ?? and u are there to eat after all??? what more could u want? C) it really is just two of the epitomes of capitalism teaming up to exploit McDonald’s workers to make the highest profit possible by upselling this “special” packaging to their obsessed fans. tapping into that obsession has ppl coming back no matter how crappy the product may be because it hits a whole other level of materialistic desire that’s psychological.

Lol you and the employee are right; it is pretty dumb but unfortunately easy to fall into these traps. that is what obsession does to you - u become clouded by your love of these ppl and the only way to supposedly gain happiness is to consume as much of them as u can. I previously was in a spot like this myself (not to this level but I did hold an obsession of my own) and it was NOT healthy. Buying the meal and enjoying the new flavours... I get it (I kinda wanna do it but I can not find it in me to ask for a “BTS meal”. Like the thought of vocalizing it makes me wanna 🤮🤮🤮) checking out the packaging ... I get it. being a fan of them and having fun eating the meal... I mean who wouldn’t wanna do that? but being overcritical of something not worth caring about deeply is too much. We all play into capitalist schemes because unfortunately that is how society is built and we don’t really have a choice. and don’t get me wrong; none of us should be shamed for our interests and what makes us happy no matter how that manifests. but seeing this all play out is true peak capitalism taking its course and it’s crazy (but not surprising) watching how 7 dudes that just dance and sing are the poster children of it.

(tho it is cute how ur mom brought them to buy the meals lol)

(Also the way u refer to BTS KILLS ME 😂)

#reply #my sister also refuses to say it so maybe if I go out on a date I’ll force him to ask for it lol #princesscedar

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popculturebuffet · 4 years

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Toons for Our Times: The Casagrandes: Four Course Catchup

I take some time to catch up with everyone’s faviorite mexican-american family with a four course meal of shenanigans.

Mexican Makeover: The thorny issue of racial identity erasure is handled via a lot of costumes, spicy food and a second Sergio, which suprisingly isn’t my own personal hell. Then again giving rusty a brother wasn’t either so there’s a precident. Uptown Funk: Carl goes full Zach Morris, minus the white privlage, and marries Adelaide to get a free train ride, then let’s his hallucinations talk him into nearly killing everyone. At least the Leprechaun in the sandbox isn’t telling him to burn things anymore. Bo-Bo Business: Hector won’t respect Bobby’s genius new ideas so Bobby sets shop at the near by hong’s market and procedes to nearly get murdered by bunnies. Dear god Anya was right. Blunder Party: Ronnie Anne and Sid host their first event as a couple, a sleepover campout on the roof with their running crew. Adilade and Carl crash it causing their sibling and cousin to send the two on a dangerous scavenger hunt. As you do. Context for what’s going on the page image under the cut.

So yeah I originally wasn’t going to add the Casagrandes to regular coverage.... but what can I say. I had way more to talk about with the recent crop of episodes than I thought, the show often airs with loud house so it increases my coverage output and most importantly.. i’ts just damn good. While still having some kinks to work out, like forgetting to use CJ, the show is just really charming and uses i’ts premise well. So yeah when the show, at least according to the wiki, so expect full coverage of both this years halloween special and the show in full when it comes back in november... and with bobby being hypnotized into thinking he’s a cat apparently.. so yeah i’d be watching anyway, so why not go all in. .So with that out of the way we’ve got a lot of ground to cover so, Golpeteo de pitter, which is spanish for pitter patter... maybe. If google translate mangled that I apologize.

Mexican Makeover:

Like with our last bit of loud house coverage, we start with the least of the episodes first. That being said this one isn’t TERRIBLE, just a waste of a good concept and something intresting to explore. It’s also a real shame given this episode is written by Lalo Alcaraz, the writer of the comic strip La Cucaracha who works as a consultant on the show and previously wrote my favorite episode of the season, Croaked!, which we’ll be talking about soon. But he seems like a great guy, but everyone dosen’t bat a thousand. This episode centers around Rosa, whose mother Mama Lupe, and her parrot sidekick Paco, coming to visit. Paco is a recolor of sergio which actually explains a LOT honestly, as I now feel Sergio is the Quaks to Paco’s Squaks.

As in the crappy recolor who dosen’t have as many skills. As you can tell I don’t like Sergio much. He’s annoying, not very funny and only rarely has his moments and also spent one episode constnatly being obnoxious to Bobby, who as we’ve discussed and will soon discuss some more, is my boy. My precious baby boy. So bullying him is the equilvent of slapping me with a dueling glove. So yeah Paco is better than Sergio, being more laid back, less obnoxious.. and voiced by, of all people, legendary cartonist and the namesake of the parrot sergio, Sergio Aragones. I grew up with the guy in middle and high school as he frequently, and I belivie still does, work for parody magazine MAD Magazine, and while I haven’t read it also did 80′s indie comic Groo the Wanderer with Mark Evainer of Garfield and Friends Fame. The guy’s really damn funny and it was a real treat to find out he’s involved here, especailly since the namesakes for the loud pets have all sadly passed, so it’s nice at least one pet namesake between shows gets to guest star. But my fanboying aside, Rosa is worried she hasn’t been making her family Mexican enough and thus goes a bit absolutley nuts. She steals the kids clothes and replaces them with various traditional mexican outfits, which is a bit psycotic, and gives us a shot of carl’s ass when he compalins about his underwear being replaced, which...

Yes thank you wayne. I’m sure even some of the 7 year old’s watching this don’t want to see a fellow 7 year old’s butt. Stop that. There’s a reason the parent show stopped the gag of having Lincoln in his underwear all the time and it wasn’t just because only chris savino thought it was funny. It’s especially creepy given after Savino’s sexual harassment, John K’s reveal of being a pedophile and whatever Dan Schinder did they refuse to talk about to the public but has ciruclated around, you TIHNK the’yd be more congizant of not showing borderline child porn. I mean it’s one thing to have a kid in underpants for a gag it’s another to have a close up of his butt. Just stop. Stop. So the episode goes as you’d expect, Rosa keeps pushing things harder without explaining herself, including trying to force the kids to speak in spanish, feeding them extra spicy food and againt eh whole replacing their clothes thing.. which\ do look nice though and we do get that blessed image of bobby up top. The kids eventually confront Rosa who reveals she just dosent’ want to give her mom a heart attack, they go along with it with Sergio feeding ronnie anne spanish, which is nice continuity as her not knowing i’ts come up before, and everyone putting on a show.. which goes horribly wrong with super spicy food understandably not being built for a 80-100 year old woman, and while i’ts nice Bobby’s buddy par, we’ll cover their episode at some point too, shows up he also heavy metals so hard it knocks her over and destroys the painting, which yeah of course. Rosa comes clean and Lupe.. is entirely fine with it and feels that culture is more in values than in what you know about it, though she will teach them a few things because knowing where you came from is still important. Also Paco returns and.. why coudln’t both he and Lupe stay. For all my issues with the episode besides Carl’s butt shot, which we’ll get to in a second, I do really like Lupe and Paco is better than sergio in every way shape and form apart from the name. just color him read and have him smother sergio in his sleep and we’re up a better parot.

Final Thoughts for Mexican Makeover: This one was eh. I saved my thoughts on the main plot for here because it IS a topic worth talking about: loss of cultural idetntity, especailly for first or second generation, as our main kids and their parents are, kids, how to ballance the cultures, what really matters.. it’s all good, deep really senstiive topics that i’m in no way qulaified to entirley judge because i’m very much white and am not going to whitesplain topics that I have no personal experince with. But I can at least say they could’ve done MORE with this. For one thing Maria was absent, and it would’ve been REALLY intresting to get her take on it since Croaked! established she didn’t really give Ronnie Anne at the very least much of a lesson in their heritage. You can’t really BLAME HER: She works a demanding job, ended up having to raise them alone, and is tired a lot. As I said i’ts a VERY complex topic that’s created some VERY brilliant works around the subject, and while i’m not asking for “Moonlight... for Kids!” I am asking you to explore something like this. How aclimated the kids are to white culture is a topic worth exploring and could’ve been a special and while yes I know, it probably would’ve been “A Very Special Episode”..sometimes you need to tackle complex topics for kids. The Proud Family was also a screwball comedy, but it tackled the civil rights movement, xenophobia and other heavy subjects from time to time.. it also thought music piracy was the root of all evil but as I said no one bats a thousand. And it wouldn’t lack jokes as Alcaraz’s career is in satire: He knows how to write jokes about heavily charged topics and be clever about it on the freaking comics page, and given The Casagrandes like it’s sister show is basically a comic strip in animated form, he has the right format tow ork with it just ultimately becomes instead the cliche “person is coming time to hide everything we’ve been doing plot”, which has never been that good and is even worse on top of a more interesting idea. I don’t expect the show to be super deep all the time but I expect better than broaching a clearly difficult subject and not really giving it any weight.

Uptown Funk: Now we’re past the one I was eh on because I knew how it’d turn out, and somehow got even less on board as it wasted a good concept and good ideas, and to the one out of the four I was most pumped for. And of all things it was a CARL episode. I passingly mentioned last time I didn’t like Carl, and that opinon’s started to change. I’m still not a huge fan, his voice is grating and he STILL hasn’t given up on Lori seasons later after Clyde long has and the other show long regonized this was a bad idea. Buuut i’ve come to realize he has his moments, with Monster Cash, which i’ll cover very soon for Halloween Havoc, and this very episdoe which is utterly fantastic. Though part of that is also the supporting cast, who were the reason I was pumped. I talked abotu the Changs Breifly in my Operation Dad review but since Adalaide and Stanley are more promenent here and Becca will be, if not in person, in Croaked!, i’ll gladly dive into them. The Changs are the Casagrandes next door neighbors and EASILY one of the best parts of the show. A lovely interacial nuclear family, the four are all really likeable and distinct. I’ve talked about Sid before, so we’ll save more of that for in a bit. Stanley her dorky dad voiced by Kim Jeong who works as the subway conductor for Great Lakes City. He’s just a treat, in both sense of hte word, and really sweet interacting with his daughter and has a tendency to make small apperances due to Ronnie Anne and Sid riding the subway wherever they need to go. As i’ve said it’s nice to see Ken Jeong get to play a goofy, normal-ish dad and be funny without having to either play an over the top lunatic, weirdo or asshole. I love community but Chang could be a lot but this Chang is alright.. and probably dosen’t speak to his community college student brother that often for his family’s saftey. He does have Rabi Chang, his other brother over a lot though. Look if Teen Titans go can be jammed into the same multiverse as ok ko and steven universe, this show can take place in the same unvierse as community.

Becca is stan’s wife and the head zookeeper at the zoo as well as the runner of their various shows, voiced by melissa joan hart and while not around as mcuh as her husband, is still a delight and it’s a delight to have clarissa back. Also together with her husband they make one hell of a couple to get sandiwthced between.. and no shame there, and yes i’m aware they have kids, i’d be happy to help raise them. I”m no asshole.

Anyways speaking of those kids, we lastly have Adalaide, the star of this show and an adorable 6 year old and as Sid calls her “A sass bucket” which is accurate both for 6 year olds in general, and for this one, though like most kids her age she flips from being adorable to entirely blunt when warranted. She also has a Frog, named Froggy II. We’ll get into what happened to Froggy I and how she met Froggy II in October.

So yeah two of my faviorite side characters, I consider sid main, PLUS one of my other faviorites Vito in a supporting roll. What’s not to love? As for the plot Carl brushes off Adalaide, because he’s a little jerk festival, but changes his tune when he overhears Stanley offering to have Adilaide join him on the train even see the control. Carl being a fanboy for trains among many other things which I shall list now: Things Carl’s a Fanboy For: 1. Money 2. Petty Schemes 3. Zack Morris 4. The Ladies 5. AC Slater 6. Luchadores 7. Trains.

He naturally has his eyes light up like a christler buliding and given numbers 2 and 3 on the list quickly comes up with a scheme to get that train ride, since Stanely offered her a plus one. Granted he could’ve PROBABLY just asked Stanley for a ride and being the upstanding guy he is, and given Carl’s also a train nerd and stanley is their king, he would’ve said yes, but this is the same boy who thought his adult cousin’s same aged girlfriend would want to go out with him when said girlfriend lives in a house with at least 3 girls close to his age instead she could set him up with. The boy is more of a short term planner, like most schemers in fiction really, he sees the dollar signs like eddy from ed edd n eddy and has some good ideas, but not the more obvious solutions that aren’t as scheme based around him. I swear if this kid didn’t have a moral center this would be him in 50 years

I mean the only reason the boy hasn’t used sharks or explosives is because his parents and grandparents won’t’t let him.

Anyways Addie is skepteical for about 5 seconds and my one real complaint about the episode is it felt like she was genuinely skeptical, and playing him slightly with their games.. but it turns out nope she just genuinely bought it. But as smart as she is she’s also only 6, and her being adorably trusting works just as well. So they play games. They have a tea party, with carl wearing a truly glorious peacock that I guarnatee sid has worn both for playing with her sister and just to feel fancy. They then play with Froggy.. which gets uncomfotable as Adaladie forces Carl to kiss him, and then basically goes full on “NOW KISS” when it fails to turn froggy into a prince and Froggy runs because he wisely dosen’t want to make out with Carl, and is omly passable and not disturbing instead because she’s 6 and dosen’t know better. They then play chase froggy, which Carl wins but gets flies thrown at him in hte process so does he really? They get to their final game superheroes, with carly playing his faviorite el falcone.. but also being the hostage while Adalaide saves him because this is 2020, she don’t need to be no damsel in distress. And this to me is why the episode works.. Carl IS a huge jerk here, manipulating a younger child who just wants to be his friend to get a train ride he could’ve gotten just by asking her.. but he gets put through the ringer, and most of his “humilation” is stuff that isn’t that bad: Tea is alright, there’s no shame in wearing makeup or a veil, and being rescued by a woman is awesome. It’s just Carl’s own baby’s first toxic masuclinity that makes these situations minus kissing froggy uncomfortable, so it adds to it as Addy’s doing nothing wrong really and any pain on carl’s part is an accident on hers. She’s just an imaginatiee little lady and he’s jsut a jerk. But they pair well together his underserved ego with her adorablility and creativity and as we’ll see smarts. Part of the reason I was so excited is their one real scene togehter in monster cash, when Carl is throiwng everyon’es money back at them which is also the best bit of the episode and we’ll get to that when we cover it her response is a stern “Don’t you even dare” and he hands it back to her because you don’t mess with Addy.

Addy then brings up pretend marriage and while Carl has his first , and probably not last, panic attack over comitment he does realilze this can be used and gets his train ride over it, with the two taking Froggy along as their baby. But being Carl, he’s not ready for marriage to a strong judge on the supreme court who makes him change the diapers and humilaties him in public, whcih i’d be more upset about if again he didn’t deserve it. We also have VITO! Local itallian, the Mercado’s best customer and Hector’s only friend. He also has his two winer dogs with him which.. yes. Just yes. And they have matching hats and sweaters because Vito is the best. Hedecides to toss froggy and book it for the train car. Adalaide realizes she’s been played and is understandably pissed but sadly, needing to find her friend her husband threw, dosen’t storm into Stanley’s conductor car and throw him off the train.

Instead Carl geeks out with Stanley over the train, which means he probably is meant to marry into this family, and Stanley’s glart awards. When Stanley’s called away to deal with the frog fracas, Carl is left told not to touch anything. So the obvious happens.. Carl hallunciates a bunch of pre school level choo choos who tell him to press the button. I love .. everything about this. It’s just pure hilarity and insanity and I’m here for it and a really creative, and insane gag and a nice take on the shoulder devil trope.

Naturally Carl, being Carl, presses the big button which turns on the ac and then blasts Stan’s train mix. Which sadly isn’t just this over and over and over and over again.

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With Carl possibly banned from trains for life he naturally turns to his wife for help, who is none to happy with his bullshit, and not willing to help him because why would she? But Carl.. genuinely apologizes. It’s why I mentioned he has a moral center. Unlike say Zack morris 80% of hte time or Eddy from Ed Edd N Eddy at his worst, Carl can FEEL human emotions like guilt, and while he does need Addy’s help to not get in massive trouble, you can tell he genuinely feels bad about hurting her and is only asking because she’s his only hope and for the sake of the various passengers who if she dosen’t step in will go off the rails on a crazy train, she agrees. Turns out though Addy is pretty badass on top of being adorable, and uses Froggy II as a grappling hook, then turns out to have inherited her dad’s knowledge of trains, which was foreshadowed earlier as she said she’s gone with him a lot and was bored at his offer and won two time junior glart awards.. which given that likely includes teens and tweens, is Valeria Richards levels of acomplished. God damn kid. Kudos. Stanley gets understandably mad at carl But Addy covers for him and since she saved her dad’s awards, Carl can live.. and come back sometimes. Carl, first through his action figure then himself apologizes for being a jerk toa ddy and manipulating her.. a genuine one that shows he means it and finds she’s pretty cool. Gues this marriage CAN be saved. And so we end this episode as you’d expect.

No.. for one thing i’td be leprechaun-train monstrosity. For another the happy couple team up as superheros and thwart froggy being hit by a train , who greatfully smooches carl who, having grown, takes it in stride. Happy end

Final Thoughts: I love this one. It was funny, intresting and had carl develop as a character while fleshing addy out and giving us some great stanley stuff. It made having a jerk as the protagnist here work and made me go from begrudgingly liking carl to actuallyl iking him. while he’s pretty terrible here he suffers for most of his actions and learns from it, and he and Adelade ahve a great dynamic that we thankfully do indeed see again this very marathon. But first. IT’S BOBBY TIME.

Bo-Bo Buisness It’s my first episode starring Bobby on this blog and i’ts been TOO long and there will be more to come I promise. As i’ve made no secret of Bobby is my faviorite character here, and as you can tell that’s a tight race, and is just.. great here. The move to the city fleshed him out by giving him drive with his desire to run the mercado, franchise it, and go to buisness school to do all of it properly, while keeping his loveable sweetness, stupidity and relationship with Lori which has gone from deeply unhealthy to awwwwwwwww.

So naturally I was on board for another Bobby Bonaza, and this one like most of his eps is pretty good: This time around it focuses on Bobby’s hard work ethic and youthful energy..and it leading him AWAY from the mercado. Bobby tries setting up free wifi and a table like a cafe in the Mercado, but Hector flatly refuses and refuses anthing Bobby comes up with, citing his 30 years running the place sucessfully, while Bobby cites his less than a year of it and his book of ideas, though Hector refuses to budge. And what I like here is that while hector IS still the bad guy here, it’s not in a one dimensional “Jerk for the episode’ way this show’s sister episode tends to fall into. Or treating a character being a jerk like their the wronged party, or.. you get the idea. Point is hector has SOME points: He has run a small buisness in a huge city for 30 years, beating out gentrification, racisim, big buisness and other threats to run at thriving mercado, even with another market across the street. He also owns a sizeable apartment with room for two diffrent families, 5 adults, 6 kids, a dog and an asshole, and his wife is super for the building as a whole. He’s done MARVELOUSLY for himself and deserves to be proud and his stubborness likely comes from just how much he’s been able to acomplish while others fell around him. However.. Bobby is still sympathetic. It’s very clear working here is his dream job: His plan for his life is to expland the place into a franchise and run it himself one day, he’s the clear sucessor and Hector wont’ be around forever.. probably for a LONNNG time still, and his ghost will probably haunt the place with Rosa’s scolding him, but since ghosts can’t own property probably, someone has to take over. Bobby is his clear sucessor and his ideas aren’t bad.. poorly exceuted in this case, but not bad. As we’ll see in a bit the table idea can work, bobby just didn’t think it through and Hector could’ve HELPED HIM with it and as we’ll see most of the ideas Bobby ends up doing elsehwere are just common sense for this day and age and the one that isn’t is the one that does him in. But Hector, likely seeing any change as a threat to his bottom line and his legacy, rejects him out of hand. H’es likely scared that his protege can do BETTER, or worried that one wrong move could cost him his life’s work. I also find this ironic since a few episodes ago, though I still need to see it, Bobby himself had the same problem letting go and letting someone else control the buisness with his sister and cousins running the place while he had his anniversary with Lori. Bobby DESERVES to be given his shot.. and so when he decides to quit the mercado in a huff and take his table and his ideas with him.. you agree with him. Sure he’s leaving the family legacy.. but if Hector wont let him make it his own or appricate how much fucking work he does or love he has for the place, then what legacy is there? That got heavy. We get a great joke next as bobby makes a metaphor about the dinosaurs.. then wonders what happened to them and like me on any given day stops to google it.. and since he uses a laptop unlike me and my desktop computer or phone, and his table, he inadveratly sets up a table outside.. which fixes the problems with his idea, if by accident and impresses Mr.Hong the owner of a nearbye market who could use a fresh faced go getter like bobby and hires him right on sight and agrees to start putting his ideas in.

And the wifi table.. is a huge sucess and putting it outside gave the customers more room, so it fixes the one flaw in his plan, and serving out cafe and snacks I can’t prounounce or spell properly, bobby shows his idea WOULD have worked: instead of creating loiterers it simply gives customers like Vito, who pretty much lives at the Mercado anyway so why not, a place to sit, eat and check their email and stuff, and bobby’s a good enough salesman he can convince them to eat and given the mercado already has a customers only policy on toilets.. they could’ve just made the table purchase only, and once per hour, and their regulars would’ve lapepd it up. Hector refuses to accept this though and stews and drives sergio and carl away.. which yeah if you can out asshole Sergio, you may be the bad guy here. The two feud over dinner to their family’s confusion, and to Rosa’s annoyance and dope slaps when she spills her hard worked on food over their petty sniping but bobby’ sstar continues to rise with a music video for hongs including that bit seen above, rapping and just.. whatever the fuck that video was it was the third best rap in nick history behind that “nnnnnnick” rap and this.

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So yeah with the comeerical, Hongs has tons of customers, and Hector stews more. However things can’t be good forever, as the last 4 years have proven they can be bad for an especially long time but good? Sadly no, as Bobby gets what he always wanted: The keys to the store.. maybe not the store he wanted but still and gets to run hongs solo. Sadly though Bobby ends up fucking up, letting people bring their pets which wrecks the place, and ends up with bobby getting swarmed by an ever multiplying batch of bunnies.

As Bobby is cuddled to death, his exact words, Hector finally relents and saves the boy from literally drowning, and the two get the rabbits out.. but well with social media and all that hong knows what happen and bobby’s fired. But back at the Mercado, Hector rehires bobby, and genuinely apologizes. I do feel it comes a bit quick.. but I guess after your grandson almost got bunnied to death, you rethink your life choices. Bobby admits he was in over his head while Hector genuinely admits Bobby has good ideas and he was being a stubborn jackass and decides he can use them after all. Starting with the commerical where the two perform a nice mexican song, the whole family adorably dresses up like various mercado items as seen at the veyr top and we also get this.

Yes, yes to all of this. And we’re out.. for a moment then back in but you get it.

Final Thoughts for Bo Bo Buisness: While not the best Bobby episode, that would be the one that introduces Par and again i’ll get to that one, this one is still pretty good. While I do feel Hector turns around a bit quick, otherwise it’s funny enough and has enough character stuff with bobbby, even if i’ts mostly just from knowing him in this series to work out. I”m not ANTI-nonsense episodes, I just don’t want them there when ther’es clearly a way heavier issue your steping around. This wasn’t the BEST the series has done comedy wise but it was fun enough. Alright one more...

Blunder Party:

And we end on another pretty good one. And oddly for this show it’s the only Ronnie Anne focused one of the four. Usually she’s dead center but it seems the series is getting comfortable enough, much like it’s parent show, to ease out of focusing on just one character as the viewpoint and letting the others breathe. Still this was a good un and let’s talk about it.

It’s Party Time and Ronnie and Sid are having a sleepover on the roof. Their first party of a couple.. i’m so proud of by baby gays.. or gabies as I call them. I mean.. yes i’m not subtle with my shipping but they act less like close friends and more like two tiny lebisan awww factories. Anywho the whole crew’s here, which as with a lot of things this episode let’s talk about them: Casey, Nikki and Sameeer were introduced in a loud house I haven’t seen and naturally carried over to the show proper, showing up when Lincoln visted in an episode I will defintely cover at some point, and accepting Ronnie Anne wasn’t a born city kid. They have neat designs, are nicely diverse, and while lthey do need some fleshing out, given that like Lincoln’s own friend team squad they show up in a good chunk of ronnie anne episodes, we got time for that so we’re good. There’s also new addition Laird, the school’s own screech powers, and your standard awkward dork whose not that great. So yes even this group has a waste of a character, though he’s not AS bad as rusty or useless as Liam, just feeling a bit less essentail than Ronnie Anne’s running crew, who match her general vibne, and Sid whose her soulmate.

But as the pizza arrives via Sergio, because he has to be useful at least once, our heroes soon find the party crashed by Great Lakes City’s newest power couple: Carl and Adelaide! Looking like their fucking team rocket. Seriously I had other options for this episode, including bobby sliding around on his back comically, so it says something just how great that iamge is and how fucking gloriously smug yet awesome they look.

The two want to join and even outdo the big kids at stretcing and flinging pizza, but as many little siblings like myself know all too well, the big siblings don’t want you there. I can’t count the number of times I wanted to hang with my brothers friends, but he refused frome lementary all the way up to high school. It was maddening. SO I sympathize with them, but i’ve grown tor ealize grown up kids want to have their own time and fun so I sympathize with both parties: Carl and Addy just want pizza and games and to hang with the big kids and Ronnie Anne and Sid just want to host a party as a couple without watching their siblings.

However Carl forces a compromise.. by using his special mood.. whining loudly and summoning Rosa.. whos eriously just.. teleports behind the kids. I thought only Lucy could do that in this unvierse. Respect.

Rosa however is resonable. While she dosen’t want the kids to be excluded, and it’s understandable and nice of her: The kids just wan’t to feel included and Rosa is resonable enough to say they will have to leave eventually wehn it’s time for bed. A fair compromise. Also i’d wonder why Adelaide is here but I assume the Chang Parents had her come over there, which Rosa being the lovely person she is agreed to. I didn’t get into her above but I do like Rosa a lot as a character as she’s a resonable authority figure.. but liable to slip into her own foibles, and is kind and loving with her family if strong and strict when she needs to lower the boom. Mostly on Hector who i’m amazed survived last episode and getting his own grandson to leave in one piece.

But yeah I mean I can only imagine what’s going on there...

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Also sex obviously, but since I obviously can’t and won’t show you that, have this video to jodeci’s freak n you instead and let your imagination fill the blanks if you want.

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I will use this song any time I can. Anyway, Sid being the peach she is tries to convince Ronnie anne all is not lost. Earlier she used a metaphor saying how they had all the perfect ingredents like a smore, and now adds pizzza.. which ot be fair a pizza smore, but using bagles or something sounds great, but pizza on a smore sounds like my own personal hell.. though Sid likes it so i’ll let it live.. for now. That’s also why Sergio is alive. FOr now.

But even sid has a limit and the power couple soon break those: An attempted scary ghost story session goes bad as they break poor sameer by predicting eveyr story he has even the one the poor kid wings, and he and his prehinsile hair are sad. Cheer up kid at least you can probably go live on Krakoa at some point. Free health care, free housing, living on a giant paradise. Good stuff.

The two then ruin an attempted dance party, which unlike the above which was just bad timing, this time their just obnoxious as addy wnats to ballet, and Carl wants to... put it to his butt whle playing fart noises. Okay for starters.

Secondly if he wanted to do that he could’ve got a cd of Nickleback cheaper and no one would’ve noticed.. then again they might of thought the poor boy had Dihera. Somehow this isn’t the last draw. Nikki, being a real one, holds a gross drink contest which carl spits out on the crowd.. which really WHAT DID YOU ALL EXPECT. This is how those things end. WIth spit up and fury.

Anyways enough is enough, so our ambigiously gay duo hatch a plan and send the little kids on a scavanger hunt. So while the Ronnie’s Running Crew have fun, and spot bobby and his best buddy par and bobby flop on some mangos and slide around on mango juice all episode as a result, the dream team work on getting that list done. From getting one of Hector’s nosehairs to Mr. Nakamura’s faviorite sweatervest (which takes a while) , to Carlota’s diary they do it with flair. Of note is the two having to steal Sergio’s crackes.. and nearly getting murdeered by the parot who seriously looks like he’s about to skin a child.. thankfully when HE does a shining by crashing through the door, he just gets stuck so no child murder tonight. Horay! Well until Carlota finds out her diary missing then this happens.

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But things get dire when the kids think they see the smaller kids get stuck in par’s truck. Thankfully bobby knows where his best friend is at all times, because he’s consdierate and knows where he’s headed next, and the kids end up following him, while Sameer stays behind to distract with his hair puppets since Rosa wants to little ones to go to bed.

Sid and Ronnie anne and co head to the dump , shenagins insue and they think they lost their sibling and cousin.. only to find them, the two having gotten a mango that looks like Vito and won.. and Sid and Ronnie apologizing and admitting their scam. In a nice bit though while Carl gets upset, Addy quickly points out they DID ruin their fun, and crash the party, and Carl begrudingly admits he’s wrong. Again, keep them married show. Carl needs Addy to keep him honest and Addy needs carl to hide the bodies of her enmies. They make a good pair, just like their big sis and cousin.

Anyways, Ronnie Anne and Sid ask to have the kids for just a bit longer to repair them and again this is why I repsect Rosa. She finds out the kids disobeyed her or at least found a loophole but isn’t mad and gets both sides learned from it. Our kidlets get a giant ass smore for their heroic efforrts, Nikki returns Carlota’s diary in secret to avoid their deaths while Sergio is arrested for attempted murder of two minors. A good night all around. Bobby joins in to close out, which isn’t met with any resitance because who dosen’t love bobby, while Hector wakes up to the vito mango and wonders what happened to him.. okay apparently Vito’s been turned into a non-sapient piece of fruit before and I want details show. Final Thoughts Finally: A pretty good one. Carly and Adleadie continue to prove to a hell of a combo, whie the proven dream team of Sid and Ronnie Anne work well off their younger counterparts. It overall leads to a fun episode with lots of great gags.. and also bobby sliding around on his back comically like he’s a goddamn roomba and I am hear for it. Just overally really good stuff and a really fun plot. This really feels like stife of the party done right. Both sides screw up but make up instead of one just getting their way because protaganist. And overall this batch of episodes was really damn good and I look forward to watching the series reguarlly from now on. Until then, just one more day then this blog gets all spooky! SO stay tuned, stay safe and go team venture! Play us out nickleback! WAIT WHY DID i SAY THAT NO NO NO NO NOOOOOOO

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ellewritesathing · 5 years

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So Close - S.S. X

Summary: The universe has a funny way of putting the things you want right in front of you, but just out of reach. Stiles and Y/N have been best friends ever since Scott brought him home, but when Stiles realizes that he might want to be something other than best friends, she leaves to go to some fancy private school up North. Now that she’s back though �� maybe he’s got a shot? A Teen Wolf AU in which the reader has always been so close to Stiles and yet so far.

Prologue - S2E1 Part 1 - S2E2 + S2E3 Part 2 - S2E4 + S2E5 + S2E6 Part 3 - S2E7 +S2E8 Part 4 - S2E9 + S2E10 Part 5 - S2E11 + S2E12 Part 6 Part 7 - S3AE1 Part 8 - S3AE2 + S3AE3 Part 9 - S3AE4 Part 10 - S3AE5 + S3AE6

Word-count: 4.7k+

A/N: Motel California is one of my least favourite Teen Wolf episodes, but I hope you guys still enjoy what I did with it! Feedback and criticism is always welcome :)

This year was supposed to be different. Scott was getting his life together. The Argents weren't hunting anymore. Derek wasn't turning anyone else. Erica and Boyd were coming home. Different. Better. But it had been less than a month and if anything had changed, it was for the worst.

Scott wasn’t healing from his injury. The Argents were keeping secrets from each other. Derek was dead. Erica was dead. Different. Worse. And the fact that the bus was approaching a literal storm on the horizon felt more like another bad omen than just another bump in the road on the way to a crappy cross-country meet.

“Stop thinking about it, man.” You turned in your seat when you heard Isaac’s voice so that you were leaning up against the window and had a clear view of him and Boyd.

“Like you’re not thinking about it, too?” Boyd asked.

“Yeah, well, we’ll both stop thinking about it.” You rolled your eyes as you listened to Isaac speak.

“I can’t.”

“Look, it’s not like any of us can do anything about it,” you said, looking past Boyd to where Ethan sat with Danny. “It’s a little bus.”

“You sure about that?” Boyd asked.

Your phone buzzed in your pocket so you motioned for them to talk it out while you checked the message. It was from Lydia.

‘Allison is two cars behind the bus and we’re running out of gas.’

‘Just stop for gas. It’s not like you don’t know where we’re going.’

You turned back to Boyd and Isaac but your phone buzzed again.

‘You don’t think I tried that? She doesn’t want to lose you guys.’

You rolled your eyes and shared your location with her.

‘There. Get gas and just track my location, weirdos.’ ‘I love you, by the way. It’s sweet that you’re worried.’

---

“The two of you, back in your seats!” Coach yelled. You ducked into the seat in front of Scott and Stiles, flashing the girl next to you an apologetic smile. “Jared, again? Carsick? Ever ti- Why do you even get on the bus? McCall, not you, too!”

“No, Coach, I’m good.” Scott’s voice was raspy as he answered and he looked like he was going to puke.

“You’re still not healing?” You leaned over the seat to get a better look.

“I don’t know. Does he still bleed if he’s healing?” Stiles asked sarcastically and you glared at him. He stammered out an apology and you looked back to Scott with a much softer expression.

“He’s listening,” Scott said, looking over to Ethan.

“Then can he hear me telling him to-”

“Stiles, not now.” You looked over your shoulder at Ethan. “Is he gonna do something?”

“Not in front of this many people,” Scott said. He closed his eyes again, probably in an effort not to be sick.

“Okay, well, what about the two ticking time bombs sitting right near him?” Stiles asked, pointing at Isaac and Boyd a few seats in front.

You shook your head. “They’re angry but they’re not that dumb … I hope.” Isaac’s head tilted as you spoke, obviously listening to your conversation. You mumbled an apology for him.

“And what if they are? What are we gonna do?” Stiles asked, talking more to Scott than you. “Are you gonna stop them?”

“If I have to,” Scott answered, nodding slightly.

“I don’t think it’ll come to that,” you said. Scott winced as the bus went over a pothole. “Hey, are you okay? I can ask Coach to stop the bus.”

Scott shook his head. “Alpha wounds take longer to heal.”

“Yeah, I know that. But Isaac and Boyd are fine. You should be too.” You leaned over to feel his forehead.

“Mom, I’m fine. Promise.” He had this annoying little smile on his face as he held onto your wrist.

“Yeah, must be if you’re making jokes like that,” you said and pulled your hand back.

Eventually, the bus rolled to a stop behind about a million other cars on the highway. A traffic jam. Just great. You were too busy being moody to notice what was going on with Boyd in front, but you stood up when Scott struggled to his feet.

“Boyd, he’s gonna do something,” he said. You nodded and helped him into the aisle. Stiles grabbed your hand before you could follow Scott to the front.

“Stiles, not now,” you said for the second time in the past hour. You shook off his hand and took another step forward, but he grabbed your arm again and pulled you closer.

“Will you just sit down?” Stiles asked. “He needs this.”

“Let go of me.”

Stiles let go and you took a breath. “He needs a win after- after Derek, okay?”

You walked past him and slumped into what used to be Scott’s seat. Stiles slid in next to you with a stupid grin on his face. “Ah, atta-girl,” he teased and you glared at him. “You spend way too much time with the Hales, by the way.”

---

After Stiles harassed Danny and found out that Ennis might live through the night, the mood somehow got more relaxed and double as tense. You hoped that meant Derek was alive as well, but you were too scared to admit it. As if saying it out loud would jinx it.

“Now the rest of you,” Coach said when he was done traumatizing Jared. “Don’t think we’re gonna miss this meet because of a slight traffic jam, or the minor tornado warning, or Jared. We’re gonna make this thing! Nothing's gonna stop us! Stilinski, put your hand down!”

“You know, there’s a food exit like half a mile up. I don’t know if we stop and then maybe traffic-” Stiles’ plan didn’t sound half bad but Coach wasn’t having any of it.

“We’re not gonna stop.”

“Okay, but if we stop-”

“Stilinski!” Coach blew his whistle. The werewolves of the bus looked like they were going to cover their ears, but you figured that was just because of the sound ricocheting off every surface in the bus. “Shut it! Seriously! It’s a little bus! Stop asking me questions!”

“I hate him,” Stiles said as he leaned back in his seat. “That man is like an impenetrable wall of-”

“Jared gets carsick,” you pointed out. Stiles looked over at you and you gave him a small shrug. “It would be a real shame if he got sick and we had to pull over to clean the bus. We'd be delayed at least an hour …”

“Yeah, a real shame,” Stiles said, beginning to get a sly smile on his face.

“A crying shame, even.”

“Oh no.” Scott came back looking like he wished he’d stayed in the front with Boyd and Isaac. “I hate it when you two look at each other like that. The last time that happened, I sprained my ankle!”

“Yeah, but did you die?” Stiles asked. “No? Then shut up. We’ve got a plan.”

“No way. You’re not harassing some poor kid!”

“You don’t even know who we're harassing!”

“Scott, you're not healing,” you said, looking at him with pleading eyes. “Please, just sit down and let us handle this.”

“But-”

“Please?”

Scott took a deep breath and sat down, though it looked more like he just collapsed into the seat. You leaned down to kiss his head when you and Stiles got up.

“Thank you.” You gave him a smile before taking your phone out of your pocket and handing it to him. “Call Lydia and tell her we’re going to stop.”

“They’re in Beacon Hills. What’s that gonna help?” Scott asked.

“They’ve been two cars down since we left. Nice to see that nothing gets past those keen werewolf senses, huh?” You rolled your eyes and followed Stiles up to the front. He was already distracting Coach, so you slid into the seat next to Jared.

---

Scott stumbled out of the bus and Lydia and Allison were both there to help drag him to the bathroom. He was bleeding through his shirt and it kind of made you want to throw up.

“Woah, woah, woah. What are you doing?” Stiles asked just before you crossed the bathroom threshold.

“Saving my brother. What are you doing?”

“You need to stay out here with Isaac and Boyd.” Stiles kept talking over your protests. “You’re the only one of us they like! They’ll listen to you, okay? Look, you know I won’t let anything happen to Scott. I promise. No matter what."

You took a deep breath and looked him in the eyes. “No matter what.”

Stiles squeezed your shoulder before dashing in after the others. You turned to regroup with Boyd and Isaac but they weren’t that interested in what was happening to Scott. They just kept glaring at the twins.

You turned away for a few minutes to leave Melissa an update, and when you got back the two of them were gone. Isaac was beating the crap out of Ethan and Boyd was just letting it happen. You rushed over but Isaac didn’t hear you screaming for him to stop, and he didn’t care when you tried to push him back.

You managed to knock him down and then rushed to Ethan to make sure he was okay. Your hands were holding his face and you barely heard his ‘watch out’ before you saw Isaac stand again. He pulled his arm back to hit Ethan again, and you pulled him close to you, hoping that at the very least Isaac wouldn’t hit so hard if you were wrapped around the guy he was punching.

When the punch didn’t land, you took slow breaths and looked up. Scott had snapped Isaac out of it, and you were made distinctly aware of how close you were to someone who helped kill one of your best friends. You pushed yourself away and crawled back until you felt arms catch under your shoulders and pull you up. You clung haphazardly Stiles when you were on your feet.

“Thanks,” you said breathlessly.

“Anytime.” He moved a piece of hair out of your face and tucked it behind your ear. You thought he was going to kiss you, but you both snapped out of it when Coach told Ethan to get cleaned up because you were leaving in five minutes.

You both walked over to the group, and you tugged on Scott’s sleeve to get his attention. You took him to sit on the benches so you could talk.

“You know it’s not your fault, right?” you asked cautiously. Scott didn’t answer. “It’s not your fault Derek’s dead.”

“You don’t know what happened that night.”

“No,” you exhaled. “But Isaac told me that he had to pull you off of the edge because it looked like you were gonna jump off after him. I- I’m not arguing with you; I probably would’ve backflipped off that ledge if I thought it would make a difference. But, Scotty ... no one blames you for what happened.”

“I blame me for what happened,” he said. “Everything that’s happened. Allison’s mom, Erica, Derek, the sacri-”

“None of that is your fault.” You held his face in your hands to make him look at you. “And you can’t keep yourself from healing because you don’t think you deserve to.”

“That’s not what I’m doing.”

“Could’ve fooled me.” Scott looked away from you again and you sighed. “Derek cared about you. So did Erica, believe it or not. They wouldn’t want you dead.” You got up and held your hand out to him. “I don’t want you dead.”

Scott didn’t say anything, but he took your hand and followed you back on the bus. Allison asked if she could sit next to him, so you were left looking for a place to sit. Danny was out because he was with Ethan; Isaac and Boyd were paired up and, honestly, you were kind of avoiding them; and Lydia and Stiles were together. You ended up finding a random seat and hoping the drive wouldn’t drag on too long.

---

The bus came to a stop in front of possibly the seediest motel you’d ever seen. You stepped out and shared a worried look with Scott while Coach gave the group a talk. The more you looked at the motel, the more you knew you didn't want to be there.

“Listen up,” Coach started. “The meet’s been pushed till tomorrow. This is the closest motel with the most vacancies and the least amount of good judgment when it comes to accepting a bunch of degenerates like yourselves. You’ll pairing up. Choose wisely.”

Pretty much everyone who paired up on the bus started looking at each other, so you made your way over to Scott, slipping your hand in his. “Hey, big brother who I love and adore most ardently,” you said with the biggest smile you could muster up. “Don’t suppose you wanna share a room with me?”

“Woah, Scott, no. If you’re with her, then where am I gonna sleep?” Stiles asked.

“You can share my bed,” Scott offered with a small shrug.

“I’ll just sleep on the floor. Thanks.”

You rolled your eyes and pushed them forward to grab the keys. You caught Isaac’s eye and smiled at him, hoping he got the mental ‘it’s okay, we’ll talk later’ message you sent and wouldn’t confront you about what happened earlier.

The room didn’t inspire much confidence but you pushed through. Scott asked who wanted to shower first and you shuddered. “I’m gonna check on Lydia. She didn’t seem too happy about being here,” you said.

You found Lydia outside her and Allison’s room, heading off to get new towels from the front. Allison was already showering. She looked pretty tense and you bumped her arm lightly.

“Lyd, what’s up? You’ve been kinda weird since we stopped,” you said gently.

“It’s just …” You watched her look around, like she was trying to find inspiration to word what she needed to say. “You weren’t here when I had a psychotic break and wandered around the woods for three days, but you were here when I had my second psychotic break and brought Peter back from the dead. And it feels like that. Like something horrible is going to happen tonight.”

“Yeah, I have that feeling too,” you admitted. “Though I don’t think tonight’s the best night for a naked stroll in the woods, do you?”

That made her laugh and shove you lightly, but the few moments of lightness vanished as soon as you stepped into the reception area. You watched her interact with the owner, and then when Lydia froze, looking at the number on the wall, you asked what it meant.

“It’s a kind of inside thing for the motel. My husband insists on keeping it up,” the lady explained. You held Lydia’s hand as she went on. “It’s a little morbid, to be honest.”

She told you that the Glen Capri had the highest number of suicides in all the motels in California. Lydia’s grip on your hand brought you back to reality, so you hurried out a thank you and rushed yourself and Lydia out of there.

“You forgot your towels!”

The two of you told Allison what you found out as soon as you were back in the room and she was dressed. All she asked is if you were sure that it was 198.

“Yes, and we’re talking over 40 years,” Lydia said. “On average, that’s … 4.95 a year, which is …”

“In this place? Kind of expected,” you mumbled.

“Yeah, but who commemorates that with a framed number?” Lydia almost yelled. You put your hands up in surrender and she rolled her eyes, motioning for you to move closer again.

“Wait, and they’re all suicides?” Allison asked.

Lydia told her that, yeah, they were all suicides and went on to describe a few different ways in which these suicides could have happened. But then she stopped. She was listening to something.

You looked over at Allison before leaning in closer and moving some of her hair out of the way. “Hey, Lyd, you okay? We don’t have to stay here if you-”

She got up and moved closer to the air vent, still listening, before turning around to face you and Allison. “The two people in the other room- they just shot each other. You didn’t hear that?”

You shook your head and Lydia pushed past you and ran next door, you and Allison following behind. The door was unlocked but you didn’t see anything when Lydia switched the light on. It was being renovated. You felt your heart rate slow down.

“It had to be right here,” Lydia said. She told you guys what she heard and Allison promised that she believed her. Lydia walked painstakingly slowly towards the wall, but you and Allison managed to take her back to the room. “There is something seriously wrong with this place,” she told you when the door was closed.

“But they were suicides, not murders,” Allison said. “And it’s not like this place is haunted, right?”

“I think that depends on your definition of haunted,” you said.

Lydia agreed with you. “I bet that couple made their suicide pact in that very room. Maybe that’s why they’re renovating; maybe they’ve been scraping brain matter off the wooden paneling.”

“Maybe we should find out,” Allison said. Lydia reluctantly agreed and they started walking out. “Y/N, you coming?”

“Uh, yeah.” You nodded, drumming your hand on your leg. “I just want to grab Stiles first. He’s pretty good with this stuff.”

“Okay, yeah. Meet you back here in like five minutes?” Allison asked.

You nodded and watched the two of them round the corner before going to find Stiles. You barged into the room to find Scott staring out the window, and for a split second when he turned to look at you, you could have sworn his eyes were red.

“Hey, Scott, you okay?” Stiles asked, walking out of the bathroom.

“Yeah. Yeah, I’m fine,” Scott mumbled. He looked at you. “Uh, everything okay with Lydia?”

“Yeah, I just need to borrow Stiles for a second,” you lied. Something was up with him. “The shower’s not draining right and he took that plumbing job like two years ago so maybe he could help.”

“Stiles got fired from-”

“Yeah, thanks!” You grabbed Stiles and pulled him out of the room, motioning for him to be quiet until you got back to Allison’s room.

---

“The last time I saw Scott act like that was during the full moon,” Allison said.

“Yeah, I know. He was definitely a little off with me too,” Stiles agreed. “But actually, it was Boyd who was really off. I watched him put his fist through the vending machine.”

“See? It is the motel,” Lydia argued.

“But Isaac wouldn’t back down with Ethan earlier.” You shook your head, sounding unsure. “That’s not like him.”

“Still. Either we need to get out of here right now-” Lydia opened the nightstand drawer and pulled out the bible “-or someone needs to learn how to an exorcism ASAP before the werewolves go crazy and kill us.”

“Okay, just hold on, alright?” Stiles said. “What if it’s not just the motel? The number in the office went up by three, right?”

“You mean like three sacrifices?” Allison asked.

“What if this time it’s three werewolves?” Stiles asked. “Scott, Isaac, and Boyd. Maybe we were meant to come here.”

“Exactly!” Lydia exclaimed. “So can we get the hell out of here now? Please?”

Stiles looked at the bible in her hands and frowned. He moved to take it from her. “Hang on, let me see this,” he said. You looked over his shoulder and squinted at the newspaper clippings.

“Are those-” you started.

“The articles on the people who killed themselves,” he interrupted, dumping all the clippings on the bed.

“If all the rooms have bibles-”

“There could be articles in all of the rooms.” Lydia was the one who interrupted you this time. She mentioned the couple she heard next door again, but stopped when you heard a noise coming from the room and Stiles ran out, all of you following behind. The door was locked.

“That was not locked before!” Lydia yelled.

“It sounds like someone turned on the handsaw,” Allison said. You and her shared a look before pushing Lydia back and kicking in the door. Stiles rushed in and found Ethan holding the handsaw dangerously close to his stomach. The two of them wrestled it out; the handsaw eventually tossed to the side, Ethan shoved backwards into the heater, and Stiles tripping over the wire and almost decapitating himself of the machine.

You rushed forward and pulled him away, holding him in your arms for a second before the two of you scrambled to your feet. Ethan was getting up again. He stormed out and the four of you chased after him.

“Didn’t you hear what I just said?” he snapped when you reached the stairs. “I don’t know how I got there or what I was doing.”

“Okay, you could be a little more helpful, you know?” Stiles told him. “We did just save your life.”

“And you probably shouldn’t have,” Ethan said, retreating back to his room.

“Guys, I’m gonna go find Isaac,” you said, not really paying attention to them. “We’ve seen all the wolves since we got here but no one’s seen him.”

Allison nodded. “Yeah, and I’ll find Scott. You two get Boyd.”

Isaac and Boyd’s room looked empty when you got inside, but you could hear something. The faint sound of crying and some scratching noise. It was under the bed.

“Isaac?” you called gently. The noise stopped. You crouched down and looked under the bed. Isaac’s frightened eyes stared up at you. “Hey, buddy, we’re gonna get you out of there, okay?” You reached your hand in and he crawled further back. You heard water running and hit your head on the bed when you looked up to see who it was. Boyd. With a gigantic safe in his arms. “Boyd, what are you doing?”

You followed him into the bathroom but it was like he didn’t even register that you were there … until you tried to wrestle the safe out of his arms. Then he looked you dead in the eyes before flinging you into the bathroom wall.

You groaned and your vision blurred, but you could still make Boyd out as he got into the water and placed the safe over his chest. Stiles and Lydia rushed in and tried to help but to no avail. Lydia told Stiles to get the road flares from the bus - they work underwater and could snap Boyd out of it, if he got it in time.

You dashed back into the room and fumbled through the nightstand. Lydia asked what you were doing but you didn’t have time to answer. When you found the lighter, you dropped to the floor and reached under the bed. You switched it on and shoved the flame into Isaac’s face. He woke up and grabbed the lighter from you, looking confused.

“Y/N, what the hell are you-”

“I’ll explain later! Right now, you’ve gotta help me,” you said, dragging him out from under the bed. Stiles was back with the road flare and he managed to wake up Boyd before you got there.

Isaac pulled you out of the way when Boyd launched the safe across the bathroom as he sat up. You mumbled a thank you and waited for your heart to slow down. But then you remembered something. Scott.

You raced out, almost crashing into Allison. “I can’t find Scott anywhere,” she told you, panic in her eyes.

“It’s happening to him too, isn’t it?” Stiles asked.

“What do you think? Three out of four werewolves seem to have it.” The words tumbled out of your mouth without thinking, but thankfully Lydia was talking so you didn’t have long to dwell on it.

“Uh, guys?” Lydia pointed out to where the bus was stopped. Scott was standing in front of it, doused in gasoline and holding a flare in his hands. You moved to run over but Stiles caught your wrist. The situation needed a more delicate approach than tackling him.

“There’s no hope,” he said when you all stopped in front of him. He sounded defeated.

“What do you mean, Scott?” Allison asked. “There’s always hope.”

“Not for me,” he said. “Not for Derek.”

“Derek wasn’t your fault,” she said.

“Every time I try to fight back, it just gets worse. People keep getting hurt.” It was like Scott couldn’t even hear Allison, so you decided to try to get closer to him. If you could get the flare out of his hand … “People keep getting killed.”

“Scott, listen to me, okay?” Stiles begged. He was taking steps closer right with you. “This isn’t you, alright? There is someone inside your head telling you to do this. Okay? Now-”

“What if it isn’t?” Scott asked. “What if it’s just me? What if doing this is actually the best thing I could do for everyone else?”

“It’s not,” you promised. Talking was enough of a distraction that he let you step into his gasoline puddle.

“It all started that night. The night I got bitten. You remember the way it was before that?” Scott had turned to Stiles now. “You and me, we were- we were nothing. We weren’t popular. We weren’t good at lacrosse. We weren’t important. We were no one … Maybe I should just be no one again. No one at all.”

“Scott, just listen to me, okay?” Stiles repeated. “You’re not no one, okay? You’re someone, you’re- Scott, you’re my best friend. Okay? And I need you. Scott, you’re my brother. Alright, so …” He stepped into the puddle of gasoline. “So if you’re gonna do this, then …” He put his hand around the flare. “I think you’re just gonna have to take me with you. Alright?”

“What he said,” you smiled gently. “I love you, Scott. And I’m not letting you do this by yourself.”

Scott was crying, and you grabbed the flare out of his hand as he collapsed onto Stiles. You threw the flare to Allison, but she was distracted and fumbled. You heard it clatter to the ground and then Lydia screaming. The next thing you knew, Lydia and Allison had knocked the three of you down and the gasoline went up in flames.

And from those flames emerged one of the most horrifying things you’d ever seen: the Darach.

---

You knocked on Isaac and Boyd’s door and started talking as soon as they answered. “There is no way that I’m sleeping in this crappy motel,” you told them. “The rest of us are sleeping on the bus, you in?”

The agreed and you walked them to the bus. Things were still tense because half of you were dealing with almost killing yourselves, and the other half was dealing with trying to stop it, but they were better. You’d changed shoes and Scott was washing the gasoline off in the shower. Isaac and Boyd slumped into adjacent bus benches and you saw Lydia and Allison were already snuggled up under a jacket and asleep. You sighed and sat down, waiting for Scott to come back.

“You don’t look too comfortable,” Stiles said, hopping over the seat in front of you and to get to the window seat on your bench.

“Mmm. Waiting up for Scott,” you mumbled. “How long does it take to get gasoline out of your hair?”

“Uh, in my experience it’s easier to just shave it off. Not a real hit with the ladies but effective.” You laughed and leaned into him. He was warm.

“That why you grew it out? Hoping to get more attention from the girls?”

“Nah.” He gently moved some hair that had fallen over your face when you moved under his arm. “Just the attention from one.”

“And how's that working out for you?” You were playing with the drawstrings of his hoodie.

“Not as well as I hoped, but I’m hanging in there.”

You must have fallen asleep in Stiles’ arms, because you woke up with the two of you covered by Scott’s jacket and Coach yelling. Scott had been asleep on the bench in front of you.

“I don’t want to know,” Coach told you all. “I really don’t want to know. But in case you missed the announcement: The meet’s canceled, so we’re going home. Pack it in!”

#stiles stilinski #stiles stilinksi x reader #stiles slow burn #stiles stilinksi imagine #mccall!reader #teen wolf #teen wolf au #teen wolf rewrite #so close

135 notes · View notes

lia-nikiforov · 6 years

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Spring 2018 Anime Final Review

So, uh, this is six months late. I’ve had half of this post in my drafts forever. To make it short, as I’ve mentioned previously, mom lost her job, which has not only been a heavy hit to my sense of stability for the last six months, but also means my time to watch anime was seriously reduced and even now a slight change of plans fucks up my whole schedule and sets me back for a full week. Anyway, nobody cares about any of these shows anymore so let’s get straight to it? I’m gonna ommit the two-cours that continued into the Summer - hopefully I’ll be able to make that post soonish? idk. Worst to best, same as usual

The crappy gender politics pit of shame

Darling in the FRANXX: I think everyone has ripped this show to threads at this point and there isn’t much I could add to that. It is quite funny to me to see how many people flipped out when the show went completely bananas in its last few episodes. Feels a bit like KADO, I’ve been telling y’all this was a ton of empty crap since episode 2, it just took the writing to completely self-destruct for everyone else to notice. A part of me feels tempted to do a long post breaking down just how badly the show collapsed in its final shebang, specifically how every single twist and turn completely nulled any remote kind of message or central thesis the show may have had, but at the same time it doesn’t seem worth the time. In the end, I may have given What is Internal Consistency, The anime way too much credit. It’s not hateful antigay propaganda, it’s just dumb as shits, with a writer and creators who didn’t think for half a second of the implications of what they were doing, and who were so incompetent they couldn’t even conserve the minimal plot and character coherency within a single episode, let alone 24. In other words, Darling isn’t saying “gays shouldn’t exist” but “I have no idea of anything regarding gay people”. What makes it egregious is that the show spent so much time acting like it was “meaningful” and “important” and yet it ended saying absolutely fucking nothing. Except mayb “have babies”. Down to oblivion you go, along with the likes of KADO, to the void of shows that couldn’t even be offensively bad and no one will remember a year from now. Bonus garbage points for the half-assed “bury your gays”.

Nil of Libra Admirari or whatever this show was called: I’m not trying to diss on the show, I just genuinely never remember the title because I have the JP and EN all mixed up. Not that it matters much, as far as I could tell, the show could call Shalabalabatuna and it would have the same significance in regard to the content. But the title isn’t important. In fact, it may be a bit unfair to have this show in this section. For the most part, Main Girl is very self-determined and has an active role in the story.... but then the last two episodes heavily featured a lot of rape threats or rape themes and forced pregnancy (real and threat) and I don’t really understand why they’d go there all of a sudden. One of them was treated relatively well, even empowering the victim in the process, but when the ikemen bad guy was rambling endlessly about how he wanted to impregnate the protagonist it really turned me off :/ I’m also not a fan of “main boy was her secret fiancé all along”, but at least they also handled that somewhat decently. It’s a very disposable series, but since I watched all of Amnesia, I think I owe every otoge adaptation at least the smallest chance to clear that very low bar, and Libra of Nil does it, more competently than most other stuff in the same genre.

Hisone to Masotan: I really, really wanted to love this show. Even now, as I put it in the pit of shame category, I’m pained. There was a good show in this, and a lot of it made it to the screen: an adorable, charming little story about a woman finding her place in the world, making new friends, finding her calling and bonding with an adorable dragon. Unfortunately, it got buried down under this opressing, horrendous gender politics that tried to do something with bringing attention to sexism in the military only to cancel it out making the one dude that embodied that sexism getting rewarded with the affections of a girl he explicitly tried to crush. It also called back on the virgin or whore fallacy and even managed to shove in a “bury your gays” trope. Even though Hisone challenges the ritual bullshit, it’s too little, too late, and she does end up carrying it out anyway, so the defiance to the status quo is of little importance in terms of problematizing the ritual itself. Sorry BONES, it wasn’t meant to be this time.

The ni fu ni fa section

Ni fu ni fa is a Mexican colloquialism for “It was okay but it didn’t change my life.”

Binan Koukou Chikyuu Boueibu HAPPY KISS: This soft reboot of the franchise had some really great episodes and did an actually good job of developping its characters. For the most part, it achieved what its predecessor did in terms of satirical comedy and I enjoyed it quite a bit. However, what bunked it down so low in the list was the final episode. At some point, the writers forgot they were doing a parody and made the show somewhat self-serious, way closer in tone to the magical girl anime it was supposed to be making fun of, rather than the satire its predecessor was. Whereas S1 ended with the whole Magical boy stuff being revealed as a crappy space reality TV show, this one ended with a real cheesy conflict about happiness and family and blablabla. Which is not bad by itself if this were a Precure show, but that kind of self-serious plot development just didn’t work for this series. I still enjoyed it, and the fanservice episode is one of the best of the whole franchise, but I’m a bit sad the finale missed the mark so badly.

Hinamatsuri: Hinamatsuri was very hit-or-miss for me. There were some truly brilliant episodes, a lot of funny vignettes and heart-warming stories, and then there was some stuff that made me uncomfortable -like every single Hitomi story- or felt unnecessary and dry. It also threw me off that the superpower dynamic completely disappeared in the second half of the show, especially in Anzu’s part of the story. It was okay but I feel like I needed something that felt like a closing, and choosing to end it with Mao who featured very minimally in the show overall didn’t cut it. It’s a fun show, I’d reccommend people check it out, but it felt a bit too disjointed for me

Persona 5: The Animation: This is a hard show to place because I love the looks of it and I think the concept is interesting and pretty cool, but there is something that’s keeping me from connecting emotionally to the story. The part where changing the villains’ heart makes them repent from their sins and become “good” feels very artificial and very tasteless when you’re dealing with rapists and abusers. I ended dropping it at episode 16, I just couldn’t find the motivation to catch up with the 6 episodes i’d fallen behind on because my schedule is a tragedy

Tokyo Ghoul: Re: I guess it’s fair to say I’ve kind of outgrown Tokyo Ghoul. There’s something messy and confusing about how this season panned out, and there comes a point in which misery porn just doesn’t cut it anymore. I still watch because Ishida has a way to make every single goddamn character extremely sympathetic, which makes for an emotionally engaging viewing even when you’re not sure of what the plot is supposed to be or who you should be rooting for. I tried picking up the new season that just started airing and immediately found I had no idea of what was going on, who was on who’s side and in general, who the fuck were 90% of the characters, so I dropped it.

Nanatsu no Taizai: Imashime no Fukkatsu: I’ve mentioned it before, this second season had the opposite problem than the first one: the pace was too slow. It took more than half of it to get to Escanor, and then the season ends at a kind of random spot. I really thought we’d get further along on the story, since Gowther’s backstory was hinted at in the openings, but no such thing happened. They did manage to give us a variety of cool moments and fights, and I love Ban so his scenes with Zhivago and Elaine made me quite happy, though I really wish the romance between Elizabeth and Meliodas wasn’t su dubious and cringy. In light of some revelations that take place further along the manga, going out of their way to emphasize that Meliodas was a sort of mentor figure for Elizabeth when she was a toddler seems unncessary and just very squeamish. I do hope we get a third season though, and an OVA of the Vampires of whatever side story would be great too.

Rokuhoudou Yotsuiro Biyori: I was pleasantly surprised by this show, and it’s closer to being one of my top of the season than it is to “meh”. It had some weaker, cheesier segments, but it also managed great whacky moments and a genuine soothing atmosphere. What surprised me most is that the vanilla looking cast of moderately handsome dudes managed to develop into interesting, funny individuals with a dynamic that made every episode enjoyable. A solid reccommendation for anyone wanting to see delicious looking food and moderately handsome dudes being ridiculous. Also, the cat episode is the best episode of anime ever produced.

The I’m probably the only person alive who enjoys these shows

Mahou Shoujo Ore: This is a difficult show to place because it wasn’t quite as great as I wanted it to be and its parodic nature took me by surprise, but somehow I was still seriously entertained more often than not. The twists in the final quarter and the absolutely bonkers finale was a total riot, but I definitely advise caution before going in, given that some of the jokes may seem insensitive or in poor taste in regards to gender presentation, sexuality and there are even some mild harrassment jokes that certainly made me roll my eyes.

Yowamushi Pedal: Glory Line: I don’t know if anyone’s noticed, but I think through half of the show’s 25 episode run, I was convinced the title was actually Glory Road. It’s kind of anticlimactic that it’s called Glory Line if they don’t actually reach the final Goal btw. Anyway, I feel I say this a lot, but really, if you didn’t like the previous Yowapeda seasons, there’s nothing here for you, and if you did, you’re probably not gonna hop off this late in the game. This season does suffer from the same dragging than its predecessors, with the added issue of being quite pessimistic for no reason in about half the episodes, and a diminished presence for Onoda. I really wish they hadn’t dragged the Day 2 goal so long, I really hoped we’d see the end of the race, but no such luck I guess. Still love most of it and hope we get one more season or a movie to complete the story.

The favorites of the season

Golden Kamuy: In spite of its pacing issues, terrible animation and general clunkiness, I can’t help but love this show. When season 1 ended my feelings for it had mellowed quite a bit, but as soon as I picked up season 2 this Fall I just fell in love all over again. It’s fun, unique, over-the-top in some ways, incredibly grounded in others, and the dynamics between the characters are incredibly charming.

Hozuki no Reitetsu: It’s hard to talk about this one because it feels repetitive, given how tonally the show remains just the same across its three seasons. It could’ve very well been a one-season, 36 episode show, for how little it changes in spite of the time that transpired between the first season and the second. But in short, the comedy continues to be as spot on as always, the Zashikiwarashi twins are the best addition to the cast. It’s definitely a show I could watch endless episodes off, and the rare case of an episodic series with no overarching plot that I can enjoy wholeheartedly.

Card Captor Sakura: Clear Card arc: Over the course of the series, I’ve expressed a few concerns and misgivings about how the story of this 20th anniversary sequel was playing out. The final episode was particularly troublesome in that it left the story unfinished in spite of deviating from the manga. In spite of this, more than anything I’m very happy that this continuation still retains what made the original so special, that they captured the magic behind Sakura’s “everything will be alright” spell and gave us the chance to spend more time with these beloved characters and see their stories continue. The slow but sweet development of Sakura and Syaoran’s puppy love is a definite highlight. Needs more Touya/Yukito and Yue in general.

Piano no Mori: This show got heavily overlooked because it was kidnapped by Netflix (pls stop immediately), and then when it was finally unceremoniously dumped a month or two ago, it came under fire for the wonky CGI during the piano scenes -and it is indeed very wonky-. But beyond that, I found the story very engaging, especially because Kai is such a fascinating protagonist, his intense rivalry-friendship with Megane-kun (sorry, it’s been six months, i can’t remember names) is exactly the type I can’t help but root for. Kai’s participation in the final episode gave me goosebumps. I’m very happy we’re getting a continuation, can’t wait to see how the Chopin competition develops.

Wotaku ni Koi wa Muzukashii: Sweet, funny and absolutely delightful from start to finish, Wotakoi was easily one of the highlights of the season. Although there were some aspects about Cosplayer-senpai and Yuri Otaku-senpai’s (I’m really trying to remember the names, I’m sorry!! ;---;) that didn’t work for me -namely the izakaya segment- Narumi and Hirotaka more than made up for it with their clumsy yet adorable romance. I spent the entirety of the amusement park episode screeching. I really hope we get a continuation -and get a chance to see more of Hirotaka’s brother and his gamer friend too- and that in general we can get more anime about adult stories

Megalobox: Who would’ve thought that a show that wasn’t even in my radar before the season started would’ve end as one of my favorites, possibly of the year? Even as someone who’s only marginally acquainted with Ashita no Joe and has no interst in the sport of boxing, I was completely enthralled by the style and passion of this production. As I said a bit above, intense rivalries are very appealing to me, and the build up in the tension between Joe and Yuri was almost palpable, their mutual respect gave me chills. Definitely the surprise of the season, made even better by its optimistic happy ending to contrast with its predecessor’s tragedy. Megalobox is a unique anniversary project that is closer to an homage and it works perfectly. Definitely check it out.

That’s it for the Spring season! I hope i can do the summer season this weekend and maaaybe even my watchlist for the Fall season. Fingers crossed i won’t get swallowed up in other stuff :’D

#anime final impressions #spring anime #god i've forgotten 95% of my tags #darling in the franxx #megalobox #wotaku ni koi wa muzukashii #piano no mori #card captor sakura clear card arc #hozuki no reitetsu #golden kamuy #yowapeda #mahou shoujo ore #rokuhoudou yotsuiro biyori #nanatsu no taizai #persona 5 #tokyo ghoul: re #hinamatsuri #hisone to masotan #binan koukou chikyuu boueibu

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some-jw-things · 5 years

Note

(For the Writing Prompt) Two young Witness women that have been extremely close for years become a little more than just friends. However, when one of them confesses they want to leave the cult, it drives the other away. After a long time, the one in the cult decides she finally wants to leave, and reconnect with her “friend.” (Romance perhaps?)

Jo laughed so hard she ended up choking on her root beerfloat, some of the drink sloshing out of the glass onto her shirt. “Diana! I’mstill in my service clothes, you can’t saythings like that! Don’t make me laugh!”

“How can I resist when it’s so easy though?” she grinned.“Here, let me help.” She tore a paper towel off the roll on her counter andused it to dab at the spot on her friend’s blouse. Jo’s breath hitched at thesudden proximity, at the way her friend was holding her, at the way she couldsmell Diana’s shampoo, the clean, soft scent of her.

Diana met her eyes curiously, face open and trusting andthen suddenly understanding, suddenly filled with a desire that matched hersexactly, eyes going dark with an obvious intent.

And then suddenly they were kissing, lips moving againsteach other, soft and loving and finally.Finally, after so many years of waiting, of dancing around each other, ofpretending this wasn’t everything they ever wanted. Of pretending that ‘bestfriends’ was good enough. That they could be content with that, that thesituation wasn’t intolerable, that every cell of their beings didn’t scream atthe distance they were forced to keep.

Their kiss was like finding water in the desert. It was foodto one who had been so long denied. It was everything.

It was inevitable.

Jo threaded her hands into Diana’s hair like she had alwayswanted to and cupped the other woman’s head, pulling her closer. Diana obliged,deepening the kiss, responding with growing hunger. Her hands roamed over Jo’slean body and the gentle slowness they had started with was melting intodesperate passion, into a need that had been too long ignored.

Jo’s tongue teased at her mouth and Diana gasped,snapping back to reality. She stepped back, breaking off all contact. “We can’tdo this,” she said, still breathless. “It’s a sin.”

Jo held her gaze steadily, eyes searing. “I don’t care.”

“No. No, we can’t do this. Jehovah is watching! We’ll getdisfellowshipped!”

“I don’t care,” Jo repeated.

“What do you mean, you don’t care? We could loseeverything!”

“We’re going to anyway, Diana!” she said. “You can’t be gayand be a Witness, it’s not allowed. We’re going to get kicked out no matterwhat. We’re going to get shunned no matter what. It’s just a matter of time.”

“No it’s not. Nobody has to know—“

“Diana,” she said. “I can’t go on living this way. I can’tkeep pretending to be something that I’m not.”

“You make it sound like we’re lying,” she said. “It’s not asin to avoid stumbling anyone. As long as we keep this to ourselves and don’tact on anything, we can still get into Paradise. We just—we just to try to—“

“Change?”

“Ignore it,” she said. “Everyone has sinful desires. We havea choice whether we act on them or not.”

“Ignoring a problem and covering it up doesn’t make it goaway. Pretending I’m straight doesn’t make me any less of a… doesn’t make meany less gay,” she said. “I can’t do this anymore. I’ve read all theliterature. I’ve prayed for months, for years.I’ve talked to the elders about it! I just—I can’t.”

A pit of cold dread settled in Diana’s stomach. “What do youmean?”

Jo took a breath. “I love you.”

Silence hung in the air for a long, painful moment.

“And if the god of love hates me for loving you, then Ican’t serve him anymore.”

“Jehovah doesn’t hate you,” she said.

“No, of course not. He just hates that fundamental aspect ofwho I am and doesn’t want me to find love in my life,” she said dryly.

“We can change. 1 Corinthians 6:11 says ‘that is what someof you were. But you have been washedclean—‘”

“I know what the verse says,” she snapped. “I don’t need tobe fixed, Diana, and neither do you.I’ve tried everything they said to try for years, and nothing’s worked. Itcan’t be done. I still love you, and I’m not going to stop loving you.” Hervoice dropped to something much quieter, more fragile. “And I think you love metoo.”

Diana looked up at her sharply, too shocked to respond for amoment. Then she found her voice, shaky and unsteady, but with an edge ofdetermination.

“Get out of my house.”

They made the announcement that Thursday night.

“Josefina Vasquez is no longer one of Jehovah’s Witnesses.”

Diana had told the elders everything. Two judicial committeehearings had immediately been called. Diana plead repentance and was publiclyreproved. Shamed, as Jo had put it. She was publicly shamed.

Jo had walked into the hearing with her head held high andproudly disassociated herself. Her hands had trembled. She had clasped thembehind her back so the elders wouldn’t see.

Now she sat in the very back, deserted, last row. She wasstill as a statue, her face carved out of stone. She was untouched. Immovable,unassailable.

She saw her mother shaking slightly, a few rows up. Herfather took her hands in his tenderly. Jo could see him whispering something toher.

Diana was on the other side of the Hall, the picture ofconstrained fury. A tear snuck out of her eye, and she swiped it away angrily.

The elder called for the song to begin, and everyone stoodup. Except Jo. Off-key, overly-quiet singing drifted through the air. It wassuffocating.

They had just started the second verse when Jo stood up andwalked out.

She was never coming back. Not for anything. She lovedDiana, but she had to love herself, too.

Diana came home from the meeting to an empty, darkapartment. At twenty-three, she lived on her own now. It was a recent change.She’d had to stop pioneering due to work, and so her father had stopped supportingher. She was an adult, after all. She had always known what the arrangementwould be: either she regular pioneered after high school, or she would bepaying her father rent.

She had thought that if she was going to be paying renteither way, she may as well get some privacy and a place of her own. Now,though, her whole world was ending, she had never felt so alone in her life,and all she wanted was for her dad to hug her and tell her everything would bealright.

She wanted hot cocoa and her cat that had died three yearsago and to see her disfellowshipped mom again. She wanted her parents, laughingand telling jokes in the kitchen while Mom made dinner. She wanted Jo stayingover for the night, whispering in her ear and making her laugh until shewheezed; that giddy, ecstatic feeling in her chest that she got when thingswere so sweetly perfect with her best friend. Warmth that would bloom in herchest and stay there for hours afterwards, sometimes days, making Diana lay inbed at night with a smile on her face, replaying their conversations andpretending she wasn’t blushing. She wanted to be sixteen again. She wanted togo back to when she hadn’t realized what it all meant. She wanted to go back towhen she was blissfully love-drunk and ignorant, before the longing had turned bittersweetand painful.

Her best friend. Her love. She had admitted it years ago.She was in love with Josefina Vasquez. Hopelessly, irreversibly. And there wasn’ta single thing she could do about it.

Now she would never see her again.

She wondered what Jo would do, now. She had no friendsoutside the congregation. Her family had cut her off even before theannouncement was made. She had no support system, absolutely no one to turn to.

Knowing Jo, though, the woman would probably say she didn’tneed one and try to power through on her own. She would only ask for help afterabsolutely exhausting every other option. Hopefully she wouldn’t swallow herpride too late.

Hopefully it wouldn’t come to that at all.

No. No. Diana wasn’t gonna think like that. She was going tothink positive. Jo would—If anyone could have ever been called nontraditional,then it was Jo.

She thought of the way her friend’s eyes sparkled when shewas passionate about something, the way her hands never stopped moving and sheseemed to speak with her whole body. She thought about Jo bubbling over inexcitement, infodumping on her special interests. She thought about the pang oflonging and sadness in her voice whenever college was brought up, the way shewould taper off and become quiet afterwards and break Diana’s heart.

Maybe she would go, now. Major in molecular chemistry likeshe had always wanted to. Diana had listened to her talk aboutoxidation-reduction reactions enough that she felt she could teach a course onit. Once, she had spoken for an hour and a half about the absolutely fascinating differences between transfat and cis fat molecules. Diana had interrupted every now and then to make acrappy pun.

It made her heart ache to see Jo so happy, so passionateabout something. She had been beautiful then. The most beautiful person Dianahad ever seen.

She knew she would never meet someone as extraordinary asher ever again. Josefina Vasquez had blown into her life at the age of fourteenwith all the force of a whirlwind, and Diana hadn’t caught her breath since.

Days passed. Weeks passed. Months passed.

Diana was doing street witnessing one day and saw Jo walk byacross the street, hand in hand with some blonde girl who looked way too boringfor her and probably had no clue how impossibly lucky she was.

Sister McMullin didn’t notice and kept talking about thefulfillment of prophecies or something. Diana barely registered it, noddingalong when it seemed appropriate. There was a droning hum in her ears. She feltlike screaming, throwing things and tearing her own hair out.

She had been preparing for the end of the world her entirelife but suddenly she wasn’t ready. It wasn’t fair.

It wasn’t fair.

There was a young man at the Hall. His name was David. Hewas a ministerial servant, working on becoming an elder, and he loved football.

He ended up in the same car group as Diana for servicealmost every time she went out. She knew for a fact it wasn’t a coincidence. Hisfather was in charge of making the groups, after all.

Diana had started pioneering again. She had quit her job andtaken a lower-paying one with less hours. She had thrown herself headlong intoher faith without a second thought and wasn’t looking back.

She wasn’t going to think about it.

David talked to her incessantly, seeming to never notice howuninterested she was. There was nothing wrong with David. He thought he wasdoing her a favor by spending time with her, like his mere presence was a giftfrom God himself, but still. Every other Witness boy was pretty much worse.

There was nothing wrong with David, except for the fact thathe wasn’t Jo.

When he asked her out, she said yes anyway.

It had been one year, three months, and nine days sinceDiana had last seen Jo.

She stood in front of the mirrors in the Kingdom Hall bathrooms.Her dress was beautiful. The veil was gorgeous. Her dark curls were styledimmaculately, her makeup done by a professional. Her eyes were dead andlifeless.

Her mother hadn’t been invited to the wedding, of course.She was standing alone in the bathroom, the only figure the mirror showed.

She was going to walk out that door and go into the adjacentroom and then another room and take her father’s arm. He was going to walk herdown the aisle and give her away to David. Brother Fonseca would talk about loveand fidelity and a threefold cord, and Diana would swear her subservience to aman she couldn’t care less about.

It was over. It really was over. This was her life, and thiswas all she would ever get.

Tears welled up in her eyes and she blinked them back downquickly. She steeled herself, turning her face into a mask of indifference.

She could do this.

She took a deep breath and walked out the door.

“—To love and to cherish and to deeply respect?” BrotherFonseca asked.

“I—” Diana started. Her eyes darted around the Hall, wideand panicked. Her hands were sweating on the bouquet.

“Diana?” Brother Fonseca prompted gently.

“No,” she breathed out. “No. I can’t do this. I can’t. I’msorry.”

She tossed the bouquet down right on the platform and walkedstraight off the center of the stage, the entire Hall murmuring and Davidlooking stricken, but not surprised.

Her face burned and she broke into a half-jog. She pushedpast the doors and ran into her car, swearing for the first time in her lifewhen she couldn’t get the key in, hands shaking too much. She tried again withthe same result. She slammed her arms into the steering wheel and shouted.

She took a deep, unsteady breath. She saw her dad burst outof the Hall, coming towards her rapidly. An eerie sense of calm descended onher.

She picked up the key and turned the car on. She didn’t lookat her dad as she drove away.

She showed up outside Jo’s door twenty-three minutes later.

At least, it had been Jo’s door a year ago. What if shemoved? What if she moved in with the horrible blonde girl? What if it was alltoo late and Diana had missed her chance, had blown it with the best thing thathad ever happened to her?

She was frozen on the doorstep, unable to even knock. Comeon. She did this every day, literally. Just knock on the door, ask for a fewminutes to talk, to explain, she could—

The door opened without her touching it.

Jo stood there in her pajamas, long hair messy from sleep.Her eyes widened.

“Jo,” Diana breathed, voice broken. “Jo, I’m so sorry. I-Imessed up. I don’t know—”

Jo shushed her and pulled her in gently for the best, mosttender kiss of Diana’s life. She felt everything, all at once; euphoric reliefand joy and the soul-crushing weight of the past wasted year. One of them madesome horrible, choked sound. Diana thought it was her.

Jo pulled back and took both of her hands. She led her inside.

The door clicked shut behind them.

#stories #ask

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