#2/2 to never get a whole SEASON dedicated to her character

[rhys-ravenfeather]

Compiling a list of characters whose arcs went disappointingly unresolved thanks to their shows getting cancelled:

Feel free to add your own.

#rhys-ravenfeather signing on #cartoons #danny phantom #ducktales 2017 #infinity train #i know i could have added dani too and don't get me wrong i DO wish she could have been adopted into the fenton family #but i was honestly more disappointed by valerie finding out that vlad was plasmius and nothing ever coming from it #that's one reason i put a picture of amelia and hazel together #also i feel like starfire from the original teen titans at LEAST deserves a mention for being the ONLY one of the team 1/2 #2/2 to never get a whole SEASON dedicated to her character

[flightfoot]

Fics with major Alya focus that Alya fans should read

So it's hard to find fics where Alya's a central character, where she has a character arc, focus, development of her own to a significant degree, so I figured I'd rec some fics that Alya fans might appreciate! She's not necessarily the main character in all of them, but if she isn't the MAIN main character, then she's still a major character (and almost certainly POV character) in her own right in the fic. I'm only reccing completed fics for this, btw. If anyone knows the tumblr name for any of the authors involved, let me know!

Also I have a blog dedicated to Alya at alyappreciation, so check that out if you're interested!

---

In Direct Opposition by @generalluxun

Alya Cesaire is a brand new student to Francis Dupont, to Paris even. The first student she meets is one Chloé Bourgeois, and Alya is determined to make a friend. Things advance Chaotically. Her new 'friend' is definitely a handful, and suddenly Paris has a supervillain and two brand new superheroes! Alya finds herself balancing a lot of things, trying to live up to her ideals and those of her icons. And then reality seems to contradict itself. As time progresses it seems to happen more often. Becoming a hero, battling villains, staying alive, working through friendships. Something is lurking, tweaking events at times, changing them, and no one seems aware. Alya will need all her wits to get to the bottom of this. Her investigative mind can only get her so far though, and then she needs to rely on her friends. This is not a foe you can beat head on.

---

Alya's Guide To Surviving A Magical Terrorist Which You Can't Remember by PumpkinPatchworkQuilt

In a world where the fight against Hawkmoth is kept secret from the public, one Alya Césaire sets out to bring the whole thing to light, (and possibly win a journalism award while she's at it)

---

Hold Me By Both Hands by @angelofthequeers

“I know he said never to take you back,” Plagg mutters. “But he’d change his tune if he knew.” He looks Adrien straight in the eye and, more serious than Adrien’s ever seen him before, says, “There’s someone you gotta meet. He’s been looking for that book for ages.” How differently might the events of season 2 have gone if Adrien had also known of Master Fu from the start?

---

Vantage Point by @ashes555

Most of the time, with more information, life get easier and things make more sense. But Alya discovers that sometimes, knowing everything is just plain complicated.

---

Trust by bi_skyes

They thought that because they believed Lila’s lies, they would not be trustworthy to Ladybug anymore. They thought wrong.

---

Closure by bi_skyes

After the events of “Trust”, Alya tries to find closure.

---

Lean In by Rachelea3

Marinette spills her secret, and Alya does the only thing she can do.

---

Alya Cesaire Should Be Allowed To Swear by @stripesandblossoms

Akuma attacks don't stop just because Alya is no longer a Hero, but that's fine, because she can still help clear civilians from the danger zone. Even celebrity-friends like Adrien Agreste.

---

Justifying the Means by @ashes555

When the worst happens, Alya finds that she may be willing to do the unthinkable. Is any sacrifice to big to make for her friends?

---

Accidents Are Also Miracles by @liiinerle

After some turbulent days that end with five people knowing her secret identity as Ladybug, Marinette loses faith in her ability to keep herself hidden. Wracked with doubts and insecurities, she pleads with Alya to take over as Scarabella, and tries to disconnect from heroing altogether. Along the way, she starts to date Kagami. Hard as she tries, though, she can't stop worrying - especially not once Monarch takes a particular, and personal, interest in her. At the same time, Alya tries to adjust to her new role while she works to uncover who Monarch really is, and makes some realisations about her own wishes. Kagami struggles against a controlling and abusive parent, and a girlfriend who seems bent on destroying herself - with or without Monarch's involvement. And in the meantime, Alix keeps popping her head back in with offers to help (because cool though time travel is, she misses hanging out in her own time). [Contains some spoilers for early s5 episodes, but otherwise diverges significantly from the plot of the season.]

---

Alya's Amended Guide For Internet Safety (The RPF Remix) by @redrikki

Alya hadn’t meant to fall down the Ladynoir fic rabbit hole. It just happened. She didn't mean to make Ladybug to read fic about herself either. That just kind of happened too.

---

You Are Just A Grin by Midnightdemonht

Oblivio was the only one to need a second separation, even after the butterfly was torn away.

---

the best laid plans (of bugs and bakers) by @mexicancat-girl

Paris is buzzing with the appearance of a new ladybug-themed hero, Scarabella. Alya decides to use her second hero identity to help her best friend Marinette. A bit of her flirting with Marinette is bound to make Marinette's crushes jealous and finally ask her out! Her plan is fool-proof…! Except when it's not. Not enough people are talking about Scarabella flirting with Marinette. How can Alya properly help her best friend if the news can't be bothered to cover Marinette's budding romance with Scarabella and only posts things about Marinette with Chat Noir?! So Alya puts her all into her plan, upping up her flirting each time she appears as the newbie hero Scarabella. This totally does not backfire in any way.

---

Radio Silence by @into-september

When an inexplicable change between Marinette and Adrien brings the two closer than ever, Alya is left on the outside of a secret too confounding to be about cheesemaking or puppy love. [No S4 AU]

---

Creative Lies and Destructive Truths by @azuriteartist

Alya and Lila are two sides of a never-ending fight. The fight between truth and lies, between honesty and deception, between justice and personal gain. And now they have the powers to elevate that fight to a city-wide level. Can Alya stop the deception before it destroys the city? And can Lila stop the truth before it destroys her?

---

The Investigation by @11jj11

Adrien and Marinette are finally dating-- which is what Alya has always wanted... but yet this sudden transformation in their relationship overnight? Things aren't adding up. They are suddenly so much closer than they ever have been before, Adrien is apparently a flirt, Marinette is no longer a stuttering mess, and not to mention the nicknames that came out of no where. Alya is happy for her friends, but she knows there's something more going on, and the reporter in her is going to get to the bottom of it.

---

Cat Naps by BookGirlFan

Chat Noir doesn't care if he dies temporarily. Alya's starting to think he doesn't care if he dies permanently. Marinette's way too stressed for this, so it's up to Alya to find out why Chat Noir's willing to let his cat naps turn into the long sleep.

---

Where were you the first time you were possessed? by @zanzquest

It should be an easy assignment: write about the first time a ghost took over your body to make varying degrees of mischief. There’s just one issue: Alya hasn’t been possessed yet.

---

Is it chill that you're in my head? by @bringthestorm

Alya stared at the picture plastered across the homepage of every single tabloid and news site, whispering every curse she could think of under her breath. SHOCKING SECRET ROMANCE BETWEEN LADYBLOGGER AND PARISIAN SUPERVILLAIN REVEALED!!! the headline announced, casually shouting the words she had been dreading for all of Paris to read. --- Alya had always assumed that someday Paris would discover that she had secretly been kissing their most wanted vigilante, but she had never thought it would happen so soon. As the domino effects of her relationship with Ladybug go spiraling through her life, Alya turns her sights towards the one responsible: the elusive superhero Hawkmoth. AKA Someone outs Alya and her girlfriend so she retaliates by deciding to take down Hawkmoth 

---

Lady and the Fox by @ck2k18

Marinette and Alya, known to their subscribers as “Ladybug” and “Rena Rouge,” have a popular cooking vlog using their parents’ kitchens. While moderating comments, Alya realizes that their viewers assume the two anonymous hosts are a couple, and it causes her to look at her relationship with Marinette in a new light.

(punch punch) fall in love by @mexicancat-girl

One day, Sabrina walks up to Alya. Alone. No Chloe in sight. Sabrina wants to learn self defense. Alya agrees to teach her. Alya ends up getting way more invested than she originally thought she'd be, because Sabrina is a quick learner and sometimes her smile makes Alya's insides go weak.

---

When I Grow Up by waltzofthewifi

-I want to be a superhero." The class stifled laughs. "But superheroes aren't real!" Someone called out. A look through Alya's life. One-shot.

---

disconnected by just_an_ordinary_fan

Lady Wifi believes she might be the only one who does not want to obey Hawkmoth's orders. When she sees another akuma hesitate in the battle, she finds she might not be entirely alone.

Walking that Mile by @nomolosk

Nino and Alya wake up in the wrong bodies. Several things result from this, including, but not limited to, identity reveals and a better understanding of what their respective best friends are going through.

---

(may we write it all down) in cursive light by @sunfoxfic

Since retiring as a journalist, Alya hasn't been involved in an interview in several years. But now that her identity is out, that's about to change.

---

Strangely Familiar by @sunfoxfic

Alya Césaire’s life is perfect. Indeed, between the success of the Ladyblog, how well she’s doing in school, and the fact that she’s a superhero who has never bore the weight of a crisis of epic proportions, her life almost couldn’t be better. Almost. But Alya has always been a go-getter, and so she’ll chase after that perfect life if it kills her. Which is how she ends up rushing to move out of her father’s apartment and in with Marinette, Adrien, and a complete stranger: Nino Lahiffe. And in fact, her life does seem perfect — she and Nino are fast friends. They spend a lot of time together and get to know each other really well. But in the end, fortunate situations will bear unfortunate truths, and she learns things about herself that aren’t quite comfortable. Like I said, though: Alya has always been a go-getter, and she won’t let new feelings deter her from chasing after her perfect life.

---

Trust your instincts by @ultrakart

Alya has the instincts of a fox. Nino finds it hilarious.

---

Foxy Lady by WizardlyMagik

In which Nino finds himself unexpectedly attracted to Rena Rouge, tries and fails to tell his friends and get some advice, and desperately attempts to hide it from his girlfriend. (Who in fact, is planning to use it to her advantage)

---

No One Can See Us Here, Alone; or, The Behaviors of Binary Stars by artEngine

"Yeah, about that," Nino turns to fall in step with her out the door, "Hows about we take a small break from the quests? Chillax, enjoy our money and things?" "You say that now," Alya eyes him from the corner of her vision, "but would you still say that if I told you this special quest was to find a hidden genie for three free wishes?" "Dude. Yes." "Fine. Look, I promise to chill if we go on this quest. Okay?" Nino narrows his eyes down at her pleading expression. This dialogue is suspiciously familiar. Somehow, he gets the feeling that this time will be different. And for some reason, he listens to that feeling. "You're lucky I like you," he concedes. Alya hip-checks him with a winning smile. "That I am." : : A series of Alya and Nino's exploits as a part of the 10,000 gamers who found themselves trapped in Akihiko Kayaba's VRMMORPG game, Sword Art Online. For AU April with the Miraculous Fanworks Discord. (Knowledge of and/or interest in SAO or ALO is not required to enjoy this fic)

---

well somewhere along the way in our words i must've gotten lost by @noirshitsuji

Beelya where Queen Bee visits the Césaire house after Alya writes an article about her fighting Mr. Pigeon alone. Normally Chloé would like the publicity but Alya had titled it ‘The Birds and the Bees’. After that she ends up coming back to complain about her mother. And her father. And about the fact that her oldest friend seems uncomfortable around her. Her visits becomes weekly, then almost nightly. (Don’t forget to include Chloé redemption (and some “Bee Movie” jokes).) * Alya isn’t quite sure how she ended up here, in a place where she isn’t even surprised Chloé would seek her out to talk about her dad, where she wouldn’t even mind her doing so, where she would expect it, where she would– (–thud. She might be in trouble.)

---

Me, My Best Friend, and Her Cat by @ladyofthenoodle

Ladybugs aren't known for being particularly sneaky. Good thing this Ladybug has a fox in her corner, watching her back. (And giving Ladybug's love life a nudge along the way. Maybe more than a nudge. In Alya's defense, Ladybug can use all the help she could get.)

---

Best Laid Plans by @captorations

Alya Césaire had always known she was going to be a superhero one day. She even had a rather unique plan to protect her secret identity, and it worked like a charm. But tricksters have to be careful, lest they end up tricking themselves.

---

Outfoxed by @captorations

Lila Rossi is not a Miraculous wielder. That doesn’t mean she doesn’t have power. Alya was under her spell, along with so many others, until the day Lila unknowingly overstepped herself. Freed at last, the true Fox recognizes magic when she sees it, even if it doesn’t come from a source she understands. She is none too happy about this pretender abusing her natural gifts to make fools of Alya and those she loves. Alya Césaire might need an enchanted necklace and the aid of a tiny deity to cast illusions, but she swore to use her borrowed abilities for the greater good long ago. There is none better suited to facilitate the liar’s downfall. And maybe she’ll help her best friend sort out her increasingly complex love life along the way.

#miraculous ladybug #alya cesaire #rena rouge #ml fanfic rec

[dragontamerno3]

DS9 S2 E22 - The Wire

HOW DOES ANYONE THINK THESE TWO ARE IN A STRAIGHT??!!!???!!!

Ahem.

Seriously. How?

The episode starts off with the two going to their weekly lunch having the gayest banter about books and food and there is genuine concern for Garak when he starts showing signs of illness. Yes, Bashir is the station Doctor but it's also very much a "my friend is in pain, whats wrong" look when it happens.

This is cemented when Jadzia brings her plant to him to diagnose. Their conversation was primarily about the plant he was examining but her "its not like you're friends" comment and them him agreeing angrily while he stabbed said plant? There was no mistaking that he does (at least on some level) think of them as friends. Honestly, that whole conversation kinda felt like a ton of "I'm not jealous" conversations where I've seen two friends discussing a third party who was hanging out with a new person. Or more specifically a crush starts to spend more time with someone new. I have had similar moments myself as a baby queer.

I applaud Quark for his ease of lying. He was so smooth with a line or two to give to Bashir to get him to walk away. Wonderfully done.

The other smooth part with Quark was when Bashir is trying to usher Garak out of the bar and convince him to go to the infirmary and how they just swapped the bottle without a word.

On that same note, when Quark called Bashir to the bar to get Garak and Garak was like "Yes, quiet is better, lets go to my quarters", I wondered how often he actually brought people back to his room. He is so secretive that it seemed to me that he'd rarely (or never) let anyone come by so it seems significant that he offered that.

Of course Odo has tapped Quarks bar to monitor his transmissions, so much so that he even knows when Quark makes his more "sensitive" calls.

From the moment they said Garak was having head pain I figured there was some kind of implant in his head that was either malfunctioning, it was finally deteriorating or something similar. That paired with the fact that Garak was most definitely a spy, whether he still is or isn't is questionable sure, but at one point he was somehow tied to the intelligence network. So it wasn't a surprise to find out that was what causing him pain. It was fun to watch Quark give the Cardassian dude a code for a highly classified piece of tech though that may or may not cause both of them some hiccups later. Karma.

What I WAS surprised by was that is was more of a drug like situation. The whole break down in his room about how he had spent years being tortured and so 2 years ago he decided to say fuck it and to just live in a drugged state permanently was well done. I felt for both men in that moment. I can't even imagine what Garak was going through but I can tell he was suffering even when he had been drugged. And then Bashir hearing that the man he had come to think of as a friend (even if it was reluctantly) claim he wanted nothing to do with the dear Doctor. But then the trust in Garaks face as he relented? There was no heterosexual reason for this.

I need more of Bashir being a guard dog for all those under his care cause clearly that's a pattern I enjoy. It was a great character moment when he protected Jadzia against the trill transfer earlier in the season and it was a great moment here where he told Odo to fuck off.

The whole withdrawals scene was a rough one to get through in that way that I could see where it was going and I could tell both sides of that were very uncomfortable but the "the problem is I DID enjoy it" gave me life.

Every single story Garak told in this episode was both contradictory and very much believable, to me. I believe he blew up a Cardassian ship that held civilians and his "friend" on broad because it sounds like to me that this was the moment that part of him died, the part where he was dedicated to the cause. I also believe he let the Bajorian "prisoners" go and his "friend" was angry/appalled because this might have been one of the first steps to him questioning his involvement in things and how he hated himself for having these thoughts. I also believe he tried to hack the Cardassian systems to self sabotage himself subconsciously while thinking he was fixing things only to discover he purposely screwed himself over.

"I need to know SOMEONE forgives me." 😭💔

The thing that I loved most about this episode though was how Bashir was willing to risk his own safety to go to Cardassia on his own for Garak, who is in exile, to confront a highly respected man of the deepest, darkest intelligence network. That took guts and he did it without even blinking. Hell, he did it without even flinching when it was clear Tain was giving him vague threats.

I am disappointed about how quickly this one wrapped up, it seemed like we were worried about Garak dying and he was just suddenly okay again and having lunch, but that's a whatever moment. We don't honestly know how much time had passed and we knew he was going to get the info he needed to remove the device. It just seemed... fast?

Overall very much one of my favorites so far.

9/10 - will watch a million times

#star trek #star trek ds9 #ds9 #star trek deep space nine #watchalong #ds9 bashir #gay #i love them #garak x bashir #gashir #the wire #garak ds9

[sylvies-kablooie]

the problem w loki s2: hey, where did the women go?

this is criticism so if that isn’t your thing you have been forewarned! i knew by episode 2 that something was off compared to s1 and i couldn’t quite place it. was it the sole focus on drab retro futurist TVA aesthetic instead of the colorful cinematography in s1? was it the focus being placed upon this Loom that we just found out is a thing and also Hey we have to stop it right now? Was it the lack of sylvie content?

but i think it just comes down to bad writing and whilst also trying to salvage what we DID get, i would feel dishonest to pretend that my problems with s2 arose from the finale alone. and while there were narrative inconsistencies between the seasons, i think a central error in s2 was sidelining the female characters.

s1 had beautiful themes, including self-acceptance and the power of love, and was building up to a ton of unanswered questions. a central theme of s1 (like it or not) was the connection between sylvie and loki. it was intended by waldron and herron from the start to be a romance, but beyond the romantic aspect, sylvie was the driving force of the show. she’s the variant the TVA is chasing, she’s the one who reveals that the TVA is a lie and makes everyone question what they were taught, it’s her that plunges the blade into HWR and opens the multiverse- and it’s no secret that in s2 she was largely off screen, only to show up at key plot points and kind of make things difficult rather than allow a further explanation into her character. and i could and might make a whole post on the sidelining of sylvie, but also- renslayer.

we saw a lot of renslayer in s1! she was pretty damn integral to the plot. her connection with mobius was fascinating, her dedication to doing what she saw as the right thing even when she learned all her gods were dead, her willingness to prune her best and maybe only friend to protect the big TVA lie- that was captivating. she’s also the first character we get to see the real non-TVA life of! she’s a principal at a school! and what did we get from her in s2?

she throws the book at victor, we learn she was his general and she’s Mad, and then exiled to the void. she’s barely there this season despite being central to s1! why, when you have an actor as talented as gugu mbatha-raw, would you not take advantage of that! we see threads of what COULD have happened in her storyline- her alliance with miss minutes, realizing maybe they never needed him at all- but at the end she’s pruned, thrown in the void and That’s That’s, stay tuned to see if anything happens in one of the endless future installments. we get that amazing I’m order line, and then what? and what type of order is she even representing? why is she so willing to toss mobius to the curb? you see why we need more development here?

b-15 met a similar fate. actually, i was really excited at the start of s2 to see her get her moment defending the new branches, realizing those were people, seeing the grief on her face; remember, sylvie showed her her life on the timeline, so this is personal for her. but she’s also quickly regaled to the side after her speech in the war room. she was a doctor, she is VERITY WILLIS, but do we get into any of this? No! (I also didn’t like her willingness to negotiate with Dox after the bombed the timelines, saying deep down I know you’re good right after we watched her cry over the devastation that had brought to the timelines, but maybe that’s another point)

and dox? what’s the deal with her! we are introduced to this strong general with a weird connection to brad, someone who is willing to go against TVA orders to bomb the timelines in the defense of what she believes is right, but then- squashed in a cube. that’s that. no examination into why she would be willing to betray the TVA in that way but also NOT join renslayer, no explanation into what was going on w brad.

(brad is worth a whole separate post but this is focusing on the ladies so just keep that in the back of your mind)

and back to sylvie. i saw some people point out how gross her being frozen during the final battles between her and loki was; how it eliminated her agency and allowed the men to have a Serious Talk. i have to say i agree with that judgement. in this season we get to see glimpses of what sylvie wants, but the unresolved relationship (whichever way you wish to characterize it- you do you!) between her and loki just hangs in the air like a heavy storm cloud i kept waiting to break but it… didn’t. the closest we got was the pie room scene, but everything between them was stilted and awkward when she was onscreen, which wasn’t that much.

it was almost as if the connection with loki was considered in opposition to her role as a Strong Woman, in a way- she was Strong and Angry. in s1 we see sides of her that defy stereotype- giving that doomed child her candy to ease the pain, her admitting to loki that she numbed herself with flings; there’s a vulnerability there, a complexity. the two of them rehashed their first fight again and again instead of moving onto something new (that being said sophia’s performance in episode 3 added a weight to the story that pleased me greatly) but overall she was regarded as a plot obstacle to be hidden away- at least past episode 3.

anyway i do think it comes down to writers biting off more than they could chew and losing the central concept of the show and focusing on sciencey plot rather than characterization. you can’t make season 1 centered around a love story and then pretend that didn’t happen and expect a cohesive transition between seasons. you can’t bombard us over and over again with the centrality of loki and sylvie’s duality- all of the we’re the sames, all of the i’m not you’s, and then move into s2 deciding it’s time to focus on only one half of that duo you spent the whole series focusing on.

you also can’t give us a “aHH we’re all gonna explode” thing over and over again and expect us to give a damn when you’re not letting the characters have dialogue that makes us say, oh man, i hope this loom thing doesn’t blow up, because i want to see where the connections they have going on end up! you can’t replace emotional weight with a ticking time bomb and expect it to do the work for you.

there are other problems with the series as well, and other people are far more articulate than i am, but the lack of female gaze and only one episode having a female writer this season was glaring, imo.

thank u for coming to my tedtalk and i’d love to hear ur thoughts!

#there was also just no whimsy #it was whimsy-less #but that’s another point entirely #anyway i’m torn between embracing what i do like about s2 and throwing the whole thing in the trash mentally #loki series negativity #loki series critical #loki tv show #loki #loki series #loki show #loki tv #loki s2 #renslayer baby i’m so sorry they did all of that to you you deserved SO much better #and sylvie and dox and b-15 #i’m sure i’ll think of other things too but these are the big ones

[k4pp4-8]

Is there anything you wished the Show Ok. Ko Lets Be Heroes focused more on? Whether it be a character, relationship, arc, villain ect?

OH BOY THERE'S SO MUCH I WANTED TO SEE

1. FIRST OF ALL I REALLY wish they had more time to focus on the big reveal because I waited since season for them to talk about the whole POINT situation and when they finally DO reveal laserblast's identity it's completely rushed. This is such an emotional plot line for MULTIPLE characters yet we only see a fraction of it! LIKE PLEEAAAAASE I WANT TO SEE MORE OF HOW THIS AFFECTED CAROL!!! What she went through is so tragic, she lost her love, her dream, her friends, AND she had to raise the child of her dead lover alone. And yet she stayed strong through all of it and became the best mom ever. (Carol I love you plz marry me)

ALSO I WILL NEVER GET OVER THE FACT THAT WE DON'T SEE GAR'S REACTION TO THE REVEAL!! He literally blamed himself for laserblast's death, who was his teammate, his best friend's lover AND K.O's father. Just imagine how he felt like knowing K.O looked up to him as a father figure while thinking it's his fault K.O doesn't have a dad???

And also every other POINT member's lives were immensly affected by laserblast's death, like Rippy roo who dedicated years of her life trying to find a way to bring him back or Greyman trying to make a hero people could look up to or Foxtail still holding a grudge against Gar for what happened. I reaaally wanna know how they would react to knowing not only their friend is alive but he is also a successful villain.

2. Another thing I REALLY wanted to see was Rad and Dendy's relationship actually being explored! I used to think her "obsession" with Rad was nothing more than a gag but I saw that there was supposed to be an episode explaining that "she looked up to Rad because he's unashamed of who he is even though he comes from he considered as unusual family background." AND IT JUST MAKES SO MUCH SENSE!!!! I think that would've been an amazing way to explore both of their characters.

Also it's pretty ironic because Rad IS ashamed of who he is! Since day one he's been hiding things he loves and acting like a jerk to cover up his insecurities. I think Dendy telling him she looks up to him would've encouraged him to change the way he acts just like in the "Radical rescue" episode, when he tells K.O he doesn't want him to imitate his bad behavior.

3. Now we're getting to the REAL interesting part. BOXBOTS!!!! LISTEN I HAVE SO MUCH TO SAY ABOUT THEM BUT I'M GONNA TRY TO MAKE IT SHORT AND UNDERSTABLE.

I REALLYYY wish we had more moments of vulnerabilty with them. Pretty much every single one of their scene is comedic and, while I do ADORE the comedy, I still wish they were taken more seriously. Like their whole situation is really tragic in many ways yet it's completely ignored. I know it's a mostly light hearted show but the boxbots are never given a genuine moment that felt like their feelings were taken seriously. It's probably just me who's wayyyy too attached to them but my favorite moments are when we get to see the more "human" side of them. Like when they act like an actual family, playing board games, having dinner together, hanging out, or bickering like siblings

I wish they explored how being robots affects them and the way everyone treats them. It's like robots are not considered like "real people" to some degree. We already know that in the okko universe being a certain species will change the way people perceive you and treat you (ie aliens and kappas) and it's shown to be a bad thing when it happens to Rad and Dendy, but when the bots are treated badly it's always seen as a joke and brushed bc you know , they're robots so who cares. There's like an implication that all robots are inherently bad because they're robots, K.O even said Mr.logic was "one of the good ones" implying he's just an exception (also it's crazy that he actually said that sentence and no one batted an eye)

And finally the ONE thing I really REEAALLYYY wanted to see more of is *drum rolls* LORD COWBOY DARRELL (who could've seen that coming)

LISTEN THERE WAS SOOOOOOOOO MUCH POTENTIAL THERE IT ACTUALLY MAKES ME CRAZY JUST THINKING ABOUT IT I WISH I WAS EXAGGERATING!!! Like for the first time we actually see boxman suffer the consequences of his actions, his kids FINALLY stand up to him after being treated like crap 24/7 and then he's forgiven in episode two??? And we don't even see how this affects the other bots!! Like Raymond and Shannon also loved boxman but they seemingly didn't hesitate to side with Darrell over him. I wish they explored how they chose their brother over their father who they were absolutely devoted to since birth.

I was actually disappointed to see Darrell forgive him SO easily and all the character development he could've had was thrown out the window in two seconds!!!! We actually get a glimpse of Darrell's potential but it's all forgotten as soon as Boxman becomes the boss again

I loved seeing Darrell actually fight back for once because he is one of the characters who gets mistreated the MOST by the whole cast. Half of his scenes are just him getting beat up and insulted, he's always treated like an idiot or a joke character so it was incredibly satisfying to see him actually stand up for himself and take charge. Like yeah he is goofy as hell and very immature and I love that about him! But when he became Lord Cowboy Darrell we actually got to see a whole new side of him. He was cunning and smart and resourceful and it KILLS me that we never got see that side of him again. I wish people aknowledged how competent and mature he can be instead of treating him like an actual child. I actually hate how infantilized he is sometimes

Anyway I could go on and on and on forever about the boxbots but that's just a few things i wish the show focused more on, there's probably more but I can't remember them rn

#sorry anon that type of question is the best way to get me carried away and make me start rambling #im just soooo invested in that show and the characters that i think about them 24/7 #i love it so much and i cant stop wishing there was more of it so i have to daydream about it constantly #maybe i AM thinking about it a lil too much but hey who cares im having fun doing it #thank you for giving me an opportunity to ramble anon #asks & answers

[kinnenvy]

In defense of season five Brian Kinney

(this has been in my drafts for months because i'm scared to post it sjkfhs)

We all feel a certain kind of way about season five, it's like... kind of unfortunate from beginning to end lmao. BUT STILL the one thing that I will always do is try to defend that babygirl, I will carry him out of the storm of criticism princess style and take him home on a white horse.

disclaimer: this is a confused stream of consciousness and I will get some things wrong because it's the season I've watched the least lol.

Why does Brian act the way he does? We know why he acts a certain way throughout the series and to me his behaviour in s5 is not that unwarranted or different from the other seasons.

1) At the end of season 4 he asks Justin to move in, he talks about wanting to spend more time with Gus, but does any of it happen? no.

Justin leaves and Brian is happy and proud of him, but honestly I would also see why that would make him feel a certain kind of way. He already thinks he doesn't deserve love and companionship and one of the few times he asks for it he doesn't get it. He prepares a trip to go see Justin, but at the last second he decides not to go, he gets cold feet because it sound like Justin is leaving him forever. Sort of, kind of, but it's enough. The same happens with Gus (imo). Like he's accepted that with time all his relationships will end and no one actually wants him to fight for them, because no one actually likes him enough to want to stick around. But do you know who will always stay by his side? Michael. Until...

2) Confession... I don't hate the assimilation plotline. It was handled horribly, but I still think it's pretty cool they dedicated so much time to it. They were doing this in the early 2000s and now most lgbtq+ media can't handle to seriously get anywhere close to it.

Brian and Michael's roles are on the opposite spectrum of the debate and Justin ping pongs between them way too pointedly, because (imo) the writers decided to use him as a plot device instead of a character. (Unironically to me Justin feels the most like Justin when he is being a dick to his mom about her boyfriend) (and even then I find myself questioning whether s4 Justin would do or say any of that)

ANYWAY Brian sees his best friend/brother travel where he can't follow him. Michael has a family, he is married, he has a house in the suburbs, new, more mature friends and Brian is looking at him from afar, wondering why he suddenly thinks the life they've shared is a meaningless, shameful thing of the past. Not directly, but in a way wondering why Michael can't just accept him the way he is anymore.

BTW Brian might have celebrated the wedding of his friends... but that doesn't mean he changed his mind on weddings as a whole. Actually his wildest marriage nightmares are proven right by the two married couples he knows. He probably looks at Mel and Lindsay destroying each other, stuck in a legal battle with Michael /and/ Ben, looks at the kids trapped in that mess and is glad that will never be him.

UNTIL IT IS. Justin, in his infinite wisdom, decides he wants all of that actually and he tries to "tame" (quoting Cowlip) Brian until he leaves him behind because the domestication isn't sticking and him alone is not worth as much as weddings and kids. There's supposed to be something MORE. Staying with Brian suddenly means settling for something lesser than what Michael has. This process starts way before the break up (talks of... puppies?) and it's there where (imo) Brian just breaks.

No Michael, no Justin, constant talk of marriage and kids and divorce and custody. No one fucking cares Brian has a reason to behave the way he does. It's normal to want different things in life, but no one in the cast has experienced what Brian has and no one tries to understand it and understand what he wants and why either.

Brian's entire existence in the series is being questioned: his worth, what he has to offer, what he can't/won't give as well as what he can/will give, what HE IS, everything amounts to literally nothing. he is being left by everyone, he's wrong and not enough. Meanwhile he hates being alone, he's needy and touch starved and sweet, he needs his special people around, but why would he ask them to stay, when they make it so clear that they think he is not worth anything? (he's left with literally only Lindsay who is so bad at keeping her mouth shut and just offering support and Ted who's mostly just thinking about his own dick 24/7 and is more of a distraction than anything else).

The only gateway to attention and affection he has left is sex except that isn't working as well anymore.

[2.2) (little aside about Justin) To me he is a bit like a moth flying into bright, shiny things. He's still stubborn and driven, but in season five his decisions feel shallow, like he's doing things out of boredom. At the start of the season he's coming back from hollywood, where he was happily living in kinney-like debauchery, and he's disappointed to be back to his old life. So (imo) he finds a new thing to obsess over: marriage. Then he gets to go to new york and weddings, kids and manors are suddenly a thing of the past. This is why to me, in season 5 he's just a big nothing of nothing, genetically modified to accompany the brian/michael assimilation plot line and then Brian's ending.]

3) Confession n 2 I don't hate Brandon and even though the competition is SO cringe, it's meant to be that way (i hope at least), to me the way it ends is what makes it clear. We get a glimpse of season one Brian, broken and lost, terrified, hanging onto the one thing that makes him feel wanted, safe and alive (sex). He wins, but the ending to the competition is not satisfying, Brian doesn't claim his prize (he doesn't want it). We get an unsettling, super close close up on Brian and Brandon instead, the lines are not good, but the visual storytelling carries that scene effortlessly. Past and present looking at each other, the future looming over them right out of frame where none of us can see it.

Aging is a main theme throughout the story and to me it feels very fitting to ham it up towards the ending. Justin spitefully telling him he looks good after sighing and moping around for entire episodes can't fix Brian's lifelong obsession with the loss of his youth. Brian is left to deal with it on his own when it's at its worst. He is old and lonely, Brandon and the competition is an escape, one last glimpse at what it's like to be the young, hot, reigning stud of Liberty Avenue, while being fully aware that his time is up.

In conclusion, Brian has not taken steps back imo, he is struggling to come to terms with the changes around him, while also feeling confident about his own convictions. Sometimes he is bitter and lonely and we get to see him say extreme things, but he's also more well adjusted than he was in season 1. He knows what he wants but he's still scared to admit it. Partly because (and the failure with the moving in thing could be a factor in this) he doesn't think he should ask for anything, partly because the people he loves are expecting him to change even more and against his will.

A the same time, he is able to question himself because he has grown and worked through some of the trauma that shaped him, also he has found a new kind of intense love with Justin, different from the codependency he has with Michael (and Lindsay) and the surface level friendship he has with everyone else, which is something that has made him realise so much about himself and what he wants and would like to be.

For the same reasons he is able to look at his empire crumbling and accept it, because during the show he found other reasons to fight and stay alive. When those same reasons are taken away from him, or he doesn't find the courage to go after them, he tries to comfort himself through sex, even if it's unsuccessful, but he's not closing into himself like he used to. He still thinks he'll get Michael back eventually and he's happy to let Justin go if it means he'll find what he is looking for, Brian doesn't want another relationship he doesn't care for it, the only reason Justin became his boyfriend is because he forced his way into his life and his heart ugh cringe lol. Obsessing over sex, age and fighting with his loved ones is not necessarily a sign of regression, just a momentary way to cope with the world pulling the rug from under his feet.

He went from attempting suicide to celebrating being cancer free. He wants the people who make him happy to be happy, even if it hurts him. He's not possessive and he's not particularly brave when it comes to relationships, but he's also growing constantly, willing and unwilling he changes and moves forward in his own way, sometime turning to look at the past but with no excuses, no apologies, no regr[GUNSHOT]

Then episode 10 comes and a lot more shit happens that i could write another 20 pages about but im done for now lmao ok bye

#qaf #queer as folk #meta #queer as folk us #brian kinney #possibly my last contribution to the fandom rip kinnenvy on ao3 #i don't know why anyone would want to read this but i want it in my blog in case i forget how weird and obsessive i can get

[hermit-searching]

TMNTposting Raphael edition (Part 2):

Part one can be found here. I really wanted to talk about my favourite little guy but I didn't feel like I had enough space to get all my thoughts down in the last post. So technically the entirety of part 2 is dedicated to 87 Raphael.

When asked who my favourite version of Raphael is, my answer is always a tie between 03 and 87 Raphael. I'm probably biased because they're the versions of Raph I grew up with, well 90s movies Raph is also in there but I really don't remember enough about the movies besides the Ninja Rap scene and I haven't rewatched it yet. The point being, 03 Raph tickles that itch for "more traditional Raphael" while 87 Raphael...I kinda just vibe with the little guy.

At face value he seems about as much of a traditional 'hot head' Raphael as Rise. Neither of them really fit into the "explosive temper" territory as 03, 12, 07 or the original Mirage comic Raph. He's a silly little dude. He likes playing dress-up, stand up comedy, and acting. Of all the versions of Raphael, he's definitely the most 'kid-like'. He's childish, he'll heckle his buddies for laughs, he even tells Shredder to go suck a lemon in the first episode. He's hilarious! But that type of comedy usually ends up getting him, and the other 87 turtles lets be real, into crossovers that horribly mischaracterize the poor kid.

As much as I loved TMNT 03, Turtles Forever is such a disservice to what TMNT 87 was, and who the 87 turtles are. 2012's second crossover with 87 also follows the TMNT 87 hate train, and it's so frustrating as a fan of most TMNT media. I get that the OG cartoon was super silly and tame compared to the others at face value, but every time someone says this I need to remind them it's 1) a cartoon from the 80s, and 2) lowkey really dark the more you think about it.

Such as:

-every time slavery is brought up and a plot for some other planet

-the entirety of the Red Sky seasons

-the humans of TMNT 87 always threatening to eat and or shoot the turtles because they're mutants

-the whole mutant hate sentiment being an allegory for the civil rights movement

But this is a post about Raphael. He's definitely still a funny little dude. But a lot of his humor stems from sarcasm and his cynicism towards the world. Raphael, is well aware humans are not fans of him or his compadres, and often sides with Donatello whenever he and Leonardo get into arguments about helping the humans. Their human friendship circle pretty much just ends with April and that's a dubious friendship at best since they're more or less a bridge towards her next scoop. None of them are really fans of Irma, Casey rarely appears, and the other human characters in the show are usually trying to turn them into kebabs until Dirk Savage the Mutant Hunter which already kind of says enough for itself.

This poor kid is honestly the bravest little dude. More often than not he'd rather run from a fight, or push Michelangelo into one for him. He's scared a lot, really giving off those youngest sibling vibes that are rare for Raphael. He's such a little scaredy cat that he his voice will sometimes sound like a squeaky toy. If Turtles Forever was correct about anything, it would be that Raphael would absolutely burst into tears meeting his Mirage counterpart.

But despite this all, Raphael is still probably the bravest version of Raphael they've ever created. Even though he'd rather scram, and read comics or watch TV. Despite knowing humans have it out for him, and will never accept him into their society. Even though he knows every time he saves them it will be a thankless job, Raphael will fight until his last breath. Like every other Raphael, he will protect the people and city he loves because that's who he is!

One of my favourite episodes in TMNT history has to be Raphael vs the Volcano because it really shows who 87 Raphael is as a person. There have already been a few posts about it recently who have all been far more coherant than I ever will be but let's do it anyways.

Raphael vs the Volcano:

-Donatello's latest invention, a health machine, malfunctions leading Raphael to believe he's unhealthy

-after panicking in the sewers a little bit, he goes back to the lair, only to overhear Michelangelo and Donatello lamenting over the loss of their dear friend.

-assuming they're talking about him, and that he only has a day to live, Raphael runs off, deciding that despite the fact the world sucks he's going to use his last day to make the world a better place

-he does a bunch of good deeds, increasing in danger, wearing a musketeer costume while the other turtles and April try to catch him

-some botanist is mad that a rich lady is taking credit for his discovery so he decides to eliminate all organic life on earth...not really important for Raphael's character except the fact he catches wind of this and takes this as his last deed before croaking.

-Raphael literally jumps into a live volcano to get the canister of anti-life juice, only escaping seconds before it erupts because the turtles arrive in time.

-the lesson of the day? don't jump into live volcanoes.

There's so much to unpack about this episode, but it'd mostly be reiterating the same things I said earlier about him. With a time limit on his life Raphael, despite the way he's been treated by the world will let go of his cynicism and crankiness to help people if it benefits everyone else. The kid shakes the moment he realizes it's been a huge misunderstanding and he's perfectly fine. Throughout the episode he's even saying things like "yeah too bad this is gonna be my last day". Like...he is CONVINCED he isn't making it to adulthood. If you think about it, it's basically what the other Raphs are as well, without the super explosive tempers. They're all just good-natured kids who have circumstances weighted against them, but they'll do whatever they can for the safety of their friends and family.

Please PLEASE give the 87 TMNT cartoon a chance if you've never seen it before. I promise it's actually good, and it has some extremely funny episodes.

#teenage mutant ninja turtles #theotxt #87 raphael #he means so much to me your honor #tmnt 12 #tmnt 03 #rottmnt #tmnt 1987

[rhaenall]

Warning, this is super long but I think the reason so many people think of Shiv as the favorite is more about how "favorite" is defined and from what perspective we’re examining “favorite.”

I think there’s a pretty solid argument that, in-universe, the Roy’s generally see Shiv as Logan’s “favorite” where favorite means the child he “likes” most and treats “preferentially.” As a preface, Brian Cox has pretty consistently said Shiv is Logan's favorite in interviews. While fans and viewers are free to take or leave an actor’s extra-textual viewpoint as they wish, I think it has both been influential from a fanon perspective and provides a view into Logan’s thought process.

What I mean by that is that Logan probably thinks of Shiv as his favorite, partly because Logan's views towards Shiv are (at least initially) less complicated than his views towards his sons. As Shiv said in Episode 3x09, Logan thinks there’s something wrong with Roman and he has a dichotomous love-hate relationship with Kendall. By contrast, Logan thinks of Shiv as his little Pinky, there’s nothing competitive about the relationship because she’s not another Man coming to usurp him and he can’t comprehend the whole of her as a full and complex person due to his own misogyny. As the only girl, his relationship with her is inherently unique and, I’d argue, in some ways inherently limited by her gender. Shiv is someone he can afford to let in because she’ll never be a Son and therefore, will never really be a rival (or a disappointment as a Man).

I think we get a bit of a sense of this in Episode 2x08, where Logan seeks out Shiv’s assurance that he’s making the right decision about announcing Rhea. There’s a kind of emotional reliance there that Logan can show Shiv that I don’t think he could have really show Kendall or Roman by virtue of their being men. It’s not dissimilar to how he relies on Marcia earlier in the season. It almost gives the illusion of tenderness, but in other ways simultaneously dismisses Shiv as a potential Heir herself, even though that’s the whole paradigm she’s been operating under this season.  That reliance and psedo-emotional closeness (as well as Shiv being out of the company for the majority of her life) allows for their relationship to function differently then any relationship he has with his other children and potentially to connect with each other (see Shiv’s speech that same episode where it’s clear they really do get each other in a way).

By virtue of this unique relationship, I think the rest of the family (mostly Roman, Kendall, and Caroline) view Shiv as Logan’s “favorite” as well.  This is potentially evidenced in some of Kendall’s lines in Episode 1x02 (I say potentially because everyone is speaking from places of mixed motives haha). Thus, by certain in-universe metrics, Shiv is Logan’s favorite.

As viewers however, our view of “favorite” may differ from those of the characters in the show. If we think of Logan’s “favorite” as the child Logan lets in the most re the business, or thinks about the most, or spends the most time with, or brings into his inner circle most frequently – then the “favorite” may be Kendall.

I think it’s pretty indisputable that Logan has uniquely weird relationships with all of his kids but at least where Kendall is concerned there’s an intense kind of possessiveness involved. Putting aside how wild it is to tap a seven-year-old as the future CEO of a public company that will have a market cap in excess of $40b, Logan seems super interested in involving himself in basically every aspect of Kendall’s life. We see in the pilot episode that he’s always trying to get his kids in the company (and exercise some level of procession that way), but it extends beyond that with Kendall (see for example all of Season 2 and large parts of Season 1and 3 haha).

At least until the start of the show, I think the implication is Logan has been dedicated to molding Kendall in his image as his heir, largely without meaningful competition from his siblings. However, one of the things that I think keeps Logan from thinking of Kendall as being his “favorite” even though he holds the title of Heir, is that Kendall is a massive disappointment to Logan because he can never live up to that title. Part of this is just, no one can live up to Logan’s standard because it’s a constantly changing standard (he is after all a human gaslight) but the other part is that Kendall is, at his core, a vastly different person from Logan. They don’t think the same. And on top of that, because Kendall has been trying to absorb and learn how to be whatever it is Logan seems to want, he keeps either attempting to emulate Logan poorly because, as stated, they’re different people, or he tries to grow and do his own thing which Logan inherently dislikes either because it’s not Logan’s way or he views it as competition which is unacceptable from one of his children.

To me, in many ways, Kendall is Logan’s great contradiction – love and hate in equal measure with a toxic co-dependance swirling throughout due to the sheer amount of time and energy that’s gone into molding Ken to be more like Logan and Kendall’s desperate attempt to shove himself into a mold that doesn’t fit.

Now for how this further fits into the “favorite” discussion, I don’t think Kendall views himself as the favorite. I think this is in part because the grass is always greener and from where Ken is standing – Shiv’s pasture looks far nicer than his (and Roman’s but that’s a whole other thing). However, I also kind of think that because Kendall is so constantly in Logan’s orbit, he doesn’t really think about this favorite thing too much (or at least not in those terms).

From Shiv’s perspective though, I think she’s much more keyed into the reality that Logan’s view of her is not in fact “better” but a massive disservice to her potential and I think she does clock that there’s a connection with Kendall that she cannot be part of in a way that makes any favoritism she gets meaningless. All of which is to say, I think Shiv understands she’s in a unique position with her Dad as the girl and the baby, and that to some extent others view her as a Daddy’s Girl. But I think she also has identified that Ken is the one who’s got Daddy’s attention more than not and although she may be called the “favorite” in many ways, Ken gets to “matter” in a way she can’t.

 So all of this to say…I think Shiv is technically the “favorite” but that Kendall is practically the “favorite” or the one who “matters– it’s all about how you define it and which perspectives you’re adopting.

(Also, one final note on Logan’s feeling around Shiv – there’s also probably some deeply mixed-up subconscious association between Rose, the younger sister he lost and carried guilt about for forever, and Shiv, his only daughter (and the only child that seems to physically take after his side of the family) that may also be at play here. I’m still kind of thinking through how all of that fits together…)

WHO SEND THIS?€;&::&&: (/positive)

I appreciate it, I read it all. Really lovely thoughts and ideas.

I didn’t know about Brian Cox’s thoughts on this matter. I think I am only aware of Jeremy’s and Sarah Snook’ thoughts on their characters/season 4.

But yes I can definitely see why there is conflicting answers about the favorite.

Thank you, anon! This is Appreciated

#kendall roy #shiv roy #succession

[a-spacecadet]

~My thoughts on JFK’s character assassination from S2~ 

Okay finally writing this all out!

(Sorry, these are all the negative things I have to say, my positive impressions will have to be another post) 

First off, I really love jfk, in both seasons. Are they the same guy? Not really. One person on here on Tumblr made the comment that s2 jfk is the jfk in the mirror. Headcanon accepted! XD

So, why is he out of character in the 2nd season? First off, he’s a genuinely nice guy, which is waaaaayyy different than how he acted in s1, even at the end. He definitely had some growth and development in s1, but even in the last ep he was still punching other dudes, had 5 different girls as his prom dates, and made jokes of his rival Abe (although at this point it was a bit justified, but anyways…) All in all, he’s not a bad person per-se, but he’s definitely still a 16-year-old teenager. 

So in s2, after what is only ONE NIGHT OF SLEEP for him, his personality has a huge change. He doesn’t bully other boys (like Confucius, a social-media obsessed teen with a weird sense of fashion), he’s loyal and loving to ONE girlfriend (never had the first show really established that he loved Joan in that way), he’s no longer antagonistic, and is rather quieter and less crude. (I say less crude because although he still makes sex jokes, other students are shown that they DO find them funny and his jokes tend to not be misogynist like they were in s1). 

I actually like that jfk has changed and become a better person, I think that’s great, he’s maturing! But when? When does this happen? When he slept overnight in the meat locker? Nothing indicates that he would have a reason to change. (Some argue his love for Joan, but again, this seemingly came out of the blue).  Speaking of his love for Joan, I’ve seen some great fanfics add context to s1 in how he really was in love with her, but the show itself really doesn’t indicate this at all. 

*Side tangent to expound on this!* Did he have crush on John Darc (really Joan)? Yeah, but really for no other reason than his boyish instinct (or Kennedy sense as he calls it lol) detected a hot girl!! He liked John Darc because he’s attracted to hot women, not Joan specifically. Also, he doesn’t seem to follow up his crush with her after the episode because I really don’t think he was interested in her other than the fact that she’s a pretty lady. Of course, I think this comes back full circle when we get to the finale, when Joan believes she has to dress up like a slut in order to be considered pretty… which is why jfk says he likes her when she’s just being herself. Because he knows she’s been “a knock-out Betty” this whole time, unlike that “chowder-head Lincoln.” However, not being dense like good ol’ Abe to realize Joan is stunning as she is… doesn’t quite equal the “love of his life.” OF COURSE he likes her, because she’s a babe! But her being a babe doesn’t indicate that he’d suddenly have a massive character change to be dedicated and loyal to her!! *Side tangent over*

Specific changes that I noticed that were off: 

“I like boobies and butts! Any shape or uh, size.” No, no he doesn’t. Why would his opinion from s1 (“You know my policy, no fatties!”) Suddenly change? Ofc I’m glad he’s no longer fat-phobic, but why?

“Your fourth string kicker won’t let you down!” What? What happened to being captain of the football team? “El capitan of the futbol team?” Winning the track meets? Being overall a competent athlete? 

“I let all my male friendships fade away!” Okay, this one is tricky. JFK really did lose Ponce, and he did in fact end up losing Gandhi even if he wasn’t aware of it. HOWEVER, s1 suggested he was one of the popular kids at school, you’re telling me he had no other friends? Like, not even Julius Cesar who was very often seen with him? Also, s2 does not even mention Ponce (unfortunately) which may have been used as a very good excuse for jfk to be so upset. (Right now, JFK’s tears in s2 ep 2 from missing Ponce only exist in headcanon).

“I’m afraid Joan is the love of my life and I’m not good enough for her!” See my side tangent, but also, why is he suddenly so insecure? One of his traits in s1 was his confident swag.

“Woah, I’ve never had anyone turn me down before…but that’s okay!” I mean, not usually, if he wasn’t asking FREAKING JOAN. The same Joan that was known for kicking, hitting, smacking, and punching him for every little advance he made towards her. He should know better at this point? Even if he did successfully sleep with her, I can’t imagine he’d really be that surprised she told him no, or as she said in the show “let me think about it.” 

His crying. He cries SO much in s2. But didn’t he cry in s1 as well? I can hear you asking. Yes, but he cried specifically in ep 10 because HIS BEST FRIEND TRAGICALLY AND SUDDENLY DIED.  Also, the reason the “Litter” ep is so funny is because up until that point we’ve never seen jfk so upset and distraught before, he’s genuinely weeping and mourning and we’ve NEVER seen this side of him, nor will we again. But in s2, he cries about everything! He’s literally the depressed loser crying in the freaking bathroom cause he “has no friends”! I guess I wouldn’t have minded as much if it didn’t literally make him look like a crybaby. Even in s1 he cried a bit at the notion of losing Cleo, but he wasn’t known for that. 

“Your lips are like a fine chalice of…uuuuhhh, wEt sTUfF!!” Heatstroke jfk was pretty funny, but it also highlighted another change. He’s freaking STUPID in s2. I’m not saying he was particularly “smart” in s1, but he definitely wasn’t the dumb “hurr durr” kinda idiot he is in s2. The one time I think jfk came across as actually dumb in s1 is when he thought Ponce was a genie, but tbh that was more sad than him being just plain dumb. Other things like talking to his reflection or his weird accent were more like quirks, not indicating that’s he stupid. He aced his PXJT test for crying out loud! (“Did you see me on that test Cleo? I smoked it! I can’t wait to see my time.”)

Wanting to be like his clone father. Back to his accent, I genuinely believe he is trying to do an impression (albeit bad) of the real JFK, he’s not talking like that because he has an actual speech impediment. Also, being faithful to Joan also doesn’t work on another sense because he thinks the real JFK was “a macho womanizing stud who conquered the moon!” and I think clone jfk was trying to live up to his legacy by being a womanizer, something not seen at all in s2.

“Woah a little spaceship! I’m gonna go chase it!” Another thing that bothered me is that he really does act like a golden retriever in s2. He’s been reduced to nothing more than a cute puppy dog, a plot device for Joan, a wholesome himbo who’s dumb but well-meaning, and overall BORING.

The only thing on his mind is sex. Like, really? Literally everything that comes out of his mouth in s2 has something to do with sex, much to Joan’s annoyance and part of the reason she broke up with him. S2 tries to make it seem that jfk is very shallow and has no hobbies or interests, but that is NOT TRUE! He loves sports, watching (“But you usually watch SportsCenter up in your room baby” - Wally) and playing them, he cares about his appearance and knows a bit about fashion (hey, his efforts to help Gandhi resulted in the dude becoming instantly popular), he records his own music! HE SINGS AND HAS HIS OWN STUDIO! He likes cool cars and drag racing! He likes throwing parties!! There’s more to his character than just sex!! 

Okay, that’s most of it. 

Of course, I will also mention the obvious (that others have already pointed out) he went from genuinely hilarious to slightly obnoxious and annoying.

TLDR: he’s turned from a macho womanizing stud, a confident chad, a jerk with soft side, a man of swag and style, to…an insecure crybaby, a boring “nice guy” who’s also a huge idiot.

To end, I still love JFK, even in s2. I appreciate the cute moments he has, and ignoring lack of time for character development I like that he’s trying to be a better person and that’s he’s matured. I could talk about all the things I did like about him in s2, but that will have to wait another day haha. 

#long post #I finally got this off my chest ahh!! #clone high #clone high season 2 #clone high s2 #clone high jfk #clone jfk #jfk #ch jfk #jfk clone high #roxi's rambles

[sharkneto]

if you had a chance to write for the umbrella academy, what’s something you would’ve added or removed or otherwise changed about show canon

Oh. What an ask! You know, I try to stay positive here on tunglr.com about the Umbrella Academy. I adore the show, love the characters, focus on the positive and things I like rather than the negative things I don't. That said, the show has issues, more and more as the seasons progress. I do have opinions. And you asked :)

Read more because this is going to get long.

Starting in S1, there's not much I'd change - S1 is really tight, it's really character focused and its dark themes covered by sibling absurdity is delicious. Only thing I can think of off the top of my head to change is

Five has the gun in the finale. There is no tension with Allison having the gun for if she's going to shoot Viktor or not - we all know she isn't. It also makes Five just running up and getting caught in the energy tentacles stupid because he's never fought like that the entire show, he's more strategic than that. So, Five has the gun, we know from the comics Viktor gets shot -- it makes Five not shooting him more impactful, differentiates Five from his comic counterpart, and in general is a richer character moment for all involved. The only downside to all of that is it sidelines Allison, but some finagling of setting up the situation can put her back in a meaningful position (someone wrote a fantastic reimagining of this scene that gave Five the gun that still kept Allison in a key position with a heartful roll in how it shakes out, probably a couple years ago now. If anyone remembers who wrote that or can link it to me, I'd love to reread it again).

That's really it for S1, off the top of my head, anyway. On to S2! -

Handler stays dead, AJ is the big bad. The only downside to this is that we don't get Kate Walsh back, because she is so much fun, but the Handler absolutely died at the end of S1 and they retconned her to not-die so she could be in S2 (...because Kate Walsh is such a delightful villain). But AJ should have had a bigger roll in S2. He's the head of the whole Commission! The Handler was but a cog in the machine - what does that look like! The Hargreeves suddenly have the entire might of the Commission after them instead of a rogue Handler (pin in that for Point 2). Also, his character design fucking slaps, I'm still obsessed with him. And now, I'm hearing you go: But Lila! And I answer you - AJ is her adopted father. That whole plotpoint stays the same but AJ instead of Handler for parental figure. Diego's reaction to his girlfriend's father being a fish sells that all on its own.

The Commission should not be a benevolent force, with just the Handler as a rogue, evil agent. S1 Commission is a morally dark gray force of bureaucracy hiding behind the uncanny, cheerful veneer of the 50s. Their chosen method for keeping history "on track" is just a fuckton of murder. They left a kid to rot in the apocalypse for four decades. They have an entire department dedicated to making sure disasters occur (through strategic murder). The Infinite Switchboard is also dumb and only exists for fast plot for Diego to figure out what's going on - S1 method for the Commission knowing when the timeline is getting fucked is agents on the ground who call it in (S1 Commission inefficiency, my fucking beloved.). In summary, no one at the Commission is a good person (looking at you Herb and Dot! You are not and should not be positioned as good people!), and making the Handler the ~only~ bad egg there and everyone else positioned as good and allies weakened them significantly as a villain.

Viktor! He shouldn't have had amnesia! Robbed him of character development in facing what he'd done, how his life had been a lie, and the complicated feelings left behind between him and his siblings over all of that. I get it was a comic thing, but they didn't do the comic reason (Shot In Head), and they've changed lots else from the comics, so this should have been another point the deviated from.

Raymond should have gotten to meet Five. I just think that would have been fun.

The song that plays in Viktor's violin mind palace when he's getting tortured should have been [Viktor's] Orchestra from the S1 OST and not that goddamn Bach Partita. They already had a very meaningful and beautiful violin piece composed by Mr. Russo, what are they doing bringing in this random Bach? Missed opportunity. My feelings on this are so strong that I am including it with the above impactful plot changes.

There's probably some smaller tweaks for S2 that I'm not thinking of now, but that covers the main changes and this is already getting long and we haven't even gotten to S3. Because, oh boy. S3.

I give S3 a lot of forgiveness for being made during the pandemic. I think a lot had to be adjusted for Covid restrictions (There was supposed to be a whole Japan trip thing! Which is why the Hotel is all Japanese themed. The trip got scrapped, the theme did not, so it just comes off as weird and orientalist), and they still managed to have really great character moments and developments. That said -

Too much happened in S3. They should have done Sparrows or the Hotel (which I like to call the HOb, and is the shorthand I'll be using from now on). Both with the Kugelblitz made this season insane.

Lila isn't pregnant. The show has a real hard time writing women who aren't mothers or dead and they were almost doing a good job with Lila until this, she almost escaped it. I'm going to be honest, my first thought when it was revealed that she was actually pregnant and it wasn't just Stanley shenanigans was "Oh, abortion". I don't think it makes sense for where she is to be having a kid, and it ties her down in a weird way for the final season. Instead of being about her figuring out her shit after finding out her mom killed her, had her real parents killed, and her life is all a bit of a lie, it's now about being pregnant and/or being a mother.

The HOb isn't some weird universe reset button. Why didn't they like Fucked Up Space Prison from the comics??? That's so much fun! I'd allow it to be paired up with the Sparrows if it's a fucked up space prison, they compliment each other then. It being a reset button that Reggie has known about this whole time and is the reason he collected the kids also doesn't make sense with him killing himself in S1 for the original plot of the show. They almost hit the vibe they could have had with it, with the hallways and floors swapping around. Play with that more, make time weirder, don't have cheap-horror samurai guardians. Forever mourning how much cooler and weirder the HOb could have been.

A lot of people complain that the Sparrows were so minor in the season. I am not one of those people - most of them were tertiary characters, and with all the other plot happening and the focus (rightly) on the Umbrellas, they featured exactly as much as they needed and should have (without changing the season to make them the main antagonists). My only change here is Sloane shouldn't know physics. Why does she know physics and why is she as good as Five, who has 30 years on her. There's no set up or indication she is a math person (she loves reading and travel!) until they have their Kugelblitz math discussion and then it's never alluded to again. Is this petty? Yes. Do I stand by it? Yes.

Ah, Five. Obviously, Five shouldn't be the founder of the Commission. That whole plot, while great for the Five and Lila Frenemy Trip, reeks of Cool Reveal We Thought Of To Be Cool. It doesn't have any real major impact on anything, and it makes no sense for Five as a character that he would have created the Commission and then sat alive in their basement by himself. The guy spent a lifetime alone and tore the universe apart to be with his family and they want me to believe he sets up his life to end by himself and away from his family after making evil corporate time cops? Yeah, alright, sure, mmm-hmm.

There should have been a conversation about what happened in the barn at the end of S2. That was huge - Five unlocked a whole new application of his powers and watched his whole family die again. With the rewind powers, they should have given an in-universe reason for why Five couldn't use them at any point and not just pretend they didn't exist anymore. The Kugelblitz is eating time, if it's eating time there is nothing for Five to rewind or jump back to - there. I did it. Just some sort of acknowledgement for why Five's plot-breaking powers aren't breaking the plot.

Five should have been friendlier and more trusting of Reggie, incorrectly viewing them as relative equals thanks to his age and experience. From Five's point of view, Reginald has always been right and Reginald did help him when he talked to him in the 60s. He's a dick and unpleasant, but so is Five. It was the perfect set up for some delicious betrayal and hard lessons for Five to understand their father the same way the rest of the Umbrellas do.

I'm going to be honest - there is probably plot things I would change for how Harlan slots in with the Kugelblitz, but S3 is my least rewatched season, and when I do rewatch it I usually do a Five Watch (just skip through and watch Five plot), so I do not remember it well enough to point out what I would change.

Final point I'm going to make - Allison. I genuinely loved where Allison went this season. The most controversial part of her plot, assaulting Luther, I thought made perfect sense and I have a lot of thoughts about where her mind was during all of that. But I do not think the writers understood just how fucked up her doing that was, and that scene should have had further fallout and more direct conversation about what happened. Give it more gravity and consequences, if only for Emmy's sake because it really felt like the writers dropped her in the deep end for the amount of hate Allison got for it.

There are probably more things, but it is getting late and this is getting long. I adore this show, but my god does it leave so much potential on the floor. Leaves us lots to write ourselves because of that, I suppose as a silver lining.

#this got looong #so i hope you were expecting and wanting an essay anon #tldr for those not sure if they want to click the Read More: #i went through by season for things i would have changed #they get more numerous and more specific as the seasons go #shark's tua thoughts #ask response #thank you anon this was fun

[onyx-archer]

A Timey-Whimey (Shit)Storm: A Critical Look at Life is Strange 1's Ending.

It's been a hot minute since I did one of these essay type posts, and I know that the title is may suggest some kind of dislike of the game or something, and incite the ire of fans, but at least hear me out a little before getting mad. I actually enjoy these games, along with the comics, so I'm coming at this from a place of love. I especially have a soft spot for the original Life is Strange, I've just had this on my mind for a while.

Obviously, there will be spoilers for "Life is Strange," but I will also briefly cover spoilers from the Life is Strange comic series, and a brief, albeit minor spoiler of Life is Strange 2's 5th episode, and some stuff from Life is Strange: True Colors' "Wavelengths" DLC. If that ain't your bag, then you've been warned. All of it will be under the cut anyway. Before that though, I have some other house keeping to get out of the way.

I want to make it abundantly clear up front what my stance on the game being covered is, so there's no room for misunderstanding. I quite like the original Life is Strange. It's probably my favorite game of it's type (narrative adventure game in the Telltale style). I don't like Before the Storm or Life is Strange 2 though, but both of those will eventually get their own posts. I do like True Colors though.

I also want to make it clear that I am 100% on the side of "Pricefield," but I'm not really making this post from the place of a Pricefield bias or whatever, so I want to head that off at the pass.

With that, the rest is under the cut. Again, hella spoilers inbound, you've been warned.

Life is Strange is the kind of game that I have a pretty lukewarm opinion of genre wise, but manages to keep me engaged through the way it unfolds. I'm not especially fond of the narrative adventure game genre that was popularized with Season 1 of Telltale's The Walking Dead, despite having played quite a few of them. I like a few, sure, but it's generally not something I'm fond of. If not for the fact that Chloe's character design appealed to me (you'd know why if you've seen my original characters), I'd have never even touched it.

I have fond memories of playing the original Life is Strange with my best friend back when it was still being released, and how we'd actually hash out our thoughts on what decisions made the most sense in the moment while playing. I initially remember hating the ending of the original making my choices feel meaningless (as by the time "Polarized" came out, my friend and I weren't able to play together due to us living in 2 different cities at the time), and it was only after letting it marinate for a while that I came to the conclusion that I liked one of the two possible endings, and disliked the other.

I'm (rather obviously) on team "Bae," as far as the endings to the original are concerned. To me, this is the only ending that actually makes sense unless you want to argue that the whole point of the story is some fatalist, deterministic experience at it's core (which I've certainly seen argued multiple times), but I don't think that ideology is even remotely interesting to think about, and is flawed as hell. That's beside the point though. The part of this post that is dedicated to the first game is, primarily, about the reason why that ending is the only one that makes sense to me.

Throughout the game, Max (and by extension, we, the players) use her time travel powers to ultimately solve a few puzzles, and to otherwise scope out minor multiple decisions we make during the story. The moment we see Max use her powers for the first time is when Chloe (whom she doesn't recognize at the time) is shot in the girl's washroom at Blackwell. However, before she does this, she sees the vision of the Storm, and is jolted awake by it in the middle of class.

From here, the game tries to heavily imply that Max using her powers to save Chloe from being shot is what ultimately made the Storm come to pass, and drops mentions of the concept of Chaos Theory multiple times. I'm not going to bother explain what that means, but it does at least make some kind of sense. Max using her powers can alter the course of things, and create an untold amount of diverging timelines. We see this obviously through the "Bay" ending, as Chloe's death happens, and no storm comes. This is clearly to enforce the idea that Chloe not dying does something that causes the storm.

However, where this concept begins to eat shit like a skateboarder failing to bail properly from a bad Tre Flip is when Max goes back in time via a photo for the first time. She prevents the death of another person, Chloe's father, William. As we all know, this action has the consequence of Chloe eventually getting into a car accident and becoming quadriplegic, and is doomed to die when her respiratory system gives out due to the nature of the injury.

Now, this specific timeline brings with it questions, and the game doesn't really bother to answer them, despite it being a big hole in the whole "Chloe's death prevents the storm" idea.

The main question is "why didn't William not dying yield a storm?" If the idea of preventing a person from dying has far reaching consequences, and can lead to a storm, then why did William's survival not lead to a storm? Wouldn't that be a bigger shift to the "natural order of things" that Max saving Chloe did?

The cop-out answers I've heard to this are things like "she wouldn't have done it if she didn't save Chloe first to begin with" and "she didn't over-use her powers during the period of William's accident, so the storm wouldn't have been bad." I've even heard the idea that Chloe's accident is the universe saying "fuck you" to Max saving William, and while that is certainly believable, it ultimately makes you wonder "why are the dead whales even a thing in the 'William Lives' timeline?"

The second time I was left wondering is "in the timeline where Max is taken to the Dark Room, Chloe is very dead, so how is it that the storm happens at all if Chloe's survival is the reason it happens?"

Naturally, people will say "the act of saving Chloe sets things into motion, so it's too late to stop the storm by that point." It's here where I call bullshit, because it then makes you ask the question I brought up earlier: "why didn't the timeline where William lives have a storm after he was saved?" If the universe is pissed that Chloe lived, then her dying should prevent the storm, right? But if the universe is pissed at her living, then why isn't it pissed about William cheating death due to Max's intervention?

If it was just the timelines where William died but Chloe lived, I'd be like "alright, sure, Chloe cheating death caused the problem." But Willian's death being prevented doesn't do the same, so it's inconsistent reasoning at best.

Again, by the logic of the "Chloe being alive causes the storm" viewpoint, William should lead to that happening 5 years prior if he survives the day he's supposed to die, but that doesn't happen. If the storm is caused by Chloe being alive, then what does it matter which day she dies, so long as she dies before the storm is scheduled to happen? Unless you want to argue some divine punishment is occurring via a pissed off God, which would make the whole thing feel worse, then there is no logical consistency with the idea of "Chloe Alive = Storm, but William Alive =/= Storm."

It's by this logic that I think that the storm is tied to Max using her powers, rather than specifically the act of saving Chloe. This is then later reinforced, at least in part, by the sequel comics. Now, I know people will argue aren't canon, but they offer a look into a post "Bae" ending, and answer some questions about it in an official capacity, even if it's just meant to be a single view as to what could happen.

In those comics, Max's powers are tied to the storm, and are tied to her flickering between different realities, which lead her to a universe where Chloe and Rachel are alive and in LA for 2 years. She is later forced to confront another storm, and is able to prevent it from doing any damage, and then uses it to power a leap back to her original reality, albeit with the help of a guy who has the power to travel between dimensions, Tristian.

So in short, official media confirms that the powers are connected to the storm, and not necessarily Chloe's life. Max first uses her powers to save Chloe, sure, but the storm isn't linked to Chloe's fate by itself.

However, this is merely part of the justification I have for what I ultimately think is the "better" ending. The other is a simple question: how do they know that Max preventing herself from saving Chloe will stop the storm

Yes, we as the player, the outsider looking in, know that Max preventing herself from saving Chloe will lead to a Storm-less timeline, but in the scene where they decide that is what they have to do to stop the storm from happening, Max says that she caused the storm, and basically says it's due to her fucking with time. So how do they come to the conclusion her using her powers, the thing that caused the storm in the first place, to fix one more thing suddenly prevent the storm? Why would she even think that's a good idea when the consequences of her meddling with time are literally barreling toward Arcadia Bay?

In short, the metatextual element of this scene causes the internal logic of the choice to make no sense. If the use of powers causes the storm, then why would they even think using them again would fix things? If it's Chloe being alive, then William being alive should have done the same thing.

Basically, I think the issue with the ending isn't inherently the choice itself, but the logic for why the characters would even think a Hail Mary play like "go back in time and prevent yourself from saving Chloe in the first place" would even remotely work, given that they have two running ideas of the cause of the storm, and only one of them actually makes sense outside of a passing thought.

The issue with the "Bay" ending is that it leaves you with questions that have no good answers, but the "Bae" ending's questions are easier to answer.

In the "Bay" ending, if the photo jump is to the past where Max knows she can rewind time, even if only barely, then what's stopping that Max from abusing her rewind anyway? If the powers are the cause of the storm, then leaving her with the knowledge of it even being a thing is dangerous for the week leading up to Post-Photo-Jump Max's return, where that Max knows to not abuse her powers. Heck, if past-Max doesn't know of the rewind yet, and Photo-Jump Max knows that, then she can still save Chloe, and past her wouldn't know about the idea of time travel, so she'd not abuse the ability. Sure, there'd likely still be some kind of repercussions for messing with things, but it'd be significantly lessened if her powers are the cause of the storm, and not Chloe surviving.

So again, if Chloe's death has to be the thing that prevents the storm, why didn't saving William cause a storm? Why didn't Chloe dying to Jefferson at the end of Episode 4 stop the storm? If it's not Max's abuse of her powers that causes the storm, then what's stopping her from abusing the power in a Chloe-less world? We know thanks to the comics that she retains the ability to time travel after the week is done. Hell, if the "leaks" of an alleged Max-focused sequel game being in development are true, then it also confirms Max keeps her powers in a more concrete way than the comics did, so what's stopping her from abusing them outside of a sense of grief over losing Chloe?

I ask those questions because the act of letting Arcadia Bay get destroyed in the "Bae" ending doesn't highlight the issues with explaining how the storm came to be in the first place, and it ultimately could be either Chloe surviving when she should have died, or a consequence of Max abusing her powers during the week. It ultimately says "this is the cost of saving your friend. You made this bed, now lay in it."

The "Bae" ending reinforces the idea that Max shouldn't mess with time, and it shows the active consequences of doing so. It actively makes the "your choices will have consequences" thing the game shoves in your face at the beginning of every episode actively mean something, but in a way that isn't inherently obvious from the jump. From a metatextual standpoint, it's honestly really smart to have the idea of "choices and their consequences" be more of a theme rather than just a mechanic. Max ultimately has to live with the fact that her selfish desire to save her friend cost hundreds of people their lives, and she's not the only one who knows about that burden, because Chloe will have to spend a long time coming to terms with the fact that Max chose her over the lives of others when push came to shove. It ultimately feels like the journey meant something in the long term.

Conversely, the "Bay" ending just leaves me like "so there's no real consequences for anything, because this is how things would have played out if Max didn't have powers." Sure, Max has to live knowing her friend is dead because she wasn't allowed to save her, but she'd at least live knowing she did it for the greater good. It tries to say "this is the right choice" but fumbles because it ultimately just leaves people like me poking holes in the time travel logic. So long as she doesn't try to prevent someone's death again, she's free to use and abuse her powers however she wants. It doesn't reinforce the idea of "messing with things has consequences," it just lets Max have the ultimate do-over, where the only consequence that matters is her best friend is dead. She has to live knowing she let her friend die. At most, it's a tragic thing that will affect a few people, and that's it. To me, it just feels incredibly hollow.

Even if you like the "Bay" ending, I think you have to admit that the "Bae" ending has the time travel feel less problematic from a narrative logic standpoint. It, at the very least, doesn't require the answer to the question of "what caused the storm in the first place?" unlike the "Bay" ending, where it's left up in the air if it was Max's powers or Chloe's life that was behind it. From here, I'm going to basically go into some minor points as to why I think the "Bae" ending makes the most sense as the "canon" one for the series after the first game. These are not as important to the broader point, but still. If you wanna dip from the post now (assuming you made it this far) then cool, hope to see you when I talk about why I hate Before The Storm, cause that may interest people.

Some people like to suggest that the "Bay" ending has more potential for expansion, but I strongly disagree. That ending's future story potential, at least as far as Max is concerned, is just "Max has to learn to deal with the grief of losing her best friend" and otherwise has no real direction. If she meets Steph or something in a future game, for example, it ultimately will be a bit awkward for Max, and that's it. In the "Bae" ending, there's actual potential for drama if Max interacts with a former resident of Arcadia Bay, knowing she let it burn for the sake of one girl.

We can see how each ending effects David via the 5th Episode of Life is Strange 2. We know that regardless of Chloe's fate (at least as far as the two timelines that branch off from the first game's ending are concerned), David ends up in Away. David and Joyce split in the timeline where Chloe dies, and obviously Joyce died in the storm in the timeline where Chloe lives. We see how this effects David, but even then, there's more of a story to be told with Chloe surviving vs dying, at least in my view. Chloe and David being able to set aside their past issues and becoming the family Joyce had longed for them to become is a far more interesting story than David trying to reconnect with Joyce after Chloe's death split them apart. I'm not trying to suggest David is a great character or anything, but it's notable that Chloe and David's relationship is more interesting to explore in a post-Storm world, because he actually has a reason to become a better person in a Joyce-less world vs a Chloe-less one. It ultimately makes more sense for him to end up in Away because of Joyce's death rather than Chloe's. We see he really wants to be there for Chloe when he saves Max from the Dark Room, and we see how much Chloe's death affects him in that timeline, so I'm not saying he wouldn't relocate because of it if she died in the bathroom... but the drastic change he undergoes between Life is Strange and Life is Strange 2 really only makes sense in a world where he lost Joyce, and has to be better for Chloe's sake.

Steph is another character where it only makes sense to have Arcadia Bay get demolished, rather than have Chloe die. Sure, Steph is a very emotional character at her core, and runs from things that make her uncomfortable, no matter how good her life is going outside of that... but I honestly think it makes more sense for her to run from the past in a world where her hometown got levelled, because she'd have some kind of survivor's guilt because of the fact that she lived and her mom didn't. Yeah, she could still have survivor's guilt after learning both Chloe and Rachel died, but I'd argue it'd make more sense that she'd be running from Mikey in a world where the scars of Arcadia Bay run deep, rather than what happened to Chloe and Rachel. What reason would she have to avoid Mikey, her best friend, in a world where she doesn't have to feel bad that Mikey's family (presumably) died in the storm? In a world where her survivor's guilt would make talking to others from Arcadia Bay more painful and awkward for her? You could argue that, yeah, Chloe's death could hit her hard because they were good friends, and that because of Chloe being friends with Mikey too, that she'd avoid Mikey for that... but I just think it's more believable that she'd cut herself off from her past in a world where Arcadia Bay was destroyed.

Either way, this post and the time it took to write it got away from me, and I may have to refine it later when I eventually turn these essay type posts I've made into videos. For now though, hopefully this was an interesting read, and hopefully I've conveyed my views on the ending of Life is Strange's first entry at least somewhat succinctly.

#Life Is Strange #analysis #LiS #LiS1 #Life Is Strange Spoilers #mentions of the comics #mentions of the sequels #Max Caufield #maxine caulfield #chloe price #Life is Strange Endings #Bae or Bay #Onyx “Analysis” post

[autogeneratedkahootnickname]

Yeah so I'm an Amber apologist until the day I die.

I do think there's potentially a minor writing hiccup but I'm gonna set things out as best I can from my understanding.

What a lot of people don't pick up on, and what the show tries to convey in episode 5, is that Mark has been a phenomenally shitty boyfriend to Amber. We only see a few brief snippets of him cancelling some dinner plans, but this has been a constant, unfaltering issue for 3 months. 'He's late, he doesn't show, and he always has some shitty excuse.' From Amber's point of view, it wouldn't be unreasonable for her to think she means nothing to him.

But she recognises that the situation is complex, and she cares about him, and she sees that he IS trying, if not enough. So she gives him second chance after second chance. Honestly far longer than she should have done.

But yeah, their relationship is on the ROCKS for a LONG time. But since we see Mark superheroing throughout most of that, we can't put ourselves in her shoes.

So then, flash forward to Upstate U and the reveal. My controversial theory, but the one I think most makes sense in terms of writing, is that Amber didn't know Mark was Invincible until he tells her.

Amber is visibly startled when she sees Mark flying in her room. Granted she would be even if she knew, but it leans more to her not knowing than the contrary.

Amber does not know who Invincible is at Upstate U, and she never refers to him by name in the confrontation: 'I know you're a superhero', 'fly away, flyboy'. If she had known 'weeks beforehand' a cursory google would have been likely. She would be more likely to refer to him by name.

Amber is very intelligent, she's quick-witted, she's an expert at putting up walls as a defence mechanism and she hates being lied to. She would be capable of concealing her surprise, and wouldn't want to lose control in the conversation, but honestly she doesn't have to. Because her reaction seems genuine, even if its less premeditated than she puts on.

Amber goes into that interaction thinking Mark is a liar, a coward, a flake and an asshole. That interaction recontextualises him as a liar, a flake and an asshole. In different ways sure, but the end result is the same. Amber's whole issue is that she doesn't feel valued by Mark, and she's just been told that he was hiding an entire secret life from her because he didn't trust her. Also, Mark is not 'trusting her now': he's using Invincible as a retroactive get out of jail free card for being an asshole for 3-4 months. He frames it in a way that, even if its unintentional on his part, makes her out to be small, and petty, and irrational: 'because im out saving lives or protecting the planet.' It sounds like he's blaming her for being mad at him, and he's SO SURE she'll forgive him everything in that moment. She doesn't want to let him off the hook for being shitty, and Mark's behaviour isn't helping. This is supposed to convey that the way he treated her isn't ok even if he was a superhero, and he shouldn't expect it to be.

And she isn't happy about being angry with him! The scene ends with her looking pensive, conflicted, because the walls she put up in that scene do not reflect her character! She goes back to Mark to make sure he's alright, because she sees his actions in a different light, and bear in mind, at this point, Mark is still viewed by the public as someone who played a pretty substantial role in killing around 50,000 people at a guess. She's not going back to him because he's a hero now. He's public enemy number 2. That is an INCREDIBLE amount of integrity and dedication, traits she's displayed repeatedly throughout the season through her grassroots support of local communities.

William literally says in his pep talk to Mark:

'But you were a shitty boyfriend to Amber and you got what you deserved'. This is Mark's number 1 fan. Laying it out in front of us.

And last, but of course, not least,

Guys she's fucking seventeen cut her some slack jesus christ she's not a calculator

#invincible #amber apologist #well not an apologist coz that implies she did something wrong #like. i wont lie a lot of it does feel misogynistic? #'innocent man persecuted by crazed nagging irrational girlfriend' hmmm #dont like it #she deserves so much better #like some people literally say she's worse than omni-man because 'at least he had a coherent world view' really? fucking really? #edit: since making this post i have learned about the term misogynoir #which i feel is very applicable here

[charioteer]

some out of order thoughts about s3 of Young Royals so far:

Everybody in this show needs a THINK chart lesson and therapy!

totally checks out that Marcus would comment on their relationship to journalists.....

Stella and Rosh would've been cute but also I think Rosh would've found her insufferable. I was worried that it was gonna turn into a whole thing where Fredrika would find out Stella was into her and like call her disgusting or something and /truly/ I could not handle that.

Not that I want August to be next in line but Wille trying to balance being prince and being with Simon is making him AND me crazy.

Speaking of August..... I actually feel better about him this season. his ed storyline is quite interesting and it makes sense for his character. I was truly gobsmacked when Simon very frankly called him out and then nobody said anything. He has such sad eyes and hates himself so much already it makes it hard to wanna dogpile on him lol

The b plot about the racism and ostracism Felice faces should've happened in season 2 to be fleshed out more. I understand that its a part of the issues coming out about the initiations but its unfortunate that she won't get more screen time for it.

So many times in this season you are reminded that you are watching a show about rich teenagers at an elite boarding school and so they're going to be socially unconscious and tone-deaf to everyone besides their own, which is annoying but it is just a show.

Vincent being so butthurt about the restrictions was so unserious he was so annoying.

Wille was getting on my nerves a bit. His actions are in line with his character but its frustrating when things would be like 90% better if he like chilled for a sec. Its obviously more complicated than that cos he hasn't had even a moment to process anything that's happened in this show ever.

Simon being so sad while deleting his Instagram was kinda funny cos like he could've archived everything or made his profile private, blocked ppl. e.t.c but I get it, he enjoyed sharing his music and that's how he deals with things, so that outlet being cut off is hard.

I swear half of the runtime is people wordlessly staring at each other.

Ideally Wille and Simon have a happy ending, and it would make more sense for that to happen over another season but since this is the last I don't necessarily see things being wrapped up in a satisfying way. like yeah is it not really realistic for everything to be 100% rainbows and sunshine but for the sake of my happiness I need a hopeful resolution. Whether that's Wille realizing he could never emotionally handle the crown and choosing to prioritize his relationship with Simon, or choosing the crown and letting Simon go. He could also end up with neither! if he decided to dedicate himself to the crown he would sink further into depression and anger over not being able to be with Simon and if he chose to be with Simon he would still have the same baggage and I think some resentment. It would be slay if he could have both the crown and Simon but I think what the story has been telling us so far is that that is not possible. OR maybe that it is possible, with the power of love, which could result in a copout happy ending or a more realistic but hopeful ending!

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

[okthatsgreat]

So how would your OCs fare in a different killing game setting than the game they're a part of, sure the killing game is the killing game no matter what, but a DR 1 style enclosed building is completely different from a DR 2 style sunny and beautiful island. I'm not exactly asking to put them in those specific killing games, just sort of putting them in different vibes.

OOOOOOOOOOOOO INTERESTING and yknow what im realising that i never really disclosed where dr:50 happens either so YIPPEEEEEE I GET TO TALK EVEN MORE !!!

for the 50th season of danganronpa they realllyyyyy wanted to hone in on the nostalgia, which means the location takes a lot of influence from the very first season!!!!!!! the group has been locked inside what THEY assume is some sort of weird boarding school/odd storage unit that has been boarded up to all hell with ZERO sunlight that isnt artificial. similar to thh areas continue to get unlocked as the killing game continues, but overall it is meant to invoke the same claustrophobic atmosphere as the first game, which REALLY influences quite a few of these people lol. not to mention that about halfway through the season (probably late chapter 3/early chapter 4, bc it definitely influences pippy to do what she does lmao) it's revealed they are WAYYYY underground in a survival bunker that has been abandoned and forgotten about (hence why everything is dusty as hell). catastrophe struck and the class is mostly presumed dead down there. also there is a single elevator but they are NOT getting to it unless they kill somebody

HOW THEY WOULD REACT TO A TOTAL SWITCH UP (FROM LEAST INFLUENCED TO MOST)

yoshito: i think regardless of location he would have the same attitude going into it!!! would it be NICE to send that man on an island vacation where he can run around at the beach with his friends? yes. but would it ultimately influence his "i can fix everybody" mentality? likely not

ryobe: similar to yoshito i think this guy gets fucked up regardless of where he's kept lmao!!!!!!!!!!!! the claustrophobia of the bunker ABSOLUTELYYY has some influence, it'll definitely get to ANYBODY after a while, but ryobe is very stubborn in his own escapism that i find it difficult to imagine he acts super differently in a sunny resort lol. he'd definitely be a lot more annoying with a water gun but he would still refuse to acknowledge reality and spiral regardless if he's sunburned or not

mika: i reckon there is a SLIGHTT difference with how she acts here!! not enough to drastically change her character arc, but i honestly think throwing her in a beach would make her a bit more friendly to start off with. when season 50 begins and they all meet each other, she is the FIRST to assume that they are at a hopes peak boarding school, meaning she has already boxed herself in as this ultimate lucky student with no talent in comparison to all of these talented people. a lot of the reason she is so standoffish originally comes from that immediate insecurity. i reckon if they met in a more relaxed setting where ultimate talents arent IMMEDIATELY relevant she'd be a little more open!!! of course there is no denying how they are all ultimates in some way or another but surely they arent here just to work on that right??? its VACATION TIME!!!!!!

erin: DEPENDSSS depends. she's going to act like pippy no matter where she is because like ryobe she is relentless. but that feeling of total claustrophobia in the bunker and complete isolation absolutely lent itself as motive for her. this is a girl whose entire life is dedicated to her work, and the bunker setting REALLY emphasizes just how completely separated from it she is!! it further tells her that HEY, EVERYBODY FORGOT ABOUT YOU IN THERE, and regardless of what her actual motive to kill ended up being that feeling absolutely contributed to the mania that led up to the murder in the first place. rp!pippy is a whole different story BUT HONESTLY it's a pretty good indicator that in a more open/less claustrophobic setting (since the rp took place at a camp, and while it WAS abandoned there was still the SUGGESTION of other people somewhere), plus with some close friends lol, erin could have reasonably survived!! throwing erin in a setting like that OR an sdr2 beach setting could help her quite a bit because it feels much less isolating if that makes sense. looking at the sky at least gives you a bit of hope that somebody else is looking up at the sky also. looking up at a bunker ceiling for weeks is going to make you irrational

rie: same with erin the idea of being completely isolated absolutely contributed to her entire facade crumbling in the later chapters. she misses her dad!!!!! and shes the primary caretaker for him so being locked away from him presumably forever hurts!!!!!!!!!! the bunker makes her feel completely alone and absolutely helpless, and is a big part as to why nobody trusts her in that final trial. trusting rie was IMPORTANTTT too, because if they had listened to her a bit more or even attempted to calm her down enough to get an alibi together they actually might have been able to get through chapter 5 lol, instead all of them had fallen into a rush of mania and exhaustion that led them to distrusting her wayyyy too easily. throw her on a beach and she'll be a litttleeee more chill i think, still VERY upset about her dad but maybe jusssttttttt calm enough to rationally talk things through. the isolation of the bunker is really good at making all of them feel very alone, which is why finding somebody to confide in was a tricky task (and then when she did find somebody to confide in they accused her of murder. lol). the beach might be a better setting at making friends!!!! maybe!!!!!!!!!

billie: the entire location billie was in was a constant and walking reminder of her father LMFAOOO, it was LITERALLY his own creation that she had been constantly testing for him. and BECAUSE she had done that so many times, she was immediately quite standoffish and awkward to the others, just because it felt very repetitive at that point. BUT ALSO i do think a big point of her character during the one and only chapter she survived was that she WANTED to help, mostly because she felt GUILTY. she felt that this simulation going haywire was partially her fault, because she recognized signs of malfunction and didnt run to stop it in time. in another location where she is less familiar of her surroundings and doesn't feel immediate responsibility, i reckon she'd be a lot less helpful LMAO. this is still billie so she is still going to be very easily influenced, but she'd be a lot less inclined to help and honestly might just hide away for a lonnggggg while. she would NOT fall for the note the way she had in the rp, which means lets give it up for wilhelmina "billie" lane for making it past chapter 1 WAHOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

sae: GET HER OUT OF THEREEEEEEE SHE NEEDS FRESH AIR SHE NEEDS THE OCEANNNNN. NO MORE CHLORINE-FILLED POOL NO MORE WEIRD HOTEL SMELL AND BLEACH. this resort she is currently in (in the rp!!) is kind of a mix of the bunker setting and the beach setting in that it is still isolated BUT she can at least SEE the outside. she can put her hand out there. its more taunting than anything but it COULD be so much worse

naomi: honestly she might be the most immediately and gravely affected by the location LMAO. this is a girl who is used to have places to RUNNN, and this bunker is allowing her NONE of that. she CAN not run away from these people, and the most she can do is hide, even though the entire cast knows that she is in her room. it is very very easy for her to grow extremely helpless in that location, because so much of her survival instincts is rooted in packing up and leaving!!! setting her in a beach gives her farrrr more freedom, and while that DOES mean we probably wont be seeing her until chapter 2 lmfao she is going to feel a lot more comfortable. it is still a very isolated island dont get me wrong, but it is a HUGE island, and naomi would feel far more inclined to meekly join in with the others now that she knows she has a surefire means of fucking off to the other side of the island should anything go absolutely haywire. HONESTLY would stop her from doing anything too rash. she is still remarkably paranoid but it is slightlyyyy easier to find lucidity on a beautiful island with a lot of open space rather than a dusty old bunker where everybody is cranky and the only enemies that know you are alive are currently trapped underground with you

andi: specifically made for the new waters retreat, would not exist in any other location

THANK YOUUUUUUUU SM AGAIN MWAH MWAH <3

#WAHOO! #ask lee #anonymous #dr: 50th #oc: sae #oc: billie #oc: andi

[immaturityofthomasastruc]

The Temp Heroes - Why They’re Not Exactly the Justice League (Late 1500 Follower Special)

A common hallmark of most superhero shows is the wide variety of heroes and villains who appear as the story develops. The idea of a wide ensemble cast of heroes is an interesting one, as it leads to all kinds of character dynamics, as shows like X-Men, Justice League, Teen Titans, Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes, and Young Justice have demonstrated. Ever since Season 2 of Miraculous Ladybug, it's clear that the show is trying to do something like that, but hadn't really pulled it off for a number of reasons.

IOTA Complains About the Rent-A-Miraculous System Again; More at 11

Look, I've already griped about this when I talked about Master Fu, so I'll try to keep this brief.

Yes, this whole gimmick introduced in “Sapotis” was meant to justify why heroes like Rena Rouge and Carapace can't help Ladybug and Cat Noir all the time, but the problem is how it affects the other temp heroes. Not only does the sequence of Ladybug rushing to get a Miraculous from Master Fu pad out the runtime (which is why I think connecting the Miracle Ball to Ladybug's yo-yo in Season 4 was a smart move), not only would it be incredibly impractical to implement in real life, but this takes away from the focus on the temp heroes in question. Yeah, the scene of Nino trying his hardest to fend off Anansi using Cat Noir's staff was pretty badass, but most of the time, they don't really get a lot of focus outside of a single scene. Episodes like “Desperada”, “Party Crasher”, and “Pentalteam” are all guilty of doing this.

I get that the focus of the show is meant to be on Marinette and Adrien, but would it really kill the writers to dedicate a handful of episodes to focus some of the side characters? Because, even after they become heroes, not much changes about them as characters.

“I’m Just Another Member of the Team”. Yeah, Define “Team”, Cat Noir

I remember back when Season 2 was first airing, and we knew that Alya, Nino, and Chloe would all get their own Miraculous, there was a lot of hype around the idea of how the team dynamic would change, or how it would affect the characters in general. Then the Rent-A-Miraculous system was introduced, and it pretty much established how there wouldn't actually be a lot of focus on these characters. The status quo basically stays the same, and the other Miraculous used are no different than whatever object Ladybug's Lucky Charm gives her in terms of always being used the right way to stop the Akuma.

Okay, in-universe, I can understand why it's too dangerous for the temp heroes to have their Miraculous full-time, but the problem I have isn't that they're not full-time heroes, but rather, how little being a hero actually affects their lives. A common trope utilized in superhero media is the drama that comes from living a double life, and we've already seen how that applies to Marinette and Adrien, but we never get any of that from most of the temp heroes. They're all perfectly okay with risking their lives to save the city whenever Ladybug needs their help, and then they just go on like nothing ever happens. Sure, we get a little hesitance occasionally, but it's just thrown in there to make the audience think these characters are complex (Queen Banana, Mega Leech, Penalteam).

We also never really get any conflict stemming from the temp heroes struggling to get used to their newfound powers. As soon as they transform, they instantly know what to do, and are more than able to keep up with Ladybug, even if they aren't athletic in the slightest. Because, of course, the writers forgot how much Ladybug and Cat Noir struggled to get used to their powers in “Origins”. The only times we got this kind of conflict was when Chloe became tried to “save” that train as Queen Bee in “Queen Wasp”, and when Adrien struggled to master the power of the Snake Miraculous in “Desperada”. Even then, those conflicts were focused more on other aspects like why they chose to use the Miraculous for those reasons, not about how new they were at the job.

Even putting that aside, because of how rarely we get to see these characters as heroes, it's really hard to get invested whenever Ladybug recruits someone for help because of how little focus they have, or what they bring to the team other than their power needed to help save the day. How does Cat Noir feel fighting alongside his ex-girlfriend Ryuko? Does Vesperia struggle to fit into the group because she's the second heroine to use the Bee Miraculous? Do heroes like Pigella and Polymouse ever feel insecure about their powers not being as flashy as what King Monkey or Minotaurox can do? Would someone like Rooster Bold or Carapace feel like they're not cut out for the hero life? What if Pegasus secretly believes that he should be in charge of the team's tactics over Ladybug? Well, the answer to all of these questions is a resounding...

The temp heroes all just blindly follow Ladybug and never really contribute to the episode other than whenever they use their powers. There's no real interesting character drama or subplots relating to their civilian identities. They're pretty much blank slates who come across more like summons in a video game, not a wide variety of allies Ladybug has the help of. The only exceptions to this are Chloe, Alya, and Luka, because the show dedicated episodes that focused on their dedication to the cause and genuinely wanting to help her. Of course, now, the first two won't ever get to use a Miraculous ever again due to going behind Ladybug's back, and the latter option was only given more plot relevance to make sure that he would never come close to being a threat to the Love Square, but hey, it's something. Wow, it's almost like the show should have taken more opportunities to explore the team dynamic in this ensemble cast before writing off all the temp heroes to make Ladybug feel guilty for something that wasn't her fault.

Secret Identities? What’s So Important About That in a Superhero Show?

Ever since the very first episode of the show, one of the biggest rules established was the importance of secret identities, to the point where Ladybug and Cat Noir couldn't even know who the other was. Later episodes would go on to show the reasons behind that rule by having Hawkmoth exploit the fact that he knows Chloe's identity as Queen Bee (Heroes' Day, Miraculer, Battle of the Miraculous), and what would happen if Ladybug and Cat Noir figured out who the other was (Cat Blanc). The point I'm trying to make is that for the most part, the show has mostly been consistent in how the secret identity rule was handled. Unfortunately, with all the other heroes being introduced, the writers decided to throw that rule away after Season 3.

Even though the whole reason she turned against Ladybug was because of the identity rule that prevented her from being Queen Bee again for her own safety, and even though it was also why she exposed the identities of the other temp heroes, when said temp heroes' identities are exposed at the end of Season 3, Season 4 decides to ignore what happened completely.

To be fair, it was pretty vague how many people actually knew about what happened, but no matter how you slice it, the identities of Rena Rouge, Carapace, Viperion, Pegasus, and Ryuko were exposed to Hawkmoth, yet for some reason, Ladybug still calls on them for help. Again, the whole reason Chloe betrayed the team in the first place was how poorly she took the secret identity rule being enforced, yet as soon as pretty much the same thing happens to the others, now, the rules don't matter? Hell, when Astruc explained it, he somehow implied that Ladybug still relying on the temp heroes is okay because somehow, it's a risk she can take.

You know, the same risk she didn't want to take again after Chloe was explicitly put in danger as a result of Hawkmoth knowing she's Queen Bee, yet is perfectly fine with the other heroes' identities being known to Hawkmoth now? How Astruc thinks this isn't confusing at all eludes me.

The whole identity rule is very noticeable when we know it's entirely possible to use different Miraculous, not only evidenced by “Reflekdoll”, “Desperada”, and “Kwamibuster”, but also the fact that Ladybug outright chose a new temp hero for the Bee Miraculous in “Queen Banana”. Why the hell doesn't she do the same with the other temp heroes, or at the very least, try to find other temp heroes to use the remaining seven Miraculous in the Miracle Ball?

You could have easily explained all of this hypocrisy away by saying that once someone uses a Miraculous for the first time, they're bonded with the Kwami, sort of like what Power Rangers RPM did with their powers to justify a screw-up like Ziggy (no relation to the Kwami of the same name) remaining on the team. That way, it would make more sense because Ladybug has no other choice but to rely on heroes like Queen Bee and Rena Rouge more despite their identities being known by Shadowmoth. But I guess if that was the rule, we couldn't introduce the unification system, which only serves to further complicate things.

The Unification Situation

In concept, the idea of using multiple Miraculous at once sounds like an interesting idea due to all of the potential combinations you could make, but like pretty much everything else in this show, the execution is where things fall flat.

When the idea of unifying Miraculous was first introduced in “Kwamibuster”, it was portrayed as very risky, with Master Fu warning the affects all the power could have on Marinette if she tried wearing almost every Miraculous they had at the moment to fight Kwamibuster with. How do the writers follow up on this potential danger? Marinette gets dizzy a single time, uses several Miraculous perfectly, and the closest thing we get to an explanation is that “Marinette is special”. Sure, you could have shown off the risks more to explain why Ladybug and Cat Noir don't always do this, but no, let's just throw away any tension for the sake of introducing more hero forms to sell dolls for the show's nonexistent toyline.

Then Ladybug unified with the Dragon Miraculous in without any issues in “Miracle Queen”. Then Ladybug unified with the Bee Miraculous without any issues in “Optigami”. Then Ladybug unified with the Horse Miraculous without any issues in “Sentibubbler”. Then Ladybug unified with the Horse and Rabbit Miraculous without any issues in “Strikeback”. Do you see the point I'm trying to make here? The only time we actually got to see the consequences for unifying multiple Miraculous was at the beginning of Season 5 (Evolution), though I'm pretty sure it was only done to explain why Monarch didn't just beat the crap out of Ladybug and Cat Noir on his own.

If it's so easy for Ladybug, and by extension, Cat Noir (Miracle Queen, Evolution) to use multiple Miraculous, then why doesn't she do it all the time, especially when she can pull any Miraculous out of her yo-yo whenever she wants? The unifications show absolutely no downside, and the show never explains why the heroes don't use other Miraculous more often in favor of the temp heroes. Did Ladybug really need Polymouse's help to defeat Malediktator in “Mega Leech” when she was shown to be an expert at using the Mouse Miraculous herself? Did Ladybug really need Rena Rouge's help to defeat the rest of the Gang of Secrets when she was shown to be an expert in using the Fox Miraculous herself? Did Ladybug really need Viperion's help to defeat Wishmaker when Cat Noir was shown to be an expert in using the Snake Miraculous himself?

For something that was introduced as a very risky move, there's almost zero consequences for unifying Miraculous at all, so it's hard to really get that excited for a new form because the additional Miraculous is treated no differently than the Lucky Charm Ladybug normally needs to save the day. And of course, it only raises more questions about why Ladybug still relies on the temp heroes when she can use other Miraculous on her own. Sure, you could argue that there are moments where she needs additional manpower, but the other heroes never really do much fighting other than using their one power, so it's hard to really see why Ladybug still asks for their help.

Even the powers obtained when unifying are just underwhelming. Just think, you're using two Miraculous at the same time, and what makes it different from using a single Miraculous? You get to use the same established powers that could have easily been done using two heroes. That's it.

The actual unification episodes usually don't have a lot of impact because nothing is really done to explore the concept. It's pretty much an excuse to advance the plot by having Ladybug do stuff a temp hero could normally do without going through the process of recruiting someone. Why not get creative when unifying, and give each unification a new power that uses the abilities of both Miraculous, like Dragonbug being able to manipulate the elements instead of transforming into wind, water, or lightning? That way, it would actually explain why Ladybug still needs heroes like Ryuko to help her even though she can use the Dragon Miraculous on her own just fine.

In general, even though the show tries to make a big deal about the risk of unifying Miraculous, actually doing so just comes across as boring, as it doesn't feel like the risk was worth it, and it's not even that fun to watch compared to other temp hero episodes. The writers could have gotten creative with the unification powers, but maybe they already realized how weird the power system for this show actually is.

It’s Pretty Miraculous Any Writer Went Along With a Magic System Like This

I think we can all agree that the power scaling for the Miraculous makes less sense the more temp heroes we get to meet.

Originally, the idea for what each Miraculous could do was pretty simple: Use your power, but you only have five minutes before your Kwami needs to recharge. With Ladybug's Lucky Charm, Cat Noir's Cataclysm, Rena Rouge's Mirage, Carapace's Shelter, Queen Bee/Vesperia's Venom, their powers were all single-use and for the most part, felt evenly balanced, while Hawkmoth and Mayura's powers were justified by them being adults, and therefore, able to stay transformed and keep their respective creations out for however long they want. But then the Zodiac Miraculous were introduced, and the power scaling just went out of control.

While I see the powers like Pegasus's Voyage, Pigella's Gift, and Miss Hound's Fetch being on a lower tier in the Miracle Box, Viperion's Second Chance, King Monkey's Uproar, Ryuko's Wind/Water/Lightning Dragon, Bunnix's Burrow, Polymouse's Multitude, Purple Tigress' Clout, Caprikid's Genesis, Minotaurox's Resistance, and ESPECIALLY Rooster Bold's Sublimation just feel way too overpowered for this show. How can the Snake Miraculous handle constantly traveling back through time? Why does the Dragon Miraculous have three powers to use instead of one? Are there any powers the Monkey Miraculous can't screw with? How exactly does the Rabbit Miraculous' pocket dimension work? Just how powerful is the Tiger Miraculous when its user doesn't hold back? How many clones can the Mouse Miraculous create, and how small can they get? Can anything break through the user of the Ox Miraculous' power? Is there a limit to what kind of object the Goat Miraculous can create? What self-respecting writer would think it would be a good idea to introduce anything like the Rooster Miraculous and make it so easy to access?

The point I'm trying to make is that there are so many Miraculous in this show that are supposedly less important than the Ladybug and Cat have powers with very few limits. The show keeps saying it's too dangerous to have multiple Miraculous out, but it's obviously an excuse to limit the use of the temp heroes because of how so many conflicts could be ended quicker with the help of the Ox or Rooster.

I'd be more okay with these powers if they were more unpredictable to balance how effective they are. For example, what if Second Chance takes Viperion back to a completely random timeframe within the time he set up his power? What if Ryuko couldn't control which elemental power she chose, and could only use that one power before the timer starts? What if Sublimation gave Rooster Bold a completely random power he'd have to learn to master instead of choosing whatever he wanted? You could have easily made the Zodiac Miraculous like double-edged swords in comparison to the more reliable Fox, Turtle, and Bee, as it would justify why Ladybug doesn't use them all the time.

You Really Expect Audiences to Keep Up With All of These New Characters?

Part of the appeal of an ensemble cast is to see all the characters interacting with each other in different ways, but there's a point where the cast can be too big to handle.

I've already talked about how the Rent-A-Miraculous system only serves to harm the characters due to how brief their screentime can be, but I feel like it only gets harder to connect with all the temp heroes due to how many there are. By the end of Season 4, there is a total of fifteen temp heroes to keep track of: Rena Rouge/Rena Furtive, Carapace, Queen Bee/Vesperia, Viperion, Pegasus, Ryuko, Bunnix, King Monkey, Polymouse, Pigella, Purple Tigress, Miss Hound/Flairmidable, Rooster Bold, Caprikid, and Minotaurox. Do you really expect audiences to remember all of these characters, much less children?

The temp heroes are already underdeveloped, but the sheer number of them only limits their screentime even more in the later seasons. Yeah, about hald of the temp heroes' debut episodes were pretty memorable because of the focus on the characters (Sapotis, Startrain, Ikari Gozen, Timetagger, Mega Leech, Guiltrip, Crocoduel), but with the other half, the first appearances of the temp heroes feel more like afterthoughts compared to what else goes on.

“Desperada” focused more on both Adrien and Marinette than it did Luka, as his debut was kind of undermined by simply being available rather than his determination to save the day.

Kim barely got to do anything before becoming King Monkey in “Party Crasher”, and even Master Fu questioned choosing Kim at first.

Likewise, Zoe was almost nonexistent in “Queen Banana”, as the writers felt like it was a better idea to spend time giving the audience reasons to hate Chloe, who we already know is bad from earlier episodes, instead of giving the audience reasons to like Zoe.

And do I even need to repeat how much I thought it was a terrible idea to introduce Miss Hound, Rooster Bold, Caprikid, and Minotaurox in “Penalteam”, an episode that already had way too much going on with almost every other temp hero joining the action?

For a show that is trying really hard to sell the audience on the idea of Ladybug leading this huge team of heroes, it doesn't really work because of how little screentime they get. I get it, Ladybug and Cat Noir are the leads, but with twenty-six episodes per season, surely, the writers can give more focus to the other temp heroes to viewers have more of a reason to get excited whenever they show up, right?

If I may bring up yet another tokusatsu show none of you have ever heard of that I thought pulled this idea off better, Uchu Sentai Kyuranger had a similar idea of focusing on a massive team of nine (eventually twelve about halfway through) heroes. The difference is that as a way for the writers to save money for bigger action scenes in later episodes, a roulette system was introduced that would randomly select about five or six members of the team to former a smaller unit that the episode would follow. That way, the writers could focus more on various character interactions and give every member of the team their time to shine while still devoting plenty of focus to that season's Red (even if he tends to hog the spotlight at times). In addition, later episodes would focus on separating the team into smaller groups to go on their own missions, and because of how often the show relied on this format, it made the instances where all twelve Kyurangers headed into battle together all the more special, as it highlighted the severity of the threat they had to stop.

The fourth season of Miraculous Ladybug tried something like in a handful of episodes by enlisting the help of a couple of temp heroes (Mega Leech, Kuro Neko, Strikeback), but it wasn't nearly as effective as what Kyuranger did because again, the temp heroes barely got to do or say anything other than use their one superpower as part of Ladybug’s plan. Even though there were three separate episodes where Ladybug and Cat Noir had to fight multiple Akumas at once (Gang of Secrets, Crocoduel, Dearest Family), they never got help from more than a single temp hero in two of the examples I mentioned.

I just don't get why the show doesn't think about setting up more battles with multiple heroes and Akumas, because the potential is there. Maybe Ladybug needs a team of heavy-hitters for a really powerful Akuma in one episode, like Ryuko, King Monkey, Purple Tigress, and Minotautox. Maybe there's an Akuma that requires more stealth to defeat them, so Ladybug needs the help of heroes with more discreet powers, like Rena Furtive, Viperion, Polymouse, and Miss Hound. Maybe a team of heroes are needed for their distinct personalities and civilian skills to deal with the Akuma, like Pegasus' intellect, Pigella's compassion, and Vesperia's acting skills.

When Shadowmoth got all the Miraculous at the end of Season 4, there's not much of a reason to be worried for any of the temp heroes like Alya, Nino, or Luka, because not only are they in any specific danger the other of civilians of Paris don't go through every day, as of the first two episodes of Season 5, they don't even seem to mind not being heroes anymore. Even in an episode where the first act revolved around Paris adjusting to Monarch's upgrade, none of the temp heroes vent about feeling helpless now that they can't help Ladybug anymore (outside of Chloe complaining about how bad Ladybug is, because even when trying to make her seem like a jerk, the writers still do more with Chloe than they like to admit). There was this one episode of Kamen Rider Saber where one of the Riders lost his powers, and it just devastated him. He broke down crying down at the idea of the magical sword he uses to transform being reduced to nothing more than a useless piece of metal by someone he once considered a friend. Imagine if we got something like that to show the vulnerability of any of the temp heroes.

There is so much that can be done with the temp heroes as a whole, but instead, the writers just refuse to get creative with how they utilize them, even with how many new additions we get by the fourth season. In fact, the way the temp heroes were written in the fourth season was one of the bigger reasons why I wanted to write this in the first place. So, let's get into my problems with how the fourth season struggled to make up its mind on how we're supposed to feel about the temp heroes.

We’re Supposed to Like These Guys, Right?

By Season 4, Miraculous Ladybug can pretty much be called “Mixed Messages: The Series”, and not much would chance, and nowhere is it more apparent than with how the temp heroes are handled in this season. I've already talked about how much I hated Cat Noir this season, so I'll try not to rag on him too much, considering this is about the temp heroes, but keep in mind, he's one of the reasons why this is so confusing.

Throughout Season 4, a major plotline was the growing rift in Ladybug and Cat Noir's partnership over the former relying more on the temp heroes, especially Rena Rouge, but putting aside my feelings for Cat Noir, the problem I have is that the writers keep going back and forth on whether the temp heroes are good or not. It's weird, because throughout the whole season, they keep Cat Noir's motivation to get Ladybug to trust him more consistent for the most part, but it seems like for every episode that introduces or glorifies a new or preexisting temp hero (Gang of Secrets, Mr. Pigeon 72, Queen Banana, Mega Leech, Guiltrip, Crocoduel, Wishmaker, Penalteam), there's another episode that makes a big deal about Adrien being left out (Optigami, Sentibubbler, Hack-San, Rocketear, Ephemeral, Kuro Neko, Risk/Strikeback). Even though he was perfectly fine with meeting most of the temp heroes, other episodes that feature those same characters make it seem like it's bad that Ladybug needs their help, like “Ephemeral” and “Kuro Neko”.

It'd be one thing if Cat Noir gradually started to resent the other heroes for overshadowing him and causing Ladybug to not trust him as much as she used to, but it just seems like the temp heroes are either awesome additions to the team that Cat Noir appreciates the help of, or a sign that Ladybug doesn't care about Cat Noir because she's a terrible human being. There's just no inbetween, and even though the season tries to make the case that Cat Noir is just as capable of a hero, most of the time, the episodes focusing on the temp heroes either incapacitate Cat Noir to up the stakes, or portray him as an incompetent buffoon (Anansi, Malediktator, Desperada, Party Crasher, Ikari Gozen, Mr. Pigeon 72, Mega Leech, Guiltrip, Sentibubbler, Wishmaker, Penalteam).

“Penalteam” in particular is especially guilty of this, as it takes place right after “Kuro Neko”, an episode where Ladybug learns to value Cat Noir as a partner. What happens when she starts to boast about how amazing the two are together to the Penalteam? Cat Noir admits that this just happens to be a situation where he admits he's not good for, so Ladybug has no other choice but to enlist every available temp hero and four new ones just to make up for Cat Noir's lack of soccer skills, and then they have to save him yet again. But then there's what happens in the season finale. Even if I agreed with the idea of Cat Noir being mistreated, how am I supposed to feel when Ladybug loses all of the other Miraculous, and by extension, the help of the temp heroes? Yeah, it's obviously a bad thing that Monarch has all of these Miraculous, but should I be happy that Cat Noir sort of got what he wanted? Should I be upset Ladybug lost the help of the temp heroes? I'm not saying the show should spell out how we should feel, but with the way Season 4 made a big deal about how bad it supposedly was for Ladybug to rely on the temp heroes, it's weird that her punishment was losing access to the temp heroes as a whole when the temp heroes both helped her save the day, and in the case of Felix/Flairmidable, screwed her over.

The writing just goes back and forth on whether we should cheer or boo whenever the temp heroes are on screen, saying stuff about how proud Ladybug is of her team while also making her out to be a control freak. Even putting aside all the evidence to the contrary, it just feels like the writers either can't make up their minds on how the temp heroes should be viewed, or the higher-ups are forcing them to glorify their existence to boost merchandising sales.

Nothing More Than a Temporary Thrill

At the end of the day, the temp heroes are essentially like candy: Fun in the moment, but you won't really gain anything from it after a while other than a whole slew of problems from indulging too much in it. And oh boy, did the writers indulge too much when introducing all of these temp heroes. They put way too much effort into making the temp heroes a thing while simultaneously doing nothing interesting with the concept in the name of once again preserving the status quo that's been established since the first episode. The whole point of introducing new characters is to see how they shake up the current dynamic, but the writers just don't do anything with them.

You could have built up a massive team of heroes to potentially rival the likes of the Justice League, but instead, nothing was done with almost every single temp hero introduced. The way this idea was haphazardly executed is the definition of mediocrity.

#immaturity of thomas astruc #iota #thomas astruc #thomas astruc salt #miraculous ladybug #miraculous ladybug salt #ml salt #marinette dupain cheng #ladybug #adrien agreste #cat noir #chat noir #rena rouge #rena furtive #carapace #queen bee #viperion #pegasus #bunnix #ryuko #king monkey #vesperia #polymouse #pigella #purple tigress #miss hound #rooster bold #caprikid #minotaurox

[familyagrestefanblog]

Seriously, Trailer warning. The Trailer they just dropped is almost offensively stuffed

I'll only talk about it under "read more" because I genuinely think they just straight up gave the entire ending away. So what I'm about to point out and talk about kinda feels like leaks even though they are absolutely not. Its a damn official trailer :/

So think twice before you click read more, I did my job warning you

The trailer end with this.

That's civilian Marinette seemingly frozen right in front of civilian Gabriel while he is 100% making his wish right now.

It's pink and green, Tikki and Plagg, what else is it supposed to be?

The trailer also shows Marinette seemingly finding everything out and wearing both the Ladybug and the Black Cat miraculous' at the same time after Adrien gave it up in London, which we know because they also show Plagg flying away with the miraculous by himself

which automatically turns Marinette into a two-in-one kill if Gabriel gets her, which he apparently DID. Ladybug NEEDED Chat Noir.

And on top of that they also show that Gabriel is Nathalie's nightmare but she's too weak to stop him now. He literally SAYS it.

So unless Alya, the Resistance and Félix aren't suddenly waltzing in last second to steal Marinette's, Adrien's and Nathalie's job by defeating Gabriel for them and stopping him at THIS crossroad of destiny everything lead up to

Then we are fucked. Gabriel wins and they just revealed it all in one damn trailer.

I mean, don't get me wrong, the writing has been on the wall for the last 2 seasons - especially season 5 which was pretty much dedicated to Gabriel himself while serving as a second season 1 - so yeah, everything going to hell and Gabriel winning was pretty much the expected s5 ending now since it's been painfully obvious for quite a while already that ever since s4 we haven't been leading up to the original ending of Miraculous anymore.

Miraculous has been a global phenomenon for years on end. They have been talking about 6 season and more of story to tell since before season 2 even started airing.

As you can see, the tweet is from the 25th of September in 2016. And 2x01 "The Collector" had it's World Premiere on 21th of October in 2017. That's a whole year later!

YES, even though animated shows takes years of development in advance to get done, they absolutely had the damn time to make one more (at the very least ROUGH) concept for season 4 and 5 that follows the same story skeleton of the initial s4 and 5 while keep every episode mostly the same besides adjusting the executions of story and character arcs so it doesnt end with season 5. Meaning all that happened is that on paper there were two versions of season 4 and season 5, which would also explain what the hell is up with the leaked bible.

One s4+5 execution for the case that it stops here as it was planned and the other one for when the story is supposed to continue which is now happening. So S6 onwards can continue what these 2 seasons left out. Which is alot. A fuck ton of a lot in case you didnt notice it by now.

I figured as much about half way through season 5. The only thing that's makes me angry now is that they are giving this much away in the trailer. Since the way the trailer shows Gabriel as the main character is only continuing what all of season 4 and especially 5 have been doing all along. Leading up to Gabriel's victory and the consequences of everything our heros - and everyone else too in the show - never took care of for 5 damn seasons. Which is also a fuck ton of a LOT.

I would be more surprised if he didn't win now and S6 onwards isn't getting out of Gabriel's wish reality. That's all the show (and Ladynoir in particular) have been leading up to for quite a long time already.

#ml spoilers #miraculous ladybug #miraculous #Ml Trailer #ml season 5 #jesus fucking christ #I fucking told you people this shit wouldnt end well #the writing was on the damn WALL for 2 damn seasons!