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sheacouleecametoslay · 1 year

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Season 12 (2020)

Most rankings seem to put Season 11 towards the bottom and Season 12 towards the top, but I feel the exact opposite. Season 11 never had a dull moment, while Season 12 is nothing but dull moments. Especially the second half of it. This is blandest season (and cast) I've encountered so far, other than All-Stars 1 which barely even qualifies as a Drag Race season. The 90-minute runtime does not help either. The Werk Room portion of the episodes go on forever - all they talk about is the upcoming challenge, or their self-doubts, or the MANY, MANY mirror stories. This is easily the worst season of Untucked too – episodes 5 and 6 are the only ones worth watching. And once again, the guest judges appear on it every week. The giant shade button was wasted on this Untucked season. Season 12 really is “RuPaul's Best Friend Race”. Everyone gave supportive words to each other at one point or another. I'm not going to criticize the cast for being good people. But there's barely any drama or storylines. The only real storyline was Brita vs Aiden, which escalated into Aiden vs everyone. And honestly that rivalry was tiring by episode 6. You just know the producers wanted them to lip sync against each other. You could also include Widow's downward spiral as a storyline. And they tried to set up Nicky vs Gigi as rival fashion queens, but that went nowhere. And that's about it. The only other drama was from Widow and Jaida having attitude during the rehearsal of their respective premieres. And the Gigi vs Heidi tiff. I think the main reason why Season 12 is praised is because of the challenge performances. Almost everyone did well in both “Gay's Anatomy” and the Madonna Rusical, for instance. But I need more than just good challenge performances to fully enjoy a season. The Snatch Game was forgettable anyways, aside from Gigi and Jackie's performances. The Debate was a let down, but I get why Ru was pushing a political theme considering how important the 2020 election was to the drag community. I also don't like how they keep shoving the Ball to the beginning of the season. 36 runways in one episode was too much. But thankfully they skipped the late-season acting challenge. And the superfan Makeover was a nice moment; including the lip sync. Also, WTF was that cat mini-challenge? Oh, and apparently they didn't air the Reading mini-challenge because it was so bad. I will say the premiere was very hype. The first group was clearly the stronger one. “I'm That Bitch” might be the best girl group song they've done. Widow gave the best lip sync of the season. And the non-elimination felt justified. In past seasons, the first challenge was almost always a design challenge, unless it was All-Stars, so this was much more demanding. The split premiere fit the political theme of the season as well, as if they're competing political parties. I could do without the Fashion Show though, and the fake celebrities watching. The A-list celebrity guest judge was Nicki Minaj. She replaced Ru in the “Cover Girl” transition thing, and she was pretty harsh with Heidi. The editors also tried something new in the premiere where the producers interacted off-screen with the queens. The second group felt like a comedown though. I don't know why they did an odd number of cast members for a split premiere. I know Tamisha Iman and Kandy Muse were supposed to be on this season, but they were actually replaced. And then the producers had to erase Sh*rry P*e from the edit starting from episode 3, and DQ her from the finale. Her track record screamed favouritism. How did they let her talk for 17 MINUTES uninterrupted in that stand-up challenge? I've seen speculation that she would've won the season, but I don't think she was ever beating Jaida in a finale lip sync thankfully. Anyways, episode 3 starts off with some manufactured drama of the two groups coming together. Followed by Ru being a s**t-stirrer by making Widow and Jaida rank the other groups. Then an improv challenge that felt endless (“World's Worst”), where the winning team just did the same joke. Heidi winning would've been a much better storyline, since Jaida ranked her last that episode. Speaking of which, why were Sh*rry and Gigi winning everything for the first 7 episodes? They were even top 2 in their respective premieres. Also, Episode 3 aired on March 13, 2020, the same day a National Emergency was declared in the US. So maybe Drag Race was a comfort show to those stuck at home, adjusting to a "new normal", scared and uncertain about the outside world. It probably helps that this season didn't have a lot of negativity either. The restrictions only affected the reunion and the finale, because the show is filmed during the previous year. They did what they could given the circumstances, but Zoom call lip syncs ain't it. Oh yeah, Leslie Jones might be the best guest judges ever? Not only was she funny AF on the panel, but she went on Untucked and asked Aiden why she's sour and signed Widow's shoe. Vanjie's cameo on the Snatch Game episode (and that Untucked) was fun too.

Queens Ranking: 13. Sh*rry P*e Who? Didn't even notice she was there. 😂 12. Brita The inflated sense of self-importance. Brita mentioned New York City all the time. She was delusional; disagreeing with her placements, bragging about her improv skills, and saying “I am serving you looks every single time”. Aiden was right - Brita expected her NYC reputation to put her on top, but that's not how this works. Brita's confessionals had a mean vibe too. She wasn't throwing fun shade, it felt serious. She made condescending remarks about Aiden: “Aiden's like a lost little puppy”; “I don't want to babysit Aiden”; “Aiden isn't working hard enough” etc. And she borderline bullied Aiden to her face after the “World's Worst” challenge, and again on the episode 5 Untucked, and again on the red couch. Then she said “I love Aiden” after Aiden's elimination like what? Brita also thought Widow was milking her knee injury and cringed at Widow doing Ike/Tina. She called Rock M's outfit a “science fair project gone wrong”, as if hers was any better. And then she cried on her last Untucked for being in the bottom so much. In the competition: Brita had the worst track record. She flopped 4 challenges in a row. She had no idea what she was doing in the Ball challenge; all 3 of her looks missed the mark, and the judges didn't know it was a pineapple. She also overacted in “Gay's Anatomy”. She just laughed for every answer as Jennifer Holliday in Snatch Game. And she messed up the choreo in the Rusical. She was fierce in “I'm That Bitch” though (“cause they be givin' up and I ain't even done!”), but her lyrics didn't really say anything. As for Brita's runways, meh. Frozen was her best one. Spring and Buttons And Bows were a “no”. I actually enjoyed her lip sync performances though. 11. Jackie Cox Too dry and overly professional for me. And seemingly snobbish? She couldn't believe that Aiden didn't know Mae West (“call my lawyer”). She was confused by Vanjie's Julia Roberts joke. She gave people a hard time for being “unprepared” for Snatch Game. She insisted that Jaida volunteered to go last when she didn't (“roll that tape” indeed). She questioned why Aiden was safe, but later gave Aiden a reasonable explanation for why she's getting heat. She made an issue out of Widow not making connections, but had a heartfelt chat with Widow afterwards. Otherwise, Jackie mostly talked about her parents, LGBTQ+ discrimination in her culture, and Islamophobia. She even had that speech with guest judge AOC. I respect her for using Drag Race as a platform for these important issues, but I wish she had more un-serious moments I guess? She did occasionally throw shady jabs in the Werk Room though. In the competition: Jackie placed “high” in several challenges but never won. Her “I'm That Bitch” showed her identity, but it wasn't as memorable as the others. She was a natural talker in “World's Worst”. I thought she was the funniest in Snatch Game as Lisa Rinna – how she rambled on and threatened Heidi. Her genie concept in the advert was great (“For you!”) And in the stand-up routine, she told a personal story while keeping it funny. But Jackie struggled in the latter half. She was boring in the Rusical. She kept doing Canada jokes in the Debate. And her Makeover outfits were basic. She knew her time was up at the end too. Jackie was comedic lip sync-er, but “Kill the Lights” was cringe. My fave Jackie runways were her Frozen snowflake, her Michelle Visage look, the Purple People Eater, and the hijab. 10. Nicky Doll Nicky came in as a fashion queen that will “bring you glamour without breaking my hip”. While the producers spent the premiere pointing out her mispronunciations. But ultimately, Nicky got in her head - she felt defeated by the language barrier, and didn't think she could live up to everyone else's level because of it. She even named herself to go home in episode 5. She seemed crabby too? She was unhappy about her “World's Worst” role, she was annoyed by Jan's dissatisfaction over being safe, she was relieved to work solo for once, and she was bewildered by Aiden's favouritism. She also fought with Aiden on Untucked; and told Aiden she should be in the bottom over Jaida. Meanwhile, the judges read Nicky for not showing personality. She did joke around in the Werk Room – it just didn't materialize in the challenges. Her confessionals weren't bad though (like the popcorn one, saying “are you ready?” in French, etc). In the competition: Nicky was the fashion queen that bombed the performance challenges. Her “I'm That Bitch” verse was my least fave – the lyrics were generic and she didn't sell it on stage. In “World's Worst”, she didn't really add anything to the skit, and she cut Widow off. While in “Gay's Anatomy”, she thought she tried something different, but her baby character wasn't fun. Then it seemed like she gave up in her last lip sync. But yeah, Nicky served Parisian high fashion on the runway. My faves were her Fall look, her Sparkle look, and all 3 Ball looks. My least fave was her Spring look. 9. Gigi Goode Falls into the bland category for me. Gigi mostly talked about wanting to be on top (who doesn't?) Or being excited for a Fashion Show. Or updating us on her Ball outfit. Or just hyping herself up: “I'm not just good, I'm incredible”; “I see my drag going to the cover of Vogue. Period.”; “I think this means that I'm the queen bee of this season right?” Gigi also struck me as someone who cares about her image. She didn't really give reads; aside from comparing Crystal's singing to Kermit smoking pot. She was terrified of politics. She apologized for not knowing Patti LuPone. And she only got involved in drama once – when she told Heidi that she wasn't listening to the judges; a comment that Heidi found unnecessary – and she tried to smooth things over ASAP. She also later said “we've built a family and families fight and families get over it!” Sure. Otherwise, Gigi started showing vulnerability towards the end, when she cried over what to do in the stand-up challenge, and talked about repressing her self-doubts. She also came out as gender fluid on the show. And her mom making her outfits was so wholesome. In the competition: Gigi having 4 wins is excessive, especially 3 times in 4 episodes. They weren't undeserving wins, but there were other options: Jaida could've won the Ball, Jackie could've won Snatch Game, Jan could've won the Rusical. Gigi's Ball looks were polished but not that inventive. Her saucy robot in Snatch Game was funny but came off cocky. Her poses in the Rusical were compelling though. And her “I'm That Bitch” performance was fierce, even if I wasn't into the lyrics. I laughed when she read the audience members in her stand-up too. On the flip side, Gigi's stuck-up character in the advert didn't land. Her Debate was lacking (“why not”). Her Makeover outfits screamed safe. She was just a corpse in “World's Worst”. And her “turn it into comedy” bit in the “Starships” lip sync was cringe. Also, Gigi's runways were very well-constructed, but her style didn't excite me? The colonialism costume was a choice. My faves were the button outfit, her Black Wedding, the Daphne Blake one, and her pirate entrance. 8. Jan The blandest cast member of the blandest season. But still likeable enough. Jan was this positive, energetic Drag Race superfan who was excited to be there. There was even a complication of her chipper moments after she left. But Jan's confessionals didn't have much personality. The few Jan moments that stood out were: her being flabbergasted that Aiden didn't know her outfit was referee. When she talked about being a sports kid. When she assumed she'd win the Rusical because of her experience, resulting in the infamous face crack. And when she insisted that she was upset over Brita leaving, and not because of losing the Rusical. I call BS on that. I think Jan was moreso crushed that she didn't meet her own expectations. She later said “It's a good thing that Brita's gone because now I don't have to worry about her”, as if that was ever the issue. In the competition: Jan was highly ambitious, but I think this came off as desperation to impress the judges. The judges said she was doing too much. Jan sounded overeager in “You Don't Know Me”, but that attitude works well in a song. The point of the challenge was to introduce who you are, which she did. Her high energy was annoying in the “Droop” advert though, but I liked the Jan puns, and I understood her product better than Widow's or Gigi's. Otherwise, Jan was a solid actress in “World's Worst” and “Gay's Anatomy”. Her screaming at Sh*rry was funny in the latter. And her choreo was impressively smooth in the Rusical. Her Bernadette Peters in Snatch Game was forgettable though. As for Jan's runways, Buttons And Bows was amazing, and Black Wedding was my other fave. I enjoyed her in the lip sync too, even if it didn't match the song. 7. Dahlia Sin “I'm Dahlia Sin and I'm here to take your man”. I can definitely tell she's from the House of Aja. Dahlia was very chill in confessional, usually laughing at whatever she just said. She forgot to wear underwear in the premiere, she wanted to poke Rock M's butt, she “meh”-ed everyone out of drag, and she talked about her twin brother. Dahlia wasn't very chill during her exit, however, when she stormed off the stage without an exit line. She also had a problem with Crystal receiving encouragement on Untucked, and she was bitter that Crystal didn't lip sync. But Dahlia had the last laugh: she made cameos in the broccoli costume for the rest of the season! In the competition: Dahlia was a pretty obvious first boot. She just wasn't performing at the same level as the rest. Her girl group verse was the worst one across both premieres – her performance lacked conviction and Michelle exposed her lying in the lyrics. While in “World's Worst”, she hesitated and looked lost, playing this sensual-voiced broccoli that didn't land. Then she kept looking at the camera during the lip sync. Both of Dahlia's main stage runways looked unpolished too. Her best look was the Fall fashion show black fur. 6. Aiden Zhane I want to sympathize with Aiden. Brita borderline bullied her, and the cast tore her down, even when she did well, reaching a boiling point on the episode 5 Untucked. I'm glad she stood up for herself there. But I think Aiden was too standoffish and defensive: “I repeat I'm not a dancer”; “I guess I'm gonna have to be, aren't I?”; “well I'm not just going down there with my face painted, naked”; “when I did ask for my lines, I only asked once”; “I don't think so, I know so”. She tried to brush off their opinions, but I think they affected her. Like Leslie Jones pointed out, Aiden had this sour demeanour. She had to fight the perception she's the weakest. She felt disadvantaged for not coming from a big city. She got exposed in the premiere for calling herself an actress. And she finished her Ball outfit super early, which upset some people. That said, the only real storyline of the season revolved around Aiden so... In the competition: Aiden's “You Don't Know Me” verse gave us an idea of who she is. And she had that Mae West voice in “Gay's Anatomy”. She sold it with her facial expressions in those two challenges. But she looked unsure during “World's Worst”. While in Snatch Game, it was like she had no idea how to answer the questions as Patricia Quinn, someone she knew personally! She also gave up in the lip sync. I wasn't a fan of Aiden's simple outfits either - her Spring look, her Buttons And Bows, her Frozen one, and all 3 of her Ball looks. The referee outfit did need more time on it. Her Tulle runway was her best. Her face was what made her drag unique. 5. Widow Von'Du I'm not sure how to process the assault charges. But Widow had a presence to her during her introduction (“get into AAAAOOOOOOOOLLL of this”). In the premiere, she was voluntold to lead the choreo... until Brita and Jackie overstepped (insert deep sigh confessional). Then she gave up and gave attitude (insert “go ahead go ahead” confessional). Then they said she wasn't taking charge on Untucked. Lol. But yeah, Widow was enjoying herself so much in confessional: “I enjoy when bitches tell me what their weaknesses are”; “MF Sh*rry P*e that's my role”; “you can just taste the fakeness in the air”; “apolo-lie”; “...and now i'm laying eggs in you bitch”. She was devilish in the Rusical episode too (“Jackie, karma's a bitch ain't it”; “I got my first choice”; “well guess what bitch I'm a dancer”). But Widow was moody when she didn't get the “Gay's Anatomy” role she wanted. She was upset over Jackie's preparedness comments, and responded vindictively. And she self-destructed midseason, all because Ru pointed out she hadn't won lately. The inner saboteur took over! I think Widow felt pressured to impress Chaka Khan too. In her last episode, she got frustrated at the judges, and didn't know what they wanted. Otherwise, Widow shared stories of her mom's passing, her abusive relationships and getting kicked out. In the competition: Widow annihilated everyone in the premiere, between her side splits in “I'm That Bitch”, and her multitude of moves in the “Starships” lip sync. She then carried her disastrous team in “World's Worst” (“and this is barbecue sauce”). And she delivered personality in “Gay's Anatomy”. Her Tina and Ike in Snatch Game was whatever, but she had the cake joke. And she was great in the Rusical, just overshadowed. But Widow fell apart midseason. Her advert came off lifeless. Then the judges didn't understand her angry politician in the Debate. Maybe she played it too serious, but she was funnier than Gigi or Jackie. That said, I was disappointed by Widow's runways. Her Buttons And Bows clown, her Cape, her Frozen life-preserver, and especially her Michelle Visage look were a “no”. She was one of my least faves in the Ball too. I appreciated her Stars and Stripes message though. 4. Rock M. Sakura “Is it cultural appropriation? We'll find out”; “this song is dumb, I wanna do it like this and dress like a hot dog”; “feeling that steam [...] like some sort of hot pocket”; “you just walk down the runway and scream: high fashion”; “I want that apple!”. Rock M's high energy OTT personality was entertaining to me. She was so extra during her entrance. She loudly duct taped herself in the Werk Room. She flailed her arms in confessional. But I think this was her anxiety acting out. She explained how she uses humour to mask her insecurities. But I don't think Rock M was emotionally ready for Drag Race. She told Ru that she needed the girls for support. She had that emotional story about her mom's drug addiction. She meekly asked for that apple role. I'd love to see her growth on a future All-Stars though. In the competition: I enjoyed Rock M's “You Don't Know Me” verse. She gave us a character (the fart joke didn't bother me), but I can see how her performance came off intrusive. While in “World's Worst”, she told this joke that wasn't a joke at all... and that was the joke. I was more intrigued by Rock M's looks though. The anime outfit she drew herself was impressive. Her tulle runway was bold (I disagreed with Ross on that one). As was her Buttons And Bows. So it was surprising to see her bomb the Ball challenge. The tether ball was a gag (which is why I didn't put her bottom 2), but her second look had misshapen hip pads, and her third one just looked like garbage scraps. Then she couldn't get the skirt off during the lip sync... 3. Crystal Methyd Despite the quieter edit, and not being involved in any drama, and only having a few memorable confessionals - “I'm a little devil that likes to raise hell in Bible Belt”; “Own it baby! My husband is Harry Hamilton or something”; “I'm not too impressed that Gigi was able to make a pretty girl into a pretty girl”; “Jackie is meeping?” - there's just something about Crystal. She's so genuine and humble with a positive attitude. She was the underdog dark horse too. It seemed like Crystal was going to be an early boot. She cried in front of the judges in episode 3, and she couldn't get past her self-doubt at one point. But once she realized what worked for her, she was unstoppable. Such a good growth story. Crystal was living for the other girls during challenges too. She had a One Direction tattoo in Arabic, a language she doesn't even speak. Ru was obsessed with her mullet (cue “Rhythm of the Night”). And she talked about her conservative parents and her father's Parkinson's. In the competition: Crystal had a rough start, messing up her line in “World's Worst” and blanking on the questions, as well as her Buttons And Bows runway. The fork bit in “Gay's Anatomy” didn't land either. And the judges didn't get her Poppy impression in Snatch Game (but at least she tried unlike Brita or Aiden). Her “I'm That Bitch” verse was kinda bad, but that's why I like it (“I'll have you all screaming Crystal Methyd!”) Then Crystal slayed the second half. Her wacky comedy carried her through the Rusical (the echos; the checking of her pulse), the advert (magic mullet!), the Debate (another mullet joke!), and of course the fitness instructor. Crystal had the most interesting runways too. Her style was ugliness turned into beauty. That's exactly how I'd describe her Makeover. Her Freddy Krueger look, her Black Wedding, and her purple look were all amazing too. I also like her Capes and final 5 blue. 2. Jaida Essence Hall “Chile I'm not finna be this damn orange no”; “this is not RuPaul's excuse race”; “Antarctica's at the bottom ain't it?”; “If a robot and a Barbie and a cheerleader had an orgy...”; “dinosaur doctor”; “nobody wants the butt slice of bread”; “keep your ass right and your mind will follow”; “who is Rose Nylund?”. Yeah... Jaida's my fave winner since Bob. She was so fun in the Makeover episode too: “Let me see, run your split Jackie”; “Mic drop. Bow. Boom. Cat. Cow.”; “baby you gonna get rid of that pinky toe”. Plus there's her ball jokes in the Ball episode. Jaida came in calling herself a classy, boujee female impersonator. She was wise and didn't have time for other people's BS. She started off the season by giving attitude in rehearsal, because she wanted simpler choreo that she wouldn't mess up, and no one listened to her. She called this a “slight disagreement” next episode lol. Then she refused to give Rock M the role she wanted. She got heated at Aiden interrupting her. She schooled Aiden on making excuses. And she clarified to Jackie that she didn't have a say in going last. But Jaida also gave supportive words to Rock M. Same with Jackie about her mom. And she told Widow to get out of her head. She didn't get emotional until the end, first with her Makeover partner, then in front of Whoopi. In the competition: Jaida's only bad performance was her pee story in the stand-up, imo. Just dead air from the audience there. She was “middle of the pack” a few times, like her confrontational apple in “World's Worst”, or her Cardi B in Snatch Game, or when she struggled to say “Diver-dick-ulitius” in “Gay's Anatomy”. But all those performances were good enough. And when Jaida was on top, she slayed. Her “You Don't Know Me” verse made a confident statement (plus the booty slap!) She arguably had the best look in all 3 Ball categories. She sold sexiness in the Rusical. No one came close to her in the Debate (“LOOK OVER THERE”). No one stood a chance against her in a lip sync. And her Makeover looked opulent. My other fave Jaida runways were Tulle, Frozen, Michelle Visage, Stars And Stripes, and the purple one. 1. Heidi N Closet Whether Heidi was getting phrases wrong: “Leprosy print”; “like watching the walls dry”; “right up my avenue”; “as a political politician”; “hepiphany”; “the initialation”. Or simply joking around: “ARR MATEY”; “overall she delivered – literally because she was pregnant”; “maybe she's not the trade of the season – what if I'm the trade of the season?”; “Gigi? Cocky? I would've never guessed”; “and that was the right numbers of fingers honey”. Heidi charmed the viewers in such a cute and harmless way. She laughs with us, and at herself, and doesn't take things too seriously. In the premiere, Heidi had the trill entrance, she pushed through an allergic reaction, she made chicken noises in front of the judges, she exclaimed “I'll never eat kale again!”, and she confronted Nicki Minaj on Untucked. That critique made her so mad. Heidi would also banter with Ru during her walkthroughs, and oftentimes stole Ru's ideas. Ru hated her name too lol. Heidi also had her emotional moments: She seemed irritated during the Rusical Untucked. She felt insulted by Gigi saying she hadn't improved her make-up. And she yelled “f**k you” at everyone on Untucked to leave Aiden alone, which was iconic. But Heidi was there for Widow. She had the uncle passing from HIV story. And she proved Jaida wrong for ranking her last. In the competition: I'm declaring Heidi the Lip Sync Assassin of Season 12. She had funny and entertaining moves in each one until she faced Jaida. She was also bottom 2 in challenges where nearly everyone did well - “Gay's Anatomy” (that fork bit did not land) and the Rusical (for not emulating Madonna, but her moves were still impressive). That said, Heidi's Makeover outfits were basic, and her stand-up routine was messy. Still, she should've won “World's Worst”. And she had the Widow's shoe joke in Snatch Game, the “tears of a drag queen” in the advert, and Jackie's 5 O'clock shadow jab in the Debate. I thought she was one of the best in “I'm That Bitch” too. But Heidi's runways were kinda mediocre. My faves were her Fashion Show looks, even if the headpiece fell off. Her Ball looks weren't the best, but not the worst either. Favourite entrance look: Gigi Goode (night 1) / Rock M. Sakura (night 2) Challenge ranking: 1. “I'm That Bitch” (Girl Group #1) 2. Madonna: The Unauthorized Rusical 3. “Droop” Adverts 4. “You Don't Know Me” (Girl Group #2) 5. “One-Queen Show” (Stand-up) 6. The Ball Ball 7. Snatch Game 8. “Gay's Anatomy” (Acting) 9. “Viva Drag Vegas” 10. Superfan Makeover 11. Presidential debate 12. “World's Worst” (Improv) (this challenge felt endless) Lip Sync ranking: 1. Gigi Goode vs Widow Von'Du ("Starships") (Widow kept finding new moves to show off!) 2. Jan vs Widow Von'Du ("This Is My Night") 3. Brita vs Heidi N Closet ("Burning Up") 4. Jackie Cox vs Widow Von'Du ("Firework") 5. Heidi N Closet vs Jaida Essence Hall ("1999") 6. Jackie Cox vs Heidi N Closet ("Kill the Lights") (Jackie was cringe) 7. Heidi N Closet vs Nicky Doll ("Heart to Break") (Nicky wasn't trying, but Heidi's moves were cute ignoring the wig fail) 8. Jaida Essence Hall vs [Redacted] ("Call Your Girlfriend") (LOL at Jaida playing off the other person) 9. Jaida Essence Hall solo ("Get Up") 10. Brita vs Rock M. Sakura ("S&M") (Rock M's skirt wouldn't come off! but Brita was enjoyable) 11. Top 3 Lip Sync #2 ("Survivor") 12. Crystal Methyd vs Jackie Cox ("On The Floor") 13. Crystal Methyd solo ("I'm Like a Bird") (it's meme-worthy at least) 14. Aiden Zhane vs Brita ("Let It Go") (Brita very theatrical/Aiden looks dead) 15. Gigi Goode solo ("Take On Me") (without the set design, it's not all that) 16. Top 3 Lip Sync #1 ("Bring Back My Girls") (it's just their faces...) 17. Dahlia Sin vs Nicky Doll ("Problem") Season ranking so far: 9 > 5 > 6 > 11 > AS2 > 4 > 10 > 2 > 7 > AS3 > AS4 > 3 > 8 > 12 > 1 > AS1

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writingwithcolor · 3 years

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(1800s Western) non-racist White characters interacting with Black and Native people

Anonymous asked:

My story has two white main characters who live on the western frontier in the late 1800s (specifically 1877) and will of course have to interact with both natives and Black people at some point. When they do interact with them, I don’t want these characters to seem like they’re all knowing on the interworkings of racism and how it affects people, but I don’t want them to seem racist either. How could I show that they’re ignorant on some stuff without having them be straight up racist?

Writing a fluffier piece

Lesya will come from a more historically accurate and detailed perspective. I will answer this as if your piece learns more towards escapism, in which you aren’t trying to perfectly replicate true race relations, but more of a “softened” version of history while not explicitly erasing the history.

The white characters don’t need (and should not) be seen or portrayed as heroes or saviors and not “bumbling idiots” either. They can walk somewhere in the middle. They can treat BIPOC with respect and like humans, so normally, as they would their fellow white characters.

Get the racism out of the way (off screen)

Do not make the people they meet in the story the first Black or Native people they’ve ever met. If they truly were more ignorant in the past, which I would assume they were, let’s just assume they got most of that ignorance out of their system off screen some time ago; previous bias shattered and corrected for the most part by actually meeting BIPOC. I would highly doubt they’re perfect and unbiased completely, but just better than before and not actively looking to harm People of Color in the story.

Micro aggressions or larger scale incidents

Including small incidents of racism or prejudice (micro aggressions) would be realistic. After it occurs, it should be corrected or acknowledged in some way, you as the author noting somehow that the racism is wrong (For example, you might show others’ reactions, the character being confronted, acknowledging and feeling shame from their words or actions, etc)

You could also include singular larger incidents of racism or racially charged-events or tragedies in the storyline, for realism, and have the characters affected or comment on the incident(s).

Now, to Lesya for a deeper historical analysis, with a focus on Native American interactions.

~Mod Colette

Writing a more historically accurate piece

As I outlined in White and Jewish Men, Native American Interaction in 1880s, stories set in this time period are on the cutting edge of genocide. One particularly salient source is going to be List of Indian Massacres in North America, which will be able to give you some idea of some levels of non-war deaths by state per year. You can also check out stuff like Magical Person in History, Not Intervening on Human Rights Issues that gives more genocides of that time period, which are often not outlined in sources like lists of massacres, because wars are counted separately.

What this means is: the level of racism from your average white person at the time is going to be way, way higher than your modern white person, and making them “just ignorant” by our standards is going to make them radically progressive for the standards of the time.

This is the era of the Inconvenient Native, where Native people were “in the way” of American manifest destiny. Pick a newly-founded state and you have found a war with the Native population happening. Residential schools are starting to kick up. Reserves/Reservations are starting to force settlement.

Just seeing Native people as deserving to live on the land beside white people would’ve been a pretty radical opinion at the time. Like… really, really radical opinion. You can spot a handful of isolated incidents where like… one town in an area never broke a treaty, but there are maybe a dozen of those across America? It’s really not many, at all.

For context, one of the most progressive American anthropologists around this time period was Franz Boas; he actually founded the American school of anthropology based around his methods of writing down every detail of culture he could find about these Indigenous groups. He was writing it all down because he was under the impression that assimilation would be inevitable and soon all of these cultures would disappear under the heel of colonialism, so best to preserve the old ways before they vanished forever.

And this guy was a dedicated anti-racist who actually saw value in Indigenous communities. He did things like tried to debunk skull shape equating to intelligence in order to get Eastern European immigrants treated better and Black people treated better.

Like. That’s progressive. Finding the cultures worth recording. Finding reservations worth allocating. And under that progressive thought pattern was still the belief that cultural death and removal of all Indigenous peoples was inevitable.

I’ve seen an analysis of Huckleberry Finn that says its racism and its denouncing of racism with all of the slurs involved is actually a really progressive take for the time, especially considering it was written within a generation of emancipation happening.

You’re… going to be dealing with characters who are a lot more racist than we are in the modern day. That’s just kind of the bottom line.

Now this isn’t to say that you can or should toss in a bunch of slurs to show that things were different back then. This will, after all, still be read in the modern world, where those slurs are much trickier to handle.

But you’re going to need to decide a couple of things:

1- where, exactly, it is

I know “the western front” is a catchall and has a collection of tropes akin to Fantasy World 29, but if you want to have some grounding in history, pick a state whose history you feel you can work with and do research roughly in that geographic area.

This will determine stuff like:

What tribe you’re discussing

What the state policies of genocide at the time were (they will exist, it’s just how severe)

If there are any areas where Indigenous/white relations are good/okay (this will be a needle in a haystack but good luck!)

What are the competing resources (cows vs bison, water-hogging crops in a desert, etc)

Determine what wars were happening which will influence the anti-Native attitudes of the time

This’ll also help you determine how many cowboys are Black or Mexican (considering Mexico would have owned quite a lot of the West Coast and southern plains all of 20 years prior), which will help you flesh out the demographics of this “Western” area.

2- What your own comfort levels are

Look. Even anti-racist people of the time would be considered racist by today’s standards. See: Huckleberry Finn and Franz Boas above. Huck Finn was really shockingly progressive for having a white character renounce his faith and his family to say slavery is bad and Black people are equal. It uses slurs left and right because that was the language of the time.

White people then were working with a much different toolkit than what we have now. They were in the middle of debating whether or not Native and Black people were fully human. There were laws in place that said only the first Christians to inhabit the land were the ones who owned it, and no “heathens” could lay claim to it (the Marshall Trilogy of cases, which, btw, are still in effect today).

If you’re looking for any sort of grounding in historical reality, you’re dealing with that climate. There is absolutely, positively, no way around it. There is no way to make modern anti-racism and modern levels of ignorance fit in anything grounded historically.

And the thing is, the people who would go to settle the West would have been pro Marshall Trilogy. They would have agreed that the first Christians to walk the land were claiming it; why else would they bother moving? A lot of Western expansion in North America was based off attitudes that lead to the Marshall Trilogy going the way it did.

Are you comfortable with that? Are you comfortable with a white character’s level of ignorance being, at best, “oh you’re not quite human, you should be happy we’ve given you any land at all because we’re such good people to save a slice of our land for you, but I’ll invite you over for a classic American dinner and give you good American clothes”?

It’s okay if you’re not. But if you aren’t, then you’re going to need to start looking at essentially creating a historical AU where the racism at the time was a lot less, which means colonialism at the time would be a lot less, which means “The Western Front” is going to look a lot different. I cover colonialism in the western genre heavily in the cowboy tag.

But for reference, you can still have people move around if the Marshall trilogy went differently, and people were just exploring for exploration’s sake. It’s perfectly valid to have them explore just for exploration’s sake, but I’d be cautious to paint them as brave explorers just wandering for the sake of wandering in a historically grounded work. That’s veering into historical revisionism, and ignores manifest destiny attitudes.

But historically, these missions towards the wild west were federal government sponsored specifically to get more land for white America. You start looking at the early settlers and they would have been doing it specifically to gain access to the West Coast because of a belief that they deserved it. Or you have religious extremists or white supremacists founding their own states to write their own history, like those who settled in Oregon and the Mormons in Utah.

It honestly wouldn’t even take much work to establish a different history, since a lot of the laws that made things so toxic were so new at the time. Something as simple as thanking the Natives whose land they’re using, learning how to grow food from the Natives of the region (even a simple line like “the newer settlers hadn’t quite gotten a handle on [insert Indigenous practice here], but the landowners said if they don’t, we’ll struggle to get food in a few years”), and mixing Western structures with traditional structures of the area is plenty to show that Natives (including Black Natives) are equal.

Other ways to show equality are:

Having the white people be nomadic or semi-nomadic alongside a tribe, should you pick an area where that’s necessary

Western lines for clothing, Indigenous materials; Indigenous materials, Western lines

Food being a hybrid of what actually works well in the region from other regions and stuff local to the region

The bad guys trying to oust Indigenous people from their lands and the white people fighting back along with the Natives

Mixed relationships on equal footing (Black/Native, Black/white, Native/white)

Political marriages between groups

If you’d rather just write fluffy escapism…

Colette’s tips are great! Make Black and Native people equal for literally no reason other than you want the story to be safe for those groups to read. Pick a rough geographic area just to give your Indigenous peoples around this Western Front town a culture (or three, because the Western front is full of nomadic groups), and you’ll be fine.

But it will be historical fantasy, and should really be treated as such. There’s just way too much racism that happened, casually, in the 1800s for anyone to just so happen to be “an average racist person” by modern standards.

If you want to do something historically based…

Then you’re gonna need to resubmit with our Motivations PSA in mind and say what you’re trying to accomplish with this story; the advice will change based off if you’re trying to show history as it was, critique a certain aspect of the genre, or shedding light on where so much racism comes from in modern day.

Cause “not racist” and “the 1800s” don’t compute, sorry. As we have outlined over and over again, the 1800s is a period of pure unadulterated racism with hundreds of colonial teeth and thousands of mass graves.

Trying to shoehorn modern race politics in that period without consciously modifying history and making it obvious you’re modifying history is, in the end, just historical revisionism so white people can feel better about where their wealth and land comes from.

~Mod Lesya

Published Oct 2021

#asks #Western #Western frontier #settings #racism #racism in history #1800s #BIPOC #Black #Native #Mexican #American History #Historical accuracy #writer resources #Native American #Indigenous

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visenyaism · 3 years

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absolutely wow is filled with all kinds of colonialism against all kinds of races. but why do you need blizzard to directly say that it’s bad? i doubt anyone at blizz is a fan of colonialism, and just because it’s put in the story and lore, doesn’t mean they condone it at all. it’s up to the player to see the wrongdoings of the character’s and races throughout warcraft lore. unfortunately, it’s hard to create conflicts without using something like ethnic/racial hatred, the blind desire for power, or any other horrible thing that motivates war/conflict. in MoP there’s a quest where a panda directly calls the horde vs alliance conflict a ‘race-war’ which is a totally legitimate stance an outsider may have on their (our) war. it’s all a matter of perspective. it’s all a matter of culture. there’s no objective right or wrong values, that the alliance should change their ways because their values don’t fall in line with yours is silly. it’s fiction. fiction is great at letting us explore these horrible themes without actually harming anyone. i don’t want fiction to turn into a place where we can’t talk about anything controversial, because people will believe that creator of said fiction actually condones whatever controversial topic they’ve chosen to comment on. this is quite long and i’m sorry about that.

obviously people should use their critical thinking skills when consuming any media. i just meant a lot of their storylines are based on real world historical precedent thats had horrific consequences and they don’t depict it like that. they often depict colonialism as a both-sides conflict or as a net good considering the alliance is always right. a lot of media especially that made in imperial nations does this and should be criticized imo cause portraying it as a both sides issue actively erases the damage settler colonialism does .

for example, look at the drustvar storyline. the drust and their leader violently resisting occupation are framed as irredeemably evil, because they attacked the kul tiran settlers first (framing settling as a neutral act rather than an aggressive one), and where Lucille Waycrest openly revives the witch-hunting practices of her colonial ancestors to hunt down the remaining drust, all of which is framed by the narrative as a good and cool, because you’re killing monsters who deserve to be attacked because somehow they “started it”. it frames that colonialism as totally fine. no one in the narrative disputes it, and we don’t hear from the drust except as a monolith of scary monsters. unless the player is going out of their way to recognize and condemn media that promotes settler colonialism, they’re not going to think anything else. how would this make them think about real-world instances of colonialism? are they likely to view settling as wrong and violent, or neutral and inevitable?

there’s no nuance to it so it in fact is not up to the player to see when things are wrong when the narrative is directly communicating the opposite or just doing a really bad job of communicating anything at all. also, you can criticize media, and if it’s up to the player this is literally MY blog

#thus isn’t a battle about the meaning of fiction. it’s me saying wow isn’t written well and whenever it tries to address real world issues #it fails pretty badly #also. yeah no ones a fan of colonialism but u gotta look up unconscious bias re living in a settler colonialist nation #warcraft #this got away from me but like my whole thesis is on myth making historical revisionism and imperialism so this got me heated

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cavehags · 3 years

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chell! any thoughts on kevin can fuck himself? i was surprised with how much i liked the pilot, but that's all i've seen so far. curious to know if you're enjoying it

i am enjoying it! i'm caught up up to episode five now and i think the fifth episode was the best and most focused so far. there are a lot of flaws that i wish i could swoop in to fix, but i like the show so much for what it's trying to be that the downsides don't hurt my experience all that much.

the positives: i love how it looks. the multicam-to-single-cam shifts are quite jarring at first but become very natural as you get used to it. i love that the variation in lighting allows you to pick up on little details that you can only see in one of the two worlds. in the multicam, you can see that kevin is wearing shoes that are brand-new. but in the single cam, you can see that allison's sweater is stained or in tatters.

i also love how gingerly they're developing allison and patti's relationship. it's not too fast in that instant-best-friends way that you get on comedies; there's a real hesitation to trust there and it's not all in allison's control. allison's attitude toward patti is very interesting; patti's ignored her or treated her outright cruelly for so long, but she's so desperate for an ally that she doesn't seem bothered by those old wounds. the fact that allison is the one chasing patti's friendship and patti is the one rebuffing her, in spite of patti's treatment of her, paints such a heartbreaking picture of allison.

i like how the show is balancing kevin's hijinks with allison's mission. i read quite a few interviews about how challenging it was to find plotlines and jokes for kevin that the audience would enjoy watching even though they hate him and i think they're succeeding there. i really appreciate that the writers have found episodic storylines that are perfectly par for the course in a sitcom but quite chilling in light of what we know about allison's inner life. the fifth episode did the best job of this. when kevin stations his buddies on the couch and then puts patti and allison in the hot seat, asking questions in a booming voice that showcases his power over them, that was really masterful. it was so sitcom-esque that no one would think twice about it in a show like kevin can wait, but in context, it was really really disturbing and scary.

my main concern going into this show was that there might just not be enough plot to justify eight full hours of allison trying different methods to kill her husband. i had envisioned that her attempts to kill him would be episodic trial-and-error, attempting one method in one episode and trying another one the next week when the last one didn't work out. in the end they wound up leaning more serialized with allison sticking to one main approach and just going about it all very slowly. i'm glad that's what they decided on. but while i appreciate the gravity the series is bringing to her storyline by giving it the slow pace it deserves and allowing each installment to properly build on the last, not to mention the very deliberate contrast it draws between that and kevin's more episodic antics, i have to admit that i find it hard to feel compelled by this drug dealer stuff. i think my problem with it is that the obstacles that allison and patti keep running into are pretty external and disconnected from the kevin of it all. and although there was a bit of this in episode two, i still think the series could do a better job of highlighting why opioids are a particularly elegant murder weapon for the housewife who nobody listens to. but (spoilers) they've moved past the murder-by-pills angle now so i doubt we'll be circling back.

i also like the character of sam, the guy who owns the diner, and what allison's crush on him brings to the story. however, i do worry that he's not being afforded the type of inner life that allison has fought for. allison seems to care for him, but her apparent lack of interest in his pre-existing relationship and his newfound sobriety worry me a little. we're getting breadcrumbs about him though and i wonder if the writers are attentive to the fact that it's not uncommon for a love interest who is a person of color to just be a tool to prop up a white lead. i wonder if it's deliberate. maybe sam's need for interiority could be a setup for season two?

my last gripe is that i still want to learn so much more about allison than what we're getting. patti comes through very clearly to me--her acerbic wit, her hesitation to trust people and burden them with inner life, her big heart that causes her to put herself in bad situations. what we know about allison outside of kevin's orbit is that she's quick to temper, she has unfulfilled dreams, she's impulsive, and she has a dorky sense of humor. (annie murphy is really doing fantastic work with her expressions whenever allison makes a joke and sort of half-smiles as she hopes it will land.) i really badly want a flashback episode to see who allison was before she met kevin, and what her family was like. just want to see how she landed in this multicam world where so much of her is erased. i think we have a shot at seeing something like that in the back half of the season so fingers crossed. 🤞

overall i think the show is managing a lot of moving parts very well. it's very entertaining and it's really scratching an itch for me! i would like to see some more of kevin looming large even in the single cam storylines that he has no involvement in, just to better show the suffocating grip he has on allison's life. like when he reported the car stolen, interrupting allison and patti's day just when they felt they were free of him, that was really gripping. and i would like to know more about allison and how she got to this point. i'm hoping we get more of both in the back half of the season.

#kevin can fuck himself #kevin can f**k himself

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immaturityofthomasastruc · 3 years

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IOTA Reviews: Furious Fu

Well, I'm surprised this is here so quickly, but here we are. The first episode of Season 4. While I was on the fence about reviewing it even though it isn't in English (though there’s one in Spanish with English subtitles), but it seems like there are people that want to see me do it anyway, so who am I to let them down? Hopefully, I won't be regretting my decision to go over every episode of this season later on.

Will Marinette's new position as Guardian lead to more storylines other than her suffering? Will the show actually resolve the whole Love Square debacle this season? Why am I asking you all these questions?

Let's dive right into the first (actually sixth because of course it is) episode of Miraculous Ladybug's fourth season, Furious Fu.

We start off with all of the Kwamis under Marinette's care asking to see Former Master by Default Fu, before Marinette reminds them, and by extension, the audience, that he erased his memory during the events of last season, making her the new Guardian. They continue to act like hyperactive children until Marinette finally caves in and carries them in her backpack, although not before they give us one of the most unintentionally creepy images in the entire show.

I apologize in advance for your nightmares tonight.

The only Kwami who stays is the Dog Kwami, Barkk, who looks like she's going to see if Marinette's parents have any wine in the kitchen once she leaves.

Marinette heads down to the train station, where she meets up with Fu and Marianne, a former confidant/old flame who he recently reunited with. It turns out that inbetween Seasons 3 and 4, not only has Fu been living in London with Marianne while taking up painting as a hobby, but they've actually gotten married. So yeah, while Marinette has to deal with the stress of protecting some of the most dangerous artifacts on the planet, Fu's just been chilling in London, oblivious to the fact that he forced a teenage girl to do his job for him. Nothing but the best from this show's wise and lovable “mentor”.

After heading back home, Marinette sees a strange man who has broken into her room and demands to know where she got the Miracle Box from.

This is Master Su-Han, the former Guardians before Fu accidentally killed them all. He's naturally not happy with the “improper” form of the Miracle Box (he's not the only one) and wants to know how Marinette got in in the first place. When she says she got it from Fu...

Yeah... while it isn't as obvious as “Animaestro” and “Felix”, you can kind of tell that this is a “turn the critics into enemies” episode. Even though the criticism towards Master Fu isn't as prevalent as the criticism those episodes were meant to call out, there have been some fans on Tumblr and Reddit who have criticized Fu's actions in the show, calling out his decision to make Marinette a guardian in particular. Likewise, Su-Han is meant to be a strawman to mirror the complaints, and show why they are ridiculous. Though ironically, Su-Han's dialogue and rules also unintentionally highlight how incompetent the Order of the Guardians was, but we'll get to it later.

But because the script says she has to, Marinette defends Fu's decision to make her Guardian. She even refers to Fu being the reason the Guardians were all killed in the first place as a “mistake”.

NO HE DIDN'T! How was what Fu did in any way a sacrifice? When he made Marinette the new Guardian “Miracle Queen”, All Fu really did was make the box float for a bit before it immediately landed back in Chloe's hands. If the box had magically floated over to Ladybug in the process, I'd see why Fu would have done it. It'd still be reckless, but it would be a good way to escape from Hawkmoth and Mayura's trap. Hell, the Kwamis had already refused to let Chloe transform when she had their Miraculous, so there was no real threat there. We don't even know if Hawkmoth knew how to transform with the other Miraculous. So again, I raise the question: How was Fu forcing Ladybug to take his job while he gets to paint in London a heroic sacrifice? How can you even frame that as anything but cowardly?

Su-Han notices a few of the Kwamis are missing, and takes notice of Plagg, who was shown to devastate Paris with a single tap to the ground, being missing in particular. He's even more horrified to see Marinette's earrings, because, get this, Guardians aren't allowed to wear Miraculous.

You're telling me that if someone gets their hands on a Miraculous and goes rogue, the Guardians are supposed to fight them with their bare hands? They don't even explain it by saying something like how the Guardians aren't supposed to be tempted by the power of the Miraculous, we're just supposed to accept that rule as fact. How are you supposed to fight someone with superpowers like illusions, shapeshifting, teleportation, and time travel on your own?

So Su-Han orders the Kwamis back into the Miracle Box (still don't get why they have to listen to him) and lists off some of the rules Marinette broke like he was a Ferengi reading the Rules of Acquisition. He does all of this while voicing several concerns fans have about Marinette being Guardian, but rather than being out of concern or compassion for her, it's condescension.

It's pretty easy to understand Su-Han's side of the story, and if the episode actually acknowledged it, I wouldn't mind. But no, everything he says is automatically supposed to be wrong, because when has anything with a different viewpoint portrayed as a good guy in this show?

Su-Han orders Ladybug to take him to see Cat Noir before demanding they both hand over their Miraculous, and we learn something interesting about the Order of the Guardians.

ARE YOU KIDDING ME!?

Of all the stupid Guardian rules Master Fuckup didn't blindly follow, it's the rule that Miraculous are ONLY SUPPOSED TO GO TO ADULTS!? Why the hell did he even recruit Marinette and Adrien in the first place if Miraculous for adults to use? What did he even see in them? All they did was help him once!

And again, we're supposed to see Su-Han as wrong for doing this. Why can't Ladybug simply tell Su-Han about Hawkmoth and ask for his help before she returns her Miraculous to him? That way, Hawkmoth is defeated, and Su-Han gets the Miraculous back. And it's not like Ladybug doesn't try to talk things out with Su-Han, so you can't say she didn't consider it. Oh wait, that would imply Su-Han is supposed to have a point in his claims.

Though to the show's credit, Su-Han's words do get to Ladybug, causing herself to doubt herself and her ability to stop Hawkmoth, but Cat Noir helps to reassure her, saying he'll only return his Miraculous only if she asks him to. It's a brief moment, but it's nice to see him place his faith in his partner in a platonic way.

Less nice to see is Cat Noir finding out that if Ladybug gives up her position as Guardian, she'll lose her memory like Fu. Except... Cat Noir was there when Miraculous Ladybug failed to restore Fu's memory, so why does he see this as new information? Did he only think it would happen to Fu? Did he lose some of his memory at the end of the last season?

This information is enough for Cat Noir to start a fight with Su-Han, with Ladybug abandoning any attempts at diplomacy by declaring that Cat Noir won't lose his Miraculous. It's a little frustrating to see them engage Su-Han, but again, this is meant to show Cat Noir trying to protect Ladybug so she doesn't lose her memory. This scene still does a good job showcasing the bond the two heroes have. It's far better than anything we got from the New York special.

Su-Han is trained in... Oh God... Mirakung-Fu, which somehow gives him the ability to predict Ladybug and Cat Noir's moves before they make them, comparing it to his rage “adaptating and always finding a way”. Translation: Astruc ripped off something else from Dragon Ball, Ultra Instinct. Ladybug distracts Su-Han and gets the Miracle Box, while Cat Noir gets his staff. After briefly trapping him under some rubble (which I guess doesn't kill him because of his “Mirakung-Fu”), the two heroes escape.

Meanwhile, Shadowmoth, the upgraded form of Hawkmoth that I'll talk about in his debut proper, senses Su-Han's negative emotions and sends out an Akuma after him. Su-Han sees Fu painting in the park, and steals his cane, thinking it's a Guardian's staff he can sue to track down the Miraculous. When the Akuma reaches him, Su-Han uses a technique to repel the Akuma completely. I like this idea. It makes sense that a monk would find a way to mask their emotions and achieve enough of a state of zen to ward off an Akuma. The Akuma instead reaches Fu, turning him into Furious Fu.

I like the design of this Akuma. While I personally thought it could have made for a more interesting fight if he was still short (like Yoda's fight scenes in the prequels), I think it's really clever to incorporate Fu's Hawaiian shirt into what looks like a Chinese gi. Furious Fu's powers are kind of like Evilustrator, only he has to draw down a Chinese character on a talisman before the power takes immediate effect, and lacks the weakness Evilustrator had with his tablet being easily breakable, with the corrupted object, a paintbrush on his ear, being harder to reach.

Ladybug and Cat Noir retreat to the unnamed stadium that the local school has gym class in for some reason, where they're confronted by Su-Han, who in turn, is confronted by Furious Fu. This leads to a three-way fight for the Miracle Box, which they all kick around like a soccer ball. Cat Noir even gets a goal. All around, pretty fun bit, though not for the Kwamis, I guess.

As soon as he sees Furious Fu get the Miracle Ball, Su-Han hides while Ladybug and Cat Noir get beat up by the Akuma. While he does get up eventually, he's still taken out by Furious Fu. Apparently, Su-Han's “Mirakung-Fu” is only useful against Miraculous holders, not supervillains created with the powers of a Miraculous. How the hell does that work? That's like being a trained soldier in the Marine Corps who's terrible at laser tag.

Ladybug uses her Lucky Charm (again, I'll talk about the suit change for its proper debut episode), and gets a pair of wire cutters. She uses them go get a soccer ball from a nearby container while Cat Noir keeps Furious Fu busy. Furious Fu, in turn, uses one of his talismans to predict Ladybug's plan, and manages to immobilize both heroes, but not before Ladybug traps the soccer ball underneath Cat Noir's arm before Furious Fu can use his Cataclysm against him.

How do they stop him? By having Marianne casually walk up to him and break the paintbrush while he's distracted. Honestly, that's a pretty funny payoff. Not “Puppeteer” or “Bakerix” funny, but it's still one of the funnier Akuma defeats I've seen. Another funny joke is Cat Noir using his Cataclysm on a soccer ball before he accidentally uses it on Ladybug and Marianne for their post-victory fist bump.

Later on, after Marinette sees Marianne and Fu off while the latter continues to avoid responsibility, Su-Han apologizes to her, and decides to trust her. He'll still take away the Miracle Box if she screws up, but it's a start to someone Marinette can at least consult Guardian to Guardian.

And honestly? I think this episode is a pretty good start to Season 4. It really feels like the writers are learning from their mistakes in Season 3.

Yes, Marinette is blamed by Su-Han, and while it is frustrating to turn Su-Han into a strawman, unlike other Season 3 episodes where Marinette is blamed, the blame itself is unwarranted, and by the end of the episode, it looks like Su-Han is willing to change, as he apologizes to Fu after he's de-evilized. That's a lot more than I can say for Astruc's other straw characters like Chloe and Felix. Sure, some of Su-Han's concerns are brushed off, but it's still a start.

From what little we saw of him, Cat Noir is also a lot better, really showing the character development promised towards the end of “Miracle Queen”. He's thankfully turned down the flirting, and I can only hope he keeps his promise as the season goes on. I hope we get an episode or two showing his perspective on Ladybug becoming Guardian, and how he feels less like her actual partner now. You know, something that can reinforce their bond as partners.

My biggest complaints from the episode really come from the way Fu is portrayed, and even then, it's only because of events that happen because of what he did last season and how much of a screw-up he is, despite the narrative trying to tell the audience he isn't. Then there's the revelation that Fu's cane has the ability to track down Miraculous. So... we're seriously learning this now? Why didn't Fu use it earlier to look for the two missing Miraculous? He literally has a Miraculous detector! But hopefully, the consequences of Fu's actions won't affect this season too much.

So yeah, I'm actually feeling pretty optimistic about this season so far. Maybe Season 4 won't be that bad after all.

Oh.

Oh no...

youtube

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mishacollinsthighsss · 3 years

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Here I am again, crying over the finale like a baby because of what Kim said.

I thought I was over it but it hits me every time again and I feel like the grief just keeps getting worse and worse.

Here are some things that hurt like hell, so if you don't wanna read them please scroll.

To Dean:

Dean had to grow up so fast, he never had a real childhood. He had to be there for Sam, had to fight monsters because his father told him to... and in the end? He didn't even get to live a normal adult life. He died, never having lived for himself. He was always there for everyone else, but he never got a life for himself.

Dean had many mental health issues, and he couldn't work through them. Cas told him how he sees Dean, but I doubt that Dean was able to really process it before he died. He seemed better in the finale, but you can't just push mental health issues away like that. There's no miracle, no cure, you have to face them, have to work through them, which can take YEARS. Dean died, never getting the chance to do so.

Even the heaven storyline was sad. Dean just drove around the whole time, waiting for Sam. Sure, they're brothers, they love each other, but in the end, Dean was reduced to being Sam's happy end. They erased every single character trade of him.

To Cas:

Cas never got the chance to live his happiness. He died immediately after expressing his love. He never even got the chance to hear what Dean had to say. I don't care if it would've been reciprocation or rejection, but Cas never had the chance to hear Dean's feelings about all of this.

If we take Bobby's "Cas helped" as in 'Cas is out of the empty and back in heaven' its just as bad as him still being in the empty. Cas rebelled against heaven, he tried to escape so hard, but in the end, he ended up there again. It doesn't matter that it's a different place now that Jack is god, (which, by the way, NO. He's 3 YEARS OLD.) because he ended up just as he started, as a soldier for heaven.

These are only the main points I could think of right now, there's much more that bothers me, like Sam living a life full of grief, side characters like Jody, Eileen, Donna, Claire, Kaia, Charlie, etc. all being erased, all of the main character's storylines were basically thrown out the window, that Dean seemed to be grieving in 19 but then was totally fine in 20, the stupidest death on earth, the bad storytelling and so on.

My question is: why?

Even after 7 months I can't figure out why they threw a 15 year show away like that. If it was homophobia, fine, the writing was still crap. If it was advertisement for Jared's new show? Great, no need to treat other characters like shit. If it was because of censorship, also great, but the writers always found ways to sneak in little pieces.

For me, it seemed like they just gave up. They wanted to be done with the show, that's it. And no, I don't take Covid as an excuse. You know why? Easy. Pictures exists. Voiceovers are possible. The main characters that are still there talking about the side characters isn't hard.

There were so many things they could've done, but they just... didn't. Jensen was right all along, and you know what? When he got told "take it or leave it" in his position, I would've left.

Even worse is that nobody seems to talk about it. The actors should be fucking proud of what they did, but instead, there's radio silence, which, if they truly didn't like the ending, is fine. But us fans, at least some of us, need closure. I'm one of them. I don't know how I'm supposed to get over it if I can't stop thinking about it. If just hearing anything about the finale makes me cry.

Honestly, it's not fair. We fans are the people who kept the show going that long, so it's not fair to leave us hanging like that (I'm not talking about Jared, Jensen and Misha, I'm talking about the writers, the producers, the network, literally everyone who was involved in hurting us).

At this point I don't even care about Destiel anymore, just give these characters a happy end. I need them to be happy.

I'm so sorry for the rant, but sometimes I just need to let it out. It's not fair that we are hurting, and I just hope something happens in the future that dulls the pain and puts everything into some sort of clear light.

Also, if you liked the finale and don't agree with me, that's fine. I'm happy for you. But just because someone has a different opinion, you don't need to start a fight, alright? If you liked it, then please enjoy it instead of fighting people like me.

#spn #castiel #dean winchester #dean #misha collins #jensen ackles #destiel #spn 15x20 #spn finale #emotional rant #tw dean's death #tw mention of depression #tw mention of death

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ectora · 3 years

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REVIEW 311

Screen time

Macy : 23m26s

Maggie : 20m07s

Mel : 18m25s

Harry : 13m20s

Abigael : 5m02s

Jordan : 4m28s

Here is a table with the details of the time shared

Opinions

In a general manner I enjoyed the episode. It was entertaining and well passed. I don’t think it was their strongest episode so far but it was an entertaining one. It finally started to connect the other characters to the main storyline but also felt almost like a filler for the sisters. I also think the show should have maybe showed more consequences and different good things for the sisters. Because except for Mel (and I’ll come back to that later), the good things that happened to Maggie and Macy are pretty normal. It’s not like Maggie didn’t work for that internship. It’s not like a free legal clinic would get bad press. Or that it can’t happen to be upgraded in a hotel. Like yes what happened to antonio and that old man was really bad but at the same time it just didn’t feel like the sisters were gaining that much from it. Maybe if they had sticked to only it being the consequences of what they had to do to get the allergy off or something, rather than good things that could have normally happened, happening. I’m not sure that nakes sense but well lmao

Positive points:

The perfecti. They’re actually really entertaining on screens and are just funny. I think they were a great idea and a good addition to the story. And I’m genuinely excited to see more of them and how they’re story is going to unfold.

Josefina getting her powers. I’m glad they ended up giving her her powers with “wakening spell” similar to the one the sisters needed when they became witches. I really like her powers as well it’s so fitting.

Macy smiling. I have my issues with how the whole thing happened and I’ll take about it later but I’m glad she was finally able to catch a break. The show is often giving her storylines without a lot of time for her to just breath and I’m glad she finally got the opportunity to do so.

Abigael and Jordan. Listen, I just have a soft spot for their friendship. I just enjoy watching them. Tbh they both have easy chemistry with everyone but these two together just gives me good vibes. I just like them together on screen. I also liked how absolutely soft he was with her. And how she easily recognise his qualities. I just love them individually and together.

Maggie finally getting some therapy. I’m glad they’re finally giving that to her. Now can they extend that to like ... literally every single one of their main characters cause they all need it.

Josefina and Mel. As always their scene were really enjoyable. I think it’s always nice to see Mel show other people magic isn’t their only power. And I like how it shows how understanding and empathetic Mel really can be.

Mel and Maggie. Once again, their bond is so sweet and feels very natural. I just love seeing them share normal sisterly moments.

Negative points :

those are only going to be the actual negative points I have. Others that are more like annoyance, I’ll put them with the remarks.

Ruby. I’m just tired of this show giving zero effort to that relationship. I’m a big time abimel shipper but the treatment they give melby is just disrespectful at this point. They had one little moment where they said “oh she isn’t here” and then that’s it. Not even pretending to be on the phone. Or a text message. Nada. This needs to be fixed. Either get on it or get rid of it. But enough. Especially when you compare it to how they treat the straights.

Abigael’s story. Apparently some people don’t make the connexion with self harm, but to me said connexion is pretty obvious. More and more obvious especially after last episode where they showed us Abigael hurting herself directly. It was graphic and kinda unnecessary imo. I think the story itself, of having Abigael’s sides fight each other is interesting but the way they approached it was very careless and if they continue being so adamant about showing us how broken abi is, they need to actually be careful how they handle this.

Things that just don’t make sense:

Did no one tell Maggie about Jordan being cured ? I’m so confused 😭

Mel. Again, is no one ever going to talk about the fact she never finished her phd in season 1 ? Or didn’t have any teaching experience. I know it’s a small things that’s probably never going to be brought up but it’s been nagging me djdhd

At the end of the episode when they go back to putting the egg, suddenly the air isn’t toxic anymore and it’s small but i realised right away and just haven’t been able to get it out of my head.

Same with Josefina and the book. Mel was right there. Couldn’t she have taken it ? 😭

Why did Harry and Macy took the portal to Paris ? Why just not orb.

I’m still confused by the whole demon trying to kill the witch side of Abby to be honest. Like I’m not sure how hurting her physical body is going to do anything ? Isnt her demon part gonna die too then ? Parker’s made more sense because it was like a sickness, you could say the magical cells were killing he humans ones or something. But here ? I’m confused.

Talking about demon abi, ... why this ugly ass dress. I understand the reason for different noticeable clothes but why does it need to be this ugly. Abigael Jameson-Caine is too fashionable for this.

The entire book of shadow thing like ? Did we just forgot Mel presented the book to Josefina the episode before ? Are we just erasing that from our memories ? What’s happening.

How they gonna freeze the therapist and then just leave a note like is she not supposed to unfreeze ? Maggie is just gonna be gone ? And with a sudden note on her laps ? What.

Remarks & speculations

Hacy. I don’t dislike the couple don’t get me wrong. I think they’re sweet. But the show focuses too much on that relationship. Macy barely feels like she has a story outside of it at this point. At least Harry has the whole white lighter thing but again the reason he wants to be mortal is Macy so ... if just feels like the show continues to centre these two characters toward each other first. However it was great to see Macy happy. But again like The sisters had one hug and then that was if.

I’m really sad we didn’t actually see Macy and Josefina interact. Or that we won’t see her reach them a bit more about her magic and the whole new side they don’t know about.

My babies in the tomb. I’m just really wondering what the deal with the perfecti. Are they so big on duality, good and bad that it’s to an extreme that is dangerous ? Abigael in some ways I can understand. She’s the demon overlord. She’s powerful. Her demon form tried to go after TCO. But Jordan ? Was he just a collateral damage ? Did they judge him bad because he was with abi ? Because he was cursed ? Or is it a plan they have that involved isolating TCO ? (I doubt it but still a possibility). I mean he was probably out there cause he was helping abi but then it being strong questions about the perfecti’s moralities and visions of the world. Cannot wait to see more.

Abigael was ... broken to say the least. Kudo to poppy for that, Abigael looked absolutely exhausted. You could feel the fear and exhaustion in everything she did. And I feel bad for her because she’s not only mentally exhausted but physically too. She can’t sleep safely. And I don’t know if everyone realised the level all this must have reached for Abigael to be ready to give up everything. Because she is different from the sisters on this, she grew up as a magical being. That has been her entire life. What has been defining her since birth. For her to be so ready to give everything up so she could finally just find some peace ... she’s literally at her limits.

Talking about abi. We know the sisters are gonna try to help Jordan in episode 13 but does that mean they don’t realise Jordan is gone until then ? So it’s easy to assume 312 will also have abi/jordy mostly and in the tomb. Speculations - if the synopsis of 312 is indeed about saving Jordan from the tomb and not something else - is that they’ll realise on site than Abigael is stuck too and will help her as well. Unless she does something good to help jordan and because of that they decided to get her out too. That could connect both story and have a start on the redemption.

Also while abi is gone are the demons just gonna wait around ? Like the fact they all just willingly followed her rules doesn’t seem realistic but even less when the girl is no where to be found.

I just want Mel to get a proper storyline. And Macy too. Maggie I feel is actually the best written one development wise out of all of them.

I think they brought the storyline of Harry being worried about his age and waiting to be mortal too early. He has a good ten years on Macy anyway. And they barely started dating. There are already a lot of things going on and I genuinely feel like they should have left that for next season at least.

Highlights

Maggie in therapy. “You seem like you have a lot of demons” “are you under a lot of stress” was genuinely funny. Maggie is so naturally funny I really love her for it.

Mel saying there isn’t another shoe to drop and demon Abigael saying hold me beer.

The dogs that does math. Don’t ask me why it’s just funny.

Josefina using her powers after realising she still has them

Macy’s face when Harry told her about becoming mortal as if he isn’t constantly talking about it djdhd

Abigael’s soft “jordy”

Celebrating later, running now

The entire witch ceremony at the end.

#charmed #charmed cw #charmed 2018 #charmed reboot #abigael caine #abigael jameson caine #jordan chase #harry greenwood #macy vaughn #mel vera #maggie vera #review #charmed review #311

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traincat · 3 years

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Hey so, why is it that so many,when talking about johnnys sexuality, keep using the word gay? Idk maybe im just damaged from all the bi erasure in other fandoms and in canonically queer characters but while there's a lot that implies johnnys attraction to men, that doesnt exactly negate his - albeit limited- attraction to women. Like i ofc want us to get an out and happy johnny but as a multisexual guy, I would hate to see them do what they did with iceman and just go for the Gay label, y'know?

Same anon as bi erasure one. I want to add that obviously i have nothing against gay people or gay rep, im just tired of how queer ppl (men in particular) get treated like we're all gay when theres such a wide spectrum and fluidity to sexuality, you know? Usually in comics we get shoved to the back with crap like "morally inverted tony stark fucks women AND men" or morally gray/evil characters as being promiscuous enough to sleep with all genders which... obviously sends a rather nasty message

I think I have to start this one off by saying the very obvious, which is that I am not in charge of any Marvel property in any way, shape, or form, and I really have no control over their decisions in the slightest. We’d be reading very different Spider-Man comics right now if I did. I also have no control over how other fans choose to think of Johnny Storm. In short:

I know that, personally, I have gone back in forth in how I think of Johnny’s sexuality, but that recently, while doing Fantastic Four readthroughs specifically focused on Johnny, I’ve said I think he’s gay and not bisexual because I think I’ve made a pretty good case that his attraction to women has by in large been written, whether intentionally or not, as performative, uncomfortable, or, at its mildest, just really awkward, ie not sincere in its presentation. I’ve talked about the myth of playboy Johnny before and how the point where it starts in canon is important. I also have a really long post about my personal thoughts on the decades and decades of queercoding where Johnny is concerned and how I came to my own personal conclusions on what I think about his sexuality and the writing trends that led me to this specific conclusion.

I’m not erasing Johnny’s bisexuality because as far as Marvel has stated on the matter so far, at the time this post was written, Johnny is heterosexual. Even his brief sexual affair with Daken is subtextual, not hard canon -- Marjorie Liu has commented that it was written with that intention in mind, but it’s certainly possible to read the Dark Wolverine storylines Johnny appears in without a personal belief that they were fucking, because it’s not hard canon. (And if we want to talk about Marvel’s messy history of problematic bisexual representation, I personally think Daken “early appearances erotically asphyxiating a hookup to death” Akihiro is a pretty prime example, especially compared to the evil Iron Man orgy.) I think it’s interesting compare Johnny to Bobby -- something I do in the latter post linked above myself -- because, like Bobby, I think there’s a lot to dig into in Johnny’s canonical relationships with women that lend themselves well to this subtext, something I think it’s significantly harder to do with characters like, say, Spider-Man, specifically because of how those relationships were written. Which isn’t, in my opinion and from my standpoint, discounting those relationships entirely, but rather viewing in them in an alternative light. What I’m saying with Johnny specifically is that I think it would be harder to cast doubts about his genuine romantic or sexual attraction to women if there were fewer panels of him cringing away from being kissed by them. (They’re in the Johnny relationship history post. There’s a lot of them.) I also think it’s interesting that there are several out of main continuity universes that feature deeper dives into Johnny’s sexuality -- my go-to is always the incredible Startling Stories: Fantastic Four: Unstable Molecules, a mini-series dedicated to the lives of a fictional “real” group of people who inspired the Fantastic Four, where the Real Johnny is a teenager dealing with his sexuality in stifling ‘50s small town America. But I’m also not objecting to anyone’s personal read on Johnny as bisexual instead of gay, because, again, neither of these reads are canon at the moment, and also I really don’t want to get into the deep waters of fictional character sexuality discourse. It’s just my personal read on the character and I think I’ve previously made my case on why pretty well.

#*replies #traincat talks comics #i really just wanted to use that meme i made #Anonymous

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athicfa · 3 years

Text

Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man Vol 1 #112 Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man Vol 1 #113 Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man Vol 1 #115 Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man Vol 1 #116 Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man Vol 1 #117 Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man Vol 1 #119 Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man Vol 1 #123

Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man Vol 1 #112

guys what the fuck did I just walk into with this cover

Christmas special!

people confusing Felicia for the Black Widow??? okay then AS IF you petty crooks are important enough to get Nat’s attention

Felicia goes hero again and stops a robbery, decided to take the mink coats they were stealing for herself, but then has another change of heart and gives them to homeless ladies to warm themselves. Your honor, I love her.

Peter has lost his fucking mind apparently. Just sitting in his apartment alone on Christmas, only has two cans of *classic* coke in his fridge, props the black suit up in a chair across from him and talks to it like it’s his only friend. Dear God Peter what’s happened to you.

He’s sleeping with a teddy bear MJ gave him though that’s hella cute.

OH MY GOD THE FAN LETTERS AGAIN. “It stinks. Peter David can’t write a script-” and then the reply from the editors is basically a quasi-polite way of saying “yeah what the fuck is up David?? fix your shit” LMAO WHAT

Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man Vol 1 #113

ANYONE WHO PUTS THEIR HANDS ON AUNT MAY NEEDS TO MEET ME BEHIND THE DENNY’S AT 3:00 WEDNESDAY I’M SICK OF PEOPLE BEING MEAN TO HER

Now people are confusing Felicia for Silver Sable which is somewhat more reasonable. She was on hiatus for a year so people don’t exactly know the Black Cat is back in action to be fair.

“Stunning objects don’t just drop down from on high” to which Felicia says “sometimes we do” as she jumps from the skylight so yeah she’s back to her original chaotically bastardish self and I’m glad.

she’s kicking ass again too it’s about damn time

Aunt May is so precious. A true blessing to the world.

Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man Vol 1 #115

Felicia’s just vibin’. Living her best life. Becoming a modern day Robin Hood. We love to see it.

In all seriousness, it’s truly a great turnaround for her character. She feels closer to her original characterization before they made her an Awful Bastard out of nowhere for the sake of drama. Even if she’s just showing up in one full-page montage of her escapades per issue at this point (this time it’s her workout regimen), it’s a lot better than what they were feeding us across multiple pages. I’ll take these little character building short appearances over multi-page ooc nonsense any day.

Peter’s having a streak of Bad Luck now and she hasn’t even interacted with him again, she’s just admiring him from afar but even that’s not safe apparently. My poor baby :(

OH MY GOD

they haven’t even ran into each other but he thinks she’s somehow doing this on purpose

“oh my stars, after all this time, he’s still gorgeous” and “I’m sure he rarely thinks about me” meanwhile he thinks she’s trying to hurt him somehow and is going to Doctor Strange to see if she’s causing his bad luck or not oh no I guess I came here to hurt today

“It looks like she hexed me somehow, permanently, to get back at me. I don’t owe her anything. Do what you have to. She can look out for herself.” -Peter. Because Strange says that reversing the hex on him could affect the source of the bad luck in an unpredictable way. And Felicia’s right in the middle of her most dangerous heist to date at the moment. This is making me anxious, and what Peter said was heart-wrenching.

It completely reverses it to where FELICIA is having the bad luck now and this villain dude is now destroying her, meanwhile Peter is monologuing about how upset he is that she cursed him on purpose and that he’s pissed because she could have gotten her killed, meanwhile he’s just done that exact thing to her and on his end it’s on purpose :’)

Peter’s so upset that he asks if Strange can erase Felicia’s memories of him. Strange refuses and tells him to go talk it out with her because he’s being too “hard-hearted”.

Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man Vol 1 #116

“102 Uses for a Dead Cat” I hate that title so much sdflkj

OOF she’s got a broken nose

Oh she’s definitely concussed too. She’s half conscious mumbling about Peter while this big beefy villain dude talks about how he just broke her nose and how he’s secretly a gentle guy and blah blah whatever idk this guy is weird

Oh no that was gross. Dude tries to take advantage of her while she’s dazed from her obvious concussion, so she kicks the shit out of everyone in the room, as she should.

“Bet you weren’t expecting to sing soprano” YES FUCK EM UP FE FE

Feral Felicia is Best Felicia

Peter’s mulling over whether he should go see her or not because he thinks they’re just gonna argue. Which is fair because he just argued with Aunt May and MJ so poor dude can’t take much more of that today.

She’s patching up at home and Peter shows up. She has NO issue with acknowledging Peter AS Peter, and does so even though he came to her as Spiderman, so hopefully that means the writers have acknowledged how stupid that whole debacle was.

She’s visibly hurt from her fight, broken nose and all, and he wants to know what happened but she keeps dodging the subject. Now he’s fessing up that he had Strange reverse her bad luck powers, she connects the dots in her head that he’s the reason she got trashed by those goons, and she’s PISSED. He wants to know what happened to her so he can help her but she won’t tell him, she’s too upset.

Felicia’s neighbors hear them arguing and they’re just like “ugh HER again” lmfao

“I’ll turn up the radio. I’ll show her what suffering really is.” GOD HER NEIGHBORS KILL ME

she tells him and HE ACCUSES HER OF LYING HOLY FUCK

It’s just because she’s raging at him though and the poor dude is obviously overloaded because this is the third person who was / is close to him that he’s fought with today. So no it’s not right of him to do that but dude I get it.

He leaves. He’s gone for a bit. Felicia’s crying because everything’s going wrong in her life, and just when she thinks it can’t get any worse, Sabretooth shows up and says he’s gonna kill her. Felicia lures him closer so she can ambush him with traps and shit hidden in her aparment. But right before he gets to her, in comes Spidey to the rescue! So wait, did he hang outside her apartment this whole time, or did he leave and come back?

They’re still arguing though because Felicia doesn’t know how to say thank you and firmly believes she could have handled that herself. Honestly, I love her to death, but with her luck powers turned against her, I doubt she could.

Good Guy Peter taking Sabretooth to the hospital because he ripped his own face off

Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man Vol 1 #117

so Felicia’s about to fight Doctor Strange? Yeah, THAT’S gonna go well.

this storyline has gotten so fucking juicy I love it

no Black Cat suit this time we fight wizards in our street clothes and protective masks to guard our broken noses

she’s breaking in through the window upstairs and figuring out how to bypass the winds just like in my headcanon about her visiting Bats I feel validated skljdf

she can see his astral form and apparently that’s a big deal to Strange (I don’t understand the significance but okay I’ll take it lol)

no fighting he wants to help her but she’s fussy and leaves. She’s having a bit of an existential crisis on the way home, until she figures out that she’s under attack by Foreigner himself, since all of his henchmen and hired assassins failed to take her out. He takes her down pretty quickly. She’s in no state to fight, and he’s a tough foe anyway.

they diagrammed Felicia doing an entire taekwondo 360 spin kick and I greatly appreciate that

he spared her but in return he wants her to help take down spiderman and she agrees so it’s time to cry some more

Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man Vol 1 #119

MJ complimenting Felicia’s boobs is not what I expected but here we are

I’m not sure how I feel about Felicia becoming a villain. I still don’t think she would EVER actively seek to hurt Peter, even if she’s indebted to this dude for sparing her life and calling off his assassins. But I’m interested to see how this plays out.

Sabretooth is back and hunting Peter and Felicia hasn’t forgotten that he tried to kill her either so she’s instantly out to throw hands with this dude, and she knows Peter’s watching it happen too. So is she actually going to try and hurt Peter later or...?

LMAO POOR SABRETOOTH JUST GOT HIS FACE FIXED AND FIRST THING SHE DID WAS RIP IT UP AGAIN SHE’S BRUTAL

She’s saving his life but he can’t sit by and watch her almost get killed for him AGAIN so of course Peter’s rushing to change into his suit and go help her.

SHE’S GONE FERAL AGAIN. LITERALLY. SHE SCREAMED AND BASHED HIS SKULL INTO THE PAVEMENT. WHAT A LADY.

He fucked up her leg but that’s nothing compared to what she just did to his face so fair game. Peter got there in time to see the last of it. She sees him and winks. That’s it omfg.

She’s hooking up with the foreigner now???? Press X to Doubt.

No but seriously everything feels in character until you realize it’s a ruse to lure Peter in to a sense of security around her again which is so weird. I feel like we’re veering off into ooc territory again which is sad because I was liking everything in this storyline up until this point.

Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man Vol 1 #123

WHAT THE FUCK IS HAPPENINGGGGGGGGGGGG

First page is Blaze saying that Foreigner hired him to take out both Peter AND Felicia???? But I thought Felicia was on Foreigner’s side now???? And we open with Peter saving unconscious Felicia from a fire?????? I AM CONFUSION

Felicia tearing Keating to shreds for trashing Peter which is great

I hate this suit and I hate this hair it can stay in the trash

her apartment blew up time to hang out with Peter

“We can’t sneak into my apartment while these girls are out here sunbathing” says Peter so Felicia proceeds to scream at the girls and scare them away. Peak Chaotic Bastard Felicia right now.

they’re making Felicia and MJ take digs at each other again because we can’t have nice things

she’s brought Peter to Foreigner now? Willingly? Unintentionally? IDK what’s happening

IS SHE OR IS SHE NOT WORKING WITH FOREIGNER WHAT IS HAPPENING

THEY’RE SHOOTING AT HER TOO IS THIS AN ELABORATE PLOY BECAUSE IT SEEMS SINCERE WHAT IS HAPPENINGGGGGGGGGGGGGG

oh she’s got her claws now that’s neat

WHAT THE FUCK IS HAPPENING

okay I’m done for now this is getting too contrived

#[comic commentary]#it started so well #got super juicy #and then completely derailed #sad because I was really enjoying the new storyline with Peter and Felicia accidentally ruining everything for each other #oh well at least they've given me a ton of Feral Bastard Felicia Hardy moments

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elenajones23 · 4 years

Text

Just sharing some thoughts/opinions about The Umbrella Academy.

I decided to share some of my thoughts and opinions on TUA S2 and S1,I know some of my opinions /thoughts are very controversial and not popular but they’re also based on facts and some mistakes the writers have made this season. Here I go (if you don’t like any of opinions/thoughts then please kept for yourself/don’t read my post, I will not tolerate any hostility from anyone) (fair warning this post will be so freaking loooong so good on you if you read it all), it’s also going to be multiple posts as I have a lot to say.

Let’s will start with:

Lila Pitts:-

Now I was 100% against Lila from the promos because I didn’t want her as a love interest for Diego, because I didn’t want the writers to just ignore/erase deductive Eudora Patch as was such a big part of his storyline in S1, I didn’t everyone to just forget her. I also just wanted Diego to have his own storyline that doesn’t involve a woman.

My first imprecision Throughout of Lila is she’s ok, and I as suspected the new love interest for Diego which honestly got my nerves so much that I couldn’t really give her a fair chance, tagging along with Diego didn’t make sense to me, something was fishy about her from the start, when she left Diego I kind of anticipated it, so it wasn’t surprising to me. We learn then she was taken by the handler (honestly I also guessed right about it being Five who killed Lial’sparents) and trained as an agent, instantaneously I detected the parallel between her & the Hargreeves kids, those flashbacks not only told us who Lila is really is but also she’s just much of a victim of child abuse (albeit in more twisted manner because the handler showed “false” love is a manner to manipulate her) just like the Hargreeves. That right there made her character more complex .Her interest in Diego made her fall out of line that the handler drilled in her head because she fell for her mark.

There’s definitely room for her character to grow/develop in the future and I’m open to idea there’s a lot to explore maybe she will grow on me, as long as her character doesn’t take over Diego’s character arc/storyline, I don’t want Diego’s character arc to revolve around a woman he barely knows. I want him to deal with his own issues, his hero complex, to bond more deeply with his siblings. It’s also better if her character didn’t revolve around a guy, if she has her own journey, her own struggles to be able to establish her as an independent character, but I honestly predict she’s goanna be the new villain of S3, just the way her story ended, with the Swede killing her “mother” before she got a confirmation that she never cared about her, I see going in the direction of revenge and holding the academy responsible.

FACT: the timing was way off when Five rewind time backwards (just few seconds) see with the original timeline, the handler came in killed all the Hargreeves , she still had few more minutes to talk to Lila, kill her then still walk over to Five say some final words (as he was still alive) then as she was about to shoot him, the Swede came and killed her, yet when Five rewind time the Swede come much much earlier and she was killed even before she had a chance to finish her conversation with Lila.

Her Romance with Diego:

I wasn’t a big of this romance for many reasons, one of them being is that they’re goanna I didn’t want Diego to just move on from Eudora so easily, she was such a big part of his life/his character arc in S1.

Since S1, we know Diego suffered a lot because of his “father’s” abusive manipulation bullshit, he was feed up with the manipulation & bullshit lies Reginald put him and his siblings through their whole lives and left the academy to forge his own life away from toxic manipulation, Now one would argue that he didn’t do such thing because he was still playing vigilante, but the things is Diego didn’t just go straight back to the vigilante life, he went to the police academy where he clearly tried his best to abode by the law, but it was too much red tape for him which is understandable since his whole life he never had to deal with any kind of red tape thus him falling back to the vigilante life. It didn’t really have anything to do with his father

Some of you might have missed this but Diego literally could NOT stand for injustice, NOR he could endure any of his father’s lies and manipulation it’s one of the MAIN reasons he let the academy , Diego is all about honesty, telling it as it is without any bullshit it’s why at Reginald’s funeral he could NOT endure listening to some bullshit speech parsing/honoring the monster who fucked up their childhood

Cut to S2, Lila is Diego’s new “love interest” she’s literary everything he’s against (manipulation, lies, deception) he himself didn’t fully trust her and asked where did she go to after their night, and after what went down at the Mexican consult he lost complete trust in her, days went by and he didn’t even think twice about her (sure he had the occasional thought fluting trough his mind it’s normal) then Five told him that she was planted to deceive him and might have been a bit shocked for few seconds but he believed his brother because it adds up, by the time she tracked him done, he was 100% done with her he even said “forget we ever met” he was done with her, he didn’t want anything to do with her, she then tricked him yet again, didn’t let him even finish to bury Elliot properly which was the only reason he didn’t met up with Five and Luther earlier, drugged him, took him away from his family and just enforced a relationship on him that he clearly ended, and a job which she was also lied about/left out a huge part of the job description that involved killing innocent people because she knew he would against it and he was threatened to be killed by her if he makes any issue with the job that’s forced n him, Lila would kill him herself, when Diego tells her he needs to get out of here (the commotion) she just ignores him and proceeds to guide him to what she wants/ordering him to do.

Cut to S02E10,first things first she is all in to send every psycho killer of the commotion after the man she claims to “love” so much, she didn’t even try to keep him safe or anything , all she cared about is getting her revenge even if the man she claims to “love” dies, any of the psycho killers could have killed Diego and it was such a close call but she couldn’t care less. she attacks his family and even nearly killing them all, by luck that first energy wave didn’t kill them, then she deliberately tries to kill Allison just because she was in her way of killing Five, she could have just made Allison sleep or something but she choose to kill her all so she could kill taking her “revenge” on everyone even though Five was the only who’s responsible for her parents death (as far as she knew, she didn’t know about the handler yet). When the time was rewind by Five save his family, she just left after Diego offered her a chance at a better life/family she just left everything she has done to him.

Now in S02E4 they show us flashbacks of her childhood and we learn that just like the Hargreeves she too was raised/trained as solider/agent with the apparent difference she didn’t have a supernatural ability (as far as we knew back then) so I distinguished right through the BULLSHIT the writers were trying to pull, the whole she was raised like Diego was hence she’s the “perfect match” for him as she will be the “only” who understands him and vice versa and giving us “sweet cute moment” o them sharing food/coffee and dancing , I didn’t fall it for it for one second , they’re just pushing way too hard that doesn’t appear natural at all, it feels so very very very forced and it’s the writers way/method of trying to make us forget about Eudora completely.

Diego deserves someone better than a person who deceives him for months, who calls him an idiot, who belittles him, who mocks him, who drugs him, someone who doesn’t care about him enough to care about his family as well. if Diego was the woman in that scenario and Lila was the guy, NO one would be ok with it for one second, no one would find it cute or try excuse/explain it away as her traumatic life deprived her from normal social skills or some other bullshit .

The FACT is she’s the woman version of Leonard in S1, none liked him or sympathize with him or try to understand him, she just used Diego for her own mission then used him again as her boy toy because she liked playing with him, she is NOT any better than Leonard , sure as hell NOT good enough for Diego, she did to him exactly what Leonard did to Vanya in first season stalked him, lied and manipulated him (even worse because it was for months) belittle him, isolated him from his family so she can manipulate him even more just like Leonard did with Vanya, tried to push him with the job just like Lenard tried to push Vanya with her powers.

Diego deserves so much better than her, he deserves some who’s good and decent like Eudora FREAKING Patch, someone like Ray/Luther or Dave or Sissy why is it that Allison, Vanya and Klaus get to have a good healthy relationship with a decent human being ( even if didn’t work out in the end) and Diego ends up with a psychopathic psycho who lies & manipulates him who always choose her own priority over him (choosing to save Five instead of him and even after she accomplished her mission and had plenty of time to help Diego out she still elected NOT help Diego) , hasn’t he like his siblings suffered enough at the hand of selfish asshole who only cares about themselves.

It also make ZERO ZERO ZERO sense that Diego went from semi liking Lila to doubting her completely to NOT trusting at all to out of NOWHERE be “in love” with her. The story does NOT track NOR does act in accordance with his personality.

Not goanna lie, after the season ended I was a bit conflicted and I thought I’m might be ok with this so called “relationship” because I just so desperately wanted someone to love & appreciate my Diego that I actually was semi ok with it I still hated a lot of aspects about the whole thing and never felt comfortable under my skin never the less I was like 1% welling to give it a break, however the more I re-watched, the more I thought about it the more I knew why I was never ok with it, why it felt much wrong than right for me. It’s because there’s too much toxicity, too much damage, too much bad bullshit in this “ship” than good and my man deserves SO SO SO MUCH BETTER than her.

Eudora Patch:-

she was one of my favorite characters in S1, I liked her principles, I liked her chemistry with Diego. So I wasn’t excited about Lila at all since I knew the second she’s on screen with Diego everyone would forget Patch and focus on Lila (and that’s exactly what happened.) their methods might have been different(Diego’s illegal, Eudora legal methods) but they both believed in justice, in getting the bad guy, protecting/saving the innocent, she & Diego had such an AMAZING GENUINE NATURAL chemistry, and she meant SO MUCH to him, because she’s exactly the right person for Diego, the person who doesn’t underestimate him or belittle him, a person who cares about him so much and knows him so well that she knows how much his mother meant (she might have even known about Diego’s stutter ) and she knows how much Diego cares about his family that’s why she tracked Hazel & Cha-Cha down to save his brother. That’s the kind of person Diego deserves. I’m truly so FUCKING MAD at the writers for completely erasing her from the show, erasing her from Diego’s history just so to make us pay into the Lila & Diego’s BULLSHIT “romance”

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bigskydreaming · 3 years

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But that conversation between Bruce and Dick is pre-Crisis. (It's Donna's wedding, a mess of BLAMs which may or may not have happened post-Crisis. And I note the absence of the "bad guys crash the wedding" cliché.)

Things aren’t as clearly separated into pre-Crisis and post-Crisis as people like to claim, though. Like, at the time, there was a lot of crossover-acknowledgment from storylines both pre-and post Crisis, and there was never like, a clear definitive line where nothing from before Crisis mattered any longer after it. That was never what that event was, or how it was utilized. Rather, Crisis was used as a convenient way to INTRODUCE a sizable number of retcons, but it didn’t mean that everything outside of those retcons that came before was like, no longer valid.

In terms of this specifically......tons of things to do with Dick, Jason and Bruce pre-Crisis still remained in continuity and relevant all the way up to the New 52. When Jason fought Tim at Titans Tower when he came back, he specifically referenced having been a Titan for a couple missions - that definitely straddled the line of pre and post Crisis and didn’t fall cleanly into either camp. As well as being references to stories that happened BEFORE his post-Crisis origin retcon was canonized, thus further muddying the waters - but regardless, the point is, all of that is still in continuity by the time he returned as the Red Hood. It still mattered, not just in terms of oh technically that happened, but in terms of it and the events within it still being relevant to STORIES post-Crisis. Similarly, when Dick went to the Batcave to see Bruce after he returned from space and found out Jason was dead, that was all definitively post-Crisis, but in that scene, they referenced pre-Crisis events and conversations.

In fact, the whole reason I brought up Dick not hating Jason in the thread with that conversation between Bruce and Dick pre-Crisis.....is because the only time Bruce and Dick actually talk about Dick’s feelings about Jason is POST-Crisis, in NTT #55, when Bruce accuses Dick of never even liking Jason, of resenting him for being adopted when Dick wasn’t......

In response to which, Dick says no, he DIDN’T resent Bruce adopting Jason and not him, he’d never said that, he’d only asked WHY Bruce hadn’t adopted him as well....

Aka....that literal conversation I cited from Donna’s wedding. That was the conversation they were both referencing, post-Crisis. It just happened to have happened pre-Crisis. Its just...it had never actually been invalidated or contradicted or included in a retcon at any point in between.

Like, I’m trying not to be all defensive here, but this is the kinda thing that bugs me a lot. I say a thing, usually while pointing to a thing from canon that establishes that no, the takes a lot of people are going with are a fanon invention here, which begs the question...WHY such a strong preference for the fanon over the canon in specific instances, especially if the fanon happens to enable more of the very same KIND of unnecessary family conflict they claim to hold against canon in the first place.....

And then someone tries to ‘disprove’ this, WITH canon, or by citing why canon apparently is irrelevant here, and so its like....well, which is it? Am I too fixated on canon and that’s why my take doesn’t have that much merit, or am I wrong about canon and that’s why my take doesn’t have merit?

People seem to want to have it both ways when it comes to a lot of my posts, with the only real consistency seeming to be a determination to make it seem like there’s no validity to what I’m saying whatsoever.

That bugs, dude.

My point is just....the literal whole reason I made that post and thread was because I was trying to express that the fanon take that like, the only reason Bruce delayed so long in adopting Dick was that he didn’t want to come between Dick and his memory of his parents and he wasn’t sure this is something Dick would even want, is like....fanon.

I made that post - as I clearly established within the post itself - because the problem I have with this take is it was WELL established, at MULTIPLE points in the past that Dick actively wanted to be adopted by Bruce. He expressed this at Donna’s wedding, which as you said, is pre-Crisis. He then further affirmed this in their conflict after Jason’s death, which was post-Crisis. And then, as my post pointed out, it was STILL almost fifteen years AFTER that point when Bruce finally made the move to adopt Dick, with a rather anticlimactic speech about it not really changing anything and being just a mere formality.....

Even though it had been a very definite source of angst and internal turmoil and doubt about where he stood in Bruce’s eyes, at various points looooooong before then.

Points that were never at any time erased from continuity, as they existed and were referenced on either side of the retcon-period you’re referring to.

And then, I just happened to also tack on the PS that btw, further reminder that the fanon about Dick hating and resenting Jason was just fanon too with no real basis beyond that......by pointing to this convo pre-Crisis where Dick explicitly said as much....with it again being ratified post-Crisis when Dick references this very conversation and expresses the exact same idea he’d had all along.

So, the thing is. I’m fairly certain my point stands. There’s a clear continuance of thought in all the points I mention, no matter where they stand in the timeline.

And the thing that gets under my skin so much about asks or reblogs of this nature is like.....I don’t really understand what the aim here is? Is it just to discredit my citing of canon by raising issues that.....don’t actually change what I cited from canon?

And also, can you understand why it would be frustrating to see it so often being made an issue of semantics, when personally, I’ve always expressed that my fixation on canon vs fanon stems from one thing only: I don’t pretend like people don’t have every right to do whatever they want with fanfic or headcanons, I’m simply raising the question of WHY.

Why certain takes.

Why are so many people SO invested into adhering to takes that put the burden on Dick to be responsible for his own delayed adoption - something he’s angsted about significantly - and thus make him really, the only person truly responsible for his own angst there.

My issue has never been with popular fanon takes existing. Its that I think people should be able to back them up with why these takes are so important to them, that they’re so invested in defending them, from any criticism. There literally is not a single fanon I dislike, where there isn’t a very clear and definite REASON I dislike that fanon, that has nothing to do with it just not being canon.

Like, my criticism of this particular fanon isn’t that oh its fanon, it doesn’t count, its not real. My criticism is oh, I think its a problem that fandom’s focus is primarily trained on coming up with reasons for a son to be responsible for his own doubts and insecurities as to his place in a family/his father’s eyes.....when canon has repeatedly established that he’s EXPRESSED these doubts and insecurities, they’re NOT an unknown quantity to his father, and thus....the ball was in his father’s court all along. And its only fanon that has insisted otherwise....which to be begs the very relevant question: WHY. Why is it so often argued that this should be more the responsibility and fault of a child with abandonment issues and decades of insecurities and self-esteem issues here....in order to gloss over the fact that the power always lay with the father to address all of these issues.....just by....actually addressing them?

That’s the issue with this particular storyline for me at least, its always been the issue, and thus all the canon vs fanon is incidental to it, and the more its made about that, the more frustrating it is, because like....my point and my question has always remained the same, and all that ever results is a lot of people dancing around distracting from those two things rather than ever just engaging with them.

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the-trashy-phoenix · 3 years

Text

Supernatural season 7 review (part 1)

Link to part 2:

I think this season was a lot alike the first ones, maybe because of the amount of episodes representing small hunts that have nothing to do with the big plot (as episode 4, about the Egyptian god Osiris, 5, about witches, 7, about ghosts, 12, about the Greek god Cronus, 13, about the Amazons, 14, about Sam’s fear of creepy clowns, 15, about demons and so on), or also because the plot of the season, the Winchesters fighting against the villain of the season, was quite simple. I somehow appreciate the two features, and I will later explain why, but of course at this point of the show it’s kind of unnatural not to focus on bigger storylines.

I find the “single episodes” pretty original, but I can’t help thinking they’re only meant to increase the number of episodes and create at least 20 of them per season, and that the main storyline alone would’ve requested only at most half of them to get completed. I’d understand if the show wasn’t 15 seasons long, and if the authors didn’t force all the main action to take place in the very last episodes.

Season 7 has a quite plain main plot: the villain, Dick Roman (Latins would’ve said “nomen omen”, which means something like “someone’s name’s an omen”), the leader of Leviathans, plans to conquer the world by drugging and killing people through the food produced in his factories. It is clear that Sam and Dean have to stop him. As I was saying, for someone who’s used to complex plots, this season might result a bit boring, but for me it was even relaxing not having to keep too many details in mind.

Two of the main themes of the season are introduced already in the first episode, Leviathans, which are contained in Castiel’s body and are destined to come out and spread death, and Sam’s hallucinations, which will accompany him for a long time.

I just mentioned Leviathans, new creatures that appear right from Purgatory thanks to Castiel. We’ve left him at the end of season 6 and we meet him again as an arrogant and vengeful God. I found it quite strange that Castiel had become so mean, and even the Winchesters can’t understand his behaviour. It is kind of a lesson of how power can change people, but still at some point I found it incoherent with Cas’ personality, as he has always been so humble and kind to every human, especially to Sam and Dean, and as he suddenly asks for their forgiveness.

When Leviathans take over, Cas dies. It is a very painful moment, as every time someone dies through Supernatural, but it is as if the brothers are sorrowfully getting used to losing people and have so many problems to solve at the same time they don’t have any more mental energy to devote to process grief. They always carry an unbearable burden they never have time to mindfully focus on and that makes them so frustrated they’re often almost to the point of exploding.

This time Cas’ death is the least of their problems, as Leviathans are starting to kill and eat people at a hospital, and in addition they are invincible with the Winchesters’ usual weapons, and Lucifer is trying to take over Sam’s mind. We immediately get to know that Sam’s mental wall is broken, so that Lucifer can torment and play him. It is like Sammy can’t have rest from his demonic side and can’t get rid of it: Lucifer provides him with increasing hallucinations and pain. Dean and Bobby are really worried about him, but they have no clue on how to cure Sam, as it happens most of the time when one of the brothers is “supernaturally ill”.

However, despite all the odds they’ve been and are going through, Sam and Dean finally seem to be happy and comfortable with each other, but their dynamics get complicated in the third episode, when Dean kills Amy, a monster who’s Sam’s friend and has proven trustworthy, of course without telling his brother. The brothers’ relationship is a seesaw of continuous positive and negative moments, and when one of them does something like this I really doubt they’ve been able to build a solid bond based on trust. That is their biggest problem which keeps on coming out without ever being resolved: the typical pattern is that one of them does something he doesn’t want the other to know and the lie goes on until the truth is invariably revealed leading to endless fights (until one of them is severely ill or dead). Sam, Dean, don’t you see that’s how things always go? Wouldn’t it be easier and better and healthier for your relationship to always tell the truth, even if it hurts, because hiding it and knowing it later is by far more painful and problematic? I wonder if they’ll ever understand that, considering that, as they’re approximately the two of them alone against the entire world, it is stupid to keep on lying to each other.

Meanwhile, Bobby studies a Leviathan to find a way to kill him and Sam and Dean meet Frank, a weird old friend of Bobby’s who helps them create new identities, because two Leviathans in the shape of Sam and Dean are committing crimes all over the country. Finally Bobby and the brothers find out that the monsters aren’t as invincible as they seemed to be at first, because they can be slowed down by cutting their head or by burning them with some chemicals.

The mid-turning point of the season is episode 9: the three find out about Dick Roman and his plans, which they try to stop by entering into one of his food factories, where Bobby is captured. I wasn’t worried at all about that, because the Winchesters and Bobby always go through difficult situations, and that one wasn’t surely worse than other times. That’s why Bobby’s death occurred so unexpectedly and hurt a lot more than all the others in Supernatural. An entire episode, the tenth, is devoted to the exploration of Bobby’s mind in his last moments of life, where he’s accompanied by Rufus through his happiest memories. We have an extraordinary view of Bobby’s existence, with his parents and his wife, and of course the brothers. Even in this highly pathetic moment we experience Bobby’s deep bond with his adopted children: he spends his last breath and forces to communicate a fundamental information he’s discovered to defeat Dick. This was really the solemn ending moment, as if the ultimate meaning of Bobby’s life was giving everything, his knowledge, his love and his life, to Sam and Dean, having been loyal to them since forever. As you may see, Bobby’s death really broke my heart: I thought of him as a nearly immortal character, who would have been by the brothers’ side until the end. As it was predictable, this event has massive consequences to the plot and particularly to the Winchesters (by the way, it is extremely meaningful that they seem to be much more scattered than when John died). They face their grief the only way they know, working cases and gathering information on Dick to avenge Bobby. Unfortunately, they lose another precious ally on their way: as a matter of fact Frank gets killed by Leviathans, which was sad both because he had helped a lot Dean in tracking Dick and because he was quite fun and a nice presence in the season.

As if all that trouble wasn’t enough, Sam’s visions of Lucifer become more and more frequent and painful, while Dean can’t find a way to help him. The brothers have to face everything at the same time: the fight against Dick, Bobby’s death and Sam’s mental instability, which is destroying him and Dean at the same time, as what happens to one of them affects even more painfully the other. In addition, another worry comes out: Dean finds out Castiel is alive and has lost all his memories about who he is and what he has done. Dean at first can’t really forgive him, but when Cas gets to have his memories back, he can’t resist his stubborn hate toward his “friend” and finally decides to erase God-Cas parenthesis, also because the angel is so guilty he offers himself to take over Sam’s hallucinations. It is a noble sacrifice which allows the brothers to go back to hunting Dick and establish a new degree of friendship and trust between team free will, after the painful moment of Cas’ death. I think both getting rid of Lucifer and gaining back Castiel give the brothers the hope they need to succeed in defeating Dick, after the previous single episodes of impasse.

In the ending episodes another surprise awaits Sam and Dean: Bobby, as a ghost, manages to communicate with them and makes himself visible, giving start to a weird dynamic where he still helps the brothers as he did when he was alive, but using his ghost powers. This situation leaves in the protagonists and in the viewer a sense of bitter illusion, as everyone knows it can’t end well, as Bobby’s destined to become a vengeful spirit, like any other ghost, and when the moment comes they would have to kill him again, and, doing so, renewing their pain. This kind of “second death” was quite sadistic, but still I appreciated Bobby’s comeback as it was right to give more space to such an important character and explore the afterlife from a different point of view. From the first time we profoundly feel ghosts’ frustration of being isolated from living people and we can easily put ourselves in their shoes, as they’re no more depicted merely as a cruel monster.

I think this process could be included in the new connotation of supernatural creatures that emerges from these seasons on: the absolute dichotomy good-evil which imposes that monsters can only be bad is a bit more flexible (and along with it, also the Winchesters become more and more open minded) and gives space to complex characters and personalities which can’t be defined univocally. The best example of this change of tone is Meg. I really appreciated the growth of the character from season 1, where she seems to be an ordinary demon, to seasons 6 and 7, where she’s developed as a proper round character, an outsider from both demonic and human worlds: here she keeps helping the Winchesters, presenting herself as a good ally against Dick and Crowley and at same time preserving her typical bad bitch attitude. She leaves us a striking message, volunteering to look after Castiel at the hospital while the boys are busy fighting Dick: the strict first seasons determinism is definitely gone, also demons can make decisions using their free will and change the order of things, fighting side to side with the good guys. This kind of sympathy for the brothers can be noticed also in Crowley at some point, as he helps them with the spell to defeat Leviathans, but of course there’s no doubt his only interest is to use Sam and Dean to fight a common enemy.

Moreover, season 7, marked by many painful deaths, is certainly also productive of new characters destined to become permanent for some time. Besides two appearances of Jody, one of the rare positive and strong female figures of the show, who is now occasionally helping the brothers in their hunts, and one of Becky, which gives us one of the funniest episodes of the season, where she makes Sam falling in love with her thanks to a potion and marries him, three new important characters are presented.

First of all Garth, a weird and clumsy hunter, helps Dean in episode 8 (while Sam is married to Becky): after the initial skepticism, he becomes one of their most trusted friends. I find the relationship between Garth and the boys so cute, as they kind of protect him by teaching him what they know about monsters and in return he tries very hard to be accepted in their team and to do whatever he can to help them.

At the end of the season we meet another young male character, Kevin, a normal kid who studies and has dreams about his career, but gets absorbed by the supernatural world as he is chosen as a prophet of the Lord. His skill is to be able to read some tablets containing the Word of God and fundamental knowledge about angels, demons and other creatures (thanks to one of those tablets Sam and Dean get to know how to kill Leviathans). Kevin is such a lovely guy, at first really confused, as every human would be in his situation, and as well hopeful that the nightmare he finds himself into without having a choice would end quickly. We know, as well as the Winchesters, that things like this never end and once you’re trapped in the supernatural world it is forever, and that’s why we feel pitiful and protective towards Kevin. Seen from Sam and Dean’s perspective, he’s another innocent person they have to look after and feel guilty for even if nothing about it is their fault. Kevin is one of those characters that make one doubt about the real existence of free will and self determination, especially for someone who’s devoted to high purposes in the economy of the show.

Last but not least, the end of season 7 sees the appearance of one of the undoubtedly best characters in Supernatural, Charlie. She becomes a fundamental part of the plan of defeating Dick thanks to her great computer skills, but, more importantly, she quickly becomes Sam and Dean’s friend and one of their best allies in some of their hunts. I really loved her as a character and in her interactions with the brothers, as from the very beginning they seem to see her as their little sister. She also brings into the show a small (but still great and quite unexpected) insight on the lgbt community, being overtly lesbian. I loved how Dean in particular was at ease knowing this information, and the fact that the authors seem to get more in step with the times, as the ideas of slight misogyny and toxic masculinity and heterosexuality of the first seasons can’t fit anymore in recent years. It is so interesting to see how the show grows in time through its characters and their complex psychology and personality, even if there’s still a long road ahead in terms of equality and representation.

I have the feeling that this season goes through three changes in mood, the first half (and a bit more) being quite problematic and full of sad events and the last part presenting some positive characters who guarantee hope for the finale. The last episode is a mixture of the two sides, as Dick is happily defeated, but his death has a price: Dean and Cas are sent directly to Purgatory with Leviathans. So the episode ends with our favourite couple having to deal with the third mysterious realm of afterlife (we’ve already been to both Heaven and Hell) and its dangerous monsters.

- Irene 💕

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iit-s-kitty · 4 years

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"My problems with Rise of Skywalker, because fuck being neutral this movie was a crime"

Written by a disappointed Star Wars fan that happens to ship Reylo, and who will most likely ends up rewriting this mess in her fanfiction

The ridiculous fast pace: seriously, this movie feels like the project you forgot to do on holidays and the due date is tomorrow, so you're just doing the "important plot points": The Palpatine plot? Check. The Rey's parents plot? Check.

The lack of closure for the character's storylines: throughout the sequels it was stablished storyline that allowed for the development of different characters. For example, Finn learning that escaping is NOT the way of opposing the First Order, Poe learning to be the leader the Resistance needs, Han coming back in order to face that what became of Ben's was equally his fault as well as Snoke's, and the most important ones being Rey and Ben's journey. Here? All forgotten. Suddenly we erased whatever happened in the last two movies and give everything for granted, because no one gives a fuck about what happened. Poe is the same as he was, Finn is still hung up on Rey and exhibits no personality of it, Rey has no sequels of what happened in Ach-To at the cave or in the Throne Room with Kylo, and speaking of which...

WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED WITH KYLO? We cut the last movie on the biggest cliffhanger for this character: he had killed his master in order to gain more power (ironically surpassing Darth Vader... Only that Kylo did it in order to protect Rey, something he wasn't looking for and ended up wanting her at his side), became the Supreme Leader and witnessed the almost complete wipeout of the Resistance as well as Luke's demise. Yet to him it meant nothing because the only person that managed to connect with him decided to stick to her own path and giving an open door to the redemption arc. The logical step was having him as this ultimate boss they all had to defeat, The Supreme Leader... That would progressively become more and more disenchanted with it. Snoke is gone, his abuser is finally gone but what can he do about it? He still has all this rage, all this pain. Think of Zuko when he finally "regained" his honor by supposedly killing the Avatar, yet he felt it wasn't worth anything because he had betrayed the only person that cared for him, in Kylo's case it would be the "death" of Leia, the lack of closure on his part with Luke, Han's death and of course, Rey turning his back on him. What does RoS do? NOTHING. ABSOLUTELY NOTHING. Sure, Kylo does redeem himself but the way of doing so...

What the hell with Kylo's redemption? Sure, it happened but the execution was awful. If Kylo was to be redeemed it needed to be EARNED. I'll take again Zuko's example: Zuko not only faced remorse that he was lying to the face of everyone and that Azula could rat him out, it all felt empty because all these people had never cared for him, unlike Iroh did— and now Iroh was imprisoned, starving and humiliated in the deepest cell of the Fire Nation because of him. Sure, he regained his honor, but it comes to a point where he himself said it: "I'M MAD AT MYSELF, because I can't tell the difference between right and wrong anymore". Then, he learns of what his grandfather Sozin did to the Avatar, his best friend, and he knows what to do: the only way to truly regain his honor is to right what his family did wrong and help Aang bring balance. He tells Ozai (which funny enough is voiced by Mark himself) a beautiful "The reason you suck" speech and goes out of the palace to help the Gaang and... They don't want him there. They're ready to kill him on the spot because of all Zuko made him went through and Zuko does NOTHING to stop them. He fully accepts the guilt of what he did and shows with actions that he truly means to redeem himself and train Aang. And even then he faces suspicion and prejudice by the whole Gaang at first. Then, on the Sozin's Comet he helps them by defeating Azula with Katara and helping in the search for Aang, and becomes Fire Lord by the end of the series, intending to start a new Era of peace with Aang's help.

What I'm trying to say here is that, if they were trying to redeem Kylo, fine, do it! I know that the fans of the character (which aren't few) and fans of ships like Reylo were rooting for a redemption of Kylo. But if that route was the one to be taken, then Kylo had to, as we say here in my country, "go through a fuck ton of work to do so". He would first need to doubt whether this was the true path for him (something he was already doing), see the true extent of what the First Order was doing, throw a few punches with him and Leia's relationship as well as his relationship with Rey. They needed to work on his reasons to switch to the Light side of the Force in order to do the redemption and yes, we could say they did it with the Reylo, which I'm a fan of. But it was rushed, sloppy, it wasn't earned ffs.

Leia, Han, Luke, and the whole treatment of the original trio in this shtick: I know, I know that Carrie Fisher is dead and everytime I remember it, I kid you not, I cry because she was a wonderful woman that showed me that despite my mental illness I could still do something worthwile with my life, that I could take the pain to do something beautiful with it. And Leia is a wonderful example of a female character. I know that because of Carrie's death they couldn't do a lot with the character— but that is not an excuse then they put a woman on CGI with her face in order to give "closure" to her character, and I'm sorry but if that was closure for Leia then I'm princess Diana. Leia was Kylo's mother, if someone was rooting for Ben to come back then it was her (as well as Rey, but that's something I'll discuss later) and if someone deserved to have a final moment with him, to see him come back, IT WAS HER. Let me explain, as I said before, even the members of the original trio had a journey of their own here: Han's was trying to reach out for a son he didn't always treat right (if not that he outright feared him) and take responsibility as a father; Luke's was coming to terms with what he did, come out of his depression and acknowledge that Ben can indeed come back as well as to take responsibility for his mistakes. Leia's, given her role as a mother figure throughout this trilogy as well as a leader for the rebellion, was learning to accept the help of a new generation and to guide them, as well as trying to reach for her son in order to make him see the true path. If Kylo is Zuko, then Leia is Iroh here (someone should make a fanart of Kylo apologizing to Leia like Zuko did with Iroh btw). But NOPE, her only purpose is to die so that REY has to have compassion for Ben and then let HAN, OF ALL PEOPLE, reach out for Ben. The whole last movies were building for a moment with Kylo and Leia, to have either a confrontation or a reunion and even if they had the means to do so despite Carrie's death, they gave us nothing. Zero. Nada. Leia died being a prop to Rey and not even her arch with the Resistance was closed. What a rip-off!

Why the hell do we have to bring the Emperor back? No, really, fans of Star Wars— why do we have to bring Sheev Palpatine back and WHY did it have to be the way it was handled? You want to him back? Okay, do so, BUT NOT IN A WAY THAT UNDERMINES ANAKIN'S STORY. By bringing Palpatine in a "he was always alive" fashion, not only do we open the door to a fuck ton of plot-holes, but we shit on the entire Original Trilogy and the journey of Anakin Skywalker. He died for nothing, yes, he saved his son— but the Galaxy was still on the clutches of this monster, HIS FAMILY WAS STILL IN DANGER BECAUSE OF HIM. Heck, as much as I think the EU was a mess with overated or downright badly written characters (cofcofMaraJadecofcof) the whole "The Emperor has a clone as a failsafe and thus come back" was a better way to bring him back. You wanted to make Rey the relative of someone important? Make her the Emperor's clone, the future vessel a le Sasuke and Orochimaru— BUT DON'T GIVE ME THIS SHIT.

Also, if Luke knew so well where the Emperor was hidden that he even made a MAP to him, why didn't he grab Leia (who's now an even better Jedi than he was, apparently), went to Exegol and beated the shit out of his old butt? IT WOULD'VE SURELY BEEN MORE BADASS THAN THIS.

Rey is now a damn Mary Sue: coming back to the theater with my friends, we joked that Rey is the maid of your grandfather that ends up being the one is given everything after your grandpa's death.

The last movie, Rey was given the harsh truth as well as us: not only were her parents pieces of shit that never cared about her, thus not coming back— but us, as viewers, were given the truth that there was no mystical lineage of heroes to explain her powers, that she was just... A nobody. She was the underdog, the Foil to Kylo's ascendancy of heroes and villains and all around famous people. Rey had always dreamed that her blood family would come back, that someone else would come and sweep her away from her personal hell— only to learn, from someone like Kylo, that no one was going to do so except for her. And it was a fucking amazing character arc!

But reddit theorist don't care about any of that. SHE CAN'T BE THAT POWERFULL UNLESS SHE IS SOMEONE'S DAUGHTER! And thus, we shit on the last two movies, her character and her development in order of pleasing people that couldn't stand her being the Jedi of the trilogy in first place.

Not only are her parents now tragic heroes that tried to save her (then why LEAVE HER WITH SOMEONE LIKE THAT IN THE FIRST PLACE? 👀), but the worst part is that they try to give us a "the family you make is more important than the one that birthed you" by her taking on the Skywalker name. Despite having her entire relationship with Ben going back to nothing on this movie and only kissing him at the end.

AND EVEN IF SHE TOOK ON HIS NAME, IT WOULD'VE BEEN "REY SOLO". ARE THEY EVEN LOOKING AT WHAT THEY'RE WRITING?

Rey deserved better than to be the fullfilment of dudebro's complaints and reddit theories.

This movie pulls ALL the punches: say whatever you want about The Last Jedi, but that movie had BALLS unlike Rise of Skywalker. C3PO can lose his memories in order to help the Resistance? DON'T WORRY, HE HAS A BACK UP. Chewie might be dead because of Rey, and thus opening the door for interesting character development as well as an emotional moment for us all? FUCK THAT NOISE, HE WAS ON ANOTHER SHIP. And now, Rey is a Palpatine, Ben dies because WHY THE FUCK NOT, and thus we ensure a narrative so paint by the numbers that would leave everyone happy, right?

The whole fucking Sequel Trilogy was about making a new path, taking risks and opening a new age— even if that meant to let go of the past (heck, it is said in TLJ). See it for yourself: TFA has a Stormtrooper deflecting, the death of HAN SOLO, and a woman who is a nobody being more powerful than the grandson of Anakin Skywalker; TLJ almost kills Leia, they tell us that Luke is responsible for Ben going to the Dark Side of the Force because of his paranoia, the Rebellion is left in shambles, Rey learns that her parents were alcoholics and are dead, and Luke sacrifices himself.

"But Leia died—" Leia died because Carrie is dead, Karen. Otherwise I bet you that she would've lived like Lando did.

We're so feminist and woke!... Or are we?: let's see: Rose Tico, because bigoted morons are a big sector of this fandom sadly, almost doesn't appear in this movie. In fact, she doesn't even talk to Finn despite the fact that the last movie build up to them being love interest.

They introduce us to the character of Zorrie, who appears like an old flame of Poe but doesn't stop her to being a person that would put herself above others— even if it means to throw them under the bus. That would make for an interesting character! But nope, she is only there to be an exposition bot for Poe and making him look good.

They introduce us to Jannah, a woc that like Finn, used to be a Stormtrooper and has fled the First Order and went into hiding, alongside people like her because of the sheer fear they have of being found. That would make for a kick ass plot were they regain their fight spi— but no, she's only there to make Finn look special.

This movie (and like many Disney live actions) appears to be "woke" in order to ensure a better box office, but that is— they look the part but don't exactly play the part. They only use this movements in order to further their own sales— they don't care about representation because, with what they did to Rose, they show you that the moment representation stops selling tickets they'll throw it out of the window.

If you agree and have more to say.

#anti tros #Anti ros #anti the rise of skywalker #anti rise of skywalker #anti rey skywalker #anti rey palpatine #Star wars #rey of jakku #reylo #Ben solo #kylo ren #leia organa #This movie was a mess and i can't keep quiet anymore #Anti star wars fandom

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purplesurveys · 3 years

Text

1056

survey by katesmarie13

(Merry Christmas! Or Happy Holidays! Or Happy Friday! <3)

Okay, just a few basics first...THEN the new stuff.

Your full name? I only feel like sharing the name Robyn today.

Your hometown? Manila, kinda. I won’t give away the city I currently reside in.

Age? 22, and a waste of a year it was. I’m so tempted to just turn 22 again in 2021.

Now for something different and completely random...

When you're having a bad day, what comfort food do you reach for? It differs per bad day and it also depends if I can afford to get whatever it is I’m craving. Though for the most part, I’ve found myself pining for samgyupsal the most often. It’s just the ultimate problem-fixer and makes-the-sad-go-away-er.

Do you have an item that is your good luck charm? I don’t really believe in those, so no. The farthest I’ve gone with a certain item and luck is how I insisted to use the same paddle that was available in our gym whenever I trained for table tennis back in high school. The reason I don’t think it has anything to do with luck is because I simply thought I had the best grip with that paddle, not because I was convinced I can win any game with it.

If so, what is it? See paddle situation aboe.

Your favorite thing about your job (or school)? It’s in the media/public relations field so there are lots of freebies and treats that come with the job that make what I do worth it, and a lot more fun. The entire team also consists of Gen Z-ers and younger Millennials, so there are practices we follow that bigger corporations might not have, like longer office shutdowns during Christmas (we don’t get back to work until Jan 4th), reminders to take mental health breaks, and a no-video-meetings rule every Friday afternoon.

Least favorite thing about your job (or school)? It’s very, very hectic so I have the tendency to get overwhelmed as early as 10 AM. There’s never any dead air and I don’t get rest for nine hours straight (my shift is technically eight hours, but I work through the allotted 1-hour lunch break as well). OT is also common, but at least I get paid for it. Demanding clients who micromanage and/or ask for too much work to be done from our end also make the job stressful.

Does global warming and the hole in the ozone truly bother you? Of course. My heart sinks every time I come across a new article saying glaciers are melting, that animals living in polar regions are suffering, that sea ice continues to drastically decrease, etc.

Do you have a "funny" toenail? I don’t think so? All my toenails look...the way they’re supposed to look like, lol.

How many times have you moved in your lifetime? The times I can remember, just twice. But my parents moved around a bit when I was still an infant.

Do you watch professional wrestling and is it real? I do watch and keep up with it, just not as much as I used to. I don’t recognize most of the new faces anymore, and I wouldn’t be able to give you a decent breakdown of the current storylines in any promotion, not even in WWE. The angles, results, belts, and characters all aren’t real, but the movesets (especially the submission holds) risks, and injuries very much are. Are we going to debate this in 2020 still? Lmao.

What's your favorite thing to microwave? Don’t microwaves just heat stuff up? I dunno if it heats a certain food better than others lol.

Could Pop-Tarts survive a nuclear attack? I doubt it.

Does anyone know where the UP (Upper Peninsula) is? Can I give you a different UP? That’s where I went to in college, heh heh.

What's the regular unleaded gas price where you are? I have no idea. I never paid attention. I usually just give the gas attendant anywhere between P300 to P700 and see how far up it would fill my tank.

Do you know someone who's been injured in Iraq? I don’t know. Probably not. None of my relatives who migrated ever signed up for the US military.

Do you remember what a Puff-A-Lump is? I’m pretty positive I’ve never heard of it before.

Least favorite TV show? Game of Thrones.

Favorite canned soup? I don’t consume that.

How far does your belly button stick out or sink in? How can I even measure this?

Do you have a particular coffee mug you drink from? Yes, but I’ve described it so many times in surveys from just this month alone.

What does that mug say/have on it? The first line reads “Seattle, WA” then “Starbucks” in big bold letters, then “Coffee Company” below it, and the last line reads. “Est. 1971.”

Your take on declawing cats? I don’t like cats a lot but this does not sound like a responsible thing to do, and it also sounds like a painful procedure for a poor cat.

Do have smoke detectors in your home? No. That’s not really a requirement or standard practice here.

Would it be easy to erase YOUR identity? I suppose it’s technically easy to hire someone who can do that (a la Breaking Bad), I just would not be willing to do it and give up who I am for anything in the world.

Do you know anyone named Sam? Lots. My cousin is named Sam; I also went to school with multiple Sams.

How many drawers do you have in your room/office? Five.

What was your favorite snuggle toy when you were a child? I was happy with a pillow. I was never into stuffed toys all that much.

Great! A few firsts then...

What was your first pet and their name? I had a goldfish that I simply named Goldy. I vividly remember this because Angela’s first pet was also a goldfish; and there was a time we did show-and-tell in first grade and she bought her pet. We had been bickering that day, as 7 year olds do, and I remember being an absolute asshole and snickering when she introduced her fish as Fishy because I thought it was a cheesy name and that Goldy was far superior. Sorry Fishy. You had a great name.

When your mind wanders, where does it go first? My biggest stressor for the day, usually.

Your first knick-knack (item you placed in your room/house)? I have no clue. I was 10 when we first moved in here, and a completely different person.

First "real" piece of jewlery? (This goes for the guys too) I’m going to forgive this survey for being a little sexist because it’s nearly 15 years old; but anyway, I’ve never had any expensive jewelry of my own. All the pricey ones I’ve ever worn are owned by mom.

What did you do on your first date? We went to a museum and had early dinner at an Italian-American restaurant. We also had coffee after, and then she slept over at my place where I let her play GTA V on our PS3 because she wasn’t allowed to play it in her house.

Who was your first best friend? Kaye. I can’t trace her down now because she has such a common name, but I hope she’s been doing well.

When did you first realize that life isn't easy and fun? I was 12, going through puberty and a generally not-nice time of my life, with everyone in the house hating and isolating me.

And lastly...

The last thing you thought about before you fell asleep last night? I briefly thought about how many hours I need to sleep to get a decent rest, but I passed out in like 10 seconds.

Your last argument? Last night my mom and I had an argument about where I last placed my phone because I had already misplaced it two times prior during the day.

Your last words to someone...? “You’re wearing black; it’s not too obvious” when my mom was complaining that she looked a bit big in her outfit for today.

The last place you'd go? I’m not very sure about the wording here. Do you mean the last place I went to (outside the house to pay for a delivery)? Or the last place I’d want to go to before I die (no clue)? Hahahaha.

The last thing you'd find yourself wearing? Again, not so sure about the grammar here.

What will be the last thing that you do today? Trying to doze off.

#survey #surveys

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