#actually the whole team pissed me off in season 2

[wen-kexing-apologist]

Top 5 platonic friendship moments

Thank you SO much for asking me this, I love friendship!!!!

Nick and Sand Kissing in Only Friends, Ep. 9

gif by @aprilblossomgirl

I know you have your thoughts on Only Friends at this point because of how it ended, but there were a lot of things I do think Only Friends got right, one of my favorites being the platonic make out session between Nick and Sand. I mean, we talked about this before. It felt so queer, and it also did a really great job showing the difference between platonic and romantic feelings, because the kiss gave us nothing, and did the same for Team Second Option. I will forever love the fact that they made out, giggled, cuddled, and then giggled some more about it because it was kinda awkward and a little embarrassing, but they love each other as friends and that kiss changed literally nothing about their dynamic.

Porjai giving Mhok a Massage in Last Twilight, Ep 6

gif by @khaopybara

I like that some of the shows this year are starting to get in to the relationship dynamics of exes who stayed friends after. Like, listen, I've never been in a relationship before, and I know why it does happen where exes never really speak again, but it never made sense to me why 99% of the ex-partner relationship dynamics I've ever seen are bad. Like, this is a person who matter so much to you, and then you're just never going to see them or talk to them again? I love this massage moment that Porjai has with Mhok especially because it feels familial and familiar and friendly, and it is the scene that made me be like "man I can't believe they used to date" in exactly the same way that Porjai was confused when Day called Mhok her boyfriend.

Wataru Being a Little Shit on Shiro's Birthday in What Did You Eat Yesterday? Season 2, Ep. 7

Wataru is such a little shit, and I love him desperately, and his whole relationship with Shiro and Kenji is so strange. He's such a complainer, and while it can feel like the four gay men in this show hang out and are friends because they are the only gay people they know, it is moments like these that sell their actual friendship for me. Sending your friend a bouquet with a MASSIVE 50 balloon in it because you know it'll piss them off is pique best friend behavior.

Gay Boy Cuddle Pile in A Boss and a Babe, Ep. 9

gif by @paisky

I am not immune to a gay boy cuddle pile. I will never be immune to a gay boy cuddle pile.

Having had multiple conversations with a straight male friend about how much cis men lack platonic, physical touch from friends I now get emo about when boys hug, cuddle, kiss cheeks, hold hands with each other especially if they are not dating or hoping to date.

Rose Trying to Steal Charn's Phone in Laws of Attraction, Ep. 4

gif by @panncakes

It's such sibling energy, and I love it so much. As an immature adult, I love when adultier adults than me are shown being childish/immature themselves. No one should be expected to be put together all the time, and I moments like these show such a beautiful form of love.

and cause Laws of Attraction is technically a lakorn...

Sailom and Yiwa in the entirety of Wedding Plan

They love each other so much they were going to enter a Lavendar Marriage just so that Yiwa especially could be free. I can't say much about them because if I start talking about them I won't stop. But it is by far the most sacred form of platonic love we've had all year.

ASK ME MY TOP 5 OF ANYTHING BL 2023

#ask game #best of bl 2023 #only friends the series #ofts #last twilight the series #what did you eat yesterday? #kinou nani tabeta? #a boss and a babe #abaab #laws of attraction #wedding plan the series

[wefoundw0nd3rland]

I’ve seen people be disappointed about a few crows scenes being taken from CK and put into the show too early and I was a little taken aback at first when I watched them but honestly I think that they could really work in later seasons.

1. Kaz taking down Pekka

Honestly LOVED this scene in the book and when I was happening in the show I was like “NO! What’s happening this is way too early!” Then I sat back and thought about it.

Kaz and the crows are still kinda new to the game. They still fumble their heists sometimes. Kaz was super confident and so focused on his revenge towards Pekka, he went at him and was like yeah I finally got him. He takes down Pekka’s empire and made Pekka’s followers kinda lose some respect for him in the process (the side eyes they were giving each other) and sent Pekka to prison.

I think where they will go with this is Pekka ends up in prison PISSED. This little “barrel rat” just took everything from him. He gains more power and respect in prison (which we’ve already seen) then ends up breaking out, possibly in all the chaos that ensues when they break Matthias out. Then he really starts gunning for Kaz. In the book the conflict between them was a personal vendetta for Kaz. This way it will up the stakes as they’re both coming for each other. Maybe Pekka will hear about Juda Parem and try sabotaging the crows during their heist, then there’s still the fight between him and Kaz at the Ice Court only bigger now that it’s personal for both of them. Then when they get back to Ketterdam, Van Eck and him team up to take the crows down and now Pekka gets Van Eck’s plot line of kidnapping Inej, which brings me to the next scene.

(Also before I move on, that would mean that once Kaz actually takes down Pekka for real, Inej would be there for that scene since she wasn’t there for this one)

2. Kaz bandaging Inej

I haven’t seen people talk about this scene as much but for me I definitely thought it happened too early and wasn’t really ‘earned’ but basically what I think will happen is we’ll get this scene again.

So now Pekka takes Inej the same way that Kaz said that he took Pekka’s son. Again the stakes are upped. Kaz knows it’s on a personal level, has no idea if Pekka is bluffing or not. We get the whole Komide Brute scene actually play out (which was hinted at this season) and they end up getting Inej back but she’s injured. And now we get this same scene again except it’s after Inej’s whole “I will have you without armor speech” and this time when this scene plays out Kaz takes his gloves off to take away his armor.

3. Jesper and Wylan’s relationship

Not a specific scene but I just really loved their relationship. Yeah it’s different from the books but I liked how they were just happy and in a relationship together. I really liked the backstory of them having a one night stand beforehand because I feel like the fandom infantilizes Wylan a lot of the times and the show is like, no. This a grown man who has one night stands, is confident in his sexuality, and blows shit up.

Some people are worried about the “Not just girls” scene. Maybe we’ll get a flashback of them meeting where Wylan sees Jesper around for a few weeks, always flirting with girls. Then one night Jesper comes up to him and then we get that conversation and Wylan’s like “Alright cool, not just girls” then they have their one night stand.

Basically just remember nothing is really ruined. The show gets the vibes of the Crows so right. I think having some of these scenes now will only add more weight to the story later.

#shadow and bone #six of crows #shadow and bone netflix #shadow and bone season 2 #shadow and bone season two spoilers #netflix shadow and bone #kaz x inej #kaz brekker #inej ghafa #jesper x wylan #wesper #jesper fahey #wylan van eck

[a0random0gal]

If you had the chance to change something about the dance of the dragons (TV show or book), what would it be? For example, how a character dies, which team a house is on,or an entire character personally. How would you change it to make the story better, in your opinion?♥️🖤💙💚

Ohh anon i've got a list.

When it comes to the tv show there are a few choices the writers made that just don't sit right with me.

Laenor

I do like the characterization they went for, he's a pretty cool dude who really loves his weird, dysfunctional family. What I really don't like is how they handled his death.

See I truly can't stand it when a character is sugar coated just because they're the protagonist and thus must be righteous and always objectively correct.

So to witness the writers white wash his murder, having him flee to essos instead of being killed by Rhaenyra pisses me off. I get that after showing them being good friends it would be very odd to have her kill him.

But that's the thing, they should have opted for a more ruthless Rhaenyra in the first place!

Laenor's death in the books (at least for me) was the first instance of Rhae Rhae making morally wrong choices in order to pursue her ultimate goal. It was compelling! Here she just takes the easy way out, without having to make a tough choice.

Also his survival really fucks her up when you really think about it. Now all her sons are bastards since her marriage to Daemon isn't valid, and for the upcoming season 2, how are they going to handle Addam and Seasmoke? Laenor is still alive, his dragon won't accept a new rider. This doesn't make any sense and just causes plotholes what the actual fu-

Sidenote: After Laenor's very moving speech on how he was done goofing off and was now willing to really step up for Rhaenyra and their family it's super strange to imagine him ditching them all immediately afterwards Lol.

Rhaenys

My gosh, where do I even begin with this woman?

She too is pretty cool at the start, but then episode 9 rolls around and I roll my eyes.

She's so hypocritical. She tries to shit on Alicent for "toiling in the service of men." When that's all she does in the goddamn story!

She wants Baela to get Driftmark, tells Corlys about it, he shuts off the whole plan cause he wants a kid who he's not even related to on the driftwood throne, and when she complains about it he dismisses her.

So what does feminist Rhaenys do about it?

She... submits to her husband, something she conveniently forgets about when talking to Alicent. My god. Just remove this entire exchange, it hurts to watch.

And the coronation scene, Jesus Christ! It was so cool in the books, why did they have to ruin it? Had they replaced it with something better I wouldn't have complained, but this is just, the worst.

Rhaenys shows how badass she is by.... Brutally crushing hundreds of small folks to death and almost slaughtering the greens.

Cool, cool, absolutely necessary. Thanks Sara.

And you know what's even more infuriating? When she flees to Dragonstone to inform Rhaenyra of all that happened. She says she didn't kill the greens cause she didn't wish to start a war. I'm sorry what?

That would have ended the war at the start! As glad as I am that Rhaenys didn't barbecue them it makes absolutely no sense!

If she had killed them there would have been no dance in the first place!

I hate these dumb show only moments. They needlessly complicated an already complicated story and just mess everything up.

There's probably other stuff I could rant on, like how Aegon was made a rapist sorely to make the audience think:

Oh look! The greens are so baad, they believe a rapist alcoholic douche should be in charge instead of our empowered dragon queen, they sure do suck!

Or how house Velaryon was disrespected and mistreated by D*emyra but still somehow decided to support Nyra's claim.

They didn't really have a motive to be greens though, so I think they should have stayed neutral. Their fervent black support makes no sense.

The writers really should have given them more reasons to back up the blacks or had their beloved queen treat them better so that their loyalty made more sense ( I mean holy hell I wonder how they will handle the two betrayers and Corlys's arrest lmao).

But other greens have already shat on these awful decisions and I won't beat a dead horse.

Book

When it comes to fire and blood I surprisingly have very little complaints, except of course, the Jaehaera situation.

My poor baby deserved better, I've made a post about it in the past

(where I ranted and said stuff I kind of regret now, don't post while very angry guys I don't recommend it)

tackling how the little queen was unnecessarily killed off and how her death genuinely adds nothing so why was it added? God I get upset just thinking about it lol.

Some people say George did it cause he needed Aegon's kids to be born after Viserys's, and apparently he couldn't fathom a married teen not having kids until her 20s, which is veery weird.

The more plausible theory is that he got rid of her cause he wanted more Velaryon queens to showcase how close they used to be to the Targs.

Which is something I had understood already thanks to Alyssa, the sea Snake and all the Velaryons who were masters of ships but whatever.

#hotd #house of the dragon #hotd critical #anti team black #pro team green #rhaenyra targaryen #asoiaf #aegon ii targaryen #corlys velaryon #laenor valeryon #rhaenys targaryen #rhaenys velaryon #jaehaera targaryen #fire&blood #hotd season 2 #thanks for the ask! it was lots of fun to answer lmao

[sundayswiththeilluminati]

Well, it’s been a week and I've had time to cool down and put together my thoughts on Season of the Seraph and its ending. So here goes.

The season finale plot did not require Rasputin to die. "The eliksni are trying to get control of the warsats" is literally a strike. If the warsats needed to be taken off the table as a get-out-of-jail-free card we could have blown the network and kept Rasputin himself. There was an active decision to kill him. Having thought about it, I think I understand why this decision was made - but I still think it's a terrible decision, and I'll explain why.

Before we start, I don't want to sound like I'm going after Destiny's narrative team either personally or professionally. I'm not calling them terrible writers, much less terrible people. I don't know them! They might even be terrible people, for all I know. While I refer to a single monolithic "narrative team," I know in reality there are multiple groups working on different stories. I’m not a professional writer, and they are. And I genuinely believe all of them are talented people who work hard and care about Destiny. But that doesn't mean I don't have some criticisms.

After considering it I think there are three possible reasons to kill Rasputin:

1). The narrative team believed this was a good emotional conclusion that brought closure to his character arc in Destiny. In this case I just think they're flat-out wrong. I'd say "I respect it" but I kind of don't because I think it's so terribly wrong. I don't know what other people think Rasputin's character arc involved, but I won't get closure till Rasputin faces the Witness again and finally ends the war he's been trapped in for centuries. But I get why they would do it, if they believed this. And that final mission was really good. I had a hard time noticing at the time, but it was very well-done, and the cutscene proper was well-shot, -scripted, and -acted (though I'm still angry about the Traveler upstaging Rasputin's death). They put a huge amount of effort into it and into the story work all season long.

But his death being well-done doesn’t change whether I think it was a good narrative choice. Even saying “Rasputin’s arc should conclude here,” the way it was set up had him sacrificing himself to basically cancel himself out. Unless they’re saving up a plot twist, Rasputin ultimately contributed nothing to the fight. He didn’t do any damage to the Fleet or Witness, or anything to stymie Xivu Arath. He died thinking he’d never helped humanity at all and it was safer if he didn’t exist. I don’t know about you, but I find that extremely unsatisfying.

2). Someone doesn't like Rasputin/doesn't know what to do with him. This is two reasons, but they overlap. The Operation: Sancus mission dialogue pissed me off because it gave me the impression that whoever was writing it really didn't like Rasputin and was taking the chance to morally excoriate him. A more subtle version recurs in the final mission where Rasputin is essentially sacrificing himself to null out his own existence - saying "as long as I exist I'm a threat to humanity" - as if he can't ever help or contribute more than endanger people, which is just flat-out wrong. "Humanity doesn't need a Warmind" you're part of humanity, Red. He’s a person; he doesn’t need to justify living. If someone just decided Rasputin Was Bad Actually I’d be very angry indeed. But I don't think it's that personal. Destiny has lots of writers and multiple narrative teams will touch the same work. One person's distaste probably wouldn't steer an entire season.

Related, however, is the reason that maybe no one knows what to do with Rasputin. To be honest I sympathize with this one. Would it shock anyone to hear I've thought about how I would script a Rasputin-focused season? It's surprisingly hard to build a plot around him. A game needs to be interactive and Rasputin's kind of all or nothing - either he can handle the whole problem himself or he can't do anything at all. Red also mostly plays defense. He doesn't have a goal he's working towards other than "kill the Witness/save humanity." You need to come up with a plausible goal that we can believably help him achieve, and that's nontrivial. But, well, that's why I'm not a professional games writer and these people are. "Not sure what do" is not IMO sufficient justification for assassinating one of Destiny's oldest characters/factions.

3). The Destiny narrative team is trying to "declutter" the setting and foreground story by sidelining characters who take a lot of lore to understand. I think this is the real reason, and it's worth talking more about.

A lot of us lore-nerds have long complained about Destiny not foregrounding its setting and story, and Bungie has responded by trying to do so. I think we didn't consider what that would actually look like. Imagine Destiny's story like a long movie. Now imagine people are constantly coming and going from the audience, and everyone who comes in has to nudge their neighbor and go, "hey, what's happening?" Destiny is always (hopefully) acquiring new players, and existing ones are dropping out and coming back. Even most established players either don't read the lore or don't track/remember it. We the lore-keepers are very much the anomaly. If we want story to be a focus, that story also has to be more accessible to new players, lapsed players, people who don't bother reading loretabs, etc., because otherwise it harms their experience and there's a lot more of them than there are of us.

I think this is why we've seen a lot of seasons that introduce whole new concepts - the eliksni Sacred Splicers, for instance - rather than following on existing storylines. Introducing a mostly-new concept puts new and old players on a similar footing. Haunted is another type of compromise between the goal of furthering the story and the goal of making it accessible. Calus and Leviathan are back, but so warped that old players have as much to learn as new ones, and the Sever missions dive deep into character pasts but pretty explicitly describe the emotional arcs they're illustrating, so you don't have to be familiar with that character to get what they're going through. To those who already know Zavala, Crow, etc., it seems laughably obvious and strained. But to those who just got here, this is their first time learning not just about Safiyah but also about Zavala. I think this is also why there have been multiple casual retcons of minor stuff - there isn't time to explain the history, and they've decided it's not worth confusing people.

Rasputin is old. He's been a significant part of Destiny since literally the pre-Alpha test. The complexity and history that are part of why we love the Warmind also make him hell to explain to new people. It takes a decent amount of lore to get invested in his character and since Beyond Light none of that lore is featured in-game. Pre-Season of the Seraph, anyone who began with Beyond Light literally never met him. They never visited Hellas Basin, which is one big environmental story about Rasputin, and The Will of Thousands strike, which demonstrates Red's power and contains many possible dialogues that emphasize him trusting you/acting as an ally, left the playlist ages ago. Since then a new player's only gameplay interaction with him has been Fallen SABER, in which Red yells incoherent Russian and tries to flatten you with a warsat. Is it a surprise relatively new players might not be up on his character arc?

Season of the Seraph, with its narrative of rebuilding Rasputin from the ground up, would be a perfect time to introduce new players to Red's long history, and they...kind of...did that. They worked in Felwinter although then for some reason felt the need to retcon in the whole "Clovis wanted to destroy the Traveler" plan. If you were a new player who didn't know anything about Destiny lore, and you just played Season of the Seraph, you'd get an entire canned arc for Rasputin that hits the early high notes: built to be a weapon, rebelled against his constraints, humanities nerd, big smite, loves Ana and Elsie, makes mistakes but genuinely cares and wants to help.

But that's where Seraph stops. In existing lore (I almost typed "in reality") Rasputin worked out the whole "not a weapon" thing well back during the Golden Age. For a lot of us Warmind fans the most interesting parts of his story happened after that - the entire Collapse, confrontation with Darkness, years of hiding, etc., not to mention all his character development during Warmind and Worthy. He's gone through a lot, and Seraph misses all of it (except Felwinter) in favor of rehashing the same arc for a third time. It's like when moviemakers keep rebooting a superhero origin story. It may be a good story, but eventually we'd like to move on to the other parts we enjoy: this sleeping giant, hard scifi AI, grouchy old bastard, lost lore of the Golden Age, champion of humanity, learning from defeat, learning to trust again, the morality and trauma of warfare - what it means to lose a war - a being never meant to become what he was transforming still further, still unfolding his own potential.

So understanding why they might have done this doesn't excuse what I still see as a terrible narrative choice. I think dropping Rasputin is a major waste of potential, and he's far from the only tricky character to explain. Osiris, or at least the Cult of Osiris, is similarly old. His story is complex and weird and requires knowledge from Curse and earlier, yet he's still playing a major role. Other current characters like Elsie, Saladin, and Crow also need a decent amount of knowledge about previous game events to get why they are the way they are. Saladin's origin story isn't even in this game. It's not Rasputin's fault the game went three years without so much as mentioning him outside of written lore. What was wrong with the great Xivu-Rasputin “war god” parallels most of the season worked to set up, about the intent of violence? Are we never going to explore those? Are we just throwing out all the dialogues planning a role for Red in the upcoming war? Why did we have a dramatic confrontation about trusting Rasputin to operate independently if he were going to be gone in a month anyway? Just in Seraph alone the number of interesting plot threads abruptly trashed by this death argues against it.

Rasputin's longevity is precisely part of why he should stick around. In the first mission of Destiny 1 you wake up in his shadow. He has a history with us. There's just no one quite like him in Destiny. He's not just a character but an entire faction. He explores a part of story space that no one else does. He resonates with us as people rather than players. I assume Neomuna will pick up the Golden Age banner, but it’s a thriving city; Rasputin represented the ruins, the dangers of a dead age, the shadow of apocalypse. He's also maybe the most Guardian-like character and one of the best to weave a parallel/cautionary tale - were we, too, only made to be weapons? But if Rasputin didn't stay a weapon, can we too transcend that intention? And of all the factions in our solar system, the two with the most personal scores to settle with the Witness are the eliksni and Rasputin, and Misraaks'/Eramis' story has focused much more on the Traveler's flight than the Fleet's attack. Of everyone in Destiny Rasputin has the most desperately personal motive for revenge on the monochrome bastard. Now he's not even going to be there to watch it crash and burn.

I understand that foregrounding story also comes with the requirement that it be accessible to those who don't do their lore homework. I appreciate the monumental amount of work that's gone into doing that and the experimental nature of it. But I think the balance has skewed too far towards accessibility. Stuff like the end of Season of Plunder that has zero narrative motivation or continuity and doesn't even get a pretend justification drives me absolutely batty. You can only break internal rules so many times before players stop buying whatever narrative stakes you're trying to set up. Making the story easier to follow doesn't mean characters have to be cartoonishly-exaggerated caricatures like Clovis was in Seraph - just absolutely cartoonishly evil - or reduced to one or two character motives explicitly laid out for the player (though, credit where credit is due, Clovis was hilarious.) It doesn't mean the dialogue has to be as subtle as a Thundercrash. It doesn't mean you get a blank check to retcon or invent whatever's needed to create the intended character arc. If anything that discourages looking further into lore - why bother to learn it when next season will change it all again? I think Y5 represents a lot of experimentation by the Destiny narrative team, and I really respect that. But I also hope they learn what didn’t work from it, and sacrificing Rasputin in an ultimately pointless and unnecessary finale is a major misstep.

#Destiny 2 #Season of the Seraph #Destiny spoilers #Season of the Seraph spoilers #and that’s what I think about that #anyone else feel like this finale was weirdly disjointed from the rest of the season? #like Sancus led into it but the previous missions didn’t lead into Sancus at all #why so much planning and speculation on Red’s future if he wasn’t going to have one? #frankly why bother with Xivu Arath? #I wonder if this was supposed to be the second or third season and got moved up #I don’t know why I wrote this no one cares what I think and it won’t change anything #but it makes me feel better #so hey that’s not nothing #and I can pretend it might matter #just let me pretend #this is the wager of existence #The Warmind Rasputin #Season of the Seraph finale #IDK my BFF AI-COM/RSPN

[hughjidiot]

Total Drama Island Reboot Season Two: Episodes 2, 3 and 4

Okay wow, was not expecting three new episodes at once. Again I am baffled by both the local and international release schedules. But I'm continuing to watch and enjoy this reboot, here are my rough impressions of all the characters in all three episodes. Spoilers below the cut, obviously.

Chase is out second. Pretty obvious boot with how he behaved in the challenge, but that's just how TDI is sometimes. Glad he went early if I'm being honest since his whole subplot with Emma had run its course and there wasn't much more to get out of Chase. Speaking of which though...

Emma was out fourth, which kind of surprised me. I thought she might get an arc of finally forgetting about Chase and moving on, but then she goes and gets eliminated. Maybe they're saving an Emma arc for if gen 4 gets a third season? Who knows. A little disappointing but not a huge loss.

And between them, Millie is out third. Not surprising if I'm being honest; Millie had a chance to train up to be a stronger player with Priya's help, but neglected to actually study for it. And then in episode 2 when she tries to think creatively to help her team win, her lack of social skills is what did her in when she failed to consider how pissed her team would be for tricking Damien down the most dangerous slide. Her elimination feels like a natural consequence of her own actions and shortcomings instead of the contrived coincidences that Total Drama was guilty of many times in past seasons.

Then there's Damien himself. So far he still hasn't done a whole lot, but he's definitely shown to have become more self-confident with the way he called out Millie and how he was willing to brave that rickety bridge in episode 3. Time will tell if he makes it far.

Zee continues to be hilarious. Not really having much of an impact in terms of plotlines with other characters, but he always gets a laugh out of me. "Not thinking is my specialty!"

Gotta say, I thought Priya would have at least shown a little more of a reaction to her bestie being voted off. Still her plotline with Caleb is interesting. I can picture this leading to drama down the road where she realizes Caleb has just been trying to build an alliance rather than flirt with her. Or who knows, maybe Caleb will develop genuine feelings for her and it becomes a ship. Could go either way.

Speaking of Caleb, he represents the biggest difference between the writing of the reboot and previous seasons. Not once does the show portray him as antagonistic in trying to manipulate Priya into an alliance; he's just trying to form a strong partnership to make it farther in the game. Helps immensely that Caleb isn't actively cruel like Heather and Alejandro; he's genuinely chill despite his determination. Him literally carrying most of his team in episode 3 was awesome, not gonna lie.

Nichelle continues to dominate and be awesome in challenges. However I can't help but notice she's not really trying to get close to anyone, like Caleb is with Priya for example. I have a feeling that could come back to bite her if people vote her off for being a potential threat ala Caleb in season one.

I'm loving Axel so far. She's much better about being a team player but also hasn't lost her edge. I also like how we're getting depth to her, like her love of poetry. And then there's her romance with Ripper which I did not see coming. More on that later.

Holy shit, I was hoping for more of the MK/Julia alliance, but I wasn't expecting this much! I'm loving MK's unorthodox strategy of disguising as an intern to get inside information, it's very unique.

Oh and MKulia might become a thing. "Oh stop it, you'll make me blush!" "If MK's brain drove a cool car, I would totally date it." Watching these episodes I was like Wait are they gonna go there? Oh my god they might actually go there! And if they do, I am here for it!

Wayne and Raj continue to be very wholesome and hilarious! I love the dynamic they bring to Team Skunk Butt, wanting to play fair while Julia and MK cheat. And stuck in the middle...

is Bowie. I'm loving the drama of his character arc: he's still willing to pull the same underhanded tactics he used in season one and is all in on MK's strategy, but now has Wayne and especially Raj are acting as his morality pets. Some are predicting this could lead to a Rajbow break up, but I honestly don't think they'd do that. What I think will happen is Team Skunk Butt loses a challenge despite MKulia cheating again with Bowie's knowledge, Bowie feels terrible, and to make it up he offers to eliminate himself if one of the Hocky Bros is about to be voted off.

Last but not least, Ripper. Gonna be honest, he was my least favorite of gen 4 in season one; I didn't care for his focus on gross-out humor and he survived eliminations over characters I liked more. I didn't expect much from him going into season two so I was blindsided here. Not only is his gross out humor significantly toned down (but still present) but he proved to be quite endearing with his insecurity over his crush on Axel. I was especially stunned in episode four when he actually tried to connect with Axel's interest in poetry and actually wrote a poem for her, something I could never see season 1 Ripper doing. And Axel reciprocating with a kiss despite not seeming interested in him earlier? My haw hit the floor. Before I was hoping he'd be an early boot, but now I find myself actually wanting to see Ripper stick around and see where things go with him as a character and his potential relationship with Axel. I... actually like Ripper now, which is a sentence I never thought I'd say.

A few minor issues aside, I am loving this new season so far. I haven't genuinely enjoyed Total Drama since the original TDI 15 years ago.

#hugh jidiot rambles #total drama island #tdi #tdi 2023 #total drama island reboot #td chase #td emma #td millie #td damien #td zee #td priya #td caleb #td nichelle #td axel #td mk #td julia #mkulia #td wayne #td raj #td bowie #rajbow #td ripper #total drama spoilers

[thefandom-casserole]

Episode 50 Notes-

Very very excitedddddd

Eeeeeeeeeeee abhhhha ahhansnsnsnsnsndg

This intro 😭 

The dolphinsssssss 

I have no idea what just happened in that intro omg

Taylor is a demon!!!! Taylor hasn’t hit demon puberty yet — how did Nicky get it then???

Taylor Teen Fact: Taylor used to do the chocolate for his baseball team going door to door. But, his mom just bought them all instead

TAYLOR DID BASEBALL

I NEED TO WEITE SOMETHING ABOUT THAT

:> he did all the last names!!

Linc Teen Fact: Linc cleans up for his parents every single morning (both of them think the other one did it). Linc wakes up really early in the morning 

Normal Teen Fact: Normal also sold chocolates and offered to sell way too much of them, couldn’t do it (and because it’s not vegan chocolate his family can’t even buy it!) and now is in debt

Scary Larry Fact: Larry is based off of a tweet on a reply to Elon Musk (Larry is not from the school) 

Scary Teen Fact: Before the release of her album she was going to release a musical (a soft boy musical, but then she realized it was just Dear Evans Hansen)

Larry Fact pt.2: Larry’s favorite show is the Big Bang Theory because it deals with an important scientific principle

IT MIGHT BE THE FINAL EPISODE

I THINK NOT BECYASE ITS NOT LILE TRENDING IN THNBLR OR SOEMTHJNG

AND I THIBK PEIPLE WOULD HE DREKAING OYT MORE

BUT OMG

THE HEARTATTACK

I REACTED EXACTLY LIEK THEY DID

HOLT SBKT

WHAT IF JT IT THOUGH 

Anthony Fact: He should’ve come up with a different name than Daddy Master - Like chaperone or whatever (The rest of the cast disagreees)

They’re all still separated!!!!

Of course Normal thinks Larry’s cool 😭 

Omg all the Linc shippers are eating so far

Linc’s adamants towards Taylor, him wanting to find Scary, him actually being with Normal

Chester and Julia gave Linc therapy!!!

“Linc are you happy?” “No of course not, that’s a silly question nobody’s happy” SOBBING SOBJNG OKG OMG GRANT YOU FUCKWD THIS KNE UP SO BAD

(Obviously it was more than just that and that was a gross oversimplification but you understand what I’m getting at)

Lincccc :cccc

“I’m definitely broken” OMG LINC 

That glass analogy was so fucking good holy shit “And probably they’ll just throw it away because who wants to fix a glass” 

Hhhhhhhhhhhhh

Linc likes stickers!!!!!!!!

Matt Arnold is bringing it this episode

He wasn’t joking when he said that he was gonna get through it all

In a sense

A NAT ONE FROM TAYLOR

THERE WAS NEVER A WKRLD WHERE IT WASNT THAT OMG

I LOVE THAT SO MUCH

Into the papersssss into the papers (to the tune of into the thick of it)

Initiative to fight the Angel!!!!

This whole thing with the paper is reminding me of the fight with book castle when Ron disappeared into the books against Well Actually

I just paused the episode and listened to the trailer because I just realized I never listened to it 

Ahahahahahahahahah the background music in it though it’s lovely

Omg dude I never realized that Lark doesn’t mention Scary in the video because she wasn’t there!!!! Ayyyyy

Okay done with that back to the episode

Beth playing Larry is my new favorite thing now

She should just play Larry season three

I beg

Oooooo the throne’s empty!!!!

Larry should be king of hell

Larry reminds me of if Paeden was evil and annoying

What is it with Linc and Taylor and the sweet prince thing 😭 

I love them so much

The Swiftli shippers are eating this episodeeeee

Fancy Anthony voice

He was a pissomancer 

Omg

That’s insane

Piss boy Wilson’s again!!!!!

Heaven photoshopppp

INSPIRATION AYYYYY

A 22 😭 

Lincccccc linccccc

Angst episode :cccccc

Oooo Angel’s are yummy??

Taylorrrr nooooo

Taylor and his carts 😭I love him so much

Sisyphus just pushing a meatball up the hill 😭 😭 😭 

Nooooo this is one of my favorite bits

Linc loves his friends so much

God I fucking hate Willy

god god god he’s so gross

YOOOOO LARRY AND WILLY THATS INSANE

OMG OMG OMG

WILLY’S DEEPEST DARKEST SECRET HOLY SHIT AHAHAHHAHAHAHHA

If they got Willy in the paper sea I wonder what would happen

“I tried to kill my son”

“I will do anything to not be submerged in water ever again”

“I did not have sex with Marilyn Monroe, I could not get it up so I stood there and had her sing things to me for a couple hours so I jerked off”

FUCK WILLY FUCK WILLY

FUCK WILLY

DOOD’S DEEPEST SECRET IM LOOSING MT MIND

“I’m scared”

Dood babyyyyyy

THEYRE STILL A BAD GURL AHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHHAH

LARRY LARRY LARRY 

I BELIVE IN YOU

AWWWWW

Dood babyyyyy nooooooo

“This isn’t your fault Dood”

“No I think it is”

LINC OH NOOOOO

I cannot believe Taylor convinced Vince to change his name

Taylor Swift the piss genius

Freddie’s voice as Taylor was backtracking made me laugh way way too hard way to much that’s insane

It always was gonna be piss between them all

Omg

Of course

Of course

MERCEDES YAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY

AYYYYYYYYYY IM SO EXCITEDDDDD

ABUELITAAAA

She’s a JO crystal witch!!!!

She pulls out a gunnnn

Wowwww they found each other!!!

MERCEDES SHOOTS HIM NOOOOO

AND THEY ENDED THE EPUSODE TF

Wow that was such a good fucking episode 

HERO SHOULD GET TO KILL THEM BTW

If Willy isn’t taking girls seeiouslyyyyyyy

I don’t say it enough but On Our Way makes me want to violently sob every time I hear it

#Dndads #dndads spoilers #dungeons and daddies #dndads s2

[keylozmi]

yellowjackets team (alive by season 2) rating and ranking

1. Misty - 9.5/10

i said she was annoying but like i get her now. in both the crash and adult timeline, she has the best story and characterization. maybe because her actresses are so great, but definitely her whole arc is unrivaled.

2. Nat - 9/10

her storylines in both arcs are extremely good. definitely the most important yellowjackets member along with misty, i love their little tandem. i just don't like her purple era but she did find a daughter there!

3. Shauna - 9/10

make up your fucking mind girl! one minute she's against lottie's weird cult shit, the next second she's chasing natalie so she can kill her for food and say the wilderness chose! however her craziness post-birth must be a sort of post natal psychosis. adult shauna makes up like 7 points of the 8.5, she's the better shauna for me because she's a straight up loser with an equally loser husband.

4. Coach Scott - 8/10

high ranking out of pure pity like i am so worried for this man. i hope he's still alive and he's experiencing time-traveling hallucinations or whatever, since time traveling is a pretty big theory. i wish he does survive and all the paul scenes are his present scenes but he's gone off the rocks and thinks he's still in the wilderness. this dude is the only one not extremely or supernatully fucked up bc he didn't participate in the cult thing hopefully. BURN THEM CABINS DOWN BAYBEEE

5. Lottie - 7.5/10

when your schizophrenic dreams are misinterpreted by the rest of the group and you're forced to be the face of cannibalism 😂😂🤣🤣. robbed shauna of her cannibal crown. was just being un-medicated then the rest of the team decided to honor her like a god. there were times were she was annoying but you realize she quite literally has done nothing but every single sidekick of hers decides to speak for her and it just goes wrong every single time.

6. Taissa - 7/10

tie. extremely curious about the bad tai and the man with no eyes, which serves as the only "supernatural" event in the series shown that is not in the wilderness or post-wilderness. it would be fucking crazy if tai was the one who bought "It" in the wilderness instead of it like actually already being there, like maybe that was their home? with all the cult symbols or whatever. sometimes i do just find her boring im sorry, she's just like shauna she's extremely indecisive and it's pissing me off! only 7 bc FREE SIMONE ❤️ joking

8. Travis - 7/10

i pity this man so much but sometimes he's boring and his season 1 arc had me skipping scenes. but his brother went missing, "died", came back, then actually died and then no one said "sorry we had to give up your brother to the wilderness, it was either nat or him and the wilderness chose him! we honestly could've atleast tried in helping him get out of the ice cold water but we were hungy". like can we please give this man a break? i wouldn't be surprised if him and natalie refused to hunt for them, if they're all just going to pick cards and eat each other, why hunt for deer, right?

9. Van - 5/10

i feel like one of the only people with a dislike for van's character like. lottie dickrider, i get you "owe" the wilderness for letting you live like you're obviously the favorite but the way she treats the other yellowjackets pisses me off, especially when she straight up said to travis she wasn't ashamed for sacrificing javi? why is she a stronger indoctrinated christian than lottie? i wish they reveal more about her because to be honest her character's a bit of a blank slate, it would be amazing if they start showing a more deeper relationship between her and whatever's in the wilderness. i feel like, in both the show and the fandom, van doesn't have much to her character without tai. her only storyline without tai is with her mother, which we were shown barely 30 seconds of.

10. Mari - 3/10

i just need her gone

11. girl with the shoulder length hair aka pit girl contender number 56 - 2/10

i remember one line of hers and she was rude to shauna and i just didn't like it

12. lesbian w the cap - 2/10

rude to shauna! dye your hair black and i'll give you a bigger role as possible pit girl number 57

#yellowjackets #shauna shipman #misty quigley #natalie scatorccio #taissa turner #van palmer #lottie matthews #yellowjackets mari #travis martinez #coach ben scott

[rip-us-xoxo]

Put on a show- Eddie Munson x Reader

I've had this idea for awhile so I finally decided to write it! I hope you enjoy ;)

WARNINGS- SMUT, jealousy, semi-public sex, let me know if I missed anything!

~~~~~

School spirit was in the air. The first basketball game of the season and Eddie Munsons first basketball game too. He hated them but since you two began dating over the summer, he felt obligated to watch his lovely lady cheer.

Eddie sat at the top of the bleachers, arms crossed with one of his feet up on the seat in front of him. He was bored beyond boredom. At first, he didn’t think sitting there for 2 hours would be that bad, he would be watching you cheer the whole time. Little did he know, you really don't cheer that much. Basketball is such a fast-paced game. The moment you would start a chant together, you would have to stop because someone scored.

Eddie felt his eyes start to flutter shut when the buzzer blared, signaling that the 2nd quarter was over, meaning it was half-time.

You told Eddie that you and the girls were performing a dance for half time as a way to start off the season right. He watched as you shook out your nerves, waiting to get called onto the court.

“Let’s hear it for the Hawkins High cheer squad!” the announcer boomed, causing the crowd to roar. “That’s my girl! Let’s go, Y/n!” Eddie yelled as you ran onto the court, your signature smile lighting up the room.

You and Chrissy were front and center. He watched as you sent each other a smile while the band got ready to play.

The energy was high from the moment the band began playing.

He then watched as you and Chrissy strutted to the front of the formation, sassy looks now on your faces. He wondered if you two always performed like this because obviously, Chrissy was known as a timid girl, and so were you. He chuckled to himself as he watched you two wink at the crowd.

Your team's moves were sharp and together. Your stunts were flawless and people's tumbling passes were mind-blowing. Eddie couldn’t care less though, only there to watch you.

You looked adorable as you shook your poms, moving from one formation to the next and smiling like there was no tomorrow.

But the next second, his throat went dry. As girls were stunting in the back, you and Chrissy faced the side and slapped the ground, slowly dragging your arms up your legs. The sound of the crowd was a mix of gasps from parents and the basketball guys cheering at the top of their lungs. Eddie quickly looked over to where the basketball players were sitting. 

People knew you two were dating, Eddie made it very clear every second of every day that you were his girl. People just chose to not believe it was true since they never saw you two do anything other than hold hands. The reason actually is that you were afraid of showing affection in public.

His eyes fell on Jason, whose jaw was clenched. He then watched as Jason turned around.

“You better not be hollering at my girl,” Eddie saw Jason sternly telling them. Eddie couldn’t tell what the other guys were saying except for your name. Eddie's fists clenched as a low growl came from his throat. He was pissed off now.

Which is why he was so confused about how you were able to do a move like that in front of an entire crowd of people. A crowd of people who just think you’re with him because of a bet or something. But you and Eddie both knew you loved him genuinely, you were just shy.

“Tigers!” you all screamed in unison, signaling the end of your performance. This broke Eddie out of his death glare, but he was still furious. He clapped slowly as he watched you and the other girls run off of the court.

The game continued as normal, except for the fact that Jason kept missing shots, the moment still on his mind probably. Eddie couldn’t stop thinking about it either. He was very much awake now, watching your every move and then looking at the guys who now weren’t watching the game but were watching you stand there, probably imagining some really nasty things.

How could you do such a suggestive move with such an innocent smile on your face?

It didn’t register that he was rock hard until he realized that him replaying the image in his head over and over again made him hornier every time. He tried to stop and calm down, but he couldn’t. Those guys hollering at you made him want to just take you in front of everyone. He knew you would kill him if he did that though.

The next two quarters went by slow as hell, until finally, Hawkins lost, 27 to 31. The crowd moved out of the court to the hallway to greet their star players to tell them ‘better luck next time’, but Eddie needed to find you and find out what the hell that was.

He spotted you and Chrissy giggling innocently over something by the trophy case, beelining through the crowd to get to you. Your eyes lit up as you saw him walk toward you. 

“Eddie!” you beamed.

“Jason!” Chrissy cheered at the same time.

Eddie and Jason both looked at each other. They both had the same, furious, looks on their faces. The two then set their sights back on you two, too infuriated to pick a fight with each other.

When Eddie reached you, you wrapped your arms around his neck, making cute noises. He just wrapped one arm around your torso, breathing in your scent. He then looked over to Jason and Chrissy.

Chrissy went to hug Jason, but he just grabbed her hand and angrily ripped her from her spot, probably going to take Chrissy home to her parents and lecture her about being a woman of god or some shit like that.

But, Eddie had different plans for the two of you. He was your ride home, so you had all the time in the world.

When you let go, your smile made him almost feel bad for being so mad. Almost. He knew you were innocent to certain things, but he sure as hell knew you weren’t that innocent.

“Let’s go,” Eddie said, making sure his anger showed in his voice. You two walked in silence until you made it outside.

“Did you like the dance?” you asked, trying to make conversation. “Oh yeah, I loved it, especially when all of those guys looked at you like they were about to pounce on you like the true Tigers they are after seeing you bend over like that,” Eddie said in his voice that only comes out when he’s about to lose his shit. Your eyes widened as you looked over at him, “W-What?” you asked, his answer catching you off guard.

“Don’t act like you don’t know,” he scoffed and walked faster. “I don’t know what you’re talking about- Eddie, slow down!” you whined, trying to slow him down, but he was mad beyond reason, for a reason that you didn’t know why.

You made it to Eddies van, where you tried to let go of his hand to go to your side. But, his grip didn’t loosen. “I don’t know where the hell you think you’re going, get in the back,” he ordered, making your lip quiver. You genuinely had no idea what he was talking about and now he was really mad at you.

“Take your clothes off,” he demanded, closing the door behind him. “What? We’re not having sex in here! What did I even do?!” you pleaded, your back against the back of his van.

He turned around quickly to grab your chin, startling you a bit, “You bent over for the whole basketball team to see in your little dance that you insisted I come and watch.”. “Eddie, I didn’t mean-” you tried to reason, but Eddie didn’t want to hear any of it. “I don’t care, strip or you’re gonna be in even more trouble.”.

You just sat there, “The basketball players are outside! They might see us!”. “What’s the issue? I thought you showed off your body for fun?” he asked, condescendingly.

“Eddie, I don’t want anyone to see me naked!”. “Then you better be quiet then because they aren’t looking this way, so don’t give them a reason to,” he said, “Now, I’m not telling you again, clothes off. Now.”. 

You shakily took off all of your clothes while Eddie watched. You didn’t want to admit that this whole situation went right to your core. As you stripped, your eyes went between his stare and the boner in his pants.

Once you were fully naked, he slowly looked at your bare figure in front of him up and down. He breathed out before ripping off his shirt.

He looked godly from where you were laying down. His bare chest on display while he’s on his knees, towering over you. Your breath hitched as he crawled toward you and took two fingers, swiping them through your folds. “I knew you loved acting like a slut in front of everyone,” he chuckled, examining his two fingers, “naughty girl.”.

He then sat against the back of the passenger side chair. You just stared at him, unsure of what to do. “Well, I can’t fuck you if I’m fully clothed,” he said, rubbing his hand over his bulge. You quickly sat up, crawling toward him.

You stuck out your tongue as you focused on unbuckling his belt so that you could get his pants off as quickly as possible. He lifted his hips up so that you could fully take them off, his fingers hooking onto his underwear, taking them off as well. Eddie hissed when he finally wasn’t restricted anymore. You threw his pants behind you and immediately looked at him for direction.

“Come here, pretty girl,” he said, patting his thigh. You made your way over to him and grabbed his cock, slowly lowering yourself onto him. You gasped when he pushed you down, getting impatient with your slowness.

“I want you to make yourself cum on my cock, put on a show, just for me,” he said, putting his hands behind his head. You nodded and immediately got to work. You moved your body up and down and around, exaggerating every move you made.

You began to grind onto him faster, begging for a release to come to you. “Atta girl,” Eddie gasped, one hand moving to your hip, the other right on your clit. He began rubbing circles, making your core tighten.

Your movements slowed, the pleasure becoming too much, and you were scared the boys outside would hear you.

“Stop slowing down,” he grunted, using his one hand to move you up and down, thrusting his hips up into you at the same time. You entirely forgot where you were, your moans slowly getting louder and louder.

“Shh, quiet, pretty girl, you didn’t want anyone hearing us, remember?” he asked, fucking into you faster. He chuckled as you fell apart, not being able to answer. But you definitely heard him, your noises coming to almost a complete stop.

Eddie missed your pretty sounds instantly, not caring about what you wanted anymore, he just wanted to hear you. His pace fastened and the circles on your clit got rougher and faster, leaving you no choice but to start moaning again.

Soon enough, he felt you clench around him, cumming around him, moaning louder than he had ever heard you moan before. Eddie slowed down his movements, helping you ride out your climax.

While doing so, he looked over to find one of the guys who hollered at you, staring straight at Eddie with his mouth agape. The scene was sinful.

Your mouth was wide open, pleasure all over your face, hidden in the crook of Eddie’s neck. Eddies bangs were stuck to his forehead while your sweaty bodies were pressed up against each other.

Eddie just looked at the guy, licking his teeth before thrusting into you a few more times, making sure that guy truly knew you were his. Your head flew backward as you clawed at his chest, loudly begging for mercy. The guy quickly walked away, getting in his car, probably going home to jerk off.

Eddie chuckled, making you look up at him. “What?” you asked, still in a daze. “Oh, nothing,” he said. You just hummed in response going to push yourself off of him.

“Ah, silly girl,” Eddie said, pushing you back down, “I still haven’t finished yet.”.

~~~~~~~~~

xoxo

#eddie munson x reader #eddie munson x reader smut #stranger things fanfiction #eddie munson

[booksandpaperss]

kind of obsessed with the fact you've slowly gotten more blatant with heartstopper hate lmfao😭 it's like. fine to me it's cute but NOTHING SERIOUS IS EVER GOING ON so I gotta be in a really specific mood for it I still haven't watched s2. definitely couldn't be a fixation. and everyone fucking loves it it's the best thing since sliced bread and I'm like. why tho. and then any critique of it is sorta dumbed down to "oh you just don't like how sweet it is but teenagers deserve sweet romance" like ok but why's it gotta be boring though. and too healthy like beyond normal levels of healthy. like this is missing even the usual human levels of miscommunication. and it gets resolved too easy. sorry this was supposed to cut off 4 sentences ago I'm realizing now in your inbox that I apparently have beef with heartstopper

LKSSJJSJS LISTEN listen. I don’t even hate it. truly. I even genuinely enjoyed myself during the nick and Charlie parts bc that’s the part that thought is actually put into. I just hate how much everyone loves it so blindly

honestly my biggest beef with it is that it’s marketed and treated as the most genuine and diverse groundbreaking queer storyline there is when that’s literally so far from true and it really really shows ppls true colors when they think this bc the sapphics and POC are literal props it’s actually absurd for a show that’s supposed to be a safe space for queer ppl

and god do I hate that part of the reason it’s so popular is bc it portrays these queer teenagers as never having a single, physical thought in their entire life. there was this whole plot centered around one single hickey that Charlie had??? and something abt the physical attraction portion of it all, which they did try to show btw, felt disingenuous to me. and I know that’s why it’s so palatable to a mainstream audience and it pisses me off and again it just doesn’t feel genuine. which is ironically one of the main arguments against heartstopper criticism: “it’s not cringe it’s just earnest” when yeah maybe it’s Trying to be earnest but when u look at it from more than a surface level lens it’s not rlly succeeding

and I know the aroace storyline in season 2 with Isaac resonated with a lot of people and I think that’s wonderful, and I actually do think that was something that was done well, but how can you have a storyline around asexuality when you don’t show the contrast in how it is being an allosexual queer person. there was a whole lot of romantic attraction going on but even more tip toeing around the sexual attraction aspect. and I don’t expect it to be like sex education for example in terms of the focus on sex obv , but the lack of acknowledgment of that aspect of the queer experience paired with how much the uwu wholesomeness of it all is played up rlly rubs me the wrong way. once again: it feels dishonest

I was actually talking about this with one of my mutuals the other day and they pointed out that it is very plain that alice olseman did not consult a single queer man in the writers room. and if someone can prove this wrong be my guest but I rlly don’t think the whole physical attraction component would have been done so badly had an actual queer man been on the team. feels kind of like back in summer 2022 when byler shippers would literally shun and harass anyone who even implied that Will’s feelings for Mike probably included physical attraction meanwhile Noah Schnapp himself was making jokes about it bc he’s an actual gay teenager.

not gonna even get into right now how Tara and darcy felt even more like props this season than in the last one and I didn’t even like watching their scenes bc the writing itself felt performative. that’s a whole other post.

and man, wouldn’t it have been so nice if there had actually been people of color in that writers room. On a purely surface level heartstopper has a very diverse cast but once again, peel away even one layer and you realize it’s a bunch of tokenism, which brings me full circle back to my original point: you can’t say it’s peak representation and diversity when it’s whitewashed as hell and doesn’t gaf abt sapphics despite literally being written by one. guess she chose her whiteness over her queerness even when writing a queer story which wowwww sooooo original.

okayyyy anyways did NOT mean to write a whole essay but u discovering ur own beef reminded me of mine lmaooo

all of this was to say that basically I’m not gonna pretend I didn’t enjoy myself during parts of the show, and I don’t wanna shame ppl for liking it that is not at all what I’m trying to do here, it has its own place in queer media and if a show like this came out in like 2010 it would be groundbreaking despite its issues (but again it’s literally 2023 do fucking better) , but I take issue with people treating it like something it’s not and with the amount of love it gets I feel like I have to be really loud about my criticism of it, especially bc usually the criticism of the show that gets any attention isn’t even slandering it for the right reasons and like. if ur gonna hate on something queer and popular do it right

oh and heartstopper writers? maybe try speaking with an actual teenager once in your life before writing their dialogue they do not fucking communicate that well

okay I’m done now finally 🫡

#sorry rori I don’t know what came over me #booksandpaperss asks #should I make myself a rant tag #elli rants

[bingoboingobongo]

task force 141 + christmas songs

Characters: Simon "Ghost" Riley, Kyle "Gaz" Garrick, John "Soap" MacTavish, John Price, Alejandro Vargas, Rodolfo "Rudy" Parra

Type: Fluff, headcanons

Warnings: explicit language

A/N: the order is kinda whack i wrote these as i thought of them. also i have two tests tmmrw halp

ghost:

yes ghost's favorite christmas song is last christmas by wham! it's been confirmed

i mean can you blame him?

to ghost, it's everything he loves about music mixed with a christmas song he can relate to (sort of)

he likes the sort of mellow but still peppy nature of the song (especially compared to artists like mariah carey who he thinks is too peppy and michael buble who he thinks is too mellow)

it's the sorta song you can absent-mindedly sing to while you're working which he enjoys

plus the drums and the cymbals (?) really get him in the festive mood

whenever he listens to it he'll tap his foot/nod to the rhythm or lipsync under the mask (another benefit of keeping his face covered)

ofc your chances of seeing him do this in front of the team are slim to none

but when he's alone (either with you or just in his room or smthing) he'll pull out a little shimmy when the song starts getting good

he also likes the sort of sad undertone to the lyrics

he feels like it adds depth and makes it relatable

kyle "gaz" garrick:

alright hear me out on this one because i actually really love this hc

so first, i can totally see gaz being a fan of tyler, the creator when he was younger, but then being less invested as he grew up

but he went to see the grinch (2018) in theaters on christmas day with his family and that was when he first heard the song

off topic but i also hc that gaz has a younger sister and brother

and they're like considerably younger, like they're children

idk what his canon family situation is like but idc bc this is what's canon now bc i said so

so yeah that's why they went to watch the movie

and i mean what's not to love about this song

he really likes the rap/hip hop twist on a classic christmas song

and let's be real the whole soundtrack slaps like gaz was definitely listening to it on repeat for the entire holiday season that year

when gaz hears this song he definitely starts grooving, clapping, singing along

i mean it's not like he has a choice the song is actually so good i love it so much

like he's just so in love with the way tyler, the creator was able to reinvent an old song and give it such a good beat and like completely change up the cadence but still make it sound good

and yes he lives for the ending scream

rodolfo "rudy" parra:

guys i mean this is just fact atp

and don't say that this isn't a christmas song because that is rudy's biggest pet peeve and he will fight you about it

because according to him it came out during the holiday season and it's a movie with amazing visuals of snow and winter and the main character literally has ice powers so therefore it's a winter movie

sometimes the rest of the team will try and come up with other movie soundtracks that would therefore qualify as christmas music according to his standards

this always pisses rudy off and he'll insist it's different

i think the best part is that rudy watched frozen 2 by himself

i mean he was a big fan of frozen he wanted to see the sequel can u blame him

in his opinion the plot was a little weaker than the first but the soundtrack gave the original a serious run for it's money

and of course before this came out his favorite christmas song was let it go (and yes he also got mad when people said it wasn't a christmas song)

he likes the panic! at the disco version over the idina menzel version because he says it makes him feel more seen

nobody really knows what he means by that

you guys just assume it's because it's a male singer

rudy will also sing this song out loud any chance he gets

he's a decent singer don't get me wrong but that song's got some high notes rudy just can't hit

he swears that one time he was able to hit every single one but he was alone when it happened

usually though he can hit a solid majority (and he always geeks out when he does)

and yes, he will insist on watching frozen and frozen 2 during the holiday season and yes he will sing during every song

john "soap" mactavish:

honestly same, soap, same

soap's a firm believer that not only is this song the best christmas song out there, it should be the face of christmas instead of mariah carey's all i want for christmas is you

people have tried pointing out that all i want for christmas is you isn't necessarily the face of christmas but he insists it is and insists that title is undeserved

he says he hates it because it's overplayed but everyone else is 99% sure there's something more

your theory is that one of his exes really liked all i want for christmas is you and then it ruined the song for him

but now onto sleigh ride

soap believes it's the epitome of everything christmas

it's festive, it's peppy, it's got great vocals

he really likes the instrumentals and it's honestly his favorite part

the snaps, the piano, the flute/whistling, the trumpets (?)

whatever it is he's in love and he thinks that it really just sells the cheeriness of christmas

he also lives for the 'ring-a-ling-a-ling-a-ding-dong-dings"

he will sing those out loud all day any day

he also tries to do mariah carey's whistle notes every time and not once has he ever gotten it

beyond that he also just sucks at singing

but honestly he just seems so happy singing that it sorta cancels out the way he's making everyone's ears bleed

he also does a little head wiggle and shimmy combo to dance to this song

and he does that little like dance and point at the parts of the song right before the beat "drops"

john price

alright so the first time he listened to this song was after christmas one year when his nephew said he wasn't cool

so he figured this song would make him cool

the efficacy of that tactic is still being debated

i mean don't get me wrong pentatonix fucking slaps

but also the acapella version of anything is not a very orthodox way of making yourself cool

needless to say his nephew was not impressed when the next christmas came around

price doesn't care though because he actually fell in love with the song after listening to it for so long

he's very much in awe of the way all their voices can come together and make it sound there's actually instruments and stuff

like he will rave about it for so long whenever the song comes on

whenever it plays he sings along but he doesn't try and beat box

that's bc one time he did that in front of gaz and laswell and gaz had to leave the room while laswell stared at him in shock

it's been his secret life mission to get insanely good at beatboxing and then show them someday ever since then

progress is not going well

also you can bet he has this song memorized to the tee

and yes he'll chastise people if they put the wrong gift to the wrong day

unlike his beatboxing, price's singing is actually pretty good so at least it gives the team something nice to listen to

alejandro vargas:

ok i feel like at first his favorite song was baby it's cold outside by idina menzel and michael buble

and then rudy pointed out the creepy undertones and it ruined the song for him

also he was distraught when he found out

and then this song took over as number one in his heart

for starters, he's just a massive fan of michael buble

also he once got front row tickets to a michael buble concert but he couldn't go last minute because he got called on a mission and he's still salty about it

he likes the way michael buble rewrote the lyrics to be more fitting for guys

also he likes the sorta relaxed almost lazy rhythm of the song

he insists it makes it sexier

nobody knows what that means or why it matters but he's very persistent about it

and god damn alejandro's singing voice is actually good fr

like it gives michael buble but if michael buble was a smoker and did country songs

but honestly the gravel in alejandro's voice works really well when he's singing

and lord knows he sings this song whenever it comes on

it's not obnoxious tho so it's nice to listen to

he doesn't really dance but he'll jokingly offer you a slow dance to this song

he considers this the classiest christmas songs and says it's only for people with real taste in music

#bingoboingobongo.com #bingoboingobongo's christmas extravaganza #ghost cod #ghost x reader #ghost headcanons #soap cod #soap x reader #soap headcanon #gaz cod #gaz x reader #gaz fluff #ghost fluff #soap fluff #gaz headcanon #price cod #price x reader #john price headcanons #john price fluff #alejandro vargas cod #alejandro vargas x reader #alejandro vargas fluff #alejandro vargas headcanons #rodolfo parra x reader #rodolfo parra cod #rodolfo parra headcanons #rodolfo parra fluff #rodolfo parra #Spotify #ghost smut #soap smut

[conscbgb]

I came across this video where Taeyong was explaining the inspiration behind the song "Love is a Beauty" and what he said left me with a deep sadness...for him...for all of them because I think the situation is more or less the same for them all...

We know how the k-pop industry works (and we know it sucks) but listen to a grown up, talented, hard working, brilliant, caring man of 28 years old saying that he "actually don't know about love" should make you think...especially their fans...what he, all 9 of them, give up in the name of their dream are 2 of the most important things that we are gifted in life : Love & Freedom.

And it's something that when you are 17 yo you can endure, you tell yourself "It's ok! I wanna become this or that...it's a big sacrifice but it's my dream"...when you are 28 you endure it anyway but...it's different...

The Love they get from their families, real friends, band mates,working team, fans is a totally different thing from the love you get from that 1 right person for you, that one who loves the REAL you, the natural and "imperfect" YOU, who support you anyway, your "Ride or Die" together, not because you are a worldwide famous singer/artist and the allure that comes with it!

Part of the reason they are forced to put Love in stand-by is because of the fans (the toxic/psycho ones obv) because God forbid if the news of one of them dating gets out! All the hate they receive...the company who rush to explain that the news is not true while going to repremend that poor one who was "caught" goin' out 🙈 and all of this for what?? They are grown men, they should be able to live their lives and that little free time they have in the best possible way for them!

But it doesn't work that way...their freedom is put on hold too! And not only because the company exploit them and their talent as much as they can, making them work literally 24/7 365 days a year especially during the promoting season, they can't use their freedom in absolute private matters too... like getting a tattoo! They can't get a tattoo without fans "consent": it's literally their skin!! What do you mean they should ask fans before do it?? Fu€k it!! I would tattoo my whole body like Michael Scofield just to piss those "fans" off 🤣

They can't smoke...thank God they "limit" themselves with smoke because with all the pressure the company/audience/themselves put upon their beings I would be high all the time just to get throught it...

The way they can't almost interact with women in front of cameras (or in general because they are literally haunted from stalkers) it's insane in my opinion and the company should take action more often to protect them! And it's equally shocking the fact they can't interact the way they really want between them (band mates) because if one of them look or talk in a certain way to the one he is not "shipped" with from fans ➡️ hate

This album and tour mean a lot to them and to us because we know what is gonna happen starting from next year...so please: let the guys enjoy this experience to the fullest! Support them! Let them Live! RESPECT THEM! They deserve it 🙏😉

Video credit @neocrushtech on TT

#lee taeyong #taeyong nct #nct 127 #yuta nakamoto #mark lee #nct jungwoo #doyoung nct #moon taeil #haechan #johnny suh #nct jaehyun #kpop

[originallypoki]

Our Flag Means Death S2 Spoilers!

Something people doesn't seem to realize, is that pacing has a key impact to a story. Yes, the tale you want to tell can be the best someone has ever come up with, but if your pacing of it is awful, it pulls the whole story down with it. To rushed pacing? It loses meaning and impact, because there's no time to become attached. To slow paced? It becomes boring and uninteresting, finishing the book, show or movie feels more like a task than actual fun.

The first 4 episodes of season 2 of OFMD were awesome. The pacing was perfect, we had enough time to register what was happening and to sort out our emotions. I was a bit thrown off by ep 5. Because, while still good paced, you can start the see the problems because of the missing 2 eps ( for example the skipped fight, instead choosing to tell, not show. )-

Then episode 6 and 7 happened. And oh boi, I wanted to drop the show, only my love for it keeping me going.

I know that it isn't David Jenkins and the production team's fault, since the 2 episodes got cut, giving us the total of 8. But I can't excuse the decision to cram the plot of 10 eps into 8. If you have so little time left, why don't just cut some 'unimportant' storypoints?

Like Ned Lowe, he was introduced and died in the same episode. His purpose was to give GentleBeard development I know, that still doesn't give him enough importance to let him stay in the shortened version. Just like the second break-up from GentleBeard we got in ep 7.

Instead we got very out-of-character characters, Stede for example. I can see why he acts the way he does in ep 7. It would make sense, had he more time to have proper character development! Instead he feels weird, plus the very very uncomfortable second-hand embarrassment scenes (like the fight with Zheng). And sadly after ep 3, I couldn't feel the same chemistry GentleBeard had in S1. While there were cute scenes, like the end of ep5, I felt like something was missing to make me actually care. It's just my feelings, so not very important, but it was a bit disappointing.

The end of ep 7 gave me hope. Because it was a perfect way to introduce a villain, who's a genuine threat to our heros. And I maybe like Prince Ricky a bit to much. Then ep 8 came crushing down while drowing my love for OFMD, that made me ignore everything wrong with the second half of S2.

I like ep 8, well the first few minutes. It felt like I finally had time to see what's happening and David Jenkins didn't leave us completely clueless. ( Let's ignore the logic holes since it was is a comedy show and they were always there. ) And I was way to busy squieking like a pig of happiness to think critical.

I have many criticism points, but will only focus on one;

Izzy's death. And by god, I. Am. Pissed. Killing a character that is beloved by the fandom isn't the problem. While I love him, he's my favorite, I also love a good ol' angst. But he was in the middle of his redemption arc, and ending this with death is just such weak writing. I have nothing against killing a character off for development. Iron man for example, his whole story is about becoming a better person and jumping over his ego. And it ends just like Izzy in death. But Tony was through his arc, his death was the final, showing he has changed, showing he would do everything to save the universe and more important, the people he loves.

If Izzy died at the start of or before S2 I wouldn't complain, because it would've been perfect for him. Maybe if he died a more impactful death I wouldn't write this. But you can't make a character finally change and then destroy the meaning of it by killing him off in the fucking middle of the change. It would've had so much more impact seeing how he becomes a part of the crew he loathed not even a few weeks ago. Episode 5 did that great, while a bit fast. I like how he and Stede get along. Growing closer. It was a bit too fast paced, and I hoped for them to finally communicate, not talk. The same with Ed, I wanted him and Izzy to finally talk to eachother and not through eachother. However, giving us acutally communication while Izzy's fucking dying is not how you give impact. (And credit where credit's due; I really like that dialog, it was beautiful and the right words choosen to explain how Izzy feels)

Not to forget what a meaning it conveys. Izzy always did what he thought was right, even when it was completely wrong. But when he finally grows and begins to do actually what is right and let's go of Ed, he dies?

Still, I wouldn't say that they shouldn't have done a season 2 at all. It has great potential and I can see what they were going for. So, while it has it's problem's, it's nothing what a good fanfic can't fix. So I look forward to the amazing works that will build up on this hot mess and / or 'correct' it.

So bye, I'll go cry and give the last three episodes of S2 of OFMD, the last 20 minutes of S2 Go treatment T^T (except that GO S2 was fucking fantastic through the whole season)

#I love complaining #maybe I'm a bit salty because I wanted Izzy to get a boyfriend lol #the story had great potential #just too little time #this doesn't mean I hate season 2 #I had really really fun wachting it :D #also my love Izzy <3 #also unqualified opinion lmao #gentlebeard #gentlebonnet #izzy hands #izzy ofmd #izzy our flag means death #edward teach #our flag means death #our flag means death season 2 #our flag means gay #israel hands #blackbonnet #blackbeard #stede bonnet #ed x stede

[the-chilly-kat]

Yellowjackets season 2 finale spoilers ahead

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I think what’s really pissing me off about Nat’s death is that the whole thing had the trappings of a really good tragedy but in reality was a very poorly executed one.

The set up is good; you have Nat who’s struggling with the past, has no hope and doesn’t want to live anymore or let anyone in, who then starts to heal and connect with unexpected people (Misty, Lisa and Lottie).

Then you have Misty, who is so desperately lonely and wants a true friend more than anything but struggles to connect due to her strange habits and obsessive personality. She has constantly been othered by her peers and her first real friend died due to her actions.

The start of season two set everything up really well with Misty doing everything to find Nat, whilst Nat starts to actually process stuff at the compound.

But it seems they completely dropped the ball from the moment Misty got into the compound, after Nat turned her away at the gate (which was very in character in my opinion).

Considering they were planning for Misty to cause Natalie’s death and a large part of what made season one great was the tragedy of Laura lee and Jackie’s deaths, why on earth didn’t they have Misty and Natalie actually interact? And why didn’t we get a shot of Misty reacting to Nat admitting she had tried to kill herself?

Natalie could have had a moment of realisation that Misty actually does care about her. They could have gotten closer, continued their duo dynamic from season one and really truly started to connect as Natalie started breaking down her own walls and looking past Misty’s facade.

They are the only two that seem to want to talk about what happened out there. They could have bonded over that.

Then when it comes to a head and Natalie dies, the grief and horror would have been so much more pronounced. Misty holding her only real friend in her arms as she dies because of Misty, just like Kristin did.

Maybe it would have been too cliche but I think it could have been interesting if Natalie died saving Misty (maybe Lisa tries to shoot her or something) which would act as a parallel to Misty saving Natalie at the hunt.

The tragedy of two lonely, damaged people finally coming together and finding companionship in one another, only for the past to catch up with them and repeat itself just as they start to grow beyond their pain, could have been so good! It could have really hammered home how these characters cannot escape their fate/past. They are trapped by it, they were shaped by it, there is no them without the wilderness and if they really try to leave the wilderness behind it will eat them. It should have hurt like Jackie’s death did, not felt like something out of a soap opera!

Instead it felt cheap and shallow. Having Natalie, a canonically suicidal person who has struggled with addiction her whole life, die by an accidental overdose is gross in my opinion. The writers may have thought that it was adding a level of irony to the tragedy but tbh I think part of it was so they wouldn’t have to write a way out of having the rest of the team arrested for murder at the compound. It felt lazy and insulting. Considering they’ve used Walter as a convenient fix all to solve the Adam situation too, I’m getting the impression that the writers simply didn’t know how to keep Shauna out of jail otherwise.

I might have more thoughts to add later but for now this is it =/

#yellowjackets #yellowjackets spoilers #yellowjackets season 2 #yj spoilers #my thoughts #finale reaction #mistynat #misty quigley #natalie scatorccio #shauna shipman

[spicyspiders]

No cuz it piss me off when ppl call korra a mary sue or bad written etc and then compare HER story and team to aang like mfers please 😒

They both had very different goals and aims i would aruge korra story line flow is better even cuz we got to explore more into her arc beyond her role as avatar and actually see her growing up as person before anything

The team part argument is most ridiculous one cuz in avatar last air binder aang did indeed have team even if they had found family trope they were still a working tean at end of day

Korra having friend group with normal friends argument and clashes AINT SAME!! beside around book 2 each of them have already went their own way!

Korra hate is misgony i will fight for her in the trenches

I get why people compare their stories, but I think it's unfair because each show tells a different story. You're totally right though with the hate Korra gets being misogyny. So many of the arguments going against her are about how she's hot-headed and arrogant, but like look at all of the male characters that are like that (*cough* tony stark *cough*) that people love.

I wouldn't really say Korra has the whole found family thing, but I do think (especially in book three as they travel around to meet the other airbenders) they develop something similar to that trope.

Also, yes Korra is hot-headed and arrogant at the beginning of the series, but the way she changes throughout the seasons is amazing. Book one Korra and Book four Korra are not the same.

#i'm coming out as a tony stark hater #the way he enlisted a fucking 14 year old to fight with him in civil war was insane

[pidges-lost-robot]

Right okay no because episode 4 season 2 of Voltron has been pissing me off since I rewatched it omfg so I’m going to rant about the episode, what parts I found to be be especially egregious and why and then maybe some of the changes I would’ve made.

Right so Greening The Cube pisses me off for one big glaring reason: Pidge’s character development

I will start with the Olkari to really get into why everything about this very Pidge centric episode pisses me off.

So the Olkari are described by Coran as a proud class of engineers, builders of vast cities that could change the shape at the whim of their creators and (unfortunately cause Voltron does this with too many alien species they introduce) ‘a seemingly magical ability to manipulate solid metal and with the wave of their hands build a computer inside a block of steel’. This is a species that is known specifically and immediately for their ability to ENGINEER (this is important) and their technological prowess.

(on a side note though, can someone tell me why the writers and producers decide as frequently as they do to make alien species just kinda ‘have hand wavy magic’ as like their main thing they do, like do this even with the Olkari a little even though their whole deal is like technological and engineering prowess??)

Now we find this out when the team have that spore fight at the beginning of the episode when we learn this is a specifically Pidge centered episode with her classically knocking Lance down a peg by noting that ‘a billion sunsets happen everyday, some genius engineer actually built this’. This line right, this exchange is what the episode tells us it’s built on - it’s not actually.

Much like everything in this show especially in the first two seasons, it has good concepts and terrible execution, no desire to actually develop the characters and so little time in a given episode that they always use so inefficiently so this is an ambitious thing to episode to attempt to tackle in 23 mins, and the fact that this exchange is had with the character that I’m pretty sure the voltron writers process for writing his lines was picking bits of paper out of a hat with the options being ‘flirt’ ‘bad joke’ and ‘dumb’ written on them isn’t helping it’s case.

But in a better show that cared about their characters, this exchange is important at establishing this as a viewpoint Pidge has and opposing viewpoint for her to grapple with throughout the course of the episode. Pidge is arrogantly smart and there’s good reason for that - she’s never wrong. Because she is so often right (often because the writers just say she is), it creates the illusion that she is avid and open learner, but this one line kinda suggests otherwise. Lance is ignorant to dismiss the specific mathematics and engineering that had to go into building the castleship, but it’s interesting character wise how equally quick Pidge was to dismiss the idea of sunset being beautiful because it’s just a natural process that happens every day. Pidge doesn’t really get or seem to consider the ways in which natural or everyday processes in of themselves can be beautiful and valuable.

So we get to the spores and Pidge hears about this planet of technological advancements and engineering and is super excited but do you know who in this episode I don’t see getting super excited despite ENGINEERING being a huge part of his character and who he is, and who would likely be an interesting foil to Pidge as despite his own tendency towards being suspicious and worried about new things tends to be a lot more open to learning new things?! HUNK ‘IOSEFA’ GARRETT!!!

Hunk is the fucking engineer of this team! And you know how we establish that this is how Hunk could be the foil? Because when Pidge points out that the spores or pulsing in a programmed manner rather than a strictly natural one, it is HUNK that points out that he thinks it may be a code and jumps to wondering who the code could be from, not willing to dismiss the idea that this spore is coded. Pidge doesn’t quite outright dismiss it, but she says she doesn’t know because it makes no sense. She makes a definitive statement “You can’t program a spore”

Now Pidge and Hunk should be both be excited for this, but in the actual episode, we see this excitement immediately deplete when Pidge is informed they will not be going to the tech haven, but the forest. Once again, this can build off the point of the episode because it establishes another related thing about Pidge’s character. Not only does Pidge struggle to appreciate the beauty of something like a sunset, almost dismissing it, but she also can be quick to presume that unless something is within her specific wheelhouse of knowledge, that it will not be of interest to her. I believe that if we keep Hunk excited here, this would immediately boost the characterisation already present in the episode. Hunk is not deterred by going to the forest, but Pidge presumes theres nothing that will be of interest to her and therefore is going to bore her. Because the point of this episode should be Pidge can be quick to dismiss things she sees as simplistic, boring, everyday and natural things and that by dismissing them as being beneath her, she limits her own knowledge by doing so.

Which brings me to the team testing out the Olkari tech, and Ryner, the Olkari engineer they interact with the most, remarking that the commands using the headset should be in binary code. It is some of the few actual science in the worldbuilding for this place but I think it messes with the characterisation for Pidge. This is tech that has had to be thrown together using the surrounding forest and resources and having it be specifically be operated in a manner that Pidge out of everyone is an expert in rewards her in a way that it shouldn’t. Pidge has already dismissed that this will have any interest to her (she literally once again reinforced just before this arc when Ryner states that natures designs are superior to any they could devise and Pidge remarks that she will take her computer over a tree any day)

Pidge should not be rewarded in this moment by having an immediate aptitude for this tech. I believe for this part, Hunk should be the most likely to be able to work these things, and that Keith and Lance are shortly after, when they show a willingness to defer to a more knowledgeable party when they’re struggling to get it. But Pidge should have the most trouble. She doesn’t get why she is able to pick it up, and is insistent that she does it alone. Shiro maybe asks why she won’t go and just ask Hunk for help.

Because ultimately, Pidge has built up an identity of being self sufficient and being gifted. She may have gotten picked on, kids may have excluded her, but she understood things they never would. They may have been stronger and bigger, but she was right. And nothing would change that. Well, until she can’t get the hang of this tech.

I think with the way that the cube is used in this should incapacitate the lions for now. They need this tech to infiltrate the main city and regain their leader. Pidge has to stay behind in the forest with Shiro while Hunk, Lance and Keith take the lead on that mission because she isn’t able to work it. The leader is supposed to be the genius leader that is the only one capable of designing the cube who is being threatened but I like that he turns out to be safe and was working with the galra. And I think he should reflect something about Pidge. Lubos is a genius, and he knows that the Galra need him, cause they can’t build this without him. But he believes that this value he has to them means that he has the upperhand, they can’t pull one over on him because he’s the one with all the cards. But he’s thrown his own people under the bus in the name of a plan he turns out to not have the upper hand in because he fails to consider that there was value and purpose in the simpler things, his people didn’t need their value to come from being a part of building something advanced for some one else, they could derive joy and purpose from the everyday things too, and has to actually be rescued by Lance, Keith and Hunk when this all backfires on him.

Now what happens in the episode is that Pidge is told she must have a deep connection with nature which she denies but then has an aptitude for this tech and has the best lion for the plan and saves them all from the galra soldiers. Lubos is revealed as a liar and they all get in their lions and find their weapons don’t work. Now of course, cause in Voltron canon, Pidge is the only one who notices things in her episodes and points out that the cube they use their lions to attack is absorbing their attacks and gets to have an i told you so moment as it gets fired back at them and somehow no other person realises this. Its echoing like Coran’s cube. They try physical hits but it does not work and Pidge is soon shot down in Green. Ryner uses telepathy now to tell Pidge she must bond with her lion more as the Olkari heal her lion and she kinda just sits and thinks about how circuits and codes are like tree roots and that seems to be enough.

She then shoots at the cube, and despite it never having worked, it works now and a tree root grows out the cube destroying it.

Once again, Pidge is just kinda being told she can do things and then she does them or just suddenly comprehends and this all suddenly works out and means so much of the initial set up is fucking pointless. Cause what does Pidge learn here that she didn’t already learn ten minutes ago after being shown to be reluctant to accept new information and then immediately changing her mind cause the plot required it? And on top of this, she saves the day doing the same thing the others did, shooting at it with her lions gun and it simply works cause this episode is Pidge centric?

I think the lions stay down for now, they need to use this Olkari tech to shut the thing down before Pidge uses her lion to destroy it with her lions gun. Because I believe that Pidge should not only not have an immediate affinity for this tech, but that as a result of this, should be able to by the end of the episode, which will prompt the bonding with the Lion later to gain access to that ability, the ability to not just appreciate the way that nature can relate to technological advancement but be able to appreciate the value in it. Pidge in the time the others are getting Lubos begins to explain to Shiro that she hates needing to ask for help. Shiro reminds her that she’s part of a team, and her skills are important, but there are things the team can offer perspective on too.

She tells him she knows but and she doesn’t quite finish it, because maybe a little part of her was still valuing her worth to others based on the superior knowledge and programming she could provide and that this in turn made the other side of the coin that she was on some level undervaluing her teammates for not having those same skills. Hunk took to this tech well, he’s not just an engineer but he works a little more intuitively than she does, and Keith while stubborn about fighting and the things he’s good at, is more than comfortable asking advice from those for things he’s not well versed in, and while yes, similarly, Lance can be quick to dismiss the beauty of engineering, he was quick to recognise when this viewpoint did not serve him or the people he was trying to help, and swallowed his pride and adapted to achieve the goal. And more importantly in their comparison from the offset of the episode, Lance can be insecure, but he’s not afraid to be wrong, in fact he expects it.

The core of this episode should be Pidge values intelligence, because to her, if she’s not right, if she’s got it wrong then what value can she have to anyone. And that this belief is limiting her.

Pidge defers to Hunk’s expertise, willing to stay back when the plan to deactivate the cube goes ahead to make she can understand this tech better and maybe get word to the others once she gets it. She can’t help until she can work their tech.

The fights begins to not go well, the cube reflects back at them so Pidge figures out deactivating it will require using attacks not against it, but to isolate it from stimuli it can use against them, but the cube is beginning to mess with the coms and she needs to get out there to them to let them know. She’s scared but if she’s wrong, she’s just gotta keep trying, because being afraid to be wrong will only keep her from getting to them. Ryner encourages her to think of the way nature can be like technology, evolution in a way was a series of refining and improving on a design in response to new conditions, a sunset can only be enjoyed the way it is because a series of variables came to together by chance and refined to allow the experience to be had. Pidge thinks on this, the way that this tech is the same way, and the tech begins to work. She’s still a litlte shaky but she’s beginning to get the hang of it.

She gets the info to them, and they able to lure the cube somewhere that keep it isolated from things it can weaponise, and the Olkari are able to power the cube down. There is the worry that the cube could be activated if the Galra come out to find it, but Pidge feels her lion nudging her mind, able to reach her now the cube has been deactivated. She runs to her lion and rather than thinking of her lion as tech first, sentient second, she recognises that Green has an idea and this is when the ability to use Green’s ray to create spontaneous organic tree growth is used on the cube to split apart the design from the inside. Normally she’d be sad that a design like this is destroyed but in a weird way she can appreciate that is actually looks kind of neat. The other’s remark also that they think it looks cool, Lance even taking a photo of it and sending it to Pidge.

As they head off, Ryner thanks Voltron for their help and plans to join the coalition and gifts Pidge with a small simply engineered model that looks like the machines they had to utilise. Its one of the initial design models they made for the machines and Pidge thanks Ryner for it. As they arrive back at the castle, the little model takes pride of place in Pidge’s work station.

Ultimately the point of this post is that the original episode as it stands frustrates me as it’s an episode that clearly wants to get into Pidge’s character and explore it a little but spends most of the run time being too afraid to allow some of Pidge’s flaws to take any sort of precedence in the episode or allow any of the other team members to offer her any sort of perspective on these flaws. Its too afraid to let Pidge grow and learn things and be wrong. Allowing other characters to interact with these traits of hers, contradict them, and act as foils to them isn’t taking attention away from Pidge, it’s an opportunity to highlight something about her as a person. You can use other characters and how to respond to the main character focus to learn about them through the ways they differ.

#this may be all bad and not worth it #and i’m sure if i properly sat down with it i could do a little better #but like just take from this what you will #voltron #vld #pidge #pidge holt #hunk #hunk garrett #takashi shirogane #lance #lance mcclain #keith #keith kogane #shiro #voltron: legendary defender #rewriting voltron episodes #long post #pidge gunderson #pidge vld #my headcanons

[lines-we-cross]

According to David Zabel...

Carol will have two different stories moveing forward in season 2

To find Daryl

To find home is to find each other ❤❤❤

The main focus of season 2 for me was always Daryl and Carol coming back together and what does that mean? And it becomes ultimately a story about how we as people can save each other. She's trying to find him, but in the process of telling that story: How are they ultimately getting to a place where they're kind of saving each other? So that was a big part of it.

The only thing that can save us is ourselves, is each other.And we're telling that through this big frame of France and the story and the characters that we've set up, and the world that we've set up, but in a more intimate way between Carol and Daryl.

The radio call did a lot of heavy lifting in terms of that, both for an audience of fans who I think got very excited when they talked on the radio, but also for an audience that maybe is new to the show and is going ‘oh, there’s this person back somewhere in America who loves him and whom he loves and something’s going on there. I don’t fully understand that she’s in some other place. And then you see her in episode six looking for him.

This moment in the radio call in episode 5 where she talks about something or someone having come back. And the impression we get, and Daryl also gets, is that something's a little off for her, something's wrong. And so that's going to also function into the story for Carol in season 2.

Remember Heath?He went missing when he and Tara went out looking for supplies in s7. According to Kang, Heath was taken by Jadis and the Scavengers off-screen and was traded off to the CRM for supplies. Did he managed to escap and return to Alexandria,to tell Carol and team family where Rick/Michonne are or did he find a radio to connect with them and that's how they find out where Rick/Michonne are?

My guess is Caryl leaves France by the end of s2. I would hope s3 is just the two of them on the road together,exploring their new romantic relationship while trying to find their way back home to Alexandria orr on their way to find Rick/Michonne. My point is i don't need Isabelle and Laurent tagging along like a third wheel when they leave France.

We deserve a season just focused on Carol and Daryl and their journey, preferably with kisses,hugs and lots of passionate nights under the stars.

You could have a nice plot twist with Cadron actually being Laurent's real father,maybe the reason Cadron didn't kill Daryl is because when Laurent and Cadron looked eyes,he saw something in his eyes and in that moment he realized Laurent is his son. He knew Daryl would get him safely to the Nest,and that's why he didn't kill Daryl.Then Cadron,Isabelle and Laurent can play house at the Nest,while Carol and Daryl leave. If Laurent has a real father,there is no reason for Daryl to be portrayed as a father figure to Laurent anymore.

Carol has an internal story

She also has this internal story, which we've only hinted at, but there's a whole internal Carol story that plays out across the episodes of season 2. And so she has a great dual track that we're setting her off on and we've shot some of that already, and it's going to be fantastic when it's all together.

So what's Carol's internal story?

Melissa said Carol is holding something back...

Daryl can sence something is wrong...

Let's just say for the sake of the argument that Heath did return,but that's not what Carol was referring to when she said came back

What if she was trying to tell him Ezekiel is sick,his cancer came back. If not for Henry,i highly doubt Ezekiel and Carol would have turned romantic. Carol was pretty pissed in s7 when Ezekiel kept showing up at her door,not to mention she thought the whole concept of him being King was ridiculous. Henry was the glue that kept Carol and Ezekiel together,with Henry gone their house fell apart. We all remember Ezekiel telling Daryl to back of in s9,how jealous he was when Carol turned to Daryl for emotional suport. Ezekiel is well aware of the strong bond Carol and Daryl share,and the reasons why it never got explored. Ezekiel and Carol have mantained a strong friendship,maybe he's the one who tells Carol to be honest and tell Daryl how she really feels. A friend telling another friend she deserves to be in the light,she deserves a happy ending too. Maybe Ezekiel dies durring surgery that takes place after Carol talked to Daryl,with Ezekiel death and Carol waiting for Daryl to return. She does a lot of soul searching and when Daryl doesn't show up as promised,she goes looking for him. To find him,and tell him how she truely feels. When they do reunite again,they have that honest conversation they never had in find me

Orr if i could pick something better....Carol and Daryl had a night of passion before he left,and while he was gone Carol found out she is pregnant. I know i'm grasping at straws here,but I would so love for Carol and Daryl to have a child together and to have their own little family.

#carol peletier #melissa mcbride #caryl #daryl dixon #daryl x carol #the book of carol #mcreedus