#again they were the redeeming factor of season 7

[starscompanion]

JOHN, EMORI AND RAVEN!?!?!?! I LOVE JOHN AND RAVEN VERY MUCH. I am gonna go watch now, because I want to experience that, as a polyam person I am very interested, is it subtext or is it like canon? I don't remember what you said?

ITS KIND OF SUBTEXT--THERES A FEW SCENES AND ONE IN S7 THAT WAS THE REDEEMING FACTOR OF SEASON 7

again with spoilers-- these are pretty minor tho and mostly my poly ass projecting onto my beloveds

John and Raven DO canonically become besties and have a lovely forgiving scene and they are my BROTP. Raven and Emori also canonically become besties around the same time, and they are obviously girlfriends so. I've connected the two dots.

this meme pretty much sums up their canon interactions, but lets be real-- i'm gonna stop spoiling things but!!! yes they are all married they told me themselves

#i relate to raven on a spiritual level when she's third wheeling #but shhh they don't know she's not third wheeling and is actually dating them both #again they were the redeeming factor of season 7 #i will stand by this #YES GO WATCH #i will shut up #piper rambles #asks

[akiizayoi4869]

If there's one part about Vegeta's arc that I absolutely love, it would be this:

His regression in season 8 was very well done. It wasn't shoehorned in and it made sense. I remember seeing on Reddit years ago people complaining about this specific part of his arc, saying that it made no sense for him to regress the way he did when he was redeemed at this point. But consider this. It makes perfect sense when you factor in one thing: he wasn't redeemed yet. He was still going through his redemption arc by this point.

Vegeta wasn't raised to be a family man. He was raised to be a killing machine. He was raised with the idea in mind that he would one day be the king of the Saiyan race. All of that got taken away from him. His belief that he was the strongest Saiyan alive was taken when Goku became a Super Saiyan and defeated Frieza, and again when Gohan became a Super Saiyan 2 and killed Perfect Cell. And then Goku makes the choice to stay dead instead of coming back to life via the dragon balls. So now, Vegeta's one rival, the person who he swore he would one day surpass and defeat is gone for good. So all Vegeta has left at this point is the family he created with Bulma. Something that he most likely never envisioned for himself. So he decides to live a life on earth with her and their son.

Everything seems to be going fine for Vegeta....until the World Martial Arts Tournament happens. And Goku decides to return on this one day so that he can participate. Suddenly, all of the feelings that Vegeta bottled up over the last 7 years since Goku's death comes rushing to the surface. Finally, after all this time, Vegeta could finally prove that he's better than Goku. They even get matched up to fight each other in the tournament! How lucky is that, right? And then this guy happens:

And just like that, Vegeta's chance to fight Goku is now shattered thanks to this new threat to Earth. Instead of his attention being on him, Goku has his sights set on defeating Buu before he can be revived. For the entire time Vegeta, Goku, Gohan, and the Supreme Kai are in Babidi's lair, Vegeta is angry. He's waited 7 years for the chance to fight Goku again, and now that he finally gets the chance to do so, this happens. We see Vegeta's mood get worse and worse throughout the time they fight Babidi's minions, and it's gets so bad to the point where Babidi is able to get Vegeta under his control. Now, as Vegeta pointed out later on, he actually could of fought off Babidi's mind control. But he chose not to. Why? Because he saw how powerful Babidi's minions were while they were under his control. So Vegeta figured he could use some of that power to do this:

Fight Goku without any interruptions. Which is what he wanted from the start. Even though he knew that fighting would give more energy to Buu and thus revive him, Vegeta didn't care. So long as he got to fight Goku. Keep in mind that this is the same guy who let Semi-Perfect Cell absorb Android 18, despite the fact that he knew it could end up being a bad decision. But Vegeta didn't care because he wanted a good fight.

Now there's one line that Vegeta said to Goku during this fight that always stuck with me from the moment I heard it back when I was a kid. When Goku asks him why did he do all of this, Vegeta responds with "Because I wanted him to reawaken the evil within my heart. I wanted him to return me to the way I was...BEFORE!!! I WAS THE PERFECT WARRIOR! COLD AND RUTHLESS! I LIVED BY MY STRENGTH ALONE! UNINHIBITED BY FOOLISH EMOTION!!! But slowly...over the years... I became one of you. My quest for greatness gradually giving way to this life of mediocrity. I awoke one day to find that I had settled down and formed a family. I had even grown quite fond of them. Would you believe, I almost started thinking that the Earth was a nice place to live. Do you understand now, Kakarrot? That's why I needed Babidi! To set me free! By releasing the evil within my heart! He has freed me of these petty attachments. And I have to say it feels pretty good."

That entire speech he gave to Goku summarized PERFECTLY the internal conflict that Vegeta had going on within him. On the one hand, he wants this. He wants to feel strong again. He wants to defeat Goku and prove that he's better than him once and for all. He wants the life of a warrior back, because for so long that's all he knew. But on the other hand, he knows that the way he's going about it is wrong. Like he just admitted to Goku, there's a small part of him that loves the life he made for himself, and that he loves his family, too. Which is why Goku then says to him "Do you really believe what you're saying?". Now, Vegeta doesn't respond to this, but he doesn't have to. His silence is his answer. After that, the long awaited fight between these two begins. And after a while, Vegeta does come to the realization that he fucked up big time, and that he needs to do something to make up for it. Which is why he does this:

He knocks Goku out while his back is turned. Why? Because he wants to fight Majin Buu alone. Because if it hadn't been for Vegeta's desire to fight Goku, Majin Buu probably wouldn't have gotten the energy he needed to be revived. So Vegeta decides to take full responsibility for everything and take on Buu himself. To me, this is when his redemption arc comes full circle, because of his sacrifice. He knows that he can't beat Majin Buu through normal means, so what does he do? Blow himself up in an explosion that he's certain will destroy Buu along with him.

Vegeta even says in his mind that he's doing this for Bulma, Trunks, and even Goku. Something that I'm pretty sure a lot of us never thought we would ever hear him say. That he's doing something for other people. That he's not doing this for himself. I'm pretty sure that he saw this as his way to atone (hence why this move is called "final atonement" in the video games) but the fact remains that he did it anyway. Sure, we see Vegeta get angry when Perfect Cell killed Future Trunks, but still. That moment can't compare to this one. All in all, Majin Vegeta is the best part of Vegeta's redemption arc and the way how it's written really did an excellent job in wrapping it up.

#DBZ #Majin Vegeta #Vegeta #Majin Buu #Goku

[wroteclassicaly]

An unpopular opinion about ST!

Tryna get my ass canceled or something? Haha

Alright… here goes, because I’m gonna list several, and probably lose followers.

1) I don’t really ship Hellcheer (I don’t see them working long-term), but they might have, who knows? I feel like they went the traditional bad boy with a popular girl route, and it just… it annoyed me. I love Chrissy individually, but I would’ve rather seen her with Robin. That would’ve shocked me more, tbh.

2) I don’t like how they seemed to suck out every bit of Jonathan’s goals and aspirations.

3) I believe Billy could’ve had a redemption arc.

4) Jason was a total douche bag, but I also think he could’ve been redeemed in some form. I believe his upbringing was a MAJOR factor in his evangelical attitude, just as I believe Billy’s behaviors were all learned/forced onto him from his dad.

5) I think the idea of Nancy and Steve again, is an insult to the character developments they’ve both had.

6) Barb’s death was ignorant (I think she would make for an amazing member of the group).

7) Hopper’s transformation bugs me a little, but we’ll see how he is next season.

8) This isn’t unpopular, but they should’ve kept Bob alive and had him marry Karen Wheeler.

9) I do ship Steddie (because it would’ve been different), but again, as with Hellcheer — I don’t know if it would’ve worked long term. So with both ships I’m kind of 50/50 on both sides.

10) I love the actress that plays Vickie, but the character being a love interest for Robin wasn’t my cup of tea. The chemistry with Robin and Nancy was off the characters, imo. But whatevs.

I think that’s all I have, for now. I know the Billy and Jason thing, plus the shipping comments might get me in trouble, but it’s how I feel :/ Not liking Billy because of his disgusting actions is perfectly justifiable (I don’t condone them either). And whoever you ship — I support it! I know Eddisy is cannon and Steddie is not—trust me, I know! ❤️❤️

#asks #thanks for the questions

[artistic-mathematics]

I spent an entire afternoon watching Velma S2 so you don't have to

honestly why is it that it took eight whole episodes for anything even remotely interesting to happen (and when it did, it went down a drain after an episode)

3/10 for episodes before episode 7, 6/10 for the rest of it except episode 9 because that episode is actually significantly better than the rest of it (which I'd rate like a 7.5/10)

overall rating: 4.5/10

if you do want to hate watch I'd suggest just starting at episode 7 like I don't think anything before then is even worth watching

spoilers below (if anyone cares LOL)

honestly Scrappy Doo as the villain was super cool until he started talking and I remembered that the writing in this show makes me want to hit my head against a wall. like how can you get everything right except the fucking writing, like m a n

his whole shtick was??? biting men's dicks off??? like the only connection they'd found early on was the fact that they were white adult men and their dicks were chopped off or something like what the actual fuck this is a DOG still like this has to be weird no?

and they did finally make Scooby a thing except not. like Scooby is just a persona for someone who was in the US military (which is apparently like half the important fucking characters from S1?????) who suggested Project SCOOBI (yes that is literally what it is) but the project is Scrappy and Scrappy goes off the rails and I just. I don't even know.

literally the only redeeming factor of this entire show is that they made Daphne and Velma a thing (like confirmed, they do a little bit of an on and off thing for like half the season but finally, FINALLY figure it out later) but that gets thrown out of a window bc 1. they're so fucking dodgy when trying to communicate to each other, which I guess they kinda are during Moon Monster Madness but like bruh anyway, 2. it's kinda implied that Velma and Daphne have telepathy or a tied consciousness or something???? (when Daphne was trapped in her own brain she called out for Velma and Velma heard her, and vice versa happens a few episodes later) and it just sounds like bad fanfiction, and 3. Velma dies for whatever reason so I guess we're really continuing the trope where the gay couple dies (though I guess Daphne lives but is hella traumatized).

oh, and she turns into a ghost because. uh. yeah??? ghosts are very real now and the ghost of Fred's mom was like haunting Shaggy (Norville in this show ig) for like 2/3 of the show because he accidentally killed her in the last season (she was the serial killer from last season). and they revealed a gimmick where there can only be one consciousness in any given body, so like Fred's mom's ghost trying to possess Fred could force his consciousness out and straight-up kill him. and it's the same gimmick that Velma ends up using to kill Scrappy because Scrappy kills her, except Velma's death is off-screen (he slashes her across the face and she falls from like the second story) and we never see her dead until after we see her ghost for the first time leaving Scrappy's body. Scrappy's death is also super anticlimactic and it's like 2/3 of the season isn't even interesting or important and then two major characters just keel over and die in the last two minutes?????? like hello??????? honestly just cut out all of the drama and filler and whatever the hell like I mentioned when I reviewed S1 and just stick to the plot, like just the plot itself was fairly interesting (though it was still hard to follow and convoluted but like. still much better than everything else)

I think the setup for S3 is like, getting Velma back into her body. do I think S3 is gonna happen? lol no, literally besides Scooby Doo, Where Are You? we haven't gotten a single Scooby Doo show that's longer than two seasons and I sincerely doubt one with reviews as low as Velma is going to get another season (unless everyone decides to hate watch it again, which I guess is fairly possible if it gains traction again).

anyway so this show is inspiring me to actually finish my fucking Velma/Daphne fic bc ain't no way my writing is any worse than this and if I keep thinking about this I'm going to lose even more braincells than I already have.

#velma the series #velma show #op reviews so you don't have to watch it

[she-who-reads-fanfiction]

I posted 79 times in 2022

11 posts created (14%)

68 posts reblogged (86%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@hereforsterekcontent

@wheredidhiseyebrowsgo

@christinesficrecs

@sterek-brainrot

@isthatbloodonhisshirt

I tagged 13 of my posts in 2022

#teen wolf - 10 posts

#fanfic - 9 posts

#stiles stilinski - 9 posts

#sterek - 9 posts

#fanfiction - 8 posts

#lydia martin - 7 posts

#issac lahey - 7 posts

#erica reyes - 7 posts

#jackson whittemore - 7 posts

#chris argent - 7 posts

Longest Tag: 137 characters

#almost like she was shoehorned in to try make one of the boys straight and break up a popular fan pair by stealing the chemistry they had

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

Teen wolf fanfic challenge update.

Started Nov19th 2020

Current date Feb 28th 2022

Days passed 466

Fics read 9516

Fics read this month 398

Average per day 20.5

Currently reading Fics from February 2013

Still here, still reading.

I feel I should have read more fics this month but I've had 0 motivation to read fics in order. I've read loads from tumblr and twitter recs just not the ones in order. That and I was down in the very bottom of the UK working at cons.

17 notes - Posted February 28, 2022

#4

For real though. It feels like they spent the entire first 2 seasons hinting Stiles was Bi, him flirting with Danny being a big factor and him making jokes about making out with Scott etc. Then for some reason they just completly dropped the Bi angle and he was super straight for some reason. It felt like it was no longer the character feeling comfy and joking about his sexuality to more like the show was making fun of it. For a show that claims to take place in a world without any homophobia there was a serious lack of any other relationships that wasn't straight.

The only main gay character got completely written off because they didn't know what to do with him (like how do you not know what to do with Danny) his partner disappeared and then showed up again 3 seasons later.

But I dunno it felt like you were either straight or not important to the story.

40 notes - Posted May 24, 2022

#3

QUESTION?

Does anyones brain do the same thing???

In my head my otps and ships don't stay the same age they age like us. the ones I've had since I was a smol have grown up and are now fully fledged adults.

Examples

KevEdd- Kevin and DD from Ed, edd n eddy, when the show came out in 1999 they were 12ish, in my head they are now 30ish?

Sterek- in season 1 Stiles was 17 and Derek was 19, my brain now thinks of them as 28 and 30?

Is this just my weird brain?

42 notes - Posted June 2, 2022

#2

The pack we wanted in teen wolf, an easy guide.

ALPHA - Derek Hale(boy needs good things, also born werewolf and knows things)

2nd in command- Scott mccall (cause you can be the main character without being an entitled dick, also single boy needs to be single)

Emissaries- Stiles(also alpha mate and spark) & Lydia(banshee) the two of them as communication and planners would be terrifying. Lydia can be more brutal in her plans and often sometimes forgets thins, but pack mom Stiles and her husband Parrish always bring her back

BETAS- Erica, Boyd(3rd in charge I feel this goes without saying), Isaac, Jackson,Ethan, Cora, Kira(kitsune), Malia (coyote), Liam, Theo (redeemed), Mason, Corey, Parrish (hellhound), Hayden.

HUMAN ELEMENT- Allison (ex hunter) she is protective of her friends and pack. Makes sure any hunters they encounter follow the code.

Danny(hacker) finds information, gets paperwork for them, keeps them safe

Melissa(healer) looks after everyone

GUIDES - Peter hale (has no desire to be alpha again after the first time, wants the hale pack to grow and is happy to have a large family again.)

John Stilinski - will die fighting for the pack

Chris Argent - knows how to protect the pack and how to deal with enemies

135 notes - Posted July 22, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

Hands up if you were the child that read thousands of books and as an adult you hit burn out and now only read stories about the same 2 idiots falling in love over and over as you don't have the brain power to get emotionally attached to new characters.

19,888 notes - Posted July 18, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

#tumblr2022 #year in review #my 2022 tumblr year in review #your tumblr year in review

[seyaryminamoto]

How much was azula and zuko blinded of the propaganda?I have seen someone say that" azula knew the propaganda was a lie and there evidence was the fire nation were willingly to burn ba sing sa to the ground so azula should have known better"

O_o um, no offense intended to that person but... where’s the evidence that Azula ever had any doubts about the Fire Nation’s supremacist views?

I can outright point at a key dialogue where Zuko blatantly proves he’s not blinded by his father’s propaganda: Book 1, episode 3. Zuko directly tells Zhao: “If my father thinks the rest of the world will follow him willingly, then he is a fool!”, quoted right out of the wikia. So... heh. Zuko seems to be critical of his father, of his conquest, of his colonialist pursuits...

... And yet he proceeds to continue chasing the Avatar, fighting against him, outright committing treason against his own nation by releasing Aang but ONLY so he could be the one to turn him in personally, still saying things like “My honor, my throne, my country, I'm about to lose them all.” (Book 1, episode 13), telling Iroh “I want it back. I want the Avatar, I want my honor, my throne. I want my father not to think I'm worthless.” (Book 2, episode 1), introducing himself in this manner: “My name is Zuko. Son of Ursa and Fire Lord Ozai. Prince of the Fire Nation, and heir to the throne.” (Book 2, episode 7), and the list goes on :’) basically, insert everything nefarious or gray Zuko does through the three seasons, and factor in that Zuko has proven he doesn’t believe his father’s propaganda since early Book 1... you get the picture.

So... what that line in “The Southern Air Temple” ends up telling us is that all his actions are self-serving! :’D Which takes away from Zuko’s big speech to Ozai, namely when he says that the argument about the war spreading the Fire Nation’s greatness was an “amazing lie”. No, it wasn’t an amazing lie, and no, he didn’t believe it, at least he didn’t ever since the show began, as far as we saw. Therefore... I give no free passes to Zuko over any arguments that he was doing Ozai’s bidding or acting in his behalf. No one who says “my father is a fool” with such conviction in the show’s very THIRD EPISODE can pretend he was completely unaware of how wrong the Fire Nation’s direction was until he finally had his change of heart and awakening to the goodness of the world. He knew it was wrong. He did everything he did because it didn’t matter to him that it was, his throne and honor mattered more. 

And considering I could quote at least three different instances where he talks about the throne as his own, or meant to be his own, I think it’s damn clear it was constantly on his mind. The only occasion when he says anything about wanting to do right by the Fire Nation itself is with Mai in the Boiling Rock... and by then he’s “redeemed”. Ergo, he’s supposed to know better at last. Before redemption? Zero signs that Zuko believes the Fire Nation needs new guidance and that he realizes the problem is Ozai’s propaganda and ideological indoctrination. That line in episode 3 suggests he KNOWS his father can and should be questioned, but later on he doesn’t betray any interest in doing so until he outright confronts him in The Eclipse. And that’s the thing: Zuko knows Ozai is bullshitting everyone, but it’s not his problem. That’s not why he’s doing what he’s doing. He’s not here to further spread Ozai’s gospel, he’s here to get the Avatar and earn his ticket back home, and he’ll do ANYTHING to achieve that.

Meanwhile, Azula... anyone can say she’s not blind to the horrors the Fire Nation has committed, that she’s an active participant of the war, that she’s her father’s enabler too... sure. But I don’t think ANYONE can say with any degree of certainty that Azula had broken out of the Fire Nation indoctrination on any level by the time we meet her in the show. Azula, as far as I’ve always seen her, is a product of her upbringing: she is sheltered, troubled, capable of dismissing any moral dilemmas in the face of any mission, absolutely unwilling to fail at anything she ever does. But really... where’s the evidence that she KNOWS the Fire Nation isn’t inherently superior to the others? Where’s the evidence that she knows Sozin’s doctrines are just excuses? I’m not saying she’s not smart enough to figure it out, I certainly write her that way myself... but I don’t think there’s anything you can point to in the show, the way there IS, objectively, with Zuko, to say “Yeah she’s 100% aware that the Fire Nation supremacist ideals are BS and she just follows fit with them because she wants a throne for herself.”

In contrast: how many times does Azula say the word “throne” in the show?:

“The fact is, they don't know which one of us is going to be sitting on that throne, and which one is going to be bowing down.” (Book 2, Episode 20) -- not the Fire Nation throne, but Ba Sing Se’s. Ergo, a throne she took via strategic prowess... that she then abandoned and left in Joo Dee’s hands SOMEHOW (why... Azula, just... why?? xD) before returning to the Fire Nation instead of merely relishing in having obtained MORE POWER!

... That’s literally it.

Where Zuko constantly talks about “his throne”, Azula only displays genuine, overt, blatant interest in becoming Fire Lord when Ozai directly offers her the position. She doesn’t shy away from it at all, of course, but when she’s seen talking about her alleged future as Fire Lord, her wording is... curiously different from Zuko’s:

“My father asked you to come here and talk to me, didn't he‌? He thinks I can't handle the responsibility of being Fire Lord. But I will be the greatest leader in Fire Nation history.” (Book 3, Episode 20)

This isn’t even fully healthy Azula, so using her behavior here as representative for her genuine views is a tricky thing to do. And yet... she says she will be the greatest LEADER? She’s not looking at the throne as something she is owed, she’s looking at it as a challenge she needs to prove herself worthy of. She’s not looking at a crown or a throne exclusively: she’s looking at LEADERSHIP. She’s ambitious enough to think BEYOND obtaining the power, and instead she’s already thinking of how she’ll use it.

This is a fundamental difference between both Zuko and Azula. Azula’s motivation wasn’t the throne, or a crown, or anything like that until the finale. If she’d wanted more political power, like I always say, she would’ve stayed in the Earth Kingdom and ruled over Ba Sing Se herself, getting high on the thrill of finally controlling a nation of her own. She’s the main artificer of the take-over, the Dai Li literally answer to her, and yet she didn’t stick around: she left the city for other people to deal with rather than going wild over her newly acquired power. Doesn’t this speak lengths about Azula’s priorities? And once she’s finally being offered the throne she does value, her troubled mind is set on LEADERSHIP. And while of course someone can argue she’s just vain and wants to be remembered forever, kind of like Zhao did, the question of what kind of leadership Azula has in mind is still worth asking: if she didn’t want the Earth Kingdom throne, it suggests she actually cherishes the Fire Nation above all else, and another nation’s throne doesn’t suffice or particularly prove fulfilling for her beyond the initial conquest. Prioritizing the Fire Nation, WITHOUT being Fire Lord yet, above Ba Sing Se’s throne... strongly suggests a belief that the Fire Nation matters more than anything else. And that’s basically what the Ozai propaganda impresses upon his people.

For further evidence... I present to you the Fire Nation Oath:

“My life I give to my country, with my hands I fight for Fire Lord Ozai and our forefathers before him. With my mind I seek ways to better my country, and with my feet may our March of Civilization continue.” (Book 3, Episode 2)

Just one reading of this oath explains Azula’s actions and motivations immediately. Recapping her actions throughout the show: 

She finds Iroh and Zuko under Ozai’s orders, attempts to take them home peacefully, then they rebel, she fights them and regards them as traitors, loses, still intends to continue chasing them after her defeat.

Gathers new allies for her quest, comes across the Avatar, decides to take him down, fails, decides she has two targets now.

Chases the Avatar, fights both him and Zuko, narrowly escapes before being defeated, all be it to fight another day.

Helps in the Drill’s operations in Ba Sing Se, nearly stops Team Avatar’s scheme, fails again once Aang finishes their plan perfectly.

Follows Appa, fights and defeats the Kyoshi Warriors, takes their uniforms, impersonates them and breaks into Ba Sing Se while no one’s the wiser.

Acquires crucial information about the enemies’ plans to attack her nation on the day of the Eclipse.

Acquires the support of the Dai Li, captures Katara, Zuko and Iroh, overthrows Kuei.

Offers Zuko one more chance to fight by her side, attempts to fight Aang and Katara by herself, then is shown willing to fight Zuko as well as those two until she joins forces safely with Zuko and they defeat Aang and Katara.

Takes Zuko home as a hero, he hides crucial information about the Avatar, Azula attempts to set up a trap so Zuko takes the fall if the Avatar isn’t dead.

Offers Zuko advice about not visiting Iroh so he stays out of trouble, which he disregards to no consequences.

Goes on a chaotic vacation with her friends.

Gives Zuko a history lesson with more than a few harsh burns.

Tells Zuko he should go to a war meeting, which he attends later to no consequences, and she was right to say he was expected to be in it.

Intervenes in the war meeting and cuts off Zuko before he says the wrong thing, Ozai extrapolates Azula’s suggestion into his perfect, megalomaniac villain plan, and she’s shown perfectly satisfied with supplying her father an idea he values.

Organizes and leads the resistance against the invasion, stalls the Avatar’s group, keeps her father safe.

Visits the Boiling Rock, presumably upon finding out her brother infiltrated the prison, and in all likelihood suspecting he didn’t do it alone, considering that she immediately barges into the interrogations about the escape attempts rather than appearing at Zuko’s holding cell.

Fights Sokka and Zuko, nearly dies when the Warden decides to cut the line but saves herself by flying off, loses her shit when Mai betrays her, gets chi-blocked, sends her friends to prison.

Attacks Team Avatar in the Western Air Temple, takes a near-fatal plummet but still manages to survive and return home while the enemies escape.

Intends to go with Ozai to set fire to the Earth Kingdom, loses her temper, Ozai loses his, he offers her the role of Fire Lord and becomes Phoenix King.

Loses herself to paranoia gradually, hallucinates her mother, pushes everyone away, agrees to fight an Agni Kai with Zuko instead of merely commanding to be crowned disregarding Zuko’s intrusion.

Loses the fight against Katara, is sent to an asylum.

I think there’s quite a lot in here that suggests Azula’s actions are meant to uphold the values and beliefs of the Fire Nation Oath. She gave herself completely to her missions, to the point of even facing deadly peril more than once. She fought many battles, lost a LOT of them, and yet she never backed down. She is by far the most strategic character in the Fire Nation side of the story, switching her tactics constantly while the show progresses... and what is she after? Victories. For whom? Herself? Why... again, if it were just for herself, why abandon Ba Sing Se, the crown jewel of the Earth Kingdom’s Ultimate Conqueror? Why allow Zuko to share in that big achievement, too, instead of merely locking him up someplace and taking all the credit for herself?

There’s seriously zero reason to believe Azula DOESN’T live by the Fire Nation Oath. I, personally, don’t see how any of her actions indicate she’s questioned her nation’s indoctrinated creed in any way. Do I think she’s smart enough to know that the war wasn’t about spreading “greatness”? Sure. Does this automatically mean she was doing everything she ever did for herself, and not for the Fire Nation AND her father? Absolutely not. And that’s where Zuko and Azula are crucially, fundamentally different: Zuko’s concerns are PERSONAL. Zuko’s battles are PERSONAL. Zuko wants HIS honor, HIS throne: Azula never says any similar words in the entire show. Azula’s biggest display of ambition is claiming she wants to be the Fire Nation’s greatest leader. Ambitious, yes, BUT... an ambition that is perfectly in line with the oath, again, especiall with this line: “may our march of civilization continue”. Whereas Zuko’s words and actions throughout the show honestly don’t strike any legitimate chords with the Oath, as far as I can tell?

And I’m relying on the Oath because it’s literally the only solid evidence we have of actual creed and speeches the Fire Nation people are taught. While we can make plenty of guesses as to what else their education includes, by judging Fire Nation people’s actions and behavior, the only solid things we have are the misinformation the teacher attempts to give the children in Aang’s classroom and the Oath she makes the children recite. I think it’s safe to guess most Fire Nation people would know that Oath by heart, and probably attempt to live by it, too.

But like I said, where Azula’s actions can easily be interpreted as morally awful ways of displaying the “values” present in the Fire Nation Oath, I don’t see how Zuko’s actions EVER had anything to do with those values. They plain didn’t. And that isn’t a bad thing, objectively speaking: it means Zuko wasn’t insanely attached to the Fire Nation to the point of valuing it above his own life, after all. And yet, it puts a spin on Zuko’s actions and behavior that definitely doesn’t do his character any favors: no, his actions aren’t motivated by the Fire Nation Oath or any similar creed, they’re motivated, above all else, by the hopes that his father will return his birthright and honor to him. And his redemption is, of course, coded as him realizing that Ozai doesn’t get to decide whether he has honor or not! Which... again... is a blatant way of saying that Zuko’s true motivation wasn’t “doing Ozai’s bidding and advancing the Fire Nation’s war”, it was his honor, his throne, and everything to do with what he’d lost after his banishment. The whole show is full of obvious signs that Zuko’s not motivated by any beliefs greater than this -- such as the fact that he returns home as a hero and it feels WRONG to him. It’s not only because his father now respects him under the false pretenses that he killed the Avatar, but also because he plain feels out of place and isn’t happy at all! Why? Because he “got everything back”, and it feels off. Why is it off? Because he wants honor and he doesn’t feel like he regained it at all in the first half of Book 3. Then he turns his back on his father and chooses a whole different path and he’s finally at peace with himself, so much he can’t even bend anymore :’D but the point is, simply, that there’s no evidence anywhere within the show that Zuko honest to gods was acting out of anything but his own, personal needs rather than a constant pursuit for the Fire Nation’s advancement.

And like I said before, this doesn’t have to be a bad thing. It probably makes his redemption “easier”, to a fault, since there’s less to address. Do I like it? No. Do I think Zuko is fundamentally a better human being than Azula because he questioned Ozai and she didn’t? Considering how many awful things he still did while proving he could question his father, not a chance. Do I think Azula is fundamentally a better human being than Zuko since her actions do seem to follow fit with what Fire Nation indoctrination looks like? Considering what that indoctrination entails, and the deeds she proves capable of to uphold it, the answer would once again be “not a chance”.

In short: neither buying the Fire Nation indoctrination or questioning it makes either Azula or Zuko objectively better people. Both are capable of amoral deeds and actions that should never be supported, encouraged or excused :’D and while I absolutely will impress that they have different motivations, which codify their actions, I don’t think Azula’s deeds would be objectively any worse if someone SOMEHOW finds solid evidence that she truly didn’t believe in any of these doctrines, just as I don’t think Zuko’s would be any better if it’s proven (though... I’d be pretty sure it can’t be) that he’s just as brainwashed as everyone else in the Fire Nation.

On a final note, directly answering your final concern there: both Zuko and Azula are shown reacting to the notion of Ba Sing Se being burned to the ground. Heck, Ursa is shown reacting to it too. If we need a refresher...

If this is somehow proof that Azula “understands” the FIre Nation is evil (How? She’s laughing like it’s a perfectly happy revelation? So is her mother? So is her brother? How does someone watch this scene and interpret this as “this messed up family KNOWS they’re the BAD GUYS!”, rather than “this messed up family thinks burning a city down is GOOD?!”), then it’s also proof Zuko and Ursa do. And they still laugh just as she does.

If the person in question was talking about Azula’s intervention in the war meeting? Zuko’s reaction shows he thinks burning down a continent is evil. Zuko’s betrayal of the Fire Nation shows he didn’t want anything to do with that (his reluctance to share this information with Team Avatar, however, is highly illogical?). Azula’s behavior doesn’t suggest at all that she thinks burning an enemy nation is anything but a sign of superiority, something both Ursa and Zuko are totally fine with in the scene above, and her suggestion, yet again, is something that is perfectly in line with the Fire Nation’s morally reprehensible values. As such, it’s not something that proves Azula somehow was acting of her own accord and is immune to Fire Nation indoctrination and propaganda, by any means.

So.

I’d think that answers that. :’)

#thea-here #yikes this got long #but #hopefully as it's so late #it won't bother anyone's dashboards #if it does let me know #and I'll read-more it #:'D #but really #why do people try to make arguments that can be deflated in a heartbeat #like... #I rambled on and on because I love to? #but man #there's zero substance in that theory #zero logic #zero analysis #*shrug* #just the truth

[tinumiel]

My Spuffy feels and why I feel that Spike/Buffy are a much more complete and better suited couple.

First of all, I want to say. I have yet to read BTVS Season 8 to 12, so please, please, PLEASE don’t spoil me anything. 

TW warning: the following analysis contains mentions of sexual assault, emotional abusie, toxic relationships and death.

First thing you need to know is that Buffy and Spike’s relationship in Season 6 is toxic and mutually abusive. This doesn’t mean it doesn’t have it’s good moments, but it is toxic none the less, and there is no way around that fact. The fact that their actions can be explained does not mean they can be excused. I know it, you know it, and any Spuffy shipper who tells you otherwise really missed the point of everything. They do a lot of harm to each other, and neither is at a healthy mental state to have a healthy relationship. Buffy is dealing with her resurrection, and Spike is dealing with these feelings that go against everything he has ever believed during his time as a vampire and he doesn’t understand, and probably an identity crisis. While they find comfort in each other, it is not in a healthy manner. Buffy is using Spike, and Spike displays obsessive behavior towards her.

It all culminates in Spike trying to force himself on Buffy, which is the final proof that this relationship had become as unhealthy as they come.

But, we need to analyze the entire situation more deeply, because, unlike most cases, it is not a black and white thing. Spuffy is not black and white, and that is the depth of their relationship.

What is important to remember is that, at this point, Spike is still a vampire without a soul. But, unlike other soulless vampire (including Angel, all you apologists), he is capable of feeling affection and genuine empathy for others. He is capable of good deeds, as we see majorly in season 5. He cared particularly for Dawn and Joyce (see how he paid his respects to Joyce after she died, not because he wanted to impress Buffy, but because he was genuinely fond of Joyce). After Buffy’s death, he could have left Sunnydale, since there was seemingly nothing left for him there. The Scoobies could not and would not remove his chip, the girl he was in love with was dead, he could hunt demons anywhere. But, he stayed AND helped the Scoobies to fight against the demons. This was, most probably, because he had come to care for Dawn and wanted to look after her. 

But, he is still a soulless vampire. And as long as he stayed as such, he would never be a good guy. He was capable of good and selfless acts, he was capable of love, but his natural condition remained evil. In order for him to truly redeem himself, he needed to have a soul, and in order for that to happen, there needed to be a turning point for him, an event terrible enough for him to fully realize his “evilness”, process it, be horrified by it, and decide to atone for it. This was the sexual assault on Buffy. It could have been something else: murder, torture, etc. But the creators chose this, and I think it makes sense, considering how deteriorated their relationship had become. 

But, how could Spike really become aware of te fact that what he had done was something terrible? In order for that to happen, I think the central factor is that he had to have no truly evil intentions. Spike sexually assaulted Buffy; but, he didn’t mean to. It was not a conscious action in which he did not care for the victim’s feelings, and only for his gratification. This is what allows him to realize that what he has done is terrible and that he must hold himself accountable for it. What proves that he had no ill intentions?

I read that a key factor in Buffy and Spike’s relationship in season 6 is the word “no”. But in this case, no usually meant yes. A problematic statement, but let me explain. Most of the times they said no to having sex with each other (particularly Buffy), she did not really mean it. It was more of a mandatory thing for her to say because she was not supposed to want Spike, but she did. It was why they always ended up together. The struggle was also part of, let’s say, their foreplay (see that very hot scene of the house destroying). Spike and Buffy’s relationship, particularly at this stage, it’s a love and hate, enemies to lovers dynamic. So, all of this was normal for both Spike and Buffy. Because of this, when Buffy refused him, Spike initial thought it was most probably that it was just another case of the same scenario. 

The audience realizes it’s not way before him, of course. Because we are not soulless vampires. Spike, while capable of selfless acts (like I already said), is coming from a very selfish position in this moment. He doesn’t stop to think of what Buffy is really feeling or considering the possibility that this time her no is a “real no”, but assumes that she is simply resisting him in the same manner she always did, because in that moment, he is being a typical soulless vampire. It is something the audience has probably come to forget at that point because of the good he had done previously, but, like I said, Spike would never be a good guy as long as he didn’t have a soul. He was bound to commit something atrocious sooner of later.

But, and here is the key element to this situation and one of his main differences with Angel. He realizes his mistake. Not exactly on his own accord. Like Buffy says, it was only because she stopped him, but that moment of stop was shocking enough to “bring Spike back from his frenzy”, really think the situation through and realize what he had been about to do. And unlike soulless Angel, Spike feels guilt for his most terrible act, he feel disgust at himself. He realizes he doesn’t want to be this person, and that he has to do something to take responsibility for what he has done. This is the moment Spike realizes he wants to be a good guy. And that he can’t be a good guy as long as he doesn’t have a soul. This is the pivotal moment. It is in this point that his actions do become black or white: he either chooses to be good or he chooses to remain bad. And he goes for the good action, thus initiating his redemption arc. But this would not have been possible without the extreme situation that was the horrible act of attempting to abuse Buffy.

After this, we reach Season 7. Spike has a soul now, and much like it happened to Angel, he is taking responsibility for all the terrible things he did in the past. He can’t change them, and all his victims are most likely dead, so the only way to take accountability is to start to do good, which he does. The one of his victims he can answer to for his crime is Buffy. So begins the journey of Spuffy in season 7, that begins with Spike properly experiencing and accepting the guilt and blame, and understanding the extent of the harm he did to Buffy, and accordingly changing his behavior. Where he was once selfish and obsessive, he is now comprehensive and supportive. He gives her the space she needs, listens to her, respects her feelings. The trust between them begins to develop and strengthen, and their relationship matures into a healthy love that is not based purely on physical attraction and unresolved feelings; but in full communication and mutual compromise. Just like Buffy accepted that Angel with a soul was not the same man as Angel without a soul, she accepts that Spike with a soul is not the same as Spike without a soul, and thus, forgives him and starts to trust him again. And this time, Spike proves himself worthy of this.

A lot of people, for some reason, seem to judge Angel with or without a soul as separate people (like Buffy does) but Spike with or without a soul as the same. I don’t know if this is because Angel answers to different names depending on his soul condition, or because his personality changes drastically, but either way, of course under this circumstances Angel is going to seem more healthy and come out on top. But if he were to be judged under the same standards as Spike, he would turn out to be much, much worse. Unlike Spike, Angel without a soul is incapable of love, selfless acts, or feeling empathy under any circumstances, nor is he interested in them. His only joy is to cause pain. He abuses Buffy, perhaps not sexually, but definitely mentally and emotionally, stalks her, threatens and kills those who are close to her and is obsessed solely with the intention of causing her pain. And he does not regret any of these actions. His soul is imposed on him as a punishment. Once he has it, of course, he is happy for it. But when he loses it, he has no interest in taking it back. Spike, on the other hand, has his soul restored. He resolves to search it on his own initiative because he wants to get better. He is willing to face trials that will test his physical and emotional resolve for it because he wants to be a good man. Angel’s soul is meant to be a punishment. Spike’s soul is meant to be a blessing. So, if they are both to be compared and judged, it has to be under the same terms. Just like Buffy does in the show. So they are either judged as separate entities (with and without a soul), or as a whole.

Taking all of this into account, I think it’s safe to say Spike and Buffy are on the long run a much better suited pair, because their relationship is much more mature and developed. They’re based on open, serious conversation, and mutual agreement and compromise, as love should be. Both Spike and Angel (that is, Spike and Angel with a soul) are good, healthy love interests for Buffy, but Angel’s relationship is much less mature and developed. Angel wants to protect her and preserve her, while Spike wants to support her and let her grow. One is a relationship from her teenage years, when she was still growing to be the person she was to become; while the other is a relationship developed throughout different stages in which they have both come to know each other fully well at their worst and their best.

Angel will always be Buffy’s first love and first soulmate. It will always be true love. And they will always have a deep, unique connection. But Spike is her true love soulmate, and to a much deeper level, because just as they reach the point of becoming the man and woman they were meant to be, they are there for each other to have the relationship and love they were both meant to find.

If you read this whole uncalled for reflection, you deserve a cookie and all my love.

#buffy the vampire slayer #spike #buffy #buffy summers #spike x buffy #spuffy #angel

[fromtheplanethexagon]

the robot problem: a critical look at tobecky, 5 years late

hello wordgirl fandom i am back :) and i have a lot of thoughts that i never got around to expressing before i moved on from the show. so be aware that everything i'm saying is based on my experiences during the 2012-2016 era of the fandom & state of tumblr in general, and i am not familiar with more recent fan content.

it's been over five years since the show ended, and @ifbrd​ reminded me (along with some great analysis) that while tobecky was super popular since before the show technically started (thanks to the play date shorts), it's pretty unhealthy in a lot of ways that tend to be excused or flat out ignored in fanworks. i'd like to reflect on that a bit (a lot); specifically, how both the show and the fandom approached this enemies-to-lovers ship, and how easily this ship can slip into uncomfortable territory if we're careless about how we interpret the ship and create fan content of it.

i will admit, i'm mostly writing this as a response to past me and my old creations - though i moved on from the show as a whole years ago, i do like taking the time to reflect on old interests once in a while, and reevaluating my thoughts on them. and this ship is probably the biggest one that still lurks in the corners of my mind once in a while, so let's go.

cherish is the word: a short positive note before a much longer negative one

i wanted to start this essay off with some positivity, because i am going to be very negative after this. tobecky was, in some ways, cute. it's obvious from the very beginning that these two characters are on pretty equal ground, even if one of them isn't aware of it. and that's part of the fun - the irony of how unaware tobey is that his nemesis/crush/person that pretty much always wins against him is someone that he completely dismisses as incompetent. i want to point this out because honestly, in general i don't like enemies-to-lovers because a lot of them use a power imbalance within the dynamic, and i hate power imbalances, especially when it comes to actual life-or-death scenarios (at least, as much as cartoons can do that). in most episodes, becky is never actually forced to go along with his wishes. she's not held in a 'date' against her will, nor is she ever really outwitted by him. i bring this up because there is one huge, uncomfortable exception, which i will get to later.

another big plus to the ship is the fact that they just... get along? even when fighting? of course we get brief moments where they just hang out and talk about paintings or whatever, but i'm talking about how much they get each other, even if they don't realize it. like the word banter, for example. been there since day one. becky loves words, and while most other people in her life don't really care (ranging from 'eh, that's cool i guess' to her brother calling it annoying), tobey gives her a chance to show off and thus treats her as a worthy adversary as herself, not because of her more generic superpowers - something that we've seen in canon that she feels self-conscious about (see: her motivation in patch game). one of the less noticed examples, to me, is "it's your party and i'll cry if I want to", because it's just - okay. they both are excluded from a social event, and while it's obvious that tobey deals with it by destroying the city, it's also pretty obvious that becky also deals with her frustration by fighting in that battle. like, yes, realistically it's just objectively bad that he's destroying buildings. but they're also providing each other with a way to work through their frustrations, first by fighting and then by talking things out, and finally by hanging out together instead of dwelling on being excluded from the party.

so it makes a lot of sense to me that many tobecky fans gravitated towards writing far-in-the-future fic, usually by implying that some growth had taken place before starting to write the ship. (there are, as far as i'm aware, 2... maybe 3 exceptions, that take the time to attempt a real redemption for him, at least when i left the fandom.) because if you take away his worst moments, either by reasoning out that he was 10 years old and a mess, or that he was a cartoon character in a cartoon world where everyone's actions are over-the-top, or by just flat-out pretending that certain episodes never happened, there's some pretty solid ground to start a ship on.

go gadget go: we all do not see it, we simply close our eyes (review of canon)

when the show began, i was the same age as the characters. a lot of other people were, too - at least in my cohort of the fandom. i think it's pretty safe to say that many of us have fond memories of the show's earlier seasons, and held on to that interest as we got older, for whatever reasons. so like, not to be all 'as an OG fan...', but i remember seeing the shorts air for the first time in 2006. i have a diary entry in july of 2009 about how i, a 12yo with no concept of the idea of 'shipping', was disappointed in the new tobey episode because i wanted more tobecky interactions. (that was robo-camping, btw, lol.) and so i remember how exciting their rivalry felt, watching them as someone literally their exact same age, and then watching that again as a nostalgic 17yo, and then uh... growing up, to put it frankly, and realizing just how unhealthy most of their interactions were.

okay what i meant to say was, this section is an overview of the relationship's canon portrayal throughout the years.

first, we have early tobecky: this includes the shorts and the first few seasons. this is their classic relationship: he likes her and takes robots on rampages to get her attention, she majorly disapproves and has fun taking him down. we've all seen the show, you know what i'm talking about. his backhanded ways of trying to find out her identity often feature prominently in the episodes, which - sigh, i've mentioned this whole issue before, but it's kind of a grey area in the whole uncomfortable-factor thing, because while trying to find out her identity is VERY invasive, it's something that like... everyone in the show tries to do, even her canon crush (scoops). on the one hand, it's really not a great look, but on the other hand, this is a cartoon meant to parody a genre in which this trope is extremely common. so i just wanna say that i have Issues and Thoughts on this aspect of their relationship, but there are other things i find more important to discuss here.

second, we have late tobecky: this is seasons 7-8. this is... a very strange and huge shift from the previous dynamic, though it's not necessarily obvious. what i mean by that is that for some reason, the show writers made it so that half of tobey’s rampages have nothing to do with his crush on wordgirl, even though that used to be the sole reason for his villainy. seriously. we have the birthday episode, where he's upset because he feels left out; wg vs tobey vs the dentist, where he's mad that he has a cavity; and trustworthy tobey, where his robot goes on a rampage... after becky accidentally makes it malfunction. the two outliers are ‘guess who’s coming to thanksgiving dinner’ and ‘patch game’, but they still differ from previous seasons because 1) his destruction is isolated to a forest far away from the city, and 2) his motive is still to impress wordgirl, but his methods are relatively tame. also he completely gives up on the secret identity thing??? i may have missed some things but i think he straight up tells her 'yeah there's no way you're wordgirl, lol' and the subject is just dropped for the rest of the show.

i also want to include 'the robot problem' here, because it's one of two season 6 tobey episodes, and follows the 'doesn't destroy buildings to get her attention' pattern: in fact, he teams up with her to try and stop someone else from going on a rampage (even if his reasons are selfish, lol).

and finally. the other season 6 episode. we have go gadget go, the bane of my time spent in the fandom. because GGG is the single episode where tobey truly manages to take away her autonomy, and proceeds to abuse that power for an extended period of time, for his own amusement. it's bad. it's Very Bad. put in the context that it's a white boy doing this to an (ambiguously) brown girl, it's REALLY REALLY BAD. and the more i look back on it, tbh, the more weirded out i am that the show not only made it seem like she wasn't affected at all within the episode, it just... forgot about it (which is not unusual for shows and especially children’s shows, but WG does make some efforts to either retain continuity or create canon reasons for why things are forgotten about). it's the kind of thing that you can't excuse and honestly you can't redeem (like at this point, you gotta ask yourself why you're spending so much effort trying to redeem this guy when becky has several other possible ships that are nowhere near this unhealthy - violet, scoops, honestly even victoria if you want another hero/villain ship, my absolute fave rarepair rose, etc).

so if you want to still ship it you have to just pretend that it never happened. (i remember trying for weeks to write something exploring the aftermath of this episode, to try and make myself feel better about it, but the more i wrote the more i realized just how traumatic this event should've been, so i eventually just dropped it.) and i brought up my own timeline of experiences earlier to point out that this episode aired eight whole years after the show started. which means that when i saw it, even though i was a huge stickler for canon at the time, i'd built up my own idea of the show and characters strongly enough to go 'yeah, no, this episode sucks and i am going to pretend that it doesn't exist'. and i think a lot of other people did too, because i really saw like... no one mention it, ever, except for some rogue fanfics over on ff dot net that already liked dynamics like that.

because here's the thing, and i don't know if people nowadays are aware of it? but i'm 80% sure (cannot find a source, so the other 20% is that it was just a rumor) that the show was originally supposed to end after season 6. and even if it's a rumor, it makes a ton of sense, because we get 1) an 'ending' to tobecky, which is a bad one, 2) a permanent wordgirl identity reveal that significantly changes one of the major dynamics in the show, 3) an episode where TJ gets to work with wordgirl and get a nice potential ending for their sibling dynamic, 4) an episode where we see Two-Brains explore life without his henchmen... the list goes on, and idk how many of these are just major stretches. but the point is. if the show had ended there, that would've been a pretty solid ending for many things, including their relationship: aka, it would prove that it was only ever heading somewhere bad, and when tobey finally has his moment of triumph, he is truly evil about it. and this provides us fans who HATE go gadget go with an easy reason to dismiss it - we can say that it was an attempt to conclude things in a way that wouldn't have happened if the writers had known they'd get more time. but despite that... it is still a canon episode.

it is odd to me how dramatically the dynamic shifts after that, though, because we seriously go from 'worst case ever, tobecky is toxic, your ship is dead' to 'no actually they get along and hang out and get ice cream together and tobey isn't even pressuring her into it, she's happy to go along with it :)' like, immediately. i never knew much about the show writers, so i don't know if the writers changed in between these seasons, but i would absolutely not be surprised if they did.

the earlier episodes are definitely problematic as well (though they pale in comparison to GGG) but i think everyone who ships it is aware considering that tobey is, yknow, a villain. from memory, he destroys buildings to get her attention, lies to her about the level of danger that people are in to trick her into spending more time with him, blackmails her into reading his poetry, and he creates a robot based on her that’s supposed to be devoted to him (but of course, all of these things backfire). not great stuff of course, but like... he’s a villain, that’s the point of his character. and considering that he’s a child these are things that can be redeemed, if done thoughtfully.

anyway, to sum up this section, the show starts off with a pretty standard 'enemies with an unrequited crush' setup, takes a really dark turn for a single episode, and then for the rest of the show takes their dynamic in a direction that makes it much, much easier to ship. as long as you ignore a lot of previous content.

wordbot: where's becky's autonomy in all of this? (misogyny)

we've finally gotten to the fandom. i recognize that a lot of this is going to come across as hypocritical considering how active i used to be re: this ship, but like... i'm a very different person now. anyway. disclaimer i guess - i don't write this to accuse all tobecky shippers of being like this - i know a lot of us aren't/weren't! but boy do i have things to point out, so without further ado:

it is very hard to ship this without allowing some bit of misogyny to slip into it. very, very hard. the entire premise of the ship involves a girl falling in love with a boy that repeatedly pressures her to date him via threats to the safety of herself and people she cares about, which... it's 2020, i shouldn't have to explain why that's terrible & a terrible example to set for children (which is why i am glad they never made it canon, tbh). best-case fan content has tobey stop pressuring her and start working to redeem himself out of an actual change of heart, which leads to becky seeing him in a new light. worst-case fan content treats his incessant pressuring and sometimes outright threats as something romantic - and even worse, romantic to the point where he deserves her attention and love as a reward for not giving up or whatever. i did see this pretty frequently for a while, especially in the earlier 2010s (didn't read much, Not My Thing At All), but i don't feel like going into detail here because of how obviously problematic it is. one medium (but still bad) case is where the fan content makes him start his redemption, but treats her liking him back as a reward for not knocking buildings over anymore. another not great case is where she tries to fix him with her love, which is a very common and very dangerous romantic trope. both are just... so incredibly unfair to her.

in content where she tries to 'fix him'... yeah i feel like it's really obvious how misogynistic that is. girls and women should not feel responsible for the evil actions of men, plain and simple. idk what else to say here i just really hate that trope and hated it back then and it just sucks! so can we not do that anymore, thanks.

in content that treats her like a reward for good behavior, there really isn't much of an explanation for what she sees in him. if she just goes 'oh wow, you're good now, i am going to fall in love with you for it' the whole thing falls flat because it makes NO sense whatsoever. we get to hear so much about tobey and his feelings and why he likes her and how he feels about it, but where is that energy for becky? why does she choose to trust him, to spend time around him, what does she enjoy about his presence? where is her getting over scoops in the process of falling for tobey? where is her telling her friends about this, confiding in them, asking them for advice? where is her choice in the matter?

win a day with wordgirl: do you guys even like becky or do you just like the idea of her (misogyny... 2!)

it was pretty standard for all fandoms the early-mid 2010s, but that's still not a good excuse for why so many tobecky fanfictions centered specifically around tobey's feelings while refusing to give becky the same level of empathy and nuance. it is true that to ship them comfortably you have to redeem him to some degree, which means spending time figuring him out and trying to find ways to pull him to the light without feeling super OOC. but ships take two people??? and there was so much potential for fanfics to explore becky's complex feelings on the matter - because she is! complex! she's heroic and kind but she's petty and has a competitive streak, she easily befriends villains but also doesn't trust them and doesn't believe they can ever really change, she's the savior of an entire planet but has feelings of inadequacy as her civilian identity and struggles with feeling like she can be successful without superpowers, she's great at the straightforward meanings and uses of words and loves reading but struggles to write passages that aren't dry as hell, it can be easily headcannoned that she's neurodivergent (special interests, issues with fitting in with her peers, taking things very literally, etc)... seriously there is SO MUCH to explore about her character, and a lot of it comes into play when you add tobey into the mix (literally ALL of the things i mentioned are explored at some point using tobey as a parallel or foil), but i rarely saw fanfiction that explored her thoughts on things further than 'he's evil but... maybe good?' or 'he's evil but... i kind of like him anyway?'.

if you want her to fall for him while being a villain, explore it!! why does she go against her morals? does she lie to herself about it to feel better? does she feel like she has to 'fix him' as part of her superhero duties to the city, and if so, how does that affect her as she tries and fails to help him? does she fall for him when she believes that he's turning good, only to feel betrayed when he starts acting worse because he feels like he can get away with it? it's such a shame that fanworks spend so little time even considering these questions, and it is absolutely a product of how deeply misogyny is/was baked into how we approach media (especially back then).

tobey goes good: but wait, i thought this show was progressive (a conclusion, i guess)

ifbrd wrote a great meta recently about how the show is a bit misogynist, despite being progressive in several ways. honestly i don't have much to add, but i'd really recommend reading through this; it makes a lot of great observations about the ways that male and female characters are presented differently through the show

i have little to add, so i'd just like to conclude with a reflection on the ship from my current viewpoint. i do think part of the reason so many of us latched onto the ship, despite how obviously problematic it was, is that the show treats a lot of things that would be serious in real life as normal or even comedic - which is fine lol, i'm not going to pretend that it's not a show for little kids, so they have to keep the tone light.

but if we, as teens/adults, decide to engage with this content in a more realistic manner, we have to be prepared to confront how messed up so many of the things going on really are. and if you still want to ship it, there's nothing inherently wrong with that! there's a lot of interesting things to explore in this ship, no matter what stage of enemies-to-friends-to-lovers you write them at, and it can be really helpful to have a space where you can explore a dynamic such as this in fiction. (speaking from experience here tbh, writing some fic for them helped me deal with complicated feelings about some ex-longtime friends.)

so to write this ship at all means that there are canon issues that you need to deal with if you want to have them end up in a healthy relationship in any manner that makes sense (unless you create an AU where none of that is applicable, which, power to you then). and i’m not saying ‘write them with a healthy endgame or you’re Bad’, not at all lol. but at least please, please take a step back once in a while to examine the dynamic that you’re writing, and please be careful about whether you mean to be romanticizing whatever behaviors you end up portraying as good.

#wordgirl #becky botsford #tobey mccallister #tobecky #tobecky critical #has anyone ever used that tag before LMAO #anyway: i may come back and reword the ending because i am not totally happy with it #but wow this is so many words. so many. send help

[thegeminisage]

excuse me i’m going to be mushy for a second & i think i’m entitled

the thing about dean and cas and this whole thing is that’s getting me the most is: they aren’t even fucking real. no matter how much you love them they are little fake 2D fictional people in a fake 2D fictional world. you know? none of this is REAL like it’s not in REAL LIFE

and yet, the sheer number of coincidences, the sheer number of lucky calls, the odds being so ASTRONOMINCALLY LOW - that dean was never supposed to go to hell. that angels weren’t supposed to exist in spn. that cas was only supposed to be around for 3 episodes, and then was supposed to die at the end of season 4, and again at the end of season 5, and the way that season 6 was written to make him irredeemable so that he could die for good at the start of season 7...they tried again and again and again to like, NOT do this, and every time: it kept happening? cas survived, we demanded his survival, he redeemed himself, he beat the odds over and over and over

THE THING IS: castiel and the love he learned to feel for dean has been canonically established as the single DEFINING factor of why god, in-universe, could not control the outcome of his own story. in-universe, castiel stepped off the page and ripped up his ending and made his own, and it saved that world from someone who otherwise had complete and total omniscience over it

and if that wasn’t baller enough?? castiel has now STEPPED OFF THE PAGE IN REAL LIFE. i want to repeat: HE IS FAKE. HE DOES NOT EXIST! but he and dean love each other SO MUCH that they affected and changed the story they were in time after time after TIME. dean and cas loved each other so much that for a time we were gonna get an ending where they said so. dean and cas loved each other so much that even after the shitty finale aired we got to be able to go thru all these conspiracies about the actual truth. dean and cas love each other so much they somehow fucking manifested the south american dub leaving in dean’s reciprocation. it’d be like if i loved someone enough to magically start traveling thru the 4th dimension. they’re FAKE PEOPLE but they’re fucking around WITH REALITY. in REAL LIFE the FAKE CHARACTERS cas and dean changed the ending to this story. like, what the fuck? what the fuck??

dean was going to die closeted. do u get that? canonically he was going to live up in heaven forever and never tell a single soul about what he thought or how he felt re: cas. that’s a fate worse than death. but in REAL LIFE cas saved him. we saved him.

and the way, excuse me, the way that this is almost unique to the queer experience - love that has to and can and will fight to be seen and heard. the way that the audience that KEPT THE SHOW ON THE AIR for fifteen goddamn years, the audience that watched it and stayed invested and went to cons and and ENGAGED week after week no matter how dicey the writing got. the way that THAT AUDIENCE. IS QUEER. we walked that road beside dean for fifteen long years and we grew up beside him. and he was queer the whole time and we were queer with him the whole time and we waited and we WAITED even when there was NO HOPE he would ever get to acknowledge that truth

but fighting to be heard and seen is something that is integral to queerness specifically, and they became real BECAUSE they were queer, and we are their voice because WE’RE queer right here with them. they couldn’t have become real if they weren’t queer. it’s the fucking realest thing about them. 

and no one, not even the official CW ptb (”god”), can deny that now - they buried their gays but they can’t kill them. you know? dean and cas are alive forever now. dean winchester is saved.

[spn masterpost]

#destiel #supernatural #spn #deancas #long post #personal #liz watches spn #yes u can reblog it ;) im almost at my post limit already lmao jesus fuck #i had to get this out of me while i could #not me welling up while writing this #i am fucking entitled. i am FUCKING entitled #this is so huge like...i am fucking entitled

[filthyjanuary]

7-12 and 16-20 for the asks!

7. What do you dislike about your favourite season?

i think season 2 is the best, but as i’ve said before, my favourite is 4 solely because the first few eps i watched were from s4. i think season 4 is very solid and even though it’s a season that HURTS BAD because of everything happening between sam and dean, i think the show earns the conflict for the most part. the literal only thing that still haunts me is that the STUPID VOICEMAIL THAT GETS ALTERED IS NEVER ADDRESSED. like i hate more than anything that sam still thinks dean said those things. like i know jared’s said that sam knows dean loves him but i don’t care!!! sam /and/ dean deserve to know the voicemail was changed.

OH also literally everything with anna milton. she deserved better <3 sorry the fridged you and gave part of your arc to a man, queen.

also sam and dean should’ve found out cas let sam out of the panic room.

8. Thoughts on Sam’s demon blood arc

i love sam’s demon blood arc. his hot girl summer! in all seriousness, it makes perfect sense. mystery spot sets it up that sam goes dark when he doesn’t have dean, and s4 is the natural progression of that. i love sam being hellbent on revenge, and the blood drinking was hot sorry not sorry. like obviously the end result wasn’t stellar and the handling of the demon blood as an addiction was handled rather shittily in the show, but overall this arc is near and dear to me and if i couldn’t have the boy king, i’m glad i got this instead. and it brings up some really interesting concepts that get explored really well in fic.

9. Thoughts on the Moc arc

i hate this arc mostly because like dean was terrible...which makes sense, but even after the mark was gone it’s like... he never /really/ pulls himself out of that place. it also just dragged on for FAR too long. like it didn’t need to be like 30 episodes or however long. i do like that it gave us demon!dean being like sexythreatening, and that scene of sam cradling dean’s face and begging him to tell him that he had to kill all those people and just the general sam is dean’s colette of it all. also the end of s10 with sam on his knees and dean telling him to close his eyes is deeply fucked up and i love it for that reason and obviously that happened bc of the MOC storyline.

10. Fave underrated ep

i am highkey obsessed with 1x04 phantom traveller, 2x07 the usual suspects and 4x19 jump the shark and i feel like most people don’t really care about those episodes or bring them up much. phantom traveller is just interesting bc i think the character moments are fun and i am obsessed with plane crashes for some reason. the usual suspects i just adore because it’s really a great exploration of HOW WELL sam and dean know each other and just how alike they are. and unfortunately i really like the cop lady in this one. jump the shark was the second episode of supernatural i ever saw and for some reason something in my brain latched onto adam and never let go. i love him so much (i know it’s not really him in the ep but ukno) and i love how much you learn about sam and dean through it too.

11. Thoughts on BMOL

boring. like...the actors were not good at their accents. they wanted what bela talbot had in s3. i just didn’t find ‘the british are evil’ a compelling storyline in a supernatural show.... like girl i live in real life you don’t need to preach to me about the british. also like they set up ketch to be evil like worse than toni who i already hate because she tortures/sexually assaults sam by having him kill magda i guess? but then they end up redeeming him and he survives longer than both mick (affectionate) and toni (derogatory), like seriously one of the worst Big Bads they’ve ever had.

12. Thoughts on Mary

to be honest, i think bringing her back was kind of a stupid idea in the sense that the ENTIRE SHOW starts because of her death. but i felt like HAVING DONE THAT, trying to deconstruct her image as like this nuclear housewife was compelling and the whole clash of sam and dean who just want their mom versus mary who left her kids as a an infant and a small child and now has these grown men who are older than her needing things she doesn’t know how to give was very interesting. and i wish they’d done more with that. 

16. Any criticisms of their world building/lore

well i think everyone’s said it better than me that they can’t seem to get their stance on monsters straight at all and the show suffers for it. i also hate how like the later seasons especially just blatantly retcon so much. the prime example is the garden of eden in s5 vs s15.... the s5 version was so much more interesting and i hate that they brought it back just to destroy their own lore. the whole concept of the abrahamic god being like the ‘real’ god vs other gods just being minor annoyances didn’t like...make sense or feel good either. i also would’ve loved more exploration of like what the fuck it means to be a vessel and also exploration of other monsters/urban legends. like ok we get it ghosts/demons/vampires/werewolves sure w/e but there’s so much to pull from. it got repetitive and there’s so many other things they could’ve tried. hell the SECOND EPISODE of the show mentions black dogs and we never actually encounter one. or like chimeras... like there’s just plenty to dig into and they just get lazy.

17. What did you like about s15?

15x20 <3 also just...jack....that’s my son! MICHAEL/ADAM IN 15X08!!!! i think there were a couple moments i liked in like...the gambler and last holiday, and i thought belphagor was funny. oh! also sam’s nightmare visions were kinda fun even tho they led back to lucifer :/

18. Thoughts on Lucifer

he was a really excellent and intimidating villain in s5.... and frankly i enjoyed hallucifer as well because sure he was presented comedically but he was a deeply dark presence hanging over sam as a reminder of what he suffered. everything after that...sucked!!! it sucked!!!!! overstayed his welcome, letting him out of the cage again totally nullifies sam’s sacrifice and frankly he lost every smidge of intimidation factor he ever had. he was just annoying and whiny and pointless and sam should’ve killed him <3 fuck that guy.

19. Most uncomfortable moments throughout the show for you?

answered here

20. Define the different eras in a few lines or words (s1-5, s6-7, s8-11, s12-15)

this was meant to be short... and then it wasnt... sorry.

kripke: PEAK SUPERNATURAL. racist AND sexist but like i frankly do not care because the actually storytelling is so GOOD. COHERENT. i long for what could’ve been had the strike not kneecapped s3 and we’d gotten boyking, but hell the arc we DID get... so good. so fulfilling. aesthetics go off the charts. character dynamics so good!!! conflicts are earned!!!! there was a fucking vision here and it was unique and interesting and the show was COMMITTED TO IT. literally iconic television i love her so much. eric kripke needs a therapist but i’m glad he wrote this show instead of going to see one. 

gamble: sera THEE gamble.... overarching storylines kinda weak, but SO FUN! i had fucking fun! soulless sam is a comedian, godstiel was the last time cas was remotely interesting, like!!!! she gave us everything!!!!! gets slandered way too much by this hell fandom like yes the leviathans were stupid but the were FUN and the character moments in s6-s7!!! so good!!!! lots of excellent MOTW eps as well, which... as we know...i love. when the show lost gamble, it lost something great, i’ll die on this hill. i love u #girlboss.

carver: there’s a lot of good here and a lot i despise. dean steadily grows darker throughout the show but there’s like a real VEER into being awful in s9 that the show never recovers from. it makes dean very unlikeable for the rest of its run, mostly by virtue of the show not realizing how unlikeable it’s made dean because it needs him to always be right so the fact that he’s basically turned into john is never like....addressed in any meaningful way. some storylines (MOC!!) dragged on for too long, while others were way too short (TRIALS!!!) but ultimately i think there were some good ideas here and moments i’m fond of. season 11 is Beautiful. i love her so much. there’s some really excellent eps in s11 and the character moments are good.

dabb: i literally hate it here (jack sweetie you are not included in this assessment you’re doing great). it was just stupid. the characterizations of EVERYBODY sucked and fell flat. way too obsessed with pandering to the loudest faction on twitter. took the wreckage of dean that carver left and full destroyed him. like straight up could’ve done something meaningful if they’d bothered to address it at all but they literally didn’t ever make dean be accountable for his actions??? can’t tell u what cas was doing it was so forgettable he obviously had no purpose literally the only scenes i remember were a couple where he’s being cute with jack and that one ep where he and sam go to that old-timey town and sam gets brainwashed. sam like... exists, and his character is intact but it’s only intact because the writers that were left didn’t want to bother giving him anything meaty to do to so the were like *spins wheel* leadership arc that goes nowhere, and he just exists being kind and compassionate and putting up with too much shit. BUT HE HAD REALLY FUCKING EXCELLENT MOMENTS WITH JACK and that alone is why i think it’s worth the slog. sam/jack is my favourite dynamic on the show following sam/dean so...unfortunately based on that.... i can’t just burn the whole dabb era but seriously... way to make every character a hollow, one-dimensional shell.

send me supernatural asks

#ALLISON THANK U I LOVE U #asks #spn #long post #so-excuse-my-tantrum

[bellatrixobsessed1]

why people do women wrong? it's always the man that gets good. I mean: Pansy Parkinson-no development. Still evil bully Claudia-turn bad, no redemption Azula-from bad to worse, no redemption. Only regina and kuvira have a redemption (kuvira does not deserve it) The others stay bad, insignificant. // From bad to good,redemption. Draco Zuko Soren What i learned is that women are worse than men. Do you know what I mean...

This one is a little tricky for me to answer because I’m not sure if I agree or disagree. I’ve seen a lot of media where the female characters are treated awesome (I’m thinking of the heavy girl power shows; Winx, W.i.t.c.h., Totally Spies, KP, etc.) But then there are some where the treatment isn’t so great. I can see why you’d say so but I think I kind of lean more towards saying that it isn’t a gender issue so much as I have a habit of latching onto and getting attached to characters that aren’t particularly well liked by the creators and/or fandom.

The reason I don’t think that this is a gender issues is because we do have characters like Regina and Kuvira (personally I do think that she deserved it, I’m a rather staunch Kuvira supporter lol) are proof of that. We also have Shego  from KP (who in the very final episode, if I remember right) ended up having a hand in saving the world. She and Drakken ended up getting an award for it (again it’s been a while since I’ve watched that tho so I could be wrong). Regardless she was pretty consistently humanized throughout, and sometimes shown in a more positive light. More recently, Icy from Winx finally got a backstory that painted her in a more sympathetic light. Pretty sure she also helped the good guys in the finale (it was kinda unclear because I watched the Italian version and I don’t speak Italian). This was particularly astounding to me because up until then the writer seemed to really not like her lol. And of course we have Regina who has, what I think, is one of the most amazing redemption arcs out there. Her sister got a redemption too and so did Ursula and Maleficent. Anastasia got one. In season 7, Cinderella’s step mom got one. Even Cora got a little redemption arc and she was one of the meanest bitches int show lol. Say what you will about Once, but a good lot of their female villains turned good (and if they didn’t they were humanized). And then there’s Kuvira who also got a redemption, even if the execution was somewhat rushed.  Acxa is also a good example. Again, say what you will about Voltron, but Acxa, Zethrid, and Ezor all got receptions and ended up fighting for the good side. There were even scrapped plans to make her the pilot of the yellow lion. Hell, Haggar got some humanization at the very end. She was eventually portrayed as a woman who just wanted to be reunited with her son. 

So I think that there are many examples of shows where the females (and female villains) are treated well. Enough of them, at least for me, to safely say that I don’t think it’s a gender thing.

At the same time characters like Azula and Isabella are the reason why I can see why you’d say female characters are done dirty. Azula especially seems to get poor treatment even from the authors when her situation is very similar to Zuko’s and literally every other character gets sympathy by the gallon. But tbh I think that it’s more of the fandoms than the creators. I’ve noticed that with Isabella, for example, her brother, Guy, gets a lot of love and sympathy and everyone seems to love him. No hate on Guy, because I like him too. But Isabella is an abuse and an (implied) rape survivor. And she went from good to evil to good again and then back to evil where she stayed and died. It has been a while since I’ve interacted with that fandom, but I know that back when it first came out, everyone hated her and there was like no sympathy for her even when she was good. I think that it’s because they saw her as a replacement for Marian and so they did that ship war thing where they hated her for getting in the way or whatever. I’ve actually stumbled upon an outright hate fic or two about her. 

Regina also got so much hate from the fandom. I’ve noticed that a lot of people liked to praise Hook and excuse a lot of what he did, but they’d constantly demonize Regina for similar stuff. Like before her redemption the fandom (at least the portion I talked to) hate this hate boner for her and would constantly shit talk her at every opportunity. Back when I fought everyone who disagreed with me I remember constantly getting into it with a handful of Rumple fans who would hate on Regina for being a killer while simultaneously dismissing and justifying the murders Rumple committed???? 

Azula, I feel, has become the fandom’s punching back. She and Zuko both have the same father and were exposed to abuse from him. Different kinds, but still abuse. They were both kids. But for some reason Zuko’s negative actions (as a result of his abuse) tend to get swept under the rug while Azula’s are always discussed. I think that it has a lot to do with that Zuko did get his redemption. But at the same time I’ve noticed quite a few people justifying some of the bad things he did in the past while knocking Azula for doing bad things. 

I also think that it might have  to do with Azula being realistic. I know a lot of people who say that they see people they don’t like in Azula and for that they can’t like her. Which is fair enough. I have a few characters that I don’t like because they remind me of people I don’t like. 

As for Claudia and Soren; I’m not caught up with DP. But I feel like Claudia is going to be redeemed. I think that Aaron might be treating her as Azula but with a redemption. But I’m also kind of skeptical because there’s speculation that he was lying about the whole ‘plans for an Azula redemption’ thing, which is a whole other matter that I’m not even going to get into right now. I think that with DP we’re just gonna have to wait and see how Claudia is handled. 

Bottom line I feel like fandoms tend to be harder on female villains than male villains. I don’t think that its necessarily the writers. And even then I’m not quite convinced that it is simply because they are female, because I have seen quite a few female villains get lots of love from the fandoms. And despite it all, Azula does get sympathy from the fandom and I’ve seen several people who don’t particularly like her, say that they at least feel bad for her. I think that it’s just kind of easier to pay attention to the hate than it is the the love sometimes. Because one unkind comment tends to just really stick out among positive ones. Hateful comments also tend to have more of an impact than kinder ones. 

TL;DR While I can see why you’d say that female character are done wrong, I think that I lean more towards it not being a gender issue. I think that there are many factors as to why certain female characters get less sympathy while others get more. I hope all of the above made sense. 

[snkpolls]

SnK S3E19 Poll Results (Anime Only Viewer Version)

The poll closed with 141 responses. Thank you to everyone who participated!

Please note this is the anime only viewer version of the poll. Manga readers, please click here for the results of the manga reader poll!

RATE THE EPISODE 121 Responses

As has been the trend this season, the episode received high ratings, although the number of lower ratings did increase this episode.

I just love this show

Felt very bloated, and could have been cut down to ~12 minutes

I thought it had really poor animation relative to other episodes.

Mind blowing

its great

awesomely emotional

WHICH OF THE FOLLOWING WAS YOUR FAVORITE MOMENT? 123 Responses

26% of respondents most enjoyed the basement reveal, finally seeing the goal the characters have been fighting to achieve since the beginning! Followed closely behind that at 18.7% was getting to see young Grisha and his little sister in their childhood beyond the walls. 10.6% most enjoyed the sequence of Eren and Mikasa walking through Shiganshina.

ZEPPELINS

WHAT’S THE SIGNIFICANCE OF ARMIN SEEING THE COLOSSAL TITAN CRYING, SAYING “IT HURTS?” 123 Responses

40.7% of viewers believe that this scene highlights the way the transferring of memories works when a titan is passed onto another individual. 23.6% believe he’s simply tuning into Bertolt’s emotional pain from everything that’s happened. 14.6% believe this is a hint at how passing on the titan power works.

A combo of a few of these options. I feel like he’s reviving Berdolt’s last thoughts and current thoughts due to the Titan power transfer.

His subconscious was just combining the Colossal Titan with what Sasha was saying right next to him.

HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT CARLA’S SHORT HAIR? 121 Responses

Overall viewers were neutral to Carla’s random hairstyle change, with the varying reactions toward it leaning in the negative more than the positive.

DO YOU FEEL THAT LEVI HOLDS ANY REAL RESENTMENT TO EREN AND MIKASA FOR GOING AGAINST HIM? 122 Responses

Over half of the fandom, at 56.6% believe that Levi doesn’t have any hard feelings toward Eren and Mikasa for their behavior against him in the previous episode. 35.2% thinks he probably does, but only just a little. A smaller percentage feel that he probably resents them a lot now.

He may not admit it but he probably feels gratitude towards them for making him realize how much pain Erwin felt in life, and the reason Erwin was so thankful to Levi for resigning him to a heroic death.

He seemed pretty damn mad last episode, but looks to have gotten over it by now, so I doubt it.

Maybe a little, but he understands why they acted like that

Yes and no. He does because they disobeyed his orders but he knows deep down if he was in Eren and Mikasa’s shoes he’d do the exact same thing.

DO YOU FEEL THAT ARMIN AND/OR HANGE SHOULD BE EXPECTED TO FILL ERWIN’S SHOES? 122 Responses

45.1% of viewers feel that Armin and Hange shouldn’t pressure themselves into being more like Erwin, but that they should instead find a way to lead that works best for both of them. 30.3% of respondents believe that they should do their best to live up to Erwin’s legacy. 23% believe that Armin should not be expected to hold up to Erwin’s standards, but that it is Hange’s duty to do so as the new commander of the Survey Corps.

Dot Pyxis

HOW DID THE SEQUENCE OF EREN AND MIKASA WALKING THROUGH SHIGANSHINA MAKE YOU FEEL? 121 Responses

32.2% of viewers felt nostalgia as Eren and Mikasa took their first journey through Shiganshina for the first time after 5 years. 30.6% simply felt sad for everything that the two lost during the fall, and 25.6% felt that the flashes between the past and present were pretty cool.

I was almost in awe of how well-done it was in general. It was almost like an out-of-body experience.

I was glad to see Hannes again

IT WAS REVEALED THIS EPISODE THAT HUMANITY OUTSIDE THE WALLS IS THRIVING. THOUGHTS? 121 Responses

38.8% of respondents had suspected that there were only a few people who lived beyond the walls, but not an entire society. 35.5% suspected that humanity beyond the walls was just fine after they learned about the other titan shifters. 9.3% of viewers were genuinely surprised by the reveal in the basement!

Expected since Ymir origin

I assumed there would be a bunch of small, tribal-esque settlements struggling to survive amongst the titans. I wonder how they got so advanced despite all the titans wandering about. How do they control them with no Coordinate? What is their purpose?

I knew there was an outside civilization since Ymir’s flashback in season two, just didn’t expect it to be so advanced

I thought the hometown was some kind of camp, with some hobos trying to ruin everyones life... boy was I wrong...

I was a little spoiled

When they found erens dad outside of the wall

Zeke kinda gave it away in episode 26

The basement reveal did not disappoint. After the sheer amount of buildup, the reveal needed to be a true WTF that changed EVERYTHING, and it was. I have never been so goddamn torqued in my entire life.

Although we have had a lot of great reveals over the past few arcs, this is the first one that recaptured how I felt when I saw Eren emerge from his Titan for the first time: the feeling that everything I thought I knew was wrong and that there are still so many things I don't know about this world. It's one of the things that made me fall in love with the show. It seems like anything is possible going forward. I'm nervous, but also curious and excited.

It drastically has changed my perspective on the whole entire show now.

THE EPISODE ENDED WITH A DRASTIC CHANGE IN TONE AS WE BEGIN A RECOLLECTION OF GRISHA’S MEMORIES OF HIS LIFE OUTSIDE OF THE WALLS. HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT GETTING TO WATCH HIS STORY UNFOLD? 120 Responses

70% of viewers are feeling very excited to learn more about the outside world, while 16.7% are most excited to learn more about Grisha. 8.3% of viewers are looking forward to learning about the outside, although perhaps less thrilled about seeing it through Grisha’s eyes.

Heard it goes to shit with the genre change. I hope I'm thrilled with it, but the general vibe of my manga-only peers doesn't give me much hope.

I have a feeling this is gonna explain a lot about the outside world, but not the titans themselves. Frankly, I’m so hyped to see where this goes!

I’m very excited to learn more about the outside and Grisha

Hyped for Grisha's story!

COMPARED TO THE FEEL OF SEASON 1, HAS THE DIRECTION OF THE STORY MET YOUR EXPECTATIONS? 119 Responses

The overwhelming majority of viewers are feeling very pleased with the direction of the story, agreeing that it gets better and better as it progresses. 12.6% feel that it didn’t meet their expectations, but that it’s not a bad thing at all. A smaller percentage didn’t have their expectations met, but are still curious about where the story goes from here.

There’s no other way to put it then season 3 part 2 has been the best thing I’ve watched in years, maybe ever. The character development, the hints about the outside, HUGE changes to the show when it comes to characters getting Killeen off, everything about this show makes me genuinely excited for each new episode. These past 7 episodes have all truly been masterpieces.

ADDITIONAL THOUGHTS ON THE EPISODE?

Amazing music

I feel like we just finished the world’s longest tutorial and the real gameplay is about to begin.

I wish we spent more time with the books that Eren had the key for before seeing our teaser for the next EP. I feel like we got just a tiny bit of info and I wanted more but I’m sure it’s coming eventually.

Boring filler with a redeeming after credits scene

I waited so long for the reveal I can’t wait for the rest of the season.

I loved the music in this episode, especially the track that played when Grisha took Faye's hand and started running. The OST for this season can't come out soon enough!

Also, Faye was pretty cute, though that just makes me think something bad's gonna happen to her.

Where do titans factor into all this? Are there as many titans as we think? Are they tools of war? Do civilians know about titans? Are shifters basically their militia? How do they get such crazy powers? How many questions are gonna stack up in my mind by the end of the season?!

WHERE DO YOU PRIMARILY DISCUSS THE SERIES? 116 Responses

Thanks again to everyone who participated. See you again in a few days!

#snk spoilers #snk s3 #snk poll #snk polls #poll results

[vmheadquarters]

Twelve years ago today, UPN (RIP!) premiered a cult-classic neo-noir about murder, class warfare, sexual assault, and forbidden love. It was quippy and campy and smart as hell—and it just happened to center on a pint-sized blonde who looked like a cheerleader but thought like Sherlock Holmes. The show was Veronica Mars, and even if the last decade has muddled its legacy with a much-hyped but ultimately disappointing fan-funded follow-up film and, of course, the extremely meh third season, the high school years remain an unparalleled success. Veronica Mars seasons one and two were better than anything that had come before, far surpassed its competition in quality, and set a high bar for future shows that has only barely been met by a few episodes of television here and there. So give my regards to Friday Night Lights (a family show, not a teen show) and Degrassi (please), but Veronica Mars is the best teen show of all time*. 

1. Nuanced Class Conflict

Gossip Girl and The OC did it well, but Veronica Mars did it better. Even though Neptune, CA, is technically fictional, it's as real a place as has ever been portrayed on television. Its particular problems and reputation informed everything from law enforcement (the question of whether or not to incorporate the town into a city and make the sheriff's office into a police department) to the biker gangs riding through on their way up and down the PCH. The levels of privilege/lack thereof were so nuanced and specific. Other shows divide people into the Haves and the Have Nots; on Veronica Mars, everyone has something a little different. At the bottom of the socioeconomic ladder is Weevil, whose background is not only impoverished but criminal; the only community he can "afford" is a gang (though his crew isn't all bad—you'll find nary a broad stroke or generalization in the world of Veronica Mars). In the center of things are Veronica and Keith, who lived comfortably when Keith was sheriff, but have buckled their belts since he became a private eye. On the one hand, they own a small business! On the other, they live in a pretty crap apartment complex and have nowhere near enough saved to send Veronica to college. Then there's the nouveau-riche Echolls', who have all the glamorous trappings of wealth (cars, booze, mansion) and pretty much none of the cultural capital. At the top of the heap are the Kanes; while the Echolls' have enough money to "get away" with murder, the Kanes have enough money to get away with it, cover it up, frame someone else for it, and get the sheriff fired for looking into it. Money problems are basically the least-juicy of TV plots, but by using wealth disparity as a way to develop the characters, essentially building it into the DNA of the show, Veronica Mars created a TV universe just as interesting and complicated as that of Friday Night Lights or Parks and Recreation.

2. Lianne Mars

A girl with a missing mom is a fairy tale trope as old as time, rooted in a deification-of-the-female version of misogyny that I don't have time to get into right now. Suffice it to say, a dead or absentee mother is usually a sign of lazy writing. It's a way to reduce the character count and set a heroine adrift while, not coincidentally, making it so the (usually male) writer doesn't have to think of what a grown woman would think or talk or act like. At first, this is the fate of Veronica's mother, Lianne Mars. She was just conveniently...gone, another casualty of the fallout from the Lilly Kane murder investigation. Her absence lets Veronica be angsty and ill-supervised even as Keith Mars entered the canon of Bestest TV Dads of All Time (which he is! Love Keith forever and ever). But then she came back, with baggage, and the trope was, if not redeemed, at least put to good use. Lianne is an alcoholic who couldn't deal with the disappointing turns life took, and she finally cracked when her husband ran directly into conflict with her lost love Jake Kane, for whom she still pined. Even when she decides she wants to be a mom again, she can't quit being an alcoholic. And as heartbreaking as it is to watch Veronica play the parent, it's also a moment of growth. Veronica realizes—or rather, decides—that she isn't doomed to repeat her mother's mistakes. She is a stronger, better person than Lianne. A person big enough to love her flawed mother, even strong enough to forgive her. In the third episode, Veronica says, "The hero is the one that stays, and the villain is the one that splits." By the end of the series, Veronica has learned what true villainy looks like, and it ain't her mom. Showrunners, take note: This is how you do a realistic redemption story.

3. The Guest Stars and Bit Players

The casting department at Veronica Mars did flawless work. Obviously, the core cast is great, but the semi-regulars and guests are also amazing. There's an entire season devoted to Steve fucking Guttenberg. Lisa Rinna and Harry Hamlin play the negaverse versions of themselves. Ryan Hansen and Ken Marino do their Ryan Hansen/Ken Marino Shtick, and why shouldn't they? Max Greenfield (a.k.a. Schmidt on New Girl) and Tessa Thompson (from Dear White People and Creed) both had recurring roles long before they were famous, and even Tina Majorino (Mac) and Michael Muhney (Lamb), who didn't really "break out" in a major way after the show, are perfect in their roles. The second (SECOND) IMDb credit for one Jessica Chastain is an episode of Veronica Mars, and of course, Leighton Meester appears in two episodes. Yes, there are other teen shows that feature young actors who went on to bigger, better things, but I maintain that Veronica Mars is notable for encouraging real actors to do real work.

4. The Mysteries Were Smart AF

The show trusted its audience to keep up and pay attention. Maybe even a little too much. In the era before binge-watching and old episodes being able on demand, Veronica Mars suffered from the same issue that plagues the first few seasons of The X Files: Viewers who weren't "caught up" on the season-long mystery arc found it difficult to get into. VM had low ratings throughout its run, and when it used the shift from high school to college to introduce shorter, quicker mysteries, well, we all know how season three went. But looking back, it's clear that the show was ahead of its time, telling smart, twist-y weekly stories while teasing out a longer mystery that deeply impacted the main characters' lives. (Can't you just imagine how they'd advertise the show now? Moody teaser trailers with the tag line "Who Killed Lilly Kane?" and fansites and podcasts devoted to all the clues and hints and easter eggs from every episode?) There are other teen mystery/crime-fighter shows, sure, but they tend to put their characters in immediate peril, which makes the audience ask, "What's going to happen?" Instead, Veronica Mars is an intellectual exercise, evidence and theory based, and the question becomes, "What has already happened, and what does it mean?" That's the kind of meaty writing that inspires, if not legions of fans, a loyal audience to sing its praises. Veronica Mars was so smart it was niche. I'm not making a case for VM as overlooked prestige television, but then again I totally am. WHY didn't it win any Emmys?

5. They Didn't Explain Every Little Thing

See: above "trusting the audience smartness" factor. They didn't explain why sleeping with a "consenting" teenager is still wrong, or why Logan and Veronica went from adversaries to lovers in the space of like, a week, or why money equals power. They got that the audience got it. So, the exact opposite of a show like, say, Secret Life of the American Teenager. There were episodes that touched on privilege and entitlement and infidelity and the abuse of power by law enforcement, but it was subtle and real instead of, you know...Degrassi.

6. The Humor

It wasn't dark and humorous, it was darkly humorous and humorously dark. (Think combining the creepy weirdness of Twin Peaks with the banter of Moonlighting.) Logan's poignant answering machine messages, Veronica's epic takedowns, even Lamb got to be withering and snarky while he systematically fucked over the whole town.The humor kept us invested even when stories dipped into sentimental, Dawson's Creek-esque territory and deflected the romance-y moments that might have turned it into a mystery-style Felicity. Veronica's and Logan's jokes, in particular, also serve a psychological purpose: mask their pain at any cost. Unlike in Gilmore Girls, where every character speaks like a hyper-intelligent stand-up comic and not at all like a teenager or real human being, Veronica and the residents of Neptune make comments that feel true to their characters and relevant to their circumstances. If you watched any episode of Scream Queens and thought, "I guess they're trying to imitate...Scream? Heathers? Clueless? With the smart/bitchy blondes and the snappy comebacks and the eye rolls?" I understand. But actually, they were trying (and failing. Hard.) to do Veronica Mars. Smart sassy cute mean heart of gold flirty clever repartee? Yeah, that's Veronica Mars, and Ryan Murphy, bless his soul, is not Rob Thomas.

7. The Rape Plot(s)

From the very first episode when, in a flashback, golden-haired, white dress-clad Veronica walks, almost in a stupor (have you ever seen a more "perfect" victim?) into the sheriff's office to tell Lamb that she was raped—because she is a good girl and good girls go to the authorities—only to have him, basically, shrug it off, rape and sexual assault were core themes of the show, central to its purpose and story engine. Creator Rob Thomas initially envisioned the story as a YA novel with a male protagonist, and changing the lead's gender to female is arguably the best and most important decision he ever made. Veronica's sexuality is everything. How she flirts her way out of scrapes, plays innocent when it can help her, distrusts it when she's attracted to the "wrong" person, is allowed to enjoy it with Logan and, of course, how her virginity was taken from her one night she can't quite remember. The show takes Veronica's rape seriously as not just a plot point or easy motivation, but as a defining part of her character. She cleans obsessively and looks over her shoulder. She's sensitive to the potential aggressors—and victims—at her school. She knows that her rapist was someone she knew, and she has to live with that mystery every day. But it's complicated. That night she can't remember might have been semi-consensual, but then we learn, no it wasn't. Yes, there's a story about a false rape accusation (against Adam Scott!), but the truth only makes the situation murkier. And in an unfortunately rare move, Veronica Mars also depicts the aftermath of the sexual abuse of boys, including an exploration of how the stigma against male assault survivors re-traumatizes them. (The third season is, in my opinion, a missed opportunity to tackle the campus rape epidemic. By blaming the rapes on a psychological experiment gone awry, the show unfortunately ignores the fact that toxic masculinity isn't a role-playing aberration but a pervasive national issue. But its heart is in the right place, if not its logic.)

8. Veronica

Choker-wearing, dog-owning, private-detectiving blonde badass Veronica Mars. She's most often compared to Buffy, that other crime-fighting cutie with a ragtag army of friends and a ne'er do well love interest, and the comparison is apt. Both possess skills their peers do not and use those skills to solve problems both thrust upon them and sought. But the difference is that in the space that Buffy uses to explore the supernatural, Veronica Mars plays with loyalty and ethics. Is it wrong to snitch on your friends? Is a rumor evidence? Can you break the law to serve a higher good? These are issues Buffy doesn't wrestle with; it's pretty much a given that evil vampires are worth defeating (yes, there are definitely instances when Buffy is tested because she's fallen for a vamp or one of her friends is possessed or whatever, but that's not like, the thing of the show). And while so many other "outsider/observer/new kid" teen show protagonists (Ryan, Dan, Dawson, Lindsay Weir) long to get "in," Veronica's been there. She's been popular, and (a little) wealthy. She's not exploring a new world, she's re-learning her old one. In that she has more in common with Angela Chase, but way less whiny. You watch My So-Called Life and think, I'm totally Angela. You watch VMand think, I wish I were Veronica. When people talk about the strong but vulnerable but smart but flawed but cool but real but beautiful but relatable but empowered but conflicted but modern but iconic but a good role model but not unattainable with a job not defined by that job "interesting" female characters on television, a few names tend to come up again and again: Carrie, Murphy, Ally, Roseanne, Olivia, Dana. To that (very white!) pantheon I humbly submit: Veronica.

*....except for Freaks and Geeks.

#veronica mars

[totaldramallama-blog]

TDA contestant rankings

Woo! I’m finally getting around to making my Total Drama Action contestant rankings list! Just as a reminder, these are all just my opinions and are not a definitive ranking for everyone. Every fan is entitled to their own opinion, so  you don't have to agree with these. Also, I am going to ~try~ and make these SOLELY based on Total Drama Action, without taking any other season into account. Anyways, this season is not my absolute favorite, as it makes many characters so much different (and worse) than they were on the first season, so buckle up. 

15. Geoff: Oh. my. god. This season really makes Geoff into a dislikable character doesn’t it? Let me start off by talking about his time on the show. He made out with Bridgette. Their relationship annoyed me. Done. Now onto his total change in character for the aftermath. I get that he was just doing “what the producers wanted”, but he turned from a semi-likable bro dude into a ratings hungry self centered fame monger. Its a complete shift in his character that is not super necessary, besides adding conflict into his and Bridgette’s relationship, and it makes his character completely different from his previous persona. Again, I am not using season 1 as a factor for my rankings, so Geoff is so low because of this. If anyone were to only watch TDA without prior knowledge from TDI, Geoff would seem like a hormonal prick that gets a slight redemption arc so that he and Bridgette can get back to making out again. So yeah, sorry, but apologizing after a complete negative shift in character doesn't make you likable, it just makes your girlfriend take you back. whoops. 

14. Bridgette: Oh joy, another person who did practically nothing in the game, did not really keep many of her established character traits, and had very little personality in the show. woo. So I put Bridgette higher than Geoff because she was the voice of reason for many of the aftermath episodes when Geoff was acting so crazy, but she doesn't really act like the chill and happy surfer girl from season 1, so her personality for this season is...bland? Without season 1, Bridgette just really gets used as a side plot to advance her and Geoff’s relationship, which goes from them making out constantly, to them arguing intensely, to making out constantly...again. When introducing a conflict in 2 characters relationship, Both characters should change in some way once the conflict is resolved...but Bridgette doesn’t really hesitate in forgiving Geoff after he apologizes, which I guess fits with her chill surfer girl character, but without the background for her aversion of conflict and her willingness to argue with Geoff on the aftermath, it just doesn't make any sense for her to blindly forgive him. I mean your boyfriend just became obsessed with himself and his “brand” and was completely willing to hit people with a hammer, an anvil, and shocks of electricity that were probably fatal to get better ratings...but I mean he’s still cute I guess? So long rant short, Bridgette is totally done a disservice this season, and completely changes from a somewhat fleshed out character into a plot device so that her boyfriend can get an unnecessary character “arc”. Nice. 

13. Owen: So what exactly did Owen contribute to this season besides a lot of bad fart jokes and an unnecessary sideplot that went absolutely nowhere? Yeah, that's what I thought. So Owen this season was pretty much just a walking punchline, so not much to say there. I mean everyone probably just remembers Owen as the guy who farts a lot and is...nice? Im not a huge Owen fan, and his “sabotages” weren’t really relevant to anything that happened in the game, so he was pretty much a flop for me this season. He did have a super cool hairstyle after he was probed though so that’s...something. 

12. Izzy: This is the season where I start to dislike Izzy more, which kind of brings her down as a potential overall character in the show in my opinion. Sorry bout it. So the whole “e-scope” thing in this season is not super compelling to me, and didn't bring humor, or character development into Izzy’s character. The only thing it really did was allow her back into the competition, which was completely predictable after Chris changed her name on the sheet when she first got voted off. Also, the “explosivo” thing was not really my cup of tea. The only thing that redeems this plot of Izzy’s would be if they were to somehow tie this to her having a similar affliction that Mike has and having them work through their issues together, but I don't see that happening any time soon and that's not relevant to TDA, but I am trying to find a way to redeem Izzy from this in some way because I think that she has the potential to be an interesting character. Just not on this season. 

11. Beth: Even though Beth made it to the final 2, and won in the version of the show that I watched on this re-watch (I prefer Duncan as the winner, but oh well), I still didn't really find her to be an interesting character, and I felt that she was on the season waayyy too long. There’s not much to say about Beth, except for that she was bland and nice with a little bit of personality that only really came out when she was mad at Heather or Courtney. I think that having a character like Beth make it so far in the game is one of the reasons so many people tend to dislike this season. Many of the underdeveloped/less interesting characters were the ones who were meant to carry the season, which some underdeveloped characters benefitted from, but most did not. All in all, the season ended up with a not so great final 4 and a pretty meh finale, even though they really played it up to be a huge deal. Beth is one of the characters that could have sat this season out and given her spot to a more intriguing less developed character from season 1, like Noah or Cody, or even a new character. All in all, I didn't love Beth this season, but she did make it pretty far in the game and was able to prove to the haterz that she really did have a hawt boyfriend so that was a nice moment...for her. 

10. Justin: So Justin is another Beth-like character to me in the sense that he was underdeveloped in season 1, and then made into a major character in TDA that didn't really pay off. Justin’s storyline is basically that he looks hot so he can manipulate people, and then he gets injured and doesn't look as hot so nobody falls for his “strategies”. Yeah, what a great message to send to children. So other than that, Justin doesn't do much this season, but he did wear a nice frog head in the fairytale episode so that was pretty cool. 

9. Trent: Trent was a partially interesting character this season, but most of it had to do with his relationship with Gwen, which didn't bring a whole lot to the show in general, as they were both booted too early to have any super major effects on the game (besides throwing competitions). The one thing I did like about Trent was that his undiagnosed OCD tendencies were not based on Gwen like Duncan said, but were more rooted in an actual significant event in his life. Other than that, Trent was not really necessary for the overall plot of the show and was really only needed for his relationship with Gwen. I think that Trent focused too much on Gwen and not enough on winning the game itself, so he couldn't do much for the show besides providing relationship drama that didn't impact the show too much. Plus, I still don't know what the facial hair on his chin is supposed to be. 

8. Gwen: Okay so I'm not putting Gwen this low because I dislike her on this season, but I am putting her here because she didn't contribute much to the show and was mostly just focused on Trent and how he was throwing competitions for her. I do ship her and Trent more than her and Duncan, (I would prefer Gwen either alone or with a girl but whatevs) but she was almost more “obsessed” with whining about Trent and his attempts to impress her than she was with winning the show. I do feel like Gwen comes out of this season as a generally likable character, however she wasn’t in the season long enough and was not enough of a major player in the full context of the game for me to rank her any higher. Still luv her tho <3

7. Courtney: I wanted to put Courtney higher on this list, mainly for her relationship with Duncan, but the cheating in the game is what brought her down for me. I did not like that she had unfair advantages over the other competitors, and I would have much preferred to see her come back into the game to compete on equal playing fields with the other contestants. However, I am a huge Duncan x Courtney shipper, so this season was super fun for me to see their back and forth and the way they interact with each other in a kind of love hate relationship (rip this is the last season we really get that). So yeah, my opinion on Courtney this season can pretty much be summed up with this: cheating in the competition= bad, relationship with Duncan= good. Done. 

6. DJ: Don’t get me wrong, I love DJ as much as the next person and would actually consider him one of my favorite contestants, but he wasn't on the show much this season, and most of the time he was on the show it was usually related to how he was cheating in the game by getting help from Chef. I actually did like this kind of pointless side plot because I feel like it almost humanizes DJ more and makes him a more likable character to watch, but still shows that he is flawed. So in the end, I did end up enjoying DJ over many of the other characters on this season, but he was eliminated pretty early and didn't do a whole lot in the game. But if he can get me some of that mama spice I might move him up to #1 because that stuff is like magic in a bottle. 

5. Leshawna: Ok, who doesn't love Leshawna? I was alright with her this season, even though she did deserve more screen time, considering how far she made it, but this was by no means her best season. So I really enjoyed her relationship with Harold, which is more prominent in this season than most seasons, and it was super cute when she admitted to liking Harold on the aftermath. I did not enjoy the fact that her shit talking in the car during her reward got out, but that was mostly due to Courtney’s PDA and not really Leshawna’s fault. I also feel like she was smart for convincing her team to give her the reward so props to her for doing that. Anyways, Leshawna was pretty middle of the road for the most part this season, but she did provide some nice content and actually played the game to win, what a queen she is. 

4. Lindsay: This season, I enjoyed Lindsay a lot and thought that she did much better in the competition when she could actually play her own game than doing Heather’s bidding. My favorite part about Lindsay this season was actually her recognition that she had been more of a follower than a leader, and her attempts to remedy that were at least “admiral” (haha see what I did there). So other than that I don't have a super great reason for putting Lindsay this high, other than the fact that she was at least more likeable and more visible than the other characters on this list in my opinion. I think that Lindsay is almost always an enjoyable character, and this season kept me firm in that belief. 

3. Heather: As usual, Heather was a huge piece of this season that made it more enjoyable and interesting to watch. Being a villain, it can be hard to get people to actually root for you, but somehow Heather manages to be one of the nastiest people on the show and still be loved by the fandom. I think one of the huge factors in this is that she owns her villainy. If Heather went into the confessionals  and tried to pretend that she was a super nice girl who always wanted the best for everyone, she would probably be much less popular with the fans, but instead she decides to make it clear that her mean girl attitude is intentional. I personally love this about Heather, and she is one of the main reasons I could actually get through this season. The story with her hair was also more humorous than the other stories that I think were meant to be funny but ended up being more annoying in the end. So yeah, Heather was an ice  queen this season and totally owned it. And I continued to love it. What’s new. 

2. Duncan: So I didn't think I would end up liking Duncan on this season as much as I did, but he actually really stood out to me as a good character and was one of this season’s main characters. I have always liked Duncan in some way, and he used to be one of my favorites as a kid, and I think this season is probably part of the reason why. He is one of the contestant whose primary focus throughout the season is to win, which I always enjoy in a character because its the supposed reason they are on the show in the first place. I admit, a big reason I liked him so much this season is because of his relationship with Courtney, as I do ship them (as stated before), and I really enjoy how Duncan clearly feels something for Courtney on this season, and his reaction when Courtney comes back on the show is indicative of how much of a hold she has on him (for this season). Unfortunately, this is the last season we really see Duncan as a more likable character, but I thought that he contributed a good amount of content to the show and made it ultimately more enjoyable for me to watch, so sorry if you hate him. 

1. Harold: Okay so this season is literally one of the primary reasons that I absolutely LOVE Harold. In a season with very few real break out characters, Harold shines as a lovable protagonist that had too little screen-time in the first season, but shows more personality and skill at the game in the second season. Harold is one of the only characters that I find legitimately funny, and this season was no different, as many of his lines in the confessionals actually made me laugh. To be honest, I really think Harold deserved to win this season, as he was literally a focal point in every episode and brought the perfect mixture of nerdiness and charisma to his character that was not heavily portrayed before TDA. Harold is a prime example of how to flesh out a character without making them too overly prominent in a way that makes them annoying. It might just be me, but Harold is one of the most endearing characters to arise from this season and actually makes the viewer more excited to continue his story and see more of him in later seasons. Harold was robbed and should have been in Beth’s place in the final 2. Plus, he finally got to show Leshawna more of his mad skillz and was SUCH a king in the superhero competition as Captain Alberta. You go Harold. 

So that's it for my Total Drama Action character rankings! If you made it this far, thank you for reading this! Remember, these are my personal rankings, so if your opinion is different than mine, that's totally fine and you can share them if you would like! I will try and do my TDWT rankings soon, so stay tuned for that(although it may be a little while) Hope you all have a great day and remember to spread positivity and not hate!

#total drama action #tda #total drama gwen #total drama courtney #total drama cody #total drama trent #total drama mike #total drama tyler #total drama owen #total drama heather #total drama harold #total drama lindsay #total drama duncan #total drama leshawna #total drama chris #total drama chef #total drama izzy #total drama bridgette #total drama beth #total drama justin #total drama geoff #total drama dj #total drama island #tdi

[ladyandtheghost]

Reason #17: Jon’s “Sansa” Tantrums: Jealousy/Rivalry vs.  Gratefulness/Forgiveness

Guys, I’m still not over the way Jon flipped in both scenes above. And about how differently they played out, even though they both ALL about Sansa. The question remains what the writers intended with this parallel. So I’m trying to dig a bit more into the Jon/Littlefinger dynamic and why the crypt scene really really matters a lot (and the Theon scene was supposed to make us aware of how much the “Littlefinger choke” mattered)

So we know that Sansa has become the center of Jon’s universe ever since he came back from the dead and found her. It is all still in the subtext whether this is a “romantic” attachment or not, but the point is that Jon is extremely attached to Sansa. To the point that she is the “button” that can either switch on Jon’s “killer” mode or - as in the case of Theon and Ramsay - switch it off, for “her” sake. 

Sansa is at the same time the one thing that can make Jon lose control and at another time, regain it. We’ve written before about how Sansa is Jon’s weakness, his “pressure point” and purpose in (his new) life. 

Regardless of whether Jon sees Littlefinger as a rival (he subconsciously does imo) the outcome of the choking scene is that Littlefinger sees Jon as a rival for Sansa’s heart. The scene in which he emerges from the crypts, still shaken because that was the closest he came to being murdered in a long time, it’s clear that the cogs are working overtime. I wonder: What do other viewer think he is thinking? Did he seriously expect Jon to give him a hug and welcome him into the family? 

Hardly. 

Littlefinger must have known he would be refused. What he did NOT expect was the violence of Jon’s reaction to his proposal. He expected Jon to be rude, gruff, perhaps a little rough (as a protetive brother would be), but he did not expect to get nearly killed. He also fully picks up on the Ned/Cat references - the last time he was choked for loving a Tully redhead it was by her *husband* - not her brother. 

People also try to ”normalize” and explain away Jon’s violent attack on LF by citing all the bad things that LF did and that Jon supposedly knew about. 

Fact is, he did not know. Unless Jon had been in telepathic contact with Bran who later reveals what LF really did. 

At this point, what Jon looks at in the crypts is a smarmy creep, who’s only “crime” was to entrust Sansa to the Boltons and marry her to Ramsay - which was an absolutely horrible decision, however, it was not LF’s conscious choice to have Sansa mistreated. Seen from the outside, what LF did by bringing Sansa to WF was a stupid mistake (even if we judge him for it, because we feel that he should have been able to gauge the situation and danger better). 

But another FACT IS: Jon made the SAME mistake LF made of “underestimating a stranger.” Actually, even worse, Jon still underestimated and misjudged Ramsay and his character even AFTER Sansa told him not to do so. 

So if people want to argue that Jon attacked LF because he endangered Sansa by giving her to Ramsay -- this is Jon’s own mistake mirrored in LF. Jon nearly endangered Sansa AGAIN by underestimating Ramsay (and this haunts Jon big time -- as argued below)

Well, the funny thing here is that we know that Jon can be quite FORGIVING of other men who misjudge situations and make “bad” decisions, because he has done THAT often enough himself. 

The fact that he forgives Theon for all he’s done to the Starks and Jon’s brothers (!), saying that he doesn’t always do the right thing himself is very telling. Jon doesn’t kill Theon on the spot because he redeemed himself in Jon’s eyes by “what [he] did FOR SANSA” - so saving Sansa’s life made up for all the crimes Theon committed against the Starks. 

Now...remember how Littlefinger came to Sansa’s aid in the Battle of the Bastards and effectively saved her life? Jon knows that Sansa would have died if they had lost the battle, which was the case before LF came around the corner with the KotV. So Jon is also very much aware of the fact that Littlefinger objectively “redeemed” his mistake of giving Sansa to the Boltons by coming to “HER” rescue in the Battle of the Bastards and helping her bring down her abuser, Ramsay. In that way, Littlefinger also did something good 

“FOR SANSA”

Jon SWORE to protect Sansa from Ramsay --- but he FAILED big time and it was Littlefinger who saved not only Jon’s ass and his men, but in a weird way Littlefinger also became Sansa’s champion and her hero of the BoB --- which had hitherto been the role Jon had occupied! 

From 6x04 onwards, Jon had become Sansa’s “hero”, the hero she had always dreamt of: he promised to protect her, he promised he would not let Ramsay ever touch her again --- and then he failed and had to witness how LF became Sansa’s champion who protected her when he was unable to. 

Don’t tell me there is no rivalry between Jon and Littlefinger - because there is more than enough. 

And this is the crux: Jon can see how Littlefinger occupied roles in Sansa’s life that Jon himself could (supposedly) NOT occupy (for reasons): rescuer, champion, (supposedly, though we know better now) trusted confidante...

....SUITOR and LOVER...

And THIS is where something in Jon’s head goes “bang”. 

The Battle of the Bastards was when BOTH Jon and Littlefinger fought for Sansa in their own way, more or less successfully, they were BOTH her champion/hero. But Jon failed in the end and Littlefinger came out as the rescuer/protector. 

In Winterfell BOTH Jon and Littlefinger have scenes with Sansa in which they ask for her “trust” and to be THEIR confidante: both want to be Sansa’s “partner” and team-mate, the one whom she trusts and works with. And we know it is Jon whom Sansa CHOOSES as her second half, even if LF thinks that he still has relevance for her --- this time, Jon won that rivalry big time. 

In the crypts, the topic of Littlefinger being a suitor for Sansa’s hand and potential LOVER comes up for the first time openly and explicitly. And this is a fight into which Jon CAN NOT enter, he is prohibited from partaking in THAT rivalry regarding Sansa. She is his whole world, but this is one ROLE he is NOT allowed to occupy in the given circumstances. But whether conciously or unconsciously, Jon is still part of this rivalry and it SHOWS in his violent fit. 

Again, viewers who argue that Jon attacked Littlefinger because he hates him for “all he did to the Starks” (like, how does Jon know??) or “because he gave her to the Boltons” --- why does Jon not say so? Why does he not attack Littlefinger for exactly these reasons? Why are his words not “I could kill you for what you did to her/our family!!” 

Instead it’s “Touch my sister and I’ll kill you myself” which are not resentful words out of hatred for past sins, Jon’s words are threatening, primal and a little bit on the possessive side (”my” sister). And I do not think that Jon is fully aware of his own behaviour, which is part of what makes this scene great. 

Because Littlefinger gets it: there is subtext in Jon’s behaviour, and then he looks up at Sansa and he knows there is subtext in BOTH their behaviour towards one another. 

All throughout Season 7, we see Jon desperate and frustrated, fighting to get his plans re: WW on track. He had every reason to flip out at some point while in Dragonstone or King’s Landing --- but there are only two times in all of the shit he is facing that Jon actually loses control....

...and both times it is about SANSA. 

Sansa and NOT THE WHITE WALKER THREAT. When Jon tells Davos that he has not “time for any of that” meaning Queen D, this is literally five minutes before they spot the boat with Theon on the beach. 

And Jon has time for THAT (cue Sansa-related scene coming up). 

He had every reason to kill Theon and the urge was there, but Jon calms down because SANSA. 

As we argued above, Jon had objectively zero reasons to kill LF, on the contrary, he owned him Sansa’s life as much as Theon --- had Ramsay won, she would have been dead or worse. 

The big difference is: there is absolutely no rivalry between Jon and Theon. Even if Theon fucked the Starks big time and is in part also responsible for the death of Robb and Rickon (who was safe in WF before Theon came), the “factor Sansa” carries a lot more weight in Jon’s heart than anything else.

Theon did something for Jon that Littlefinger was threatening to “undo”: Theon gave Sansa to Jon. Littlefinger wanted to take her from him.

Little did BOTH Jon and LF know that Jon will soon be revealed to be the one who is truly in the position to take the two things Littlefinger coveted most in the world: Sansa and the throne. 

It’s almost poetical that it is Sansa herself, together with Arya and Bran, who puts a final end to the underlying rivarly between the two men in her life. It was all about her - but she still has the last word and she gets to CHOOSE her champion and hero: 

And it was NOT Littlefinger. 

#jonsa #jon x sansa #sansa x jon #meta #reasons #Anti-Jonerys

[maybeyoumissthisf-kingpost]

The Art of Discount (Part 1): Consumer Discount

Businesses often spend a lot of money to build programs to attract customers, typically using discounts. Because discounts - including all forms of discounts on sales - are one of the most obvious methods of creating value for customers to lead them to a decision to buy a product. However, not the more the discount, the more effective it is. With a consumer discount program , it's important to know where your audience is in their consumer journey. Thinking of a sales support program is not difficult, but how to make it effective is an artistic sky.

Discount and its benefits

Discount programs are generally used for three main goals: (1) Clearing inventory, (2) Attracting new buyers, and (3) Realizing revenue targets during off-season sales.

Why can discounting help businesses achieve these goals? Because it offers the following benefits:

Attract new customers effectively without launching a massive marketing campaign;

Encourage shoppers to make immediate purchasing decisions – especially effective when promotions are limited in time;

Push past period inventory or products nearing expiration date;

The product is highly likely to be promoted by the point of sale at no cost;

Pull inactive/inactive consumers to buy again.

The problem of discounting

Sales discounts have long been used to incentivize purchases and create a competitive advantage over other brand products at the point of sale. While discounting isn't a new tool, it always works – when marketers use it right.

However, an age-old problem with marketers is that they often apply discounts to every audience without considering what stage each audience is at in the buying journey.

Reference : Ladder model to analyze market share loss in the article What is the market? What is Marketing? Market share method to see which stage in the buying journey is the biggest problem causing you to lose market share.

So the solution is that we have to balance the timing - frequency of making discounts and determining the specific audience that your program is aimed at.

Build a discount program for consumers

Discounts should not be applied to everyone. I can't say which type of discount is best for your business. But I can suggest you how to implement those programs effectively.

There are countless ways to vary the discount program for consumers. But it has to be done wisely. At the same time, any discount strategy must be based on business goals and suitable for each buyer.

Plan before you make a discount

Before making product price cuts to achieve revenue goals, you need to make a detailed plan for the program. This is necessary to make sure that subsequent orders are still profitable. Accordingly, the issues you need to pay attention to are:

Know current gross margin, markup, breakeven point;

Calculate the best discount price to ensure profit;

Have an action plan to incentivize new buyers and boost purchase incentives for hesitant customers;

Survey programs and prices of competitors regularly;

Consider other selling options without cutting prices (more on that later);

Determining the time to apply the new sales price;

Monitor weekly, monthly, or yearly reporting metrics as sales decline.

How to set a revenue target when doing a discount program?

When adjusting the selling price of goods/services, it is important to know how this change will affect your gross margin and sales target. A successful sales program – that is, acquiring customers, while keeping profits – needs to be implemented with careful and careful calculation of gross margin, markup and breakeven point.

How to balance the above factors is not easy. Business Victoria, a business portal for the Victorian government (Australia) has released a spreadsheet that makes it easier for businesses to set revenue targets when making sales discounts.

HOLY RECIPE

If the price drops…And gross profit margin (%) is…

0%15%20%25%30%35%40%

5% 50.0%33.3%25%20%16.7%14.3%

6%150%66.7%42.9%31.6%25%20.7%17.6%

8%400%114.3 %66.7%47.1%36.4%29.6%25%

ten% 200%100%66.7%50%40%33.3%

twelfth% 400%150%92.3%66.7%52.2%42.9%

15%  300%150%100%75%60%

For example, with a gross profit margin of 20%, you reduce the price of a product by 10%, then the target sales need to increase by 100% to ensure a profit.

Suggest a discount program for consumers1. Discount for new customers

Sometimes when we need to expand product lines, enter new segments, or simply boost sales, we have to find a way to attract new customers. This work often consumes a lot of resources to "lead" this object to a purchase decision.

Therefore, a discount program to close the target at the Purchase stage needs to be properly implemented. When building a program for new customers, it's important to:

– Define target specific customer segments : We know we need to find new customers, but do not know who the new customers are. What's more harmful than a program targeting the wrong audience? What could be more wasteful and less effective than a program aimed at too broad a group?

– Personalize the program message: Once the target area is located, the next thing is to make sure that the target group realizes this offer is only for them, is their own EXCLUSIVE. This will motivate them to get closer to the buying stage. But it is NOT. You must also:

- Tell them why you discount: If you want customers to accept your deals, give them a reason. As Robert Cialdini writes in his book Influence: The Psychology Of Persuasion:

People simply want a reason for what they do. (People simply like to have reasons for what they do)

Remember that you only need to give them a REASON to lower the price, it doesn't even need to be convincing. This tactic works even if you streamline your discount as simply as “Teng teng… you’re new”, “Congrats on being one of our first 10 guests” (although maybe you were the 50th or… 500th buyer).

2. Incentives for loyal customers

If you already have a loyal customer base – which is best if you have or build it now – why not build a program to reward them? For example, give customers a coupon for their next purchase to thank them for supporting your product.

As reported by LoyaltyOne , up to 76% of customers want personalized offers based on their purchase history. Thus, a program to accumulate points to redeem gifts will be extremely effective to retain existing customers.

3. Holiday discounts

On major shopping holidays, such as Black Friday , is when consumers are willing to spend the most. This is when trade marketing programs work because it drives shopper purchase decisions immediately.

4. Discount for pre-orders when launching new products

When launching a new product, most of us want as many buyers as possible. Is it true? Pre-order discounts for limited quantities will quickly speed up a shopper's decision-making process.

However, it is also important to be careful because a pre-launch discount can reduce the value of the product in the mind of the customer. Therefore, do not reduce too much on the first day of product launch. In addition, showing the discount as a percentage or a specific amount must also be considered. For example, 20% discount doesn't sound as attractive as discount 1,OOO,OOOd right? Although the reduction amount of both is the same.

5. Sold in packs/sold in combos

Bundle/combo selling is a great cross-selling technique that encourages shoppers to buy multiple products to get a better price than buying each item individually. This form is especially effective when businesses "catch the trend" at the right time. Remember the trend of making Dalgona coffee that caused a fever in 2020? Large coffee brands such as Trung Nguyen and Nescafe have immediately launched coffee combos sold with milk to serve the needs of users.

6. Discount when buying in bulk

Why not offer a better price when customers buy a lot of your products? If you are an office worker who is addicted to milk tea, you are probably familiar with programs such as "Buy 3 cups, get 1 cup free", "Buy 4 cups, get 2 cups", etc. What are the results? That is, you will "inviting" the whole office to order enough, and the milk tea shop will not only receive orders of greater value, but also be "promoted" for free and recruit more new customers.

Not only helps increase the size and value of the buyer's order, quantity discount is also an effective way to move stock when the seller needs to clear the inventory of a certain item.

7. Discounts for suspended carts

You may have heard about this offer already, but it's such a great retargeting technique for online channels that I just can't pass up. According to Baymard , up to 70% of shopping carts are abandoned because of additional costs in the order. Thus, a discount program for shoppers who are hanging orders will help you regain a large number of orders that seem to have been lost.

This form has a major drawback. That is, if you continuously offer discounts on suspended orders, the next time the shopper will create a shopping cart and then exit, then wait until a promotional offer to buy at a cheap price. Therefore, you should only apply this program once per customer, or limit the duration of the program.

8. Discount when referring acquaintances

You certainly understand the importance of word of mouth marketing. Nothing can be more reliable than a recommendation from an acquaintance. According to ReferralCandy , up to 83% of satisfied customers are willing to recommend to their acquaintances, but in fact… only 29% actually do this.

Therefore, a discount program when introducing new people will encourage your customers to be more "active" in promoting your products to everyone around.

But discounting doesn't always work

Many people often look to discounts as the solution to all business problems, without understanding what the customer's problem is. Therefore, it is not surprising that people massively do promotions but in the end do not see any noticeable effect. Then we put in the report the reasons abc xyz that explains why the program doesn't work.

Discount blindly will kill your business. The more you abuse the discount, the more you lower the value of your product in the customer's mind. Don't compromise with customers. Find out the problem, then give them real solutions.

If discounts don't help boost sales, remember that there are always alternatives, not always a price cut. Here are some suggested programs other than discounts:

Service improvement

If you do not want to reduce the price of the product, the service improvement that comes with the purchase is also an effective way to attract buyers, such as:

Free installation

Free shipping

Free gift wrapping

Enhanced after-sales (warranty, maintenance, ...)

The most typical example is thegioididong.com, an extremely successful mobile device retail chain of MWG. By upgrading customer service to a new level, Mobile World makes buyers feel like they are no different from "God" right from the moment they send the car. As a result, they have risen to become the mobile device retail chain with the largest market share in Vietnam thanks to improved service, even though the selling price is always higher than other places.

However, service improvement needs to be harmonized before, during and after sales to achieve the best effect. Otherwise, this will be a double-edged sword if the brand previously created too much trust for buyers but was weak in after-sales service, possibly even receiving a series of complaints from consumers, affecting to brand reputation and reduce the ability of customers to repurchase the product/refer to acquaintances of customers who have purchased the product.

Packaging development

Have you ever thought that your current product packaging is gradually becoming boring to consumers? Why not think about "changing clothes" for products to look more eye-catching on special occasions?

Example : In the midst of the 2017 Sea Games football fever, Coca-Cola "caught the trend" very well to cheer the home team by wearing player shirts for three product lines of Coca, Sprite, Fanta at Circle K.

Comes with a gift

The word “free” always has a strong appeal, so GWP (free gift with purchase) will be another option to effectively replace discount. The "cheapest" items to give are usually cloth bags, stainless steel straws, glass vases, porcelain cups, etc., but make customers extremely excited.

Even free gifts sometimes not only aim to catch the shopper's attention but also support other marketing purposes.

Example : Trung Nguyen gave a sample of Legend Classic coffee in a bag of G7 3in1 coffee in the US. It can be seen that besides building promotion for the G7 series, they also intentionally sampled for their Legend premium coffee line and helped buyers identify genuine Trung Nguyen products among the parallel sea of ​​goods on the market.

Create an event

If you run a cafe-restaurant business, you definitely want to avoid discount programs. Especially when it's a premium brand. Think of a live music session, contest, social activity, etc. on a certain day of the week or month. Because entertainment is always an essential human need, it not only helps attract people, but also makes them want to linger longer, order a few more dishes or drinks to sip and enjoy.

Donate to charity/organization for the environment

Momo : For every purchase of movie tickets you buy at any CGV, Galaxy Cinema, BHD, Lotte Cinema, Cinestar and MegaGS cinemas and pay with MoMo, you have donated 1,000 VND for the program "Red lucky money". smile for 100 children”.

Ecosia : This search site uses advertising revenue to plant trees, on average every 45 searches will convert to a planted tree.

Instead of discount, these two brands convince customers to use this money to donate to charity or for the environment. Of course, the persuasiveness of this program is quite high and is often warmly received by consumers. Not only avoiding product discounts, but also building an effective CSR program to the community and increasing brand trust.

Conclude

Discounts have always been a story about sensible spending. If you use them properly – in the right place, with the right person (object), at the right time – then you will definitely get positive results. Again: Never offer a discount to everyone! And don't abuse the discount, because we always have other effective replacement programs that don't have to cut the price of the product.

Although brands are always encouraged to make programs for consumers, retailers are often not too excited about these programs of the brand. Why? Because it is a battle for market share between brands, while the point of sale does not receive much benefit from this competition. Suppose the sales point of sale for the category is 100 VND, in which brand A accounts for 40 VND, brand B accounts for 60 VND. When brand A does promotion, their revenue increases to 70 dong, and brand B doesn't do it, so it's only 30 dong. In general, the total revenue of the point of sale is still 100 VND.

Now do you understand why I said retailers aren't usually excited about brand consumer programs? Competition at the point of sale is another story that you need to pay special attention to, which is why I continue with Part 2: Discounts for distributors.

All credit goes to trantuansang.com.