#all the creators and people who knows how to fangirl about stuff

[letraspal]

Happy New Year 2024!

Thank you for your support and for having fun with me in this year, hopefully we’ll have a new one ahead. ❤️

#my fandom people you’re so important in my life you have no idea #love you all #all the creators and people who knows how to fangirl about stuff #simon snow #snowbaz #baz pitch #fanart #letraspal #carry on #illustration #book characters #carry on fanart #rainbow rowell #happy new year

[charliethomascoxuniverse]

Teen star of RTE's Kin reveals how show got her in trouble at school

School goer Hannah Adeogun plays Michael's estranged daughter Anna

SHOWBIZ By Katie Gallagher   11 OCT 2021 (X)

...Lifting the lid on how she tapped into that inner emotion within her complex character, Hannah revealed writer and creator Peter McKenna encouraged her to draw from her own life experiences and life as a teenager today.

And the star, who caught her first break three years ago as Ella on Irish drama Women on the Verge, said that often proved draining to portray.

But she credited the show boss, and her co-star Charlie Cox, who plays Michael for helping her throughout the process.

“It was really great having them there to help me because becoming Anna is emotionally draining and it takes a lot to pull all those emotions.. Because she is going through so many emotions. And to have them there, to say you are doing great really helped. Becoming Anna with them was really great and I couldn’t have asked for better people to do it with.”

The school goer also told how she and her parents couldn’t help but ‘fangirl’ over the group of huge stars she was starring alongside in the new RTE hit.

“Especially Ciaran Hinds,” she said. “I was a big fan girl over Ciaran Hinds because he was in the last Harry Potter movie, so when I found out he was in it, I had a really big fan girl moment. I’m not in any big scenes with him, but knowing he is in the same TV show that I am in was such a big achievement for me, and it made me really proud of myself.

“And my dad was obsessed with the fact I was working with him [Charlie], because he was in Daredevil. And when I found out he was in it, I watched it, and was even more intimidated by it and I was so shocked and like ‘oh now I have to up my game and be really mature with how I do this.”

~*~

National World

Charlie Cox interview: the actor on Irish crime drama Kin and when he’s returning to the MCU as Daredevil

Charlie Cox discusses the UK debut of his crime drama Kin, his upcoming Netflix show Treason, and his Marvel Cinematic Universe return

By Alex Moreland     24th February 2022 (X)

On another note, but kind of picking up on that idea of family, which is a big theme in the show: some of your best scenes were with Hannah Adeogun, who plays Michael’s daughter. She’s 15, which is a little bit younger than you were when you started acting professionally – did that prompt you to reflect back on your own career at all? Did you have any advice for her at all?

Charlie Cox: “Hannah was fantastic, and I loved doing the scenes with her. I loved working with her – it was really exciting to me, and challenging, because it’s the first time I’ve played a father on screen, and I am a father. It was exciting to kind of, you know, bring my own experience into that relationship.

I feel like – I know it’s probably only a few years difference – but I got my first professional job I think at 19. For me, there was a big difference between 15 and 19. I also I think Hannah was 14 when we shot this? Maybe I’m wrong about that. But I had left school, and I’d also had other jobs and stuff, I’d worked, so it was slightly different.

I don’t tend to offer advice unless I’m asked, and Hannah seemed to have it all. I remember, there was an audition where they asked me to read with her. She did it one way, and it was good, it was fine. And then Diarmuid [Goggins, who directed the first four of Kin’s eight episodes] spoke to her a bit about the scene and blah blah blah – she did it again, and it had a new depth to it. That was enough for me, and for all of us, I think to say right, well, she’s got whatever it takes. She’s got it. I guess, you know, the thing with acting is it’s about how easily can you access it, once you’re in front of a camera or in front of a crew? That’s the question.”

~*~

#just a couple of interview excerpts #also can you imagine being a teenaged girl and watching Daredevil for the first time and being like ''OMG that guy's playing my dad?!?!'😳😂 #not to mention that Charlie is SO right about whether or not you're able to act in front of a camera #in high school drama class the one time I had to act in front of a camera I got so bloody nervous I forgot half my lines #and I could barely talk without stammering even though in rehearsals I'd nailed all my lines and the delivery of them easily #so yeah apparently acting in front of a camera was not for me lol #but I did just fine in theatre productions al;jfda;lfjdal;fkjdi #*sits here cringing at the embarrassing memory* #my random ramblings #michael kinsella #anna areoye #charlie cox #hannah adeogun #Michael & Anna #kin amc #interview #article

[ivyial]

hii, how are you? I stumbled upon your page and I started to check it out, upon doing that I came across one of your eagleone posts, and how you view the ship or how you view people who dislike the shop entirely for no reason at all. and to be honest I couldn't agree more. your choice of words and how you describe just makes my heart feel hope again. hope that there's actual human beings that are using a gift called a brain for once.

it honestly drives me crazy to see people literally sending death threats and literal racism to those who ship a ship that isn't quite popular. another account just a few days ago that speaks alot about eagleone and analyses their scenes and dialogues, got literal death threats that would me a grown adult puke from how disgusting to know such human beings exist.

( didn't realize to be that long LMAO )

anyway I just wanted to say that I absolutely love all your eagleone content literally makes my day <3

i- 🥺🥺❤❤ omg thank you so much anon

i've never been one for ship wars. what bothers me the most about the eagleone discourse (and the current cleon discourse on twitter as well) is how likening characters to siblings (eagleone) or saying one views the other as a kid (cleon - insane take but anyway) eventually becomes "these characters are LITERALLY siblings, they are so sibling coded to me that it essentially makes them actual siblings" and creates a breeding ground for harassment and accusations of proshipping.

shipping has always been a matter of personal taste, and it's one of those few things in fandoms where there's no need to debate about conflicting ships. in the end, you can just agree to disagree. i like X for those reasons and you like Y for those. that's it. ships are usually better enjoyed with fellow shippers. it only risks becoming an echochamber when people start to take it so seriously that their group of shippers decides to hate on everyone else, and eventually, to harass them.

which is unfortunately what is happening right now. i'm very aware of the death threats and everything else, and it's sad and infuriating to realise that fandoms will never change. idk how old you are anon, or if you were around on tumblr when it happened, but a few years ago, the voltron fandom was a big thing around here (i apologise in advance to everyone who had to live through that lmfao). klance was arguably the biggest ship in the fandom (keith x lance), so the shippers were actively campaigning for it to become canon. it got to the point where klance shippers sent the show creators cupcakes filled with glass shards to convince them to canonise the ship. I WISH I WAS FUCKING KIDDING

this stuff's not new, bullying fellow fans isn't new unfortunately, and bullying actors or producers isn't either. if i remember correctly, when supernatural s4-5 (i guess) were airing back in the 2000s, dean's love interest jo was removed from the show supposedly because fangirls lost their shit and sent hate mail to producers. but that's all speculation, i can't find a reliable source for that.

i wish people would stop taking everything so seriously and get this nasty over fiction. however, it's unlikely that it will happen, because fandoms are filled with kids who don't know any better, are sometimes fully raised by the internet and then turn into immature adults. it's rare to find spaces in fandoms were you can genuinely have fun and create content without being policed by 12 year olds, but when you can, it makes the fandom experience a lot better.

i don't put much content out there, but i'm glad to see that the few posts i write are appreciated!! i'm working on an eagleone fic rn so it definitely makes me want to keep working on it regularly and create more content 😭

#resident evil #fandom #eagleone #leon kennedy #ashley graham

[axl-ul]

I publish fics on ao3! My experience with comments has been super positive, and I made a lot of good fandom (and irl) friends through them. This is what worked for me:

- Avoiding sounding like an influencer at all costs. I am not a content creator, my fics are not content, my commenters are not an audience, my comments are not engagement, I do not have a platform. I am a fellow fangirl who wrote a thing and wants to chat about blorbo to another fellow fan. People who talk to me as if I’m somehow removed from them get gently reminded that I am not. Seriously, unlearn that language.

- Tailoring “comments welcome” messages to the fandom. In younger-leaning fandoms, “commenting is scary! I get scared, too! So I found these tips on the internet, I'll drop one in every chapter! :D” worked great. No condescension tho. In older-leaning fandoms, “hello fellow kids I want to make fandom friends here. Anyone?” or another direct approach worked better.

- Tailoring releases (and therefore incentives to comment) to the speed of the fandom - scheduled releases for faster-moving fandoms, drop a complete work in dead ones.

- Understanding what I write, who it might appeal to, and tagging it conscientiously. Niche crowds are smaller, but much more likely to interact. So are tiny fandoms, too, btw.

- Leaving chatty, welcoming, not overly-familiar replies as quickly as possible. Asking questions in reply to longer comments or comments with questions, because such people are more likely to be open to making friends/having a conversation.

- Finding small, closed, 18+ discord servers. Not because I like cliquey and kinky, but because that’s where the sane drama-free people lurk and I want to make friends with those.

- Finding a beta-reader who's invested enough to leave at least a short comment on the fics they beta-ed. Many people find it hard to be the first to comment.

- And of course, and there’s no getting around this one, writing decently. While, sadly, writing good is not guaranteed to bring in crowds of potential readers, writing bad/forgettable stuff is guaranteed to push them away.

I hope you find what approach works for you!

Thanks a lot for this, anon!

While I try not to be the "influencer" type (the prime reason why I left the Instagram community and joined the Tumblr), I think it may seem like that by looking back at some of my notes. I think this might be my biggest issue - not knowing how to communicate with others normally. The points you listed are very helpful and once again, thanks a lot for this.

[caro-bug]

Ok the time has come

If you are a diehard Raiden fan or won't take me criticising Genshin for some other reasons, plz skip this post, because It's gonna be one hell of a Rant.

Don't get me wrong, I love Genshin and I'm not planning to quit it or something, but criticism must be given.

And that being said...

GENSHIN 2.1 STORYLINE WAS VERY, VERY BAD

And here's why:

Barely any playable characters were given any depth in this version. They were all treated just like plot devices.

Especially Yae Miko, who was there just to explain everything to our dumbassess and and give us an axcess to the power of ambition and friendsip I guess

Kokomi and Gorou? Nahhh, why give them any actual spotlight, if they were there only to deliever the schocking news that Fatui gave dellusions to the resistance? We might've as well learned that from some random soldier NPC and it would make little to no difference.

Speaking of delusions, don't Kokomi and Gorou fight on the front line? HOW THE HECK did they not notice that all of their visionless soldiers suddenly can use the power of elements? Did everyone hide it from them and everyone actually succeeded? Wasn't Kokomi weired out buy th sudden improvement of the whole resistace? How the heck did none slip up? WHY DIDN'T KOKOMI OR GOROU CHECK OUT THESE "WEAPONS" BEFORE GIVING THEM TO THEIR SOLDIERS? THEY COULD HAVE BEEN BOMBS OR SOMETHING

Also the fact that Kokomi just made us a general without giving us time to get to know how resistance works, or that she would give Teppei promotions just because he asked was extremely stupid. Not a master strategist move for sure. We could be a spy. Kokomi didn't even aknowledge Teppei until he asked her for a promotion.

Overall the whole resistance arc was extremely rushed and basically almost useless. If it was wisely prolonged, this update could be spread between two versions no problem. We could have had more quests where we and Teppei would slowly climb up the ranks, get to know more about Kokomi, ACTUALLY FIND OUT STUFF ABOUT EI AND SCARAMOUCHE INSTEAD OF LETTING YAE INFO-DUMP IT ON US.

Kazuha was ok I guess, but he was given very little screentime, and as my friend (a big Kazuha fangirl, mind you) noticed, that his whole arc revolves around Tomo and he barely has any personality besides grieving his loss, which is dissapointing.

I'd rather see him actualy join the resistance and face Ei not because he randomly appeared to save us, but because he was banished from Inazuma and had the courage to return.

Speaking of random appearances, why were Kazuha and the resistance at Tenshukaku anyway? Like, hear me out: Last time they've seen us alive was when we declared we would find the dellusion factory. So unless Yae told them we were here, they had no right to know (and if she did, how would that help?) And if they ACTUALLY thought that they could raid Tenshukaku, why do that right after their army recieved such a big blow, and with so little men? Besides the fact that Kazuha Conviniently managed to save us, it was all just an unnecessary bloodshed.

And Ei... Oh my god, I'm sorry, but the way they did her was such a mistake.

She basially went through the same thing as Venti and Zhongli, but was the only one to chose violence.

When we tell her that her people are suffering she's like "yeah, I know, so what?" But then we defeat her with what's basically a power of friendship and she's like. "Ok, I'll stop the decree I guess" and in her story quest she suddenly wants the best for her people? Oh no I know you don't.

She could have been the actual victim of The Fatui's plot. Imagine if Sara was actually collaborating with the Fatui and when we told her about them "manipulating" Ei she'd say she's gonna tell her but would actually go to backstab her before she realises the truth. Or if the "you've changed, you're getting weak" line would be what Scaramouche said to Ei after he defeats her.

Or, she could be an ACTUAL villain. The one that isn't forgiven just because she buys some dango milk and pulled a sword out of her boobs. She's a tyrant and there's no denying it. So why didn't she die to get what she desserved? Why didn't she get any actual redemption, or make some sort of sacrifice to show that she wants well for Inazuma after all? She could face the consequences of her wrongdoings and see the death she caused or experience the wrath of the people she hurt but noooo, her people already forgave her and are concerned for her health! But she's just being angsty, so let's go on a peacefull stroll and show her some horny light novel people wrote about her <3 Like come on, really?

Like seriously, if Mihoyo had the guts to actually call her evil, that would barely infulence her popularity. People simp over well-written villains like crazy. Well-written villains rule.

I'm honestly worried about how The Tsaritsa will be handled...

But okay, okay. To lighten up the mood, here are some things that I liked about this update:

Teppei, duh.

Watatsumi Lesbians.

Sara. Oh dear, oh dear, gorgeous. Once again, she proved herself to be an honorable person. We've seen her admit that she was doubtful about the decree. We've seen her world being shattered as she realised what her family did. We've seen her put away her selfless devotion to do what's right. My hot tengu gf, I absolutely love you and your writing so far.

Scaramouche has more interesting backstory and motivations than hid creator. He's the villain we deserve. He has the gnosis and he's yet to cause some drama, so hopefully he fixes this hell of an arc.

Thoma didn't have much screentime, but I like how they touched the topic of how it's hard for him to stay in hiding

Sayu was cute and fit into the story nicely.

ANGRY TRAVELER YES. They spoke. They were pissed. They were traumatized by witnessing Signora's death, even though they hated her. They see that the gods are nothing to mess with, they're changing, they're becpming just like their sibling. YES, YES, YES.

The fact that Raiden somehow "marked" us to attack us when we join the resistance army was cool and relflected her elemental skill really nicely.

#genshin impact #caro talks #genshin 2.1 #genshin rant #raiden shogun #raiden ei #beezelbul #yae miko #guiji yae #kaedehara Kazuha #thoma #Scaramouche #kunikuzushi #kujou sara #la signora #aether #lumine #balladeer #sayu #teppei #sagonomiya kokomi #gorou

[thefanficmonster]

Trending

Corpse Husband x Animator!Reader (Gender Neutral)

Warnings: None :)

Genre: FLUFF, Humor, RPF (Real Person Fic)

Summary: When a character in Y/N’s new animated video looks a lot like Corpse’s avatar, people are starting to suspect whether it’s a pure coincidence or sneakily intentional. Corpse is quick to put an end to the debate though.

Requested by Anon. Thank you so much for your request hun! Really sorry for the long wait for the fic to be posted but I still hope you come across it and give it a read and if you do so I hope you enjoy it! Love, Vy ❤

“Hi everyone!“, Rae, aka the creator of today’s lobby, greets us all as we pile in one by one, excited to start the stream. 

I am especially excited however because I haven’t participated in a stream in quite a while seeing as how I’ve been very busy with my original content - animations. I made an animation talking about my vacation to Canada over the winter about two years ago. In my defense, it was a long video and I hadn’t posted in so long that I wanted to make it a special comeback - sort of - and something to repay my audience for their patience. I got too carried away in the gaming world and forgot my main field which is animation.

“Hi guys! Missed ya!“ I greet them for myself too, genuinely happy to be back seeing as how it’s been so long since I’ve talked to them or played Among Us with them. Maybe that’s another reason why the animation took so long to be finished: I lose motivation when I’m not social and since I don’t leave my house a lot when I’m working on a project, these guys are usually my only social interaction and without them I turned into a literal bum. “How have you all been? How’s it going?”

“It was barely going, to be honest.“ Corpse says with a huff of laughter.

“Yeah, it was super boring without you! Glad you’re back!“ Poki interferes too, her statement widening my smile.

“Aww thanks guys! I’m glad to be back too, feels like it’s been forever since I last was in this Discord server or in an Among Us lobby.“ I say, throwing a quick glance at my chat to see the excited comments left there by my viewers.

“Oh, and congrats on making it on Trending! I was overjoyed when I saw your video on the Trending tab, you don’t even know.“ Rae gushes, bringing a slight blush to my cheeks - yeah I know, I suck at receiving compliments about my work, I’m working on it though!

To be perfectly honest, that video didn’t deserve to make it to Trending. Hell, the chances of it making there were nonexistent considering my channel’s rather small and has a tight-knit community of about two hundred thousand people only. And I don’t mean that as though it’s a bad thing, I’m just using it to set the scene of how impossible it seemed to me that a video of mine would make it to Trending.

“Um yeah, thank you so much, Rae. Honestly, I need to thank Corpse for that.“ I say, my blush deepening as my cheeks grow even redder. “People thought the character in the animation was him so they had to investigate.“

Yeah, apparently a fan of mine who watched the video recognized the character of my boyfriend as Corpse and immediately took to Twitter to let people know what they’d found and man did it blow up. Anything involving Corpse blows up nowadays but I still owe him a ‘thank you’. One I bet he won’t accept. I know him too well at this point - I know he won’t take any credit for it whatsoever but oh whatever.

“My phone got blown up the day it was posted, holy crap.“ Corpse laughs, “I was so taken aback, in all honesty. I was like: yeah, no shit, Sherlock. - Thought everyone already knew we were dating. Like, the confusion really caught me off guard. I thought we were being obvious.“

Well....I guess that’s one way to reveal a relationship you’ve been keeping secret for months now.

“Thanks, babe. Couldn’t have done that any more originally, I guarantee.“ I sigh, tangling my fingers in the roots of my hair as I feel laughter bubbling up from my stomach to my chest, begging for me to let it out.

“Wait...“, Rae is, unsurprisingly, the one to break the silence that commences on our friends’ part, “WHAT?!“

“Yeah, I second that...“ Poki is quick to follow, “WHAT!?“

Oh here we go....

@maat-the-prescriptive  @simonsbluee  @save-the-sky  @itsminniekat  @hacker-ghost  @bi-andready-tocry  @imtiredaffff  @jazzkaurtheglorious  @hereforbeebo  @fandomgirl17  @chrysanthykios  @maehemscorpyus  @loraleiix  @letsloveimagines  @annshit  @i-cant-choose-a-username-help  @enigmaticmaze  @divine-artemis  @waterlilypat  @idontknowwhatthisisfam  @evi-ka  @classyandfabulous00  @redperson58  @lilysdaydreams @solowheein  @mythicalamphitrite  @axen-gers  @luckygirl144  @nj01  @buddyemily   @the-albino-lioness  @stardream14  @gdhdkfnn  @nomadicgypsyy  @preciousskye  @fluffysuicideunicornsworld  @o-kaelin  @manacharlotte  @awkward-youtube-trash  @lolalee24  @bonky-beerns  @meme-lord-and-savior-sebastian  @strawbrinkofdeath  @teenloves  @tams0527  @browneyespinkhair  @starstruckllamapuppy  @daisychains012  @y0ulooked  @tinytacosuitcaseflap @supernatural-is-my-only-life  @jula-pauline  @melodykitty  @just-that-bi-girl  @crazybutconfidentaf  @lowellshade @alphakees  @bellero  @weallneednamjesus  @starryhanji  @boiled-onionrings  @husherstan  @fockingwhore  @melaningoddessthings  @prettypastelpetals  @haleypearce  @godwhyamiawkward  @y-napotat  @daisychainyoonmin  @little-miss-rebel3  @free-wheelin-bi-sexual  @redmoon261 @darkacademic2  @wiseflamingoqueen  @into-the-end  @namikhai-i  @nastiablr  @thelittleplantlover  @mirktuan  @dont-hyuck @jjk-bunny  @vintagegothlover  @easygoingtheatre  @itsrandombooklover  @miiaivi  @emmybaybee  @befourgolden  @jjk-is-my-shit  @eternalteaaars  @spacebadgerx  @princesslunalight  @acequinn14  @samm48  @misselsbells06 @simp-lykawa  @fo-love  @marishimomura-blog  @therealglenncoco  @cinnamonbun332  @killtherandomness  @sanshinexxxsan  @fee-btheweeb  @press-lay  @cathleenpotgieter16  @jazzydoesstuff  @moonlxghtbay  @forestrain2000  @hyunjinhugs  @blood-of-fandoms  @lovellylies  @ukiyolixx  @simpforhpcharacters  @chrisdylan17  @parkerjisung  @pedernille  @theodonyous  @wineandionysus  @malfoystilinskii05  @morbid-x  @coryisagee  @jessewa26  @scoobydooluver97 @mindintheskies365  @raeanneinwonderland  @indecisive-empanada  @gluttonypalace  @loriane2503  @btsiguess-kpop  @khaoticbunny  @lucidlycactus  @smiithys  @rottenroyalebooks  @kpopgirlbtssvt  @fangirl-tc27  @fr0z3n-1  @notmesimpingfortechno  @shotarosleftpinky  @kunoi-chan  @idk-whats-wrong-with-me  @yikeroonie  @goldenstarofthunderclan  @poetry-and-tea  @ama-do-writing-stuff  @wishbonewolf  @emeraldxhope  @t0xick1tty  @kusuinko  @speakyourselfloveyourself  @sophia902103  @lo-manburg  @classsykittykat  @dmgama  @depressedpuppythatneedscoffee  @btsiguess-kpop  @akaashi-baby  @gun-jong-simp  @geschichtenfee  @yerapotato-wp  @browneyedgirl365  @thysagclub  @sparklycloudnight  @helloatomicshadow  @queentorresstuff @vtte @val-gal  @lucy-bunny17  @aaliyahh0  @katluckybear  @boyleanti  @straybids  @franchesca-791  @cosmicstorm19  @averyisbackinthetrashcan  @aomi-nabi  @xlanawriter  @allensimpsforcorpse  @sunnyrae-cessh  @ladykxxx08  @meowiemari  @renupf  @booklover76  @sra-verissimo  @beatrhizn  @blueberrystigma  @beatrhizn  @chicken-taco-burrito

#corpse husband #corpse #corpse fluff #corpse fanfic #corpse fic #corpse fanfiction #corpse fandom #corpse x y/n #corpse x you #corpse x reader #corpse husband fanficiton #corpse husband x y/n #corpse husband x reader #corpse husband fanfic #corpse headcanons #corpse imagines #corpse imagine #corpse headcanon #corpse husband imagine #fic #fanfic #fanfiction #fandom #request #x reader #reader

[princessofprocrastination]

She’s Creepy (Dream)

MASTERLIST

pairing : dream / clay x reader. 

summary : apparently being a huge fan of a big youtuber is considered being a creep, according to minecraft gamer, dream. and ever since he called you mean things, your world turned upside down. (ANGST) (TRIGGER WARNING)

a/n : i’m aware i’ve been writing all angsts, i just enjoy a little heartbreak. this is a two part story!

you haven’t been on social media as a public figure for long, but that doesn’t mean you haven’t been on social media before this.

you knew people, you had people you look up to, as of many other social media influencers or content creators. 

you grew pretty quick on youtube and instagram. your content mostly included room makeovers whenever you felt bored of your own home or your storytimes. you blew up from talking about your stalker. 

since then, your subscibers stayed with you and supported you, saying that you have a charm, and that you exert good energy and vibes. and those type of comments have always made your day.

you always shared with your supporters about your life, not too personal but enough for them to feel included. of course, you’re not telling them your phone number or address, but you tried to share as many details you can legally in your story times. 

that also meant that you would tell your supporters small details about you, such as what book you were currently reading or who you’ve been watching on youtube. 

even before you stated posting on your channel, you’ve been watching a minecraft youtuber, dream and his friends. 

some of your fans would tag them in some of your instagram posts, or tweets that brought no harm so you never really acknowledged it since it wasn’t hurting anyone. 

you weren’t “fangirling” you’d say. it was more of you supported them and found them funny and entertaining. 

coincidentally, you landed yourself on the dream team tiktok, which means that dream and his friends were all over you for you page. 

and to show that you were active and not dead to your followers on instagram, you’d post a funny tiktok, usually included the dream team. you thought it was harmless. to you, it was just a way to show support. 

but only a couple days later, hashtags about you and the dream team, more specifically, just dream, were trending. 

when you saw this, opening your twitter app, you immediately went to find out what this was about. your heart jumped when you thought maybe dream acknowledged you. 

in fact, it was worse. 

what was trending was a short video clip during one of the dream teams chill streams on the dream smp. 

the conversation between george, sapnap and dream went like this. 

“you guys heard about that girl who kept reposting tiktoks about us on her instagram story?” george asked the other two boys. 

“heard she watched us before she even started her channel” sapnap. 

“i don’t know about you guys, but i think she’s being a little creepy.” dream said. 

your heart sunk to your stomach. did your actions portray you to be a creep to other people?

“dream, you can’t just say that, especially on stream.” sapnap scolded him, george also mumbling something. 

“why can’t i? i feel creeped out by her, a public figure posting me all over her socials.” dream replied, tone serious. 

you clicked off the video, before it replayed again. you couldn’t get yourself to rewatch that, to hear those words again. 

almost crying, you told yourself to suck it up, that this wasn’t worth you crying. 

although they were who you looked up as minecraft gamers, this wasn’t worth your breakdowns. 

that was until, you opened your direct messages.

you shouldn’t have. you knew the dream team stans would easily hunt you down, to ask you to back off from creeping their idol off. 

but no, you still opened your dms. you expected a normal dm, ones that say they support you or some of your friends sending you memes through instagram. 

what you didn’t expect was to see a flood of threats. 

some said “kill yourself, you don’t deserve a spot on earth after what you did.” and “back off and leave my mans.” 

it got worse from there. you thought maybe it’s just the dms, but you didn’t expect it to blow up more, with people tagging you with photos on instagram and twitter. people “cancelling” you. 

you didn’t understand how this blew up like this. you were even more baffled to see some of your supporters sending you threats, too. 

was this what you deserved? 

you weren’t one to make rash decisions, nor were you a suicidal person. 

you felt stupid. just because you supported big youtubers, you get this type of treatment?

the threats, the dm, never stopped. for three whole months, you had to deal with the never ending mean comments on your social media. you thought it would die down. 

it came to the point of seeing your address and your phone number all over the internet. you never thought it would lead to this. 

you didn’t know what to do anymore. 

not long after, people started showing up to your apartment. 

sure, your apartment didn’t have the best of security, which you blamed no one but yourself for being a public figure and living somewhere with little to no security. 

they started with knocking on your door during ungodly hours. next was mailing weird stuff or sending stuff to your house. lastly, which tipped you off was that they would vandalize your apartment. 

they would egg your front door, pee, or spray paint your walls of the outside. 

you couldn’t handle it anymore. 

soon enough, you knew you had to stand up for yourself. you had to call the police. 

and that was exactly what you did. you called the authorities, which made the brave teenagers leave you alone. 

while they were egging your house and making your life miserable, you knew this was the only time for you to make a rash decision. to leave the country, to somewhere no one else would fine you at. somewhere unpredictable, that no one would expect you to go.

it took a lot for you to book a plane ticket, box up your belongings and move to a completely different country, away from your hometown, florida. 

you loved it in florida. though it was humid all the time, you enjoyed it. now that you had to leave, you only had a little while to cherish it before you leave it all behind. 

and your family, your friends. the ones you’ve grown up with, ones you’ve grown to love and cherish. you had to leave that too. and without telling them too much information. 

that hurt the most, needing to leave your loved ones behind, to start a new life, to start afresh. 

-

DREAM’S POV

i didn’t know what was happening. one thing added onto another and soon it was out of control. 

i didn’t say anything at the start, not thinking it would go this far. i didn’t know to what extent my fans would go.

sure, i saw all the things happening, but i didn’t do anything to stop it. 

i saw her address and phone number all over social media, and did nothing about it. 

george and sapnap said something, and pushed me to do something about it, but i didn’t. i was stubborn.

speaking of, it’s been months since i heard anything about her from her herself, everything i see is from my fans or hers, wondering where she is.

should i be worried?

-

YOUR POV

you left florida. the only people you told were your parents and your childhood friend, not trusting anyone else. 

what you told them was vague, that you needed to leave, away from the US. specifically, you moved to Australia. 

you made a decision to not live near the city, but the outskirts. 

you were lucky that you weren’t a spender and you made more than enough money to make the decision to leave so suddenly. 

lucky for you, you went to college and had a degree in law, so you didn’t need to worry about not having a job.

you never thought you’d make use of your degree this early in your life, thinking that youtube and being a content creator would last a little while longer. 

you had to change you hairstyles, your fashion in general since you had to be in a more professional setting. although it was hard transitioning from a casual wear and having crazy coloured hair to wearing pant suits or formal dresses and going back your natural colour. 

three years. it took you three full years for you to even think of visiting your parents in florida again. also, given the fact that you had a stable job and you couldn’t up and leave. 

but recently, you were offered to work at another law firm in florida. you were happy to tell that to your family back home but at the same time, you were hesitant to go back to your nightmares. 

but you braved yourself, since you missed your family dearly. 

now, you were sitting on your desk in your cozy home, finalizing up the last of your move, like getting a house back in florida, this time with a better security just in case. 

boxes of your clothes and belongings went first, to reach your new house there before you did so it was easier for you, not having to worry about your stuff. 

you asked none of your family’s help, not wanting to burden them. instead you told them to just meet you at a restaurant you booked for you and your family and friends for dinner about three weeks after you landed. 

although they protested, saying it was too long until they can see you again, you told them to not worry and that you were going to use those three weeks to start working at the new law firm.

you decided to take a straight flight from australia to florida, not wasting any time. although it was almost a twenty-two hour long flight, you sat throug and got to your hometown safely. 

you didn’t know what was going on with the three boys you used to adore, since you didn’t have social media anymore. 

but you didn’t mind it, it was peaceful. 

two weeks since you’ve stepped foot in florida again. it felt amazing to breathe your hometown air again. it was refreshing. 

you have fully settled in your new house, and workplace. you were glad to have met your co-workers. they were all super welcoming and made sure you weren’t left behind in anything. 

so far, your transition from australia to florida has been smooth, and you weren’t worried about anything. 

you got a car since you’ve arrived, so that you could travel easily from one place to another. 

not to brag, but. you were making enough money to live a lavish lifestyle. a big house and a pretty expensive car, and that didn’t even make a dent in your bank account. 

you were proud to see that you achieved all this yourself, and only within a couple of years. 

you were just excited to meet your family in real life instead of facetime. 

finally, the day of the dinner with your family came. unfortunately, you had to take a case in the afternoon, so you had to come to dinner in your work pant suit, with a turtleneck and a little late. 

they understood it and told you not to worry about it, and that they would just seat themselves by your name instead of waiting for you. you promised you’d pay their dinners and apologized once again. 

the sound of your heels comforted you as you walked from the valet to the restaurant. you were a little nervous to meet them again face to face after three years. but you couldn’t wait to catch up with them and tell them all about your work life that you could never tell them during the facetime calls. 

you smiled to yourself, thinking nothing could go wrong. and nothing could really go wrong anyways, it was just a dinner after all.

but you hadn’t expected the three boys you used to idolize to be eating dinner at the same restaurant you and your family would be at, specifically, opposite your table.

you walked in the restaurant, telling the front of the house that you had a table reserved under your name and that you were pretty sure the rest of your family was already there. 

she politely told you to walk alongside her, leading you to your family. 

you weren’t paying attention to your surroundings. you were solely focused on seeing your family that you didn’t know that there were extra pair of eyes staring at you. 

you smiled as your family saw you. your mum crying while standing up to hug you tightly, as she once did three years ago. 

you could hear your friends shout your name loudly, as if to tell the whole world that you were finally here. 

“don’t cry, i’m staying, no more going back to australia, i swear.” you told your mum, trying to reassure her that you were fine and that you were not going to leave her again, since she hadn’t stopped crying.

you moved to hug your dad, who had been patiently waiting for his turn after his wife. “you look great, kiddo.” you thanked him as he complimented your professional look. 

you sat down, somewhere in the middle, between your family, opposite of your parents so that everyone could clearly see and talk to you easily. 

with how noisy you family were, you were sure the entire restaurant knew your name and where you had just moved from. 

they asked you about australia, what was it like to work there, away from your family. you caught up with every single one of them. 

“don’t you live in that really expensive neighbourhood right now?” one of your childhood friends asked. 

you winked at her, discreetly trying to answer her question. the whole table shouted and congratulated you for making it this far, in only a matter of short years. 

you covered your face, shy, not wanting this part of your life to be told to everyone in the restaurant. 

-

GEORGE’S POV 

there she was. the person whose life we practically ruined. luckily, we didn’t ruin it all for her. i guess she made use of her brains and is working a normal job.

“dude.” i tried to attract the other two boys’ attention. 

“i know.” both of them answered me. 

“she’s rich rich, huh?” sapnap almost chuckled but was totally serious saying that. 

“yup.” dream. 

ah yes, clay. the man dream himself. sapnap and i tried to persuade him into making it right for her, for you. 

sure, he had said those mean words, but he can take it back. three years ago, at least. 

she disappeared three years ago. vanished. no one knew where you went. some say you moved out of the country, which deemed to be true. couple of years later people started to find out what you worked as, but i tried my best to help get rid of the information 

but they just couldn’t pinpoint where. you basically uped and left everything. 

and there was time to apologize, but it had been to late. 

i thought she died, quite frankly. i didn’t want to be the cause of someone dying. well at least, not me, but my friend. 

now us three were seated in a pretty formal and expensive restaurant to eat dinner. and we did not expect to see her here. 

she came in a little late, wearing a very professional wear. seemed like you went to work before this. 

i knew you were a lawyer, we three knew that since our fans found it out. 

she looked completely different. hair not her usual crazy colours. just seeing her in heels baffled me. she was wearing something formal and that wasn’t what you usually wore, years ago. 

- 

DREAMS’S POV 

she’s beautiful.

not that she wasn’t before. 

but this version of her was different. her in her pant suit, in heels. a turtleneck under her blazer. 

she looked elegant. classy. rich. 

i mean, she is rich. 

her family screamed when she told them where she lived. and man, that neighbourhood only had rich people. it had one of the best, if not the best security you could ask for. 

it wasn’t easy to buy a house there. even if you had the money, you’d need a certain bank card to be allowed to even be shortlisted. 

and if i saw it correctly, she drives a bentley that was just parked by a valet kid. 

damn. she is one successful woman. 

i know, how could i think this much of her, how dare i when i didn’t even apologized. i didn’t even try. 

in fact. i did. even before she went MIA, fully on social media, i sent her direct messages everywhere. she never replied to any of them. 

and i knew no one that had her phone number. and soon enough, no one had heard from her in three years. 

and now she’s back. more beautiful than ever. 

i needed to speak to her i couldn’t live with the guilt that stayed for these past three years. 

my fans, my so called supporters made her life a living hell and i almost did nothing to stop it. 

i’m sure she hates me. but i have to try somehow, right?

question is, she didn’t have a social media anymore, and i can’t just speak to her now that she was sitting opposite my table. 

i kept on pondering as i heard a little bit of her conversation, about her life. 

i guess she moved to australia, and worked in a lawfirm in the outskirts. so unpredictable of her. no one would’ve guessed that in a million years. 

i watched as i see her smile as she listened to what her parents were saying. 

i cherished the smile since i didn’t know when was the next time i’d see her. 

she asked the waiter for the bill, covering the whole cost of her and her huge family’s meal. 

damn, this girl is too rich for her own good. 

she puts down the bill on the table, also leaving a generous tip for the waiter that served them. she stood up to walk after her family, needing to pass my table. 

since she had been oblivious to her surroundings, i didn’t expect her to spot us, to notice us. 

but i was wrong. 

PART 2

#dream x reader #dream imagines #dreamwastaken #dream fanfic #dream imagine #dreamwastaken imagines #dream fanfiction

[itsclydebitches]

Why do you think so many can't see that RWBY's writing isn't that good? I get why people enjoy the show despite it's poor writing. I'm not talking about that. I mean people who really do think it's such a well put together show that is only getting better and better.

I honestly think a lot of it comes down to how you watch the show. I’ve spoken extensively about how many fans tend to re-write RWBY’s scripts as they watch, overlaying scenes with their preferred interpretation, filling in that gap with a headcanon, assuming that this random detail is a pointed allusion/reference/symbol/etc. and then just... ignoring the rest. Everything that doesn’t fit into the concept of “RWBY is a fantastically written show” is either changed, justified, or if you can’t manage either, ignored. This is particularly easy to do if you’re a younger viewer, simply because you may not have engaged with and thought critically about enough similar shows to spot where RWBY is faltering. After all, a Hershey bar is the absolute best chocolate ever and will remain the best chocolate ever up until you get the chance to try, say, a Belgian chocolate from a skilled chocolatier. It’s all a matter of comparative reference. It’s also just easier to get emotionally caught up in the characters you adore when you’re a kid, pre-teen, or teenager. I say this not as a means of dismissing everyone who fits those ages, or to make claims that everyone supporting the show must be younger, but simply because that used to be me and I have experience with that exact phenomenon. I can clearly remember being ten, twelve, fourteen, sixteen, even eighteen years old, absolutely immersed in my favorite media and defending them with a passion as only a young fangirl can. I didn’t yet have the experience or the education to spot a lot of those problems for myself and the few times they were pointed out, I recoiled at the mere idea of someone saying my favorite thing was bad. I didn’t yet have the emotional maturity to separate a critique of something I loved from that love itself, so any attack on the story felt like an attack on my taste, my intelligence, even my identity. And a lot of that was pre-social media era. So now, combine that emotion, that passion, and that limited experience with a fandom who is able to get buddy-buddy with the creators. RT very much presents themselves as friends of the fans, whether that’s responding to someone’s tweet, referencing theories in Q&As, or giving explanatory rundowns on reddit. Now, in 2021, a critique of a show can feel both like an attack on the fan and an attack on the creators, people who are no longer just a face on the back of a book cover, or a celebrity you saw interviewed on TV once, but someone you “know.” How dare you say this doesn’t make sense when the explanation I personally made up is so well done? How dare you criticize the show I’m so emotionally attached to? How dare you say anything that implies the writers I feel like I’m pseudo-social media friends with aren’t geniuses? All of which is wrapped up in not recognizing that the knee-jerk response “How dare...” is a problem all its own. 

Obviously this quick, meandering response doesn’t even begin to touch on all the reasons why someone might defend the writing, or even do anything to prove that it’s actually bad (always a subjective opinion). But I’d say the fans’ relationship with the crew, limited experience with well written media doing similar things that RWBY is attempting, limited experience with analysis/how to test the cohesion of a story, and the sheer importance that RWBY as a franchise holds for many people all probably play a part. Interestingly though, for some RWBY has reached a point where even that instinctual desire to defend the show isn’t enough. This is the first volume I’ve seen where a significant number of fans are going, “I used to defend the show, but now...” That reaction is likely due both to the declining quality and the fact that these problems are now extending to fan favorites. Volume 6, when I got off the “RWBY is great” bandwagon, didn’t have as large an impact because the fandom as a whole didn’t care for Ozpin, so the writing problems connected to him were reframed as deserving for an “evil” character. But now, in Volume 8  — particularly the finale  — the favorite MCs are getting done dirty too, so even die-hard fans are pausing and entering the “I hope this volume was just a fluke” stage. It’s easy to come up with those explanations/ignore various problems when the characters you’re emotionally attached to are soaking up all the good parts of the volume. But with the bees still not confirmed, Penny dead, Watts dead, Jaune getting attention again, Maria forgotten, Yang taken out in one hit, etc... anyone whose interest relates on any of those aspects (and others) is suddenly wary post-episode 14. The stuff that we’ve said for years is a problem is now, suddenly, a problem for the parts of the show bigger chunks of the fandom are here for and that gets people to pay attention. 

#rwby #mymetas #rwde #(I guess?) #Anonymous

[chalkrevelations]

Word of Honor Ep 6, and let’s talk a little about what’s canon, and what’s not, and about the particular slip-slidiness of the line between them on this show.

But first, due diligence: If you are NEW or JUST VISITING, this is a re-watch, so you’re going to find SPOILERS not just for this ep, but for the entire show. Scroll away and come back later if you haven’t seen all 36.5 eps and want to watch unspoiled. Also, heads-up, this got super long, because I had to talk about that stuff up there and then still talk about the ep. Hashtag long post (remorseful).

So, “canon,” as applied to fannish source material (in Western fandom, at least) traditionally has been considered the official stuff – the episode, the book, the comic, the movie – based on the religious definition of  “canon,” the collection of texts accepted as genuine and official within a religion. The word “fanon” – widely accepted fannish ideas – plays on this, as does the fandom concept of “word of God,” or things the Creators have said about the text but outside of it. Is it in the show as it aired or the book as it was printed? Canon. Is it not in the show as it aired or the book as it was printed? Not canon. (Apocrypha? Maybe. Anyway.) Generally, I think we’d say that things like material in the first draft of a script that doesn’t make it through revisions and onto the screen isn’t canon, even if you can get your hands on a copy of the first draft. The final product that airs is what’s canon. BUT this gets super slippery in something like WoH, in a way that’s exemplified in this episode. This ep is one of the places where people who can lip-read Chinese have spotted some significant dialogue changes between what the actors say on-screen and what lines have been dubbed in. (Everybody’s dubbed in cdramas, it’s just the thing that happens. You have your on-screen actors, and you have your voice actors. The ONLY person in The Untamed who did his own voice dubbing, for instance, was Ji Li, who played Nie Huaisang. All the other characters had voice actors dubbed in. In fact, the voice actor for Jiang Cheng in The Untamed is the voice actor for Wen Kexing in WoH.) One of the descriptions of WoH that I’ve heard is that this show was filmed as a bl and dubbed as a bromance. The thing is, nobody tried very hard to hide the shift. There are plenty of places that you can clearly see the actor’s mouths don’t match the dubbing, and they’re not artfully shot or edited to hide this. They’re fully on-screen, mouthing words that don’t match, right out in the open, almost like they want to you to pick up on it. Almost like it’s canon, because it’s right there on-screen, aired in the episode. In my first-watch reactions to Eps 36 and 37, I talked a lot about how the dubbing puts a layer of de-queered no-homo over what the on-screen actors are saying in these places, but if you can see what they’re actually saying and understand it, does that make it canon? What does it mean, both textually and meta-textually, if you can’t believe what you’re hearing – what you’re being told – because it contradicts what you’re seeing? How does that affect what we’re told about Our Protagonists and its “truth,” particularly in the final scenes? How much is the show deliberately working against censorship in this way? How much is it teaching us to look deeper than what we’re hearing on the surface?

Several people have talked about what’s actually being said by the on-screen actors in places where this happens, and I’m going to direct you to AvenueX on Youtube if you want a complete overview, because she’s reliable and has a good compilation that’s easy to find. She has a couple of videos called “Lip Reading for Sugar,” and the March 9, 2021, installment includes the Ep 6 incidences, the most significant of which are: At 3:05 in the ep, when WKX throws himself on Zhou Zishu’s back during the zombie Drug Men attack, calls him “mom,” asks ZZS to carry him, and tells “mom” that “your shoulder blades are the most beautiful.” Only no, Gong Jun didn’t say this, if you watch his mouth compared to the sound of the words. Instead of “niang” (mom), he says “Zhou Zishu.” Twice. “Zhou Zishu, carry me.” “Zhou Zishu, your shoulder blades are the most beautiful.” This is not only important because it emphasizes he’s gay for Zhou Zishu’s shoulder blades, but also because he’s fucking baked on Drunk Like A Dream incense when it happens, and later, ZZS will reveal that Drunk Like a Dream makes you see what you most desire, and he’ll confront WKX about how he “kept calling” someone’s name while he was under the influence of it. This makes no sense with the dubbing we get, because with “mom” dubbed over ZZS’s name here, WKX only calls Zhou Zishu’s real name once while he’s under the influence, at the end of ep 5. That is not kept calling. ANYWAY, once WKX clears his head and flies them away from the Drug Men, back to the a lakeside, there’s another disjunct at 5:05, when the dubbing has WKX tell ZZS not to play hero, that he doesn’t lose face if WKX helps him, and ZZS responds with something about your grandmother’s bear, which AvenueX tells me is a real Chinese idiom, although not for what. What Gong Jun and Zhang Zhehan appear to actually have said, though, is that WKX tells ZZS that this was just like a hero saving a beauty, with the implication that ZZS is the beauty, the damsel in distress, and ZZS respons that no, it’s like the beauty saving the hero, without a lick of concern that he’s the beauty, the damsel, in this scenario, just that he did all the work killing Drug Men and now this asshole is going to act like he’s the one who did the saving. At 31:24, dubbing has WKX telling ZZS that he’ll give ZZS whatever he wants if ZZS can get him some of the Drunk Like a Dream, but AvenueX tells me that he actually offers his body in exchange, in a way that implies marriage. And at 32:22, when ZZS asks WKX what he saw under the influence of the Drunk Like a Dream, the dubbing gives us some random story about baby WKX throwing a rat on his mother’s bed, while Gong Jun’s mouth seems to be saying something something about being in the bridal chamber with his beloved … so circling back to our first instance at 3:05, WKX using Zhou ZIshu’s name is now super-interesting, eh?

Another slip-slidey point of canon here is that there are two versions of this episode. The original version didn’t have the rabbit-washing scene. That was an extra that was inserted later into a Special Version ep when Youku reached 2 million subscribers. But the Special Version is now available on Youku’s channel (it’s the one I watched for this re-watch), AND it’s the regular version that’s on Netflix. So at 25:28, we now get this adorable little scene where ZZS and WKX are cleaning two rabbits in the lake before cooking them, and WKX splashes ZZS who pretends to be irritated before splashing WKX back and running away up the riverbank, chased by WKX. It’s flirty and playful and ALSO a foreshadowing of the flashback we’re going to see in a later ep, when they play together for an afternoon as children. Wasn’t canon before. Now it is.

Anyway, even with the (bad) dubbing that we get, this is a fantastic WenZhou ep. We open with them still being menaced by the zombies Drug Men, with a lot of swordwork by ZZS before he starts flagging because of his Nails Issue, whereupon WKX instantly sobers up, goes Evil Ghost Valley Master on Imposter Hanged Ghost who’s controlling the Drug Men, kills him with his Fan of Death, then scoops up ZZS and flies him off to a lake, where he attempts to tenderly check ZZS’s pulse and take care of his wounds before ZZS slaps away his hand like an offended maiden. WKX has to give him the qi smackdown in order to hold him still to :coff: pull down his robes and suck out the poison from the Drug Men scratches on the back of his shoulder. :hands: I remember the first time around, watching this with my mouth hanging open, demanding to know the heterosexual explanation for this. (Also, if you’re rummaging on Youtube, the Five Straight Guys Watching Word of Honor for this ep is not to be missed. They’re a little questionable in their reaction to the poison sucking, but before that, they’re a bunch of squeamish babies over using the dagger to further slice open the wounds to get to the poison, and it’s HILARIOUS. They can’t even look at the screen once the dagger comes out, hiding behind their hands. I love them, more and more as the eps go on, but they are WEAK compared to even the newbiest hurt/comfort fangirl.) There’s some more back and forth between WKX and ZZS about revealing their true selves to each other, no you, no YOU. WKX makes it clear that he knows there’s something really wrong with ZZS, and then they fight, set to romantic music, and ZZS ends up falling in the lake. I do the victory arms (  \o/  ) to myself where I’m sitting on the couch and startle one of the cats, because FINALLY we’re going to get rid of that execrable fake facial hair. ZZS fucks with WKX by staying underwater long enough that WKX panics and also dives in, we get some really cheap and awful underwater effects, and ZZS reveals his face! They end up back on the edge of the lake, drying their perfectly dry outer robes, while they sit around the fire together in their perfectly dry inner robes, but I am not going to complain because y’all. I CANNOT with how smug and pleased ZZS is for just a moment about WKX mooning over how pretty he is. Then he remembers to be an ill-tempered gremlin and pokes at WKX with a flaming stick, but I had to rewind four times just to catch that little moment of satisfaction about being admired again – it’s subtle and gorgeous and Zhang Zhehan is going to kill me with his face one of these days. ZZS demands dinner on this date, and fake-coughs pitifully to get WKX to go hunt something down, while he stays and does his delightful little thinky face as he pokes at the Soul Winding Box they got from Imposter Hanged Ghost. Then we get a shot of WKX looking at ZZS before he heads off to catch some rabbits that confirms he now knows he’s really Zhou Zishu, rather than Zhou Xu.

So, we’ll get back to the Ghost and the Box in a minute, but I do want to mention that this whole ep is layered through with mini-references and thematic stuff. Imposter Hanged Ghost rings his little bell to control his Drug Men, and remember that, we’ll see that again. WKX asks if ZZS came from the Healer’s Valley when ZZS offers him an antidote to the Drug Man poison; we learn later that WKX, himself, is the one who came from the Healer’s Valley. When ZZS gets the Soul Winding Box open and finds a piece of the Glazed Armor inside (Danyang’s, taken off of Ao Laizi by Ghost Valley before he was hung at the gate of Sanbai Manor), he gives it to WKX, tells him to throw it away if he doesn’t want it. WKX says he couldn’t possibly, and that he’ll wear it because it’s his first gift from A-Xu. Compare this to the way Xie’er will wear Awful Yifu’s Glazed Armor around his neck. We also see some of the thematic and referential stuff come up in conversations that form a repeated pattern in this ep of ZZS stressing what a bad and dangerous person he is: He scoffs at the idea he’s from Healer’s Valley, and asks if he looks like someone who practices medicine; WKX responds that he looked like a professional killer (true) who was cruel in the abandoned temple (presumably while escaping Mirror Lake) and frightening to a kind-hearted man like WKX who can’t even kill a chicken (particularly amusing given the prep for New Year’s dinner in a later ep, when WKX is the only one who CAN). At the lakeside and again after ZZS hightails it away from Sanbai Manor when they spot Han Ying there (HAN YING, my beloved), WKX asks if ZZS is a fugitive, what he’s hiding from, and says that he’ll protect him – by reason, because would he kill anyone unreasonably (omg, where to even begin? How many guys have you choked out at this point)? When they’re arguing about ZZS revealing his “true” face, ZZS warns that most people who’ve seen his real appearance are dead (probably true). WKX says he’s not afraid of death (not his own, at least, we’ll see that the thing he’s afraid of is ZZS’s death). ZZS warns WKX that he’s not only sharp-tongued, he’s ruthless (true). He tells WKX that he’s murdered many people (true) and set them on fire (not unlikely, frankly) and committed many crimes (true, in a way, although they were state-sanctioned, making them legal, if morally reprehensible). This is the ZZS who put the Nails in himself, who talks to himself about what a truly awful shixiong he is, who tells Prince Jin that he’s only good as a weapon. I like how we see this at the same time that we’re starting to see the side of him that’ll preen when someone thinks he’s pretty - this is a process, and it’s subtle, not as high-drama as WKX’s, but it’s there, nonetheless.

We also formally meet Xie Wang in this ep, artfully posed and playing his pipa among the bodies – old and new – of Zhao Coffin Home. He and Changing Ghost have a bit of a slapfight over whose fault it is that Imposter Hanged Ghost, who was actually Long-Tongued Ghost, got killed and got his (Danyang’s) Glazed Armor took by WKX, when Changing Ghost stole it from Ao Laizi, put it in the Soul Winding Box and gave it to Long-Tongued Ghost specifically to deliver it to Xie Wang. Xie Wang is super cool through all of this, and I think we get a sense of how deadly he is by the way Changing Ghost backs down. So, here’s what’s falling together: Some iteration of Ghost Valley is working with Xie Wang and the Scorpion Sect, giving the Scorpions access to the Soul Winding Threads, which we saw used at the Mirror Lake massacre and in the woods outside of Sanbai Manor to kill Yu Tianjie in the last ep. Via Xie Wang, Ghost Vally has access to use of the Drug Men, which we’ve seen at the Zhao Coffin Home (so far), although we haven’t yet been told (I think) how Xie Wang got access to the potions to create Drug Men (we also know ZZS read about Drug Men in a book somewhere, and got enough info to engineer an antidote to them). Xie Wang and the Scorpions have access to Drunk Like a Dream incense, which had to come from Prince Jin’s court, having been engineered by ZZS based on a much stronger formulation. Han Ying, from Tian Chuang in Prince Jin’s court, has been seen at Sanbai Manor, Zhao Jing’s place.

Meanwhile Chengling is doing poorly, with no appetite and getting bellowed at some more by Shen Shen, who would be the worst if only I didn’t know everything I know, which makes me cringe when Zhao Jing refers to Chengling as “my son, now.” NO. RUN, Goldbean. For some more thematic and referential stuff in this ep, WKX calls Chengling a “lonely chick with no one to rely on” and tsks over the fact that he’s “surrounded by hounds smarter than foxes” now that he’s under the care of the Five Lakes Alliance. This is clearly to manipulate ZZS into thinking Chengling is better off with ZZS, but it also sounds like an awfully apt description of Zhen Yan in Ghost Valley. I’m just sayin’.

#zhou zishou #wen kexing #xie wang #zhang chengling #zhao jing #word of honor #word of honor episode reax

[buttmuncher91]

a lot of advanceshippers love to say such bs about Drew even to this day. Drew is not my favorite character & it’s fine to prefer advanceshipping over contestshipping and I kinda like advanceshipping , but some of the things they say are ridiculous! This is not bashing on all advanceshippers or advanceshipping in general, this is just some quotes (not exact) I’ve seen that I’ve had problems with.

”Drew is a jerk! Ash would treat her right!“

Both would treat her just fine! Drew watches out for her & tells her when Harley is tricking her, saved her friends & brother when she was busy, saves her friends, cheers her up when she’s down, & they both calmly talk to each other when alone.

Besides, there are some things to point Ash being a jerk to her too! Ash yelled at her because he was butthurt he had no boat to get his next gym badge & skips out on watching some of her contest when May even watches him battle regular trainers.

And it’s not like May is an innocent angel herself. She yelled at Ash & Drew for no reason, had her torchic attack Ash, & forced Ash to agree to let her travel with him by bringing up her bike.

I know May & Ash have developed a lot sense than, but so has Drew & y’all are just stuck viewing him how he reacted at the beginning.

”May hates Drew & loves ash!“

She doesnt hate Drew. At the very worst, she sees him as a friend & has seen him that way by “Who, What, When, Where, Wynut.” Like I said we seen them talk a lot when they run into each other & heck, she even ditched the group, including Ash as he was talking to her, to talk to Drew when she saw Drew. So tell me again how she loves Ash way more than Drew lol!

And in ”Spontaneous Combustion“ May blushes at Drew after he waved and walked off. May never blushed around Ash, even when some weird couple accused her of being Ash’s lover. And there was nothing in that scene that indicates her getting red met something else. She wasn’t sick, doesn’t look mad, didn’t do anything embarrassing, etc... so it looks as if she really likes Drew.

”Drew is a flirts with any girl & would cheat on May, but Ash would never cheat on her!”

You people have nothing to back this up. Drew had fangirls gushing all over him? May being Norman‘s daughter and probably because she’s referred to as hoenn princess, has a lot of fanboys! In fact, Ash is more likely to cheat on May then Drew dispite him being oblivious, as Drew showed 0 interest in his fangirls & ran from them. If he was such a flirt, he wouldn’t run from fan girls, but would try & you know, FLIRT with them. Drew also showed 0 interest for other girls, & only teases May. You advanceshipper fanbrats (not saying all advanceshippers are fanbrats just the advanceshippers who think this) only pretend he is to make up reasons for May to reject Drew.

”He only likes May for her rack, & wouldn’t care for her if it was flat!“

Talk about reaching. Drew only stares at her FACE! He never stared at them, & the anime gave her chest 0 focus. He isn’t just some creeper. Despite not being interested in her, he treated Breanna nicely & she was flat. He may just have puppy love/a crush on her, but saying he’s just trying to win her because of her rack is complete bs!

”Think about it, Drew & May would make ugly babies!”

Based on what? Cuz Drew has green hair? As someone whose least favorite color is green (okay, okay dark/forest green is pretty), I think this is a stupid claim. Even with a weird hair color, there’s a chance the child could be cute, & really beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Hair color is NOT even close to a huge factor to what separates not ugly to ugly. And they don’t have to make babies if they do get together. They can just choose to adopt to help out those who need a home or just happily be with each other with no children at all.

”Drew is in less episodes with May than Ash, so advanceshipping is better & will be canon!”

🤦‍♀️Misty has the most screen time with ash. By this cruddy ”logic,” Misty & ash (so far) are canon. Yes, misty has much more screen time with ash than May. Misty had all of Kanto, Orange Islands, AND Jhoto with ash... as well as a cameo with ash in Hoenn, and TWO separate cameos in Alola. And at this point, May could have spent more time with Drew. It’s been 4 regions that Ash hasn’t even thought of 1 of her Pokémon after all this time. I’m no pokeshipper, but let’s be real here.

And most of the time Ash & May are on screen, it’s them focusing on their goals/Pokémon. They cheer & encourage each other too, but it’s mostly friendship stuff. Could something happen later on between them to spark love? Sure. But nothing in the anime ever pointed to that. And you can literally say that with Ash and... ANYONE! Like Ash could grow up, met back up with Roxie & they could fall for each other.

When Drew appears on screen, you mostly see hard evidence for contestshipping, weather on Drew’s side, May’s side, or both. Yes, there’s evidence on BOTH sides that they like each other. At best, advanceshipping looks one-sided on May’s side. And even then, it mostly looked that way in the beginning of AG. There’s way more evidence that May likes Drew & vice vesa than with ash & May, even with “less contestshipping hints!“ A lot of hints for shippings are overblown. Not just advanceshipping hints, but poke/pearl/negai(actually never mind, negai is under looked & over hated)/amour/etc... are over blown & it’s just ash being his usual nice/childish self. With Drew, it’s obvious he likes her as how he constantly stares at her, teases her, gives her red roses (& says they’re for beutifly), etc... While I think I covered how May likes Drew enough already. And yes, this could just be a kiddy crush for the both of them, but in the end there’s still harder evidence that Drew & May like each other.

Plus there are a lot of canon fictIonal couples who had less screen time with each other than other characters. Naruhina, ichihime, Hinny, gochi, etc...

“Drew never saves May’s life, unlike Ash!”

So? May never even tried to saved Ash, like she did with Drew!

Ash has also saved: Angie (who has a more confirmed crush on ash), Dawn, Pikachu (3x I can think of), Chinchar, Lillie (or at least attempts to help a lot of times), Celiebi, Erika’s Gloom, Serena, Misty’s sisters Pokémon, a ton of CotDs & their Pokémon...

And what of those who saved Ash? Misty, Sabrina’s... family photographer, Gary, Iris, Clemont’s father, Zeroara dude, a ton of officer jennys, Pikachu, a lapras, Paul, Drew (ya keep on hating him if it werent for him Ash Brock and Max would probably be dead in that crate Jessie, James & Meowth trapped them in so not even advanceshipping could happen).

“Rivals can’t be dating!”

Where did you get this bs? Even in the pokeani IN THE AG SERIES this has been proven false. Watch Pasificlog Jam again. Who put you in charge of how couples should work anyways? If a writer wants to have rivals hookup in their story, than they have that freedom to have the rivals hookup regardless how upset you get over it.

“Ash & May kissed in a banned episode, so advanceshipping is canon not contestshipping!”

Come on guys, they’re 10. The anime creators aren’t gonna have two 10 yr olds kiss on the lips. Its really creepy some person came up with this. No, it’s not creepy cuz I don’t like advaceshipping (I actually like some aspects of it). Again, it’s creepy because they’re 10. If they were like 13+ yrs old, it‘d be okay, but NOT 10. Plus, even Japan is very sensitive when having kissing on the lips happen with kid shows. Even with adults, they censor it/show something else as the kiss happens & just imply it happened. Expecally how they view kissing on the lips in the first place, they ain’t having 2 ten year olds kiss.

And there would be NOTHING to imply that they where going to kiss. Around this time this episode that they kissed claimed to happen (episode 357), Ash & co. where heading to fortree. Nothing ever was implied from the both of them even want to kiss each other. They just where supportive friends of each other with no hinting there where secret feelings or developing feelings from ether of them. Theres also nothing beyond that episode that implied the kiss happened. Because if it did actually happen, I’m sure something like that would impact the next few episodes, but nope no mention of any kiss nor do ash & May act any differently around each other in 358 and beyond. So even if it did happen, it was going to more than likely sink the ship, like it was some akaward thing they did because they were “under the mistletoe“ & afterwards just agreed to be friends & forget about it. The pokemon anime was always about friendship, adventure, and Pokemon themselves, never romance.

Also episode 357 is “Take This House and Shuppet!” not “A Kiss Under the Mistletoe!“ The Japanese episode is the same as the English barring names & episode number.

Were do you get such a sorce for this info? “my friend’s japanese friend who talked to the director of the AG anime & saw it!” or some other ridiculous unreliable garbage like that? Give me actual sources with interviews from the writers talking about this supposed banned episode. Bet you can’t, unless it’s fake & unreliable. If it existed, it would have floated up by someone from Japan. After All, even if for 20 mins that episode should’ve existed if it was just banned. Like “Electric Soldier Porygon” was banned completely & only aired one time in Japan. However, there are places that you can watch the episode despite it being completely banned due to putting a lot of children in the hospital from seizures. That was older than the supposed advanceshipping kiss episode as ’Electric Soldier Porygon’ is a Original Series episode in Kanto the 38th episode. No one can find this supposed advanceshipping episode nor is it even listed in the banned episode list. It should be harder to find this older banned episode than it should be to find this supposed banned kiss episode.

“Why should May choose Drew over Ash? Ash is like a literal god!”

What? Yes, he’s befriended every legendary & come back though poketears, save the world so many times, has arua abilities (he rarely uses), & whatever else, but it’s not like he seems that BA or whatever. Ash not aging seems over focused on, when in reality NO ONE is aging. It took him 7 regions to win 1 league (a questionable one at that), can’t remember Pokémon he seen before & sometimes forgets what he learned, & needs saved by others sometimes. Some god, can’t even rescue himself. Besides, who knows what Drew has done on his adventures. Drew has also saved Ash, Brock, & Max from trouble, isn’t Drew awesome saving someone ”like a god!”? Drew also has beat him in a battle as well, is that y’all’s problem?

And where is Ash’s voice in all this? It’s like this in all this anti-Drew bs. “Drew is just this terrible creature who possesses all 7 deadly sins & is the creation of Giratina & thus May hates & so does everyone else! However... blessed by Arceus himself, we all just know not dense Ash Ketchem is waiting to sweep May off her feet & save her from the demonic spawn that is Drew who is lusting after her bewbs😡” (<-original ideas, do not steal jkjk). Like there’s NOTHING to indicate ash wants her. And do you think this of May as well? Like do y‘all think May is just this perfect, sweetest, most divine woman in the pokeani that only Ash “blessed by Arceus“ is the only guy that should be blessed by such an angel? 🤣

Look, I like Ash & I like May. But even with my favorite characters I wouldn’t go as far as to think so highly of them that it makes Helga’s obsession with Arnold look like nothing. And just because Ash is more amazing with more feets & whatever, doesn’t mean May has to love ash or that Ash has to choose may because Drew doesn’t measure up to him.🤷‍♀️ Just think about it, should Timmy’s mom go with Dinkleburg? After all, he is smarter than Timmy’s dad, has more money & is more successful than he is. And Wandesemo is more popular, not stupid, & mostly competent unlike Casmo. Should Wanda dump Casmo for him? Of course i understand wanting the best person to end with you’re favorite character. But that’s not how love works & in the long run isn’t fair to both Ash & May (& Drew, but I know you haters don’t care about that).

#pokeani #Advanceshippers #contestshipping #Drew #Shuu #May #Haruka #Pokémon #Ash #Satoshi

[idiosyncraticrednebula]

What you think of TCW 2008 Anakin compared to Hayden’s Anakin from the prequel movies? Do you think the TCW creators deliberately changed him (along with Obi-Wan and Padme) to appeal to fanboys or was it just (as many SW fans say) that Anakin was in a different stage of his life during TCW cartoon so that’s why he seems to have a different personality?

Well...I honestly believe it was both but moreso the first option. I believe TCW!Anakin was written the way he was to appeal more to the fanboys since prequels!Anakin was not very popular among them, particularly the older ones and when you look at prequels!Anakin’s fanbase, you see he has more fangirls than fanboys and I think that was because of how Anakin was written in the prequels which is nothing like how most leading male heroes are written, specially when you consider the genres they come from, so the TCW writers took the series as a chance to appeal more to the other side. Had Anakin been written like that since the beginning, I don’t think people would have as many criticisms (mostly valid) as they do, but because Anakin was a certain way in the prequels and never behaved how TCW!Anakin behaved, that’s the where the issue lies. I do think, however, that Anakin would have his “typical hero” moments from time to time, as I said before, I don’t think he was OOC most of the time and there’s some good stuff about him, but the problem, at least to me, is that they seemed to make the “heroic persona” the entirety of his personality and dismiss his more vulnerable, softer and emotional side that he displayed in the prequels. I think Anakin would sometimes put on a facade to conceal how he’s actually feelings, but at the same time, I don’t think that’s how Anakin would have behaved all the time. Yes, Anakin could be a dangerous and unhinged individual, but I think they missed showing that side in the moments where he would have actually become unhinged and dangerous. They tried to portray Anakin being rightfully angry or doing something dumb as ~foreshadowing that he was going to be Darth Vader~ and like, I think that’s so lame because it kind of implies that he was already evil or prone to evil for reacting to stuff the way most of us would, but they missed the entire point that Anakin was a good person from the beginning and that yes, he had his issues but that didn’t make him evil. For example, when Anakin killed the Tusken Raiders they played the Imperial March because it was an act that clearly presented as wrong and immoral no matter how hurt Anakin was, him resorting to murder was a true foreshadowing of his ascendence to the Darth Vader persona, but the TCW usually played the Imperial March theme whenever Anakin was being rightfully angry or upset, killed a bad person or wanted vengance for something that was done to his friends/family. I think it’s problematic to demonize someone for feeling that way and Anakin is already vilified and demonized enough in this fandom for doing and feeling things that most people would consider “normal” in others simply because he became Darth Vader but that doesn’t mean everything he did was evil and bad, but that’s how TCW writers tried to frame some of his actions as sometimes, which is where my problem lies. Matt Lanter said they wanted him to play Anakin more similar to Luke and Han instead of being similar to Hayden’s version, who has a softer, more tender voice and the fact they chose a man with a deep, more masculine voice that could sound suave enough tells me enough about how a lot of this was damage control to make people forget about George’s version of Anakin and also Hayden’s interpretation of him. I remember seeing a video comparing the actors of Anakin and most of the people were saying that Matt should have played Anakin because his Anakin was closer to what they wanted pre-Vader to be, so that version definitely attracted the group of people who bashed and disrespected Hayden for years because they still unfairly place all of the blame on him when the only thing that Hayden ever did was do what GL told him to and to this day it still boils my blood to know just how much hatred he got to the point that he was anxious before arriving to SWCO 2017 because he didn’t know how people were going to react. That alone tells me how much shit he got and to know that TCW!Anakin didn’t help in this matter at all to appeal to people who didn’t like prequels!Anakin is one of the reasons why I’m not super fond of that version of Anakin. I tried to structure my feelings on this topic in the best way I could, so pardon me if it’s all over the place lol. I think Matt and Hayden play great Anakin’s, although they are not written the same most of the time, but I’m sorry but I’ll forever stick with Hayden’s version because he handled the character of Anakin perfectly. He portrayed as he was supposed to be: complex, awkward, emotional, always in conflict, strange, deferential, unstable and soft. I don’t think anyone could have done a better job and I’m glad he was chosen to portray him ❤️

#ask #icegoddessrukia #anakin skywalker #star wars #meta #character analysis #text

[sneezemonster15]

I have a lot of mixed feelings about how Sakura is generally perceived by the Naruto fandom. I haven't been here for very long, but it's an understatement to say that man, they hate her. I guess apart from Sakura stans or SS stans (who I am not even going to give much space here because their reading comprehension of content is below par and almost unbelievably projectional), when almost every other subcategory of this fandom, even the dudebro kind, just like, abhors Sakura, like the stuff is pure vitriol.

But I am trying to be thoroughly objective here.

Throughout part 1, I can honestly say she appeared to be a character who was self absorbed, spoilt, skin deep and childish. But the thing is, she Was a child. At that point, I knew that I had long way to go towards the end of the show, so I knew being one of the supposed main characters, she would go through an arc, and possibly grow up. I couldn't begrudge her coming of age.

During the initial part of Shippuden, I could see that Sakura had grown up in some way. She definitely had matured to some extent. She had a better grasp of her emotions over losing Sasuke than Naruto at this point. She even comforts Naruto and defends him against Sai, and I kinda liked that moment despite myself ( I for one never liked Sakura but was willing to give her a chance at redemption at this point, well that and anyone defending Naruto gets a little bit on my good side). She was training hard. Even if it was unoriginal, she was kinda doing her own thing. I thought, hmm that isn't so bad. She makes a few bad choices, but she is also adjusting to new and improved Naruto in team seven, new responsibilities. Yes, she is not the best fighter but c'mon man, she was literally put in a team with two of the mightiest ninjas of all time, and it wasn't her decision. She was liable to feel insecure. Cut her some slack. Compared to team seven, all the other teams anyway look like benchwarmers.

It's mostly what happens after Sasuke is condemned as a terrorist that made me lose all hope for her. One bad decision after the other in this arc (and all the other arcs after this one). This convinced me Kishi had had enough of this half hearted development at this point, he just went like fuck it, it's time for fucking War, let's get fucking on it! This is where his SNS was going to shine after the long hiatus and overflowing anticipation of Naruto and Sasuke teaming up together (I mean just look at the ridiculous build up of their upcoming team up at the war, Kishi brought out all the big guns, the former hokages for Sasuke's entry, hahaha awesome. Then Sasuke and Naruto's own fights, especially the final one, just look at what the animation people did, the fucking detail, the atmos, the sound design, lord damn). Because let's be honest, it's battle manga.

After that, at such an advanced stage of the series, Kishimoto just like...spat on her 'legacy' over and over again in the war arc. Like it was almost painful. After Everything, when Sasuke slams his hand in her torso and puts her in his horrible genjutsu, just because she would have tried to stop him from getting hurt, I was like my God Kishi stop already! You have made your point! She may not be perceptive, but that was way too harsh. In terms of commensurate action- reaction, that was just way too much for a reasonable Sasuke to do, who btw had already had a pretty good time (all things considered) at the war fighting big bad villains alongside his 'best buddy' and had kinda temporarily come out of his Karin-killing phase. He certainly had the calm of mind to pleasurably mock Sakura and Kakashi now and again.

Well, Sakura had lost all credibility at this point of time and the ending of series was obviously forced. I see no point in even talking about it.

This is how I see it.

Now to come to my point. It's disturbing to see the amount of hate she gets from almost all factions. She is objectively written as a negative character, yes. Also yes, that I get how easy it is to get so invested in characters so as to find the lines a little blurred and one could perhaps project too much.

But some of it is just like, it crosses boundaries.

I get mad at Kishi for a lot of things, one of them being writing major female characters so badly, it made me detest those characters this much. Btw, this goes for both Sakura and Hinata. In fact, I find Hinata's character worse than Sakura's.

I understand why Sakura gets so much hate. But just the way some people choose to portray this hate makes me doubt if they like or sympathize with any character for the right reasons.

I could be wrong. But it takes a lot of energy to hate this much. I am just amazed at this extent of commitment.

From what I have observed, I think a lot of people in this fandom, including me, dislike Sakura because of the way she totally undermined her role amd significance in the story since so much was expected of her at the start, she was the only female member of team seven.

She was supposed to be a clever kunoichi (she literally just stands there during so many battles and cries), maybe a genjutsu expert (well..she ain't), someone who would eventually grow out of her fangirl phase (she never did), someone who would be more perceptive of other people (was literally responsible for Sasuke's attempt of killing her), someone who could be selfless for once (every attempt at proposing to Sasuke says not so much), someone who could fight alongside Sasuke and Naruto on her own terms (what can I say, she tries but it's pretty obvious how coloured her motivations are by the two bois; dudebros have a lot of fun with this).

Finally, someone who wasn't so oblivious. Like how is it possible that she didn't know Sasuke was an orphan! Like seriously! There's a whole ass scene where kids in class are openly talking about the massacre.

Kishi being so deliberate with it in this episode where Sakura mocks Naruto for being an orphan, he just didn't wanna give her a chance, he straight up wanted to establish the Real equation of team seven really early on. This is where he does it for the first time in the series, like blatantly. It is, what just the third episode maybe? Hahahha. He is so slick about it, that tease (but like also, most creators will establish the central theme of the series right away. So as to build tension and anticipation. In films, always pay attention to the first frame or the first sequence. It usually says much more than what's observed at first glance, anyway I digress). I find this episode really enlightening in terms of how Kishi wanted us to know that things were not what they seemed so we better start engaging with the content right away.

Sadly, Sakura could never be any of those things. Kishi never gave her a break. I kinda find it sad.

#haruno sakura #sakura #narutomanga #naruto shippuden #naruto #sasuke #analysis #naruto analysis

[ichika27]

My Thoughts on Carry On

I usually only make posts like this for anime but I have some thoughts after reading the book. I’m aware there are other covers but this was the cover of the one I bought. So yeah...

I’ll be doing this the same way as I make the anime posts. No pictures though cause it’s a novel.

Story:

Simon Snow is the chosen one of the magical world according to the prophecy. This is his final year at Watford School of Magicks where he has to deal with the complicated things in his life: his girlfriend Agatha, his roommate and enemy Baz, and their enemy the Insidious Humdrum. On top of it all, he has to think of his future after Watford.

Characters:

Simon Snow - an orphan who was admitted to Watford School of Magicks as a child who is said to be the Chosen One and is now also the Mage’s Heir.

Tyrannus Basilton Grimm-Pitch - Also knowns as Baz. He’s Simon’s roommate and rival/enemy and the son of a powerful magical family. He’s also a secretly a vampire and Simon has been trying to prove this for a long time.

Penelope Bunce - A smart and capable magician and is Simon’s best friend. She takes studying seriously but would do anything when it comes to helping Simon.

Agatha Wellbelove - Simon’s girlfriend whose having doubts about the things going on in her life. She prefers the life of a Normal better and is starting to question her role in the events of the story.

The Mage - The school’s headmaster, an important figure in their world, and the closest to a parental figure Simon has. He was the one who found and brought Simon to Watford.

There are other characters but it feels like they’d be spoilers if I had to describe them.

Thoughts:

I liked it a lot. The book was fun to read although it felt kinda slow at the beginning before it started to get exciting (the murder mystery needed to be solved got me). The book is one of those that switches POVs and it was fun reading the thoughts of other characters and not just our protagonist’s.

Okay, so the story felt like a fanfic of a series that doesn’t exist and I don’t mean that in a bad way. I know people usually say that as an insult but as a fic reader and writer, I can’t do the same so I’m not saying it in a bad way. It just feels like the way the first couple of chapters were written the way canon divergent AUs are made - those fics that follow the events of canon but deviate one way or another. Their beginning is like how the beginning of this book is: lore dump for people who need to catch up on how we got to the events of the story, the “here’s what you missed!” stuff. Plus the focus on character’s thoughts and emotions on the things that happened and are happening in their lives reminds me of character-centric fics. I love it! It made me like the characters even more and care about them despite the main story being like, the finale of an entire series we barely got to know.

I know this story is sort of like supposed to be a “Harry Potter” parody for the book “Fangirl” (which I have read before) so that the MC of that could have a fandom to fangirl over which the audience could relate to but Carry On is more than just that now. It’s no longer a parody and is not a rip-off but it felt like the author’s own take on the “chosen one at magic school” story. If that’s confusing then I’d liken it to the modern isekai genre - many creators decided to make their own version using what the main components of such stories have and put their own spin on it. Like, I can somewhat pinpoint some story/character information that Carry On has in similar to HP but it’s not entirely the same. It was like a familiar mold but so many other different things were put in it that they are their own selves. It’s pretty cool, really.

The way their magic works seem simple and kinda weird at first but the explanation made it make sense in the story.

I like how the story progressed and even the ending but I was left with many questions that probably got answered in the sequel books. Still though, it would’ve been confusing had I read this before when those sequels didn’t exist. Like, I’m wondering if Simon would ever know the truth about his parents or what the heck happened to Nicodemus (he was important enough to get his own POV chapter and then he isn’t mentioned in the end) among other things. I’d have to get the sequels someday.

Spoiler Stuff and Random Whatevers:

Character Thoughts-

-> Some short ones: I liked Penny and how much she cares about her friends and that she’s also a rule-breaker if she wanted to be. Agatha was interesting as a character who is like this person stuck in a story they didn’t want to be in. I was happy for Agatha in the end.

-> I found Simon to be kind of annoying at first lol. Simon is kinda the opposite of Agatha (as he’s like the character who was placed into a story he thinks he needs to be in cause those around him made him feel like it’s all he’s got) but it can’t be helped. He had nothing and still questions his origins and then many of the things he does love which make him happy are at Watford.

He’s at Watford and the world of magic as a chosen one and the Mage who he respects and think of as an important adult in his life has expectations of him as the chosen one. It makes sense many of his actions and thoughts connect to this - being with Agatha and the happy ever after he wants after the chosen one duties are done because that’s how it goes, right? And there’s his obsession with defeating (or at least exposing) Baz cause he’s the hero and Baz the obviously antagonistic (to him) vampire is the enemy.

-> My favorite character in the book is Baz. I thought he’d be a brooding, arrogant, jerk but then his POV chapters came in and he’s actually a pretty fun guy (still a kind of a jerk though lol). I love his thoughts and commentary on the things that happened and are happening. He’s in love with Simon despite them being enemies so he wasn’t trying to hurt him really bad but if asked if he was, he’d say “Fuck yeah!” cause he still has a reputation and he does enjoy pissing off Simon lol. His entrance to school at the beginning made me laugh too - it was a waste of magic but he looked cool and that’s what’s important.

One of the other things I liked is that he wasn’t the one who didn’t know what their plan is. Usually in a fight between the protag and the enemy, the enemy is the one who has to think of what would be next after their plan succeeds. But here, Baz knows or at least have plans of what to do for the future and it’s Simon whose confused about what then after doing his chosen one duties.

He’s also like Simon, I guess. He believed in his own role in the story: he’s Simon’s enemy and one day they’re gonna be fighting seriously and one is probably gonna die (and he believed and held onto the idea that it would be himself who dies). But even still, like I said, it seems he’s got plans for what if that doesn’t happen which I think is nice.

-> The Mage is a complicated and confusing character to think about. He had points and good ideas but he strayed badly due to his ambition. It sucks cause many of his intentions definitely would benefit many and had given so many others a chance but the way he did everything is definitely not good.

I like the twist about him and Simon though. The story is still about the chosen one but the Mage created his own for it. So, I wonder: did the prophecy mean Simon and it knew the Mage would create the chosen or is there someone else out there but it’s just never found out who?

-> Ebb was an interesting character so it’s too bad there’s not much of her own POV. I wish it was shown what happened in between her being taken away and the final battle. I wonder how her brother is and what he did after her death?

-> Baz’s aunt Fiona is cool. Despite being his aunt, she seemed more like an older sibling to him in the story.

The Romance-

It was cute lol. Especially in the Baz POVs. Just, I wish their first kiss went differently. It would’ve been better if Baz was the one to kiss Simon first and not the other way around. Don’t get me wrong, it was still cute and I still squeed over it but the progress just bothered me, I guess?

Simon has been hung up on Agatha and what his feelings for her must be in almost the entire book so it felt weird that kissing Baz at all would even cross his mind. Especially since he has been and sort of still a bit suspecting Baz of being evil (and Baz doesn’t want to prove it otherwise). Meanwhile, Baz’s feeling for him had been revealed already and his thoughts on Simon are shown on his POVs. I wish Baz kissed Simon instead - he already thought it will be the end as he didn’t want to go on but he still wants to believe they were enemies. What better time to kiss Simon, right? He’d get his kiss and confuse Simon as he ends it all. It felt like it would’ve made more sense if Simon would think of Baz differently after this event and their relationship would slowly change after when Simon slowly accepts they could be something else other than enemies.

But like I said, I don’t hate what happened in canon. It just felt like it suddenly went there too fast.

Other Stuff-

I have read “Fangirl” before this one. I didn’t really like that book’s main story (sorry!) but I found myself enjoying the snippets of Simon Snow’s story in it. It’s why after I read Fangirl in 2019 (on March that year, too!), I’ve hunted for this book in the sale events I went to. I’m not rich and a lot of things are on the expensive side in the country I live in - a book in it’s regular price is the same price as at least two days worth of food for my big family. I can’t afford it at it’s normal price so I had to find a discounted one and it was difficult.

Frustratingly enough, it seems the same event that sold the copy of Fangirl that I have also had Carry On and I just didn’t find it. I actually didn’t find my copy of Fangirl either and someone I saw who had it in their cart gave me theirs after I asked where the stock was. I decided to look online at secondhand sellers and everyone is still selling it at a price I can’t afford (it’s popular so they won’t just sell it for a low price). It was only a few months ago when I finally found someone online selling it at an affordable price. I was lucky to get it before someone else did. The same store was selling a copy of “Eleanor &Park” which I also want a copy of but couldn’t buy yet. I thought I’d buy it next time but it got sold out the same time I bought Carry On lol. I read E&P already so I let it slide - it was borrowed from a relative who no longer has it. I want my own copy cause I wanna reread it plus is sort of one of the reasons I became a bookworm in the first place so it’s important to me.

Anyways, it was worth it looking for this and not giving up on getting it. This is a really fun book I know I’d reread again someday. Now I guess I’ll look for the sequels. They’re only a few years old so it’d be a miracle if anyone sold them for cheap.

*sigh* The sad thing about novels are they usually don’t have any character photos though. I know there’s descriptions on the story itself but I have trouble imagining outfits especially school uniforms (I’m not really into fashion either so I don’t know exactly what some of the outfits were supposed to be). The two main characters do have official photos from the other book covers but they don’t seem to be wearing their uniforms though and the manga version of Fangirl (which I found out exist yesterday) apparently didn’t have their canon outfits/appearance from what I understood from the interview with the author. There’s also no official photo of the other characters as well. I wanna draw fanart but I can’t if I don’t have a reference. :P

Anyone know if the author released any reference photos or something?

----

This was hard to write. I’m not used to writing my thoughts on books (at least, not this long. I write shorter than this thoughts on goodreads). Well, that’s one book on my ‘want-to-read’ list crossed out. I also do the book challenge on goodreads and this is like, the 6th book out of the 10 I’m planning to read for 2022. XD

Lastly, in the book Fangirl where Simon Snow is a popular novel, it’s sad that Simon/Baz is a popular ship (non-canon, I think) and I can’t really blame anyone: they’re rivals/enemies which makes things interesting plus they’re roommates. lol

Well, that’s all I guess. This was long but I’ve written longer (the ToA one is longer than this, I think). It was fun and if anyone had read this far, thanks and I hope that had been an okay way to kill time.

#Carry On #Simon Snow #novel #sana_post #snowbaz #I ship it so I'm using the ship name lol

[popculturebuffet]

Star Vs: Stump Day Review or The Why Are You Booing Tom He’s Right Holiday Special

Before we start a special credit to @jess-the-vampire​ who I discussed the episode with during the writing process and brought up a LOT of good points that ended up going into this review. She clearly hates it as much as I do and had even more good reasons for it.  Happy Hanukah, Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays Everybody! And today we got a big, fat, grotesque lump of coal to smash to pieces. And after a long, draining, if worth the effort scrooge review, and with this being something I needed to cross off my to do list this holiday season, I put this one here as I could use the cathariss of giving this steaming bowl of elephant piss a good thrashing. As you can tell unlike my usual reviews, I do not like this episode. This isn’t the FIRST i’ve not liked i’ve covered, but it is the first rather infamous one to me i’ve covered and not just a dead possum of an episode I ran into while reguarly covering an otherwise good show like “Quaraller’s Pass” or “Strife of the Party”. This one’s had it coming, making my top 8 worst christmas specials list last year, and while not the series worst outing, that’s a toss up between the finale and marco jr, it’s easily one of them. So while usually I like diving deeply into something good and picking apart while it’s good, if not ignoring any bad aspects, here i’m just going to take a hammer to this thing to explain why it dosen’t work and why it sucks dirty ass in thunderstorms. I might be overstating it a bit but probably not.  Nothing really new has happened since the last episode so the only new thing to cover is why i’m doing the episode here instead of after Monster Bash. And the simple reason is that like the Ducktales Halloween and Christmas specials, this episode clearly does not take place in the same time frame of the episode before or after it, with the next episode, The Bog Beast of Bogabah, taking place the day after Monster Bash. It’s most likely they simply held this episode over till Christmas and it dosen’t really fit in AFTER the huge game changer that is monster bash, especailly since the next three episodes after this all take place in rapid sucession, two on the same day one the day after them. So yeah i’m doing this one first and putting it ahead of monster bash on my episode guide for clarity’s sake. 

Good, so with all that settled, let’s unwrap this complete works of pauly shore shall we? We open on the titular Stump Day, essentially mewni’s christmas complete with Cocoa, carols and a gay couple and their equally adorable child. And Star, unsuprisingly is giddy for it as the actual chlidren, and wearing an adorable santaesque dress complete with horns on her santa hat. Seriously you cannot tell me tom didn’t get that for her. Fucking precious. Marco is more just confused and has his hood up and one of Star’s cousins asks uncle river to tell him the origin of stump day. River’s response.. is easily the best joke of the episode. 

“(in a jolly tone) ha ha, you don’t tell me what to do”

He does so anyway though: Basically when settlers arrived on Mewni they found themselves cold and griping with each other, and soon found a blizzard had struck.. but by huddling together under a magic stump, they all learned to get along or something like that and now once a year everyone gathers in warmth and camraderie.. or else. Before Marco can understandably question what “or else” means in this context, Star butts in when one of her cousins chastises the younger one who asked river the question for beliviing and says he’s real. It’s a nice touch as it fits star perfectly to still belivie in mewni’s horrifying version of santa. I forgot just how adorable and likeable the character was before the final season shot that to hell. How her energy could be infectious and how Eden Sher really brought her all to the performance, which is still the performance of her career and hopefully like Rider Strong she’ll do more voice acting eventually.  So that night as Star tucks in after wonderful  night of sleep, and to avoid her dad’s usual drunken chorus of Tom Jones “Sex Bomb”, and gets woken up by Marco who leads her to the dining hall because a windows broken to fix it with magic. Star entirely buys this flimsy story.. but as Jess pointed out, and as I missed hence the credit up top... she dosen’t bring her wand. She.. dosen’t bring her wand.. to go fix something with magic. Now i’ll grant next season shows she CAN fully do magic without it, and while not as powerful like her mom still has plenty of punch behind it.. especially when she does the rainbow fist thing. But it’s still.. weird she dosen’t think to grab it and feels out of character. While Star’s learned by this point not to rely on it, and as we’ll see gives it up entirely, one of the few bits of her character development that actually sticks, it still seems resonable she’d take it with her wherever she goes.. and usually SHE DOES. And her jammies, which are also adorable, seem to have pockets so the animators had no reason to not just stuff it in one. It would’ve made their job harder yes.. but then don’t have marco use an excuse that directly requires it then and draws attention to the fact the wand is missing, and the fact you blatantly just hoped we’d forget about it as it’d ruin the climax. 

It’s far from the worst thing in this episode..trust me we’re almost there. But this does bring me to a point.. so far the episode is GOOD. The comedy’s good, the setup for what’s about to happen is good, the holdiay setting is warm and inviting but weird enough to perfectly fit mewni, and River, much like his VA and homosexual talking boat portrayer Alan Tudyuk, is a national treasure as always. Whelp it’s all down hill from here bitches! Giddyup. 

So Marco announces a SUPRISE PARTY! And everyone’s there: Tom, Kelly, Ponyhead, Starfan14... oh yeah this is the first ep i’ve coverd with Starfan14 isn’t it? Starfan14 is star’s insane fangirl, voiced by series creator Derfron Nercy herself, who star happily tolerates despite clearly wanting to wear her skin. We’ve all been there. Also Jackie is transparently missing, though at least it’s SOMEWHAT reasonable as she and marco broke up a few .. months ago? I mean it is winter on mewni for this episode but the end of season 4 and the series is set at the start of summer, yet months still pass..... 

Confusing timeline aside, Jackie has every reason not to attend a party thrown by her ex for the girl who confesed she had feelings for said ex and it’s probably the only good decision Marco makes this entire episode that he wisely decided to give Jackie some space. And it says something a decision made entirely off screen that was probably because the creators genuinely forgot Jackie once she was out of the way so they could shift the love triangle stuff to Tom, Star and Marco instead of you know.. not doing that because most love triangles are annoying at best and utterly insufferable at worst. Case in point this episode but I can give out more about this aspect of things in a bit with more context. 

And to his credit, and as Jess backed me up on, Marco’s gesture is genuinely throughtful.. at least to start with. He got her a choclate fountain, brought all of her friends, and geninely just thought Star never celebrated her birthday on her birthday because it was you know the same day as christmas. As someone whose birthday is a week before christmas, December 16th if you were curious, I understand the pain of having your birthday in the same month as christmas. Of having all your presents clustered at once and of having to manuver around a very stressful season, though it does sometimes have perks like getting to celebrate your birthday and christmas, it also means your birthday is secondary and always will be to most people due to proximity. And Star has hers ON mewman christmas, so it’s even worse. So from Marco’s perspective, TO START, his best friend constantly had to share her birthday with her faviorite holiday and just wanted to do something nice. SO FAR, he’s done nothing wrong and just means well. That’s... about to end.  Star.. instead of being greatful.. starts muttering no before going on an manic rampage and destroying everything including hte band’s insturments. And apparnetly star’s gotten some flack for her behavior.. but I understand it. To her the stump is VERY real, and will be very angry if someone else celebrates so to her all she’s doing is saving her best friend from the holiday equilvent of the trees from evil dead, and when Marco asks about it she GENUINELY is sorry, getting he meant well, that he was being sweet, and that he did a lot of nice stuff for her.. she just can’t celebrate not because she loves the holiday but because again, from her persepctive, the stump will kill them all if they don’t support it. She is genuinly affraid for her friends lives and given she could go grab her wand and fight it, clearly thinks she, with all her CONSIDERABLE powers, cannot win this, and neither can tom whose powers are almost entirely fire based. Star is just trying to protect her friends from being horribly murdered. And she turns out to be entirely right about it so no, star was not a jerk here. A bit over the top, but she was not insensitive, she was not mean, she just didn’t want a party for understandable reasons.

So let’s get to actually insensitive shall we?! Marco’s reaction to this is at first confusion as he didn’t realize the stump was real, though Tom, Kelly and Pony are convinced it’s not. Also this episode implies Kelly is from mewni, but she turns out not to be so why she knows about the stump I genuinely don’t know. They think it’s just a baby thing.. though in Tom’s defense he dosen’t phrase it that way, thinks star still beliving is cute, which for a teenage boy finding out his girlfriend belivies in santa is very sweet and mature of him, and is trying to be nice about it even if he doesn’t believe.  But Marco.. his response to his friend having a good reason for not wanting to have the party.. is to complain about how much effort he put into it and try to guilt and bribe her into having it by mentoining he got her faviorite cake flavor, rainbow. Just.. WOW. I’ve seen some bad turns from characters, but WOWWWWWW. Holy shit.. I mean at least other jerkass marco episodes before this had SOME reasoning to them. Sophmore Slump had him clearly sublimating his feelings for star combined with the usual obnoxiousness of someone having gone abroard for the first time, which as Letterkenny recently went into, the only thing worse is Stillborn Puppies. Nothing else. 

And with Lint Catcher while he was presumptive and not blameless.. river still outright lied to him. Here? It’s clear star dosen’t want this, cake can be refigirated, he only takes a loss on the choclate fountain and he could still just let everyone have some and say it’s for stump day to appease her. He dosen’t have to take a loss on this finacially or morally and there would be no harm done. But that’s.. not what HE wanted, not waht HE set up and he wants what HE wanted, which was to impress star with a thoughtful gesture. But that’s the thing bud: Gestures aren’t about you or what you get. Their about doint something nice for another fucking person. It’s the whole point of christmas and birthdays: To just give someone something to be ncie and to celebrate the day and them respectively. If she dosen’t WANT your gift for understandable reasons and isn’t being rude about it you don’t have any leg to stand on you seflish twatwaffle. 

So already Marco is not coming off well.. and if you know this episode you know it gets worse. Oh god it gets worse. So first PONYHEAD of all people calls out Marco.. and for once, PONYHEAD, the most selfish, most unresonable and a character whose tolerablity varies on the episode, tells him he’s being selfish and is only pressing on because of his need to control things. So not only is Ponyhead right but the episode LIKELY wants you to feel she’s wrong because she’s pony which is not how this work as she knows star well and thus, while unaware she still belivied in the stump, which tracks as while it’s obvious she does Pony is so up her own whatever she has that functions as an ass, it’s understandable she’d miss some details. So no Pony’s right, and the fact PONY is one of the more resonable people in this episode is both a sign of the apocalypse, which is thankfully starting to recede, and a clear marker of just how bad Marco’s being if someone who torments him and disagrees with him out of principal is entirely right. 

Oh but it gets worse as next up, Tom steps in and tries to get Marco to back out, admitting he told him this was a bad idea. Now granted Tom did mess up by not stepping in to stop this a bit.. but he A) didn’t know how much his girlfriend genuinely belivied in the stump and B) Probably assumed Marco meant well, as would I before he whined about not getting his way, and decided it was worth a try. So he’s not that bad, and while it is a bit ehhh to try and take back credit for this when he participated, it’s still minor and Marco is still being a huge dick who refuses to help shut things down when it’s clear the party is only causing star to have a panic attack and assault some humble marachi players. He sees nothing good is coming from this and just wants what star wants. Also it paints Marco in a worse light as he was warned about this, and was so obssed with making it a suprise party because that’s how his plan went, he refused to just.. talk to her about it. Hell he could’ve just casually asked “Why do you never celebrate your birthday on your birthday”. It’s an easy question, dosen’t give the game away and allows him to gage if this is a good idea or not BEFORE baking a cake , hiring a band and getting a chocolate fountain. Instead he just went ahead with it.  And he did so.. because this ISN’T about making Star happy. This is abotu HIM making star happy. Him showing her how thoughtful, and considerate and sweet he is and how he’s always been there for her and how maybe she should be with him instead of Tom. I mean it just comes off that way.. he made it a suprise party because in his head that’s how it worked and she was super impresed and left tom that day to be with him in some elaborate fantasy. Granted the episode dosen’t say this.. but it sure as hell acccidently implies hte hell out of it by having marco act like a selfish ass who refuses to take what STAR wants into consideration, and just wants to get his fantasy back on track. What supports this to me is how he treats tom, you know one of his best friends: He, again, accuses him of forgetting.. then calls him a bad boyfriend.. a bad boyfriend for NOT wanting to force a celebration on his girlfriend she does not want, and for not forcing it on her. For you know GROWING AS A PERSON.  Beacuse here’s the pickle pumpernickle: This thing Marco’s doing? Is exactly the kind of thing a pre-character development TOM did, that was rightfully framed as bad. Being controlling, wanting things to go JUST a certain way instead of letting them flow naturally, not getting the hint star isn’t intrested, and not caring about what she wants and only what you want. Marco is doing the same thing Tom used to do. And for starters i’ts already bad because you know MARCO WAS THE ONE WHO FINALLY GOT IT THROUGH TO TOM THAT THIS KIND OF BEHAVIOR WAS TOXIC AND SELFISH. But apparently when it’s Marco himself doing it it’s fine. If there was ever any clear evidence Marco regressed as a character, there it is.  Him actively unelarning a lesson he taught someone else and then getting combative when that person rightly tries to call him out. Marco is just insufferable in this episode: He’s being selfish, creepy and posseive and he’s apparenlty supposed to, at least on some level BE RIGHT.  But.. we will get to that. Consider a pin put in this rant. 

So Tom overreacts, and throws some fire at marco, which is genuinely wrong and Kelly’s right to call him out, and then headlocks him asking marco to say he’s a good boyfriend. Marco screams out ‘NEVVVEEEERRRR”

I just made this, by hapinstance, while watching the video I put up there. I.. I did not think i’d get to use this so soon but my god. Just my god that’s a terrible thing to say.  So the party soon breaks down elsewhere as Kelly is mad at tom for.. understandable reasons again the guy she has a crush on was just nearly set on fire, even if i’m still on Tom’s side overall here, it’s still not right. Janna points out it’s probably because she has a crush on marco, which while acurate dosen’t mean she was wrong and Tad pops out to be upset about that. Even though you know you two are broken up and as Kelly points out he needs to move out. Pony is mad she’s not getting any attention and Starfan is mad because star’s mad. Star results to desperate measures, opening the windows to try and repeate the act of the settlers.  She didn’t however count on the Janna factor as she throws the stump in the fire, which is in chracter. What’s not, and again I give Jess full credit for this one, is that everyone just starts.. warming around the stump and not caring like a bunch of jackasses not caring about their close friend, and in tom’s case, girlfriend’s feelings. Also tom and marco apparently stopped fighting just to be this stupid. 

But naturally burning the symbolic stump is a bad idea and the real one attacks. Protip: If you live in a world of magical nonsense, maybe don’t discount the magic stump. Everyone’s captured, including moon and river, with River also being suprised and replying to Star’s annoyance at him not beliving with “Sweetie it’s a stump!”. Alan Tudyk is a god and I feel you all should acknowleddge that. But yeah everything seemsm to be bad but everyone apologizes, if not for the right things in Marco’s case, and Tom says “I’m sorry i’m a bad boyfriend!”. You .. you aren’t. You did nothing wrong. I feel like this is tom for the last agrivating 6 minutes of the episode

He did SOME THINGS wrong but he is NOT a bad boyfriend. He is throughtful, kind and while he has flaws, SO DOES STAR. He is not a bad boyfriend for not wanting to repeat past abusive actions! GAH. Let’s just get on with it. They all hold hands, they thiunk this is what made the stump go away but Star is sure it was just going to kill them, Moon and River have a thousand yard stare as they realize they both have to get repairs for this room now and do an extra big stump day next year to make sure it dosen’t come back. And Marco apologizes to star.. for not beliving her. Not for forcing this on her, not for causing all of this, not at all to tom, but for not beliving her while star FUCKING APOLOGIZES TO HIM.  Pin removed, bullshit falling to the floor... Trunks if you would. 

Thank you. Star DID NOTHING WRONG. Tom DID LESS WRONG THAN MARCO. WHY ARE THEY APOLOGIZING. Why is this little shithead getting everything he wants as the party happens after all, if a day later, and he gets to dance with star, while everyone else is painted as being in the wrong? That’s what makes this special so putrid: that MARCO is apparently in the right for doing the same , if on a smaller scale, manipulative shit tom used to do before he grew as a person, yet the episode sides with him, props him up and teases Starco. If it’s Starco it’s okay apparently and that’s.. not okay. You can’t .. build a ship on a character acting like a jackass. That’s not how this works. Marco was wrong, he was bad and he should FEEL bad. Instead he’s just a creepy jerk this entire episode, being entitled, manipulating star, screaming at tom.. and gets REWARDED FOR IT. Fuck this episode. 

FINAL THOUGHTS: I believe I said Fuck this episode.  This is easily one of star vs’ worst episode and much like the season after this episode it gets worse the more you think about it. I put it on my worst holiday episodes list for a reason.. and frankly even with the decent first 4 mintues it should be higher. It’s an unplesant mess that throughly ruins Marco’s character and takes him from a kind, upstanding, polite and bright young man to a creepy manpiulative jackasss. Fuck this episode and have a happy holidays. 

#Star Vs the Forces of Evil #star butterfly #marco diaz #Tom lucitor #tomstar #starco #kelly #lilica ponyhead #starfan14 #christmas #holidays #holiday #stump day #bad episodes #reviews #animation

[unmaskedagain]

Marinette: Iron Man’s Minion

Marinette: Tony’s Stark new Minion.

I have this random story idea of Marinette meeting Tony Stark. It creates fun dynamic with the avengers who begin to questions just how many children Tony has. This story might not go anywhere apart from a few headcannons so be warned.

Most people meet Tony Stark at the Stark Expo. Some are unfortunate enough to meet Tony when he’s rescuing them in the Iron Man suit.

However, when Stark Industries decide that after the events of Slovakia, thankfully Loki had been there to stop the worst of Ultron’s plan thus saving nearly everyone’s life, a little good press wouldn’t hurt.

Stark Industries quietly announced a competition to young inventors of the world: whoever designs the best new Iron Man suit wins a replica Iron man. When one little French girl wins, however it’s the stuff of her dreams.

Or at least Marinette thought so at first.

When the Parisian hero learned of the competition, she decided to pull out her old sketches of the iron man suit. She had always admired the sleekness of it but thousands ideas always hit her on how it could improve appearance wise. Marinette decided to submit her favorite design, never think it was ever a possibility that she’d win.

In fact Marinette was so sure she’d lose, that she didn’t pay attention when the winner was announced. She didn’t find out until her phone rang and Pepper Potts was on the other side of the videotime.

Tony Stark loved her suit design and instead of a shoddy helmet, the real prize was for the Winner to come to New York, meet the avengers, and work with The Tony Stark for the entire summer as an intern.

Marinette had never screamed so loud in her life. Her parents were thrilled at the idea of Marinette getting away from the dangers of all the Akumas and the drama of her class.

Honestly, Marinette thought it was her lucky break. She hadn’t made a single plan for the summer. All of her so called friends had taken to giving her the cold shoulder thanks to Lila and her lies. Marinette hadn’t even been invited to the class’s annual end of the year party. Whenever she tried to make plans with them. They were always too busy or just plain ignored her but then they go right ahead and make plans in front of her.

Marinette had been in tears by the end of term.

She tried to tell Alya she was leaving to New York but was met with contempt. Alya and Marinette’s friendship was non-existent at that point. And whatever childhood friendship she once had with Nino, died with it. Right or wrong, he always took the side of his girlfriend.

Kim trailed behind Lila like a lost puppy, further cementing he had terrible taste in women.

The most interaction Marinette had with Alix was when the pink-haired girl when out of her way to trip Marinette.

Rose said quietly whispered to Marinette that she didn’t want to cause problems with her other friends so they couldn’t talk much anymore. Juleka follow suit.

Adrien watched it all with a passive expression on his face like he didn’t know the truth. It was then that Marinette realized the boy didn’t care what the truth was as long as he didn’t have to deal with conflict.

As far as Marinette was concerned she didn’t have a single friend left in class. Just like Lila threatened. The only good thing that came from it was that Marinette that she wouldn’t care what people thought. Marinette decided to always say whats on her mind no matter what.

           Jagged said it made her very sassy, and so very ROCK AND ROLL.

Marinette arrived at Stark Tower three days after school ended. She had jumped twenty feet when she stepped into the elevator and a voice greeted her.

“Hello Miss Dupain-Cheng,” A voice said.

“Uh, bonjour?” Marinette said. “Please call me Marinette. And you are, sir?”

“I am Jarvis.”

           Marinette nodded. She had heard about the AI that help run Tony Stark’s world. “How are you doing today, Jarvis?” She asked it.

           There was a moment of silence. Most people, a part of his creator, had never asked Jarvis how he was.

“Less chaotic than usual,” Jarvis said with a dry amused tone that left Marinette wondering if A.I could be amused.

           Marinette straightened up and her blue eyes narrowed, “You are not being worked too hard, right? You get time to yourself?”

           Jarvis assured her that he did and that he liked his job. They went onto have a pleasant conversation about their most exciting experiences and Marinette’s future dreams.

Marinette didn’t know that currently Tony was watching the interaction from his workshop with a grin on her face. He had wanted to know just who he’d be working with. So far, Frenchy looked like a keeper.

When the elevator doors opened, Marinette followed Jarvis’s instructions on where to go. And that she was to wait in the living room until Tony came for her. It was then she discovered something about the A.I.

“You’re a bit of a jerk, Jarvis,” Marinette whispered when she walked into the living room where nearly all of the Avengers were hanging out and watching… Spongebob?

           Unfortunately, Tony had been drinking coffee at the time and ended up doing a spit take all over dummy.

           It took all of two second for the avengers to notice the fourteen-year-old girl standing there.

           The bluenette’s face turned bright red. It took everything in her not to start screaming and jumping up and down.

“Oh god, cap” Clint said, “One of your fangirls

“Fangirl? Oh please,” Marinette scoffed. “Have you seen the disaster of a costume he wears into battle? Not in this lifetime!”

           Unfortunately, again, for Tony and Dummy, Tony had taken another drink from his coffee at the moment.

“She’s trying to kill me,” Tony coughed. “Worth it.” He said with his eyes still glued the screen.

           The avengers just stared for a moment. Steve Rogers blinked hard, “What?”

“No offense,” Marinette quickly said. “I’m just really into fashion. And I cannot and will not be seen as fan of man who dresses like America’s drunk prom date.”

           Clint fell off the couch laughing.

“She’s not wrong,” Natasha shrugged as she eyed the girl with a smirk.

           Steve cast the spider a look, and turned frown to Marinette, “I wore that uniform to war.”

“Like World War 2 wasn’t tragic enough,” Marinette said dryly.

“Jarvis!” Tony yelled as he ran from the workshop still trying to watch his new favorite. “Get me some adoption papers.”

“Sir, she has parents,” Jarvis tried to reason.

“Didn’t anyone teach ya to respect your elders? A voice said behind her.

           Unfortunately for the newcomer, Marinette flight or fight instincts had been firmly in fight mode for quite some time. As she quickly spun around and kicked the guy in the face. And that was how Marinette met the Winter Soldier. She broke his nose.

           Bucky crashed into the wall with a force that left his head spinning.

“Peter always wanted a sibling,” Tony told Jarvis with a joyful look.

“And May Parker still hasn’t given you permission to adopt him either.”

“Sorry!” Marinette yelled frantically as she moved to help the man. “I didn’t mean to, I promise. Are you alright? Can I get you anything?”

“Besides your dignity back,” Sam added with the biggest grin on his face. “Because that’s gone, man. Like forever.”

           Marinette shot him a glare, and turned her the disheveled man. She noticed the bloody nose and her panic increased tenfold. “Oh god. Oh god.” She pulled a cloth napkin from her purse and held it up to Bucky’s face. She looked around the room, hysterically, and spotted Bruce Banner, “Dr. Banner, help please.”

“I’m not that type of doctor,” Banner quickly said.

           Marinette narrowed her eyes at him, “Today you are.”

           Bruce blinked. He felt the big guy rumble in amusement. He quickly got up to help.

“I’m fine,” Bucky said as he tried to wave her off and move towards the others. “Nice kick by the way.”

“You,” She pointed at Bucky. “Be quiet. You hit your head and might have a concussion.”

           Bruce instructed Marinette to remove the napkin as he examine his patient.

“Tis merely a flesh wound,” Thor boomed as he strutted over to look. “Nothing to worry about.” He moved to place his hand on the girl’s shoulder but before he could…

“Touch me and I will break that hand,” The girl suddenly said, her back to the blond god.

           Thor’s hand froze in midair. Marinette turned and looked at him. “Go sit back on the couch.” She ordered in such a way that Thor was reminded of his longtime friend Sif.

“I-” Thor started but was cut off.

“Now!”

           Thor flinched back. The blue eyes watched him sternly as he slowly went back to the couch like a puppy with his tail between his legs. Far from the scary small girl.

“Pepper would love her!”

“Yes, but she’d be furious about a kidnapping.”

“How is he, Dr. Banner?” Marinette asked.

           Banner decided right then shrugging would get him killed. “He’s fine. It’s just small break. He’ll be fine in an hour.” He got a skeptical look. “Super soldier, he heals fast.”

“Thank you, doctor,” Marinette said brightly.

“Come on,” Marinette told Bucky soothingly. “Let get you on the couch.”

           Bucky just let himself be led with a sigh. Why did the small, tiny ones always give him the most trouble?

           The other avengers moved out of their way.

“Are you okay?” Marinette asked again when sat the wounded man on the couch. “Do you need anything? Do you want the remote control? I can get you the remote control.”

           Said current owner of the remote control, Scott, looked up like a deer in the headlights. He froze when the French girl’s blue eyes found him and they narrowed in challenge. Scott barely noticed Sam slowly inch himself away from his teammate.

“Asshole,” Scott hissed to Falcon.

“What did you just say?” Marinette raised an eyebrow.

“I said: Here’s the remote,” He tossed it prized possession the Winter Solider who had a smirk on his face. He knew just how hard it was to maintain control of the TV in a home of superheroes.

           Marinette caught it in midair. She passed it to Bucky.

“Thanks!” Bucky smirked at Scott as he said it. “I’m good now. I swear.”

           Marinette nodded contently.

“Ahh Marinette,” Tony said as he entered the room. The smug expression on his face and in his tone didn’t go unnoticed by the rest of the avengers. “Sorry I’m late. Come on, I’ll show you where we’ll be working.”

           Marinette grinned and ran over to the Tony Stark.

“Wait, who are you, tiny vicious girl?” Clint suddenly yelled.

“My name is Marinette Dupain-Cheng,” She introduced herself brightly, looking very much like the sweet school girl they originally thought she was.

“My new intern,” Tony smirked. Then within seconds the genius pulled Marinette out of the room and disappeared from sight as Jarvis slammed the doors behind them

           Natasha hummed, “Tony always managed find the most interesting kids. First the spiderling and now…”

“The Devil,” Sam finished. “I have older sisters. Fear the wrath of a teenager girl.”

“She’s here all summer,” Steve remember feeling oddly self-conscious.

           Bucky chuckled and propped his feet of the coffee table, “Aww, don’t worry punk, I won’t let the mean powderpuff bully you.”

“So Dominator,” Tony said as the stepped into the elevator. “You really know how to make an entrance. I like that in a minion.”

“Minion?” Marinette squeaked. “Mr. Stark?”

           What exactly had she signed up for?

           The elevator doors opened. “Call me Tony,” He said spread his arms wide as he showed of the workshop. “So this is where the magic happens.”

           For the next few hours, Marinette toured the workshop and the tower. Tony really did love the suit she had drawn but had been a bit dismayed that Marinette didn’t have too much experience in the science. Marinette was a quick learned though, and Tony was impressed about how quickly she picked up information.

Happy, the driver who had picked Marinette up from the airport and who grumbled about always being stuck with teenagers, had brought up her bags as he had said he would and left it in her room.

Marinette didn’t run into any of the other avengers again until the next day. She got up bright and early, the sun still rising, as she was still used to waking up and helping her baker parents. Plus jetlag.

With Jarvis help, she easily found the kitchen. To her dismay, the fridge was full of junk food, take out boxes, and protein shakes. And coffee. Lots of clearly expensive coffee.

She sighed and got to baking. There was plenty of ingredients to work with as the kitchen was well stocked up unused. Within the next few hours, the kitchen and thus the entire tower was filled with the sweets smells usually only found in the bakery.

Marinette had made chocolate croissants, a variety of muffins, Berries and Cream Cheese Breakfast Pastries that her father swore by, and spinach, bacon, mushroom, and cheese quiches. She even made a pot of coffee. All spread out on the dining room table before eight am.

The first to make their way up to see what smelled so good was Natasha.

“Good morning,” Natasha said. “Been busy?”

“Morning,” Marinette beamed. “Daughter of bakers. Hungry?”

           Bucky came next. His hair was pulled back in a ponytail and he had on dark sweatpants. He look half asleep as He grunted a hello as he sat down to eat.

           A lovely girl named Wanda and a man Vision, who was apparently Jarvis’ son, came up next. Marinette hadn’t met either of them yesterday but they had heard of her.

           The next person to show was Clint but he took one look at Marinette and made a hasty retreat.

“Baby!” Natasha and with a grumble, Clint came back into the room.

“Hawkeye, right?” Marinette asked.

           Clint eyed her. “Yes,” he answered as he sat down next to the Black Widow. “And if you kill me, Nat will avenge me.”

“No, I won’t.”

“What!” He cried. “I’m your best friend.”

           The redhead looked at him and then at the berry, cream cheese goodness in her hands, then at Marinette. She looked back at Clint, “You’ve been replaced.” When he went to protest some more, Natasha shoved a chocolate scone in his mouth.

           His green eyes widened as the flavor exploded. He looked at the scone, then at Marinette, then at all the food on the table. Clint nodded solemnly, “I understand.” And made himself a plate.

           Marinette giggled at the antics.

           Tony entered the room, hair on ends, greasy t-shirt on and blinked hard at the feast at the table.

“I made breakfast,” Marinette handed him a cup of coffee cheerfully when he sat down. “Sweet and savory. I didn’t know what everyone liked.”

           He nodded tiredly but perked up as soon as he took a bite of spinach bacon quiche. He swallowed it quickly, “Jarvis?” Tony called.

“You cannot adopt her, sir.”

           Thor was next and thanked Marinette loudly for the splendid feast. Scott, Sam, and Bruce arrived next.

           Steve came next, apparently just having finished up a run.

           The two stared at each other, like a pair of cowboys doing a standoff.

“Listen… about what I said yesterday,” Marinette started. “I, one hundred percent meant it. Your fashion sense is appalling. But please consider this a peace offering.”

“My style was very popular in the forties!” Steve defended.

           Bucky snorted, “Liar.”

           That sounded off around of laughter.

           Marinette spent the next few weeks help Tony design his new suit, got trained with Natasha, Bucky and Steve, and went frequently to Stark Industries with Pepper Potts. (Though Steve had quite liked it when Marinette point at Pepper and said, “See that’s fashion. Gold standard right there. You, no.”

           She met Peter Parker not long after she arrived. He was a nice boy with glasses that reminded her a bit of herself. Tony had guardianship of Peter while his aunt was overseas on business.

“Minion three,” He greeted her. Peter sat down across from her work table and started on his own project.

“Four?” She asked, with a chuckle. “And you are?”

           Peter grinned, “Minion two.” He shrugged. “Riri’s three. Harley’s one. And is the union leader. They’ll be here tonight.”

           Marinette laid down her screwdriver, “There’s a union.”

“No there’s not!” Tony yelled.

           Peter leaned over the table and whispered, “We revolt at dawn.”

“God dammit, Peter!”

           Marinette cackled.

           It wasn’t long before the paparazzi got wind of Marinette. Then suddenly the magazines were filled with Marinette: Stark’s secret FOURTH love child. Marinette literally fell down laughing when War Machine stomped in the workshop and three a magazine at Tony’s head. “Another one, Tony? Didn’t even tell me!”

She was photographed frequently as whenever she left the company an overprotective avenger was sure to join her. She was teen vogue’s best dressed list. In tiger beat’s, things Marinette just can’t live without.

           That was when her phone started ringing and texts started pouring in from Paris. Unfortunately, for her ex friends, Marinette had promised that for the rest of summer the only people from France she’d talk to were her parents. And Marinette keeps her promises.

           So she never bother to look at the texts. The only time she interacted was when she had to use the horse miraculous to portal to home to stop an Akuma. Which was hard to hide from a group of nosy superheroes.

           Everything was going fine until the Kwami was let out of the bag in the middle of a family/team dinner.

           Loki poofed in one day, walked straight up to Marinette, and demanded to speak with Plagg.

“The Kwami of Destruction owes me money,” Loki said easily.

           Said Kwami flew out from where he was hiding, “Do not! You cheated.”

           And that was that.

           Marinette had no choice but to transform into Ladybug.

           To which Happy groaned, “Another teen bug themed hero,” He glared at Tony. “You did this on purpose.”

           None of the avengers had been happy about a teen superhero battle a terrorist on her own. Peter, Spiderman, just high-fived her.

#Marienette Dupain Cheng #Marinette deserves better #tony stark #Avengers #spiderman #ml salt #ml fic #steve rogers #bucky barnes #thor