#and the season has the promise to get better imo

[topnotchquark]

Vale, Jenson, and now Seb. WEC might just be the series to focus on from now on as no joy or peace is going to come out of giving my time to F1 or MotoGP.

#motogp isn't washed this weekend so far from what I've been seeing #and the season has the promise to get better imo #but f1 #man c'mon #I don't have it in me to watch this much flopping #valentino rossi #jenson button #sebastian vettel #f1 #formula 1 #motogp #wec #world endurance championship

[clownery-and-fuckery]

As promised, my commentary on Hunter.... to the people that like him, im sorry.

Spoiler warnings and the like, this is pretty negative aside from like maybe three sentences?? Feel free to leave you're own opinions on this too ofc !!! >:)

I dont like Hunter.

Actually, that's not entirely true, I liked him in TCW season 7, when he was that silly man who fucked droids around the place, took no shit, and loved his brothers. I like the Hunter who, not putting this nicely, had a personality.

This is not a dig on him as a character, it's a dig on how he was handled, writing wise

Listen, I totally get that the "rugged-man-adopts-a-star-child" trope is popular, and I do LOVE that trope, really I do- I just don't really think it was done that well here? It's bothered me since s1 of the Bad Batch, and I don't think it's going to get any better this season....

My only real problem with the writing inconsistency of Hunter being an older brother of three to "Omega this, Omega that" and while I agree childcare is SUPER difficult at the best of times, Hunter had four brothers who were equally capable of taking care of Omega, too. It just never sat right with me that taking care of her became his ENTIRE personality

Hes a soldier, who despite being completely out of his element, had a routine he strictly followed for the whole war. Yet he seemed to completely forget about that ?? Stressed or not stressed, that worn in routines and LIFELONG LESSONS should not have left his head as quickly as they seemed to.

The most obvious and frustrating example of the oversimplification of Hunter's character is with Crosshair. I cannot even BEGIN to describe my anger when it comes to Hunter and Crosshair. It mainly stems from the way he just FORGETS his brother is with the Empire. Conveniently never bringing it up unless someone else did it first.

As the oldest sibling and squad leader, I personally think Hunter should have been the one to bring him up. It should not have had to be specifically mentioned by another character for Hunter to discuss it. He loves his brothers, he loved Crosshair, broody or not, he should have brought it up AT LEAST once, imo.

We also see this complete disregard for Crosshair AGAIN in s3, now that we have seen Hunter looking for Omega and not ONCE mentioning Crosshair. Has he forgotten that they were originally going to find Crosshair??? That they never actually FOUND their brother ??????? Annoyed me so much, tbh.

What else annoyed me was the singular language he used during the whole episode. "She's part of our squad." "Hemlock took SOMEONE from us." He's completely and utterly disregarding the OTHER TWO SIBLINGS that the Empire took away from him !!!!! It genuinely frustrates me so much.

I know I'm DEFINITELY nit-picking here, but even when Hunter looked to Tech's goggles, it was in a "He should've been here to do this." Way, not a "He should be here." Way. That's his brother, who died looking for another that Hunter has forgotten.

Hunter's tunnel vision is probably one my least favourite things about the Bad Batch, if I dare even MENTION that- and I love this show. It means so much to me, but I just can't handle this particular part of it...

I have so SO much anger directed towards the treatment of Hunter by the writers. I want the Hunter who was devoted to his WHOLE family, who fought for ALL of them, who would have NEVER allowed Crosshair to leave in the first place. Give me that Hunter back.

(Saying this- I do not mind Hunter and Omega's father/daughter and brother/sister relationship !!! I do really enjoy it- in small amounts. The fact that Hunter became nearly an extention of Omega really just- threw me off his whole character, really)

I specifically pick to ignore this when I'm making anything. Hunter has been a sergeant of three idiots(named endearingly) for the entirety of the war. One child who wanders around should not have taken up 100% of Hunter's attention, ESPECIALLY when he was surrounded and supported. It just bothers me, idk

Anyway, thats my rant !!! Back to some positives soon, promise !! I just had to get this off my chest, it's been BOTHERING me.

#sw the bad batch #tbb hunter #sw the bad batch spoilers #its a uh... #its a writing choice #definitely. #idk man i just dont like it that much

[sixstepsaway]

from a writing perspective i dislike izzy's death because it just felt oddly pointless and weirdly telegraphed

this is subjective, obviously, but in my opinion after that opening dream of s2, a good story would be stede getting izzy killed

he does something, probably something in his desperate attempt to get to ed, and izzy dies because of it. izzy still gets his weird moment with ed at the end, and stede feels bad - like, awful - about izzy dying because he doesn't want izzy to die for him to get to ed anymore. he cares about him now.

it hurts him and makes him feel so twisted up with guilt that him and his posturing as a pirate got izzy killed (a call back to "I'm not a pirate! I'm an idiot!" from season 1) that he gives up his life of piracy to move to an inn with ed...

a better story imo, would be something similar, except instead of izzy getting shot because of stede doing something to get to ed, stede takes the bullet for izzy.

stede goes down. izzy hauls him back to the ship. ed meets them halfway and freaks the fuck out because he left and now stede is dying!

stede's on his back on the deck, bleeding. ed is losing his shit. he starts to realize all the mistakes he's made and how selfish he can be and how he doesn't think about the effect he has on others.

stede wails pathetically. he uses his final breaths to tell izzy he's sorry for all those times he dreamt about killing him.

izzy stares at him

"you're shot on the left, bonnet, walk it off."

stede does, indeed, walk it off.

he needs some recovery time and ed needs some time to work through what he's done, so he and ed stay on land for a while and open an inn, with the promise they'll return to the revenge when stede has healed, at least for a little while.

#ofmd #ofmd s2 #izzy hands #edward teach #stede bonnet

[velvetvexations]

I think one of the main reasons I dislike Fantasy High Junior Year is because of the way it was marketed. Like, there's an entire video explaining how Kristen is gonna go through this major character arc and ditch some of her more wacky antics as she realizes that the chaos she creates isn't cute anymore... and then there's absolutely no payoff. Instead, Kristen is at her quirkiest and most chaotic and other than a few dressing downs from some NPCs that she completely ignores nothing happens.

Like, I've never had a problem with Kristen's disaster personality. I think they handled it just fine in the first two seasons so that she never became too annoying or unlikeable. But it's just dialed up to 11 in Season 3. To the point where its genuinely not funny. And if chaos isn't cute, that'd make sense. It'd be on purpose, so everything can come crumbling down Fabian style and she'd have to become a better person. But that doesn't happen. So you're left sitting through all this garbage with the promise of a payoff that doesn't exist, which just leaves you bitter at the end.

It's especially frustrating when a few characters try to lead her in that direction. Like, Riz is working his ass off to get Kristen the presidency, something she only really wants as an ego boost, with no real platform or plans she can think of. He's the one joining all the clubs. He's the one making all the plans. Hell, he's the one making sure they're all doing well in their classes. And it gets to the point where his mom flat out tells Kristen that Riz would make a better president than her.

In any other story, that would immediately que the audience in to how Kristen's arc is gonna get resolved. With her abandoning the presidency and giving it to Riz, apologizing for making him do so much work for her and rewarding him for his effort. This followed up by deciding to be better for Cassandra, another person she mistreated and took for granted.

But she doesn't. Instead, she just makes Riz her vice president at the end and pushes all the work onto him AGAIN, to the point where it undoes the only character development he got all season (him shifting back to coffee from tea the moment Kristen makes him VP). And it certainly doesn't help that its the middle class white girl making her poor minority friend do everything for her.

Like, why market it as Kristen getting serious when that doesn't happen? Why act like she has some arc when she doesn't? It only makes the audience bitter when they went in expecting serious consequences and got nothing.

The marketing was very weird. Not only was there the false advertising with Baron's second form, which really hurts me to say as someone who sees Dropout as a bastion of ethics-based capitalism, but something just didn't sit right with me about the hype blimey got when it happened. Like, yes, it was funny, but like...ultimately I was like, alright? It wasn't anything actually important? It was specifically something Brennan was once again pushing really hard for them to succeed at because it was something they had to pass to continue to the next leg of the story?

Back when the Second Place episode of Game Changer came out, I saw someone complain about Dropout going back to the Brennan monologue well. I was like, hey, I love that shit, if you don't like the premise of a show don't watch it, right?

But here the commercialization of the cast's quirks and specific styles might have, I think, crossed a line, because of just how underwhelming blimey was compared to how it was built up. Like, Ally's quirky insane rolls drive Brennan crazy, haha, okay. The Brennan monologue well is, IMO, far from dry, but D20's hysterical theatrics in situations like that is getting stale, or at least that's how it felt this season.

#Dimension 20 #fhjy

[f0point5]

my two cents on the oscar situation is that mclaren should have wait before putting this big commitment, mclaren is a weird car to drive and have the history of being undeveloped every start of the season and I feel this is the reason oscar look better last year, he got the chance to learnt when they were fighting for p18 and when it got their update and got better he had master the feeling on the car unlike this year where the car started as a clear number 3 and now is more obvious the he's having a harder time to adjust and is more obvious because his teammate is confortable and deliver right way, he's gonna improve but not at lando level, mclaren wanted to lock him down asap and it's gonna backfire they should have waited imo but is a good pair maybe the third or four but look at the drivers avaliable for next year they should have waited, I guess they were scare of him getting snatched but realistic what other team better thn mclaren would want him? ferrari won't, mercedes already have russell, rbr have checo and academy drivers on the go, they should have waited, there's albon and look now there's literally sainz, I'm just glad that this nonsense of him being better than lando is over

I know it’s a tricky car to drive but one year driving it should give him some comfort. I also feel like his one lap pace shows that he does know how to dial into the car, just maybe not the tyres? Or perhaps the one lap pace is deceptive.

I still think Oscar has tremendous potential. He’s got a level head, which is invaluable. And he does have pace. I don’t think they’ve made a mistake. If I’m remembering rightly the McLaren young drivers aren’t terribly promising, I don’t think they’ll have anyone ready to step up before the end of 2026 which is how long they have Oscar. And honestly even if Oscar never does what they thought he was going to, having him as a number two to Lando is not a bad thing.

I think if McLaren hadn’t locked him down RBR might have been looking at him last year. Checo was there by the skin of his teeth because they didn’t have a viable alternative, but I think by the time Oscar had won that sprint in Qatar, had he not have a contract with McLaren RBR would have made him some kind of offer. Because they know the McLaren is tough to drive, and they’re not scared of a young driver…or of cycling through a young driver if he doesn’t deliver. Obviously Ferrari and Merc had their own nonsense going on behind the scenes but no one knew where they were going to be by the end of 2025 either at that time. I think Zak made a smart decision. He saw a driving pairing that worked and he locked it in. And honestly it’s still working. I wanted Oscar to be challenging Lando but that was never ideal for McLaren.

I don’t think anyone could have predicted that Sainz would be available. Hindsight is 20/20. But I think with the info they had at the time that was a smart choice, and short of them being able to get Sainz back (which mind you I’m not sure they would anyway because he’s not going to want to be second to lando) Oscar is still their best option imo.

Idk he’s taking longer to cook than I thought but that doesn’t mean he never will.

#lando norris #oscar piastri #f1 #formula 1

[justallihere]

AHHHH I was right about Xaden giving Vi his jacket 🥹 that’s her jacket now, get with the program Xaden

speechless. I loved everything about this chapter 😭 I screamed when they threatened to cut her hair. Aetos didnt suffer enough imo and neither did his cronies. I at least wanted them to be screaming and have a glimpse of Andarna throwing them around or at least step on them a few times 🤷🏾‍♀️

Violet’s panic attack made me sob so hard 😭 why did Pierce stop and leave when that happened? I’m glad he did but that’s probably the closest they came to possibly getting something of value

Xaden has touch AND nickname privileges again 😭 he said “Vi” as much as he could because he’s not losing it again. I’m sure he’s glad his family loves and respects Violet and just reaffirms everything he himself feels for her. I can definitely see Liam teasing Xaden in the future with “just remember, your wife loved me first 🤭”. Obvs during happier times when they’ve healed from this ordeal.

One of my biggest gripes in IF was how blasé the torture fallout was. Like?? Wdym she was tortured for 5 days and could’ve died and it meant nothing??

Loved your spin on Lilith🥹💕💕💕 I agree she died way too soon. She so dynamic and layered and had so much potential. She deserved to become a better mother before she died and I’ll forever be mad about that.

Will Lilith be the one to bring half the quadrant when she finally gets to Tyrrendor 👀 what if she brings seasoned riders loyal to her and riders stationed at outposts and any professor (looking at you Emeterrio and Kaori) willing to join the fight? I think her arrival will be better received that way since she’s bringing reinforcements. AHHHH so exciteddd.

Can’t wait to see where the story goes, either way I’m sure it’ll be amazing!!!

All of Xaden’s things are about to become Violet’s. Try to get her to wear her own clothes now I dare you.

lol I get it, but Aetos’ death was something that was between him and Dain, and Violet was so tired and scared and in pain by the end of it that she didn’t even really care anymore, she just wanted them dead and to never see them again. I promise Andarna and Tairn had plenty of fun.

I’d argue that the panic attack was the exact opposite of value. Yes Violet was losing her mind but she was so scared in that moment she wouldn’t have been able to give them anything coherent. Pierce wanted her to stew in that panic for a while.

You could not DRAG Xaden out of Violet’s sight rn. Neither one of them would allow it. But yes, he is so glad to have her back, and he’s happy that she had Liam when she needed him. I do like to think that Liam takes great pride in getting an “I love you” from Violet considering how not warm and fuzzy she is. That’s his bestie! His sister!

I love Lilith, she’s the worst and also the best and I’ll never be over her death I’m so upset

Thank you so much!! 🩷🩷

#storm in the quiet

[throughtartaruswithyou]

PJO show review (because you care)

hmm I think the time has arrived for me to put my thoughts into words on this bad boy. Ive had some thoughts swirling around since the show finished but i felt like i needed to sit on them before putting them out into the big wide world.

I think the show was mid.

before we get up in arms- mid does not mean bad!! theres countless shows which are worse, and some that are better. honestly, mid means more interesting. lets do a good old fashion pros and cons list:

PROS

LOVED the casting. I think the casting was spot on- uncle rick did not disappoint in that category. age, appearance, demeanour, everything was working for me. I honestly agree with every single casting choice. (even lin-manual miranda ik ik)

Contrary to popular belief, I think the pacing was good. I'm not mad they cut scenes from the book. I think it'll encourage more people to read it. game of thrones did a similar thing (cut a bunch of scenes) and I think it helps preserve the independence of the two PJO mediums. Ya some scenes would've been cool but I'm not totally pissed about any cuts.

Set was good. set design felt authentic without trying too hard. No one really mentions the set when they review the show but like the set was really good?? CONS The biggest con for me is that it felt like they undercut Annabeth ALOT. shes supposed to be the wise girl, but for some reason sally was the one telling percy about the mythology? and hes telling it to annabeth? huh? and grover also seems way more knowledgeable than her. I was really disappointed by this theme- especially because it seemed to come up often. the only scene where she really showed her smarts was in the hephestus amusement park gate-trap thingy. it made her character seem under-powered compared to percy. Also she didnt use her dagger enough imo.

the show vs tell issue. this has been brought up alot so I wont go into it too much but ugh. I understand the show is aimed at kids but kids deserve good media too. kids aren't dumb. they can afford to let the episodes go a little longer to allow some of those plot points to build! give the watchers a sense of mystery then the satisfying feel of discovery! I noticed this especially in the lotus casino episode. I wish they didnt tell us about the lotus flowers right off the bat. the scene could have been so much better with that little change.

The delay on season 2! this isn't even just me being an impatient fan I have a genuine worry they actors are gonna age up too much. they all already look older and I just hope they wont have to age up the characters. esp for season 3- which they should get renewed ASAP since it should take place in the winter after season 2. not so much the teams fault but I hope they wont get too rushed by the timeline. esp since i know it's important to rick to have age-accurate casting.

overall I thought the show was mid to well-done and if season 1 is the worst season we might have a great lil' show on our hands. also disney pls renew season 3!!!! i pinky promise i'll watch it.

#pjo #pjo tv show #pjo series #percy jackson #annabeth chase #grover underwood #disney #percy jackon and the olympians #percy jackson tv show #pjo tv series #pjo fandom #pjo spoilers #percy jackson spoilers #lin manuel miranda

[totaled-drama]

TD SPOILERS// - - - -

I was one of the many people that was caught off guard by Ripaxel, it was very unexpected but also cute?? And imo it made Ripper even better(I hated him in season 1 so I was very surprised and happy he got some development) I love that Axel is getting more screen time too. And her interest being poetry? I love it, and I love that she's not ashamed of it

As for Rajbow.. I HOPE Bowie just stops cheating and tells Raj the truth even if it hurts :( (I also love that Raj was fishing and Bowie was with him) MKulia. Gfs. Just gfs

Hi :)

Putting my response under a Read More because of spoilers

I don’t have much of an opinion on Ripper and Axel right now!! I was very surprised about it too. Overall, I’m very neutral about it. I want to wait and see what Axel says about it, since we know how Ripper feels about her, but we haven’t seen much about how Axel feels about him at all.

Bowie and Raj :) the cheating arc is making me sad but it’s literally just because I don’t like seeing people cry AJDHDJG I think they’ll hopefully be okay!! But I do think that the cheating plot is one of the best plots they could’ve given them.

Raj knows that Bowie was willing to manipulate people to win (he literally gameplanned an apology with Bowie for when people would be mad about it) but Bowie didn’t cheat in team challenges last season. I think Raj will be more upset about Bowie breaking his promise and lying about it than he will be about the actual cheating. I am unsure if Bowie will admit to it, or if Raj will find out about the cheating on his own, but I just hope the conclusion of this arc is good. Bowie is in a situation where he basically has to decide between winning and making Raj happy. I also liked the fishing scene. They are spending time together :)

MK and Julia :) I was very neutral about them before but I do like the ship now. They are scheming together!!!!! They are having fun!!!!!!!!! I think one of them might betray the other at some point because this is Total Drama but I wouldn’t mind if they just kept getting along like this for the rest of the season. They keep complimenting each other and they have a lot of respect for each other; it’s really nice to see :)

#td spoilers #total drama spoilers #td talks

[lesbiradshaw]

mason pointing out to liam that “there was a time where we all trusted theo. including you” vs. scott saying “i don’t trust him. do you?” to liam as they’re arguing about sending theo back vs. liam telling theo “we need to trust you” at the sheriff’s station while the riders are taking over vs. liam snapping “scott’s never gonna trust you!” right after theo follows him to the school to keep him from killing gabe vs. mason promising theo he’ll never forget how he hurt them because “a pack is about trust.”

imo all of that really shows the progression of liam and theo’s relationship throughout season 6, because it goes from mason talking about how they trusted theo as a group, to scott asking if liam is on the same page as him about not trusting him, and then it’s liam stating that he needs to trust theo— and theo pushing back because “trust is not important right now.” but that’s not true, because the next time trust is brought up surrounding theo, it’s liam claiming that scott won’t ever trust theo again. not that liam won’t ever trust him, because at that point, i think they both know that’s a lie too. theo has saved liam’s life multiple times and they’ve been working as a team even after the ghost riders left town. that takes trust. the only other person theo gets paired up with is mason, who is very, very clear about not forgiving him no matter who else does, which has the implication that someone else already has. mason is liam’s best friend. he knows him better than anyone and has seen him around theo. he’s talked to him about trusting theo, and has probably heard how theo’s been trying to protect him. liam is the only person that theo has really rekindled a relationship with since coming back, and mason— the closest person in the world to liam— can see that liam’s guard is being let down.

#i think its interesting that liam brings up the pack when hes trying to push theo away #probably because he can tell on some level that theo doesnt really want to be alone #he wants to hurt his feelings!!!! because hes scared of how hes feeling himself!!!! #likeeee the motif of trust between them is so intense its kinda crazy #all these convos about trusting theo and all these people telling liam its a bad idea INCLUDING THEO 😭 #liam: we need to trust you #theo: No you do not. #hes so silly showing that he cares in the most convoluted ways #thiam #been thinking about them all morning i fear

[charles-leclerc-official]

i feel like we are yet to see the true potential of the sf-24. especially with charles. the 3 races haven’t really been very representative of what charles can do in that car, at his absolute best. don’t get me wrong, he has put in the most incredible performances with all the issues and situations, but i think there is definitely more to come. the two fastest laps at the end of the races on old hard tyres are very very interesting imo.

in terms of carlos i think this is as good he will drive that car tbh. but charles is absolutely going to unlock more pace, i know it. that’s why suzuka will be the most exciting race yet because max is usually indomitable there and we will finally get a good comparison. last year also, charles was only a tenth off the mclarens in qualifying but suffered tyre degradation in the race, so with the hopefully better tyres in race now, i am expecting his only competition to be max in terms of pace. (as always)

So far his only real competition in terms of pace is Max.

Also I very much agree, we really have not seen what this SF-24 base is capable of yet. This season has been a better start compared to last year (low bar) but you are right I don't think we've seen Charles' best yet.

I want to agree about Carlos, but with a caveat. I do think that this will be his best result this year, but we may see better driving from him, he was still in recovery from surgery and this was a pretty easy race overall so I'm not sure we've seen his best in the car yet either, even if we've very likely seen his best result. I definitely want to be sure to take that into account.

The SF-24 is by far the strongest in tyre deg this year, even on Red Bull, like you can see the difference in the condition of the tyres at the end of a race. I'm actually so impressed with the massive jump in improvement Ferrari has made in that area. If I was any other top team I would be worried and trying to figure out what they did. It's so promising,

And yes, Charles has given us great performances at each race: somehow managing not to retire on those brakes in Bahrain and still coming in P4, getting fastest lap in Jeddah, P2 and fastest lap in Melbourne. (And he was so close to getting the fastest lap in Bahrain too which is insane given the circumstances)

Overall yes, I think there is still a lot of potential still to be unlocked in the SF-24 especially as far as Charles is concerned.

#luci answers

[dr-lizortecho]

I'm a delena lover too and wanted to know any delena UOs you have? A few of mine if you promise not to make fun of me - 1. I honestly don't think delena is nearly as "toxic" as it's made out to be? I mean, context matters, and this is a show about screwed up monstrous vampires, so no ship is going to be the epitome of 'healthy' lol. But I actually find delena a lot more honest and real than stelena was and a lot less toxic than klaroline. They communicate and adapt much more than antis give them credit for and are genuinely loving and supportive. I'm dying on that unpopular hill :) 2. I actually think s5 is my favorite delena season? It leaned in to the "but they're not healthy!" stuff too much, but it also showed them at their best, most loyal and passionate and adoring, without the icky shadow of the 'sire bond' crap that ruined s4 for me. And Elena is so...free that season? I don't know, I just love it. S6 has great domestic moments but yet another unpopular opinion is that something about the 'falling in love all over again with no memories' storyline felt really inauthentic and rushed to me. I like it in theory, just not the execution. 3. Delena is NOT just about physical attraction. At all. Like I truly believe that even if they could never have sex again they'd be very happy together. They connect on a much deeper level imo, seeing each other for who they truly are. 4. I do not in any way buy Elena as a doctor or even a science person---in my mind she became a teacher or a counselor :) 5. Elena is thought to be similar to Stefan but imo in actuality she's more like Damon imo---super passionate, follows her heart and instincts to a degree that some see as selfish, reacts in the moment rather than focusing on the past or future etc. 6. I actually think Damon has a better, softer heart than Stefan. He's crazy and impulsive and self-destructive and a whole bunch of other things, but he's also a lot softer and more willing to acknowledge his flaws and try to change than Stefan is. Again, these are all just my very UOs! Can't wait to read yours too!!

Hi anon! I adore them- like there’s three ships that I really feel encapsulate romantic love for me, that taught me what it is and how it works, and Delena was the second of those ships so it means a lot to me personally

So I am so far removed from fandom I barely know what counts as popular opinions and unpopular opinions, but feel free to ask me specific questions at any time! Though my two fav characters are Tyler and Bonnie if that counts <3 I’ll start by kinda saying my thoughts on the things you mentioned as your unpopular opinions- which I fully understand even when we slightly disagree! Below the cut so it’s easier for my non-tvd followers

On Delena being called toxic- I talked about it in part before (but alas I can’t find the post) and contrary to popular belief I think they’re not toxic (granted after they get together) outside of the regular amount you should expect in all teen dramas regardless of supernatural elements or not. Unlike a lot of the other relationships they have a lot of communication and consent involved from the start, because they have to with the precarious Stefan ties and the sire bond. On top of that they both acknowledge the parts of their relationship that aren’t the best and actively work towards making them better, however, with the flaws and missteps afforded for drama ✨

I can’t be impartial about s5- definitely not enough to be able to decide about Delena in it. I wasn’t a fan of that brand of angst tbh (sorry anon I do get the appeal) and the racism throughout just hurt my heart too much- but they definitely had some top tier sexy moments. Personally, I loved season six because of the approach of them sharing a best friend and all the little moments and musical beats. Like- watching Damon want to live became something so important to me and really felt like the conclusion for his character arc.

As for the sexual aspect- I do think it plays a part (as with every relationship that involves sex) but it definitely isn’t the peak of it or the draw, it’s a perk. Because if it was the sex they’d have been done with each other after that long hot summer. But there is a tendency in fandom to try and remove all romance and depth to relationships they don’t like- because if it’s shallow they can be rude and dismissive to shippers.

In regards to Elena- I don’t think she’s too similar to either Salvatore, I think she shares common traits with both. But at the end of the day it wa she’d similarities to Stefan that drew them together and her differences to Damon that drew them together. Which is why Stefan was a relationship that let her heal and come back to herself and Damon was the relationship that pushed her out of her comfort zone and helped her grow.

As for Stefan and Damon I don’t think there’s anything to be gained from claiming any one character is “softer” or more “moral” than another. It’s all about action and reaction and growth. However, I think you might be catching onto the sensitivity of their triggers, which Damon’s trauma responses are way more easily triggered throughout the series because unlike Stefan he hasn’t sat with them and worked through near as much of his traumatic experiences. Which is why his healing process through Elena learning of and reminding him to be kind to himself you watch him heal and grow. Which isn’t to be confused with him being “defanged” for a romance- because it was happening regardless of if he and Elena stayed friends or not.

#tvd #tvd asks #asks #anon asks #delena

[haven-of-dusk]

for the ask game: headcanons for nico di angelo? (if you haven’t read the books, then ricky bowen 🤠)

Sorry this took me so long... I have indeed read the books, so I'll tackle both! Nico Di Angelo:

Sexuality - Gay

A ship - I actually do like Solangelo a fair bit, they're not my faves per se, but I don't have glaring issues with them (especially compared with say, Caleo).

However for the sake of fun, I also love Jasico (I hope I have that name right). Minor aside that I'm about 90% sure Jason is (he's fine, TBM didn't happen I promise) a closeted gay man based on a number of hints dropped in TBM, plus vibes plus he just screams internalized heteronormativity. So I really wish we could've explored more of Nico and Jason's dynamic. Plus they'd be incredibly adorable about one-upping each other's displays of "touch him and die" imo.

A BROTP - Percico, I totally get why shipping them romantically is a thing, but I also adore the dynamic idea that Nico completely got over Percy and Percy's a little salty about it, plus the level of trust they eventually displayed regardless of the definition of their relationship is very special to me. (End of MoA always gets me right in the feels).

A NOTP - I don't have any specific ones...so I guess I'll just say any ship that tries to get him involved romantically with a woman.

A random headcanon - Though he mostly put Mythomagic behind him, he has since become a massive D&D nerd, with multiple fully fleshed out characters and a couple campaign ideas that he badgers people to play with him. (Also the main cast of HoO playing D&D is a podcast I wish was real, Critical Role style...)

General Opinion - I love Nico, top 3 Percy Jackson Universe characters (I think, I haven't gone through and put together an exact ranking ever since I love almost all of them), not super happy when the writing leans too far into the 'edgy' side of him, but his dry wit is always a pleasure, and he's also capable of backing up the edge with badassery.

His original artwork will always give me nightmares though.

Richard 'Ricky' Bowen:

Sexuality - Bisexual

Gender - Cis Male, though he did experiment with they/them pronouns to see if they felt better to him. They didn't, but he's glad he tried.

A ship - Caswen. Obviously. I think my canon rewrite of half the show serves as adequate explanation of my love for them.

A BROTP - Redky. The friendship/brotherhood between Big Red and Ricky was something I really enjoyed in the first two seasons, it felt quite accurate to my high school experiences and I also find their interactions in fanfiction very endearing. Plus it provides more fuel to my fire that Caswen are NOT brotherly since we have a perfect brotherly relationship for Ricky right there and it looks nothing like his relationship to EJ imo.

Plus I'm still extra irritated that in addition to the rampant biphobia in how Big Red's storyline was handled, they also tried to shove him out of the picture and replace him with Jet in S4, with a scene in E3 especially feeling like the dialogue was written for BR and then they had Jet read it for...no discernable reason.

A NOTP - ...Rina /s.

In all seriousness the only answer I can readily come up with is Rily, because wtf was that subplot even supposed to be, but I struggle to think of NOTPs for Ricky since my brain is mostly Caswen or bust. I thought of the EJ alternatives purely because Tim is so militant about Rina, but I really don't know what Ricky would do outside of preferably Caswen or Tim's beloved 'canon' Rina. And while I do think Rini work better as friends, I also wouldn't call them a NOTP since I feel kind of bad for some Rini shippers (not the creepy ones, the normies for lack of a better term).

Idk, I guess I'll just say Rily and move on.

A random headcanon - Ricky loves the Spice Girls. Where did this HC come from you ask? I have no idea. But I feel like it fits.

The urge to write a mini-fic of Ricky and EJ dancing at their wedding to 'Spice up Your Life' is rising. (Totally not influenced by Doctor Who)

General Opinion - I love Ricky. Not quite as much as Elton, but that's a pretty high bar to clear since Elton rose to my top ten of all time list pretty easily. I have mixed feelings about S3 and S4 Ricky since I felt like they made him overly obsessed with Gina and lost a lot of the charm of his earlier plotlines centering on familial trauma and figuring out his own desires in life, but he's still high ranking for HSMTMTS characters, and I obviously love Caswen to death, so it's hard for me to say I don't also adore Ricky as a special little guy.

That spiraled into a bit of a ramble. Point is that I do really like Ricky, I just wish the writing for him later in the show was less...self-parodic...if that makes any sense.

#ask games #nico di angelo #ricky bowen #ty for the ask <3 #Percy Jackson and the Olympians #hsmtmts

[wurdulac]

last year i wrote a list of media that touched me. bcs i have shit for memory i was noting down things i watched, played etc. this year. so here's the list.

the city and the city by china miéville - loved it...

the longing - idle game that felt quite promising in the beginning. you play as a lonely shade that has to wait 400 days for his king to wake up. it can get kinda weird and idk how i feel about this anymore.

rain dogs - extremely bleak life circumstances, intense toxic friendship. 'fast food isn't good for you. but i fucking love it'

deadwood - very intriguing way of plotting a story of a settlement but some things abt were fucking stupid and i'm still frustrated when i think abt it. haven't finished the final season and i don't really feel like it.

vanished birds <- read this or else

dungeon meshi - most beautiful art with dynamically drawn creatures and beasts that then get shown being cooked into delicious (and nutricious!) meals in great detail. setting is a spoof of a stereotypical party adventure world but it tries to make sense of its rules and creates in turn something quite unique. great characters too.

wuthering heights - extremely good narrative device. never knew that we learn this story through a tale being told by a servant to some cringey guy. surprisingly well depicted psychology of the characters. reading abt child abuse upset me so bad. society will fuck you up. some ways to better your lot are closed to you based on your gender and race. fucking up people over generations. also moors. they're important.

ghost in the shell

barry - the fact that the show never lets him forget. the satire on show biz, loving the veterans. it's like a more clownish version of breaking bad in a way (both being concerned with morality). characters are caritaturish but everything they do is taken extremely seriously. also it's quite inventive with filmography. solid. loved it.

sangfielle - weird fiction arc of FaTT podcast.. extremely good setting

andor - they didn't lie when they said star wars can be good. abt opression and imperialism.. and droids done well.

repo man - plotted in a very fun way... unforgettable ending.

hellraiser - it was so promising. shouldn't have turned into tense rubic cube solving under most dire circumstances ever imo.

bg3 - the themes have made me insane. it managed to be cohesive. it's the. carousel of violence. cycle of abuse. relationship with power. trusting the other not to use violence against (even though they could). male manipulators. the dark urge. it's not without its faults and it should have been tighter (durge should be the main protag and no tav, chop down act 1, erase halsin)

the terror - such a mixed bag. a very good and tense thriller about imperialistic hubris but. they put a beast there. and the villain was??? idk man.

iasip (well technically i've been trying to watch it for years, but this year alone i watched like 4 seasons or maybe more) - i simply love iasip. its style of comedy that is irreverent. the mad schemes. awful dynamics. touching real darkness.

blowback (podcast) - about american imperialism. first season abt iraq war tone-wise feels like if behind the bastards and citations needed had a baby. recommended.

roadwarden - loved it. loved the setting!

anyway... i kinda stopped reading books after i quit my job (no longer commuting somewhere regularly so i stopped using my kindle). had plans to watch more movies but it's always a struggle to sit down and start watching. went to more than 0 galleries but not that many tbh. i sometimes don't know what to say and most of my comments are still pretty general and feel trite.

#uhm. if you somehow know of something i forgot to mention let me know

[zuble]

i started watching moral orel but gave up really early on, what episode number is "that one episode" that no one likes? (I'm thinking about giving the show another try)

it’s the second episode, i’m assuming you’ve already seen it since you’ve already tried watching the show. it still has a few stinkers even after that, but all shows have episodes that aren’t great.

i promise it gets better, if you ever want to try it again. it’s pretty short, only three seasons, so you could in theory watch the whole thing in one day. im honestly not a fan of season one, but season three is so goddamn good imo. it makes everything before it worth it.

#the thing that really convinced me to watch it was sabersparks video on it #there’s some spoilers but i didn’t care #he said he hated it at first too but now it’s one of his favorites

[sevenredrobes]

genuinely, episode 8 was terrible. and like yeah, it's in part because of the slashed run time and max almost certainly behind the scenes saying that a s3 would need a hail mary but oh myyyy gooood

where was the development for zheng/jim/olu/archie?? why did auntie suddenly give her blessing to olu?? what changed her mind about softness?? where was the change except for the watsonian explanation that auntie and izzy mirror each other in their roles to their captains??

why did they fucking kill izzy - a disabled, elder queer man with a visible scar from a past suicide attempt?? and then it being to "free" ed from blackbeard!! but he had already let go of blackbeard. he was already offering support to ed to choose what made him happy just last episode!! it was ed who chose to return to the blackbeard leathers and it was completely independent of izzy!

(and god, the optics of killing off a suicide attempt survivor just to further another character's arc!!! and also that he's a queer man off who'd already survived suicide!!! killing off a disabled man to further the arc of the able bodied man that directly led to the disability!!! what the fuck!!)

(and that one shot implying izzy couldn't pivot to avoid getting a deadly belly shot because his leg limited his mobility. the implication that a disabled character died via his disability is just!!! it sucks man)

and also izzy saying ed's got a family and then it ends with just ed and stede alone while everyone sails off into the sunset? ok, and did the family promise to stay in touch? or do we not know that because the show chose to rush shit instead of just trying to make a more open but better paced ending work?

and god ed and stede's relationship was so rushed! ed reads a love letter from stede, they fight some brits, and suddenly their very real relationship problems are solved? what about their mutual issues around responsibility? what about their mutual issues around violence? what about ed being upset at stede for rushing things between them and becoming a bit of a fame monster? how am i supposed to believe that theyre emotionally ready to deal with each other's traumas?

neither of them have even remotely begun to learn how to support each other and learn to disagree healthily! nothing about their latest break up was resolved! stede still moved too fast, ignored ed's wishes about killing ned, and still was a fame monster! and ed still had issues with loving himself and viewing himself as someone beyond blackbeard! they've had some major disagreements and issues and those issues havent been properly explored or resolved!!

and god, ed's character arc!! where is he at the end of the season? has he been magically fixed by one of his oldest companions dying in his arms? he was on the first steps to healing and where is the rest? is the rest going to be fixed by stede's magic dick a la a fanfic? is it going to be fixed by completely divorcing himself from his time as blackbeard and so completely denying a part of his identity and years of his life?

and don't even get me started on how stede and ed's reunion run on the beach was juxtaposed with stede's s2ep1 dream spot of ed in a full beard and not talking in his real voice, in a dream sequence imo that clearly showed that stede was himself also not seeing ed fully for himself and instead for a different version of him!!

honestly, the only things i'm happy about are that lucius and pete are married (despite the jarring and tonally deaf tone change of all that) and that spanish jackie and the swede are chilling and scheming. otherwise everything feels bad and i hate it here

#ofmd #ofmd s2 #ofmd spoilers #man this sucks. and i was fully expecting to just love this show and hold it near and dear to my heart and man. nope

[will80sbyers]

Mot trying to say the writers are crap or anything, but I think the fans are putting way too much faith in them. We know their writing tends to be really sloppy and with questionable writing choices. Ofc people will feel worried that some of the stuff won't be written well in this last season either.

I get the concerns, and if you feel worried I'm not trying to say you don't have a right to feel like that... but I write in my blog following what I feel and personally I don't agree with the idea that they are "sloppy" writers- although I don't think they are great writers either, I think their writing is pretty basic tbh but good so I have faith for s5

But also I'm not expecting more than what has been presented to us since s1...? they've been consistent

I also think they have a bit of genius for how much planning goes towards certain aspects of the show and how many references to other works they can make and how many parallels they know how to implement in the text of the show without it feeling out of place

I don't think they handle some things(mostly some characters) as well as they should have but I have faith that they are going to write a decent finale

their main problem is that they have sooo many characters and not enough time to explore everyone as well as they could have if they had more time and also that they don't have enough "diversity" in the writers room because even if I think they all try to be aware of different issues you can never have the full grasp of things as a person that's directly involved would imo

but I also noticed that they are open to criticism so I'm hopeful for season 5 that some things are going to be handled better!!

Obviously no writer is perfect anyway so we should keep that in mind...

I'm just hoping there are the pay-offs that have been promised in the text of the narrative like byler, El having a family and being happy, Vecna being defeated etc

#byler #will byers #mike wheeler #ask #stranger things #el hopper byers #the duffers