#didn't she say last season that ambition was the best thing about her?
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So about Netflix's the Last Airbender....
I am literally so confused you guys. You made me think I would HATE this show. And I LOVED it. Me. Known perfectionist and hater.
Katara was lovely. Yes, she started as a more soft spoken character than her cartoon version, but she was still passionate and hopeful throughout, just visibly unsure of herself. I think people were thrown off by this actress' natural way of expressing herself, which is Different from animated katara for sure, but not bad. Then she spends the whole season growing in Confidence and Fire. I Adored her fight with Paku, it really did feel like a payout of the whole season's development, and the bending kicked ass!
The Bending Kicked ass!!! The martial arts was fun and fast and creative and exciting! It looked SO good. That alone would be enough reason for me to watch and enjoy any show.
Zuko's actor was fantastic. He really captured the rage and confusion of this 16 year old banished prince. And there were so many Added moments between him and Iroh wich to me enriched their relationship. Like YES! This is why I'm watching, to see more of them, to see things done a little differently.
Iroh facing the consequences of his actions at Ba Sing Se!! That's what I'm here for!
Zuko's relationship with the men on his ship! That's what I'm here for!
The Extra layers we get to Ozai manipulating his children!
Also no one is talking about Admiral Zhao, who I had SO much fun with. I feel like they slightly fleshed out his character in a really dramatic way, really developing the hubris and frankly insane grasping ambition of someone who would kill the moon. I completely enjoyed this wilder, less controlled version of him, who comes up through the season from basically nothing and no one!
I am OBSESSED with King BUMI and his anger and disillusionment with the world! Like this was SO real. Living a hundred years of futile war would do that!!!! It is one of my favorite changes to the whole series. This new layer of emotion and character depth is what I'm here for!
Sokka was SO funny. He literally had me laughing out loud so often. That actor GETs Sokka, and GETS the way his humor is delivered. And is also able to tap into the more vulnerable side of him. People said he was "obsessed" with leadership. WHAT? That is a young person trying desperately to do his best and to try and find his place in the world, to figure what he has to offer. I loved his pride at hearing the Mechanist say that he would make a good engineer, and the sweetness of the moment that Yue's father says that he can be a hero without being a warrior. Sokka does so much growth in this series, in understanding himself and life.
And his chemistry with Suki was adorable!! I even like him and Yue (who was a totally unexpected sweetheart, despite her terrible wig)!! Like he has that same ability that Sokka has in the original to Connect with people.
Aang was great! He WAS fun loving and sweet and funny. I don't know what you guys wanted. Cartoons are always bigger and more exaggerated than live action. People's eyes swell up an, birds fly around their heads, and there are funny sound effects. That larger than life quality is the strength of animation! You have to look for different strength in live action. Like the SUBTLETIES of the acting choices. This little actor brought so much kindness, innocence, and strength to Aang.
And I FELT his frustration at being asked to do this at 12, his fresh hope anytime it looked like someone more experienced would be able to help him and no one did, and that's why he didn't learn waterbending this season, because he kept waiting for an freaking ADULT to show him the way, to help him carry this immense burden, but every adult he meets asks him for help instead, asks him to carry it himself, and then the finale hits and he realizes that there won't be any adults helping, he does have figure this out himself, and he makes the hard choice, takes on responsibility more than his years and offers himself to the ocean spirit, and he might have been lost entirely if not for Katara!
And that counter running theme to the show pays off: that he doesn't have to do it alone. He may not have more experienced guidance, because the adults have let him down again and again, but his friends will be with him, and they will figure it out together!
This is there throughout the series! Katara tells him this about learning waterbending, when he says he still wants to wait. Bumi tells him this in the palace at Omashu, and Aang sees the faith he has in his friends repaid!
I like these changes! And the show still found time for silly fun adventures and character building moments.
The show was never going to be the animated original. That is already a Masterpiece, and it frankly did NOT need to be adapted at all. I did not WANT a live action adaptation. I was adamantly convinced I would hate it. But the changes that they netflix show gave are what I Iike most about it. If I want to see Zuko say "you rise with the moon, I rise with the sun," I will go watch the animated original, because that version is perfect. And now, if i want to see Zuko say "Lu ten would have been proud to have you as a father," and see iroh pull him into a tight hug, I can watch this live action version, which is very good too. I'm going to disagree with most of the people on here and say that the Netflix's Avatar: The Last Airbender, DOES capture the heart of what we liked about the original show. It's spirit, fun, excitement, and characters. And the changes made are the reason we should be watching.
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RWRB FirstPrince Sports (AU or Otherwise) Recs
Hockey, Lacrosse, Rugby - you name it, I'm here for it. Click below for some of my faves!
Born To Make History by @everwitch-magiks. T, 1.3k. This season, Henry has a new free skate. It's sassy, flirty, and actually genuinely fun, and somehow, it's taken him all the way to the Grand Prix Final. Still, even though Henry has perfected his lutz since his last competitive season, and gets that all too important second-half multiplier for every quad in his arsenal, he knows he isn't half as good as most of his competition. There's no way he's actually getting on the podium.
Except, one persistently curious and curiously attentive pair skater, with a distressingly attractive smile, gorgeous brown eyes and very interesting ambitions for the post-competition gala, seems to think otherwise.
'Coast-to-Coast' by @cheesecurdsgravyandfries. E, 1.3k. Lacrosse slang - when a player nearest their end-line takes the ball all the way down the field to the opposing team's end of the field.
Alex finds his old high school lacrosse jersey. Henry wears it.
The jersey is tight across Henry’s broad shoulders, the polymesh sleeves pulled by the tension, making Henry’s biceps pop, and if the hem didn’t reach the waistband of Alex’s underwear, it doesn’t stand a chance on Henry’s long torso. There’s at least two inches of skin visible between the top, and the band of Henry’s red D&G briefs - so selected tonight, because the red matches that in Alex’s high school logo on his chest. Henry looks sexy as hell, and he knows it.
i could be a better boyfriend by bananzie. T, 2.4k. It wasn't that Alex didn't like telling people about Henry—quite the opposite, actually—it was just that no one ever believed him when he did.
An AU in which Henry is one of England’s most famous rugby players, Alex met him during an exchange year, and they’re so in love it’s sickening, but no one believes him.
who are we to fight the alchemy by @coffeecatsme. T, 3.1k. INTERVIEWER: Kiss, marry, kill, between Taylor Swift, Beatrice Fox of the Tortured Poets, and Dua Lipa.
ALEX: Oh God, I’m gonna get so cancelled. Uh… Well, my sister would absolutely kill me if I killed Taylor Swift so I guess I gotta kiss her? I mean, she’s hot. And I guess I’m killing Dua Lipa? That leaves… Can I, like, take her brother instead of Beatrice Fox? He’s more my type.
Or, Cowboys star Alex crashes out of the closet in an interview. This is how everyone reacts.
Sets on the Beach by @happiness-of-the-pursuit. M, 3.6k. 95% of the able-bodied New York City queer population sign up to play intramural beach volleyball in the summer (this statistic is not supported by Nora). Unfortunately for Alex, this number includes Henry Fox and his very broad shoulders. Despite Henry’s unsportsmanlike recruiting and stupid genetic advantages, Alex is determined to take him (and the rest of Queerly the Best) down.
go the distance by @indomitable-love. T, 3.7k. His legs are like jello. He’s not entirely sure how he’s still upright. He’s running on fumes and the energy gel he’d been handed about forty minutes ago by one of the secret service as he’d passed by. Fumes, energy gel pouches, the roar of the crowd against New York streets, and pure adrenaline because he can see the finish line. He knows what’s there: June and Nora and Henry.
Henry. The reason Alex is doing this whole damn thing in the first place.
Alex decides to run a marathon. It's all Henry's fault, really.
Red, White & Navy Blue by @jedusaur. E, 4.4k. "Fine," says Alex. He clenches his jaw and his fists. "Great. Watch me. I'll bromance the shit out of the motherfucker."
Twenty Seven Batters by @historicallysam. T, 4.6k. A ballplayer will refuse to stop playing because they want one more hit, steal, strikeout. One more homerun. One more win. So they get old and they lose their skill and embarrass themselves long after they should have hung up their spikes.
If that’s the rule, then Alexander Claremont-Diaz is the exception.
Because today, at age 38, Alexander Claremont-Diaz is six outs away from a perfect game.
Catch and Release by @welcometololaland. T, 4.8k. Henry isn't good at many things, but he is fairly good at rowing - something which is very deeply fine, until a transfer student from America turns up.
When Henry winds up being Alex's roommate on a training camp, they don't get off to a great start. Fortunately, their coach has other ideas.
A slice of the rowing AU involving midnight training sessions, extreme physical exertion and just a little bit of Only One Bed.
You Spin Me (Right Round) by @myheartalivewrites. E, 5.4k. “...he signs up for Henry’s evening class again, and if he comes in wearing a cropped sleeveless t-shirt with a bi pride flag on it and skintight burgundy leggings, well, that’s just a coincidence. He doesn’t necessarily mean anything by it.”
Henry is a spinning instructor and Alex is attending his first class after being ill. The whole thing is unexpectedly moving. And horny. Everyone is WAY TOO horny.
you know i love a london boy by @coffeecatsme. T, 6.5k. “A very special friendship bracelet,” Bea corrects, with such a delight in her voice that Henry is immediately suspicious. He grabs the darn thing and twists it around, glittery beads shining under the lights of the room. A phone number, if Henry is counting them right. Despite himself, his heart skips a beat. “From the one and only Alexander Claremont-Diaz.” She grins, bouncing on the balls of her feet—the day she stops playing matchmaker for her brother will surely be a cold day in hell. The sole excitement of her life since she doesn’t do romance.
Henry twists the bracelet in his hands, counting the numbers again, and then looks up. “Who?”
Or, 5 times Alex and Henry keep their relationship a secret and 1 time they don't.
let's get lost (and let the good times roll) by riversdeep. M, 6.5k. “Fuck, sorry,” The man says, distinctly American, holding a hand out to right Henry where he’s fallen. His face comes into view as Henry lets the man pull him up, worried eyes and furrowed brows, and he’s utterly mortified to realise that the man isn’t just any random man, he’s Alex Claremont-Diaz, June’s volleyball playing brother. Her very attractive, very concerned looking volleyball playing brother.
There's No Problem That San Diego Can't Solve by @historicallysam. T, 6.7k. Alex doesn’t even bother knocking; he simply twists the knob on the door and shoves it open. His eyes narrow as the door bangs against the wall and he sees Henry on the phone. Maybe (definitely) it’s rude but his blood is fucking boiling so he doesn’t really care.
Because I’m A Scoundrel by @inexplicablymine. E, 8.3k. Alex Claremont-Diaz has exactly thirty minutes to make himself look as slutty as possible for this Halloween Gala. At this very moment he looks a little bit like a sexed up pirate, but with the addition of his small black vest - rest in peace to the Patagonia packers and finance brethren- and a low slung belt with a “blaster,” a very sex-on-legs Han Solo is looking back at him.
Henry Fox, who is both a double scull rower with enough Olympic medals it would make anyone other than Alex sweat, and the definitive arch nemesis of Alex - is wearing a white sylvette Princess Leia costume, hugging his curves in all the right ways, the clingy fabric draping to the floor.
When you and your arch nemesis show up to the most important gala of the year in a couples costume you either play it up or shut it down. Alex has a decision to make, but the way that dress is hugging Henry’s ass isn’t making that decision any easier.
(la)cross(e) my heart by weather_stained. E, 8.6k. Alex is determined to start a lacrosse team at his college. It's his junior year, and he's closer than ever. That is, until he finds out someone else is trying to start a rugby team, and there's only enough funding for one additional sport.
Clubs Day comes around, and he finds that his rival is no other than the insufferable Henry Fox. Alex definitely doesn't spent more time staring at Henry instead of running his booth, but if he does, it doesn't mean he's obsessed with him or anything.
Thin Ice series by @priincebutt. E, 8.8k. Alexander Claremont-Diaz, charismatic center for the NHL's Dallas Stars, is completely and utterly smitten with the posh British librarian he met by complete accident. Tonight is the night, and he's got a plan to completely woo Henry and get his man.
Don't Quit It by @inexplicablymine. M, 9k. “And goddamn last but not least on my Hit It and Don’t Quit It list would be the Saracens rugby player Henry Fox. That man has great depths, and he could so easily plumb my depths, if you know what I’m saying. An all-around fantastic player, but also someone who is ridiculously smart off the field. And we all know by now that everyone on this list features my mile-wide competency kink. Henry, if you are seeing this, we could play around with some balls that aren’t just in play.”
Fuck fuck fuckity fuck fuck.
Alex has just accidentally outed himself to 6.7 million people. And according to the comments section, they seem to be all too aware.
Or... Announcing your crush via viral TikTok... that's one way to get his attention ;)
Puck It by @kiwiana-writes. E, 9.7k. “I’m English, dear,” Henry tells him, and fuck if the nickname isn’t doing something to Alex too. “Our national sport is rugby, and we play it with a lot less protective gear. Though,” he adds thoughtfully, “rugby players do wear mouth guards, which means they have the significant advantage of generally keeping all their teeth.”
“We wear mouth guards.” It’s a common misconception, and one that annoys the shit out of him. “And I’ve still got all my teeth. Wanna check?”
Love-Love by @smc-27. T, 10k. “I hear Alex Claremont-Diaz is available,” she says, and while the idea is terribly appealing, he knows that it is incorrect.
“Alex is an incredible tennis player. If he wanted to pair up, I’d be open to that.”
It is not often Henry’s mouth gets him in trouble. Years of media training and growing up with a celebrity for a dad have left him very practiced in the subtle art of the spin.
Apparently the mere mention of Alex had all that leaving his head entirely.
lacrosse, my heart by indomitablelove. E, 10k. Logically, Henry should have known to expect this. He’s aware of how lacrosse works. Or, at least, he’s developed enough of an understanding of how lacrosse works through Alex. He’s seen photos of Alex in his lacrosse uniform before, and yet somehow that still doesn’t prepare him for the sight of seeing Alex actually playing lacrosse.
Alex returns to his high school to play a charity lacrosse match. Henry joins him and sees Alex play lacrosse for the first time.
You didn't tell me you play rugby by Moony_Reggie_stars_1003. E, 10k. Alex finds out that Henry plays rugby, and has some very specific feelings about it.
Tread Lightly by @smc-27. E, 11k. Alex notices this guy the moment he walks in. Which implies that he hasn’t noticed the guy before now, which isn’t true at all. He’s seen him around. He - like everyone else - has stared at the guy’s eyes and waist and thighs and fucking Disney prince swoopy hair.
Alex is really used to hitting on people and getting the outcome he wants.
Or: Lax bro Alex wants Henry
How to stay with you by lovergalore. E, 12k. Alex feels like he hasn’t slept in weeks, which is essentially ever since he got his new roommate, Henry. Alex doesn’t have anything against his roommate—or his sexual proclivities; obviously, there’s nothing wrong with that, but it gets to a point where almost every other night Henry has a ‘friend’ over and Alex has to pull out his noise-canceling headphones to be able to endure another minute in their shared dorm.
CHECK(MATE) by ma_lark_ey. T, 14k. "It's such an unexpected pairing, a hockey player and a punk star. How'd you too meet?"
"Oh, well, it's really silly. It actually started when Alex's fans started..."
"I met Henry because my Tumblr followers started this elaborate hoax about us being best friends."
"And, let me guess, you ran with it?"
"Oh, June, you know I commit to a good bit."
Pumped by myheartalive. E, 22k. Recently moved to London, Alex meets Henry at a climbing wall, where accidental rudeness and misunderstandings keep them apart, until they don’t.
There's pining, there's climbing, there's stupid boys falling for each other, and smut towards the end.
Show Me What You’re Working With by @clottedcreamfudge. E, 23k. He doesn't want to think the words "monster cock" but frankly, it's too fucking late, because they're now living rent-free in his brain in twenty-foot high neon letters.
How does that even work? Do the women he sleeps with come out changed? Does he have the goddamn ER on alert every time he goes on a date?
Alex isn't into dick, except maybe he is, and maybe this one specifically.
the winner takes it all by @dumbpeachjuice. E, 24k. In theory, this shouldn’t be a thing. Alex has spent his whole life around other cyclists, on the track and the road and off both, and he’s never had this sort of visceral reaction to any of them.
(Well. Kind of. Maybe he let his eyes linger on a teammate once or twice. But like—Alex is an athlete. He appreciates the human form.)
But the way the muscles in Henry Fox’s thighs stretch and ripple as he urges his bike up the mountain—
Yeah.
It’s a lot.
And if Alex weren’t so determined to steal that yellow jersey off his back he’d fall off his bike.
Made the Right Selection by clottedcreamfudge. E, 27k. "You don't take 'no' for an answer, do you?" Henry says curiously, and Alex cocks his head to the side; his hair falls into his eyes just a little but he doesn't bother to brush it aside. Henry's fingers itch to do it for him.
"I do when it's the actual answer," he says eventually, and Henry's face twists into a smile.
"Right," he says.
"Alex, come the fuck on," Nora calls over from where the squad has started to wander off into whatever day there is left. Henry suspects, looking at the sun, that there's rather a lot of it to go.
"See you later, H," Alex says with a grin, and then he's gone, leaving Henry with his helmet in his hand and his heart in his throat.
Alex is a cheerleader. That's the premise.
catch my breath to breathe your name by goingmywaydoll. M, 29k. “So,” the person says without pause, “I heard you like soccer butts but not the people attached to them.”
Where Henry’s family owns a (fictional) football club and Alex is fresh from the States and the new star addition to the team and it's all entirely predictable.
Stupid Games, Stupid Prizes by JustAnotherWriter_93. E, 38k. The College AU where Alex is a football player, and Henry has had a secret crush on him for two years, attending every football game possible. Henry thinks that getting involved with Alex will be nothing but a disaster, Alex thinks that maybe he isn’t as straight as he thought, and they’re both a little bit right.
Faster, Higher, Stronger by everwitch. E, 64k. When Alex fails to qualify for the 2022 Winter Olympics, it’s all too easy to blame Henry Fox, the dual citizen who’d switched from Team GB to Team USA and snagged the last spot for men’s figure skating. After Alex is abruptly thrown back into the games, he forms an unexpectedly deep connection with Henry. But no athlete who aims for the top of the podium can afford any serious distractions. Will Alex be able to keep his flaring emotions in check and take home the Olympic gold medal he’s always aimed for?
Baseball Boyfriends series by bleedingballroomfloor. E, 121k. “It’s just — I’ve had such a hard time feeling like I really belonged. I think that’s what got me in the slump in the first place. But coming back here, seeing all the love I still got even though I’m not on the Rangers anymore… that really helped. And being on the Mets, being in New York — you helped with all of that. More than you’ll ever know.”
Or, Alex and Henry are dumb, horny disasters. With an added bonus of baseball.
A Sporting Chance series by clottedcreamfudge. E, 236k. "Marry Henry - destination wedding. Combine all of our names so paperwork is a fucking nightmare." Henry stares at him and Pez rolls the dice, and-
"Congratulations to Alex and Henry Claremont-Diaz-Fox-Mountchristen," he says with a bright grin, and Alex punches the air and makes a 'whooping' noise. "Your wedding is attended by the Beckhams, the President, and several key members of congress. Henry is very gentle on your wedding night." Henry is going to fucking kill Pez.
"Fucking sweet," Alex says, because Henry is apparently the only one here trying not to have a coronary about all of this.
It had just been a party game, except now Henry is in way over his head.
I only tag an author once per post, but I'm still figuring out firstprince author handles. If you see one I may not know or find a broken link, please give me a heads up!
Master List of RWRB FirstPrince Recs
Master List of Recommendations
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What is, in your opinion, the best and the worst moments of the entire series and why? If you haven't already made a post about that
[cracks knuckles]
It's hard to put a finger on what I would say are best moments because through my rewatch I've actually discovered a lot of good moments early on that I think are overlooked because they don't play into the larger story later on. I talked about one of them in the context of a rewrite on my side blog, but I want to talk about a smaller moment that I actually don't think needs to be rewritten. (this isn't me saying this is the best moment in mcd, just that I think it deserves appreciation)
It's the entire opening sequence of episode 11. Like the whole thing is just really good. It opens with Aph finding out that Donna has gained sentience building that idea into the world, and she gets the story started right away by telling Aph about how Brendan got injured at the end of last episode. Aph instantly rushes in to help, finds out what she has to do from Garroth, and then takes off to do it. Earlier episodes have a problem of being kind of nothing a lot of the time, or Jess will get distracted and take way too long to get to the story, but that just isn't a problem here.
At this point Brendan has been established as a character with gripes, ambitions, wants, love for hamsters, and has an emotional connection to another character in the cast. So both the audience and Aph are invested in his safety, and it's great to see how seriously she can take these situations when circumstances demand it. Furthermore once she gets the medicine Garroth needs, it's Garroth who actually treats Brendan's wounds as this is before Zoey entered the series and became the resident healer.
I really like this aspect of Garroth's character and think it has a ton of potential! Garroth learning battle medicine during the year Phoenix Drop didn't have their lord because he failed to protect his lord before? Maybe he learned it even earlier, like in the guard academy shortly after the death of his brother to ensure that he doesn't lose someone again. As far as I'm aware this is never expanded on outside of this episode but I think it was a really solid piece of character work with Garroth.
And Zenix in this scene?? On point. He is playing up the whole scared guard who's a rookie and new to everything aspect so well, and the way he talks about the whole ordeal is just fantastic. He's so good at playing on Aph's trusting nature and when you learn that he knew the arrow was meant for him and put Brendan in the way? It makes the entire scene all the more heartbreaking. Overall a really great showing from one of the earlier episodes of the series.
And on the complete opposite end of the spectrum, we have one of the much later episodes in the series run that if you ask me, is one of the worst scenes in anything I have ever witnessed. Season 2 Episode 95 of Minecraft Diaries is perhaps the best example of character assassination happening in real time I have ever seen. The rot upon Laurance's character has been creeping in for some time during season 2, but this is when it hits it's crescendo.
I can and will do an entire post breaking down this entire episode minute by minute one of these days because it's failures are something I take personally. For those of you who aren't actually going insane over the block show, Season 2 Episode 95 is titled "Shadows of the Past", and this is the episode where everything with Laurance hits it's breaking point. In this episode while Aph is just having a fun day playing with Dante, Leona, and the other child who is there, she sees an imp in the forest disguised as Aaron. (Keep in mind Aaron died in episode 81 so the wound is still sort of fresh)
Aph is shaken by this and halfway through the episode she sits on the beaches of the Phoenix Alliance island holding Aaron's bandana and having a quiet moment. Laurance comes up behind her, before he sits next to her, and the two start talking. In theory, I like this conversation. Laurance has largely not been able to express his feelings on Aaron and what he did because he ran away right after it happened, and showed up only 5 episodes ago trying to kill Aph while she was in disguise. He hasn't had a moment to really process Aaron's sacrifice and what it means for him. The strange contradictory feelings he has over his jealousy, his desire to protect, the calling, and dare I say it, his respect for Aaron.
In theory, I really like this conversation. In practice this conversation manages to drag not one, not two, but all three of Minecraft Diaries main characters to their lowest points. In this scene Laurance proceeds to berate Aph for her feelings, invalidate previous lines he said about Aaron, completely betrays his own character and motivation, and forever ruins his character arc. And that's not including how much of a fucking asshole Garroth is in this scene, like Laurance was being bad, but Garroth saying "You were lucky to come back alive" after Laurance was forcibly raised into undeath??? Not cool dude.
The entire scene also reduced Aph into just a grieving widow. She's so grief stricken she can't even stand up to Laurance, which could be good in theory, but I just don't like it. It just doesn't feel right. It doesn't feel like the character I've been following. Aph has always been a proactive and reactive character, bad stuff happens and her response is to do something about it. This scene makes her far more passive and while I don't object to her grieving, this just isn't it. I can't explain it better than that, it just isn't it.
As stated before, Garroth may have had some good points but completely lost all merit he had in this argument when he hit Laurance with that line. That was just uncalled for.
And poor poor Laurance. Let's just give a quick rundown on things in Laurance's life that greatly impact the way he views death: His parents dying when he was a kid, his lord dying while under his watch, seeing someone he knew was dead walking around alive, literally actually dying and being forcibly raised into partial undeath with a great curse to bear and no control over any of this happening, his best friend sacrificing their life to save him, AND losing his OTHER parent after being thrown 15 years into the future. Laurance has been a victim of death and it's many ways of truly ruining someone's brain in ways we mortals aren't even able to comprehend.
He would never yell at someone for grieving. He would never get mad at someone for being sad that someone they care about is gone, no matter how jealous he can be. He would never see Aph with tears in her eyes and keep yelling. The only circumstances I could see him doing this under is if the calling is influencing him, but that isn't explicitly shown to the viewer or ever even implied to be the reason for this outburst. We are just expected to take this at face value. That his is who Laurance is, who he has become.
And it's not Laurance. I don't know who it is, but it's just not him. It's someone else who's using Laurance's likeness to prop up the story of two people falling in love and losing each other that takes longer than Romeo and Juliet and manages to somehow be worse than that. In a sick and twisted sense, Jess is how we've all been headcanoning the Shadow King, turning Laurance into her little puppet that she can control to do whatever she wants when the plot demands it, previously established character be damned. She didn't write this scene because she wanted to explore Laurance's character, she wrote this scene so fans would get off her back.
Laurance deserved better than this.
cutting myself off here because if I keep going I will just rewrite this entire episode in real time for the third time
#text post#minecraft diaries#laurance zvahl#minecraft diaries laurance#garroth ro'meave#mcd garroth#aphblr#answering asks#mcd zenix#mcd brendan#rant post#fuck season 2 episode 95#laurance deserved better#everyone deserved better but especially Laurance
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"I Wanna Dance With Some Ollie" Is a Good Episode, Actually (A Response to The Alphajay Show)
Before I start this post I want to say that I am a fan of The Alphajay show, I really like watching his content and I think he makes good videos. That being said, however, the TGAMM segment in his "Ranking The WORST Episodes Of 2023" video is awful and just gets a lot of shit wrong to the point I especially have the motivation to debunk what he says in the video. So... let's just begin.
He starts off the segment by saying this:
"I Wanna Dance With Some Ollie is one of the worst episodes I've seen this year. And it's one of the most disappointing episodes I've ever seen since making this channel. And to basically summarize my video on it, the first season of Molly Mcgee builds up her character perfectly. You have the girl who moves from town to town. Wanting to build strong memories in her now forever home. Even if she was cursed by a ghost. Her positive aura radiated the otherwise miserable town and her ambition combined with her amazing musical sequences and solid comedy that took her do gooder attitude, and gave her a very much welcome edge for an amazing character who I rooted for to save the town and was ready to watch season after season of it....she threw all of that away for a boy named Ollie"
....what? No she didn't. I really don't know what Jay's talking about here? Molly didn't throw away her goal of enhappifying the town for Ollie, all she ever did was just get a crush on him. Saying that she threw all of that away for a boy seems kinda disingenuous to me. It just looks like he's mad because...Molly got a crush on a boy. Like, is she not allowed to have crushes or something? After this he says this:
"However this isn't just romance shifting a person into doing things that they otherwise wouldn't do because that's natural that's understandable. This is about a show, brut forcing a romance that otherwise wouldn't have made sense without understanding why people clammer over the ones done right. I brought up Spider-Verse earlier and that's a great example of romance done right. Gwen has her own life own motivations and her own cool aspects that are not connected to Miles. Likewise, as said in my video about Molly Mcgee, Luz and Amity from the first season of The Owl House worked because Amity had a life, motivations and cool aspects before liking and meeting Luz. Also the Grom episode wasn't the like the 5th episode that they went to. They actually built up the tension of wanting to see them get together."
Wait...does Ollie not have his own aspects that aren't connected to Molly too? Like, he's a kid who was taught to hate ghosts and became a ghost hunter, and he got a whole episode where he went through character development over his guilt about hunting ghosts, not to mention the whole conflict of his parents finding out he's friends with a ghost. Ollie also does have aspects about him that are not related to Molly, are the ones I just mentioned somehow not enough?
Alphajay is saying this as if Ollie's entire character is just about his romance with Molly and that his whole character revolves around her, but that's just objectively false. After that he complains about the episode "Beats you over the head about how much it wants to you spread the ship" which really isn't worth talking about so lets talk about the thing he says after that:
"You'd think the girl who went to the ghost world and defeated the chairman to free all ghosts would be a little bit more quick to explain why Ollie shouldn't be discriminatory towards all ghosts, especially Molly's best friend who is a ghost who gets caught and trapped at that very same concern"
Ummmm...
Alpha. Didn't she literally try to do that in Book Marks the Sprite? Ya know, the last episode these two interacted in before this? She did try to explain to Ollie that ghosts may not be evil but she wasn't able to convince him.
So after that he ends the segment and moves on to talk about an episode that I am assuming is from modern Spongebob. Again, I do like Alphajay's content but a lot of the stuff he said in this segment was just straight up objectively wrong.
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teardrop for the win!
of course i have a bias for teardrop, but for several reasons i believe that they really are one of the best object show characters of all time - teardrop by definition changes the game while also changing as a person.
for one thing, if given a list of all of teardrop's areas of expertise, one would assume that she was a guaranteed winner - she is incredibly intelligent and cunning, knows how to author, draw, and code, can easily operate regular tools as well as firearms, can walk up walls, is quick on her feet with good balance, has an amazing throwing arm, can work under pressure, can shoot lasers out of her finger, and is astoundingly ambitious and laser-focused on winning. if ignoring the social aspect of challenges, teardrop would've easily won every season they participated in - which is all of them.
however, one can't ignore the social aspect of challenge-based shows like bfdi - and, whether they're in her control or not, that's where most of her shortcomings lie. the fact that teardrop doesn't speak affects how a lot of their fellow contestants treat them, often causing them to take advantage of teardrop in challenges or otherwise harass them. for that reason alone it can be incredibly difficult for teardrop to make friends, in teams or alliances, as most other contestants refuse to see her as anything but "the quiet one" (even well-meaning contestants refer to her with similarly reductive epithets).
aside from this, teardrop frequently has had little to no regard for the wellbeing of others, perfectly willing to hurt them if they bother her or if their pain gives her the upper hand. most of the time this has been in response to how others treat them, in that nobody cared about their feelings, so they weren't going to care about anyone else's; similarly, teardrop's ambition might've stemmed from a notion that since nobody cared what they wanted, they were going to take what they wanted. even so, teardrop's hostility has often affected people who have done nothing specific to hurt her, such as gelatin, leafy, or flower - out of an unadultarated drive for victory for all three cases, but for the last case also out of impulse. teardrop is notably very impulsive, frequently jumping into actions or decisions without considering all of the options or really thinking about how they might affect those around her. it's clear that teardrop has been here to win, not to make friends - or at least that's what she thought at first.
this initial picture of teardrop provides a fascinating dichotomy between her immense technical skills and meager social skills - both of which being essential to really succeeding in a competition (aside from helping in the team/alliance setting, social skills are important in making the viewer want you to stick around). and, sadly, because so few really accepted them as a person, nevermind a fellow contestant, teardrop's opportunities to utilize her skills and really help her team had been few and far between, meaning that for a significant portion of the series teardrop had been left to languish and be eliminated for no good reason.
i can't say that teardrop didn't get along with anyone before bfb's split; not everyone was actively hostile towards her, for one thing, and a select few were actually reasonably nice to her and actively engaged her in and out of challenges - like leafy, bubble, and especially needle. unfortunately, though, it's hard to find a needle in a haystack (pun intended)...
at the start of bfb, most people were treating teardrop like they always had - why, the first episode is titled "getting teardrop to talk", as even newbies were keen on harassing them about their lack of speech. right from the beginning of that season it was cemented in our minds that people still saw teardrop as a "silent type" with whom understanding is impossible. it was their trying to force teardrop to speak. it was their ignoring teardrop's nonverbal cues. everything seemed the same as always...
but if the first episode's title being named after her tells us anything, it's that bfb was the beginning of teardrop's ascension. into a winner.
before the split, teardrop did what they could to help their team, as they normally would; it was after the split, though, which marked their prime opportunity not only to make friends but also shine as a teammate.
her new team consisted of balloony, bubble, gelatin, leafy, lollipop, ruby, and herself - two people who were already nice to her, three who had never harassed her, and one with whom she was acquainted but who hadn't accepted her yet. i believe this group of people presented teardrop with the ultimate opportunity to not only succeed in the competition, but also grow as a person and get better at making friends.
throughout this new era teardrop got to help immensely in nearly every challenge while simultaneously having fun - they seemed to be a lot more comfortable with this team than with prior ones.
most importantly, she came face-to-face with how her actions affect others. a continuous victim of teardrop's impulsive violence was gelatin; this reasonably made him upset and uncomfortable. however, instead of fearing teardrop and treating them like a monster, he openly told them how he was feeling - actually treating them like a person with feelings themselves. and so teardrop could actually take a step back and think about how she made him feel, and then apologize the best way she could - she might not've been able to say she was sorry, but with her party for gelatin she definitely showed it. and gelatin recognized that.
(my favorite image ever ^)
and so the rest of the contestants began to recognize teardrop as well... there was a subsequent ripple effect from gelatin's open discomfort to teardrop's apology to him to a friendship with him to a friendship with lollipop, which in itself resulted in a willingness to risk their immunity for the sake of their friendship and alliance... which is completely unprecedented! teardrop is so driven to win that her willingness to potentially lose is shocking.
before this, teardrop only ever fought for herself; after all, there was really nobody else for her to fight for. teardrop had had amicable acquaintances, but they didn't really have friends who actually got on their level and put the effort into understanding them. and no, gelatin and lollipop hadn't always been that understanding, but via gelatin's kindness the two of them could now see teardrop in a new light - she wasn't mysterious and scary, but rather just fiercely determined... and misunderstood. they could now see that not only was teardrop a worthy competitor, but a worthy alliance member as well - all because gelatin extended that olive branch.
the newbie alliance, which teardrop was now welcomed into, flourished; the three began to understand each other like siblings; even if they weren't always successful in challenges, they cheered each other on through every loss, every elimination, not even letting a spot in the final divide them. teardrop came in third while gelatin was allowed to advance, but she wasn't angry at him - she was upset with the circumstance, of course, but was also able to move on quickly due to how proud she was of him.
and in the finale, the three worked together beautifully in the group's pursuit of four... and to gelatin and lollipop, their best friends, their siblings, teardrop was no longer "the quiet one". teardrop was the smart one. the perceptive one. the determined one. the one who can inexplicably walk up walls. gelatin and lollipop saw in teardrop what most people refused to, and so teardrop realized that not everyone will refuse to see the good in them. by the end of bfb, teardrop's strengths - all of those incredible technical skills mentioned before - are truly realized, now that they have the strength of their loved ones supporting them. bfb might've been the happy ending for gelatin and flower, but it was also teardrop's beginning.
teardrop abruptly left the scene of bfb for what we now know to be tpot - and her level of confidence is skyrocketing! they're incredibly bold now in a way that they never could've been before - as, even though they're away from their friends, teardrop still has their strength from afar. teardrop still is that ambitious little droplet we know and love; she never stopped aiming for the top, even after being eliminated in bfb. teardrop stuck around until the end, but once things settled down for everyone else, things just picked up once again for them.
it's notable that after a season of finally being able to thrive in a team/alliance setting, teardrop should now be competing on her own; i think this is incredibly interesting, as now she relies entirely on her raw power and talent. after all, not only does teardrop not have teammates to cooperate with, but they also lack the luxury of the chance to be saved from elimination by the viewers - as their team's loss is an automatic elimination for them. we can see that teardrop is struggling on her own, but at the same time her gun-slinging swagger is making her out as a worthy opponent to her fellow competitors. i wouldn't be surprised if somewhere down the line multiple teams want to alliance with them, as to harness this dark horse's power...
in addition, teardrop has really made a name for herself in the eyes of both the viewers and the other characters by joining tpot... the focus was put on them with their disappearance at the end of bfb; then that suspense culminated in their arriving at the setting of tpot; then two made an exception to let them join; then they were put on a solo team bearing their own name; then they somehow pulled through despite being solo. back in bfdi's days teardrop was easy to miss due to her early elimination and lack of screentime - but now the screen is hers. tpot doesn't stand for 'the power of two', no, but rather 'the power of teardrop'... because they're owning it.
teardrop really is coming into her own now, which is so amazing - with every step she comes closer to being the ultimate challenge, and i believe she has it in her to go far in tpot, even if she's at a major disadvantage. but then, teardrop has always been fighting the odds; they're a breakthrough character and a real paragon for the strength of communication, understanding, and friendship, all of which being central themes of bfdi as a whole.
teardrop is a guaranteed winner. i know she's going to do well and have a blast while doing it - and all the power to her! teardrop's already winning and nothing can stop her. come get your crown, teedster...
it's waiting just for you.
#melonposting#long post#bfdi#bfdi teardrop#bfb#bfb teardrop#bfb td#tpot#the power of two#tpot teardrop#tpot td#kin#not me rambling about why i'm the best object show character ever... haha...#i'm right though#also i have a newfound respect for gelatin#he's a real sweetheart and such a good sport. like that is my brother and i love him so much oh my god#bfb newbie alliance#gonna reread my newbie alliance fanfictions in a sec cuz man this is bringing back memories#newbie alliance my beloved <3 we won bfb in my heart <33#to all my fellow teardrop enjoyers: let's gooooooooo#i felt so powerful when td joined tpot. like i got an adrenaline rush#i'm back baby! i'm back!!!!#now all i need is for jnj to make a teardrop plushie and i'll be set for life#cuz darn i'm really winning at object shows. i'm really winning#lol i am having so much fun. td for the win. amen#gun tw#tw gun
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Hey! I watched the new total drama season you send I enjoyed the new season I must say
Did you enjoyed it? What is your opinions?
I really did enjoy it, but I also think it had the same flaws as the rest of the total drama series, as expected. (the danganronpa ask is sitting half completed because I got a case of the TD brainworms!)
Namely, that except for gen 2, every generation has a character whose personality is 80% fart jokes. Now, I love me a fart joke as much as any self-respecting 12 y/o boy, so its not that I don't find them funny. But I also think that a character shouldn't just be gross-out humor, and should have some other qualities to them. How does Ripper's bullying affect the goal of the game. Why is he on total drama if his main ambition in life is something else? He clearly feels insecure, but so does his designated victim. Explore that!
One take I saw floating around is that Emma and Chase's relationship is repetitive and annoying. That was the point! You aren't meant to ship them, and Bowie's thoughts on them are meant to mirror the audiences! That being said, I hope they change up the dynamic in season 2 because doing it for another season would get stale.
This is more of a personal preference than a complaint with the writing, but I found Raj's arc in this boring. "realizing you are gay because of a crush and then kissing him" is really overdone, and it felt like the main players in the Rajbow ship were Bowie and WAYNE. This isn't a bad thing, but I hope he becomes a more distinct character in season 2. Maybe Bowie can teach him game strategy and he betrays Wayne to stay in the game longer tee hee hee.
I also don't really agree with the take that Bowie is bad rep because he's a very stereotypical gay man. A lot of total drama characters are based off stereotypes, like Lindsey being the Dumb Blonde and Heather being the Mean Girl. They evolve beyond those tropes throughout the reason of the show, and we actually see that with Bowie in just the one season he was in so far! After Raj got eliminated, he did a whole bunch of plot relevant shit that didn't involve him and was a compelling character outside of his romance plot. I call that a sign of good writing, but this is total drama so who knows if it will last.
And I don't think that TD is saying all gay man are stereotypical, because we have Raj, who is very much not that. He's a dumb jock that happens to be gay, and falls into the jock stereotype more than any gay one. I really respect that writing choice.
Pryia is one of my favorite TD characters, but season 1 Court still takes the number one spot. (even if she is hanging on Hall Monitor coattails!) I adore her! She totally deserved the win.
They made Axel too much like Eva and it felt like a really missed opportunity. We already have Eva and Jo, can we have a more GNC gal character that isn't totally aggressive? I'd like that. Hopefully, she becomes more of a player in the second series?
I also wish they gave Julia a different strategy than Heather. If a character needs constant immunity to stay in the game, then maybe they deserve to leave the game at that stage. Its overdone. I also feel like Julia showed skills in turning people against each other, which could have easily been her M.O. That being said, my favorite Villain Elimination by a longshot.
I really liked the energy brought to the jokes about Zee's leg. It doesn't come up often since my hearing aid isn't too visible, but if I have the opportunity to joke about my disability, I will take it! He's probably one of my favorite disabled rep besides Toph, and I'm glad that he wasn't looked down upon by his team during challenges. He didn't struggle with any challenges, and his leg actually helped at one point!
(one time, a teacher asked in frustration if anyone was deaf in here. Saying "Yes :)" was my crowning achievement and one of the best jokes I ever made. Its not relevant, but c'mon.)
I wish he had more of a character outside of comic relief, but still!!!
#ask tag#total drama#total drama spoilers#total drama island 2023#total drama reboot#td zee#td raj#td bowie#td priya#td julia#crowtalks#I dub thee with a tag
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I shall tempt fate!
Thoughts on the thirteenth doctor?
I didn’t like the era much but 13 is awesome imo ^^
[approximately 1 trillion turrets taking aim] okay SO the thing with 13 is that everyone who watched her and hated her was a needless redditbrained loser who didn't understand a thing. yes she was kind of mid in the end BUT not for a single reason any of her detractors like to espouse.
she was on track for a very good slow burn tragic arc of over-correcting twelve's flaws (he got too attached and this burned him over and over and over again) where in her attempts to protect her companions from the same doomed fate as every previous human to enter the tardis she ends up not showing how she really feels at all until it's too late for it to count because whether or not she's attached or distant all humans die in the end and to travel with the doctor is to in part indulge in a death drive because by nature of being a companion it means eventually you are going to collide face first with tragedy. all the pieces for this are there very much in her first two seasons and this reading even explains why the finales were kind of lacking oomph (her distancing in attachment also extended to Being The Doctor on some level; this could have compounded with all the latent Gender stuff real nicely but didn't) since it was kind of all building to one core tragic break.
this likely would have happened in her third season but then covid kind of destroyed production and obviously every ambition/plan had to be downscaled into flux which was like. fine??? nothing really bad to say about it other than it feels a touch truncated but that was mostly due to pandemic filming restrictions than anything else (and will never be as terrible as the parts of the moffat era which suffered extensively as a result of sherlock existing and taking up the lead writers/producers time and effort). only issue with it was that it shifted tone/direction in a way that kept all of 13's era on this same flat note right at the moment when this naturally should have been shifted up a gear for the third act.
unironically in an ideal world we got a full length third season for thirteen and the one thing that needed to happen was yaz dying. like i liked yaz and everything but girlie needed to die so badly in some episode and for her to die thinking that the doctor never actually cared about her, forcing thirteen to realize becoming disattached doesn't prevent tragedy from happening it just deprives her of love. continuing this ideal scenario the next beat that needed to happen was thirteen absolutely fucking snapping as yaz's death serves as the catalyst for all the other billion emotions she's been pointedly Not Feeling in this incarnation - this in turn would allow us to see shades of the rogue doctor or whatever her name was (renegade doctor? fugitive doctor? exile doctor?) and create an interesting interplay between the two. this'd then lead to an "Oh Fuck I Have Really Fucked Up At Being The Doctor Huh" moment where she starts aggressively Being The Doctor (maybe strongarming dan into being a companion semi against his wishes to fill the void?) and maybe fucking with her own history/reputation or w/e which might've fed into the timeless child mystery thing somehow (don't ask me i'm spitballing on half-remembered information). also identity crisis heartbroken thirteen at the end of her life reaching back into herself and re-using ten's face as a kind of "second chance" at all the parts of herself that ten embodied and she didn't (the absolute love for companions and humanity) where the tension is now whether or not fourteen ignores the literal centuries of history separating himself from the last time he wore this face and that feeding into the new rtd era.
even a small number of these things would have made thirteen probably one of the best doctors in the series in all the metrics that really matter but we didn't get that so we have to contend with what we do have and that was mostly just...okay. thirteen for me is like. she was brimming with potential to go down a certain route i would have eaten up but things never quite fell into place. probably a whole bunch of reasons behind the scenes why thirteen's era fell short of total greatness but i still enjoyed good chunks of thirteen more than certain doctors who i can and will name (doctor eleven they could never make me like you) so she has that going for her at least. also can't be fully mad at the writing because i actually have an unjustified soft spot for chibnall (this is my biases talking but the countrycide episode of torchwood top 1 piece of doctor who media and i'm so mad he didn't lean back into the folk horror aesthetic again for the witch trials episode in thirteen's run) and overall thirteen's era was just. it was consistent. i really wish covid hadn't fucked over the final season so the nascent themes in her arc could've come to a more satisfying fruition because i will always be a forever truther thirteen's era was slow-building up to something really good. the haters will never convince me otherwise.
#coolstuffiseverywhere#my thinking is guided by the sole principle that doctor who is only good when it's both melodrama and tragedy#this might be because i infinitely prefer melodrama/tragedy over scifi. this is also because i am huge brained and beautiful all the time
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Loki S2E3:
I like how the first half of the season is directed on saving the TVA, as opposed to last season's agenda of destroying it. The irony is way too funny.
Gotta say that Loki, Mobius, B-15, D-90 (?), Casey, and O.B. running the TVA is the best thing ever. They're all amazing together. I hope Sylvie decides to come back this episode and stick around. Looked like she was thinking about it.
Ooh, interesting spin on the MCU logo theme today.
RENSLAYER SIGHTING.
She is so out of place there omfg.
"That's it?" Pretty underwhelming, right?
Miss Minutes changes colors 👀
OG He Who Remains as a child is something I didn't know I needed.
Literally everything revolves around that book, doesn't it? Wait- doesn't this mean O.B. should get credit for helping create the TVA??
"That's gonna be an awkward reunion." I love Mobius.
"Well, maybe she got it out of her system." Lmao. Doubt it. Might not try to kill them, but she's definitely no friend right now.
The thing I love about Mobius & Loki going on missions in the timeline is that we get to see so much more of their dynamic. They're definitely one of my favorite duos ever.
"Thor isn't that tall." 😂
Renslayer talking to a ghost clock in a bag is way too funny.
"Don't let her see you." So, either this is going to go like the Andor finale or she is totally going to see them. Noted.
Whiplash at seeing adult Victor Timely as opposed to the little boy ten minutes ago. This dude literally dedicated his life to controlling time.
NO COMPUTER, I DON'T WANT TO UPDATE JAVA RIGHT NOW.
Okay, I know Jonathan Majors is being accused of domestic violence or something, but the guy is a great actor. Not that that excuses him of any crimes he might've committed.
ARE THEY GOING TO KIDNAP HIM?
Mobius, this is such a bad idea, my guy. His ambitions are already too powerful. He'll just take over again.
"I don't do partners." THE LOOK ON THE OTHER GUY'S FACE. 🤣
Oh, great, he's selling it.
Is Renslayer seriously about to find them out because Loki stepped on a dude's foot?
Loki has absolutely no patience and his solution to that problem was the best thing ever 😂
I can't believe they ACTUALLY managed to sneak up on her.
Renslayer and Loki & Mobius fighting of talking to Victor is the funniest thing ever. It's like they're fighting for custody, except it's their younger father or something and he knows literally none of them.
And there he goes. 👀
"We just wanna talk!" You are literally chasing this man.
Victor is such a trickster.
SYLVIE WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE.
I wonder if He Who Remains remembered Loki and Sylvie fighting over him back when he was Victor still.
"Well, your machete hasn't solved any problems thus far." Ouch. She literally did deserve that, though.
This moment is the S1 finale all over again.
Giant ghost clock. 👀
Well, at least Miss Minutes had fun.
Victor and Renslayer really did fall in love, didn't they? Huh.
Is Miss Minutes seriously jealous of Renslayer right now? Lmao.
He just called Mobius a butler 😂
"Loki helped murder your variant." He did fucking not, stop manipulating the poor guy.
"Take him! He's all yours!" I almost spat out my soda.
Ooh, boat. How romantic. The writers planned this.
"I always knew my ideas were good. I just didn't have the technology to make them really work." Shit, now I feel bad for him.
The look on his face after she said "partnership."
LMAO.
I KNEW HE WAS GONNA DO SOMETHING LIKE THAT. 🤣
But also. Miss Minutes seems to despise her, so yeah. More of her manipulation is happening.
SHE WAS JEALOUS.
That is the weirdest love triangle ever.
........Why do I feel like Miss Minutes is trying to manipulate him into giving her a body so she can kill him and take over the TVA personally?
There was definitely an "I love you" in there. Holy shit.
Ooh, prototype pruning-baton.
How the hell did Loki & Mobius find them?!?
Victor has to think they're all crazy by now, doesn't he? And he'd be right tbh. Poor dude.
AND THERE'S SYLVIE AGAIN.
This guy is having a rough few days, honestly, what the fuck.
Sylvie, it's not okay to shape people into murderers by trying to kill them before they've committed the crime.
"I can make my own choices." 😭
AYYYYYY.
Respect, Sylvie. Respect. No way letting him leave much less live was easy.
Oh, okay. Well. Wasn't that unexpected. I mean, she wanted to go to the End of Time, didn't she? There she is. Enjoy the corpse.
LMAO AND SHE'S STUCK WITH MISS MINUTES AGAIN.
WAIT, I WANTED TO KNOW WHAT THE SECRET WAS.
I can't believe season two is halfway over already...
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Season 2, Episode 3: Face to Face
Okay this one was a bit better than the last episode. When I saw there was an episode about a transgender character in the 1980's I was a bit worried. But I think for the most part, it didn't do too bad a job with it.
This one starts off a bit artistic with juxtaposing shots. First we see a doctor getting ready for surgery.
That's Robert Vaughn, who was a very well known actor and was in a lot of movies from the 1960's & 1970's. Being the age I am, I mostly know him from Superman III and as a spokesperson for some ambulance-chasing lawyers from Boston. But his IMDB page shows a very full career.
He seems to be giving a monologue about how he is a sculptor like Michelangelo (only with skin).
There was another notable star in this one.
I had never heard of this person but it's a special appearance! I guess she's an actress who is famous mostly for B-movies. If that's the case, this show seems right up her alley. The hospital scenes are cut with scenes of a mystery woman getting ready for the day.
Oooh, nice nails.
Back at the hospital, another doctor (or nurse?) gets horny for Dr. Love.
Wow, not obvious at all.
Turns out the mystery woman is Carmen Sandiego. Where in the world?
We don't even get the Hitchhiker until 3:25 into the show, which is a pretty long opening. This is the first one where he just wanders on screen without interacting with any of the characters. The show has gone full Twilight Zone.
The doctor is Dr. Christopher Hamilton, who is a plastic surgeon with ambition and a sharp scalpel. He sees a face and he wants to change it. But unless he looks deeper, there are some things he's not going to see, like a dangerous smile even on the most perfect face.
Huh? Is this some sort of riddle?
When this woman walks into the hospital, it appears she is disfigured as people recoil and a young kid points and laughs.
But when we finally see the mystery woman, she looks like...
A bit masculine, but nothing hideous. Nina Russell, a makeup artist, is meeting with this doctor because she has had gender re-assignment surgery, but wants plastic surgery on her face to make her look more like a woman. He takes the job but not without telling her that the best makeup looks like the woman is wearing no makeup at all. Funny thing to say to a makeup artist.
So this is where it pleasantly surprised me. The doctor treats Nina with respect, addressing her as a woman. However the episode is not perfect and I will get into where it kind goes into not-so-great territory. This is the 80s though.
Woah this guy's assistant is a bargain basement Eugene Levy.
Back at Dr. Hamilton's apartment, things are really heating up. Ick, what does she see in this guy?
The ladies' love Dr. Hamilton. I'm guessing this is the B-movie actress? And what is that behind that tree? Was that other doctor stalking him?
Dr. Gold is introduced to this famous actress that happens to be one of Dr. Hamilton's patients. He is totally star struck.
Those eyebrows deserve a Golden Globe.
We are back at the apartment and woah what's going on here? Drugs and cognac, definitely the perfect combo for a plastic surgeon. Dr. Hamilton is partying with the B-movie actress even though he has surgery in the morning.
Can't forget the strawberries!
Here he uses his scalpel to cut off her bra straps. Hey those Frederick's of Hollywood bras are not cheap! Well actually, they kind of are. Nevermind, cut away.
Back at the hospital, Dr. Eyebrows has a conversation with Nina about the surgery. She is totally confident that Dr. Hamilton will do a great job. This doctor doesn't seem too sure.
We get actually a pretty touching speech from Nina here, going into details about her life and how she felt like she was in the wrong body from age 6. So far nothing really to cringe at.
Dr. Hamilton gets a rude awakening from a phone call wondering why he's not in surgery. Uh oh, what time is it?
Oh God, no one else sees this? This can't be good.
His eyebrows say it all here, that was not a good cut.
Dr. Eyebrows is here for the big unveiling and informs Nina that her doctor is getting on a plane to Paris right now. He starts to remove the bandages and...
That's not a good reaction. She asks for a mirror and is shocked at what she sees, however we don't see it!
Dr. Hamilton is at the airport, flying to Paris, when he spots another attractive woman he wants to bang.
A sexy flight attendant. Seriously what is the appeal of this guy? She entices him with her foot...
Why was this a thing in the 80's? Did everyone have a foot fetish back then.
When that doesn't work she decides to steal his boarding pass so he can't get on his plane.
When she shows him she has it, he asks where they should go. She of course suggests her place.
Wait a minute, her place is a plane? Those pre-911 days when the airport was just one giant un-supervised playground.
He tells her she is beautiful and then she says the best makeup is like no makeup at all. Now where did I hear that before....
Yes! I knew someone was going to rip off their face!
I'm impressed she had enough time to put a new face on when she was just recovering in the hospital a few minutes ago. If I learned anything from Mrs. Doubtfire, it's that a montage like that usually takes several hours.
Now we see her actual face. Ummm...is this the dangerous smile on the most perfect face? Because I don't think that's accurate.
Oof that's pretty rough. It looks like Edward Scissorhands is her doctor. This is where it takes a not-so-great turn as it shows the transgender character as a scalpel wielding maniac. She attacks the doctor's face.
Hmm actually he doesn't look too bad here. Maybe he is a good plastic surgeon.
Oh great now he's Two-Face. He is still reciting that damn monologue from the beginning. Or actually it looks like he is writing it down for some reason.
The ending cuts to the Hitchhiker telling us that Dr. Hamilton took an oath to heal and care but when all you care about is feeling good, there are things you are going to miss...like vengeance working out its own kind of justice.
Yup he definitely deserved it.
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so, saw the total drama revival and in conclussion
so worst to best
-Caleb like it says, hardly counts as a character and compared to Justin from Gen 1 his good looks gag wasn't used in a way thats as hilarious
-Chase , couldnt' wait to see him go. He is a jerk , sometimes its so much of a jerk its amusing so he wasn't unbereable to watch but it really bothered me that him and emma getting back together was his ending and have the feeling they were trying to frame him as a lovable idiot sometimes (sometimes, its pretty ambiguous) and he is not lovable at all
-Ripper is disgusting i hated his fart jokes , he is not under Chase because some parts where he revealed how mistreated he was by his family were kind of clever and amusing, very dark humor but kind of funny how casually he says so
-Emma may actually be my least favorite, how her character always go back to be defined by Chase was eye rolling , exasperating, i think she had potential but got boring lately, which is sad because she was actually competent
Next characters i actually like
-Nichelle was simple ,had a short subplot and went home. I still like how she was nice to the other contestants despite being vain and actually tried on her last two challenges (even getting over her breakdown)
-Axel was too unfairly voted off, i would have kicked Ripper out of the ship too, also had funny bits on the finale. She is better than G1 Eva
-I don't actually like MK as a person but i think she was used good, other seasons would have completely waste her, her whole ploy was good drama fuel, i kind of like overall that the characters are less high school stereotypes and more parodies of people you would actually see on a reality show
-Same with Millie, she was (kind of the point) not quite a good person or a good friend to Priya but it made sense and was used pretty good. I would have wished her elimination and the finale were separated episodes so her apology was more efective on Priya
-Wayne and Raj were kind of adorable, sure a parody of dumb teenagers , but this guys are good kids.
-Zee was nice, too dumb for his own sake but nice
-Scary girl , i actually don't mind her being eliminated too soon, she not only deserved that but she was a clear comic relief and was retired gloriously so her jokes won't get all. She was funny and did what her character was meant to do
-Damien was kind of a nice subversion, i asumed he would trow away the challenges to get eliminated and be as useless as Dave G3 but susprisingly got out of his way to not being a load and saved his team once. Also his whole thing about not knowing what the show was about was funny.
-Bowie would be in best contestants but i feel that there was some of a lack after the first episodes and didn't came back until later , still pretty smart, like his ambition and calculating nature. Makes a really good villain that is actually likeable
-Priya deserved the win, i wish there was some come around on her parents´s abuse but maybe that will be on season 2. She is everything people think Courtney was, she is actually good both on the competition and a good person, not to say the most sympathetic so the win is satisfying
-Julia was a nice surprise. I normally hate cartoonishly evil mean girls (hey, Heather evolved!) but she actually compensanted by being one hell of a good competitor, you have to respect this girl. Also from a narrative point, her overconfidence was both her biggest strenght and herbiggest weakness, thats the best narrative out there...too good for total drama honestly.
#total drama 2023#maybe its because the standard was too low#but other than the repulsive two episodes this was pretty good
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Hi. Now that this Jennie song situation with The Weeknd happened. I’m thinking Tae only agreed to do this media play with Jennie last year because her company probably convinced him and hybe that she was going to be super popular because of the show. They might have thought it was going to be another hit like Euphoria. Since BTS and Tae were trying to gain more attention from the west they probably saw some sort of positive impact to be associated with a “great actress” like her lol
But because that show ended up being a complete disaster, Jennie and her team are trying hard to cover it up with a fake relationship. That’s not working either because this time even her own fans were shaming her for media play
I can tell now that they have decided to go with the regular route where they use the shows negative attention to promote The Weeknd and Jennie. Sort of like the marketing strategy that the Kardashians use where they rage bait and use the negative publicity for promotion of another project. Or as they say “any publicity is good publicity” especially in Hollywood……
I’m seeing Tae not participating at all this time around. Last time you would see him wear similar items as the leaked pictures but this time he was completely out of it. I have a feeling this media play is done. I don’t think they can do anything anymore because the way The Weeknd spoke about Jennie in the song is so disrespectful and IF Tae was truly her boyfriend he would not let that happen and be quite. That’s so crazy.
Jennie seems like a complete airhead, she personally agreed to participate in a show that promotes r*pe and violent behavior against women. I get such a bad vibe from her now. I hope hybe stops this and Tae stays away as far as possible from Jennie and YG. I wish Tae the best in his future projects and hopefully stupid hybe understands that Tae doesn’t need that type of media play <33333 k thank you for reading all of that. Bye.
Hi anon!
Well, I do think Jennie did it because of The Idol series, but to Tae it would make little difference. Jennie was already super popular without The Idol. The spotlight has also mostly been on Jennie during all this. What I suspect (but ofcourse do not know for sure) is that YG saw the potential after the accidental TAe follow. Maybe the Gurumi thing had to do with them as well, maybe someone else also saw the potential... because that too had Jennie as main character. I think YG then contacted Hybe to ask for Tae's cooperation, Hybe saw the potential as well, and Tae also had his reasons for agreeing. What we've seen from Tae's part is way less than from Jennie's side though, so I suspect he agreed to only a few things.
With knowing Tae wouldn't participate for an extended time they came up with a new stunt (assuming Jennie is in on the Abel stuff, still not sure though). And that's what we're having now. But, it's slightly on the late side to work as promo for The Idol... unless they're trying for a season two.. but 🥴.
But it's also possible Tae pulled out because he/they didn't like the way things were going. And... it's even possible we haven't seen the last of Taennie yet (but at this point... not reeeallly expecting much.. maybe around Tae's album).
I don't think Jennie is an airhead. I think she has high ambitions and tries to do things that will make her accomplish those ambitions. It's ultimately her choices to make. I think her being Jennie gives her more hate because of The Idol than others. Does Lilly Rose Depp get the same amount of hate for instance (I honestly don't know)? I do absolutely hope we've seen the last of Taennie, but I cannot yet be sure.
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1x02 // Season 2
requested by anonymous
#prodigal son#prodigal son fox#prodigalsonedit#mine#parallels#gif requests#prodigal son 1x02#prodigal son season 2#malcolm bright#ainsley whitly#martin whitly#gil arroyo#dani powell#jt tarmel#simon hoxley#renew prodigal son#renew prodigal son fox#notice how ainsley nods and smiles a little in the last gif#didn't she say last season that ambition was the best thing about her?#martin will manipulate that
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Spring Anime 2021: Embarrassment of Riches
So this current anime season absolutely stinks, which just makes the last one look even more impressive. Well, maybe not all of it...
Zombieland Saga Revenge
First off, you don't need to tell me that the following is a severe outlier opinion. We good? Ok. ZLSR is, in a word, subpar. I liked S1 back in the day, but it was already in the process of getting lazy towards the end. S2 continues this trend and is basically just another idol show. And as someone who actually does watch other idol shows I have to say that it's not a particularly good one of those either. The zombie gimmick has mostly stopped mattering and we're just doing what every idol show does, only with the odd occasional sight gag. The alleged subversive qualities mostly amount to a flashback for Yuugiri, which is admittedly the best part of the show but feels like it barely has anything to do with anything. Apart from that, it's a bunch of generic idol plots, rehashed character beats, shoddy attempts at twists (while not connecting to any setups from S1), and the obligatory "idols give us hope" ending, which is terribly hackneyed and flat out bad. Tae gets further memed into the ground, because of course she does. And there's stuff that was simply never good to begin with, like Kotarou and his comedy schtick, which gets truly insufferable now that there's no qualities to distract from it. It really makes me think that S1 wasn't even all that good to begin with and seems like an attempt to turn this surprise success into an easy money longrunner with no edge and no ambitions. "The idol show for people who don't watch idol shows" indeed, but not the way you mean it. 4/10
Bakuten
But not to dwell on the failures, with the second show we're already above the cut — barely. This one got my attention with its really impressive performance scenes early on and it totally sticks to that, which is even more impressive. But besides that? Well, this is by far the most predictable show in a season where I watched an unambitious Kiraralike and put ZLS on blast for having no ideas. The characters are a mixed bag, some are cool (Shida, Asawo), some are very annoying (Mashiro), but those are the supports. The main cast is extremely one-dimensional, which is fine until they try to heap a ton of pathos on their lead, which doesn't go well. But I guess execution matters, and Bakuten is slick enough to get by. Writing this down in stark daylight I feel like I overrated this show somewhat (I actually put it over the next one originally, which definitely doesn't hold up when thinking about it), but I was indeed mostly entertained. 6/10
Yakunara Mug Cup mo
Yeah. Of course Mug Cup definitely doesn't invent or subvert anything either, but it's a pretty good Kiraralike that's always entertaining to watch. Explaining the qualities of such a nothing genre is as difficult as ever, but it mostly comes down to me liking the characters and it having nothing to annoy me. It's shorter than normal, which is a plus for slim shows like this. And yeah, you can make an excessive amount of dick jokes with the clay fondling. That helps too. Looks are just fine, pleasant but nothing out of the ordinary. Comfy low-effort anime. 6/10
Vivy: Fluorite Eye's Song
This one is decent, but sadly still a major letdown. Because the first few episodes of Vivy were excellent and kicked ass, but then it became increasingly clear that the writing can't cash the checks the ideas wrote while the action starts running into severely diminishing returns. Vivy just keeps slowly getting worse and worse as it goes on, not by a huge amount each episode but by the end there's a pretty sizeable gulf between potential and result. Going into detail would probably be a little much for this venue because there's a lot, but from the top level view the issue is that while Vivy has good fundamental ideas and steals at the right places, it just isn't a smart show — it's schlock, and by the end, poorly thought out schlock that tries to smooth out every problem with liberal application of the big feels hammer and le epic twist at that. Yeah, couldn't tell that the Re:Zero dude was aboard here, for sure. That said, it still works pretty well as entertaining schlock that is not to be taken too seriously, and the characters are generally just very fun to watch even when they're doing stupid things. Still, I can't in good conscience rate this higher than Beatless, a show that looks like butt but properly executes on its ideas. 6/10
Super Cub
So this is 100% a Honda commercial, and I got really mad a Yuru Camp last season for being a blatant shill. Yet I'm feeling this, what gives? I think the main difference is that Super Cub is specifically a commercial for one product (and a very iconic product at that), while Yuru Camp is so all over the place that it ends up mostly a commercial for consumerism in general. And when Super Cub goes too hard on the product (which it does), it's at least pretty entertaining. That's something about Super Cub in general: It goes hard. Your regular Kiraralike this is not, because it's uncommonly slow, focused and moody - yes, it almost measures up to Yuru Camp at its best and demolishes it at its worst. Also, it's just extremely amusing to see sadblob Koguma grow a huge grizzly biker beard and become a badass outlaw dad to her goofy wife and cute daughter, all thanks to the power of afforable personal transportation. Needless to say, that can get unintentionally silly, but Super Cub has so much charm that it doesn't matter — it's great when it's good and still funny when it's not. 7/10
Shadows House
Shadows House turned up with a lot of potential, and I have to say it at least delivered on most of it. It has some problems; notably I'm not a fan of how the entire middle turned out to be a tournament arc of sorts that seems curiously inspired by Resident Evil memes, crest-shaped intentations and boulder punching included. I also think that this is a show that would be perfectly fine without explaining much, but I guess it is a shounen manga after all so we got dumped on eventually anyway. At least that came late - close relative Promised Neverland didn't show that much restraint. Shadows House is generally well written though, with great characters, interesting interactions and a great hook. But what really makes it memorable is that it's exceptionally good at the cute/creepy contrast, something that is often tried but rarely works as well as here, with great character designs and very appropriate production. I hope this gets a sequel, because it seems like it's just getting started. 7/10
SSSS.Dynazenon
Coming in with a fondness for Gridman, Dynazenon didn't have to do much to convince me. The surprise though is that it's not a rehash even if it's basically the same show, a character drama where occasionally huge and goofy fights break out. Dynazenon is Gridman done better, and the interesting part is how it accomplishes this - mainly by being far more conventional. I do appreciate that Gridman went for something weird and almost experimental, but that only really paid off towards the end while most of the show was a distraction/holding pattern. It just didn't feel like there was enough material for a full series there, more like a movie maybe, if even that. Dynazenon fixes this by just being a TV show, with an actual cast of characters that each have their own arc. And by spreading the material this way, Dynazenon ends up having a lot more nuance than its intensely focused predecessor, while having the same themes and not actually being any deeper. In a way, Gridman ends up looking like the spinoff in retrospect, while Dynazenon is the full package. 8/10
Thunderbolt Fantasy S3
So how good was this season? So good that Thunderbolt Fantasy doesn't end up at the top, that's how. And all the elements that made Tbolt such a sure thing are still there, big hammy puppets doing stunts and scheming never gets old. However, I do have to note that at this point, the writing appears to have gotten too comfortable. I don't expect it to ever top the amazing S1 ending, but at this point it's like Tbolt has stopped trying to deliver on endings at all and seems in the process of retooling itself into a longrunner instead. Barely anything gets resolved in S3 (the climax is that the climax of S2 is resolved again, for good this time... maybe), and everything else is just setting up plotpoints for the next season. Tbolt is truly lucky that it doesn't actually need to resolve anything to be a great time, but at this point I have to say that I'd appreciate it if they wrapped it up with S4. 8/10
Nomad: Megalobox 2
Speaking of sequels to shows I liked, Nomad doesn't so much improve upon its predecessor but steamrolls right over it. This is a tall order, since Megalobox was surprisingly good for a sports shounen and had a real nice, heartwarming ending that Nomad instantly negates for purposes of drama and everyone being extremely miserable. That sounds like a pretty terrible idea - and it would be, if Nomad wasn't as excellent as it is. To call it not the same show would be an understatement, because it's a true sequel, not just the same characters doing their thing some more, or new characters doing the same thing as the old ones did. Indeed my biggest problem with Megalobox was that it still closely adhered to its genre template and was very predictable; Nomad fixes this issue thoroughly. Nomad is about questioning what being a hotblooded shounen protagonist eventually leads you to, and how to fix everything you screwed up by being one. You could call it a deconstruction, but that term has been so abused for cynical, edgy "thing you like actually sucks" takes that I feel like it doesn't really fit here. Nomad isn't cynical at all, it's just a character drama about some boxers past their prime, and it being a sequel to a show that is indeed rather formulaic just enhances the experience. My biggest issue with it was that I really like what they did with Joe in this story, so the big focus on Mac's backstory felt like a distraction for a long time. But in the end that turned out to be absolutely necessary to make the ending work. The ending's just great, by the way, and I shall say not more about it. 9/10
Odd Taxi
Yeah boy, here's the show that has apparently become somewhat of a "greatest show you didn't watch" meme, which I can feel smug about because I don't need YouTubers to tell me what's good and followed this from day one. Anyway, Odd Taxi is indeed great, the greatest show in a few years even. What starts out as seemingly a relaxed hangout show in the vein of Midnight Diners quickly turns into a psychological murder mystery while never losing its quirky humor. The character writing is outstanding, with even small bit players being on a level that the average anime wishes it could have for leads. And the rollout of the mystery is exemplary, with answers given and new questions raised every episode with a satisfying and logical payoff in the end. This is also the rare anime that has rock solid production from the first to the last second; it's never really flashy but excellently done and highly consistent nonetheless. And the music just owns. I have a few complaints, mainly that there's a few logical weaknesses in the story (which wouldn't even register in a lesser show, but sticks out here since the rest is so immaculately constructed) and that the ending overextends on the emotions when the rest of the show is so reserved and dry in comparison. But those are only the reasons why I didn't give it perfect marks, and I almost did that anyway. 9/10
#Zombieland Saga#bakuten#yakunara mug cup mo#vivy: fluorite eye's song#super cub#shadows house#ssss.dynazenon#thunderbolt fantasy#nomad megalo box#odd taxi#anime#review#spring2021
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your analysis of selim? i think he's hated way more than he deserves. hating him for valid reasons is fine but telling that he's gonna be such a bad sultan is really stupid [and especially because only now do they bring out history & say selim was bad which is historically inaccurate as well]. out of all of suleyman's sons, it was only mustafa who was loved by all & talented [show only cuz apparently mehmet was also extremely talented & selim wasn't a bad sultan] enough for the throne. bayezid was extremely hotheaded and you can't tell me that a prince who can't control his emotions, especially in front of state officials, will be a good sultan. everyone tells selim was extremely selfish & the instigator of all their fights, when they were younger & older. siblings are always like that?? mustafa obviously wasn't like that because he was way older than mehmet, mihrimah, selim, bayezid & cihangir to get into stupid fights w/ them. mehmet & mihrimah had frequent & annoying arguments because they were closer in age. selim & bayezid had frequent fights because they were closer in age. this is a thing with many siblings; the elder provoking the younger & the younger disrespecting the elder. why do people point out their sibling fights as evidence for selim's personality? i feel sorry for bayezid as a kid but i feel less remorse for him as he's older. i don't say he deserves execution, especially at the hands of his own father, but he did rebel against his father's order & then proceeded to flee to another empire; like, the punishment for that is execution, what did he expect after rebelling? i feel extremely sorry for all his sons though, they didn't deserve this fate when they were just victims of their father's rebellion. also, unpopular opinion but bayezid is lowkey overrated pls don't cancel me i love him but he's annoying at times like all characters & no one really acknowledges it back to selim, he was honestly very underrated. he was really slandered in the series and he didn't have any real support w/ him until nurbanu & sokollu. although hurrem did vouch for him to go to manisa, it was literally only because he was 'peaceful' [we can read that as untalented as well] and no harm would reach him because he wasn't a threat [i actually really liked this plan of hurrem's, tough & clever; only if she was actually supported in this]. even mihrimah, till the end, is quite unfair to him. he had a problem w/ alcohol & people telling him to just stop? like, it doesn't work that way? people have to suffer so much in order to stop their addictions & they're actually restricted from their addictions; selim was a prince, no one around him could restrict him [his parents could but they weren't w/ him in his provinces]. he did become politically active w/ nurbanu's growing ambitions & he took smarter, more cunning & dirtier measures than bayezid to win the throne. the battle for the throne was bloody; resorting to honour like mustafa did was obviously not the best decision & people insult selim for being cunning enough [or being influenced by cunning people] to win the throne. let's also keep in mind that selim didn't even have much of an interest for the throne until manisa & nurbanu. i also like his relationship w/ nurbanu. it paralleled suleyman & hurrem's w/ the concubine arcs but selim did end up being monogamous to her in the show. their chemistry was fantastic [props to engin & merve for their acting] and although i don't really enjoy the 'a woman makes a man strong & influences him in everything; good or evil' kind of take, i did enjoy their relationship [he also sometimes looked at her like she was this ethereal type miracle, appropriately so w/ her courage]. i like what the show did w/ bayezid's execution a lot, the whole scene was such a wonderful cinematic experience; the music, bayezid's agonizing screams, his sons falling one by one, selim crying because he didn't want it to end up this way, bayezid falling & his screams ceasing, selim's heartbroken face because he was always a soft person & he always loved bayezid;
ahh, what a scene, so much love for it. anyway, that's just my opinion; i think he's hated way more than he deserves, especially in comparison to other characters & he's actually one of my most favourite characters from s4 [but i honestly love all characters w/ their good & bad, mc has many complex characters & i live for it]. what do you think about selim? sorry if you got annoyed at the long ask, i can get really heated when talking about selim [especially in reference to his historical figure], hope you don't mind if❤ [if it is annoying i'll stop it]
(okay, I'll talk strictly about the show, since I don't feel like delving deep into historical waters. There is still stuff we don't know for sure and I do want to keep the line between show and history in my head, except for the similar themes.)
While he isn't particularly my favorite character, I appreciate MC Selim and he is a very interesting subject when it comes to analyzing him. I'm actually amazed with what the show did with him in the span of a season (and something, counting some S02B and S03B moments) - he was one of the most fleshed out characters in S04 and we could get a clear picture as to why he does what he does.
Some people consider his debut to be an insult, for it immediately showed some of his weaknesses, putting him in a bad light right out of the gate. But all I can see in this debut is a showcase of his predicament of the prince no one sees as a capable heir of the throne. It’s as if he sleeps with women and drinks as a coping mechanism he’s delved into, with Mihrimah having to do effort to snap him out of it. The Selim we see in the beginning of S04 is a hopeless person. He doesn’t have dreams and ambitions, it’s as if he’s a already a lost cause and he has no one to truly support him. Even Hürrem wanted to send him to Manisa not because she deemed him as worthy, but to use him as a shield in order to deceive her enemies and protect the actual favorite. That may seem like a clever plan, but in actuality, it failed spectacularly - not only did her enemies not get confused for a second and didn’t attack Selim at all, but she forgot to tell Bayezid why she did it and made Selim confused to the point of demotivation, because none of his brothers were truly happy with this decision and they were all opposing it, directly and indirectly. And while he may not show it that much, because of his more composed and pragmatic nature, Selim is sensitive to the opinions of his brothers and the people around him and their prevailing disapproval may be a part of why he became so different than the rest. It’s like no one wanted to get to know him.
Nurbanu’s entrance in Selim’s life is very cathartic in this aspect, for she actually worked with him and gave him the needed motivation and ambition to fight, awaking sides of him that were dormant for a long time. And yes, I do think that Selim’s pragmatism is something he always had, if the whole arrow incident in S03B where he sabotaged Bayezid’s arrow, which caused him to lose is any indication.
{I don’t think that the quarrels Selim and Bayezid had when they were little are so much indicators of Selim’s personality as they are foreshadowing of their future conflict. Right, these quarrels are normal for siblings and Mehmet and Mihrimah also fought like that (heck, even little Mehmet and Mustafa had a fight once in S01 and that fight was used as the conflict of the remainder of that one episode), but they weren’t as frequent as the ones of Selim and Bayezid. I don’t know, it’s just the atmosphere of these scenes was different and hinted at something more. It could be because we know the historical events and we could see every tiniest bit of early sibling rivalry between them as build-up, but still, I always felt there just was something else. Like the whole arrow incident I mentioned, a presumably harmless little situation gains a whole other meaning later on. It sets up neatly Süleiman’s opinions of both of them (his reaction to apparent disobedience and the making of a scene by someone he doesn’t expect to, by which I mean Bayezid), Hürrem’s retroactive ignorance of a possible bigger enmity and the roots of the whole conflict. It’s not Selim deciding to sabotage Bayezid’s performance as a last resort, maybe knowing that he surely won’t do better than his brother (doing a pretty typical ,,prank’’ for a little, naughty kid) that is exemplary of his cunning later, it’s his validation and him getting away with it that eventually becomes it, just like how he ends up getting away with stuff in the next season. Selim definetly isn’t the instigator of all the fights, especially because Bayezid, thanks to his more impulsive nature, is much more likely to start a fight in the first place and contrasts to Selim’s overall better composure. Provokations among them were mutual and both were consistently throwing darts at each other, one after another. Their conflict is a very nuanced issue: while people try to play right and wrong, both sides were at fault one way or another. The conflict between them is mostly caused by insensitivity, favoritism and ignorance and the desperation of both to try to prove themselves to their parents and win their support, at the end of the day. Why did they always calm down in front of their mother? Not only because of their joint respect for her, but also because of these same attempts to earn her support. Even Bayezid, who obviously had to be sure of her support, wasn’t completely certain of it after Hurrem turned it on Selim for a while. Selim, on the other hand, obviously never felt her support, it’s like something was missing right from the start. Combine that with their completely opposing personalities and the whole system encouraging competition for the throne and there you have the inevitable ultimate conclusion. That’s why I also love the set-up, the pay-off and the aftermath of Bayezid’s execution. It may be historically inaccurate that Selim, not Süleiman, executed Bayezid, but when you think about it, it was the most logical thing that could’ve happened, ending their conflict with a heart-wrenching bow. I love the scene of the execution itself, too - the action, the dialogue, the direction, the character moments, the themes... I don’t know whether Selim loved Bayezid by that point, per say, after all they went through, but it was clear that he knew that he had to do it, that it couldn’t have ended any other way, but he was broken over it. He was aware that it was, ultimately, a sin, which would continue haunting him. He couldn’t catch a break afterwards, he couldn’t stop. All was solved, but at what cost?}
I love his dynamic with Nurbanu - they balanced each other off so well, their chemistry was amazing, such a power couple. Nurbanu’s biggest contribution is hiding some of his flaws and mobilizing him to fight. Her cold pragmatism ,,grounds’’ Selim’s softer side, she’s there to always remind him of the stakes of the game and to shut off the last ounces of his vulnerabilities after Hurrem died. He sure is influenced by her, but that doesn’t mean that he blindly takes her word for everything - he is always ready to call her out when necessary and assure her that there are lines she shouldn’t cross. Despite of her pleas, he kept having affairs with other women (that is honestly a trend with all the men of the show, but still..), he got mad at her after what happened to Huricihan and most notably, after he found out that she possibly stole his mother’s ring. A part of why their dynamic works so well is precisely this strenght of character and their awesome compatibility.
I have heard affirmations that Selim doesn’t care about Mustafa, which... simply isn’t true? While they have the least scenes together and Selim is the one that considers him most as a rival and his most dangerous competitor for the throne (which would explain his startled reaction after Musti saved him from the janissary), it’s precisely Mustafa’s death that is the turning point of his character arc. He was upping his game slowly but surely and before then, but he didn’t do much in terms of attacks. Neither Selim, nor Nurbanu once considered attacking Mustafa, the supposed biggest danger to them, which I find respectable and admirable. The bomb with the death drops and then every hope about a fair game is abandoned. Selim gets the realization that being honorable won’t work. The only way to win is bend the system and play dirty. There’s no time for sitting around or looking nice. And even though Nurbanu realized this, too, as well as Selim, Nurbanu was always more inclined to act this way than him and now the righteousness of her methods were only getting confirmed. It was Selim that had to reach this end. Discovering that he is no longer allowed to show any kind of weakness. Every chance that appears on the horizon, he’ll take it. That brings him to his first true dirty plan - the trap he set through the fake Mustafa rebellion.
Speaking of which, the worst deed of Selim’s for me is connected to that rebellion. I know I may be very biased in this regard, since it affects my personal favorite character and isn’t as recalled as others, but I hated when, in Selim and Sokollu’s attempts to wash their hands from the pulled off stunt, Sokollu, his man, told SS that Mahidevran was giving money to the rebellion. Okay, it’s not said outright whether is this directly tied to Selim or it was something Sokollu himself came up with out of desperation or something (though it was hinted that both thought something through in a scene where both were saying that they should come clean out of this all somehow) and it’s not outrightly confirmed whether Mahidevran gave the money or not (I highly doubt she did it; not only because it would destroy her whole S04 arc and she would become, well... MCK Gulbahar, but also because after the messenger told her of her alleged blame in E129, her eyes widened in surprise.), but all it does is be the only explicit case where Selim indeed looks bad, for his proposal to return Mahidevran in the castle doesn’t seem to stem from genuine guilt and remorse, but rather a late and empty attempt to placate his own conscience. Oh, not to mention (for the upteenth time, sorry in advance) how the scene back in E58 where Hurrem tells Mahidevran that her kids will be there taking care for her when she’s alone, which was treated as some big foreshadowing in the show, as well, by both the voice of the S02B narrative and the fandom alike, loses its value even more with that framing, because Selim and Sokollu themselves brought her to this state in the first place!!! Despite it making sense anyway, it’s still such a disservice to Selim as a person both inside and outside of the writing.
One aspect of Selim’s pragmatism I find most interesting is his ability to turn his enemies into allies, knowing exactly how to amass them and get them on his side, be it through giving them more money and promising them the world. These alliances are all opportunistic in nature and may not be as loyal as those of Mustafa’s or of Mustafa’s people (like Atmaca) with Bayezid, but I think Selim knows this and wants to keep them steady enough for the common goal. As for what kind of a padisah he’ll be.... I believe that state matters would be the least of his concerns, since he was shown to not care so much about them, compared to his other brothers (but then again, the show itself doesn’t put the political capability of the princes at center stage - their personal virtues are always the determining factor of what makes a good padisah and what doesn’t, more of a psychological outlook, if you will.) and he perhaps won’t plan as many campaigns or conquer as many territories, maybe he won’t be that successful at all, but his cunning would bring him advantage in front of his people, he will be at least a bit careful of who he’s choosing and won’t simply lose it in front of everyone, compared to Bayezid’s impulsive temper.
[I love Bayezid as a character, but the shadier aspects of his personality sure tend to be overlooked. While his anger is directed mainly at Selim and Suleiman, it often reaches such extremes to the point it becomes destructive and affects everyone. He doesn’t deserve his execution at all and most of his actions stem from a very sympathetic place, given how SS never truly gave him a chance and he went on the inevitable path, because he, just like Selim, realized that honor won’t work in this war, but took the opposite approach from Mustafa, direct rebellion. And predictably, both approaches didn’t work since Bayezid, too, was taken advantage of. While he didn’t get justice, the lead-up to his execution is a character arc of his and there are many reasons and events linking it all together and showing us why it took place the way it did.]
Selim’s dynamic with Suleiman is proof of how you can be presumably favored, but you have to work to get there. The reasons Suleiman favored him are very telling and sad and we see that he also doesn’t favor him because of any and all capabilities he may have, but because of his self-imposed distorted view of loyalty Selim has to do a lot to preserve, actually. He constantly has to make it so it looks like he’s loyal and obedient and doesn’t work behind his back. He doesn’t get the fullest appreciation from his father, as well, and I certainly feel it impacts him, in a way.
I agree that Mihrimah could be unfair to Selim. They weren’t that close and she had this open preference to Bayezid. Most annoyingly is when, in their confrontation in E139, which highlights even more their parallel sins, Mihrimah doesn’t seem to face that sin of hers when Selim calls her out on it. She has a reason to deeply resent him after what he did to Bayezid, but was offended when he reminded her of the crime she also committed. More solidarity on that front would be a bit better, at least a hint of like recognizing like even for a moment. (but maybe then her scene with Mahidevran later wouldn’t be as impactful? Huh.)
And lastly, about his drinking - Nurbanu tried to restrict him, but it’s true that such habits aren’t easy to give up on, especially knowing how his drinking is a coping mechanism as much as it is something he enjoys. He knows he shouldn’t do it, he’s told he shouldn’t do it, but he can’t help it. He doesn’t drink when he’s planning or scheming, but he keeps on doing it more and more with every problematic action of his. It’s an attempt to supress his otherwise strong conscience to the max, seeing how after his brother’s execution he apparently always took a drink when he was alone at night, fighting an inner conflict with himself. I don’t think there was a way he could stop doing it permanently in the show. It was a part of who he was, unfortunately or not.
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Days We Spend Under the Sun (Ten - End)
Written for @helsa-summer-event ❤
Fandom: Frozen
Genre: Romance, Family, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, Whump
Rating: T
Summary: Summer is not her favourite season, but a certain Admiral from the neighbouring kingdom is going to change that.
Brace yourself for a long arse chapter, and maybe a little cheesy (idk). This is the last chapter of this AU (feeling emotional already, lmao). Sorry it took a while, I've been dealing with several things, but here I am. I won't write too much notes, as I've prepared another post just for that. Thanks for reading and supporting this AU. Enjoy!
Prompt 7: Free
—
Chapter Ten
"I don't know if I can do this."
Hans sighed as he put down the small box on the wooden table, pushing it closer to the queen's direction.
From her seat behind the desk, Anna gave him a look. She raised an eyebrow in confusion.
"Would you care to elaborate?"
The former prince pinched the bridge of his nose, before turning to face the queen.
"I don't think she'll say yes." He replied, his hands clasped behind his back as he stood up straight. "We haven't been courting for that long, and the past we shared—"
"Yes, yes, I'm aware." Anna calmly interjected. Her hands were in her lap, eyes darting from the box towards him. "But you seemed so eager and determined a week ago, what changes?"
His jaw clenched, for the vivid memory of his dream last night came crashing at him, flooding his senses. It had been two months since the last time the nightmare occurred, about him, standing in the pool of blood on the slowly melting fjord, gazing at a pair of dull blue eyes that stared back at him. Elsa was dead, and he would become king like he wanted. The ice beneath him thawed, and he fell into the cold water. That was when he woke up, gasping for air, only to see Elsa, alive and murmuring sweet nothings to his ear. Realising that it was all just a dream, he pulled Elsa into his embrace, muttering how sorry he was.
It was a vision of what could've been, had he succeeded in ending the Eternal Winter by going for the source of magic. Even after years of punishment and redemption, the guilt was still there, eating him alive. Had it not been for Elsa's comfort, Hans wouldn't have known how to keep going.
"Hans?"
"I was a monster." He gulped. "Maybe I still am, knowing that some people still don't trust me. And for that, I know I'm not worthy of your sister's love, or anyone else's."
"You were." Anna grabbed the small box and a roll of parchment, then getting up from her chair. "Hans, you'd wronged me. I won't sugarcoat it. You left me to die in that room, you deceived me, and you were out to kill my sister. I admit, I took great pleasure when I punched you in the face."
The whole time, Hans didn't even flinch. He knew what he had done wrong, he was aware of that, and he would forever regret it.
"So I've noticed, even after all those dark months, some people still refused to look you in the eye, not wanting to acknowledge you as a person." She walked over and stopped before the tall redhead. "I did that too when you first came here after years. Elsa was the one insisting to lock you up, but I didn't see the point. There was something different about you."
When a roll of parchment was offered to him, Hans frowned. "Why are you doing this, Anna?"
"As much as I'm doing this for Elsa, I also believe you're not the same person who came to Arendelle with an ambition to become king." Anna spoke, her gaze showed kindness. "I can see that now, and it's not only because you won us war.
"That Prince Hans of The Southern Isles, who had a miserable childhood, dying to prove himself to his father and twelve older brothers, who attempted to marry into the throne to become king and was willing to commit a murder to fulfil such an ambition, was a failure. He wasn't born evil, yet he had failed to stop himself from being blinded by ambitions, and his tragic past doesn't excuse what he did." She paused, thrusting the roll onto his grasp. "But the man standing before me right now is not him. I trust you understand what I mean, Vice Admiral." Anna smiled as she mentioned his new title.
There was a beat, before Hans asked in disbelief, "They approved?" He unrolled it and began to read its content, green eyes were scanning the words over and over again.
"It was a long discussion with Captain Larsson, but apparently, some people already accept you as one of us, even Admiral Goran." She was relieved and worried at the same time. She knew Hans doubted himself, at least she had heard Elsa mentioned it to her a couple of times, but she also knew that the two of them—Elsa and Hans were madly in love with each other. All they needed was a little push.
"Hans," Anna called, and immediately, his attention was on her.
"Thank you so much! I don't know what to say, this is," Hans beamed, "does Elsa know?"
"Not yet." The strawberry blonde smiled. "I figured you'll be the one telling her, as planned."
Realisation began to sink in and he pressed his lips in a tight line. "Right."
"You're doubting yourself, aren't you?" The queen studied him closely. "I see how you look at my sister, and how she looks back at you. I know Elsa, and I've never seen her being this happy—different kind of happy. You might not notice it, but she is glowing whenever she is with you. She cares about you, and I know you care about her, a lot, I may add."
"Do you really think so?"
Anna rolled her eyes in a playful manner. "I know so!" She pressed the small box gently on his hand, and gave him a little push. "Now go and propose to my sister. You already have my blessing, and that means you have one less thing to worry about."
The gesture from his, hopefully, future sister in law brought a smile on his face. Hans glanced at her, feeling grateful for her kindness. He firmly held the box in his right hand. The queen was no longer that naive little princess, who would marry a man she just met because she was desperate for love. She had grown into a compassionate and caring Queen of Arendelle, whose prosperous reign was equal to her predecessor, her sister. Whether it was motherhood or her kind nature, he didn't know.
"Thank you, Anna." Hans didn't know if hugging the queen was the best move, so he went to shake her hand. But Anna, sensing his hesitation, pulled him in a quick hug.
"No, thank Elsa." She said, holding him by his shoulders. "I might be the one who opened the door, but she was the one who let you in."
The former prince nodded. The sisters' kindness was obviously contagious, and it was a part of several reasons why he wanted to change for the better.
"But," Anna said, her tone turned dramatically, "if you hurt my sister, I won't hesitate to punch you in the face, again, and I'll make sure that your nose wouldn't be the only thing that's broken."
Hans gulped. Of course he knew better than causing the Snow Queen any pain. He nodded.
"Now, go!" Anna smiled, pushing him towards the door. "You have a date to attend. Also, it's a perfect place for a date in this castle, so might as well, not spoil it."
"Okay, okay."
"Oh, and Hans?" Just when he was about to close the door, she added, "welcome to the family."
—
Hans couldn't stop smiling. A sudden surge of confidence boosted through him, as he made his way towards Elsa's room. With a ring in his pocket, a bouquet of her favourite flowers and a new dress for her in his grasp, he began to think of how their day would proceed. If Anna was right, and Elsa said yes, Hans would be the luckiest man alive, he knew that for sure. Standing before the wooden door, he composed himself. As he turned the bronze handle, he heard voices talking.
"Oh, I don't know what he is planning, but I heard him talking to Anna about dresses and flowers." It was Olaf. "I hope he is not planning something bad."
Hans was frozen on the spot. Did the snowman think that he had a bad intention towards Elsa? He knew Olaf was probably not making any sense, but it was enough to make him think of the worst.
Elsa chuckled. "Olaf, why would he plan something bad with dresses and flowers? It sounds like something romantic, but I can be wrong."
It was a relief, but gone was the confidence he brought along as the next question came up.
"You said he had a nightmare, Elsa, what was that about?"
There was a silence, thick and hostile, from where he was standing. Doubts began to cloud his mind, as he wondered what she might be thinking. Not wanting to wait any longer, he pushed the door open.
Her beautiful smile was the first thing that greeted him. Still dressed in her nightgown, Elsa looked radiant, as she sat on the bed with a breakfast tray in her lap. Olaf beamed and waved at him.
"I wish they would allow me to join you for breakfast, since I'm feeling much better now." Elsa sighed when she saw him walk over. "What do you have there?"
Hans flashed her a smile, settling the neatly folded dress over the chair nearby and put the flowers in her grasp, before leaning in to kiss her lips.
"Presents." He let out, sitting on the bed next to her.
Olaf nudged her, "See? I told you!" The snowman then collected her tray, before getting back on his feet. "I think I'll leave you both to it. See you later!"
Once the bedroom door was closed, Hans put his hand on her thigh and squeezed it lightly. At the gesture, she let out a giggle, before shoving his hand off. "Hans, no!" She smiled gently, cradling the bouquet close to her chest. "Thank you." Fondly, Elsa admired the bouquet, inhaling the familiar scent. "It's lovely."
"I'm actually planning something for the both of us." He stated, tucking her loose blonde strands behind her ear.
Eagerly, her blue eyes widened with interest. "Really, what is it? Are we going to go sailing?"
Sailing was his previous plan, indeed, but since Elsa was only recovering from her fever, Hans decided that they should stay in. He didn't wish to cause her any more harm than he already did, although the rising temperature wasn't exactly his doing. Besides, if Elsa said yes to a lifetime with him, it means that they would sail forever in holy matrimony.
"You'll see," was all his reply.
—
Moments later, Elsa and Hans were standing on the balcony at the back of the castle, facing the perfect view of the open sea. Anna was right, Hans thought, it was a perfect place for a date. A table for two was set up, with cakes, a teapot, two cups, and some boxes of chocolate were served on the table. A bouquet of heathers was placed in the middle.
Elsa could recall how many times she would go there in between meetings when she was queen, just to allow herself to think. She loved the view, the blueness of the ocean, and the gentle caress of the wind, they offered her comfort. It was rather quiet, even during the day, but at least she wasn't alone this time.
Hans held her close from behind, one hand was holding the railing, and the other was around her torso. His mind wandered back to the conversation he had with Anna. He would never forget her generosity in giving him the chance to prove himself that he was capable of growth—the chance not everyone would grant him. She allowed him to stay in Arendelle, to serve in the navy, so he could be close to the love of his life, despite the dark past they shared. Then he began to think of Elsa's silence when the topic about his nightmare was brought up.
"You're quiet." Elsa stirred in his embrace and turned to face him. "What are you thinking about?"
"Things." He said, before letting out a sigh. "I'm sorry, Elsa, I shouldn't have ruined it for you. We can have some tea and chocolates."
Hans was about to move to the table, when Elsa stopped him. "You didn't ruin anything at all. I was only wondering why you were quiet." She paused, eyes were never leaving his. "Would you like to talk about what's troubling you?"
"What makes you think it's troubling me?" It was a little defensive on his part.
Elsa frowned. "Your reaction right now is what." She blinked. "Is it your nightmare?"
She wondered what made him act so defensive. The past few days, Elsa noticed how he had been acting strange, and she was under the impression that he was hiding something, but what? That couldn't have had anything to do with the recurring nightmare, could it?
"Hans?"
Ignoring her, the redhead let go of her hand, before turning around. He pulled out a box from his pocket, admiring the diamond ring inside. Oh, how he wished everything was easier for him.
"You've been hiding something." It was loud and clear in his ear. "What is it?"
"Nothing." He muttered, still with his back facing her. Putting the box back into his pocket, Hans looked back.
Thoughts were running through her head, and some of them weren't pretty. "Are you doubting us?"
"It's not that." Hans shook his head. The frown on his face deepened.
Elsa, growing frustrated as the second passed, looked away. Her cheeks were flushing as anger began to build up. "I can't believe you don't even trust me, especially with whatever it is you're hiding."
"It's not that simple, Elsa." He took a deep breath, rubbing his face in an equal frustration. "You don't understand."
"Then make me!" Elsa pressed, taking a step closer.
Her fingertips were cold, as she tried to contain her powers from exploding. She breathed heavily, the storm in her chest was raging, but there was something in his emerald eyes—remorseful and sincere—as she held his gaze. Closing her eyes, Elsa tried to calm her mind. Anger was never a solution, and one of them should hold their ground if they wanted to carry on with the conversation. Perhaps what he needed was comfort.
"Hans," The former queen called, after another minute passed with silence. She looked up, staring at him with her blue eyes, while holding one hand out. "Come here."
When Hans took her hand, Elsa immediately pulled him into an embrace. She wounded her arms around his torso, resting her cheek against his shoulder. Gently, he returned the gesture and pressed a kiss on her temple. Nothing could top the feeling of holding each other close, getting lost in the comfort.
Closing his eyes, Hans breathed in her scent. Maybe asking her wouldn't hurt, he thought, and he shouldn't be selfish if he wanted to take their relationship one step ahead. And with a determination, he let out, "Kaere."
A beat.
"Yes?"
He took a deep breath, still holding her hand. "I need to tell you something."
Taking one step back, his knee bended slightly, and Elsa tried to stifle a gasp. Is he going to propose? She thought, is this what he has been hiding from me? Her pulse quickened, anticipating what was about to come. Elsa didn't see that coming, but for some reason, she was glad.
The former queen was no fool, and she frowned when she saw him stand up straight. She put two and two together, and realised that he had been doubting his own self. She knew about his nightmare, and how remorseful he had been. To see him looking unsure brought a pang on her chest. She couldn't wait any longer.
"Marry me." Elsa blurted out.
Stunned. Her words got him frozen on the spot. Hans stood there, dumbfounded. Marry me. Those words echoed in his mind, and he had to blink to make sure that he wasn't dreaming. Did she just—
"Hans?" She whispered, taking a step closer to cradle his head. "Are you—
But before she could continue, Hans captured her lips with his. Gone was the hesitation, the doubts that had been haunting him, as he got lost in the passion. Her lips were firmly pressed against his, as if she tried to give him a proper reassurance. He held her close by the waist, as he deepened the kiss, savouring the taste of her tongue, before they pulled away.
"Is that a yes?" She asked breathlessly, smiling ear to ear, pressing her forehead against his.
"Kaere," Hans couldn't contain the joy. He let go of her waist, and held her hand. With a surge of confidence, he got down on one knee. "Allow me to do it properly."
He pulled out the small diamond ring and held it up.
"Elsa," he began, "I know I'm not worthy of your love," seeing the look of disapproval on her face, Hans gave her hand a gentle tug, "hear me out, please?"
"Okay." Her heart swelled inside her ribcage, and warmth overflowing in her body. She nodded.
"I know I'm not worthy of your love," he repeated, "forgiveness, even a second chance. What I've done in the past is unforgivable, and I'm accepting that.
"But you, Elsa, you have given me the chance to get to know you, and I'm grateful for that. Anna, Kristoff, Olaf, and you are the kindest people I know. You have shown me kindness, and for that, I'm forever grateful. I love you, min Kaere, and nothing will ever change that. I've never felt this way before, and you don't know how hard it was to deny it. Because loving you feels so right, but also wrong at the same time. Our union is frowned upon because of our past, but we've proved them wrong."
"Hans," she gasped. Her eyes were glassy with tears at his confession.
"I have nothing grand to offer, and I may be pushing my luck, but," he paused, looking at her with sincerity, "Elisabeth," he gently said, taking her by surprise at her given name. "Will you marry me?"
Her vision got blurry with tears as she stood there. It was too much for her, the love and joy that she felt was overwhelming, but in a good way.
"Yes." She nodded furiously. "God, yes!"
He slid the ring on her finger, and got up to pull her into his arms. He spun her around, burying his face in the crook of her neck. There were sparks in his chest when he heard her giggles, and realisation began to sink in. They're engaged.
"I love you." He put her down, so they were standing face to face. One hand cradled her head, with his thumb rubbing her cheek gently. "I love you so much."
Elsa smiled, giving into his touch. "And I love you too, so very much." She covered his hand with hers, as she pressed a gentle kiss on the heel of his palm. "Don't ever doubt yourself, okay? You are worthy."
Hans nodded slowly. "Forgive me."
"It's okay." Elsa nuzzled his nose. "There's nothing to forgive."
"There's also another thing." He began.
Elsa tilted her head with interest. "Yes?"
"I'm staying." Hans smiled. "This time for good."
"Hans, what?" With her mouth agape, she gazed into his emerald eyes, searching for any hint of mischief, and when she couldn't find any, she blinked. "I don't understand."
He led her to a chair nearby, and helped her sit, before seating himself next to her. Taking her hand in his, Hans pressed his lips over the knuckles.
"So, I might have asked Anna a favour just about last week. I was applying for a vacant spot in the Arendellian Navy."
It did not take her long to guess. "The Vice Admiral?"
The redhead nodded. "Yes."
"And you got it?" This time, she was smiling.
"I did."
Elsa didn't know what to say. The news was another thing she didn't expect to hear, and it seemed as if her day couldn't get any better.
"It's," the former queen paused, "wonderful! I'm so happy for you, truly."
She cupped his face and showered him with kisses, from his forehead to his temple, then his nose, and down to his lips. Wrapping her arms around his neck, Elsa settled on his lap. She nuzzled the crook of his neck as he held her close.
"I'm so glad to have you home, Hans." She murmured.
"Home?"
Elsa nodded, looking up to him, fondly. "You're here now with me. We are home."
Home. He liked the ring of it. Elsa had been his safe haven, and then she was his home. In the end, things were working out just fine, and they were both alright.
"Thank you, Elsa."
"Hmm?" She eyed the new accessory on her ring finger with a smile, before darting her attention back to him. "For what?"
Hans felt his heart swell. He pressed another kiss on her temple. "For letting me in, and giving me a second chance." And he would be forever grateful for that.
Quietly, Elsa settled back in his embrace. Her blue eyes were gazing far ahead at the open sea. Once in a while, she stole glances at the symbol of their union, and she realised that the past few days they spent under the sun were leading up to that very moment. How their story went as the time passed, she would treasure that, and despite the rocky path they had to take to get there, Elsa regretted nothing.
Suddenly the future didn't seem to be uncertain. Hans is staying, and we're getting married, Elsa told herself. That steadiness, something to hold onto, was all she needed. And forever with him, she couldn't wait to spend.
END.
#helsa#days we spend under the sun#elsa x hans#hans x elsa#iceburns#helsa fanfiction#mary's writing#helsa summer event#helsasummerevent2020#helsasummerevent
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Duke Reviews Xtra: Maleficent
Hello, I'm Andrew Leduc And Welcome To Duke Reviews Xtra Where We Continue Our Look At Disney...
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And Last Sunday On Duke Reviews, I Reviewed Walt Disney's 16th Animated Classic, Sleeping Beauty So, Today On Duke Reviews Xtra We'll Be Looking At The Remake/Retelling Of Sleeping Beauty, Maleficent...
No Synopsis Today, Let's Dive Into Maleficent...
Long Ago In A Faraway Kingdom Where There Were 2 Kingdoms One Ruled By The Ruthless King Henry And The Other Simply Called The Moors, Ruled By No One But Guarded By A Fairy Named Maleficent...
But Our Story Actually Starts One Day As The 3 Good Fairies Named Fittle (Played By Lesley Manville), Thistlewit (Played By Juno Temple), And Knotgrass (Played By Delores Umbridge) (Who Are Nothing Like Flora, Fauna And Merriweather And Are Basically Complete Idiots) Tell Maleficent About A Human Who Stole A Jewel From The Pool Of Jewels...
I Guess...
With 2 Boarder Guards Cornering The Boy, Maleficent Tells Him To Hand Over The Jewel Which He Does Reluctantly. After Tossing The Jewel Back To Where It Came, Maleficent Takes The Boy Named Stefan To The Boarder Of The Moors...
Once There, Stefan Tells Maleficent That Someday He'll Live In The King's Castle, Before Telling Her That He's An Orphan Like Her, So Despite Being Forbidden To See Each Other Again, They Form A Friendship Which Over The Years Blossoms Into Love...
But Ambition Takes Us To Places That Some Cannot Go, And It Was That Ambition To Live In The Palace That Pulled Stefan Away From Maleficent...
That And Threatening Attacks On The Moors By King Henry Didn't Help Things...
Becoming Her Kingdom's Protector, Maleficent (Now Played By Angelina Jolie) Meets With King Henry And His Army At The Boarder Of The Moors...
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(Start At 0:50)
Injured In The Fight, The King Lies On His Deathbed, Proclaiming That Anyone Who Can Avenge Him By Killing Maleficent Will Become The New King And Marry His Daughter. Overhearing This, Stefan (Played By Howling Mad Murdock) Journeys To The Moors To Find Maleficent..
Forgiving Stefan For His Folly And Ambition, They Spend The Night Together Like They Used To But When Stefan Tricks Her Into Drinking A Tainted Drink That Makes Her Fall Asleep, Stefan Attempts To Kill Her But Hesitating, Stefan Instead Decides To Burn Maleficent's Wings Off With Iron (Which Is Basically The Moors Equivalent Of Kryptonite)...
Presenting Maleficent's Wings To The King, He Decides Then That Stefan Will Be The New Ruler Of The Land As Maleficent Wakes In Agony...
I Realize That This Is Supposed To Be Pain We're Looking At But To Me It Looks More Like An Allegory For Rape...
And You All Know How I Feel About Rape And Sexual Abuse In Movies, It's Icky And Shouldn't Be Done. For More See My Duke Reviews Tv Episode On Episode 9 Of Season 1 On Mighty Morphin Power Rangers...
Creating A Staff To Help Her Walk, Maleficent Journeys To An Abandoned Castle Where She Hides In The Shadows, Broken And Alone...
A Few Days Later, Maleficent Comes Across A Farmer Who Has Captured A Raven, Taking Pity On Said Bird, She Turns It Into A Man. Introducing Himself As Diaval, He Offers To Be Her Humble Servant Which Leads Maleficent To Send Him On His First Task To Find Stefan...
Flying To The Castle, Diaval Witnesses Stefan Being Crowned King With The King's Daughter As His Queen. Informing Maleficent About This, She Becomes Enraged And Returns To The Moors With Dark Clouds Looming Across The Forest....
Building A Throne, Maleficent Becomes The New Evil Queen Of The Moors...
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A Few Years Later, The Queen Gives Birth To A Daughter Named Aurora And A Royal Christening Takes Place With Knotgrass, Thistlewit And Fittle Endowing The Princess With Magical Gifts...
But Before Thistlewit Can Give Hers, Maleficent Shows Up...
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And Yeah I've Heard People Complain About How The Fairies Didn't Give Her The True Love's Kiss Spellbreaker And How Maleficent Doing It Just Makes Her Curse More Complicated But To Those People I Ask...
Building A Wall Of Thorns Around The Moors (Don't Worry, Stefan Will Pay For It) Stefan Ends Up Shutting Himself Behind The Walls Of His Castle While His Soliders Attempt To Hunt Down Maleficent...
Burning All The Spinning Wheels And Locking The Ashes Into The Dungeon Of The Castle, Stefan Has The 3 Fairies Take Aurora Into Hiding To A Cottage In The Woods...
Even Though They Have No Sign Of Competence Or Any Signs That They Know How To Take Care Of A Baby...
In Fact, Over The Years, It's Maleficent That Raises The Kid More Than Them As They Spend Most Of Their Time Arguing And Bickering With Each Other...
Yeah, She Finds Them But Who Cares Either Way These Scenes Are Funny...
Becoming Extremely Darkened And Consumed By Paranoia And Vengence, Stefan Obsesses Over Hunting Maleficent Down By Having His Blacksmiths Create Suits Of Iron While The Queen Grows Gravely Ill And Dies...
Showing No Remorse Over His Wife's Death, Stefan Continues His Obsession With Maleficent...
Now 15, Aurora (Now Played By Elle Fanning) Finally Meets Maleficent, Believing Her To Be Her Fairy Godmother As She Remembers Being Watched By Her All Her Life...
This Leads Maleficent To Allow Aurora To Spend More Time In The Moors With Her, Forming The 2 To Develop A Mother-Daughter Like Relationship To The Point That Maleficent Attempts To Remove The Curse...
But She Is Unfortunately Unable To As No Power On Earth Can Do It But True Love's Kiss.....
The Next Day, Aurora Tells Maleficent That She Wishes To Stay In The Moors With Her Which She Happily Accepts. However, As Aurora Returns Home, She Meets Prince Phillip And It Is Love At First Sight...
With Diaval Seeing Phillip As The Key To Breaking Aurora's Curse, Maleficent Disagrees Believing There To Be No Such Thing As True Love's Kiss...
With The Fairies Revealing The Truth To Aurora When She Returns Home, She Tells Maleficent That She Knows Everything And That She Hates Her Before Furiously Returning Home To Her Father...
Despite Being Happy To See Aurora, Stefan Is Furious Because The Fairies Were Supposed To Bring Her Back The Day After Her Birthday. Telling The Guards To Lock Her In Her Room, Stefan Continues Preparing For Maleficent's Arrival...
Feeling Ashamed, Maleficent Takes A Chance On True Love's Kiss And Searches For Phillip While Her Curse Is Enacted As The Sun Sets...
Finding Phillip, Maleficent Races For The Castle But Arrives Too Late As Aurora Falls Into A Death Like Slumber When She Pricks Her Finger On A Spinning Wheel...
Sneaking Into The Castle With Diaval And Phillip, Maleficent Watches As Phillip Kisses Aurora But Sadly It Doesn't Work...
So Maleficent Looks Upon Aurora, Realizing That While She Was Lost In Her Need For Revenge, She Forgot About Love And Happiness, Till She Met Her
This Leads To Her Kissing Aurora And It Wakes Her Up...
Attempting To Flee With Both Aurora And Phillip, Maleficent Falls Into A Iron Net Trap, Set By Stefan...
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(Start At 0:16)
With Peace Made Between The 2 Lands, Maleficent Brings Down Her Wall...
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As She Passes Her Crown To Aurora, Making Her Queen Of Both Worlds, Forever Unifying Them As Phillip Looks On...
And That's Maleficent And It's Ok...
I Admit It's Not The Best Of The Disney Live Action Remakes But The Visual Effects And Angelina Jolie Is Pretty Good As Maleficent But Some Of The Acting Isn't That Great, The Fairies Are Idiots And I Don't Really Picture Elle Fanning As Aurora...
Don't Get Me Wrong, Elle Fanning Is Very Cute But Beautiful And Attractive She's Not...
The Animated Sleeping Beauty Was Very Beautiful And Attractive To The Point A Man Would Have To Be Nuts Not To Be Attracted To Her And Lips Red As The Rose Where Elle's Aurora Is.... Something...
So, Yeah She Doesn't Really Look The Part, You Know Who Does Look The Part, Brie Larson, She Looks Like She Could Definatly Play Aurora In A Sleeping Beauty Movie As She Looks Like Aurora To A T. From The Beauty To Shame To The Blonde Hair, She Is Absolutely Perfect...
If Maleficent 3 Is Ever In The Works (Which I Doubt It Ever Will) Recast Elle Fanning And Cast Her As An Older Aurora...
But Aside From That Problem I Definitely Say See It...
Tune In Tomorrow As We Look At The Sequel, Maleficent: Mistress Of Evil, Till Then, This Is Duke, Signing Off...
#maleficent#angelina jolie#Elle Fanning#sharlto copley#imelda staunton#juno temple#Disney Live Action Remakes#disney#disney +#disnerd
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