#god we love a good character-driven ep

[izloveshorses]

this is SUCH a great scene damn

#the 100 #iz watches t100 #4x07 #bellamy blake #like damn call him out !!!!!!! #god we love a good character-driven ep

[dangermousie]

I am nowhere near there (I am 5 eps in) but I rewatched the ending of TKW. Still one of my fave cdrama endings, but you know how much I love logical tragedies.

The way the lovers rush at each other, at a dead run. MMMM.

What I really love is that he sees her flip the dagger so the hilt would hit him, not the blade, but as she intended, sees it too late to stop the momentum of his sword. So he stabs her fully aware she did not intend to kill him and helpless to stop it. AAAA so good! (Side note - and clearly, if she meant to kill him, they'd have killed each other - since her hilt went to his heart.)

The way it flashes back to her doing the same thing playfully during their happy days...

God, so gooooood!

She may say it's so loss would make him a good king but let's face it - it's because she couldn't bear to live with knowing she loved a monster. His confrontation with Jing Ke was the final curtain being ripped from her delusion, wasn't it? He loved her. He was also EVIL. She fell in love with a monster. She thought she reformed him but well - I want to say he softened for her as much as he could for anyone - but he could never be a good person in general - he just hid his teeth and claws for her but they were never gone. And she's not the woman who could close her eyes forever, was she?

I love love love the aftermath, his walking out with the bloodied sword, all those subjects kneeling and he's all powerful and all alone, and all he has is the knowledge that due to his lack of trust, he killed the one person he loved, with his own hands.

The way he drops his sword, collapses on the ground and just starts SCREAMING!!!!!

And all the underlings, unmoving, unquestioning as the supreme ruler of their world has a breakdown - absolute terror and absolute loyalty and absolute obedience on display. And absolute and utter loneliness. Forever.

And the little coda, of them as three little happy children, making wishes. And his wish was to be feared not for power or for kicks but to protect those he loves. And here he is, utterly feared but having driven away, lost or killed everyone he's ever wanted to protect.

The way it transforms at his adult self looking at them...

And then even their shades disappear and he's left all alone, crying. And the drama ends.

God, I love that ending! Just as Goodbye My Princess, it's so utterly logical in its tragic inevitability. The protag is left in hell, hell he made with his own two hands, and it could never end otherwise.

I've seen people complain that (a) they wanted a happy ending (b) they felt betrayed that all the mellowing we saw early was not real but (a) it's freaking Qin Shi Huang, what kind of happy ending romance could you expect and (b) the ending was so logical to me and did not feel a betrayal that a lot of his newly found "kindness" was an act - it's very clear that he loved her but it's also clear that he was also willing to do whatever to keep her - I don't think even he himself knew what in what he portrayed was real and what was acting - he just knew she could never stay with the true him and so presented whatever he could so she'd stay. His feelings were real, his vulnerability was real, his desperation was real. I think even some of his mellowing was real - but so was the darkness and manipulativeness and desire to playact whatever as long as he got what he wanted - his whole character was "ends justify the means," wasn't it? Ultimately, he was a man she loved, but he was never going to be a man she could respect or look up to or relate, and I think he knew it, subconsciously, and put on masks, but they all failed and here we are. (The thing with her child - we saw him murder his own half brothers in ep 5! He would tolerate her child with another man for as long as he had to if it was the price for having her - and that alone shows how much he wanted her - and I think on some level he was even genuinely fond of the kid - but he was never going to let the kid stand in the way of his plans for the world or for anything, really. Hell, he ultimately didn't even let her stand in the way and he adored her and loved her as much as he was capable of loving anyone.) I think some viewers felt betrayed because they were hoping for the good, old-fashioned "good woman reforms bad man through love of her" narrative, but this drama went the realistic way of "bad man loves good woman, remains bad." (And it gave us plenty of warning, but hey, we are all romantics so I can see how you'd hope anyway.)

#cdrama #zhang bin bin #dilraba dilmurat #the king's woman

[raya-rhaenyra-ahsoka]

My Thoughts on Ep.06 - We Take a Zebra to Vegas, A rant (SPOILERS AHEAD!)

Actual Iris-messaging on screen! Good way to start the episode.

Yes, toss the drachma, SEAWEED BRAIN!

If you want the gods’ attention, you have to pay for it. Eh, not surprised since it’s kinda how children have to do to get their parents’ attention these days.

Wtf is Luke Castellan doing in Chiron’s office?

We know who stole the bolt. (Book-readers, we know who stole the bolt!)

*Calm expression* How do you know? and not *gasp* Really? Who is it? Very sus. 🤔

I do have a love-hate relationship with Clarisse La Rue as a character, but accusing her as the lightning thief? OH, HELL NO!

This convo:

Luke: Guys, what is this?

Percy and Annabeth: What?

Luke: When did you turn into an old married couple?

Percy and Annabeth:

Everyone in the fandom:

Luke channeling his big brother energy by teasing Annabeth, his little sister, to a boy her age. Annabeth’s going through that older-sibling-embarrassing-you-in-front-of-your-crush stage. It’s just typical sibling stuff.

Annabeth, externally: *pokerface*; Annabeth, internally: STOP EMBARRASSING ME!

Confirmed: Luke ships Percabeth. 🥰

Percy changing the subject because he’s also embarrassed.

Annabeth cuts off the connection before Percy can mention Hermes and tells him Luke and his dad aren’t on good terms.

Grover just figured out that the truck is driven by animal traffickers and insists that they free the animals is absolute peak characterization.

They’re like artists. Proceeds to release the animals in the middle of traffic.

How that convo basically went:

Percy: Idk about this, man.

Grover: Oh, they’ll be fine. I gave them the satyr’s blessing so they’ll be able to reach the wilderness safely.

Percy: Dude, I meant for these people.

Grover: Oh, uh, it’s fine. These people destroyed nature so idgaf about them. But the animals are fine, so let’s go!

Percy: So, which hotel is the Lotus Casino? It could be any building-

Annabeth: Duh! Obviously, it’s the one with the giant lotus blossom on it.

Percy: Seriously?

3 minors walking into a Casino hotel. Totally normal and not suspicious at all.

Dua Lipa’s Levitating instead of Lady Gaga’s Pokerface. I ain’t even mad.

WISE GIRL! WISE GIRL! WISE GIRL! HE CALLED HER WISE GIRL! 😍🥰

Of course, Annabeth insists Percy goes with her. Percabeth! 😍

Annabeth tells Percy about May Castellan, Luke’s Mom. It’s kinda early to know about this, but I’m not complaining. It just justifies Luke’s resentment of Hermes in the show.

Grover: *finds Augustus, a fellow Satyr* *Forgets everything*

Please tell me someone else heard some kid calling out BIANCA in the background. It's not just me, right? Please tell me it's the di Angelo siblings in the Lotus Casino. UNCLE RICK, WE NEED ANSWERS!

Percy explaining his nightmares and asks if they are real.

How that convo went:

Annabeth: Hmm, idk

Percy: How do you not know?

Annabeth: I may be smart but there are things I don’t know.

Percy: Wtf does that make me then?

Hermes/Alexander Hamilton not throwing away his shot. How does a bastard, son of a god and a Pleiad. Grow up to be a master trickster, according to Homer’s Illiad…

In Vegas you can be a new man...apparently, not.

Hermes: I’m not doing this again. You’re on your own, kids. Bye!

Annabeth: We’re friends of Luke’s.

Hermes: *surprise pikachu face* Damn it, let’s talk.

Hermes being an epitome of another crappy absent godly parent. Not surprised.

Annabeth doing what probably Luke taught her to do:

Annabeth: So I stole Hermes’ keys.

Percy: You what?

Annabeth: I turned invisible and picked his pocket.

Percy: You stole from the god of thieves?

Annabeth: Yes, I’m multi-talented. Lol

Percy: *lowkey falls in love*

The lotus fruit being pumped into the air is something new.

Percy: Grover got really old. 🤣

Percy and Annabeth chases Augustus around while Grover’s playing VR games.

Grover forgetting things because he was alone, while Percy and Annabeth remember because they have each other. PERCABETH!

Grover acting all carefree like a dentist just sedated him with nitrous oxide, while Percy and Annabeth are frantically looking for Hermes’ car will never be not funny.

TO THE DUMB KIDS. Yep, that note is for you.

Percy: So, who’s driving?

Percy and Annabeth turning to Grover because he’s the adult.

Grover: *still high* Idk man. Idk what we're even doing here.

Percy: Ok, I’ll do it. How hard can it be. If I killed the Minotaur, I can drive a cab.

Percy: How hard could this be? Proceeds to hit the car on several columns.

Percy getting angry because another car didn’t slow down and nearly hit them, then slamming the horn. Bruh, you’re inner New Yorker is showing and I’m here for it.

This scene: 😍😍😍

Me, watching this scene:

Percy and Annabeth smiling at each other then realizing the car’s scraping the wall. This shit cracked me up.

The truck nearly hitting them gave me a mini-heart attack. Good thing they’re in Hermes’ cab.

Percy half-nervous and half-excited to finally meet his Dad only to find a Nereid instead, giving him 4 teleportation pearls as a gift.

The title implying they took a Zebra to Vegas but we see no zebra? Come on! Anyway, that was a good episode. Can't wait for the Percy vs Ares showdown next week.

#pjo tv show #pjo tv series #percy jackson and the olympians #percy jackson spoilers #percy jackson tv series #percy jackson #annabeth chase #grover underwood #percy and annabeth #hermes #wise girl #seaweed brain #wise girl and seaweed brain #percy jackon and the olympians

[marv-el-spot]

THE ROMANCE IS CANON, BUT AT WHAT COST? (but it's canon?? but what at what cost? IT'S CANON!)

... Because for as much time as they spent apart in Season 2, in the eyes of the creative team, it was Loki and Sylvie's romance that drove the events of Season 2 to their bittersweet conclusion.

In an interview with Collider's Therese Lacson, executive producer Kevin Wright disagreed with the suggestion that their relationship was less important in the second season, saying:

"I would disagree with the assessment that we downplayed the relationship. They may not be stopping to kiss. Everything is driven because of the deep emotions that these two people have for one another. Everything that happens this season, I think, is still a ripple effect from Sylvie feeling deeply wounded and saying like, “why aren't we seeing this the same way?” This person is probably the first person in her life she ever opened up to. And Loki trying to get this person who he's seeing is making the same mistakes that he made in the MCU 10 years ago, going down these blind paths of vengeance and anger and all this, and he's trying to prevent this person from going down that path, because he deeply loves them and cares about them."

For Wright, the life-or-death, timeline-spanning consequences of Season 2 meant there was less time for the cute and cuddly moments, but that doesn't mean their relationship is any less romantic:

"You get that in Season 1 because they get stuck on a train together on Lamentis and you get to have that romantic moment, because two characters who at that moment can't stand each other, then have to spend an afternoon together, and an evening on the train. Or they get stuck in the void together. They just don't have those moments to get on the same page [in Season 2.]"

For as much as Wright sees the plot of Season 2 as stemming directly from how much Loki and Sylvie care about each other, that's cold comfort to fans who were hoping to see the two gods of mischief ride off into the sunset together. For Wright, though, this is what made their romance more realistic, as he told Lacson:

"I think it felt natural, and more realistic, and messy, and I think that was our thing is like real relationships are messy. And we wanted to do that and not force something that felt inauthentic just to like service fan dreams of seeing these two happy together. They both need a lot of personal work to get to a place where they could have a good relationship "

So Wright is basically saying that the romance is still there, but they didn't have a moment like in Lamentis or the void to talk about it. So it would unrealistic to bring it up... which I could totally understand IF the show should last 12 episodes and we would have actual time to drag their relationship and IF we didn't have...

the scene at the bar

the scene at the TVA automat

the scene outside McDonald's (twice)

the scene at the Citadel!

the scene were he stopped the time to talk to her!

so, what are you saying, my man??

Also fan service for making them kiss?? YOU made them kiss in first season, no one ask that! i mean, we wanted maybe, but that was unexpected and now making them kiss is fan survice. let me LOL harder!

And to the last quote says "they need a lot of personal work" to get to a good relationship. Again i would love to see that man, but when tho?? you're saying this like there's another season coming solely focused on their relationship??? because i would be so in! hahaha

(this was long so, thanks for reading!)

#Loki #Loki spoilers #Sylvie #sylki #Kevin wright #tom hiddleston #Sophia di Martino #collider #interview #news #idk if this makes things better or worst tbh #you tell me

[moony-2001]

Lore Olympus ep. 256 critique

A note from last episode

One thing I forgot to mention in my last episode critique is why would Apollo even be allowed to take the throne? Hera still exists. Zeus has brothers who could step up. Other legitimate children. Obviously, Apollo is the “de facto” ruler for the sole reason that the plot needs to be driven forward somehow, but realistically Apollo would be, like, the last person who’s allowed to step up. Speaking of which, where is Artemis? She knows what Apollo is like. Why doesn’t she step up if they’re letting literally anyone rule?

Ah, yes, of course. Our fearless protector of women, everyone. I have so many things I could say about Artemis and her portrayal in this comic but for the sake of keeping this post relatively short, let's move on.

The fucking nightie

Oh. My. God. The nightgown.

I literally had to put down my phone when I first saw her in this. The rage I felt and still feel when I look at her.

Persephone is a queen and she just found out her brother-in-law/supreme ruler is in critical condition after being poisoned with a "mystery substance". Jfc have a little decency. And I don't want to hear "Oh WeLl ShE oBvIoUsLy DiDn'T hAvE tImE tO cHaNgE" or "sHe DoEsN't HaVe AcCeSs To ClOtHiNg" because she so obviously did. Hades is wearing a full-ass suit. She had time to cut her hair and "accessorize" with a stupidly oversized hat and cape. She is a QUEEN. She has access to all the clothing she could possibly want. Persephone has no excuse for showing up in a skimpy little nightgown.

I just-

Persephone is not a good queen

Let’s be real here. Persephone is a terrible queen. What have we, as readers, actually seen her do for the betterment of the underworld.

She doesn't even follow through on her "promise" to help with the influx of the dead. Instead, she focuses on her own personal problem of her powers taking a massive shit because of a deal she made with an unknown being (which was her own choice). I mean, who could've foreseen the consequences of making a shoddy deal with being you've literally had no previous interactions with. Not me, that’s for damn sure /s

Let's see what Persephone has done thus far leading up to and during her reign as queen:

terrorized lower-class citizens

caused the return of Kronos

caused a child deity to be held hostage/abused by Kronos

Tartarus being controlled by Kronos (caused by Persephone)

the mortal realm dying

still hasn't established Elysium

verbally abused recently deceased mortals because they're confused and haven't provided a resounding yes to help with... whatever it was she was trying to do.

lots of sex

letting 2 beings who have no business listening to a leadership meeting listen in anyways because it's "background noise"

Yep, all the actions of a great queen.

Also, side note, when have we ever seen Hecate be nosey? Please correct me if I'm wrong, but Hecate has pretty much always looked out for her best interests and tried not to get involved in others' drama. Am I surprised that Rachel is changing a character's personality? No. Am I disappointed? At this point, also no. Let's continue on.

The meeting

The meeting was certainly… something. I will say I loved Apollo getting his shit rocked by Ares. But after that, Apollo says this:

I mean... he's kinda right? Yes, it was all a big ploy to get specifically Persephone there, but Apollo isn't wrong. Persephone does have a habit of hiding in the underworld and letting Hades deal with her shit instead of facing her problems head-on. Yet another fantastic trait to tack onto her resume as queen.

And on that note, we circle back to the beginning of this post. After Hades has his big-boy temper tantrum, Athena and Amphitrite rightfully point out a few things:

Athena is right, Apollo has no claim to the throne, not when Hera is still around and especially not as a bastard child of Zeus. In terms of a line of succession (especially since all of his children excluding Hebe are grown), Athena would be the best candidate for this temporary position. She's the goddess of wisdom. Who else could fit this role? Poseidon and Amphitrite are busy ruling the oceans, Hades and Persephone are off doing whatever, Ares is all brawn and no brain, and Hephestus wants nothing to do with his family. I mean, we haven't actually had any kind of serious interaction involving him since like halfway through s2 I'm not counting those 2 little portions in s3 with Aphrodite.

And once again, we have a character that is so close to figuring it out but I guess we can't be affording too many brain cells to Amphitrite since she was to share with all the rest of the characters. Also, rip Aphitrite and all her pretty loops and swirls. I miss the individuality the characters had back in s1.

Before the meeting can continue any further, Demeter bursts in deeply distressed and crying out:

B-bbb-but how can we tell if the mortal realm is actually dying if we don't have a handy little message at the end of the chapter that clarifies whether or not this is a metaphor???? Rachel, you know your audience only has the reading comprehension skills of a kindergartener, how do you expect us to cope??

Sorry lol.

Final thoughts

Surprisingly I found this chapter to be a little short, but I don’t know if that’s just me. Again I wouldn’t say that this chapter is any worse than 255 but it’s not great either, y’all know the drill by this point.

Until my next post! I’m hoping to be all caught up by early next week? And then I can start posting more fun things that aren’t chapter critiques 👀

#anti lore olympus #anti lo persephone #lo critical #unpopular lo #lore olympus #unpopular lore olympus #anti lo #lo critic #lore olympus criticism #lo critique #lo criticism #lore olympus critical #lo hate

[actuallyidontgiveadamn]

Really out of nowhere but I rewatched some of fma03 eps and im gonna rant

I'm just so done with smiling politely saying that fma03 and fmab are both great sorry i cant anymore. Just no

So if you in love with fmab im warning you it probably won't be a good read for you, so feel free to ignore this, block me or idk read this and give it a thought

0. I really dont understand the glorification of manga over anime adaptations. Like people who are making the adaptation are not artists and creators themselves? What makes mangaka better than others and absolutely indisputable, seriously?

1. 'Oh no long introduction and fillers' that actually allowed for Hughes' character development before his death. Seriously if i mention his death among my homies I'll get lots of faces clearly going through some ptsd level flashbacks, it was that impactful. I still need to take a breather when im rewatching before diving into that ep.

2. Nina. Yet again got more time to grow on us and thus aquired higher trauma inducing levels.

3. Ishval massacre and aftermath are WAY MORE VISIBLE in fma03. First of all Ishvalans are depicted as human beings, and not some background, and we get lots more on their sufferings, raids on camps, racism towards them, etc etc etc

4. Scar. Oh boi how do i even go about this. So without raging much about that beefy obviously wrong dude who got 'sense' bitten into him and started working with the oppressing gov in fmab, we have a wronged and tormented survivor of a genocide, who was justified in his vengeance and rage, was depicted as an attractive person of color despite his antagonistic role and was seriously almost cheered on in his actions by the narrartive. His interactions with his people and his moral dilemmas made his character possibly the deepest and most thought out one in the series.

5. The Rockbell doctors being killed by their own government. That's a waaaaay more interesting and damning detail on our government affiliated protagonists than just dumping their murder on a delirious patient.

6. Homunculi had their own will and desires and a way more developed story arc that had a huge impact on protagonists' morals. Being created by the humans who were desperate to bring back their loved ones and both parties are getting tormented by it?? Characters strongly driven by their own goals and staggered by their relations to their creators vs some indifferent goons in fmab. Just compare Sloths and their impact on the stories and protags.

7. Final conflict being a fight with god and his intricate plans in fmab, versus final battle vs a selfish pretty much usual person who had thrown everyone under the bus in pursuit of immortality. Adds so much more desperation flavor. Suddenly your hero journey doesn't end in epic battle for the sake of the mankind, as you would like it to be. It's just to oppose one awful person with too much power and zero care about anyone else. That's raw and that's way more plausible and relatable in our mundane lives.

8. Overall darker tone and themes of the fma03.

9. MUSIC. I dont remember a single track from fmab, but i went really out of my way in my teenage years to find internet access and pirate fma soundtrack and cry listening to it

10. ART. Sorry but don't tell me fmabs flat colors are anything to 03's soft tones and lighting

So yeah sorry, but I'll take the dark and gritty tragedy over just another shounen with doubtful messages each and every time

#fma #fma03 #fma 2003 #anti fmab

[itsana004]

I have to ask for Droite for the character meme! (Or if you already got an ask for her, then Gauche?)

Ahhhh, first of all thank you so much for the ask! 💓 This one is special because it's about a minor character I care about a lot, and did for literal years and I'll do my best not to make this a paper scroll long (can't make promises). So let's roll! Here lays my truest thoughts on Droite/Dextra

•How do you feel about this character

You'd be surprised to know, but I did not like her character at all when I saw her for the first time.

She looked so... cold, had a lack of personality, unlikable boring character? Or maybe it was the fact she looked much older and more mature than the other main cast at the time, especially when she was strict? I can't pinpoint the specific reason, but there was really a time when I saw her as most viewers of Zexal see her as: an uninteresting boring minor character.

So how come I changed my mind? And got so attached to her to the point literal years passed and I still love her character?

The first time I ever saw Zexal episode per episode was probably when I was 10-11 years old on the TV, and Zexal was pretty popular in Italy back then, and I distinctively remember this character made an impression on me on episode 54 in her duel against Tron, with her solid strategy and clever tactics (and it was very unique compared to any other character), cause let's be real, this show is about dueling, if the character weren't good duelists, they really didn't stick to me in the long run (and Droite sure didn't give her best duel at all in that Droite and Gauche Vs Yuma duel, it was generic and boring to me), but Droite was doing very well against the main antagonist of that season, Tron (and it even made me root for her!) and the way he got around her strategy and the cards he used felt very oddly specific because of the nonesense rule that Yu-Gi-Oh women cannot win, so we can forget a minor character woman actually beating the main antagonist of that season (I understand the plot was needed to be driven forward with Tron as the main antagonist ofc lol but I have more thoughts on how they could have handled it better but I don't wish to digress) - anyway this duel stuck to me and as I said, Zexal was fairly popular in my town and I was talking about it to my friend, a frustrated naive young me saying how she felt about that the butterfly girl with purple hair losing and for some reason I didn't catch her name and my best friend told me it was "Drua" (from Dorowa but fandom decided it was Droite and I was confused but I found here in the end!), and then I searched her name on Google and saw a gorgeous fanart of her holding a butterfly and you could say my spiral started then (so in a way I am the way I am because of my friend, it's all her fault). From that point on I started to form an attachment to this character and pay attention to every time she appeared on screen, but boi young me was in for total disappointment because from that point on Droite was never given this kind of focus, or any development nor deliver a duel like that ever again (In Italian dub from 4kids they censored Droite and Gauche being homeless orphans being picked from Mr. Heartland so extra less scene 🤬). Young me also kept wondering, what happened to all those feelings she poured in ep 54? And I figured in the end that's a question only god knows, cause Zexal writers definitely don't, and so fanfics gave me much better answers. As years passed, I have to say I only grew to love her character more and more, I just kept learning new things about her and appreciated her character paying attention to every time she appeared from the limited screentime she had and I'm going to list some things I really love.

I was glad to learn that dueling wasn't something she was forced herself to learn for the purpose of training or for the sake of becoming stronger like Kaito, but it's something she enjoyed ever since she and Gauche discovered Duel Monsters when they were homeless orphans living in the streets (I feel like this adds more to her personality), and for them being only kids struggling to live day by day, found a little joy in their lives, and it even became their star of hope, something to look forward to in their hellish life (MY POOR BABIESSS I LOVE THEM MUCH).

I also love the fact Droite and Gauche treat each other as equals, they must have helped each other to get stronger by dueling one another, there is no air of superiority between them like Shark is towards Rio when it comes to dueling, so I assume Droite and Gauche have always one up the other to the point they have the almost same number of wins and losses against each other, and they must have spent their time mostly support each other as well. I love how she recognizes Gauche's move against Esper Robin instantly showing how close they are. WE NEEDED MORE SCENES OF THOSE TWO SQUABBLING, ACTUALLY, WITH THOSE THREE WITH KAITO, I NEED THEM TOGETHER IN ON LINE OKAY.

Also can we talk about how this girl had endured powerful electric shocks?? And joined up to the top 3 in elite duelists with Kaito and Gauche like the QUEEN SHE IS???

Also girlie just tasted tomato juice which was implied to be blood so casually what's up with that????? (That scene is so funny it will always be one of my favorites).

This woman is such a girlboss!!! Droite can casually fly a helicopter, run around the Tower like she owns it, being assertive in general a force to be reckoned with throughout the little time she appeared in Zexal, and humble her man to back away (THE NOTORIOUS NUMBER HUNTER TOO) and catch this man in his lies then HUMBLE HIM AGAIN IN THE W.D.C. AND YEET HIM FROM HER LANE (PLEASE THIS SCENE WILL ALWAYS BE FUNNY TO ME) .

Idgaf that she lost against Vetrix, she manhandled him in this duel, and not even his crest power from Barian world worked on her THIS IS QUEEN BEHAVIOUR RIGHT THERE.

Despite her lack of appearence in the second part and the complete abysmal decision to make her lose TWICE MORE LIKE IT WASN'T ENOUGH, I still appreciate the little contributions she was allowed to make.

I guess, a part of me is still attached to her for what she could have been? How she could have been used? (I brainrot about that every day) and it's painful to love a character that isn't very liked or even recognized while also completely understanding why, but I guess I still love her character and that doesn't seem it will change for a while.

•All the people you ship romantically with this character

I ship Droite with Kaito and no- I don't care what anyone says, if Zexal writers sent an announcement right now saying they will never be canon, I would still ship them because fanfics convinced me, cause some fans will always be better at writing romance than Zexal writers would ever dream to. I really love picking up from what was left and actually putting them to use by adding more things to the table to fix the mess, and I'm gonna die on this hill.

I also don't mind any other ships with Droite (as long as they are not problematic...) but one of my favorite rarepair has to be Droite x Akari (my comfort ship <3) - they haven't interacted once but they are both girl bosses and hot and I don't need any more reasons.

•My non-romantic OTP for this character

Just like I said in Gauche's one, this has to be Droite and Gauche. I refuse to see them through a romantic lens. It is true they share a lot of care for each other, but canonically Droite has romantic feelings for someone else and familial/platonic love exists, and interpreting them that way makes their relationship much sweeter and deeper in my eyes. Gauche being the only family that Droite has in a world where she was born with none will always be more meaningful and deeper to me than them being in a romantic relationship will ever be.

Another fact I forgot to mention in Gauche's one is although they don't have a specific label for each other in the sub, the Italian dub seems to be the only one where they actually refer to each other as "Fratello and sorella" (Brother and sister) - Kaito says "It's right that his sister duels", and although dub changes are not always for the best, I am fine with either one, in one they have a label for their relationship where it isn't left blank and it enforces their familial bond - (Droite says along the lines of "I'm his manager so I have to pull him out of this" in the sub - of course, she's not just a "manager", but at this point what do they even refer to each other... there is no label, and for two people who literally grew up together and spent so many years together, I find it odd - but on the other hand, these two never knew what the word family even meant when they were orphans living in the streets, and that being the reason for the lack of label to their relationship is just─

•My unpopular opinion about this character

She best girl─

•One thing I wish would happen/had happened with this character in canon

(Omg this part will be so long I'm so sorry)

1 - In episode 54, I wish instead of Droite giving up and losing because of her own free will, they could have made it so that she couldn't handle the power of the crest and collapses right after she draws a card, after trying so hard to resist it as long as she did - first, it doesn't make her look incompetent or make her look bad and still makes Tron a threatening villain. Second, it leaves the outcome with "No result" and still leaves it ambiguous than a straight "Lose" because of the notorious "female characters cannot win because they suck" awful rule the Yu-Gi-Oh series has created that screams sexism and misogyny from the writers - and no - the fact that the audience for this show is mostly boys does not excuse it.

2 - She should have won the duel together with Yuma in episode 104. Zexal has a really tedious habit of making strong female characters sacrifice themselves to show their valor and significance - no - that's not good enough when it is done again and again (Rio for her brother, Anna for Yuma, Droite for Kaito and Gauche and... Yuma?) and god I hate this so much, they could have found plenty of ways to show that without making Droite lose, we already know how dedicated and devoted Droite is for the people she loves/cares about, she tried to call Gauche back to conscious several times and took the fall for Yuma several times, they didn't need to kick her out of the duel to reinforce that same pathetic excuse again.

3 - Droite, Gauche and Kaito are the three people who have the most connection with Mr. Heartland (than Yuma will ever be) as well as having actual reasons to retaliate against the late Mr. Heartland, as they were exploited and have suffered hell from him, so why on HELL Yuma and Astral were shoehorned into that frecking duel - I do not care they are protagonists - I do not care people love the touching moment between Astral and Yuma before they transform into Zexal III - they could have animated that exact scene in their battle against Don Thousand or any other duel - there was no reason at all that would explain this decision in terms GOOD WRITING - to rob Kaito from that duel - imagine: after Kaito wins the duel against Mr. Heartland, since Droite and Gauche were already in Heartland City because of Yuma's friends understanding the world was in danger, Mr. Heartland in his last efforts could have pleaded Gauche and Droite to help him and manipulate them telling them how he saved them as orphans and they are here today because of him. But to his surprise, they don't, instead they use their ace monsters to attack him instead and send their farewells, and Mr. Heartland meets his demise - heck, they could have been the ones to take over after Kaito collapses - no matter what anyone tells me, either of the two ways it's how it should have played out because all of those three characters meet a proper closure with this man, but zexal writers do not give a sh8t about any other characters except their precious main and that leads to bad writing.

4 - I'm not really a fan of Droite being Gauche's manager? My reason for that is Droite spends most of Zexal serving/helping/sacrificing for other characters and is never her own person, and to me this is one of many examples. It's fine that she's his manager but what I wish would happen is Droite starts to miss competitive dueling and feels confused about her feelings of doubt towards her current job, and so for the upcoming W.D.C. Tournament (becoming a yearly event) that everyone including all our beloved cast will participate in it, Droite takes it as an opportunity to seek answers she needs through this Tournament and is encouraged by Gauche as well to "get a piece of the action", so she participates as a competitor together with Gauche - it lets her be her own person instead of being a "cheerleader" for Gauche (she can still be supporting of him while being a competitor) + it shows Gauche and Droite will support each other no matter in what they do and there are no ill feelings if Droite decides to resign from being his manager.

5 - The complete lack of development or scenes between Droite and Kaito, heck, it might be as dry as the sahara desert, and for me to say it is very concerning, luckily for me fanfics exist! So for the "what I wish would have happened", there is a fanfic called "I'll Always Be With You" by AquaMagic.389 (is my canon now, and in the second chapter I WEPT) - yeah, that's what I wish had happened, it's just adding the little things in the flashback that can slowly build up overtime.

Fun fact: In the Japanese W.D.C. 3DS game in Shingetsu Rei's route as Droite is her opponent, Yuma tells some things about her to Rei and he literally blurts it out for everyone to know about Droite's feelings in public to piss her off lmaooo - and later with Kotori's help Droite confesses her feelings properly but we don't know what happens after that (damn I-) so another I wished is them having actually some development post-canon, who knows, maybe through a Tournament (my brainrot from "La puissance de zexal" fanfic from griffon chap 20 is showing) yeah I'm gonna stop right there.

6- Finally, the last point. Every anime ever has a beach or light-hearted episode, why couldn't we have that like a field trip?? Also, I always found it interesting Hart and Droite's love for butterflies, I wish I could see them having such a cute moment where Hart admires her deck and it reminds him of those peaceful days when his big brother and he would chase butterflies and would share about those days with Droite it's just-

I'm so sorry this post turned into a paper scroll after all, if you ever reached until here then thank you and sorry for making you read all that, take care and have a good day! And again, thank you so much for the ask 💖

#zexal #ygo zexal #yugioh zexal #droite #dextra #dolowa #droite zexal #dextra zexal #character breakdown #zexal asks

[thethiefandtheairbender]

Excuse me for being an uncultured, uneducated swine, but I've never heard of "Spider Riders" before.

Would you mind giving me a basic rundown of the premise? I might go check it out

it is a fucking canadian-japanese 2006 anime that ran for two seasons that i have never seen anyone else watched but i loved it as a kid, remembered like 3 things (so i didn't have like, actual nostalgia, just distant memory of it), rewatched it as an adult last year and it wound up, i'm not kidding, in my top 5 tv shows with stuff like ATLA, the dragon prince, infinity train, and transformers: prime (in that order)

ok so the first two episodes (basically just the pilot) are Not Good and premise wise it's not anything that special, i.e. Boy gets isekai'd to a world where humans (??) and giant spiders exist and some form pair bonds, and fight evil Invectids (big insect people). Main bad guy has his council of four who are the main roster of villains, there are power ups, etc. It's like very basic

However

Series has a surprising amount of inversion (aka I totally thought main kid was gonna have a Rival in the main group bc that's the red-blue trope, isn't it? But nah they're all just big brothers to him and it's honestly pretty wholesome)

The world, lore, and history is so good?? For no reason??

Diverse array of villains in terms of arcs and personalities. Villains who are being manipulated; villains who genuinely love their people; villains who are honour bound even to their detriment. Villains who have realistic redemption(s)

Series has super interesting explorations of its concept of God (the Oracle) and what a relationship between mortals and god should look like that legitimately changed my own viewpoint on it?? Fucking wild

More than one female character with prominent screentime!! Pretty cool I think

There's a siege on a floating city at one point and that shit was baller

Some of the spiders have a backstory and it's fun and vaguely depressing

Stags. I just love Stags. Also Igneous is gay as hell and it's barely subtext

Really strong thematically and consistently? I remembered the end of the show going in and I was about 17/52-ish eps in when I was like "oh my god they're gonna thematically stick the landing" which is just lovely

Series is also obsessed with "Okay say we win the war? What then? How can we end the war without fully understanding why our enemies were driven to start it in terms of addressing the needs that make people inclined towards war in the first place" and then again stuck the landing, like that shit ate

Anyway I love it and it's so good for No Reason. Truly a 10/10 show

#spider riders #thanks for asking #dragons rambles #glass-teeth01

[man-monsters-and-aliens]

Have you seen MVA specifically the tv series and what are your thoughts about it?

yes I have! like twice? or three times selectively? and that was like 2 years ago!

short answer; this show has all my love and hatred for its existence

long answer?

I like the concept of the monster agents having to "share" living space with the aliens, and I do like the idea of the different aliens sort of being foils or compliments to the monsters

the ongoing plots like coverton's relationships with the monsters and how he has redeeming qualities is really nice! and I appreciate some of the continuity like the teleportation bit. I am sad that didn't get resolved or that we got to see through with coverton's invasion plans

sqweep's relationship with link is especially sweet and I hold it so dear to my heart, and even small interactions for sta'abi with the others are also really nice

I adore and appreciate how the monsters interact with each other because they absolutely nailed the family vibe, and just how they behave with the aliens in general since there's that bit of speciescism in there

my favourite eps are;

‌The Toy From Another World

‌Frenemy Mine

‌Maximum B.O.B.

‌It Came... on a Field Trip

‌The Thing with One Brain

‌98 Pound Cockroach

‌Screaming Your Calls

‌It Came From Level Z

‌Driven to Madness

‌The Beast From 20,000 Gallons

‌It Spoke With Authority

‌This Ball Must Be Dodged

‌It Ruled With an Iron Fist

‌Race to the End...Zone!

‌That Which Cannot Be Unseen

(though I honestly don't remember what some of these were about haha)

now onto what I don't like

firstly, Butterflyosaurus isn't there, and secondly, Ginormica isn't ginormic all the time, but we'll touch on these later

the fact that nickelodeon produced it already had my expectations low, and the fact that it was in 3d made it worse. based on the style of the concept arts, I would've loved it better if it was animated that way in 2d.

the character designs for the aliens are so ugly and unappealing (except sqweep she's decent) but even the models are weirdly scaled and disproportionate for the humans. again, the concept arts for coverton, sta'abi, and vornicarn were so much better than the end result, it's a real shame honestly

the characterization for the monsters were awfully flanderised early on so it was very annoying how Bob was portrayed, and though it did improve a lot as the eps progressed there was always something better they could've done, which was frustrating and agonising to watch

I don't remember having any particular loathing towards any certain eps? because I kinda wanna stay positive about it, but my god were some of the writing just nauseating and aggravating I would get so frustrated and angry cause of how stupid it is

a major theme throughout monsters vs aliens is the use of camera angles and the sense of scale, and the other thing is accepting change since her entire life got flipped. that gets completely erased and the quantonium is replaced with hyperium in the pilot, so Susan can go big or small whenever she wants and the whole movie was a waste of time!! it might as well be a superpower instead of considering her a monster cause her whole thing was being abnormaly big!! and it's clear the show did this for convenience sake which really makes it unauthentic, hence why butterfly isn't there or mentioned at all. susan isn't even a main character most of the time it's bob, then doc, then link, and THEN..... coverton.

how poorly this show was mostly handled made me seethe so much that I have an idealised reboot in my head out of spite and love

it had the potential to be good, it just wasn't the best

#i usually forget some things but these are at the top of my head #thanks for asking! #monsters vs aliens #mva #yeah safe answers stuff

[rythyme]

OMG YES the fight scene in ep 5!!!!! kiyao telling him 'have you ever thought that I might like/love you too' hit me so hard I actually had to pause. it is one my fave scenes on the whole show maybe only up there with the actual confession scene at the end and kiyao crying telling hira that he is not a god he is just an ordinary man. incredible. also I've caught up with the second season and you should definitely watch it, it is just as good as the first one in my opinion. sorry for rambling!

ahhhh YES that episode 5 fight scene is easily one of my favorite argument scenes of all time — if not also my favorite confession scene (if it counts as one?) — because every line of dialogue really just fuckin hits you right in the chest. it's such an excellent piece of character-driven conflict too because everything we've learned about their personalities and their feelings towards each other has inevitably been leading them to this point. it's not pure miscommunication. it's not contrived. it is a fundamental difference in their world outlooks and perceptions of each other that had to come crashing together sooner or later.

(i think i have a tag essay somewhere about this scene too bc every time i think of it i can't shut up about it lol - if i find it I'll link it in the replies)

the second confession scene later in the episode is the resolution of this conflict, so in my head they're kind of two parts of the same whole? i sometimes forget which lines happen when but both parts are fucking phenomenal. the acting, writing, all of it is just *chefs kiss*

i can't wait to see more of them in S2, in can't believe we even got a S2 tbh but i am NOT complaining 💕

#anyway thank you for rambling at me because i also love rambling about this show ❤️ #i forget how much i love it tbh bc it's not the usual kind of show i like? but it's just soooo good #lgbt drama #jdrama #utsukushii kare #ask theo

[glassvines]

Thoughts on eps 1-4 of Murder Drones:

Pilot 1. Is the planet the bots are on supposed to be an alternate Earth? Or a different planet all together? (Answer: It's not Earth. Uzi mentions wanting to go to earth so she can "kill all humans". The planet they are on is Copper 9.) 2. "Untrained neural network" aka baby robots lmao. 3. While the meta dialogue was incredibly BAD in the first episode, the facial gags with words flashing across their faces is so funny. I am having to pause every two seconds to read everything. 4. Which is by design? Pausing to read the gags. This is a show that really wants it's audience to study it like the nerds we are. 5. I love that all the character relationships are purposely cliche, and played 100% straight. 6. Are we really supposed to believe Uzi's dad mercy-killed her mother? 7. I do love how they establish that the Disassembly Drones can regenerate. (N being blasted into oblivion.) 8. "OH MY, you sure are rebellious! It's kind of exciting! *fans self*" N LMAO WHAT. 9. N and Uzi are A+ mains and I love them. 10. Yeah, I missed so much lore discussion on the first watch. Particularly the bit about the ships only being capable of going one way. 11. Why is N hoisting Uzi onto his shoulders the cutest thing ever. He carry. He protec. 12. "I'd join you if the sun didn't kill me!" Hooow did I miss that.

Episode 2 / Heartbeat 1. God I love the haunted mansion flashback. It's so jarring. 2. Tessa... 3. The Disassembly Drones sleep upside down wrapped in their wings. 4. The show hinting at V knowing more than she's letting on combined with the flashbacks were when I started to realize how much of a gem this show was. 5. Episode starts establishing Lizzy and Doll a little more. (Did V disguise herself AS Lizzy? lol.) 6. Ah okay, they do explain what Uzi's powers are: AbsoluteSolver auto-repair initiative. 7. And Uzi DOES mention it's just like the Disassembly Drones' regenerative powers. 8. The weird human hand thing was great. 9. "Oh, J's not here." Huh. 10. "It hurts our feelings you don't remember us." It said via Uzi's Mum's face. Hmmmm. 11. I seriously went from "this could work as a series - good setup" to "I LOVE EVERYONE IN THIS ROOM UR ALL VERY PRECIOUS".

Episode 3 / The Promening 1. Okay, this was when I realized how purposely satirical the series is. PROM LOL. 2. Year 3,071! 3. I really want to understand the bug crushing motif. 4. "Thank you FOR BEING MY friend" STOP!!! 5. The skeleton prom outfit bit is so gd funny. 6. "What's best for you. Even if you hate me for it." V plz. 7. UZI UWUs 8. This whole episode is just good character development stuff. More focus on V, Doll and Lizzy. Uzi and N making up and doing a battle couple bit for a few seconds. A bit more background information on Uzi’s Mom too.

Episode 4 / Cabin Fever 1. The...school bus is being driven like a horse and buggy. I'm. 2. Uzi's bat-winged backpack :). 3. Lizzy and V just being friends now is delightful. 4. Neat to see a different type of environment being focused on in this episode. 5. "EVACUATE ALL DOGS" "Cool. We did that. That's canon." "Also, all dogs are immortal now!" LMAO I REALLY NEEDED TO PAUSE FOR THAT JOKE. 6. I don't really understand what's triggering Uzi's transformation though? Stress? Jealousy? 7. "Welcome back 02" Hmmmm. 8. V keeps comedically killing all these students and they are still 100% in love with her and N now ahaha. 9. N's development is so good man. I like that he’s standing up to V now. 10. The funniest part of this episode was that Liam thought it was necessary to grind twitter animation stans into dust and have N conspicuously proclaim that he and Uzi are the same age. I don’t have to be part of the fandom to know what that means. Genuinely cathartic seeing a show tell shipper drama weirdos to shut the fuck up. 11. OH! There's that mansion from episode 2. So this hints at what happened to everyone's memories and why they were wiped. 12. The information on zombie drones is on a VHS with 80s horror movie font. 13. Marshmallow batteries 14. "Okay, Mom." L M A O 15. "New body, same horrors. Huh Cyn?" ??? 16. "Can I talk to N?" Oof that hurt me actually :(. 17. HAND HOLDING *pointing Rick Dalton meme*

Even on a re-watch I feel like there's a lot going on under the surface of the series that I've missed. Very much looking forward to seeing where this show goes. 

#some comments

[mejomonster]

Ep 5 done I still LOVE them

I will say: I like the unconventional couple setup, and I like that it's a comedy cause functionally it's Big Bad Evil Emperor xianxia type breaks out of prison (without anyone knowing) then immediately gets saddled with a spiritual plant/pet (a la Sifengs little pet snake he takes care of) he must learn to care about in order to make her strong enough to help him unfreeze his many soldiers

He feels what she feels, another reason to take care of her asap. Meanwhile she's getting treated caringly by Mr jailbreak and he's quite cute and earnest (from her pov) and she's having a frankly mostly nice time with the company

It's a romantic comedy in xianxia setting that just feels like a nice "they were roommates" plot with 2 character types I rarely see paired just forced to get along by circumstance (Big Bad and commoner spiritual plant turned fairy are not usually the main pair of these)

To top it off, Big Bad Daqiangs outfits are SO nice, i love the costume designer (I also love God of War guys clothes). The sets are quite usual xianxia but I appreciate the little unique details that make each particular set feel memorable to me (it's a small thing but the focus on the sky whales really made a nice standard cloud heavenly set look unique, the garden in the Arbiter does the same to an otherwise standard heavenly xianxia workplace etc).

Also the music is nice, the actors are good, the wigs and hair are serviceable (the white one was the best tho), the overall costume design is Niceee, and I actually really like lanhuas other "love interest" character. God of War guy seems genuine (seems like a younger brother to the leader, which is an interesting angle as usually God of War is older brother or something older with less to prove a la Eternal Love). By making him younger he has more expectations to handle and things to fear (kind of reminds me of poor Ye Hua in Eternal Love and the pressure he was under). This God of War being baby brother means he may be what enemies fear, but he fears even pursuing the girl he likes for fear he Cannot protect her or himself in that circumstance. I also love that due to his position, meeting lanhua 500 years ago and HER saying she'd PROTECT HIM is what made him smitten. Someone thinking OF HIM, CARING FOR HIM, seeing him as the person to protect instead of the person to use for your own protection. I totally get why he likes her, and acts distant, he's a genuine sweetie and his motives make sense. I am hoping he'll have an okay ending please (and also of course - bonus points that in this I can tell the Big Bad will be the endgame romance, a bold choice that still isn't usually done much... Xuanji being luohuo jidu was the last time I saw the Big Bad character type in a xianxia get to be one of the main romance couple who get a happy ending. Usually u see the Demon Darkness Type character and KNOW no matter how nice they're gonna get tortured and get a bad ending (rip the demon prince and princess in Eternal Love).

I also like daqiang a lot just as a guy? Many xianxia do a silent emotionless guy character (ye Hua was one although he felt a LOT intensely under the cold act). This guy is Genuinely emotionless mostly (he wiped his emotions in prologue, also yeah I guess that makes him the Xuanji/ashes of love heroine type but on Purpose) and so instead of feeling particularly cold, he just appears driven by his logical decisions toward his goals. As he hangs out with lanhua more we see he's got frustration as an emotion, maybe light anger (but it doesn't feel repressed when he calms down, more like he's prideful but also capable of remaining calm). At the whale scene in ep 5 he SMILES. And you can tell him helping care for a spiritual plant (now a fairy) is helping him get in touch with his own feelings again. Instead of feeling cold he just feels primarily CALM. Which I personally enjoy more than being a tsundere who does feel intensely but lies about it.

The god of war reminds me of shen wei with the burden on him I really hope he gets a good ending...

#love between fairy and devil #lb

[dangermousie]

Say You Love Me - done

Was it a good drama? Objectively perhaps not. But it was worth the price of admission to see incredibly solid acting from everyone (this drama is old, and so it did not suffer from the phenomenon of idols who may be talented in other things but have no experience with acting being put in just for looks) and tackle themes and characters modern dramas don't really care for - I mean, the gender reversal itself with the two women being the doers and the drivers and both men being passive willing or unwilling recipients of what they dish out is fascinating. Byung Soo, our ML, was a tall, well-built Victorian maiden, suffering over loss of chastity and falling ill from angst and needing permission to take any action and second ML was willing to enable SFL to bang other men as long she wanted it. The two women literally fought and then men only wept. It was also remarkably character consistent; Byung Soo was a lovely sweet puppy of a person and the drama showed what a freaking drawback or even cruelty that could be. (I am still impressed that Kim Rae Won, who in my head is associated with these totally alpha types, played such a weak, submissive, beta boy (because I can't really call BS a man between his youth and personality) so well).

Anyway, eps 12-15, let's go. ML and FL have finally had enough of their psycho significant others and ran off to the same place. This is the first time we see them happy in eps and eps. For someone who was obsessed with his smile, SFL really made sure he never smiles again, this is the first time we see his smile in eps and eps.

But they can't get back together because he feels unworthy and also because SFL has basically terrified him into thinking she will die if he leaves her (which is deeply ironic in light of what is about to happen.)

Because his granny dies (and SFL chooses to bring up what he did with FL at the freaking funeral, because the woman knows no shame or time/place, god when FL dragged her off and they had a fight, it was glorious.)

And that is basically the last straw for a dude who was already contemplating suicide a while back and that was before everything else that got dumped on him. And so our Victorian Maiden ML aka monk boy literally collapses into a unconsciousness and is likely to die from EMO AND STRESS AND ANGST. God, I love this drama.

SFL decides a great thing to do to an unconscious and possibly dying man is to move him from the home he grew up in to her apartment because she doesn't like looking at pictures of him with others in the place. She also doesn't let his friends visit (I am not saying FL, I am saying dude friends) because "I am his wife." She is so insane, her brain should be dissected for study. The best part he's utterly unconscious but he keeps weeping FL's name non-stop over and over and over as SFL is slowly driven insane by that. GLORIOUS!!!!

SFL is, as always, making everything about her - someone else's suicide attempt, funeral of someone else's loved one, someone else's childhood trauma, and now someone else's unconscious murmurs are all directed to torment her, the real victim.

This cracked me up - she always says that when he's about to die but the moment he's not literally on brink of death, she's all...psych!

Bwahahaha how I enjoyed this.

And then they are all so yeah he's dying. Why it does not occur to anyone to take him to the hospital is beyond me. Unless they know it's a Victorian Emotional Illness (tm) so no hospital can be cured. So SFL finally caves and lets FL in to see him.

Guess who magically gets better? Heeeee.

Anyway, YC makes sure he's OK and peaces out. SFL is all fine fine you can go to her, my boy toy, mainly because I think she's (a) finally realized he's literally gonna die at the pace she's going and (b) he's literally ready to bolt anyway, even his obedient self can't take it any more. But also the way he basically desperately asks for permission - I roll my eyes at melo cliches a lot but the power imbalance in this is honestly kinda awful, not just because he's so nice/weak and she's so neither, but because he's so much younger and so much more inexperienced in life and like dude, it's almost like she kidnapped a high schooler and locked him up in her basement.

Except of course she renegs yet again but at this point even the spineless SML has had enough and basically tries to drum some sense into her. But also SML tells her he loves her and I think this helps her because this psycho needs to cling to SOMEONE. So puppy is finally free but that whole being in his house with wedding photo etc was last straw for FL and she's all I don't want him back, it's all too painful, I want no relationship thanks...

But of course it doesn't last long because they love each other like mad and all they need one little push from their fam where they send a clip from her old diary to them blah blah. The way he runs to their place and finds his old bike and she's left there his chastity necklace (yes, I know it was true love necklace but we all know what it was, she even labeled it something like "BS is only mine" necklace back way when) and, more importantly, the paper with "Tag" eeeee! (reference not to just their childhood but their breakup when she told him he has to stay away until she unfreezes him and tags him and then he can come find her.) AAAAAAAA

This is adorable!

Meanwhile SFL swans off overseas to happy bliss with SML, utterly and gloriously unpunished for all the awful awful stuff she pulled.

Moral of the drama: Never stick your dick in crazy.

Or perhaps, maybe if you didn't teach them so much abstinence, dude wouldn't have lost his mind to hormones and avoided all that misery.

Oh, and I really now want to know how heavenly his hair must be for FL to be so obsessed with it she can't think straight.

Anyway, it was a fun ride, and I am just glad I finally found another rare Kim Rae Won drama where he doesn't die or his OTP doesn't die. That man is drawn to misery.

#kdrama #kim rae won #say you love me

[blackbird-brewster]

Hi, I hope you’re feeling better soon! My question is, how much of the reboot do you think will be about the team’s personal lives vs the actual cases themselves? I feel like the reboot was very fan-driven, so my guess would be more of the characters’ lives and the cases might not matter too much other than just catching the unsub

Ty friend, I hope I feel better soon too. (I'm so miserable) Thank you for the ask!

We knew from the get-go that this season of Evolution was going to focus solely on the ongoing case of 'there's a serial killer network, how do we stop it?' [X] [X] [X] << Sources

Which is honestly not a format I think is interesting for a show that went 15 seasons being a 'killer of the week' crime drama. Sure, we had SOME serial killers that spanned a longer time frame (Replicator, Mr Scratch, Lynch) but they were going on WHILE the team still solved cases of the week.... Now they're just going to focus on this one thing and I'm not sure how that will work in the long-run.

Personally, I didn't think the first two eps were 'good'. We basically were introduced to three main plots:

Rossi is angry and taking out all of his rage on the team instead of fucking going to therapy and he had the most screen time even though he was retired at the end of the series and now not only has he returned but he's Unit Chief now and no one is going to give us answers about this change. Also we FINALLY have a woman-majority cast and it's STILL focused on Rossi????

Serial killer network (apparently the main focus of the entire first season)

Yet another 'higher up' is shitting on the BAU (god how many fucking times are we going to see this same plot?????)

IDK about anyone else, but I am NOT invested in any of the above. What I AM invested in is the amount of time we spent watching the characters' lives!!!! I literally never knew how much I needed a montage of Garcia going through her morning routine???? I never knew how much I needed to see Luke just running on a treadmill in Emily's old office while chatting to Tara on FaceTime??? I never knew how much I needed to see JJ and.... wait. No not that one. I mean, yes to seeing JJ at home where she apparently ONLY wears sports bras?

I cannot wait to see more of Tara's personal life, especially with Rebecca. I just want to see soft, domestic, goofy in love, Tara Lewis.

I honestly plan on skipping the case bits, just so I can enjoy the personal lives of the characters we know and love bits!!

I think it'll be very interesting because honestly, in ALL the years this show was airing, let's face it..... these characters had BARELY any characterisation/growth (unless you count Reid who had about 50 plot lines that focused on him and his man pain. I fucking hate it) So I think it'll be interesting to see what the showrunners come up with now that they've forced themselves to ACTUALLY consider what the BAU team members do OUTSIDE of work!!

#criminal minds #cm evolution #cm spoilers #unitchiefs-blackbirdphoenix #reply post #cm meta #god I need to make a new tag just for commentary probably

[notallwonder]

Okay *rubs my paws together*. Criminal Minds Evolution 16x04 "Pay-Per-View".

Spoilers and nonsense under the cut:

I do miss having some kind of title card/credits. I don't miss the original series title cards because the typography drove me nuts.

So Voit has daddy issues? Or...well, some dude issues.

Oh NO they're gonna make me watch him put down the dog. (offscreen!)

Now THIS is a useful reason for Emily as Section Chief - she's a natural receiver of exposition. She's managing all kinds of people, doesn't have time to keep up with the minutiae of the investigation except by report, or in this case verbal report, even when she's acting unit chief. And so we get a recap of who this guy is that doesn't feel so goddamn forced.

GARCIA. Flashing him that sweet LLAP!

Will shaved! And cut his hair? oh no is that a soul patch. AJ back to not wearing pants - I feel like I'm watching Back Fork again. She probably has shorts on.

Saved by the suit knocking at the door!

ROSSI AND EMILY!! DREAM TEAM. I love them. The joking, the spitballing, the needling. "But will Mom?" oh god i love her.

Why we in Miami now? Oooh. This is a novel and creepy way to introduce a murder. Yikes.

Garcia! Alvez! here we go....oh no Alvez has cat allergy that requires weapons grade meds? ruh roh

Oh the bickering is good. Lmao at Emily's "guys what the hell is going on here?"

Emily feels more natural in this episode. Is it because they let her sit down? Is it because she doesn't have to use so much energy to tamp down her Noodle-induced rage?

Lol at the notion that a cognitive interview will magically give this man his memories back. Convenient as a storytelling device tho!

Okay I actually have been appreciating the extra JJ/Will stuff so far. It gives me a better sense of how they work as a couple, and their chemistry feels more natural to me than a lot of what we got in the previous seasons. But the emphasis on them this episode makes me twitchy - feels like something ominous is around the bend.

I don't know why but I LOVE when tv shows poorly photoshop family vacation photos onto a generic beach background. I swear its always the same beach with palm trees.

oh god I really feel for this guy Tyler. Excellent.

oh hey it's Emily's promo outfit. I will always notice Emily's outfits. Really liked the burgundy set from the Rossi scene earlier.

These two young men murderers don't seem like the "I'm next in line right?" guy communicating with Voit in the previous episode. They don't have $20k to throw around do they?

omg they're DELIVERING THE PROFILE (is this the first scene of this type so far? did they do this in previous eps? can't remember)

I appreciate the victim screaming "Fuck you!" in the unsub's face

Ah, so they are indeed not part of the network. Nice turn. Also shows us the BAU is kinda getting tunnel vision about Sicarius - could bite them in the ass later.

Okay but if I was Jennifer Jareau and William Lamontagne Jr I would choose to keep my front blinds closed at night.

OH SHIT ARE THEY GOING TO KILL WILL WITH DISEASE

I don't know, I don't think they're going to actually kill him. But scary cancer storyline, put JJ under stress, wring some more emotion out of this

(please please please let her have a moment of support from Emily, universe I am begging you....a brief handhold would not go amiss!!!!!)

This episode was pretty good. The pacing, the tension, the fakeout, I thought it worked well. The dialogue was way less clunky. It had a lot going on, a couple different layers, but didn't feel like a hot mess to me. Not lost on me that Voit was only barely in it. It does feel like perhaps / hopefully CME has decided that it is going to be a character-driven show with a backdrop of heinous murder. A good development imo.

#cme spoilers #cm spoilers #criminal minds spoilers #criminal minds evolution spoilers #i'm manifesting that handholding as hard as i can lol

[jemmo]

reveal your watch & rewatch drama list

ty to the always lovely @snimeat for tagging me and letting me rant about the gays for a hot minute (bc let’s be real what else do i watch) 💕

watching:

21 days theory - i picked this one up bc it was there and i have time to fill while i’m off work and it was enemies to lovers so… gotta say so far im not hating it and i think the leads are cute, i just don’t care for any of this side character straightness i feel happening, hoping there’s less of that going forwards

even sun - still haven’t finished this bc what even is this show. it’s just such a weird watch and i still am not fully sure what’s going on but hey bounprem are on screen and doing stuff??? i guess???? but if this was to tide me over until between us, it didn’t work

his man - this i didn’t expect to get into bc im not normally a reality tv fan but man am i invested. something about how shy and almost awkward they all are around each other and now slowly becoming more comfortable and getting closer, it’s just so fun to watch and i cant stop my stupid grin the whole time. also changyu supremacy

mama gogo - this is one of the first non-bl gmmtv shows I’ve followed week to week and omg am i glad I have. It’s just so much fun, the characters and their storylines are fun and interesting, the dancing is cheesy but you can tell they’re just having the best time and i have cried at multiple eps. just so much heart in such a fun series, i love it here

merry queer - very behind on this but it’s an interesting watch and i just wanna support what it’s doing. but also hani

minato shouji coin laundry - oh my beloved. this show has wormed its way into my heart and set up shop there. i might just be a little bit obsessed with shin and his bold, forthright flirting and how he can go from so confident and driven to so hurt and in need of love and attention. and i think the story they’re telling is very interesting, esp with minato and how he shows this post-high school queer experience that we rarely ever see, and how those experiences affect you going into adulthood. plus it’s just cute and soft and the vibes are so welcome, it’s a show i wanna snuggle

the eclipse - what else needs to be said. confident rebel gay meets uptight golden-boy gay panic in a enemies to lovers plot shrouded in supernatural mystery and system oppression. sign me the fuck up. can’t wait to see first and khao act their asses off and have their moment to shine.

vice versa - whenever im watching this show im just having the best time and that’s what i love. jimmy and sea are just the most adorable pair to watch and the series has such lovely styling and cinematography and a vibe that’s so considered and adds to the atmosphere and story so much that i can’t not be in love with it. and im so ready to dive deeper into what this story is gonna give us

war of Y - this is kind of messy but it’s too early for me to tell if it’s in a good or bad way yknow?? i didn’t watch scoy nor do i know much about it but the mains seem to have good chemistry, but also we’ve kind of just been thrown in to this world where stuff is happening and it’s kind of hard to understand what everyone’s deal is, esp when you can’t read any of the texts and such

extraordinary attorney woo - back in kdrama land! watched ep 1 a couple of days ago bc my sister wants my mom to watch it and it was cute, so yay for a good family watch

bad buddy - i can’t believe we’ve made it to this point, but both my sisters only have ep 12 to watch now and then the big bad buddy rewatch and experience for them is over. it’s been so much fun sharing this with ppl and reliving everything I felt for those 12 weeks through them again. god i miss it so much and this show will never not impress and move and amaze me, you wonderful creature

my only 12% - this was a cute surprise actually. i have no clue where the story is going bc I’ve gone in blind but santaearth have a fantastic dynamic and act so naturally with each other that it’s just fun to watch even when nothing is really happening.

starting soon:

the only thing i’ll be starting soon is whatever i try to get my sisters to watch after bad buddy. the current candidates are probably blueming, to my star and maybe kinnporsche if i can handle watching that content with someone else (but my sisters are both smut fic writers, it’s water off a fucks back to them) but any recs or votes are welcome lol

i know im late on this one but I’ll just tag @seeking-moonscapes @talaypuens and @dribs-and-drabbles so i can peek at what your watching and your thoughts on them bc im nothing if not nosy 😁😁

#i should rlly start tagging these game things but I’m so lazy with that kind of stuff #ugh #tag games #i guess #but also I love having so much to watch at the moment #and I’ve been re-binging stuff bc I have free time and it’s just like #i love being in my cozy queer media bubble