#i think everyone is still amazed by netflix messing up the last two episodes

[thesaltyoceanwaves]

What order would you recommend watching the second part of season 3? Since it's an out of order mess?

I mean, obviously watch Hearthunter and Miracle Queen in the correct order. If you feel like sitting through MQ that is.

After that, it’s hard to say. There is a production order, which looks something like this:

1. Chameleon

2. Animaestro

3. Bakerix

4. Backwarder

5. Reflekdoll

6. Weredad

7. Silencer

8. Onichan

9. Miraculer

10. Oblivio

11. Desperada

12. Christmaster

13. Startrain

14. Kwamibuster

15. Feast

16. Gamer 2.0  

17. Stormy Weather 2

18. Ikari Gozen

19. Timetagger

20. Party Crasher

21. The Puppeteer 2

22. Cat Blanc

23. Felix

24. Ladybug

25. Hearthunter

26. Miracle Queen

Some of this order makes some sense, to an extent, although I can’t explain without getting into spoilers. So, anon, if you haven’t already watched the last part of the season and want to go in blind, I’d suggest returning to the later part of this post after that. Or you can just skip it, if you’re not looking for a long-winded rant. Otherwise, here I go. 

SPOILERS FOR THE ENTIRETY OF SEASON 3 FROM THIS POINT ON.

Ok, so things that make sense - Party Crasher coming after Desperada, Startrain, and Feast. It doesn’t really matter which of the first two comes first, so long as Party Crasher is after them, because Viperion and Pegase make their return. And we see that Fu is no longer hiding out at his place when he gives Kim Xuppu, so this has to take place after Feast.

Gamer 2.0 coming after Desperada, because she makes a cameo in the game, works.

Timetagger before Cat Blanc checks out, because Bunnix makes her return in the latter episode.

I forget where I saw this, but I think someone on the team said that it was important to see Animaestro before Oblivio, because the poster that the amnesiac Marinette and Adrien see makes more sense when you know it’s from the movie. This could have been easily changed in the script so that the two discover their identities regardless, but whatever I guess.

Both Feast and Stormy Weather 2 make sense as mid-season episodes in theory. There are so many problems with both of these episodes in execution, but I’m not going to detail that here. But on paper, an episode that changes the status quo for the second half of the season, and an episode that recaps how far everyone’s come both work at the midpoint.

Of course, there are so many issues with individual episodes in general, so if they were reworked, I think the order would have to be shifted dramatically.

Ladybug would have been a much better episode if it had been the season finale, or at least a two parter. If you’re going to start the season establishing the Lilanette rivalry, then it only makes sense to end the season with the escalation of that rivalry. And pull no punches either - Marinette’s relationships should get shaken up, characters should second guess their actions, and so forth. Alternatively, I have two other options for how this should have been handled.

1. This should have been put into season 2. Because going into Chameleon after Hero’s Day is jarring tonally, something that has been addressed numerous times by this point, so I’m not going into detail further.

2. If you’re going to keep Chloe as a recurring antagonist and fail to redeem herself, then you don’t really need Lila in the show at all. Marinette can still come across the grimoire when Adrien brings it to school. Maybe he forgets about it or something. The Scarlet Army can be caused by a bunch of things going wrong on Hero’s Day that have a domino effect. Chameleon can be cut entirely, along with Ladybug. Onichan can have Kagami in conflict with her mother, since she wants to be a good daughter and not cause problems, but also feels lonely. Lila only caused everything in Miraculer to happen at a quicker rate, but tbh, I still think the episode would have played out without her. Chloe would have gotten fed up with not getting the bee back and taken it out on Sabrina. This could be its own post tbh.

I agree with @miraculouscontent on Desperada taking place before Silencer, especially with Marinette’s behavior in Silencer basically forgetting all about Adrien, since Desperada she learns that she can like the both of them at the same time.

Felix wasn’t as bad as I was prepared for it to be, but I would still have Adrien reflect on his own pushy behavior toward Ladybug, and give the moral that harassment isn’t just physical, it can also be psychological and verbal as well. Also, I would give new, unique forms for Alya, Juleka and Rose.

Timetagger is okay mostly, but I would want some of the stakes to be higher and the foreshadowing to pack more of a punch. Maybe have future!Alix warn Chat that he’s taking things too far or something. Also, have Alya and Nino actually babysit their siblings together instead of making their friends do it. It’s not a good look for them.  

Episodes I would cut:

--> Puppeteer 2 - if you’re not going to make this a dramatic episode where the friend group fights, and just have it as an excuse to embarrass Marinette, then it deserves to be cut. We could actually spend that time on fleshing out Alya and Nino, so that their progress in SW2 doesn’t amount to “dating” and “being superheroes”. Seriously, this episode is the mission statement of the season:

Any other S3 Episode: Clearly, I will have the scene meant to most humiliate/embarrass Marinette.

Puppeteer 2: Hold my beer.

--> Oblivio and Cat Blanc - these episodes are both major teases and do basically nothing for the Love Square except sabotage it. The second one especially explains to us why we shouldn’t ship these two together, in the most dramatic, over the top, killjoy way. Even if I was still a Love Square fan, I would still hate these episodes, because we could actually be getting scenes and episodes that actually develop Marinette and Adrien’s relationship with one another, but instead, we have to waste time and make people feel bad for wanting to “rush” things.

--> Bakerix - while I like that we’re getting more episodes focused on Marinette’s family, IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN HER MOM. Hell, this could have been the recap we got - maybe a two parter revolving around her parents realizing that they’ve been growing apart and that their daughter is getting older. OR Weredad could have been more about Marinette growing closer to her friends, not just a potential romance, while an Akumom episode could be about Sabine feeling out of touch with Marinette’s interests. 

--> Christmaster - WHY DO WE NEED TWO CHRISTMAS EPISODES THAT WASTE OUR TIME WITH HUMILIATING AND/OR MAKING MARINETTE LOOK BAD? This one is worse in the sense that it could have focused on Nino for once, and have it focus on his relationship with his brother. But no. That’s not funny enough apparently.

→ Reflekdoll - A good example of a body swap/power swap episode: “Trading Faces” from Jimmy Neutron. Because the show actually shows both Jimmy and Cindy failing to adjust to the life of the other, learning to develop a small appreciation for the other by the end of the episode. JN is another episodic based show, so they’re still at each other’s throats for a while, but you can see that soften over time. Reflekdoll, on the other hand, refuses to have Chat learn or understand how hard Ladybug’s job is, especially when all he does is joke around and not take things seriously. 

--> Gamer 2.0 - Another episode where Marinette “needs to learn to loosen up” but actually it should be “Marinette learns to prioritize everything in her life while still giving herself some downtime to relax and breathe”. Again, if you cut this episode, you lose nothing really.

TL;DR: You thought you were getting an answer for the best viewing order of season 3, but it was actually a rant about how season 3 is The Worst and how things could have been better. Go with the production codes, I guess.

#ml salt #salty answers #ml s3 salt #i think everyone is still amazed by netflix messing up the last two episodes #major wOW

[stxleslyds]

Have you watched the Teen Titans animated series or Young Justice? If so, what do you think about their characterization of Dick Grayson?

And while we're at it, what about the animated movies? How does his characterization compare there?

Hi! Thank you so much for the ask!

I have to be honest, Teen Titans wasn’t a show that I was able to watch when it came out because I didn’t have cable tv yet and by the time that I had it I was actually into other TV shows, I watched a few episodes from what I believe was the last season but I didn’t really like the Titans lineup so I didn’t pay much attention to it. So, I can’t really say anything about his characterization there.

Young Justice I have watched! I believe I watched it for the first time in 2018 on Netflix. I loved the first season, it was amazing and it kinda made me want to read DC comics again. I had “taken a break” from reading DC because I was consuming another type of content, mostly MCU and Marvel Comics. I watched seasons two and three but I didn’t like them as much as the first one because I felt like there were too many characters and it overwhelmed me a little bit.

So, to answer your question, I love Young Justice’s characterization of Dick Grayson (as Robin, Nightwing, and just Dick). Although the universe where YJ is very different from the comics one, they did make an excellent job developing Dick and the other team members in the first season.

It was weird seeing Dick in the YJ team instead of the Titans one but I am glad that they did it that way because they took their time to develop Dick and then Tim as the Robins in the different seasons.

Dick not being the leader of the team was also weird but it led to so many interesting plotlines for him. I also felt that their take on Dick Grayson was very in tune with the times in which the show came out he was very tech-driven (which he used to be in comics but then they gave that characteristic to Tim and took it away from Dick) and is Bat training was shown plenty, he truly seemed like one of the most valuable assets for the team even though he was the youngest and he had no powers.

His personality felt real for his age in the show, he was funny and smart, his acrobatic skills were there. I really loved the way they handled his change of mind when it came to wanting to lead the team at all costs and wanting to become Batman in the future. That episode was wonderfully done and seeing that therapy session that Dick had still makes me feel sad for him.

He was friends with everybody and tried to make everyone feel welcome which I think is also very in tune with Dick Robin in comics. He seemed to be learning from everyone and every experience too which was also nice. The Circus episode really showed us another side of Dick, he was being protective of his first family and he was also starting to feel comfortable as a sort of co-leader of the team. He had a very deep connection with his teammates and that was also similar to his relationship in comics with the Titans.

As I said before I really couldn’t enjoy the other two seasons the same way that I did the first but the Dick Grayson that I saw in them was a really cool one, it did give me Outsiders (2003) vibes from those seasons so I am a little bit biased. But I really liked the idea of Dick and Kaldur having this secret plan that could help everyone in the end even though it might have cost them their friends. When that situation repeated itself in the third season I still sided with Dick (and the people that were on “his” team), it really felt like Dick could see the bigger picture of the problems that they were facing, I wouldn’t say that Dick puts the mission in front of everything else though, that’s Batman’s thing. Dick really just wanted everyone to be okay and he saw that people were trying to solve the problem inefficiently, which would eventually get more people hurt. He was very selfless but also realized that by doing what he did he didn’t only help to save the world but he did make some people think twice before trusting him completely.

That last scene where Dick calls everyone for a meeting and he is surprised when everyone shows up is a very Dick Grayson scene, people really understood that as a team leader Nightwing had to make some very difficult decisions so when he called, they all showed up. Bruce saying that Dick commands more respect than he realizes was so true and iconic of him.

One of my favorite episodes was “Private Security” where Dick teamed up with Will, Roy, and Jim harper, it was super fun and it also had some very interesting moments that showed how Dick was grieving the death/disappearance of his friend, and how he needed someone to tell him that he was going to be okay and that there were people who needed training and he was the best option to do it. That interaction between Dick and Will made me remember Dick and Roy’s chat at the beginning of Outsiders (2003).

Overall, I really enjoyed Dick’s characterization in that show, it respected the original material and made Dick a solid character even though he had differences from his comic counterpart.

-

I have seen very few animated movies from DC that had Dick as a featured character. I watched: Under the Red Hood, Son of Batman, Batman vs Robin, Batman: Bad Blood, Teen Titans: Judas Contract, and Batman: Hush.

In those movies, Dick’s characterization hasn’t been consistent, in each movie they manage to get something right but they butcher everything else. Mostly I enjoy Dick’s interactions with people, he had a fun moment with Damian, Kory, Bruce, and Selina. But he is never the real center of these stories so they kinda throw him to the side and nerf him a bit too much.

In “Bad Blood” he was Batman to Damian’s Robin but that movie didn’t do much for their relationship. He kinda is reduced to Batman’s most loyal friend or something like that, there isn’t much depth to him or his characterization.

He really wasn’t loved or respected in these movies, “Batman vs. Robin” had the Court of Owls as the main enemies but they didn’t use Dick as a plotline, they had Damian and Bruce having a conflict instead.

“Batman: Hush” was a mess, from every point of view, Dick was done dirty in that scene in the cemetery (I can’t really remember if it was a cemetery the place where he got dosed with fear(?) gas and Selina had to save him), he is treated as if he were an unexperienced vigilante, it is very sad to see.

Also, they had this very annoying “trope” where Dick dislocated his shoulder someway, somehow in every movie. I don’t know why that was, but it happened too often.

-

As you can see, I haven’t watched that much DC animated content so, from what I have seen Dick’s best characterization is the one from Young Justice, I think they did a great job mixing their own version of Dick Grayson with his comic counterpart. They really respected and worked with the original material.

But! “The Lego Batman” needs to have a special mention because this movie was a gift from the gods. This is a masterpiece, it’s Dick Grayson makes my heart melt, I adore that little Robin, he makes me happy. Bruce and Joker’s relationship is a perfect dramatization of what Batman and Joker’s relationship is in comics and I will be forever glad that DC took the initiative and made fun of themselves like that.

It is just the perfect comfort movie!

Another special mention is “Batman: Under the Red Hood” but I am not mentioning it because of Dick’s appearance there, I just think that this movie is neat and amazing and that everyone should watch it. It has Jensen Ackles voicing Jason! Best Jason Todd/Red Hood that we have ever had out of comics!

Anyway, I am sorry it took me so long to answer your ask, I hope you have a marvelous week!

#dick grayson #young justice #nightwing #dc animated universe #dc animation #dc comics #asksss

[arachniss]

Horrormovie Night

Fluff, fluff, more fluff and some sweet talking towards baby Tamaki uwu

Prompt; Watching horror movies together

Arachniss Fall Event Masterlist

Tamaki did not like Halloween season, not much when he had to see such scary things at the markets.

Like right now, Halloween themed music played loudly from speakers as he walked around.

He didn't dislike everything about the Holiday, just the scary things like the masks and the haunted houses.

And everyone filling the small building with loud noises, mostly little kids who would scream and laugh as they begged their parents for candy and costumes.

He really didn't want to be there.

Seriously, he considered leaving six times already. Just abandoning the candy bags in his arms and giving up his search.

But he was hoping to spend the night with you, eating overpriced candy and watching horror movies, one of which you had said he could choose.

He went for the only horror movie he's ever seen that has never scared him, especially since it had to do with sea life and it looked so fake.

Turning a corner, he jumped when he heard a screech behind him, ears slightly drooping as he found the round container full of movies and almost cried when he saw what he was searching for all the way on the top.

As if calling for him.

Or mocking him, he wasn't sure.

Quick to pay, he noticed your favorite chocolate bar in full size and asked for it, taking his things and practically sprinting out of the grocery store.

—

“Oh! Tamaki, just in time! I made some popcorn so we can eat that, too!” He immediately smiled at the sight of you when you opened the door to your room, eyes showing your excitement and wide smile on your face.

You were wearing pajamas, a simple t-shirt of his that was big on you and a pair of shorts that went a bit above your knee.

Quickly, you let him in and shut the door behind him.

“What movie did you get?” You asked, sitting down on your bed and turning on your laptop, his eyes averting immediately as he answered from his spot in front of the door.

“..Jaws.”

“Ooo! Perfect, haven’t watched it in a while!”

He seemed to relax at your acceptance, placing the paper bag in his arms on your bed and sitting down next to you without being too close.

You haven’t been dating for long, a few months now, and the boy had no idea exactly how comfortable you were with him.

Once comfortable, he handed you the movie and you placed it in your laptop’s slot.

The movie immediately started, a quiet excited giggle leaving you as you snuggled up into his right side and pulled open the candy bag, the sweets spilling all over your sheets.

The movie began, the shark coming on screen and you almost immediately began stuffing your face with candy.

—

You booed, rolling your eyes at the horrible ending and flopping backwards onto your fluffy pillow with a pout on your face.

Tamaki had to admit that you looked adorable with that look on your face, hesitantly opening his mouth to speak, “That was kinda.. Bad..”

You laughed at how he said it, hesitant and as if to avoid sounding as if he thought it was boring, a hand running through your hair as you laid there.

“It was really bad! The shark looks so fake!”

He smiled a bit, looking down at your intertwined fingers and gently squeezing your hand. You had grabbed his hand in the middle of the movie, simply holding it as the movie progressed.

“Next movie!” You exclaim, going onto Netflix and straight to the horror movie section, “You okay with Child’s Play? I’ve heard it’s as fake as Jaws.”

“Um.. Okay.” He whispered, curling up against you so he was more comfortable, his slanted eyes focused on the cute smile you give him.

“If I get scared, I’ll hold onto you, okay?” You commented, your body warm against him as he flushed, eyes widening slightly.

He didn’t think you’d do it but the thought of a person depending on him, an anxious and flustered mess, made him feel a bit better.

The movie started, Charles Lee Ray running through the streets showing up and you once again began to stuff your face with food, popcorn this time.

—

He was wrong. There were a few moments where you did jump and clung to him, his eyes widening at the fact that you trusted him enough to hide your face into his side.

Maybe he was being overdramatic, anyone else would have simply shrugged and kept watching the movie, but he couldn’t help himself.

It was amazing, the feeling of you hiding from something behind him, even if it’s just a simple movie.

The movie was almost over, Andy shutting the door in his home to hide from the killer doll before running to his mom’s room had you sitting up.

You weren’t as jumpy anymore, having been freaked out in the beginning.

He wasn’t going to lie, the damn doll was creepy and he was trembling a bit as the anxiety started creeping up on him.

Your room was dark, it was a bit late now and none of your classmates seemed to be awake by how quiet the halls were.

You sighed as the movie ended, grumbling that it looked fake and that they added an uncalled for amount of blood, falling backwards onto your pillow with Tamaki´s arm still in your grip.

The position was uncomfortable for him, his arm at an odd angle against your chest.

He felt as if he’d upset you, though, if he mentioned it.

A grunt left your sprawled form, your grip on his arm loosening as you went to turn on your side, your head resting against his shoulder.

“You could’ve told me it was uncomfortable for you, bunny. I would’ve gotten into this position instead.”

“Sorry..”

The smile on your face worked at relaxing his tense body immediately, your words encouragement for him to interlock fingers with you.

“No need to apologize.”

He began searching for something else to watch, hopefully faker than the previous one in hopes of being able to be more comfortable in the dark room.

“How’s Goosebumps sound, bunny?” He mumbles, faintly feeling you nod against his arm, “Okay,”

Another two hours went by, your boyfriend popping the occasional chocolate or cookie in his mouth as he watched The Haunted Mask play, the episode coming to a cliffhanger.

Your cheek was pressed against his shoulder, still, your focus on the tv.

He had thought you were falling asleep until he heard your voice, his body jolting at the words.

“Can you stay the night? That movie kinda made me feel a bit paranoid now..”

The teachers would scold the both of you if he were to stay, but he didn’t really acknowledge it much.

Instead, he turned so he was on his side and wrapped his arms around you, letting you bury your face into the crook of his neck, instead.

Red faced, he gently pressed a soft kiss to the crown of your head, immediately shoving his face into your hair.

You pouted, reaching up to play with his hair as he hid his cute face from you.

“Tamaki! You can’t just do that and expect me to let it go!”

“Good night..”

“Eh!? Good night!?”

He didn’t answer, the pout still on your face as you struggled to move your head away from his.

It took a few tries but he let you grab his face eventually, his lips trembling and face still bright red.

“You’re amazing and adorable.” You state, noticing immediately how his eyes widened at your praise, “And I love you, Tamaki. And your adorable shyness.”

A quick kiss had his heart hammering against his rib cage, your words making him start to tear up.

The last thing he wanted was for you to see him crying because of three words, his eyes gawking at you because you looked so serious.

You loved him.

Anxious Tamaki Amajiki.

Face-the-wall-when-faced-with-negative-emotions Tamaki Amajiki.

Blushing mess and tearing up when told he’s loved Tamaki Amajiki.

He was shaking uncontrollably as he stared at you, hearts in his eyes as he struggled to respond.

“Tamababy, you don’t have to say it back.”

His brows furrowed, voice coming out quiet.

“I-I love you, t-too, (Y-N).”

#amajiki x reader #bnha #bnha x reader #mha x reader #suneater #tamaki amajiki x reader #tamaki bnha #mha tamaki #amajiki bnha

[darkwingsofimagination]

I have lots of thoughts and feelings about Madre Solo Hay Dos, and this post is an attempt to express it. Since I'm posting through the android app I can't use the keep reading option, so SPOILER ALERT IN CASE YOU HAVE NOT WATCHED MADRE SOLO HAY DOS YET.

-------------------‐------

So, when I began watching I couldn't find a trailer or a teaser, was relying solely on the small synopsis Netflix gave - which honestly was the best thing for me.

It also meant that at fisrt I was really surprised there was a husband at all not to mention two older kids in Ana's life, but I grew up watching enough mexican telenovelas to know that one way or another things would work out (I surely hoped so). But I liked how the story unraveled.

I was also VERY SURPRISED by Mariana and Elena's relationship because I definitely wasn't expecting Mariana to actually be with a woman before falling for Ana.

Juan Carlos cheating on Ana was both expected and utterly irritating (how could he do that when he had such an amazing wife and family?) And it cannot be justified by the fact she was controlling and workaholic. It just isn't, I mean he knew that control was how she showed love - he said it in episode two - and knowing he met her in university he must have known she was and would still be career driven. And to me that marriage was in the verge of ending and not just because he cheated, but for how he treated her. Always making her feel bad on focusing on having a successful career. I like him as a father, he is pretty good. But as a husband to her he was an asshole. I mean I could understand him asking her stop working a little to spend some time with the baby, for health and bonding issues, (and in a way she did need some rest) but I can't say I liked him in the first episode, because as soon as I knew he cheated that was it. But I tolerated him, he had some nice moments.

Pablo made me so pissed at him for the way he treated Mariana, specially after she said no to him. Although I didn't see him as being manipulative at first, I do agree he seemed to only want Regina if Mariana would go back to him. Besides, the fact he kept competing against Elena (he didn't see Ana coming at all and I really love that lol) irritated me. To me he was clearly treating Mariana as if she were some prize. As if she came back to him would prove he was better than Elena, that Idk Mariana was only with Elena because he left you know? Like getting her back was just to boost his ego - just my opinions. If he could work on not being an ass to Mariana just because she doesn't want to go back with him and still be in Regina's life and for all that's holy if he finally stops listening to the jerks he calls friends he could be tolerable.

I like Elena, I don't love her though, but I like her pretty much, however telling Mariana that she was just confused about how she felt for Ana was a jerk move. I get it, she is hurt and maybe she feels like getting revenge because what Mariana did to her wasn't nice (I mean, it was pretty clear she let Elena assume they were more than just friends who occasionally kissed) but still doesn't justify it. Honestly, I don't even think she should have told Mariana that she noticed she fell for Ana. Mariana needed to that on her own (which she was almost there if the gay panic on her face while she looked at Ana during their "bonding" ritual for Regina's spiritual reception was any indication). What happens is I think that Elena accepeted that she had lost Mariana to Pablo, and to her ir made sense: he was there first (in the sense he was her previous relationship), he was a man, and she was the first woman Mariana ever was with, so maybe she was trying new things and he is Regina's father, maybe she even thought Mariana was still in love with him on some level (which is even sadder, honestly). But seeing Mariana fall in love with Ana, made her realize that Mariana likes women, that she can fall in love with another woman, she just never fell for Elena. So yeah, if they don't make her into a manipulative bitch she could still be an awesome character - my headcannon is both Elena and Pablo getting their heads out of their asses and helping Mariana win Ana back.

All of the men in Ana's life are stupid.

Juan Carlos doesn't appreciate all the effort she puts in trying to be a business woman, a good mother and wife. Neither does Daniel, her ex, seems like he actually understood her. While he read a bit of his book to her she seemed very unconfortable, just as when he talked about not being able to keep up with her. And like he said, her smile is beautiful, yes (the woman is masterpiece of beauty) but she's way more than that. However her ex did look like a fool in love when he saw her again (which Juan Carlos never does) and I guess that's what drove her to him.

I'll save the best for last, so bear with me just a bit more before getting to Ana and Mariana. Before I'd like to talk about Teresa.

Even if I wish Mariana didn't hide from Ana what happened I do understand her. First Tere (beautiful woman, wich honestly this show just slayed me with so many beautiful women) is her mom and she is kinda manipulative (although I'm sure she sometimes means well most of the times she doesn't think about the consequences of her actions) and I don't know, I think as strong and as independent Mari is, she does want to have a family that gets along and people here in Latin America sometimes get in too much of that "family is blood" bullshit, and not only Latinex but the rest of the world seems pretty adamant in having children listen and forgive their parents and carry on toxic parent-child relationships because "they are your parents", which sucks, but it's true. And not only that as much as Ana feels hurt I don't think she would have believed Mariana if she told her. After all in 20 years Juan Carlos never seemed to show any signs of ever being unfaithful to her. Even if it was the right thing to do, it's not the easiest decision. It wasn't just a relationship of a married couple it would affect but also JC's relationship with the children, because it does change their view of the parent - hence he cutting Ana before she said to the children she cheated on him. And yes Tere is her mother and the thing about parents (and other immeadiate family members) is that even if they screw us up all the time we always feel like we have to stand by them someway, somehow. And (and it's a very unpopular opinion and I'm not sure if I'll manage to get my point across very well but I'll try) I guess Mariana felt guilty for what Tere did, not only for keeping the secret but for her actions as well. Mariana is always trying to fix things with and/or for Tere and I guess she might have felt guilty over bringing Tere into Ana's life, even if she knows it's not her fault anything happened... but guilt is something really weird, so yeah. why I think she feels guilty is because, well, I don't know how it is for other people, but when living with manipulative people they managed to make you feel bad for things you have nothing to feel sorry for, not to mention that her attempts of protecting and trusting her mother comes from a feeling of guilty of not being able to trust her - which is also another thing both Pablo and Teresa want from Mariana without ever giving her reason to and then making her feel bad about not being able to trust them.

And finally, what I thought of Ana and Mariana's relationship.

I love how Ana and Mariana balance each other, I like the age difference as well. I thinks it sends a great message as well, not only with the cliché that you may find lkve whenever, but that no matter how old or how young are life happens and you have to deal with it. Being married and having a stable life didn't stop Ana from having her life turned upside down, and the same with Mariana, in her case it just meant that her mess of life got even crazier but that just it.

I love how the relationship between Mariana and the kids just flows naturally as well. And I love how Mariana does support Ana and shows she is happy for her a lot more than her own husband. Even if they are not married they do act like each other's partners, at least to me.

I feel like their relationship begins to shift at the end of the first episode when they decided to live together - and 'Flotando' by Francisca Valenzuela playing during the scene, to me, it's a very beautiful and subtle way to say to us viewers that we can and should expect more from their relationship.

However the second episode it feels to me like it's fundamental, specially for Ana. They both fell very silently for each other, and without noticing and I think Ana began falling when Mariana not only broke her rules but defied her and told her the truth everyone else was afraid to say - and not only that that bond the girl began forming with both Ceci and Ro. I loved how she was super attentive in listening how Pablo was a jerk and then being super protective of both Mariana and Regina when he began coming around - but I also loved that she relented, albeit reluctantly, when she saw that Mariana really thought Pablo could be of importance to Regina. The fact that Mariana was so worried in making sure Ana approved of him showed more of how much she valued Ana's opinion than whatever she may feel for her ex, which to me was step 1 of Mariana falling for Ana, step 2 was definitely the scene where she makes faces at Valentina just so the baby would smile at Ana and the woman could be a little happier, and sideways hug was the cherry on top - the way she feels uncertain of it before doing was very well thought out and executed.

The scene where Ana introduces Mariana and Regina as her other daughter and Valentina's other mother without explaining further than "we are the mothers of the two babies" was really such a heartfelt moment I just died.

I loved how after those initial moments they were constantly checking on each other (I really do love when Ana goes check on Mariana after her disaster of day with Anuar and she gently tucks Mariana's hair out her face in such a beautiful caress).

The scene in which Ana is shocked about how Mariana's date went is definitely one great indication of the fact she was feeling something more (I mean, saying that if she were a man she would definitely hit on her? That has got to be the oldest play on the book, the famous "I'd kiss you if I weren't straight"). Also on the same episode but before the horrible date, she did ask Mariana to never again say she wasn't attractive, which I also saw as something more, 'cause she was able to read between the lines. Mariana out loud said she wasn't sure about her body, not really saying she didn't feel pretty but one could read it. I think it meant something because Ana seems not that much of an expert reading people, so to be able to be so certain would mean she really paid attention. When Ana said Mariana should try with someone she trusted I think that she wanted it to be hed, even if she didn't realize yet. Or maybe did. In the episode where she takes time off before accepting her promotion there's a scene after she wakes up that Juan Carlos begins to kiss her, clearly intending to have sex (and they did have it) but her face is like "god this is boring/I don't think I really want to" that just makes me think ok, maybe she's already realizing she wants someone else (I had this impression). The episode where they go away and not only Mariana manages to convince everyone to go without being intrusive it's really nice, I also loved how fast Ana embraced everyone else as family for Mariana and Regina. The pool scene, oh my, I melted. First how pissed Ana was to know that Tere got distracted and Mariana almost drowned and how she instantly went after Mariana to chek on her, and not only trying to calm her about the water, listening to her about her fears and at the end asking if she trusted her (like I said before I really think she already wanted Mariana and knew it) and then the way they looked at each other whilst in the pool with the babies. Perfect!

Ana feeding Mariana the baby food was the cutest, and I know she said the girls weren't ready to be parted because she was afraid of she might have cancer I really do think she also meant because she wanted them there (let's not forget the lengths she went to make Mariana stay when Juan Carlos said he thought it was time to get back to normal).

Ana's "Te amo" makes lots of people think it came out of nowhere, but I don't think so. I really do believe she fell in love with Mariana, silently and without even noticing - the lingering gazes and gentle touches are some indication - and while she was drugged and asked Mariana to promise her to take care of the girls and she did I guess it hit her right then and there how much she fell for her and you know, most people do say that when you're drunk or high you tend to do and say the things you really want to because your filter just doesn't work. So yeah, I admit to me it was both unexpected and not at all.

I keep wondering if Mariana would have told Ana that she kissed her had she not told her she needed to do the biopsy to rule out cancer. Either way I love everything about the scene. How grateful Ana is to know that she can count on Mariana and how fearful Mariana looks. I loved that Mariana just stopped everything to accompany Ana to the hospital.

I loved that Mariana never for one second seemed to think of saying yes to Pablo and how even with all of her mother bs she refused to live with them because Ana needs her.

The baptism is the peak. Their bonding ceremony is not only wedding vows worthy but it's also the it finally hits Mariana that she fell for Ana, and I just love the gay panic she clearly has. I love her face of fool in love when Ana goes to her friends and how happy both of them look while holding the girls through the ceremonies.

Even if I'm very grateful for the declaration and the kiss we got - highlight for the lightning of this scene. The way the sun hits them helps give the impression that they will work it our - however Mariana should've processed her feelings first but I get her, she was afraid of losing Ana without a fighting chance - both for not telling and for Ana may having cancer. That scene is as beautiful as it is heartbreaking with both of them so miserable. The ending is one more proof of how well this show knows to pair scenes and songs. Cobarde's lyrics is so perfect it feels like it was made for the scene (or perhaps the scene was thought for the song).

I really hope we get these two together in season 2 - however I love me some angst, and usually is what we get, so I think that Ana's tests will come back positive and that Mariana will go back to take care of her and things will go on from that.

And that was my TedTalk, thank you for having the patience to read the ramblings of a very enthusiastic viewer.

#madre solo hay dos #daughter from another mother #mae so tem duas #paulina goto #ludwika paleta #lesbian #ana y mariana

[outerbankspreferences]

50 Wordless ways to say I love you.

#11. telling them a dumb joke to see them smile.

Word Count: 1067

MASTERLIST SERIES MASTERLIST

It had been a long week, everybody’s stress level on set were sky high. You were getting down to last minute shooting, and everybody was tired and worn out. You were no expectation to this, you always worked yourself to hard, never taking time off. You had a lot to prove this time around, it was the first time you were getting to be a writer on a hit television show. You had helped write three episodes of a new television series called Outer Banks on Netflix. You had grown really close with that cast, spending a lot of time with them off set.

 You’d grown especially close with Drew, having a lot do with creating his character in the show. You guys had worked on a couple of other projects together before but never really got to know one another. The two of you got along so well, having a lot in common. The both of you were homebody and didn’t like to be the center of attention.

 Drew was an amazing actor, and really pushed your limits when it came to writing for his character. You spent a lot of time working with him and getting his input. That was your thing, you wanted the person playing the character to have as much say in things as you did. You always said, “the actor knows the emotion better than I do.” Which wasn’t a complete lie. Drew always seemed to know exactly how you wanted a scene executed even before you did.

 Being a female creator wasn’t always easy, and some of the other writers on the show gave you a hard time because you were so young. You didn’t have a lot of experience and Jonas took a huge leap of faith hiring you. You knew it, everyone knew it. This was going to make or break your career as a television writer.

 You were sitting in the small writer’s office, trying to finish off some dialogue for the last scene you wanted to shoot. You were making list of what was needed, and who would be in it. You had been messing around with different ideas for a couple of hours before you heard knock on the door, and see Drew come in. “I brought you something to drink. You’ve been in here all-day Y/N, what are you working on.” He asked passing you and earl grey tea (your go to drink). He took a seat behind you, drinking his own coffee.

 “I had an idea for a scene and I just wanted to get it down on paper before I forgot it.” You laughed, “thanks for the tea, this is the fuel intake I need.” You joked with him.

 Drew could tell you were stressed out. You had snapped at one of the camera guys earlier in the day trying to shoot scene with Chase and Rudy, which was out of character for you. You could assertive when you needed to be, but not out right mean.

 Out of everyone Drew knew how much this meant to you. You guys had talked about it a lot, and it was no secret that it was getting to your head. “Why don’t you take break for bit Y/N/N, we can go get something to eat. You need some vitamin D.” Drew said putting a hand on your shoulder, spinning you around in your chair. “No, I need to finish this, I’m almost done anyways.” That was lie, you were no where near finished, and it was getting overwhelming. Just thinking about what else you had to finish brought tears of frustration to your eyes. You spun back around, not wanting Drew to see you cry.

 “Knock knock.” Drew spoke up giggling to himself. Was he seriously trying to tell a joke right now? “Drew come on; I have work to finish.” You said trying to hide your anger. “Oh, just play along, knock knock.” He repeated himself.

 You sighed knowing he wouldn’t stop until you gave in. “Who’s there?” You asked, still looking at the computer. “Boo.” He said laughing to himself. “Boo who?” you said playing along. “Oh, don’t cry it’s just a joke!” he said almost keeling over laughing.

 You don’t know what came over you, but you started to cry. It wasn’t like you do cry in front of everyone. You saved these vulnerable moments for the shower when you were alone. Drew looked surprise; he didn’t know what to do. He had never seen you cry before. He thought the joke would make you laugh. “Oh shit, you weren’t supposed to start crying. I’m sorry.” He said, rubbing your back while you cried.

 “I don’t know what I was thinking. I’m going to ruin this show, it’s a good show. I don’t have the experience for this. I’ve been winging it since day one and everyone knows it. And then I got made at Chris today for no reason, and everyone probably thinks I’m a bitch. I think I’m a bitch.” You said venting to him. Drew wrapped his arms around you pulling you into a bone crushing hug.

 “Hey shh, it’s okay.” You guys sat there while Drew whispered soft encouraging words to you. It was and intimacy you weren’t used to sharing with anyone. You were thankful it was Drew there and not someone else. You always had a thing for Drew but didn’t want to make things uncomfortable. You pulled away from his grasp looking at him.

 “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t be crying right now. I don’t know where that came from.” You said wiping your eyes, trying to make things les awkward. “No need to apologize, we all have our moments. Are you okay now?” He asked wiping a few stray tears. “Yeah, I am, thanks.” You whispered.

 “Knock knock.” He said hoping you wouldn’t cry this time. “oh god, who’s there?” You replied laughing to yourself. “Tank.” “Tank who?” “You’re welcome! Get it? Tank you, thank you?” He said laughing at his own joke. You started to laugh. “Oh god Drew, those are awful jokes.”

 He knew that they were awful, but the made you laugh, and that’s a sound Drew could listen to forever. So, you guys spent the night telling each other terrible knock knock jokes and drinking your coffee.

#drew starkey #drew outerbanks #drew starkey blurb #drew imagine #drew-starkey-imagine #drew starkey x reader #drew starkey x you #50wordlesswaystosayiloveyou

[popculturebuffet]

Blog Updates: New Patreon Stretch Goals, Patreon Exclusive Reviews, New Story Arcs and Other Stuff

MHello everyone. For those of you seeing this through other tags my name is Jake. I do reviews on here that are usually full sumaries of an episode of a tv show or comic, with jokes and analsyis throughout. I’m doing this post as i’ve recently revamped by patreon a bit, check out VIA THIS LINK if your curious. I also have some other stuff going on with the blog that I thought might intrest the general public and especially you lovely followers. Thank you guys so much. Your support means a lot and feel free to interact with this post and any of the reviews. it’s always a pleasure. Leave your comments whatever. So let’s start with the patreon stuff

You Decide the Next Patreon Exclusive Review!: 

Yes YOU will decide the Patreon Exclusive review for May. How? It’s simple: i’m currently reviewing the Lilo and Stitch crossover episodes, the first two this week with the American Dragon Jake Long crossover “Morpholomew” done yesterday, the Proud Family episode “Spats” coming later this week, and “Rufus” (Kim Possible) and “Lax” (Recess) coming next week and the week after that respectively. 

As a way to gage intrest in the shows crossed over, and if I should review some of them on their own, i’m going to be watching the notes, and after the first week i’ll record how many a review got. This way the first review dosen’t get an advantage over the last and so on. Whichever episode gets the most votes wins and it’s show will get two reviews: One exclusive to Patreon in may you can check out for just a buck, and one for all of ya in June. So if you want to dragon up, get louder and prouder, check out what the sitch is, or have some recess, keep an eye on my blog and check out the review. Like it reblog, it, both. This is all in your hands. And if this little contest works out I may do another one like it in the future. 

New Patreon Stretch Goals!:

For those unfamiliar with Patreon it’s a site that helps creators like me get paid for their work, used by such luminaries as Linkara, Pushing Up Roses and greatest of all Rifftrax. 

Stretch Goals are an amount of money I get a month from patreons, that’s readers like you paying me. Even a buck a month would help a lot and help me put out a reviews and LIVE off doing this. But it’s a two way street so in order to entice you lovely people into paying me for doing my job and my passion with these reviews, i’ve updated the tiers, adding a wider and better range of rewards. I’m currenntly up to 15 dollars a month, or close enough that i’ve acitivated those rewards. And if you help me hit these tiers EVEYRONE gets PUBLIC, on here, for free reviews. Thanks to my lovely patreons Emma and Kevin you all are getting reviews of the first 5 Ducktales episode, aka Legend of the Golden Suns, with the second coming as soon as I finish this post. Even a buck helps us reach closer and for your dollar you get access to the discord, exclusive reviews, and to pick a short any time I review a bunch of shorts. And with Goofy’s birthday coming up next montha nd Donald’s after that, now is the best time for that. 5 dollar patreons also get one review as month, with 10 dollar ones getting two. You’ve already probably seen some of these: Kev has used one of his a month to have me review a house of mouse episode every month, and newest patreon and longtime friend Emma is using them to have me review the netflix dr. seuss adaptation “Green Eggs and Ham”. So whatever YOU want me to review I will and you’l lhelp unlock even MORE great reviews. So what do you get if you hit the goals? I’m glad you asked. 

We’re up to 15 so next is...

20 Dollar Tier:  Ducktales 87 Season 2 Mini Series!: Yes indeedy. Already on the Docket was the Super Ducktales Arc, which introducices the OG GIZMODUCCCKKKKK. But since that apparenlty wasn’t enough i’ve also added the OTHER mini series. While i’ll do super first since that’s the one with higher fan intrest once tha’ts done i’ll also review Time is Money, the time travel arc bringing in everyone’s faviroite scrappy Bubba. So if you want a buncha cruncha retro Ducktales pony up. But that’s not all the disney afternoon I got for this tier. 

A Darkwing Duck Episode A MOnth: This one has also been promoted every time I could and still stands. If you like that mind behind the shadow disguise, that daring duck of mystery, that champion of right, then you’ll get one review a month about him, as voted on by you patreons. 

Danny Phantom: The Ultimate Enemy: And since neither of these have helped me so far and stepping back into Amity Park made me realize how much I love the series, even if it’s creator is a 80 tons of smug asshole packed into a t-shirt he thinks is cooler than it is. So it only felt right to add  the ghost boy to the tier and the best way to kick that off is with it’s second best, and only barely second behind Reign Storm, episode: The Ultimate Enemy! Danny finds his future is imperfect and must battle his own evil self! If you want my thoughts on one of the series finest hours, then help me hit 20 bucks a month to keep making content. 

25 Dollar Tier: 

I removed the Tail Spin content, though rest assured I will be covering Plunder and Lightning sometime this year. But what I replaced it with is even better. 

One Danny Phantom Review a Month: YOu like teen superheros? you like ghosts? you like me slagigng off about butch hartman and trying to make it crystal clear his creation dosen’t wholly belong to him? Then you’ll like me reviewing Danny Phantom. And while i’m already doing that, this goal gaurantees one episode a month, and said episode will be voted on by my patreons. So if you pay for this you’ll not only get your monthly dose of going ghost.. but you’ll get a chance to PICK what it is. 

Disney Shows To Movies Trilogy : I’ve decided to make it a tradition for my 15 dollar stretch goals to do a bunch of disney movies. And like with my last batch, which you’ll be seeing in may, i’m doing tv shows that got their own movies, theatrical or otherwise. And this time we’re doing MY generatoin: Kim Possible: So The Drama, the best story in the show’s histroy and the best movie in the Disney Channels! Recess: Schools Out! The suprisingly bonkers unsurprisingly awesome finale to an awesome show! and The Proud Family Movie, another UTTERLY BATSHIT finish to a great show.  Lost at Sea and Seconds: This one’s for my scottaholics, fourth part of my Scott Pilgrim retrospective coming this week!. If you like me taking a look at Scott’s quest to punch the fuck out of his girlfriends exes while growing up a little, then if you help me get to the 30 dollar tier, i’ll also take a look at O’Malley’s other graphic novels Lost at Sea, which follows a girl who lost her soul and her boyfriend on a trip with what may be Young Neil’s older sister, and Seconds, the story of a woman with issues growing up who finds the ablitlity to travel through time.. or is it space? And some of you savvier readers my know he has nother comic. Where’s that one? wellllll

30 Dollar Tier:

Snotgirl: I’m saving this one for this tier. Reviews of each collected volume of snotgirl, Bryan’s first ongoing series, all three so far and any more to come about, unsuprisingly, a  hot mess of a person, this time who might’ve done a murder. You know instead of defintely did a murder but in self defnese and with a longsword. 

Gravity Falls Season 1!: One of Disney’s finest finally on this blog. All season 1 episodes reviewed in some way in some shape in some form.  Star Vs Finale Arc!: You’ve heard me bitch about the problems in Tom’s story, and wil lcontinue to. Now see the terrible way everyone elses ends! From an amazing build up to an awful finish, see reviews of Every story relevant season 4 episode from Butterfly Follies to Cleaved that won’t already be covered in my tom retrospective. It’s a road to crushing disapointment, come on inside! 

35 Dollar Tier:  More Disney TV Adaptations!: Doug’s First Movie! See Doug get really fucking weird in his sea monster based movie with a punch line of a name! Teachers Pet, a great movie out of a show I barely saw! Kim Possible Live action! it’s suprisingly okay! and Recess Taking the Fifth: a compliation movie for a season we sadly never got. 

Gravity Falls Season 2: Buillding on the first reward Gravity Falls Reviews will go beyond the first season and finish the job. From zombies, to dipcifica, to ford to weirdmageddon, I’m doin it all. 

40 Dollar Tier: 

Two HUGE Disney Focused Comics Retrospectives! 

Darkwing Duck: In addition to the show, i’ll start reviewing the awesome follow up comic that got me into it. From the start to both finishes: the unathorized crossover finale and the sadly short lived sequel series from joe books, the worst mistake disney ever made that wasn’t racist, before Artemis Fowl said hold my beer. Also the short lived Ducktlaes series because why not. 

The Incredibles!: The Family Dynamic! A comprehensive retrospective featuring reviews of the movie, the Mark Waid followup, the sequel that ignores said followup and the incomparable Christos Gage’s followup to THAT movie. Also that wonderfuly awful failed tv pilot bob made that he and lucius did a mst3k of. 

45 Dollar Tier: 

Disney Flims Lilo and Stitch a Thon: All four lilo and stitch movies, Lilo and Stitch, Lilo and Sitch 2, Stitch and Leroy and Stitch! All the hawaii, aliens and sequels you can handle!

Amphibia Season 1: I’ve done Season 2 as it comes out, i’ll be doing the same for season 3, so help me get here to see the start at least once a month, but two at a time!

50 Dollar Tier: The last one for now. I’ll probably go to 10 dollar tiers after this. 

The Owl House Season 1: While I wait for the second season to start so I can cover it, have me do the rest of season 1! The only exceptions are the already covered Enchanted Grom Fright and the earmarked for pride month wing it like witches!

The Two Loves and 87 Mistakes of Mordecai: A regular show romancetrospective, as we go through the downs, ups, higher ups and crushing lows of Modercai’s romantic arcs from regular show. His crush on margert, making his move, moving on, moving on to cj, and then the horrible cluster fuck I’ve talked about nonstop and will again and again as one of the worst romantic arcs in memory as they shot the relationship in the foot head and groin! Force me to relive it all!

So yeah I’ll add more tiers, again probably 10 dollars apart if I get to 50, but given I barely got to 15 i’m not optimistic. PROVE ME WRONG. HELP ME HIT 50. 

Other Stuff:

Finally outisde of Patreon, that was the main reason for this, I have news on my various arcs. For one thing i’ll be trying to keep the pace better, so expect at least one entry a month for ones i’m doing on my own time like the tom retrospective, life and times and Scott pilgrims. Ones kev does will be done weekly to keep my wallet afloat. 

I also have two more retrospectives incoming! The first is paid for by Kev: I’l lbe tackling ALL THREE SEASON 2 ARCS OF DUCKTALES 2017. After the headache of trying to cram the della arc into three weeks to keep up with the lena one, I decided i’td be better for pacing if I did all three at once and kev agreed to it, if using his patreon reviews to cushion the blows. So starting next month i’ll be covering the Louie, Della and Glomgold/Owlson arcs, swapping between them in episode order. With that I should be FAR closer to having covered every ducktales episode. Granted i’ll still have 17 to cover, but it’ll make that much more managable. 

The second comes in June specifically timed for Pride Month. With Scott Pilgrim Wrapping up in August just in time for the movie’s anniversary, I decided to start covering another one of my faviorite comics of all time. It’s time to transform, roll out and make this precoius it’s Transformers More than Meets the Eye! For those of you unfamiliar it’s an idw comic that follows a rag tag group of transformers, about half of them gay or gay coded, on a mission to find the lost knights of cybertron and bring ballance to a post war cybertron.. which quickly devloves into hyjinnks with a side order of heartrending deaths and charcter development... and references to dexy’s midnight runners. 

So that’s all for now. thank you for reading, please support my patreon as the next pay term is at the start of next month, so if you want me to start on any of those stretch goals, nows the time. Please help me earn a living and until all are one, i’ll see you at the next rainbow. 

#american dragon jake long #the proud family #kim possible #recess #lilo and stitch #ducktales #darkwing duck #danny phantom #seconds #scott pilgrim #snotgirl #lost at sea #gravity falls #star vs the forces of evil #the owl house #amphibia #teacher's pet #doug #the incredibles #regular show

[nekomapi]

KUROO + MOVIE HEADCANONS

You’re both major homebodies...so the go to for weeknights and weekends is usually just watching a ridiculous amount of movies. 

TV shows aren’t as popular with you two since your schedules are always different and you refuse to watch a new episode without the other one. This means getting through one show takes ridiculously too long and by that time, you have already heard all the major spoilers. 

Crime TV and game shows are the exception— especially when you are just eating a quick meal or it’s too late for a movie.

He definitely doesn’t hum out the Law and Order SVU theme on the regular, especially when something sort of crazy or dramatic in your life happens — or the jeopardy theme when he is waiting for you to answer him or make a decision.

You like to play intense movie scores during mundane activities, like chores, and pretend you are reenacting extremely dramatic scenes. This can make things like laundry and the dishes a lot more fun-- but it can also create even more of a mess. 

Certain films you can watch a million times together without getting sick of them. Your small circle of friends can get exhausted because half the time they don’t understand if you guys are having a real conversation or are just quoting. At this point you can have long conversations by quoting so in reality it is both. 

Horror, action, comedy and mysteries are your favorite genres and you can always be in the mood to watch Christmas ones, especially Home Alone. 

You put kung fu or black and white movies on mute when you’re stoned and make up your own dialog.

Sometimes you’ll attempt to strike up a mood by putting on porn but you end up watching it seriously and criticizing the poor choice of music and the “plot”

You may or may not have injured yourselves multiple times while trying to perform some unusual moves you’ve seen. “I don’t fucking get it. I have the stamina of a volleyball player but how is this possible??”

There’s a snack and candy jar in your place just for movie nights, but let’s be real... you both catch each other sneaking kit kats during the week.

Because it’s rare, going to the theater is always quite an event. 

You always yell at each other to hurry up so you can make the previews. It never happens cause you end up making out in the car or the concessions line is a mile long and even though you brought snacks-duh- Kuroo needs a cherry icee.

Once it starts, you waste no time in breaking down all of the characters and what you think their backstories will be. Constantly guessing what’s going to happen next or making up absurd plot scenarios ends up with you two snorting and hiding in your own shirts crying-laughing. 

Your “quiet whispers” are anything but so you always have to take the seats at the way back or go at an unpopular time otherwise you’ll definitely be kicked out from bothering everyone. 

If you recognize an actor/actress and can’t pinpoint what else they are from, one of you has to look them up on IMDb ASAP otherwise it will eat away at you for the rest of the movie.

You respect and support each other’s celebrity crushes, because regardless of gender you probably agree

After the movie, you are still discussing how much of a moron that main character was or what ideas they could write up for a sequel even if most of the cast died.

If you go with a group, you’ll toss popcorn at the others (who always end up moving away from you— if they even still come anymore when invited). They yell at you to shut up when you fight over the last of the sour punch straws. 

The only time you ever snuck in hard alcohol, you both passed out mid-movie and an attendant had to wake you up after it ended.

So you just Netflix a lot since you know you’ll spare some innocent souls just trying to enjoy their film in peace.

But who cares cause building forts in the living room in your pajamas and snuggling under a pile of blankets is amazing

And no matter how many blankets cover you, his feet will still stick out somewhere because ‘it’s too hot and they need to breathe’

And then he will shock your warm body with his freezing feet by sticking them between your legs or under your shirt. “just gimme your warmth y/n!”

Just know if you end up falling asleep, he will enjoy waking you up in quite a “spirited” way.

Those long fingers aren’t just for blocking volleyballs asdfghjkkleiyosnclsjrbc

xo n.pi

#i can’t stop w this one #haikyuu hcs #hq headcanons #hq!! hcs #kuroo headcanons #kuroo hcs #kuroo tetsurou #haikyuu drabbles #kuroo drabble #haikyuu imagines #haikyuu x reader #hq scenarios #haikyuu scenarios #haikyuu headcanons

[hotxhocolate]

MY WIZARDS EXPERIENCE

A COMPILATION BC I'M TOO LAZY TO SEPARATE THIS SHIT

P.S. Spoilers(?) Ahead P.P.S. THIS IS REALLY LONG SO HONESTLY DON'T WASTE UR TIME JUST WANT TO GET THIS ALL OUT

Episode 1

Douxie is precious. I'd give my life for him love him.

Archie the little shit. I love him.

THE OPENING SEQUENCE!!! BROOOOO

Jim u unfotunate bb

GIVE JIM A BREAK!!!

Merlin ur so useless sometimes i h8 u

NARI BB I LOVE U I'M ADOPTING U U PRECIOUS CHILD

GIVE DOUXIE AND CLAIRE THE STAFFS THEY DESERVE!!!

THE END CREDITS!!!!!!!!!

Episode 2

FREE JIM!!!

DON'T KILL JIM!!!

SAVE JIM!!!

POWERFUL CLAIRE 😍

GLOWY EYES CLAIRE 😍😍😍

MORGANA I KNOW U TRIED TO KILL MY BABIES IN TROLLHUNTERS BUT I LOVE U UR GORGEOUS

Arthur u suck

... douxie that was yourself

douxie u suck at blending in but i still love u

oh God steve why

u fucking look alike ofc u'd say that

YES FREE JIM!

drunk steve :')))

rapper steve :')))

Merlin during that part when the trolls escape Camelot lol same

POWERFUL CLAIRE!!!

GLOWY EYES CLAIRE!!!!!

trollhunter squad -1 being saved by their enemies lol

Episode 3

I do not like glowy eyes jim

morgana gwen gay

HOLY SHIT POWERFUL CLAIRE 😍

i wanted u two (morgana and claire) to be friends :'(((

HOLY SHIT ARTHUR WAS THE ONE WHO CUT MORGANA'S HAND OFF

AHSAKAJSKAJ MORGANA DEAD???

Episode 4

AGAKAJAAJ BLINKY

NIMUE!!!

TIME TO SEE WHICH NIMUE THEORY IS TRUE

AAARRRGGHH!!!

WITCH CLAIRE! POWERFUL CLAIRE! U AMAZING GIRL I LOVE U! U CAN OPEN THAT SHADOW PORTAL!

TEACHER DOUXIE :')))) I LOVE U

no nimue theory is true (or maybe there's a true theory out there but the ones i have read aren't)

IT'S THE THINGY!!! (and by thingy i'm referring to that netflix screensaver?/sneakpeek?/thingy)

Douxie freeing Nimue and receiving excalibur

Ur an amazing person Douxie and i love u

Jim & Morgana parallel???

OoO IT WAS NARI WHO GAVE MORGANA THE HAND

history's going alright in my pov

Episode 5

MORGANA GETTING HER GOLD ARMOUR GEAR THINGY!!! (me: 😍)

MORE TEACHER DOUXIE HIHI!!!

SHIT CLAIRE GET OUT OF THERE

>:((( merlin listen to them

steve and food hihi (same)

oh God steve

steve calling for eli :'(((

IS CALLISTA GONNA BE DEYA?!!!

CALLISTA DEFINITELY IS DEYA

CLAIRE IS BEING THE AWESOME QUEEN SHE IS AGAIN I LOVE HER

U GO GIRL

creepslayerz :'))) i miss eli

past douxie u dork i love u

Episode 6

AAAAAAAA VENDEL

Jim & Claire reunion 😍

draal i missed u :'(((

TROLL DADS ORIGIN HIHI

IF THEY KILL JIM I SWEAR

THE AMULET OF DAYLIGHT ORIGINS HIHI

where's kanjigar?

decimaar blade >:(((

coach steve HIHIHI i love him

Jim and Claire date hihi they're so soft my bbs

:'((((

jim... claire's always been an awesome wizard

THE AMULET ORIGINS!!!

DOUXIE AND MERLIN WORKING TOGETHER TO CREATE IT :')))

DOUXIE FINALLY GETS THE STAFF HE DESERVES YIEEEEE!!!

CALLISTA TROLLHUNTER!

pre-trollhunters draal >:(((

THE TROLL DADS 🥺

BLINKY U GAY SHIT

ALSO AAARRRGGHH!!! HAD A NOSE RING WHAT A CUTIE

YIEEEEEE CAL IS DEYA I KNEW IT!!!

AJA MENTION!!!

Episode 7

IT'S THE BATTLE OF KILAHEAD!!!

PLS DON'T KILL JIM HUHU

gosh merlin u useless shit douxie's doing all the hard work

DEYA WHERE DAFUQ R U

OH NO LANCELOT

OH NO ARTHUR

OH HE ACTUALLY DIES HERE AND IT'S NOT GONNA MESS WITH TIME ALRIGHT NO PROBLEM

DEYA! TROLLMARKET! WHERE R U

THERE THEY ARE WHAT TOOK YA'LL SO LONG

WHERE'S THE DAYLIGHT ARMOUR???

OH THERE IT IS

DOUXIE TURNING HIS STAFF INTO A GUITAR THE ABSOLUTE CUTIE

don't worry doux i think it's amazing

DOUXIE U DORK I LOVE U

U CAN DEFEAT MORGANA WITH THE POWER OF MUSIC I BELIEVE IN U !!!

DOUXIE AND HIS OBSESSION WITH FIRE HIHI

IT'S THE QUOTE (ALTHOUGH JUST PART OF IT) BUT STILL !!!

IF U THINK I DIDN'T RECITE IT ALONG WITH DEYA

(disappointed she didn't get to say it so i'll say it for her) DON'T THINK !!! BECOME !!!

DEYA MY GURL I'M SO PROUD OF U

I LOVE MY TROLL DADS

JIM PLS DON'T DIE :'(((((

where's steve? where dafuq is steve? did ya'll leave him? HOY DON'T LEAVE HIM

oh jk he's there

hihi past douxie hihi

Episode 8

JIM NO DON'T DIE HUHU

NARI U PRECIOUS CHILD 😍

PROTECC NARI

DOUXIE AND HIS MAGIC GUITAR I LOVE HIM

WTF NO JIM!!! HUHU

NOOOO JIM

AYSJAHSKAHA IT'S KREL HIHI

her name's zoe !!!

soooooo who exactly is zoe

"we're closed to privileged arthurian toolbags" ok i love zoe

wizard underground hihi

HAVE I ALREADY SAID HOW MUCH I LOVE NARI HIHI

WTF DID THEY DO TO JIM GRRR

FREE JIM !!! SAVE JIM !!!

OH NO THEY FUCKING BROKE THE AMULET AGAIN

WHY DOES EVERYONE KEEP BREAKING THE AMULET

WHY DOES IT KEEP FUCKING BREAKING

MORGANA!!!

MORGANA JOINS TEAM GOOD ???!!!

HOLY CRAP WHO DAFUQ IS THE GREEN NIGHT

IS IT ARTHUR? BUT HE'S DEAD ???

PROTECT NARI HIHI I LOVE HER

but gdi merlin

YES!!! SAVE JIM!!!

so ... who is pretending to be nari

is it archie???

yep! it is archie

NARI I LOVE HER

PRECIOUS

gdi merlin we're not leaving without claire and jim

CHANGE JIM BACK FREE JIM SAVE JIM HUHU WTF DID THEY DO TO JIM

fucking shit morgana i want u in team good stop being team bad

IT'S ARTHUR HOLY FUKC

HOLY SHIT MERLIN DEAD ???

i h8 merlin but shit bro why'd u kill him huhu

GLOWY EYES DOUXIE 😍

POWERFUL DOUXIE 😍

GO BOI

MERLIN ALIVE ???

"i'll try to make u proud" "you already have" :'((( no i'm not crying u r

SON???!!! HAHA(?) I KNEW IT???

BUT WHY WOULD CALL UR DAD MASTER??? WHAT KIND OF MESSED UP KINKY SHIT???

Episode 9

hihi past douxie

douxie u cheater

AH JK FATHER FIGURE NOT REAL FATHER alrightz

doux :'((((

i mean i'm not super sad bc i don't really like merlin but still

IS THAT A GOOD MORGANA I SEE hihihi

FREE JIM :'((((

nari i love u

NO JIM'S ALIVE I BELIEVE

noooo don't bake douxie into a blood pie i love him

did charlemagne the devourer just make a pun

charlemagne is archie's dad lol i didn't expect that

charlie

lol this is gonna take a long time

TEAM GOOD MORGANA !!!!!

HIHI MORGANA I'M PROUD OF U

CLAIRE AND MORGANA BFFS lol

BB ARCHIE THAT'S SO CUTE

DOUXIE!!!

THE CLAIRE MORGANA DUO HIHI

Episode 10

Last ep huhu

krel my boi !!!

nari bb :'(((

krel precious

douxie hihi my boi !!! U SMART BOI I LOVE U

YES U ARE STRONG ENOUGH HISIRDOUX CASPERAN I LOVE U

he trapped them in a time loop i love him

douxie and his guitar i love him

NARI HIHI UR SO PRECIOUS I LOVE U

THAT'S MY BOI DOUXIE I LOVE U

OH NO DON'T KILL DOUXIE

DOUXIE PLS DON'T DIE

AHSKAJSKSJA PURPLE EYED CLAIRE OMG GURL I LOVE U

GLOWY EYED PURPLE EYED CLAIRE !!!!

OH NO DID THEY KILL MORGANA

DID MORGANA DIE ?????

OH NO DON'T KILL CLAIRE

CLAIRE PLS DON'T DIE

MORGANA DEAD :'(((

WHY DO THEY KEEP KILLING PPL HUHU

stop it

STOP BREAKING MY HEART

JIM ALIVE!!!!

IT'S MY BLUE EYED BABY BOI

OH NO JIM DEAD :'(((( i'm literally sobbing right now huhu NOOOO

U CAN'T DO THIS WTF HUHU

AHAAJJAJAAJ TEAR!!!

AHSKAJAKAKAKA JIM ALIVE!!!!

JIM HUMAN!!!!!

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

OH NO DOUXIE NO

DON'T DIE DOUXIE HUHU

YES SAVE DOUXIE!!!! CATCH DOUXIE!!!

OH NO FUCK DOUXIE DEAD TT

DOUXIE ALIVE!!!

or douxie dead??? i'm confused

MHM DOUXIE WHY R U THERE GO BACK TOT THE LAND OF THE LIVING

LOL DOUXIE NOT FOLLOWING MERLIN'S INSTRUCTIONS I LOVE HIM

WTF DOUXIE DEAD???!!! I DISAGREE

YES!!! DOUXIE ALIVE !!!!!!!!!

JIM HUMAN I'M SO HAPPY!!!!

JIM EYEBROW SCAR??? OMG!!!

JIM WIELD EXCALIBUR???

OR NOT???

TALES OF ARCADIA: FRIENDSHIP IS MAGIC

no douxie nari don't go away huhu i'm gonna miss u

DOUXIE AND NARI IN A BIG CITY IS THAT NEW YORK OR SMTH

WHERE R THEY???

BUT WBT EXCALIBUR???

AND THE ARCANE ORDER???

SEASON 2???

it's a limited series tho so maybe not huhu

#wizards #tales of arcadia #tales of arcadia: wizards #Hisirdoux Casperan #Douxie Casperan #Douxie #Claire Nuñez #Steve Palchuk #Merlin #Morgana #James Lake Jr #Jim Lake Jr #Archie #Toby Domzalski #AAARRRGGHH!!! #Krel Tarron #Blinky #Blinkous Galadrigal #wizards spoilers #toa spoilers #toawizards

[darkpoisonouslove]

Winx Club Season 8 Thoughts Part 1

Here I am! The latest season of Winx. Can’t believe I made it here (especially after I sped through seasons 6 and 7). I am kinda excited about this because I am finally getting to watch the second part (I have seen the first one) and I think that after season 7, it really can’t get that much worse. Also, I am now used to the idea of the art style even if I still despise it completely and passionately. So let’s do this!

8x01:

- Who thought this art style was a good idea? And why did they have to bring the band back? That was so unnecessary. But at least the song in the opening isn’t bad.

- So... Bloom is the main vocalist but they just leave Musa to write all the songs? Didn’t think that could get more unfair and yet it did. Also, love how they changed the art style but Stella is still acting as immature as she has since season 4.

- Kiko is actually being acknowledged in the second minute? Please, tell me that will last after the lumens.

- Oh, wow, the plot is already starting? I am actually pleasantly surprised. Took them only two minutes.

- Ugh, not Obscurum! Pleaaaaaase!

- Lumenia is the star that lights Solaria? Does that mean it is the first sun of Solaria? Okay... That’s actually kinda cool.

- Oh, great! The one with all the info has amnesia! But actually, that might be a good idea because not everything is convenient for damn once! Edit: And Timmy and Tecna are back to being inventors! *happy sob*

- How is a scare supposed to trigger memories? By inducing a flashback of traumatic events? That’s cool but fear can also cause memory blockages. So idk about that. Lmao @ Kiko with that hammer, though. You might have the right idea, Kiko. We’ll come back to you once Twinkly gets annoying.

- The dissonance between the maturity of the Specialists’ voices and their FUCKING FACES! It is unbearable!

- Oh, Kiko is hitting on Twinkly? XD Jk. He just wants to cheer her up and it’s actually really cute. Almost makes up for them totally ruining his design.

- Not a song number! I am forewarning everyone that I will be skipping all of those.

- Omg! A scene of the Specialists talking? About their own stuff?!??! And them messing around with each other (read: mocking each other (and especially Nex)). We haven’t had that since... season 4? It was sorely missed, THANK YOU!

- Riven is back!

- And Knut is back! But wtf is up with Griselda’s voice? Also, how did they change her design the least, yet still totally ruined it? I cannot comprehend that! Lmao at her gestures at Knut, though!

- The memories of Twinkly actually looked pretty scary and traumatic. I can’t believe I am saying this but this season is doing a decent job so far and even more than that.

- Dammit, why do I have to suffer Butterflix again?

- I was gonna say that that was quick but the thing actually reappeared. That’s... pretty nice. Could be used to such a great advantage! And it was actually Stella’s spell that worked and not Bloom’s? They gave up on their obsession with Bloom to make this make sense? Um, yes, please?

- Okay, stealing starlight sounds like a rocking plan as soon as they explain well why the hell that is the goal here.

- Yeah, Stella, you are so damn cautious! Girl, you’re almost as impulsive as Bloom. (But XD @ “Caution is our middle name... More of a nickname, really”)

8x02:

- Twinkly: Where am I? Me: At Alfea. Shut up!

- Why does this show have such an aversion to letting Kiko sleep in peace, dammit?!

- Flora has a plant that takes care of other plants? Omg, that is so cool! And we’re finally seeing her care for the plants in her room again! This season is already better than seasons 6 and 7 combined.

- Stella could just use magic to shrink down that enormous suitcase.

- Omg, they’re spending time with their boyfriends again instead of just screeching at them for no reason whatsoever? Yes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

- Why are Winx mad that the Specialists didn’t tell them about Riven? What would it have changed? They still would have been shocked. And why the hell is Musa yelling at Riven? They broke up! He doesn’t owe her a schedule of his every waking moment! I hate this reaction.

- Why... are the outfits gonna let them travel in space? I mean, can you imagine how cool they could have looked in spacesuits?

- Wow, that’s a lot of pink. But that IS the Winx aesthetic to differer from the aesthetic shown in you-know-what.

- Why is the queen ruler of all the stars and not just of Lumenia? Otherwise, the star lore is pretty cool. I have to say that the whole thing with the rivers reminds of the Underworld a lot which is an interesting parallel to dwell on.

- Stella is pretty amazing in this already indeed!

- Oh, the crystal monsters. I remember those. They were really annoying. And I am not a fan of the upcoming transformation upgrade.

- Did the Specialists follow them there? Not the most unshady thing they’ve done but at least they’re helping. Also, I would like to point Netflix’ attention to the way their weapons look! Take a close look!

- OH MY GOD! Someone had a smart idea here! They are actually handling themselves even though their powers aren’t all that effective! Riven is saving Musa and being awesome! This is good enough to make me cry, wtf?

- Ooh, damn! Love the way Valtor’s mark showed up and how actually bothered by it they acted! That was cool and really created a good atmosphere!

- They saved the river AND they actually talked about the sneaking around in a (mostly) mature manner? And they resolved the conflict? RIVEN IS COMMUNICATING?????? This season is a fucking treat so far! Except for Musa being a goddamn primadonna!

- Valtor’s new design is also pretty close to his original one and yet... just NOT. IT!

- Cosmix time. Okay, the visuals are actually quite pretty (I especially love the fact that they look transparent at first; I have a feeling there’s a nice symbolism to this but I’ll have to think about it a bit more). The song isn’t bad either but it’s a little repetitive,

- They probably could have done better with the name than “star yummies” but it isn’t quite so bad. I mean, we’ve seen worse and this is pretty minor considering that they’re doing pretty well with almost everything else (so far and I hope I am not jinxing this).

8x03:

- Okay, the name sounds dumb but it’s accurate.

- I have to say that I saw the twist with Obscurum coming even if I was only clicking through the episodes when I first watched this but now I want to see if it was foreshadowed. Him saying he wants to rule Lumenia still isn’t enough foreshadowing but it does raise the question of why Lumenia specifically so it’s headed in the right direction at least.

- Nice move, Stella! And, omg, did Flora just use something that’s not vines? !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am getting really hyped up over here.

- They’re thinking! They’re actually instantly adapting to the problems that they are facing! Man, this is even better than season 1! HOW? Not that I care. Just don’t let it stop!

- So Valtor is actually using starlight to buff himself on a magical level? And in season 1 they said that starlight was the purest source of magic (4kids). Is this... continuity between the first and the latest season??????? I am literally tearing up over here because I never believed this moment would come but it has and it is beautiful!

- Not a fan of the Valtor and Obscurum dynamic because it is just... a big no again, just like his working relationship with the Trix (except I can’t decide if this is worse because Obscurum is afraid or if s3 was worse because Valtor was leading the Trix on about *gags* you know (don’t make me say it)). Love the castle in the stars, though! So cool (even if it is also so very impractical).

- Man, Twinkly really is just a stand-in for the pixies, isn’t she? Same bravery and complete and utter uselessness balance.

- Stella is fucking shining and I am loving it! But did Obscurum just say “erase them”? You mean... this has actual stakes? And Bloom’s projection of the Dragon Fire makes sense because Cosmix is light-based? Musa is using an attack that basically acts like an earthquake except without the damage aka... safe for usage? I am going to pass out from happiness. Like, you don���t even know.

- THEY ACTUALLY LOST?????? And they are not giving up but... coming up with a plan???? That is smart??????????????????? I am in love with this season for now.

- They powered the core! And that will now cause Valtor to make a shift in his strategy! This season is actually dynamic! Goddamit, yes!!!!!!!!! THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!

-  Obscurum to Valtor: “Something more intimate? You, me...” ... Why is he hitting on him? Bleh. But damn! The trap dimension has so much potential!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

- Oh, song time. Goodie. Why is Obscurum acting like he has the dancing plague? And, for fuck’s sake, why am I getting Christian Grey vibes from Valtor? Ugh! *shudders* Please, no! But he is actually taking Winx seriously and coming up with countermeasures? Um, yes, I will take that!

- Ugh, why are they having classes again?! I hate that part!

- Sky, you know where they were! But I actually kinda like the change to have Bloom be the one that doesn’t have time for dating instead of having her sulking over Sky being a prince and having royal duties the whole time.

- What do you mean that Griselda doesn’t know what is going on? This is not Griselda!

- Tecna, watch what you’re putting in your damn potion! I know Musa fucked up but you could have checked what she handed you!

- Aww, Tecna throwing a dance party to cheer Musa up was so cute! And look at Stella dragging all that luggage up the stairs on her own! She is precious (and devoted to fashion but this time in a not so annoying manner... so far.)

8x04:

- Dammit, why is Obscurum the first thing I see?

- Okay, it’s pretty cute how excited Bloom is. And all the rest of Winx helping Sky while at the same time judging him for not being better for Bloom and putting more effort in it. This is just the dynamic! I love it!

- Musical food? What the hell, Musa?! But lmao at the Sky and Flora moment there. And Musa and Layla’s reaction to his words. But he was right. Flora was the only one being useful.

- What picnic under the stars? There are no stars! It’s the middle of the day!

- Oh, why the drama now? Bloom also forgot their date in the previous episode because of her mission. Sky is doing the exact same rn! Hypocrisy much?

- “Your Great Malevolence” and “Your Vileness”? I don’t like Obscurum but his decorum is amusing at the very least.

- But if a star has to be attacked before it will alert them that they need to go there, they won’t be one step ahead of Valtor. They might be able to catch up with him but they are still one step behind him.

- A moving star. That was actually a cool idea although I am not sure how the hell that is supposed to work.

- Why have those lumens never heard of music? But damn, I am actually happy that they made the band plot relevant (for all of 3 seconds). At least make it have some purpose.

- At least Bloom actually also supported Sky while attacking him. She is literally the definition of mixed signals here but that’s better than her just being plain mad.

- Can they use the music to capture the star yummies in a trance? That would be nice and it would justify having the band in this season.

- Stella is having the time for a selfie while actually being super effective and handling that part of the mess on her own? Yes, please! Where was that in the previous seasons?!

- The thief is not “trying” to attack. He is attacking! But damn, Brandon made some good moves there! Are you telling me that we actually get to see the Specialists doing their own missions again plus a really cute parallel between Brandon and Stella? !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I love it!

- They’re being pulled in a black hole? Holy shit! This season is actually getting intense! And it makes sense? I am shooketh! Can Stella save them with her light, though?

- Oh, nvm! They’re gonna do it together. Eh, that still works I guess.

- The Specialists were really working as a team here and I have missed seeing that so much! It’s great to have the show acknowledge them again. It could have only been better if they didn’t look like first graders.

8x05:

- Oh, now the whole starship is being pulled into the black hole? That is actually cool! They are maintaining the tension for more than three seconds and they are showing how things actually function? Well, there’s a big surprise.

- I am glad that they are actually solving this but why couldn’t Stella generate stardust herself? She is the fairy of the sun, the moon and the stars. It would have been really interesting to see her do that and this season’s theme is right up her alley.

- Valtor’s failure is kinda amusing. But I feel a little bad about Obscurum because he literally has to walk on eggshells around Valtor. No one should have to be put through anxiety like that.

- Ooh, zero gravity plus invisibility device? That is so cool!

- I wish Bloom and Sky would have talked about their little drama with the surprise, especially because there was no need for it since the delay actually helped make things even better and much more romantic. And I am also not all that sold on the Beauty and the Beast vibes I am getting from this.

- Why is Musa acting like that again? Riven is trying to be supportive and take interest in her music. I know that he ran away but obviously something happened.

- Good thing that Riven is being competent while the rest are busy partying. He did pretty well considering that he just intercepted a planned heist and he wasn’t prepared.

- Aren’t you supposed to drift in space instead of fall as if there’s gravity?

- I am a little done with the ship being threatened yet again because it can’t move without the stupid core but I really want to see how Winx are gonna save it now that the ruby is stolen.

- Maybe if they try something else other than generic blasts they may be able to defeat it.

- Valtor was the one that summoned the black hole? And he is getting low on magic juice? That kinda makes sense now that he doesn’t have Dragon Fire anymore.

- O-kay. That strategy was semi logical. Not the best they have done but it could have been worse.

- Selfish? He is trying to save a whole planet! It wasn’t like he was stealing it for the money! No, I get it that his actions weren’t okay but Musa is being a bitch to everyone. And what she just said to Riven. She is refusing to give him a second chance but is acting like she’s the one who is making all the compromises here!

8x06:

- Why wouldn’t he be allowed on Eridia? Oh, he really fucked up the core.

- Oh, shut the fuck up, Orion! It is your fault it didn’t work because you were the one who broke the core and now it can’t hold the light!

- Flora is really rooting (whoops) for abandoning the core. Nice one! How the fuck does she think to save the plants without fucking light?!?!?!?!

- Can I throw Orion in the black hole? HE is the one who fucked the whole thing up because he didn’t know what he was doing and now he is yelling at them that they don’t have a plan! Even though they agreed to help him instead of throwing him in jail!

- At least Valtor is adapting to the situation on the go and coming up with new strategies. But Orion is such a fool. He is desperate but why didn’t he consider the question of why the hell Valtor would care? Obviously he has beef with Winx which puts him at the not-so-trustworthy column.

- Man, Riven is right. Orion is a damn actor and very good at playing them. That isn’t his problem, of course, but the Winx’. I just wish Musa would think instead of pout the whole time.

- Shut up about the goddamn plants, Flora! You can’t save them in any longterm way without fixing the core of the planet first!

- DO NOT make “starsome” a thing. It sounds ridiculous. It doesn’t even make sense!

- Riven is actually discussing how he feels with the other Specialists? And they’re having fun (even if it is at his expense)? Why does Musa refuse to see how much he’s changed? I hate the way they are just trying to make more stupid drama!

- You do not look like big lumens to me but okay. Twinkly has a serious crush on her friend, doesn’t she?

- Yes, we all know that Tecna is a genius. And that is why she doesn’t become pray to stupid love drama when there is no reason for any!

- How the hell was Stella supposed to know if it will actually be safer? She said it looked safer! There is a difference! Also, they are only now wondering why Orion left them on their own!

- Now you guys are screwed! But wtf, why did Tecna just covere her eyes instead of... trying to do something like the rational person that she actually is! And you have to love how they only had Flora and Stella arguing so that they will have to come together to save the rest giving the illusion that they are actually undergoing some development. But hey! An episode without a musical number!

8x07:

- What is this now? Are they trying to make us sympathize with Orion by showing some remorse on his part? It is not working!

- They made Obscurum a cheerleader? He seems to be suffering from Stockholm Syndrome, though he is not exactly a prisoner or hostage of Valtor’s. But still. There is some kind of similar vibes.

- Cool! They revealed that the star yummies are actually corrupted lumens. That was a pretty clever idea, not gonna lie. And it is totally on brand for Valtor which is also great.

- Well, I don’t see you, lumens, fixing the fucking core yourselves so you might wanna start appreciating the fact that they’re trying! They didn’t know the core was broken and wouldn’t hold the Cosmix light!

- And how do you plan on saving them, Orion? You have no idea what you’re up against and you just betrayed the only people that cared about helping you!

- Why is Twinkly not being corrupted like all the other lumens? They are different in some way that was never explained but it was already implied that the corruption works on ALL of the lumens! So what gives? Except obvious plot convenience, of course.

- So Flora actually tried something else and didn’t go for the vines at all? I am shocked... but appreciative!

- Why aren’t the plants answering? Are they too dead for words? But that spell was actually pretty cool! They made a little sun that also has nature powers added to it to shine on all of the plants at once! That was so clever and actually pretty creative! I love it!

- The nature defeating technology theme is a little misplaced I would say considering the way they fix the problem with the broken cores of the stars later on.

- Wait! Winx were transformed when the robot caught them. Why did they have to transform again and when did the transformations disappear?

- They didn’t actually fight the thing! So far their powers have been used very little for actual battle and a lot more in creative ways to restore the balance of the stars. That actually makes a lot of sense since that was what the Cosmix was for! I like it!

- Did they just make a magical sun out of Stella’s powers by boosting her energy? This was awesome!

- Why did they think Orion was the one that changed the lumens? They know that Valtor is the one working with Obscurum and commanding them! That was such a stupid guess and for what? To give Obscurum some kind of “witty” line for his entrance?

- Orion does have cool inventions but for being a genius creator he is being a fucking dumbass! Oh, now you want to be “united” with them. After you almost got them killed and your planet fucked over big time.

- Musa is gonna give Orion a third chance but she’s gonna keep being a bitch to Riven, huh?

- Wizgiz’ redesign is giving me nightmares. Why is he teaching them something that they have been doing literally since season 2 and just did not three minutes ago?!?!?!?! And why are Knut and Kiko painting the yard pink? Really? Just so that Winx can show what they have learned even though they’ve known it for about seven years now?!?!?!?!

- Submarine star? That sounds rocking. But wait, they are using Sirenix in the next ep? Why don’t I remember that? I have watched this... I think. Yes, I have. I remember the stupidity and Nex and Layla having a moment. So why don’t I remember Sirenix?

8x08:

- I thought Valtor was on the scene and then it turned out he was just in an illusion. *sigh* And why can’t he just go himself? He is not doing anything this season. Just sitting on his ass and bossing Obscurum around. It’s just... not Valtor at all. And what’s this obsession with fucking up Andros every goddamn time he shows up?

- Aww, Winx are being so adorable and supportive! Nex, too, though that is OOC. But I can’t understand why Layla didn’t just pick up the phone and tell Nex that she needs him to stop calling so that she can focus. What is so hard about that?

- I like this version of Stella’s fashion obsession. It feels a lot more natural and isn’t overtaking the whole group and the show.

- Well, they didn’t ruin Theredor and Niobe’s designs! That’s something. And Ligea looks pretty much the same as well. I don’t understand why they felt the need to fuck up Winx and the Specialists’ designs but okay.

- Why are they making Layla unable to remember three sentences? She can do much more than that and she has always been the most capable one of Winx and an exemplary princess.

- Oh, so they already mentioned that the queen’s brother disappeared exactly when Valtor showed up (How tf does she even know that? The flashback that was shown later plus the fact that no one seemed to know Valtor was back before Winx saw his mark in 8x02 contradict that.). That and Obscurum saying he wants to rule Lumenia plus Valtor’s obvious knack for corrupting and changing everyone that’s working for him, spill it all out.

- Pretty sure no one at that party cares about Twinkly but whatevs. As long as she isn’t on screen to be annoying.

- Nex transformation time!

- Sirenix is back (never has that ever happened before) and I hate the redesign even more than the original. Didn’t think it was possible. They have also fucked up the transformation sequence and made it more boring. Nice move!

- Why is Layla refusing to talk? Coming forth about her feelings is gonna make it better. I like that Nex is actually being sensitive here even if he never naturally changed to become like that and they are just writing him wildly OOC. But he was so much of an asshole that I prefer this tbh.

- How the fuck do Sirenix powers have no effect on “a creature of darkness”? They went on the Sirenix Quest to defeat Tritanus who was definitely a creature of darkness! The writers don’t even know what they’re saying anymore. At least they left Winx handling the shark even if their powers aren’t working on it. If they’d sent Nex after it and Winx after Obscurum, it would have been too convenient.

- I like the fact that they managed when their magic was useless against the enemy. At least the writers are being a little more creative in the battles by making them rely more on strategy rather than on their powers. I can accept generic blasts and beams if the idea is that that makes their magic so useless that they need to find a creative solution.

- Nex is rooting for teamwork? He really has changed. I just wish they would have shown that instead of just jumping the gun like that.

8x09:

- Why didn’t they try trapping the star yummies in a morphix net? Or something that Tecna made with her magic? Or figured out a way to close the portals that let the star yummies come and go?

- They’re gonna make THAT a problem? Breathing underwater without Sirenix? Not like Layla has been able to breathe underwater continuously throughout seasons 2-5 without the need for Sirenix. AND she also taught the others how to perform the spell. This is such a non-problem.

- They also changed the Sirenix spells, didn’t they?

- They have been in tougher predicaments. I hate how they keep making Layla despair without a reason because she has always had a damn fighting spirit.

- Oh, look! It’s the anemone stupidity. And how is Stella supposed to wake up when she is under the influence of the anemone sting? You could try a spell if you want to wake her up, Flora!

- You’d think the lumens of Andros would know their fucking princess!!!!!

- What was the big idea with rushing out of the cave if Layla didn’t have a plan? Also, she was the one that figured out the anemones attacked when they were provoked, yet she kept attacking. Stop fucking attacking them! It’s only making things worse! Jeez, it’s not so hard to figure out that you shouldn’t antagonize them.

- So the Andros lumens sing but the Peripla ones have never heard of the existence of music? Pretty damn solid. Also, they just sang the same melody the whole time even after Layla asked them for something extra beautiful.

- How the hell did she fill the morphix with air? Did she pull all the water out in the morphix shielding and only left the oxygen atoms inside to make up oxygen molecules? This somehow doesn’t seem normal but anyway.

- So what unspelled the shark? The light of Gorgol? The living star? The starfish star? They are really starting to fuck up this season.

- Love how they never said how many years old Andros is becoming!

- Why did they make the trap dimension look like a pinball machine? What was up with that? And why did Gravity Falls do it so much better?

8x10:

- So now Alfea is having an anniversary as well? And why the fuck is Twinkly only asking now about the meaning of anniversary when they already were at the anniversary party on Andros? And they really made “starsome” a recurring slang? I hate it.

- Why is Faragonda letting the students organize the anniversary? Also, not a fan of how these latest seasons are making Griselda and Faragonda look not so fond of each other. They definitely felt a lot more in sync in the first seasons.

- Lmao, love how Winx are roasting themselves. But I cannot believe that no one has said anything about Helia’s ugliest haircut... yet. They couldn’t have possibly fucked it up more after the season 4 disaster and they somehow did! Fucking spectacular! And why is Riven wearing a scarf? When the fuck have you seen Riven with a scarf? This is ridiculous!

- Love the way Flora and Helia just decided that they will be matchmakers now! But I do think that they should first try figuring out why Musa can’t forgive Riven before deciding she will trust him.

- Why didn’t Twinkly just sit on Riven’s shoulder instead of plopping herself down right on top of the controls? The zero gravity dancing was actually pretty cute but Musa could have tried just dancing with Riven. Or at least they could have said something about why she feels like she can’t even dance with him (because she feels him unfamiliar anymore or something).

- Hypsos looks so very familiar but I can’t place it. Reminds a little of Amentia’s kingdom tbh.

- I cannot believe that the Twinkly and Lumila storyline will actually have a bearing on the real plot. How did they manage? Though, I suppose I should be happy about that.

- Turning a constellation into an actual monster was a damn good idea! Although, the writers sort of implied that Valtor has the power level of a god which has not been supported by the narrative. He was such a stronger villain in season 3.

- So... what did they do? Did they send the Hydra through the portal that the star yummies use? I actually remember it being a bigger threat and harder to defeat. Is this really the end?

- Oh, look! They can reverse the star yummy corruption with the power of love! Cut to the wedding (of Twinkly and Lumila).

- I said wedding, not a fucking concert!

- Musa, I don’t even know you anymore! Since when doesn’t she want to be the center of attention! She was literally mad at him because he hadn’t called aka paid her attention! Besides, she’s a singer (which you couldn’t fucking guess from the fact that Bloom is the goddamn vocalist!). What do you mean that he exposed her? Those are just some outlined images projected! She is a lot more exposed when she sings on stage! This is so goddamn stupid! Season 2 Musa would never.

- And why are they making Flora and Helia fuck up their own sync over Musa and Riven? They should just not meddle and keep their own relationship in harmony!

8x11:

- I am so glad we’re getting rid of Obscurum soon. I have had it with him! “Go undercover as one of [Winx]”? What the actual fuck?!

- Why is the trap dimension a goddamn gaming universe? They are truly wasting its potential! And why not just shove Winx in there?!

- Flora and Helia have never had a disagreement before? Come again? And now she’s saying they never even had different opinions on anything? That is so totally healthy, you know. And the implication that that is how a relationship should be. Wow! Fucking spectacular move!

- Just don’t make Winx fight over the Flora and Helia situation! And that was a perfect example of why they don’t need to agree on everything.

- At first I agreed with the opinion I have seen floating around that the emogix are too specific but this is the Magic Dimension. They have teleportation. What is so hard to believe that they have code that can quickly animate specific actions with pre-coded visual parameters about every separate object in the animation?

- I want to see Griselda react to that fireworks explosion!

- That was the big talk? At least they said that disagreements are not inherently bad but still. This was just a damn non-closure to a damn non-problem.

- Well, Obscurum’s plan isn’t so bad but Winx have already not been welcomed by lumens. It isn’t so original.

- Why are Knut and Kiko coming along all of a sudden? Oh, that’s right! Because those lumens are ogres like Knut. How convenient!

- I don’t know what’s so hard to understand about the fact that the lumens obviously believe that Winx have come to steal their treasure and that is why they’re attacking them.

- Tecna needed an analysis to tell that the lumens think they’re enemies and want to steal their treasure? They said that! REPEATEDLY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

- Was the core broken accidentally or on purpose? I missed that part but I don’t think that Valtor has caught on to the fact that breaking the cores will make it much harder for Winx to save the stars. Also, why did he never try to steal the Cosmix light that the Winx put in the dark cores? That would have been an interesting plan!

- Well, Convenient Knut is being awfully convenient! As was planned.

- So now the crystal is actually gonna serve as a core? Wow, what a cop-out.

- You’re telling me that Obscurum was actually the one that thought of the idea of breaking the cores on purpose? This season is really doing Valtor dirty. I just... I can’t watch. Why do they have to be like that?

- Also, he’s only now figuring out he needs to get rid of Bloom? He had that figured out at the beginning of season 3!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

8x12:

- A wishing star that hasn’t been seen in almost a 1000 years? And he needs Cosmix to get near? How is enhancing his powers going to get him closer to the star if the problem is his darkness? What, is Cosmix gonna conceal his dark powers? Somehow, that doesn’t make sense. But damn, at least this thing is protected from dark powers so that malevolent wishes won’t be made.

- Bloom has her priorities in check and Sky comes third? After Vanessa and the mission? That is a nice change of pace, actually.

- Why doesn’t Bloom just use her goddamn magic?! It would have been so much easier! It’s hers! It’s not like she is forbidden to use it.

- Lmao, Obscurum is acting as if Valtor actually cares about him. And he thinks he’s evil? Wow, that’s cute.

- Is it me or does Vanessa look so much thinner than she used to? Not a fan of that.

- You’re telling me Bloom never made an album for her parents before? But I love the fact that they are sharing and Bloom tells them that she loves home more than anything. That was actually something that the show could have used about 4 seasons ago.

- Why do the Earth lumens look like Roman soldiers?

- Anyone else feel like the transformation of the star yummies into bigger entities is legit based on Pokemon evolution? It really operates the exact same way Pokemon evolution does.

- They’re mentioning the queen’s brother again? In what is not foreshadowing but a plainly obvious non-twist.

- Musa is really disgusted by the star yummies? They actually look pretty cute and fluffy to me. Kinda cuter than the lumens even. Not to mention that they can face monsters and whatnot but they can’t make themselves touch the star yummies? Some Guardian Fairies you are!

- Valtor feels like a nervous teenager about to introduce himself to his crush. What the hell were they thinking?

- I like the designs of the dark giants where the writings on them are concerned. They look like rune rings around their torsos and arms and I actually love the idea of that.

- The scene with Bloom and her parents was pretty good. I love the way she compartmentalized the situation and managed to be on all the fronts she needed to be on even if she had to ask for backup to do it. It was awesome!

- Valtor finally decided to show the fuck up! Halfway through the season! Love how Stella is sassing him! A little surprised that he knows her name, though.

- I don’t think that hugging that last form of star yummy evolution is gonna work. Might be a too big concentration of corrupted lumens in order for the hug thing to work.

- Goblin yummies? Oh, no. Stargoyles. Wow. Okay.

- I love the dilemma that Valtor presented! Bloom really can’t be in two places at the same time! I would be very interested (as I was the first time) if I didn’t know how this ended... aka in disappointment.

8x13:

- Backstory time! What the hell do you mean that Valtor’s life force was drifting through the universe? For years? After the Dragon Fire - that literally made up his whole being - was extinguished? And how the hell was he brought back with the power of the stars? Wtf?

- Bloom, it’s really not that hard to figure out that Obscurum is the queen’s brother! I guessed that the first time I watched this and I didn’t even know she had a brother because I had been clicking through the episodes!

- If Obscurum really thinks that being Valtor’s minion is better than being in the shadow of his sister, then she must have fucked up big time! And I mean, really big time!

- So the artificial cores are not supposed to be that small? That is just a prototype.

- I have a question - how fast do the Specialists’ ships travel for example? Because Twinkly says that she’s traveling at the speed of light but I doubt that the tech can go so fast. Aka my train of thought was what if there are planets in the Magic Dimension that are so far from one another that the people can never meet because the tech doesn’t travel fast enough? Since that seems to be the common method of transportation rather than teleportation which could totes solve that problem.

- I really wish someone other than Sky would be protecting Mike and Vanessa. And wasn’t Valtor saying that only he can stop the Stargoyles? “Cause the Specialists just got rid of all of them. At least the dark giants truly seem to be unstoppable.

- I was so hyped when Bloom said she’d give Cosmix to Valtor! It would have been so interesting to see how they would defeat him if he had Cosmix as well. But they just had Cosmix reject him? Because it has sentience apparently? That was such a fucking cop-out! Just commit to your best ideas goddammit!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

- Why is Twinkly getting the artificial core to the Specialists instead of the other Winx? They need it inside the sun! Not on the surface of the Earth.

- Wtf? Didn’t Bloom send Twinkly towards the Earth? She is inside the Sun! What was that maneuvering?!

- So the dark giants would have been defeated when the sun was fixed anyway? Meaning that Bloom could have chosen to go help Winx and that would have solved the dilemma aka there was no actual dilemma, except she didn’t know that? Man, what a bummer!

- Poor Vanessa. Had her birthday almost completely ruined!

- Wasn’t the queen supposed to be powerless? But that moment was so emotional there! And I love the fact that she acted as an example to the lumens to have them freeing the star yummies and helping them change back. Does that mean that the part with the stars is over for this season, though?

- Not a goddamn concert again! Come on! Dedicate the song to your mom, at the very least!!!!!

- Where is Valtor? This doesn’t look like the castle amongst the stars. What happened? Oh, and you’re telling me he has no more magical energy?

- What the hell do you mean that the Trix have power like the power of the Winx? Icy’s power is literally an opposite of Bloom’s!!!!! What the fuck is that supposed to mean? I have been so confused about this ever since I first watched it over a year ago! But at least the Trix were imprisoned separately this time. Someone in this goddamn universe finally had a smart idea!

Part 2 is here.

#winx club #winx bloom #winx musa #winx layla #winx flora #winx stella #winx tecna #winx sky #winx riven #winx nex #bloom x sky #layla x nex #winx valtor #winx obscurum #winx twinkly #winx club season 8 #review #thoughts #part 1

[gale-gentlepenguin]

Gale Reviews: Cobra Kai Seasons 1 +2

(Thanks @knightsweeties​)

So I should mention that I love 80′s movies. And one of my favorite movies of all time is the cliché OG Karate Kid.

With the best mentor character of all time in movies, Mr. Miyagi.

So when Youtube announced a sequel series based off of that iconic movie with the RIVAL being the main character. You bet I was ready to watch it... until I found out you had to pay for it on Youtube red. So naturally I waited until it was Netflix. Then I finally had a chance to watch it (legally)

So now that I have watched the series in its entirety. I have some thoughts on it.

Which you can read below (spoiler warning if you haven't seen the series. I recommend having a watch)

The Plot.

I will say that Season 1 and Season 2 have entirely different feels to them.

To put it briefly

Season 1 takes place with Johnny Lawrence, a guy in his 50′s hitting rock bottom, living paycheck to paycheck as a repair guy, and still stuck in the past.

Everything changes when he ends up inadvertently saving a kid, Miguel. from some bullies using his Cobra Kai karate.

Johnny realizes that he still has a passion for karate, and wants to bring back Cobra Kai, but without the psycho of a teacher involved.

So Johnny becomes the sensei of Miguel and the two’s dynamic is like that of Miyagi and Daniel (the original master and student of Karate kid) but with some hilarious contrasts and snaps that make fun of the movie in a fun way. In a way, the season starts off like Karate kid, but keeps changing one’s expectations of characters.

It even has the last episode ending with a final bout between Johnny’s student Miguel and Daniel (the original Karate kid’s) Pupil, Robby (who also happens to be Johnny’s own son). So the tension between the two are high.

Season 2 takes place AFTER the All valley tournament and Cobra kai is rising. Now with the inclusion of a man long assumed dead coming back, Daniel now trying to get Miyagi do as a real dojo to compete against Cobra kai. Tension starts to build and it seems like a war is brewing, the events culminating in a legit all out brawl on the First day back at school, with an ending that really makes me want a season two.

Season 1 is about preconceptions. Johnny and Daniel’s actions are based on their own preconceived notions, People let the past dictate how things are when that isn't the truth. Daniel automatically assume’s Johnny is up to no good because of his personal dealings with Cobra kai, and Johnny believe’s Daniel is at fault for everything awful that has happened to him, thus resulting in each of them indirectly attacking one another intentionally or unintentionally. They even try to reconcile only for Johnny to find out Daniel was training his son in karate, which Daniel actually didn't know was his kid, but this broke any trust the other have.

Season 2 is about Perspective, Almost everyone acts based on their own views on how things went down in their head. Everyone takes these perspectives as facts and there is no way the other person can be right, until a third party gets involved. And just like in the first season, Johnny and Daniel almost reconcile again, only to their views blinding them to the truth.

___________________

The characters:

I think I will just list off the main ones with their own arcs in the show and tell you all my thoughts on each of them.

Johnny Lawrence: Johnny is best described as a man stuck in the past, both technologically and mentally. He is a jerk, and considering his a**hole step dad and the psycho Karate teacher Kreese, he didn't have good role models on how to be a man. He pretty much screwed up his chances of being a dad to his biological son Robby, and spent half his life drunk and the other half depressed and angry. The day he saved Miguel and reformed Cobra Kai was the day that helped him start turning things around. Miguel became the student that helped bring him back into the modern day, helping him recruit students to his dojo, and even helping him deal with his hang ups regarding his failures with his son robby. Johnny is by no means perfect, but he is trying to be a better person. He is kind of like that out of touch uncle that is ignorant of a lot of things but is slowly getting used to it. He is tough, but he cares. Honestly the best adult character in the series with how hard he tries to actually be better but life just keeps kicking him down.

Miguel Diaz: a young boy who Johnny has been teaching to fight. At the start of the show, he had ZERO confidence, and felt like a nobody new kid in a town. Learning Karate helped give Miguel confidence and allowed him to stand up to the bullies that messed with him. Miguel is a good kid, in fact, he is my favorite Character in the series. In season 1, he was awkward, and unsure of himself. But as the first season went on, he managed to ask out the girl he liked, and even made good friends. Though Miguel started to pick up a lot of similar habits to Johnny from the original Karate kid, albeit directly and indirectly from his sensei. But season 2 quickly shows Johnny doing everything to make sure that doesn't happen. Miguel becomes the most civil of Cobra kai, becoming a more refined fighter and even a better person then any of the other students in either dojo. Thus making the end of season 2 so much more tragic and not even his fault.

Daniel LaRusso: The original Karate kid. A car dealership owner, and family man. He was living his best life, lovely wife, two good kids, and just enjoying every minute of it, until Cobra Kai came back. We get to see a lot of Daniel from Johnny’s perspective and the reveal is, he was just as much of a jerk as Johnny was back in the day. Even kind of a stuck up a**hole that tries to destroy Cobra kai through underhanded methods like having the landowner raise the rent, or stopping him from entering the All valley tournament. It isn't until he starts training Robby that Daniel starts to act like the man that we expect the main character of Karate Kid to act like.

Amanda LaRusso: Daniel's wife, She is great. She also has the most braincells out of everyone. She calls Daniel out on his crap and without her Daniel probably wouldn't be as good of a character as he is.

Robby Keene: Johnny's street-smart son and Daniel’s karate protege. At the start of the series, Robby is a bad kid, skipping school, drugs, stealing, and running with a bad group of kids. Robby really didn't care about his life choices or his loser father. He did however care about his mother, who was busy trying to have her own fun and neglecting him. it wasn't until he started learning Karate from Daniel, (originally working at the dealership to Spite his dad) did he start to turn things around. Robby hid the fact that he was Johnny’s kid from the LaRusso family and the developments in the first season resulted in a dramatic irony. In season two, his interest in Samantha (Sam), started to cause problems especially near the end of season 2. Robby is also another complex character and he is an amazing Parallel to Miguel. Robby keeps wanting the things that Miguel seemed to get, and always seemed to fall short, much like Daniel and Johnny’s rivalry in the original Karate kid. This has Robby holding back information that he does come clean about later.

Samantha LaRusso: Daniel's daughter. The most experienced Martial artist of the teens since she grew up with it. She is much like the love interest in the series in season 1 and becomes more of her own character in season 2.

Okay, so I am going to flat out say this. She is an awful person. Like at first, she ditches her friend to hang out with the popular crowd, lies to her parents about a hit and run, hides the fact that she is dating Miguel from her parents because his is Cobra Kai. I can forgive some of the things as an honest mistake, and in season 1 I can even look past some of them, since she does do the right thing about standing up to Kyler over his BS But the OTHER STUFF?

Sneaking around with Robby who is living in her house at the time because of a family situation which is a MASSIVE betrayal of trust. Accuses Tory of stealing from her mom, attacks Tory at the roller rank over a shove, ignores Miguel’s apologies and actions to at least try and clear the air only to KISS him when he is in a relationship with another girl. The list goes on. Now context matters, and then there is the whole  situation in episode 9. Now Miguel was drunk and trying to fight robby, (like an idiot who thinks a guy is trying to steal his gf) and it resulted in Sam getting hit, which Miguel was mortified that it happened. But a lot of people are divided on whose fault it is, I really think Miguel shouldn't be throwing punches so in that regard, he was in the wrong. Now unrelated, Sam was in the wrong in pretty much every other situation she was in.

Aisha Robinson: The second student of cobra kai, that went from an insecure nerd to a legit sassy confident bada**. Giving one of the stuck up popular girls the greatest karmic punishment. She is tough and knows her own worth. She is also another voice of reason character in season two.

Eli "Hawk" Moskowitz : And the award for most changed character is Hawk. A quiet kid with a scar from a cleft lip surgery left him the target of vicious bullying. Dimetri was his only friend, until he ‘Flipped the Script.’ Gets a mohawk and a back tattoo after embracing Cobra Kai. He becomes a legit bada**. As the season goes on, he does become more and more Aggro, his confidence now coming off more as arrogance and lashing out. By season 2, he starts taking lessons from Kreese and when his mohawk went Red, the old good Eli was dead. He is the prime example of how dangerous Cobra kai can be when one has bad guidance. Blue Hawk, fun, cool, still figuring out how to be a bada**. Red Hawk, irredeemable prick

Demetri: sarcastic and Neurotic, he saw things in the worst light, a natural whiner that really began his road to development in season 2, his friendship turned bitter rivalry is quite fascinating. Though the GOT references did not age well.

Tory Nichols: Certifiable Bad girl. She joins Cobra Kai and she is easily one of the most interesting characters in the show. She becomes Aisha’s new best friend and immediately butts heads with Sam. She ends up dating Miguel and Sam’s actions result in Tory declaring war on the daughter of Larusso. She is the catalyst of a lot of developments.

John Kreese: The sensei of Johnny, there is a LOT of beef between the two, but Johnny actually saw how broken of a man Kreese was and tried to help him despite their rough past. But Kreese only had one thing on his mind, revenge. The show actually shows how much more conniving and cruel Kreese is, even more then the movie. Kreese has been in wait a LONG time and he wants to crush Miyagi do once and for all.

____________________________

The Action and Acting.

I will say the acting on the part of the characters is pretty good. The dialogue can be a touch hammy at times, but when it involves Johnny, you can tell its genuine. All the characters in the original Karate kid movie really show how connected they are despite it being over 30 years.

The fighting Choreography is also fun and gets even better in season 2.

My favorite fights being Miguel vs Kyler and the boys In Season one episode 5, Miguel vs Robby  Season 1 episode 10, and  Season 2 episode 10 the school brawl.

Honorable mention is the Bar fight in season 2 with the older cobra kai alums.

_________________________________________

Overall:

The show can be a bit much for some people, its crass and its more teens and adults audience, but I highly recommend watching if a fan of Karate kid, or just want something interesting to watch.

I give it a solid 8/10 and I look forward to seeing season 3.

#karate kid #cobra kai #Gale reviews #Youtube originals #interesting show #review #gale talks

[hippychick006]

12.06 - Celebrating the life of Asa Fox Episode Review/Recap

Honestly, I see a picture like this on a promo and I have no hesitation diving straight in. Okay, you all know I have a hurt!Sam fetish, complete with writhing on the floor padabooty, let’s not bang on about it.

Official episode summary: THREE WINCHESTERS ARE BETTER THAN ONE – When hunters gather together to celebrate the life and tragic death of one of their own, Sam (Jared Padalecki) Dean (Jensen Ackles) and Mary (guest star Samantha Smith) must take action when a demon starts picking off hunters one by one. John Bedham directed the episode written by Steven Yockey  

My optimum number of Winchesters is two but yeah, I don’t mind a buy two get one extra free here and there.

Overall, I do really enjoy this episode, even after rewatch but putting under a cut to save space.

There’s a lot of things I don’t like about the Dabb era, and in terms of this episode, retconning Mary to be a hunter after parenthood is one of those things that niggles a little (I know she was a hunter before parenthood which also irks for different reasons) so there’s a lot I have to shake off from my mind in order to be able to enjoy an episode. And on rewatch, I had less issues than I did the first time (but given I’m coming at this straight from season 15, it could be a case of me just grasping onto absolutely anything that isn’t terrible).

Aside from the Mary thing, I love so much about this episode, not least because there isn’t a single mention of feathers who I am seriously going to struggle watching in any episode going forward thanks to 15.18 debacle.

Anyway moving swifly on…

First up is the intro and I love the introduction of Asa Fox as a character. We first meet him as a child, who Mary saves from a werewolf attack. And then we see him become interested in hunting (as Mary tells him she’s soon going to retire, and he’s worried that if she does: who’s gonna save people like me?)

Asa decides it’s going to be him and through a montage set to Bachman-Turner Overdrive’s Roll On Down The Highway, we see Asa grow up to become a pretty awesome hunter. Throughout all this time, he writes postcards to Mary, but doesn’t send them (no address) so he has quite a collection by the end and I think it’s all his hunts.

I’m so caught up in how awesome Asa is and how much I like this new character, I’m completely jarred when he comes to a sudden and unexpected end via hanging which also brings the music to an abrubt halt.

Great intro, Asa said very few words but I’m already mourning not getting to know him more.

After the opening titles, we switch to Jody who is chilling out at home about to watch Netflix when there’s a knock at the door.  Turns out it’s Sam and Dean who have just finished up a hunt and stopped by to visit. Unfortunately the cardboard cutout “just add water” instant girl hunters are at a concert. Jody offers to feed them, and Dean lets her know that he killed Hitler since the last time they saw her.

Sam: *huffs and walks away Jody: *blank stare “thank you?” Dean: You’re welcome

Love it.

They have pizza and watch Netflix and have a debate about rom coms. Sam says Dean is more of “an animated Japanese erotica chick.”

A little oversharing on your brother’s habits there Sammy, but Sam is not concerned in the least.  In fact, I love how totally relaxed Sam is sitting here. He’s clearly comfortable at Jody’s slumped on her sofa.

The phone rings and Jody goes to answer it, Sam and Dean have a conversation about Sam oversharing which Dean’s uncomfortable with.

Sam: Dude, be proud of your hobbies. It makes you who you are.

Supportive Sam encouraging his brother!

Jody returns and walks past them, she’s clearly upset. The boys follow to watch her start packing.  They ask what’s wrong and Jody says a friend of hers died – it’s poor Asa from the opener and I wasn’t expecting a link from Jody to Asa.  

The name is familiar to Dean and he’s trying to figure it out when Sam says it’s the guy Ellen used to tell stories about at the Roadhouse.  Asa apparently killed five wendigos in a single night and now I’m even more mourning his loss. Seems Jody met Asa when he came to town on a hunt, she caught him out when he tried to pretend to be an FBI agent by the name, Fox Mulder. He’s worse than the Winchesters!  Anyway she helped him out on a ghoul hunt and they kept in touch.The boys decide to go with her to the wake, John didn’t let them go to hunter gatherings outside of bars as he always said they were trouble.

Turns out Asa lived in Manitoba, Dean says “oh Canada” when he gets out of the car on arrival.  Sam is impressed with the house which yes, nice digs for a hunter.

We meet Asa’s mother, Lorraine and she knew her son was a hunter. She’s heavily in to the drink but she’s just lost her son, so I’m cutting her some slack as I can’t imagine anything worse.

Dean finds his way to the kitchen (and the beer) which has no label. He’s concerned but “Bucky” homebrewed it himself and it’s strong.  Dean introduces himself which gets the attention of the several hunters in the room,

Randy: No freakin’ way. Aren’t you dead? Like, four times? Dean: Yeah. It, uh, didn't take.

Just wait till they hear about Mystery Spot where he died over a hundred times in a single day!

Sam fanboy hunter: Wait. Your brother here? Sam? Dean: Yeah, he's still alive, too. He's –

Fanboy doesn’t even wait for Dean to finish, he’s off to find Sam.  Same fanboy (named Elvis), same tbh

While Dean’s making friend’s in the kitchen – and learning not to say the name ‘Wendigo’ which turns out to be a trigger word to take a drink - Sam’s homed in on hotboy Max and his equally hot sister Alicia.  Turns out their mother is a good witch who taught Alicia how to hunt bad witches.

Sam (to Max): What did she teach you? Max: Uh, mostly how to seduce men. Alicia: She also taught him some magic, which is actually more useful. Max: Eh, mostly the men thing.

Max is definitely getting his flirt on, making sure Sam knows he’s into hot men, and we cannot deny, Sam is a hot man. Before Sam can flirt back, Elvis interrupts and introduces himself and then makes Sam feel awkward when he asks Sam about being possessed by the devil. Bad Elvis!

Max (and Alicia) are both pissed on Sam’s behalf,

Alicia: Dude, you don't just ask someone about something that messed up. Max: Seriously, back off.

Protective!Max alert, I’m going to need a few minutes with my new ship Samax, though to be honest, the way Max and Alicia are sitting together, it might need to be Samaxia, which no issue other than it sounds like a drug that gets advertised on television with all kinds of side effect warnings, like may cause death...)

Elvis makes Sam feel so awkward that he runs off to go find a beer. Elvis then tries to talk to Max and Alicia and they outright just tell him to go away. Love them.

Aww, Sam got his beer and then went off to find his big brother. In fairness, I think they’ve been separated five minutes at this point and in that time Sam was accosted by Elvis. Dean’s looking through Asa’s office and discovers he has a real angel blade. Sam asks if Dean knew people tell stories about them.

Dean: Yeah. Apparently, we’re a little bit legendary. Sam: Yeah, but, I mean, so was Asa. Then a hunt went bad, and he ended up hanging from a tree, alone in the woods. Dean: He died on the job. No better way to go. Sam: You really believe that? Dean: Yeah. What, you don’t? I mean, come on, Sam, it's not like we're in the “live till you're 90, die in your sleep” business. This? [Dean points at Asa’s hunting wall] This only ends one way.

It’s difficult watching this knowing the ultimate end as I know Sam’s never agreed with this, being the one to want to see an end to hunting at some point; but you can’t deny Dean has been consistent in how he thinks he’s going to go out and has always seemed at peace with that.

Sam says they should get back and Dean agrees but warns Sam not to say “wendigo” to anyone. I love that he warns Sam. Every time Dean is a good brother, it just reminds me how much of a bad sister I am as I would not have passed on the warning. Sam’s confused about why he can’t say it but seems to just accept it.

Only a few people are around by the end of the night, still telling stories of Asa’s epic hunts - mainly Bucky. Why show, why give us this amazing man and kill him off in the first five minutes?!.

Anyway, turns out that the “ghoul story” from earlier had more to it. Asa and Jody got together for some “sweet sweet time alone”. Jody plays it down, says it was more of a casual thing. Turns out Asa could beat Dean in the ladies game and I think even Alicia and Max mother was one of his conquests (we saw this in the opening montage as well, Asa kissing a different woman in his car in between hunts).

Randy asks if people want a beer and heads to the kitchen, and I fear Randy is not long for this world as he walks down the hallway alone. We stay on him as he returns and my anxiety is kicking in, even with expecting something, it’s sudden when his throat is slit and he’s dragged off down a side corridor by someone wearing black.

Alicia walks back into the living room carrying two beers – and we’re reminded she’s dressed all in black?!  Alicia? Surely not.

We see someone enter the door and only see their boots as they walk, they stop just outside the living rom where everyone is talking. Loraine hears the footsteps stop and tells the stranger to come in and not hover.

Turns out it’s Mary.  Awkward Winchester family reunion, given I think from memory Mary walked out an episode or so ago.

Sam, Dean, Jody and Mary go somewhere more quiet to talk.

Mary: What are you doing here? Dean: What are you doing here?

I love the reversed dynamic of Sam being go between Dean and Mary (where it was the reverse between Sam and John).  Sam introduces Mary to Jody as their mother.

Jody: I thought– I thought you were... Mary: I was. Jody: [quietly] Wow. Wow! [She hugs Mary excitedly] It is so nice to meet you!

She belatedly sees the awkward tension and ships out to give them “some family time”

Dean asks where Mary’s been and she responds she’s been using John’s journal to work through a few things.

Dean: You could’ve just asked us, you know. Sam: Dean, come on. Dean: She could’ve. Mary: It’s okay. He’s right. But… This is something I needed to do alone. I… Listen, most of the people I knew are dead. And then I remembered Asa. He was so young when I met him, I thought he must still be around. And then… I saw an article about his death, and, uh… Dean: So you’ll text us once a week, maybe, but you’ll drive all the way to Canada to see some dead guy? Well, that’s awesome. I’m gonna get some air. Mary: Dean, wait...

Mary tries to go after Dean but Sam stops her. Sam knows his brother.

Jody on the other hand stops Dean at the door and pretty much says she’s here if Dean wants to talk about anything other than killing Hitler (which Dean spent the five hour drive telling her in excruciating detail.). She talks about giving anything to have her dead husband and son back but at the same time she would be worried it wouldn’t be the same which gives Dean some food for thought in regard to his complicated relationship with Mary.

Mary’s in the kitchen getting a beer, Lorraine introduces herself as Asa’s mother. Mary introduces herself as Mary Winchester, which Lorraine can’t believe as Mary should be her age. Mary: It’s a long story. She says she’s sorry. Lorraine says she should be, Mary’s the reason her son didn’t become an astronaut. She’s very bitter and hands Mary the box with the postcards Asa wrote to her. Mary defends herself and says she saved Asa’s life.

Lorraine: [scoffing] What am I supposed to say to that? After you, Asa got so… Hunting was his whole life. He never married. Never had a family, kids. And now… enjoy the wake.

I love this next scene between Sam and Mary. Sam finds Mary and asks if she’s all right. She thrusts the box of postcards at him and says she’s fine. She goes into Asa’s office and tells Sam she saved Asa when he was a kid, and this is all on her.

Sam: Well, no. Obviously, mom, he made his own decisions. And he helped a lot of people, you know?

Sam and free will and then we have Season 15 debacle. Pfff

Mary tells him that everywhere she goes and everything she does just feels wrong, but she’ll get used to it.Sam tells her he understands, she just needs space and so does Dean, (who we see outside drinking from his flask), He says Dean is just scared they are going to lose her again,

Sam: “that – that because we're (Sam and Dean) hunters, you're gonna walk away. But I know that’s not true. Even looking at these… [Sam holds out the box of Asa’s postcards to Mary] I mean, you saved Asa in 1980, um, after Dean was born. After everyone thought you quit hunting. Seems like you couldn’t stop then, and… I’m guessing you can’t stop now, either. This job, this life, is crazy and insane. But it’s in our blood. Come on. [Sam puts his arm around Mary] Mary: Where we going? Sam: To say goodbye to Asa.

I love that Sam understands more than anyone the desire to have normal/safe, pulling against the need to save people/hunt things so I love this scene between him and Mary and I like Mary a little bit more because of it. Damn you Jared! You even got me to like Claire once!  

They go to say goodbye to Asa and I like when Mary undoes the cover over his face and we get blood dripping onto Asa’s forehead. It’s interesting to have both Sam and Mary in this scene in a callback to Sam’s nursery scene.  They both look up and it’s Randy, tied to the rafters, dead and bleeding from his neck wound.

Back in the living room, Bucky is still telling stories about Asa. Sam and Mary rush in and Sam tells everyone they need to leave because Randy is dead. I like this, it’s like a murder mystery now. All of a sudden, water is shut off (this is new canon?), and the twins can smell Sulphur. Lights are flickering. Demon alert!

Bucky tells them it’s Jael, a crossroads demon who hangs people, which is his thing, snaps necks (Asa), slits throats (Randy). Turns out Asa exorcised the demon but now it’s back. Bucky tries to open the door, Elvis helps but it slams shut.

Max (trying to impress Sam): you’re wasting your time [he waves a hand in front of the door and we see red symbols] Max says the entire house has been warded.

Not sure if that impressed Sam or not but Max had me at “Seriously, back off” and now this?  *Fans self

Anyway, it means they are trapped inside.

Back outside with Dean, he’s still drinking from his flask. He hears footsteps and doesn’t bother turning around, just tells the person to “go away”. I think he thinks it’s Mary, but turns out to be Billy saying “you’re not the boss of me.”

Dean: Billie. What’re you doing here? Billie: My job. [Dean chuckles] Well, I’m not dead yet. Billie: Shame. But actually, I just finished inside. I was reaping a fresh soul.

Wait, what?  But Dean’s brother is in there! Dean’s pissed and marches to the door.

Inside, Bucky is telling the group more about the demon Jael. Asa exorcised the demon but not before it killed a first nations girl by tying a noose around her neck.

Outside Dean is rattling and banging on the door

Dean: Sam. Sammy! Hey! Billie: You can huff and puff, but that house is on supernatural lockdown. They can’t even hear you.

Bucky is still expositioning and Dean is still trying to get past that old Winchester nemesis “the door”, even throwing a solid statue at it, but nothing is happening.

Okay, we’ve now reached the only part of this episode I have an issue with. We’ve got a group of hunters standing around wondering who the demon is amongst them and not one of them can remember the tests for a demon. Sam come on!  You knew Christo in season 1 and you performed a reverse exorcism in season 8.

Anyway Elvis accuses Alicia of not being in the room and Max says Dean wasn’t in the room either (uh Max buddy, accusing Sam’s brother isn’t going to win you any points in the whole wooing thing, just fyi - of course wooing Sam in the first place is pretty dangerous terratory)

Finally Alicia remembers about holy water but they are all out. Elvis says they can just make more but Mary reminds them the water is off. Uh? The toilet bowl?

Dean’s stopped attacking the door and turns to Billie and asks, What did you do?  Billy says it wasn’t her, she’s just cleaning up the mess but “it’s always nice to see a Winchester who can’t get what he wants.”

Dean: You think this is funny? Huh? Hunters are dying in there. Billie: Everyone dies.

Dean is pretty much losing his shit and I’d like to remind people that at this point, he doesn’t know which hunter has died.

Back with the group, Sam finally remembers his brother is outside so all focus is on Alicia who starts coughing. I think she’s faking it to screw with her brother (totally what I would do) but no,

Alicia/Jael: Alicia’s not here right now. [Her eyes glow red] Leave a message. [she punches Max] Oh, you’re a fun group. We’re gonna have a good time tonight.

Jael leaves Alicia in a cloud of demon smoke and flies into the fireplace. Sam and Max get Alicia up (Samaxia forever – warning for side effects which may include internal bleeding and even death)

They now need to figure who in the house Jael has jumped into. Jody gives the orders (I’ll forgive this, she’s a cop) and they pair off to search the house (why not sweep room to room?), Anyway, Sam’s with Mary and Jody’s with Bucky.

Dean’s worked out that Billy got in to reap the soul so if she can get in, she can get Dean in.

Billie: I could, I suppose. But– Dean: Do it! Billie: But it’s a one-way ticket. And you’re gonna owe me one.

Billie, Sammy is in there, do you think Dean cares about “cosmic consequences” at a time like this? There is a door between them right now ffs!  Sammy may even be dead and Dean does not want him decomposing before he can find a crossroads to make a deal!

Elvis who was supposed to be partnering with Lorraine, left her briefly to get her a double (vodka I presume?).  Anyway Dean comes flying through the door like the overly dramatic bitch he is whenever Sam is in danger.

Dean (whipping out demon knife): Where’s my brother? [he’s already marching past them btw to go look]

THIS IS MY SHOW!  What moron thought this show was going to end with DeanCas?  Come on, don’t be shy, show yourselves so we can point and laugh because you are going to have an epic tantrum approximately 3 and a half years from this episode which could have been prevented if you’d watched the damn show, instead of wallpaper. By the way, in this episode, Castiel was played by the statue Dean threw at the door. [It represents the violent nature of the Destiel relationship – I have a 500 page meta on this if anyone is interested].

Lorraine accuses Dean of being the demon.

Dean: Demon? Lorraine: Kill him! Dean: Whoa, whoa, whoa. Easy, lady. Look, I’m not a demon, okay? I’m one of the good guys. Now stick with me, do what I say, and everybody’ll get out of here, okay? Everybody!

Elvis – making far too much use of his screentime matches Dean’s dramatics by pulling out his own knife and saying ominiously “well, not everybody” [complete with red flashing eyes].

In this episode, Dean is allowed to be a proper hunter and is able to fight.  He taunts the demon, “You’re kinda slow for a demon, aren’t you?” which, he seriously is, no idea how this demon got my wonderful favourite side character “Asa” killed (if he’s not in the final watching Kansas play at the Road House along with all my other favourites, I will be pissed and have a full week meltdown on Twitter – just fyi) [*I won’t really because I’m not insane. Please don’t report me.]

Dean tells the demon to go to hell. The demon tells Dean that Hell is a “complete train wreck” (uh, no, what is a “complete train wreck” is most of season 12-15) Hell is much more pleasant.  Dean repeats for the demon to go to hell and starts reciting an exorcism (finally, the smart brother is in the room).  Love hearing Dean recite the exorcism. Demon says nuh uh though and snaps Elvis’ neck complete 180 which causes Lorraine to scream, the black smoke escapes from Elvis still standing body. Elvis collapses on the floor and Lorraine is wailing. And I can say “Elvis has left the bulding” which I’ve been waiting the entire episode to be able to say. I’m marginally disappointed Dean didn’t.

Dean helps Lorraine up while shouting “Sammeh!” which brings Sammeh running to the living room. 

Mary: Dean. We thought you were outside. Dean: Yeah, I got back in. Sam: How? Dean: It was a one-time deal. Won’t happen again.

Thankfully, there’s no time for Sam to initiate the Spanish inquisition on THAT right now. They account for everyone – except Elvis obviously. The lights go out and everyone puts flashlights on (Max and Alicia have the phone torch on – me as a hunter!) but Dean pulls out the knife which Alicia and Max look at.  

Alicia: Mm, impressive. Dean: Demon blade. Kills ‘em dead. Max and Alicia in unison: Nice.

While I try to work out a Sam/Max/Alicia/Dean ship name, Bucky suggests lighting candles, Dean says they need a devil’s trap. Sam says “on it” and Dean is right there with him “yep”.  My boys working in sync!

Dean’s plan is for them all to stand in the devil’s trap. The person who won’t get in, is the demon. Clever plan. Mary is impressed and it’s nice for her to see how well one of her sons turned out as a hunter and the other is a cute dumbass – at least Sam had a flashlight.

Mary goes off on her own for some reason and goes to get the angel killing blade from Asa’s office.

Max tries flirting with Sam again, asking what kind of pentagram they are doing

Sam: Standard pentagram. Nothing fancy. Max: I like a Fifth Pentacle of Mars. It’s got more character.

Max bringing his A game to the flirting, I like it. Alicia doesn’t like all the flirting: “Because character is really what matters right now.”  They are just like Sam and Dean! Spin off of codependent witch siblings right tf now. Please and thank you.

Jody sees Mary return and is suspicious she was off on her own. She whispers to Sam that she thinks Mary is possessed, she gets increasingly worried which draws the immediate attention of Dean who comes over and asks what is going on (demon knife drawn out and ready once again). Sam quietly tries to tell Dean that Jody thinks their mom is a demon, but Jody shouts, No, I don’t think, I know! I know she’s a demon. [points accusingly at Mary] which prompts Bucky to steps away from Mary and reaches for his knife.

Mary: Hey! Jody: Kill her! Use the knife! Kill her now! Sam: Whoa, whoa, whoa. Wait. Hold on a second, [turns to look at Jody] Jody, you… You don’t sound like yourself. Dean (not even looking around):That’s because she’s not herself. Are you?

Oh my poor Sam Dumbchester, on rewatch, this episode did you dirty, I was sucked in by my love of Asa Fox and the whole door thing and the Sammeh! I’m so ashamed. Hands my bitter Sam girl platinum membership card back to the bitter Sam girl club in recognition I am no longer worthy of holding it Jody turning into the red eyed demon is in the running for worst “playing of a different character ever” but it’s up against stiff competition from Casifer, Empty!Castiel, Gestapo!Castiel and gayforpay!Castiel and is mercifully short. My main issue with this demon is there is no real consistency through the different bodies it inhabits. They should all have agreed how to play it imo and I do think Kim goes Disney villain OTT but not enough to cause embarrassment, just would have been better if the performance had been toned down some.

Demon Jody had hoped they would kill their mom “wouldn’t that be a riot?”

Dean (sarcastically): Yeah, super fun

Sam tries to attack Jody and is thrown. Big brother is pissed and tries to attack but is thrown too. Uh, how come the lame demon can fight now?

Anyway, Mary attacks and tries to kill Jody with the demon blade and manages to scratch her arm, but Sam says no and pulls Mary away. .

Mary: What are you doing?! She’s a demon. We kill demons. Sam: No, but she’s Jody.

I like this that Mary doesn’t know you don’t just go around killing people, you try to save them first. 

The demon is bored and claps her hands, and everyone collapses onto the ground and cannot move (where was this kickass power earlier?).  The demon says she’s heard so many stories about the Winchesters, she stands over sam and says, “The idea that he left a meatsuit alive is just so deliciously weak.” Sam gives his “bite me” face.

As for the rest, she’s been inside their heads and starts spilling out secrets – the twins are Asa’s children (I forgot about this detail), Lorraine apparently tried to sabotage Asa’s truck to stop him going out hunting (which is a nice call back to him trying to fix the truck in the episode earlier).  She says Jody fantasized about a life with Asa.  Bucky manages to get up to attack but Jody grabs him and holds him on his knees.

Jody/Jael: And you. Bucky. Brave, brave Bucky. I was there that night. Tell these nice, stupid people what you did. Tell them what you took from me. Asa was mine.

I like this next scene, Sam manages to stand up and start the exorcism before he’s thrown across the room again. Dean picks up where Sam left off, until he’s thrown through a glass door, the twins are next and get pinned to the wall.

Bucky finally confesses that he killed Asa [and the way he’s dramatically thrown to the floor would never have made it into a scene in seasons 1 to 5]. Oh show, weeps for the quality that once was. Season 12 (heavy sigh).

Mary stands up and finishes the exorcism which sends the demon back to hell.

Sam rushes over to help Jody who says, “That… sucked”

[Try re-watching your performance Kim!]

Lorraine: Bucky, what did you do?

They all turn and look at Bucky.

Bucky says they were hunting in the woods for Jael and he wanted to go back and get the angel blade. Asa wanted to keep hunting but Bucky pushed him and Asa fell and cracked his head and died, which I feel kind of sorry for, not like he did it deliberately and he lost his best friend [and lets be real, it’s not the worst thing a supposed “best friend” has done on this show].  It’s a very tragic end for a great hunter (don’t fast forward to 15.20)

Bucky asks what they are going to do to him.

Alicia: Tell everyone, every hunter we meet. They’re gonna know your name, Bucky. Know what you did. Max: You like stories. This is the story everyone’s gonna tell about you. Forever

I guess I get Max and Alicia’s anger, Asa being their dad and all. It’s just tragic all round because I do feel it was an unlucky accident and Bucky clearly misses his best friend.

I like the setup of the funeral pyre, now 3 hunter bodies being burned, Jody, Lorraine and Mary are standing in front of the pyre. Alicia and Max are resting against their car and Dean and Sam are doing the same against baby.  

Lorraine tells Mary she was wrong, “Asa did have a family. He even had kids. I’ve got grandchildren. Suppose I should go meet them.” She walks over to hug Alicia and Max.

Jody and Mary are left at the pyre,

Jody: I don’t know what’s going on between you and your boys, but I gotta tell you, mom to mom, they are good men. Best I’ve ever met. Mary: I know. They’re not the problem.

Jody walks away and leaves Mary on her own, which is Dean’s opportunity, he taps Sam and they both go over to Mary. They ask if she’s okay but Billy appears and says, “She’s really not.” Mary asks who she is and Dean says she’s a reaper that got him back inside.

I would like to have much preferred to have seen Sam’s reaction as well as Mary’s but we don’t get this and it’s a bad choice of angle for me. Billie says Dean owes her one and looks at Mary, “This one. This one right here.”

Billie is still on her “what’s dead should stay dead” kick. She’s a stickler for the laws on that (and never really changes tbh, I don’t really get Billie’s overall arc.)

Mary says she didn’t ask to come back, Billie agrees but says the dead man’s look in Mary’s eyes says she hates it, that she feels she doesn’t fit, like she’s all alone.

Dean: Well, she’s not alone.

Billie (still looking at Mary): Tell me I’m wrong. [Sam and Dean turn to look at Mary and kudos to Jared once again for saying so much with no words as to how he looks at Mary here]

Billy says she’s not here to hurt Mary, “I’m here to offer you mercy. A one-way ticket upstairs, away from all of this.”  [Again poor choice of camera for this scene as we see Dean but not Sam].  Mary asks how it would work.   

Sam: Mom. [My poor boys!] Mary: You just kill me again? Billie: Reapers don’t kill people. Rules. Mary: Well… then… [she looks up at Sam and Dean] Me: Don’t you dare break my boys fragile hearts! Mary: Then I guess you’re just gonna have to wait. Billie: Winchesters… Me: Same tbh Billie Billie: …if you change your mind– if any of you change your minds– you know my name. [she disappears]

Sam asks if this means Mary is coming home. Mary says yeah, but follows up with: Not quite yet. I just need a little more time.

Sam looks disappointed ☹ but he understands

Dean: Can we buy you breakfast at least? Mary: Bacon? Dean: All the bacon. Mary: I would love that.

I love that Dean and Mary can find a common bond through food. Sam hugs Mary as they walk together towards the Impala

Despite a couple of wobbly bits sprinkled here and there and my poor Dumbchester Sammeh, I still really love this episode overall, the good far outweighs the issues I have and I’ll happily re-watch it as a stand-alone MOTW.  I loved the introduction of the witch twins and wish we’d got to see a lot more of them *coughs* and a lot less of other “fan favourite” characters.

It will be interesting where this one will ultimately fall in my definitive list.

#spn rewatch #12.06 #celebrating the life of asa fox #episode review #episode recap #Dabb era actually has some quite good episodes to enjoy #if you ignore being repeatedly punched in the face with Cass is best friend/brother

[letterstothemidnightsociety]

Previously On Supernatural Season 3, we had a really rock solid trio of episodes to kick us off right, so what does SPN do next? It’s gonna lay the groundwork for some spicy character development that may or may not pay off by the end of the season. Let's find out!

To be honest, I felt the next three episodes just sort of plateau? There’s enough nuggets in these three eps - “Sin City”, “Bedtime Stories”, and “Red Sky at Morning” - that it does feel like they’re setting up for something big but it’s taking too much time. If the season had been longer, I don’t know that I’d be complaining, because there’s SO much potential introduced with these character developments, but I know it’s gonna get cut off at the knees in the very near future. 2021 Me has been trained on what to expect from a short season, so half of my brain wants to give the show slack for Unexpected Circumstances, but the other half of my brain is shouting YOUR NOT DRIVING THE BUS FAST ENOUGH, YOU’LL NEVER MAKE IT TO THE END OF THE LINE IN TIME!!!

And that’s maybe unfair because there really are some great nuggets in here. We’ve got “Sin City”, which is Dean’s episode. I mean, they’re ALL Dean’s episode, but this one more so than the other two in this post. Dean gets trapped with a demon who turns out to be...kinda...nice? In kind of a Stockholm Syndromey way I guess? She let’s Dean in on the fate that awaits him when his year long contract is up and it is NOT great. This isn’t the first time we see that there’s more to the demons than SPN has shown us in the past (hello, Ruby), but it is the first time Dean chills out enough to actually have a conversation with one. Dean doesn’t really get it, like he’s still not interested in getting out of his deal, but the fear gets planted, it just needs some time to grow. Oh, also, the Colt Ex Machina is back in action, so that's important.

This dumb bitch thinks he can fool us with that devil-may-care side glance but he caaaan't

But then we get “Bedtime Stories”, the Sam episode, where Sam learns...to let go? That’s the point of this episode right? It’s about letting go of someone before that person becomes too toxic and dangerous? At least, that’s the lesson that Dean wants Sam to take away from this case. But Sam will NOT learn this lesson, so instead he tries to cancel Dean’s deal by killing the crossroads demon who wrote it. Spoiler Alert: it doesn't work.

And then we get “Red Sky At Morning”, which opens and closes with some heavy emotional baggage, but then is stuffed full of fun. Like, this episode ricochets wildly in terms of Feelings, but then that’s probably what we should expect from SPN. I mean, what show have I been watching for 3 seasons now?

Fun Facts guys: I’m a tired Millenial, and swapping DVD discs was too much work so I switched over to watching this season on Netflix and GUESS WHAT???? THESE EPISODES COME WITH A SUICIDE WARNING!?!?!

They're not wrong.

And like, if that doesn’t tell you everything you need to know about this season I don’t know WHAT will. Cuz Dean is absolutely suicidal and I am surprised (??) I guess (???) by how much the show acknowledges that. Or I guess, surprised by how much Netflix acknowledges that. It’s something that I did not...pick up on the first go around on season 3, possibly because I was 19 and I was an idiot and found this sort of emotional vulnerability to be endearing. Listen, I know there’s a lot to be said about the producers of the show making...umm…poor decisions in regards to character developments? But if the target demographic of this show was anything like me - and I suspect they were - then the viewers were also...probably...responding inappropriately to some of those character developments. And here’s the thing - I’m looking at this from 12 years in the future, with 12 years worth of real life drama that makes the heavy handed melodrama of television feel...well, heavy handed. Maybe irresponsible? Certainly a little uncomfortable. Big Me is having A Time confronting Little Me’s taste in TV Characters. It’s one thing to have a kink, Little Me, it’s another thing to romanticize suicidal depression.

And hey, I can’t deny that the character development for Dean makes sense. I actually appreciate that the show is thinking through the world and the relationship dynamics that they’ve built and the toll that these misadventures are having on their main characters. These episodes all get bookended by Impala Fights where Sam keeps pushing Dean to give a shit about his own life and Dean responds with an inability to care. That’s just where he is right now, and I get that. We’re early in the season still. But how will the rest of the season handle this? I honestly can’t remember but I also don’t want this to be a throw-away issue that they use to remind us that Dean’s supposed to die at the end of the season. I’m prob gonna come back to this throughout the season because I ~just~want~this~show~to be~repsonsiblllllleeeeeeeeeeee.

Lol, I know, that’s a lot to ask from the CW.

ON TO MORE FUN THINGS!!

Sam is gettin’ reeeeeallll bitchy in these episodes and #1, I love it, Bitchy Sam 5Ever, but also #2, was this supposed to be the sign that Sam was going darkside? Like, he’s snarky, he’s angry, he’s not pulling any punches and that could just be him reacting to his brother’s situation but it could also be….you know...him...becoming slightly...evil? For instance in “Sin City”, he kills the two demons who kidnapped Dean without even thinking. On the one hand, this is the Winchester MO, they kill demons, that’s their job, but on the other hand, Dean is actively telling Sam to stop. Same deal in “Bed Time Stories” - Sam kills the crossroads demon in cold blood (or maybe viscera). Again, we could blame this on instinct - the Winchesters were brought up to do exactly this - but 1) Dean keeps telling Sam not to and 2) that’s not Sam. This show spent 2 seasons telling us that Sam is the Good Brother, the White Hat, the Touchy-Feely One. This is not the Touchy Feely Sam who reasons with ghosts and falls in love with werewolves. Like, everyone else sees it too, right? Also, he is usually very nice to everyone but he is a REAL BITCH to Gertrude in “Red Sky at Morning.” Like, come on, Sam, she just wants to have a nice time. She is OLD. You really think she’s got what it takes to climb that tree?

Honestly, how tall are this lady's heels?

I know that there was a plan for Sam to start Turning in this season before the show’s episode order got slashed due to the Writer’s Strike. And man, I really would have liked to have seen this play out. Like, first season Sam is the Innocent, right? He’s our stand in for the viewer in those first few episodes and then he’s revealed to be kind of the only thing that went right in the lives of both John and Dean, so Baby Must Be Protected at All Costs. The fact that John ultimately lets Sam go off to college and doesn’t contact him for the next four years says to me that on some level, John felt the need to preserve that innocence, that kind of untouched quality Sam has. Dean is very similar - whenever Sam gets too into the job, Dean calls him out on it. So in the second season when we find out that Sam might be evil, it’s a real punch in the gut, for Dean most of all. But then the show admittedly got bored with that storyline and it didn’t really go anywhere. So whereas Dean has personality in SPADES that fluctuates and changes and develops/maybe just gets more intense as the show goes on, Sam remains that kind of blank slate that the viewer can put their face on. Except now we’re in season three, and if you’ve bought into this show, then you’ve bought into it, so the audience doesn’t need a Blank Slate Sam anymore. And if you start with Sam the Innocent and then introduce the idea of Dark!Sam and then just leave that concept hanging, then isn’t this sort of like Checkov’s Evil Sam? If you introduce Evil Sam in the first act you really ought to deliver on Evil Sam by act three, right? Wouldn’t that have been A+ and Wild? Wouldn’t that have made Sam’s arc and emotional struggles over the previous seasons have more weight?

Will this be resolved in later seasons? Maybe. I’m gonna be honest, this is the last season I watched all the way through and seasons 4 through...like, 8 were real touch and go for me. I know that Sam ultimately is revealed to be a vessel for??? The devil??? And Dean is ultimately revealed to be a vessel for??? Michael??? And then the two of them???? Fight to the death???? Point is, season 5 got weird guys and I’m not there yet.

Back to more fun things! You know what guys?? I think I ship Dean and Bela. I’m...almost ashamed to admit it? Like, I remember Little Me watching this season and just dumping on Bela, I HATED her, but this time? I am 1,000% On Board This Ship. Like, there is an alternate universe somewhere where these two got a spinoff show that ran for 6 seasons and I watched EVERY episode. And then, like, 5 years after it ended, they rebooted it with Dean and Bela’s grown up daughter as the lead and the whole OG cast makes cameos over the three seasons it stays on the air and it’s amazing. I’d own both shows on DVD.

What I like about Bela this time around (and again, I am WILDLY surprised about this development), is that she can dish it just as hard as the Winchesters can. Like, every line Dean throws at her she holds up a mirror to say, “Oh yes, I know the Kettle is black, but what color are you, Pot?” and I’m just continually thrilled. She is also just as damaged as Dean is but somehow channeling it into a healthier way? Like, she’s true Chaotic Neutral, which is not necessarily healthy, it’s just healthier than Dean. Or maybe it’s just that she’s better at managing it. In either case, they are HOT MESSES and I love it. I just love it. I know I complained about shoehorned romances but Ackles and Lauren Cohan just totally crush it in every scene and when Dean walks down the stairs all She’s All That in “Red Sky at Morning”, I yelled at the screen OMG just BONE already!!!!! And then like, 5 seconds later, Bela literally says “We should really have angry sex,” and it was probably the most vindicating moment I’ve had on this ride so far.

I just think they're neat!

WHY did we cancel her? WHY?? I don’t want to believe it was the Wincest again, so I’m gonna pretend that it wasn’t, but it was definitely fans. According to Kripke, Bela gets the axe at the end of this season because of the fan hatred of her. Now, I’ve already admitted that I personally held a grudge, but good Lord, what was wrong with us, as a Fandom? To be fair to me (and all of us), would we have felt differently if we had not been introduced to Jo a mere season earlier?? I'm gonna say yes. Although I had misgivings about Jo the first episode we meet her, by the end of season 2 I was certainly on her side. Working through season 3, I am remembering that, when we were introduced to Bela, I was immediately FURIOUS because WTF, WHERE’S JO? SPN just introduced to her. They just settled on a love interest for Dean and the writer’s just got me on board with that. Now they’ve completely done away with both that character AND that dynamic and you want me to get on board this NEW thing? And be excited about it??? So I'm gonna blame the love-interest-whiplash, combined with the fact that Little Me related my own personal self more to Jo than to Bela, that made me hate Bela in the first place. When you look at how quickly the show abandoned one character to introduce another character, it makes sense why fans got mad, but I’m also mad that we continued to hate Bela when she turned out to be such an A+ Frenemy. It makes me want to shout at the writers through the time void COMMIT TO A FEMALE CHARACTER YOU JAGWEEDS.

What’s wild watching this show now is just how Male it was, especially considering its audience was already skewed heavily female by this point in the series. If you made this show today, I don’t know that you could do that. Today, there’s a real push for balanced, diverse casts in programming, especially in sci-fi/fantasy and young adult. I think if SPN had started in 2021, they would have introduced the Harvell’s or Bela up in season 1, and that introduction would have been much more intentional. The benefit of having a shorter episode count as the standard is that there’s less of the “throw stuff at the wall and see what sticks” approach. Looking at it from 2021, reading snippets of interviews from Kripke, that’s definitely what they’re doing with the side characters in these seasons and you can feel that in Jo and Bela. A shorter season means that the storytelling has to be tighter, it can’t wander, so every decision has to be a load-bearing decision. On the other hand, one of the down sides of having a shorter episode count is the exact same thing - less room to throw stuff, less room to experiment. Heck, Bobby was technically a character they threw at the wall and he didn’t just stick, he became a tentpole character of the series. The only side character that actually made it into the series finale even!

So how much room should we be giving our television programs? I think it depends on the show, honestly. I think you have to decide up front if you want space to experiment, or if you have one, tight, compact story line that’s gonna drive viewers from episode 1 right through the finale without giving them the chance to catch their breath. You have to make the decision, but that doesn’t mean we have to stop making one style of show in favor of the other. Just because we’re in the Age of Streaming doesn’t mean there isn’t room enough for both.

#Supernatural #Supernatural season 3 #Supernatural rewatch #Sin City #Bedtime Stories #Red Sky at Morning #Sam Winchester #Dean Winchester #Bobby Singer #Bela Talbot #TV #TV history #TV format

[arlakos]

Why Season 3 was a Rollercoaster of a mess. (Spoilers!)

 Oh boy

Oooooooh boy where do I even begin

Lets start from the beginning i Suppose

When Miraculous Ladybug first came out i fell in love with the series. I thought the premise was nice, the characters ok and the story interesting. Well, to be fair I didnt expect much of the story due to being in its first season, but I loved it. The finale was meh (the last episode, not the mid-series Origins story, I watched it on Netflix). I liked the series. I loved the fandom. And i Couldn’t wait for season 2 at the time.

Then season 2 came out

As i started watching the first ep of season 2, it started out strong, answered a question i already knew, but then... it didn't go any further. See, when I expected season 2, I expected the story to be taken up a notch, the plot to become stronger, new and interesting characters to be introduced, and for someone to replace Hawkmoth as the antagonist (bc in my mind, he always felt like a season 1 antagonist to be replaced one season later by the actual main antagonist, and the mayura leaks did not help). 

But it never came. The story remained simple and eventually started to become bland. All episodes were all single-story eps with no correlation to each other other than the characters in them. Every single character in the show that wasnt Marinette had any sort of character growth, and I could take any one of the episodes out other than the first and last two and it wouldn't have any impact. Maybe not all of them, but some.

(This was the same time I learned that all episodes in the series were meant to always be single episode storylines. It was the same time I learned the the shows creator was also an ASS-truc, but thats a story for another day)

So for season 2, I ended up starting to find the show boring and lackluster. Most of the episodes were boring and unentertaining, and aside from a select few, such as the finale, the new hero eps and a few others, the entire season was boring to heck. 

Worse still, Marinette went from an ok nice girl (who was at times a bit of an arse) to a stalker asshole who was at times worse than Chloe. 

(Then again, the first episode of the entire series literally had Marinette have a planner used to track Adrien's every move, so what the hell do i know)

The fandom, however, was still amazing at the time, so I stuck around. The fanfics were amazing at the time and the fandom was still so kind-hearted

Luckily for me, Season 3 would manage to have some much better episodes.

But at what cost.

WHAT. COST.

See, while Season 3 was undoubtedly better that season 2 overall in episode quality, this season was probably also the worst of all 3 at the same time. This season was not only the worst in overall season quality but the one that entirely ruined the fandom for me. The plot was again non-existent and there was still no character development, but they manage to make this season better by making a plotline that required all characters to be an idiot ball, then ditch it at the end just so Thomas could again insult people on twitter.

Lets start with the first episode of Season 3: Chameleon

Sometime before the production of season 2 and 3, Asstruc learned how to write someone as a martyr people would feel pity for that character and want to protect (read: stan) them.

So naturally, Ass-truc would abuse this a lot.

In the first ep of season 3, Astruc would create the worst episode ever made. 

The premise of the episode is that Lila has returned to school and has been telling lies, which makes Marinette mad. None of the class believes her due to everyone being written as an idiot (seriously the someone gotta has google on their smartphones everyone has), so of course, Naturally Mari confronts Lila, who swears to ruin her life before and after an akuma battle which doesnt really matter for this episode, aside from the fact that Lila fully works with hawkmoth because being a bad kid means that working with a terrorist is perfectly reasonable if you can get revenge on the good guys.

So, including the fact Ass-truc reintroduced Lila back into the show as a Chloe 2.0 to making everyone an idiot ball so that the writing could even work, this will be the episode that I will hate the most. And not just for the episode itself. We’ll come to that later. But the point is, this is how most of the season would go:

-Lila: *exists*

-Marinette: *cries* im suffering so much, my life is ruined!

-Fans: stan to the point of insanity

-Me sipping my salt flavored tea: b*tch calm the f*ck down.

Speaking of Marinette, the Miraculous team had already been hellbent on making Marinette more of an asshole, stalkery and creepy and passing it off as cute in season 2, so they decided to fix that by dialing all that shit up to 11. Episodes like Weredad and Oni-chan really showed this, with the former having Marinette Literally manipulating Chat Noir to be stuck in a bad situation just for her own sake, and latter literally having her try to break into Adriens house because Lila is there. All for the excuse that Lila is a Liar and totally not because she is with Adrien, Marinette cant be jealous because Marinetteisperfectandamazingand-

Yeah, she really sucks as the main character. TBH I'm waiting for the spinoff show where Alix and Kim dare each other to do stupid stuff each episode like its MTV’s Jackass, it's gonna be fun.

Now onto the Other episodes!

While I will admit that compared to season 2, there were a lot of good episodes. Gamer 2.0, Feast, Ikari Gozen, Party Crasher, and of course the heart-wrenching Oblivio come to mind. These episodes are amazing and show how good the episodes are when you make sure the garden gnome is locked in a closet somewhere during episode development.

So out of the 26 episodes, 5 of them were really good.

The rest were either kinda ok or complete shit. That's not to say they were all bad, but there were just some parts... at best there was either a part of it I found cringeworthy too much for me to consider it as one of the good ones, such as Pupetteer 2 with its Adrien Statue scene, or at worst all of it was just written so badly, such as the entirety of Stormy Weather not actually being an episode and acutally being just and episode recap.

Now for the plot. Oh, wait, what plot?

First of all, Miraculous never had one. At best it was just a bunch of single-episode stories that Ass-truc wants you to think are connected somehow and somehow all work together as a cohesive story. A lot of the characters in Miraculous Ladybug

You mean the overarching storyline where Marinette becomes a Guardian just because she can pick a hero? Yeah, just ignore the episode where Fu said he had to spend an entire childhood learning how to even be an apprentice Guardian, or ignore the fact that picking a person to be a hero doesn't make Marinette qualified to be Guardian in a slightest!

(If someone literally has to ask me this, ask yourself if a pharmacist is fit to be a doctor just because they hand out your meds.)

What about the storylines about other certain characters in the show like Lila, who the show has been building up to be a villain while casually destroying characters' intelligence to be able to do so? The story about Chloe accepting that she can’t really be a hero anymore and moving on?

Ruined by the Finale.

Oh yeah, the finale.

This season Finale was probably the worst finale out of all the seasons and half the stuff done in the last two episodes did not make sense. I dont want to talk about it much because I want to do a blog post about it later on, but for the sake of the finale, they ruined a bunch of characters, martyred Marinette for the 100th time, and created some stupid plot ideas for the sake of coolness. And by coolness i mean stanning Marinette again and making her extra special. Doesnt matter if it makes a contradiction or makes no sense. Stupidity has won this episode!

To be fair though, all the reasons above aren’t the reasons I hate this season. 

No.

The reason for season 3 being the worst for me is how it had ruined the fandom.

Ever since the first episode of season 3, the fandom has become a cesspool of salt and anger. Character bashing because the class didn't straight up agree with Marinette instantly, Over the top Marinette stanning, fanfics that go over the top crazy, it has gone insane. On ao3 most fanfics of ML that i have seen have been about ‘Chameleon Fix-Its’ where Lila is metaphorically shot with a GAT, ‘Marinette protection Squads’ which basically involve her moving schools because Lila exists, and the Maribat ship that has made my head dent my desk (seriously where the fuck did it come from?!). Worst still, as a result of Season 3, the Adrien hate has started to go crazy as a result of the Chameleon episode and similar eps resulting in Marinette being shipped with Luka (aka the better Adrien as stated by Marinette stans), Felix before the Felix episode dropped, and even Damien Wayne in the Notorious Maribat ship (no seriously where did it come from i want answers!). To put it simple, thanks to Ass-truc all of ao3 is filled with salt fics and no more original and interesting stories.

BTW while i have your attention and am talking about good Miraculous stories on ao3, go read Miraculous Tales by JED1 on AO3 its soo damn good.

To be fair, I myself am angry at the episode, but only because everyone was written to be an idiot ball for the episode to work, and because of the fact Astruc used the episode to rile up the fandom to be almost as toxic as him.

If anything, its the number one reasons why i hate seasons 3 and the reason why it has ruined the fandom for me.

And that, overall, is why i think Season 3 was a Rollercoaster of a mess.

#Miraculous Ladybug #ML Season 3 #ML Spoilers

[ladybugsfanfics]

Awkward Walk In | Tom Hiddleston x reader

Pairing: Tom Hiddleston x reader | cameo of Emma Hiddleston and her husband Jack 

Style: One Shot

WC: 5672

Warnings: cursing

Prompt: My neighbour’s sibling got the wrong house number and barged into my apartment on accident.

A/N: this one is like so long but i kinda love it? Anyways, hope you guys enjoy ^_^

If you want to be added to the taglist, please let me know.

“...like you’re always stuck in second gear. When it hasn’t been your day, your week, your month, or even your year, but I’ll be there for you.” 

The Friends theme song plays in the background as you finish making your sandwich. After a long week, it’s finally time to just sit down on your couch, watch some ‘in-the-background’ TV and just relax. 

You sit down, snuggle up under a blanket and pull your plate up to under your chin as to not litter crumbs. Something easy to eat on a friday night is just perfect―not that it is night yet, it’s like five PM. 

Despite having the TV on, it’s really not that interesting and after you’re done eating you end up scrolling through your phone. Nothing is really going on, with the exception of everyone talking about the new Spider-Man movie (which you saw on the premiere). 

Friday nights are especially boring when there’s nothing to do. Your friends are all busy so there would be no get together (to be frank, sometimes a night on the couch was rather nice and you would’ve thought that was what you needed after your week, but… life has other ideas). There are your neighbors, one of which you’d grown rather close to and hung out with on occasions. The catch; her older brother is coming to town and he’s rarely home because of his work and she’d said maybe you could come over once but he would probably say no. 

So, you’re left to watch TV or read for the rest of the evening. Or maybe, left to scroll through social media. A shower sounds like a good idea, though. Or maybe a bath―you don’t have a bathtub though which complicates that last one. 

Therefore, it ends with a shower. You use rather a long time to take it. The hot water on your skin cleanses the stress; the little head massage you use to get the shampoo all in is just the perfect thing; taking the time to shave actually felt nice for once. To be able to not rush was perfect. 

Not having taken with you any clothes to when you’re done, you make sure you’re completely dry before getting out and going to your closet. Since you’re not doing anything other than slouch on the couch, you decide to skip taking on a bra―what’s the point they’re just annoying. 

You’ve managed to take on a pair of boxers (it’s way comfortable) before you’re door bursts open and a tall, handsome male comes in. “I’m really sorry I'm late―” He stops mid sentence and you’ve barely managed to react with anything but slowly cover your boobs. 

“I think you’re in the wrong apartment,” you say. How you can possibly be this calm―because the man has practically seen you naked!―you don’t know. To be honest, you had imagined it on multiple occasions as a chance meeting, but you’d never thought it could ever happen. Of course, the difference between those little dreams were the little sex ending, but that’s not really the whole big deal, right?

He flushes red, looks around and nods. “I think you might be correct. Do you know where Emma Hiddleston lives?”

You nod. “Yeah. She’s the apartment across the hall.” So this is the older brother, mind you, Emma, did you maybe do this on purpose? The girl had mentioned that he was single on more than one occasion; maybe she had hinted to something. 

“She must’ve pressed the wrong number, probably,” he said. He purses his lips and nods again, but he doesn’t leave. 

“Weren’t you late?” you ask, hoping that you can stop covering your breasts, get on some clothes and text Emma that she better have a good excuse. 

His eyes widen and he nods. “Yes, I am. Again, so sorry.” And then he turns and leaves, closing the door after him. 

You sigh and put on some clothes―a big t-shirt and some ‘sweater shorts’ as you like to call them. Basically shorts but really baggy and kind of cute and highly comfortable. Having clothes on, you turn the lock on your door so no one can suddenly burst into your apartment again. You also make a mental note to always do that. 

You take a last trip to the bathroom, getting your glasses―no twenty-twenty vision here―and finally get down to the couch to sit and watch some more Netflix. Whilst more episodes of Friends play in the background, you find Emma’s number in your contacts. 

You: Emma! Emma! EMMA!

Surprisingly, she replies right away. 

Emma: What? Something wrong?

You: Yes! Very much so, and I would prefer not to do this over phone but youre brothers visiting you so like, this might be my only option!

Emma: Hes busy, I can come over for like five minutes

You: Then come!

You stand up and lock open the door. It takes another ten seconds before Emma opens it and comes inside. She looks at you expectantly. “What’s going on?”

You take a deep breath. “Your brother. He’s tall, kinda good looking, wears like a blue jacket, I don’t know brands but I think like Ralph Lauren? And like black jeans and a white tee?”

Emma nods. “How… how do you know this?” She shakes her head. “You haven’t even seen any of his movies.”

“Nope, still haven’t. Uh, just he kind of came into my apartment,” you say. You look down at your feet and mumble, “and I was wearing only boxers.”

“No!” She practically yells. “No. He did no…” Emma looks at you incredibly, seeming to have lost her voice. 

“Yeah, that happened.” You nod slowly. “He’s hot, though,” you add and shrug. 

Emma playfully hits your arm. “Fuck,” she says. “Just… don’t tell me if you two start dating, please. He’s amazing and you couldn’t do better but it would be so weird.”

You let out a laugh. “I don’t think you have to worry about that.”

“Don’t be so sure. I know you’re his type.” She gives you a small, pained smile and leaves. And all you can think about for the rest of the night, is her little I know you’re his type. 

 __________

For the nth time you check the clock. 12.39 AM. Netflix has stopped with the ‘Are you still watching?’ question. Shrugging halfheartedly, you press continue and watch another episode. It’s Friday night, you’ve got nothing planned all weekend. It can’t hurt. 

Well, it can. You’ve already fallen asleep three times. It’s safe to say you’re tired, you just don’t want to move from the couch, nor do you want to actually go to bed. Sounds tempting, but really, you don’t feel like it. 

Knock. Knock. Knock.

You frown at your door. Who the hell knocks on someone's door an hour after midnight? Nevertheless, you feel intrigued and move to open it. Since it’s so late, it’s a shame you don’t have a peephole, who knows what the person on the other side wants?

So, you have other means to figure out. “Uh, who is it?” 

There’s a shuffle on the other side. A light cough. “It’s, uhh, the male from earlier.”

Your eyes widen, but knowing it’s Emma’s older brother, you don’t fear his intentions. The lock turns with a click and you open the door to see said male nervously staring at his feet. He’s lost the jacket he had the first time you met. This way, you could see the white tee cling to his torso in ways you hadn’t expected. 

He looks up at you. “Did I wake you? Emma said you usually stay up late on weekends and I felt for, uh,” he scratches his neck, “apollogizing.”

“No, you didn’t wake me.” You open the door further. “Come in, maybe we can talk it out so it isn’t so awkward.” What the fuck is happening to me? Since when did I get so smooth? I’ve never been smooth? This guy is hot as fuck and I’m not even stuttering? Or blushing? Or anything else to signal he’s nice? Your mind races with questions on how the hell you can be calm; there is no way this isn’t a dream. 

“Okay.” He steps inside and you close the door after him. “I am really sorry. Emma saw her mistake after you told her. Though, to be honest, she might have done it on purpose.”

You smile at him. “It’s fine. And I’m sure she did.” You walk to the kitchen. “Can I offer anything to drink?”

“Water is fine,” he says.

“No, don’t be silly. I have wine?” You take two glasses out of the cupboard. Where is this confidence coming from? 

Emma’s brother comes closer. “I guess I don’t have a choice,” he replies. 

You nod. “Correct. By the way, not sure if Emma told you, but name’s Y/N.” You pour two glasses and put the bottle back into the fridge. 

“No, she didn’t. Nice to meet you, Y/N. I’m Tom,” he says and accepts the glass you hand him. As he says your name, you can’t help but feel it roll of his tongue rather perfectly. 

You take a sip of wine. “So, wanna sit?” You point to the couch. “I’ll turn off the TV, too, maybe.” A chuckle escapes as you make to do just that. The remote control, on the other hand, doesn’t agree because you can’t find it. 

“Looking for this?” Tom asks and waves the remote your way. You nod, take it from him and turn of the TV. 

“Thanks,” you say. Despite your confidence (like what’s happening; you’re even wearing sweater shorts, an oversized t-shirt and no bra) from before, the air hangs for a while. You quietly sit and sip your wine. Tom does the same.

Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea? No, screw it, you’re gonna do this. Maybe life will take a turn for the better. 

You set down your glass on the coffee table. “Sorry about the mess,” you say, noticing that it is, in fact, not clean at all anywhere. 

“That’s fine,” replies Tom. “Not like you knew I would come.”

“Yeah. It’s like one am so can’t say I expected company,” you say. “But I don’t mind. Don’t really have anything better to do either. Maybe sleep, but I wasn’t gonna do that.”

Tom chuckles. “You sound like a college student,” he says. “Or just maybe someone who struggles with sleeping.”

You nod. “You’re looking at an insomniac, yup.”

“You have any help?” he asks. 

“Tried a lot of things, nothing’s worked so far.” You tuck your feet under you, turning more of your body towards Tom. “Kinda given up now.”

Tom takes a sip of wine. “Sorry to hear that.” Then he straightens up and puts down the glass. “Anyways, it’s late and I came here to apologize so that’s what I’ll do.”

You let out a small laugh. “I’m more than ready to hear this,” you say. 

“I am really sorry I barged in. Really, there is no excuse. Usually, I knock, but Emma told me a long time ago to just walk straight in, and I was already late―she cooked and it was cold when I actually could eat it―and I don’t know any other words to use other than sorry. It is probably the most embarrassing thing I’ve ever done.”

You smile, finding him rather cute in his explaining. “Don’t worry about it,” you reply. “You didn’t see anything? At least, like a lot of anything?”

He blushes. Oh, my god! What a cute blush! “I might’ve seen something. But really, you have nothing to be embarrassed about, you are really beautiful.”

“O.M.G. Some movie star called me beautiful,” you say, and smile at him. “Thanks. Don’t know how I stayed calm during it all, but there’s a lot I do I can’t explain.”

He lets out a laugh, this little ‘hehe’ sound, and his mouth draws into a big smile. You can’t not look at his lips as his tongue graces over the lower one. “Well, as someone who’s not an insomniac, it’s getting late and I have a couch waiting for me.” Tom stands up and smiles. “Thanks for the chat, and for being this cool about me barging in on you.”

Your eyes crinkle as you smile at him. “You’re welcome. Don’t hesitate to come by again.” You stand up to follow him out―not that that’s necessary since it’s two meters from the couch to the door, but there’s something in the gesture. 

“I won’t,” he says and slips out. 

You lock the door behind him, sigh and bite your lip. God, he’s…. something.

 __________

The sunlight shines through your blinds, basking your apartment in an orange-gold filter. You groggily turn around, drag the cover over your head and press your eyes shut in a desperate attempt to continue sleeping. It’s futile. 

You throw the cover away and turn around on your back, looking up into the ceiling. Annoyed you blow away the hair covering your face and let out a tired sigh. You check the clock. 11.00 AM. God, it’s way too early. 

After Tom left, the clock being one am, you’d turned on the TV again. Not before four am had you actually gone to bed. Only to lie there for an eternity trying to find the right position, the right temperature―cover here or not? Yes, but not there. Fuck, like that one spot doesn’t need it, get off (that one spot was like on your leg and that’s hard to not have a cover over when the rest of your leg needs one. And, yeah, with a mind racing over endless possibilities of the future days, angst filled possibilities.

Safe to say, you’d probably gotten a good five hours of sleep. Six if you’re lucky. There goes the hope of sleeping in. 

Even though you’re awake, instead of getting out of a warm and comfy bed, you find your phone on the nightstand and start to scroll through instagram. Nothing really special had happened since you’d done the exact same thing at two in the morning, but there is still something to it.  Being bored, tumblr seems the better place, though. 

Instead of the usual feed scroll and trending scroll, you decide to do some research. In the search bar you type in his name. Tom Hiddleston.

The first thing that came up is a gifset of said man with longer black hair, slicked back to reveal his ears. Scrolling further down you can see it’s how he looks playing Loki. Something goes off inside you, an alarm of a kind. If he plays Loki―everything’s tagged with marvel―that means he has to be pretty popular. 

Most of what you see, is of him playing Loki. More gifsets, some text post you don’t bother reading―you haven’t seen the movie it’s about so what’s the point―Benedict Cumberbatch’s name pops up (nice, you’ve seen Sherlock) and then there’s a picture of Tom, but different than the one you met. Instead of curly, grown hair and a beard, in the photo he has shorter hair with small curls at the top and the start of a beard-growth. He looks pretty damn good. You double tap and see the heart come up. 

After about an hour or so of scrolling through tumblr (you stopped with the Tom tag after awhile, maybe rather get to know him?), you decide to get out of bed. It takes strength you don’t really have and the trip into the kitchen to get something to drink is a lot longer than you remembered. 

You sigh as you take the time to make coffee. As it brews, you open your fridge to check the contents. Although you were in the store yesterday after work so as to not have to today, you still don’t really feel like anything in it seems like breakfast food. Pretty annoyingly, your gut growls. Fuck, you think and make a grimace as you peek further inside. There’s not even any leftovers to heat up and eat. Everything has to be made. 

“Argg.” You take a deep breath and let out a sigh, one where your lips flap and a small, annoyed sound, comes out. Without much choice, you decide that coffee alone is breakfast and take with you a cup and settle into the couch. The wine glasses you and Tom drank of yesterday are still there. 

Another sigh escapes your lips (looks like it’s one of those days) as you turn on the TV, let your head fall back and think about everything you should be doing but probably won’t do. Much of that is cleaning. 

 __________

“Hey, Y/N.” It pounds on your door as you hear Emma’s voice. You turn down the music from your speaker as you make your way there. Despite previous statements of not going to clean, that is exactly what you’re doing. Currently, it’s the bathroom and it sucks. 

You open the door to a casually dressed Emma. She gives you a smile and a frown. “What’s up?” you ask. 

She eyes you from top to toe. “What are you doing?” she asks, the confusion spread across her face to highlight it. 

“Cleaning,” you reply shortly. 

She lets out a huff. “Okay, well, I was wondering if you wanted to join me, Jack and Tom out for lunch?” she asks. 

“Going out means I have to change, I have to stop cleaning the bathroom and I have to actually go out.” You nod as you list the things. “As much as I would like to not clean, I kind of feel like I have to see this through and I don’t really want to go out, so no thanks on lunch. What about dinner? Tonight, here? It’ll be clean.”

Emma rolls her eyes. “Fine, but like, don’t cook. Order.”

You give her an offended stare. “I can cook,” you say. “I won’t though because I don’t have the food for four people in here, but I can cook. You’ve tasted my food.”

“I’ve tasted your brownies. They’re heaven on earth, but I haven’t tasted anything else and since you’re the person who’s made the fire alarm go most in this building I don’t trust you.” She laughs. 

“I haven’t done that in three months,” you defend. 

“Yeah, and that’s not something to be proud of.”

“Well, to me it’s got to be some sort of record, so like, are you sure I’m not going to be proud?” Before she can answer you wave it away. “Anyway, dinner here at eight? Pizza sound fine?”

She nods. “Yup, no weird things. No pineapple,” she says and points at you strictly. 

“You got it. Text me what you guys want on and how hungry you are, please. Two big ones sounds fine, yeah?”

“Honestly, I’ll just text you toppings and it’ll probably be fine. We’ll bring something to drink, though.” She raises a brow at you. 

“Good ‘cause I got like wine, and that’s it.”

“Water?” 

You wave at her. “Doesn’t count.”

She shakes her head at you and smiles. “See you tonight.”

“Bye.”

 __________

07.27 PM. Finally done. 

You look at what was before a Mess™ and smile at the relaxation that falls upon the room. The coffee table is clean, only a book and a napkin holder―now full―on it. The kitchen, which has a dining room table, has no leftover dishes to do or old bread sitting on the counter collecting dust. The chair in the corner, also by your wardrobe that doesn’t fit in your bedroom, is finally free to use and not covered in clothes. And, the biggest ‘wow’ of all, your bed is made. 

The only thing not done is ordering pizza and getting dressed. You do the ordering first; two big pizzas with ham and pepperoni―the trio coming over didn’t have any preferences so you decide to go with something you know pretty much everyone likes. You also order dressing on the side. 

And then, with about fifteen minutes to spare, you go around to change. You should’ve taken a shower, but instead it becomes a last minute wash with a cloth and soap. Of course, the biggest question of all is what to wear. A very handsome guy you would like to fuck is coming over, but so is his sister and her husband and they’re your friends. How to be respectable and also tease the guy who has seen your boobs?

In the end, you end up wearing a pair of white, high-waist shorts (it’s summer) with a black belt that all around has holes in it and looks rather edgy and cool. With it, you go with a black crop top that accentuates your boobs but doesn’t look too much, and with that, you put on a flannel hooded jacket because you’ve had it forever and it looks great, plus takes away some of the flirty part of the look you know Emma won’t approve of. 

When you’re done the clock strikes 8.03. You find something to pay for pizza with, putting it in your pocket to make the whole ordeal easier, and you take out some dishes and―despite it being a disgrace―put out a fork and knife because who knows. You also find some glasses that you set the table with (not wine glasses, however you do have more of those than the ones you do use). 

And by that time, there’s a knock on the door. 

With nothing that can be called grace, you open the door and let the three in. Neither of them is wearing anything more fancy than you, but you do feel underdressed in some way. Emma wears a pair of blue jeans and a white tee with a denim jacket over. Jack has a pair of black jeans a white tee, no jacket. Tom, fuck, wears a pair of black jeans with a shirt that fits tightly to his chest, no tie and the top button opened―just the best freaking way to elude sexiness. 

Emma shakes her head at your outfit and Jack tries to hide a laugh as both of you catches Tom giving you a once over. After that, the difference in outfits doesn’t bother you as much; you got the reaction you wanted. 

“Pizza isn’t here yet, but it should be here any minute now,” you say and open up for them to come inside. 

Emma hands you a bag. “Soda, mostly, with a little surprise. And that’s totally okay,” she says as you take it. “But I hope it comes fast because I am hungry.”

Jack and Tom both nod in agreement. 

“Good, because I am, too,” you say. “Can I get you something to drink while we wait? I got what’s in the bag and wine.” You shuffle your way to the kitchen, putting the bottles in the fridge so they can keep the cold. 

“What about water?” asks Tom. 

You shake your head. “I don’t have that.” 

“What’s this then?” The man steps up to your sink and turns on the water. Perfectly fine drinking water comes out of the tap. 

“No,” you say, and turn it off. “There’s a rule that guests aren’t allowed to drink water because I want to be fancy.” 

Both Emma and Jack laugh at that, and you notice Tom trying to keep his cool but failing a bit. 

“Good luck with that,” says Emma and sits down. 

“Thanks. It’s worked so far.” You smile at her. Your phone vibrates in your pocket. “Ey, pizza’s here. Help yourself to the drinks, I’ll be right back.” You motion to the fridge and go off to get the pizza. 

You hope Tom doesn’t think you an absolute fool for saying no to water, but to be honest, you have no idea. 

 __________

“The worst part is that time you came to me for a band aid because you’d cut yourself at a pack of cheese,” says Emma and laughs. 

You stare wide eyed at her. “Why would you say that?” you hiss through gritted teeth. 

Neither Tom nor Jack manage to keep their laughter. “How?” asks Jack. 

“I don’t know. I just did it,” you reply, throwing your hands into the air. “I think it was about to fall of the counter and when I saved it I cut myself on, like, the hard part of it, one of the edges.”

“Still counts to your clumsiness,” says Emma. “What more could you have done?”

You sigh and busy yourself with one of the leftover slices of pizza. It’s grown cold, but it helps in not wanting to focus on Emma’s dead set mind on embarrassing you. 

“Oh!” She lights up. “I have another one, but it’s not about Y/N.” She turns to her brother with a smirk. “It’s about Tom.”

He sinks down in his chair and mutter an ‘oh God’ as Emma starts talking. 

“We were kids, don’t remember exactly how old, but I think I was around nine, making you fourteen.” You see on Tom’s face that he knows what she’s about to tell. “It was summer vacation and, uhh, we were at the beach. The only reason he and Sarah agreed to take me with them was because Mum promised they’d get another day without me. Tom, being his lovely teenager self, thought himself rather handsome and tried to pick up this girl. Only problem is he wasn’t as smooth as he’d like to imagine, and as the two of them walked into the water, instead of walking, he tripped over his own feet and fell face first. When he got up, he had a cut up his arm and the girl, who could’ve helped him, rolled her eyes and walked away.”

Tom sinks further down in his chair. “Why did you have to tell that story?” he asks and sends Emma a typical sibling glare, which Emma returns with a typical sibling smile saying ‘I know you love me’. 

You giggle at the story, not being able to keep the laughter in. “Well, now we have stories about me, Tom and Jack. Where are all the stories about Emma?” You raise a brow at the two people who knows her the best. 

Both men look down and make faces, probably in thought. Jack looks up first. “I have none. I know she’s suddenly had a band aid somewhere but she won’t ever tell why.”

Emma smiles devilishly. You actually recognize it as similar to one of the gifs of Loki you saw on tumblr. Maybe there’s some of that in the actual Tom as well, you think and bite your lower lip. 

“I have stories of our childhood, but none are really that embarrassing. Rather, I have one that she doesn’t remember, but all she really did was run around naked in our garden with the neighbour boy. We have video, though, that makes it better. But she was three years old, that doesn’t count for embarrassment.” Tom smiles, but it’s rather fond than anything else. 

“This sucks. She knows so much and we know nothing,” you say and squint at the girl across the table.

The girl just smiles widely. “Anyways, it’s getting late,” she says, looking at the clock. You do the same, seeing the long handle on eleven and the little one nearly on twelve. That was four hours around the same table, just chatting. Huh, how time passes when you’re having fun. 

“I hadn’t even realised,” says Tom. You all get out of your chair, and―old habits die hard―you take the dishes with you to the sink. Tom helps by taking the glasses, putting them down beside you. “I had fun,” he says, voice low and near inaudible. 

You nod. “Yeah, me too.” You shoot him a smile and get back to following the three out of your apartment. At least they don’t have a long ride or anything so there’s no feeling guilty for it being so long. 

“This was great. Gotta do this more often,” Emma says and gives you a hug goodbye. Jack nods in agreement and does the same. 

“We should. But let’s take it at your place because cleaning this shithole took more energy than I anticipated.” You let out a laugh and smile at them. 

Emma chuckles. “Yeah, sure. But an excuse for you to clean really is all you need to clean, right?”

You shake your head, annoyed at her constant correctness. “Get out, okay? It’s been a long day.” 

She smiles and the two of them walk over, giving slight room for Tom to say goodbye on his own. 

He stops by the door, leaning against the wall with a cheeky smile. “I would love to join the time you do this again,” he says. 

“Yeah,” you nod, “it was a lot of fun having you here. Wish you’d had more stories of Emma, though. She needs to be brought down a notch.” 

He laughs. The same ‘hehe’ from the night before. His mouth draws into a wide grin, though the tongue doesn’t appear. “I’ll see what I can do. There’s always Sarah, and Mum.”

“Yeah, your mother probably has the best stories though. Mother’s have a flair for that.” You smile at him. “Guess I’ll see you when you leave here, right?”

“Of course. I won’t leave without a goodbye.” His eyes crinkle as his mouth draws into a softer smile. “Will you be able to sleep when I go? Now, not leave-leave.”

You shrug. “Don’t know. Why?”

“I’m not feeling very tired, thought I could keep you with company if you wanted,” he says. 

“Never gonna say no to that. Now it’s clean after all.” You smile at him, and the tall man closes the door to your apartment from the inside. “What would you like to do? And can I offer you more to drink?”

He chuckles. “Whatever you feel like doing is fine by me, and perhaps, a glass of wine?” 

“Done, and done.”

 __________

You’re not really sure how you ended up in the position, but you’re sitting cozily in the crook of Tom’s arm. Surprisingly, with his toned chest, he is still rather soft to lie upon. The TV plays in the background, but you don’t focus on it. Instead, you’re focused on Tom.. How his hand mindlessly plays with yours. How his breathing is even and the quiet thump-thump of his heart. How he seems so focused on the screen when nothing really interesting actually happens. 

But, having been deprived of cuddles and the like for so long, you welcome it all with no questions. 

“It’s getting late.” His voice speaks softly in your ear, his breath cold on your neck. 

“Yeah,” you reply. 

Neither of you get up. Neither turns off the TV. Neither says anything more. 

 __________

For the first time in ages, you wake up feeling rested, feeling like you’ve gotten enough sleep. Groggily opening your eyes, you notice you’re in your bed. The last thing you can remember from the night before is lying in Tom’s embrace, changing a position so you can rest your head in his lap (on top of a pillow) and his long fingers gently combing through your hair. 

You smile at the thought of him carrying you into your room, and also look around for him. Who’s to say he didn’t stay? But he’s not there. 

Checking the clock and seeing it say 02.07 PM makes that more than understandable. Not only do you feel rested but you’ve actually managed to sleep in. Despite how good it feels, you can’t help but question it; Why now? And what did I do differently? 

You don’t have the answer to the questions and instead of pondering it further, you get out of the bed and drag yourself into the kitchen. There, on the other hand, you find Tom with a cup of coffee and his phone. He looks up as he hears you. 

“Good morning,” he says, “feeling okay?”

You nod, not sure if your voice actually works just yet. 

He chuckles. “I took the couch, if you wondered,” he adds. 

So he’d slept over. That’s something to note. But, you’d fallen asleep on him, why would he see it a problem to join you in bed? You would literally only sleep. Maybe he felt he would impose, it is an awfully small bed for two people. 

“You’re sure Emma isn’t worried about you? You came to see her, right?” You finally found your voice, and a cup of coffee is quickly in your hands as you ask. 

“She knocked on the door this morning and asked. I believe the only thing she was actually worried about was if we would,” he blushes, “do something.”

You sip the warm liquid. “Really? So, what about the coming-to-see-her part?”

“I saw her all Friday, all yesterday and I will probably see her today as well,” he replies. “And, well, I have to make up for walking in on you somehow. I believe keeping you company does that.”

“Thanks for that, by the way.” You sit down in the chair across from him. “Actually feel like I’ve gotten some sleep for once.”

His smile widens. “That’s good. Me as a pillow worked?” He purses his lips, sticks his tongue out for a quick walk (honestly, he has to stop). 

“Yeah, that worked. How long are you staying? You leaving today?” 

“I’m staying another couple of nights. Leaving Tuesday, why?” 

You take a bigger sip of the coffee, feeling in need of some boost. “I was thinking,” you start and avert your gaze from him, “if you’re not busy during the night, that maybe you could be my pillow again.”

His eyes wrinkle as he smiles at you, this genuine god-awful kind smile that makes it hard to swallow, hard not to look at him. “For as long as I’m here, I’ll happily be your pillow.”

Taglist: @inlovewith3 @mindlesschicca @bookgirlunicorn

#tom hiddleston #tom hiddleston x reader #tom hiddleston fanfic #tom hiddleston imagine #tom hiddleston fanfiction #twh #thomas william hiddleston #fluff #fanfiction #fanfic #marvel

[smokeybrandreviews]

Smokey brand Reviews: What Is a Man

I wanted my next review to be The Invisible Man but i keep putting that thing off. I think it’s the pacing. it’s kind of funky. I’ll get around to it eventually. Spoiler alert, it’s pretty interesting so far. In the meantime, i finally caught up on a show that dropped and didn’t see when it first released; Castlevania! I passed on actually reviewing he first two season, well, season and a half. That first season was, like, six episodes. This ain’t the BBC, son. Thirteen or bust! Anyway, since we’re about three days from being under marital law, i figure i got time to revisit and review the series so far. Plus, i mean, i need to catch up since the fourth season has already been announced. F*cking Netflix, man. In that vein, pun in tended, here is my review of the series as a whole so far.

The Good

This show is not anime. It’s not. Avatar is not anime. It’s not. This is a sanitized facsimile of what the Japanese do with their animation. Stop calling this sh*t anime! That said, on it’s own, outside of that hilariously unflattering comparison, it can be pretty dope. I don’t think this sh*t holds a candle to studios like Trigger, Madhouse, Gainax, or Shaft, but it’s the best animation coming out of the US i’ve seen in years. The fight scenes in particular are absolutely gorgeous. You can really tell that Netflix invested the necessary resources to make this show look dope, even if the framerate is a little iffy between set pieces.

Now that i’ve died on my anime cross, i just want to acknowledge how good this show looks. It’s f*cking gorgeous, man. I mean, the world, alone, is a feat for the eyes, but i am absolutely in love with the character designs. If you google the characters from the games they are mad cluttered and full of extra nonsense. I’m never a fan of, like, flair on my characters. That’s why i hate the look of Mortal Kombat. That sh*t is gross. Castlevania has that same issue, culminating in the design vomits of Judgement. That game was gross to look at. Gross. This show takes the ludicrously gaudy designs of the games and make them presentable while still paying homage to the core design of the games. Sh*t is miraculous and i can’t help but marvel at that ingenuity. I mean, f*cking Carmilla, dude. Just look up Carmilla in the games and tell me this show ain’t good at it’s job.

Castlevania’s writing is kind of miraculous. As a cat that’s been playing these games since the late 80s, I’m mildly aware of the interconnecting lore between titles. It’s a mess. It’s a goddamn mess. There’s a dope story there, in the muck, but it’s so mired in melodrama, retcon, and years upon years of independent development, it’s completely lost. I appreciate Konami giving storytelling a shot during a time when gameplay was the principal seller of games, they didn’t have to do any of that, but, at some point, clean your sh*t up with a manga or reboot or something, man. The later titles do this sh*t fine. I adore Shanoa and Soma. Their games got the best of both worlds. The Belmonts? Not so much... This show does an amazing job of cutting through the bullsh*t and sharpening that story to a fine point. This is Trevor’s story, the first Belmont we take control of in game, so watching his line grow through the years, with this quality of storytelling, is mad compelling. I mean, you get right into it and it grips you from start to finish. I can’t wait to see where this goes.

The character work in this show is pretty legit. I was thoroughly surprised since the games themselves are rather bare bones and nauseatingly campy at times. Not this show. Nope! This sh*t is grim, dark, and violent. I love it! You can feel the plight one people and the rage of the vampires. Each main character s is beset with pathos and trauma and consequence, for two seasons. Season three is kind of light on growth but does a decent job explaining certain things. Like, this is Belmont’s tale but Sypha is definitely the most interesting character in the show. Everyone does a great job but there are, of course, a few standouts.

Speaking of my girl, did i tell you that Sypha is f*cking amazing? Ma is the most adorable, most badass motherf*cker in this show! I thought she was going to be kind of a weenie, like she is in the games, but nope! Ma is out here, burning motherf*ckers alive and slicing dudes up with ice blades, all the while being her peppy, adorable, kind of bloodthirsty self. F*ck, love Sypha and her voice actress, Alejandra Reynoso, is perfectly cast! She bring a levity and vulnerability to a woman who can take on an army all y her lonesome. I love that sh*t!

I have to mention how dope Dracula is in this how. He’s f*cking badass and, surprisingly, hilarious. His wit is as sharp as his fangs. Even with such overwhelming power, dude is still amazingly human, often time reminding you that he is just a broken, lonely, man. It’s incredible to see. you actually empathize with an entity hellbent of slaughtering humanity. I couldn’t believe that sh*t. A lot of that has to do with the writing but Graham McTavsh does an excellent job delivering those subtle emotional cues.

I feel like is should say something about Richard Armitage’s Trevor Belmont. Dude is dope. he’s how i always imagined Trevor to be. And Armitage is a seasoned veteran at this voice acting game so he does a great job. I’m not blown away or anything but he’s dope. Considering dude is kind of a supporting character in his own show, i think my indifference is warranted. He’s good, though, don’t misunderstand. I’m not decrying his performance or anything. Gold star for sure.

The best thing about season three, outside of my darling Sypha, is Lenore. Holy sh*t is she a great character! I was thoroughly surprised by how brazenly manipulative she turned out to be. Lenore is a f*cking genius and her feigned naivety is brought to life by an absolutely outstanding performance from Jessica Brown Findlay. Ma is on the long con and Carmilla might have some competition to look for.

I like Issac. This last season did wonders for developing his character. His arc is probably the best after Syph’s, mostly because he’s the only other character that even had an arc. His voice actor, Adetokumboh M'Cormack, does a great job developing the enigmatic Forgemaster into a character more than his humdrum game origins.

The Bad

This show is not anime! Stop telling me it’s an anime!

Alucard’s arc in season three was a little... me. I thought he was the one character let down by the writing but it’s not a terrible slight. I just felt he deserved more of a exploration than what he received.

Season three was straight up filler. I guess it has that in common with anime, even though most modern anime ha move away from the Filler system. I mean, i liked a lot of what went on and the character work was delightful but none of this is really of consequence. Most characters either didn’t grow or are exactly who we thought they were. It feels cheap.

Hector. What the f*ck, Hector. What the f*ck.

The Verdict

Season One showed a ton of potential. I enjoyed the whole Dracula arc, even though this was more a story about his disillusionment with humanity rather than how he became Dracula. Season two is the Castlevania know from the games. It was dope seeing that narrative removed from the shenanigans of that Konami narrative jank. I thought they id the characters dope ass justice and the story itself, was rather compelling. I didn’t mind the character changes and the stuff they added felt organic. Season three is the closest thing to a slice of life anime i’ve seen in this show and it’s ridiculous. Like, nothing really happens of consequence and it feels like setup for later seasons but it’s easily the best looking of the three seasons.

Overall, as a whole, Castlevnia is really good. It’s easily one of the best video game adaptions available. This show takes it’s liberties, of course, but it does so in a very respectful manner. The core of the Castlevania lore is revered and embellished with creative additions while keeping the characters true to their game selves. For the most part. I really enjoyed thee character of Dracula when he was around and, oh my god, Lenore is the goddamn best! Sypha is the MVP of this show, though, and i need you people to know that. The art style is beautiful, the narrative is compelling, and you’ll fall in love with the character work. Castlevania is dope and you should go binge all of it since there is literally nothing else to do under quarantine.

#Smokey brand Reviews #Castlevania

[oceanivoxjoquainx]

If you haven't watched Sex Education yet... what is you doing?

Its a Netflix Original that came out on Jan 11th 2019 and its just absolutely amazing. I loved it and all the characters. Theyre not all cardboard cut out good people. They all have their ups and downs like real people do. Heres just some of my favorite things in this show (Spoilers. Duh):

Eric's dad being genuinely caring about his sons safety and not hating him for being the way he is. Just worried about what could happen to him like when he got punched in the face by those homophobes. I could feel the worry coming off of his dad when his boy walked in the door with tears in this eyes and everything on him messed up.

While on the topic of Erics dad I also wanna talk about his family. Like when he was going to the party and showed his outfit to the fam all his sisters wigs were snatched and even though his mom looked surprised she still seemed to accept it? Like a big worry throughout the show was what would his mother do if she saw him like that and it made me think she was homophobic. She might be and it just wasnt shown to us but still. Cute moment. Awesome family.

Eric in general. Gonna have to make a whole other post about him.

Maeve is such a strong compelling character regardless of how bad life had her she still manged to brush it off and be the feminist icon we all needed. Shes a hot mess most of the time but always comes and drops that sweet knowledge and those brilliant ideas at any given moment. Shes caring and sensitive which is rare when theres a "bad ass female who doesn't care" character in a show. I feel bad that she finally went to go confess to Otis AFTER he moved on but that's life aint it?

Adam was a cute ass jerk who is a true disaster bi but ill talk about him when I talk about Eric.

That whole popular crew were trashy but even they had their good parts. Olivia standing up for Ruby even when it was her that did the damage was touching to watch especially after everyone else joined it and it was funny watching Groffs mental pain. Anwar isssss eh and imma leave it at that. Theyre all still not good people tho.

Aimee is the only popular one I think we all actually liked because she was adorable and sweet and even tho she his that her and Maeve were friends they still supported each other when they needed it and Aimee even left her toxic crew to be with Maeve 100%.

All the mums in the show were great from Jean straight down to Adams mum (who probably should get out of that borderline abusive relationship with Groff but ah well). Was proper shook when we were shown that Jackson had two mums and I love that its so normal now that it wasn't made out to be some big thing or secret that Jackson had two mums. The uptight one could use a chill pill but she just wants the best for her boy. But really tho she needs to chill. Jean too. Even when Otis complained about her overstepping boundaries it seems that she disregarded his thoughts and even tho she apologized I still feel like she didn't really get it. Thats just me tho. Loved all of her grace and elegance tho.

Otis Otis Otis. The hot mess of the month. His sex repulsion made me believe he was asexual at first and was from then on iffy on if Otis actually wanted a relationship and sex or if he was doing what peopel thought he should be doing. When it was relevaed his repulsiveness actually came from his father cheating and his mother having multiple issues I still felt that him being ace shouldve been adressed. At least by his sexologist mother who knew he was fake masturbating and not into sex in the slightest. Was great how he counciled and helped all the people he did tho and it was nice seeing the reality of teens having sex and having issues with sex being talked about.

Alrighty so onto a few minor complaints about the show. They weren't deal breakers for me liking the show at all and are just some minor nitpicks I have.

I wish they talked about Erics attack more instead of just showing us Otis making it about him and turning it into a Otis and Eric argument arc. Would've been a great opportunity for Otis to grow as a person and realizing that he was brushing Eric off way too often. I also would've liked to see Eric actually come to grips that he was attacked as its not shown if he actually dealt with that experience internally.

I also feel like many side characters were often dropped into obscurity until the show needed them back again. Like Adam who was pretty important in the first few episodes but then trickled out until the last episode. And Ruthie and Tanya whos relationship status is still in the air (even tho it can be infered that Ruthie broke up with Tanya).

Back onto Otis possibly being ace I feel disappointed they didnt go down that path as being ace always seems to be a character flaw that people must somehow overcome. I'm glad he got his erections and managed to bust one at the end of it all but it still felt like Otis has finally battled those ace demons and overcame those unnatural unwanted "I don't want sex" thoughts.

Jeans issues are never actually dealt with either. She just goes from "scared of commitment because of cheating ex husband" to "I'm in love with my plumber". She never confronted her demons and just moved along.

The show is still incredible overall and brushes on important issues when it comes to sex like how feelings affect sex, consent, sex positivity, rejection, if or if not someone's ready for sex, and body issues and positivity. Its a heartwarming story with many complex characters who are all not all good or all bad. They're human and they all make mistakes and they learn and grow into better people because of it. Didn't know Sex Education existed until a couple days ago and I just finished watching it a couple minutes ago but it has very quickly become one of my favorite shows and I can't for it to get a season 2.

#sex education #sex education netflix #netfix #otis milburn #eric effiong #maeve wiley #adam groff #seriously tho you should watch it #its amazing #a great start for 2019