#idk if i need to say this but it's just a joke about how s3 goes 🙃 sw fans terrify me sometimes...

[badass-queer-couples-battle]

Gay wrongs tournament, round 2.5 of the major bracket

Propaganda:

For Eddie Brock and Venom:

I'm pretty sure its Canon in the comics and like, Canon adjacent in the 2nd movie??? Idk I just watched the first one sooo, anyways, this isn't propaganda i just couldn't remember if you said they needed to be Canon so I put what I rembered about that here, idk I'm proboboly just gonna send the propaganda in the ask box at a later date 

They eat people:) venom is an alien symbiote and Eddie is the host and they have melded together into one being. They care for and protect each other and are so intimately intwined they are only ever separated by force. Also they’re both absolute disasters and they periodically bite and eat the heads off their enemies. 

They eat people <3 

For Will and Hannibal:

Ive previously only heard the term "murder husbands" refer to hannigram so it feels flitting. The whole series culminated with a murder they did together bathing in blood. 

The show and ship that coined murder husbands. It’s in the text in s3 from a journalist side character. They do Many murders either together or as a message to each other. Usually this involves turning the dead body into an art piece. The show ends with them killing a guy together in a slo mo scene backed by porno music.

They're both batshit and manipulative.

ALRIGHT so they're not canonically together but it is HEAVILY implied and they have some sort of fucked up psychosexual obsession with each other. in the later parts of the show they start committing murder and cannibalism together and they're soooo unhinged but it's awesome

kill people for each other. maim each other. kill people together. most batshit insane metaphors. send each other to jail. ruin everyone’s lives. someone can probably say this better than me but these gay people are insane

Literally THE murder husbands. They kill for each other. They've tried to kill each other. They're canon in all but name, like the homoeroticism between these two is the driving force of the show.

one time hannibal folded a guy into an origami human heart

They are in love and they kill and eat people. They are called Murder Husbands in canon.

The original murder husbands (literally, that's not just their ship name, they get called that in canon)

The show begins with Will working for the FBI and trying to catch Hannibal, but because Hannibal is so intrigued by the way Will is able to see the world and the motives behind the killings so easily, it becomes a game of Hannibal isolating Will even more from the people around and seducing him to try and kill. By the time Will starts embracing the side of him that Hannibal sees, he starts oulling back and trying to distance himself so that when the time comes for Will to fully embrace himself and Hannibal, no one really suspects what they have planned. 

hannibal literally does murder as courtship and it works bc will is also a fucked up little guy

I'm actually quite offended they aren't included by default (joke). They are THE murder husbands!!!!!! (mod note: they should have been, but I wanted to see how many submissions they'd get. They got 19, making them a little more than 6% of total submission count).

do i have to say it. they literally get called murder husbands IN THE SHOW

There are 3201 works for Hannibal on ao3 tagged Murder Husbands. They are the ogs, they are the pioneers we owe it all to them.

THEE murder couple. You know it. I know it. They commit crimes at each other as courting and then commit crimes together and then fall off a cliff to wash up somewhere and live on to serve cunt. Get referred to as 'murder husbands' in canon. What more do you need

Hannigram were literally called Murder Husbands in canon, they are the og, they are THE blueprint. They were gay as hell and comitted so much murder so many crimes. THEY RAN OFF TO EUROPE TOGETHER.

#gay wrongs tournament round 2 #venom #hannibal nbc #hannibal #symbrock #hanningram #eddie brock #venom symbiote #hannibal lecter #will graham

[weirdthoughtsandideas]

You know, as much as Simbar is spicy while also so cute, I just thought how funny their dynamic can be too.

Here we have Ámbar. Little miss perfect. Straight A student, rich af, always needing to put up an act, literal girlboss (like, literal, she becomes a BOSS at age 19), always have been raised to be as proper as possible. Probably grew up faster than most kids, because she was always expected to act more mature than what she was.

Then we have Simón. Silly guy. Wears beanies. Wears shorts that a surfer would wear. Says corny lines. He’s never been rich in his whole life. Shares an apartment with his bros. He always looks and dresses a bit messy. He likes to joke around and loves to make his friends laugh. He's not immature, but he's also not the kind of mature that Ámbar is - he just has... you know, normal dudebro maturity.

We see the clear difference with them kind of shortly after they kiss for the first time. Ámbar tries to keep it cool, yk, act like she usually does.

While Simón... well Simón is like this.

He's blabbering, he's awkward, he wants to kiss her again, HE CRACKS A CORNY JOKE ABOUT THE "SIMÓN MOBILE" AND THEN JUST LIFTS HER UP AND RUNS WHILE CARRYING HER.

But most of all, he's being himself with her. He doesn't care that she's the high class rich girl Ámbar, who's so proper and elegant. He's his messy, awkward, corny, yet charming self around her.

What gets funny is that in season 2, while Ámbar still puts an act around Simón even while they're dating, when alone she becomes a silly girl in love. She talks to her mirror, going "Simón is all yours now 🥰" with a bright smile, before immediately catching herself. She goes to choose clothes for the date and loudly speaks to herself "I'm gonna find the perfect outfit for mine and Simón's date 😍". She becomes what she considers "immature". She can't be in love? She can't be like that? She has to be in control! Behave herself!

Things then get complicated in season 3 - as Ámbar is going through stuff, she creates essentially this imaginary version of Simón. Simón keeps being the silly dude, but in Ámbar's head he's cool, tough, very masculine... she even, and I don't think I'm exaggerating, thinks he's rather sexy.

The best example is when she has the Solos daydream.

When looking at Simón play, she imagines him like this

When in reality... he looks like this

And idk, there's something so inherently funny to think that Simón's just looking like every guitar guy ever and Ámbar's over here imagining him in leather jackets grinding at her. It's extra funny if you can picture her doing that every time she sees him too.

To add to this, Simón during S3 also has a version of Ámbar in his head that isn't how she actually is at the moment. Only that his version of her is the version that she was in the past - the version of her that he fell in love with. From his side, he just wants to help her get back to "being herself" again, because he knows she isn't right now. Ámbar doesn't wanna go back, because while she did have genuine feelings for Simón in S2, it was also a version of herself she wants to forget about. Cause even if what she felt for him was true, she was still putting up an act at all times, since she still was under the influence and watch of her godmother. And she just wants to break free from everything, both the bad and the good.

But throughout the season she's also still a bit awkward and acts like a "silly girl with a crush" about Simón, especially when Emilia questions her about him. "Whaaatt??? Pfft, I don't like Simón, he likes me, come on I'm just teasing him it's not my fault it's him who's obsessed with me hahahaha-" She doesn't want to, she wants to keep in control and hide it, but she can't.

Simón always keeps being himself. He can be serious with Ámbar, he is incredibly patient with her and while he tries to help her, he also tells her off when she goes too far. But when he wants to, he's still the silly and corny guy with her.

My final example is the rose scene. The rose scene is beautiful. It's magical. It's very romantic and their tension is off the charts.

But also, only Simón would do a thing like throwing a bunch of petals on the floor to make a "romantic road" down the hallway. Also...

I counted and it's about 6-7 seconds from when he knocks and when Ámbar opens the door (side note that is a very short sleeping gown for a kids show lmao...)

The amount of planning for this romantic gesture must have taken so much. He had to...

Go and spread out all the flower petals. He needed to do this while knowing no one else was around, because someone else def would question what he was up to.

He'd need to make sure Ámbar didn't hear him walk around outside her bedroom door.

He had to knock

He needed to get back downstairs VERY quickly, and if he did not run then I guess he just slid down the railing? He was very good on doing it so smoothly, because he could have easily been tripping or being overheard with loud running steps.

He's gonna have to clean up all of this later

Nonetheless, this scene is still so heartwarming and beautiful. But, also, it's such a chaotic thing that only Simón would properly pull off.

Also, it's the way Ámbar just genuinely brightens up.

How she first goes "oh gosh, this is so cheesy, but adorable". But then she smells the rose and just goes in a little "yes!!" moment. Because that's her cheesy but adorable man! And he did this for her!

Side note, I need to comment on the difference between their outfits. Ámbar is here in a beautiful white nightgown, all barefoot.

And Simón is dressed like this.

It's a contrast.

But it's so pretty at the same time too.

They were from different worlds, and seeing them separate on their own, you wouldn't think it would work. But then they get together and it just... does.

-

Ok, so this was just gonna be a "lmao I love how Ámbar is just the perfect upper class girl and then Simón is just this silly beanie boy" but then I just decided to dive deeper.

There's much to analyse with Simbar, and it's really hard to keep it short.

#simbar #this random analysis was very spontaneous I just came up with more stuff #soy luna #ámbar smith #simón alvarez

[wheelercore]

The Curious Case of The Dead Wheeler Granny

Also known as: I need to make a cohesive post that actually has context so i can add it to the ✨ master post ✨. So basically if you already know, you know. idk.

So... recently have been thinking A Lot about weird "production errors" (tm) and creel home fuckery + wheeler parallels. Its no secret that there are Many references to the creel home in the wheeler home for whatever reason, from the piano to the wedding dress to even the clock chimes (?) close to the the door way of the wheeler home.

However one of the most fascinating Choices was when the main urn that sat on the wheeler mantle place since s1 suddenly changed to a completely different urn during the convergence of the four gates at the climax of s4. What was the reason for this? It's also no secret that ST is riddled with what we can call "intentional" errors in objects, peoples positions, etc etc. But why a seemingly random object that has been sitting in the background of the home for 4 seasons w/o any special attention? And why at the important climax of the season?

Season 1

Season 4- before the climax

Season 4- after the climax

(and this isnt even to mention the fact that the wheeler dining room is covered in rose vases that mimic the OG urn)

If you reference this back to the mantle place in the Creel home... there is something quite interesting:

A few little trinkets, weirdly placed and evenly spread out. There is a little bird (dove?) statue like how the wheelers have two geese statues sitting on their mantle place. Next to that though? A strange looking golden vase. Mind you, this is happened when Virginia is having her "holding up the mirror" moment. As in this mirror is right there reflecting Virginia and this little urn-looking vase trinket and the rose-y wallpaper behind her (which is interesting given that the OG urn has pink roses on it with a framed picture of pink roses next to it).

Put the Virginia relation in your back pocket for now. Lets go up to the stuff in the Creel attic, which are heavily referenced in the wheeler home, in particular the wedding dress:

Where has have we seen a piece of a brides clothing in s4? In Suzie's home, where her sister Tabitha is wearing a wedding veil, and you guess it, a pink floral (roses? Honestly the color scheme is very similar to the creel wallpaper mentioned above) dress:

In which Tabitha pretends to die. She's not really dying. The joke here is that Tabitha's father had thought she was dying though ("it looked genuine"). And oh... is that the edge of a grandfather clock I see right outside the doorway framed right there this scene?

If I was extra weird about it I could also point out that the letter blocks on Tabitha's bracelet kind of spell out (M?)AMA. But its super blurry and I cant get a good shot of it so take this with a grain of salt:

A little sprinkle of Petergate here but Tabitha is a woman who was raised from the dead by Saint Peter:

Which I mean... If we're going to talk about lying about moms dying? The "Nanas got cancer" gag in s3 in which... Hopper lies about Mikes Nana being sick but then goes onto say:

There's nothing wrong with Nana

Mike then proceeds to repeatedly call him a liar. So... nothing's wrong with Nana? Would that explain the weird trend of people specifically lying over the phone about having a sick family member also in s3/s4?

(credit: screenshots from this @/heroesbyler post - unrelated to this theory, I just think its neat)

And if we're talking about lies:

(oh holly girl... wearing that pink + white outfit and that rose shirt lmao)

And of course: Papa lies.

(don't even get me started on how the grandfather clock most likely represents Brenner ("maybe hes a clock maker?" and s4 literally starting with Brenner setting a timer))

But this begs the question... If, by all accounts, nothing is wrong with Nana, so much so it would be like she was raised from the dead, then who's ashes do the Wheeler's have on their mantle place thinking that its their granny?

Could it be, thinking back to the weird trinket on front of the mirror in the Creel home, Virginia's ashes instead? Quick question, where exactly are Virginia and Alice buried? Did Victor get a say in his wife's funeral arrangements?

And if Nana Wheeler's death was a lie designed to conceal a truth and Papa lies... ah who am i kidding it was martin brenner. it was fucking brenner who else would do some weird shit like this. it was him.

Anyways things like this really make me question why exactly the Wheelers are one of two main families in the show. As far as I know they didn't do much in TFS, so hell, why not Patty? Bob? The Sin Claires?

Regardless, I would really like them to be kind and rewind back to whatever is going on here if you know what I mean

#rosegate #karen wheeler #ted wheeler #mike wheeler #nancy wheeler #holly wheeler #virginia creel #alice creel #martin brenner

[feralsteddie]

I know we haven’t talked in forever and I am sorry. Just popping in to say hi 👋

Also your post about Eddie and Steve needing to be written more childish is such a hot take. Like I know that Eddie probably thinks bathroom humor is top tier. Steve definitely hops up to highfive trim of tall doors. Or Eddie and Steve wrestling like Eddie did with Dustin.

Oh don’t worry about it! I get it, life is busy, my dude, but it is good to hear from you!

God, I just, I know they’re deeply traumatised and have about fifty layers of mental issues between them, but also… they’re just a couple of guys???

Eddie looks like he makes ‘I fucked your mom’ jokes. Steve chronically shoves his friends off the couch. Eddie probably wipes his nose on his sleeve. Steve will stuff a whole slice of pizza in his face without breaking eye contact. Eddie once shoved his whole toe in Steve’s ear. Steve once kept putting sticks in Eddie’s hair while they were walking to see how long it took him to notice. They get high and debate Scooby Doo Villains. They piss with the door open. They have stupid little competitions that no one can comprehend. Robin once watched them wrestle on and off for a whole day because they decided it was the only way to settle any mild disagreement.

Like, just dumb boy shit??? Idk if it’s ‘cause they’re played by nearly 30 year old men (mentally Steve always looks like s3 to me tho) or if it’s bc a lot of the themes in steddie fic tend to be heavy, but… there really is just a lack of dude antics.

#Steve high fiving the door trim is so on brand GOD #Thank you for dropping in for the brainrot Jasper you’re literally always welcome here #steve harrington #eddie munson #steddie #pyreposting #bound-vivisection #like idk if a lot of people writing fic just didn’t spend time with teenage boys or what #but lemme tell you: even trauma cannot quell Boy Behaviour #idk but as a former 19 year old boy there just needs to be more shenanigans #pyresmailbox

[beaulesbian]

Literally all signs now point to “El deserves better”.

(this is kind of a companion post for my gifset about similar thing)

But first shortly about Will and Mike so it’s out of the way.  I don’t like the whole “Will deserves better” from people who think Mike only acts as an asshole and a jerk. He made mistakes but that’s not his whole personality.

And most importantly, because Will knows Mike, he’s known him for over a decade, he shares his interests, he understands him even if they fight. On top of that Mike does understand Will more than anyone else, except his family. He stayed by Will’s side the whole of s2, while not treating him like he would break, and Will noticed that. Will loves Mike for who Mike is.

While Mike could be open around Will during s4, even saying how he feels insecure with El.

But with El, Mike acts different, he becomes someone else, he hides his interests (Would El even know who Superman and Lois Lane are? Mike compares them to him and El, but talks about it to Will).

Especially when they start acting more towards the romantic side of the relationship, there’s a clear difference when they’re together vs when with other people. Like in 3x1 when Mike starts singing a song he likes, and asks El if she likes it, and she doesn’t get it, she’s surprised and pushes him (playfully) away.

Then, season 4 showed a lot more signs that El is noticing something is off about her and Mike’s relationship.

She lies to him in letters, and he can’t say what she wants and needs to hear.

They’re not shown talking about basically anything. Just like Hopper in s3 said, they just spend time alone all the time. and idk? kissing? not talking?

El kisses him in 3x8 thinking that her ‘I love you’ hoping he feels the same, but it’s the opposite - Mike is confused. He goes home acting weird (most likely realizing the feelings he should have for El he has for someone else), and then during the time away from them, he spends the time calling but not reaching Will, and writing to El only “From Mike”. He joins Hellfire and lets himself be a nerd and a freak. He’s finding himself.

Yet he feels inferior in his relationship with El, like El is something that must be always better than him, a superhero. (A superman.) But he doesn’t talk about that to her, but to Will. Because despite their disagreements, Will is still beside him, patient, kind and listening, just like he always was, and just like he always will be.

And El definitely starts to notice that she doesn’t get what she could from their relationship - the note on the flowers, the monologue that definitely was full of lies and she knows it.

She loves the idea of who Mike is around her, but he can’t be fully himself around her, so who does she love?

Even on the airport it’s confirmed he wore a fake outfit in her favorite colors, hiding behind sunglasses, putting on a fake persona for her.

The monologue that doesn’t work - doesn’t magically fix all her problems to gain advantage over Vecna. On the opposite - she loses, and she’s never lost like this before. She loses Max, someone who was real and kind to her, who helped her find her true self. 

Great example about the elmike relationship is the pizza place scene in 4x9.

Mike and El are joking and laughing together. The atmosphere is light and joyful. They’re laughing together like normal close friends.

Until El initiates the hand hold. This moment when she silently reaches for Mike’s hand to hold hers.

He awkwardly does as she asks, but it feels off? He’s not fully there, not fully giving himself to her, there’s something holding him back. And just like that the atmosphere changes - it’s tense, contrast to just seconds before.

They both are trying to think of the right words.

I still believe this was supposed to be their break up scene, but because Argyle interrupted them, and because probably the Duffers wanted to show just how weak their relationship in romantic context is (- the following monologue against Vecna not working), they couldn’t say what they wanted at that moment.

Along with the two day time skip that follows it’s clear that something has changed between them, and either we will see in s5 they did actually already break up (in the two day time skip?), or soon from the beginning in s5 they probably will.

In the end they both deserves better, because El needs someone who she can be honest with, as well who will truly accept her as she is.

And Mike deserves someone with whom he doesn’t have to hide any parts of himself, he deserves to be loved and appreciated for all the love he gives with his actions.

(These are just kind of my thoughts on when I see people keep saying that Will deserves better than Mike, or Mike and El are perfect together. So yeah, if milkvans (or even bylers who don’t like Mike) are saying as arguments that Will is the one who deserves better, they clearly haven’t been watching the same show.)

#i just want to say these things as a byler and el stan bc the truth is they all deserve better! #mike wheeler #el hopper #eleven #byler #elmike #stranger things #stranger things meta #mine #ufff i had a lot of thoughts about this relationship i just really want them to stop acting dumb #and break up so they can support each other as friends #long post

[scripted-downfall]

Acting anon again. I agree it's cockiness. When he was younger he at least had a sincerity about him. They had to get it right or they'd get fired. Then come s8-9 and it's like... Haha you can't fire me you NEED me.

And to hear Jen talk about Dean and then Jared is like "Sam is the best" but he doesn't talk about Sam. Sam is a character to him and it shows. Dean is a person to Jensen and it shows.

I watched a good bit of Walker (before I could just not handle the poor writing) and I watch Big Sky.

Jared has a part in WRITING AND PRODUCING HIS CHARACTER and yet Jensen understands Beau far more than Jpad understands Walker and idek how that's possible.

Walker had potential but failed in so many aspects. While I watch Big Sky just for Beau and it's one of my favorite shows right now.

There's just a different caliber.

Well Jensen has taken what he was given in Supernatural and expounded on his craft, Jared is riding the high of being famous. He's popular because he's Jared padalecki not because he's a good actor. He's that guy from supernatural. Jensen on the other hand, is a fantastic actor who knows what he's doing. That's why he can be in so many different things. No matter what show he's in he becomes popular. It's not because of Supernatural it's because of him. While I don't think anyone watched Walker that didn't come from Supernatural.

There's nothing wrong with watching a show after seeing the actors in supernatural. That's what I did for several of even Jensen stuff. But people love him even without ever seeing him as dean. Because he's that good of an actor.

Anyway...

Didn't mean to rant lol

No, no, please rant! I'm so beyond stoked that you wrote back; please keep doing so as long as you wish to!

And your points continue to be spot-on; the increased job security seems to have gone to his head in the worst possible way, and, at this point, he's acting for the fame and not famous for the acting. The only reason this might be sustainable is that, as you said, people from SPN will follow him to his new projects, and there are enough Sam stans that it might be halfway feasible. In any other person --- and, I want to say, in him, too, though his fanbase will probably prove me wrong --- this would be the pride before the fall. His hubris is definitely a character defect; it's just not clear if it's his classically Fatal Flaw.

But you're absolutely right about how they treat their characters. I've seen a ton of jokes about how Jensen's one of the biggest fangirls among us, and --- in addition to being funny --- they're just downright accurate; Dean is real in a way that Sam never seems to be for Padalecki. Praising Sam isn't about discussing Sam; it's a statement on Jarpad. Discussing Dean is less about Jackles than it is about Dean. And that difference causes there to be a world separating the two. I won't say it's impossible to act without believing, at some level, in the reality of one's character, but Padalecki definitely can't.

"He's popular because he's Jared padalecki not because he's a good actor." I can't put this any better than you did, so I'm just gonna say: yes. A hundred times, yes.

And I also agree that there's not an issue with following actors to other shows. Frankly? I'm a touch obsessive. If I fixate on a character, I will follow that actor through their filmographies. I saw Jensen in Supernatural first, and have since watched --- solely due to his presence in the vehicle --- Dark Angel, some of Big Sky (though I haven't gotten to s3 yet, so idk if that counts), Ten Inch Hero, My Bloody Valentine, and Devour. The same is true with Misha, though I have access to less that he's been in: I basically could only watch 24 and the one episode of Monk he was in (and, even then, I'd seen the shows before because they've been family favorites for a while; I just hadn't known who Misha Collins was at the time). Both actors continued to be just as enjoyable --- just as skilled --- outside of their Supernatural roles.

However, I've watched the occasional Jarpad thing, too. I recently made some posts about one such film, which I hadn't realized he'd been in --- Cry_Wolf --- but I also intentionally watched Walker, House of Wax, and the Friday the 13th remake, just out of curiosity. Mainly, I was just curious whether my dislike for Sam was affecting my judgement, whether he'd gotten better outside of that environment. And he just hadn't. They were all utterly atrocious. To borrow my phrasing from an earlier post, his acting was forgettable at best and horrible at worst.

Long post already long: it's not a coincidence that Jackles has drawn massive interest from the general audience and not just the Supernatural fans. The Boys might have been the first example of this, but, as you point out, Big Sky has had a similar reaction. And, on the other hand, the only thing saving Padalecki from being a one-hit wonder (and I use the word "wonder" loosely) is that he's somehow managed to swing the loyalty of a very devout subset of the fanbase.

Anyway, I think it's my turn to apologize; this is, once again, a very long message... I hope it's not either oppressive or annoying; I'm just really enjoying the conversation. Thank you again, and all the best until next time!

#answered asks #scripted downfall asks answered #anti jared padalecki #so what can ya do #thank you again anon!!! #acting anon #(if you'd rather a different nickname lemme know)

[steveharrington]

with the full knowledge that they probably won’t get the best endings bc the duffers don’t know what to do with their own characters, what would your ideal endings be for the st main characters? or like at least the ones you care about? like in an ideal world

this is so fun i’m gonna do as many as i can think of <3 i don’t think the duffers are gonna do a Huge time jump at the end of the series (i could b wrong) so i’m just gonna base these on like roughly anytime in the next year after s4

steve: ideally steve would not be in a romantic relationship and completely satisfied with this outcome. i’m not saying he should like Never get his little domestic dream but i think he needs some time to focus on himself instead of constantly weighing his self worth based on whether or not he’s romantically valued. i also think it would be nice if he found something that gave him fulfillment whether it be a specific job or hobby or even just like continuing to be best friends forever with robin <3

robin: i wouldn’t mind if she ended up with vickie because i genuinely like the way their relationship has been set up, but if she was single by the end too i’d be okay with that. mostly i want robin to get out of hawkins and meet other gay people and find a community where she doesn’t feel like an outsider. maybe make some weird art. and to continue being best friends forever with steve <3

nancy: i’m begging on my hands and knees for nancy to end the show single. i think she gravitates towards relationships because they feel safe to her, but she’s ultimately unsatisfied because she has goals and aspirations that don’t necessarily fit with steve/jonathan and i think she needs to just focus on herself without having to factor someone else into the equation. i think she should go to school for journalism, maybe start some kinda nonprofit, and help barb’s parents get their house back after murray SCAMMED their asses

jonathan: honestly i just want jonathan to have like….someone who acts as a consistent emotional support. doesn’t matter who it can be argyle it can be nancy in a platonic sense i just want him to be given the space to express his feelings without them always taking a backseat to someone else. i think a fun career for him would be music journalism

argyle: we don’t know shit about his personal life or his background but i just want him to be able to return to his life pre-vecna without too much trauma <3 like obv i want that for everyone but argyle especially is so happy go lucky and it would be so sad if he lost his vibes

max: god please i just want her to be happy and have peace. i want her to stay with lucas, romantically or platonically idrc i just want them to be Together in some sense and i want her to feel safe and happy that’s all i ask

lucas: same as above AND i want lucas to get to fully explore his identity with actual genuine support from his friends. i can see him going through high school trying a little bit of every club and hobby and group and i want him to just like grow into himself and have the freedom to do that <3

dustin: again happiness and safety PLEASE also idk how to explain this but i want dustin to like…lower his guard. i feel like in s1 & 2 he was much more trusting and had more faith in people vs s3 & 4 where he’s just constantly assuming that his friends are like incapable of doing anything? i know it’s just bad writing for bad jokes but i’m choosing to believe it’s his defense mechanism and his way of dealing with trauma by being like “well luckily i’m a genius and i’ll fix everything >:)” and i want him to like let go of that and be more carefree again

el: again this applies to all of them but for el especially i want her to have stability and to feel safe. i want her to get the family and home she craves so badly with joyce and hopper and jonathan and will, and i want her to get to try things out and shape an identity kinda like lucas. i want her to have a little bedroom where she can try out new hobbies and not have to worry about packing up because someone died again

mike: honestly this is the toughest for me to envision and i don’t really know why? like obv i want him to be happy feel safe etc but i can’t think of anything like Concrete for mike’s ending that i absolutely want to see. maybe just permanently reunited with his friends idk

will: i want willy b to feel comfortable and find joy in being gay and also come out to joyce <3 and maybe hopper <3 idk i want will’s story to go back to his family, the way it started, and for him to realize that he’s still very young and mike’s feelings don’t have to determine his personal happiness and i feel like the best way for him to reach this conclusion is just by knowing that his mom and brother will always have his back

erica: ugh god i want her to like finish middle school unscathed 😭 the writers ignore her feelings so much so it would be nice if for Once they let her acknowledge what she’s been through maybe via a conversation with lucas. idk why but out of all the characters i can really See erica getting therapy skdndnc like i think she’d enjoy it <3

joyce: lord idk i want joyce to somehow know with certainty that everything is Over and that she doesn’t have to be on alert anymore. that’s probably not plausible given the nature of the story and the fact that she’s naturally always going to look over her shoulder BUT i would be ecstatic if the ending somehow gave her this 100% surety that it was officially over

hopper: i just fucking want him to be el’s dad man <3 i want him to take her fishing and get her a pet cat and help her with homework at the table and do a bad job wrapping presents on her birthday like i just want him to live out the rest of his life with his #1 priority always being el <3

murray: in jail for scamming the hollands out of their house

#this is longggg sorry i have a lot of thoughts #i don’t Think i forgot anyone but it’s late and i kept getting distracted while writing this so i may have #answered #anon #long post

[itsdappleagain]

GUESS WHAT TIME IT IS??

THATS RIGHT IT'S TIME FOR THE STICKY RICE CAPER!!!

Alright, I'ma be honest here- there are a few episodes in CS which I just NEVER rewatch, and this one is kind of one of them. I don't know why. The start of Season 1 just never really invites me to click on it...BUT I DON'T KNOW WHY!

Every time I DO watch them I really like them!! So weird little mental block. ANYWAYS you know the drill by know let's get crack-a-lacking (or crackle lacking...his memories lmaooo)

WOO HOO our first caper episode!!! I love the caper formats- such a staple of the series (at the same time I wish we'd have gotten some deviation sometimes for...character based episodes or something but oh well).

OKAY HEY HI HAVE I GUSHED ABOUT THE INTRO ENOUGH YET BECAUSE I WILL NEVER EVER SKIP IT. ITS SO GOOD. THE BLACK AND WHITE WITH ONLY THE RED THE COOL BADASS MOMENTS THE AMAZING ANIMATION THE SCENE DESIGN HELLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

see the intro sets up a sort of mystery and finesse about carmen's character i wish we actually got more!! like she seems so mysterious but they infodump everything about her onto us in the first two episodes immediately. i promise ill stop complaining about the infodumping thing now though

okay also but the moment in the episode when it match cuts to carmen walking from the tower to the crosswalk its sooo fucking gooood

Carmen Sandiego Fun Fact: That guy who's Agent Zari's partner in Season 1 and shows up sometimes is actually not one guy but three identical ones who keep switching out

OH also the shift into color as she looks up godddd its so good i will talk about the intro more than the fucking episode

also the!! she does the thing from s2 e1 in the intro!!! in rio!!

the tone of voice she uses when she says "looky-loos" i didnt know that word could be kind of hot

i like how offended she sounds "I DID" djfdhasfdg shes like player of course i fucking did what do you think i am an amateur

calling vile sleazy is so funny as a kid (13 yo) watching for the first time i thought sleazy was kind of a bad word (its not) and it caught me so off guard

zack's first line....its so zack

ALSO i love the intro cards so much i didnt mention it last week (two weeks ago?) but theyre so fun

carmen: hey we've got a tail

zack: im going to shake my ass all night oh yeah

i love how little carmen is doing about the acme agents shes just like zack can we not :/ we KNOW she can do shit on boats, seeing as she clotheslined devineaux in s3 or whatever she did. threw a tree at him. what the fuck did she do to devineaux i dont remember

zack: HOW TO DRIVE A BOAT SAFELY (continues talking whilst not looking where he's going)

the background couple that gets doused with water twice as the boats go by and then are never acknowledged again are so funny why didnt they have more funny background moments like that jadshfgahdsgah

imagine if acme had actual projectile weapons like idk tranq darts carmen would be so arrested immediately

ivy did it first (talking about the suez canal)

love how ivy didnt need to have that beard on at all. really didnt honestly. she should have dressed in drag more actually i think

can you imagine the thoughts going through zari and jawline's heads when the frenchman turned into a 20 year old bostonian

THE BEARD WAS ONLY FOR THE CLOSE SHAVE JOKE.

how the hell did they scale the side of that boat

i like ivy's dumb orange cat energy in jumping 30 feet off of a barge without looking

i do agree with whoever else said they wished she'd gotten a better intro though. i don't think they quite knew what they wanted to do with ivy, and by the time they were like "hey maybe her thing with red drone is because she like builds stuff or whatever" they kind of. only got to relay that by having baby ivy go "hey we should give that lady a gun" in the boston tea party caper

the combination of three languages <3 never change ivy

"while i picked up carmen at the train station" okay so the river they're driving on is the river seine, right? its right by the eiffel tower as we see. fun fact: the nearest train station? 4 minutes away or less! cool detail

ivy definitely had time to get him food just saying . also still confused about why carmen took a train to paris but ive already hounded that detail last week so whatever

carmen completely blank faced saying "yum baguettes" to tease zack is so funny you didnt have to do that

i relish the intrigue and enthusiasm in carmen's voice when she goes "SO off to indonesia" we don't even see her face but she sounds so excited to go there agh

infodumping sections beloved. ive actually learned so much from them. we were talking about coffee and how it can be called java and i was like "OIHOOHOGFOGIHOOGOOGOG JAVA IS AN ISLAND IN INDONESIA HOME TO "THE BIG DURIAN" OR THE CAPITAL WHICH IS JAKARTA"

player: i have cool facts!! this is so cool!

carmen: i stopped paying attention five minutes ago actually sorry about that my thing now

so interesting btw that all records of acme agents are taken off of anything?? why dont they have identities anymore??

how?? did the cleaners manage to get crackle out if he "only woke up moments ago" which implies that someone like. watched him do that. moments ago. the cleaners just sliced a hole in the wall again like they do in s4 jkhfkhsadf

i like how devineaux thinks carmen would go after the gigantic blue diamond but also steal some more aussie shmuck's wallet AND his train ticket for good measure

the mints were suck a weird little thing to have devineaux have and i love that he had them?? idk if it was for the sole purpose of julia following them to the ACME Closet TM but theyre a cool little character thing that i kinda forgot about (bc the writers did too after the very start of the next season lol)

is crackle implying that he has crawled through sewer tunnels? is he referencing the shawshank redemption? is he referencing black sheep crawling through the drain pipes?

bellum is so funny "I AM LASER FOCUSED" (swimpes through fifteen unrelated tabs that are actively open) adhd icon

hey by the way why did she have missile launch sights and bomb tests and gun blueprints open. because. why didnt that ever go anywhere. i know she's orchestrated some of the most strange but also deadly capers in the show but. i. okay

"the student formerly known as black sheep"

PLS BELLUM IS SO SHORT

part of me wonders if shadow-san intentionally breaks up the height slant to make him feel out of place. if they wanted everything to look cohesive he would be sitting...maybe after malestrom. but he isnt, hes on the end and his height, in the lineup, is jarring compared to the slope of everyone else's.

mael also has some pretty good nicknames for her

love that one of their finest operatives is a year-in-the-field catgirl

the little silent laugh carmen does when zack starts reminiscing about how they met awww

r&d they make it sound so sinister. it means research and development

hello trailer scene. i love how carmen runs off screen for the trailer shot and then slows down to walk with them immediately because she actually has to be in the scene

the animation when she said "plan a" was so snappy

#feminism red drone is a she

(a bunch of lights flashing and making pew pew noises)

zack: STATE OF THE ART???!?!?!!

just kidding zack love ya

that tracking shot of red drone going through the lasers?? mwah

red drone out here with a strontium nitrate fire damn

what was their plan if someone was at the lab

that light moving behind them as they walk forward into the labbbbb

SEE theres the transition sentence for next ep!

what braincell of zack's saw a pile of white rice in a petri dish, first thought "that must be someone else's food" and then thought " i should eat this stranger's petri dish food"

also i am in love with how he just was about the bite down on the whole dish at once

the teeny tiny twitch of carmens teeny tiny nose as she sniffs the petri dish dahdjhdsdsg

cleo's capers: im going to steal four dresses >:)

bellum's capers: i will cause a famine for the entire population of the fourth largest country in the world and force them to either starve or submit to me via creating a monopoly of overpriced rice which is shit quality but their only choice, and will do so by releasing an untested superspore which hypothetically could mutate and wipe out all life on these islands if all goes wrong. teehee cat videos

zack and ivy's dialogue sounds like. you know when a teacher presents a problem and then in a really dumb vice they suggest an obviously bad solution? that

"we're thieves" ivy tomorrow you're going to tell a goat that your boss's name is carmen san jose and then almost die five times in the next week

ivy's so supportive. no braincells on planning but such a cheerleader /hj

here we see the majestic long-necked ivysaur stretching her neck for a leaf

pls zack looks so hungry and sad

"so vile can make a quick buck hehaha she has a surprise coming 😌"

she looks so hot when she jumps on the roof of the jeep and then jumps off a cliff. well right before anyway lmaoo

loook

ok just thought the glider mechanic was cool. anyway

VILE HENCHMAN WATCH THE FUCKING ROAD

"HYASSSSSS" tigress never change

i love that they kept the consistency in the boston bean caper that tigress wasnt there- just the gays

tigress free plastic surgery!! good surgery? no. but free

i love when cs does high motion shots and the background just becomes one streaky color

zack driving down the cliff so true actually

ivy saw carmen climb on the hood and jump off a cliff and did the same thing. ivy dont do that

i also love the consistency of ivy being able to pick locks. she's been able to since the boston molasses disaster caper

carmen almost falls off of very quickly moving vehicles quite a lot

yes i would thats why im asking pls this show

carmen isnt really so much protecting the face as dodging very quickly and hoping

the animation of the car swerving as the durian hits it 👌

i like how immediately ivy goes flying and ZACK COULDNT SEE THE WHOLE TIME??? HOW DID HE NAVIGATE THAT TURN

that weird "eYAHOO" ivy makes is playing my my head 24/7

vile ops constantly have carmen in situations where they could do anything and they just let her do whatever. tigress. you had her hands bound and she was under your control why did you kick her in the back

also i love how carmen is getting batted around all day but tigress kicks her once and she can't get up

ivy and jumping 30 feet into vehicles

ivy's voice when she shrieks about the durian is so cute

ok its 4:30am im sorry im gay

why are there so many roads that go to the same place

"sky rockets" what other kind are there

carmen u literally have a glider you could have NOT shot the tire and caused zack and ivy to almost crash and die

love how zack hits her with the car

me too honestly zack and ivy

HELP?

i like how the car is at normal speed but carmen is in slow motion at the same time

PLS THE TIRE TRACKS ON THE GROUND WHERE ZACK SWERVED

this episode doesnt even get to what specifically vile is doing for the caper until 16 minutes in and its still good i love it

zack and ivy changing the tire just like their racing days </33

what time of year is it that player was contemplating both new years eve and 4th of july

chase is like a bad parent like julia says something and then chase calls it her fault ihgahsgajds

the glare julia shoots chase jshdgsh

i love when she's sarcastic

the way she stares right at the camera when she says "details are lurking just out of view somewhere in the shadows"

OHHH THE MUSIC FOR THIS EP IS REALLY GOOD

why do they keep putting ivy high up. poor ivy

"tigress, you know the rules. but i will say them again for the audience's benefit"

fedora the explora!!!

that kick had to hurt so bad

just imagining carmen on her new phone on like. facebook tapping "unfriend"

the way carmen just takes tigress out wheeze

cat lesbian <3

this fight is honestly so good

POOR IVY

THIS FIGHT IS. SO. GOOD. I LOVE HOW THEATRICAL IT IS

the confused looks as they keep playing music kills mee

the curtsey and the way carmen just keeps lying there for a little while for the dramatics is hilarious

tiny layering issue

and here (and once more too lazy to ss it tho)

love how she lit that match with her finger

also love hot the fuse just gets eaten. no burnt rope only FIRE

i wonder where?? like under lock and key...where?? po box?? lol

poor zack hasnt eaten in a day

oNe jUmPy RoO

the please from mael...ugh

mr. crackle

the poor sad puppy noises gray makes in the chair jdgsahdgds

that mindwiper really honestly sounds like shes gonna just kill him. yeah crackle it wont hurt. we're gonna send u to live on a farm

CHIEF ON THE OTHER END GOING "again" THATS SO FUNNY

PLAN B

Okay sweet!! Solid episode. See ya next Saturday wink wink its not 5am on sunday i promise i didnt stay up for 5 hours doing this

#csweekly #carmen sandiego weekly #carmen sandiego

[charizardstolemynickname]

TOH S3 EP3 REACTION, AKA, THE SERIES FINALE PEOPLE!!!!!!!

I have no idea how long this will take me, just as a warning idk how long it will take me to watch and write all this, its about an hour long episode so

LETS GO!

Woah, instantly, King's dad maybe?? Or just some other titan guy is telling Luz to wake up from maybe the mirror realm thing established? Cool!

Now Luz, how the hell did you get there? "How did I get here?" LUZ DON'T STEAL MY QUESTION

Oh fuck she is in the emporer's.. temple? Already forgot the name, but i assume its some sort of dream as, this was destroyed? By the collector? Who knows really

WOAH guys, Bump as stone ain't funky, i actually came around to liking that guy, they were dolls last time we saw them!!!! Definitely some form of dream

"Don't you remember?" From Amity CONFIRMED to me that its a dream, there is 0 way we are gonna witness a breakup this episode, I refuse

Amity looks so good with this hair I can't lie, idk if I have commented on this before, but if so, I will say it again, she rocks it! And I want her moon necklace and shoes, that's a given

"This isn't a dream, it is a nightmare!" Love that it took until her girlfriend was trying to kill her for her to realise, fucking love Luz man

EDA!!! LOVELY TO SEE YOU, as always. HARPY EDA`1 ...In prison. Well, it is a lovely call back to season 1 episode 1 so I will accept it!

AAHHHH Her first thought after seeing her mum and sister is "THANK GOD, now lets go find king" I LOVE TOH FAMILY

"Dangerous beasts need to be kept in cages" I know this is a dream, but Lilith queen, you ARE a DANGEROUS BEAST TOO, Eda come on, don't fall for this, have a lightbulb moment like Luz

WOAH DON'T BRING HER DAD INTO IT! DON'T DO THAT TO MY GIRL,, she will cry! Collector (I assume its you) THIS ISN'T VERY NICE

King: *gets jump scared by the guy who is trying to kill him and his species and who wear's his family's skulls"

Also King: "Bill! You crazy jerk! How did I get here?" THAT IS AN UNDERREACTION KING....... See, I TOLD YOU it was an underreaction! He is now trying to decapitate you!

WILLOW! Well. What else did you expect from a nightmare Luz?

GUS! GOD I love Gus, even mean dream Gus is iconic, what a performer

HUNTER! "He was more than a paslisman, he was my best friend." ....guys I won't lie, its a bit difficult to still be in denial about Flapjack, ngl.

.....The challenging to a witch's battle thing made the really intense moment, really not tense anymore because it feels like something out of like harry potter or something

"bip. boop." .....Luz, bestie, what are you doing, because whatever it is, its hilarious. "But you aren't amity!" WE ESTABLISHED THIS BRO, whether its a dream/nightmare or some illusion, IT DOESN'T MATTER, it still isn't real.... maybe she was making a joke when she said nightmare.

OOO PUPPET STRINGS! Cute.

Woahhh rubix cubes exist here?! KING EDA AND LUZ REUNITED, "Are you both really here?" AHSUHDKLDF fuck I will cry

"Ray-Ray" I HOPE WE ALL STEAL THIS NICKNAME FOR RAINE

"King is going to hate me for this" AWWWWW, I mean. Totally not aww, the collector is doing evil things. "My powers don't work on king." "The dog?" "Yeah, cause he is a titan" the Collector just told Belos the biggest fucking news, but also Belos calling King the dog just makes me think that King is like scooby doo or somethin

HEY DON'T HIT FRANCOIS, fucking bully you are Belos, that was not cool!

ABSJHNFEOFN OWLBERT AND STRINGBEAN FRIENDS, AND EDA BEING EXCITED ABOUT LUZ'S PALISMAN!

"....Do you not understand what death means to mortals?" Well. As an immortal, probably not, but as a KIDDO, definitely not, again, feel bad for the Collector, if only we get just stick our heads back on after we chop them off (Eda can legit do that tho wait-)

RAINE you are back! Oh well, you were. "Annoying powerful" just say you are jealous broski, Raine IS great, love them

OOOO Amity is moving, slowly. Huh.

ARE THEY PLAYING PACMAN?! AND NOW MARBLES!? Awww, see, they are just a kiddo!

JENGA! Iconic group of games. Poor Collector just wants toys and friends bless them

"The archivists, my siblings" Man, TMA fan in me was like "JON IS YOUR SIBLING?! Makes sense."

......AWWW. WAIT WHAT NO. Okay. so BASICALLY, the Collector's siblings went "go play with the titans, we don't like you" blah blah, and THEN when the collector goes and plays with the titans (especially the little guys, like King) THE SIBLINGS GOT UPSET SO KILLED OFF EVERY TITAN?! But King's dad went to the Collector "YOU are the bad guy, I am hiding king from you and trapping you" DAMN IT

"I know its just pretend, but I don't care, i will pretend for as long as I want"...... Okay well again, THERE IS NO NEED FOR THE HARD HITTING LINES BRO

RAINE ARE YOU BACK?! Hell yeah, bard magic is sick, HELL YEAH, Raine pal don't injure yourself BUT GO SAVE EDA i think Belos means Eda anyway

...this isn't King's heart is it? Like, how would that work? Maybe its King's dad's heart? Idk

NOOO THE GOO GOT ONTO THE HEART, Belos that was mean, BUT RAINE YOU DID SO WELL, IGNORE BELOS YOU DID AMAZINGLY

OKAY so it isn't King's heart, that's good, i was confused

NOOOOOOo STEVE IS A PUPPET, well the whole island is, but still, STEVE I MISS YOU

"None of us felt like we fit in. So we decided to not fit in together" GOD YOU ARE HURTING MY FOUND FAMILY HEART IN THE BEST WAY

TITAN MAGIC!!?? King bestie YOU CAN DO IT

Belos I am being deadly serious what is your plan, I don't get it, you wanna kill all witches and demons, sure, but this is just making the area ugly, turning it into the dead coral reef ain't going to help

...................Okay Belos you are just ugly now. How do you keep getting uglier, its shocking

....................."You just need kindness and forgiveness huh" COLLECTOR BESTIE, OUT OF ALL THE PEOPLE WHO THAT WOULD WORK ON, BELOS IS THE ONLY ONE WHO DOESN'T

"But i thought I was doing the right thing" OH MY DARLING COLLECTOR, MY KIDDO, how do you explain this to him, why is THIS the closest i have got to tears

LUZ BESTIE. If I had a nickel everytime Luz got almost turned to some form of stone in a season finale by Belos, I'd have 2 nickels, which isn't a lot, but its weird that it happened twice, right?

.......Alright so why is this not solving itself, am I going to have to wait until the finale minutes to see how Luz gets un-coral-ified?!

WHERE DID SHE GO, okay well now the Collector has a tiny sparkley thing of Luz she will survive, no idea how but still

DOES EVERYONE KNOW THIS IS LUZ, I would be mad as fuck if my ashes were being floated across the city, like, damn, do I not get privacy in death?!

EDA AND KING GOING FERAL BECAUSE OF LUZ'S TEMPORARY DEATH IS ALL I NEED AIUSDAOWDEJWAOR

Poor collector, he is just a kiddo, he doesn't understand, bless him

waIT NO DON'T LET GO OF LUZ, SHE IS NOT REALLY GONE DUMBASS

SEE! The little sparkley thing is vibing, in the mirror, realm bit

OH ARE WE AT THE BEGINNING AGAIN! WOO........ Okay why does King's dad have a mini Hooty in his eye and have a "Bad girl coven" t-shirt?! I LOVE HIM, but why is he so short? Is it because they aren't in normal realm so size is weird?

"I am both King and Queen, best of both things" IS THAT A HANNA MONTANNA REFERENCE?!?! IS KING'S DAD A HANNA MONTANNA FAN!? also does that mean gender is just, none existant here? SLAYY

"What? Have you been drinking Eda's homemade apple blood?" BEST RESPONCE TO THAT QUESTION

WAIT DON'T DIE KING'S DAD, NOOOOOOOOOO

.....Does this make Luz a titan? Temporarily one. "Eda the owl lady? Send her my regards. Big fan" AKJFSNFJ:EDOFL

Okay so yeah, he is huge, did think so.

RIP KING'S DAD, I WILL MISS YOU AHHHHHHHH

I will end it here for part one, its now been an hour and a half since I first started the episode and I am half way through so!

#the owl house #eda the owl lady #toh #toh spoilers #toh king #edalyn clawthorne #luz owl house #amity owl house #the owl house season 3 #the owl house season 3 spoilers #the owl house spoilers #owl house #toh season 3 #toh s3 spoilers #toh finale #toh watching and dreaming #AHHH

[a-wolf-at-the-door]

Hi, I would like to preface this rant by saying that I am a huge fan of your work even though at the moment it is breaking me emotionally and spiritually. In a good way if that's possible. But this is more of a generalized question, about the Doctor Who series as a whole during Ten's era. For context, A friend of mine recently brought up an idea, that hasn't really occurred to me until now (Not sure how the fandom as a whole feels about it, if I'm just late to the party or if this is something that hasn't been brought up yet).

He mentioned that the series as a whole would be so much better if Martha and Donna were just switched as companions in their respective seasons. At first I thought he was crazy, but then as I really thought about it I could see where he's coming from.

He personally doesn't care much for shipping (and I am attempting to turn him to this side but no luck so far). So it was kind of annoying to him to see Martha pine after the doctor for an entire season, after arguably having a good platonic relationship with Donna. But he enjoyed the storylines enough that it didn't bother him too much, to have romance kinda "forced" into it as he claims.

As he argued: "You kind of lose some context and you might have to change a bit of back story, but imagine instead of 'sad romance' you get Modern and outspoken Donna in Human Nature and the joke you can play with that, or Martha coming to terms with The Doctors Dark side in The Fires of Pompeii so early in the series."

Now my brain immediately turned to the shipping side of this. And I can see some slight merit. Like what if after the gut punch of losing Rose he kind of just needs a platonic best friend. (Which I am so happy you're doing anyway, but not a lot of people do so I'm by passing that). And after spending years grieving and healing from losing Rose. Having adventures, Gaining friends, coming to terms with his loss of his best friend/ worst enemy. He finally gets a companion who's interested in him again, and he has to come to terms with if he can/will love again. And you can do some interesting love triangle stuff with that (Not my cup of tea but I see the appeal) imagine Martha falling in love with him and then seeing his past girlfriend. Or even his future one with River! (God, I so can't wait to see what you do with that bombshell) The wenches that can be thrown with that.

IDK, I thinks it's a cool little food for thought, about how switching around too awesome (and in Martha's case sadly controversial) companions. Let me know your thoughts, if I'm absolutely wrong about posting this or if it was a fun little thought experiment!

TL;DR: You're awesome and Could Season 3 and 4 of Doctor Who be benefited if Martha and Donna switched seasons?

First off thank you! Glad you are enjoying my work :)

Now, to your friend’s suggestion and your ideas: very fascinating thought experiment! I haven’t considered that either, but now that you’ve mentioned it I want to give it some serious consideration.

Switching Martha and Donna’s order like that is interesting, but ultimately I personally don’t think that it would work. Like you and your friend, I’m not a huge fan of the unrequited love plotline of S3. However, with OR without it, I don’t think the Doctor that Donna meets in “The Runaway Bride” is the same Doctor she meets in “Partners in Crime,” and a large part of that is because of Martha. He goes from being a suicidal mess to having at least a little bit of hope. He’s ready to make the hard decisions again. He’s not totally healed but he’s getting better about how he handles it. And I don’t think that happens without Martha first.

But let’s get into the thought experiment.

Say Donna decided to travel with the Doctor at the end of “The Runaway Bride.” Let’s say “Smith and Jones” doesn’t happen yet because it makes more sense to keep that as Martha’s intro episode. So we toss Donna into the deep end with Shakespeare and getting kidnapped on New Earth (lol) and facing down Daleks. Some of that could work. Harder to see how she gets into the gala for “The Lazarus Experiment,” but maybe Nerys invites her or something.

Donna in 1913 would have a hard time fitting in because unlike Martha, Donna doesn’t suffer silently. She complains, loudly, and I could see her very quickly getting fired. She’d have absolutely no patience for those boys and for Nurse Redfern. This is a story I’d enjoy in fic but I’m glad it isn’t canon tbh… Donna in 1969 could be interesting, she’d definitely complain about having to work to support the Doctor but I could also see her having fun with the fashion and making friends etc.

BUT. Can you imagine her in the Year That Never Was? We got a tiny taste of this vibe in “Turn Left,” I suppose, but I still have a much harder time seeing Donna staying hidden, walking the Earth, and telling the Doctor’s story to people everywhere. I love Donna dearly, but she is loud, and abrasive, and would have a much harder time getting through to people than Martha does, I suspect. But the real reason I can’t see her doing well in this time is because the way S3 Doctor treats his companion (Martha in canon, Donna here).

S3 Doctor is big about comparing his companion negatively to Rose. Imagine him doing that to Donna rather than Martha. The thing about Martha is that, despite the unrequited feelings, she seems to have decent self-esteem. She’s good, and she KNOWS she’s good. Donna, on the other hand, has suffered a lifetime of belittling, largely from Sylvia but also from other people too. She’s abrasive BECAUSE she’s insecure, deciding to push people away rather than let them see her vulnerable, because she’s afraid that it’s all true. She might initially fight back about the Doctor comparing her negatively to Rose, and that might push him. However, she is empathetic, and she knows he’s grieving, so I think she might actually just let it slide, and that’s heartbreaking. S4 Doctor tells Donna she’s brilliant, she’s important, she’s his best friend. But S3 Doctor wouldn’t have patience for her slip-ups, for her imperfections, for her not being Rose. And so maybe that would push her away in the end, and as much as Donna’s canon ending (at least until the 2023 specials, who knows what’s coming?!?) pains me, I think this would hurt worse. A Donna Noble who NEVER knows she’s brilliant, rather than a Donna who learns it then forgets it.

Now for Martha. In many ways I do think she would personally benefit from traveling with a later, somewhat-healed Doctor, but I don’t know that the story overall would. So now, post-YTNW, the Doctor finds Martha in a delayed “Smith and Jones” and then takes her to Pompeii and the Ood Sphere and she gets to see the real complicated choices and dark side out there. Assuming he’s done the same degree of healing in S3 (which I’m frankly not sure he would have), it’s still a lot to throw at this poor medical student who wants an escape from her dysfunctional family for a bit. I know Martha puts up with a lot of shit due to her crush, but doing a genocide and hearing the telepathic song of colonialism and slavery (especially considering she is a Black woman) might be a bit much to endure for a crush. But say she does. Now imagine they get called back to Earth in her time for the ATMOS situation and the Sontarans, but her role and Donna’s are reversed. She’d definitely be focused on her family like Donna was, and while I have no doubt she could handle being trapped on the Sontaran ship too, it’s still jarring to see her whole family at risk this soon in her travels (and would make Francine’s dislike for the Doctor feel more justified).

But the kicker, for me, is “The Doctor’s Daughter.” Imagine Martha and Donna swapping places for that episode: Donna is off trapped with the Hath and Martha is the one who names Jenny and gets to see this man she has a crush on totally destroyed by this unintentional fatherhood thrust upon him. After how her father left her family, I think Martha would be really disgusted by the Doctor’s initial rejection of Jenny and that it would change her view of him at least a little bit, but then as he comes around only to watch Jenny die, it’s a bit like losing a family in speed run.

Then the Library, where if we adhere relatively close to canon we get a glimpse of the Doctor’s future wife and give Martha even more competition, and then also potentially a non-Doctor love interest in the computer simulation. Would she come out of it still in love with him? Would she even still want to travel?

She’d do fine with Agatha Christie (and I’d assume have a lot of fun, provided the show did what it usually does and glossed over the contemporary racism especially among the upper classes… less fun if actual period-typical racism was included). She’d probably want to run tests on the Doctor after “Midnight” to make sure he was okay.

A Martha-centric “Turn Left” would indeed be fascinating. I’d love to see her and Rose interact in that context, especially as Rose would essentially be sending “competition” back to the Doctor in order to save his life (and the multiverse). I don’t think their interactions would be nearly as catty as when Rose met Sarah Jane since Rose matured a lot since then, but I also think Martha would be baffled by Rose. The Doctor always makes her sound so perfect, so impossible, and he never really canonically tells Martha very much about her at all. And Martha is middle class, much posher than Rose, and would likely have at least a little bit of initial judgment there (even if she gets over it quickly due to her compassionate nature). I think this would be what would cement Martha’s decision to leave, though, except it would be interrupted by the reappearance of Bad Wolf. I honestly have no idea how this would change the S4 finale except that I have a hard time imagining “The DoctorMartha” being a thing and the metacrisis happening than with Donna…

Ultimately I think Martha would get more plot if she were in S4, but I think she and Donna helped the Doctor grieve in different ways, and that the sequence of events was important. Say he’s lost Rose, travelled with Donna, but she’s left him because he completely eroded her self-esteem. He’s conscious not to do that to Martha BUT this leads her on, and personally I don’t think he’d be over Rose yet enough to try to move on romantically, so instead he’s just in even more hot water trying not to lead her on but also not to crush her spirit like he did his prior companion, and it would just be enormously awkward. I think he’d have more trouble talking about Rose to Martha in any iteration where she has feelings for him, and the man needs to talk through his issues or he won’t process them!

Anyway all this to say, it was really interesting to think about this but personally I don’t know that it would fix the show’s structural issues or the characters’ relationships really. But I invite other responses and opinions, would love to know what other people think about swapping Martha and Donna’s order and storylines like this!

#doctor who meta #donna noble #martha jones #tenth doctor

[emblazons]

Honesty Hour: I am literally never going to understand “Duffer doubt” or full abject disappointment in them as show runners…and it’s because their story makes sense.

Like. The fear for queer rep thing I understand completely, but so far, even with how little I resonated with S3 or S4-2 at first…they are solid writers with a sense of both direction and their audience, and I have no core issues with what they’ve presented.

Forewarning: pettiness, byler doubt (only mentions for context) & potential elitism idk (it’s also a little long lmao)

This idea The Duffers are gonna drop every single thing they’ve set up from the get go to accommodate the most surface level, least in-character storyline “because heteronormativity” is absolutely insane to me. The idea that, after setting up FOUR SEASONS of buildup, they’re going to kill off the primary protagonist of S1 and drop every single character lesson / core narrative to shove the YOUNGEST CHARACTERS in the gd show into a Disney fantasy marriage is crazy. I literally don’t even know how to imagine them doing that—not because it has never happened in a show, but because hearing them talk about ST makes it clear it’s BEEN mapped from the get, and they have explained clearly why certain things went the way they did in their own way.

Noah got cast on a monologue from a second season before they even have a confirmation of its existence, and character traits we are just pulling on now in characters like Mike (his insecurity especially) are written CLEAR AS DAY in the PITCH OF THE SHOW. Every single sign people on THIS LITERAL APP have pointed to for Y E A R S before S4 that Will was gay turned out to be right, and there has been, from the very first moment Netflix picked this thing up, a 25 page document where they broke down the UD lore.

Where on literal earth are people getting that they have no idea what they’re doing? Or that the lore people point to as foreshadowing is gonna get thrown out the window in the final season of the show? I get being nervous or anxious that your favorite character might not get all the time you want, or even being afraid that they won’t dig into all the things you want personally, but…the idea that two self-proclaimed film boys who were as into their inspirations as we are their show are going to undermine their own narrative integrity to pull a 180 on every theme they’ve set up from the get go and start killing off characters who are front and center in the “we tell the stories of the outcasts as a fuck you to the people who make media we think sucks” narrative? I’m gonna need you to be serious.

As a long time fan and fandom consumer of television, and someone who had to live through being invested in Game of Thrones, I am saying with my whole chest that the doubt is entirely emotional rather than based on anything objective that the duffers have said or done.

They’re not D&D from GoT, who were great ADAPTORS but who just started winging it because they didn’t have completed source material from GRRM. They aren’t the Voltron writers who had a good premise but mixed it all up because of firing their best writers and then caving to fandom nonsense. They aren’t the supernatural writers, or the Sherlock writers who set up an ongoing joke without the follow through people expected. They are the Duffers. And while their writing style is nothing like what I would do, they are telling a story that I can follow and respect until proven otherwise.

All this talk about “mistakes” and the like, even with queer rep. Like??? They released this show in 2016, and the last several years in its country of origin have been absolutely steeped in a horrifying level of bigotry both sociopolitically and in media. Stranger Things was released the same year Tr*mp was elected, and still managed to stand in abject criticism of every value on display in American conservatism ever since.

The push and pull of what was “allowed” in media because of the cultural insanity & bigotry that moved to center stage in the United States makes it clear why they didn’t bring their queer storyline to the fore at first glance and just put it in the subtext—to tell the story without being undermined by the “two seasons and cancelled” era of Netflix before it got huge (because, as we all know, Netflix and cancelling shows is a huge problem for many writers to this literal day) and to keep the bigots on main from noticing it until the train was too fast to stop. That’s what we’re dealing with now—a lot of people yelling loudly on places like Reddit, expecting to be consoled in in their homophobia and bigotry, because now Stranger Things is popular and far along enough to start saying the quiet part (that has ALWAYS been there) out loud.

Hiding the queer storyline in the subtext is something people have done in tv and film for DECADES anyway, and in literature for CENTURIES before that…but somehow the fact that it wasn’t made explicit until the fourth season invalidates it? Or makes it suddenly a reason to call into question the integrity of the entire show, or to let some random m*leven shipper undermine your sense of what makes a good story (which is also what matters most to the “we don’t listen to Reddit, and we regret focusing more on fan theories than our plot” duffers)? Once again: I’m gonna need you to be serious.

All I’m saying is that the way some people in this fandom are willing to believe and agonize over the takes of 18-19 year old actors or a random twitter account or YouTuber instead of listening to the creators of the show + looking at cultural context and how queer stories have been told for eons is crazy. It reeks of immaturity insecurity and media illiteracy, and gives two guys who have put a lot of time and (ADMITTEDLY IMPERFECT) effort into a show that remains one of the best told stories (despite network interference) in recent memory.

I get being nervous. I get being suspicious. But critical consumption & media literacy is more than just theorizing about what things mean or watching what inspired The Duffers. Stop looking at social media posts and randoms for information and start paying attention to the people who MAKE the things you’re so emotionally attached to in their context. I am literally begging at this point.

#forgive me but...sometimes I'm just like ??? friends please #esp with all this talk of ‘leaks’ today before we even have gd SCRIPTS #I had to get it out of my system I promise I'm back to contented on main after this LMFAO #I could literally talk about this all day though. there are so many facets ugh #the duffer brothers #st commentary #my st commentary #stranger things #duffer brothers

[el-moscorrofio-y-el-mercachifle]

Hiiii, I really like it when you share with us the thoughts you have about ysblf! What did you think of that second "meeting" between Patricia and Daniel? The one where she goes to his apartment after calling him out on her cell phone and he told her to resign (and minutes later she finds Aura Maria with Mario). I always see people talking about their first "date", which was at her apartment, but in my opinion this second one was much more disturbing. This one had more blackmail, manipulation and ab\/s3 involved, which made everything sadder. Not to mention the way Daniel treated Patricia afterwards, due to her logical reaction, him sending her away soon after, had a strong impact on her (which makes me wonder about her backstory, and if this has happened before with other people

It really irritates me that they didn't give much insight into Patricia's past, I think that would explain a lot about her).

ps: sorry if I made any mistakes, I'm translating using Google Translate

Hiii! Thank you for the ask!! Don't worry about mistakes, this was very good!😊

Oh, that scene! It's definitely so, so ugly. I'd say is one of the ugliest because of the heavy themes. Fun act, I just rewatched the whole ysblf here in the US on the Peacock platform and it doesn't have the scene after, when they're on Daniel's bed and he's breathing heavily nd all that. Idk why's that, but I definitely want to rewatch the full uncensored versión again lster

The "date" escene is bad, but I don't think that anything there ((except the sexual harrassment, obviously)) makes me uncomfortable. Daniel quickly detected a golddigger with Princess delusions even though she's pretty pathetic, so he popped her bubble. She wasn't going there with a genuine desire of getting to know Daniel. She simply wanted a walking ATM, and Daniel knew that. She was just looking for a plan B in case her "relationship" with Mario didn't lead to economic comfort. (((You gotta be smart even to golddig, ppl lol)))

But THAT escene, when Patricia goes to Daniel's place to basically beg forgiveness, and Daniel takes advantage of it is so, so ugly, uncomfortable, and raw. We are presented a very human and vulnerable Patricia in a way that we didn't get to see much. We didn't see a walking comedy skit like she later became, but an actual woman who fell so hard that she's now having to accept being coerced into sexual favors because otherwise she'll be consumed by poverty. It's a very sad and human story. And yes, we know Patricia acted very wrongfully by damaging the computer, but that's nothing compared to what Daniel made her pay.

Daniel liked to humiliate people, especially those from whom he could get a reaction, like Armando and Patricia. Notice he barely ever bothers Mario, for example? Or Hugo? Sure, he gives poisoned comments to almost everyone, but you can tell he likes to particularly humiliates those who won't take it lightly and will break easily OR pretend to be more than they are ((ironic considering this dude conskders himself classy, rich, and smart and we know he isn't lmao)).

In any case, Patricia was the perfect target as she fits noth categories anyway, and he chose to humiliate her to the biggest degree in that scene when he sends her away. He is saying she is useless but for sex. That all she is and can ever be for a man like him is momentary fun. That all she prides herself in are mere facades and delusions and there is no value on her but her body. And of course, he's told her this before, but in this scene he actively demonstrates it.

The characters' backgrounds are somrthing that we really needed! Patricia is one of those characters that as the novela progresses it's easy to forget how real and human her problems are, and it's understandable the audience has that perception. The novela took her extreme poverty and made a joke out of it. But she really fell low due fully to her ego. She was coerced into sexual favors, and later basically sells herself to Nicolás for the money for her car. She goes so down to the point she doesn't eat for days. Her fridge is empty, she has no electricity some days, cold water. And sure, it's a grave that she keeps digging deeper and deeper with every idiotic decision; a hell of her own creation, but a hell none the less!

My guess for Patricia's past has always been that she was born into extravagabt luxury, not just money. Either her mother was similar to her in her grandiose and vain ways and instilled that mentality on Patricia, or maybe she died when Patricia was too little. Her dad definitely seems the kind to be trying to supply every single materia thing. Perhaps this was his way to fill the void that her mom left in her. They seem to get along, tho. We see her calling him all the time tk tell him good and bad things happenjng in her life, so we can say they're pretty close, but with firm boundaries from her dad's side. I imagine she lived on his expense for a long time and he's now done with it.

Thank you for the ask🥰🥰

#ysblf #yo soy betty la fea #betty la fea #patricia ysblf #patricia fernandez #daniel ysblf #daniel valencia

[charmixpower]

The og. The one we both die for. Rivusa

Also soundwave and Bloom/Musa! (Idk their ship name jamsnakja. And yes these are all musa. I am unabashed about my love for Musa!)

Also i know you did not ask for this but,,,, Helia/Musa platonic soulmates??? Pls they are both my babies and Helia is her no. 1 bestie after Aisha

HAVE FUN BABESSS

I like to call them "dragonsong"!!!!

I'm trying to come up with a time that Musa and Bloom hung out together or had a real moment together and I'm coming up utterly blank, despite being in the same friend group and both of them getting a good amount of screen time, they don't talk to each other that much XD

I really never have considered this couple because they both have impossibly strong personalities and a tendency to lash out in Musa's case and get really offended in Bloom's case, not to mention they both (most Musa) refuse to communicate and have horrible insecurity issues

This ship is asking for so many misunderstandings

That isn't a real fault, I love slow burn as much as the next person but imagining the disaster that would be early season interaction is fucking sending me because you know Bloom would make a comment equally as dumb as "it looks warm" Musa would be equally as upset but Bloom would take it way more personally

They are also stupidly awkward when in love and blushy and I refuse to believe they can hold an actual coherent conversation for at least half a season when they realize they both like each other

It would be a goddamn mess is what I'm saying but it would definitely be a fun and vibrant environment for the both of them so not something I'm super into but I won't shy away from either

Hmmm I need to think more about platonic besties between the Winx and specialists bc all I know is Riven Flora besties

Helia and Musa get along with Riven for very different reasons and I think Musa's refusal to communicate combined with her tendency to assume what people are thinking combined with the fact that Helia is usually extremely quiet would end hilariously, but that's s1 till mid s2 Musa and Helia doesn't start really hanging around till s3 so that would never be a real problem it would just be funny

I can definitely see them vibing over song lyrics and poetry together and helping each other write, not to mention I like to imagine Helia is a witch in my version and insight into how different magic works would probably be super interesting for the both of them

I feel like instead of being more bombastic friends they'd be more "casually texts every day" friends. Like that one friend you always update on your life and gives you (loving) shit for your stupid ass decisions

They probably met via Riven and immediately hit it off when the ganged up on teasing him and decided to text each other jokes and it went from there

WILL be thinking about this more in the future

#winx club #winx musa #winx bloom #winx helia #bloom x musa #dragonsong #rus chatters #asks #ask game

[wayslidecool]

top 10 best spongebob episodes?

okay, so i'll come forward and say i probably can't give you a top 10. i haven't been caught up with the show for a few years now, and it's been a long while since i've seen most of the episodes, even the ones i do enjoy. so instead what i'm gonna do is give more of a generalized "i remember these episodes being pretty damn good". will probably go out of my way to highlight more niche picks. so uh, these aren't my top 10, just ten episodes i like that i felt like talking about.

all this is under the cut because i don't wanna flood peoples' dashboards talking about Sponge Bob lmao

so first thing first, let's get some of the obvious picks out of the way: i think pretty much everyone knows that pizza delivery (s1, ep 5a), band geeks (s2, ep 35b), graveyard shift (s2, ep 36a), krusty krab training video (s3, ep 50b), and chocolate with nuts (s3, ep 52a) are some of the series' best. probably others i'm missing but like. everyone loves those episodes, countless people have talked about why they're great, i don't think there's much i could say that hasn't been said by other people and said better.

so let's highlight some others that i personally found really good that i probably can say more about!

tea at the treedome (s1, ep 1c)

man, talk about coming out swinging. this episode is part of the very first block and i think it is so, so strong. i think what makes this episode work so well for me is how they handle spongebob, how he so badly doesn't want to disturb his new friend that he becomes completely passive and can't even ask for water is so good, feels very relatable. i love the way this episode handles his internal monologue, showing his increasing desperation up until he inevitably snaps. ("I NEED IT!") it's so so good, such a good showcase of his character.

patrick's also great here! he hits such that nice balance of "well-intentioned stupidity" that defines all his best appearances. the way he sees spongebob slowly breaking down and tries to remind him to stay classy ("when in doubt, pinky out!"), eventually coming in himself to show spongebob things aren't so bad and immediately being proven wrong, it's all just so good.

my only real knock against this one is that for sandy's debut episode, i feel like she doesn't really get to do a lot. which is definitely a pity, but i dunno, i don't wanna hold it against this episode too much because they definitely give her some great episodes later on, and this episode otherwise nails the character writing.

sb-129 (s1, ep 14a)

this is a really high-concept episode to put in the show's first season, don't you think? honestly i think this is an episode worth checking out for the spectacle more than anything. don't get me wrong there's some killer jokes, the joke about everything being chrome in the future, the way squidward inadvertently ends up inventing jellyfishing, there's some good stuff, but let's face it. the real reason you come to this episode is for its sheer scale. idk about you, but i can sort of give or take "caveman humor".

but man, this is an episode that goes places. i mean, in eleven minutes, we get a snippet of the future, the past, and the nowhere dimension (the last of which i'll go over a bit later on). on one hand, it kinda feels like the episode has to rush through them all, but on the other hand, it doesn't feel like any of these time periods are meant to be all that fleshed out. they mostly exist to provide an interesting setpiece, deliver a few jokes, and then move the story to the next place. i could see an alternate longer version of this episode feeling like it drags on a bit too much.

and man, that nowhere dimension. i love that scene so, so much. it's surreal, it's memorable, it's a bit unnerving, and it adds so much to this already high-concept episode. that scene's probably the highlight of the whole thing to me (and MIGHT be what elevates it to a personal favorite) but i'd definitely say the whole thing is worth your time.

dying for pie (s2, ep 24a)

i think this is another of those episodes everyone can sorta agree is one of the best, but eh. i wanted to talk about it anyway because yeah it's just that good. i think spongebob and squidward are probably the best character duo in the entire show, and this is probably the best example of said dynamic. i really like how the plot is set in motion by squidward's carelessness, how his apathy is what forces him to realize how much he actually cares about his neighbor. what i love even more is the balancing act they play with the spongebob-squidward dynamic, the way they're still able to keep spongebob a bit annoying to squidward while still letting squidward genuinely care.

besides all the character stuff, man is this episode just funny. the absurdity of the pirates selling pies that are actually bombs, spongebob's sweater of tears, "Eleven times?!", spongebob's bucket list including showing squidward to everyone wearing a salmon suit and open heart surgery? yeah this episode has a lot of heart (hehe!) but never is it at the expense of the episode's comedy.

the only thing i could maybe see someone holding against this episode is that spongebob having not eaten the pie is kind of an ass pull but like. the writers aren't gonna kill off the main character, come on. and besides, i think the twist ultimately serves the episode well, i think getting that scene of squidward expressing his exasperation over everything he had to go through really reminds us why we love this dynamic: no matter how much squidward secretly cares about spongebob, spongebob's always gonna be a little bit annoying to him. d'awwwww.

squid on strike (s2, ep 40a)

speaking of good spongebob/squidward episodes! this one is so, so underrated i think. it's not really one of the show's most quotable episodes, but at the same time, i kinda think that works in its favor, if that makes any sense. jokes aren't as good if you know they're coming, so an episode filled to the brim with really good jokes that aren't especially quotable ends up hitting just as hard on rewatches. it might not have the same staying power as something like band geeks or chocolate with nuts, but because of that it manages to always surprise you with just how funny it is.

and to make it clear: this episode is hilarious. mr. krabs trying to charge his employees for things like "existing" and "breathing", spongebob's idea of getting more from his job just being getting to wear a comically oversized hat, the general cluelessness of both spongebob and the population, spongebob taking squidward's anticapitalist metaphors a bit too literally, there's a lot of good material here. probably also helps that this is the episode where squidward says "Nobody gives a care about the fate of labor as long as they can get their instant gratification." so true bestie.

i think what buoys this episode beyond just its great jokes is once again how it nails the characters. spongebob loves his job, sure, but the only thing he loves even more is his good friend squidward, so of course spongebob will become more passionate about the strike when mr. krabs insults squidward! so much so, that he's willing to dismantle the establishment, board by board! and conversely, the one thing that could make squidward give in is the idea that he might be on strike with spongebob forever. as i've said. spongebob and squidward are the best dynamic on this show.

nasty patty (s3, ep 44a)

this is probably the darkest episode of the entire series, and i love it SO much for that. like, i wouldn't say it's unreasonably dark, they make it apparent from the very first line of the episode that the health inspector doesn't actually die, but we are still looking at an episode of a children's cartoon where the main characters are thoroughly convinced they've murdered an innocent bystander and spend the whole episode trying to cover it up. and it's hilarious.

i think the juxtaposition of such a storyline with a character as innocent as spongebob is what really elevates this episode for me. ("The dark deed you requested is done, sir.") the whole episode ends up becoming this exercise in just how long they can keep up the central joke before the characters inevitably find out what's going on, especially with the multiple fake-outs! i love how there's multiple instances where the health inspector briefly regains consciousness, only to be immediately knocked out again. so good.

and as a result of that structure, it manages to escalate so well, with how they bring in the police and manage to keep coming up with situations where they have to keep the not-so-dead body just barely out of view. the scene where spongebob stuffs the health inspector in his hat (pictured above) is probably the highlight of the episode to me, it just so perfectly illustrates how silly this story manages to get.

fear of a krabby patty (s4, ep 61a)

so most people agree that the series went downhill after the first three seasons. and they'd be right! the first three seasons are absolutely the show at its peak and the show never managed to recapture its glory days in the seasons that followed. but it's not like they flipped some switch and the show was suddenly bad. hell, if anything, "fear of a krabby patty" (the very first episode after the movie!) might be one of my all-time favorites. in fact, and this statement may sound treasonous, but i think i like this one more than their other 24-hour adventure in "graveyard shift". yeah, i said it! bite me!

of course, the krusty krab being open for 24 hours with spongebob and squidward being forced to work the full shift is about all this episode has in common with that one, as the stories go in pretty wildly different directions from there. i love the way plankton is integrated into this episode. his "dr. peter lankton" schtick is so funny in how obvious his intentions are, leading to some killer therapy jokes and a couple instances of being crushed by a piano.

another highlight of this episode is its distinctive animation style! c.h. greenblatt has a very recognizable art style, you can usually easily tell which episodes he boarded (like dying for pie up above!) but you can especially tell with this one. actually, between its loose, expressive animation and its zippier pacing compared to the classic seasons, this almost feels like sort of like a post-sequel episode? i wonder if this episode would be all that different if they made it in season 11. i don't mean this in a bad way, for the record -- i think this episode manages those traits really well.

mermaid man & barnacle boy vi: the motion picture (s4, ep 67b)

i don't really have much to say here i just think this one's funny as hell. it's not like it thrives off these intricate character dynamics, or this elaborate well-plotted story, its plot is just a vehicle for a flurry of ridiculous jokes that all end up hitting for me. you know that thing where you see some bad movie and are like, "i could do better than that!" despite having no filmmaking experience? that's the central conceit of this episode, and it works to hilarious effect.

this episode may not thrive off of intricate character dynamics sure, but i still think it uses its characters very well. it does a good job finding everyone's role in making the movie, from spongebob as director, squidward as the makeup artiste, sandy as the pyrotechnician ("Did somebody say BOOM?!"), plankton as the boom operator ("Did somebody say BOOM?!") and of course, pearl as the boatmobile. it does such a good job putting every character in a position where they have extremely high, extremely unearned confidence.

and that's really just where this episode succeeds! it's not complicated, you throw dynamic characters in a ridiculous situation and mine the comedy gold. helps that this episode has some killer running gags.

boating buddies (s6, ep 109a)

yeah, let's throw a controversial pick on here, why the hell not. so to make things abundantly clear: i do not in the slightest think this is one of the best spongebob episodes ever written. i also totally get why most people hate this one, and i don't think it's unjustified! that being said, when i was watching through season 6, i found this one of the funniest episodes of that season, and after thinking it through a bit, i think i understand why.

i'm not gonna try and dance around the argument that this episode ramps up spongebob's creepiness to absurd levels, or that it's unreasonably cruel to squidward, because it does and it is! HOWEVER. a lot of those criticisms seem to be under the assumption that, like most episodes, we're supposed to root against squidward and for spongebob. and like, that is clearly not the case here. this is very much an episode told from squidward's point of view. squidward doesn't like spongebob, so this episode will show us spongebob's worst side. squidward can't catch a break, because we've all had those days, right? this is an episode that puts the audience in squidward's shoes, and shows us why he's the way he is.

and i dunno, i think when you watch the episode under that pretense, it ends up working! or, at least it does for me. again, i can totally get why someone wouldn't like that characterization even if they understand the perspective this episode is written from. but to me, it ends up making gags like spongebob being able to hear squidward breathing from his house, or the drawn-out blackboard gag set to an orchestral score work that much better. throw in a frenetic boating scene towards the end with that surreal laboratory sequence for a bit of extra energy, and ultimately it ends up being an episode i enjoy. it's definitely not gonna be for everyone, i wouldn't necessarily highly recommend this one, but if you're gonna watch it, at least try to do so with the writers' intentions in mind.

planet of the jellyfish (s8, ep 169b)

you know, for as long as the show's been on the air, it doesn't feel like you really get those big, outside-the-box episodes all that often. spongebob is a show with a comfortable status quo, rarely deviating from its usual character dynamics, locations, and stock stories, so when we get something like this "invasion of the body snatchers" pastiche, it ends up standing out a lot more among its peers.

i think they made a good decision with this episode to keep spongebob oblivious about what's going on just long enough to mine that for its comedic potential, and no longer. if you had that eat away at much more of the episode, i think it could've dragged, but we get the best material of spongebob's obliviousness (like his awkward conversation with the jelly squidward, or seeing the jellien attempting to bite him and assuming it just wants popcorn), and after that the story lets spongebob find out, lets the story move on, and start building the suspense

i think that the monster movie pastiche does a good job giving this episode a unique flavor, it ends up feeling a bit higher stakes than a lot of spongebob episode, while also using this opportunity to riff on the genre and make a lot of silly and offbeat jokes, like the jellies kidnapping spongebob's spatula for some reason, spongebob freaking out about all his friends being kidnapped... and some random incidental, all the jelly clones hissing at a dude for ordering a patty with mayo (which turns out to be their weakness!), it feels like it does a good job making the most of its genre parody.

krabby patty creature feature (s11, ep 222a)

oh hey, another b-movie monster movie pastiche. look, i'm not gonna beat around the bush. i'm a sucker for these things, okay? in general, season 11 is probably one of my favorite seasons of the later part of the show's run, i think it generally does a good job feeling fresh with a mix of new character pairings, offbeat story concepts, and a handful of genre pastiches. like this one! truth be told there's absolutely other S11 episodes i could've picked that'd give this list more variety (squid noir would probably be my next choice, consider that an honorable mention) but listen. monster movie episodes are fun, okay?

compared to planet of the jellyfish, i think creature feature is generally a bit more frantic, really thriving from the sense of urgency the story concept provides. less suspense, more action! unlike the previous episode, this episode puts spongebob at the center of the action right from the start, letting him see the situation unfold and ultimately become the one tasked with stopping it. perhaps you miss out on some of the jokes about spongebob's naivety, but the increased tension more than makes up for it. plus we can now use that time to show how the mayhem is effecting people around town, get gags where bubble bass complains about the cheap promotional stunt, or a cop complaining about the zombie apocalypse interrupting his break. good stuff!

this is another episode where i think i have to give a shout out to the animation. i know some people complain about the recent seasons being overanimated, which is a complaint i definitely feel for some episodes, but i think this episode uses its really expressive, really fluid animation to great effect, really selling us on spongebob's terror with these big expressions. i also gotta shoutout some of the character designs for the patty monster versions of the characters, you can tell the animators working on this episode had to have a blast with it, and i feel like the end result really pays off.

and... that's it for the episodes i feel like talking about right now! is this the Cream of the Crop? probably not, but they're all episodes i've enjoyed, and it's nice getting to sit back, elaborate why i like these episodes so much (even if it's been pretty time-consuming LMAO). thanks for asking!

#spongebob #spongebob squarepants #this ended up being longer than i expected WHOOPS #turns out i have a lot to say

[discotreque]

hey amy.txt, i just watched the finale of lower decks. if you feel like it, would you share your thoughts on it? the action was great and the payoff of a whole season of little bits of foreshadowing very satisfying but Mariner forgiving everyone so easily felt a bit iffy to me. also... oh jennifer. i liked you. you feel like there's any future to their relationship?

Aw, thanks! I'm flattered that you want my opinion! Short answer: I basically agree with you. Long answer: well, it's been a while since I talked about this show...

I really enjoyed Season 3. I even liked that I didn't like the Peanut Hamper episode, because it was a truly authentic Weird Bad And Slightly Too Horny Episode Of Star Trek, and those are part of the experience whether we want to admit it or not.

And I certainly didn't dislike the finale—as you said, some supremely satisfying payoffs in there. I especially felt like the climax was a beautiful and crystal-clear execution of Mike McMahan's own personal vision of Star Trek: a bunch of smart people who like each other, solving hard problems together for the greater good (plus jokes). I think they're 3 for 3 in absolutely slamming it home.

Now here comes my great big but, lmao. The S3 finale was also the first episode of this show that felt too ambitious for a half-hour. Dare I say "overstuffed." They had so many things to pay off and so many threads to pull together, and while I think they did a good enough job... again, as you said, some of it felt pretty rushed.

I personally didn't have a problem accepting how quickly Mariner forgave everyone, because I was satisfied (...enough) with the explanation: she had a pattern of impulsive, destructive behaviour for a long time, and while she's turned over a new leaf, she recognizes it was recently enough that she still has trust to rebuild, and she's grown enough to look past her hurt feelings and commit to reconciling with the people who are most important to her—who, importantly, all just almost died, which tends to put things in perspective.

But that explanation I just wrote is three or four times more detailed than what's actually in the script, and what's there goes by very fast. (And, to be fair, efficiently! It's not bad writing by any means.) Especially compared to how long Episode 9 made us sit in the awful stomachache of everyone wrongly judging her... yeah. It doesn't feel balanced, emotionally, does it?

As for Jennifer... idk, I never got that attached. I heard an interview with Mike McMahan right after S2 in which he said (in so many words) that Lower Decks isn't a show about romance, it's about Mariner's personal growth and her friendships, and Jennifer's role in the story would mainly serve those purposes—and he said it with a real "yeahhh, don't get your hopes up" tone, lol, so what we got is about what I was expecting. (I also pretty much stopped caring about Jennifer as soon as Petra Aberdeen showed up, but that's just me being a shallow lesbian, ahem.)

I guess if Lower Decks has a "problem," it's that it's a very good Star Trek series, and a pretty good sitcom, and when it drifts too far away from the latter and towards the former, it's bound to collide with the strictures of TV animation, where 30 extra seconds in your episode adds an actual million dollars to the budget, minimum.

Now, it's not like CBS isn't shovelling more and more money at this show every year. A whole season of hour-longs is never gonna happen—so they'd better git gud about colouring inside those lines—but adding an 11th "episode" to the order, for a double-length season finale? Purely wishful thinking on my part, sure, but weirder things have happened in TV.

So yeah. No major complaints from me, but they definitely need to get this under control:

Thanks again for asking! This was fun!

#star trek #star trek lower decks #lower decks #lower decks spoilers #lwd spoilers #amy's episode notes #more like season notes lol #amy.txt

[dcla-confessions-send-your-amor]

ok guys i want to hear your opinions on smth since one of our anons inspired me:

do you guys have any insane crackships or just noncanon ships that you think that could work even if the characters like never interacted or anything? or maybe they do interact or maybe its just something bizarre or insane or a ship you just think has the potential to be really cute?

feel free to reblog this with your answers or send an ask ofc

because i have a few silly ones and i want to hear what your guyss are

ok so yeah share yours with us! and ill add mine below to get us started so 🤭

ok this is me officially saying that yes beto x ramallo is one of my crackships and thinking about them as a ship never fails to make me laugh its such a funny concept to me. also yeah i think victor has a crush on thiago and luan and pietro would be the boyfriends ever cause they both give off such lame dad energy. i also def ship ana and juliana from sl idk why but ohhh i love temporary relationships and i feel like they would be a great example of that. and ofc my favourite one is that i think gregorio and pablos went on a terrible accidental blind date. like they accidentally ended up on a date together somehow and the moment they met each other it was hate at first sight.

also yeah. i ship mara and pixie and pixie and carmin (this one makes more sense with canon) but idk i see the mixie vision like theres potential there i can feel it

no because pablo and gregorio actually have no compatibility at all not to mention pablo is so straight why is them on a blind date so funny to me like i need it

for me I think I'm gonna officially come out as a simón x benicio truther 💔. it's the dumbest concept of all time but I swear they dated before simón left for buenos aires.

but the best crackship in all of dcla is emilia x matteo because THEY SHOULD HAVE HOOKED UP IDC !!! they're literally both so gay and angry so what else would they have done??? man if sl wasn't a disney show they should have got me into the writers room because that whack kiss was not worth luna having a manic episode over and matteo getting lyric amnesia and falling from the fence.

anyways share with us every crack ship you have we wanna hear 😍

HELPPPP im going to cry the emitteo agenda makes me lose it.

also omg how did i forget about simicio i also think theyre exes.

also nico has the biggest one sided crush on matteo (esp in s3) and i also have this crack ship thats eric x ramiro and thats all im going to say (its a complete joke dw)

also now apparently tatric (eric x jazmins random love interest at the end of s3 is a thing thanks to my lovely co runner of this blog so uhhh) also eric x tomas from violetta im going to cry

#dcla #soy luna #violetta #bia #like ive seen some crazy noncanon ships (cough cough prade) but i need to know your guyss insane ones #like idc how cursed or insane it is (unless its incest because you can take that to the go! fandom ig)