#like the 3rd and 4th seasons started to discuss what it would be like for post colonized ppl to seek autonomy from | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

solace-sylphieee · 1 month

Text

For Contents Moving Forward...

The very first post in my tumblr and it ends as my final notice for 时空中的绘旅人 / For All Time / HLR / Lovebrush Chronicles / LBC.

The irony.

But anyway figured I should do here cuz it's going to be quite the long essay from me.

We're now halfway through March, White Day's almost here and so is my 3rd Anniversary Emerald's Wedding Ring Merch.

THAT'S RIGHT

I'm gonna get married with Emerald / Cael and retire for good to enjoy my marri-

...

To hell with that, I really can't bring myself to finish that bs.

But anyway the intention is still there - I am planning to retire from HLR / LBC but before that, I will clear off some of my stuff and I will drop the game as a whole: 1. Retrospring QnAs for the guide account I'm part of: @stshelterpedia 2. Chronological Summary to the game's story (had been requested to do this cuz the event release is now extremely messed up) 3. Claiming all my remaining monthly pack resources

For my followers from Twitter, new and old, I have gone missing from releasing the translation of game news for a long time, and now I feel the need and for the first time, share my thoughts in a very elaborative manner instead.

Sorry for ghosting on you guys for so long and from the bottom of my heart, thank you for all the follows all this while, even with me neglecting the translations here and there.

Although I believe many take me as a source of news translation and no more than that, there are still some who I've build relationship with as well throughout the years.

Now onto my retirement from this game and the translation thereof:

Do take note there's going to be some spoilers too -

Work may have been one of the reasons behind it as I've been way too occupied this year comparatively, but the very main factor would be the fact that I've lost my love and passion for this game.

In all honesty, I've stopped reading the Card Stories since Paradise / Eden and Event Stories since Onmyoji Collab. And for my long-time followers, I'm not sure if it's that obvious, but I have stopped fangirling or make any remarks on the game content for years - which I guess is quite the obvious sign from then on.

I loved HLR / LBC for its plot. I loved how plot is the driving force and priority of the game since the beginning. I loved how everything revolves around the plot, including the charaters to Event Stories and Card Stories.

But alas, all of that are past tense for me.

I may have been biased cuz I stopped reading all the side contents, so it's just the impressions I'm getting from the discussions I have with my friend. But for me after Destiny Corridor (DC) iirc? Fan service becomes the driver in this bus.

DC has its own share of service, but I feel the wrmth from deep down. All the nostalgia and warmth, and that's the peak storytelling before its downwards slope for me.

Personally I don't mind fan services, but for me it feels like Event Story has become more and more irrelevant to Main Story, unlike in the past. Card Story is there to build some background story, but since it's more fan servicey now, it's just a stalemate story with barely any development.

At least that's what I feel and my impressions here and there.

Some may wanna ask: "But isn't Empire series the most Main Story relevant Event Story?"

Yeah, it should be, cuz it's almost the deadline (iirc supposedly by 4th year) that Empire Chapter will begin for Main Story and the final route of it marks the end of Season 1.

But the latest one I've read - Tidal-Disruption, Admiral Star / Prefect Luminance side specifically, actually disappointed me a whole lot.

Chosen is written brilliantly to make us fear Maker more, but in juxtaposition Star / Luminance had a great start but a meh ending.

I find that the appeal behind Star / Luminance is that he is interested in MC for how strong she is emotionally and wants to break her, believing she will also be his greatest and most perfect creation cuz his other 'collections' can't withstand his 'molding'. All the revelations is nice and all, then suddenly he becomes so infatuated with MC he accepts his name as Alkaid (THAT DUDE HAS BEEN DENYING AND REJECTING OF SO STRONGLY SINCE HIS APPEARANCE) and play family with MC, imprisoning her and the story went like husband going back home to a lovely wife waiting for him treting his wounds.

I just

??????

DUDE WHERE DID YOUR COLDNESS, INDIFFERENCE WENT?

WHY DID YOU BECOME SO LOVE LORNED?????

I believed he had been better than that but he made my inner Asian Parent Disappointment surge up and I can only shake my head at the end when he decided to just let MC go.

Others let go cuz they are interested to see how far she can go, cuz she's not a threat at all, cuz she's a great piece for their plans, or cuz of their own twisted obssession; but for him it feels like a bad attempt in making him more romanceable.

End of ranting for now else it's gonna be for eternity.

Stories aside, what prompted me to ultimately announce my retirement as a whole is the moment I realise I hadn't logged into the game for 2 days (my birb brain had thought it's only 1 day).

That's right, 2 days and I didn't feel any urgency or frustrations for missing out on the resources. This is as of today, 10 March 2024:

While on the other hand I feel like choking myself for missing my morning grind for another game.

With such comparison, I figure it's high time I check this off with a notice for everyone.

It has been a long journey and I enjoyed the companion of this game that also bring many new encounters for me.

But it is also time for me to bid the game adieu.

Feel free to unfollow me on my Twt if you're not interested in seeing me anymore.

Moving forward, I might begin some other translation project for games I took interest in (time to see if 世界之外 Beyond The World's grip be that strong on me) and I will also share a more elaborative train of thoughts here too.

Thanks for reading all the way here, my DMs in Twt are open for chats, and feel free to interact with me. I will be more than happy to share my thoughts with you too :)

#时空中的绘旅人 #for all time #lovebrush chronicles #lbc #時空の絵旅人 #translation #otome game

17 notes · View notes

haemosexuality · 9 months

Text

memories i have of being a child and a lesbian:

-first week of 3rd grade, i walked in class and thought "ok i need to pick a boy to have a crush on this year". i thought that was just what you did. picked one bc i thought he had a cool haircut, proceeded to never have a conversation w him

-thinking "girls are naturally so much prettier than boys. this is common knowledge"

-being really jealous of the Cool Girl in my 4th grade class that was One Of The Boys. she played football with them. she sat really relaxed in chairs. she doesnt care about being pretty. isnt that just so cool? starts consciously trying to imitate her. also, even before that i always made sure to INSIST that my favorite color was blue and i did NOT like pink!!!!

-playing barbies with my cool, older cousin (she mustve been like 11? 12? i was around 8). her barbie was a mess because she had just broken up with her other barbie. i was confused. she explained to me what lesbians were (i knew men could be gay, but not women). immediately after that every single doll i had was a lesbian in a relationship. after figuring that it was probably a bit weird i was so obsessed with making my dolls lesbians, i came to the conclusion i would "probably like girls when i grow up". decided to tell my other, deeply religious cousin about this. she went "WHAT" and i went "HAHA JUST KIDDING IT WAS A JOKE" and never thought about it again

-a year later me and the deeply religious cousin were making ever after high dolls fuck. i was the one that came up w that idea (i also didnt know women could have sex at that point, i thought i had invented lesbian sex) and this haunted me for years bc i thought that that cousin had become homophobic after we grew up. recently found out shes also gay, good for her

-being just Really obsessed with marceline from adventure time for some reason. whenever i saw her on tv my heart would beat really really fast. wonder whats up w that 🤔

-being grounded for like, 5 months when i was 10 because my mom found out i was watching youtube videos from a lesbian couple. and also some videos with sex jokes. i wish i remembered that the lesbians channel was so bad

-i also watched lubatv. hes a brazilian youtuber famous for being openly gay. he introduced me to the concept of shipping, because ppl shipped him with another youtuber, t3ddy. he (plus facebook, and the cool older cousin from before) also introduced me to social activism

-asking permission from my parents to put a rainbow filter on my facebook pfp, in support of gay people. i thought i was such a good straight ally. i dont remember what happened but i think something negative mustve bc a lot of ppl were doing that in 2015. wait fuck now that i think about it that mightve actually been in 2016 because of pulse

- (we are still in 2015 im still 10) watching clips from Steven Universe Season 1 Episode 53 Jailbreak on youtube. they were (badly) subtitled bc i didnt speak english yet. i was absolutely shocked and could not believe they would show two girls kissing in a childrens cartoons, not bc i thought that was bad but bc i was like. would cartoon network really allow this??? i proceed to memorize the entire episode (again i didnt even speak english. and i watched it so many times i memorized it anyways lmao)

-being 11, and having my friend introduce to me this cool new thing she had found online, "fanfics". she linked me a college au fanfic of marceline and bubblegum from adventure time. it had a fade to black implied sex scene. i was hypnotized

-i was a very anxious child and every morning before getting to school i would prepare step-by-step what i would do when entering class. one day my internal monologue went "walk in, say good morning to teacher, kiss [previously mentioned girl best friend] on the mouth, say hello to- wait. where did that come from". start wondering if i was really Just A Really Good Straight Ally

-few days later, me and my friend group were discussing gay people. one of them asked "like i wonder if any of us are gonna be gay?". i thought for about 2.5 seconds and said "i think im bi", being the first one on my class to come out. they were all p chill ab it. i am not bi but its the thought that counts

-cutting off 30 inches of my really long hair and shaving one side at 11. my dad was mad at me for a week and he told me "i dont understand why you did this. you're looking like a dyke". originally i had planned to cut all of it really short "boy style" but the hairstylist insisted on at the very least letting half of it be longer. i did think half shaved hair was Cool so i was fine with that

#the ''i like blue not pink'' thing is interesting #bc i think that subconsciously i knew that was i Different from other girls but i didnt realize it #i was trying really hard to imitate the boys and separate myself from girly girls even tho i 100% was a girly girl #separate myself as in like. say that i was Not like them. not as in not hang out w girls i prefered being friends w girls #and like i had no idea why i felt the need to tell people i was not girly like them and that in fact i had more in common w boys #i know now obv but i think its interesting that that is how it manifested #also i came out as bi at 11 then as pansexual at 12 then as a panromantic agender girl w some obscure asexual label i no longer remember #at 13 #then just bisexual again at 13 then wait actually idk and finally lesbian at 14

15 notes · View notes

merrock · 6 months

Text

HAPPY FIRST OF NOVEMBER!

Only two months left this year, how did that happen?! Either way, welcome to November! We're ready for a busy, family and warmth and love-filled month ahead, and hope that you are, too. Read on to see what to expect and any important things we have to share.

HAPPENING IN NOVEMBER!

November 18th -- RAILWAY 5K -- our annual run around town; everyone can participate, whether you're a pro, or a first time runner. run for yourself, or for charity!

NOVEMBER'S MINI-EVENTS!

November 3rd -- away football game; the final game of the season! but the team did make play-offs.

November 4th -- candy day; candy sales for all of your post-Halloween needs around the house!

November 10-13 -- world kindness weekend; a chance to do the kindest of things around town.

November 24 -- black friday; do all of your shopping around town!

November 25 -- small business saturday; make sure to save some shopping for local businesses!

EXTRA BIT OF FUN!

Busy time, easy task? We hope so! We've shared a task for November that you can fill out in character (if you want -- we won't kick you out for third personing it, promise). We'll also be accepting kind things about Merrock and about each other during kindness weekend, so stay tuned for that one!

IMPORTANT NOTES!

as usual, a reminder to read over our rules. we just want to make sure that all of our writers are aware of our expectations; small changes have been made, and a few pages have been updated.

please remember that triggers are triggering: period. whether it's a full out discussion, mention, brief allusion to, it's triggering, so just tag it with "trigger tw" and let that be that! also, do not bring up triggering subjects with someone OOC unless you know they, themselves, are not triggered by that, please.

if someone picks up your wanted connection, please be sure to plot and interact with them! and vice versa. both sides should do due diligence to carry through and make it happen.

in situations where something needs mod approval, please just be sure to have it from us before talking or posting about it. it may seem silly, but it keeps us all from having to backtrack!

be sure you are plotting with everyone! we have implemented the "three writers per character" rule, but of course we would like you to vary your writers. you don't always have to have a thread with every writer / character in the group, but it's really nice to branch out and spread some love.

BEHIND THE SCENES!

we have less events this month, and that's alright! we also have some fun mini-events for you to use for plotting, and we know that this month is always busy. it's okay! we'd really like to see you use this month to post open starters, plot with those you haven't, get some fun stuff going on your own.

but December will kick off with an outdoor Winter Fun Party, and we will have our Winter Holiday Market, plus a New Year's Eve party, so take this month to just plot, relax, and enjoy before the fun hits. start thinking about gifts. ;)

November is largely a "game planning" month for me -- meaning I will be working on saving resources for next year's events. we have some fun stuff in store!

+ THE HOLIDAYS AHEAD

With the holidays around the corner, we know that things are busier, and we understand that it may mean things slow down on dash a bit. So don't get discouraged! We are not going to cut back on our activity requirements, however, as we feel they are incredibly easy to meet, even during the busy times. What we are asking is that you, as players, are responsible with what you can handle. If you need to drop or pause characters, that is okay. Ask for hiatuses when needed, but remember that we do not offer semi-hiatuses. As admins, we absolutely understand and respect that real life comes first! We just also know that groups can't thrive and survive without activity, so all we ask is that you try your best during this busy month/season. We'll have a post closer to Christmas time with some guidance on posting gifts and any changes we need to make to checks, as well! xx

HAPPY NOVEMBER! xx

#merrockadmin

9 notes · View notes

lo-diehards · 3 months

Text

Law & Order "Freedom Of Expression" -- Welcome Aboard Reid Scott, The Premiere Episode Itself? An Epic Miss

Spoiler alert, if you haven't seen the 23rd (reboot 3rd) season premiere of Law & Order, do not read anything other than the title if you don't want to be spoiled; otherwise on with the review.

"Freedom of Expression" (writers: Pamela Wechsler (teleplay), Rick Eid, & creator Dick Wolf / directed by: Alexander Hall) leaves a lot to be desired in this 23rd season opener of the Mothership series. The Law & Order franchise's staple since it's inception is taking the stories from current events (AKA episodes being "ripped from the headlines"), however this premiere takes that way too far, even by mother ship standards. I'm going to get into that in a later moment but first, there is some good, or at least it is in my opinion. Click below to read my full review and analysis.

That good is Senior Detective Vincent Reilly, who is portrayed by Reid Scott of Veep fame. It appears that Reilly may have a dark side and just as dark history with NYPD, coming off as literally very trigger happy as early as the opening teaser in the episode. He literally threatened to shoot a suspect who was wielding a knife - which Shaw (Mehcad Brooks) managed to disarm from the suspect, Reilly not being a fan of the way Shaw handled it - and Reilly subsequently shoots and kills another suspect near the episode's end. This is something I'm sure the series will explore later on in the upcoming fourth episode of the season, but this puts an asterisk next to this detective's name.

Meanwhile the series' previous asterisk, Detective Frank Cosgrove (Jeffrey Donovan, who departed during the start of the season's production in November due to creative differences) got a brief mention in the worst way to describe a characters exit. "He got jammed up for being too honest," and it "being a bad time to have an opinion," which is the exchange Shaw and Reilly had about Cosgrove in the squad room. Really? Seriously? THIS is how you have the characters discuss another one's exit? And opinion about what? Knowing Frank Cosgrove, it probably an opinion that was personal to him that should have no reflection on how he should have performed his duty as a police officer. Meanwhile, breaking the 4th wall here, if you will, this could be a hint to how Jeffrey Donovan's random exit came to be... he may have wanted a say on where he wanted something to go and was told that he could go. Honestly, if there wasn't going to be a serious effort in trying to give this character a decent/proper exit, I would have rather they cut it out of the episode like they did with Anthony Anderson's exit back in season 22.

As for Reid Scott? He's meshing good on screen with Mehcad Brooks. They have a pretty chill chemistry going here. The best thing? Scott isn't having to force a Bronx accent like Jeffrey Donovan did for Cosgrove. It feels great to see his lines come out with his natural tone. The entire L&O reboot cast is top notch, the problems continue to lie with the storylines themselves... something that clearly people at Wolf Entertainment and NBC don't seem to care about with this reboot.

Now that is the bad of this entire premiere episode. It's a dud of a story in it's entirety. It's filled with political talking points, mixed with current events that are occurring both domestically and foreign. I felt more like I was watching an op-ed on Nightly News as opposed to a basic Law & Order episode. The cherry of the episode is the still ongoing Israel/Hamas/Palestine conflict that is the base of the entire episode. You can still be against what's going on in the Middle East while championing for Israel, Palestine, and/or Judaism. Innocent life is innocent life, period. But that is not what this discussion is about, this is about the Law & Order episode that reinforces divisiveness. Dixon (Camryn Manheim) yelling about "Israel's war crimes," Price (Hugh Dancy) insisting Maroun (Odelya Halevi) was/should be affected by what's going on overseas and her not wanting to weigh in on it but instead on the defendant being the face of the Left. And to top is all off, "Hang 'Em High" Jack McCoy (Sam Waterston) ], who is barely showcased, is still pushing to make deals on high profile cases? It just all felt off and I can't put it into words.

In summary, I basically give the mothership a barely solid D. It's the 23rd season's premiere, 3rd of the reboot. Rarely do shows get opportunities such as this! This opener should have been an opportunity to showcase our current characters, potentially bringing in an old one and of course our newest arrival in Reilly (Scott). It needed to be about more than just a "compelling case" (that is not very compelling at all). Ripping the headlines is one thing but this episode didn't do any kind of deviation, it was direct. Other than Reilly's two moments with suspects, where was the suspense? The energy? The continuity from the past? The guest stars? The magic?

This reboot is stuck in a boring weekly repetitive creative cycle that revolves around telling the stories with political undertones and stereotypes that the original series was never in, even when it was in the rocky 16-18th seasons when the writing staff was mostly Los Angeles based. I would say I hope the writers/executive producers make a change, but that's basically a waste, as they have yet to do it since this reboot started. And the fact that creator Dick Wolf co-wrote this piece of merda and let it go to air? Just says how he feels about the reboot too.

This episode is not Law & Order... I don't know what show it is. CNN Tonight? Hannity? Newsmax Live? Do better Law & Order. Do better. Be better.

See also: The Daily Beast - It Might Be Time for the ‘Law & Order’ Franchise to Retire

#law & order #dick wolf #hugh dancy #mehcad brooks #reid scott #camryn manheim #sam waterston #rick eid #odelya halevi #nbc

2 notes · View notes

ellieaka · 1 year

Text

Ok. I gonna talk about my problem with the focus of August/Sara romance in S2. One last post about what I don't like about season 2 before I start to write what I actually like about season 2. (I'm a overly critical person and very opinionated, so if you are looking for positive feedbacks only just don't read. I very much argue and make no promises to not offend💀 discussions welcome tho)

⚠️ YR Season 2 Major Spoilers ⚠️

The choice of having August/Sara as the main relationship and having more screentime than even Wilmon is simply unwised. If the production team did their research, which I believe they definitely did, they would know exactly how many people watch the show for Wilmon. Other ships (romantic, friendship, or familial) don't even get nearly as much attention. As an audience I want to see more Wilmon, even if it's all pinning and angst, not the how happy, sweet, and genuine the main "vilian couple August/Sara" is. August/Sara relationship is there to serve a purpose, as a potential problem for Wilhelm, Simon, and wilmon's relationship. The amount of screentime August/ Sara romance has (way too much in my opinion) swifts the focus away. My point is, I'm not against August/Sara having a sweet relationship, I just dislike how it takes up disproportional amount of the screentime. With very limited screentime (only 4 hours), some more screentime is better spent on Wilmon or Felice. Felice becomes a complete supporting character in season 2 and doesn't even have a plot of her own outside of her friendships is unfitting for the importance of her character.

Wilhelm is the main character, and everything revolves around him. Other characters screentime should depends on how much/less they ultimately affect Wilhelm at this specific stage of the story, plus a bit of their own character developments. However, I see the production team wants to make YR a teen drama that has several main focuses and the characters could have their own arcs & development. Unfortunately, they don't have nearly enough screentime for that. (Maybe make it 10 episode if that's what they want🤔) The amount of screentime in my opinion is only enough for a story develops tightly around Wilhelm plus a bit other major supporting characters' development.

This is why I love how they deal with Nils, Vincent, and Henry's characters in this season. Just the right amount of screentime to show their characters and serves a purpose. Nils provides ideas that what Wilhelm could've done if he hook up with one of their own and stays in closet. Vincent becomes the team leader under Wilhelm's push, and shows how power is perceived & abused in aristocrat teen boys with a hierachy in mind (in a not so smart way😂, also in contrast to August). Henry is still the lil rumors spreader. He also shows how the beta boys choose who to follow depending on how the power dynamics shifts.

According to my own lil story contribution theory, here is how I would rank the importance of the characters from the first tier to the 4th in season 2.

1st: Wilhelm

1.5th: Simon

2nd: August, Felice, Sara

(see how little time Felice is given for her own development that's unrelated to Wilhelm? How much time August & Sara get? August & Sara being a couple very much affect Wilhelm & Simon from the story perspective. But the little details of their relationship, like how sweet their morning after is, is not Wilhelm related and shouldn't be given this much time.)

2.5th: Kristina, Marcus(as for S2)

3rd: Vincent, Nils, Henry, Alexander, Stella, Fredricka, Boris, Ayub, Rosh

4th: Madison, Linda, Jean-Olaf, Valter

(I will edit the above if I think I forget someone or get their name wrong 🤪)

👆 so my conclusion here is that August/Sara and their relationship takes up disproportional amount of screentime that should be distributed to Felice & Wilmon. I would definitely skip August/Sara's happy little sweet scenes during my rewatch (as well as Wilhelm/Felice make out scene💀).

#young royals #young royals season 2 #young royals spoilers #yr s2 spoilers #wilhelm young royals #wilmon #simon eriksson #sara eriksson #august young royals #felice ehrencrona

10 notes · View notes

procrastinatorproject · 1 year

Text

I posted 1,878 times in 2022

48 posts created (3%)

1,830 posts reblogged (97%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@tehriz

@regionalpancake

@thelaithlyworm

@jazzfic

@stra-tek

I tagged 1,875 of my posts in 2022

#star trek picard - 443 posts

#funny stuff - 442 posts

#cristobal rios - 152 posts

#star trek picard season 2 - 115 posts

#star trek - 110 posts

#picardpositivity - 98 posts

#i have such talented friends! - 90 posts

#picard season 2 spoilers - 85 posts

#cats - 76 posts

#tumblr - 75 posts

Longest Tag: 137 characters

#and how else are you going to share bits of stories that you won't post for months or years if ever because finishing things is hard 🙈😅

My Top Posts in 2022:

I spent quite some time yesterday yelling about Star Trek with the wonderful @regionalpancake and @curator-on-ao3, and I need to share their comedic genius with the world!

We were talking about how, if the Zhat Vash are so extremely opposed to synthetic life and any form of AI, could they possibly manage to hack the androids on Mars and to cause them to go rogue? To which Curator commented:

“I’m an iPhone user and I couldn’t hack an android!”

This was followed some time later by a discussion about how in recent Trek, there has been an increasing distinction between People Who Matter and Those Who Don’t. And how its encumbent upon the people who are less significant for the fate of the world to sacrifice themselves for the Important People.

With regards to this, Pancakes observed of Rose (from Dr Who), a character who thinks she is unimportant and whom the Doctor tells that There Are No Unimportant People:

“If she were a Star Trek character, Rose would have been cannon fodder.”

Curator: “You mean... canon fodder? :D”

I don’t know if these are funny to anyone but me, but I laughed so hard I had to go find my asthma spray. So I needed to share XD

59 notes - Posted July 30, 2022

Holo-Tech Database

Over the last seven or so months, I have watched through every episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation. It’s the first time I’ve seen the entire series, there were quite a few episodes in the later seasons I’d never seen before. Quite an enjoyable experience on the whole.

But because I’m me, of course I didn’t just watch TNG. Instead, I took notes every single time the holodeck or any other piece of holo-technology played a part in the plot, were the setting for even the briefest of scenes, or so much as got mentioned. Essentially, I’m building towards a database of every little scrap of canonical information about holo-technology that I can get my hand on. And this was a start.

I haven’t had the time or energy to look through all of my notes in detail. There is a lot of information in there already. Of course, I’ll only be able to draw any real conclusions once I add in all the data from DS9, Voyager, and PIC, (since I’m interested in the state of technology at the time La Sirena is in operation, because of course that’s what this is about), but it’ll be quite a while before I get there.

So, in lieu of any detailed analysis, here are some quick impressions of my first foray into holo-episode-tracking!

[Image ID: a table showing the number of total holo-episodes for TNG is 58, and breaking that number down for each season. Season 1 has 10 episodes, season 2 has 8, season 3 has 6, season 4 has 9, season 5 and 6 both have 8, and season 7 has 9 episodes. /end ID]

See the full post

65 notes - Posted January 27, 2022

30 Days of Picard Postivity

With just over 30 days to go, the premiere of Star Trek: Picard season 2 (3rd March in the US, 4th March internationally) is fast approaching, and I for one cannot wait to get back into the world I fell in love with two years ago. Thirty days is quite some time, however, and even though new trailers and promo pics seem to be dropping daily, I felt like we could use something to tide us over until March.

After the long hiatus, I think this is the perfect time to revisit all the things we enjoyed about season 1. I’m sure I’m not the only one who has forgotten a lot of the details of those episodes, and who would love to see some of the wonderful characters, locations, and stories back on my dash. So, without further ado:

ProcrastinatorProject Proudly Presents:

30 Days of Picard Positivity

See the full post

70 notes - Posted February 1, 2022

Massive Picard Season 2 Spoilers Ahead

So the latest episode of The Ready Room, the Star Trek recap show hosted by Wil Wheaton, had a preview of Season 2 of Star Trek: Picard. It's interviews with all of the main actors and they explain in some detail where they're characters are at at the beginning of season 2.

It puts a lot of shots from the trailers in perspective and I have a lot of thoughts that I want to share, but because this is a very, very explicit spoilery preview, I'm putting both the video and my initial reaction under the cut.

Anyone in the US (or with a decent VPN): You can find the full Ready Room episode on the Paramount+ youtube page, but I'm not going to link it here, because, youk know, tumblr 😋

See the full post

73 notes - Posted February 24, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

I just had a realization about why Agnes Jurati’s story in Star Trek: Picard season 2 feels so wrong to me, and I am going to inflict it on all of you!

Spoilers for the entirety of season 2 ahead! CW: Mention of depression, PTSD, anxiety, and emotional manipulation

Also: CW long post

(NB: I’m going to completely disregard the discrepancy in Agnes’s character between seasons 1 and 2. I think when you take Agnes’s story and development from the first season into account, her “arc” in season 2 falls apart completely. But for the sake of this argument, I’m going to meet the season 2 writers on their terms. I’m going to ignore the character of season 1 Agnes, and instead will simply look at season 2′s Jurati to explain why I think the story the writers gave her falls flat.)

I was taking notes for a way-too-long essay about my problems with PIC season 2 (which I may or may not write eventually), and I was trying to put into words why it always irks me when people say merging with the Borg Queen was a satisfying end to Jurati’s arc.

What I was never able to put my finger on until now is that when the Borg Queen and Jurati merge at the end of episode 9, that’s not actually the culmination of Jurati’s arc. It’s the Queen’s.

See the full post

74 notes - Posted May 20, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

#tumblr2022 #year in review #my 2022 tumblr year in review #your tumblr year in review #i want to point out that of the almost 2000 posts on my blog this year #THREE were not tagged! THREE! 🤣😂🤣😂#i knew i was an obsessive tagger but i didn't think my record was *that* good #(not that most of the tagging is particularly consistent....)#also: so many of my friends! 🤩#also also: 'star trek picard' beat out 'funny stuff' by ONE post #at least i am balanced? 🤣🙈#anyway. this is fun!

6 notes · View notes

onenettvchannel · 2 years

Photo

FALSE: Televised Movie Special for a FINAL 3rd Season of Amphibia will not happen in mid-June 2022

FROG VALLEY, AMPHIBIA ISLAND REGION -- Almost a month after the 3rd and Final Season ended in mid-May this year in 2022, a single animated Twitter insider (Debbie) from Malaysia (not an actual real name) releasing a few of the still images, fresh and direct from the studio of Disney Television Animation (DTVA), which is not to be released anywhere to the public.

Debbie spreads a tweet like wildfires Thursday morning (June 2nd, 2022 -- Pacific local time) that the Animation team have wrapped up for the upcoming final touches in post-production, even after the said series ended. A 42-minute televised movie special, in celebration of its 3rd anniversary of Amphibia will air this year by June 18th starting at 8am (Eastern local time).

Additionally, a British singer songwriter named Edward Christopher Sheeran will feature as a guest star who was voiced per male pastor in a historic 3-way marriage event of SashAnnArcy (Sasha Waybright, Anne Savisa Boonchuy & Marcy Wu) before departing all the way back to Los Angeles, California, United States of America (U.S.A.). The new voice of Sprig Plantar was undetermined as she notes a source to our news team.

One unofficial synopsis obtained exclusively with a drafted movie special on television: *Back to Amphibia -- "Former students of Saint James Middle School (SJMS) accidentally activated a source which teleports them to the Amphibia Island Region while revisiting a place where it all once started".

The movie special claims for a Disney Channel cartoon show leads to an extensive sequel of Episode 1 back in mid-June 2019, several months before the Coronavirus Disease-19 (CoViD-19) pandemic worldwide.

Here at OneNETnews, we furtherly debunk the said Twitter insider for a televised movie special, in partnership with Tegna Inc. and WPMT-TV's FOX 43: Central Pennsylvania.

Our sources gathered the following: *A deleted tweet of one Show Creator (Dana Terrace). *The Cable Forum, as first obtained from a Forum Administrator named KyL416 (which is matched and verified with TVPassport listings in America's Eastern schedule). and *A Question and Answer Panel, moderated from a Los Angeles YouTuber via ZOOM named DeepCut who mainly owns Cartoon Universe.

The official schedules of Disney Channel as Kyl416 reported, it airs most of the show reruns until a new episode showned with "The Ghost and Molly McGee" at 9:30am (Eastern local time) by June 18th.

While on June 4th this weekend as according thru TVPassport and a deleted tweet with 'The Owl House' show creator (Dana Terrace), the episode marathon focuses a lesbian couple between Luz Noceda and Amity Blight (known as LuMity for short).

And, a YouTuber in Los Angeles named DeepCut, who moderate a panel of Question and Answer on Cartoon Universe meets one show creator (Matt Braly) and the casts of Amphibia.

Speaking to Braly via Cartoon Universe, the movie special is less likely and to be discussed at DTVA's production point: "I think about a movie a lot, and I think about the kinds of things that I would want to see and sort of like where the story is and what we have done. And I'll just tell you right now, the movie would be time traveled, the reason being that I want to see Leif Plantar and Barrel in her act with our modern day characters. I feel like, it would be the best way to kind of create a satisfying new story, even though we have this time skip, something that is felt satisfying conclusive. It will be a great way to give chaos to something you didn't even know you wanted it".

He adds during a Zoom meeting panel, he was focusing behind the scenes for its origins of the Plantars before officiating with a presumptive presidential captain of Newtopia (Andrias Leviathan): "The Plantars meeting their first descendants or Barrel getting more screen time. That stuff excites me, so if that's something you wanted to see... I'll never say, never I think to make a noise and that's interesting. It can happen. Movies are different than special, because it's not for continuation of these 3 seasons' arc. So that would be kind of the perfect way to see these characters again on this show".

So in conclusion, NO. The movie special in sequel to Amphibia's extensive first episode will not eventually aired on June 18th to Disney Channel in America. Instead, 'The Ghost and Molly McGee' regularly airs smoothly with a new weekly episodes on Saturday morning (Pacific local time).

The production team and guards will soon beefing up the security in advance, ensuring all the unauthorized persons remain off-limits for now, due to lack of informative media and trusts.

The Malaysia police turned into custody between the infringement and false information on its said movie special of Amphibia. DTVA will receive personally a monetary reward and certification per concerned if Debbie pleads guilty in Malaysian court and sentenced to 6-9yrs. in prison.

It is quite too soon to make it happen for a movie special of Amphibia by debunking all of this situation for its production company to respect and support the animated officials of DTVA.

SPECIAL THANKS to the Anonymous Facebook netizen for sending us a news tip.

PHOTO COURTESY: Twitter Insider for Disney Television Animation

SOURCE: *https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1532287743912382465 [Referenced Tweet Post from Animated Insider #1] *https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1532287747590803457 [Referenced Tweet Post from Animated Insider #2] *https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1532752513018892289 [Referenced Tweet Post from Animated Insider #3f] *https://www.tvpassport.com/tv-listings/stations/disney-hd-eastern/6112/2022-06-04 or https://archive.is/z81xu [Referenced TV Listing from the TVPassport] *https://cabletvt.powerrangermail.net/index.php/topic,6935.0.html [DC June 2022 Premieres via The Cable Forum] and *https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ojBjF8-lBP4 [Q&A Panel with Show Creator and Cast of Amphibia via Cartoon Universe]

-- OneNETnews Team

#entertainment news #frog valley #amphibia island region #los angeles #california #season 3 #the final season #movie special #amphibia #amphibia spoilers #animated #sashannearcy #verify #malaysia #cartoon universe #OneNETnews

11 notes · View notes

ferrarigays-moved-to-ferrarism · 2 years

Text

MOTOGP: Suzuki’s qualifying - what are the numbers?

I’ve seen quite a bit of discussion around the Suzuki qualifying performance. Specifically how they want to improve it and have aimed to do so for a while. It’s only the beginning of the season but I wanted to look at the numbers - what has their qualifying performance been like and how does that compare to this season?

At first I only compared the average qualifying places for the riders, but for a more complete picture I wanted to also get the time difference to the polesitter and how that has evolved over the years. For comparison, I did the stats for years 2019-2022, so all the current seasons for the current Suzuki lineup of Álex Rins and Joan Mir. Here are the results:

Qualifying in numbers

disclaimer on the data:

avg. time dif. to pole -> the average of all the time margins throughout the qualifyings to the polesitter’s time.

Q2 -> just the times when the rider managed to get to Q2 so the times are compared in the same session

From the time difference data I emitted all the wet and wet->dry quali sessions, there were 3 of those throughout the 3 seasons. I wanted to show both the time differences between just the sessions that went to Q2, because the track does evolve after the sessions. Also noteworthy is that I didn’t go so far to analyze how each quali session was each time for each rider, missing a lap or crashing, these things happen. Didn’t also take into consideration injuries etc. I think that in the stats calculations it all averages out so these things should not have a major effect. And if they were racing and setting times, it’s all a fair game.

For the average and median quali positions, just a quick refresher if you didn’t remember what they mean. Average in this case is all the quali positions the rider(s) had divided by the number of qualifying they have done. Mean is the qualifying position that’s in the middle of the quali results when they are put in order (for example if you qualified 1 - 4 - 18, the mean would be 4).

The numbers show that qualifying for the Suzukis has been usually on the edge of the 3rd and 4th row. The ”target” set by most is the top 2 rows. During these 3 seasons, the Suzukis have qualified to positions 1-6 the sum total of 15 times out of 99 qualifyings. This is roughly 15%. They have 5 front row starts, 1 from 2019 and two from 2020 and 2021 both.

Analysis

What we can see from the average numbers is that in the time margin to the polesitter, there is an improvement from 2019 to 2020. In combined times it’s about two tenths. Most notably the improvement can be seen radically in Joan Mir’s times and his overall qualifying spots, clearly showing a positive trend. I think that is to be expected, given that the -19 season was his rookie season. Despite the time margin to polesitter shrinking, the overall qualifying position is still relatively similar.

What I found interesting is that despite there being a more marginal time difference shrinking between -20 and -21 seasons, the median qualifying position did go up a place. However as is seen in the average, it did not go up by much.

The 2022 season

So - what do the numbers look like for the current season? Bear in mind that we are only four races in and the amount of data available is not huge. However there is still something to compare.

*results after the Americas GP of 2022

What we can see from the numbers comparing them to last year is that there is an improvement of a tenth to the pole position time. The average qualifying positions for both riders are also up, by 1-2 places. Yet the qualifying position is still on the 3rd row and so far neither rider has qualified into the top 2 rows.

I did compare the time differences to the polesitter on different tracks between the years. Qatar has seen the biggest improvement from last year’s race number 2, with the differences being 2 to 3 tenths. However the qualifying positions were still the same 3rd row. In COTA there was no significant difference and the quali positions were identical to last year’s. Argentina saw an improvement by two tenths and quali from staying in Q1 to positions on the third row, however the last time they raced there was three years ago and the improvements from then are clear.

TL;DR In gathering of the times so far, I don’t think there has been a significant enough step made for Suzuki in the qualifying pace to be consistently on the top two rows of the grid. Time will tell and as we move to Europe, things might change and I’ll be updating this. However as they say, the last tenths are the hardest to find and it is quite tight at the top, even one place is better than nothing.

Any additions/comments are welcome and encouraged!

#motogp #suzuki #alex rins #joan mir #motogp 2022 #motogp 2022 statistics #motogp statistics #ignore the layout of those tables as you can see im lazy and didn't wanna open the computer for this so this is quite literally the notes #notes app version of this anyway hope the info is clear #eve.post

8 notes · View notes

bronyinabottle · 3 years

Text

MY LITTLE PONY: A NEW GENERATION (G5 Movie) THOUGHTS

It’s finally here. The beginning of Generation 5. Though before I get into the movie in some detail I’m going to reiterate one more time what G5 means for my content and a non-spoilery summary of the movie.

Again, I will say that the movie nor will the G5 series coming later have much of an effect at all on any of my blogs. The revelation in Secrets of the Dragon’s Tear that life itself is also magic means that a world that implied to have no magic for years would mean the extinction of all life (Perhaps resulting in the wasteland we saw in the Season 5 finale). There may be something I’ll probably do at some point on a certain different blog. But even then, that may likely be a one-time thing and probably come around the time the series is starting to air.

That said, just because I’m continuing with mainly G4 content doesn’t mean I disapprove of G5. In fact, my non-spoilers thoughts on the movie is I think it is a good start for this new generation. There are questions I have that I’m not sure will be answered (Though many of those questions are the same ones I had in my Trailer/Preliminary thoughts) quickly enough. But the movie is structured well enough, in fact it’s probably a better movie as a whole compared to any of the movies G4 had (The 2017 movie, Rainbow Roadtrip, and all 4 Equestria Girls movies). As the 2017 movie was fun, but it jumped around a lot, sometimes scenes transitioning too fast. And while Rainbow Roadtrip may have been this on purpose, the entirely slice-of-life story taking up a long length… made it something of a less interesting plot to follow. It feels like some of that special could of been cut to at least a two-parter length and keep the same beats they hit. And while i have a soft spot for the 3rd and 4th Equestria Girls movies, I’ll always say a full-length pony adventure feels better suited for what I want to see out of MLP then spin-off movies with high school movie cliches and weird pony/human world shenanigans.

So movie-wise I’m not a G4 purist. It’ll take some time to see how Gen 5 compares to Friendship is Magic when we get to the series. As I feel it’d take a lot for it to surpass G4 in my mind. But I’m going to try to be as fair as possible and judge on it’s own merits. The implied connection to G4 by referring to G4 being ancient Equestria is going to naturally get the staff and hasbro pressured by fans to tell us what happened in-between the generations. Because that’s the trap they put the writers in when they made it so they want to try to say it’s in the same universe. That’s the double-edged sword Hasbro chose to have, trying to appease the G4 fanbase and keep at least some of them around. But at the cost of questions both nitpicky (Such as character design being inconsistent) or actual honest questions that need to be known (Why did magic disappear, and what happened to the Alicorns) for some of us to truly see this as the same Equestria.

After the break, I’ll have more spoilery thoughts

Even for a brief moment, it was nice seeing the Mane 6 and 2D animation. The former because of course those are the ponies many of us that saw all of G4 loved. And the latter, because while the animation wasn’t bad in this movie. I’m one of those who’d prefer to have 2D animation in an animated film. As in most cases aside from Pixar, it’s just a strong preference of mine. If this had the animation of the 2017 MLP movie but otherwise everything else was generally the same here, I feel that would of have been great.

I wish they didn’t have to have Sunny’s dad die off-screen, as he seems like he could of been a compelling character. And not to mention if perhaps he has any connection the “ancient” days in any fashion. But *sigh* I get it, it’s an old trope where part of the character’s offscreen growth is not having their parent(/s) around.

On a side note there’s quite a few times during the beginning of the movie that somewhat foreshadow what happens to Sunny later. 3 times where she had a fake horn and wings on her. Once in the flashback, then 2 separate times when she’s doing her protest where she has her own costumed wings and horn. As well as the helmet and mechanical wings.

Also, there’s no way around it. Some of the discussions this movie are going to get quite political. (Namely one part of Sunny’s song that could be seen as having a double meaning of a jab at Trumpsts regarding “Building your wall”) From the very premise in the early times, we know that the inspiration for the story was last year’s Black Lives Matter protests. Which honestly, I do support the message they’re going for. Having an anti-racism message to tell kids from the very beginning and making a focus on it is important when in G4 it only got briefly touched upon in Bridle Gossip and the Heath’s Warming Eve play. Although it certainly rose up to some form of prominence with Season 8 and onward. Still, while you can argue if G4 executed the anti-racism message well. it does come with something of a problem that the series finale left Equestria in the least divided it’s ever been.

And personally, I feel it’s a terrible interpretation of time to say “Well, it’s a realistic take. Racism has existed for years in our world. Same should go for the ponies” and while yes, racism is still rampant in today’s world. That said, that ignores that if we went from The Last Problem to the start of G5. There’s a huge difference between our world and Equestria. There is no ancient civilization that we look at like “Yeah, those were the golden days of world peace” when normally the “Golden age” was reserved for the high classes of Ancient Greece or Rome. It was most decidedly not perfect, with slavery rampant and wars for the sake of expanding an empire. While if you look at The Last Problem’s Equestria, you not only have peace between the three main types of ponies. But you literally have non-pony citizens in Equestria. You can see a dragon handing off a flower to a pony which can imply cross-species romantic relations. With the Friendship school still going strong, and was the reason that the world was saved in The Ending of the End. While perhaps it may be too glowing to say that future is perfect for everyone even in-universe. It’s certainly a hell of a lot better outlook then comparing to how we view even the so called Golden age of ancient civilizations. The Last Problem’s Equestria implies it looks to ally with every country outside of Equestria, not conquer them.

So it should still be a valid question on just how this world collapses to the point it gets to where G5 is at the start. I at least assume that it’s not the fault at all of any of the Mane 6 nor Twilight. Or at least I hope it isn’t, as I’d rather the MLP fanbase not have to deal with a The Last Jedi Luke Skywalker situation. (Where after the joyful end of the original trilogy, things go wrong as Luke almost murders the son of one of his best friends and his sister despite trying to hard and succeeding at redeeming his father who at that point in the canon was a galaxy-wide known ruthless mass-murderer.) I assume we’re at a point where everyone of the Mane 6 sans maybe Twilight are presumed dead. And even in Twilight’s case, there’s a chance that G5 decides to say that G4 overestimated the whole Alicorn immortality thing. Though I wouldn’t put it past Hasbro to have some event where the Mane 5 of G5 meet the Mane 6 in some special event whether that’s a a Season finale or a sequel movie/special. Where either the Mane 6 return in a limbo situation similar to the Pillars at the end of Season 7 or Time travel gets involved. They may even string us along on answering just what in the heck happened until they involve a meet-up with the Mane 6 in that way. Though I hope they don’t, I’d really like the beginning of the series (Or I guess this supposed special coming up in Spring supposedly?) starts to answer some questions. G5 should get a chance to stand on it’s own, but I hope the writers are actually well aware there will be so many questions people have and address them in the show. A cynical part of me feels like they’re likely to string us along until at least the Season 1 finale.

Onto the characters for a bit. I think Izzy Moonbow was absolutely the most stand-out character in the whole movie. She was energetic, funny, and aside from “The pegasi are bad news” she along with Zipp and Sunny were the most averse to the way the world was. She was already the most popular due to the tennis ball memes. But now it feels like she legit stands on her own and most certainly deserves to be the most popular character of G5 thus far. Behind her in a bit of a surprise to me was Zipp, who I thought would be mainly a Rainbow Dash-expy. Though she really helps out Izzy and Sunny in Zephyr Heights. Despite having Twilight be my favorite pony from the very beginning of G4 all the way to the end, I didn’t feel as strongly about Sunny for some reason. So she’s in the middle of the pack, she could grow on me later. I just don’t know if I click with her as much as I did with Twilight. As for the last two, while I don’t hate either of them. Either one could be the lowest of the 5 for one reason or another. Pipp (Although I will say she's probably my favorite character design out of the 5) feels like she doesn’t do a whole lot in the movie and it takes until she’s forced to be an outlaw because the other choice was to get imprisoned like her mother was. So she may come off as quite pretentious, though it’s arguable Rarity was the same way early in G4. But she definitely grew later. Could be the same case for Pipp. And as for Hitch, he has shining moments in the film. But what might hurt him is the fact he was such a bad friend to Sunny up until the campfire scene. “I’m the last real friend you have. You really want to lose me too?” is not a healthy friendship. Hitch may have been Sunny’s friend the longest, but it definitely feels like Izzy connected immediately. I don’t know if this show will get into shipping any of the main characters between each other mid-show, but if they do. I hope it’s between Izzy and Sunny currently, cause Hitch and Sunny just gives bad vibes even with Hitch getting better later.

None of the songs I felt were particularly too special. Though I think the closest was Sprout’s “Danger, Danger” song that has similarities to Smells Like Teen Spirit in some parts of the song since I tend towards more rock/metal-esque music.

I touched upon it earlier, but there’s perhaps a stand-out reason for why the G5 movie outdid the 2017 MLP Movie. They have the typical “Our heroic group splits after a sad moment before coming together again for the climatic good end” in Sunny seeing that that the two crystals don’t instantly bring magic back, and when Twilight left the group after an argument that happened with Twilight trying to take a pearl. They perform the same purpose in the movie. But the crystals not working, crushing Sunny’s hope for a little while works better into the story. Where as Twilight’s part frustratingly brought the sea pony scene to an end too quickly and/or doesn’t feel right of Twilight to have done that. It felt forced in the 2017 movie, but works out in the G5 movie. Especially since a part of it is that it’s not the crystals themselves capable of bringing magic back. But it’s the journey going after the crystals that brings the ponies themselves their magic back.

Just a small note on dictator Sprout, he tries to cause a war. Though admittedly the film seems to treat him as a joke the entire time despite his seriously evil ambitions. With the only repercussions is he gets a wishy-washy answer on if he was a good sheriff from his mom. I don’t quite know how I feel about that yet, but I wonder what they’ll have in mind for Sprout given his actions. He and his mom are the only ones that feel like a true antagonist. Though they seem to be ok with things fast when the magic comes back.

But anyway on to the ending, we see that Sunny becomes an Alicorn. Which I guess with no other real Alicorns around, I guess it makes sense to alicornify her since she’s the real leader behind what united the leaders of each type of pony again. Though there is of course this weird thing where her horn and wings don’t seem like as much a part of her body compared to very obvious connected wings on Twilight when she got hers. Sunny keeps her horn and wings to the end of the movie, and has colored streaks in her hair. Though I do wonder if that;s truly permanent. If it is permanent, I suppose at least they got to have a headstart and have it established at the end of the introductory movie rather then have it shock people at the end of a shortened 3rd season. I still feel like Twilight had well earned her alicornhood considering that besides what she did in the series. She has a whole childhood and time as a teenager learning under Celestia. Which had to mean something, and I’m not sure Celestia just leaving her to live the rest of her days with her friends in ponyville was that. Sunny has no doubt been trying countless time to try to spread friendship throughout her life even after the tragedy of her father’s passing. So there’s no doubt she’s been through a lot, and may indeed be worthy of being an Alicorn at this point. Though in terms of screentime before Alicornhood it's definitely a lot less then Twilight had. And it is at least nice to see that it is possible for non-unicorns to become one. (The only case of that we sort of got was a children's book that may or may not be canon that implied Cadence was a pegasus before she ascended)

Though you have to wonder if the visual differences such as Sunny’s alicorn horn and wings, the cutie mark only on one side (Yes I know that’s how it was normally in the MLP generations before G4. But a distinct visual difference between shows is still noticeable even if the context of G4’s cutie marks on both sides of the flank was about it being easier on the puppets for Flash), and how animals can have wings or weird round shapes such as those bunnies when G4 has normal looking animals. There’s enough striking visual differences for any nitpicky G4 to say “This isn’t the same Equestria”. And if someone tries to say maybe some sort of evolution happened. That’s still trying to put a little too much real world logic on this fantasy world. And evolution tends to take millions of years to have such dramatic changes. Not 1000 years or so, there should still be normal looking animals at this point and time. And these small details are probably going to be the things most ignored but nonetheless can build a case that this isn’t the same Equestria. Even if they touch on the important questions like how magic disappeared and what happened to the Mane 6, there will be details they make different that will add to the case that this is it’s own universe if it doesn’t quite matchup with what was remembered about G4. There will be fans who will be that nitpicky to call G5 out of continuity for small details like that. That is again the trap they put themselves in when they decided to try to say it’s the same Equestria.

All-in-all though, I think that’s at least a good enough chunk about my thoughts on the movie to end off here. If there’s something I missed or something from the movie you’d like me to give a particular opinion about or elaborate on something feel free to ask me here. G5 is indeed off to a good start, just I will be along the many hoping some questions get answered sooner then later. And I’m not sure I’m confident in getting anywhere until a Season finale or a 2nd movie. And it’ll be a year before the series starts proper (Though again I guess there’s a 44 minute special coming in Spring to try to hold us over). But I could definitely see G5 finding it's own following, now there's just the inevitable clashes between some of the more vocal fans of each generation bickering at eachother. But hoping there will be enough that take the movie's lessons on divisiveness to heart and be able to enjoy both even if there may be preferences.

#mlp #my little pony #g5 #mlp g5 #netflix #my little pony the next generation #my little pony movie #generation 5

31 notes · View notes

spnasylum · 3 years

Text

My notes while listening to Misha’s comments on the podcast: (grab a snack!)

In light of the most recent fandom drama I decided to listen to *that* podcast and take notes as I went along about what was actually said and then give my take on it as objectively as possible. This is basically an essay so strap in!

He complains about not getting a trailer on set that’s the same as Jared and Jensen’s. Even though he has one that can accommodate 3 people. This was the first point of discussion inspired by opening up the interview with a brief chat about Misha currently being in his camper van and how he’s sleeping in it even though he’s still home in Bellingham. The whole hour and 26 minutes has an undertone of complaining and ego stroking by all involved.

Says he’s sad he didn’t get to be there for the final days of filming.

Seems a little nervous about if friendships made during the shows run will last now it’s over.

Admits he has no plan in place or anything coming up career wise and he’s unsure of his future. This is where he brings up Walker and The Boys and says if he had shows like that to go to he wouldn’t feel SPN ending was so monumental. It is said with a slight tone of bitterness.

Side note: the hosts Alaina and Malik seem to be fine with running with the narrative that Misha was part of the show it’s entire 15 year run. Misha clears this up eventually by saying he joined in season 4.

Misha says that he realized about six years ago that SPN could run as “we” wanted it to, implying he has any say in keeping the show going or not. He asserts that he would have been on the show up until the very end in any case. But he didn’t feel that way the first few years he was on the show. So that makes me think something or someone involved gave him the feeling he could be confident in being in the cast for however long SPN aired. Maybe this was after Sera left? Maybe this was when he agreed to a significant pay cut and demotion? Either way it seems he felt SPN = job security.

Misha doubts he’ll have the feeling of job security again.

Says from around age 11 he wanted to be a politician.

Says he saw “successful, untalented” actors and decided “I can do that”. He realized that was naive and it’s actually not easy to be that successful and by the time he got his career going he was basically just in it for the fame it’s not anything he took seriously.

We find out his wife did a doctorate in gender history... for some reason.

That Marilyn Monroe was some sort of baseline for him about creating a public persona (🤷🏽‍♀️) except for getting cosmetic surgery he points out.

Talk about how he got started. Acting classes, improve groups. Moving between Chicago, DC and LA.

Discussion about the differences and similarities between Hollywood and Washington.

States he got a consultant to help him cultivate a fan base and image to connect with an audience after getting on SPN. Admits that was a double edged sword because an anonymous public start thinking that they really know you and things start getting weird.

Mentions trying to find a balancing act of being authentic and having a private life but still keeping your fans.

He admits that the fan base he grew for himself by seeming accessible has caused him to attract people who don’t have any boundaries. This is when he claims the “dialing it back” in regard to how much he shares and mentions his kids specifically as something he doesn’t feel comfortable with putting out there. Uses the word “unhinged” to describe them.

Malik mentions “crazy fans” who seem to know too much about you and finding out where you are etc. Using the example of fans turning up at an airport wanting autographs and you wondering how they even knew you’d be there and what flight you taking. He asks Misha to share experiences about his own crazy fans.

This is when Misha uses the example about having fans who think that when he tweets something out he’s communicating with them personally.

Alaina then says that in the Supernatural fandom people fight each other to protect Jared, Jensen and Misha and it’s “very bizarre”. She volunteered that people think Misha secretly hates Jared and that it’s not true. Not sure why she decided to direct the conversation to a place that would cause drama and give Misha a chance to play victim.

And then...

That’s when he claims that he was public enemy number one with super fans of the show because he’s taking attention away from Jared and Jensen.

That’s when he brings up the alleged organized attack to take down his Facebook account. He says they reported him for... *pauses... claims to not know what. But that whatever it was “Facebook bought it and took it down”. Facebook deleted/deactivated his account but he eventually got it back.

Side note: Facebook (like all social media) have always been bias when it comes to people with leftist views and let them have free reign on the platform. So he must have done something that they would decide to suspend him. I don’t think J2 fans can be blamed for the content he posts and if it violated any ToS. As we know he can post some inappropriate things on social media.

He then brings up the allegations of him taking money out of his organization. Stating it’s “categorically untrue” is all he brings forward as evidence to the contrary.

Side note: I don’t know why then that there’s no receipts or transparency. Why is his mother a beneficiary, why do people who mention he owns Stands get blocked, why set everything up in Delaware and have your for profit and so called non profit interests so entangled etc etc) I guess fans are just supposed to have faith and take his word for it.

He says that ALL of them (Jared, Jensen and himself) have people who hate them in the fandom. But overall the fandom is lovely and supportive of the cast and each other. Makes an attempt at stating there’s no kind of competition or animosity between he and Jared. I think this is like the 3rd or 4th time in the interview either he or Alaina bring up Jared but keep the focus on how Misha is the one facing “character assassination.”

Finally says that all of them have nasty things done to them and they all have had to consult security because of threats to their families etc, doesn’t specify which faction of the fandom that’s coming from. Mentions people filing police reports in the fandom but doesn’t say regarding who or what. Alaina reacts like it’s the first time hearing of this happening. Misha just goes “yeah!” Then they move on to talking about living situations.

Apparently Alaina and Misha were neighbors in LA but didn’t take advantage of that. She doesn’t live in LA anyone, wants a new adventure.

Misha mentions Bellingham is another thing about his future he’s unsure about and how his kids flourished there.

Brings up not being present with his kids even when he’s home because of work and side projects and that the one thing he’s enjoying right now it spending time with them. That he used to operate from a place of guilt because his kids felt like they only have one parent. He and Malik briefly spoke on how their careers have negatively affected their love lives.

Misha says he’s not really involved with Random Acts or running it anymore. (Ummm... what)

He and Alaina discuss Haiti and Nicaragua for a while.

Says he may try to get into directing. Says he likes having creative control. Mentions he likes doing his art installations.

Admits that getting a bit of success made him very entitled and wanting of special treatment. But claims he’s trying to keep that in check (where?) and he’s just like everyone else (well duh!). But he “trades on his celebrity” to get stuff and it makes him feel dirty (I think everyone with any kind of following does that though so nbd)

Talk of how TV/film is more diverse in telling minority stories these days.

Was asked by Malik if he has any kind of chip on his shoulder career wise and Misha says the chip on his shoulder is being bored. But says he needs to work on being more engaged.

He then abruptly wants to end the interview. Saying he has to pick up his kids. Malik wants another question. He asks how Misha has been hurt or healed by his career.

Misha then brings up the movie Karla. Again admitting to becoming more like Paul psychologically irl. But says knowing he has that type of evil in him somewhere (and says that we all have that in us) made him more empathetic to the human condition.

They then say their goodbyes. End of interview.

——

My takeaway. The worst thing he can think to say the people who don’t like him in the fandom did was trolling to get his Facebook deactivated? Also that people can see the suspicious nature of his businesses? It would be really easy to settle that with actually being transparent about the finances, which they aren’t and not having close family as benefactors though. Also, I can only speak for myself. But I never hated him. I actually loved Castiel (before his character was there just to be there in recent seasons and Cass wasn’t Cass anymore. I think Misha’s need to pander to shippers/stay on the show was a great disservice to Castiel and his arc) I was a huge Misha fan, and participated in RA and Gish a lot. I absolutely adored Misha, I led myself to believe he was the most amazing person in the world, obviously that’s the reaction he wanted to cultivate from us. Unfortunately I learned too much, experienced first hand and heard too much to be able to keep cheerleading for him. I feel bad for the people still under the spell of feeling like it’s their job to keep being defensive and unreasonably loyal to someone who you can’t and don’t really know and only have a superficial “relationship” with. Seeing the ever more unhealthy and toxic lengths people feel they need to go to to prop up his ego etc. The constant investment emotionally and financially that goes into it and the “sunk cost” if you let reality in makes it hard to let go I guess. Even he knows that what he’s done to gain and maintain relevance has attracted what he called multiple times an unhinged fan base he has to try and balance without losing his influence. I think he maybe had or has good intentions but his fame hungry drive and narcissistic personality traits win out in the end. The Heller’s seem to have, as always, taken what was said and blown it out of proportion, twisted things and created their own narrative. I do see them using key words from the interview a lot suddenly though to bully for him. So, I guess the dog whistle to the sycophants worked out. I hope that a time comes where they can have a more healthy relationship with the media and public figures they choose to gravitate towards. We can all get over zealous with things but there’s lines that shouldn’t be crossed. For some that seems sadly unlikely. I hope that Misha does indeed one day get himself in check as he calls it and I can feel comfortable to support him again. But so long as he’s being enabled and not held accountable again that seems sadly unlikely. Even though I do occasionally find myself being drawn in by the facade again a little and quickly retreating because the issues remain the same. There is a problematic dynamic in the Supernatural fandom for sure. That’s why for a long time I opted out and just watched the show separately from fandom. It’s why when I found out it was ending I had this odd sense of relief I wasn’t expecting to feel and it made me sad. I hope that now the show has aired its finale we can all reflect on things, hopefully be more self aware and objective and most importantly honest about what really has gone down and why. When things started turning sour there have been plenty of times it could have been nipped in the bud yet wasn’t. People who used this silly yet special show in selfish ways, times when walking away would have been better than sticking around trying to make things and people into something never intended to be, giving into tribalism while claiming we’re a family... for that I think we all hold a little piece of responsibility.

You can listen to it yourself on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/0m07her5JUf0JGGtDVohtJ?si=c-RdyZzFQmSzffgNzZhkQg

#anti misha #anti misha collins #misha collins #supernatural #fandom #anti destihellers #strap in its a long one again #opinion #trying to be objective #alaina huffman #malik yoba #anti minions #misha #collins

135 notes · View notes

themattress · 3 years

Text

OUAT AND ME: SEASON 3

Story - Season 3 was the first season to (intentionally) divide itself between two story arcs, with the first half being the Neverland Saga and the second half being the Wicked Saga. While the Neverland Saga focused on the journey of the show's main characters through Neverland as they conquer their own inner demons in order to save Henry from the clutches of Peter Pan, the Wicked Saga focused on a new Dark Curse being cast on Storybrooke and the main characters' fight against Zelena, the Wicked Witch of the West, who is working toward a secret objective that will allow her to exact revenge on Regina, the Evil Queen.

The Neverland Saga, in the present day sequences, is the best the show has been since the Enchanted Forest quest early into Season 2. In its best moments, it's even on par with the Dark Curse Saga of Season 1. Seeing all of the characters work together toward a shared goal after all the clashing agendas from the previous season is so refreshing and exactly what the show needed, and everyone undergoes some kind of character development and gets their moment to shine. Greg and Tamara are killed off within the first few minutes of the premiere episode after finding out that "the Home Office" was the Lost Boys all along, and Peter Pan is quite possibly the greatest Big Bad in the show's entire run, and certainly among its most popular for just how wonderfully menacing, manipulative and despicable he is.

Unfortunately, I can't extend the same praise to its flashback sequences. The ones that involve Rumpelstiltskin and Hook in the 4th, 5th and 8th episodes are great and connect to the current narrative, but I take issue with all of the others in some way, big or small. The flashbacks in the 2nd, 9th and 10th episodes have fuck-all to do with what's currently happening in Neverland, and while the ones in the 3rd and 6th episodes do, there are too many issues in them to consider them good. For the 2nd, 6th and 10th, the problem is that the show is starting to contrive new "Snow White and friends vs. the Evil Queen" stories where they don't belong and aren't needed, and it especially has a negative impact on the Evil Queen since this is the point where she shifted from slightly campy to overtly campy, her menace quota reduced to virtually nil. For the 3rd, giving Regina and Tinker Bell a past connection is fine and works for the story, but the way they do it is stupid and with dire consequences later down the line, plus the show doesn't get much into her connections with actual Peter Pan characters like Hook, Wendy, and, well, Peter Pan. And as for the 9th, I actually have quite a lot to say on that so I'll save it for when I'm discussing Episode Quality.

My thoughts on the Wicked Saga have not changed all these years later: it's a textbook example of They Wasted A Perfectly Good Plot. With the set-up it starts with: a new Dark Curse, a new Big Bad, and new dynamics between many of the characters, they had the chance to take the show in a bold new direction following the ending of the Neverland Saga wrapping up the plot that's been going on since "Pilot". But instead, Adam and Eddy fall back into their bad Season 2 habits, and the result is that the show settles into this kind of bland status quo that it won't ever be able to shake off. The arc isn't actually a bad one, as it's solidly structured just like the Dark Curse and Neverland Sagas and there's a lot of great moments and developments made. It just falls short of the greatness that it could have had.

Characters - Everyone's more likable now! At least until they aren't.

* Emma takes center stage in the Neverland Saga. After finally learning to believe based solely on faith instead of always waiting for evidence to do so, she takes charge as the leader of the group affectionally dubbed "the Nevengers" by fans. In learning how to be a leader, she is able to learn more about herself and become an even more confident and decisive hero. Tragically, her character arc isn't fully resolved before it gets cut off by the events of the midseason finale, leaving her in a state of anxiety and uncertainty in the Wicked Saga before finally making her way back to the resolution of her character arc in the season finale. And on paper, this sounds fine, but in execution Emma's character through the majority of the Wicked Saga is a one-note bore who mainly exists to prop up the development of other characters. She isn't as sidelined as badly as she was in the latter half of Season 2, but still not ideally handled, especially when much of the story arc is specifically building toward only her being able to defeat Zelena only for Regina to do it instead. However, the resolution her character receives in the finale is handled exceptionally well, so I guess it all balances out in the end.

* Snow is actually back on top form in the Neverland Saga and it's wonderful to see, but it doesn't last into the Wicked Saga where she's back to the insipid, Regina-coddling weakling that Season 2 turned her into, whose biggest contribution to the plot is simply having a baby. Charming is a lot more interesting, as in the Neverland Saga we get to see his David Nolan weaknesses return but this time as a result of his Charming strengths, which is a fascinating dynamic to see at work and leads to some great interactions between him and Hook, a relationship that got started in Season 2 and will only continue to grow (and occasionally regress) as the show continues. And in the Wicked Saga, he has an entire episode dedicated to his feelings of failure as a father and how he fears that he might fail his second child too.

* Henry....still sucks, damn it! For a story arc with the mission statement of Save Henry, the Neverland Saga makes it difficult to care about saving him when he's portrayed as so stupid and gullible and easily led by his captor, Peter Pan, to the point where he literally sacrifices his heart (the Heart of the Truest Believer) to him against the pleas of his father and mothers. And while he has the potential to become more interesting in the Wicked Saga due to having lost his memories, the show totally ruins it by giving him his memories back by the end, because Heaven forbid that Regina pay a lasting consequence for her decades of villainy.

* Oh, and speaking of Regina, like Snow she's also really good in the Neverland Saga only for the Wicked Saga to ruin her again. In the Neverland Saga, she establishes herself as the Token Evil Teammate of the Nevengers, who knows she's a sociopathic villain and owns it as she utilizes her skill set for the greater good. Her line after ripping out a Lost Boy's heart at Emma's behest sums up why she works so well in this arc: "She didn't. I did. That's what I'm here for. One happy family." This should have been Regina's seasonal character arc and her status within the show going forward: a part of the family who may be evil and grouchy and not get along with everyone and even antagonize other members of the family, but who can still be counted on when push comes to shove and whom the other members of the family stand on equal grounds with and can push back against. It's the ideal recipe for a slow-burn redemption where by the end of the show she's truly become a semi-decent person. Just the act of destroying and fully reversing the Dark Curse in the midseason finale alone, at the cost of Henry losing all his memories of her while she gives him and Emma good memories of having always been together was a powerful start to such a redemption. It was all right there.

But of course, Adam and Eddy could never let their precious Regina go so long without having all of the things both she and they believe she is entitled to. So in the present-day story of the Wicked Saga (she's still fairly decent in the flashbacks), Regina gets a handsome soulmate in Robin Hood, and validation over her more powerful half-sister, and engagement in family dinners, and reconciliation with Snow without her expressing any remorse or apology toward her (Snow puts the blame on herself instead - "I was such a brat!"), and Henry with all of his memories back, and to out of nowhere and without her heart in her body become a powerful practitioner of light magic to the point where she's basically the Savior now! Yes, she seems to lose Robin at the end when Maid Marian is brought back, but that just ends up making her victim complex and blame deflection even stronger ("You're just like your mother!" she says to Emma, "Never thinking about consequences!" Because how dare she bring back one of Regina's past victims and allow her to be reunited with her family!)

In short, the Wicked Saga put a sudden fast-forward on Regina's redemption, giving her all sorts of goodies that would make sense as individual karmic rewards on a slow-burn redemption but make no sense when they happen in quick succession. And then at the end, they took one of those things away just to make her seem like more of a martyr, something they've been doing ever since the end of "Queen of Hearts" back in Season 2 and at this point I was sick of it. Little did I know it was about to be taken to a whole new level...

* Rumple wasn't bad in the Neverland Saga, per se, in fact he's amazing in the last four episodes. But early in, he backtracks on the goodwill he built up in the Season 2 finale by arrogantly abandoning the rest of the Nevengers to go rescue Henry all by himself, and all this accomplishes is getting him lost in the jungle, crying over old childhood dolls, being plagued by a hallucination of Belle, taunted by Peter Pan, and having an underwhelming reunion with the son he thought had died only to quickly come to blows with said son as he begins showing signs of temptation from his selfish self-preservation instincts at the expense of Henry's well-being once again. It just gets tiring after a while and you're glad when Regina verbally bitch-slaps him back into some semblance of his old self, which leads to the aforementioned amazing moments where he reconciles with the other Nevengers, confronts his father, and ultimately masterminds the heroes’ action plan in the midseason finale which culminates in his final redemption as he sacrifices his life to take down Pan once and for all.

But therein lies the problem: Rumple's entire series-long character arc just came to its natural conclusion. He chose love over power and courage over fear, standing up to the father who ruined his whole psyche and giving his life for his loved ones. However, since it's the middle of the season and Robert Carlyle is still contracted for more, they had to resurrect him. This decision cheapening his sacrifice is bad enough, but the writers also have no real idea what to do with him for the rest of the arc other than act crazy in a cage and then serve as Zelena's meat-slave, which is even less fun to watch than him moping around in the jungle was! While him deceiving Belle and killing Zelena at the end promises better things for him in the future, it's still a slog to have to sit through what preceded it, and you never quite shake off the feeling that the show might have been better off if it only had the balls to leave him dead.

* Hook was already one of the best additions to the cast in Season 2, but Season 3 is where he truly shines. He is in his element in the Neverland Saga, bonding with Emma and Charming while he rediscovers the more heroic and honorable side of himself. The insight into his past especially helps with this, as we better understand where he came from and how he got to where he was when we first met him. And in the Wicked Saga, he is the impetus behind Emma regaining her memories and returning to Storybrooke to be the Savior once more, as we learn that he had attempted to return to his old pirate ways back in the Enchanted Forest but ultimately couldn't do it, as his experiences with Emma and his love for her had changed him for the better. And so when he learned her family was in trouble and needed her help, he sacrificed the Jolly Roger and his pirate captain status in order to get back to her. After learning this on top of all the time they spend together, particularly in that very season finale, Emma finally lets down her walls and enters a romantic relationship with him...and I can't blame her in the slightest, because out of all her love interests, it's clear that she and Hook have the most in common and have the best chemistry. It’s True Love.

* This also might just be the best season for Belle as a character. Her focus episode in the middle of the Neverland Saga is actually about her and her desire to be a hero and contribute to the cause rather than just about her romance with Rumple, and she gets to be a badass who saves the day and makes a great new friend in Ariel. She's also good in the Wicked Saga, where she bonds with Neal, takes Hook and Regina to task for their past misdeeds against her until they apologize and make it up to her, and continues to be a valuable asset as the town librarian and scholar. Pity we can't feel happy for her on her wedding day, though, as even in his goddamn proposal to her Rumple manages to be the worst lover ever.

* Neal is promoted to a regular character this season, which naturally means he's its designated screwed-over regular who won't make it to the next season! It's a shame since despite how miscast Michael Raymond-James continues to be, Neal is better written in this season than he was in the previous one. Through both the Neverland and Wicked Sagas, he shows a passionate desire to be a better father to Henry than Rumple was to him, to not repeat the same mistakes that Rumple made. And so when he is separated from Emma and Henry, he becomes obsessed with getting back to them no matter what the cost, veering dangerously into Rumple territory as he starts dabbling in dark magic. But when the ritual to resurrect his father so that he can find a way back to Earth costs him his life, he ends up accepting his fate rather than cling to life like a coward and risk becoming just like Rumple. While I don't particularly miss him nor do I find his heroic death enough to warrant Snow and Charming naming their new son after him, I'm glad in the end he was able to break the cycle.

* Peter Pan, as I said before, is a top contender for the show's greatest Big Bad. Much of it has to do with Robbie Kay, who absolutely nails the cocky and charismatic yet malicious and frightening qualities that you expect to see from an evil version of Peter Pan. He is so utterly, thoroughly, skin-crawlingly evil that you are invested in the heroes' quest less out of concern for Henry and more because you want to see this demon child be defeated. And of course, there's his backstory and true identity - he's actually Malcolm, Rumple's father, who cruelly abandoned him in order to bond with the Eldritch Abomination personifying Neverland's dark side and obtain eternal youth. But eternal youth doesn't mean eternal life, and Pan will die unless he obtains the Heart of the Truest Believer belonging to his great-grandson, Henry.

While this backstory is divisive among fans, I'm in the camp that loves it. Not only does it add a greater layer of depth to Rumple and his story and make Pan both more pitiful and more reprehensible, but OUAT is at its best when it uses fairy tales to explore real issues, and this is a quite literal exploration of "Peter Pan Syndrome", where adult men selfishly remain in arrested development even when they become fathers. It also really boosts Pan's Ultimate Villain cred, as none of what transpired in the show would have happened if he hadn't abandoned his son and scarred him for life. He is Patient Zero for all the characters' suffering.

* Zelena, the Wicked Witch of the West, naturally feels like a step down when compared to Peter Pan, but this isn't for a lack of effort on the part of the actress, as Rebecca Mader is delightful as she chews the scenery in a blaze of bug-eyed, bared-teeth, shrieking, cackling, psychotic glory. The issues with Zelena are in the writing. First off, making her Regina's half-sister is questionable given that we just had a villain with a secret familial connection with one of our mainstay baddies, which was following from an evil woman with a familial connection to Regina specifically! And them being sisters doesn't have much bearing on the conflict beyond explaining why the Wicked Witch has green skin (it magically turned green out of jealousy for Regina), and she only has green skin in the flashbacks anyway. It also doesn't track with how they first present Zelena in her backstory: she's a girl who wants love and a place to belong, but the moment she discovers she has a sister in another realm her reaction isn't to seek her out and bond with her but "why does she have all of that power and privilege, I oughta have all of that, it's not faaaaaaaaair!" She also lusts after Rumple who, having previously insisted that no-one could ever love him, casually admits that "he has that effect on women" and stops training Zelena because he accepts as fact that she loves him more than anything else and so she can't cast the Dark Curse for him. It makes no sense.

On top of that, her big secret plan ends up being anticlimactic - she wants to create a time travel spell so that she can go back in time and make herself the one who casts the Dark Curse for Rumple - and she is defeated ridiculously easy by Regina's out-of-her-ass light magic powers and then unceremoniously shivved by Rumple in her jail cell. All while Adam and Eddy drop boulder-sized hints that she isn't really dead and we haven't seen the last of her. Then why "kill her" to begin with? Why not just keep her imprisoned? Like I said, Zelena is a good idea for a character and with a great actress, but the writing really let her down.

* Beyond the usual side characters around Storybrooke who are fine as usual, we get several new ones that all make an impact. There's Felix, Pan's creepy and fanatical right-hand boy; Tinker Bell the cynical exiled fairy turned reluctant ally of the Nevengers; the adult versions of John and Michael Darling who run the anti-magic group Greg and Tamara belonged to on Pan's behest since he's holding Wendy hostage; Liam Jones, the deceased older brother of Killian Jones; Ariel of The Little Mermaid fame played to adorable perfection by Joanna Garcia-Swisher, Blackbeard the pirate who serves as Hook's arch-rival in their mutual field of interest; and Glinda the Good Witch who protected Oz until Zelena ousted her from power.

And then there are the new ones that make much less of an impact such as a charisma-free Prince Eric; Walsh the Wizard of Oz (and Emma's short-lived boyfriend, and a flying monkey - yes, he's really all three of those); a bland version of Rapunzel; a dumbfounding semi-villainous adaptation of Lumiere the talking candle, and Dorothy Gale who is so devoid of anything special or interesting that she's a slap in the face to her literary and cinematic counterpart. I'm not sure what went wrong with these characters, but it went very wrong.

However, one side character needs to be addressed above all others: Robin Hood. He's back and involved in the present day story, now played by Sean Maguire instead of Tom Ellis, and the revelation via Tinker Bell's pixie dust that he's Regina's "soul mate" is the start of his character being butchered beyond repair. The sad thing is that it could have worked: the argumentative, mutual dislike yet still caring about each other type of relationship they have in the flashbacks was perfect and should have continued, progressing naturally into Belligerent Sexual Tension and finally romance as Regina becomes a better person. Instead, when they lose their memories and meet again in Storybrooke, it's now love at first sight and instant romance, with Robin being disgustingly courteous and compliant toward Regina (claiming she's "bold and audacious, but not evil"). Robin Hood is supposed to stand against corrupt, oppressive tyrants, not fall in love with them, and Regina is nowhere near out of her corrupt, oppressive tyrant mindset yet. But she's Regina, Adam and Eddy's favorite character, and so if Emma's getting a sexy British love interest than so must she, regardless of how it clashes with his code of honor! Ugh, such a waste of a great hero, and of a good actor.

Atmosphere - Remember when I said that Season 2 got dark in the bad way? Well, the Neverland Saga is dark in the good way, where the darkness isn't coming from a constant steam of personal misery, heinous actions, and the heroes failing against the villains, but from things that are suggested and things that lurk in the shadows, from trials the heroes must face in order to come out stronger that come off almost like an intense form of therapy, and from a particularly evil villain who will do anything to get what he wants. The fight against said villain also restores the tit-for-tat style of combat that Season 1 did so well at, with both the heroes and the villain getting the best of each other on multiple occasions so that it feels like a legitimate struggle rather than a never-ending one-sided blowout like it was with Cora.

Unfortunately, the show also takes this dark atmosphere to way too literal an extreme. The choice to keep Neverland in the present day always at night seems cool early on, but the novelty wears off quickly when you feel like you've been looking at the same backdrop for scenes and even episodes on end. I think allowing some scenes to be at day or afternoon would have done wonders at keeping up a sense of variety - many gifsets online brighten up the pictures and they looks so much better as a result. This was a big wasted opportunity.

The tone of the Wicked Saga is generally lighter and campier, with the only particularly dark things coming from Rumple and Neal's storylines, and that was definitely the right call since anything heavier after the Neverland Saga would start to feel oppressive. And again, the fight against Zelena is an even-handed one, with both heroes and villain getting to score points.

One of the biggest surprises upon revisiting this season is just how well Storybrooke was handled as a setting. It doesn't show up too often in the Neverland Saga but is well utilized when it is, and in the Wicked Saga we get a lot of new locations like Zelena's farmhouse beyond the woods and explorations of ones that were previously underexplored such as the docks and shipyard area. More importantly, magic shenanigans are kept to a minimum and for the most part there are actually sensible rules applied to them! Pan enacting the Dark Curse, the heroes counteracting him, Zelena's usage of magic, Emma learning to channel her inner magic, the séance to summon Cora's spirit, the time travel spell...they are things that don't just happen, there's stuff that has to be done and established beforehand.

It's not all done well, of course - we get the worst excuse why no-one can leave the town line yet (flying monkeys will get you if you try!) and Regina's light magic is pulled out of her ass following a breaking of the Dark Curse from her that makes no sense (Henry wasn't under any curse, so a True Love's Kiss on him shouldn't break squat!), but it's a step up from Season 2, enough to fool you into thinking that Adam and Eddy have learned their lesson.

Episode Quality - There's no bad episode in the Neverland Saga, although there are a few that stand out as weaker than the rest. "Nasty Habits", for instance, is kind of drag whenever Peter Pan isn't onscreen, since the Nevengers are stuck moping around at Baelfire's former tree house while Baelfire himself ("It's NEAL!") continues to be unable to sell the drama between him and his father in the way it deserves to be sold. And "The New Neverland", beyond having an awful title that gives everything away too soon, has a ridiculously fast-paced and repetitive plot in order to set up the midseason finale...a problem that could have been easily rectified had it not also hosted the most pointless flashback in the entire season.

And now I need to talk about the flashback in the episode before that one: "Save Henry", the climax of the Nevengers' time in Neverland. It's about how Regina first adopted Henry, and I actually really like it. It shows how she almost might have reformed after obtaining her new son but then discovered he was the child of the Savior, and unable to choose between him and her power over the cursed town, she copped out by drinking a memory loss potion. Not only is this tragic but it actually explains a lot about why Regina was so unstable and abusive in Season 1, since a flashback in that season had Snow drinking just such a potion to forget Charming and we got to see exactly what it did to her psyche as a result. However...this flashback didn't belong in this particular episode. Sure, Regina's love for Henry was a part of the present day story, but so was Emma's. And Neal's. And Pan's desire to fully assimilate his heart so that he could live forever. I really think that a flashback to Neverland in its prime, shared between Pan, Hook, Baelfire and Tinker Bell, would have been far more appropriate. After all, we hear a lot about those relationships, but I really want to see more of them.

I have few complaints about the present day narratives of "Heart of the Truest Believer", "Lost Girl", "Quite a Common Fairy", "Good Form", "Ariel", "Dark Hollow", "Think Lovely Thoughts" and "Save Henry", though, nor about the flashback of "Nasty Habits" that brilliantly composites Peter Pan with the Pied Piper of Hamelin, luring children away with a pan flute.

And then there's the midseason finale, "Going Home". Holy shit. This is the finale that gives "A Land Without Magic" a run for its money. It's not just the finale to the Neverland Saga, but the finale to the entire story that was begun in "Pilot", with every character making what appears to be their last stand. The stakes and the emotions run very high in this one, peaking with the double punch of Rumple's beautiful sacrifice to save his loved ones from Pan and the scene at the town line where Emma and Henry have to say goodbye to all of their friends and family from Storybrooke, with the town and the characters disappearing in a cloud of purple smoke as Emma and Henry drive across the town line, all their memories of the show's events forgotten but replaced with new memories implanted by Regina, memories of Emma never giving Henry up for adoption and them living happily together for years. It all started when Henry came to Emma's apartment to bring her to Storybrooke, and now it ends with them both leaving Storybrooke and heading toward their happy ending. It's perfect.

The Wicked Saga had its work cut out for it in topping what came before it, and "New York City Serenade" following up the last minute, literal Sequel Hook of "Going Home" does end up feeling anti-climactic in how quickly Stoybrooke, its residents, and all of Emma's memories are restored (also, Emma's new boyfriend being a flying monkey was so dumb), but it's still a solid and enjoyable enough episode to watch, with its direct follow-up, "Witch Hunt", being even better. "The Tower" has great atmosphere and character development, and while "Quiet Minds" definitely could have been better, it could have been worse too. "The Jolly Roger", meanwhile, is the perfect midpoint episode, mostly a breather and a deeper exploration of Hook's character and how much he's changed in spite of him doing his damndest in the flashback to resist that change, as well as the welcome return of our fave fish-girl, Ariel.

It's really just the four heavily Zelena-focused episodes "It's Not Easy Being Green", "Bleeding Through", "A Curious Thing" and "Kansas" that I have trouble with; I feel like the writers really dropped the ball on Regina and Zelena's conflict and individual character development in these episodes, which is ironic given that Evil vs. Wicked was the biggest thing promoted about this half-season arc and it ended up being its weakest element.

The two-part season finale, "Snow Drifts" and "There's No Place Like Home", is both a weird and wacky homage to Back to the Future and a return to the series' magical roots. Emma and Hook's adventure to the time of the "Snow Falls" flashback is so much fun and is the perfect antidote to the last few lousy episodes. It also could have very well made an ideal series finale if five changes had been made to both it and the whole Wicked Saga's story: Neal would have to still be alive (that way we don't get the baby being named after him, which is stupid), Rumple would have to still be dead (so no lying to Belle via wedding proposal and killing Zelena), Zelena would have to still be alive and in jail (totally doable with Rumple not alive), Marian would have to not be included in the plot at all (past or present), and of course the stinger with Elsa showing up would have to be removed. Do that and it's a happy ending. But they didn't do that, so following a quick diversion, I'm stuck having to watch Season 4.

Overall - Just as there is no doubt in my mind that Season 1 is the show’s strongest season, there is no doubt in my mind that Season 3 is the runner-up. This is an all-around solid, largely well-crafted, entertaining season of television, especially the first half of it. During this season, I was proud to call myself a OUAT fan. It’s such a shame that the Wicked Saga didn’t end up innovating more and instead settled the show down into a status quo, because if it hadn’t done that then this season’s template would have been the one to follow for the rest of the show, with truly new and exciting story arcs in each half of a season that shake up the show and its characters for the better rather than always returning them to the same tired status quo that only lessens their appeal every time it happens. Oh, what might have been...

#Once Upon a Time #ABC #OUAT and Me #Opinion #Analysis

11 notes · View notes

slstmaraudersjple · 4 years

Text

Belated Fic Rec Event post!

Soooo... some of you may know that I was unfortunately not able to post my fic recs for the KC Fic Rec Event hosted by @klaroline-events due to my laptop dying and me needing to order a replacement battery/charging cord. So here are the fic recs for days 2-6! Lots of good fics ;)

Klaroline Fic Rec Event 2020 - Day 2 Sep 1st: All Human!AU Title: Colored You In (Links: FFN | AO3) Author: @lalainajanes (Links: FFN | AO3) Summary: AH-AU. Rebekah asks a favor that turns out to be kind of life changing (life ruining?) for Caroline. Living with a temporarily broke Kol is one thing. A really, really annoying thing. And then Klaus is suddenly always around, planted on her couch, drinking her wine and adding snarky commentary which Caroline DOES NOT appreciate. Mikaelson's and boundaries apparently did not mix. Warnings: none Status: Complete

Why you should read it: This has everything I love in a Klaroline fic: Caroline friendship with Rebekah and Enzo, Caroline/Kol bonding, Mikaelson sibling drama... and of course, Klaus secretly being trash for Caroline. It’s hilariously entertaining, especially when Caroline suspects SOMETHING is up and Kol keeps teasing her about it because he KNOWS, and Rebekah DOESN’T know what’s happening until she does, and the Mikaelson sibling dynamic is so entertaining and YOU WLL LOVE IT. I mean, in the first chapter, Rebekah bribes Caroline into letting Kol stay with her. That alone should set the tone for the entir story for you. Seriously, just read it already!

A favorite scene:

The box said 'Louboutin' so Caroline was on guard. When Rebekah had called yesterday and asked Caroline to meet her for drinks Caroline had agreed immediately. Work was hectic, she had fundraiser to oversee tomorrow, so a martini (or three) to wind down sounded like a good idea.

Beware of Greeks bearing gifts, or so the saying went.

"Do you need a kidney, or something? Because I love you, Bex. But I love gin too."

Klaroline Fic Rec Event 2020 - Day 3 Sep 2nd: Angst Title: all you need to grow inside my spine (Links: FFN | AO3) Author: @highgaarden (Links: FFN | AO3) Summary: Klaus watches, satisfied, and in that moment she realizes something terrible: that she is grateful for the blood in her mouth. The sooner they break this bond the better. / or, Klaus and Caroline try to bargain their way out of their soulmate bond, but discover that dealing with magic isn't quite as easy or liberating as snapping a neck. ONESHOT. Warnings: none Status: Complete

Why you should read it: You should read this for the writing alone. The lines just TUG at your very soul and if you didn’t know words could hurt, this does it. This story is a variation on the soulmates AU where Klaus and Caroline are NOT delighted by what they learn, and so they agree to try to break this bond. What I like about this is that it’s a story where, while Klaus may be intrigued by Caroline, he still chooses power over his soulmate. Or does he?

A favorite scene:

“I tried, so hard, to be good.” Caroline closes her eyes to the blood dripping down her forehead. “So freakin’ hard. I was on the bunny diet. I thought if I ever showed you who I was, my soulmate would run for the hills.”

“Aren’t you glad then that it’s me?”

Klaroline Fic Rec Event 2020 - Day 4 Sep 3rd: Fluff Title: The Sound of Settling (Link: AO3) Author: @galvanizedfriend / Yokan (Link: AO3) Summary: Klaus hates his job at Mikaelson & Sons. He hates wearing a suit. He also hates his brothers constantly butting into his life. Everything will be better once he gets his much desired transfer to the New York branch. Caroline Forbes is the owner of Mystic Café, and when Klaus accidentally wanders into her coffee shop, his whole perspective changes. [AH/Coffee Shop!AU where Klaus is a lawyer. Lots of Mikaelsons and some Carenzo friendship.] Warnings: none Status: Complete

Why you should read it: I love this story so much! It’s a variation of the coffee shop meet cute, and I love how @galvanizedfriend can take a simple setting like a coffee shop and making something beautiful out of it!!! All Klaus wants in life is to get away from his family, so he works himself to the bone in hopes of getting a transfer. One day he comes across Caroline’s coffee shop as he’s looking for his next coffee fix, but discovers reasons to keep coming back... and the best part about all this? This beautifully written story reminds us that sometimes, what we think we want is not what we truly want.

A favorite scene:

"Well, you haven't run for the hills. I think you turned out pretty ok, if you ask me." Caroline pushes up her seat and winks at him. "Duty calls."

Klaus is left in a state of absolute disbelief as she walks back to the counter. Thirty-two years of age and this might be the first time anyone claims he's turned out ok. His ex-girlfriend with a degree to validate her opinion would probably have some points to make.

He doesn't know if Caroline is completely crazy or if she genuinely sees something no other person ever did. Klaus is almost afraid of believing the latter.

Klaroline Fic Rec Event 2020 - Day 5 Sep 4th: Smut Title: Battle Lines (Links: FFN | AO3) Author: Jinxed-Wood (Links: FFN | AO3) Summary: Battle Lines [Dark Season 2 AU ] The little cheerleader had seemed the perfect candidate for Klaus's purposes, an outlier of the herd if you will, but as he tried to bend her to his will, it quickly became apparent she was not the pushover she had first appeared to be... Warnings: character deaths, dubious(?) consent, mentions of sexual assault and trauma Status: Incomplete

Why you should read it: This is a dark season 2 AU where morality is very, very gray. Klaus decides to use Caroline to spy on her friends. Caroline, on the other hand, is used to being underestimated, and she takes advantage of it to ensure her survival. In an interesting turn of events, Klaus’ actions result in Caroline getting what she deserves, which is better. However, since this fic is incomplete, I have no idea how it’s going to end! Also, tons and tons of smutty goodness!

A favorite scene:

He collapsed on top of her and waited for their thrum of their hearts to ease, stroking her hair absently as his mind turned over the future. Truth be told, Caroline's usefulness as a spy had been somewhat eroded as a result of his earlier than planned return to Mystic Falls, but he found her...diverting, and that was not a phrase he used for a lot of people. Perhaps he could convince her to make a more permanent arrangement?

But that meant he would have to to seduce her into his life as well as his bed, and what did he have to offer that Caroline Forbes would want?

Klaroline Fic Rec Event 2020 - Day 6 Sep 5th: Supernatural!AU (undine!Caroline and Originals!Mikaelsons) Title: Drown Me in Ash, Burn Me in Salt (links: FFN | AO3) Author: @cupcakemolotov (links: FFN | AO3) Summary: Cursed with legs by a witch as the gods were unmade, Caroline is a relic of ancient times. Bored and lonely, her interest is peaked by the newest predators in the world - vampires. And in particular, Klaus Mikaelson, with his monsters teeth and the wolf caged in his blood. Warnings: some blood and gore, nothing explicit Status: Complete

Why you should read it: If you’re looking for powerful Caroline and the Mikaelsons, this is it! This is a rather lengthy 14k-word one-shot, and one that I find myself turning to time and time again. @cupcakemolotov does an incredible job building worlds upon worlds, and this is no exception. I love that in this world, Caroline is older than the Mikaelsons (but not an Original), an ancient creature who finds amusement in this dysfunctional family and keeps them around because she can. I love her interactions with the Mikaelson siblings, of the way she seamlessly moves through the world on her own terms and no one else’s.

A favorite scene:

“So, you’re more of a siren?” Klaus asked thoughtfully, head tilting as he faced her with no fear.

Caroline sighed and disentangled herself from the chains and corpse. “What is it with humans and naming things?”

“Power,” Klaus murmured as she reached for his locks. “Dominion does not come easily, against the unnamed night terrors. Why are you helping us?”

“I’m bored,” Caroline told him, switching to Rebekah’s chains. “Your little vampire creations are amusing, even if you taste like the grave.”

Klaroline Fic Rec Event 2020 - Day 7 Sep 6th: Free for all! Title: A Pregnant Pause (Links: FFN | AO3) Author: @supremeuppityone (Links: FFN | AO3) Summary: Klaroline supernatural AU multi-chap. Pregnant and alone, Caroline meets a woman named Rebekah, and an unexpected friendship is formed. But then, her ridiculously attractive asshat of a brother starts inserting himself into their lives, causing all kinds of trouble. Despite being distracted by those dimples, she notices something seems a bit off about the Mikaelsons... Warnings: discussions on abortion Status: Incomplete

Why you should read it: It should go without saying that this is one of my FAVORITE Klaroline fics of all time. This features a clueless and pregnant human Caroline who finds herself entangled with the MIkaelson family. I absolutely adore the Caroline/Rebekah friendship that forms, the way Caroline wins over each of the Mikaelson siblings, and the way they find themselves drawn to her in turn. This story makes me laugh and cry, and I appreciate @supremeuppityone’s writing SO MUCH.

A favorite scene:

Clearing her throat, she told Rebekah, “You’ll figure it out. And I’ll help.”

She favored Caroline with a weak smile. “I thought I was supposed to be helping you.”

“So, we’ll help each other then.” Caroline laid back against one of the fluffy pillows on the chaise, a forearm over her eyes as she let out a soft groan.

So here we go! One epic belated post!

#KCFicRecEvent #klaroline #klaroline fanfiction #klaroline fanfic

43 notes · View notes

theformula1recap · 3 years

Text

The British Grand Prix

What a weekend this was! This was a Grand Prix where we have seen new things, overtakes, hearth break, and euphoria. Let us start with the new concept of qualifying, the sprint race. The weekend started with free practice 1 and qualification for the sprint race on Friday. With only one free practice of an hour before qualifying the pressure was on. Qualifying went how we know it with Q1, Q2, and Q3. There were very few surprises in Q1 with an elimination of the two Haas drivers, the Williams of Nicholas Latifi and the Alfa Romeo of Kimi Raikkonen. Q2 ended with a disappointing result for lance stroll who came in as 15th. Antonio Giovinazzi, who did a good job at out-qualifying his teammate yet again came in as 14th. Ocon on the other hand behind his teammate on the 13the place followed by fellow Frenchman, Gasly on 12th. Giving 11th to Fernando Alonso.

Q3 ended with a 10th place for Sebastian Vettel, 9th for Carlos Sainz, 8th for George Russell in his Williams which was an amazing performance for him, 7th was for our Australian friend Daniel Ricciardo followed by his teammate Lando Norris in 6th, 5th was for Sergio Perez, 3th Valtteri Bottas, 2th Max Verstappen leaving the pole position to the speed king award winner Lewis Hamilton.

Saturday was all about the first-ever sprint race. The positions were determined and the drivers were ready to fully send it. Some people were afraid that the drivers wouldn’t give it their all, afraid to make mistakes and lose a critical position, but most of the drivers made it clear they were going for the best results. The race started how any race would start, with a formation lap and the drivers taking their positions on the grid. The thing that stood out most as the drivers waited for lights out was that the breaks of the Dutchman were on fire.

The lights went out and with an amazing start Verstappen took the lead almost immediately with Hamilton following close behind him. All drivers battling right from the start. There was a little incident in lap one where Nikita Mazepin spun out a little but nothing to severe as he returned to the track almost immediately. There also was a touché between Russell and Sainz where Russell pushed Sainz off of the track.

Lewis stayed very close to Verstappen and tried to overtake him by trying to break the slipstream going into Booklands corner but the corner was too tight. A little later in the first lap Hamilton had another slipstream and came incredibly close to overtake Verstappen but alas without result. Another driver who made immens progress at the start was Fernando Alonso, he gained 6 postitions leaving him in 5th.

All stayed relatively calm till lap 5 where Sergio Perez made a mistake and spun out leaving the track completely and almost ended up hitting the wall. This cost him greatly as he had to start the race from the pit lane. Then in lap 6, Norris finally overtook Alonso after a long hunt behind him. Just three laps later Alonso also lost the fight to Norris’ teammate Daniel Ricciardo, leaving Alonso in 7th.

The rest of the race was a little uneventful leading to the final lap where Max Verstappen crossed the finish line first giving him pole position for the race on Sunday, followed by p2 for Lewis Hamilton and p3 for Valtteri Bottas.

Race day

It was lights out and away we go, and what a first lap it was. Verstappen had a slight better start but Hamilton stayed very close behind him as they were almost side by side going into turn one. Lewis was on the inside leaving Verstappen to have a slightly better exit. They stayed very close together for the entire first lap not touching each other once. The fight between them was on and neither one of them were pulling away. This all changed when they got to Copse corner where they collided leaving Verstappen to be in a high speed crash into the tire wall. The accident resulted in a DNF for Verstappen and a trip to the hospital for precautionary checks. Leclerc managed to secure the lead while the accident happened in front of him. A safety car was given but soon turned into a red flag. And all of that in the first lap of the race.

At the restart all went well with Leclerc leading the pack. On the 4th lap there was a little spin for vettel setting him back to last place. Lap 14 there was an engine failure for Leclerc which was quickly resolved. Hamilton had been given a 10 second time penalty for his collision with Verstappen in lap one which he had to add on to his pitstop time in lap 28. Leaving him in 4th place behind Leclerc, Bottas and Norris. Not soon after however he overtook Norris and a few laps later Bottas was giving instruction to let Hamilton pass him. Then on lap 50/52 Hamilton passed Charles Leclerc after he had been in the lead for 43 laps. Hamilton won his home Grand Prix with Leclerc 2nd and Bottas 3rd.

Hamilton was very excited to win this race, he was given a British flag and drove it around the track waving it at the crowd. Later when he arrived at the number one sign in the pits he got out of his car after some congratulations from fellow drivers and run into the grass next to the track and waved the flag some more. There was a lot of discussion about his overexcited and grand celebrations. Some people thought he deserved it and some people thought it to be unsportsmanlike after he caused a collision on his biggest rival this season.

Let me know what you thought about this weekend, did you like the sprint qualy, did you enjoy the race? And what was your opinion on the whole Hamilton situation?

-Davey

#formula 1 #f1 fandom #f1driver #mercedes amg f1 #f1 weekend #f1 news #max verstappen #lewis hamilton #charles lecrelc #valtteri bottas

2 notes · View notes

general-fanfiction · 4 years

Text

I Hate Christmas, But You Don’t.(Sweet Pea x Reader)

Summary: Nobody can understand why Y/N won’t get into the festive spirit.

Word Count: 3,172

Gif Not Mine. Requests Are Open!

Warnings: Swearing?

December 3rd. No matter where I look I can't escape the festive season. Jovial Christmas songs ring out over the school speakers, tinsel hangs from ceilings and there is a rather large tree decorated with blue and white baubles in the corner of the student lounge. Everybody seems happier, cheerier now that Christmas is near. Students eagerly handing out cards and giving hints as to what their gifts are. I'm surrounded by the Christmas spirit and I hate it. Placing my books in my locker, I try not to watch as everybody shares giddy smiles with one another. Each discussing how excited they are now that December 25th is near. As I close my locker and press my back against it, I spot two of my best friends approaching me from across the hall. Veronica and Betty both look extremely jolly and as much as I am glad that they're happy, I can't help but wish the entire Christmas period could just end. As they stand in front of me with beaming smiles on their faces, I notice that they're both sporting Christmas jumpers. Both of which are hideous and presumably incredibly itchy. Why anybody would embarrass themselves like that is beyond me. "Y/N, we need a favour from you." Raising my eyebrows at the girls in front of me, I watch as Betty holds out a small bag for me to take. Upon opening it, I find myself pulling out a jumper just like theirs. An elf is printed on the front, complimented by a series of bells around the collar. It's potentially worse that Veronica's and Betty's combined. So bad in fact that I actually start to believe this may be a joke. Some sort of prank in which they wanted to capture my reaction on camera. "What the fuck is this?" I ask, shaking it slightly so that the bells ring together in chorus. Several students glance our way as I hold up the monstrosity that is the Christmas jumper. No doubt they're thinking the same thing as me and I genuinely begin to feel embarrassed even holding the thing. "It's a Christmas jumper. We want you to wear it and help out with the Christmas market. All of the River Vixens are doing it so you have to take part." Veronica states, the wide grin never leaving her face. "Even Cheryl is wearing one." Betty comments, pointing down the hallway. Turning my head, I spot Cheryl Blossom wearing a red jumper decorated with a snowman. She's paired it with a black mini skirt and somehow manages to rock the look, despite the complete ugliness of the jumper. "You see. You have to help now." Betty hesitates slightly as she notices the scowl on my face, her eyes pleading with me to say yes. Looking down at the jumper, I scream internally. I hate Christmas. I hate Christmas. I hate Christmas. As much as I want to help Veronica and Betty and the Vixens, I would much rather stay out of their festive antics. It's just not for me. "No." "What? What do you mean no?" Veronica asks, the smile on her face now replaced with a slight frown. "I said no. I'm not wearing this stupid jumper and I'm not helping out with your Christmas market." I tell them, shoving the jumper towards Betty before I stomp down the hallway trying to calm the anger rising within me. December 4th. Flipping through the channels on the tv I find myself groaning after realising there is nothing to watch. That's a lie. The only thing playing on the tv is the same five Christmas movies on every single channel. Throwing the remote at the wall, I lean back into the sofa with an exaggerated huff. "What did the tv do to you?" Sweet Pea asks with a chuckle, placing two steaming mugs of coffee on the table. Shrugging aggressively, I decide not to make eye contact with him as he joins me on the couch. We sit in silence for a few minutes, the only sound being the traffic outside of my house. Sweet Pea's hand cautiously moves over to rest on my thigh, his fingers delicately stroking my jean clad leg. "I saw you get mad at your Northside friends yesterday. Anything you want to talk about?" I roll my eyes as I push his hand away from me. Not wanting this conversation right now, I choose to take a sip of coffee hoping that he will get the hint that I don't want to talk. Alas, this is Sweet Pea I'm talking about and he never knows how to take a hint. Instead he waits patiently with his gaze locked on me, determined that I answer his question. "Why would I want to talk about it? Everything's fine." A soft laugh escapes his lips as I speak. Glaring at him slightly, I cross my arms over my chest and push myself deeper into the couch. The red tint on my face is most likely noticeable as I continue to listen to the sweet sound of Pea's giggles. No matter how discreet he tries to be, I still manage to hear him. "Babe, you threw a jumper at them. That isn't really normal behaviour." His hand moves again, yet this time it rests on my arm. He tries to tug me up ever so slightly. Simply so he can get a better view of my face, though I make this as hard as possible for him as I sink all of my bodyweight into the couch. "I'm not talking about this with you Pea." I admit, finally allowing him to pull me up so that I can face him. His eyes drink in my expression, as though he's making sure that he's reading me correctly. When a small smile appears on his face, I can't help but smile too. Even if I really don't want to. Pea presses a soft kiss to my nose, before taking my hands in his. "Aright. So when are you putting your decorations up?" He asks, trying to change the subject. "I don't want to talk about Christmas." December 11th. Sweet Pea, Toni, Cheryl and Fangs stand at one side of the park. Betty, Veronica, Jughead and Archie stand at the other end. The scene is peaceful, tranquil even. That is until the Great Snowball War of Riverdale commences. You would never guess that the eight of them were teenagers as they ran through the snow, huring it at one another with tremendous force. Wrapped up in my large winter coat, I stay perched on the bench. Fortunately I was able to stay out of the action due to their being an odd number. Hence why I'm sat on the bench with a warm drink in my glove covered hands. As I watch the gang in front of me, I laugh quietly as I see Sweet Pea tackle Fangs to the ground, pushing snow into his face. Even when they're on the same team they can't seem to play nice. I smile as I watch Sweet Pea dance around victoriously, thinking he won simply for his attack on Fangs. Though when Fangs, Jughead and Toni all dive at the taller Serpent it's evident that he is not in fact the winner. "You should join us. It's pretty fun, no matter how stupid we look." Cheryl says, taking a seat next to me on the wooden bench. Her cheeks are tinted red and her normally flawless hair is damp from the snow. Diverting my gaze back to the group I see that they all have Pea pinned to the ground, each of them taking turns to hold him down and shovelling snow on top of him. "I'd rather stay mildly warm, I don't particularly want to end up like my poor boyfriend over there." I admit, clutching the latte in my hands closer to my chest. Cheryl laughs slightly at my words, evidently watching the group in front of us. When I look back at her, I see that she's looking at me. A look of curiosity in her eyes, as though she's trying to figure me out. Figure out why I'm sat on a bench rather than enjoying the winter with my friends. "No. I'm sick of you being miserable. You are going to get in the festive spirit whether you like it or not." She tells me, determination written across her face. "Cheryl, that's not going to happen." Though as soon as the words leave my mouth, I feel her plant a ball of snow on top of my head. Cold drips of water fall down my face and I shake my head in hopes of ridding myself of the snow. Cheryl has a smirk on her face as she stands up, eyebrows raised as though waiting for me. I place my cup on the floor, shaking my head as I begin to follow her. "Cheryl Blossom get back here right now!" I yell, chasing after her as she sprints over to our group of friends. Grabbing a handful of snow I throw it in the general direction of the redhead, praying that I will at least hit her even slightly. When I look however, I see that the snowball landed directly on Sweet Pea's chest. Unlike when Jughead or Fangs threw a snowball at him, he doesn't look angry, rather he looks insanely happy. A huge smile spread across his face as he races towards me. Pea sweeps me off my feet in a bone crushing hug, spinning my round in circles. Ultimately leaving us both dizzy, meaning we have to stand still for several minutes before we regain our composure. Resting his somewhat cold forehead against mine, he hugs me tighter. "You have no idea how happy I am right now." He whispers, making sure that none of the others can hear him. A small giggle leaves my mouth and I lean up slowly, kissing Sweet Pea as delicately as possible. Despite the immense cold around us, the kiss is warm and gentle. It's perfect. Or it is until a snowball hits me on the side of the head, interrupting our moment. "Oh now it's on!" December 17th. "You are going to love your Christmas present!" Sweet Pea tells me, distracting me from my calculus homework. What does he mean Christmas present? I made him promise that we wouldn't get each other Christmas presents. December 25th is just a regular day, there's nothing special about it. At least not to me. Not to sound selfish, but I don't want a gift off Pea. "We said we weren't going to do presents." I say, staring at him from across the table. His eyebrows furrow slightly, confused as to why I'm so against the idea of receiving a present. I guess to him, and every single other person on the planet, people love presents. Just not me. It's not the presents I have a problem with. It's the whole ideology of Christmas. "You weren't serious about that? It's Christmas, I had to get you a present." Although I try my hardest not to, I can't help but scoff. Looking away from the boy at the other side of the table. Why could he not just listen to me when I said no presents? It's a fairly simple request and yet he can't even follow through with that. "I don't like Christmas Pea. I fucking hate it. So no, I don't want a present." I snap, sounding a lot angrier than intended. When I finally look back at my boyfriend, he has a sadness in his eyes. I hurt him. Unintentionally of course. Though I still hurt him. Grabbing my books from the kitchen table, I begin to throw them into my backpack. I'm at the door of his trailer when he speaks again. "Why don't you like it? I mean, even I like it." His voice is quiet, hesitant. Worried I'll snap again. How do I even answer that question? It's a long story and not one I want to relive. Yet I want to be honest with him. Sweet Pea moves to sit on the couch, motioning for me to join him though I stay completely still. Stood in front of the door in case I need to bolt quickly. "My parents used to argue a lot. Like a lot. It always got worse on Christmas. When I was twelve, the argument on Christmas was worse than any before. It ended with my dad throwing a vase against the wall before walking out of the door. He never came back. We haven't celebrated Christmas since, now do you understand why I don't like Christmas?" I ask, looking over to him where he sits with his head in his hands. "I'm sorry." "It's just a lot of shitty memories. Christmas is no big deal to me because I've never really had a proper Christmas." When Sweet Pea stays silent I approach him slowly, taking a seat next to him on the couch. He glances up at me with an expression of guilt on his face causing me to wrap my arms around his torso in an awkward side hug. "You've done nothing wrong Pea, I promise. I'm sorry that I ruined your Christmas." I whisper, nuzzling my face into his neck. Pressing a kiss against his Serpent tattoo, I inhale his scent. Cigarettes and cinnamon. Such a perfect combination. He holds on to my arm as I lean into him further. The tension in his body slowly releasing. December 22nd. Sitting in a booth at Pop's, I slowly take a drink of my strawberry milkshake as I listen to Betty tells us about her romantic Christmas night with Jughead. It's cheesy and slightly gross but I still find myself listening intently. "What about you and Sweet Pea? How are you two spending your Christmas?" Ronnie asks, three pairs of eyes suddenly turning to me in unison. I didn't know me and Pea were supposed to spend the day together. Personally, I was just going to spend the day in bed. Possibly catching up on any coursework. The thought never crossed my mind that perhaps Sweet Pea wanted to spend the day with me. Sure, I may not like Christmas but that doesn't mean he doesn't. "We're not doing anything." I admit, stirring my milkshake with the straw so that I don't have to look at the three girls. "You and Pea aren't doing anything? You know how much that boy loves Christmas? There's no way you guys aren't spending the day together!" Toni chuckles, her words hitting me hard although she doesn't know it. Sweet Pea likes Christmas. A lot by the sounds of it. The award for shittiest girlfriend goes to Y/N Y/L/N. All of this time I've been so focused on myself and how much I hate Christmas that I never even thought to ask about what Sweet Pea wants. "Speaking of you and Sweet Pea, if he loves Christmas that much then maybe now is the perfect time to ya know.." Betty trails off, causing me to look at her, evidently confused. "Have sex Y/N. You and Sweet Pea could finally have sex." Veronica states, a little too loudly in my opinion as the people in the booth next to us look over in our direction. Could Pea and I have sex? The topic has never really been brought up in conversation but thinking about it now would be the perfect time. Not only to make up for being a bad girlfriend but also as a sort of Christmas gift. Maybe this Christmas won't be so bad. December 25th. Knocking on the door of the trailer, I hear Pea shuffling about before eventually opening the door. He's wearing an oversized hoodie with a pair of sweatpants and although the look in only meant for comfort, it makes him look extremely hot. "Merry Christmas!" He's shocked at the sight of me stood on his doorstep at little past eleven in the morning. At first I begin to doubt whether he actually wants me here, but then the biggest smile appears on his face and I know I've made the right choice to come over. "What are you doing? I thought you hated Christmas?" He asks, stepping aside to let me into his heavily decorated trailer. "Yeah, but you don't. So I brought chocolate cake, a bottle of whiskey and also your present." Placing the cake and alcohol on his kitchen table, I hand him the box that I was carrying under my arm. Pea throws himself on the couch placing the box on the coffee table. He looks like a child, eagerly pulling away the tissue paper from the inside. He holds up the leather jacket, mouth open in shock as he sees the newly embroidered serpent patch on the back. "Your old one has seen better days so I spoke to FP." I admit, smiling contently as he pulls the jacket on over the top of his hoodie. Before I can process what is happening, his arms are wrapped around me. Engulfing me in a hug, the fresh smell of leather hitting me the moment he is near. I settle into the embrace, allowing myself to feel relaxed. Happy. "Does this mean you'll accept my present?" He asks hopefully, gazing down at me with nothing but adoration in his eyes. Nodding my head, he kisses my temple before running off into his bedroom. Taking a seat at the kitchen table, I only wait for a minute before he comes bounding back in with a small black box. Handing it to me, he watches me carefully. Making sure he can clearly see my reaction. Inside the box is the most stunning silver snake ring that I have ever seen. I never knew I could smile as much as I am right now and everything suddenly feels perfect. Pea takes the ring out of the box and slips it on to my finger, smiling down at me when it's on. "I love you Sweet Pea." It's the first time those words have left my mouth but it feels like the right time to say them. My heart is swelling with love and I know that I really do mean what I say. Pea looks as though he is about to burst from happiness and hungrily captures my lips in a kiss. "I love you too sweetheart." Wrapping my arms around his neck, I kiss him with more aggression than ever before. Gripping his hair, I pull at it until he groans in my ear. Giggling at the sound, I see his cheeks turning a dark crimson. "Don't start something you can't finish Y/N." He whispers, trailing kisses down my neck. "Who says I can't finish it?" I've always hated Christmas. Yet with you, I don't hate it nearly as much as I thought I did.

310 notes · View notes