#s2 was the hardest for some reason

[ghostlygeto]

never going to be | geto suguru

pairing: geto suguru x fem!reader

warnings: hurt/no comfort, spoilers?? bc half based on the street scene from s2 ep5 but no gojo, talks of death + killing, i’ve never written jjk before sorry if it’s obvious. potential for part two, who knows wif me :3, proof read but it was 7am so i probably missed stuff!

wc: 1.4k

there were several people geto would have anticipated shoko calling after seeing him on the street. he assumed it to be gojo, knowing his best friend would show up and likely give him an ear full. he was ready for it, he had been preparing himself to see satoru since the second he made this choice.

he listened to shoko’s one sided conversation for a little while before she hung up and gave him a smile. “care to wait here with me? someone’s on their way, they want to see you.”

silence fell between the two, geto staring down at his shorter friend and she stared into the crowd, leaning against a pole behind her. he decided to stay, at least for a few minutes. to talk with her.

“you can ask about it,” geto closes his eyes and sighs, “i know you want to.”

“you wouldn’t have run away if it wasn’t true, we all know,” shoko responded, taking a drag of her cigarette, “he was devastated when he found out.”

geto shifted uncomfortably, “i knew he would be.” he waited a second, wondering if he should even ask his next question. “what about-”

“ask her yourself,” shoko threw the unfinished cigarette onto the concrete and stepped on it. “if you get the chance.”

confused could barely sum up how geto felt as his friend started walking away from him. still, he stayed silent, not calling out to her in fear that she’d say something he didn’t want to hear. geto understood the consequences of his actions, the moment he made up his mind he knew that he’d have to abandon everything. jujutsu tech, his friends, you.

it felt almost like a dream when you called out for him. for some reason you were the last person he had expected shoko to call when she found him. but there you were, standing a few feet away from him in your school uniform with tears in your eyes and breathing heavily. you had to have ran all the way here from the school.

“what’re you doing here?” geto tried to keep a straight face, pretend that his heart didn’t ache seeing you. as much as he didn’t want to admit it, you were the hardest part about the decision he made.

leaving you, his girlfriend that had been by his side for as long as he could remember, behind had to be the worst. the two of you had been together since close to the beginning of your first year, you had spent close to every day together since then.

you were his everything. and he was yours, you would do anything for him. you always had and swore you always would. you always tried to fix things for him, covering for him and lying when you didn’t need to to help keep him out of trouble where you could.

which was exactly why you were the last person shoko should’ve called.

“come back, suguru,” you tried to keep your voice stable, unwilling to let him see you cry. you were always so brave, yet another thing he admired about you. “i’ll talk to them, i’ll convince them it’s all just a misunderstan-”

“there is no misunderstanding, y/n,” you hated the way his voice sounded. cold, distant, unbothered. he was trying to shut you out, “the things they’ve said about me are true. i did those things, don’t you understand?”

geto wouldn’t even look at you, and you weren’t sure if it had been for your sake or his. if he looked at you now, he’d see your big eyes staring up at him, tears filled to the brim. and he’d break. he would have to hold you, apologize and beg for your forgiveness. but he didn’t deserve your forgiveness, deep down he hoped you knew that too.

“there has to be something else to it, something you’re not telling us,” you grab into the sleeve of his shirt, forcing him to keep still. he keeps trying to walk away from you. “just tell me the truth suguru, please.”

“what you heard is the truth, y/n. i killed the non-sorcerers. i want to create a world without cursed. the only way to do that is to kill everyone who can’t control it,” he wanted to tear his arm away from your grasp but he couldn’t. your fingers burned the skin on his hand that they had grazed against, so softly it almost hurt. “this is the path i’ve chosen.”

you weren’t sure what to to, or what to say. you didn’t want to accept the fact that he did this. your suguru could never, he was sweet and kind and gentle. but the man before you, that spoke to you in a harsh tone and wouldn’t even look you in the eyes, he somehow seemed to only be a shell. he was not geto suguru.

“take me with you, then. let me do this along side you.”

your words shook him to his core, causing him to finally look you in the eyes. “you’re insane. i could never let you throw everything away like that.” the look he was giving you felt like a combination of anger and disgust, one that almost made you cower in fear. “you’ve got too much going for you there. you’re not doing this with me.”

“and you don’t?” you raised your voice, feeling the lump in your throat grow larger, “you don’t have too much going for you there? you’re going to throw away everything. your friendships with shoko and gojo, your future. our future?”

“this is my future! can’t you see that!” geto surprised himself with how loud his voice came out, not intending to yell at you the way he was. but he couldn’t believe you would say something like that. “i’m creating a better future. for us, y/n. a world without non-sorcerers is a world without curses. a safer world for all of us.”

his words made you feel sick. you were born, chosen, to be a sorcerer to help the people who couldn’t control their cursed energy. how could he turn his back to them like that? how could he turn his back to you?

“if you won’t take me with you, i want you to kill me.” your voice shook, filled with uncertainty and heartbreak.

“what?”

“i don’t want to do this without you, suguru. i can’t. gojo and shoko will understand, i know they will. and you can’t get in trouble if i asked you to do it,” fat tears rolls down your cheeks as you moved your hands to try and wipe them away. though your efforts were worth nothing, because they were quickly replaced with more. “you are my everything.”

geto hesitated for a second. bringing you alongside him was off the table, in no world could he do that to you. the road ahead of him would be harsh and cruel, not something meant for someone as kind and gentle as you. you didn’t need nor deserve that. but to kill you? the only person he’s sure he will ever love?

but how could he deny you this one last thing?

“okay.” your heart freezes at his answer, though you’re almost relieved. “close your eyes. count to ten, don’t open them.”

you did as told, squeezing your eyes closed as you counted to ten in your head. with each number, you gripped the button from his school uniform tighter. gojo had given it to you, saying they found it at the remnants of his crime. muttering something about how “you should have it” before shoving it against your chest and leaving to his room.

when you reached the number ten and nothing happened, you opened one of your eyes. you half expected to see any number of his deadly curses right in front of you, begging to see the look of fear on your face before killing you. or to see him still standing there, to tell you that he’d changed his mind and he’d rather take you with him.

but instead you were met with emptiness. geto suguru nowhere in sight, leaving you alone in the middle of a now quiet street. not absorbed by darkness as you had wanted, but devastated by the idea that maybe geto was always destined to leave. he had now left everyone that cared for him, maybe leaving had been the only card he would ever be dealt. you may have loved him, but it wasn’t enough.

it was never going to be.

reblogs, comments, nd likes appreciated!! <3

#getou suguru x reader #geto x reader #geto suguru angst #jjk x reader #geto suguru x reader #jjk angst #mine !!

[cass-rambles]

honestly I'm probably overthinking this, but I think it's an interesting detail that in the Unmortricken episode during the whole "trap Saw box" shit we've got this shot of Evil Morty sort of disappointed/dismayed RIGHT as we've got our Morty Prime telling Rick to "take the shot".

Like he's got the sort of annoyed, sort of cast down look for a few seconds (because right after we have the "We both hate Rick Prime more than each other either way" thing) and I'm reading way too much into this, but it makes me think that he does give a shit about Morty, despite his Very Constant Denial.

I mean taking all aspects of the episode under consideration, we've got several scenes where it is heavily underlined that Evil Morty does not care about Rick C-137 nor Morty, even being blunt about it and telling everyone to fuck off or it won't end well.

It's not that I don't believe he wants to be left alone, he very pointedly does, Buttttt I think E!Morty does hold some form of "softness" or positive emotions towards Morty.

Looking at their characteristics in the episode, I know most of the other fans have noticed that our "main" Morty's character seemed to have regressed for the ep to more of s1/s2 behavior, making him look more "whiney" and weak in comparison to Evil Morty. I think it's to point out that if we Had our Morty's normal behavior from even previous episodes of season 7, we'd be able to see how SIMILAR both of them are now.

(I mean c'mon, I get you rushed his character a little, but to fuck it right back to season 1/2 during a significant mid season finale? You've gotta have a bigger reason for it.)

In either case, it's likely that we have an episode of Morty sub-consciously trying his hardest not to act like Evil Morty (That's why we got the development regression for an episode) as Evil Morty seemingly just acts like himself, merely underlining that he does not care.

"This didn't make us friends" okay??? Then why even wait for Prime Morty at all to join Rick in his beat down w Rick Prime? Don't get me wrong, Evil Morty won't suddenly develop attachment to him out of thin air, but imo he sees all the potential Prime Morty has yet is currently wasting it.

It's sort of a little nod to how insane it is of a parallel that Ricks can't fucking stand one another or themselves, immediately trying to one up the other or kill, as to how Mortys can co-exist peacefully and work together without any unhealthy character implements. (Fun fact: If you're into mortycest in one of the comics two Mortys sleep w each other. So we've got established selfcest in canon too if you're imagining and rolling Evil Morty's and Morty's relationship into a more romantic ball court.)

Another little detail I noticed, we have a moment where Rick shoots at Evil Morty again for funsies and I gotta say, the expressions are feeding into my overanalyzing brain . LIKE??? AM I SEEING THIS WRONG?

These two have GOT to have something cooking between them PLEASE.

#rick and morty #morty smith #evil morty #thoughts #im overanalyzing this but whatevr

[ao3cassandraic]

I’m wondering about your thoughts on something I’ve been musing on after S2. How good is Aziraphale’s reading comprehension? How much does he understand subtext and metaphor? Because his behavior this season struck me with the impression that he didn’t really understand the books he collects. He’s clever at puzzle solving, and contains vast knowledge; but he always seems to take things at face value (when he’s not willfully misunderstanding), and refuses to give up black-and-white thinking, which would make it very difficult to analyze texts.

Angels, demons, language, and culture: part 1

You sure ask the difficult ones. (Which is great, I'm totally jazzed about it!)

I delayed answering this ask because it sent me off in a lot of directions:

What is an angel's starting knowledge base?

In contrast, how and what do we humans learn about our world and one another?

Which of these learning methods is not really available to an angel?

What do humans learn from books, fiction especially?

What kinds of information get left implicit in books because authors are humans writing for other humans?

How would an angel fill in those blanks? How would those blanks distort an angel's notion of How Humans and Human Things Work?

What would angels generally and either Aziraphale or Muriel (because yeah, it's hard to have this discussion without thinking about Muriel too) specifically read human-authored fiction for?

I don't have all the answers to the above questions. Not even CLOSE. I happily invite my fellow meta-ists to weigh in on any or all of them!

But let's see what I can tease out. We'll start with factory settings, so to speak.

Angelic vs. human factory settings

(questions 1 through 3)

Angels have (one) language. They have music -- or, at least, they can sing Her praises (likely by rote). At least some, like our Starmaker, have the knowledge to do specific jobs. Note that Aziraphale not only doesn't know how to make stars and nebulas, he's not even clear on what a nebula is. We can safely assume from that that angels don't all possess the same set of knowledge and skills purely by virtue (heh) of being angels.

We don't see, however, how much of what they know is simply an angel's birthright versus how much of it is somehow educated into them. We also don't know how She divvies up necessary knowledge, though I'd think it safe (given most takes on angelology) to guess that angelic rank and intended function are part of Her calculus, perhaps even the whole of it.

What strikes me hardest is that angels seem to be created either as adults or children (which is what I believe the scareable "cherubs" are), and they may well never change that state. The Starmaker is childlike in some ways, but not a child. Likely never was a child! Aziraphale, Before the Beginning, isn't childlike at all; his personality seems pretty close to fully-formed.

And children learn so very, very much. Babies learn so much as babies, while their neuroplasticity is super super plastic! Especially they learn about relating to other beings! (Which the Starmaker is conspicuously Not Real Great at, honestly -- absorbed in the work of creation, the Starmaker does not pick up the feelings Aziraphale is laying down at all.)

Children also learn one OR MORE languages, and that "more" is rather important, because language shapes how we think to some extent (the extent of that extent, and its nature, are objects of fierce debate among linguists and neuroscientists), and different languages shape us differently. Just as Crowley (as plenty of theologians argue) did humanity a favor with the whole knowledge-of-good-and-evil thing, the Tower of Babel (assuming that was a thing that happened in the GOverse; no reason it wouldn't have, I suppose) added a whole lot of nuance and complexity and competing understandings to humanity's sense of itself and its universe.

Exactly how angels and demons manage to speak all human languages (which Crowley indicates they can) isn't clear. If we accept that the Tower of Babel happened, both Heaven and Hell must have had to figure out a way to deal with it.

We do see, however, that angels and demons can be fluent in human languages without being fluent in human thought or human cultures. Gabriel and Sandalphon speak perfect English yet barely know which end of a book is up. Hastur and Ligur can't disentangle ciao/chow. And, I mean, actual food? Fuhgeddaboudit. So I see their linguistic facility as a sort of Douglas Adams Babel fish: it can translate an angel's or demon's thought into the target language, but it can't help an angel or demon think like an actual speaker of that language.

As an example, Gabriel can tell Job and Sitis about their new children, perfectly fluently. His purely-linguistic fluency does not help him understand that they loved their old children, much less why.

This may explain why Aziraphale studied French under M. Rossignol. He perhaps didn't feel he understood how French speakers think, and was interested enough in that to learn the language (as other meta-ists have noted, the language of love!) the human way.

So yeah, if I have a conclusion here it's that angels and demons can seem as off-center as they often do from a human perspective because they wholly missed out on a key period of human brain development.

What they have in its place appears to be... rules. Which is, I think, where I'll take this next.

#good omens #good omens meta #heaven and hell #the starmaker #aziraphale #hastur #ligur #babel fish #language and culture #tower of babel

[b3achysurfur]

If we notice in the webtoon, Taylor and Ben are the only ones who have not been seriously injured...

Aiden was crushed

Tyler was impaled

Ashlyn had a concussion

Logan ended up with a big cut on his side

Do you think something worse could happen to Taylor and Ben?

I think eventually all of them will face some sort of serious injury, so I highly doubt Ben and Taylor will be safe. I think ashlyn and Logan will also get more deadly wounds soon (hope Logan is first in line 🙏)

But I do find it interesting that they are the only two unharmed. Especially since they had a mini romance going on in S1. awwww I miss them 😢

Whats also interesting is how impulsive, destructive, and agressive Taylor has been lately as well as her increased screentime 😈

We’ve also unfortunately seen Logan get a lot of panels lately as well. And idk if u guys remember S1 but Tyler, ashlyn, and Aiden were the ones who got a lot of attention. But now that Tyler and Aiden are out , the attention has shifted to Taylor and Logan. But not Ben!!!!! (I want more Ben screentime, fuck Logan no body gaf what’s going on with him 😒 tell me ab Benny boy NOOOWWWW!!!!!!)

my point is Taylor or Logan may be the next to experience a major event. They’ve also been the ones exhibiting the most “phantom traits” , MOSTLY Taylor tho. also there’s a few other things that point to Taylor being in harms way very soon.

but basically the signs are telling me Taylor is gonna go through smth much worse than what’s happening rn. Back to Taylor and Ben’s relationship tho. Ben always tries to give back to things that treat him well, idrk how to word it. In S1 Taylor is very considerate of the whole group, but there are a few instances where she focuses on him.

in S2, ben mirrors this act by physically protecting her and attempting to comfort her to the best of his abilities

taylor leans into this comfort and support, even if it’s only by a little. taylor needs people, and ben can easily become her person. they both value their family and friends a lot and are willing to put their lives on the line/distance themselves if it means protecting them. they both have lost someone who has guided them out of a dark time in their life to the phantom dimension. they both are kind hearted people who are gentle. they are both a pea to someone’s pod (Aiden and Ben, Taylor and Tyler). they understand each other better than anyone else.

Ben cares about Taylor a lot. we don’t get scenes of them like we do with aidlyn anymore, but we do get little snippets. he is willing to protect her , even if it puts himself at risk. HE COVERED HER COMPLETELY WITH HIMSELF!!! HE DIDNT EVEN COVER HIS HEAD OR ANYTHINGG IGHWHEHA!!??? He had been holding her in place ever since the phantom had started chasing them. HE CARES SM IT HURTS ME.

ben has been such a neglected character, but I don’t think this was for no reason. I believe Ben’s time will come. I was honestly expecting a reaction out of him when Aiden ‘died’ but we got aidlyn so idrc 😈🙏. anyways a lot of people want to see Ben tweak AND I DO TOO!!! but you also have to remember, him not getting mad and bearing with the situation shows how much he has grown from his past. Ben has intense anger issues that he’s HEAVILY ashamed of. keeping himself in check is already hard enough with day to day triggers, but add his new phantom situation onto that? mans is STRUGGLING, but since it’s in silence no one ever talks ab it 🙁 we’ve seen Tyler crack under this pressure, Logan getting madder, and taylor has gotten angrier too! ashlyn is more stressed and tired than angry, and Aiden is having fun most of the time. but Ben? he’s been trying his absolute hardest to not flip out.

so that combined with his affection for tay, if something bad really does happen to her, I do believe it will be his final straw. There’s only so much self control a 14 year old has (even though most adults would’ve went insane by now). Whether Taylor turns into a phantom or she gets injuries/dies, it will hit Ben HARD. Tyler will also be affected, but I really hope it doesn’t overshadow Ben. Losing Taylor would mean Ben wasn’t able to protect her like he wanted to and after Aiden also got hurt, I don’t think he would be able to take it. I think it’ll also extremely upset him when he finds out his family got caught in the crossfire of the kidnapping.

I was thinking about it, and we might actually see ben use his voice out of desperation. I really hope we don’t, bc I think ben not being verbal is nice representation, it’s so important to his character, and I love seeing how ben expresses himself without words. but I honestly wouldn’t be surprised if he used it to call out to someone. The way this scene (⬇️⬇️) is worded is like, “he CAN (might even) talk, he just doesn’t WANT (have a reason) too”. i really hope he doesn’t, but it’s definitely a possibility 😢 especially if we get a ben centered arc that’s caused by his anger and the loss he’s experienced.

All in all, I don’t think Ben be the next one to be injuried really, but I do think Taylor will. And Taylor getting hurt will finally open up a arc centered around/that includes ben 🙏

hope red gives us the craziest angst we've ever seen for them two and then kills Logan 😛

(sorry for rambling sm 😓 I tried to shorten it but now i feel like some parts don’t make sense. UGH WTV!!! I’m very passionate about Ben and the affects Taylor has had on him 😒)

#sbg #school bus graveyard webtoon #school bus graveyard #schoolbus graveyard #sbg (webtoon) #ben clark #sbg ben #taylor sbg #taylor hernandez #asks #theories

[iamadequate1717]

OFMD S3 (Manifesting!)

I think we've all seen Casey Bloys' comments on an OFMD S3:

“What’s a little bit different in a linear world than here is… how a show performs over a longer period of time than three weeks or something,” Bloys stated. “So we’re figuring out how it’s doing, what it’s looking like.”

My reaction:

Really, HBO? HBO, after running one of the worst, most spoilery, most front loaded marketing campaigns I have ever seen, wants to talk about the long term?

The question that was driving everyone feral for an S2 was, will Stede and Ed find each other again? HBO/MAX put their first face-to-face meeting in the trailer. Why watch the show when the marketing will just toss a greatest hits reel out to the public before the episode even releases?

The showstopping set piece of 2x3 (MerStede rescuing Ed) was spoiled in their "marketing" since they released the concept art for MerStede days before the episode aired in a BTS video.

Let's look at the finale:

The beach kisses and the inn were spoiled in BTS videos released days before the episode was released after putting a week between 2x7 and 2x8 releases. Yeah, yeah, they didn't show the kisses exactly, but what else would that pose be for? It really enforced that 2x7 and 2x8 should have been released together, but HBO/MAX choose to create a cliffhanger while immediately posting the resolution in their marketing

Ed thinking Stede was dead was spoiled by the episode promo

Ed and Stede running toward one another on the beach was spoiled by the trailer. (It didn't show them in frame together, but it was obviously the same location and the direction they were going in matched.)

Ed reading one of Stede's letters was spoiled by marketing a few days before the finale release for no discernable reason

Izzy's climatic speech to Ricky (and that he was saying it to Ricky!) was spoiled in the trailer. It could have been a good hype VO, and they didn't need to spoil whom Izzy was talking to

The crew in the British garb and taking out soldiers was in the trailer. This plot begins nine minutes before the credits start.

The Revenge Crew working with Spanish Jackie and Zheng at some point was well spoiled beforehand in their BTS promo material. Zheng saying they should team up is three minutes before the credits start.

(Has anyone seen this amount of BTS material of episodes, including the season climax, released before an episode releases instead of after? Just holding this BTS material until after seems like a no-brainer to extending a show's interest after the finale is released.)

The reason the pacing felt super "off" on your first watch is because HBO/MAX already released a bulleted run through of the episode beforehand, and you were mentally ticking it off as you went instead of watching it organically. Watching it a second time really improves the flow of the episode.

This is a show whose popularity was raised created entirely through word-of-mouth excitement. The greediness of these streaming companies is why we couldn't have the actors doing promo, but then they took away the show's next most powerful tool, the word-of-mouth discussion, by releasing large swathes of the climax of the season before it aired, and the social media hype and discussion was front loaded to before release instead of after.

S3 was set up to show Ed and Stede as a solid couple and to show the pirate community against the British, and the season climax of these two points was released by HBO/MAX before the episode, and it was excitedly discussed then. Now, a week after release, we're stuck in some horrible gravy basket of discussing the part of the last five-ten minutes that HBO/MAX didn't outright spoil (though they tried their hardest with the grave promo stills and Ed's bloody hand in the promo!): Izzy's death. No one is having fun!

There is a lot of story setup for an S3 but DJenks and company had to set up a season that could double as a series finale in a pinch, so we also lost the "What happens next??" fervor because HBO/MAX wouldn't greenlight two seasons at once of their biggest new IP of 2022. The bizarre marketing strategy didn't lend itself to a long term success, and it's up to the fans once again to do HBO/MAX's job for them.

#ofmd #our flag means death #ofmd s2 #ofmd 2x08 #hbo max #ofmd s3 #renew as a crew #talk it through as a crew #ofmd meta #renewal gravy basket #ranty rant rant #ofmd s2 spoilers #is it worth tagging s2 spoilers anymore?

[thealogie]

i always found a little amusing how the fandom treats crowley vs how they treat aziraphale. like, of course these last few days have been SOMETHING on here but like even in 2019 aziraphale's characterization and motives were either ignored or just roughly outlined, meanwhile crowley gets nuanced takes and compassion and love (and he deserves it <3)..... which is funny bc (in both seasons) aziraphale is the character moving most of the plot forward and going through some kind of development and revelations, while crowley is an already estabilished character with his own beliefs and priorities that don't really change that much through the episodes.... like I GET having faves and kinning but it's soooo funny. like in 2019 crowley was the hopeless romantic with a complex relationship with god and aziraphale was... there too. and now crowley is the most amazing thing in the universe that never did nothing wrong ever and no one deserves him while aziraphale is *checks notes* a self serving manipulator who personally makes crowley live in the bentley and also steals it bc he likes taking advantage of him. okay.

Idk I’m surrounded by mutuals who love them equally but I agree the fandom leans crowley and I think it’s because if you gravitate towards this kind of story you’re more likely to see yourself in crowley. But yeah s1 crowley doesn’t have (and doesn’t need) character development . The reason people are killing themselves over crowley s2 is that he does actually….develop, he becomes so much more open and makes hard choices and literally does the thing that’s hardest for him: putting his feelings into words.

All of this said don’t worry I’m an aziraphale girl all day and all night. I will love this cunt and analyze his twisted psyche for the next two months (then forget about this show until one month before season 3 comes out). He’s the moral core of the story, he’s the one who still needs to come to terms with the lesson he’s already learned, which is that being messy and human and in love is so much better than being part of a rigid institution that claims to be good

[shoepolishpolice]

SIX OF CROWS SPIN-OFF PREDICTIONS

Part 1

I have thought this through and you know what..I think we can all get what we want. I’m going to breakdown how they can work with the storyline they’ve made and give justice to the crows.

(This is my jumbled non stop thoughts btw I’m not referring to the books really so I expect I’ll miss a few things)

To start here’s some basics:

• We won’t be seeing Per Haskell again, the Dregs and Crow club belong to Kaz and in the new season I expect we will see a much younger crew including Kesh and Anika compared to the random old dudes Kaz beat up in s2. Also the Crow and the Cup tattoos.

• There will be a much bigger focus on family and particularly parents - every single crow has major shit w parents. I think something that is never given much thought even in the books is how young children are taken from the family’s to train as grisha and they don’t return- this happened to nina and it really wasn’t discussed much and should be.

• The eight episodes have actually already been written and we know there is an Inej centric episode and a Wylan one too. I expect Inej’s episode will be a standout as we’ve seen pretty much nothing about her past- definitely the hardest to watch but one that very much deserves telling and Amita is an incredible actress and I completely trust her w Inej

• We’ve already had an article saying sab3 is king of scars based plus the new Alina and mal!sturmhond story but the soc story would happen simultaneously. There’s a chance the last scene we see is s2 actually happens after the crows have already been to the ice court and they call for Nikolai around this time- meaning it can be dealt w before having Alina exposed to Parem which I don’t care for and they said they waited for the story as they didn’t want the darkling to use it

• also people seem to think inej is not coming back- obviously she is. Pretty sure they r sending her away to get a taste of what she could do and will return w a sense of purpose and revenge - I’ll explain why later. Also the writers have said she only goes for a few weeks so it’s cool

• we will see a lot of flashbacks for each crow- we’ve seen about two mins worth of Kaz’s and I want them to explore his rise through the barrel as a kid and show his life in lij to prove truly how cruel the world was to him. Obviously Wylan’s past is a major focus of this story but I expect we will get that in a Crooked Kingdom based series two which is also thr first time we got a wylan pov chapter. Hopefully we will get to see more of Jespers childhood but again probably a bigger focus for later when colm arrives. As for Matthias I hope we see how he was raised in a militant, angry cultish way after the death of his family. I don’t expect we will get much on nina but I hope we do as i always felt we missed out slightly on the effects of her past. And ofcourse Inej who I hope they take the most care with in their retelling.

Now getting the plot back on track is actual quite simple and people r freaking out for no reason.. so here it is

I expect the show will start w Kaz agreeing to Van Ecks offer w all that came along in his first book chapter and a longer version of the crows last scenes w just saw in s2

Next inej will return - kaz will call for her but I think what will also bring her back is the return of Tante Heleen. We didn’t see a body and we know pekka ‘killed’ her to frame kaz so who’s to say he bothered killing her and just paid her off but now serves as his way out of hellgate

With Tante Heleen alive, pekka is no longer guilty of murder and will be released from Hellgate. This is potentially how pekka and Van Eck connect- pekka will want retribution for wrongly being imprisoned and will receive a lot of money from the merchant council as compensation

This will set off kaz and inej and THIS will now be the CK ending where we get full closure with their pasts. The books kept Heleen and pekka alive so I think the show will see it through to the end. People felt we got Kaz’s revenge too soon so I expect them to find an even bigger, badder and more horrific way to fuck them over

The kanej reunion upon Inej’s return from sea is going to set the tone. Either kaz has begun to make progress in her absence or he’s closed himself off tenfold

Now helnik is pretty much unchanged, their scenes were basically word for word in s1 and I think it can carry on for soc. They’re most likely to be the most book accurate ship now and i hope there will be a lot more emotional depth and background to Matthias who I think is completely underrated and overlooked. He has an incredibly big character arc and I think we will see a lot more of what is costs him

So they break Matthias out of Hellgate most likely in a very similar way to the books.

Now we get the Wylan identity reveal. Wesper is already established so it’s going to be an even bigger shock. However I think jespers gambling addiction will have gotten a lot worse in a very short space of time and this has already been causing a problem + I think they gleamed over him coming to terms w being grisha too fast so they will back track a bit when Colm gets involved which reminds Jesper why he hid for so long

Now I think we could get the ck last chapter here w inej threatening pekka and Alby before they depart. However it will backfire a bit. He will actually get spurred on to take down kaz and he’ll realise there’s something between kaz and inej. He can team up w heleen and use it against them

Now the next part can actually carry on faithfully to the books - if Jesper is back in debt his slip up will get back to pekka and result in the harbour ambush and Kaz’s distrust of Jesper. Also perhaps they use the hummingbird rather than the ferolind

Notorious kaz boyfriend of ripping eyes out will ensue

Now here’s something new. Kaz won’t stay away from inej now, it would completely eradicate everything that just happened in s2. So I expect we will get another bandage scene here or simply see kaz watching over inej as she heals

Now this is where I think the inej episode will fit (within the first 4 eps) it will delve into her past in ravka, her abduction, time at the menagerie and meeting kaz/being trained by him (that last one may happen throughout the series tho and perhaps more from Kaz’s perspective like in the books). And here’s where we see what inej has been doing whilst away briefly and how she felt bringing down slavers and her new purpose to track down those who hurt her and take down heleen

Now pretty much everything from this point onwards to the end of the Six of Crows books can remain the same. The differences are: established wesper, most likely pekka isn’t hired for this job, a more open kanej and a slightly more powerful kaz as a baby barrel boss

I’m not going to re explain the story here as they have used very little SOC plot so far

They have done a version of the prison wagon scene but I think they will do the book one too as inej will be there, kaz faints this time and ultimately it’s worse then the s2 one (which made me feel physically sick for kaz all within the first 15 mins of the show)

That’s the end of part 1! I’m feeling very positive thinking of all this. You stay for the characters in soc they are so wonderfully different and clever, a story of these kids who are expected of nothing but achieve everything. I expect the series will have a rather different tone compared to Sab and will truly show the significance of these six characters finding each other.

#see you soon #six of crows #six of crows spin off #shadow and bone #shadow and bone 2 #crooked kindgom #kaz brekker #Inej Ghafa #kanej #Jesper Fahey #wylan van Eck #wesper #matthias helvar #Nina zenik #helnik

[still-a-morosexual-help]

Here's MY thoughts on the love island the game's seasons, for no reason other than I want to:

Also because the majority of the people following me are here for OM! & I want to drag more people down into the litg hell with me :)

Season 1: why is everyone so bitchy for no reason????? Talia & Jake are okay but other than that it's meh... don't really like the art style either

Season 2: Immaculate. Chef's kiss. They hit a high they never reached again. Somehow managed to balance the drama & the found family aspect and created a dynamic where you can actually believe everyone is friends and having fun even if sometimes they try to kill each other. Characters are flawed but generally decent people who are allowed to grow throughout the season. You get the option to make MC a bi gym-bro who can devour an entire cake in one sitting and bench press her partner. There's a reason this got two sequels.

Season 3: It's fine ig. Short and kind of boring. Nothing much happens. AJ is so cute though she almost makes up for it.

Season 4: Honestly a close 2nd favourite. We get a lot of character backstory and like s2 it touches on some serious issues. The season with some of the funniest moments/lines of dialogue - multiple moments where I just laughed out loud. I'm still only half way through it but the "villain" is just straight up mean for no reason and doesn't get any character development like the characters in S2 but makes up for it by having some of the funniest interactions with other characters and I was so sad to see her go. Also the season where I desperately wish MC was allowed to be in an open relationship till the very end and finish off the season in a polycule with every other islander who was in the love "triangle"s of the the season because this was the hardest season to pick a LI - Najuma is just all around amazing, Bruno is sweet & funny, Tom is so pathetic* MC & Thabi's friendship is also the best thing? It's great seeing a platonic relationship that is as loving (if not more so) than the romantic relationships. It's literally:

Season 5: Psychological horror. The producers said 'hey wouldn't it be funny if we torture this woman on national tv' and then committed to the bit. My memories are hazy because even though I only played it earlier this year it upset me so much I did my best to block most of it out but also I'm 100% sure there was actual galighting happening. Don't know why MC stuck around till the end because all she's gonna be able to use the money for is to pay for her therapy. Anyway I think MC should have been allowed to brutally murder everyone, she deserved it <3

Season 6: I liked the concept but I think they should have utilised it more. I'm still right at the very beginning (around ep 9) and I KNOW the general consensus from everyone who has reached the last eps seems to be that Amelia sucks MAJOR ass. But look, this is the first time a game has given me a MC with a canon family member who is also part of the game so in my opinion Amelia could commit war crimes and she's still be the most precious little uwu ever because I'm activating MC's insanely overprotective oblivious to all faults ""big"" sister mode

Edit:

*I just played more of S4 and holy shit someone needs to get this man away from his parents and also maybe get him some therapy jfc

Edit 2:

** youcef, mc & valentina helping tom figure out he likes flowers and pink and tie-dye clothes and makeup and being complimented and called pretty and getting hugs is getting to me okay his parents better watch the show and see their adult son finally discovering himself and what he likes instead of what they think he should like and finally being able to let loose and have fun without worrying about what others think of him and finally being happy and they better get some sense knocked into them OR he should go to therapy and realise that no matter how much he loves his parents their love and regard being so conditional to the point that he's hidden his entire personality and is now so extremely self-conscious of it whenever it does manage to peak out, that he nearly cries on national tv after a practical stranger compliments those hidden bits is not good. Also the man has some of the most insane repressed queer vibes???? What do you mean he sees a canon nonbinary person wearing a floppy hat and is reminded of the floppy hat he loved as a child that his father threw away and replaced with a baseball cap and then when he "lost" the baseball cap his father bought him the exact same one again

Edit 3:

*** i was 100% sure i was going to get mc to stick with najuma (dorky mischevious goth who is so so bad at flirting hello!!!?) but i got caught by "sad & shy with serious self-worth issues hidden badly behind an overconfident exterior (who blushes & gets flustered easily because he so rarely receives genuine praise/compliments) experiences postive regard for the first time and loses his shit" for the third fucking time

Edit 4:

Okay but why does Dylan get (rightfully) called out by everyone in S4 for all the bullshit he does to MC from blatantly lying to her to not listening when she says "No" But in S5 when Suresh (admittedly, more subtly) pulls off the same shit no one says anything, even MC's "friends" don't believe her.

In S2 when Luke/Henrik gets a little too forceful after MC says no, he gets called out by MC's partner and immediately apologises

In S4 when Dylan does the whole "stop pretending you don't want me" routine after MC rejects him multiple times, the rest of the islanders band together and basically chase him off the island

In S5 when Suresh pulls literally the same thing from the very first episode itself but none of the other islanders believe MC, and Suresh keeps getting to do this until almost the very end while also managing to constantly play hot & cold with MC and chase away all of MCs other romantic interests

#love island the game #litg #love island the game season 1 #love island the game season 2 #love island the same season 3 #love island the game season 4 #love island the game season 5 #love island the game season 6 #litg s1 #litg s2 #litg s3 #litg s4 #litg s5 #litg s6 #love island the game s1 #love island the game s2 #love island the game s3 #love island the game s4 #love island the game s5 #love island the game s6 #litg season 1 #litg season 2 #litg season 3 #litg season 4 #litg season 5 #litg season 6 #litg tom #love island the game tom #litg s4 tom

[wibble-wobbegong]

S4 Wheelclair

Let’s talk S4 Lucas and Mike.

I really, truly do believe that people undermine their importance to each other because it isn’t given the same emphasis as Mike/Will or Lucas/Max. They aren’t in love so that’s a hard comparison to make, but they are best friends. Actual best friends. Dustin literally says that Mike and Lucas are closer than he is with either of them, and he’s right!

I’m gonna be covering their history, Lucas’ POV, Mike’s POV, and then their potential S5 arc. This is a very broad analysis, so I won’t be going into the grainy details in this post, or else it would be MASSIVE lmao

History

Most people are probably familiar with this, but I feel like I need to point out some things that often get glossed over. Keep in mind this is a brief summary.

In S1, there are two major things established about Mike and Lucas:

- They’re very close friends

- They’re both incredibly determined to find Will

We see them established as close friends through small things like Lucas’ teasing, having Lucas be the one to pull Mike away after the pissing incident, Dustin suggesting that Lucas is jealous, and their argument being resolved.

There is a ton of emphasis places on Mike and Lucas’ friendship in S1. One of the bigger of the side plots is this fight that Lucas and Mike get in because they’re disagreeing on the best way to find Will.

For Mike, when Lucas started going off on his own, I think there was a huge fear of losing Lucas too. We talk about how Mike only apologizes to Will, but he reaches out and apologizes to Lucas with that handshake. He does so teary-eyed, hoping Lucas will forgive him.

I think Lucas was frustrated with Mike because he doesn’t understand why Mike would do things that seem stupid when they have to be looking for Will. Lucas’ perspective isn’t stressed as much, but he was happy to shake Mike’s hand and move past their issues.

There are also moments like the end of S1 where we see Mike throw himself on top of Will and then Lucas throwing himself on top of both of them. That’s something else that connects Mike and Lucas, which nobody else really seems to have except the Byers family.

Mike’s relationship with Will is something we see heavily because y’know. He’s in love with Will. However, there’s also a fair amount of emphasis placed on Lucas’ relationship with Will. We see Lucas’ determination to find Will, we see them being close in S2 and S3 through their hugs and teasing Mike together. Lucas, Mike, and Will were put together for a reason.

In S3, there’s a lot going on for them. Firstly, Lucas was trying his hardest to be supportive of Mike. Yes, Mike was putting on a show and trying to win over Lucas’ approval by acting like a Straight Man, but Lucas didn’t know that. He was there for Mike and he tried to help him through his relationship problems with El.

From Lucas’ perspective, he saw one of his best friends struggling with his new relationship and was just trying to help. He and Mike were the only ones going through these sorts of problems, as Mike was trying to follow in Lucas’ footsteps in some ways.

From Mike’s, he was trying to put on a show in front of Lucas and Will — his closest friends at the time. He was trying to act as much of a typical Heterosexual as possible, and he was very much so seeking Lucas out to do this. He spent a lot of time looking to Lucas whenever he would act like an asshole because he was trying to be like him (not that Lucas is an asshole, but they were both trying to grow up and is resulted in them acting like dicks sometimes).

Essentially, Lucas and Mike are very, very close friends and we saw them heading down the same path in S3. They were as close as ever and their dynamic hadn’t changed much, but rather than butting heads they were much more agreeable with each other as Lucas tried to empathize with Mike’s struggles.

Lucas and Mike are best friends and their relationship is given a lot of emphasis considering their platonic nature (in comparison to their other weighted relationships being romantic).

Lucas’ POV

Lucas’ POV is something I find interesting, because we talk a lot about Mike feeling alone, but Lucas was also alone in his situation. When Lucas continued down the path of being normal, Mike started backtracking and returned to being a nerd and a freak. It left Lucas somewhat stranded, and when we have that confrontation between them in 4x01, Lucas was appealing to things he knows Mike understands. He says he’s tired of being bullied and that he’s tired of being made fun of by girls, which is something that is established that happens for Mike was back in S1 (he faces a lot of bullying and girls are grossed out by him).

For Lucas, he’s trying to be normal to escape the severe racism he faces as a black kid in the middle of Indiana, which was only made worse by being a nerd. Lucas goes on a journey in Lucas On the Line (LOTL) that heavily describes his experience with racism and his love for Max. He also wants Max to come back, hence the, “tired of being made fun of by girls.”

Something important from LOTL is Lucas getting to be friends with other black boys and seeing these qualities that are beautiful and unique in people like him, which was something Lucas definitely needed in his life. That’s not something Mike would see, as Mike only saw them as jocks.

These aren’t the same things Mike is going through, Lucas doesn’t know what’s going on with Mike, but he knows that Mike can at least understand why he’s doing this. He and Mike were on the same page in S3, and suddenly Mike is backtracking and is no longer trying to grow up and be accepted by the world. Lucas and Mike aren’t on the same page anymore, and Lucas feels alone and abandoned. We see it when he realizes he’s been replaced by his little sister.

Another thing in LOTL, Lucas gets annoyed by Mike thanks to his sudden rise in assholery after the Byers moved. Specifically, it’s around the start of school that the conflict between them starts to kick in a little. Mike’s dealing with stuff he won’t tell anyone, but Lucas doesn’t understand that and he doesn’t have to. As far as he knows, both he and Mike lost Will and they’re both affected similarly. He thinks this is about El. Lucas has never really been a fan of Mike’s relationship with El, and this is definitely adding onto that.

At the end of the season, we see Lucas complete his arc of realizing that he’d rather be a freak than a raging psychopath normal. He’s accepted that the life he thought would be good for him, that would make him happy, is one that ultimately rejects him and he learns to reject it in return. He no longer holds this need to be normal, which is important because Mike was trying to not be normal at the beginning of the season too. It’s what their conflict was about.

Mike’s POV

Mike’s perspective on his relationship with Lucas at this point seems a lot like he’s having an internal war. He’s finally learning to embrace himself and making steps to accept his sexuality, and in accordance he’s playing DND and hanging out with outcasts, which is the exact opposite of what he was trying to do in S3. However, there are some things that suggest that there’s still a part of him that wants to be like Lucas.

Like, I’m their confrontation, the way Mike reacts shows a lot more reluctance and that what Lucas is saying hits closer to home. He’s not being argumentative, showing that same complacency he had in S3 that differs from his stubbornness with Lucas in S1 & 2.

On the table at the cafeteria, we also see this book which talks about learning how to play sports. That doesn’t make any sense for any of the Hellfire Club members. Except for Mike. That part of Mike that still wants to be like Lucas has him reaching out to learn about sports and how to play. He’s torn right now.

As established in S1 & S3, Lucas’ approval in regards to Mike’s acceptance with his sexuality means a lot. Lucas was the one who initially pushed him to consider El as a romantic interest, the one to point out that girls don’t like him, and the one to walk him through a lot of relationship problems in S3. Assuming LOTL is canon, we also know that Lucas thought Mike was the “worst person to be around” right as school started after Mike’s isolation. Mike’s reaction to the move was deeply rooted in his feelings for Will, and I personally think this when he really came to terms that he was in love with Will (not necessarily the first time he realized he had feelings, though. I think that was the S2 monologue). Lucas reacting like that to Mike’s post-isolation probably felt like a rejection in some way.

Mike also doesn’t really understand the depth of Lucas’ need to be normal. Mike can never have the experience Lucas has. Mike won’t be able to realize that Lucas wants to be around other black people and people who will help him become normal/popular because of his experience with racism. That creates a divide, because Mike doesn’t see the motivation to become normal beyond what he and Lucas have in common, which is being bullied and being made fun of by girls. Mike is realizing that he doesn’t care about girls, though, and the bullying itself never seemed to bother Mike much. He only ever got upset when it came to his friends being targeted.

Games and being an outcast and DND are all important to Mike’s journey of self acceptance, but more importantly Eddie was important to Mike’s journey. Lucas didn’t seem to get along with Eddie, which was something that made it even harder for Mike to be on the same page as Lucas. Eddie’s heavy queer-coding (no not steddie) sets him up as a role model for Mike in a lot of ways. Mike is seeing someone like him be completely, honestly himself. Zero shame. That was something Mike needed in order to move towards accepting his sexuality.

At the end of the season, Mike has gotten over El. He’s ready to truly give up on being normal, just like Lucas has.

S5 Predictions

As for S5, I think Lucas and Mike are both starting off on the stance that they’ve finally given up on being normal.

Lucas thought Mike had accepted being an outcast already, but he doesn’t know about Mike giving up on trying to be straight.

Mike doesn’t even know that Lucas is against conformity now.

I think we’re gonna be getting a reconciliation arc between them in S5. Especially considering that we’re returning to S1 dynamics, I’m hoping we’ll get S1 callbacks as well. I think we’re gonna get a scene of them really talking it out; Lucas admitting that he was wrong, and that he’s sorry for leaving DND behind while Mike apologizes for not being a good friend. I hope that leads into a coming out scene between Mike and Lucas.

Mike coming out to Lucas is the ideal, in my opinion. Lucas is so heavily tied to Mike trying to be straight and he’s sought Lucas’ approval of that straightness, so for Mike to come out to him and be accepted would be the best way to satisfy Mike’s acceptance of his sexuality in words.

For Lucas, I want that conversation to lead to him getting his best friend back. He spent a lot of S4 feeling alone, and almost all of pre-S4 as well. Lucas deserves to have his friend back, for Mike to bring him back into the party (I know he never technically left but emotionally…). I need for Lucas to feel like he hasn’t been abandoned, that he hasn’t been replaced.

Lucas and Mike need to really accept each other, and I think their arc will play heavily into that idea in S5.

bywheelclair hug to end the post :) these three make me wanna bawl like a BITCH bro

#wheelclair #lucas analysis #mike analysis #byler tumblr #not beta’ed bc i hate beta reading #fuck it we ball

[leighlew3]

What do you think would have been the perfect supercorp first kiss? Like, say the showrunners had decided to go for it, when and how do you think it should have happened?

I think a better overall way to have handled it all, just off the top of my head...

Sometime around early Season 3, in an altered situation where instead of him ever coming back, Brainy shows up from the future alone and returning Kara's necklace as she finds out Mon-El is alive and she's relieved and he's married now, but she has come to realize how bad that relationship was (much sooner than they had her do it in the show) and while she's happy he's okay, she's over it and forgives herself for the role she played in sending him away, in part thanks to Lena's friendship helping her through it. She's also happy for him being okay and being happy in the future. And that's that.

So with him never returning to the show after S2, Season 3 is fully able to focus on Supercorp and the Worldkillers etc etc. Thus, early/mid Season 3 Kara has had enough of the lies (and without Mon-El there to give her the selfish and awful advice to keep lying to Lena), Kara is on her way to tell Lena the truth finally after some craziness, and Alex knows she's on her way to do it finally and is maybe unsure about it, but Kara trusts Lena and wants her to know. But, whatever villain of the moment is around -- captures Lena before Kara arrives. Kara nearly dies (and blows out her powers) saving Lena, and is revealed to be Kara in the process and chaos of it all.

Lena is horrified, hurt, but more than anything -- upset and worried for 'dying' Kara. She wants to be angry for the lie, but how can she be -- Kara just nearly died saving her, and then the icing on the cake, Alex tells Lena that Kara was on her way to tell her when all this happened. Thus Lena, temporarily struggling with a combination of anger and sadness and guilt, of course forgives her. They have a sweet moment in the med bay where Kara is tearful as she says, "I didn't want you to find out like this, I was on my way to tell you --" and Lena interrupts her to say she knows, and it's okay. They're okay. She says they're gonna have to figure some things out, because there were a lot of lies, and Kara understands, but Lena thanks her for saving her life, says she's so glad she's okay. So Kara can breathe easy, knowing she didn't lose her.

Then in the following episode, Lena stops by Kara's place as she's recovering, and THAT is when it happens. That's when Kara opens up about the deeper reason she's always kept the secret, and some of that reason was selfish, because she could not risk losing Lena. But she also couldn't keep lying to her. It's the hardest thing she's ever had to do, ec. And that leads to even deeper revelations and questions from an always self-flaggelating Lena of "Why am I so important to you? Me, of all people?" And Kara can't even put it into words, and thus -- she kisses her instead, to express it. Lena is shocked. Kara panics, apologizes, thinks she blew it, until Lena pulls her in for another, more intense kiss. One that... says everything.

To go even further...

They spend the rest of Season 3 facing down the Worldkillers together, Lena working with new little bro type Brainy -- and with her now WITH Kara and Lena/James never having happened either, has to watch in horror as the woman she loves is nearly killed by her close friend. They all work together to try to separate Sam from Reign, etc.

Season 4 arrives and Kara and Lena are stronger than ever as a couple, as Lex shows up, Nia and Kelly arrive, etc. The dynamics are fun, intense, funny, and it's just all around a better and better show by leaning into Supercorp, still thriving. And Lex and Lillian are mortified to find out Lena is WITH a Kryptonian in every way, which amplifies all the conflict and their rage and desire to kill Kara, etc. They even try to kidnap and brainwash/break Lena in a conversion therapy metaphor to get her to stop loving Kara, but of course they fail. Their love conquers all. Ultimately, it's all Kara and Lena and the Superfriends vs Lena's family and the world/villains.

Season 5 arrives with none of the bs of "dark Lena" and no William, or else him just as a workplace buddy who didn't start off as a dick. Kara goes dark during Crisis from using the book, in a desperate attempt to save Lena and the people she loves after she literally WATCHES Lena and everyone disappear before her eyes. It works, but at grave cost as the Kara they know seems to have "died", via mentally snapping. 5B is all about them trying to save Kara from herself after she goes Red Lantern Kara mode similar to that arc from the comics, full of anger and instability due to the effects of using the book to save those she loves/help save the universe. Of course this is hard on her family, friends, and especially for Lena. Just when they think they might get through to Kara and she's finally about to start to really recover from all of that and has a break through -- a showdown with Lex sends her to the Phantom Zone.

Season 6, Kara's time in the PZ is all about her lifetime of traumas and losing sight of reality again while Lena and friends stop at nothing to save her, and they do, with Lena being Kara's touchstone that grounds her to reality and helps her pull through. Kara comes back broken as ever, and while her anger may be gone, she's a shell of herself after all she's been through since mid S5, and the rest of the final season is all about hitting rock bottom but finding your way back to the light, thanks to the people who love you, and thanks to your own inner light, which Kara always has. The Superfriends step up to keep National City safe while Kara tries to heal from everything and find her way back. Ultimately -- because she's Kara -- she does find her hope, and the show ends either with her "coming out" or just carrying on as Supergirl like normal, as confident and healed as ever, with the love of her life by her side, her sister and friends by her side, and her dream job, etc.

They all live happy ever after.

The End.

#supergirl #supercorp

[findafight]

Do you think Nancy after s2 truly never felt guilty about how she ended her relationship with Steve? Do you think she thought she was in the right because Steve told her it was okay? It really keeps me up at night how this is never addressed. Especially now with the knowledge of s4 that they both made fun of Steve in their relationship. I get he's Nancy's ex, but Steve saved both of their lives multiple times. idk, it just leaves a bitter taste in my mouth. That's why if s5 only put the burden on Steve to make it up to Jancy/Jonathan, I really don't want to see it. :/

Also kinda wanted to see the aftermath of Jancy getting together from an outside perspective. I wanted to see how the school reacts to it. I think Steve tried his hardest to shut down any negative cheating rumors (probably also for his sake bc that would mean confronting his nightmare), but people would definitely talk. Especially Tommy and Carol. I would love to see what they would do to Jancy and Nancy specifically. Like, do they develop an even stronger us against them mindset. Is it that why Nancy seemingly only has Jonathan. The show mentioned two friends of Nancy in s2. What were their opinions? She was definitely close with them, given that Karen didn't question Nancy when she told her about sleepover plans. Speaking of Karen, what would she think about this. Steve spent Christmas with them, I think he was liked in the Wheeler fam, and then suddenly he's gone, and a week later, Jonathan is there. I want at least 15 episodes dealing with the aftermath lmao.

honestly...no, I don't thin Nancy feels really guilty for how she and Steve ended. They've never talked about it so there's no reason for her to conceptualize how shitty it would have been for him. If she's not confronted with that I don't think she'd feel like there'd be something to feel guilty for. One of Nancy's defining traits is her self absurdness, which is good for high stakes, life or death situations that require her to not hesitate. But it also leads to her not acknowledging/realizing (or, the show not recognizing) when she makes mistakes. She feels she's right, so, why would she feel guilty about it? She might be embarrassed about it though. Like it was messy, and so there were rumours about it and having people whisper about who she's dating/sleeping with would be embarrassing.

Jonathan I think would maybe feel bad about it, in the sort of abstract way that he knows cheating is bad because he knew Nancy and Steve weren't completely over, and he mentions it. But. I don't think it keeps him up at night? Like he also made the decision to go to Nancy, and kiss her, and then sleep with her, when he knew she was at the very least like a day out of a relationship. He doesn't care about Steve so it's not some betrayal, it's just an asshole move. I don't think Jon has to accept Steve's s1 apology, but I do not think Steve needs to apologize to him lmao that's so dumb let jon apologize to Steve for enabling cheating.

As for outsider pov. there's so many options! I'd love to see more of them. I'd say Steve definitely denies cheating rumours, partly because I don't think he knows how far they went? like he might think they kissed or had feelings realization or something, but not the extent? Tommy and Carol must've felt vindicated in their dislike for Nancy/feeling she wasn't good for Steve. Nancy's two season 2 cover story friends I want to meet them!!

Karen Wheeler....idk I don't think about her all that much but her perspective could be interesting! I think she'd maybe just be happy Nancy is taking charge or something...but yes give me 80's era sitcom plot about the aftermath of that lmaoooo

But I DO think Holly Wheeler is absolutely devastated by the break up. I think she's the og Steve stan he probably played dolls with her or something on the living room floor while waiting for Nancy and she's obsessed with him. She asks where he is and why he doesn't visit anymore and why can't he come over even though he and Nancy broke up (she's four she doesn't know what that means lol)

#findaanswers #Anonymous #stranger things #nancy wheeler #jonathan Byers #holly wheeler #stranger things meta #anonasaurus

[ultra-raging-ghost]

op the best thing your parents can do is get the divorce bless, im sorry about the fighting :( i get you it's the WORST but at least you got to play a cool game🔥🔥 now cmon spill some batjokes go go go

this is the FUNNIEST ask to get without context and i feel like im finally living up to the expectations of an ao3 author, also ty anon i was just super fucking stressed, i got an hour of sleep sunday night/monday morning and then when i was at my friends place i crashed really hard and slept for 14 hours straight and it really helped but anyway okay BATJOKES

okay so i played both seasons i dont have a pc myself but my friend does and they have both seasons and brooooo..... i played the vigilante joker route and i loved it

i sacrificed the FUCK out of catwoman im ngl.... my friend was so surprised but dude i was SO DOWN BAD FOR JOHN!!!!!! IDGAF !!! i was so down bad for john the whole time dude and at the end it was like "oh you were manipulating him into thinking you liked him to get info" NO!!!! I WANTED TO FUCK HIM!!!!!!!

when harley debuted i chose the option of asking john if he was in love with me AND HIS ASS SAID NO BUT ISTG HE WAS IN DENIAL!!! PURELY BECAUSE HE BELIEVED HARLEY TO BE HIS SOULMATE, SHE HIT HIM SHE DOESNT DESERVE HIM LIKE I DO !!!!!

like at some point with catwoman i chose something like against her for john and i was in the MINORITY like it was a 95%/5% Ratio and i was in the 5% and i do NOT regret that shit ‼

otherwise aside from my mental illness about batjokes i had a lot of unpopular opinions according to the peanut gallery (my irl who was watching me play it) like im ngl i gave up batman to keep alfred like HES OUR DAD???? THATS OUR DAD RIGHT THERE AND HIS POINTS WERE VALID, IMMA LISTEN TO HIM HES SMART IDK.....

Otherwise dude... i felt SO bad for harvey (2face)!!!!!! aside from his main storyline (i was very merciful and understanding with him, actually i saved him over catwoman in that one scene so his face didnt get fucked up just his arm in the fire) i read his file on the gotham news reports and dude..... like everything surrounding him is just SO SAD

Also i cannot say this enough tbh i side with mr. freeze every time.... i may be a sucker for romance but that man was trying his hardest to save his wife and from what ive seen he does that in every iteration of batman, like he becomes a villain and gets into illegal shit because his wifes sick and idk man..... like even if he is a villain i really empathize with him??? in the playthrough i offered to keep his wife safe and alive and i took mercy on him when he got infected with the virus and i froze him, like i have confidence in him idk.... i know he probably died bc it turned out the reason the riddler survived was because of the cure that also made him go insane but like my fingers are CROSSED!!!!!

also will say the only thing id change was i was kinda iffy about taking that selfie with john at the funeral, like i didnt do it but idk..... afterwards i thought abt taking that back like dude i NEVER WRONGED that man!!!!!! he was my POOKIE!!!!!! and i lowkey feel like him going crazy in the vigilante route was pushed for by the writers bc it felt a lil.... idk..... like forced but i get it its part of the story line......./silly

my friend played the villain!joker route and from what ive heard its EVEN GAYER and they let me watch them play the last 15 minutes of the villain route so i could see how differently they handled selina and that doll scene was kinda.... idkkkk 👀 like heyyyyy/f

i also heard theres a line from harley in the villain joker route about how he could never get over me and how john always liked me better than her which was SO satisfying because i made batman so jealous over her and john hanging out like im ngl i was so up harleys ass in s2

OH OH other thing id change, i wouldnt sip from harleys slushie, i didnt understand why she was offering it to me but now that i know i wouldnt take it ngl, making john jealous was not worth that slushie !!!!!

uhhh thats all, ty anon :D

#asks #batjokes #telltale batman #if u dont know jokers name in the telltale games is “john doe” until he either becomes a vigilante or a villain #then he becomes joker

[mdhwrites]

So, what do you think would have happened to Amphibia if its third season got shortened down to three hour long specials like Owl House did?

So A: this question is flawed. The shortening wasn't told to TOH's crew post S2. They were told WELL in advance. Dana is on record (source) for having said as much. The news came down on episode 7 of S2. Reasonably, this probably meant not a lot of S2A could have been changed due to deadlines but I don't know how all this works that well. For the sake of this, I'm going to mostly assume that something could have started changing starting episode eight and more drastic changes could be done after the mid season hiatus.

B: TOH needed S2B to mostly look identical to setup for going into the human realm, for having the Day of Unity as the finale and for the Collector to be set up as a villain by then. There are maybe two episodes you could change but nothing that is emblematic of the problems of S2B as a whole. Here's an entire blog about that. Btw, I published that blog before the finale came out and my opinion is mostly that that blog is kinder than it should have been.

C: I am not going to say this is a better version of Amphibia. Some might though. A lot of people think S2B and S3 of Amphibia is loaded with what they see as filler. Even I agree that you could probably cut a fair amount and not lose the core of the show. I'm about to demonstrate that. Also, just inherently because of a faster pace, the show would have to be more about the trio, or feel that way at least (again, I'll get into it), which the majority of the Amphibia fandom argues is what the show should have done anyways. So yeah, it's kind of an interesting conundrum.

D: I'll mostly talk about the weaknesses of this rewrite once I'm done. For anyone who needs a refresher though: S2, Episode 7 of Amphibia, the last one before this change, is one after Marcy at the Gates and has the segments "Scavenger Hunt" and "The Plantars Check In." Oh and before I get to the three specials, I'll mostly just be trying to slot in episode segments because that feels the most fair to actually capture a reasonable timeline for the show. Like I'm not coming up with cheats to handwave issues that this change would cause. As such, I'm not going to do something like cut The First Temple in half just for the sake of claiming more time. Once we get to the specials, that will change because those episodes' structures would have inherently changed, kind of like how The Hardest Thing has a different structure due to its extended run time. Until then though? I'll mostly be trying to effectively Mad Libs this off of what we already have despite the fact that the creators would have, at least if they're responsible, made changes to work within their new time frame. I'm going to give myself one unreasonable shift in return for this handicap effectively of not being able to change the core structure of the show or its plot points.

ANYWAYS. With that out of the way:

For the sake of pacing, you probably do Lost in Newtopia and then the Sleepover to End All Sleepovers as episode 8 because we can't literally go straight into leaving Newtopia and one could argue that the sleepover is important foreshadowing. However, the next episode is then a double whammy of A Day at the Aquarium to say farewell to Newtopia and still have that touching confirmation of the found family before then skipping Night Drivers and going straight to Return to Wartwood for the second segment, bringing us up to nine.

Then I would actually move Toad to Redemption into the first slot for episode ten because it is thematically important and a good rallying moment for Wartwood. You could also replace with Ivy on the Run for the sake of Sprivy and just make episode 13 into episode 10 by making After the Rain be the mid season finale. It's dramatic enough to do so and lets:

The First Temple opens S2B and episode 15 of the normal show, New Wartwood and Friend or Frobo stays too in order to help setup Wartwood's relationship with humans besides Anne and to get Frobo in. That brings the count to 12.

Then you do episode 17 as episode 13, Barrel's Warhammer and The Second Temple, because we do still need a bit more time with Sasha to prep for True Colors and The Second Temple is obvious. However, I'd probably swap their positions because then episode 14 is The Third Temple (so you don't have two temples literally back to back, even if the two are different episodes like in the actual show) and The Dinner... With Battle of the Bands being cut. It's Sasha's weakest episode, is just kind of reinforcement of a few elements and some expansion on the three's relationship, though mostly Anne and Sasha. The Dinner is needed though to get Sasha with the other two and heading to Newtopia because...

There is a quarter season finale now with True Colors. It is ABSOLUTELY the most radical choice in this rewrite and you could arguably say that it's not fair because Disney wouldn't have allowed them to have that episode as anything but a season finale. This is the only 'cheat' I'll give myself since I'm not altering episodes drastically or the like to fit in with the new time frame. Plus side: They'd have the compelling pitch that in five episodes, they CAN get back to Amphibia to make that the season finale. Otherwise there isn't really much to change before S3 because so much has to wait on the major turn of Andrias becoming the main villain. That version of this outline though, that S2 doesn't change at ALL, is... A genuine nightmare on a lot of fronts and honestly less reasonable than thinking this would be allowed and I'll get to why after the outline. Oh, there is one change that needs to happen unfortunately: Frobo probably doesn't make it in this version after this. Polly and him unfortunately just aren't important enough to really get the wrap up they do in S3. It does mean that mechanic Polly during the ending probably has an RC robo or the like with her to help explain where her being a mechanic came from.

Anywhos: Episode 16 is The New Normal... Mixed with Anne-sterminator. Anne is honest about the danger they're in from go and instead of the quarantine montage, we get her actually beating the Cloak Bot first try to show how far she's come to her parents and to show off the new powers alongside their cost.

Then you do Fight at the Museum followed by Turning Point for episode 17 to start the ball rolling on getting back as well as get Sasha into place and finish up her arc.

Episode 18 has Temple Frogs because the Plantars DO need to still connect with Earth and Temple Frogs is EASILY the best episode of that as it explores how different Anne is from the start of the show and how that isn't entirely a good thing because of the things she's now ignoring, fits thematically with the show as a whole and is just a lot of fun. The other side meanwhile is Olivia and Yunan. I would almost not advocate for keeping this episode for a lot of reasons but it's kind of necessary in order to set up for:

The Core and the King is in episode 19 because Andrias' backstory is REALLY important to how he is beat and to also understand what the Core is and what the kingdom of Amphibia can do. What the stakes are to all of this. It is also the one segment in the actual show itself that explores the villain so you can't really cut it. The other half of the episode though is If You Give a Frog a Cookie because we need Terry.

Especially because you might have noticed that I didn't include Mr. X. There just isn't room for them for the most part which luckily... Is okay. He's fun but his parts can be mostly replaced either with faceless people or Terry. You can also just go with his first appearance actually being him taking the Plantars in this episode. Maybe there's been foreshadowing at the end of Earth segments of someone watching. Something that only takes a few seconds but builds up to honestly having Escape to Amphibia be mostly the same as it was but with a reduced cast and less familiarity with Mr. X as a villain.

So that covers S2. Now there are 3 45 minute specials on average to cover all of S3B. Or more so there's two specials to cover the seven episodes between Escape to Amphibia and The Hardest Thing because Amphibia's finale already had an extended time slot. As 45 minutes is effectively two episodes each, you need to save on three episodes. Six segments.

That's... easier said than done because the segments are actually incredibly important to Amphibia's storytelling and these specials could technically be split into four segments each but more likely they actually have to tell a through line story per special. You can't jump AS MUCH as you could before.

So Special 1 starts with effectively Commander. The reintroduction to Wartwood and the finalizing of Sasha's new self after her character arc is not something you can really leave out. Plus side is that Commander Anne is a really efficient eleven minutes to introduce what Amphibia is like now and you probably don't do the pampered brat routine with the Plantars which is not a real loss. The theme of this special though is allies so the target of Sasha's mission when Anne gets back changes.

The goal is now to free Mother Olm. This way you can skip the Olms themselves and still get the prophecy and foresight from Mother Olm that sets up the finale. It also allows a smooth transition into meeting with Mother Olm in general. She warns them they'll need allies once they're done and we get a montage of the a lot of what people consider filler in S3 with getting allies, though mostly the Toads, Newts and the Killerpillars probably. You could also do this with people splitting up so that each one gets a truncated version of the full segment to get them. Then the final portion of the special is Sasha and Anne hoping their efforts paid off before Sprig shows Lief's hidden room to get Lief's letter.

Then Special 2 is effectively episodes 16 and 17 of S3. Just consolidating the army, heading out, then protecting Earth after midway through the special everything goes wrong. Not really anything even has to be changed here really except just smoothing out the transitions between segments. Admittedly, the Plantars probably rely more on Domino 2 to replace the loss of Frobo and unfortunately Polly just doesn't have a lot to do in All In.

Then Special 3 is literally just The Hardest Thing. Pretty much no changes I think because the elements for it have still been covered.

And that's it. It's not by any means perfect of course. Elements are rushed and some elements probably feel neglected or abandoned entirely. I already mentioned Polly but this version also means Sprivy is ignored post S1 effectively and just has a nice come back at the end of the finale (which is a good argument for Ivy on the Run over Toad of Redemption for the filler segment in episode 10 of the rewrite). Worse yet... Sprig is kind of ignored and Anne and his friendship is mostly left fallow. I admittedly don't think the show does the best job keeping it burning post S1 but S1 sells it HARD already as part of the stable base of the show so it's not a big problem. It also harms the connection to Amphibia itself so a line like "They aren't Amphibia's greatest treasure" doesn't hit as hard.

It would almost certainly feel actually rushed... Which is a fuckton better than what happened with TOH because TOH doesn't feel rushed. Its three specials are incredibly bloated with plotlines THEY introduce, or S2B introduced, that go nowhere. Or hell, resolutions that mean nothing, like how Luz finishes her character arc THREE. FUCKING. TIMES. Even people who love TOH still will admit the majority of For the Future is filler. That it does nothing to actually move anything forward, wrap much of anything up that couldn't have been left alone (besides Stringbean but that moment is cut off at the knees immediately by the finale's dream sequence) and those are people who won't bring up how Willow had her power problems resolved literally two seasons ago. S3 is so bankrupt on what to do to fill the time that they bring it back anyways, alongside Kikimora who has NO REASON to still be a villain we're dealing with.

That is the HUGE difference here. TOH doesn't actually feel like we're missing out on anything with its S3 besides fluff and maybe a bit of exploration on the whole Grimmwalker thing. The specials just don't feel like they actually know what to do in the first place though. It makes it feel like we're mostly missing out on filler but there's already so much of that in these episodes. Even the elements that could have been expanded, like Belos backstory, the human realm shenanigans and the Collector's redemption are rough because none of these are from before the shortening. Only Hunter's arc is really something stared BEFORE THE SHORTENING. Belos' backstory and the contradictory nature of The Collector, like how he absolutely knows what death is during Hollow Mind and is a complete evil fucker there... Are written in S2B. They were included and written as part of the shortening. Hell, the human realm and the Collector as a whole weren't even planned for S3 supposedly. They were things they wanted to do but didn't have a place for them and so just jammed in these MASSIVE new elements that needed more time than was available with no care for the fact that they had NO TIME. (I don't have a source for this unfortunately.)

Admit you didn't have a plan for your show without admitting you didn't have a plan.

That also brings up an element that I brought up at the top: How much the story might have actually changed. I'm having to work off of the main outline provided by the show but it's entirely possible that The Core might not have been included. That Earth might not have. Changes would have happened to the overall story and it's kind of impossible to reasonably guess how. After all, I wouldn't have guessed that an all powerful child and a trip to the human realm would have been responses to a shortening for The Owl House.

So I did my best and I still stand by that this would still be a fine to good version of the show. That it wouldn't have been impossible to tell a full narrative with the time given. One that is still thematically coherent, has a strong finale that doesn't contradict itself and still has plenty of fun in it to counterbalance the higher focus on the more dramatic elements.

That's still a LOT better than can be said for TOH's finale, let alone its three specials.

======+++++======

I ended up just rewriting the outline as a way to give it more thought instead of copy and pasting the first one I wrote. *whimpers*

I have a public Discord for any and all who want to join!

I also have an Amazon page for all of my original works in various forms of character focused romances from cute, teenage romance to erotica series of my past. I have an Ao3 for my fanfiction projects as well if that catches your fancy instead. If you want to hang out with me, I stream from time to time and love to chat with chat.

A Twitter you can follow too

And a Kofi if you like what I do and want to help out with the fact that disability doesn’t pay much.

#amphibia #toh critical

[phantom-of-the-501st]

Thoughts/Analysis of Ep 9

@saturn-sends-hugs made a great post earlier talking about her thoughts on this episode and now that I have time, I’m gonna drop mine down below.

Two quick warnings as well. 1. This is long. 2. If the formatting is different from how my posts normally are, it’s because I’m writing this on the website, not the app, like I usually do.

SPOILERS FOR TBB S2

One thing that I was pleasantly surprised about was just how much of the episode was spent focusing on the Echo leaving situation. I thought they were going to go down the route you see a lot in Star Wars, which is to bring it up in one conversation and then just move on. But they actually talked about it!

Now before we get into any deeper analysis, I just want to touch on something that I’ve seen some people talking about online, and that’s the fact that the guys are only really having this conversation because a child is pushing them to do it. Now don’t get me wrong, I would love to see the Batch talking about their feelings without needing any encouragement to do so, but let’s be real, these are the clones we’re talking about. They don’t do that.

The clones have always been an emotionally repressed bunch. Because they lose so many of their brothers on the regular, they just learn to compartmentalise their feelings and move on because if they didn’t, then they’d spend so much time processing their feelings that they wouldn’t actually get much else done. Not to mention that feelings are probably considered a sign of weakness, so the clones hide their emotions so that the Kaminoans don’t think that they’re going to be a liability on the field.

It’s not healthy, but it makes sense.

Now onto the rest of the episode. I’m going to do a breakdown of each character in this episode and then touch on the entire thing as a whole.

Omega

Omega is clearly the one who is visibly taking this the hardest. I think the reason that she is so much more open about Echo than Crosshair is because she’s spent more time around him. Omega only joined the squad at the same time Crosshair left, so while she’s sad he’s not there, she doesn’t really know what it’s like for him not to be around. On the other hand, the entire time that she’s been with the Batch, Echo has been there to support her.

Echo was clearly very protective of her and took on more of the “mum” role within the group. I wouldn’t be surprised if Omega also felt a connection with him due to the fact that they were both the “odd ones out” in the squad. So when Echo left, she lost one of the few constants in her life. And what’s worse, is that he left willingly.

For Omega, she hasn't just got to process the fact that he’s gone, it’s the fact that he went away by choice. And it hits even harder knowing the conversations that she had with him at the beginning of the episode/show. Echo reassured her that their lives were not ruined by Omega joining them but then he leaves to join Rex. And the reason he leaves is because he can’t do what he wants to do with the rest of the squad, because they want to protect Omega. 

He assured her that he does not resent her for changing their lives and then left due to the fact that her being there is preventing him from doing what he feels he needs to do. Now obviously we know that Echo doesn’t blame Omega for any of this, nor does he want to leave her or the Batch behind, but she probably feels a level of guilt about the whole situation. She’s likely going to be questioning if it’s her fault he’s gone.

But then she’s also dealing with the fear that the Batch is going to move on from her one day. When Tech said that the squad existed before Echo and that it will exist after, Omega probably thought that they’d have the same stance about her. That if she were to go, then they’d just move on. It’s obviously not true, but she is likely to see it that way.

Tech

Poor Tech is clearly not doing as well as he thinks he is. He acknowledges that change is a natural part of life, but he maybe doesn’t cope with it as well as he thinks he does. Yes, the squad existed before Echo, but that does not mean that going back to how things were before is going to work. They can’t go back to how things were before.

First of all, Crosshair isn’t there anymore. Second of all, they’re living in a post-Echo, post-Omega-joining period of time. It’s never going to be the same as it once was and Tech is struggling with that change. Him and Echo became partners in crime, so suddenly going back to not having that extra person to help you out is making things difficult. 

The poor man is visibly stressed out, particularly in the way he treats Wrecker. Every little (and big) thing that goes wrong is just adding onto the pressure and Tech is struggling to cope with the situation. Too many things are changing at once and it’s becoming overwhelming.

And then Omega questions why he’s acting the way he is and Tech suddenly has to a) work out what’s apparently wrong with what he’s doing and b) find a way to verbalise how he’s feeling. And he realises that how he’s processing things isn’t wrong, but that Omega doesn’t understand why he acts the way he does. I love the scene in the cave so much because it’s not just a learning opportunity for Tech to assess what he says around Omega, but also a chance for Omega to learn that Tech just processes things in a different way. It’s not that he doesn’t care, he just takes a more logical approach to his emotions.

(I’m not going to go into detail about Tech and autism, not because it’s not important to the discussion, but because as a neurotypical person I don’t believe that I should be commenting too much on a topic I don’t necessarily understand. I would recommend checking out Florian’s videos on TikTok (Tall Man Tech/ @theflorianrey) because they have some great discussions about this subject).

Wrecker

Wrecker and Hunter are the two that I have the least to talk about here, not because I think they’re going through fewer emotions, just that they’re not addressed in this episode quite as much as Omega’s and Tech's.

But I found watching Wrecker in the episode very interesting because this is the first time that we’ve seen him so frustrated for so long. Wrecker is the happy go lucky member of the group and rarely expresses any “negative” emotion for longer than about 3 seconds (with a few exceptions). But him and Tech are really aggravating each other this episode. Everyone is stressed out and when Tech accuses Wrecker of being the reason why things started going wrong, Wrecker gets defensive and fires back.

And it doesn’t get better when the rockfall happens because not only is he mad at Tech, he’s also stuck in an enclosed space with him. We know that Wrecker is very protective over his family and losing two members is something he’s struggling with. He acknowledges Omega’s feelings about the situation being weird and I truly believe that his “you get used to it” is in reference to Crosshair, but I don’t think that “used to it” means over it. Learning to live with those emotions is not the same as processing them and it’s getting to the point where those feelings are starting to overflow.

Hunter

Hunter is the one who is having to mediate the situation, but that means he isn’t really working through his own emotions. Without his second in command (Echo), Hunter is the only person who really has the responsibility of making sure that the rest of the group is alright, which means putting his own feelings aside to try and manage the others. He’s very much trying to diffuse the situation without handling his own emotions first.

I saw a really great analysis from @thejedimama on TikTok, who was talking about how the four elements (earth, fire, air and water) are used to symbolise things throughout the episode. One of the things I loved from that analysis is the idea that the electrical storm is symbolic of the conflict between Wrecker and Tech. At the beginning of the episode, Hunter says that the storm is moving away from them, but it suddenly ends up catching up the them after Tech and Wrecker start fighting with each other. The conflict between them was brewing and caught up to them in the same way the storm did.

And it’s Hunter who is keeping an eye on that storm, much in the same way he’s keeping tabs on Wrecker and Tech. He’s trying to protect his brothers, but with the shear amount of things going wrong, it all kind of blows up in their face (haha, blows up... because of the ipsium... that was unintentional) and they’re stuck in this storm of emotions that Hunter is having difficulties controlling.

I think Hunter liked having Echo around because he had someone who could help him work through situations. Now, with everything going wrong, he really needs someone to confer with, but that someone isn’t there. Hunter is left struggling to keep up the front that he is okay because he has to try and help the people around him.

The Batch As A Whole

It is clear that the group are very much not having a fun time right now. They’re struggling to work through the emotions of losing two of their squad members and now with the added stress of being trapped in a cave and losing the Marauder etc. the feelings are all just bubbling over.

And actually, I think losing the Marauder is kind of symbolic of how everything is going at the moment. They have literally lost their home. They are stuck floating because the things in their life that they rely on are drifting away from them and it’s leaving them in the lurch. It’s more change than they can handle.

And I love that they touch on the practical issues that arise from Echo leaving as well. Sure, they used to be a group of four, but they haven’t had to deal with one of them being a child. How do you split up a group of four people when you don’t want one of them to be alone at any point? They were already struggling to get through Cid’s missions and now they’re trying to navigate one of their members disappearing at the same time.

The clones were trained for war, but they were not trained for this situation. None of them know what they’re doing.

I’m curious to see whether this narrative continues into the next episode. Imo, the next episode ("Retrieval") is going to be about them getting the Marauder and I’m curious as to whether this is going to symbolise them taking steps to work through the situation, to finally take something back, not lose it.

So yeah, I guess the summary is the Batch don’t know what they’re doing, everything is going wrong and everyone keeps fighting because none of them know how to process emotions. I’m definitely interested to see where it goes from here.

[I’m not sure if I like how this post turned out. Does it make sense? I don’t know. It feels like one of those situations where I have a lot to say but no idea how to say it. Oh well. This is very long and I hope I got the point across. Like I said in the post, there are some other creators who have touched on this topic who I recommend listening to because they also have some great thoughts.]

Edit: fixed a couple of grammatical errors. Definitely didn't catch all of them but good enough. 😅

#I was writing this one a laptop instead of a phone and now it's ended up even longer than normal #oops #but I hope I got the point across #the batch are clearly not doing well #I hope this narrative carries on into future episode because it's and interesting one #and I hope we get to see wrecker and tech apologise to one another #because I don't like the idea of them being mad and not properly working things out with each other #the bad batch season 2 spoilers #the bad batch spoilers #tbb spoilers #the bad batch #tech #wrecker #omega #hunter #echo #crosshair

[starry-mist]

S4e12 thoughts:

This is my favourite episode of the season (and one of my top ten overall.) It's also the hardest one for me to watch. I had to watch it twice to really formulate my thoughts.

We have my favourite trope of Charlie and Sarah stuck/isolated somewhere. Avalon Island. Dreamy. Quiet. Remote.

I'll get some of the non-Charah details out of the way first.

Kevin Hanchard and Maurice Dean Wint play off each other so well. They really shine in their scenes together.

I hadn't seen Murdoch Mysteries yet at this point, so didn't know who Thomas Craig was but I enjoyed him greatly in this episode.

The script is solid. Taf Diallo I believe has only written two episodes so far and I've loved both.

I love the overall feel of this episode. Shoutout to the addition of the bagpipes to some of the show's usual musical themes, it really worked.

Rex and the sheep. Rex taking home the toy sheep. I headcanon that Sarah has one too.

Shoutout to the nod to Mayko Nguyen's seasickness with that "at least the boat ride wasn't so bad" line. (Note how we never see her on the boat itself.)

Same actor, different character: We last saw Paul Warford in s2 as the dead food scientist in Finger Foodie. Now we have Gordo. Long live Gordo.

Sadly I did not have a chance to visit Brigus South when I was in Newfoundland last summer. Will definitely have it on the list for a future visit. It looks gorgeous.

Okay, so, Charah time:

First of all, I remember the show's social accounts posting the almost-kiss scene as "a moment many of you have been waiting for," and um, NO, that was NOT the moment.

So, we have Sarah still keeping Michael at literal arms' length outside the bullpen when he wants to go in for a kiss. And Charlie sort of half-pretending he doesn't have his back up at the other man's presence outside the bullpen. Way to set the scene for some tension.

The almost-kiss. If there were ever a blatant sign that Charlie is Not Okay, it’s that scene. Dude has been cheated on. That he would even consider kissing Sarah who by all accounts is "happy" in her relationship...huge red flag.

Charlie can’t stop staring at Sarah's cheek the first time they interview the kid who was shot. The second time, Sarah can't stop touching her cheek/lip. Yeah, we get it, they're distracted by their "moment."

Sarah asking Charlie if he's considering getting a quiet place for him and Rex, and Charlie's "you have to grow old with someone"...Charlie, you do realize dogs don't live forever, right? But yeah I think we're supposed to take this as Charlie resigning himself to forever being alone...sigh.

Charlie, get your shit together.

So I've done a little research into Fogo Island and damn, a weekend away there would not come cheap. Hitting that plot point does sort of underscore the "maybe Sarah's thinking about taking things with Michael a bit more seriously" idea. But her bringing it up right after Charlie expresses his doubts about growing old with someone...there's a ton of subtext there. And in case we didn't quite catch it, Charlie then stops the golf cart thing they're driving and says his "there's no manual for this" line, echoing Sarah's earlier line about there being no manual for a relationship. This whole exchange is them talking about their feelings for each other without actually talking about their feelings for each other.

Red flags. Red flags everywhere.

Though how much did I need them to miss their boat and get stuck at the B&B? A girl can dream...

(Shoutout to wardrobe for putting them in matching sweaters, BTW.)

So at what point does Sarah decide that she needs to give things with Michael a real chance? I would say it's when Charlie talks about his house full of motorcycle parts, and they cut to her expression, and damn, is Mayko ever good at reacting. The last time (that we've seen on screen, so let's go with it) she was at his house was Dark Web. My logic goes with that being the reason she kind of pulls away by the end of the episode and goes off to see where things go with Michael. It's overly simplistic, but it works. I think she's also realising how very not okay Charlie is, and doesn't know how to express her concern, but that's a topic for later in the season.

Charlie, Sarah, really, get your collective shit together.

The ending scene crushes me every time, even though I know it's coming. The heartbreak, the lies they tell each other, the look on Charlie's face as he watches Sarah walk away.

Gah. I love it. It's so perfectly angsty.

Stellar episode, 10/10, will always have a special place in my heart.

#hudson & rex #charah #charlie hudson x sarah truong

[safekeeperscosm]

tell me EVERYTHING about the SVTFOE cleaved AU, it's so good

OUGHFJFK UMM.. OKAY!!

Cleaved AU is a self-indulgent canon-divergent hypothetical rewrite @saik0m0che and I have been working on (passively 💀) since the end of svtfoe s3. but I've always had this sort of idea/concept from mid s2

other than maybe a few minor changes for s1-2, post battle for mewni is straight up where I take the reigns

first of all. Toffee doesn't die.

but star DOES still "kill him" at the end of BFM, it's just that I refuse to let his soul pass on (for unfinished business!)

the premise here takes from s2's emotionally charged magic of star's wand crystal being cleaved apart, to then cleaving her & toffee's souls together. which means they share all of each other's pain haha! so bcuz they're together, you can't kill or crystallize toff since that would harm star

but how? idk man something abt the two of them being in the realm of dying butterfly magic at the same time. something abt how toffee is no longer flesh, only decaying essence. something abt how star sorta died and came back to life just as she saved the realm. he's like a parasite!

I hc he wasn't gonna live long after BFM if star hadn't killed him off anyway. but still :(

not only does this "murderer" have to live with star at the castle (likely in the dungeon first, they'd want to break the bond of their souls), he's missing 90% of his memories — because star brutally obliterated him & he spent a very long time in the magic realm alone chanting the same spell over and over again

on the bright side, eclipsa later finds company in him, even doe he doesn't remember her (but very much trusts her 🥺)

oh yeah he & eclipsa dated in the past and became good friends after (Globgor was the one who introduced them shsghsj)

second. Glossaryck stays dead.

or rather isn't physically there with the main cast. he can't die, he just decided to let things unfold and watch at a distance

he does come around for Meteora's Lesson

rest in pudding is when star & toffee are officially cleaved! she starts asphyxiating from time to time after the funeral scenes and especially while chasing Glossy's "ghost"/reflections. he leads her to a crystallized toffee and THAT'S when they meet again. it also gives me a fun reason to do a parallel scene (redraw lol) of moon & eclipsa

you just KNOW rhombulus is gonna go through the hardest time here and he is my boy <3

lastly, SEPTARSIS!!!

this needs some episode rearranging, but maybe after Butterfly Trap, star & toffee go on a trip to septarsis with yvgeny to find a way to cleave their souls and potentially get toffee's memories back. star introduces herself as Star Johansen since everyone there hates the Butterflys. she sticks with the name from that point on

toffee does regain his memories (but can't recall them all at once, it's a process that takes time) and star is met with the revelation that he & celena were in love, making him her great great grandfather. it's also revealed how toffee managed to make the magic realm decay, and that celena was the one who helped him

oh yeah. other things;

marco pretends he's fine for his friends & family, trying to hide the fact he misses star, so his parents convince him to be the exchange student for once. but since he has dimensional scissors anyway, he visits every 1-2 weeks? not sure abt jarco. long distance? still breakup? ¯⁠\⁠_⁠(⁠ツ⁠)⁠_⁠/⁠¯

he might still be an unofficial squire cause that's for fun

Pony Head CAN get a prosthetic horn. but she actually goes through some kind of character development 😭

Ludo ??? I wanna do something for him I just dunno what. Yvgeny doesn't leave so ???

the Meteora arc ??? is paced better ???

Tom is fine Tom is great

this is ofc mostly s3 as s4 makes me so angry and bored fgshjs,, in the end magic is still "destroyed" and that's how star & toffee are finally free of each other. toffee gets to fight & kill mina while the redemption spell is cast, and he's reunited with celena to peacefully pass on :)

also the MHC aren't killed off nor is "Earthni" a thing 🤮

I'm definitely forgetting a lot of other stuff! plus the au's not wholly developed aha

#cleaved au #svtfoe au #svtfoe rewrite #svtfoe #star vs the forces of evil #star butterfly #toffee of septarsis #toffee svtfoe #toffee star vs the forces of evil #yeah safe answers stuff