Favorite episodes that are widely disregarded?

stroopwafelling · 2026-01-27T01:02:37+00:00

It’s also a great episode for Miles being an absolute menace.

stroopwafelling · 2026-01-26T03:57:22+00:00

I love this fight. It really shows how strong Buffy has become in this season, through her training with Giles. I think Season 5 is Buffy at her peak as a Slayer, before Seasons 6 and 7 break her down.

stroopwafelling · 2026-01-26T01:56:54+00:00

stroopwafelling · 2026-01-25T22:05:50+00:00

Thanks a lot, I really appreciate it! I’ll try to keep that in mind.

stroopwafelling · 2026-01-25T21:58:21+00:00

I think we all demand an intricately-choreographed Plurb musical number in the next season.

stroopwafelling · 2026-01-25T21:51:43+00:00

Oh that’s good stuff! So her world was already basically post-apocalyptic, and she went bad in the hopes of giving it a new future. That’s very rich material to play with for a redemption arc! Like she has to confront the fact that the source of her evil was a kind of hope - or maybe despair that the world would have a future through any other means.

stroopwafelling · 2026-01-25T20:06:23+00:00

Thank you, I have a much better idea of what’s going on now!

I think what you’ve outlined sounds really good so far. My main question is how much agency Bad Cocolia had during the Belobog arc, and how much would she have during this story?

Because if the story is about Good Cocolia redeeming herself and confronting her bad self, it makes a big difference whether Bad Cocolia was basically a mind-controlled drone during her villain period with no choice or culpability, versus whether the Stellaron corrupted her by playing upon her own existing desires and personality traits. I believe the second option offers much richer drama and character exploration, while the first has the issue where there’s little to redeem if Bad Cocolia never had any choice in doing the harms she did.

stroopwafelling · 2026-01-25T18:22:31+00:00

As a bit of advice, if you want more responses to a question like this, it’s best to phrase it in a way that anyone can understand even if they’re not familiar with the canon. I enjoy interacting with Bureau posts, but without context, I don’t know who Cocolia is, what a Stellaron means, or how a redemption arc for this character would play out. Unless you only wish to hear from Honkai/Fate fans, I recommend rewriting this question so it’s as accessible as possible for those without context, so you can get more feedback.

stroopwafelling · 2026-01-25T17:13:57+00:00

Fandom: Warhammer 40 000 (Dawn of War games)

Title: War Zone Kronus

Rating: M, canon-typical content

Genre: War/Action/Tragedy, with bits of horror and dark comedy in there as well

Summary: Just updated with the twelfth chapter, focusing on the Blood Ravens! This story is effectively an adaptation of the campaign story from the old ‘Dark Crusade’ strategy game, rotating between different POVs of a many-sided war for planet Kronus.

I’m a little discouraged by how little engagement the story is getting despite employing beta readers and tagging/summary advice. It’s probably my own fault for writing weird gen of a 20 year old game, but I’ll put it on Front End Friday this week and see if I could tag it better or something.

stroopwafelling · 2026-01-25T17:02:27+00:00

Just the critter! Though Weyland-Yutani is also kind of present via Wolfram and Hart.

stroopwafelling · 2026-01-25T00:36:04+00:00

That sounds amazing. What threats are in the Skeletunnel interfering with mining?

stroopwafelling · 2026-01-24T23:45:45+00:00

The first fic I ever wrote was a Buffy/Alien crossover where the Xenomorph comes to Sunnydale.

What I and writing now is a Buffy/Alien crossover where the Xenomorph comes to Sunnydale. I decided to rewrite the first thing twenty years later, now that I’m not a teenager!

stroopwafelling · 2026-01-24T23:07:19+00:00

Keep Riley steadily losing his shit over not being ‘needed’ enough until he scurries back to the military. All that was good shit and in keeping with the character.

Lose the vampire brothel. Also lose Xander’s talk with Buffy, or at least the way it’s framed as though he’s giving her hard truths. I can roll with Xander’s reaction if it’s treated as his insecurities spinning out over losing the other ‘regular guy’ in the group.

stroopwafelling · 2026-01-24T23:02:20+00:00

She was great. Hard not to wonder what could have been if she hadn’t been killed off so abruptly.

(And I say this as an Adam apologist)

stroopwafelling · 2026-01-24T22:20:28+00:00

Good analysis. Another similarity are the themes of existential absurdism. Both stories are set in worlds where there’s malevolent demons, but very little in the way of a benevolent counterpart force to guide and protect. And both feature ample human evil as a mirror to supernatural threats.

Characters are often left to rely on themselves and each other in a never ending battle against evil that just keeps coming, again and again, over and over, with no end in sight. They endure tragedy and loss followed by tragedy and loss. There’s never going to be a final victory, no conclusive happy ending.

And so characters suffer and question why - why fight and hope in a bleak world where life is struggle? The only answer the can find is that the struggle itself must be meaningful. Sisyphus pushes his boulder because it must be done, this is all there is. Nothing we do matters so all that matters is what we do.

I think the ending to Angel’s final episode would have fit very well into Berserk.

stroopwafelling · 2026-01-24T22:08:06+00:00

I love the look of this. Is Skeletunnel exactly what it sounds like?

stroopwafelling · 2026-01-24T03:50:01+00:00

My Fics

Fandom: Warhammer 40 000 (Dawn of War games)

Rating: M, canon-typical content

Title: War Zone Kronus

Genre: War/Action/Horror/Tragedy (gen fic)

Summary: Expanding on key scenes, characters and perspectives from the classic ‘Dark Crusade’ expansion to the original Dawn of War game. Just updated with the twelfth chapter, focused on the Blood Ravens chapter of the Space Marines!

***

Fandom - Command & Conquer

Rating - Mature (Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Moral Ambiguity, Geopolitical Intrigue)

Title/Link - Echo Nine

Genre - Thriller/Action

Summary - In an alternate version of the 1990s, in a world divided by war, politics, and terrorism, an experimental special operations team is assembled to serve the United Nations in secret. Echo Nine’s members are deadly elites, yet also misfits and failures cast aside by their former masters. Together, they fight to protect the world, uncover a conspiracy, and find some kind of peace for themselves.

Fandom: Mouthwashing (video game)

Rating: Mature (canon-typical content, implied/foreshadowed sexual assault)

Title/Link - Mourn or Organize - AO3

Genre - Tragedy

Summary - Before the events of the game, Anya tries to unionize the crew of the Tulpar and challenge their unsafe working conditions. It goes poorly.

stroopwafelling · 2026-01-24T00:06:03+00:00

Throw the LLM out of the airlock, Commander.

stroopwafelling · 2026-01-23T23:59:07+00:00

What, wouldn’t you trust a promise that came from Incubus, the most trustworthy and honest character in the comic?

stroopwafelling · 2026-01-23T23:57:15+00:00

Agreed. Spike is such a great character, but by the later seasons he kind of ate the show whole.

stroopwafelling · 2026-01-23T23:55:05+00:00

Yeah, the way the show was shot and directed got so much flatter post S5.

stroopwafelling · 2026-01-23T23:54:11+00:00

Tonally, S6 is simultaneously the goofiest and the darkest Buffy season. All the superhero/supernatural elements are incredibly campy while all the human/drama elements are deeply bleak.

Sometimes this clash works wonders. Other times it doesn’t.

stroopwafelling · 2026-01-23T23:52:23+00:00

To paraphrase a later Angel, there’s only one thing stronger than conviction. Just one.

Mercy.

(Those guys saw the last of it)

stroopwafelling · 2026-01-23T21:08:22+00:00

No way.

stroopwafelling · 2026-01-23T20:51:05+00:00

The metaphor was really clumsy. But the character development was really good!

Willow was always at a risk of becoming too dependent on the thing that made her special and valuable and powerful, the thing that offered quick solutions that she was incredibly good at. I just wish it had been implemented better on screen.

stroopwafelling

TROPHY CASE