Subject: And now the spoilery version.
Author:
Posted on: 2018-01-09 11:37:00 UTC

This review contains spoilers. You should not read it, or even click on it, without reading the mission first. Seriously. It's an amazing mission, and you shouldn't spoil it for yourself by reading my ramblings before you get to it.

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Part One is a wonderful exploration both of July's return to HQ and the Flowers' dealings with Agony in Pink (and Legendaries as a whole), then turns into the glorious Cafeteria romp. The whole section is stuffed with foreshadowing for Part Three, which definitely rewards rereading once you know what's coming.

Part Two does a marvellous job of gradually establishing just how tough the fic is going to be to kill, but is also a quality mission. I've always preferred reports that don't linger on the NSFW parts of badfics - my Clbr__n mission is the same - and although it's short, it didn't need to be longer. It establishes what's bad about the fic, shows us enough that we feel it, introduces the players for Part Three - and then isn't afraid to move on.

As for Part Three... in the original outline (I said I'd been watching this for a long time), July introduced this section with the line And then... Go Go Canon Rangers!. It grabbed me by the fannishness and has never let go. I love the escalation over the course of the fight; I have to particularly highlight "I think we're about to find out what happens when a badfic fights back," which stands as a mission statement for the mission that is spectacularly fulfilled.

Reading over this, and Dafydd's interactions, takes me back to the process of writing it. I tweaked a lot of what he says and does, but the core of it is straight from July. (Though I will claim Ambalenar Atsordë! all for my own - ambale-nar is Quenya for 'fiery yellowhammer', while atsordë is a phonetic Quenyification of 'Zord').

The Dark Ranger is a perfect payoff to the setup in Part Two, and July was absolutely right to let Kimberly fight it. Some demons, you have to fight by yourself.

The Aftermath is a perfect ending: bittersweet levied with humour. I still have no idea who the Navigator is, but I guess some mysteries don't need to be answered.

I love this mission. It is a perfect farewell, one of the best I have ever read, and the only one that inspired me to create fanart:



Thank you, July, and safe voyaging.

hS

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