Heartwarming / Mark Does Stuff

• One of the recurring themes of the Avatar: The Last Airbender blogs was how much Azula reminded Mark of their own sadistic, manipulative sister who they've wanted nothing to do with for years, and how this really made them want her comeuppance to be as horrible as possible. But her Villainous Breakdown in the finale was so well done that they surprised themself with an Alas, Poor Villain reaction, and even started pondering what their sister might have been going through recently until they considered trying to mend fences with her.
• The first few chapters of the Harry Potter blogs. After being completely burned out from reading the entire Twilight series, they were very cynical going into this one, but were slowly won over until they're completely on board once Hagrid shows up. It's very sweet seeing them rediscover a love of reading like this.
  • Like many Harry Potter readers, Mark considered Dobby to be The Scrappy during their first read through of Chamber of Secrets. During their re-read of the book after having finished the series, their re-review of Dobby's introductory chapter consists of one long letter of apology from Mark to Dobby for ever having thought badly of him.
• Their conclusion from Chapter 32 of The Amber Spyglass: "'Tell them stories,' the ghost says. And I think back to how this chapter put thoughts in my mind, acts and behaviors and a history I didn’t get to talk about, and as soon as I read that final line, I knew that even on my part, I was supposed to tell stories, too. Maybe it’s all I’m good at, but you know what? I’m perfectly okay with that."
  • And for the very next chapter, they were inspired to talk about the horrible circumstances behind how they lost their faith in God. This was followed by a huge outpouring of sympathy in the comments, with several people sharing their own stories and everyone making sure to tell them how much they loved them and how good a person they are.
• In their reading of Chapter 30 of Half Blood Prince, we learn that Mark got a letter from their dying father, who wasn't at all nice to them when Mark was growing up. It says "Thanks for making up with Mom. It stopped the fighting for a long time. I'm proud of you living on your own. And I'm proud to have been your father."
• For two chapters of The Hobbit, they tell the story through imagining Tolkien's original bedtime story to his son Christopher. It's funny and adorable in equal measure.
• Reading anything about their horribly depressing childhood makes it remarkable and quite uplifting that they've ended up as such a happy, well-adjusted adult, making money by doing something they love.
• Any time they read something good on Youtube. Naturally, people mostly make them read terrible stuff, so it's great to see them just loving what they're reading for once.
• Following The Great Spuffy Meltdown of 2012, where Mark went on at length about how most of the site's moderation is invisible and probably not appreciated, many lurkers broke their silence to tell the mods how much they did appreciate their work.
• Tamora Pierce's Facebook message about their reviews of the Tortall Universe:
  "Reading your reviews of Alanna is making me as excited as if I were writing it all over again, and I haven't felt that amped up over those books in a long time! Thank you for this gift!"
• During a watching of Puella Magi Madoka Magica, Mark watches the scene where Madoka is given a Mind Rape from a Witch, which led to her saying to herself, "I'm a coward..." Mark's response is to say to her "You're not a coward!". Even though she's not real, their investment into her is so lovely.
  • Especially so given how much hatred and criticism Madoka gets from some parts of the fandom. Just for crying and having some perfectly understandable insecurities. Naturally, Mark is able to love her for her flaws and positive points alike.
• After making a game effort to run Mark Plays as a project just as big as Reads and Watches, after a few months their schedule was so demanding that their long-dormant depression came back with a vengeance. They then wrote a post explaining that it would have to be reduced to a side project that would only be updated when they could spare the time, being very apologetic about the whole thing. The comments to that announcement quickly filled up with people assuring him they accepted the situation, and the important thing was their health.
• Them thanking the Tortall Universe fans for being the nicest fandom they've ever encountered in the site's history, with no one at all giving the moderators any trouble.
• Similar to the above moment, in the Princess Tutu second season predictions one poster (MoElskerDeg) thanked the PT fandom for being so sweet and welcoming. The response is basically sheer fluff, topped off with this comment from Mark.
  Mark: Can the Princess Tutu fandom and the Tammy Pierce fandom take over all fandoms?
• Their account of attending Lonestar Con 2013, after being nominated for a Hugo. They got to meet tons of fans and fellow nominees (including George RR Martin telling them afterwards that no one would ever be able to take their status as a Hugo Loser away), and was quickly accepted by everyone who'd never heard of them before.
• The constant cooing over Backup every time he appears.
  • And saying that if they ever have a daughter, they want their relationship to be like Veronica and Keith's.
• Finding out they were right about "America the Beautiful" in The Westing Game.
• Their love for Achoo and dogs in general, best shown in Bloodhound Part 4 when they spend most of the review gushing about animals of every kind, but especially dogs.
• Finally getting Ice Giants after spending five Discworld books asking about them.
• Going through the (quite disturbing) first chapter of Sandry's Book, they're really happy (to the point of clapping excitedly) when they realize Daja's black, since protagonists of color are pretty rare in fantasy.
  • In Part 4 of Tris' Book, they spend the first paragraph gushing about how amazing the series is, how deeply they're connecting to it, and how they look forward to every section.
• Their reaction to the return of Zhaan in "John Quixote."
• Gertrude and Nathaniel the Tribbles. Any time they get too upset, they're there to pull them out of it.
• Mark's reaction to the first two Star Trek movies. Typically people have one of two responses: either The Motion Picture is a brilliant cerebral experience and The Wrath of Khan is a throwaway action movie, or The Wrath of Khan is the best of all the movies and The Motion Picture is an unbearable bore. And then Mark (who went into both with absolutely no preconceptions, not even knowing the "odds bad, evens good" rule) defied expectations by finding both of them equally fantastic.
• Star Trek: The Next Generation: Their being struck utterly speechless by McCoy's cameo in "Encounter at Farpoint."
  • During "Hollow Pursuits," they're extremely skeptical of Ensemble Dark Horse Reginald Barclay at first, finding him to be a misfit being creepy on the Holodeck at the expense of his job. Slowly over the course of the episode, Barclay wins them over, but once Barclay gives his famous speech about his social struggles, Mark immediately realizes that he's talking about social anxiety, and identifies completely with him. It's really sweet how much that scene, and that episode, struck a chord with them.
• After Terry Pratchett's passing, their website's homepage now has a picture and a quote from him.
• In the final section of Moving Pictures, Mark muses about how it seemed the big dream of their life was killed when they had to drop out of college, but now here they are with tons of fans all over the world reading their work, and about to enter the literary world themself. They conclude that despite a good deal of upheaval going on right now in their life, "I have never, ever been happier to be Mark Oshiro."
• When Uncle Iroh first reappeared in The Legend of Korra, Mark teared up.
  • Their Twitter posts after finishing the show: "I have never been more destroyed in my entire life. And for once it's because I'm HAPPY. I'm still crying because this doesn't happen. This NEVER happens in shows I love. I'm sitting here in shock. That Korra finale is one of the best-and most important-things I have ever seen. Oh my god, NOW I KNOW WHY THE INTERNET BROKE LAST YEAR. And why people have been shooing me out of my own panels at conventions. I need to lay down and cry some more. My god, thank you to every one of you who pestered me to catch up on Korra, you have my gratitude."
  • The video reaction for "The Last Stand", specifically the moment when Mark realizes that the subtext they saw wasn't just wishful thinking. They keep asking "Are you serious?" until the very end, while they're crying out of happiness.
• Their discovery that Daja from Circle of Magic is a lesbian. Their reaction is perhaps even more powerful than the Korra finale as they have to keep reading the chapter while completely overwhelmed by it, and their review notes that perhaps they were so quick to name her their favorite of the four main characters because they subconsciously sensed this connection.
  • It gets even better when they actually hook up, where they say "This means so much to me" and subconsciously assigns them a Portmanteau Couple Name. And then there's the casual reveal of Rosethorn's bisexuality just a couple minutes later.
  • Their reaction to the reveals about Lark and Rosethorn are almost better than the reveal about Daja. The reveal about Daja was built up to but Lark and Rosethorn are just casually dropped in a couple of sentences. Needless to say they freak out a bit.
  • They completely melt during Briar and Evvy's reunion in "Battle Magic," and marvels in the written review that the book was able to create this kind of response out of something they knew full well was coming thanks to the book being a prequel.
• Mark revealed on Twitter that their boyfriend Baize was quite reluctant to be part of the Sense8 videos, worried that all the fans would hate him and say he was annoying. Instead, he was a gigantic hit and got quite a few requests to become a regular part of the videos for every show.
  • This later led to Baize marathoning all the Agent Carter episodes Mark had watched so he could be in the last few videos for the season, followed by him joining the watch of The 100, which neither of them knew a single thing about, just for the hell of it.
• Their palpable awe and joy at discovering the lead character in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine is a black man.
  • During Kira's reassignment in the Season 2 premiere: "I don't want this to happen. I can't imagine the station without her."
  • Their gratitude for the episode "Cardassians" finally giving them something to point to that fans of the same genres they love would be familiar with, to demonstrate the issues they struggled with after being adopted by people of a different race.
  • The moment in "The Way Of The Warrior, Part 1" when Worf steps onto the station for the first time. Their Big "YES!" is great, and they're just beaming for the rest of the episode. And then in part two when they find out Worf is a permanent addition to the cast, they're over the moon.
  • They're a complete wreck during the character montages at the end of the series finale, showing just how much they came to love all these people in what they'd long since declared their favorite Trek show.
• Baize's overjoyed reaction to Indra surviving her injuries near the end of Season 2 of The 100, after he was less than impressed with the show's track record for its non-white characters up to that point.
• Their commissioned video for an episode of the Soul Music animated series. They literally spend the entire thing with a giant smile on their face, getting to see this world that had just been in their head for over a year.
• While watching the Batman: The Animated Series episode POV, they take a quick moment away from marveling at the asskicking to express their delight that the episode is centered around a woman of color.
  • Their absolute glee at seeing Batgirl's debut in the series.
• Baize happens to be walking by during Maisie Williams' first appearance on Doctor Who, leading to:
  Baize: WOO!
  Mark: I know, right?
• Reading the scene in Deep Wizardry where Nita takes her parents to the Moon. They spend the whole thing looking like they're about to cry, and after finishing the chapter declares it one of the best chapters of any book they've ever read.
  • Their joy at the sensitive, knowledgeable depiction of autism in A Wizard Alone ^note which actually owes a lot to Diane Duane educating herself a good deal more on the subject after numerous complaints that its depiction in the original edition of the book was offensive, all while making sure to note that they're no kind of expert on the condition, and they should probably do more research on it if they're going to keep talking about it in their reviews.
• The addition of Steven Universe to the schedule was a big preemptive one, after all the complaints they've made about queerbaiting and the refusal of most stories they go through to feature gay representation. And then comes this, trumpeted by its fans as the gayest show currently on TV, which happily picked up the baton the ending of The Legend of Korra held out and kept running with it, taking its representation to heights previously unheard of for an American kids' cartoon.
  • They comment how kind, sweet and relatable Steven is in a lot of reviews. It's nice to see the little guy get so much love.
  • Their review of "The Answer" barely touches on the episode itself as it can fully stand on its own, and they just uses it as a launching point to discuss how there was so much standing in the way of them embracing their identity as a gay man, but now they've done it, and are so much happier as a result. The comments are also full of other non-heteronormative people talking about how great it is for a show aimed at kids to have a message like this, letting them absorb it before they can be exposed to much of the hatred that can make it difficult to get through.
  • They have Tears of Joy throughout Ruby and Sapphire's proposal and wedding, overjoyed at a show for kids having this kind of undeniable queer content being presented as a completely normal thing.
• Their complete adoration of Porthos the beagle in Star Trek: Enterprise.
• Similarly, their adoration of Bear from Person of Interest.
• The joy when Eleanor's attraction to Tahani in The Good Place is explicitly made canon in the Season 1 finale.
• They're overjoyed to see Walter Koenig again on Babylon 5, and especially gushes over how cool it is to see him in such a different role from Chekov so that's it's almost like watching a completely different actor, something Koenig himself loved about playing Bester.
  • Their Jaw Drop at Talia and Ivanova's scene at the end of "A Race Through Dark Places," clearly realizing for the first time the show might actually be taking steps toward making them a couple.
  • Mark's utter joy at seeing Susan Ivanova return for the series finale, "Sleeping In Light". In fact, almost the entire latter-half of the episode had them nearly in tears.
    Mark: I've missed you so much!
• After their Doctor Who reviews had stalled for quite some time, they were finally driven to catch up thanks to the Thirteenth Doctor being a woman (plus their already having grown quite attached to Jodie Whittaker from her work on Broadchurch). They predictably have Tears of Joy at the regeneration scene, while also making sure to note they really loved Peter Capaldi in the role and are going to miss him.
• Their reaction to Rita Moreno's appearance in Jane the Virgin. It's like they're seeing an actual living goddess.
• The videos for the live action Discword adaptations are basically nonstop gushing over how beautiful they are, capturing every part of the books perfectly. Going Postal in particular has them bowled over by the casting and set design in pretty much every scene.

---