#I've been stewing on this for a while

[sailoreuterpe]

Unpopular Opinion Time:

What's your unpopular opinion?

I think that the shift of Bob's Burgers from 75% wacky hijinks/25% heartfelt drama to 75% heartfelt drama/25% wacky hijinks (if even that) is boring and cliché. There's nothing wrong with emotionally-resonate episodes in a sitcom, but I don't think that Bob's Burgers is doing a good job recently with balancing those episodes with what actually makes the show fun to watch. Futurama has many acclaimed, deeper episodes that made everyone cry but that show also has just as many episodes where Bender gets turned into a were-car and the like.

In fairness, I stopped watching Bob's Burgers completely after "The Plight Before Christmas." I can't accurately gauge how the show is trending through my own exposure. However, based on fandom reviews and such, Bob's Burgers seems to be further leaning into syrupy Very Special Episodes at the expense of what made it funny in the first place. I'm not looking for Family Guy, here; I rank the first two seasons of Bob's Burgers low overall. On the other hand, I think that an animated family sitcom that everyone can watch can still be hilarious and reference concepts like sex without being an edgy gross mess.

I'm in the minority on this based on awards and reviews. For a prime example, I hated "The Plight Before Christmas" but it literally won a Daytime Emmy and many fans consider that episode their very favorite. I'm disappointed and I don't envision myself (re)watching anything past season 11, but I'm genuinely glad for anyone who is enjoying the direction of Bob's Burgers since 2020. I'll always have the show pre-season 11 and there's always fan work. The new Bob's Burgers just isn't for me.

[egophiliac]

listen. people have always debated which character is the most normal guy but what if it has in fact been crowley the whole time. no string pulling no master plan just a guy who wants to keep his school running and is cursed with problematic students and incidents

honestly I think the funniest possible reveal would be one of two options:

ONE: Crowley has no plot relevance whatsoever. he wears the mask to cover his receding hairline. his darkest secret is the bottle of "medicinal" whiskey under his desk. this man can barely plan a PTA function with six months' advance notice, he doesn't have the time or patience for any kind of overarching master plot involving mutating students or whatever. the only thing wrong with him is that he's been running this school for (mumblemumble) years and, quite frankly, if you'd been putting up with NRC students for a couple of centuries, you'd have totally checked out by this point too.

OR

TWO: Crowley IS actually Raverne and HAS been slowly enacting a master gambit...to embezzle school funds. the overblots are still completely incidental. he has somehow less idea of what's going on than we do. we confront him about it and he's just like

[technovillain]

the fact that we never have any real conflict inside milla's brain was always weird to me, and that the only trouble you find is not only easy to miss but hard to locate at all.... this prototype with promo images showing party members getting snatched up by the nightmares is really interesting to me...

i was never really a fan of the nightmares' appearance in the milkman conspiracy. that level already has enough going on and the nightmares' presence is completely unintroduced and poorly explained. i'm thinking about how cool it could be if milla's brain had an actual lesson for the kids beyond levitation about the most important thing she learned from the psychonauts, how to focus your mind and maintain a safe mental space via distancing yourself and controlling recurrences of trauma within the brain space...

the same way that sasha's brain is ultimately just a test for razputin, so is milla's. in my first playthroughs of the game i thought that maybe raz had really messed up sasha's brain a little bit, but then i realized overtime that the whole thing is a totally controlled environment. sure sasha is a closed off person, and very straight-laced, but i don't believe that his brain is constantly *that* empty all the time. he gives razputin direct instruction to shut off all the censor valves, which is the thing that causes the problem. it was all a training thing for raz to learn about control, there's even a hidden game line from sasha about the whole thing being a test. i just think that sasha is a poor communicator. his failure to express afterwards that the whole thing was a test was what failed razputin when he meddled in the mind of hollis forsythe, and why sasha's disappointment in him afterwards feels a little strange (like "you let me mess things up in YOUR head and it was okay, how was i to know?")

can you imagine a version of milla's dance party where the party is bumpin and all the campers are having a good time, but the other guests keep slowly disappearing, getting snatched up by the nightmares?? eventually, the other campers disappear too. later on, the room with the "milla's children" vault is presented to you more in the likes of oleander's side room with the little red curtain, where you are obviously supposed to see it, but *not supposed to see it*, and milla still encourages you not to go in there. when you get to the platform with milla at the end, everyone else is missing. she plays "where could they be?" and you find the nightmare room. you have to fight the nightmares to get the party guests back. you find that you can't *kill* the nightmares, however, and you instead put them behind bars.

ultimately the level could end with a similar level of "brain intrusion" as sasha's. like how sasha was okay with you knowing a little about his past, but probably didn't need to *also* show you what happened when he read his dad's mind and accidentally saw his mother in an inappropriate light. like not everything went smoothly, and he was obviously uncomfortable after the level being all "no, let's never speak of this again" like i imagine he unintentionally overshared and maybe messed with his 'image' a little. this version of milla's level could end with her being happy that she taught the kids about meditation through levitation, keeping the bad thoughts at bay but still acknowledging them as part of you, but she didn't like, need you to see that vault about her children being burned alive. because that would be fucked up to show to the kids. and maybe she got a little in that headspace again during the level and 'broke face' and got a little "protect the children!" about the campers in the face of the nightmares, but settles back down and gets back to the party by the end.

i imagine this is how the level would go if it was written more like pn2 levels are written, where every single level has a clear real-world-applicable mental health topic to cover. i still love milla's dance party, don't get me wrong, but it always felt a little anticlimactic or lacking in story compared to the rest of the brains, and these early promo shots just set me off in wondering if they ever intended on there being a lot more conflict in her mind earlier in development.

[autisticrosewilson]

Hello to the one blog I've been loving to read for the past few days :) <3

Just wanted to add a little something that I started thinking abt after reading a few of your really cool posts, I think we should also discuss abt how Bruce's argument abt killing (with Jay) are often framed with "you're not the judge, jury & the executioner" which is really telling of who he thinks can exersise this legitimately? ? ?

I think it'd be constructive to actually properly discuss this aspect of Bruce's philosophy too. Plus, we get more nuanced Bruce characterisation. (Also keeping in mind uh... comic book propaganda of the writers and DC themselves)

YES ABSOLUTELY! Like what if someone is given a death sentence by a court of law? Does Bruce still care? I'm sure most writers would tell you no because Bruce has become a cop allegory. He's a violent enforcer of the law, and he seeks to uphold the law. Which is a recent switch! Batman comics used to be more radical, but now they're being written by old white men. So it's another one of those things where you can ignore it for your PERSONAL INTERPRETATION but you can't say that it's not A Thing because it's been like this for at least a decade.

His argument would likely be that everyone deserves a fair trial, that everyone has the right to be seen in court. Something which I do think Jason would agree with because when he's being written well he's not just shooting petty criminals! Jason's stance comes in with the big players, the disgustingly rich or well connected upper class who get away with murder. This has been true since the Garzonas case, the whole point was that Felipe was virtually immune to the law, and Jason couldn't allow that.

I think what it comes down to is whether they believe in reformative justice or punitive Justice, and I can most assuredly say that Batman believes in the latter. You can argue that Bruce is an advocate of prison reform but we don't really have evidence of that. He considers himself a punishment for criminals, he considers himself an equalizer but that's not true because he just delivers criminals into a system that is fundamentally corrupt and unfair. Do you actually think a trial in GOTHAM of all places is going to look at a rich man vs a petty crook the same way? That rarely happens even in real life.

And I don't think that Bruce does what he does out of inherent malice. Bruce is a deeply empathetic person, the core of Bruce Wayne is that he cares. But that's not enough, Bruce was allowed to grow up sheltered and it gave him an intrinsic idealism. He only has a Birdseye view of what the common people go through, that is not enough to stand there and say that he understands . Because he doesn't. He literally can't. And I think this bias, certainly one projected by the writers but that's another issue, comes through the most with Jason and Steph.

As far back as Jason's Robin era - widely regarded as Bruce's peak of being a good dad - he still makes some pretty big mistakes. Because he finds this homeless kid whose family has been ripped apart by the corrupted systems, who has actively experienced the worst Gotham has to offer, and he comes to the conclusion that if he doesn't take Jason home Jason will inevitably become a criminal even after Jason explicitly says he doesn't like stealing. So he takes Jason in but he makes that position as his son synonymous with Robin. And this is where we have to talk about meta because Jason is intrinsically tied to meta narratives. I'm not sure if you saw my other posts about Robin, as a concept, but I'll summarize here.

Child sidekicks are fine, in early comics. When things were campy light hearted whodunnit mysteries with a few action sequences, when you always knew that the child hero would come out unscathed, would always live till the next issue. And so when Bruce makes Jason Robin you have this veil of suspension of disbelief. But Jason's era is where you start seeing these kids' storylines get worse. More gruesome, more violent, more cruel. They start really testing the limit of Bruce's morality.

Batman: The Cult - Robin Jason has to crawl through a pile of dead bodies and while Bruce is having a mental break this MAYBE 14 year old is trying to get them out. The Diplomats Son - Jason watches a rapist be let go, because he's powerful and his dad has money. He sees exactly the kind of damage it does to the victims, he's the one who finds Gloria Stanson. A Death in the Family - Jason is murdered. Tortured and murdered and betrayed. He's dead and he was always intended to STAY dead. And all throughout Tim's run and then into Steph's the writers retroactively change everything about who Jason was because it has to be HIS fault, because if it's not Jason's fault then it might be Bruce's. Because how can audiences see Bruce as just and good for taking in new kids after what happened to the last one?

The suspension of disbelief shatters. Because now Jason is back and he's angry. Because maybe we as readers know that Tim, and Steph, and Damian need to be Robin because Robin makes money with young readers. But you know who doesn't know that? Jason, who no doubt assumed that his survival depended on being Robin. Who was sold out because he was Robin. Who was badmouthed and disgraced the entire time he was gone by people he loved and trusted. Jason doesn't know that he's in a comic book, but I argue he knows he's in a Batman story.

If not from his first appearance then definitely in recent ones. What can you do besides lay down and forgive and keep coming back when you know that the universe revolves around one man? How do you get rid of the terror and anger at realizing that you can never leave, that no matter how much he hurts you the universe will bend itself in half so that he is still just and right? When you realize that the love that has defined you is a disease rooted so deeply that to rip it out would be to kill yourself, that you can't even stay dead because Bruce does not want you to be.

And they couldn't even stick to Jason being the problem! Because then Steph dies. And all I could think was "Of course she did. She's an East End girl whose been compared to Jason constantly. Or a version of him. Of course she would be tortured to death trying to get Bruce's approval." Here we are, history has literally repeated itself, and...Tim is Robin again. Why? Because this is a comic book, and Batman needs Robin.

But what do you think everyone in-universe thinks? What do you think that looks like? How can you possibly still call Bruce a good parent under these circumstances? Bruce calls Robin a blessing, a gift, a necessity. He relies on Robin, physically to watch his back and emotionally to keep him in line. He trains them, he molds them, he loves them.

But sometimes love just isn't enough and the good Robin does shouldn't negate the harm they get in the process. Robin then becomes this horrible force of change, you get it and you know that this has doomed you, one way or another. Because Bruce believes that suffering is noble, that pain can reform people. It's baked into his character. Even if he doesn't intend to hurt his kids, it's not like we haven't seen him justify it to himself and others. "I love you, I did this for your own good, I thought I could help you, it was your fault I did that, it won't happen again, I lost control of myself but only this once, we can be a family again if you just come home." It reads an awful lot like an abuser trying to convince you or himself that he's not in the wrong.

This was longer than I intended it to be, but I guess my main point is that Bruce and Batman can't ever be fully separated. Something that I think his relationship with Cass shows us he's aware of but chooses to ignore. We know that Batman is dangerous, that he wouldn't hesitate to hurt his kids, we saw that with Zurr-Batman (WHO BRUCE ADMITTED WAS A FACET OF HIMSELF YOU CAN'T SAY IT WASN'T HIM BECAUSE HE HIMSELF SAID THAT IT WAS). So why try and act like it's this impossible out of character thing for Bruce to be harmful? For his kids to feel angry and hurt about his actions or for their feelings to be as or more valid than Bruce's. Batman has and will hurt his kids and Bruce will try to rationalize it all away because he loves them, he would never want to hurt them. And the narrative will tell us that Bruce is right, that this is good and fair and just, that Bruce's perspective is the correct one, that his kids deserve this, because this is a comic book and outrage sells. Or they'll retcon it and pretend it never happened. Or they'll just never bring it up again. Or Bruce will be forgiven regardless just to hammer home how good and right he is.

Because this is a comic book about Batman, and Batman is a hero, he is our protagonist, and so he is reliable and we should never doubt him, or call him out, or be mad at him. Naturally.

[venndaai]

this may be totally just a me problem, but since my prediabetes diagnosis I've started to feel like a lot of anti-diet culture backlash I see is... insufficient?

somewhere between "cut carbs to love your body!" and "carbs are good, listen to your body, love your body, give it carbs!" there is surely a medium of "we are not actually designed to process the level of simple carbohydrates present in the modern western diet, and since our governments don't regulate food producers properly us consumers have to take on an extreme burden of time and money just to avoid getting very sick, and this Fucking Sucks"?

[quantomeno]

Further discussion on the theme of 'fallible gods' in Bionicle

I want to preface this by saying it is ironic that the fandom so heavily idolises Greg Farshtey and hangs off his every word when the story is literally about how those in control of a universe can make dumb decisions.

With that aside...

Bionicle has a few core themes and the story does an excellent job of keeping them at the forefront despite the constant changes of genre and tone. Today we will talk about how Bionicle explores the idea that those in positions of power (or who have great abilities) are as human as anyone and thus just as liable to err. The following follows on from discussions in this post and also the video linked in that post, but I'll probably repeat a lot of that stuff anyway so you don't need to read/watch all that.

Bionicle begins with a world of myths and legends. The audience is positioned to identify with the Matoran and be amazed by the strength of the Toa and the wisdom of the Turaga, yet as time goes on it is revealed the Toa are actually quite childish and the Turaga have been lying to them. Then we see Metru Nui: a world of technological wonder lead by the wise yet firm leader Turaga Dume. Turaga Dume who approved of the Vahki. Turaga Dume who gets impersonated by the big evil guy and no one really notices. We meet Toa who have betrayed their cause, we meet Toa who lose, we meet Toa who were once Matoran who then became the Turaga we revered on Mata Nui.

And from then on, the revelations only get bigger: the universe's spirit is a robot whose neglect for its inhabitants led to its own demise. The being that caused the fall of the robot is not the mystic entity of darkness, but just an overly dramatic bit of smoke in a suit of armour who has an aggrandised ego. We see Matoran go to save Toa and become heroes while also making their own mistakes, being plagued by internal demons and making difficult sacrifices.

Then we see Mata Nui as a 'human': he takes on the form of those who created him, the Glatorian (I just realised I said the Great Beings were Agori but they're Glatorian. I forget they're different species). And he learns to be 'human'.

And then we learn that the reason for the whole robot universe's existence is because the Great Beings neglected their own duties and made the robot as a way to save their planet.

All this is pretty straightforward though; I'm just setting the groundwork. Because I think there's one final level to this which rarely (if ever) gets discussed, and I alluded to it a bit in that preface: us.

See, I like to think that the Great Beings were, in some respects, meant to represent the child playing with their toys. Bionicle is a story about creation (and destruction) and so much of the story is tied to the physical sets. If the makers of the Matoran Universe are the Great Beings, then doesn't that mean the child playing with the Bionicles is, in a sense, acting out their role in the story? They are the ones who build the Toa and the Matoran and the Turaga, who give life to their stories by telling them with the toys.

The other side the idea that anyone can be a hero is that heroes are just like everyone else. We are all fallible and even those with great power make mistakes. However, it is when you believe yourself to be better than others that you make the greatest errors. You eschew unity since you believe you can go win alone, you forgo your duty because you consider it beneath you and you believe you deserve a more glorious destiny. The Great Beings are just 'some guys' because we are just 'some guys'. The Matoran are just 'some guys'. So are Terry and Mata Nui. Everyone in life (real life) is just 'some guy' (I should say some person but guy sounds funnier and it evokes the everydayness of things). No one in power or authority is inherently deserving of that role; they must work towards it and show their worth. While they may have talents that make them better in some way, they are subject to the same foibles as anyone.

No life is more special than another, for all life contributes to something greater, every act can bring so much goodness if only you can see it. We are the Great Beings, we have the potential and the skill and the knowledge to achieve so much, but only if we can understand the value of the littlest thing, because we are fundamentally no different from the least of us. Toa should not forget they were once Matoran, just as Great Beings should not forget they are Glatorian.

Let's end with a fitting quote from Ihu:

You are mistaken, Nuju. All of life is a journey, and the journey is not about how high you climb or how far you walk. It is about what you learn on the way, and how you choose to use that knowledge. Use it to help others, and the glory of Mata Nui will live inside you. Use it only for yourself, and though you may walk among us, you will have no more spirit than a block of protodermis.

[dee-in-the-box]

y'know, i think i've heard the question before of "what was Blackjack even doing all this time" and.

i think the game answered it twice, albeit indirectly.

first, from Henry's secret tape, he talks about the differences between Black Souls (generally adults; more powerful) and Clear Souls (generally children, weaker), and he brings up that the most powerful emotion that can power a Black Soul is regret.

he states, during this tape, things that Very Clearly connect back to BJ. traveling through time? between timelines? both things we know Blackjack can do.

but one thing he says, i feel, answers the question of WHAT Blackjack's been up to (paraphrased slightly):

"...however, since the strength of a soul's power to manipulate its surroundings is determined by the emotion contained within it...Could a soul reverse time, through a physical manifestation of their own regret?...But, should a soul contain an intense, unyielding regret…It may be able to travel between timelines, and indeed, enter the spacial vacuum between timelines. The soul's ultimate desire to turn back the clock…"

like...this tape not only spells out WHY Blackjack is like that, but i feel like it answers what he's been up to.

there's another Henry quote, more directed towards Jack Himself, but feels...almost kinda targeted towards Blackjack, taking the former quotes into account (it is also the quote from the entirety of Dsaf that i think fucked me up the most. besides "You Wanted This"):

"You can never undo what I've done to her, you know."

like. i dunno why he'd try to target that towards JACK for the most part, considering that Jack's whole thing is more "atoning for past mistakes, and righting wrongs" than trying to undo what happened. that quote feels more like something directed to a character who's whole power is turning back time to get you to undo your mistakes (< given that BJ will offer to take you back to the beginning of Dsaf 2 after doing, what i personally refer to as, the Legacy Route, in order to get you to do things right this time around).

so, for those who would like me to spell it out for you:

i think the game implies, in two different ways, that Blackjack was spending most of his time trying to go back in time to prevent Dee's murder, maybe to keep things from spiraling the way they did, and because Jack felt That Horrible about Dee's death. and then when that didn't work, i think THAT'S when he decided to punish Henry one final time and leave him to rot. (y'know. before everyone convinces him to Kill)

because y'know. something something "you can't change the past," "you can never go back to how things were," etc etc.

[reconstructwriter]

+💖:D

Ohhh, I had to think about this for a little while but my Biggest and Most unpopular opinion of the series is: I think Lucas was fine giving his space monks a ‘no marriage’ policy.

It’d be different if the Jedi Order prohibited or restricted members from leaving, if there was coercion going on to stay, if they attempted to impose a lack of marriage on ex or non-members, if they tried to control the sexuality of their members or any of the other tactics cults, fascists and our society in general implement.

But that doesn’t happen and as someone who’s aroace I can’t begin to express how nice it is to have a group – heroic at that – who doesn’t put romance on a pedestal or think sex is a biological need/cultural rite of passage. I enjoy the Prequels reversal of the cliché Happily Ever After marriage and Babies Ever by exploring how both these things help make this particular relationship worse in a way that’s both narratively fascinating and chillingly realistic to watch.

The fandom and even Legends (betrayal!) backlash that tries to ‘fix’ the Jedi Order by inserting marriage into it is as painful to me as the heteronormative compulsion to ‘fix’ queer relationships by straightening them out. Sometimes fandom complaints of 'but the Jedi can fuck' or 'but the Jedi should be able to get married' get awfully close to IRL 'but ace people do fuck'.

Being able to wed Padme openly wouldn’t fix many of Anakin’s issues and adds a few new ones in there. Luke’s marriage to Mara does not make his ‘new Jedi Order’ better than the old one. Ki Adi Mundi having multiple wives because his home-planet has so few men has fascinating gender-bender Handmaid’s tale implications – which is of course never explored. Not even a little.

Also if those with internalized mononormativity problems want Jedi to have a cultural ritual to celebrate a bond of love...*flings hands in the direction of the Canon Concordance of Fealty* It’s right THERE!

[idlingmoons]

creation is your only redeeming trait

[dcggersedge]

i wanna see, wanna see 'em dancing

Dancer class drabble (wc 1126)

Please, find it in your heart to stay. Let me dance by your side forever…

There hadn’t been a lot of time to dance in her village. As small and far away as they were, help wasn’t going to come quickly if they ever needed it. It was important to always be working, to always be certain that when the colder months came and the ground that was already so unforgiving bore no chance of providing food, they would have done enough to survive the winter’s chill. There was no time to spend on learning things like dancing.

When festivals did roll around, however, that was the one exception. The one time where everyone would gather to celebrate a hard year of surviving. Where people could pretend for a few hours that everything was easy. On those rare days, she remembers a great bonfire that seemed brighter than any star dancing against the night sky. She remembers holding hands with friends she can’t remember the faces of, and spinning in a great circle as they laughed and stumbled and did their best to mimic the distant lords and ladies they heard so much about.

Please don’t hold me back. It will only serve to sharpen the pain of our parting.

When she’d been moved to the capital, there still hadn’t been any time to learn.

Instead of dancing, she learned how to kill. How to keep her balance as she ran away over rough terrain. The careful positioning of arms that would make the kill the quickest. The choreography of something as old as human’s first sins.

She remembers sitting hidden in the branches of a tree outside a noble’s house, peering into the ballroom through the window as the now close lords and ladies flocked together with high pitched laughs and words veiled in double meaning. Through the window, she watches as a noble child around her age approaches a noble girl and bows, just enough to be polite, before offering her his hand. The girl blushes, turns to her friends who laugh excitedly, then takes his hand and follows him out to the dance floor.

In the host’s room that night, as she watches the blood slowly puddle beneath him and sink into the overly plush carpet, she wonders if he enjoyed the last dance of his life, or if the commoners playing pretend were happier than the nobles could ever be.

My eyes are closed.

The first show Yunaka had been asked to do hadn’t involved any dancing. It had been nice and simple she’d later learned, as slowly she’d been presented with more and more complicated performances. Recite the lines, walk upon the stage where she was supposed to and, at the end, take his hand. A much easier choreography than the one she’d done before.

It doesn’t take long for the challenge to present itself.

“You want me to dance?” She asks, surprise heavy and exaggerated in her tone. Maybe she should have seen this coming from him. Somehow, she hadn’t, and so though he laughs at her - not unkindly, because he has never been anything but deeply kind with her - he still smiles softly and nods his head. Yes, he wants her to, he confirms, and Yunaka feels that same dread that had filled her the first time returning again.

“I’ve never learned how to.” She warns him, eyes narrowing in suspicion. The first time, she had been perfect, and she was sure now that was because what he asked for had been easy. This time, he needed a graceful swan to join him on the stage, not an ugly duckling pretending to be everything it isn’t.

That’s okay, he insists. Because he can teach her.

After swallowing her nerves, she nods, and promises to do her best job ever at playing pretend.

My hand is here. If you trust me, then take it…and never let go.

They set a date for the first rehearsal, and Yunaka shows up early. Everything is going well. She’s laughing and smiling and jokes with him when he shows up, up until the moment he takes his place in the center of their room and offers her his hand.

She freezes. She stares at him with wide eyes. No matter what she tries, she can’t move or even speak past the sudden lump in her throat. Right when she feels like she won’t be able to breathe, he drops it and tells her that they can try again tomorrow. Disappointment with herself chokes her from being able to do anything else but nod.

The second day, he offers his hand again, and again she freezes. This time, instead of throwing the day away, he offers to show her the steps instead. To practice on your own, he tells her, until she’s ready to try with him. The feeling that chokes her this time isn’t disappointment, but something that she isn’t sure the name of. She watches his every step carefully, until the shape of him is burned behind her eyelids when she closes them.

The third day doesn’t happen right away, but when it does, she’s bouncing with excitement. “I got it!” She tells him proudly. She barely gives him time to put his things down before she’s stepping into place. She doesn’t think she has the grace he does as she moves through the steps, but when she finishes he’s clapping and smiling at her like she’s someone amazing.

She performed magnificently, he tells her. She smiles as bright as the gemstone she’s named after.

If you’re certain this is what you want… I’m willing to believe in you.

Deep breaths with eyes shut. Don’t think about the audience waiting to see. Don’t think about what might happen if you say the wrong thing. Eyes shut, deep breaths, think instead about all the work that’s been put into this. About the pretty dress she gets to wear for the show, about how different she looks with her hair done and her face all prettied up in makeup.

Think about how much he believes in her, and believe in that instead.

When she opens her eyes again, she can see him watching her from across the stage. Yunaka smiles, and he smiles too.The music starts to play, indicating the start of their scene, and smiles fade to the pretend smiles of the stage as they both prepare themselves. As they step out, the audience oohs and aahs like they’re supposed to as the story begins to play.

And, with the confidence of that village child playing pretend with friends, she bows just enough to be polite and offers him her hand to dance.

So long as we’re together, from now until the end…

[skepticalcatfrog]

Sometimes I think about what would happen if, when they got older, Marshall were to die first. But then I consider the mental wellness of my audience and I don't say anything else

[datastate]

i hope everyone's been well btw

[im-the-antonymph-of-your-mom]

Mark's scenes in the Severance season 1 finale are like dramatic irony in-universe re-exposition oh my god this is brilliant

[piratespencil]

I truly think there's a non-zero chance that campaign 3 ends with Bells Hells becoming the new "gods" of Exandria - maybe not exactly like the current pantheon of gods, but some new class of divine beings that fill the vacuum that the gods leave behind. And I don't think that will necessarily be a victory for them, or what they want to happen, but I think it could be what is forced to happen if they release Predathos.

I could be totally off-base, but between the conversation with the Raven Queen and then Ashton's communion with the titan/Ka'Mort... Idk a lot of this campaign is about the children surpassing the parents, about cycles, about what takes the place of what once was... Everything is cyclical. And maybe when you release the god eater, you're inserting yourself into that cycle.

(This might also be the Homestuck in me but damn. Something something you fuck with the world and reality enough, you become the gods for those who come after you...)

[vulturevanity]

I will never not think of Relient K's MMHMM as the Lorelai Blyndeff album and the fact that it's christian rock gives me very conflicting feelings about it

[sysig]

Nice healthy obsession you got there (Patreon)