#bob meta

[lewis-winters]

ok, I'm sure somebody else has said this before but it just clicked for me now.

this scene:

is the precursor to these scenes:

don malarkey is the keeper of the dead. he has been from the very beginning. again and again, he is handed things that the dead have left behind in place of a body.

meehan and evans blew up with their plane. hoob was carted away, to be buried in a mass grave away from the line. skip and penkala were literally obliterated by that mortar. in all instances, there isn't a body to mourn. but there is laundry. there is a luger. there is a piece of a rosary.

and as long as these things exist, donald malarkey will gather them into his hands and he will keep them. because that is all he can have.

[sea-changed]

i. Reading Looking For The Good War has, among many other things, I think really helped me to clarify and articulate what I find so disquieting about "Points" as an episode. (Which is not all of it! There are certainly plenty of scenes that I find fascinating and/or enjoyable to watch.) But:

"It is much easier to tell a sentimental war story with a happy ending, in which valor eclipses causes and reconciliation triumphs over everything--a comedy, in other words--than it is to tell another, unsentimental kind of story." (page 89)

This is what it is, exactly--"in which valor eclipses causes and reconciliation triumphs over everything" could more or less be the logline of "Points." This is most egregiously evident to me in the scene of Nazi general's surrender, but the scene where Winters tells the Nazi officer to keep his sidearm is also I think highly indicative of this drive towards reconciliation, however rotten, above all else. And Samet articulates that wonderfully, and articulates as well the cost of this type of narrative:

"Yet sentimentality does more than shape the way we commemorate wars. It informs all those cultural and sociological attitudes in the shadow of which wartime and postwar policies are crafted, and it prevents a more productive and enduring sympathy that, in cooperation with reason, might guide our actions and help us become more careful readers of war's many ambiguities and false seductions." (page 83)

ii. The layers of dislike I have for the Nazi general scene are manifold; the mirroring of Winters and the Nazi general and thereby Easy Company with the Nazi soldiers feels incredibly sinister, perhaps most aggressively so in its weird push to rehabilitate the Nazis as soldiers, and thus to both foreshadow (within the world of the show) and echo (in the world of the audience) the archetypal defense that Nazi higher-ups would put forward at Nuremberg and beyond, that they were just following orders.

iii. The mirroring of Winters and Easy Company with the Nazis is clearly intentional, and somewhat bizarrely explicit ("You've found in one another a bond that exists only in combat among brothers") and maudlin (the panning shots over the Nazi soldiers' faces and wounds), and by the end the urge to parallel the two leaders and the two armies--indeed, to collapse one into the other, in order to make them functionally the same--seems to cause a sort of scriptwriting amnesia about who these words are actually being said by and to. Once again the greater historic context makes this especially chilling, Operation Paperclip being perhaps the most salient point to evoke. (I am also haunted, forever, by a statistic that Michael C. C. Adams cites in The Best War Ever, that a September 1945 survey of American GIs found that 22% believed the Nazi treatment of Jewish people to be justified. Granted, this survey would not have been taken using modern sampling methods, and who knows what the sample size was to begin with or what soldiers in particular were being surveyed. But still.)

iv. The scene leans heavily into the idea of a unique soldierly bond that unites not only each individual army within itself but bonds the two armies together. ("You've found in one another a bond that exists only in combat, among brothers who've shared foxholes, held each other in dire moments, who've seen death and suffered together.") Besides being disquieting for reasons I state above, I think it's notable that the Nazi general's speech emphasizing the brotherhood of soldiers happens directly after the short scene between Winters and Sobel, wherein Winters chides Sobel on a point of military ritual ("We salute the rank, not the man"). Sobel is outside the brotherhood; he doesn't understand how to be a soldier; whereas the Nazis are within the brotherhood, so much so that they are allowed to articulate its terms. (This is egregious no matter what, but becomes all the more so when it is framed as a Jewish man being excluded from the "club" of military brotherhood while WASP Americans and literal Nazis are allowed in.) (Meanwhile, Liebgott occupies a sort of bizarre placement in this scene, there to ventriloquize--indeed, perhaps neutralize, or even legitimize--the Nazi general's words, but not speak for himself.)

v. This gets to another point that Samet makes that stuck out to me, about the inherent tautology of military culture. She quotes William Styron, who in a 1964 review of General Douglas MacArthur's memoir said:

"Anyone who has lived as a stranger for any length of time among professional military men, especially officers, is made gradually aware of something that runs counter to everything one has been taught to believe—and that is that most of these men, far from corresponding to the liberal cliché of the super-patriot, are in fact totally lacking in patriotism. They are not unpatriotic, they simply do not understand or care what patriotism is. [...] A true military man is a mercenary [...] and it is within the world of soldiering that he finds his only home." (Samet quotes Styron on page 233; I'm quoting here from the full review)

The point of being a soldier is to be a soldier; the point of the military is to have a military. She also has this to say--especially saliently, I think, for obvious reasons--about Ambrose, and his perspective specifically in Citizen Soldiers:

"By means of emphasis and convenient omission, Ambrose preserves his focus on unity, not division; right, not wrong; liberation, not subjugation. Paradoxically, given that he makes so much of American idealism, he often subordinates a consideration of causes altogether to a veneration for the magnificence of the army itself. The creation of that army, rather than the victory it made possible, becomes 'the great achievement of the American people and system,' just as the nation's 'greatest nineteenth-century achievement' had been, according to Ambrose, 'the creation of the Army of the Potomac' rather than the end it eventually secured--the abolition of chattel slavery." (page 46)

Here we are back to the first Samet quote from above: valor eclipses causes and reconciliation triumphs over everything. To be a military man--to be part of the club, the brotherhood, the "bond that exists only in combat"--is to "subordinate a consideration of causes altogether to a veneration for the magnificence of the army itself." The country and the cause that the Nazi general and his soldiers fought "bravely, proudly" for become sublimated, while that bravery and pride, stripped of more specific meaning, is extolled. What matters, by the time this scene happens--and it's the last scene in the core section of the episode, followed only by the close of the frame structure with Winters and Nixon and then the baseball scene-cum-epilogue--is not the American cause that Easy Company was fighting for, and certainly not the Nazi atrocities they were fighting against, but rather a reconciliation that views the experience of war as preeminently important. Sobel, who did not experience combat, is dismissed; the Nazi general, who did, is legitimated.

vi. And that, I think, is the core of the message that Band of Brothers promotes. Fandom often refers to the show in passing as propaganda, but I'm not sure that really gets to the heart of what it is, in the end, saying. I would suggest that it's not merely propaganda; it's a recruitment poster. It's not selling truth, justice, and the American way (or if it is, it's doing so only incidentally); it's selling the experience of being in the military as a transformative and ultimately positive one, that unites (a certain subset of) men through the unique crucible of battle, beyond any concerns about what, exactly, one is fighting for. So long as you know when and how to salute, you too can be a part of the brotherhood.

vii. All of which gets back to the scene earlier in "Points," when the Nazi colonel surrenders to Winters. The colonel first makes the explicit parallel between the Nazis and the Americans, and between himself and Winters in particular: "I wonder what will happen to us, to people like you and me, when there are finally no more wars to occupy us." He serves to explicate here more or less exactly what I was saying above: he sees himself and Winters united as military men, above and beyond their particular countries and causes.

Winters doesn't look thrilled about the comparison--but then almost immediately tells the Nazi colonel to retain his surrendered sidearm. I suppose this is supposed to read as magnanimous and fair-minded on Winters's part, but it also serves to reinforce the Nazi colonel's own words, validating the colonel's prioritization of their shared military positions above and beyond their allegiance to the countries and ideologies they were (at least nominally!) fighting for. As the scene itself shows, giving up a sidearm is an expected part of the surrender process, both practically and symbolically; by refusing it Winters is stepping outside military precedent--indeed, bending over backwards--to help the Nazi colonel retain dignity as well as firepower. On its own it is, I think, a frustrating and uncomfortable scene; in the broader context of the episode it sets up and reinforces the Nazi general's speech later on and the ways that Winters and the show itself find meaning in paralleling and reconciling the Americans and the Nazis with one other. (The Nazi colonel knows how to salute; and when he does so, Winters salutes him back.)

viii. Of course it's historically true that American soldiers tended to identify with German soldiers and civilians much more than they identified with people from Allied countries, as Samet herself and even the veteran interviews at the beginning of "Why We Fight" document. (And I don't believe that paralleling the Americans and the Nazis is necessarily something to be dismissed out of hand.) But because the end of "Points" is so overtly sentimental, paralleling the Americans and Nazis serves not as an indictment of American soldiers' amorality but rather as a rehabilitation of the Nazi soldiers and officers as soldiers and a paean to military culture divorced from meaning or cause. As Samet says--"valor eclipses causes and reconciliation triumphs over everything." The military, as an institution, whether it be American or Nazi, becomes the greater good of the war; while the causes those militaries were fighting for become not only secondary, but recede entirely.

[beemaya]

While working on my wip i realized something about the scene where Babe and Spina try to wake Eugene during the shelling when Harry got hit.

Eugene has a one man foxhole, it's big (or rather small) only for one man. Now correct me if I'm wrong, but amongst the rest of easy company, there would be at least two guys in one foxhole (I can think of Dike being alone in his foxhole as well, but I'm not counting him okay lol). And I'm thinking how it once again represents Gene distancing himself from the rest of the guys. (Or maybe I'm just looking too much into it lol but-)

Then Babe and Spina come running in and those two are the only two guys that Eugene actually bonds with, like I know he cares for all of the easy company men, but with these two it's different. With Spina, he talks about his life outside of the war, he talks about his grandma, and with the way Spina had asked about the cajun healers, I think they had talked about this before. And Babe, well, do I even have to say anything? Their relationship is just something else.

Spina and Babe just went "we know you're trying to put a wall around yourself but let me ask you about your people and let be ask you to call me by my really weird nickname, let us find you and help you get up when you're struggling, even if you didn't want that let us be there for you like you're there for us" and I think that's beautiful.

[terresdebrume]

One thing I don't often consider during my bouts of "let's mix DND with my latest fandom obsession" is the difference between what class my blorbos would be and what class they would play (at least for their first game, we all know players tend to vary after a while)

They might be the same, but they also might not be.

For example: I think Joe Liebgott would be a fighter, probably dex based. Not just because he's from a no magic setting, but because he doesn't strike me as faithful enough to be a paladin, or as having the inclination to study enough to become an artificer. He does however have enough smarts to be a battle master.

As a player, I think he'd either go for maximum tanking with a moon druid/bear totem barbarian multi class OR a spy master rogue build for investigation and espionage (it'd make him feel like he's in one of his favorite comics).

Similarly, I think David Webster would be a wizard. I know bard seems like an obvious choice because he studied literature, but I don't think he has the charisma for it, and wizard fits better with what we see of him in the snow imo.

As a player, though, I do think he'd go for bard: it fits his artistic inclination, his general ability for intense studying AND his cautious nature by allowing him to stay out of harm's way if he plays his cards right

[hellofanidea]

it's more obvious in my hanahaki au but lewis nixon waits his whole life for Something. maybe even Someone. to give him a sense of self that's greater than what was given to him by his family name-- he's greedy like that. so when dick winters comes along and they cease to become dick winters. lewis nixon. only to turn into dick winters AND lewis nixon, it's not too much of a leap for lewis to come to the conclusion that This is what he was meant for. he is meant to lift dick up. his obverse. his counterpart. and if he has to die for it, then so fucking be it.

... i've been thinking too much about this, can you tell?

I admit I read 'hanahaki au' and blacked out for a moment because that shits my guilty pleasure and now I NEED it (and I'm honestly surprised there isn't more of it floating around here, these guys are primed for it).

BUT YES. JESUS. Nix has been so disconnected, so disillusioned, for so much of his life, but with Dick? Suddenly life makes sense to him again. There's a sense of belonging he's lacked all of his life. What WOULDN'T he give to keep that? What wouldn't he give to play his part right for once?

And Nix is the type to absolutely draw those classical comparisons, to look through time and mythology at counterparts who complete and exist for each other. To believe that there is always one in any pair that cannot stand alone, and that this is him.

[sea-changed]

#hoohoohoo #this is what is so interesting abt band of brothers pop cultural role as an entertainment product that gets treated as a documentary #and more broadly the way authenticity is framed in the warshow genre #like saving private ryan being hailed as essentially a recreation of the combat experience #bc vets who watched it were troubled/re traumatized by the initial dday scene #like liebgott especially is sort of a microcosm of the rpf ethics of this mode of storytelling #and the places where the needs of the propaganda and the needs of the real live dead guys intersect and what that produces #(certainly not documentary truth) (@wrishwrosh)

Reconstructing Joe Liebgott

Ross McCall on finding Joe through the vets

"What was incredible was that, very early on they [Easy Company veterans] started attaching themselves to the likes of me. And they'd call me 'Joe'. You know? And they were sort of starting to lean on that a little bit, like I was their pal. [...] And these guys, they hadn't seen or heard from Joe in years, almost leaning on me for that, which was an immense pressure but also a complete and utter honor."

Band of Brothers Full Cast TV Guide Interview (2001)

Several decades ago one veteran phoned Liebgott's father to invite his son to a reunion, but the senior Liebgott reportedly replied, "You messed my Joey up," and hung up.

Chapter 4: The Wound from Mary Louise Robert's Sheer Misery

In reconstructing their wounding stories, then, many men did not possess a cohesive narrative. At the same time, connecting the dots was a vital need. [...] The wounding story was restorative as well as redemptive. The narrative moved from chaos to order, from misery to comfort. The idea was to make a fresh start. Nurse McBryde explained the logic: “to transform the dirty pulpy mess left by shell explosion into a clean area where what remained of the structures could be repaired.”

[seamstraw]

on my hands and knees. please stop infantilizing bob. not denying he has that sad wet cat energy because I see it too, but he’s also a grown-ass man.

there is a massive gap between “adult with mental health issues” and “child.” that gap is larger than the number of laws val broke. that gap is larger than john’s ego. that gap is smaller than the the amount of vodka alexei drinks on a daily basis, but only very slightly.

yes, bob has a wide assortment of mental health problems. yes, these were probably exacerbated by his newfound superpowers. yes, he’s still responsible for his own decision-making.

[mimir-anoshe]

Thinking thoughts and people have made comparisons to Yelena having a soft spot for adopting test subjects. Aka Guinea pig boyo and human puppy boyo - Bob.

Don't know if I was just being slow, but I realised Yelena saving the Guinea Pig (who thanks to this fandom I've now started calling Cucumber in my head; it's my lore name for him now) from the same lab Bob got his powers, taking him out of a literal maze he's trapped in...

It was 1:1 foreshadowing for Yelena going into the void - a maze of void rooms that acts as a prison of guilt and trauma that you're trapped in - to pull Bob (Valentino's human guinea pig) out.

Cucumber really is a symbolic allegory for Bob, the cutw guinea pig gang who get adopted by 5'3 ex russian assassin turned hero. That little show of her seeing someone who needs help, and setting them free whilst keeping them close to her even though it's just a little guinea boy. All of that is a microcosm of what she would do for Bob through some beautiful little storytelling and set up by the writers. She even hugs cucumber by the end of it all.

It highlights from the beginning that she's exactly the person Bob needed to help him through that maze and out the other side, because she can see the bigger picture, she can reach through those walls and pull him out. And Bob is the exact type of person - same as Cucumber - that Yelena wishes to protect and care for, by being in her life he can help her through her own grief and abate her loneliness through love. And they're both cute as fuck.

I don't know if that was obvious for everyone else but I got there eventually. Damn I love this movie.

I also headcanon that the guinea pig has super powers, but thats neither here nor there. Cucumber having his own void eldritch god would be hilarious and terrifying. Like a flerkin on steroids.

[beemaya]

Whenever I see this take, the moment ron turnes, I wonder what is going through his head. Because he's hesitant and he looks tired, not only because of the whole war, the different type of tired, when you just want someone to talk to, someone to put your trust into. When you want a friend. Because in the show, we see ron always alone, distant from the camaraderie (that is, before he's adopted by the crazy easy company lol), I'd say he felt lonely, I'd say he wanted his new first sergeant to like him because that's what he heard about him: carwood lipton is this ray of sunshine, he treats everyone who deserves it with kindness. Ron wants him to know he deserves it, he wants him to know the rumors aren't true.

However, I think the conversation with lip made him question what he knew about carwood lipton, it made him think carwood will be wary and prejudiced because of those rumors. Or maybe he'll just keep his distance. Either way, ron didn't want that. Yes, ron basically denied those rumors but what if it didn't mean anything to lipton? What if he'd be once again feared and looked at through fingers?

When Ron turned, i think he fully expected to hear something else than what carwood said, something that would make the perfect and positive first sergeant look more like everyone else. But no, carwood proved to ron that he was exactly what ron heard about him: a good person, great first sergeant. And ron tells him, he makes sure carwood knows he respects him just like carwood respects ron.

Carwood saw in him something else than the gossip and I think that solely for that, ron would do anything the man asked of him.

[lewis-winters]

during the NCO mutiny in episode 1, I always found it very telling that Talbert's first reaction, upon hearing Dick was lost to mess duty due to court martial, is that Nix better get Dick out of it... implying that Nix 1) is capable of doing so and; 2) is willing to do so (and would!). it is especially telling when you consider how, out of all the NCO's under his command, Dick considered Talbert an actual friend... meaning that Tab might have had some sort of insight on Dick and Nix's relationship-- or at least the lengths Nix is willing to go to save Dick from trouble.

[sea-changed]

I think the ouroboros at the center of Liebgott as a character on the show is that he was specifically crafted around the void that the actual Liebgott left by not getting in touch with any of the other Easy men after the war. Plenty of the other guys were also dead by the time the show was being made but most of them had been in touch much more recently and/or had left documentation of some kind. But because Liebgott's character had to be created out of the other men's fifty-plus-year-old memories of the actual Liebgott he is being automatically seen through that lens (guy they haven't spoken to in fifty years) and created in that image. And so while it is never made explicitly canon that show!Liebgott walks away from Easy after the war in some ways his character is predetermined to do so because he was created out of memories colored by the age and distance that resulted from his choice to walk away. Liebgott as a character is always-already disappearing after the war.

[catbox730]

The Thunderbolts a in a nutshell:

(Turn on the volume and it’s really loud so you have been warned)

[firelxdykatara]

Still driving me crazy how Thunderbolts is LITERALLY Yelena's movie, and by extension Bob's--their connection is absolutely central to the film, none of which works without it. They are the fulcrum on which the entire movie spins, and I don't care how you view it, platonic or romantic (though obviously I have my bias and there were a lot of scenes that were extremely romance-coded, also I haven't truly won since Pepperony [and look how that turned out], I deserve this, I've earned it, Marvel owes me, but ANYWAY), their relationship is the emotional core of the film. Yelena is unquestionably Bob's most important person, and it was her instant connection with and affection and feeling for Bob that helped Yelena find her own light in the dark so that she could become his.

It's no accident that she opened the film talking about the void. That she was lost, adrift, passively suicidal--not in the sense that she was actively trying to kill herself, or even necessarily wanting to die, but that she couldn't figure out what the point was, why she should bother waking up every day when she had no purpose and all she could see was the dark. And then she heard Bob say the very same thing, when he finished a sentence she was letting hang because she'd just realized how it would sound to someone else--and then he says it, and she looks up at him, and she sees a sense of understanding that terrifies her. Because she sees the same thing in his eyes that she's been feeling for so long she'd almost forgotten what it was like to come up for air.

"You guys should just go without me, it'll be easier." "Oh, no, you'll die down here." And she laughs, like she thinks he's joking, like obviously he doesn't really wanna just be left behind, haha, funny to joke about but it's not true. "Well, whatever." And he's laughing too, but it's kind of hollow, listless, like he's already given up. He knows he's a lost cause. "I think everyone's better off if I just stay put." He doesn't want anyone risking their lives just for him. He doesn't deserve it. And she's looking at him, and seeing this play out across his face, his sad, resigned little smile as he so blithely brushes off the thought of his death and shrugs and says whatever like it's nothing, like he's nothing.

And I think, in that moment, Yelena realizes she can't lose him. She has to save him, leaving him behind is not an option--she's lost so much, too much, she can't stand to lose anyone else. And her purpose becomes him--the others too, by extension, but Bob is the one she literally ties herself to so she can make sure he stays behind her, so she can keep him safe.

And then when she lets him out of her sight, he slips out of the back of the van and she watches as he gets himself killed. For them. For her.

Which he somehow manages to miraculously survive, only to wind back up in Valentina's clutches, and Yelena is the one constantly bringing up Bob's name and talking about him and how they have to get him back--because she found her own light in the dark and it's whatever she felt for him, that purpose she suddenly had, a reason to keep breathing, to keep getting up day after day. At the beginning of the film, she'd told Valentina she wanted to do more--be front-facing, be a hero. But I don't think it hit her that she could, that it was what she truly needed, until she met Bob. Until she had someone to protect. Someone to save.

And it's just--gods, they dance around this, they orbit each other for the entire movie! Bob's first words when he wakes up after the vault are to ask for Yelena. It's her who comes closest to knowing him--Sentry tries to deny it, but when he becomes void, it's Yelena who can get through to him. Who willingly walks into the darkness. Who lights the way for Bob to climb back out.

The others, too, they are a family and this movie gave us what was promised by the first Avengers but never really delivered on (and I'm praying the MCU doesn't drop the ball here again)--but it's Yelena who takes that first step. Who finds Bob in the dark. Who gets to him, who holds him and tells him he's not alone. He'll never be alone again, not if she has anything to say about it.

"We stick together from now on." And she means it, with every fiber of her being. And that's the thesis statement for the entire fucking movie. It doesn't work without them at the core. They are the movie's heart and it makes me so goddamn emotional. I haven't been this excited by a Marvel movie in YEARS and I just. I need the MCU not to blow it, please please please.

[mychapel-004]

watching people fight over how canon the book of bill is while completely mischaracterising bill is such a strange experience

yes he’s a liar. yes he’s a manipulator. yes he is so distant from any semblance of humanity that he is literally incapable of regret, empathy or remorse, or at least admitting to himself that he feels it.

but he’s also TERRIBLE at it. he’s a total loser. he’s objectively bad at the one task he’s spent lifetimes on. throughout history he attempts to sweet talk many, many different figures into building his portal and it rarely goes down well. multiple civilisations are aware of his existence and the sole reason we know this is because they hated him and invented their own ways of keeping him out. he has been consistently rejected by humanity at every turn, only coming close to completing his goal when he literally possessed a dead man and formed a cult.

ford is the only person who really, truly fell for the act. not just that, but bill didn’t even have to pretend to physically be someone else to get him hooked. ford took him as he was.

all this to say, bill is absolutely a grifter who will say anything to get what he wants, which means a lot of BOB is just sweet talk, carrot and stick, he’s just saying what the reader wants to hear. but that’s not the important bit.

bill is a liar but he wraps the truth up in layers of misdirection, doublespeak and lies. a monster really did destroy his homeworld. him and ford really were going to change the world. he even addresses this in the book, he lies until it becomes the truth. a lot of bill’s characterisation is shown in the gaps between his lies, it’s all in the fault lines, in a similar way to stan. he’s a very meta character, but ultimately he’s still a character and he still behaves in ways that are designed to convey meanings to the audience.

of course he’s lying in the book of bill, but he’s also telling the truth, in addition to bits of info from other sources that he is unable to edit like the theraprism section. it’s fun to have a character who lies a lot, but it would be a pointless exercise to have an entire book be non-canon and false, especially when we get much more interesting character work from the parts where he runs out of lies and his only options are desperate truths.

anyway. people wanting to enjoy canon info in a canon book isn’t just them “being easily manipulated” or stupid, and you aren’t a better fan for not believing it

[multifandumbmeg]

Can we take a moment to appreciate how well-written Thunderbolts* was?

First of all, having the characters all meet in the burn-bag facility with the old classic "Locked Room" scenario?? Genius. It's the only way a messy group of people like this would work together, but it also provides the opportunity for them all to talk, which shows us who they all are- their character synopsis if you're unfamiliar (like I was with Ghost for example), their personalities, and their initial relationships to each other. I feel like no other Marvel movie that I can remember has the characters openly acknowledge being aware of each other prior to meeting (except maybe Black Panther to Cap in Civil War, I think?). But it makes perfect sense that they all (except Bob, who was a normie, drug addict not invested in news, and a secluded lab rat for who knows how long) would have heard of each other. Which also means they're coming in with pre-conceived notions about each other and their line of work. Except. Bob. Which means he only picks up on what other people do, and they say about each other. This sets him to get a particularly bad picture of Walker and a particularly positive one of Yelena. The first sin or poor personality trait of hers he's introduced to is her shame room, but obviously he can see her pain and guilt (maybe even feel it) which only makes their bond stronger because he relates.

When I first saw the movie, I thought the start was a bit slow and maybe it should have just begun with the burn-bag infiltration, but after thinking about it I realized why that whole Yelena mission is in there. Not just to show her reckless depression (they could have done that countless ways, if less grandiose than jumping off the world's tallest building) or give her that opening monologue. Not even to blow up the lab. It was all to foreshadow Bob. The lab, the locked back room full of secrets, and of course the guinea pig- I didn't really get this at first since we never see it again. But then I realized the whole reason it's there is god-tier foreshadowing of what Yelena's purpose in this entire film is- to rescue Bob. They had to show the lab at the beginning of the movie because it's not only the location of the final showdown, which only would have made sense to Bob otherwise, but to foreshadow the true villain of the whole affair. Not Bob, trauma.

And the parallels?? I'm just now catching up seeing all the incredible posts people are putting together of the callbacks and parallels to the original avengers and character backstories. Like Bucky showing up to join/save the group by rocking up and shooting the bomb gun which was exactly how he was first introduced as the Winter Soldier. Walker saying "On your left" like he's still trying and failing to be Cap after everything. People have made very convincing arguments about hundreds of tiny allusions tying each Thunderbolt to an original Avenger, as if specifically taking up the mantle of their position in the group.

Obviously I don't have to get into the messaging. Fucking heart-wrenching, beautifully done, and they let the metaphors speak for themselves instead of screaming the answer at the audience like we're a bunch of drooling morons, which damn-near impossible to find in non-indie media these days. The mental illness and general trauma representation in this movie were so damn good. I loved that everyone's sort of got their own brand or archetype of it- just like everyone in the real world reacts differently to trauma. Recklessness, depression, rage, self-isolation and emotional detachment, burying yourself in the glory days, control issues (I'm looking at you Valentina) self-destruction. The gang's all here.

I just wanted to get that out. Respect for the artistry. Respect for them letting us have artistry again for once.

[praisetheaxolotl]

The Arsonist Theory, Part 1: Mandibles!

Eight years ago, a few weeks shy of the day itself, I wrote something called The Arsonist Theory. It was my last theory post before making this blog, and looking back, it was disorganized, and I could have presented it better.

So, with new evidence, I'm doing just that.

The core of the theory is this: You don't blame the arson itself for a fire. You blame the arsonist that set the fire in the first place. There is a secret third piece of the puzzle here- not the act of arson, not the fire itself, but something more.

Therefore, consider this: Bill was not the sole perpetrator of the Euclidean Massacre. Rather, he was a weapon used to commit it.

Like the original, this will be a four-part theory, just to make it more digestible. I'll refer back to the original on occasion, but most of it will be new information.

Oh, and-

MAJOR, MAJOR SPOILERS FOR THE BOOK OF BILL UNDER THE CUT. THIS INCLUDES THE TEXT ITSELF AND SOLUTIONS TO CIPHERS.

With that out of the way, let's go.

In another post, I mentioned that the specific wording of "Saw his own dimension burn" having a very passive connotation to it, plus parts of the glitched page, shown here- make it incredibly likely, if not certain, that the massacre was an accident on Bill's part.

Bill's main intention was to show everyone what he had seen all along-- show them that he wasn't crazy. But that's not what happened.

Also, just as an aside- part three of the original theory has some examples of exact wording being a thing to pay attention to in matters surrounding Bill. It mostly concerns his deals with others, but in a Doylist sense, it tells us: exact wording is important with this character, so pay attention.

But let's put a pin in that for a second.

On the page teaching us how to trick everyone into loving us, there's a portion about conversation topics:

The cipher in the candy heart says "LIES," by the way, and it's the only cipher on the page- immediately setting this portion apart from all the others. Bill says here that one conversation topic on a date-- while meeting someone-- is the very specific term, "mandibles."

Say, where have I seen that recently?

Huh... that's interesting! What a specific word to come up twice, in these specific contexts! Remember what I said about exact wording? Sure you do, you have a very good memory, I admire that about you!

But that's not everything I noticed.

All that glitching? You can actually see text peeking out at certain points. And what does that text say?

"Nice to meet ya!"

Over and over and over again.

There's nothing else in my mind that can make this make sense to me. There was someone else there. He met up with someone.

But that's not all- I still have three more posts of evidence to write.

Check back here for links to them- they should all come out within the next day or two, and I'm gunning for all of it to be out before the countdown on thisisnotawebsitedotcom hits zero.

Part 2: We get it, the billboard is a metaphor

Part 3: Journey To The Vicious Spiral Nebula

Part 4: Blame The Arson, Not The Fire