#ep 1 and 2 rewatch part 4 | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

rewordthis · 28 days ago

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To Be Hero X [First 7 Episodes observation sheet + rant]

So, I’m slowly rewatching the series and I… IS GHOSTBLADE A FREAKING BUTCHER??? Ahem.. *straightens posture* anyway, as I was saying, I have some observations to share.

Btw, just to be on the same page��I watch the Japanese version because trying to catch all the subs and the visuals is a pain in the ass. You know… btw.

So, what I gathered from Episode 1: What The Actual F—

The year is 41 After Commission.

When Lin Ling gave the finger at Nice, he said: “someone’s gonna steal/take over your spot,” which… he does?

Nice did commit suicide: a) He was a hero that could actually fly and at any point of his fall he could have done so but he didn’t. b) he did his trademark move knowing full well that Lin Ling recognised him. That was his last bit of committing to his role. If anything he understood his position and acted the part. c) He didn’t utter a single peep while going down. He was done. d) This is just to point out that: THE PRODUCTION IS SO MEAN TO HIM, BRO. THEY HAD HIM BREAK HIS WAIST BEFORE HITTING THE GROUND! (´°̥̥̥̥̥̥̥̥ω°̥̥̥̥̥̥̥̥｀)

Before Nice’s suicide, there was an incident that was worrying him. Did he possibly fucked up? It’s not unthinkable that underperforming could have potentially triggered his perfectionism OCD and made him decide he didn’t want to live anymore. Having OCD is like an impending doom is going to find you if something isn’t as it SHOULD. Your nerves get fried and suffice to say, you really feel like it would be easier to be put out of your misery. On that same note, though we can tell the incident was indeed important and not just Nice overreacting, since Shang himself proposed that they should let him take some time off.

The Nice ad screen glitching when Nice appeared: I don’t think that’s X’s doing. Maybe it’s Lin Ling’s, considering the way the series progressed (more on that later*).

Another interesting touch of Nice’s character intro… and exit: The doves. The whole scene actually brightens in a soft sunset and a flock of white doves fly by as he walks right through it—the very picture of perfection and purity. I could also say innocence.

In this episode we have a 2D scene when the series open with Nice’s battle, later when Lin Ling is reminiscent of how he came to love Moon and then again when Lin Ling is being hit and subsequently consumed by fear. It only turns back into 3D when the opponent is defeated—aka the danger has passed, in all cases.

Lin Ling after being taken in as Nice is told to act with confidence and never doubt himself and after he accepts that this is his role alone now and nobody else can be him (Nice) he actually gets the strength to defeat Fear (and be let back at the Hero Tower). *Trust value system may be a boost enough for someone to become a hero and even affect their daily life but ultimately, it cannot be used in place of conviction and it can also be overwritten as we will see later in Ep. 4.

The episode ends with Lin Ling seeing Moon dead. But does anyone have any idea why he had his eyes closed right until the second he looked back at her? Could his amplified trust value trigger an innate skill of his? Like seeing the future? Could he maybe even… idk… had feared of such an outcome before from one of her fights, thus turning this into a potential future? Doesn’t that sound awfully similar to what happened with Nice? Hm???

Also. Nice was a ballet dancer and had a piano in his apartment. Like… I’m getting really upset over this for no apparent reason. The reason is that he was a perfectionist, obsessive little dude that loved art. Of course I’m upset. Damn. (´༎ຶོρ༎ຶོ`)

Episode 2: Doomed Yaoi

In this episode what we see is how much Moon hated Nice. My love, I don’t know how to tell you this, but she sucks! You don’t go “isn’t this great?!” when you hear about someone dying. I mean… how hard could he possibly be making her life to hate him so much? Though, I was impressed that she instantly knew it wasn’t him just by the sheer hate she had for him. Jeez.

Finding out that Nice was also a performer—dancer duo with Wreck (the audio called him King Destruction, btw)—who he had also roped into the hero act because apparently they were close. He was also indicated to be a ballet dancer at Episode 1, but here we get to see that he had pursued a dancing career first. Could he be aiming to being a hero because he liked the idea? Or because he wanted to do more? To help people? To be more, even? A note here: Ballet is a rigorous and exhausting form of performance same as correct piano performance, both classic arts as well. It is based on pursuing perfection and having strict boundaries—anyway, others have pointed this out before, too. Point is: His OCD background gets even more solidly painted as character trait.

Wreck going “I’m not handing you over to anyone”! He. Is. Possessive Lover™︎! Love that for him, hated the outcome. R.I.P. beauty-mark boy, you were for real. 😔

Again, 2D scenes are the past reiteration and fighting ones. Hmmm…

Lin Ling being a sliiightly manipulative little dude when the discussion comes at Moon wanting out of the Hero business: like, yeah I am Nice and will fulfil my contract but if she’s out I’m coming out of the closet, too. LMAO

Lin Ling: I am Nice and play nice so long as my crush plays with me~

Episode 3: Bruh…

Year 34 After Commission. Firm Man first appears and defeats Old E-Soul’s nemesis. Enters Top 10 as No. 10.

Year 36 After Commission. Firm Man becomes the symbol of Hero’s will.

2D scene is once again the backstory reiteration.

Lin Ling only just begins to understand the weight and importance of being a hero.

As Firm Man said to Lin Ling; everyone makes their decisions by case, not all apply equally on every case. What didn’t work for Firm Man may very well work for Lin Ling so long as he acts according to his own wishes. Hmmm… Does that ring a bell so far?

Also, first mention of E-Soul and the chance to see both Old and New. Yang Cheng is helping out civilians on the street after Wolf Girl’s attack. His right hand is a mechanical one.

Episode 4: What The Actual F—. 2

So as we have seen so far, fans’ will affects Heros’ will. Here Lin Ling can’t even get out of the house. But, as I mentioned in episode 1, Trust Value system can get overwritten if the hero is willing to break image. This is how Lin Ling manages to eventually enter the elevator, he breaks the image of Nice and his connection to it. That allows him to act as himself, unrestrained by the fans’ will. He finally makes his resolve.

All 2D scenes are once again taking place during the fights and the past. The ads within universe are 2D because they are tailored by clips recorded in the past. At least that is how I see it.

In Lin Ling’s image breaking we see him returning to his original image but not entirely. The white strand that is still left on his hair signifies a very profound change Lin Ling underwent during which Nice—one way or another—became at some point a part of himself. What part of Nice exactly became his truth? Here I want to note that this is not due to the fans’ belief since he has already rejected Nice. This is because Lin Ling at some point truly believed, accepted and embodied parts of Nice as his own. How do I say this... their existences overlapped and superimposed each-other and eventually started to meld into one.

That said, during his fight with God Eye and while regaining peoples’ trust, besides the power increase he displayed he was also able to fly (one of Nice’s original abilities).

As it is revealed by this, what has truly a grip on the Heroes is their own belief and conviction.

One important note to make before the end of the episode, us how Lin Ling by being himself, manages to use Moon’s wormhole abilities to reach her. Something he couldn’t do as Nice.

As the scene of Moon’s death plays out, we see E-Soul being framed as the culprit. It has been mentioned, however that the angle of the hit and E-Soul’s position do not align and there is a possibility another hero is also present out of Lin Ling’s field of view and I support that interpretation, unless… what if this really is E-Soul’s doing and it’s just due to his rapid movements? In the first place, how did he get there??? He can’t transport himself there, can he? He can be lightning fast but can’t really… teleport. Right? Especially to a place he doesn’t know.

Don’t forget that nobody knows where Moon went. The only way to locate her is through the desire to reconnect with her. The one that has this desire more than anyone is Lin Ling, hence why he can use her wormhole devise. E-Soul must have used that very same wormhole to get there—or at least the reality distortion it created. It is very possible that while he followed Lin Ling, he killed Moon as he sped past them and ended up behind her. Hmmm.. 🤔

Lin Ling seems to have the ability to craft or shape reality. Btw.

Love Lin Ling. But at the same time I am obsessed with Nice! Dude was there for what? 30”? 40”? It doesn’t help that someone uploaded on deadbird their identities either! Nice was a Cancer boy!!! Why are these scriptwriters killing them Cancer boys, maaan? Gege killed Nanamin, too? And if I bother to look into birthdays of other supporting characters in other series I’ll probably find a load more but I’m sparing everyone the longer rant!

Anyway, I keep holding the 2D scenes in reference because I think there is an importance on the moments of the transition… Hmmm… 🧐

Spotlight on No. 9 Episode 5: The 3some Build Up

Year 20 After Commission. E-Soul saves Yang Cheng but is not on time to save either of his parents. He is already missing his right arm.

16 years later, 36 Years After Commission. E-Soul celebrates his 34th anniversary. So he became a Hero only two years after the Hero institution started. (Translations of E-Soul’s Anniversary stunt requirements state that he became the first hero to receive the title of [X] when he defeated Zero, 30 years ago. So Year 6 After Commission. He first appeared in Year 2 After Commission, so he was known for 4 years until that incident. In his Concept Video, he is shown to have his right arm during this battle, too.)

Yang Cheng is born November 11 14 ACY. So he became an orphan when he was 6 years old. He is a Scorpio.

Shang Chao is born March 29 14 ACY. He is an Aries.

The date they turn their Graduation Papers in is March 15 (or so I believe what is for the date at the bottom of Shang Chao’s Application). Damn… Did he even had his birthday?

In episode 4 the young Hero Agent that said they wanted to contact Lin Ling personally because someone could “steal” him, when that was said we see a long haired person in an office with bookcases from top to bottom. That same person is the one dismissing Yang Cheng from the competition because he has 0 Trust Value. 🤨

Also, the 3rd Agent/CEO(?) we see is voiced by Toriumi Kousuke. 😮😩 (Ep. 4 as well. just forgot to add it. Oops. Sumimasen.)

Yang Cheng’s memories are shown in 2D while E-Soul speaks in the event about the reasons he has not taken off his mask for 34 years. The scene changes back to 3D when we have the parallelism of the night Yang Cheng lost his parents to Pomelo (Yuzu) being dependent on him to save him.

Pomelo’s single point of Trust in Yang Cheng is a burst of electricity that literally energises Yang Cheng’s body. He gains much more than just a Trust point. He literally gains the very first person to truly believe in him—the real him. It seems like not just the number of believers but also the nature of the trust they hold is of great importance.

The reason Yang Cheng looked up to E-Soul besides him saving him, seems to also be the fact that before their death, Yang Cheng’s mother had gifted him E-Soul’s figure which we see him sleep with in the orphanage and we have already seen it on his desk in his house and telling him that he can be strong like him. Ughhh… people, when will you learn to teach your kids to be authentic? 😮‍💨

Yang Cheng being almost ready to reveal himself to Xia Qing and getting cockblocked a 3rd time in one episode by Shang Chao. LMAO His little laugh as he decides that fate probably just does not want him to come clean to her and moving to go, is also super cute. And absolutely hilarious since Shang Chao is the one pulling the curtains on him. In all honesty… I don’t know what I expected, but Yang Cheng’s flabbergasted face was priceless. Also, why is Shang Chao so smug about revealing him? Help! 😆

Episode 6: Be U (not the cologne)

E-Soul replying to his manager, “Who is the real E-Soul—I shall teach them.” Wooh, scary~

Shang Chao telling Yang Cheng that being E-Soul is not identity theft, but that this is the peoples’ belief and trust in his potential.

Also that even though he can take off the mask he is still E-Soul for those supporting him. This is a direct contrast to the Original E-Soul who’s never once shown his face to anyone.

Xia Qing telling Yang Cheng that Shang Chao confessed to her and then going “aren’t you being too surprised?” Giiirl, you know he’s got a crush on you and you keep throwing him curved balls… Have mercy. 😂

Lucky Cyan’s concert is on April 24-26.

Original E-Soul being verbally attacked by reporter’s during his new toy announcement… Why did the host cut them off completely and didn’t let him address at least some of their questions? He does seem to be used as a puppet more and more. Or more like… a caged animal…? 🥺

Not Uncle Rock setting Yang Cheng up with Shang Chao and giving them free pass to the store's buffet after closing hours.

Once again 2D scenes are Yang Cheng’s memories up to his current life.

By the way, Yang Cheng is 1.75 cm tall. He was just barely fit to audition for E-Soul’s stand-in. 😭 (From what I saw on translations from other users, my man is an over 1.95cm monster! I freaken’ love him!!!)

Original E-Soul losing Trust Value which in turn is added to Yang Cheng… It does feel kind of a replacement tactic more than the will for renewal that Xia Qing spoke of.

Not Yang Cheng lighting up when Shang Chao enters the room… 👀 Boy, you weren’t this happy when you saw Xia Qing. What is going on in this head of yours???

Enlighter finding out that the phone call was encrypted and only someone with a) money or b) IT knowledge (or even both) could pull it off.

This is where it feels a bit.. off, as Yang Cheng seems troubled by this. Could it be that this was an opportunity to come clean with Original E-Soul and he regrets about how things turned out? Being cleared from the accusations should make him happy, but instead he looks pensive. 🧐

The way I keep replaying that part where Xia Qing tells Yang Cheng that she will root for him if he can be honest and true to himself, but even if he can’t… she will wait for him for ever (?), did I hear that right??! Eh???

Yang Cheng not being on time to save Shang Chao… Yeah. What was that heart-wrenching scream at the end, kid?

At this point I want to highlight something: It is E-Soul’s 34th Anniversary, even if he started his hero career at 18 years old straight out of highschool, he is 52 years old now—at the very, very least. Which, he probably isn’t. He must be around 56, actually. But let’s keep the minimum just for kicks…

⚡️💜Look at this shredded, towering God!🗿⚡️Bites a chunk out of him. MINE~ 💜🔥

Episode 7: When Legends Die, The Heartbreaker (yes this is a song reference, deal with it)

So we start off with Shang senior practically declaring war on fate, God and the world. Okieee… He is cruelly cold towards Yang Cheng and flat out tells him that he should be seeking revenge on Shang Chao’s behalf. Understandable.

Also, what was that scene with Shang Chao in Yang Cheng’s arms in the rain… WHAT?

Right in this same scene, we see Yang Cheng saying that has positively identified the shooter. It’s one of the guys that abducted Pomelo (Yuzu). Yang Cheng had left a burn-mark on his neck when he saved Pomelo, so he wants Shang senior’s help…

On this note, Enlighter has researched the whereabouts of the two criminals and the circumstances under which they ended up out of jail. As Enlighter informs Yang Cheng, the paperwork indicated that they were still in prison while they actually were out and the agent that had helped with the fake paperwork was most probably already killed, so that whoever was the mastermind could tie any loose ends. As Enlighter pointed out, even if Yang Cheng was to find the criminals now, after all this publicity, there wouldn’t be any real difference since they now did have a good reason to go after Yang Cheng and nobody would bother searching further into finding the mastermind, who could still target Yang Cheng and move freely in the background.

So, what Yang Cheng must have thought is that whoever aims to ruin him, is someone well connected, well off and with a “grudge” against him. Does that sound like someone we know? Who could possibly want Yang Cheng, a poor orphan that hasn’t harmed anyone, out of the picture? Oh! Maybe the guy that he stole his Trust Value??? Oooh!

So how does he settle this without risking anyone else’s safety? But by bringing the issue to publicity and challenging the culprit to an open battle so they can settle the score once and for all. By making E-Soul fight him. Winner takes it all, love.

The backstory (2D) scenes of Yang Cheng tearing down his entire house and breaking his E-Soul figure—destroying his idol—are heart breaking. He is a different person. He does not believe in anything good anymore. I mean, look at his eyes when he peers through that broken mirror. He is broken himself after this ordeal!

E-Soul on the other hand.. couldn’t be caring to give a flying banana peel from what we see. This dude gives no fucks about anything and anyone. He doesn’t even care about his ranking or Trust Value dropping! It is clear he only does the PR shit just to get his manager off of his ass and the only things he really cares about are helping people and bodybuilding. LMAO He’s KING, ok? I don’t care what anyone thinks of him, he is the real shit. He hears Yang Cheng’s challenge with his own fucking ears from the tv—and lowkey accusations about Shang Chao’s death—and he straight up says he has “no interest” in this, right after! Absolute fucking King behaviour! 😎

Though, to be fair, when he finally decides to listen to his manager is probably because he has never seen him so stressed as fuck before. What seems to do the trick and convince him to take on the challenge is when his manager shows him videos of people actually supporting the theories of him being behind the murder and that if his Trust Value drops any further he will just be an old guy… Baby, my dude, hey—King, let it! Get them to give you pension and leave this bull crap for the fame-hungry idiots! Listen to me, bro. You did enough.

While Yang Cheng practices, Xia Qing says that maybe he shouldn't do it, maybe it’s a trap and she doesn’t want to lose anybody.

Uncle Rock, though has a way to force an opening to E-Soul’s impenetrable defences; to make him use an extremely powerful move but that will render all his defending systems useless. Hmm… suspicious stuff.

Yang Cheng and Xia Qing arguing about the battle at the beach. She asks him, once more (3rd time actually), to uphold their promise and be honest with himself and be true to his wants. To which Yang Cheng replies that he is but he cannot honour a promise he made just between them when there are people out there trusting him not to run away from the battle and betray them. Kid… you’re betraying yourself, though???

The arena for their battle, is the memorial ground where E-Soul defeated Zero.

E-Soul is determined to stay on the defence while Yang Cheng... well, kid breaks the walls for no apparent reason the second he steps foot there. This doesn’t show determination or an intimidating aura, in my book. It’s just lashing out in disguise. … And malice. Of course. Again this is all in 2D mode—is X watching the fight or what the f— 😗

Xia Qing has gone to the concert alone. She sits in the middle of the seats Shang Chao had reserved for them. Well, that’s a 3some that went nowhere~

The battle is ragging and despite Yang Cheng’s relentless attacks, E-Soul has already caused quite some damage by just using his lightning whip. I knew you were a Do-S deep down, King. Love ya! 🥰

Some moments after during their chase, the armour on E-Soul’s mechanical arm is broken. This means that Yang Cheng has managed a few good blows.

Also, around here we hear E-Soul’s manager asking him to use his risky attack. E-Soul’s immediate response is “who’s instigating this?” and like, he is not wrong. But the damage has been done.

Back to Uncle Rock showing Yang Cheng of how his plan can succeed. He has been spreading rumours and advertising that E-Soul will use his powerful attack during the fight. Yang Cheng comments how this must have cost a lot—like, a lot lot. [Also, a note here: if someone can please look at the comments from the people calling E-Soul a fraud and explain to me why is a note of 37 years in there??? What does that refer to? E-Soul appeared 34 years ago? Or was it that he got commissioned 34 years ago but was actually around since 37 years prior? Wasn’t Commission Year 36 we were watching??? WTF—]

We see Uncle Rock unloading his entire shop. What an incredible man, huh? He believes so much in Yang Cheng he sold everything he owned to pay for this ad! Right?! 🥹 Yang Cheng owes him big time!!!

For some time now, E-Soul is stalling and tries to—I assume��tire Yang Cheng out. If he gets tired enough and is unable to move anymore, the battle will be over. But Yang Cheng is determined to not back down and pushes harder with every blow. He even breaks E-Soul’s shield. E-Soul lunches small-scale attacks, too. But on one occasion right after he’s informed about the public’s expectations, he stands completely still and seemingly takes the attack. Is he measuring Yang Cheng? Is he contemplating his next move? Or is he providing an opening just to be fair? Could it be he is overestimating himself?

A couple mutual attacks later, Yang Cheng manages to break his Chest shield. This one was so Togainu-coded, I am eating steel! Grrr 😤

It is here that E-Soul finally realises that he is going to lose if he doesn’t make a decision. You know how I know it? Just how he knows it—parts of his floating shield stopped working. His electric currents aren’t strong enough to uphold the electromagnetic field around him! I. AM. CHEWING. HIS. SHIELD. FRAGMENTS!!! I’m going insane, I’m sorry I’m not sorry. Sue me.

He decides to finally bring out… the big gun.

Xia Qing is crying watching the live. Is she… sensing something?

The final attack has begun. E-Soul is bringing his Lightning Slash down while Yang Cheng is stubbornly charging forward.

Xia Qing has left the concert. Now all 3 seats are empty. 👀👀👀

Uncle Rock is a fucking BITCH™︎. Scheming bastard, I want to see if you’re still going to have a mug after Shang finds out it was you behind his son’s murder! I hope there will be no mask to hide the way he disfigures you! (He is still in the game, btw. We see him eyeing Lin Ling, which means he is not fucking exposed, yet!)

I replayed the scene… a gazillion times and every time I catch E-Soul having his Lighting Beam already lowered and only Yang Cheng’s fist is visible. A different angle, and still the same—E-Soul is intact behind his Lightning Slash while Yang Cheng is lost in the light and then KABOOM! The place is blown up to smithereens.

Uncle Rock watches the news from the battle without a hint of emotion. And why would he?

The kids commenting on Uncle Rock’s shop getting closed and while one says that it had closed a long time ago another one of them says that had just recently been reopened and was doing really good. Ugh.

From the rubbles we can only see 3 trashed drones and a single figure standing. The figure emits a pale violet electric current—right arm missing. I wish, this was Old E-Soul since his electric current was vibrant purple in contrast to Yang Cheng’s light blue one but alas, as I said, this is pale violet bordering white and the figure had still attached a shoulder shield and Old E-Soul’s was broken before the final clash so… yeah. I have hope. But at the same time, I don’t*.

At the very end of the episode, we see E-Soul (whoever he may be…?) moving into the 9th floor of the Hero Tower. Don’t forget he was chewed out by his manager for falling out of the Top 10!

E-Soul is standing in front of the window. He has the equipment of his shoulder shields floating instead of being attached on him. As said, he is fitted with a new mechanical arm, which is in full display unlike the Old E-Soul’s.

Uncle Rock is paying a visit. He is trusted, either as Uncle Rock to whom Yang Cheng owes his new life as a Hero or as the Mighty Glory manager that came to congratulate their veteran for persevering. I am fucking going insane. I mean it. I’m going to bite Li Haolin!!! >:E Which one is it???

But… Uncle Rock stands taller than this E-Soul as he comes over and stops next to him, so unless some real fucked up shit happened with the suit at the fighting ground and some even more fucked up, unhinged twist of reality that reverted Old E-Soul to his first Hero days or even merged the two, then this dude here… is indeed Yang Cheng. The shorty that stands at 1.75 cm. 😔

Soo, correction! The shorty stands at 1.85cm!!! His ID as E-Soul states as much. Shorty got a sprout boost from his Trust Value absorbing that of my titan man. >:E I don’t want to be mean, but daaamn~ I’m not a Yang Cheng supporter no matter how I flip it. Yours truly is pining over the middle aged, UNAMED, DEHUMANISED, FACELESS, singleminded DUDE of the series!!! They better release a birthday for my man at the very least!!! I WILL BITE EVERYONE IF I DON’T FIND OUT ABOUT IT!!! >:EEE I DEMAND BLOOD ON HIS BEHALF!!! 🔪👿🔪 On that note: if anyone reading this finds out they have released info on him, please, please, I BEG, tell me about it!!! Askbox is open for anons, too. I will not bite, I promise. I will love anyone that gives me any info on my old man. Please~ 🥺🥺🥺

Bring me back my battle-worn, Greek God of war, E-Soul!!! 😭😭😭

As a side note on this, I think he gives off strong Aries vibes but an Aries would most definitely be unapologetically up front and show his face. Another possibility, especially considering the hard work and legacy he has managed to build is Capricorn, but like… Capricorns also wouldn’t want any risk on going unnoticed or their hard work being usurped. They would fight back! So that leaves me thinking Pisces; they work hard, don’t really like being perceived and are calm af in times of unrest. Not to mention, the horrors—they withstand being the martyr if they believe it’s worth the effort. 🫠

Btw, yeah. I mixed up Uncle Rock’s scenes up there somewhere because I wrote this after watching the episode and then I couldn’t copy-paste it in the right order since my phone is a piece of junk, so… summan~ But like, take it or leave it, I ain’t going to rewrite the entire paragraph. 🤷‍♀️

At this point I want to say that, yes. I have started to believe that the 2D transitions are a reference to a manipulated or more correctly put, “biased” perspective. This stinks of unreliable narrator to boot. The first 2D scenes we get is the Nice advertisement Lin Ling is working on (manipulation). Memories shown in 2D could be due to the shift in reality, too: the past vs present. Or due to the narrator’s views/knowledge of the time, aka not knowing the full story or not having a full perspective of the present reality (biased). Does this make any sense to anybody else? Is it just me??? 😶‍🌫️🫠

The real-time 3D to 2D transitions though seem to be more in line with X interfering with those moments. 🤨😗 As it is portrayed in X’s concept video, he is shown to be the ‘infinite’. By his powers, infinity is shown to be altering universes/planes of existence. He can turn 3D reality into 2D. Remember how almost to their entirety, all fighting scenes are flipped into 2D? At least so far? Who’s to say that X isn’t the one interfering with the universe his fellow heroes are fighting in order to help them achieve as little casualties as possible? But hey, is X a good character after all? What did he became a hero for? He has no affiliations, so he is untethered by external influences. He is doing this out of his own volition and for his own personal reasons.

Also, in the greater scheme of To Be Hero X, the [X] can refer to a) the unknown, since any hero can acquire this position. b) to the top 10, since X = 10 in latin. c) to a variable that can affect the outcome of an equation (is it coincidence that the Opening Theme closes with X while we hear “I still ain’t done enough, not even close”? I think not).

By current knowledge, X is occupying the top for 4 years now as well. I mean… it should be 4 years? They say he is in the top for two years and none has beaten him so far, so since the competition is every two years, wouldn’t be normal that he could have a one-off and win the position at least once? Why all the hype over him not having being defeated ever since his appearance and Title occupation? That sure means he’s won the Hero Competition twice, imo. Right? Or… idk. Whatever.

Btw. Can anyone tell me what does the article say? Is it about the upcoming Nice/Moon live or something? I don’t understand Chinese. TvT

#to be hero x #tbhx #episode rant #nice #lin ling #e-soul #e soul #yang cheng #this is long af so… buckle up!#if you see any mistakes… no you didn’t.

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connecting-the-stars · 3 months ago

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But In the End, We Stay the Same

Matt, Fisk, and Frank:

Spoilers for DDBA ep 4

Matt walking through an entirely different apartment. Fisk refusing to dawn his white suit. And Frank? Frank is setup in a filthy, half-haphazardly thrown together base of operations that is a striking mirror to the first base we see him in from Netflix Daredevil season 2.

Character introductions really set the tone for where their arcs may take them. Very interesting how they have painted each of these characters this season.

Of course, I am not blind to the criticism and where the cracks show from the creative overhaul, but I already viewed the show coming in as… well different. A “new era” both due to the gap in time since we’ve seen these wonderful characters, in real life and in universe, and due to Disney’s influence. I’m not one to focus a lot on time/age but the era when DD season one premiered was a year after Captain America: Winter soldier. This was years before Endgame and the Global Pandemic, the impact of such events are felt in the fictional universe and real world. I am a true believer in rewatch value from my multiple rewatches of Netflix’s Daredevil, but I also acknowledge that there will be elements lost, left in that era of film making and studio management. The colors and the certain level of grim are noticeably absent, when you see characters fall through several floors and they cough up dust/debris. The certain spark found in much of the dialogue of season 1 really is incredibly difficult to replicate.

Despite the places where “season 4” falls short, I can absolutely appreciate the dedication of the actors and actresses, returning and new. While I am comforted and reassured by Karen’s confirmed involvement in season 2, I appreciate Kristin’s and Cherry’s performances as they bar Matt into this new… stage of his life. Of being a full time lawyer and keeping his fists mostly unstained. Fisk’s new environment is half hilarious and half ominous as ever. Watching him stumble through politics and its niceties, and his uneasy speeches are relatively unexplored in Netflix’s series, forced into throne he has to keep his best face on for, rather than crushing skulls. Compared to his handful of appearances in the public being executed in precise manner that always had an end goal, for example, provoking Matt after the murder of Ms. Cardenas. Furthermore, with Vanessa’s distance and unfamiliar distrust. I am eagerly looking forward to Fisk’s manipulation in his mayorship as well as Vanessa’s standing in her business with her ever loving husband. The side characters playing off Fisk, have been given parts that challenge Fisk into different ways, which is much appreciated as he navigates being a truly public political figure.

Matt standing dead eyed in front of his window, right after the reshoot with Foggy’s death. Man, knew something was different. Like are you not crashing out and living out of a basement rn because….? I know that he only received medical attention after the finale of Defenders because he was in a Coma, how is the King of Guilt, Self Destructive Murdock not crawling out of dumpsters again? (Crit: where is queen of sass Sister Maggie?)

But it is fascinating watching this Matt Murdock listen to a nice record player and cook his own meals and walk like he isn’t living in the Bad Ending timeline. The quiet despair washing over him every time he reaches for Foggy’s prayer card. My dread as I realize he takes a piece of Foggy with him everywhere. The idea that Matt has lost faith in Daredevil, this utter stab to the heart proof that he Failed as daredevil, that he was not enough to save his best friend. Every which way you look at Matt and Foggy’s relationship, they are each other’s person. College, first internship, first official business. Matt of course sees this as his fault, that guilt clinging to him like a bad cold. Eats him (in the words of Castle), tears him up to the point he refuses to allow himself to enter a church. The sermon mention a person’s worthiness. Point blank. The fact that he no longer lives in Hell’s Kitchen is major flag of Distress (avoiding Sister Maggie who could talk at least some sense, some kindness to him, the absence of the church he visited so often in the Netflix show). Thus, refusing consolation of faith, of worthiness to be daredevil, Matt clutches twice as hard as ever to the Judicial system. To the part of his life and faith he shared with Foggy, where they promised each other they would do good. The abrupt introduction of Cherry and Kristin apparently filling said places of Karen and Foggy by Matt’s side is jarring as much as it is telling. While Kristin is a comic book character brought into this series, the knowledge of her and connection built with her so far is minimal, when set besides how much of Karen’s development we saw in season 1 of Netflix series. Similar to Cherry’s role being a mix of Ben Uriah and “Foggy” in essence. (I say very lightly. No one will compare to our Foggy.) Cherry’s reminders to Matt of the reality of the system and praising his efforts of being a Good Lawyer, mirroring in a way to Foggy’s constant mission to ground Matt when his head is in his ass. Heather also being pulled from the comics is quite interesting as I had no thoughts of who would be Matt’s love interest, though her being wedged between Vanessa, Fisk, and possibly Muse is not a good sign for her. New apartment, new firm, new co-workers but he cannot outrun grief. It will catch him.

(I know the lack of Karen is mostly due to the overhaul, but the fact that he does not have her to rely on currently also pushes this unresolved/unaddressed grief. The one person who also endured losing Foggy)

The time-skip is certianly something I’m intrigued by. Where it plays in the current story, and the pieces of Matt and Karen’s grief that are unexplored. Wonder if it had been inserted due to the creative overhaul?

Fisk and Matt’s parallel stories this session have been done quite well. While there was a particular balance the Netflix series formed for telling both their stories, I find giving more time to Fisk’s arc strengthens how well these characters are as narrative foils of each other. Fisk arriving this season through a slow flip of the camera, setting the city on its head and picking through a meager breakfast and his tense reunion with Vanessa, while Matt ghosts around his apartment before reaching for Foggy’s prayer card to leave. Both characters are damaged, pieces of themselves lost. While I have not watched Echo, the psychological damage done to Fisk appears to have followed him into Born Again. His confidence seemed to be shaken and his lack of support from Vanessa further pushes him towards stress. Matt facing Bullseye without Karen beforehand, the brief strained conversation with Karen afterwards. While Kristin does tell the audience that Matt needs someone in his life, that he needs a win, it is clearly seen how destitute he is when Fisk announces his mayoral campaign and he sits idle as his food burns behind him. Both Fisk and Matt turning to different ways to get by, to proceed to their goals, by refusing their “darker halves.”

This refusal to indulge in a part of who they are will double the pressure, suffocating until they can no longer stand it. Matt faced with the consequences of revealing Hector’s vigilante identity and the injustice of his murder, of being forced to face the grief and righteous anger of his niece. “No one will do anything about it!” As well as his extremely emotionally intense encounter with Frank. Fisk squaring away first steps of many in political action and faced against the failure of Daniel, then pecking through yet another modest meal. That is until episode 4’s reveal. Indulging in that carb heavy and seasoning rich meal for a king, paired swimmingly with a tortured soul’s pleas. That power, that desire for absolute authority, never truly left Fisk. Most likely never will. Then Matt scaling the roof’s ladder to his pristine collection of cowls, hand already reaching for his billy club. Their darker halves never left them, refused and placated for a time, but never not in the corner waiting for them.

Frank. Haha. Frank is great, let him take a few verbal swings at the Devil of Hell’s Kitchen and he can work out more than his therapist girlfriend. Matt really is not coping, not processing. Cannot tell most people in his life everything, why he feels so responsible for the death of Foggy, for failing him. Best keep his name out of his mouth, because it’s not about him, right? Frank sitting in this grief of losing people who meant Everything to him, and recognizing that pain and stifled rage in Matt. When he retaliates, apologies and curses falling immediately afterwards, Frank does not accept it. Knows that his Darker Half is apart of him, is apart of his grief and pain. Being Daredevil, that righteousness and ruthlessness fueled him. Losing his dad to the criminal underground that got away unscathed, that injustice and lack of closure. Acting as that immovable object to villains unstoppable force. If it’s him or these innocent people behind him? Matt’s stepping to the plate everytime. Even when he attempted, he prioritized saving the victims. Frank is taking out people he deems worthy of the death penalty, Frank is “by any means necessary.” Frank’s grief, the Punisher is a part of him, of course he is going to see Matt’s grief as part of Daredevil. “You lose him. Didn’t you red? You hear him don’t you?”

Frank started out as a corpse on mission for vengeance. He got the people who took his family. He spends his efforts to end the threats permanently. Startling similar to how we first met him.

Matt and Fisk have denied themselves from fully indulging, allowing themselves to lean into their Darker Halves. However, after the events of episode 4, that is clearly going to change. I hope it does in the most explosive way possible.

All of this started from listening to Mother Mother’s - Try to Change

#i love well written characters #meta analysis #thank you for listening to my ted talk #i try to change all my decadent ways but i cant help but stay the same #i did bawl my eyes out during Matt and Franks scene thank you very much #I am going to rewatch season 3 now lol #I am seeing this Disney age of DD as a New Era #I am also willing to give this season grace due to reshoots and actually bringing back important characters #love that Karen is filming for s2 lol #also i am still seating in the stands for Hope For Foggy #the hints with everything in Red Hook is just to many and plus foggy not being honest during ep 1 #plus Fisk reminding Matt that he didn’t break their deal but that does not mean Vanessa promised anything #ddba spoilers #daredevil spoilers #daredevil born again spoilers #daredevil #dd #netflix daredevil #character discussion #matt murdock #frank castle #wilson fisk #foggy nelson #Franks dialogue really did numbers lets go #also found Leroy story meaningful the writers had something to say!#Daniel and Fisk are so strange i have a bad feeling about them #I need Maggie to come in and hug her son please #I need Karen to appear in a big way!#i need foggy to actually be in witness protection!#Matt making enemies is best part rn yes thats right that my fav asshole

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watchthisqqq · 3 months ago

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Love for Love’s Sake Meta Masterpost

More details here

@bengiyo

Love for Love's Sake Ep 8 (Finale) Stray Thoughts

@dramadramallama

random things i noticed in Love for Love's Sake and couldn't fit in my other posts

@dropthedemiurge

You know what things in Love for Love's Sake finale make me go crazy?

As I rewatch Episode 6 of Love for Love's Sake, it made me think - (not a fully fledged theory because I didn't count all instances of system errors) but before we got the scariest System Error, one of the first ones that left Myungha sweaty, crying, gasping for air, he received a message from Sunbae "I miss you... If only I could go (where you are)", and now we know it means afterlife.

Love for Love's Sake | Things you didn't notice (probably)

Love for Love's sake | Things you didn't notice #2

Love for Love's Sake | Messages you didn't notice #4-5

Love for Love's Sake | Things You Didn't Notice #6

@hoppipolla

"Cha Yeo Woon's life and my lousy life can find happiness too."

@hotasfahrenheit

something i've been thinking about a lot since watching the end of Love For Love's Sake is what and who exactly is real in the universe that Myungha is playing the game in.

@hyeoni-comb

reading Love for Love's Sake meta, and I'm especially interested in the things @jemmo and @wen-kexing-apologist talk about here and here, respectively.

@inventedfangirling

My friends i watched love for love's sake and I swear i don't have a fckin clue where even to start.

@jemmo

Making sense of love for love's sake: the game

@lurkingshan

Love for Love's Sake Episodes 3 & 4

Love for Love's Sake Episode 5 & 6

Love for Love's Sake Episodes 7 & 8

I've had all the different Love for Love's Sake interpretations rotating in my brain and kind of picking and choosing what I want to take from each of them, which is a very cool thing we can do with this show because it supports many different reads.

@mikuni14

Love For Love's Sake - Ep 5-6

Love For Love's Sake - Ep 7-8

I respect Love For Love's Sake because, apart from being a brilliant series in general, it is also a proper romantic series and a BL series.

@miukki960

Okay, so I just finished Love for Love's Sake and..... I have so many thoughts.

@nabi-unveiled

Catching Up: Love for Love's Sake (Ep 1)

Catching Up: Love for Love's Sake (Ep 2)

Catching Up: Love for Love's Sake (Ep 3)

Catching Up: Love for Love's Sake (Ep 4)

@oatmealuv

love for love’s sake carefully, and beautifully handled mental health.

@pipkrakes

whoever chose these subs needs to meet me outside STAT because this is NOT WHAT HE SAYS

@sid-the-sandwich

Love For Love's Sake and the Stages of Grief

Womb Theory in Love For Love's Sake

Kyunghoon's Role in LFLS

The Complete Timeline of Love For Love's Sake (PT 1)

The Complete Timeline of Love For Love's Sake (PT 2)

@talistheintrovert

as somebody who has been (and remains) suicidal, I think Love For Love's Sake was written for me specifically, in the same way The Eighth Sense was.

@the-conversation-pod

Spring Grab Bag Part 1: Genre Shows

@twig-tea

Love For Love's Sake Marketing vs Reality

Thoughts on Love for Love's Sake before the last 2 episodes air

Please. not Yeowoon hating everyone at -20, and -40 and -60 only for him to hate HIMSELF at -100?????

@waitmyturtles

Love For Love's Sake: unorganized musings on an utterly brilliant show

@wei-ying-kexing-apologist

Symptoms of a System Error: The Manifestation of Myungha's Depression in Love for Love's Sake

Please comment below if there is a post I should add!

Masterpost of other shows

#love for love's sake #love for love's sake bl meta #bl meta #bl analysis #bl masterpost

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moonbloodstream2424 · 3 months ago

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My unoriginal Amazing Digital Circus fan theory 🎪

So I posted a YouTube comment like this a while ago. I wanted to post it here with maybe a few extra points. I basically got inspired to do this because of all the "Jax is an NPC videos." Here it is.

This is an idea that I've had in the back of my head since ep 2, I'm thinking about it again. I think Caine was actually a player and not an NPC/AI. The only player he lost track of is himself. I'll also talk about the Jax NPC theory.

When I first heard the "I need to keep track of who is and isn't an NPC" line the cynic in me thought "well that's theory catnip." But that blatant line also felt like a redherring, or a diversion. The question became "who's the NPC?" And not "Who isn't an NPC?"

On the surface you could rule out any character that hints to their past life, but let's be real, Gummy proves that an NPC can have fake memories. Still though, as of ep 4 Jax still hasn't said much about his past.

The creator of the ADC has said a few interesting behind the scenes things though. Like the inspo for ADC is the sci-fi post apocalyptic short horror story "I have no Mouth, and I must scream" in that story, a super computer went mad and is torturing the last of humanity. It also won't let them die either. Gooseworx has said Caine isn't malicious like the supercomputer. Eps 3 and 4 seem too confirm that, it's actually Jax who can be pretty malicious. It would be interesting to me at least if Jax is the AI game maker and Caine is a player? Based on the idea that Jax is the NPC Antagonist. There is some notes to this theory.

1. Jax has a confirmed Age, but that could also be how long he's existed as an AI.

2. For my theory to work Caine as a player would potentially have to predate almost the whole cast. Maybe even Kinger.

3. I have no idea what roll bubble would play in my little theory. If AI Jax has just convinced him that it's part of a game or if bubble only got programmed in after Caine became convinced he was an ai.

4. We've seen in Ep 3 that Caine worries he's bad at what he was allegedly created for, but what if he's bad at it because he wasn't created to be a game master at all and is just a flawed human.

5. We've never actually seen an abstraction on screen yet. We've seen what the players look like after abstraction and saw Pomni's nightmare about being abstracted, but we don't know what the abstracting process looks like for real. Eps 3 and 4 has Caine do these bizarre glitching scenes, what if this is actually Caine about to be abstracted.

I doubt I'm the first person to come up with this theory, I feel like it should be as common as the "Jax is an NPC theory," but I still figured it would be cool to share this.

P.S. this idea also popped into my head months ago when I was Rewatching Futurama and got to the episode "Insane in the Mainframe"

#tadc caine #caine tadc #caine #tadc #tadc fandom #tadc theory #tadc thoughts #jax #tadc jax #the amazing digital circus jax

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fountainpenguin · 3 months ago

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wait I just rewatched the Double Life clip [9 minutes into Martyn's Ep. #2] and what do you mean Martyn's mom set up a visit with both him and her date (Ren) on the same night. I thought I made that part up when I wrote "Mum's the Word."

Mine was just charcuterie, but no, the canon is that she made Martyn a full spaghetti dinner before she goes on her date with Ren. why did she do that. Is she also eating with Ren? Is Ren at the spaghetti dinner? Maybe they planned a date where they don't eat? Is Ren picking her up at the same house Martyn is eating dinner at??

Most important of all, was Martyn eating his spaghetti the way IRL Martyn did (in his Secret Life merch ad read) when Ren walked in??? Inquiring minds need to know!

Also rewatched the clip in 3rd Life where Martyn calls his dad [8 minutes into Jimmy's Ep. #4] and it's driving me insane... Martyn's just there in front of his friends, pleading on the phone for his dad to take 5 seconds to talk to him... His dad just wants him to make it quick because he's watching TV (and gives him irrelevant "I'm a butt man myself, son" advice), and Martyn still gives a chipper "I love you, Dad" when the call ends. That's so silly.

Like... The assumption there is that that's how Martyn's dad always talks to him. Martyn isn't hurt he got brushed off... He's used to it. That's just how his dad is.

This is assuming we're taking the roleplay literally and that Martyn's parents are on the other end of the phone, but there's also the chance that in-universe, Martyn ALSO did the voices, which makes his multiple attempts to block Ren from his mom so much funnier.

Ren trying to cut in while Martyn gives his 'I love you, bye': Martyn, Martyn- Can you ask her if we're still on for later? Martyn, staring Ren down from his higher perch on the fence: Sorry; she hung up. It was too late. BigB in the background: OOOHOOHHH! Ren literally 1 minute later: Here's the deal. You get the carrots as long as you take me to the deep dark with you. And you let your mum know I say hello.

Martyn & his parents & Ren is my favorite weird dynamic... Total mental image of Martyn standing there crossly, looking away while holding out his phone so Ren and his mom can talk.

Ren calls her "Mrs. Littlewood" and she calls Ren "dear." Is she still married to Martyn's dad?? Ren, what on earth? You can't be doing this, man- BigB is listening and will be getting a gift from his secret soulmate at the end of this episode. You're giving him some really mixed signals there.

I have to assume the "They can look, just don't touch" rules that Ren gives BigB later are also in play for this date? Which is actually hilarious. Yes date. No touch.

Then Martyn's mom goes off about how this relationship "never works" because "Ren doesn't listen," but she still wants to go out with him. Ma'am?? What are you doing?

Every call is such big "Oh, that's why Martyn is like that" energy if you take it serious, sdklfj... Vying for attention because he gets so little of it from his dad, and clearly makes the effort to hang out with his mom and eat her spaghetti, but gets dismissed for others anyway.

Big "nobody's favorite" energy, yet he's all smiles and "I love you"s on the phone anyway. Never complaining about it, just trying to keep a positive attitude.

Martyn: You sent 16 boxes of parsnips to my mother? Ren: All I want is for the girl to like me, you know? I'm trying so hard, Martyn. I'm trying so hard. Martyn: That's your problem right there- She's not a girl, she's a woman. And you are acting like a boy. That's the problem right here; that's the problem. She needs a real man.

It makes me chortle every time I think about it... Two weird guys. One's getting passed over by his mom in favor of the other, but he'll defend her anyway.

Shout-out to Ren in 3rd Life like "I can't lay Martyn off work; he's got a family!" and Martyn is just there with zero family, pretending to look woeful.

Cursed alt joke: The reason why Martyn likes "Fairly OddParents" is because it reminds him of his own family--

#InTheLittleWood #Martyn InTheLittleWood #trafficblr #Martyn should call his parents more often actually it's always funny #traffic life smp #Renchanting duo #Double Life #3rd Life #Riddle watches Traffic #mcyt #Box Boys #bigbst4tz2 #BigB #traffic soulmates

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fairytaehl · 5 months ago

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lgief rewatch ep. 9

yay ep 9! lots of shy ziqi AND miaomiao moments~ thats basically most of what this episode is to me minus the few times miaomiao discusses her world/CD world and the novel storyline.

if youd like to discuss lgief, feel free to send me asks, chats, or reply to any of these posts.

ep 1 / ep 2 / ep 3 / ep 4 pre-festival / ep 4 festival / ep 5, 5 part 2 / ep 6 / ep 7 / ep 8 / ep 9 / ep 10

following up to the ending of ep 8, we see ziqi STILL HOLDING HER HAND after putting on the ring.

and when miaomiao rips her hand away, hes like "wtf?"

did they put rings on fingers back then for marriage (yes im too lazy to look it up, sue me)? regardless, this feels like, even if it is, ziqi is clueless regardless, because he has no romantic awareness.

he purses his lips because he feels like hes committed some faux pax, but he doesnt know what, so he has to ask. the way he asks is so gentle, he really wants to know ;_;

miaomiao doesnt wanna tell! i think she was truly feeling some attraction towards him in this moment, but shes shy, and if she tried to tell him, hed make fun of her, or he wouldnt get it.

THE STUNNED LOOK ON HIS FACE LMAO. hes like "what did i do? did i do something wrong?" but then hes thinking "she is way too upset about this. what is wrong with her?" and maybe he also, though this is just me making things up, felt some sort of jamais vu, perhaps.

cut to her feeling like shes just gotta drop it now because hes watching her and sent her here to practice.

he looks. so good.

LOL its so funny she says she doesnt think its as good as the ladle when it very clearly is. i think she just wanted to get out of training here.

the way that as SOON as she hears him take in a breath she says "dont call me stupid" and she can barely look him in the eye when she says that. hes so cute for obliging.

i think she also feels very, again, shy over this whole thing, because of the meaning of putting a ring on her finger in her world, and wants an excuse to get it off. which is why she asks for his demon staff. the way she shuffles over is so fucking funny. oh miaomiao, never change.

fully reblogged ver here

#lgief #love game in eastern fantasy #yyxh #yong ye xing he #the guide to capturing a black lotus #guide to capturing a black lotus #mu sheng #ling miaomiao #lgief rewatch #my posts

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professorhayforbreath · 1 year ago

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episode 4 thoughts :)

why is this episode ten minutes shorter than the others?

right off the bat i'm sorry but i'm not sold on the necessity of the opening scene. i get it's trying to inject sally into the story more, but it's not as if they're not constantly talking about her. and why would he be scared of swimming?

"are you asleep?" ".................yes" i enjoy

annabeth saying her home life was great until her stepmother... i checked the book to make sure i wasn't misremembering her dad being awful and yeah she's pretty venomous towards him. what's the motivation for this revision? was frederick in the writer's room

pan and searchers mentioned! finally

annabeth rattling off facts about the arch 🩷🩷🩷🩷🩷🩷🩷

i really like echidna finding them on the train and them escaping to the arch, it makes more sense than "the train's stopped let's go sightseeing"

continuing the themes from the last episode by referring to the trio as monsters from the "monster's" perspective..... that's good stuff ngl

percy and annabeth's banter was top tier this episode

i wasn't sure about it at first but on rewatch i really like the whole "athena got pissed about medusa's head so she let echidna and the chimera into the arch" thing. it's a good follow up to annabeth's blind loyalty to her mother in ep 3. like yesssss it's time for disillusionment it's time to join the side of fuck the gods they don't actually care about us

making the water come up and grab him is a good way to 1. show poseidon helping percy and 2. correct rick's mistake about the location of the mississippi river in relation to the arch. two birds one stone. also the way that part was shot and edited was sick

i know i praised the show's writing but that was about line level stuff. the pacing feels... off. it's slow in some scenes, and then some scenes fly by so quickly. please tell me i'm not the only one who's felt this?

I Am Still Patiently Awaiting Seaweed Brain and Wise Girl

#percy jackson #pjo #percy jackson on disney plus #pjo adaptation #percy jackson show #pjo series #pjo tv show #percy jackon and the olympians #percy jackson series #pjo show spoilers

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phantomoftheorpheum · 5 months ago

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School Spirits Season 2 (episode 4) liveblog/thoughts

**Spoilers for School Spirits Seasons 1 and 2x01-2x04

I am so wary of Janet's motives. I get that she lost all the money so her options are limited, but this feels so icky. (I mean, also she stole Maddie's body, but this particular act of coming home to her mom seems worse, somehow. I guess because she's had time to think about it at this point).

So, am I reading this correctly and the current belief (because who knows how correct they ever are in their assumptions) is that it’s possible for the ghosts to access each other’s hellscapes, not just their own? Hm. Interesting.

"Togetherness Day" wtf.

Alright, so are they actually wrong about being able to access each other’s “scars,” or is it that they haven’t figured out how to use the keys like Janet and Mr. Martin? We know Janet and Mr. Martin can do things the others haven't figured out yet. Plus, the ghosts make a lot of wrong assumptions in the show, so I'm going to say it's pretty likely Mr. Martin just has more knowledge/skills.

I’m not sure what Mr. Andersons relevance is going to be to the season, but I am relieved to find that they have not entirely ignored the fact that he committed a felony, because I was very confused how he was just seemingly facing 0 consequences in the first 3 eps.

Simon and Xavier continue to be one of my favorite dynamics of the season! I’m still really surprised by this, but I love them!

“We lost her.” “Where’d she go?” Maddie, I think you’re ever so slightly missing the concept of “losing” someone here. But on another note, the energy difference between Simon and Maddie in this scene is fairly strange. It almost feels like they weren’t filmed together. It legitimately makes me wonder if there was a scheduling conflict here.

I don’t think they can force students to stay after hours at the school, like, legally speaking.

Wally noooo 😭 They shouldn’t have sent him to deal with that on his own, like they knew it was going to be traumatizing, someone should have been waiting for him to come out of the scar so he wasn’t alone.

I find it interesting that Wally’s scar features his coach yelling at him to get in the game, when we know that coach is the one who pulled him out and thought he needed a break. From the way the football was portrayed (and his mom), it’s clear the scars don’t reflect an exact reality, so does that mean they can change based on the ghost’s emotional relationship to what happened to them? Can they be different every time?

Rofl, that CLAY. I cannot.

Surely we're getting a Yuri/Charley romantic storyline.

Yuri has a point, they are already dead. This is the exact reason that I don’t really understand why Mr. Martin is running from them. What can they do to him that’s any worse than how things already are? That’s what makes me think there has to be something worse out there.

Why are Simon and Xavier my favorite part of this season???

I’m not sure where the Claire stuff is going, so I’m just kinda letting it play out for now.

Okay, again, why are we letting Charley face his scar without anyone waiting to be there for him when he gets out?? Ghost Squad you are letting me down on the emotional support scale today.

As expected, it seems like Mr. Martin can access their scars, even though they don't know how to get into each other's.

For the love of god, someone go with Wally! Don’t just stand there!

The Invasion of the Body Snatchers poster on Maddie’s wall took me out, rofl, omg has that always been there? I don’t remember seeing it before, but I didn’t rewatch season 1, either, so idk. It's entirely possible that I saw it and commented on it in season 1 and have just completely forgotten.

I still really don’t know how to feel about Janet. She definitely has a seemingly sympathetic backstory, and clearly her stealing Maddie’s life is not a morally pure move, but we understand why she took that opportunity. That being said, Mr. Martin being the biggest bad of the season seems anticlimactic and the show loves a twist, so I’m still very suspicious there’s going to be a big rug pull with her. I also still think she might have killed her father.

I am glad Maddie went after Wally, like about time! He needs support! Let's not let anyone go repeatedly face the trauma around their death without some support!

“They really fired him,” (Mr. Anderson). Okay, I am once more pointing out that the man committed a felony. He may have sympathetic motives, but let’s be realistic here. He stole thousands of dollars from work, falsified student grades, and destroyed evidence in a missing person’s investigation. Of course they fired him. (Also, I know she was blackmailing him, so he had a reason to be pissed at her, but does anyone else remember how sinister he was to Claire last season when he told her he couldn't remember what he said to the police?)

The way they’re playing the Mr. Anderson stuff, it’s really starting to make me think they’re gonna pull a twist villain thing with him. Because otherwise why is he getting so much screen time that makes him look so sympathetic? Since the blackmail/money situation doesn't seem to be related to the ghosts and what happened to Maddie, he doesn't feel particularly relevant as a character.

Wally talking sense! Thank you, Wally. But also, his comparison of Mr. Martin and Mr. Anderson and basically being like “Mr. Martin betraying me would be like Mr. Anderson betraying you,” feels like possible foreshadowing. Wow. It's amazing how suspicious I have become of Mr. Anderson again.

Has anybody been checking out the other movie posters on Maddie’s walls to see if they might be relevant? I haven't gone back and looked, but in this episode I noticed Pretty in Pink, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter, and Janet/Maddie wears a Carrie t-shirt at the end.

Lol, that closet is in no way small enough that Xavier’s armpit needed to be in Nicole’s face.

I do love that Xavier was thinking clearly enough to determine that Simon has to maintain his access to the school or they will be cut off from Maddie, because common sense has not been particularly present from the characters this episode.

Who has been possessed? And what does that mean from the ghost standpoint? They said the only time it "felt" like this without a death was when Janet possessed Maddie, but that also meant that Maddie appeared as a ghost, so presumably they should be able to go find whoever has been displaced wandering around as a ghost and then immediately know who Mr. Martin (we're assuming this was Mr. Martin's doing) took over. Somehow, I don't think it will be that simple.

So the obvious choice for possession is Claire. She was very emotionally vulnerable throughout the episode and she feels the least relevant this season (with Simon & Xavier being a team up and Xavier & Nicole [unknowingly] talking online, and Claire being the most skeptical of the group, she just feels very outside of everything). However, I'm not sure how that would happen with Maddie and Simon sitting right there with her. I would have thought maybe it happened before Simon finds her in the stadium, but if so, then why did the lights/feeling not happen until later?

The next most obvious choice would be Chloe, but the episode practically puts a neon flashing arrow above her at the end there with her line about getting a lot out of the experience and she and the principal are the only two characters really focused on outside of the main group, but that feels so heavy handed and obvious, then.

I do wonder if Mr. Anderson was still there (we never saw him leave, did we?) and he's the one who has been possessed. It would make sense. He's also emotionally vulnerable in this episode, and with the comparison of him to Mr. Martin (and the fact that it would probably be a lot easier for Mr. Martin to pretend to be Mr. Anderson than Claire or Chloe), it feels like they're really setting something up there.

#school spirits #school spirits season 2 #school spirits spoilers #school spirits season 2 spoilers #lb #mine #text #long post

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not-that-debonair · 4 months ago

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Rewatched Nuwho season 3 for the first time in years and it’s time for late night musings about Martha Jones and character interactions

Okay so it’s a common take that they should have just cut out Martha’s unrequited love storyline. A part of me wants to agree, mainly because my preference would be no romance with the doctor at all, but considering that we are coming off of season 2 I don’t actually think it is a bad concept.

I understand the appeal of each companion in ten’s era having a very different relationship with the doctor, and I can see the arc they were going for with ten relearning how to rebuild relationships after Rose, culminating with Donna. But Martha in the middle got screwed over so bad man.

And the thing is, rewatching season 3, the unrequited love bit is actually not as large a part of Martha’s character as I remembered . Aside from the family of blood stuff, it’s largely left to offhand remarks and somber glances. Martha has a very strong character outside of it, and yet it’s a lot of people’s main take away from her series.

I think the reason is that while most of Martha’s overall activities throughout the series have nothing to do with her romantic feelings (she has been consistently characterised as someone who puts what she thinks she should do over her personal feelings since her first appearance), basically all of her interactions with the Doctor do.

And yes, obviously since the Doctor is the one she has feelings for it’s going to be important, but she is sorely missing a dynamic with him outside of it that would make their relationship feel more balanced.

Like we just didn’t get the same banter between them like we did with Rose or Donna, with the majority of their interactions having this awkward, longing tone. Since seasons 1 and 2 established the doctor-companion relationship as being a key aspect of the show, Martha and Ten lacking a dynamic outside of Feels where Rose and Donna thrived leads to her character feeling less developed, even when it really isn’t.

You could say it’s because Martha’s a more serious character or because Ten’s too broody at that point. But the few moments where they get the relationship right show that that isn’t what’s holding it back.

I could never really explain why I like Smith and Jones so much, but I think part of it is the interactions between the Doctor and Martha as compared to the rest of season 3. It’s just more fun. Ten gives Martha a conspiratorial wink when she notices his two hearts, Martha calls him ‘completely mad’ after the radiation thing. The kiss may establish the unrequited love, but their back-and-forth throughout the rest of the episode makes it far less painful and more understandable how they could travel together and remain on good terms after all the shit that comes later.

And here is where I lose the plot and defend the Lazarus Experiment because as janky as that ep is, it also showed how a balanced dynamic between Martha and the Doctor could work. Tish remarking about how ‘of course he’s a science geek’ references the romance thing but also where Martha and the Doctor have common ground, which we see in the ‘luckily I’ve got us a genetic sample’/‘Martha Jones, you’re a star’ bit. Yes, Martha loves the Doctor, but Martha and the Doctor’s conversations which also clearly like each other.

But that dynamic isn’t there in a lot of the rest of the series. Martha and the Doctor’s conversations which aren’t just plot driven are all kind of miserable because of Martha’s feelings and Ten’s angst. They both become less interesting characters when they’re together than when they’re apart.

And the writing in the show seems to reflect this. When Martha returns in series 4 with the romantic stuff settled, the plot still separates her from everyone else, including the Doctor, through rockslides or clones or what else. One could argue this is to represent that she doesn’t need the Doctor and is secure in herself, but I think it’s a real missed opportunity. We could’ve explored the new relationship between them that is unique because of their characters and how they’ve both matured since they travelled together, and gotten a proper reconciliation scene, but it’s harder because their dynamic wasn’t strong enough in season 3 for a change to mean as much.

Cause as it stands right now, it feels like Martha just does a lot of emotional (and literal) labour for the Doctor without anything in return. It’s certainly not helped by the uncomfortable and frankly lazy way the show handles race, but giving them a relationship characterised by other things as well as their emotional turmoil would make Martha seem less unappreciated by the Doctor and the narrative.

Basically, Martha should’ve gotten her own version of The Unicorn and the Wasp. Comparatively low stakes, light hearted plot, but the opportunity to let the character dynamics shine. It doubt it would take away from the angst in the rest of the season; Smith and Jones didn’t, and neither did Unicorn and the Wasp in 4.

#in summary: Martha jones deserves better #idk maybe this is just me #martha jones #tenth doctor #doctor who

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watchingblsnowandforever · 1 year ago

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Hello!!!

Welcome back! =D

Part 2

Warning: long, long post (also a part 2 but I think y'all are used to it by now-) 😊😅

MattMick!! Also, Beer looking between them like that and Q and Toey peeking from behind cracked me up hehe

Also, does that mean Beer is single? Wait, maybe he's aroace. That'd be really cool.

I did see some hints of a throuple of him and MattMick, but I'm happy with either option.

SO CUTE 🥺🫶🏼

Poor QToey 😭

Their romantic moment got rained on so hard-

Exhibit: Here you can see three males from the species Homo sexuals. Two of them are already mated, and the third is in the courting process. We think the other male is interested too.

Oh- But I thought- oh, this makes sense actually. So the others know. I mean not really surprising when you think about it, to be honest.

With his unprecedented levels of obliviousness? Yeah, no, I get where you're coming from, Chain.

That's your biggest concern about getting a penguin?? 😭😭

Why does Peem look like the exasperated mom friend of the group 😭

After all the tiny crumbs of the past *checks notes* 8262 eps, this is a lot of progress.

HANDS. (I will never stop screaming about hands.)

Cuteee

Peem, babe, he hardly ever goes to class anyways. He's too busy following you around like a puppy.

Me, who holds handholding above everything else (yes, even sex): *DEEP BREATHS THROUGH THE NOSE* I'm fine. *SMOKE COMING OUT OF EARS* Totally fine.

Nothing to say, just a really good shot. (Also, Phuwin's exasperated smile seemed too real and then I learned Pond improvised that scene and yeah, that explains it)

ChainPun: only two people with matching pillow cases

QToey: missing (me?) [Sorry I couldn't resist 😭]

TanFang: peacefully asleep

PhumPeem: chronic insomnia, aggravated by Tan's snores

Matt: cuddling Mick

Beer: dreaming of him and his friends and their boyfriends all graduating with good grades

ChainPun. <33

Let me wrap this moment in my memory forever. (I tried to adjust the lighting a bit but it didn't really work out 😭)

AJSSHUJKJ!!!!! THEY GIVE ME TWO MAKE OUT SESSIONS WITHIN THE SPAN OF LIKE 4 MINUTES AND EXPECT ME TO BE SANE ABOUT IT???

No.

Look, we all expected this. I even said on record I wouldn't survive. And all that mental Muay Thai still didn't prepare me for this.

Till now, I have watched 60 BLs, give or take, so I've seen a lot of NC scenes. Compared to some of them, this is very PG-13, but this one really got me, like very few sex scenes have managed to. The intimacy, the palpable love, want. It all came together so beautifully in this scene.

Them saying 'I love you' during sex is canon! Yay! I knew it in my guts (wrote a fic about it) but feels so good to be right in canon hehe.

"I love you too, now kiss me again."

HANDS!!!! (It's canon now, they hold hands during sex, and so I can freely write a fic about it. Not that something not being canon ever stopped me but yeah.)

Fang: my brother is in safe hands. 😌

Also, love how Peem didn't hesitate to at the chance to kick both brothers and make it a streak 😭👍🏼

Honestly though, this scene shows that Peem is going to go to very long lengths to make sure Phum is okay, even kicking his own brother (which assures me that Peem maybe wouldn't hesitate that much to sucker punch their dad either, which is important information to have for possible future fics.)

How can one man be so goddamn cute??

The whimpering puppy noises- 😭

Cakes are so hard to bake, for real. This one is so cute though 😭😭🫶🏼

Puppy Phum- honestly is anyone surprised? No? Thought so.

This smile-

It holds so much happiness and the brunt of so many years of trauma. It's so beautiful. I'm probably gonna rewatch the heck out of this scene.

I end Part 1 here, Part 2 will be out (hopefully) soon!

If you got this far, thank you so much for reading! 😊 (All mistakes are mine, but in my defense, I literally fell asleep while writing this.)

Here, have a pie (of your favourite flavour) 🥧

#we are #we are series #we are the series #phumpeem #tanfang #qtoey #chainpun #thai bl #watching bls: we are #let's talk bl

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junipersmw · 5 days ago

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My opinions on season 8 so far!

In honour of tomorrows episode marking halfway through Rick and Morty season 8 (how tf did that happen where did all the time go???) I realised that I've hardly said anything about the new episodes or my predictions for newer seasons. So take this as my official recap of Rick and Morty s8 ep1-4!

Ep 1: Summer of all fears: 7/10

. I did slightly share my opinion on this episode but just to repeat myself. I really enjoyed this episode as a whole! I think, for a debut episode, it kicked of the season perfectly. Almost like the creators where reminding us that after 2 years, "this is Rick and Morty, as confusing but amazing as ever."

. Considering last season where we saw virtually nothing of Beth, seeing her have her own 'B plot' alongside Summer was soooo refreshing.

. I though all of the jokes landed well, especially the 'Osama Bin Chargin' one which had me belly laughing for 5 minutes.

. Overall I loved the first episode, with my only flaw being that I didn't love Morty's side plot of fighting in the war as much as everyone else seemed too and it wasn't until rewatching it for a second time where I understood how it all connected at the end, but that, obviously, is a me problem lol.

Ep 2: Valkyrick: 8/10

. This one is my favourite episode so far tied alongside episode 4, but we'll get to that one soon.

. I love both Rick and Space Beth/Beth so any moments where they can bond or engage with each other I LOVE. So to get a whole episode with no 'B plots' of just Rick and Space Beth felt like such a treat to me.

. The whole opening scene of Space Beth not wanting her co workers to see Rick dropping her off at work was so 'father-daughter like' and a loved it.

. There was so much going on in this episode that it made the whole thing feel a lot longer of an episode and like we got more content.

. My favourite scene was by far the part when Rick is talking to Space Beth about the plan and Cisco and following a traditional 'plan voiceover while the voiceover overlaps the plan playing out' until it goes wrong and its just Rick and Beth arguing over how reliable Cisco is and what to do if he doesn't show up. The whole sequence is so funny and entertaining.

Ep 3: The Rick the Mort and the ugly: 5.5/10

. Ok out of all of them this episode was probably my least favourite episode so far. The only reason I didn't enjoy it as much as the others is because I much more enjoy the episodes where the whole family gets roped into an adventure, or episode where characters bond with each other and get character development.

. However I did think this was really creatively done, with incredible voice acting and beautiful animation.

. I do think they've done all they can do with the citadel now and any more, in my opinion, would be milking the idea a bit.

. But a lot of the jokes where really funny and I loved the women Ricks. Again the animation was AMAZING! I'm gonna talk more about this at the end but my god has the animation become so detailed and gorgeous this season. The clip of a Rick throwing a bottle at 'Farmer Rick' and him catching it mid air and taking a swig from it was sooo satisfying.

Ep 4: The last temptation of Jerry: 7.5/10

. Considering moving this rating up to an 8/10 because my god did this episode make me laugh. By far the funniest episode in the whole season.

. After 3 episodes of no Jerry, I actually really started to miss him! So I was happy to see he had such a prominent part in this episode and they really gave us a lot of 'classic Jerry' moments throughout the whole episode.

. The cold open was so funny to me because it really shows how much free time this man has. No employed, working, family man has that much time to cut out paper eggs and make his own god damn chocolate eggs.

. I can see why people didn't love this episode and thought it was weird because of all the … ᵉᵃˢᵗᵉʳ ᵇᵘⁿⁿʸ ᵇᵉᶦⁿᵍ ᵒᵇˢᵉˢˢᵉᵈ ʷᶦᵗʰ ˢᵉˣ ˢᵗᵘᶠᶠ. But I thought it was all really funny, ESPECIALLY WHEN BUNNY JERRY SAID "make fuck"

. Also Beth and Jerry where so cute in this episode. The way Beth comforts her, now deformed mutant rabbit husband, as he apologises to her for scaring her is so cute.

This season as a whole:

. I am so happy at how good this season has started off. I wasn't the biggest fan of season 7 and felt like there where more bad episodes then there where good ones, with only one or two episodes really sticking with me . Tbh if it wasn't for the fact that they brought back Diane briefly in ep 10 and killed Prime in ep 5, season 7 would of been a really forgettable season for me. BUT SEASON 8. I've finished every episode with a smile on my face and a brain full of new ideas, predictions and things to talk about!

. The episodes I'm now most looking forward to is ep 6 and ep 10. Obviously I love Beth more then any character, so when I saw her name in ep 6's title I screeched. Ep 10 peaks my interest because, from what I've seen, it seems like they may dive into Jerry's memories (which could reveal some scenes between a teenager version of him and Beth and their relationship, which is my ultimate dream). Someone also mentioned on a comment on YouTube that they may bring back the fact that memory Rick is still stuck in Jerry's brain, which I also find interesting.

. And just to repeat myself, THE ANIMATION. I was an art student so you can't judge me for noticing how phenomenal the backgrounds and detail to animation is. In ep 1 when Rick and Morty go to a hardware store is so DETAILED

Like the way they create that aisle look through the lighting is so gorgeous

Last thing about the animation and then I'll shut up about it but this scene in ep 4

The way the light reflects off Jerry because he's driving at might OH MY GODDDD

. So... yeah. The new episode looks pretty good. I think it will be a classic Rick and Morty adventure which will be refreshing to see. But tbh ep 5 gets overshadowed by the fact that the following episode will be EPISODE 6! Which if I think about for too long I start to go insane with excitement

#adult animation #rick and morty #beth smith #jerry smith #morty smith #summer smith #rick sanchez #animation #rick and morty season 8 #season 8 #fan art

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