#i HAVE a plotline ready for action

[luv-again]

gonna catch up on reading ppls shadamy week pieces then i might potentially go back to writing my pirate au. i still have a world's worth or work to do for it

[knightsickness]

Rhaenyra being a good person and ruler is not boring. Ned was boring?

was considering answering this with ‘lose the question mark’ but that felt mean i do like ned i think hes a good character. and the thing is ned is a boring guy on a personal level all characters agree but he isnt a boring character nice ≠ boring i dont need everyone to be evil. i dont dislike rhaenyra just bc shes soso nice and i only like villains

i dont know when ‘a character having strong motivations and flaws makes them more compelling than a character who is inoffensively nice’ became controversial i would consider it character writing 101. hotd fans leap down your throat about it bc of the teams discourse. ‘aegon was more interesting than rhaenyra in season 2’ isnt an aegon rules rhaenyra drools team green argument it is objectively true aegon is more motivated and he does more

it is not compelling character stuff and an insult to emma’s abilities that they wont let rhaenyra do anything or have any motivations apart from a) peace shes a pacifist and doesnt want to be in the war she is a de facto leader in except maybe she does want to be in the war? (dragonseeds) b) the stupid prophecy c) the throne but she refuses to have a war about it bc see point a). and she states these motivations every episode but theyre actively contradictory so as a result she just doesnt do anything shes almost entirely reactive. if she really cares so much about not having a war and harming her people there are many actions she could take to change that and make a peace but she wont do that bc she wants her father’s throne (far more sentimental and niceys than anything as selfish and crass as her ugh just wanting the throne) and believes she has to be queen and is the chosen one bc of the prophecy. but she doesnt want a war bc women are wise and war is bad so so so she got main character screentime and did almost nothing in eight episodes. end of season 2 even though the war has been literally happening around her people are still talking about when rhaenyra is going to recognise this and start acting like it. a goalpost that has been moved from lukes death to jaces death bc lukes death affected her and her policy veryy little considering how confident everyone was that this means WAR get ready for a NEW DARK RHAENYRA a mothers RAGE. and that just didnt happen at all

baela and to a lesser extent rhaenys also get hit w this really hard theyre a blandly inoffensive Strong Female Character slurry being smeared on my face like im a baby and id get scared if they had any selfish desires. and this does work at pleasing people who are already tb fanatics yayy girlboss imagine liking the creeps on tg over these characters who are women who are nice but it makes for dull characters and plotlines it insults the ability of the audience to like women unless theyre completely sandblasted of anything potentially controversial. i have no idea what motivates baela to fight for rhaenyras cause other than ‘shes jaces nice girlfriend’. and thats really bad !! ned cat brienne sansa dany etc wanted and did things characters can be nice and morally good and motivated and compelling

[anotherlibrocubicularist]

'The pjo movies may be more inaccurate than the show, but they were good movies.'

is a sentiment I've seen a lot in the pjo fandom. Since the movies were my introduction to the pjo!verse, I do have a special place in my heart for them while still acknowledging their differences in regards to the originals source material (aka the books). I was foolish enough to buy the second book before the first one to read how the story continues, but had to quickly realize just how much the movie differed from the books.

And yes, I am also one of the people, who, for the longest time, held the opinion that I put in the title of this post. Which is why, once the show was announced, I had high hopes for that particular live-action remake of one of my most beloved fictional universes. These hopes have yet to be fulfilled, but I remain hesitantly hopeful for the second season.

However, with the many differences from the books that I saw in the first season of the show, I want to point out some things that, in my opinion, were ADAPTED better (as in: more accurately) in the movies.

Percy Jackson (at least in terms of his knowledge of greek mythology or rather, his lack thereof and his physical appearance aside from his age)

Percy's relationship with Grover (in the movies there are several instances where Grover fulfills his role of 'protector' and is genuinely seen as Percy's ride-or-die, much unlike the relationship I saw on the show. This is especially important for the second season where Grover forms an empathy link with his most trusted friend to communicate his whereabouts and the show just doesn't give me the vibe where they're close enough for Grover to risk forming that link.

Sally Jackson (yes, her character is mostly wish-fulfillment for neurodivergent kids who wish for their parents' unconditional love without snapping at them or mishandling parenting situations, but as a formerly neurodivergent child now adult, I loved this character so much and the 'realism' I saw with show!Sally was just dissatisfying)

Gabe Ugliano (movie!Gabe is every bit as awful as he was in the books even to the manhunt he instigated by doing an interview on tv, show!Gabe is honestly a let-down)

Sally and Gabe's relationship (no elaboration needed, I think)

Grover (movie!Grover is more accurate to how satyrs are depicted in mythology, at least when it comes to his horniness. And yes, that's not more accurate to the books but if people can go around and praise show!Hades for being closer to real mythology!Hades then I can do the same with Grover. Also how the movies disguised his hooves with giving him crutches was far superior)

Hades (yes, the movie portrayal was not close to the books, but his angerand frustration was depicted really well; the show has him act way too chill and that just has me worried for continuity's sake)

The lotus casino scene (and basically every moment where they had to figure out the threat before defeating it, also the movie scene was entertaining as hell)

The deadline plotline (them missing it was stupid, nough said)

Poseidon (he and Percy had a difficult relationship at the beginning, book!Poseidon would probably not have bowed to Zeus to protect Percy like he did in the show when he forfeited)

The Gods in the throne room on Olympus (in the final scene of the movies they were all tall and ready for battle, makes sense since they readied themselves for a war that was literally about to start. What did we get in the show? They looked way too casual and ordinary for being about to start a world threatening war.)

Feel free to add when you think I've missed things or comment whatever so long as it's constructive and polite.

[fairytailfanatic]

I hated HTTYD 3

This rant has been brewing for a while, and was triggered by the live action movie, so buckle up.

The whole issue of the movie is that it inexplicably and suddenly presents Hiccup's bond with toothless as one sided. In the prior movies, Toothless is basically attached to Hiccup at the hip, BUT NOW HE COULD NOT CARE LESS ALL OF THE SUDDEN.

It's such a forced plotline, and it feels cheap. And yes, you could argue that it's only natural that they grow apart because of the lightfury, third wheel effect or whatever. BUT ASTRID IS RIGHT THERE, AND SHE'S BEEN RIGHT THERE THE WHOLE TIME.

AND TOOTHLESS'S CARELESS BEHAVIOR EVEN CONTINUES INTO THE HOLIDAY SPECIAL. He comes back, then leaves Hiccup behind without even showing him his face? The Toothless I love would never do that.

And also the lightfury hating humans pretty much unconditionally just feels so weird when 100s of dragons moved into Burk in like a week.

AND ALSO THE DRAGONS HAVE TO ALL DISAPPEAR FOR NO REASON. Like I know that "the world isn't ready", but I feel like these problems wouldn't actually be that hard to solve. Bring back the Counsels with other chiefs, discuss food supply and trade. Establish anti-poaching systems. Again, if we can house 100s of dragons in a week, we can establish infrastructure.

OVERALL, this movie felt way more like a huge marketing ploy than the other two did. The plot was weak and the character choices don't hold up.

[butterflydm]

WoT rewatch (2x03-2x04)

Spoilers through what we know about s3 so far. And only show spoilers, actually. Not sure how I managed that.

2x03

Our big Nynaeve focal episode, though it does still continue and follow through on the other major plotlines for other characters, it's just that Nynaeve gets the majority of the time.

Leane, Liandrin, & Sheriam are the ones witnessing Nynaeve's Accepted Test.

We know that Liandrin is Black Ajah, of course, and I imagine her suggesting Nynaeve so early for the Test was not only to be allowed to teach her but also to traumatize her to make it easier to push her towards the Shadow. Because that's Ishy's goal with all five ta'veren - push them towards the Shadow. I do wonder if the reason he swaps to having Liandrin give Nynaeve to the Seanchan instead is because Lanfear's actions over in the Rand-Moiraine storyline have forced him to advance his plans. Because Lanfear doesn't really care about the other ta'veren at this point, at least that we see in s2 - she only cares about Rand.

I like that we heard about Nynaeve's backstory in s1 and now get to watch it play out.

"Remember, Red is dead." She's afraid of becoming like Liandrin.

This moment between Nynaeve and Test-Tam is so heartbreaking. Him asking after Rand and Nynaeve lying so that she won't break a dying man's heart, and then being forced to leave him there in pain.

And no Elayne around when Nynaeve & Test-Egwene say goodbye because they've literally never met (though she maybe heard her voice through the door).

The whole Romantic Lan riding in on a horse reminds me of what Adelas speculated about Lan & Moiraine's first meeting before she heard the true story.

The sleeves of Nynaeve's coat have really nice embroidery here.

Liandrin is probably thinking partly about Nynaeve here (she does have fondness for Nynaeve at this point) but also about how Ishy will not be happy with her, since he doesn't want the ta'veren dead.

Everything about the Seanchan remains chilling. We do see this particular damane (who can sense women who can channel) on one of the ships that explodes at the end, I believe.

Uno's death works on so many narrative levels, even before we learn at the end of the season that he's one of the Heroes - it's true to his established character and it shows how ruthless the Seanchan are. The added benefit of him being a Hero is that it sets up the Heroes as morally opposed to the Seanchan (especially those being led by the Shadow, but Suroth isn't doing anything here that the non-Shadow Seanchan wouldn't also do at this point, which is a very important point. Suroth moved faster and extended their reach more than Turok was prepared to do, and gets in trouble for it, but her actual methods are Empire-sanctioned from everything that we see on screen and it's important to note that, I feel).

I love Logain forcing Rand into a pointless fetch quest just to test what he's willing to do. Also, given what we know they changed about how women can sense channeling (it's a Talent not everyone has), I think they also gave that Talent to Logain, but for men. The Searcher damane may be seeing a similar glow to what Logain describes.

Oh look, a gleeman talking about the Horn of Valere, that summons the Heroes from the dead to fight for the Light, and then Rand asks Lanfear about it! The Horn gets talked about more in the party scene later too.

Now that we aren't in Nynaeve's Test-world, Elayne exists again!

I tease but this is a very heartbreaking scene. Poor Egwene. Mat stays behind. Rand sacrifices himself, and now she's being told that Nynaeve is dead.

Sheriam sucks at grief-counseling. I mean, it's clear she's not even really trying.

I wonder if Liandrin got told off by Ishy for losing Nynaeve, because it does feel like the plans for Mat accelerated abruptly, like maybe Liandrin is no longer trusted to break Mat to be ready for the dagger/Ishy.

Ugh, but she does fuck with his head hard before she kicks him out.

"A stupid desperate boy who wallows in self-pity, blaming his friends for leaving him."

Egwene & Liandrin's confrontation here is great.

"We Aes Sedai can only speak the truth, so listen to me." You liiiiiar!

Also Liandrin/the Shadow did NOT have Egwene's number correctly lol. Though I guess Liandrin has a better idea now.

Lanfear is loving getting all this attention being the woman on Rand's arm and getting all up in her fantasy world. I like that we meet Anveare here before we find out she's Moiraine's sister.

And Rand gets his first lesson in how politics work (and hates it).

Lanfear is so miffed that Rand isn't sharing everything with her. And miffed about him getting suspicious of 'Selene's' motives in helping him (which explains why she pushes so hard in his dreams later).

I love saidar being represented by water and now Logain using wine as the metaphor for saidin. Also, man, the queer metaphor that feels like it's pushing at the seams of this scene. Especially since it's followed up by still-in-denial Rand hooking up with Selene/Lanfear in the dream she creates for him.

I wonder if Logain actually IS genetically related to LTT (as he claims here). The lore is that the Dragon killed his entire bloodline but... yeah, idk. We know that reincarnation is not related to bloodline but there is a genetic element to channeling.

Mat not able to summon up his courage to go talk to Egwene because he's been fed poison for months that's convinced him she wouldn't want him around. 😭

Min-Mat romance shot down again.

Ishy looks a bit weary here at the start. Maybe because he thinks one of his ta'veren is dead/lost in the Arches?

Ishy doing his best to make Perrin believe that the wolf stuff is directly tied to the Shadow. And Perrin is the first of the ta'veren to learn that Rand didn't actually defeat the Dark One at the Eye last season, so now he thinks Rand died for nothing.

And now Elyas frees Perrin & only Perrin. He's no Darkfriend but he's narrowed down his list of those he cares about to wolf and wolf-related persons only.

And we learn about double-agent Min here.

Selene's inner Lanfear really jumping out in his most recent dream. And she is engaging hard in her LTT fantasies, plus pushing him to channel (and do something destructive because of his lack of control). This seems like something she did impulsively because she was mad at Rand for walking out on her earlier, so I think burning down the inn was not in her original plans.

Elayne's knowledge of White Tower history giving her a base of knowledge, and we see her show so much compassion to Egwene here. Such a good egg. 💜

Nynaeve putting Perrin & Mat into her happy fantasy world, and imagining Mat in such a loving way, giving him freedom over his life but a home base to return to as well. I do think that Nynaeve's world here is pure fantasy from her head and not an alternate reality because everything here is based on what Nynaeve knew and believed as of when she went into the Arches, rather than reflecting the whole world as it would exist, including what she didn't know at the time (aka Rand being alive).

So traumatic for our poor Nynaeve.

She had to know she couldn't actually bring her daughter through, but she couldn't not try.

2x04

Our big reveal episode for Lanfear. It does kinda crack me up that breaking out Lanfear was so epic and then he does the rest off-screen.

I do wonder what circumstances led to Lanfear being covered in blood when she was sealed up, because there did not seem to be blood involved when LTT & co sealed up Ishy in the 2x08 flashback. What was Lanfear up to when she was caught?

I really enjoy all the compare & contrast of the ways that having a channeler in the family can affect the family dynamic, depending on the families involved.

Oh hey chamberpot under the bed, just noticed that. Also poor Nynaeve and her PTSD from the Test. She looks so hollowed out.

Alanna's home seems so nice. ❤️

So Lan is on suicide watch, which he assures Alanna is not needed. Lan takes a moment to process what Alanna says about "your bond wasn't ripped from you, she took it." Given his reaction here, I think this might be the first time this belief of Alanna's has been directly mentioned to him (and she assumes this probably because of the conversation that she and Moiraine had about releasing the bond back in s1).

I think he's taking the opportunity to mine Alanna for information about Moiraine.

While Alanna spends time with her family, Moiraine avoids hers.

Okay, I feel like Barnathas was probably key to Lanfear's plans for Rand but Moiraine moved more quickly than anticipated. And we know that Rand was keeping his plans re: Logain away from 'Selene' (and she was very annoyed about it), so getting some info from Logain helped inadvertently ruin whatever specific plan Lanfear had originally envisioned here.

Going from Lan to Logain really does show us the difference in their mental states pretty clearly.

Egwene's mention of Rand here to Elayne is so nonspecific (someone I love more than anything) and I continue to be very curious how that whole situation will be handled in s3. I assume that Elayne knows by the time of 3x01 about Randgwene, since they were all traveling together for a month.

The wolf visions! I like that the wolves are just, like, sending vibes instead of talking.

Perrin also learns that he's been unintentionally sending his dreams to all the wolves. Very awkward for Perrin.

Hopper sharing his name. ❤️

So yeah, I think Lan is playing into Alanna & co's assumptions here while he bids his time to try to figure out what Moiraine is up to. He's being agreeable.

My current feeling about the bond is that Lan & Moiraine are just incredibly dramatic people and that's why we got the big rebonding scene in 2x08. Like renewing wedding vows. You were already married, you just wanted to recommit. I will continue to keep an eye on what Lan says or implies in the future, but I think it might just be masked this whole time.

Okay, my 2x03 theory about Liandrin is definitely out - I think the accelerated Seanchan kidnapping schedule is down to Liandrin needing to tell Ishy that she lost Nynaeve and then walking it back the next day (I'm assuming via dreams). Ishy doesn't trust her to do the job anymore and hands her task to Suroth, who is more directly under his nose. The timing doesn't work for it to be related to Rand & Lanfear's plotline.

Before the Test, Liandrin was acting like she had all the time in the world to train Nynaeve & mess with Mat's head. Nynaeve goes missing in the Arches and it's suddenly time to immediately toss Mat out on his ear, and then Nynaeve gets hustled off to the Seanchan basically as soon as possible after she comes back.

I think Lanfear keeps pushing the past love angle because she's trying to find LTT in Rand. But instead he just gets a little jealous (over himself lol).

Cute & casual Mat. ❤️

"I'm tired. I can't move."

So cute. Min doesn't appreciate it, but I do!

I do love the theme in this episode of the "Aes Sedai" curse, as Liandrin puts it, of watching their loved ones grow old & die while they stay young.

"The triumph of the Light over the Dark. And dessert after."

Worthy goals!

Anveare successfully blackmailing her big sister into spending time with her - good for her tbh. The family dynamics in this episode are so good. I do think this is what Lanfear would have failed to predict, yeah. Anveare and Logain are both pieces of the puzzle that led Moiraine to ruin Lanfear's big night with Rand.

Both Elayne & Rand talk in this episode about not getting to choose their own fate. Babies!

So Liandrin didn't seem surprised to see Egwene but Elayne is "a complication". It makes sense that she would assume that Egwene would come along with Nynaeve after that confrontation that she & Egwene had while Nynaeve was presumed dead. Elayne really IS a complication, considering how politically important she is.

Min actually struggling with her viewings instead of any struggle just being in her backstory: love it.

So... is Ishy trying to interrupt Lanfear's plans because he feels like she's getting too entrenched or does he have another motive for sending Mat to Cairhien? (secret Cauthor shipper Ishy)

This ploy of Lanfear's was really a very clever way to break through some of Rand's remaining emotional walls towards her. He gets to be her hero and then she gets that confession out of him that she wants so badly when she starts withholding herself from him due to her 'fear' over his 'madness'.

"You are the first woman who's ever seen me as a man. I didn't want you to see me as a monster."

I kinda broke this down as we were going along but: yeah, I really see it, how Rand's love for Egwene is tied to his boyhood and his dreams of a life in the Two Rivers. Egwene's first official act as a woman was to break up with Rand. For Egwene, I don't think that would at all stick out in her memory as A Big Thing, but it makes sense that it would for Rand. Especially since he had to let go of that dream of living with her in the Two Rivers as part of breaking out of Ishy's fake world in 1x08.

And now 'Selene' gets to be accepting of his nature (hoping it will lead to him accepting the truth of who/what she is).

It kinda sucks that Lanfear's romance advice here is actually quite good, because Rand now has a lot of reason not to trust it.

I really do not think this confession was actually gonna get Lanfear positive results even if Moiraine hadn't arrived when she did. Rand is already starting to freak out, even before the throat-slitting and all the blood.

But I guess that's why she tied Rand up. Insurance policy. Lanfear does believe in insurance policies. I'm gonna remember that for s3.

Poor Rand. What a devastating revelation.

[completeoveranalysis]

[8]

WAIT

WAIIIIIT

WAIT HELLO ONE MOMENT WE’RE REWRITING THE SECRET CANON HERE

I HAVE TO UNLEARN THE MOST TERRIBLE LORE EVIL WOLVERINE DROPPED ON US UNANNOUNCED ONE TIME 

ARE YOU READY OK DO YOU REMEMEMBER THAT ONE TIME WE SUDDENLY HAD EVIL WOLVERINE JUMP INTO THE PLOTLINE FOR NO REASON TO ANNOUNCE THAT HE CLONED SAKURA AND KILLED HER OFF SCREEN DON’T WORRY ABOUT IT IT WAS AGES PROBABLY (CHAPTER 181, IT TURNS OUT) TO KYLE RONDART FOR NO REASON

AND THAT WAS THE BIGGEST NARRATIVE BETRAYAL TO ME PERSONALLY BECAUSE THERE WAS NO HINT OF THAT ANYWHERE ELSE IN THE PLOT AND THERE WAS NO REASON FOR HIM TO HAVE DONE THAT

WELL! LUCKILY FOR US HE WAS WRONG THE WHOLE TIME

He cloned Sakura for… like, insurance purposes or something. No wait hang on, let me see. I think I originally had assumed that he cloned Sakura so that he would have a back up Sakura just in case anything went wrong. BUT, he explains it this way - that he cloned her the same way he cloned Syoaran but her soul was perfectly copied also. And then he destroyed the original. SO we're now getting the context that he must have assumed that Cloning Result was an incredible success but for the original Sakura it was a complete bust and the original body was not very useful anymore. So he had it destroyed.

It's a bit weird because in that previous conversation Evil Wolverine has with Kyle he still sounds very excited over the fact that both the body AND the soul were perfectly cloned - and so he didn't need the original anymore. I suppose the benefit of this would be... that a manmade body doesn't really deteriorate like a normal one does? And so THAT suited his plans?

But they way Yuuko describes it, it sounds like after he cloned Sakura he put her original soul into the new body and assumed the old body was no good anymore, and had it destroyed. Ie, that only the body was cloned and not the soul. And so Yuuko swept up the contents and could reassemble it, ready for her soul to go back into it later.

But I'm not sure that entirely connects either, because while Syaoran is entirely a man-made creation (which is the reason Yuuko says this is possible at all), Sakura technically was not, originally. Like, she WAS a real person, with a real soul, who had her real body destroyed and her real soul put into a clone body. And it’s the real body that was reassembled with the real soul put back into it. Which is not like Syaoran at all. UNLESS, like Evil Wolverine says, he DID clone both her body and soul, which WOULD make sense as to why she can be reassembled in this way, because the clone soul would not die, and it can be reassembled.

BUT that doesn't seem to be what Yuuko is saying happened.

Like, it quite specifically is not the clone body that is being reassembled here, since that was the empty body we’ve been chasing ever since the Infinity arc, that has now fused into Super Sakura. That body is still there. It’s the ORIGINAL LIVING body that is being reconstituted, and I'm not sure why that is possible. Unless that IS technically possible BECAUSE it was empty - because her soul was transferred into the clone body, in which Yuuko is right and Evil Wolverine is wrong.

UNLESS UNLESS we are also saying that this Sakura, even before Evil Wolverine cloned her, is TECHNICALLY ALSO A TYPE OF CLONE, since with all of reality rewritten (the first time, when Lava Lamp made his wish to save Not!Sakura) she was technically an entirely new person who didn’t exist before (because the original one was trapped in time?), and therefore she kind of WAS created by way of man-made actions. And therefore kind of a clone? Since her name IS Sakura when the original original original Sakura's name was NOT Sakura?

IS THAT WHAT WE’RE DOING? IS THAT THE LOGIC?

OR, like, is she TECHNICALLY a clone by way of the cloning process being done to her, leaving her original body as “empty” and therefore practically the same as a clone body?

IS IT ONE OF THOSE? 

IS IT???

Either Evil Wolverine or Yuuko is wrong about what happened, or there's a translation quirk that happened between their two explanations, but EITHER WAY I’m just going to assume one of my two guesses is right until otherwise corrected by CLAMP. 

MEANWHILE Syaoran is being prompted to choose SO I FEEL LIKE THIS IS A BIG MOMENT THAT THEY WOULD USE AS A CLIFFHANGER

*checks*

YUP THAT’S IT THAT'S THE CLIFFHANGER

[flightfoot]

Any fic recs of Adrien dealing with the fallout of finding out his dad is hawkmoth?

Oh yeah, this is a popular plotline and tends to lead to some great fics!

---

Bubblegum Soul by @wehadabondingmoment

"The impulse to throw away his ring, to slam it on the ground and watch its metallic splinters chap away at his soul, got more tempting by the second. Maybe, for a moment, he would learn what it meant to be alive." (Or: Hawk Moth has been defeated and Adrien is suffering more than ever. Armed with unhealthy coping mechanisms and the knowledge that he apparently isn't human, he embarks on a journey of self-discovery.) (Except that his father isn't quite ready to give up just yet.)

Poor Adrien. His father's defeated, but that doesn't mean that he's alright. Dealing with finding out that he's a sentimonster via his father attempting to order him around... that's harsh.

And it doesn't help that while he gets one ring back pretty quickly, he doesn't realize that he has a second amok...

If you like angsty sentiadrien fic, this'll be right up your alley! It's M-rated, but I'm not sure why. Maybe because Adrien's just kind of in a bad headspace?

---

Disintegrated Pancakes by @scribeofrhapsody

Adrien had started expecting the family breakfasts. He had NOT been expecting his father to collapse in the middle of one.

I’m shocked I haven’t seen more of this sort of thing, with Adrien finding out his father’s Monarch via seeing the Cataclysm wound. I love that Alya gets involved in this, being the person Adrien runs into after fleeing the room, and then Adrien getting to talk things out with Gabriel and Nathalie. Thankfully Gabriel is at least not completely incapable of being reasoned with here, or things could have gone worse than they did. It’s a nice little read, though with an ambiguous ending (at least at the time when I write this).

---

all of your flaws and all of my flaws (are laid out one-by-one) by @coffeebanana

Ladybug and Marinette have both been acting strangely since Monarch’s defeat, and Chat Noir would give anything to know why—to be able to help them. He just…didn’t expect his answers to come when Ladybug drags him to his father’s statue in the middle of the night along with a bag full of spray paint.

If you felt unsatisfied with Adrien being left in the dark about Monarch, with Ladybug lying about Gabriel being a hero, this is a great fic to read. Marinette’s breaking down keeping this secret, seeing people treat Gabriel as the hero she told people he was, until she finally snaps and has to do SOMETHING, has to tell SOMEONE the truth. 

Which Chat takes pretty well! He knows how persuasive his father could be, and he’s mostly just relieved at finally hearing someone say that Gabriel wasn’t a hero. It’s still a lot to cope with though.

---

Of Crisp Days and Crispier Cakes by @scribeofrhapsody

Gabriel wants to not be sick. Adrien wants to make a cake. Nathalie wants a chill birthday. Maybe they can help each other. Maybe it’ll be a disaster.

So this starts off as just the cute fluff fic of Adrien and Gabriel attempting to make Nathalie a birthday cake that the summary indicates, but soon evolves into a more action-filled drama fic when Gabriel makes the terrible decision to akumatize a cashier while sick… a cashier who happens to be in the same shop as Nathalie and Adrien. Who are willing to put their secret identities at risk in order to save each other.

---

After Irritation Do Us Start by @scribeofrhapsody

It was the most difficult decision of his life, but Gabriel did it. He let go of Hawk Moth. He moved on from Emilie. Now, all he wants is to enjoy life with his son and new wife. Unfortunately, a certain nephew of his seems to be determined to unearth what Gabriel needs to remain buried.

I love this look at what could have happened if during the season 3 finale, Gabriel had decided enough was enough and given up on being a supervillain, moving on with Nathalie instead. How much better things could have been if he’d just decided to stop - though Adrien still wouldn’t be happy to discover why Hawk Moth had suddenly stopped attacking.

Oh yeah, there’s an OC here called Gerald who Adrien’s puzzled by, since he’d never heard of this guy before the past year. At the end of the story you find out why he’s included in the story. It’s not a major thing, but it is kind of funny and fits well with the rest of the story.

---

Family by @unecoccinellenoire

“You know,” Nino grins, “if you need advice on being a big brother in a year or two I’m sure I could help.” The bottom of Adrien’s stomach dropped out. — Adrien struggles with the concept of his father and Nathalie having children.

So this is a world where Adrien and Marinette managed to defeat Gabriel, taking his Miraculous, with them giving him an ultimatum: they won’t out him as being Hawk Moth so long as he doesn’t cause any more trouble and does right by Adrien. Gabriel does, in fact, move on finally to Nathalie, giving Adrien a lot of mixed feelings to deal with. He still loves them both despite everything, but he’s also angry at them and he definitely does NOT want them to have children, both because he thinks they’d like any biological child they had more (he’s also harboring guilt from indirectly being the cause of his mom’s death), and because frankly, they screwed up too much with Adrien for him to want them to inflict that on another child.

And then there’s also Adrien dealing with the realization that he’s a Senti on top of that and wondering why he and Felix look the way they do, what Emilie’s reasons were.

It’s mostly just Adrien getting to talk things out, navigating this emotionally fraught situation he finds himself in now that the dust is settled.

----

and I thought I heard you sing by @into-september

When Hawkmoth has been defeated and unmasked, Marinette is left with two problems and no solutions. First, that Adrien is further out of her reach than ever before, and no-one can tell her how to get to him. Second, that Cat Noir is far more troubled than she knew, and the only thing she can do is wait for him at the place they agreed to meet.

It’s your classic “Hawkmoth’s defeated and taken into custody but that means Adrien’s in for a rough time” sort of fic. Everyone’s worried about Adrien and wants to give him what comfort and support that they can, but he’s being hidden away from everyone (which I mean, honestly that’s a good move), so that’s not really possible. Plus, Ladybug’s noticed that Chat’s having a tough time in his civilian life, which worries her.

---

If only I could break free by megetstoread

It started with Adrien being upset about going away, but led to a lot of revelations.  

Another Sentiadrien fic here! After telling Adrien that he’s being sent to London, Gabriel takes advantage of Adrien being distraught to akumatize him. Luckily Ladybug’s right there and deakumatizes him before he can even do anything, but it shakes both her and Chat, leading to her allowing him to tell her a lot more about his home life than usual, and for her and Adrien to investigate to see whether there might be more to Adrien’s inability to stand against his father than just psychological abuse.

---

The Parable of the Caller by @nemaliwrites

A week after Hawk Moth’s identity has been revealed, Adrien finds himself with nowhere to go, nothing he can do, and worst of all, strange gaps in his memory he can’t explain. In a stroke of luck, he stumbles upon a burner phone filled with voicemails from one of the Saviors of Paris: Chat Noir himself, who disappeared following Hawk Moth’s arrest.

But with each new voicemail Adrien listens to, he’s forced to confront the fact that there might be some kind of connection between himself and Chat Noir — and discovering it might leave him more broken than before.

I absolutely adore this fic, it’s a fantastic character study for Adrien! Basically in this universe, Ladybug and Chat Noir talked about who should be Guardian, with Chat eventually convincing her that he should be the one to take it on, primarily due to the whole “the Guardian gets amnesia about Miraculous-related matters” situation, and wanting to protect Ladybug from that. Then he finds out Gabriel is Hawk Moth, they take him down, and he relinquishes the Miracle Box and his guardianship to Su Han - all without having a Reveal with Ladybug, since well, he’s not in the greatest shape mentally at the time.

It’s a real treat to see Adrien’s thoughts and feelings about one of the Heroes of Paris leaving him all these voicemails, treating him like this close friend for reasons he doesn’t understand, and just seeing Chat Noir as this outside person. He’s got a very different viewpoint on Chat when looking from the outside than he would from the inside, with being able to see his heroic and good qualities far more easily when he doesn’t know that he is Chat.

Also Marinette’s struggling in the background of the fic with the loss of her partner and guilt over sending Adrien’s father to prison. It gets touched on at various points, and you can tell that she’s having her own story off to the side that we’re just not entirely privy to, what with this tale being told entirely from Adrien’s perspective.

---

drowning (in plain sight) by @buggachat

Everybody had expected Monarch's defeat to be a moment of triumph. Nobody had expected Gabriel Agreste, unmasked and mind frayed from continual abuse of the miraculous, crying out to all who would listen and making Paris certain of one thing:

His son, Adrien Agreste, is one of his sentimonsters.

And now he's missing.

Nobody can find him— not even the superheroes, and not even his closest friends. But Marinette, Nino, and Alya aren't ones to give up so easily. They'll find him, no matter what it takes.

(But, geez, would it kill Chat Noir to lend a hand?)

I’m sure everyone saw this one coming. If there’s one thing buggachat’s good at, storywise, it’s capturing raw, tumultuous emotions, frantic breakdowns as the characters desperately try to navigate bad situations. This was a real treat to read, as I’m betting most people reading this will agree, given just how popular the fic has been. It also has a ton of fanart, both by buggachat and by random fans, if you go looking for it (there’s a drowning in plain sight tag which I’d advise perusing). 

---

Not a Monster at All by @book-sandwich

Adrien Agreste overhears a conversation he shouldn't, and a revelation sends him falling onto the terrace of the only person he can trust: his good friend (?) Marinette Dupain-Cheng.

Takes place sometime after the first two episodes of season 5!

As you can probably guess from the title, this is a Sentimonster Adrien, Monarch takedown fic. Adrien’s going through a tough time, and Marinette’s just trying to be there for him as his whole world’s collapsing around him. Unfrotunately, they still don’t know what the object is, or how likely Gabriel would be to control Adrien if he hinted that he knew the truth, which leaves Adrien in a precarious position - still not having done an identity reveal doesn’t help matters.

It’s a really solid fic for the genre, though since it started up before the later parts of season 5, there are a few things that don’t match up with the canon information we obtained later on. 

---

Under Oath by @eoscenes

In the aftermath of Hawk Moth's defeat, Ladybug finds her heart torn between her schoolgirl crush and her superhero partner ― who returns, after an unexplained hiatus, more irresistible than ever.

⋆☆⋆

Gabriel Agreste is unmasked, and Paris rises up in the aftermath.

Marinette Dupain-Cheng must weather Paris' anxious protesters, ravenous reporters, a scattered team of judiciary investigators, and her conflicting feelings for two different boys. In the eye of this storm is the elusive Adrien Agreste, the primary witness in his own father's trial, who might just hold the secret to finding the Peacock Miraculous.

(If only she wasn't in love with him.)

Meanwhile, locked away in Le Grand Paris hotel, Adrien grapples with his responsibilities to a city that can't decide if it hates or loves him. Keeping his daytime persona and Chat Noir separate entities becomes even harder when Ladybug, whom he has finally decided to get over, starts visiting him at night, determined to figure his secrets out.

(If only he wasn't in love with her.)

When an unknown figure returns with the Peacock Miraculous, Ladybug and Chat Noir will have to save their city once more — or lose each other trying.

I love how this fic shows Adrien just breaking down over the reveal of Hawk Moth’s identity, he’s in a Very Bad Place for a substantial portion of the fic, and being a suspect and witness in the case does NOT help. It’s got the most detailed “Adrien suffering the consequences of the backlash to his father’s prosecution” plot that I’ve seen.

Still, things get better with time, slowly, gradually. It’s not all at once, or a completely linear road, but he’s got his friends, even after everything.

---

run boy run by Anonymous

Nino was sprawled on the floor of his room with Alya when his phone chimed, in the quiet of a premature autumnal sunset. It was one of those lazy evenings that had become rare lately. Contrary to popular belief, he and Alya could get studying done when in the same room, and he was elbows-deep in late assignments, which meant his phone was on Do Not Disturb, which meant the notification could only have come from one person. ADRIEN 🐈: cmoe ove rnow ADRIEN 🐈: like riggt now ADRIEN 🐈: plag NINO: that is literally incomprehensible NINO: wait is that you plagg ADRIEN 🐈: mov faster

So this is a “Adrien finds out that his father is Hawkmoth and consults with Nino about what to do” fic, with Nino throwing Hawkmoth off Adrien’s track, though inadvertently at his own expense. Love Nino’s perspective here, and I always enjoy a good Hawkmoth-takedown fic!

---

When the Morning Comes by @into-september

Gabriel Agreste has been unmasked as Hawkmoth, and the girl who was fighting him all these years turns out to be Tom Dupain's daughter. And standing between them is Adrien Agreste with his life in shatters that Tom Dupain has no way of piecing together. But baking is at least a place to start.

I love how this not only digs into Adrien’s character, but Tom’s as well, especially how both of them have been estranged from their fathers. I haven’t seen that come up much.

---

missing person (at the window) by @coffeebanana

Adrien expected to spend another night staring at the ceiling and ignoring his friends' messages, as he'd done every night since his father was unmasked as Shadow Moth. But when Ladybug falls through his bedroom window, he gets a little more than he bargained for.

---

This Distance Between Us by @coffeebanana

After defeating Monarch, the search for the Peacock Miraculous brings Ladybug and Chat Noir to a hotel room in London. But it's hard to enjoy the victory when Ladybug can't figure out why Chat's been so quiet, why he seems so sad. How's she supposed to help if she has no idea what's wrong?

This is a great Sentiadrien fic, with Chat freaking out about it and feeling like he’s not worthy of Ladybug’s affections, but not telling her what’s actually wrong because he thinks she won’t want him anymore if she knows. Of course, he’s wrong about that. Also there’s a pretty intense confrontation with Felix, pissing Chat Noir off is a bad idea.

---

Waiting series by @11jj11

First fic: Waiting

Every night Ladybug sat atop the Eiffel Tower, waiting for her partner.

---

Temporary Place To Stay by walkingonthestars

Caline Bustier hears the news. Caline Bustier worries about her student, whose father has just been exposed as Hawk Moth and arrested. Caline Bustier impulsively takes in said student. Caline Bustier does not know the half of what she's just gotten into.

[dirty-bear-rick-sanchez]

I never realised before that Beth is likely projecting here. After all, we know that she blamed Diane for Rick leaving as a child, as well as heavily idolising Rick. We don't know for sure when Rick's drinking started to become a problem - only that C-137's is implied to have began or significantly worsened after Diane's death by Hole!Diane's reference to him being a lightweight - but I'm sure Beth wasn't raised with a healthy attitude surrounding alcohol. It's very possible that she would see one or both of her parents drinking before/after a fight and initialy started drinking as a kind of cry for help or attempt at expressing her emotions - if she associated drinking with being angry at someone, maybe she hoped that Diane seeing her drunk would make Diane realise how badly she was hurting.

There's also Beth's dismissal of Summer's feelings as 'teenage girl stuff' in The Whirly Dirly Conspiracy. In Autoerotic Assimilation, we see her gain an adult insight into Diane and Rick when she is forced to set boundaries with Rick and face her fear of abandonment.

Beth's understanding of Diane and her actions is still very new as of season 3, and it seems like she's convinced herself that her previous lack of understanding was due to her irrational 'teenage girl' emotions.

We also know that Beth had therapy herself as a child, during which she was convinced that Froopyland was something she imagined to process the trauma of losing Tommy. I'm sure the therapist had no way of knowing the truth, but they would've been effectively gaslighting Beth by telling her that her experiences were a product of her imagination. Of course she doesn't trust therapy if that was her only experience of it. It's also notable that she mentions 'your generation' - again acting like Summer is too young to understand.

I think Beth probably has a lot of mixed feelings about age. She was lied to and assumed not to be able to separate fantasy from reality at a young age - having her feelings invalidated and competence doubted - while also experiencing difficult family issues and pregnancy too young/when she wasn't ready for them.

I think internalised misogyny also comes into it, since teenage girls in particular are often stereotyped as being vapid and emotional - and of course Summer's character started out as being a teen girl stereotype. We see her development over the course of the show, and Beth's empathy towards her grows as well. As well as the conclusion to Beth and Summer's plotline in The Whirly Dirly Conspiracy, there are two other moments of Beth trying to be a good mother to Summer in season 3 I want to talk about.

First, Beth's advice to Summer in The Rickshank Redemption.

Beth tries to explain her realisation about Rick to Summer and is trying to look out for her interests. However, Summer doesn't feel comforted and runs away yelling. We can see that Beth is trying - even placing her hand on Summer's.

Here, Beth compliments Summer's appearance, knowing this is something that is important to her and allows her to make her own choices, while giving her genuine advice from her own experience.

[avelera]

OFMD S2 Meta - Stede's Garbage Self-Worth with regards to Ed is still unresolved

(And I'm so hyped for this plotline)

H'ok! So of all the scenes in episodes 1-3 of OFMD S2, this is the one I've been most hyped to discuss but I've been putting it off a few days so people had at least a little time to watch the new eps.

Gifs are courtesy of @ratchet from this gifset:

Hoooo BOY this is such an interesting scene to unpack! Because to me there's at least 3 levels going on here.

What Lucius hears

What the audience "hears"

What Stede literally said

Thing is, I believe when Stede says, "I'm not ready to believe that," the tone that Lucius hears and that the audience is at least 50/50 expected to hear based on the sort of cadence of the scene is, "I'm not ready to believe that Ed's best days are behind him. I'm going to change that."

But I'm not convinced that's what Stede is saying, what Rhys Darby is portraying, or what is literally on the page.

Literally, on the page, Stede says he's not ready to believe that. And given that Stede is very neurodivergent coded, Rhys is self-confessed autistic, and I believe Rhys is bringing that to his portrayal of Stede, I think we really should look at literal words as written and not just run with they're implied to say. This could be read as a declaration that Stede refuses to accept a reality where Ed's best days are behind him or the literal reading: he still can't process that Ed Teach's time with Stede Bonnet was the best Ed's life is ever going to get.

I believe this is for multiple reasons:

Stede isn't going to throw off a lifetime of low self-esteem and bullying overnight just because he's realized he's in love. Especially when the manner of realizing it (end of S1) was hurting the person he loves pretty badly by abandoning him without a word. He's determined to fix his mistakes but each step of the journey is revealing just how big of a mistake it actually was. Not exactly the stuff of sudden self-confidence and positive self-image change.

It requires a full re-write in Stede's brain of every single assumption he had about his relationship with Ed before their separation. Stede in S1, to my eyes, very much saw himself as the junior partner in the relationship. He saw Ed as taking pity on him, to some extent. He felt blessed to have Ed there. It informed so much of their relationship and it especially informed him taking off when he thought his presence was an active burden on Ed. Basically, what Lucius is saying here attacks the very foundations of Stede's understanding of the happiest part of his life so far. To learn that Ed wasn't just the happiest part of his life, but that he, Stede Bonnet, was the happiest part of Ed's life? Whew. Fuck. Not good. Very not good.

Because it's really not good if he was the happiest part of Ed's life, that he so fundamentally misunderstood their dynamic because of his low self-esteem, that he ended the happiest period of Ed's life without warning, without a note, prematurely, and left Ed with the inescapable conclusion that Stede doesn't care about him.

I think worse, even worse, is that Stede has evidence that Lucius is right that he was the best part of Ed's life. But in S1, we're heavily in Stede's POV and Stede's POV of himself is that he's a joke, pathetic, garbage, lucky to have someone like Ed in his life. But Ed's literal actions, louder than words, are that he chose Stede. He gave up piracy for him. He stayed by him. He offered his life for Stede's. Stede wasn't ready to hear that then, he couldn't hear it over the sound of his own low self-esteem whispering poison in his ear, externalized by the Badmintons (both real and imagined). He took their words as fact, rather than Ed's actions as fact. Reexamining Ed's actions shows just how wrong they were. Just how wrong Stede was. And just how badly he hurt Ed because he didn't listen to Ed, the person he loves, over the voices of his own trauma, self-doubt, or of the Badmintons, people who literally hated Stede.

It's a lot. It's a lot for Stede to take in. He's not there yet. But I love that we've had it said aloud: this is a major plot point still. Stede's end-of-S1 glow-up didn't signal that he's self-confident now enough to realize he might be as good for Ed as Ed is for him. He's still grappling with that. It shatters him to even begin to realize this. They have to work through that still. Stede is ready to start listening but he still doesn't, can't literally can't, believe it just yet. It's just too big.

And I am absolutely salivating to see how the rest of the season deals with this thread.

[lamialamia]

We have a problem: women and their principles

There is nothing like a rewatch to help me formulate a critique. And I'm here to talk about how they destroy Sandra Westgate character.

We are only talking about one thing: principles.

Characters often start with some kind of principles that serve as a compass in their action, and as the story progresses, it's possible for them to either stick to their principles or have them changed. We see it with Sledge (TP) as he eventually believes he can and should be killing his enemies without remorse. We see it with Fick (GK) who at the end of the day still adhere to the Marines' directions.

Either thing can happen. You can have your characters bending their principles or sticking to them as long as you show me, the audience, why and how.

Do not show me someone who have a principle that are abruptly changed without building up as to why.

Sandra Westgate in episode 6 of Masters Of The Air didn't want to be anything more than platonic with Crosby. My evidence is not just her recognising that Crosby has a wife (per their first interaction), but when Crosby told her about Bubbles -- his best friend whose passing affected him so much, she walked away.

You might argue with me that Sandra had the desire to be with Crosby by the way she gave him her number and a promise to hang out the next time. But that's superficial stuff. Anyone can hang out with anyone.

But when Crosby was being vulnerable to her, after reassuring him that he isn't wrong and it wasn't his fault Bubbles had died in the mission, she walked away. She actively called off the night and left.

This is implying to me that Sandra wants to keep things platonic between her and Crosby; she isn't keen to share more intimacy with him.

Then, when the next episode rolls around, this decision to remain platonic is out of the window. Sandra is ready to jump in bed with Crosby. Because war is bad. Nothing else is offered to explain her change of heart. And eventually later on, her story in particular and this extra-marital affair in general lead nowhere. Nobody was hurt in the making of this plotline, but at the same time, nothing substantial and worthy was made either. The MOTA writers want to keep everyone happy and innocent and in-the-right and thus the emotional impact that should be felt about how war changed people is non-existent.

Thanks Mota writers.

I want to contrast this with another female character in the HBO War universe and how her principles are presented and portrayed.

Lena in TP sticks to her principles when she deals with Basilone.

And then, we get to know why she's sticking to her principles

Lena stuck to her guns because it had worked out for her. Her parents came around to her decisions. And now, Basilone was doing the same thing. This is the show respecting a character enough to explain *why* and *how* a character is acting the way they do.

I'm not hating on the character (Sandra Westgate). I'm judging what MOTA writers did to her.

[soobinieswife]

──★ ˙ ̟🐇 Clause four: never fall in love with your rival

chapter 0: Lara's Op-ed

Major powers in action (but it's just two kids fighting over a toy in a store)

By anonymous

We all know rivals. It’s a classic scenario for humanity. We know humans are competitive and might disagree with others. And some of them are iconic. We got Gryffindor vs Slytherins, the U.S vs USSR during the Cold War, Dr. Doofenshmirtz vs Perry the Platyspus, Jess Mariano vs Dean Forester, Taylor Swift vs Kayne West (which is crazy to even list, because he doesn’t qualify. He’ll never win her), Kendrick Lamar vs Drake (this is what I’m talking about), Alyssa Edwards vs Coco Montrese… and the list goes on. I could spend my whole day naming examples.

HOWEVER, there’s one rivalry you may or may not know about– but if the second option is your case, then I bet you’ve been living under a rock your whole university experience. And yes guys, I can’t say explicit names but you just gotta walk into Seminar Room 2B on a Thursday at 11:30 to meet them: the most dramatic, most intense, and arguably most entertaining enemies this campus has ever seen. The twin stars of the IR major. The reason some of us run to class.

What is even neorealism about? no one cares –except for that smart ass boy. Their rivalry is so famous, a girl told me she enrolled in IR just to witness the drama live. She dropped the major two weeks later, what a coward. 

Their rivalry is neither subtle nor civil. Is not productive anymore, yet is still a… spectacle. A form of performance art we don’t know how to look away from. Because there’s something fascinating about two people who are so deeply committed to outsmarting each other while never letting themselves be outshined.

Last semester, one of them booked every single study room in the library during finals week. Not to use them. Just so the other couldn’t have one. Is that legal? I don’t know. What’s astonishing, is what the other did in response. Sh– I mean they, paid to every single café near campus to give out free coffee and banned the rival from entering. The camus café included. I hate rich people. 

And don’t forget what happened at the last model UN. They refused to look at each other for six hours. Their committees weren’t even related.

Or that time one of them switched presentation slots in a seminar to go right before the other and steal their talking points? won’t lie, was iconic. 

And yet… when it finally started to feel repetitive –when we were ready to move on and stop talking about them– someone (maybe me), said, “Wait. What if this is actually the beginning of an anemia-to-lovers romcom?”

We are all bored. Everyone’s stressed with midterms. So this is the plotline we never asked but desperately need for entertainment. Here’s my prediction: we’ll witness a cold war about to melt into a slow-burn romance. Or maybe they do hate each other and we are all just projecting a twisted fantasy onto two people who rather die than share a google doc.

But if my prediction is real, please kiss before midterms. I can’t keep emotionally investing in two people when half the department thinks they use model UN as foreplay. 

And trust me. I’ve studied enough political dynamics to know that no one plays this dirty unless they’re one step away from surrender.

author's note: hii i decided to upload a chapter zero before officially starting the series!! this au will be a mix of messages and tweets, but i didn't include any twitter's profiles while introducing the characters because i just really love moodboards. anyways tsym for reading this!!! 🩷🩷🩷

glossary:

article 51: a part of the united nation's charter that says that countries have the right to defend themself if they're attacked. it allows self-defense until the security council (main un's organ that cares about peace and security) steps in. basically, in yn and soobin terms, if one of them sabotages the other, they victim will 100% retaliate

taglist: @iyoonjh @kukkurookkoo

masterlist ✦ next

profiles: the feminist agenda ✦ neorealist committee

[raayllum]

So. This scene. A few things:

Love the way it's almost a parallel to Viren and Callum's dark magic dreams in terms of the spotlight effect and of course potential light/dark symbolism. And of course that score tugs right on the heartstrings

Rayla is a character who places a lot of emphasis on memory in her dialogue and action, partially because memory is the biggest source and antithesis of grief, something she's experienced a lot of in various ways (and often as the sole carrier of her family's grief). Her blades are all she has to remember Runaan and Ethari by (no pictures or other people who knew them as she did, unlike Callum, Ezran, and Soren with their loved ones) as she says in 4x08; she had to remember her parents throughout most of her childhood and now her other set of parents as well, as she spent 2+ years believing she'd never see any of them again; her vow to always remember and carry Callum with her in Dear Callum; and last but not least her "Just remember me, okay?" to him in 3x08 as a parting request, particularly reinforced since the Silvergrove literally erased her. Rayla is a character who greatly struggles to actually put down anything she carries with her, emotionally. So it's heartbreaking but unsurprising that memory is a focus here as well.

And then we get to the crux of it, which is just like all three of the parents that stand before her, Rayla has always put the world above her own needs and her own family, just as they put their missions and duty ultimately above her. It also nicely sets up the contrast between her and Callum in 5x04 as his response is the opposite to hers, as well as showing that Callum and Ezran are also her Family (and have been for quite some time). And I do also think that the memory of Rayla's parents here is what's helping guide her to her own conclusion to not spend any more time on the coins (and she does a very good job at masking her pain/grief about this season, much better than she had in previous seasons) because she knows, or believes, this is what they would do in her scenario. To prioritize the good of the world over their loved ones at the cost of great personal suffering. Speaking of costs...

The "at any cost" is a great motif callback to Rayla's repeated insistence on price paying ("But I'm ready to pay that price" in 1x06 / "But if I'll die, I'll just be paying the price they should've paid a long time ago" in 3x08) as well as her statement in 3x09:

Callum: We have one objective today: protect the Dragon Prince. Rayla: At any cost.

The fact it's about her literally coined parents is just a bonus, as well as the potential set up later of Rayla saying they have to stop Aaravos, at any cost, while holding an assassin's bow... (but that's for when the possession plotline comes back around I suppose).

Last but not least, the relative warmth of the vision sequence is taken away, as the apparition of her parents and their warm smiles fade, and Rayla is left alone holding the bow, but brokered by new resolve. And then immediately arrested seconds after she finishes crying. Poor girl can't catch a break

[litsnobconfessions]

A Year of Animation Day 141-142: Craig of the Creek S3E31-37

Date: May 21-22, 2025

Day: 141-142

Content Watched: Craig of the Creek, Season 3, Episodes 31-37

Year: 2017-2025

Rating: TV-Y7

Run Time: 77 minutes

Wow! What a finale! I am not ashamed to say that I was as invested in this story line as any action movie I've seen... probably more invested, actually. I love that the two plotlines about the ancients and the king came in "Capture the Flag" I-V. This show gets better and better, and this is my favorite part of Creek so far. I especially liked that Craig kept seeing reasons for having someone in charge, but when he had the opportunity to take the role of king, he refused it. Good lesson. Also, he's proven himself as a leader by doing things like bringing together the council of the creek, which in the long run, is a better way to run the creek, even if they made the mistake of letting Xavier in in the first place. I mean, yeah, a council is not impervious to mistakes. But a (truly representative) council will do better to defend the rights of the people than a single person, who is likely to be corrupted by power.

But I think the most important part of this series of episodes, which is also important for all of us to remember, especially now, is that Craig succeeds by making friends. Kenneth tells him that his friends gave him the crown, but Xavier wouldn't have friends without it. Craig's allies came because he listened, he learned, and he built genuine relationships with them--even kids like Wildernessa and Jason, who he struggled to get along with. Because he understood that all of them had something in common: the creek. Craig's superpower is community.

And I know this show is simplified. I know it's a kids' show. I know grown-up problems are more complicated than kid problems ("Welcome to Creek Street" proved that.) I know adults have higher stakes than Capture the Flag. But it's like the differences between the Williams family and the Heeler family. The outcome is different. The principles are the same. Adult tyrants can do a lot more damage than King Xavier. But they use the same tactics. We have to recognize them and be ready to defend against them. And defending against them means creating community. It means building each other up. And the bleaker and darker the time, the more we need to do it.

I thought I was going to talk about Jessica becoming an entrepreneur and the return of the Ice Pop Trio and the Craig's building backstory (Earl repurposed a straw dispenser into a pencil dispenser!) I thought I would talk about the freeze tag animations and the montage of bringing the team together and how this sequence of episodes brought everybody's various abilities back from different episodes (did they think they were getting cancelled?) But none of this is what gripped me tighter than any piece of adult media. At its heart, Creek is about community, and that's something we could all do with right about now.

[winwin17]

Hear me out: I think if Éomer had joined the Fellowship rather than Boromir, his plotline would've been similar.

Imagine if Éomer, disenchanted, frustrated, and at his wit's end with the mysterious spell Théoden was under due to Saruman/Wormtongue, somehow heard about the Council of Elrond and traveled to Rivendell to seek advice or even a means of healing for Théoden. Imagine if Éomer was chosen to represent the race of Men in the Fellowship.

Like Boromir, Éomer is desperate to save his land from the corruption, destruction, and desolation that is pressing in. Éomer feels the heavy weight of responsibility to stand up for the good and right in place of his uncle and father figure who has fallen to some delusion. Just as Boromir feels for Gondor, Éomer of Rohan is passionate about protecting his people, his beloved sibling, his homeland. He has the qualities of a leader, is proactive, ready to step up and be king himself if/when the need arises. And both of them them are action-oriented heroes who take delight in the glory of conquest.

I can see Éomer in the same place of desperation as Boromir. Maybe the Ring could save his uncle! Surely he, Éomer, a noble man, could wield the Ring's power to take down the awful Wormtongue and bring him to justice! Perhaps this thought would eat at his mind as the days passed, as it did to Boromir.

So all I'm saying is that I really think Éomer would have much the same plotline as Boromir had he been at the Council of Elrond/included in the Fellowship. I know you can't really replace the character of Boromir with Éomer without doing some major changing to the whole story, and by no means am I saying it should be that way. I just think that it's simply the fact that Éomer did not know about the Ring and was not in close proximity to it nor closely involved with the quest surrounding it, that his story takes him high while Boromir's story took him low. I believe the two of them are similar in temperament and motive, so similar that Éomer could've met the same fate as Boromir had he been in that position.

[sixth-light]

Having a fascinating conversation with @markantonys and @butterflydm in notes about the Tower Coup (& how it will go in the show) and I need to take my thoughts to a post, in roughly this order:

How did it START in the books vs how did it END?

What changed along the way and where did that work/not work?

With the benefit of hindsight, how could the show make this arc more coherent?

How it started vs how it ended

The Tower Coup starts in the books as a pretty clear moral issue: Siuan is deposed on the sketchiest of pretenses, she and Leane are tortured and stilled immediately, a lot of people die, and Elaida dissolves the Blue Ajah (basically all our friendly Aes Sedai up until this point are Blue). That's a lot! Then the Tower faction, on Elaida's orders, also kidnap and torture Rand. By the time Egwene is raised as Amyrlin we're fully ready to get behind her taking names and kicking Elaida's ass. Elaida is doing nothing to help her own cause, instead descending into paranoia and tyranny with nobody at the Tower doing anything to stop her.

And then...from ACoS on it becomes clear that there's plenty of Tower Aes Sedai who are good people (the Black Ajah Hunter plotline), and also that the Black Ajah and the Forsaken are working both sides of the conflict to keep it as amped up as possible. However, at the same time the Tower is collapsing into conflict, the Salidar camp under Egwene is rewriting the rules in a way that the books make clear offer the Aes Sedai as an institution new relevance and scope, by opening the novice book to all who wish to apply. Meanwhile, the Seanchan return and the seams of the Pattern start to fray because the Last Battle is getting real close now. By the time Egwene is kidnapped by the Tower, her mission becomes to negotiate the Tower Aes Sedai as a group (rather than Elaida, who is too far gone) into dealing with the real existential problems the Tower faces - the Seanchan and Tarmon Gai'don - rather than 'winning'. Once we hit the Sanderson books we're fully into 'the Tower is fine, it just needed to have the right person leading it', Gawyn's storyline is revealed (charitable) or mildly retconned (uncharitable) so that the Warders attacked first and he and the other Younglings were arguably justified in fighting them, and Egwene ends up demanding that the Salidar Aes Sedai apologise for their rebellion before the Tower is reunited under her.

Was this a change of direction? How well did it work?

I would argue that in general scope the Tower arc was always meant to end with a reconciliation between the two sides in order to face down the real enemy - Elaida literally Foretells this very early on in the piece, and it's signalled frequently that besieging Tar Valon with an army, even if it feels like the only option, is playing into the hands of the Shadow and supported by Darkfriends within the Salidar camp. There's also a strong theme throughout the final RJ books of our heroes having to make their peace with people they are fighting in order to effectively confront the Shadow. E.g., Perrin is rewarded for his truce with the Seanchan by getting Faile back. So I'm pretty sure the plan was always for Egwene to reunite the Tower by winning the respect and allegiance of crucial people within the Tower faction, rather than military action, and for the conflict between the two sides to be decisively derailed by a Seanchan attack.

HOWEVER.

I also feel pretty strongly that the way that arc finally ends feels like a weird and hard swerve towards 'rebelling was wrong actually' and ignores the extremely real grievances that caused the Blue Ajah and their allies to gather in Salidar in the first place. Despite the Ajah Heads' plotting there is never any viable path to negotiation presented to the Salidar faction - yes, some of this is down to the work of the Black Ajah but like. Tarna Feir wasn't Black! Elaida wasn't Black! None of the non-Red Ajah Heads were Black! The Tower as an institution is pretty fundamentally broken and instead of a renewal and a vision of what it could look like in the future, what we get in the last two books is kind of...a return to BAU except Egwene is in charge now...? and also we stop checking in with all the Aes Sedai we know in favour of charity namedrops, yes I'm still mad forever thanks. I think some of this is exacerbated by Sanderson but I do also think it's the result of RJ having a pretty sketchy idea of how the post-unification Tower was going to look or act except knowing there were crucial plot points to hit in terms of the conflict being derailed by the Seanchan attacking the Tower, and Egwene and Rand clashing before the Last Battle.

In addition, for me personally, Elaida in TGS is also almost a parody of her original self - she's a sexual harasser, she's physically violent - in a way that sure you can write off as the influence of Padan Fain but feels cartoonish. I think this is somewhat of a minority opinion but this makes Egwene's whole Reason You Suck speech very unsatisfying to me! None of it engages with why Elaida was able to become Amyrlin in the first place. It's not a tragedy, it's a farce.

Anyway, it's all a bit unsatisfying and the big question I have is...

How could the show do it better?

The show 100% has the benefit of hindsight and being able to simplify down its story instead of try and tie up ALL the dangling threads - it can just not weave those threads in to start with! - so I think it has huge potential to make this arc more elegant plot-wise and emotionally. For me there's three key ways it could do this:

Make Elaida a charismatic leader (to start with) Largely due to the books/RJ wanting the coup to come as a shock, we have very little insight into how Elaida persuades the Hall to take down Siuan and we never see Elaida as a genuinely charismatic leader people might want to follow. Coming after Siuan, sure - why choose her as leader? If the show can demonstrate why people follow her, it will make the Tower faction seem more reasonable to start with. And there's endless material to mine from the books in terms of her slide into tyranny as a more subtle and tragic arc.

Give the Salidar Aes Sedai a genuine chance to back down I don't think it's bad for readers' expectations to be challenged, but through the books it's really hard to see what other genuine options the Salidar Aes Sedai but particularly the Blue Ajah actually had. Elaida never resiles on her proclamation disbanding them; that's cataclysmically bad given how the structure of the Tower traditionally works. Frankly it should have made a lot more Tower Aes Sedai (and independents) turn against her! For the Salidar Aes Sedai to have any genuine apology to make at the end, they need to have a choice to reunite that they could take...and not take it. I think it's obvious in her later appearances that Tarna Feir was meant to be a 'Worst Person You Know Has A Point' character but that's left on the table for a loooooooooooong time through the Slog.

Show how the Tower has changed for the better Egwene's demand is part and parcel of her fairly sudden change into an Amyrlin who is basically happy with the Tower running as it always has, but with her and her people in charge now. Let's see how the post-reunification Tower is a genuinely different place which has learned from its experiences! Let's see how the influx of novices and new organisational systems, as well as the new engagement with the Windfinders and Wise Ones, are requiring Aes Sedai to contemplate new ways of doing things! Let's see Egwene leave a goddamn legacy that will outlive her. Going out in a blaze of glory is all well and good but that's what makes the Tower Coup arc have meaning. The Tower broke but wasn't defeated.

Anyway, that's enough brain-dumping - interested in what other people have to say about this!

[captainventi]

Stars On Ice

From the screen to the ice: it's Movie Week on Stars on Ice! Our participants will bring to life iconic characters from beloved films and TV shows. Action, mystery, drama, even sci-fi — true creativity knows no bounds!

Episode 3. The Mad Man with a Box (Doctor Who OST)

Pairing: celebrity!Xavier x figure skater!MC

Synopsis: Sometimes, when love crashes into your life, you’re just not ready for it — especially if you’re awkward and hopelessly unromantic by nature. But when your partner’s just as awkward as you are, it gets a whole lot easier to handle.

CW: figure skating!au, fluff, awkward romance, newly established relationship, dorks in love, mild social anxiety, mild public embarrassment, they really are dorks your honor

Notes: this is the third episode of xavier's plotline, the previous ones, along with other plotlines, can be found here. mc is a retired olympic figure skater, xavier is a former teen disney star who was trying to build his private life far from fame but still accepted the invitation to the show for some reason. dividers by @/thecutestgrotto

In classic romance novels, the story usually ends right after the grand love confession — two hearts exchanged, eternal happiness sealed, no questions asked. And, of course, not a single word about how, after all that, the couple actually has to get used to each other, figure things out, and face problems together. Lately, I think I’m beginning to understand why authors tend to skip that part. Because even the most perfect hero and the most delicate heroine lose a bit of their romantic glow once it turns out they can be painfully awkward in a real relationship.

Ever since we finally said everything we’d been bottling up (have you ever tried to confess your love in the time it takes for a YouTube video to cut to ads about real estate and chocolate bars?), my brain’s been struggling to process it all. Like... he loves me? Seriously, he loves me? This isn’t a prank? You’re telling me we hang out at his place again, watching season 18 of classic Doctor Who, I scoot closer and ask him to hold me because, as much as I love the show, the cactus villain is making me just a tiny bit anxious — and then, during the commercial break, he says that to me?

And my best reply is “Holy guacamole”?

And then he proceeds to prove, in no uncertain terms, that he’s never heard anything hotter in his life than this?

Our trainings after all that still go on without a hitch — our level of on-ice and off-ice cuddling is steadily climbing, which I’d say is more of a perk than a drawback of the job. We run through our routine — still painfully nerdy and friendship-themed, choreographed back when our relationship hadn’t exactly taken this… unexpected turn. I sneak a quick kiss when no one’s looking and step aside to stretch my back, which started aching mid-practice. By the time I get back, Xavier is already surrounded by the hosts. I realize he’s been ambushed by the camera crew, and there’s no more guessing who’s next up for the “Get to Know the Skater” segment.

“You made quite the impression on our viewers — especially the female ones — as the most romantic contestant this season,” one of the hosts says. Xavier bashfully looks away.

“Must be because of our last routine,” he mumbles, cheeks flushed a delicate porcelain pink. “But I’m afraid I might disappoint them. When it comes to romance, I’m basically Shrek. I’d pick a quiet evening in my swamp over a fancy candlelit date any day.”

“What’s your ideal type of girl?” the host asks curiously. And Xavier, still unaware I’m back from behind the scenes, just spills:

“Someone I can talk to about anything. Someone who gets excited about the simple stuff, the geeky stuff too. Who always has a funny comeback—even to a love confession. Maybe… my ideal girl is just as unromantic and, um, Shrek-like as me.” He pauses, suddenly realizing how that sounded. “I mean, not Shrek-like in appearance — though I totally respect all kinds of beauty! And appearance isn’t even the main thing, it’s about the person —oh my god, what am I saying. Please tell me you’ll edit this part out?”

That’s when he notices I’m already standing there. One look at his kitten-scared eyes and beet-red cheeks says more than any words could. The host glances at me too, and judging by his sly grin, I realize I’ve just as much given myself away — because I’ve been watching Xavier mess this up like a giddy lovestruck fangirl.

Hopelessly in love with how brilliantly awkward he is.

And, as the saying goes — if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em. I take Xavier’s hand and glance into his eyes just to make sure he’s okay with dropping the secrecy and saying it out loud. He smiles, nods — and before I can say anything, gently pulls me into a hug.

“I’d really prefer not to make this a big topic for discussion or speculation,” he tells the film crew, calm and confident now, not a trace of the earlier awkwardness. “Out of respect for our private life, I hope this doesn’t become one of the main segments in the episode. But let’s just say — according to the story of our program, I’ve got two hearts. And both of them belong to one person.”

“Spoilers,” I say, pressing a finger to his lips. He smirks at the reference and kisses the tip of my finger.

We actually spent a while deciding which part of the endless Doctor Who universe to capture in our program, but I fell in love with the season 5 soundtrack, and Xavier just naturally fit the Eleventh Doctor — young, warmhearted, eccentric, and adorably awkward. I was supposed to be Amy Pond, of course. But we’d choreographed the piece before we started dating, and we didn’t quite consider how much the dynamic between us might shift. It’s normal for figure skaters to perform romantic programs without any real-life romance — but try skating a program without any romance, when you’re suddenly full of it in real life!

And maybe we’re trying too hard to hold back, because the result ends up way too restrained. So much so that our artistic scores are noticeably lower than we’d hoped. I watch my usually composed partner clench his jaw as the judges critique the lack of emotional fire in a piece he poured his nerdy little heart (well, both hearts) into.

“I think the showrunners are deliberately trying to pressure us into producing more romance content,” I say later in the locker room, fingers gently combing through his hair as he lies on the bench with his head resting on my lap, yawning like he hasn’t slept in a week. I’ve noticed this about Xavier too: he bottles up stress, and it often comes out as sheer exhaustion.

“Let’s just skate what we actually feel comfortable with," he murmurs, eyelids heavy. "Even if they underscore us, who cares? I’m not here to win. I’ve already got the most important prize anyway.”

He shifts to his side, curling into my thigh like it’s his favorite pillow, brushing his cheek against it.

“Your bowtie’s crooked,” I whisper, straightening his deep burgundy bowtie and lightly brushing his neck with my fingers, watching his long blond lashes flutter.

“Bowties are cool,” he mutters, finally drifting off.