#joyce's character is... pretty much done in a way

[arkiwii]

ask game

arknights

1, at what point did you start shipping your otp

12, what actually got you into the game

15, what character for the chopping block

thank you for the ask, and for adding the question with it!! seriously helps lmao <- too lazy to switch between replying to the answer and the post

1. I think I already explained it in the past, but it's still a funny fact to me; I actually started to ship them before I even played Arknights. For those who fell asleep and did not followed, my otp is Saria/Silence. Why? Because a friend presented me some characters, and explained to me that Saria and Silence were exes and had an adoptive daughter. Which is, not exactly canon! But I DID believed it was. When I actually played the game and checked their files, I realized that there was nothing in canon that stated they were in a relationship pffft - basically I got gaslighted and believed there was something canonically romantic between them

Well that doesn't stop me. I can't remember when I really, really got into the ship, but mayybeee after I read the manhua? Anyway, all of this to say, I've been shipping them for a year now, and the insanity can't be cured

12. The. the birds. Well! Technically, it's because a few of my closest friends were playing the game and I started to get intrigued, but maybe I wouldn't have started if it weren't for the Liberi. "Imagine I play the game just to collect the birds /j /j" I said a year ago. yeah. that statement didn't aged well.

But the game seemed interesting too! and most of all, I already loved some characters my best friend presented to me, which were Aciddrop, Projekt Red and Silence. So of course I wanted to get to know them more!

15. I'm not sure if I understand the question, but I suppose it means which character I'd pick to kill in the story? mmh. Oren 💥💥💥

Jokes aside (all my homies hate Oren), I don't really know who I could pick. Arknights is already doing a great job at killing characters and making these deaths memorable and justifiable (FrostNova and Outcast,,,), I never told myself "why they killed this character??", and it's very good for a story. So naturally, I don't really want anyone in particular to die, and if I do, that's because they were destined to die in canon anyway, like Parvis, Gertrude or Mandragora (she's alive if you're delusional). The only character I can think about, and it's a really big hot take but also my extremely angsty side talking, would be Ptilopsis. Don't get me wrong, I love her! But she's already dying in some way, her fate is sealed - and god, it would be so fucking sad and angsty if it were to happen. I love my meals SPICY

[sapphosweirdkid]

i love flickergate. flickergate is so good. i think there's a good chance of it happening.

my reasons:

it's highly possible that mike and will will go into the upside down. they're carrying torches in the leaks for marketing, which proves that the torches are important enough to include in the character designs. the only place that they would need torches for a long time is the upside down. (message me if you didn't see the leaks, i'll send them to you)

(if i remember correctly) they use a wide shot in episode 1 when the light flickers. they could have used a shot of will with the light flickering on him to foreshadow how he communicates with joyce, but they chose a shot encompassing mike and will and the location.

honestly i have no good idea why it would be mike and will and not anyone else BUT putting them alone in a dangerous place seems like a great way to develop their relationship, they've done this with pretty much all of the relationships.

less concrete proof but of course heroes is byler's song and "the shame was on the other side" is SO flickergate

no because like on mike's porch they've

been best friends as kids

fought in the rain

kissed? hopefully

vote for me, sapphosweirdkid, and i will make flickergate real!

[wynnyfryd]

Trailer park Steve AU part 60

part 1 | part 59 | ao3

cw: reference to canonical minor character death

Max slams the phone down, knocking her forehead against the wall. Sixteen calls in a row and still no answer. “I give up,” she sighs. “You should just go.” “Seriously?” Steve protests. “And just leave you here? Alone? After—?” After all that? He throws his hands out like an umpire calling a safe. “No. No way.” “Look, my mom will be home soon, you can’t—” “—I’m not letting you get hurt—!” “—What are you gonna do? Fight my nightmares for me?”

“Maybe I will,” Steve mutters under his breath, pissed off and replaying the conversation on repeat while he gets ready. Feels like a psycho for doing it; feels certifiably unhinged just going about his evening after everything that happened, putting on a clean shirt and choking himself in a cloud of Farrah Fawcett spray so he can go pick up the sweet-but-stupid girl named Brenda he promised to take to the game tonight; so he can go cheer in the bleachers like he didn’t almost die.

(Or like, very vividly hallucinate his own death, which... Yeah. Doesn’t feel any less horrific.)

But whatever. Max is right. Without El, there’s really nothing to do but wait. Hop’s dead, Bob’s dead, Joyce is thirty hours away. Owens is off the table, too. What’s Steve gonna do? Call the government and tell them to come nuke the boogeyman? He doesn’t have any proof. 

He also doesn’t want to freak Dustin or any of the other kids out without knowing for sure what’s going on and what, if anything, can be done about it, so...

Fuck.

Fuck!

He gets dressed; he goes out. Picks up Brenda and does his best to be nice to her even though she gets on his nerves the moment she gets into his car, and he buys them sodas at the gas station and doesn't say a word when she spills Sprite down the side of his passenger seat.

The school is packed when they show up — the crowd in high spirits, the marching band leading chants. Nancy's reporting from the sidelines, Lucas is laughing with his teammates on the bench, and Steve leads Brenda toward the bleachers and does his best not to think. Not about the graveyard, not Max, not the looming threat of cosmic terrors. Not about the fact that Eddie is somewhere in this building, probably looking all hot and menacing while he leads tonight's campaign. Probably perched on a prop throne drinking Mountain Dew from a painted chalice like a fucking dork; probably making it look sexy, anyway. Tight jeans, legs spread, an air of casual command…

Steve could go find him. He could make everyone else leave; he could get on his knees and crawl between Eddie's legs—

"Does it bother you that we might win the championship, like, right after you graduated?"

Reality comes back like a slap in the face. "Yeah, that's an excellent question, Brenda, thank you so much for bringing that up."

They get settled into their seats, and Steve wishes he were more excited when the ref throws the jump ball, but he mostly just wants to go home. ("You always want to go home," the Robin in his head reminds him, and the Robin in real life throws him a weird look when she catches him snorting to himself about it.) He's just tired. Worn down in his bones, hollowed where he thinks his marrow should be, and he's clinging to normalcy with a sort of sweaty desperation that he’s pretty sure Brenda can smell on him because the date just sucks; it’s so bland, so mutually boring and bored. He spends most of the night mouthing stupid shit at Robin or keeping a sharp eye on the court — anything to ignore his proximity to Eddie; anything to drown out his messed-up head and heart. 

When the game finally ends Brenda gets a ride to a party with some friends. Steve goes back to Dustin’s place and paces a hole into the carpet. Stays up until 3 A.M., humming a Fleetwood Mac song.

In the morning, he tells himself as he drifts into fitful sleep. 

In the morning it’ll be fine. 

In the morning Max will come by the store like she promised, and they’ll keep trying until they get ahold of El, or Owens, or someone, and that someone will know what to do and how to help.

—

In the morning the TV tells him there’s a dead girl in his house.

—

part 61

tag list in separate reblogs under '#trailer park steve au taglist' if you'd like to filter that content. if you want to be added please comment and let me know (must be over 21; please either verify in the comment or have your age visible on your blog)

[chirpsythismorning]

Mike's character regression can be explained in large part by one emotion in particular: guilt

Just want to preface this by saying that, this is not Mike slander. I love this dude. In fact, I think what makes Mike such an interesting character is that a lot of his behavior throughout the series can be explained in part by previous moments, and after really looking at all these moments together, what you end up with is a pretty fucked up story.

So while some might want to take this as Mike slander, these points I'm making are a part of Mike and things he has done and said and whether they were intentionally harmful or not, it's Mike. It's all shaped him and his role in the story. The fact that we're seeing a visible shift in his behavior at all, with plenty of moments from the show to back up what brought us here, makes it compelling enough to talk about.

So, without further ado, back to our roots:

Ah yes, the infamous canon proof disputing Mike's I think my life started that day we found you in the woods, claim during his monologue. Not only that, but in this original scene from 1x02, it turns out Mike actually intended to send her away the next day (all of which El could hear Mike saying from the open bathroom door).

Mike outright calling El a weapon, again telling the others they need her because they stand no chance at getting Will back otherwise.

I wont elaborate on this now, because there is way too much to unpack that'll honestly be more worthwhile discussing further on.

For now, this is a secret tool that will help us later.

These next couple scenes right here though, are pretty painful if I'm being completely honest. The way its shot, specifically El's very visible exhaustion, accompanied by the varying priorities of others around her, leaves me feeling pretty unsettled upon rewatches.

I obviously can't remember how I felt when I watched these scenes for the first time, but I imagine I viewed them as this huge romantic moment for Mike and El (I was tricked by heteronormativity, okay?). But, again, upon rewatching them since then, I've realized I get this sort of sad feeling by the end. You'll see what I mean.

El obviously just went through something extremely traumatic. She tried to go find Will and Barb in the void, only to find Barb dead and Will presumably alive, but then slipping through her fingers at the last second (no, literally).

We then got a moment where Joyce held El while the others sat by quietly because she clearly needed a moment of comfort given what she just endured.

Then in this scene shortly after, everyone is leaving to get ready for their final attempt at saving Will.

Now, notice how not only Lucas, but also Dustin make the effort to reach out to El to comfort her affectionately after that traumatic event, with those twos' actions specifically being showcased in sequence?

Lucas, who spent the better part of the season being critical of El, is now ending the season rubbing El's shoulder to warm her up, literally soothing her to make her feel better.

Then there's Dustin, who right after Lucas' gesture makes a gesture of his own, putting his hand on her knee reassuringly, to show her he's there and he's happy she's okay.

And lastly there's Mike, who is so kindly allowing El to rest her head on his shoulder. This placement of Mike and El here is definitely a testament to the fact that Mike has vouched for El this whole time in contrast to the others and so, understandably, she put her head on his shoulder for reassurance, because out of the three of them, he's the one whose been looking out for her the most. (Right?)

Now you might be thinking that this sequence's only purpose was to show Lucas and Dustin's development with El, and that it wasn't intentional that they focused on Lucas and Dustins' priorities in this moment in contrast to Mikes'. And I raise you, this next scene.

Here we have a focus on Mike looking on to where everyone left, while the others beside him are presumably just processing what went down and taking a rest (and boy oh boy do they (El) need one).

Mike on the other-hand decides to take this moment of rest to display the most cliche and universal forms of distracted unrest known to man: he checks his watch.

Mike then stands up abruptly, causing El to fall without his shoulder there for her to rest on anymore, all while her and Dustin are looking on after him, sort of like... Okay?

It's small. It might seem insignificant. But if you actually pay attention to what this scene is trying to make you feel, after really looking at it for what it is, it's kind of sad.

In a moment that chooses to highlight the other boys' acknowledgment of El after what just happened, and not only that, but at the tale end of their final battle of the season, Mike is... distracted?

Mike, who has been presumably looking out for El more than the others in the party this whole time, is conveniently out of commission? And right now when El is looking for his reassurance the most? Mike doesn't even have a moment to say, 'Hey I'll be right back, I just want to check something. Can one of you?--', asking Lucas or Dustin to sit next to her in his place. No. Dude just stands up without even acknowledging her.

If it was any other moment in the show, under less post-traumatic circumstances for El, then I wouldn't even think much of it. But it's at this point in the story when El is essentially at her most exhausted and quite literally seeking out support from others, specifically Mike, that makes his distractedness so eery.

Again, you might still be thinking that this isn't that deep. However, I think based on the events leading up to this, and what follows right here, could quite literally hold the answer to the guilt Mike is still keeping to himself to this day.

So... How are we feeling?

Are we feeling like Mike None of you are thinking about El's wellbeing right now! She could get brain damage from using her powers too much! She's not a weapon!* Wheeler is a little bit of a hypocrite? (I told you that tool would come in handy!)

It's actually quite terrifying how similar this scene is framed to the scene in Hopper's cabin in s3, where Mike pretty much says the exact opposite. In s1 Mike goes from being one of the first people to refer to El as a weapon within the context of them using her powers to find Will, with him being completely un-attuned to the fact that she is exhausted in this moment while the others are saying El's rest and safety is the most important, to then in s3 completely flipping script and saying El was using her powers for nothing, blaming the others for treating her like a weapon and not taking her wellbeing into consideration.

It would be one thing if Mike had a little arc where he acknowledged this script flip. Because that's what it is. It is them having Mike use a word in s1 to describe El, that being weapon, only to say the others are treating her like that with that same word being used. It is them having Mike not agknowledge El's well being after overusing her powers, only to say the others aren't taking her wellbeing into consideration for overusing her powers.

And it would be one thing if Mike had spoke to El or literally anyone about how he felt like he wronged El for planning on sending her away the next day after they found her so that they could go back to looking for Will, or how he said she was a weapon that they needed in order to find Will, essentially being no better than the people she just escaped from, who also used her for her powers. But we don't get that (actually we do.. but it's not acknowledged for what it is aka survivor's guilt. It's instead seen as romantic... another tool for later...)

Now, don't get me wrong, I don't think any of Mike's behavior takes away from what Mike did do for El, because yes he was kind and accepting when the others weren't. But even despite all of that, at the end of the day, he was often at the forefront of expecting El to risk her life for them, even if he wasn't outright asking that of her.

Before you freak out, No. I don't think Mike, a literal child, was capable of fathoming that El was going into these situations risking her life. She's a superhero. El's alternative was literally going back to the lab, running, or staying with Mike. This was her safest option.

After a bunch of rewatches and putting together a lot of these moments as a whole, I've come to a point where I believe that Mike's behavior throughout s1 was him thinking that because of who El was, she's already in danger at all times. That is a constant reality for her. And so why not have her help them find Will, because she is able to, all while he can also help her. And El clearly wanted to help them, because she wanted to help good people and finally do something meaningful with her powers for a change. Unfortunately, she also had to endure PTSD flashbacks almost every single time Mike and the boys had her use her powers to help find Will.

Speaking of Will, he is currently missing and possibly dead. Will also, in contrast to El (for now...), does not have any sort of superpowers.

Mike's concern over the threat of Will's livelihood is much greater than Mike's acknowledgement to the true risks El is exposing herself to each time she uses her powers to help them. That is s1 canon.

Is there times when Mike is focused on El and her well being. Absolutely! But is there also times when Mike is not showing any display of concern to El's well being in the moment, in complete contrast to the other characters around him... Also yes.

And so the events happening the way they did, with Mike himself not fully comprehending the severity of what's been going on during these high stake situations going on around him, makes sense.

And that's what makes it all the more sad that when Mike finally does realize what he's truly been asking of El this whole time, which is to risk her life for them, it's too late.

This whole scene is obviously very emotional. All of the boys are crying, but the focus on Mike calling out for El painfully is heartbreaking.

But what's even more sad to me, is that El has been sort of used to mistreatment her whole life. She's used to having to find any comfort she could get from people in her life, all the while they were using her for her powers. I mean even despite Brenner being who he was and doing what he did, she still showed these signs of wanting to love him despite it. Which is very very fucked up. But knowing what she's gone through, makes sense.

Mike on the other-hand does greatly contrast Brenner because he was one of the first people to actually treat her with genuine kindness right from the start (before he even knew she had powers), making it a lot easier for her to care for him even despite that pesky trait of using her for her powers being almost synonymous with Brenner's very similar trait.

So when she looks back at Mike, and points him out specifically before sacrificing herself, it feels like a few things at once.

It feels like her acknowledging the fact that she appreciated him specifically for taking her in and supporting her more genuinely than anyone has in her entire life.

And yet it also feels like her, either intentionally or unintentionally, acknowledging the unfortunate side affect caused by days of Mike leading the efforts to find Will, with the expectation of her to do things to achieve that, which could have all lead to her demise technically. And so now when it all comes down to it and the stakes are at their highest yet, same as the risk, she's got to a point where she believes there is no other choice but to do just that, risk her life, especially if it means saving them.

While this is happening, Mike is backtracking in real time. He is trying to get El to stop and it's because he doesn't want her to die. Obviously.

But that's the fucked up part isn't it? When he finally realized what he's been asking of her this whole time, it's too late.

Which takes us to S2 Mike Wheeler, known by many for being a boy whose been calling his true love everyday for almost a year now because he's just so in love, but is actually in fact a boy suffering the most intense form of survivors guilt, one that involves a person who genuinely feels responsible for the persons death...

But that will probably take at least another 2,000 words so I'm thinking maybe I better split this into multiple parts.

I will tease that the next part involves one specific detail in particular that I never see anyone talk about, a detail that I think, in combination with what's discussed in this post, is so important to understanding Mike's breakdown for what it truly was at the end of season 2. I will also probably do more posts beyond that for s3-4, to delve into the impacts these moments from the first two seasons have basically put in place a perfect recipe for what is currently going down.

So feel free to stay tuned for those nonsense updates.

Continued

[brionysea]

I was recently asked what stranger things is about by someone who, somehow, has never been exposed to it. at the time, I didn't have an answer. I could have described the first season - 'a young boy vanishes from a small town and then monsters show up' - but for the overall story, I was stumped, because we don't KNOW what's going on yet. if I was asked that question again, now that I've had time to think about it, I would describe stranger things as: 'jumanji, but the game comes to you'. that's what I think is happening in the show: everyone is playing a game

with all of my stranger things-acquired knowledge (which is almost better for the purposes of figuring out what the show is trying to do), I know that dungeons and dragons is a game played by a group, with the story being told and planned (sometimes there's no plan) by one person. the first few minutes of the show make it clear that this person is mike. after the cold open in hawkins lab of an unseen force attacking scientists, it cuts to mike narrating the demogorgon's attack to his friends in his basement. they get cut off in the middle of the story, mike's parents don't listen to his pleas for more time to finish the game, will decides to tell mike what would have happened next despite lucas' advice not to, and the story follows will home

there's a LOT to go into with this, but put simply, I've noticed that mike knows WAY too much about what's going on throughout the show, has a deeply intuitive understanding of the various story elements that few other characters do (nancy), and the narrative seems to reflect and line up with his emotions - especially when they're ignored and/or things aren't going the way he wants. we're watching a story-based game play out, and mike is the one telling it. (until he's not, because some people - like max and nancy - don't WANT to play d&d and prefer to make their own decisions rather than having the story told for them, which is why they take over in mike's absence - and even when he's still there one season prior)

it's kind of a writing cop-out, because even though I believe it's being done intentionally, any plot hole or nonsensical story beat could be explained away by saying, 'well, in universe, it's being written by a 12 year old!' - but the show is aware of this. at the end of the first season, the rest of the boys inform mike that his story (which is pretty clearly the story of the first season, in a cheeky, self-aware sort of way) makes no sense, they clearly find the ending unsatisfying, and he left numerous loose threads untied. when lucas recounts the story of season one to max in the second season, she says that although it was crazy, she really liked it, she just wishes it had a little more originality because it felt derivative in parts. to us, that's because stranger things is nostalgia bait for people who grew up in that time period. but looking at it through this lens, in universe, it's derivative because it's a child wanting to tell stories and taking inspiration from that really cool movie he saw last month

there are a few other storytellers in the main cast, and while nancy's journalism is more facts-based and focused on revealing the truth of the actual world they live in, will's art - like mike's writing - seems sort of halfway between *processing* the world and *escaping* from it. joyce says that, for his birthday one year, will got a lot of star wars toys from his friends and a box of crayons from joyce. he ignored the toys and just wanted to draw, and he drew a rainbow spaceship, which joyce was so proud of that she took it into work with her and showed everyone. it wasn't a star wars spaceship, not one from a movie, it was WILL'S spaceship. will tries to fill mike's role as the d&d storyteller during the third season, but mike easily takes over (again, giving the story - WILL'S story, this time - an unsatisfying ending), and then, once mike's attempts to backtrack and keep the game going are unsuccessful, will is once again the only person willing to tell mike the truth, and the story once again follows him home

between the two of them, mike is trying to tell his story by looking at what other people HAVE done and ARE doing, while will possesses the originality that max wished for from lucas' season one retelling. later, dustin says that lucas probably didn't tell it right - it's lucas telling mike's story, which is derivative of a million other stories, so it's essentially a copy of a copy of a copy... and so on and so forth. but mike is good with words and will can paint a picture, and together they can make something original - because mike clearly can't finish the story himself without giving it a terrible ending, despite all his efforts to the contrary (so far, he's incapable of accepting anything less than perfect, which is turning out to be really unfair on el especially by locking her into this rigid idea of what her story should be), and will can't seem to start the story on his own (due to his tendency of fading into the background in one way or another)

the reasoning for WHY all of this is happening (plot reasons, not thematic or character reasons), is a bit more undefined in my mind. it seems to have something to do with time, alternate worlds/timelines, and - knowing mike's characterisation - it's probably a form of protection for someone(s). dustin says in the first season that mike is never late, and yet every season opens with mike running late - running out of time - like clockwork. as if things haven't quite been put back to the way they're supposed to be yet

this is mostly me piecing together other people's theories, because the time stuff really is beyond me - but I suspect that something terrible (will's father; joyce and jonathan both weren't home for once, lonnie came into town looking to make money off of will's death, jonathan believes that lonnie could kill will, and the guy keeps getting brought up despite barely being a character) originally happened to will when he was vanished in season one. will ended up dead in the quarry, for real, and mike saw it, for real. mike then decided that the reality of will being gone was too much to face, so he somehow turned back the clock and turned the monster into something he felt confident the kids could save will from - a metaphorical monster come to life from within their unfinished game, their escape from reality, which is why the kids absolutely dominate at figuring this stuff out while older, by no means unintelligent characters struggle

mike is a very all or nothing character, and there always seems to be something he's not happy with (will being gone; el being gone; max's home life having the potential to take her away; hopper being gone; mike's friend group drifting apart/leaving him behind; mike's general emotional state and poor life choices - most of which ARE or COULD HAVE BEEN solved by A Monster, human or otherwise, showing up), so there's always something more to fix that keeps the story going. it's not until mike can learn to be content with who he is, with being originally and uniquely himself and not derivative of the people around him, that the cycle will break

[becomingbuffypodcast]

S5. Ep17. Forever

"To me, the idea of wanting to defy death is just an inherent, almost mythological, iconic notion. It's something we can relate to... a universal longing." She adds that the idea for this episode arose from the idea that Dawn would be in the bargaining stage of mourning, and "if you were in Sunnydale and someone you loved died, you would absolutely call on the forces of darkness to resurrect them." -Marti Noxon

‘Forever’ is inspired by the horror short story by English author W. W. Jacobs, “The Monkey's Paw". In the story, three wishes are granted to the owner of the Monkey’s Paw, but the wishes come at an enormous price for interfering with fate. The final scene of the episode almost directly mirrors the story, where having made a wish that his dead son was alive, the protagonist throws the monkey’s paw into the fire when he hears his child knock on the front door.

Creating a good episode after an iconic one is pretty much an impossible task, and one the show has not been great at doing…until now. In some ways, ‘Forever’ elevates the impact of ‘The Body’ by showing us the next stage of grief—processing and living with loss as life continues. It would have done the characters, the story, and the audience a massive disservice to have the show move on so quickly, and in some ways, this episode packs an even deeper punch as the permanence of Joyce’s death sinks in. Death is forever. But so is love.

“What is grief if not love persevering? To lose someone we have lost does not erase the love we have felt for them, it simply moves the object of our love out of reach. Grief is the space left behind, and it is the work of loving someone who is gone.” -WandaVision

[coraniaid]

I guess I'm running the risk of sounding like a broken record at this point, but I don't think I'll ever not be deeply depressed by the way so many people on here talk about Joyce Summers.

I mean, I'm just thinking out loud here, but.  Maybe the reason that Giles was much more immediately accepting of Buffy's identity as the Slayer than Joyce was might have something to do with the fact that Giles has been training to be a Watcher for over three decades when he first meets Buffy? That his family sat him down and explained to him that vampires were real when he was a child, and that he's had over thirty years to get used to that fact? And that he is in fact literally paid to train Buffy and mentor her and prepare her for being killed in the Cruciamentum after she turns eighteen and he helps rob her of her powers her destiny? 

Whereas Joyce learns about the reality of vampires and Slayers and the supernatural for the very first time while in a state of extreme emotional distress, only hours after discovering that her daughter is wanted by the police for murder, and in circumstances such that Buffy simply has no time to sit her down and explain things in more detail in the manner they would both want?  Which is a turn of events that can be attributed in large part to the fact that Giles himself repeatedly told Buffy that she couldn't possibly tell her mother about vampires, even after (1) a vampire attacked her in her own home (in Season 1's Angel) and even after (2) the vampire Buffy had been dating, who had a standing invitation into her house, lost his soul and started going after the people closest to her, people explicitly including Joyce. (And note that Giles never offers a better argument for not sharing this potentially life-saving information than Xander's "the more people who know the secret the more it cheapens it for the rest of us".)

I mean, I know you're all pretty wedded to the popular competing theory that it's because *checks notes* Giles is a perfect dad who Buffy should have been much more grateful and sympathetic towards while Joyce is an evil bitch who never once did a good thing for her daughter (and Buffy must be stupid for ever thinking or saying otherwise), but the problem is that that theory is … uh, bad, actually.  Really incredibly cartoonishly bad. And dressing it up in pseudo-progressive language doesn't make it any better.

Wringing your hands over how poorly you think the show writes middle-aged women as if there's simply nothing to be done about it except conclude that they are indeed horrible people (and maybe give them some completely new flaws the show never did), while at the same time you write endless hagiographies and apologia for the show's canonically terrible (and often just as badly under-written) men is definitely a choice though.

And yes, it is definitely true that Giles matters more to the story of Buffy the Vampire Slayer than Joyce does. It is clear that the writers care about him more as a character than they care about Joyce, and that he is consistently used in a metaphorical way that Joyce normally isn't. At best you can perhaps argue that Joyce exists to vocalize and reify Buffy's own lingering desires to be seen as respectable and 'normal', but I don't think this is a reading the show ever commits to in the systematic way it does the Mind/Heart/Spirit reading of Giles/Xander/Willow. But on a less metaphorical level, thinking about the different characters of the show purely as distinct people in their own right, nothing Buffy says or does ever suggests she cares about her relationship with Giles more than her relationship with Joyce. Quite the opposite, in fact.

[pattytasm]

Raul Esparza - Company - Report - The New York Times

Breaking Character for the First Time in His Life

By Joyce Wadler

Nov. 26, 2006

THOSE who have doubts about the pressures that only children in immigrant families face just need to see Raúl Esparza imitating Mother. That’s mother with a capital M because Mr. Esparza’s mother, born in Cuba and shipped out at 14 to make her own way in the world, is theatrical and bossy enough to be a Sondheim character herself.

Consider that Mr. Esparza, just turned 36, is the star of “Company,” one of the most anticipated Broadway revivals of the season. It doesn’t even open till Wednesday, and already Mother is on him about the next step.

“She says now you’re going to have to get some work in a TV show,” Mr. Esparza says in his dressing room, taking a break from the stuff that is tearing him apart, though of course this is part and parcel of the stuff that is tearing him apart. “I said, ‘You don’t mean that.’ What I’m hearing is: Your name over the marquee in a Sondheim show on Broadway is not enough. And you kind of internalize that.”

He’s laughing, riffing: “Well, I guess I could be king of France, ’cause it’s not good enough to be the president of the United States. I’m going to orbit Mars. Why not three times?”

“Company”: The story of Bobby, a charming single man, who is unable to commit to a relationship and who may have questions about his own sexual identity.

Raúl Esparza: No longer truly married but not entirely separated, whose romantic conflicts go far deeper than that of the character he plays and have no easy fix.

His dressing room suite is done all in beige, the better to soothe. To make it more so, Mr. Esparza dims the lights. There’s the comforting sound of the little electrical waterfall and Bill Evans’s mellow jazz, though how much this helps is difficult to say. Broadway denizens may remember Mr. Esparza for a confrontation with Rosie O’Donnell when he had a featured role in “Taboo” and she was the producer, but there’s no hint of a difficult guy now.

You meet instead a funny, self-deprecating man who arrives in jeans and an old sweater and kicks off his shoes. He starts out a little fast and nervous; joking about his star dressing room; saying that in Cincinnati, where he won raves for this production earlier this year, his character wore Hugo Boss and here he wears Armani, not that he can see the difference. He talks about those windows to the actor’s heart, the photos on the makeup mirror. That’s the grandmother who raised him; that’s Michele, whom he married at 23, on their honeymoon.

But he gets to the stuff that’s been tearing him up, the stuff that most leading men would never discuss, pretty early, almost as if he wants to make a public statement. He’s been reading a book that suggests sitting quietly for 10 minutes a day and just seeing what feelings come up, he says, and “basically, there’s a lot of sadness underneath, sadness and anxiety.”

Image



Raúl Esparza, who plays Bobby in the new production of “Company,” says the emotions raised in the musical have a particular meaning for him.Credit...Sara Krulwich/The New York Times

Why is that?

“Michele and I are separated,” he says. “It’s the end of something I thought was going to be perfect. She’s my best friend, I’ve known her since high school.” They’ve been separated, on and off, he says, since he came to New York in 2000; they even went for divorce papers once, in Miami, but couldn’t go through with it. He can’t get away from the feeling that he’s doing something wrong, disappointing other people, particularly their families.

“Life has been very complicated,” Mr. Esparza says. “I’ve been very unsure of things since I came to New York. I was terrified that I would never work here, that I would be starving and useless. Then all those things that happen to an actor. Issues of sexual identity too.”

He says those issues, which first arose in college, “shook the core of who I was.”

“So many artists I admire are bisexual,” he says. “I knew a lot of gay men growing up. There didn’t seem to be anything wrong with it as long as it was someone else, but not me.”

Mr. Esparza grew up in Miami. His father was an engineer, from a family of engineers; his mother was always working, as interior designer, banker or travel agent. The family moved a lot, and his parents fought. Mr. Esparza’s maternal grandmother, America García Pell, moved in with the family when he was 5, and it was she who provided unconditional love. Mr. Esparza attended the Belen Jesuit Preparatory School, which stressed service to the community. He liked girls. He wanted to be a lawyer. But while still in high school he started acting professionally, and his parents encouraged him to pursue that. Perhaps because they had lost so much leaving Cuba, he says, they understood that life was short and you should do what you love.

Then he went to New York for his sophomore year in college and everything changed. He fell in love with a male instructor at New York University, a composer, who was only a few years older. After Mr. Esparza graduated, it was this instructor who helped him get an audition in Chicago at the Remains Theater Company, which resulted in a job.

“He was tough and impossible and manipulative and brilliant and really inspired and believed I’d be a big star,” Mr. Esparza says.

Was he in love with this man?

“Yeah, I think I was very much,” he says. “The best thing about him is he made me feel like a great person, no matter what I was doing. He didn’t seem to feel gay or straight was much of an issue.”

Mother, however, very much did. She discovered the affair by reading his journal when he was home on vacation and demanded Mr. Esparza see a therapist.

“He told me my mom would be better off visiting him,” Mr. Esparza says. “He also said he thought I’d be successful, no matter what happened in my life, but that something was wrong with my mother prying in my life.”

Mr. Esparza did not appear entirely comfortable with the experience himself. Two years after graduating, in 1993, he married his high school girlfriend. And, like the character he plays in “Company,” he was able to distance himself from difficult emotional entanglements.

Image



Raúl Esparza, leaning against the piano in the revival of Stephen Sondheim's "Company."Credit...Sara Krulwich/The New York Times

“There was a part of me that was trying to get rid of it,” he says of his relationship with a man. “That was saying: ‘That was interesting, that was part of me, but it’s not all of me. I choose, because I love this woman, to marry her.’ It was a little bit naïve of me: That was then, that’s that city, that was an experience and wasn’t that interesting back then? When the truth is, it’s not a person, not a place, not an experience. It’s you, who you are.”

In 1998 his former lover killed himself. Less than two years later, after starring in a 20th anniversary tour of “Evita,” Mr. Esparza came to New York — alone. It was a move he felt he had to make, but had resisted, for years.

Had the death made it safer to come back? “Yes, yeah,” he says. “It also made me look long and hard at myself about all the things I had been hiding from now, and not just about gay/straight, man/woman. I also realized that if I didn’t come to New York, I’d regret it for the rest of my life.”

He was terrified. But talking about it now he recalls an actor who told him that when you’re doing a play and you’re afraid of a scene, that’s the scene you should embrace, because that’s the scene that will tell you something about the play. Or, in this case, something about yourself. Still, those first months in Manhattan were awful.

“I couldn’t get arrested,” Mr. Esparza says. “I didn’t have any furniture. I had an apartment on 44th Street, sleeping on an air mattress. I had to sleep with the TV and lights on, I was so scared of the dark.”

What did he see when the lights were off?

“I saw this guy, one time, at the foot of the bed laughing at me,” he says, even now not using the words boyfriend or lover. “This dead man, my friend who had killed himself. He was rotten in the dark, laughing at me and how unhappy I was.”

His days were also depressing. Getting coffee at the Marriott Marquis, he saw some actors he knew from “Evita” who were working on Broadway. “I was embarrassed to go say hello because I didn’t have a job, I didn’t have a home, my marriage wasn’t the way I wanted it,” he says. “I just stood there with the coffee like there was a wall between me and them.”

Six months later he landed a job in “The Rocky Horror Show” and he was on his way: in the Off Broadway musical “Tick, Tick, Boom!”, for which he won an Obie; in two Sondheim shows at the Kennedy Center in 2002; as the male lead in “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang,” in which, as he’ll tell you, the real star was the flying car.

Then came “Company.” John Doyle (who directed last season’s minimalist “Sweeney Todd”) offered him the role after their first meeting, without even hearing him sing. The casting director, Bernie Telsey, says the lead had to be someone whom all the characters are “a little bit in love with — only if it was love as in really like.” Mr. Doyle prefers to say that Bobby is the character to whom everyone is drawn, “not in the romantic sense, but as a catalyst.”

“Bobby is the man who is on the outside looking in,” he explains. “What’s interesting is that he’s observing, not doing.”

Image



Mr. Esparza in the musical "Taboo" in 2003.Credit...Sara Krulwich/The New York Times

As for Mr. Esparza himself, he says: “I think the real thing that Bobby is going through is that he’s trying to grow up, and that means accepting things you can’t change, and it also means that in spite of all the messiness and failure you make a choice to love someone and live your life in the way that’s right for you. It’s messier than the pretty picture you painted for yourself. I had a romantic idea of what it means to be an adult: all husbands and wives who love each other get to stay together forever, love is enough.

“There’s a song in the show, ‘Sorry/Grateful’: ‘You holding her thinking you’re not alone/And you’re still alone.’ I remember with Michele one day holding her in bed and being very, very sad because we were talking about things that were so difficult for us to deal with. I remember feeling like this was a chasm between us. That the person I most loved in my life was as far away as another country, and there was nothing I could do or say to change.”

Mr. Esparza is now involved with an actor — nothing he can talk about, it’s still too tenuous, he says — but his wife is still in his life and, he says, he still adores her.

“We’re still trying to figure a new way to figure it out,” he says. “Boy, are we.”

Mr. Esparza and the man he plays have something else in common: the many people telling them how to live their lives. With his father it’s business advice; with his mother it’s professional. There are friends who still tell him that he and Michele should get back together.

“All this chatter, and I invite it in,” Mr. Esparza says, laughing. “I’m the one who says, ‘You are cordially invited to come to Raúl’s house and tell him everything that is wrong with him.’

“And I just did it to the readers of The New York Times. I’m only now learning not to issue an invitation. I can say you are not allowed to comment on my life.”

How is his family dealing with his sexuality these days?

“Dad doesn’t talk about it,” he says. “Mom used to really hate me for it, call me names and get ugly, but she doesn’t do that anymore. She wants me to be happy.”

Mr. Esparza spoke earlier of embracing the scene that scares you. In “Company” it’s the climactic moment when Bobby sits down at the piano and sings “Being Alive.” And yes, that’s the only thing Mr. Esparza can play on the piano. It’s tough both because of the song’s familiarity and his character’s emotional breakthrough. But he’s also had a rough time with “Marry Me a Little,” which was cut from the original 1970 production.

He talks about the contrast between the rhapsodic music of that song, “which alone can bring tears to your eyes, and laid over it these practical lyrics.” He recites them:

Oh, how gently we’ll talk, Oh how softly we’ll tread.

All the stings, the ugly things, we’ll keep unsaid.

We’ll build a cocoon of love and respect

You promise whatever you like

I’ll never collect.

“It seems so practical,” he continues, “It gets me right in the gut. I know what that’s like, to be in a relationship and know there is something seriously wrong here, but I don’t want to acknowledge it, because if I do I’ll have to talk about it. Let’s not talk about it, and it’ll be all right. And you know what? It can be all right for a long time and not just all right, great. And then one day, you’re not.”

[freezerbnuuy]

Act 5:27- By the Sword (Page 2)

LORE | CHARACTERS | ABOUT / WARNINGS | CHAPTERS

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CONTENT WARNING: violence

Clementia

"I wasn't thinking. Tell you what - take it. Keep it. I don't need it anymore, so it's yours to throw out or cut down non-believers with or melt down into a statue of the Watcher or whatever."

I give her a nod. "Remember, if you try anything, I will not hesitate to kill you - and I'll remember your face if you try anything outside of here. Is that understood?"

"Don't worry," Mr. Reyes says, calmly. "She'll be fine."

Daniel

That could have gone a lot worse. Maddie barely seems fazed by the ordeal, but her giving up her sword is at least a good thing. Maybe I was wrong about Maddie, after all.

There's only three people in the refuge, and they all react the way you'd expect to Maddie.

"You - you're the young man from the fish markets! What is she doing here? And why did Mother Clementia let you in at all?!"

Maddie gives a cocky smile and laugh and ducks her head a little, not looking the witch lady in the eye.

 "I've come to my senses as of late. Volpe was full of shit-"

"Maddie, you're in a monastery!"

"Eh, they're forgiving, aren't they? - Anyway, so - Volpe was full of shit, and I realised this shortly before he got fried by Annorin. I've handed in my sword to the warmly-welcoming mother of this monastery. I won't hurt you - I helped prepare some food for you all."

"This food is wonderful!" says the little boy, tucking straight in and talking with his mouth full. "Thank you so much!"

"And you, young man. What's your reasoning for this?"

"My father was a witchfinder. Packed it in years ago for the good of me and my younger brother. Volpe forced me into it when I was nineteen. My partner did everything so I didn't have to hurt anyone, and then my father got me out of it. I still feel guilty."

"You needn't feel guilty if you didn't do anything. I'm just thankful Volpe is gone. Even with his lapdogs all fighting to be top dog, it won't last forever."

"No, it won't!" says the little boy, accidentally spitting a pea at the man next to him. "One day when I'm big like you, I'm going to teach everyone how to use magic like me!"

There's a soft sound coming from the other room - maybe there's some more witches in need of a good meal. I gently creak the door open and give a soft hello to a young teenage girl sweeping the floor.

"Hello. I bought some food if you're hungry. I imagine it's been pretty rough hiding down here."

She puts the broom in the corner and giggles. She seems prettty confident for someone hiding out.

"No, thank you, don't worry. I'm just helping out here to get away from my father. I appreciate your help, though. It's good to meet you. I'm Róisín."

"Wait - Róisín? As in Eli's niece? I'm Daniel, his-"

"You're Daniel?! Oh, it's wonderful to meet you! I never expected we'd meet down here of all places! Oh, this is lovely. You've done so much for him and for the community..."

Clementia

The door swings open once again, and I've been expecting them for so long that I don't even react with any emotion towards him.

He wields his sword - the Justicer's Tooth of Jacob - with an awkward and forced pride. He knows that, if he doesn't succeed in killing me, not only will the High Priest paint him with shame for the rest of his life, the Watcher will punish him with eternal torment.

Whether he has any choice in this or not, I will not show any mercy towards him.

For many years, I feared the Jacobans and the Peterans would end up fighting one another again. Joyce and Reynold spent so long trying to prevent it, and ultimately they couldn't. Regardless of what the Book of Peter says, I cannot - and will not - let the innocent fall the Jacobans.

[queer-coded-camaro-driver]

The #1 Reason Stranger Things Fell Apart, an Essay:

**All things stated below are my personal OPINION and do not have to impact your views if you don't want them to. As an avid D&D player, however, I wanted to write this out for shits n giggles. I was in the mood. This also doesn't address the racism, badly handled character intros, or random B-character deaths.

There is one rule to rule them all in Dungeons & Dragons, a rule so vital to smooth gameplay and story-building that the smartest players know to break it almost certainly means death:

Never split the party.

(There's an entire song about it, that's how deeply engrained in the culture it is).

Once the party has been separated it's not only way easier for your characters to get ambushed/get in trouble/die, it's way harder for all members of the game to keep having the same level of fun! Usually because the wait time between turns and plot development causes players to lose interest or lose track of their last actions.

When it comes to Season 1 of Stranger Things, we have multiple groups of characters building plots together: Nancy, Steve, Jonathan, and the other teens have their drama together. Hopper and the investigation into Hawkins' weird science has its own plot. Will's disappearance and the children hiding El are the main focus - and those groups are almost NEVER narratively separated.

These plots are interwoven to create the greater story and build suspense but the groups within are constantly orbiting around one another to strengthen those connections. Despite my current beef with the Duffers, Season 1 was pretty damn successful in following the Golden Rule of TTRPG.

So when S2 arrives and the process of El's reunification with Mike/the Party gets dragged out further than necessary, all that yummy tension dissipates. Rather than using the established relationships to scaffold new conflicts (Mike/El, Mike/Max(?), Max & Lucas' crush/truce, Dustin's frustration, Will's loneliness, etc.), they broke these load-bearing narratives into smaller "more digestible" chunks.

As S3 and S4 went on, the group fractured even further apart. With this separation came the loss of critical character traits. Mama Byers' beloved velcro-mothering disappears in the face of Hopper's potential survival. Jonathan and Nancy's class disparity falls out of the story despite being one of the more interesting aspects of the "Teen Drama".

Max slips away, Lucas slips away, Dustin and Mike join the Hellfire Club... I know these shifts are meant to represent the way things change in high school but the clique-forming is so fast and drastic by S4 that the Party is unrecognizable.

The Duffers lost serious momentum when they split the party the first time by sending El to Chicago to meet her retconned siblings. But rather than learning from this mistake, they tried doing it a different way over and over until the compiled failures led to... Whatever the fuck is going on right now.

They COULD have done some fascinating stuff with Will and Billy's birthdays marking the dates of the first and final episodes of S4, Vol 1 respectively. They share a name and they were both Flayed. That could have been SUCH a cool coincidence to play with. Yet somehow the fans noticed their timeline mistake before they did, ffs.

They could have done some cool stuff with the Upside Down and Billy and Max getting a heartwarming sibling redemption arc. The 4 OG Party guys could have talked through a legit heart-to-heart about growing up and finding new interests but staying friends, Breakfast Club style.

But no. We got whatever the fuck the Henry Creel stuff was/is/will be. It's not the worst possible writing they could have done, but that element could have been incorporated with so much creativity and class... Yet it got shoehorned between several other developing ideas instead.

And honestly I don't think any of the massively laggy sub-plots with Joyce and Russia and Hopper in jail and Dustin's Mormon girlfriend's stoner sister would have happened if the Duffers had simply followed the rules and never split the party.

[findafight]

Hmmm that Joyce doesn’t care about Steve got me thinking….

And if she were played by anyone but Winona, I’d agree, I’d think she hates Steve because Jon hates him… but like. One thing that I like about st is that the Byers don’t have weird overbearing relationship with their mother, that happens a lot with people in their situation. And I can’t imagine Joyce hating on Steve? Or even not caring for him? Mostly because after very quick break up that he and Nancy had, he continues to drive the kids around? I think she would totally notice it and appreciate it, especially since he obviously drove Will around too, let them in to see the movies for free and etc. Joyce is a kind of person who is both not shocked by violence (her relationship with Hopper is old, they were friendly at school, and she is fine with him, let alone Lonnie), and appreciates kindness (Bob). Will coming home and telling her how they hanged out at the mall and Steve was there and he let them in to the movies for free and then gave them some leftover ice cream, and then when his shift ended he drove them home, because it was too hot for bycicles? Steve is a sweet kid. What’s not to like, literally. He was at their home and helped them against the demogorgon because he came to apologize to Jon specifically! She likes Hopper, what she is going to think that Steve is too much for her? He is a kid with big brown eyes who is capable of recognizing that he was in the wrong, knows how to apologize and who drives her youngest around, and DUSTIN likes him very much! Dustin, who was the most bullied out of them all! Even Jonathan doesn’t think that Steve is a bad person, by the way! Jonathan thinks that Steve is stupid and irresponsible (compared to Jon). It’s his selling point to Nancy (but remember, I can write a nice essay, Nancy!).

As for Karen, that weird middle life crisis that the Duffers wrote for her is so misogynistic that I can’t even with that. I am so upset about that. For real, they are such assholes.

all good points for her liking Steve! but tbh I just think Joyce....doesn't really think about Steve all that much. Not that she doesn't have reasons to like him! Just that she has her sons and her job and her life, I don't know if she would really be paying much attention to Steve. He's Dustin's older friend who gives the kids rides, which is nice, he's involved with the Upside Down and helped them. I'm sure she appreciates his help, but she just doesn't really feel the need to think more of him?

I think if Jon vocally didn't like him (which he may have post s1 or 2, not that steve was a bad person [because he did save Jon and Nancy's lives] but that he was dumb and annoying) she might clock it as weird because Steve seems nice. He protected the kids, he drives them around, he probably lets them raid the cupholders of his car for spare change. But Jon is her son and so she would take his opinion into account, possibly without realizing that Nancy used to date Steve and now she's dating Jonathan.

I think the Byers are pretty insular in their protection, and Joyce did move away from Hawkins, leave Steve as the oldest in the know, when it's come back twice when they thought it was over. So maybe she's a bit suspicious of him, or barely thinks about him. I don't think she's all that motherly towards him though. she could be! but eh. probably not.

as for karen....they shouldn't have done that. If they wanted a "Woman tired of her boring suburban life takes her power back" plot and have her hit on an established character they should have had her try to flirt with Mr. Clarke. Maybe set up a "date" with him (but for comedy purposes and #gay Scott Clarke truthers, have him legit think she wants to know more science. autistic icon Scott Clarke ily) and then! have her back out and set up the fair date with mr. wheeler, have him pay the ferris wheel attendant to stop at the top (despite his fear of heights) and have them have a nice time with a weird intermission running into Hop and Joyce.

there are so many ways to do that than have her flirt with a boy her daughter's age!! it's gross!!!

[ghostlynimbus]

❤: Which character do you think is the most egregiously mischaracterized by the fandom?

Thank you for sending this in!!! <3

This is a tough question bc with my current obsession (Stranger Things) there's a lot of characters that I feel get mischaracterized by the fandom.

But since I already talked about Nancy and Joyce in some of my other responses to this ask game I think I'll talk about Steve in this one:

I really don't get why the fandom (or at least parts of the fandom i stumble across quite often) feminizes him so much.

Now, I'm all for femme dudes. I am a femme dude and I love seeing that sort of thing in fiction. I even really love seeing more traditionally masculine characters exploring their more feminine sides.

But i see so many fics feminize him to the point that the character is to me unrecognizable. These depictions of Steve don't feel (to me) like a fun new twist on the character, or exploring the potential of something that's underexplored in the canon, or exploring how things might have turned out different if x, y, or z had been changed.

They just kind of feel like some character i don't know masquerading as a character i find really interesting and compelling in the canon.

Along a similar vein, I don't like when I see him depicted as being stupid about everything?

Steve is shown to not be smart in the same ways as many of the other characters, and he is frequently paired up with characters that are just generally very academically smart (compared to everyone) such as Nancy and Dustin. But he is also, repeatedly, shown to be very competent and capable in a lot of other ways (even if he doesn't do well in school).

One area in particular, is that in the canon Steve is generally pretty socially acute (with some inconsistencies bc the show sucks at consistent characterization). He is also really good at being presented with new information or a new situation and adapting quickly and skillfully (even if he freaks out a bit about it in the process).

He may not be good at writing essays. He may not know as much about science or history as Dustin does.

But Steve is not only good at listening to people who know more about a subject than him, but also at getting the work done and doing what is necessary to action that info in any given situation.

He also is repeatedly shown to have a decent amount of common sense, something which those super academically smart characters he's often paired with tend to lack.

So I really don't like how often i see him depicted at just being so incompetent and stupid about everything. And i don't like when the canon contradicts itself to try and show him like this also.

The Ask Game

[castlebyersafterdark]

please elaborate on your fav episodes and be as specific as you enjoy to be! its nice to chat about the show in depth haha.

i dont rank episodes but certain moments stick out for sure. the finale of holly jolly will always be one of my favourite moments not just in ST but in film and television full stop. when they pulled will from the water with that music and the way it all plays out, it was the moment i realised this show was something special not just to me but as a piece of art. that sequence is miles above the show somehow, it's desperately emotional. ofc the fruition of byler would elevate it even further, but even before i knew of byler, the specific line 'and we kissed - - like nothing could fall' always did something to me. its the melody and cadence of the song, combined with the way mike hugs his mom - to me it's a perfect moment of storytelling. even before i knew of romantic undertones, this was the scene that showed us how mike was not a normal boy in how he reacted, and that his and will's friendship was no ordinary one.

i'd like to hear your specific moments you love.

The Disappearance of Will Byers

The way it introduces the Party playing around the table is perfect. That hooked me, it was brilliant. The atmosphere of Mike's basement felt so lived and familiar, these boys were so charming. I was hooked by the nostalgia! Every little way it introduces characters and pulls us into the mystery was top tier the whole episode. Felt like a lived in town. Genuinely a perfect first episode of a series. My most rewatched episode.

Holly Jolly

Joyce's downward spiral (even though she's correct) is heartbreaking and fascinating. And the first time we see the colorful Christmas lights haphazardly strung all over the Byers old run down house and that gentle, tinkling music plays as Joyce walks around in wonder and hope? I think this is my favorite moment of the entire series. Iconic. Gives me chills. And then? The discovery of the body at the quarry and the Party's reaction, Mike's reaction - it's something else entirely. That sequence is on such an elevated emotional level. The song use. When it cuts from Mike hugging Karen to Joyce having thrown herself into Jonathan's arms, silhouetted by car headlights and just barely you can glimpse and hear the cop cars? Gosh, I can't breathe.

Trick or Treat Freak

The Ghostbusters costumes segments with the Party are just so good!! My favorite parts of the show are the 4 boys together and we don't actually get that as often as I wish. So these parts are special. The moms taking the photos, showing up to school, going trick or treating. I also love the party the older teens go to - soooo classic 80s movie vibes! And of course... the Will in the UD scene, Mike pulling him out, and CRAZY TOGETHER. So much in this episode. So important.

The Mindflayer

I find this to be a pretty solid episode. The escape from the lab is the right amount of tension. Will succumbed to possession and the scene where he's tied up and they're recounting memories, "best thing I've ever done" - the way Will looks here still gets me, because we can see that he's trapped in there, he's in there and is straining to react but gosh you're pained because that boy can't do anything but keep trying to fight it. THE MORSE CODE. Will Byers you are insane.

The Bite

This one is very special to me because of Robin's coming out scene. I remember watching it for the first time and feeling this icy sensation, because it's quite similar to my own first time coming out to a friend. It was both tough to watch and emotionally cathartic. When she whispers Steve's name hoping he gets it and won't hate her... my heart rips in two, but then when they start singing the song in the dumb voices together it knits back so fast I get lightheaded. It was perfect. That's why she's my girl. I rarely talk about Robin but I relate to Robin so so so much.

Also, this episode gave us Lucas and Will in the funniest moment in the show - the cereal aisle. You know what part. They're so stupid and I love them for it.

Dear Billy

Solid, solid episode. The Max storyline, of course!! But very underrated is ROBIN and Nancy at the hospital which I love, especially when Robin dramatically bullshits her way into the Victor Creel meeting, I love her so much. I cite this when people say they "dumbed" Robin down or changed her - no, she's brilliant. But also a mess. That's her charm!!

But also - remembering how you felt the first time you watched Max running through the mindscape to that version of Running Up That Hill and then the scene softens and pans out after the fall???? Holy shit. There's always something so powerful about a character who decides to fight and chooses to save themself. "I'm still here." Ahhh.

There's a lot of little moments I could list and I think I probably will in the near future - I just skimmed the episodes I listed from the other ask. What are yall's favorite episodes and why, or just moments that really hit? 😁

[meshkol]

Title: A Plan to Tinker With Characters: Tony Stark, the Party, Joyce Byers, Jim Hopper, Suzie Bingham, Peggy Carter Rating: Teen Tags/Warnings: Season 4 Rewrite but with more Tony Stark, Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Pre-Steve Rogers/Tony Stark, Pre-Steve Harrington/Eddie Munson, The Party as Family Summary:

Tony’s halfway out the door when his pager goes off. He digs the pager out of his pocket and glances at the shorthand message, from Suzie Bingham no less, and promptly decides that he can be even more fashionably late to Jan’s little shindig, even if she’s going to kill him for the cheek. Bingham’s not the type to reach out unless absolutely necessary and she’s been off-the-grid for a hot minute anyway; if she’s reaching out to his personal pager instead of through the usual channels...well, he’s not going to ignore that. In March of 1986, Tony gets a message from a friend and decides to answer it, not realising it'll completely warp his understanding of physics and the world. He does know that he's probably going to get shot at though. If he finds a ride-or-die family along the way, then that's pretty cool too.

Notes: I was catapulted into the ST fandom but the Marvel brainrot is never-ending. As I methodically raged through what felt like every damn Steddie fic in the history of fic, I took a side detour in the crossover tab for funsies and read Just Gonna Change the World by @deehellcat. After about twelve reads/rereads, a thesis of a comment because I have absolutely zero chill, and brainrot about the fic itself, this remix was born!

So, er, yeah, thanks deehellcat, for 1) allowing me to remix your Tony Stark Bingo brainworm and 2) suffering my novel-length screaming in your comment section LMAO. If it's any consolation, it was done because---I reiterate---I am absolutely obsessed with your fic and the how the timeline of these two fandoms mesh (ha) so well together.

As expected, a remix is a remix so I'm taking a few detours from the fantastic source material(s), but overall it's pretty much the same starting premise. And pretend that our poor unfortunate friend Agent Wallace held out another hour or so because let's be real here: it takes a lot more time than it did on the show to track down a top-secret computer location, even in 1986. Also, I'm fixing the Duffer Brothers' time goofs because I'm still baffled by that.

Anyway, let's get started. Oh my goodness this is so exciting; my first-ever remix and first crossover in over ten years! Once again, thanks deehellcat!

[xx-thanatos-xx]

Okay huge spoilers for beetlejuice beetlejuice

When it finished I was like “yeah pretty mediocre I probably wouldn’t watch it again” but when I kept thinking it was just….. what was the point????

I see on here people really liking it and of course that is okay maybe I’m thinking about it too hard but I just couldn’t enjoy it unfortunately.

Dolores was just a waste and anything tied to her was as well, even though I liked Willem Dafoe and Danny Davitos characters, in the end neither served a purpose. Like yeah her intro was cool but she made no impact on me or the plot. Honestly take her and everything she affected out of it and you would lose nothing. Even beetlejuice didn’t feel affected when she turned up. And she just… dies…. that’s it… no fight no real confrontation nothing she appears at a wedding, which also didn’t have a purpose other then setting up a DIFFERENT wedding, to just kill Dolores just immediately. She was a nothing character.

Plus genuinely who asked for a beetlejuice backstory???? Like vague hints and jokes are fine but I thought part of his charm was he was an off putting guy who did what he did because he thought it was fun and because he was selfish and no one knew fucking why??? Adding Dolores removes that when the movie would have worked better if it just kept that motivation from the 1st movie, him just wanting to become mortal so he has to marry Lydia. Also he felt weaker??? Like he turned himself into a carnival and a snake hybrid (which actually appeared in a nightmare I had recently which really scared me so it to me was actually really scary even if it was never planned to be) and turned everyone into basically a game shows contenders. He controlled the situation but I didn’t feel that over powering presence that he once had. Plus the singing??? Like what??? That’s the Maitlands thing, not his, that was THEIR scare. A scare made by people from a suburban and privileged life not a man who’s been dead for hundreds of years who’s murdered people and (originally hinted) as someone who lived through the plague??? And that scene just draggggggeeeddd like I get it it’s a callback to the original. I was hoping he would do a full musical number, it would still be a callback to the original but expands on it and just shows how much more powerfu he actually isl. He was obviously the best part and I was really worried they’d turn him into a hero but they didn’t and I’m very happy with that, he still did what he did for his own selfish desires.

Lydia also felt wrong, she wasn’t the strange and unusual goth girl, she felt like Joyce Byers, paranoid and scared. And Delia was dramatic but not this dramatic like come on. Astrid I felt nothing for, I felt like they should’ve done what the did in the musical and have it so she never finds her dad but appreciates who she has in her life and accepts that he’s gone. Rory I felt they pulled a twist out of him for whatever reason, he did seem like a well meaning guy who just could never read the room.

Also I thought the point of the afterlife was that that’s all anyone gets??? Why does every other afterlife exist too??? They just ruins what made the original interesting cause all they had was this boring realm that no one wanted to be in but couldn’t leave so they tried to make the best out of it. And also when we did see the original it felt lifeless but not in the fun way it just felt like there was no creativity just EXPAND ON WHAT YOU HAD

(This next paragraph talks about suicide so just skip to the next one if that is upsetting which is completely understandable, the point of this one is the musical looked at the original film and delved into details to add more to different characters and the world)

Like the musical had that pageant queen (who didn’t show up in this?? Like that wasn’t the same person???) and it genuinely seemed like they said “She was a pageant queen but she killed herself and now works a crap job for forever, that must suck and she and most other dead souls regret what they did, wether it was personal or accidental, which caused them to die” and made a whole song out of it and gave her so much character.

So just why didn’t they do it here??? Why didn’t they look at what they were given and made more out of it. The soul train just contradicted what was in the original.

Plus I just didn’t think it was very funny, buts that just my personal opinion.

I thought the designs for the dead were great and the “memorial to bob” was pretty funny but overall I just didn’t like it. 3/10.

[brionysea]

hm. yk how you mentioned in a past post that cali crew is screwed without mike in butterflies & bullshit? what if they just. went to hawkins instead of finding el. because they wouldnt realise the thing about the pen right? and el got out on her own anyways so its like. she could have this badass thing of hijacking a helicopter or something. anyways, just a thought

oh they're absolutely showing up like "yeah we lost el" - max is furious lmao. but you can't really blame them. mike is the only person on planet earth who 1) thinks a pen that doesn't work has something hidden inside, 2) calls the number and immediately recognises it as a computer, 3) thinks of going to suzie for help, 4) convinces suzie to help with a lie about "americantendo". they can't even get to step 1 without mike, they don't know where el is, and they do know that hawkins is in danger. what else was jonathan supposed to do?

idk if el would be able to hijack a helicopter?? they made a point in joyce's storyline that someone without flight experience wouldn't be able to just figure it out (and joyce is both an adult and one of the smartest characters on the show), and the helicopter el took down looked pretty non functional. she's a violent girlie y'know. i'm pretty sure everyone who was on her side that might have been able to help was dead at that point too... i guess el might be able to make it fly with her powers because she's so much stronger now, but without mike and argyle she wouldn't know to go to the pizza place and without jonathan she couldn't bribe her way into the back with drugs lol. plus a stolen helicopter is pretty easily trackable by the people trying to kill her

i'm depressed now. poor el. she needs her independence arc but going on her own adventures without her friends is always such a bummer

i'm not completely sure if el's going to show up or not yet, but where i'm at with the story development her location is a bit of a mystery. mike beats himself up about her disappearing again. which is fair, since according to the butterfly effect it is his fault, but if he'd done the other thing then max would be about to die and i've had enough of that