#like i'm noticing a pattern in these new characters LOL

[anyelir]

. yeah. being so long in the fandom makes you indifferent eventually.

[gabbiecasso]

Just me and my reflections on Shikatema

I've been weirdly hyperfixated recently on Shikamaru and Temari, and so I reflected a lot just to properly dissect the reasons myself because I initially couldn't really understand why I liked them when I was really young, more so as an adult (and as demi/ace) LOL so imma yap

As a demi, I've always struggled with romance themes. I always subtly feel like my circuits are frying when I watch anything romance or I often just plainly feel indifferent. Thankfully I managed to spot a few patterns by spending a lot of time in my head; one of them is that I prefer romance when it's not under the spotlight (idk I noticed I always prefer the side pairs more than the main pairs in any story HAHA) I guess that was one of the categories that Shikatema falls under.

I spent more than a decade watching/reading Naruto and it was enough time for me to have a close affinity with these characters and love them for creating such a huge impact in my childhood without the heavy emotional flairs that Naruto and the rest of characters put upfront. They ultimately became my two favorite characters in the series because I share the same traits and tendencies as them. It also wasn't a surprise that two of my favorite characters ended up together because their relationship was slowly developed and it didn't come off like shocking news.

Unlike the other pairs in Naruto where it seems to have characters fixating on someone or characters overshadowing the other, Shikatema operate on a level playing field. They're each strong leaders and strategists in their own right, both competent enough to recognize each other's strengths. They don't feel the need to change the other nor prove their worth. They're their own person and it clearly shows early in the series and even as it progresses to Shippuden.

I personally dislike being the center of anyone's attention or constantly feeding someone attention so I gravitate more to people who are deeply more passionate about purpose/duty/service/something more than about me and my presence. Shikatema has that dynamic where their relationship feels more like a partnership than a romance based on dependency. They both have important (political) roles in their own respective villages, and they know their purposes and the weight that they carry very well—which prolly explains why both are self-sufficient, independent, and capable. They both take their duties seriously and you don't see a scene where one craves for the other's attention (it’s funny how actively and arduously they work on their duty while in each other’s presence so you can definitely say they were literally there for (and with) each other as they fulfilled their roles as diplomat escort/advisor and diplomat/royalty)

Another that I value DEEPLY to my core is individuality, and I've always adored how Shikamaru and Temari preserve their individuality while still thriving together. It's one of the main factors why they see each other as equals and why none of them overpowers the other.

Shikamaru, laid-back and often understated, complements Temari’s directness and assertiveness. His relaxed demeanor helps her stay grounded and objective rather than just taunting in combat or in general LMFAO

Meanwhile, Temari, who is confident and comfortable taking charge, gives Shikamaru's abilities more buoyancy—she openly calls out his BS and he welcomes it because he knows how unassuming, and, at times, self-deprecating he can be. He never seeks the spotlight and often downplays his own abilities and it's where Temari's outspokenness fits the bill (this energy is also quite evident in Shikamaru Hiden)

Both characters also challenge gender norms (I'm inclined to believe that their characters' subtle sexism when they were first introduced in the series was part of the writing, there is an active discussion about this somewhere and I genuinely believe it has its purpose) Young Shikamaru yaps about her being too troublesome because she's incessantly outspoken/spunky. Young Temari yaps about him being too emotional because he didn't seem to receive emotional training.

Yet in the long run, Shikamaru's honesty and vulnerability allow Temari to soften up and witness the act of kindness by someone who wears his heart on his sleeve (which was first seen during the Sasuke retrieval arc at the hospital where Shikamaru had an emotional breakdown) and Temari's unwavering strength and energy nudges Shikamaru into action when he might otherwise hesitate (Temari often banters with him to make him commit to his decisions and not spend too much time in his head)

Both characters also have innate leadership. I noticed that one of my main attraction points is leadership (as an act of service girlie) and these two have that strong nature: Shikamaru leads with his introspective nature, while Temari leads with her assertive nature.

It was evident first during the Chunin exams when they were pitted against each other—both read their opponents exceptionally well and they both show a strong sense of battle awareness while keeping their cool and executing their strategies effectively. It's no surprise that Shikamaru was promoted Chunin and Temari was promoted Jonin & Ambassador (it wasn't clear when Temari was promoted, but in the early episodes of Shippuden, she was already a Jonin & Ambassador who frequently visits Konoha) They both learned to grow as leaders who first serve their people before themselves in their respective villages and it stretches further during the war arc where they serve not just people from their respective villages but the entire Alliance.

Both were also Chunin exam proctors, so ain't that great LOL I think it was one of the many factors why I never doubted their parenting (and Shikadai did grew up to be such a fine and disciplined shinobi with a strong moral code) Both did seem to question each other's parenting styles since Temari favors intense training while Shikamaru advocates leisure (which I believe is a great balance) but both parents have fostered Shikadai's agency; allowing him to come up with his own conclusions and decisions based on his critical thinking because both Shikamaru and Temari share the same values in their youth.

In the series, high intensity emotions are almost always present in every relationship but their relationship has a subdued nature—They don't need long stretches of dialogues to understand each other because all they needed was experiences, and a little observation and deduction.

They didn't need to prove their worth to each other (or to anyone honestly) because it's built on deep understanding rather than overt passion. Altho it had a different interpretation in the manga, both characters even agree that marriage is troublesome LOL (but welp)

Last one is that both are strategists. Chess is my sport and puzzles/tactical games that require mental effort has always been my comfort, I guess it's natural for me to gravitate to these two. (I like any strategic characters who also wear their heart on their sleeve)

They also approach strategy differently: Shikamaru’s intellect makes him highly logical and analytical, often relying on foresight to plan for every possible outcome. Temari is a decisive, action-oriented strategist; often has the courage to commit to a decision quickly. She also heavily thinks on the fly to understand an opponent's motive and naturally adapts.

This was again exhibited during the Chunin exams where Shikamaru's strategic skills allowed him to use his environment to his advantage while Temari displayed her adaptability and quick-thinking capabilities to counter Shikamaru's offenses since she's a heavy thinker herself.

Temari may not be as exceptionally creative as Shikamaru but she highly values intel, reason, and logic in order to come up with a counter. This was exactly the reason why her battle with Shikamaru was further stretched; up to the point where Shikamaru exhausted his chakra.

I deeply adore how both characters value planning, precision, and patience in combat while other characters in the story value power, tenacity, and speed. Irl, I value the same set of values as Shikatema in chess/games/puzzles and so I guess it’s no surprise. I get to just admire the intellectual aspect of their relationship where it allows them to not just connect emotionally but also challenge each other mentally in every screen time they had.

Thanks for coming to my yapping thread if you ever made it in the end LOL

[genericpuff]

Wait, if Hera hated nymphs, does that mean she had beef with Poseidon's wife???

Who knows, but it does shed a whole new light on this scene from Episode 1:

Like, in the context of the scene, it's clear the point of this interaction is to highlight how "lonely" Hades is that he's the only one at the party without a date. Though I do think it's funny that Hades is frustrated / shocked at the revelation that Poseidon brought his wife to a party that she would presumably be invited to attend, like... of course Poseidon is here with his wife, that makes Amphitrite royalty by extension and so at the very least she'd likely be obligated to attend even if she, for some reason, didn't want to go.

So Hades being like "GOD you mean I'm the ONLY UNMARRIED GUY without a DATE???" like yeah man that's what it means to not be married LOL

But in hindsight, knowing what we know now about Hera being cruel to satyrs and nymphs who are canonically lower class (making it a double whammy of racism AND classism) that interaction of Hades asking Hera if Poseidon brought Amphitrite right after Hera called Minthe "nymph trash" almost feels like Hades calling her out, to which she responds sheepishly, "... Yes."

Again, I know that's not the intention of this scene, but it does come with deeper implications now that the series is over and we know that Hera has a history of racism and classism which largely goes unaddressed.

And those implications kind of read like this:

Hera: "I, for one, am grateful! I don't have to spend the evening with that nymph trash :)"

Hades: "Did Poseidon bring his (oceanid) wife?"

Hera: "(・_・;)... yes, okay, Poseidon brought his wife, Amphritite, but she's not nymph trash or anything, she's one of the good ones!"

Again though, just food for thought that's kinda messed up and kinda funny to think about on re-reads. There's so much classism and racism baked into LO even from the very beginning and it's wild that it wound up going unnoticed for years. Even I didn't really notice it as much as I ought to have when I first started reading. To anyone who's new to the series, LO does a good job at bombarding you with colors, characters, Greek myth references, and feel good fluff moments between H x P to distract you from the often biased and outdated viewpoints in its narrative.

TBH, none of that is to say that Rachel herself is some massive racist for writing a story like this, but I do think she didn't really spend enough time analyzing the works that clearly inspired her and/or challenging her own inspirations to ensure she wasn't continuing the cycle of casual racism. It's really easy to be blissfully aware of your own biases if you never learn to address them, especially when it comes to writing fantasy stories which we tend to "disconnect" from real life, never once realizing that the messages and undertones we might accidentally be sending are often still realities for many people in real life today. Fiction isn't real life, sure, but it can still perpetuate some really dog shit thought patterns and subconscious beliefs if left unchecked, which LO is frankly full of especially upon re-reads with a more critical eye when you're not as likely to get distracted or swept away by the pretty colors and whirlwind romance.

[noxiatoxia]

i love komaeda tidbits!!! his valley girl dialect adds so much ahhh... do you recall any particularly funny/notable instances of him speaking like that, or times where other characters comment on it?

I wouldn't go as far as to say it is a valley girl-type accent. 1, because that is just the closest approximate to English (obviously the exact same thing doesn't exist in Japanese) and 2, Komaeda does not use sa and ne nearly enough for it to be those levels...well, in my opinion. I'm sure other people could weigh in on what they think.

Either way he's still stumbling over his words a lot, and I do think that's very charming.

I guess you could make the argument that he does have a valley girl accent by proxy of the fact most other characters don't over-use filler particles as much...like I said in the post, people do it all the time in real life, but in media, characters rarely ever stutter or use filler words (unless it's, like, a super tense situation). So the casual usage, even if it is small, stands out. I guess in that way, you can argue Komaeda has a "noticeable" accent in that regard...but that's very much a topic up for debate.

I'm getting side-tricked, lol.

Anyways, while not related to ne or sa, there is another thing I love that's overlooked, and that's how he uses ってば (tte ba)!

Again, this is a very cute detail. It does not happen often, but I can recall 2 instances where he uses it.

Firstly, let me explain. tte ba in the case I'm talking about is a sentence ender used to express frustration, annoyance, urgency, etc. It can kind of sound like whining, but it's the verbal equivalent of stomping your foot.

What's fun is that this word is predominantly used by women. Men use it too of course, but overwhelmingly it just seems to be a word that girls use.

But Komaeda uses it too!

First instance is in the prologue, where he says it to Hanamura.

ちょっ��！花村クンってば！

The English translation is perfectly fine. But to go more in depth, as you recall, earlier in the prologue Komaeda told Hanamura to stop pestering Sonia with sexual advances. Here, Hanamura does it again. So, naturally, Komaeda responds...

Come on, Hanamura-kun! I told you to quit it already!

The tte ba added at the end makes Komaeda sound like he's scolding Hanamura and is very exasperated.

Also, while the sentence literally is just "Hey, Hanamura-kun!" with an irritated edge, using prior context and knowing what tte ba means (kind of serving to be like "I already told you this!" sort of thing) we can make the sentence sound better in English.

Next is in chapter 2.

おーい、日向クンってばー！

This one is extra funny, because おーい (usually just おい, oi) is neutral-leaning-male, while as we've said, tte ba is neutral-leaning-female. That's what I love about Komaeda's dialogue: he mixes together "traditionally" male speech patterns and female speech patterns. While, again, not uncommon in real life, anime is so much different. Scripts and word choice are used to tell you about a character's personality. As such, you usually get characters who speak hyper-masculine or hyper-feminine or deliberately ambiguous. I'd say a character who speaks a clean mix of feminine and masculine is very rare. Although, to be more precise, Komaeda speaks masculine and neutral-leaning-feminine...if that makes sense (I will explain later).

Anyways, again, the English translation is good. Komaeda does sound pretty whiny in this scene.

Heeeey! C'mon, Hinata-kuuun!

Now, for the opposite. Something that gets overlooked is an interesting scene in 2.5.

The subtitles has Komaeda as saying "I've heard enough!" but I disagree with this. Komaeda says 黙れよ！in the dub. This is a very masculine turn of phrase because of the imperative nature of it - something Komaeda, to my knowledge, never uses. Very masculine characters do use it often - like Hinata or Oowada or Kuzuryuu - but not Komaeda.

2.5 is complex enough, but this adds a whole new layer to it...Komaeda has never spoke so roughly before. I think it shows just how emotional he truly was in this scene.

I'd translate this line as:

Just shut the fuck up!

And finally...while not canon per se, it is voiced by Megumi Ogata and is very in-character for Komaeda, so I count it. This cute little voice line she recorded for the Danganronpa x Crash Fever on Halloween. It let's me segue into something.

トリック・オア・トリート！お菓子をく��なきゃイタズラしちゃうぞ...なんてね。

Earlier I said Komaeda speaks masculine + neutral-leaning-feminine, and this probably sounds like gibberish to a lot of people because...what does that even mean?

(Keep in mind I'm speaking for the perspective of anime, where these grammar rules carry exaggerated connotations compared to real life! I am also speaking from the perspective of Tokyo dialect aka standard Japanese.)

Komaeda typically uses these particles: sa, ne, yo.

All of these particles are gender-neutral, but ne can be more feminine depending on the context. For example, Saonji uses ne constantly, and so does Mioda. But characters like Hinata and Souda still use ne because again it's context dependent.

There are feminine particles, such as wa, which Komaeda does not use. It is used by characters like Sonia and Celestia and even Kirigiri, which is surprising considering her stoic image (it's very cute).

Then, there's masculine particles, like zo, ze and na. Characters who use zo are Kuzuryuu, Souda, Hinata, and Owari to name a few. Despite Owari being female, she talks very masculine, which adds to her rough image. Ze is also used by all of those characters, as is na.

Komaeda's choice of pronoun is also mild-mannered. Boku is a polite masculine pronoun. It makes sense for him to use it when speaking casually which he is always seen doing. If he used Watashi - also gender neutral (to a point) - while speaking casually, it would make him seem feminine or like a girl.

However, the vast majority of male characters when speaking casually will use Ore, which is a hyper-masculine pronoun. I have lost count of the amount of characters who use this. Only characters I can remember who use Boku (besides Komaeda and Naegi) are Yamada, Hanamura, and Ishimaru.

And for those three, I think it makes sense - they all have this level of acting polite/wanting to be polite or seen as proper.

Which is why the fact Komaeda/Naegi uses it stands out a little bit with the rest of the cast. Makes them appear more mild. opting to use gender-neutral particles only and a mild-mannered male pronoun for your male character tells you a lot about them, especially when almost every other guy in the same series is talking super masculine.

Okay, back to that video. What's cute about it is how Komaeda switches from talking masculine to feminine on purpose.

Trick or Treat! If you don't gimmie some candy...I'mma pull a trick on ya! ...Joking!

I'm unsure how to word this in a way that sounds "masculine" or "feminine" as that doesn't really exist in English I don't think...but the first half of his sentence, Komaeda uses zo at the end to sound threatening/rough, then the last part, nante-ne, sounds feminine when pitched up at the end there. It definitely makes him sound playful.

I also want to point out...though I use masculine/feminine (as what I've talked about are usually employed by men, hence masculine, or women, hence feminine) it is not a matter of being absolute...for example, dresses are seen as being feminine, but that does not mean a man can't wear a dress and still be a man.

Wow, this post got long...I sure do talk. I hope this answers something at least haha. Thank you for the ask!

[storiesfromafan]

Guilty As Sin Pt2

A/n: a part 2 was asked for, so I have delivered. I will be doing a part 3 and that will be it :) I'm glad I've got some writing mojo back lol.

Part 1

I've also posted a character request list. I dont have much on it for the moment, but will add to it :)

Pairing: Mattheo x Fem!Reader

History of Magic was the last class of the day. Which was probably the best class to have, for it was so boring it would make getting an early sleep possible. In fact, Theodore had taken to taking a nap, leaving Lorenzo and Mattheo to keep themselves occupied. Lorenzo was flirting with a Hufflepuff girl in front of him, which Mattheo rolled his eyes at.

Looking around, he noted a few other students already a sleep or on the verge of it. While there were students taking notes of what the Professor was saying, among them there was you. You were taking notes, but not a vigorously as some of the others. You lifted your free hand to cover the small yawn. While he could see the slight droop to your eye, you were even bored. Smiling softly in humor at how cute you were right then.

Coming to his mind was the image of him sitting next to you, and how you would rest your tired head on his shoulder. He would happily wrap and arm around you, holding you in place in case you fell sleep. Recalling the smells from the Amortentia potion, his nose would pick up the citrus from your hair. A pleasant scent that he would delight in. He would then whisper in your ear, telling you how much he enjoyed the scent of your shampoo, that citrus was his new favorite thing because of you.

A nudge from Lorenzo to his side brought Mattheo back to reality. The quizzical look from his mate told him he had spaced out. But Lorenzo never said a word, just going back to flirting with the Hufflepuff girl. Mattheo slumped down in his chair, casting his gaze to you again. This time we were in conversation with one of your friends.

Reflecting on his fantasy, he was surprised on how tame it had been. Usually when he thought about a girl it was always intense and a tad dirty. But with you it had been innocent and sweet. If anyone learnt of this, his Bad Boy rep would take a hit. Mattheo knew the attraction to him was for how bad he was, how he was known to snog a girl without a care about those who saw. How he would place his hands on them in a scandalous way that would have them give in to him. How depraved behind closed doors he could be.

Yet part of him didn’t want that when it came to you. Of course, Mattheo wanted to kiss those lips, that were currently pouting at your friends comment, while she laughed quietly. Earlier in Potions he had noticed how when working on your potion, you would bite your lip when reading over the textbook. Or how those lips would part slightly as you stir your potion. Those lips were the reason for how he incorrectly stirred his potion, but you noticed and save the day.

Then when you took over stirring, how your hands had touched. It was the briefest of touch, but it was enough for him to know your skin was soft. Then when your legs brushed, Lord have mercy on him. How he wanted to run his fingers from your ankle up your leg. Coming to your thigh, Mattheo knew he would draw mindless patterns over that flesh. Savoring the warmth and supple skin. He could only imagine your reaction; face flushed, and breath labored coming from those parted lips he was beginning to adore.

Alright, maybe his thoughts of you weren’t entirely innocent. He couldn’t help himself. You were temping. Had always been. Over the last year he noticed you more, thinking how nice you were. How different you were to the girls that threw themselves at him. He couldn’t see you doing that. You were more of the kind of girl to pine from a distance, never having the confidence to admit their feelings to their crush. You were shy and he liked that about you. But there was a small part of him, the Devilish side, that wanted to taint you. For you to go from saint to sinner, and only with him.

Finally, the lesson came to an end at the decree of the Professor. All the students packed their things, Mattheo moving slightly quicker than everyone with the hope to get a head of you. Thankfully his friends didn’t notice his haste, for Lorenzo was waking the sleeping Theodore by knocking his arm out from under his head. Which lead to his head landing on his unopened textbook on the table. From there, there was laughter from Lorenzo and heated words from Theodore.

Using the distraction, Mattheo grabbed his packed bag before telling his friends he was going on a head. Not waiting for a reply, Mattheo slipped past students and made it to the door of the room, all the while you had just left your desk headed for the door. Smiling to himself, he pulled open the door just as you and your friends stepped up. With a charming smile on his face, Mattheo gestured for you and your friends to go. Your friends didn’t pay him much mind while walking on, as Mattheo had opened the door for them at Potions.

When it was your turn to step past the dashing boy, you looked to him with a soft smile. In turn Mattheo’s smile brightened, a twinkle in his eye at your cute smile. Casting your gaze down with a small blush on your cheeks, you passed through the door and out into the hallway. Watching you walk on Mattheo took in your retreating form. Any other girl that he was interested in, he would have run after them, giving them his full charm. But with you, he felt nervous to do that. So, he opted to watch you go, the view not so bad.

In his mind though, he was picturing himself going after you. Striking up a conversation, hoping not to sound like a bumbling idiot. You would smile at him with that shyness, telling him that he wasn’t an idiot. He would engage you in conversation; be it on the class that concluded, other subjects, hobbies, etc. Anything to have your focus on him, and only him. Feeling brave he would move his hand to grasp your own, trying to convince you that you were about to go the wrong way. But when you would correct him, with justified reason, would he then fold and allow you to lead the way, never letting go of your hand. Sneaky but effective.

“Why don’t you just talk to her” Lorenzo said walking past Mattheo, “instead of daydreaming like some lovesick puppy”.

Both Lorenzo and Theodore laughed walking from the room, snapping Mattheo from his moment. He took off after his mates down the hallway, sputtering over his words. What could he say? They had a point, but they didn’t need to know that.

“I-I don’t know what you’re talking about” he retorted knocking into Lorenzo’s shoulder as he passed the young man.

Once again, his friends laughed at him. “Deny all you like mate, but we don’t buy it” Theodore said shaking his head.

“I know in Potions the cauldron we were using in the beginning wasn’t having troubles. You just wanted to work by her” mused Lorenzo. Which Mattheo couldn’t entirely deny.

“It was n-not lighting” Mattheo retorted, feeling like he was on trial.

“Really? Sure, it wasn’t user error” laughed Theodore.

Mattheo huffed. “No. It would not light”. He pouted.

Both his mates laughed, pushing Mattheo’s shoulder before letting it go, for now. They all knew what they did, choosing to leave Mattheo be. For they had jested him for the moment. The trio made their way out into the courtyard, taking to hanging out there with a few other Slytherin’s before dinner in The Great Hall.

Lounging in the last of the day’s light by a large tree, Mattheo cast his thoughts to you once more. He knows he should just talk to you. It’s what he would usually do. But it being you turned him into a mess of thoughts and words. Mattheo doubted he would be able to converse with you. He worried his charm would not come through, and he would embarrass himself.

Out the corner of Mattheo’s eye he spotted a familiar head of (color) hair, which Mattheo turned to without a thought. You had come from the same doors he and his friends had. You were linked arm in arm with whom Mattheo guessed to be your best friend. He noted that you both were in full conversation, neither noticing nor caring about those around you. He observed how comfortable you were with her, relaxed and free. The smile on your face was bright and followed by what had to be a giggle.

It might have been a brief passing, but Mattheo saw more of who you are. He liked that he got see you like that. Relaxed, caring, friendly and beautiful in your own way. In that moment Mattheo made a promise that he would talk to you. He didn’t know when or how, but he would! And it looks like the opportunity was going to come to him.

“Oi Mattheo!” Called Theodore, as he through a stick at him. “Are you going to stay with us?”

“Huh?” Mattheo said picking the stick from his hair. “What’s the matter?”

His mates laughed at him. “Malfoy was telling us about the Slytherin party Friday night. But you were off with the pixies”.

Mattheo felt the flush to his cheeks but nodded. “Sounds good”.

Turning back to the direction you had gone, Mattheo smiled to himself. If you came to the Slytherin party, he would get an opportunity to talk to you. And in a setting with alcohol, which will help keep him cool and calm. Feeling like he could jump up and down like an excited child, Mattheo looked forward to Friday.

A/N: Feedback welcome :) Also feel free to send requests.

[bookishdaze]

Noa and Mae as Romeo and Juliet in the Next Planet of the Apes Movie?

Here's why a potential "love story" between Mae and Noa, whether explicit or simply implied, may not be such a terrible idea.

Why? Because Shakespeare told me so, that's why.

NOTE: I made another post with the same Romeo and Juliet theory, only with more up to date thoughts and references here.

"When in doubt, it's from Shakespeare....or the Bible." At least according to a book I had to read for high school, lol.

The biblical references in Caesar's trilogy have been pointed out multiple times already, and these movies have also been described as Shakespearean tragedies. So I thought, 'ok, what kind of Shakespearean tragedy will we have this time around?'

I'm first gonna start off with Hamlet in the Caesar trilogy. I'm also gonna mention other popular movies that are based on Shakespeare's plays. Not necessarily because it's concrete proof that this is what will happen in future POTA movies. This is me simply picking up certain storytelling beats and patterns I've noticed in some of my favorite movies.

It's not 100% the same, but there are some similarities. Also, this isn't anything new. Many have pointed this out before, but I love talking about this stuff!

The Lion King, Black Panther, and Dawn of the Planet of the Apes are loosely based on Hamlet. A king or rightful heir is killed. Usually by an evil uncle, cousin, or family member. For some reason this always results in them falling off a very high cliff.

Everyone thinks they're dead, the evil relative takes power, and everything kinda sucks. There is not enough food in the Pride Lands under Scar's rule. Killmonger burns the heart-shaped herbs. Koba leads the apes to war against the humans.

The rightful ruler spends time in exile, recovering from their wounds and trauma. They might even get a visit or have a recollection of their dead father.

Then the rightful ruler comes back from the dead, challenges the usurper, and regains their rightful place upon the throne.

Now lets take a look at their sequels.

The Lion King 2 and Wakanda Forever share some similarities. They both follow another one of Shakespeare's popular plays, Romeo and Juliet.

Like the Montagues and Capulets, we have two rival kingdoms in both movies. We got the Pridelanders and the Outsiders. We also got the Wakandans and Talokanils.

The two heirs/rulers from both kingdoms meet. They hate and don't trust each other at first, but then they start to have compassion for the other. In Kiara and Kovu's case, they fall in love. Namor and Shuri don't fall in love, but after Namor shows her his underwater kingdom and what he has to protect, she softens and begins to understand him more. (They even got the whole Hades and Persephone thing going on, who are a couple in Greek mythology, by the way).

There are losses on both sides. Kovu's brother was killed while going after Simba. One of Namor's people was killed when Shuri was rescued by Nakia, and Shuri's mother, Queen Ramonda, died after Namor's attack on Wakanda. (Starts nervously eyeing Anaya here...)

These losses make things worse, by the way.

In the end, both pairs are able to bring the fighting between their people to a stop. The Outsiders are welcomed into Simba's pride. The Wakandans and Talokanils stop fighting after seeing their leaders return together.

In the end, they realize that they're the same. That they can't let hate and fear of the other side cloud their judgement.

Kiara tells her father, "A wise king once told me we are one....Look at them. They are us. What differences do you see?"

Shuri tells Namor while she spares his life, "Vengeance has consumed us. We cannot let it consume our people."

And I think this goes well with one of the core themes of these POTA movies. The apes are a mirror to humanity. We the audience are seeing us through them, and the characters in the movies themselves must come to the realization that they're the same.

Like when Caesar tells his son, "I always think ape better than human. I see now how much like them we are."

Maybe something similar like this will happen with Noa and Mae and whatever fight will happen between apes and humans. While I'm all for a good romance, it may end up being more like Namor and Shuri's case. There's something there. The tropes are present, but they don't fall in love. (At least not yet. Please Ryan Coogler, give me Nashuri endgame in Black Panther 3, hehe).

This is just a theory, by the way. This doesn't have to happen, but I just think it'd be neat. There would be differences though. What those differences would be, idk, but whatever happens in the next one, I can't wait!

"But but.... aren't you forgetting something?"

What's that?

"Don't they...ya know...both die at the end?"

Besides, they don't have to die. Things can be a little more hopeful for our two heroes 🙈

[spookycreeture]

Okay I have some THOUGHTS about TMagP I need to get out here lol. So, for some context, I haven't listened past episode 39 yet, BUT I have some cool parallels to draw between the characters. I've noticed some behavioral patterns that reflect the TMA characters and I felt the need to draw the connections and put it out there because narrative breakdowns are my bread and butter so here we go. First things first, ya main boy, Samama Khalid. I believe he's a parallel to Sasha James. For one, he's too curious for his own good constantly throughout TMagP. He's also one of the better employees of the OIAR, even though he's new, and has a certain level of competence through all of the horrors. Mind you, he's still making the choice to interact with this stuff, but I still think he's a good Sasha parallel. Secondly, Alice is a Tim parallel. She's got his humor vibes and his approach to a lot of danger situations, and she and Sam were in a relationship at one point, so bonus points to that idea there. She's also, eventually, going to face a major betrayal in Celia lying to her about Sam's fate, which also happened to Tim. There's way too many coincidences to say otherwise.

Celia is the Martin parallel. Which, yes, this is a bit of a stretch, but I mainly say this because her manipulative tendencies to get the best out of a situation reflect Martin really well. Martin was very good at subtly prodding a situation in the way he wanted it to go. Celia's a bit more obvious than Martin was, but her tendencies to push Sam in certain directions all through season 1 and lying outright to Alice and Gwen about what happened to him in season 2 make me think she's like Martin's evil twin type of deal or something. Last and most interesting thing, Gwen is the Jon parallel. She's currently the boss of the OIAR, and is clearly in way over her head dealing with monsters she doesn't understand. She's had a ton dumped on her shoulders all of the sudden, just like Jon did, and now has to flounder through all of it to try and navigate the new danger of her situation. However, unlike every single character in TMA, these characters are actively making the choice to go through the horrors. Sam chooses to do the bad thing and visit the ruins of The Magnus Institute, thus freeing his world's version of the Archivist. Alice is actually getting dragged around the most right now, but she's choosing to fight her hardest to get Sam back. Celia is choosing to lie and manipulate for her own gain, to try and stay in this new world. Gwen actively chose to dethrone Lena and take her place as boss (a very Magnus-coded tactic if I do say so myself), thus sealing her fate in this new danger situation. While there's parallels, there's also major differences, and I'm very curious to see what Johnny Sims and the team at Rusty Quill are going to do to subvert The Magnus Archives' lack of choices compared to Protocol's every choice matters narrative.

[yersina]

a linguist* plays chants of sennaar (pt 1)

*i studied linguistics for four years and concurrently did three years of sociolinguistics research, but i'm not currently employed in a linguistics-related field.

[pt 2] [pt 3] [pt 4] [pt 5]

thought i'd have some fun breaking down the languages in cos and stretch my rarely used linguistics muscles in the process! disclaimer: can't promise that i'll have any insights that a layperson wouldn't have, this is kinda just me thinking through the grammar of the language out loud haha.

this post covers the first language and will contain spoilers! it also assumes that you know what each of the symbols means already.

so the three glyphs from the devotee's language that you get introduced to right off the bat already tells me a lot: it's a pictographic logography (real life example: chinese characters), which is probably a good place to start for people who are new to language deciphering (also, none of these languages are spoken so an alphabet would be pointless lol). a logography is a writing system that represents whole words/concepts with a single character, as opposed to representing the sounds that the words make (like alphabets or syllabaries). i haven't completely finished the game yet (most of the way through the fourth language), but i'm p sure 1) all of the languages are logographies and 2) the devotee's language is the most true-to-life with its pictograms.

with these three words we can also begin to establish a pattern--verbs most likely have a line on the bottom, which holds true for the rest of the characters. i think the only exception to this rule is the character for "greeting", which is also used as the verb "salute" later in the game (an interesting choice (considering etymologies for greetings in irl languages), but it makes sense when your language is only 40 words lol). other patterns include the curved line for tools, the semi-open box for structures/locations, and the half-circle with the line for things relating to sight (which amusingly is also the overall game symbol for examining something). (not gonna include things like "man" and "music" and "plant" in this list cause they're defined in game.) i do think it's kind of fun that they introduced "i/me" and "you" before they introduced "man"—it validates that you'll find patterns haha.

(while writing the prev paragraph, it finally hit me that the symbol for "key" is open-tool. isn't that cool!)

i did notice at one point in the game that there was a devotee word that was cut off in one of the stone carvings that looked like it might have been the equivalent for "fortress"--it was the room radical with the two opposing arrows from the word for "warrior". although it's not validated by the game's automatic translation function, it does seem to be evidence that the language elements are fairly flexible and recombinable!

this language is SVO (subject verb object), like english, which again is a choice that makes sense in terms of easing people in. it uses reduplication with nouns to indicate plurality, which as far as i can tell is unique amongst the languages in this game. there's no tense markers, which is common to all the languages in this game (again, as far as i can tell without having encountered the last language yet). given how simple the languages in the game need to be, i'm not surprised that there aren't really auxiliary verbs or indications of infinitives either.

questions that still remain unanswered: - "dead/death", "seek", and "find" all have dots that don't show up in the other characters. not sure why that's the case. could be a representation of something metaphysical? - the character for "go/pass" has a "room" radical on the right side and something else on the left side. wonder if that was intentional

[hughiecampbelle]

Decomposing (Will Graham Oneshot)

Character/s: Will, Jack mention

Word Count: 1,449

Tag List: @locke-writes

A/N: My loves!!! This is the first fic of the writing event and I couldn't be happier with how it turned out!! Truthfully I had this idea even before the event lol, so I'm really glad I was able to share!! I love complicated relationships and issues within them. I had this scheduled for tomorrow, but ya gurl has no patience, so it's a day early! I would appreciate any and all feedback as this event progresses! Lmk if you'd like to be added to the tag list as well!!! ❤❤❤❤

WRITING EVENT 🔪🩸

Fresh. Fresh wounds, fresh blood, fresh body, fresh relationship. Things are new. Awkward, fumbling hands unbuttoning his shirt, lifting it over his head. He does the same, your arms raised to ease the transition. A laugh, shy and blushing. In bed, between the sheets, trying to catch your breath. Was it. . . okay? A smile. Yes, of course it was. A nod, a performance of understanding. Little left to say. In the morning coffee, eggs. That’s all there is in the fridge. There’s no label, no pet names you call one another. There’s a line you refuse to cross. Bodies panting, laughing, but that’s all it is. Picking your clothes off the floor, disappearing into the shower. He heads downstairs. The dogs eager to greet him. You find him at the stove, the egg crackling in the pan. The steam of the mugs warm your face. Unsure of which seat to take. You’ve never done this before. You followed a pattern. Slipping from his bed before the sun rose. Leaving a note, something witty, without sincerity, closing the door behind you. Go home. Shower. Change. Running late. Find him in the lab with you co-workers. Bodies on slabs. What's left of them, anyways. He doesn’t look at you. He doesn’t look at any of you. Offering a quiet moment, the rest of the team filing out the door, he ways, slipping a note into your lab coat pocket. You don’t react. Your eyes averted, too busy listening to Jack to notice until the end of the day. Something sweet. You know his handwriting even without his signature. You shouldn’t be doing this. You shouldn’t smile at the thought of him. Hoping he’ll look at you, even for a second. It’s against the rules. It’s against everything. And yet. . . 

Bloat. The body swells, the gasses of the abdomen created by bacteria. The skin begins to blister. You crossed the line. An unspeakable, invisible line you step over not without hesitation. Not just sex. The last note he left you, sleeping on your desk, folded with your name on it. Will you go on a date with me? Nothing else. You hold it in your hand, reading it over and over again, wondering if it was a joke. No, you conclude, Will wouldn’t do that. Humiliate you. You wait for him in the parking lot, the note burning a hole in your pocket. You don’t know what you’re going to say until the words are already out of your mouth. Does Friday night work? He isn’t perplexed by lack of context. There are no formalities or small talk. He smiles. Says it’s great, that he’ll pick you up around seven. You don’t realize you’re grinning until you pull into the driveway. Your entire closet is thrown across your bed. What message are you trying to convey? That this is a one time thing? That it’s serious from the start? You don’t want to scare him away. You don’t want to get your hopes up. You’re not even sure you want this to turn into anything. Maybe you should have said no. come up with a lame excuse long enough to buy you some time. Let him down gently. Explain this relationship was purely sexual. It isn’t against the rules. No one can stop this date on a technicality. But there are social norms to uphold. If anyone hears about it, if anyone saw you talking, you knew you’d hear about it for a long time. Katz would be cool, kind even, rooting you on. Zeller and Price are a different story. Crude jokes most likely, then invasive questions, vulgar assumptions the both of you would try to deny. Was it really worth the risk? 

Active decay. Teeth and nails begin to fall out. Muscles and soft tissue begin to liquify, oozing from the body. He asked you to move in with him. It only made sense. Your lease was up soon and you’ve been official for nearly a year. You spent every night you could with him, too.. You don’t mind the dogs? Others would. The smell when they come in from the rain. Collecting them from the woods, the land, when he sleepwalks, the front door like a gaping mouth. Wide open. I adore them, Will. And you do. Spoiling them with toys and treats. Relief settles over his features. Bring what will fit. Clothes mostly, kitchen appliances and some furniture. He unpacks with precision. Labeling every box. Moving from room to room until your books and his and intertwined, your mugs nestled between his, your clothes folded beside his. It only takes a weekend. When it’s done there’s an air of relief. Not just practical, but a bandaid. Stitches for a wound that won’t stop bleeding. Things weren’t perfect, but what relationship was? Jack knows. You told him together. His face is hard to read, his words unemotional. Don’t let it interfere with your work. Of course, sir. Will squeezes your hand under the table. It went better than you expected. Later, when he can pull you aside, he asks what’s been on his mind. Is it serious? You’re not sure how to answer. At the time, it had only been a few months. You hoped it was. He must’ve said something to him, too. Unusually quiet. Hey, you say, it’ll be okay. He nods. It doesn’t stop the inevitable fight. Jack doesn’t think you’re good for Will. A distraction. A plaything. Do you really believe him? Hurt embedded in your voice. I don’t know. He sounds so small. Later, he will apologize. You will forgive, but not forget. 

Advanced decay. Soft tissue decomposes, leaving behind bones, hair, cartilage, ligaments, and byproducts. This is when the bugs begin to feed. You’re not on speaking terms. The team divides and conquers. Katz talks to him. She’s always liked him, checked in with him, puncturing the layers you have worked tirelessly to unfold. Price and Zeller talk to you as delicately as they are able to. Is the sex bad? It’s not worth the effort to answer. Seriously, what’s wrong? What did he do? Are we children of divorce now? You glare at them, the conversation dying. Its final breaths a bloody, gurgled gasp. You regret coming in together. The car ride home is silent. Between here and there, each of you opens your mouths, but nothing comes out. Apologies feel forced. Fake. The issues so tangled, so complicated, you are both the victim and the offender. You go to bed with a gap between you, a rift you’re not sure can be repaired. Things will get better, Katz offered quietly, as if speaking to the enemy. You thank her, though you’re not sure how it will. Time goes on. You can’t live like this and so, you cave in. your conversations are distant, polite, but nothing further. In front of others you are fine. They assume this fight – immortal, infinite – has passed. It hasn’t. He’s become sloppy. He blames you. You can’t shake that kind of thing when your lives are your careers. I don’t know if I can do this anymore. . . 

Skeletonization. The body fully liquifies and the bones are exposed. Your things are no longer contaminated. Your books, your mugs, your furniture. Placed peacefully into boxes. You sleep alone these days. It was awkward, at first. Exchanging looks, pleasantries, trying not to have an audience for a show you didn’t realize you were performing. I’m sorry to hear that, Jack states when you break the news. The team, your team, are apologetic, too. It’s over. It’s done. You want to move on. You don’t. The both of you regret a lot of things. Whose fault was it? Yours for saying yes. His for asking in the first place. Maybe it started before that. The coffee you shared, the eggs he made, the steam of the shower. Broke routine. Price and Zeller lay off you for a while. Him, too. They joke about the dead rather than the living. Give it a few weeks, they’ll be back to their usual selves. Will’s right. You smile despite yourself. It could have been good. Your relationship could have survived. At least, that’s what you tell yourself when he is funny, when he is gentle, when is humane. It was already dead, another part of you speaks up, and you know it is right. You could crack its chest and break its ribs, but there was no saving it. There was no bringing it back because there was no life in the first place. Did you love him? Hannibal asks. You did, maybe you still do, but it’s not enough. It never was.

[bossthebicon]

a ranking & summary of my thoughts on gmmtv 2025

overall this was by far the best lineup from gmmtv! I would honestly watch pretty much all the shows presented, although there are some clear favorites :)

burnout syndrome: y'all ALREADY KNOW!!! of course we all wanted a darker series for offgun's new show, but... I NEVER EXPECTED IT TO BE DIRECTED BY P'NUCHIE!!! this is so so so iconic considering I just finished my master thesis on the political art of not me, and here is p'nuchie creating a new offgun show with gun as an artist & off as his nude muse???? HELL YES. I'm obsessed with this & so intrigued bc the trailer divulged very little so I AM SAT!!! can't wait for my new roman empire <3

ticket to heaven: I almost cried watching this trailer, it really brought all of my religious trauma to the surface lmao. no but more seriously, if written & directed correctly, this has the opportunity to enter my top 10 favorite thai dramas (no pressure or anything.) the trailer gave me a very indie feel à la ITSAY (who everyone knows I adore) crossed with the difficult queer longing of your name engraved herein. in summary, it has the potential to be everything I love & extremely heartwrenching. I'M SAT.

girl rules: the sapphic friend zone/only friends???? all I can say is YES!!! having both my crushes namtan & milk in this really does something to me, this looks messy & absolutely PERFECT!!! us sapphics deserve this kind of messy representation too lol, I love it!

whale store xoxo: a cute sapphic adult romcom is EXACTLY what I love! I also like the more lower class background of the show, and the side ship looks very cute (although my viewjune heart hurts lol) also piploy liking milk's character only convinces me further I need a kapookpiploy main gl for 2026!!!

only friends 2: y'all know I'm an only friends HATER... but of course I'll watch this just for jossgawin, they are my everything apart from offgun & namtanfilm and I'm excited to see them in this kind of role, especially gawin!

my romance scammer: this looks so fun!!! very lakorn-y plot, I'm so excited for fluke jeeratch in this as I've loved him since his first role in my ride :)

a dog & a plane: this looks SO fun & cute! I also love marcpoon so this is an automatic yes! also tay with tattoos let's gooooo!!!

that summer: that looks very cute, and mond in a bl ship playing an uncle??? of course I'm fully signed up lol

head 2 head: enemies to lovers??? sign me up, always!!! also I do really enjoy seakeen, they're very cute :)

cat for cash: this looks very cute, the first firstkhao show to entice me since the eclipse! of course you can't go wrong with cats lol, but this looks like a nice healing family drama which I always enjoy! will give it a try!

me and thee: this looks quite fun, although it seems to be the same old pondphuwin dynamic of pond always concealing his real intentions lol. but I love the over-the-top nature of it all & I'll definitely give this a try!

boys in love: I have a soft spot for high school romances, and this looked quite cute! I also really enjoyed chokun's acting in my love mix-up TH, and OF COURSE I WILL BE WATCHING FOR PODDPAPANG MY NEW FAVE SHIP!!!

dare you to death: this is the first joongdunk show that actually seems enticing to me. I like the cluedo vibes & will watch for the ensemble cast bc I love them sm!

my magic prophecy: this is the first jimmysea show that actually entices me, which, if you haven't noticed, is a pattern with this lineup! might watch it!

mu-te-luv: this was quite a chaotic trailer, but lego, neo, yacht & fluke playing a queen gang was everything I didn't know I needed LMAO. will probably give it a try!

melody of secrets: this left me incredibly confused, but at the same time this seems interesting & quite different from other gmmtv shows. I'll give it a try!

love you teacher: I think it's an interesting plot, but I'm quite scared they're gonna make it weird with santa's character being mentally 7 years old while perth sees him as his adult lover. I feel like there's a high chance there's gonna be something weird in this, especially since the trailer even aknowledges that this feels more like a bl fantasy kinda plot, so yeah... I will reserve judgement until further notice.

wu: y'all know I'm the first to defend non-bl thai dramas and say to give them a chance, but... if this was gay I would watch this. however it seems like a bromance cash grab kinda queerbaiting skynani fans & it makes me feel a bit icky. but frankly the plot seems interesting, I just feel like gmmtv is exploiting people shipping these two without actually committing to it so I don't love it...

I love a lot of you: nanon looks incredible in this & this looks fun but a little basic. I might watch, though!

memoir of rati: I always feel like I can't say this without getting unfair criticism, but seeing inn speak literal nonsensical french that even google translate would do better PHYSICALLY HURT ME. idk gmmtv's obsession with french, I get that this is historically accurate, but... PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE can they start actually hiring actors that speak french for these roles??? this is really bad, also no shade but certain plastic surgery faces just don't look like they could belong in 1915... that feels mean to say but it's true. frankly I would've eaten this up if it was any other ship & actually someone who can speak french, but... I might give it a shot for my babies aouboom who seem really good in this... I'm so divided & frustrated by this, UGH.

[regretevator-headcanons]

Do you understand Scag? I do.

This is a big list of dialogue meant to highlight Scag's writing quirks, which may be useful in fanfiction and roleplay. I've been so fascinated by Scag and her dialogue that I had to do this.

Basics

Scag uses a lot of Internet slang, which makes sense because she is a TV that knows a lot about old computer programs and make references to streamer lingo. The most obvious of this is "How do I ban this guy chat" (to Pest) and "Yours... not so peak" (to Prototype), including suffixes like -core, -maxxer or -maxxing, and -filled.

She also has a fairly inconsistent typing pattern when it comes to capitalization.

The Suffixes

The suffixes are the weirdest part of Scag's dialogue, especially if you don't know about Internet speak so much. I will unfortunately have to explain some of this to you.

-core

core is often applied to make new genres of aesthetic or music (think scenecore, emocore, weirdcore, and horrorcore). The way that Scag uses it is as an adjective, usually to describe a person or item belonging to a certain group.

Examples: "HORRIBLECORE" (when sprayed with water), "SWEETCORE" (when given roses), "go get cleancore soon though" (talking to Mark about sawdust), "WINCORE" (talking to Prototype about watching CDs), "IT ADDS TO THE AESTHETICCORE!" (talking to Reddy about sparking animatronics), "Dude thats like scagcore" (when Spud! mentions having an old TV monitor like her)

It's noticeable that "win" by itself is already technically considered slang, similar to saying "w" (which is win). I find it funny Scag still says -core at the end of it though.

-maxx, -maxxing, -maxxer

-maxx is a suffix that has been applied to mean "getting the maximum output for the minimum input", essentially meaning to work smart and not hard. Scag mainly applies this word to mean something done thoroughly.

Examples: "Spellmaxx this out for me real quick" (to Wallter)

-maxxing is the big one used in most of Scag's dialogue.

-maxxer is used to describe when you are a part of a group that does the above. She only uses this word twice, once to describe Prototype and the other to talk to Spud!.

Examples: "the friendfilled visitmaxxer" (to Prototype), "dont fret spudmaxxer, you'll probably find your home" (to Spud!)

filled

-filled is used similarly to "pilled" where it's an adverb to describe a lot of something, similar to -maxx. For example, "humorpilled" is "full of humor" and its context is used in a joke.

Examples: "OH you don't get the humorfilled joke do you" (to Gnarpy about a television joke), "happy joyous birthdayfilled occasion btw" (to Poob about their birthday), and "Your projects can range up to skyscraperfilled heights???" (to Wallter talking about construction)

head

In some chats with a few characters, Scag uses the suffix "head" to describe when someone is performing an action that is intrinsic to their character. For example, when she mentions commissioning Wallter for her floppy shoppy floor, she says, "I'm glad I commissionheaded you for the building LOL"

Scag calls herself a "computerhead" when requesting that Bive doesn't use her like a computer, and refers to FleshCousin as a "parrothead" when it is mimicking her words.

Capitalization (and lack of consistency)

Depending on who Scag is talking to, the capitalization of her sentences and words vary. Sometimes I'ms are capitalized but sometimes they're stylized as i'm (lowercased).

It seems a lot of Scag's capitalization style goes down to how she feels, for example;

Excitement or emphasis — All caps, examples being: "DUDE / Your sillytalk is on POINT" (to Split on hearing her jokes), "Hrm..... / a floppyshoppy tower... / ONE DAY" (to Wallter on talking about construction), "ARE YOU READY FOR / GAMEUM NIGHT ULTIMATE 10000 / with exclusive puzzlefilled fun." (to Prototype as a dialogue opener)

Quiet/Introspective — A very rare side of Scag, she often talks in lowercase if thinking or talking in a more quieter tone. Some examples are when she talks to Split, "ermm... / methinks that the little hamsters in my internal structure has stopped the production of joyfilled thoughts..." as well as her talking to Spud, upon realizing that he doesn't know where his home is, "wuh oh / dont fret spudmaxxer, you'll probably find your home"

Punctuation

Scag uses a lot of periods, but she also often ends sentences without any sort of punctuation whatsoever. When she uses punctuations, she often also uses an excess amount of ellipses to drive her point home.

Examples: "uhuhh....... / LAME" (to Reddy about FNARB), “Hrm..... / a floppyshoppy tower... / ONE DAY.” (to Wallter about his construction), "... / cringeeee" (to Mark about being old or whatever)

There are whole interactions where Scag doesn't use punctuation, such as her talk with PartyNoob, entering the elevator, being showered in rose petals, and her idles.

[niarchery]

is it really fair for f*shjellylou to say Lous was only made Black because "they had to"? Obviously they couldn't directly adapt slaveowner Louis from the books, but the care and enthusiasm with which the writers shaped show-Louis' story to reflect his experience and struggles as a Black man in America make me think this decision was more than just a hasty raceswapping to tick off some box on a DEI checklist. No matter how amc execs & producers disrespect Jacob Anderson & Assad Zaman, I'm going to continue believing that the writers want to keep exploring the stories they created for Louis/Claudia/Armand until proven otherwise.

No you're right, I really disagree with that part. I think anyone with a brain watching the first two seasons could see how much love and care was poured into writing and creating the show, especially while shaping its main character Louis along with his black family and community in NOLA, and it makes little sense to then assume that the creatives of the show had made Show!Louis black to 'simply fulfill Murica's enforced diversity quota'.  

That being said, ofc the show is not perfect (we saw how S2 suffered some writing and pacing issues -largely because of the writer's strike- especially the finale) and I think to maintain writing quality in S3 in terms of the storylines of the characters of color, the show still needs to maintain a diverse writing room. I know that they've recruited a Bengali playwright to help with Armand's storyline especially his backstory of sexual slavery, but other than that I think the fact that the current writing room looks otherwise quite white doesn't exactly ease people's worries re: Louis's S3 storyline. And the show executives' attitude towards their own actors of color only adds to that anxiety: I mean aside from the whole FYC ordeal, we also know that Jacob had previously revealed to Naomi Ekperigin (former host of S1's now discontinued official podcast who, along with many black youtube content creators who received screeners for S1, was abruptly cut off by AMC with little to no explanation after S1 had ended) and had expressed his disappointment that he and his other costars of color weren't allowed to discuss race during the entirety of the S2 press tour. I think this pattern of AMC deliberately phasing out all conversations about race throughout S2's press run in order to pander to a wider and whiter audience has also generated rumors that they are now phasing out Jacob from IWTV press altogether, even during moments when Jacob's absence was actually due to his personal choice to spend time with his family or to work on new music.

Overall though, I do notice a pattern of that particular Tumblr user and their corner of the fandom making posts that bring attention to a couple of actually valid concerns re: AMC execs's discriminatory behavior, backed up with actual facts, and then in the same breath sharing the most bad faith interpretation of the situation, especially re: the motives of every single party involved. They sure love to be enraged over their own exaggerated, imagined scenarios lol and I just think that type of approach (fearmongering for likes) have no place in this conversation which requires nuance. 

[masterbuilderintern]

In you nostalgia Au (I hope I spell it right sorry if not) do Kai, Nya and Lloyd still have this like close RGB sibling realationship or is Lloyd just close to all of the ninjas ? Like who of them have like special realationships with eachother (exept for like Nya and Jay being together and all) also enjoy this pic of a peanutbutter

hehe thanks

RGB siblings are real! Lloyd does have a close bond with the whole team, but after Lloyd has that "I can't believe you were gonna betray my new friends fuck you go away" moment with Garmadon, Kai and Nya really step up and get over their grudges

More below so I don't clog up people's feeds lol

It really won't look like it at first. Kai and Nya REALLY don't like Lloyd at first because of the whole. Y'know. His dad killing their parents thing. But they come around, and having already had each other, treating Lloyd like a brother was basically second nature for them

Something that happens later in the story has Kai and Nya outright adopt Lloyd into their family. Not legally lmao but they basically tell him he's adopted now and he's very happy about it

Jay, Cole, and Zane have a much better dynamic with Lloyd, too, just not as obvious. Lloyd and Jay specifically have a more chaotic sibling-like dynamic, Lloyd picking on Jay because she's so dramatic and reactive when getting picked on. They've definitely thrown hands, but never actually want to hurt each other

And while Cole and Zane are very good mentors, they don't really level with him the same way Kai and Nya can. They're more parental than sibling-esc with Lloyd, and while it's definitely a healthy and even needed dynamic in his life, Lloyd having actual honest to god SIBLINGS helps him to open up in ways you really don't with parental figures

The different ways Lloyd interacts with them all is basically the easiest thing ever because I'm the second oldest of like, 9, so I can just reference my varying dynamics with my own siblings, and because of our varied ages I have a good reference for writing children too (Lots of adopted kids, we're aren't fucking. Mormon or whatever I promise)

Relationships between the rest of them are complicated. They refer to each other as brothers, which might be a little confusing if you're not privy to the non-sibling uses for that term. Like, Nya calling Cole "brother" does not have the same meaning as her calling Lloyd "brother." It's still really important to them to call each other this, but they don't see each other as actual siblings like they do Lloyd (or how Kai and Nya see each other). Though when characters start dating like Jay and Nya, they drop the term entirely for different terms of endearment.

Just know they're close enough for things like uh. An example would be Kai and Nya do not get ANY sleep when they have to work with Garmadon early in the story to save Lloyd, and the first time they finally get any sleep was because Cole let them lie on him.

Or when they all do the head-touchy thing. Which they all picked up from. Cole. Hm. Noticed a pattern Just Now. Interesante.

And thank you! Here's a snacky for you

[valentinafoxr]

Illustrhater was good

I had some time to let my thoughts marinate and watched the episode again, and I would say we're off to a good start! Some things I liked or noticed:

What it is with Lila's notebooks in the opening scene. Is she writing a novel. Is all of this just a ploy to get clout on ao3

Love love LOVE Marinette's room and all the little details - her room has always been so cool, but I feel like it's elevated by the redesign. She has a Molly Ringwald-Teen Movie Bedroom-Windowsill now ❤

RE: The intro - I DO like that they kept the song! Would've been very jarring to have a new tune, but I feel like keeping the music wraps it up really nicely. Love the Adrinette cuteness and OUGH OUGH OUGH the shot with Gabriel in the background. Sinister, I love it. I won't lie, I WILL miss the shot that's now the LadyNoir fist bump and Adrinette kiss when it used to be Chat Noir going in for a kiss and then the two of them tumbling over each other, mostly because it used to be the essence of the Lovesquare and thus the show. I totally get though why they had to change it up -different premise with Adrinette in a relationship and all- and the way the still kept the switcheroo was nicely done.

on, and they kept the black cat in the intro. points for that.

Marinette being a disaster is so, so comforting to me. Yes, give us the statistics about Hawkmoth, order shrimp macarons, hide your face in your tiny purse girl, I love you!!!! And her cat ear slippers <3

I need a moment to gush about the new animation, because, DAMN. It's both the small details (the pattern and texture of Alya's glasses) and and the scenery (Paris actually looking like a populated city with a beautiful variety of both people and unique buildings????). Idk it's just really, really nice. The character models are mostly an upgrade and look a tad older while still keeping the original vibe. The expressions are also better, especially for the supporting cast. The lighting is gorgeous! AND THE AKUMATIZATIONS!!!! HELLO!!! THEY LOOK SO COOL

Adrien is a sad exception to my praise but I think the less we talk about it the faster we will all collectively get used to it lol

I also think the direction and camera work has gotten a lot better - the fighting scenes looked cool and we got interesting camera angles.

The integration of 2D animation is neat! The chibis are very cute and serve a purpose. I do hope they keep adding 2D elements and not just as illustrations as they used to do in former seasons. I mean, this is such a fun shot:

Storywise it was a decent episode! not much to say here tbh, I liked the DJ Wifi sideplot (and THEM overall, bestest couple).

Loooooved the trash collecting scene, reminded me of Gang of Secrets Ladynoir after their break-ups. I need them to talk/gossip to each other about their relationship(s) in every episode hehe. I do miss flirty Ladynoir but seeing them again is auauauuaghhh. Adrien seeing Ladybug out and about and he's smiling!!!!!!!!!! I love Ladynoir so much

We didn't get much about Adrien's situation from this (apart from the fact that he's allowed to leave the house lol) but the sadness in his eyes…. and him taking the blame for Adrinette's communication issues…. my sweet, sweet boy 🙁

Referring back to this post - yeah, that's Lila/Cerise/Iris in the café, drinking a diabolo menthe (Diabolo -> diabolos in Greek: slanderous, libellous -> Girliepop is ready to stir up things). She's gonna be wherever Marinette goes, causing trouble, I assume.

things I'm curious about:

the timeline: is it still summer vacation? I would assume so, since Marinette and Alya have yet another sleepover and they're meeting the boys in the morning (?). School probably hasn't started yet this season.

Kagami and Marinette: Their (very, very brief) interaction seemed normal. I expected Kagami to be conflicted due to their conversation in the London Special, tbh, but then again, it was a very brief interaction. We'll see.

Carapace using shelter twice in one battle: Did all heroes "grow up"? Did it happen on-screen in episode 1 or should we just assume they all have unlimited powers?

the Kwagatama: I mean, we don't need to talk about the obvious implication (memory loss, Tales-of-LB-and-CN-theory), but I'm kinda wondering about other possible scenarios this may lead to.

And oh. The saved cat got an animation upgrade. Can’t wait to see Baby August in the new animation style lol

[kyouka-supremacy]

Your posting schedule is so interesting! How do you manage to wait months, or even a whole year, before uploading something? I don't mean that in a bad way at all—actually, the opposite! I'm genuinely curious about your process: how you come up with ideas, how you develop them into posts, and just how your brain works in general. <3

First of all– thank you! That's very sweet and kind of you <333

Second of all: I don't do this willingly at all, it's just that I'm a generally anxious person and publishing posts just as I've made them is very anxiety inducing for me pfftt. It's actually not *that* bad anymore, but it definitely was when I started posting on Tumblr, a long time ago, on other blogs from other fandoms, when I was a lot more self-conscious about my English just among other stuff; the habit of postponing posting to double check posts again just stuck.

I also simply really want my blog to be curated. It's my nice place where all the things I want to keep record of are, neatly labelled and organized. That's why I want to be able to check up my posts several times before posting, have time to notice any typo and so on (usually backfires because I get so used to reading a post my eyes will automatically skip over a typo, but eh). And sometimes my brain is just *something something abandonment issues Akutagawa* *compilation of x* *meme y*, stuff that I take note to make but maybe don't have time for at the moment and that keep track of so I don't forget later. Some times analysis look very bad when putting them down for the first time, and I need to polish them up; other times new ideas surge, and I end up doubling the size of a post. It's just a way to curate the posts that “works for me”; except, it does have its downsides, mainly posts getting obsolete if I'm posting them after a year has passed, or even the fact that at times I simply change my mind on some takes. This also helps keep my blog clean from negativity a lot of times, since looking back at rants more often than not I will go - uh. this really doesn't need to be posted -, or unfunny jokes. I think some 20% of the posts I make end up not seeing the light.

Since the queue can only hold up to 1000 posts (and like 60% of that for me is blocked by posts “I'm posting later” that have been there since this blog began. But whatever), All my original posts and reblogs go in the drafts (there's. A lot of stuff in there.) Once in a while I will dig dig dig in the drafts and refill the queue. It takes so long. About that, I just ran out of April 2024 posts

In truth, I just have a lot of neurospicy stuff going on. Like... Remember when I used to organize all my queued reblogs by category, always publishing them in couples of fanarts, textposts, same character, colours, and so on? I did that for more than two years on here. It was a nightmare, it was so pointless and time consuming, and yet it was a fixation so hard to overcome, and I still often get the itch to do that when I set my queue lol. Likewise, I always set my posts to be posted on the nice timestamps (multiple of tens, every half hour, hour quarters and such).

I don't know if that's what you were asking? There's a lot of stuff going on in the space of posts / drafts / queue pfffttt. In regards of how I come up with ideas, it's really hard to answer </3 There's no pattern I can recognize, I just navigate a lot, read a lot, and think a lot about it all. A lot of times inspo comes from fics; they put the characters in scenarios, and even though a lot of times I will perhaps disagree with how the characters will act in those circumstances, it's very thought-provoking, because it challenges me to reflect on how I believe they would actually act, and why is that. If I look back at my posts, a lot were inspired by a word, a sentence, a concept I saw in some other fandom creation. I really believe and uphold fandom being a mutually inspirational space :)

I will eventually run out of things to say tho ahah. If you look back at the dates of my post, The first year, there were days when I made even four posts. Right now, posts from April 2024 are being posted, and it's just one post per day. If we look at 2025, I've only made five posts in May (although, there's two more posts I plan to post soon. I suppose it's all really a lot complicate ahah).

[mrs-gauche]

Vows & Vengeance Episode 1

ALRIGHT GUYS! As always, I'm super late to the party (although for once, I actually have a good reason, which is that I'm currently kinda in the middle of renovating my place lol), and while I first listened to the episode on Thursday, I just wanted to let it sink in a bit and listen to it again a few times, to really appreciate all the details. :D So here are a trillion few notes on the first episode (spoiler, I loved it! <3333) and I hope this doesn't sound too jumbled, I haven't had a lot of sleep lately. 😂😂💀💀

- Ok, so my first reaction to the ending was basically: "OH MY GOD NOTHING CAN EVER GO RIGHT", "DAMN THAT ESCALATED QUICKLY" and sobbing for Elio, I guess. lol

- My general thoughts: I loved it!! ❤️❤️❤️ I felt like it was gripping and immersive from the beginning, but also genuinely funny and moving at times! I think this first episode did a good job of setting up the plot, the pacing was good and I'm already invested in the new characters! The sound design and voice acting was top notch (albeit maybe a bit over the top and a little cheesy in a couple of scenes lol) and I absolutely LOVED the little nuggets of the Veilguard soundtrack we got throughout (Zimmer and Balfe confirmed!!). There are a few tiny nitpicks, but overall this was fantastic and correct me if I'm wrong, but I've never heard of a game being marketed with an audio drama before? 😂 But looking at Dragon Age's amazing voice cast (and the fact that they all made us develop a voice kink lmao), this makes so much sense and I need like a hundred more of these in the future. lol

Notes on the episode itself:

- The narrator reminds me so much of the ones in these old anime dubs. I was expecting him to be like "LAST TIME ON DRAGONBALL Z". He got lost in the wrong dragon franchise. lol Really cool voice though!

- I LOOVE how it starts off with a minute of just the ambient sounds, chatters and music of the tavern, to really get that immersion, as if you just walked into this place yourself. - That new rendition of "Oh Grey Warden" hit me in the feels ngl.. ;-;

- Nadia just walking it and poisoning Olen to get answers was such a badass introduction to our main character! - I like how the narrative is neatly tied together by making this a retelling of what happened, starting off with loads of questions and by the end we're back in the present again.

- Nadia and Elio are so sweet nawww <3333 - Those sounds of Elio waking Nadia up were straight up ASMR. lol - The tune that's playing in the back here is sooo nice, I wonder if it's part of the new Love theme or something. 🥹❤️

- A sort of forbidden love between Liberati and Altus, oh this better end f*cking well!! 💀💀💀 - Well, that birthday got cancelled REAL fast. lol - I get Nadia's outbreak, but DAMN, she went OFF on him from like 0 to 100 in a heartbeat. lmao I guess something was bottling up for quite some time. - "I'm sorry" Oh no. I notice a certain pattern. *sob* - Again, that track that's playing here, wooow. Goosebumps! It's a super tragic rendition of the main theme. I just know this one's gonna hit so hard whenever that plays in Veilguard. 😭

- I wonder if the docks here are the same we've seen in screenshots. :3 - The soundtrack that's playing here reminds me SO MUCH of Unravel (one of my favorite tracks in recent years! <3333) - I like Nadia and Vik's dynamic. Super authentic. :D

- Nadia's reaction to the gold and then "TRIPLE the bag for delivery??" Yeah, Solas truly is the richest apostate hobo in all of Thedas. Those vaults from Trespasser come in handy now. Good thing the currency of old Elvhenan is apparently still valid. lol - Solas' quest of collecting every ancient powerful artifact continues. - Isn't this like the second time now that Solas indirectly hired someone to break into the Archives? lol They really need to improve that security. (Watch there being a quest in Veilguard where you have to break in there again, but it's impossible due to the amounts of guards now and Solas is like "Yeah, that might be my fault, sorry." lol)

- Super random thought, but judging by the sound design, there's gotta be lots of chickens running around in the streets of Minrathous. lol - NEVE!! <3333 (I'm sorry to anyone who had the wildest conspiracy theories about that teaser image and was expecting someone else. lmao) - So, wait. Does that mean Solas also anticipated Neve to talk to Elio? Or maybe someone else was supposed to do that but Neve got there first? lol

- Nadia and Vik have got to be the noisiest thieves I've ever heard. LMAO HOW did you manage to steal anything until now?? 💀💀💀 - I love how you keep hearing Vik laughing in the distance while distracting the guards. lol

- I wonder if all the turmoil could have been avoided if they just informed Elio about his ancestor's connection to the Eye and the Venatori from the get go. I guess he needed that push of knowing to never be able to return to his life in Tevinter to go along with it, but.. *sigh* poor Elio. - "I trust you." UHGGHH We were on the right track there. 😭😭 - That music AGAIN?? Chilllls!! - Nadia just casually destroying hundreds of years worth of relics. Love it. lol - "FLAME BLAST!!" Oh, this is so anime. lmaoo - Elio going from "WE'RE NOT DOING THIS" to fully enjoying beating up templars and go full criminal in a matter of seconds as soon as he sees his girl in her element. He loves her so much. <33

- "Who's the hat?" lol - That groan after the Dread Wolf name drop? Yeah, that was actually me. lmao - So, I assume this also ties in with Neve already knowing about Solas and his shenanigans in Minrathous when she met Varric in The Missing. Maybe it was this very incident that Neve was talking about? - Noooo, Vik!! 😭😭 (I knew you for like five minutes, but you made in impact. lol) - Sooo... I take it these "assassins" were actually Venatori, since they were the ones going after the Eye in the first place? Or am I stupid now? - "The eye went boom!" Love that delivery. lol - "She's trying to freeze the bay!" Yeah, Neve just DID that. What a boss. - "An elf with a fancy tongue." Oh, I know who THAT is. lmao

- "Me and you." 😭😭😭😭 You two are killing me. - That motif AGAIN. 😭😭😭😭😭 - Oh, for fuck's SAKE. Solas really always has the best flippin timing. They're all sweet and loving and here goes our disaster man "I'm about to ruin this couple's day so good." 💀💀💀 It's her BIRTHDAY, dammit!! - "Ominous looking chap in the road" lmao All I could think of there was THIS (for anyone who gets the reference LMAO)

- How is it that I knew he would appear in this episode from the teaser, and yet I still freaked out so hard. lmaoo After such a long time, it's like any second of new Solas content makes my heart skip a beat (or several). 😭😭 I still can't believe we're getting all this. 🥹

- Look, I may be a Solasmancer and have my biases, but godDAMN.. GDL is so good. HE IS SO GOOD. That Welsh accent. That rolling lilt. A voice like velvet that can be both so smooth and so sharp. There is just something about his performance that has you on the edge of your seat every time he's talking and I looove these little moments when you can so clearly hear that cheeky little smile in his voice. 💜

And it's so nice to hear him talk so calmly (well, at first at least lol) and kinda playful again, opposed to how super anxious he sounds at the beginning of Veilguard. 🥺 It's kinda interesting to compare this performance with DAI now, because now he's fully embracing the Dread Wolf role, and I keep thinking this is him after being isolated for the past ten years. ;-;

- Anway, so Nadia "unknowingly employed by the Dread Wolf" gets her pay from Richie Rich and girl, that would've been the moment to LEAVE. *sob* - "What other choice do we have?" Well, I dunno, RUN?? lmao - *chuckles* "I will demonstrate." Alright, I'm dead. Why did you say it like THAT? T_____T - Hearing Solas talk in elven after so long.. Dead again. Overkill. And yes, he's saying the exact same thing he said to Sera once. No, we don't know what it means. lol Maybe Sera IS actually an ancient magical artifact and he tried to trigger.. something. lol - That whole flippin dialogue. Solas please stop talking like an old witch trying to lure her prey into her lair. 💀 - "I do not play games." *screaming* - Honestly, I was like "NOOO WHY would you GO with himmm" but then I remembered, SHIT I WOULD FOLLOW HIM ANYWHERE. Hell, I *HAVE* followed him anywhere. To Hell and back. 💀💀💀💀💀 - Solas' persuasion game is at maximum at all times.

- "Energy is neither dark nor light." Speak for yourself, Trickster God of In Between. - "It is the Fade. The Veil is fragile here."

- Solas finally gets to answer questions again, but Nadia is rude about it. 😂 Solas slightly approves AND disapproves. lol - "Kindly remove your blade from my neck."

- Those damn Venatori at it AGAIN with their hunt for magical McGuffins. After TN and the Missing, I'm starting to believe that is all Solas did in the last ten years, snatching one deadly toy out of the their hands after another. lmao - "And it is up to me to ensure we arrive at the best possible outcome." Oh, we're so doomed. - "You're sharper than you let on." Here we go again with the backhanded compliments. lol Ohhh, how I missed it.

"Some people confuse a reckoning as an ending." "I seek... regeneration."

Holy shit. The voice. The long pause. The delivery of that last line. Shivers down my spine. It feels eerie. Like he sounds.. desperate.. and maybe a little.. insane? lmao (That's how you start to talk if you've been separated from your soulmate for ten years 💔💔💔)

Ok look, I've seen a TON of people thinking that, because of the way he says this and him using the word "reckoning" ("For a reckoning that will shake the very heavens"), this HAS to be whatever part he took of Mythal speaking now that has taken over his mind or something. But.. I don't think so? lol

I honestly think this is just Solas who, after a thousand years of preparing to "heal" the world again that he broke, even after admitting to himself that this world and its people are in fact real and he has to destroy it, is SO close to getting there now and there's NO ONE who could possibly understand him or how he truly feels or what any of this or the Blights/Titans/spirits/gods/Veil even truly ARE, so no WONDER he sounds a little f*cking unhinged. 💀💀💀

The choice of words is very interesting though.. "Regeneration" is not something he has ever used, BUT it immediately made me think of the line "But still, some hope remains for restoration" in Trespasser. This is what google tells me:

Regeneration represents a form of upgrade from restoration. If restoration means “to make something well again,” regeneration, for some authors, means “to make it better” than a (supposed) origin condition.

Regeneration: "a renewal or restoration of a body, bodily part, or biological system (such as a forest) after injury or as a normal process/ or a spiritual renewal or revival"

You know.. if I read "restoration of a bodily part or biological system", you know what's the first thing that comes to my mind yet AGAIN.

Look, that Titan's body is SPLIT IN HALF and we know that this was kinda the catalyst for everything Solas did back then, so... I'll just leave that here and listen to rest of the episode now. lmaoo

- "And the eye will make us fix that?" "More or less." dksdjjgdkfvlf THE SMILE IN HIS VOICE. What does that even MEAN? What do you MEEEAN, SIR?? I would've RUN out of that cave SO flippin FAST. - "And you're sure this is safe?" "As safe as we make it." *literally two minutes later* "SOLAS, SOMETHING IS WROOONG!!" This is a goddamn comedy show. lmaoo - "Silence, please." lol at him still being polite. - "This is all to be expected!" *five seconds later* "WE MUST FLEE!" I BUST out laughing. WHY are you such a DISASTER. Nothing EVER goes right and yet you always keep trying, you fool, omg!! - I don't think we have ever heard Solas so distressed. lol Like, not even when Wisdom died or at the beginning of Veilguard. - "Take my hand!" I would've never thought to hear THAT Trespasser line repeated under those circumstances, but here we are. lmaooo - We know Solas is a hopeless romantic, so for him to see that sweet couple torn apart because of him, and him still trying to save Nadia, I'm not ok. - Solas being responsible for Elio getting banished to the Fade and him being trapped there not long after.. Do you believe in karma? 😂 - "I'M SORRY!" WHY DOES IT ALWAYS END WITH HIM SAYING THAT. 😭

- So.. uh... what even WAS the plan, exactly? lol Like, what was supposed to happen?? Maybe they should've asked a few more questions after all. 💀 - That following scene with Nadia all alone. I got chills again. That hit different. ;-;

- "Where can I find this wolf??" Oh, she is about to hunt him down. 😶 "...I'll be back." Nadia in full Terminator mode now. 😂 - How are she and Elio connected now though? How can she hear him? 🥺 And I can't help but think about whoever was left in the Fade in DAI again, too. 😭😭😭 - Not the credits making me almost sob AGAIN because of the music. 😭 It is so so good.

So there we are. Everything went wrong, a couple is doomed and Solas is sorry. So, nothing changed. LMAO Everything as usual. 💀💀💀 Solas, I swear, if you don't get these two back together again and pay Lavellan a visit afterwards, my Rook might rethink listening to your advice in Veilguard. lmao

I can't wait for that next episode! This was so much fun and an amazing start, and I'm so excited to hear all the other companions! :D ❤️❤️❤️