#really interfering with my productivity

[radioapple-heathen]

Me, watching Alastor and Lucifer meet for the first time on HH: "ah, yes, I violently ship them now."

[crumpetz]

a little update on the progress of The Big Road Home

it has been so long since i made a post that i had to figure out what to click on all over again lol. this week it hit me that ppl follow me specifically for fic upates and it just slipped my mind that i could be saying more. i have, like, internet social anxiety, and just default to never saying anything most of the time.

anyway, i'm really happy to report that progress on the fic has really moved along recently. for anyone who doesn't know, i have long covid and the brain fog has really interfered with my writing process. i originally taught myself to write using a certain system where i kept a lot of things in my head at once, and since losing that ability, i've been relearning how to write in a way my current self can do. which especially has sucked for the fic and where it left off, because the part i stopped at was actually a huge group of scenes scattered through multiple otherwise completed chapters that i was saving for later (before i got long covid). because even in my peak condition with my brain capable of keeping all the details straight, those scenes were still so challenging and important to get right that i wanted to wait until i was feeling extra sharp lol. so yeah, i've been basically having to reread my entire fic over and over every time i wanna figure out how to add in like one small part of all the things i've gotta cover (and thanks to the brain fog, on average, i'm capable of thinking thru all that maybe three days out of every month if i'm lucky?)

so, all that rereading and getting the details and characters consistent finally has been paying off, because i reached the stage this past week where i could finally bring it all together. the final product is going to be less seamless than what i'd originally intended, but that's just a given now that my brain is different. and, full disclosure, the stuff that i'm talking about is exposition. which i think for most ppl reading my fic is more like information they just want to know and less something that needs to feel seamless in delivery, unlike character interactions and emotional arcs. so, the reality is that the exposition in the next handful of chapters is gonna be a little clunky, but the non-exposition stuff will all be like normal, with the same amount of care i usually work toward.

i don't want to assume when everything will be ready. final tweaks always take me longer than i'm expecting. but to put it into perspective, i spent the last 2-3 yrs (i forget how long it's been oh no) getting thru like 20 percent of what needed to be done. and then i just spent a few days last week getting through 60 percent. i'm gonna wait until the full set of chapters i'm working on is complete because i want to be able to post them without a long wait in between, and i want to take the time to really get the emotional beats right. but i guess if i had to say anything for sure, it would be that for the first time since i got long covid, i'm truly seeing the light at the end of the tunnel for this fic.

my final note is that the next set of chapters isn't the end of The Big Road Home btw. i forget if i ever mentioned this, but from the start, The Big Road Home was going to be three main parts. the first part with jason and tim being street kids together, then this part we're in with tim living with the Wayne's is part 2. there's gonna be a whole 3rd part coming. idk how long it'll be, lol. it's the only part i haven't written a single word of because i've kind of been saving it as a treat.

thanks for your patience and encouragement all this time. as i said, i have pretty awful social anxiety on the internet and don't reply to ppl who reach out nearly as often as i want to. but every kind word or fanart or playlist or thoughtful comment on stuff you noticed etc etc has really carried me through the past few yrs. i can't tell you how many times i was spiraling, feeling like i might not be able to figure out how to write the next part with my current limitations, and one of you said something so lovely and encouraging, and i'd just suddenly have it in me to give it another try.

[primtrevors]

Disclaimer: I’m not sure if this topic has already been discussed (feel free to point it out if it has!), because I only started sharing my thoughts online and in the osblaine community this season.

And here’s something I’ve been wondering:If Serena hadn’t interfered, would June and Nick have developed a romantic relationship?

Personally, I think the answer is yes.

Let’s start with the book—June kisses Nick and wants to sleep with him even before they’re forced to by Serena. There’s desire there from the beginning. After they finally do have sex, she feels guilty and ashamed, like she betrayed Luke. But even then, she wonders—would it feel different if she knew Luke was dead? That line alone tells you how emotionally complicated and real her feelings were.

Now, turning to the show—you can feel the tension between them from early on, but it really peaks in that unforgettable scene after June gets beaten and Nick brings her ice. The sexual tension in that moment is off the charts. They're standing so close, barely saying a word, and yet the air between them is thick with want. They practically kiss in that scene—you can see it in the way they look at each other, how charged the silence is. That wasn’t just a fleeting attraction; it was something raw, emotional, and completely undeniable.

And finally, no matter what’s going on around them—whether they’re trapped in Gilead, fighting to survive, or torn apart by war and manipulation—you still see that bond. Even when they’re separated, the emotional thread between them never really breaks. That, to me, is the core of a real romantic relationship: not just passion, but something that endures through distance, trauma, and time.

So yeah—even if Serena hadn’t been the one to set things in motion, I still believe June and Nick would’ve found their way to each other. Their connection wasn’t just a product of circumstance—it was real, and it would've happened regardless. Maybe they wouldn’t be endgame, maybe the world wouldn't let them be. But they would’ve had something honest—mutual support, deep understanding, and the space to figure out what they could be. Or at least, they would’ve had the chance to try. And that matters.

[justafewberries]

Beetee's failed attempt to hack the capitol coms leading to punishment with Ampert is either evidence that the attack served a greater rebel organization

Or

Beetee wanted to do a mega attack that would create that rebel organization from the network of cells.

If it's the latter then a possible rebel tendency towards mega propo attacks(blowing up arenas) could be established.

Though most d12 rebel action besides posters is based on escaping d12 or sabatoging mine production(in CF we see more examples of this in other districts).

I don't think Beetee was trying to communicate through the system:

“It’s because I’m being punished for coming up with a plan to sabotage the Capitol’s communication system. I’m too valuable to kill, but my son is disposable.”

He was trying to sabotage it. He was trying to prohibit something from being communicated, or just take the systems down entirely. However, we do not know when he tried to sabotage them. It could have been years prior. Ampert was 12, so it was the first year he could have been reaped. This opens the door to the sabotage plan being developed before the period between the 49-50th Games.

He did not know he was caught until they reaped Ampert:

“But it is. Entirely. I took a risk. I didn’t suspect that I’d been found out until the reaping. The timing was calculated. If I had known, I could have killed myself, and Ampert would be safe at home. That is how Snow works.”

This doesn't necessarily mean he developed the plan recently, but I think makes it more likely.

There are a few reasons he may have taken up against the communication system specifically (other than the fact he's the comms guy in mockingjay):

Prevent development of the arena:

He stated he got to look over the plans over a year ago:

“My point is that, for at least a few weeks, the arena has to be capable of sustaining the tributes and supporting the set pieces. I haven’t seen the plan for the actual arena, but over a year ago, they had me look over the Sub-A design."

So he has insider knowledge. Perhaps he was planning to meddle with the communication systems for the construction of the arena. Although, I don't think this hold water, as he did not implement the plans, and the arena would have to have been built by then.

"Oh yes, Well, they've been in the works for years, of course. Arenas aren't built in a day." (Catching Fire, Plutarch)

So, at best, he would be meddling with the construction of a future arena.

Trying to overwrite Capitol propaganda

People in the Capitol love their TV's. Maybe it's literally just him trying to do what he does in Mockingjay, although, I'm not sure what he would break in with, but that could be why it's a plan he didn't implement. They needed propos in Mockingjay before they could do any kind of breaking in.

Game communications/operations

Perhaps he was trying to sabotage the trackers (but that really wouldn't accomplish much on its own), or the operations of the Games in a Bluetooth/control from a remote location kind of way. I'd buy this if Sub-A didn't exist and the Games were as automated as they were in the 74th Games.

There are a few smaller things that could have to do with "Capitol communications", like moving Peacekeeper squadrons from areas to allow access to restricted areas, too, but I don't know if that would be sabotaging so much as interfering/controlling, maybe he just planned to leave a security gap in them for later?

I think the distinction of "sabotage" is why I'm not sure if it had anything to do with the rebels or not.

[vroomvroomwee]

What are your theories or hcs on why Vox relies on his hypothesis so much?

(You don't have to read my interpretation if you want to bc it's LONG SORRY bc i think abt his hypothesis WAYY TOO MUCH N JS NEEDED TO PUT MT THO8GHTS TOO😭)

I personally think Vox is already charming and alluring to convince(hypnotize NATUTALLY LOL) his followers to buy his products or listen to him, and I think he knows that too. It may just be a another way of control to fuel his ego or his insecurity, but I believe its because of his paranoia of losing control (I know i already mentioned that above, but i meant it like its not a necessity for him, its just a good old snack for him-if that makes sense.??)

I like to believe he only started to hypnosis people immensely after his fight with alastor. We seen how much damage Alastor caused in his demon form as an powerful overlord, so imagine him and Vox, another powerful overlord, fighting each other? We already have an idea of what image of himself Vox wants people to believe he is, trusting and welcoming, makes you forgot you are in hell, so imagine when they see him all violent and dangerous? That's the complete OPPOSITE of what he wants, and the battle between him and Alastor isn't hiding that very well bc there is so little you can cover up during a freaking overlord battle in public lmfaoo.

After Alastor left or disappeared, Vox is now fully aware of his surroundings, he sees all the people around looking at him so fearful, finding out the real him. He panicked and hypothesized everybody without even thinking and made them all forget that day ever happen, that they ever saw him so imperfect. Even when it worked, the thought that they just might remember, just a little bit that they might be questioning about his products or his brand, HAUNTS him so he hypothesized them constantly till its eventually a literal coping mechanism for him that his brand is fine, his company is fine, if he can keep making them stare to his spiraling screen, it will all be okay.

Ooooh I like this theory!!! I always thought Vox relied on his hypnosis to get the job done faster. That man is all about efficiency. Why waste time chatting people up to like him when he could hypnotise them and spare himself time. He would absolutely be someone who unironically says "time is money" so he employs whatever methods he has at his disposal to get the work done quicker.

But, I honestly love the theory that he fully leaned into this ability after fighting with Alastor. It would make sense that he hasn't really utilized it during his time with Al either because he wanted to impress him with how raw and natural his charm is, or because he didn't want to freak Alastor out and lose his trust. And the theory you're suggesting makes absolutely perfect sense because an overlord battle of that scale would be catastrophic and in no way hidden from the public. And since we don't actually hear anyone talk about that fight in the show, it does stand to reason that Vox made everyone forget it. A mass hypnotisation to protect his precious image and to simultaneously warn Alastor of his power and that it would be in his best interest to "stay gone." I do wonder why or how Alastor is unaffected by the hypnosis. It could be his high overlord status and level of power, or it could be his radiowaves interfering with Vox's signals, or perhaps it's something else entirely.

This was such a fun ask thanks so much for sending it!!

[bugsinshoes]

OKAYOKAYOKAYOAY SOOOOO

i CANNOT stop thinking about musical falls. GENUINELY. it rotted my brain. SO! i've spent a bit of time doodling and coming up with ideas for how BILL would be presented on stage.

firstly, we have 2-D Bill/Pre-Weirdmageddon Bill. the idea i had for this form is that we'd use a spotlight tinted with a yellow gel and on top of that there'd be a gobo (stencil) of Bill's triangular form.

(examples of how that'd look onstage)

pros- spotlights can effortlessly move around stage without physically interfering with actors, also it mirrors how in the show, he's limited to the mindscape and how he doesn't have a physical form yadda yadda yadda (you get my idea)

cons- not much movement/expression. also kind of a disembodied voice? Bill is very expressive so it'd be hard to showcase something like that on a cut out stencil of him.

ANOTHER IDEA (i just had now as i'm writing this): Bill projection !!

so, it'd be a projected image of Bill which would be able to be animated so THAT solves the issue of the previous idea. plus i'm sure there'd be a way to move the projection around the stage if needed.

uhhh anyways !! back to my original ideas !!!!

obviously everything i've just mentioned is for 2-D Bill, but HERE is where it gets exciting. when Bill gains his physical form during Weirdmageddon.

so, when Bill gains a physical form, i had 3 ideas:

IDEA 1- Lin Manuel Miranda as Bill.

now, in my previous post about musical falls, i was kind of /j ing the idea, but i think it'd be genuinely hilarious. imagine this, duing the whole musical, bill is this 2-dimensional projection, kinda eerie. makes you think "how is he gonna look once he gains a physical body?" then BOOM its Lin Manuel Miranda. obviously his costume would be a waistcoat and jacket combo (something similar to how i drew him in my past post) but yeah. that's really the only reason. it'd be funny. idk.

IDEA 2- Puppet Bill.

this Bill would be more canon-accurate, still in his triangle form, except he'd be puppeted by someone. now, this comes with the same problem as gobo-bill. LACK OF EXPRESSION. he's stuck to one emotion/"facial" expression. (also i have no idea how puppets work. if anyone with more knowledge than me wants to add on/constructively criticise, you're welcome to!) i didn't really expand/think too much about this idea either soooo.....

IDEA 3 (my favourite)-

drag. bill.

i really like this idea. now, i'm no costume designer, nor do i do drag (so apologies if i've gotten anything wrong) but i think this would be something really cool to see on stage. the shape language of the costume, alongside a gorgeous makeup look, AS WELL as it being a real person acting, really feels like a good direction to go in, as it would allow full movement, gestures, and expressions !! (hooray!!) also i really need to see an awesome Bill-inspired drag look onstage. it'd be awesome.

ANYWAYS THAT'S IT !! THOSE ARE MY IDEAS !!!

this is all for fun as i KNOW this won't ever become an IRL stage production (probably) but a guy can dream. i just had so much fun coming up with ideas for the heck of it sooo !!!

another MASSIVE thanks to @fordtato for making that video about musical falls. i think i'm obsessed.

AAAA THAT'S ALL !!!! :D

[genderqueerdykes]

Are otherkin, alterkin, nonhuman, and therian the same thing or do they mean different things about a related/same experience?

I'm trying to figure if I'm one of those identities (on top of my already complex gender identity). I've always felt phantom wings on my back (usually feeling of heaviness on my back), a feeling of being"ground-bound" due to lack of wings, missing the feeling of being up in the sky, etc.

I even taught myself to wiggle my ears to make me feel like I had some "movement" in my ears (simulating how other mammals can move their ears in different ways, though limited due to being human).

I've always wanted a fursuit (which I believe you've mentioned having that same feeling before if I'm not mistaken).

I feel really connected to crows (or corvids in general) and deer.

I'm a little uncertain about terms exactly to describe these feelings.

Hope you have a good day/night💜💜

very good question!

they do mean different things, but can mean the same thing for specific people if they feel so! here are some basic ideas for each, not the only definition but the way i explain them:

therian: identifying as an earthly animal of some kind; some type of biological being that exists/has existed (extinct species for example) on our current earth that is not a human. this can include a lot of things just about any living creature aside from humans.

otherkin: a term that usually applies to nonhuman species from mythology, folk lore, other, similar cultural nonhuman phenomena, inorganic beings or structures, concepts, aliens, objects, and so on. creatures that were once believed to walk this earth are included. this can include elves, dragons, cryptids, angels, demons, and a lot of other different nonhuman species! therians can also be otherkin! it's a matter of preference as to whether people identify as both!

alterhuman: a term that can mean something different for everyone, but it signifies that that person identifies as some type of altered humanity, so maybe they're fictionkin of a human character, maybe they're some type of mutated human, etc. or, maybe they're some other kind of nonhuman or other species. it's a nice umbrella term that can fit a lot of people and mean a lot of different things to different people!

if you feel that you're close to crows/corvids and deer, you can take some time looking into the animals themselves. that's what i do. look at pictures or videos. learn about them. see what their environment and diet are like. see what its like to explore that headspace. if that's not for you, you can try other ways to connect with them such as meditation or trying to incorporate their mannerisms into yours in a way that feels right without interfering with anything productive or safe.

if you identify as a crow, corvid and/or deer, you would be a therian! but could also call yourself otherkin and alterhuman as well!

those are just some thoughts! i get you on wanting a fursuit! it sounds like a lot of fun! if you have more thoughts or questions feel free to ask! take care of yourself!

[hellyeahsickaf]

"My body hates me" "Ugh I hate my lousy ass body always holding me back" "I'd hang out but my stupid body's too fucked up to let me" I know it feels like your body's working against you but it isn't- it's doing its best to protect you and keep you alive

If your chronic illness is post-viral and/or autoimmune your body's doing everything it can to fight a constant battle against what it believes to be a threat. Sometimes it develops because an infectious disease has interfered with the functions your body carries out. And some illnesses develop symptomatically as a survival response because your cortisol production indicates that constant fight or flight isn't working so it forces a freeze response. If you're in pain, fatigued, have brain fog, etc, you can't exert yourself and are forced to conserve your energy. That way you don't overdo things and possibly compromise your survival. It feels like a lousy survival response, it really sucks, but it's still an indicator that your body's doing its best

You can hate your symptoms and vent about how much they suck, I know they truly suck balls and some days I just wanna scream and break things while I'm in bed struggling to keep my eyes open. Just don't forget that your body doesn't "hate" you and you should treat it kindly. Many symptoms like pain are there to tell your brain something's threatening it- even if your nerves are misinterpreting sensations like strong temperatures and sending pain signals to your brain. Billions of little cells and microorganisms are working 24/7 to keep you going. Those little guys carry out so many functions and none of them are for the sole purpose of making your life harder. It always comes back to your body trying to survive

[breakerwhiskey]

260 - TWO HUNDRED SIXTY

Please visit breakerwhiskey.com for more information or to send a message to Whiskey's radio. Breaker Whiskey is an Atypical Artists production created by Lauren Shippen. If you'd like to support the show, please visit patreon.com/breakerwhiskey.

Transcript under the cut. For more episodes, click here.

[click, static]

It took me the better part of a day but I think I’ve done it. I think I’ve written out your whole message. It…I honestly have no idea what it says. I was so focused on the individual letters, barely any words formed from it as I went.

I…I should go get Harry. But she’s sleeping and…I think she needs the rest. After—we’re still working through things and I think—no, I know—we will be for a very long time. As we waited for your message to finish transmitting, we talked a lot. We maybe got a little…distracted from time to time, but she put it all out on the table, everything she’d been thinking and feeling that she didn’t tell me. Things she didn’t even write in her notebook. And I told her things…we aired grievances and shared the times when we thought we might get close to something, back in New York. She talked about how she felt about Pete and listened to me when I talked about him and…and she was really kind when I couldn’t parse the good from the bad, when I didn’t want to just write him off as a violent criminal. I mean, I don’t…well, there are a lot of things I need to work through and it doesn’t all have to do with Harry.

Well. I could fill you in on all of it, on every detail, but…these broadcasts have been mine, separate from Harry, as much as anything in my life can be separate from Harry, and there are some things with her that are separate from the world. At least for now.

I know I said I might stop transmitting now that we’re safe and I think…I think I am going to take a break. Disappear for a little while like you’re so fond of doing. I’m—well, I think I’m happy and I’m not totally sure what to do with that feeling. Especially since it’s laced with…well, Junior is still out there, we’re still trapped here and even though I know what it’s like to kiss her, to— I don’t think I’ve forgiven Harry yet, not fully. She knows that, she…she’s understanding of it. Genuinely. But that doesn’t mean I don’t want to try to get there. Especially since I know I haven’t been the paragon of healthy communication and perfect relationship behavior so there are things that I need to…that I need her forgiveness on and, well, I think she wants to try to get there too.

All that said—well, I don’t know what I’m going to find in your message and I hope it’s not goodbye forever, but maybe this is a goodbye for now. I want only good things for you Birdie. I hope you get a little peace of mind. A little closure. I’m discovering eve the tiniest glimpse of it really does wonders.

Okay. Here we go.

“Dear Whiskey,

I am sorry that we couldn’t meet. You find yourself in a watch tower of my own creation. I wasn’t positive it would still be functioning in this timeline—you never do know when an earthquake or a storm is going to cause something to come toppling down—but I’m relieved to find that it is. I do wish I could have been there myself, but we can only enter timelines through great pains and effort and I have already interfered far more than we are meant to. Though I suppose my hand was forced when I ceased to be the only one communicating with you.

The person you know as Fox is, as you guessed, a purist. They want all people in all places to be instead in one place, following one path. They do not believe that anyone should be free to make their own choices and live with the consequences. They would prefer to guide your hand into another choice you cannot take back, all in service of what they deem to be correct. They know what they are; they even told you directly. Though they are not the figment of an author’s imagination, they are as close to Eternity as one can get. Though in this case, they are not the norm, but a rebel.

And I cannot claim there is nothing to re—rebel against. It is not a perfect system. It is hard, to watch people suffer in the worlds of their own creation, with no obvious recourse. Sometimes these timelines correct themselves, merging with each other or disappearing entirely. But even we, the keepers and observers of these strands, cannot fully comprehend the intricacies of why certain shifts are created.

As you know, you are not the first person for whom I have tried to bring comfort in a lonely universe. Not all alternate worlds are as empty as yours, but some are even emptier. And yours, was of course, becoming more empty all the time, though that may not be a bad thing for every person involved.

Fox told you you’re too late because the timeline has shifted once again. I’ll explain that in a moment but first I need to talk about the shift that preceded it, that caused an angry man to seek vengeance. A few months ago, Fred Billings’ mother—“

Fred. That’s his name. Fred. Wow, I, uh—anyway—

“Fred Billings’ mother, who was her—who was here, vanished from this place and merged with her correct timeline. Both Fred and his father perished in a car accident on New Year’s Eve 1974, and the widow Billings’ life was forever changed. Fred woke up here one day to find that his mother—who he had lived with in some degree of contentment for the last six years—had vanished. Meanwhile, she was waking up in the place she was from, with no memory of this world.

That’s what would have happened if you had killed Junior. Or, at least, that is what Fox and I both suspected. That it would have aligned enough with the timeline of your origin and you would’ve been sent back. But you should know, if that were to happen, all of this would seem like a strange dream. Your memories of the last seven years would be filled with the experience of that other you. The events you’ve experienced here would not inform your life. I have not brought you here to keep you from making that decision for yourself, but because I thought you deserved to have all the information relevant to what Fox was asking you to do. They forced my hand when they told you to kill Fred—I could not let you do that without knowing the full consequences.

However, it is a moot point. As I said, something in the timeline has shifted again. You have merged—you have merged with another offshoot, your circumstances have once again changed. I wish I could give you the information that would help you navigate this new world—I wish I knew if this meant more potential allies or if this meant that you were closer to getting back home than you were before. But we cannot see all. Fox has their ways of seeing more than most, but I suspect even they are uncertain of what this shift has brought.

I do know that yours and Harry’s fates are irreversibly intertwined. I cannot think of a decision on any timeline that would separate you as you are now. In that sense, I take comfort in knowing you will never be truly alone.

On that subject, I have a final gift for you. I know you are going to cease transmitting soon. And I understand that, I do. But before you go silent, look at the radio system in front of you—“

…okay…

“Turn it on and tune to the very last frequency. Then switch on the delta tune to the positive and access the off-frequency just beyond that final channel.

Through some error that I know my superiors would like to correct, your transmissions have been reaching out—have been reaching outside of your world. In the same way that visions of the world you came from have bled into where you are now—” The polaroids I’m guessing— “your words have reached beyond their usual bounds. It is why they were able to reach your friends from across the country and after a year of listening to you, I have yet to figure out why this is happening at all.

Perhaps now that you are no longer alone, you don’t need this particular comfort. But you have spent all this time calling into the dark, hoping someone was listening, hoping someone would call back. Hoping that someone out there would find you.

You were found a long time ago. You were never really lost or alone. Many of them were alone, before they heard your voice. But the moment you called out, there were voices calling back, even if you couldn’t hear them.

Your friend, Birdie”

What…I don’t…I don’t understand—

Okay, tune to the last frequency…let’s see

[turning to the frequency]

“You were found a long time ago”…Who found—

[gets to the last frequency and then—

a cacophony of different voices, all the messages that Whiskey has not been receiving, from infinite timelines]

(an intake of breath)

Oh my god.

[static]

[click]

[salesperson-competition]

ROUND 1 - MR. FIRES vs ZACHARIE

Will Mr. Fires be able to sell Zacharie industry, products in general, ANd milk in exchange for money, eternal servitude, its special interest, London, love, autism(?!), ANd stopping the giant space crab from covering the city of London in soul-eating fluids in order to buy Paris?

OR will Zacharie be able to sell Mr. Fires useful things in exchange for mere money?

PROPAGANDA

MR. FIRES

"Really hot, the most capitalist of the neuro-divergent alien space bat capitalism species, hunts socialists for sport, has a squeaky voice, good at caring for children, has unresolved sexual tension witht he player character in certain routes, the only way to stop them from interfering with a union which didn't even work for them was making the union leader be ereased from their memories with black magic. Does kinky unethical experiments in a labyrinth involving love potions(space crab-insect-milk) and genetic modification."

"The game's developers are active on tumblr. Also, for the person running the blog,if people suggest other 'Mr'-seses, from Fallen london, don't accept them, as Fires is the only real salesman out of them, and also the only one of two who ever tries to directly sell the player something." (HOST NOTE: oopsiedaisy, my bad to this person in particular)

"Attractive. Also, autistic and megacapitalsim."

ZACHARIE

"Zacharie is the official merchant of Off - the only one, in fact. However, his business is not one of the most flourishing ones: only heroes are willing to buy artifacts from mysterious strangers. No one really knows where all the items he offers are coming from, nor how he even got hold of them, but as a video game player, you probably couldn't care less about it, could you?"

"ah ah ah. Bis vincit, que se vincet in Victoria"

[theside-b]

Spoilers for the novel (and my review for the Live Action) ahead :

The boys do get together, but that act ends with their break up when people find out that Tian and Wang are romantically involved, unlike in Unknown where everyone was ok with Qian and Yuan getting together in A Certain Someone the fact that they are 'brothers' plays a huge role at that stage of their relationship and the eventual demise of their first attempt at a romance. Their break up lasts 6/7 years, don't remember exactly, but its a long time...

A lot more happens, but the show made some fundamental changes to both characters. It takes A LONG time for Tian to come to terms with his own feelings, that scene where he sees his father with another man in bed tints his whole worldview from a very young age — he develops quite the internalized homophobia; he is fine with other's queerness but it's his own that he cannot accept since he sees his father sexual orientation as the reason for the destruction of his family.

There is a tense moment between Tian and his father, where his dad says "we are more alike than you care to admit" hinting that he knows of what its happening between the boys and mind you Tian is still trying to sort out what he feels for Wang. The show sugarcoats quite a lot, novel's Tian would never initiate a kiss with Wang or even play along like he did in the show, at least not at that stage of their relationship.

Speaking of which, Wang is also different in the books. In the show he reads as pretty open minded, curious about anything and everything. In the novel he's pretty straight (at first), the journey really begins as a bromance until the feelings start to change. There is a lot of push and shove between the two of them, and is veeery slow.

The show pretty much burns bright the part where Wang tears Tian's emotional walls. Which I don't mind, otherwise it would take 50 episodes to wrap the first act. I honestly thought they were going to draw an original route for the show, but they are slowly adapting elements they left behind so they can follow the book.

Now for the review:

All in all, I think the show did a good job all things considered: production began in mainland China where Liu Dong was cast, but censorship hinders lgbtqia+ productions there so pre-production moved to Taiwan and there the rest of the casting was done. It's hard to tell how much of that interfered in the script but I assume Tian's father core plot was removed in the first draft and got re-integrated once production moved to Taiwan (Chris Lee's casting was one of the last to be announced which probably means he was also one of the last to join filming). Considering that productions like The Spirealm got pulled for much less is understandable that they would avoid the more thorny subjects under China's homophobic gaze.

(Educated guess here: considering all the publicity push, I imagine either Andy Cheng or Stan Huang were the choices for Wang, but since Liu's casting was an order from one of the financial backers they got smaller roles — it's a common move in taiwanese productions — by the way, there is a 'love triangle' later, is a sad thing since there is no-way you can split the main couple, but the show made me wonder who is going to be playing the third party in the live action).

As I always say about taiwanese shows: you have to watch the live play. The On1y One is much like it's local peers, it works wonders in small doses, but as soon as you see the whole picture you start to see the cracks. It reminded me a lot of Kiseki: Dear to Me in the sense that the main couple story is the emotional backbone, with a somber approach with brief moments of humor but everything surrounding it is slightly unhinged.

Everything that happened at that school was insane. The amount of crimes committed in the school grounds was ridiculous, the fact that Qi Jia Hao didn't ended up behind bars after ordering thugs to attack Wang and assault the english teacher is crazy. The whole side-plot involving the teachers was head-scraching by the way, much like everyone else I assumed that Zhao Xi and Benny were married when they were introduced.

Imagine my surprise finding out that not only they were not married but at one point Zhao Xi thought Benny could be interested in the english teacher (speaking of her, why the hell did she sounded dubbed? Is that not her real voice?). This whole story felt so disjointed from everything else, and it came at the tail end of the season(?), so not only it took some much suspension of disbelief for me to buy that these 40-year old gays were that emotionally impaired but also demanded patience since they spent very valuable screen time which could've benefited the main couple.

That is all to say that while I was having a blast while watching, the more I stop and think about it critically the more problems I see in this show. And again, that usually happens with taiwanese productions, experienced the same with Kiseki and Unknown, two shows that I adore, flaws and all, and now the same happens with The On1y One.

[your-divine-ribs]

Long Hair Headcanons

Just for fun - a few sweet and smutty thoughts about Van’s long hair… short hair Van lovers look away now!

CATB Imagines Masterlist Main Masterlist

🦁 You really loved Van's hair. You loved it when it was short and freshly cut, you loved it when it was long and flowing around his shoulders, and you loved everything in between.

🦁 His most recent long-haired style was fast becoming your favourite though...

🦁 You loved running your fingers through it when it was clean and freshly washed. It felt so soft under your touch and he absolutely melted when you played with it.

🦁 If he was feeling stressed after a hard day he'd lay down on the sofa with his head in your lap and let you play with his hair whilst you talked.

🦁 You could practically see the tension leave his body as you raked your fingernails gently over his scalp, letting your fingers twist through the silky strands.

🦁 "Mmm babe... that feels so nice..."

🦁 You could practically hear him purring.

🦁 It took a lot to calm him down after a tough day but this worked a treat every time. He even fell asleep like that on a few occasions.

🦁 When you took a bath together he sometimes let you wash his hair and you loved those intimate moments.

🦁 He'd close his eyes and sigh in contentment as you massaged the shampoo into his locks, tipping his head back so you could comb your fingers through it whilst you rinsed off the suds.

🦁 When you moved in you made short work of chucking out the huge bottle of two in one shampoo and conditioner on his bathroom shelf, replacing it with your own array of products.

🦁 He wasn't happy with your 'interfering' at first.

🦁 "I can't believe you waste all your money on those fancy shampoos, it's a right rip-off. It's only hair, it doesn't need all that fuss, I like to just wash it and leave it as it is."

🦁 He soon stopped complaining when you used one of your nourishing hair masks on him for the first time.

🦁 He said it didn't make a difference but you saw him surreptitiously checking out his reflection more than usual, constantly flicking his hair back just so he could run his hands through it.

🦁 "I guess it does feel kinda soft... and it smells really nice... now I know why you smell so good all the time love!"

🦁 Van likes to pretend he's not into 'all that girly shit' but since you've been together he's become quite fond of you pampering him.

🦁 "What now?" He'll groan when you instruct him to sit down so you can style his hair.

🦁 "Come on, don't be grumpy, it's only a bit of fun. Just wanna make my man look all pretty!"

🦁 You giggle and pout sweetly at him and he gives in. He always does. You have him wrapped around your little finger.

🦁 He such a softy and he'll let you do anything to him, secretly loving your adoring attention.

🦁 On multiple occasions you've curled and straightened his hair, blow-dried it into soft princess waves and he even let you braid it once.

🦁 He's always got a handy hair-tie on his wrist for when he's chilling at home so he can tie it back into a man-bun. You tease him but you think it looks cute.

🦁 You never realised how sexy long hair on guys was until Van grew his hair out. Now you can’t leave his hair alone during love-making.

🦁 Burying your fingers deep in his locks when he’s eating you out drives you both wild.

🦁 You twist a handful of the soft strands into a fist and tug it gently, guiding his head exactly where you want him.

🦁 The first time you gripped his hair too tight and yanked it hard when his tongue had flicked over a particularly sensitive spot he whimpered out so loud.

🦁 You were horrified that you’d hurt him. “Shit, I’m so sorry! It just felt really good and I lost control for a moment. Are you alright?”

🦁 You let go straight away, trying to snap your legs shut and sit up to check he was okay, but he held your hips steady and pushed you back down on to the bed. There was fire in his eyes as he looked up at you. “Don’t apologise love… do it again… please…”

🦁 So you did… and the sinful groan he let out almost had you coming right there and then on his tongue.

🦁 In fact the harder you tugged the more enthusiastically he devoured you, his tongue delving and swirling in all the right places as he buried his face in your warm wetness, his pornographic moans flooding your core with heat.

🦁 He was so turned on he was humping the bed as he tongue-fucked you… and you came so hard you were practically seeing stars.

🦁 “Fuckin’ ‘ell babe, I love it when you take control like that, you almost had me coming in my pants!”

🦁 You just laughed and called him a kinky bastard, delighted that you’d just discovered yet another one of his hidden kinks.

🦁 Now you use it to your advantage, winding his hair into a fist and pulling hard when he’s fucking you to make him lose his shit and thrust harder and deeper.

🦁 It turns him feral.

🦁 You love innocently brushing his hair back off his face when you’re out in public but then giving it a little tug whilst you whisper something dirty in his ear… just so you can watch him blush and squirm.

🦁 “You’re in big trouble now... just you wait till I get you home…”

🦁 He looks so hot when his hair’s damp with sweat and all messy after a love-making session.

🦁 But equally he looks just as cute and adorable with his fluffy tousled bed hair first thing in the morning.

🦁 In fact he always looks good… irresistible and effortlessly handsome without even trying.

[transformersconfessions]

This might get long. I wanna address some... things I've read in these blogposts. 1. Issues surrounding IDW: - IDW was changed, cancelled and otherwise interfered with a LOT by Hasbro. Not to mention that most of the writers did not seem to work together much for the overall story/plot. A lot of peoples' gripes with the comics come from this and I would like if fans stopped blaming the writers for all of the mistakes when it mostly came from up above. Especially JRO's writing for Lost Light, considering how rushed he was with it. - Please understand that these comics ran from 2005 to 2018 and, as such, were deeply influenced by the political landscape that existed after 9/11. A lot of it has aged poorly, but it's still important to understand the history. - Chromia/Windblade was intended by the author to be portrayed as siblings. Mairghread Scott, the author, modeled their relationship after her own with her sister. That's not to say you can't ship them, but be aware that they're not meant to be subtext or canon. 2. Issues surrounding Skybound: - The first 24 issues have been written by Daniel Warren Johnson, who also does the majority of the art (along with other artists), but he is leaving Skybound after this. The story is also, clearly, in its very first arc and as such most of the criticism regarding how bad or good a character's portrayal is comes off as very illiterate. You can't really judge a story as a whole until it has finished. You can judge individual scenes, but you must realise that anything can happen in the future and all your complaints could, potentially, be alleviated. There's no point in judging an unfinished work. Imagine if an artist got criticized for their sketch as if the sketch was the finished product, when they are going to finish the product at a later time. 3. Issues surrounding Earthspark: - Most of the complaints I see from Earthspark are from dudebro fans, who probably do not frequent this blog or the tumblr fandom space much. I don't think we have to worry much about their opinions on this website. It is, unfortunate, that this show has been scrutinized so harshly, because it does seem like one of the shows specifically targeting younger audiences. It is also important to be able to discern what audiences the different continuities target. Bayverse movies have the most amount of sexual references in them and while the writing is abyssmal, the movies seem to be targeted towards casual fans/the average movie-goer between the ages of 13 to adulthood. Rescue Bots is obviously meant for the very youngest. Earthspark is likely meant for pre-teens. Prime seemed, to me, to both try to appeal to younger audiences AND older fans - which in my opinion was a disservice to the show. Animated was meant for younger audiences and teenagers. Skybound seems to be made for the older audience. IDW seemed to be for older audience as well. And so on. I can't think of every continuity right now, lol. The media being meant for a specific demographic doesn't mean people outside of said demographics can't enjoy them, but it's important to be able to realise that certain approaches to the show are going to be specified for these demographics and will likely miss other demographic's tastes.

Anyway, sorry for the long-ass lecture. I am not trying to make anyone feel bad, but I think it's in everyone's best interest to learn how media is made rather than simply consume media as if its made in isolated ways, unaffected by the people owning the rights, the people making it, the audiences its being targeted for, and so on.

*

[the-worms-in-your-bones]

Lore Notes: Zagreus

(also a lot of the parts of the notes that are copied from the transcript are highlighted, but that didn't copy over to tumblr so if you want to see that you can go here)

The doctor’s past regeneration seems to be speaking to him → a product of the tardis, or a product of his mind, is this only happening because zagreus is in his mind messing with him (something something go read my regenerative dissonance essay, that’s my theory anyway, and i don’t feel like typing it all out again, specifically the part about other incarnations showing up in times of distress) (well, i mean it’s the tardis isn’t it, but also let me have this)

Tardis projections seems to be similar to the matrix → not quite a physical space, but showing recorded info

‘Anti-time, as Sentris told you, is the result of hundreds of thousands of living, breathing being's futures and pasts. Wases and never-wases’

‘They all exist, occasionally sharing moments and eras, the rest of the time self contained and unaware’ → multiverse

‘Great Mother, it is the time of Chaos. Rassilon has detonated his star. Omega has given the Gallifreyans the secrets of the past and the future’

Is great mother some sort of title or rank, if so what does is stand for

‘Rassilon now controls this planet and its people. The hierarchy are referring to themselves as time lords’

Omega’s ‘sacrifice’ speculated to be planned by rassilon so he would gain power

‘It is known that politically Rassilon and Omega were opposed’

Cassandra high priestess → still in the days of gallifrey having religious orders

‘House of jade dreamers’ → another house name

‘I make it my business to know all the Houses, Chapters and other ephemera of Rassilon's brave new world’ → chapters and houses products of rassilon (but it does seem like they may predate the time lords, seeing as the way cassandra referred to her house implies it has some political standing already, and we know from just a few moments ago that the time lords are pretty new) (also possible that the house is as new as the time lords and the person who established it just didn’t have a lot of political standing themselves)

‘The prime of the arcalian chapterhouses’ → houses have a collective leader?

‘Science is what your Sisterhood is all about. Your magics, your telepathy, your Sacred Flames and Elixirs of Youth. It's all science. You've just chosen to bury beneath pagan symbolism and artificial superstition’ → this feels like the opposite of what the time lords are doing, it’s all painted as science, but is more magic like (of course it is all science, but you know, it’s the presentation to the outside universe vs how it is treated by those on gallifrey)

‘A vast expanse of scrubland’ → some info about the ancient gallifreyan environment

Rassilon has a workshop (his foundry) that he keeps a few seconds out of time to hide/protect it

I really like getting to see the bits of political turmoil during rassilons time (and with that the dislike of rassilon by some people) when on modern gallifrey he’s pretty much considered to be a god

‘Old high gallifreyan, not spoken for millenia’

‘Cardinal rassilon’ → in politics, but not currently leading

‘For someone who speaks the ancient language’ → this time is often presented as the beginning of time lord history (well i guess it is, since the time lords themselves are fairly new here), but if old high gallifreyan is considered to be ancient, that means gallifreyan society goes back much further

‘The officially appointed committee of three’ → idk what this actually is but it is the provost (head of arcalian houses) (also a vampire), the great mother (head of sisterhood of karn?), and someone else

Vampires on gallifrey (‘the ancient enemy’) → doesn’t seem like that’s a common thing, but also the great mother seems pretty unsurprised

Okay, so they’re pretty much extinct at this point (hunted them down with bowships)

OUIDA: These Black Scrolls suggest you have been systematically interfering with Gallifreyan physiology.

TEPESH: What is the Rassilon Imprimatur? These symbiotic nuclei?

Something something the symbiotic nuclei being created alongside the Rassilon imprimatur → Rassilon didn’t invent time lords and then give them living technology to bind with, he invented time lords to be able to bond with living technology (idk if that wording quite makes sense, but I hope my point gets across)

‘Cardinal Rassilon has been researching a method of regenerating diseased and decaying tissue. By a series of permanently carried self-replicating biogenic molecules, the cells of a Gallifreyan body can be repaired, restored and reorganised. This will result in a wholly new physical form. The brain cells will similarly be rearranged although to a lesser degree, thus ensuring the new incarnation will replicate the memories and personality of the former incarnation. Cardinal Rassilon intends for this method to only be used upon the Gallifreyan elite. He has also inputted a parameter of twelve regenerative cycles to avoid decaying biogenic molecules’ → explanation of regeneration

Also this is not my font of science so take everything I’m about to say with a grain of salt, but could the regenerative molecules be compared to a type of ‘advanced’ stem cells? Idk, all I really know is that stem cells can be used to regenerate tissues to an extent because they can become other types of cells (i think, again, I’m an ecologist so correct me if I’m wrong) and I think it’s fun to try and make these things make actual sense

Also this has some interesting implications for regenerative cycles, did Rassilon test for how many regenerations it took for these molecules to decay, I would assume he did, and then how much of a buffer does 12 leave, is that far from when they start decaying, or right when they do (and as we see in other stories, there are regenerative disorders, so clearly they have the ability to decay and/or malfunction long before 12 regenerations). Also how does he control that limit, are the molecules just programmed to completely break down, that would make the most sense (to me) (though we do later see that even on his last regeneration the doctor has some ability to use regenerative energy, but that happened later and whoever wrote that episode (I’m not looking it up, I don’t care enough for that) probably didn’t care enough to analyze this little bit from a four hour long audio to make sure it made sense with the established lore). And does this mean that receiving a new regenerative cycle is just being given more of whatever these molecules are or do you retain them and then they are reactivated (and does that mean that additional regenerative cycles have more opportunities for things to go wrong with regeneration since the molecules would be more likely to start decaying the longer they are in use)

‘A blasphemy against the ancient ways, technology is path best not taken’

‘He’s been systematically adjusting the dna of the higher houses, notably the prydonainas and the patrex’ → first chapters to get regeneration

RECORDER: File Ras/delta gamma. Seventy spans have passed since Cardinal Rassilon began investigating alternative realities. Alternative pasts, alternative presents, alternative futures. He discovered that all futures coalesce into one Web of Time alone. Free will is not a possibility. Alternative realities are not a possibility. When this universe was created, it brought into existence a race of creatures.

TEPESH: Go on.

RECORDER: Using the matrices constructed via an amplified panatropic network, Cardinal Rassilon has discovered that this powerful race will consume and eradicate all life within ten thousand millennia.

CHARLEY: What is this race like?

RECORDER: Exact specifics are unavailable. However, Cardinal Rassilon believes Humanian life, the basic physical form examplified by Gallifreyans, to be the only essential form of life. He rationalises that for the universe to continue existing beyond the ten thousand millennia indicated previously, the unnamed creatures should be destroyed. All life not conforming to the Gallifreyan standard should be destroyed. To this end, Cardinal Rassilon researched life on two hundred and seventy eight thousand planets. Of those, sixty nine thousand contained sentient life. To those, Cardinal Rassilon sent, via manipulation of the space time vortex, a self-eradicating set of biogenic molecules with enough power to rearrange the cellular structure of each planet's dominant lifeform, so it would take on Gallifreyan physiology and would continue to evolve along those lines. All other lifeforms will become extinct within six thousand spans.

This is important lore wise, but also a lot, so i’m just copying it from the transcript, cliffnotes below

All futures become web of time, no free will → something to do with fixed points? The establishment of the web of time seems to lock events into place

Creation of universe led to creation of a race of creatures

Rassilon thinks the humanoid form is superior and so sent what’s basically a virus to inhabited planets to rearrange their forms to make them humanoid (and therefore more like gallifreyans)

I am once again asking how long a span is, rassilon has been doing this research for 70 spans and has gotten a good deal of stuff done, so it’s got to be a somewhat significant amount of time, but we also see micro spans treated like second

Rassilon creates an alternate timeline to trap the creatures → seems that it’s possible to split off a timeline and not become part of it (also it’s an alternate timeline that’s shouldn’t exist, which implies that alternate timelines are a normal part of the web of time) (also very interesting given the ‘alternative realities are not a possibility’ thing from only a bit earlier)

‘You know you really are a fraud, don't you. I mean, you let Omega and Vandikirian go to their deaths, and you get the credit for discovering time travel. Then you capitalise on your hounding to almost extinction my Vampire Lords and the Great Mother's witches’ → wow this guy sucks

Omegas star → Rassilons star, renaming of the black hole (presumably the one that’s going to become the eye of harmony) for the sake of rassilons reputation 

‘Inner council’ → presumably precursor to the high council (also something something the parallels to the inner council on the alternate gallifrey)

‘You came to our world five hundred years ago’ → so even before regeneration it seems that Gallifreyans were pretty long lived (time travel does also get mentioned here, but I’m choosing to believe that it’s a lifespan thing, since we know that even within one body, time lords live a long time)

Also the way this is sort of talked about as Rassilon going on sort of victory trip that involves genocide

‘We drank the blood of the genetically bred mindless animals we harvested. We never touched sentient life until you came with your Bow Ships and your harpoons and your moralistic purges. You chased my people to the ends of the universe beyond. Why? Because we couldn't fight back. Because like all bullies, you found a race of people content in their lives, doing nothing to harm anyone else in the galaxy, and you cleansed us!

So it was less a war with the great vampires and more Rassilon just decided to kill them

Rassilon using a whole universe for power

‘Typical Prydonian treachery’

‘This is a rank place where technology has replaced any kind of nature’

I like how even though the tardis we see is the part possessed by Zagreus she is still clearly an active character, she’s trying to show Charley things, I like how they have the tardis communicating in an unconventional way given that it’s a psychic machine

Also how does the tardis know all this stuff, especially the ancient gallifrey things, because this is presumably pre matrix (and well, it’s not like Rassilon would exactly want this recorded in the matrix either way)

Amusement park built in the ruins of gallifrey → ‘A broken rock floating around a dead star. The planet was terraformed by the Galactic commission and we were settled here’ → is this an actual event? It is at the end of the universe, but then how would the tardis know this, or is it a similar concept to a matrix projection, this is what the future looks like based on compiled information and algorithms (also something something the inevitability of the destruction of gallifrey)

Wonderland built atop rassilons foundry → which means that it then exists throughout the history of gallifrey, it remains there until the end

Academy vortisaur races (yes, yes, i know this if from romana’s fanfiction, but it’s got to be based in some truth)

Brax starts his address to romana with the same formal greeting that vansell did in the apocalypse element (may the sash of rassilon protect you, etc.)

‘Type 40 tt capsule’ → i’m assuming this is the more correct/technical way to refer to tardises

‘Not dematerialized, just gone’ → can track dematerializations

‘Only the duty castellan and of course your self have transducer emitters. I assure you, we haven't had cause to use them for many years’

‘It’s the only type 40 in service’

‘There is no space time trail’ → again, they’ve got technology to track tardis travel

‘The watchtower’ → another place on gallifrey

Humaniona, peon, morestran, sumaran → all eras within time lord history

Rassilon can visit people in dreams → though he chose leela specifically, maybe because she is human and therefore wouldn’t have the same psychic barriers as a time lord would, so he is able to access her dreams

The death zone → looks like wales

Rassilons ring buried with him? → ring has power apparently

‘Well, when I say dead, his mind lives on in the Matrix’

‘Matrix waveforms not present. Etheric activity negative’ → the implication here feels like minds from the matrix can just project themselves anywhere, how pervasive is the matrix on gallifrey then, is it sort of like radio waves where you can kind of just pick them up anywhere (and is it everyone in the matrix that can do this, or only some time lords)

Okay so rassilon is in the matrix, but he is using leela specifically so that the matrix won’t see what he is doing, how does that work, also i assumed that a mind being in the matrix was more just a copy of it being downloaded, not the mind itself, but it seems that at least rassilon can act independently of the matrix (and is able to possess leela)

Can you just open matrix doors from anywhere? I mean it seems so as long as you have the right technology to do so

‘The Game of Rassilon. A barbarous pastime among Gallifrey's elite. They pluck you out of time and space, hurtle you into this province of the damned, there to fight the monsters or die.’

‘Rassilon's dead. Any fool knows that. He died screaming as the flames seared the skin from his suppurating skeleton’

The dark tower probably wasn’t sealed off in ancient gallifrey like it is now (or well, off limits, clearly you could still get into it given the events of the five doctors), this makes sense with what we heard about the game of rassilon earlier, was probably where spectators watched the games

‘My own special part of the matrix’ → rassilon has his own matrix partition

‘You stand within a sealed sub-matrix, composed not of electronic pulses but of semi-stable protoplasm’

Leela is eating part of rassilons brain, good for her honestly

You can resign the presidency on gallifrey

President is expected to name a successor, part of ‘due process’ in time lord government

‘All you needed from me was to transport Leela past the forcefield about the Death Zone surrounding your Tower, as is my Presidential privilege. All you needed from Leela was an obliging courier to bring you your ring. One whose mental subjugation would set no alarm bells ringing in the Matrix’

Presidential privilege just kind of allows her to go wherever she wants and pass through any barriers it seems

The taking over of a time lord mind would alert the matrix that something is wrong

Bow spike → early weapon, used by rassilon to destroy the great vampires

‘My Rod, Sash, and Coronet. The statue of Nemesis, the Demat Gun’ → things rassilon built in the foundry

He’s also got a frozen supernova

RASSILON: A neighbour of Kasterborous. It developed too soon. I didn't care for it.

DOCTOR: What, so you aborted it?

RASSILON: It might have rivaled our dominion.

DOCTOR: It would have taken countless billions of years to be in with a chance. A solar system still-born and for why? Because the great Lord Rassilon is scared he might not keep up with the Joneses.

RASSILON: Territorial disputes are the enemy of progress. How could our empire ever expand if all its efforts were to be centred on war after war after tiresome war? But that it what I foresaw in this instance.

DOCTOR: Oh, I see. So let's get them before they get us.

RASSILON: Something like that.

DOCTOR: Does your paranoia know no bounds?

Rassilon refers to the tardis as ‘friend tardis’ while he refers to the time lords as his children or ‘children of time’ → well, we know he created the time lords, but what are the origins of tardises then

Rassilon’s workshop separated from normal space through a reality lock, ring is used as a sort of key to it

‘Greek wasn’t it?’ → is he perceiving it this way, ro does it actually look like greek? (i’d say the latter based off of the five doctors)

‘Not just any old metals, mind.

‘Tardis metals. Validium, Namercury, Zinorganic polymers that nature has Forgotten’ → things that the tardis is made of

Romana assumes leela is less intelligent than her → time lord prejudices

They’re still calling rassilon ‘my lord’ despite the fact that he’s working against them → even as the villain that bit of respect seems to be baked into being a time lord

DOCTOR 5: Let's speculate for a moment. Imagine millions of years past that the king of an ancient civilisation developed time travel.

DOCTOR 7: Imagine this involved tapping the power of a black hole to create a single, unchangeable history.

DOCTOR 6: Imagine this king now governed time itself, governed its use, its roadways. His was the past and the present. The future, too.

DOCTOR 7: And that's the interesting bit. What would have happened if this king had not woven his Web of Time?

DOCTOR 5: Why, his empire would have fallen. They always do. A matter of simple evolution, you know. Made extinct by the next dominant species. Happens all the time.

DOCTOR 6: Oh, but the king had prevented all this from happening. His Eye of Harmony ensured that all things might neither flux nor wither nor change their state in any way.

‘They would have restructured all matter to their design’ → he says that like that’s not exactly what he did with time

Rassilon has multiple pocket universes in his foundry

Transducer emitter seems to be able to control a tardis remotely (also make a horrible noise)

Again, romana’s insistence in the tardis just benign a machine that doesn’t feel anything, even after the everything involving it in this audio → we know that the tardises are sentient and that they bond with their pilots, i’m sure the time lords know this too, so why is romana so dismissive of it

‘You'll see this blaze of light, a comet across the medulla oblongata’ → what generation looks like from the inside i guess

RASSILON: Why, the great task for which you were created. The extermination

of the Divergence.

ZAGREUS: Why? Why should I do this?

RASSILON: Because they are not like us. Because they will undo everything I have worked to create. My Eye of Harmony, my Gallifrey, my universe. The continuity I have built.

ZAGREUS: That things shall never flux nor wither nor change their state, is that it?

RASSILON: Yes. Change. Hated change. This Divergence is an upstart reality. Would you let it all die, this great civilisation? The worlds beyond? The planet Earth? Oh, but how you love the planet Earth. Would you watch it boil and die, ravaged by the uncaring hand of this other species?

ZAGREUS: Earth?

RASSILON: Earth. Oh, I have seen the Earth, seen it through the Doctor's travels. The Library at Alexandria, the Red Fort at Delhi, the canals of Venice, the Golden Gate Bridge.

ZAGREUS: I er

ROMANA: Don't listen to him, Zagreus. Alexandria burned. The Red Fort was sacked. Venice sank beneath the waves, and we all know what happened to San Francisco. That's history. That's life. That's how it goes. The time line is not yours to write.

RASSILON: Your duty is to your world, your reality.

ROMANA: No! Our duty is to the inevitability of events. Sometimes the hardest thing is not to act. To watch the things you love wither and waste and die. But if history decrees that our time is up, if evolution demands we go extinct, then so be it. You can fight the future all right, and may the best reality win, but you can't fix the competition.

RASSILON: See? See? My children cannot be trusted with their inheritance. The time line needs taking in hand, Zagreus. I have given these powers to you. Use them boldly. Get a grip on history. Take control. Better you than a power-crazed villain out for personal gain.

I know this is a lot, but it feels important to put in here

And bye bye rassilon → does that mean he isn’t in the matrix anymore, or just that fragment of him, because he gets revived later, so some of him either has to be there still or make it back to this universe

‘Still don’t want to break rassilon’s rules’ → the laws of time are just an invention of rassilon

‘Omega, a madman sold out by his peers. Morbius, Time Lord of the first rank, betrays his heritage. Borusa, my old friend, teacher and mentor, all he wants is immortality. And Rassilon. Oh, Rassilon, the father of our whole society, a bigoted despot so consumed by love for his own self-image that he sentences the future to death.’

The doctor accusing romana of the inevitable corruption that comes wiht having power on gallifrey

‘No stupid laws, no daft regulations’ → again, all the laws of time stuff is just things the time lords have decided they need to enforce

Not having access to time travel similar to losing a sense to a time lord

[leakinghate]

Hi! I’m falling back down the vld rabbit hole and am once again consoling myself with how the series could/should/was meant to wrap up its various character and plot arcs and come to a satisfying and well written ending with all of tpl’s metas that i found really enlightening back in the day. So first of all, thanks for all the time and energy you guys put into everything you’ve collected/organized/posted!

Second, do you know if any of felixazrael’s metas are still available anywhere? With the blog deactivated, tumblr has kicked all the links on the old posts.

Third, do you have any thoughts on how unavailable vld seems to be now? Amazon doesn’t even have s7 and 8 available for purchase.

Thanks and have a fantastic day! 🌼

Hello hello! :D Welcome back to the VLD rabbit hole! You are so sweet! I shared your lovely compliments with my teammates, and we are so pleased to hear from you! I also occasionally re-read the old metas; there are a few things I'd change about them if I was to revisit them today, but on the whole I think they stand the test of time pretty well, and I'm proud of all the hard work and love we put into them. I keep meaning to write a retrospective of sorts to reflect on the things that have and have not changed since then, but I can never quite seem to find the words for articulating all the feelings that'd be necessarily wrapped up in all that. Felix is a difficult topic. They voluntarily withdrew from the community and asked that all copies of their work be pulled down and disposed of. Out of respect for them and our friendship we complied with their request, even as we as a whole are staunchly against deleting fandom history. It's a complicated and frustrating situation, but they have the right to decide what happens with their work. I'm sorry, I believe all of Felix's metas are lost now. As for your third question... OH BOY do I have thoughts! :D I have many thoughts about the availability (or lack thereof) of VLD. So, as of this writing, the first two DVDs (covering Season 1-2 [production season 1], and 3-6 [production season 2], respectively) are out of print and difficult to come by. Seasons 7 and 8 [production season 3] were never released at all for purchase. I believe there are still several places you can purchase digital copies of the first 6 seasons, but again, seasons 7 and 8 were never released. There could be several reasons for some of this - the DVDs were of low-quality and never sold particularly well (why would you buy a low-res version of a show you could watch on Netflix in HD?) so it's not too implausible to imagine that 7 and 8 were simply never printed because the expense of printing was more than the expected profit. That's plausible, that's reasonable. What's much less so is the unavailability of the episodes for digital download. Making something available for purchase digitally is so inexpensive, by comparison to DVDs, that it's basically free. And with the size of VLD's fandom (even today), you'd surely get enough sales to cover the already negligible costs. So it's not a money issue. And it's not a demand issue. What have we got left? The way I see it, there's two main options here, and they both boil down to: something regarding seasons 7 and 8 being edited is interfering with making those seasons available for purchase.

Option 1: It's something legal.

The rights for Voltron have always been a tricky thing. It's owned by the private company WEP (World Events Productions) which leases out different pieces of the rights to other companies so that they can make the shows and the merchandise based on the brand. I, and my team, fully believe that Bob Koplar, the CEO of WEP, is the man responsible for ordering the edits to Seasons 7 and Season 8. The "why" of the matter is still speculative, but it's pretty clear that he's responsible. (I can get into the details if asked, but we'll be here all day if I do it now, lol) So Koplar holds the rights to the brand, but DreamWorks, which made VLD, holds the rights to the individual show. If there's a legal conflict between the companies, say, over which version of the show can be released... then that could be why we're not seeing those episodes. Option 2: It's spite. Following on the last option, with Bob Koplar having levered his control over the Voltron Trademarks to force DreamWorks to make edits to their show, it's very possible one or the other is preventing the release of the episodes in an effort to screw with the other.

From Koplar's side of things, he's small and petty enough to rip an entire completed show - millions of dollars in investment in animation alone - to pieces for reasons that seem to amount to him disliking the story direction. He'd absolutely hold up the release of the episodes if there was something about them he still didn't like - and there's plenty still there for him to hate! (*cough* like the caricature literally named after him in the Season 7 episode "The Feud" *cough)

From DreamWorks' perspective, they had an entire completed show - millions of dollars in animation, remember! - ripped to pieces by a power-tripping, petty, little man. Which they then had to shell out additional funds to pay to reconstruct. The resulting product, which they were contractually obligated to release to Netflix, was then rejected wholesale by the fanbase, completely destroying any possibility of a franchise for one of the biggest hit shows they'd seen in years. We're looking at tens of millions of dollars down the drain. Would a company like DreamWorks turn around and screw over Koplar in turn for what he did? Yeah, I think they might. All in all, I can't say why they're not available... but I do know that back, immediately after Season 8 aired, WEP's storefront (Voltron Store) and social media accounts were claiming that the final DVD would be out by "the fall", which, given the timeframe, was presumably fall 2019. So at some point there was a plan to make those episodes available, at least on WEP's part. This, however, was likely before it was revealed to Bob that the episode "The Feud" was mocking him specifically. I can't say whether those episodes will ever get an official release, but I can say that if they do, it's going to dig up this whole entire mess all over again. And I'm pretty sure that neither party involved wants that. WEP has their new movie in production, and DW probably see the entire show as something they'd like to forget. Releasing those episodes will bring them both nothing but bad PR.

Thank you so much for your message! I enjoyed receiving it, and I had great fun writing out this answer! I'm always happy to talk Voltron, Voltron theories, Voltron related media. Have a lovely day!

[starsreminisce]

Some e/riels really want to make Elain the mean girl that they are

Well, here goes nothing...

Let's get one thing straight: Elain isn't going to march up to Gwyn and start a hair-pulling, milkshake-throwing, passive-aggressive showdown. Gwyn hasn't done anything to deserve that treatment. She can't help it if both Az and Nesta treat her differently from Elain. Elain's issue isn't with Gwyn. It's with Nesta. And now, we're seeing Elain push back against Nesta's overprotectiveness, especially when she volunteered to search for the trove.

Some fans seem to want Elain to become this vengeful, "mean girl" character, shedding her good-girl image to match Azriel's demeanor. But Elain's version of "mean" could cut Azriel to the core.

There's a kind of meanness that comes with laying bare someone's flaws—not to hurt, but to finally express what's been bottled up for too long. There's a meanness in honesty, too. Sometimes, you have to draw the line and speak your truth, even if it stings.

People don't suddenly grow claws. They've always been there, waiting to be wielded when necessary. And in SF, it looks like Elain's reached that point, where others are deciding her truth for her.

Sure, some fans are hoping for a Villain Elain, but it's ironic how we're demonized for standing up for ourselves or wanting to take up space. I think Elain's journey will be more about asserting herself and saying, "I need you to hear me."

But Nesta cut her off, seething at the pity about to be thrown her way. “Look who decided to grow claws after all,” she crooned. “Maybe you’ll become interesting at last, Elain.” Nesta saw the blow land, like a physical impact, in Elain’s face, her posture. No one spoke, though shadows gathered in the corners of the room, like snakes preparing to strike. Elain’s eyes brightened with pain. Something imploded in Nesta’s chest at that expression. She opened her mouth, as if it could somehow be undone. But Elain said, “I went into the Cauldron, too, you know. And itcaptured me. And yet somehow all you think of is what my trauma did to you.” Nesta blinked, everything inside her hollowing out.

Azriel struggles with criticism—we've seen it time and time again. That's why I doubt Az and Elain could work out. Elain is starting to call people out, and Az tends to freeze up when confronted. If Elain were to challenge Azriel over his objections to her searching for the trove, would it lead to a productive conversation? Their conversations could easily turn icy, as we've seen with Feyre's orders to him as his High Lady.

But there's someone who handles criticism well—or at least, better than Az.

My nails dug into my palms hard enough to hurt, but I remained seated on the bedroll as I bared my teeth at him. “And that’s why you’re here. Not because it’s right and he’s always been wrong, but just so you can get what you think you’re owed.” “She is my mate and in my enemy’s hands—” “I’ve made no secret from the start that Elain is safe and cared for.” “And I’m supposed to believe you.” “Yes,” I hissed. “You are. Because if I believed for one moment that my sisters were in danger, no High Lord or king would have kept me from going to save them.” He just shook his head, the candlelight dancing over his hair. “You have the gall to question my priorities regarding Elain—yet what was your motive where I was concerned? Did you plan to spare me from your path of destruction because of any genuine friendship, or simply for fear of what it might do to her?” I didn’t answer. “Well? What was your grand plan for me before Ianthe interfered?”

Lucien faced Feyre's accusations head-on when they clashed over priorities. He didn't deflect; he engaged. He was ready to hash it out, even when Feyre wasn't. Lucien could have abandoned her, returned to Tamlin, but he stayed. There was no bargain between them, so he had a choice—and he chose to stand by her.

I'm eager to see a showdown between Elain and Lucien about their bond. How will Lucien react when Elain claims he's entitled to her? And how will Elain respond when Lucien says he's done all he can to stay out of her life?

It promises to be a cathartic conversation, especially now that Elain's been rejected twice—presumably because of their bond.