#this is so end of s1/beginning of s2 core

[incorrectsibunaquotes]

Nina: Fabian and I are dating.

Mara: Oh, we’ve known for ages!

Nina:

Fabian:

Fabian: We only started dating two days ago.

Mick: What the fuck were you doing before that???

[jyndor2]

okay forGET the pre-andor cassian backstory being stolen from us, whatever. EVEN with the kenari backstory, even with ferrix, IT MAKES NO SENSE for cassian to "need" someone else to make him commit to the rebellion.

jesus christ just age his ass down in s1 to 16 or 17, have all of these arcs occur shortly after he joins up for real (17-19) and then it sort of works better.

the cassian we see is EXHAUSTED. holding on desperately to hope because he has been following orders, orders when he knows they're wrong as jyn says, for so long that he has to literally have a DEEPLY pivotal moment in the eadu rain to cleanse him of his "sins" and tranform into a new man, a man who rejects orders when he thinks they are wrong. THAT is why that scene is so powerful! because everything about cassian in rogue one leading up to that moment screams exhaustion and desperation.

it's bad enough that with the retcons in s1, cassian is basically a middle class guy (even if he is a refugee) talking down to a literal former child soldier who is homeless at 16, who has been let down by the rebellion time and again. for him to do that when he is supposedly way older than jyn when he FINALLY commits to the rebellion?

forget how insulting it is to have bix caleen, a literal crack comms girlie and mechanic (both skills that are seriously necessary in revolutions), basically play housewife the whole season except when she's being sexually assaulted, getting high and randomly having her girl boss 2015 era bad bitch scene that makes NO sense for her either. but to have CASSIAN, a literal indigenous refugee of genocide "need" to have anyone else explain to him the necessity of revolution (aka s1) or to have anyone force him to commit to revolution is not only insulting, it DOES NOT TRACK WITH ROGUE ONE AT ALL.

it turns him into a guy who actually is completely wrong for snapping back at jyn on eadu. in the scene, they are both wrong and both right - and they are lashing out in a moment of vulnerability and honesty. it should be a massive payoff after 24 episodes of a cassian andor prequel.

i'm not worried about MY enjoyment of rogue one after andor because i'm in the rogue one fandom - ignoring dumbass canon is like rule #1 of this fandom lmfao. i can handwave and ignore a lot of nonsense. and I will - already to me this shit is cassian as a teenager, fuck it. but I wonder if when andor fans begin to do the marathons of andor into rogue one, if we might start to hear more conflicting feelings on how smooth the transition from the show to the film is.

there are people who have never seen rogue one and who are waiting to watch it when andor ends. i mean i feel for them tbh because i doubt the payoff is actually going to work as well as it did pre-andor.

jyn and cassian are the heart of rogue one. i happen to think that it is a love story, as it clearly was always INTENDED to be one, but even if someone doesn't think that... it's clear their relationship is the core of rogue one. unless the final arc sticks the landing and jyn erso starts to haunt the narrative again (because where the fuck has her presence been in s2??? s1 had her all over it) i feel like the sudden connection between jyn and cassian is gonna come out of left field for more casual viewers of rogue one after andor.

i still have not finished this arc but i will be tonight. and im sure im gonna be mad lol

[yunara-maiden]

my true (respectful) thoughts of arcane s2

so much of the promotional material promised so much in the way of vi and jinx/powder and their sisterly relationship, but i feel like with the amount of storylines/plotlines they did in this season, it was just too busy to focus on anyone–let alone the two supposed protagonists of the show. i think the best way for me to articulate how i feel about the writing of this show is that it fell flat, lost its heart, and emotional impact of the first season.

i would have been okay with them straying from my personal favourite focus if:

the storylines had been fleshed out better

the decisions the characters made actually made sense

main characters didn't become plot devices (vi)

new additions of the show weren't just plot devices (isha, loris, maddie, etc.)

motivations of characters made sense

characters had even small lines/dialogue to articulate their intentions/ideas

less time spent on off-screen development

and the thing is with the amount of plot lines they were ambitiously aiming to see out to fruition, its really hard to also set up all these new facets or opposing characteristics in former characters–plus adding new ones too. for example:

caitlyn's facist arc that didn't really have much meaning or attention

jinx's s1 mental collapse which changed abruptly into her redemption arc via isha (plot device)

jinx's revolutionist arc (first, reluctantly and then, willingly w ekko)

vi's pitfighter/brawler arc which was literally just one clip (which ended up being a teaser that showed everything)

im almost grateful to the minimal screen time ekko got bc they didn't try to change the core and essence of who he was in s1: he stayed true to himself. he's just a boy with a huge heart and love for his people that chose to leave his happy ending in an alternate timeline to return to the ppl who needed him where he is almost guaranteed heartbreak in some way or another.

i think the main reason so many ppl loved the first season was bc the characters were relatable in one way or another and they became so multidimensional when you explored how their environment/circumstances shaped them. but this season bc it was so purely focused on the endgame instead of HOW everyone got there, the characters fell flatter, they lost a soul and heart, and i felt the show lost its charm.

i know we all have our favourite characters and storylines we want the show to focus on and i would have been okay if i didn't get my way. if the show didn't focus on jinx and vi, i would've lived (although the promotional material was unfairly misleading) if the storylines, characters, and everything else made sense to me.

of course, the animation was lovely and the music was catchy/heartbreaking. i dont regret watching the show out to its final episode. it was one of the most beautiful visual experiences of my entire life. i still love the characters and will never regret staying on board until the final moments.

but i cant lie and say im not a little sad at how it ended too.

edited add-on:

also, the voice actors did phenomenally. ella purnell just absolutely nails the delivery for every line and reed shannon also hurt me with how he portrayed ekko. so on and so forth.

but that being said, i also felt the dialogue and lines of each character felt much less impactful this season (again, writing.)

i liked viktor’s monologue at the end of act 2. that was compellingly well written

but the lines this season weren’t the same quality as silco’s monologue about drowning, jinx’s speech at the beginning of the doomed tea party, etc. everything just felt so flat and shallow this season overall.

[sepublic]

I speculated between seasons 2 and 3 that the original plan was for each of the full three seasons to involve a member of our core LEK trio going through major development and relative focus, with a finale where they’re central and separated from the rest: S1 as Eda, S2 as King, and S3 as Luz; Because the story is Luz’s, it begins and ends with her, and so it ends with her arc standing out at its most, as a proper send-off.

So I was mourning what the original S3 could’ve had for Luz, like maybe showing her backstory because even if we understand everything we need to know, it would’ve been nice to see it, and who knows what developments might involve Luz’s relationship with her mother and new sister, her culture via her Quincenera, coming to terms with Gravesfield, etc.! I was in agony of imagining how much further we could’ve gone and still am, like imagine Luz getting to explain herself to Vee and/or Vee understanding and acknowledging it to her, as part of Luz’s healing!

So I’m really glad the writers stayed true to their main character in S3. Any lesser writer could’ve used the shortening as an excuse to resolve Luz’s trauma and development in the first special, and then use the remaining ones to have her support other people’s arcs and stories but no; They made sure to explore Luz’s feelings fully, every special came around to what was going on in her head, her struggles, how it wasn’t so easy to resolve. It was about Luz through and through, about answering her arc as much as possible as was the plan and still would be, and I really appreciate that.

[nalyra-dreaming]

'it always is and always was about the shipping'…i'm more & more thinking this is true! imho certain fans only started hating on the show & getting outraged about s3 being tvl (which rolin told us about from day one!!) when things didn't go their way wrt loumand. it's like they finally realized they bet on the wrong horse so they want the show to fail now.

imho s2 ended on a v hopeful note for louis. if anyone was really that worried for his future relevance you'd think the show re-affirming that loustat are soulmates & their relationship is the core of the show would be a good thing, not bad?? it means that even if lestat's the main focus for now, louis will still be central. louis & lestat are co-leads. one or the other may get more screentime in a given season/arc depending on where the story's at rn, but it all comes back to them. so either these fans are just clutching at straws for things to gripe about, or they were in denial about what a tvl season would mean? like did they think the writers were gonna frame lestat as the villain during his own season or that loumand would team up to 'defeat' him lmao? i don't wanna sound harsh but i really don't get what they even expected?

It's always been and always will be about the shipping. There's some great posts by @cbrownjc about that, too.

And yeah well, you wouldn't believe some of the asks I got back then, where people expected Louis to do a Blade and go after Lestat and "his gang" in the upcoming seasons.... (for example).

There were a LOT of people after s1 who expected this to be about the "good vampire" who goes after the bad ones, and "since the show was totally different to the books"... that the show would not be doing the books.

And now, that that is rather clearly not the case... a lot of people are not getting the show they made up in their heads. And that frustrates them.

I get that frustration, to an extent :) But everyone on and surrounding the show talked about doing the books and which books, too, from the beginning.

Like, Rolin Jones is on record with this:

(That particular image also always comes to mind when people wonder how the show can be called IWTV and go to other books now...)

The ones whining about it all now simply did not want to listen.

[magnorious]

I figured out why I didn’t like Arcane Season 2!

Randomly, while at work.

I do not have the energy or time to intensely rewatch all 18 episodes right now so if you’re going to harass me about some minute detail in episode 7 that I’m forgetting… go off I guess?

My issue when I watched it was a lack of connectivity between the buildup of S1 and the payoff in S2 and how the whole thing felt rushed. I did not like Ambessa but couldn’t figure out why. She’s a fine character, but every time she was on screen she just felt unnecessary. I know she’s there for Mel’s arc and is a threat to Piltover.

But the initial conflict that divided Zaun and Piltover wasn’t from without, it was from within. Zaun had been suffering under Piltover’s boot and the runoff of Piltover’s pollution for generations. They were disenfranchised and both left to rot, but still under Piltover policing. Their issues were never about magic or its existence, it was always politics between them and only them.

Enter the hex cores and Ambessa from Noxus. Having the big resolution of the entire series, that felt like it was building up to explore the many different realms for the game’s other popular characters, to then funnel it back into a snake eating itself, with Viktor being the mage that Jayce saw all those years ago felt… limiting. Viktor’s “the solution to world peace is removing free will” impacted Vi and Jinx in that they’re all three Zaunites, but after all these years of bad blood, one team-up against a third-party military is the solution to fixing the relationship between Piltover and Zaun?

It took what I thought was going to be a political story working at how to give Zaun justice for all the shit done unto them and said “wait, put all politics aside we gotta fight these robots”. The show does not have a “everything’s perfect now” happy ending, but that’s a whole lot to be left to interpretation.

I’m still in disbelief that this was apparently the plan from the beginning, when they crammed just so much into this season. You open the entire series on a genocide that orphaned the two poster characters, because of systemic issues between two nations, and resolve the series with someone else’s villain while these two run support.

I don’t hate any of the characters, despite being a bit disappointed that they brought Vander back to just… die again, like they could not come up with anything better to give these two. Ambessa wants the hexcore and wants to take over Piltover. Great. Yeah, that’s a threat to Zaun, assuming she plans to make life exponentially worse for them, but it wasn’t the original threat to Zaun. Viktor wants to solve all suffering by mind-controlling everyone. Great. Once he’s gone, does everyone just toss their grievances aside?

Could season 2 not have been building up the extent of the damage that the hexcore was doing to both nations, giving them all time to understand that they’ve got to work together to clean up Piltover’s mess with Viktor as the villain? Then go and expand the world into the Ambessa problem in season 3, once these nations have built at least the foundations of an alliance. Nobody would have complained about having more show to watch.

[ilikethecolorredsstuff]

ARCANE Rant

Arcane s2 ending is underwhelming because the show was slowly building up to it (the biggest disappointment of the century)

U can feel it slowly letting go of the class issues that s1 was based on ( arguably the reason why the show was appealing to begin with) foe what seems to be no reason. Cause it seemed that they could've done better with presenting the themes that were already there in the subtext of it all or atleast it was that way for s1 and the first act(s?)

By the 3rd act, it's like they make it a point to stray away from what the show is supposed to be about and maybe that's why there's a lot of distraction going on (*caughs * fan service). In the last act there's just so many loose endings and key points are missing, ones that are usually provided to the whatcher bethey offer needed insight like how jayce decided to touch the arcane or what happened with ekko and jinx when he stopped her. This is a pattern that also shows in s1 and the other acts but the avoidance of clearing things up or providing insight on character's behaviors in this case isn't to get us to think about it and interpret it on our own instead it leaves a feelibg of just accept it for now that's how thongs came to be, and it doesn't even explain it later(would've beena great move tbh).

This lack of insight makes it easier to just accept other shifts that don't actually make sense like the main shift of victor's character when he gave up on doing good for the ppl the moment jayce attacked him and honestly not only did jayce have no business doing that, victor also had no reason to change his ideology for only that. The attack harmed not only him but also the ones connected to him so it does make sense that instead of healing he decided to eliminate all danger but even then it wouldn't make sense for him to agree to forge an army and pick sides for a political war something he aims to demolish.

And then it's not even about his conquest anymore and we get a fairly easy and rushed destruction of the black flower and then back to Victor.... Victor changes his ways and they disappear leaving everyone behind to what? Move on? As if the story is about how humans weren't ready for a progress that fast andbnow they can learn from their mistakes and take their time, as if that insane leap of advancement both biological and technical isn't just a by product of an environment manufactured by classism that pressured and cornered ppl into this extreme reality.

At the end, nothing has changed from the beginning of s1, the counsel just added a physical chair for the undercity instead of the invisible one that silco did hold at some point.

The truth is zaun isn't even a separate nation anymore it's still the undercity who now has a representative in the counsel.

War didn't even unite the ppl in fear and grief because except for the enforcers the fighters were mostly from zaun, this is dangerous because it paints a picture where the unpriveleged lot are fighting someone else's battles while the priveleged (root cause of said battle) get to flee and only comeback when everything is settled to look all bigoted and give side eyes to the representative of the unpriveleged (im looking at u short grandma).

My point is what is the show trying to say by ignoring the core issue, leaving us in the dark abt a character's motivations, and jumping to war with spiritual robots meanwhile the counsel is full of classist cowards leading a nation they fled when shit got bloody and letting the war criminal from the uptown have a happy ever after, her crimes don't even get mentioned while jinx is told that no amount lf help she offers can undo the harm she caused. It's all intentional, the show even ends with a hidden message that heimdinger was correct from thr beginning for restricting research or at least it felt that way.

[mimicha-arts]

Date: 09/13/2023 In my previous post, I wrote that time in s2 is broken and dead. I was curious if this was true for s1, too… For me the main problem of the last month was the dates in the files (character intros), the date of Emma's death + September 9th mentioned in episode 3, so I tried to consider these as related things. I always was confused by April-September thing, I thought that it is a mistake, but. Probably not. So. Let's break down the first episode! It was a deep dive, I'm not sure how real any of this can be, but (c) Let's divide everything into three parts:

Сhronology

It's not about Quede

April is not April

WARNING: SPOILERS

Chronology

April 16, which we see hours later that day. Qiao Ling receives an order from an unknown customer.

The goal is to get financial core data of Quede company. Information has to be obtained by diving in Emma, during the last financial settlement meeting before the release of the financial report, 2 days ago, on the April 14th, photo was posted at 10 pm.

Additionally, it is mentioned that there was an earlier photo, but they start with the most recent one so that the information is not “outdated”.

Events take place from April 16th to 17th in the present for Lu Guang. From April 14th to 15th in the past for Emma and Cheng Xiaoshi.

April 14th: 10:00 pm - start of diving. As Emma, Cheng Xiaoshi lived through the events in the company's office and stayed for overwork.

April 15th: About 2:45 a.m. Emma's parents text to her, Cheng Xiaoshi decided to reply.

9-10 am, morning, the meeting began. A conflict situation occurs, the laptop falls, Emma!Xiaoshi is on the floor. Lu Guang records data from the screen - Cheng Xiaoshi returns to the present time.

Later this day. Somewhere later that day, information about the company is leaked, involved people are arrested (news from April 17th)

Before 10 pm: Emma comes home after this day, she realizes that the situation with Quede is a stain on her career, because she was Mr.Zhu's assistant, there is no way for her to find a job in this field anymore.

Lately she discovers messages (02:48, that Cheng Xiaoshi texted) with her parents - this becomes her motivation for a call. It's the same day, still today (今天）- April 15th. This is the reason why we know that the disclosure of the company's affairs occurred on the same day after the meeting.

After 10 pm, before 10:30 pm Emma goes to the train station but runs into Liu Min, agrees to go with him.

About 10:34 p.m Liu Min attacks Emma.

Somewhere between April 15th and 16th. An accident occurs, Liu Min will be left paralyzed.

April 16: At the moment of dawn, Emma jumps from the bridge.

Later this day, Quede Company was suspended (news from the 17th)

Later, Emma's body is found in the river in the evening (mentioned as "yesterday", news from the 17th)

April 17: present 9-10 am: Lu Guang gives instructions to Xiaoshi, they successfully obtain the information, Xiaoshi returns to the “present” time.” Evening, the same day: We receive information about the disclosure of financial fraud in the past tense until the 17th from the news at the end of the ep. Additional note: in these events, there is another Cheng Xiaoshi from the "future" (events of October 22-23), who hides first in Liu Min's trunk, and then on the bridge with Emma. The chronology of events can be written as follows:

So it's clear - Lu Guang himself receives the necessary information about the company on the 17th at 10 am. By that time, Mr. Zhu had already been arrested 2 days ago and the company's activities had been suspended 1 day ago. Precisely because of financial fraud.

Also his reaction to Emma's death is interesting. Okay, that's a guess, but I always had the feeling that he knew she was dead from the very beginning of the case.

2. It's not about Quede

And so, we know that data about the company and financial fraud were already published on the 15th. The question remains simple - why did the mysterious unnamed client need the data, since he would have received it only on the 17th, after information about the fraud in Quede was already made public before they (the client) offered this task/job. So what other events are happening on nearby dates? They're not in the episode, they're in the characters intro. Obviously, the unknown client was unknown for a reason. As we also know, there is a character (or characters, there are 2 signatures on the documents) who are collecting dossiers on the main trio. There is a high chance that all of this is connected. This event takes place from the 14th to the 17th in total. Date on Qiao Ling's file: april 8th Lu Guang's file: april 10th Cheng Xiaoshi's file: april 12th

Documents for Lu Guang should be destroyed on the 17th, for Xiaoshi - on the 19th. This timing is kinda perfect. In my opinion, this task/job came as part of an "investigation" so that the unknown could better study the process of trio's work, understand the abilities of Cheng Xiaoshi and Lu Guang, probably, what their time limits are. So, yes. If we look at it from this side, this is not about Quede, it is not about financial fraud, it has never been about it. This research is to answer questions about the abilities of Cheng Xiaoshi and Lu Guang that remained on the files.

3. April is not April

April is a lie. Events take place in September. Although it’s more likely that the time has already been broken since the first season, and we technically don’t know which one is correct. Although Lu Guang's watch and documents (character dossiers) point to April, real events cannot possibly take place in April for many reasons.

1. 3rd financial quarter This is the main reason. This is stated in the first episode by Qiao Ling, and should immediately raise questions. The third quarter cannot possibly be April, absolutely. Because the following months are considered the third quarter: July, August, September.

2. News, 3rd ep Qiao Ling listens to the news on her headphones. We are not given a name, but the circumstances are the same - we learn that Emma's "suicide" was most likely a murder. Once again, it's September.

3. Cold weather is coming Emma's parents arrive to bring Emma warm clothes and mention that it is getting colder. If it were April, on the contrary, it would only get hotter, but everything is different when it comes to autumn.

4. Murders I am firmly convinced that the numbering of victims does not correspond to the real chronology. Yes, we know that there were more victims, and Emma was never "first", I mean those cases that were consolidated by the police and are in Xiao Li's documents. We have dates for an early murder in April, Emma being somewhere in the middle of that "break", since she was killed in both “April” and “September”, and there were murders after her, where the month was not indicated. Which once again points to the fact that something is wrong with these two months. Now things are going to get confusing, we consider April like September here. I can't see and understand details, so I'm only able to find the dates, since the numbers can at least be distinguished. Emma is considered the first murder only by number (died "April-September" 16th), but number 4 (Zao Cai, a blond man) died before her, "April-September", 2nd. In the folder, her documents go after his case. I think the fact is that initially the police believed that Emma committed suicide; at first, her case was not classified as a part of a series of murders, so police did not assign a chronological fifth number, but later, with new clues, simply moved her old documents in the "correct" chronological order to fifth place.

This technically makes Emma a 5 case… Or even a 6th. Because case 6 (Nan You) is also not without mysteries. The date of death is 14. I'm not sure why they put her file after Emma. Maybe they're unsure of the date or something and it's just an estimated date? So her date of death also “fell out of space.” But if 14 is correct, then this girl died 2 days earlier than Emma herself, and Emma technically becomes case 6.

The eighth case (Zhao Lin) occurs on 25th. The mystical 7 case is somewhere before that date, but we don't know how much of this is actual April or September.

In addition to mysterious 7th case, we also have 3 other earlier victims. They had to die before "April-September" 2nd, so the time of their death is roughly "March-August". We haven't seen their documents, but we know about their cases because of the photographs (the girl in the pink suit is probably the girl with the dog from ep11, since the BG is the same)

And also Xu Shanshan.

Who technically didn't die due to the time loop, but most likely "died" (since Lu Guang was thrown out) in the original events, which was still visible for Lu Guang in the unaltered photo.

I mentioned this in the post about s2 - the interesting thing is that Xu Shanshan's phone, as shown in s2, does not have a single photo from May to the end of October (current events with unknown date), which is quite. Strange.

All the murders had to happen with the similar style and certain time frame that they could be connected as a series. Given the news about Xu Shanshan: it was written - no new murders had occurred for several weeks (数周未出现新的受害者), which fits the September-October period (s1 ends at October 23). So we know for sure that the last cases with unspecified months should have occurred in September.

So. Obtaining financial information as a goal does not make sense, "someone" studies our main characters at the "perfect time", and all the dates are intertwined and have inaccurate implications. Like, almost half a year was literally “stolen” from time? Or something similar. The dates are so deliberately strange that I am speculating solely that time was broken from this point already, not even in s2 - what happened can only be speculated for now until we are told the background of Lu Guang's story. And who is the real 7th victim if April and September are mixed up, and the time has been “changed”. The funny thing is that everything also connected to the birthdays: April 15th - Cheng Xiaoshi's birthday September 16th - Qian Jin's birthday October 23th - the day Lu Guang was stabbed, exactly before his birthday Maybe I understand something incorrectly and I'm going down the wrong path altogether. No conclusions. My CPU is blown up. Thank you @wrathyforest for discussing this with me, trying to find connections, completing everything with time points, you are the best!

[murfpersonalblog]

INTERVIEW WITH THE VAMPIRE star Jacob Anderson unpacks the gothic horror of Season 2 | TV Insider

Here’s the entire written transcript:

Jacob Anderson: It just everything about Claudia was--I found really hard. Like, I really fell in love with that lady, and so, seeing Claudia like going through what she went through was just like--I just found it really difficult. (0:00 - 0:24)

TV Insider: Louis really puts his life under a microscope in these first 2 seasons, but more than that, it's like putting his every thought and why he thinks that way under investigation. So, you as an actor are tasked with showing all of these formative experiences of his, like, the euphoric ones, the traumatizing ones, and feeling the initial impact of them. And then also reacting to them, and unpacking them, processing them in the present day timeline years later when he's a very different person and discovering information that redefines everything. And this happens in like every single episode--you get no breaks, but from digging into every corner of this guy's mind, I really can't think of another character in recent memory that demands more out of an actor! (👏 🏆) So, how do you map Louis’ brain?! Cuz you clearly have done that; so how do you do that; and was it easier or harder in S2? (1:25)

JA: Just, like, moment to moment, I think it's the only way to do it. I tried--I really tried in the beginning, but--in S1 I really tried to lock in, and just be like: this happened at this point. And I tried to do a timeline for myself [😭 🕔 💀 😅] and then I think I realized as well that Rolin is also discovering things as he goes along, and I'm really glad that I never, like, sort of bedded specific events. Cuz part of the fun is to rediscover those events, and respond to it--but there was just--I just have a few sort of ‘truths’ in my head that I always have on me about Louis, that I'm.... I know that this is something that he cannot let go of, until he does at the very end. Which is like: I am a more vengeful, rageful, bloodthirsty creature than I can ever admit to anybody, so I have to overcompensate constantly. That's a thing that I--at least for me--I always held on to for both seasons: I'm gonna come across as this vampire that's moved beyond the needs of of most vampires: I'm a vegetarian vampire, I eat animals, I don't hurt humans, I have no desire to hurt; I find humans interesting. But then Rolin said something to me early on as well, that Louis’ relationship to humanity is quite anthropological. It's quite--which I guess is...it's, you know, ‘anthropology’ is the study of [humans]. But he doesn't see himself in that way--he kind of--he does see himself above humanity, so that is always there. (x x x) I always carry that with me; and then, just, fight against it constantly. There's a few other things that I feel like I don't really want to share, but those things are like: as long as I have that, whatever Louis has to say or however Louis feels about any given thing, they're always going to be talking with with those things that I decided for myself. So if you do that, then you can just treat it as moment-to-moment / scene-by-scene. Like, what is that rubbing against? And that's probably not a very good way of describing it, but I think it's almost impossible to sort of reduce hundreds--140-whatever-years--into a piece of paper, or like a week of filming. Just how is he doing right now, at this minute? Did I just describe Acting™ in a really long way?! *LAUGHS*

TV: How do you balance recalibrating for the different timelines while maintaining the thread that connects all of this together? Is it just those core tenants, or is there--what other elements are there? (5:06)

JA: No, because I think that he has to keep that-- One of the things I love about Louis is that he's constantly learning. Like I don't think he's-- He's not a closed book. I think when he tries to be a closed book, he really fails at it; he's really bad at it; he overcompensates, you know? Like, at the end of Ep1 in S2, where he and Armand come in--we're a team now~! 🤥🤡 And then, in Ep2 he's so cruel. He's really fun to play, but he's just not very good at it; he's not very good at closing himself off, I think. So yeah, he has to keep--I've completely lost my thread! *LAUGHS*--but he has to keep learning from Daniel, and from himself, and from Claudia. That's the hardest part of it, really, for Louis, is to learn who he was through Claudia. 💔 I think he read those diaries when he was in a very different place, and probably in the grips of a sort hubris, you know, like: They took her from me; I've been wronged! And now he's in a state-- In S1 throughout S2, he's in a state of: Hang on, this was me; I did this; I wronged her; I hurt 1/3rd of my heart. I think he learned, and I love that about him; it's a therapy session with Daniel. (7:01)

TV: I think the mindset was kind of initially like: he wants to understand Claudia's perspective more, but did he also sense that there was something else going on? Like, I'm getting at the Armand of it all here. 👹 Why did [Louis] need to call Daniel?! Like, what was the inciting incident for this?

JA: That was never really answered for me! I've asked Rolin that since my first day on the Dubai set, and he's never really been willing to give me a straight answer. (👀🍿)  So I just sort of decided for myself that I think it's a call for help. I think he knows it's a cry for help; he knows that there is something there in his relationship with Armand that's disturbing him, and he can't--he feels unsettled. And I guess the last time that the truth really came out in their relationship between Louis & Armand was when they met Daniel that night. Like, the events of Ep5--that was the last time that he and Armand were real with each other, and look how it ended. And then, he can't really remember anything about--I think about this thing quite a lot, about, like-- I was asked a question once in therapy--I probably shouldn't be talking about this, but it's fine--it was like: 🚨When was the last time you felt safe? 🚨 (😨😔) And it's such a huge question, like: think about: When do you actually feel safe and secure in the world? And I feel like, for Louis, if you were to ask him that question, it's probably meeting Daniel. (😭🫂) You know, like, [Daniel’s] just this interesting--not like a ‘receptacle‘, cuz that takes all of the humanity out of Daniel--but I think he saw somebody else that was really struggling, and they clicked. They just had a kind of chemistry that Louis was really missing in his life at that point. I think that's the last time that Louis really was ever telling the truth about himself, or really feeling the truth about Claudia; and that he was responsible for what happened to her. And obviously what he does when he goes out into the sun, that's a very significant moment. I think he's been burying--so [Daniel’s] the first person you're going to call to. And I think Louis and Armand have been watching Daniel for decades. They know, they're keeping up, I mean that's not really a secret actually: Louis says that he's been following his career the whole time; and then we find out why. But yeah, I think that there's that exchange that they have--what Louis gives Daniel and what Daniel has given Louis before that--which is just to listen. I think [Daniel’s] the only person [Louis] can trust to try and get this thing out of him, whatever’s this little thing that's scratching at him, which is: I can't trust this person, I can't trust this person that I've lived with, and have entrusted my life to. And he was right; he was right, too. (11:00)

TV: Yeah definitely, his gut was right there, very unfortunately. To talk more about Ep5 you filmed. That was the first thing you filmed of the season, that: “You are so boring!” fight scene with Armand was Assad's first true scene as Armand for S2. What, if anything, did you two discover when filming that scene together, that helped inform how you approached the scenes from the earlier episodes that you filmed after Ep5?

JA: It's a very good question! Well, we hadn't really played their dynamic up to that point--like, obviously, we knew he was Armand when we were shooting [S1], but we never wanted to give the game away, so we sort of didn't. And there wasn't a huge opportunity in S1 either, for me and Assad to wink too much at it. But yeah, what did we discover?! I think we have quite different argument styles, maybe. I think Assad and I--I mean, I can't speak for him, but I think we did just really wind each other up as we were going. And we did an amazing thing with that scene, is that they cross-shot; they were just like: You can just chow over each other, it's fine, we don't have to, like, you know: Is that true? It's the Odyssey of Recollection; it's been such a long time. We had to leave spaces for each other, but I think we did. The first time we did it, we did just like: Go! And we just went at each other; just went for it. And it was really exciting, I think that's probably what I learned. I was like: This is really exciting! And this dynamic between us is going to be really exciting, and how different we are and how different the characters are from each other; it's gonna create a completely different kind of chemistry to the chemistry that Louis and Claudia have; or Louis and Lestat have. So I think that's what I learned from that scene, yeah. (13:26)

TV: Yeah, it's one of my favorite scenes of the season, and just knowing that it was your first one together for S2 makes it more electric, you know?! It's like, the excitement of the first-day-back-at-work kind of energy, and I think that really added to it, and it's so fun to watch as well--

JA: Yeah! Luke and I, we shot that episode in sequence basically. So Luke and I have been building a completely different dynamic leading up to that, and then as I arrived, and it was like: It's on, okay--!

TV: It changes the vibe, for sure! And in the first DreamStat scene in S2, it's like Louis’ feelings there it's like-- He's scared that Lestat could really be dead, and he's scared that he could have survived; he's terrified of him, and he loves him--like, he's afraid of what Claudia will think if he's to tell her any of what he's experiencing right now, right? So this feels like the true, like, Gothic Horror of the show; and that we're exploring some really dark corners of Louis mind here. What is it like for you to hold space for these really complicated contradicting feelings that Louis requires you to feel? And was there a scene this season that was particularly difficult to hold that space for? (14:49)

JA: In terms of what it's like, it's what is so fun about working on this show, is you are asked to hold 10 things in your mind at once, plus this beautiful writing that you don't want to f**k up. Like, it's really challenging, but it also--to be completely honest, that's sort of what my brain is like anyway! Like, I do have a million things in my brain constantly going, and somehow working on! This show helps me to kind of focus it into Louis, and I can just think about him and think about what he's holding-- Sorry, in some ways, it's the most difficult thing, and the most calming and cathartic thing about working on the show. In terms of a really dark thing, I think everything about Claudia was...I found really hard. Like, I really fell in love with the lady, and so seeing Claudia going through what she went through was just like...I just found it really difficult. And I'm a parent, that also kind of comes into it obviously. Their dynamics are complicated; he's not [Claudia’s] dad--he sort of is, but he's not, as well... Yeah, I think most of the Claudia stuff was pretty rough. Like, the aftermath of her death--and then it's all like...all of it is the aftermath of her death. 💔Like, all of it in Dubai, everything in the present, she's echoing through it. That final scene [in 2x8], I found really hard to go through. And I never wanted it to be about violence. Like, I talked to Rolin about it a lot, that final moment, where the vampires are all threatening [Louis]. I was like: Louis found such a level of peace, and has reconnected with Paul, and with Claudia he has taken accountability. I just did not want that moment to be violent. I didn't want it to be about Louis becoming a bada**. It had to be about him, like, for the first time in his existence accepting himself. And I found that really emotional, this! I didn't get through that many of those tapes, because I was just finding it really.... And also, Levan played me Daniel Hart's music just before it, which probably wasn't that helpful! So yeah, I found that weirdly hard, and it also felt really pressurized. Like, a really important moment, and I was like: This is the last time you ever see Louis. I wanted it to have that kind of feeling to it that it completes something for this character, it holds him somewhere that you can feel. Ep1 you feel that guy that pulled the knife, and just so clearly hates himself. Because he hates himself, he takes it out on everybody else. And I wanted to see him breathing and not holding a million things in his head, and feeling peaceful. And so, conversely, I did that--and Jacob was holding a million things in his head, for Louis, on Louis’ heart. So yeah, that was hard. That was sort of the hardest scene in the whole season--in the whole two seasons for me. That was the hardest thing. (19:22)

TV: I mean, it's bringing it all to a close! And it's literally just the final frame of this first story; it’s just your face, and so your performance there, the ending, is riding on that, you know. So there's lots to that, that's a heavy weight to carry; but it is such a stark difference between Louis’ opening shot in 1x1 and that final one [in 2x8]. Those are two different people; you can see it in the eyes, through the lenses! It's completely different, it's just really astounding, honestly. (👏 🏆)   Earlier you said that this is the last time we see Louis, but we know Louis is coming back in S3, so can you give any...? 👀👀👀👀 (20:00)

JA: I just meant that S1 and S2 are.... It's like, this is Louis’ story, with Louis and Claudia--and it’s Lestat’s [story] too, but he's not there to speak for himself. And Claudia’s [story/voice] is through her diaries. So it just meant that if that was the the culmination of Louis's version of events--that's the last thing that you're going to take from his specific version of things--then it had to close that off, you know? I didn't want it to be like, a sort of-- Rolin would never want to do this anyway, but I didn't want it to be like a sort of sequel-tease, or like: Louis is about to go full-tilt. It had to feel satisfying, and feel feel like it was about closure, is what I mean. I don't mean that you'll never see Louis again. (21:15)

TV: And he's going to be a brand new version when we see him next, and it's going to be really exciting... *LAUGHS* You can't say anything about that huh? 👀😅 *LAUGHS*

JA: *GRINS & SHRUGS* 😊🤷🏽‍♂️😁😉😉😉

TV: I know when it comes to Claudia, there is a lot of talk post-finale, like, lots of talk about who saved Louis; but not always as much about why Claudia wasn't saved, you know? And you've said in the past that Lestat was too weak to save both of them, or all three of them (Madeleine included). But how does Louis contend with this reality in 2022? It's again having to hold these really complicated feelings of: I'm alive, ok great, because of this--but also like: Claudia is dead. How does he contend with this, when [Lou] sees [Les] again in 2022? (22:06)

JA: I don't know if he's necessarily there yet, you know! 😔 I don't know if he has really-- Louis’ complicated--he's complicated! You know, I think Jacob would have preferred that he saved Claudia. I don't know. I think that's probably a confusing thing for Louis, you know, that he wanted to live, [but] that he wanted her to [live, too]. But I think when he and Lestat see each other again, I think that is more about him accepting vampirism as a gift. That’s what that is about, more than it is about Claudia's-- It is about Claudia's death, but I think it's more about, like: We're both still not ok, right? Like: You're still not ok with what happened, you still miss her, you still think about her constantly. And then, the reconciliation is more about, like: My life began when I met you; this version of my life began when I met you, and I didn't appreciate that until this moment, so thank you for that. ❤️ Yeah, I'm not entirely sure that Louis has accepted the choice that was made [by Lestat to save him] there [during the Trial]. (24:01)

TV: Yeah, and it's--I mean, it's very new information to him, so it would be shocking if he did. Cuz he left Dubai real quick to go reunite with Lestat after he discovered this information, wow. (24:13)

JA: Him displaying the dress like that, though, I think, is also in part like: Well I survived, but I have to remember her; I have to keep her here; I can't keep trying to push her out of my brain for self-preservation; I have to hold space for her, and for Paul. So it's a version of acceptance. (24:40)

TV: Yeah, he's accepted that he's going to carry this with him forever. He's not repressing it anymore, yeah. I asked Sam this question as well, when he was in the office a couple weeks ago: It was written into the finale script, of course, that you and Sam would say words to each other that only you would know, in-character. 👀👀👀👀 So, what does it mean to you to have been given that opportunity to put that personal stamp on your characters, without any writing to guide you? (25:07)

JA: It was a bit stressful! I was like: This is a lot of pressure, because I know as well that for Sam, it will become canon; he's going to hold that, now. Going forward, he's going to take that with him into S3. And I knew he would--I'm pretty sure-- He even said to me, like: What you say to me is going to be a part of Lestat, now. So yeah, it was quite a lot of pressure. We tried to talk about it a little bit, and then we were like: it's more fun if we just don't tell each other what we're going to say. We just need to agree on, like: an order of how things are going to go, so we don't just blurt out at the same time. Yeah, I thought it was fun. Rolin texted me first, and he was like: I've got this idea. Sam's going to hate it! Can you, like-- What do you think? And he told me the idea and he sent me a screenshot of that thing, and I was like: Sam IS going to hate that! 😅🤣 Yeah, but that's kind of partly why we should do it! Like, again: I don't know why I want to wind him [Sam] up all the time! 😂 Yeah, I just thought it was fun, and then I was like: Oh, I actually have to do this!  And it's-- I'm not going to give anything away, I need to just keep it, I just keep it, what was said. (26:56)

[dedenneblogs]

HEARTBREAK HIGH S2 ANALYSIS PART 1 (buckle up this is going to be a doozy)

so... it's out (the trailer).

my excitement cannot be expressed...

BUTT! today, i will be doing my iconic mouse analysis of this trailer (this is actually the first time im doing something like this so it's not rlly iconic BUTT it will be soon) with the most comprehensive inspection i can using under 2 minutes of video as a basis....

with that said lets

BEGIN!

the heartbreak highers are back for another "cursed" term....

so glad to see the trio back in action. like. actually so happy. MIGHT explode from excitement... as always, their outfits slaylay.

the boyfriends... friends? boys? BUGS??? found out on hh s2!

these goons are back... gayer then ever,,, seriously. when will these two have an episode long make out 'sesh? unlikely, to much dismay....spoiler alert...you'll see....

MISSY!!!!! and sasha, i guess

SPOILER ALERT AGAINNNN missy looks like she'll be more prominent in this season so...WIN!!!!

also why is she mewing who is rizzing up

and new on the the chopping block-- Rowan Callaghan!

we'll get to rowan when we get to rowan

in other (more important) news-- SHE'S HEALING! HARPER IS HEALING!!!

i... *sobs* i she's growing her hair out oh my GAW...... she's getting better...she... there's a lower chance she'll cock-block amerie (oh but she'll get cock [spoiler-- again!])

butt let's not celebrate just yet-- it's still "everyone hates amerie" up in this joint, smellas

may as well... shot them. huh. well. pop off, i suppose... (amerie asserts her right to bear arms-- truly patriotic coming from an aussie!)

...touché coming from the (still) most hated student in heartly who only adds salt to the wound by... using the pink 'ildo from s1 as a mic... chat... she's lost it.

(unrelated but in the background-- MISSY AND MALAKAI!!! they were building up a relationship between them in s1 and how she and her brother (i think? 'memory's fuzzy) helped him heal from the shit he had to go through in s1 and even better connect him with his aboriginal roots. i hope to see more of these two interact come april 11th and i binge the whole season)

ALSO also ANOTHER new character-- Zoe Clarke!

we will ALSo get to zoe when we get to zoe

anywho-- cue: AMERIE'S ONLINE HARASSMENT ARC! becuz every show needs one...unfortunately. Give a cold welcome to Bird Psycho, heartbreak highers (we will get to bird psycho when we get to bird psycho)

(who ever is doing this shit is a bitch but either way: "you dont get to be the hero" shut your goofy ass up)

oh that's gore. that's core of my comfort character.

ok so maybe this bird psycho cuck isnt fucking around because clearly he's gotten to our girl ams :(

(dw they uh...take her out for ice cream. after this. proabably.)

moving foward-- STAND BACK I SAID STAND BACK WEIRD GIRL QUINNI

oughh im gonna be sick. of course. OF COURSE SHE WOULD GO FULL SHERLOCK HOLMES TO HELP HER BESTIE.

yeah anyways with this in mind she'd totally try and crack the fnaf lore wouldn't she. wouldn't she.

she's slay she's girlboss but at the end of the day she's a weirdo

anywho nuff of my rambling there--

ominous of you to say zoe

BUT ENOUGH OF HER CA$$HHHHHHHHHHHH

ca$h omg eshay eshay eshay pspspspsp,,,

i am so happy to see him (spoiler alert for 2 secs throughout the whole trailer) but anywho remeber? remeber right he's in prison. but seems to be doing okay... (maybe for the best heartly drama is really coming to a boiling point)

<3

and-- oh. uh... chicken dumbell... okay... pop off, missy...

when i said i wanted more missy i didnt expect this

spider seems to be into tho maybe what ??1/1/111.1/?!??!/1/1/1

missy x spider was NOT on my bingo card

WHEN MISSY SAID SHE WAS STARTING TO LIKE WHITE BOYS I DIDNT THINK SHE MEANT THIS.

BUUTTTttttt-- i. am. down. for. it... somehow. frankly, spider needs someone to put him in his place and low and behold, missy seems to be the student to do so..........

hey. if they're both happy with their...chicken dumbells, i am too.

amerie dont be alarmed but there's a white boy to your right

in other news this love triangle scares the diarrhea out of me

look at them. they're the perfect couple (malakai x amerie 4life) and rowan is--

well he's a nice boy but cmon

LOOK AGAIN IM DOWN FOR THEM TO BE HAPPY BUTT when it comes in between THE BEST SHIP IN THE SHOW (looks at amerie x spider shippers with affectionate disdain) i draw the line.

but who knows? rowan seems nice enough, and if he's able to make amerie happy, let them have each other! <3

also knowing malakai's track record i wouldn't put it past him to get freaky with rowan too (threesome attempt 2??? actually no wait thats a horrible idea NEVERMIND [gets s1 ep4 flashbacks])

also also "classic love triangle" scene gives major "erm...well this is akward!" vibes from ams (we stan cringey amerie in this household tho)

and well. shart. max limit of 30 photos. oh well-- ill make a second part! tune in for the update heartbreak highers :3

[sarucane]

Did Ed really want to die?

In a juicy spiral of nuanced psychological storytelling, I think the answer to this question is both yes and no, and so actually a it's a third answer:Ed wanted dying and living at the same time.

When Ed tells Lucius a song that goes "fingers bleeding, down to the bone now...hold on, hold on, hold on," Lucius recognizes it as a hell of a bad mental state. Lucius suggests Ed let go, and Ed says that'd be death.

Lucius then offers a third possibility: that dying won't be a death.

So Ed tries to throw himself into that. And when he actually sings, his song is the opposite of the one from before.

The stories we choose to tell reveal things about us. At the beginning of S1, Stede told a story about a wooden puppet becoming a real boy, pointing to his desire to "really live." At the end of the season, Ed's inner contradictory desires move from subtext to text through his amateur songwriting. He wants to hang on, he wants to let go and can't make himself, and "life's a hard sad death."

And then this all gets further mucked up when Izzy comes in and threatens "Edward," (who could get reborn) and says only "Blackbeard" gets to live. Ed releases his silk and throws Lucius over the side: the third options Stede and Lucius have made him drram of are out of reach.

Except then, when Ed embraces Blackbeard, he's embracing death: he paints himself up to look like a fucking ghoul.

Wanting to live and wanting to die are basically the same thing for Ed now. He's got no lighthouse to steer away from or toward (and a lighthouse is after all another double symbol, something to guide and something to avoid).

And finally we get Ed's story in S2E1, about a bird that "can't actually exist." Ed wants to live, and he wants to die, and he wants to be a bird that spends its life in the air, that exists outside of the struggles of life and death, that just keeps flying without any differentiation between where it came from and where it's going. But the bird is also a version of that third option, to live and die at the same time: It's alive and it's dead, its whole existence is in the sky and therefore it never really lives, never stops, never feels or hurts. It's everything and nothing at the same time, suspended.

And even when Ed makes a decision that should end the conflict between wanting both life and death--decides at the start of E2 that he's going to die today--he doesn't go at it directly. He tries to get Izzy to do it; he provokes the crew to mutiny, leaving repeated openings to be stopped while also plowing forward. Until, finally, the decision is taken out of his hands.

The result of all this is internal conflict manifests externally and drives the plot at the start of S2. The conflict is seeded from the beginning, as Ed reigns over violence while barely participating, moons over Stede and threatens Izzy.

And from the moment Izzy confronts Ed, knocks him out of his state of "flying," Ed does things that contradict each other. He asks the crew if "the vibe is poisonous" while pointing a gun at them. He points a gun at his own head and asks if the vibe is poisonous, then tells the truth, to general confusion. He says he doesn't feel crazy while doing something clearly crazy. He shoots Izzy, then tells Frenchie to kill him. If Ed wanted Izzy dead, he'd have chosen someone else. Frenchie isn't the type to slit a throat in cold blood, and Ed's not a moron. There was no way that was going to happen.

Or so he thinks, because then he's in the gravy basket. Hornigold represents his unconscious, his desire to both live and die: First, Hornigold saves him. Drags him off the beach and forces him to eat, to keep living. But then Hornigold drives him to despair, brings up the core crises of guilt, loss, fear, and insecurity (his dad's murder, Stede leaving) that pushed Ed down the path that led him here. And in the end, Hornigold speaks Ed's insecurities back to him. That he's unlovable, and that he's scared to do the only thing to do about it: kill himself. So he brought Hornigold to do it for him.

And then Ed's living and dying at the same time, again. He's struggling against the rope, and he is the rope hauling himself down.

Everyone needs help, sometimes.

Ed sees Stede as a merman, "Something that can't actually exist." But something Ed hadn't expected. Down here, in his darkness and unconscious, a light. And then the pros outweigh the cons by quite a lot, and he doesn't even notice when the desire for death fades away.

He isn't a bird that never touches ground: he's on the ground, he's under the water. But he is something that he thought maybe couldn't exist. A version of himself that can change.

Ed gets what he really wanted. He dies, and he lives.

[offshore-brinicle]

see now i'm wondering if his ring ID is the kind of person yi sang could have become if he didn't join limbus company. like he internalizes the thinking pattern of "i'm a fool and not worth a damn and everything i do only hurts people" and expresses that self-loathing via his art. eats drywall

OK SO. I TOOK SOME TIME TO ANSWER THIS ONE BECAUSE I WAS TRYING TO GET HIM FOR MYSELF. I don't even really play the game anymore and keep up with the story via YouTube but. Y'know just to prove a point basically and Virtual Yi Sang Collectionism while I find myself with too much free time again so you might have gotten to see it by yourself by now but. Still.

Actually looking into this with his story and all of his dialogue they really did just give him an actual Bad End ID like Nclair, Ahabmael and G Corp Gregor (with some variation of Erlking joining eventually? but I have no idea how that will work taking in count the plot aspect) since Spicebush Yi Sang doesn't really Qualify as one of those and is even framed as being empowering in a way for him taking in count its release was timed so it could be used in the Farmwatch fight instead of waiting for the end of the Season like the others. I believed that W Corp Yi Sang was this spiritually; since it depicts him at his lowest point imaginable following on the track he was on already and the themes of Canto IV perfectly though not related to it, but now Ring Yi Sang has shown us a much more connected, and much darker potential path for him. So I'll take this post as my chance to analyze this:

In regards to his self-loathing it's very interesting that he actually seems to feel a sense of pride not seen in any of his other IDs, talking about "what he deserves" and disregarding everything that doesn't cause him a reaction. He now uses creation itself as a way to fill the emptiness inside of him, while in the main story, Yi Sang's resolution was that his impulse to create was his way of connecting with others.

You can see that in these lines, where he has completely disregarded everything about life and other people, pretty much all of his dialogue revolves around wanting to create and he has only interest in what can inspire him, to the point he nonchalantly kills civilians for failing to make him feel that way.

I feel like this is even expressed in the Sins for this ID compared to base Yi Sang, the set-up is the exact same; S1 Gloom and S3 Sloth. However, the one that changes is S2. Regular Yi Sang has S2 Envy while Ring Yi Sang has S2 Lust. Added this to Ring Yi Sang's passives even being fueled by Lust as well while base Yi Sang's are fueled by Gloom. I take this as a representation that he has taken this Lust, an obsessive desire, as being what will drive him forward throwing away all the self-loathing and regret, with many of his lines calling the past meaningless.

Now I'll tackle his story and do a rundown on it while giving my observation, as it ellaborates into this and what his mindset is (and frankly, it's utterly fantastic). First of all, we get a unique, dissonant track that so far seems to have never been used in any other instance in the game to my knowledge.

Yi Sang's approach to his scientist position is very...unique, because he does so as an artist rather than more proper scientific people like for example Faust, Dongrang, Aseah and Gubo. People who simply want practical application and results, means to an end. Dongbaek seems to be the only person who shares this approach he has which is why their bond is treated as unique compared to the other League of Nine members. At his core, what fascinated Yi Sang so much about technology and sciences was simply the euphoria of discovery itself, finding new things. Which is tackled immediately when Ring Yi Sang's story begins as I am showing here.

With science, you never truly "create" anything, you go through right and wrong answers until finding something that works or causes some effect, he even says so himself in Canto IV. And he goes on to criticize his prior fascination with technology with this particular aspect in mind. Even more shockingly is that he calls the League of Nine's conferences a "waste of time" now, each of their creations predictable which could tie into him being a one-of-a-kind genius, which is also somewhat tackled in Dongrang's observation log. To him, everything else his friends made was child's play.

So instead, he looks towards what made him so fascinated with The Mirror in the first place, echoing this particular point he makes during his log for Dongbaek, both of them are driven to reach something abstract and inconcievable and ended up using technology as their path to that vague destination that can only be described in poetry.

And finally, he completely foresakes his past at the League. He even he believes he finally has his wings but calls them fabricated, and there is something obviously wrong with the entire thing on multiple levels. They are fabricated wings because he was guided to this conclusion by the hand of another, rather than the introspection throughout IV. His chapter title is "The Unchanging", and it's the only chapter where the trait assigned in the title to the focus Sinner is a positive; him staying true to himself and his ideals was the key, but he needed to actually move past his apathy and actually grasp them, but here he has completely changed beyond recognition. Turned arrogant, callous and utterly irrational, discarding all of his self-loathing by divorciating himself from the self that he hates, yet the Sloth—the apathy remains, instead of moving past it, fighting it back with his Lust in an endless cycle of dopamin chases while growing numb to everything else and even destroying it if it fails to satisfy that Lust so that it will, as shown as he kills failing students to take delight in their shock and agony.

But at the same time it frames that portrait of the League in his background art a completely different meaning. It is most likely that this portrait is a mockery of all of them, regarding the past and the life he lived until now including his past self with the same condescencion he does examinees that fail to impress him. Specially when you take in count how his own face is much more well-painted than the childish erratic strokes he assigns to the other, making them look ridiculous. But at the same time, Yeonsim is there under them, but flipped to its underside, he still held onto it but as far as we know it might be completely broken and only keeps it as part of his insulting work going by another of his idle chatter lines.

This dark inversion of Yi Sang's journey even before Limbus and Canto IV is also emphasized by Pointillism in particular being chosen as the subject for this ID, this was first pointed out by this Korean Twitter user (and fellow irl Yi Sang enjoyer going by the layout) in the original announcement for this ID:

Of course, this theme compliments Yi Sang's resolution in IV pretty well. He loved the League and grew to love Limbus because they were his resting place. I can't find any translation of Jochunjeommyo however, so I can only rely on summaries and posts put through machine translation. But from what I can summarize, the story is about an artist who can't find a place to breathe and simply exist due to the materialistic, capitalistic nature of the city he finds himself in, which fits pretty neatly with Yi Sang's story as a whole.

I'd also like to point out how a less overtly unhinged variation of this kind of development is shown in his Dieci ID story (which I wanted to make a post on for a while because it really feels like it was preliminary to this and not enough people talk about how messed up Dieci Yi Sang actually is) and how he comes to adopt a mentality just like Ryoshu's, with her already being linked to The Fingers and knowing about their workings personally to the point she might have been affiliated at some point though we cannot confirm, however I will instead link to this post by my friend on the topic since they already did a dissection on how Yi Sang and Ryoshu act as ideological foils and they pretty much said it better than I could: https://www.tumblr.com/ishcliff/743271628518129664/so-any-thoughts-of-well-the-blade-lineage-itself?source=share

So that's all I've got for now! Honestly I am so over the moon with this ID and the potential implications going forward as you can imagine.

[valkyrieandstrangeridingaragorn]

Can we agree that even Steve x Peggy definitely problematic but at least Peggy look interest and like with Steve and they both look like each other while loki x sylvie, yeah they keep saying they in love but look likely only loki and sylvie look disgust with loki

If you put polling which ship that more good and more have chemistry between Steve x Peggy and loki x sylvie, I believe that Steve x Peggy will become winner

I understand where you're coming from but in a way, I think that's all due to framing.

Both are similar characters in that they were framed as always right and any wrongdoing on their part was either swept under the rug or directly framed-to-deceive in order to paint it as right even when it was wrong. And of course in both cases the men were shown drooling over them (and they were the only women around and/or the women surrounding them were written as enemies or villains. It's funny to point out though that even in TFA when Steve disagrees or downright ignores Saint Maggy, the MCU still tries to act like he followed her like a lost puppy? It's so freaking weird? Watch your own movies?)

The main difference is Sylvie was introduced as an enemy or a foil. Loki and her were supposed to go from enemies to friends (or lovers), whereas Saint Maggy was introduced as perfect and she has always been the only woman Steve was allowed to get close to or show any interest in. Sharon only made it so far before they turned her into a villain.

I never saw any love in either of those two relationships, if I'm being honest. In both cases we were told that, as long as the women in those two are happy and the men follow them, it is a perfect relationship... and then we're shown two occasions in which the men don't agree with the woman (Loki in the S1 finale) or they do something they don't like (Steve being kissed by Lorraine), and all hell breaks loose. And not only that, but we're told to agree with the women in those situations because apparently, it's feminist to do so? "Look how badass they are insulting the men or shooting at them! Girl power!" 🤦‍♀️

I just don't see any love there. I see possession and self-righteousness and a desperate need for control... but no love. We only think there's love in TFA thanks to the framing, they did a terrible job of writing that romance. And in the Loki series, Sylvie is absolutely awful to him (In S1, can't speak for S2) but we're told he deserves it anyway.

All in all, what I want is something like what Christine and Stephen had. Even though they didn't end up together, they have (and yes, I say have and not had because screw Waldron and his MoM) so much love between them. Or Wanda and Vision. Or Thor and Jane. Or Quill and Gamora. In fact, in that last one they're also introduced as enemies at first but their relationship evolves brilliantly because BOTH characters grow and change and improve. The problem with Saint Maggy and Sylvie is that we were told they were perfect from the get-go despite that not being true at all... so it is pretty tough to buy their romance with Loki/Steve since their core characterization is so defective to begin with.

[devwell]

Well how would you have rewritten Sasha’s character/redemption arc and ending in Season 3 so it’d feel more natural to you.

Ho boy, this is going to be long because I need to establish that the fandom expectations before S3 aired was VERY different, nobody expected Super Saiyan or The Core then. And it's a big deal as S3 was generally taken as "non-canon" for many back then. So I need to form my answers in parts for this.

(Feel free to skip the bottom cause it's nitpicking on the lore and worldbuilding, but I have to get it out of my chest)

Amphibia had different theme back in S1 and S2. When I was in the fandom, everyone was talking about the toad on Calamity Box was the final villain only for it to be red herring. There was also multiple of different themes about songs being culturally significant to Amphibians that been cut out of the final product. There was a draft of Bessie singing in Ampbibian language too.

But yea ZERO indicator of what happened in S3, I speculate the higher up demands change for the theme, suddenly mimicking Loud House and Big City Greens then Dragon Ball after the first major mc onscreen death. Tbh I believe Matt took too much risk with that move. Also am I the only one uncomfortable finding out there's buncha old Newts controlling Marcy's body?

What's the point of alll this? Well, I need to reform what the plot should have been in accordance to S1 and S2 before beginning to tackle Sasha's character.

[varolianenigma]

At the start of S2 Maggie was 8 months behind on rent and carrying a tourch for Nina. Aziraphale forgives her debt stating its his favorie thing to do and is very good at forgiving.

At the end of S2 she has a promising begining with Nina and all her debt has been forgiven.

I mean its not a stretch to say that in her eyes Aziraphale performed 2 miracles for her. Fixed her rent problem and her love problem.

But now on the flip side of that.

In S1 Aziraphale says he forgives him when Crowley tries to rush him into a car to go to alpha centuri. He sighs in reply with anger and disappointment. In an earlier scene he points out that he is a demon and thats the point he is unforgiveable.

In S2 Aziraphale forgives him again after that kiss and Crowley simply says dont bother. The season even starts out with a apology in the form of a dance but he doesnt say i forgive you. He says very nice. I think its maybe because he didnt see anything that needed to be forgiven but he wanted to see the Crowley dance anyways. (Or maybe im just misunderstanding)

Is that why Crowley never seems to just accept Aziraphales forgiveness because he still sees himself as a demon despite not really doing his demon job and kinda just going with hell for as long as he can? He even says on S2 that Aziraphale is much too pure. Is that why the romance used "bestfriend" language because he thought he by virtue of being a demon was too vile for the pure angel? Like he didnt deserve Aziraphale? Like if he had just accepted the forgiveness and accepted that he is good that miracles might happen in his life too like they did for Maggie and Nina?

Also about the kiss. Was it alluding to like a kiss of betrayal? Like how Judas kissed Jesus? Was it like a last ditch desperate effort to get Aziraphale to reconsider? Was it temptation? I mean i know the kiss was complex and many layered but to its core i think it was an expression of love between Aziraphale and Crowley. But im trying to figure out are there any other undertones??

This is how im trying to cope. I just love them together so much.

[kurokoros]

i'll never forgive the show how they handle their characters' traumas. but esp Steve, he should get a storyline where it gets acknowledged. he should have been the one who got vecna'ed in s4 instead of nancy. steve only ever getting upset about his love life is toxic, people call him a hopeful and positive person, but he never deals with everything. i don't want him depressed out of his mind, but him not feeling anything, and only caring about love is wasted potential. we need more episodes. all of the characters have way more potential than they will ever reach.

i know there is a lot of criticism that the cast is too loaded, but sometimes i wish there was another core teen since the beginning. maybe it's the x reader brain in me, but i wish we had a character who would become friends with Steve in s1, and then it slowly would build up to a friends to lovers situation. it certainly would have been better than the whole love triangle debate in s4. Steve deserves a better love interest, and the payoff would've been great. plus, it wouldn't reduce Steve to Nancy's love interest, how they already started to do in s4. every other of his relationship was botched in favor of this ship.

Steve never getting a plot outside of romance bothers me, but not in the sense that I think he should be single. Like, they could have given him a new girlfriend in S3 and it would have been fine. Good for him. Now can we explore some of that trauma? How's the probable brain trauma going for him? What's his family like? The fact that he didn't get vecna'd is criminal. All I ask for is crumbs, but if we had gotten a full on possession a la S2!Will??? god that would have been so so sexy of the duffers. it would have been so. oh my god. I always think of Stiles from S3B of Teen Wolf, and how it would be so similar of a situation with Steve. no one would suspect it and possessed!Steve would make a terrifying and heartbreaking season antagonist. I know that Billy existed in S3, but I literally did not give a shit about him. Steve being possessed would actually raise the stakes.

The thing about the cast being bloated is that it's not the actual size of the cast that matters so much as how the characters are being used. The new characters have all been sassy comic relief since S3 and could be cut from the plot with minimal changes because their "bonds" with the other characters don't feel believable.

I totally agree about another teen character making sense in S1. Not to self-promote too much on main, but my rewrite/reimagining focuses heavily on an OC named Daphne Hopper, a friend of Steve's that ends up wrapped up in everything. Slow burn. Mutual pining. Steve and Nancy are nipped in the bud midway through S1, basically. I find the premise of "what if one of Steve's friends went missing instead of/alongside Barb in S1?" so compelling, because it would put him into more of an active role in his development, rather than him having a change of heart because of some girl he's been casually dating for like... a month tops? probably less than that judging by how Nancy and Barb talk in episode 1.