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aurelian cycle nation I know miss Rosaria Munda the legend herself face claims Sadie Sink as Annie but consider: Francesca Capaldi as Antigone sur Aela

YOU CAN'T TELL ME THIS PHOTO DOESN'T EVOKE ANNIE AT THE LYCEUM BALL

she has the determined™ look and I can totally see her in the flamesuit with her braided hair and riding her dragon

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today thinking about how all three titles of the aurelian cycle (fireborne, flamefall, furysong), as well as the series name itself, are taken from in-world poetry.

the focus of the plot is, ostensibly, the political regimes and wars and revolutions and aftermath. atrocities are committed regularly and no choice anyone is given or makes is better than ‘not as bad as the other option’. but the importance of poetry is pervasive. it makes connections across across country and class and culture, has recognizable emotional and situational resonances to the present day, influences decisions and understanding, creates sympathy. its censorship always leads, if indirectly, to terrible events happening, even if that connection isn’t explicitly noted in-text.

and all of the works the series' titles are taken from are censored in some way by the government. the aurelian cycle, an ancient epic foundational to one of the books' cultures, is restricted and then entirely banned for 'promoting values contrary to the national interest' and engendering sympathy for the enemy. flamefall at aureos, a classical tragedy, is literally rewritten, poorly and unsubtly, to have a happy ending for propaganda. the revolution's daughter poem is printed on illegally distributed leaflets and anyone with possession is punished brutally by the oppressors.

language itself is important in the series: which languages you speak or (are forced to) learn, when and why you speak or learn each language, the way language (and literacy) is used as a tool of oppression, formal and informal address. the significance of poetry and its censorship is an extension of that. who has access, and why is that access kept away from others? poetry and words can be just as dangerous as a dragon.

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another thing is that to this day I believe the Larmau/Garmau love triangle at its best is one of the best subversions of love triangles in media I've ever come across, and it's been 7-8 years since I was a fan of MCD

you'd expect Laurance and Garroth to fight over Aphmau and for one of them to be the obvious choice, but all of this is subverted! They're brothers in arms, they put her feelings first over their own, they care about each other just as much as they care about Aphmau, we're going to ignore the OOC that was Garroth's arc in the s1 finale, they both had equal standing and fair chances of being with her.

Then Jess went and did to Laurance's character in s2 finale basically the same thing she did to Garroth's in s1. Jealousy is a fun trope to play with but to make it a reason for a character switching sides and turning evil? It just goes against everything they've been established as their characters

The thing is that Diaries, when at its best, was an inversion of tropes.

It felt fairly obvious to me while watching Diaries, even before Aaron was introduced, that despite setting us up with the whole love triangle two hot guys vie for the main girls attention trope, Aphmau wasn’t going to end up with either of them. And this in itself was actually interesting right up until she ended up with Aaron instead, which destroyed all the work put into inverting that sort of love triangle rivalry thing beforehand. Not even necessarily because she ended up with Aaron (although that still bothers me in and of itself lmao), but because she felt it was necessary to destroy Laurance and Garroth as characters in order to end up with Aaron.

Aphmau being Irene was, on a certain level, interesting. So, so much of S2 was built up on saying that hey, Maybe Irene and the powers that I have because of her are wrong. Maybe it’s bad to try to fit myself into something I know I am not. Maybe Irene wasn’t a good person. Aphmau makes multiple comments on her powers feeling “evil” and “wrong” when she uses them. The demon Warlock himself alludes to agreeing with her, literally taunts her with the line “There’s no way such a beautiful form can be bad, right?” when she refuses to use those powers further against him. Only for all of this to get thrown away and ignored by the S2 finale. We were given this big ol Chosen Hero Ultimate Power Prophecy trope, had it flipped on its head with the conclusion that Aphmau, as a character, is self-made. Everything she is in S1 is things she established for herself, without having anything to start with or go off of due to her lack of memories and knowledge of the world. (Disregarding her ability to understand the wyverns, but hey she’s the protagonist you gotta toss her something.) Aphmau not only did not want Irene’s power, but also came to the realization that the power itself was possibly bad in the first place. And then the narrative just… forgot.

Garroth himself is an inversion of the typical knight in shining armor trope. He spends most of S1 running away from his problems instead of facing them, he’s honorable and valiant and devoted to Aphmau’s safety right up until he isn’t. Laurance himself is an inversion of the Casanova trope on multiple levels. Once when we realize he really only has eyes for Aphmau, and seemingly only has ever had eyes for Aphmau (her kissing him during the werewolf wedding was, according to him, his first kiss), and once again when we realize that he only really presents himself as a Casanova initially because he literally doesn’t know how else to act. 

Vylad is literally portrayed as a villain for a good portion of the entire show and it isn’t unless you were looking closely at his actions beforehand do you realize that your entire interpretation of him was wrong. Katelyn goes from one of Aphmau’s many looming threats to one of her greatest allies in like, ten episodes. The S1 finale and reveal of the 15 year timeskip is literally Aphmau winning the battle and losing the war. There are werewolves and you’re told they’re angry and brutish and evil and then they’re actually nice and thoughtful and loyal and smart and become very very close allies and they treat Aphmau like family. The goddess and her godly allies who everyone reveres as just and good and never wrong were maybe a little fucked up and evil! The overarching villain who’s named Shadow McDeath Dictatorship Jones actually maybe had a little bit of a point to be fucking pissed at them for it!

Everything in this series is not as it seems initially. Thats the point! You’re given these expectations for how things should go because that’s how things always go in fantasy stories, and then you’re proven wrong! MCD is full of inversions while still remaining a very authentic and honest fantasy series that flips tropes on its head while never making fun of itself for it or sacrificing its story and that is so so so SO rare, even within stories today. And it’s these moments that make MCD truly special. 

[sacredonlybyname]

The thing is that Diaries, when at its best, was an inversion of tropes.

It felt fairly obvious to me while watching Diaries, even before Aaron was introduced, that despite setting us up with the whole love triangle two hot guys vie for the main girls attention trope, Aphmau wasn’t going to end up with either of them. And this in itself was actually interesting right up until she ended up with Aaron instead, which destroyed all the work put into inverting that sort of love triangle rivalry thing beforehand. Not even necessarily because she ended up with Aaron (although that still bothers me in and of itself lmao), but because she felt it was necessary to destroy Laurance and Garroth as characters in order to end up with Aaron.

Aphmau being Irene was, on a certain level, interesting. So, so much of S2 was built up on saying that hey, Maybe Irene and the powers that I have because of her are wrong. Maybe it’s bad to try to fit myself into something I know I am not. Maybe Irene wasn’t a good person. Aphmau makes multiple comments on her powers feeling “evil” and “wrong” when she uses them. The demon Warlock himself alludes to agreeing with her, literally taunts her with the line “There’s no way such a beautiful form can be bad, right?” when she refuses to use those powers further against him. Only for all of this to get thrown away and ignored by the S2 finale. We were given this big ol Chosen Hero Ultimate Power Prophecy trope, had it flipped on its head with the conclusion that Aphmau, as a character, is self-made. Everything she is in S1 is things she established for herself, without having anything to start with or go off of due to her lack of memories and knowledge of the world. (Disregarding her ability to understand the wyverns, but hey she’s the protagonist you gotta toss her something.) Aphmau not only did not want Irene’s power, but also came to the realization that the power itself was possibly bad in the first place. And then the narrative just… forgot.

Garroth himself is an inversion of the typical knight in shining armor trope. He spends most of S1 running away from his problems instead of facing them, he’s honorable and valiant and devoted to Aphmau’s safety right up until he isn’t. Laurance himself is an inversion of the Casanova trope on multiple levels. Once when we realize he really only has eyes for Aphmau, and seemingly only has ever had eyes for Aphmau (her kissing him during the werewolf wedding was, according to him, his first kiss), and once again when we realize that he only really presents himself as a Casanova initially because he literally doesn’t know how else to act. 

Vylad is literally portrayed as a villain for a good portion of the entire show and it isn’t unless you were looking closely at his actions beforehand do you realize that your entire interpretation of him was wrong. Katelyn goes from one of Aphmau’s many looming threats to one of her greatest allies in like, ten episodes. The S1 finale and reveal of the 15 year timeskip is literally Aphmau winning the battle and losing the war. There are werewolves and you’re told they’re angry and brutish and evil and then they’re actually nice and thoughtful and loyal and smart and become very very close allies and they treat Aphmau like family. The goddess and her godly allies who everyone reveres as just and good and never wrong were maybe a little fucked up and evil! The overarching villain who’s named Shadow McDeath Dictatorship Jones actually maybe had a little bit of a point to be fucking pissed at them for it!

Everything in this series is not as it seems initially. Thats the point! You’re given these expectations for how things should go because that’s how things always go in fantasy stories, and then you’re proven wrong! MCD is full of inversions while still remaining a very authentic and honest fantasy series that flips tropes on its head while never making fun of itself for it or sacrificing its story and that is so so so SO rare, even within stories today. And it’s these moments that make MCD truly special. 

[sacredonlybyname]

"Because I love you, Rayla. I really do."

[sacredonlybyname]

i love how (based on martyn's lore) joel has two canonical soulmates. his multidimensional wife who he will always recognize and love in any smp they are together...and etho

[sacredonlybyname]

does anyone else find it hard to focus on someone's face or maintain eye contact when talking to them like when there's the slightest movement in the background your attention immediately goes to that

also making accidental eye contact with people in the background

like i used to think i was good at maintaining eye contact, but apparently not in long conversations i just keep glancing elsewhere

[sacredonlybyname]

having a child has taught me that every toddler is completely justified in their frustrations and tantrums because learning how to do something you have literally never encountered or heard of before is insane. and being expected to be completely calm in the face of this constant barrage of overwhelming information is doubly insane.

i got charlie a sticker activity book and it occurred to me i have to TEACH someone how to unpeel stickers. it's SKILL that requires DEXTERITY and FINE MOTOR ABILITY. i thought it was obvious that you have to curl the page a little bit to create a break in the cut so the sticker comes up.

obviously a fucking BABY wouldn't know that because they have no background experience to inform their thought process. OBVIOUSLY. and OBVIOUSLY the LITERAL BABY wouldn't get it right the first few times. it would OBVIOUSLY take practice. lots of it.

i hate this feeling. it's so obvious. why are children treated so badly when they're learning everything for the first fucking time. why do people treat children so horribly and expect so much. they're brand new. why didn't i get the same grace i give to my child? why did no one have patience for me? why, when it's this easy?

it's so easy. it's so fucking easy.

[sacredonlybyname]

idk the argument for zutara being a narratively ideal pairing because "fire nation and water tribe were enemies and their union supports the story's themes" seems to forget that the fire nation's #1 enemy in this war is the air nomads

water tribe and earth kingdom got dragged into the whole thing (and they had it BAD, not discounting that) but it was literally Sozin vs. Roku = Zuko vs Aang

like the show makes a whole point of paralleling aang and zuko because it's *their* eventual friendship ("do you think we could've been friends?") that represents the relationship between these two nations being restored

it doesn't need to be a romantic pairing to be a fulfillment of a story's themes

each of aang's relationships support different themes in the story actually, with katara it's choosing love over power/humanity over divinity essentially (highlighted by Iroh), with toph it's learning to face his problems instead of evading, with zuko it's restoring harmony between their respective nations

so like, if there's any enemies to lovers pairing in this equation, aang/zuko makes much more sense than zuko/katara

[sacredonlybyname]

RANCHER NATION HOW WE FEELING

[sacredonlybyname]

next season dream teams/predictions?

grian and pearl - red sweater siblings

joel and scott - because everyone who's been in an alliance with scott has won. also it'd be interesting to not have them be enemies for once

jimmy and tango again - PLEASE bring back ranchers

jimmy and bigb - jimmy antagonized bigb in limlife but i think they'd have a fun dynamic

cleo and pearl - form a girls alliance and LET CLEO WIN

scar, bdubs and martyn or etho - peak comedy

etho/impulse and pearl - the last minute limlife alliance got to me

skizz and cleo - she'd keep him out of trouble and protect him

tango and pearl - i want them making minigames together

scott and tango - canary's exes alliance

joel and bigb - joel standing up for bigb who was also previously allied with his wife

etho and martyn - cleo's scorned lovers

LISTEN I LOVE TEAM BEST AND TIES BUT I WOULD LOVE TO SEE THEM ALLY WITH OTHER MEMBERS NEXT SEASON

[sacredonlybyname]

I'm glad they didn't make Gamora fall in love with Peter and that it was clear she wasn't the Gamora he fell in love with. Although there were subtle hints at some points that she seemed to actually like him (when he tricks the red alien girl to letting him access those weird ass suits, when he activated the ship's self destruction) but it's vague and it feels more like a possibility

and no I don't ship Peter and Nebula though they have a lot of moments together. Let them be FRIENDS let them have a good close platonic relationship, as someone who has an older sister it feels icky to see them heavily hinted at

[sacredonlybyname]

in the Guardians' case it feels more like they're taking a break for now, leaving possibility for a reunion in the future. It's the part in every member of a found family's narrative to separate for a bit to find themselves before going back to the group

(GotG3 spoilers)

I've said it before and I will say it again. I absolutely hate it when a found family goes their separate ways at the end of the story. What was the point of finding and building this story if they were all just going to split up at the end of it??? Fuck that.

[sacredonlybyname]

NOT THE ETHO JOEL ONE NO

Imagine the past soulmates of the Bad Boys seeing how much their partner has changed this season.

Scar couldn’t care less.

Or atleast that’s what he tries to tell himself. Grian never even loved him in Double Life so why should Scar care how he’s doing? BigB should probably be more confused then him even if Scar knows this entire persona is very out of character for Grian. The alliance probably won’t even last, knowing him he’ll probably betray his allies.

But no matter how much he tries to tell himself that he doesn’t care, he can’t get rid of the feeling that this is the only time Grian has changed his skin in the entire series.

The two full seasons Scar had been with Grian, the latter never switched out of his red sweater but now that Jimmy and Joel have rolled around suddenly he’s in a leather jacket with sunglasses? Occasionally even a suit? He can only feel a little hurt because at the end of the day Grian probably doesn’t care about him anymore…it’s not like hes made an effort to talk.

————————————————————————

Tango doesn’t know how to feel.

This wasn’t his rancher, this wasn’t the ball of sunshine that he knew last season. This guy was…confident? He was bolder and Tango didn’t know if he liked that or not. His Jimmy, his rancher, was sweet and caring, even if he was airheaded at times it was all with their best interest in mind.

Maybe it was just his exterior now but it looked far less friendly than the one Tango knew, jean jacket now replaced with leather and sunglasses permanently covering his shining blue eyes. The oceans eyes that put out Tangos flames of rage in the lowest point of their lives when Scar had burnt down their ranch.

This Jimmy also only seemed to take risks and not care about his own safety, dying twice to pure stupidity and recklessness. It would hurt Tango, like a phantom pain, every time he had to see a death message from “SolidarityGaming” in chat. Especially if it was easily preventable. Especially if it wouldn’t had happened had Tango been with him instead.

————————————————————————

Etho didn’t see a change.

Joel had always been more reckless than the average player. He would mlg off cliffs for crying out loud! His hostile personality also stayed the same although it did come out more being able to fully embrace it with this facade and all. While that personality may have been directed at him (or his cows) sometimes it was nothing Etho couldn’t handle.

Especially with that shoulder cut leather jacket, studs lining the edges of the sleeves and sunglasses that make it look as though he were staring you down whenever you talk to him.

There was a strange feeling in him though, when he heard that he wanted to built on the sea with Jimmy. That feeling only grew when he’d overhear the trio laughing about whatever jokes they’d decide to make.

Joel was also smiling. It’s not like he hadn’t with Etho but the smile Etho knew seemed to hide the truth of “please don’t leave me, I can do these things for you” “I’m worthy of your affection” whereas this one was of pure enjoyment with his team. He just wished he treated Joel better so that instead of only having memories from one season, he would be the one making Joel laugh and smile in this one.

[sacredonlybyname]

i'm glad martyn cut off the fistfight because even if it was to be fair, it's anticlimactic and doesn't have the emotional/narrative weight like the other seasons' endings (Grian vs Scar, Scott winning after refusing to succumb to the boogeyman curse, Pearl's well deserved and foreshadowed win). Martyn betraying Scott after being famously known to be loyal to his teammates is something.

[sacredonlybyname]

this song is literally the perfect Limited Life theme song (for like the second half of the season) i can't stress it enough it's literally titled "Die for You" like how they let their allies kill them for more time

Time slows down and it can get no worse; I can feel it running out on me; I don't want these to be my last words; all forgotten 'cause that's all they'll be — Jimmy, Skizz and Joel being the first three out of the series, also the desperation of the other players as their time slowly runs out

Now there's only one thing left to do; fight until the end like I promised to; wishing there was something left to lose; this could be the day I die for you — GRIAN LITERALLY LOSING HIS BOYS AND BEING THE LAST BOY

What do you see before it's over?; blinding flashes getting closer; wish that I had something left to lose; this could be the day I die for you — tnt deaths and the firework crossbows

Everything I know, everything I hold tight; when to let them go, when to make them all fight; when I'm in control, when I'm out of my mind; when I gotta live, when I gotta die, gotta die – the boogeyman/red name curse, the players losing their teammates one by one

[sacredonlybyname]

My favorite bad boy