#'she's so powerful she's a mastermind' then someone criticizes something and 'she has no control over that she's just a silly lil singer'

[theghostofashton]

.

[astrovagrant]

obvs my full timeline isn't done yet but the orin vibe is like. ana IS an impostor. and the feeling that orin has for her originates from hatred, but the context is entirely different from as-written durge

i'm gonna cut for big ol durge spoilers

orin as written is jealous, feeling she deserves more. she seeks to displace someone more powerful and more favored than her, to prove her worth, etc. it's a little-sister-on-a-power-trip, and while that's fun and puts the player in the position of realizing they really did suck that bad to be Top Bitch over her, i both a) want more for orin and b) need more control over anathema's origins

orin with anathema is still antagonistic but it's like - she is the pure-blooded grand/daughter of sarevok. she is an eminently skilled shapeshifter. she killed her mother and then (in my lil timeline here) the 'canon' bg/2 protag (whatever the hell his name is, though i might eventually play those games For Real rather than half-remembered watching-my-mom-play bits) for bhaal's favor and the right to lead this cult to glorious slaughter and she has been doing that for years - careful planning, for a beautiful outcome.

this orin is more methodical, more patient. she still has her moments of cackling blood-soaked glee, but i want her to be SCARY and not just unstable - she knows good art takes Time and avoiding too heavy of an eye on her group is critical. she feels, in every sense, that she both is entitled to and has also earned everything she has, and threats to her status/position will be disemboweled posthaste. to that end, i think i enjoy her being a full dread three planner way more than a revan-esque "YOU were the EVIL MASTERMIND" reveal.

enter stage left: a shambling puppet, filled with a stolen gift. she Knew something was wrong about anathema as soon as she entered the stage, and even as she saw doubt enter her sect at the arrival of another claimant to the throne, she believed her father would never favor a liar and a thief over Her. she, who has done so much for Him, in His name. when bhaal turns his eye to anathema and doesn't immediately unravel her at the seams - even tells orin that she's Actual Competition - she's seeing red, literally.

ana - even in her fucked-up state - gives her a run for her money. don't really have what the underlying goal was for this whole gambit (i'll get there ok ok - the durgening might also Not Even Happen in a fashion that there IS a 'before'-time. i have yet to decide)

regardless of When the durgening happens, orin's energies with ana upon re-meeting are a) intense b) violently taunting rather than jealous overcompensation c) knowing that ana is an Outsider, not an equal - she is prey, no matter what she's stolen. does she deserve a duel? maybe if you're good, pet. maybe if you're good.

i also think orin toys less with hostages (that's a gortash tactic - see the iron throne, yetcetera) and more with the looming and HIGHLY legitimate threat of violence and sowing distrust to shape ana's behaviors. they're playing a little mind game and ana IS susceptible, because ketheric's dead and gortash can be reasoned with (as a man who wants to maintain dominance and power, he still ultimately needs People and Things to dominate), but orin is sheer unadulterated joy in the rending of living flesh. slaughter is the journey And the destination. you can't really reason with someone like that, and ana Knows it. so when orin starts coyly bringing Other Party Members And Associated Friends into the conversation as viable alternatives for bloodshed since ana won't do what she Fucking Wants, ana IS paying attention.

what does orin want? to kill anathema, most certainly. but more directly: to reclaim what she has 'stolen', of her own volition or not. to drain and consume her.

so orin fucks with her more Directly, but always a little cheekily, flirtatiously. don't you wish you could kill me? you won't kill any of these sad little scenarios i keep giving you, but i know the lying transfusion in your veins wants to rip me limb from limb. i know you wake up almost every night with blood in your mouth because your weak mind roils against MY father's sacred visions. your blood - even stolen as it is - sings for mine because it knows it Belongs to me. it should be one with mine. you should be one with me. wouldn't you like that? you'll walk into my jaws willingly, Soon. when there is nothing left but me. when your blood leaves you no other option than to return Home.

[loud buzzer sounds as ana's 'fucked up psychosexual things to have with antagonist or antagonist-adjacent npcs' counter goes up by one]

[sepublic]

Meta Marcy Wu

           Marcy really does have that energy of like. Someone who doesn’t have a whole lot of ‘opinions’ on bigger matters (such as the conflict between Toads and Newts, Sasha and Anne, Maddie and her sisters, etc.) so she just sort of. Awkwardly waits and sits off to the side, kind of biding her moment for when it’s finally over. Letting others take charge so long as she gets her own little space to function in. She’s not against or for anyone in particular, she just needs people to decide for themselves who she should follow, Marcy prefers to be a follower and ONLY that- Her debut has her asserting her own control for herself, but she doesn’t seem to care much else about others, I’m afraid.

           Contrast that with Anne, who needs her own control- BUT she also has the Heart, so she cares about others, she’s proactive and has agency despite initially being told to be reactive and not stand up for herself. Even if she can’t stand up for herself, she will stand up for others… And I think she was lowkey influenced by Sasha’s obsessive desire to protect the girls, and that played into Anne being a little bit toxic, but ultimately learning and having that inner fire to take a stance on things based on moral reasons, whereas Sasha seems more concerned for power than the actual social plight of the Toads- So even if Anne isn’t with the rebellion, it’s ultimately something she WOULD fully dedicate herself towards, like when we saw her stand up for the Frogs against Bog and the other Toads.

           And like, I have to wonder if Marcy’s more hands-off, simple follower approach is lowkey what contributed to Sasha’s belief in controlling others, because it validated that- But at the same time, we talk about how Sasha might care more for Anne than Marcy, and we see how Sasha is frustrated by Toadie, who is but an echo chamber for her. So maybe while Marcy is convenient to her, she’s just a bit too passive and thus not as ‘fun’ as a friend as Anne, who is also a concern because she has genuine motive to question Sasha not just on the basis of their friendship, but people OUTSIDE of it, which Marcy doesn’t.

           Anne being fiercely loyal and protective and sticking up for others, it also could’ve fed back into Sasha’s own tendencies as well. And of course these more proactive, in-your-face girls, always on the frontlines, are going to clash, while Marcy the forgotten follower, the wall-flower, the one in the background focused on more ‘nerdy’ things that are less glamorous, like logistics and whatnot… SHE’s the lynchpin that actually tips the scales- Because she’s the third girl who ‘sides’ with Anne between the initial conflict from Season 1. She’s the one with Andrias, flipping things up when Anne and Sasha are going to fight, contributing to that prophesized endgame.

           Marcy is the one, ironically, with the power –albeit as an extension of Andrias really- and so she’s the antagonist who’s clashing with Sasha, who is also power-hungry, but really beginning to learn as well. Marcy is caught up in her own little fantasy land and world, both literally and figuratively, happily enjoying and watching as a witness and bystander, almost detached in a sense to really participate and appreciate it as a very real thing… And being separate and an ‘audience’ member, Marcy is of course forgotten by Sasha and Anne, who play the part of characters; Fitting, because in that one flashback, they were Captain Hook and Peter Pan, while Marcy worked back-stage, literally pulling the strings (well, rope) for Anne!

           It’s Marcy who’s obsessed and fascinated with the meta of fandom and fiction, so of course she’s the one who steps back and observes it like media, takes the time to comment on it as if it were all tropes, watching and enjoying while for Sasha and Anne they participate directly without that kind of detached meta awareness, the kind someone like Andrias would have, because for THEM it’s real, there are stakes, power for Sasha and people for Anne! And Marcy is the backstage audience, fourth-wall crewmember, unnoticed by all who forget and ignore her, and she’s used to it. Maybe Marcy even enjoys and prefers it that way, and/or learned to- And it’s too late to pay attention, to see themselves as characters in that wider play and story and plot, unlike Andrias who notices and takes advantage… And may have been writing since who knows HOW early?

           If I could get into meta, Marcy playing that quiet, unnoticed support role, doing whatever’s convenient- It reminds me of how the visual basis for your typical Ninja in black garb… It came from plays where performers in black garb would maneuver props, and the audience was supposed to intentionally ignore them, see them as separate from the actual story; But every now and then, one play might have a ‘twist’ where that background actor actually IS a character, and assassinates someone to reveal themselves as the hidden Ninja!

          So maybe Marcy is like that… The background crewmember, not calling attention to herself in the acting role- In plain sight but we figure we’re meant to ignore, and so we’re utterly blindsided when she DOES strike! It’s Marcy who appreciates the little technical know-how and details, valuing the role that Frogs and agriculture play, considering Newtopian infrastructure, working back-stage in a Peter Pan play… Appreciating the writing conventions and tropes of her favorite games and fantasies, and so that in a way enables her to ‘game’ the system in a sense, play into it with her own hands, or even set up that game and story in the first place, because she knows how to make one!

          She is the drummer while Anne and Sasha play guitar and sing, not as glamorous or recognized amongst a crowd, but just as vital as the rest… She’s a very META kind of person, befitting her choice of METAmorphosis as part of her drummer costume! You don’t pay mind to a caterpillar, but then little do you know, it becomes an even more unnoticeable cocoon… Only to sprout into a brilliant butterfly! But while the BLUE butterfly is associated with Anne and her connections back home through Pearl Paddock, who is representative of familial bond, remembering who you are… Marcy is disconnected, she’s a GREEN butterfly, green like the lilypads of Amphibia, and she wants to stay there!

          And the best part, I think? I don’t think Marcy herself is even fully aware of what she’s doing… I doubt she sees herself as some clever manipulator. She’s just doing what she can, having her fun plans and machinations like in New Wartwood, but she’s not ACTUALLY approaching this as some devious mastermind- She’s literally just a kid! She gets caught up in her own things, because she is an autistic mood, and I get that! I resonate with that! And so it’s so easy for Marcy to be blindsided by HERSELF, by her own flaws and borderline antagonistic role in the story, to realize what she’s doing is kind of messed up and trivializing- Because we know that she WANTS to care, but it’s so easy and convenient for her to forget and play into the fantasy… Especially with someone like Sasha, and especially Andrias, to enable her, to provide that safety and support net that MARCY doesn’t complain about or take for granted, unlike that ‘ungrateful’ Anne, as Sasha might’ve one said!

           And if Marcy isn’t really self-aware of her own issues or even the full messed-up scope of her actions, to take a look back and critically examine herself the way she might a character or even her own friends; Then that can also make her a victim to her own antics, just as Sasha kept burying herself into a deeper hole. And it’s hard to do the right thing, if you don’t even realize you’re messing up in the first place- Recognizing your fault is kind of one of THE foundations of actual reform, growth, and redemption. I think Marcy needs guidance, and she needs to show more initiative and take a stance not just for herself, but regarding others as well… And that can lead to her choosing between Anne and Andrias.

           Andrias, whose name is like Anne’s but more fantastical, who is blue like Anne’s motif… And who looks after her like a good friend, makes things easier and promises they will be! And he’s invested into the fantasy, he doesn’t want to go home and complicate things, get into fights with Sasha, because it’s the person in charge who decides how it is, right? Which is why True Colors continues to concern me… Amidst, you know, the many OTHER issues as well.

[ellewritesathing]

So Close - S.S. XLV

Summary: The universe has a funny way of putting the things you want right in front of you, but just out of reach. Stiles and Y/N have been best friends ever since Scott brought him home, but when Stiles realizes that he might want to be something other than best friends, she leaves to go to some fancy private school up North. Now that she’s back though … maybe he’s got a shot? A Teen Wolf AU in which the reader has always been so close to Stiles and yet so far.

Masterlist   Prev. | Part 45

Word-count: 5.7k+

A/N: guys. guys. guys!!! happy birthday to the longest thing i’ve ever written!! this baby turns one year old today and that is fucking mind blowing. my life has been pretty weird this past year but this fic has been my one consistency so i guess what i’m trying to say is thank you for sticking around with me this long 💕

You’d done plenty of dumb things with Scott and Stiles - jumped off a roof and broken Scott’s arm, snuck a raccoon into the school and left it in Coach’s office, gotten trapped in the mall overnight, just to name a few - but you had never felt quite so dumb as when you had to explain to Noah why there were claw marks on the Beacon Hills Service van while Stiles got his wrist set. 

“What … in the hell … were you three thinking?” Noah asked. “From you two-” he waved an accusatory hand at Scott and Stiles “-I can understand. But you?”

“I wanted to make sure no one got hurt,” you said instantly. Considering all the bad guys you'd gone up against without squirming, it was a little embarrassing that it only took Noah a minute to get you sweating. 

“Uh, I got hurt,” Stiles said defensively, turning away from the medic to argue. 

“No one other than you,” you corrected.  

“Okay, you kids can battle this out after someone tells me what you thought you were doing speeding down the highway and chasing after a Beacon Hills Service vehicle,” Noah said. “On a school night.” He looked at each of you and you nodded sheepishly. 

Scott shrugged and looked at his shoes before answering, “We were just trying to help.”

“Well, why don’t you try and help me understand-” Noah caught his voice, leaned in, and angrily whispered “-what the hell happened here?”

Stiles picked at the brace on his wrist. “Right, well, we were trying to gently persuade him to pull over …” 

“He was getting away,” you added awkwardly. “So, Scott tried to stop him.” 

Noah didn’t look impressed. “He got away.”

“Right! Because, obviously, he’s some sort of criminal mastermind, Dad,” Stiles argued.

“Uh-huh.” Noah started walking away and motioned to you guys to follow him. “You want to guess what the stolen merchandise is?” He led you to the back of the van and opened it up to reveal gas canisters. “Hmm?”

Scott sighed next to you and you pulled a face. Stiles, however, was not so ready to give up. “Critical life-saving medical equipment?” he asked. 

“No.” 

“Poison gas?”

“Nope.”

“... Filled with drugs?”

Noah leaned in. He looked to the sides like he was checking that no one was spying on you, and said, “Helium.”

“Helium?” Stiles repeated, his face going from confident to unbelievably frustrated in less than a second. He was so sure that this time had been the real deal. 

“Like the stuff they put in balloons?” Scott asked. 

“Exactly.” Noah closed the doors and let out a sigh when he turned to look at you again. “Just go home. I’ll call you if I need anything.” 

You and Scott started walking Stiles back to the Jeep while he mumbled about how his dad hadn’t called them in months. And you guys all knew that Noah wouldn’t call for anything less than the apocalypse, so none of you even bothered to comfort him with the possibility of being called. 

Stiles was so agitated that he actually let Scott drive you guys home, even if he tried to keep quiet about it. After about five minutes of awkward silence, Scott looked over at Stiles for a second before turning back to the road. 

“This could be a good thing,” he said hopefully. 

“That we saved helium?” Stiles asked.

Scott laughed, a smile still on his face as he spoke. “I mean, that … they don’t need us anymore.” 

It was strange to picture your life where you weren’t constantly trying to defeat some omnipotent bad guy, but not in a bad way. As scared as the thought made you, it also excited you. You might actually have a life outside of the supernatural again, a life after high school.

That hope was extinguished ever so slightly when Stiles scoffed. “Okay, well, they need us,” he said. “They just don’t know it.”

“We’re all going off to college soon-” 

“Excuse me?” you asked. 

“Most of us are going off to college soon,” Scott corrected. He caught your eye in the mirror and gave you an apologetic smile. “So, Beacon Hills is gonna have to survive without us.”

“Beacon Hills will burn to the ground without us,” Stiles said softly. He looked out the window instead of at you or Scott.

Scott tried to be equally soft when he spoke again. “Stiles … they don’t need us.”

Stiles’ phone started buzzing before he could say anything in his defense. Noah was calling him. Just like that, he went from dejected to excited again. “They need us!” he yelled. 

Over the phone, Noah explained that there was a kid in the office, Alex, who was in an accident with his parents but couldn’t remember anything. His parents were missing and no one had seen anything. Noah was still in the middle of maybe, possibly asking if Scott would mind using his powers to access Alex’s memory when Stiles said you’d be right there and made Scott turn the Jeep around. 

Stiles gave you a cheesy grin as Scott made a u-turn and your heart ached. Stiles couldn’t shift his focus like the rest of you, which was why he’d had you guys looking into every vaguely-abnormal incident since he’d gotten out of the hospital. Fighting bad guys left him drained and nearly dead, but it was still all he wanted to do. He couldn’t picture a life without it. 

And you loved him for it. You loved the way he thought and the way his mind worked, but you worried how he’d react every time you chased down a bad guy on the highway and all you found was helium. You weren’t sure how many false alarms he had left in him.

It was difficult to focus on Stiles once you were in Noah’s office, though. Alex was so young and he looked so scared. He’d barely spoken, other to say that he couldn’t remember anything and that he needed to find his parents. 

Scott put a hand on Alex’s arm and gave him an encouraging smile. “You ready?”

Alex frowned but then he nodded, tears in his eyes. And then Scott sunk his claws into Alex’s neck. Alex’s head rolled back and Scott took a deep breath. 

“Uh, what do we do now?” Noah asked. 

“Time it?” you suggested. 

Stiles pulled out his phone and gave you a shaky smile. “Already on it.”

The three of you huddled around Stiles’ phone and took turns looking between the timer and Scott like you were watching a ping pong match. When the timer hit four minutes, exactly, Scott pulled his claws out and sprang away from Alex as they both tried to breathe again. 

You and Stiles pulled Scott up to his feet. “What happened?” you asked, holding onto Scott's hand.

“I saw a guy on a horse,” Scott said, not taking his eyes off Alex. 

“A horse?” Stiles asked. Behind Scott's back, he shot a look at you that said, Cowboys? Is he serious?

Scott slowly looked away from Alex and at Stiles. “He had a gun.”

“Okay, a guy with a gun. That sounds like my department, not yours,” Noah said with a confused but hopeful expression on his face.

“What about his parents? What happened to them?” Stiles asked. 

“I don’t know. That’s all I remember,” Scott said. He tried to focus on the memory and shook his head after a few seconds “But … I got this feeling.”

“What kind of feeling?” you asked, ducking your head slightly to look at him. 

“They’re coming back,” Alex said. You almost jumped - it was the first thing he’d said since you’d been in the room with him. He looked up and stared at you guys; his eyes were haunted. “They’re coming for me.”

“I think this is our department,” Stiles said quietly. 

Noah was still hesitant to hand the case over to you - you figured he liked the idea of you guys leading semi-normal lives, at least until graduation - but he let you look at Alex’s car with Lydia and Malia. 

Stiles didn’t need any more encouragement to take you and Scott to the evidence lot. It only took Lydia ten minutes to get to the lot, but she sat in the car for what felt like an eternity, running her hand along the hood and then the windshield, feeling up the doors and the interior. You and Scott stood outside, him trying to catch a scent and you waiting for Malia.

You heard a familiar howl and then Malia ran into the lot as a coyote. Every time you saw her in this form, you smiled at the thought of how proud it would make Derek. Another Hale in full control in full-shift. She shifted back to human in a few seconds and you handed her some clothes. 

“Did you find anything?” you asked as she jumped into some pants. 

Malia pulled her head through the hole of a sweatshirt and shook her head. “They’re dead. Probably torn apart.” 

“I don’t think they’re dead,” Lydia said as she got out of the car.

“The only thing I don’t get is why there’s no blood,” Malia continued. She shoved her arms through the sleeves.

“They’re not dead,” Lydia argued. “If they were dead, I’d sense it.”

“And if they were alive, I’d smell it,” Malia said.

“Yeah, I’m not getting anything either,” Scott said, determined to look anywhere except for Malia. 

“Scott, what are you talking about? You were in his head for four minutes,” Stiles said as he climbed out of the car. “I timed it.”

“Well, it’s not an exact science,” Scott said, looking over at Malia and Lydia for the first time. “And he’s a kid. Maybe he’s too freaked out to remember.” 

“No, Peter could see in Isaac’s head and he was just as freaked out,” you said. “If he can’t remember then there has to be another reason why.”

“What does any of this matter if they’re both dead?” Malia asked. She’d moved onto her shoes and looked up as she laced them. “Dead is dead.” 

“Okay, if it’s just a robbery, then we can’t help them. But if it’s something supernatural, then my dad can’t help them,” Stiles explained. 

“It sounds like you want it to be supernatural,” Lydia said. 

She didn’t mean it to come out so accusatory, you told yourself, but you still stepped in. “We just want to make sure that Alex has a fair chance of seeing his parents again,” you said. “And the longer we go without something supernatural happening … it just feels like this could be it, you know?” 

“Three months. It’s been three months since anything’s happened,” Stiles said, looking up from his hands to look at you. 

“Yeah, and once a week you drag me out of bed like I’m some sort of supernatural metal detector!” Lydia snapped. 

“Okay, it’s way more often than that,” Stiles admitted. Then he tried to recover his argument, “But you can’t tell me that you think this is just some series of impossible coincidences.”

“What I’m saying is maybe that wouldn’t be so bad,” Lydia said. She gave him a very deliberate look and then started walking away. Malia shrugged and followed after her.

You sighed and Scott shrugged at Stiles as he turned around to face you guys. Stiles seemed exasperated, like he always did when he wanted something to be supernatural and the others blew him off. He walked back over to the car and slammed the door after he got in. 

You walked over to the car, putting your hands on the doorframe and debating whether to rest one on Stiles’ shoulder. He stared so intensely at the windshield that you weren’t sure if he noticed you. “Hey,” you said gently. “You okay?” 

“There’s something wrong with the windshield,” Stiles mumbled. 

“Well, yeah. It’s broken,” Scott said as he walked closer. He took a spot next to you, standing next to the side mirror. “And it wasn’t a magic bullet. It was a regular bullet. That blew out a regular windshield.”

But if it was a regular bullet and regular windshield, there would be a bullet hole and fracture lines just like every other shot-up car in this lot. You were willing to bet that it wasn’t the windshield that was magic.

“Just like that one.” Scott looked over at one of the other cars. “And that one. And that one-” he stopped. He realized the same thing you did. 

Stiles reached forward and picked up a shard of glass from the dashboard. “Magic bullet,” he said quietly. 

--- 

Talking Stiles out of spending the entire night researching ghost cowboys on the internet and ordering about a dozen library books wasn’t an easy task. In an attempt to compromise, he ordered three books from the library and stayed on the phone with you until he fell asleep. As weird and terrifying as the idea of another supernatural evil coming to Beacon Hills was, it was nice to see Stiles so excited about something again. 

“Hey, do you know where my lucky coin is?” Stiles asked as you got in the Jeep the next morning. 

You moved your backpack around by your feet to get comfortable. “Your lucky coin?” 

“Yeah. The game token from that night we went to the arcade on one of our first dates. I got home, found it in my pockets, and like almost immediately you called and told me you loved me because you forgot to say it when we said goodbye,” Stiles said. He tapped on the steering wheel anxiously as he waited for the frown to disappear from your face. “My lucky coin.” 

“I think that would technically make it your lucky token,” you said, keeping an eye on him as you buckled your seatbelt.

“Okay, then do you know where my lucky token is?” Stiles asked. He was getting more and more frustrated at your bantering.

“Not a clue. I can check my room after school.” That didn’t seem to do much to ease whatever was worrying him. You turned and put a gentle hand on the side of his face, turning it away from his tapping hand to look at you. “Hey, are you going to tell me why you need your lucky token?” 

Stiles smiled. He stopped tapping and cupped your hand, turning to kiss it. “Would you believe me if I said it was back to school jitters?”

“No,” you said, giving him a matching smile. 

“Then give me a minute to come up with a better line.” 

He was joking, but whatever he’d learned in his hour of frantic googling had clearly freaked him out. Stiles gave your hand one last squeeze before turning back to face the front and pulling the Jeep out of your driveway. 

Without another mention of the lucky token or the ghost cowboys, the two of you fell into your familiar routine of walking each other to your lockers and then going to find your friends. Some days, you disappeared to catch up with Liam and Mason but today you went with Stiles to find the others. You wanted to ask Scott to keep an eye on him. 

You found him and Lydia sitting at one of the tables outside where Sydney was taking the yearbook photos. Stiles immediately went to harass Malia and you sat on the table between Scott and Lydia. They were talking about one of their advanced placement classes that they were both taking this semester and you barely got the chance to say anything before Malia stomped over with Stiles on her heels. 

“Why would I want to ruin your yearbook photo?” Stiles asked. 

“Maybe because you haven’t signed up for your own photo yet?” Malia asked. She broke her eye contact with Stiles to smile and give you a nod that was her version of saying good morning as she sat on the table on the other side of Lydia. 

Stiles dug a piece of paper out of his pocket. “Yes, I did,” he said as he unfolded it. He handed it to her and it was a blank order form for yearbook photos. You leaned over Lydia’s shoulder to see that not a single one of the boxes had been filled in.

“It’s blank,” Malia told him.

“Uh…” Stiles took the paper back and frowned at it.

“Or maybe you’re sublimating the stress of graduating by avoiding key milestones,” Scott said, looking up from the notes he’d been writing to look at Stiles. You turned to frown at him when you saw the textbook he was taking notes from. That explained why he sounded far more like Lydia than himself. He shrugged. “Psych paper.”

“Hey, don’t worry about it,” you said with an attempt at an easy smile as you reached a hand out to Stiles. He took a few steps closer and let you hold one of his hands. “You can be in mine with me.” 

“See, this is what being supportive looks like,” Stiles said, giving you a smile before turning to glare at Scott. “Take notes.”

“Plus, if you’re in one photo, it’ll be so much easier to make fun of you for being the most nauseating couple in the world that way,” Malia said. 

You laughed. “Yeah, thanks, Mal.” 

“Anytime.” Malia winked at you. 

You thought Stiles was going to argue with her but he just got a serious look on his face again and changed the subject. “Hey, so the Deputy searched the car - no slugs, no exit holes. And the address Alex gave my dad? It’s an abandoned house,” Stiles said. Your friends were quiet. “Come on! Missing parents, suspicious guy on horseback, magic bullet … who’s coming with?”

“I’ve got to retake my photos,” Malia said.

Lydia shook her head and pulled a face. “Yeah … not interested.”

Stiles turned to Scott but he was too quick. “I cannot miss any more classes,” Scott said before Stiles even had the chance to ask. “I missed thirty-eight last semester.”

“Scott-” 

“Lydia’s mom is the only reason I’m still in school,” Scott continued. “I can go with you after school.” 

“You know what? Forget it,” Stiles said. “I’ll take Y/N and Liam.” 

“Uh … you sure about that?” You nodded over to the quad where Liam was trying to suck Hayden’s face off. It didn’t look like he was going to an abandoned house any time soon. 

“Ugh, I change my vote for the most nauseating couple,” Malia mumbled.

“Yeah, I’m not taking Liam,” Stiles said, pulling the exact same face that Lydia did at the mention of the abandoned house. He straightened up and squeezed your hand. “But you’ll still go with me, right?” 

You hesitated. As much as you wanted to, you’d also missed more school than the school board deemed appropriate. Luckily, Sydney popped up with her camera before you needed to answer. 

“Hey, can I get a candid?” she asked. 

“Yeah, sure!” Scott said over Stiles protests. He pulled Stiles down onto the spot on the bench between him and Lydia where your legs were. 

You moved to make space for Stiles and held onto his shoulders as he slumped into his seat. “Okay, fine,” he said. He pulled out a shard of glass from his pockets and gave it to Scott. In a low voice, he added, “If you can explain to me why this is blue, I’ll let it go.”

“Everyone smile!” Sydney said. 

You guys huddled slightly closer and pulled out your best smiles. Sydney loved it and then asked for another, more fun shot. Obviously, your first instinct was to harass Stiles and Scott from your higher vantage point while Lydia and Malia did the Charlie’s Angels finger gun pose.

---

The plan was to go with Stiles to the abandoned house during your free period, but after one very angry text about how Lydia’s mother was ruining your lives, you figured the plan had changed. Stiles promised to meet you at the Jeep after school, so you went home to look for his lucky token instead. 

Every couch cushion, jacket pocket, and shoe was checked but you couldn't find the token anywhere. You were lying on the floor next to all your pillows and blankets when something shiny caught your eye under your bed. Underneath Cora’s old geometry notebook, you found a game token for the Feliscore Arcade. 

You flipped it over in your hands a few times, thinking about the night Stiles had gotten it. Movies, bookstore browsing, and then the arcade. It was one of the first real dates the two of you had gone on. Smiling, you slipped the token into your pocket and headed back to the school. 

You only had a few classes left until the end of the day, so you didn’t mention the token to Stiles. You’d tell him in person after checking out the house with him, maybe if the house turned out to be nothing then you could cheer him up with the token and some diner food.

The classes dragged on but you met Scott and Stiles at the Jeep as promised and the drive was rushed and full of complaints about how Natalie and Noah really should be more understanding considering that you guys had saved them on more than one occasion. You and Scott didn’t interrupt but you did catch each other’s eye in the rearview mirror. 

The house was face-brick and old, the street gravel and empty, and all the plants overgrown. If that wasn’t enough to creep you out, the clear sky from this morning was full of dark clouds that cast shadows all over the abandoned house.

The front door was unlocked and it creaked as Scott pushed it open, revealing a house that was completely bare except for the spiderwebs. At least, there was a table in the dining room, with two very dusty places set. 

“You wanna split up?” Scott asked. 

“No way,” you said at the same time that Stiles said, “Absolutely not.”

Scott shrugged and led the way to the dark and decaying staircase. You held Stiles’ hand as the two of you followed, reminding yourself that you were way scarier than anything that might have been lurking in this ghost house. 

The second floor was just as empty as the first, but almost all the doors were shut which made it darker. 

“Maybe Alex got the address wrong,” you said quietly. 

“Yeah, or he lied,” Stiles said, poking his head into one of the empty rooms as you made your way down the passage. 

“Why would he lie?” Scott asked.

You reached the door at the end of the hall. It looked more beaten up than the others, with its paint peeling away and scratches on the frame. Hesitantly, Stiles reached forward and opened it. 

The room was clean. It had furniture and a neat bed, blue painted walls, and decorations on every available surface. This room didn’t belong with the rest of the ghost house; it was the room of a thirteen-year-old boy. 

“He didn’t lie,” Stiles said over his shoulder as he sped into the room. 

“Why didn’t the cops say anything about this?” Scott asked as he looked around. 

Stiles tore his gaze away from a bookshelf to say, “They don’t know it’s here. They can’t come in without a warrant and there’s no owner of record to serve a warrant to, so unless there’s some kind of threat or imminent danger, they wouldn’t come in.”

Something rattling downstairs made you jump. 

Stiles reached out and touched your arm. “Hey, you okay?” 

“Someone’s downstairs,” you whispered.

“I’ll go check it out. You guys stay here,” Scott said. He didn’t give you a chance to argue before he left and closed the door behind him. 

You sighed and closed your eyes for a moment. Stiles was still holding onto your arms but he was looking at Alex’s corkboard when you opened your eyes again. 

“Do any of these look weird to you?” he asked in a low voice, taking one of his hands off to point at the pictures. 

You took a step closer to see them more clearly. “He’s alone in all of them,” you said. Your eyes caught on a photo on the table underneath the board. The frame said Number 1 Dad but there was no one in it except for Alex. “It’s like everyone else was taken out.”

“Yeah, I-” Stiles stopped and looked behind you. Slowly, he walked over to the bed and crouched in front of it. He got on all fours and pulled the sheet up to look underneath. For a second, he stayed in that position like he was frozen, and then he bolted up to his feet. “Did you see that?” 

“See what?” you asked. 

“The- the horse. I saw it’s hooves and heard it snarl. Is that the right word? Do horses snarl?” he asked. His breathing was quick like before his panic attacks. 

“Hey-” You put a hand on either side of his face so he looked at you and not the empty space in front of the window. “I didn’t see anything, but I believe you, okay? Let’s just find Scott and get out of here.”

“Yeah. Yeah, okay,” Stiles said with a nod. He grabbed one of your hands and started you out. He stopped so you could close the door, but he was staring down the hallway when you turned around again. His eyes were fixed on something you couldn’t see.

Stiles pulled you behind him and then the first shot went off. You weren’t sure where it came from, but the two of you fell into the wall and slid down to the floor. Stiles pulled your head into his chest as two more shots went off. 

“Where is this coming from?” you asked, trying to look over his arm. 

“You can’t see him?” Stiles asked. His heart raced as more and more shots went off. 

Then it was silent. 

“What happened?” Scott yelled as he ran up the stairs with Liam and Mason. 

You and Stiles scrambled back to your feet as they closed the distance. 

“He was here. He shot at us,” Stiles said. “It was one of the guys you saw in Alex’s memory.”

“The guy who took his parents?” Mason asked. 

“No. No, they weren’t just taken. They were- they were made to disappear. That’s why there’s no furniture. That’s why they weren’t in any of the photos,” Stiles said quickly. He took a breath and looked at you. “They were erased.” 

Stiles spun on his heel and tore open the door again. The walls were still blue and it was relatively dust-free, but it was empty. All of Alex’s stuff was gone. Even though you’d seen it only minutes before, your brain tried to tell you that Alex’s stuff had never been there at all.

---

Stiles’ first stop was the library, which meant your first stop was the library. Scott, Liam, and Mason disappeared for lacrosse practice, and Lydia wasn’t there for very long before Natalie texted her to come home for dinner. She asked if Stiles could walk her out since it was dark and there were lunatics with guns on the loose. 

“Sure,” you said with a smile. “He’ll be down in a sec.” 

Lydia smiled and started walking to the stairs, leaving you and Stiles alone with all his research books. He started closing them and piling them together when you reached out and put your hand over his.

“I’ll pack these up, okay?” you said. 

“Uh, sure,” Stiles said. “Why did you want me to stay then?” 

“I just want you to promise me that whatever this is, we’ll figure it out together.” You took his hand off the book and held it in both of yours. “I know it’s easier to do it by yourself than to wait for me to catch up, but please-” 

“I promise,” Stiles said. It surprised you how easy that was. “Whatever this is, we’ll figure it out together. No matter what, alright?”

“Alright.” You smiled and pulled him closer so you could kiss him. With your head against his forehead, you sighed and said, “I guess I should let you go before Lydia leaves without you.” 

Stiles laughed. His thumb grazed your cheek as he pulled away. “Meet me in front?” 

“Be safe,” you said with a smile. “I love you.” 

Stiles gave you one more smile as he started walking backward. “I love you, too.”

Then he turned around and disappeared down the stairs after Lydia. 

It didn’t take you long to pack up the books, but once the last one was on its shelf, you struggled to remember why you’d taken it out in the first place. Chalking it up to a lapse in memory due to too much late-night studying, you tried to shrug off the feeling as you grabbed your bag. 

But there was still something wrong when you stepped out into the hallway. You couldn’t shake off the feeling that you were supposed to do something. Before you got the chance to figure it out, your phone buzzed and an unknown number flashed across the screen. 

‘At the station. Alex is next.’ 

“Who the hell is Alex?” you mumbled, locking your phone again and sliding it into your pocket. 

You wandered around the school, trying to find one of your friends to take you home. Scott was nowhere to be found but after about half an hour you eventually found Liam, Hayden, and Mason being harassed by some guy.

He was taller than them, wiry, with choppy brown hair. As he spoke, his hands flew around in the air and tugged at the red flannel he wore. There was something so familiar about him, as erratic as he was. You knew him.

“-So you guys, you can’t be alone,” he said. His voice was so familiar, as was his heartbeat. There was a tiny, almost imperceptible lilt in his heartbeat. “You gotta stick with Scott or with me because I can see them.” They didn’t say anything. Did they know him? How did he know Scott? “Why the hell are you looking at me like that?”

Hayden whispered something to Liam as you came closer. He said he didn’t know him. 

“Do you … go to this school?” Mason asked.

“What’s your name?” Liam asked. 

He was confused. Something about his face made you want to reach out for him and comfort him, but you didn’t know why. It was more an instinct to protect him than anything else. 

Then he pushed Liam and Mason aside and started running. He stopped Noah and pulled him into a hug. You were so busy trying to work out how you knew him that you couldn’t focus on what he was saying. You couldn't focus on anything other than the lilt of his heartbeat.

He froze again. Then he started walking away like he was in a daze. He pulled out his phone and called someone, and it took you a second to realize he was talking to Scott. 

He hung up. 

“It’s me. I’m next.” 

And then he started running. 

You bolted after him, not wanting to lose him again. Whoever he was, you knew him and you weren’t going to let him disappear. 

“Hey!” You yelled and grabbed his hand. It took him a second to realize that you weren’t a threat. He stopped running but he was still restless. “Hey, let me help you.”

“What’s my name?” he asked. His voice shook. You tried to think about it, but you just couldn’t remember his name, no matter how familiar his hands felt or how badly you wanted to make him safe. “Oh, god. You don’t remember me.” 

“I know you,” you said. “I don’t- I don’t know how, but I know you.” 

He put his hands on either side of your face and kissed you. It was over in a second but it felt like you’d been kissing him all your life. “I love you, but I’ve gotta go.” He pulled away to start running again when you grabbed his hand to make him stay.

“No! Let me come with you.” 

He looked heartbroken. “You don’t even remember me.” 

“But I know you,” you said. You held his hand tighter. “And I’m not letting anything happen to you. So wherever you’re running … I’m running, too.”

“Okay,” he said quietly. He nodded, more to himself than to you. “Okay, let’s go.”

He started running. He was fast, but he was undoubtedly human. He kept looking at things that you couldn’t see and pulling you out of invisible danger. Maybe he was like Lydia. Maybe you could help him. 

“Don’t look at them,” he said. “Whatever you do, don’t fight them and don’t look at them or they’ll take you too.” 

“But I-” 

“Promise me.” 

“I promise. No matter-” The words caught in your throat. They rolled off your tongue without thinking, but it bothered you that you couldn't remember why you were saying them.

Whoever he was, he dragged you to a powder blue Jeep and fumbled for the keys as you slammed the doors. Then he stopped. He looked around and took a breath. 

“Hey, we can still get out of here,” you said, leaning over to touch his hand. 

“No,” he said quietly. He looked over at you with the most heartwrenching expression you’d ever seen. You didn’t know why that look made you want to cry. “There’s no time.” 

“There’s plenty of time,” you said, needing more than anything for him to stop looking so sad. “Just start the car. We can go anywhere you want.” 

“Hey, listen to me,” he said. He turned and cupped your face like he did in the hall, but he didn’t kiss you this time. “My name is Stiles. I’m gonna be erased, just like Alex. You’re going to forget me.” 

“Stiles,” you repeated. “Stiles, I won’t forget you. Not again, okay? I can’t- I can’t lose you again.” 

“I love you,” Stiles said. And you knew he meant it. He knew you better than you knew yourself, and he loved you. 

“I love-” 

Something ripped him out of the car. 

And then he was gone. 

Stiles was gone. 

Tagged: @ietss​  @used-avocado​

[autumnblogs]

Day 18: Engineering our own misfortune

https://homestuck.com/story/2939

It never occurred to me until now that being betrayed by Jack Noir, the first person to accept him for who he is in a sense, is probably a signifcant part of the reason why Karkat is so angry. It’s probably ironic that the Blood Player’s relationships all have a tendency to disintegrate. Poor guy.

All but one of Karkat’s coplayers will either die, betray him, abandon him, or break up with him before the adventure is over.

More after the break. CW: This one has some suicide mentions in it.

https://homestuck.com/story/2950

WV and the other Carapacians may have some instinctive level of awareness of the players’ classes and aspects - while their legend is ensconced in Carapacian Lore, WV instantly senses the narrative presence of the Thief of Light.

https://homestuck.com/story/2960

Now here is something interesting. I just picked up on it, even though it has actually been present all throughout - when the Narrative addresses WV, it addresses him with information he almost certainly could not know - in a call and response fashion! While he’s jumping from one thought to another in terms of John’s different correspondents, the way that he phrases his dialogue suggests that he is aware of what the Narrative is addressing him.

https://homestuck.com/story/2962

And by all accounts, what he is viewing here is not the literal material events as they unfold, he’s literally looking at the same panels we are.

https://homestuck.com/story/2974

Vriska’s gloating here has always given me chills. It’s in moments like these that she really shines as not just a bully but an authentic diabolical mastermind who is, at least at this point in the story, utterly indifferent to the lives of other people.

https://homestuck.com/story/2975

Vriska’s external locus of control excuses her of feeling guilty about creating Bec Noir. While she is 100% responsible for it, that doesn’t mean, in her mind, that she should suffer any consequences for it (although she’s perfectly happy to take the credit for creating him, it seems.)

https://homestuck.com/story/2992

I’ve always thought that the Dream Bubbles were an extremely cool plot contrivance - semantically linking memories together with dreams and death is a really cool bit of linking.

https://homestuck.com/story/3008

Just as Jade has had effectively no parent to help her find her way in life, she will now have to suffer a sprite who cannot give her advice either. She remains alone.

https://homestuck.com/story/3010

Bec, to a greater degree than perhaps even the Seers, is directly cognizant of interruptions by Command Prompts.

https://homestuck.com/story/3017

I’m starting to be able to actually pick up the themes of the whole Exile plotline.

It seems, in general, to be a parable on power and authority, with each of the Exiles representing one kind or another. You’ve got WV who aspires to be first among equals, democratically elected, a community leader and organizer.

You’ve got the White Queen, who fits classical tropes related to the Good Monarch, a symbolic authority.

You’ve got the Peregrine Mendicant, whose take on governmental duty is more that of a functionary - her self-concept is as someone who does what is needed.

And then you’ve got the Aimless Renegade, who, as a Mad Max Type wasteland cop, could be read as either a playful parody of eighties and nineties copaganda, or as a criticism of copaganda, or both - government as the State, an enforcer of constructed order.

Of all of them, it’s clear that WV and PM’s takes on power are the most useful. The White King and Queen are quickly slaughtered once Jack arrives, because without their magical mcguffins, they remain little more than walking talking symbols.

AR is an interesting case though, because his defining character moment is that he hesitates to follow his orders, and while it could be argued that everything that ensues is his fault for not being stone cold enough to do what needs to be done, I’d argue that his hesitation is admirable - Jack escapes to live another day, and the Mayor survives. The Mayor’s infectious compassion ultimately saves his own life through the AR’s refusal to let him die by destroying the command stations in Cascade, because AR is not willing to trade lives.

https://homestuck.com/story/3040

I’ve never been entirely clear on whether the Dark Gods should be considered evil or simply incomprehensible, morally uncategorizable - in any case, the unique nature of the Kids’ session seems to preclude an ordinary relationship with them. By all accounts they also seem perfectly happy to help Rose create the Green Sun as well, sowing the seeds that will grow into Lord English, their own murderer.

Whatever they’re up to is extremely unclear, and they mostly seem to be a wildcard. I’ll have to see if any of my Homestuck chums have thoughts about the Horrorterrors. With the exception of the Dream Bubbles and their ability to facilitate interaction between the living and the Dead, talking to the Horrorterrors seems to be at best an exercise in facilitating inevitable misfortune - they seem to be all but completely useless.

I suppose learning how to navigate the furthest ring comes in handy exactly once, since it enables the kids to fly to the Alpha’s universe.

https://homestuck.com/story/3043

Rose’s pessimistic dissatisfaction manifests in two ways during this conversation - the first is her contemplation of self-destruction. Along with her suicide mission, one of the very first things she mentions about Doc Scratch is that he wants to die - which clearly fascinates her. The other thing is that, suspicious of the version of truth that Skaia presents, and lacking an anchor, she is very easily swayed by characters who offer her an alternative truth.

https://homestuck.com/story/3045

It has just occurred to me that while Rose doesn’t do anything directly to harm her co-players the way that Vriska does, the main actual thing that they have in common, that I was having a hard time putting my finger on, is actually another parallel between the two of them and Aradia - by allowing themselves to be manipulated by forces of evil beyond human comprehension - Doc Scratch in particular - Rose and Vriska both make manifest all sorts of misfortune. In Aradia’s case, it’s her continuous manipulation by the voices of the dead.

Both of them create nearly all of their own problems, and while they’re at it, create immense amounts of suffering from other people who happen to be in the vicinity. And, according to the rules of the Alpha Timeline, both of them therefore give their assent to their misfortune. The Alpha Timeline is, of course, the same as the Glub Glub trap - if you refuse to participate, you are destroyed, but participation is horrible.

https://homestuck.com/story/3055

Couple things.

The first and most obvious is;

Monkey see, Monkey do.

We’re starting to see the fallout of Vriska’s attempts to acculturate Tavros - she’s tried to force a square peg into a round hole, and has had no luck. Tavros doesn’t fit her vision of an ideal troll, and he never will; that’s not the kind of person that he is.

The use of the word hero is what’s important here. Notice especially the way that he draws a line from physical fitness and personal worth - the ability to do important things that you want to do has become Tavros’ idea of how to self-actualize. He has internalized Vriska’s toxic ideas.

The other thing is that while Grandpa may not have literally committed suicide, but he is clearly emotionally checked out of life - playing Indiana Jones when he’s away from home, and interacting with fantasy women at his tea party, instead of engaging with his real life granddaughter.

Suicide’s a touchy subject, one which Homestuck touches on. As I’ve already said, I’m not going to touch on the Epilogues or HS^2, both of which also touch on the subject. It’s not a central theme, I don’t think, although either killing themselves or waiting around to die recur multiple times as possibilities in the minds of different characters, particularly the Lalondes and Striders. I’ll have more to say about each individual instance, but in both the insincere threat of suicide Rose uses in her early strife, and here in Act 5, the act of self-destruction is not motivated by despair, but by spite - for Rose, self-destruction would be an act to spite someone else who wants her to exist.

Grandpa Harley’s complete emotional absence from the life of his loved ones might be called a bit of emotional suicide. Checked out of personal reality completely to pursue a life of fantasy (and to facilitate Sburb), Grandpa Harley may as well have been dead from Jade’s perspective, even before he died.

https://homestuck.com/story/3056

The link between being a Hero Coolguy and Romantic (Reproductive) Success is drawn very neatly by Tavros, but because the premise is false, the conclusion is also false.

https://homestuck.com/story/3059

Vriska immediately calls attention to the way Tavros is parroting her behavior because of her influence - without all of the chest-beating and saber-rattling that Vriska does, the skillfully executed showmanship of being aloof and confident, there’s not that much difference between what Tavros tried to pull just now, and what Vriska has always done - even repeating her romantic faux-pas.

https://homestuck.com/story/3078

And we’ll pause here, before I get to another walkaround, which I will do tomorrow.

Not a lot that inspired me to talk in the 150 or so pages I got today. Lots of action in Act 5, but less emotional meat to dig into.

For now, it’s Cam signing off, alive but not alone.

[darkestwolfx]

Bolt from the Blue - Re-Review #42

“Isn’t that something else?”

Yes, because when has a giant, blue laser in the sky transmitting solar energy down to Earth ever been a good idea in the world of Thunderbirds Are Go? Oh no, nobody panic, this is a completely innocent piece of machinery.

Look at Parker getting all technical.

“Mr Kinnear!”

This poor man just can’t catch a break can he? He finally came to his senses and left behind the waste of space that is Fischler - honestly I wouldn’t have stayed working for that man as long as this guy did - only to end up with what seems like his sister?

And after all this, he ends up saying;

“This still beats working at Fischler Industries!”

That, can only tell us what an absolutely terrible employer Fischler was. Considering we don’t see him again I’m wondering if the GDF finally did something about him...

“Don’t you worry your pretty little head about that. We have some... safety overrides to make sure nothing could possibly go wrong.”

And you were saying? Honestly, this show has jinxes everywhere.

Did Miss Edmunds remind anyone else of another familiar face that makes your skin crawl? I’ll leave you a hint.

So, I love this episode. It might partially be because there’s a panda in it - and yes, I work with pandas - but there are other reasons too and I’m sure we’ll get to them.

Firstly let us address the plane struck by ‘lightning’.

“The plane’s gilding but losing altitude. There are four in need of evacuation. Two pilots, one child.”

“That’s only three. Who’s the fourth?”

“Brains, you want to tell them?”

“It’s transporting a rare giant panda in the cargo bay.”

“Ok, four to save, one’s a panda.”

Scott - honestly the way he says that line gets me every time!

“Gordon can go with Virgil and help with the evacuation.”

“Yes! I’ve always wanted to see a giant panda up close!”

“That’s not likely to happen.”

“You’re crushing my dreams, Brains!”

“But it’s in a sealed, environmentally controlled container-”

“La la la la la - I can’t hear you!”

Honestly, weren’t Gordon and EOS made for each other? They could encourage each other to be like children forever.

And so now we’ve got to another of those reasons I mentioned - it’s Gordon’s facial expressions (throughout the whole episode). So, this is officially the world’s most disappointed face.

“They appear to be highly charged plasma bolts.”

Hoorah for that... Just what we need. Well, we’ve never had a rescue like it, that’s for sure.

“Can’t you see I’m in the middle of a pre-sentation?”

“Perhaps you should see what he wants.”

“Oh I’m sure it can wait. The safety commission will shut us down without your approval. So I want to make sure you approve.”

Yeah... definitely a relation to Fischler.

Brains, John already got what they were without you.

"A solar collector.”

Shall we send Thunderbird Three to investigate?”

“We may not have to. Lady Penelope’s already on board.”

“John, to what do I owe the pleasure?”

Not sure it’s a pleasure to nearly be torn apart by plasma bolts, but hey.

“Hang on Captain, we’ll get you out of there.”

I think this is a speak too soon moment.

“We’re about to go critical.”

“Does that mean ka-bloom then?”

“ka-bloom”, I love that, it’s very Parker.

“Surely you have a way to reset something like this?”

“I’m a sales director, not an engineer! Did I mention we have three delightful colours to chose from?”

No you didn’t until now, and please don’t mention it again. I think the colour of the episode is set at blue anyway.

This episode really does get off to a dramatic run.

“Thunderbird One’s been hit!”

“Same here! We’re all going down!”

“No one panic! That bolt must have overloaded our circuit breakers. We’ll try rebooting.”

I love how Scott is completely in control here. I mean, it’s believable considering that TOS always made him out to be a honoured pilot. We saw him save Anderbad City with some pretty good flying to in ‘Fight or Flight’. Also, as the eldest we would expect him to have more experience and considering he’s taking over as leader from their dad, you would have expected him to have a pretty level head. This is a complete change however to his reactions in ‘Up from the Depths’ and a little in ‘Heavy Metal’ where he was reliant on others to help him fix his own ship and flight pattern. Either we’re meant to see that he learnt from these events, or that these are anomalies in the writing process.

“Gordon, flip the switch.”

“No problem, just like when your hairdryer blows a fuse at Tracy Island.”

“What? What do you mean my hairdryer!”

Another nice little TOS reference here - in ‘Operation Crash Dive’, Gordon saves Fireflash by treating it like fixing a fuse before he later fixes the TV on Tracy Island, claiming the same.

“Gordon has flight control. Try to keep us in the air!”

“Relax, if more plasma bolts hit, I’ll use your hairdryer trick again.”

“One time. One time that happened!”

Admittance is still admittance, Virgil. I love how Gordon can get things out of people by just being persistently annoying.

Just taking some air, ey, Virgil? Big brother to the rescue. I sense Scott likes doing that.

“Scott... little help!”

“I’m jetting down now. Try not to move.”

“Ready, step!”

“Got it! Thanks for the boost.”

“Any time.”

In fairness, I think this scene is a little piece of genius and it’s another scene that contributes towards my love of this episode. So, here come the reasons;

1. I think it would take an awful lot for Virgil to ask for help, even from his brothers. Even in ‘Skyhook’ and ‘Earthbreaker’ when Thunderbird Two was going down, he didn’t ask for help. He accepted it yes, but he didn’t actually ask for anyone to come and save him.

2. So, accidentally, Virgil ended up in danger of either falling into the ocean, or worse, being hit my a plasma beam. As a result of that, Scott’s comes to his rescue. Now this, puts Scott in danger too, because if either of them took a direct hit there would be bad things. But this isn’t even thought about or discussed, which totally fits in character (especially for these two). The level of reaction here is what matters, and the danger they throw themselves into for each other will be thought about later.

3. The worry and relief. You can tell they have shared worries about this and the dialogue projects this so, so well. In those five lines is everything we need to know about their emotional states.

4. It’s not often these boys have to rescue each other, but when they do (like with Alan&John in ‘EOS’, the instant response seems to be to cover up the fear; “Thanks Alan, I was really sweating there at the end.” “I noticed.” And this dialogue is doing the same thing. The clock is ticking, the situation is precarious and yet what we get is the use of simple words as part of a conversation meaning something completely different. The power of words is transformative, and whenever they can be used with double meanings, they carry so much more strength. People in real life often never say things as they mean. It’s like with death - we don’t often use the word in conversation, we’ll refer to it as something else, and this is exactly what the Tracy boys do - they face danger head on, and they skirt around the less nice possibilities, whilst knowing what they are potentially confronting the whole time, just without saying it. Because we all know once things are said, they are hard to take back.

5. Childlike brotherhood. The nature of this scenes very much takes me back to imagining a younger Scott and Virgil helping each other out with the simplest of things like learning to ride a bike. There’s a very clear, well-built, brotherly relationship shown in this scene, and that comes across so well, in the dialogue that could refer to nearly any other situation, than hanging for your life from a doomed plane only miles above the ocean with plasma bolts trying to hit you.

So, who was the mastermind behind this excellent scene? Elly Brewer is mainly known for writing episodes for the Tracy Beaker series’, which is a completely different kettle of fish to something like Thunderbirds Are Go. She wrote ‘Lost Kingdom’ which was another fantastic episode, and this is (unfortunately) the only other script she wrote for this series. I think this is an absolute shame as her handle on the brother’s was perfect, and her use of dialogue was perfectly balanced out to disguise/contain other feelings whilst commenting on the action. A someone who also has ambitions to be a writer, she is a real example of how to write character interaction. I believed every inch of this script - not only for this scene, but for every scene and every character - and okay, the acting brought it to life, but a good script often allows for good acting, so they come as a pair most of the time.

I’ve already mentioned above my feelings regarding Scott in this episode (who is portrayed again, as a really strong pilot, just like how Dan Berlinka wrote him in ‘Fight or Flight’.) I’m not trying to slate or show anyone up here, but I feel like compared to Ben Townsend, Brewer and Berlinka had a much better handle on the character of Scott Tracy. Don’t mistake me here, Townsend has written some amazing scripts for Thunderbirds Are Go - ‘Heavy Metal’, ‘Up from the Depths’, ‘Brains Vs. Brawn’ (and more I won’t list them all) - but interestingly two of the above I’ve mentioned, are also the two episodes where I felt the discrepancies with Scott’s skills as a pilot creeping in. I love both episodes for their content and some perfect moments, but it definitely feels like Townsend is uncomfortable or at conflict writing for Scott (in places, because he did give us some amazing moments like Scott&Ned, but I think there are definitely points where I question his decisions, especially against strong episodes like this and ‘Fight or Flight’ which put Scott very much in the driving seat). ‘Inferno’ -which I think is one of the best scripts written for this series, with it’s realism and excellent interactions - is also one of Townsend’s works for this series and (apart from maybe ‘Up from the Depths’) is what I consider to be his best work. It is interesting that Scott does not appear here though.

Remember that this is all only my opinion, and as always, I’m more than happy for you to disagree with me. That’s the whole point of discussions, and please feel free to discuss it (I will reply, although it might be at some point later in the week). Dropping it to my ask box may be easier than in the comments if you do with to have a full length discussion.

“Virgil, we’re almost at the water!”

“Release the plane and pull out. Repeat, pull out!”

Some of that quick thinking made towards an awesome rescue. I mean, the plane went down, but really who cares about that? There was nothing in it, and a plane can be rebuilt.

“Sorry Brains.”

“For what?”

“It’s time for you to go.”

Lady Penelope has way better aim than I do!

“Careful Parker, the walls are burning up!”

“You don’t ‘ave to tell me twice. hOh boy, hit’s ‘ot hin ‘ere. Blast! Missed.”

“Go on, Parker! I’ve got you!”

“Much hobliged, M’Lady.”

Parker is just a grade one badass. Look at him go! And Parker and Lady Penelope are an absolute perfect duo. Their teamwork is always spot on and their relationship is brilliantly explored in scenes like this. Lady Penelope has always been a considerate character, but high society (in the past at least) have always been assumed to have had a lack of care for those below them (I’m sure there were those who did, but history just records the majority). Lady Penelope has such care for Parker - probably as much as he has for her - and scenes like this are perfect for showing exactly what makes their partnership work. It’s very give and take, even when it seemed like Parker is just driving her around. She’s always got his back and it was lovely to have another scene showing that off.

Still think it’s “a perfect take your daughter to work day”? They definitely picked a day!

“Woah, I’m in Thunderbird Two!”

“The panda’s doing just fine. I heard him munching on bamboo.”

“Aww!”

Look at that thinking face of love and affection.

“Thank you for saving him.”

“You’re welcome. We love having satisfied customers.”

“Yeah, furry or otherwise.”

“Mmm-hmm.”

“Oh...”

“Thank you.”

“Can I go see Mr Panda now?”

“I think he’ll like you.”

“Really?!”

And this is the world’s happiest face! Gordon has achieved his dream. Having seen pandas myself, I can completely understand why it was a dream of his. Also, the Gordon and Virgil interaction (in this whole episode, but especially here where words aren’t even needed) is just absolute perfection!

And now to tie up some loose ends;

“I may lose my job over this, but I am not gonna lose my life!”

I think you might have lost that anyway. I mean, I think the GDF are gonna be putting her on trial for this.

“Oh now, isn’t that sweet! I didn’t expect a welcome back committee!”

“She realises that we’re arresting her, doesn’t she?”

“I don’t know.”

Don’t worry mate, I don’t think any of us would really know how to deal with her. She’s positively crazy.

See what I did there? Her annoying talking has rubbed off on me!

[airyravenmaid]

V3 Talentswap AU

Self-control who, don’t know her

I’ve been doing a little collaboration with my dear friend @dreamydiamond putting together a full-on Talentswap for the V3 peeps bc everyone likes different talent AU’s, don’t they? At this moment in time, there is no exact designated protag/deuterag/antag-rival/Mastermind bc it’s literally just been fun old brainstorming, but here are some brief, general descriptions of what’s what under the cut.

Ultimate Pianist - Toujou Kirumi: Enjoys making others happy with her music and will play (almost) any song asked of her, though she seems to have an unspoken preference towards softer tempo songs. Open to learning as many different kinds of songs as possible from her beliefs of music being the number one thing to soothe even the savagest of beasts. Took over piano from her mentor who suffered a serious hand injury and was left unable to play any longer, also prompting her to wear gloves in case she ever went through the same fate.

Ultimate Detective - Shinguuji Korekiyo: (NOT A FUGGING SERIAL KILLER HERE; THIS IS A HOUSE OF CHRIST) Dedicated primarily to his work that will someday make him a full-fledged sleuth without his parents’ aid. Gained notoriety as a sleuth following a domestic abuse case ending with the arrest of his (now disowned) elder sister, but wasn’t able to leave without the trauma that came with it. As a result, he’s rather apprehensive when it comes to non-platonic relationships and prefers to direct as much of his focus away from them as possible.

Ultimate Astronaut - Ouma Kokichi: A misanthropic astronaut-in-training with one goal in mind: conquering the galaxy and destroying the planet with nary a drop of mercy for anyone else. Believes he’s higher and mightier than any “Earthling scum” and will gladly show so, using contradictions and fibs to hide what well may be his true self buried underneath. Nonetheless, he seems interested in seeing if there are any “rare ones” that could somehow prove to be worth his time, but severely doubts he could be stood corrected. Could he?

Ultimate Magician - Harukawa Maki: The self-proclaimed master of the arcana and dark arts, she often secludes herself from others in order to perfect her spells and concoctions, believing non-magical creatures may “curse” her and leave her efforts for naught. Having used to do magic shows before growing to hate them and quitting, she also seems to be a reluctant hit with children despite the frigid, unfriendly exterior she gives at first glance. Warns people that magic isn’t a toy or show gag, but is very seldom heeded and brushed off as “crazy”.

Ultimate Aikido Master - Saihara Shuichi: Initially bullied to no end by his peers, he sought martial arts as his way out after taking advice from his beloved uncle and developed an adequate way to defend himself. Because of this, he’s highly disciplined and doesn’t believe something as sacred as aikido should be used for any other reason. Being easily startled, it’s not wise to try and sneak up on or spook him; you will get tossed at best and en route to the hospital for broken ribs at worst as a result.

Ultimate Child Caregiver/Assassin - Akamatsu Kaede: Started out as a simple daycare assistant that’s a born natural with children, but was later taken by a mysterious organization and brainwashed using a sleeper code to test her capabilities. Following her first kill that she doesn’t remember, she was then actively trained into a killer-for-hire, which she’s done everything in her power to keep a secret from the children and everyone else. Some say that uttering her old code will temporarily re-activate her deadly trance, but that’s just a silly rumor! ...Right?

Ultimate Cosplayer - Yumeno Himiko: A longtime lover of the magical girl genre that fell in love with their colorful designs and longed to recreate their outfits for her own to don. Had gotten her first taste of sewing work from having to patch up holes in her clothes and others, which eventually grew with modifying her school uniforms to fit her smaller stature and paved the path to cosplay. Sets up stands at conventions that sell cosplay outfits and wigs for a “reasonable” (to her, at least) price, if only to make up for being terrible at delivering adequate fanart of her favorite mahou shoujou anime shows.

Ultimate Robot - 10-K0, aka “Tenko”: A fully functional android programmed with an intense dislike of robophobes and “degenerate males” created by the esteemed Professor Chabashira (who is also male, but she greatly reveres him and the contradiction hasn’t clicked yet). Has a great sense of empathy and can get a good reading on someone using a simple scan, and despite not being entirely invincible, will serve as a protector for any fair maiden that needs her.

Ultimate Entomologist - Iidabashi Kiibo: More in-tuned to befriend bugs than people as a result of (and resulting in) being harassed by other children over the years, but managed to not let his heart turn bitter from it nonetheless. The son of a biologist father, he grew to discover his own research with arachnids and insects to learn the lifestyles of such small creatures that play such a big role in everyday life. Though he loves his bugs, he also seems to yearn for a human friend to call his own that actually accepts him and his “bizarre” interests.

Ultimate Artist - Gokuhara Gonta: Lost in the woods from an early age, he fell in love with nature and sought to find a way of immortalizing it to its fullest potential. His large size and massive strength make him best at creating sculptures, but his unexpectedly gentle hands are what helps convey his muse through paintings and sketches. Still an aspiring gentleman that hopes to show his sophisticated works to the world, but is also prone to aggressive outbursts when faced with intense enough artist’s block and seeing his art be disrespected.

Ultimate ??? - Hoshi Ryouma: Doesn’t remember too much about his talent or past life save for vague flashes hinting towards it, which he’s only gathered that he’d done something atrocious to warrant being on the lam and sent running to too many places all over the globe. In spite of his amnesia, it seems he doesn’t care if he never gets those memories back if the implied crimes were too horrible to recall in the first place.

Ultimate Inventor - Amami Rantaro: Shown a gift for tinkering at a young age, though was initially apprehensive with making it too big of a deal and making it his primary living in life until he came to enjoy doing so over time. Makes small gadgets for his younger sisters and larger, more complex gadgets that would be beneficial to anyone even if technically in the “prototype” stage. Overall leans more towards making things that’d be useful and not just for fun, but if he trusts someone enough, he’ll likely be more up for bending that rule just a little.

Ultimate Anthropologist - Yonaga Angie: A devout traveler who’s been all over the globe following the word of different religions believing she is the vessel for every deity ever known. Personally prefers the word of her home island’s god, but beckons to all depending on their culture’s faith. Carefully studies humanity in seeing how vast they are in everyday life and primarily looks into their creation myths and pantheon.

Ultimate Supreme Leader - Shirogane Tsumugi: Claims to have been raised into the line of succession for a dangerous organization she believes will bring the downfall of man itself if crossed too much. Wonders how such a “plain” girl such as herself wound up in such a position of power and blames it solely on good luck, but isn’t complaining much otherwise. The day she’s in charge is the day she plans on making the best she’s ever lived.

Ultimate Tennis Pro - Momota Kaito: The unlikely “Shining Star of the Court” that’s come a long way in conquering tennis leagues from all over the nation, but seems to be hiding something he fears will hinder his athleticism. Advocates for keeping a healthy lifestyle both in diet and physiology, and aims to train as hard as he can to stay almost invincible in the face of difficulty. Won’t hold back during a game, but wants his opponents to have as fair of a shot as possible against him if they intend to win.

Ultimate Maid - Iruma Miu: Started from a poorer background and needed to find a way to make a better living for herself, so what better way than putting her “natural good looks” to great use? Is very good at what she does, but her inappropriate comments and nature makes everyone hesitant to trust things she’s prepared in addition to finding her “sexy maid” jokes too off-putting to laugh at. Thinks her skills are better than sliced bread and bellows how people should be thankful for needing her, but one mistake pops her bravado like a bubble and she crinkles at the slightest criticisms.

[lady-griffin]

Argubably this long rant doesn’t matter since Petyr is dead in the show, but I couldn’t help myself, since I’ve seen people say that Baelish would never be outsmarted and die like that…so here you go.

It is basically accepted as canon that Petyr Baelish is one of the smartest characters in the story and is some Machiavellian-type genius --- manipulating everyone to his whim.

But is he?

Don’t get me wrong, Baelish is certainly intelligent and definitely very clever. And he benefits a lot from the fact that no one ever really thinks he is a real threat, or at least that’s the case in the books. In the show, he’s more seen as a necessary evil by the characters who work with him. They don’t trust him, but they need him for their own agenda.

And Baelish uses people not seeing him as a threat or seeing him as a means to an end to his advantage. But is he some great puppet master, pulling every single string?

Not really.

The idea that Baelish is some kind of absolute mastermind who planned for everyting to work out to his benefit is fueled by several factors –

1. That is a very common assumption of intelligence and is very common trope in media, particulary with political-type or scheming characters. Intelligence is easier to show or prove when it is revealed that said character had everything planned form the start (no matter how implausible that is).

1.A I see this a lot with chess being used as a shorthand to show a character’s intelligence. The intelligent character could’ve won the game at any time and when they suddenly have to leave, they quickly finish the game in one move (to the surprise of their opponent).

2. And in the books, Baelish’s actions and overall scheming have only benefited him, the backlash hasn’t caught up to him…yet

Looking at Baelish and a lot of his actions (both in the show and books), he’s kind of throwing himself everywhere and essentially working with whatever is thrown at him.

The best example is Joffrey sending the Catspaw to kill Bran (because of what he heard from Robert) and Littlefinger takes advantage of Catelyn’s belief that it was Tyrion/Jaime/Cersei (or at least one of them) that sent the assassin, based on whatever Bran saw. And because of that opportunity Baelish is able to further cement the Stark vs. Lannister conflict, which he started by having Lysa send that letter to Catelyn.

Littlefinger himself didn’t plan for Jaime to push Bran out the window or for Joffrey to send an assassin to “impress his father” (Joffrey’s own plan is insane), but boy did he ever take advantage of those extra factors.

And that’s smart, there’s no denying that, but eventually Petyr’s own self is going to catch up with his ambition.

What I mean is that Petyr is fueled by spite and hatred. He wants to stick it to all the nobles in Westeros whoever looked down at him. And every time he gets away with something, he gets bolder and more reckless. The best example of that is Littlefinger kissing Sansa right outside Lysa’s window.

Petyr has a need (that’s growing) to not only be the smartest man in the room, but to have everyone know it.

Basically, Petyr is a very flawed man, who isn’t as smart as a lot of fans see him as or more accurately, doesn’t have everything planned from the beginning and is basically one slip away from it all crumbling around him.  

And there are certain lines that indicate all of this to us.

“[Petyr] was always clever, even as a boy, but it is one thing to be clever and another to be wise.” (AGOT, Catelyn IV)

I really think this gives us the first clear image of who Petyr is as a person – the outline of his character and overall his limitations. Someone who is clever, but as we quickly see, hasn’t become any wiser in his years.  

“In King’s Landing, there are two sorts of people. The players and the pieces.”

“And I was a piece?” She dreaded the answer.

“Yes, but don’t let that trouble you. You’re still half a child. Every man’s a piece to start with, and every maid as well. Even some who think they are players.” He ate another seed. “Cersei, for one. She thinks herself sly, but in truth she is utterly predictable. Her strength rests on her beauty, birth, and riches. Only the first of those is truly her own, and it will soon desert her. I pity her then. She wants power, but has no notion what to do with it when she gets it. (ASOS, Sansa VI)

This is Sansa’s introduction to the official “game” and the “rules.” But we should take this overall idea not as an objective fact of how the world is, but how Petyr (and others) see the world. It’s not necessarily inaccurate, but definitely a limited scope of how things work.

And Petyr’s criticism of Cersei, also shows how blind he is of his own limitations. And honestly, having Petyr think he himself is this great player, only for him to be nothing more than a piece, is very ASOIAF.

Petyr wants power, but like Book!Cersei, has no idea of what to do with it once he has it. Petyr’s all about scheming and getting himself higher and higher, but what would he do once he got to the highest point.

He’s great at creating chaos and benefiting from it, but that can only benefit him for “a limited time.” Particularly since his goal is to eventually be in charge and rule – creating chaos and conflict, isn’t going to help him with that.

Now as he’s the Regent Ruler of the Vale, the cracks are beginning to show in his way of thinking and how he operates (as he also seems to be drinking more and is getting more bold (super creepy and gross) with Sansa – which is not great for his own plans, since he’s pretending to be her dad)

“Everyone wants something, Alayne. And when you know what a man wants you know who he is, and how to move him." (ASOS, Sansa VI)

This is how Littlefinger views the world and people, but it’s also a key to how Sansa should start viewing Littlefinger. 

What does he want? Who is he really? How can she move him?

And while I think Sansa should be considering those three things, this idea certainly has holes on it.

Littlefinger is use to operating on tangible wants and desires, a woman (or man) for the night, money, a drink, and so on. And even other less than tangible desires like status or justice, we have seen Petyr dangle those wants in front of people’s faces and take advantage.

But as we have seen with ASOIAF, people are more than a bit complex and have conflicting desires within themselves.

For instance, Jon wanted nothing more than to be Lord of Winterfell, to have a wife and a son of his own. To do his father proud and yet when that was offered to him by Stannis he refused.

Though that might actually be to Petyr’s point. Stannis didn’t know what Jon truly wanted and therefore doesn’t really know who Jon is, and thus can’t move Jon to his own whim. Which I might break down further (at another point).

But back to Petyr.

How is he trying to move Sansa?

He offered Sansa the chance to go home, but that was a lie and Littlefinger has no plans to bring Sansa back home. 

It honestly seems like Littlefinger thinks Sansa’s desire to return home is a temporary desire. And to some extent is working with what he presumes is Sansa’s true desire, which was her old desire, to be queen and have her romantic dreams come true.

Petyr, because of his own desires, is not fully aware of Sansa’s true desires, which means according to his own theory, he doesn’t know who she truly is and will have more difficulty controlling her.

“Clean hands, Sansa. Whatever you do, make certain your hands are clean.” (ASoS, Sansa VI)

There are many flaws in this ideology. 

For one thing - to accomplish anything, especially lasting change or permanent status (the power and respect Petyr wants) you have to get yourself dirty.

I don’t mean doing horrible things and playing dirty. I just mean you actually have to do something. You can’t just sit behind-the-scenes trying to accomplish what you want, you actually have to do it. You need to take an actual risk and put yourself in harms way.

Also, Petyr’s hands are so dirty at this point (in regards to doing crimes).

To name two of his recent best hits…

He killed Lysa and there were two witnesses to his crime.

He has Sansa Stark – who is wanted for regicide (because of Baelish). If Sansa gets found out before Petyr’s “grand plan” can unfold, he’s fucked.

And –

Several people are looking for Sansa Stark (and have an idea who Alayne is)

Several people don’t want Petyr Baelish to be Lord Regent/Lord of the Vale

And some just don’t want Alayne Stone around or don’t want her to marry Harry.

And that’s just naming three separate aspects of essentially one-single problem. There’s more that can affect the Vale and Petyr’s plans.

Two major ones being the Others and Daenerys and her dragons.

But also, the growing restlessness of Westeros (and the Vale), Winter is coming (not the monsters, but like just food shortage) and then there’s the Mountain Clans and there are just so many potentially pitfalls with his plan.

Petyr, to me, is not really a major player. He certainly has had a lot of influence and has cast a large shadow over this world…but,

As Petyr himself explained, every piece has their own agency and desires and certainly can do a lot of damage, but that doesn’t mean they themselves are important in the grand scheme of things. 

And Petyr isn’t a major character himself (in the literal story) as he’s a part of Sansa’s story.

I just find it really interesting (not surprising though) that he’s been built up in the fandom as this absolute Machiavellian genius who’s 20 steps ahead of everyone, when honestly it seems like he’s juggling several knives and each time he doesn’t get cut, he adds another knife.

And his time (in the books) might be coming to an end sooner than we think.

[tremendouspeachduck]

Psychopaths walk among us. Here's how to resist their evilness.

How do the Dems try to manipulate?

The psychopath patient believes military is nothing more than a strong-arm to subjugate other countries or peoples.  They don’t get that we defend what we’re proud of.

Our country cheered yet another stellar jobs report released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. And unlike the sluggish expansion of the Obama years, the lion’s share of this labor market strength benefits middle-income and previously ignored workers. For example, non-managerial wages accelerated at a 12-month rate of 2.7 percent, the highest in a decade. The jobless rate for non-college graduates fell to the lowest level since 2001. Even for those who did not complete high school, good news abounds, as the jobless rate for that working-class, underdog population has now been below 6 percent for the each of the past five months… .

They use ways to convince.  "Gaslighting is a manipulative tactic that can be described in different variations of three words: 'That didn't happen,' 'You imagined it,' and 'Are you crazy?'" Therapist explains. "Gaslighting is perhaps one of the most insidious manipulative tactics out there because it works to distort and erode your sense of reality; it eats away at your ability to trust yourself and inevitably disables you from feeling justified in calling out abuse and mistreatment."

How can you fight back? "Ground yourself in your own reality--sometimes writing things down as they happened, telling a friend, or reiterating your experience to a support network can help to counteract the gaslighting effect,"

The psychopath patient believes military costs too much money.  How can they put a price on reforms?

With Pres. Trump all the minorities are gaining.   These reforms represent a particularly powerful tailwind for Hispanics, statistically by far the most entrepreneurial demographic in America. Speaking of Hispanics, the labor market news for them has been stellar. In U.S. history, there are only eight months where Hispanics report a jobless rate below 5 percent, and an incredible seven of those eight months have been in the last year alone under Trump’s growth agenda. The news is similarly strong for blacks, where the gap between black and white unemployment shrank to the smallest disparity on record. If President Trump is a racist, as his media critics constantly (and unfairly) allege, then he is remarkably bad at it!

They use ways to convince.  You know when toxic people claim all the nastiness that surrounds them is not their fault, but yours? That's called projection. We all do it a little, but the narcissist and psychopath do it a lot. "Projection is a defense mechanism used to displace responsibility of one's negative behavior and traits by attributing them to someone else," notes the therapist.

The solution? "Don't 'project' your own sense of compassion or empathy onto a toxic person and don't own any of the toxic person's projections either," The therapist recommends. "Projecting our own conscience and value system onto others has the potential consequence of being met with further exploitation."

The psychopath patient has conspiracy beliefs.  Example.  It can be said that a co-worker sometimes fails to consider the long-term ramifications of certain financial decisions. The office psychopath claims you called him "a loose cannon." You noted the deal could possibly go south if X, Y, and Z conditions occur. Your narcissistic colleague tells the boss you said the deal is "a disaster."

What's going on? It's not just that your nemesis didn't understand what you said. It's that he or she had no interest in understanding.

"The malignant narcissist isn’t always an intellectual mastermind--many of them are intellectually lazy. Rather than taking the time to carefully consider a different perspective, they generalize anything and everything you say, making blanket statements that don't acknowledge the nuances in your argument or take into account the multiple perspectives you've paid homage to," The therapist says, summing up this behavior.

To counter it, "hold onto your truth and resist generalizing statements by realizing that they are in fact forms of black and white illogical thinking."

The psychopath and Dems want to take it all away with tax hikes.  But Pres. Trump keeps delivering in spite of not one media good report.

The psychopath patient doesn't like the military since it acts as an arm of the U.S. government in other countries where the immediate benefit to the U.S. is not always evident.  They believe the military needs to stay at home and let the other countries deal with their own problems.

"The abusive narcissist and sociopath employ a logical fallacy known as 'moving the goalposts' in order to ensure that they have every reason to be perpetually dissatisfied with you. This is when, even after you've provided all the evidence in the world to validate your argument or taken an action to meet their request, they set up another expectation of you or demand more proof," says the therapist.

Don't play that game. "Validate and approve of yourself. Know that you are enough and you don't have to be made to feel constantly deficient or unworthy in some way," The therapist advises.

The DEMS want all nations to stand down - to let the UN run the world - this can never happen, right?

Healing Horses

The psychopath patient sees the armed forces as destroying the environment with pollution, chemicals and products of the nuclear age.

Switching conversational topics sounds innocent enough, but in the hands of a master manipulator, a change of subject becomes a means to avoid accountability. "The narcissist doesn't want you to be on the topic of holding them accountable for anything, so they will reroute discussions to benefit them," the therapist notes.

This sort of thing can go on forever if you let it, making it impossible to actually engage on the relevant issue. Try "the "broken record method" to fight back: "Continue stating the facts without giving in to their distractions. Redirect their redirection by saying, 'That's not what I am talking about. Let's stay focused on the real issue.' If they're not interested, disengage and spend your energy on something more constructive."

The psychopath patient sees the armed forces as those types that have joined the military, but have become disenchanted for some reason or another.  They may not have gotten the position or training they wanted, didn't like the structured environment or got into trouble.  These are the men and women who lived it for awhile, but couldn't adapt, so they become fanatically anti military.

There are other ways a psychopath can manipulate:

Smear - "When toxic types can't control the way you see yourself, they start to control how others see you; they play the martyr while you're labeled the toxic one. A smear campaign is a preemptive strike to sabotage your reputation and slander your name," the therapist explains.

Sometimes true evil geniuses will even divide and conquer, pitting two people or groups against each other. Don't let them succeed. "Document any form of harassment," the therapist advises, and make sure not to rise to the bait and let the person's horribleness provoke you into behaving in just the sort of negative ways they've falsely attributed to you.

Devalue - Beware when a colleague seems to love you while aggressively denigrating the last person who held your position. "Narcissistic abusers do this all the time--they devalue their exes to their new partners, and eventually the new partner starts to receive the same sort of mistreatment as the narcissist's ex-partner," the therapist says. But this dynamic can happen in the professional realm as well as the personal one.

Simple awareness of the phenomenon is the first step to countering it. "Be wary of the fact that how a person treats or speaks about someone else could potentially translate into the way they will treat you in the future," the therapist cautions.

mean jokes- The problem isn't your sense of humor, it's the hidden intention of that cutting joke. "The covert narcissist enjoys making malicious remarks at your expense. These are usually dressed up as 'just jokes' so that they can get away with saying appalling things while still maintaining an innocent, cool demeanor. Yet any time you are outraged at an insensitive, harsh remark, you are accused of having no sense of humor," the therapist says.

Don't let the office abuser gaslight you into thinking it was all innocent fun--it wasn't.

Triangulation - One of the smartest ways truly toxic people distract you from their nastiness is by focusing your attention on the supposed threat of another person. This is called triangulation. "The narcissist loves to 'report back' falsehoods about what others say about you," the therapist warns. To resist the tactic, realize that the third party in the drama is being manipulated as well--he or she is another victim, not your enemy.

You can also try "reverse triangulation," or "gaining support from a third party that is not under the narcissist's influence."

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[snkpolls]

SnK Chapter 111 Poll Results

RATE THE CHAPTER 1,677 Responses

While still a highly rated chapter, satisfaction was down slightly over last month (4.33 for 111; 4.49 for 110). Many people expressed surprise that Isayama was able to pull off such an emotional chapter despite the predictable setup. Now that the Braus dinner has reached its conclusion, most are eager to get back to the main cast.

I loved the mood whiplash Isayama was doing. A happy moment already ruined by a tragic one that escalated higher. The main course was supposed to be delicious, but everything the Blouses and the SC tasted was treason and deception. Pure evil.

Glad to see further development for the characters of Falco & Gabi as well as the beginnings of preparation for war against Marley. (Albeit very slight) Hopefully in the next chapter we will get to see what the warriors & Marley have been up to while this revolution has been happening.

Good chapter, nice way to start a volume

I get why this chapter needed to happen, but I feel there were ways to advance these plot threads without killing the momentum we had last chapter.

I'm glad the Blouses are teaching Gabi that war is bad. Now let's get back to the damn war! Also, is Historia ok?! She wasn't looking good last we saw her, and now the Yaegerists are targeting her, and I'm worried.

not enough floch and no funeral/memorial for zackly and shitmachine, disappointed :'( good chapter though

I would like to file a petition for Isayama to stop repeatedly stabbing the already open wound he caused in to my chest pls?

  WHAT WAS YOUR FAVORITE PART OF THE CHAPTER? 1,678 Responses

With so many options it was difficult to choose but “Wine Mystery Revealed” edged out “All of the Above” with almost 20% of respondents. “Mr. Braus’ speech” and “Mikasa, savior of children” also had strong showings.

I honestly wanted to choose more than one which was Mikasa protecting Gabi, Mr Braus's speech and Gabi asking if they didn't hate her but I can't pick more because of the question type so ;-;

Favorite moment? Nicolo christening the Falbi ship. Yeah.

Mikasa saving Gabi was an incredible scene!

The way Nicolo insulted Jean to protect him was so cute, but if I were Jean I'd feel offended too lol.

Jean's new hair is awesome :D

OMG MIKASA IS PERFECT. MARRY ME!

Sasha eating pizza was sooo cute and i don't know if my heart can take it anymore because all this cuteness turns into angst because of what happened to her :(

  PAPA BRAUS, BEST DAD IN SNK, OR BEST DAD OF ALL TIME? 1,673 Responses

On a scale of 1 out of 10, Mr. Braus scores an 8.6. Although we haven’t asked you guys to rate other dads in the SnK universe, we’re confident he takes the number one spot of best father, and probably best parent as well.

Mr. Braus is the best parent in this entire universe (not that the bar was set very high, but still). I nearly cried during his speech.

Mr Braus showing this act of compassion - an act of letting go of revenge to stop the cycle of hatred and oppression is probably the most valuable experience Gabi could've learnt from (more valuable than any words spoken to her).

Step aside Eren, papa and mama Braus are the real Humanity's Last Hope! Their kindness and empathy are the only things that can stop the cycle of violence that this series is depicting on the most intimate and personal level. My appreciation for Sasha as well has grown exponentially through Nicolo, Kaya and the Braus parents.

Mr. Braus is like the only person in all that fucked up world that actually understands the root of the problem. Keeping people "into the forest" in a perpetual fight for survival between "preys and predators". I do believe that his words are everything we need to understand the moral of the story and may be hinting to what Eren and Zeke are trying to achieve (though from extremely different mindsets).

Sasha's dad's speech is so touching. Almost gave me hope that the series will end in a good way--people will find a way to deal with this unforgiving forest that is our world.

With all the allusions to World War II and the Holocaust, Mr. Braus' speech might have been the single most realistic depiction of the entire series. There are echoes of Oskar Schindler here. This is the same compassion that some Germans showed when hiding Jews in their basements, barns, etc. and saved lives. I was absolutely floored by this chapter, especially because my grandparents were Holocaust survivors themselves.

  AFTER SEEING GABI'S EMOTIONAL RESPONSE TO THE BRAUS FAMILY'S GRIEF, HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT HER? 1,668 Responses

Believe it or not, but compared to previous polls it seems more and more people are warming up to Gabi (or at least don’t hate her as much as they used to). 46.4% are glad she finally got some character development. Nearly 30% of the fandom are starting to like her or have always loved her. However, 17.9% of all respondents would rather not deal with Gabi at all.

Between warming up and loving her

Always loved her. Just keep loving her more and more. It was NEVER her fault.

Doesn’t put me up nor down

Feed her to titan falco

Finally some character development, but I still don't like her. She just grates on my nerves.

Gabi's scenes this chapter gives me hope for the story's message. Gabi's heartfelt question juxtaposed with Kaya's instant reversal was the most powerful scene in the recent chapters.

Great character development, but sorry she'll remain the one whom I hated.

I can't decide I just need a bit more time

I have always felt the hatred towards Gabi was unjustified so i'm glad that people are starting to like her character more

In that "Do you really not hate me?" there is everything Gabi is and represents as a character. Can't wait to see how she will further develop now.

This shows that regardless of the environment she has been raised in, Gabi is still just a confused child and a human being with feelings. I approve.

My hopes for her are very very low, but it's nice finally seeing a human and not radical, violent, aggressive reaction for once. hopefully she'll start seeing walldians as repressed ppl like the ghetto dudes

  WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THE TERM  “YEAGERIST”? 1,676 Responses

The fan translation gave us “The Jaeger Faction” which over half of respondents preferred over Kodansha’s official translation of “Yeagerists.” 14% like the term, while 10% are not fans of it.

"Yeagerist" sounds like a name of some crazy group of fan girls. I prefer "Jaeger Faction" - sounds more serious.

I hope to become a member. better because it could mean both yeagers, not just eren

Could've come up with something better.  

I like the name, and hereby identify as a Yeagerist.

The abs empire

It's more respectful than "Idiots" I guess

Silly as fuck and hilarious. Jaeger Faction is superior.

I chuckled. It’s fine.

I like the term! It sounds perfect for an extremist faction!

The name doesn't matter. It just had to be called a sect, so it's fine.

  DO YOU THINK ANY OF THE SOLDIERS AWARE OF ZEKE’S AND/OR HISTORIA’S LOCATION COULD BE A “YEAGERIST?” 1,672 Responses

63% of respondents suspect that at least one of the 30+ soldiers aware of Zeke and/or Historia’s location are loyal to the Yeager brothers. 28% aren’t sure, and a small percentage are certain that these soldiers are all to be trusted.

  LET’S TALK ABOUT COMMANDER PIXIS SURRENDERING TO EREN. WHICH OF THE FOLLOWING DO YOU MOST AGREE WITH? 1,672 Responses

Very few of us took Pixis’ word at face value. 47.3% believe he was at least partially putting on a show. 41.6% have no idea, but trust him regardless.

I don't know how this negotiation is going to work but I'm glad someone finally has some plan which doesn't involve fighting or doing nothing. I think he's a wise man and he knows what he's doing. I'm going he's in charge now.

Pixis is smart and has a strategy that aims to save lives. Momentary surrender is a necessary step to take back control of the situation as a whole. That's called leadership.

Loved it, he’s playing chess. Sacrificing his bishop for another move

Why has Pixis become my hero these past two chapters? He is smart and brave enough to not only recognise the military's mistakes, but also humble and determined enough to take corrective steps to bring the lost sheep back into the flock for the higher, long-term good. I love how there's one adult in the room who is above petty bickering and suspicion at a critical moment like this. Pixis is an Erwin-level class act and I'm so grateful we still have a character like that in the series ;--; (RIP Erwin)

He trusts Hange enough to let her lead the secret mission of screwing the Jaegers' plans, and he will do something important in the right moment. Of course, he can't say it directly because there are still traitors that want to put bombs here and there.

Pixis has no idea what he's doing, dawg, he just wants to get vored by a pretty lady and this is harshing his buzz

HE'S A YEAGERIST...

  WHO MASTERMINDED THE SPIKED WINE PLOT? 1,657 Responses

At 71.8%, the overwhelming consensus is that Zeke masterminded the spiked wine. 9.4% gave Yelena the credit, and 8% attributed it to the Yaegerists.

Onyankopon seemed real suspicious with Nicolo this chap…

Zeke masterminded it, but he's too slippery to ever take responsibility for it. Yelena would probably go to the ends of the earth to claim it was her plan.

Both Jaegerists and Volunteers

Probably Gordon Ramsey, who's mad that his potential customer Sasha was ripped away from him.

I think it was Zeke's plan but Eren doesn't know about it, or the bomb. I think Zeke has more interests than meets the eye and will betray Eren.

  DO YOU THINK EREN IS AWARE OF THE SPIKED WINE? 1,667 Responses

With a relatively close split, nearly 40% believe that Eren isn’t aware of the spiked wine. 32% don’t want to say either way, and 27% are certain he’s in on it.

I think Eren has been shown too evil to be true, i really think that in reality he has a plan that for some reason he couldn't share with his friends, and he is trying to save as many people as possible.

EXPLAIN WHAT EREN'S UP TO ALREADY

I never trusted Zeke for one second and I’m glad ta starting to pay off. I do still believe Eren isn’t really working with Zeke as closely as Military believes.He doesn’t want any of his loved ones to turn into Titans and I’m certain the hidden spinal fluid is Zeke’s intent because I believe nothing the disciples are doing is without his knowledge.

  WHY DO YOU THINK THE WINE WAS SPIKED WITH ZEKE’S SPINAL FLUID? 1,648 Responses

58% of respondents believe that the wine is spiked as an insurance for Zeke in case Paradis turns on him. 18% believe it’s a way to hold leverage over Eren specifically, and 14% feel that the intent is to have pure titans available in case Paradis is attacked.

A way to easily get rid of pesky opposition

I’m not quite sure but none of these strike me as correct.

There are so many possibilities here: i mostly believe it’s some kind of insurance in case eren or paradis go against him, but there’s also the possibility that zeke was never actually on the eldian’s side in the first place

He will use it when he wants to eliminate Paradise if Eren refuses his true plan

Bargaining tool to gain control over everyone, like a threat/hostage

I'm hesitating between it being a conspiracy, and Zeke trying to do a coup d'état, by replacing all the higher up by people he somewhat trusts

I’m not so sure it’s just insurance... I think zeke might just be straight up planning on turning the higher ups into titans either way. I think he ultimately is not allied with Paradis and wants to be able to overthrow their military command structure at the drop of a hat.

It's Zeke's trump card and bargaining chip all rolled into one

Since they only used the wine on the military police members, it could be a protection toward Historia

I knew Zeke was going to stab them in the back, I was just wrong about how.

  WHO DO YOU THINK DRANK THE SPIKED WINE? 1,655 Responses

36.3% believe the wine was limited to high ranking MPs. 63.7% of us worry that the wine has reached beyond that narrow scope.

A FUCKTON OF PEOPLE

Anyone in the high ranks of each branch, and possibly the entire MP (since their overall living environment is much fancier than the other two branches, they probably were also served by Marleyans)

I think just the MPs, but dear god I hope Nile didn't drink it. He was the only one from his training days' friends group that made it it out of the depressive cycle of violence and managed to have a family. He deserves better. Marie deserves better.

Wouldn't be surprised if Jean starts racing for the alcohol rack again after this chapter. Everyone is mentally and emotionally exhausted already and the storm hasn't even began. Time to get some wine fellas.

PLEASE NOT HANGE AND DOUBLE PLEASE NOT FALCO

  WHAT IS YOUR THEORY REGARDING FALCO’S FUTURE? 1,654 Responses

Nearly ⅔ of all respondents think Reiner will pass on the Armored Titan to Falco. Another 11.5% think he will turn into a mindless titan, and not gain any shifter powers. The least popular choice was Porco or Pieck giving their powers to Falco. We also received quite a few write-ins:

He is going to die at the venerable age of 128 surrounded by friends and family

He will become the next Beast Titan

He won't transform at all and continue living the source of all pureness (fingers-crossed)

he will become flying titan

I love the fact that Falco in a way has already managed to fulfill his mission. He wanted to save Gabi from the horrors of becoming a Titan - and he just did that. By pushing her out of the way of the wine, he shortened his own lifespan, but managed to save her from dying a potentially early death.

He's going to have to save Gabi at least 2 or 3 more times.

It's going to be tragic and I'm very sad already!! He'll either end up as mindless titan killing people or he'll inherit Reiner's titan, meaning he'll be the one who kills him and inherit his memories. And of course his life will be shortened!! Either way I hate it!! He doesn't deserve any of that!!

SAVE BEST BOY

  WHY DID NICOLO CONFESS AT THE END? 1,664 Responses

With a fairly even 3 way split, slightly more people felt that Nicolo confessed because of his friendship with the SL. Following that at 26.6% and 26.4%, Nicolo may have confessed because he was already caught red-handed, and that Mr. Braus’ speech moved him to come clean.

!All of the above!

He knew that it was almost time for Zeke’s plan to go in full swing, so he told them after it became too late.

Honestly, for me it's a toss. He was very emotional in this entire chapter, and he let it get the better of him. Why he confessed is beyond me. Maybe it has something to do with him wanting to seek vengeance against the Yeagers and Marley for both indirectly contributing to Sasha's death?

He felt guilty because Falco is innocent and he regrets that he took the hit and had wine in his mouth as a result (but he doesn't regret attacking Gabi)

It was probably quite a big burden of knowledge to carry. I imagine it was all those things at once.

He broke down under the enormous emotional pressure, as simple as that.

He participated in serving the spiked wine, maybe willingly at first. But at some point, maybe because of his relationship with sasha, he become uncomfortable and was compelled by the volunteers to continue against his will. After his arc, he know he's going to be arrested, and just confesses to unburden himself.

He felt guilty about using the spinal fluid on Falco at all - he was trying to use a normal wine bottle

  HOW DO YOU VIEW NICOLO AND SASHA'S RELATIONSHIP? 1,666 Responses

Wow. Two thirds of the fandom believe Nicolo and Sasha were a couple. 23.3% believe it was a one-sided love affair, or as one comment put it, “Friendzone with food benefits. ”

I HOPE they were dating but the chapter made it to where there’s not really solid evidence that they were…

Nicolo loved Sasha in the conventional way. Sasha loved Nicolo the only way she could, alimentarily.

I'm a huge Springles shipper, so I'm kinda of sad about the whole thing with Nikolo, to be honest. Springles is really what helped me through a lot of dark times, so the fact that Nikolo and Sasha may have been dating really kind of hurts XD

The way Nicolo confessed his feelings toward Sasha in front of everyone especially Sasha's parents made me emotional.

I want to care about her “relationship” with Nikolo because I like the Romeo and Juliet setup but it also got zero development so.......how am I supposed to believe Nikolo was THAT upset about her when I never really saw them together in the first place?

If it turns out they really were together, I won't have a problem with it. But until Isayama confirms it in a more direct manner, I don't buy any notion of romantic relationship in Attack On Titan, especially with someone like Sasha, who seems to only be interested in food.

Sasha was a food-digger

  SOME HAVE SUGGESTED THAT ONYANKOPON IS NOT TO BE TRUSTED AND WAS PERHAPS SENDING A MESSAGE TO NICOLO. WHAT DO YOU THINK? WHOSE SIDE IS ONYANKOPON ON? 1,653 Responses

Nearly half of us are in the dark about where Onyankopon’s loyalty stands, though 31% think that his allegiance lies with his own faction of volunteers.

¡Que lástima! As much as I like him I no longer trust him because of the wine reveal. Compared to everyone else, the look on his face makes me believe he knew exactly what was going on.

Eren, Zeke, Yelena, Floch... Literally everyone is a double agent. Can't we have a single person who is not a traitor?

He's not with Marley and not with Yelena, but does this mean we can 100% trust him i'm not sure

He's in relationship with Kiyomi. Not his fault Kiyomi's hot.

Liar liar paths on fire

I don't believe that he's totally innocent, totally 100% devoted to Paradis and Eldians. But I do believe that Yelena's acting separately from him.

I think Onyankopon probably knows more than he's letting on which is disappointing because I'd like at least one fucking person to not be shady as fuck. It's overkill.

If best boi onyankopon betrays hange I’m rioting

WILD CARD BITCHES!!

  KIYOMI WAS PROMINENTLY FEATURED DURING THE WAR COUNCIL. WHAT BEST MATCHES YOUR THOUGHTS ABOUT HER BEING THERE? 1,641 Responses

35.8% of responders think the military knows something is shady about Kiyomi and are trying to set her up, followed by 31.7% think the military made a mistake allowing her to hear their argument. Only 10.2% believe Kiyomi is actually being sincere about her plans and Mikasa.

Her motive is clearly not pure but I think she is (for now) on the right side. At the moment it's a game of maneuver between her, Mikasa, and Paradis.

She's aware of Zeke's spinal fluid plan, as it's extra insurance to insure her access to resources.

Paradisian incompetence continues on full display. To let an outsider in on the unfolding crisis situtation is amateur hour to say the least.

Kiyomi wants to screw everyone over for their money and resources and she's pressing the flesh aggressively

Kiyomi had something to do with Zackley's assassination...

Kiyomi is no threat to Paradis as long as their relationship benefits her and Azumabito. I can see she that if she perceives instability and civil war she will cut her losses and side with Marley / the world. Also Hizuru does not seem to condone what the Azumabito clan is doing. If the pressure is great enough from multiplicative forces, she will budge. I can also see her running back to Marley, figuratively and/or literally, and be basically disposed of as an example or due to sheer brutality. It's an archetype I feel Isayama would use - it's consistent with this arc's themes of political intrigue and moral ambiguity. Yams will definitely still make it his own in some way if this does happen though.

She's a shady Bitch and I wouldn't trust her with my car insurance let alone anything to do with this series.

WILD CARD BITCHES!!

  WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON NICOLO’S ATTACK ON GABI AND FALCO? 1,664 Responses

With ⅔ of all votes, most people could understand Nicolo’s anger, but do not condone his actions. A good chunk (28.2%) of people would have rather he’d hit Gabi with the wine bottle instead of Falco. A mere 3% want to see him swinging from a tree for what he did.

It was good but felt a bit forced. Kaya’s reaction was strange and Nicolo was genuinely unhinged. It’s alright to an extent as people tend to do absurd things in terrible situations.

Falco in his hero complex brought himself to trouble. I understand Nikolo.

Gabi is very bratty, stubborn, close minded and rude - she definitely doesn't deserve all love and protection. I was happy to see Nicolo kicking her ass.

I understood and I actually did not care if Gaby dies. I would be glad actually, It would be sad for Falco though.

I can maybe understand the bottle and punch but him treating a 12 year old like a sacrificial lamb was insanity.

It doesnt sit well with me at all tbh but i dont hate him

Nicolo comes from a place where it’s heavily socialised that Eldians are sub human. So while I disagree completely with him hurting children, I can see how he did it so easily.

Nicolo's actions were horrible, yet very human. It's clear he felt something towards Sasha, and he doesn't view Gabi or Falco as children in this scenario--he sees them as soldiers(or warriors), which is why he had no hesitation attacking a child.

  HOW DID YOU FEEL ABOUT MIKASA’S DISPLAY OF COMPASSION? 1,661 Responses

Nearly half of respondents were just pleased to see Mikasa get attention on anything that doesn’t involve Eren. 28% were simply just excited. A few agreed it was a good show of Mikasa having room in her heart to spare and a few wished she wouldn’t have interfered.

A great example that she cares for others and hates to see death especially from children. She does not want to let them have the same future as herself.

Loving Mikasa in this arc, it really feels like she's matured in those 4 years.

Extremely important. She's stopping Kaya from "stepping into the forest".

Honestly the most powerful scene in the chapter, along with Papa Braus putting down the knife.

I don't know how to feel. She didn't have the right.

Considering none of Sasha's friends attacked Gabi or Falco on the airship and Mikasa's always been like this I don't see what the big deal is. It could've easily be anyone else imo but I guess it's nice she's getting to do something other than wanting to get to Eren asap. I just wish she was given more to do when I still cared about her. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I never really liked Mikasa, but I adored this scene. It shows a part of her that we don't often get to see so plainly in my opinion. She prevented a very bad situation from unfurling by being a bit more merciful, even if only for Kaya's sake.

Mikasa used to be one of my favorites. Not anymore. Not after this.

it's nice i decided to not take a drink each time mikasa shows concern for someone other than eren and ppl react by saying "finally! she shows concern for someone other than eren!" i'd be a chronic alcoholic by then.

We don't all have a Mikasa to craddle us in her strong arms so i hope Gabi appreciates this eventually. She seems shook already.

  HAS THERE BEEN TOO MUCH ATTENTION ON SASHA’S DEATH? 1,657 Responses

Maybe it’s fate that this pie chart looks like a peace sign since fandom discussion on this topic is surprisingly civil. Very few people resent the attention Sasha has gotten. Only 11.9% are unhappy with it.

I appreciate how Sasha’s death this way is much more impactful than if she died how Isayama had originally planned.

I think there’s so much emphasis on Sasha’s death because 1. she made it so far with the group that they never thought they could lose her and 2. It’s peaceful enough on Paradis that they finally have time to mourn their dead (when before they had to figure out how to get back wall Maria and take out the titans).

I understand why people are frustrated that so much time has been spent on Sasha after her death, but I think there's a difference between spending time on her to mourn her death versus spending time on her death to advance the plot—revealing the wine scheme, yikes Falco+titan juice, Gabi's struggle with her indoctrination, discovering that even an integrated Marleyan like Nicolo isn't actually on Paradis's side. I think no other death in the series had as much potential to move the plot because because before now, the enemy was almost always a titan. A death at the hands of a human—moreover, a pseudo-protagonist and a child—in international warfare has a lot more to unpack in terms of what-happens-next than a death from a monstrous natural disaster.

  WILL KODANSHA EVER RELEASE A CHAPTER WITHOUT TYPOS? 1,646 Responses

We were so close to having “No but in red” end with 66.6% of the votes earlier last week! Nonetheless, we are all in agreement that Kodansha’s translations will never improve. Not even for the tankobon.

ChildEREN Of The Sun... maybe Kodansha are sending us a message

  WHAT ARE YOU MOST HOPING TO SEE NEXT CHAPTER? 1,665 Responses

With over 50% of the votes each, most of the fandom want so see the Yaegerbros reunite and catch a glimpse of the queen. In third place are the warriors (including their disguises, hopefully). Next on the list is a flashback to Eren’s time in Marley, while more Gabi and Falco ended in fifth place. Only 3 out of 10 people want to watch Monsterbowl.

Abs of anyone but Jeagers.

All of the above, and a pizza too, thanks.

What happened the to EMA conversation?

Historia's baby goes fetus deletus

Hange NOT turning into a titan.

This chapter has made me eager to see how Falco and Gabi would interact with the Warriors now that they are wiser. Also Zeke's plot has really thickened. Also, really appreciate the use of Sasha's death as more than just a GoT-esque stunt.

ANNIEEEEE

Eren and his horde. Zeke and Levi. The Warrior infiltration. Revelations on any other plots/schemes/conspiracies taking place on the island. Historia and her role in all of this. The arc is just beginning, but it's building up to something big. I can't wait for all this to finally blow up! Soon!

How widely the spiked wine was disseminated and drunk.

Floch, naked, in a stream with Eren, also naked, washing his back.

WHERE  DO YOU PRIMARILY DISCUSS THE SERIES? 1,600 Responses

Tumblr? Are you ok? We had more Facebook entries than yours.

  ADDITIONAL THOUGHTS ON THE CHAPTER?

Attack on Titan universe is 100% worth living in now that we know it has pizza.

Best birthday gift my dream comes true so many feels EEEEEEEEEEEEEEKKKKKKKK

Best boy Jean looked so hurt when Nikolo used a racial slur against him (to save him - you could tell Nikolo didn’t want to call him that) : (

Clean af. And it didn’t  even touch the more exciting plot lines: Yeager bros, Annie, Warriors, Historia.

FALCO PLEASE BE OKAY MY BABY

Gabi's actions are revealed, Nicola's actions are revealed, Zeke's potential plans are revealed, Pixis' possible plan is revealed, the Volunteers' plans are slowly unravelling, now we just need to move onto Zeke, Eren, Levi, and Reiner.

Haven't enjoyed a chapter this much in months.

I think this is the first time in more than a year and a half that people are gonna understand what I've been saying about Gabi all along. If people don't change their opinions on her from this chapter they just have their hate blinders on.

Honestly I think it was pretty boring compared to the past like 10 chapters, but also because the bar has been set really high. I'm expecting each chapter to be amazing, when in reality, I should be looking at the overarching story. That's what's amazing.

I thought I would hate this chapter as much as the one where pregnant Historia was revealed but I hate it a little less because Gabi is getting the character arc she deserves. I'm super worried for Falco BBY tho. And Nicolo is a dick.

I thought it was really great in displaying the manga's most important message: Stopping the cycle of hatred. Mr. Braus had all the reason to direct his hatred towards Gabi, but realised the world is cruel. It's eat or be eaten, just like in the forest. Gabi was a victim of propaganda and was indoctrinated into her beliefs.

I was initially disappointed this chapter didn't stick/continue with the chaos of last chapter, but was surprised at how much I enjoyed it.

It was a great chapter! However, if it had at least one panel of Eren, it would have been even better. I cannot wait for more!

Last Christmas chapter was crazy, here's hoping the next one will be as well! As for this chapter, I enjoyed it as usual but was a little frustrated that we still didn't get more information about Historia. I mean, her last real apperance was back in July! I really hope we'll get to see her before the new year but I've got a feeling we may not. Also Annie. Please let 2019 be our lucky year, she's been gone long enough…

NicoSasha is so cute...!!! I'm glad to finally see the most anticipated scene. Mr. Braus's speech was really emotional. Never felt so much better after reading a chapter. But felt bad for Falco. He doesn't deserve this.

Not a huge fan of how melodramatic the nicolo part was (I understand why he snapped, but no mater how angry/upset he was would someone in that situation jump straight to murder? Really?) but overall I enjoyed the chapter. Now I’m just eager to see what happens when eren shows up to the zevi picnic!

oh Nic, the things you do for love. Sasha -saved- 2 people now, Kaya from the 2m titan and Nicole from the hatred the war caused. I really, really miss her

Really really emotional and fantastic chapter..... I'm sort of sad at the discourse that this has sparked in the fandom, but that's nothing new honestly. If anything, it's a sign of fantastic writing that everyone always has such strong opinions in any direction. At this point I would be concerned if a chapter DIDN'T spark such strong opinons and controversy. I am moved by the amount of human compasion showed in every single corner of every single faction, and shocked by how attached I am to every sect. I'm nervous for the future but ready to start seeing some outcomes.

The character development in this series is absolutely incredible. Its way beyond the simple gorey/edgy battle shonen reputation that it received way back from season 1. The themes, the characters, the plot, the attention to detail have evolved so much that this series truly is one of my favorites of all time. Its reached the complexity and "realness" of Monster for me. This was one of the best chapters to date, I loved it!!

Yeah, I loved Sasha but I'm salty she gets so much focus after her death considering she wasn't that important in the overall story. Meanwhile Erwin got nothing despite the fact 90% of the events of the story would have happened very differently or not at all if he hadn't been there (no Levi in the SC, Eren  shipped off to the MP, no Uprising... etc.). I get she's the catalyst to Gabi's characater development but... wait, why does Gabi gets more screen time than most MCs in this story anyway? That's how many chapters with the main focus on her? Is she a MC now? Isayama changes MCs like he changes his undies I swear.

Nicolo was tempting the Braus family with a violent solution that promised quick satisfaction, while Kaya just lost her cool long enough to go with what had been offered to her on a silver platter. However, in return, the sight of the Braus parents and Kaya's raw sadness in the aftermath of the confrontation and what he almost made Kaya do returned Nicolo back to his own senses as well. They are all such wholesome characters despite the moments of weakness.

Gabi’s character arc seems very predictable, which is not a bad thing really, but i kinda want it to be done so that the story moved on to more interesting things and characters

I want to know what the warriors are doing. No one strong enough is watching over Annie right now so Pieck, Reiner and Porko might try to get her back in the next chapter.

I would have killed for just one panel of Historia or Eren.

Isayama handled the gabi-sasha-nicolo plot line well.

More questions , less answers ... every time Isayama does his thing.

[monkey-network]

Pink Diamond, Rose Quartz, & ‘Taking the Napkin First’

Okay, I’m “neat” enough to put this in further detail. I’m calling this an SU Critical Theory, for I wanted to express why Pink Diamond = Rose Quartz felt mishandled and why Pink, and by extension Sugar, should’ve considered the idea of ‘Taking the napkin first’, a simple phrase that generally has existed since societal beginnings, which would’ve made her character arc, by extension the story, a bit more ingenious and thought out for audiences, kids and adults alike.

But, what am I talking about with napkins and stuff? Well consider this scenario,

Suppose that you were sitting down at a table. The napkins are in front of you... which napkin would you take? The one on your “left”? Or the one on your “right”? Left or right side? The correct answer is that ‘It’s determined by the one who takes his or her own napkin first.’ If the first one takes the napkin to their right, then there’s no choice but for the others to also take the ‘right’ napkin. Same for the left. Everyone else will take the napkin to their left, because they have no other option. It is not about ownership, but understanding the worth of power.

Sounds bizarre right? Until you factor in that this is how society generally functions. Trendsetting is something people are typically against, but nevertheless follow through because inclusivity is something everyone strives for, for better or for worse. So, what the hell does this have to do with Steven Universe’s Rose and Pink? Well, I’ve come to believe that Pink should’ve have been the initial rebellion/Crystal Gem leader. If Pink Diamond was the one who stood against Homeworld, stood for Earth, while having Rose Quartz around, that would’ve worked better for the show overall. Keeping that quote in mind, roll with me here...

I remember in Now We’re Only Falling Apart where Pearl said Pink did everything she could as a diamond before becoming Rose, but that doesn’t/didn’t sit well with what was shown because what we see is Pink begging before Yellow and Blue, that’s all. I found everything to be great up until that point; we didn’t see her truly go on her own resolve until becoming Rose. So, instead of just becoming Rose to jumpstart events, I say she steps up as a diamond with a different path. Without Blue and Yellow’s permission or oversight, as Pink Diamond, she could head to Earth to express her pro-earth stance before her subjects and make them see her viewpoints without forcing it on them like what her others would expect from her. She brings herself to their level, still claiming her heritage while doing this less for selfish reasons. She’ll still come off as childish like before, using this newfound attitude as a means to spite her general kin, but also appears to want change and to be treated better by doing this. Hence, taking the napkin first. Her relationship with Pearl and the Diamonds hasn’t changed, but her presence as the catalyst in this story is given a better initiative because we’re given a different light of her uprising.

“But how would that work without the Diamonds noticing or set to finding out?” That is where her command comes in. To take the napkin first means that everyone must follow without question or choice, so it would be fair to say that while she shares her viewpoint on equal terms with her subjects on Earth, she demands that no one expresses what she states to gems of other colors, and will threaten anyone who dares to squeal. It’s using her authoritarian influence to keep Blue and Yellow from suspecting as well as giving her subjects the indication that she can mean business, making her look like she’s gradually gaining competence as a leader in the efforts to keep Blue and Yellow from noticing, like Connie keeping the truth about her eyesight from Priyanka. She’s not forcing a viewpoint, but she is taking precaution to who might get her message.

“But where does Rose Quartz fit into this story?” Well, if not the initial leader of the rebellion, Pink will still be Rose but will considerably be Pink’s 2nd in command next to Pearl. To take the napkin first means that someone must spread the awareness around next, and Rose is the perfect facade for Pink to influence the public because of who she represents: the common gem. While Pink tries to get to her subjects’ level, Rose will already be on their level and be the one that many can side and relate with more, all the while sharing the same message. Pink will still be the leader, while Rose is the boot on the ground, so to speak. PD’s the thinker, Rose is the doer, both playing a mutually proactive role in the story. This keeps the duality between Pink and Rose solid, but now there’s a stronger reason as to why Rose and Pink are never at the same place at once, why Rose getting poofed and exposed can ruin everything, and how Rose is the reasonable scapegoat for when things get serious, which I’ll get to later.

Furthermore, this provides the thought that Pink not only cared about salvaging life on Earth, but being there for her colony’s safety and prosperity as she treats them like individuals while disguised as one. With Rose being the next to take the napkin, this helps the rebellion take form within Pink’s colony without Pink Diamond doing it as herself. This makes Pink sort of patriotic in a way, beginning to worry less about personal desires while still acknowledging that she still has to be tyrannical in some fashion for things to get anywhere. To achieve her goals, she still plays a diamond but gets a kick out of being Rose, which helps give her later reformation as Rose a stronger and more empathetic purpose. And this keeps Garnet, Bismuth, Greg, Jasper, and Rose’s relationship the same as before while still leaving them in the dark; all in line with the events of the show. She’s still a manipulator, but the thought of seeing Rose and Pink being one in the same can be thought provoking nonetheless to the show’s characters and the audience, especially with what we see of her here. In addition, Blue and Yellow will still see Rose as the enemy of it all, their relationship with Pink not affected by this change of roles because of her keeping her actions a secret. 

“But why would she still keep this a secret from Garnet, Bismuth, and them?” Like the game of trendsetter, she has to be in control without anyone being able to point her out. Keeping the peace can mean that Rose can’t reveal everything to everyone except Pearl who’s relationship is like the one in the show but she now a better reason to not receive Pearl’s interest in her, which I’ll get to later. If Rose revealed herself as Pink, this could put a strain on things because she’s a Diamond and while Pink is a good diamond in the eyes of the team, they’re still considering the Homeworld Diamonds as enemies. You don’t wanna put people in a tight spot of conflict, so keeping this between her and Pearl would be the most sound idea. This keeps in line with Bismuth and Sapphire being rightfully shocked about this, but now the sense that she had to do it puts their turmoil over this revelation in a more nuanced conflict. How could you be mad at Rose for Pink’s overall decision making if this was the way it went? And this leads into....

“But how would she be able to shatter herself if she’s the initial leader of the rebellion?” Ah, now this is where things get tricky. I have said that Rose, Garnet, and Bismuth’s past relationships are the same, but now’s the time to express Pink, Garnet, and Bismuth’s relationship within this spin of mine.

With Bismuth, it’s simple because she’ll have a better connection with Rose than with Pink, acknowledging that while Pink is a inspiration leader to the gem army, she still has a bias against the diamonds and this puts a familiar strain on her and Rose’s bond with her introduction of the breaking point. Taking the napkin can be a blessing and a curse, again depending who takes the initiative, and Pink/Rose could see that Bismuth doing this could be dangerous on all accounts. Keeping with the show’s timeline, Rose still bubbles Bismuth knowing that not only is killing a diamond, her own kin, is a considerably bad idea, but this would put Pink in a tough position because this could reveal her as the true mastermind behind the rebellion because Bismuth came from her legion. Even with that slight difference, Bismuth’s arc in the show will generally play out the same though the perspective might be tweaked when she finally recognizes the hurdles Pink actually went through.

As for Pink and Garnet’s relationship, if Pink was originally leading, it would be similar to Bismuth except she would believe that Pink’s “shattering” would be for the greater good because of her status. Since she’s unaware of Rose being Pink, she’d think her action would be a justified sacrifice, believing Rose to be the better leader by comparison. With Pink taking the napkin first, Garnet would be okay with Rose replacing Pink because nothing would change, and the gem army would abide by this logic. Rose would realize this and accept that as the way it had to be; letting someone else make her cover up story for her and this gives her the opportunity to naturally start over as Rose. Garnet’s arc in the show will generally play out the same as well, with her still being mad at Rose for pulling strings, only this time there’s some nuance in her, or Sapphire, getting angry at herself as well knowing she agreed to some regretful decisions that Rose was fully aware of but didn’t speak on ‘em to keep Garnet content with her newfound life like before.

And as for Jasper and Pink’s relationship, there wouldn’t be any because her only considerable enemy would be Rose. Unaware of her true identity, therefore her actual influence on the Crystal Gems and rebellion, she would be like the Diamonds and find Rose to be the only threat in their path. When she sees Rose shatter Pink, that’ll still be all she sees. Her treatment towards Steven and her awareness of Rose’s identity wouldn’t have to change since it was never her duty to uncover Pink’s ruling.

Her and Pearl’s relationship would have a little more weight to it. On one hand, she loves Pearl and starts to treat her less like a servant and more like a partner. But, being both the leader and the head soldier, there lies a bubbling conflict in her that she can’t get too into Pearl or the sentimentality can ruin things. Her resolve in seeing things through can be expressed in Pearl claiming she became more stand offish, yet still respectful and loving, as the war went on. She wants to give Pearl the world, but this spin makes her more selfless and by extension an indirect yet justified tease of Pearl’s affection. This is maturity.

Though her and White Diamond’s relationship could mean a different yet similar spin for the better because even when if we she her step up a diamond rebel leader and all she’s put into leading as herself and as Rose, White would still consider everything she’s worked for as a game, still believing Pink is her bratty self, and all the events of everyone’s lives to be a fun pass time. With this or the show’s take on Pink, White’s grasp of the situation is an interesting one, but I won’t say much else on this matter.

As for Blue and Yellow, things would play out exactly like in the show. The diamonds would consider Earth a lost cause and still wouldn’t heed to Pink’s word in things, which would make Pink feel like they still don’t care about her, even after all she’s accomplished as herself, leading to Pearl & her faking her assassination as a message that her era as a Diamond is over, with Rose taking over without question, and the rest would be history.

So with all this, why would I consider this change in character if it doesn’t really affect the show that much? Well one, I am (was) shitfaced. Two, this would honestly make Pink Diamond/Rose Quartz a way better character because if you take into account everything I’ve added, you could make the argument that she’s actually an amazing villain that has done no wrong. Instead of changing the way the world works or how gems think, this Pink Diamond would take advantage of how the world, or gem society, works.

That is why she should’ve been the one to ‘take the napkin first’, lead Earth to rebel, only for her alter ego to subtly replace her, freeing her from Homeworld’s hierarchy while still leading the gems to freedom. Even after faking her death, Pink would generally be replacing herself with herself, attributing to a sense of selflessness in an idea that what she wants to accomplish is much bigger than herself. While people can consider Pink a terrible person, one can argue that she is objectively a more ethical and just character in the story. The Rose shattering Pink storyline would have a better effect on how the gems viewed Rose and the war itself. The struggle for Steven and the others to come to terms with Pink being a diamond but one with better intentions would be an interesting case. Pink and Jasper’s conflicting ideals would be a strong duality between selfless and selfish natures. While this Pink would act out of selfless intent to benefit her colony and her personal desire to keep Earth beautiful, it wouldn’t change the fact that she plotted war, was involved in political corruption, and responsible for the death and literal corruption of her legion. This Pink Diamond would understand what it means to be a good person, a borderline mature person, so she knows that some of the things she acts upon are risky to the point of dangerous. 

One may think this doesn’t add anything but it still offers the audience a valid question: Is this character truly selfless and acting in the pursuit of the greater good for Earth’s safety and the benefit of her gem colony or are her beliefs nothing but a lie she’s told herself over and over again accepting it as truth when in reality, after all those years, she failed to admit that what she’s doing was for herself all along and never should’ve continued? Considerably the same argument the show made, but with a bit more weight in the debate and nuance. I’m just saying if Sugar wanted people to think Rose is an awful person, this would’ve been a great way of going about that instead of what we got.

That is why I think Pink Diamond should’ve taken the napkin first.

[multifandomaddictedfangirl]

Misconceptions about Breaking bad ~ my theory (Spoilers!)

So I’ve just finished watching Breaking Bad. All seasons. I really loved the show. It was well written, well directed, well thought in every details, very well played with such talented actors. It is a masterpiece. Clearly, it was a show that had been thought of and worked on for a while to be perfect (like no plot holes, no OOC actions, no wasted moments, no pointless moves, no useless lines, etc.). Besides, this show had everything: badass action, fighting scenes, tension, drama (big time), humor sometimes (not often) and emotions (a lot).

However, I think there is a HUGE misunderstanding to what this show is about and an ENORMOUS misconception of why it’s so good and really likeable.

A lot of people I have met IRL, or read online, really loved this show as well. That’s not a surprise. As I’ve said, this show was really good for a lot of reasons and I will never deny that.

But as I was reading them/talking to them IRL, I’ve realised something. They loved Breaking Bad because they loved the story and the character of Walter White. They loved the story of an american middle aged white man, with a normal life, a traditional family and a boring job, becoming this super extra badass who ends up building and controlling a meth empire. Usually, they particularly loved season 3-4 when Walt is supposedly at its greatest moments. They loved Walter White and what he has become: a badass, a smart ass meth dealer, a dominating boss, a good provider for his family... a real man. They loved him as a hero. They loved him as a protagonist who should succeed and get what he wants in the end. They loved him as a character that they were rooting for. They also loved the dream of a normal guy starting off nothing and ending up being the big boss in the game. They loved the idea of having this exciting/dangerous/ illegal/ outlawed/badass “dream life”. Like in an action movie. They loved the fantasy that Breaking Bad exposes.

So here’s the thing... Those people don’t like Breaking Bad. Because that’s not the show. That’s not its point. That’s not its essence. That’s not what it’s trying to show us. That’s not what it’s about. At all.

Obviously, there are multiple interpretations and levels of lecture in a piece of art. And I don’t think some are overall better than others. I think it’s pretty condescending and arrogant to believe there is a “good way” of consuming medias/arts, and a “bad way”. There are just different ways. And that’s great.

However, if you pay attention to the show, for like 10 minutes, it’s pretty clear what it is about.

Breaking Bad is a criticism of Walter White and of this fantasy of a badass action-movie lifestyle. The whole point of the show is basically to say: “Look at that kind of lifestyle society makes you fantasise about, and look how you really don’t want to have it cause it actually sucks. Look at how you DON’T and SHOULDN’T want to become Walter White.”

Walter White isn’t portrayed as a glorious badass mastermind hero by the show. He shouldn’t be read like that. Of course, he is the main protagonist and so, the audience is meant to follow his story. But Walt is first portrayed as a bad guy. Not only like a villain. But as a bad person. Someone you should despise for his personality. Someone who should disgust you. Someone you should hate for who he truly is. Someone you shouldn’t be rooting for. Someone you should quite quickly want dead.

When the show begins, yes, he is portrayed as a normal family man, working a basic job, providing for his family which he seems to care about. But the show already makes it clear that he is a very proud man, who thinks he deserves better than his current life, who thinks he can do better and have better just because. Just cause he is Walter White, a chemistry genius. His world, what he has, doesn’t seem to be enough for him.

(Btw some of my friends argued that Walter White wasn’t such a bad person in the beginning of the show, and that “the meth dealing turned him into an asshole”. While I would agree with that, I also wanna point out that in the beginning of the show, Walt isn’t the greatest person neither... His life is built around a very sexist scheme. He always expects Skyler to do breakfast for him and basically all the housework, because she is his housewife and that’s the way things are supposed to be. We never see him being grateful for what she does. If he’s the only one working, “providing for his family”, it’s more likely because he didn’t want Skyler to. Skyler is a competent woman, she could have found a job with a better income than high school teacher. But I don’t think Walt, fulled with pride, would have accepted to be taken care of by his wife. He wanted to be the alfa male since day one. Because he more likely already had internalised pride, sexism and toxic masculinity and fake virility. We never see him share his true feelings with Skyler. He doesn’t want to look vulnerable. Never. He’s never real with anybody. He refuses to admit that he feels bad about his life and prefers to hide behind a mask, which he will continue to do throughout the show. Because expressing your true feelings to someone who cares about you is not an alfa male move, so Walt rejects this idea. So no, I don’t believe Walter White was such a great person in the beginning. He already was an asshole. He just became waaaaaaaay worse.)

Anyway, then he got diagnosed with cancer. And the money issue appears. If the family pays for Walter’s chemotherapy, they will take a huge risk of bankrupt. They need more money. The family needs more money. But let’s note that Walt’s friends, Eliot and Gretchen, DO propose to pay for his therapy. But Walter refuses, again because of his pride. All the events that follow, all the murders, all the meth dealing, all the horrors, EVERYTHING could have been avoided if Walter White hadn’t decided to be an arrogant jerk and say “suck it” to genuine help.

The money and the (supposedly) rightful idea providing for his family will be Walter’s justifications for ALL his actions during the ENTIRE show (even when his cancer is cured and the family doesn’t necessarily needs this huge amount of money anymore).

The truth is Walt never just wanted the money for chemotherapy or to help his family. He wanted the money because money equals power and influence. And Walt dreamed of power and control over the others. He wanted to be the only one capable of providing, the one everyone else would praise, admire and thank for the rest of his life. He wanted to be a god. Before even cooking his first batch, he already was a narcissist self-centered and arrogant prick, only thinking about his own good.

When he starts to cook meth, it just becomes even worse. The show gets darker, bloodier, more violent. Everything breaks bad, as thev title of the show clearly explicits. Walt finds a new way to express his desire of control, his dream of being finally respected/feared, and the silent violence which he was hidding inside of him.

(I think Walt somehow wants to turn the symbolic violence he was victim of (not being manly enough, especially compared to his brother-in-law, Hank who kinda bullies him in the beginning of the show) into a physical violence he is now in control of).

He then becomes a monster, who is capable of the most cruel, creepy, insane actions to get what he wants. He completely looses sense of reality. If we sum up what he did: he started cooking meth, he missed his daughter’s birth because of the meth dealing, he lied to everybody who cared about him, he tricked his DEA agent brother-in-law Hank, he mentally abused and manipulated Jesse to make him his puppet, he provoked Hank’s accident paralysing him for a while, he turned Junior against Skyler, he abused Skyler and made her part of his business letting her no other choice, he killed Gus’s men, he disolved murdered bodies in acid, he let Jane died while he could have saved her, he made Jesse kill Gale, he blew up a old people’s house killing Gus and hurting multiple innocents, he told nazis where Andrea lived and therefore caused her death, he ordered killings in prison, he blackmailed Hank with a fake confession video, he kidnapped Holly, he caused Hank and Gomez’s deaths, he killed Krazy8, he killed Mike, and he poisoned a child.

And the show makes it pretty clear that it’s not sane, that NONE of this is cool/badass, that it’s just miserable actions provoked by a desperate man, that it will just bring him sadness, loneliness, loss, misery and disfurtune, that Walt slowly but surely goes down this path of destruction and cruelty and that he will never come back. That what he once had (a family who loved and respected him, friends who cared about him, friendly neighbors, a stable job which had always been enough to provide for the family, a beautiful house, a great life, really) will be gone forever. And he will never get all of that back. Even if Walt just realises that in the final episodes.

His problematic lack of trust (even towards Jesse who never betrayed him!), his egocentric paranoia (the fact that he always thinks he is the center of some sort of conspiracy in the meth empire, despite the fact that it is a huge business and he is just not alone in this), his insane quest of power (the fact that he is never happy with what he has and always wants to extend his market/to extend his influence) and his huge PRIDE will always and constantly lead him to making huge mistakes and screwing up everything, making everything way worse. Walt is often the cause of his own failures.

But rather than learning from his mistakes, grow up and adapt, those mistakes just reinforce his beliefs, his fears, his desires, and justifies somehow even more his further actions. Walt is stuck in a vicious circle that, you know already from season 1-2, will lead him towards his end.

Everytime Walt tries something, he fails. He is not a badass mastermind meth dealer. He takes a lot of stupid decisions because he is too impulsive and doesn’t know how things really work in the real life. There is plenty of things he doesn’t know, even if he never admits it. He always have more competent person around him to do the job. Sure he cooks meth better than anybody else (except maybe Jesse in season 5), but meth dealing isn’t just cooking. Without Jesse, without Gus, without Mike, Walt would have never been Heisenberg.

Relying on other isn’t a bad thing (on the contrary), but that’s not what Walt does. Walt USES people. He manipulates them, he mentally ABUSES them, destroys their self esteem, threatens them, makes them believe they have no other choices but to order him. He did that with Jesse (big time), and also with Skyler for instance. The truth is Walt sucks and he needs others but he always denies it because he doesn’t want to admit that he is vulnerable and lost and that he actually is not “the big boss in the game”.

And whenever he makes a decision by himself (usually to cross someone), he FAILS. Like dramatically. He always puts himself in a position that is worse, usually more dangerous, just because he couldn’t shut up and keep his pride. Yes, sometimes, he also succeeds but it’s then quickly shown that what he thought was a success will turn up against him.

Even when Walt does look badass, it’s during short moments taken apart from big story. Yes, if you take some scenes out of context, Walt looks cool. But if you just take some time to analyse the context, than the scenes loose all its power and Walt appears the way he is inside: powerless, weak, insecure, pathetic.

For instance, when Walter says to his wife “I’m the danger”, it’s not meant to be seen as a badass line (and it has, by many people). It’s pathetic because he has, at that point in the show, lost control in his professional life. So he’s trying to regain control and influence in his private life by terryfing someone who looks weaker than him. He cannot hurt or scare his actual enemies in the meth empire because they are more powerful than him. He is at this point lost, confused and vulnerable. He needs to regain his manhood, his position of power, his role of alfa male. So to do so, he decides to terrify his wife, who is just a normal person and doesn’t know the meth world (and so, who has to take anything Walt says for granted). He’s like a bully, in school, attacking the weakest because they are in quest of manhood and influence. And we know bullies are actually the most insecure kids.

Besides, when Walt fails, he doesn’t even admit he screwed up, says sorry and learns from his mistakes. He denies he made a mistake and takes the blame on others. That’s, again, profoundly PATHETIC. He lies to everyone. While he claims that he doesn’t want anybody’s pity, he keeps lying to make it look like he was just the victim of unfortunate events against him. That’s why Walt isn’t even a good likeable villain. He denies what he truly wants (money, power, control, sense of manhood...), he hides behind a fake justification, and he doesn’t realise or admit that his means are deeply cruel (murder, mental abuse, meth dealing, child poisoning, lying, bloodbath assassinations...). Even if he has convinced himself he’s doing all of this for a good reason (provide for his family), it’s like he is not aware of the monstrosity of his actions. He never admits he has become a merciless monster. Not to his family, not to his wife, not to his partners in crime. Most villains would say: “I believe what I do is fair and justified, but to do so, I have to become a monster and do unspeakable things and that’s what I’m gonna do”. But Walt doesn’t.

(Walt would probably say something like “I’m a good person, I want to help my family which totally explains all my actions which weren’t even THAT bad if you look at it a certain way and there was no other choice anyway, I’m just a victim, but I’m still powerful, but I had to, but I’m in control.” And honestly? UGH.)

Walt is a looser, who tries to hide the fact that he sucks. He is not a badass, or a mastermind. He’s mostly scared, pathetic and lost. Breaking Bad always show us that. Breaking Bad is about the fail and the path towards the end of Walter White. It’s about Walt becoming worse and worse, but not by doing things more and more illegal/horrible. He’s becoming worse and worse as a person. More pathetic as the show evolves. More miserable. More lost. More desperate. And he ends up with NOTHING.

Walter White looses everything. His friends are so terrified of him that they don’t want to have any contact with him. His wife completely despise him. His son is ashamed and disgusted of him. His daughter will grow up without a father. His former associates are mostly dead. His partner, Jesse, hates him and runs away from him. Walt dies alone, abandonned by everyone, knowing nobody will miss him and that he has failed to do what he first wanted (take care of his family), that the person he once was, who had a great life actually, is gone.

The show makes it very clear that following Walter’s path is not something cool. It’s not something you should want or dream about. Because in your fantasy, the meth business is badass and cool and fun. But in reality, it’s difficult, horrifying, dangerous and life-ruining. The point of the show is to stay: Walt got stuck in this because he was, and always had been, a proud, narcissist and pathetic person and he has LOST everything when he tried to be the badass he never was.

This fictional lifestyle, based on pride, toxic masculinity and badass action fantasy, that is nourished by a lot of fictions and medias that we consume, is BAD (hence the title). The show criticises it over and over again.

And in my opinion, that’s why it’s so good. The show doesn’t glorify what society already praises to be the dream. It questions it, it shows us its true nature, and criticises it. At the end, Breaking Bad isn’t just a badass exciting action-movie turned into a serie (it would have been quite boring if it was). It’s more than that. It tells a story about us as human, as people, and it deconstructs a fantasy we all have had at some point. And it does it perfectly. So I really loved this show, but it saddened me to see so many people having this misunderstanding about what the show was trying to say.

[fullmetalirin]

Fullmetal Alchemist: Episode 49

This is gonna be a big one. This is the episode that raises OG from good to sublime.

Fullmetal Alchemist Episode 49: "The Other Side of the Gate"

Envy delivers Alphonse to the leader of the homunculi in the city hidden beneath Central. Edward soon discovers the city thanks to a page from Nash's diary, leading to a final confrontation with Dante. Edward also learns that Dante is planning to transfer her soul to Rosé's body using the philosopher's stone from within Alphonse. She then sends Edward through the Gate of Truth and he awakens to find himself and Hohenheim in a wartorn London.

We open with Bradley giving his gift to Selim (a toy train). Selim behaves much more like a real kid here, I feel; Brotherhood!Pride was really overacting.

Envy knows Dante is stringing everyone along, but he doesn't care – he just wants to watch the world burn.

Envy reveals that 7000 soldiers were absorbed at Liore. I thought it was 1000? Al gets upset and feels like he should have died instead.

Apparently, Dante's secret city was the "real" Philosopher's Stone lab. Ed enters by just tearing a hole open instead of using Dante's method.

So, the underground city appears to be where Dante and Hohenheim lived 400 years ago. The Tringhams speculate they used everyone in the city to make the Philosopher's Stone, which seems to contradict the flashback in 45 where the city still seemed intact after they made it.

Dante is creeping on Rose. She seems to have been put in some sort of trance.

Gluttony is upset about Lust, but Dante waves him off.

Wrath is upset about Sloth. Dante coldly tells him homunculi don't have mothers, and he can't make demands of her because he's not human.

Wrath keeps leaping at them, but Envy effortlessly knocks him aside, building his credibility as the final boss.

Izumi's strength is fading against Archer as she coughs up blood, but Ross and Brosh rescue her. Izumi asks where Ed is, and Ross reiterates her thing about adults needing to believe in children.

Dante makes Rose dance with Ed. Is Dante planning to take Ed as her husband? Ick.

Ed figures out Dante's bodyhopping pretty quickly. The deduction that Greed didn't kill her is reasonable, but the rest is a bit of a jump.

Ed throws a spear at her, and she vaporizes it in midair. Ehhh, that's wonky but she is supposed to be the ultimate alchemist. She may still have some red stone, too. Ed uses that to confirm she's Dante, as she transmutes without a circle.

Dante doesn't give an exact number of bodies, but she says it's been less than ten.

Dante confirms they used the residents of the city, as well as "the nation to the east" – that would be Xerxes, I suppose.

Dante says Hohenheim was the one who actually made the Stones.

Dante frames her actions as virtuous, saying she's keeping people away from the Stone so they don't misuse it.

Dante claims she is no longer human. She does have homunculi eyes...

And yep, she just said she wanted to bang Ed – specifically, "Hohenheim's son". Why are you so creepy, Dante. I guess this could be an extension of her general hedonism.

Ed tells Gluttony Wrath killed Lust, making him BSOD.

Dante attacks Ed with a rock snake. He dodges and cuts her bodice, revealing the rot has nearly reaches her heart. That seems… fast. It's been, what, a week? That strikes me as a bit of an inconsistency, as she was clearly in her previous body for many years. We can perhaps fanwank that she botched the transfer due to running out of Philosopher's Stone; this would also explain why she's convinced she can overcome the rot if she gets a new one.

Ed… somehow deduced this already as well. He cites equivalent exchange: this is their punishment for their evil. And now we get my favorite scene:

DANTE: Equivalent exchange? Do you still believe in that childish theory? EDWARD: It's no theory! It's the law of alchemy… no, of the whole world! You're the one who said so, aren't you? That in order to obtain anything, it requires something of equal value? DANTE: That's something that only a child would say. Like "make everything equal," or "that wouldn't be fair." However, there's no such thing as equivalent exchange. […] To gain, something of equal value must be lost… In that case, if you reverse it… if you pay a price… you are certain to obtain something, right? EDWARD: That's right. That's why people put forth an effort to pay the price. DANTE: But there's something strange about that. After all, even if you pay the same price, you can't always necessarily obtain the same thing. […] Consider the State Alchemist exam which you passed with flying colors. How many others took the test that day? Spent months, years preparing, some working much harder than you? Yet you were the only one who passed. Where was their reward? Is it their fault they lacked your natural talent?

This moment is, to me, the heart and soul of OG. How many stories have the bravery to do this? To spit on the hero's hard work and natural talent both, to destroy the comforting fantasy of a fair world? To tell the hero that he is wrong? Because he is – Dante is right. But it goes even deeper than that. There's a reason why it's the villain who propagates this lie. In the dub translation, Dante specifically says it's a lie the oppressed tell themselves – and that's key. That's key to so many of the things that are so wrong with our lives, our culture, and our world. This lie controls people. If the world is fundamentally just, then what happens to you can't possibly be anyone's fault but your own. If you're attacked by a mugger, it's because you didn't try hard enough to defend yourself. If you're dying of starvation, it's because you didn't work hard enough to provide for yourself. But if someone else gains riches and fame? Well, they must have just worked so hard for it! It's ad-hoc reasoning: you see the effect, and then you say everyone must have done something to deserve it. And if you can get the people you're subjugating to believe it too, you've won. You've created a populace who will oppress themselves for you. Those people dying of starvation and disease and brutality, they don't deserve the barest scrap of aid, and they're leeches for thinking they do. Those toddlers ICE is murdering at the border right now, they must have done something to deserve it, or their parents did, somehow. Someone, somewhere, did something that justifies everything the oppressors do, we're sure. You can cut someone's throat and tell them they deserved it, and they'll believe you.

Dante actually proceeds to demonstrate this exact example by holding Rose's baby hostage.

DANTE: And people's lives are not all equal, either. If I just clap my hands, this baby won't survive. […] And if I do it, where is the world's balance in that? Does it mean the baby was only born so that it could die?

She goes on to bring up privilege as well, pointing out some people work their whole lives and still die in poverty while others are born into luxury.

I don't think it's a coincidence that it's also the mastermind of a violently imperialist culture who's saying this, either. Just world goes hand in hand with sunk cost. If you made a mistake, you just need to keep working harder to fix it. Because you must be getting something for everything you're sacrificing, right? That's proof you need to make more sins and more sacrifices because one day, somehow, it'll all be worth it and you can undo all those mistakes. That's how Dante gets people desperate enough to make homunculi. That's how she gets people desperate enough to sacrifice thousands of people for a Philosopher's Stone. That's how she gets good people to commit genocide for her. That's why Edward has been doing all of this from the start. It's the perfect lie.

This is what changes OG from just "a good TV show" to true art, to me. It's so incredibly rare to see popular culture or even academia address these issues so brazenly and openly. This is a message we need to hear. It's far too easy, especially in a capitalistic culture, to fall into this comforting lie. And stories are some of the biggest peddlers of the just world fallacy. Stories are designed by a guiding intelligence. In stories, everything does make sense, everything does happen for a reason, justice is often served in some form or another. We need to hear that sometimes, but it's so dangerous to really believe it. It's scary to acknowledge that there is no inherent justice to the world, that effort can be wasted, that bad things can happen to good people, that there's nothing to catch you if you fall. But it's the truth, and denying that will just hurt you far more in the long run. That is the biggest reason why I respect OG so much, despite the slow pacing and the awkward setups and the somewhat rushed conclusion – that's all worth it for this. It did something very brave and it deserves commendation for that.

In terms of the specific framing, I think Dante's character can also be taken as a criticism of ivory tower elitism; not coincidentally the kind of people likely to buy into the just world fallacy. She claims that alchemy can do so much good for people, yet she has made the decision that they are not to be trusted with it – she is, of course, the only one with the wisdom and intelligence to use the power responsibly. And obviously, this is a bald-faced lie – just an excuse to hoard all the power for herself. She cloisters herself, doing everything through proxies of proxies because coming to any personal harm is unthinkable to her, yet she slaughters people like cattle for her own uses. She claims she's ascended beyond the flaws of humanity, yet she's so disgustingly greedy and hedonistic she can't wait to kill an innocent girl just so she can bang her boyfriend's teenage son. She's a warning to all of us never to think our knowledge and class makes us better than other people, never to think that it excuses us from examining our own flaws.

Now, this is, effectively, the "final boss" – there's a bit of conflict after this, but it's not really a full-on battle. Cinematically, Ed vs. Dante is objectively disappointing, yes – they exchange, like, two attacks and that's it. But as I've said before, that's not what OG is trying for in the first place. The sphere of this conflict is philosophical, not martial, and by that scale this is just as intense as Brotherhood's final battle. Dante effortlessly dismantles the philosophy Ed has lived by all his life, and the philosophy the narrative itself seemed to be telling us. In the face of this, Ed is completely unable to make any logical refutation. That is powerful. A flashy fight scene entertains you and then it's over, but this is the kind of confrontation that sticks with you. Can you prove Dante wrong? We all want to, but it's so hard. You have to come up with your own refutation, your own reason to keep on fighting in the face of this painful truth; it's on the audience to truly defeat the villain.

[helshades]

The Brodinsons: Kings of Asgard

Extracted from here for reasons related to practicality.

Quotation 1

“I start in the film as Thor’s younger brother and I think in the manner of all younger brothers I have a greater sense of freedom. I’m not the oldest therefore the parental expectations aren’t as heavy, so it’s like a lot of younger children in sibling groups; I think Loki has a bit more freedom. He’s not going to be King. He knows that. And so he’s freer to… he has less responsibility on his shoulders so he’s freer to have a bit more fun. And I think like everybody at Marvel has been very clear and brilliant about coming into this that Loki just has… they’re both enormously gifted. Thor and Loki are a two-man team and they’re both going to run Asgard when Odin steps down, and Thor has an ability and a physicality and a presence—a physical presence that is… he’s the type of man you follow. You just do. In the same way they used to talk about all the leaders and the captains and the generals that came out of both World Wars that those captains and generals weren’t necessarily elected just in battles. There were certain men who were followed. You know, leaders were born and Thor is that guy. And Loki’s gifts are different in that he is sharper, he’s cleverer, he’s more interested in tactics and strategy. He’s capable of thinking ahead and he enjoys chaos. So he enjoys reacting to chaos and that affects how given that he’s the God of mischief. Mischief is essentially chaos. He likes stoking the fire of chaos and seeing what happens as a result.”

                 — Tom Hiddleston on Loki, 2011 interview by Collider during the production of the first Thor film.

Quotation 2

“Thor is the favoured son, and destined to be heir to the throne of Odin and that kind of rubs Loki the wrong way, but at the same time they’ve had a great experience growing up together. Odin has been a tough but good and fair father to both of them.”

                  — Kevin Feige, quoted in the Art of Thor official book.

Quotation 3

                        ODIN           Do you think he's ready?                         FRIGGA           He thinks he is. He has his          father's confidence.                         ODIN           He'll need his father's wisdom.                         FRIGGA           And his humility?           Odin reacts.          FRIGGA (CONT'D)           Thor won't be alone. Loki will be          at his side to give him counsel.          Have faith in your sons.  

                — Deleted scene from Thor, to be read in the original script.

“Thor and Loki are a two-man team and they’re both going to run Asgard when Odin steps down”

“Thor won’t be alone. Loki will be at his side to give him counsel.”

I don’t think it has been pointed out enough that Odin and Frigga had always intended to have both of their sons rule Asgard, and that Thor and Loki themselves have long been a rather efficient team. Here’s to hoping they’ll get the occasion to be one again. (Before one stabs the other and runs away with the silverware, of course.)

star-sought-light:

I agree with everything you say. I was also reminded of the scene where Frigga *gives* Loki the throne; clearly, she thought him capable of being king, even when Loki initially refused, and it does feel like a further piece of evidence that both were loved and both considered equally capable of rule. Although why Thor over Loki, when they admit Thor wasn't ready?

The last question was just a criticism of them, but I haven't enough characters to express that. It seemed to make sense with the original script that Odin meant for Loki to rule Jotunheim, but - without that scene - makes little sense, as they're picking the seeming less capable child to rule over the capable one.

Quotation 4

“It's been in the works for many years, right, since we finished Dark World. What has Loki been doing on that throne in guise of Odin? And we always liked the idea that he was doing a good job! He was doing a good, but shortsighted job. The trains were running on time, but he wasn't paying attention to anything else going on in the universe or in the realms.”

                — Kevin Feige, interviewed by CinemaBlend shortly before the release of Thor: Ragnarök.

We have often discussed between us the fact that Loki is much more like Odin than many, including himself, would like to think; something that Taika Waititi had Hela comment upon in Ragnarök, in fact: ‘You sound like him’. No matter their differences, Loki was very much Odin’s son. He inherited the sharp wit and calculating mind of both his adoptive parents, in reality, whereas Thor had his father’s hubris but his mother’s heart. On the other hand, Thor is clever, much cleverer than everyone usually give him credit for, while Loki is somewhat less of the strategical mastermind than too many people have decided he had to be... After all, Loki makes up a lot of it as he goes along, and he lacks self-perception to a ludicrous extent—he lacks wisdom, probably because he lacks the humility and empathy necessary for change, and wisdom requires the capacity for change, like Thor, on the contrary, demonstrated in learning from his mistakes.

I’m not entirely sure this was the entire reason for Odin and Frigga choosing Thor over Loki for occupying the throne of Asgard, though; I would say the main reason for this was, quite plainly, the reality of Loki’s birth first and foremost. Not that it make him unworthy, but it seems highly likely that his true parentage would have eventually caused some turmoil within the realm... This is not the only thing, either.

Thor isn’t only an Asgardian citizen nor even an Asgardian prince; he is of the line of Odin, the line of Borr and of Búri (the former appearing in the prologue of The Dark World, the latter cited in behind-the-scenes material as the king who had the oldest part of Asgard built) before them. He descends from the founders of Asgard, you see, and, like his father Odin and his older sister Hela, Thor derives most of his power from the very people of Asgard. There is much to speculate here, but it would be hard not to state right away that the kings of Asgard are almost one with their people, and that in order for Asgard to prosper, a king of the line of Búri must occupy the throne. Which is not to say that Loki or someone else couldn’t be king, only that he would probably lack in power and oversight somewhat.

Remember that Thor, prior to Ragnarök, had visions of Asgard’s impending doom, whereas Loki saw nothing—and when warned about them under Odin’s guise he dismissed them as ‘just a silly dream... signs of an overactive imagination’. The Odinforce was never cited in the Marvel Cinematic Universe but it is very tempting indeed to assume that Thor, has inherited more from his mighty father than a throne.

          FRIGGA (CONT'D)           Thor won't be alone. Loki will be          at his side to give him counsel.          Have faith in your sons.                         ODIN           Yes, but Thor's still a boy. He          could be a great King...           Odin stops, notices HIS HAND SHAKING. It seems to be out of          synch temporally with the rest of the world, leaving a trail          as it moves. He stares at it determinedly, concentrating,          trying to stop the strange event through the force of his          sheer will.          Finally, the occurrence subsides, his hand normal once more.          A worried Frigga covers his hand with her own.          ODIN (CONT'D)                         (QUIETLY)           ...if we only had more time.                         FRIGGA           For once, our son needs something          we cannot provide.                         ODIN           I can fight it a little longer...                         FRIGGA           No. You've put it off too long! I          worry for you.           He touches her cheek.                          ODIN           I've destroyed demons and monsters,          devastated whole worlds, laid waste          to mighty kingdoms, and still you          worry for me?                         FRIGGA           Always.  

                         LOKI           It all makes sense now. Why you          favored Thor all these years.                         ODIN           Listen...                         LOKI           Because no matter how much you          claim to "love" me, you could never          have a Frost Giant sitting on the          Throne of Asgard!           Odin's body begins to shake, he lifts his hand. It starts to          move out of synch temporarily, leaving a trail, the effect of          the Odinsleep approaching. Loki doesn't notice as Odin tries          to fight it off.                         ODIN           Listen to me!           Loki strides away towards the exit.          ODIN (CONT'D)           Loki!           Odin starts towards him, when the enormous mental, emotional,          and physical strain of recent events finally takes its toll.          The effect of the Odinsleep consumes him. His entire body          now moves out of sync with the rest of the world, leaving          trails behind him as he staggers backwards.          Odin falls back against a wall, his face contorting in a          scream. He collapses to the stone floor.          Loki, shocked, hurries to him. He takes Odin in his arms,          calls out.                         LOKI           Guards!  

Inattentive people have made fun of Odin’s ‘convenient Odinsleep’ for a long time, but the truth is, Odin had been putting off this indispensable regeneration of his physical faculties, which he underwent once a year, for too long prior to the events of Thor, precisely because he sensed grave developments in the near future and wanted to be able to control whatever Thor wouldn’t know how. Of course, we know that Odin had been doing all he could to push back the inexorable advent of Ragnarök... and it seems more and more likely that he might have cheated death for quite a long time, in all likelihood using the Odinsleep, in the knowledge that as long as he kept alive, Hela’s reign of terror would be kept at bay. At the very least, he would be affording time for his sons to grow up, and especially for Thor to grow strong enough to, maybe, with hope, go against his sister one day.

          61 INT. ODIN'S CHAMBERS - DAY 61          Frigga sits at her husband's bedside, holding his hand. Odin          lies there—looking pale and lifeless, his body and the          space around it warped from the effect of the Odinsleep. The          walls of the chamber have moved close around him, protecting          him like a dark crypt, sealing off any daylight.          Loki sits at Odin's side, across from Frigga. She speaks          softly to him.                         FRIGGA           I asked him to be honest with you          from the beginning. There should          be no secrets in a family.                         LOKI           So why did he lie?                         FRIGGA           He kept the truth from you so that          you would never feel different.          You are in every way our son, Loki,          and we your family. You must know          that.           Loki takes this in, stares at Odin.          FRIGGA (CONT'D)                         (RE: ODIN)           You can speak to him. He can see          and hear us, even now.                         LOKI           How long will it last?                         FRIGGA           I don't know. This time is          different. We were unprepared.                         LOKI           I never get used to seeing him like          this. The most powerful being in          the Nine Realms lying helpless          until his body is restored.                         FRIGGA           But he's put it off for so long          now, I fear...

Once again, I’m also left wondering whether Loki wasn’t actually the son of the same mother who gave birth to Hela—we could call her Fárbauti, since there was one in the comics and since, like in the comics, the mythological mother of Loki, Laufey, was turned into a male in Marvel lore; or Angrboða, the mother of Hel in the myths. Note that if this were true, it would give Odin an acutely realistic reason for hiding the truth of his birth from Loki, in spite of his wife’s preference for telling him from the beginning. If Asgard’s bloodier past must be obfuscated, and Hela’s very existence forgotten by all, any mention of Loki’s dangerous lineage would have required similar secrecy.

It may also be, in the same vein, that Odin was well aware of Loki’s instability, be it linked to his true parentage or not, and wished him away from absolute power. Indeed, Thor himself wasn’t that much readier for kingship, but he was a hot head more than anything, whereas Loki’s ‘mischief’ evidently always had crueller undertones. Where power is concerned, he thoroughly needed his mother’s talents for appeasement. Probably, a lot like Odin did.

(Stripped of everything, Thor is a good man. Loki is not.)

[ascendingmoon]

Pluto thru the Houses

Pluto in the First House – these people are very intense. It may seem like they’re looking straight through you sometimes, probably because they are. Someone with Pluto in the 1st house individuals view life as a series of struggles with many traumatic ups and downs, and the occasional drastic change to their overall self. These people are not looking for the superficial; they want to know the how, what, where, why, who, and probably more. They want to understand the world and the people in it. Typically, you’d find that someone with Pluto in the 1st house may have experienced trauma at birth, or the mother did during birth. These people do not back down, if something is in their path they simply move it out of the way and make room for more possibilities. They have very destructive powers and can be somewhat masterminds at using it onto others; they are great manipulators. They can probably convince you to do a lot of things you could not see yourself ever doing, but because they’re saying to do it, it doesn’t seem so bad. However these people are always on guard and looking out for themselves, they see life as survival of the fittest. They tend to experience a lot of personal growth through their life and are usually very wise even only in their 20′s, it seems like they’ve experienced and felt everything life has to offer. Their eyes are keen and penetrating. Their suppressed emotions can erupt sometimes, rising to the surface, causing them to act in extremes. They are the epitome of intense. They may not trust the world as a whole. Pluto in the 1st house people may have experienced life or death situations, or extreme trauma in their lives, usually making them very strong people with thick skin. They present themselves in a very secretive and covert way to others. A lot of people find themselves very attracted to these people, with no explanation as to why.

Pluto in the Second House – the 2nd house rules money, Pluto rules obsessions, so it’s an obvious and superficial answer to say that people with Pluto here will be obsessed with money – although it can be true. However, someone with this placement may hold secret and hidden talents/ways of making money that could change the world. These people may be hoarders, with money or materials. Some may see money and possessions as a symbol of power and superiority; some may see it as being closer to God. Their income is likely to come from Pluto-like professions/careers: psychology, therapy, medical fields, detective, undercover jobs, or healing professions.

Pluto in the Third House – mixing Pluto with the house of thinking and communication adds a very deep, penetrating and Scorpionic flavor to someone’s brain. The goal for these people is to transcend and penetrate through the superficial or typical trains of thought or ideas and dive so much deeper into the grain. These people are great at studying, researching, investigating, etc. The 3rd house also rules siblings and who we grew up with. Pluto in the 3rd house individuals may feel as if they had to fend for themselves growing up, resulting in becoming very defensive over themselves and always trying to put themselves first to avoid manipulation and/or abuse. These people are also very intuitive, and it seems as if when they think about something or mention something, it happens the next day. Which can be scary sometimes. It may have been difficult for these people to open up in their childhood due to the feeling of keeping everything inside to avoid vulnerability and/or manipulation.

Pluto in the Fourth House – having such a powerful planet on one of the angles in the chart (1st, 4th, 7th, 10th houses) is not something to not take lightly. Pluto in the 4th house individuals may of had to deal with a mother that was Plutonic herself. She may have taken her emotions out on her children, been very restrictive, possessive, domineering, obsessive, or there could have been something to cause all of this in her – a death in the family, mostly, because Pluto rules death. Death can mean a lot of things though. Divorce, actual death, the endings to things can all mean death. The childhood may have been very complex, dark and twisty, and many traumas may have been felt or occurred in the childhood (by the mother, probably). These individuals with Pluto residing in the 4th house may have had to grow up fast, and became wise at a very young age, feeling as if they’ve felt the world’s pain just inside their own household.

Pluto in the Fifth House – someone with Pluto in the 5th house takes the pleasures and leisurely themes of the 5th house to high extremes. It can be very hard for these people to loosen up or just let go and have fun for once. They can have a tendency to take life very seriously. They make become self destructive in these areas of the 5th house too, like through casual sex; these people are not the type for that. They may also attract Scorpio/Pluto types in relationships, even stalkers at times. The person with Pluto in the 5th house may feel like some kind of tortured artist; having so much inspiration, creativity and desire but just cannot get any of it out. They must learn valuable lessons in life of pleasure and creativity and to stop being their own worst enemy/critic, and to just let it pour out of themselves. These people, as children, may have been told “no” a lot, for having different or “dark” interests. They may love dark themed art, movies, photography, etc, and take part in it themselves. They may be fascinated with Scorpionic topics that are taboo, but they don’t see it as taboo. They see it as, “why don’t more people know about this? Why is this kept such a secret?” thus resulting in societal-based inappropriate expressions of feelings, such as loss and death. They can have addiction problems as well and it would be wise of them to avoid gambling, drinking, drugs, etc, as best as they possibly could.

Pluto in the Sixth House – Pluto in the house of daily routine, jobs, and service can result in obsessive tendencies in all of these the 6th house as to offer. Someone with Pluto here may have obsessive daily activities, whether it’s as simple as needing to walk the dog every single day at 7 o’clock or drink/do drugs, etc. It is just the fact that it’s obsessive and nearly compulsive. They may be subject to being hypochondriacs as well, being obsessed with their own health to an unhealthy point. Eating disorders may be something Pluto in the 6th house has to struggle with in their life. Basic everyday activities turn into compulsive rituals with Pluto in the 6th, getting dressed in the morning may be the biggest event of all to them. Pluto in the 6th could have a very strict dietary pattern though, could be very obsessive with their intake. May like to indulge or “binge” then stop completely, knowing their limits. Pluto here, since it rules sex and the sexual organs, can lead to STD or other sexual diseases. They may suffer from extreme stress or tension. It’s important to not always push yourself so hard on a daily basis or in your job, find something you love to relax. Pluto here needs time out of their day to relax and calm down. Yoga is recommended.

Pluto in the Seventh House – the 7th house represents who we attract, what we are attracted to (in some cases), what we project onto others, and what we can be projected as. With Pluto here, relationships are not taken lightly. The individual with Pluto in the 7th house may attract Plutonic people themselves – obsessive, possessive, controlling, manipulative, etc. Though those are just the negative qualities of Pluto, they may also attract the lighter side of Pluto and experience the true transformation desired through relationships. The person with Pluto here experiences relationships as a type of awakening. There may be power struggles present in the person’s relationships, where one may desire more control over the other – and most commonly, it is not the person with Pluto in the 7th house. They may give in to manipulation and take this sort of abuse from their partner. The person with Pluto in the 7th house definitely feels like relationships are catalysts for self transformation and rebuilding. There could be a reoccurring theme of suffocation in relationships; ones that are too smothering, too over-protective. Interactions between others for the person with Pluto here are addictive and sometimes dependent. They can become addicted to relationships and the feeling of enhancement it brings them. It is wise for those with this Pluto placement to avoid those that exhibit Pluto’s lower functions; obsession, possession, and the desire for ultimate control.

Pluto in the Eighth House – in Pluto’s ruling house, it feels very at home. Pluto in the 8th house individuals can experience major life changes, or most commonly the individual will experience one major life transformation that completely marks them forever. They will be very attracted to 8th house themes: sex, death, transformation, power/survival, and money (other people’s). Intimate relationships are felt with every fiber of the person’s soul; they mostly result in major changes in both people involved. Sex can be consuming for the person with Pluto in the 8th house; the sex drive is likely high, because of the personal connection and how much they feel they resonate with it. These people are very probing and will more than likely be interested in the occult and 8th house surrounding themes. They may have some kind of hidden death wish.

Pluto in the Ninth House – Pluto in the 9th house individuals may have gotten so obsessed and even involved with their beliefs from a traumatic or high pressured situations. Those moments where you’re praying to god that nothing bad will happen, and that you will be singled out and saved by some supernatural force or higher power. Those moments convinced the Pluto in the 9th house individual that “this is real, this is what’s going to save me, and I must do what I can to pay them back.” These people can feel some kind of obligation and obsession with their belief systems. There can obviously be a fascination with occult, philosophy, archaeology, or alchemy. They can search intensely for the meaning of life, and are strong believers in the phrase “Knowledge is power”. They believe what you know will save you. Pluto in the 9th house individuals can feel greatly impacted by their higher education opportunities and feel that it is or was the most influential factor in their life. They are fiercely stubborn in their beliefs as well.

Pluto in the Tenth House – the 10th house, or Midheaven, is the highest point on the natal chart. The 10th house is what other’s see, your reputation, how others are perceiving you to be. With Pluto here, it may take a while for the public or others in your career field to like you as a person. You seem like a powerful and intimidating force. Many of the world’s most famous (and infamous) leaders have Pluto in the 10th, or harshly aspecting the 10th house, like Vladimir Putin for a good example (pluto square the midheaven). Those with Pluto in the 10th house experience self transformation through their career. The individual’s ambition is highly developed, and there is a drive where nothing can stop you from reaching your end goal. The career will be found within Plutonian fields: psychology, detective, healer, investigating, or something involved in business. The person with Pluto in the 10th house will usually take their career and lead it onto a completely new path; addressing the things that no one will talk about or make an effort to change or acknowledge. Eminem has this placement, and it’s easy to see that. They challenge and change society, and that usually becomes what they are known for.

Pluto in the Eleventh House – the 11th house rules groups, social circles and dreams/aspirations. When Pluto is found in this house, it can usually result in the individual experiencing intense and life-changing relationships with those involved in their social life – so, friends. Friends play a huge role on this person because they are the most influential and powerful force in their life. The individual with Pluto in the 11th house may attract “powerful” friends in their life – those well known, for good or bad. Pluto here can give someone extreme anxiety or paranoia when it comes to crowds or being surrounded by new people (strangers may scare them). The need to control or dominate their friend group, or any kind of group, may become a real problem in their lives. Common effects of Pluto are jealousy and mistrust, and this can occur as well in their social circle – the individual with Pluto in the 11th must learn to not be so mistrustful of those they call their friends but they feel they cannot help it at times. They believe they have a reason to feel that way. The positive side however, is the bond of very powerful, long lasting and reliable friendships.

Pluto in the Twelfth House – the 12th house is the most unconscious, self-unaware house – it is almost impossible to fully understand, because it is the part of ourselves that we most commonly reject. With such a powerful planet in this house, there is definitely an ultimate fear of losing control, and may result in self destructive tendencies that can occur unconsciously. People with this placement are usually somewhat masochistic – not even always sexually but emotionally. They tend to take on a lot of weight and pain from others onto yourself which can hurt them a lot at times. This is usually a placement representing some kind of abuse or trauma, usually sexual. With Pluto working behind the scenes of the chart, you have someone that’s very spiritually and intuitively gifted though. They’d make a detective probably. This placement can be very difficult though because it can feel like you’re being faced with your demons a lot. Pluto in the 12th can experience a lot of emotional turmoil. It’s an intense planet in an intense house. You could have really raw and intense (maybe violent) desires (sexually) (that you could feel ashamed of, probably, because of the nature of the planet & house). It’s really important for people with Pluto here to have some kind of emotional outlet to let out distress because self destructive tendencies are likely.

[fictionstuff]

Fire Force 炎炎ノ消防隊

Plot: Spontaneous Human Combustion: a chaotic phenomenon that has plagued humanity for years, randomly transforming ordinary people into flaming, violent creatures known as Infernals. While Infernals make up the first-generation accounts of Human Combustion, the second and third generations became known as pyrokinetics—people gifted with the ability to manipulate and control their flames while remaining human. To combat the Infernal threat and discover the cause, the Tokyo Armed Forces, Fire Defense Agency, and Holy Church of Sol produced their answer: the Special Fire Force. Young and eager third-generation pyrokinetic Shinra Kusakabe, nicknamed Devil's Footprints for his explosive ability to ignite his feet at will, becomes a member of the lively Special Fire Force Company 8. Upholding the brigade's duty to extinguish the blazing Infernals and lay their souls to rest, Shinra is determined to become a hero who will save the lives of those threatened by the flame terror. However, this is not the hero's game Shinra imagined. The Fire Force is a fractured mess of feuding brigades, abnormal Infernal sightings are increasing all over Tokyo, and a shadowy group is claiming to have answers to the strange fire that caused the death of Shinra's family 12 years ago. Faced with many obstacles within and outside the Fire Force, Shinra fights to uncover the truth behind the burning mysteries that have kept him in the dark [Written by MAL Rewrite]

Episodes: 24

Main Characters: Fire Force Company 8 (way too many)

Points: 8.5/10

The show excited me so much, I picked up the manga after the 20th episode, because I never wanted to miss it, especially if they didn't announce a second season. Gladly they did though, because there is still so much to come, so many great fights and so many more revealing moments, because Fire Force features a world of fear and mystery: humans simply explode and burn away (if they don't become horned demons or monsters). It's indeed a fight against fire for the fire force, although it may be questionable to fight fire with fire, because that's mostly what they do. There are different levels of humans and many can already control their power of fire. The anime very closely adapted the source material. I can attest to that since I watched and read both at the same time.

The first few episodes were okay-ish, but when the pace finally picked up, Fire Force turned out to be super exciting. So once you get through the first 5 episodes, you'll be captured by the charm that is a roller coaster ride of crazy fights and thrilling mysteries. The reveals and explanations come in slowly and even after many more manga chapters, there is still a lot that hasn't been explored, so there are still many questions, especially after that first season. That's why a second season is already in the making, so we should watch out for that.

Fire Force is a very refreshing take of a shounen series, the concept is completely original and promises many golden twists. The animation also gradually improved throughout the series, which is a major plus point, because the first fights weren't exactly flashy and mostly consisted of pictures being chained to one another to look cool (it was statical at best). Within Fire Force you will find many pretty consistent fighting scenes, that look awesome and also portray how nicely those flames can look like.

A minus point for the anime (and manga) can be the fanservice, which happens quite frequently. I got used to it after a few episodes and sometimes I even thought it was quite amusing for the story, but I know it's not everyone's cup of tea.

After reading through the manga I can safely say I prefer the source material, but the anime adapted everything accurately, which is pretty good in my opinion. Canon divergent stories often happen to lose momentum. The manga is from Atsushi Ohkubo who also is the mastermind behind Soul Eater, which I still have to check out, but the man is a god, he knows how to create worlds that fuck everything up, I guess.

I've read up on the criticism for most characters being generic and undeveloped, but you need to keep in mind that this is just the set up for the story; the first season. It probably doesn't even feature half of the story, so it's safe to assume that many characters will show up again and receive proper development within the plot (which is true for the manga). After 24 episodes there's barely anything I can say about the characters, especially for Company 8, which is a bunch of dynamic and weird characters who work together extremely well. We have Shinra, the absolute main character, who lost his family to the fire and thus wants to uncover the secret and save people. He's got a knack of smiling in dangerous situations (or when he's nervous) and for now he is indeed a generic character, but not the type of annoying main hero. He's hard working and smart and clearly out to understand what happened to his family. The rest of the company are too many to mention, but we have a super cool captain, who has absolutely no fire power, a lieutenant who is non-cholant and strict, Maki a super strong girl, Iris (who will play a more important role in the future) a sweet young and innocent girl, Arthur a complete idiot but strong fighter once he's in the knight zone, Tamaki who will also be featured way more in season 2 as she has barely been introduced in the first as someone who can do nothing but get herself undressed, Vulcan a very cool engineer who's had a rough past and Licht, who is a crazy genius with ulterior motives.

None of them are exactly stereotypes or boring, I swear, there will be at least one character that will intrigue you. The criticism is absolutely stupid for the story has barely taken root in the first season. In comparison to my absolute favourite World Trigger, Fire Force has been adapted extremely well. I can't wait for a second season to air!

Ni no Shou

Plot: After his confrontation in the Nether with his younger brother Shou, Shinra Kusakabe's resolve to become a hero that saves lives from the flame terror strengthens. Finding a way to turn the Infernals back into people, unraveling the mystery of the Evangelist and Adolla Burst, and saving his mother and Shou—these are the goals Shinra has in mind. However, he has come to realize that attaining these goals will not be easy, especially with the imminent danger the Evangelist poses.The Evangelist's plan is clear: to gather the eight pillars—the individuals who possess Adolla Burst—and sacrifice them to recreate the Great Cataclysm from 250 years ago. Having been revealed by the First Pillar that the birth of a new pillar is approaching, Shinra is determined to protect his fellow pillars from the Evangelist. Thus, the fiery battle between the Special Fire Force and the Evangelist ignites. Together with the Special Fire Force, Shinra's fight continues as he uncovers the truth about the Great Cataclysm and the nature of Adolla Bursts, as well as the mysteries behind human combustion. [Written by MAL Rewrite]

Episodes: 24

Points: 8.75/10

There is so much unnecessary hate on MAL for this season, even though there might be even more hate across the web, that this anime really doesn't deserve. Surely it has its own faults, but there are much worse series all around. Someone mentioned that this may be due to David Production working on this instead of Jojo (something I'll never ever watch in my life), so it may be due to jealousy but otherwise, I've seen many childish reviews of people who watched season 2, although they didn't like the first one as in it bored them and they never got into it and on the other hand they simply tried to find reasons to make it look bad, when in fact they simply had no idea about plot or characters. This is awfully childish. It's awfully normal that when a normal human is burned, they die, but a second or third generation won't just die as they are firstly used to fire and control it to a certain degree or why so ever aren't Shinra's feet burned? All these things are brought forward simply to make it seem illogical and boring.

The pacing is on the other hand is indeed a point that isn't really good, as it dreadfully drags on and relies to much on flashbacks and pieces and bits of information that has already been handed to us in the last season or even just in the last few episodes. That's in contrast to everything else a small annoyance though. There are many other good points of the show: an interesting premise and plot development, many lovely characters (which will never be completely developed due to the sheer number) which are being introduced to us anew or now shown for the very first time. We get to know a lot of fire companies and we dive much deeper into the world and get more information on the white clad.

The second season consists of quite a few interesting arcs, which are all very much existent in the manga as well, which is a delight, because I really like the manga, although many do prefer the anime.

We get introduced to Inka, another pillar and someone who obviously holds no love for the world or maybe she just likes to wreck havoc. She'll be shown more often in the future and I hope to know more about her, but I am not sure they'll ever focus on her again. Another new character is Juggernaut and a few others from fire companies, who won't receive much spotlight or die in combat which was sometimes quite unexpected. Juggernaut on the other hand is a lovely new character who's timid and shy but shows he can fight just fine, if he gathers his courage and tries his best. We also get the sensational Joker and Benimaru duo as they investigate the Holy Sol Temple and the “fake” religion? Apart from that we also meet the pillar Nataku Son, who has been experimented on and watched over by another company, where we also meet Kurono, a blood thirsty crazy man I'd say, but he isn't exactly a murderer either. There are still more scenes of him in the future which might be quite interesting to those who were intrigued by his character. Another small sub arc consists of the Nether investigation where Maki is being drawn from company 8 to serve in the military area until she decides to show her family, where she truly belongs and man, that was epic. Maki lives and breathes to help humans as a fire fighter, that much is clear and Maki remains one of the best female characters. Whil Ogun in this season was seriously the best. I think he’s truly one of the most interesting characters and a strong one at that and someone who shares quite a deep bond with Arthur and Shinra.

Not much yet has been revealed though, just bits of the cataclysm and that creating a second sun is probably the ultimate goal. Hopefully there will be a season 3 in the future. There is still a lot of material in the manga with many many interesting twists and turns.

The animation is even better than in the first season, thumbs up, David Productions.