#(for context this is about the fact i'm on ep 4 of season 4 and we've had:

[jacnaylor]

when i say oz gets worse every ep i don't mean it's a bad show i mean the things that are happening get increasingly more horrendous. like you think it can't get worse but then. it does. it always does.

[saelterlude]

Gushing About Zhu Hanbin and Jing Yanqiao in The City of Musicals S2

The City of Musicals (S2, at least) is kinda like The Voice. 24 musical actors, 3 troupes, covering musical numbers, elimination every episode. Season 2 focuses on young/fresh talents.

I was on a Zhu Hanbin(LG musical actor) binge and got really into this show once I found out his frequent CXS counterpart, Jing Yanqiao, is there as well. Now seems like the right time to make this post since JYQ's birthday is soon (April 13th!) and everyone barely knows him so, to begin here's a cute interaction they had on weibo after what I can only assume is a Link Click rehearsal.

You can access the full episodes here. But I'm going to discuss and link each performances under the cut.

Oh yeah, before I start. I have notes of the context of some performances (not including them bcs I only researched some and not all), so if you like any of them and would like to dive deeper or just wants the context in general just ask and I'll share what I have. (That said, the 10th is Ied so I might be busy and took a while to answer)

Scouting stage (Ep.1-2)

They are sorted into groups of three and perform together as the same character.

For Forever from Dear Evan Hansen

Performed by Sun Tiecheng, Zhu Hanbin, and Wang Haoran. I love ZHB's expression in this performance, it's very innocent and hopeful but also with a hint of hurt? It fits the vibe of the song. It's a really nice, soft and hopeful performance. ZHB's expression really paid off since he got scouted into 2 troupes. Funfact, ZHB and Wang Haoran are classmates lol, they didn't know the other auditioned on this show before they got sorted together. Their third teammate felt very awkward lol.

Dans Le Noir Je Vois Rouge from Le Rouge et Le Noir

Roughly translated to "In the dark, I see red" performed by Alladin, Jing Yangqiao and Tian Ye. It's very good, dark and angry vibes. It's from a French rock musical so yea I really like it. I know I wanted to highlight JYQ but the original rap that Tian Ye (right) arranged is definitely the best part of this performance. The three of them worked really well together. Also, Jing Yanqiao was asked if he felt pressured performing with his seniors (he's still in school) and he answered yes, but most importantly he was intimidated by their heights. so cute lmao. Don't worry JYQ, you're still taller than ZHB. This is also 1 of the only 2 groups where all three performers get scouted.

Sidenote: I found the original song and I've been translating it to practice my French lol. In fact, I found a recording of the whole original musical.

Round 1 (Ep.3-4)

Each troupe prepares 2 Duo performance and 1 solo performance.

No Longer Human from No Longer Human

Performed by Sun Sankai and Zhu Hanbin. Yes, as in the Osamu Dazai novel. ZHB played Yezang (Oba Yozo) the protagonist of the novel and Sun Sankai played Osamu Dazai the author. So this is an existential conversation between author and his character. That's probably why this set design is creepy, but in a good way! An amazing duet, very powerful vocals from both of them, a very nice listen. But damn those hands are wobbly and every time I watch them climb up it, I worry if its gonna fall. Also, camerawork feels like something out of a 2nd Gen K-pop music show lol. And ZHB is barefoot for some reason... If I caught it properly it's bcs he's scared of falling off the hand? I need to double check but understandable.

Therapy from Tick, Tick..., Boom!

Performed by Jing Yangqiao and Feng Difei I couldn't find the cut version of this performance so you would have to do with the timestamped link of the full episode. This is such an adorable and fun performance. I love the cutee original phoneline choreography they have and how their voices work together. Also, JYQ and Feng Difei playing couples and going on a date bcs the coach tells them it would help their chemistry. Why are they lowkey kinda cute though. The post-performance interview of this reads like a blind date interview istg. The interview keep asking questions like what JYQ got her for her BDay and if they have made each other mad like the characters in the musical, etc.

Round 2 (Ep.5-6)

There are 2 troupe duo performances, and 2 cross-troupe trio performances.

The Other Side from The Greatest Showman

Performed by Sun Sankai and Zhu Hanbin. This one is so good, soooo good. I already liked the song before but their voices fit this song really well. Then you get to see, ZHB can dance y'all. I like how energetic this performance is, they really ran around the stage and walk across the table. Special mention to Sun Sankai who practiced that hat kicking trick to perfection, he got to a streak of 100 successes during practice. And to the bartender too, I love his expressions.

In A Crowd of Thousands from Anastasia

Performed by Jing Yangqiao and Feng Difei Yes, it's these two again, playing a couple again lol. Yes, they also went on a date again to prepare for this performance. (In fact, they're paired in a new musical "Love Myth" airing next month) Truly giving off a romantic, magical, and almost fairy tale-like feels. I love how sweet it is. The mini-them also did a good job with their performance. Fun fact about this one, JYQ played in Anastasia musical before this show and is still currently playing in Anastasia, both as Dmitri, just like he did in this performance.

It's Not Me It's You from uhh pretty sure it's an original rap based on disney villains. So it's from Disney, I guess.

Performed by Jing Yanqiao, Zhao Qianlong, and Zhou Mohan. I can't take this performance seriously, not with those outfits LMAO. JYQ as Gaston looking like Winnie the Pooh instead, I can't. That said, the rap is really good, I like the flow, I like the beat, it's great. I jusst, those outfits lmao. Even JYQ posted on his weibo how the outfit simply wasn't it. I can add the photo he took in the rb but pls just watch the performance.

Round 3 (Ep.7-8)

Each troupe prepares 2 duo performances again.

Disappear from Dear Evan Hansen

Performed by Jing Yanqiao and Zhu Hanbin. Yes, they both performed together in this one! I couldn't find the cut version again, sorry. IDK why, maybe it's copyright? For now, timestamped link. I can't explain why, I really like this performance and I really like their dynamic. Their voices also goes nice together but I know that already from watching them together in the LC musical. So yea, this is good. Though, ZHB being projected as JYQ/Evan's hallucination of Connor is kinda goofy looking. Also, so far ZHB has been kind of type-casted as the innocent boy or bright-eyed young man in need of guidance type so to see him playing a more aggressive/leading character (though not by much) is nice.

(JYQ doesn't have that problem, literally he was scouted by the troupe bcs they feel 'he's young and thus can be molded into anything'. ZHB did have to help him perfect the anxious boy act for this performance.)

Quarterfinals (Ep.9)

A trio performance from each troupe, along with a single cross-troupe performance.

Believe in Miracles from Ultraman (yes, the superhero show)

Performed by Sun Sankai, Zhu Hanbin, and Jing Yangqiao. Original skit. Both JYQ and ZHB act as students to Sun Sankai's teacher. The song sounds vaguely familiar to me, maybe that's why I like it so much. It's very fun, rock vibes. JYQ intentional voice crack in the beginning cracks me up. It's a very energetic song too, makes me want to pick up a guitar and jam along. (No, IDK how to play the guitar beyond the basics lol). It honestly looks like they were an idol group or something. (LC Idol AU anyone?)

Goodbye Cassini from Cassini

Performed by Zhao Qianlong, Zhu Hanbin, and Tian. I'll be honest, not a big fan of the skit, it is better enjoyed as just a goodbye song to a beloved space probe, but I am a huge fan of the song (Original ver. here with subbed lyrics, it a got more opera? vibe to it. both ver. are very good though.). I've been randomly humming 'Goodbye, my Cassini~' for days. I am so tempted to make a fic based on this song. Tian (the girl) really carried this performance with her angelic vocals, it's so great and heartbreaking. Her heartbreak at having to leave her friends behind and knowing full well they're never going to meet again. If you're watching this one, I highly recommend you wear your headphones. Trust me, it will cleanse your ears. And if you want to skip straight to the song? 5 minute mark.

Semifinals and Finals (Ep.10)

The semifinals are duo performances of an original musical number. The finals are a solo performance from the top 2. They are available on spotify and youtube music.

The Greatest Show from The Greatest Showman

Performed by the top 4 contestants: Zhu Hanbin, Miao Mengqing, Jing Yanqiao, and Zhou Mohan. I don't have a lot to say about this one. Really nice performance, a bonus to a great episode. Yeaay, both of our LC boys got into the top 4!

Assassin

Performed by Jing Yanqiao and Miao Mengqing To be honest, not the biggest fan but maybe that's just me not being a fan of historical drama in any form. JYQ used a fake facial hair, so that's something too I guess. That said, it's pretty nice to listen to and the dance/sword fight choreography is really cool. (Though as someone who used to do choreographed fights, I feel kinda dissapointed it's more sworddance rather than swordfight.) Miao Mengqing's voice is really powerful, just listen to her. Unfortunately JYQ was eliminated here, but he reached the top 4! I'm proud of him. He also learned the choreo and to play the uhhh (it's 1am, lookup instrument nme later) in only a week. So that's cool.

Don't Believe him

Performed by Zhu Hanbin and Zhou Mohan. This one I highly recommend. This song is an emotional banger and I've been listening to this on loop for days. The choreo and staging is good too, although there's one part that I think is a bit goofy (thankfully it's not too distracting). The fight/struggle choreo they did here have more power than Assassin so I really like it. Really cool, makes you wanna punch a bully, I love it. ZHB played a bullied kid and Zhou Mohan plays ZHB's 'perfect' dream self who wants to keep him in this dream world and away from the hurtful reality. This song (as well as Assassin) is available on spotify and yt music, but the live version is 10x better because it captures the emotion better. You can hear ZHB's desperation and sadness as well as Zhou Mohan's anger and frustration, it's great.

Lonely Mountaintop from The Devotion of Suspect X

Performed by Zhu Hanbin. It's good, I enjoy it. Though as a final song I do kinda wish he picked a song with more power? IDK. It's still good though, it's emotional, I love the build up, the set design is pretty, and the song fit his voice really well. ZHB won 2nd place with this song. Congrats on your hard work!

Miao Mengqing won first place and honestly? She deserved it, she's so good. But this post is focusing on our LC actors ZHB and JYQ so uhh. Please watch her final performance singing "I Have Nothing" here, it's so great, she's great, I love her voice so much.

Fun fact, JYQ did not vote for ZHB in the finals lol, he did it right in front of ZHB too and I'm pretty sure at that point they were already announced as cast in the LC musical. (Sorry ZHB, but I too would vote for Miao Mengqing there)

Last bonus (which I'm not gonna link) before we end this post. In the 3rd episode, around 20minutes in Zhu Hanbin and Jing Yanqiao did an advertisement for their water sponsor together and they're very awkward, it's funny to me.

[yardsards]

reading the things you post/rb while not knowing what the adventure zone is is kinda funny. I'll be scrolling my dash and see "NAH 'CAUSE BEANIEMAN GOT SO SCHLORPED WHEN THE PIANO FLAVORED STICK OF DEODERANT GOT SCAMMED" and I'm so tempted to get context, but it feels like life would be funnier without it

okay so like. the adventure zone is an actual-play ttrpg podcast (aka they record themselves playing dungeons and dragons and similar games and then edit down the recording so it's fun to listen to)

and it's kind of like 5+ different podcasts in a trenchcoat. cuz there's 5 completely separate games (well, 5 plus a couple way shorter games, but 5 main ones). and since each game is already pretty wild on its own, the fact that there are FIVE OF THEM definitely makes it sound extra bizarre to outsiders lol

there's:

1: balance: a standard fantasy world with some minor sci-fi elements. it's about heroes tracking down and neutralizing dangerous magical items and uncovering secrets about their own pasts. by far the most popular season and imo the best, but it gets off to a slow start

2: amnesty: a story about cryptids and magic in a modern day appalachian setting. been a while since i listened to this one tbh and i don't talk about it as much

3: graduation: young adults going to magic college and getting wrapped up in a demon war. this is the least popular one but not actually bad imo

4: ethersea: freelance adventurers from an undersea city exploring the world in a magical post-apocalyptic setting. my fav behind balance

5: steeplechase: like a defunctland video meets a heist movie, secret crime rings operating within a theme park. very fun, still in progress

they're released kind of like different seasons of a show, one after the other, but each "season" doesn't actually need to be listened to in order (ie you can listen to steeplechase before balance, but you'd have to start at ep 1 of steeplechase and not just skip to steeplechase ep 32 or else you'd be really confused)

honestly i've been halfway considering getting different tags for each game but i'm too lazy to change now

ANYWAY

the thing about the adventure zone is that it's a *comedy* podcast first and foremost. so most of the weird bizarre funny bits are just as funny and batshit insane even WITH context. hell, i'd say a lot of it is even MORE funny if you know what's going on.

though there is also some buckwild shit that you just get desensitized to. like one of the 3 protagonists of balance is named *taco* (but spelled taako) because it was originally just gonna be a silly one-off episode, so the player was like "haha i'm gonna be XD random and annoy my dm with this zany noun name", not knowing that there were gonna be 68 more episodes and it would eventually grow into a deeply emotionally moving story. so by the end you're fucking sobbing over this character's love and loss and you forget that "taco" is not a normal thing for an elf/wizard to be called

it's absolutely delightful

[just-sp-in-inginthevoid]

Okay so I watched ep 1 from season 3 (maybe I'm late maybe im not idk) and I'll post my react/thoughts soon but before that:

SEASON 3 OPENING

/!\ I'm a manga reader and I finished the manga; anime only beware of spoilers/!\

First of all, they need to stop with that. They know exactly what they're doing and my heart can't take it.

WHAT DID I JUST SAID.

Kakucho watching as Izana slips away.. *muffled screams*

Koko being beat up while the other aren't made me laughed - ofc i know the context but like. It's funny. Also – a wild Sanzu appears! I wonder how many anime only paid attention to Mucho/remember him and how many are going to notice him here and go 'wait a minute. You're not supposed to be here.'

... ngl, there are a lot of moments in that op where my thoughts were 'you BASTARDS you did NOT DARE'

That's one of them. Mikey reaching for young Izana, Izana leaving? Mikey reaching for another life for one they could've have? And then the transition to Manila Mikey lying dead in Takemichi's arms?

The fact it's the timeline where he got to live with Izana? Where they got to have a relationship? Where Mikey succeeded to reach for Izana in some ways?

1. Koko 2. Death bed = we know who 3. House 4. The fire.

They must have felt sooooo smug thinking about doing that

Just kill me at this point

[sunflower-eddiediaz]

@edmundodiazz asked : i see your posts about kaamelott and have to try reeally hard not to give up to temptation and search for/start something new. i have responsibilities! but… french and arthurian legends… it’s so tempting

FRIEEEEND I'm sorry, I am not even a little sorry. You've caught me on the verge of a Kaamelott obsession renaissance. Let me sit down.

You've seen my attempt at a short and concise summary here. This will not be that...

Quick facts: Seasons 1-4 have a short format (lots of ~5 min episodes), seasons 5-6 have a long format (a few ~40-50 min ep). Season 6 is a "prequel" and the last episode is in the present. The seasons are called books (livres).

I will add that, although I never looked it up myself, I know for a fact that there's english subtitles available. Also, I remember hearing about the episodes being on youtube in certain countries, so that's something to check, maybe, possibly.

I just, imprinted on this show as a kid (it started in 2005) and never let it go. So, I'm probably gonna wax poetics about it (as it deserves!)

I like the expression 'crack treated seriously' because the author (Alexandre Astier, who plays Arthur, and has his name all over the credits) approaches comedy as something that cannot work if it's not treated seriously. It can't be funny, it can't resonate with people, it can't tell a compelling story, if it's not treated seriously. All that AND it's fucking crack, it's stupid and I love these silly characters. It's a story of/about characters, you could get attached to any that appears on screen. (Which is probably a consequence of AA writing characters for an actor/with an actor in mind.)

Okay, let's talk about the characters then : (PS writing this is english is weird)

Le Roi Arthur - He's designated by the gods to unite the kingdoms, find the grail, bring light the people; simple enough mission, right?. He's trying to achieve that with the knights of the round table, who are an eclectic and incompetent group of people. They all have their skills and qualities, but to achieve that mission, to understand the purpose, to work together as a group, etc, it's... complicated. And at first, it's all fun and game, especially in the beginning of the story since we're getting to know everyone and their dynamics. Throughout the show, we see Arthur struggle with the burden of that divine mission, whether it's in a light and silly context or an intense and dramatic one.

La Reine Guenièvre - She. She is the wife of king Arthur. That's her mission, right. Support your king, produce an heir, standard queen stuff. Except, it's pretty hard to do that when your husband is emotionally distant and no one taught you sex ed. (They marriage has never been consumed, it's a whole thing). They share a bed, they have little chit chats before sleep, he acts like she's annoying and repulsive, clearly she's adorable and gorgeous. I guess, at first she comes off as haha here's yet an another incompetent, but she's a very sensitive and intuitive person (and I love her). We get to see her and Arthur's relationship evolve throughout show; how much affection Arthur actually as for her; Arthur realizing how blessed he is to have her as queen; her relationships with other people (like the official mistresses of Arthur who she's friends with, or...)

Seigneur Lancelot - He's the competent knight of the round table. He cares about their mission. He's dedicated and loyal. He and Arthur have a good relationship, you could definitely call them friends. He's cordial with the queen, friendly even. He is very much the type of person who's flaws stem from their qualities. I could say more, but I won't.

I'll try to be shorter and stay superficial for the rest.

Seigneur Léodagan and Dame Séli - They're Guenièvre's parents. They're competent king and queen of the Carmélide kingdom. They're good at politics, strategy, war. They're very much In-Laws.

Seigneurs Perceval and Karadoc - They're the least competent knights of the bunch. They don't know what's happening. They're an epic and iconic duo. Keep an eye out for Perceval (positive).

Merlin l'enchanteur - We know for a fact that he can do magic, but like, how many times has he done a useful spell...?? And actually, he's a druid not an enchanter, thank you very much.

La Dame du Lac (The Laby of the Lac ?) - Only Arthur can see and communicate with her. She is his link to the gods. She has to be his guide through his divine mission.

All the other knights - some are at the head of their kingdom like Léodagan, some are not like Perceval and Karadoc or like Seigneur Bohort (I just had to mention him by name) or Seigneurs Yvain and Gauvain (another epic duo), some are just following along, some are more antagonists, etc

And so many more amazing characters I know I'm omitting some major ones

Special mention for the sword Excalibur because I love her special effects and her impacts on the story.

[phoebenpiperx]

HSMTMTS spoilers ahead!

My friend (a Big Red fan) and I (a Seb fan) were prepped to hate s4, so we decided to binge the entire thing tonight to get it over with! I had completely avoided spoilers (and had managed to avoid the seblos duet all this time) because I wanted to see everything in context and like it or not as it was meant to be seen. Luckily, the season left me feeling really happy! I feel like they did a great job of wrapping things up (which I had thought they didn't know it was ending and was expecting a true cliffhanger, so the closure made me really happy!) Most importantly, there were so many things in the eps THAT WERE STRAIGHT OUT OF MY FICS!!! Like my friend was constantly turning to me going "OMG you literally wrote that!" and is convinced someone's been stalking my ao3 account. I just think it shows how much I love these characters and how much I've tried to be true to them in my fics (and can't wait to write more!!)

More thoughts below

I know people will have different opinions about this, but I was so relieved about the Seb/Big Red thing. When Seb said he cheated, I freaked out because I was like "Seb would not cheat!!" But after a moment, I turned to my friend was like "Unless it was with Big Red. I think I'd be okay with that." My friend and I were so upset that our characters weren't going to be on s3 that I wrote an entire fic about Seb & Big Red hanging out over the summer while the others were gone and Seb helping Biggie realize his sexuality. Even though I didn't have them get together in my fic (they just hang out and watch Heartstopper a lot), I felt like I could see them both missing their sig others and accidentally getting together, so I was like "I could forgive Seb if it was Big Red, and vice versa." So when that happened, I felt relieved because I felt like it was truly in-character (while any other "cheating" would be completely out of character). So while I know others have issues with this, I'm just relieved (and glad that it was just a kiss and not actual cheating!) Also, the Natalie thing is hysterical. The very first HSMTMTS fanfic I ever wrote was Seb discussing auditioning for Sharpay with Natalie!! However, the Natalie/Seb thing doesn't work with the timeline because Natalie says in season 1 that she was the stage manager for Brigadoon the year before! But I'm willing to allow that inconsistency since at least we got Natalie in the final season! And I really liked the Big Red and Ashlyn scene (which I know others have issues with). But it was so cool to see that discussion on a "kids show" and to see that they could still be friends. And I loved redlyn, but I really like madlyn and wasn't sure how I was going to deal with a redlyn breakup, but this scene made it okay for me! I have lots more to say but I'm barely going to get 4 hours of sleep as it is so I'll stop rambling here. But I'd love to chat with people about s4 or the entire series! I now want to go and reread all my old fanfic (I've literally written over 380K words of HSMTMTS fanfic) and start writing some new. If anyone else is interested, my fics are here: season 1 season 2 [plus others, but these are in order for these seasons]

One last comment--I never realized that 1) I had so many random scenes AND choreo from HSM3 memorized and 2) I always sing the Troy harmony on all the Troy/Gabi duets! HSM2 is my fave, but I really enjoy 3, too. Oh, and Seb getting to sing along with "I Want It All" from the audience made me feel better about the fact that he didn't get to be Sharpay!!!

[collieii]

thinking abt how stampede handles wolfwoods introduction compared to other versions, and to me it kind of fails in a way. one of the big things about wolfwood's character is that he's kind right? he's a good person who was forced to be cruel. they show his soft side by having him interact with kids. it plays out a little differently depending on version, but essentially he sees some kids having a rough time and sacrifices smth (money or food) so they can be more comfortable. its esp poignant in trimax where they were literally stealing from him so it would be understandable if he got mad, but he isn't at all. and this follows the scene of him haggling with the driver, so we know for a fact that wolfwood is not in a good place.

meanwhile in stampede, the the kid wolfwood interacts with is zazie? and at the end of the ep its revealed that they know each other, that wolfwood is working with knives, etc. so it just makes that earlier scene look like a setup, at least thats how it seemed to me the first time i watched the ep.

it also feels a little less genuine than the moment wolfwood had with the kids in the other versions, i'm not sure why. maybe it's because the scene goes by too fast. or because of how different wolfwood is in stampede (he’s so much meaner than his past versions!) so the kindness we see here is just. obscured by how bitchy he is in half of his other scenes. if i'm to believe wolfwood is a good guy, i need to see him be good sometimes idk?

vash's comment about him being good in ep 4 is so jarring to me because it feels like he has zero reason to say that. ik it's maybe not supposed to be 'reasonable' since he doesn't even give an actual reason aside from the ~his eyes~ thing which is not logical at all lmao, just based on vibes. and i do sort of trust that vash has good instincts and can tell when a person is trustworthy or not based on vibes. but when i watched it as someone unfamiliar with the original trigun, unaware who wolfwood was, i was confused as to why exactly vash decided to trust wolfwood aside from maybe his general faith in humanity. the nicest thing wolfwood does is give the kid a lollipop which is sweet but in this context it doesn't have the same effect as giving him his money or smth (and as i said the effect is kinda retroactively belied by the fact that its zazie, not some rando he has no connection too). 

to be fair, his intro scene serves other purposes in stampede. we learn about wolfwood's past in the orphanage, which is important to introduce because his arc with livio is addressed later in the season. it also ties into vash's new internal conflict in stampede about eating and self flagellation and stuff. but that ends up being kinda detrimental to the scene too? instead of saying something normal to the kid that makes us go ‘aww hes good with kids!’ it literally just feels like he’s talking to vash, which he would not be because wolfwood has known vash for 5 minutes atp. obviously im not expecting stampede to copy the scene from the manga or 98, but the fact that they included an analogue of it means to me that they're obviously aware of how important it is to wolfwood's character. still, they managed to execute it in a way that sort of fails to communicate something i personally consider fundamental to his character in any version.

[drowninginblox]

Season one

Season two

Season three

God.. this season… so much in so little time fr. B u t. I am a committed woman, and I will continue what I started.

So. Let’s get into this.

Keith’s heritage

I’m beginning to take back what I said in one of my prior posts about how I want to redo Keith’s heritage. Specifically about it being a secret to everyone on the team. I’m learning to love the way the show reveals that fact about him to the audience. Truly.

But I think he should know. Not everything, just that he's not fully human. And I still stand by the fact that his galra side should be more physical. Fucking love the galra Keith HC so much wE WERE ROBBED MEN-

Growing pains- Heavy spoilers. Watch Voltron already if you haven't bc I will be talking about (arguably) the best arc of the series

This is going to be something.

As of starting the third season, I really like the change. Purely because of how uncomfortable it is for everyone involved. It’s gonna be painful. The best kind though. Because even though we aren’t expecting it, we know that through the context of the show- this could’ve happened at any time, to any of the paladins

Voltron is out here saying actions have consequences, and that is very compelling. Both in concept and in execution.

I think this plot point is fucking amazing.

The question of where tf Shirio is after the season 2 finale is great, the natural progression of the lions is a stark but needed change (love prioritizing the narritive, I hope this keeps happening in the future), hell- the character growth is fucking phamominal (will talk about that after this point)

WE ALSO GET THE JOURNEY FUCK I LOVE THAT EP-

Also- THE INTRO CHANGES WITH THE CHANGING OF LIONS SO YOU DON’T KNOW WHO THE BLACK PALADIN IS- UGGHHH!!!

I fucking love it man. I'm rocking with what season 3 is giving me. But I'm afraid of what season 4 has to offer. I remember how Shiro's missing/dead arc resolves itself (in season 4ish) but i dont fully remember the indetween bits and the stigma of Voltron falling off by that point is blarring through my mind

Looking forward to that Shiro/Keith fight tho!

Now let’s take some time for the characters during this transition

Keith... god what can I say about him that hasn't already been said? probably nothing honestly. His responce to all of this is so natural and realistic. Of course he doesn't want the responciblity of the Black lion. Shiro was qualified to be leader, not him! Just because this is what Shiro wanted, dosent mean it's what he wants for himself. The struggle is delicious!

Lance is really mature about this AND I AM LIVING FOR IT. Its moments like this that reminds me that Lance is a wonderful addition to Voltron. A needed addition even. (I really wanna ramble about the five man band dynamic, but I'll link a video about it when I find it again right here) I want to see more of this!!!! Give me serious Lance for more than just a minute!!

Hunk and Pidge are bystanders. I’m sorry but other than comic relief and voices of reason, they are secondary to Keith, Lance and Allura. Bless them both. They deserve better. I can feel it as soon as the first episode- they are slowly being ushered into the background. It leaves a sour taste in my mouth with hindsight.

Allura is radiating vibes that I can’t describe other than- “o k a y girl I see you.” In all honesty, the more I watch the show the more distain I have for Allura comes out. That bratty privileged princess that acts on impulses rather than thinking things through is grating. Now this could easily be fixed with intervention in the form of someone more mature than her- for the first two seasons, it was Shiro. But now that he’s gone, that aspect of her is showing more and more and no one is actually going against her like Shirio did. When it was at its worst, Shiro was the only one to put himself in danger as a kind of surogate bodyguard while the rest of the group is on standby. But ever since Keith became leader, there’s this mentality of “if the princess is going we’re all going.” And it’s Stupid. Stand your ground man! Be the stuburn dude you are!! Pleasae, ctually think about this for a moment! The worst part is that if anyone brought up Allura's implusivity then it would be amasing character development to the person that dose and to Keith and Allura as well! Keith would have to repremend/ talk to Allura about how dangerous that is to her and the team and Allura would have to learn the consequences of her actions!

Coran, Im so sorry that you are given crumbs my man. I love you so much- You are THE FUCKING FATHER FIGURE WE NEED!!! IM SO SORRY YOU ARE TASKED WITH LORE DUMPING, YOU ARE MORE THAN JUST A PLOT TOOL

Forming voltron

Bitches got this down too quick ngl. More team bonding rather than trauma bonding please

FOR THE LOVE OF FUCK COLOR COORDINATE!!!

Make LANCE RED

MAKE KEITH BLACK

M A K E ALLURA B L UE

It’s fucking irritating

And yes, I think it’s cool that Allura wears pink and pink is a color that Alteans used to honor those who fought for them. That’s cool. But it pisses me off to see Allura with a freaking blue bracer, and in the blue lion wearing pink like it’s Wednesday. Get with the program bitch. There is a uniform.

IF ANYTHING- give these bitches highlights for the lions they used to pilot. For example, give Keith a black uniform with red highlights along the shoulders or arms

Lotor

Mans said reading is fundamental 💅✨

I love his introduction. Manipulating the people into this unification that’s obviously distinct from his fathers but at the same time so traditional. Dude knows what he’s doing and he is going to do it for as long as he can.

This man also having combat prowess is fucking scary. He feels like more of a threat than his dad.

I also love his task force. Having a entourage that is distinctly other from the majority of the population is such a bold choice, whether it be from an audience or in universe point of view, it shows that the prince isn’t like the king. He is willing to make use of what's given to him with little public fuss.

Only critism I have is that I don't know any of these bitches names. Yall have them- please use them?

Allurance

Believe it or not, I can see more groundwork for the ship at the start of this season

With the passing over of the lions in Shiros absence, it’s allowing more neuance given the current plot.

Even though Keith and Lance don’t like it, they have to change because they’re in a time of change. War forces change.

I wish we can see that bleeding over to Coran, considering that his surrogate daughter is now on the front lines. But c’est la vie ig

Im rambling- Allurance

I can see this ship being built up but I don't know how to feel about the foundation yknow? I understand that the lion change would force Lance to mature. I love that shit. Good shit.

The slight role reversal Lance has with Alurra is refeshing. Love serious Lance

But like I said before- I don't like Alurra this season.

It also doesn't help that lance is still on his loverboy shit. Wich is fine! I have nothing against the trademark! I swear! It's just annoying that Lance has a specail place in his heart for Allura but continues on to swoon to/over every pretty girl he sees.

For the love of god- say dedicated Lance!! If you did maybe you'd get the girl!!

“Hole in the sky”

Desusex Machina the episode but I kind of like it

I hope someone made a fanfic out of this episode

The other reality is honestly v compelling it’s such a waste we only see it once

Shiro

AHHHHHHHHHHHHH

FUCK THE JOURNEY WAS SO GOOD-!!!

Honest that whole episode makes up for the fact that dDeamworks had a Shirio bias my GOD

That episode was such a good lesson in (mostly) show don’t tell

And it still leaves the question of WHAT THE FUCK HAPPENED TO SHIRO MY GOD

All of this to say, I’m torn.

Part of me wants the finality of Shiros death but the idea of Shiro clones is so good to me

Eh, I’ll figure it out.

So babes, rather than ramble about how long it’s been since I’ve done this I’d like to get an opinion from y’all.

Anyways that’s it. Take care of y’allselves

[sirdust]

you know what stolas can be a part of the blitz/fizz/ozzie polycule but only if he shapes up and stays as autistic and silly as he was in the last ep. idc about mopey pining stolas just have him keep saying shit like "i love words :3" and i'll be completely satisfied with it

you know what x2 i'm too lazy to make another post so i'll summarize my thoughts on the ep as a whole here too

this episode was deeply flawed but more fun than any other s2 ep so far. the biggest problem is that so many things were unearned and clearly coasted off of fanon in order to make any kind of sense. "fans have already explored blitz and fizz's fallout and hatred of one another in a million different ways, so why not skip the drama and go straight for a reconciliation" is perhaps the most egregious lmao.

at the same time, having the accident be such a blameless event does make the quick reconciliation a little more acceptable, strictly in the context of what actually happened in the show. if blitz had borne even a little more responsibility for what happened it would have been utterly unbelievable for fizz to forgive him in this episode, regardless of blitz saving him.

it's also an issue because this episode sees blitz actually mending a past relationship. that is HUGE for his character. in fact it's so huge that it needed to come later in his arc, bc the central question of his character up until now has revolved around whether he can ever create meaningful relationships with others again after his past trauma surrounding relationships.

on a different note, i'm admittedly a little worried about fizzarozzie. the ending of the episode had weird undertones ("you won't have to again" over fizz's sad face is the big one) but it doesn't feel intentional and that means that the potential ambiguities of this relationship will probably not be addressed. that's unfortunate because it makes them less interesting as a foil/parallel to stolas and blitz, and it also means they have less room to develop in their own right. but then again, the show has a 4-season plan, so i could be wrong.

that's about all i can think of for now. i'm hungry so i gotta go eat lol.

btw this is unfortunate but i gotta mention that squiderdoodle on twitter did vizdev work for the episode that went uncredited which is super uncool, especially considering the fact they're one of the artists that has spoken up about how unprofessional the working environment at SH is 🤩 super tight ship you're running there, guys

[mooralltach]

I posted 2,369 times in 2022

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I tagged 2,167 of my posts in 2022

Only 9% of my posts had no tags

#lupin iii - 439 posts

#inspiration - 284 posts

#one piece - 234 posts

#ultimate eggs - 208 posts

#fav - 173 posts

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#travel goals - 36 posts

#about me - 34 posts

#dweebstories - 33 posts

Longest Tag: 140 characters

#that one scene from a winnie the pooh movie/episode where they got sucked into the vacuum cleaner and ended up in the under the bed universe

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

Lupin theory: it's a Manchurian Candidate plot, it must be. That second picture with a mother figure, brainwashing and spilled playing cards is 100% Manchurian Candidate. They're going to tie in all the card games this season to brainwashing, back to and including them playing cards to determine who cooks. It's going to tie in with all the flowers because of Hanafuda cards.

I had to look the Manchurian Candidate up for a bit, but that's a pretty convincing idea actually!

Regarding the spilled playing cards, I assumed they were a reference to the gang at first, like Jigens hat and Goemons Zantetsuken are also there. But they're also not really anyone's personal item either, like the hat and Zantetsuken are. It could be argued they stand for Fujiko (since she's sort of associated with cards and uses them as weapons sometimes, she even throws one in the opening), but we haven't seen Fujiko playing these specific cards at all, so I don't know.

What interested me is that for one of the brainwashed 'sleeper agents' in the Manchurian Candidate, seeing the queen of diamonds made him snap into killer mode, and the fact that his handler is his mother... holy shit Now I did check ep 13 again and Lupin has played this deck of cards against Jigen multiple times (and won), so I'm assuming he would've seen that card (or whatever card does it for him, if it is the cards) too without anything happening. But we did see Jigen and Goemon playing the cards in the car in the last episode, so they do have them with them, meaning they could easily be used next episode, and it might exactly be the context of who is showing him the card and in what way that might trigger something.

I honestly hadn't even considered the cards! They do have a very distinct design, even though that's probably a reference to the cards from Part 1 Episode 8's cards:

See the full post

23 notes - Posted March 19, 2022

#4

watching the next lupin episode moodboard

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27 notes - Posted March 19, 2022

#3

Okay hold on, hold on. This latest Lupin arc is making me go insane (in a good way). Let's see if I can put all this into coherent thoughts.

Since episode 19 I've been checking and rewatching some moments, and found out some... interesting details. Then after this weeks episode I noticed another thing, which had me rewatching everything again, and I'm now convinced things are even more connected than previously thought. If I'm right, this second arc is insanely good at leaving the smallest hints right under our nose that you wouldn't know were there unless you know what to look for. Even though yes, I also agree part 6 has its pacing problems and I'm not the biggest fan of interrupting the main arc with standalone episodes all the time either, but at least in this second part they do make use of that (yes I will elaborate).

Gonna continue under the cut, this post is long. Will probably end up continuing it too, since tumblr doesn't allow more than 10 images per post (grrr).In any case, spoilers for up to part 6 episode 20.

Anyway! I'm gonna go nuts for a moment

Alright. Let's start at this weeks episode. The thing with these filler episodes is that they are very much filler, but they also got slightly more in common with each other than simply being centered around a woman each time, as the arc implies. At first, I thought that was all there was to it, even if this arcs writer (Shigeru Murakoshi) said that the way all the individual women were shown in episode 14 was not a coincidence (or, to quote him: "Actually, this scene was not intended to make everyone appear unnecessarily. I would like you to look forward to how each and every character here appear in future episodes, and to see what position they form in the story and how they interact with Lupin and the gang."). I just thought that was an interesting extra, like oh cool, those are the women we're gonna be seeing this season, I love a little bit of foreshadowing like that (although, if he hadn't said so, I'm pretty sure I would've entirely missed that it was these exact women too until having a rewatch, since the designs don't really stand out save for one or two). However.

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42 notes - Posted March 3, 2022

#2

I know they left it ambiguous on whether or not Tomoe was actually Lupin's "real" mom (leaving the way they viewed each other out of it for now), and we're supposed to drift more toward the fact thats she was not

but that expression Lupin has when seeing what's in the box, and how he pauses a little too long...

it kinda haunts me

49 notes - Posted March 28, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

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94 notes - Posted March 21, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

[sherlock-is-ace]

I made this post before about the trans episode of The Good Doctor but that was on season 1, I'm on season 4 now and there's another one! Like last time, I loved the ep, and I will give you context:

The episode 4x09, "Irresponsible Salad Bar Practices" (title unrelated to the patient btw) includes the case of Rio, a trans man with a brain tumor. He is an adult (unlike the trans character of the last ep), has been on T for a while and has had top surgery (the actor, a trans man himself has lovely top surgery scars, but i digress). He's also in a relationship with a cis gay man, that's important to know.

The episode starts with him doing a check up, where Dr. Reznik asks him for his gender and pronouns to update the hospital records cause "Software clearly needs a trans update." Ok, the important bit is that Rio need surgery to remove the tumor. The tumor has grown rapidly, they think because of high levels of hormones... Rio is pregnant.

This all is handled nicely and respectufl, not once he is missgendered, not once they assume any of the patients decisions because of his gender or his pregnancy. Except fo Shaun (surprise!). As always, because he's a stereotype of an autistic man, he asks very inappropriate and offensive questions that are none of his business and are not medically relevant. Just because he wants to understand.

This annoys me, but I can't really complain cause it's also what I like the most in these types of episodes. Shaun genuinely wants to learn and be better.

Anyways, he asks Rio's boyfriend, Eli, if he "considers himself gay" even though he "has vaginal intercourse". Eli answers with some restraint (I would have punched him, who the fuck cares, Eli isn't even your patient. But anyways...).

Later on in the episode, Shaun says the following line when talking to Eli (which saves the entire thing imo). "I read that cisgender people often reduce transgender people to their genitalie, and that that is offensive. Did I do that to you and Rio? I'm sorry."

EDIT: Sorry, I forgot to add the rest of my favorite line! Shaun says he's confused about Rio because he has gone through hormone replacement therapy, he has had top surgery but now "he's choosing the most female act" and Eli, very calmly responds "it's not female if Rio is doing it" which is exactly what I said to my mom one time when there was an interview on tv about a pregnant trans man. I love that line. Pregnancy is only a female act, when females do it. Anyways, Shaun looks taken a back for a second and just answers "yes" and then continues to talk about how Rio must have dealt with prejudice, and he relates to that.

This proves once again that Shaun wnats to learn, cares about learning, and he can do it on his own. He didn't harrass his trans patient with questions (at least after realizing he didn't like that). He went and did research on his own, realized his mistake and apologized. That's so important to me! Because none of his offensive remarks, on this episode or back to the one in season 1, none of those comments where from a place of hate. And I do want to bring up this point again, that his ignorance about trans issues has nothing to do with his autism. His bluntness and need of logical understanding have (because, again, he's a stereotypical cookie cutter autistic writen by allistic people). His ignorance has a lot to do with the fact that this man was homeless for a while, didn't have a supportive enviroment, i don't really know what his school life was like, but he lived in a small town, his "mentor" was his younger brother, who died when they were kids. It's not like he had many oportunities to open his mind to the wonders of the trans community you know?

Once again, not defending transphobia or justifying anything. Just sharing my humble opinion about the lowest rating episode of the whole show so far, according to IMDb (although that has everything to do with the reviews being like "this woke series, why do you talk about trans issues and racism? this is supposed ot be ESCAPISM not a documentary" as if that was a valid review lol).

The episode also included a case to do with racism, which I also really enjoyed and think it was handled nicely. But alas, I don't think my opinion is too important as a white dude who doesn't know much about racism and the shit that black people go through, specially when seeking medical attention. I can give my opinion on trans issues all I want, but that's as far as my experience goes.

Btw, Rio had his surgery, is perfectly fine and soon to be a dad with his lovely soon to be husband Eli :')

[madraleen]

Attack on Titan - Season 4 Part 3 An actually *gasp* reasonably-sized commentary

(full manga spoilers, including for the ending)

-the retroactively added dream scene works unexpectedly well in context, nice

-this is gonna sound so silly, but i love the variety of noses in aot

-eren's eye color has changed like fifty times from the first ep until now, and you know what, i don't care

-okay. eren agrees to yelena's plan, tells floch and historia. the scouts travel aboard/to marley. eren saves ramzi, mikasa finds eren, family-zones him, they have a great night. the forum comes along, eren leaves.

-he's not even seeing it, is he. the rumbling. he's seeing the smoke, just infinite clouds and sky and white smoke

-pffff annie's so pretty 

-dude the visuals are so great? like, even in the simple moments that they just talk, it's so. good?

-back to fort salta.

-dude they made hange's death scene so much justice i'm crying

-levi looks so sad :(

-yes, this just reinforces that eren intends to die, that he thinks he has no right to live after this. otherwise he could just effing stop after they killed zeke. "go after" armin for what? to do what? destroy the world with a hallu-chan and a dream? it was the plan all along.

-it's nice in a way - eren's actions are much worse than reiner's, but considering they're both in the same "can't be forgiven, shouldn't be forgiven" mindset, it's nice that one survives and one doesn't. covers all bases, both the "bring about justice" and the "atone for your sins" aspects.

-OH EREN DOES SAY "TATAKAE"! HE DOES! YAY! Actually this is amazing, because in english it sounds like, “there’s only one thing left to do. (to) fight.” but he actually uses the imperative, he *tells* them to fight, eren you little shit. As per the plan. And also, until the very end he urges them on to fight. Erehhhhhh (*if i’m talking nonsense, be gentle.)

-"to discuss the fact that there's no need to have a discussion. if you wish to stop me, make me draw my last breath." YOU'RE SO FULL OF SHIT, EREN! in retrospect. “guys, just come at me, alright, it’s all part of the plan, don’t dawdle.”

-i love this. i loved it in the manga and i love it here - that everyone was a paving stone to eren's act of massacre. that eren didn't wake up one day and choose murder. that everyone else is also part of that path that led to this. and that often enough, the stones that paved that path were just "the best choices at the time." can't help it, it's for saving the world and all.

-eyyy it's the plot armor families

-okay that was. that was really good. that was excellent. i don't know what to say, this was excellent.

[therideisfarfromover]

Right, I'm dropping some HSMTMTS opinions, because honestly, looking through the tag, I feel like i'm watching a different show to some of you???

For context, I have loved Rina since 1x05, but I also properly hopped on the Portwell bandwagon in s2, and genuinely enjoy both ships as written. In fact, other than Ricky/Lily, there are v few canon relationships on this show that I haven't enjoyed at some point.

Anyway, a few thoughts on the love triangle that I may get shot for, but oh well.

1) Gina is not emotionally cheating on EJ. Like yeah, her and Ricky have got their friendship back, and the nature of their friendship can come across as flirty, but Gina rn is fully invested in her relationship with EJ. Her and Ricky being close (especially given he was her first friend in Salt Lake) isn't a crime. Even in WDYKAL, she is fully in character to piss off EJ. She is not suddenly over EJ and back into Ricky.

2) Ricky is not trying to get in the way of Portwell. Yeah, he was being a bit of a dick with that comment about EJ stealing Gina because we all know that's not true. But other than that, he has respected their relationship. He had no intentions of telling Gina that these feelings have resurfaced for him, evident from the fact he swears Carlos to secrecy and is devastated when Channing catches it on camera. And he also makes a point of asking "did it show?", demonstrating that he is trying to keep his feelings under wraps. He allowed Gina to talk about EJ without getting defensive, he even answered EJ's question of why Gina was mad at him without a sarcastic comment. Saying Ricky is purposely getting in the way of PW is character assassination for no good reason. The boy has feelings, yeah, but he hasn't acted on them and the narrative has shown nothing to suggest he would while Gina is with EJ.

3) EJ is being a bit of a tool this season, but honestly, I don't think this is the wasted character development y'all think it is. I don't know about all of your own lives, but something I've found in mine is that growth is very rarely linear. Yes, EJ learnt and grew a lot in s2, and there are times it feels he has forgotten that in s3. But also, he is an incredible stressed 18 year old: flaring up in the form of your former self isn't bad writing, that's just what happens when you're a kid going through shit. I am not worried about what they're doing with EJ at all, and I think by the end of the season, he will have developed in a way that is in line with what the writers did for him last season.

4) I completely agree that they should have slowed their horses when it came to reintroducing the triangle dynamic. Especially because it does feel like PW only got a few eps without drama. But also, this is a teen drama, that's kind of how it works? Also, based on the current writing (and I know I'm in the minority here), I genuinely still think PW will be together at the end of this season. Or at the v least, they won't break up until right at the end, and it won't have anything to do with Ricky.

5) I genuinely don't think the Rina storyline is fan service. Maybe WDYKAL was a *little* bit but I loved every second so I'm not complaining. Tim has said right from the start that Rina was born out of them seeing Josh and Sofia's chemistry in 1x05, and the team feeling that they needed to write towards that. And so they did. Similarly, I feel that the PW stuff in season 2 was so great because it felt that the writers saw something v natural between these characters, and just wrote towards it in a way that felt organic with the story. Given how much of a mess 2b was, I still think Portwell is one of the best written parts of it. However , in s2, there was only closure for Rina on Gina's side, so to say it was a 'done storyline' when we've actually never seen Ricky's POV, isn't fair either? Like idk, there are plenty of things I would have done differently when it comes to the love triangle, but also I don't think that any of their dynamic this season has felt out of pocket, like it all seems to follow the tone and prev writing?

Anyway, long controversial venting over. Please don't come for me xoxo

[don-quixotine]

The Cat's Greatest Fear

or reasons why Chat always seems to react so strongly against someone else taking Ladybug's spot.

We didn't get to see his reaction to realizing Master Fu had taken back his ring (frankly, a robbery bc can you imagine the angst? 😃) but Feast was the very first time Adrien was confronted with the possibility that he'd never see Ladybug again and I bet you my entire arm that if Sandboy had happened after it, this would be extremely apparent. So yeah, anywhoo, Adrien in Feast: 'wow new fear™️ installed, ok.'

Life goes on, LB becomes the Guardian and some time later this Su Han arrives presenting a concept that reeks of the trauma he got in Feast: That Ladybug could forget him. What does Chat do?

That's right, he rebels.

Sentibubbler. In the heat of the moment, he's been told in more or less words "you have to sit this one out". Again, an idea that brings back the fear in Feast and Furious Fu: "is she forgetting about me?" The reaction?

Then the latest: Hacksan. He arrives to the crime scene, sees the Ladybug holder is "Very Much Not My Lady". And can you imagine Chat's mental monologue after Scarabella proves she's on his side? "Why did she leave? Why didn't she tell me? When is she coming back? IS she coming back?" The fact that Scarabella probably knows LB's ID falls pretty low down in his list of mental ramblimgs. But I'm going on a tangent. Let's go back on his reaction:

The reason why we had been suspecting he'd get super mad/desperately heartbroken/etc. when he found out about Ladybug confiding her identity in someone else was, to the surprise of no one, the order in which we watched. And. While that's still a possibility bc we still have a ways to go and he still has more things to figure out, once you see everything in succession and especially after that beautiful Ladynoir scene at the end of Hacksan, you realize that Chat's tendency to react so strongly against a change in their dynamic stems out of ✨paralyzing fear✨

Feast confronted him with the very real, always looming, possibility that he might lose his lady for good, while season 4, starting from Furious Fu, is actually combining Worst Fear Number 1 and 2 to make his life a living nightmare 😃 reminding him that: a) suddenly losing Ladybug with no way to trace after her is a very real possibility despite the fact she's the Guardian b) despite her words, he still has no irrefutable proof that he is not unwanted.

In this context, it comes as no surprise that he wouldn't get angry, but rather sad and scared at the idea of a new Ladybug suddenly showing up. It changes the reading on Rocketear and Wishmaker, and retroactively, also changes the reading on Feast. Allow me to demonstrate by ruinining perfectly good crack for you:

We know Adrien has that banana suit from when they fought Kwami Buster, yeah? Another identity-themed ep, right? One in which he entertained for the briefest time a spot-on guess on his Lady's id, right?

Well, picture me this:

Adrien just woke up. Plagg is missing. Outright missing, not even turned into a sock, so he knows it's not a nightmare/he didn't run away to say hi to the Kwamis, it's ✨real life✨ He scrambles up, reads the letter, and suddenly it dawns on him: "I'm no longer Chat Noir. Ladybug is no longer Ladybug. I don't have Ladybug anymore. I don't know where to find her. I don't know her name."

He gets up and he's sobbing— of course he's sobbing ☺️ Can barely see through the tears. He's trying to think what to do. "Go out, follow Master Fu. Yes, but I can't let anyone see me."

And the only good enough disguise at his disposal.

Is.

The one he wore the day he almost figured her out 😃 Yeah. The banana one. He probably is thankful for it, too. LB can't see his puffy-from-crying face 😌

And after that certified nightmare, let's run S4 from the top, shall we?

5: "That means you won't... remember me?"

13: "I would've come to get you if I knew your identity"

14: "It's a two-person plan"

16: "Kitty, I will never abandon you"

17: "Ladybug gave us our Miraculous at the same time and Chat Noir is annoying."

18: "Ladybug probably won't need me in the future and I don't know what I want in life outside my superhero persona." *willingly reveals identity*

😃😌

[stagefoureddiediaz]

Buck looks like he’s dressed nicely. Do you think it means he’s going on a date of some sort?

Hey Nonnie

No I don't think he's going on a date. Buck in general dresses nicely -we've seen this in particular through seasons 4&5 so him being dressed nicely is just following on the trend - there are lots of button up and button down shirts as well as bowling style shirts and then there is the fact that that top is of a similar style to the one we saw him wearing to the HenRen vow renewal. I've been expecting to see more of this style on him this season and it looks like I'm gonna be correct about that. If anything the fact that the first time we see him in this style is when he's newly single heavily suggests that this type of shirt is a physical representation of single Buck - a buck enjoying and exploring being single and who he is - without reference to another person. Because I think one of the things Buck realised about himself, and that played a part in him choosing to end things with Taylor - is that he's not completely sure who he is and that he needs to know that before he can think about a relationship.

So to sum up - I think that top is more likely related to Buck doing something with one of the firefam or Maddie than it is related to a possible date - I don't know why so many people jump straight to the idea of him dating - when there is zero context and the season hasn't even started (that shirt is gonna be for ep 5 or 6 I would think!)

[stop-breaking-my-heart-telltale]

Soo a few more pages of the comic released and no surprise, it continues to be badly written and Clem for some reason acts so damn angsty and moody for no reason (she really tells Amos "there aren't many good people left" like you're right Clem, but you literally lived with actually good people and willingly left them???) You know what someone pointed out on reddit though? Comic Clem is basically the scrapped-ending outcome of Violet. The team considered the outcome that if you didn't save Violet in Ep 2, she would still hate Clem in Episode 4 and end up leaving the school, her trust in people broken to the point she'd rather be alone. In other words, Violet would become a bitter, closed-off person leaving the school to be on her own, wandering on the road for some unspecified place and not wanting to get close to anyone ever again. Yeah, doesn't that sound familiar? Tillie might as well have made this comic based on "that scrapped concept ending of Season 4" changed Clem with Violet, change literally nothing else (i.e. her personality would be the exact same) and the comic would suddenly have made sense. Of course we know why not, Clementine is the character everyone knows and loves and who makes money, not Violet, it's just a shame she basically had to give Clem Violet's scrapped S4 personality in order for the comic to happen, cause it's really what it comes off as.

hhnnngggg there's not enough coffee in my cup for this hahaha

Okay so, yeah... more pages for Clementine comic came out. I had a post planned where I went through all the new stuff and talked about it as I usually do but I saw this ask and it's interesting.

For those who don't know, here's some context to what the pages contained- Clementine leaving the place where she got her new foot when Amos shows up and introduces himself to her, offers to take her with him, she's angsty, Amos apparently has a job he's trying do and if he does it, he could possibly see a plane... yep.

Also the timeline is weird because Clem mentions it's been seven years but I thought TFS took place eight years after the start?? am I misremembering?? Shit doesn't add up.

Note- so far, Amos is the most likable character in the comic so far. He seems pretty cheerful and polite, and overall a chill dude.... this isn't great because you'd think Clementine's supposed to be the more likable but uhh... no.

Also the heavy focus on Amos is interesting given the trailer that came out for the comic had put some focus into the love interest... who we still know nothing about other than the fact that she wears glasses. We don't have a name, we don't know a personality.... shit, for all we know, Glasses isn't even a girl. We know nothing.... but we know about Amos... just interesting.

But back to your ask, anon. I hadn't considered that but holy shit you might be onto something.

That Violet concept was scrapped because the devs knew that players who got that ending on top of getting Louis killed would be miserable and wanted more balance with the characters who you didn't save as well as a happier ending.... but look back on that concept, it does weirdly line up?

I mean, their reasons for leaving are different- Violet was kidnapped and it hurt her enough to never trust again so she left to wander. I mean... I guess they are the same reasons since it's safe to assume Violet was unhappy when she left... but I more mean the circumstances of the unhappiness.

Clementine, in her own words, was unhappy at Ericson but we don't know why exactly? She just says she unhappy and it's supposed to be real sad because she's leaving AJ behind... but it's not sad, it's confusing.

And I'm sure a theory could be made that Tillie saw that concept and thought "hey that's neat" and swapped Clementine in but I'm not convinced Tillie has done much research into the games to begin with sooooo I'd probably call it coincidence.

Plus Clementine's personality in this.... it's not great. She's pretty negative, she snaps at Amos, she tells him his job is a scam and his people are a cult [and mentions that she has cult experience??? what cult did she run into when I wasn't looking???] and overall she just has a way about her that's unlikable. It's hard to describe.

But yeah, interesting points, anon.... interesting comparison.