#*also NO FAVOR INTRODUCTION THIS EPISODE*

[radioscientist]

Incident of the Stargazer is tonally SUCH an odd episode. You have an Invasion of the Body Snatchers style psychological drama playing out in one moment, and then the next moment you have Wishbone Hijinks where they’re giving him a dapper little makeover and Favor’s insisting he wear his stupid little glasses so he can laugh at him

[txttletale]

i have not even watched the latest season so feel free to ignore me completely, but i thought the issue was less that gatwa has to “share” his introduction/departure with two beloved white characters and more to do with the fact that like. his era feels like a relatively short blip sandwiched between them. like im just shocked to hear that he died already? after two short seasons? again i cant speak confidently on the subject until i eventually get around to watching it but it makes it seem like rtd was too excited to return to his old favorites to properly flesh out 15s run, which i think should be given extra attention/care given that its a big moment in the shows history as the first* black doctor who, thus continuing his long-running habit of undermining black characters in favor of white ones

i mean that just isn't how or why things happened, really. no doctor has been like, fired since colin baker. a lot of what actually happened behind the scenes is of course under wraps but there's a lot of leaks indicating that both gatwa and davies wanted gatwa to do at least three seasons (which has been the standard for nuwho doctors since tennant's original run), but disney got cold feet on renewing after season 14 didn't hit whatever metrics they had (and because internal management shifted between the deal being made and the seasons airing, and the new management is much less keen to spend money on programming in general) -- as of now, even, we don't now if there'll be a third season with disney+ or not -- and gatwa, who is something of a rising star, very understandably didn't want to put his career on pause so that he could be on call when and if an uncertain season sixteen happens.

so, yeah, gatwa absolutely got very few episodes compared to any nuwho doctor except eccleston, which is a tragedy but seems to be largely a result of 1. this unfortunate production limbo on season 16 and 2. the awful decision (whether it was for budget, or to match other shows on streaming) to cut seasons down to eight episodes. like, it's not as though davies tossed gatwa aside and said "right, fuck off now, i want to do ROSE TYLER now" -- by almost all accounts it seems like the plan was to do a third season with gatwa at least and the february round of reshoots served mostly to turn the reality war into a regeneration story at the last minute. similarly i don't think that billie piper was, like, what RTD was secretly raring to do and exchited to get gatwa out of the way for -- i think it's a pathetic attempt to generate headlines at a point where the show's future is uncertain.

& again, i think there's a lot of things to criticize about gatwa's run, and davies' writing of his doctor! i also think gatwa was absolutely done dirty by the marketing or lack thereof, which absolutely has an element of racism to it, and the constant racist attacks on him and the show in the uk press. but, yknow, i think this 'vibe' you're getting is just not founded in the facts we know about how things played out

[halemerry]

So there's a lot to unpack here but I want to start by talking about the ending and specifically about the Metatron and the calculating moves made at the end of episode 6.

Every single piece of what happened there was a manipulation technique being employed against Aziraphale to an almost brilliant degree and I'm honestly a little obsessed with what this says about the Metatron in particular.

Let's go in order.

First of all. We see him order coffee. In a human body. Something sweet and sugary. He talks to Nina and asks her about her shop name. Does anyone ever ask for death? And when she tells him no they don't his response is to say "so predictable". Our introduction to him here even when everything about him reads like a sweet old man is presented to show us someone who reads the world in terms of being predictable to him.

He then shows up in the middle of Aziraphale's existence being threatened. He immediately cuts down the threat's authority (using outdated language like Az himself would favor) and reemphasizes his own connection to Heaven. When Michael doesn't recognize him and he puts her down and then directly engages Crowley. Crowley who, to Aziraphale, has for centuries at a minimum been someone he thinks is smarter, better, more Good than these other archangels. The Metatron validates these beliefs. Crowley is more Heavenly than these archangels who couldn't even recognize the voice of God when he was standing right in front of them.

The Metatron draws attention to the fact he's in a human body. The kind of body Aziraphale has been in and loved for nearly 6000 years. He then banishes the archangels, implying their morality is in a gray space, and validates Muriel someone we have seen Aziraphale react positively to and someone outside the current power structure. Look at me, he's saying. I see and validate the little guy.

He then tries to talk to Aziraphale. Aziraphale says "I've made my position quite clear." And then the Metatron offers Aziraphale the coffee. This bartering chip, consuming sustenance, is a thing that Aziraphale and Crowley have used as their connective tissue for centuries. It's an olive branch for them. It's giving Aziraphale bodily pleasure and the Metatron implies that he himself has partaken also - a thing we know that Aziraphale has struggled historically with moralizing. He is seen by the closest thing he has left to his parent and he is having old fears validated as safe and old habits being played upon to make him feel secure

He then REMOVES Aziraphale from his home turf. Not only does he remove Crowley from the equation but he takes Aziraphale from the place that has stood as a place of sanctuary throughout the entirety of the season. The shop is Safe and Aziraphale is leaving it and he is leaving the one person who might be able to smell the bullshit coming from the Metatron. The music notably turns absolutely dire here.

The next time we see them the Metatron tells Aziraphale that he doesn't need to answer instantly. He can take his time, if he likes. All the time he needs. And then tells him to go tell Crowley. Once again bringing Crowley in as a valid part of this while manufacturing a scenario where he can't possibly be.

Az ends up in a place where he's overwhelmed and confused and he wants so badly to believe what he's being told. It's an appealing thing from his perspective! He feels off kilter like he's made a mistake in judging the Metatron. He can't even fully articulate what happened to Crowley at first and he's had absolutely no real time to actually think it through. He's running on sheer reactive energy.

The Metatron starts their conversation by asking Aziraphale's opinion. Who should rule Heaven? This is once again playing into making Az feel validated and like he's a part of this decision making process. The Metatron corrects him, complimenting Aziraphale and making him feel capable and in control. He reassures Aziraphale's bafflement. And draws attention to some traits that, while true of Aziraphale around Crowley, are not his defining traits in the eyes of Heaven. You don't just tell people what they want to hear I find particularly notable in this regard given Aziraphale spent most of his time on earth actively lying to Heaven and doing just that. But it fits into the narrative Aziraphale has built around himself, especially post Apocalypse. The Metatron then says I need you (a phrase Az will use much more painfully here in a minute).

And even after all this Aziraphale says no. He says flat out he doesn't want to go back to Heaven. He says this!!! And then the Metatron sweetens the pot. He swaps tactics. Not once has this come up until Aziraphale pushes back against the idea. If the Metatron could've gotten him without using it I have no doubt he wouldn't have bothered with it. Come to Heaven and we can save Crowley. Aziraphale loves Crowley. Aziraphale thinks Crowley is better than any of the angels he's interacted with. Crowley is Good and Nice and Kind and always saving him and now he's being presented with a way to return that. He can Forgive Crowley - a thing Crowley has always presented to Aziraphale as something he struggles with. All of these things Aziraphale has watched Crowley react to in a way that belittles himself or distances them from one another. Of course he wouldn't consider that maybe what he was actually saying is "I'm unforgivable and I don't want that forgiveness."

The Metatron offers Aziraphale a Dream Offer for the pre Armageddon Aziraphale. You can keep your Crowley. You can heal him like you have always thought he deserved. You can have power and control the people who for your whole existence has beaten you down. It can go back to how it was but BETTER.

When Aziraphale leaves he still hasn't answered. He goes and has the conversation they have. It's intense and emotional and the Metatron comes in after the Moment all casual and asks how it goes, knowing fully well the shitstorm he had just set up to get created. And then he turns around and says "always did want to go his own way" which is not only true of Crowley but framed as a bad thing despite the fact that he has just spent twenty minutes or so telling Aziraphale that he's done his own thing and that is Good. He is playing both sides of this perspective as it suits him. And then he cuts down Crowley asking questions, pressuring Aziraphale to avoid doing the same. He then proceeds to ask Aziraphale not if he's made up his mind but if he's ready to get started. He is one by one closing off exit routes to this thing as Aziraphale starts to look more and more panicked and indecisive. He makes sure the bookshop is in good hands and asks Aziraphale if there's anything he needs to take with him. Letting Aziraphale have the illusion of choice while cutting down "I don't want to" as an option altogether.

And Az, as soon as the Metatron is out of shot, tries to express this. And then he falls back right on old coping methods. The Metatron pats him on the head. Reassures that he's the right one for this. That he is Good. That his particular skillset is needed here.

It is a masterstroke of manipulation. A very dark twist on what we see Crowley do time and time again with Aziraphale throughout the millennia. Familiar in a way that makes Aziraphale feel safe. Except this time this is being used to put him back in line. It's brilliant and painful and it fucking hurt and I need a season 3 to see the Metatron get what's coming to him stat.

[angrykittybarbarian]

About that Dragon Age: The Veilguard audio web series

Thinking back about the marketing for DATV I now realize it was kind of deceptive.

No, it was not literal fraud. They did not make specific promises and then broke them, not explicitely and in a way you could hold them liable in court over. And I get when you are advertising your product you will of course highlight its most favorable aspects while not shoving its negative sides into everyone's noses.

However I do think that EA/Bioware did stretch out the boundaries between regular endorsement and fraud.

It started with the web series Vows and Vengeance they uploaded weekly on Youtube right before release. At that time I was still hopeful and excited for the game. And Vows and Vengeance all but encouraged that excitement.

You know why? Because, and this surprised me, it was genuinely good.

Vows and Vengeance functioned as an early introduction to the companions. While they were not the main characters they did play a key role in each episode. The plot was what could be typically expected from a regular DA installment. It had a dark, gripping story. The dialogue was well written. It dealt with mature themes, it actually discussed the classism of Tevinter.

Lucanis was a proper crow who killed a good man because he was hired to do so. He was positively morally grey. Davrin had actually strong opinions when the main character dropped the Dread Wolf's name. Bellara was interesting in that it became clear how she struggled with her ADHD without using infantile language, Scout Harding acted smart, mature and competent, Taash was a morally grey bad ass, fitting for a freelance treasure hunter and with smart and witty dialogue to go with it.

It was amazing, I found myself excited every week for a new episode. It got me interested in the companions. I already contemplated to romance Taash because they were so cool and charismatic in that series. I thought, if a FREE webseries that was made for advertisement was already this great then the game had to be nothing short of phenomenal.

And then it just...wasn't. There was nothing of the depth that came through in the web series. It was as if I was presented with a sample of a multilayered chocolate cake but got a dry brownie after I actually paid the full price for it.

The sheer audacity behind this course of action is still so inconcievable to me, I sometimes still wonder why they put effort into writing the free thing and not the product they demand payment for. I still don't get it. The only explanation is they purposefully put out a misleading sample to lure in the customers in the beginning to spend money, right?

This fraud adjacent behavior does not stop there.

Remember when we thought we would be importing our worldstates from our previous games? There wasn't even a question about it in the beginning because this is such an intrinsic Bioware feature. But then the info about the three choices in the character creator leaked.

Leaked!

Meaning they never intended for this information to be known pre-release. They fully intended to keep it secret until it would be too late. They also never said they wanted a soft reboot.

This is the conclusion the fandom has drawn after they destroyed their own lore and went scorched earth on the entire south of Thedas.

And the biggesr lie was when they said this was their best work. After all this!

This is the reason why DATV's shortcomings are so devastating. This is why so many feel like the game was a slap to their faces. EA/Bioware gaslit and manipulated us from the very beginning. We have been cheated and betrayed.

The last bit of trust I and many others had in Bioware, they mercilessly crushed.

I personally will never take even one thing they say at face value again. You can only trust their actions from now on.

[housemdork]

house md rewatch: 1x21, "three stories"

in shining a literal spotlight on house, david shore shines his own spotlight on his writing. instant classic.

they really do shine a spotlight on house! look!

i'm a little intimidated about writing this recap since "three stories" is so beloved, so i'll just focus on listing the pieces that i found most compelling with the understanding that this episode is brilliant, foundational, etc. etc. some of the show's most expertly done expository work.

first, i love the layers of house's vulnerability in 1x21, which run deeper than him confiding the story of his infarction. house gets exhumed for us step by step, starting with stacy's introduction to the hospital. a member from the Past Life has entered into house's sanctuary, PPTH, and disrupted the ecosystem. it's also a truly gasp-worthy reveal because of how abrupt it is.

his expression is devastating to me, btw.

each time the fellows interrupt his lecture is another layer removed, too. that cameron is the first one to pop this pseudo-reality bubble he's created in the class is brilliant, given the existing tension between them post-date. yet the more interesting tension, as all 3 file into their seats, is that which exists between house's privacy and this sudden rush of honesty he's contending with. despite not wanting to do the lecture at all in the first place, he doesn't stop when he sees he's gathered not just an audience full of annoying med students, but one with personal investment in him.

next follow wilson and cuddy, who make up the middle ground between stacy and cuddy. they're both parts of his work life, the environment that vulnerability is now leeching inside, but also parts his past and personal life. they have the most informed and prying eyes, which is why wilson pushing back against house's atheism makes narrative sense here (more on that later!).

the final layer is the most intimate - the vulnerability house md engages in with the audience. the writers are finally candid with the fact that not only is this house's story, but he's not so reliable. he warps and twists reality, with the caveat that there are several people in his life capable of resetting that warping. the 4th wall breaks are the most obvious example of this, and they're hilarious:

lastly on this point, house only shares the extent of his self-reflection with the audience. he only implies the regret he feels about the infarction episode through the visions he has during his heart attack, while his life is metaphorically flashing before his eyes. only the audience sees this. when he deflects after wilson and the fellows press the issue, we know that he's understating things.

second is how house md and house himself treats group of 3s. they're dysfunctional; they make for bad teams, relationships, and decisions (middle grounds).

the fellows are a massively dysfunctional group of 3, despite 1x21 dressing them up in similar color palettes to represent each of the 3 stories. but this dysfunction is a necessary component of the diagnostics process, seen by how everything flounders when cameron isn't around. another grey area.

the 3 stories tell incomplete portions of house's backstory, and together they don't quite paint the full picture. dysfunction.

though it's in its earliest stages right now, house, cuddy, and wilson make up arguably the most dysfunctional trifecta of all, but they each need one another in a very cylical way.

yet, most significantly, house drives home the point to the students that there will always be simple right and wrong answers in medicine. they must accept that they will fail and kill patients, despite being taught that their responsibility doesn't extend that far, barring medical malpractice. he's rejecting grey areas in favor of simplified, black and white, dichotomous answers - nothing unusual for him.

obviously, he's referring to the choice he made about his leg - to not have it amputated - in favor of the much more dangerous and painful option that could have preserved his mobility. by the episode's conclusion, we get the sense that he's at least reconsidering his choice, but the true strife of the episode is the middle ground decision stacy chose as house's medical proxy.

she says it herself: he's not "big on middle grounds." but after fulfilling his request of being put in a medically-induced coma to sleep through the worst of the pain, stacy goes ahead with some of what house wanted, and some of what she wants. it renders house disabled as we see him today.

i actually think house md handles this very well. house balances many different feelings all at once where stacy is concerned: he still loves her, worries that she hates him, feels guilt for making the choice that he did, is hurt by her choice to go over his head for that middle ground option, and blames her, at least somewhat, for the hand he's been given, all of which he deals with through avoidance. yet he cuts that avoidance short in the episode's final scene, where he agrees to help stacy's new husband, mark:

it's interesting (and emotional) to note that, when handed all of these emotions, he ends up making the kind, self-sacrificing choice (hmm. who could have influenced that decision? could it be the same person who popped his lecture bubble?). but i also need to highlight the eternal question that 1x21 raises...

is this all house's fault?

and by "all," i mean truly everything - his relationships, his addiction, his misanthropy, his loneliness, etc. i also think the show handles this question well by never quite answering it. there's a fair amount of ableism baked in, but the constant battle house fights for his autonomy indicates to me that house md is, at its core, apologetic to him. we aren't led to believe that stacy made the right choice by taking his decision-making. he made the choice to keep his leg, which medically was all kinds of wrong, but who are we to deprive him of his right to choose? ESPECIALLY AFTER NOBODY BELIEVED HIM AND HIS MUSCLE WAS DYING FOR 3 DAYS BEFORE ANYONE THOUGHT TO LISTEN TO HIS OWN DIAGNOSIS.

another example of this (which i think is even more well done) is in the season 2 finale during house's hallucination. when he thinks he's been given ketamine without his consent, he (rightfully) flies off the handle, and the audience has his back.

so no, of course i don't believe that "everything" is house's fault by any means, and i don't think david shore and co. think that either. the continual challenges to his misanthropy and the undoubted audience sympathy speak to the contrary.

relatedly....this episode features house md's treatise on unconditional love. heavily. his conversation with stacy post-bypass operation confirms that he was once full of the stuff. as she's pleading with him to amputate his leg, she asks whether he would give up his leg to save her, to which he replies: "of course i would."

this is one of the least house-like conversations we've heard thus far because the current house would never talk like this, would never admit to that, would never indulge that kind of sincerity. stacy taking his autonomy, even if he agrees with her partially in the long-run, undoes this. the betrayal combined with a life full of pain and the fact that he was warned about his happening combine into his toxic cynicism that festers over time, driving stacy away, warping who he used to be. the sympathy that 1x21 engenders all at once is just SO GOOD; house md caught audiences assuming that he was an just mega-intelligent, jaded grouch with some bad habits and course-corrected.

but don't worry - i will always argue that unconditional love, the base theme of the entire show, makes it full, thematically-aligned return in 8x22 :)

returning to wilson challenging house's atheism + house's visions - i absolutely adore, through and through, how house conceptualizes his beliefs, which is crazy because he's so Negative. when cameron asks him how he can be comfortable knowing that this, the here and now, is all we have, he says, "I find it more comforting to believe that this isn't simply a test." because, if that were the case, house would feel like a failure. he shows his hand here - if it were a test, and he knew that he'd already failed, why would he keep going? why would he keep caring and trying and loving?

this is all we have in his view (and in mine), so we ought to do our best to make it right, even though in medicine, you will make mistakes, and in relationships, and in your own life, in your own mind.

there are many, many more points i could make, but i'll limit this post because it's taken a while to write lol. i know we all have our own laundry list of reasons why we love 1x21, as we should.

i also want to clarify that 1) i really like stacy and i understand/appreciate what she did; 2) i don't "blame" house at all, that's just a moral dilemma the show at large poses; 3) i don't want to excuse the ableism the show promotes throughout, i'm just highlighting a way that they portray house's disability that i found compelling/kind amidst everything else.

lastly, everyone should listen to "graveyard whistling" by nothing but thieves and think about greg house.

EXPLICIT SERIES FINALE SPOILERS BELOW:

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-

-

i have to mention this here because, like i keep saying, THE SERIES FINALE MADE SENSE. house is firm in his belief in 1x21, and throughout the show, that present life is all there is, and that it's not a test, and thank god (lol) for that, or else he would have failed.

yet house's subconscious tests him during that final suicide attempt in the burning building, quite literally posing him a yes/no question that rejects the middle ground answer. he tries to let the circumstances take him without any active involvement in his own life, but the cameron hallucination refutes this, calls him a coward, and prompts him to declare what 176 episodes thought to be impossible "but i can change."

he rises above the test of his own creation, functionally dead but alive and enjoying the present that he holds so sacred. he can return to that unconditional love. IT IS SO THEMATICALLY WELL ROUNDED, I CAN'T STAND IT.

[fandomapocalypse]

Love and relationships in Hazbin Hotel

Episode 7 has something interesting and in the song that is called "Out for love" is sung by a character that is referring to a type of love different from a romantic or sexual one, Carmilla is openly talking about familial love. Vaggie of course relates this to her romantic feelings towards Charlie and how she wants to help her. But something else interesting happens in episode 7, Rosie is properly introduced as Alastor's bestie. This leads to showing another type of love: platonic love.

Now to the main point of this post: Alastor. It's canon that he is aroace and as an ace myself (I'm still questioning whether I'm aromantic or demiromantic but this post isn't about me lol) I'm extremely happy to see myself through him. Plus, the fact that the perfect Tumblr sexyman is aroace is genius and hilarious, you can't possibly top this type of humor.

Alastor for me has been a great ace representation and I've seen myself mainly in how he acts around his friends or other people.

When it comes to Niffty it looks more like a relationship between someone with their feral cat or their crazy little sister. But it's still a genuine connection and a fun chaotic one at that, he even lets her touch his hair and climb on him. In regards to Mimzy, he has shown he cares about her and welcomes her with open arms. He openly hugs her, which shocks everyone in the cast. This is extremely important because Alastor usually only starts physical contact to mock others or to pretend physical closeness as a manipulation tactic (like he often does with Charlie). When it comes to people he hates Alastor may touch them but will quickly wipe his hand on his clothes, like what he did with Lucifer. Personally, I don't like personal contact and only accept it if I start it and usually I use it as a way to show affection with close friends. Also, they have known each other since they were alive, so Mimzy probably knows a lot about Alastor that the rest of the cast doesn't. Mimzy also says that they used to dance together. But that doesn't exclude the fact that she uses Alastor's friendship and affection to save her own ass and taking into account how Husk reacted to Mimzy, this isn't the first time she does this. Also, the relationship between the two starts to crumble after what happened in episode 6 and Mimzy seems to be the kind of friend who will pretend that they are still on good terms and still ask Alastor for favors in the future.

Now jumping back to Alastor's true bestie: Rosie. They probably bonded at first over their cannibalistic natures but it's clear that it evolved beyond that. Personally, I don't ship Alastor with anyone, but when it comes to Rosie I headcanon they are in a QPR.

There are various reasons why this relationship is so great and wholesome, the first one being that there is no power imbalance, they are equals. Both are cannibalistic overlords and are on equal footing in terms of power. When Rosie first sees Alastor she is genuinely happy which is something new because most people react badly to him out of fear or hatred.

Alastor respects Rosie, he even compliments her, in her introduction he says she is "the most darling, delightful, and dangerous Overlord of this side of the pentagram". Considering how self-centered and narcissistic he can be, it means a lot. Alastor would rather die again than compliment another Overlord who isn't Zestial, which he respects but out of fear. Alastor respects Rosie as his close friend. When they stand next to each other they give an air of equals, something that never happens thanks to Alastor's ego and sadism towering over everyone else. With Rosie it's different and Rosie can openly tease Alastor with the "Look at you, so polite! Alastor you can learn a thing or two" when comparing him to Charlie when meeting her, or "I'm just kidding, I know you're an ace in the hole" to tease him about his asexuality. This is something that not a lot of people can do because Alastor is obsessed with control and respect. After all, we see how badly he reacted when Husk insulted him.

He also harmonizes with her, he willingly makes a duet with her in "Ready for this". He isn't interrupting her, instead, he agrees with her and they sing together in unison. This is the first time he doesn't openly hijack a song or fight for control over it, like he did with Vox and Lucifer (although this also happened because this is Charlie's song, but who cares the point still stands). Also, this is the first time we see him dance with someone, instead of forcing them to join his musical number (like he does with Charlie on various occasions). Alastor and Rosie are in perfect sync and it's so wholesome and precious to see him being so openly happy with her. Many have pointed out that the only times Alastor is genuinely smiling is when he is with Rosie and it shows by his expression in his eyes.

Finally, Rosie is the only one capable of bringing the most human emotions out of him, the most obvious one being confusion. In the scene of "ace in the hole" Rosie manages to confuse and surprise Alastor for a solid second, which is a huge change of his persona around everyone else of control and manipulation. Also, it's hilarious that Alastor doesn't know what being aroace is, he probably thinks he is above all that.

He is openly relaxed around Rosie and lets her touch him in an affectionate way, something that not even Mimzy can do. It may be because of the height difference but Mimzy only touches Alastor to hug him and to emphasize he is a "heartless son of a bitch" and Alastor clearly gets irritated by her touching him that way and even moves her finger away from him. This never happens with Rosie and he even welcomes her touching him by not having any walls with her. It's Rosie the one starting the physical contact and Alastor doesn't seem to mind and he never tries to use physical contact to take advantage of her like he does with other characters. Rosie is one of the few people who can touch Alastor without losing an arm and instead have a positive reaction out of him.

The most genuine relationship Alastor has is with Rosie, he even has the confidence and comfort to stop his elegant and reserved persona of not swearing. Which he only does when he is truly angry, like what happened with Lucifer. Or when he is threatening someone like he did with Adam. Or when he is shocked when his microphone breaks. He swears to insult Susan, which is someone they both despise equally. Something that you would only do with your closest bestie.

Finally, let's talk about Alastor's breakdown in the last episode. We've already seen that Alastor is capable of having friendships that aren't based on an end goal. Alastor knows this but he rejects it because he is at the hotel originally for selfish goals and doesn't want his emotions to get in the way. He is terrified of ruining his reputation as a sadistic killer and becoming an altruistic who cares about his friends. Alastor wants to stop himself from starting to care about the crew the same way he cares about Rosie, Mimzy, or Nifty to some degree. This is confirmed by his conversation with Niffty, where he admits he has grown accustomed to the main crew and perhaps he is growing feelings of affection towards them in his own way.

In regards to shipping him with Rosie, I see it as a platonic ship or a QPR. Some people have a headcanon that if they had known each other when they were alive they would have married for tax benefits and to avoid the social stigma, which is the only right answer. When they first met in hell they probably had dates in cannibal town where they ate human flesh while gossiping and trash-talked about the other overlords. Which is exactly what an ace person like myself wants from a close friendship.

As an ace, I really like Alastor not because he is the ultimate Tumblr sexyman or see him as hot but because he is an extremely fun character that I can relate to. I'm grateful for the crew and VA that take into account he is aroace and take seriously that aspect of his character. I don't mind that the aroace representation in Hazbn Hotel is a narcissistic psychopath, if you want a more wholesome ace representation you can check Todd in Bojack Horseman or Saiki in The Disastrous Life of Saiki K.

I don't mind people shipping Alastor, after all, it's just people having fun, but you can't ignore that he is aroace and how this affects his relationships. So yeah have fun and respect and aroace community :)

ok thanks for hearing my rant bye

[letmyrighthandbeforgotten]

My comprehensive Mel Medarda analysis.

I think it’s easy to separate people who talk about Mel into three groups: people who ship jayvik and hate Mel, people who ship jayvik and “like” Mel in a way that simplifies her almost past recognition, and people who hate jayvik and love Mel (sometimes while simplifying her). And I am someone who loves jayvik and Mel, but I definitely do not ship Jay/Mel, or Jay/Mel/Vik. And I think there’s a dearth of good Mel meta. 

I have three main points: 1) All of the main cast are an antagonist to another member of that same cast. If you don't acknowledge that, then you're not really engaging with the show, you're writing an au in your head. Which you can do! I love au's where all the characters are friends. But that's not the show. 2) Mel IS a corrupt politician who uses manipulation as a tactic; she is also an empath and someone who cares deeply. I do not think these are unrelated facets of her character, but actually deeply related to each other, integral to who she is, and directly resulting from how she was raised. 3) Mel and Jayce are not a good couple, and that makes both of them more interesting.

A/N: And before anyone tries to play identity politics with me, I am a queer, utterly broke woman of color! Mel and Viktor are both dear to me! They are not in competition for my affection! 

Mel the Politician: 

I think of Mel as someone who WANTS to be good but was never taught how, so her initial attempts at goodness fail. Manipulation seems to her a good middle ground from the violence she was raised in. She does not see it as a different, but still horrific type of violence because she was immersed in so much overt violence growing up. 

Mel is introduced in episode 2, which focuses more evenly on the Piltover cast whereas episode 1 focused entirely on establishing the Zaunite characters with Piltover as a villain. Mel stands in direct contrast to them. And make no mistake — from Zaun's perspective, Mel IS an antagonist. Episode 1 shows us enforcers murdering Zaunites on the bridge and Vi openly saying that no one in Piltover is going hungry, in direct contrast to the undercity. With that context, let's look at Mel's introduction.

Mel is introduced to us as the epitome of the Piltover elite. In her opening scene, she stands in a huge room, presumably an office or similar, having a private meeting with a merchant there to sell her something. She almost entirely ignores the merchant in favor of speaking to her assistant Elora, who outright states Mel is the richest woman in Piltover. Mel immediately bemoans the fact that she is still the poorest Medarda. Remember: this scene does not exist in a vacuum. Mel is standing in a room larger than the one shared by Vander’s 4 children, and still complaining that she doesn’t have enough. I think that we the audience are meant to go "is she for real right now?" The sun shines on Mel, and the undercity is covered in smog. 

In retrospect, this scene also introduces Mel's conflict with her family and identity as a Medarda. But again, in retrospect. We don't have that context at the moment. Mel does not exist independently of the Zaunite characters, though she might think she does at first; they are all tightly woven together. Mel is not introduced as cruel — and I don’t think she is cruel on a personal level — but she is introduced as the exact type of person who directly benefits from the oppression of the undercity. This is not by accident. Mel is that person. And she does not need to be intentionally cruel for her actions to have cruel effects.

Some people want to hate the council without acknowledging that Mel is one of them. That is willful ignorance and erasure.

(also look how stupid they all look. why are they posing. Mel is the only one who kind of looks cool, the rest are just funny.) 

Mel is not just a part of the council, she is their de-facto leader after Heimerdinger (gonna expand on this later). She is the one who first addresses Marcus and Grayson directly in this scene. The kind of violence Mel and the council inflict is the kind of silent violence oppressed communities experience every day: Sending enforcers to do their dirty work. Restricting commerce, and therefore inflicting poverty on an already impoverished community. Raiding and searching everyone in Zaun, regardless of if you have any reason to think they’re connected to what actually happened. While characters like Jinx, Vi, Sevika, and Silco are directly, physically violent, this is the kind of insidious violence that is accepted as the norm. To draw a comparison from our world, why does the world care when the head of a health insurance company is murdered, but not when that company denies healthcare and lets people die every day? When our healthcare system sends people into debt for daring to live? Why do we care when violence is done with a gun, but not a pen? They are wealthy, they have power, therefore it is accepted that they have the right to benefit from other’s suffering. 

This is obviously an incomplete view of Mel … but it’s not inaccurate. Anyone from Zaun in universe would have reason to hate her.

I would argue that this is the Mel we see from episodes 1-7. Someone who is beautiful, charming, sounds nice enough, but ultimately self-interested and who benefits from the suffering of others without a thought. 

But then episode 8 feeds us. Let's talk about her flashback scene.

Mel’s Relationship to Power and Goodness: 

This scene haunts me. I love this whole scene so much. This is where we are introduced to Ambessa. And oh, what an impression it is. 

Suddenly, a lot about Mel clicks into place. We see past her mask of perfection and realize she is still a child with a mother who is violent and loves her dearly.  Who says her violence is for her family. Done in Mel’s name, no matter how much she does not want it.

They stand in a destroyed throne room that belonged to someone Ambessa conquered. Ambessa characterizes herself as a wolf and Mel as a fox. We immediately know what Ambessa was like and how Mel was raised. Ambessa is brutal and merciless; Mel uses guile and trickery. Ambessa crushed the throne; Mel talks about what sort of puppet leader they should install to control. But to her mother, it is not enough for Mel to be a good politician. She needs to be without mercy. Brutal. This is the kind of violence Mel understands, the kind she was raised in. And it is what she abhors. 

Then Ambessa asks Mel what they should do with this girl. A living symbol of a power that Ambessa has conquered, a member of the old regime, and as young as Mel herself. Ambessa plans to kill her; that much is clear. But what Mel suggests is also cruel. Stripped of her lands and titles, banished from her home, her family and people dead. That's horrible! That's a horrible way to live! 

And Ambessa doesn’t even let her have that. No wonder Mel doesn’t recognize her own actions as cruelty when this was the alternative she was shown. She does not know kindness. She only knows violence or political games. She was taught to seize power and hold onto it. There is no other option. Not that she knows. 

(This girl’s name is Mion by the way. Look at how she looks down and away from Ambessa, versus how she looks at Mel with hope 🥺) (And if I say that this is the character I ship with Mel. That I have a whole canon divergent au in my head where she lived and grew up alongside Mel, developing a deeply unhealthy, uneven, and codependent but ultimately loving relationship. What then.) 

I love that this moment haunts her. It's not just a flashback for the audience, Mel is actively having a nightmare about it years later. She paints the girl's bloodied necklace. She's one of the forms LeBlanc takes to speak to her, and it's her necklace that Mel uses as a power conduit in her final confrontation with Ambessa. She carries this moment with her for over a decade. It’s when she loses her mother and when Ambessa loses her daughter. This is Mel’s loss of innocence.

With this in mind, it’s suddenly clear why Mel is the way she is as an adult. The council casts Jinx and Silco as violent, but utterly fails to comprehend that violence is not inherent to them. It is directly because of Piltover's treatment of them. Neither Jinx nor Silco start out as cruel people. They were created, not born. But while other members of the council are either willfully ignorant (Heimerdinger) or casually cruel because they genuinely don’t view the Zaunites as actual people, Mel seems to not realize her own cruelty. She does not mean to be cruel. I don’t think she wants to be. I think that she believes this is genuinely the best option that still lets her hold power. And power is everything. Power is how you make sure no one hurts you the way Ambessa has hurt others. But foxes and wolves are both predators, no matter how they kill you. 

So what changes? 

I’ve only accelerated a process that you started. Mel says she wanted to protect the city. I believe her. She believes herself. But what parts of the city? Certainly not the undercity, who have no access to Hextech despite Jayce and Viktor’s own desires. Not the people for whom violence, disease, and starvation are just a part of life. Mel has tried to be good; Mel has failed. Now her own mother bluntly tells her that Mel is the one who started this; Ambessa only intends to finish it. 

This is the scene where Ambessa tells Mel why she was sent away: she weakened her. Ambessa couldn’t make the necessary decisions (note how she says it; necessary decisions, not hard ones) and look Mel in the eye. Everything Ambessa did was out of love … 

And look what she did. 

I believe that this scene with Ambessa is Mel’s “my god, what have I done” moment. Maybe she had good intentions; so did her mother, in her own way. Intention hardly matters when these are the results. It is after this moment that Mel votes for Zaun’s independence. That she works with Lest. Mel finally starts to see the harm she has done, and she decides that she must undo it. Mel has failed … but she will keep trying until she gets it right.

Mel’s relationship with Jayce (and Viktor): 

This is the controversial part of my analysis. But what can you do? 

Here’s the thing: I think that most of Mel and Jayce’s interactions are knee-deep at best. They like each other on the surface, but they do not deeply understand each other. And once they do, they realize that they do not match. They are not meant to be. 

To me, Mel and Jayce are fundamentally different. That’s fine. You want characters to be different, you want that push and pull. But Mel is a politician, a power player. The person who looks at the pieces on the board and tries to maximize her own influence. (And to be clear: Mel is allowed to want power. That is a good and fine trait for a character to have. It creates conflict for her character and we see her use that power for good in season 2 before she is unceremoniously yanked off screen.) Jayce is an inventor. A dreamer. He wants to change the world. Not for his own sake, not for power, but because he just wants to make things better for everyone. Oh, he also wants recognition. Who wouldn’t? But he wants it to come as a result of the good he does. And he has an obsession with magic, but because that magic saves him. 

Let’s look at the scene where Jayce becomes a councilor. 

He’s stressed, he’s breathing heavily, he’s looking around like he desperately wants someone to put a stop to this. The camera spins, like Jayce is getting dizzy. His expression … he looks hunted. Viktor is the only one who notices his distress, but is powerless to stop it. Mel might not be a wolf yet, but she is a powerhouse, steamrolling over everyone else. After all, she knows what’s best, right? OBVIOUSLY Jayce wants this life, he just doesn’t know it yet. This is as close to goodness as she knows, and Jayce wants to do good, right? Doesn’t everyone want that kind of power? (Mel, you break my heart)

But Mel cannot understand Jayce at this point because she doesn’t fully understand herself (see everything with Ambessa). It's only after the two are separately isolated and forced to self-reflect that they actually understand each other … and it is as their whole selves that they realize they do not fit together. Season 1 Jayce/Mel could work BECAUSE they are not yet who they are meant to be, instead bowing to the expectations of others and themselves. The golden children of Piltover, they look good together, they are expected to be together … but they are not meant to be. 

I think Mel IS subtly manipulative of Jayce in the same way she is for everyone else on the council and in high society. But Jayce rarely gives her any pushback, and she looks genuinely shocked when he does (ex. after he talks to Ambessa in the bathhouse and Jayce decides direct confrontation is the next move). I think Jayce trusted that Mel was the best at what she did — which she is — but he failed to consider that he did not want to be the same as her. Like Viktor says, "In the pursuit of great, we failed to do good." Mel could make him great, but she could not make him good. Jayce is not meant to be a leader and is poorly cast in that role. Mel could never be a mere supporter of the world, she belongs as a power player. They are perpendicular lines — intersecting but moving in different directions. 

(Side note: It's so funny to me that Mel calls Jayce the de-facto head of the council when that could not more obviously be her! And she knows it! She is the one who changes Hoskel's votes with a single glance. She is the one who decides to add Jayce to the council and convinces everyone else. Jayce proposes kicking Heimerdinger out, but I do not think all of the council would have agreed if Mel was not the first to voice her support. Probably none of them would have. If the council actually has a leader after Heimerdinger (who's been here 200 years), it IS Mel. But Jayce makes a useful figurehead for Mel to work more subtly.) 

Jayce and Mel like each other well enough. At least, they like the versions of each other that they see. But Mel is so used to wearing a mask that she doesn’t even realize that’s what he’s seeing. She is so used to other people’s masks that she can’t see Jayce’s heart even as it’s plain on his sleeve. And being a councilor brings out the absolute worst in Jayce. If anything he needs to become a councilor so that he can realize the extent of his own prejudice and change. But it is not who he wants to be, nor who he should be. I think that Jayce, after everything he sees and does and goes through, could be happy living in a cabin by a stream with his love and 4 kids. Mel could never be satisfied by that kind of life.

While we're here, let's talk about her and Viktor. (Yes I am a jayvik shipper but this is about Mel.) Even with no context, the two are practically designed to contrast each other. Mel is from Noxus, Viktor is from Zaun (interestingly, both are cultures with a lot of violence, but Noxus is a conqueror, Zaun the oppressed). Mel is rich, Viktor is poor. Mel is a politician, Viktor is an inventor. Mel is a black woman, Viktor is a white man. Mel is able bodied, Viktor is disabled. Mel is born with magic, Viktor is an inventor of artificial magic. They're both outsiders to Piltover, but Mel is accepted and Viktor is not. They stand in direct contrast to each other through the show and represent two extremes Jayce must choose between. Mel is power and politics; Viktor is science and idealism. Both are valid. Both are interesting. But only one aligns with Jayce.

Two similarities between them that aren’t brought up often (if at all): They both have childhood flashbacks where an adult parent figure brutally harms an innocent they identify with in front of them (Singed to Rio, and Ambessa to Mion). They both see their bodies as things that betray them — Viktor through his disability and later corruption by the Hexcore, Mel by the magic blood that runs through her veins. These are both complex, emotional, and deeply interesting characters and I get why Jayce wants them both. This is the bisexual representation we need. 

Let’s take this scene as a microcosm of their season 1 relationship. Viktor is putting a lot on the line. He is helping Jayce break into Heimerdinger’s lab to illegally use equipment that has been confiscated from him after a building blew up. Viktor stands to lose everything if helping Jayce does not work out; his position as Heimerdinger’s assistant, the scraps of power he’s managed to claw out of Piltover. He stands to gain a lot if it works out, granted. He says that he doesn’t want to be an assistant forever. But he believes Jayce is worth the risk. He understands hextech, understands the science and magic behind it. Jayce and Viktor share a vision. 

Mel stands to lose nothing. Even visually, Jayce and Viktor are in this together. Mel stands alone. She is in this as long as she stands to benefit. Jayce and Viktor are in the sky together; Mel is firmly planted on the ground. 

Okay, typing it out like that seems harsh, but it’s only to contrast the characters and their relationship with Jayce. Mel doesn’t NEED to do anything for Jayce at this point. She does not know him! He is just some guy! She also does not have the same understanding of hextech that Viktor does; that is not her area of expertise. She is very good at people and politics; he is very good at science and invention. She’s kind of just hoping Jayce pulls through. But it shows how Viktor and Jayce immediately have a deep and connected relationship, while Mel and Jayce’s early relationship is focused on being mutually beneficial. 

However, even after the timeskip, Mel wants the golden boy; she and Elora say as much. But that person isn’t real. And Jayce is not the man on the poster. They seem to barely know each other better than they did in episode 3. 

I don’t think that Jayce and Mel not matching is some huge moral failing on either of them, by the way. Mel does not need to be better for Jayce. Jayce does not have to change for her. Jayce and Mel’s relationship is one of misunderstanding. They just don’t quite fit, and that makes both them and the world more interesting. 

I also can't get behind mel/jay/vik as a ship. Mel and Viktor knew each other for 6-7 years and they still don’t like each other. I think Viktor just on principle would hate any politician, never mind one actively perpetuating the oppression of his people. I get it because I love them both too, but sometimes the characters we like don't like each other! They're not even toxic in a fun way they just don't vibe with each other 😭 I'm chill with the mel/jay/vik enjoyers, but I could never be one myself. (someone said they ship Jayce with Mel and Viktor in the way of divorced parents splitting custody; I can support that) 

What I think could have been done better:

This is to say that Mel's season 2 arc should have focused on her political development, leaving magic for a season 3 (that still had political elements). (Also in my ideal season 2 ending Piltover just gets fucking BRUTALIZED, forcing them down to the level of the Zaunites, struggling for survival instead of victory. But they were not gonna write that, lol) I think a season 2 ending where Mel is kidnapped by the Black Rose BECAUSE she's going too far off-course from where they want her would be good.

Talking about season 2 is ... difficult. Because I do like it. I enjoy watching, the writers and voice actors and artists are all performing beautifully. But I think the show they wanted NEEDED a third season, and only having 2 meant they had to severely compress everyone’s character development. It’s like someone listed all the plot points they wanted, then crossed out everything they could to make it fit. It broadly makes sense, but you can tell a lot is missing. Mel, Jayce, Ekko, and Viktor are all yanked off-screen for long periods of time. A lot is implied, and a lot isn't as deep as you want it to be. Season 1 is tightly written, season 2 is loose. It comes together as well as it can while keeping the original endpoint for the characters rather than changing them to fit in a single season.

But I am very happy that Mel’s story is not over. 

Conclusion:

Anyway, I want Mel to have a lesbian enemies to lovers story arc in the Noxus show. I want her to meet a power player character who can keep up with her. Similarly to how I see Jayce and Viktor as the same character type (inventors) who are different in every other way and THAT'S why they work, I want her to meet someone who is her equal and peer but still so different from her. I want that mutual fascination, that clash and collide, and for her to fall head over heels. I want her and this new character to manipulate each other, hurt each other, and understand each other like no one else can (I like when gay people are toxic in a cool and interesting way). That is my wishlist.

So when I make funny ha ha posts about Mel, I am NOT doing that as someone who wants her out of the way of jayvik, nor as someone who thinks she did nothing wrong!!!! I am a Mel understander and I will die one!!!

[michi-grunks]

Probably I should did this introduction before, but here it goes.

I've been in this fandom a little before Ford was revealed in the show, most like a casual fan, but after the episode of ATOTS aired, my mind exploded for these two, of course I began to ship them

Good times, I'm still sad to realize the huge amount of artists and writers who left the fandom (I've been trying to recover a lot of old fanarts, because I lost everything on my old computer 😔)

Time passed and eventually lost interest, until TBOB came out and damn, I knew the ship was good but I couldn't remember it was THIS good WTH?

Must say, my perspective over the ship changed and grew up now that I'm an adult with a job, I used to like them because of the great dynamic they had, but I think it's only now that I can see how complicated their relationship was, and I fucking love it.

I mean the angsty story? the depth of each of the twins? the codependecy? the repressed feelings? two old men sailing in a boat at the end of the series? it basically has everything I love, even more considering the amount of possibilities you have with every version of the Stans, you can make your own favorite combo

So after months of doubt I created this blog just to share stuff of these grunks, call me Mishell/Michi, I'm kinda of a slow artist so take a pity on me, also my english isn't the best but I'm trying

Anyways, hope you enjoy my content in the future, have a WIP of the blorbos while I keep writing :^))

P. D. Si hay gentita que hable español, por favor interactúen conmigo, necesito conversar de estos viejos

[maldeldest]

So, I was wondering in how many Episodes Zuko actually antagonized the Gaang so (because I have no life) I got us all an Overview

1x1: Zuko's introduction and the worst thing he did was stalking them, while he remained on his ship to annoy his uncle

1x2: Classic capturing Aang moment. That's how the best friendships begin

1x3: No antagonzing here. Just kicking Zhao's ass

1x4: The Kyoshi Island fight. Yet another classic

1x5: No Zuko

1x6: Short cameo and kinda bad for taking the necklace, but he just picked it up so I let that slide.

1x7: Decided to save Uncle instead of following the Avatar *pats his bald head* Good boy

1x8: Again Zhao is the bigger asshole but he shot them and grabbed Aang for like 3 seconds.

1x9: Teaming up with pirates to be the perfect villain, oh yeeeah.

1x10: No Zuko here

1x11: No Zuko here

1x12: Here you got everything at once. Zuko being a little bitch (I love him so much), then this 13 year old mf had the balls to speak up against innocents dying and the Agni Kai scene killed me. My boy then let the Avatar escape yet again to ensure the safety of his crew. And that, my friends, is the reason why Zuko was never a villain to me, only an antagonist.

1x13: Zuko being vulnerable and losing hope and then saves Aang. I count that one as good because he could have chased him after but didn't (Yeah I know he was still injured and tired, BUT I LET IT COUNT)

1x14: No Zuko here

1x15: Again classic June team up with her whip.

1x16: No Zuko, Only mentioned.

1x17: Again no Zuko here.

1x18: Ahhh the very first assasination attempt. They grow up so fast.

1x19: Starts wholesome but shit got serious because Zuko has Aang. (And gets the most clichee bad guy line "Who do we have here?" Zuko no you are better than this).

1x20: Here we have both a bad thing and a good thing. Bad thing is ofc holding Aang captive for half the episode and good is trying to save Zhao (who hasn't deserved it a bit but Zuko is better than me IG)

2x1: Nothing to see here. Azula serves as the bad guy and Zuko is doing humanity a favor by cutting off his ponytail.

2x2: Good boys dont steal oastric horses from nice ladies, Zuko. Ts ts ts.

2x3: Azula serves as the worthy antagonist. I guess Zuko gave over his cepter.

2x4: Only one Zuko scene at the beginning. A shame. What ? No, Zuko didn't steal these guys swords, that was the blue spirit. PAY ATTENTION!

2x5: Zuko (steals) brings food on the table for Uncle. What a nice young man.

2x6: No Zuko here

2x7: Okay if I have to explain this one I'm not sure if you should stay here. Love How Avatar wasn't even mentioned.

2x8: Only one line of wanting to capture Aang and then making a fool out of himself against Azula (Zuko, I love you, but that really wasn't your best). And then they worked together. Also, my sweet, I get you have trust issues and all but dont throw fire at people wanting to help your injured uncle

2x9: The only thing he hurt in here was Iroh's nerves.

2x10: No Zuko here

2x11: Zuko and Iroh playing refugee simulator and minding their own buisness.

2x12: Zuko getting dragged into the criminal lifestyle by the bad influence of his new boyfriend -Uncle Iroh

2x13: I see a pattern but again Zuko and Iroh minding their own buisness.

2x14: Zuko and Iroh minding their own buisness but Jet comes in to ruin the fun and spill the tea.

2x15: Who needs honor when you can get a pretty girl.

2x16: Small cameo on the boat and Iroh watching over Zuko. Very wholesome.

2x17: Zuko tried to steal Appa: No bad Zuko, down.

Zuko frees Appa: Good Zuko.

2x18: Zuko is too sick to hunt the Gaang

2x19: Zuko is happy and him and Iroh minding their own buisness. Katara, I love you but why did you have to ruin it 😭

2x20: We... we don't talk about this. Lets just move on

3x1: Love how Zuko isn't even back for 5 minutes and Azula is already mentally torturing him.

3x2: Nice boys also dont sent assassins after his future best friend, Zuko. Ts ts ts.

3x3: No Zuko here

3x4: No Zuko here.

3x5: Zuko and Mai being an all time fighting couple and being assholes to each other but it has nothing to do with the Gang so I let it slide. And wow, Azula manages to have one moment with Zuko that felt honestly wholesome to me. Good Job 👍🏻

3x6: Backstory time. Again, nothing was done to hurt the Gaang so we are good so far.

3x7: No Zuko here

3x8: No Zuko here

3x9: Zuko living the life he deserves as a prince (too bad we have to take it away from him)

3x10: Few Zuko scenes here and there, each of them great.

3x11: Zuko standing up to his father as the GOAT he is

3x12: Zuko joins the Gaang

3x13: Zukaang life changing field trip

3x14: Zukka life changing field trip

3x15: Zukka life changing field trip part 2

3x16: Zutara life changing field trip and Zuko is officially their friend. I love a happy ending.

3x17: Zuko regrets that ponytail more than everything else (and sweet moment with Toph)

3x18: Yup, attacking Aang one last time for good luck but I let it slide.

3x19: If Zuko and Iroh's reunion is not one of your favorite scenes then leave.

3x20: Agni Kai, do I need to say more ?

3x21: All hail firelord Zuko

So, thats it. We only have 9 times where he was actually an evil force to be dealt with by the Gaang out of 61 Episodes. The rest of the times he either wasn't present, minding his own buisness, annoyed his uncle or was a straight up hero even while he was an antagonist.

And thats why to me he is I no way comparable to Zhao, Ozai, Azula, Long Feng or even minor douchebags like Jet.

[ilikekidsshows]

Many people said "CN is not a good fighter' and I just realized how the narrative really make it looks like that's really the case despite of him being supposed to be a fencer champion and know martial arts and I was?? Baffled?? He even beaten by Scarabella despite being more experienced in fighting than Alya?? Either this show favor the girls more to the point it want to show that boys are incompetent or the boys are really incompetent in universe idk

---

The Scarabella thing is a combination of three things, at least, in my view, and some are problems that were always there, while others relate more to the retool. 1) The writers are pushing this being a girl power show so the girls always have to be smarter and stronger than the guys. You can see a bit of this in the preretool show where the boy classmates are, to be frank, already depicted as a bit more stupid than the girl classmates. Compare what the boys get up to when they gather together (throw a frat party) with what the girls get up to when they gather together (fashion shows, planting trees, hatching get Adrien quick schemes). 2) Cat Noir/Adrien is too popular so his role in episodes and importance to the narrative have to be diminished as much as they can while still keeping him around enough for his toys to sell. I’m actually starting to think “and Cat Noir” was a purposeful decision to make the show more marketable that Astruc then didn’t want to commit to. 3) Ladybug has to be the greatest at everything ever, regardless who is being Ladybug at the moment. Ladybug can’t lose to Cat Noir because she’s the better/more important/stronger hero.

Please ignore how Ladybug’s “fighting ability” in most episodes with actual villains is running away while Cat Noir fights them head on. Please ignore how Ladybug’s strategy for physically strong or fighter type Akumas is to have Cat Noir fight them while she comes up with a plan. Please ignore every single time there’s a horde of enemies, outside of Rena Rouge’s introduction episode, where Cat Noir was worfed to make her entrance more impressive when she saves him (wow look, another pattern), Cat Noir is the one who takes them out. Please ignore how Cat Noir utterly destroyed Miracle Queen’s elite fighting force with the most broken superpowers at their disposal.

Like, before I was done with the show and fandom, I tried to avoid saying I think Cat Noir is the better fighter. I said it was a “matter of taste” instead of “Ladybug gets handed the most important powers and the writers obviously favor her and her fighting style so this comparison is incredibly unfair on Cat Noir”. But, even then, I have always thought that Cat Noir’s fight scenes are just more often actual fights versus Ladybug’s super planning skills making her the most important character ever. Miraculous leans into trickery in fights, because that’s Marinette’s strength and lets her be “the best in a fight”, but in terms of actual fighting ability, Cat Noir just shows more actual moves and strength and tactical thinking in a moment. In a battle shounen series, Adrien would be the better fighter, and Marinette would go through a training arc before she can best him.

We also have a bunch of evidence that Cat Noir is physically stronger than Ladybug from the OG show, but I could never say that straight-up, because, even before the retool made discussing this show into a minefield, Marinette stans were a fucking annoyance on the fandom who’d dogpile anyone who said anything that could be construed as “Marinette salt”, like, “I think Cat Noir is physically stronger and her wins are based on strategy and not strength”. The reason this statement would rub people the wrong way is because Marinette is always needed for the win condition, so she has to be better, even though Sailor Moon is the worst fighter among the Sailor Scouts and still has the purification powers. There’s also the sexisim of the girl character needing trickery to win, while the guy wins in honest hand to hand more easily. After all, the Miraculous fandom’s logic is that pointing out obvious writer biases means you actually hold those biases.

In a fight between any type of Ladybug and Cat Noir, Cat Noir will lose because it’s Ladybug. In addition, the boys are provably depicted as more incompetent than the girls, especially when they're shown doing something side by side. But, if we look at actual fighting accomplishments, Cat Noir has more impressive fight scenes under his belt than Ladybug, because the people making this show are actually pretty sexist in what they actually show their girl characters doing.

[krokodilsredimudil]

I'm finally rewatching ST, yay

A series of rewatch posts incoming!

s1 ep1 thoughts :

Sometimes I forget how fanon Byers are vastly different from canon Byers.

They are introduced as a very dysfunctional family.

No father figure, Joyce is rarely at home, Jonathan plays the role of a parent not only to Will but to Joyce as well.

Their color palettes are inverted further highlighting the inverted roles.

Jonathan literally carries a lot of weight on his shoulders and puts his desires aside. The role of a parent is a heavy burden for a teenager and he blames himself for failing (Will's disappearance)

Joyce clearly favors Will over Jonathan. She doesn't know about his photos or another job that took. They don't communicate much. (shown and said directly in the episode)

This is of course the starting point of their character development to the family we love so much.

2. Hopper 'show don't tell' introduction is so well done! No words said but we learn so much about Hopper, his situation and his character!

The first scene is a child's drawing with three people: a father, a mother and a daughter.

The next shot is the absolute mess on the table and many empty beer cans. Clearly the family is not there.

Drunk Hopper. Alone. Might be divorced.

He's wearing a hairband on his wrist. Something happened to his daughter and he's wearing her band. This is confirmed in the same episode a bit later. Brilliant!

Also, his character arc is established: he's defined by grief and loss of his daughter – he will change later and will not let another child die (Will).

3. A rather peculiar direct parallel of two 'kidnapping' scenes:

The scientist thinks that he escaped but the Demogorgon is two steps ahead and is waiting for him in the elevator.

Will thinks that he escaped but the Demogorgon is two steps ahead and is waiting for him in the shed.

Will is so tiny

However, these scenes are drastically different!

Questions that I want to be addressed in s5:

If the Demogorgon kidnapped Will, why wasn't Will screaming like the scientist? That's a big ass monster hungry for blood and Will is a literal child. Unless it wasn't a giant monster but a man? haha

Since when is the Demogorgon capable of telekinesis? Why not just smash the door open? And how did it appear in the shed in the first place if we've seen the lock on the front door of the house magically open? Unless there were two people, one with telekinesis and another waiting for Will in the shed ....

With my clown hat on, I'll see myself out

4. This Australia line. Is this the upside down Australia joke lmao?

5. This first-person POV shot showing where Will is.

6. Foreshadowing?

7. S2 demodogs and D'art foreshadowing.

8. S5 Will's arc?

s1 is my favorite season, still so good!

[lo-toh-takes]

Sooooo I was watching @agramuglia's latest Lily Orchard video focusing on her writting tips and...

.....ya, I don't really think I need to give much of an introduction to my point. This is literally just another piece of evidince for Lily only hating Hunter cuz he doesn't fit her personal biases and preferences, and it looks like something Lily has always had. But I also want to talk about another thing.

Lily constantly says that Hunter "overshadows" every other character in the show, but he litteraly only gets 5 episodes focusing on his arc which is not only less than a third of the season, but isn't even that much compared to other characters.

And, even then, in four of those five episodes Hunter is paired up with another character that gets equal amounts of screen time and focus as he does (Hunting Palisman, Eclipse Lake, Hollow Mind, and Labrynth Runners), and two of those are, ya know, POC characters. ASIAS is the exception because while yes Willow gets screentime in this episode, the whole thing is centered around Hunter and his arc.

But despite Hunter getting equal amounts of screentime to the characters' he is paired up with in the other episodes, Lily still claims that he "overshadows" them. It seems that to Lily, the mere presence of a white character alongside a POC one instantly means that the white character overshadows that POC one, which isn't really true. The writer's didn't sideline the other characters in favor of Hunter nearly as much as Lily claims they did.

I know these writting tips came out in 2020 (before Hunter was introduced in the show) but seeing this I still felt like I should make a post about this.

[coraniaid]

For the most part I'm probably not going to be posting anything like reviews or summaries for the various Season 1 episodes I watch this summer. I already have a pretty good idea of which of these episodes I like and which I don't like (and why), and I just don't feel repeating any of that would really add much. I'm more interested in focusing on occasional smaller details and thinking about the season as a series of interlinked writing choices and noting how characterisation develops as the writers and actors get a better sense of how these characters works.

But for this opening pair of episodes -- Welcome To The Hellmouth and The Harvest, both of which first aired on March 10 1997 -- I'm going to make a bit of an exception. These episodes were my introduction to the show, after all, and -- although I know other people started in different places -- they still feel to me like the right place for any new viewers to begin. I have a lot of sentimental fondness for them even though I know they are not exactly the show's best ever efforts.

So, what struck me in particular on rewatching them this week?

The good, first:

The opening scene with Darla and her unwitting victim in the deserted high school at night still holds up really, really well. You can definitely see why the show starts here (the original unaired pilot also started with a version of this scene, but I think they reshot it). Julie Benz is pretty seriously underused as Darla in the rest of the opening pair of episodes -- and I am not certain, but I'm rather inclined to think that Willow throwing holy water in her face at the climax of The Harvest was originally meant to have killed her off, though if so fortunately that didn't stick -- but this scene in isolation is wonderful.

Mark Metcalf is also really fun as the Master and I think he's basically perfect as this season's Big Bad. Yes, later villains -- Spike and Drusilla next season and the Mayor in Season 3 in particular -- are better in a lot of ways. But I don't think they would have worked as well as Buffy's first big villain, who really needed to be this sort of larger-than-life, horror movie archetype. Really the only problem with the Master as a villain is that, being trapped underground as he is, he needs other characters to bounce off of and -- as we see a little here but will see more and more later in the season -- the rest of the vampires in his circle aren't quite so impressive. (Sorry, Luke.)

Sarah Michelle Gellar and Anthony Stewart Head are both very solid in their roles right from the start, which is just as well as these episodes lean on them pretty heavily. According to Jonathan Freedland's timestamp data, over 40% of all spoken dialogue in these two episodes is delivered by one of these two characters. And both actors seem to get what makes their characters work almost straightaway: Giles as the exposition-delivering stereotypically British mentor figure ("it may be that you can wrest some information from that dread machine") and Buffy combining the part of the wisecracking and confident Slayer (who confronts Luke in the Bronze mid-Harvest and brightly says "oh, I'm sorry, were you in the middle of something?") with the part of the troubled and frustrated teenage girl (her speech to Giles about the cost of being a Slayer -- "go ahead; prepare me" -- nicely anticipates her breakdown in Prophecy Girl)

The fact that the show is, sort of but not exactly, a sequel to the 1992 movie works really, really well in its favor. The show obviously doesn't want to assume you've seen the movie, and it definitely stands on its own without having done so (I think Buffy mentions Merrick, her Watcher from that movie, by name in the unaired pilot, though it's been a while since i watched that, but she noticeably doesn't do that in this episode) But because we start the show with Buffy already knowing she's the Slayer, we just get to skip over what would otherwise have been a pretty tedious origin story and on to the actual meat of the episode. (If nothing else, it helps the pacing enormously that Buffy can deliver exposition about vampires to her new friends just as easily as GIles can.) I also appreciate that we don't spend too long with Buffy's secret identity actually being a secret.

Some of the dialogue is pretty good. Sure, in the decades after Buffy first aired this sort of Whedon-influenced self-aware and disaffected dialogue might have become pretty grating (some of it became pretty insufferable even when Whedon was writing it, honestly). But in the context of this show and these two episodes in particular, it works. That's the right sort of tone for this story. It helps that the writing largely seems to know when to try to be funny and when not, I guess. Buffy herself makes constant jokes and wisecracks about her situation as a kind of coping mechanism, but for the most part if a character in a dangerous situation is trying to be funny they're probably not personally in any imminent serious danger. Some funny moments I liked were Willow's reaction to finding out vampires are real ("I ... I need to sit down." / "You are sitting down." / "Oh. Good for me.") and the Cordettes discussing the new girl in school ("What kind of name is 'Buffy', anyway?" / "Hey, Aphrodisia!"). It doesn't really fit so well with his later characterisation, but I think Angel gets some good lines too ("They don't really like me dropping in." / "Why not?" / "They don't really like me.")

As for the bad:

I mentioned that some of the dialogue was really good, so it's only fair to admit that some of the dialogue is ... really not. Some of it feels underwritten (Cordelia testing Buffy's "coolness factor" feels like it could have used another pass, for instance), some of it is just inane (did we really need to have Luke tell Jesse that he's just been "upgraded to bait"? was that not already obvious?) some of it is just very, very clunky (even SMG and ASH can't salvage the 'sending away for the Time-Life series' bit) and some of it is fine in theory but delivered in contexts where it doesn't really make sense (why does Buffy feel the need to explain how vampire-siring works to Giles, anyway? Beyond for the audience's benefit, anyway. Couldn't we just wait a bit and have her explain this to Xander and Willow once they're on in the big secret?).

The special effects and fight choreography are both also a little shaky. The actual vampire dusting effect is quite nice -- and presumably where a lot of the budget went -- and I think I might even prefer the vampire make-up and prosthetics here to later designs, even if they do make it harder for the actors to speak -- but it's just a little too obvious that that the episode doesn't quite have the resources it wants (and will later get). (Count the number of times vampires get staked just off-screen, for example. Or effects like Buffy jumping over the school fence after her confrontation with Principal Flutie, and just how little we actually see of it.)

I praised the performances of SMG and ASH, but it's only fair to admit that some of the acting -- okay, most of the acting -- isn't on the same level. It's hardly an original criticism at this point to question David Boreanaz's abilities as a thespian, but I think his performance in these episodes is particularly shaky. Eric Balfour as Jesse is also pretty underwhelming (but I'll get to Jesse later), several of the extras are unusually wooden and -- while I think both of them get better -- I think Alyson Hannigan as Willow and Mercedes McNab as Harmony are a little shaky here too (though, to be fair to Hannigan, she wasn't cast as Willow until after the original half-hour pilot was filmed, so perhaps she just didn't have as long to prepare as some of the other actors).

Buffy herself ... doesn't really get to be quite as effective or self-sufficient as I remembered her as being. She has a fight with Luke at the end of the opening episode which she loses pretty convincingly and only survives thanks to the cross Angel gave he earlier (why didn't Buffy have a cross of her own before this? Yeah, she's 'retired' as the Slayer, but we see that she has a whole crate of vampire-fighting supplies in her room...) and then she fights him again and outwits him at the end of the episode, but between those two scenes she spends most of her time failing to save Jesse and frantically running or crawling away from danger. Why does Buffy need Xander's help closing a door? Why does she need him to pull her to safety when they're both climbing out of the sewers? Doesn't she have super strength? Didn't we just see her jump over a fence ten minutes ago? I understand why Xander accompanying Buffy underground makes sense -- the script wants Xander to meet Jesse, the show needs Buffy to have somebody to talk to while she wanders about in the dark -- but I wish it didn't give the impression that Buffy needed to be physically rescued by him.

But the big problem with the story here is Jesse. He just doesn't work at all. Quite apart from any problem with the acting, Jesse is just so utterly unlikable (Cordelia describes him as "my stalker" at one point, and she's not exactly wrong) and any shock value the show gets from killing him off is totally undercut by that unpleasantness and the fact he didn't appear in the opening credits anyway (unlike either of his friends). And the show just doesn't treat this death as mattering at all. I mean, I knew going in that Jesse's fate would never be mentioned after The Harvest: nobody asks where Jesse is, Xander and Willow never mention him when they reminisce about their childhoods, after that one scene in the library Jesse will never again be brought up by the show as a reason for Xander to dislike vampires. But what I think I'd forgotten is that Jesse essentially ceases to have ever existed even before the episode ends. He dares Xander to "put me out of my misery", gets accidentally staked, and then ... that's it! That is the last time the narrative will care about him at all. There's a post-fight upbeat stage-setting scene the next day, wherein Buffy and her new friends note how life has continued as normal even after vampires attacked the Bronze. And even in this scene nobody so much as mentions that Jesse is dead! Cordelia has decided the attackers must have been part of a gang and is suspicious that "Buffy, like, knew them, which is just too weird", but she's already forgotten Jesse tried to murder her? I mean, sure, I get why this happens -- Whedon didn't want to write a show where all the teenage cast spent a year mourning their dead friend and/or blaming themselves for his death -- but the obvious solution to that dilemma is not to write into the script that they have a friend who dies! Or, if Jesse really does have to become a vampire (to show us how vampirism works on the show and tell the audience that anyone can die), maybe the obvious fix would have been to keep him around for longer as a vampire. Make him one of the Master's recurring minions, delay the showdown with Xander until later in the season, maybe as late as Prophecy Girl (then his friends can be in denial about him being dead until the summer, when he can be mourned off-screen). That would also solve the problem of the Master often not having anyone to talk to. But the problem with that idea is that you'd have to have more Jesse on screen, and I don't think anybody would want that.

Complaints aside, I did enjoy rewatching these two episodes and I'm looking forward to what comes next. The show is, at this point, definitely still finding its feet. but there's already a lot of fun stuff to enjoy. You'd be forgiven for not guessing, at this point, just how good Buffy the Vampire Slayer would later become. But I think a lot of the seeds are there.

Some more scattered thoughts to follow later in a later post.

[starxanemone]

꩜ⴰ ࣪˖ NAGI SEISHIROU presenting characteristics of SCHIZOID PERSONALITY DISORDER

INTRODUCTION

I am going to be discussing why I think Nagi Seishirou is kinda likely to have Schizoid Personality Disorder. As we all know from Blue Lock, Nagi is characterized as an introverted individual with a lack of desire to participate in any activity other than hobbies that require the use of a phone and taking care of his potted cactus named “Choki” (pre-Blue Lock). 

I will be tackling the reasons why by walking through two essential components in the diagnosis of any personality disorder which includes: diagnosis features and the diagnostic criteria according to the DSM-5-TR (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders 5th Edition Text Revision). Moreover, I will also be including a brief discussion on the associated features of schizoid personality disorder. As I discuss the features of the personality disorder, I will present evidence that mirrors such features in order to support my diagnosis. In addition, I will be using the Episode Nagi spin-off manga for my reference and I will mostly be focusing on his pre-Blue Lock self as this is where his characteristics are most evident and we can already see some improvement during Blue Lock.

DIAGNOSTIC FEATURES

For your reference, Schizoid Personality Disorder is characterized as having a “pervasive pattern of detachment from social relationships and a restricted range of expression of emotions in interpersonal settings.” 

Individuals with schizoid personality disorder appear to lack a desire for intimacy, seem indifferent to opportunities to develop close relationships, and do not seem to derive much satisfaction from being part of a family or other social group. They prefer spending time by themselves, rather than being with other people. Moreover, they participate in activities that don’t require them to interact with other

DIAGNOSTIC CRITERIA

First of all, I’d like to establish my understanding of Nagi Seishirou’s personality. From what I can see, Nagi is someone who is alive in a sense where he is breathing and doing things that are necessary only for his own survival, but he does not actively try to experience new things such as the average person usually does in order to achieve a sense of fulfillment. For him, at least during pre-Blue Lock, he was enough with the most fundamental and basic things with the addition of hobbies that he can do on his phone in order to entertain himself or kill time. He is characterized as someone who is extremely introverted and does not appear to put in the effort to form relationships with others and is even indifferent to others’ opinions and criticisms of him as we can see from his backstory.

Now, let’s break down his personality using the diagnostic criteria and see if his characteristics match that of the characteristics of a person with schizoid personality disorder.

According to the DSM-5, the patient must present a pervasive pattern of attachment from social relationships and a restricted range of expression in relationships as indicated by four or more of the following:

1. Neither desires nor enjoys close relationships, including being part of a family. [✓]

In pre-Blue Lock, Nagi was shown to have little to no interest in forming relationships with others. He didn’t have friends and he didn’t even live with his parents. He only started being friends with Reo due to the latter's strong insistence in playing soccer together, and even then, he didn’t really show much or any enthusiasm at all when they were playing and training together. I feel like, during the early days of his friendship with Reo, what made him stay was (1) Reo’s persistence in getting Nagi to play with him and (2) the fact that Reo was making it easier for Nagi to keep playing with him by doing him multiple favors such as massaging him, carrying him to places, etc. The main thing that kept their bond (at least, during the early stages of their friendship) wasn’t because Nagi necessarily liked Reo, but rather, Reo made it less troublesome for him to stay and keep playing together. The motivation lied more on which decision was less troublesome for him (either deal with Reo’s persistent persuading or play with Reo, but with Reo doing shit for him to make his life a bit easier) and not because of the desire to form a friendship.

As for the part where he doesn’t live with his parents, I’m going to assume that it was a decision made mostly by Nagi as per his lack of resistance towards the idea and even embracing the idea and the act of living alone. I don't believe it's for the purpose of attempting to become independent, but it's more individualistic reasons such as being able to freely isolate himself whenever he wants with no one bothering him. In the panel above, we can infer that he doesn’t exactly feel lonely as when Reo asked the question of whether he had siblings, his reply included that it was “a pain.”

2. Almost always chooses solitary activities. [✓]

The activities that he engages in usually consists of him and his phone. He’d play games, watch videos, read, etc. all on his phone, but he was never shown engaging in activities that require one to be with people. We can even see from the panel above that he actively isolates himself during break time, choosing to play games by himself in the school’s roof where it is least likely for others to bother him. When Reo attempts to get Nagi to play with him, the only thing he thinks is that it's such a "pain" which applies to how he views most activities aside from using his phone which is an activity that doesn't require him to be with others. And it’s not even the healthy type of self isolation as he, himself, one day realized that it wasn’t super normal that he wasn’t speaking to anyone for a week which led him to purchasing his potted cactus that he named “Choki.”

3. Has little, if any, interest in having sexual experiences with another person. [ ? ]

As for this one, I think we can infer that he likely has no interest in having sexual experiences with another person based on the fact that he barely has any interest forming even the baseline of relationships with other people. Although, I’ll be marking this with a question mark as we have no solid evidence and because he's a minor.

4. Takes pleasure in few, if any, activities. [✓]

Again, during pre-Blue Lock, we can see him typically engage with the same set of hobbies. These include playing games, watching videos, reading, etc. Moreover, even the activity of taking care of himself is done with very minimal movement or intention. He eats applesauce instead of actual food because he finds eating to be troublesome and he only brushes his teeth because he doesn’t want to go through the trouble of cavities. He even said something along the lines of “if I don’t get hungry, then I don’t have to eat and I also don’t have to brush my teeth.” Hell, even the way he showers is done with very minimal steps so he could get it over with quickly. With this, we can say that everything he did was very minimal and repetitive. All he did was go on his phone because that was the only thing he took pleasure in.

In the second panel above, before losing to Team Z, we can see that Nagi didn't really take pleasure in playing soccer, like not even becoming friends with Reo got him super interested in playing it. He played it because it was easy and not that "troublesome" to him, and not because he genuinely enjoys playing with his friend. I think that being a "genius" contributes to that because things such as wins are too easily attainable for him and thus never actually giving him a reason to feel challenged. Although, we can see some improvement when Nagi finally does experience loss and learns to seek out the thing that could get him "fired up."

5. Lacks close friends or confidants other than first-degree relatives. [✓]

He lacked close friends, confidants, and even first-degree relatives pre-Blue Lock. This is where I want to go in a bit deeper on the fact that he purchased Choki. Although he was aware of the fact that not speaking for an entire week was likely not a “normal” behavior, what’s even more concerning is that he doesn’t seek an actual human to speak with in order to solve this predicament, rather, he purchases a cactus and proceeds to speak with it from time to time. Normally, the average person would speak with their friends (or attempt to make one) or even talk to their parents if available, but on the other hand, Nagi felt more inclined to speak with a plant rather than a human. This mirrors the characteristic of someone with schizoid personality disorder, specifically the line “indifferent to opportunities to develop close relationships” as stated in the diagnostic features.

6. Appears indifferent to the praise or criticism of others. [✓]

Nagi does not give a shit about what other people think or say, like the idea of people talking about him probably doesn’t even cross his mind. In pre-Blue Lock, we can see that there were a bunch of rumors being spread about him and what would happen to someone if they were to speak with him, but we can also see him just sleeping blissfully and almost unaware. The average person would have noticed the demeanors of others towards them and are able to (at least even try to) infer whether they are being outcasted. But Nagi really doesn’t even care about things like that to the point that it probably makes him even oblivious to it. In the next panel, we can see Isagi getting irritated/angry at him due to his persistent questions and his overall stance towards soccer, but his reaction was rather indifferent. It’s most likely because he doesn’t really know exactly how to react or how to feel when someone responds to him in that manner which is brought about by his low social awareness stemming from the lack of interpersonal relationships. I think the most we can call his reaction here is “confused.”

7. Shows emotional coldness, detachment, or flattened affectivity. [✓]

Throughout the entire series, majority of the time, we see Nagi’s expression appearing to be “flat” and almost detached. In the panel above, we can see Nagi speaking insensitively, calling Isagi “useless,” and asking a lot of questions that seemed to prod at Isagi, although, we know that the intention isn’t really malicious and it likely stems more from the internal confusion towards how Isagi was going about his own plays. In the second panel, he doesn't even react to Reo's enthusiasm and chooses to state his honest thoughts, saying that "he'd rather not."

The way Nagi speaks, thinks, and acts are always devoid of emotional intent. He doesn’t ask things for the sake of making himself or other people feeling better (or worse), but only to get rid of his confusion and thus making him appear more emotionally cold or detached.

DIAGNOSTIC CRITERIA SCORE: 6/7

minimum required score: 4/7

ASSOCIATED FEATURES

According to the DSM-5, individuals with schizoid personality disorder may have particular difficulty expressing anger, even in response to direct provocation, which contributes to the impression that they lack emotion. This mirror’s Nagi’s pacifism, as stated in the Egoist Bible, and he says that doesn’t get angry and therefore, doesn’t fight. Although, we can see an improvement in his ability to express anger during his fight with Barou in the Episode Nagi spin off, if I remember correctly.

Their lives also seem directionless and they may appear to “drift” in their goals. This can be seen throughout the entire series wherein in the beginning, Nagi appears to be aimless and only lives to do the bare minimum for his survival. During Blue Lock, on the other hand, although he was able to use Isagi as motivation for that thrill he once found while playing with him, with the latest chapters aka the match between FC Barcha and Manshine City, we can clearly see Nagi struggling and drifting from his newfound goal. 

These are the reasons why I think that Nagi is likely to have schizoid personality disorder, but of course, we still have a few uncertainties as when it comes to diagnosing an individual of this personality disorder as the characteristics must be present by early adulthood. Nagi is a minor and is currently at the late stage of adolescence, so that’s something to consider along with the fact that I focused more on his pre-Blue Lock self (though we can still see this pervasive pattern of behavior outside of soccer). Additionally, when it comes to diagnosis, we must consider the 5 D’s which are deviance, duration, distress, dysfunction, and danger. From what we can see, deviance and dysfunction are present. Deviance is present as his personality deviates from the cultural norms of his environment, and so is dysfunction as it impacts his ability to form interpersonal relationships and even a proper intrapersonal relationship with himself. The other remaining D’s remain unclear.

That's all. Thanks.

[zakuryoishi]

i got to watch the inazuma eleven movie!! it was good i'm once again insanely excited for what's to come ^_^ (victory road, of which i'll talk about under the cut to avoid spoilers)

the first half was, as expected, just a recap with major focus on the first and last episode of season 1. the new t-pistonz song slaps and the nostalgic soundtracks are always good to hear. makes me think something among the lines of "ah yeah, that's right, i love inazuma eleven." fine but not too good when you think of it as a recap, i would've switched some scenes for others personally. voice acting good as always

AS FOR VICTORY ROAD repetition of the scenes of the beta until the last part, where it's all new I GOT SO EXCITED. despite being singular cutscenes put together, it went smoother than i expected. the main (spoiler) points i would like to highlight are:

unless it was shown in the beta and i just forgot about it, we get to see the student council other than shisendou animated. unmei and sakurazaki are on everyone's mouth for challenging the baseball club

sakurazaki sends unmei the video of the hokuyou vs raimon match, to show him "today's soccer" and oh my god i wasn't ready for this. like at all. unmei sits on the same bench - i assume - he sat on with sakurazaki the night he went to the hospital and starts watching the match and then something crazy happens

SORAMIYA APPEARS ON SCREEN AND UNMEI GOES "soramiya-kun!" and then "so this is soramiya now..." they know each other my god. i wasn't ready at all for this. they're showing new connections i can't wait to see them eventually reunite....

the match ends 6-0 in favor of raimon because haru is just That strong but of course he pulls up with the "soccer is boring" line. they're putting haru in a rather different position than his dad. haru said he doesn't have the desire to confront strong rivals (?) (i'm not exactly sure of this point, if anyone notices i'm wrong please lmk!) as mamoru did, all he wants is having friends

the animation is as good as what we've already seen from mappa, especially the match itself is very smooth and enjoyable to watch. the credits arts were my favorite (UNMEI AND RAIKA TOGETHER... also unmei and soramiya as kids together. i can't wait to know more about them) i assume we'll be able to see them in the final game. in the end the second part is more of an introduction of what victory road will be but ohhh it was so nice

also got some merch! plus the cards they give you for purchasing the tickets. there was barely anything left lol, and of fucking course the can badges were blind box style. i really wish i got raika, but kameo's fine too. had fun... i can't believe inazuma eleven is real...

[erulasse23]

TROP 01x08: Alloyed

ahhhhh I have so many thoughts since I only watched this episode once and it was 2.5 years ago 🫣

1. it was pretty obvious at this point that Adar was NOT Sauron. The Stranger, on the other hand, they really tried to make us believe he was Sauron and tbh I almost fell for it like “are they really going to give him his memories and he’ll remember he’s an evil dark lord?!” but once THAT was taken care of… everyone knew it must be Halbrand 👀

2. Halbrand was falling off of that damn horse with his injury needing elvish medicine. my question is: was he faking the whole injury? was it an illusion? could he have healed himself if he wanted to, but kept the injury for the sake of his cover?

3. THE SILVERGIFTING INTRODUCTION!!!!!!!! Celebrimbor is so susceptible to flattery and also just likes talking about his special interest 😭 Halbrand starts completely ignoring Galadriel and Elrond in favor of Celebrimbor. no one except Galadriel was suspicious that a human Smiths AIDE was keeping up with CELEBRIMBOR in the forge???

4. the reveal…. I literally get chills at how Charlie’s eyes change and his voice changes and his expression and everything. he pulls on all Galadriel’s insecurities, saying if he’s to be worthy of forgiveness and the light of the One he must right all his wrongs and heal middle earth… just like galadriel jumping off the boat because she didn’t think she was worthy of it…

5. THE MYSTICS— will one of them become a wraith?! are they human sorcerers? they worship sauron already? but they work for that other dude in rhun who claims to also be an istari right?

6. Galadriel sacrificing the symbol of her vengeance in order to create rings that will heal… GORGEOUS. what do we think Sauron will sacrifice when he makes the One in season three?