The Owl House Pilot Leak!!!
Oh my titan.
The Owl House’s original pilot episode (basically a bunch of voiced-over storyboards) just got leaked and OMT. Watching it felt like experiencing the original magic of the show all over again… Reminding me what it was like to fall in love the first time!!! The hype and rush, the excitement to type down my thoughts after a new episode, analyzing and gushing over both big and small moments, the details!!! The pilot has reiterated all over to me again why I love these characters, from Luz's powerful earnestness, to Eda's chaotic demeanor! It’s like having the whole show open ahead of me, the possibilities endless when knowing this is just the beginning and we could go anywhere from here!
What’s interesting is that Luz’s conflict with Camila doesn’t really exist here; In fact Camila isn’t present or mentioned at all! What brings Luz to the isles is Amity, who’s been learning in the human world, under the guise of being a human by disguising her ears! It’s alluded to that Odalia and Alador made her do it, though we don’t know why…
But WOW that must’ve been so meta, doing S3 with Amity stuck in the human world with Luz, hiding her ears! It must’ve been a fun way to bring back the older concepts in new form! And indeed, we see a couple of stuff we’ve already gotten glimpses of, such as the storyboards of Luz offering her friendship art to Amity! I love that we get to see the actual scenario of how Amity accidentally defended Luz in the first place, since we heard that but didn’t get to see how it turned out.
It’s interesting that Lumity is basically the inciting incident of the story, though I can see why the final version opted instead to emphasize Luz’s conflict with her mother. Especially with how she chooses to stay in the isles in the final draft, which leads to guilt over lying to her mom, having her ‘coming out’ moment that eventually occurs in Yesterday’s Lie, etc. So more agency when it comes to Luz losing her access to the human world. Plus in the pilot, there isn't the same emphasis on Luz trying to live out her dreams of being a witch, and her obsession with stories that ties back to Manny and forms the basis for a lot of other themes and arcs.
That said, I also appreciate what this alternate take offers, and how Lumity helps tie everything together, it really is the queerness that is such a foundational part of the ‘weirdness’ theme that the show is about, and it’s intertwined with the pilot! God Luz being heartbroken when Amity dismisses the drawing… And then crying when Eda compliments it without realizing who it’s about! Or maybe she did, she could’ve recognized Luz there and figured out a way to stealthily make Luz feel better…!
I love Luz routinely lock-picking her locker because she presumably forgot the combination! And it’s interesting that we have a setup of there being multiple dimensions that the Boiling Isles has access to, and not just the human world and Demon Realm. That plays a role in the climax, more on that later. Given we have what is basically an airport for different dimensions, I wonder if we would’ve seen Luz find her way back home much earlier on, under much less intense circumstances, in a S1A episode?
The ‘Emperor’ is also alluded to in the pilot, which we didn’t get actual mention of until the fifth episode in the final show. He apparently dislikes humans and wants Luz brought over to him, is this still operating off of the ‘Pupa’ version of the character who claimed to speak on behalf of the true ruler, trapped in their metamorphosis by him? So maybe he wasn’t always human, or maybe this is Belos’ hypocritical way of ‘protecting’ humans by keeping them away and in blissful ignorance of the demon realm.
We also establish Hexside much earlier! IIRC Hexside was always part of the show, but executives pushed for it to have more emphasis, which the crew continued to follow through on in S2 onwards because that had already been set up. Lilith is the principal, and I recognize the storyboards of her, including her bat transformation! We get a Tinella Nosa cameo, we see Amity, and there’s also a brief cameo of Willow too! Nice way to set her up before her proper debut.
The ‘barrier’ containing King’s crown turns out to just be a regular human locker, which makes me wonder if the writers updated the final draft to make it a force field that only allows humans through, because of the whole Belos twist. Which makes me wonder if in this draft, Belos is Pupa, who never was human, or maybe they realized the opportunity to insert foreshadowing into a big twist regarding the main villain. Makes me wonder if the house we see Amity enter in the pilot, which is on sale, would've had any significance like in the final show. Love how Tinella Nosa is a student at Hexside, and also Dana having to occasionally insert lines for Wendie Malick and others was great.
Lilith is a lot more openly adversarial, which is different compared to how her actual debut provides a softer side to her; I imagine this would’ve been apparent in a later episode of the ‘Pilot AU’, and her transformation has me curious; Was she originally the one with the curse, but then the writers changed it to Eda? Or did they both have a curse? Eda also has an owl form she can summon and control at Will, maybe all Clawthornes have a beast mode that’s less of a curse and more of a talent. Lilith ends up trapped in another dimension, which makes me wonder if she’d have a temporary replacement –possibly Pilot Bump- or if she’d return offscreen. We see the portal key get destroyed under much more casual circumstances, though it’s less as big of a deal for this and the established ‘dimension port’ we saw before.
(Also, Amity recognizing Luz in the hallway… Everything to me!!!)
Warden Wrath doesn’t exist and neither does the Conformatorium, it’s Lilith and Hexside. With her as principal and Amity as student, I wonder if we would’ve gotten more of their relationship in the pilot AU, if Covention was a way of carrying over that former connection since Amity would be a teacher’s pet in either version of the story. And speaking of ties to Covention, it’s interesting is that Eda’s chest gem seems to be linked to the Emperor’s Coven, as ‘Pilot Kikimora’ uses it to control her. Curiously, we have a scene at the end mirroring what we got with Lilith in the final draft of the show!
I feel it implies that Eda DID join the Emperor’s Coven with Lilith, if only for a brief moment, but then defected; But the chest gem is basically the pilot version of the Emperor’s sigil, except with the explicit function of being a shock collar. I find it interesting that Eda still has the mirror to contact the EC with, instead of just getting rid of the thing. Is she a rogue agent who hasn’t totally cut ties, because she can’t? Won’t?
And the fact that Pilot Kikimora can just shock Eda at will makes me wonder if the Emperor is low-key just letting Eda roam around, which makes me wonder if he’s aware of the familial connection, is using Eda to find Luz, already knows about her doing that because of the time loop, etc. We’d of course have gotten an episode where Luz finds out about Eda’s connection and helps her deal with the gem… I realize now that Luz learning Eda also wanted to join the EC with Lilith is a carryover of this idea.
I can see the ups and downs between both versions; The final draft sets up Luz’s conflict with Camila and the reality camp, which is foundational to her character arc throughout the whole show. Her pain over being ‘sent away’ is just so vital that I appreciate its inclusion in the first episode. But I also like the inclusion of Lumity and the earnest desire to be friends with someone who showed her, unwittingly, any kindness at all! We get explicit bullying from Luz’s peers in the pilot, but in the final draft we also get her thoughtlessness that plays a big part in her S1 arc. And Luz’s arrival in the isles is more intertwined with Eda and King in the final version, which also feels right; The show is about these three in particular!
All in all, this was wonderful to watch! The magic was experienced all over again, not just in watching an episode, but also commentating on one that was just ‘released’ as well? I thought the last time I’d do anything like this was with the series finale Watching and Dreaming… But as Luz said, it really comes full circle with watching the first episode all over again! So maybe we have other stuff to still look forward to after all… At the very least, we have an eternal anticipation with an unexplored universe ahead of us, that will never reach completion; So it's like our ever-lasting final gift from TOH, and a good last one. So until next time: BBBBBYYYYYEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!
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Huntl0w isn't good and that's why
A general compilation of all the problems that do not allow me to treat Huntl0w at least neutrally:
1. Distortion of characters. Do you remember Hunter from the beginning of season 2? And that's it, he is no longer with you. Now he is not a soldier who has been training all his life, he is a cute awkward blushing boy who can't do anything without his boss girlfriend. And do you remember Willow, a kind soul who uses her powers only against enemies? Forget, she'll drive a new acquaintance into the ground and won't let him go. They are trying to forcibly fit them into the girlboss x malewife dynamic, and for this they have to change their characters.
2. Lack of chemistry. The same problem as Lumity: all romantic interactions are embarrassments and red cheeks. But if the girls had a Grom dance and more time together, then Huntl0w has nothing.
3. Willow's attitude. She treats him the same way she treats all her other friends right up to the moment when he saved her with the help of the power of the Flapjack. I'm sure the writers didn't do it on purpose, but it turned out that way - Willow fell in love with Hunter only after he stopped being magically disabled. Or in gratitude for the rescue. One is no better than the other.
4. Hunter's awkwardness. The guy has known her for the fourth year, three of which they are clearly together, but still confused as the first time. He's obviously uncomfortable with her. But who is he comfortable with? With Luz and Gus! It is with Luz that he shares secrets, she understands him like no one else. With Gus, Hunter found the best common language, common interests, and in general they are on the same wavelength. Willow and Hunter don't have either. They were able to prescribe normal interaction with everyone except the love interest, and it's so fucked up.
5. The uselessness for the plot. They don't bring anything, even the very parallel with Caleb and Evelyn is ignored. It feels like they got together just to "pair every character" (except for Gus, of course, Gus is our black best friend, he doesn't deserve our attention).
6. Willow is Hunter's authority figure. There is nothing wrong with the fact that a girl can be a leader in a relationship. But when a guy just starts separating from his uncle, whom he considered an authority all his life, and immediately falls in love with a girl who commands him... This is a very bad parallel. Hunter just changed his boss. TOH is not so deep to develop this topic, and it don’t have enough time, so this is definitely a minus for them.
7. Lack of development. Yes, the series was cut. And now you say that this justifies everything. And I will say that it only makes it worse. Already knowing that the series would be shortened, Dana and co pushed a new love line, which "developed" behind the scenes, did nothing for the plot, but spoiled the characters' characters (as if Amity alone was not enough for us).
8. Hunter is the second Caleb. Yes, Hunter's arc has come to the same place where it began. This applies to a lesser extent to Huntlow, it is rather a sin of the plot itself, but in total with the rest of the problems it becomes no less infuriating.
In conclusion, I can say that this ship is definitely not problematic, it's just bad. No one is forbidden to love them, but they should understend why people may not like Huntl0w.
Maybe I'll write the same thing with Lumity, but I'm not sure.
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tsireya x fem!sully!reader pls pls pls?? 🥹🥹 y/n is lo’ak’s twin and she likes tsireya a lot but she thinks tsireya likes lo’ak so she starts skipping lessons to avoid her, only to find out she was wrong the whole time because one day after training lo’ak storms into the marui pod all mad and when y/n asks what’s wrong he’s like “i told tsireya i like her but she turned me down because she likes you” but y/n just doesn’t believe him until the next day tsireya comes up to her and asks to talk in private and you can make it up from there!! 🤍🤍
sunsetz (tsireya x omaticayan fem! reader)
contents: confessions, crushing, hugs, lumity reference at the end, lo’ak and y/n are twins, good ole wlw happiness.
wrd count: 1.8k
a/n: ty to whoever submitted this prompt and i’m so so so sorry it took so long!! i feel so bad! i hope this makes up for it. enjoy! :)
<3
when y/n’s family arrived here in awa’atlu, it took her a while to adjust. but she eventually became happy here.
after the war, and neteyam’s recovery, she was already growing closer with the reef kids.
especially tsireya. y/n had fallen hard for her.
tsireya was kind, graceful, smart, generous, and beautiful. y/n could think of hundreds of terms to describe her.
everyone knew about her painfully obvious crush except for her twin lo’ak and tsireya.
only because they were too focused on each other.
to tsireya, she thinks she found a new best friend.
to lo’ak? a crush as big as y/n’s.
the only thing that was stopping y/n from asking her out was because of her twin.
she thought they were obsessed with each other from looking at how much time they spend together when they’re in a group.
she had mistook tsireya’s friendship with lo’ak as a crush and was afraid that if she tried anything, she’d humiliate herself.
or ruin the friendship with tsireya and then her relationship with her best friend from birth.
for the past couple weeks, the kids have been taking underwater hunting lessons with tsireya, au’nung, and rotxo, but y/n’s been skipping them.
her crush was stronger than ever and she couldn’t go through another lesson where lo’ak was flirting with the girl she loved.
today was the third lesson she skipped.
she was sitting on the edge of her family’s marui while looking down at the water, one knee propped up to hold her head.
neytiri was behind her organizing her things, or sharpening a knife, something that y/n couldn’t really care less about.
“why aren’t you out there?” neytiri asks her.
“you should be learning how to hunt.”
“i have a headache. i don’t feel like swimming right now.” y/n responded in a low tone.
“hmph. next week, i better see you out there with everyone else.” neytiri said.
“yes, mama.” y/n muttered. neytiri sighs looking at her daughter's sad demeanor and decides to leave her alone.
“uhm.. i need to gather some fruits for later. i’ll be back before eclipse. your father should be back soon, so you won't be alone for long.” she said as she stood up.
“okay, mama. see you later.” y/n mutters. she turns slightly to smile at her but quickly looks back at the water.
neytiri watched her for a moment before grabbing her basket and leaving the marui.
a little while later, jake comes back from a meeting with tonowari and they sit together, organizing some of his tools.
“whoa, can i have this one?” she asked her father while holding up a knife that was made from sea glass.
“what’s wrong with the one you have?” he asks.
“nothing, i just want this one.” she shrugs. he chuckles and nods, “fine, keep it.”
she smiles and gets up to put it away in her corner of the marui.
“hey, dad. where’s y/n?” lo’ak said from the other side of the marui.
“uh, she’s in her room.” jake answered.
y/n gets up and watches as lo’ak storms into her corner, throwing the divider that acted as a door aside.
“hey! what’s your problem? i coulda been naked.” she grumbled.
“but you’re not. sit down, we gotta talk.” he said quickly.
she rolls her eyes but they both sit down together.
“what?” she asks.
“why have you been avoiding tsireya?” he asks.
her mouth suddenly went dry. could he know? he must be mad with how he entered her room. “uh..”
he rolls his eyes. “just tell me. i probably already know the answer.”
“i.. wh- uh, why do you think i’ve been avoiding her?” she asks hesitantly.
“because you like her. no, not even. you love her.” he said bluntly.
“bro, what the hell are you talking about? you don’t know that.”
neteyam was walking past the room and heard her ask when he said, “how could anyone NOT know that?”
“go away, ‘teyam!”
“bro, go away!” the twins yelled. they rolled their eyes at neteyam’s snickering and didn’t continue until they heard his footsteps walk away from the room.
“look, i went to tsireya earlier because i had a crush on her too. i decided i was gonna tell her today, so i did.” he admitted.
y/n’s expression softened with sadness. “oh..”
“but she told me she didn’t like me. because she’s already in love with you.”
“what? no, she isn’t-“
“come on, would i lie to you? i’m serious, she’s crazy about you.” he said in an irritated tone.
“okay.. and you’re mad at me cause she likes me and not you?” she asked him hesitantly.
he scoffed. “no! dude, i’m mad because you’ve been a bitch about it and you haven’t spoken to her in weeks! she thinks you hate her.”
“i haven’t been mean to her-“
“no, dummy. bitch like wimpy, scaredy cat, a pussy. but you’ve been mean to her too, so that applies too.” he nodded. y/n glared at her brother before he continued.
“i tried my best to convince her you don’t hate her but she still thinks you and her have a zero chance of happening. so you have to let her know you’re obsessed with her.” he poked her knee and she swatted his hand.
“i’m not obsessed with her, lo’ak. i swear, if you told her i am-“
he chuckled. “i didn’t. i didn’t even know you liked her until today. i was too focused on tsireya to notice.” he shrugs.
y/n sighs and her hands drag down her face with she groaned in frustration.
“look, i know we fight a lot and stuff. but you’re my best friend.” lo’ak started softly.
y/n looks up at him. lo’ak looks down at his hands, fidgeting with his fingers and not making eye contact.
“i care about you. i guess if tsireya doesn’t wanna be with me, i’d rather her be happy with you. cause i know you’ll treat each other right.” he continued, slightly stumbling over a few words.
y/n looks up at her brother and smiled. “thanks, lo’ak.” she holds his hands that were folded together. he unfolds them and holds hers in his one hand.
y/n sighs. “okay. i’ll tell her..”
“yes! good.”
“tomorrow.”
“no! go, now! like, now, now! come on.” he grabs her wrist and picks her up from the floor but y/n stops him.
“no, lo’ak!”
he looks back at her. “what? if you ignore her any longer, she’s gonna lose interest.”
“it’s almost eclipse, anyways. dad’s not gonna let us out.” she told him, literally reaching for any excuse.
it was just a coincidence that the eclipse was in a couple minutes.
“oh.” he mumbled. “yeah, that’s a problem.” they stand by the entrance of the room and figure out what to do.
“okay. tomorrow, we will find some flowers, make a bouquet, you’ll go to her dad-“
“her dad?! why would i go to him? he’s gonna stab me with his big-ass spear!” y/n said.
“not if you’re nice. and then you’ll be all like ‘i’d like to take your daughter out on a date.’ and he’ll be like ‘oh my god, you’re so sweet, of course.’ and then ronal-“
“hell. no. ronal will literally make sure i never see my family again.” she says, shaking her head.
“don’t be dramatic.” lo’ak laughs and suddenly, they hear voices in the main room of the marui.
y/n and lo’ak quickly shut up to hear who it was.
“i was wondering if i could talk to y/n for a moment. it’s important.”
y/n and lo’ak look at each other with wide eyes and started whispering to each other.
“what the hell do i do?”
“go out there!”
“no, i look like a mess! you go and ask what she wants and then-”
“oh my- just go!” he shoved y/n out of her own room and her heart was beating what felt like a million times per minute.
“y/n. your friend, tsireya’s here to see you.” jake called out.
“coming!” she responded, her voice cracking.
she could hear lo’ak’s quiet laugh from her room and rolled her eyes.
she meets up with tsireya and they agree to take a walk. jake asked her to be back not too late since eclipse was soon.
the girls walked away from the village, down the beach, just talking about bland topics, avoiding the topic they actually needed to be discussing.
“uhm.. so i wanted to ask you something.” tsireya said. she stood to face y/n.
“okay.” y/n says worriedly.
“so.. i was speaking to lo’ak earlier and i was asking him about you.”
“okay..”
“i can’t help but think you don’t like me. or you hate me. i haven’t seen you in weeks and every time i try to look for you, you’re busy with something else.”
y/n suddenly realized how shitty that was of her and felt a wave of embarrassment.
her hands covered her face as she chuckled lightly. “oh, god- i’m sorry. i’m so sorry, no wonder you think i hate you.”
tsireya gently takes her hands away from her face with a soft smile. “so, you don’t hate me?”
“no, of course not. i could never hate you. you’re so amazing and nice and pretty. i mean, i’ve liked you since we got here and you showed me around the village and you were just super nice.”
“you think i’m pretty?” tsireya interrupted. hints of pink flooded her cheeks.
“uh.. yeah.” y/n said quietly.
tsireya blushed even harder and looked down.
“i really thought you despised me and the whole time you just..” she laughs out softly.
“i’m really sorry, tsireya. i actually really like you. you’re the kindest and more generous and considerate girl i’ve ever met and uh..”
tsireya watches y/n’s expression, waiting to hear her ask the question she’s been waiting for ever since y/n arrived.
“i uhm.. will-“
“will you go out with me?” tsireya interrupted.
she quickly slapped her hand over her mouth as she watched y/n’s face. she was ready to ask tsireya already.
y/n sighs out before tsireya laughs out.
“i’m sorry!”
“i was so ready to say it! ugh, tsireya…”
“i’m sorry! i’m sorry, i’ll let you say it..” tsireya smiled.
y/n chuckled lightly. “tsireya.. will you go out with me?”
tsireya squeals in excitement before hugging y/n, throwing her arms around her neck.
y/n laughs out and spins her around, holding her tight in her arms.
she puts her down, her hands still on tsireya’s waist. tsireya had her hands on the back of y/n’s neck and they were inches apart from each other.
they would have kissed and had a nice, happy, sapphic ending, but the author is single and sad and will not be made jealous of by two fictional characters.
<3
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