#Die if it was another cast or crew member

[saltpepperbeard]

The cryptic picture in Javid’s eye changed,,,

[therabbitthatpostthings]

Plushies!

JJK Actor AU. Kinda headcannon to what their “out of character” persona would be like. Basically you have plushies of them and they have opinions about it.

Inspired by another fic, can’t remember the name and I scrolled for an HOUR for it. All the character had texts prompts in them.

Maybe spoiler???

Nanami Kento

Continuation of this post

- Between you simping so hard for his onscreen self and the plushies, he is so tierd.

- He’s been acting since his late teens but had one big breakout role. Since you two started dating you have made it a mission to collect any fan content that involves a role he is in.

- Even in the roles where he’s evil you have a mountain of merch!

- He loves that you are so supportive but the Nanami obsession is next level. He’d be more upset if it wasn’t just his face.

- He loves you so he puts up with the Nanami plushies.

Gojo Satoru

- Date an actor they say! It’ll be fine they said! Literally wtf.

- He’s a lot like his character in terms of playfulness. You have gone on record to say they are pretty 1:1 with each other.

- So naturally, when you bring home a Gojo plushie he is distraught.

“I can’t believe you would cheat on me!”

“IT’S A TOY!”

- He kicks Gojo off the bed all the time. Now Gojo Plushie sleeps on the living room couch.

- He still gets up every morning and complains that there’s another man in your apartment when he isn’t there (completely disregarding that you are at work half the time)

- He is secretly looking for artist to commission to make a matching plushie of you.

Geto Suguru

- He HATES it.

- Not just because it’s a plushie of Geto in his Kenjaku era but also because you got it from a con. It’s not licensed merchandise. Meaning stuff he would have gotten for basically free.

- In fact “Sugu-Mini” was just the beginning of a small empire of Suguru plushies you acquired over his duration on the show.

“Why are they all so fucking ugly? Why don’t you ever buy the cute ones?”

- Would rather die than admit that he’s jealous you hold one in you lap while working or lean on them when on the couch.

- Finally stops complaining when you move them to your home office and cuddle with him again.

Kamo Choso

- Sweet angle baby. He actually loves that you love plushies so when he got casted as Choso he would made it a mission to get you one of the first plushies they made.

- It makes you happy so he is ready to get you as many as you wants. He posts on insta a lot so when he mentions looking for more Choso plushies it practically goes viral.

- The next con he went two it took like three attendants to help him lug all the plushies he got. He later posted on insta that night a picture of his bed covered in Choso plushies.

- Eagle eyed fans noticed something though. The layout of the bedroom look eerily similar to another person who made a post about their brand new Choso plush. What are the odds?

- You both turn it into a game, posting photos with an increasing amount of Choso’s everytime.

- This actually starts a trend, #chosoplushietakeover. There’s not a single cast member or crew mate that doesn’t have a Choso plushie. It’s wild.

Ieiri Shoko

- She’s always been a natural beauty, so graceful and ethereal like. Playing someone collected and laid-back like Shoko was a welcomed surprise.

- Even though her role is smaller compared to everyone else, she loved it anyway. Any video from production has her somewhere in the background.

- As another devoted con-goer she also gets a bunch of plushies and brings them all to you. You two have at least 1 plushies in every room in your home. You both even carry a keychain version on your bags.

Iori Utahime

- like her character she has a deep seated hatred for Gojo’s actor but in more of a rivalry way. They are both child stars that got casted a lot together. For a short amount of time they were a ship.

- she originally posted a cute (cropped) picture of her plushie with you sitting off to the side.

- then Gojo did the same.

- So she posted another handmade plushie on her story.

- So did he.

- At this point she wanted him DEAD cause she knows how he feels about those plushies so he’s doing this just to piss her off. It would be that bad if he wasn’t actively bragging about ratioing her.

- Soon enough it becomes the battle of the plushies between these two. Factors are formed in the fandom. No mercy, all glory, blood for the blood god.

Ijichi Kiyotaka

- Doesn’t have any official plushies.

- it isn’t until you buy one offline that he kinda cares.

- He treats that plushie like it’s your son. He has a pillow on the living room couch that is HIS pillow. No one can use it, not even guests.

Fushiguro Toji

- He hates it.

- He thinks they’re creepy. He’s never liked stuffed animals ever since he was a kid. None of your kids even have stuffed animals outside of like, 1 teddy bear each.

- Everytime you enter the room he is practicing wrestling moves on the poor thing with your son. You’re just happy you got a good quality one cause it had lasted through some rounds of combat.

Ryomen Sukuna

- I imagine him also being a child star but his career took off when him and his younger brother (Yuuji’s actor) starred in a drama together.

- They did not fight the twin allegations. Sukuna is older though by 5 years. As they’ve gotten older, they’ve gotten easier to differentiate.

- He straight up stole his brother’s Yuuji plush and drew Sukuna’s tattoos on it.

-Combined you two have five plushies:

A pillow one that he uses as a back rest. Two keychain versions. The drawn on Yuuji plush. And an ugly one that got messed up in manufacturing that is your personal favorite.

- He is essentially a plushie thief, if you lend it to him you will never see it again. He is currently has the second most Choso plushie count cause he keeps stealing others. Yours included!

[electronickingdomfox]

"The New Voyages" review

This one is actually a collection of short stories by fan authors, which makes the stories seem more like episodes of the series. It has also the distinct honor of being introduced by Roddenberry and most members of the cast. The stories are generally well-written and in character.

Some spoilers ahead:

Ni Var (by Claire Gabriel; intro by Nimoy) takes the plot of "The Enemy Within", but applied to Spock and the division between his Vulcan rational part, and his human emotional part. Besides the fact that I'm not sure such division works at that biological level, the two Spocks aren't all that different really. And it's not a very novel concept, specially right after a similar plot in previous book "Spock must die". But bonus points for Kirk giving the middle finger to his own reflection.

Intersection Point (by Juanita Coulson; intro by Doohan) is one of the best stories. The Enterprise is seriously crippled while navigating through an anomaly cloud, which is quickly contracting and threatens to crush the entire ship. Anyone who enters the cloud to retrieve a crucial component of the ship, is mentally destroyed by its eldritch qualities. Great tension and difficult choices.

The Enchanted Pool (by Marcia Ericson; intro by Nichols) is an attempt to write a fairy tale with Spock thrown in the middle for good measure. A bit of purple prose, and doesn't quite work. The resolution of the mistery is ingenous, even when convoluted.

Visit to a Weird Planet Revisited (by Ruth Berman; intro by Barrett) is actually the other half of a fanfic (Visit to a Weird Planet, not published here) where Kirk, Spock and Bones end up in the real world, right in the studio where they're filming Star Trek. Here instead, we follow the actors, who appear in the Enterprise and have to improvise to avert a danger. The other story was more fun, since Kirk and co. are more clumsy and hilarious in our world (being even "attacked" by fans), while the actors are just slightly less competent than their counterparts.

The Face on the Barroom Floor (by Eleanor Arnason and Ruth Berman; intro by Takei) is a really fun story. Kirk gets into a fight in a bar while in shore leave, is detained, teams up with a ratty thief, and crashes a party, while his crew search for him frantically. In the line of TOS best comedy-adventure episodes.

The Hunting (by Doris Beetem; intro by the editors) is a bit "meh". Spock goes into a Vulcan ritual which requires to mind-meld with a wild beast, and McCoy accompanies him. When Spock goes wild in the process, the good doctor has to hunt him and give him back his sanity. There could have been a more homoerotic fight between them, as in "Amok Time".

The Winged Dreamers (by Jennifer Guttridge; intro by Kelley) is another high point. The Enterprise crew falls under the influence of some creatures that make their fantasies seem real. So real that people can actually die if imagining the wrong thing. Spock is less affected, but slowly begins to hallucinate too, and the triumvirate fall into paranoia as neither they (nor the reader) can tell what's real and what's not anymore.

Mind-Sifter (by Shirley Maiewski; intro by Shatner) drags a bit at the beginning, when Kirk wakes up in a sanatory, his mind almost destroyed. It gets more interesting once Spock and McCoy start a quest to search for him. Great interactions between these two, reminiscent of "The Tholian Web".

After the eight stories there's still a little poem about Spock and Leila.

Spirk Meter: 10/10*. Not all stories are equally slashy, but the parts which do, are slashy in spades.

Ni Var has Kirk worrying about Spock all the time, and "human Spock" wondering if what he feels for the Captain is friendship... or love (something which happens too in one of Roddenberry's story concepts for a movie, around this time).

Intersection Point has a clear parallel between the anguish of a female crewmember, after a man (obviously her boyfriend) loses his mind in the anomaly, and Kirk agonizing once Spock has to enter the same anomaly.

The Enchanted Pool, where Spock refuses to kiss a beautiful female time and time again. Even when the woman assures him it's the only way to break a spell and escape. Even when Spock is doing far more dangerous things ALL THE TIME to solve problems. Of course, he considers the kiss a total waste of time once it doesn't work.

The Face on the Barroom Floor: Kirk is invited to a bar by McCoy and Sulu, who have found three women to pass the time, one for each. What does Kirk do? He gets out the bar two seconds later, puts on a samurai costume, and goes instead to a bar full of muscular, rowdy men, to get thrashed by them. Of course.

The Winged Dreamers has Spock wishing to stay on a planet with Kirk, just the two of them, for ever and ever. McCoy totally gets what's going on.

And I thought that Mind-Sifter would be about the love between a (quite unproffesional) nurse, and her mentally unstable patient, Kirk. But oh man, where do I even begin!? For starters, we have Kirk using his mind link with Spock to cry for help, across the galaxy and several centuries. And later he's concerned about how much can Spock read into his mind. Then we have McCoy informing the nurse that no, Kirk can't stay with her, because his love is his career and his... (trails off, having said too much). Gallant Spock carries an unconscious Kirk in his arms, and tells the nurse that, no matter how much she loves him, Kirk DOES NOT love her back (bitch!). If that wasn't enough, there's a lenghty conversation at the end, where Kirk almost melts in love and appreciation for Spock, and the Vulcan blushes at his own emotional display.

*A 10 in this scale is the most obvious spirk moments in TOS. Think of the back massage, "You make me believe in miracles", or "Amok Time" for example.

[sherl-grey]

dangerous words I fear but I’m craving some OFMD critical but civil discourse… s2 finale spoilers included below the cut. this is incredibly long FYI bc I’m truly desperate to get all my thoughts out

I want to preface by saying I loved S2. I think I loved it more than s1, I think there were some absolute GENIUS moments this season (the entire Calypso episode was *chef’s kiss* my favorite), and I think the cast, crew, and DJ deserve a lot of love and, of course, a renewal for another season.

I know there’s been a lot of anti-finale-critiquing posts out there (and yeah, I also don’t want to see baseless hate or, god forbid, people trying to interact with the cast/crew with anything less than love and respect) but personally, I think the biggest sign that I love a show is me wanting to pick it apart. I think digging into the writing and decision-making and characters of a show means you really appreciate the choices that were made even if you don’t agree with them, because you’re working to understand the story on a level most people only dive to if they’re forced to in an English class. No story is going to be perfect. No story is going to be written specifically for me unless it’s literally by me. But sometimes I still want to study it like a bug under a microscope, you know?

So here we go: I didn’t like the finale, and I didn’t think it fit very well with the rest of the season/show. Weirdly enough I didn’t feel a need to discuss online until I started reading the interviews DJ has been giving about the finale (specifically the choice to kill Izzy and Ed/Stede’s ending) and I’m so curious as to whether others interpreted things the same way. (Yes, they’re DJ’s characters. No, I don’t think all viewers are obligated to interpret things the same way as writers did—that’s half the beauty of storytelling and media consumption.)

Izzy’s Death

Let’s unpack the big one first. I think a lot of what DJ/finale defenders (if I may respectfully call fans who enjoyed s2e8 that) have mentioned is that Izzy’s arc was over and he’d served his narrative purpose. I’ve got a few different issues with this:

1. Part of what I love(d?) about this show is that I did not think this was a show that kills characters once they’ve served their narrative purpose, or a show that kills characters as punishment/retribution for mistakes/earlier actions. To me, OFMD symbolizes the idea that everyone is deserving of love, forgiveness, and second chances. I truly trusted that no one on the Revenge crew would die in this show, and to be proven wrong was a bit disheartening, to say the least. Will talk more on the suicide notion in the next bit because I think it was symbolic, but Izzy also now represents a suicidal character who finds the will to live again. I’d argue that a “full arc” for a character like that should be ending in happiness, not death (and especially not with a line like “I want to go” or whatever the specific words were).

2. DJ seems to describe Izzy’s role as being a mentor to Blackbeard, which I personally struggle to see at all. Despite the Captain/First Mate status difference, I think most signs have pointed towards them being roughly equals—the unrequited love Izzy feels for Ed, the way the two of them stand right up to each other when everyone else would be afraid to, the clear shared history and longevity of their friendship/companionship. (If anything, I’d argue Izzy takes on the mentor mantle for Stede in s2, though it’s a bit glossed over because of how crunched for time everything was.) I certainly have trouble seeing the “father figure” relationship that DJ mentions in interviews, because I think Izzy is the one crew member that puts himself on even ground with his captains.

But even humoring that, Ed’s story has been about shedding Blackbeard. And DJ has a great quote in the Entertainment Weekly interview where he says that Izzy and Ed are both Blackbeard, that the two of them together are what makes Blackbeard “happen.” So in theory, if we’re killing Izzy off to further Ed’s storyline, it’s to ultimately kill Blackbeard, right? Especially since his line at the end is to “just be Ed.”

Except we already have metaphorically killed Blackbeard, several times. I think S2E3 is a really interesting episode because in season 1, it can be argued (and is, by Chauncey Badminton) that Stede kills Blackbeard in his own pirate-y way—with kindness. The crew is also somewhat a part of this, as they all accept and love Ed for who he is and not only because he’s Blackbeard; the crew follows the example of their captain and it changes who Ed is as a person. S2E3 is a crew under Blackbeard, and they also kill Blackbeard following the method of their current captain—violence. And this “death” is, in my mind, the death of Blackbeard while Stede symbolically saves the part of him that is just Ed. (Bonus: we also get Ed trying to sink his leathers, and while it might just be because he’s on a damn boat, it’s interesting that Blackbeard’s clothes are drowned/sunk while Ed’s metaphorical comeback was being saved from drowning by Mer!Stede.)

So Ed’s half of Blackbeard is dead. If we stand by DJ’s idea that Blackbeard is half Izzy, we’ve still got half of Blackbeard left, right? Well, that would’ve been right immediately post-S1, but then they gave Izzy a beautiful arc that seems to be a shadow of Ed’s S1 track. Ed and Izzy are very similar characters, but in S1 Ed is on the receiving end of love, acceptance, and admiration—namely from Stede, but also from the crew. Meanwhile, Izzy is subject to contempt and hostility… once again, namely from Stede, and also from the crew. Ed blossoms under the love during S1 until that’s taken away; Izzy simply moves in the reverse direction. He continues to be an antagonist while being treated like one, but once others start treating him with kindness (Fang hugging him, Jim and Archie amputating his leg while Frenchie lies for him, the whole crew making him the unicorn leg), he too becomes a part of the family. And wouldn’t you know it—Izzy has a near death scene as well, a suicide no less. Izzy is the one who is responsible in S1 for “bringing back Blackbeard,” so the symbolism of him pulling the trigger on himself is huge. This is Izzy killing his half of Blackbeard! Because Izzy Hands continues to live, even if it takes him some time to remember how to live without Blackbeard at first, and his relationship with Ed effectively dies here.

(As a side note, this growth arc and the way Izzy fully transforms into a member of the Revenge crew afterwards—whittling Lucius a shark and talking to him about forgiveness, dressing up in drag and singing to the crew, cracking silly jokes about Ed and Stede’s relationship—are also why I find the “Izzy Hands is the symbol of traditional piracy and his death is symbolic of traditional piracy dying” argument to be weak. In season 1, he was that definition, but we’ve literally watched him grow out of it. He’s no longer symbolic of something stagnant that will remain the same or be destroyed—he’s symbolic of something that grows and adapts to the new situations, that survives when all of the rules change on him.)

And then we have the return of Blackbeard: Pop-Pop pushing Ed to go back to doing “what he’s good at,” Ed fishing his leathers out of the ocean, Ed killing a ton of people because he thinks Stede is likely dead or at minimum in captivity/grave danger. This bit seems to go against everything the season was building towards; Blackbeard was almost entirely gone, but Ed is now the one who brings him back because he thinks Blackbeard is the one who can save Stede. And that’s fair, but what does that have to do with Izzy at this point? Why does he need to die for Ed to put that part of him away again? While we’re not owed a main character having a death that serves a narrative purpose, I’d hope for that to be the case, and I struggle to interpret what happens to Izzy as beneficial to either plot or character.

3. I think the actual core arcs of the show are character arcs and not plots. I get that they might’ve been trying to wrap plots with Zheng and the British in case they aren’t renewed, but I don’t think it was necessary—the pirating has always been secondary to the rom com and the found family, IMO. In S1, we had two main characters, but I’d argue Izzy got enough focus and attention to be a third this season. Which left us with a great character-driven story: we’re watching all 3 of them come into their own and discover who they are individually, while also discovering that the changes in themselves are causing friction between them now that they’re growing into new people. Which is an amazing story to tell, if you ask me, but the fulfillment of that story requires all three characters to be there. The conflict to be resolved is how these characters can become the people they want to be and still coexist together, because on some level they’re family now. Notably each pair combination of these characters grows together or apart (or in Stede/Ed’s case, both) during this season. Ed and Izzy are growing apart because they hold each other back from becoming the person they want/need to be; to complete this narratively, I would’ve expected the next challenge to be finding a way to become friends again as their new selves while letting go of the fact that they used to have a toxic relationship when they used to be different people.

Ed and Stede’s S2 Ending

So Izzy’s death is the big talking point, but I also think DJ’s take on Ed and Stede was interesting. He said that they deserved a happy ending for the work they put in this season. I agree with him in theory, but I’m curious as to whether others agree that they put in a lot of work. I think Stede followed through with his goal to come back and tell Ed how he feels, and to stay instead of running away from his problems. I think Ed followed through with trying to understand who he is and what his needs are while also trying to find the courage to open himself up to love again. But critically, they never talk. E7 makes a point to highlight the miscommunication/lack of communication between them, and then in E8 they still aren’t shown talking.

(I realize part of the issue is the limited amount of time and the amount of plot shoved into episode 8. I get it; personally, I think the plot should’ve been sacrificed for the characters. At this point, we were 7 episodes into a very character/relationship-heavy season. Plot could’ve waited for a potential S3.)

What’s more—there’s a huge, glaring gap between where they left off and where they end up. Ed left in S2E7 after he begins panicking and realizing Stede is becoming deeper entrenched in pirate life just as he’s finally finding his way out of it. Not once do they talk about this, but suddenly they’re retiring together? And right after Ed says Izzy was his only family and Izzy calls the crew his family (which… is also an unearned line, as Ed and the crew have almost no bonding or forgiveness this season, since we focused mainly on Izzy with the crew and Ed with Stede), they leave the crew to do their own thing? They’re all relatively minor things that could be fairly easily addressed by dialogue, but they fact that they’re not only serves to underscore the way that Ed and Stede really aren’t on the same page.

I want them to get their happy ending. They deserve it. I’m just not sure that I agree that they earned it to the degree that it was received, with retirement alone together without their crew, if that makes sense.

Positivity Tax: Calypso Love 😊

I’ve probably got more to say but those were the big ones on my mind after reading the Vanity Fair and Entertainment Weekly interviews. Just to counterbalance some of the more critical things I’ve said, I wanted to share some loving analysis of the Calypso episode:

1. It’s a minor thing, but the way this episode shows that Ed’s actions as Blackbeard had consequences is amazing. Despite him arguably committing the more grievous wrongs in S1, he’s the one we get the least redemption for in this season (his apology to the crew wasn’t great, and most of his screen time is spent repairing his relationship with Stede), so for him to have to face something that happened because of his past actions is cool, especially because it was done in a way that doesn’t further damage his standing with the crew.

2. The way Stede saves the day is incredible. Competent Stede this season has been an absolute joy to watch, and his success in this episode is twofold: first he wins his way, with signature Gentleman Pirate flair. He listens to Ned’s crew, helps facilitate communication between them, and encourages them to stand up for themselves and demand better treatment. That’s a very classic Stede win. But then he wins in the traditional pirate way, and it’s absolutely glorious; he’s been working towards becoming a better pirate, both in terms of stomaching violence and building up the necessary skills. Ned’s crew can be taken down with kindness, but Ned himself is a pirate and will only be matched by another. I genuinely cannot think of a more perfect way to show that Stede is still himself while also showcasing the newer side of him that he’s been working towards this whole time.

3. Speaking of that newer side of him, the way this episode starts to open up Ed’s insecurities? The combination of seeing his least favorite parts of himself reflected in Stede as well as watching Stede grow into the career that he’s trying to leave? Amazing conflict development.

4. I’ve already talked so much about Izzy but the way this truly caps off the crew’s acceptance of him as part of the family is gorgeous. He’s an entirely new man at this point and there’s no jokes made, no friendly ribbing… just love and acceptance. It highlights both his newfound comfort and familiarity with the others as well as the extent to which they care about him.

5. Less analytical, but it’s also just a really pretty episode.

Considering the fact that I have zero OFMD mutuals and this was a whole essay (I’m on mobile and can’t see how long this is but I’m honestly scared), I would be shocked if someone made it down this far, but if somehow people are here and open to civil discussion… I’d love to know how you felt about this, if you thought DJ was right, if you were a little more on my wavelength and thinking things weren’t adding up, etc. Realistically I’m not sure if anything could change my mind as I’ve done a lot of stewing, particularly about Izzy arc, but new perspectives are always refreshing. Much love to the fandom and of course the creators, who hopefully never see this and get their s3 renewal 🤞🏼

[dotthings]

Some thoughts about Jensen Ackles, from the pov of a Dean/Jensen fan who is also a Cas/Misha fan and a Destiel shipper, TFW fan, and fan of found family on SPN. How he gets his arms pulled off between different aisles of the fandom, on multiple things, and how Jensen loves SPN.

One side has some people who accuse him of being phobic, while they ignore all his allyship, his support, and times he’s supported their view of the characters and the show, while another side has some people who…also accuse him of being phobic but pretend they aren’t, while they blame the other side and spew rhetoric about a false sense of disgust and hatred they invented and assigned to Jensen. His own lane even has some people who deploy biphobic rhetoric, claiming it’s to defend Jensen’s honor. They don’t seem to care that has little connection to the actual full breadth and depth of his viewpoints on the subject.

One side resents him if he speaks about his love of the brothers and touchstones that as the center of the show, while another side resents him if he shows any support for found family. Particularly if it’s Cas, then it’s accusations of “pandering.”

Jensen loves the brothers, Jensen also loves found family. Jensen put “family don’t end with blood” on his charity auction shirt revival-themed doodles. Not “Sam and Dean nobody else.”

And it’s always one lane or the other going “Jensen better do this” and “Jensen better do that.” Dance, monkey. Dance.

One side will rip him to pieces if he shows too much support for bi Dean and Destiel, another side will rip him to pieces if he doesn’t show enough support. Jensen’s whole-hearted support for queer Cas gets completely lost in all this noise.

Jensen walks a tightrope over a moat of razor wire and crocodiles, unable to speak clearly, while he tries to show in every way he can that he supports people who see bi Dean and who see Destiel. He pads his warm words about Dean and Cas’s relationship with prevarications and disclaimers, and that doesn’t mean what some people think. If you pay close attention to his words, it’s not a shutdown or an expression of his own dislike or aversion. He may in part be reconciling his own long-standing and sincere appreciation of the kindred spirits, brother-like, best friends dynamic of Dean and Cas, a relationship he is fond of and he played for 12 seasons, mixed with his own supportiveness about the concept of Dean being bi and mutually acknowledged canon Destiel. But he doesn’t want to say anything until the deal’s done and he can stand on top of it free and clear. He’s signaling as much support as he can, as much warmth as he can, without tipping his hand all the way.

Jensen held Misha’s cape for the love confession. He was openly enthusiastic about the episode and that scene. Jensen is not “against” anything, except maybe the hate. Including hate that denigrated and erased Jensen’s own superb performance and diminished and erased Dean’s pov and feelings and roiling and strong emotions, including Dean sobbing on the floor.

Jensen, who stuck up for everyone at SPN, fellow cast members, crew. Jensen who shows his interest in and love and respect for other characters and various relationships. Jensen who very clearly thinks holistically about the story and the show.

He sticks up for everyone, yet didn’t have room to breathe at the end of spn’s run to stick up for Dean. He had to fight with an EP for the right to even have Dean die standing on his feet, couldn’t get more than that, and was told “take or leave it” in the writers’ room about the ending. Which he had misgivings on. But reconciled with it eventually. Also before it was filmed, for a while, he thought it would be much better than it turned out to be after production shutdowns in March 2020 allowed for corporate to come in and derail the original full plans for the ending.

Jensen’s disappointment about Dean is self-evident, it’s also self-evident he’s not just disappointed about that. Dean, Cas, found family, all matter to him, not “just the brothers.”

Maybe Jensen didn’t want conflict and confrontation as the show came to an end. He loves SPN a lot. So he didn’t push the issue hard on Dean’s behalf. Maybe Jensen decided it was better to bide his time rather than confront.

And after all, before the series finale was even wrapped, he was already making his own plans, forming his own production company and contemplating SPN revival and spinoffs, and then Jensen wound up as THEE producer of the SPN universe—prequels, revivals, spinoffs and all.

For the prequel, he worked with creatives to find a way to start repairing the damage done in Dean’s ending, and opened up the story to hope, to possibilities, to start repairing damage done on other things as well. And he got hate from some in the lane that was supposed to love and respect both J’s the most, he got blamed for caring, for having agency, for caring about Dean, for caring about the SPN universe, for caring about the story. He got blamed for making a TV show and got blamed for asserting himself about Dean in the way he’d decided was best for him, the way he preferred to deal with it.

Jensen cares in a very wide way. Like Dean, his heart is very big. He doesn’t hate the way certain antis keep claiming he hates. He’s also empathetic, open-minded, curious, intelligent, he listens, and his pov evolves, which is true of fans too. (It’s not any kind of an insult to point out that he’s capable of understanding and learning and growing—it’s nothing I don’t apply for myself, and don’t try to do myself—and Jensen himself has talked about the importance of these things. It’s how many people do, it’s how it should be.)

Jensen ushered in a prequel that was about found family as well as tying back to the brothers and their family, but very much linked to Dean’s pov and Dean’s story. At no point did he abandon his love for the brothers. It’s that this isn’t the only thing that matters to him. He’s going to usher in a revival that is about Sam and Dean and their family. And maybe get some more healing for himself (and for fans who care about Dean) on Dean’s story, as well as some other things.

“I love this character, I love the story of these two brothers and I love what it stands for and I love the world that they live in and the family that they have acquired through their years. There’s so much love and attachment to that show. There’s a reason that it went 15 years.” —Jensen Ackles on the Inside of you podcast, January 18, 2022

[cowgurrrl]

Losing My Cool

Pairing: rockstar!joel miller x actress!reader

Author’s note: shortie short but I’ve already got another part half finished 🤠 fic named after this song

Summary: What do they say about all good things? [1.1k]

Warnings: yearning idiots, probably incorrect interview technique, idk what else

A PA brings you over to your mark and instructs you to stay there until your name gets called, which seems simple enough, but she stays nearby to make sure you don't wander. It feels a little silly to always have to be babysat, but you brush it off, smoothing your hands down your blue dress and taking deep breaths. You've done late-night shows before, but they still make you nervous, especially since you know just how many people watch them. Ryan sent you a video of Elizabeth sitting in front of the TV, watching an ad for tonight's show, and cheering when she saw your name and face. So, who knows who else might be watching if your five-year-old goddaughter is?

You can hear the introductory remarks, laughter, and applause that come with them, but you miss the voices whisper-arguing behind you. They die down by the time your brain wraps around the sounds and decide to stay focused. And you do. You run through what you want to say about the movie, fun anecdotes, and easy ways to skate around questions about Joel. You feel settled and prepared until familiar hands wrap around your middle, making you jump and turn in his arms. 

"You're gonna get me in trouble," you say, and Joel smirks.

"I had to convince the production assistant to let me come kiss my girlfriend for good luck."

"You're getting fast and loose with that term, huh?" 

"D'you want me to stop?" He asks, his thumbs swiping over your hips, and you shake your head.

"I kinda like it."

"Good," Joel says as the band starts playing, and you push at his shoulders. He quickly kisses you, his hand lingering on your lower back for a second longer than necessary, before rushing away with a mischievous look on his face. "Kick some ass!'

You laugh at the sentiment as your name gets called from the front of the stage, and the curtain opens enough to let you walk through. You smile and wave to the audience members as you walk over and shake Jimmy's hand. "Thank you so much for being here," he says so only you can hear, and you smile. The band vamps until you sit in the plush chair beside his desk and accept the applause when he repeats your name.

"It's so great to see you! You look fantastic!" He says, and you smile as you run your hands over the skirt of your dress.

"Thank you! I'm so happy to be here."

"Well, we are very lucky to have you. You've been a very, very busy lady these past few years. When was the last time you were in New York?" He asks, and you puff out your cheeks as you think.

"At least four or five years."

"And you went to school out here, right?"

"Yeah, I graduated from NYU. I was lucky enough to earn a full ride on a merit-based scholarship which doesn't happen very often, and once I graduated, I did a few projects here in the city before getting my first movie deal out in LA."

"That's amazing! And since then, you have been nonstop. I mean, you are everywhere. And you have a new movie coming out called Red Dirt Girl," he says as he holds up a picture of the movie poster, and the audience cheers at the image. You reach out to boop Lilly's nose and feel yourself smiling so hard that your cheeks hurt, but you're so happy. For once, it feels genuine. "What was it like to work on this film?" 

"It was just the opportunity of a lifetime. We filmed out west around the Colorado-New Mexico border, and I hadn't even been out there, so it was so fun getting to know that area and working with the cast and crew. I mean, it was just like coming to work and having fun for twelve hours a day, and then we all lived in the same building, so we would just keep hanging out, and we got to be really close."

"And the girl who plays your sister, Lilly Porter, is just phenomenal for someone as young as she is. Did you find yourself getting protective of her?" 

"Oh, absolutely. Lilly just turned sixteen about a month ago, but when we were filming, she had just turned fourteen, so she was really young, and I hadn't worked with someone that young that closely. And we had a day where we just sat down and talked for hours, and she's such an old soul, and she's so smart, but, I mean, we both know how hard the industry can be. So, I set her up with people I trust and gave her advice I wish someone had given me. I got really close with her family, and, of course, they are fantastic people as well. So, it was a learning curve for both of us, but she is an amazing, beautiful person, and I'm so lucky that I got to work with her. I totally consider her a little sister now." 

"Which is ironic considering that you guys butt heads so much in this movie."

"Oh, yes, we do."

"Let's take a look at this clip here," he says as a short clip from the movie comes up on the screen behind you. Lilly's character, Sabrina, is arguing with your character, Jo, about getting sent home from school because of her behavior. Lilly perfectly portrays the annoying little sister as she stomps through the house, making sarcastic comments and driving you up the wall. The clip ends with Sabrina telling Jo that she's just like their mother, which obviously, hits Jo right where it hurts. You smile and clap along with the audience as the clip ends. "Wow! I mean, just fantastic! Were those scenes hard to shoot?"

"The scenes where we were fighting were really hard to film because I just love her so much, and I never wanted to yell at her, but Lilly was absolutely brilliant because she would do a new thing each time we shot the scene that would completely throw me off. So, like, one time she knocked over a chair or slammed the door so hard that pictures fell off the wall, and it would startle me each time, and then it was pretty easy to access that anger after that." You laugh, remembering the time you accidentally did raise your voice because she scared the shit out of you. 

"And did the director tell her to do that?"

"No, she just did it! And Peter, the director, was just sitting there like," You cross your arms over your chest and lean back in the chair, copying the famous Peter Jankowski slouch, and nod, pretending to chew gum. "And like, that's it! Which is great! You always want a director that will let you try things, but I was given no warning." Jimmy laughs at the story and seamlessly transitions into a commercial break. 

The rest of the interview goes smoothly, with you promoting the movie and even playing a game where you had to answer New York City trivia facts. Appearances like this can actually be really fun when they're done right, and you always have a good time when you're on the Tonight Show. As you're leaving the stage, Jimmy tells you that you and Joel have to get dinner with him and his wife the next time you're in the city, and you agree, knowing that it will probably never happen. 

You're excited to see what Joel will say about how things went, but when you go backstage, he's nowhere to be found. You don't find him immediately in the wings where you left him or in your dressing room. You almost ask the PA if she saw him leave, but she's dealing with five million other things, and you doubt she would've noticed even if he did. You furrow your brows as you fish your phone from your purse and type out a quick message to Joel.

Hey! Where are you? I just got done.

The message delivers even though his phone is on Do Not Disturb. You think about calling him but figure he might've just gone back to the hotel room before you. Paparrazi gets pictures of you leaving the studio alone and shouts questions at you, wanting to know where Joel is. You don't answer. You just get in the car and try to get back to the hotel as fast as possible. Truthfully, you're a little embarrassed. You looked around for him like a lost puppy backstage, and now you're just dutifully returning to the hotel to look for him. It also doesn't help that you were photographed arriving with him but not leaving with him. You can feel Melanie's migraine from here.

When you scan into the hotel room, all of Joel's stuff is gone. His clothes, shoes, and even his razor have all disappeared. You were there for an hour, maybe less, and he just left? Your phone buzzes in your purse, and you quickly pull it out to see a text from Joel.

Ellie had an emergency. On the first flight back. I'm sorry. I'll make it up to you.

You sigh, plop down on the now too-big bed, and kick off your heels.

No worries. Take care of your baby. I'll see you when I get back.

Thank you. I owe you.

You don't owe me anything, Super Dad. Just text me when you get home, and keep me updated. Let me know if you or Sarah need anything.

He starts typing something before deleting it and then typing again. For a moment, you two stare at the same screen, waiting for the other to say something even though he's at the airport and you're in an empty hotel room. Your heart clenches in your chest as he types and types and types, just for the bubble to disappear as fast as he did.  

[karizard-ao3]

It’s time for the school play and it’s Romeo & Juliet. Mikasa gets the role of Juliet and Eren couldn’t give a fuck about the play until he found out Romeo and Juliet kiss, in front of everybody. And now Eren is obsessively after the role, only he can’t act to save his life

There's this animanga from the late 80s/early 90s that I adore called Ranma 1/2 that has a Romeo and Juliet high school theater production arc and all I can picture is that but with Eremika as Ranma and Akane. I'm going to try to break free from that restraint.

Okay, so first things first, if Mikasa got the role and Eren didn't, that means she auditioned and he probably didn't bother. So he's shit out of luck by the time he finds out the guy cast as Romeo (Jean??? Maybe???) is going to be kissing Mikasa. This means Eren has two options: to make sure the kiss doesn't happen or to steal the role.

So, what does Eren do?

He gets himself appointed to the stage crew, of course, and begins doing everything he can to make Jean's life a living hell.

He's smacking into him with set pieces, sabotaging his props, he is orchestrating wardrobe malfunctions left and right. During rehearsals, every time they get to the kiss he knocks something over and interrupts them. The director is getting fed up but they also can't help but love watching the drama unfold before them, so they let Eren do his thing for the most part and wonder what is going to happen when the boy can't delay the kiss any longer.

Eren's already on top of that. He knows he can't keep dropping set pieces when there's an audience because he doesn't want to ruin the play for Mikasa, but he also would rather die than see her kiss another guy. Therefore, he needs Jean out of the picture. He concluded long ago that if he's going to keep Mikasa's lips for himself he has to give Jean mono. What better way to put him out of commission and prevent the kiss than the kissing disease itself? Eren loves the irony. Or, he would if he paid attention in English class long enough to know what irony is.

And so, Eren's quest to give Jean mono is already well under way by the time he enters the scene as a member of the stage crew.

But wait, you may say. How is Eren going to infect another kid with mono if he doesn't have it? You forget that Eren's father is a doctor. Eren knows from dinner time conversation that there's been an outbreak of it at a nearby high school and tons of those kids have it. All Eren has to do is get in touch with one of them and obtain their spit. He is not bound by the strictures of common decency or shame, so he starts hitting kids at the other school up, trying to find one who is just as depraved as he is who is willing to sell him their diseased saliva. And you know he manages to find one.

He cuts school takes the bus to the next town over , exchanging fifty dollars for a baby food jar full of saliva from a fellow unhinged teenage, then hurrying back to campus before the virus loses potency.

He arrives just in time for lunch and immediately gets busy contaminating poor Jean's food when he isn't looking.

Then he sits back and crosses his fingers that Jean's symptoms will hit before opening night (it takes 4 - 6 weeks for the infection to brew). He also makes sure to keep Jean's putrid lips off Mikasa. His on-stage kerfuffles have been protecting more than just his own tender heart. He's got to keep Jean from infecting Mikasa, lest Eren find himself onstage as Romeo without his Juliet.

Jean is looking concerningly healthy as opening night approaches, though, and Eren is beginning to think he's going to have to go back to the other kid's house and demand a refund when, with only two days to spare, Jean succumbs to Eren's machinations and falls ill with mononucleosis.

The director is freaking out. Jean can't be in the play if he has mono but who is going to fill in for him?

Eren to the rescue. Surprise, surprise. He has the part memorized.

The director has no choice. The show must go on even if it means Romeo recites all his lines like a robot and everyone in the audience can tell he's slipping Juliet some tongue when he kisses her. At least, the audience all tentatively agree as they try to find a bright spot in the mess of a play they just witnessed, the two leads have tons of chemisty.

[see-arcane]

Defanging Dracula—The Noble-Romantic-Playboy VS The Horror Villain

Now that the ranting and raving on behalf of Lucy, Jonathan, and Mina’s character portrayals in media adaptations is out of the way, I think it’s only fair that Dracula has someone vouch for him too. Not because he deserves it as a person—being an entity powered exclusively by the Need to Be a Bloodsucking Bastard—but as a character who has always been, and deserves to be respected as, a genuinely insidious, terrifying, incredibly engaging monster of a villain.

To be clear, if this prick were to be updated on the state of all the myriad movies and spinoffs and offshoot tales centered on him, I have no doubt he would be delighted with what his fellow heroic cast members were relegated to. The man lives for other people’s misery. Up to a point, I think he’d love things like Francis Ford Coppola’s take, his Castlevania counterpart, even the Sexy von Suaveman version of himself in, The Invitation.

But he would only suffer it up to a point. Because hilarious as it must be to see his favorite victims watered down, pimped out, and/or erased outright? There’s no way he’d be able to stomach the unironically wistful charismatic prettyboy romance novel-cover treatment he gets subjected to.

Canon Dracula: “Wow, you’re really going all out on this ‘fake pining for the mortal chick’ stance. Amazing how you don’t break character.”

Assorted Noble-Romantic-Playboy Draculas: “Oh, it’s not an act. We legitimately are just on the hunt for the Right Lady to sate our sensual and yearning hearts. Also taking revenge when she dies. Or reincarnates. Or whatever. Anyway, all our acts are powered by sexy sexy desire and liberation and love :)”

Canon Dracula, has aged another 300 years upon hearing this: “…Is this what it’s like for the humans when they’re around me? Because I can feel every atom of my being trying to retreat and die in an effort not to suffer your presence.”

Really, I want you to sit and think about the last time you ever encountered a Dracula—or the goth heartthrob being sold as ‘Dracula’—that was horrifying. Not ‘ooh, he’s such a bad boy!’ not ‘oh he’s such a tragic villain!’ or ‘oh he’s so badass and cool!’ dark fantasy crap. I mean actually, legitimately frightening.

The kind of creep you would feel watching you at a party. And leaving the party. And going down the street. And in your room.

The kind of bogeyman you pray every night isn’t standing in a shadow—or is the shadow, trailing along after you, waiting for you to wear out. Because you will. He won’t. He’s got all night, friend.

The kind of walking, talking, smiling nightmare that embodies the worst (affectionate) of mastermind manipulative abusers and no-frills vicious monstrosity. Psychological torture for his ‘friends’ and idle slaughter for the cattle (sorry, tiny children, nameless mother, Demeter crew, Mr. Swales, the mastiff pup, the list goes on).

Dracula is meant to be intimidating. And sure, that can be alluring. But before that, and after that, the intimidation has to come from the fact that he is a next level sadist. Directors could never throw this guy into a romantic setting without defanging and sandblasting him down to a smoldering caricature.

If you had Canon Dracula in a story with an interested admirer going full-blown willing victim~ ;) <3 xoxo at him, all while their friend tried desperately to break through the haze of contemporary, ‘But humans are the REAL VILLAINS, monsters are just HOT INHUMAN OTHER-METAPHORS who want love..!’ lens to point out, hey, this guy has absolutely rancid serial killer vibes, we should go, do you know what would happen?

Dracula would, in evil cat fashion, either ignore or immediately kill his admirer and set his sights firmly on the person who wants absolutely nothing to do with him. Why? Because he’s fucking Dracula and he wants what’s most miserable and terrifying for everyone.

He’s meant to be gleefully evil. He’s meant to be The Classic Supernatural Gothic Villain © ™. None of this misunderstood monster shit. The characters understand him. He understands himself. And that understanding is that he loves being a torturous (not tortured :’c), unrepentant overpowered utter asshole of an immortal self-made demon.

The world is his playground and unlimited blood buffet. But fresh necks and undead babes aren’t even the half of it. We’ve seen how much fun he has playing mind games as much (or more than) the actual fruition of the fulfilled threat. This guy burned two whole months on toying with Jonathan. He’s just starting the slow burn game with Lucy. He’s all about savoring the flavor of a well-seasoned nightmare inflicted on new playmates/playthings.

And that is so goddang interesting in a monster! It’s rare! It’s unique! Here’s a guy who has nothing but time and power on his hands, and he uses that to amuse himself with picking out victims to turn into hobbies. Some get menaced and massacred. Some special cases get the full ‘courtship’ play as he drags them kicking and screaming into conversion against their will; which, if we’re looking at his pattern so far with Jonathan and Lucy, is absolutely his preference.

He. Is. A. Bastard!

And I love that for him! I love hating him, I love studying him like the malicious little bug he is, I love watching the victims and heroes put up a fight against him, I love all the tasty horror genre menace he’s been radiating for over a century!

But even he isn’t immune to being compressed and warped into a mockery of himself for adaptations’ sake. The vision of him as some Don Juan ravishing/wooing/pining for/avenging [INSERT DAMSEL HERE] has become practically the only version of him the general public is aware of. And that’s just as unfair as what’s been done to Mina, Jonathan, and Lucy.

tl;dr: Directors of all eras are seemingly allergic to treating the plot and cast of Dracula with any kind of respect in their takes, including the eponymous monster man himself. But as a token of goodwill, the Count has cordially invited all of them to a dinner at Castle Dracula to talk things over civilly. We’re sure they’ll be fine in the company of such a noble and trustworthy fellow.

[lkoiii]

Hazbin Hotel Season 1 Finale Thoughts

Honestly, didn't know entirely what to expect going into this. For some reason I remember enjoying the Helluva Boss pilot more than Hazbin Hotel, so I was surprised when the first 4 episodes dropped and I was hooked. I have many thoughts, and a few theories? Kinda curious what others think. (Haven't done something like this before so sorry if it's rambly/dumb.)

I don't have as much to say about episode 7, but there were some standout moments. This episode helped tie 6 and 8 together well with the amount of content they both covered. Songs were all pretty good, the final one was probably the best of the bunch but I'd have to rewatch. I'm not sure anything can top Stayed Gone or Hell's Greatest Dad for me though (unless Alastor and Vox have another duet).

-Alastor. Need I say more? I mean he's clearly up to something, and he made a deal with Charlie to help him in the future. Is this because of the deal HE made before that Husk mentioned? Maybe if Charlie is more powerful than the one he made the original deal with she can break it? Idk, but seems important. Sus behavior, but he does it with such style I can't be mad.

-I really loved how they didn't dwell on Charlie and Vaggie's relationship issues too much, just enough. Like it wasn't drawn out to the point of, okay we get it, you're hurt just talk it out. They had reasons to feel the way they did, but they do truly love eachother so ultimately it worked out. Rosie's talk with Charlie was refreshing. Speaking of..

-ROSIE. Rosie is so sweet! I had no idea what to expect from her, but she's great! Her and Alastor's friendship was nice to see. Very different than the one he has with Mimsie, but he seems quite fond of them both. Honestly the entire cannibal town I liked way more than expected. Susan's antics were a highlight, even Alastor made a comment about Susan. Charlie losing her cool with Susan also made me laugh out loud.

-Carmilla instantly knowing Vaggie was an exorcist was so amusing, because she basically listed all the points fans theories did as reasons for that being the case. Their dance/battle practice was very well choreographed, and I liked the song.

Okay Episode 8.

-Vox's commentary throughout the episode was so damn funny. (I love him, he's so pathetic.)

-I saw some saying that including the before battle scene was bad for pacing but I couldn't disagree more. I'm glad we got to see all the main crew interact in the hotel before shit went down. Angel's chill convo with husk, the maniacal laughter shared between Nifty and Alastor, and Sir Pentious trying and (mostly) failing to rizz up Cherry Bomb. Glad she was included in the fight, makes sense for her character and friendship with Angel.

-The "More than Anything" reprise (along with events in episode 7) helped me appreciate Charlie and Vaggie's relationship a lot more. I think we just needed more time with them.

-The entire fight segment was.. well it was alot but I liked it! I like how we got see how different members of the cast fight in their own way (meanwhile the Vees are eating popcorn). The comentary about the angelic weapons being what can damage them was funny.

-Vox's reaction to Alastor and Adam facing off made me laugh so hard I fell out of my chair. I had to pause the episode for like, 5 minutes. I don't know how I can ever recover from Vox's reaction to Alastor being "Oh fuck, I'm so hard right now." Shit was hilarious.

-I didn't think we'd see Alastor and Adam face off, but actually, that makes a lot of sense. While Charlie should be more powerful, she hadn't used her powers from what we'd seen. (more on that in a bit)

-"I'm about to end your fucking life" went so hard. That line didn't have to go so hard.

-I thought Alastor was gonna die for a sec, I should have known better. But I was still traumatized.

-Sir Pencious. The true rizz master. If not for one other, he may have been the MVP, but he certainly had the most heart. He even got to confess, good for him. Very glad he got redeemed, maybe we will still see him around. Sera and Em's reaction to seeing him was hilarious/precious.

-Lucifer appears to save the day! I wasn't sure if we'd see him but thank goodness we did. Charlie and her dad both ended up fighting to save those they love. His beef with Adam was hilarious, and super valid.

-"It's fuck you UP, Dad" Charlie whispers while everyone else looks at Lucifer with confusion.

-Nifty the true MVP. We should give her a giant flyswatter asap, for a certain moth.

-Honestly wasn't expecting Adam to die . That really caught me off guard. I guess Lute is now in charge of the exorcists, so it'll be interesting to see how that plot line continues (obviously with Lilith, which I will bring up later). Doubt this would happen, but it would be hilarious if Adam respawned in hell as a sinner for everything he's done.

-Finally, Charlie get's some positive press for her hotel and friends.

-"Charlie told me to stab, so I did".

-I loved seeing the team rebuilding the hotel, they're bonding! The memorial for Sir Pentious, and either razzle or dazzle was a nice touch. I will miss Sir Pentious's chemistry with the group, I hope he's able to visit.

-I watched the QnA with Vivzie, and Charlie and Alator's VA's. They mentioned Alastor has alot more going on and based on that final scene with him, and the deal he made with Charlie, I see Alastor playing a much more active role next season. He's very bothered by "the constrains of his deal". Possible villain arc? Hell he could be the final big bad (prob not), but as long as it involves Alastor it'll be entertaining. Meaning he can't double die. I would be devastated.

-I normally don't get into shipping, and I may be biased (fuck you Val) but in all seriousness I still can't see Vox and Val as anything more than friends with benefits. Mostly because I don't think Val is capable of anything more than that. That and Vox is a pathetic lonely man who thinks Alastor ran off again, and possibly died. Velvette will def be using that image for blackmail. This isn't really a point, I just had an urge to bring it up. (realizing as I type this that the Vox tag will be filled with Val as well for a while. Definitely need that oversized flyswatter lmfao also Vox having a functional tongue is... well that's information.)

-Is Alastor's mic permanently broken? I noticed his voice didn't have a filter right after, but I think it returned during the song. I thought I remebered reading that was part of him, so how does that work? Can it heal? Does he lose some power?

- Can't wait to see how Vox reacts when he finds out Alastor is ALREADY back lmfao and don't think I didn't notice THIS IMAGE.

Cause that's def an old picture of Alastor and Vox and I need answers. Not only that, Alastor allowed a picture to be taken with him in it, no static. Is Vox the only reason Alastor is so against cameras? I love whatever is going on between those two, even if I don't fully understand it (other than Vox having a hate boner). Whatever it is, their beef isn't nearly over yet, and with the Vees seemingly wanting to take over, things should get very interesting.

-Lilith what the hell. Why are you chillin on a beach in heaven, what have you been up to? She clearly knows about the exterminations and everything going on. Now apparently to stay in heaven, she has to help stop Charlie?? What is Lute planning here?

Anyway, those are my very disorganized thoughts about the finale. I'm excited for Season 2. Anyway, if you will excuse me, I have some things to draw, and stuff. Probably Vox and Alastor. Probably.

[lets-try-some-writing]

Do you have any headcanons about Megatron when he was a miner? Specifically about disability? Also do you have any headcanons on the workings of Cybertronian mines?(mining ethics are one of my special interests lol)

I have spent the past hour reading about mining operations and overall functions. And yet I can't even bring myself to be mad about it because it was so interesting. With that said I hope you enjoy this little bit of writing! I really love world building!

Mining Operations on Cybertron

Recruitment

D-16 was picked up and sent to the mines the moment he emerged from the well of allsparks and was unable to provide the guardian his name. There was no welcome package or even any explanation as to what was going on. He was just shoved into a large transport alongside the other unfortunate mechs who came out of the well without names and ferried off.

He arrived at the mines confused and innocent, however that swiftly changed after his recruitment. D-16 was put into a scout group composed of other freshly forged mechs and one to two older mechs used to the job. He spent the first couple years of his life in this group, scouting the surface for possible energon deposits and climbing into treacherous pits to examine them for his "employers". After watching several members of his scouting group die to accidents and natural hazards, he quickly learned that his life was worth next to nothing and that he and his brethren were seen as tools, easy to replace and disposable.

It was during his time as a scout that he learned about the castes and the functioning of Cybertronian society. During one of the few times he was allowed to enter into the city for some purpose or another, he was enlightened to the true difference in lifestyle for those above ground. He saw mechs living on the streets, stealing and scavenging, but at least still able to retain their freedom. He witnessed nobles parading around doing whatever they pleased and indulging in every luxury. And then lastly he saw the average middle caste mechs, working day in and day out just to live a reasonable life but never achieving anything notable for the most part.

He saw the huge gap between the elite, the middle caste, and the low caste bots and he despised it.

Open Pit Mining

After proving himself capable through training several batches of new recruits, D-16 was "promoted" and sent to work with the pit mining crew. His job essentially amounted to digging out the hole in the ground that the more experienced miners would then use to construct a proper mine.

It was dull work. Day in and day out he would swing his pick and use his saw to chip away at the metal of Cybertron's soil and haul it away to be processed. The dusk clogged his vents, making it hard for him to cool off properly. There were several occasions where other less sturdy mechs outright died due to overheating. D-16 very nearly died himself, if it weren't for an older miner taking him out of the sight of their overseers and cleaning his vents for him, he would have perished.

The energon rations were also subpar. The quality of the energon was absolute rubbish and exchanged any form of pleasant taste for nutrient value. Still, as a large mech with rations containing not nearly enough energon for a mech of his size, he consumed his rations as quickly as possible to avoid the very common fights that broke out. More often than not, the larger mecha were given rations meant for bots half their size, often leading them to fight and steal others rations. D-16 abstained from such things, even stepping in at times, but the sight did serve to further cement his distaste of the caste system even further.

Thankfully D-16 was never seriously injured or suffered from any noteworthy energon deficiency during his time as a pit miner. And by Primus is he thankful for it. He saw what happened to mecha who had a health problem that couldn't be fixed with a weld, patch, or small energon transfusion.

As the overseers of the mining operation still had to adhere to some basic laws, a medical team was called in every few weeks to look over the miners and tend to any injuries that were worth being seen to. D-16 quickly came to the conclusion that anything that cost more than a handful of credits to fix was something that medics were ordered to ignore. He could only watch in horror as one of his fellows, an unfortunate mech who had his leg torn straight off in an accident, was left to bleed out.

When he tried to help the dying mech he was pulled away by some of the older miners who hushed him and pointed out other younglings who were attempting the same thing. D-16 was once again left horrified as the mecha attempting to help the suffering miner were beat for their efforts and ordered away. There was nothing D-16 could do as his fellow miner died right before his optics even though there were medics less than a few meters away.

Underground Mining

After yet again proving his worth by working hard and training up the newbies who came from the scouting groups, D-16 was "promoted" once more and joined the ranks of the elder miners. He really wasn't all that old, but often life expectancy within the low castes, especially the mines, is not exemplary. Not only that, but if he thought that being a pit miner was dangerous, then his new station as an underground miner was infinitely more so.

Underground miners died to accidents, cave ins, injury, and any number of others things regularly. Some were even grabbed by creatures in the deep and others straight up vanished after falling into particularly large crevasses. There was no guarantee of survival, not even for miners with centuries of experience.

Thankfully the elder miners were kind and put D-16 on excavation duty until he was accustomed to the darkness and the dangers of the underground. And soon enough he learned what was required of him and joined his elders in mining away.

During his time as an underground miner he was made aware of some of the more intimate customs of his caste. He was taught to listen to the hidden songs of his comrades and swiftly figured out how to add to them. He learned how to snatch small portions of unprocessed energon and how to not get caught with it. And later, one he had lived more than a few years underground, he was invited to join his elders in their small celebrations and story telling sessions.

Through all this he really began to feel like he was part of a family, an odd family, but a family all the same. Hence he started doing what his elders had done for him, teaching the younglings and protecting them until they understood what was required of them. And against the better wishes of his peers, D-16 silently began planning for change.

Processing

Eventually D-16 became trusted enough to be "promoted" to the processing division. A function that was considered a great "honor" among miners due to how reading and writing were a skill taught upon the "promotion" being given. And while innocent enough for other miners, ones complacent with their place in life, for D-16, learning to read and write was a game changer.

During his working hours he would crush the energon crystals collected and send them through the purifier. But when off the clock D-16 watched, listened, and asked questions. He would talk with the dock workers and haulers that came to collect the energon, and through them he gained some contraband reading material. By working hard and winning a few card games against the shuttles that came by occasionally, D-16 was given the tools needed to write. With these two things, D-16 wrote his first set of poems, ones depicting his life as a miner.

Under an alias D-16 started to stir up the masses with his works that slowly stopped being poems and instead turned into controversial essays on the working of Cybertron. It wasn't a grand following by any means, but he was getting the average mecha to begin asking questions. And while he didn't know it at the time, his writing became the foundations of his revolution.

His peers kept his writing habits a secret, but eventually word got out to the overseers and D-16 knew he was done for. He was hauled out of his quarters and had the life beaten out of him. He expected death, but instead the overseers saw his build and had another plan in mind for him.

Before D-16 could even process what had happened to him, he was already on a transport to the Gladiatorial arena.

Extra

Long after his time in the mines, Megatron's vents still ache on occasion due to the constant abuse they suffered during his early years. He also feels phantom chills where old wounds he had carefully hidden from overseers once burned. And on top of that, he regularly finds his joints flaring up in pain from his time doing heavy labor nonstop.

He takes pain suppressors when he it becomes unbearable but his aches and pains are lingering scars from his origins.

[linde-writes]

While obviously a big part of my negativity about the finale is just "aww, my favorite character died", I think the worst part is just how unexpected it was. I'm used to my favorite characters dying or coming to unhappy ends, but not once did it occur to me after season 1 that Izzy's story might conclude with anything worse than him leaving the ship/show to find his own happiness.

Yeah, it's a show about pirates, but that means fuck all about anything other than the setting. I'm not going to recommend Black Sails to someone whose favorite movie is Muppet Treasure Island.

And even black comedies tend to toe the line when it comes to who dies and how it's handled. Another comedy I've gotten into recently is Derry Girls, which takes place in Northern Ireland during the Troubles. It would've been ~realistic~ for any of the main characters to get shot or die in a bomb, right? And yet the only likable character who dies is a minor character who gets an aneurysm, and the episode ends with a funeral and everyone grieving. Even with What We Do In The Shadows, a show where everyone is an unrepentant serial killer, everyone in our main original cast is still alive.

Even when one ignores genre conventions, the first season set a clear standard for how death was handled in this show: it was a thing that happened to animal sidekicks and characters we weren't supposed to like, something so unserious that absolutely everyone expected Lucius to survive his supposed demise.

Ivan's death might have served as forewarning*, but one offhand mention of the death of the least developed/impactful crew member who everyone already knew was going to be written out does not make up for the sheer amount of confirmation in season 2 that yes, this is a show where characters we're emotionally invested in don't die. Our expectation that Lucius survived was rewarded. Ed and Stede both survive cannonballs to the face. Auntie's ship blows up and she just inexplicably shows up later, wounded but alive. They literally turn a character into a seagull to whittle down the cast. Izzy himself manages to get up right after losing his leg and shooting himself in the head.

It's a good example of why one shouldn't break basic audience expectations of genre.

((* and I didn't care for how that was handled either. The non-impact of Ivan's death and Buttons' "death" made it much, much harder to sell that the crew actually cared for each other.))

[total-drama-takes-takes-2]

ttwt episode 1 - part 1

Chris McLean, fresh out of court and looking as spiff and spin as ever, stands on the tarmac of an airport landing strip somewhere in Toronto, Canada. His smile is bright and confident, and his eyes are shimmering with sadistic glee as he giggles to himself. 

“Season three of Total Takes, folks! From sea to shining sea, from forest to plain, from here to Machu Picchu and back, this is Total Takes: World Tour! Seventeen teens you know and love will be competing right here, right now, ALL around the world for another million dollars!"

A large, shiny bus pulls up behind him and the doors slide open with a low hiss. 

“Let’s meet our contestants, shall we?” Chris beams. “Here with us today is Courtney, Scruffy, Ass, Julia, Bonnie…”

The first four teens breeze out of the bus with ease. Courtney waves merrily, while Scruffy gargles something from a Thermos, and Julia and Ass elbow each other when the other gets too close. Bonnie looks less than enthused- even less so than usual. 

“Missing Caesar?” Courtney asks, adjusting the straps on their pack. 

Bonnie shrugs. “A little. Stupid contracts,”

“Staci, Austin, Max, and… Patrick!”

Patrick makes a point to shove Chris a little on his way out. The host scoffs as a crew of makeup and hair assistants rush to fix his flyaways. 

“This season’s gonna be right groovy, isn’t it?” Austin says, wrapping an arm around Staci and beaming. 

Max doesn’t look at him. “Don’t talk to me,”

“And returning favorites, Mal, Kelly, and Frollo!”

The latter slinks out of the bus with his nose buried in his Bible, looking around suspiciously before being barreled out of the way. 

“Watch out below!” Joner and Sha-Mod yell, jumping onto the pavement and trampling Frollo before running off to join the others. 

Julia gives the two an odd, disgruntled look. “I don’t remember seeing you on the carpet,”

“You must’ve mistaken us for each other. We’re wearing matching outfits,” Joner says proudly. 

Julia blinks, then rolls her eyes. 

“Also returning this season- Michela!”

Michela stumbles out of the bus, several bags on her arms. “Was it really necessary I carry all the luggage?”

“Less talky, more carry, She-Hulk!” Ass yells, then chuckles at their own joke. Courtney rolls their eyes. 

“Here, let me help you with that!” a voice from within the bus says. Albert jogs out and takes some of the bags from Michela, who smiles. “Thank you,”

“And without further ado, here’s our brand new cast member- Albert!” Chris beams, then squints. “The guy who got me arrested.”

Albert laughs nervously. “Water under the bridge?”

“Hey, don’t forget about me!” a weak voice from within the bus squeaks. Phillip, dressed eerily similar to Alejandro from the original World Tour, walks out. “Woke media trying to silence me…”

“Oh, yeah. And here’s Phillip,” Chris sighs. The sound of scraping metal pulls everyone’s attention behind them, and a massive, hulking plane rolls up on the tarmac. 

“Great. This is how I die,” Ass crosses their arms. 

“Why don’t you complain a little louder, they can’t hear you in Winnipeg,” Courtney grumbles. 

Mal steps up to Courtney and whispers in their ear. “I know, such a drag, right?”

They jump. “Jesus, where did you come from?”

Frollo appears out of thin air on Courtney’s other side. “Did someone say Jesus?”

Julia, standing next to Scruffy with her hands on her hips, turns to them. “Don’t you have anything to say?”

Scruffy shakes their head and taps their throat. Julia sighs and walks off. 

“Are you sure this is… uh, safe to fly on?” Kelly asks. “No judgment, but…”

“Full judgment, but I don’t think that’s going to be capable of lifting off,” Max cuts in. “Or landing.”

The contestants look between each other nervously. Chris chuckles. “Hey, I’m flying in it too. You guys have nothing to worry about!”

“Fine,” Ass sighs, slinging their pack over their shoulder. “Let’s get this over with.”

---

“As some of you might’ve guessed-” Chris looks at Scruffy. “This season is, in fact, a musical one! However, due to budget restraints and copyright laws and blah blah blah, we only had the moola to recycle the songs from the original TDWT. It’ll be your job to adjust the lyrics accordingly.”

Scruffy jumps up and down and claps their hands. 

---

SCRUFFY: “Ahem. Saving my voice. I’ve been looking forward to this for years! Singing classes since I was ten!”

---

Michela raises an eyebrow. “You can’t honestly expect us to know all that,”

“Oh, but I am,” Chris chuckles. “I’m sure your castmates will give you a hand where they need to. Oh, and- if you don’t sing, you’re automatically eliminated!”

The cast gasps, much to the host’s amusement. “And while you’re here, I might as well explain the perks and the pains. Losing teams will sleep here- in economy. Winners will get first class, though- so you might wanna bring your A-Game,” he grins. “We also have two confessionals, a cargo hold, and a galley- and an elimination hall. Got it? Got it, good.” he says, ignoring the sea of raised hands. 

“This is a nightmare,” Max grumbles, seated next to Michela in the galley. 

The jingling chime of a bell catches everyone’s attention. Scruffy squeals. “It’s song time!”

“That’s right! Whenever you hear the sound of that little bell, it’s musical number time!” Chris grins. “So get to it! We’re taking off!”

Chris disappears behind a large metal door, leaving a host of confused teens behind. Ass rolls their eyes. “Any volunteers?”

Scruffy stands, but before they can get a note in, Courtney rises from their seat in the galley. “Up!”

Kelly joins them. “Up!”

Staci jumps up next, grabbing Kelly’s hand and raising their arms to the ceiling. “Up! Up!”

Sha-Mod and Joner jump in right after. “Sing, sing, sing, sing!”

“We’re flying,” Max grumbles. Austin butts in seconds later. “And singing, baby!”

“We’re flying and we’re singing!” Sha-Mod and Joner pick up, joined by Albert. 

Julia walks across the galley, half-heartedly gesturing around. “Come fly with us,”

Scruffy tries to join in but is barrelled over by Patrick, who sings in a loud, soprano voice. “Come fight with us!”

Bonnie chokes out a half-hearted spoken-word mumble. “I think this stupid plane is about to combust,”

“This is miserable,” Michela sulks. “Come fly with us,”

Mal jumps into frame, shoving her out of the way and beaming. “COME FLY WITH US!”

Frollo holds up a finger. “In the Lord we find salvation, love, and trust,”

Mal and Michela stare at him. 

“This is the best, our noise is so groovy!” Austin shouts, pulling Phillip and Ass into a hug with either arm. 

Ass shoves him off. “You better watch it before I end up in juvie!” 

“Yeah, like guys, isn’t singing kind of gay?” Phillip adds. 

Patrick shakes his fist. “Call me that again and I’ll mess up your face!”

Courtney butts in, pushing the two apart. “Come fly with us! Don’t die with us!”

The plane suddenly lurches to the left, sending everyone flying. Austin flies around the galley like a piece of paper in the wind, shrieking. “Baby, who’s flying this groovy aeroplane!” Bonnie groans and gets up, massaging their temples. “You guys are giving me a migraine!”

“Come fly with us, come sing with us!” Courtney, Kelly, and Staci sing to Ass and Phillip. 

“NO!” the latter two insist. 

Chris ducks out of the cockpit and holds up a thick stack of paper. “Remember, no singing means no winning! Every contestant must SING!”

Courtney elbows Ass’ ribcage. “Let’s hear it! Just one thing!”

Patrick holds up a fist to Phillip again. “You better not cost me a win!”

Phillip sighs. “Well, I don’t want to go home- fine! But for the record, I’m not gay,” he takes a deep breath. “Come fly with us! Come fly with us! Come, and fly, with us!”

Ass palms their forehead and stands. “I hate all of youuuuu!”

Scruffy runs into scene, panting. “Did I miss it? Patrick knocked me out,”

The teens look between each other and Courtney offers them a pat of condolence on their shoulder as they pout. “Aw…”

---

SCRUFFY: “I’m not too worried about getting eliminated- I mean, half the cast of TDWT didn’t sing and they made it out just fine! I’m just bummed I missed the opening number…”

---

“Buckle up, fruitcakes!” Chef’s voice rings over the PA system. “We are now beginning our descent into Mexico.”

The teens ooh and ah as they take their seats, buckling themselves in as the plane begins to descend. 

“Mexico is like, so exotic,” Staci says. “I hope I get to work on my tan- I’ve been doing a lot of indoors-y studying for college.”

“I hope we get to eat,” Michela says. 

The entirety of economy class nods and murmurs in agreement, and then falls silent. Albert fidgets with the zipper on his windbreaker while the hum of the engines gently vibrates the cabin. 

Julia is leaning against the rough metal walls, grumbling to herself while watching Patrick glare at Scruffy. 

---

JULIA: “Things have been pretty awkward with Scruffy lately. I mean, they got worse after Patrick and I… whatever. I figured that things would go back to normal when we broke up but there’s still this wall between us! It’s driving me insane,”

---

Julia sighs and turns to her right, ignoring the scuffle on the other side of her. She watches Albert play with his zipper, squinting. “Hey, I know you,”

He looks up. “Hm?”

“You’re that guy. The investigator person,” Julia crosses her arms and then points. “You got McLean arrested.”

“Oh, yeah. Guess I did,” he says, looking around. 

“I hope you’re taking notes for next time, cause I’d have preferred it if you kept him in jail,” Ass shouts. 

“Hey, that was the court. Blame the legal system, not me,” Albert shrugs. “I did my part.”

“Did you?” 

He seems to shrink into himself, avoiding eye contact. 

---

Albert sits in the confessional for a few moments, tapping the camera and looking confused before he blinks. 

ALBERT: “Wait, this thing is always on? Great. Well,” he sighs. “...I guess all I have to say is that... I did really try. All that research, all that legal evidence- and it all meant nothing!”

---

Julia rolls her eyes and leans back, ignoring Ass tearing into Albert. The blonde crosses her arms as her eyes drift across the cabin before meeting Scruffy’s, and she quickly turns away. 

“T-Minus two minutes to landing!” Chef’s voice bellows over the speakers. “Brace yourselves!”

The teens duck and cover, tightening their seatbelts and covering their heads as the plane shakes and bumps, screeching down the tarmac. 

When it finally comes to a stop and the Seatbelts On sign weakly flickers out, the contestants groan and begin standing. 

“I’m already over this,” Julia sighs, unbuckling herself. 

“Hey, let’s look at the bright side,” Sha-Mod announces merrily. “At least it’ll be warm! That’s something to look forward to!”

“Speak for yourself,” Mal grumbles, slathering on a coat of sunscreen to maintain her sickly complexion. 

The teens line up at the plane door as a staircase is rolled over for their exit. Most are silent, but a few are chatting merrily about the food and the weather. The door finally opens and the teens file out, just to be met with a freezing cold breeze and a cloud of dust from the rough landing. 

“Jesus Christ-” Ass starts, ignoring Frollo’s gasp of offense. “Did you take a wrong turn and land us in the arctic?”

“Great going, Chris! Can’t even find a whole country!” Mal snaps.

Chris walks up, chuckling to himself. “Oh, this is Mexico, alright- welcome to the city of Teotihuacan!” 

As the dust begins to clear, the contestants are met with a massive archaeological wonder of the world, an ancient city spanning around them for as far as their eyes can see. A few ooh and ah. 

“Known for its rich history and ideal real estate- located in this lovely sub-valley- this long-gone capital of archaeological interest is rich with culture, religion, and my personal favorite- pyramids!” Chris chuckles. 

“Okay, that’s very nice, but that doesn’t explain the weather,” Courtney says softly, shivering. 

“Oh, yeah. We maaaaaay have had a part in that,” the host explains, gesturing to the thick, dark clouds overhead. “See, one of the many theories about the collapse of Teotihuacan suggests a volcanic winter might’ve caused some... civil unrest.”

“I’m feeling unrested, alright,” Patrick grumbles. 

“Don’t get ahead of yourself, cowboy,” Chris says. “The worst is yet to come. This region of Mexico is known for its high volcanic activity- and in a tribute to the last season of World Tour, I thought our challenge today would combine the first and last episodes of the Total Drama season.”

Scruffy raises an eyebrow. “So… we’re going to-”

“Your first leg of the challenge will consist of navigating the tunnels under the Pyramid of the Sun, the largest pyramid in Teotihuacan. In our Egypt challenge, we gave contestants the choice of going over or under, but we’re not technically allowed to let you climb the ruins,” Chris shrugs. “So under it is. In the tunnel system below the pyramid, you’ll discover a handful of obsidian objects that you might’ve found in the city some thousands of years ago. Once you’re out, I’ll be waiting to give you instructions for your next task. Ready?”

The teens look between each other nervously. 

“Go!”

They set off, almost immediately fracturing off into groups. Courtney and Bonnie lead, followed by Sha-Mod and Joner, followed by Michela and Max. Albert catches up to the latter two, wheezing. “Mind if I join?”

Michela shrugs, much to Max’s annoyance. 

---

MAX: “There’s something off about that guy. I don’t trust him,”

---

MICHELA: “Everyone’s been giving Albert a hard time lately, and he seems sweet… what’s the harm in helping him out?”

---

Julia runs behind the three, raising an eyebrow at the odd interaction, but she quickly shrugs it off and speeds up. As the blonde ducks into the tunnels leading under the pyramid, a familiar head of green hair pops out of nowhere. “Hey, Jules!”

Julia coughs awkwardly. “Oh, um- hi. Can I help you?”

“Not really- but I can help you. I’ve been studying pyramid architecture just in case something like this would happen. Wanna team?” Scruffy asks. “I’ll get you some good obsidian!”

She relaxes a little and smiles. “Yeah, sure. That’d be cool with me,”

---

JULIA: “Okay, maybe I’ve been overthinking things a little. Scruffy doesn’t seem mad… unless it’s some kind of trick. But they wouldn’t do that to me… would they?”

---

Austin skips and frolics through the tunnels, just ahead of Patrick, who’s trying not to snap as Frollo goes on about unholy pagan religion. Behind them, Kelly and Staci walk casually through tunnels, chatting merrily. 

“I don’t know, I mean, she’s cute and all but I’m not sure if I want to risk my scholarship chasing some girl,” Staci says, twirling a strand of hair around their finger. “What if I get distracted?”

“If anyone can find a good balance, it’s you,” Kelly comments reassuringly, patting Staci’s shoulder. “Who knows- maybe she’ll motivate you!”

Staci nods. “That’s a totally fair point. Next time I find a phone on this show, I’ll call,”

Kelly beams and then looks aside with a cautious expression as Staci chats on. 

---

KELLY: “I’m happy for them, I really am, but sometimes… I just wish I had something to myself, too,”

---

“God, it’s dark in here,” Julia says, only her eyes visible in the darkest stretch of the tunnels. “You know where we are, right, Scruffy?” no response. “...Scruffy?”

Julia continues walking forward before colliding with someone else and sending them both tumbling to the ground. She huffs. “Watch it!”

“Sorry, it’s hard to see,” Courtney’s voice rings out through the darkness. “Julia? Is that you?”

“In the flesh,” she grumbles. 

“Have you seen Bonnie? We got mixed up and I lost them,”

“I haven’t seen anyone since Scruffy and I got split up,”

“I’m here too!” a voice rings out. Courtney and Julia both scream as Mal appears out of nowhere, the light from her phone illuminating her face in the darkness. “And look what I found.”

She holds up an obsidian blade and laughs maniacally. Courtney and Julia look at each other nervously, prompting Mal to roll her eyes. “Oh, quit being such babies. I’m not going to hurt you,” she pauses to smile. “Yet.”

---

“Courtney! Courtney?” Bonnie yells into the tunnels, their own echo bouncing back. 

As they sigh and sit on the ground, taking a breather, they notice a figure across the hall and jump with a start. “Jesus, Max, you scared the crap out of me,”

“Lost?” he asks plainly. Bonnie nods. “Where’s Michela?”

“With that guy, I’m assuming,” he says sharply. Bonnie raises an eyebrow but doesn’t push- not that they have time to, because seconds later Scruffy comes running down the hall, shouting Julia’s name. Without looking, they trip on Bonnie’s outstretched leg and fall face-first into the dirt and dust layering the floor. 

“Hey, Scruff,” Bonnie says as they sit up and brush themselves off. “Lost?”

“No, I know exactly where we are- but Julia wandered off while I was getting this,” they say, holding up a shiny obsidian necklace. “I figured it might get us an advantage in the next part of the challenge.”

“Sure. Well, I haven’t seen anyone but Max for an hour at this point,” 

“What about me?”

Max shrieks as a voice comes from the dirt beside him. Phillip rises, a layer of grime falling from his body. “I was trying to bury myself. I figured this challenge was hopeless since no one wanted to team with me…”

“Oh, brother,” Bonnie mumbles under their breath. 

---

“I’m sure he’ll turn up,” Albert thinks aloud, walking the tunnels with a sulking Michela at his side. “He’s probably already waiting outside.”

“Yeah, you’re right. I still feel weird leaving him, though,”

“Leaving who?” Patrick asks, emerging from the darkness with Sha-Mod and Frollo behind him. 

“Um… you’ve got a tail,” Albert points at the two. Patrick rolls his eyes. 

“Yes. I can’t seem to shake them off,” he sighs. “This one lost his buddy and the other one thinks this place is cursed.”

“Unholy ground,” Frollo mutters. “Unclean… foul.”

“You see what I have to deal with?”

A sudden, loud whooping noise coming from behind the group echoes against the walls, getting closer by the second. Frollo goes pale. “Witches!” he screams, and then runs past Patrick, straight into a wall. 

The impact makes the tunnel tremor a bit, sending bits of dirt and dust from the ceiling- along with an obsidian figurine depicting a serpent. It unlodges itself from the roof and falls on Patrick’s head with a large thump. He mumbles nonsense and passes out on the ground. 

“Well,” Michela picks up the artifact. “It’s something, right?”

The whooping noise comes closer before bursting into their section of the hall- but it’s only Austin, running past them into the dark. “I can smell the way out, baby!”

Sha-Mod and Albert make brief eye contact, and then shrug, the gang following him out and leaving Patrick unconscious on the floor for a few moments before Michela runs back to grab him. 

---

Chris sits outside the pyramid, sipping from a Thermos and enjoying the volcanic weather. 

“It’s your fault, not mine!” a voice shouts. 

Chris perks up. “And here come the first contestants,”

Julia, Courtney, and Mal walk out of the tunnels, bickering, with Ass shortly behind. A very meek and slightly terrified Joner scampers out after them, hanging at the back of the group. 

“Ladies- and others,” Chris nods. “Find me anything good?”

Mal holds up her blade with a big grin. 

“Niiiiice,” the host grins, rubbing his chin. “As the first group out of the tunnels, you are officially team number one- oh, and here come team number two!”

Bonnie, Max, Scruffy, and Phillip emerge from the tunnels, coated in dust and debris. Kelly and Staci trail behind them, still chatting. 

Scruffy immediately lights up when they see Julia, and dashes over to her. “I’m so glad you made it out! Here- I found this for you,” they say, holding up the necklace they found. 

“Sickening,” Ass mumbles. Courtney stomps on their foot and they yelp. 

“Nice find, Scruffy,” Chris comments. “One more team to go!”

After a long, drawn out period of waiting, the final team- lead by Austin- come running out, panting. Patrick is currently conscious, but has a large bump on his head and is sucking his thumb while Michela carries him like a baby (much to her annoyance). 

“Michela, Albert, Patrick, Austin, Sha-Mod, and Frollo-” Chris counts. “You’re team number three!”

Michela drops Patrick in the dirt the second she sees Max, and runs over to him. “I’m glad you got out okay, I couldn’t have lived with myself if I knew you were still down there,”

He raises an eyebrow. “You would’ve gone back?”

“Of course!”

Max thinks for a moment, and then smiles. Chris clears his throat. “Okay, enough of that. It’s time to choose your team names! This season, whoever found your obsidian artifact will be naming the team- so that means Mal, Scruffy, and… whoever.” he chuckles. 

“Michela picked up the artifact, so she should get to choose the team name. It’s only fair,” Albert posits. 

“But Frollo hit the wall, which dislodged it,” Sha-Mod rubs his chin, thinking aloud. 

“Hello! Are we forgetting that thing nearly gave me a concussion!” Patrick shouts from the ground. He is ignored. 

“But it was Austin who made Frollo run into the wall, so…” Michela says. “Austin?”

The five of them turn to Austin, who’s busy practicing karate moves on the dirt a few feet away. When he notices everyone staring, he shrugs. “Easy one, baby. Team Mojo!”

---

AUSTIN: "No, I don't need the money, baby- but a free two-star trip around the world? Parties and birds in the four corners of the globe? Sign me up, baby!"

---

The five sigh. “I don’t know what else I was expecting,” Michela murmurs. 

A few feet away, Ass and Julia watch the discussion, the former shaking their head before turning back to Mal. “You better choose something good,”

“I still think it should be Team Amazon, as a callback,” Courtney says, raising a finger and looking at Joner. “I mean, we have a very similar demographic.”

“Nuh-uh,” Mal puts her hands on her hips. “I already chose the name. Team Yaoi!”

The other teammates groan and give pained expressions to each other. Ass palms their forehead.

“Okay, so after a democratic vote, we’ll have our answer,” Scruffy says. “All in favor of Phillip’s submission?”

Phillip crosses his arms. “You have to say the full thing,”

“Okay, fine- all in favor of The Bleeding Hearts Against Social Justice Warriors?”

Phillip enthusiastically raises a hand, earning blank stares from everyone else. When he realizes his hand is alone, he sighs and starts digging another hole to bury himself in. 

“All in favor of Max’s submission- Team... uh, Psychological Torture?”

Not even Max raises his hand. Scruffy sighs. “Okay, Bonnie’s- Team I Want to go Home?”

Bonnie picks at their nails. 

“Okay, Staci’s- all in favor of Team Friendship?”

Staci and Kelly enthusiastically wave their hands and squeal, sweeping the majority vote. Scruffy bangs an invisible gavel and grins. “Team Friendship it is!”

Max turns to Bonnie. “We probably should’ve had a plan to prevent this,”

“Tell me about it,” they sigh. 

“Alright, campers! Team Yaoi, Team Mojo, and Team Friendship!” Chris says, barely holding back a laugh. “Now that you’ve been paired up, it’s time for your penultimate challenge- that’s right, we’re going hiking- on an active volcano!”

The teens gasp as Chris chuckles to himself. “Unlike the original World Tour, you aren’t getting any advantages- your only goal is to not be the schmucks to get last place. All will be explained- NEXT TIME! On Total Takes: World Tour!”

[londonspirit]

Spoilers follow for the season finale of Our Flag Means Death.

After starting the season with its lovable cast split in two, Our Flag Means Death concluded its second season with the entire crew of the Revenge sailing off together into the literal sunset—well, almost the entire crew. With Rhys Darby’s Stede and Taika Waititi’s Blackbeard staying behind on land to make a go at being innkeepers, they’ve found their happy ending, which could be where the story of Our Flag Means Death finishes for good.

But according to series creator David Jenkins, there’s still more story to tell, and the fans rallying behind a third season may just help make that dream come true. After witnessing the filming of the season finale on the show’s New Zealand set—including Black Pete (Matthew Maher) and Lucius’s (Nathan Foad) emotional knife-swapping wedding—we caught up with Jenkins to discuss the most emotional moments of the finale, the dramatic action sequences, and what might come next.

Vanity Fair: What did you hope to achieve with the ending of season two?

David Jenkins: It’s bittersweet. There’s death and there’s the rebirth of Stede and Blackbeard’s relationship; there’s a funeral, there’s a wedding, and the idea that this family is going to keep fighting even as they lose members. And then it’s about belonging to something. It’s not just a bunch of people who are desperately stealing from each other and killing each other. There’s a way of life that they’re fighting for.

You’ve talked in the past about a season three. Fans are already circulating petitions, hoping there will be a third season. Will we get to see these pirates again?

There’s always a chance, if viewership is good. I think we all need to figure out what era of television we’re going to be in when we come back and who can afford what. I like our odds. It’s a cool show. We have a really good following. We have a passionate fan base. Max has been great in terms of publicizing us. I’d love to do another season of the show. I’m sure they’d love to have a reason to do it again. You can feel like it’s special making it. It would be nice to be able to get everybody together again for one last shot at it.

So despite the happy endings in the finale, you’ve left things open for a third season.

A lot of times, with this narrative of characters, same-sex relationships end on a dour, downbeat note, where one of them dies and it’s unrequited or it’s unrealized; something horrible happens and they’re punished in a way. So it was important to leave it open and a lot more show to go, but also leave it in a place where it’s happy. The end of the first season isn’t a happy ending. It’s kind of happy. Stede learns what love is and that’s happy. But I think it was important to be like, Okay, these boys did their work this season. They get to have a little happiness at the end of it.

I visited the set when you were filming one of the final episodes. Izzy (Con O’Neill) had been killed off, and he couldn’t talk too much about that. But now: Why did Izzy have to die?

There’s a trope that I like with mentor stories, where the mentor dies in the second act. Our protagonist outlives the mentor and then they have to go on. We felt like Izzy’s story had reached its conclusion, where we put him through enough. And then there was the realization that he is kind of a mentor to Blackbeard and that he is kind of a father figure to Blackbeard. It felt nice to have him die and have Blackbeard be upset by it, because Blackbeard killed his father. But this is a father figure that he’s losing that it’s hard for him; it's sad and he doesn't want him to go. Izzy has such a beautiful arc in season two; he does a lot of the things, has a lot of the breakthroughs that you want that character to have. It felt like: It’s time to give him a full meal. And it’s also a pirate show, so he’s got to die.

How would you describe the filming of season two?

It was good work, but it was hard, hard work. It’s a big show; it’s basically a one-hour show that we’re doing on a half-hour budget. So everybody has to work triple time keeping up with it. There were tactical challenges in season two. Now we’ve got two ships and two crews, and we had the unique challenge of filming the mermaid scene in a tank, and a storm in one episode. I love the fourth episode, and Buttons turning into a bird, and Izzy losing a leg. Blackbeard is saying: “I want to turn into a bird.’’ He’s kind of saying, I need to change. The idea that if you want to have something with this guy (Stede), you’ve got to change. And that seems to me to be the key to the season.

As a New Zealander, I loved seeing the scenery on the big screen—the lush bush, big, windswept beaches, and wild, expansive landscapes. How were you able to use the setting in season two in New Zealand?

It was jaw-dropping. In New Zealand, you go out the west side of Auckland, and it’s like the most beautiful beach you’ve ever seen. You go to Bethells Beach, and you can turn the camera here; you can shoot the entire thing. You’d shoot it a little bit this way, you’ve got, like, a Bergman movie. You go to the ocean, you’ve got From Here to Eternity. The freedom that you have and the beauty, I’ve never experienced anything like that before.

The battle scenes seemed to be far more elaborate and really felt like the show was leveling up. What went into filming those?

Jacob Tomuri, our stunt coordinator, is exceptional. He did Mad Max; he’s Tom Hardy’s stunt double, and he’s just so capable and good. And so a lot of it this season was that we have a short time frame, we move very quickly, and, again, we have a half-hour budget. We don’t have a one-hour budget, and we don’t have a one-hour shooting schedule. So a lot of it was just picking our shots and saying, Okay, we’re going to do a battle sequence. Let’s storyboard it. Let’s make sure that we know what the stunts are going to be, and let’s make sure that the location is spectacular. So we shoot it on that sandbar behind Bethells Beach, and it was like a dune which went on forever…. A lot of it is just seeing what New Zealand has to offer geographically. And then deciding, yes, let’s do that, and then building it around that, and then making sure that we’ve planned enough, that we can pull it off in a way that’s safe but also has enough size.

What was the idea behind having Stede as a merman in episode 3?

The idea was to make something that was just beautiful, and to get beauty and have beauty around them seeing each other again and their need for each other. To do that and to do it in a way that it’s a comedy, but to do it in a way that’s earnest and genuinely doing it and singing a Kate Bush song. We hit on the idea of a mermaid early on in the season two room, and [we said], Oh yeah, well, we have to put that in. There can’t really be mermaids on the show, but there can be in limbo, kind of purgatory, brain-damaged land as Blackbeard’s dying.

I particularly loved Zheng Yi Sao and the new female characters. I know that she’s based on a real-life pirate. Tell us a bit about the character of Zheng and how she came about.

Zheng Yi Sao is the most successful pirate in history. And we never knew anything about her in the West. She was so talented and so good at what she did that the Chinese government had to broker a treaty with her. She was about 100 years apart from Blackbeard and Stede. So we’re making that up, that she’s in this world and that she’s in the West. But it just seems like there should be so many stories. What she did was amazing. Her crew was largely female and largely women that have been discarded by society.

She was doing a social movement on top of robbing shit and doing everything that pirates do. Her reasons for doing it are more impressive and perhaps can be read a little bit more as altruism than somebody like Blackbeard, who is not a good guy. Or Stede, who’s probably not the best guy. And it just felt fun. It’s like, Well, who’s a cool third captain that we can put into this season that would give Blackbeard and Stede a run for their money?

As a female heterosexual viewer, I particularly loved that storyline. Were you wanting to reach a broader audience?

The first season is a lot of dudes. And so it’s nice to think, Okay, who else can we add into the stew? I started thinking about her while we were shooting season one. And it looked like perhaps we could get a season two, and she seemed like the most formidable person to add.

How do you feel about the attention from the fans?

I love it. I can’t possibly hope for this to happen again on another project. I hope I make things that people like and they want to engage with. But I would say the thing that separates this fandom is the level of positivity, like almost uniform positivity that just makes it nice to be able to engage with. And I think that’s rare. They’re so kind and interesting and talented, and so why wouldn’t you want to engage with that? It’s an honor.

Do you think of Our Flag Means Death as primarily a queer romance?  For this show, it’s important to me just to write a really bold-bodied romantic show that happens to be between two characters of the same sex. I think that the story beats don’t matter, because if you’ve been in love and you’ve been hurt and you met someone you love—hopefully we all know what those feelings are. And then in terms of listening to the room and having a room that’s on a spectrum of queerness and has nonbinary writers, if it's working for everyone in the room, the story’s working. And if it’s bumping for anybody, then you go in and retool: Hey, what should we do here to make sure that we’re getting all of it right and we’re not just assuming that?

Because on some level, love is love. And on another level, I get to see myself in a rom-com all the time. Someone who’s nonbinary and someone who’s queer doesn’t get to see themselves in a mainstream rom-com pirate thing almost ever.

Are there any other characters you want to talk about in terms of their development in season two, that you feel are relevant to the script?

Izzy’s the big one of the season. Just to give him a whole meal and see that character go from a villain into somebody, really, that you can identify with and care about. And Con O’Neill did such beautiful work. I love him as an actor. His character is a joy to write. And maybe it’s masochism, but I do feel like the character that’s a joy to write often dies.

How about Blackbeard and his arc?

He’s a damaged guy. He learns to love and he almost dies. And he comes back. He kind of goes through rehab. He has to wear a bell on his neck like a cat. No one trusts him. He’s like in Superman 2, where Christopher Reeve loses his powers, and he’s immortal. What happens if Blackbeard loses his powers and his outfit but still has to be in a pirate world? Who is that guy? The first season is about Stede Bonnet’s midlife crisis, and the second season is about Blackbeard’s midlife crisis. And then when they both have their midlife crises, they can open a B&B together. The chemistry between Rhys and Taika, and that friendship of 20 years, is key to the season.

How would you describe Blackbeard and Stede’s relationship in season two?

I don’t think Stede and Blackbeard are ready to be married. They’re emotionally saying: “Let’s give this a go.’’ Black Pete and Lucius are a little further along, and I think a little more mature. And yeah, it was also nice to see a formal union, I think, and between those characters. I love that relationship, and I love Matt Maher and Nathan Foad together; they have such a wonderful chemistry. It’s nice to see that couple kind of come to the fore in terms of maturity, that they are in fact a little more mature than Stede and Blackbeard.

A left field question: What level of research have you done on gay relationships on pirate ships? How common was queer romance among pirates?

Pirating has been so whitewashed and straightwashed, and it’s guys on boats confined to small spaces, and they’re also people that didn’t fit into normal culture. And so I do think there’s a history of same-sex romance at sea because it’s people who don’t fit in on land.

To not talk about that in a pirate story is to not really tell a pirate story. They’re criminals and did some really terrible things, but also, like, they were counterculture, and there was a reason they’re on those boats beyond the fact of being poor. I have to believe that in a society that has a term for marriage between crew members, same-sex romance was common.

The season’s third episode is called “The Innkeeper,” which fans definitely took as a hint toward a potential fate. How did you seed that outcome for Stede and Blackbeard through the season? And did you want fans to see it coming in a way?

I don’t know that you could really see it coming. We like the idea of Blackbeard pining for something. Beyond lighting ships on fire and shooting people, he’s longing for a normal life. We knew where we were going with that, and we knew that they would eventually end up perhaps opening an inn.

Back to the whole community around OFMD: Did you feel an enhanced level of responsibility, because people are feeling so seen by the show and have an affection for the show, when you were creating season two?

As opposed to responsibility, it feels more like relief—that people feel seen and they feel good about it and they liked what we did. And so it feels like, Okay, somebody’s out there and wants the show. The makeup of the writers room looks a lot like the makeup of the fan base. So as long as we’re true to our stories in the writers room, I think we just feel excited that there’s somebody waiting on the other end to enjoy it.

[orionsangel86]

Welp. Okay I watched the last episode of ofmd.

To sum up my thoughts on this season I will say that whilst I enjoyed it and felt the love and passion and respect for its queer fanbase throughout, it didnt hit me the same way the first season did. It felt like maybe a little bit of that season 1 magic was missing and for that I very much blame Max's cutting off 2 episodes and slashing the budget. They had a lot of story they wanted to tell that would have worked so much better in 10 episodes.

I consider the last 3 episodes of season 1 some of the best TV I have seen in my life. From the use of The Chain in ep 8, through the dramatic highs and lows of eps 9 and 10 it was edge-of-your-seat drama and I was in awe at the creators that put it together. But one of the reasons why those 3 eps were so good is because the drama and the pivotal moments were given time to breath.

If those 3 eps were given the same lack of time and budget as season 2, no doubt they all would have been crammed into 1 episode and it would not have had the same impact.

If anything that last episode should have played out across two, with Izzy's death being the half way point and cliffhanger ending leading to a final battle and somewhat happy resolution.

I'm not mad at Izzy's death. If anyone was gonna die, it was gonna be him. His status as Blackbeards enabler and sometimes mentor is over. For Ed to truly be free, I think Izzy always had to go. From a storytelling perspective it makes perfect sense, even though I am sure a lot of fans are absolutely heartbroken about it.

Another casualty of the reduced screentime meant certain original cast members weren't given anywhere near the amount of screentime they should have had. I was expecting a lot more focus on Jim as they were basically the third lead of s1 due to them getting the same backstory as Ed and Stede. All of the crew appear to have had drastically reduced parts which does feel like a big loss to me.

Its funny actually, OFMD S2 suffered from the opposite problem to GOS2. OFMD had too much story to tell in a limited timeframe, GOS2 had very little story to tell outside of the flashbacks and probably too much time given to it. Both shows season 2s suffered from tremendously bad pacing issues.

Also, the one thing the final episode made so obvious to me, is the uncertainty of getting a s3 renewal. It is so clear in the way they tried to wrap things up in a happy bow as best they could, so that if they do get cancelled it leaves fans at least somewhat satisfied. I hate this though. I hate that studios are so fickle and ruthless that creators have to gamble with good quality writing and avoid cliffhangers because of asshole executives who dont actually care about the stories.

Because of the fast pacing, and the fear of cancellation, it felt more like a rush happy ending instead of a part way point in a bigger story, with important character development still to come. Perhaps I need more time to absorb the story in a full rewatch, but im not exactly itching for more at this point, whilst also not really being satisfied with what I got either. I wish we had left Ed and Stede in at least some minor peril, like have them captured and threatened with hanging but at least in a good place romantically, so that we can start speculating about what kind of escape plan they will come up with in season 3. Leaving them in a dilapidated old inn somewhere just felt wrong to me. Instead of ending the season with the stakes sky high (like season 1) it feels like they left season 2 with zero stakes at all, instead of at least a happy medium. At this point we should be turning to fanfiction and wondering what happens next, but instead I'm left thinking "okay then. That was good. What can I watch next?" I don't need to bury myself in fanfic and fanart to feed the hyperfixation this time around, and that is where I feel the most loss.

I'm sure others will have hugely different reactions to me though. Perhaps my expectations were too high? Perhaps my GO obsession just isn't leaving room for OFMD this time? But then again, I think if GOS2 hadn't ended the way it did, I wouldn't still be so obsessed with that either.

Sigh. I dunno. It was a good fun show and will no doubt still be hugely popular with devoted fans, but for me I just can't say it cast the same spell over me as it did last year.

[generationlosscorkboard]

So! Matpat has finally rejoined us!

Welcome back to the theorist crew, Matty. We've been busy in your absence.

Now the council will decide whether your theories are truly what we've been waiting for. ('The council' being, well, uh, just me, I guess.)

(At the time of writing this, Ranboo has not reacted to this video. If at any point he does, I will follow up on this post.)

If you have not already seen it, here's the link to his video:

Anyways.

(long post you know the drill)

The first section the video is Matt just recapping his past theory, about the two factions which he has now labelled as being Showfall and Generation Loss. These two factions have been fighting over who gets to say what in the media we're shown, with the Gen Loss crew overwriting Showfall's content with cutaways, red writing (origin of my Red Writing tag), and other such edits.

Note: I can understand Matpat's reasoning for calling that group Showfall. I wouldn't, I'd probably associate these guys with who I've been calling GIC's, but for the sake of clarity and consistency, I will be using Matpat's naming conventions. If I need to make a distinction between Matpat's names and Showfall the company or Generation Loss the show, the latter two will be highlighted in red and/or otherwise clarified.

Matpat states that he's done exactly what we've been tasked to do, and found The Founder. I will admit that I was very interested and dubious in this, given we have barely touched on that here. The most we have is that the Video taper showcased at the end could potentially be our guy, but that hasn't been set in stone as The Theory.

Matpat goes back to discussing the videos, specifically going back to T_2: The Inauguration, which he clarifies is about inaugurating us, the viewer, into the Generation Loss group.

Here's a link to a previous post about this particular video by @ozzybutweirdthistime

OP of that post had interpreted it as a way for picking out the cast members for Showfall, whereas Matt has taken it as being a sort of recruitment for Generation Loss. I find this difference of opinion so entertaining, because in that case, both parties what you willing to kill another human being for the cause. Sounds about right! As for which one I think is true, well.... I kinda side more with Mat Pat on this one. The video, for one, is a Gen Zero video and Showfall (the company, not the GIC's) isn't part of this generation according to Ranboo (last I checked).

Still, it could apply to either group, and I really like that ambiguity.

The next thing Matpat discusses is The Social Experiments, giving a quick recap on what it was, that Hetch was supposedly helping him only to turn out to be Showfall, that we killed Ranboo live, (live). Only he thinks Ranboo didn't die, and that Ranboo is actually The Founder.

His reasoning and evidence for this is the following:

Ranboo, whilst trusting Hetch, didn't take Hetch's advice to do as the audience says, rather picking the wrong code so the alarm would be activated and the show could continue how Showfall planned it.

Ranboo purposely doesn't take the first exit sign post button push, rather he heads for Hetch door.

We were asked to kill the Founder, and who did we vote to kill in the end? RANBOO!

Ranboo purposely picked the wrong exit in the Closet, leading to Ethan's death.

Ranboo knows that Sneeg has been there for Six years, and accidentally slips this when they free him.

The Puzzler is scared of Ranboo and was scared that he killed Ranboo too early, which wasn't what was meant to happen, and he apologized for that. Also, the line "Well that's for you to know and me to find out".

Ranboo wants the audience to kill him, in a mix of " hey look at me I'm so christ-like!" and dying for your sins/getting us to do what we need to do to survive.

The Cutaways require Ranboo to be alive post-production in order for them to happen.

Ranboo is reorganising the footage for release as the founder's cut, making it sadder (MANIPULATION), and to change and add certain details to make it better (REWRITING THE TRUTH/CANON). also Ranboo may quietly delete the original VODs so they no longer can speak their truth (GASLIGHTING)

Now. Here's why I disagree with Matpat on this.

The reason Ranboo didn't take Hetch's advice was not because they wanted the show to go on and knew that "theorists" would hinder that by choosing the correct option. Rather, he didn't want to take advice from a faceless audience who have been the one's controlling his life for a long as he remembers. He isn't even aware that the audience is actively trying to save him the best they can, he just thinks they want him for entertainment. Hence, he makes the decision for himself with a 75% chance of failure and ends up setting off the alarm.

As for why Ranboo ignored the first exit sign, my own mask theory gives the reason for this: Ranboo was almost always being controlled or at the very least, having their perception altered so that the story would go as it was supposed to.

We've killed and/or seen the deaths of seven people over the course of this series (some even twice, or three times over!), and sure, Ranboo's death was a very big focal point, I don't think that meant they were the FOUNDER. if he was, I'm pretty sure that would of meant Gen Loss was over, done, we did the thing we were supposed to do and now can go on with our lives. But no, the show goes on. Ranboo was just the focal point of this particular story. (it's been mentioned by Hetch that this cast selection normally happens off-camera, but because of the novelty of this version, their gets to be live)

Ranboo picking the wrong door. Simple, he was being mind controlled then, which we know because of the lights and also the NPC voice going on then. I find it really interesting that Matt hasn't once mentioned the mind control aspects of the show, in any form it came up as. During those moments, yes they were continuing the story in a story way, but not because they were the one in control.

The Sneeg thing- I'm like 90% sure this was just Ranboo improv-ing, plus he said it in a questioning tone and followed it up with "I don't- I don't know..?" Idk, it sounds just a little to me that he doesn't know.

Now for the Puzzler. Dude's just incompetent at being a Saw guy, man. He did actually kill Ranboo in that moment, according to Ranboo (source: Going through my favourite bits!), so the "nearly killed his boss" is a bit of a iffy thing (even if the filter doesn't let him realise that he did actually kill Ranboo). he's just genuinely sorry about it as is. (again, he's just a goofy guy, who is heavily filtered like everyone else). Although I will admit that the "that's for you to know" line is definitely something. Personally, I'd like to think it was Showfall speaking through the Puzzler to the audience, without the puzzler realising the deeper meanings.

The reasoning for Ranboo dying. Matpat calls it as Ranboo making himself out to be Jesus like (and while, yeah CC Ranboo is basically doing that cause hell yeah), I think of it as Showfall showing off how in control they are, mimicking religious imagery (almost mockingly) and their apparent control over life and death. How God-like they are. So, we have similar ideas around this particular one, only we just differ on the one sending the message.

Matpat then compare's The Social Experiments to those of Stanley Milgram (who, coincidentally, A friend told me about the day this video was uploaded). And I agree! There are definitely a lot of similarities. The subjects are forced into a situation by an authority figure (the experimenter) of deciding the fate of another subject, to the point of inflicting pain that could cause death (only for the pain to be fake, and the whole situation fabricated).

Matpat and I agree, that Ranboo's death was faked. Well, sorta. But for veryyyy different reasons. Matt says it's because he's the Founder and needs to stay alive, while I say it's because Showfall like to reuse everything, so why waste a perfectly good body? (Clarification: Ranboo the person is dead. But their body is reused, either like Frank or as one of the Employees.)

With the cutaways? I think they were filmed before. Ranboo is completely under their control, so it's easy enough to make pre-prepared cutaways and then make their actors do certain things that make the cutaway make sense/relate to the show. especially with how meticulously planned this particular show is. Especially since this show is completely Live apart from the obviously cinematic stuff, but again, pre-recorded (either in-universe or because of IRL health and safety laws requiring that actors don't actually get smashed by anvils).

His whole founder's Cut idea is certainly something. However, the main reason for the founder's cut is to remove a lot of the livestream-y stuff, add in some of the things that got missed out the first time around because it just got skipped over in the live performance, and just tweaking a few things here and there so that we get the experience of Gen Loss we were always supposed to get. (yeah yeah it's rewriting the current Canon but not in THAT WAY). I actually have a couple of friends waiting on the founder's cut release purely because I suggested they do due to just how long and sometimes a little stuck in places the og is (as much as the first episode was great, they were in the kitchen for a LONG time, hell even the YouTube VOD skips out the Create a Creature bit). Also i would like to see Ranboo even TRY gaslighting us. Have you SEEN the amount of edits, scene packs, small detail discussions (my own Masterpost of small details for one.)

Final Notes

Now I don't know why Matpat didn't mention the whole mind control aspect, or why he wasn't apparently aware of certain details that Ranboo himself has confirmed, but honestly, even I'm not caught up on everything going on. I've got a private playlist on YouTube called "gen loss to watch" and wow I have not watched half of those. I also have the benefit of being focused on Gen loss, and not managing four channels each with a wide range of things to cover. That and the fact I'm constantly in the loop with all of you, and seeing what you all think.

AHFG anyways. No theory is a bad theory, and it was really nice to hear Matpat's thoughts on this, no matter how differing. Don't spread hate to him, and don't interpret this post as me hating on him. We're all just trying to solve this thing, and by god are we going to do it.

But hey. It's just a theory. A GAM- wait.

[fruit-salad-ship]

For Pirate AU, the realization Peach has that now she has another immortal friend. Maybe she hasn’t quite come to grips with her romantic feelings for Plum yet, but she still has a new companion for the ages to come. On the flip side, Plum coming to the realization that she’s going to outlive almost everyone she’s ever known. Grey, her crew, any family she may be on good terms with…. And peach comforting her by saying she’ll stay by her side through the years to come, if Plum wants her to

See, theres a moment here that doesnt line up, in that Plum will realise she will live forever, and contemplate that for a couple months quietly to herself, seems to spend more time with everyone, try to connect to them all while she still can, spending time on each member of the crew so that they feel seen and loved. This is after all her family, and those related to her by blood were far from ideal, and ignored her wants and needs, so she's made this new safe group of people who all love each other, a ride or die group. But even now, she wonders what her actual relatives would think, would she miss them one day, would she regret not trying to communicate with them? She does not know. Grey sees her drift away a little more, asks whats wrong and she just seems preoccupied with thoughts of her old home. They were traditional people who wanted her to marry, be a stay at home wife, bare children, do all the painfully ordinary things she just didnt want, and scorned her when she ran away for adventure and exploration. She writes them letters but never recieves any in return, assuming they have cast her out permanently. Grey is...as consoling as he could be, he lost his family a while back and never had good relations with them either, but understands that quiet wandering, the 'what if'.

Eventually Plum and Peach have a moment alone, and it comes to the attention of the second in command that the captains sad, or...just preoccupied with thoughts of forever.

Peach feels fear stir, putting her hand on the womans shoulder beside her.

"Plum, you are NOT immortal." Peach knows this first hand, through monumental, devestating loss. "You still have to be careful, you will live for a long time, potentially forever if youre careful, but you could be killed by any solid hit to a vital point. It may take more to do it, but you still have vulnerabilities." And that fear becomes more powerful, she'd lost one Levithian, she was not prepared to lose another. "If trouble starts you run, you'll be the biggest target on deck looking like that, we can handle things without you being at the front, i'll keep the crew safe." A notion the captain refused to accept.

"I wont leave my family here, or you, not if fights start, we work as one. You can't stop me." She was right, as the leader of this ship, as a now powerful sea monster, she was free to make any choices she wanted and not a lot could stop her. Plum sees a normally calm woman beside her rub her head with a stressed expression, the sigh as she watched, planned her next scentence carefully.

"Well." Her tired eyes sat on the Levithian for one more moment, for a brief second she truly eminated the stubborness of her wife. "At least you've got some company for the long ride. If you want it." Peach looks away, back to the horizon, gulls on the wind as land sat close enough to see small specs, humans living their lives in the port there.

The little head leant on the immortals shoulder was a little surprising, a tentacle finding its way to her shoulder to pull her closer.

"I'd like that."

They sat, said nothing, a strange settling company knowing neither had to walk alone for a while, if they were careful. Peach hoped to whatever unkind, unfair god that may be out there, that they could just be careful.