#I am a simple woman. I see a meta that I like and I let it grow inside my mind like a bacteria culture

[the-hilda-librarians-wife]

Gosh I hope Frida's new design means we'll get to see her having a Kaisa parallel arc. I hope we see her building her magic and her confidence like they're one and the same. I hope whatever happened to Kaisa to make her so repressed and insecure, happens to Frida so she gets to take the exact opposite path. Now that she saw what happens when you grow up worried about disappointing the person who raised you and not living up to the expectations of those around you, I hope we see her letting it all go and choosing herself. God, I hope she takes Kaisa's "I'm not the witch you taught me to be" and bends it into "I'm the person I want to be" with her own bare hands. I hope for it so hard.

[actual-changeling]

Welcome back to Alex's unhinged meta corner, and today I have something surprisingly not kiss-related—though it is still about the final fifteen because hey, gotta keep the brand image.

I read this post by @goodoldfashionednightingale and began typing a small response. Then I made the mistake of drinking half a litre of coffee on an empty stomach right after taking my adhd meds and my brain began vibrating at the speed of light.

But oh, have I discovered parallels. This, my friends, is about the nightingale, where it comes from, what it means, and what the fuck happened in part 3 of 1941.

Ready? Let's go.

Now, as OP said in her post, s1e3 is important. In the script book, Neil himself says that these flashbacks are where the producers would tell him to cut scenes to save money. They suggested every single one—except for the one he ended up taking out, which was the bookshop opening scene set in 1800. The others are building blocks, you need them to see how their relationship progressed and what kind of important milestones they had.

(side note: author is very miffed that english does not have a separate subjunctive form like german which makes quoting lines way more confusing than it has to be)

The one I want to mention is neither 1941 nor 1967. No, what I want to talk about is 1601. This might be about to get a bit rambly but I will do my best to keep it tidy.

The focus of that flashback is on the Arrangement, yes, but it gives us a lot more information than that.

they both see Shakespeare's plays regularly, maybe even meet in the crowd

Crowley prefers the comedies

Aziraphale does not seem to have a preference, he enjoys the tragedies and presumably the comedies too

there is an oyster woman selling food -> reference to their meeting in Rome when Aziraphale tempted him to try some oysters

Aziraphale reflexively denies their relationship

Crowley might say he is not worried but circles Aziraphale the entire time, keeping watch

they both ask favours of each other and both agree to do them

What stands out to me in relation to what I am about to expand on is the line that Crowley delivers after Aziraphale's little 'buck up'—which Crowley finds adorable btw but that's a post for another time.

"Age does not wither nor custom stale his infinite variety."

Why would he say that? What exactly is prompting this? WHY say that specific line?

At first I thought it might be to tempt Shakespeare because he does commit art theft by just copying that line down, BUT I think there is more to that. So much more, in fact. I am wiggling now because I am very excited about this and my adhd meds are kicking in anyway.

First things first: the line itself.

It appears in Shakespeare's play Antony and Cleopatra, a romantic tragedy, which was first performed in 1607 aka six years after this meeting. Enobarbus is talking about Cleopatra and describing why Antony won't leave her. Her.

Ccrowley uses his—again, who is he even talking about? Hamlet? Shakespeare? Random poetic quote?

No, I think this line is about Aziraphale and it's a code. Right after, the next line from Aziraphale is "What do you want?", meaning that this is their code phrase for 'I have a favour to ask of you'.

Age does not wither nor custom stale his infinite variety

Age will not affect his appearance nor will he ever become boring to Antony. Crowley, who later chooses the name Anthony for himself, tells Aziraphale, an immortal, that he will never age and that he will never grow bored of him.

It's flattery, pure and simple, and it's code at the same time. This establishes the important fact that they might use more of Shakespeare's work as code/already have a system in place (even though he steals Crowley's line for later).

They play their little morality game of back and forth, Aziraphale agrees, Crowley probably manipulates the coin toss, and THEN we find out that the oyster woman is called Juliet.

Why? What is the meaning of that? Why give her a name and that name in particular? Why bring the sexy oysters back into it?

Romeo and Juliet premiered in 1597, so it is safe to assume they have both seen it by 1601, but this is mostly for the audience, not for us-or is it?

Aziraphale gives Crowley puppy eyes until he agrees to make Hamlet popular, and while I don't think Juliet itself is a code word, although it's very interesting that the OYSTER woman is the one with that name (especially adding what we now know about Job), Romeo and Juliet might be.

Yes, the Nightingale song came out in 1940 but the bird has been around for much, much longer, and, as many probably know by now, also shows up in Romeo and Juliet.

This is where I am starting to vibrate at the speed of light because listen to me. Listen.

Crowley is Juliet. Anthony J. Crowley. Antony Juliet Crowley.

(side note: I'm not saying that Crowley chose it based on that—though I am not not saying that—but that it is a clue for us at the audience.)

Why do I think that? In the play, Romeo spends the night with Juliet and then goes to leave as the night begins to end. Juliet tries to stop him and tells him that the birds they are hearing aren't larks, which sing at dawn, but nightingales, which sing at night.

Who is the one always pushing for more? Crowley. He is the one trying to convince Aziraphale it's safe, they're safe to spend time together.

Romeo disagrees with Juliet and says 'I must be gone and live, or stay and die'.

Leave and stay alive, or stay and hell/heaven will punish us. It gets even better though.

We all know how Romeo and Juliet ends: Romeo thinks Juliet is dead, kills himself, Juliet finds him and then kills herself too.

Hey, do you know how Antony and Cleopatra ends?

Antony thinks Cleopatra is dead, kills himself and dies in her arms, then Cleopatra also kills herself—by snake poison; Romeo also died by poison.

The parallels are THERE. They are jumping down our throats! Two tragedies, two sides, several familiar names and phrases, same fear, same ending.

I think by now you can guess how this ties back to 1941.

We do not see how that night ends, but we know it ends. One of them wants to stretch it out, maybe even quotes Romeo and Juliet because look at the setting!

Candlelight, wonderful night they spend together, the threat of Crowley's early demise, and, to quote the play once more, this time Romeo: I have more care to stay than will to go.

Crowley thought it was his last night on earth and went with Aziraphale to his bookshop, to be with him, because he cares more about that than the fact that he will be dragged to hell come morning. Do you remember?

"Expect a legion to come for you first thing tomorrow" THAT is the threat. They have until dawn, just like Romeo and Juliet, which is why she is so desperate for the birds to be nightingales. Fortunately for them, Aziraphale saves the day, BUT there is NO SECURITY. They do not KNOW if a legion will still show up or not. If dawn is a deadline and they will need to fight.

Sure, they improved their chances, but who knows? Maybe they will come for him anyway, it's not like hell is all fair and square.

The best part: it gets even better.

Juliet eventually panics and tells him to go, and Romeo drops a line that huh, sounds oddly familiar, doesn't it?

'More light and light, more dark and dark our woes!'

Remind me, what does Aziraphale say again? Ah, yes. Perhaps there is something to be said for shades of grey.

There is more. Yes, even more. We know the whole rescue relies on a magic trick, a switch. Guess what Juliet yearns for while telling Romeo to go save himself?

Oh, now I would they had changed voices too. While they did not for Romeo and Juliet—they kiss and part—they did for our two. One fabulous switch and we're good.

(side note: Toads? Associated with hell. Larks? Associated with the dawn, yes, but also heaven since Romeo says 'Nor that is not the lark, whose notes do beat the vaulty heaven so high above our heads.')

So, this was a whole lot of information, let's see if I can summarize my thoughts.

I believe the nightingale is a code word that has existed even before 1941 and gained a lot of importance over the years. In 1941, the song is added to the meaning and whatever happened between the two that we have not seen yet, it fundamentally changed their relationship. Maybe they kissed, maybe one of them tried to convince the other to prolong the night but they parted on not-great terms.

The nightingale and the song become a symbol of hope, a goal to achieve, another uninterrupted night, maybe, or an uninterrupted life.

When they part in the final fifteen, it's morning. Crowley points at the sky and says "no nightingales", which at that point has several different layers to it.

No nightingales because their night is over, just like with Romeo and Juliet, and please, please allow me to add another detail, because I am frothing at the mouth over this. The scene I quoted, known as balcony scene, do you know what it is preceded by?

A ball.

Star-crossed lovers defying their sides, falling in love at a ball, getting a hurried, wonderful night together but torn apart by danger of punishment, the nightingale as a dream, as a wish for unhurried time together. Family rejection, torn apart by parents, willing to die for each other so they can reunite in death.

No nightingales. The ball, the romance, is over, their dancing is over, heaven is tearing them apart, and Aziraphale returns to heaven while they are both stuck in a pit of misunderstanding and miscommunication, all bound together by fear for each other.

The thing is, Crowley hates tragedies, he never liked the "gloomy ones", and he does not want them to end in one—luckily, this isn't the end. Yes, they kiss and part, but the play keeps going. We have an entire act 3 to fix what Romeo and Juliet couldn't, to ensure that this is a COMEDY, not a tragedy.

Both Antony & Cleopatra and Romeo & Juliet died out of fear, hurried into making bad decisions because they knew what would happen if their sides were to catch up with them.

Crowley and Aziraphale can reunite heaven and hell with love, not death. This is THEIR story and they are writing the ending. No more day and night, no more deadlines, no more hiding and sneaking about, no more fear of larks and sunshine.

Good Omens will end the way it began: In a garden with two no-longer-star-crossed lovers embracing the song of a lark as well as that of the nightingale.

I hope this made sense to everyone who was no present while my mind started to vibrate itself into a puddle because the thing is I can see Neil doing all of this completely on purpose.

Thoughts? Questions? Additions? Come and join me in my insanity and until next time I have a mental breakdown over this show (probably in like two hours).

[picaroroboto]

I've been wanting for a little while to talk about Pandaemonium, and about Hermes, and what I think these two topics have to do with each other, so here goes. The whole time I was playing the story in Pandae, I kept thinking that I wish I could tell Hermes about all this. For one, because Hermes expresses that he feels he's the only one emotionally suffering, yet here is Erichthonios also clearly going through some shit, so maybe they could find some sort of solidarity together.

For two, because I feel Pandae proves Hermes right in his criticisms of the Ancient world. It's essentially every single flaw of their world in microcosm! Let me try to explain:

To start, let's review Hermes and his problems:

This is from the conversation with him after you show him the Elpis flower changing color for you. He expresses the sympathy he feels for creations, and how being forced to put them down for the sake of the star puts him in this ethical crisis. The entire Ancient world is built around this idea of "for the sake of the star" at the expense of all else, including the lives of their creations and their own individual emotions. Because of this, Hermes feels all the more isolated, as if he's the only one who ever feels bad or questions the foundation of their society.

There is something very, very twisted about the fact that Pandaemonium lies geographically below Elpis, the Hell to its symbolic Eden or Heaven. At the very moment Hermes is crying over having to put down dangerous creations, even more dangerous creations are being kept alive in a hellish gothic prison replete with chains and cages.

As I traveled through Pandaemonium, I also kept thinking "Why is it a prison?" Why does such a place even need to exist? As we find out in Anabaseios, the concept of it being a place to research dangerous creations is a cover story, it's more or less Athena's personal laboratory for her to pursue her goal of godhood. I've seen people praise Athena for being a more shallow and simple villain than Emet-Selch for example, but she's not just a megalomaniac:

"I am no different from our peers" is soooo telling. Her obsession with remaking mankind in her image isn't just a selfish madness, it's the ideals of the Ancients, their obsession with making perfect creations for the sake of the star, taken to it's furthest and most insane conclusion! (also note the irony in her belief that a goddess would remake the species better, when Hydaelyn, the only true goddess in the setting, chose to preserve them as they are. Arguably even making them worse by Sundering).

So Athena takes her duty to the star way too far, Lahabrea sees that she's become a danger to the star for it, and kills her, then cuts off the Hephiastos side of himself - another example of how ruthless the Ancients can be and how they justify anything for the sake of the star. Because the Ancients also place a low importance on emotion, he never talks to Erichthonios about Athena. Feeling neglected by his father and curious about his mother, Erich is lead deeper into Pandaemonium and made even more vulnerable to Athena's manipulations. So even if it was one woman's madness that spawned the action in Pandae, the other flaws of Ancient society serve to perpetuate and exacerbate it.

It's also worse mentioning that for Pandae being a prison for dangerous creations, you actually fight more transformed Ancients and corrupted Warders than you do actual animals. As my brother put it in his own meta, Pandae isn't a case of "inmates running the asylum" as much as it is the power that the Warders wield over their creations corrupting them. Athena is indirectly behind the Warder's transformations, but she also took advantage of vulnerabilities that were already there, like Hesperos's fixation on Lahabrea.

And the same obsession with perfect creations for the sake of the star, the abuse of the power over life and death, continues to characterize the Ancients after the Sundering, with the way Emet and the Ascians ruthlessly Rejoin Shards in order to bring back their "perfect" world. But what Elpis and Pandaemonium prove is that the idea of the Ancient world as a paradise is little more than Emet's grief and nostalgia talking. Hermes may have triggered the Final Days, but I feel the blame for destroying "paradise" doesn't lie entirely on him - his crisis was layered on top of myriad flaws with the world he lived in, flaws he felt he didn't have the freedom to talk about because everyone else believed the world was perfect.

Any world where people can't question the foundation of their society is very far from perfect. A world where people ruthlessly wield power over others, both creations and other people, in favor of a grand goal is no paradise. A world in which prisons exist is no paradise.

If my tone started to sound a bit vengeful there, it's because I sympathize deeply with Hermes, and can't help but feel a bit vindicated on his behalf when I think that Pandaemonium proves him right and Emet-selch wrong. But even after I've spent all this time tearing into the Ancient world, I feel like I have to remind both myself and any readers that the point of the conflict between the Ancient and Sundered world in FF14 isn't to objectively compare them and decide which is better and which is worse. Such pragmatism would be in-character for an Ancient, but we don't have to subscribe to their views. Think about it - even if the Ancient world was proven to be a true paradise, we'd still choose our broken world over it, because returning would cost too many lives, and because we love our world not because it is perfect but because it is ours.

The choice is just made a little easier by all this proof that their world was never as perfect as they said it was.

[kachikirby]

Amusing Excursion

I forgot Metaccine Week started on Mother's Day, so you all are getting a bonus Metaccine thing.

-

It was the night before Mother’s Day and Fettuccine already seemed excited as they were eating dinner that night.

“So, what are you planning for tomorrow?” She asked, causing the rest of the family to look up. The twins looked at each other nervously, but then their father spoke up, clearly knowing that there would be no point in hiding whatever was planned, especially since Kirby had just delivered a gift for the occasion earlier.

“We’re going to take you to an amusement park. I’m sure you rarely got to go to one during your time with Task Force Zetta.”

The woman hesitated for a moment to smile. "It's not Magolor's, right?"

"No. Not after last time."

Those words seemed to change her attitude instantly. There was no way either of them would trust that egg around their children after last time.

“So, what kind of amusement park are we going to?” She then asked.

“It’s one on the other side of the planet. Admission and parking are free, you just have to buy food if you want it and tickets to go on rides.” He then looked up at her. “No, this is unrelated to that tacky resort of Dedede’s.”

“But I didn’t say anything.”

“I knew you were about to ask that.”

His wife giggled. “Well, I’ll look forward to it then!”

The trip getting there was short and simple. The park was called Sorprendente Park, and this seemed to be Fettuccine’s first time hearing about it, since she already seemed to be excited.

“Well, what do you want to do first, Fetty?” Meta asked.

“Oh, I dunno! There seems to be a lot of things to do…” She uttered looking at the map. “Oh, Sieg, Freya, why don’t you two pick?”

“We’re fine with whatever you want mom.”

“This is your gift, you should enjoy it.”

Admittedly, she was blown away by such a mature response, but she didn’t say it. She only looked harder at the map.

“How about a roller coaster? I haven’t been on that in a while!” She asked.

“If that’s what you want, then let’s go.”

“Oh, but Sieg, Freya, maybe you want to wait with your father?”

Both children shook their heads.

“We wanna try it! Right, Freya?” The quiet sister nodded to her brother. Seeing how the twins were fine with it, Fettuccine relaxed.

“Ok, since there’s a height limit to ride without a parent, Sieg, you’ll ride with me, and Freya, you can ride with your father!”

Both children seemed to be excited at the prospect of riding with their parents and quickly agreed to it.

“Okay! Let’s go then!”

The moment she said that was when they finally noticed the roller coaster she was talking about. It was a monstrous wooden beast of a roller coaster.

-

The roller coaster ride was amusing to say the least. The mother-son pair had practically screamed their lungs out while the father-daughter pair were completely silent. Not only that, but it took Fettuccine a moment to catch her balance as she walked off, being slightly shaken by the ride.

“You doing alright, Fetty?” Her husband asked.

“Y-yes, Metty, I’m fine…” She uttered, pulling herself up.

“Maybe we should do something not as extreme…” He then said, getting a nod in response.

“Oh, how about we play one of the games?” Sieg asked, pointing over to a target shooting game.

“Sounds like a good idea, come on, Metty!” Fettuccine grabbed Meta and began to drag him along. Admittedly, it wasn’t until they got to the stand that they noticed something… odd. Specifically, who was behind the stand. Meta Knight himself seemed to groan, realizing who the egg-like person in a standard boardwalk host outfit and moustache was.

“…I already know it’s you, Magolor.” He said, causing the man to sweat.

“Who is this Magolor you speak of? I am Rolo!”

“You think you’d know not to say things like that in front of a living lie detector.” Fettuccine then added, making him sweat even more.

“I’m telling you, I don’t know who this Magolor guy is! But he sounds like a really smart and handsome guy!”

“You better not be doing anything suspicious.”

“I’M NOT!! Now are you going to play or what!?”

“Yeah! I wanna play!” Sieg excitedly proclaimed, seemingly making his father groan internally.

Magolor, or rather “Rolo”, seemed to grin at this. “It’ll be four tickets for one try!”

Not willing to argue, Meta Knight handed them over and three balls were placed in front of the child.

“Ok, so the rules are simple. You have three chances to hit a target. The higher the target, the bigger the prize.”

The parents examined the plates. There were three rows of plates with four plates each. There was no doubt that Magolor had planned something as a way to cheat. With a hard throw, Sieg missed one of the top plates.

“I’m just warming up!” He said and then he threw another one, only to miss once more.

“Ooohhh, gotta try harder!!” Magolor said.

The child pouted. “Freya, throw me now!”

“What?”

“Throw me now!!”

Quickly thinking, Fettuccine picked him up and motioned for Freya to follow her, being quickly obeyed.

“MOM WHERE ARE WE GOING?!”

Before Magolor could say anything, Meta stepped up.

“Would you allow me to try?”

The egg scoffed. “Sure, go ahead. Don’t see why you would-”

Before he could finish that sentence, he felt something zip by and then noticed that there was a familiar golden sword embedded in the stand, causing all the plates standing to break immediately.

“Will this suffice?” was all Meta said.

“J-just take your prize and get out of here!!” Magolor shouted.

Satisfied, the warrior pulled out Galaxia from the stand and took one of the giant prizes, a massive star plush, and went to go catch up with his wife and children. Meanwhile, Magolor stared at the damage that was caused by the impact of the sword.

“…this is so coming out of my paycheck…”

-

While that had been going on, Fettuccine had gone to pick up some ice cream with the kids to distract from the apparent failure of the carnival game. Somewhat worried about Meta not catching up to them, they made their way back in his direction. To their surprise, they saw him sitting on a bench, holding a massive star plush, but at the same time having an expression that looked like he was being lectured.

Seemingly knowing what was going on, Fettuccine walked over and sat next to him, handing him a chocolate ice cream cone.

“Galaxia?”

Meta didn’t respond verbally, but he did with his eyes. Immediately, Sieg and Freya ran over to him, excited.

“WOW! DAD, DID YOU WIN THAT!?”

“Yes, I did.”

“COOOLLLL!! THANK YOU SO MUCH!!”

Both children hugged the plush in excitement, making their father chuckle. Fettuccine smiled at this.

-

They had gone on one more ride before leaving, and that was a boat ride about Kirby’s exploits through the years. Sieg and Freya were amazed by it, but Meta Knight admittedly felt somewhat embarrassed by it due to the idea of seeing himself at some points. It was after that that they decided to head home, feeling that it was a long day and exhaustion was starting to hit.

The family sat, relaxing in the master bedroom.

“So did you have fun today, Fetty?” Meta asked.

She smiled. “Of course, I did! I always have fun with you, Metty!” She then gave him a quick kiss, which he returned. It was then that she felt herself being hugged by their two children.

“Happy Mother’s Day, mom!!” Both of them exclaimed.

The woman gave a laugh and hugged them tightly.

Today was a wonderful day.

[streets-in-paradise]

Why were Achilles and Briseis written the way they were?

The following meta is a contextual analysis of the movie, not necesarily a ship defense post.

In this opportunity i am going to present my personal interpretation on a few factors that I believe can help explain what remains to this day the most controversial point of the film: the romance of Achilles and Briseis. Keeping it short and simple, my arguments here will be mostly linked to the conventionalities of the film genre and the specific time period in which the movie was created.

In this case, not to simply shrug shoulders and confortably claim " those were other times" and dismiss the problematic aspect, but to list a few sensical reasons I find behind the choice regardless of how potentially problematic it was.

The purpose of this analysis is understanding the movie in context, not changing anybody's mind in what comes to the moral sanction in its reception. The reader's approbal or dissaprobal of the film doesn't affect it, because the intention is to merely provide a contextualized explanation.

That being said, let's begin:

-The historical/epic films that served as inspiration for Troy often include a precise formula that the pairing emulates in a synthetical way.

As pointed out before, the list of epic films inspiring Troy (2004) is endless. From subtle references in the scenery and costume design to direct copy in the use of tropes or character archetypes, this movie is like a summary of the whole genre. However, the particular historical context in its release made three particular titles the core influencies of the film.

These are Gladiator, Braveheart and the Lord of the Rings trilogy. Listing every single aspect in which Troy nurtured trying to replicate their success is worthy of an entire different meta, but here I will take one precise element to examinate.

In all cases, there is a warrior lead hero and a woman of nobility that find themselves tangled in political intrigue/war and have (or have had) some form of forbbiden love. Both Lucilla and Isabella find themselves contextually in between the movie's hero and villian, walking the thin lines of negociation while wishing for the insane emperor/asshole king's demise.

In Gladiator it's mostly a political alliance with a mere romantic undertone that comes from the fact that they had a past together, while in Braveheart the meeting through political matters is a gateway for romance. In contrast, Arwen's conflict comes from having to choose between her family and Aragorn in the middle of a war that has her kind leaving Middle Earth.

The Briseis of Troy is like an abreviated and more simplified synthesis for all of these. Outside conflict begins as soon as she is in the middle of Achilles and Agamemnon, the fighter-hero and ruler-villian that she equally challenges through their argument scene. Later, her inner conflict comes from having to choose between her family in Troy and her growing feelings for Achilles.

So subtle, yet so powerfull, the influence is so evident that we can even see a gender reverse of the Evenstar necklace moment.

The seashell necklace is a gift of his mother, who is rumoured to be a goddess. It's purpose on this scene is slightly similar yet very different as in lotr. Achilles is giving to Briseis a gift of possibly godly origins that represents him as he tries to compensate her for the pain that his vengeance has caused her. It's also an act of love, the last one they can share because he is allowing her to choose her family and leave to be with them.

This simple example ilustrates too well how far the similarities went in the strange mashup of formulas.

At the same time, one can point out that the principal deviation Troy took was having Briseis as the only woman arround. In both Gladiator and Braveheart a dead wife haunts the narrative and motivates the hero to seek revenge against the cruel ruler. In the case of lotr, the side love interest is the one that the context encourages in contrast to the one forbidden for the hero. The men of Rohan already respect Aragorn and Theoden shows himself supportive of a possible union between him and the obviously infatuated Eowyn.

Instead of a hero that oscilates between two women, the dead wife and the princess or the adequated love vs the impossible one, Troy presents the enemies to lovers dynamic product of Briseis' war captive status making her conflcted feelings oscilate through the story.

-The Sheik meets Titanic: iconic romances and sex symbols.

The casting of Brad Pitt in the role of Achilles was definitely an influence for the tone the romance adquired. If I had to describe the Achilles x Briseis romance without listing the influences I mentioned before, I would say " it's a bit like The Sheik with a Titanic ending" and I feel this is not entirely casual.

( Most evident paralel that can be made is that the Josh Groban song " Remember" feels pretty much like reverse" My Heart Will Go On". James Horner worked on both films, so maybe that played a part in this particular aspect but I am merely speculating.)

Valentino and Di Caprio were iconic in their romance performances, they made history in their roles, and both shared with Pitt the fame of being actors super popular with female audiences. I can't blame Troy for wanting to evoke a bit of that magic when the man doing the job is Brad Pitt. Back in the day, people used to popularly claim he was the most handsome guy in the world. His name is a synonym of male beauty.

I feel his Achilles does a good job balancing two contradictory goals the movie has for him: being the embodiment of an epic hero and seducing the audience through the romance scenes. In this point I want to add that the basic structure on the dynamic for the abduction romance is very similar to the one in The Sheik: civilized and outspoken lady that represents modern viewpoints gets kidnapped by a seductive man of savage ways. In a good kidnapper/bad kidnapper game with the antagonist, she discovers that she has fallen in love. In Troy it works as a sort of reactualization for this basic premise adquiring a different flavor when mixed with other elements of the film.

And here is when the most iconic moment makes so much sense:

This was the one part of the movie that made history. Not only the quote is beautifull, here is also where you get the distinctive flavor that is also a byproduct of the general themes in the film permeating the romance. Achilles proves himself to her above the mere act of rescuing her from someone worse.

While this is the response of Briseis.

She keeps challenging him because she was made aware that he can do better. Sure, she later sleeps with him anyways because that's almost an ineludible part of the charm in that scenario. In both cases, it is used as a sort of indulgent fantasy for the eyes of a (straight) fem audience expected to go crazy for the actor. Unlike in the 1920's, by the time troy came out spicy scenes are already a standard and I can distinctively point out those tend to be particularly prevalent on media about ancient greece and rome.

For tumblr censorship reasons I won't show a picture for the following claim, but the scene itself doesn't expose her as much as him. It's all focused on the beauty of Brad Pitt, in his seductive ways and how the girl slowly gives in to him. His naked body covers her from the camera, all we see its a glimpse of her legs and stomach as the lense follows the way of his hands undressing her. It's the same dangerous seduction feeling that turns the strong woman defenseless applied in an film age where you can show it on a love making scene.

Despite sticking to the basics, that oldass concept adquires a more unique modern feeling.

-For Plot Reasons: they work as a parallel with Helen x Paris.

From the beggining of the film, forbbiden love is the big topic of the film when it comes to romance. I know I have written in previous analysis that Achilles and Paris, through their selfish and romantic driven choices, become a parallel of each other. Helen, the willing runaway, and Briseis, the captive, are also made a parallel.

However, I want to go back a second on the specific way the behavior of Achilles directly mimics Paris triggering the war: he seduces the girl, sleeps with her, and decides he is ready to abandon his countrymen for her. While Odysseus tries to convince him out the rational way, the recriminations of Patroclus evoke the angry Hector who had just discovered the spartan queen in his ship. Fighting the war due to the reckless choices of their relatives, they die. At the end Achilles and Paris are on their own.

The trojan prince leaves Helen behind to fight and, when he gets the chance, avenge his brother, while the greek warrior is there for only love and remorse. Dreams of glory are behind him, he got inside the trojan horse seeking to rescue the woman of his affections.

It's a fascinating role reversal where, motivation-wise, Paris becomes Achilles and Achilles becomes Paris. This conclussion comes as evolution of the romances written parallelistically as side plots of the big family tragedy.

[warden-ankheg]

So based on my last Varlan meta post it might not be immediately obvious why does this angry little virgin take an interest in the apparently carefree, free spirited and irreverent Zevran?

So at first Varlan has to deal with Alistair who, let's be honest, makes himself difficult to trust or rely on. While he does have his moments of showing he believes there are issues with how the mages are treated, he still has his moments where he voices that maybe their oppression is for the best, hides a lot of Extremely Grim Shit about being a Warden from him, and makes Varlan the leader despite him having no worldly experience whatsoever and not even knowing the truth about the Grey Wardens. Not a great start tbh.

Then Morrigan comes along and he's like "fuck yeah this gal is a badass." Strong personality, no shame about being a mage, thinks the Circle is bullshit. Varlan is very on board with all of that. However, her anger and bitterness extends beyond the Circle and the Templars, and her very vocal beliefs that they should only be looking out for themselves gives him pause. He likes her and respects her but she embodies the quiet parts of himself that he likes the least. Sometimes when she speaks, it's like he's looking in a mirror showing him how he could become. He doesn't like being so angry and he doesn't want to be isolated. All his life he's felt alone because he felt like others were pushing him away. He doesn't want to become the person pushing.

Then of course there was Leilana and LMAO poor woman is lucky she's not been kicked out of camp yet.

Enter Zevran. A fellow elf who knows what it's like to live in a world that's never felt made for them. He might not be a mage, but he was forced into a life as a child that he had no choice in and no way of escaping. And yet he's so... different. His jokes don't drip vitriol, and his outlook is bright. He acknowledges the bad of the life he was forced into but looks for good in it as well. He takes pleasure in simple things. He doesn't push people away and instead reaches out to them - be it sexual encounters, bonding with his fellow crows, even reaching out to Varlan when defeated in battle. The concept seems completely alien to him, that Zevran could have such a cruel life forced upon him and yet be hopeful and grateful for the things that he has (though I am interested to see how he develops and what feelings are revealed as I play more).

For now though, Varlan sees in Zevran everything he wishes he could be - not burdened and twisted by the things that were inflicted upon him. Zevran represents a different way. Varlan doesn't know how he manages it, but he's intrigued. Not only that, but after a life locked in the tower he finds Zevran's stories utterly captivating, and his free attitude refreshing. All his life, Varlan has been tethered to the Circle Tower that was his prison. Zevran feels untethered to anything.

So yes, poor Varlan goes very quickly from highly confused about this weird assassin he just defeated who's just sexy posing in the grass (iconic) to smitten heart eyes at the pretty, fun man who comes across as both physically and emotionally strong, who both likely understands what he's been through but also reacted to his own struggles in a completely different (and in Varlan's eyes) better way.

He's just a messed up guy who finds himself drawn to another messed up guy who he believes to be "better" than he is ; ;

[creatureshrieks]

As a disclaimer to my Laurie post please keep in mind that for my personal writing and interpretation of Laurie, I stick specifically to the original Halloween film released in 1978. I am only going to be discussing this film in this post, too. I stick specifically with this idea of Laurie when it comes to my headcanons, how I write her personality, and her interactions with Michael. I do not follow any sequels, reboots, or continuities, though I do sparingly take minor inspiration from some (as in Laurie going to college to be a teacher due to her one timeline where she works at a school or for her slasher verse where she kills a innocent man and is put into a sanitarium due to them believing Michael damaged her too much). If I did have to pick any timeline, however, I most likely would default to the 2018 timeline specifically because this the only timeline in which Laurie not only survives, but also is not connected to the Thorn continuity in any capacity. Michael might be the face of Halloween, but I can't see him without Laurie, too. They're two halves of the same coin - which is what I'll get into later! It also continues with JLC's Laurie which is where I base my Laurie from. I do know there was a reboot with Rob Zombie and, though I have seen it, due to that Laurie being drastically different in age and personality and even ending with her death, I will not follow it for my own personal writing of Laurie's characterization. That said I don't... really delve too deep into Kills/Ends either. I'm fine with the original movie, thank you. This is, of course, subject to change when it comes to writing with fellow Halloween muses, especially with different interpretations of Michael, but I will not incorporate that into my main timeline for her just to keep things simple. My Laurie's timeline is completely original following the first movie. Thank you<3

With that out of the way, let's get to discussing Laurie, the literal final girl template that arguably pushed that trope into the main spotlight. She is the template that all future Final Girls have come from (I will not discuss her difference with earlier Final Girls and why Laurie is arguably 'the' first iteration of the trope we love and not just a girl who survived until the end. That's too meta for this post).

When we first see Laurie, we immediately get an understanding of her character even from the first handful of minutes, those first bits of dialogue. We even get who she is from the clothes she wears! She's the good girl, the babysitter. She's dependable, she's smart. She's also shy. Let's start with her clothing:

Just look at this outfit! It looks nice on her, it's pretty, but lets compare it to her friends. Her first outfit is a light cardigan that covers a long sleeved turtleneck while she's at school. Her skirt is just above the knee (it's not short!), and it continues into tights and penny loafers. She looks 'mature', but more like an older woman, not a teenager. She doesn't like to show her skin, she's layered. It's sensible, it's mature. She looks like a stereotypical tutor you meet in the library to help you with calculus. Compare this to her friends - They're wearing jeans, blouses. One is smoking a cigarette and the other forgot all her books vs Laurie who is carrying her entire school workload with her. They're also dressed mature, but in an attempt to get attention. They want to be women that men go for, not girls in their last year of high school. We might not view it that way now due to clothing and fashion changes, but these girls are dressing for attention! They want boys to look at them! They want to dress hot (they're both 18 in the film, mind you. The youngest is Laurie who is turning 18 in a few months). Annie is also notorious for literally not wearing a bra, by the way. Also notice that Laurie is the only one that doesn't tie her hair back! She's shy, she's reserved. She says she's too smart. She's different from her friends. Now, her second outfit is put on after school - and after she sees Michael Myers three separate times.

In her second outfit in the movie, Laurie puts on pants. This can probably be inferred to the fact she’s going babysitting and wants to dress for the job, but she also is less “feminine” in pants after being frightened by Michael three times. She's less exposed, more defensive. She doesn't yet think of Michael as a threat that's going to come crashing through her door, but she doesn't feel safe. Now, this might seem similar to what her friends were wearing to school, even if she’s wearing jeans, they’re not so body-hugging as Lynda and Annie. Even when she takes off all her layers, she still keeps a sweater on. When we see Annie later, she's also dressed down even further into loose fitting flannel and tank-top. No matter what, Laurie is always more covered than her friends. Then we get her final look:

Her blue button up tucked into her pants. This final look still covers her - even during her fight with Michael it doesn’t ever get unbuttoned unlike Annie who took off her clothes to clean them and Lynda who was entirely naked when Michael attacks her. Throughout the film, Laurie is the most consistently covered out of all the main victims shown. We never see over her elbows in the entire film until Michael himself tears into her shirt with his knife right after she sees her friends. That's the only section of skin Laurie shows that’s higher than her elbows for the entire film, obviously not counting her face. Keep in mind that Michael is the driving force behind Laurie in this movie, which we get told almost directly. However, for organization purposes let's keep all Michael and Laurie discussion until the end after Laurie has had her time to shine. Alone.

Laurie and her bedroom:

This part will be smaller, but I feel as if it's just as important to talk about Laurie's bedroom because it does offer us some insight into her character - as well as a small easter egg!

It's almost funny how much this room reflects the clothing she wears at the time. Browns, beige. There's no color here and, in fact, Laurie is more decorated than her walls! There's nothing there except a poster, some small pictures, and a hat. Her room doesn't have much personality to it and judging by her bed with how small it is, it's clear this is very much her childhood room. The items here are probably things she's had for years and hasn't bothered to change. She's never had a reason to - and mind you, her parents are not poor. Her father runs a very successful real estate business and her mother stays at home. Laurie is decently well off enough to get a bed befitting of an 18 year old if she wanted. The only item that clearly doesn't look like it's from her childhood is the poster for James Ensor. This is actually a fun detail! James Ensor was a Belgian painter most famous for his macabre and grotesque imagery involving people in masks. :)

Due to how Laurie dresses and the state of her room, we get some defining traits - sensibility, maturity, and innocence.

Innocence is a huge part of Laurie's character and is why she's the one to survive as well as the one to be the obsession of Michael. And you could not have Laurie Strode without Michael Myers.

The very first time we see Michael and Laurie together in any capacity is when she directly approaches his house and leaves a key with her name on it, leaving it right there for Michael Myers to find. We also get a brief look at Laurie's character here! Tommy Doyle mentions that it's a cursed house, a bad house. A "spook house". Laurie shouldn't approach - but she does. She doesn't believe in scary stories or that anything like ghost and the boogeyman are real. She also sings a love song after she drops off the key. Laurie is a romantic, if even slightly! She is jealous of her friends. She wants a boyfriend. Laurie wants what her friends have, but it's exactly the fact she does not have those traits that keeps her alive. She's not like Annie. She's not like Lynda. She's not like Judith. She's innocent and for Michael, innocence is not something he knows.

The second time we see Michael is while Laurie is at school. He has followed her, stalked her, and he wants her to see him. He wants Laurie to notice him, to be scared by him. And Laurie sees him, staring at him outside of the school window until her teacher interrupts her to talk about a very interesting topic: Fate.

Teacher: [...] You see, fate caught up with several lives here. No matter what course of action Collins took, he was destined to his own fate, his own day of reckoning with himself. The idea is that destiny is a very real, concrete thing that every person has to deal with. How does Samuels' view of fate differ from that of Costaine's? Laurie? Laurie: Costaine wrote that fate was somehow related only to religion, where Samuels felt that, well, fate was like a natural element, like earth, air, fire and water. Teacher: That's right, Samuels definitely personified fate. In Samuels’ writing fate is immovable like a mountain. It stands where man passes away. Fate never changes.

(Just a fun connection: Samuel Loomis is almost a Cassandra-like character, a man that prophesied Michael's attacks on Haddonfield and was never believed. Funny how he predicted fate like that)

This part is just spectacular. It is genuinely such a spectacular moment that defines so much of Laurie and Michael and their never ending battle and unless you knew about them, unless you knew their tale, this line could fade away into the background. It could be little more than school-related dialogue they threw in for the scene. But it's not. Michael is the personification of Laurie's destiny, her fate. He is immovable, unshakable, his obsession is what drives Laurie and her mere existence is what drives Michael. He is fate. He is Laurie's fate. He is what changes her, shapes her. They are the perfect enemy, two halves of a coin that leave marks on each other that forever change each other. Laurie is no longer the innocent babysitter, Michael took that innocence from her. Michael is no longer contented to sit at Smith's Grove, staring at walls. He wants Laurie and he wants her dead. Fate caught up with several people on Halloween. Michael caught up with several people on Halloween. It stands where man passes away. Fate bonds them, it changes them.

This is also from a deleted scene, but there is also a part where Lynda comes to Laurie's home and asks to borrow a shirt from her while also stating she believes she saw Michael stalking her. While Lynda goes to search for the blouse she wants to wear, Laurie once again sings her song again as she stands by the door and looks for Michael. It's almost funny how even subconsciously she repeats motions when it comes to him, that even if she doesn't realize it yet she has sealed her fate with him. He is only waiting for his time to strike while Laurie, defensive and uncertain, waits for the night to end. Waits for the boogeyman to disappear.

But metaphorical fate is not all that bonds them - Laurie is the only one to actually hurt Michael before Loomis arrives to shoot him. She is his only survivor, the only one that fought back against him. The only one that stabbed him, the one that took his eye. She left him with far more wounds than he left her, though to Laurie his single knife wound to her runs far deeper. It scars her, a permanent reminder of what she lost. Her friends. Her sheltered life. Her innocence.

[bplsproteccv]

I kinda wanted to share a weird dream I had 👀 I mean I always have weird dreams, who doesn't? But I kinda wanna know if some of you have had the same kind of dream or something similar

Idk, that's just probably me digging too deep :/

So I had a dream about a cat I was taking care of a while ago, and after petting her in my dream I felt like everything changed in a second, everything around me was more modern, more sophisticated, and I was still my myself in my dream, but I was ANOTHER ME, so I could actually hear this other version of me (with my same voice, too (lol I had a deja vu about writing this)) saying like "hm, weird, I haven't seen that cat in my life, why did I dream about a cat in the first place?" And I was thinking (idk what it is or if it's common, but I usually think to myself a lot whike dreaming, like, is that a normal thing that can happen?) "wtf what do I mean I don't know that cat? I'm literally giving her food every day" while seeing in first person where this other version of me went and she walked up to a booth with a woman inside and I already knew her name for some reason?? I mean I was practically in this other version of myself's brain or smth idk man, but the woman's name was Patricia (and I kinda know a Patricia but she was not the Patricia I know) and idk why but this version of me told this woman about the dream she had (That I had?? We? I also didn't understand why this other version of me was going on and on about how weird "her" dream about this cat was, but i could also hear her thoughts in a way?? Like i knew what she was thinking: "What kind of dream is that"?) and this Patricia just says "sorry, Larry's being lazy today, wait let me just– LARRY! COME OVER HERE!" And this lanky guy who looked like the teacher from the Incredibles walked in into another booth that was next to the first booth and said nothing (🤌 I could feel this version of me being annoyed since the start of the dream and I just got more weirded out as I thought to myself why am I having different memories about these two??? Also I apologize in advance if this is annoying or too long :( ) but anyway, what happened next was that this very different version of Patricia just grabbed some golden card that had something written like this:

_________________________

T~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

__________________________

(Something something)

(Something Something)

__________________________

It came out of some kind of sophisticated golden machine.

So, just a CARD that came out of a machine explained why that version of me dreamt of a simple, most gentle, adoring, loyal, beautiful stray cat that could exist on this planet (poor thing was attacked by something and her mouth was messed up, and all she wanted was some petting and love, she would walk beside me even after feeding her 🥺), and this version of me goes like:

"Meh, okay," and just walks away. I feel like this other version of me would throw the card or whatever, but that's it, that's the meta dream I had :) I felt like someone else took complete control of what I did and kind of invaded my brain, never want to experience it again, thank you.

But what just weirds me out is that another version of me probably didn't meet Arti (yes, I named the cat Arti because she was like a piece of art 😌💛✨️) and that she was out on her way to walk towards a booth that I think heard her (somehow I kinda knew) think (or remember) that it was like some kind of machine related to the "I will tell you what it means and/or reveal your future" thingy, and she went there to know about the dream (actually I think it was ME dreaming of Arti) (or maybe her??? Idk anymore) about a random cat that she didn't know or see or meet.

So there you have it :)

[moonage-moth]

2022 Media Look Back

Hey there! First post here, so let's begin with something kind of general. What better way than to start with a list? Here are my favorite movies, tv shows, games, anime, manga, HQs, music and books that I've consumed in 2022!

Movies

Everything Everywhere All at Once

What can I say about this masterpiece? It tackles everything so amazingly that it's hard to talk about it so quickly. We have the ADHD, immigrant, family, queer and probably many more themes that I've overlooked. I can't believe that a movie with kung-fu, butt plugs and sausage fingers made me cry this much.

The Batman

I am a huge nerd. Not one of those nerd that knows EVERYTHING about media, but one of those that loves nerdy things. I loved Robert Pattinson and Paul Dano's performances, the theme songs and specially the Bat Mobile. I still watch that scene from time to time and it always amazes me!

Oldboy

Man, this movie is good! And weird! And it stays with you! Such amazing cinematography, performance and story! I didn't think the plot twist by the end would be actually true, I'm way too used to popular western story telling, but it hits you quite strongly!

TV Shows

House Of The Dragon

I went into this with no expectation. Game of Thrones never got to me, but this show... I couldn't wait for the next episode! Every week I was counting the days to sunday so I could watch it! I can't praise the performances, costumes and dragon designs enough! Especially the dragons, each one had their own appearance and personality that added so much to the scenes they were on!

WandaVision

I'm going to be honest, I'm not enjoying most Marvel content anymore. I know, I know, not a controversial opinion, but it's happening. Anyway, WandaVision was an exception on this. I enjoyed this show way more than I thought was possible and really admired what they did with Wanda's character. Too bad they threw it away later in the movies...

Love, Death & Robots 3rd Season

COOL NERDY FANTASY AND SCIENCE-FICTION SHORTS! I know some of the episodes are hit or miss to some, but I really enjoy this show! The Jibaro episode, especially, was mesmerizing in its visuals and themes! I can't recommend it enough!

Games

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

I'm kind of late, I know, but I only got to play this game this year. And I LOVED it! It was the first game in years that got me into a five plus hours gaming session, which says something. The world, music, mood, story and art direction were top notch! I can't wait for the next one, I really hope they explore more of Zelda's character!!

Tunic

This game is spectacular! The game itself is cute, quite hard and has some plot twists, but if you dig into it and into the manual... It becomes something special. So many secrets, meta language and puzzles, it embodies the very concept of a game! PLEASE play Tunic if you can, it really is a special game.

The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword HD

By now you probably noticed I like games with characters wearing green who use swords and shields, right? I was in a Zelda rush and had to play another game, so I went with this one, which I had skipeed in the past, surprising myself! Such amazing art style, characters and story! It's all simple, but made in a endearing and honest way, making this version of Zelda my favorite of the series!

Anime

Chainsaw Man

It's all the hype right now, I know, but Chainsaw Man deserves it. The anime only adapts the starting part of the manga, but it does it so well! It was so cool seeing the manga scenes adapted but what shone the most were the original scenes, especially with Aki and Himeno.

Paradise Kiss

A bit old, from 2005, but I fell in love with this one! Ai Yazawa way of writing characters and showing their personalities through design is amazingly done and this story has it all. The music shines a lot (Tomoko Kawase, my love), but what got me the most was the character diversity, having both a bi man and a trans woman done quite well for Japan! Please watch Paradise Kiss!

Cyberpunk Edgerunners

Such a cool ride! I wish it wasn't pulled back by the game's story because I really wanted to see more of these characters! I haven't played much of the game, but the world seemed so much more alive in this and made the experience special to me!

Manga and HQs

Devilman

Such a classic. I've liked Devilman Crybaby since it got out, but never got to reading the original work. It's quite a ride, having somethings that date it a lot, but others that keep up amazingly to this day! The way it talks about religion, society and violence influenced all of japanese (and world, to some extent) media, so it's worth reading for that alone.

The Many Deaths of Laila Starr

This HQ hit me so hard! Talking about life and death through an indian culture lens was refreshing and eye opening, to be honest. Laila Starr was a really interesting character and going through the life of the doctor made it almost impossible to stop reading. A quite short and really worth read, if I may suggest!

The Me You Love In The Dark

A simple and direct story about toxic relationships and home abuse. It has some really dark themes, but what brings it to my list are the visuals. The monster and how it was drawn was really well done! Also, how it interacted with the artist made the comic a really good read! (the monster fucker in me says hello)

Music

My Chemical Romance: The Foundations of Decay

Just so everyone knows, I'm a BIG MCR fan. Simply having a new song out of nowhere this year was GREAT! I kept listening to it for hours without stop, making it my song of the year. The rumours that they might come to Brazil in 2023 makes it way more special to me!

Pinkshift: Love Me Forever

I love this band! They're still a bit small, but the energy all of them bring to the table is out of the charts! Banger after banger with some deep ones in the middle. Please go have a listen, I really think they'll hit it big eventually!!

Ghost: Impera

I really enjoy Ghost! The themes, presentation and songs are all on point in this album! Some songs took a few listes to warm into me, but, overall, it's so fun! I hope I can see them live someday!!

Books

Mistborn: The Lost Metal

Such a good ending to the second era of Mistborn! The emotional beats really got to me and I cried a lot towards the end. I can't say much without spoiling it, but know that I'll talk a lot more about the Cosmere here!

Gideon the Ninth

Lesbian necromancers in space. Wait, that description didn't get you? Well, it also is a very fun read of an interesting world with such charismatic characters! I still have to read the sequels, but this one got a special place in my heart!

Jade City

It's been quite some time since I've read about a world so realized and put together! The places of Jade City, either small or big, feel so real and touchable that I only wanted to read more! It also has a really interesting magic system with so many mysteries around it!

Ending

Well, I hope you enjoyed this short read! Honestly, it's only a test post for this blog, but it was also very fun to write! From now on the "reviews" will be more detailed, since I'll be making a post for each media I consume. See you next year and next post!

[luxshine]

“Yo  a ti, Cas” Or how mexican dubbing gripped us tight and raised us from Despair.

Ok. So I promised a big meta about the dubbing thing and so while I don’t have all the answers YET, here’s a bit of perspective on the differences between Despair and The Truth.

  First, a little background. I am a former professional dubbing translator. While I worked on anime series from Japanese to Spanish, rather than in live action ones from English to Spanish, the process is not that different. Also, I worked in Mexico, where Supernatural is dubbed, so that’s why I can make the assumptions I make. Finally, my specialization in college was translation from English to Spanish, so I guess I know what the hell I’m talking about.

  So let’s start on HOW you translate something for a dub. Back in the day, you got a ton of VHS tapes with the episodes on them with time codes, and, if you were lucky, a shooting script. This is to say, it was not a transcript of the actual words said in the episode, but the script BEFORE the actors, directors, and everyone else had a hand on what was said and changed. And thus, anything adlibbed? Is not going to be in that script which, at least for the anime side of things? Was a nightmare as the script was usually “And here X actor can say whatever they want” and I had to go and listen to the scene ten thousand times. Now a days, you get either a video file or a streaming link, and sometimes, the shooting script. If you get a script, btw, you can also not get a script in the original language. I know that the person who had to translate Sprited Away to Spanish was working off a German script, not the Japanese one. So yeah, some things can be lost in translation there.

  THEN you get to translate. BUT you can’t just translate word by word. You have to adapt it so that it will sound like something a person will say, and sometimes, literally is not the way to do it. And in particular, Mexican dubbing has a reputation to uphold as the “Neutral” dub that is send to most Spanish-speaking countries in Latin America, so we can’t use certain words (I don’t have the list at hand, but I remember that I couldn’t use “Llanta” for Tire, and so I had to use “Neumatico”. And no “sweaters” or “hotcakes” or stuff like that), AND we have to match the lips of the original video. Which is like, the worst nightmare ever because of what we call “labiales”, that is to say, the letters where lips close.

  I can’t tell you how much we all loved when a character gave a long winded speech with their back to the camera due to those damned closed lip letters.

  All this is to say that sometimes, the line could be “We are all in this together for good or bad”, and the translation become something more like “Estamos en esto, por las buenas o las malas” (We’re on this, the good way or the bad way) or “Estamos juntos en las buenas y en las malas” (We’re together in the good and the bad), depending on the translator, dub director, and voice actor.

  Depending on the client, that is, the original owner of the series, sometimes they will review the translation once it’s all dubbed and edited. I know that in the Avengers movie, a Disney rep was present on the cabin and forbade any changes from the script, which resulted on a couple of awkward lines in the end result. I don’t know if that’s the case for Supernatural, but I honestly doubt it. Still, translators can’t make huge changes for the dialogue. One couldn’t just ADD a relationship that wasn’t there, no matter what.

  (As an aside, due to the very conservative mindset of some tv stations, it’s more common that gay relationships become more ambiguous, by changing “I love you” to “Te quiero” which can be more of a filial love than a romantic one. And well, that one case in Sailor Moon where a gay character was changed into a woman because the dub director honestly thought the character was a woman. But that was in the nineties)

  Now, let’s go to how Castiel’s speech was translated.

  The original, according to Superwiki, went like this:

  Castiel:  You're the most caring man on Earth. You are the most selfless, loving human being I will ever know. You know, ever since we met, ever since I pulled you out of Hell, knowing you has changed me. Because you cared, I cared. I cared about you. I cared about Sam. I cared about Jack. I cared about the whole world because of you. You changed me, Dean.

Dean: Why does this sound like a goodbye? Castiel: Because it is. I love you. Dean: Don't do this, Cas. Cas.

  And the translation, as it was aired, went like this (And people, you have no idea the war flashbacks transcribing this gave me, so I hope you appreciate it):

  Castiel: Eres el hombre mas amoroso sobre la Tierra. Un hombre sin egoismo; el hombre mas generoso que haya visto, y que jamas vere. Sabes que desde que nos conocimos y desde que te saque del infierno, el conocerte me ha cambiado. Porque a ti te importa. Y a mi me importa. Me importas tu. Y me importa Sam, me importa Jack, me importa todo el mundo. Y fue por ti. Tu me cambiaste, Dean.

  Dean: Porque suena esto a despedida?

  Castiel: Porque asi fue. Te amo.

  Dean: Yo a ti, Cas. (The empty appears and Billie opens the door) Cas…

  Castiel: Adios Dean

  Dean: No!

  Ok. So… At first glance, they’re pretty much the same until we get to the I love you. BUT let’s dissect it a little bit.

  Cas begins with a “Eres el hombre mas amoroso sobre la Tierra” which is not how I would’ve translated “The most caring man on Earth” since “caring” is more like “Cariñoso” rather than “amoroso” which would be “loving”, and yes, there’s a difference. Plus, “el hombre mas amoroso” sounds a bit clunky, so Personally, I’d have gone with “Eres el hombre mas cariñoso en la Tierra”, that would’ve given us more time for the rest of the speech, but I wonder if the translator choice for Amoroso instead was more due to the fact that “amor” (love) is more clearly romantic than “care” (cariño, in a sense, more on this later) and so it foreshadows the end.

  Again, with the literal clunkyness we have “Un hombre sin egoismo” (A man without egoism) which sounds weird no matter what language you speak, and it should’ve been “Un hombre dadivoso” (A giving man) or “un hombre desinteresado” (a selfless man) although the second could be mis-construed as “a man without interests” so “dadivoso” would’ve better. But the more puzzling is that the Spanish separates the selfless man from the next, which is REALLY confusing as the English is “the most loving man”, which would be “el hombre mas amoroso” making it quite redundant, so the Spanish changes it to “the most generous man”, “el hombre mas generoso”. To add to this, Cas continues with “that I have seen and I will ever see” instead of “That I know”, because it’s far more poetic. And loving.

  So yeah, Mexican Cas is basically saying that Dean Winchester is made of love and puppies.

  Ahem.

  The next part “You know, ever since I pulled you out of hell, you’ve changed me” is more or less word for word, and the only thing that changes is that the English sounds more like a question and the Spanish one is an affirmation. YOU KNOW that ever since I pulled you out of hell, you changed me.” Little verb tense play, that doesn't change much except Cas’s resolution to say what he has to say.

  And then we get to the part that made me squeal out loud. Because we go from

  “Because you cared, I cared. I cared about you. I cared about Sam. I cared about Jack. I cared about the whole world because of you”

  To

  “Porque a ti te importa. Y a mi me importa. Me importas tu. Y me importa Sam, me importa Jack, me importa todo el mundo.” Which at first glance is the same, but NOPE.

  First change: The original is in past tense “I cared”. Spanish version is in present tense: “I care”.

Which is a little non important thing except when you remember that simple present means “immutable absolute truth that won’t change with time”

  Second, the choice of word for care.

  I mentioned before that Care can be Cariño, as in filial, non romantic love (Or romantic love pet name, as it can also be Darling. It’s one of THOSE words). Other translations for care include “cuidado” (as in attention, concern, keeping, and worry), and of course “interesarse” (Which also can be care), “preocuparse” (care, bother, trouble, mind, fuss), and yes, “importar” but “importar” ONLY translates to English as a verb as “import”, “matter” “amount to” and notice how none of those words include “love”.

  Mexican Cas is not saying “you love the world, and so I do”. Mexican Cas is saying “The world matters to you, and thus it matters to me, but my feelings for the World (and Sam, and Jack) are not in the same league as my feelings for you.”

  And then Dean asks “Why does this sound like a Goodbye”, just like in English, in present tense…

  And Mexican Cas replies in PAST tense. “Porque asi fue”. And THIS is important because it means that everything he said before WAS the goodbye, and not what comes next. All the rest? Is in the past. “Because it was”. Not “Because it IS”. And the next part? Is their future.

  I love you.

  Te amo.

  Simple present. No ambiguity like “te quiero”. Spanish Te amo is for romantic love. Not brotherly, not family, not bro-mantic. ROMANTIC.

  It’s like “I’m IN love with you” (Although that’d be “Estoy enamorado de ti” and I doubt that would’ve fit in the time Misha spoke)

  And of course, the answer. “Yo a ti, Cas”. Not “And I, you” as I’ve seen it before (And I also thought it was, until transcribing the scene) but a simple “I, you, Cas.” Which ok, pretty cave-speak, but the meaning is pretty clear. Dean Winchester loves his gay angel.

  It is also telling that the empty doesn’t appear until AFTER Dean confessed, so no, Mexican Cas is not “happy with the saying”, he had to get to the “happy with the having”.

  And when Billy appears, it does seem as if he wants to say something more, but Cas is a love-sick selfsacrificing dumbass and so we all get our hearts broken.

I did get in contact with Dean Winchester’s mexican voice actor, and am waiting for answers to a small interview I did with him which includes the question “did that And I you, Cas” was in the script, and am trying to contact Castiel’s mexican voice actor. So I will be updating you on that. But I hope this clears up some of the questions about how Mexican dubbing made Destiel Canon :D

[matan4il]

Buddie 401 meta

Alright, first thing that I need to talk about is the possibility that Eddie *might* have quarantined with Buck at some point, because Buck talks about Eddie and Hen having gone back to their kids months ago and while it leaves it ambiguous where exactly they quarantined before they went back home, it definitely is suggestive that it could have been with Buck as well. And since I am a simple Buddie ho, I will take that ambiguity and run with it. 

* * *

I’ve said before that I try to stay away from speculations, but I had to take one second to point out that the way Chim, Maddie and Albert all talk about the mystery woman as if it’s certainly romantic even though they know nothing about her and while dismissing Buck’s denial is precisely the proof that it’s going to, well... not be romantic. I’ve said cautiously that I think it’ll be a therapist and I think that’s pretty much a fandom wide consensus, but I wanted to point out the narrative tells here that give it away: unfounded insistence that it’s romantic? It’s not romantic. What is it? Most likely connected to the other stuff we see with Buck in this ep, which is him obsessively looking up facts about the Hollywood reservoir. We first encountered this tendency in ep 309 (of kitchen flirting fame), where Eddie explains Buck’s been doing this since the tsunami, so ever since his trauma, meaning this link raises the odds for the therapist guess. Eddie’s also here to remind us of this connection when he brings up the tsunami himself, although he’s obviously trying to make a joke out of it (which, in a previous meta post I’ve discussed how this is a part of Eddie’s mechanism to defuse a tense situation… evidenced in 309’s kitchen scene as well). So I’ll throw this in as a bonus at the end of the therapist speculation: look at how well Eddie knows Buck and how much he wants to distract Buck from feeling anxious, note how he wants to make Buck feel better rather than get a laugh, which is why he waits until they’re alone. I love a concerned husband!

* * *

Small shout out to the foreshadowing of Buck saying “I don’t have a secret,” when we know from promo interviews that we’ll discover there is some sort of a Buckley family secret with Buck at its center… Nice touch setting this up, show.

* * *

Okay, so we’re all gonna talk about the sexy leaning against the firetruck that Buck does while Eddie’s oh so close to him, right? Which is apparently a thing, as we’ve seen them do it outside the house they come to for a call in 310, as well (it’s a bit blurry and in the background, but it’s there and I love it). But then, I just have to point out that Eddie also allows himself to look at Buck’s screen. IDK if it’s just a different norm I’m not aware of, but even with friends who look at their phones while we hang out together, even with my own sister, I don’t look at other people’s screens unless they explicitly show it to me, because that’s theirs, that’s private. The way Eddie looks at Buck’s phone and Buck doesn’t mind it, it’s not just that they’re all up in each other’s physical space, they’re just all up in each other’s space, period. 

* * *

One more little side note… Last season, I pointed out that Michael’s new guy is Dr. Hale. Now we have a first name for him, which is David. First, as a name geek, let me squeal a bit over the fact that they matched them, so they both have Hebrew names! Second, the meaning of ‘David’ is ‘beloved’ and specifically, in the Bible, David was the character who was most likely bisexual and had a love affair with Jonathan, immortalizing it with the words, “your love has been more wondrous to me than the love of women.” I'm so here for a well chosen character name!

* * *

Throwback point, but hey, I gotta. Buck sees this huge explosion and we know how much Bobby means to him, how the Captain has a parental role in his life, we’ve heard him verbalizing it even (in ep 310). So no wonder he’s distraught when he sees that fire ball coming out of the bus. Yet, compare how he reacts here with the utter devastation he displays in 315 when Eddie’s underground. I’m never gonna stop pointing out that the way he reacted in Eddie Begins is more, more frantic, more desperate, more like his whole world collapsed rather than like one important person in it is in danger and the more scenes we get that show the difference, the more obvious that is.

* * *

I know I seem to be mentioning this in a lot of my meta posts, but… Buddie are being battlefield boyfriends again! I’m gonna continue mentioning this because (a) quick reminder that this was originally a homoerotic trope; (b) at some point I will do a summary and statistical analysis of how many times we’ve seen this. Because it’s not the same as other firefighters when they team up on OG or LS. Buddie have their own thing going, they’re a team onto themselves within the bigger 118 team, they even seem to have preferred roles that they take (this is now the third time we’ve seen Buck repelling down a rope while Eddie holds him… the previous two times being in 208 and 316). The amount of coordination and trust between them as partners always expands my heart! 

Thank you SO MUCH to the wonderful @bicepsie​ for making these amazing gifs for my meta post. You know I think you’re an angel and I’m always going to stand by that. This fandom is lucky to have you!

[hacash]

ted lasso 2x09 thoughts

for an episode that I knew I wasn’t going to be hugely excited about - I like beard, but he’s not one of my faves by any stretch of the imagination - this was really cleverly put together

the precise reason why beard isn’t one of my faves is we get very little to latch onto with him, and this episode did a good job of reversing that: we see coach beard not as ted’s guardian angel or the football-exposition provider, but just as beard: a man clearly dealing with some seriously self-destructive tendencies and one hell of a toxic relationship. also, we all have those little voices that tell us when we’re fucking up and make us feel bad about ourselves, but the fact that beard’s are gary lineker and thierry henry? damn.

(seriously, I know gary lineker mainly as the crisps ad guy rather than the football guy, but seeing him narrate beard’s spiral downwards just had me spluttering.)

beard constantly rewatching the game in his mind’s eye was brutal to watch, but cleverly done as well. I also found it interesting that as well as highlights (well, lowlights) from the match we also saw him relive the moment when he fell over the fence and Ted was left at the side of the pitch clapping the guys on as if nothing was going wrong. tell me that’s not significant, I dare you.

the fact that we had more of the pub regulars was a dream! they really deserved their moment in the sun, and they had so many little wins tonight - I love how they could just be left as a running joke but instead we get to see more of them and end up rooting for them. (particularly in a show set in britain, where the class divides and lingering images of ‘chavs’ could have led to the three mouthy football supporters being seen as a very one-dimensional negative stereotype.)

seriously, if you didn’t cry tears of joy when the boys were playing at nelson road to the tune of ‘we are the champions’, you have a heart of stone.

(uh, and if you didn’t then panic from realising that ‘we are the champions’ is not now being held for the season finale and richmond’s long-desired promotion back to the premier league, you’re a stronger soul than I.)

I absolutely loved how much of this episode felt like weird british pub/club/ambling around London at 1AM in the morning culture. I feel like I’ve had so many of these conversations with my mates myself. and honestly, ‘Just One Cornetto’ was peak drunk brit, and it makes me really sad that most of my american followers won’t quite get how significant and perfect that was.

As an ex-oxford person I can also confirm everything about that scene in the bar was pretty much dead on too.

FUCK ME the moment James Tartt showed his face was worse than any horror movie jump-scare I’ve seen recently.

the significance of Beard continuously dropping his keys was interesting - I wonder if it’s carrying on with the theme of ‘there’s no place like home’ that we’re beginning to see emerge? A sign of his self-destructive tendencies? I like the theory already suggested on here that it’s just a demonstration of the fact that there are always good people around if you just let them help you: Beard has a brutal night, but people who don’t even know him that well like Jeremy and the impeccably-played Big Angry Man are willing and happy to help him get back home.

other folk have written better meta than me about Beard and Jane - I certainly don’t think it’s a healthy relationship and think Beard needs to run, run like the wind, but I found it cleverly done that by the end of the episode I was happy when Beard ran into Jane. he’d been through so much and now he needed a break, needed that rush of endorphins, and she provided it. it was a clever way of showing just why he keeps going back, and although we still don’t want him to stay with her, it provides a good insight into why he goes back.

I’ve said it before and will say it again, but we had direct, verbal confirmation that the coaching team lost Richmond the Man City match. whether you see that snippet as something that only happened in Beard’s imagination - which is significant, he knows something’s wrong and needs to change - or if you think Lineker and Henry were actually saying it out loud - which is also significant, if Gary Lineker and Thierry Henry are criticising your coaching tactics you want to listen - it all boils down to the same thing. the coaching team is heading for trouble, and that’s not just us reading too much into the situation -  the show is actively acknowledging it. colour me both scared and intrigued.

(on a side-note, I thought Lineker and Henry were hilarious in this episode. same goes for all of the sporting personalities they’ve managed to wrangle onto season 2.)

that last scene did exasperate me a little - it feels like even with these inroads into therapy Ted is still going for the classic head-in-the-sand, everything’s-going-to-be-ok-if-we-just-look-at-it-positively approach - but, well, I did like the Benny Hill theme music, even if this feels like the last calm before the storm.

still not quite over the fact that we got zero new colin or isaac content in this ep. I am a simple woman: I want to watch pretty boys being a bit daft and a bit sweet to each other on a regular weekly basis.

[liquid-luck-00]

Lantern!Marinette 2

Ao3 *** Part 1 *** Here *** Part 3

~~~~~~~~~~

Okay so I didn't touch Mari's parents before so here it is.

Simple explanation the magic that flows from Adana erased Mari's existence because she was so young. However those that loved her, that she loved, or who were impactful our Mari's life will remember her as a dream or imaginary friend respectively. If or when they meet her again it would be 'I know you from some where, but I don't know from where.'

In all intense and purposes Mari is a ghost.

So with that said here we go.

---

So here she was starting middle school in Coast City. It was actually not half bad. same there was nothing about the intergalactic wars, the policies that set the Green Lanterns as the Galactic Police force or any history she learned from the Blues. This actually made her dangerously behind in Earth history, but Marinette was always a quick study. Her English, math, science, and art were amazing and her physical capabilities made her a star athlete. Only downside was making friends, like seriously everyone stayed in groups of two. Add to the fact she knew little of Earth culture and customs, made it hard to interact with others outside of class work. All in all she was shy.

Whenever a villain would attack and she was able to assist she would, but she made sure she was not seen and only boosted her dad's powers while healing injuries before they could be noticed. This only lasted about a little over a year.

She knew better than to call dad when she knew that he was in a meeting with the JLA, but it was kinda hard to ignore the yellow blur running through the city causing havoc.

"What's wrong?" He answered on the second call, murmurs were heard in the background.

"There's a speedster in yellow tearing up and down the city." she responded simply.

"Can you see..."

"Crap!" was shouted on the other end "Got to go. Reverse got out." Someone yelled but she didn't recognize the voice.

"I'll go with you," dad sighed. "He is in Coast." was the last thing she heard before dad ended the call. She took that to mean she should transform and help minimize the damage and keep an eye out.

Not even 10 minutes later she saw a red blur followed by her dad's green one. (They were held up by a nosy Bat who couldn’t help himself because someone cough*Superman*cough decided to eavesdrop on the call.) She updated him, and he repeated it, to who she now recognizes as the Flash, and they got to work.

It didn't take them long to defeat the Reverse Flash, but here is where they ran into a problem. Coast was equipped to deal with most metas but speedsters that got their power from the speed force were different, and by that they meant difficult.

"I have an idea." She piped up through to her dad’s comms.

"Come on over and share with the group." She landed not even a minute later spooking the Flash. "What's the idea."

"Am I not supposed to ask who this is?" Was asked by Flash, but he was completely ignored.

"So you know how the speed force allows speedsters to vibrate which allows them to pass trough matter, which is why transporting and containing speedsters are so difficult." She began to explain.

"Um..." Dad seemed completely lost. This was something she learned with the Blues in order to understand for when she would eventually come back to Earth.

"How do you..?" Flash seemed to look at her as if she just grew a second head and was suddenly very dangerous.

"Well if we create a double construct that infuses both frequencies of the spectrum" Marinette continued.

"It'll stop him from escaping since it would be two simultaneous frequencies working in tandem occupying the same space and speedsters can only vibrate at one at a given time." Flash caught onto her idea.

"Exactly!" she beamed.

"Alright let's try." Dad agreed once he fully understood.

They tested a small square and tightly wove several strands of energy until a swatch was big enough and tightly worn enough was created. They continued to expand it until Reverse Flash was in a bubble, which they proceeded to fly to Star City. After dropping off Reverse Flash, the actual Flash practically dragged the two lanterns to his home.

"Okay Jordan spill." Flash was now in civilian clothes, dad crossed his arms and huffed dropping his transformation and she followed suit, slightly hiding behind him.

"Hey Barry dinners just about ready." A woman came out of the other room. "Hey Hal want to join us?" she asked smiling and then spotted her. "Who's this?"

"Dinner would be lovely Iris," Dad replied smiling. "And this is Marinette," he pushed her forward and she gave a light wave and smile.

"Hello," was barely audible.

The woman, Iris, turned to Flash, Barry, "Dad and Wally should be here soon." As the words left her mouth the door opened and revealed a man and a teenager.

"Heya Auntie Iris, Uncle Barry, what's up Hal,” and he froze seeing her, "Um... Hi."

He was a blur until that, so speedster.

"Wally why don't you and Marinette get the table set." Iris suggested breaking the awkward silence between the two teens.

Wally led her to the kitchen, "I'll get the plates, can you do the table?"

"Sure." she answered and used the constructs of the ring to expand the table and bring over two more chairs.

"What?!" the plates began to fall from his hands, so she reacted since he didn’t seem to, catching them in another construct moving them over to the table. "Your a blue lantern!"

"Yeah, and you're a speedster." she shot him a smile. After that dinner was significantly less awkward, seeing as everyone knew or was a hero, and was filled with questions and lots of laughter, mainly getting to know her.

"In all seriousness you might want to keep her away from the Bat." Barry joked.

"Bats isn't getting Bluebell. Hell if today hadn't happened you wouldn't have known about her." Dad grumbled.

"Why should I stay away from a bat, I thought they were harmless to humans, or are you talking about a bat used for sports?" She was genuinely confused.

"Bats is a nickname for Batman a vigilante from Gotham. He a few years ago took in a ward." A soft ‘Oh’ was heard from her, but Barry continued "So, when are you going to introduce her to the rest of the League."

"I won’t if I can help it."

"But we knew this would happen sooner or later." she piped in.

"Yes but you've only been on Earth a year."

"You kept her from us for a year. Good job Jordan." Barry complimented.

"Year and a half actually, but better now than during something cataclysmic." she rationalized.

"That's true." Dad paused a moment before exclaiming, "I see what your doing little lady." A mock scowl on his face.

---

That was her first friendship she made. Wally would randomly come over for the week end. She found out about a month later that it was whenever he needed a breather from his teammates.

That in turn meant that she would know quite well the inner workings of the team as he knew she could keep it a secret. When in private he would use (in the beginning at least) Robin, Artemis, Aqualad, Superboy, and Miss Martian otherwise he he ended up using pokemon names to describe them while in public. He had taken it upon himself to help her understand Earth culture and that mainly revolved around playing a lot of video games,watching movies or tv, or going out to various locations. Riolu, Chikorita, Croconaw, Machamp, Ditto and of late, a new teammate called Zatanna, nicknamed Kirlia. In all honesty she heard the nicknames so often that that was how she knew his teammates. It got to the point that he would call her Togetic, so in retaliation she calls him Pikachu.

Part 3

~~~~~~~~~~

Permanent Taglist: @itsmeevie01 @miraculouspenta

Taglist: @anjuschiffer @michaelshadow7779 @maskedpainter @corporeal-terrestrial @slytherinhquinn

[accio-victuuri]

Hi can you provide the link to read manhuas you prefer?

Hello Anon! OMG Manhua/Manhwa Rec! Here we go! I’ve only been reading for 2-3 months (consistently), so this will be pretty limited. I will link to the legit sites. A google search will direct you to others.

Most of these are WIPs and some, sadly, are discontinued. I won’t add TGCF or MDZS here cause those are already a given. 👇🏼

• Body Electric by Dong Ye ( completed, supernatural, lots of trigger warnings and plotty )

Ba Song is the hotshot cop who’s been handed an open-and-shut case: the suicide of a young woman. Except… who commits suicide by stabbing their own body and strangling themself? There's only one man who can help him with this mystery — Bo Shan, the renowned forensic pathologist with a severe and cold personality. What's more, his body produces bioelectricity, allowing him to acutely sense bodily injury with his touch. There's an electric current between them, and each touch sizzles with energy

If you like crime dramas and stories where they solve mysterious cases then this is for you. The romance is subtle, and their relationship is not insta-love. strangers to colleagues to friends to lovers trope. This also discusses alot of issues the society has that will make you stop and think. Ba Song is really the honorable MC in here who always wants to help people and do good. While Bo Shan is the reluctant one but deep inside, he wants to make a difference too. I wish they would make a donghua or live action out of this.

• 30 year old by S-Monkey - ( ongoing, age difference, blind dates, slice of life)

Charlie Wei is a single and handsome executive. He’s also a closeted gay guy who’s been on way too many bad blind dates with women. Charlie’s still hung up on his ex-boyfriend James and is… gasp, 30! Charlie’s family thinks he’s straight and too old to be without a wife! During another bad blind date, Charlie meets the flirty Ethan, who both annoys and intrigues him. Can Charlie finally come out and find true love with Ethan or will he continue on his streak of bad blind dates?

The cover looks melodramatic but it’s really not. This is so funny! I read this because people were saying it reminded them of BoXiao. And yes, there are moments here that remind me of them, but it’s more like an AU of BoXiao. I stayed up late trying to get caught up in the chapters and you won’t realize it cause it’s just that good. I love seeing the older MC loosening up and being more of himself. and the younger one being more responsible in his career. They just become better versions of themselves because of each other. It’s so sweet!

• I ship me and my Rival - by Pepa ( ongoing, comedy, reads like a meta )

This follows the adventures of Wei Yanzi, a third-rate actor in the Chinese entertainment industry, stumbles onto a shipping fandom for himself and another actor (Gu Yiliang) while trying to escape from the flame wars and negativity. He's so taken with this group of fans who actually see him as a good guy instead of an enemy/rival of Gu Yiliang that he falls head-first into fandom and becomes actively involved in trying to provide shipping fuel and the fans' daily dose of fluff.

IF THERE IS ONE thing you will read here, let it be this. It is hilarious. If you are a CP fan you will relate so much and it’s a good time. It just shows how people who think are rivals can actually be really good friends in real life. What we see is not always what it seems. and people will interpret things based on their bias. The MC here is so dramatic! how his inner feelings/reactions were drawn will make you laugh.

• Path to You - by Sinran (completed, slice of life, age gap fluff and comedy )

When almost college dropout Jensen attempts to drink away his problems, unemployed Nathaniel suddenly pukes on him and ruins his night. As an apology, Nathaniel offers to help Jensen with his studies. Despite Jensen's difficulties in getting along with people, the two become friends and something deeper begins to grow between them

The story is so soft. If you want something with mild angst/misunderstandings— then pick this. I love the progression of their relationship and how they take care of each other. There are other themes showed here other than the romance.

• Red Candy - by Hanse (completed season one with a cliffhanger, explicit scenes, assassins )

Shihyeon, aka “Red Candy,” is a secret agent whose code name comes from bathing in the blood of his marks on dangerous missions. Shihyeon’s tasked with seducing and obtaining intel from Hajun, a hot college professor. Shihyeon can disarm enemies, but didn’t expect to be disarmed himself by Hajun’s own tight body. Now Shihyeon’s caught between loyalty to his spy agency and Hajun. Can Red Candy survive the incoming wave of enemies and still indulge in the sweet ecstasy of Hajun’s embrace?

THIS STRESSED ME OUT MAAAN. Wow. I loved this. That season one cliffhanger. It’s definitely up there as my favorite. If you think about it, the tropes are really not original. An assassin is sent to shadow a person and they develop a relationship. That simple. But NOOOOO! There are so many things going on. The Main mystery plot, Their relationship, their shared past plus you have other sketchy secondary characters. And did i mention explicit scenes? Lots of them. I want this two to have a happy ending!!!

• Lone Swan - by Chu Man (discontinued, cultivation, star crossed lovers)

After losing his memory, Yiqiu Shen, a disciple from the decent sect meets a very special man named Luofeng Yan, who is the leader of the evil Divine Wind Cult. When escaping and conflicting with Yan, Shen gradually finds his original self as well as his previous love back. Together they rip off the facade of the martial world and reveal the hidden true

I didn’t want to add a discontinued story here, with no novel as a source material but this one made an impact on me. so. yeah. THE ART. breathtaking. The plot = layered. There are times I don’t even know who is telling the truth. It had so much potential and i hope it will get picked up again at some point. People rec this to those who enjoyed TGCF and MDZS, and they are right. 👍🏼

• Dragon in Distress by Si Wang Wen Hua - ( ongoing, dragons, past life, lost power, fantasy )

This is a story about a little Eastern green dragon and a little Western black dragon playing together.

The synopsis is pretty simple if you look at it but this one is pretty interesting. and surprisingly funny. tinie AoAo is so cute! 🤍 the other MC has tsundere tendencies tho. Lots of lore and more truths to uncover as the story progresses. I’m not giving it enough justice with how i’m reccing it, but if you like dragons and fantasy — give this a go.

• Breaking through the clouds 2: Swallow the Sea - Huaishang (ongoing, based on a novel, crime, drama, cases)

Wu Yu, a newcomer of the Public Security Bureau, is gentle and frail. He doesn’t care about the difficulties posed by Bu ZhongHua, his strict boss, and only wants to stay in the background to be paid on time with enough for food. However, no one knows that this young man’s head is targeted by top drug traffickers for a large bounty or that this courageous young man has once slaughtered the dragon of the abyss. With a chain of interlocking cases, a series of troubles come one after another. Can the two people work together to survive through the difficulties?

Do you see a pattern with me? lol. I like crime themes. This one is the same and by the looks of it, the cases they solve will take longer to unravel. I haven’t read the novel it’s based on yet so i’m just going with how the manhua is progressing. I like it when Wu Yu turns full on action-mode and when ZH takes care of him. Plus it helps that they are both gorgeous. I’ll get back this with a proper link.

• Where the Wind Stays - by Yusa (completed season one, curses, demons, possession, timeskip, explicit scenes)

To break an ancient curse that plagues the royal bloodline, young Prince Tasara is destined to be sacrificed in death. Nara is enlisted as a palace servant to carry out the prince’s execution when the time comes. But he develops a soft spot for the cursed prince, and after committing an atrocious and unforgivable act against Tasara, Nara is desperate to right his wrongs. Soon, their lascivious relationship that had been kept under wraps tests his resolve. Will Nara be tempted away from his original mission? There’s no telling how far he would go to earn Tasara’s forgiveness.

This story broke my brain, in a good way. I don’t wanna say much cause it will spoil the story. It’s the type that you gave to see and suffer through yourself. I am excited for what happens in season II!!!

Honorable Mentions:

I’m placing these here cause I have only read a few chapters and tho I liked them, I wanna read more before reccing it in full. 👍🏼

• I accidentally saved the Jinghu’s enemy

• Global Examination

• Monster entertainment

• Demon Apartment

And that’s it! Hope enjoy Anon! 😊

[teresa-moyocoyotzin]

short recap of my thoughts on 5x09

okay so i was gonna rewatch the whole episode and do a blow-by-blow reaction post but i’m not sure i’ll have time and i kinda wanna focus on watching my fave scenes from the show before tonight. also, everyone else’s reaction posts p. much sum up my thoughts lol 

nonetheless, i just wanted to give my main takeaways on the episode a week later, in case anyone cares where i’m at going into the finale! gonna go over the things i liked first, anyone who wants to just remain positive and not see any salty takes might wanna just stick to reading the first part b/c i definitely rant a bit at the end lmao. we’re still having a fun time tho 😂

THINGS I LOVED

- i mean... i think we know LOL

- obviously. i loved james and teresa’s i love you scenes, and kisses, and OOF THAT SEX SCENE. if someone had told me we were gonna get that scene back in like 2017??? i probably would have started literally floating. i totally respect that people had very specific ideas of what they wanted out of those scenes and could have different feelings about it but NOT ME BABES I AM ECSTATIC!!! i did go into the episode with a ~feeling~ that we were gonna get at least one ILY in the episode, and i just had a feeling it would be james, or at least that he would say it first. i’ve already explained in my meta about the scenes why i think it makes sense that he said it first and why i love it that he did, so i won’t go into that here. but i went in having really no expectations for it other than that it was gonna happen! i was debating about whether it would happen really casually while they’re talking, or in like a big action scene, or really dramatic or what, and what i would prefer, and i came to the conclusion that i would love it no matter what lol, but i was really into the idea of james just. fucking. saying it. while they’re just talking about something really casually. so therefore i was pretty happy with it when we got sort of a mix! they’re talking about teresa’s insane death trap of a plan so there’s that drama of “i don’t want to lose you esp. not before saying ILY” kinda thing, but it’s also just. so simple and sure! and then teresa’s i love you is like the perfect scene for me where one character is super focused on something else (in this case, trying to protect the woman he loves! agh!) and the other is just like.. i love you!!!! SO GOOD

- let’s see, what the hell else happened in this ep?

- oh okay i really liked james and teresa’s vibes this episode, they were so focused on each other and had this very ride-or-die feeling about them like they knew that each of their plans was increasingly stupid and desperate and might not even get them where they wanna go, but they were IN IT TOGETHER no matter what 😭i wish we had gotten a callback to that line but at this point, i’m p. sure they Know they’re in it together, and we do too. so it’s okay. i love that teresa still asks his input and considers his opinions even if she does her own thing anyways haha 

- oh on that note, i LOVED the moment where their plans to kill Kostya aren’t working and Teresa says something like “If I can meet with him in person, I can kill him myself” and James just has this LOOK that just is the epitome of the “I am in love with a women who is DESIGNED TO STRESS ME OUT” meme lol, it made me giggle, v classic QOTS moment 

- oh and of course, I LOVED that scene with devon and james at the end!!!!!!!! i was also confused about how james was showing all his emotions in that scene esp. since he tries to be stoic about his feelings for Teresa around Devon, but now that i’ve read a few people’s thoughts about, it i’m fully on board w the theory that james and teresa already knew this was coming, b/c they’re smart, and b/c james knows devon wouldn’t have let him walk away to save Teresa at the beginning of the season without motivation (like having him in place to kill her when she’s no longer useful to the CIA) and THEREFORE james was sort of “overacting” to make it believable to devon (and the audience lol) that he didn’t know this was coming, didn’t want to do it, but felt like he had to, rather than the fact that they were already plotting a fake death. that makes a lot of sense to me and makes me really love all the layers to that scene. it does give me a little bit of hope that the finale ~teresa’s not really dead~ reveal will be at least a little well executed and not just shoved in at the very end. we shall see though! 

- alright i think that’s what i loved about the episode, if u don’t wanna hear me bitching about the little things then u should probably stop here!! just have to get out some of my saltiness lol 

THINGS I WAS ANNOYED ABOUT

- i’m just gonna get it out of the way, yes, i too was supremely annoyed at the amount of KA and Pote take suburbia; it was all 1000% predictable down to the raccoon and the cookies, and the point could have been accomplished in exactly 1 scene, maybe 2, certainly not like 10 or however many we got. whatever. ugh. 

- okay. OKAY. chicho. we need to talk about chicho. i for one, am not mad that he called pote, my boy was stressed. I AM HOWEVER, mad at the writers for making pote come back after saying he trusted chicho to take care of teresa now. like. it totally devalued THE WHOLE THING!! imo, pote shoulda stayed his ass at home where we had to watch him settle all episode, and chicho should have gotten THE HERO MOMENT HE DESERVED (esp. cuz he’s on first name basis w teresa now??) which ALSO WOULD HAVE MADE THE SCENE WHERE TERESA GIVES CHICHO THE DISTILLERY AND THE BAR SO! MUCH! MORE! MEANINGFUL!!!!! or just made it make sense at all? like .... i’m just so confused by that whole plotline like what was the point? chicho does nothing but call pote and gets T’s whole legacy in NOLA? 

- and don’t even get me started on how it makes ZERO sense that pote would have had to charge in at the last minute to save teresa when JAMES THE SNIPER W AMAZING AIM WHO IS LITERALLY. IN LOVE WITH HER. is standing outside like. ur telling me james and chicho (who again, is supposed to be her #2 after james now) just stood there like “oh hey pote yeah you go ahead we’ll wait here good luck” like WHAT also.. how did pote get past all the guards that made james stay outside? are we meant to believe pote is that sneaky? y’all. it just. doesn’t make sense. this whole plot situation maddens me more than anythings tbh UGH JUST MAKE IT MAKE SENSE 

- oksana’s daughter..... what’s her name again? idk b/c we only MET HER THIS WEEK....okay this amuses me but i’m also annoyed b/c like. there were so many other women who could have taken that spot in the opening sequence... Lil T, Castel, hell even Isabela??? Like idk how they could have done it but they put so much effort into her plot in the first seasons that i really thought she was gonna end up w/ Teresa in the end.. idk that would have been kind cool, Camila’s two “daughters” eventually working their way out of the life together..again idk how they could have realistically done it but i really do wish it had been someone we met before. if it had to be someone new this season, they could have introduced her earlier instead of one of the seemingly dozens of random guys we knew for 1 episode before they died... like.. give her some depth please. is she even gonna be in the finale? honestly she better be after making us listen to pote welcome her into the family... like the family u were supposed to leave so u could have an actual baby pote? the family that’s literally dispersing as we speak? also.. since when did pote love oksana so much anyways? also...... just.. if teresa’s gonna have some sort of daughter figure or whatever she’s supposed to be, wouldn’t it make sense to have her be the one to give the big welcome to the family speech? idk y’all..... i’m amused but also baffled at the sheer lack of planning behind this. did no one realize they needed someone for the opening scene until like. halfway thru the season? did they plan to have it be castel but they couldn’t get her for filming (hence all the weird castel plots?) INQUIRING MINDS WOULD LIKE TO KNOW. it’s whatever tho lol 

- i just hope that what’s-her-name gets a lil bit of plot in the finale esp. since otherwise it might just be pote running around being pissy (i don’t actually think that haha but i am a lil nervous that teresa won’t come back until the last few mins and i’ll have to spend all episode looking at boaz and devon and pote and KA.. i haven’t looked at any spoilers tho so i’m still hopeful! i will probably make a post about my hopes going into the finale a lil later, both realistic and unrealistic :) 

[unholyhelbig]

Title: Centerfold [Pt.2]

Ship: Beca Mitchell/ Chloe Beale

(Read Part one here)

Beca Mitchell’s phone was a box of constant communication. She had her emails redirected so that she could feel every single time she needed to address something at the office, even if she was there and the soft pinging culminated in the very screen she stared at. She had a multitude of contacts and would video chat with the team in Italy, and sometimes L.A.

So, what she knew deep down, was that it was impossible for her not to look at her phone all day. Physically she had to check the notifications to keep her world running. Emily intercepted most of them, keeping her deep stare on her own screen before glancing up at her boss every couple of minutes. They were both on edge and Beca didn’t much appreciate the tension that sparked between them.

She held her breathe each time a new ping sounded off until eventually that lull of anxiety was hushed to a dull ache in the pit of her chest. She went through her morning meets and a new presentation to her team about how their coding for a new watch wasn’t up to parr- they had a few days to fix it before it dropped, and the CEO made sure she knew that.

When the notification from Chloe did finally come through, Beca almost didn’t’ notice. She registered the pink of the logo that slowly shifted to a deep purple. But the name? Oh, the name she hadn’t clocked for a few seconds after that. And even then, Chloe Beale? Her Chloe, actually responded.

Beca lilted the computer screen and frantically looked up at Emily, who was already at her door. She didn’t bother to knock. Instead, she situated the office and closed the blinds and very coolly, but not so coolly, pressed her back against the wood and breathed.

“Dude,” Beca said.

“I know,” Emily said “Did you read it?”

She hadn’t read it. She hadn’t even thought to read it because her mind got stuck behind the massive roadblock that was Chloe Beale and her stupid pun username. She opened the application and hesitated over the message icon. She was supposed to be playing it hard to get like she didn’t’ care if she even got a response. But she did care and apparently so did her assistant because she was right behind her, blindly gawking like her halo fell into her eyes and blinded her from right and wrong.

“If I click this she’ll see that I read it and then there’s no going back.”

“You don’t want to go back, do you?”

“You told me to keep her guessing,”

“Truthfully, I didn’t think you’d even get a response.” Emily shrugged sheepishly “Figured you would forget about it in a few days and… open it.”

Beca frowned but hovered the mouse over the message. She wanted to close her eyes but felt like she was watching a car accident, complete with the red and blue flashing lights and the metallic crunch of metal. Either way, she couldn't avert her stare. She didn’t want to.

Chloe: Hey stranger. I must admit that I was never expecting to hear from you again, big shot manager. I’ve kept my tabs on you… New York is my home, so if you’re serious about coffee, so am I.

Her breath caught in her throat. Chloe Fucking Beale had said yes. Her childhood love had agreed to coffee that neither of them could probably stomach. Chloe Fucking Beale who was a playboy model with more than a million Instagram followers, and Chloe Fucking Beale who she was pretty sure she still loved.

There had been other people, men, and women that she had thought she fell for. She folded into soft touches and stronger commands. She was happy for months at a time and on one rare occasion a full year with a man who ran his own tours of the city. But none of those relationships had ever been like the one she had with Chloe.

Beca pulled in a long breath that filled her lungs with stale coffee and copy paper. She tilted her lid and looked to Emily because she was the expert. And Beca was frozen. That same cold excitement filled her and it also rocked her ever-loving shit. She couldn’t move, she couldn’t think.

Emily looked at the darkened screen, then at her boss, then back at the screen before lunging forward and typing back a reply. Perfect. Are you free this Saturday?

It turns out that Chloe was free that Saturday and if she wasn’t, she didn’t’ say a word and quietly cleared her schedule. The day was quickly approaching and Beca really wanted to know why the New York Branch put her in charge of everything when she could barely figure out what to wear to a simple cup of coffee.

This felt more like a simple cup of coffee.

Emily eventually got tired of the barrage of pictures she was getting and took a cab to Beca’s apartment an hour before the actual date. They settled on black jeans and a blue button-down that Emily pulled closer to her chest for extra measure because according to her “You look good in anything and Chloe won’t be able to make eye contact with you.”

Then she was on a subway that smelled like stale snow and hot morning breath. They picked a small shop downtown that not many people knew about. It was a feat in the city to find a place that wasn’t packed like a sardine can and Beca trusted Chloe’s judgment tenfold.

Beca got there first, and her palms were sweating despite the cool atmosphere that swept through the little shop each time the door opened. It was a meta cross between a thrifted bookstore and a café. People sat and ate and read and the scent of what Beca imagined old magic to be, mingled well with coffee grinds and fresh pastries.

She ordered a simple black americano and settled by the front window, the glass fogged from a warm contrast with the cold of the busy street and curved lettering faced the patrons. There was a simple logo and one barista behind the counter. She chose a random book and pretended to read, but only skimmed the same paragraph over and over again.

Her main focus was on the door and the bell that chimed each time it was opened. One of those times, after a businessman and a hipster kid hugging his laptop close to his chest, it was Chloe. Soft and vibrant compared to the rest of the dim academic setting.

Her hair was pulled behind her ears and a pair of golden framed glasses rested on her nose. She had aged like wine and the wind that blew in behind her carried the sweet scent of southern peaches through the front door. She wore a white sweater with a plaid peacoat and high wasted jeans, and Beca knew she was staring.

Everyone was, they couldn’t’ help it. She overtook the room with a warm and sparked presence. If anyone recognized her they didn’t’ say a thing, out of saving their own face or because the girl in the centerfold of the latest playboy was wildly different than the one standing in front of her. This… this was her Chloe.

She didn’t’ know if she could hug Chloe, if touching was okay, but as she stood to greet her, she was pulled into the warmth of the woman. She was wrapped in overwhelming touch and emotion and she buried her nose into Chloe’s hair as they held onto each other, not quite willing to let go of the familiarity before realizing that it was inappropriate not to.

“Wow,” Chloe ran her hands down Beca’s arms, stopping at her elbows “You haven’t aged a day, have you?”

“It’s the lighting in here, I think it’s one step up from basement overhead.”

Chloe laughed and it was a magical sound. The only thing more intoxicating was her smile, which never seemed to leave her lips as she ordered her own drink, something loaded with sugar and caramel, and leaned forward across the table to get a better look at her date.

Beca sipped her coffee and quirked an eyebrow “What?”

“I haven’t seen you in ten years, I think it’s perfectly acceptable for me to study you.”

“There’ll be plenty of time for that,” She tested “What have you been up to all these years?”

Chloe leaned back in her seat and cupped her mug. It was a russet red and steam rose from the pale liquid that soaked inside. There was a sickeningly sweet odor to it and part of Beca regretted ordering nothing but a black coffee. It seemed like a disservice to the atmosphere of the shop.

“Oh, a bunch of stuff here and there. I used to be based out of LA, I did a lot of acting there. Little stuff like soap operas and a couple of commercials. It wasn’t for me, though so I moved here to pursue modeling and it’s been going well. Really well.”

Beca didn’t’ want to mention the playboy magazine or the curve of Chloe’s legs and the way her skin shown under the bright summer sun. She never returned it to Jason because he never asked for it back. It was an unspoken solidarity between the two.

“That’s amazing,” Beca smiled, feeling excitement in her chest “Anything I would recognize?”

Chloe hummed into her drink “Mm, maybe a few things. It depends on how you feel about Playboy. I never thought you were much of a reader.”

Beca looked down dejectedly at the old spined book to her right. It was true, she hadn’t read the Catcher in the Rye and she barely got through the introduction paragraph because of the nerves and the heartbeat that beat so strongly against the inside of her wrist right now.

“I’m not usually. But I do enjoy looking at the pictures.” Beca flicked her stare back towards the woman across from her “Though, that’s not the reason I reached out to you.”

“Truth is, I’ve always wanted to message you, but you looked like you were doing so well. Like you were so happy. I didn’t want to throw you off or seem like I was chasing something that we used to have.” She said, “So I waited.”

It was Beca’s turn to laugh, “I felt the same exact way. We’re both pretty stupid, then huh? Waiting like this for something we knew… for something we knew we wanted.”

Chloe smiled wider and clinked her mug against Beca’s yellow one, not spilling any of the mostly full drink. “To being stupid. And getting to know each other all over again.”

And that’s exactly what they did. They sat and talked until they were the only two in the coffee shop and Beca even dared to kiss Chloe when they got to the subway platform.  She tasted like caramel and sunshine if such a thing was even possible.

But it was because she had found Chloe. Centerfold Chloe. High school Chloe, and most importantly, her Chloe.