#I guess I'm liveblogging it???

[theminecraftbee]

i'm so glad to see that joel's trapping skills have, if nothing else, remained consistent.

[chompe-diem]

hey. don't cry. audible smile in brian murphy's voice when he says "...but it's good when your friends look out for you" ok?

[marshmallowgoop]

No matter how special it is, a kid's lunch is still just a kid's lunch.

I dunno, I liked "The Genius Restaurant" (Episode 1,089).

Happy (belated) birthday, Jimjam.

[Song link] [YouTube link]

[thelonelywhale]

Sorry I know we kinda breezed past this detail last night, but just a reminder that there are at least THREE dragons in attendance at the Exandrian Accord leadership convention..!!

Thank you Matt and Brennan for bringing secret dragons back into my dnd show.

[completeoveranalysis]

OK!

UNHINGED THEORY TIME:

WHO ARE LAVA LAMPS PARENTS?

Criteria for candidates include: (a) his mother's name is Sakura, (b) his mother is a dream seer, (c) they are vaguely Sakura and Syaoran shaped, (d) they end up in the Jam Jar

Potential Answer 1: Cardcaptor Sakura and Syaoran Li, from Cardcaptor Sakura

Hints in favour: Almost everything. Clamp drop constant hints that imply Cardcaptor Sakura, including but not limited to: the world Lava Lamp is 'from' resembles our world, his father's name is Syaoran Li, his mother's magic circle is the same one from Cardcaptor Sakura, his father's sword is identical to Cardcaptor Sakura!Li Syaoran's sword, his magic circle, Touya and Yukito (in 216, his relatives) are shown in ordinary clothing resembling our world, Lava Lamp's mother gave Yuuko the Star Wand, Lava Lamp's grandmother looks like Nadeshiko, Lava Lamp's father is descended from Clow Reed.

Counterpoints: Lava Lamp doesn't seem to recognise Touya and Yukito in the Clow Kingdom, CLAMP wouldn't need to hide their faces if we already correctly know who they are, Lava Lamp doesn't seem to know how Cardcaptor Sakura is related to Clow Reed.

Also: It's a bit dark! Even though Clamp are OVERFLOWING with hints that Lava Lamp's parents might just be the Cardcaptors, it would be a bit of a downer for the main characters for such a sweet and uplifting manga like Cardcaptor Sakura to end up here.

Theory Status: The one the narrative most strongly backs up, but still doesn't feel quite right

Potential Answer 2: Someone from Tsubasa

Hints in favour: THEY DON'T SHOW US THEIR FACES. EVER. Why leave their faces out unless we would recognise?

With this in mind, let us narrow down the potential Syaorans we have seen who could be considered JUST KIDDING THERE'S ONLY ONE: CLONE SYAORAN. He's the only one with an appearance distinctive enough to be immediately recognisable: he has heterochromia.

What if Clone Syaoran is Real Syaoran's father? Which would make Lava Lamp's mother either Clone Sakura or the new Fusion Sakura we just met.

Counter point: That's completely batshit.

Counter Counter Point: Logic in the universe is dying. Also this is CLAMP. It should be completely batshit.

Another Counterpoint: Hiding their faces could be a red herring just to torture us on purpose

Which I have no defence against that is 100% what they would do

Yet Another Counterpoint: Clone Syaoran and Clone Sakura are currently dead.

AND OK I HAVE NO EXPLANATION FOR THAT ONE.

Unless? There is a gap in the timeline where they could have disappeared for a long period of time? Ie, long enough to disappear to another dimensions, have children together, raise them, and then hop in the Jam Jar for an undisclosed number of years? And then time travel to still make it back into the narrative on time?

And - sure! There are MANY holes times where Clone Syaoran disappears from the narrative entirely. Most notably, his magic growth is extreme between the end of Nihon and his reappearance in the Reservoir. Also that was arguably when his soul was restored. So he MIGHT have disappeared, done all that, and still made it back in time to die in the Reservoir.

Also, if that IS the order of events, that would explain why we can never see his face AND ALSO why he still has Fai's eye when fighting in the Reservoir. Because he hasn't died yet.

Big Counter point: Yuuko has never met Lava Lamp's parents. Also, Lava Lamp's parents don't have the power to cross dimensions.

Which, yeah. That seems to rule them out entirely. Yuuko has met Clone Syaoran.

(Unless she means technically, since she wasn't in the same dimension as Clone Syaoran when she first met him in Chapter 1/2, but surely that's splitting hairs.)

So that seems to... rule them out pretty solidly?

Unless Yuuko HERSELF doesn't know exactly who they are, which seems even more unlikely than anything else.

Theory Status: Doesn't compute but I kind of want it anyway

Potential Answer 3: A completely unrelated pair of Sakura and Syaoran

Hints in Favour: It wouldn't counteract with any other facts we have so far, since we know nothing about them.

Counter point: It's boring.

Theory Status: It would work but it would be disappointing.

PS - no confirmations or denials in either direction please and thank you :D

[star-laboratory]

"i could- we could lose charles"

HELLO???? WHAT WHERE YOU SAYING YOUNG MAN??? KEEP ON WITH THAT FIRST PHRASE

[noodlesarecheese]

Chetney/Fearne/Deanna smut fics when? Hello? Horny authors where are you?

[jq37]

I know Fig immediately getting Oisin out of line of sight from Adaine was about keeping him from Counterspelling her but it also had the energy of, "Ugh, my sister's shitty ex. Let me glare daggers at him so he leaves before she notices."

[wanderingandfound]

Kevin's description of Cecil, episodes 19 A and 19 B:

He is wearing a tie. He is not tall or short. Not thin or fat. He has eyes like mine and a nose like mine. And hair like mine. But I do not think he is me. Maybe it is the smile. Is that a smile? I can't say.

I don't know where I went, but I think that I met my double. The vortex is gone now, but as I was returning, I passed a man, a man who looked just like me. I smiled and said hello there, friend! I hugged this man, and he hugged me back. We shared a moment in this otherworld.

Cecil's description of Kevin, episodes 19 B and 19 A:

There is a photo, a single photo of a man on the desk here. He is wearing a tie. He is not tall or short. Not thin or fat. His hair and nose are like mine, but his eyes. His eyes are black as obsidian, and his smile. No. It is not a smile. He must be wicked, this man.

Along the way, in the vortex, I saw a grotesque man. A foul devil of a man. And he attacked me. I tried to choke him to death, but I remembered. I remembered what I told you. And I let him live. I let that woeful beast live.

Abby's description of Cecil, episode 246:

I know we have a father, and I know it’s the same man for you and me. Look at us. We have matching noses, with these thin bridges and the upturn at the tip. And we share dimples. Mom didn’t have those features. We look alike well beyond our mother.

[nathaniel-underwood-is-an-intj]

Post Ptolemy's Gate ramble

So I just finished Ptolemy's Gate, thoughts are a bit all over the place and aside from mentioning the obvious I thought I'd dump some thoughts here.

Piper's apathy certainly shocked me. I know she's stressed running the council and she's got loads of organisation to do but oof she sure did come across as cold in her conversation with Kitty. Kitty has that kind of apathetic resignation of grief but it really felt like Piper had already put it behind her despite it only being two days before. Her boss that she worked for died horribly to save them all and she didn't even seem to share a quiet moment of grief with Kitty idk it just felt a little brutal 😅 I had an impression of her being really sweet so I was a bit taken aback.

One thing that really stood out to me was Nathaniel's apathy to the situation, I found it really interesting. I guess something could be said about it being the magician in him.

Nathaniel really has this duality to him, the obvious being Nat vs John Mandrake and of course Nat + Bartimaeus but in chapter 36 part ii something that caught my attention

'it was the feeling of consummate superiority, the delight of power weilded without peril. He danced beneath the night sky, smiting down his enemies.'

It already seems as if he's being elevated to something other- a martyr perhaps, except martyrs have causes and ideals, they do something because they have a strong belief in their justness. And Nathaniel:

'He felt aloof disconnected and alone. If his hatred for demons he had killed was dull and almost matter-of-fact, so was his sympathy for the people whose lives he saved.'

So he seems almost like an avenging angel, I love the religious imagery, especially because it seems to call back to Bartimaeus comparing his body to a holy mosque. But also divine rage is the driving force for an avenging angel and he's no longer even angry at the destruction caused.

'Pride spurred him on.' this almost makes him seem God-like?? His sole motivator is the pride of a deity, and I love that. But it's also just very true to him as a boy, pride spurred him on against Lovelace and against Duval and Whitwell.

When he's alone with Bartimaeus he's taken on this air of not being entirely human. He feels alone and solitary from everything including humaity. But when he rejoins Kitty, Piper and the rest of the magicians waiting for him he's reinvigorated - 'he felt a surge of joyful impatience - 'he would detroy Nouda, rescue the commoners and return to Kitty.' it seems as though he has to be surrounded by people to remind himself he's one of them. It could be seen as an effect of sharing a mind with Bartimaeus, but of course it could be Nathaniel's own human pride and his memories of being othered even as a child. Just gives the impression of this human / higher entity duality.

But also I partly got the impression that this hints to depression- I'm sure it's hardly out of the realm of possibility for Nat to have it. Though it's never stated I think several moments in the books make a good argument for it, including the above- just the numbness to everything. And I guess the sudden change in demeanor at 'surge of joyful impatience' can be read as hopefulness, but it reminded me of the saying that when people have decided to follow through on their s*icidal ideation they come across as happy and like a weight has been lifted from them. Nathaniel is impressively calm for someone who realises he's gravely injured. And while he can be seen as a martyr or hero for his final actions, the hollowness he felt at that moment gives it a more bitter edge.

I think it's made even more sad when compared to Anthony Lockwood, who has that same sense of pride - because he's trying to make his dead parents proud and because he's trying to hide the fact that he doesn't like himself very much. Nathaniel gives this same impression. And Lockwood at the end had reason to be proud, he uncovered a huge conspiracy, his agency became the most famous in London. And Nathaniel had reason to be proud; he's managing to wield the staff of his childhood hero, something he had dreamed of doing, he's had the bravery to unite with a spirit and he's going to take down the biggest threat to London.

But Lockwood gets something Nathaniel doesn't-

There's this subtle idea seen through Lucy's eyes that Lockwood's biggest achievement was fighting through his s*icidal ideation and discovering he has something to live for, even just seeing his friends again.

And Nathaniel just doesn't get that moment.

He sort of acknowledges that he doesn't have to be a powerful leader, that he doesn't need his colleagues approval, that he doesn't need to erase the fear the commoners have of him and other magicians, but without these things he doesn't know what to do with himself. He has no plan for the future, because even before he's injured the idea of a future doesn't seem to have much appeal to him. He already appears to have given up on trying to uncover who Nathaniel is, depite finally having the opportunity to. Like after everything- being beaten, the fear of his colleagues trying to harm him and burying himself in the John Mandrake persona to protect his sensitive side- he doesn't want to uncover the remnants of that boy because he's worried it'll be too difficult to put himself back together.

Or maybe he feels that he already has discovered who Nathaniel is, a deeply unhappy, hollow shell of a person, whose personality has been pulled in so many directions he no longer has a sense of self. He's been stripped back to the barest version of himself and found he doesn't even have the foundations upon which to rebuild himsef. Like discovering dry rot in your walls and you keep pulling and pulling bits of rotting wood away from the home until you've finally got it all, only to realise the house has come down around you- there's nothing left.

He doesn't get this moment where he works through his trauma, where he realises he has a support system, where he realises he's loved. I don't know if Nathaniel ever really knew what it felt like to be loved. I don't think he did. Ptolemy's death was awful and heartbreaking but his short life was filled with affection. And Lockwood realises people do care about him, depite being told that no one does. It hurts so much that Nat felt isolated and alone his whole life, right up to the last minute. Potential love confessions aside, Nathaniel never got a chance to sit and bathe in the warmness of affection. Like Bartimaeus tells him, it's about 'being not doing.' Nathaniel never got to understand the importance of just being, of simply existing as himself or of being happy. He constantly had to be working on the next goal, the next plan, because if he stops working he'll be forced to sit with his thoughts and realise how unhappy he is. And the thought of that is just too much to bear, it's so much easier to give in.

The ending gave the impression of being very romantic, while sad. Nathaniel gets to be remembered as a hero and never has to confront the consequences of his actions with wars in Europe and America that he had a direct role in. Acknowledging his role and dealing with fallout are two very different mountains to climb. And I think that idea of dying like a hero perfectly appeals to Nathaniel's prideful tendencies, and maybe he views it that way to hide the fact it's a convenient way out of his unhappiness and confronting what he's done. It's quite interesting to see that after he's been stripped back to nothing and can't figure out who or what he wants to be if he gets the chance, he still has that vanity and arrogance to him- despite not really being good character traits, they're so authentically Nathaniel, he's been that way right from the start and it's nice little peak of the real him at the end, being so humanly flawed.

[khaotunq]

what i appreciate a lot about sprite and first is they are 100% the "someone is going to die"/"of fun!" couple except when first says someone, he absolutely means sprite.

[queenlucythevaliant]

The problem with watching the Olympics on a service like Peacock (as opposed to catching it randomly on cable) is that you can select for the sports you care about. It's a lot harder to get thrust into a random equestrian event/badminton game/fencing match and just go "huh, ok, I guess I'm watching this now." You gotta be willing to seek the random stuff out

[eerna]

my brother, crying sobbing: please just play the main story please just finish the main quest you can do everything else later I am begging you

me: what if I went from Akkala to Gerudo without warping to compare the town before and after the kid's arrival and compile resources. let's go

[veliseraptor]

now that's what i call an eligible young man

[kamomie]

This is kind of a view on q!Bad's current personality and it's heavily based on my own experience with my personality and how quickly people will define you by your worst traits during your worst moments. I Mostly wrote this for my own peace of mind but feel free to read and engage however you want :D

I've been seeing the sentiment that q!Bad is being his true self rn, because he snapped and went "back"(?) to his true self.

I disagree. q!Bad isn't being the person he "really" is. He's being the person he becomes under extreme emotional distress.

Was he always a good manipulator? Yes. Was he always hypocritical? Yeah. Was he always paranoid? Yep. Was he always somewhat morally dubious and willing to do what others wouldn't? Yeah.

Did he ever really cause harm to anyone before this arc? Not really. He annoyed people a lot, but it was never the way it is now.

All his worst traits have amplified and his good traits are somewhat surpressed. And he has traits that are unusual for him. Like, he's been awfully meaner to people and doing dangerous pranks that he normally wouldn't. He was always capable of a degree of cruelty and violence, but not towards his friends.

The worst part is before the eggs went missing he was dealing with a lot of emotional turmoil, after the furniture shit and being imprisoned on no proof. Like it has been shit upon shit for q!Bad lately. Like his trust issues have been sky high, and it really culminated today, with him telling q!forever outright that he's not welcome in his home...

Anyways, the person q!Bad was when he was stable/"under normal conditions", was kind, caring, helpful, trustworthy/reliable, protective, paranoid, childish, hypocritical, a bit of a liar, and a bit of a manipulator. That was so much more his true self than what he is now.

However this arc is one that might permanently alter how q!Bad is as a person. I honestly don't see him return to how he was before and if he does, it'll take awhile.

I'm sad.

[completeoveranalysis]

[9]

Oh!

Gosh, was that their final goodbye?

That’s a much more grounded moment. Yuuko gives them the glimpse of the future that they need, and they give her a promise that they’ll take care of Watanuki while Yuuko is gone. 

And it means a great deal to Yuuko to hear that. Even as their voices drift away into silence and Yuuko is left alone.

I mean I could absolutely be wrong about Maru and Moro disappearing, but if this is their final "on screen" moment then it's at least a very sweet send off, and surprisingly with that final two panels.