#I mean I guess it's not a retcon if he always planned for it but still asdfgfghj

[fyodcrs]

So the manga really is going the same as the anime, huh? Well then.

Wake me up when Fyodor is resurrected.

[bibibbon]

MHA chapter 419 rant

What the actual hell is this chapter ?!?!?!? What is going on horikoshi?!?!??

So suprise AFO IS BACK👎👎👎 seriously what the hell I knew he was gonna come back but he is so boring and I hate him as a villain like wdym you only pulling up with a plan that failed multiple times cos you have thing for your brother like!?!? The doctor and the hero comission could of been better villains. My point still stands AFO being the main bad guy even though this mf was killed and injured by everyone is lame and stupid 😭. Like can AFO just disappear out of existence already like?!?! Also I really doubt that dfo is true considering this guy just loves to act like a season 1 bakugo and call Izuku useless every breathing moment he gets. Also at this point afo out here using shigaraki like a wet human suit thing and that's it

Shigaraki is dead?!?!!!? Vile. Y'all telling me that shigaraki is basically dead this guy basically killed himself after a little fight (it wasn't little that's a hyperbole it was huge he deserves better than this disservice) sigh so shigaraki died with all his memories and the truth of his own origin which is completely sad and wow the amount of retconning for this is insane. Wdym to tell me that AFO needed someone emotionally weak to take advantage of so he chose kotaro, befriended the guy and manipulated him into having Tenko and then used Tenko as his little thing to make the perfect vessel!?!???!? DAM SHIGARAKI IAM SORRRY HORI DID YOU LIKE THIS

Izuku lost two arms and is getting the worst end of the stick as always. As an izuku Stan this isn't it for me like what are you telling me that HE LOST TWO ARMS AND THEN PEOPLE DO COME BUT I AINT SEEING NONE TRYNA HELP THIS GUY. ALSO IZUKU IS NOW ARMLESS AND QUIRKLESS WHATS GOOD ON HERE??!?????!?!? Also looks like izuku out here being the only one who doesn't actually get a full heart to heart with their villain at least ochako and toga were treated better and got that little sob scene where they called eachothers names out and what not but izuku and shigaraki gotta be sentenced to pure suffering for no reason 🤦‍♀️. Also the whole page is Hella and I mean Hella creepy and off like wth is this it's too gory (I know that's not valid criticism but this is my opinion) Izuku out here being the only one who can't be a proper hero like the guy couldn't even stand up to AFO unlike bk this is just mountains and mountains of disrespect and disservice . SOMEONE CHECK UP ON POOR INKO AND IZUKU

The quirks the backstory the things?!?!. So basically overhaul had the oh quirk or whoever the guy in the picture manga panel thingy which looks like OVERHAUL. This guy had an op quirk like he had the power of destruction and reconstruction but then afo takes that away and then has the doctor somehow somehow genetically modify it ( istg i still dont know how that works or how he could do that) and then TOOK SHIGARAKIS OG QUIRK WHICH (what was his og quirk we arent ever told) and then proceedes to set this child who wanted to be a hero for pure failure. Also what is going on with AFO and kotaros relationship and why does the description of kotaro being mentally/emotionally weak heavily remind me of inko midoriya. Also the RETCON LIKE OH AFO IS LIKE HAVE A KID FOR ME OR SOME BS AND HE HAS A KID AND THEN KOTARO APPARENTLY FULLY LOVES HIS FAMILY HOWEVER IT LOOKS LIKE KOTARO LOVES AFO More THAN HIS FAMILY

Eraserhead making a comeback and finally apologising (or not). I mean at least Eraserhead is back and apologising to his student for failing to be a teacher to him which ok cool cliffhanger I guess. Also where is mic I don't think I can take it if mic is secretly off screened especially cos Eraserhead is crying why is the guy crying like is he crying for izuku which dam as he should your student is dying but he was legit shouting left and right for bakugo 🤷‍♀️. Also Eraserhead has a lot of apologies for izuku considering how he treated the poor dude. ALSO DOES THIS MEAN OBORO IS BACK TO THE PLOT SOMEHOW ( I love oboro) but how does this work how did it happen how did he break free Iam so confused did much due for oboro or something.

Sato, ojirou and sero out here coming in clutch. but none y'all running to see if izuku ain't gonna die from blood loss or something. Cool entry I guess everyone can take a good fight with AFO but Izuku because hori doesn't like izuku and izuku just sucks!!!. I get it 1A is too big so hori out here needing to give everyone their little moments but like?!?! This just makes afo seem so weak it first went from only all might being the one to even fouch and defeat afo and now its everyone thats not the ofa users which great (sarcasm if you couldn't tell). ALSO THIS MOMENT DONT WORK BECAUSE IZUKU LACKS DEVELOPMENT AND SO DOES 1A and their whole dynamic?!?!?!!!!!???!

I Have ALREADY SEEN THE SHIGARAKI MIGHT COMEBEACK COS AFO CAN HEAR HIS ECHO BUT I DONT WANT HIM BACK AND IF HE DOES HE SHOULD DIE WITH IZUKU COS I GENUINELY GIVE UP

In conclusion, I hope both izuku and shigaraki die and izuku to be remembered as the greatest hero and that's it honestly!!

[works-of-heart]

I don't get it.

Like seriously, I honestly don't understand it.

Sjm says that Elain was someone who she and Lucien didn't see coming. She had always envisioned him with Nesta, but realized they'd tear each other apart (not in a good way, as she loves that kind of banter, but theirs would be awful). She mentions 'without getting too spoilery' that and I quote:

"there was actually a great deal of tension, growth, and healing to be found for both of them (together)"

You mean to tell me, that she says there is a great deal of tension (which we've all been seeing between them), growth and healing for them TOGETHER ONLY to have Elain break her bond with him and leave him to suffer a broken bond?

You want to tell me that SJM planned to have Elain become Lucien's mate, so they could grow and heal together, only for her to dump him and choose Azriel, and leave Lucien alone with a broken bond?

This woman, who has written Lucien as kind, patient, understanding, and truly concerned for Elain, is planning on making his mate turn away from him? This man who is said to be fiercely loyal, who could have ANY woman in Prythian he wanted but has no interest in any females, who has suffered physical and emotional trauma to help his friends. You think Sarah is just going to be like "Yeah, I'm going to put Lucien with a girl who is all around perfect for him and just take her away so she can run into the arms of another man!"

Look, I torture my precious babies too, but that?! That's INSANE to me that anyone thinks Sarah planned to set him up with a mate and said all those things if she planned for it to be a failure.

Especially since she made a comment, unprompted mind you, about an Elucien date where they go visit the gardens in London, before heading out to the countryside, stating that they're BOTH happy in nature. So she's going to talk about Feysand, Nessien modern dating, and just throw in Elucien even though she doesn't even plan for them to be together?

it simply doesn't make any sense to me.

Like take a moment, to actually sit down and think, why would this author say those kinds of things if she as some had said "planned Elriel since MAF" when she literally states the opposite. She confirmed Nessien in that same moment as well, because the series was originally supposed to finish. Az and Elain didn't have anything together, they were never planned. She didn't change from that trajectory either (as stated in her interview that I guess people want to misquote, forget, or take her words completely out of context).

SJM did say there were SMALL changes, like some characters had been added (which I suspect are Gwyn and Em), Mor's sexual orientation, but the overall arch was still the same.

Honestly, here's what I think about that.

Azriel was always meant to have a mate. A lot of people pointed out that in MAF there was a lot of Moriel hints and they were meant to be endgame. When she got backlash for lack of LGBT representation, she just decided to have Mor's preference shift. I think it left Az without a mate, but by the time SF came around she began to leave breadcrumbs for who he'd end up with. That being Gwyn.

I personally think SJM wants Gwynriel so much so, that she retconned Az's backstory so he was the one at Sangravah. That he killed everyone in site, leaving none left alive (completely OOC for Az, yet fitting with mate behavior). Like if she had no intention for Az to be connected to her in such a way, why actively make HIM the one to save her? Why make it so that Az killed everyone and left not a single person alive?

Why did she have his shadows react to her in a very specific way, a way that's calm and happy? The way they sing and dance to her, reaching out to her in a playful way. Why would she change history and put attention on these things, if there was never any future for them? What, so we can see Az fall for Elain? You mean Sarah went out of her way to change parts of Az's story and how his shadows react specifically to Gwyn, just so he can turn from her and rush into the arms of Elain? Why bother?

And before anyone says "lightsinger" and Gwyn's 'evil powers' are causing Az's shadows to dance and sing... there's a whole bonus chapter where Az's shadows dance to Azriel's singing. Gwyn isn't even there, so that's debunked.

That's all, I just had to get that off my chest. I keep seeing so many people rant and say that SJM's old editor pushed for Elucien and her new one is pushing Elriel because it's more 'popular' and she's going in this new direction now. I have no idea where that came from when she said that nothing's changed from her drunken rant, so we'll see I guess.

[weaselbeaselpants]

I really dislike Chaggie being compared to Jally. I ship both, but....

Jack and Sally aren't a couple in Nightmare til the very end. Jack only comes around once he's literally been shot at and forced to see things out of his fantasies for once and realize that other people really do love and support him; like Sally. The entire rest of the time Jack's stuck in his own mind. Sally's in love with Jack but she's actually not supportive of his Christmas and even tries sabotaging it because she knows what he's doing is wrong even if it took an unexplained visionflower for her to get that hunch first. Her line is literally "although I'd like to stand by him" not "I support him even if I really don't want to". And in the end not only is Sally vindicated by being right like Santa says she is, but Jack suddenly realizes what she's done and falls for her right then. YMMV on how good a couple they'd actually make ((they aren't Diane and Mr. PB; eat shoot Lindsay Ellis *annoying cries*)) but that's what's cute about Jack and Sally: Sally does her pining maturely (stalking not included) while Jack instantly falls all over in love with her because he's Jack.

I understand there are different interpretations w people think Jack was always in love with Sally but obviously I digress and have always kind of disagreed with that reading, as did the writers of TNBC. Because, if you did have a version where Jack was always feeling something romantic towards Sally, or WORSE, was in a relationship- you would get Charlie x Vaggie.

If I'm right (seasoned hazbinnies feel free to correct me on this) Charlie and Vaggie were not written to be lovers initially but later retconned into being later into the writing process....which shows. I think promo stuff from back then called the two just "friends" and Vaggie and Charlie don't act very romantic. As I just laid out and as any shipper of Jally could tell you it's not hard to make that kind of dynamic cute and quirky. The problem is it isn't even THERE.

Vaggie is apparently Charlie's girlfriend and I guess just also believes in the hotel but is skeptical of it, though I wouldn't consider that on par w Sally who was straight up gonna poison Jack in one of Caroyln Thompson's earlier scripts. Especially given that she's an angel this could either work for or against her character but Vaggie seems more like an agent then a loving bestie, even. I think I remember one of the spin off comics for Hazbin which had Vaggie just straight up admitting she's doing the hotel plan because it makes Charlie happy and she'll do anything Charlie wants.

To be honest, it reminds me more of Dr. Mrs. the Monarch from Venture Bros going on about how/why she puts up with Monarch's shit when he doesn't listen to her and it's because he has "passion for a villain"...the difference is that in that case you can kind of get where Mrs. the Monarch's coming from in her emotions. With Vaggie, well, guess that's a sin of not having all the details of her feelings laid out yet. I mean, when you ever get Vaggie's feelings. Such little work about your main couple in comparison to Angel or Alastor.

AND THEN CHARLIE? You can really tell she wasn't written w Vaggie as her gf in mind.

Boy howdy I REALLY HOPE for the series that Viv and co listened to some of the crew complaints and gave Charlie a more empathetic and supportive vibe because ho mah gawd and I mean this as someone who ships them- Charlie is a HORRIBLE girlfriend in the pilot.

Again, thematically, Jack has the excuse of being in a manic depressive episode and also not knowing Sally very much at all in TNBC. He sees her as just another one of his Halloween Town friends who's especially talented but doesn't even realize she and the rest of the town cares. He's not listening to her when she comes to warn him because he's self obsessed. He's nice to her but also passive cause that's how he is at that point of the story, even if he's gentlemanly about it. Compare to Charlie who, while always adorable Didneyprincessesque, is dismissive of Vaggie's concerns, anger, fears and reform while she's not only aware of Vaggie's feelings WHILE BEING IN AN APPARENTLY COMMITTED RELATIONSHIP WITH HER is concerning. And that's before you get to Charlie not noticing Vaggie getting tossed around by Alastor right in front of her.

It'd be different if Al does his weird smarmy shit and Charlie is uncomfy but only stiffens up and shows her actual strong side to him when he touches Vaggie- "HEY! Don't you lay a finger on her!" but no, nothing.

I ultimately get what Viv wants and is going for by comparing Charlie and Vaggie to tnbc, but I think in practice in the pilot it fails because it

was never planned out to be a couple

they're supposed to be a couple but Charlie and Vaggie aren't all that romantic

they're supposed to be a couple but Charlie isn't very supportive or even defensive

People give Jack a lot of shit (rightfully, in the video games) and give the movie and Jally shit for being a "bad fit" but I again vouch for them not only on the grounds of tnbc being complete and at home in it's own skin. The rest of the franchise not so much, but the movie and the writers of the character know what kind of person Jack is and have his redemptive quality be that he falls for Sally; I love him and Sally both as characters but also as a couple for that reason. I'd feel totally different if Jack, say, was Sally's bf throughout the film and acted the way Charlie did. I can be critical of TNBC and I think some of Jack's writing is flawed and could be better, but y'know, I will defend it pedantically like I'm doing right now.

With Charlie and Vaggie, I ship them because they're my favorite characters from the pilot but dayum. I'm the kind of hermitshipper who's able to sustain myself off scraps and headcanons and even I'm saying these two need some work. Cuz they do. They need A LOT of work. And better writers.

If Chaggie is ''endgame'' in the final season then I hope "A Happy Day in Hell" is just an outlier scene or it's going to be retconned that they aren't lovers yet because if not- oh Vaggie! Get urself a Hasani Walker comic and fast my gurl you need it.

[thesilvertargaryens]

So what do you think it means that scene? Daemon seeing Dany and her dragons? Me personally I believe it’s confirmation she’s the one that was promised. And gives me more hope for her ending in the books!

Personally, I think it truly means that Daenerys was the future and hope of House Targaryen. It was her who would restore their house to its former glory.

I've always believed that Daenerys was the Prince(ss) who was promised, so this just reaffirms it. She was reborn in salt and smoke under the bleeding star, gave everything she had for the war against the white walkers, and she was supposed to bring the dawn of the new Targaryen age.

I know no one wants to hear this, but I truly believe that GRRM planned the S8 ending or something close to it, at least. There is absolutely no way he wouldn’t have been on the floor crying and screaming at D&D and HBO if it truly went against the ending he had in mind. That being said, I do believe (if another book comes out) he will change the ending based on the outrage of S8.

Another reason why the clip may have been included is because Daenerys was Game of Thrones' cash cow, and they love to exploit her. I think I reblogged something from someone who worked in sales at HBO that showed that sales tanked and people were avidly returning GoT merchandise. Sooo guess who is still the face of the show despite what they did to her?!

I'm also here for a good retcon of S8. If that's why it was put in, I'm okay with it.

[mrwolfhare]

Did you get to choose the new team or was it the studio? Yes, no.

Have you had conversations with Marvel about their plans for the guardians now that you’re done? Yes

Are there any deleted scenes with Llyla, Rocket, Floor, and Teef? No.

Did you ever consider inserting any other Marvel characters to cross over into this picture? No

Is there a reason Quill didn't have his helmet in Guardians 3? It’s in his desk drawer in Knowhere. He had to get out of there fast as you know!

Is there an in-universe explanation as to why Quill’s ditched his helmet and rocket boots? They have jet packs. The rocket boots comparatively suck. That's like cheap shit you get in the intergalactic version of Radio Shack. And Chris could never have done those amazing hallway moves with a helmet on.

Was there a plan for a new helmet design for Star-Lord (the classic design would’ve been cool)? No.

In the scene where Rocket and Groot are dancing, was that you and your brother on set? Yes

I was VERY curious on how Drax knew the JOOB JOOB but Mantis didn’t being Ego’s translator? Drax knew the language from his childhood. It's not in anyone's translators.

Why did no one understand, or acknowledge the language on Counter-Earth not being recognized by their translators? It's a cloistered culture. It would be normal not to have their Humanimal language in the translators.

Was the line always going to be “I love you guys” or did you have other options? No

Was there any consideration given towards giving the one spoken “F***” in the movie to Groot? Consideration? Sure.

Was redesigning Howard The Duck your idea? Yes. I've redesigned him on every movie because I've never been satisfied and we were rushed the first couple times. I'm happier now.

Did you ever think about giving Howard the Duck a bigger role in these movies (just asking because he’s my favorite Marvel Character)? Yes.

Does your average MCU earthling know that the Guardians of the Galaxy exist? No

Was Miley Cyrus not able to reprise her role from Guardians 2? Was that the same character? Yes. Yes.

James is Adam Warlock single? Yes

Has Grandpa Quill heard about Peter’s world-saving adventures already? No.

Does Peter Quill’s grandfather know about Ego? No

Was there an actual dog playing Cosmo or was that CGI? No, yes.

Was the Eagle in the cage an Eagly reference? Or just an Eagle? That was actually the real Eagly.

Can Groot grow a new body very quickly now? Yes.

Will there be Vol 4? No.

Will there ever be a director’s cut of the trilogy? Yes (the trilogy as is is the Director's Cut)

Do you want to do an extended version? No.

Does Guardians 3 have an alternate ending planned? No.

Will there be a longer cut of the film that has more Michael Rosenbaum in it? No

Will there be a commentary version of this film? Yes

As early as when you were making GOTG 1, did you already have ideas on where Vol 2 and 3 would go that eventually made it in the final films? Or were your initial ideas totally overhauled along the way? Yes, no.

Did you have to fight/negotiate hard with Disney to have all of those dark scenes? Or were the pretty open to your final vision? No. Yes.

Was it difficult writing Gamora’s arc in Vol 3, knowing Infinity War was going to kill her off? No.

Nebula's arm is the Bucky's arm from Holiday Special?? No. It's way better.

I saw you mentioned Annihilus as a possible villain for Vol 3. Was he also going to be a candidate for Rockets creator? Yes.

Does Rocket keep in contact with Thor? No.

Is there a super big, deeply-hidden Easter egg like the first one? Yes.

Did Bradley do all the young Rocket voice work too? No (Noa Raskin is baby Rocket, Sean Gunn is Young Rocket)

Since Halfworld isn't a thing in the MCU (I guess this is what you retconned out from the 1st movie) does that mean Rocket isn't a halfworlder in the MCU, right? You could consider Halfworld a more intergalactic name for Counter-Earth.

[nalyra-dreaming]

I apologize in advance because this is about the unreliable narrative topic, but I did have a question/thought and I hadn't really seen it quite discussed in this way, but it is very possible that I missed it.

At this point, we have multiple confirmations that Louis is unreliable, that S1 will be viewed differently after S2, and that at its core Louis' memory is the way it is right now to try and protect him in some way. These are just facts. The only real speculation left is what he is unreliable about. So, if it isn't about whether Lestat deserved the events of ep 7, what could his unreliable memories actually be about? Even trying to play devil's advocate to be fully prepared for S2, I can't really think of anything that would logically fit.

There is a big difference between Louis being a little biased in his own favor or not having Lestat's perspective (and there are many examples of this sort of "unreliableness" from Louis in S1) and Louis' memories being wrong to the point that he knows they are wrong and he is seeking help to discover the truth. That being a major plot point has to be something big in the narrative. It can't just be if it was raining.

The biggest issue to me really does come down to if Lestat deserved what happened to him. If the S1 narrative remains exactly the same then I do think he deserved it and whatever other suffering he has to go through on his way to the redemption arc they would have planned for him. However, if that core remains the same, what horrible truth does Louis need to be protected from then? We know ep 5 and 7 have specifically been named for the revisits. I guess Louis might need to be protected from the truth that he didn't kill Lestat himself, but then why the need to revisit ep 5 at all? I have seen the idea that Louis is actually in denial about just how abusive Lestat was, but that doesn't make logical sense to me for a variety of reasons both already in the text (like the changes from the first interview) and the way they are currently promoting the show. Would Louis just need to be protected from the truth of not doing everything he could to stop Lestat and protect Claudia, as in he didn't really help directly in ep 7 and he feels guilty about it? Again, that doesn't change how viewers see S1 overall; it would just change the ending, and it doesn't make sense with a lot of other elements. It also doesn't really fit Jacob Anderson's recent discussion of the books and show either.

This all comes with the disclaimer that I don't believe Lestat will be retconned into the perfect husband or theirs a perfect marriage or that the actual mutual fight in ep 5 didn't happen at all. It is really the difference between what events deserve or even require Lestat's murder and what events mean that Louis and Lestat really needed vampire marriage counseling for lack of a better way to put it.

To return to my main question, what could Louis be unreliable about to the extent he needs protection from the truth if it isn't about why Lestat "died" and by extension Claudia and her true nature. I want to be prepared, but I can't really think of anything else that fits all of the evidence and fits with the books and what has been said about the books by those making the show.

I hope my thoughts make sense. I just really wanted to discuss this, and your analysis is always so thoughtful to me.

Hey! (sorry this took a moment)

Okay, so first off - Louis being unreliable is a mixture of a few things.

First, there's memory. It's a "monster", and that is what the raining falls under, imho. Little details. Dates, too. All the dates are off on the show, the speech on the radio given twice, etc. Details. Even vampires do not have perfect memories.

Secondly, there's the things Louis is (maybe still) bitter about. Jacob called that Louis being a "bitter ex who presents their former partner as a monster", so that is still a factor as well. (This is the only part where actual "lying" may come into play, but all in all it's not that huge of a factor in this second interview, imho).

Thirdly there are parts Louis is (still) doing intentionally - like protecting Claudia's image. Painting her in a more favorable light, because he loves her. (Rather understandable!)

And lastly - there is the fact that his memory has been "tinkered" with (I'm not going to pull up all the quotes here, I think you know them by now^^, let me know if you need them.) THAT is the part Jacob referred to at the panel, with Louis trying to regain his true memories.

Now, given what we know already will be in s2, and given the further seasons and their content I also doubt that whatever retcon they'll do in ep5 will be to make Lestat worse.

Like, how could it be worse. Seriously. And where and how would you go to what's to come from there.

It would also contradict Rolin Jones' various statements, which I am also not going to pull up again here^^.

But no, Lestat will not be retconned into a perfect husband and father, lol. He made mistakes, and probably lots of them. There are reasons why Louis is a bitter ex.

So.

To (try to) answer your question:

I have talked about ep5, at length, let me know if you need the various posts and source, but in real quick, I think that part will be revisited to show that while the fight happened (and it did show this utter power discrepancy) it stopped upstairs. When Claudia looks into the mirror. That is a deliberate shot, with meaning. The drop will likely be something Armand planted, because it is eerily close to something he does to Lestat - and Lestat later does to him. The dragging outside... IF it happened then a hint in ep6 will play into it. Though if they reveal that already?! I'm not sure. But the discussion there with Claudia, and Lestat's words can easily also have been part of the actual fight. Or when it stopped.

Episode 5 and the aftermath serve to "prove" that Louis and Claudia needed to kill Lestat. And that is the crux of the matter, right there. Because while Lestat says in his own novel that he never blamed Claudia, and might have done something like that himself... (and I am aware that a lot of people see this as proof for what the show showed there) - in the book context he refers to damning her to darkness in such a small body, and making her so utterly reliant on them. Because he is aware of what he did to her through that fact alone.

Which brings us to episode 7 and the "kill". I think it will be Claudia who wielded the knife, and Louis standing by, as in the book. There were some bts photos of that shoot, with the twins, and Sam and Claudia, and somewhere there is a statement that Jacob had already left. It makes sense that they would have filmed that already.

Louis... is trying to protect Claudia (as he should). And Armand... is trying to protect Louis (by now), and influencing as he sees fit. Not everything, no, but of course his own experiences with Lestat (and we will get to see some of those in s2) have left their own marks.

Armand literally thought Louis would snap out of his grief over Claudia’s death. He says he protects Louis from himself.

I think the tinkering is an attempt to try and free Louis of that grief. And his longing. Parts selfishly to keep Louis ro himself, parts in a desperate attempt to help Louis.

Armand cut the pages of the diary, imho. The ripped out ones may yet come into play for the trial. And, given the Merrick revelations of those pages… those pages might very well be what will bring in the retcons. Because Claudia’s diary in Merrick brought huge revelations.

I concur with you there that the things Louis needs protection from are likely things that pertain to Lestat and Claudia.

The shifts will reveal imho that Louis did not want to kill Lestat (we already know that, imho), and that not everything was as dire as told. And that Claudia was not as pure as Louis wants to remember her as. Which is in line with the books.

Anything else will be details.

Armand in Dubai is trying to keep Louis from suicide. Because Louis knows that things are not adding up, he’s not stupid. And Armand (rightfully) fears the (repeated) impact of the truth. A truth he is not exactly uninvolved in either.

So to close this - actually it boils down to what you already said^^. There will be details maybe. But the main parts will be the already mentioned parts. The rest… will click into place in further seasons.

[jyndor]

My guess is that “this is a first for me” now refers to the fact that Cassian’s never been in prison while awaiting execution. He’s been sent to prison for crimes not punishable by death (not that prison wasn’t its own death sentence, at least on Narkina 5) but he’s never been locked in a cell knowing he could get a blaster bolt between the eyes within hours of being locked up. The Partisans were almost certainly planning to execute him, Chirrut and Baze; they just had to clear it with Saw first. As a secondary qualifier, it could also refer to the type of prison; it’s probably the smallest cell he’s ever been in, and it’s in a cave instead of an incarceration facility.

lol okay so i really went in on this as is my mo, not because anything you said is wrong or whatever lol it's your opinion. but it's sparked Discourse in my head rip

i feel like since the show aired i just haven't been explaining myself clearly with this but i'll try: i don't care what headcanon someone uses to handwave a thing that doesn't track 100%. i do it when something just doesn't track to ME or when i feel like telling canon to fuck off lol askdhasjdh but people will use their headcanon explanations to tell folks canon is still consistent. it's NOT lol it's a retconnnnnn

this is why i don't like retcons generally speaking. it just isn't that hard to stick to what canon already says, and while this one isn't really important at all (like it's a comment cassian makes offhandedly and can easily be handwaved like this) i think writers should try to avoid retcons (not always, sometimes things should be retconned because they're trash? but usually yeah retcons are meh). and then when you've got like a relatively small fandom like rogue one's that has been going along with what we all thought was canon until the show aired, it's extremely aggravating to be told that oh actually what we thought was true (even though until a few months ago it was) is not true anymore and aren't we crazy for not seeing that??? not that you have said any of that btw im not talking about you lol.

like i shouldn't have to qualify things to make them make sense with the main piece of media - which rogue one is. andor is a prequel to rogue one. rogue one is not a sequel to andor. andor has the responsibility to track with rogue one because it's supplementary material for rogue one. plus rogue one came out first. i shouldn't have to do mental gymnastics to make little moments in rogue one still make sense. and luckily i can divorce andor from rogue one pretty well and handwave shit and come up with my interpretations like yours and other fans' but we shouldn't HAVE to. it isn't a high bar to meet to be consistent.

when i analyze media, i always start with an out-of-universe (doylist) approach. i look for preconceived notions that might have influenced the writing, i look for motivations and at the history of the writers, etc. and then i can more easily take an in-universe (watsonian) approach. it's just hard for me to ignore inconsistencies, writer biases, real world context etc. probably because i have ocd and i am very literal. that's a personal problem lmfao.

so i can't even get there with things like this because it's obvious to me that tony gilroy, who did not write the film, wanted to tell a great story. he wanted to write what he wanted to write and wasn't super concerned with it lining up 100% with the film in a literal way. and he did. i mean all gripes aside andor is a fabulous show. easily the best thing i've seen all year. but i've still got my gripes lmfao.

in this case i think it's understandable that he'd do that because it actually doesn't make a whole lot of sense that cassian wouldn't have gotten caught by someone at some point. it is more reasonable that he would have. and for someone like the cassian in the show who is certainly anti-imperial, has politics despite what other people in the show say, but is not necessarily radicalized, yeah it makes sense that being sent to prison based on some bullshit xenophobic profiling would radicalize him. that is me doing some in-universe analysis btw.

but let's not kid ourselves. it doesn't fit with that line. before the show aired, not a single viewer thought he was lying or on some obi-wan bullshit with the "certain point of view" thing at that moment. yes, he's a liar. yes, he's a spy.

chirrut, who knows cassian is a captain not because cassian tells him he is but because of the force lol (this is why cassian gives him a weird look like 'how the fuck do you know that???'), takes him at his word and then says 'there is more than one sort of prison' meaning that just because cassian hasn't been literally locked up, it doesn't mean he doesn't have things that hold him back or imprison him metaphorically. that's the whole point of that moment - and lol it's actually kind of a more insulting retcon than I initially thought because chirrut reads cassian extremely well throughout the film with the force. but apparently he doesn't because he takes cassian at his word on jedha.

when cassian is about to go assassinate galen and he's avoiding jyn's eyes and being all shady lol, the camera keeps panning to chirrut looking away from the rest of the group but with a very disgusted expression on his face. he tells jyn that 'the force moves darkly around a creature that is about to kill' when she is like ??? the fuck do you mean by does cassian look like a killer?????

my point is that chirrut has a very good understanding of cassian's vibes in the force. chirrut takes him at his word on jedha but he is visibly disgusted by cassian on eadu. cassian actually being in prison before jedha changes chirrut's connection to the force for me. hmm now i'm mad LOL.

we were not intended to think cassian was lying on jedha. we were however intended to catch how shifty cassian was being on eadu - not making eye contact with jyn in a very overt way, not making a whole lot of sense to anyone, chirrut's callout, baze's deliberate use of "he has the face of a friend" but not that he IS a friend (although he is <333) because again. spy. mask. lying. that's what baze and chirrut call out on eadu, and what makes jyn realize that she fell for cassian's deception. it's really important that chirrut's connection to the force is credible because otherwise lol okay he's just some guy who fights well. he's not that - he's a guardian of the whills and his connection to the force is undeniable if not defined.

cassian's lying on eadu until he has his moment of truth. it's a different feel than his interactions with everyone else on jedha (although when he's talking to jyn about meeting tivik's sister he deliberately doesn't make eye contact).

cassian makes eye contact when he's being honest - the hangar scene, the eadu fight with jyn (which... lol im not even going there right now), definitely on scarif a number of times and most notably in the elevator. when he's lying, he gets avoidant.

that's a deliberate choice by the writers, director and diego ofc. in 2015/2016.

cut to 2020/2021 or whatever and tony gilroy, who did an immense amount of work on rogue one with the reshoots (allegedly mostly in the 3rd act of the film although that first scene with cassian is all him lol - also side note why couldn't he have cut the bor gullet smdh) to the point that he got a screenwriter's credit because of SWG(? the union idk) rules (totally fair of course, but i think a lot of people don't know that he didn't literally write the film or create cassian lol), is writing the best story he can and isn't really worrying about how much it tracks with minutiae from the film or like idk what pablo hidalgo wrote in guidebooks lol (pretty sure that's where the fest thing came from as well as him being 26 and jyn being 22? but also i mean im not sure if that hadn't been decided by the writers of the film).

i mean you'd have to ask him but im sure he'd say as much - that he wanted to tell a great story and as long as it was mostly consistent or could be considered consistent with who cassian will be in rogue one, it's easily handwaved or explained. and yeah that's true for most people but unfortunately for me i'm neurodivergent as hell with a hyperfixation on this dumb film and plus i have severe ocd so i notice discrepancies. and they annoy me.

i wanna be clear: i don't think this is the most egregious retcon of the show. not at all. but i'd like people to acknowledge that it is a retcon and that no, gareth edwards and chris weitz and gary whitta did not intend for cassian to be like "well actually what i meant is that technically, i have been imprisoned but i wasn't sentenced to death" or whatever reason we may now individually use to make it make sense. and i don't see a problem with doing that - i literally make headcanon all the time because canon ends in a way im sad about LOL. but this is headcanon. because canon doesn't track with itself.

also just a note: personally i think it's pretty clear cassian knows that narkina COULD be a death sentence. cassian understands narkina is dangerous as hell from the moment he steps his bare foot onto that metal floor. they fry people. he's smart, to me he knows it's a potential death sentence. but that's just my interpretation of the show.

i think the best way to handwave this retcon is to say cassian hasn't been imprisoned by rebels before or by alleged allies. or maybe in service of the rebellion.

*and cassian recognizes chirrut's force-ishness immediately, which is why he asks if he's a jedi. (it's why im like lol everyone just shut up about cassian not knowing what jedi are, i don't need an explanation for how he learns about them. i don't need them to make a big thing of whether or not cassian knows what jedi are because of course he does, jedi are in fact extremely well known in the galaxy and this is an area where im like tony gilroy stay on your lane XD)

[starfall-spirit]

Hate to break it to you, but Feysand has always been a retcon and SJM is a liar who says she’s always had them planned to sound cooler and to cover up the fact that she’s always said 1) she never plans her books and 2) she had to add Rhys in earlier and that she’d originally planned for him to be the villain.

Detailing the actual story of how ACOTAR came to be from her own former newsletter, she wrote two and half ACOTAR books in 2009 (then originally only a trilogy). In 2014, SJM scrapped and rewrote the entirety of that original second and half of a third book and completely started over with them, creating what is now ACOMAF and ACOWAR. She did not change anything in ACOTAR, though, but she did add things in during editing. She’s also said Nesta and Lucien were originally supposed to be mates and that she didn’t even plan for Nessian until she wrote the scene where the IC goes to ask Feyre’s family for help.

If Nesta and Lucien were originally endgame, that would infer that Feyre in the original second book actually spent a majority of her time in the Spring Court because how else would Nesta meet Lucien? He doesn’t live in the NC. He doesn’t live the AC. And if a majority of the plot is taking place in Spring and the story is from Feyre’s pov, it would also imply Feyre was still with Tamlin. 🤷🏼‍♀️ And a quick reminder that the entire series was originally a Beauty and the Beast/Tamlin retelling, not just the first book.

You can love Feysand, no one is telling you not to, but if you’re going to try to debunk what others are saying, then at least find out why they’re saying it in the first place so you can provide a proper counter argument. There’s overwhelming evidence within the first book that anything after it was never planned.

In fact, you could take Rhys out of the first book and the Calanmai scene would still work if Lucien had been the one to find her. The dresser would still work if Feyre and Elain’s drawers were swapped. Amarantha’s whore could be anybody, and the scene where Rhys forces Tamlin and Lucien to beg for Feyre could’ve happened with that anybody, not just Rhys. Maybe you should think about why the first book of a book series, where he’s supposedly been the plan all along, could still play out without him. 😬

Hi, anon.

I would first like to let you know, my inbox is not a place to start ship wars or attack people for their opinions of canon fandom matters. I hope in the future you respect the simple request at the top of my page to leave me polite asks.

But, to clarify a few points you've addressed here, look under the cut

"She never plans her books."

Anon, I'm not sure what precisely you mean when you say plan. There are many types of writers. When you're drafting an original story you may create an outline detailing the step by step plot, conflict, character development, call to action, etc.

Or perhaps you are an author like me, who instead prefers to free write. I won't hesitate to admit I can't stick to an outline beyond points A, B, and C. For example, my Anastasia AU

Chapter 1: The Rumor, The Legend, The Mystery (St. Pete)

Rumors

Plan Con

Meet Elain

Chapter 2: Things My Heart Used To Know (December)

Learning Heritage

Rhys’ 1st appearance

Chapter 3: The High Lord Lies Cold (Neva flows)

Rhys Bonus

Chapter 4: Let Me Say Goodbye (Stay I pray you)

1997 ~For the Magic~

Carriage out of Dusk 

Carriage stopped enroute

Escape

Chapter 5: In a Crowd of Thousands

Nightmare/Talk

Travel on foot to gate to Day

Meet Helion

Chapter 6: Could it Be? (Quartet)

2. "She had to add Rhys in earlier than planned to be a villain."

What exactly is the point of this statement? Maybe Feyre could have stayed inside the manor on Calanmai. Maybe Lucien could have stumbled upon her and the three fae who targeted her. If you think she's the only author to rewrite a story or add characters in an earlier or later position, I'm going to guess you don't have much of a concept of the natural writing process.

3. "Detailing the actual story of how ACOTAR came to be from her own former newsletter, she wrote two and half ACOTAR books in 2009 (then originally only a trilogy). In 2014, SJM scrapped and rewrote the entirety of that original second and half of a third book and completely started over with them, creating what is now ACOMAF and ACOWAR. She did not change anything in ACOTAR, though, but she did add things in during editing."

Again, the natural writing process. Rewriting a hundred times over if it's necessary to get the book published. Editing for the sake of a fluid storyline.

4. Your points on Nesta, Lucien, and Cassian have nothing to do with a Feysand of Feylin endgame. There could have been a dozen different ways SJM planned on Lucien and Nesta meeting outside of Spring that we will never know. The fact is that in the end, SJM decided "Lucien and Nesta would be at each other's throats. And not in a good way". Or something along those lines. In walked Nessian.

5. "You can love Feysand, no one is telling you not to, but if you’re going to try to debunk what others are saying, then at least find out why they’re saying it in the first place so you can provide a proper counter argument."

I am aware I have the freedom of expression in the fandom. I would also like to clarify I was entirely polite in "debunking" the counterargument to defend Tamlin. Did you feel particularly attacked when I told a new fandom member to try the second book and see if it was to their liking when they saw Rhysand's story?

Or was it my assessment of Tamlin's lack of anger management and every marker of an abuser he shows from the second he comes to take Feyre across the wall.

TL;DR

No matter how many rewrites ACOTAR went through, there was no character retcon on Tamlin or Rhys. Book one was an adaptation of Beauty and the Beast and Book two was an adaptation of Hades and Persephone, even if very few elements were taken from the actual tales.

For any others who wish to drop in and give me a polite hello, my inbox is always open and I'm chugging along so I have some lovely Feysand and crack ship snippets to provide you with.

[cbrownjc]

My opinion on the context behind Louis and Armand in Polynesian Mary's was more or less the same as what you mentioned, but tbh I AM curious as to why Armand possibly (and likely suddenly then) decided to save Daniel from Louis by stopping him from killing Daniel outright. I could easily see Armand say the same things he said to Daniel when Daniel stumbled across Lestat's old sleeping grounds in Devil's Minion (that he can take his tapes, that no one will believe him anyway), as a means to scare him off at first, but I do wonder why Armand suddenly decided to not only momentarily spare Daniel then but also go against Louis in order to save him from immediate death 🤔. I can't imagine Armand caring much for Louis' victims, or for people in general, so the fact that he still decided to save Daniel's life then seems significant, even if he did it without much thought as to why.

Hi Anon!

At the moment, this is all something I can only go with what we saw happen in the books as to why Armand decided to save Daniel's life from Louis that night. And that is actually because Daniel intrigued Armand.

Now first off, in the book, what happened was that Louis did drink from Daniel in that attack. He drank from Daniel and left him for dead, but Daniel didn't die. Daniel wakes up from it all hours later, Louis now long gone. (The 1994 movie changed it to Louis just attacking Daniel without drinking from him). Daniel then makes his plan to go and find Lestat.

Now, what the show could do is have Louis drink Daniel to the same point as in the books, but have Armand be the one to stop him from fully killing Daniel.

Because, in truth, it's kind of a retcon - in the books - that Louis didn't drink from Daniel and kill him because "the little drink" was something Louis was completely incapable of doing to a human until his power upgrade in Merrick. Until then, Louis always killed his victim when he fed, because he never could not. He didn't have the strength not to.

But I don't think the show is really going to go with that anyway, since we saw Louis do "the little drink" from Damek just fine in EP2.

So the question still remains - why would Armand stop Louis from killing Daniel? And the only reason I can come up with is the exact same reason Armand didn't kill Daniel in the books at first:

Because Daniel knew his name. Daniel knew Armand's name was Armand.

And that very fact fascinated Armand. That someone knew his name, knew what he was, and wasn't dead.

Because, on the whole, it also doesn't really make sense that, in Queen of the Damned, Armand let Daniel go after locking him up for four days. Hell, locking Daniel up - and not just killing him outright after he'd heard the tapes and knew Daniel was making a book out of them - was a bit off at that point I'd say (it'd been almost a century since Armand had last had a human pet of that type by that point). Letting Daniel go, letting Daniel run, was even more off for him IMO.

But I think it's clear Daniel's defiance - demanding the Dark Gift from Armand, even in the face of likely being killed at that moment - intrigued Armand.

The fact that Daniel was adamant that he wouldn't go mad from knowing that vampires were real - that it was all true - also fascinated Armand.

And that final point, that Daniel knew Armand's name and was alive with that knowledge is what tipped things over into Armand deciding that he didn't want to kill Daniel. "Not right now."

In the end, Daniel piqued Armand's interest. That is what initially saved Daniel's life from Armand killing him in New Orleans when they first encountered each other in QotD.

And so, if I had to guess, I think that is probably also what is going to be what has Armand stopping Louis (who was only going to do so because he was angry/felt disrespected by Daniel's ask; before that he was very likely going to let Daniel go, so his interview with Daniel could be published and such) from killing Daniel on the show. That, maybe for the first time in forever, there was this human who not only wasn't afraid but also wasn't going crazy at the revelation of vampires being real. And not only that, he even dared to ask for the Dark Gift.

Heck, from what Louis said about it, Daniel kinda even demanded to be given it.

I can see that alone piquing Armand's interest in Daniel. Because I don't think it's a guess to think it hadn't happened with any other human that Louis had taken back to Divisadero street before.

Before Daniel, the only purpose of bringing humans back there IMO was for Louis to feed on them while they were high, and get high himself off their blood, in order to numb himself. Not casual sex with random hookups - though that probably still happened - and for sure not sitting down and telling his vampiric life story to an eager young journalist.

As to the whole thing about how Daniel would have learned Armand's name when Louis hadn't even gotten to the part of the story that introduced Armand in the show? I can see Louis saying Armand's name out loud when Armand stops him from killing Daniel or something. Very simple, very easy. And Daniel remembering it, even if he does pass out afterward or something.

And so there's that final point - Daniel knowing Armand's name, and still being alive.

So yeah. Just my guess, but I think the show's reason will be the same as the books on this one, at least is my guess right now. And that is that simply put, Daniel intrigued Armand.

As Armand told Daniel before he let him go and told him to start running in QotD:

"I want to see what you do, I want to know what you are."

And I feel that might be what happens with regard to their show versions as well. And why Armand would even bother to step in and save Daniel's life from an angry Louis in the first place.

[bonefall]

A lot of the family changes are amazing. I mean to me Red and Spotted have always been Rose’s kits it’s just so perfect. Since in this rewrite Dove and I’m guessing Ivy are Lion kits maybe BirchWhite could instead have Icekit and Foxkit. These are originally FernDust kits but Ice being a little clone of her grandpa is adorable to me, and Fox would get his red as the undercoat from his momma Whitewing.

I don’t know if you’ve gotten as far as TNP but if you have what are some changes your thinking of? It’s such a interesting arc that fell so hard when it could’ve been one of the best. Lastly will DoveTiger still be canon?

Ivy and Dove are Lion/Cinder kittens yep!

Oh shit your brain. That's a really cool idea and completely plausible. It wouldn't change a lot either since Ice and Fox don't even HAVE kits of their own...

Fox would just have a lot of his grandmom's ginger with a white belly, and Ice would look exactly like Whitewing and her dad. I will consider it. I can't make any promises since I do try not to change too much, but that's a really cute thought

The New Prophecy

I have a LOT of thoughts but haven't written anything down yet. For TPB, I have a very clear uniting theme in mind. It is about the authoritarian sickness within Clan culture going terminal and sparking a reckoning, "Fire Alone."

For TNP, I know that it's about the residual effects of that. Many of Tigerclaw's supporters are still around, and a LOT of them are in RiverClan, but I still don't have A Phrase for it (which is my extremely arbitrary method for knowing when I'm CONFIDENT about my message).

Hawkfrost is not only being groomed by Tigerstar in his dreams, Blackclaw plays a role, and so does Leopardstar. On some level, ALL of RiverClan has enabled him, or failed to protect him. Just like they failed to protect Feathertail and the other half-clan cats.

I'm also changing Brambleclaw significantly. The Erins want it both ways; they wanted him to train with his dad in the Dark Forest, but also didn't want to say he might actually not be a "fundamentally" good person.

So, instead, they write him the WORST possible way; borderline oblivious to reality in spite of every woman in his life telling him, DIRECTLY, "Brambleclaw you are doing something stupid," lashing out defensively every time someone suggests he isn't entitled to doing whatever the fuck he wants, and ultimately being REWARDED for this behavior by being able to "prove" his loyalty to Firestar by... uhhh... NOT killing his leader.

So, I am approaching all four Tiger siblings with a very clear idea of each one's role:

Tawnypelt has utterly rejected Tiger and his ideals, but is still finding punishment for her childhood choices (yet, she is the one leading the Sundrown Patrol; StarClan shines on her).

Brambleclaw is falling down the rabbithole and pulls himself out by realizing what he's becoming. Firestar makes him step down as deputy after the fox trap incident.

Hawkfrost is the too-far-gone, the one you can no longer save because he thinks if you're against him, you need to be eradicated

And, lastly, Mothwing is his pawn and victim, and Hawkfrost accidentally impales himself as she pulls out the fox trap.

So, Tigersiblings aside, there are other solid plans as well,

The Lake is getting a reworked map with borders than CAN shift.

The Tribe is obviously going to be different. The Clans may end up spending more time with them before heading to the Lake.

The Clans take time to gather supplies before moving on. Hawkfrost spends time with Brambleclaw at this point, the Tribe's culture is better explored. Filler for worldbuilding and character reasons.

Runningnose, Tangleburr, Blackclaw are getting more screentime (more than zero lmao)

Blackstar and Leopardstar are spicier. The softening retcons are being WRENCHED out.

Hawkfrost is probably going to fake more signs, leveraging Mothwing to deceive Leafpool into having that Bramble Claws prophecy.

There's more but this ask is already beefy and I need to just compile all the TNP stuff somewhere

TigerDove?

TigerDove IS staying canon with major fixes. Tigerheart is her age. He's Tawnypelt and Rowanclaw's newest from a single-kit litter. Flametail and Dawnpelt are his older siblings.

But with that said, there are going to be major changes to PO3. As much as I'm trying to change as little as possible, PO3 and OOTS are the messiest arcs EVER produced by Warriors and imo there's no way to salvage it without major changes.

I'm DEAD set on Lionblaze being the father of Dovewing and Hollytuft (replacing Larksong functionally); so there has to be BIG changes to his relationship with Brambleclaw or else I'm making two unacceptable exceptions for my reworked family tree. (Dove and Tiger being 1st cousins by adoption, not just fostering, and Sparkpelt being Larksong/Hollytuft's aunt by adoption, not just fostering)

(On that note ive been really careful to this point to make sure all previous 'adoptions' have been fosterings and wet nursings for this reason, but it was going to come up eventually. I am trying to count full adoptions as true siblings on the tree. As you can see, this is extremely difficult. Clans are so fucking ssMALL!!)

So... Option 1 is for Bramble to disown the three at that gathering, and Lion/Bramble never see each other as son/father ever again. Lion identifies as Squirrelflight's son with no sire OR as the forbidden son of Leafpool, Dove, Ivy, and Holly/Lark never see themselves as Tigerkin.

Option 2 is that Squirrelflight simply refuses to involve Brambleclaw in her plan with her sister. She tells him, instead, that she cheated on him and the kits are not his. When pressed on who, she invokes the Queen's Rights to not reveal. She raises the kits alone.

Neither option is completely perfect, but I have to make some sort of sacrifice here. Option 2 is less problematic for the family tree. Option 1 is closer to canon and preserves a favorite part of the PO3/OOTS angst.

[mlobsters]

supernatural s12e21 there's something about mary (w. brad buckner, eugenie ross-leming)

....they just killed eileen off like that? that's... disappointing. make us connect with her through a really good monster of the week in s11, but then also bring her back in s12, have her and sam have a little flirty vibe, she accidentally kills some asshole bmol so she and sam can have an emotional beat. and a handful of episodes later she gets killed unceremoniously by ketch and, apparently, a trained hellhound. because that makes sense. no more things going bump in the night! except for the ones i use for killing people 😌

spn s12e21 (2017) / the magicians s3e8 six short stories about magic (w. sera gamble, david reed - 2018)

i appreciated sort of her brief chase scene from her pov through her hearing loss. the magicians did something similar (article for details with showrunners) with marlee maitlan's role - but much, much longer. it was 9 minutes. (took a snippet with felicia day in it too, rip charlie)

DEAN Seven monster-related deaths. I mean, what, did all the things out there suddenly start working together? SAM Dean, monsters and demons don't team up. Seven Hunters are gone. We can't grab a signal from Mom's phone. Cass has Kelly Kline who knows where. Mick has slipped off the grid. Ketch is lying to us. I-I… I wanna punch something in the face.

kudos to padalecki because as always he can really bring those emotions and he seemed to really be hurting over eileen but it's bang boom all part of this bigger picture and oh they're all monster related deaths and hey let's clean house on any side characters we wanna off for the drama. her character deserved a better sendoff than this (or hey let her live), if they were gonna have her come back, in my ever so humble opinion.

TONI I have sources, Mary. Everywhere. After you died, your beloved John was a man slowly going mad, searching for revenge. What? Your boys didn't tell you? The drunken rages? The weeks of abandonment? Child abuse, really. It's no wonder they're damaged.

grain of salt obviously what with the brainwashing etc but canonically what's been established before was surely neglect at the least. hence why i can't let it go

CROWLEY Good afternoon. Dr. Hess. Stunningly beautiful as ever.

well. if nothing else, this is a slightly more seamless way of trying to retcon the bmol existing and operating offscreen for all these seasons prior, having crowley establish some background with the bad lady

DR. HESS Crowley, one more thing. CROWLEY What? DR. HESS Your relationship with the Winchesters. It's a bit cozy for my taste. I hope you don't expect me to spare your friends.

i do think that's what keeps crowley more interesting than he might be if he was just plain beholden to the winchesters (more like cas tends to be [caveat he's not also always beholden to them but when he's not he's usually making the Worst decisions]), he's out there still killing people, aiding the bad people in killing people we like and care about like eileen. but we can also pretty much count on him coming through to work things such that dean and sam will be okay in the end. he contains multitudes

CROWLEY So… Dagon dead. Kelly's now in the clutches of the Winchesters' love slave, Castiel, who's no doubt dragging her to a gruesome death.

lol

LUCIFER Mm. As opposed to the fun-packed death you have planned.

laughed again! these two, love em

ok let me guess brainwashed to kill sam and dean, is that on the menu?

thanks for the little tidbit of them having a po box in lebanon

good lord why are they killing time at the end of the season with this random drama moment between mr ketchup and torturer lady

MR. KETCH I don't know you, Mary. Not really. You certainly don't know me. You… wouldn't want to.

oh my god and the little kid music box spooky music starts playing in the background, mr ketchup is just a hurt little boy 😢 the snort i snorted!

real deal mary just tried to kill herself, pulled the trigger and only saved by ketch pulling it away to deflect the shot what the fuck. that is way too dark and serious for this show. that was awful. samantha smith is doing good with the scene and on her knees begging to be killed we get the mushy music.

how did her hair not move from upright to this position. now i'm just being nitpicky because i'm pissed off, but if we're plowing into the gritty dark realism of her torturing/brainwashing, her hair should be gross and acting like dirty sweaty hair.

so i'll rant about the music too then. so like, this scene on the setup / assassination trap thing dean and sam luring bmol to, it's way edgier and interesting and weirder than his score usually is. sometimes it's completely bland, or misses the tone, or is mega cliched, and then it'll be Good! for a brief moment and then the tone changes and the vibe is back to boring blah nothing or actively obnoxious. i feel vaguely bad about ranting about the score all the time, but i think it's honestly the biggest failing in the show over the entire run. i have plenty of issues with other things, but the music has consistently been subpar and pulled the quality of the show down with it, in my opinion. the foley though - i love it.

also mark pellegrino as lucifer, love. so good. so creepy! ugh. and i really don't want him having thrall over crowley, because he is so creepy. so i am getting concerned

well. not sure where this is going since crowley didn't do the dead-demon-zappy thing after the angel blade stabbing, even though lucifer just walked away like it was done

nice little exchange to highlight how they fight together with silently communication, and pretty cool action sequence. don't see them in these kind of shootouts often and they gave both Js some slick action hero moves

MR. KETCH Your bunker is an excellent fortress. An even better tomb. So we've rejiggered the locks, we've shut off the water, and once we leave, the pumps that bring in the air shall reverse. Your oxygen should be gone in two days, maybe three. You dying in here, it's almost poetic, hmm? Come along, Mary.

hokay. cliche villain killing them slowly enough to give them ample time to figure it out or have someone save them

LOL while talking to robomary we get mushy music but Creepy Version. discordant

ah, is crowley in the rat? is that why he didn't zap?

literally had the thought process of wait are we in one of those parody old spice commercials?? literally wheezing from laughing

he looks great but this choice was SO. HOKEY. (with music to match, you'll be shocked to hear me say) and the visuals look fake without looking like... really obviously fake? but it's also clearly fake? because the lighting is so mismatched and earth doesn't really look like That out of the box? lol

[casliveblog]

Custom Toonami Block Week 143 Rundown

Spy X Family: So despite being Bluey-level involved parents, apparently the neighbors are now suspicious of Loid because he’s out working late every night on Spy shit which it’s kinda funny because the show never shows us Loid or Yor doing their jobs all that much and somehow neither really gets in the way of their family façade but apparently Loid’s been out doing Spy shit this whole time and it’s one of those Fairly Oddparents retcons of ‘oh yeah it’s always been this way because that’s how it has to be for the plot/joke to work’. So yeah, despite being a walking zombie Loid plans an Aquarium trip for some fatherly-enforced family fun, honestly planning a trip and putting a lot of pressure on the family to ‘have fun or else’ is probably the most normal dad thing Loid’s done so far. I mean not that Loid can’t be a cheating husband with a double life AND take his family to the aquarium but people seem stupid so it’s probably fine. Loid gets another mission while at the aquarium and he has to… get info out of a penguin, that seems like the dumbest way to exchange info like can’t you just stick it in one of the statues or tanks or something holy shit why stick it inside an animal? Apparently Anya can read penguin minds too so that’s fucking dope but because they’re penguins it’s not much to read. Still Loid’s able to break in and get to the penguin she finds that looks suspicious and is it just me or does the Forger family seem kinda like Team Rocket in that they feel like they have an excellent set of skills to do several other jobs than the one they’re doing, like Loid could definitely retire and become a penguin wrangler. Anyway after some hiccups, Loid gets the penguin and Anya reverse-kidnaps herself to have Yor beat the shit out of the enemy spy so mission accomplished. There’s also a little skit of Anya giving her review of the house before being stopped before going in Loid or Yor’s rooms which is pretty cute, nice way to end off the first half of the season.

Inuyasha: With last week’s revelation that the literal last jewel shard is at Inuyasha’s dad’s grave we spend a good portion of the episode going ‘wait how did that work again?’ given it was like, episode five we’re over a hundred episodes in at this point and unlike Naruto, Inuyasha doesn’t flash back to the same few key scenes every couple episodes despite being as absurdly long and filler-ridden. Inuyasha goes to find Myoga and Totosai to get him to yank the death portal out of his eye but they’re like ‘sorry bro, one way trip, gotta take it up with the guy who made it’ and it’s really funny because they really abuse the pearl in Yashahime and kinda plaster over it by throwing New Hosenki from this episode in there to be like ‘yeah I fixed it and made it better’ despite him saying in this episode it’d take him a hundred years to do it but I also vaguely recall Riku having some shenanigans on that front. Anyway Hakudoshi’s basically stringing Inuyasha along this whole episode and making it clear he has no fucking clue how to get into the afterlife and is teasing Inuyasha so he can do it first and Hakudoshi can pull an Ocarina of Time and be like ‘well since you opened the door for me’ and it’s really silly because Hakudoshi appears to Inuyasha and ONLY Inuyasha just to ‘neener neener neener, I’ll get to the grave first’ and then like two hours later sends Kagura to deliver a message about how to actually get there so Inuyasha does all the life-risking grunt work but like BITCH YOU JUST TALKED TO HIM AN HOUR AGO AND SAID NOTHING OF VALUE, YOU COULDN’T HAVE TOLD HIM THEN!? Like they don’t even play it smart and make it look like Kagura’s rebelling again and telling them something they shouldn’t know, she straight up says Hakudoshi told her to tell them this, so Hakudoshi’s just being an extra little albino bitch but he’s like eight days old at this point so I guess I have to cut him some slack.

Yu Yu Hakusho: Well Yusuke is definitely 100% dead forever and Hiei, Kurama and Kuwabara immediately power up to follow Sensui through the tunnel. Hiei blasts a Dragon of the Darkness Flame and it really just pushes Sensui into demon world but it does fucking obliterate every minor demon that was on its way so the tunnel is clear for the moment, also Kurama is apparently able to turn into Yoko as like a Super Saiyan form while keeping his own personality now so it just goes to show those two have not been taking a single fight in this arc seriously up until now. Meanwhile we catch up with the Koenmas, our usual Koenma basically spelling out Sensui’s plan to enrage everyone to chase him into demon world and have Kuwabara slice through the mosquito net barrier stopping the eldritch demons from coming out meanwhile King Yamma is mobilizing the Law & Order Special Demons Unit to go take care of some shit but he’s vague about what he means exactly. Meanwhile in the limbo world that proves Bleach really did steal everything from YYH, Kuwabara jokes about the grid pattern basically being a video game and Hiei who was just literally in a video game where they had to murder a child to get out tells him to shut the fuck up. They get to the big barrier and Sensui’s not a demon so he can run right through but because Hiei and Kurama are now Super Saiyan demons they got blocked, now Kuwbara either has to fight Sensui alone or slice up the barrier to let them through. Now there’s a couple things I like about this exchange: 1. They absolutely don’t have to continue the fight, they can actually just fucking walk away right now and Sensui’s kinda screwed like he can’t chase them or cut the barrier on his own, but nobody’s willing to just let Sensui go after he killed Yusuke. 2. When Kuwabara does cut through the barrier, unlike usual when he does something stupid, no one tells him to stop and I like to think that Hiei and especially Kurama are smart enough to know Sensui’s playing them but they’re not willing to back down at this point, even if it means making things on Earth a whole lot worse. 3. Kuwabara does have the option of being headstrong and self-sacrificing as usual and throw himself at Sensui and die senselessly while claiming he doesn’t need anybody’s help but he admits he can’t beat Sensui on his own and needs help from his friends and does the (relatively) more level-headed thing. So yeah, Sensui gets through to Demon World and checks ‘see the world of the creatures you thoughtlessly murdered’ off his bucket list and goes into his super ultimate armor form which is basically just ‘no’ the ability, you can’t be stronger than it, can’t break through it, just no. Like Hiei swallows the dragon and does his DBZ shit, Kurama does some kinda hell plant thing, notably Sensui does still have to dodge Kuwabara’s dimension sword so if they were able to pin him down and force that to hit him that might have worked but yeah everyone’s just kinda fucked at this point.

Jujutsu Kaisen: We get brief flashbacks of the adults making vague attempts to stop Yuji from charging in and of Junpei getting his Jellyfish Shikikami powers and then the fight is on. Yuji’s double punch shit does about as much to the jellyfish as Flats punching Spongebob but he’s able to maneuver around enough to be able to hit Junpei directly and for some reason the jellyfish’s poison doesn’t seem to affect him at all. After a round of beating the shit out of each other, Yuji gets Junpei calm enough to just fucking tell him what happened with his mom and shit and how Junpei’s basically like ‘people don’t have feelings because the alternative is the people who killed my mom are sociopaths and that’s harder to reconcile’ and Yuji gets the idea to recruit Junpei to be the late stage starter pack but before we can change the opening song too much Mahito jumps in and turns Junpei into a soul gremlin like a few seconds after he has the revelation that MAYBE the dude doing soul experiments in the sewer might be a bad guy. Yuji asks Sukuna to heal Junpei and Sukuna either can’t or won’t, he plays it off as a ‘oh watching you beg is a lot more fun than helping even for power’ but it’s most likely either he can’t heal other people or making a second pact would override the one he already made with Yuji which kinda flies in the face of Mahito’s plan and the plan further falls apart when Junpei apparently dies and Yuji gets SO fucking pissed that he PUNCHES MAHITO’S SOUL like I don’t quite understand the lingo of this show yet but getting so pissed you punch out someone’s soul is badass no matter how you slice it, it has something to do with the Yami Yugi thing Yuji and Sukuna have going but apparently Yuji can punch you so hard it literally hits your very soul and that’s freaking cool as hell. They fight for a while and it’s pretty neat because Yuji’s pissed/dumb enough to just facetank all of Mahito’s chimera shit and Mahito’s basically human silly putty so any damage doesn’t last too long. He tries to turn Yuji into a soul gremlin so he’ll have to ask Sukuna to reverse it but Sukuna stops him like ‘What the fuck you think you’re doing bro, get your dirty ass hands off my soul you franekstein motherfucker before I ram your soul so far up your ass…’ and before Mahito can properly counterattack Kento shows up and realizes Yuji has soul-punching powers so they’re gonna team up to fight this guy and that’ll be fun.

Chainsaw Man: It’s the finale and this one kinda caught me by surprise, like I thought I had two episodes left but apparently I lost count and this is it. After last week and the Ghost Devil nearly killing Aki, this time it’s decided it wants to play nice and gives him the cigarette Himeno told him he could have when he grew up and because he has no fear of the ghost devil anymore it legit can’t see him (though he also walks on it and presumably it can feel him so maybe it just wanted to die instead of being controlled by snake girl idk) He beheads it and before Snake Girl can get her snake on, Kobeni pops out of nowhere using her Sloppy Blowjob Devil powers and captures her. Denji and Power come up against a room full of zombies and Power charges right in and Denji’s just like ‘nope’ and steps back into the elevator which is probably good because the next floor has Katana Man on it. Katana Fucker is still pissed about Denji killing his grandpa which is like one of the few things Denji was NOT in the wrong about like not only did he not kill him till he was already a zombie but the dude blackmailed him all his life into indentured servitude, we’ve established that Denji’s a heartless asshole and Katana Man not wanting to even kill zombies confirms that’s not part of the Devil Man process but something innate to Denji’s character, but he was well within his rights to fucking murder that guy long before he did. Anyway the two fight and do their Spider-Man 2 train sequence and it’s cool and shit but Denji gets both his arms cut off when Katana Man starts doing his anime katana move because he has the power of god and anime on his side. They do the super awesome run past each other and slash deal where Denji says he’s gonna cut him down with his head blade but since Denji’s a lying sack of shit he pulls out his secret move, LEG CHAINSAWS and completely subverts the whole clash which is fun. Katana Boi wakes up chained to the train and I’m not entirely sure why he can’t just transform again but I guess he ran out of blood like Denji does and Denji and Aki take turns kicking him in the balls for killing Himeno which is insanely satisfying like there’s this weird kind of fusion between the ‘we won’t kill you, justice will be served’ and the sure juvenile joy of the nutshots that makes it very fun like it’s not even severe enough torture to be an ethical dilemma it’s just like ‘eh, it’ll make us feel a bit better’ and it is a nice bonding moment between Aki and Denji, even almost makes me forget that Katana Dude didn’t actually kill Himeno at all and they should be mad at Snake girl since she was the one that ate the Ghost Devil and invalidated the sacrifice in the first place (also did we ever get a reason for why Katana Man wouldn’t stay dead even under Aki’s ‘definitely kill you’ sword or was that just chalked up to ‘Devil Men basically can’t die, do not pass go do not collect $200’?). But yeah, everyone’s good, Makima says that the Gun Devil jewel shards they got from the bust gave them enough to track the Gun Devil, Snake Girl dies horrifically in front of Kobeni for maximum trauma and we get a cool montage of Denji, Power and Aki just enjoying running errands to close off the season. Also Denji has the dream he had from the beginning of the season about talking to Pochita from through a doorway which I’m guessing is his Naruto/Kurama seal place and if he opens it Pochita will take back over and drive Denji out.

So yeah, that’s the end of Season 1 for Chainsaw Man and I had a lot of fun and I want more but that’s it for now, dunno if I’ll figure out a new anime to watch for next week or just cut the block a little shorter, I’ll see how I feel when it gets closer.

Ranking of Kings: So we get a new opening and this opening song is actually how I first heard of this series and it does fucking slap so that’s cool. Bojji and Kage are still on their way to the castle and apparently Despa is on his way too but is a ways behind because, and I shit you not, his horse got too fat. Meanwhile Hilling is assaulting the gate and Sword Guy has trained Kirito Guard to become Crossbow Guy and help him infiltrate the castle to destroy the gate to the Underworld. Meanwhile Miranjo’s busted the Underworld Criminals out of prison and is just like ‘yeah go nuts I don’t give a fuck’ and they just like immediately kill her puppets but luckily she has Koro-sensei’s absolute defense mode so no one can smash her mirror. The majority of the episode is getting a feel for these criminal dudes and there are some that are just generic tough guys, one that seems to be more of a schemer and one that’s a fucking Dark Souls dude who cuts into Big Strong Guy #3 Kingbo’s tendons so he can’t hold his sword or stand and just acupunctures his back a bunch and lets him bleed out. This guy is Ouken and my working theory is that he has the same kind of training Bojji does where his fighting style targets vital points for disabling rather than crushing with strength only he went the dark murdery ‘disable and let your enemies bleed out’ route on his skill tree. They just kinda yeet Kingbo out of the castle and schemer guy takes over, Snake Guy tells the snakes to bury Kingbo but turns out he’s still alive which shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone because I don’t think anyone who’s died during this series has actually stayed dead.

Vinland Saga: Askeladd runs his men fucking ragged to try and outrun Thorkell’s advancing army that outnumbers him five to one, sending for reinforcements while heading up the river with them hot on their trails. Bjorn confronts Askeladd about his uneasiness and Askeladd admits Canute’s kind of a downer considering if they win he’s supposed to be the King of England. However they’re able to get away from Thorkell using the English’s one eternal weakness: forgetting other countries exist. They escape to Wales, the red-headed stepchild of the United Kingdom where Askeladd has some contacts that are willing to escort Canute on the chance that when he becomes King of England he’ll stay the fuck out of their country. Like Canute seems like he’d keep his word but would it really be England if they minded their own business? Negotiations do not go well because Canute is, in clinical terms, a fucking pussy. Still they set off with Thorfinn acting as Canute’s personal bodyguard as they work to reunite with the rest of the army in the nearest fort. On the way Askeladd admits that despite claiming to be a great judge of character, having faith in people like Thors hasn’t really worked out for him so maybe someone he has absolutely no faith in like Canute is the change of pace the world needs. Before they can get too deep into navelgazing they’re immediately ambushed in the next town, some deity out there heard Askeladd reminiscing about Thors and fucking trapped him in the same archer high ground bullshit he used on him.

[a-student-out-of-time]

Dear one, your story is also full of problems. Don't call Hibiki's relationship with Hajime polyamorous it's exactly what a harem is (everyone loves Hajime). Now Hajime has all the benefits of Self-Insest (everyone loves him (in the literal sense), he is cool, and so on) that it starts to feel like you put yourself into his character. and I find fault with what you did to Kanade because that her decision is disappointing and it feels like it was just done that you are angry with her.

//Of course I know my story is full of problems. I've never hidden that fact from anyone. I'm trying to improve on them, not hide them, retcon them and pretend they never happened.

//That's not how any of that works. If you actually took the time to check, which you clearly didn't, you'd see plenty of examples of the girls being romantically interested in each other as well. Sonia and Hibiki are both with Gundham as well. We just see mire of Hajime because he's the protagonist

//Frankly, it sounds like you're insulting poly relationships by trying to downplay it and discredit in purely due to your own dissatisfaction with my writing.

//If you don't like what I did with Kanade, guess what? Neither do I. I admit that my ideas there were undercooked and I need to resolve this so ehow, which I fully plan to do in the future.

//I'm not an arrogant fool who thinks he can do no wrong. I actually read and analyze what I see as flaws even in my own writing, and always try to get second opinions.

//Finally, being a flawed writer who has msde flawed stories does not mean I'm not allowed to criticize your fans. Nice try.

[antigonewinchester]

15x05 I can’t decide if the “Dean looks way older now” jokes are a double joke, because it’s clearly Jared who looks different/older playing Sam in 2019 than he did in 2005, or if because Dean is the more comedic character they used him for this joke despite Jensen looking more similar to his 2005 self. Again, they’re going for the old school references in bringing back Ford and Hamill as alias, pulling from 1x02 (which isn’t technically a werewolf ep but features a creature similar to it, and one they were right not to reuse and use werewolves instead).

We’ve got three dark mirrors for Sam & Dean in this ep – two dreams from Sam, first of Dean drying to kill Lucifer!Sam with the colt, failing, and Lucifer!Sam killing him; then demon/MoC!Dean killing Sam, and then the werewolf brothers, who have taken to killing humans, and eventually ending in a murder suicide, as the younger bro, tormented by his and his brother’s killing of people, kill his older bro and then himself. Given the discussion of the werewolf bros as “foreshadowing,” there’s also perhaaaps a link to 15x17, in the older bro werewolf being the one who wanted to kill people/wouldn’t stop, and being taken out by his younger bro, and then Dean being willing to sacrifice everything & everyone to kill Chuck… except, ultimately, Sam, who convinces him to stand down and ‘stops him’ without having to kill him. Or perhaps linking to Kripke’s “Sam goes dark, Dean has to hunt him down” ending which one could imagine ending in a murder-suicide, if they’d wanted to go the really tragic route.

Lilith’s return – and the first person to be killed through the randomly stabbed through the back this season, pretty sure. I don’t think it’s too much of a stretch to say she acts as a dark foil to Dean in the ep? Dean’s worst impulses are often brought out by his following the script, being the unquestioning loyal soldier, similar to how Lilith is still following Chuck’s script even though she hates him. (They even get somewhat similar cuts on their cheeks.)

LILITH Wouldn’t it be great if everything was just planned out for you? [She laughs.] DEAN Let me guess, one of Chuck’s lines? LILITH Word for word. God… he is not exactly Shakespeare. He’s more of a low-rent Dean Koontz. I had to listen to his whole, quote “writing philosophy”. And his very weird, very pervy obsession with you. Then it always ends the same. One brother killing the other. I mean, this world… he could’ve ended it in so many ways, and… he likes that one. You know, I guess that’s why you had to see the werewolf brothers die the way they did, ‘cause… foreshadowing.  

I thought the “pervy obsession with you” line was going to refer to both Sam and Dean, but the way it’s played it definitely sounds like Lilith is referring specifically to Dean. The ‘Dean gets creeped on by quasi-mentor/father figures’ thread drops off almost entirely in Dabb’s seasons so it’s curious to see it pop up now, although given this ep was written by Yockey, who joined in S12, I’m hesitant to declare it’s intentional. If I had to guess, it would be more that it’s balancing out the ‘Dean looks old’ jokes at the beginning, as well as just making Chuck seem weird & obsessive. (Like the awkward, invasive fans who are obsessively attracted to Jensen/Jared/J2? Idk how many were around by this point in this show but the writers had to be somewhat aware of them historically.) We’ll see if there’s more of this thread thru the rest of the season tho.

SAM Where’s Chuck? LILITH Why would I ever tell you anything? SAM Because I’ve killed you before… [he takes out the demon blade.] and I can do it again. LILITH See, you keep saying that, but you killed me because I let you. Now I’m feeling… less generous. [LILITH’s eyes flash white. The room starts to shake as lights start breaking and falling.]

This dialogue isn’t a retcon per se, as S4 implies that Lilith knew all along she was the last seal, but it certainly does give a certain... framing to Sam and his actions in S4. Definitely an implicit passivity in Lilith “letting” Sam kill her.

[cookinguptales]

your meta is next level good! you give this way more thought than the writers. tbh i don't think any of the writers thought things through this much. they threw a bunch of comedy tropes at the wall on their lunch break and say 'yeah that'll do. whatever' hit print and sent it to the producers. i'm also 100% behind you on your 'the wedding and freddie episodes were retconned in editing' conspiracy. neither of those episodes made SENSE with the other episodes. like... what happened??? what went on?? the scenes with the djinn where he gives extra wishes and makes a new freddie were definitely filmed later in both of those episodes.

haha, thanks!

But yeah, I'm laboring under no delusions there. I know I've probably put a lot more thought into this than the writers did, and whatever conclusions I come to are probably fabrications to some extent. But I write fic, so I have to come up with something to bring everything together lmao.

(And it's also one thing that disappointed me so much about 4.09! I know that I've always been kind of self-indulgent on the fic/meta front, but I've always believed that the writers were thinking deeply about their decisions! Until 4.09!)

And goddd, right, it makes me sound like such a tinfoil hatter but... I can't think of anything else to explain everything! If they really did extend the Djinn's role, which is a thing they've been clear about in interviews, then like... it had to have somewhere to expand, right? And the back half of the show couldn't have happened the same way without wishes to do it. I think similar things still would have happened... but I do think they had to give the Djinn things to do and they did. I'd love to know if the original plans were particularly different, or if they lined up a little more with the themes introduced earlier in the season a little more!

like I mean... who knows, I guess they could've been worse! But it scratches at me in all the worst ways, not knowing. lmao