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dangermousie · 5 months

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2023 End of Year Post - kdrama edition

Yes, we have a some of December left, and I want to check out Death's Game but whatever. I got time for this now and not sure if I will have later so here goes.

This is only going to cover kdramas that aired in 2023; if I watched it but it was made in a different year, it’s not on the list. This was an excellent kdrama year, the likes of which we hadn't had in a long time.

DRAMAS WATCHED

In order of liking from least to most as opposed to pure quality so pls don't come for me, fans of some popular dramas that are on my nope list. Also, I am including if I’ve seen enough to make up my mind; yes I realize that’s inaccurate, but that’s my list.

33. The Escape of the Seven - this is so aggressively stupid and mean that it feels like the makers are playing a practical joke seeing how much their audience will take. This has a season 2 coming, so the answer is a lot.

32. Behind Your Touch - the FL gets superpowers by touching people's and animals' butts. Yes, you read this right. Do I really need to add anything?

31. King the Land - yes, it was a hit. Yes, it stars popular actors. I HATED IT LIKE IT TOUCHED MY BUTT TO GET SUPERPOWERS!!! Plastic people in paint by the numbers story, with about as much genuineness or retability as a barbie aisle in walmart. I never expect much from Yoona so whatever, but to have LJH go from The Red Sleeve to this boggles the mind.

30. Mrs Durian - this is so dumb that I think I lost a few IQ points watching this, but its insanity becomes entertaining - I mean what kdrama can you name where a daughter in law declares her love and lust for her mother in law at a family dinner?

29. The Matchmakers - there is nothing offensive about this drama at all. But there is nothing in the least interesting either. If elevator music took drama shape, it would be this show.

28. Destined with You - sorry, Rowoon, I am still fond of you, but you are two for two in drama duds department this year. This is a drama where I loved ep 1, liked ep 2, was indifferent to 3 and...you get the point. Each ep was worse than the one before, and I bailed before I was dragged into a cosmic singularity.

27. Oasis - great first two episodes. Unfortunately it was not a two ep show. The performances are solid but the story is just not there - the effect is like a fancy chef making an amazing sauce to put on pig slop.

26. Boyhood - it's not you, it's me in action. I can see why people would like it but a 34-year old playing a high schooler in a Weak Hero Class 1 Slapstick Edition is no go for me.

25. Castaway Diva - it's so precious and kooky in the most annoying ways, with the most well-adjusted abused castaway in history. I like magic realism when done by Jorge Amado, but this ain't Amado.

24. Island - it had a good concept, good cast and fun visuals but the execution deserved one of ML's swords through the neck.

23. The Worst of Evil - if I wanted an American show, I'd watch one. Very solid performances though.

22. Song of the Bandits - period edition of what I said about The Worst of Evil.

21. Welcome to Samdalri - and goodbye to any hope of emotional involvement.

20. Joseon Attorney - I have yet to like a single sageuk centered around a profession and this was not an exception. I guess it could be worse but it also could have been so much better.

19. Twinkling Watermelon - everyone loved this drama. Everyone except for me. It's the kind of precious that sets my teeth on edge and I couldn't stand half the main characters we were supposed to root for. I guess I like my fruits to shine steadily.

18. Our Blooming Youth - probably the biggest disappointment on this list. This is not a bad drama by any means, but with that cast and that story (I loved the novel), I was hoping for a memorable sageuk not merely all right.

17. Vigilante - it has the emotional complexity and nuance of a punch to the throat but it gives us quasi-gay openly-murderous dudes going after psychos and Yoo Ji Tae holding feral Nam Joo Hyuk by his hoodie at his feet.

16. The Forbidden Marriage - expected nothing but it was a surprisingly enjoyable trifle of a costume drama that was also quite pretty.

15. Arthdal Chronicles: Sword of Aramun - a hot mess but such an entertaining epic one. And it gave us TWO Lee Jun Kis in period gear and who am I to cavil at the bounty of God?

14. The Story of Park's Marriage - it's a trifle, a souffle, so light it might blow away, but it keeps my attention and is so fun and sweet.

13. My Lovely Liar - a huge surprise, that manages to mix a murder mystery and a romcom, and shocked me by showing Hwang Minhyun can act.

12. Tale of the Nine Tailed 1938 - the original ToNT was my fave drama of its year and I did not think it needed a sequel. But this is not a sequel but more of a side-quel and is such a total delight with brotherly love, adventures, romance and hijinks. It's a joy.

11. Perfect Marriage Revenge - it's actually very hard to do a soap right but this slim 12 ep drama managed. So fun, so crazy, such a good ship!

10. My Lovely Boxer - not really about sports, but about two broken people finding salvation because of and in each other. Also, if you like age gap romances, this is delicious. Sort of loses steam by the end but c’est la vie.

9. The Secret Romantic Guesthouse - this was a sageuk that was not on my radar with a bunch of actors I was not familiar with but it took my heart away. A good plot that was perfectly paced, characters and ships I adored, a logical ending. This is one of the biggest positive surprises of the year for me.

8. Tell Me That You Love Me - a slice of life remake (sort of, it's more "inspired by") of my favorite jdrama of all time. It's not as good as the jdrama because nothing could be, but it's an aching lovely story with some incredible performances.

7. See You In My 19th Life - funny and romantic and haunting and hopeful and odd. This was one of my favorites of the year.

6. Alchemy of Souls: Light and Shadow - it's rare for me to like a (1) sequel (2) with FL actress change (3) that is a Hong Sisters drama. But this was such a gorgeous, surprisingly achy story of love and loss and love regained with some cool monster fighting in the middle. Between the two seasons, this is the first Hong Sisters' drama I enjoyed from beginning to end in well over a decade.

5. My Demon - so tropey (chaebols, supernaturals) but it proves that these tropes are popular for a reason. The chemistry is fire, the story is unpredictable and the whole thing is an addictive delight. A rare drama where I like each new ep more than the last one.

4. Goryeo Khitan War - an old school sageuk in every meaning of the term (no romance, no eye candy, lots of bearded men, battles and politics), this feels like watching an epic movie more than a drama. The vast cast all earns their place and the performances (mainly from character actors given a chance to shine) are incredible.

3. Call It Love - two very very damaged people finding love and healing with each other. This is a narrative very hard to do to my satisfaction but when it's done well, as here, there are few things that can hold a candle to it.

2. My Dearest - a masterpiece of cinematography, narrative, performances. This is an old-school epic romance in the best sense of the term. If it doesn't make you swoon or break your heart, there is something wrong with you. A story of two untraditional, strong-willed, flawed people who fall in love in the middle of the horrifying Qing invasion of Korea and have to deal with all that the world throws at them, this is a bona fide masterpiece.

1 - Moon in the Day - who knew my favorite kdrama of the year will star a store brand Domyoji from Extraordinary You and an actress I was never familiar with. But this part period/part modern fantasy tale of doomed cursed lovers is everything I knew I wanted and everything I didn't know I wanted but did. Two lovers where their love did not save them and in modern day it might not again, has got me obsessed the way I haven't been in years.

FAVORITE DRAMA

Moon in the Day - if there is such a thing as a drama made perfectly for me, this gorgeous, emotionally haunting, utterly romantic, twisty tale is it.

WORST DRAMA

The Escape of the Seven. This drama is proof that demons exist and not sexy ones like Song Kang but horrible nasty ones who delight in the torment this hot mess inflicted on its viewers.

FAVORITE MALE CHARACTER

Do Ha, Moon in the Day - a Silla general and a consummate killer who committed atrocities on the orders of his monster father and yearned to die for them, who found the meaning in life in loving his enemy but it did not make him better, a man so obsessed he literally was around for 1500 years of horrifying ghostly existence and still went "worth it" for a woman who killed him as long as he knew she loved him while she did it. He's intense and competent and beyond fucked up and has never had a normal day and I love him so so so very much from a safe distance.

FAVORITE FEMALE CHARACTER

Gil Chae, My Dearest - she starts out as vain and spoiled but the horrors that break so many others bring out all her fierce survivor potential and she becomes such a force of nature - capable of incredible love but also sacrifice and strength and compassion.

Runner Up: Shin Hye Sun's reincarnator in See You In My 19th Life - quirky, damaged, strong, so odd and so vulnerable at once.

NEEDS TO BE MURDERED

There are a lot of characters who fit that category (King Injo in My Dearest? My God) but the crown belongs to So Ri Bu from Moon in the Day. You think you've seen abusive parents but until you've seen a man abuse his son his whole life and then continue for 1500 years after his death, you ain't seen nothing!

FAVORITE SHIP

The doomed by the narrative OTP of Moon in The Day. Only thing that's better than enemies to lovers is enemies while lovers and their impossible relationship where her killing him is a supreme act of love and his refusing to let go is so strong that he stays around for 1500 years watching her, helpless as she dies over and over again, is everything you ever want.

Runner up: Jang Hyun/Gil Chae, My Dearest. They are so strong and so damaged and it takes them so long to figure out what they feel and what the other person feels but their love and sacrifice and complexities are perfect.

FAVORITE SECONDARY OTP

Kim Shi Yeol/Hong Joo, The Secret Romantic Guesthouse - an assassin bodyguard pretending to be a carefree scholar and a widow of the man he killed to protect his king (and whose life was destroyed as a result.) I enjoyed the main OTP of this drama but I was utterly and completely unhinged for the secondary couple.

I'd have probably picked Rang and his mermaid from TotNT 1938 even over them, but they really were the main OTP of that drama.

NOTP

King the Land couple seems like an easy target but honestly, they are both so terribly bland and antiseptic and marketing by committee, they kinda deserve each other. So I am gonna go with Destined with You, one half of which thinks supernaturally roofying someone into loving them is cute and the other half thinks dating one woman while wooing another is totally a-ok. Ugh.

FAVORITE SCENE

There is no competition for the scene in the slave market in My Dearest, where Jang Hyun finds Gil Chae - the way he screams and tries to clutch the hem of her skirt will live in my head forever.

And the scene where he 'wins' that horrifying bet, or the scene where she finds him in a pile of bodies - they are as good also. Or when he fights off a squad to protect her even though he's sick. That whole drama is perfect.

Runner up: the scene of Do Ha executing Ri Ta's family, covered in blood, as she looks at him from the crowd in Moon in the Day.

Or the scene where he talks about how he cannot live as a person but at least maybe she will kill him and he will die as one. Or when her confession in the past intercuts with his walking in the present, or when he comes home in his bloodied armor and she finds he has a fever and it's the first tender touch he's probably ever known. Her murdering So Ri Bu saying she knows she's going against filial piety in loving her parents' murderer, the way they hug, both bloody, as he says "let's live." The way she says she can't go on as she's hit rock bottom and he replies she cannot quit because she must accompany him to his rock bottom now. Honestly, the drama is a font of amazingness.

Also, the opening scene of Goryeo Khitan War or the scene of Yang Gyu ordering to shoot the captives and having to do so himself.

The OTP meeting again at the intersection at the end of ep 1 of Tell Me That You Love Me. SHS comforting ABH as he's having a traumatic breakdown in 19th Life. The love-making scene in Call It Love. There were a lot of great scenes this year.

BIGGEST CRUSH

Lee Jang Hyun, My Dearest - is that even a competition? He's flawed - vain, often emotionally closed off, not great at processing emotions, lashing out when hurt. He is also incredibly heroic in a real, knows the cost but bears it, kind of way. Whatever he does, he commits utterly but it's never without understanding the cost. He felt both larger than life and utterly real. He went through hell and maintained his soul and the way he loved Gil Chae was breath-taking to behold.

Runner Up: Yang Gyu, Goryeo Khitan War - an experienced military commander who wins an impossible victory even as it ravages his soul. Competence is sexy as fuck.

BEST SCENE STEALER CHARACTER

Rang, Tale of the Nine Tailed 1938 - 1938 really was Rang's chance to shine and he took it. For a character I started out disliking in the original, he really stole my entire heart in this drama. I am so glad he got his happy ending with his brother and his girl.

Runner Up: Crown Prince, My Dearest. He started out as a sheltered, spoiled aristocrat, convinced the world owed him for existing. He grew up slowly and painfully into an amazing man. And then was murdered for it and I cried.

NEEDS A SEQUEL

Arthdal - it leaves the story at a good stopping point but it's very much a "world in flux, adventures and conflicts continue" ending and I would love to see more of these characters. I know we won't but it would have been nice.

NEEDS SCISSORS TAKEN TO IT

Behind Your Touch - should have been snipped at birth.

TOO MANY SCISSORS TAKEN TO IT

Vigilante - I don't mean it had scissors taken to it because it's not cdrama and there is no NRTA, but this drama would have benefitted from being longer. I mean, I love fights and gay polycules as much as the next tumblr person but a bit more character development would not have come amiss. (ahaha - I said come. Leave me alone.)

TROPE THAT NEEDS TO DIE

I don't care about cops/doctors/trash collectors/whoever - workplace drama centering on their "cases" needs to die. I hate procedurals from any country and Korea is no exception.

FAVORITE TROPE WE’VE SEEN A LOT OF

Supernatural critter devoted to their OTP with all the power of their long life.

BIGGEST DISAPPOINTMENT

Our Blooming Youth - it was far from terrible but it was a giant meh. I was so excited to see Park Hyung Sik in a sageuk (that wasn't the hot mess that was Hwarang) and I adored the source novel. It actually started well and then...it's like Revenge of the Beige!

BIGGEST GOOD SURPRISE

I want to say Moon in the Day but to be honest, I was excited by posters and trailers so it wasn't wholly a surprise despite not having much of an opinion on the actors before I saw them. So I am going to say My Demon. I was bored by the trailers, I can't remember the last time I enjoyed a Kim Yoo Jung drama and before this year I would have said Song Kang was an incredibly limited actor in everything I've seen him in and not appealing to me at all. And here I am rabidly rabiding for this drama!

If I am not limiting myself to dramas but can use this for actors - Hwang Minhyun in My Lovely Liar. I genuinely did not think the man could act and then he gave such a pitch-perfect, nuanced performance out of nowhere!

2023 DRAMAS I HAVEN’T SEEN THAT I MOST WANT TO WATCH

I have actually watched all the kdramas that aired this year that I wanted to check out except for Evilive. I am saving this for when I have time.

BEST NON-2023 DRAMA I’VE WATCHED IN 2023

I don't know if I'd say it's the best but Say You Love Me (2004) with Kim Rae Won as a quasi monk seduced away from his true love by an evil older woman was a hell of a ride.

MOST ANTICIPATED

Love Song for Illusion (Lady assassin falls for her royal target who has two personalities), Captivating the King (lady spy falls for her royal target who is tormented) - notice a theme? Also Flower that Blooms at Night because Honey Lee in a sageuk, The Life of Mrs Ock (Lim Ji Yeon in a sageuk), The Love Story of Chun Hwa (an "erotic" sageuk, hmmmm, what?!), Hong Rang (Lee Jae Wook in a super angst sageuk), Queen Woo (that cast and set in Goguryeo!), Wong Kyung (about Lee Bang Won's wife and I love the cast.) Basically, if it's period, I am there with bells on.

#kdrama #year in review #my dearest #moon in the day #call it love #tell me that you love me #goryeo khitan war #tale of the nine tailed 1938 #tale of the nine tailed: 1938 #The Secret Romantic Guesthouse #my demon #the story of park's marriage contract #perfect marriage revenge #Alchemy of Souls: Light and Shadow #see you in my 19th life #my lovely boxer

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loganlostitall · 4 months

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THE DEATH OF PEACE OF MIND

Rating: 18+ for sure

Word count: 1.7k

Characters: Negan Smith, adult gender neutral reader

Setting: Riverbend, season 11 episode 13

Content warnings: light spoilers!!! Be mindful of your own knowledge of the show. Oral sex (M receiving) and also references to oral sex (gn receiving), cum swallowing, spit/drool, slight mention of typical TWD violence, very brief speculation of Negan being dead ig?

Summary: you were in a relationship with Negan before he disappeared without a trace after Maggie took out the Reapers and found Alden. Just when you’re wondering if hope of finding him again is lost… there he is. And he’s very excited to see you.

Author’s note: I literally have no idea where this came from lmfao. I haven’t written in months and suddenly after listening to TDOPOM this little idea popped into my head and I couldn’t banish it so I sat down and slammed this out. Considering that there’s things I’ve had started since September, that’s a huge feat for me lmao. Anyways !!!

No beta, I’m gonna die with my errors like a man 🫡

NSFW under the cut

How long had it been, exactly? Whatever the amount of time, the true answer to such a question was too fucking long. Initially, when you left the Commonwealth a few days prior to venture further than your previous run in search of “resources” (also known as: your missing boyfriend; that you fully suspected everyone was too smart to believe you were looking for anything different, but continued lying to them anyway to avoid any emotional conflict) you hadn’t exactly… expected to actually find him. A piece of you had started to wonder if the time would come where you sunk a blade between a pair of vacant, milky eyes you’d despised and then adored.

And so, you certainly were taken by surprise when one hand snatched your arm and the other covered your mouth just as it had fallen open to loose a scream. Catching the barest glimpse of familiar ink etched across the skin of your assailant’s arm, tears stung your eyes when you realized with nausea sinking low in your gut that you weren’t ready to take him out. Brain not even acknowledging the relieving factor that the fingers touching you were warm.

In your searching for him, he found you. How poetic.

Those same hands hadn’t left your body since. Like right now, one at the base of your skull; fingernails repetitively scratching your scalp, ever so slightly.

“God fucking damn, I’ve missed this. I mean, I missed you too, of fuckin’ course I did, but this? Fucking incredible.” The slew of complimentary expletives were muttered through grit teeth, and between unsteady huffs of breath. A pinched groan followed immediately after the thick words. He was going to attract walkers; as flattering as it was, that was the first thought to come to mind and on instinct you retaliated what he had subjected you to not much earlier by slowly grazing your palm up the planes of his stomach, over his chest, and to his mouth... which only served to inspire another moan.

His head bobbed side to side with some dazed form of a nod and he flashed a tired—but still as gorgeous as usual—smile when he pulled your hand away. “Okay, okay, I’ll shut the hell up,” he sighed, much quieter though clearly without lack of restraint. Pride resounded through you with every flex of his jaw.

The phantom sensation of your back being pinned flat against the tree where Negan’s is now was still very prominent, though the only evidence to show for it was the glisten of his lips and the smudges over the fabric of his jeans that clothed his knees. A dull throb resonated between your thighs when you lowered your eyes to admire the very proof of his head being nestled there not very long ago, and the hum when you smirked around his cock gave him no choice but to bite down on his fist and keep quiet.

With that, you returned to the task at hand or, rather, at hand and mouth. Hollowing your cheeks, you sunk down until the head of his dick nudged against the back of your throat and did absolutely nothing to fight the gag that sounded as a result. A long time ago, in an entirely different life, things like that had bothered you. Everything about your performance needed to be perfect, until Negan. He liked when you struggled to accommodate him. Got off on it.

The vein along the underside of his endowment jumped and you did not hesitate to flatten your tongue and press up against it, curl the tip, and drag from end to end of the hypersensitive stripe beneath Negan’s skin and revel in the shiver it drew from him.

Scrunching his eyebrows together, he whispered, “Fuck,” and even such a short, succinct, single syllable word seemed to knock the breath out of him. His mouth thinned into a straight line, lips all but disappearing, and the back of his head made an unceremonious collision with the bark behind it. The grimace that found his face was short lived, because that was the moment you decided was perfect to bring a cupped palm and fingers to his scrotum. They drew up instantaneously upon being touched.

He was close already. Aw. He really did miss you.

A heavy glob of saliva rolled out between his cock and your lips when they crowned over the glans, but you simply sucked in a gulping breath and followed it with your tongue rather than fearing the quality of your performance. Smearing your drool down the length of his shaft would surely ease the glide of your mouth for whatever little remainder of time there was here. You would tease him about this later, but given that Negan cumming fast was a rare occurrence, it would mainly be playful bragging.

The practically hypnotic motion of his nails carding through the short hairs where your head met your neck ceased abruptly after deepthroating him once more, and you would have mourned the loss if not for the heavy lidded, glazed over, hazel brown eyes that truly appeared to be doing nothing less than memorizing the way every feature of your face looked when your lips were stretched around him. You pushed up on his balls and squeezed, just barely bordering outside of the threshold of pain for him, and the hissed ‘awfuck-’ was your only warning.

Never would you have believed that you could miss the taste of a man’s cum, and yet here you were, realizing how fucking happy you were to be tasting him, swallowing everything down like some sort of elixir. Hardly an easy task around something in your mouth, and repeatedly ramming down your throat due to him holding you in place as his hips jerked, but you were more than enthusiastic despite it. All you could do was squeeze your thighs together, breathe through your nose, swallow, and allow yourself to be used for the first time in what had felt like the longest six months in your entire life. Suddenly you couldn’t remember a single sweet thing that had ever tasted better than Negan Smith.

Though logically you knew it wasn’t a very long affair, the limited intake of oxygen disoriented you enough that you couldn’t quite tell how much time passed before the grip on the back of your head relinquished and a now softening erection retracted from your mouth. You drank air into your lungs as if you’d been under water and dropped your hands, both of which had a tacky mixture of drool and precum connecting them to your lips and his skin, all while holding eye contact even though his own gaze was trained upon your swollen, sticky mouth.

After a moment to collect himself and gather his bearings—both literally and figuratively because he tucked himself back inside of his boxers but didn’t pull up the zip, Negan offered out his hands for you to grab hold of and help you back onto your feet. There were matching patches of dirt on your knees. As you started to bend down to dust yours off, a finger hooked beneath your chin to raise your head once more. He wiped the light, streaky eyeliner you managed to score from Princess off of your cheeks; and afterwards brought the hem of his black t-shirt to your mouth that was no more than a mess of goop but that wicked tongue of his peeked out from between his teeth as he cleaned up the mess.

“So goddamn hot, baby,” Negan rushed forward to steal a kiss, which you happily reciprocated and that same tongue followed shortly after. You could still taste yourself in his mouth. Certainly, his own flavor lingered behind as well. The groan that fled his mouth to dissolve into yours was answer enough. “Fuckin missed the taste of us. Swear my dick could get hard all over again just from this shit.” His hand dropped to your own jeans that you’d secured back over your hips after you came, just in case a situation arose and the both of you had to be able to run quickly. Bypassing the zipper, Negan slid his fingers past the waistband and dipped into your underwear to gather what remained of your excrement and his own saliva, raising it to his lips to lick his fingers clean. There had hardly been enough time to suppress a moan before his mouth found your neck and you rolled your head off to the side, giggling in the process, to allow further access.

Unfortunately for the both of you, upon looking towards where you could only assume Negan had been taking shelter, your eyes fell to a sight that meant things would have to cease for now.

“…Is that Gabriel?”

“Hmm? Oh, yeah, forgive me Father or however the fuck that goes.”

His mouth had only ceased its assault on your throat long enough to mumble the words against your skin, sending a chill through you and raising goosebumps all over you that would have to go ignored. Much to your chagrin, Gabriel and Aaron were approaching the building that Negan’s new group resided within, and perhaps it was paranoia but a little skepticism went a long way since the dead started walking.

While half-assedly shoving his face away from yourself, you asked, “What are your new men like?”

“Not very nice,” he answered with a shrug; failing multiple attempts to dodge your hand until deciding he would settle for kissing your palm instead. Would have been endearing under any other circumstance.

“Negan Smith!”

“UuugghhhhUUUUUUHHH fine!” He blustered overdramatically, tossing his arms up over his head with a heaving sigh and roll of his eyes just before zipping his pants back up, and then yours after. You wiped your hands on his pants as he began walking.

And, even despite the current circumstance, after all the time you’d spent missing him, you couldn't help but smirk at his grumblings about no amount of Hail Mary’s or Our Father’s being repentance enough for what he would do to them for giving him Blue Balls as he guided you around the building for safe entry.

Like he hadn’t cum already. If you made it out of this, which you could never be sure of anymore, it seems like you were going to have a lot of sucking up to do.

Literally.

This one-shot was actually a massive challenge for me because I’ve always found it almost completely impossible to write something so short because I try to pour everything into my writing and drag it out.. which really makes me worry that this is horrible/boring 😭

Anyways, hope it’s not and people find it decent. I won’t be doing much x reader stuff because I have an OC and an entire story planned out for him when I find the time, but there will be a few ! :)

Idk who else to tag other than my loyal bffs @murdadixon @hopefulatrocity @lanadelnegan 🥰 besitos para mis bebés

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raayllum · 23 days

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i'm literally sitting here trying to figure out what EVEN i can SAY about aspec rayllum here? i think about them and i want to combust into heart emojis. i watched the first season when it first came out and then only happened to catch up last year with my qpp, and in between i was like. so infuriated when i found out they'd made rayla and callum a thing bc i - naturally - latched onto the green and purple character as an aroace icon at 18 years old, and my partner was like "no no no no TRUST me you've got to watch it, you'll love it"

they weren't wrong and after bingeing the whole show i'm stuck thinking about rayllum a LOT. they're written so much like my own ideal relationship that i kind of want to explode from it sometimes. anyway, my absolute favorite thing about them is how much emphasis there is about their friendship - to the point that when i watched season four, I can't remember which episode specifically it was number wise but when rayla suggested splitting up and offered to go with callum and he turns her down, my first immediate heartbroken thought was "she misses her best friend..." i just love how they're in love but they're in love cos they're best friends....11/10 no notes i need more relationships like that in media

ANYWAY long rambley ask about my loves aside, my question is what are some of your favorite moments where rayllum are so clearly best friends/goofballs in love?

No like honest to god though — me and the Rayla to my Callum are also in a QPR + dash of romance relationship and like... arc 1 and arc 2 Rayllum are just so goddamn sweet??

I don't agree generally that arc 2 Rayllum is more Mature™ than arc 1 rayllum — Callum is more patient and Rayla is more open, so they've matured as individuals — but merely just that they're different flavours of aspec-ness. Like arc 1 is the craziness and rollercoaster of meeting a stranger and realizing they're Your Person, and arc 2 is the deepness after the fact of "I know you, and I know that we can get through everyone so long as we have each other" mostly cause I think the main reason people label arc 1 Rayllum as more immature is because s3 Rayllum gushes over each other, but that's bc people have a hard time conceptualizing having deep admiration for your partner(s) that isn't infatuation... even though like? It's totally normal and welcome, like any long term relationship is "my partner is the most amazing person ever and i'm also very aware of all their flaws simultaneously" and like, arc 1 Rayllum hits that balance perfectly imo

I just love all of their stages and sides to them so so much

But yeah! Some of my fave moments Rayllum wise for the Best Friends quality has to be when they help each other up in 3x05 (Callum after the soulfang chase and Rayla on the ambler) because things are Weird but they're still always going to help each other? The "I missed my best friend" quality in s4 with no one laughing at Callum's jokes / talking about magic with him (vs their first scene in 5x01 being him telling her all about the magic stuff he's reading) and Rayla keeping her disappointment at bay always hits hard and I loove 4x06 when she's beating herself up and he takes care of her because a Good Relationship isn't about how you treat each other when everything's fine, it's 100% about how treat each other when life is hard/stressful and/or you're upset with each other

But I love all the gentle teasing in early S5 and the fist bump lives in my head eternally rent free. The 2x03 hug also means a lot to me cause that was the turning point she went from being a friend to being family and I think in a lot of ways, that's their relationship's most important turning point alongside maybe 1x06 (trusting her anyway!) 4x09 (forgiveness) and 5x04 (her opening up).

5x02 post-inn and stargazing scene are also faves just because of how happy they are talking about Nothing and everything, and like — that's just so fucking real, y'know? When someone makes everything automatically better just by being there

As Callum says, "We've been through a lot, and a lot has changed. Well, some things have changed, but not everything," and this never will

#aspec rayllum #rayllum #thanks for asking #alterous rayllum #qpr rayllum #poelya #aroace rayllums unite #like i was a basic pre show / s1 rayllum shipper from the start

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narrynukezankielover · 3 months

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Again these are my personal opinions or what I personally see or think as someone seeing these episodes for the first time.

To begin with the episode where Dean and Sam die and go to heaven. I love when someone else talks about Cas and only looks at Dean. The angel told Dean and Sam that god had done a lot for them but he was looking directly at Dean while saying that god had saved him, put them on a plane and brought Cas back for you. Then turned to Sam to say after everything he’s done. That sounds like god brought Cas back because he knows how much Cas means to Dean. Otherwise he would’ve been looking between the two of them.

Then the necklace. Up until now that necklace was a brotherly connection between Dean and Sam. Like I think Dean didn’t want to give it to Cas in the first place because Sam gave it to him. It’s special to him but once he gave it to Cas it meant hope. Hope that god would help. Then when they found out god didn’t really care yes it hurt Dean but what I think hurt Dean more was that Cas lost his faith in god. It’s like as long as Cas has hope Dean has hope. Then when Dean threw away the necklace the look on Sams face was like “you’re seriously throwing that out? I gave that to you.”

To me Becky represents the Jared or the J2 fans. The ones that think Jared is everything. Even the ones that ship Dean and Sam. I’m not going to lie the scene where she’s writing a sexual fan fic about them makes me want to throw up. They’re brothers fake brothers in a tv show but it’s still disgusting. Then Cas expresses how much he hates Sams voice and tells him not to ask stupid questions. It made me bust out laughing but it felt like Cas represents the other side of the fandom. I just had to put that in there because I love Cas honesty with that stuff and I had to agree with him.

So far my fave’s 2 episodes are the Jimmy episode and season 5 episode 18 which I believe is also the 100th episode. There is soooo much Destiel in it. I knew about these scenes I just didn’t realize they were all in the same episode.

Dean telling Cas to blow him got him this look. Cas kept this look for a few seconds. It’s like wait that’s a sexual thing right? Did you really just say that? The guy is really confused.

The “not for nothing Cas but last time someone looked at me like that I got laid” scene. HOLY SHIT. That was clearly flirting not a joke. Sam even gave Dean a “are you seriously flirting right now” look.

(Sorry about the stuff in that picture I took it while I was watching the episode and clearly forgot to take it off). Then Dean gave Cas this smirk and a wink which looks like it might’ve been Jensen trying to make Misha laugh which could be why Cas look became even more intense. Could’ve been Misha trying hard to stay in character. Either way that’s some serious flirting.

Later Cas got worried about Dean and what I love is that when he heard something inside the room he opened the eye door but when he couldn’t see Dean he got really worried and had to go in. If it was anyone else in there Cas would’ve said it was a trap and left them alone but he couldn’t take that chance with Dean. I’m still trying to figure out tho how Sam left to find Dean a few seconds later yet Cas found him in no time (how did Cas know where to find Dean? Suppose it could’ve been he just went to the closest religious person. I love Cas honesty here telling the guy he prays too loudly) and Sam was back at Bobbys house when Cas and Dean got back. He didn’t spend much time looking for Dean.

It’s not a sexual scene but it sure looks like it. Cas pushing Dean around telling him yet again how much he’s pissed that he rebelled for Dean so he wouldn’t have to say yes to Michael but yet here he is going to do it anyway. Dean didn’t even try to fight back. Don’t know if he knew Cas is a lot stronger than him and didn’t see the point in fighting back but knowing Dean I can’t see that being it. Or if what Cas was saying was finally getting through to his head and maybe thought he deserved what was happening and let Cas make the decision in this moment that he wasn’t saying yes right now.

I know the last episode of season 5 was supposed to be the last episode but some of it is just weird. Dean looked back at Cas sleeping and said “ain’t he a little angel.” Dean sounds so cute when he said that. It reminds me of in Good Omens Crowley calls Aziraphale angel all the time. At first it was because Aziraphale is an actual angel but over time it became a cute nickname like sweetie or honey. In this scene it felt like a cute nickname instead of just that Cas is an angel. Of course Sam ruined the moment when he said “angels don’t sleep.” Dean then looked confused and worried. The thing that pisses me off is that Sam made Dean promise to go to Lisa and have a life with her. It pisses me off because Dean didn’t say he wanted that life plus you just heard Dean saying something sweet about Cas and he thought it was a good time to bring this up. Really makes me want to punch Sam. Sam wants that life but he pushed that life on Dean in a promise. When they were in heaven Deans heaven was being with Sam but Sam’s heaven was being away from his actual family but being with a family. They really were going to let the show end with Dean liveing Sams happy ending. I’m trying to forget that shit happened but the fact that Dean didn’t want it makes it a bit easier. At least they didn’t try to say it was Deans idea.

#castiel #cockles #dean winchester #dean x castiel #destiel #ineffable husbands #crowley x arizaphale #aziracrow

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too-many-rooks · 23 days

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Spoiler warning: Long rambly notes I took while watching season 3, disclaimer that a lot of this is just character moments/lines I found interesting and initial bones of an au idea for a burgeoning, extremely self indulgent slightly-darker-Alex in season 3 wip I’ve started.

Also it was the middle of the night and I was very tired and wired out of my gourd on some mix of cheap white wine and floods of hyperfixation-sourced dopamine. Also also I only started taking notes at ep 3?

Episode 3

Alex is SUCH a better spy this season than when he began even in the first few episodes prior to SCORPIA training he’s more careful and precise and the team feels better organised - he did so well on that boat I’m so proud of my baby

I’m actually enjoying Tom and Kyra fucking about more than I expected. Tom pulling Kyra together after the boat explosion suprised me by how emotive it was. But I do want them to.. go away. Alex should more isolated/desperate/have NO other choices than SCORPIA.

Everything in Malagosto seems so staged to just see how Alex will react to it all - here’s an unlocked door, here’s an Alex sized vent and a dead spot in the cameras, what are you gonna do about it? +Alex absolutely speaks French I think he’s just not giving that away yet

Oh yes yes lingering bad touch from Julia Rothman hitting the right notes even though that costume is a WILD kaftan moment. Evil carmen sandiago/noir femme fatale aesthetic where are you I miss you so much

Ohhhh Julia saying Ian walked away and abandoned him and that was what hit him worst oh my goooooooooood

(Outfit change from julie mean day change or is she just a multiple outfits a day kinda person. Believable, I guess)

Julia’s gaslighting I ssoooo crazy ‘we trust you. We want you.’ After having his closest people not trust him, and now maybe questioning if Ian even wanted him!

Julia fucking loved this, she’s totally thrilled by her own power. Queen 👸🏻.

God Jones and the department is going THROUGH IT THIS SEASON, just suddenly surrounded by corpses

Julia : offers irrefutable proof, upsets him, then presses him to continue believing what he did before and belittling his objections - very subtle but more firm tone of voice, less motherly/accepting, very clear that the noose around Alex’s neck is always there.

She’s so delighted at the prospect of making Alex into the perfect soldier

Julia: “I want you to meet your tutor”

Me: ‘here he here he comes here he comes.’ And then I threw of my blanket, pushed myself onto my knees, and started bouncing and palm clapping in sheer delight. I basically never happy stim like this but MY GOD the flood of dopamine is IMMENSE.

More manic laughter at the start of episode 4 realising I’m about to see John and young Yassen. Nicuragua! 18 years ago!

God nervous baby Yassen with a gun

HES!! SO!!! BABY!!!

Baby boy already got his colour scheme locked down

Baby Yassen has curls - is it just the humidity or maybe does he have naturally curly hair that he straightens so he looks less cute?

Johns actor has a real resemblance to Ian (and Jack Lowden) but less so to otto

Ohoho scar moment scar moment bc Yassen was nervous and fucked up two people one bullet

“Close your eyes” as I tell these people I’m going to shoot you and have faith

God cut to adult Yassen WATCHING ALEX SLEEP LOOKING SO INTENSE

“Leave the past behind us.” “Ian rider was a professional. It was not personal it was my job.” “Think of this as a school and your dead by the end of the day” (actual honesty for the first time)

Alex not committing to being able to work with Yassen is perfect

Yassen taking Alex TO HIS KNEES so easily besties not been slowed down too much by a bullet to the chest

Soaking wet!!!!!!!!

Alex shooting scene amazing, as was Yassen bursting into his room immediately after for a murder pep talk. Alex has no privacy privileges from Yassen

Yassen removing the humanity from his targets, names/faces/lives are irrelevant, they are just blank targets. “One day you’ll have to murder them.”

“That’s not gonna happen”

Yassen *be so ffr rn face*

Really interesting to see the other side of the department covering up an agent death and lying to the family - I like the department with more humanity/emotional resonance than pure ruthlessness

Shitty Malagosto communal dorm room and matching drab grey hoodies my beloved

Shame there’s no ‘your not afraid of a little prick are you?’ ‘I wouldn’t call you that’ line. (But switching out the ‘getting vaccinated will implant you with secret nano tech that will kill you’ plottline probs a good idea)

Ooooh Julia creepily poisoning him so excited making me think of her delighting in drugging him in a cocktail of ‘let me take care of you’ ways

Yassen pulling rank to break up the fight!!

Ooh Nile wants to take down Yassen so bad.

Toms film skills coming in clutch recording/ documenting things so Alex will be taken seriously, glad to see him be… less of a dead weight to the team

Begrudgingly-impressed-at-Alex Yassen, even with the “come on that’s a bad idea”, “yeah, but!” Teenagerisms

Yassen’s core (suppressed) emotions: fear, doubt, panic

Alex: love, hope, friendship (okay dear, 🙄 but remember you’re literally becoming an assassin why are you so niave all of a sudden?)

Alex insisting John saved him bc he had compassion and was his friend and that Yassen’s rejection of that makes him lonely oh oh my heart my heart

I LOVE how much fun Nile has being evil at his job, which is threatening children.

Episode 5

Oh my god HIT HIM ALEX where do you think you are? How do you think you’ll actually manage to get those trainees to trust you? Stop whining and hit the man with a wooden sword, christ

Smithers (in reference to Alex) “he’s out there being a teenager because of us” *cut to Alex, very much in danger, contemplating his capacity to kill*

Julia: “no one leaves,” [scorpia, me, interchangeable to her]

mission with Yassen!

Packing for the mission with Yassen!!!

Yassen can’t read his handwriting!!!

“You’ve put… lockpick?”

“I left my last one in Nile. “

Alex bitching about his meagre gadgets at point Blanc 💯

Matching tactical turtlenecks!!!

“I don’t want you to fail. I don’t want you to die.”

Alex and Yassen are a team but Yassen gives Alex command of them oh boysieeeee

Again glad they dropped the vaccine bit: vaccines aren’t dangerous, but vaping is!!

Of on a road trip with Yassen!!

A murder road trip!

Love Kyra seeing the shot and the body - I know why it didn’t happen but I do kinda wish for a more corrupted violent Alex coerced/bargained into firing it himself

That Tom confrontation was great - I do want to see it as like a ‘your getting in my way’ intentional cruelty to push him away and keep him safe when Alex is too deep in SCORPIA to be deluded about thinking he can go home

Alex rejects intimacy with Julia and she cracks down her authority ‘no one leaves’

Ep 6

Love Alex spooky in the cemetery, SCORPIA hot on his heels

Sharing a grotty safe house together god SO GOOD

“We trust each other. You should try it sometime.”

“If it’s not emotional why do you do it?”

“Because it’s my job. (Identity/life/personal connections/sacrificed everything for) I work for SCORPIA. I’m good at it. You could be too.” Olive branch of intimacy - wants alex to be more like him, so they can be equals, can share this life that he apparently finds satisfaction in, not thinking or making decisions beyond how best to achieve his goal/finish the task(/order)assigned to him/subject himself to feeling emotions/thinking about his life beyond his attempts to depersonalise himself as just a weapon - just a professional with no emotions, and that that is fundamentally who he is. Evidently having some inconvenient feelies about Alex tho.

Oh no his delivery disguise makes him look like a caveman. Glad he took off the accessories for the Jones confrontation, his hair actually looks great there all tousled. (Beginning to realise how important characters hair is to me bc I still hate Julia’s I want some dark perfect waves this Bob is ough)

I’m really glad they settled on Yassen NOT knowing about John - he twists it that John didn’t betray him bc he had nothing to gain from being kind to him, so it wasn’t false, but he is so 100% loyal to John, eager to twist any criticism. I do wish we’d seen more of their relationship, but expecting some Russian roulette bits was overly optimistic

“I know my place” he’s IMMEDIATELY off to rescue his boy (actually, where did he go? All of that last episode I was just WHAT ABOUT YASSEN? Was he just plotting a rescue that didn’t need to happen and waiting for his boy to show up?)

Dare I say… good for blunt? Stephen dillane is just so charming I can’t help but like him. And you see some flashes of his ruthlessness like when he talks to Greif but he’s not a 24/7 conniving monster. Also Jones in charge and Alex possibly (definitely) returning to spy work in a couple of years? I like that. Totally abandoning it would have felt unsatisfying.

Loved that moment on the roof - missed opportunity for them to awkwardly wave at each other, but I’m so happy I predicted wrongly and Yassen gets to live and walk away and put down his weapons. There’s so much space for how they can reconnect in that.

#alex rider #alex rider spoilers #Alex rider season 3 spoilers

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bizarrelittlemew · 1 year

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fic masterpost

with links to tumblr posts in case you want to make my day and rec one ❤️ one-shots under the cut since this was getting long (yay?!)

this post will be updated as I add more!

tag for scrolling through them all

Multi-chapter (6)

Something timeless going on (post) 9 chapters, ~37.3k words, E, canon divergence au (different first meeting) - COMPLETE

Where Edward Teach is 20 years old when he first meets Stede Bonnet, and they become friends with benefits (and a lot of feelings) through the years until Stede goes to sea.

Wanna share? (post) 2 chapters, ~12.9k words, E, modern au (music festival) - COMPLETE

Ed, a music festival veteran, helps music festival newbie Stede feel very welcome on his first day after meeting him in line for free condoms.

Matching spark and flame (post) 4 chapters, ~29.8k words, E, medieval fantasy au, Reverse Big Bang 2023 - COMPLETE

When prince Stede Bonnet is accused of murdering the royal family, the kingdom calls upon warlord Blackbeard, also known as the Shamer, to use his magic powers to prove Stede's guilt.

Circus Nights (post) 15/31 chapters, ~41k/? words, E, circus au, inspired by the ofmd kinktober 2023 prompts - ONGOING

In all his years with Hornigold's Circus, Ed has never had such a distressing season. The cause? Newcomer Stede Bonnet, with whom he has to share his wagon. The problem is not that he doesn't like Stede – no, it's that he likes Stede a bit too much. And when Stede asks Ed to teach him his most popular trick, sword swallowing, new opportunities arise...

Five Birthdays and a Funeral (post) 6 chapters, ~58k words, E, modern au - COMPLETE

When Ed and Stede's friend groups merge, they meet at a birthday party, and Stede's life is turned upside-down. As they collide again and again, he not only has to figure out what Ed means to him, but what he means to himself. Or: The five times Stede wasn't ready, and the one time he was.

In the sack (post) 2 chapters, ~8.3k words, E, post-s2 - COMPLETE

To be very honest, Ed had planned on making Stede wear the sack for like, half a day. But once Stede put it on, it was like the air changed around them. As the latest observation in an interesting chain, Stede in the rice sack onesie is… oh boy. One word does come to Ed’s mind here, and that is obedient.

Microfic

warmth, good food, orgasms (post) 319 words, M, post-S2E3

One-shots (24)

First Snow (post) ~3.5k words, T, modern au (winter)

Edward wakes up to the first snowfall of the year. He cuddles a depressed Stede, who is totally just his roommate, and takes him to a nearby market.

⪼ my "Stede has recurring depressive episodes" fic with lots of domestic fluff

Prescriptions (post) ~2k words, T, modern au (medical)

Ed is a chief physician on night shift, and it’s a big deal when the hot, new pharmacist (guess who) comes by with a question.

⪼ a small thing for OFMD JanuAUry day 3 - Medical

Out of my head (post) ~6.2k words, E, modern au (rock star)

In which Stede gets to do more than just meet his rock star crush after the show.

⪼ something smutty (with an age difference) for OFMD JanuAUry day 8 - Celebrity

A dollar short (post) ~6.6k words, T, modern au (coffee shop)

A new coffee shop in Ed’s neighborhood has a Dutch auction-style book sale, lowering the price by one dollar each day. Ed gets very attached to one particular book, and one particular coffee shop owner.

⪼ where Izzy is a chihuahua for OFMD JanuAUry day 15 - Coffee shop/Pet owners

Hiptyscoop (post) ~6.7k words, E, modern au (magic)

Stede takes his school team for a Hiptyscoop tournament at Queen Anne's Academy, but ends up taking on a different challenge.

⪼ described as "kinda unhinged in the best possible way" (thank you @as-a-creww), this has dirty magic for OFMD JanuAUry day 18 - Hobbies/Magic school/Rivals

Save it 'til the morning after (post) ~2.9k words, T, modern au

Ed wakes up in a stranger's apartment and needs the stranger's help to piece together the night before over breakfast.

⪼ a cute little fic where Stede helps clear Ed's hangxiety

Throw away the oars (post) ~10.5k words, E, modern au

Ed joins a rowing team over the summer with ulterior motives. The only problem is that Stede, the instructor, is twice his age. This doesn't stop Ed from trying, anyway.

⪼ more smut with an age difference but the other way around

From gloom to grace (post) 8.2k words, T, modern au

When Ed and Stede get lost in Iceland, they happen upon an eerie place, and have to deal with the consequences of being poisoned by a strange substance (cuddle pollen, it's cuddle pollen).

⪼ the one where I invent(?) cuddle pollen

Call your wife (post) ~3.2k words, E, modern au

Ed’s best friend of several years might be getting divorced. He also might have his hand down Ed’s underwear while they sit around the campfire with their colleagues.

⪼ slightly angsty semi-public handjob (or something similar)

I adore seafood (post) ~5.5k words, T, 19th century au

Ed answers a personal ad in the newspaper, but has a hard time figuring out if Stede's intentions are what he thinks they are – and whether Stede is aware of it.

⪼ oblivious Stede doesn't know he's on a date

Keep your 'lectric eye on me, babe (post) ~15.3k words, E, 70's au

Glam is rocking the Sunset Strip in LA, and Edward Teach is rocking glam. But then he hears rumors about Stede Bonnet, a groupie who might just provide the excitement he's been longing for.

⪼ slutty Stede my beloved <3 rock star Ed my beloved <3

Who are we saying is captain right now? (post) ~6.8k words, E, 90's au, Ed/Stede/Roach

When Roach’s car breaks down in the middle of nowhere, he has to count on the kindness of the strangers who live in the only house nearby.

⪼ introducing the raretrio Roasted

Overcompensation (post) ~9.2k words, E, modern au

Ed is pining for Stede, who is dating Ed's best friend Mary. While Mary is aware that Stede is likely gay (which Stede hasn't realized), she has no idea Ed is in love with him.

⪼ Stede and Mary are oblivious people and Ed has to deal with it. also, smut

A Series of Cases of Penetrating Stab Wounds of the Abdomen (post) ~1.9k words, T, fix-it in the format of a published medical case report

Abstract: We present five cases of penetrative stab wounds of the abdomen (all involving the same two patients) and the care and interventions that led to successful recovery (and reconciliation).

⪼ brand new fic format idk

Cashmere and lace (post) ~2.3k words, E, modern au

As far as Stede knew, men like that didn’t usually wear lace panties and garters.

⪼ pwp inspired by a tumblr post

Getting dressed (post) ~3k words, E, post-canon (post-reunion)

Stede has trouble finding something to wear other than his white stockings and yellow robe, Ed suggests an activity that doesn't require getting dressed.

⪼ pwp, the auxiliary wardrobe has many uses

Know real love when it aches (post) ~4.8k words, E, post-canon (reunion)

Stede Bonnet is dead, and Ed has made his peace with it. Until Stede stumbles onto deck and right into his arms.

⪼ Ed takes care of injured Stede in more ways than one

Five-star review (post) ~5.2k words, E, modern au

“D’you think I came all this way to not suck your dick?”

⪼ pwp where Ed goes back to his Grindr hookup for more (and perhaps more than that, too)

Losing count (post) ~2.7k words, E, canon compliant

Ed went there to talk. They don’t talk.

⪼ missing S2E6 sex scene!

Out the gates (post) ~2.9k words, E, modern au

The summer is coming to an end, and as Ed and Stede share a morning in bed, Ed realizes that his crush has bloomed into love.

⪼ Throw away the oars 1.5! can be read on its own

Testing the waves (post) 8.1k words, E, modern au, Stede/Ed/Mary

Ed is thrilled when his best friend (with benefits) from college, Mary, gets hired at the hospital where he works. He’s even more thrilled to meet her husband.

⪼ Stede and Mary make an Ed sandwich

Five Hours and a Minute (post) 6666 words, M, modern au, follow-up to Five Birthdays and a Funeral

On New Year's Eve, Stede ponders his relationship to Ed and where he wants it to go. At the very last minute of the year, everything turns around.

⪼ Stede cat-sits Nova for New Year's

Heatwave (post) ~3.4k words, E, modern au

During a heatwave, Ed lounges around in his underwear playing video games until Stede comes home from work.

⪼ roommates with (free use) benefits

Turning a page (post) ~5.3k words, E, modern au

Stede orders a lot of books. Ed delivers them.

⪼ both are just down bad in this one

The next adventure (post) ~3k words, E, modern/70s au, prequel to Who are we saying is captain right now?

Ed shows up to a gangbang set expecting a normal, boring work day, when it turns out they have hired the cutest fluffer he has ever seen.

⪼ Stede sucks Ed's dick within five minutes of meeting him. professionally

#my fics #fic masterpost #ofmd fanfic #ofmd #ida.stuff #another attempt at organizing somewhat #ofmd fic

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percahliaweek · 10 months

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FAQ

What tag should I use?

#percahliaweek should work nicely - you can @ us @percahliaweek so we can reblog your contribution on the corresponding day.

Will you be doing anything on Twitter/other social media?

We considered it! However, as other social media sites have proven unreliable (especially lately), we'll be hosting the event only on Tumblr. However, you're welcome to post your work wherever you like!

Can I do _ for the event?

Yes. Yep. Seriously, so long as it focuses on Perc'ahlia (and is appropriately tagged to avoid spoiling people), you can do it. Cosplay, inspired recipes, beadwork, podfic, go wild! Well, with the caveat that no hateful content will be permitted - don't use a joyous event to rain on someone else's parade or promote hatespeech, alright?

Is NSFW content allowed?

Given the ship in question and just how canonically horny they are for eachother - yes! However, we request that you tag this content as #nsfw and use the appropriate content filter on it. If posting in the Discord server, keep it to the 18+ chat. Be mindful of potential minors in fandom space + people browsing content in public.

I want to participate but haven't watched Campaign 1!

We welcome fans of The Legend of Vox Machina with open arms. As a result, it's requested that campaign fans do their best to avoid spoiling show fans for anything beyond what Season 2 has shown (Umbrasyl's defeat). That means late Campaign 1, the oneshots and any mention of them in other campaigns should be tagged as #cr1 spoilers (using just this tag for simplicity). Show fans, if you want to remain unspoiled, I recommend you block this on Tumblr and mute spoilery channels in the server.

Is there an AO3 collection for the fanfics?

One can definitely be set up closer to the start date!

Does my submission have to fit one of the prompts?

That would be ideal, yes! Anything freeform should be posted on Day 7 for Free/Random prompts. But fitting the prompt can be very loose - maybe you just use the word as a motif, or you take it in an entirely unexpected direction. We want to encourage creativity and fun more than anything else.

I don't know what to do for the Free/Random day!

We have a few recommendations (we are unaffiliated with the websites linked): Random page of the Encyclopedia Exandria Random word generator OTP prompt generator AU generator

Ghost’s Spell prompts [roll 2d20?]

Wild Magic Surge table

Life events table

If you've made prompt lists and would not mind them being featured here, reach out!

How did you choose the prompts?

Prompts were chosen over a day or two while talking with friends - they were intended to be open-ended enough to allow flexibility while also touching on key elements of the ship! Some obvious ones (ex: courage, heart, that sort of thing) were left out so that, hopefully, they could be included next year. If there's enough interest, future prompts could be chosen via fan poll.

Will this be an annual event?

We sure hope so! Hence optimistically keeping back some prompt ideas for the future. Let's see how this goes ;3

Why late September?

On September 29th, 2016, the Critical Role episode 'Passed Through Fire' aired, which features an iconic Perc'ahlia moment (no spoilers for show fans!). Following Burr's poll on which scene is most iconic for the pairing, we decided to have the week celebrate the anniversary of that episode.

So why did you announce this so early?

Because Maggie has been a gremlin about the idea since April. Also, most fans in this space are adults with jobs and responsibilities - allowing more time to create without a rush benefits everyone.

A Discord server?

We have set up a little server for this event on Discord, mostly to hang out with other Perc'ahlia fans and motivate eachother to work on our respective projects. The current link is HERE - let us know if it's not working!

Who is hosting this?

At the moment the users running this blog are @burr-ell and @blorbologist! If the event expands beyond our abilities, we will look into taking on other users to help out - you'll know if we need a hand <333

Any more questions? Feel free to send in an ask and we'll do our best to answer in a timely manner!

#percahliaweek #percahliaweek23

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pencil-peach · 5 months

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GWitch Onscreen Text: Episode 17 PART 1: PRE-DUEL

It is time. This is part 18 of my series where I attempt to transcribe and discuss all the text that appears on text and screens in G Witch. We have reached The Big One. Episode 17: "Precious Things."

HOWEVER....

This episode will be handled slightly differently. There is a lot to say about it, and a majority of it does not actually have to do with text.

AND SO. For the sake of keeping things organized, this episode shall be SPLIT INTO PARTS.

This first part covers the PRE-DUEL, primarily going over the parallels and symbolism to scenes in Season 1.

The next part will cover much the same, but during the DUEL itself. It will most likely be much smaller, but it doesn't hurt to keep things separate.

With all that said, the conclusion draws near.

<;< If you aren't ready, you can click here to return to Episode 15. Or, if you'd like, the Masterpost's loving arms can be found here.

But if you are truly ready, then let us begin.

PREFACE

(That's right this shit is STRUCTURED.) Episode 17 is probably one of my favorite episodes of the show (even if it's difficult to sit through) because of how utterly dense it is with its parallels to Season 1. For Miorine, Suletta, and Guel, it feels like nearly every scene is stacked with comparisons to past events, to highlight where the characters are now versus where they were back then.

The bulk of the parallels are contained to events that occurred within the first 6 episodes, which makes sense, as those 6 episodes are when the characters were living their most "normal" school lives. So we'll go through the episode piece by piece and I'll highlight comparisons I've found and what they mean as we go along. I might miss some, or maybe I'm reading too deep for others, but if you're this far in, I'm going to assume you have at least a LITTLE faith in my judgment, even if it's not always super clean.

With all that said, let us begin.

PRE-DUEL

Episode 17 opens with Miorine confronting Prospera (Left). This parallels Episode 2, where Miorine confronts Delling (Right). In both cases, Miorine is confronting an adult regarding Suletta's fate. But unlike in Episode 2, where she's the one making a demand (to allow Suletta to duel for the right to be her fiancée), in Episode 17, a demand is being made of her. (To become President and take over Quiet Zero, and to facilitate a final duel for Suletta.)

Whereas Delling admonished Miorine for daring to speak without power, "I am vested with power. You have none." Prospera is demanding that Miorine accumulate power. "Make me a promise. That you'll become the next president."

The parallel of Miorine making a promise with Prospera in this Episode as opposed to the one she made with Suletta in Episode 3 is obvious, but did you notice that the hallway they're in (top left) is structured almost identically to the room Prospera was waiting in on Plant Quetta in Episode 11 (Bottom left), and where she convinces Suletta it's okay to take other's lives in Episode 12? (Top and Bottom Right)

In the next scene, after the opening, we see Miorine waking up in her room (Left). Season 1 also had a scene of Miorine waking up from sleep in Episode 4 (Right), but it's a lot different.

In Episode 4, Miorine is woken up by Suletta staying up late to study, and asks her why she's working so hard. When Suletta responds that she's doing it for the sake of the Mercurians, Miorine responds that that's "a drag," saying that she shouldn't have to carry that kind of burden and should only live for herself. Suletta responds that it's what she wants to do, and Miorine sardonically responds, "How noble of you," before silently heading back to sleep.

Compare that with this small, silent scene of Miorine slowly dragging herself out of bed, clutching her head because she clearly spent hours yesterday and long into the night trying to figure out how to free Suletta from her mothers clutches AND fulfill all of Prospera's demands. She's running herself ragged all for the sake of someone else, going against her philosophy in Episode 4.

There's also the fact that Suletta isn't with her in 17's scene. We see in Episode 4 that Miorine and Suletta are comfortable sleeping with each other, but she's chosen to sleep alone, with Suletta waiting patiently outside the door. (Oh, and also, did you notice that Miorine's room is clean?)

Following that is a scene where Miorine and Suletta discuss Miorine's Birthday, Suletta's wish list, and their marriage. This is reminiscent of a similar scene in Episode 3 where they discuss much the same thing. Both scenes open up the discussion with Suletta denying a proposition from Miorine:

In Episode 3, Miorine is telling Suletta that she must win the rematch against Guel, to which she shyly mutters that she doesn't want to (Top Right) causing Miorine to react in shock. In Episode 17, Miorine asks Suletta what she would do if she asked her to get rid of Aerial, to which Suletta confidently responds that she wouldn't do it, (Top Left) to this, Miorine silently continues walking up the stairs.

The major difference is that in Episode 3, Miorine continues trying to convince Suletta to agree to the duel, explaining to her why it will be fine, but in Episode 17, she is silent. She doesn't explain or discuss anything. She just moves ahead.

When discussing their marriage, the roles have shifted. In Episode 3, (Bottom Right) Miorine is explaining that they won't actually be married until her birthday comes, in order to calm Suletta's fears about them being actually married.

In Episode 17, (Bottom Left) Suletta brings up Miorine's birthday, specifically because she's decided that she actually wants to marry her. It's now Miorine who is reluctant, due to the burdens she's carrying.

Next is a scene with Shaddiq attempting to enlist the Peil Witches into his bid for President. It's similar to Episode 7's opening scene, where Sarius is enlisting the Peil Witches for his plan to expose Aerial as a Gundam. The Parallel comes from the contrasting intentions of each Zenelli.

Sarius is enlisting the Witches in order to expose Aerial as a Gundam and get it scrapped, re-burying Gundams forever. He is staunchly against the existence of Gundams, and this will never change. Whereas Shaddiq is enlisting the witches with the explicit promise of making Gundams core to the Group's business. They are at opposite ends of the political spectrum in this regard.

But in both cases, Peil agrees, making use of the plan for their own ends. Also, in Shaddiq's meeting, a Jeturk is not present.

Okay time for the first Biggun. This scene starts off with parallels to episode 5, in that Suletta is upset by Elan in both scenes. In 17 (Left), she's accosted by 5lan, demanding that she give him Aerial. In 3 (Right), she's upset by El4n when he calls her annoying.

Unlike in Episode 3 though, where Suletta cries in response to El4n's harsh words, she responds to 5lan by shoving him away, showing how she's grown more confident in herself and her faithfulness to Miorine.

Following this, Guel Jeturk shows up and asks Elan what he's doing to her. In Episode 3 (Right) he showed up mostly for his own pride, but switched to a more protective tone when he saw that El4n had made Suletta cry. But in this scene, (Left) he showed up because he saw she was in trouble.

Guel and Elan's roles are completely reversed here. Whereas before (Right), Guel was flippant and emotional in response to El4n's calm demeanor, the opposite is true for Guel with 5lan. Guel (Left) maintains his composure, and 5lan loses his cool when Guel asks him what he's so afraid of.

It might seem like the Episode 5 parallels end here, but did you notice what kind of weapon 5lan is using in this scene? It's a taser.

An electrical weapon that causes paralysis.

Unlike before, Guel keeps a steady head, and he wins this duel against 5lan, pinning him to the ground. At the end of the battle, Elan isn't holding his hand up in victory (Right) but in defeat (Left).

Guel also says, "Cut it out. If you ruin this place, no apology will get you off the hook." Paralleling his behavior in Episode 1. Instead of being the one destroying the greenhouse, he's the one protecting it this time.

Following this, Suletta and Guel have a 1 on 1 conversation. This is the 3rd time they have one in the series. They have one in Episode 3, (Left) when Suletta tells him her mother's motto. They have a second one in Episode 9 (Middle) where they talk about how Guel's father has forbidden him to duel, and finally they have this one in Episode 17 (Right) where Guel discusses his desire to rebuild the Jeturk company, and protect the things precious to him.

The parallel is obvious in the sense that in both prior discussions, Guel is learning something from Suletta, and now he's finally putting those lessons to use, but did you notice that all 3 conversations have a shot of Guel's hand?

In Episode 3, when Suletta is talking about her mother, Guel holds his hand up to his cheek before closing it into a fist. In Episode 9, he brings his hand from his pocket, but doesn't close it. He holds it out limply. And in Episode 17, he once again brings his hand up and closes it. Each scene is representative of his current conviction.

Episode 3 is titled "Guel's Pride." He brings his hand up to the cheek his father slaps him across before closing it. It represents his current conviction: His pride. Proving himself as worthy in the eyes of his father. Episode 9 is titled "If I Could Take One More Step Towards You." The obvious allusion is to Miorine and Shaddiq's relationship, but it's also about Guel's relationship to Suletta. Their conversation ends with Suletta running down a lighted path, with Guel watching her go. He brings his hand out to his side, but DOESN'T close it, because he no longer has a sense of purpose: He's lost his conviction. He's scared of facing his father, and thus can't follow Suletta. Episode 17 is titled "Precious Things." After everything that's happened, Guel has returned to Asticassia with a new conviction: To protect the things precious to him. After losing his way, he's found the path forward, and once again closes his fist, confident in himself and his sense of purpose.

There's also the parallels between both confessions scenes. When Guel confesses and is rejected the first time (Left), he becomes spiteful and mean, but now (Right), he's understanding, and even happy for her love with Miorine. He's truly changed.

Miorine then comes out from behind the greenhouse, and demands a duel between Suletta and Guel. (Left) This is an obvious inversion of the scene from Episode 1 (Right). Where she demands Suletta NOT duel Guel.

The following scene, where Miorine requests Guel's help (Left) is also an inversion of the scene from Episode 4 (Right) where she offers to help Suletta with the Threat Detection Makeup exam.

Both scenes take place in her room, and both scenes see her kneeling over her plants, gently pushing upon the leaves as she speaks. The fact that she's talking to Guel and Suletta respectively is an obvious inversion, but in Episode 4, she's telling Suletta that she can take care of both the Mechanic and Spotter positions herself, saying she doesn't need help, but in 17's scene, she's specifically ASKING Guel for his help, because this is something she can't do on her own.

The next scene in the Dueling Comittee Lounge (Left) is, obviously, paralleling the similar scene in Episode 3 (Right). Down to this shot of Secelia seemingly being reused from that episode. In both scenes, Secelia taunts Guel, but as opposed to Episode 3, where he becomes enraged and fickle, in Episode 17 he confidently disregards her, saying, "The Jeturk emblem is the lion. So call me a lion, not a dog," much to her surprise.

But there's actually some more interesting parallels here.

Firstly, Episode 3's Oath is officiated by El4n (Top Right), whereas Episode 17's Oath is officiated by Rouji's HARO (Top Left), two characters that are considered to be robotic and emotionless.

In both duels, Suletta requests something of Guel for the sake of others. In Episode 3, she asks him to apologize to Miorine (Bottom Right), and in Episode 17, she asks him to help stop the harassment of Earth House (Bottom Left).

Ah, and did you notice? Episode 3's duel takes place in the 7th tactical testing sector, a lucky number. Episode 17's duel takes place in the 13th tactical testing sector. It looks like Suletta's luck has run out.

In both episodes, there's a scene following the oath with Guel speaking to Miorine and Suletta respectively. Both scenes even share multiple shots. Both scenes are also conversations involving, to some extent, Prospera. And both scenes, interestingly enough, has Guel end the conversation with a statement that calls into question the respective girl's belief (intentionally or otherwise).

In Episode 3 (Right) Suletta says, "My mother is always strong and kind," to which Guel asks, "A good parent, huh?" In Episode 17 (Left) Miorine says, "I want that girl to be happy. She needs a world where she can be free from Gundams or anything else," to which Guel mutters, "There are no worlds like that."

In both cases, he doesn't elaborate on what he means, but in both cases, his intuition is right.

Perhaps some of this is a pushing it, but prior to the duel, both Episode 3 and 17 share two similar scenes. Both episodes have a scene in which Miorine has installed something on Suletta's phone in reference to the duel, and both scenes also have a scene where two characters discuss their intent to interfere with the upcoming duel.

In Episode 3 (Right) This entails Miorine installing her contact info onto Suletta's phone without her permission, and Vim and Lauda discussing the arrangement of the sprinklers to go off.

In Episode 17 (Left) This entails Miorine installing the "Victory Charm" on Suletta's phone, and Miorine and Prospera discussing when to deactivate Aerial during the duel. It's yet another inversion in that now, it's Jeturk house who's playing fairly, and it's Miorine who's working to ensure Suletta will lose.

When Guel is asked by Kamil about the decision making AI, in Episode 17 (Left) he says he doesn't care about it, and to leave it in. Stating that "Pride alone won't defeat Suletta Mercury." This parallels the scene from Episode 3 (Right), where he gets incredibly mad about it, yelling, "Am I not skilled enough to win?!" Only to be slapped by Vim once more, telling him that "There's no room here for childish pride."

Guel also cuts his hair. The Jeturk family's hair are all based on lion manes, and Guel cutting his mane short is emblematic of discarding his prideful nature. It's also to show how he's brought himself closer to his father, who's hair was also cut short.

The following scene, where Guel apologizes to Lauda in front of the Darilbalde (Left), parallels the scene in Episode 4 where Lauda apologized to him under similar circumstances (Right).

In Episode 4, the Darilbalde was destroyed, emblematic of the strained relationship between the two, but now it has been repaired. Even still, will it be maintained?

As the MS suit containers roll into position, we get this shot of the Dueling Committee, both in Episode 17 (Right) and Episode 3 (Left) It's much emptier now, huh? GRAAAAAGH And that's all the parallels I can find for the Pre-Duel segment of the episode. Houuaauhhh there was a lot here and it was a lot of work, but it was also a lot of fun, and it really goes to show how tight this season's script is. Every scene feels intentional.

Anyhow, that's all for this part. Next time in part 2, we'll be discussing the Duel's parallels. If you've made it this far, thank you so very much, I truly appreciate it. I'll see you next time!

Click here to go to Part 2 >> Click here to go to the Masterpost.

#g witch #gundam the witch from mercury

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cocktailjjrs · 8 months

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Okay, so i thought long and hard about this, and i just thought that, this season can't end on a cliffhanger right?

Episode 10 ended halfway through ch 110; so if we think that the remaining .5 chapter takes a minute or two, so excluding op and ed we have 18-19 mins of anime only episode.

But then there isn't anything else remaining in this whole arc that they can leave the 11th episode on a cliffhanger and pick up in season 6 and have enough storyline to last that whole season (or even half). This whole decay of angels things is stretched thin as is, any more and it won't make any sense.

(I'm conveniently going to ignore the fact that the new episode is titled 'Twilight Goodbye'; theories aside, that shit sound terribly depressing. My soukoku heart cant take the possibility of it really being a goodbye...)

I also know that the whole mess getting magically cleared in one episode seems like a pipe-dream (unless the episode is 40-45 mins long); but spilling over next season to wrap this up in another two episodes seems weird anime pacing.

So i can only think that someone missing from the story till now is going to come in at this last moment to set things straight.

The only people still unaccounted for in all this mess are:

Yosano

Kyoka

Mori

Koyo

Verlaine (does he count if he isn't yet introduced in anime or main story?)

Katai

Naomi

Natsume sensei

Kajii (?)

the whole of Guild

I have a feeling that since Yosano was no where near the airport, or even in Anne's room, means she is away from this whole scene and possibly ready to jump in to save Dazai (i really hope) because the ADA members don't exactly need her there at this moment they can survive off the machines a bit longer, but Dazai needs to be saved.

Then we need someone to overpower Fukuchi if we are thinking of taking one order back from him...

Also, someone to outsmart Fyodor now...

All of ADA is down... So in a situation like this, i think the PM top brass (Mori, Koyo and Verlaine) coming through in the clutch would make more sense. The DOA marked them off in their first move, severely underestimated them...

Mori for all his vices is a very cunning man, he has an ability to be cool and calculating, and arrive at an the optimal solution without letting emotions interrupt his decision making. He is a war veteran, he knows how a war is fought and won and he is ready to take any means necessary, however ugly, to reach his end goal. With a bit of intel about the battle field, he can turn the tides in their favour. He already knew about Tachihara, so i don't think he will just sit back after knowing what dangers are just round the corner. He would have started planning then only, if not earlier.

I don't know how can one win over Fukuchi at this point, till the time he has that damn sword, he seems invincible (plot armour and all that crap included), but i think Natsume sensei will have seen him in his cat form, so i really hope he will have a plan to deal with that too...

We also don't know where the big hitters from guild are, Fitzgerald himself is a whole package and he even has eyes of god; something that was used against Fyodor before this... sooooo.....

OR the vampirism get's lifted and this time Shin soukoku finally beat the crap out of Fukuchi, i would love to see that...

Is there anything else that can happen?

#bungou stray dogs #bsd #bsd spoilers #bsd theories #dazai osamu #soukoku #bsd manga #bsd mori #mori ougai #yosano akiko #natsume sakasaki #bsd fitzgerald #armed detective agency #port mafia #bsd verlaine #koyo ozaki #bsd season 5 #bsd anime

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things-keeping-me-up-at-night · 1 month

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I just finished QuintonReviews video on Dan Schneider (go watch it, seriously: as always, he is very thorough and nuanced in his analysis and I think his way of deep-diving is something that deserves more support).

There is on thing I want to note that I have also commented on the video: his take on the character of Spencer possibly serving as stand-in for Dan Schneider in iCarly (which makes a lot more sense of you watched the video) makes me feel a little more justified in misremembering Spencer and Sam as dating on the show before rewatching it.

Let me explain: funnily enough, I also started rewatching the show a few months before the first part of QuintonReviews’ series came out. I had very blurry memories of the show; I did remember some parts, including the whole Sam and Freddie dating, breaking up, him dating Carly at some point thing, but my head had also put some correct memories together the wrong way.

I mean, sure, there was an episode where Sam moved into the Shays’ apartment and left her underwear lying around the apartment, but for some reason, I thought she was living there for a long time, at least a season, if not the rest of the show.

My brain also merged the ‘Heatwave’ episode and the Coconut Cream Cake episode into one; one of the most clear memories that I had of the show was the moment where Sam climbs into the fridge, except I thought that a) it was because she was eating the last piece of cake and she was trying to hide it, b) she was living in the apartment and c) she was not wearing short pants, but was in fact walking around the apartment in her underwear because that was what I remembered the whole ‘underwear issue’ to be.

Needless to say, remembering the show that way, I was very intrigued to rewatch it because, being a lot older now, I realised that my memories were either false or, if they were even halfway true, this had to have been incredibly edgy for a kids show and I needed to see if it was truly as wild as I remembered. Back to the Sam and Spencer thing: for some reason, I thought that, after Sam and Freddie broke up, not only were Freddie and Carly the main ship for the rest of the show, Sam instead ended up with Spencer, who I didn’t remember was supposed to be in his late twenties to early thirties at that point. Despite not having a specific memory of any romantic interaction between the two, I was convinced that these two dated at least at some point during the show’s run, which, in the context of the kind of show I remembered, didn’t even seem that far out there.

When I began my rewatch though, I quickly realised just how big the age difference between Spencer and the kids was, so I began questioning that memory because surely, it must have been false…but I had been so convinced of it that I thought that, maybe, just maybe, it was true? I mean, the show went on for six seasons, so the kids could have been 18 by the end…and Sam was living with them, maybe her and Carly were of age at that point? And don’t some shows do a time jump? Anyway, I had watched enough other shows about teens to know that these kinds of things have happened on TV…all in all, I wish I could’ve been sure, but I just wasn’t.

So I sat down and watched all six seasons- going into it with the expectation that through some weird development, then-26 year-old Spencer would end up dating then-13 to 14-year old Sam.

And can I just say one thing? It is wild, going into the show that way, how much actually ended up pointing to my assumption being correct. I now know that there used to be an actual (albeit small) shipping community for those two, but like…I really can’t blame my young person’s memory because that ‘ship’ is even canonically addressed and, as seen through an adult’s eyes, the way Spencer interacts with the kids is certainly unusual. I’m not saying the character was up to anything sinister by any means, but I do get why I processed what I was watching in a way that would have allowed for such a relationship to happen: apart from the whole ‘Sam has a crush on Spencer thing’, there were so many instances of what could easily be read (or is explicitly meant as) adults flirting with/being interested in dating minors and vice versa or even just hanging out with them in ways that seem a lot weirder the older you get. Going back to the Sam and Spencer example: one of the reasons why, despite logically knowing a show on a children’s network would not have featured a character who is established as an adult and a character who is established as a very young teenager dating, I was not fully convinced that that wasn’t going to happen for an alarming amount of time watching the show, was that they did hang out one-on-one in a way that I just didn’t know any teenage girl would with the significantly older brother of their friend in real life. Of course, Freddie and Gibby also had many plots alone with Spencer, but at least based on the people I know, innocent same-sex friendships between teenagers and adults are a little more common (though I’m not saying the ones on the show weren’t weird at times either). And while it is uncomfortable to think about their interactions that way, if you’re watching the show through the lens that I did, there is very little to distinguish the dynamic between this adult character and this character who is a minor from dynamics between characters who did end up dating on iCarly or similar shows.

And maybe I’m just weird, but I do think the nature of the relationships between adults and minors that is established in these shows is to blame for my false memory. In rewatching, I expected to immediately disregard that memory as false after remembering the ages of the characters, but up until the very end, even when it was very much confirmed to me that it was a false memory, the show failed to fully convince me that it wasn’t possible for an underage main character and an adult main character to end up together in its universe, which is very telling and (I think) fits the video series’ conclusion perfectly, though that of course puts a lot more factors into consideration.

I doubt anyone, never mind Quinton himself, is going to read all that, but I just wanted to share this since it has been on my mind for years at this point- all in all, my personal experience with rewatching iCarly was good, but very, very weird for this exact reason.

The strangest part was that, in my rewatch, I almost…wanted it to happen? Not because I genuinely thought it would be a good thing, more because I became so invested in figuring out if I was gaslighting myself or if there had really been such truly unhinged children’s programming just a few years back. And again, there was a disturbing amount of things in the show (at least kind of) backing my feeling up. The only comfort I have is knowing that I’m not the craziest Sam/Spencer theorist to have ever graced the internet: in trying to figure out why I remembered their relationship the way I did, I dove deeper into the whole ‘Spam ship’ (yes, that was a thing) than probably anyone ever should…long story short, if anyone reading this wants to go on a really wild ride check out this blog post:

(Please note that I did not put that last paragraph or the link in my YouTube comment, but I felt like if there was any place to share this internet relic I found, it would be Tumblr.)

#icarly #quinton reviews #has anyone else had these weird wrong memories of TV shows etc.?#nickelodeon

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fixinglitg · 6 months

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My issues with BONNIE (so far)

Hey again.

So today I'm gonna talk about my issues with Bonnie's character now that we're halfway through the season (Eps 16-18 were the latest releases in case you haven't seen so far, there are 33 in total) I'm gonna divide this into categories so if there's something specific you wanna read about the go ahead and skip to that part. I will add a few positives at the end not to seem SO negative, but I do have a good few complaints, mostly after the recent episodes.

As per usual,

DISCLAIMER: this is just my opinion, and you can disagree with me if you'd like to. How I feel about a character doing something might be different for you, and we all have our own preferences.

Now that's out of the way, let's begin.

DESIGN:

Ofc, this part isn't Bonnie's fault, but I personally think her design is borderline horrific.

Her body is a little weird, but mostly okay for the main part compared to Rafael's odd arm situation. But the main part is her head.

Thick brows? Love. But for this character design, I just don't think she's pulling it off.

The hair? It's giving "hmm, this character needs a stereotypical lesbian haircut, but we should make it worse." Like people can pull things off like that and there's probably so many pretty women with this hair. Again, I just don't think it's working out for her.

Her lips. Okay, why does it look like this poor woman has asked for the Kardashian? What plastic is in her lips? Thick lips, again, great. On the right person.

I think her character has good individual features for people in general, but putting them all together onto her and designing it that way doesn't look attractive for me.

There are so many better re-designs I've seen on Reddit, so I'll link a couple now:

Wolfcut Bonnie | Sprite Edit Bonnie | Min Bonnie

Like come on Fusebox. It wasn't that hard to fix her without changing the details too much as these edits show.

OUTFITS:

I mean, why is her fancy outfit literally a bin liner. Like what. I thought MCs style was pretty tragic in recent seasons, but Fusebox actually did this woman dirty with the outfits.

I'm not sure if they played to have her more boyish or what, less feminine seeming, but the outfits just aren't doing it. And I only need one link this time to prove my point.

Bonnie Outfit Edit

Like these outfits are such an improvement?? And it's not even like the creator chose to change the entire thing, they literally kept the basis of it. I- yeah. I don't even wanna talk about this for long, because it hurts as much as Bryson coming out in that one sleeveless top.

So all in all, it would be hard for me to like a character when I don't find them attractive physically. Both their own body and the style of clothing. However, I feel like it'd be unfair to not give a character a chance if they're written well. Yeah, about that...

PERSONALITY:

So I wasn't sure what to title this part, but you'll understand what I mean as soon as I get into this.

At the start of the season, you're able to determine whether or not you wanna have women as an option. Obviously I have no idea if the female LIs still take interest in you (trauma by Dana) if you say you're straight, but I wouldn't exactly put it past Fusebox to disregard that choice immediately.

But as I was saying.

Why is it when I say "oh yeah, I'm into women" the female LI IMMEDIATELY THINKS I'm into her. Like, no babe, sorry but I'm not the one for you.

And I hate that I've rejected her so many times, and put little to no interest in her (sometimes I would say "oh my head's a mess" etc because the other options didn't feel right for me) to the point where it's getting a little annoying to see that stupid ass lip biting sprite, and her trying to flirt with my character when I've said N.O. Of course, other characters do have that issue in the past (and maybe this season, I have no idea because she's the only person I've really rejected) but this is so frustrating to me.

I get shooting your shot but she's missed 50 times and won't stop.

The next thing I really hate might seem little but it's really grinding my gears.

Image by u/thebarbied. Additional text under the post saying "I've never told this girl I was interested in girls so idk why the girl is like this." So I'm assuming OP said they were into men/straight, which means she might be worse off wlw MC.

The thing that annoys me the most is the fact that she looks upset by not being chosen. Now I understand that there could be some people who actually chose her. Or some people that would want to take her instead of their casa partner.

HOWEVER.

When you're like me and have rejected her several times, she has no right to look this upset.

And for me, it felt a little off-putting. It's the hideaway. THE HIDEAWAY. Majority of the time, the hideaway usually involves some sort of sexual thing. Especially in these recent seasons, I feel like Fusebox has really been pushing the kinky side of things onto us with the box of things (massage oil, whipped cream, blindfolds, maybe I'm remembering wrong but I swear there was handcuffs in S6).

And to just have the mere thought of someone being upset for not being picked to go to what I love to call "the sex room" even after being rejected by myself multiple times just makes me uncomfortable.

Now of course, I'd like to add that maybe that wasn't her plan at all and she'd just wanna talk or something.

But let's be honest for a moment, we all know Fusebox. They definitely would've given us the same options of "go all the way, do bits, snog, cuddle/talk" or something along those lines, and I just FEEL the disappointment from not choosing anything but cuddle/talk.

Yet again, I will state that this can be the case for all LIs, or not the case at all, but these are just my thoughts and feelings and this is how I see things at the time of playing.

I just feel like she's getting disappointed over nothing. Like she expects to be picked despite all my choices.

And I'll even link a few posts to people complaining about Bonnie and her character never going. Sidenote: these also include some other characters that I'll touch upon in another post

u/Towerofterrorr wanting Bonnie to leave them alone | u/Emotional_Lobster778 Bonnie Rant | u/Ok-Level_99 telling Bonnie to give it up | u/Smithiexx hated her | u/Dontaskmyname98 wants to be left alone as well | u/twoofakindfinds says "Major ick and also major red flag"

I just wanted to add these so that you could see that other people also think Bonnie is kinda... Icky and creepy I guess.

It is a disease Fusebox give most female LIs though. The "women who are supposed to be bisexual but are constantly in friendship couples with men and beg for the MC to change her mind" bullshit.

Posts by u/Ok_Level_99 (same post as the one listed above in my example)

And this is why I don't like pushy characters. Like I've said before, if you've stated the fact that you do not give a shit about them, why are you still trying? It's just embarrassing by now. Do you WANT me to file a restraining order against you? Like seriously?

I get being jealous and all, but this is honestly the most unattractive thing you can do when someone isn't interested. It's the fact that she STILL believes she has a chance.

And I'm honestly just repeating myself by this point.

There was a lot more I could've talked about, but I decided to leave it there. I think I'll come back to this and make another post of some other shit happens in the remaining 15 episodes.

Hopefully I won't have to deal with this much longer. I just wanna go back to the OG boys.

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utilitycaster · 7 months

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thoughts re: skip/norman (also on the aso discourse the d20 fandom went through and also as a big skip/norman fan)

The ultimate problem that I see with the pc concept of skip/norman is that aso had heavy heavy themes of autonomy and "owning yourself", whether that's literally, through gunnie, or figuratively, through syd, margaret, etc. the leading question that was prompted by having one of the pcs literally being something that takes over a body and removes the original owner's control of it was just, WILD to me to tee up and then not explore.

norman was an asshole, for sure, but brennan and zac put just enough effort into making him a realistic person that the way doing brain surgery on him without consent was played straight for comedy felt a little strange. it is fascinating to me to discuss skip's position as a literal parasite in the galaxy and how he still deserves the right to exist and live, and how that intersects with norman's same rights, but aso just didn't have time for that.

and aso is a comedy, and one of my favorite seasons, so it's a pretty small issue that this is kind of shrugged off (that's where I disagree with the people who discoursed about it). like, I don't think that was what the season needed to be about. but, d20 in general is so committed to themes and philosophy uniting the pcs that the glaring hole that is the skip/norman of it all duct-taped over with "ahhh symbiosis is a thing" stands out. skip as a pc concept in the sense of his backstory isn't wildly dark to me (I mean, gunnie's is already pretty awful lmao), but in the sense of what he says in terms of the larger story, he feels a bit out of place.

there's a lot more to say here about how the Wurst crew's actions play into that given that he was their asshole boss, etc etc, but essentially: I thought skip/norman just kind of incidentally brought up some points via backstory/pc concept that were a little too complex for a 18 episode comedy season of dnd.

ps. pib fits perfectly into neverafter imo and I adore him completely

I'm going to be totally honest: I learned about this discourse re: Skip and autonomy long after it happened and my gut reaction was "well that's fucking stupid." I also haven't rewatched it and my memory for D20 seasons is often nowhere near as strong as for Critical Role.

I did not blink once at the concept for two reasons:

I'm familiar with sci fi and "creature that takes over the bodies of others" is a pretty standard trope, and not only that but one that has been played for both extreme horror and comedy. Which isn't to say you can't explore the concerns about autonomy but like...I do not find this to be remotely obligatory, which sort of removes all the concerns raised above. "Oh yeah, brain slugs, I know about those, one took over my cousin for a few years" is to me an entirely valid way in-universe of dealing with it. Cannot stress enough that at no point did this seem weird or horrifying to me. Which doesn't mean that it's not valid for others to feel that way, but it just...did not even register as a thought people would have, because it felt so utterly organic to the genre and universe.

I'm also familiar with actual play and Zac and Brennan were quite careful not to abuse the possession mechanic (to the point of creating Norm so that Zac would essentially have his own PC to possess as his real PC) so I have autonomy concerns re: the metagame.

I will also admit that I found the theme to much more be a case of finding one's place within the tough universe in which the characters must live, rather than autonomy and self-ownership, which puts Skip's story well in step with the rest of the group as he fights against his father's wishes. I should also add that I don't see any disjoint in Starstruck being a comedy. All D20 seasons are comedic; even the more serious ones are still comedic in tone and choice. They've also gone extremely dark at points, and that's a choice one can make in comedy, and in my opinion, a valid one.

#answered #thespoonisvictory

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serendertothesquad · 5 months

Text

OKAY LET ME TALK ABOUT THE ARTICLE NOW.

There is...there is so much to discuss. How do I even start this post, honestly? Current stays winnin' with their long-ass articles but stays bitchin' in the worst way with their shitty-ass paywalls. Fuck paywalls, all my homies hate paywalls.

Anyway, look below the break.

casting calls ended on october 17th they just finished filming

Look, for 12 episodes, that's a hell of a crunch. Proud of 'em, really.

Also, I think we all know what it's gonna be marketed as in the States. If you don't then I'll give you the money to go to college so you can attend my Odd Squad class. It's only fair.

So I guess this explains why Netflix wasn't part of the deal. Either that or those articles I read were wildly incorrect on Netflix being a contributing helper.

...I mean okay, granted they could still be handed off to Netflix, just not in the US because...well, it's Fred Rogers Productions. They'll be damned if they plop their IPs into the hands of any streaming service that isn't named Prime Video.

This also means that maybe FRP will have a lesser hand in this than I thought, which isn't really all that surprising if one looks through their social media pages. Odd Squad was barely promoted on Twitter even before that account went near-radio-silent.

Okay, this is actually kinda interesting. Makes me feel like I should move to the UK just to see what, exactly, appeals to the British there. I mean outside of the comedy, of course.

Also, I know the pandemic affected a load of things about the franchise, but for it to birth an entire-ass new series is just downright insane. Not that insane, because that's how Lockdown was born, but yeah, pretty fucking insane!

...

Wait, Season 4 has 12 episodes? Like an anime? When Odd Squad already has anime elements?

Oh I'm gonna be an insufferable bitch when this comes out. Y'all have been warned.

Hey, hey, does anyone remember when Fred Rogers Productions got in trouble for not meeting grant requirements when it came to Odd Squad? Along with failing in accounting when it came to other IPs?

Pepperidge Farm remembers. I remember. No one else in the fandom remembers, but oh do I remember.

(Odd Squad cost $18 million for Season 1. Sit on that for a minute. Really think about how much that shit would be worth now, especially with inflation as bad as it is. It was a lot back then and it still is for some but it seems like mere pennies now, huh?)

I point this out because the fact that they had to seek out funding from outside sources that were not part of the hellshow of circus freaks that is the US government is absolutely hilarious to me.

You guys are married to TVO too, but you apparently don't like to talk about that. Shit's for people in all of those states that border Canada. Everyone else can go fuck themselves, not my quote.

That aside, though, I do like how PBS airing British media has finally implored them to do a "what if" scenario with their cartoons. It's been, what...decades? That's like swinging the bat long after everyone's left the stadium. Except for the audience, they're sticking around for some reason.

Look, Tim McKeon said the same thing about Season 3 and we all know how that turned out. I pray derivativeness is a virtue that will be buried deep into the ground by the time Odd Squad UK rolls around because we really can't afford to pick 12/24 episodes at random across 100+ of them to pry and copy plots from. And believe you me, I will know the difference between a simple harmless continuity nod and sheer derivativeness.

To put it simply: Sinking Ship and I have very different takes on "the same but also different".

Damn, RIP to Mark. I'm glad he's still working on the show, though for him to step down as showrunner for Odd Squad UK is...well, it's probably the best move looking at what we ended up with.

...I'm probably misinterpreting that. And/or it's journalism being journalism. C'est la vie.

I guess them sending over wardrobes is why Orli and Ozzie aren't decked to the nines in...uh...well, British versions of the Investigation agent uniform. Whatever those look like.

Again, you could say the same thing about Season 3 and we all know how that shit turned out.

I still have optimism, but there's a real damn pessimist side of me waiting to break free.

I'm choosing to believe "socioeconomic diversity" was how they picked about half to 3/4 of the writers for Season 3, because a majority of them either have very small resumes, have never worked on anything with a kid demo, or both.

The difference between them and the kids in this spinoff/new season, however, is that one group sucks and the other one likely doesn't.

(Yeah yeah, I'm making a lot of Season 3 jabs. But it's easy to make comparisons to that versus Season 1 and Season 2. Bite me.)

To maintain continuity with the original series' Canadian cast

Or "we need to have at least one Canadian thing to qualify for all those Canadian tax breaks and subsidies, and also uhhhhhh we're no lawbreakers".

There you go. I fixed it. Thank me later.

Also, they don't mention it, and it probably won't be mentioned until some article pops up in 2024 about it, but rest assured they're talking about Orli here. While I dig her backstory, I'm not so sure if I'm so keen on another audience surrogate after how badly they flubbed Osmerelda within 13 episodes. Granted, this is a different kind of audience surrogate -- Orli's not a "haha relatable funy thing for kids and the 'rents" surrogate, she's an "I'm a Canadian idiot who has never been to this country, please teach me" surrogate -- but still, I'm not so hopeful about them being able to write her well. Worst case scenario, we end up with a character who drinks maple syrup by the bottle, loves hockey, and drops an "eh?" every other sentence.

Oh I'm sensing a load of "tube" puns are gonna be made this season, lemme tell ya.

Okay okay, but real talk, this is actually kinda neat. Gonna be a little weird to see, but neat. The hell needs the lil' kiddie cars when you got trains to ride?!

Hey, hey, you guys remember when Odd Squad first premiered and PBS Kids put out a whole ton of new stuff for it? They had games at the ready and everything? They were so hyped for this shit they poured everything they had into it?

Pepperidge Farm remembers. I remember. No one else in the fandom remembers, but oh do I remember.

Needless to say, they don't really do that anymore for new shows. It's all the same cookie-cutter pre-release formula. When they did it for Odd Squad it was special. When they did it for Alma's Way and Elinor Wonders Why...not so much.

...Oh yeah, and the math stuff, the math stuff is cool, I like that. Here's hoping they can put new concepts into play instead of rehashing old ones.

"just 10-year-olds" the show is aimed at a 2-5 demographic

Now, see, this is where the funny irony comes in. Everyone laugh at the funny irony here. Now everyone cry because this seems more like a fitting comment for if GO! still existed and the show was on it.

Ahhh, now, see, this is where things get interesting.

Those of you keeping up with PBS Kids news might be aware of the network shifting to more short-form content as a way to nab viewers while also cutting costs significantly, hence why we're getting new podcasts and other short-form content in addition to full-length shows. PBS Kids has been in the short-form game since the late 2000s with the WordGirl shorts but they never truly dipped their toes into the short-form format until Elinor Wonders Why's That's So Interesting shorts and the Odd Squadcast came out. Those were the true floodgate-openers right there, paving the way for a host of old IPs being refreshed in addition to new IPs.

I remember when they dropped eight new shorts of two different series and thinking it was an April Fools joke because they were published on April 1st with absolutely no forewarning. I found out the news from someone else who had put the images up on the Wiki and I laughed my ass off at just how ridiculous it was. And then I found out they were real, and I sobbed.

...No wait, not the Meeting. Scratch that. I forgot it's changed dramatically since the days of yore. Moving on!

Whether this comment means we'll be getting Season 2 of the Odd Squadcast (which, y'know, is unlikely now), Season 3 of OddTube (ah, now that seems more likely), or more shorts outside of the two series we already have (Gadget Testers and Book of Games) is unknown at this point. But if anything, news is gonna break during upfronts like the TCA Press Tour and the PBS Annual Meeting.

It'll air in a year and they're already milking it for all it's worth. Byootiful. Clearly they have not learned from the last time they did a dramatic franchise shift and it paid off. AHEM MOBILE UNIT AHEM.

If they wanted to, they could grow some balls and go for broke. Do 28 more to be on par with Season 1.

No but seriously, I love how the fate of Odd Squad UK is so contingent on ratings. Let's not forget how Ready Jet Go and Let's Go Luna got unfairly sniped with no reason given (and then they brought back RJG with a movie like they still cared...lol get rekt) and let's not forget that they could easily do the same with Odd Squad at any time in spite of its ratings. They revived Super Why back from the dead, they revived Clifford back from the dead...they did it with Odd Squad and it's only been a wee bit over a year.

------------------------------

I'm not really opposed to Odd Squad being set in other regions -- it probably does better internationally than it does in the States, but we have no way to know that for sure -- but they're acting very sus with this portion specifically. I've got my eye on them.

All in all, this article has me pretty excited for the new spinoff/Season 4/how the fuck am I supposed to market this. Shame it's supposed to air in late 2024 (though maybe it'll air on CBBC in the spring because of that casting call...holy fuck I just thought of that as I was typing this post, real shit, lemme get my poker chips and bet on this RN) but I'm hyped for it either way and will happily lap up any and all press coverage on it until it airs. 2024's gonna be a big year.

If you guys reading this find any news on it, send it to me through an ask or a submission! We've got one more month before we launch into 2024 and if my theory about CBBC airing it earlier is true then we'll have to really be on the lookout for it as soon as January.

#odd squad pbs kids #odd squad #pbs kids #seren speaks (about odd squad)

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dyed-red · 1 year

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What are your thoughts on how much time Sam’s soul spent in The Cage? If we go by established time lines in the show, 18 months = approx 180 years. But Lucifer is an arch angel and we know angels can manipulate time so I think it could have been longer, or least made to feel longer. I also believe that Sam would have been fluent in Enochian after spending that much time with Lucifer and Micheal. Thank you for answering if you have time! And I hope you enjoy and holiday time you have :)

welp - you did it.

you asked a question i’ve been thinking about for over a decade and unleashed the full fury of my brainworms in action. this is the type of meta i expect like 4 people total to be interested in, but i’m going to spend days working on because I Have Thoughts.

the short answer: somewhere between 180 - 5000 years, with my personal headcanon landing just over 700 years, or 1400 for maximum whump.

The behemoth long answer is under a cut because long and math and meta. Skip to the end if you just want the math. The tl;dr is that SPN canon implies that hell has layers and that time distorts more the deeper that you go, and we can build an equation for that distortion and get to basically whatever number suits our purposes depending on what assumptions we make going in.

Time Distortion in Hell

The length of time Sam’s soul felt/experienced the cage is a function of two factors: how long he spent there in earth terms, and the degree of temporal distortion hell creates.

The first piece is easy if we assume Sam’s soul spent 18 months in the cage* (footnotes at the end).

The second piece... Dean spent 4 months dead (time in earth terms) which was 40 years on the rack in terms of his experience/perception. If we take this assumption that 1 month = 1 decade, we get to use some very simple math to say that Sam spent 180 years in the cage.

But.

I’ve always personally interpreted Hell’s time distortion to run a bit different than a static 1 month = 1 decade. This headcanon derives from some hints in canon (or at least, this headcanon is not actively contradicted by moments in canon) and from other pieces of media.

I believe that the deeper you go into hell, the greater the temporal distortion is.

This is basically like the move Inception, I’m not even gonna try to pretend otherwise. There, the deeper you go into the dream within a dream, the more time dilation there is. It makes sense to me that SPN’s Hell canon works the same for several reasons.

For starters, when Sam's wall is breaking in s6, he has flashbacks where 2-3 minutes is equated with what feels like a week in the cage (episode 6x14). We can take this at perfect face value (meaning that Sam’s soul experienced about 5000 years in the Cage). Or we can interpret this to be a function of the episode he is experiencing, where temporal dilation is exaggerated because of the nature of his flashback, or we can say he is speaking in hyperbole.

I think it makes sense for the truth to be somewhere in the middle - Sam is speaking off the cuff, not entirely literal or exact about how long those 2-3 minutes felt like, but nonetheless honestly that they felt like days, felt much longer than our formula of 1 month = 1 decade allows. And I take that as a realistic reflection of his time spent in the pit.

Another, and far more overt piece of evidence comes in Season 11 when Sam visits ‘the Cage’. In 11x09 (O Brother Where Art Thou), we see Rowena, Crowley and Sam in Hell whereas Dean is on Earth, and there appears to be little to no temporal distortion occurring between the events below and the events above. This remains true in the following episode (11x10, the Devil in the Details) when Crowley phones Dean and when Dean comes down to join them in Hell (and Cas as well shortly after).

So - what gives? Is there temporal distortion occurring in Hell or not? Did they retcon that, forget about it, what?

Well, Crowley explicitly refers to this area of Hell as ‘Limbo’, which brings us to an understanding of Hell’s temporal distortion through the lens of the circles presented in Dante’s Inferno.

Circles of Hell

It’s fair and frustrating to say that canon doesn’t give us much in the way of understanding the structure and hierarchies of Hell. That gives us a lot of leeway, but I like to anchor my headcanons to canon if and when I can.

Thankfully, there is at least some reason to believe that Hell in this universe is structured at least somewhat similarly to Hell in other popular works of fiction that derive their conceptions of it from Dante’s Inferno (which itself is the popular mainstream view of hell that even a lot of Christian/Catholics have adopted, often without realizing at this point).

Dante’s Inferno provides a view of hell that has 9 circles, or layers, each one deeper into Hell than the last. SPN implies the same.

We get this from the use of Limbo, as stated above, since this is the term in the Inferno for the first circle. Crowley refers to Limbo as the “furthest reaches” of Hell, whereas in Dante’s Inferno, it’s the top layer. SPN plays fast and loose with what it takes vs. leaves from real-world mythos, but I take this to mean that “far” or “furthest” not in the sense of depth, but as a place which may be vast and largely empty, and which few demons can enter (since, as per the Inferno, it’s not a place where guilty souls actually end up, so possibly has quite restricted access to demons).

We also get evidence of these circles from Word of God through Sera Gamble, who has apparently said that the Cage is “At the bottom of the lowest depths of the ninth circle of the worst bit of Hell.” That’s pure Dante’s Inferno, ba-bey. (/mcelroy voice)

More evidence comes from Season 8 when Sam rescues Bobby’s soul from Hell, since he goes through Purgatory as a sort of back door to Hell, being told that Purgatory is “Hell adjacent”, which is true as well in the Inferno.

Another within-canon indirect hint of this is the association between Lucifer and ice. Dante’s Inferno keeps that the ninth circle of Hell, reserved for treachery, is a large frozen lake. And in the Inferno and in SPN canon, this is where the Devil is kept, in the Center of Hell, in the deepest frozen depths of the pit, the frozen lake in the ninth circle.

Also remembering that in early seasons, Lucifer and his Cage were buried so deep in Hell that most demons weren’t sure if he even existed. His existence was a matter of faith, no different than humans believing in God, according to 3x04 (Sin City).

Based on all this, I think it’s perfectly reasonable to surmise that Hell is vast, but potentially its vastness manifesting in the way in which it is layered, and that there are regions, planes, or depths that most demons do not or cannot tread to.

But okay, even if you’re on board so far, why do I believe that time works differently at different layers? And what circles have we seen in canon?

Situating Each Circle

My fundamental argument here is that temporal distortion in Hell is more extreme at the deeper depths, in a mathematically determinable way.

If we accept that Hell has nine circles (or planes or layers), then we can assume that we’ve seen three - probably five - of them. There is Limbo, as per season 11 and stated above, in which there seems to be little to no time dilation. This makes some sense if we accept that it’s the surface-most plane*, the first circle.

We have also established what’s in the ninth circle, titled Treachery, which is the Center of Hell and The Cage. Given its depth and the lines from season 3 Sin City, we can assume that, much like Limbo, this is an off-limits zone for most demons. If we accept my argument that times moves differently at the different layers, this is where time distortion - really, time dilation - should be the most extreme. It is the furthest removed from the material plane and the deepest well (do not call it a gravity well do not call it a gravity well do not call it a - )*, dilating time and everything around it at its depths.

In between, we have seen The Rack (where Dean was tortured), we have the Throne (where Rowena sat and kept court, since many of Crowley’s ruling scenes are implied to be on the surface rather than in Hell proper, although any of Crowley’s ruling scenes would be on this same level, I imagine), we have The Dungeon (from which Sam rescued Bobby’s soul as part of the Trials), and we have the glimpse we caught of how Crowley restructured the place into endless lines as a method of torment. There’s also the space where Lilith’s horn is kept, as per the Belphegor and Cas scenes in the early episodes of Season 15. I take that to be the same level as the Throne level, since it seems to be where ruling demons would both preside and reside.

Based on the seeming lack of time distortion we tend to see (in late seasons...) when we get scenes relating the Throne level, my headcanon is that this is the second circle of Hell (Lust). In the Inferno, incoming souls are judged here and then sent to which circle their sins have them belong, so I think it’s at least somewhat fitting for this to be where the Throne is. Keeping it closer to the surface world / material plane also has some advantages if doing so minimizes time distortion, since keeping closer time with Earth allows easier monitoring of Earth and tracking of things like deals etc. It also means that higher ranking aka more powerful demons who preside here are closer to Gates of Hell and therefore have less far to travel when slipping out and onto Earth.

In contrast, I think that The Rack is pretty damn deep. There is a lot of time distortion going on to get to 1 month = 1 decade (especially if we allow that a very small amount of dilation is happening at the topmost circles, even including Limbo). This makes sense to me in that The Rack is a place of exceeding misery and horror, literally the center of Hell’s most violent and excruciating tortures.

For that reason, I place The Rack as circle seven, aptly titled Violence. This is not to be confused with the sin of Wrath, which is actually the fifth circle. Rather, the seventh circle (to quote wikipedia at least), “houses the violent”. What better way to re-interpret that in the world of SPN than that circle hosting the torturers and their tortured? Within the seventh circle are those who committed violence against neighbors, against self, and against God. What better place for someone who sold his own soul (violence against self and against God), who killed?

Of course I don’t think it’s so straightforward that violent souls get sent to The Rack. I think any damned soul can be called there for a torture session. But Dean spent his entire time in Hell on The Rack, and that can’t be standard. Bobby spent plenty of his time in hell in a cell, as per 8x19 (Taxi Driver), and demons come here to torture him.

I don’t think it’s a huge leap for me to infer that Dean was special and spent his entire time on The Rack because they were so determined to use him to break the First Seal, and that most damned souls only do short stints on there, either due to limited real estate or so that souls don’t become numb to the violence (since let’s face it, most demonic torturers probably can’t keep them in anticipation of further horror as well as Alistair can, after a few days or months being cut into.) They’re probably returned to their cells to marinate in the memory and anticipation with only minor tortures until they’re brought down again. This is what we see with Bobby and probably with the endless lineups in Crowley’s redesigned Hell.

So - without too much to go on, I’m going to tentatively place the Dungeon with Bobby and other damned souls as being in the sixth circle, Heresy. It’s a circle described as hosting souls in flaming tombs, which I think fits this notion of a dungeon with cells holding on to souls, and keeps those souls close at hand and ready for another go in the seventh circle where The Rack is held.

And this allows me to place the endless line as actually being either in the fourth circle, Greed, or the fifth circle, Wrath. The fourth involves a nation of lost souls who, in this pit of hell, lose their individuality and become sort of empty, which fits what we see in that brief clip of the Hell line. The fifth includes a “savage self-frustration” that seems fitting of the concept of that awful endless line, with sullen and angry souls fighting each other in muck and slime.

Regardless of fourth or fifth (I have no strong sense of which fits better), I see that line as being meaningful outside (above) the sixth circle, in a torment that is less acute, as souls that are less unique and differentiated, less violent, less worthy of turning into black-eyed demons.

Because in the Inferno, there’s this critical division between the fifth vs. sixth circles as the transition between the two being the transition into “Lower Hell” and the sixth being behind guarded walls, with another steep drop from the sixth to the seventh, and so on. This makes sense to me as Lower Hell being a place where they keep the Dungeon and guard the doomed souls, whereas that place outside those walls hosting the damned but less special, less differentiated, the more generically doomed... yeah, it just makes sense to me (your mileage, as always, may vary).

This distinction is important also because of that drop down. If distance and depth are important to temporal distortion, then it matters if the first few circles of Hell involve less of a steep drop one to the next. Here we should note that the seventh circle involves three rings, and the eighth circle (Fraud, aka Malebolge, another very strong contender for the location of The Rack since it’s essentially an amphitheater for torture, so I’ll do the math both ways below)*, well the eighth is basically a funnel with 10 separate rings or steps downward.

Why does this matter? So glad you asked!

Increasing Temporal Distortion at Each Level

If you’re following the hints I’m dropping, what I’m implying about getting deeper into Hell and the further drops down at the later levels is that the time distortion in Hell does not increase linearly. It increases exponentially.

Limbo has temporal distortion that is so minor as to be barely perceptible, if perceptible at all. The Rack gives us an explicit (if fuzzy) estimate of 1 month = 1 decade in terms of perception. The Cage is implied to be much, much more than that, at the extreme end up to 2-3 minutes = 1 week in terms of perception.

If the time distortion was linear, meaning that from circle 1 to circle 2, and circle 2 to 3, and 3 to 4 and so on, we should expect that the amount of time distortion from Limbo (circle 1) to the Rack (circle 7 or 8) to be a much, much wider gap than the amount of time distortion from the Rack (circle 7 or 8) to the Cage (circle 9). Like... it should be 7-8x as much distortion.

And I mean, you could take a linear headcanon approach to it. If we accept that SPN Hell has circles or layers as is Word of God and overtly implied by the narrative time and again, you could say that there’s x amount of distortion at circle 1, and 2x at circle 2, and 3x at circle 3, etc, and this would works okay when we got the math right, but like... it’s not my preference given the way canon works.

What I mean (especially for those who hate math so might not be automatically sussing what I’m saying), is that, for example, if 10 seconds in Limbo = 1 second on Earth (sure why not) then if the time distortion increases the same way (”linearly”) at each new circle of hell, then on the Rack we get 70 seconds = 1 Earth second (or 80 seconds = 1 Earth second, if the Rack is in the eighth circle).

That specific math doesn’t check out (it equates to 23.3 years on the Rack instead of 40, or 26.7 if the Rack is the eighth circle instead of the seventh), but to figure this out we should of course work backwards starting from the 4 months = 40 years. Which tells us that each second on Earth feels like 120seconds (2 minutes) on The Rack. If that’s happening at the seventh circle, then a linear difference between each circle of hell means that the time distortion in Limbo is roughly 17 seconds for every Earth second. This math works out a little prettier if the Rack is the eighth circle because that’s an even 15 seconds for every Earth second.

To me, that’s stretching how much time distortion is implied to occur at Limbo and vastly exaggerating what we see with Sam rescuing Bobby from Hell. If Bobby is actually kept in the 6th circle, that’s 102 (7th circle) or 190 (8th circle) seconds in Hell for every second on Earth. It just didn’t seem that Sam was spending a minute and a half in Hell for every second that Dean was spending on the surface in Taxi Driver, but then again, I haven’t rewatched that episode so I’d have to double check to know for sure.

Between those implications about time distortion in Limbo and Bobby’s rescue and even the Throne room when they visit Rowena to the way Dante’s Inferno (which SPN canon clearly drew from) funnels more extremely downward the deeper you go in the circles, to what Sam’s episode of Hell memories could imply about his experience of time dilation in the Cage (assuming we accept his statement about his episode “feeling like a week” even if we don’t take that number at exactly face value)... an exponential increase just makes more sense, mathematically?

And again, for anyone who doesn’t like math or doesn’t know what that means and why I keep using this word “exponentially,” what it means is that the difference between the first circle and the second circle is not as big as the difference between the second circle and the third circle. At each depth, the intensity of the time dilation increases. So that you might not even notice the difference in time dilation between circle 1 and 2, but the difference between circle 5 and 6 is massively noticeable, and the difference between circle 8 and circle 9 is like several times even that big. Like Inception!

So let’s run some final calculations and get you your answer(s), Anon!

Some Final Math and Estimates*

Assumption 1: Equivalent Dilation

If we assume that there is no difference in time dilation from one region of Hell to another, then the ratio that Dean gives us in Season 4 is accurate for all of Hell, and 1 month (30 days) in the pit feels like 10 years. That’s 120 seconds below to every second above.

This would mean that in 18 months in the Cage, Sam experiences 180 years worth of torture.

Assumption 2: Linear Dilation Circle 7

Assuming The Rack is in the seventh circle, then a linear difference at each level means that 120 seconds on the Rack equates to 154 seconds in the Cage at the ninth level. That would mean that in 18 months topside, Sam’s soul spent 231.5 years in the Cage.

Assumption 3: Linear Dilation Circle 8

Assuming the Rack is in the eighth circle (which, tbh, I kind of thing makes more sense even though I argued differently above, but shhh let’s pretend otherwise), then a linear difference at each level means that 120 seconds there equates to only 202.5 years for Sam’s soul in the Cage. Slightly less awful!

Assumption 4: Exponential Dilation Circle 7

The simple way I’m doing this is that instead of taking the time distortion at Limbo and making it x2 at the second circle, x3 at the third, and so on, I’m taking the time distortion at Limbo and making it to the power of 2 at the second circle, to the power of 3 at the third, and so on. I still have to start with The Rack being 120seconds on Earth time and work backwards to get that initial Limbo starting point before I apply the exponent, but otherwise that’s all I’m doing. There are definitely more sophisticated ways we could approach it since that’s a pretty simple linear increase in the exponent, and we could instead make the exponent itself an equation we’d derive through more complex means but... I’m really not about to do that.

So.

If we start from The Rack = 120seconds (2mins), using the exponent assumptions above, then Limbo time dilation is roughly 2 seconds (actually 1.98167 or so) in Limbo for every Earth second (works beautifully for what we see in canon, basically imperceptible), and time dilation in the ninth circle is 471 seconds (7.85 mins) per Earth second. Yes, that big of a difference, because that’s how exponents work.

This would mean that Sam’s soul spent approximately 707 years in the Cage.

What a great number! What a reasonable number, and a pretty damn canon-compliant number to headcanon. I like this number.

Assumption 5: Exponential Dilation Circle 8

As above in terms of the exponent assumptions, if the Rack is actually in the 8th circle of Hell, that much closer to the Cage, then here the math works out so that 120 seconds on the 8th circle being... roughly 2 seconds in Limbo. Because that’s how exponential functions work. It’s actually 1.81928 in Limbo vs. the previous 1.98167, but that rounds to the same thing (2 seconds) in terms of human experience, even if it makes a big difference when we take it out to the difference it makes in months, years, etc.

(But like, this is why I think it’s exponential, because this works so much better for what canon implies about the time dilation there*.)

Anyway, here, this would mean that Sam’s soul spent roughly 327.5 years in the Cage instead of the 707 from above. That’s a big difference.

Assumption 6: Off the Rails

We can also take Sam’s statement about 2-3 minutes on Earth (having a Hell flashback) feeling like a week in the pit. If we estimate conservatively and go with every 3 Earth minutes = 1 week in Hell, depending on how we approach it (depending on if you go with minutes in a week vs. a month and which way you get to a year), you get somewhere around 5000 years (in my present calculation it’s 4984, but I also calculated it another way to get to just over 5000).

Assumption 7: 9th Circle vs. The Cage

Dante’s Inferno distinguishes between the 9th Circle on its own vs. the Center of Hell as the place where Lucifer resides, right at the deepest depths. The Cage itself is remote in Hell, distant from all other demons, enough so as to be a matter of faith to many of them. If we allow the possibility that this all means that the Cage is deeper than the ninth circle itself*, we can add another linear layer or else another exponent (take our equation to the 10 instead of to the 9).

This works out to be:

Rack 7th Circle, Linear: 257 years

Rack 8th Circle, Linear: 225 years

Rack 7th Circle, Exponential: 1400 years

Rack 8th Circle, Exponential: 596 years

Meaning this is a good place to note that... depending on the final number you want to get to, you can use whichever assumptions you want to get there and justify it by math. Remember kids, there are lies, damn lies, and statistics.

TL;DR!!!!!

How much time did Sam’s soul spend in the Cage? My headcanon is that he spent probably either 600 or 700 years there, on the assumption that it was 18 months between Swan Song and Appointment in Samarra, and assuming time dilation gets more extreme the deeper that you go in Hell.

For people who want to make more conservative estimates but still embed some complexity to Hell’s time dilation and/or who be more canon-compliant to other glimpses we’ve seen of Hell’s time distortion (Limbo, etc), I think anywhere from about 200 years to 330 years is perfectly reasonable.

For people who want to go with maximum whump, the sky (5000) is the limit, but you can mathematically point to up to 1400 being pretty reasonable.

*Footnotes

1. Because canon plays fast and loose with how many months exactly have gone by, and some people headcanon that only about 4 months have passed in Season 6 before Appointment in Samarra when Death pulls his soul out. I personally read it as more like 6 months having gone by and think this is the more standard headcanon, so your 180 years is the most common interpretation, and definitely the most easy to defend. I also made calculations for Sam having spent 16 months in the Cage instead of 18 months there though, if anyone is interested.

2. There is also the Vestibule in the Inferno as the opening to Hell, before the first circle, and this requires passage from Charon to cross over and into Hell proper. This is where the quote “Abandon All Hope, Ye Who Enter Here” is from at the Gate of Hell, which of course is evoked in season 5 as the episode in which Jo and Ellen die.

I like to think of the Vestibule in the world of SPN as being any and all of the many Hellgates implied by canon, including the one that opens in AHBL2. No time dilation occurs within the Vestibule(s), as a person has to enter into Hell’s circles to properly separate themselves from the material plane.

3. Not getting into it here but if I ever get around to writing an original piece of fiction about angels and demons etc like I kind of want to, some of my worldbuilding will explicitly connect/relate angels to celestial bodies, like literally to stars, with the depth of hell essentially being a black hole, hence why the closer one gets to it, the greater the time dilation there is. Gravity and heat increase near the center of hell in this unbearable way, and then at the very center, like within the black hole itself, it becomes unbearably incredibly cold, like that frozen lake in which Lucifer is half-submerged in Dante’s Inferno. Lucifer existing impossibly both within and outside the event horizon. But I digress.

4. When you think about how many angels are implied to have died in order to rescue Dean’s soul, compared to how simply Sam snuck into Hell to rescue Bobby, I think the circles of Hell interpretation becomes quite important. If Dean was in the seventh or eighth circle, like especially that eighth circle, that’s so much deeper in than the Dungeon. The angels also couldn’t infiltrate subtly, methinks, and had to storm the walled and heavily guarded gates at the sixth circle, through that dungeon, then fight their way down the three rings of the seventh circle and possibly down into the amphitheater of the eighth. We know that their powers alone can’t kill a demon as powerful as Alistair even on Earth, so on their home turf in Hell, it makes sense that demons would have put up a really solid fight against the angels. This helps resolve some of my own frustration at what seems to be discrepancies in the abilities of angels and how dangerous they are to demons in canon.

5. Please be aware that all maths above involve some rounding, since I didn’t think anyone wanted the detailed decimals. I also calculated months as being 30 days and for simplicity, calculated years as being 12 months. I could rework the math into weeks with 52 weeks being a year instead, which gives slightly different numbers, but it’s work so I’m just going to go with these approximations. Also noting that I used calculated everything using excel to save myself a headache. I’m sorry if there are any errors, especially when it comes to the exponents, my brain got very tired. Please let me know if you find any.

6. When it comes to the exponential ones, if The Rack is in the 7th circle of hell, then if the Dungeon where Bobby was kept was in the 6th circle, then each Earth second is 60 seconds (1 minute) in the Dungeon. That’s more time dilation than I think canon implies, because 60 minutes (1hr) in the Dungeon is only a minute on Earth? In contrast if The Rack is in the 8th circle, then 1 Earth second is 36 seconds in the Dungeon. I honestly think both of these are more extreme than canon implies, but again, it’s been a million years since I watched that episode because it’s written by Bucklemming and I cannot stand their writing. But as a count in favor of the exponential argument instead of linear, if time dilation increases the same amount at each circle then 1 Earth second translates to 103 seconds in the Dungeon (Rack in 7th) or 90 seconds (Rack in 8th), both of which are a lot more dilation than our exponential account.

7. For simplicity, I’ve also ignored the different rings which occur at the 7th and 8th circles. Those would, of course, change the math here as well, and we could add another linear or exponential step for each of those rings. That would lead to some crazy numbers because we’re talking about 13 additional steps. Linearly we’d add a few thousand years, but exponentially we’re starting to talk about a geological timescale. I don’t think it’s productive to make that extreme of an assumption about those rings, but I think we could comfortably stretch the distance between the 7th circle and the pit in which Lucifer’s cage sits at the deepest depths of hell if we wanted to, if you wanted to reasonably get closer to that 5000 years estimate.

8. Since your ask mentioned it, Anon, I realize I don’t touch on Enochian in this post but I have two tag-rambles about my thoughts on enochian and I thought I had a proper post on it somewhere but can’t find it. I could/should probably make a post with a tumblr ficlet about that, since I started drafting a canon-divergent post-Hell fic with Sam and Enochian and there’s like... no chance I’ll ever finish it. But anyway.

Thanks for reading this far, to anyone who did.

#spn meta #my meta #hell meta #time dilation #temporal distortion #time distortion #headcanons #dante's inferno #this meta is 5200 words that's longer than many fics wtf #there is a tl;dr though you don't have to read the whole thing #what did you do this week phyn? oh y'know just wrote 4k words of meta to make a hell time distortion equation #that literally no one asked for (except they kinda did but i'm sure not like this)#i get one (1) day off and this is what happens #did i read the thesis chapter one of my grad students is waiting for feedback on?#nope! i wrote a time distortion equation instead #if you can't tell from these tags i'm going a little feral over here #okay whew i'm calm i'm good #i'm not proofreading this so if there are typos or issues or my math is off we're just gonna deal with that reality #probably gonna rb later for timezones because i can

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seventeenlovesthree · 1 year

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Fandom Shipping Polls - Takeru Takaishi Shipping Analysis (Poll I + Poll II)

As pointed out in the main post, every single Chosen Child will get their individual analysis post to check on the status of the current popularity of their ships. With that out of the way, let’s take a look at Takeru, shall we!

The overall results / spreadsheet

Disclaimer: As the “Someone from 01/02″ and “Others” options from poll 1 and the “Someone from 01/02″ option from poll 2 have been excluded from the final analysis due to redundancy reasons and all results were culminated in another “final count”, the results will not be 1:1 to what the polls look like:

Overall votes: 135 (approx. 110 in sum after the exclusion), the main poll got 92 votes, the secondary poll got 43 votes.

The “Others” choice in the main poll received 3% (approx. 3 votes) and 7% (approx. 3 votes) in the secondary poll. The comments/tags did specify preferences outside of the selection of characters that were part of the main polls and will be discussed in the results.

Ship Analysis

1st place: With one of the biggest leads among all polls analyzed so far, Hikari (53%) has won Takeru’s poll(s) with 59 votes overall, barely facing any competition whatsoever. And that should not be surprising by any means, as Takeru and Hikari are continuously framed together throughout basically all iterations of Digimon Adventure in a way that may or may not be interpreted as them being “kindred souls”. They’re mirrored as holders of two of the most important Crests and partners of angel Digimon, fueling the development and arcs of their brothers respectively. Not only are they sharing all of these similarities, being two of the youngest members of the team, growing through the seasons; but they are generally seen spending time, being next to each other on good, mutually protective and caring terms, which are among the reasons that make them one of the most popular Digimon ships world wide.

2nd place: With a huge gap to the 1st place, Daisuke (18%) comes in second. His popularity here may be explained by the idea that he’s supposed to be a foil to Takeru in a similar way Taichi is to Yamato - even though their dynamic as so called “rivals” does not play out in the same way at all. Despite the occasional bickering, it’s portrayed to be more lighthearted, especially on Takeru’s behalf, who likes to tease Daisuke, making for a mutually challenging, yet very playful dynamic.

3rd place: The 3rd spot hasn’t been secure for long periods of the voting time and may as well have turned out as a tie between four different parties, namely Iori, Meiko, Catherine - and Taichi (6%), who eventually won this race by merely one vote. Taichi being here may not be surprising, as Takeru is shown to be looking up to him quite a lot, while Taichi displays a protective yet encouraging attitude towards him as well. Additionally, looking at the other winners of Takeru’s poll - people might have a preference to pair him up with Yagamis and/or goggleheads.

Honorary mentions: As mentioned above, several choices were up against each other for third place, as Iori, Meiko and Catherine were all coming in with 5% - with Iori being Takeru’s Jogress partner, Meiko being a character he’s being mirrored with in terms of the loss of his partner (while also flirting with her a lot) and Catherine being played as a 1-episode-only-love-interest. Other hororary mentions here are Sora (2%) and Ken (2%).

“The 1 vote squad”: This spot is reserved for Miyako, Koushiro and Mimi (1% each).

“0 votes go to…”: Jou and Menoa are the only characters that received 0 votes.

Annotations: Yamato was automatically excluded as a choice up front. Yamakeru does not seem to be a wide-spread choice in English speaking fandoms, even if a look at Japanese centric spaces may suggest that it’s fairly popular there.

What did the other polls say?

Takeru won Hikari’s (44%) and Iori’s poll (22%) and came in second in Daisuke’s (11%), thus mirroring his own to at least a certain degree.

For almost every other character, he was a very niche choice, namely Meiko (4%), Ken (3%), Taichi (2%), Mimi (2%), Sora (1%) and Koushiro (1%).

He received 0 votes in the polls for Miyako and Jou, thus having nobody vote for Joukeru as a viable option at all.

Notable additions / comments / thoughts

The overall impression for Takeru is that, while he has a bigger variety in votes than other characters (indicated by the number of characters competing for third place), the majority of voters still appears to be pretty set on who they ship him with. And they also seem to be quite passionate about that in general, as Takeru was the character who received the third most votes overall (after Taichi and Ken). This becomes obvious in particular when it comes to Hikari in particular and is, as mentioned above, not surprising at all, as they have been going strong in fandom ever since the conception of Digimon Adventure and them being set-up as mirrors to each other after the Vamdemon arc. Some may see it as fate, others may see it as them actually breaking through these kinds of stereotypes, which makes it very appealing.

As for the other viable choices, one should not overlook that Takeru had been among the youngest characters in Adventure and was thus not really likely to be shipped with older characters (Jou in particular). The parallel he shares with Daisuke in opposition to how Taichi’s and Yamato’s bond is portrayed makes their popularity understandable, especially since they’re closer in age. The only exceptions here are Taichi and Iori, with both sharing age differences with him in both directions, but still display significant bonds throughout the anime to make people prefer them.

Interestingly enough, the options outside of the main cast have also been comparably popular - this can be seen not only due to Catherine and Meiko receiving as many votes as they did (6 respectively).

Aside from characters who have already been among the main choices (Hikari, Daisuke and Iori in particular), the comment section/tags also revealed that there is a niche preference to ship Takeru with (certain humanoid) Digimon as well (namely Angemon, Vamdemon and Piemon). Among all polls, this was one of the few that actually addressed that preference in the first place, which is to be expected in a series that primarily focuses on the relationship between humans and said monsters. Usually, the option is reserved for OC ships, for when people prefer to not ship a character at all or when they’re preferred to be asexual (which will definitely be a future option to include as well!). Thus, I really hope to reach a wider audience if I choose to repeat the polls.