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phleb0tomist · 7 months

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I was wondering what the diagnosis process looked like for you in regards to me/cfs? What tests were done? (Only asking because I suspect I may have it, however my general doctor got my blood drawn (even though there are no known tests to diagnose cfs/me), and tests results came back normal. They blamed it on my medications, but I've been experiencing the symptoms way before I took the medications.)

Now I'm having to call and ask them what I'm supposed to do, since I'm struggling.

Have you struggled getting an evaluation?

How did you make others believe and advocate for you?

Not forced to answer at all btw!

hello there. i’m sorry you’ve been struggling and that your healthcare has been lacklustre! this post is going to be long so strap in <3

the diagnosis process varies from doctor to doctor. tbh many doctors are reluctant to consider ME even if it’s a severe case or a very classic case because they generally aren’t taught how to recognise it. it can be helpful to send your doctor links to official resources so they have a framework for helping you. if i were you, I’d look up the official guidelines for suspecting ME/CFS in your country and either send a link to your doctor or print them out. most doctors i meet will admit to my face that they haven’t read the guidelines for ME, so basically they’re not informed on suspecting, diagnosing, or treating it. in the UK where I live, the NICE guidelines explain the steps that should be taken if ME is suspected.

ME/CFS is a diagnosis of exclusion, so basically they do standard tests (like blood tests) first to make sure your symptoms aren’t caused by any other condition. once they’ve ruled out other causes, they see if you meet the ME/CFS criteria they use in your area. (in theory, diagnosis should take 3-6 months, but a lot of docs take a ‘wait and see’ approach instead, which can sometimes last years. personally i don’t think a ‘wait and see’ approach is appropriate, especially if you’re young. you may have to be assertive and ask multiple times to be evaluated. bear in mind it’s the system failing, not you.) the way they decide if you meet the criteria is by discussing your symptom history, which might take a few appointments. the best way to advocate for yourself is to bring another person to back you up (sorry to say this but statistically, it helps if it’s a male family member), to have a list of your symptoms and a timeline written down, and to be clear about the practical ways that your symptoms impact your life. i.e. “it takes me (x amount of time) to recover from going on a short walk. this symptom gets worse (x amount of time) after i do a particular activity and lasts (x days). i can no longer do x activity at all because of my symptoms. I’ve tried x y and z and it hasn’t improved my symptoms. I want to get my quality of life back.”

I don’t remember my diagnosis process very well. i had major symptoms for several years before ME was even considered, i was repeatedly brushed off and told my symptoms were from my autism even though that doesn’t add up. interestingly i was given treatments before I had a diagnosis. then i had a ‘working diagnosis’ of ME in my teens, which is where they think you probably have something but they don’t put it in your file till they’re sure. i’ve had a proper diagnosis on my file for years now, but i don’t know when it got there or who put it there. (??) the diagnosis process can be kinda weird. mine took forever but i know other people who were diagnosed quickly and efficiently, so it’s not impossible.

personally i had a lot of random tests, blood tests to CT scans to x rays, basically any test that was related to my symptoms (like a head MRI for headaches). i do actually have other conditions which show up on tests (like scoliosis), but since scoliosis cannot possibly be causing my specific pattern of exertion-related symptoms, i still got diagnosed with ME. having another condition or having medication side effects does not mean you can’t also have ME! especially if your symptoms started before you took the meds, like you said.

i feel like i’ve rambled enough. i hope this was helpful. if you have any more questions please send another ask and I’ll try my best to answer!

#answered #long post #txt #myalgic encephalomyelitis #chronic illness

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acaciapines · 8 months

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Uhhhh how about 17?

doing these how i usually do! story above cut, commentary below.

All I Need to Know - Thousand Foot Krutch

it’s underneath the shade of the palistrom tree—palistrom tree, and isn’t that something luz never thought she’d be able to say again—that mari, with her paws crossed in front of her, tilts her head into the sunlight that casts her edges in gold and says, “did we ever figure out how to make sure mami survives us graduating?”

luz pauses. “huh. i mean, i think she’s used enough to the boiling isles by now?”

mari stares at her for a long moment. “gus said they dump boiling water on the audience.”

“okay,” says luz, “but consider. do we actually believe him? ‘cause that doesn’t just kill humans, that kills, like, everyone. unless you’re king or sraf—most of the time—or firefly, i think? i think she could survive a little bit of boiling water.” luz nudges her daemon’s side. “what’s your real issue?”

mari huffs, turning away. “you can’t read my mind.”

“yes i can!” luz sing-songs, and mari rolls her eyes, but lets out a long whuff, tilting her head.

“fine,” she says, “i guess i’m just…i mean, all of this,” and she gestures with a paw to the palistrom around them, which is pretty much the best representation of how far they’ve gone in the past four years, “has been great, and i don’t want to let it go. but—we graduate. we do witch college. and then…what?”

“aww, mari.” luz flops down across her daemon, and mari grunts, trying to bite at her hair. “look at you all worried about the future. things are going to be good. we’re going to major in literally everything, continue to learn about how magic and glyphs and all that works, and king is going to follow in our footsteps, and we’re going to cry and be so proud. and wrestle him if he ever dares to usurp us as world’s coolest glyph-user. i don’t care if he’s a titan.”

mari rolls her eyes, but there’s something fond, there, too, that’s soft against the edges of luz’s mind, where their sharp bits don’t poke out so harsh anymore. “fine. fine! you’re right” she hauls herself standing and ignores luz’s giggling. “but we are reminding principal bump to not like, accidentally kill our mom somehow. quite frankly i’m still surprised hexside doesn’t have a higher body count.”

luz reaches a hand up to the sky, framing the fragile palistrom leaves between her fingers.

“it’s doing pretty good,” luz says, and she means hexside, sure, but everything else, too: at all the ways their world has changed, since they were fourteen and fighting and scared. “i’m glad we get to graduate here. together.”

“yeah, yeah.” but mari lands, small and fluffing out her feathers, on luz’s chest. “me too.”

Commentary

genuinely forgot this song was on my playlist. anyways.

post-canon stuff! now that i have the entire story written (I HAVE THE ENTIRE STORY WRITTEN, WHAT THE FUCK) i know exactly where i end in the owl house timeline, which is actually earlier than owl house canon does! as of now the fic ends about 6 months after belos's defeat. so here i decided well, let's do a lil thing around the time owl house proper ends! right before luz-mari graduate hexside.

its really interesting to write these drabbles now that the fic is done. bc like, before i was just testing things out--now i know exactly how everything goes, you know? unless i choose to ignore canon, all of these are now canon to how my fic will end! wild.

i think witch college is such a fun and cool idea. i feel like luz and mari probably will end up teaching there, at some point...glyphs are already sort of a language in owl house proper and i push that even further in my fic, so i like to think that adult luz-mari is out there teaching classes on how to translate witch-magic to glyph-magic and all the overlaps.

theres a LOT of knowledge gaps post-belos-defeat, basically. lots of stuff that was destroyed and has to be rediscovered.

also i think the idea of luz-mari king and sraf (the collector) all collabing on like, an academic paper is literally so funny. these three children are the most prominent scholars on glyphs in the entirety of the boiling isles! they do get into month-long fights over what they're suppose to call dust. stardust? sraf? dust? magic? some new word? who knows!! not them!!!

#and a grove of palistrom to you #toh #luz noceda #i write #one of my favorite things about daemon aus is actually the like #science that would come out of it #i never focus on it in-story as much as i could but in my heart that is all i want

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your-favorite-bean · 2 years

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Okay, so the next season of tua is going to be the last. And yes, of course I am disappointed. I mean it’s the end of an era, or whatever. But at the same time, I’m kinda of….relieved???? Like, I feel like if they keep coming out with more seasons, the quality’s going to get more stretched out and eventually it’s going to be one of those shows where the best thing it could do is end but it never will because money. As long as they give it a decent ending, some decent closure and at least answer a few questions that were all asking, I’ll be happy. Of course, I’ll still be upset because there’s going to be so many important characters or plot points that mean a lot to the fans that will never really be touched or expanded upon. But I don’t think renewing three more seasons is going to solve that problem. I’ll leave it to the lovely fanfic writers

Not to mention that they’ve kind of written themselves into a corner. In case you did not know, this series is (very loosely) based of a comic books series written by Gerard way. So far, there’s been three comic books, three seasons. The next season will be going into the unknown territory of not having anything to base it on. In the third comic book, hotel oblivion was a very major plot point (I like what they did with it in the comics way more than in the show, but that’s another post). The sparrow academy, however, was not introduced until the very end of the comic books, and was not going to be used as a plot point until the fourth book (don’t know when or if it’ll come out). Do you see the conflicting timelines. They’ve used all of the comic book material, and whatever they do with the show is entirely up to whatever they feel like doing. And that can be very dangerous. I’m not sure if Gerard way is there to consult, but this is basically a long way of me getting back to my main point of it not having anymore seasons a good thing. After all, sometime the best way to make a series is knowing when and how to end it.

Anyhoo, I’ve gone on way too long for this. I’m tired, but I just wanted to go on a minor rant. I’m not sure if other people feel the same way, but this is just what I was thinking when I heard that the fourth season was going to be the final one.

#will probably post more tua related rants #tua #five hargreeves #allison hargreeves #ben hargreeves #diego hargreeves #klaus hargreeves #luther hargreeves #viktor hargreeves #tua s4

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whorenerdking · 2 years

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6, 8, and what do you think about the Eddie pocket hanky code theory?

6. Ghost Eddie or Vampire(Kas) Eddie? Why?

Oh vampire Eddie for sure. Not only is it super on brand for him but also like the smutty options for it?? Choice. Eddie drinking Steve’s blood and they both get off on it? Especially Steve? That’s the good shit. Eddie using his vampire strength to manhandle Steve around, also he’d have fangs which is just incredibly sexy of him. Also I read this one steddie fic with vampire Eddie and trans Steve, and Eddie ate Steve out while he was on his period and it like, did things to me. So there’s that.

Horny thoughts aside, imagining Eddie as a bat is just so frigging cute that it makes me feral. Tiny little baby bat Eddie taking a nap in Steve’s hair or chilling in his pocket. Just a little guy ☺️ And personally I feel like he’d have the same vibe as Marceline from adventure time, and float like her too.

8. Favorite Steddie Headcanon you’ve read or written?

Literally the question of all time, cause there’s like so many to choose from? So many good opinions out there like we all just have big sexy brains.

Okay so like ever since the Kas!Eddie theory started going around I’ve had this thought in my head of what if Eddie and Steve had both died in the final battle? Or because they were both attacked by the demobats, they’re both able to be infected by the Upside Down and it corrupts them. It resurrects Eddie and makes Steve sick, and the day Eddie wakes up, Steve wakes up feeling…different. And they both connected to each other now and definitely corrupt. Basically it’s a ‘comes back wrong’ AU and I live for those. Evil murder boyfriends >:3c

Also I just really love the idea of ‘You Should See Me In A Crown’ being corrupt!Steve’s theme song cause like cmon it’s so perfect. No I don’t care if the song came out in 2019. Literally can stop thinking about King Steve and Eddie the Banished as an evil duo.

As for the hanky code theory? 1000% believe it. I mean Joseph Quinn could’ve put that thing anywhere and that’s where he chose to put it? And the timeline matches up pretty damn well. I am a firm believer in steddie switch supremacy though. They’ve got their preferences but sometimes Eddie just wants to ride Steve until he passes out and honestly? Good for him.

#steddie #steve harrington #eddie munson #stranger things #this is fun #it’s stretching my writers brain #and gave me an excuse to expand on my evil steddie au #also hey look!#I didn’t go off the rails this time!

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gffa · 3 years

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OKAY, I WILL DO MY BEST HERE, but it’s one of those cases where there’s A LOT of information and NOT A LOT of information at the same time! We have a bunch of details and some good general ideas, but it’s not like it was a set-in-stone process, so there’s plenty of wiggle room if you want it. The Inquisitorius was started in 19 BBY, the same year as the fall of the Republic and the genocide of the Jedi, but seems to have been officially started after the Purge happened. Sidious had been planning something like the Inquisitorius for a long time, but this specific version of them wasn’t necessarily always the only version in development. The Inquisitors are all fallen Jedi, presumably ones that were captured by the Empire and tortured into becoming dark siders. Several of them have mentioned that they were former Jedi, but the only one we’ve seen the process of is Trilla Suduri, who we saw being tortured for a very long time in Jedi: Fallen Order. (Link of the relevant scenes here. Warning: It can be a bit of a tough watch, Trilla is physically tortured and some of it you see from her perspective, as the electricity is jolted into her body, which can be kinda disturbing.) So, in theory, it’s possible that some of them fell on their own and agreed to join, but the one explicit example we have is where she was tortured into it and, while Cal is walking around their fortress, he talks about how multiple Jedi were broken there. (For another example, Prosset Dibs is a Jedi we saw falling to the dark in the Mace Windu: Jedi of the Republic comic, so he may have willingly joined or he may have healed while he was working in the Jedi Archives but not all the way and still had to be tortured into joining.) The Inquisitors are under the direct supervision of Darth Vader (after he’d discovered the program, he was put in charge of it), who trains them incredibly harshly--in Darth Vader: Dark Lord of the Sith, he’s shown cutting an arm off one of them and basically telling them to suck it up and keep fighting, to remember what loss feels like.

Sometimes they’d work with Darth Vader (the Grand Inquisitor went to the Jedi Temple in 19 BBY with Vader, where they confronted Jocasta Nu, the Ninth Sister went with Vader on a mission to investigate a possible Jedi sighting on Cabarria, Vader took them with when he went to kill Eeth Koth and kidnap his baby daughter, Vader had them with when he went to Mon Cala to confront Lee-Char, etc.), sometimes they operated separately from each other (all the times in Rebels or Jedi: Fallen Order that Kanan, Ezra, or Cal faced them when Vader wasn’t around, etc.), probably based on whatever Vader felt like or whatever Sidious felt like on a given day. The Inquisitorius as a group seem to have some degree of command over Purge Troopers, as they would often be seen leading a group of them (this happened often in Jedi: Fallen Order especially) and they could commandeer military assets (or probably civilian assets as well) if they needed to, so they had a certain amount of leeway when it came to their missions--so long as they didn’t piss off Vader or Sidious. Their main goals were to hunt down any Force-sensitives in the galaxy, whether newly discovered Force-sensitive children, former Jedi (whether they had left the Jedi Order or were Jedi in hiding, it didn’t matter), or even Force-sensitive adults who had never been trained by the Jedi. They would turn them if they could, but otherwise it was to kill anyone who might possibly be a Force-related threat of any kind. (What this means for planets like the Bardottens, they’ve never said.) They were greatly successful at their missions, so they wound up killing a great number of Jedi who had made it into hiding, along with Darth Vader being one of the biggest reasons the Jedi were mostly entirely gone by the time of the OT, which was helped along by Vader training the Jedi style out of them. Part of why he was so harsh to them (including cutting off limbs, etc.) was to force them to be more aggressive and less defensive, to be sharp and quick and fast to overpower Jedi, who were used to a different type of fight. They still had unique talents (as all Force-sensitives are not the same), like Ninth Sister had a great talent for reading emotions (including Vader’s, where she could sense how much he wanted to die),

As well as they weren’t actually Sith. Only Sidious, Vader, and Maul were Sith, the Inquisitors were dark siders or fallen Jedi or possibly a category unto themselves. They have some sort of headquarters, as seen in Darth Vader: Dark Lord of the Sith, where Vader is seen training them in issue #6 (same scene as above where he cuts off their hands or lightsabers their eye out), which is labelled as being on Coruscant, somewhere in The Works in the Industrial District:

There’s a training arena we see there and at least some sort of communication/strategy rooms that Vader and the Grand Inquisitor walk off into, while they discuss the other Inquisitors. Which means it’s a pretty big complex/building, but (according to Wookieepedia and I’ll trust them on this, instead of digging out my copies of the Complete Vehicles and Complete Locations book), it was a building of Sidious’ that he used as a hideout during the Clone Wars. To what extent Vader and the Inquisitorius took it over (whether they just had a few rooms or the entire skyscraper), I don’t think we know?

Later, in issue #20, we see there’s some sort of break room that Vader storms in on, when he returns to Coruscant, that the Inquisitors were sitting around and hanging out in:

From there, it would be reasonable to extrapolate that this was a base for their operations, the place they returned to after they came back from wherever they’d been sent, possibly even this is where they slept and ate and were sheltered in between missions. But that’s just reasonable conjecture, not hard canon! There is also Fortress Inquisitorius from Jedi: Fallen Order and it’s primary use was that it was where they took the Jedi they were torturing into becoming Inquisitors. I wouldn’t say it’s an academy, per se, but it was a place that they likely used as a headquarters. In issue #20 of Darth Vader: Dark Lord of the Sith, two of the Inquisitors rebel against Vader and he winds up chasing them down and cutting a huge swath of destruction in his path (LOL @ ANAKIN), which Sidious is not exactly pleased about. He says that he’s going to move the Inquisitorious off Coruscant to another world so this won’t happen again:

The comic was written in 2018 and Jedi: Fallen Order came out about 11 months later in 2019, so the above isn’t necessarily directly referring to that the Inquisitorious were moved to Fortress Inquisitorious on the moon Nur, but it’s also a very reasonable (and probably likely) assumption. We don’t have an exact timeline for when this issue takes place, but it’s minimum three years after Revenge of the Sith (the Mon Cala arc earlier in the comic is set three years post-ROTS), so probably around 15 or 14 BBY. However, Trilla seems to have been kidnapped much closer to Order 66, so it’s likely that Fortress Inquisitorius existed long before Order 66 happened, it was used to torture Jedi once their genocide happened, but it wasn’t the Inquisitor’s HQ until several years later. We don’t see a lot of Fortress Inquisitorious, the limited amount of areas you can play through it in Jedi: Fallen Order don’t tell you a ton about what goes on there, but it’s a pretty huge underwater skyscraper sized building and you do see several prison cells and at least one training dojo.

The galaxy at large didn’t know about Fortress Inquisitorious on the water moon of Nur or even the majority of the Empire itself didn’t know about it, it was a heavily kept secret. This is where Trilla and the other Jedi were taken, tortured, and forced into becoming Inquisitors and it’s likely that’s where the Inquisitors were based after the shitshow on Coruscant. It’s a big enough building that it’s likely to have pretty much whatever kind of stuff your clubhouse needs for the Inquisitors! But we don’t have much hard canon about it, no. As for the Inquisitors themselves, they’re complicated--some of them seemed almost loyal to each other, they would work together at times or even seem to avenge each other, but other times they would sneer at each other or mock each other, it seemed like they had a lot of shifting dynamics and probably a lot of it was fear at trying to survive being around Darth Vader. We don’t know for sure how many there specifically are or if, when one of them dies, they’re replaced by another, but it seems like there were at least twelve Inquisitors and we’ve never seen them be replaced, which I think implies that they were only ever meant to be a temporary measure and would be disposed of, as soon as Sidious knew all the Jedi were dead for sure/he could raise a new group of Force-sensitive children from birth. ANYWAY YOU SEE WHAT I MEAN: LOTS OF INFO BUT NOT A LOT OF INFO. 😂

#inquisitors #inquisitorius #fortress inquisitorius #meta #long post #really long post

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jeriafterdark · 3 years

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813 - The Reprise - BIG NEWS for ZZH! Part 5/?

Masterpost here

Big news on X-mas Eve! LONG POST!! So much has happened for ZZH, let's start with some memes to lighten the mood:

Love this meme. “Someone saying their timeline looks like this now - all jzps and GJ waiting for the news from Uncle Li”

Let’s get right to THE BIG NEWS.

1. Dec 24 - ZZH’s case is accepted by the Beijing Chaoyang Police!!!

^^^That's Hanhan's hand btw, and signature!

This means that they’ve found his case has standing and will do a criminal investigation. It will also lead to multiple civil suits that Uncle Li says are underway! All of Weibo is out of their coffins now lol, MULTIPLE tags are being flooded with joyous comments. Weibo is constantly shutting them down though, but people keep making more.

ZZH told Uncle Li that he tried to file a case before, but they wouldn’t accept it? And/or he was too afraid of the massive cyberbullying to step out of the house :( (I would be angry but this is no time to be angry, I’m happy he’s finally getting justice underway). Thanks to Uncle Li and many legal experts, they’ve encouraged him to file a police report, which has finally succeeded!

2. Dec 24 - What next steps could there be?

This user translated a CN lawyer’s perspective. Basically, the police will make a prelim. Investigation to establish the basic facts and whether a crime was committed.

“Typically if the police feels a case doesn’t meet the criteria to establish a criminal matter, they will tell the complainant to just go file a lawsuit themselves, they won’t bother to accept a report.”

Once all the facts are defined, they’ll send it over to the public prosecutor, who will refer the case to court. Then the victim can sue for secondary civil lawsuits for damages (fingers crossed). This process might take awhile, so let’s all celebrate the small steps and wait patiently, justice is finally happening!!!

3. Dec 24 - Uncle Li posted a video explaining everything

Amber did a wonderful translation of this here. He basically reiterates that ZZH did nothing wrong, and if he did, Li would support his punishment. He’s not whitewashing anyone, just standing up for what is right. Uncle Li’s been so active these past few weeks, slowly plugging away at all the lies that have been written about ZZH, and turning public opinion so much so that ZH could finally file a police report. What a guy, I’m so very grateful for him. Uncle Li further questions CAPA about how they don’t even name the people on their very own “Moral Self-discipline Committee,” so why should they have the ability to make a boycott list? CAPA even tried to ban Uncle Li, but ofc he’s not afraid bc he’s not actually done anything wrong.

>>> “The power of justice is powerful. it may be late, but it will never be absent. We should repay the society with warmth and gratitude.”

A note from OP on this… I can see why Uncle Li always stresses to thank the authorities, thank the public, and thank the multitude of platforms for being on the side of justice. Because if you want someone to do something, you can thank them for doing it first, and then they’ll go along with you (even if they haven’t done anything yet, or they’ve done the opposite of what you want). It’s a useful persuasive tactic. I interpret it as thus: he recognizes that the public, the platforms, CAPA, etc all have their hands in what happened to ZZH. But calling people out specifically won’t really help. So if one looks to the brighter side, and just assumes that betterness in people exists, then it looks better publicly and still accomplishes his goal. But make no mistake, it was BECAUSE of these platforms, CAPA, the public’s ready willingness to be whipped up into a frenzy over fabricated photos and antis and water armies, it was BECAUSE of these things and these people, that this all happened in the first place. Forgive, but don’t forget. How else will we learn lessons for the future?

And justice being late… justice is only capable at all because one citizen, with the perfect background, prowess, age, circumstance, decided to step up for ZZH - Li Xuezheng. Uncle Li. For many others, justice never came. No one stood up. Let’s remember that Uncle Li is an aberration; he is setting the precedence for everyone to come (in c-ent). Walking first so others may walk after. After this is all over, I hope people will follow his example and stand up for what’s right. Given that they have the power to, that is. This isn’t to put a damper on the celebrations, it’s just to keep in mind, justice should be a right, but it’s really a privilege. It is easily stripped from our most vulnerable. I hope that Uncle Li’s example will inspire more people to stand up.

4. Dec 23 - National Radio/TV Admin (NRTA) and Ministry of Culture and Tourism (MCT) set forth statements denying ever censuring ZZH

From this user, Uncle Li posted the letter from NRTA responding to a citizen’s request if they agency:

>>>Add him into immoral entertainers list

Deplatform

Take down works

Take down his products

Initiate industry wide boycott

Asked CAPA to release statement against him

NRTA wrote back that such information doesn't exist because their agency never created such content.

Uncle Li posted a video on this. Essentially, they denied ever labelling ZZH as an immoral or illegal artist. They denied requesting that the platforms take his works down. They didn’t do shit to ZZH. So they’ve effectively punted the ball back into CAPA’s court. CAPA has been claiming that it has gov. authority in its decisions, but now that the actual relevant gov. branch said they didn’t have anything to do with it, they swear, now CAPA is in extra hot water.

This is the NRTA/MCT letter they’re referring to.

5. Dec 23 - Hashtags including ZZH’s name and LLD are now searchable

Langlangding, the cp name for ZZH/GJ, Junzhe, and WKX/ZZS, is now searchable again on Weibo. Small steps forward!

You can also now search his name in Douyin (the tiktok equivalent in CN).

6. Dec 23 - Local Russian Newspaper writes a small article on ZZH - cited his Ma’s letter, positive, even a local band wants to support by recording a song

This is cute, I didn’t realize there were that many fans in Russia??? More power to them!

Final Note for the day:

Happy holidays, sweet celebrations for all today! Especially our dear Hanhan. I’m so happy that he’s finally got justice on his side. I’m happy for Uncle Li, the hero who decided to stand up for him and for everyone in c-ent. Let’s take this as a victory everyone, and carry it into our holidays. I will update if any more big news happens :)

Thanks for reading, have a safe holiday!

#zhang zhehan #813 #word of honor #shan he ling #zzh #junzhe #lld #langlangding #tales from the mountaintop #li xuezheng #lxz #uncle li #capa #c-ent #cdramas #813 the reprise

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cas-rivaille · 3 years

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HELLO, DEAR!

Undertaker here! How are you today?

I was thinking the other day and I remembered an idea of mine I requested some time ago to another blog and I wanted to see your point of view as well, if you're comfortable with it ofc! I'll change it a bit because I have more ideas about it than before.

What if, hear me out, Obey me!MC was Sukuna's vessel??

I was thinking about a Female!MC but if you want you can keep them gender neutral (I don't mind!). So let's get into it, shall we?

Some facts about MC before the Devildom:

- They've already eaten all Sukuna's fingers

-But they are able to keep him calm inside themselves because over the year they've been together, MC decided to approach him more (Ya know if you have to die with/for someone, at least know them better)

-Sukuna took a liking to the MC, even though he would never admit it. (I mean- They always visit him in his domain to talk to him, read together, play cards (yes. You heard me. The king of curses loves Poker and UNO) or chess, they always ask him where would he like to go eat something, offer him some of their food to let him try new things, ect. Sometimes, but only SOMETIMES, they let him take control (not fully but they both can talk from the same mouth and he has control over one side, while MC has control over the other one))

- Having said that, Sukuna's still a stinky sassy bastard King. He's still rude, acts like he doesn't care about them and always finds a way to let them down when they're too happy. If they're sad though, he doesn't hurt them more. Sometimes MC even asks him advice whenever they're in doubt and after his bulling he actually gives pretty good advice (if you consider extreme violence a good advice that is)

Anyway, MC was going to get executed when suddenly they fell into Devildom. Their file didn't mention Sukuna at all and MC noticed that because when they arrived covered in talismans and chains the demons were confused about it. So, they kept the King a secret until lesson 16.

After Belphegor's crushing hug, while MC (the one from the original timeline) is in Mammon's arm, before Barbatos Thanoses the other timeline, Sukuna heals them and takes fully control of their body (the tattoos, the fangs, the long black claws, the other pairs of eyes and arms appear).

Now, HOW would the brothers, Diavolo and Barbatos react?

If it is too much or I did something wrong, feel free to ignore this! It's okay! Love you and have a good day!

OH MY GOD ?? THIS IS FANTASTIC THANK YOU OMG !

(i think i'm gonna do it hc style for the individual characters feelings but also some dialogue n stuff and each hc thing for each character is written as like in the game like they all like MC except belphie for obvious reasons)

tags: swearing, lesson uhhh smth spoilers ?? i think like 16 ?? (lmk if i need to tag anything else)

also hi ‘taker🥺🥺 i’m good today,, had a bit of a rough morning but i got to see my partner so i feel better !! how are you ? :D

and without further ado..

MC who is Sukuna's Vessel

- hold up

- hold the fuck up

- it was confusing enough when there were two MCs and one of them was near death in mammon's arms

- but now the injured MC gets healed and comes back to life ? but has another set of arms and eyes and is covered in strange tattoos ?

- then the other MC disappears ?

- when the demon MC starts talking, their voice is different and what-

"What the fuck did you to do MC?" Sukuna hastily spits out, checking the body for any other injuries. MC's voice is back and talking out of the same mouth.

"Sukuna, stand down," MC says.

"But he almost killed you ! Without me we wouldn't be standing here right now !" Sukuna argues back.

"I'm aware of that, but we have to be civil about this and talk to them," MC responds sternly.

"Then I want to be present for it. I'm not letting anything happen to you- I mean me. Yes me because I die if you die and I'm too godly to die," Sukuna rambles out before retracting the other set of arms but leaving the tattoos. He opens one of the eyes and forms a mouth on MC's right cheek to watch and participate in the conversation.

All the brothers and Divolo looked stunned at the scene that just happened.

"Questions ?" MC jokingly asks.

Lucifer -

- what ?

- questions ? is MC joking ?

- who the fuck is talking out of MCs body and what jurisdiction does he have

- isnt MC supposed to be human ??

- what does this mean for their relationship ?

- why did MC keep it from him ?

- he looks at dia and barbatos with the most confused face

- looks back at MC equally confused

- def hurts his pride that he didn't know

"Explain"

Lucifer's confusion turns to anger because that's the only way he knows how to cope/react to this.

Sukuna starts talking.

"Show a little more respect. I'm a king after all."

"Don't be an ass," MC shoots back. MC looks at Lucifer a little embarrassed.

"Uh, so this is Sukuna. He's the king of curses ? We kind of share a body because... uhh... it's a very long story but i mean the gist of it is I ate his thousand year old fingers ? There was 20 of them because he had two sets of arms like you saw before- it was very gross- but i had to because of the energy they posses ? When you brought me here and I was covered in seals and chains, was when I was about to be executed because I have all of Sukuna in me. So,, he can do stuff like heal my body and give me cool powers ? I don't really know what else to say." MC rambles using awkward hand motions and finishes by scratching the back of their head.

"Way to make me sound like a total fucking loser," Sukuna glares at MC.

"For the love of god stop talking-" MC shoots back.

Mammon

- huh ? someone has been sharing a body with his MC the whole time ?

- were they present the whole time ?

- did they see him acting like an idiot in love ?

- was sukuna there during e v e r y conversation he's ever had w them

- never felt more insecure and betrayed tbh

- why wouldn't you tell him ? he was your first

</3

- wants you all to himself

- doesn't want to share you with some four armed idiot

"So he's just, there all the time ?" Mammon asks.

"Not really? He has a headspace and he usually just chills in there but he can watch what's going on if he wants to." MC responds.

"That makes me sound lazy," Sukuna complains.

"Well if you don't like how I describe you then maybe you can talk about yourself. You're very good at it," MC smirks.

"Fine. I can do whatever I want. We can trade who has control over MC's body. I have a large supply of cursed energy and will beat the shit out of the next person who touches MC," Sukuna glares at Belphie.

"Yeah beat them in poker maybe. But not mariokart. You suck at video games in the headspace," MC laughs.

Leviathan

- was that how MC was so good at video games ?

- because they spent hours on end with this guy in their head playing video games ?

- why didn't MC come to him to play games ?

- why is MC okay with sharing a body with Sukuna ?

- why can he be the one to share a body with MC ?

- why was MC playing video games with literally anyone else ?

"So let me get this straight, you are his fingers and now you share a body ? How does that even work ? That sounds like something out of the manga 'My best friend ate some ancient object and now shares a body with an immortal warrior'" Levi questions MC.

"Okay so, Sukuna lived a really long time ago. When he died, the only thing that survived were his fingers. They each hold an incredible amount of cursed energy and it's only his fingers so from there you can imagine how powerful he was with the rest of his body," MC explains.

"Okay but that doesn't tell me why you ate the fingers ?" Levi raises an eyebrow.

"Oh. So I went to a high school for Jujutsu sorcerers, which are people who can manipulate cursed energy, and once I ate the first one to save my friend from dying, my choices were to die now or eat all of Sukuna and then be executed because he would die with me," MC says as if them dying was nothing.

Satan

- why has he never heard about Sukuna in any of the books he's read ?

- he historically doesn't exist in anything the devildom has book-wise

- so who is he ?

- needs to find out everything he can about him

- is there a way to separate MC and Sukuna ?

- his blood is boiling at the thought of MC sharing a body with someone

"So you've basically had super human powers this entire time and elected to not tell us ?" Satan glares at MC.

"Well, when you put it like that it sounds bad. I just didn't want you all to meet Sukuna because he has a lot of anger issues and is quite an asshole and I was trying to avoid this entire conversation that is happening," MC sighs.

"Rude," Sukuna says.

"Anger issues. You think we couldn't deal with this ? Are you serious right now ?" Satan asks.

MC shrugs their shoulders nervously.

"How much do you actually know about what sharing a body with him does to you ?" Satan asks while looking at the small mouth and glaring.

"I mean, I get these marks because he had them when he was alive. He was also so powerful to the point he had four arms and another set of eyes, like you saw before. I get those when he takes over mostly, but I can kee him restrained. But the eye thing is why I've always had slits under my eyes because the eyes are the most common thing to show up. The arms don't really. But it's entirely painless so don't worry," MC somewhat calmly explains.

Asmodeus

- those marks make MC look so good wtf-

- not the time

- so this Sukuna person lived a thousand years ago ?

- what was this about jujutsu sorcery ?

- what even is that ?

- asmos not the brightest on the block but from the looks on his brothers faces none of them know what the fuck MC is talking about either.

- they've explained a little bit of it b there's still some missing info

- what is sharing a body really like

- how much of MCs body can change to be like Sukunas ?

"So how much of your body can he control ? What can he heal ? Could he bring you back from the dead ?" Asmo curiously asks.

"He can't control much because it's my body and I have a lot of raw power by myself. I don't know if he can bring us back from the dead. I don't think so though or else the Jujutsu school wouldn't have tried to execute me. He used to be able to bring us back when I hadn't eaten all of his fingers, but now I don't think he can," MC explains.

"So why do you let him live in your body if he can't do much for you ?" Asmo questions.

"Well one, I don't think there's a way to get him out-"

"I'm still here you know," Sukuna interrupts.

"You've made that clear," MC says before continuing, "And two he can do stuff for me. It's like a symbiotic relationship. I give him a host and he protects me."

Beelzebub

- protects MC ?

- that's his job

- why is someone else protecting MC ?

- overall confusion

- even tho MC has gone over it multiple times, he doesn't get how or why Sukuna is in MC's body

- maybe it's the shock

. was this why MC could challenge him to armwrestling and almost win ?

"So how long has he been in you ?" Beel asks.

"About a year," MC responds.

"Can he make you live longer aside from healing you ?" Beel asks hopefully.

"I'm sorry, I don't think so..." MC says while looking at the ground. They cross their arms. They look small, as if they aren't small enough compared to him already.

"So, what does this mean ? Now that your secret is out... are you going to stay in the devildom with us ? Or do you have to leave ?"

" If I leave I'll surely be executed when I go back to the human world. If I stay I don't know what will happen to me, but it's not up to me. It's up to you guys if you want me to stay. I understand if you want me to go, I was harboring a big secret and it's probably unnerving to know that you're never truly alone with me, but Sukuna actually cares about my boundaries even though he acts like he doesn't. There are some pluses and there are some drawbacks but ultimately you have to decide." MC responds, looking from brother to brother then at Dia and Barbatos

Belphie

- MC ? dead if you back to the human world ? doesn't bother him

- he doesn't care

- he hasn't known MC long enough to care

- diavolo may have told everyone that MC was a descendant of human Lilith and he told everyone the events that actually happened, but why should he have any attachment to MC

- MC isnt Lilith, and MC sure as hell doesn't like him after the events that happened today

- from what he's heard, MC dying would be good for the human world

"I say send MC back. What happens to them isnt our problem any more," Belphie says while under his magical restraints Diavolo put on him.

"Of course you would say that," Satan glares at him.

"Shut up Belphie !!" Mammon and Levi yell.

"You don't have any right to an opinion in this matter." Lucifer states.

"Belphie that's mean," Asmo says.

Beel frowns.

"I vote they stay. I like MC regardless, and if all I have to do is adjust to Sukuna then I'll do it," Beel says while looking Belphie dead in the eye.

There's a beat of silence.

"Me too," Mammon says.

"Hey ! I was going to say that !" Levi protests.

"Oooh~ Count me in !" Asmo says with a smile.

"I also think they should stay," Satan says and looks at MC.

"My personal preference is also that they stay, but Lord Diavolo it's up to you," Lucifer says and looks at Dia.

Diavolo

- he knew there was something off, but couldnt place his finger on it

- he also constantly got a powerful vibe from MC and this explains it

- he was very fond of MC and enjoyed their presence

- he knew what he was going to do

"Barbatos, what do you think ?" Dia asks him.

"The decision is up to you m'lord," Barbatos responds.

"Well Id also like the input of my trusty all knowing butler," Diavolo laughs.

"Then, I see no reason to send them back to the human world. They can live out their lives here and safe from the school that wants to execute them. It also wouldn't be an issue to get anyone from the human world here if MC so desired," Barbatos replied.

"Then it's settled ! Welcome to the devildom for the rest of your life MC!!" Diavolo smiled and welcomed MC with open arms.

MC smiled and accepted the hug.

Barbatos

- he didn't know all along, but he know when the timelines crossed and he had to erase the other

- MC was very near and dear to his heart though and he wasnt about to let them be killed

- just wants to keep MC safe

I HOPE I DID A GOOD JOB AND THANK YOU FOR THE REQUEST REMEMBER TO FRINK SOME WATER ILY TAKER <3

- mars :)

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thattimdrakeguy · 3 years

Text

Why Tim Drake’s story in URBAN LEGENDS #4 is so GOOD, and a return to form for Tim Drake. (And not just for THAT reason, but also YES THAT REASON!)

IT’S ACTUALLY A GOOD TIM DRAKE COMIC!!!

----

I think just about every Tim Drake fan knows that it’s been a while since Tim Drake has felt like himself. There’s multiple different opinions on when he stopped being himself, but most people agree that it has been a while.

There’s been peaks at a return to quality for Timmy, but, they’ve never really hit the mark. And least for now.

Because for ME, and I can only speak for myself, this story feels so important for more than one reason. One reason is obvious and shared, but a lot of the reason why I love it is just that it feels like a Tim adventure again. It felt like Tim Drake was back in a Tim Drake comic and not a generic tale they put his name in.

And it feels like a Tim comic just right off the back by looking at him. I mean, seriously, JUST LOOK AT HIM!

LOOK AT THIS KID. I wouldn’t need that costume to tell that’s Tim because that’s just his face! That’s his most iconic hair, his button nose, his cheeks, cheek bones, his general face shape, his big eyes! That’s the face George Perez designed him to have in his first appearance (well first main appearance on panel anyways)! Obviously he’s older now, but that doesn’t mean Tim shouldn’t be recognizable! Three years older in the new timeline (well, sort of new.) but he still looks Timmy as ever!

And that’s just amazing and makes my heart mushy on it’s own.

This is what actually got me excited about the story, because it’s rare for an artist to even care about drawing Tim’s features. So he just never winds up looking like himself. They just draw someone generic and give him his costume, and write someone generic, or who’s basically an O.C with his name. Which isn’t good character writing.

But just having him be drawn right isn’t the only reason I think it’s good, it’s because he’s WRITTEN WELL ON TOP OF THAT. I would always appreciate a good well drawn Tim, but a well written one too? That’s just the cake, that you put the icing that his appearance onto to make a really good Tim story.

And I’ll start at the beginning to be more organizational before I get too messy! There’s a lot to talk about here!

Tim is Robin in this story! And says he’ll be Robin when he’s not with Damian! So this is a Timmy that loves and only wants to be Robin mainly when he feels he can. Now that’s a Timmy move.

But again that isn’t just it. This isn’t something I saw two things for and thought “YES THIS IS THE PERFECT STORY”, because that wouldn’t be good enough. I don’t like DC Comics being cheap and just using fan service to try and act like they know the characters. This story, as short as it is, continues being good, because IT KEEPS IT UP. He keeps feeling like Tim Drake the whole time.

This isn’t a kid that’s a natural at the job. Tim Drake was never intended to be a Gary Stu, or master of it all. This isn’t a kid that was suddenly given talents equal to the masters that have been training while Tim was still learning how to enunciating his words. This is a kid that’s been training for three years, didn’t start off as good as the others, doing his best, and managing his goals, but with a bit of struggle, even sometimes on the little things.

That’s what made Tim Drake so lovable to begin with! He wasn’t perfect! He wasn’t overly skilled! He was just doing his best! And that’s Tim this whole story!

He’s also insecure about himself. Another Tim Drake classic trait. While we’ve gotten overly confident Tim’s, arrogant Tim’s for the past decade or so. Using his unusually over the top talents to prove just how great he is. This takes Tim back to how he was at the peak of his popularity, while furthering his journey naturally! They use the kind of character he was made to be instead of continuing with Tim’s that destroyed the point of him, and continuing the reign of out of character Tim stories.

(Couldn’t find a place to put this, but legitimately the only bad characterization is making Tim a bit TOO good at computers again. But it is with Babs, and he is a hacker. So it’s not too bad compared to others out there when they write Tim.)

And I want you to take the word of Tim’s longest lasting writer that did Tim’s most iconic run, from an interview he was involved in while he was still writing the character! Since, I just wanna show that I really really do think this is the best Tim Drake story since--gosh, maybe 2000? 2002? I really do think it’s that great.

Isn’t that literally exactly what we’re getting here? Like no doubts about it. This is Tim’s characterization back, and it’s not like “Haha we added references in here!” laziness. They’re doing the work. They’re writing Tim as Tim!

And I will admit, there are something's in here I just like, because, well, they’re things that I think should’ve already happened.

Tim’s “ex” who is his ex? Well, that would be Steph in this context.

And I know that some people really like Tim and Steph together, but--to me they’re a relationship that people would hate if they just switched their genders. Steph would flirt with Tim so much even after she knew he had a girlfriend to the point it was just plain sexual harassment, and even played dead just so he’d give her CPR to force a kiss on him. And pinned him down during a gunfight on another time just to kiss him. Plus the gaslighting and treatment that was just...uncomfortable. Stuff that you’d never let a boy get away with on a girl. So I just think they weren’t a good couple, and were forced to begin with.

Cause like, even Tim was passive aggressive to her. Neither one of them were complete saints here. Tim would be dismissive and they’d just be a bad couple...

Does it make Steph a bad character? No. I think she could be great, and characters don’t need to be moral saints. But that relationship they had together held both of them back as far as how I feel.

And another thing to notice on that page that makes this issue so special is that...Tim thinks he might be queer, and this is not even subtext (at least to me). I see some saying it’s subtext. And sure it might not be said outright. But I feel like for it to be subtext it has to not be insanely obvious what they’re going for. There’s nothing else they could really mean here.

Which makes this great and a potential beginning of a monumental thing in Tim’s history. They might be finally revealing that Tim’s gay. Something people have assumed since the 90s just by his actions and behavior.

He couldn’t always tell when a girl was hitting on him, he’d be convinced he wanted to date a girl because he just liked hanging out with her more--that’s actually the reason why he even dated Steph--

he looked like this when getting a kiss half the time--

And he’s always treated his girlfriend’s the same as his best friends, to the point he will literally call when he goes out dates with his boy friends dates.

He once got told to grow a hormone cause he wasn’t attracted to girls being naked, or seemingly in-general implying that Tim’s like that a lot. And it’s even said that Tim apparently really doesn’t even like the thought when he doesn’t have to see it-- (Tim doesn’t like playboys. That’s actually a thing. If I find the panel I’m adding it. I thought I had it saved but I didn’t, but I know the comic.)

(It’s an immediate reaction to seeing naked robot versions of his teammates, but Conner’s wording implies he’s like this in-general with this. and doesn’t show any attraction towards girls. So it still adds to his coding strongly.)

(I looked for the playboy thing, but that didn’t go how I think, and more just implied he doesn’t like how they objectify women. So that doesn’t count towards anything, but still. I’ll take the L on that one lol.)

He can’t tell when he’s being flirted with by girls.

Even when he does act attracted to girls, most of the time he just likes their perfume and he acts like he must be attracted to the whole women.

(And sure there are times when Tim seemed pretty forwardly attracted to women, but in my experience...they don’t come from writers that really understand Tim in general. Like for me, I see a writer that can’t get their basic personality and I just don’t care. FabNic had Steph blow Tim up for the weakest reasons, wrote the worst Damian story, and implied Tim might kill people. He’s just...yikes. Think of Bobby Drake, really. Lots of gay coding despite dating girls and seeming into them, and became gay, because, well, his coding was gay related.)

Tim’s actions and way of being are things that a lot of gay kids, especially around Tim’s age has gone through and relate to. So to see them actually go further into the gay coding and have Tim actually be a member of the LGBT community is a glorious addition to Tim.

Cause this isn’t something that has came out of no where, it’s something that came out of no where. If they do decide to just outright say Tim is gay, then there’s stuff that gay kids like him can relate to in his past comics. And of course he was intended to be straight...Chuck Dixon is a notorious homophobe. But this is fiction, and when in modern times, things change, and a character like Tim lines himself up so well, there’s no reason not to.

So Tim gets himself dressed up in Dick’s clothes--

--that he can’t even fit in, which I love, because it continues the Timmy is small jokes that haven’t been seen in quite a while (I believe 2015 to 2016. Surprisingly yes, there were some in the New 52.). So even though that one is minor, it’s the little things that adds up that help it feel like an actual Tim story.

Oh, and how could I forget, the important part, the part people love this story for--

Tim goes on a date with a boy.

The artist even more or less confirming that it was indeed a date.

(Also thank you Belén Ortega for drawing the best Tim in over a decade.)

And Bernard brings up playing video games with Timmy like a couple of geeks.

And then the cliffhanger strikes after a fight with LITERAL CHAOS!!!

There’s a lot in-between and during the date that I don’t wanna show, because I don’t want to show everything. I want you guys to buy this comic because it deserves to be bought, because as it seems now. It’s a lovely wonderful story.

It’s a story not only wonderful because it pretty much confirms Tim is queer, but also because it just gets so much about Tim correct that it feels like a miracle that we managed to get this story.

This looks like Tim, acts like Tim, and it furthers a story in a way that’s modern and fits in with his coding.

What more can you ask for with a story like this? It’s the sort of thing I think a lot of people were dreaming for, but never thought they would get in the current climate of DC Comics. Where normally fan service is shallow and simply pandering.

While you could consider Tim going on a date with a boy fan service--it’s fan service that works. That’s the good fan service that should be in stories, because this isn’t anything hallow or empty. It feels real and genuine and actually works as a real continuation of Tim’s story.

This story is a blessing.

And I’d like to thank the whole crew who worked on it for putting it together!

Meghan Fitzmartin wrote a great Tim Drake story, Belen Ortega drew a great Tim Drake, Alejandro Sanchez is my favorite colorists and I didn’t realize he was working on the story till now but I’m gonna gush about him because I always love his choice of colors and should’ve known this was his work. And the rest of the team for helping put it together.

It’s a great Tim Drake story.

And it deserves to be bought.

The characterization, the artistry, the representation. It really is beautiful.

#Tim Drake #Robin #DC Comics #Meghan Fitzmartin #Belén Ortega #Belen Ortega #Alejandro Sanchez #Review #Comic review #Comic Book Review #Urban Legends 4 Review #Batman Urban Legends 4 #LGBT+#Gay #Gay Pride #I love this story so much already

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luna-rainbow · 3 years

Note

Hey, I am genuinely curious about what explanation the people from What If are gonna give to the Steve Winter Soldier, they kind of backed themselves into a corner, because when it was just the stucky moments before the war, they could just say we misunderstood the scenes, and just liked to imagine two hot guys kissing and any gay subtext we saw it was just in our heads. But with Steve being the WS they basically are saying that it was romantic UNLESS the robot isn't Steve, which is not happening because they are trying to sell us the idea that they are soulmates, so they can't be happy with anyone else. And I think this is going to be a corner they can't get out of, and i think this is the line that the stucky shippers are going to draw, and going to collectively drop MCU, or at least I am, love the fics and the drawings but not going to spend my money to watch anything else they do. What do you think?

Sorry I got completely off topic on this ask so had to delete and rewrite.

To be honest I get the sense most Stucky shippers have already stopped acknowledging canon since EG, no? LOL.

I honestly don’t know how they’re going to explain Steve being in the current timeline. How did he survive? Are they going to say he got the super soldier serum elsewhere? But if he’s in the mobile suit robot does that mean he didn’t go through the Winter Soldier timeline of torture and brainwashing?

And uh…the other thing is a fundamental misunderstanding of the dynamic. Like, personally I’m more than happy to take a non-romantic reading of Steve-Bucky, but that doesn’t minimise how special their bond was. The Steve-Bucky-Peggy trio actually consists of three very strong personalities. The reason it doesn’t seem that way with Steve and Bucky is because they are Steve and Bucky. If you take the two of them away from each other — you have Steve who won’t back down in front of someone like the director of SHIELD or the to-be-king of Wakanda. There’s less available of Bucky but we can infer from the fact he survived 70 years of torture with his morality intact and the way he deals with his recovery that he’s got a very stubborn streak. And then you have Peggy who’s quite bullish in her capabilities.

The reason Steve and Bucky seem fairly mild in front of each other is because of their long histories with each other. They’ve worked out how to love each other despite their stubborn tempers, and a big part of that is the fact they share much of their morality and values. They know their goals will align, which I think is part of the reason Bucky was happy to step back and let Steve into the leadership role post-serum and in all later encounters, because there’s an implicit trust that Steve will do what Bucky himself also believes in. And let’s face it, the trust also comes from the fact they know they have each other’s best interests at heart.

The same dynamic does not exist with Peggy. It can’t and it’s shown very clearly in the first episode of What If that she definitely does not have Steve’s best interests at heart. While we the audience might see Bucky as Steve’s sidekick (and maybe even Bucky himself does), Steve doesn’t. Bucky’s safety and personal choice are never treated by Steve as an afterthought. I may be wrong but I get the sense that WI!Steve is being written as an afterthought to Peggy’s own heroic conquests, the traditional MCU love interest, if you will.

WI!Steve is a disabled, second generation Irish immigrant from a single parent family who has to live with the consequences of Peggy’s choice in a world where ventolin and insulin were very new or did not exist. WI!Peggy is a well-off Englishwoman who had no concept of the privilege she already possessed and revelled in the added boost given by the serum. It’s ludicrous that their arcs can at all parallel CATWS, a situation where two people who had known each other their whole lives broke through the conditioning with their mutual trust and care for each other…romantically read or not.

Add: I feel like I derailed myself LOL What I was meaning to get at in the middle is that Steve and Bucky gets along despite their personalities because their morality align. Steve and Peggy’s don’t align (some of their goals might but they are so different in their experiences and perspectives, and the implicit trust isn’t there) that they’re bound to have a lot of friction and disagreements if the series actually wrote their characters properly.

#steve rogers #bucky barnes #asks

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whotaughtyougrammar · 2 years

Note

For the writer asks! 1, 3, 18, 20

I’m sending good vibes for 1, that it flows smoothly soon based on the writer memes.

Thank you for the good vibes 🙏🏼🙏🏼 And thank you so much for the ask!

1) Tell us about your current project(s) – what’s it about, how’s progress, what do you love most about it?

OH BOY WHERE TO START LMAO

I’m working on a few things right now, which is funny because I used to be a one project at a time sort of person, back when I didn’t write as often but putting pen to paper was paradoxically easier.

The “first” (technically second, you’ll see what I mean) big thing is:

A “multiverse” story. This sounds like something that I came up with after watching Everything Everywhere All At Once, but I’ve been working in this since before the movie came out 🤣 Of course, Daniels had thought of the concept for this movie long before this was even a blip in my mind, but I digress.

I think I mentioned this before, but I kind of like the idea that out of all the families, the Close/Streeps/Freemans are just… utterly mundane and non-magical (not really the case anymore eyeroll ¯\_(ツ)_/¯), but I still wrote a ficlet where Morgan basically implies she knows the gender of her child through a dream. I took that and spun it off into, “Morgan visits her alternate selves through her dreams and is comforted and finds closure in the choices she’s made in her life,” (or something like that, I don’t usually like to deal too seriously in themes and prefer writing vignettes or scenes) I mostly just wanted to write down some of the AU ideas I’ve come up with without committing to several fics at a time because as much as I love my AUs, and as much as I like writing fics, there’s only so much time and energy I can put into them without ignoring basic necessities 😅

I have a basic “prologue” done but not much else. What I want to do next is figure out which AU I want “featured.” As big as this idea sounds, I really do want this to on the shorter side (if it exceeds Heart’s wordcount and is not considered done by then I may cry lol) and I’m not including the completely outlandish universes like the bodyguard AU or the figure skating AU. I definitely want to include Morgan Foster-Freeman, and mercenary Morgan from my Monsters and Mommies AU, but other than those two I’m still in the planning stages.

The “second” big thing I’m working on is:

A Glenn and Morgan love/origin story that I’ve been working on on-and-off since fucking 2020 (!!) I have a few scenes fully written out and even an old outline of what I wanted to happen (it’s so old I was still calling Morgan “Michel” or “Mysterious Significant Other”).

I have a lot of problems with this one lmao.

One is it takes place over a pretty long period of time—I specified they’ve been dating around 5, almost six years in “Everyday Words Seem to Turn into Love Songs”, and they didn’t immediately like each other when they first met (I’ve always been pretty firm with this bit of headcanon), so the timeline for this one, tentatively titled “You’ve Got a Pulse and You Are Breathing” would have to span at least 7 years, and maybe even longer.

Another problem I had was formatting. I was having trouble deciding if I wanted this to be one long document/short story (my preferred format) or if it should be split up into chapters. As I went on, I was even starting to doubt whether I even wanted to do such a comprehensive “origin” story that went from point A to point Married to point Canon, and considered doing it in semi-related short ficlets like “In A Sentimental Mood,” or as a 5+1 format, specifically something like “5 times Glenn had a shitty date, and 1 time Glenn still had a shitty date but it led to something infinitely better” (a lot of “Pulse” involves Glenn’s dating troubles, not only from being a pan/bi Asian man in the 90s and 00s having to deal with biphobia and racism, but also being aspec and not being able to put into words why certain parts of dating don’t appeal to him without sounding like he’s stuck-up or a “freak” or like there’s something wrong with him.)

But I think the biggest problem I am having right now is simply the fact that I think I psyched myself out 🤣 I wrote “Everyday Words” in… a day? Maybe two days? It was simple and cute and so easy to do, one of the few times I just wrote first and edited later, that I figured I could write up a “But how did they meet,” story in maybe a week, and now it’s two years later, the campaign is over and it’s on to the next one for a majority of people, so many scenes written that may not even make it into the final product and the only thing I’m sure on is the title, and even that might be changed for the final product 🤣

I still have so much love for this fic, it feels like my baby basically lmao, that I feel nothing less than perfection will do it justice. It would be very funny but also poetic if the first meeting of Glenn and Morgan ends up being my last fic written for the fandom, but I don’t see that happening—I still have plenty of ideas left to write!

Smaller things I am also working on (that I have actually started and are not just ideas I want to write eventually) are: A Carol and Morgan bonding thing that will hopefully segue into some sort of Carol/Mercedes thing, and a social media fic of fans speculating on Glenn’s love life (Single? Straight? Dating? Bi?? Secretly married??? Something else?????), Morgan’s general cryptidness (Dancer? Actor? Pianist? All of the above? None of the above? No really, how does one woman hold so many jobs at one single time?), and generally being weird and parasocial. So you know, just your average day on social media.

3) What is that one scene that you’ve always wanted to write but can’t be arsed to write all of the set-up and context it would need? (consider this permission to write it and/or share it anyway)

There is a scene that I’ve never written but has always stuck out in my head in my abandoned Glenn in mourning fic, where after the funeral, Glenn is accosted not only by Bill, (obviously thinking that now that the ol’ ball and chain is in the ground Glenn is suddenly OK with having his father around again), but also by Morgan’s side of the family, either by her sibling (who I think was her sister and not her brother at the time I was thinking of writing this) or her actual parents, who are basically threatening to take Nick away from him.

Bill is handled fairly quickly and easily, but a legal matter is something else entirely, and in a panic, Glenn goes to see his mother and basically starts verbally whaling on her once the shock of what happened wears off and lets her have it, demanding/screaming that she help him because, according to Glenn, she owes him for never being an adequate mother and treating him like an inconvenience until it was too late, but eventually his rage subsides and his grief takes over and he begs her, much more plaintively, to help make the problem go away, swearing that he’ll forgive her for all her past transgressions and never bring them up again if she helps him with the custody problem. She agrees, and he never hears from Morgan’s side of the family again. (which sounds ominous written like that, but everything was dealt with legally I swear lmao)

18) Do any of your stories have alternative versions? (plotlines that you abandoned, AUs of your own work, different characterisations?) Tell us about them.

I recently reread “Everyday Words” and though I consider is part of Musicverse canon, a part of me feels like it’s a completely different ‘verse, simply from the amount of (implied) boning that happens 😂 I came up with the idea of Ace Glenn very early in the series run (my series and canon series) but it wasn’t in my head when I wrote this evidently (it was probably while I was writing “Pulse” did the idea firmly plant itself in my head, which was basically immediately after I finished this). Chalk it up to being away from each other for extended periods of time, Glenn being (generally) sex-favorable and sex being an easy way of establishing intimacy.

A lot of the story beats in “Heart” were originally going to be part of other things (Glenn mentioning that his mother taught him guitar was originally going to be part of “Pulse”) or were going to be smaller ficlets. The bit where Morgan gets sick in Heart was originally going to be its own short ficlet, and so was the scene of Glenn talking about his failed “date”/realizing something was “up” with him irt sexual attraction (it was originally a morning after scene), so I’d consider all those plotlines I’ve abandoned, or more accurately, merged into one.

My friend also made a throwaway joke about an AU where the meet-cute is both of them dumping bodies into the Gowanus and their eyes meet, which isn’t an AU of my adult store AU per se but it is a joke I can see Morgan making as she’s trying to puzzle out how much she wants to say about her occupation .(“So how are you going to introduce me to your friend’s kids?” “I don’t know, I’ll just tell ‘em we met when we were dumping bodies into the Canal. They’ll get a kick out of that.”)

20) Tell us the meta about your writing that you really want to ramble to people about (symbolism you’ve included, character or relationship development that you love, hidden references, callbacks or clues for future scenes?)

I have a few, but the one that sticks out for me is probably the headbutt. The scene of Glenn headbutting Bill in “You Send it All Back to Me” is a call-back (call-forward?) to a scene in “Pulse,” where Glenn attempts to punch somebody and gets punched back for his troubles. Morgan fixes him up while criticizing his technique and advises him to go for a headbutt next time instead for a variety of sensible reasons. Glenn is skeptical and is in the process of “Well, Actually”-ing her when she surprises him with a headbutt to demonstrate—not hard, just a sudden forehead touch that stops him in his tracks and forces him to reconsider his talking points and also realize that Morgan’s eyes are not black like he originally thought but brown, and that this close he can see how they sparkle when she’s amused and how deep and dark and mesmerizing and beautiful they actually are and—oh no.

#thank you again! i love seeing your asks lol #dndads #dungeons and daddies #dndads odyssey #dungeons and daddies odyssey #musicverse

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bigskydreaming · 3 years

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Hi! I was reading a fanfic and it brought up Roy and Dick's fight, which I see a lot of in fics but never what they fought about and consequently why they don't talk. I thought it was a vague excuse/reason why Roy was Jason's friend not Dick's anymore but this fic brought up when Dick was batman so I was wondering if there was actually a fight between them? Btw I really enjoy your metas! They're v thought out and well articulated. Also it's v easy to separate what's your opinion and what's fact which is. Very helpful for me

Yeah this is one hundred percent a fanon thing that's kept deliberately vague to justify why Roy in his friendship with Jason seems to have no positive thoughts or concerns about Dick whatsoever. Now granted, Dick and Roy are not nearly as close in the New 52 as they were pre-Reboot. The lack of their friendship there is definitely one of the things I disliked most about the Reboot - and I actually don't care if Jason and Roy are friends tbh, its the total erasure of his history with Dick as if he can't be friends with both, that like, bugs most.

But so like, yeah, Roy and Dick aren't super close when they interact on the Titans in the New 52, but there's literally nothing in any of their interactions that explains the complete absence of him from Roy's life or a reason that Roy would like, hate him the way he tends to in a lot of Jason-centric fics.

When you factor in pre-Reboot stuff though, it starts to get a LOT more.....uh wyd? And this is why I have trouble buying that people just write Roy and Jason the way they do because its the only thing they know from recent comics. Like one, most fans talk about how they don't even read the source comics, so there's no reason their knowledge of the characters or events would be limited to just recent comics if they're going off wiki summaries and scans anyway. And second, most fans AREN'T limited in their knowledge to just recent comics.

Like, the second people start writing Roy and Jason and Kori but with their pre-52 characterizations and references to events from THAT timeline, it all gets very messy, the way they're like, completely antagonistic towards Dick a lot of the time. Because Roy and Dick were always solid. Yes, they fought. A lot. But they always, ALWAYS made up afterwards. They had conflict about Roy's drug addiction - it didn't stop Dick from being there to support him through rehab, or Dick being the first person Roy called to help him get Lian after he learned of her existence. Dick literally held Lian before Roy ever did? He's the one who first put her in Roy's arms for the first time.

(Which is the prime grudge I and most Dick Grayson fans have about Roy and Jason fics which make Jason like, the absolute apple of Lian's eye. If you want to expand Lian's circle of loved and trusted ones to include Jason as Roy's friend and thus her uncle, like go for it! But there's zero reason that should require invalidating and erasing the fact that Dick was this little girl's adored godfather and uncle for pretty much her entire life. And the way Dick is just shoved offstage from Lian's life entirely, to slot Jason into his place as though they're completely interchangeable, its like....THAT'S the kind of thing that gets people irey about how Jason 'steals' Dick's dynamics and character relationships.

Because there's nothing saying they both can't be major players in Roy and Lian's lives! But just that they're not interchangeable! You need to develop the specific role Jason plays there WITHOUT just overwriting everything Dick actually did in relation to the two of them pre-Flashpoint, which is what you're drawing from the second you write Lian, unless you're specifically going with the few appearances we've had of her within literally just the last year.

But I mean, when people just search and replace Dick Grayson in all Roy and Lian's pre-Reboot stories and act like Jason was the one doing all of that instead.....why wouldn't fans of the source material be annoyed by a character getting credit for interactions and things done for Lian and Roy that Jason literally NEVER DID, while at the EXACT SAME TIME, conjuring some mysterious, unnamed 'Falling Out' that Roy and Dick had, that was clearly all Dick's fault, and resulted from him being basically excised entirely from Roy and Lian's lives?

Same with Kori, for the record, and like despite being Dick's ex, she and Dick have NEVER been like, estranged? She and Dick have often been close even after their breakup. None of it makes any sense, and the fact that a lot of fans don't even try to make it make sense or justify it, and expect other fans to just be fine with settling for an inexplicable reversal of Dick's every actual dynamic with these characters while setting up Jason to occupy the exact same role Dick played in these other characters' lives, like.....lol. Its fun.)

Anyway, back to your question, like, there are fights you can go with pre-Reboot as the source of various conflicts between Dick and Roy - but again, I maintain its just as crucial that they're always written as getting past them. They have a very tempestuous relationship because they are the two people MOST likely to call each other on their shit, two of the two people WITH the most shit in common due to the parallels in their childhoods and the roles they've occupied in the Titans and the superhero community in general, and the two people most resistant to being called out on their shit by each other, lol. Mostly in that case because like, they do recognize that they have a lot in common and understand each other very well, so the second the other is calling them out for something, they're usually like "ugh, if HE'S saying this, its probably true and I am just not prepared yet to be wrong about this. I need more time being unjustifiably rawr about things." Its like that thing where they both look at each other doing something that feels familiar or calls back to their own reasons for doing something and they're like ugh I'm in this picture and I don't like it.

So they clash. A lot. But always with the implicit bedrock of like, there's nothing either of them can do or say to the other that will push the other away for good.

They fought over Roy replacing Dick as leader of the Titans when Dick's wedding fell apart, even though Roy actually didn't want to do it and was kinda pushed into it by the government, but again, Dick like, got over it and realized it was for the best and forgave Roy for it that very same issue. And on and on. It always went like that. So there's plenty of stuff that can be used or pointed at as a source of conflict between the two, but the part I'll always call unbelievable is the idea that they never make up after one of these fights. Why now? What fight, specifically, is so bad between them that despite everything else they've gone through AND gotten past, they can't get past this one? Y'know?

So yeah, that's my take on this. There is no definitive falling out between Dick and Roy as many fics like to point to in order to shove him offscreen and make room for Jason in Roy and Lian's lives, and personally, I just don't find it necessary and I actually think it makes Roy look REALLY bad. Because when you're not specifically detailing all the things that Dick has actually DONE for Roy, the lengths to which he's been there for his friend, and like, specifically invalidating each and every one of them as something that never happened in a particular fic, then literally anyone who reads that fic and has their own awareness of Dick and Roy's friendship is kiiiiiinda likely to be reading that and thinking wow what an ungrateful asshole, when Roy's just written as bitching about Dick with Jason and sandbagging him without any real explanation as to WHY, beyond just 'oh they had a fight years ago.'

(And coming up with some random awful thing that Dick did to justify Roy hating him now isn't like, a superior alternative, lmao, because again, its still just trashing one character for the sake of getting him out of the way of two other characters' friendship and people are going to think what they think about that).

Anyway, my now standard stock disclaimer that like, there doesn't actually need to be a canon fight obviously, for people to just write things this way and handwave that Dick and Roy had an epic falling out years ago and now they just hate one another or whatever, or just Roy hates him or vice versa. Obviously people are free to do what they want. They don't need a reason other than "I want to write it this way so Jason and Roy are friends and Jason doesn't have to 'share' him with Dick or have his friendship be overshadowed by their greater history together." That just happens to be a reason that no Dick Grayson fan is ever really going to be happy about, lol, for what should be perfectly obvious reasons, so it honestly shouldn't be surprising to people that fans of the source material often gripe about it.

Because yeah fanfic is a tremendous opportunity to transform the source material into something better, but if what's better for some fans actively takes away what was working perfectly well for other fans the original way, they're going to say that. Especially in a fandom where so many new fans take their view of the characters and their dynamics from fics rather than the source material - when fandom has that much of an influence on what new fans perceive to be 'canon,' fans are perfectly within their right to emphasize what is ACTUALLY canon and what isn't, so that new fans at least have the opportunity to determine for themselves what take they want to go with, instead of just accepting at face value that the nature of say, Dick and Roy's relationship is just that Roy hates Dick because of some mumble mumble ancient history vague mumble details not found mumble mumble fight.

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therealvalkyrie · 3 years

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please share the sakuatsu recs!!!

OHOHOOOO IT WOULD BE MY ABSOLUTE PLEASURE, MY FRIEND!!

please make sure to read the tags on each fic before reading, to make sure you're a-okay with what you're getting yourself into. consume media responsibly!!

without further ado, and in no particular order~

again, like this by noodletastic - 55k, completed series, mainly fluff

"when nationals don't go their way in their third year, atsumu and sakusa distract themselves with each other. and it keeps happening."

I'm actually currently rereading this one, because I adore the way they fall in love so easily but with that all-consuming tension and inexplicable need for each other. so exquisitely well written, it'll absolutely knock your socks off, and I lovelove the way atsumu and osamu's relationship is written. speaking of which! there's a Osamu/Suna companion piece that runs parallel, timeline-wise, and it's just such a cool thing to see how it builds upon and complements the world the author's built while telling a different, but intertwined, story.

The Story of Us by thesweetestnerd - 98k, completed series, heavy on the angst

"Atsumu has spent the last year falling in love with Sakusa Kiyoomi, but it's a secret they've never told anybody else. When a car accident snatches Omi's memories from the past two years away, Atsumu is left as the only one in the world who ever knew their relationship existed."

This is one of those stories that stays with you for days and weeks after you put it down, it's just that heartbreaking and healing at the same time. The way it discusses love and truth and identity is so raw and real, and ugh I cried real tears!!! I also love how the twins' relationship is written here, and extra points for the TS title;) I won't say more because I don't want to spoil anything, but if you do read it please lmk so we can scream about it together~

a fist amidst the hands by noodletastic - 13k words, oneshot

"Lottery nights ensure bad matches. It’s a free-for-all. It's Atsumu's favorite kind of night."

Boxer!AU sakuatsu, need I say more?? Unbelievably hot and in-character, and mad props to the author for writing the fighting so descriptively and compellingly. also all your favs are there, at least in the background. Some very gratifying descriptions of Ushiwaka and Oikawa and Bokkun, it'll make ya sweat:P Also has some fantastic companion art!!

A Liar's Truth by internetpistol - 49k, completed series, angst and fluff

"In which Sakusa Kiyoomi is raised to believe that gay people go to hell but then takes one look at Miya Atsumu and thinks, then why the hell did God make them so fucking hot?"

This fic is one of the most honest descriptions of living in a homophobic space and having to hide yourself. A really, really raw depiction of blame and taking accountability, both between Sakusa and Atsumu, and Sakusa and his parents. Seriously, I cried, it's a very cathartic read, and though there is a lot of angst, you know the happy outcome right from the beginning.

Stuck in the Sunshine by thesweetestnerd - 85k, completed series, idiot(s) to lovers

"Atsumu has a list of ‘firsts’. Kiyoomi offers to help him with it."

This time, Sakusa's the idiot who convinces himself that it would be beneficial to both Atsumu and the Jackals for him to take Atsumu's virginity. Shenanigans (and feelings) ensue. This is the most recent sakuatsu piece I read, and actually just got a new bonus chapter that I am very excited to sit down with tonight!! I really, really love Sakusa's characterization in this one, and we get to see a lot of his relationship with his cousin Komori, who made me giggle like a madwoman the whole time teehehee~

a list of things sakusa kiyoomi hates by BrenH - 7k words, oneshot, enemies to friends to lovers

"The one where Osamu suggests Atsumu keep a notebook to track all the things Sakusa hates that he does, and he takes it further than he means to."

All of these stories share the theme of Atsumu being a genius at reading when Sakusa's uncomfortable, and caring enough to adjust to him, but this's the one that does it the most explicitly. It's very cute, and details how I think Sakuatsu would figure each other out in a weird little way that's all theirs. I just love to watch the fall in love, ya know?? Makes my little heart go pitter patter~

and, last but certainly not least, terminal curiosity by favspacetwink and moonlumie, which is the fic that started it all (at least for me;)). you can read all about it on cee's post, which basically says everything that I would.

#valkyrie's sakuatsu fic recs #fic recs #sakuatsu #ask valkyrie #anon asks #i could talk about sakuatsu ALL DAY #thanks for letting me indulge anon<33

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sobdasha · 3 years

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so apparently no one was going to tell me

that some of the characters in She-Ra have more-or-less official ages, and y’all just assumed that I’d be any better at identifying the ages of cartoon characters than I am at identifying the ages of people IRL?

The logical (and shameful) progression went something like this:

Me, shoving She-Ra fanart in my drafts: “is it a dick move to say I don’t ship Entrapta and Hordak in my tags because she is clearly a child who has adopted this father, do I need to disclaim this to ppl viewing my posts so they understand VS do I really need to be rude to the OP??? Like they are clearly a good pair and whether they are shipped or not it’s still the same dynamic of mutual respect and support so....”

Me, later watching Youtube videos (Melina Pendulum, highly recommend): “wait Entrapdak is Problematic because Hordak is an imperialist? Uhhhhhh...okay just setting that aside, is Hordak not supposed to? be an adult? a grown-ass man?? when the princess are all teenagers???? You refer to Entrapta as a grown-ass woman but is a teenager the same thing as a grown-ass woman????”

Me, reading surprisingly good Youtube comments which included a desire to stop saying autistic characters are child-coded, because it’s infantilizing them: “........this..........is exactly what I have done because I am autistic (and ace and aro) and feel like a child so whoops? The point is very valid, I should def consider this (but my personal experience has not been “please treat me like an adult and like my age!” my personal experience has been “please give me support I can’t cope with the things adults my age are expected to cope with!!!” so that’s what I’ve projected, but both are valid and both can co-exist, we should argue both for not infantilizing ppl with disabilities and also for supporting ppl with disabilities, support ppl so they can be independent!) I also consider Scorpia as vaguely-autistic Quirky Kid [see the friend group that is Entrapta (autistic), Scorpia (autistic??), Emily (A Robot, therefore autistic), and Catra (traumatized, BPD?, a person with traits that autistic/neurodivergent ppl are likely to ping on and go “oh you are one of us!” lol)]. And I have, all this time, been compartmentalizing that Scorpia is not a teenager like Catra but presumably a grown-ass woman. The timeline for Hordak’s invasion was like 20 years right? And Scorpia was bitty at the time so she’s probably in her early 20s, and that puts Scorpia and Catra on the wrong sides of a certain societal line for relationships, but I’ve been pretending I don’t know that, I’ve been pretending it’s fine, because Scorpia = probably autistic right so Scorpia = basically young and innocent right and because I Want To Ship This, this ship is entirely divorced from sexual connotations anyway, see ace-aro, I just want them to be platonic sapphic bffs and for Catra to let Scorpia love her sob sob. THE POINT BEING, I’ve misbehaved and been part of the problem fffffffff”

Me, thinking on that more: “I guess Entrapta could be a little older, like Scorpia? I guess Netossa and Spinerella are probably older than the main cast too, I mean they’re married and clearly they’ve been married for a while so that would, y’know, imply they aren’t teenagers and, they were part of the mural of the original rebellion, so they were old enough to fight when Micah was still alive, so at least like 10 because Frosta, I don’t remember when Micah died, man they’re probably in their 20s or 30s.... I need to rewatch and try to figure out all the various timeline-y things so I can work this out...”

Me, finally giving in a googling after watching another video which said Noelle confirmed that Adora and bffs are like 17 at the start and wait they’re 21 at the end???? Do I just have no concept of time at all????? (It’s true, I don’t, that’s why I need this shit written down): “WTF Entrapta is like 30???? Well obviously if she’s 30 she can have any kind of relationship she wants with grown-ass adult Hordak!!!!!!!! Lab partners, bffs, spouses, whatever! Go for it! You get it! That guy is not your father!!!!! Because you’re not a teenager!!!!! HOW THE FUCK WAS I SUPPOSED TO KNOW THIS??????”

In other notes please direct me to She-Ra metas, I see everyone’s clearly on board with Entrapta being autistic and I saw some great explanations for Catra having BPD, what does everyone think about Scorpia? Like she’s not neurotypical right????? Am I getting autistic vibes off Scorpia because I’m picking up on the shared aspects with ADHD and Scorpia has ADHD maybe??? What’s everyone identifying with with her.

#she ra 2018 #sobdasha fic adjacent #i am autistic and i should say it #tl;dr Entrapta is apparently like 30 #when i assumed she was also in her teens and thus i had coded her as Hordak's manic pixie dream daughter #and was To Each Their Own a bit leery of the shippers for completely incorrect reasons that apparently no one had anticipated #WHOOPS #I will be sure to appreciate them properly on my rewatch

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franniebanana · 3 years

Text

CQL Rewatch - Ep 20

Iconic. Seeing Wei Wuxian back and better than ever is so satisfying! That flute playing that probably we’ve all forgotten about since the first two episodes becomes a repeating leitmotif throughout the series. It’s just as iconic as Wei Wuxian himself. And what I love about this shot here is how the light hits his eyes, and from this specific camera angle, it looks like a mask on his face! I just thought that was super cool. Whether it was intentional or not, I have no idea, but I like to think it was. I guess it’s like a reverse mask in this case—everything is hidden except his eyes.

It’s amazing how I only went without Wei Wuxian for like half an episode, yet it felt like so much longer. The emotional weight that he carries is so great that from all the characters searching for him, it feels like it’s actually been three months, instead of more like twenty-five minutes. And I think that’s something that we can feel in CQL but we can’t really feel in the book. Since the book is written in third person limited, we only see Wei Wuxian’s side of the story (I think that’s accurate, but it’s been a few months since I read it). That being the case, we never leave Wei Wuxian’s side, we never get to miss him being there. Of course the story is framed totally differently in the book and not in chronological order, even—lots of flip-flopping, which is fun but also a little confusing when you��re trying to keep track of a timeline.

I think part of what makes Wang Lingjao so creepy here is that her garish makeup is totally gone: her face is pale and ghoulish, with just the bright red blood trickling out of her nose, mouth, and cut on her cheek. I think they could have made her even more ghostly, but I like what they did for her apparition. It’s fun to see how fast Wen Chao cracks, though. He’s very much all bark and no bite—honestly, such a coward. On the one hand, it’s satisfying to watch him lose it, but on the other, it’s quite disturbing. I toe the line between enjoying it and being disgusted by it, but I love that CQL at least kept in this part of Wei Wuxian’s character. It’s like revenge, no matter how bloody, is okay in Chinese tv, but not the main character being kind of bad. I don’t get why they had to nerf his character to the point of absolving him of all guilt with everything that happened. I like a character who makes bad choices, but feels guilty for it, because that shows depth. Someone who bad things happen to because of the “real villain” aren’t as interesting to me. I think also that Xiao Zhan would have been amazing as the real Wei Wuxian from the book, had they adapted him that way. I also would have really, really loved to see the scene that is only really described to us (I think by Lan Xichen) where a distraught and delusional Wei Wuxian rejects Lan Wangji. Ugh, that would have been so heart-wrenching! Maybe in the donghua…sigh….

So this is important, I think. There was a point in the last episode where Jin Zixuan tells his cousin not to let the crows peck at the dead bodies of their enemies. In other words, don’t desecrate the bodies, even if they are the enemy. Of course, Jin Zixuan didn’t hold any personal grudges towards any of them, at least that we know of. Jiang Cheng certainly does. So even though Wang Lingjao is already dead by her own hand, he whips her with Zidian. Jiang Cheng is becoming more and more twisted by his anger and grief, which he never deals with in a healthy way. He wants revenge against those that have wronged him and his parents, and he really never stops seeking revenge throughout the story. First it’s against the Wens, and then it’s against Wei Wuxian. It’s a fairly slow descent, I think, over years, but I quite like watching him twist like this. While it’s fun and interesting watching someone repent and have a redemption arc, it’s also interesting watching them go the other way.

Lan Wangji seems to know, or at least suspect, that the person who has killed everyone in the Supervisory Office, including Wang Lingjao, is Wei Wuxian. A talent for using talismans (one of which Lan Wangji used himself to escape the Wens), someone who is seeking revenge against the Wen Clan—these things point to Wei Wuxian in his mind. He doesn’t want to say this to Jiang Cheng, he doesn’t even want to admit it himself, but he’s putting the pieces together. I think this is a frightening thought for him. On the one hand, he would be happy to find Wei Wuxian alive, but on the other, what state would they find him in? And what does it mean that he’s killed all these people singlehandedly? This isn’t the Wei Wuxian that Lan Wangji knows and cares so deeply about. This isn’t the man that Lan Wangji was ready to die for. I think his heart is very much filled with dread in this scene.

Jiang Cheng’s line is interesting too—basically, the enemy of my enemy is my friend. Solid, really, but it does come with some problems in reality. The enemy of your enemy just might stab you in the back later. It’s a very simplistic view, but I think at this point, Jiang Cheng is just happy to see the Wens dead. There are a few he wants to kill himself, but he seems satisfied if they just die out, regardless of who does it.

I like seeing Lan Wangji and Jiang Cheng team up for these few episodes, because it’s fun seeing how they each approach the situations. Jiang Cheng relies heavily on his heart and emotions, which I can totally identify with. He wants to find Wei Wuxian and he wants revenge on Wen Zhuliu and Wen Chao—those are his two priorities. And then Lan Wangji is definitely more of a logical person—he wants to get to the bottom of these deaths and find out who is the person with so much wicked energy that is doing all of it—and also, that person is probably Wei Wuxian, who he is very interested in finding. Here Jiang Cheng wants to rush after Wen Zhuiliu, just as he did when he went back to Lotus Pier. He’s very rash, while Lan Wangji is much more calm and collected. I mean, if it were me, I’d want to see if they would give up any information before I killed them.

And the reveal is…Wen Chao is fucking disgusting! I didn’t even want to screencap one of the close-ups, because I felt like I’d have to do a trigger warning for blood lol. Not really, though, because I never do, sorry. I love the looks on Jiang Cheng’s and Lan Wangji’s faces, though. Jiang Cheng is so horrified and Lan Wangji is just mildly shocked. I think the real thing is like, who are we dealing with here? Who is this monster who’s been murdering everyone in all these different ways? Who has made Wen Chao look like this? Is this friend or foe? Like I said, Jiang Cheng keeps saying that as long as the person is killing the Wens, he’s fine with it, but I think even he is bothered by this level of mutilation, even against someone he loathes.

It’s hilarious to me that Wen Zhuliu uses this tactic with Wen Chao. Oh, you’re going to insult me? I’m useless? Okay, bye! LOL. Also very amusing that this is really the last conversation they have with each other: this bickering that they’ve probably done over and over off screen. Wen Zhuliu stays by Wen Chao’s side, though, because he’s indebted to Wen Ruohan, of course. It would have been a neat twist to see Wen Zhuliu defect. And you still could have had a dramatic scene where Jiang Cheng chases him down.

I love it! I love it I love it I love it! The flute! This part is so well done (it’s still a little campy, of course, but that’s part of the charm)! I mean, as the audience, we all know who it is by now, but I love that they keep up the mystery because Lan Wangji and Jiang Cheng still don’t know. They didn’t see him walk in. I just love this.

And shock. Jiang Cheng looks significantly more surprised. It had never crossed his mind that the person doing all this was actually Wei Wuxian, the very individual that he’s been searching for. Lan Wangji, on the other hand, doesn’t really look surprised. He looks a little surprised, okay—I’ll give you that. But I think most of what he’s feeling right now is the deep dread of being right. He wanted to be wrong, even when everything pointed to Wei Wuxian. I don’t think he wanted to believe that Wei Wuxian was capable of this, no matter how much he wanted to get revenge for what happened at Lotus Pier. I think there’s disappointment there too—how could he do such a thing? And I’ve giffed this scene with this quote: “He started to estrange her…And they became strangers who knew each other’s heart, so broken as they drifted apart” (Ana Claudia Antunes, Pierrot & Columbine). I think the realization here and a bit later for Lan Wangji that Wei Wuxian has become some other person is quite heartbreaking. He’s like a stranger to him, and that feeling of betrayal when you thought you knew a person inside and out—that hurts. It’s a deep-seated betrayal that Lan Wangji feels throughout this scene.

Oh, what I also like about this part is that when Wei Wuxian appears, neither one of them can look away. They are solely focused on him at this point.

He finally gets his revenge on Wen Zhuliu. And it’s great. They jump through the roof and he strings him up with Zidian. I can’t really say anything about it—Jiang Cheng needed to do this or he never would have been able to move on from Lotus Pier and his parents’ death.

WWX: Have I changed?

JC: No, not exactly.

I love that these lines are exchanged while the camera is on Lan Wangji. Lan Wangji already sees how Wei Wuxian has changed: the flute, the wicked energy, the almost senseless killing—none of these things are like the Wei Wuxian he’s come to love. And yes, I think love—and it hurts more because there is love. Lan Wangji wanted to walk the straight path with Wei Wuxian together, and he feels betrayed by what Wei Wuxian has done. Despite that, he still wants to help him. He implores Wei Wuxian to come back to Gusu with him so that they can help him and bring him back to the right path.

This whole scene feels like Lan Wangji isn’t even in the room, it’s like a private conversation between Jiang Cheng and Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji just happens to overhear. He says nothing. He lets Jiang Cheng ask a hundred questions while Wei Wuxian calmly answers them. Wei Wuxian smiles and laughs, he seems himself, and yet he isn’t. There’s something wrong and Lan Wangji grows more and more perturbed by it as the seconds pass by.

The tension in this scene is palpable. It’s painful, it’s sad, it’s really hard for me to watch. And yet, this is one of my favorite scenes. Lan Wangji is feeling a lot, and he’s held it all in until this moment here. He calls him Wei Ying, and then Wei Wuxian in turn addresses him first as Second Master Lan, and then as Hanguang-Jun, both very formal names. It’s not Lan Zhan anymore—there is no familiarity on Wei Wuxian’s part. I think part of that is his attempt to protect Lan Wangji from any association with him that might actually harm Lan Wangji and his reputation. He’s setting a boundary—a wall—between them. And then when Lan Wangji bites back, Wei Wuxian changes tack: he stars being informal with him again, he brings up how they were good friends, classmates, etc. But that’s not going to work because Lan Wangji is feeling pretty upset right now.

Lan Wangji is desperate, scared, and worried for Wei Wuxian. Sometimes when we’re feeling all that, it can come across as anger, and that becomes worse when someone is dismissive of those feelings. Wei Wuxian is definitely dismissive here. In their interactions, Lan Wangji rarely shows this much emotion, and instead of paying attention to that, Wei Wuxian brushes it off. Jiang Cheng shows that he cares by hugging Wei Wuxian, but Lan Wangji is different—he’s thinking ahead, he’s seeing what Wei Wuxian has started to mess with—demonic cultivation—which can destroy a person’s mind, and he’s terrified. His only thought is to take Wei Wuxian away and try to change him for the better. Of course, just like what his father did to his mother, this cannot work. Even if Lan Wangji manages to force Wei Wuxian to come with him, he won’t be able to control him. All Lan Wangji can really do is try to persuade him.

The intensity of Lan Wangji’s gaze here is something else. This is a man who is desperate to save the person he loves. He is really looking out for Wei Wuxian’s best interests here and is getting no support from Jiang Cheng. I don’t really know what’s going on in Jiang Cheng’s head right now, but he’s definitely finding Lan Wangji’s behavior offensive. He doesn’t understand that Wei Wuxian’s actions will lead to his ultimate destruction, while it is very clear to Lan Wangji. But all I can do here is bring up how they viewed the person who was killing all the Wens earlier, before they even knew who it was. Lan Wangji felt very unnerved by it: he was disturbed by the talismans and disturbed by the various manners of death, while Jiang Cheng’s stance always was that it didn’t matter because the person was clearly on the same side—a dead Wen is a dead Wen no matter who is behind it. And his opinion doesn’t change even after he finds out. It’s not important to him how Wei Wuxian was able to kill all those people. He asks the questions, but he isn’t interested in really hearing the answer. On the contrary, I think Lan Wangji is very interested in those answers, but he wants to hear about it in a controlled environment. He doesn’t want Wei Wuxian to go back to Yunmeng, where he will essentially live with free-rein without boundaries.

As for cinematography, I love how Wei Wuxian holds up his flute here, setting up a literal boundary between him and Lan Wangji. Not only do you have Jiang Cheng creating that wall with his sword, you also have Wei Wuxian. What I mean is, it’s not only Jiang Cheng who wants to keep Lan Wangji out. Wei Wuxian is drawing a line here too: he wants Lan Wangji to stay out of his business. And this morphs into, what happens at this place is not Gusu Lans’ business—it only concerns Yunmeng Jiang Sect.

We all know Wei Wuxian is an arrogant person, but his arrogance and ignorance here is truly stunning. Lan Wangji tells him point-blank that he won’t be able to control this energy if he uses demonic cultivation, and Wei Wuxian does everything but laugh at him. I enjoy this and I hate it at the same time, because Lan Wangji is just fucking worried, you know? And maybe he doesn’t express himself well, but he’s shocked to see Wei Wuxian here, shocked that he’s responsible for all this—he can’t stay calm and collected under these conditions.

In just a few minutes, Wei Wuxian says that he and Lan Wangji are good friends and that Lan Wangji should treat him better, as well as “Who do you think you are? What I do is none of your business.” I’m paraphrasing, but that’s the gist. This scene here, with their faces so close to each other, kills me. This is absolute betrayal for Lan Wangji. It’s as if everything they had built together—all the respect, the affection, the comradery—is gone. The Wei Wuxian that he knew is gone.

I love the way this shot is framed, with Wei Wuxian staring after Lan Wangji, and then Wen Chao pleading, “Forgive me, forgive me.” So apt, because I think Wei Wuxian does feel bad here, I think he feels guilty. I think part of him really missed Lan Wangji and wanted to see him. I think he even knows that what Lan Wangji is doing is out of concern for him over anything else. But I also think Wei Wuxian’s pride gets in the way of that, and his desire for revenge, and even his desire for things to go back to normal. More than anything, Wei Wuxian wants to return to Yunmeng, to his shijie, to be able to live normally again, whatever that really means, because of course everything has changed. Nothing will ever be as it was again. More importantly, he has changed, and can never go back to the person he was before, the person who played so hard, the person who shirked his responsibilities and fooled around in classes, the person who shamelessly teased and flirted with Lan Wangji. That Wei Wuxian is gone. I think Wei Wuxian knows he’s hurt Lan Wangji and does feel bad about it, but he knows he has to push him away to protect him. He doesn’t want to drag Lan Wangji down with him, he feels it’s better this way. And I think, even though CQL!Wei Wuxian does have feelings for Lan Wangji quite a bit earlier than in the book, you can see the one-sided love here, in Lan Wangji’s aggressive behavior as he attempts to save this person he loves. Lan Wangji isn’t willing to give up on him, whereas Wei Wuxian is more prepared to let him go—to push him away to protect him. That’s love too, I suppose, but it’s a love that is meant to be from afar—a sad love, not a passionate one, not a desperate one, not the one that Lan Wangji feels for him.

This is so heartbreaking for Lan Wangji, in part, because they had such a special relationship before. Prior to this, Wei Wuxian prided himself in that he and Lan Wangji went on night hunts together—the clan didn’t matter, whether that was unorthodox or not. And now to see him use his clan as a barrier between them…it’s quite a betrayal. Lan Wangji feels so hurt, so at a loss—he wonders what could he have done differently to prevent this, he blames himself.

This is one of my favorite episodes because of this reunion scene. What you expect is some great reunion, the hugging between Jiang Cheng and Wei Wuxian, maybe a smile from Lan Wangji because he’s really happy to see him. But instead, you get pain. You get a Jiang Cheng hugging Wei Wuxian, but Wei Wuxian not even returning the hug (he only raises his arm to signal that he wants to break apart). You get a heated confrontation between Lan Wangji and Wei Wuxian, one that is “fondly” thought of as their break-up scene. I love the drama, I love the pain, I love the angst, I love the dichotomy between Yunmeng Jiang and Gusu Lan, I love that this is the start of more tension between Jiang Cheng and Lan Wangji, I love everything about it. The “us and them” dynamic that starts here is so great, and then to see it slowly unravel throughout the next ten episodes, to see Wei Wuxian’s and Jiang Cheng’s relationship fall apart, while Wei Wuxian’s and Lan Wangji’s relationship begins to strengthen again--I eat it up. It’s like my candy. Anyway, I’m excited for what’s to come, excited to talk more wangxian and how it compares to the book (from my dwindling knowledge, that is)! Happy that you all are coming along this ride with me!

Other episodes: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 |

#cql #the untamed #wangxian #lan wangji #wei wuxian #jiang cheng #mdzs #mo dao zu shi #wwx #lwj #wang lingjiao #wen chao #wen zhuliu #cql rewatch #ep 20

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murasaki-murasame · 3 years

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Thoughts on Higurashi Sotsu Ep15 [FINALE]

For better or worse I think Ryukishi achieved exactly what he set out to do with this series, and I guess everyone’s just gonna be forced to reckon with how they feel about his own perspective on this franchise versus how they feel about it, lol.

Anyway, thoughts under the cut, plus Umineko spoilers.

I’m not entirely sure where to even start with this, but I guess the TL;DR is that I honestly think Gou/Sotsu was ultimately just fine despite it’s issues, and part me of can’t help but be like ‘I told you so, lol’ about how this really did end with this episode, and also committed pretty hard to the Umineko prequel elements.

It’s not like all of my theories were correct in the end, but I at least think I was pretty spot on in my prediction last week that this would end with the miracle of them side-stepping the sword issue entirely and choosing the third option of forgiveness and reconciliation. And also them ending it with an epilogue where we go back to the Matsuribayashi timeline and get a happy ending for Rika and Satoko that provides a ‘non-magical interpretation’ for the story while also giving us an idea of how Bern and Lambda formally split off into their own entities and start the relationship we see in Umineko.

I didn’t quite expect them to go down the route of having them agree to just spend a few years apart and accept that they don’t need to literally always be together, but I think that was a really good way to wrap things up between them. It’s pretty much the healthiest compromise to their conflict that doesn’t come across like it completely invalidates one of their dreams. I get why it feels too anti-climactic and convenient for people, but when you pull at that thread you get into wider topics of what the entire story is about, since this was always going to end with Satoko being redeemed and forgiven. People might not have taken him seriously, but Ryukishi was 100% genuine about his regrets about Matsuribayashi’s ending, and how part of why he came up with this new story was to create a better ending, while also doing more with Satoko as a character.

Basically I think a lot of the fandom negativity towards this boils down to people fundamentally disagreeing with the idea that Matsuribayashi was even ‘flawed’ in this sort of way to begin with, or that Satoko was badly written. It’s valid to disagree on this stuff, but at the very least we all have to grapple with how Ryukishi has his own specific relationship with this series.

People like to focus on how he’s a troll who likes to mess with people, but I feel like this is a bit of a wake-up call for people about how he’s actually extremely sincere, almost to a fault, and he likes to use his stories as a vehicle for expressing his personal philosophies and ideals.

This whole story is also a good example of how he just sees this as ultimately being a fictional story about fictional characters, and not literally a matter of real people who need to be sentenced for their crimes or whatever. As early as the original VN he was almost being outright preachy about the message that nobody is irredeemable, and that philosophy carries through to this. But to be more specific, nobody *in this story* is irredeemable. He’s pretty open about the fact that in practice you can’t apply this sort of ideal to real life, but fictional stories are their own separate matter.

I think this whole issue of how he views this as a story first and foremost is also the central reason why this ended in a way that comes across as Satoko being let off too easy for her crimes. One way or another, Ryukishi’s made it clear that he sees this as being no different to how other characters had arcs where they committed crimes but still got forgiven, or how Takano is basically a straight up war criminal who also got forgiven for her crimes.

Anyway, this episode at least committed to the Umineko stuff, so that was satisfying. Sure there’s people that still want to deny it, but at this point I think a lot of people are just being stubborn, so it’s not like anything would have really convinced them, lol. I’m also genuinely not sure what people even would have expected them to do beyond what we saw her, aside from having the two of them literally put on their gothic lolita outfits and turn to the camera and go ‘we are literally Bernkastel and Lambdadelta from the video game series Umineko When They Cry’. I almost feel like there’s some kind of misunderstanding from people who aren’t familiar with Umineko when it comes to the idea of what it even means for this to be ‘an Umineko prequel’, or ‘a Bern/Lambda origin story’. I mean, this is quite literally exactly what I expected and hoped for in that regard. It’s not like I was expecting them to incorporate anything related to, like, Beatrice or the Ushiromiya family.

I think this is also one of those things where you just have to decide for yourself whether or not you want to earnestly engage with the story that’s being told, or if you want to assume that there’s some level of malice or trickery going on.

To be honest, I wasn’t expecting them to literally have Rika and Satoko recite part of Bern and Lambda’s final conversation with each other word for word, lmao. Combined with the scene at the end where ‘Witch Satoko’ talks to herself about how she’s going to give her body back to Satoko while she goes chasing after Rika, it was literally just the exact origin story of their relationship as it’s depicted in Umineko.

I still feel like this would all only really be ‘worth it’ if we actually get something like a full on anime remake for Umineko, but at this point I can’t help but feel satisfied with this part of it all.

It’s not like I think Gou/Sotsu as a whole is perfect or anything, though. I don’t hate it as much as basically everyone else does, but I think Ryukishi’s the sort of VN writer who really struggles with the shift to writing for an anime. I think a big part of the frustration people have is just from how this is formatted as a weekly anime series spread across basically an entire year, instead of being something like a stand-alone VN chapter that you can read at whatever pace you want, even if it ultimately takes the same amount of time to read as it would to watch all of Gou/Sotsu.

There’s also the whole issue of this being a sort-of-remake, which snowballed into a whole list of structural problems. They absolutely tried too hard to have their cake and eat it too, and they should have just committed to it being made for old fans only, instead of trying to sincerely incorporate elements from the VN that old fans don’t care about anymore because they’ve gone over it already.

And as I’ve said several times before, it was a major issue for them to decide to put Nekodamashi in the middle of Gou and then spend like 20 episodes on flashback answer arcs until finally getting back to that cliffhanger. I’ve been waiting until this all ended to decide exactly how I feel about that, and now that it’s all over I still think it was a really bad idea. I don’t think it was an issue for them to reveal that Satoko’s the culprit that early, but having the gun cliffhanger specifically happen that early just gave people misguided expectations and tainted the answer arcs because people were just impatient to get back to the cliffhanger. And then the cliffhanger itself ended up being somewhat anti-climactic, which is what I’d been fearing would happen. It would have worked fine if they shuffled it around so that the cliffhanger happened right before Kagurashi and was followed up in the very next episode, or if this was a VN where you could binge your way through the flashback stuff, but spending like half of an entire real-life year to get back to that point only to have the resolution be ‘Satoko just shoots Rika and the death loops keep going’ just didn’t really work properly.

I’m a lot more generous towards the Akashi arcs than most people are, since I think they really over-estimate how much re-used content there is there, but they still suffer from the central issue of the show trying to be accessible for new fans. It could have been heavily condensed otherwise, without losing anything in terms of Satoko’s whole character arc.

On the other hand I think the first half of Kagurashi was awful specifically because it highlighted how bad of an idea it was to put Nekodamashi so early in the story. They still ended up having to go back to that arc and repeat it anyway, in the most 1:1 recap-y way in the whole show, but that wouldn’t have even been an issue in the first place if that was instead the first time that arc happened in the show.

I’ve been thinking a lot about how I would rearrange the story to make it flow better while still following Ryukishi’s intentions, and I think they could have condensed it into a 2-cour season with this sort of structure if they did something like this:

-First arc where Rika gets thrown back into the loop and quickly figures out that somebody intentionally caused this to happen, and it’s not Takano because at least in this idea of mine she’d try and investigate her only to find out that this version of Takano regrets everything and is planning to flee the village with Tomitake.

Basically I think this could tie into the idea of Satoko initially wanting to just concoct an idea world for Rika so that she won’t want to leave this time, but sort of like what I think happens in Saikoroshi, Rika would still reject it, and this time around there’d be the additional layer of her knowing that somebody did this to her for an unknown reason. Maybe they could even initially market it as a new adaptation or a remake of Saikoroshi, and then reveal that it’s a sequel, to keep that whole element to the series. Either way I think this would end with everything going to shit when Rika rejects that fragment and wants to go back to St. Lucia’s, and Satoko basically snaps and kills her, and that way the audience can find out about her being the culprit without Rika finding out about it yet.

Maybe there could even be some dramatic irony where Rika’s attempts to meddle with certain ‘trigger events’, and her displaying her looper side, inadvertently triggers people around her to get paranoid, and the whole fragment would start to spiral into tragedy from there. I think they could at least use the whole conflict in Tatariakashi about Teppei actually being good this time as a starting point for that sorta thing.

-Second arc, rounding out the first cour, which is basically just Satokowashi. I don’t think there’s much that you’d need to change here, but like I said above I like the idea of her initially trying to just invent a perfect world for Rika and her to live in, instead of jumping straight to murder. But maybe instead of her literally just watching Rika’s loops, she could instead just be stuck using her looping powers to try and figure out how to create that ‘perfect world’ in the first place, by personally investigating all of the different tragedies and how to prevent them.

-Staring the second cour, a third arc where we basically just get to see those loops Satoko goes through, and her whole process of solving the tragedies and ‘purifying’ characters like Teppei and Takano, until we eventually see her perspective on the first arc, and how she reacts to Rika ultimately rejecting the world she tried to make for her.

-A fourth and final arc which is basically just Nekodamashi + Kagurashi, where she just totally snaps and tries to just torture Rika into never wanting to leave the village again, and eventually Satoko gets exposed and they have their direct confrontation with each other.

With that sorta story structure, you’d keep all the relevant bits of Gou/Sotsu as it is now, while being more focused on Rika and Satoko instead of doing kinda half-assed reruns of the Rena and Shion arcs. It’d also push the big cliffhanger between them until near the end of the show, while still revealing to the audience relatively early on that Satoko’s the culprit.

I’d also like them to do more with Satoshi and Shion, so maybe like with how Teppei gets redeemed and Satoko almost gets to have a happy life with him in Tatariakashi, the central question arc of this hypothetical story could also involve Satoko making sure that Satoshi wakes up from his coma, and Shion also gets to have a good relationship with all of them. You could probably do something interesting with the idea of Satoshi and Shion being in the camp of not trusting Teppei and his whole redemption arc.

Honestly I could spend a long time talking about how I would have done things differently, lol. For one thing, I think the Akashi arcs would have been much better if they just changed it so that Satoko used psychological tactics to make people paranoid, and we completely cut out the whole syringe plot device. I get how it fits with Satoko’s whole certainty gimmick, but it made those arcs way too predictable. Even if we knew the outcome, it’d at least be entertaining to see exactly how Satoko might go out of her way to set up the different tragedies. We kinda got glimpses of that sorta plot point in Wataakashi when things seemed to go outside of her control, but they didn’t really do much with it.

Anyway, this is a whole lot of words to say that I think that in spite of the serious structural issues going on, I think Gou/Sotsu as a whole is fine, and was at least working with a lot of perfectly good ideas that could have been executed much better.

Also, on a side note, that one scene during their fist-fight at the start where the art-style changes a bit was kinda weird, but I really liked how it looked, and part of me almost wishes the whole show looked like that, lol. I like Akio Watanabe’s character designs, but I feel like that sort of stylized, almost TWEWY-ish art style would have been really fitting for this series, especially in the horror/action parts.

Oh, and the new rendition of You was so good it almost felt emotionally manipulative, lol.

#murasaki rambles #higurashi #higurashi sotsu #this got kinda long but I still feel like there's so much more I could say about this if I wanted to

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