#I’m really curious about the rest of s2

[fishybehavior]

Does anyone else find it odd that the manager of the department of reassignment was arresting a fugitive nindroid??

I think someone was trying to show their hand

Or jay used to be field agent and got dragged into this (maybe he owed agents Allen and/or Underwood a favor)

[herejusttosufferalong]

Now that L has painted a big arrow on the timeline at June 2021, I’m curious about what you think S2 filming was like between the two of them?

L was still with J, they had found out they were going to be leading season 3, they had less screen time and more downtime than S3, and they posted THAT selfie. Thoughts?

Let me just give y'all my thoughts:

I think there was always feelings between the two of them and S2 filming really started to cultivate the blurred lines for them.

They knew early on in S2 production they would be leading S3 and they have both been very vocal about the prep they started to lead S3.

I think they both recognized pretty quickly they had feelings for each other but never discussed it and the used S3 filming and their characters to act on their feelings.

I personally don't think they ever crossed a line physically outside of their characters, pre or post break up with J.

I think a conversation was had between the two of them, sometime between the wrap party and her going to his play. I'm leaning closer to the wrap party.

I do think N was the one to shut things down for multiple reasons like L just getting out of a 4 yr relationship, them being in the BTON bubble and blurring lines, and then her truly thinking that maybe they had gotten whatever it was out of their system during filming.

I also don't think L was honest when they had their conversation. I know a lot of people within the fandom think his confession sort of "scared" N off with him dropping the love bomb. I feel the opposite. I think he downplayed things out of rejection.

Which is why we see him do a 180 last summer, he is running.

I think after she went to his play there was limited contact between them, partly because she had been seeing someone else, until Dec '23 when they met back up for reshoots.

During reshoots they fell right back into the blurred lines because nothing was actually resolved from their previous talk. They may have had another conversation with an understanding regarding the upcoming tour.

Which I believe is part of the reason we get the tension after the NYE kiss and during the early Jan interviews.

I don't believe N was seeing anyone Dec '23/Jan '24 but I do think it may have been rekindled in Feb/Mar done by early April.

We can tell from all of the press junkets and livestream events Feb-Apr that there is something there between L and N, I don't think it was lost on them either.

Australia def solidified things for them exhibiting their feelings outside of their characters and being forced to really examine it. Another conversation was had.

Then we have the InStyle stunt followed by a bunch of articles claiming L to be single.

A week later they are in Italy.

There is tension. Why? I think it is truly due to their lack of clear and honest communication up to that point. Another conversation is had, with their bodies, and all is well for the rest of the Italy stop.

I don't believe L had any intention of taking A to the NY premiere but I also don't think she flew there and surprised him. I don't think he was happy she was there but I also don't believe he yelled at her or got into an argument with her at the after party.

Reasons why I don't believe she was ever invited to NY:

She had bought her own ticket to get into the premiere/after party.

Her seat at the Knicks game seemed to be a last minute get.

And the Chaos dinner.

I'm def in the minority with this one but I don't think L would have accepted the invite if A was planned to go to NY. I could be wrong but the dinner already seemed completely outside of L's scene of ppl to network with. He was going for N and N alone, you can't change my mind.

Then we get Brazil. This is tricky because I don't believe L had ended things with A like some ppl do but I do believe they were just casual.

I am def in the minority here as well, I don't believe L took A to SF during the break between Brazil and Toronto. I think the pic A shared was an old one. Could be wrong tho. I think he was elsewhere and not with her and that was the reasoning behind the liking spree and getting some family/friends to follow her. All so she didn't act out, go figure it would be her mom who caused the drama...

Cut to Toronto. There is perceived tension between L and N but I think the fandom got this one wrong. They both seemed to have been ill in Toronto so I think that and jet lag started to catch up with them. All was fine in the end.

Not much to say about Dublin or Galway. I think lines were drawn by someone as things got a little too real.

And now here we are.

Let's discuss...

[annabelle--cane]

do we have any information on the approximate dates or year that TMA takes place in? I’m obsessed with timelines and I’m so curious about if those dates are Known or not or can only be guessed about

yes we do! some parts of the timeline are a little vague, but every live and "in situ" statement (with a few exceptions) has a date attached to it. I won't go through every known date, and I'm also not scrupulously checking to make sure I've copied all these numbers down correctly so there's probably an error or two in here, but some significant ones include:

s1

mag 13 - alone: the first live statement and the first hard date for the show, 13 january 2016

mag 22 - colony: martin's statement after being trapped by jane prentiss, 12 march 2016

mag 26 - a distortion: sasha's statement about meeting michael, 2 april 2016 (<- that was my fourteenth birthday :3)

mag 38 / mag 39 / mag 40: jane prentiss's attack on the institute, sasha's death, and all the debrief statements afterwards, 29 july 2016

s2

mag 41 - too deep: jon's statement about exploring the tunnels and his first supplemental tape about gertrude's murder, 2 september 2016

mag 43 - section 31: basira's statement about diego molina + the start of her giving gertrude's old tapes to jon, 19 september 2016

mag 47 - the new door: helen's statement about the hallways, we meet michael in person for the first time, 2 october 2016

mag 61 - hard shoulder: daisy's statement about seeing the coffin for the first time, 1 december 2016

mag 73 - police lights: basira's statement about rescuing callum brodie from maxwell rayner, 11 february 2017

mag 76 - the smell of blood: melanie's statement about her investigations into war ghosts, at the end she and jon have a bit of a fight about how That Is Not Sasha, 13 february 2017

mag 78 / mag 79 / mag 80: jon releases not-sasha from the table, martin and tim get trapped in the corridors, jon meets leiter, elias smashes leitner with a metal pipe, all on 16 february 2017

s3

mag 81 / mag 82: jon makes a statement at georgie's place about a guest for mr spider at the same time as daisy interviews the remaining archives staff to try and ascertain his whereabouts, 18 february 2017

mag 89 - twice as bright: statement of jude perry, ft. jon hand crispification, 24 april 2017

mag 91 / mag 92 (/ maybe mag 93?): statement of mike crew, death of mike crew, jon daisy and basira's encounter in the woods, the big elias conversation at the institute, 28 april 2017. mag 93 might also be recorded on this day, I'm not quite sure, because georgie's statement (mag 94) is 29 april, but I don't know if that's fully the next day or if jon got back really late on the 28th, recorded mag 93, and then georgie gave her statement in the wee hours of the 29th. up to interpretation and how little sleep you envision jon as having.

mag 100 - I guess you had to be there: lynne hammond's is 2 may 2017, robin lennox's is 20 may 2017, brian finlinson's is 26 may 2017, and "john smith's" statement doesn't have a date.

mag 111 - family business: gerry's posthumous statement about smirke's 14, 30 june 2017. again, trevor and julia's statement about how they met in mag 109 is dated 29 june, and I don't know if it's an either-side-of-midnight thing or a full day elapsed between them.

mag 118 - the masquerade: martin and melanie pull a fast one on elias while the rest of the gang sets up explosives in the unknowing, 6 august 2017.

mag 120 - eye contact: elias's statement about jon's coma dreams + elias's arrest, 9 august 2017.

s4

mag 121 / mag 122: oliver banks gives his statement about point nemo and jon wakes up, 15 february 2018

mag 128 - heavy goods: breekon deliver's the coffin and jon slurps a statement right out of his head, 3 march 2018

mag 132 - entombed: jon buries himself alive to rescue daisy, 24-26 march 2018

mag 141 - doomed voyage: on the boat to norway jon slurps a statement about mikaele salesa out of a shiphand's head, 11 june 2018

mag 142 - scrutiny: jess tyrell comes in to complain about jon slurping a statement out of her head and haunting her nightmares, 12 june 2018

mag 146 / mag 147: jon gets intervened on about all the brain slurping, they go to hilltop road and find annabelle's statement, 20 july 2018

mag 157 / mag 158 / mag 159: peter releases not-sasha and brings martin to the panopticon for a showdown with "elias," julia and trevor attack the institute, daisy goes monster mode, and jon follows martin into the lonely and saves him with the power of gay love and also slurping peter lukas's brain so hard he explodes badly, 25 september 2018

mag 160 - the eye opens: jon reads a normal statement and nothing bad happens, 18 october 2018.

s5

fuck if I know

[sherl-grey]

dangerous words I fear but I’m craving some OFMD critical but civil discourse… s2 finale spoilers included below the cut. this is incredibly long FYI bc I’m truly desperate to get all my thoughts out

I want to preface by saying I loved S2. I think I loved it more than s1, I think there were some absolute GENIUS moments this season (the entire Calypso episode was *chef’s kiss* my favorite), and I think the cast, crew, and DJ deserve a lot of love and, of course, a renewal for another season.

I know there’s been a lot of anti-finale-critiquing posts out there (and yeah, I also don’t want to see baseless hate or, god forbid, people trying to interact with the cast/crew with anything less than love and respect) but personally, I think the biggest sign that I love a show is me wanting to pick it apart. I think digging into the writing and decision-making and characters of a show means you really appreciate the choices that were made even if you don’t agree with them, because you’re working to understand the story on a level most people only dive to if they’re forced to in an English class. No story is going to be perfect. No story is going to be written specifically for me unless it’s literally by me. But sometimes I still want to study it like a bug under a microscope, you know?

So here we go: I didn’t like the finale, and I didn’t think it fit very well with the rest of the season/show. Weirdly enough I didn’t feel a need to discuss online until I started reading the interviews DJ has been giving about the finale (specifically the choice to kill Izzy and Ed/Stede’s ending) and I’m so curious as to whether others interpreted things the same way. (Yes, they’re DJ’s characters. No, I don’t think all viewers are obligated to interpret things the same way as writers did—that’s half the beauty of storytelling and media consumption.)

Izzy’s Death

Let’s unpack the big one first. I think a lot of what DJ/finale defenders (if I may respectfully call fans who enjoyed s2e8 that) have mentioned is that Izzy’s arc was over and he’d served his narrative purpose. I’ve got a few different issues with this:

1. Part of what I love(d?) about this show is that I did not think this was a show that kills characters once they’ve served their narrative purpose, or a show that kills characters as punishment/retribution for mistakes/earlier actions. To me, OFMD symbolizes the idea that everyone is deserving of love, forgiveness, and second chances. I truly trusted that no one on the Revenge crew would die in this show, and to be proven wrong was a bit disheartening, to say the least. Will talk more on the suicide notion in the next bit because I think it was symbolic, but Izzy also now represents a suicidal character who finds the will to live again. I’d argue that a “full arc” for a character like that should be ending in happiness, not death (and especially not with a line like “I want to go” or whatever the specific words were).

2. DJ seems to describe Izzy’s role as being a mentor to Blackbeard, which I personally struggle to see at all. Despite the Captain/First Mate status difference, I think most signs have pointed towards them being roughly equals—the unrequited love Izzy feels for Ed, the way the two of them stand right up to each other when everyone else would be afraid to, the clear shared history and longevity of their friendship/companionship. (If anything, I’d argue Izzy takes on the mentor mantle for Stede in s2, though it’s a bit glossed over because of how crunched for time everything was.) I certainly have trouble seeing the “father figure” relationship that DJ mentions in interviews, because I think Izzy is the one crew member that puts himself on even ground with his captains.

But even humoring that, Ed’s story has been about shedding Blackbeard. And DJ has a great quote in the Entertainment Weekly interview where he says that Izzy and Ed are both Blackbeard, that the two of them together are what makes Blackbeard “happen.” So in theory, if we’re killing Izzy off to further Ed’s storyline, it’s to ultimately kill Blackbeard, right? Especially since his line at the end is to “just be Ed.”

Except we already have metaphorically killed Blackbeard, several times. I think S2E3 is a really interesting episode because in season 1, it can be argued (and is, by Chauncey Badminton) that Stede kills Blackbeard in his own pirate-y way—with kindness. The crew is also somewhat a part of this, as they all accept and love Ed for who he is and not only because he’s Blackbeard; the crew follows the example of their captain and it changes who Ed is as a person. S2E3 is a crew under Blackbeard, and they also kill Blackbeard following the method of their current captain—violence. And this “death” is, in my mind, the death of Blackbeard while Stede symbolically saves the part of him that is just Ed. (Bonus: we also get Ed trying to sink his leathers, and while it might just be because he’s on a damn boat, it’s interesting that Blackbeard’s clothes are drowned/sunk while Ed’s metaphorical comeback was being saved from drowning by Mer!Stede.)

So Ed’s half of Blackbeard is dead. If we stand by DJ’s idea that Blackbeard is half Izzy, we’ve still got half of Blackbeard left, right? Well, that would’ve been right immediately post-S1, but then they gave Izzy a beautiful arc that seems to be a shadow of Ed’s S1 track. Ed and Izzy are very similar characters, but in S1 Ed is on the receiving end of love, acceptance, and admiration—namely from Stede, but also from the crew. Meanwhile, Izzy is subject to contempt and hostility… once again, namely from Stede, and also from the crew. Ed blossoms under the love during S1 until that’s taken away; Izzy simply moves in the reverse direction. He continues to be an antagonist while being treated like one, but once others start treating him with kindness (Fang hugging him, Jim and Archie amputating his leg while Frenchie lies for him, the whole crew making him the unicorn leg), he too becomes a part of the family. And wouldn’t you know it—Izzy has a near death scene as well, a suicide no less. Izzy is the one who is responsible in S1 for “bringing back Blackbeard,” so the symbolism of him pulling the trigger on himself is huge. This is Izzy killing his half of Blackbeard! Because Izzy Hands continues to live, even if it takes him some time to remember how to live without Blackbeard at first, and his relationship with Ed effectively dies here.

(As a side note, this growth arc and the way Izzy fully transforms into a member of the Revenge crew afterwards—whittling Lucius a shark and talking to him about forgiveness, dressing up in drag and singing to the crew, cracking silly jokes about Ed and Stede’s relationship—are also why I find the “Izzy Hands is the symbol of traditional piracy and his death is symbolic of traditional piracy dying” argument to be weak. In season 1, he was that definition, but we’ve literally watched him grow out of it. He’s no longer symbolic of something stagnant that will remain the same or be destroyed—he’s symbolic of something that grows and adapts to the new situations, that survives when all of the rules change on him.)

And then we have the return of Blackbeard: Pop-Pop pushing Ed to go back to doing “what he’s good at,” Ed fishing his leathers out of the ocean, Ed killing a ton of people because he thinks Stede is likely dead or at minimum in captivity/grave danger. This bit seems to go against everything the season was building towards; Blackbeard was almost entirely gone, but Ed is now the one who brings him back because he thinks Blackbeard is the one who can save Stede. And that’s fair, but what does that have to do with Izzy at this point? Why does he need to die for Ed to put that part of him away again? While we’re not owed a main character having a death that serves a narrative purpose, I’d hope for that to be the case, and I struggle to interpret what happens to Izzy as beneficial to either plot or character.

3. I think the actual core arcs of the show are character arcs and not plots. I get that they might’ve been trying to wrap plots with Zheng and the British in case they aren’t renewed, but I don’t think it was necessary—the pirating has always been secondary to the rom com and the found family, IMO. In S1, we had two main characters, but I’d argue Izzy got enough focus and attention to be a third this season. Which left us with a great character-driven story: we’re watching all 3 of them come into their own and discover who they are individually, while also discovering that the changes in themselves are causing friction between them now that they’re growing into new people. Which is an amazing story to tell, if you ask me, but the fulfillment of that story requires all three characters to be there. The conflict to be resolved is how these characters can become the people they want to be and still coexist together, because on some level they’re family now. Notably each pair combination of these characters grows together or apart (or in Stede/Ed’s case, both) during this season. Ed and Izzy are growing apart because they hold each other back from becoming the person they want/need to be; to complete this narratively, I would’ve expected the next challenge to be finding a way to become friends again as their new selves while letting go of the fact that they used to have a toxic relationship when they used to be different people.

Ed and Stede’s S2 Ending

So Izzy’s death is the big talking point, but I also think DJ’s take on Ed and Stede was interesting. He said that they deserved a happy ending for the work they put in this season. I agree with him in theory, but I’m curious as to whether others agree that they put in a lot of work. I think Stede followed through with his goal to come back and tell Ed how he feels, and to stay instead of running away from his problems. I think Ed followed through with trying to understand who he is and what his needs are while also trying to find the courage to open himself up to love again. But critically, they never talk. E7 makes a point to highlight the miscommunication/lack of communication between them, and then in E8 they still aren’t shown talking.

(I realize part of the issue is the limited amount of time and the amount of plot shoved into episode 8. I get it; personally, I think the plot should’ve been sacrificed for the characters. At this point, we were 7 episodes into a very character/relationship-heavy season. Plot could’ve waited for a potential S3.)

What’s more—there’s a huge, glaring gap between where they left off and where they end up. Ed left in S2E7 after he begins panicking and realizing Stede is becoming deeper entrenched in pirate life just as he’s finally finding his way out of it. Not once do they talk about this, but suddenly they’re retiring together? And right after Ed says Izzy was his only family and Izzy calls the crew his family (which… is also an unearned line, as Ed and the crew have almost no bonding or forgiveness this season, since we focused mainly on Izzy with the crew and Ed with Stede), they leave the crew to do their own thing? They’re all relatively minor things that could be fairly easily addressed by dialogue, but they fact that they’re not only serves to underscore the way that Ed and Stede really aren’t on the same page.

I want them to get their happy ending. They deserve it. I’m just not sure that I agree that they earned it to the degree that it was received, with retirement alone together without their crew, if that makes sense.

Positivity Tax: Calypso Love 😊

I’ve probably got more to say but those were the big ones on my mind after reading the Vanity Fair and Entertainment Weekly interviews. Just to counterbalance some of the more critical things I’ve said, I wanted to share some loving analysis of the Calypso episode:

1. It’s a minor thing, but the way this episode shows that Ed’s actions as Blackbeard had consequences is amazing. Despite him arguably committing the more grievous wrongs in S1, he’s the one we get the least redemption for in this season (his apology to the crew wasn’t great, and most of his screen time is spent repairing his relationship with Stede), so for him to have to face something that happened because of his past actions is cool, especially because it was done in a way that doesn’t further damage his standing with the crew.

2. The way Stede saves the day is incredible. Competent Stede this season has been an absolute joy to watch, and his success in this episode is twofold: first he wins his way, with signature Gentleman Pirate flair. He listens to Ned’s crew, helps facilitate communication between them, and encourages them to stand up for themselves and demand better treatment. That’s a very classic Stede win. But then he wins in the traditional pirate way, and it’s absolutely glorious; he’s been working towards becoming a better pirate, both in terms of stomaching violence and building up the necessary skills. Ned’s crew can be taken down with kindness, but Ned himself is a pirate and will only be matched by another. I genuinely cannot think of a more perfect way to show that Stede is still himself while also showcasing the newer side of him that he’s been working towards this whole time.

3. Speaking of that newer side of him, the way this episode starts to open up Ed’s insecurities? The combination of seeing his least favorite parts of himself reflected in Stede as well as watching Stede grow into the career that he’s trying to leave? Amazing conflict development.

4. I’ve already talked so much about Izzy but the way this truly caps off the crew’s acceptance of him as part of the family is gorgeous. He’s an entirely new man at this point and there’s no jokes made, no friendly ribbing… just love and acceptance. It highlights both his newfound comfort and familiarity with the others as well as the extent to which they care about him.

5. Less analytical, but it’s also just a really pretty episode.

Considering the fact that I have zero OFMD mutuals and this was a whole essay (I’m on mobile and can’t see how long this is but I’m honestly scared), I would be shocked if someone made it down this far, but if somehow people are here and open to civil discussion… I’d love to know how you felt about this, if you thought DJ was right, if you were a little more on my wavelength and thinking things weren’t adding up, etc. Realistically I’m not sure if anything could change my mind as I’ve done a lot of stewing, particularly about Izzy arc, but new perspectives are always refreshing. Much love to the fandom and of course the creators, who hopefully never see this and get their s3 renewal 🤞🏼

[beerok23]

Hello! Ask game time!!

14, 16, 20

Here’s the key because I’ve never actually done one of these and I’m always curious how people keep track of the questions:

https://www.tumblr.com/bellisima-writes/758016798048321536/my-beloved-mutualsi-am-coming-for-you-youve

Wow, thanks for involving me @bellisima-writes!!!

14. Who is your favourite background character from S2? Nina. I could say both Nina and Maggie, but Nina has that bad girl vibe around her. Also, she catalyses two of my favourite moments in S2 (How's your naked man friend? - You've been together long?)

16. What would RP Tyler's main gripe about you be? I yell at my kids. Like ALL the time :) He could hear me from his house (they're 9 and 4, so they are a handful).

20. In your opinion, which of Crowley's outfits and/or hairstyle are superior to the rest? Ohhhhhh I love this question. I'm really partial to S1 Crowley. First of all, I'm all for the SHORT HAIR. And second of all, the grey scarf thingy. I adore it.

[nijigasakilove]

We really only have one more Yatagarasu episode left man I need that s2 announced as soon as it ends next week. No way we resolve everything in the finale. Ton of good world building in this episode and as usual, we answer a few questions and get a lot more.

So I’m sorry but I have zero sympathy for Jihei. Sold out his own people and cost dozens of innocent lives because of his greed. I would’ve been ok with him being a drug dealer if he left the game, aka his monkey cartel supplier, alone. But he got greedy and was willing to have innocent people killed for money. He would’ve been cool with the gold pieces he got after about 4-6 loads of that sage cap.

Poor Koume was so close to her dad and didn’t even know the extent of his nefarious activities, but it’s not on her to be her father’s keeper nor should she be blamed for his actions so seeing Yukiya snap on her at the end there really got me upset, especially with how close they were when she first got rescued. BUT, it looks like that was exactly what she was hoping for. If Yukiya is suspicious and tails after her he’ll be good backup for whatever she’s planning to do with her mom. Just how deep does this conspiracy run.. I also think it’s a lil weak for everyone to just instantly accuse Koume because of the double mole thing lol.

On the monkey side of things, after we found out about this taking place within some sort of magical barrier while the rest of the world is in the modern age last week.. I’m curious what the monkey leader was talking about when he was accusing the Yatagarasu of wrongdoing. Maybe it has something to do with their human forms? He mentioned knowing them since they could only make bird noises.. so it’s apparent that they’re not just hunting Yatagarasu because they look like humans like was suggested last week, but for something else. So many questions, so little time. I love this show sm.

[twentyfivemiceinatrenchcoat]

The way I'm still procrastinating on watching Jjk has me suffering bc I wanna binge read your stuff soo bad and properly understand it bc what I've read already was so good and I need more 😭😭 in the meantime tho I was wondering what other fandoms you're in or anything you're watching? Also do you have an about me 👀 if not you should totally make one !! I'm curious 🤭 anyway don't push yourself too hard I hope you can get some rest despite being busy :)💜

hi may!!!! :3 wahhh you’re so sweet, i’m so happy you like what you’ve read so far!!!! YOU SHOULD TOTALLY CATCH UP ON JJK IT’S SOOOOO INSANELY GOOD…. s2 especially!!!! but i have a procrastinator brain too so i get it 😭

i don’t have an about me, but i’m working on it!!!! jjk is my greatest love lmao but i also adore chainsaw man, the fate series, oshi no ko, milgram, project sekai, blue period, genshin, and etc!!! :> i’m scatterbrained when it comes to the media i’m into so i can never really remember them all…. especially not the manga……. recently i’ve been getting into blue lock too!! and i finished wind breaker recently :3 this spring season of anime was so insanely good….. i still haven’t finished the apothecary diaries or dungeon meshi but i adore those as well 🥹

[destiny-in-the-universe]

RC9GN: Thoughts Post-S2 Finale

this show had no right- a cliffhanger?

I have so Many Thoughts on the would’ve-been season three and the other stuff that might have come to be (keeping my paws crossed on the idea of it coming back-)

Now, here’s another set of rambles;

It took me way too long to realize about “the cowboy” in the series- before realizing his importance, I honestly thought he was sort of like, a nudge to the creator? But no, oh my god. I’m genuinely curious on the recurring characters that are meant to be immortal, because there’s also Plop Plop, but specifically about “the Creep” - he’s a messenger, and he clearly knows more than he let’s on. We know he doesn’t really pick the next Ninja, but I feel that he also knows- somehow- who might be a good fit. Randy wasn’t chosen just because

(The outlier is Mac Antfee which… doesn’t make sense to me-? But then again it’s a cartoon- it doesn’t always need to make sense)

Another thing! I seriously wanted a bigger battle between Ghoulian/Evil Julian, the Sorcerer, and Randy- like hello? Also, just- Randy’s such a dumb kid, but to be fair, he’s also fourteen. I kind of learned to read between the lines of what the Nomicon means, though not all of it is that obscure. Randy’s just a little bit dumb /lh (although we all know that boy has ADHD-)

Anyway, back to the battle- I know it’s just a cartoon but honestly, Randy tag-teaming Evil Julian with the Sorcerer was such chef’s kiss, and holy- instead of just returning the Sorcerer into his prison, like I genuinely would’ve loved to see Randy uncovering a new power and the battle lasting longer; getting more and more intense, lowkey Randy getting cornered and then a final defeat- I know this doesn’t make sense now oof but still! I wanted more

I seriously really thought that Julian might’ve been clued in on Randy’s identity as the Ninja but ig I was wrong-

Okay, this- this is actually something I wanted to comment on;

After learning about Secrets of the 9, there’s not just one but nine other realms out there- and I don’t know about you,, but getting a chance to explore what they could’ve been would be amazing.

It’s also interesting to note that, well, we have the Norisu 9 and we don’t really know a lot about them- I’d seriously love for there to be a connection back? Nine seems to be a recurring theme, and I’m sure the logo/symbolism on Randy’s shirt also has its part to play, but anyway- this is mostly my self indulgent thoughts-

(For starters, the nine realms being trials that get harder and harder for the Ninja- like, that would be so interesting and fun and cool to mess around with; like, we have the Land of Shadows - which still has the Sorceress? Could she possibly come back? - but then we could have like, Land of the Embers, or something connected to fire- again, don’t pay me too much mind right now but still, I-

The other thing is the following: hear me out. What if the rest of the Norisu 9 are in the other realms? They’re somehow going to be influencing Randy, because I’m pretty sure he’s got to be connected to them somehow- I’ll cover this better later)

I know there’s not really much of an identity reveal with Randy, nor is it as important as it would’ve been with say, Danny Phantom- but if like, Julian or Theresa knew or somehow Debbie remembered, I think it could add a whole lot more drama. A lot more that I think could be a moving part of the show- and the other thing!

McFist and Viceroy. What’s going to become of them now that the Sorcerer has been defeated? I’d honestly still love for them to be reoccurring characters- not exactly as much foils to the Ninja anymore, but let them be kind of… allies? Or at the very least, I want someone to make the connection that the Ninja’s not literally 800 years old, that they’ve been fighting a literal high school freshman

Honestly maybe it’s just me being self indulgent with the idea of Viceroy adopting and/or lessening full on destruction of the Ninja because again, Randy’s fourteen. (He’s a literal teenager tasked with protecting a whole city from forces of evil that technically exist in another plane of existence- that’s so much for him to bear)

I want Randy to kind of reach breaking point and convince himself he’s not fit to be the Ninja, that he’s got to face off a monster or something that is too strong at first- but please, give me more scenes between the First Ninja and Randy. Giving them parallels would be so, so interesting- and maybe I just want more connections between the pair. Either the First Ninja sees himself in Randy, or- Randy’s a descendant of the Norisu 9

(The same way I’m fully convinced that Howard is a descendant of Plop Plop)

Okay, but also- I want more lore on the Norisu 9? Like, you’ve got this group of ninjas that were meant to take on the Sorcerer, and then slowly got picked off until one of them remained- who exactly were they? They definitely were a clan, and the First Ninja specifically mentions “the ultimate sacrifice” which means there was a major battle and somehow he survived- I’m going to traumatize him so much if I’m going to explore this; and also would there be creatures that are part of Japanese mythology? I honestly want to connect this idea back to the Kitsune OC I made for a previous prompt. I could use this to delve more into the relationship between “Finja” and the Kitsune- and if they knew each other in the early days

Additional Under-the-Cut Information

~ nine realms: different trials and new monsters/villains that the Ninja has to face; more specifically Randy since I imagine the other Ninjas didn’t directly have to face the Sorcerer

(possible connections to the Norisu 9, I like to think that there’s a curse but we’re getting off topic here- this is a story for another time)

~ the history behind why McFist seems to have it out for the Ninja- other than you know, being promised a superpower by the Sorcerer- based on creator details, McFist and Mac Antfee could’ve been friends?

~ other people getting possibly involved with the Ninja- leaning to it being Theresa or Julian, but Debbie remembering and/or figuring it out again could also be fun (provided she doesn’t go blabbing again-); I like to think each of them has specific qualities that would add depth to Randy- you know, if the show bothered to give him development (like Fowlham was supposed to be endgame- and Julian knows a lot more now, hello?)

~ if the Sorceress comes back- Randy and her would have to face off again, and I’m weirdly eager about that-

~ I’m going to stop here- for now. I think I might honestly write a fanfic for this? I’d draw it but since I can’t, well- this is the next best thing

- Mod Danny

[wondrousmay]

My first impressions of 2023 Fall anime season:

- The first ep of My Daughter Left the Nest and Returned an S-Rank Adventurer was pretty cute and wholesome! As long as it doesn’t turn weird, I like I’ll like this story.

- I really enjoyed the 4-episode premiere of Frieren! There’s something melancholic about starting a story at the end of a journey and I like that we’re following Frieren as she retraces her steps but with a new perspective and a new companion. I’m loving the relationship between Frieren and Fern. Excited to see where the story will go!

- The opening scene of the first episode of The Saint's Magic Power is Omnipotent II gave me the chills! What a way to hook the audience back into the story! The rest of the episode was cute though. It’s nice to see Sei, Albert and the gang again. I’m excited for this new season!

- The first episode of I'm Giving the Disgraced Noble Lady I Rescued a Crash Course in Naughtiness (Ikenaikyo) was so cute!!! It’s a fairly simple story so I can see this being my comfort anime for this season!

- The first episode of The Ancient Magus' Bride S2 Part 2 went by so fast! I’m so happy to return to this story. This part of the College arc is my favorite so I’m excited to see how the anime team will adapt it!

- I really liked the first episode of SHY! A classic hero story but with a shy and introverted girl as the main character? I’m in! I also liked the little twist that happened at the end of the ep! A lot of interesting potential for our hero! Looking forward to more of this story.

- Uma Musume S3 is off to a great start! I loved how each season is focused on different pairs and this time it’s Kitasan Black and Satono Diamond. Can’t wait to see what this season has in store for us!

- The first episode of IM@S Million Live was good! I enjoyed it a lot! I really like Shizuka so far. Mirai reminds me a lot of Kasumi (Bandori) too. I can’t wait to meet all the other characters!

- The first episode of I’m in Love with the Villainess was pretty funny! I loved how unhinged Rae is when it comes to Claire. I just hope the gag won’t be too overused. I’m curious to see where the story will go and how their relationship will develop!

- SPY x FAMILY S2: The long-awaited Bullet-in-Butt date has been animated and it was such a fun episode! I really enjoyed it! I’m so happy that SxF Saturdays are back!

MVPs of this episode goes to Hayamin and the guy who voiced the Red Circus survivor. Hayamin’s range for Yor is fantastic. The pained noises that Yor made really sold the pain that she was in! The Red Circus guy was also very funny! He was so committed haha!

[leathr-blr]

Headcanon dump when

you’ve made a grave mistake. media analysis is one of my special interests and i’m also a lifelong writer so this will definitely start to get incomprehensibly ranty (warning i literally gave like an essay length explanation of how i would rewrite heinz’ story in mml s2 and this whole thing devolves away from the question very quickly)

1. my funniest one and most out of pocket one i like to bring up is that i think doofenshmirtz is such a whore imo. an absolute harlot. i think he gets around. not like people are attracted to him or find him charming (he is NOT) but he will have been with everyone in the room, like, at least once. particularly the love muffin scientists, especially rodney, and he and monogram DEFINITELY were together at some point

2. on the monogram thing, i figured monogram “experimented” at one point before doof was an owca threat and dated heinz for a short period of time and that’s why they call eachother by their first names and are so familiar with eachother (heinz probably turned him from bi-curious to homophobic very quickly). i just think the idea is hilarious

3. obviously, heinz is transgender and so is perry, that’s a given. and as mentioned one of my previous posts, 2d doof is a karen archetype and your conservative aunt at thanksgiving dinner (you decide if he’s actually cishet or if he’s like blaire white)

4. less of a headcanon and more of an “i wish this happened”, i think monty and vanessa should have stayed together and i don’t like ferbnessa much but that’s also a pretty popular take. i like the perryshmirtz parallels what can i say. also this pairs very funnily with my first and second headcanons

5. buford and bajeet are qpps (they don’t know what that is but they are). ginger is supportive

6. another obvious one, i think pretty much everyone is neurodivergent because of course they are. to get specific on the ones i feel strongest about, heinz has audhd, perry is low-empathy autistic, the rest of the flynn-fletcher family besides linda are autistic, milo is autistic, cavendish is autistic, and dakota has adhd. thank you for listening to my ted talk. i’m actually.. 👉👈 writing my first ever fic, focused around how heinz and perry communicate with their contrasting neurodivergence that will be up on this account once i finally post it to ao3, and that goes a lot more in depth

7. this is actually something i feel differs a bit from most headcanons i see. my take is that norm initially (throughout most of pnf) does not see perry as a father figure at all and only tries to get that from doof, and is also jealous that perry gets all his attention, so kind of actively dislikes him. he also hasn’t made the connection that anyone other than heinz could fulfill that role for him, because in his robot brain, he will take father in the most literal definition, like they have to be directly responsible for creating you. and not something more complex and nuanced like it actually is because he’s a robot and he’s not gonna get that right away. but i feel like over time, he’d begin to realize those nuances, and start to accept perry as family, and get much more out of him as a father figure than heinz. especially since (unless it’s a human au) they would have similarly complicated relationships with not being human but also being fully sentient.

that was a long one and i still don’t feel like i covered all of it but maybe i’ll do a fic about that one too one day 💔

8. i don’t know, as i am writing this sentence, how explosive i will get with my details on this one, but my favorite proposed future for heinz is both a mix between doof 101 and act your age. so an open secret between my friends and i is that although i love both seasons of milo murphy’s law, i really. really. dislike the whole professor time thing. don’t get me wrong, i would keep the whole reveal and not change anything about the season 1 finale.

but, if i, alister r. zamir, were personally hired by dan povenmire and swampy marsh to write the continuation of said finale, i would make everyone including the audience think he’s professor time but have that be a RED HERRING and not ACTUALLY have him be professor time because i think that’s REALLY BAD!! (maybe make it sara or cavendish or even phineas and ferb since they already did that)

the reason why i, the new writer of milo murphy’s law season 2, think this sucks, is because heinz has spent his whole life trying to live up to the expectations of others, and in the shadow of others and is always striving for unreachable goals to substantiate his self worth. it’s like his whole character, it’s his whole thing, this is his canon ass story, so to just throoooww in that whole professor time thing VALIDATES this behavior and encourages him to keep holding himself at an unnecessarily high standard, PLUS the fate of the world is kind of in his hands now, so that’s FINE. AND IM FINE ABOUT IT AND IM NOT MAD. YOU ARE.

so coming back to doof 101 and act your age, particularly act your age (which i also don’t like as an episode but that’s another story), as somebody who suffers from The Serious Illnesses of the Mental Variety, heinz being able to move on, adjust his expectations, and not be doing great or amazing or rule the tristate whatever and just be fine with doing alright, is super meaningful and relatable to me

so i think they should have just stuck with that. i like the phineas and ferb characters included in mml and like i said id keep a lot of it, but i’d save all the heinz arc stuff for phineas and ferb exclusively cause i love the perry funding professor time thing and that whole deal is cute but also i hate it. because it’s so rushed. and everything with his development feels so out of place. and wrong. and it makes me throw a tantrum.

not to mention, but i WILL, how heinz is completely justified about being upset and falling into depression because of this whole ordeal, and they sorttt of treat it like he’s justified? but they also make him unbearably annoying and we as an audience are justifiably unsympathetic to that and it seems like you want me to feel bad for him sometimes but also hate his guts, which could have been an interesting conundrum ig, but even though i love milo murphy’s law, it’s character writing is farrr from strong enough to get any kind of interesting story or arc out of that

so like, in conclusion, dwampy, hire me, i will work for pennies

alright that’s not all of them but i’ve been writing for 20 minutes and my fingers hurt thank you very much for asking me i needed to get these out of my system

[syndianites]

I really like the way you write Alyssa! I’m curious on your interpretation on her as a whole?

So I've always been annoyed that she was a child compared to the rest of the alts, but I did like the fact that they gave Mot and Alyssa a relationship because in the og TR Tom and Sonja are the farthest apart, especially irl.

When it comes to Alyssa, I tend to give her a more independent, free-spirited vibe. Sure, she's a child (I normally put her around -14-16) but she also had to witness her home burn down and survive alone. I think in canon Mot picked her up almost right away, but I like to headcanon that she had to survive alone for a while and became hyper-independent because she was one of the few survivors and was already from a low-income family (the family part we don't get much information about, but I always wanted her to have come from a loving family).

For how old she was when the fire happened I'm kinda wishy-washy on because S2 canon tends to trip over itself when attempting to establish a timeline, but I generally put her around 6-8, so that she had enough time to remember her family but also be able to survive alone.

In terms of personality, she is very resourceful and self-taught in most things. Contrary to canon, I actually have Alyssa be more wary of the gods- Dianite included- because I imagine her town being less god-aligned than the others and also, being a child, Alyssa would have blamed the gods for not saving her town and family. She warms up to Dianite, of course, because through Mot she learns that the gods aren't as all-powerful as they are made out to be, but she's not the biggest fan of Ianite and definitely not a fan of Mianite after meeting Andor and Anya (who I personally love to have her be besties with).

I also imagine that she gets VERY clingly once she's warmed up to you. She lost basically everything in the fire, with only a few of her townmates surviving (I think in canon she is the only survivor, but I want her to have a heritage she can come back to and keep alive). So once she gets over the "Who the fuck is this Mot guy and where is he taking me" and the "This guy thinks I'll trust him just because he feeds me?" she ends up getting very attached to the point where people assume Mot adopted her (before he actually does).

Mot helps he re-learn to let others help her, and she helps him learn that others aren't always going to take from him without giving back.

From surviving on her own for so long, she has a great fondness for the wilderness, the woods especially, and is very outdoorsy as a result. She also tends to be adventurous and reckless, except when it comes to fire. For a long time she had a deep-seated fear of fire and even though she's gotten a better grip on it now that fear was one reason she had a hard time connecting with Dianite.

She portays herself as bold and brave, but she is always wary and nervous around new people, partly afraid to get attached and partly afraid they'll take her loved ones from her. I imagine that if she met TR she'd be very untrusting of them, Tom especially, and take a long, long time to open up to them. Ironically, I think she would take to Tom first, because Tom is a very open book and predictable, but also because he can relate, as a zombie, to losing all his loved ones and his home (which ties back into my personal backstory for Tom). Sonja would be the next she gets close to, because Sonja is gentle but also fun and silly and doesn't treat Alyssa like a child. Tucker she'd warm up to over time through Tom and Sonja and his general goofiness, but she'd take the longest with Jordan, because she initially sees him as having ulterior motives in everything he does and just wanting powerful gear and good gadgets (which is ironic since Tom acts the same, but she sees that Tom has a line when it comes to friends that she doesn't think Jordan does).

I think in canon she was taught how to use a bow by Ianite? But I generally imagine her being more of a cross bow/lance user, crossbow because when you're flying trying to keep the bow drawn can be difficult while also trying to keep your wings in check whereas a cross bow you just have to load and aim, and lance because its good for dive-bombing attacks and what she would have crudely made after the fire for hunting. The reach also helped keep the more dangerous creatures farther from her and give her a better chance to escape.

I feel like this mostly turned into a headcanon ramble, but in brief, I generally have Alyssa as outwardly bold and reckless and adventurous, while internally being very paranoid about the intentions of those around her and having a deep seated fear of fire and losing the few people she allows herself to care about. This all creates a genera show of Alyssa acting outgoing while also being very careful and feeling like she needs to be able to do everything and anything alone, even when help is available. She also generally doesn't trust the gods as /gods/ but she does end up trusting Dianite as family and Ianite to a degree.

Thanks for the ask! I have so many thoughts about all the characters

[minorisato]

life made you bitter, i can make you tender

transformers / dratchet / wc: 1446 / warnings: NA / notes: this is from an au i made where, during s2 of tfa, drift crashlands on earth. / consider commissioning me!

“Drift’s set to leave soon, isn’t he?”

Prowl was not asking for any malicious reason. Prowl was genuinely just curious. He has this– this processor malfunction, where everything he says sounds kind of blunt and he doesn’t understand how to ask things politely. It still makes Ratchet clench his welder tighter, and it still makes his optics twitch.

“Yes, I suppose he is.”

Prowl nods. “His ship is almost done being repaired. Bulkhead has been helping him with it.”

Ratchet notes that Prowl is trying to talk to him, which is a good thing, because it means Prowl is coming out of that weird cyber-ninja-bubble he’d been in since they met. Ratchet also notes that he really wishes Prowl was talking to someone else about this. Like maybe Optimus. Or Bumblebee. Or a wall. “That’s nice.”

Again, Prowl nods. “It’s going to be quieter without him around. Are you going to miss him?”

At that, the medic turns, and just kind of looks at Prowl for a second, because what is he supposed to say? Yes, I’m actually kinda really disappointed about it? Yes, he’s made this entire experience so much more bearable? Yes, he makes me feel like I still have a purpose, a reason to keep working? Yes, the workload doesn’t matter as long as he’s around? After a moment of silence, all he can think to do is shrug, and say “I’ve gotten used to him.”

Prowl hums, nods a third time, watches Ratchet work for a second, and then leaves. Ratchet heaves a sigh of relief when the medbay doors close behind him.

That night, the official announcement is made; Drift is set to leave three days from now. Ratchet watches from the doors of his medbay as Drift explains to the rest of the crew how thankful he is to have been taken in and given a place to stay. How he appreciates it more than they could ever know, how he’ll never forget this kindness. Sari gives his leg a hug, talks about how it was so totally cool to meet a samurai (or something,) and they all resolve to make the most of the time he has left on Earth.

Ratchet, in the midst of the jeering, returns to his medbay.

He’s keeping himself occupied, for the most part, small work to keep his hands busy. Just trying not to think about it. He is gonna miss Drift, is the thing. He’s gonna miss the extra work. He’s gonna miss his laugh, and his smile, and the way his finials twitch and jerk and poke upright. He’s gonna miss feeling like he has a purpose. He’s gonna miss feeling like he matters. He’s gonna miss how Drift would flash his fangs in a smirk, a remnant of his original Decepticon frame, and how he would say “I’ll be alright, won’t I, docbot?” in a way that made it seem like Drift really thought he could fix anything. He’s gonna miss that.

It’s approximately 3:16 AM when the medbay doors slide open. No one should be awake at this hour. Really, Ratchet also should be recharging right now. Sari has gone off to sleep, certainly, and he suspects that everyone else is in recharge, or patrolling. Probably someone back from patrol. He doesn’t turn around.

“You didn’t come to my little announcement,” Drift says.

Ratchet sighs, sets down his tools. He does not turn around. “I saw. Thought you bots had special training to know when someone’s behind you.”

Drift exvents. “I’d hoped I would get to see you, when I told everyone.”

“Why?” Ratchet asks, “Does it really matter to you? You’re leaving, I get it. I’m aware of that. Isn’t that enough?”

There’s a moment of quiet. “I suppose I just wanted to know how you felt, on the matter.”

Ratchet huffs out an exvent. “Can you guess, now?”

“It’d be easier if you would actually look at me.”

Ratchet grinds his dentae. He does, then, turn fully, looking up at Drift, unable to mask his expression. He can’t imagine how he looks– some combination of frustrated, sad, upset, worried, frustrated, frustrated. “Can you tell now?”

“Ratchet,” Drift says, stepping closer, and it’s then that Ratchet recognizes a few things. One, he’s being petulant. Two, Drift is wearing an expression of something not far from grief. Three, in this low light, he doesn’t look all too different from how he did back then.

“I’m not happy about it, Drift. I’m not happy that you’re leaving. Is that what you wanna hear?” Ratchet grits out, “I’m not happy that you get to go back to your heroism, your vigilante justice, and I’m stuck here, doing nothing. I’m not happy that I thought you were dead for a few million years and now you’re gonna go and I’m gonna think you’re dead again. I’m not happy that you’ve made yourself such an active presence in my life only to leave it again. You wanna know how I feel on the matter? I feel–” and he stops there, cutting himself off.

He didn’t really mean to say all that. It all came out in a rush, all at once, and it’s only now that he realizes just how much he let out.

“You’re unhappy,” Drift finishes for him.

He exvents. “Yes, Drift, I’m unhappy.”

Drift approaches him, and leans down, onto his knees, so that he’s optic-level with the medic. “You could come with me,” he says, voice gentle, and Ratchet can’t help but scoff.

“I could come with you?”

“You could. You don’t need to stay here,” Drift tells him. “You said yourself that you aren’t doing anything here. And I– I see it, Ratch, you aren’t respected here. Your skills aren’t valued or put to use here like they could be elsewhere.” By elsewhere, he definitely means with him. Ratchet chooses not to point that out. “You could come with me. We could help people, together.”

Ratchet’s hands shake. They’ve been glitching, recently. Right now, he isn’t certain if it’s the glitching or the anxiety. “Be serious, Drift, would you want that? I’ve got one pede in the scrapheap already. I’d be dead weight on your ship.”

“Don’t say that,” Drift says, firm, “don’t talk about yourself like that.”

“Because you care so much.”

“I do care so much!” Drift shouts, then, definitely a bit loud for how late into the night it is. “Ratchet, I’m not leaving because I don’t care about you. I’m leaving because there’s more to the universe than Cybertron and Earth. I’m leaving because I want to help, anywhere I can. And I want you to come with me because I care about you.”  He pauses, and takes hold of one of Ratchet’s servos. “I’ve always cared about you.”

Ratchet looks down. “Even…”

“Especially,” Drift finishes for him, smiling softly. “You saved my life. I’ve never forgotten that. I never will forget that. You’re– I, very literally, would not be here without you. You showed me a level of respect I never got from any other Autobot. You didn’t care if I was a ‘con. You saved me anyway.” In this dark light, the pink that dusts his face is immediately visible. “Of course I fell in love.”

Ratchet stalls. Love. Love? “Is that what it is?” He asks, before even realizing he’s done so out loud.

“It is,” Drift tells him, leaning a bit closer. Drift is inches away from him. “I love you.”

“I–” Ratchet hesitates. He’d never even considered that word to describe it before, but now that he is considering it, it makes complete sense. Of course it’s love. What else could possibly describe it? “I love you too.”

Drift runs his thumb over the joints on Ratchet’s servo. “My offer–” he starts, “you don’t need to answer right now. I’m still not going for a few days. But I want you to at least consider it, if nothing else.”

“I will,” Ratchet tells him, resetting his vocals. They’re still so close together. There’s a slight heat radiating from Drift’s plating– not too intense, but enough to tell Ratchet that yes, he does also recognize that this is very close. “Drift–”

“I can go, if you’d like me to,” Drift starts, and Ratchet damn near smacks him in the head.

“That’s not it at all,” the medic grumbles. “I– will you– can we. Can we–”

Drift chuckles lightly, and a servo carefully, slowly, softly, with claws that don’t scratch, moves to cup the back of Ratchet’s helm. “Yes,” Drift lets out, voice quiet and soft. “Yes, we can.”

Ratchet wraps an arm around Drift’s neck, and melts into it.

[butterflydm]

wot on prime rewatch: 1x02 shadow’s waiting

spoilers through the end of season one of the wheel of time. I will do a reblog of this soon after I post it, with additional book-related spoilers.

1. Aaah, the Whitecloak cold open. This one was fascinating, because it really brought the Whitecloaks out as dangerous to Aes Sedai way before the books really positioned them as real threats. This is very effectively scary! The music is also incredibly unsettling here.

2. The Sister that he’d killing here in Yellow Ajah and probably did not have a Warder, is my guess. And, at this point in time, they aren’t terribly close to Tar Valon/The White Tower, because they will run into Moiraine & co later. The whole thing with Valda keeping trophies from the Aes Sedai that he kills is very effectively creepy.

3. I love this intro so much. It took me a while to noticed how great the timing of the names was -- Josha’s name appearing just as the golden threads start to weave is an amazingly subtle bit of abstract storytelling, imo. And I just love all the imagery here. I’m so curious if we’ll get a slightly different sequence in S2. I’d prefer having the same opening with the threads pulling apart but them it being weaved into different tapestries that reflect this upcoming season.

4. We open with our people in flight from the wave of Trollocs, with Lan doing his Warder duty of keeping watch and scouting out their back trail to see how closely they’re being followed.

5. The crossing at Taren Ferry is our next piece of plot business and we learn a lot here -- we learn that Trollocs fear deep water; we see how determined Moiraine is; and this is the first time we really see how Aes Sedai can work around their Oaths. Moiraine doesn’t kill the ferryman, but she also doesn’t reverse her work to try to save his life. We also see a Fade here and he is very creepy. Like the look of him. That’s a lot of teeth. And Moiraine and Lan DO try to help the ferryman here, but once he’d made his choice to go back into the water, they give up on him.

6. We get some more characterization notes: Mat tries to lighten the mood when they arrive at the ferry, and afterwards, Perrin is fatalistic and Egwene wants to help, then after the ferryman is dead, we have Lan noticing how unhappy Rand looks about everything. We also get some more of Moiraine and Lan’s wordless communication here, which I always love.

7. Some time afterwards, Lan lets them know that they’ve lost the Trollocs for now, so it’s time to set up camp, rest, and finally have a chance to try to process what happened at the end of episode one. As a quick ‘this is a rewatch’ reminder: Egwene saw Nynaeve get dragged away, Perrin accidentally killed his wife, Mat had to leave safety to go into the battlefield to protect his sisters because his parents forgot about them, and Rand learned that he was an infant on a battlefield who was picked up by his father and raised by him. So everyone has a lot of trauma but it’s all different types -- Rand is dealing with an identity crisis along with nearly losing his father, Egwene has survivor’s guilt, Perrin is terrified of the potential violence inside him, and Mat has had to abandon his sisters knowing that his parents weren’t looking out for them because they would be in more danger if he stayed.

8. We see Moiraine refreshing the horses with the Power, and Lan worrying over her exhausting herself over it. Over at the campsite, Mat tries to lighten the mood by mentioning that if Nynaeve were here, she’d constantly be making Moiraine’s life a misery, so Egwene has to deliver the unhappy news that she witnessed Nynaeve being dragged off during the fight. Perrin tries to reassure Egwene (and himself) that Nynaeve (Laila) died so quickly that she barely felt it (though he knows it wasn’t true for Laila and probably suspects it wasn’t true for Nynaeve either). Rand, otoh, immediately attempts to assume a leadership position in the group by saying that they need a plan between the four of them, because Moiraine can’t be trusted not to turn on them. So, I am really REALLY interested to see if Rand ever finds out about Moiraine setting the Red Ajah after Mat, because they really do kinda hammer this theme specifically with Rand-Mat-Moiraine throughout the whole season, imo. Rand doesn’t trust Moiraine with his friends’ safety and wants some kind of backup -- we, the audience, are aware that Moiraine DID turn on Mat because she didn’t trust him not to fail when faced with the Dark One. (and it’s interesting that Rand looks to Mat during this line -- trying to get his backup here?)

9. Egwene, though, immediately steps in to defend Moiraine, which is VERY interesting because we saw that she was herself very upset at not being able to help the man at the ferry. Mat attempts to puncture this moment of potential tension between Rand and Egwene by making a mockery of the idea that any of them could possibly be the Dragon Reborn - “The most powerful channeler who ever lived”. Egwene points out that the Trollocs DID follow them, as Moiraine said that they would. Rand doesn’t have a specific counter to that, so falls back on the idea that they can’t really know what’s going on. Mat again attempts to keep the mood light by joking about the Dragon having wings. It’s very interesting here, how this already feels like a soft power struggle between Egwene and Rand to set the narrative of what’s currently happening in all of their lives. Egwene wants to Trust Authority/Moiraine and Rand wants to Question Authority/Moiraine, and the audience they’re both playing to is Mat and Perrin.

10. Moiraine interrupts the conversation between the four to tell them to stop worrying about what the stories of the Dragon say, and just get some sleep. I’m sure she wants to nip that “Question Authority” line that Rand is pushing in the bud as quickly as possible.

11. Rand insomnia count: 1. The reason that Rand sees Moiraine awaken Egwene to take her off for their private conversation is because he’s not able to get to sleep right away like the others. He sees them go off together but, unlike the books, he doesn’t appear to actually listen in on their conversation, simply moves his bedroll to the outside of the cave and sleeps there.

12. I notice that ‘in public’ Egwene defended Moiraine but, in private, she does question her, which is a very interesting contrast to Rand questioning her in front of the others. Of course, this is also a good time for some fun Aes Sedai lore-dumping. We find out about the Three Oaths and, very interestingly, in the show these are tied to ending Artur Hawkwing’s siege of the White Tower. We can also see here that Moiraine is already holding her arm and showing signs of continued injury.

13. But what Egwene gets here is exactly what Rand WANTED from Moiraine and never got in this early episode before they all parted -- she gets an explanation. Moiraine explains her reasoning, she explains why she made the choices that she made at the ferry, and she explains about how the Three Oaths impact her behavior. We know from what Egwene says that the stories about the Oaths do not have the Exact Words. So this is information that Egwene receives about Moiraine and the Aes Sedai that Rand, Mat, Perrin, and Nynaeve all do not receive. Egwene is given a unique look ‘behind the curtain’ of Moiraine’s calm surface here. The other four ta’veren do not get this glimpse behind her mask. Egwene’s experience of Moiraine is now fundamentally different from the others’ experiences. She gets walked through the entire potential sequence of events that might have happened if Moiraine had let the ferryman go back across the river.

14. And I think we can see here already that Moiraine WANTS Egwene to be the Dragon Reborn (and I think that’s why we get her taking Egwene aside like this in the show). Which makes a lot of sense! She disqualified Nynaeve for age reasons, so now she’s got three boys and one girl. If one of the boys is the Dragon Reborn, then he is going to get hit with the corruption that the Dark One placed on the male half of the One Power. And Moiraine, queen of wishful thinking (as we saw in the first episode), would very much like to avoid having a ticking time bomb as the savior of the world. So, the first test to finding out if Egwene is the Dragon Reborn is finding out if she can channel -- and Moiraine DOES establish that here. Egwene can channel, which means that it’s possible (in Moiraine’s opinion) that she might be the Dragon. Moiraine also does a good job here tying in using the One Power to something that Egwene would be familiar with - Listening to the Wind. This is a huge bonding scene between Moiraine and Egwene, trying them together with this huge thing that they have in common. Moiraine looks very hopeful at the end of this scene, imo, and I think it’s because she now feels like there’s a very solid chance that she won’t have to worry about the Dragon Reborn going mad.

15. When Egwene returns to the camp and sees Rand sleeping outside the cave, she tries to snuggle up to him and gets (relatively gently) rebuffed. And, again, I do understand both points of this scene -- I get why Egwene wants to reconnect with Rand but it also makes a lot of sense that Rand tells her that he doesn’t want that from her right now (”I came out here to be alone”).

16. When Egwene goes back into the cave, she finds that Perrin is now awake, staring at the fire (and the audience sees that he got wounded on his leg). Perrin is also having trouble sleeping. They talk about home, and Egwene says she doesn’t believe they’ll ever go back there.

17. Next is the first of our dreams. This one features Rand throwing up a bat. It makes sense for the ‘creepy rodent’ to be a bat instead of a rat, because they’re out in the woods by caves rather than in a city like Baerlon where the dreams started for them in the books. We get our first glimpse of ~the Man~ and Rand wakes to see that there really is a dead bat on the ground, and we find out that the other three also had creepy dreams about dead bats. Rand is instantly suspicious of Moiraine (as he was before) and asks her if she was involved in giving them the dreams (Lan immediately stands by Moiraine in a defensive posture).

18. So this is now the fourth time we’ve seen Rand challenge Aes Sedai/Moiraine’s authority -- it is officially a pattern. Instead of speaking directly to Rand and answering his question (like saying, for ex. ”No, I didn’t put anything in your dreams”), she instead questions all of them and asks them about their dreams. Mat mentions seeing bats with their necks snapped in mid-air. Perrin mentions the man with eyes of fire. “Dreams have power. More than you know.” Moiraine says, telling them to tell her about any future dreams. But not giving them any actual answers (again, very much in contrast to the specific detail that she went in with Egwene the night before).

19. This answer does not satisfy Rand and he challenges Moiraine again. He asks for clarity and she just straight-up brushes him off and refuses to answer. His temper snaps and he demands to have some answers from her before they go any further. He wants to know what the point of them following her -- he wants specific answers. Rand mentions that Egwene has a place at the White Tower, as a woman who can channel, but what place would the other three of them have? Moiraine essentially tells him to shut up and follow her. She rides off and pretends that she doesn’t care if they follow, but we also see later that Lan is sent off and around to watch them and see if they actually leave.

20. With Moiraine and Lan gone, we now go back to the power struggle between Rand and Egwene for the narrative about Moiraine’s intentions. And Egwene immediately starts getting ready to leave as well. Rand immediately reveals the information to the other two boys that he saw Moiraine taking Egwene off on her own the previous night. Egwene and Rand are fundamentally having two very different arguments here, from two very different bases of understanding. This is where that unequal understanding of Moiraine comes into play. Egwene has been given reasons to trust Moiraine that Rand has not been given (and Rand also looks over at Mat and Perrin again as this argument starts). Rand has stated why he doesn’t trust Moiraine (and we will get more information on this as we go further into Rand and Mat’s storyline in the future) -- essentially, it’s about what Mat says during episode six -- “I know what Aes Sedai do to men like me”. We’re going to play on this thread a LOT as the season goes on, so I’m, again, very curious about where this will go in future seasons. And Egwene’s trust of Moiraine is based on private information that was not shared with the others.

21. Then we get the two low blows of this argument (and, wow, Perrin and Mat look SO UNCOMFORTABLE in the background):

Egwene: “If I were her, I’d leave you behind.”

Rand: “You already did.”

22. Mat is instantly in peacekeeper mode as soon as Rand turns and comes back to him and Perrin -- he tells Rand not to be an ass to Egwene, but he also tells him that he’s right about Moiraine. He uses a friendly touch as a soothing mechanism. Mat’s extremely high EQ in these early episodes is just... really getting to me. He’s so good with his friends and with his sisters in the first episode! And it works! Mat affirming Rand’s feeling and giving him a personal connection makes him stop walking away, and he listens as Mat continues talking. Mat absolutely shows here that he understands how to reach Rand when he’s upset (and he shows it later with Perrin as well) and I’m just... oh, yeah, I am instantly seeing again why the show yanked me onto the Mat/Rand train. Mat is able to talk Rand down from his fit of temper and, with a touch of humor, convince him to carry on anyway. Egwene’s approach to talking Rand into continuing put Rand’s back up, and Mat’s approach smooths his ruffled feathers down and he moves into action (or gets a pufferfish to retract his spines, you might say).

23. Now we have our Whitecloak encounter. Moiraine gives her ring to Lan to hide, and she warns the kids not to mention anything dangerous, essentially. Again, we get to see here how seriously Moiraine takes the Whitecloak threat. More lovely sychronization between Lan and Moiraine as they dismount at the same time. We also see a bit of a crack between the ‘normal’ Whitecloaks and the Questioners (and the Questioners are repped by the same man who killed the Yellow Aes Sedai from the start of the episode). We learn a bit more about the situation to the south -- eight Sisters were sent to deal with Logain. The two sets of Whitecloaks split up at this point, and I think the implication may be that Valda splits off from the non-Questioner Whitecloaks whenever he goes Aes Sedai hunting.

24. Egwene rides up to talk to Moiraine privately and gets another insight into Aes Sedai and the Three Oaths that the other three don’t get. More on the importance of choosing your words so that you can misdirect without lying.

25. Ah, this shot has a great look at some ruins from the Age of Legends, love it. And it leads into the Manetheren song -- which is prompted by Mat noticing that everyone looks dispirited and trying to rouse their spirits. They did a good job showing how sensitive Mat is to his friends’ emotions. And after the song, we get Moiraine telling us the history of Manetheren. <3 Love this bit so much. So glad that Rafe & co fought for it to be in the show. I love us seeing that this bit of history has survived, if only as a song that no one still in the Two Rivers knows about the truth of it anymore, and I love Moiraine’s telling of the history. I’ve gushed about this scene a lot before, but it’s just so great. There’s some very apt reaction shots as well.

26. The next camping break, we notice briefly How Weird Mat sits. Love it. And I love how Moiraine and Lan keep getting off their horses in perfect unison. And we see that Moiraine and Lan noticed the trophies that the Whitecloak, Valda, was showing up.

27. Another break, another time when Egwene wants to talk about things right now, and Rand wants to have some time to actually process things for himself. Rand makes it clear here that he feels like what Egwene did needs to serve as a ‘clean break’ between them and that Egwene is making things harder by trying to reconnect with him before he’s ready to do anything like that. Egwene basically is making the argument that because the situation has changed so profoundly, they need to re-evaluate their break-up, essentially, but Rand never had a chance to finish processing it in the first place, because it was immediately superceded by the Trolloc attack and the news that he got from his father. Egwene is kinda demanding that Rand already process his emotions now, to make her feel better and reassure her. And we kinda do get the implication that this is a theme in their relationship from episode seven, I think, where it’s clear that Rand needs a lot more time on his own to process things that Egwene does, who prefers to process things verbally with other people.

28. I love Egwene’s traveling outfit here, btw. It’s definitely the most polished looking out of any of the Two Rivers’ kids, which is fitting since we do get the implication even from the show that she’s basically the darling of the town and that her family owns the inn that serves as the center of their community, and it’s such a lovely-looking traveling coat and belt.

29. Rand does reassure her here than he doesn’t hate her (”I could never hate you”), and his own processing essentially gets put on hold for Egwene’s sake, for the moment.

30. We see Perrin struggling with his wound and we get our first WolfSign!!! <3 His new wolf-friend licks his wound and, after that, he doesn’t seem to have anywhere near as much trouble with it. The wound is pretty nasty looking too. I like the music that starts up as his wolf-friend licks his wound. And then all the wolves head out. Their work here is done.

31. At camp for the night, Mat is Sitting Weird again. Egwene worries over Moiraine, and Lan tells them all to get some sleep, but Egwene is woken up later in the night and realizes that the Fade has found them, just as Lan is returning to warn them all. And Moiraine won’t wake. Lan makes the executive decision that We Will Go Into The Fallen City because even the Trollocs are scared of it, and we get a tense chase scene.

32. I love the set design of Shadar Logoth, very creepy. And the poor horses didn’t want to go in. Babies! Perrin is the one to notice there’s no sign of life in the city, not even birds or bugs. Moiraine has still not woken up at this point.

33. Lan gives them a brief history of Shadar Logoth -- how paranoia ate them alive during the Trolloc Wars, building a wall with no gate. An evil that isn’t of the Dark One, which is our first official introduction to that idea. Lan does give them a very clear warning not to touch or take anything, so he’s probably somewhat disappointed in Mat when he finds out about The Dagger.

34. We now get a moment of connection between two of the pairs that are about to be split up -- Rand goes off to the top of something tall to think alone (like in the first episode) and Egwene finds him (like in the first episode). In a wordless moment, Rand reaches out and they hold hands. I think it being wordless really helps Rand here, because he’s not being asked to process anything immediately? They’re just sharing a quiet moment together.

35. Inside the building, Mat goes over to comfort Perrin. He gives Perrin a knife that Laila had made, reassures Perrin that he also knew and mourns his wife, lets Perrin know that he’s loved. Again, Mat is so emotionally perceptive here. And this moment definitely made me half-ship Mat and Perrin for a hot minute. And Perrin then reaches back out to Mat to thank him for his kindness and reassure him that even if his parents aren’t looking out for Mat’s sisters, the rest of the community will -- his parents and Egwene’s parents.

36. Mat finds himself woken up in the night by the sounds of the horses being restless, and it seems like he’s being specifically drawn to the room with the dagger -- he sees some faint movements out of the corner of his eye and follows it. It does seem a lot more targeted towards Mat here, rather than Mordeth basically going for anyone that he could get in the books.

37. After Mat gets The Dagger, it is now time for some horses to die (poor babies) and for everyone to split up. Moiraine wakes up to find out they’re in Shadar Logoth and is Not Happy. And our pairs all split up: Moiraine and Lan; Perrin and Egwene; and Rand and Mat. Egwene promises Rand that she’ll find him and Mat tugs Rand along so that they can escape.

38. Poor Moiraine lost ALL her potential Dragons. And one of the things that’s interesting here is that our two potential leaders in the soft power struggle that’s been happening all episode each get split off specifically with the person who was already more sympathetic to them. Also, Mat touches Rand a lot in the this episode. And Egwene and Perrin hold hands as they jump off the wall. We also specifically have Egwene shouting for Rand and Perrin shouting for Mat, connecting back to the other half of the pair that they were already close with.

39. And our surprise ending is Nynaeve showing up not dead! <3 <3 <3 <3

[rkrispyt]

I was curious if you still have hope for Portwell? I saw that some portwells still have hope. I personally lost all hope mainly bc r*na is so popular and I don't think that Tim won't make them endgame... It's sad that, nowadays, many ships happen bc of fanservice... You don't even have to look from a storytelling perspective to see where things are going, you just have to check what the fandom says and that's prob gonna happen... One thing that I don't get tho... If Tim really wanted for r*na to be canon since ep 1x5, why did he spend all s2 to make us not ship them? In the second half they didn't have any interactions. Gina was still annoyed with him in ep 2x11. Why didn't Tim plant some seeds for them in the second half of s2? Why is Gina most of the time the one who does sth in that relationship and when Ricky does sth, it's bc Gina asked? And the only time when he has initiative they ruin that (taking his role seriously for her (ep 3x4) and later they reveal that he didn't even read the whole script on the opening night day). I personally could never ship them. I saw potential in s1 but after that they were ruined. S3 just tried to hide the s2 mess under the carpet instead of cleaning it (Ricky still does the bare minimum for Gina and he wasn't held accountable for how he hurt her in s2, he should've apologised!!!). Idk but Gina deserves so much better... They'll prob make Ricky the best bf to her in the next seasons, but that won't change the way they got together (with Gina putting in most of the effort)... That means she is ok with the bare minimum as long as she is with Ricky which is really sad... She deserves so much more... Portwell deserved so much more... s2 Portwell would've def survived that summer... I hate fan service for ruining them...

I’m shocked to hear anyone still has hope for canon Portwell, ngl. I do not and can’t imagine ever having any ever again tbh. They not only effed them up pretty bad but the writers have lost me entirely. At this point I’d dread seeing what this team would do with them if they tried again.

To answer the rest of this ask, I will die on the hill that Gicky was not actually the plan or endgame or any of this nonsense backtracking Tim’s been doing. I can believe that when he put them together in season one it ended up intriguing him more than he had thought, but considering what they did with season two clearly it wasn’t enough for him to switch up the plan at that point to put them together or set up something in the future - quite the opposite soooooo tell me again how this was always the plan? Sure, Jan.

It’s so obvious to anyone paying the tiniest bit of attention that Olivia left, so they shifted everything to give Ricky another love interest that they thought could compete in any way with Rini and lose the least amount of viewers upon her departure. Gina was the only real option. They didn’t even do it WELL cause they cared more about doing it as quickly as possible.

I admit that during season three I don’t know if I would have claimed it was fan service, but after seeing that Tim had a version of that final scene where he jumped on that entirely unfounded and random Gicky theory about the chocolates, unfortunately, I have to agree with you.

I will never not be disappointed that this show that brought me such joy, was written so well, didn’t do all the garbage you would expect from this kind of show, and boasted about being proud that they were telling stories of good people being good to each other, has turned into such trash.

S2 Portwell will forever be one of my favorite ships, winning me over completely (as an anti and Gicky fan going into that season) because of how well they wrote it . Alas, another casualty of outside factors switching up the plan and terrible choices being made by those in charge as a result.

The Summer of Portwell was one for the books, but now, for that HEA fanfiction is where it’s at, friends!

[roxy206]

Lost In Scott’s Eyes With Trixie & Katya — 09/05/2023

watch here | listen here

Listennnnn I am so damn behind & I am usually big on catching up in order but I simply MUST watch this pod episode today!! Also I’m fighting the urge to fall asleep before 8:30pm so I can’t make any promises that this post won’t be unhinged

Katya looks so cuuuuuute stoppppp

Okay but the background decor 🥺

Well, who’s here to fuck me?

I think you can though! — I love her so much. The laughhhhhh

This honestly just might turn into me gushing about how much I love these two idiots & how much I’ve missed themmmmm

Ohh, shut up. Shut up. Shut up, you whore

Omg Trixie bringing up SVU … you know what, what I was going to say could be an entire post on its own so nevermind

I don’t think we should touch each other at work — I know what she means but out of context this is so funny bzzt bzzt

High key curious what this training was though because it sounds way more comprehensive & useful than any training I’ve had at any job

My job as a drag queen is to give you that moment where you see queer sexuality screamed into a microphone … to offset the rest of the 23 hours a day when you’re in straight spaces where it’s like, y’know? Don’t let them know you’re gay, they might burn you at the stake

I find I’m more entertaining off camera than I am on We all think so

Yesterday I was at your house off camera. Was it yesterday? Two days ago?

I was like, god she is funny — 🥹

Please send help because why does it make me so fucking giddy that Trixie is asking Katya about something so mundane as CORD MANAGEMENT. It’s just so fucking domestic

Are you pursuing a romance? No, sex

Oh my god, this face, this face

You give that heart away & you know you can take it back on your own terms — !?! !!!

Katya presenting Trixie with the award 😭😭😭

Why is Trixie giving Katya a gift 😭

I am so sorry to my neighbors for the amount of screaming I have done during this episode already

I’m so horny for this

I thought this was your color but I guess it’s a little brassy

It gives Good Burger It gives bad burger. It gives horrible burger

Stoppppp both of them defending that the other is just outright hot PLEASE

Oh! I’m gonna love this! — 🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰

Perhaps it was a gesture of friendship & love? — what if I cry. What if I cry.

THE BIRD BOOK 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭

Oh my gosh. I’m gonna love this

I’m having feelingssssssss

It’s really amazing & I really appreciate you — WHAT IF I CRYYYY THIS IS SO FUCKING SWEET

I am about to lose it over this candle 🥹

I’ve been vulnerable

I also need to tell the people about what happened when you came over on Saturday — fucking loving this hanging out for enjoyment & friendship era

No but Katya always being the one Trixie turns to when she’s having a rough time 🥺🥺🥺

I need to come over & cry — 🥺🥺🥺

I said, come right away, I’ll get the tea ready She said, I’ll come get you — 😭😭😭 come on

Trixie is really fucking going through it with s2 huh

That stuff doesn’t work on me anymore. I just wouldn’t put myself in those situations

You made me watch Dune the other day

Not Katya saying “mid”

I think you’re right I know I’m right

Pleaaaaase Trixie teasing Katya 🥹

Oh my god the pod is my favorite fucking thing 💕💕💕

[dragonseeds]

what are you looking forward to the most in season 2? any hopes, expectations, etc.

i’m most excited for BLOOD & CHEESE and whatever psychological torture alys is putting daemon through at harrenhal <3 <3 also very curious about how they will handle rhaenyra’s reaction to b&c—i think that’s a key moment that will give insight into how exactly they plan to develop her character throughout the rest of the show.

also inexpressibly excited for the dragonseeds! i don’t think nettles will be in this season, but i can’t wait for her and sheepstealer. i know people theorize she’ll be cut from the show, but i can’t even fathom it????she’s too important. there’s no way to do it without gutting the themes of the story? if they do you’ll see me on the news though.

aside from that i’m really interested to see how they handle the classism inherent in the concept of dragonseeds. (though tbh i’ll cry laughing if it leads to people who are obsessed with presenting the hightowers as persecuted servants instead of an ancient house of powerful nobles saying shit like, “the hightowers and the dragonseeds have so much in common actually, both striving for upward mobility. it really adds context to the defection of ulf the white and hugh hammer!!” 😭😭)

with that, i’m sooo curious to see if we get a scene with corlys and rhaenys discussing addam and alyn. like i can’t imagine they would skip that—it’s too crucial and too messy. like is that man seriously going to try to tell her they are her dead gay son’s bastards. can’t wait. weirdly nervous to see how they’re going to handle addam claiming seasmoke when laenor is still alive? i’m a fantasy girlie at heart so dragon/rider bond is very interesting to me.

my main hope for the season though is that the tb kids get more development, particularly baela and rhaena. they were so underused last season and it’s inexplicable to me why so many small moments with them were cut when just a little bit more could’ve added so much. like with all the heavy handedness re: aemond and lucerys/aemond and daemon, they couldn’t have done more with baela and aegon? in theory i understand that it was the actions of the greens driving the plot at the end of s1, so it makes sense to spend more time learning their characters and motivations, but if the baela, rhaena, and jace don’t get that same level of investment in s2 then what’s the point.

the other thing i’m really hoping for is of course that we see daemon and rhaenyra being unhinged together in a fun sexy way this season before things start to really crack. i have no idea how their relationship will be handled, but my main hope is that they continue to show the complexity of it and of rhaenyra’s feelings in particular without infantilizing her. literally my only requirement and i can work with anything else.

other things i’m looking forward to: sunfyre the prettiest baby and whatever is going on with alicent and aegon—like we love a perpetuated cycle you know? also i guess i’ll admit to being excited to see the starks again. fine, i am. and jace with no wig! baela on moondancer! just seeing these characters again, i love them all so much. what are you excited about??

*i’ve never cared for criston