#Which tragically didn't make it to the final version

[avelera]

I’m dying for your thoughts on what is going on in Dubai with the triangulation of Armand and Daniel in Dubai because nothing in 2.05 explain ms what they(beddeath vampires) could want him to tell them as referenced earlier in the season or warrant all the Rashid pageantry. Especially not with how Armand looks at Daniel like he just got home from the wars.

Your takes are exquisite and I’d love to hear them.

Ok, I THINK you're asking what the hell is going on with Daniel and Armand and Louis and the longing looks Armand keeps shooting Daniel and I might be missing some nuance to your question but that is the question I'm gonna answer because I can't stop thinking about it.

Ok. Ok, ok, SO!! The biggest question I think we're facing as of 2.05 is did the Devil's Minion chapter of Queen of the Damned ever happen?

For the uninitiated (LOTS of BOOK SPOILERS but like the books have been out for decades, sorry): Louis/Armand is like... not a thing. At least, it's not one of the big love affairs of the series compared to Louis/Lestat. I mean they've had a situationship but they're definitely not a long devoted love affair going right up to the beginning of the events of Vampire Lestat/Queen of the Damned, which is where the show seems to take place. They traveled together for a bit after the events of Interview with the Vampire but then parted ways because What Happened In Paris changed Louis irrevocably.

The big love of Armand's life in the books is Daniel.

And we learn this in the chapter of Queen of the Damned called the Devil's Minion.

Because Armand stumbles upon "The Interviewer" and falls in love and they have this fucked up whirlwind torrid romance where Daniel teaches Armand about the modern world and basically "how to be fascinating" and Daniel begs over and over to be made into a vampire.

Lots of stuff happens between them but short, TRAGIC version is that Armand does make Daniel into a vampire and it breaks Daniel's mind. He's not a cool powerful vampire once he's turned, he's basically a vegetable, he loses his mind and becomes a hollow husk of himself. (Ironically, insane-new-vampire!Daniel is left in the care of Marius of all people lol)

SO, from the book reader perspective, I shot upright on my couch when I saw old Daniel. Because Old Daniel means we're in... some flavor of happy AU? We're in an AU where Armand did the "responsible" thing and didn't give Daniel the Dark Gift, so Daniel got to grow old and actually be a person instead of being the Devil's Minion where Armand became his whole personality and then he lost his mind.

Thing is, since S1, I've been assuming, like others I think, that we're in an AU where the Devil's Minion didn't happen at all. That Daniel did the interview, he and Louis parted ways, and now he's back to finish it. It seemed neat, clear, if a little confusing for book fans because Daniel/Armand is one of THE great love affairs and it seems like it just got skipped entirely, which kind of makes sense since no other film version has really delved into it, right?

WRONG. OK, so with the longing looks that begin RIGHT when Armand finally reveals himself, the whole mic drop moment of "Armand, the love of my life" while Armand stares at Daniel, almost seeming to plead with his eyes "GET ME AWAY FROM HIM" and looking at Daniel with such longing, going into SEASON 2 where we learn that ok, the 1970s beat was WAY more complicated than it seems, Louis' memory is very faulty, Armand has actively tampered with both of them and we DON'T KNOW HOW MUCH....?

So my current theory is: the Devil's Minion DID happen.

Armand and Daniel had their love affair, but instead of turning Daniel, which by the way he had to be talked into doing because of Daniel's suicide attempt basically, Armand set him free. But CLEARLY he continued to stalk and pine after Daniel, if he was there at Daniel's fucking engagement reading his girlfriend's mind enough to tell Daniel what she was really thinking then. Armand was definitely still OBSESSIVELY IN LOVE. And, IMO, has been the whole time.

Now, what does this mean going forward? What do I think is going on?

Armand wants out of his relationship with Louis but he's chronically, pathologically, incapable of breaking up with anyone. He used Lestat to break up the Children of Darkness, he used Louis to break up the Theatre des Vampires, and now he's using Daniel to end this fucked up marriage he and Louis are in.

Armand is doing this first by consenting to renew the interview, Louis gets a walk down memory lane, remembers how much he loves Lestat. Not to solidify their bond with how good things are now, but to break it up with nostalgia.

Armand is also going to reveal things he's hidden from Louis, I think. Like the fact Armand killed Claudia. I think right now they're both operating under the excuse that Santiago and the coven did it in defiance of Armand but that is simply not true, Armand ordered her death to get Louis all to himself. But (book canon) her death broke Louis so basically Armand destroyed what he wanted in Louis in the gaining of him.

Armand also misses Daniel. He's doing the classic passive lover thing, using the next lover to get rid of the current one. That's why he picked Daniel specifically as the vehicle of his liberation. Boy wants to get white knighted in the most fucked up way possible. Evidence: every single painfully longing, puppy dog look he shoots Daniel's way and how those looks only get more intense the more Louis waxes poetic about how great the Loumand relationship is.

Armand appears as Rashid in order to establish for plausible deniability for Louis that he DIDN'T have a relationship with Daniel OR, if Louis knows about it, that he really did do as promised and wiped Daniel's mind. Look, Daniel doesn't even remember him! When he's standing right there! Pretending to be Rashid! He definitely didn't summon his former lover here to break up Louis and him, obviously this is JUST about Louis' desire to do the interview haha, definitely not trying to bring his old ex to break up his current relationship the guy doesn't even remember who he is.

In conclusion: Armand still wants to fuck that boy old man. And he wants to get rid of Louis by making Louis break up with him because that's how Armand rolls. And that's why this whole ridiculous pantomime is happening, because Armand will never, ever be the active party in the breakup because the boy is way, way too fucked up by his supremely fucked up life up to this point to ever be the initiator. Instead he will always, always manipulate those around him to do what he wants.

[drdemonprince]

TV Glow was devastating. incredibly effective visually, thematically, and performance-wise. Schoenbrun has leveled up in a major way since World's Fair, which I felt like I was five years too old for, both in terms of references and from having seen too much weird shit in this life to be impressed by her version of what's "scary" online.

This movie was far more creatively ambitious and emotionally resonance -- it having a bigger budget certainly helped stretch its legs, and Schoenbrun used it to its fullest.

Justice Smith's acting made me want to cry. He shows a true reverence for the material that few cis actors would; far from viewing the character as a little exercise, he transforms into her discomfort and sadness. His little voice warbles and the way his face softens with hope at a few crucial moments made my heart break for him, knowing already that the dreams he'd barely let himself hold onto would never come true.

I can't believe an Emma Stone produced wide release movie is about transgender egg drama here in 2024. jarring for something that once felt so private and esoteric to be broadly relatable to audiences now. it's fitting, given the movie is about a mass-release TV show that a handful of tender freaks think must be about something so much more than this world would ever let it be. kind of a funny trick there.

is this a movie about depressed isolated queer people whose minds curdle around a random media property because loneliness makes the brain turn inward and eat itself? or is it the tragic tale of a woman who never realized her destiny and allowed the matrix to keep plugging her repeatedly back in?

you can read it both ways at once and it's best if you do. some equipped with fandom goggles with elect to see it only in the more fantastical light.

There are already dozens of people coming out as transgender for the first time in their lives in the Letterboxd reviews of this film, saying they recognize their repression in Owen, their egg at last busted open by this heartbreaking tale of a life unfulfillingly lived. I get it -- before I transitioned, the same thing happened to me with Casey Plett's incredible story collection, A Safe Girl to Love. There is something painfully enchanting about the forever-unrealized trans person whose suffering we imagine would be escapable if only they could admit who they are.

But what do you do when you have overcome your fear of being "crazy," left your old world behind, and passed through that veil to become the person you were always meant to be, only to find that you are still stoop-shouldered and awkward, still overlooked with your heart cut out of you, apologizing to others for your asthma in between your death rattles? What if you never get all the poison out? After you figure out you're a hero from another dimension, what will you do if you can never get back?

I find myself asking these things, as a person who used to fantasize that transitioning would solve all my problems. The imagined future transitioned me felt so distant that it was easy to push him off. And then after years passed, when I finally reached out to claim him, I discovered he was just as awkward, lonesome, insecure, and unhappy as I was, because he was just me. If i'd always been transgender, then I'd always been unhappy for deeply transgender reasons back then, too, and I'd already known a whole lot more about what it meant to be me than I'd thought that I had. Fantasies had been a seductive distraction from the world that was trying to kill me, and they suffocated me whether I denied them or if I believed in them.

This is a movie about fantasies, and the suburbs, and about being transgender. And it's bleak, but I think some who are on the cusp of making the same realizations as Owen can't fully know why yet. Life on the other side of knowing is more liveable, but I can't explain why. It didn't make things better. It wasn't the great escape I had hoped. But it did force me to confront who I was and how many monsters there always had been all around me. And that's better than living in a fantasy.

[transmascutena]

the drowning motif in utena is so interesting because of how consistently it shows up across the different iterations of the story, while also being distinctly different in each one.

in the manga utena is saved from drowning by dios. she falls in the river when running away after learning her parents died, so i assume its meant to symbolize her grief. dios saves her, literally by getting her out of the water, and symbolically by inspiring her to be a prince and giving her the will to live again, much like in the show. although there's no anthy this time. and like the drowning in the other iterations of the story, the hero dies (i think?? i'll be honest i had a hard time following parts of the manga especially in regards to dios and akio and what the hell happened with them. dios might have died earlier and this is his spirit helping utena like in the duel at the end ? i don't really remember.)

and then there's the show where, during the final duel, juri tells the story about the boy who drowned saving her sister, and a parallel is clearly being drawn to utena who is trying to save anthy. like the boy, utena will succeed*, but "die" and be forgotten. this time, she is in the role of tragic hero.

(*she doesn't succeed in literally saving anthy, just in helping anthy save herself, but you know this)

the show also has the kitten nanami drowns. it is obviously symbolic of a lot of things in nanami's arc, but i also think a less direct parallel can again be drawn to utena. in the same episode there is the scene where utena thinks anthy is talking to her, when really she's talking to a kitten, after all. and like the kitten nanami pushed into the river because it took her brother's attention, so too does anthy "kill" utena when she chooses to side with akio over her in the final duel (although, of course her motivations for doing so are nothing as simple as jealousy, which doesn't even factor into it at all.) utena is the boy and the cat, the "hero" and the victim.

the movie has a sort of remixed version of juri's story, where she is the victim (not her sister) and touga is the tragic hero. utena is just a witness this time, but really, it's still about her in the end. when she remembers how touga died, that's when she can finally let go of the entire idea of the prince. of the saviour. the movie centers the drowning motif the most out of all the versions, and i think it's supposed to really hammer home what the show was saying about not being able to help people by throwing yourself headfirst into "saving" them. you'll get hurt in the process, and your sacrifice will be forgotten. in juri's story, the boy's sacrifice didn't even help her sister; she was rescued by an adult, someone who probaly had a better idea of how to actually meaningfully help. the boy just recklessly threw himself in the water, and ultimately his death had no meaning at all. since the stories are so similar, i assume the same is true for touga in the movie.

(although, saving someone from drowning doesn't really work as a one to one allegory for saving someone from an abusive relationship, because you kind of do have to pull someone out if they can't swim. or they'll, you know, die. there's a lot less nuance there about what the right thing to do is. but i think the point is that you have to know how to help, what works, what the person you're helping needs from you. you cannot just do whatever you think makes you look bravest or the most like a hero.)

[egg-emperor]

Evidence for Eggman's age being 50+ and not "under 50"

First off, it was specifically the OP of the Twt thread saying Eggman's age was literally "under 50" as if it was said to be 100% certain and confirmed final fact.

But when they quote Iizuka directly, it turns out he apparently said: "His age *hasn't been disclosed* but he's *probably* under 50"

This isn't "Yes, Eggman is 100% under 50, finalized solid fact." Iizuka still saying it "is not disclosed" and the use of "probably" isn't confirmation.

He's just making a probable estimate that if Eggman didn't know Maria and Gerald, then he might not have existed at the same time.

But concepts, Sonic Channel and even finalized information the games, suggest Eggman's age is at least 50+

They considered putting Eggman at 60+ in the Sonic CD concept art,

he's referred to as old and middle aged constantly by himself, other characters, and bios,

Eggman uses the Washi pronoun in JP which is commonly used by older men, again implying older age,

Sonic Channel associates Eggman with Respect for the Aged Day, a day to celebrate senior citizens in Japan. If he was under 50, he'd be too young an age to be considered anywhere close to a "senior",

Most recently we have the Egg Memo where Eggman specifies he "never *really* knew" Maria (Eng) / "didn't know [her] *well* (Jp), so he had to exist at least some time when she was alive. It'd go without saying if she died before he was even born.

It seems to imply he didn't *really* know her *well* because while he was alive at the same time, even if just a little, he didn't meet her in person and only learned of her through how others talked of her.

As for him saying she was "gone" immediately after, it seems it's just him then jumping to the part after her death, where he really started learning about her through her becoming the big subject after her tragic death.

So there you have something from within the actual games, finalized lore instead of outside word, implying that Eggman's age has to be at least 50.

He's an old man, he looks like one, sounds like one, is consistently referred to as and hinted to be one lol

But overall, Eggman's age "is not disclosed" as Iizuka said. It has always been down as "unknown" for all of his bios for canon media.

So the final answer is that it's all just probable estimates but it all points to him being over 50.

Please consider supporting the Twt thread version of this! Thank you 💜

[stoplookingup]

Umbrella Academy S4 reaction (spoilers)

I'm a little surprised how negative the reaction to S4 has been. It's flawed and a bit too loose, sure, but I think there's a thematic arc, to do with the painful but redemptive potential of selfless love, that a lot of people didn't recognize, or didn't like, possibly because it's too sentimental, or too tragic, or both.

In particular, I have a really different take on That Relationship. You know the one I mean.

But before I get to that, I just want to address the issue of unexplained plot points, of which there are certainly many.

Short version: Just let it go.

Long version: Comic-book storytelling is all about the impossible premise, the unlikely twist, the overblown threat, the arbitrary race against the clock, the catastrophic non-ending. A big part of TUA's appeal is that it takes that formula to an absurd extreme, unwinding a plot so convoluted and horrifying as to be comedic, then offering a resolution that raises more questions than it answers, and that seems final -- but is it ever? There could always be more. Even now. Because reasons.

But scratch the surface, and it's really all about the over-the-top super(anti)heroes who are surprisingly endearing, nuanced and tragic, whom the audience roots for despite a million reasons not to. Would S4 have benefitted from a few more episodes? No doubt, mostly to give each character their due (Klaus, my Klaus, you deserve more!), and to let the story breathe a bit. The plot probably wouldn't have made any more sense anyway. But c'mon, did it ever, really? So, why a subway? Why a squid? Why a diner? Does it really matter?

On to That Relationship, the much-criticized story of Lila/Five (aka Live -- can I copyright this?). This comically trope-laden ship (forbidden love, montage love, love triangle, enemies-to-lovers, pocket universe, happily-ever-after, etc) fits right into TUA sensibility. Despite being a bit underbaked, it's moving. The actors play it well, and in dropping their characters' armor, you realize how much armor they're usually wearing, how hard they're always working to cover their feelings. Out of all the characters, seeing these two having real emotions is most devastating, especially with each other. It's because this pairing is wildly unlikely that it hits.

Lila and Five have similar histories as traumatized, sensitive souls turned cold, cruel killing machines. They're smarter, more cynical, and stronger-willed than everyone around them. And they are clearly starved of love and desperate for connection. (Everyone on this show pays a price, but I find Five's terrible loneliness the most heartbreaking of all.) So then fate throws them together in a way that makes it inevitable they'll form an attachment, only to then demand of them the ultimate sacrifice. Their surprisingly quiet, life-affirming, Guinevere-and-Lancelot love is redemptive, in contrast with the meddling, selfish, and/or destructive love of others: Reginald and Abigail, Ben and Jennifer, Gene and Jean. Live aren't an unnecessary digression, they're central to the thematic development of the story. Sacrifice saves the world, but without love, there is no sacrifice.

And yes, I absolutely think Lila loves Five to the end. And while I appreciate that some might find the age difference between the actors off-putting, I don't think there was anything inappropriate on a Doylist level, and it all makes perfect sense on a Watsonian level.

Also:

Aidan Gallagher and Ritu Arya are extraordinary;

the use of Baby Shark is genius;

Diego, Luther and Allison have been the least interesting characters from the start, and S4 does nothing to change that;

Viktor needs a sense of humor;

I love that alternate universes are all the rage these days (so many great tropes started with Trek), but tbh Loki does it better;

as visual representations of the space between realities, I love both the Loki automat and the UA subway, but at some point, using recent-past retro design to signal liminal space is going to get old, which, come to think of it, will be deliciously ironic.

[teawinx]

Descendants redesigns

Back with the others, but just not their "finalized" design Mainly because whenever I consider a design finalized I turn out to be a liar and change it the following week.

Self-roast aside, here is my current versions of the other three.

I didn't mention this in my other post but I've set this in not high school. Putting these characters in fantasy high school is so boring. So I also demodernized them, making them look more fantasy/medieval.

Jay: Aka that one guy who got nothing to do in 3 whole movies.

Jay is actually Aladdin and Jasmine's son, stolen by Jafar when he was a baby. Pulling a Rapunzel on us. He is blessed by Genie magic from his godfather, the Genie, which are suppressed by his bracers.

He is Mal's right hand man, unaware of his true heritage.

Carlos: He red

His new tragic backstory is that his mother made him into her personal mannequin. But to truly represent the "De vil" brand she permanently dyed his skin devil red. Naturally people are freaked out by his appearance and are afraid of him, while Carlos is actually a very sweet and sky person. Also he will wear a giant ass coat in his final design, it's just not here rn.

Evie: She basically is the MC of this rewrite, not Mal lol. She works as a seamstress on the Isle of the lost, keeping herself busy to avoid her mother. Just like with Snow White, the evil Queen is angered by her daughter's beauty and it's only a matter of time before she decides to take her out.

[savagewildnerness]

E12

OK... I normally make notes on an episode when I rewatch, but I dunno... after watching S2E5, I just feel compelled to say a few things...  First... LOL...

Armand at the end!!! hahahaha!!!

OK, so first off - the acting is SO GOOD:

Jacob - especially the way he delivers his interview 1 take down of Lestat is SO MAGNIFICENT, OH MY! Jacob! You are DIVINE! (Also: Louis' see-through grid shirt: YES PLEASE!!!!)

Luke - is SO ERIC. OMG, he is SO GOOD!

Eric - is SO GOOD! The emotion. I want Ericasavampire and seeing as much of DM is still-to-come - Eric as a vampire - PLEASE!!!!?! Finally someone to love Armand for all he is. Write an entire NOVEL of your own invention writers please for Daniel!!!

Assad - I am at this point bowing down to my Assad shrine! I haven't the words for how perfect your Armand is. I only have love.

There is SO MUCH to analyse from this episode.  We must PSYCHOANALYSE the characters this week fully!!!

I utterly ADORED it!  One thousand thanks to the writers for creating something like this - not in the books, but totally feels like the books. 

And OMG, at this stage I will be devastated if Daniel isn't involved in this entire show from start to end... which also feels somehow some kind of a homage to River Phoenix, who would have played Daniel in the 1994 film had he lived...?

ANYWAY!  OMG ASSAD I LOVE YOU!  OMG WRITERS, I LOVE ARMAND!  Like this episode - how CRUEL Louis is to Armand!  And yet, Armand saves his life!  And not only that, he offers that pathway to Lestat... right until he is unable to utter Lestat's "I love you.."  And really, Armand, you did that in so much love for Louis - you sacrificed your self! Armand, Armand, Armand.

And Armand, seeking in Daniel what it means to be fascinating and special.  The irony is that Armand IS special!!!  He is absolutely the most complex vampire… he just doesn’t understand how to love or be loved… and Louis is NOT his "one"! But he is SO fascinating!  And special.  All of the edits to Radiohead's Creep PLEASE!!!!

I also find it WONDROUS in a show about vampires - where vampires are always a metaphor to The Outsider... yet... in art, The Outsider is often portrayed in imo an unrealistic way, as in "actually the outsider is infinitely special, really!", BUT IN ARMAND, the writers have given us a truly actually special character who feels like many outsiders do - AND is told by the person he loves SO much he would literally be a pathway to their other love that he is boring and not special and not enough... THAT is relatable! (Even though nobody has told me this, as I am simply isolated, personally! Yet, still, I feel it!)

Also - OMG it is both infinitely tragic and simultaneously hilarious that Loumand true sexy times cannot begin until Armand literally WIPES Louis’ mind of Lestat!!!  LOLOLOLOLOL (Poor Armand!)

Also LOL @ Jacob in the post episode thing - saying he can’t think of a bigger betrayal than rewriting the history of a person you love and that it makes him angry… referring to what Armand does to Louis… when IN THIS SAME EPISODE, that’s literally what Louis does to Lestat..!

Meagre thoughts as I didn't write notes during the episode, so just a few points I think of now (and I have had a glass of wine with this episode lolololololol!!  Lalalalala... GOTHIC JOY!!!!!!!!!!)

Lestat is my boy, but ASSAD'S ARMAND.  Armand was always my second favoruite vampire, but Assad - I do not understand how you are making me love Armand even MORE!  Be MORE evil, Armand.  And more tragic.  And more loving.  Be every thing you are.  I know you are fascinating!!!!!

Also, I cried A LOT in this episode! Though I did not note when. Like, that I feel compelled to do a post now with my random tipsy thoughts on a non HQ version with no subtitles I hope expresses A LOT about how I love this episode!?!??!!

[lemonhemlock]

Hi Lemon! It's always a pleasure to read your thoughts on hotd so I just want to share mine and ask for your opinion :)

First of all, I completely agree with one of the recent anons about helaemond and how it would have made the story better and more logical, the characters involved more engaging and human and ofc, the motivations more clear. And yes, it's ridiculous how my fellow greenies have been screeching about it making the greens look bad and hypocritical when in reality it would have only endeared them more to the GA (if done right, of course). Aemond would have been a multi layered character, Helaena would have had more relevance and Aegon and Aemond's fallout would have been more convincing. Oh well, a missed opportunity, unfortunately. But the greens are the ones who were damaged.

Second of all, Helaena is such a mystery to me and not in a good way. She has the same gift as Daenys the dreamer and yet she won't do anything with it? Why? To make her a constantly doomed and tragic figure who can't avoid her destiny? Because that's not the best explanation and just seems lazy. She is completely detached from the narrative. I thought at first that she couldn't interpret her dreams and visions, but after the balcony scene with Aemond it's obvious she can. Also, the way she apathetically talked to Aemond abut him dying and (sort of ) no one caring rubbed me the wrong way and I actually felt bad for him in that scene, not her, even though it obviously wasn't the writers' intention (and I agree with you, %his request wasn't unreasonable at all).

Finally, them using Helaena in Daemon's vision made my blood boil. Apparently, she can be Bran like toward her own brother because he "deserves" it, but it's OK to use her to "light the way" for Daemon in his "redemption" arc. It's unbelievable and straight up offensive . What is actually the point of her character and her ability then? Anyway, I would love to read your thoughts on this. Thanks.

first of all, anon, hello & thank you & i hope you enjoy your stay on my blog! 💚

PREFACING this by saying that the full helaena-aemond scenes might offer a bit more context than we already have, but, basically, here are my takes, as of now, the friday before the season finale. subject to change!

i guess my thesis statement is that this whole season kind of destroys helaena's character, as well.

let's look at her relationship with aegon:

from what i understand, she says she was "happy" before the war. a helaegon win perhaps? if she was "happy", then she must have been content enough with her position as aegon's wife, no? that doesn't seem like a huge logical leap to make. so, whatever aegon did or didn't do, it must just not have bothered her that much to impinge on her "happiness", even if perhaps she wouldn't necessarily rate him very highly as a husband either.

but, then again, she never mentions him. he just suffered a traumatic injury and is in constant pain. helaena is not besieged by grief this season, she is not catatonic with her own trauma, she is very lucid and calm and acting normally, yet she doesn't once ask about him or visit him or offer SOME kind of condolences or feel any kind of way about him being a cripple. he is still her brother, though? and apparently she has no particular beef with him? she shares a daughter with him, yet never even considers how it will be difficult for jaehaera to see her father like that. she just doesn't give a shit. and, i have to say, this makes her look rather sociopathic.

now let's look at her relationship with aemond. she is apparently so dismissive and gives zero fucks about the concept of aemond's death. like with aegon, there is a version in which helaena could have real grievances with aemond that could lead her to act like this. does she, though?

she doesn't give a shit that aemond burned aegon

she doesn't give a shit that aemond instigated the blacks into assassinating her son

she doesn't give a shit that aemond dismissed alicent from the council

what other reason could there possibly be? does she disagree with his war strategy? does she care that he burned a village? is she a secret rhaenyra stan? did he step on her favourite cockroach when they were kids and now it's payback time?

so, to be so indifferent and apathetic and downright heartless towards her brothers for no reason, again, paints her like a sociopath. what does she even care about? just her bugs? what in the seven hells? i'm not even sure that was the writers' intention anyway, they just truly have no idea what to do with her character. she is there so her interlocutor might exhibit some of their own character traits, but it's like talking to an android.

there are also ways in which one could show helaena's reluctance regarding flying dreamfyre to war, not just "lol i don't want to be bothered" when her family's lives are at stake. at the very least show her terrified of dying or squeamish about violence or something.

and her assisting daemon's redemption arc is downright nauseating. she gives zero fucks about her brothers, but DAEMON is the one she elects to help??

from a watsonian POV, she is not likeable or understandable at all, they are basically turning her into a selfish coward infantilising herself and not bothering to take the slightest initiative to change or influence the things she disagrees with, who just wants to sit on her arse all day waiting to die. but can she truly be analysed through a watsonian POV? was this the intention of the writers? (death of the author and all - what other in-universe characterisation could you give her based on her inaction on all fronts?)

like with alicent, i, for one, cannot apply watsonian analysis to helaena, because that's not how a human person would believably act in those situations. that's not how neuro-divergent people act! they cannot keep using this as an excuse. i don't want to hear the "everyone grieves in different ways" pretext. controversial opinion, but it's downright offensive to neuro-divergent people to claim they are so soulless and don't care about anything other than their hyper-fixations and would not blink if their family were in mortal danger or lift a finger to help in any kind of way

[my-little-safe-corner]

What could have been?

This time I'm going to discuss deleted script and ideas from Wish, however by that I don't mean major plot points such as "evil Amaya" or "humanoid Star", but rather (at least mostly) minor things that have been scrapped from the general plot as we know it.

I'll be using the (digital) graphic novel adaptation for my observations, which I assume is supposed to be similar to the Junior Novelization, albeit maybe a little shortened.

Disclaimer: Any haters in the comments / responses will be blocked!

When it happens: Just after "Welcome to Rosas". The tourists do get food in the movie, but Asha never explains where it comes from.

Why it was deleted: Not sure, maybe because Dahlia is the one whose wish is to be the greatest baker according to what I read (though it's never mentioned in the movie itself and even if it were, no one says multiple people couldn't have the same wish). Then again, it could be just to shorten the movie since it's not significant to the overall plot, only expands upon the idea of granted wishes a bit.

When it happens: Pretty clear from the image, since Gabo does say something similar in the movie. However, the rest of the conversation is not there.

Why it was changed: In this version, it seems no one takes Gabo seriously when he tries to warn about Simon. While it could serve to explain why and how everyone is content with their family / friends losing a part of themselves all around the kingdom (they either make up some excuse for it or simply don't notice at all), it was flipped in the final version so that everyone actually agrees with Gabo. It was probably done to get the audience to better understand Simon's condition and what happens to people after giving their wishes.

(BTW, in the Junior Novelization, Gabo even says that most people become boring following their wish ceremony, maybe it was changed to focus on Simon)

When it happens: Asha does blow flour at Gabo, but Safi's text is not in the movie.

Why it was deleted: In this version, Dahlia can be seen getting the batch of cookies out of the oven, but the teens don't take them. In the final version, this sentence would cause a contradiction, since if Safi can't have Gluten, why was he even going to eat a cookie? Instead, Dahlia warns him it has lemon.

When it happens: Read the scroll's text. In the movie, Asha sees only one reflection.

Why it was changed: I really don't know. It's supposed to hint at Magnifico's fascination with mirrors even before we meet him in order to establish his character, so why change it?

And now there's a big skip, and I'm moving to Act 2:

When it happens: Amaya trying to convince Magnifico to not use the dark magic book.

Why it was deleted: Maybe to make the dialogue consist of shorter sentences for each character in order for the scene to be more flowing and dramatic, and also to show again Magnifico's tragic past and his motives.

When it happens: Asha and Valentino entering the observatory to find her family's wishes.

Why it was deleted: Because it's just a joke that doesn't affect the plot. There's also another joke he says earlier ("Chaos! I love it!") that I didn't include.

When it happens: It's clear from Magnifico's text, but what Simon says is not in the movie.

Why it was deleted: In the movie, he just says "What?" and there's a bit of a focus on his face. I think it's actually enough to hint that he's going to betray Asha, so no need to keep this text. Plus, it actually paints Simon as more loyal to the king from the beginning ("he must really be worried"), as opposed to only after his wish was granted, whereas in the final version he acts purely for selfish reasons.

When it happens: Just after "This is the Thanks I Get".

Why it was deleted: Maybe to finish the song ominously, and for Amaya to not catch him reading the book.

When it happens: Just after Sabino absorbs back his wish, before Magnifico breaks into the house.

Why it was deleted: I'm sure everyone has already seen this deleted scene, and I really don't understand why it was cut at the last minute. Maybe because they didn't have another song for the credits? Also, notice what Sakina says, Sabino completely forgot his talent after giving his wish, I think it's good there's another example of what it does to people in addition to that of Simon, and again, shouldn't have been cut.

When it happens: Just after Magnifico creates his staff. He does have a very similar text in the movie, but doesn't see Amaya's reflection, just notices her behind him.

Why it was changed: Another reference to Magnifico's love for mirrors, we do see his own reflection in the staff, and I'm really not sure why not Amaya's, since that raises the question how he noticed her (his new powers?).

When it happens: Just before Magnifico's second assembly.

Why it was changed: Maybe to save on animation and just show the teens near the stage.

And now I'm reaching the climax of the movie. This was originally a much longer scene that has been changed a lot to get what we have in the final version.

When it happens: After Magnifico traps Star and Asha.

Why it was deleted: I really can't think of any reason for this other than to shorten the movie, which is already very short. It gives us another peek to Magnifico's tragic past, and shows he wanted to capture Star to not only have its power and get rid of what he perceived as a threat to his kingdom, but also because he envied Asha for getting the help he desperately needed when he worked hard for his own wish, which is very understandable, at least for me. It's a real pity this text was cut, I don't get you, Disney!

When it happens: After Magnifico asks Asha how taking her wish into her own hands is working out for her.

Why it was changed: In the movie he just says he doesn't actually care. Maybe they didn't want to show kids how he enjoys torturing and mocking her.

When it happens: After Magnifico sucks Star into his staff.

Why it was deleted: Again, maybe to not show him savoring over Asha's pain. It's a pity because it shows Star was a representation of her wish, so when it was lost, she felt the same pain in her heart as all the other people who got their wishes crushed.

When it happens: Just after the last image.

Why it was deleted: I guess to shorten the movie, making the reference to the "At All Costs" song at the beginning lost...

When it happens: That's Magnifico's response to what Asha says in the last image.

Why it was deleted: For the same reason, though this text seems to be somewhat unrelated. In the Junior Novelization, however, his answer is longer, stating he needed the wishes to feel happiness, which is also a reference to "At All Costs", and now he doesn't need them and the citizens of Rosas anymore, making it a sensible response.

When it happens: Quite clear from the images, but they don't mention Amaya's wish to serve Rosas.

Why it was deleted: According to Disney Wiki and Heroes Wiki, she was formerly a ballerina, i.e the same one we see in the beginning of the movie with Magnifico granting her wish, so it makes sense to remove that.

When it happens: Everyone celebrating their victory.

Why it was deleted: Because that implies Sakina gave her wish only after Asha had been born, which also means the family moved to Rosas not that long ago, but then Sabino wouldn't have waited "decades" for his wish to be granted...

And that's all! There are some other differences I didn't include, but they are not really meaningful in my opinion, just small adaptation changes. Also, since I had started this long post, I finally got the Junior Novelization, and there are more changes there, which I may write another post on.

[kyliafanfiction]

One thing that annoys me about some people who like to denigrate fix fics in Worm fandom is their insistent belief that like, Amy is unfixable. There's just no stopping her destruction, and like...

That's just not true. I mean, it's true that a long term, permanent solution to the basket of issues that is Amy Dallon is hard. And it's probably the work of years. But if all you're trying to do is prevent her complete breakdown or even more specifically, what she does to Victoria that's... that's easy. (Not by killing her or imprisoning her before even the bank, which a disturbing number of fics seem to endorse and by god those people suck)

Like, you can't actually argue coherently that mind-altering Amy and then Wretching (or even raping, if you want to go with Ward's version of events) was some long-term plan of hers, or something she'd been hoping to do for ages. If she was that level of messed up, she would have done it sooner, and frankly, her power could have let her get away with it pretty easily.

So clearly, pretty intense shit had to happen to make her break in that specific way, from Mark getting the brain damage to Bonesaw showing up, to Bonesaw making her do that specific combination of things, to learning about Marquis to Victoria finding Amy when she ran away to Victoria hugging her - and that's just the mind control!

If you interrupt the days of spiraling while on her own and running, Siberian chasing her and biting off two fingers, Vicky getting Crawler'ed, Amy making a poor decision about how to heal Vicky, Amy spending any prolonged time with Jack Slash ([Broadcast] didn't directly cause Amy's final, horrible actions, *fine*, but Jack is mundanely supposed to be a skilled manipulator and spending time with him is hardly good for someone's mental health) -

All of that happened, all of that had to happen. That's all very doable.

Fixing all of Amy's problems is not simple, yes, definitely a project of years. But arresting her fall? Preventing the specific, horrible act that destroyed the only support she had? Preventing the thing that meant she really could never turn back to anything like what was? All doable. And if you can simply stop the downward spiral, you can set her on a better path too. Again, long-term, not easy, backsliding and regression is possible, but like -

The tragedy of what Amy did to Vicky, and What Amy Went through to get to the point where she was broken enough to do it is that it didn't have to get that way. if it really is unpreventable, if Amy's fall in some form is inevitable, then there's not really any tragedy. The fact that "this could have been prevented, in theory" is at the core of any tragic narrative. Yes, it's often because of the specific natures of the people involved, but the whole point of a fix fic is to change something of the natures, or the people, or something. It's changing one of the elements that ensures the tragedy is a tragedy.

If 'fix-fics' aren't someone's speed, that's fine, though pretty much any fic where events go better than canon is a fix fic, and it's not hard for things to go better than canon, but Amy's fall is not unpreventable. And it annoys me how many in the Worm fandom really think that.

And hell, I'm pretty sure that even in his own antisocial misanthropic nihilistic sort of way, Wildbow probably doesn't think that either. People can't hate her if it was all inevitable, and he's got a lot invested in making sure people hate her at this point. (/s, mostly, to this last paragraph)

[completeoveranalysis]

[7]

YEAH THERE WE GO. 

In a move that’s practically meta Fai teases that Kurogane isn’t even calling out the names of his techniques, and he replies that it’s too much of a bother. 

We are here at the climax of it all, after watching Kurogane and Syaoran call out their special techniques the entire time, and now in the final fight Kurogane says he can’t be bothered. 

WITH THE GRUMPIEST FROWN I’VE EVER SEEN ON HIM 

>:(

Which again shows how much they’re not really engaged in this fight in the way that you would normally expect, and are teasing each other instead. 

It is the kind of joviality that in a different CLAMP series might be signalling their imminent tragic demise, but I’ve seen them on the cover of Tsubasa World Chronicle! If anyone is going to survive this it’s THEM. 

So they’re having a fun little battle date where they can wreck the shit out of a bunch of enemies and call Evil Wolverine names at the same time. Which is their ideal date, really. 

Also it IS satisfying to see Kurogane take pretty much all of them out with a single technique that he didn't even put his full seriousness into.

And all Evil Wolverine can do is be like, yes that's... fine...

Ooh chain swords chain swords! Even better! Let’s make it interesting now that Fai has joined the fight too. 

He hasn’t even started trying yet either. 

Oh, and this calls back his weapon in the Infinity arc as well. It all lines up. 

OH YUP HERE WE GO. FAI BRINGING OUT THE VAMPIRE NAILS.

Bringing out the Acid Tokyo call backs and, as a result, showing us the FULL Fai. The version of Fai that has SURVIVED all of the things he's gone through and who he's become as a result. Fai using even the parts of himself he didn't ask for to his full capacity, as his vampirism is yet another sign of love - That someone loved him enough to REFUSE to let him die, and the power that act of love has given him as a result.

They’ve noticed something that I can’t properly make out just yet. (Are the bodies disappearing? Are they melting? Do more of the same person exist at once?)

Either way it proves to Kurogane that they're Real Physical People and not illusions or constructs.

Oh! Is it the blood, maybe? Is it the blood that proved that they're real actual humans and that's what surprised Fai? And so that's enough for them to realise that Evil Wolverine is shoving Real Living people at them and not using magic of any other kind. Or that's about as far as I can take it without any further hints at least.

Still, we get an epic standoff with the battle husbands in perfect back-to-back poses as they face down the infinite glitch Evil Wolverine army. 

It’s very visually pleasing even if I don’t buy for a second that they’d actually die here. 

[venaue]

Another AU of mine that I'm very enthusiastic is an AU where the MC is Basil from OMORI.

I love this idea very much so here are a few of my headcanons about my version of this !!

[ BEWARE OF OMORI SPOILERS BELOW ]

- I imagine the timeline from which Basil would be Isekai-d would be like during his unconciousness after his fight with Sunny at the Sleepover. It'd be like in his unconsciousness where he reaches out for the hand or whatever happens in the Prologue.

- One of Basil's first priorities was making a garden for Ramshackle. He went to Sam's and ask him all about the different types of plants he could grow at Ramshackle. Even though some of them were ones that didn't exist back on Earth, or ones that needed the influence of magic to grow, he did end up finding a good assortment of plants that he could grow by himself.

- More often than not if you were to go visit Ramshackle, you'd most likely see Basil tending to the garden in one way or another. It's one thing that's familiar to him here, so he often takes sanctuary in just mindlessly tending to the plants, and watching them grow when he has nothing else to do.

- In a way, the group of Heartslabyul students he's gotten acquainted with remind him a little too much of the Faraway Gang. Ace and Deuce's squabbles remind him of Kel and Aubrey's. Trey's doting nature reminds him of Hero. Riddle's quiet and confused nature reminds him of Sunny. And Cater's lively and cheerful energy that's clearly a façade for all of the despair and sadness hidden underneath...

- There's a certain area outside of Ramshackle that looks eerily familiar to the place Mari was hung from. He doesn't go by that area. Ever. People begin to notice this after the grass around the area begins to look untamed compared to the rest of the foliage around Ramshackle, but after he completely shuts down as a result of someone questioning him about it once, no one asks about it anymore.

- He still gets hallucinations of SOMETHING. He see's it at that area. At the stairs. Sometimes he can't even meet Riddle's eyes without being painfully reminded of the person he can't ever reach anymore. Sometimes looking at Cater sends him spiraling into thoughts and regrets.

- His dreams are a little different from canon, instead of just being flashbacks from the films, they're instead similar scenarios, but instead played out by the headspace gang. Sort of like Sunny's adventures in headspace in the game, except the plot is influenced by the different member of the Great 7. (why? i dunno, i thought it was silly. and i love making him more tragic.)

- He brings the Ghost Camera around with him everywhere, and takes tons and tons of photos with it. He ends up buying a few photo albums from Sam's store, which he begins to fill up with different pictures of all of the events that happen. His favorite's are the one's Cater sometimes insists on taking of him, Ace and Deuce together. He's less fussed about the 'natural' aspect of the photos now. He just wants to capture the memories. Just in case one day he disappears from this world for good.

- He starts out being very wary and afraid of Octavinelle as a whole, more specifically the water. It reminds him of when Aubrey pushed him in, reminds him of the sensation of drowning, how terrifying it was to not know whether he'd ever take another breath again. The first time he went down there he was on the borderline of a panic attack nearly the whole time. It took him a while to warm up to the idea of it, and the idea of going into the water in book 3, even with the potion.

(p.s. if you're wondering why he still gets the hallucinations of something, i like to think its because he didn't get the final closure where in the good ending, we see SOMETHING like disappear behind him, but since he got transported before that happened, SOMETHING is still with him, and tormenting him.)

thats it for now because this has actually been in my drafts for days--

i need to feet my subs on yt too so i gyatta post this on comm LMAO

anwyay enough yapping HOPE YALL TWST N OMORI FANS LIKE ITTTT if i get um at least 1 person who likes it ill probably keep doing stuff for it occasionally :3

[twistofstory]

Think of all the horrors that I promised you I'd bring I promise you, they'll sing of every time You passed your fingers through my hair and called me child Witness me, old man, I am the wild

The Horror and the Wild by The Amazing Devil

Hunt!Irbis - or, how Fish calls her, "The Hound"! Exploring thrillseeker-Irbis enjoying her life as a big toothy monster is a lot of fun for me - especially if I ignore the later part of this story :") (Don't be fooled, there're no such thing as consequence-free avatarship in my AU haha)

It would be a lie to say that Irbis regretted opening up to the Hunt. She became stronger, faster and way, way more durable - the perfect bodyguard. Irbis could see the irony of her gaining this power the same day she tragically failed at her job. Coming to terms with losing Parhelion was way harder than accepting her new monstrous life, and it wasn't a surprise. Morticians, although reluctant at first, decided that they won't lose another family member that day, and Newt kept her fate a secret from Center. In fact, he was the first to promise to stay at her side no matter the form she takes - a sentiment that undeniably brought them closer. Feeding her "master" wasn't an issue, and Irbis's prey was always welcomed at camp. Her way of living didn't change that much - in fact, Irbis felt like she was more useful to the team than ever before and embraced her newfound strength. ...Irbis didn't understand at first, why Stargazer forbid her from seeing Newt right after the attack. She was the one who saved him, after all, couldn't she comfort her friend? Only after sneaking in to say hi and almost getting shot a belated realisation finally sunk in. Now her friend knew, what it's like to be hunted, and he won't take another gamble even with her.

Fun fact about the second version: it was completely accidental! I've put all layers into a folder, and it messed up all of Glow layers in a very fun way - I just polished it a bit. I was pretty intentional with my artistic decisions on the original drawing (the first one), and I like how it turned out, but colors on the second one're soooo tasty… Can't decide which one's the best, so enjoy both of them :3 I want to make another one with Stargazer, but I kinda lost the steam( Maybe later, besides, I have an idea for this piece and a perfect song...

[makeste]

So before the next chapter translation/recap drops, I wanted to ask what you think of Bakugo very likely being AFO's final opponent? I didn't really see that coming. The rival is always there, but they usually team up with the MC for the final fight or aren't part of it (Vegeta during all the DBZ saga final villains, Sasuke at the end of Shipuuden). AFO isn't even Bakugo's personal villain, like Dabi is Todoroki's and Himiko is Uraraka's. I'm trying to wrap my head around it so it's more satisfying, but while it's REALLY AWESOME, I'm not feeling the *personal* stakes and ngl I spent half the time wondering if Deku would swoop in. I'm guessing he won't, final battle Shigaraki vs Deku, but yeah.

I think it's an interesting subversion of the usual final boss tropes. it's true that AFO and Bakugou don't have much in the way of personal history. they lack the tragic family ties of Dabi and Shouto, or the frequent homoerotic encounters of Toga and Ochako. Horikoshi clearly went a different route here.

that being said, there are a few things I do like about the setup. first, I really like that Bakugou chose Kid For One to be his final villain (and then inverted things on top of that -- you're not my final boss, I'm your final boss, lol). it's very much in line with his usual stubbornness and singlemindedness. everyone else -- Izuku, Shouto, and Ochako -- were sort of unwillingly dragged into their conflicts by fate. but Bakugou wanted a final boss so much that when life didn't conveniently hand him one, he went out and DEMANDED one. literally DIYed his own. that's the most Bakugou thing ever tbh.

second, I like the recurring theme of AFO creating his own demons. he's so powerful that the only thing that can bring him down is his own hubris. he accidentally created OFA by trying to dominate his baby brother. he tormented the OFA users for centuries only to be mutilated by a royally pissed-off All Might. and he has been snidely dismissive of Bakugou on multiple occasions throughout the manga, which is certainly looking like one hell of a mistake right now. not just because he missed the opportunity to kill him off on earlier occasions, but also because we all know that the more you ignore Kacchan, the more determined he is to prove you wrong.

third, I like that AFO is the one who apparently has personal trauma and not the other way around. even if the extent of his trauma is just, "you look like the guy I really hate!!", lol. it's unexpected and mildly amusing and I enjoy it.

and lastly, while I'm probably not super qualified to weigh in on this (seeing as there's a big chunk of the Deku vs. Tomura/AFO fight which I still haven't read yet, so I don't know how much ground has been covered already), I'm not so sure that this is the actual final battle. as you mentioned, those usually involve the rival teaming up with the MC against a single final villain. and neither Tomura nor Kid For One is giving me genuine final boss vibes tbh. I think AFO, and not Tomura, will be the final "final boss", but I'm guessing it will be a different version of AFO. either the AFO currently taking up residence in Tomura's head, or, potentially, the one possibly hanging out in Deku's.

either way though, that also means the final phase of this battle will likely take place not in the real world, but inside the OFA/AFO Mojo Dojo Casa Realm. and I think it will be Deku, Katsuki (since I'm convinced he also has OFA), and Tomura (plot twist) united against AFO. which I think would make for a much stronger final battle than the current setup. we were promised an ending which would surpass Heroes Rising in epicness, after all. a simple Deku vs. Tomura would hardly cut it, especially with Deku having already pushed himself to his limits and revealed all of his current OFA tricks that we know about. gotta be more to it.

so yeah, those are my thoughts. I'm enjoying the current antics, but I do think they are miniboss antics and not final boss ones. any finale that doesn't involve multiple OFA users teaming up against a single AFO wielder is going to feel a bit like it missed the point. it's literally in the name, lol. we need the "all" versus the "one", or else all that foreshadowing goes to waste. that's my hope at any rate.

[awildtei]

Jackie Taylor will haunt me forever the way she haunts Shauna, because her death is the first in the show that truly feels like death often does in real life: sudden and anticlimactic and like so much is left incomplete.

We don't really know anything about the ones who died in the crash, and Laura Lee's death has this poetic sense of sacrificial rightness about it, she got on that plane knowing it might not work, she got to say goodbye, her arc as saved-turned-prospective savior is complete. Her arc as saved-by-God turned killed-by-whatever-rules-in-the-wilderness is complete. She passes on her faith and dies a grand, dramatic death (literally goes out with a bang).

But Jackie. Jackie is nothing if not loose threads and 'wait, that's it?'s. She's this character who we first see having sex with her boyfriend and not enjoying it, looking at herself in the mirror in fractured reflections and clearly experiencing deep turmoil about her sense of self vs image, glancing longingly and guiltily at her best friend even as she keeps up the act of golden girl, getting called the leader and uniting force of the Yellowjackets. In the first episode alone we are already presented with all the pieces that could shape up to be a fascinating puzzle once solved.

And those very interesting glimpses of what her arc of self-discovery and self-acceptance may look like (both in, like, a queer way but also in a dropping her façade of Perfect It Girl Who Knows What She's Doing way) (or maybe a darker, self-loathing and continued denial arc, I'm not picky!) get reinforced over and over: it turns out she's not a very good leader. She has sex with Travis and seems to have another moment of 'welp, that didn't work'. She finds out Shauna's had sex with someone and is clearly hurt by it beyond 'you didn't tell me'. She's jealous of how close Shauna is with Tai. She turns out not to be a very good team player when she doesn't get to lead. We know she dies, we think she will be hunted down by a pack of mad women and slaughtered in a frenzy of hatred or something else breathtaking and dramatic.

And then... she dies. She dies, not in a big explosion or with an act of inhumane violence. She dies in the cold, unseen, after a very stereotypical teenage girl fight with her best friend, and any possible character arc she might have had dies with her. Her death is the catalyst for so many things that will be crucial to the other girl's arcs, but her own is just... done. Just like that. No more possibilities for her. No more of her dealing with internalized heteronormativity, no exploration of her relationship with her parents, no hating or loving Shauna, no more anything. She's dead. Who is Jackie Taylor when societal conventions are stripped away and she is the rawest, most honest version of herself? Someone who dies, alone and hurt and heartbroken. Someone who becomes ostracized from a group she once understood to the point that there is no other way forward but for her to die. A teen girl, with insecurities and drama that in another life she might've looked back as an adult and consider overblown.

Shauna tells Jackie during their final fight that she will peak in high school, and she does. Her development ends in high school, the scattered pieces of her complexities and flaws and potential are blown to the wind and left to be picked up by Shauna in her flawed, subjective recollection. Who could Jackie Taylor have turned out to be if she hadn't died? No one. There is no version of this story in which Jackie makes it out of the wilderness. And so the threads of all the possible paths of her development are left for us and Shauna to pick up and fantasize about, without ever knowing for sure which of them, if any, might have come true.

I think that's why her death is the most tragic, because it feels the most realistic. No chase through the woods, no explosion, no brave sacrifice, no unnameable violence except for a few cruel words. She just... dies. Alone and cold and dreaming of being warm and loved and of her best friend saying back the words Jackie once said to her ('You're my best friend. You know that, right?'). She dies and any meaning attributed to that death is done so after the fact, because it in itself is just fucking... simple and fucking tragic.

And that's the thing, right? She just dies, and the flavor of her death is that of losing a loved one abruptly and going 'wait, what about their plans? their dreams? the version of themselves they'll never get to grow into? what about the unfinished conversations and the half-read book on their bedside table and the goodbyes they didn't get to say and the aspects of their personality they didn't get to develop or change? what do you mean they're just gone and their story is finished without satisfying closure? what do you mean any choice about who they were when alive and who they would've turned into is now up to the ones left behind? It doesn't make any sense. It's not fair.' And it doesn't! And it's not! It's just how it is!

[sepublic]

Do you hate Belos' fans?

If you want my honest, nearly unadulterated thoughts? Well, hopefully this is the last I'll speak on the subject. But in regards to the question; In theory? No. In practice? Well...

They've ignored the actual onscreen characters, dynamics, and themes that the show focused on in favor of building this elaborate fanon and AUs and fics and art of their dead white guys who were never meant to be the focus, hyped themselves up on this entirely offscreen dynamic, and then when the finale didn't deliver on their expectations they gnashed their teeth and turned on the show as a whole because they never cared about the show, just their white favoritism-fueled fanon for it. Because apparently their engagement with TOH hinged entirely on Wittebros, which makes me wonder how they even began watching the actual show to begin with.

These same people viciously turned on the actual protagonists because they never appreciated them as their own characters but as devices to prop up Belos and the Wittebro dynamic, so when they couldn't fulfill that purpose, they were deemed useless and badly written because these people who wrote essays about Belos being left-handed blatantly ignored Luz's explicit onscreen arc and then had the audacity to be baffled by the finale's narrative decisions, and just dismiss Luz as 'badly written' because they refuse to actually engage with Luz for Luz's sake and appreciate her as the main protagonist, who stands more than easily on her own without having to rely on Belos.

These people just genuinely can't seem to comprehend why the show would celebrate this compassionate brown girl over their racist white man, so they went out of their way to disparage Luz, downplay her and her achievements, act like they're spewing some hot takes by claiming Belos is a more interesting character, using whatever convenient excuses they can find; But while the excuse always changes for the situation, in the end it's always because fandom just looooves their bigoted white guys.

So then you have crappy AUs and redemption fics that lightheartedly torture Luz at her expense to explore Belos, or reduce Luz to Belos' sidekick that he secretly cares about, and/or portray Luz's anger towards him as some obstacle towards his ~healing and redemption~ (and you don't need the finale's explicit message to understand why this is so grossly tasteless because fandom hates women and PoC, especially when the two intersect as one character). It's genuinely abhorrent how Belos fans just choose to undermine the entire point of the finale and the show and even Belos himself for the sake of their made-up fanon version.

Like maybe if they actually paid attention to the show and engaged with it on a general level, I might take their complaints a little more seriously; But it's telling how Belos fans just ignored characters who weren't directly relevant/connected to the Wittebanes, until they were. So it's why I can't take it seriously when they disparage the crew for having different priorities because you can just tell they refuse to consider other angles, or go in with the predisposed notion of hating it. The Belos fandom hyped themselves up, and then blamed the crew for leading them on instead of accepting that their speculation on a mysterious character was wrong.

In fact, they're in such refusal to accept this, that some of them even go out of their way to peddle the stupidest behind-the-scenes theories I've ever seen; Particularly, the one arguing that Belos was originally meant to be a sympathetic and tragic villain and was written as such during the first half of the show's run... But when the crew opted to include the Collector in response to TOH being shortened, they just transferred all of Belos' sympathetic qualities to the Collector and left him a pure evil antagonist.

Because obviously, the crew never considered writing two sympathetic villains, right??? It's not as if we don't already have two former members of the Emperor's Coven who unlearn their abuse yet still have different personalities and backstories and dynamics and storylines. No, Belos was supposed to be sympathetic but they deemed that redundant with the Collector, so it's the Collector's fault and it's time to disparage their writing out of jealous resentment.

The criticisms just come across as in bad faith; These people aren't actually interested in critiquing the show. It's all insincere when they discuss how Luz needed to understand how people can become villains (they ignore her dynamic with the Collector and other characters), or how villains need to be humanized because yadda-yadda. It's not because they actually care about these things, it's just a convenient justification for why their white guy deserved better.

Because these viewers are otherwise more than willing to suspend their disbelief and analyze all of the little implications for Belos to understand him, but then refuse to exercise even a little imagination in discussing characters like Luz or the Collector, because it's easier to just dismiss it as inconsistent writing that didn't have any planning behind it. Because they resent these characters for 'taking away' from Belos' spotlight, and with baffling confidence declare any defenses or explanations of the point they're missing as 'stupid takes'.

They talk of how Belos needed to be humanized and have his motives explained, but they were; It's just that these motives weren't framed in a flattering light so that pisses off their sadboi narrative of someone who's afraid of being wrong for the sake of others, rather than only for the sake of his ego (Note that Belos doesn't hallucinate the witches and demons he murdered because he still doesn't care about them). I don't think we can have a meaningful discussion about how Belos was written without first acknowledging a lot of things, such as what is even your stake in trying to argue stuff like how he should've been able to survive, or joking about the protagonists being too dumb to finish Belos off???

I just find it telling how when people criticize how Willow and Gus were handled, or how the Collector went off into space at the end, I can actually understand where they're coming from... But with Belos fans, I'm just utterly baffled to the point where I genuinely wonder how they can think this and if I stepped into some alternate timeline. They claim fandom is guilty of the puritanism that Belos himself displays, but it's not about 'problematic' characters (I'm quite the fan of villains myself), but rather fandom double standards in weeping for Belos while demonizing characters like Lilith as 'getting off easy'.

People understand perfectly that Odalia is meant to be viewed under the lens of a capitalist upper-class suburban white woman who views her family as a status symbol, but then see how Belos is a satire of right-wing conservative white supremacists and the like and just sorta... sweep it under the rug in favor of re-framing Belos as a victim of these mentalities who was brainwashed, rather than someone who gleefully embraced them (regardless of any downsides he may have encountered) because the ideology ultimately benefitted his sense of self.

At first I reasoned that the favoritism towards Belos over Odalia is because one is more fleshed out and whatnot; But after seeing how Belos fans turned on Luz and other characters, I actually do suspect a lot of it is misogyny. It's not as if fandom has ever relied on canon to flesh out faves, these people are proof enough. I remember being baffled by the intense energy there was for Wittebros after Yesterday's Lie aired, wondering where that same energy was for other aspects of the show; At the time I didn't think much of it and figured it just wasn't for me, no judgment, but now? Ugh.

The lack of self-awareness for fandom's obvious habit and tendency with white dudes is just utterly baffling. I'd apply Hanlon's Razor to it, even; Sufficiently advanced ignorance is indistinguishable from malice! These people prove they're more than clever enough to understand and engage with it on a sincere level, but they don't because they don't want to because they're just salty!!!

In the end, it's all just fandom entitlement; Someone else compared Belos fans to those for Kylo Ren and Billy Hargroves and I can't un-see it now. The key difference is that the source material for Belos didn't bend over backwards to coddle and make everything about him; Which means canon didn't feed the beast, and that led to Belos fans not being as obnoxious as the aforementioned groups.

But their portrayal of this guy really is the same as people who put Kyle Ron in flower crowns. It's just this watered-down milquetoast dude they made up in their heads. And without any self-awareness they blame canon and the writers for not adhering to their personal RP headcanons for the character. These are the same people I've seen complain that the show didn't portray Belos' grief over murdering Luz, because it's the whole Oppenheimer effect where if we talk about white people's violence towards minorities, we always gotta make it about the white guy's angst and guilt while brushing past the actual victims and their feelings! Because you know what?

It's clear how much this fandom sleeps on Luz! She's such an incredibly compelling character, the show really is about her, and yet people sleep so much on her depth to talk about others! This is not exclusive to Belos fans, but I find them particularly symptomatic of this problem. Because again, we all know from fandom history (in addition to the explicit onscreen writing) that any claims of Luz not being interesting, or annoying, or flat, is just wrong; And even if it were somehow true, it's not as if that has ever stopped fandom before.

They'll see a female protagonist who is compassionate and say that nice characters are boring, unlike their guy; They'll see a problematic woman and call her an irredeemable bitch, while lamenting how nice characters are underrated and misunderstood as 'basic'. It's all the same. This kind of veers into my complaint about the fandom in general sleeping on Luz despite her being so fascinating, and it's abundantly clear that it's the racism and/or misogyny, maybe even ableism because intersectionality exists!!!

That's why you have people sweeping over Luz's trauma from Belos; They'll obsess over Hunter's because it's more 'intense' or whatever but again, that's never stopped anyone. People deeply understand, Belos fans especially, the psychological layers to Hunter's trauma and how Belos wormed his way inside his nephew's head... But with Luz, they just sorta dumb down their dynamic to whacky enemies on equal footing at times.

There isn't any of that same weight, that same appreciation, for how Luz suffered, and so there's none of the tact, none of the consideration of how they're portraying this, even in jokes or AUs; And that's why people have no problem with making Luz the bad guy for not understanding Belos, even though she did try, and got so terribly hurt for it. And she didn't even need to try to not owe Belos anything. It's why people make cutesy AUs where Belos is Luz's father figure, which is incredibly gross given everything Belos stands for and what he did to her; Because they just don't care about Luz's trauma, nor how gross and creepy Belos was to her. Because they don't care about Luz unless she can prop up Belos.

That's why you have comics taking a scene from Turning Red about a girl of color coming to a new understanding over her immigrant mother's pressures and expectations, and making it about Luz sympathizing with Belos. That's why you have people taking the heartbreaking moment between Camila and Luz in Yesterday's Lie, and making it about Philip and Caleb. It's why you have people insisting more on the parallels than what the two are opposite in, because they're oh so eager to mold Luz into Belos' (and Hunter’s, for that matter) platonic Manic Pixie Dream Girl, and then get angry and lash out at her when she doesn't fit their placid, palatable role; Just like Belos.

Seriously, Belos fans have a fucking victim complex and seem to genuinely think they're being subversive, oppressed underdogs for liking the violent white guy and writing essays about how he's actually femme-coded and neurodivergent and whatnot, and actually in deep pain and misery and needs guidance!!! They think they're oppressed for engaging with darker content and not for fandom racism and white favoritism and just being annoying, so then they come up with things like #BelosFansTakeOver like it's a fucking pride flag. They're Snape fans.

And as I've said before; A part of me was, earlier on, confused about all of the hype and energy. And I think people are drawn to that sort of energy because they see people having fun, and want to participate; So yes, I myself DID end up buying into it, at least a bit. Honestly I think I also had the problem of not fully letting go of my sympathetic Belos speculation, AKA what I personally wanted and not necessarily what fit the narrative the writers were going for; And so I ended up being a bit obtuse in misinterpreting some moments that are obvious in hindsight.

And I think it's partly because, again, the Belos fandom at the time still seemed so reasonable and chill, because they were still hinging on the expectation that their fixation would pay off, and thus had no reason (yet) to resent the show and its focus on Luz and co., and could even be charitable in their interpretation and portrayal of these characters; They liked Luz plenty until they blamed the show for throwing Belos under the bus for her sake, and then proceeded to do the fucking reverse.

And like. I DID actually consider why the finale was written the way it was, and apply that in reorganizing my understanding of Belos; Apologies if I'm patting myself on the back but like. It becomes so much more fun when you work with things. It's baffling because these people are more than willing to put in the thought for wondering why X is a thing with Belos, but it has to be in this way that flatters their blorbo that they demand.

And some of these people certainly seem chill at first, but again I think part of the reason for that is because, like a lot of stuff in regards to fandom racism and misogyny and the like, they don't really seem to register what they're doing as aggravating, so they aren't bothered by it. But even when they are being 'calm' and chill, the way they portray the show through their redemption AUs and whatnot just reveals how they think, because they might not be approaching from some place of intentional malice, but from a willful 'ignorance is bliss' perspective. They haven't been on the receiving end of these constant fandom issues and then wonder why people are getting so heated over something reflective of real-life biases, when fiction was supposed to be a reprieve from all that; So they just act like it’s fandom stans needing to go touch grass.

So these fans come across as soft and comfort-oriented, and then in the same breath express concern over what a terrible person Luz is or whatever without any awareness, because some people are just way too lax about their fandom bigotry. Sorry but if you actually cared about these characters and their themes, you would realize that Camila would rightfully have only murder in mind towards the man who physically and emotionally scarred her daughter, and Masha -whose sole justified takeaway from the Wittebane story was that Philip just fucking sucks- wouldn't tolerate Belos' crap.

And you know what also really fucking sucks? I actually really enjoy Belos as a character and narrative, always have and still do; So it's agonizing to see people get him so wrong, in addition to everything else. In theory, I don't mind the concept of liking Belos, and there are still some people I'm chill with over this! But holy hell I've seen so many Belos fans and Belos fans particularly post all sorts of madness, to the point where I've developed this Pavlovian association between Belos fandom and psychic damage.

If someone likes Wittebros it's pretty much all they post/reblog about. I instinctively brace myself every time I come across such a blog, and I often end up being proven right. It used to be a part of the fandom I could enjoy but now it just feels so hostile towards canon’s themes and celebration, and it’s aggravating when people try to portray the fandom’s callout of this behavior as ‘both sides’ being toxic when what we’re discussing is fandom racism and misogyny, as well as a general refusal to engage with themes that contributes in a negative feedback loop to poor reading comprehension.

I guess I'm so passionate because I've been holding onto these grievances for so long, keeping it bottled for the sake of keeping the peace, but now I'm just tired so why the hell not? It's all reflective of my issues with fandom in general so it's still relevant even if you don't care for TOH. Maybe I should devote my energy into something more useful, I dunno. But as I said, I guess this whole thing is just reflective of societal bigotry and biases, and the lack of reading comprehension as a whole. At least I got the chance to vent!