#and I actually have no clue how old he's supposed to be in show!canon

[she-posts-nerdy-stuff]

Six of Crows fan-written Script

Thanks to everyone who voted in the poll to see if you guys wanted to keep this going!! 🖤

Hi, so in true me style I still haven't got around to organising these posts into scene breakdowns so this is the next part of episode 1 scene 5, I'm hoping that I can get the end of scene 5 out in the next post and then from that point forwards I'll be able to post it scene by scene. I hope that makes sense.

Same reminder as usual: I'm trying to be as true to the books as possible whilst also matching Show!canon but I've also taken the occasional bit of artistic licence as to how I would imagine producing the show myself, for example inserting my personal headcanon about Anya in the opening scene of episode one. Also, I have never written a script before so the formatting is my own made-up method; if it doesn't make sense please let me know and I'll adapt it :)

Side note: Would it be helpful for me to make a masterlist with links to the parts I've already posted?

Recap since it's been a while - Kaz is with Van Eck at the Hoede house and is holding a knife to the merch's throat when Mika walks through the wall, frightening Kaz because he thinks he's hallucinating from a drug Van Eck has given him

EPISODE ONE SCENE FIVE (PART 2)

KAZ: What the hell is this?

VAN ECK: Let me go and I’ll explain

KAZ: You can explain right where you are

VAN ECK: What you’re seeing are the effects of jurda parem

KAZ: Jurda’s just a stimulant. It’s harmless

VAN ECK: Ordinary jurda, yes. Jurda parem is completely different - and most definitely not harmless

KAZ: So you did drug me?

VAN ECK: Not you, mister Brekker. Mika

[KAZ turns and looks at MIKA. The camera moves slowly up the Tidemaker’s figure; his hands are trembling, the dark circles beneath his eyes are pronounced, and his kefta is slightly ill-fitting as though he has lost a lot of weight since it was last altered]

VAN ECK: Jurda parem is a cousin to ordinary jurda - from the same plant. We aren’t sure of the production process, but a sample was sent to the Merchant Council by a scientist named Bo Yul-Bayurr

KAZ: Shu?

VAN ECK: Yes. He wished to defect, so he sent the sample to prove his claims regarding the drug’s extraordinary effects - Please, mister Brekker, this is a most uncomfortable position. If you’d like, I can give you a pistol and we can sit and discuss this in a more civilised fashion

KAZ: A pistol and my cane

[VAN ECK gestures to one of the stadwatch guards by the door, who leaves briefly and returns with KAZ’s cane]

KAZ: Pistol first. Slowly

[The guard unholsters his own gun and hands it to KAZ by the grip. KAZ grabs the gun and cocks it in one swift movement, then releases VAN ECK and throws the letter opener onto the desk before snatching his cane from the guard’s hand. He is immediately more comfortable. VAN ECK paces backwards and KAZ moves slowly towards the window]

VAN ECK: That cane is quite a piece of hardware, Mr Brekker. Is it Fabrikator made?

KAZ: None of your business. Get talking, Van Eck

VAN ECK: When Bo Yul-Bayur sent us the sample of jurda parem, we tested it on three Grisha - one from each order. 

KAZ: Happy volunteers?

VAN ECK: Indentures. The first two were a Fabrikator and a Healer indentured to Councilman Hoede,

[KAZ frowns; he recalls hearing the name recently but cannot remember why]

and Mika is a Tidemaker. He’s mine. You’ve seen what he can do using the drug.

KAZ: I don’t know what I’ve seen.

[KAZ looks back at MIKA, and the camera follows his gaze. MIKA is focused intently on VAN ECK as though he is unaware of anything else in the room, his expression one of desperation]

VAN ECK: An ordinary Tidemaker can control currents, summon water or moisture from the air, or a nearby source. They manage the tides in our harbours. But under the influence of parem, a Tidemaker can alter their own state from solid, to liquid, to gas and back again and do the same with other objects - even a wall.

[KAZ frowns. He isn’t convinced, but he has no other explanation for what he’s seen]

KAZ: How?

VAN ECK: It’s hard to say. You’re aware of the amplifiers some Grisha wear?

KAZ: I’ve seen them - animal bones, and such. I hear they’re hard to come by.

VAN ECK: Very. But they only increase a Grisha’s power. Jurda parem alters a Grisha’s perception.

KAZ: So?

VAN ECK: Grisha manipulate matter at its most fundamental metals - they call it the Small Science. Under the influence of parem, those manipulations become faster and far more precise. In theory jurda parem is just a stimulant like its ordinary cousin, but it seems to sharpen and hone a Grisha’s senses. Things become possible that simply shouldn’t be. 

KAZ: What does it do to sorry sobs like you and me?

[VAN ECK is marginally offended to be aligned with KAZ]

VAN ECK: It’s lethal. An ordinary mind cannot tolerate parem in even the lowest doses.

KAZ: You said you gave it to three Grisha. What can the others do?

VAN ECK: Here

[He begins to open one of his desk drawers and KAZ raises his pistol slightly]

KAZ: Easy

[VAN ECK opens the drawer with exaggerated slowness and pulls out a lump of gold the size of his palm]

VAC ECK: This started as lead.

KAZ: Like hell it did.

[VAN ECK shrugs]

VAN ECK: I can only tell you what I saw. The Fabrikator took a piece of lead in his hands, and moments later we had this.

KAZ: How do you even know it's real?

VAN ECK: It was the same melting point as gold, the same weight, the same malleability. If it’s not identical to gold in every way the difference has eluded us.

[He holds it out for KAZ to take]

VAN ECK: Have it tested, if you like. 

[KAZ inspects the gold for a moment, then slips it into his pocket. He’s decided that even if it's an imitation, it's convincing enough for him to find it a purpose]

KAZ: You could’ve gotten that anywhere.

VAN ECK: I would bring you Hoede’s Fabrikator here to show you himself, but he isn’t well.

[KAZ glances at MIKA again, and the camera once more notes his sickly pallor and the dark circles beneath his eyes]

KAZ: Let’s say this is all real and not cheap coin trick magic. What does it have to do with me?

VAN ECK: Perhaps you heard of the Shu paying off the entirety of their debt to Kerch with a sudden influx of gold? The assassination of the trade ambassador from Novyi Zem? The theft of documents from a military base in Ravka?

[KAZ nods. He is glad to know the secret of the Zemeni Ambassador’s death and remembers JESPER talking about the three Shu ships filled with gold. Although he has heard nothing of the Ravkan documents, he doesn’t want VAN ECK to know that and so acts as if he is more than aware]

VAN ECK: We believe that all of these occurrences are the work of Grisha under the control of the Shu government and under the influence of jurda parem. Mr Brekker, I want you to think for a moment about what I’m telling you: Men who can walk through walls. No vault or fortress will ever be safe again. People who can make gold from lead - or anything else for that matter - who can alter the very material of the world. Financial markets will be thrown into chaos, the world economy would collapse.

KAZZ: Very exciting. What is it you want from me, Van Eck? To steal a shipment? The formula?

VAN ECK: No. I want you to steal the man.

KAZ: Kidnap Bo Yul-Bayur?

VAN ECK: Save him. A month ago we received a message from Yul-Bayur begging for asylum, he was concerned about his government’s plans for jurda parem, and we agreed to help him defect. We set up a rendez-vous, but there was a skirmish at the drop point.

KAZ: With the Shu?

VAN ECK: With Fjerdans.

[KAZ raises an eyebrow - the Fjerdans must have spies deep in Shu Han or Kerch, or both]

VAN ECK: The diplomatic situation is somewhat delicate, and it is essential that our government not be tied to Yul-Bayur in any way.

KAZ: You have to know he’s probably dead. Fjerdans hate Grisha; there’s no way they’d let knowledge of this drug get out.

VAN ECK: Our sources say he’s very much alive and that he’s awaiting trial.

[VAN ECK clears his throat]

VAN ECK: At the Ice Court.

[KAZ stares at him for a moment, then bursts out laughing]

KAZ: Well, it’s been a pleasure being knocked unconscious and taken caprice by you Van Eck - you can assure your hospitality will be repaid when the time is right. Have one of your lackeys show me to the door.

VAN ECK: We’re prepared to offer you five million kruge.

[KAZ pockets the stadwatch officer’s pistol. He is no longer afraid for his life, but he’s furious to have had his time wasted so tremendously]

KAZ: This may come as a surprise to you, Van Eck, but we canal rats value our lives just as much as you do yours.

VAN ECK: Ten million.

KAZ: There’s no point to a fortune I won’t be alive to spend. Where’s my hat? Did your Tidemaker leave it behind in the alley?

[KAZ begins to walk towards the door and the camera follows behind him]

VAN ECK: Twenty.

[KAZ pauses, and slowly lifts his head - an image mimicking that of season one of Shadow and Bone when he heard the offer of one million kruge. He turns slowly to face VAN ECK]

INEJ voiceover, a reminder of what she told him in Scene Three: Greed is your god, Kaz.

KAZ: Twenty million kruge?

KAz voicover from Scene Three: Greed bows to me. 

[VAN ECK nods, but he doesn’t look happy about having raised the offer so much higher]

KAZ: I’d need to convince a team to walk into a suicide mission - that doesn’t come cheap.

VAN ECK: Twenty million kruge is hardly cheap.

KAZ: The Ice Court has never been breached. 

VAN ECK: That’s why we need you, Mr Brekker. It’s possible Bo Yul-Bayur is already dead, or that he’s given up his secrets to Fjerdans, but we think we have at least a little time to act before jurda parem is put into play. 

KAZ: If the Shu have the formula-

VAN ECK: Yul-Bayur claimed he’d managed to keep the specifics secret - we believe they’re limiting from whatever limited supply he left behind. 

[KAZ has already started thinking about the job, and who he’ll need on his team - and what he’ll be able to do with the money. He pauses, and frowns]

KAZ: Why me? Why the Dregs? There are more experienced crews out there.

[MIKA has a sudden coughing fit, and VAN ECK helps him into a chai and offers him his handkerchief. He snaps his fingers at one of the guards]

VAN ECK: Some water

[The guard exits]

[celaenaeiln]

Nothing in Batman comics is canon because it’s literally 90% fanfiction written after the actual creators stopped writing the characters.

anon it doesn't work that way.

By that logic, practically noone exists because the original writer of Batman, Bob Kane and Bill Finger, only created Bruce, Dick, Alfred, and the villains gallery. That's it.

No Barbara, no Jason, no Tim, no Damian, Steph, Cass, Duke, Lucius, Tim Fox, Kate, Talia - there's no one then.

But suppose we go back on that statement and say 'well actually, the creators of new characters', which still doesn't make sense but let's go with that. Then major plots wouldn't happen. Because Max Allan Collins and Chris Warner created Jason Todd but Judd Winick is the one who brought him back to life. Marv Wolfman and Pat Broderick created Tim Drake but Alan Grant wrote a lot of the Robin comic and Batman comic characterization for him.

It's physically impossible to say that just because other people continued the series, the comics can't be taken seriously.

Comics are the source material. Of which fanfics are based on.

The Star Trek and Star Wars book series are written by multiple different authors but that doesn't mean that what's written doesn't happen or isn't true or is wrong. The 39 Clues and Doctor Who series are the same deal.

Batman comics are canon. Because if only the works of the original authors of Batman were to be considered canon, then practically everyone in the Batman universe doesn't exist/doesn't matter. Because they're just fanfic then.

But this idea doesn't just stop at the Batman fandom anymore because every comic was written this way. The people in Superfam? Gone. Flashfam? Gone. Arrowfam? Gone. Like this logic doesn't just apply to Batman, it applies to virutally every character in the existence of DC.

The beauty of comics is seeing how the next writer will continue the story. Sometimes they're right, sometimes they need tweaking, and sometimes they're wrong although that's usually very rare.

The problem with fandom's view on comic writing is the belief that whatever the authors create must match our perspective of the characters. That's wrong. Their characterization is what we should be adding on/building on to our perspective of the characters. Unless there is something so wrong, something so illogical, that it must be noted because that character has never acted that way before, then we must discard or critisize a comic.

Comics develop. Characters develop. Each writer brings something new and adds a layer of depth to each character they write about. That's how we get new interactions, new relationships, new sides that make each character interesting.

Take the original Dick Grayson comic and his intro to Robin

Detective Comics (1937) Issue #38

Dick originally wanted to go to the police. He had no intention of going after Tony Zucco but Bruce is the one who demands they go after him together by themselves!

I love this version created by Bob Kane and Bill Finger, but I also love the version created by a completely different author where Dick decides to stake out Zucco on his own. Both versions show different sides of him and authors sometimes even choose which one they want to include. Some have gone with this version where Dick tries to go to the police before being interrupted by Bruce and others have gone with the second, more famous version. But neither of them are bad and you can't say that the one where Dick goes after Tony Zucco is fanfiction. It's canon. If it's written in comics, it happened unless there's some disastrous, glaring contradiction.

You have to understand, these comics - especially Dick and Bruce's - are nearly 100 years old. Dick, and it's wild to think about this, existed before even the Justice League did. Wonder Woman, Green Arrow, and Aquaman were all created after him. If the orginial writers stopped writing, and noone picked it up, there would be no Justice League and that's a problem because the Justice League is one of the foundations of the DC comics.

So much has changed in a century and new writers constantly come in to show that change. That's why comics after the original writers finish writing are still canon and important. The original characterizations of all these major players were all super peppy and cheerful before new writers added angst and drama to their backstories. Bruce and Dick used to laugh and grin when they went crime fighting with no sadness or anger or other emotions. It wasn't until a couple decades later where writers started writing that in which is how we get the grim avenger Batman today.

Here's the third point to why they're relevant even though they're written by new authors: the passage of time in real life, is included in canon comics characterizations.

One comic talks about Dick discussing the Joker and he says, "at the beginning, it was just all fun and games. He would cause problems but at the end of the day it was a game. But one day, things went too far. People got shot. That day, the Joker changed. He was darker and evil. It wasn't games anymore."

This comic panel talks about the Golden Age to now, the progression and development of characters.

The comics and reality are inseparable because reality is literally written in. The works of writers after the orignal ones aren't arbitrary or some whimsical thing.

It's very different from fanfiction because fanfiction has no need to stick to the truth or canon characterization but these comic writers do because they have an obligation to do so. The only problem they might have is accidentally focusing too much on one aspect of a character and neglecting the other parts but almost none of them are way off the mark.

So no, for the sake of characterization, personality development, plot events, and new interactions, all comics are extremely important and definitely canon. Us readers might have different opinions and thoughts on them but it's irrelevant in the face of the fact that the comics are the only truth to which we can base our interpretations on.

[raisedbythetv89]

excuse the ranting here but just had someone try and argue that a fully evil literally on the hunt for the Slayer (bc he’s stalking his PREY to fight and hopefully kill) Spike - finding Buffy attractive (according to an interview James gave where he talks about that moment and said he embodied the kinds of predatory men who literally are “on the hunt” for real life women in bars) as anywhere NEAR the same level of creepiness as a SOULFUL aka SUPPOSED TO BE GOOD angel stalking and falling in love at the sight of an innocent and crying 15 year old Buffy….

Anti spike/spuffy ppl always try and use that interview to make Spike out to be “just as creepy” as Angel which is always just so embarrassing to me that they don’t grasp the basic difference between one was the most evil and literally is a predator to her prey but buffy is also a predator to spike’s kind so there is even still a balance of power between them even then and he’s literally just explaining how he played the scene to get the attitude and body language right as a predator bc he understands that’s what Spike is to Buffy at that time (literally had zero clue he would ever be a love interest of Buffy’s). And the other who is not supposed to be a predator anymore…. hides his identity as a vampire AND hides the fact that he’s been watching her for over a year is still acting as a predator but instead of stalking an experienced slayer to attempt to fight and kill he is stalking a freshly called still weak and vulnerable slayer who he wants to sleep with aka corrupt.

Angel is supposed to be GOOD yet is still acting like a predator. Spike IS EVIL and so is simply acting as someone who has killed two slayers should 💀💀💀💀 the fact that soulless evil Spike and soulful “good” Angel’s behavior can be compared AT ALL is bad for angel and angel alone bc spike is supposed to be evil and treating buffy as someone he is hunting and as an opponent. Angel is supposed to be HELPING Buffy….

But regardless of all that the argument is James said Sarah is beautiful so of course he played up that angle as well so canonically Spike thinks a 16 year old Buffy is pretty and these people really don’t understand the difference between the two 😭😭

First of all I personally have heard Sarah call herself “not the prettiest” at least 10 times in 10 different interviews - how often do you think the people in her life heard her make jokes or comments about her appearance??? To me that always seemed like James just paying a compliment to his costar who doesn’t understand how literally fucking STUNNING she is by basically being like HAVE YOU SEEN HER OF COURSE MY CHARACTER THINKS SHE’S PRETTY LOOK AT HER!! James literally rizzed his way into a main character and love interest like of course he’s gonna be charming in real life by paying compliments to everyone he can every chance he gets. He had sex appeal and a dream AND IT WORKED 💀 and we also see him have chemistry with practically every person on the show that’s just who he is 😹😹😹

But I also just cannot emphasize how much of a difference there is between finding someone attractive or thinking they’re beautiful vs actually ACTING on it and ESPECIALLY acting on it when you call her friend of the same age “just a kid” and say over and over again how wrong it is and that she’s too young AND THEN DO IT ANYWAY. Like it’s a supernatural show with vampires who are 100 & 200+ years old if angel hadn’t constantly acted like her dad and treated Buffy like a kid and everything is season 3 didn’t happen there could be sooooooo much more leniency with angel and buffy’s age differences and I probably wouldn’t care bc applying irl rules to the supernatural doesn’t make a lot of sense but angel always treats her like a child and says over and over again how wrong it is and THAT is what makes it a problem within this supernatural show bc Spike never treats her like a child or like she isn’t his equal ever no matter what age she is

But unfortunately it makes sense people who like a character whose main personality trait is !catholic guilt! (when he’s got a soul) don’t understand the difference between thoughts and actions and how we should only be defining ourselves and other people by their actions. Because we are not every single thought we’ve ever had both good and bad. If you think to do good things but don’t that does not make you good and if you think to do bad things but don’t that does not make you bad.

So evil Spike thinking a beautiful Buffy dancing with her friends is hot at 16 is not even CLOSE to the same as a supposed to be good angel activity pursuing a relationship with her by breadcrumbing the absolute fuck out of her, manipulating her like crazy and lying to her about practically everything and flirting with her under false pretenses after falling in love at the sight of her looking like a child with her lollipop on the school steps at 15 and then watching her cry in the bathroom mirror as he watches her from the bushes with a smile on his face and hope in his eyes and if you don’t understand that there is literally nothing I can do or say to help you

[midnight-in-town]

Frances Midford : The Mentor, a summary

To follow with my post about fighting against misinformation, here’s a first topic. 

Ciel’s remaining aunt is often viewed by the fandom as a mean lady who doesn’t care, because of a) all the mysteries around the family that Ciel doesn’t know about and b) the use of comic relief in Kuroshitsuji often used to hide some relevant clues, as previously demonstrated in this post. This is actually far from what her character really is about and I intend to demonstrate it now with a (long) recap post. 

I have talked about Frances a lot in the past, about her caring about our!Ciel and about her possibly knowing, like Tanaka, that he was lying about his identity. While the former is undeniably true, the latter is still up for debate. [X][X][X][X] However, with the upcoming adaptation of the Weston arc (probably) in 2024, I don’t want the old discourse to come back, so without further ado...

What Yana has said about Frances’ character

Besides our!Ciel, Frances is the last remaining Phantomhive (not counting real!Ciel as a BD). She’s Vincent’s younger sister, they both have the same parents (that is to say Claudia P and Cedric K. Ros) and she married out of the family (implying that maybe the Phantomhives have distant relatives still alive), becoming Lady Midford. 

According to Yana, Frances takes after their dad while Vincent takes after their mom and the same is true for her kids, meaning Ed takes after her (thus takes after his maternal grandfather) while Liz takes after Alexis. 

As far as her relationship with our!Ciel is concerned, here’s what Yana said in the guidebook : “Frances' strength of character is why Sebastian chose her as a role model Ciel should follow”. Since her relationship with Lizzie is sometimes also viewed negatively, I’d like to add that both in the guidebook and on twitter, Yana said that “Liz thinks her mom is kind and strong so she looks up to her mom as a role model she aspires to become”, hence the similar hair style.

TL;DR Yana’s overall description of Frances is that a) she’s kind and strong which is why b) she’s Lizzie’s role model, as well as the role model Sebastian thinks our!Ciel should follow.

Now that this is established, here’s what the canon story gives us, to illustrate Yana’s words. Spoilers for the entire manga series and long read below the cut.

Frances’ introduction

Frances is introduced in ch14 and, boy, what a generally misunderstood chapter by some parts of the fandom. xDD

Contextually, ch14 is Ciel’s birthday, meaning it is also the anniversary of the massacre of the previous household and Madam Red just died, after trying to kill him. For those who might wonder, the guidebook confirmed that our!Ciel was quite saddened by Ann’s death (obviously), so really, what a fun 13th birthday in perspective. Cue Liz and Frances. 

The comments on her strength aside, Frances’ introduction is otherwise often misread as her nagging being inappropriate but I beg to differ. As mentioned by @akumadeenglish​ and @chibimyumi​, Yana is Japanese author who likes to explore writing tropes in depth. Though it’s also important to remember that, before the curry arc, Yana didn’t know how long the series would run so everything had less intent, because the story was initially supposed to end quickly.

In other words, Frances’ introduction really is initially to be read as the severe mother-in-law (based on Japanese comical stereotypes) coming to check on how he handles his household, which is why Seb is so stressed out when everything goes bonkers. But that’s only the surface. 

Most importantly though, Frances showed up because it is Ciel’s birthday and, as said above, there’s a lot of negative and dreadful memories associated with this day. So...

...let’s change his mind, shall we? 

Phantomhives love games and Frances is a Phantomhive too, the last one besides our!Ciel, so she knows her nephew and chooses an activity she knew he wouldn’t be able to resist. 

Ch14 also introduces two important facts that are still relevant as plot points, especially as far as the Blue Revenge arc is concerned. The first one is that our!Ciel protected Lizzie from that bear, so Frances said she owes him. 

Secondly, as stated by Frances herself, she knows the ropes of the “game” (aka acting as the Watchdog) better than our!Ciel (”you’ve still got a decade to go before you can even think of winning against me”). 

In fact, like our!Ciel with real!Ciel, Frances was probably raised as Vincent’s spare [X][X], but compared to our!Ciel who knew next to nothing about his father’s real job until 3 years ago (at the time of ch14), Frances is an experienced veteran...

And that’s why Seb chose her as a role model for our!Ciel.

Therefore it is my opinion that ch14, despite being written back when Sensei didn’t know how long the series would be published, is still relevant as heck when it comes to Frances’ role in the series, aka acting as a mentor for our!Ciel (and for Lizzie, as Yana also stated). Kuroshitsuji is a slow story though, with a lot of build up and it’s why some fans still fail to see how significant Frances is to the plot and to our!Ciel’s development. 

Campania arc

Liz is the one who comes to ask our!Ciel to come with her whole family (thus introducing Alexis and Edward) on a cruise, but it’s also very important to note that she conveyed that Frances thought that our!Ciel should take time off of work:

This led some of us fans to theorize that maybe Tanaka used to send updates to Frances about our!Ciel’s wellbeing and how he fared as the Watchdog: the timing of the cruise works well with Frances’ remark, considering that the Queen just sent Charles Grey as a merry punishment for Ciel’s deeds during the Circus arc. 

This arc mostly highlights Frances’ bravery and strength : she didn’t hesitate to fight for countless of passengers unrelated to her (something that UT said isn’t very typical of Phantomhives, during Weston)...

More importantly, we finally get into Lizzie’s personal motivations and we indeed have the confirmation that...

...Frances is a big key to Lizzie’s strength, confirming the role model/mentor position that she holds in Lizzie’s eyes. I’d like to also point out that Frances completely trusts in her daughter’s abilities, which highlights a very positive mother/daughter dynamic.

Lizzie’s flashback gives us this very important bit...

...a part that’s unfortunately often overlooked by the fans complaining that Frances is too severe with our!Ciel and Lizzie. This scene however makes way more sense once we find out, after the Weston arc, that Frances lost her mother Claudia (the Watchdog before Vincent) when she was probably about 12 or 13 years old (Vincent being 15 years old then). 

To me, this is a big explanation as to why Frances is as serious about training as she is:

Indeed, she lost at least her mom (and later her brother) so, since her daughter is betrothed to the future Watchdog, she wants Liz to be strong enough to survive. All I see in the former panel is a mother saddened by the burden on her child’s shoulder and desperate to imagine that she will be exposed to a lot of danger as an adult. 

Side point there, but it’s likely there’s a very relevant reason Frances’ only daughter was betrothed to Vincent’s heir when they were young kids. We’ll dive into it later, but I believe the answer is tied to the Phantomhive lineage introduced in ch103. 

Lastly, our!Ciel’s flashback also gave us another important bit to explore...

...which is that our!Ciel directly applies what Frances once told him to his current path for revenge: 

Also note the allusion again to Vincent “losing the game”, creating a parallel with Frances telling our!Ciel in ch14 that “he still has a decade to go before he can even think of winning against her”, because he has a lot to learn from her, especially since even he admits that he knows next to nothing about his own family.

The previous spare teaching the spare. How fitting. :D

Weston arc

Even if Frances only appears in this arc during the cricket game, I think there is a lot to be deduced from it. First, I’ve said it long ago and I’ll say it again: I strongly believe Frances played a part into Vincent’s victory during the first blue miracle.

Mind you, Tanaka basically confirmed that Vincent cheated to win (since he knew what Seb and Ciel were up to) and I could totally see Vincent asking his strong little sister to crossdress in order to destroy the Green team. xDD Besides, she certainly seems uneasy whenever the topic is brought up and she also wasn’t fooled by Ciel’s act when he won, haha!

This is silly, but this shows (imo) that Frances and Vincent had a good sibling dynamic, with Frances supporting her brother as the Watchdog as much as she could, which is heartwarming because this means Frances would have no reason not to support her brother’s sons after his death. 

Tanaka (who, according to Yana, was already in the household taking care of Vincent and Frances as children) and Frances happily dancing together at the end of the tournament also confirms this. Vincent and Frances having a strong sibling bond would also explain why, despite Claudia’s death, Frances would agree to the betrothal between Lizzie and Vincent’s heir (and would keep it that way, even after Vincent’s death).

All that to say, I’m sure the cricket game confirmed to Frances how similar our!Ciel is to Vincent on some aspects (the second blue miracle attests to that), which probably makes him somewhat predictable (and reassuring?) to her.

One thing that I also believe is important is Ed’s mini flashback during the game. On this topic, Yana has said that she couldn’t draw his backstory in detail, so she’ll probably expand on that in the future, which makes me think that there is some foreshadowing in there. 

TBH I think it’s ironic that Ed would consider himself as “ordinary”, considering the whole lineage thing introduced one arc later. xDD But also, if we consider that the tale of Vincent’s first blue miracle is supposed to hint that Vincent and Frances were close as siblings, it’s nice that Ed, who takes after his mom the most, would also have his own flashback about loving and looking up to his sister a lot, despite his small inferiority complex. Considering that Liz sees their mom as her role model though, I guess that means Ed also sees his mom as a role model (though the Campania arc already made that pretty clear). 

During the Weston arc, Frances also managed to surprise Sebastian, both by recognizing him (lol) and by stopping him despite his intent to leave, which is, according to the demon himself, no small feat: 

Like the usual nagging she does towards Seb though, it’s played for laugh, but as introduced in this post, I believe overused comic relief is a way to foreshadow some hints and we’ll dive into it with the next arc. 

Last but not least, during this arc UT commented that our!Ciel was different from his ancestors when he willingly put himself in danger to save Joanne...

...but as presented during the Campania arc, it seems it’s a trait he shares at least with his aunt, furthering the parallels between them and the fact that she would definitely make a good mentor for our!Ciel, because they’re quite alike and can probably understand each other. 

Green Witch arc

The only relevant part of this arc with Frances’ character is the introduction of a special lineage in the Phantomhive family by German Shinigamis...

...something that might explain why our!Ciel was able to notice them, when even Seb didn’t. So this begs the question: who else in his family shares this lineage? And obviously, Frances and her kids might !

My personal opinion is that the lineage thing is old and is probably why the Phantomhive family became the Watchdogs, many generations ago. But also, if our!Ciel can notice Shinigamis thanks to it, could it explain why Frances was able to detect and catch Seb during opening ceremony before the cricket game at Weston? And why she always nags him about his appearance (both hair and face)? That remains to be confirmed, but...

...at the very least Bravat in the recent arc confirmed that some gifted people like himself can “sense” that demons are different. Just like animals [x][x], apparently. Bravat is irrelevant besides being a small scale villain though, so I take it as a hint for a more plot significant character, such as Frances, whose nagging behavior towards Seb is way too overused as comic relief anyway. 

The lineage thing is yet one more family topic on which Frances probably has answers to give to our!Ciel (the only other people who might know about it being Tanaka and UT). 

Bonus : if what Vincent said below about strong-willed women in the family line (from a side story “With Father”) is a hint towards the lineage thing...

...then it’s probably why Vincent wanted Lizzie to be betrothed to his heir in the first place and why Frances agreed. 

Blue sect & blue revenge arcs

I already mentioned that Bravat’s innate ability to recognize Seb as a demon was a hint that other characters, like Frances, might be able to guess that Seb is a demon as well, so moving on to ch151 :

This chapter confirms that UT has known Frances since she was very young (which is a hint to the UT = Cedric theory of course), which also explains why, knowing about her strength, UT went on with the whole BD massacre on the Campania despite the presence of our!Ciel and the Midfords on board. 

Also, while this chapter neither confirms nor denies if Frances knew about our!Ciel lying about his identity (like Tanaka and UT did), she didn’t show anger nor disbelief about the situation, just her incomprehension.  

More than anything, this chapter strongly hints that our!Ciel will at some point seek his aunt for a talk before the final confrontation with UT and real!Ciel, because both are seeking answers to their different questions (our!Ciel needs to find out about UT & his grandmother and the lineage thing, while Frances will want to know what’s the deal between the twins). Speaking of which, a talk between Lizzie and Frances is probably also in order, before Lizzie can choose our!Ciel’s side again.

Lastly, ch151 hinted that Frances doesn’t fully believe that real!Ciel’s return is “natural”...

...and, i mean, why would she? She faced the Bizarre Dolls on the Campania and, for all we know, Edward told her how the Weston arc ended so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ considering that UT has been involved every time, the Midfords probably aren’t far from connecting the dots about real!Ciel being already dead. 

To sum up !

Outside of the narrative, Yana said that Frances was Lizzie’s role model and that Seb also wanted her to be the model our!Ciel should follow. And, in my opinion, the entire series so far (as I tried to present in this post) is slowly building up to that because :

our!Ciel and Frances are very similar: both the spares & both survived their parents’ and brothers’ death 

both saved folks unrelated to them despite being Phantomhives, meaning that they are a bit alike and can understand each other

our!Ciel literally built his path of revenge following the advice Frances told him about how to counterattack an opponent

Again, to understand who targeted his family, our!Ciel needs to find out about his grandmother, about the lineage and about why his dad had to be killed amongst other things. The only people who can answer him are UT, Tanaka and Frances. 

I believe UT and Tanaka are more connected to Claudia, but also both are by real!Ciel’s side for now, making them less accessible for a talk. This leaves Frances for the time being and, as Vincent’s sister and Claudia’s daughter, it seems appropriate that answers would be coming from her. 

Also, in shonen series, usually the hero(es) have a mentor figure who will help them “unlock their potential” through training. Kuroshitsuji is not your usual shonen and I doubt our!Ciel can become better at fighting lmao, but Frances can certainly help him better appreciate the massive scale he’s bound to face when seeking his revenge. Especially if it all goes back to events from 3 generations ago and a worldbuilding full of supernatural elements, as well as a world war he doesn’t entirely comprehend yet. 

Frances acting as a mentor/role model for her own kids also foreshadows that they’ll follow our!Ciel on his journey and, like him, they’ll definitely need her wisdom/knowledge to be able to reach the necessary level for survival by his side.

As to when all that is going to happen, well, I’d say Frances will probably take on a more active role in the plot when, to quote Seb in ch14, "[our!Ciel] will overconfidently believe that he cannot lose and that it will be necessary for him to carry himself with humility while striving for his goal". Because by then, "an adult who will be firm with him is what he'll need". 

If that doesn’t foreshadow the current conflict between the twins, I don’t know what does. xD

Thanks for reading!! As always, let me know if I’ve forgotten anything !

[weirdly-specific-but-ok]

sometimes i think about the fact that thru u (and rather indirectly through myself) i’m technically only one degree of separation from the actual real neil gaiman. my eleventh grade english teacher would be fangirling so bad right now. but he hasn’t answered any of my emails in the past two months so i fear the 7th graders may have eaten him.

anyway. that’s not at all the point of this.

the point is. my point. is. i read good omens five days before you somehow got stuck in this fandom. i have also never watched the tv show. who the heck is this muriel. why is there ice cream. what is going on. where are my four other horsemen off the apocalypse.

anyway. in summary. hello from the direct opposite but parallel half of the fandom. it’s been a doozy trying to keep up with things and maybe maybe maybe i’ll finally cave and watch the show. until then-

“actually, it was bloody beautiful.”

Hello anon maggot! Well, yes, I suppose that is true...? I remember back in the middle of Jan one of my mutuals said they were mutuals-in-law now with Neil. I'm afraid I have no bloody clue about how mutual culture actually works on tumblr.

I've nearly been two months on here now, but my, uh, vaguely downwards saunter on this hellsite doesn't seem to be the norm. Add to that the fact that during my first summaries of Good Omens, during the first week of Jan, I was questioning whether Neil was fictional or not.

Yeaaaaaah my life's always kinda strange I've learned to roll with it by now. I hope your (former?) English teacher has not, in fact, been eaten by 7th graders. Unless he was a tool, in which case, I hope they feasted on his mortal frame. I'm hoping that since he's a Neil fan he was not a tool and has not been consumed for sustenance by 12 year olds.

The ice cream is a brief scene in the first season, it's an easter egg for the plotline of Sadie and Dottie's whirlwind romance in season 2. I don't think that was included in the book, probably not, because they're actually a nod to characters in one of Terry Pratchett's novels I believe. Their romance is honestly the cutest, to the point that Neil resorted to using ridiculous plot threads of them to ward off people asking for S3 spoilers. But their canon romance, I mean, it's just insane. Muriel is an angel in season 2, they officiate the Sadie-Dottie union. I think they're a scrivener.

Absolutely bloody watch the show it's amazing. Really. It broke me and healed me in the best way and I need to rewatch the first season without the chaos of being newly kidnapped.

Hello to your side of the fandom from the dubiously elected official good omens mascot!! I'm terrified of reading the book because of how every time I see Crowley's name I get emotional, so it's currently sitting by me on my desk till I gain some pretence of stability (it's not possible for show fans to ever have real stability).

[teeth-cable]

Im the CSA victim from UniformedArtists blog and I agree with you 1000% dropping everything Vivziepop.

Like I only watch Helluva even after the shit she's done to see how far it would sink but jesus christ.

You know her just saying the counselor is 18-19 isn't fucking good enough because the show says a different thing.

Like before people bring up the argument counselors can be adults... Most TV shows in media actually have minor counselors and we know Vivziepop doesn't research shit about hell or actual royalty so why the fuck am I supposed to believe Adam or her researched counselor age ranges.

Also nobody should have a twitter to figure out if you did or didn't make a grooming subplot.

You know in Curse of Strahd there's a controversial character Gertruda who 50 (500) year old Strahd is implied to planning take as another bride because of where you find her and in the book it states she's recently a teenager. However as much as I hate this plot line due to trauma I understand why it was added because WOTC portrays Strahd as a piece of shit. Like his goal is to chase down the reincarnation of his brother's fiance throughout time until he catches her, makes her a vampire and possibly brainwash/assault her to make her love him. Strahd is meant to be a gross creep. I as a DM and many other age Gertruda up to 18 because we don't want a pedo plot line and it keeps the predatory nature of Strahd intact.

Barbie seems to be portrayed in a significantly more positive light and her grooming behavior is never called out as a bad thing. Like Moxxie should say something at god damn least since he has morals.

There are so many things wrong with the EP. What gets me is writing has multiple stages, first the person needs to come up with the EP pitch, get the directer or network's approval, finish the first draft, then revisit it for grammar mistakes and continuity, then revise it a few more times for a stronger script, and send it to the directer or network again to approve of filming the finish script and that's not even counting how long animation takes too. So during the process of writing to animating, did no one at SpindleHorse see how weird and problematic the script was? The camp for pre-teens is called, "IWannaKumMore"(Their logo being a cum splat), Millie and Moxxie's human backstories of being siblings then making out at the end was unnecessary because they could have just been good friends whose mothers sent them to the same camp, Moxxie this grown ass adult who pretending to be a pre-teen is acting sexual and wants the kids attention, Millie who everyone else thinks is a young boy is getting sent nudes from kids and adults, and Barbie saying how easy teenagers are to manipulate then flash her ass to a boy is implying she grooms kids.

To be clear, I don't have a problem when a dark comedy make these types of jokes as all as they portray the topics and groomers as bad and show they understand that. SpindleHorse did not, like you mentioned they portrayed Barbie in the positive light and Moxxie never calls out her behavior despite being the voice of reason. In fact the tone of the Barbie's scene was supposed to funny but not in a dark ironic way. I don't understand why the camp couldn't be for college students and the consolers are stated and look like actual adults. Everything about the canon camp is childish and filled with teenagers, it's very uncomfortable to see them in sexual situations. In America the youngest a camp counselor can be is 15 y/o but that changes from states to states so no body has a clue, also with the camp counselor having a pitch voice, Barbie referring to him as kid and teenager and him, not once trying to correct her about his actual age, I'm convinced he was kid but Viv had to age him up for damage control.

I'm sorry if this response is all over the place because I'm having trouble describing my thoughts but the writers are in their 30s, and they saw nothing wrong? The writing for HB has been going down for a while now and it was fun to see how the writing could get worse but never in my years of watching awful shows did the writing get so bad, the writers had to resort to terrible jokes about sexualizing teenagers, making an incest joke, and a minor getting groomed unironically. I can't support a person or company that are fine making content like that.

"Unhappy Teenagers" was the first time, I have watched a show and felt a sinking feeling in my gut so much so it still lingers even a day later. I never felt so sick from watching a show and I'm sorry writers and companies think making this type of content and jokes of your trauma and abused experience is okay to do.

[morskisir]

i'm really curious why you dislike the comics? /genq /nm

ooooh the dreaded question. i can get really passionate about this (i care too much) so i'm going to be as brief and simple as i can. i'm aware many people enjoy the comics and that's fine. /gen you do you. like i said; i care too much

IMPORTANT DISCLAIMER: we have no clue how much time or dedication was given to the comics by valve; the poor writing isn't necessarily the fault of the writers and i have no personal beef with them! with that said, old man yells at cloud /ref under read more/keep reading.

the two main gripes i have with the comics are lack of planning and tone problems.

as i already said, the lack of planning- and therefore the poor writing- does not mean the comic team was incompetent (the art is quite good a lot of the time, actually), but this does mean it severely hurts the quality of the comics themselves. it's clear they aren't sure where they're taking this (as evident by whatever the fuck is going on with helen) and what the story is even supposed to mean. the tone goes hand in hand with the poor planning; the comics aren't sure whether they want to be purely comical and action-focused or a DARK comedy; having serious moments and themes in the story.

in the end, the serious moments come off as either manipulative (iykyk. i am not getting angry about this for 40 minutes again) or as if they're being made fun of (cough cough sniper).

they also struggle to really build up those moments, so sometimes it feels as if they just came out of nowhere. it's really jarring.

there's also just. not a lot of conflict between the main cast?? there isn't a lot of pressure put on pauling from the mercs via questioning her actions, etc. (we only slightly get this from spy. but like once) (i get that it's to show how much trust they have in her but, really? not a single thing?) (this could build up to like. a "grand betrayal" sort of thing but yknow. they didnt think about the build up to anything)

this is why i think making it JUST the RED team really hurts the story- they already have set dynamics and don't need to develop or sort through any conflicts they have with one another. medic only has conflict with sniper of all people. MEDIC. who went to join another team which was actively hunting his previous one.

the comics introduce conflict and new dynamics by straight up making up new characters?? as much as i love zhanna- she was primarily put into the story just to be soldier's love interest and have a fun dynamic with him.... i'm so sorry miss.

they could've done that with demo btw?? since demo and soldier are supposed to be friends?? unless actually the team differences DO matter (which the comics do not make clear at all, engie is randomly blue while the rest are red. okay. why? wouldn't you like to know.) so red soldier and red demo dont bounce off of eachother as much as blu soldier and red demo do.

i'm not formatting this at all but remember the poor planning? ahem. sniper timeline. why did you make him barely 30. i will fucking kill you he was always clearly meant to be, look, and sound like an old man. its in his concept art its in how he talks. raghghgh

they keep giving themselves problems by adding new characters cause then the main fucking mercs who people adore get no time for themselves (demo, pyro, scout, engie) they're just kinda......there. it sucks. but it's what we got, i guess. just how canon the comics are is questionable- but i don't care if they are.

it's free real estate i'm doing my own thing!!!!!!!!!!! fuck around find out!!!!! be gay do crime!!!!!!! *gets arrested by valve for tampering with copyrighted material*

anyways, after all that negativity; shoutout to the only stuff i enjoyed from the comics: pauling, heavy, the art. goob byeeeeeeee

[blade-that-was-broken]

If BroZone’s parents are actually still alive and are bad, never cared about their sons, wanting them to be perfect or something, are big important part of movie.

What do you think what will happen if they show up?

How will each brother react and feel about them? (I’m not sure if Clay and Floyd remembers them)

Do you think they will realize that Branch is their son, not a different guy with same name that is their youngest son (I mean his colors is not same as the original. Branch’s brothers still did realize him even though his skin is darker)

It would be interesting if Branch just call them by their names not “mom” and “dad”.

How can they react what happened to Rosiepuff and how she died? (I would not be surprised if her name is revealed and is not Rosiepuff-)

What would they think that Bergens no longer eats Trolls?

How can they react the fact Bruce is no longer Spruce they know? Will they accept that? Will they accept the fact he’s a father with loving family? (I’m not sure if they would have cared and for some reason I think Bruce probably told (‘lie’) to his kids that they died or something but Brandy knows the truth.)

So about Half-human AU (love that AU so much-)

Will we see Rosiepuff?

Will we know how her relationship with all five boys? (I know Branch was a baby that time)

Oh boy, I'm not sure. I suppose it's all in the context of the movie. I don't think there will be a lot of good feelings considering how the brothers felt about one another after not seeing each other for twenty years. Idk if Branch even has met his parents. Granted, they have never even mentioned them. I'm not sure if we will see Brozone's parents but who knows, maybe.

I don't actually have a lot of thoughts when it comes to canon Brozone parents; I think if there is another movie, it might not be so focused on the past of Branch because the third movie already was? We have such little context - virtually none - of Brozone's parents so it's really hard to consider when there is not clues to them at all that I can remember.

I'd be surprised if there is a lot of positive feelings. I'd be even more surprised if John Dory wasn't kinda pissed. Although he seems like a pretty forgiving person, idk, there's just something about that.

Our only clue to their parents is simply the implication that they haven't been around much considering John's whole thing was "four brothers is a lot of responsibility" it's pretty easy to imply that he was taking the bulk of the caretaking for them. Idk if they'd recognize Branch, who knows, they might not have actually met him even as a baby?

As for the Bruce thing - they might not even really know their son? Like, we have no idea what kind of relationship any of the bros has with their mom and dad - if any relationship at all. No one seemed too bothered that much by Bruce's name change and he's far old enough to have a family so I don't think it would be a huge talking point?

The Half Life AU? (I'm going to guess)

Rosiepuff does make an appearance! I think she's in one of the chapters of Breathe Again, I just haven't written it yet. I gotta find my notes on what happens lol but she does appear. John doesn't really have much of a relationship with her. He has mostly chalked this up to distance since she doesn't live in Bergentown. He is also rather protective and paranoid at this time when she first shows up, so you know, he's just kind of suspicious of appearances.

Moving forward, he's grateful that he does have her support with taking care of the boys but he does not let go of paranoid and suspicious thoughts of motives for quite some time. Their relationship probably gets better but only time and writing will truly tell.

In general, the boys haven't spent a TON of time with their grandmother. She doesn't live in Bergentown and it's usually only when their parents are going away for a while that they get to go to grandma's house.

With Spruce, it's pretty average? Like they don't have a special relationship or anything. He was older by the time he really got to know her and was kind of doing his own thing. He's also been old enough to kind of question why she was so nice but her child - their parent - is not that much to them. They spent more time at grandma's when John disappeared/left and that was a big turning point in Spruce's role in the family, as he was saddled with more responsibility. He usually took care of Branch during that time so she could focus on Clay and Floyd.

She's closer with Clay and Floyd. Branch is a baby so he doesn't really know much and has met her much. Spruce is a little older and holds a little resentment (as has been shown a little) which will be included with his grandmother. It's not a ton, just that niggling in the back of his mind with those quiet angry thoughts.

Clay and Floyd are young, so they don't really think that way as much. She's never told Clay he was stupid or treats him like his parents do in that area, so he likes her, although he does feel she doesn't take him seriously. He did tell her something that happened with their parents and one of his older brothers once when he was very young and nothing happened, he's pretty sure she didn't' believe him. I doubt he particularly remembers this, he was pretty young so he's got some unconscious anger and frustration (this is not un-typical of him generally) but overall, he really likes her. She's kind of safe from being called stupid and dumb.

Floyd is a quiet, gentle soul and doesn't like making noise. He likes Rosiepuff. She plays games with him and doesn't mind any tapping or humming he does. She lets him play music when they play games although she does have a competitive streak. So she's got a pretty good relationship with Floyd but he also notes right away of John's apprehension and paranoid ticks when she shows up and although he loves his grandmother, he hasn't spent nearly as much time with her as he has with John over the course of his life. There is probably no one he ends up trusting and believing more.

Branch is just a baby but loves her. She's a maternal presence that he kind of lacks with his own parents. He ends up getting more of this with Sofia, Delta and Constance but he does like her at this point. Of course, he is a baby and she adores him too.

[greenerteacups]

What’s your watsonian and doylist explanation for why Draco doesn’t end up with Pansy in the epilogue, and not even Daphne who was in his hear, but Astoria :) ?

It's really interesting! I think there are two different decisions being made here: the first, "why not Pansy," and the second, "why Astoria." The first is much easier to answer, at least from the Doylist perspective, so I'll tackle that one first: JKR hates Pansy Parkinson, and she didn't want to reward Pansy by having her end up with the man of her dreams. She based Pansy on the girls who used to bully her in school, and Pansy never, ever escapes that one-dimensional article of characterization — in the final battle, Pansy's the one who stands up and tells everyone to sell out Harry (which, uhhh, for a scared seventeen-year-old terrified of being killed in a major battle, is a wholly understandable move, even if it's a certifiably bitchy thing to do). So she ends the series on the same note where she began: selfish, cowardly, cruel. In that respect, for her to end up with her crush would be a sort of "kindness" that Rowling was loathe to pay her. I also think that Rowling wanted to hint at the possibility of late-stage redemption for Draco: a lot of the extracanonical info we get about Astoria suggests that she was a genuinely kind person who "softened" him, which, while I don't count it for canon purposes, does tell us what Rowling's vision of their marriage was. I don't think Pansy would have "softened" Draco in any universe, and I say this as someone who likes her.

The Watsonian explanation is, I suspect, that Draco didn't actually like Pansy all that much. We don't see him show a great deal of affection for her, or at least no more than he shows for any of his other cronies in Slytherin. He does put his head in her lap at one point during HBP, and they go to the Yule Ball together in GOF, but that relationship reads more to me like a teenage-family-friends-dating-because-it's-convenient pairing than something that both of them really want. Pansy definitely has a crush on Draco, but I don't know how much of that is real affection versus the (correct) perception that he's the leader of their social pack, and confers a lot of status on whatever girl he's with. I also think that social-climbing element of their dynamic might turn Draco off, because he's pretty irritated by Pansy whenever they're not canoodling or peacocking together. That said, Pansy (my beloved) is a kind of irritating person in general.

Why Astoria instead of Daphne I have absolutely no clue; we don't get characterization for either of them. The only reason we know Daphne exists is because it's mentioned that she takes her O.W.L.s at the same time as Harry. It's unclear to me what choosing the younger sister is supposed to do except (possibly) explain why Harry doesn't recognize her by name at King's Cross (though after nineteen years, he'd be forgiven for forgetting a few names). I wonder if JKR hadn't just realized that a surprising number of her couples had ended up with someone from their own house, year, or both — and there are a lot in "both," e.g. Ron and Hermione, George and Angelina, James and Lily, Molly and Arthur — and she wanted to mix it up a little by pairing off one of the core cast with a total unknown, i.e., someone who wasn't even mentioned in the series. We can furnish post-facto reasons that Draco might have been drawn to someone younger: Astoria would have been only in fourth year when he joined the Death Eaters, so she wouldn't have known him as well, and he might like that she doesn't have a preconceived notion of who he is. That gap separates her from his life at Hogwarts and allows him to connect with her on different terms. But at the end of the day, we don't know her well enough to say much more than that.

[lycanlovingvampyre]

MAG 106 Relisten

Activity on my first listen: putting up a new fence

Hearing the episode title I somehow already suspected this could be a space one...

Huh... The spinning of the tape breaks off there for a moment after Melanie's clap (1:21). I never noticed this. Probably always thought it was a brief loading error. Thought it now too at first, but I went back to check.

"More than large enough for the swell of humanity to grow, and ultimately extinguish itself." Hm, a touch of the Extinction there?

"and when I think of it too deeply, I feel like I’m going to throw up. Like a sort of existential vertigo." Yeah, I know this feeling. When I try to think of things which are incomprehensible for me I get this weird feeling and feel dizzy.

"I knew that if it chose to cry out, it would have destroyed me utterly." The Vast is the most cosmic of all horrors of the Entities. This literally sounds like an Old One.

"And I wish that I could convince myself that ignorance was the same thing as safety." Louder, for Jon in S1!

Although this is a statement with a lot of rambling and very little actually happening (and usually I simply cannot follow those kind of statements) I absolutely love this one. I'm not only afraid of heights and I hate falling (generally avoid rides with a drop at theme parks), the aspect of one's own insignificance compared to the sheer size of the universe really gets to me, but also fascinates me.

Nice to see that the rest of the archival team is actually helping Martin with the statements.

MELANIE: "Also, I um, I can’t find Jan Kilbride." Sounds like he has been swallowed up by the earth! *badum tss*

BASIRA: "Yeah, it’s, it is not cool down here." MELANIE: "Summer in the basement, I suppose." Is it really hot in some basements in the summer? Because mine is always cool. Very comfortable in summer, too cold in winter.

BASIRA: [ugh] "That boy needs to relax." MELANIE: "Or at least find someone else to fuss over!" BASIRA: "Yeah, he’s got it bad." This is top quality office gossip!

BASIRA: "Do you know if he and Jon ever…" MELANIE: "No clue, and not interested! Although… according to Georgie, Jon doesn’t." BASIRA: "Like, at all?" MELANIE: "Yeah." First of all, Georgie randomly telling a mutual that Jon is ace, it that allowed? Second, Melanie randomly telling a mutual (and co-worker!) that Jon is ace... General opinion on the confirmation of an ace character: Yay!!! I don't really know what to think of confirmation happening by mentioning it in bonus material, a lot of people probably won't catch it that way, so having it in the main canon story is great! Then, yeah, it's kind of hard to reveal it when sex isn't really a topic in itself in the story. It comes up very rarely in statements, implied with Tim and towards the end with Georgie and Melanie. So how do you touch upon a topic that isn't really a topic? Have people talk about it and I think the gossip was a good way to handle that. The benefit of the gossip and especially the circumstance of who is telling it makes it vague to leave room for interpretations so people can put him anywhere on the spectrum. The vagueness of certain story points is doing a great service for fan content in my opinion. As someone who asked themself why I had not yet come across proper ace representation in fiction, hearing of poor little meow meow Jon being ace made me so happy!

BASIRA: "No way. I used to love that show. I mean, the first couple of seasons, at least. Took a weird turn in season three, when they introduced –" I heard this may be again a reference to The Black Tapes?? Yes, no, maybe?

ELIAS: "Whatever I’m planning needs to be stopped even if it cost a few lives. Including your own." That's very Gertrude-y of Melanie. Except for the part of risking her own life, that's very Slaughter-y.

Ben's voice acting is so on point!

When I heard Ivy Meadows I immediately knew, this is going to be bad. I remembered very well that this was the care home from MAG 36.

So that knowledge-insertion torture... THAT was the moment I finally decided "Holy shit... Elias really is evil!"

@a-mag-a-day

[aerialworms]

hello dear mutual! I have a question. I'm no longer in the fandom but I like watching from the sidelines. there was a poll asking if destiel will still be made canon and my question is: how. isn't the prequel planned about the parents? I would love an explanation cause I don't understand. thank you so much!!

Hello there friend!! I'm happy to explain, I love rambling about this batshit show so much!

So yes, the prequel is about the parents, but I'm not sure how much you know about it so here's a little primer: from what I've seen, it's actually Dean telling the story of how his parents met and fell in love, presumably while he's up in Heaven post-finale (y'know, where Cas is also supposed to be). Jensen and his wife Daneel are executive producing, and the prequel is being showrun by Robbie Thompson, known for writing such episodes as Goodbye Stranger (the crypt scene my beloved!!!!!!), Meta Fiction ("What makes a story work? Is it the plot, the characters, the text? The subtext?"), and Fan Fiction (the musical ep! With Sam teasing Dean about destiel!). So from the get-go everyone was like 👀 because Robbie has always been a destiel-positive writer! Plus, apparently, Daneel's favourite character is Cas, so it would make sense for them to bring Cas back if they (and Misha) wanted!

Please bear in mind that I haven't actually watched any of the prequel, i've just been living vicariously through my dash. People who have actually watched it/know more than me please feel free to add on/correct me!

So, to my knowledge, the reasons people are thinking they might make Destiel canon in the prequel are (in no particular order):

a) A few weeks ago there was an episode that had Gabriel (as played by Richard Speight Jr) as the MOTW and also had a background cameo from Rob Benedict in a very bad wig (unclear if that was Chuck or not), and there have been quotes from (i think) Robbie saying that they're only having cameos from OG SPN actors if it's relevant to the story they want to tell (and since the Rob cameo was not explained or plot-relevant people are thinking they're possibly going to do a Chuck won scenario? It could turn out that he was never actually defeated in 15.19 and now Dean has to show up to fight him again (and get Cas back?? maybe??))

b) In that same episode, there was a scene where Mary and John look at a picture of some dude who'd given them a clue or talked to John or something - it was Dean! So he's alive again, briefly, in the 70s. Could be time travel, could be he's escaped from Heaven. So if Dean is around in the show, whether just as narrator or as a character in the story, he has the potential to go rogue and look for Cas, or be telling the story to Cas up in Heaven. In either case, there is the potential for canon destiel, if they (Jensen, Daneel, Robbie, Misha, etc.) decide they want to do that.

c) Jensen has said various things at cons recently which are kinda 👀, including that he'd have been happy to keep going on SPN for another 6 years, and, most recently (this weekend), which I think sparked the poll you were talking about - that if Dean and Cas reunited Dean would say "Hey, can we talk about that goodbye a little bit?" and then joked that nah, it would be more like "hey, buddy, good to see you, old pal" but THEN said "I don't know, maybe we'll get to see that, that would be interesting" (Here's a gifset of him saying that if you're interested)

Also this:

[ID: Tweet from Toni @JensFloofHair.

JENSEN WANTS TO FILM A NEW ENDING FOR SUPERNATURAL, THE ONE HE HAD DREAMED OF. ABOUT A 2 DAY SHOOTING, HE SAYS.

Misha: I mean, you have the Impala.

Damn right, nothing stopping them!!

#JIB11 /End ID]

It's no secret that Jensen Did Not like the finale, apparently Eric Kripke had to talk him into it and he still makes salty jokes about it even now. Add the fact that he got someone else to film the confession for him because he wanted to have a record of it, and has said they cut out key parts of his performance in that scene (which is why the editing of it is so janky). So it's possible that he intended for there to be actual reciprocation in that scene and, well, now he's got the reins. He could do it if he wanted!!!

d) The prequel finale - airing next Tuesday, Jack help us - is titled "Hey, that's no way to say goodbye". Which was already kinda 👀 before the con this weekend, but combined with Jensen saying Dean would say "can we talk about that goodbye a little bit?" is um. Look I don't wanna get my hopes up. But also........ 👀👀👀

I think the prevailing theories at the moment (from what I've seen on my dash) are that either:

a) They're baiting us to keep interest in the prequel (I trust Robbie but I don't really trust Jensen, so this seems likely)

b) They really are gonna bring Cas back, either as him being the one Dean is telling this story to up in Heaven, or using that Rob Benedict cameo to retcon the finale and make the show about breaking free of Chuck's control for realsies this time (which hopefully means Cas actually showing up and not being explained away in one line like the finale)

Like I said, I don't wanna get my hopes up because I don't quite trust Jensen. But. Given Robbie Thompson showrunning and Daneel loving Cas and Jensen dropping all these maybe-maybe-not hints. If they DID make destiel canon. I would not be surprised.

Well maybe a little bit but in an "I can't believe I was right" way.

[sanicsmut]

Swooooning over your last Fenn HC ask!! they were so good. Do you have anything on Lyris? She’s one of my favorites. Maybe even anything on Fennorian and Lyris’ friendship?

Okay so !!!

Lyris, my friend Lyris !!

• I like how we get clues on the character's taste and personnalities in game, even outside of dialogue

• Lyris for example, she likes music !! :o Which would be surprising for most people, because she's a tough woman, but she has her sensibility like anyone

• I like to imagine that it's sometimes Sai who braid her hair

• I had a thought that he taught her how to but, she's a nord and nords often knows how to, part of their culture you know

• Sad part, she still has bad thought about her time in coldharbour, and Sai being captive. Who wouldn't. But she's trying her best to have a new life after the whole vestige thing. Whatever happened, if she survived (which she did in my save because my second choice of who to sacrifice was Varen, the first being Abnur Tharn, even tho I kinda like this old grumpy man.) I like to think she did as she said she wanted to : traveled around the world. She deserves it.

• With Fenn ?

• At first she was doubtful, he's a vampire after all

• But after he showed her she could trust him, they became friends, like really friends

• She liked that he could be calm but also show how excited he was about his interests !!

• And he liked that she actually overcame her ideas of vampires and tried to know him

• Did I mention Fen is actually a good cook ? I don't know if it's canon or just something I imagined, but I like this idea. So I throw it here. Yes even if it's supposed to be about Lyris, freak it, I said it

• He would show her around "vampire territory" if those things even exists in TES

• Like, places where it's not really safe to go if you're not a vampire

• And she's with Fenn, so she's mostly safe (and she knows how to fight, but it's always better to avoid conflict)

BONUS

• I'm pretty sure it's canon she's good friends with the Vestige

• She often wonders if they're fine after the whole Mannimarco/Molag Bal fiasco

• If she actually get some news from them, wether a letter or just hearing about them in a tavern or something, her day gets instantly better

[tiredeyes1975]

okay so tumblr messages are way too clunky to talk about Optimistique-moi so here I go. WHEN YOUR INITIAL REACTION WAS "idk what was happening but I'm obsessed!" THAT WAS SO REAL!! BECAUSE THAT WAS ME!!! I don't know what it is, cause the video is fairly straight forward (Mylène is a tight rope girl at a circus and it's like weird and there's some sort of symbolic ending) and yet the first time i saw it i didn't like it because i sort of rejected it? i was like "what did that mean" and moved on. Mylène has such a huge canon of videography, so when I watched a ton in one sitting, this sort of didn't mix with the rest for me. But then. I can't remember why I looked up the lyrics, but I read the mylene.net page for the song. It might actually have been to read about the music video, now that i think about it! We'll begin with the title of the song. The '-moi' is a suffix for reflexive verbs, meaning 'me' (it is 'me' who it is done onto). What Mylène did by putting it after 'optimistique' (optimistic) is she turned it into a verb. "Optimistic" me. Like, cheer me up. Now for the lyrics, they're quite heavy. The song is 'easily' (for lack of a better word) interpreted as being about incest abuse. You can read the lyrics (as well as the facts about the song and such) here, the site is in French but chrome has a translation feature :)

The first verse goes as follows: "I ignore your "I love you", they are cries that chain me…" That's love What is love? "you don't live, it's morbid" In short, I'm pathetic, That's love Dad wasn't like that, when…

So here we have a dialogue between the father character and Mylène, he's saying she's a burden and that she's a freak for her limbo-like state. We can read that there's an internal conflict in Mylène, she's hearing these things he's saying and drawing conclusions about her self-worth and what love is supposed to be. Then there's this child-like confusion of the final line...

From the chorus: When nothing intervenes, Your hugs Immediately stop any bruising Optimistic me, Dad Optimistic me, come back to me…

So this shows that conflict between her father the abuser and her father the caregiver. As you can see here's how she used her new "optimistic" verb. She's asking her father to be gentle with her like he used to be, in order to comfort her after what he has done. The song's instrumental gives the feel of this intense emotional turmoil and contradiction and conflict. When sung, the lyrics of the chorus (I've highlighted the relevant lines) "spell" out the word incest, through the way Mylène emphasizes the syllables.

NOW FOR THE ACTUAL VIDEO. mylene.net page for this + my in-depth-ish review + web weave of Mylène and her father

So basically a lot of people have interpreted the magician who is encouraging Mylène to keep walking and stay focused (while everyone else are on their hater behavior) as a paternal figure. A big clue for this is how he turns into an old man at the end "At the very end of the clip, everything becomes clear: under the features of the magician appear those of a man with gray hair. Behind this reassuring face was in fact hiding the paternal figure. A father who is the only one to detect his daughter's distress. A father whose loving gaze allows the tightrope walker, plagued by doubt, to keep her balance." (Royer, Hugues Mylène)

When she gets into the box of swords, some people find it worthwhile to point out the possible phallic symbolism of the swords piercing the box. I'm sort of 50/50 on that. Either way, the magician encouraged her to walk the rope and the ball, he assured her before she goes into the box, and after everyone gets to spear the box, he performs his magic trick🪄 Mylène gets out of the circus, and even though she's in this really sad cold world, she's free.

if you have any questions. Im here unfortunately

WOW thank you for this entire explanation, im gonna go rewatch it with the lyrics i didnt realize there was so much behind it!! i looked at the page for the song and skimmed thru your web weave post a bit too

[5-7-9]

I suddenly feel obnoxious because i thought about Midas Hand as my OC’s team name and then realized there’s barely enough cool team names to go around so did I really need a team name? 😢 They’re called Midas Hand because i thought Midas Touch was too obvious. I found it ironic that they’re treasure hunters when they’re usually the ones creating treasure.

Also i assumed that treasure hunters worked similarly to normal wizard guilds that have request jobs so that meant they could never keep the treasure they find, but i think i wwrong was.

I sorta got down a backstory for two of the three, but i’m not sure about the blacksmith’s one. Because for the other two i actually tied it back to canon in a roundabout way. Fashionista’s family had a rich business until it got bought and then they had to work under Heartfilia’s father’s business. Fashionista’s family was so ashamed and decided their daughter couldn’t act all high and mighty to show respect to their superiors or else their jobs were at stake. But Fashionista has an ego and refuses to be disrespected, so she goes all out on presenting gorgeously. She eventually starts her own line of work and becomes rich again. I think her relationship with her family is fine. I think all three of my OCs should have fine familial relationships anyhow, and are all successful business people that become sorta rich. Collector has the exact opposite of Magic Deficiency Disease, similar to Ultear’s condition which was never properly given a name. I have no idea how Ultear managed to get better, but Collector was also apart of the experiments. Collector sorta died so they were considered a failed experiment, but after Ultear destroyed the place it turns out they survived (assuming they took place in the same building). Their heart technically stopped beating but their magic gave then an electric shock that woke them up, plus their magic depleted when they used it. Collector eventually goes back home, figuring out that they could actually survive as long as they extracted magic from themselves every once in a while. They used magic containers or the sort, and could self manage. They consider themselves a ticking time bomb because their body will explode if it absorbs enough excessive magic. I have no clue as to whether actual doctors can even cure this unnamed disease or whatever, but Collector never stopped having this disease because they’re a special case where it gets worse (or Ultear was the special case for better getting, idk, canon was too freaking unclear). So they’re sorta have a chronic disorder, i think that’s what it’s called anyhow. They imbue a lot of magic items with the magic they extracted from themselves.

Blacksmith was tougher because i thought about his father being scary and hated by everyone except himself, so eventually he stops getting hated by his bullies when he helps a bunch of people, showing how he’s not scary. Something about strength being used for shields more than it’s used for attacks. Maybe he should instead be the town favorite for simply being the only blacksmith in his old home, and he got to see a lot of guilds happily buy his father’s weapons and he wanted to become him. Passing down the torch or something. It’s more simplistic that way i guess. Still irrelevant to anything canon related, can’t win at everything i suppose. Or maybe he met Erza first out of the three, when she was still younger, that’d be nice.

[thehellishtrinity]

1-7 and 17 for whoever you wish! -🎧

Hmm since you didn't specify who I used a random generator to pick a random Trinity character to answer for each question!

1. If your oc was to host a TV show, what would it be about? Would your oc be good at it? What sorts of guests would appear?

The Hierophant Honestly, I think if Hiero were to host some type of TV show, it would be something like Blue's Clues where she has some sort of kid-friendly educational show that encourages the kids to solve whatever puzzle with her. Her guests would be like.. other people from other popular kid's shows... like she probably would've had a Pikachu mascot as a guest star at least once.

2. Can your oc play any instruments? Have they ever wanted to learn how to play any? Why?

Novel I've decided at this very moment that this man knows how to play the harp only because I think it would be funny (his weapon is wires). I imagine he doesn't have a strong inclination to learn new instruments or anything but back in the Good Ole Days, he probably picked it up to learn with Remy and Fable.

3. If you were to choose another name for your oc, what do you think it would be? Did you choose it for how it sounds or for its meaning?

Page Hmmm..... Page's name was originally chosen because he was supposed to be Book Squip, so I chose a name loosely related to books. If I were to choose a different name for him back then, I'm sure it would've still been something book related like Scribe or Scroll or something... If I were to pick a different name for him now...... maybe Phylas which, according to behind the name dot com, means "to maintain, preserve".

4. How does your oc fare in the dark? Are they scared? Do they trip over things really easily or navigate like they have night vision? (Or do they have night vision?)

Muse He does relatively well in the dark! Muse is afraid of very little things in this world and the dark is certainly not one of them. He navigates the dark like he has night vision. Lore-wise, this is because he is good as sensing his surroundings and he has a good intuition. Meta-wise, this is entirely because he is cat-coded and cats can see in the dark.

5. How well would your oc fare as a teacher? What subject would they be best at teaching? What about the worst?

Melissa and Wallis, the twins They would be awful teachers. They are children. They would be so bad at teaching. I think they'd be great at making like How To Play XYA Game tutorials and playthroughs but anything else that's academic? No chance.

6. What was your oc’s relationship with their parents like? If they didn’t have any parents/didn’t know them, who in their life was the closest to a parent to them?

Dov Really good, actually! In universes where he has parents, he's a little bit of a mama's boy. He's the type of person who'd visit home every holiday and text his parents regularly. One of the very select few who actually has a healthy relationship with his parents. In canon, he's pretty close to his creator and they keep in contact!

7. Does your oc have any allergies, intolerances, or other sensitivities? How dangerous is it? Does this affect their daily life in any way?

Fable Probably a boring answer but Fable doesn't really have any allergies! He can eat almost everything and he will eat almost everything. His spice tolerance is pretty high (no where near as high as Virus's but who's keeping count?) and he's the type of person who likes to try new dishes all the time!

17. How well can your oc keep secrets? Is there a difference between how they handle their own vs someone else’s? To what lengths would they go to keep something hidden?

Script He is very good at keeping secrets :). In fact, there is a big secret he kept in old Trinity canon that was never unearthed (the rewrite doesn't have the same secret tho but it's the thought that counts). He will go to extreme lengths to hide things that he deems necessary! He's a bit looser with other people's secrets though because, I mean, they're not his secrets. While he does his best to keep the secrets, he isn't losing sleep or going to extremes trying to keep them hidden for other people.

[kellykadesperate]

>:3c hello!

Judd is never there lmao … He has strong friendships but he goes home to his wife. ooooh, damn, that is so true! the contrast of judd versus the others makes complete sense indeed, that judd's first choice will always be his wife and kid, and then maybe friends his age that he's known for many years, e.g. tommy and his poker buddies. he's been living and having a fulfilling life in texas before the new team was formed, and it's nice that this is visible in these choices. it makes things clear without downplaying his friendships with the team. also re tommy, she is another good example of more realistic freedom: she did choose her family over her job because it made sense back then until she eventually returned. i liked that – life is long, and people temporarily leave their jobs, go on sabbaticals, etc. this isn't a death sentence to solid friendships.

we don't see them close in that sense despite being very involved in each other's personal life. this!! there is this weird disconnect happening between what i actually feel when i watch canon versus what i know i am supposed to feel (what the shows tries to make me feel) when i watch canon. i get what the show tries to convey but they suck at believably executing it, so i just. do not really feel it lol. i mean, you cannot be amatonormative (all of them have separate families; not being each other's top priority in comparison to their actual partners; being single is equaled to living an unfulfilled life/ romance seems to be regarded as vital) and anti-amatonormative (all the scenes that emphasize that family can come in many forms and that friendships are meaningful too) at the same time. these puzzle pieces do not fit together at all, and whenever one of them is shoved into my face, i just like ??? why is this show just contradicting itself repeatedly? one episode ago, you said something else! either you tell me that a life can be fulfilling and incredibly happy without a romantic partner or nah, but you can't do both.

He's poor little has no clue what he wants Buck in a way that feels like they're almost laughing at him lmao. djdjdjdjdj THAT is so real. they use buck a lot for those purposes, and it's not doing his character nor the other characters a favor lmfao. at best, he's relatable for having those struggles while the others seem supportive. at worst, he seems like the laughing stock because he is young and does not have a romantic partner/children yet, which means his life must be empty and he lacks life experience, while the others seem condescending. "judd with the younger members" feels better than "bobby, hen, chim with buck". i exclude eddie bc he's apparently buck's age but never got the baby treatment.

If it wants to be dramatic, give me drama with lifelong consequences. i agree! i like silly, i like drama... balancing them can be tough tho, and then they just water each other down until you do not really get to enjoy either of them to their full extent. love the funny episode but the entire premise of this show is sooo wonderful for whump that i cannot help being a big sad that they don't manage to build proper suspense :'(

It just feels weird when they really hammer home how close the crew are and important they are but really don't show them all hanging out for extended periods of time. In fact they make a point of showing them hanging out separately. i am taking a megaphone to shout this so loudly that the 911 makers can hear me <3 exactly. it really is a Choice™.

I was fully convinced Kameron was going to try and kiss Buck or something, I still kinda think they'll go there because ... why not! OHH, interesting! i personally did not think that would happen, but it's an intriguing idea to me. i really loved that the only reason this entire donor sl even happened is because an old friend remembered buck to be such a good person that he decided "his [buck's] babies will definitely all turn out great" lmaoooo. and that kameron felt comfy enough to seek out buck's support even though they've only known each other for a few months! <3 cute! ngl i would not even hate them getting together. what a story to tell the child someday LMAO. no but jokes aside, pls omg give these characters something to do that isn't their next love interest for once <3

The whole destined to be alone, unloved, I'll never find someone who knows me is just ... I'm sick of it and makes both characters feel like they actually don't know what they want. absolutely this! i am okay with some romance and drama, that is all a-okay with me, but we've reached a point where it's really just chipping away at the characters. the others have the advantage of being in clearly endgame-coded commitments already, so buck and eddie drive most of the "unsure single life" perspective in the show, which is very very very unfortunate for them because the show sucks at that LOL. i enjoyed natalia and the scenes she had with buck, but i am only "tentatively hopeful" at best at this point sksksksk. we've already covered the whole issue with 911 and side characters in general – i cannot imagine that the show will suddenly improve the writing in this regard, so i expect the worst treatment for all these poor side characters. plus, season 6b felt incredibly rushed and dropped a lot of balls; the buck and natalia romance definitely needed much more room to feel more organic and authentic. it felt like a choice made because the s7 renewal was not certain, so ig we'll see what they'll do with it now that they do get a s7.

It also makes the idea of them invested in each other's lives seem a little truer, more authentic rather than them hearing about snippets of things on the way to calls. hell yeah!! i remember the nancy thing, that was so adorable and relatable! building meaningful relationships takes time and effort and mutual liking and intention! yes, even if those relationships are platonic! it's a little bit like the crucial difference between "what you say" versus "what you do". calling somebody a "friend" but never hanging out with them one-on-one or not seeming to share any interests with them is... weird. saying things to the audience (e.g. mentioning snippets on calls) but not showing things to the audience just doesn't feel as authentic, yes yes yes. i'd rather verify things with my own two eyes if only 911 allowed me to actually see some of those alleged friendships it attempted to establish as canon lmfao.

IDK I just think it's a lot easier to let your audience see a group of friends grow into a family than start by showing them THIS IS THE FIREFAM FAMILY. very true! it's funny because og 911 kinda started out in a similar way? both bobby and buck were quite new to the 118, and none of them were friends except hen and chim. they could have build friendships from there, and they did, in a way, but the approach was so different (and i personally think worse) from how 911 ls did it. they started out with the heavy shit, which isn't bad per se but... they then neglected to do the normal friendship stuff on the way? e.g. they mentioned buck and bobby going to a concert in season 1 and even now, after 6 seasons of development, that seems absolutely unlikely to me. because... do they even like music? do they share the same music taste? what does music mean to them? we simply do not know!!! i cannot emphasize enough how empty all these dynamics feel because the characters lack interests and passions and a life outside of their job sksksksksks. another example, we saw buck being very interested in fitness in season 1, but that was then completely dropped. we see he's fit, but it's not portrayed as a hobby or interest or big part of his life anymore, even thought we know that realistically it must be.

and they all have to go their separate ways and it just shows a nice way of moving these characters along but not damaging ties they still have. oh yeah, i have seen the end of s2 and ik from tumblr that they had to go separate ways – and i LOVED the balls of the show to externalized the reason for such a big change in the show and showcase how the job is not the be-all and end-all for the team. characters trying to constantly fix themselves and that being the entire topic of a show is simply boring to me after a while. i'd much rather watch characters having to work together to fix some big external problem while their self-improvement occurs on the journey. another thing that i miss in 911.

ooooohohoho i watchedAE (it's fantastic!) and severance and succession are both on my to-watch list! i heard fantastic things about them. mostly i am scared of succession being all business talk LMAO i am absolutely no economist asdfghj. might be a nice break from yellowjackets tho hehe (i started it impulsively and really have fun so far)

hey hey!

this isn't a death sentence to solid friendships - And that's it. I think they did such a good job of showing Tommy's influence on the whole group so quickly. The fact that she replaced Michelle was such a good thing for the show. Michelle was outrageously isolated from the group and maybe they would have paired her with Owen but then the stuff with Gwyn might not have happened and that again was a real step up for the show I think.

i exclude eddie bc he's apparently buck's age but never got the baby treatment - Which is so interesting to me. It's like they realised they wanted to make a different/mysterious/he's gone through so much type of character for Eddie so ran with it and they have genuninly unpacked a lot about him which is great. At the same time, Buck is seen as like you say a bit more of a dumbass and they play on that. YET they have given him the most devastating backstory and show him being competent and caring and mature all the way back to season 1 with Abbey so it's ... it's weird. They want a baby of the group and that was fine in s1 but now it's s6, that baby has rightfully grown up and doesn't fit the mould they tend to shove him in for the sake of it. I really hope that stops soon!

The whole donor sl is really an interesting one. I wasn't mad about it but would love to know what the general vibe was a little more because it did seem to come out of nowhere. It seems like another 'give it to Buck!' type of sl where everyone else is so settled, Buck seems to be the character they can try stuff out on without thinking long term. Idk if the sl is going to continue or just be dropped but it's something I think they did give a lot of airtime too in terms of him making his decision.

the buck and natalia romance definitely needed much more room to feel more organic and authentic - It definitely did feel like a choice. Natalia seems a bit more grown up, and settled and that's about it! We literally no nothing else lol. I think they'll probably have her in the next season and I hope they want to build something settled and nice for Buck because it would be nice to see that side of him rather than just being ridiculously unsure of the relationship he's in. It needed a lot more time, you're right. When Buck was like she sees me/it's different, I really didn't know whether we were supposed to laugh or agree with him which is obviously not ideal.

i'd rather verify things with my own two eyes if only 911 allowed me to actually see some of those alleged friendships it attempted to establish as canon lmfao - YES. I remember when Hen and Maddie had that talk about getting engaged I was like dear God have these two ever had a scene together? Have Chimney and Hen and their families ever had a scene together? Hanging out? They're best buds? Maybe they have and I've forgotten but again it was just quite jarring to see. The only relationships I'm sure do exist are: Buck/Eddie, Hen/Chim, Hen/Athena, slightly Hen/Buck but aside from that ... nothing really and usually these parings are at the expense of seeing them all in an environment together.

e.g. they mentioned buck and bobby going to a concert in season 1 - LMAO WHAT! I have no memory of that whatsoever but that seems hilarious. I do have a lovely soft spot for Bobby and Buck, I think their relationship is super sweet but they need to develop it so much more. I get the whole dad/son dynamic but !! I'd love to see more. It's like they can't decide whether to go all in, have Buck be seen as Bobby's family OR they're colleagues. The middle ground sometimes feels ... unresolved or lacking.

i'd much rather watch characters having to work together to fix some big external problem while their self-improvement occurs on the journey. - Yeah exactly. Because the stakes are high. It feels really important and you see them changing as characters and it's meaningful! They're not stuck in their ways. They're developing as people. With some 911 characters, I don't think they're done developing but I think the writers are done with showing any true development.

AE is amazing! I watched it from the first two episodes and was hooked. I'm a secondary school teacher myself so I just die at the accuracy and OMG you need to watch severance, it's one of the best things I've ever watched.

mostly i am scared of succession being all business talk LMAO i am absolutely no economist asdfghj - MOOD. That's how I felt but honestly it's not tooooo jargon-y at all. There's talk that you might not fully get but then other characters explain it well. I had the same time with watching Suits and talks of merges and stuff lol