#and also i think the main character's son got shot ???

[scattered-winter]

should i try the walking dead again. i watched the first few eps in the Summer That Should Not Be Named but couldnt get into it BUT ive heard it gets really good after the first few seasons. and i am not one to pass up some good zombies. what does the council (my followers) have to say on this issue

[twig-tea]

Things from Wandee Goodday ep 3 I can't stop thinking about:

I love so much that we got some good friends with benefits tension around personal boundaries when Dee asked who Yei was and then backed off (but Yak told him anyway). And between the jokes about rimming, Dee demanding Yak pay more attention to his dick last episode, and starting this episode in the 69 position, I am very, very here for this show saying over and over that sex is not just one act.

[ID: Gif of the beginning of episode 3, whichi is a pan-to-shot of Dee and Yak laying in 69 position on the floor under blankets]

i loved the different responses to hearing someone you love is in a "Friends with Benefits" situation; Kao warned Dee not to catch feelings or read too much into the situation and Cher/Yei teased Yak for lying to himself about what the situation is. Both are super valid and speak to who Dee and Yak are, who Kao and Cher/Yei are, and all of their experiences with love. And it speaks to the closeness of these relationships too, that Cher noticed Yak's necklace gone immediately and Kao similarly clocked its addition on Dee instantly.

Super here for Kao being the ultimate support bestie at work, equal parts haranguing and backing Dee up. Their relationship is perfection.

I really liked Yak peace-ing out of their agreement when Dee dropped a huge request with no context, that was so valid and in the spirit of FWB (he didn't actually owe him a bigger conversation).

I've already reblogged a couple of other people (@negrowhat and @lurkingshan) talking about this so I won't belabour it, but I am judging Dee for not only ignoring Yak's boundaries by going to his workplace and forcing him to train him and then flirting with him during training sessions after Yak both made clear he's worried about being out at work and had ended their agreement. I hope we get more of an explanation for Yak's reticence about dating a man while aiming for the championship as well as his change of mind.

The conversations with Cher and Oyei have me so curious about their history! Tell me everything, show. I put these questions in tags on a gifset (but to put them on main: Where is Oyei and Yak's father (who is also a former champ but apparently uninvolved with this family business, if he's still alive)? What happened to Yak's mother that he doesn't know if he takes after her? Why can they go to Cher's family for financial help but not Yei/Yak's (to the point where they had to take out what sounds like a predatory loan during COVID)? What is Cher afraid of re: being seen being affectionate to Oyei, and where does that come from? Is this history related to why Yak is so worried about his relationship to Dee getting in the way of his championship? All of this is seeded so organically and I'm so, so curious. It also has me even more in my feelings about Cher and Yei calling Yak their son.

[ID: Gif of Yei saying to Cher: I own this place. What's there to be afraid of? From the set linked in the paragraph above]

[I have a clown theory that Cher and Oyei's relationship is why his dad is out of the picture and his gym is in financial trouble (because it prevented Yei from getting sponsorship despite being a champion), and why Yak is worried about being in a relationship with a man even though he knows his brother won't care...we'll see how much of this the show pulls together!]

The flash of trauma from Dee at the crosswalk was interesting too; where is that going? What happened in Dee's past and how is it going to affect the story in future?

[More clown speculation: Is it related to why Dee is so good with patients and passionate about ortho? Has he seen someone in his life become disabled due to physical injury?]

Speaking of, I really loved seeing Dee be good at his job and great with patients and their families. In addition to it being just nice to see and good for our understanding of his character, it sets him up to have a fighting chance in the contest too, since patients apparently get a vote.

I love love love the camaraderie and giggling between Dee and Yak around making Ter jealous and shoving their fake relationship in those gossiping nurses' faces. The way they are actually friends who like one another and enjoy spending time together is just really wonderful to watch.

My biggest question is: Will Dee get a chance in this narrative to show up for Yak the way Yak has been showing up for Dee? And how can that current imbalance be reconciled with this all leading towards Dee trying to get a placement to go abroad--and his self-stated toxic trait of always needing to win? [shoutout to @chicademartinica for laying that out succinctly in her post]

In the meantime, I'm having a blast.

[bugsbenefit]

hellfire in s5, and how it's Really not looking good for the members

the hellfire club is, in my opinion, one of the most obvious set ups for s5 and i never see enough people acknowledge how blatant the show actually is with it. because it's a directly addressed ongoing issue that slowly worsens over time and directly threatens three main characters (Dustin, Lucas, and Mike), at Least

there's a clear structured progression of the threat getting worse, with a major part of the s4 Hawkins plot being only Jason and his team chasing Eddie down, and by the last episodes of the show the rest of the town sides with them and joins the objective. however, we never get any consequence of the town agreeing with Jason, aside form the kids parents getting reaction shots looking insanely worried. the only thing even resembling partisan participation is a dogwalker (the same man that agreed with Jason first and then caused every other member in the town hall to also agree) informing Jason and co about there being someone in the Creel house. a single character ratting someone out is not pay off for a scene that rallies the entire town with anger and fear. especially because he was the First one to agree with Jason, arguably the next reaction, in parallel to the town house scene, will have everyone else also involve themselves

and everything Jason actually said in the town hall looks INFINITELY worse by the end of the season because he not only died the same day (how odd that must look), the town was also hit by a severe earthquake. (and hell-gates open in town but we don't know how people will react to that yet, or if it will even be immediately obvious to them)

like. it's a Terrible look. and with Eddie being dead now, the main target that represented the hellfire club in s4 and got the primary share of blame is now officially un-prosecutable

s4 also goes out of it's way to associate Lucas, Dustin and Mike explicitly with the hunt on Hellfire, ages before the whole town gets involved

Lucas is put on edge by the basketball's team hostility towards his friends constantly and has to actively lie his way out of the line of fire multiple times. the basketball team is also looking for Dustin to question him about Eddie's whereabouts, even going to his house where a confrontation only doesn't happen because he's not home. and they even manage to go out of their way to drag Mike into it despite him being out of town, when Jason starts a conversation with Nancy specifically to threaten her and then asks about Mike right after

which leads to the other thing; not only are all the kids already on Jason's radar, he's also getting more and more direct with the fact that he doesn't just want to have a nice chat with them (culminating in actually physically attacking Lucas by the last episode)

and if them setting all of the kid members of hellfire up for a bad time wasn't obvious enough, it's also fascinating to see the posters of hellfire we get over the season also show a clear shift in focus

when we see the hellfire club year book photo for the first time the focus is on Eddie. he's who Jason sees as the main culprit and when we get a close up of the burning poster we see Eddie

but when we see the hellfire club photo again 4 episodes later the focus isn't on Eddie anymore. not in dialogue and not visually

the shot is from the Wheeler's pov (Karen's specifically), and the only part of the picture that's in focus is the far right corner, with Mike and Lucas. (makes sense that's her son that's currently being implicated in satanic murders). Eddie never gets unblurred, he's not who the audience is supposed to look at in this shot. verbally Jason is also explicitly blaming the whole club now. it's not just Eddie who's "crazy" and killed Chrissy, it's the whole club who's responsible (it's also very notable that he's handing out yearbook photos of the whole club, not just Eddie. a really distinct prop choice. everyone in town now not only thinks hellfire is directly responsible for multiple ritualistic murders, they also know Exactly who's in the club)

and looking back at the season in hindsight, there's actually more than enough instances that would make the members of Hellfire look kind of guilty, or shady at best, even if someone were to do some research. there's multiple instances of hellfire members lying to the basketball team about hellfire member's whereabouts which definitely doesn't make them look more innocent in the team's eyes. not only do Eddie's band members try to brush them off, Nancy pretends to not even know about Hellfire when Jason asks about Mike, and Lucas goes out of his way to keep Dustin and Eddie's locations from them by deliberately lying and sending them to wrong locations

and that's on top of the entire montage of Dustin and Mike trying to find a substitute player for a single game on the same day a student with no previous affiliation to Eddie Munson dies at his trailer? that looks Horrible in hindsight. especially with them asking pretty much every other student, from almost every club, while both prominently wearing hellfire shirts. if anyone actually remembers them and thinks about the events post Chrissy's death they could definitely make some assumptions

it's just bad looks all around. and that's not even mentioning how they have the potential to look even worse in s5. if it got out Lucas was with Max when she somehow died and broke all her bones? would look horrible. or Dustin now associating with Eddie's dad? and we don't even know how he'll fulfill Eddie's wish to "look after the little sheep"

and even Mike, who didn't even have the chance to attract suspicion post e1 due to being out of town has a whole thing going on with his image paralleling Eddie, with being the other DM and having his s4 style be directly in reference to Eddie's looks

while there's building hostility towards the hellfire members, and the focus (both visually and vocally) switches more to the members Other than Eddie, by the end of the season there just hasn't been a chance for the townsfolk to respond to Jason's speech yet. they all agreed with him, but everything immediately went to shit the same night. however, even the last few minutes of the show, that always have the most direct foreshadowing for the next season, include a shot focusing on the rise of religion and the fearmongering that started with Jason's speech

which serves as a great reminder that the entire town hall just agreed with Hellfire being a satanist cult they need to stop

s4 ends with the hellfire set up being one of the most explicitly obvious plot threads that are about to be a problem for multiple main characters in s5. like the few other obvious established about-to-be struggles: the gates opening, Vecna still being alive, Max being "gone"; we've gotten a full set up there but no payoff yet

and then there's obviously the question of what the people would even DO in s5? they all agreed that Hellfire needed to be stopped, so... what now?

on one hand there's the interesting concept of the town refusing to help the protagonists but they could also be acting as a hostile force against them

say anyone tried to warn the town about the upside down or it's creatures, the chances of people listening to them talk about actual "demons" and reacting in any positive way is probably near 0. even if you saw a Demogorgon nibble on your neighbour an hour ealier, would you really listen to someone you think intentionally opened the Hellgate that let the creatures through in the first place?

but then there's of course the active antagonistic angle they could also take. Jason was calling for Hellfire to be actively opposed and stopped, not passively. and the show Does go out of it's way to show the overcrowded weapons store in multiple shots post Jason-speech

we're supposed to know these people are armed going forward. whether they're buying them to go hunting, or wanting to go shoot Eddie Munson, the weapons are there now... also ignore the 7 separate hellfire wanted posters in the opening shot of the store alone 💀(it's actually 9, i didn't circle the two that are cut off in the bottom corner. that whole board is just plastered with that one photo)

(the implication of what the guns are for couldn't be more obvious if they tried. again, also the scene where Jason tries to intimidate Nancy and directly asks about where Mike is. also the scene where Erica and co try to hide from the basketball team members in the store. the scene features, guns, hellfire posters everywhere, and characters specifically asking about the whereabouts of a member while other people are actively hiding)

and the weapons could play out in a positive way in s5 too, say the lady from next door gets hands on involved and takes shots at the Demobats in her front yard

but the reactionary, scared, and angry town that blames a specific small group of people for everything that's happening could also lead to MCs having to actively worry about getting shot by someone they've seen at the supermarket for 10+ years on top of the supernatural threat

TLDR: re Hellfire, none of these members will have a good time in s5

Edit (because i forgot to include these images and am silly)

Hellfire even makes it on the local news by the end of the season

and in line with the focus shifting from Eddie to the other hellfire members, the news anchor then goes to say that Eddie Munson is presumed dead after the earthquake but that that isn't enough for the town. the news even mentions the conspiracy theory that the hellfire murders CAUSED the earthquake. so anyone who hasn't heard Jason's speech, now they're getting it from a "reputable" source too. call that high quality journalism, let's throw the local highschoolers under the bus

we're supposed to remember the fear of the "satanic cult killing children" that Jason spread to the town. it's still there. and it's not just in the local town hall anymore, its being broadcast on live television. so just in case you didn't catch wind of who caused a "gate to hell" to open in your suburban neighbourhood the first time, the news anchor thankfully tells you who everybody Says is responsible, it's the 14-18 year old satanist serial killers duh

[j4gm]

SPOILERS!!! REFERENCES AND EASTER EGGS IN F&C ep. 9: CASPER & NOVA (1 of 2)

I hit the image limit so this post will be in two parts.

These last two episodes feature traditional Adventure Time title cards with intro credits, which is something the others haven't had.

There is a butterfly floating above Fionna when she enters the "Land of Ooo". The same thing happened to Cake when she entered Ooo, and to Simon later on, but this butterfly doesn't have a face on it like those. This is our first hint that something is wrong.

The Betty statue in the background of this shot is on top of a four-faceted object that sort of resembles Glob's helmet; an item that she used to gain her magic powers in You Forgot Your Floaties. Also in this shot are several gnome fairies from The Enchiridion and Billy's Bucket List, and of course Mrs Cupcake and genderswapped Chocoberry. Mrs Cupcake has appeared before but I think Chocoberry is a new design for this episode.

This is our first and only look at what Hunter Wizard would look like. Mostly the same as his main universe counterpart.

This species of dragon first appeared in Memories of Boom Boom Mountain and has been in several subsequent episodes. I'm not sure who the giant cyclops is. It could be a genderswap of the cyclops from Another Way, or perhaps the rock giant from Five More Short Graybles.

Lots of the text in this scene is hostile. There is this sign behind the counter, of course, but lots of the books on the shelf also have violent names.

This series loves giving us extremely fucked up Simons.

This background character looks like Phlannel Boxingday. It would be hilarious if that was the case, considering he is widely assumed to have been a disguise of Princess Bubblegum rather than his own character.

This might be genderswapped Tiffany. She's wearing Tiffany's pink shirt under her jacket. Maybe she has a masculine name in this universe.

We get a better look at the newspaper from the first episode, featuring Betty. It also features the fake butterfly from the dream which feels like a bad omen.

Marshall Lee's t-shirt features the cake pop from Princess Bubblegum's rock shirt, first seen in What Was Missing.

The Lich first mentioned being a Scholar of GOLB in the episode Whispers. In this episode it is confirmed that he has been working towards his goals in GOLB's name. But it doesn't seem like he's actually had any line of communication with GOLB this whole time. GOLB doesn't seem to appreciate The Lich's efforts to wipe out all life; and now that GOLB is fused with Betty, they certainly don't.

The Lich rips off Billy's skin to reveal his skeletal form, which is the same as it was in Escape from the Citadel, complete with the metal plate on his ribcage.

GOLBetty turns the Lich into a tetronimo, implying that all of the tetronimoes surrounding them were once powerful beings who defied GOLB; perhaps they are even all alternate versions of The Lich.

Shermy and Beth! This episode incorporates a lot of the extra lore that writer Steve Wolfhard published shortly after the release of Come Along With Me. It canonises the fact that Shermy and Beth are rebels who oppose the tyrannical rule of Gibbon, who is Charlie's future son from Daddy-Daughter Card Wars. This place is the Pup Kingdom, which is featured in the Come Along With Me title sequence and is a central part of Wolfhard's 1000+ lore.

These are the same kinds of soldiers as seen in Graybles 1000+ when Cuber interrupted the space wedding. In that episode, you only got a very brief glimpse of their jowls. This episode makes it more obvious that they are pups.

All of these pups in the windows are designs from Steve Wolfhard's "Every Pup Has a Power" series of drawings. They once had superpowers, but their powers were extinguished by Gibbon.

This is Jake's favourite mug from the episode Puhoy, and the house in the snowglobe is Tree Trunks' house.

There is a Shermy plush in this pile of junk. There might be some other recognisable stuff in that pile too. I think the popcorn machine is from something but I can't remember what, and the pool toy might be a reference to the Lub Glubs from Beautopia.

This is our best shot of the Pup Kingdom, with its space elevator.

Beth is a revolutionary communist confirmed.

Shermy Simon shouts breadballs, an expletive that he previously used in the episode Simon & Marcy.

The clouds in Fionnaworld are shaped like GOLB blocks while Simon is in the presence of GOLB. We also get a better look at all the glitched out buildings, like that door that leads nowhere.

I think the creature next to Gunter in this advert is a yeti from the show Summer Camp Island, which a bunch of Adventure Time alumni went to work on after the original show ended.

There is a poster for Super Porp, a fizzy grape juice introduced in the episode Dark Purple, along with their mascot Cheryl.

Jake is on these packages in one of the shops.

The Library looks incredible now. In the original show, only the top part with the dome could be seen sticking out of the ground. Either the ground has eroded away to reveal the rest of the structure, or the library has been greatly expanded over time.

Turtle Princess is dead and apparently a robot took over her empty shell and continues to work as a librarian. These are the first gun-books we've seen that also function as actual guns.

These are the pagelings from the episode Paper Pete. They're much larger than they used to be. They don't have many books left to protect these days.

Casper & Nova mention lodging in the seaside town of Scandia on their quest to find the crown. This is a reference to the fact that Simon and Betty found the crown in Scandinavia, as mentioned way back in Holly Jolly Secrets.

I hit the image limit! Link to the second part.

[raven-at-the-writing-desk]

Hi

Alot of people are saying Meleanor and Maellus are the same when she shot everyone with lightening. But I think she is more extreme. At the very least Malleus hasn't hit anyone, though their have been some close calls. But he has never threatened to hurt sebek, Lilia, or Silver. Melenore and Maellus are similar, but I think Malleus is more in control. Lilia does reprimand him if he acts up or he loses thought.

Mmm, well... I don't really think it's fair to say one is considered "worse" or "better" than the other in terms of control of their powers and emotions??? They're a lot alike, but they're also at completely different points in their lives and under much different circumstances. We also get a very limited perspective of one (Meleanor) over the other (Malleus), who is very much a prominently featured character.

Both Meleanor and Malleus in their basest forms are temperamental, and their bad mood stirs changes in the weather. The old adage, "like mother, like son" is very applicable here. The main difference between them is that Meleanor, the parent and adult, has more responsibilities and lived during a warring period.

We hear tales of Meleanor acting up and letting her powers flare out of control in her youth, and that parallels what we know of Malleus's childhood (ie when he froze the castle and many servants). They are the same. However, I would say that Meleanor's emotions running high is considerably more understandable (at least during the instance when we actually physically see her in the dream), considering that she's in the middle of a war and the life of herself and her unborn child are at risk. She's not just "shooting everyone with lightning" because she's lost her temper for no real reason. Meleanor is mad at Lilia and the soldiers for not showing up to defend her and her child. She had NO reason to believe her men would be returning with humans (Yuu, Sebek, Silver, Grim) in tow (who would be much more susceptible to being hurt from her magic than a fae), so I don’t think she was shooting at them specifically; they just got caught in the crossfires. I have no doubt that Meleanor could have done some serious damage with her magic, but since she's expecting only enemy soldiers or her own to walk through that door, I do feel like she has her reasons??? Like, if it's enemy soldiers, then those humans are for sure fried. But if it's her own soldiers, then she's most likely expecting them to be experienced enough to avoid her strikes (since they are, after all, trained rigorously to protect the royal family). Seriously striking down her own soldiers in a time of war only hurts herself, doesn't it?? Meleanor's anger focuses on Lilia and Lilia alone when he refuses her order to take her baby and leave her to fend for herself. I don't believe that she seriously intended to harm Lilia in that moment; she needs him alive and well to ensure the safety of her son. If anything, it feels like she summoned that lightning (the second time) to try and scare Lilia into running or as some kind of "test" to prove his readiness to do so. (Keep in mind that Lilia at this point was ALSO holding Malleus's egg while Meleanor was trying to blast him; do you think she would honestely try to decimate her friend and her baby when she just told Lilia to make sure the baby was kept safe?) This only got messed up because Silver (bless him) leapt in the way to defend his father, because to him, the danger still felt very real. Comparatively, Malleus gets upset over what are much more mundane things simply due to being a student during a time of peace (not being invited somewhere, Lilia getting a text message from a friend, etc). He does an excellent job of self-regulating most of the time, but he also has bad days when he expresses intent to harm those that anger him or at least considers it (ie the Magicam Monsters during the first Halloween event, Rook in his PE vignette (until he realizes Rook is purposefully provoking him), Rollo in Glorious Masquerade for deceiving him). Maybe he hasn't ever threatened to hurt Diasomnia, but that doesn't mean everyone is safe. Look at book 7, he did not hesitate to turn his magic against the people he cares about to force them to comply with his desires. Malleus is immature and doesn't know a lot about the world, nor is he able to easily cope with change or things that already escape his understanding, which results in these kinds of incidents. And like... even if Malleus doesn't mean to hurt people, that doesn't negate the harm he does do, does it? Just because he "never hit anyone" with his magic (at least not that we know of) doesn't mean he can't hurt in other ways. Think of the worry he caused in Endless Halloween Night or as far back as when he (accidentally) froze various servants in the castle. All of book 7 is also indirectly hurting people; he's not allowing them to live their lives and is deciding it FOR them. Even if Malleus doesn't see what he's doing as harmful, the truth of the matter is that it IS harmful. (Mr. Shroud even surmises that without food or water in those bodies forced to sleep, the dreamers might actually die.)

To quickly touch on Lilia, he shouldn't be used to excuse or to hand-wave away any bad behaviors on Malleus or Meleanor's parts. Yes, Lilia is an important person in both of their lives. Yes, he tells them off for their actions--but 1) his words are not always taken into consideration, understood, or followed through on by Malleus (such as in the Dorm Uniform vignettes) and Meleanor, and 2) there are also instances when Lilia enables them instead of discouraging them from acting out. (Endless Halloween Night comes to mind for Malleus.)

Malleus, like his mother, HAS to learn how to better control himself or risk repeating these same mistakes with or without Lilia. Let's not forget too, it's Malleus who Overblotted, a condition which arises mainly due to negative emotions. I don't know if I would call that a demonstration of being "more in control", but rather a sign of Malleus’s immaturity and inability to accept change 💦 ADDENDUM: it is implied later in book 7 that Meleanor also Overblotted, but not out of negative emotions but rather that she overexerts her magic when fighting.

We don’t know as much about Meleanor or how much of her childish tantrums (like the incident where she blew up part of a castle) carried over to adulthood. We also don’t know enough about her to understand if she ever compromised the safety of others like how Malleus did in his own childhood (again, the whole ice thing). When her castle is under siege, she takes control of the situation and makes a plan, then confronts the Silver Owls for a duel. She’s somewhat selfish in her insistent commands to Lilia, but then again, she has to be—she’s a sovereign with people she desperately wants to protect. Malleus is actually just as immature as his mother was as a child. It's possible to see him as "more in control" because we have so many other instances of him being calm and rational to refer to. Meanwhile, we only hear about Meleanor's destructive rampages via stories and have only one real instance of interacting with her to refer to, and she's being violent for most of it. We have very few instances of her being nice or pleasant to compare to, so by focusing only on what we physically witness, a biased interpretation of her can form. In reality, neither mother nor son is "worse" or “better” than the other—again, the standard for comparison for the two’s present behavior is not equal to begin with.

Malleus needs to be given the time to learn and grow to get to the same position and maturity that his mother reached. He’s still at a point where he’s insecure about his relationships and with the change that comes with the passage of time, not a pillar of control—and that’s just a consequence of his youth and lack of real-life experiences. That’s not to say that Meleanor is perfect or that she’s somehow “more” controlled than Malleus; they're both powerful, demanding, domineering types, which is how the Draconia family in general is described. It’s Meleanor's age and experiences have helped to temper her into a leader who knows what she most wants to prioritize in a live-threatening moment. She still uses force to get her way, but utilizes her powers with a more learned wisdom that deviates from Malleus.

[heavenlymorals]

Since my Lyle Morgan post is doing better as I thought, I want to give more details as to why I think he'd be a pretty dope protagonist for RDR3 if they stick to the pre established formula and if it ever comes out.

- A lot of people want to play as Dutch and Hosea when they were younger but that generally makes no sense given the formula of the Red Dead Redemption games. These games are about redemption and neither of them are able to achieve it. Dutch becomes a maniac and loses any shot at redemption prior to his suicide and Hosea gets shot and killed whilst still enabling the bad things that happen in the gang beforehand.

- A lot of people also want to play as the Callender boys but again, given the formula of these games, this doesn't fit well, especially when it concerns the epilogue. When the main character dies in the main game, the epilogue opens up with a character that has some sort of familial relationship with the protagonist that changes them in some way. In RDR1, it was Jack avenging John as he was his son. In RRR2, it was John avenging Arthur as he was his brother. Arthur likes the Callender boys but what do they add to him? Arthur is a founder of the VDL gang, one of the older active members, and finds redemption through himself rather than through other people. What do the Callender boys add to Arthur's story that will make him a decent epilogue protagonist? And not only that, but the Callender boys die after Blackwater and RDR2 starts right after that- there literally won't be any room for an epilogue with Arthur if they will continue the epilogue trend of having the previous main character be the playable character.

- There is already an established connection between Lyle and Arthur but it's vague enough to where it leaves a lot of room for a game to be created. That connection could also have people stop with the "why was x not mentioned in z" like how people were asking why Arthur wasn't mentioned in RDR1.

- Arthur could possibly be an unreliable narrator regarding Lyle Morgan. There seems to be a general consensus in the fandom that Arthur's harsh words for the man means he was a shitty, abusive father who wasn't worth the light of day, but there is room to doubt this. Arthur was picked up by Dutch and Hosea when he was 14 and prior to that, he was living on the streets for years alone after Lyle got hung. He literally could've been in the single digits when Lyle died. Him calling Lyle a no good bastard could be from the trauma of being a child and having to live an outlaw life because of his father's choices. Any reconciliation that Lyle could make with Arthur by living a new life and being a normal father could've been nipped at the bud as soon as he got killed. Arthur's opinions on his father could very well be biased because he was only a child when it all happened and he's basing his opinions on the emotions he felt back then. Think of Jack- Jack would've hated John if he wasn't able to grow up with him and only knew him as an outlaw.

- The people can still see what they want, a young Dutch, Hosea, and Arthur through an epilogue where a younger Arthur is the protagonist. We can see the beginning of the VDL gang, amongst other things, which is what people seem to really want.

- Just makes the most sense if R* wants to continue with the pre established formula of the games whilst connecting the games. Either that, or they can surprise us all with a brand new protagonist we never heard of.

- yapyapyapyapyap

[starlightshadowsworld]

I love Percy and Annabeth but they should not have been in Heroes of Olympus.

Because they overshadow everyone else.

People even say they skipped other characters povs just to read there's.

I love them but I think they shouldn't have been as prominently apart of the story.

Because yeah I love them but I've had 5 books of these guys, I'd really like to know the rest of the seven.

Hell Jason's birthday is the day they fall into Tartarus soo...tell me they aren't overshadowed..

Jason's our main character and he constantly gets pushed aside and is not written well and constantly compared to as being Percy's lesser version.

Which isn't fair.

And he's not given a chance to change that.

He's not allowed to exist outside of Percy because of course he isn't.

Percy's right there.

Also give them a break.

They just fought a war.

Personally would love if the lost hero started with a snap shot of the battle of Manhatten and zoomed out to the Roman part of the fight.

Jason leading the charge and just "Yeah.. That's me, your probably wondering how I got here."

And takes us all the way back to a mysterious woman giving Jason up and the wolves coming for him.

With us learning from kid Thalia demanding to know where Jason is that this Jason is her Jason.

Jason Grace.

We see the wolf house we watch Jason try to survive and absolutely break our hearts hearing someone so young think he's so alone and no one loves him.

Lupa becoming more motherly to him but that fear Jason has always remains that she will turn on him one day.

Jason wandering the streets to Camp Jupiter.

Jason's situation bring the reverse of Percy's.

Being out casted immediately and than put on a pedestal once he's claimed.

Jason immediately hating it.

Jason being pushed into this good soilder narrative but he doesn't fit it at all.

His upbringing has left him wild, less bothered with proper fighting techniques and more on survival.

He fights to kill.

He fights to live.

And no one else gets that.

Except one camper, Octavian, who's older than Jason abd the Augur.

Everyone after reading the Pjo series seeing Octavian...I got my eye on you Mr.

Who insults the elders and is the first to get Jason to laugh.

And encourages Jason to stand up for what he believes in.

Giving Jason the courage to deny his place in the 1st cohort and join the 5th.

This

Pisses everyone off.

Mostly the 1st.

Who are downright offended because you don't turn down the first cohort.

And Jason's like, but I just did.

The 5th have no idea what to make of Jason but in time they become friendly.

Dakota becoming a friend to him.

Jason knows this because he shares his kool aid with him sometimes.

He does get in trouble for squaring off with and scaring off some bullies of the upper cohorts.

Because Jason hates bullies and he recognises the kid, Frank being picked on.

Apparently they stole his stick and while Jason has no idea it's importance, it made Frank sad soo he goes after them.

Ends up on probatio and friends with Frank.

Who admires Jason's bravery and wishes he could be too.

So the rest of the leigion kinda miffed some 5th upstart is embarrassing them.

And so when the next quest is given its to him.

Quests are different here to Camp Half-blood.

Since they don't have a true oracle, specifics are never mentioned.

Leaving the leigion to give the prophecy to whoever they want.

And they want to knock Jason down a few pegs and so they send him.

Jason picking Frank and Dakota.

Neither of the two are hopeful because the day a 5th is sent on a quest is the day their funeral is held.

Not the case though and they do in fact succeed and do it well.

Frank even opening up about his stick and showing that he is as brave and courageous as he wants to be.

It's through that act of bravery Frank is claimed as a son of Mars.

And though he's not exactly sure he should be one, Jason and Dakota both tell him it suites him well.

They both even do the "all hail Frank Zhang, Son of Mars" speech.

Which makes him smile.

On the way back though they do find Reyna.

Jason gets the short straw and has to do the oh the Roman God's are real but she knows and that she's a daughter of Bellona.

And they all head back to camp together.

And while Reyna has her guard up she does genuinely seem to enjoy her company with the others.

She's also the only other person to truly understand how Jason fights and his instinct to survive.

Though she doesn't share why.

Octavian greets them, proud and Reyna is on probatio until they can see what cohort she fits into.

Though she remarks after seeing the egos of the 1st that the 5th might be better afterall.

Celebrations are held and Jason wonders if the quest is really over.

Also all or us wondering if Octavian was genuine about what he said to Jason to follow his dreams.

Or if he did it to take Jason's place in the 1st.

Can't tell me after Luke anyone of you guys wouldn't be mad suss of an older blonde boy befriending Jason.

Fool me once.

Shame on you.

Fool me twice...

Damn...

Also reading the series prior and than this means everyone agrees with Jason.

Like we saw Percy fight for his life over and over and are just like... Oh you bitches gonna have a rude awakening when you face real monsters 💅🏽.

I have no idea what the quest would be but I'd want them to all line up to the next big prophecy.

Instead of it coming out of nowhere.

Hazel does come around but later on because of the doors and with her so does Nico.

[squeakadeeks]

whew! core lineup for Delta is complete, ft Rhea, Rem, Puck, and Raken.

Delta has an overall dream theme, the main conflict revolving around the Dream Queen trying to put people to sleep forever by giving them perfect, ideal dreams (well intentioned but obviously an issue haha)

Raken, as the nightmare lord, is working to counteract her and maintain balance with the help of his three henchmen, Rhea, Rem and Puck.

in terms of design themes, Rhea is dreams, Rem is nightmares, and Puck is daydreams 🫣

close-ups and more character details below

Rhea was a woman in her mid-20’s living a monotonous life when some point due to her excessive sleeping and lucid dreaming exploration, she falls out of her dream into the dreaming kingdoms. She is first found by Rem, who mistakes her for someone who fell victim to the dream queen, and takes her to Raken to attempt waking her up. Raken tells her about how she fell out of her dream, and that she will not be able to wake back up until she can find her original dream current, which is being occluded by the dream kingdom’s tampering and muddying of the dreaming sea.

Motivated and interested in the dreaming world, she wants to tag along and help Raken both for the feeling of doing the right thing, and to potentially help herself wake up. Although she has somewhat superficial reasons, “this is cool!” “I want to learn cool dream magic too!”, She really genuinely wants to do good and be good, and does want to stop the well intentioned dream queen. But as such struggles with the moral greyness of intentionally giving people nightmares in Raken’s plan. She works very hard to find a “perfect” resolution that convinces the dream queen to stop, addresses the harshness of the waking world, and doesn't involve giving people a worse alternative in the form of horrific nightmares every night. 

Rhea is insanely silvertounged and very good at talking herself out of situations and convincing people to think something/do something. Rhea wants very badly to make everyone happy and have people like her, sometimes to a fault. Rem is her best friend and she is very close to Puck and Raken personally as well outside of being Coworkers™️. Shes optimistic and has an intense, perfectionistic ambitious drive. She doesnt just want to solve the problem, she wants it done as perfectly as possible. Rhea is very skilled with dreaming magic largely from natural talent and unusual creative angles to problems. 

Rem is the next core character. Where Rhea is a well beloved extroverted friend, Rem is the cool, calm, charismatic, competent leader. Raken is by far the closest to Rem of the three, viewing him as a son-like mentee. He’s wicked smart and extremely competent and experienced with dreaming magic due to his diligence and hard work. Rem is the sort of head hech between the three henchmen. At first hes this bombastic, upbeat leader trying to preserve their morale during their fundamentally morally complex and messy task of giving people nightmares to wake them up. He’s someone Rhea and Puck turn to for advice, and he always is the one calling the shots outside of Raken.  He’s also very close with Rhea, being her best friend and working hard to find a way to let her wake up/giving her reasons to wake up again. He’s got a weird, codependent thing going on with Puck that even when everyone was on good terms probably wasnt helping the cause, but at least their respective messiness was contained to each other.

Despite being naturally analytical and intelligent, he is incredibly prone to bad, emotional, impulse decisions, and often jumps to conclusions. He really loves the people close to him but is convinced they dislike him or need more from him constantly which makes things Complicated.

If Rhea has natural talent and charisma, and Rem is diligent and intelligent, Puck is…just sort of there. He’s not especially talented in any one category, nor is he immediately deft from a social perspective. Puck is sort of a loser ngl, hes nowhere nears as talented, skilled, smart, or capable as the others, he just wants his life to be easier but hes constantly stuck in situations that are over his head and he perpetually has to struggle and feel objectively inferior. He really puts the hench in henchmen, he is very infrequently given the opportunity to contribute to plans, hes often just the one that has to carry them out. He was genuinely uncomfortable with the dream queen's plans when employed by the kingdom. He was previously employed as an entertainment clown in the kingdom that no one took seriously which is part of how he was able to overhear the plan, which caused him to leave and join Raken. He has a good heart and strong moral compass and is actually able to see problems far more clearly than Rhea, who gets tunnel vision around perfectionism, and Rem, who gets swayed by his emotions very easily. He is actually very good at getting people to trust and open up to him, and likes making people happy too, just isnt as skilled in it as Rhea. He often gets ignored or taken for granted which he leans into. Sort of a “good things happen to good people, so if bad things happen to me i deserve it” energy.

Raken is the struggling single father trying to wrangle all his henchmen. He is not a bad guy at all, he understands the role he has to play in the dreaming world and takes his responsibility seriously. He loves history and tradition, and values his mantle but does bemoan the inherent suffering he brings. he tries his best to do his job as carefully and conscientiously as possible. He views himself as a mentor figure for his henchmen and tries very hard to help them, but theyre A Lot and he can only do so much. in particular when Rem goes fully off his rocker all he could really do is be like "are you winnin' son"

[rubytuezday]

Modern Eren Jäger headcannons

on the college soccer team

listens to 2016 frat party music (the Weekend, Kendrick Lamar, Drake, Childish Gambino) and also rock (Nirvana, Deaftones, Radiohead)

wears clear plastic frame glasses when he's too lazy to put in his contacts (saw someone else say this and I can't stop thinking about it)

loves piano - grew up listening to his mom play classical

tans so fast it's unfair

super flirty with everyone - he's a natural charmer

secretly listens to asmr when he can't sleep

got his tongue pierced when he turned 18

really good at doing accents (his favorite is Aussie)

fluent in German (raised bilingual)

wants to be an honorary uncle to his friends' future kids

frequent special guest on Connie's YouTube channel (like almost every gaming vid)

favorite movie is Return of the King (he cries at the ending every time but pretends like he doesn't)

really good at rolling blunts

coffee order is either the sugariest thing on the menu or a redeye (black coffee with a shot (or two) of espresso)

silver > gold

had a Creepypasta/Slenderman phase when he was 13 (still secretly rewatches Marble Hornets and EveryManHybrid)

read all the Percy Jackson books and liked to pretend that he was also a long lost son of Poseidon (main character syndrome to the max)

remembers everything anyone tells him. You mentioned your major? Eren remembers. You eat a specific food frequently? Eren knows that it's your favorite. Ordered a coffee around him exactly one time? Eren has that shit memorized

obsessed with mood-lighting

either super expressive or impossible to read, no in between

loves taking his mom to the symphony

knows how to cook exactly 3 meals (no I will not elaborate)

favorite sitcom is That '70s Show

so feral for him sorry not sorry

[skysquid22]

Came to a revelation about Daigo’s character while I was half awake.

His anger is a massive part of his character and the fact he is/seems so controlled and mellowed once he’s Chairman is a bit of a testament to Kiryu’s power to inspire others (look at Mine and Hamazaki). But I think that anger is always there, no matter how we see Daigo. The Fudo Myo-o tattoo alone represents a deity who, in one translation, has a name meaning ‘Violent Wrathful One’ and slays ghosts and spirits with his fierce anger. Chosen for Y2 Daigo because of his position to be a leader someday and his anger, despite on the surface him embodying apathy more at the start. Kiryu is the one that forces him into a more active position and their first goal working together is making peace with with the Omi, but Daigo the entire time lashes out. He constantly fights Ryuji to varying degrees of success and later I think the more powerful display of anger comes out against Koji Shindo, the second Nishikiyama patriarch.

Murder undeniably is a pretty big deal to the main characters of these games and practically is the linchpin to the plot of 0. Y1 and Y2 don’t treat as serious because different writing at the time but nonetheless I’m going to meta-ize the fact that Daigo outright kills Shindo. He shot him to disarm him for aiming to kill Yayoi then shot him dead after yelling at him for nearly fucking over the Tojo Clan and probably also likely as revenge for Shindo forcing himself upon his mom. The only reason he doesn’t shoot him more despite the second shot being a death blow is because Kiryu steps in to curb his anger (pull his gun down and shake his head).

[More under the cut.]

Before Kiryu kicks his ass out of apathy, Daigo was in the midst of a decade long struggle to come to terms with his father’s death, the majority of the time where he believed his hero had done the deed. He had to have been pissed off beyond compare and had no way to come to terms with it directly so he burned off his rage like many men in the series—getting into stupid fights. His impulsiveness got him into the set up by Ryuji, landing him in jail for five years. Even before all this, going back to Y0, he’s being a brat because he’s angry over no one treating him like a person, only as the son of the patriarch. His father was neglecting him because of his job and considering that Yayoi was active enough in the Clan to be the acting Chairman, she was probably in the same boat of neglect. Kiryu, his only friend basically, got kicked out of the Clan and yes Daigo says that it’s no reason for him and Kiryu to not hang out again he does phrase it as a question. At the very least, he’s unsure and worried that he’s going to be alone. It makes sense he decides to get apathetic about it and not care who wants to be his friend, but that apathy comes from his anger over feeling trapped in a situation.

People shit on Daigo a lot for making bad decisions but I think his decision making skills comes from two sources. Trying to be like Kiryu and trying to not let his own anger fuck over the situation, as the times before where he’s done that has either made the situation worse for himself (hating fake friends but giving into fake friends bc he’s lashing out) or he killed someone for it. That has to be hanging over his consciousness, or at least I’m going to treat him like it does with how the rest of the series treats murder. Kiryu being his hero sets up a lot of shitty actions on Kiryu’s part that Daigo follows because of course he will it’s Kiryu (who in fairness does help him sort his shit out it just also comes with consequences). Regardless of Daigo coming to honor the job of Chairman or not, it was a shitty thing to push the responsibility of the job from Kiryu to Daigo. Daigo needed direction at the time and it’s not a stretch to say that Chairman would’ve been a fit for him (and Kiryu ended up being right), it wasn’t what Daigo was looking for at the time. He didn’t need or want or care for the Tojo Clan until Kiryu knocked some sense into him. I’m arguing both sides here because Kiryu’s decision worked out well, but it was still a shitty decision since Daigo was pushed into taking the role at the start. Responsibility trumps over personal wants. As the series goes on, Daigo still looks up to Kiryu, but actively looks to him for advice on how to handle the Tojo Clan. Again it’s a situation that makes sense from both sides.

Daigo’s job is to lead the Clan, he can’t rely on Kiryu’s council or leading hand as he did for him during Y2. It’s a distance that Daigo has to learn to establish. I’m not saying it’s bad that Daigo makes exceptions for Kiryu, but it is to be reliant on him. This was sort of a crux in Mine’s argument in Y3–that the Tojo Clan had priority over Kiryu, especially considering that Kiryu was no longer in the Clan. The massive core to this back and forth argument (how much should Kiryu help Daigo out) is the fact that Kiryu was the Fourth Chairman. He had just as much responsibility to the Clan as Daigo does and while Daigo chooses to lead, Kiryu passed the buck to Terada (which lets be honest was the most short-sighted and one of the stupidest decisions on his part). It flatly comes across as Kiryu not wanting to take the responsibility of his position and that reasoning influences every single interaction with Daigo from then on. Yes, Daigo is a sound choice to become Sixth Chairman, yes also Kiryu did it because he didn’t want to take responsibility to be Chairman himself (hi Mine, you were right on this). Yes, Daigo needed to not rely on his hero, a person he idolized so much despite spending nearly a decade confusingly hating, yes also Kiryu should’ve given him council when requested because it would’ve likely helped the situation more than hurt it and also it kept the connection between them. Daigo saw Kiryu as a friend when he had none, then as his fallen hero, then back to being his hero for saving him from his own self destruction tendencies, then… that last part stagnates. Kiryu’s connection to Daigo when he’s Chairman is distant and not at all close. Considering the reaching out efforts Daigo makes, it makes more sense that Daigo is the one with the father complex upon Kiryu and not the other way around. Kiryu never reaches out to Daigo for anything other than Work(tm) and even then it’s only out of a response to more external pressures AND after Daigo tries to reach out. His letter to Kiryu comes as a result of reuniting with Haruka in Y6, it’s not much of his own resolve to reach out naturally.

All of this is to say—how could Daigo not be incredibly angry? During his time as Chairman he seems composed, slipping out into normal anger or being worried since he’s struggling with the job, but considering his former displays of anger up to that point I think it’s a miracle Daigo didn’t have a midlife crisis and cracked. He has to be full of rage, but managing to keep it under wraps because appearances are important. His life has always revolved around what others have expected for him, never once getting a say in what he wants to do from the start. Instead of his hero worship snapping, he clung even harder to it to make up for the fact that he had no one else to turn to. His same hero writes him a letter after his death about how he saw him as a son to him despite only being there for him when it was convenient and also when it also served to benefit himself. (Some dad, huh…) I want to see Daigo angry at Kiryu, I want him to grow outside of the garden Kiryu made for him.

[lowkeyrobin]

hello

First of all I love your stories like Trevor Spengler is so goooood!

I was wondering I was scrolling through your posts and saw jaeden Martell as an actor one shot?

I was wondering if you could possibly do a headcannon what it would be like dating him please?

Like a sfw version and a NSFW version please

Absolutely no pressure.

And if you don't do that sort of thing I understand lol

Have a miraculous day lovely and keep up the good work ✌️😄

yeah of course!! and thank you so much, I'm glad you're enjoying them! ; also I did see your other thing about apologizing for the NSFW, and you're totally fine, no biggie! I wanted to put this here too bc idk if u saw me reply to it before I deleted it ; thanks for requesting and I hope you enjoy!

JAEDEN MARTELL ; dating shenanigans

summary ; dating stuff with jaeden

warnings ; language

word count ; 564

masterlist

literally a picture perfect duo

one because he's jaeden martell and two because you look so good together

both of your Instagram pages are filled with pictures of each other

honestly, yall don't have any haters, you worked on a few movies together, so people have been shipping you for YEARSSSS

every once in a while you scroll through tiktok and find a few handfuls of edits of you and jaeden + your characters

they're the cutest thing ever

you always like, repost and favorite them

it's so funny going back and seeing the ops reaction lmao

sometimes you do some cutesy photoshoots together cause like, why not?

always indulging into each other's interests

you two religiously go on picnic dates

always going on roadtrips to go see something new

you find all sorts of new little restaurants and places to go on Facebook (thank your parents for that one... it's an awful place but it's good for finding new things)

you guys met on the set of IT

it was so awkward at first with everyone meeting each other and whatnot

but after a day or two it was like you'd all known each other since forever

you quickly formed a special bond with jaeden, like just bonding over a lot of the same things and your feelings

people were shipping your characters but the interviews post it2017 and it2019 releases 😭 got the fans all over you two

you had a minor role in defending jacob but the edits of your characters went hard

same thing with metal lords, like 😭

you had about the same size role as hunter so pretty much a main character but your character barely talked to his outside of with hunter 😭

those editors were struggling but feeding

he was the first to confess, surprisingly

it was like a bit before he got the role for jacob barber

he took you out for coffee and a long walk through a park and stuff

thing like hozier vibes if that makes sense

bro became a poet talking to you like that

he couldn't look at you because he was embarrassed the whole time but you were staring at him while walking. like a mix of shock and happiness

you found a tree stump to place your coffee cup (he'd already finished his) placed it down, and just kissed him

cause wtf did he think was gonna happen? speaking all romantic like that like you wouldn't kiss him...

he's not a big pda person, maybe a 4/10

will happily hold your hand or give you small pecks on the cheek/hand/lips but nothing else

he's not jealous at all either so there's no reason for his pda level to just go from 2-10 at all

on the topic of jealousy, it's very rare for him to be jealous of you

he trusts you and it's not something he really worries about when it comes to other people

you're not that jealous over him either, yall got that healthy mutual trust

and finally, some songs that kind of sum up your little relationship 🙏❤️

cloudbusting ; kate bush

crush culture ; conan gray

bourgeoisieses ; conan gray

empire now ; hozier

wildflower and barely ; hozier & allison russell

too sweet ; hozier

lost it to trying paper towns mix ; son lux

thinking bout love ; wild rivers & wrabel

[usergreenpixel]

JACOBIN FICTION CONVENTION MEETING 37: CHÉVALIER (2022)

1. The Introduction

Well, hello there, Citizens! I’m back and I hope you missed me! Sorry for the multiple delays and all, but luckily I’m back at it now!!!

Okay, so this movie has been on my radar ever since it got announced. A story featuring a real Black man who lived during Frev? Sign me up! This has excellent potential and also, to my knowledge, at least a partially Black crew so we get more representation of marginalized groups in crews and on the screen!

At least, those were my thoughts before I actually watched the movie, but we’ll get to whether it was a good media piece later.

I found the movie on Russian language streaming websites, but it’s available on Amazon Prime and Disney Plus for those who would like to watch the original English version.

This review is dedicated to @idieonthishill , @vivelareine (who has a review that unpacks the movie from a historical pov and is welcome to add to the review 😊), @theravenclawrevolutionary , @sansculottides , @citizentaleo , @saintjustitude , @avergehistoryenjoyer , @lanterne and @jenxiez .

Okay, let the Jacobin Fiction Convention reopen!

2. The Summary

The movie tells a story of a real man, Joseph Bologne aka Chévalier de Saint-Georges. Recognized son of a white French nobleman and an enslaved black woman, Bologne must navigate the cutthroat world of the Parisian high society, dealing with racism and trying to reconcile his “white” upbringing with his African roots.

Sounds interesting, but let’s see how the premise was handled.

3. The Story

The Introduction scene - a musical duel between Mozart and Bologne, was actually quite good in my opinion. So were the other beginning scenes of kid Bologne growing up in France as an aristocrat and being bullied by his white peers, plus his father telling him not to let society break him.

These scenes establish quite well that Bologne has to carve out a place for himself among French nobility and make a lot of effort to get even a hint of acceptance. Sounds like a nice setup, right? Well, unfortunately at times Bologne in the movie doesn’t seem to have much agency at all.

For example, his title is granted to him by Marie-Antoinette basically on a whim, handed to him on a silver platter because the queen was impressed by his fencing skills, which in my opinion isn’t enough to show a character who has to work hard to be accepted. I think it would’ve been better if Bologne had at least several impressive fencing performances to prove himself and show more of his skills.

On the flip side, there are characters who have a bit too much agency. For example, in the story it’s Marie Antoinette who is calling all the shots and giving all the orders in France, even though Louis is alive and well. It’s definitely jarring to see how people say “by the order of the queen” when the king should be the one mentioned instead.

I didn’t care much for the love triangle storyline, but it’s my own personal preference and also the fact that it, like many parts of the story, isn’t all that nuanced. So yeah, very bland and boring.

Yes, Citizens, unfortunately nuance has officially left the chat, especially when it comes to the main character. See, at first Bologne doesn’t give a shit about poverty and famine plaguing France. He is enjoying his cushy life and his friendship with the queen of France instead. However, you know what makes him join the Jacobins? A fucking PERSONAL FALLING OUT WITH THE QUEEN. Not promises of abolishing slavery or granting rights to black people, not his own ideals… Just fucking pettiness!

It would have been much better if he didn’t have a falling out with Marie Antoinette and signed up for fighting with the Republicans because he genuinely wanted to do what was right, not due to personal beef. Especially since that was why he joined Frev in reality – the real Bologne made a choice to do the right thing simply because it seemed to be the right thing to him. Not out of petty desire to get back at the queen.

Also, the conflict between Bologne and his mother about how he is acting “too white”… eeeehh. To me it felt very anachronistic but maybe I’m wrong and there is more nuance missing because EVERYONE at court had to carry themselves in a certain way to make it. If you couldn’t do it, you were socially FUCKED. Besides, Nanon (the mother) and her friends crack really mean jokes about Bologne being “too white”, which is… well, an INTERESTING way to endear him to his mother’s culture…

The movie is juggling admittedly anachronistic theme about black culture, anti-slavery message, court drama and love triangles… and the juggling is done quite sloppily too, I’m afraid.

Also, just to illustrate how inaccurate this movie is, the events of 1789 are shown happening in 1776 for some reason, which shows just how much the creators didn’t give a shit about research.

Moving on.

4. The Characters

I really didn’t care for Bologne to be honest. He shows selfishness and pettiness, doesn’t have enough agency in the story and is also very inconsistent. After falling out with Marie Antoinette, he claims he defended her, which… he didn’t! At least it’s not shown in the movie! What the fuck happened to “show, don’t tell”?! Also, his incredible talents aren’t really shown in the way they could’ve been, more on that in the soundtrack section. A missed opportunity, really.

Nanon, Bologne’s mother, is a real embodiment of the themes of slavery and trauma present in the the movie. She merely exists to push him to embrace his African heritage and to remind him that he will never be truly accepted by other nobles. I honestly wish there was more to her character, because she ends up being little more than a walking theme embodiment.

Marie Antoinette here is a capricious, fair weather friend. She CLAIMS to support Bologne, but does it in indirect ways out of fear that nobles wouldn’t appreciate her openly backing a black man. Even though she is an absolute monarch so she can afford to show her support more openly. Actions speak louder than words, and she is clearly not a true ally of Bologne.

Marie Joséphe, Bologne’s love interest, is a woman trapped in a miserable marriage and yearning to act in Bologne’s operas. While I do sympathize with her, I believe that there really isn’t much depth to her either. We just don’t learn much about her. This is becoming a common theme…

Also, just as a side note while we’re talking about characters, many white characters in the movie are shown as mere flat caricatures. I can understand why, but, again, this doesn’t show nuance as in reality, while Bologne definitely had to deal with racism, he was not only accepted, but adored as a celebrity, but we don’t see that reflected in the attitudes of other people towards him. Because apparently the brains of the spectators will implode when they see nuance in a modern movie, it seems.

5. The Setting

Personally I wasn’t that impressed by the costumes or the settings. I’ve seen much better ones. Nothing bad, but nothing outstanding either.

6. The Soundtrack

Where the fuck is actual music from that time period?! Where is music by Bologne himself?! It’s a fucking missed opportunity and I don’t know what prevented the creators from including the music written by the MAIN DAMN CHARACTER into a biopic about him. A shame that they missed yet another opportunity.

7. The Conclusion

Honestly… I can’t say much when it comes to what this movie is fucking about. The story is bland, lacks nuance, doesn’t follow basic historical facts and is pulled in a million directions.

For a movie about an obscure figure, it doesn’t show much of the things Bologne was known for and at times even strips him of agency. We need to have better POC representation, because this is just not it.

The movie is mediocre, bland and forgettable. Don’t waste your time on it.

With that, I declare today’s meeting of the Jacobin Fiction Convention to be over. Thank you for your patience and support during this hiatus of mine.

Stay tuned and stay safe!

Love,

Citizen Green Pixel

[unstable-and-gay]

Hi just watched the new trailer and you said that your open to insane ramblings of madwomen so;

AOHJNWSIUDJFNHIABSDIUSDFNHISEBAFDOMG???? OMG OMG OMG????

I'm so not normal about this. I just got these blorbos why is Bungie pulling them apart in front of me. I am hoping and praying that Ikora survives but shit's not looking too good right now. Also hoping that Zavala doesn't go insane but like I care less about him.

Also desperately clinging to my pile of side characters and hoping Bungie doesn't direct their wrath upon any of them either.

I FEEL YOU!!!!! I FEEL YOU SO MUCH OH MY GOD.

I honestly think Ikora will ultimately be fine. Exactly 0.7 seconds after getting shot by that Hydra she was about to explode the universe with a Nova Bomb so i choose to believe she's completely fine (considering also we can clearly see Ophiuchus healing her).

I am absolutely worried about Zavala though. I understand that to newer players he might be pretty irrelevant but i promise you that this is SUCH a big deal. Maybe i'm speaking nonsense but to me, the Witness having Zavala as it's main target makes zero sense. They said in the vidoc they wanted the godslayer, and that'd be us; and even if they went for some other Guardian, there's probably better choices than Zavala. Ikora is freakishly strong, if i had to pick i'd probably want her as a Disciple. The only thing that i can think of is that Zavala seems to be the easiest one to emotionally manipulate: he's been vulnerable since Amanda died, and apparently Season of the Haunted was not enough for him to get over Safiyah and Hakim (his wife and son). Crazy to me how all that effort seems to have been wasted.

As for the side characters, i believe there won't be too many major deaths. The characters i personally think are in danger are definitely Zavala, and i also feel like when we reach the end of the campaign, Cayde will "fade", since he's most likely the product of a wish. I do hope we get him as a destination vendor, but i wouldn't count on it. I also feel something might happen to Crow and Mara, but also Elsie. I know she never shows up but she's the one who kickstarted all this, she has to have a role in the final showdown.

Tl;dr: im not normal about this either. if my blorbos die i die

[nicoline1998enilocin]

''There's nothing wrong with her stutter!''

PAIRING | SEBASTIAN STAN x FEMALE!READER

WORD COUNT | 2.4K

SUMMARY | You get a job offering as a make-up artist for Marvel Studios, and quickly become great friends with Sebastian. He never cared about your stutter, and was always patient when you were talking to him. You grow really close, but when the paparazzi tries to hurt you, he is quick to shut them down in your defense.

WARNING(S) | Light swearing, a little angst in some spots.

A/N | Hi all! I decided to write this one-shot to show everyone who has a stutter and is struggling with it that it is completely normal, and you're absolutely perfect! A really good friend of mine struggles with it everyday, so I decided to share what it is like to live with someone who has it with their permission. I hope you will enjoy it!

Likes and reblogs will be very much appreciated 💜

Main Masterlist | Sebastian Stan Masterlist

Y/N still remembers the day she got the job offering to be a make-up artist with Marvel, it was such a big career move she even moved to New York City to be able to take it. Once she arrived on the set, she found out she would be the main make-up artist for both Chris Evans and Sebastian Stan, who she had both seen in a few movies before. The only thing that did really worry her, was the fact that she had a stutter, usually people didn't react to that all too well. Despite this, she decided to give this a chance because this could be the change she needed so bad in her life.

The first time you met both Sebastian and Chris was an absolute delight, they were incredibly nice. ''Hi g-g-guys, my n-name is Y/N, and I w-w-will be your makeup a-artist for now.'' you said, and your cheeks immediately turned a deep crimson color, and you really wished you could just run out of the make-up trailer and hide forever. ''Hey, I'm Sebastian!'' he said, and he decided not to comment on your stutter, he actually found it pretty cute. ''Hi, I'm Chris, it's really nice to meet you. I'm sorry and I don't mean to overstep, but do you have a stutter? It's completely fine if you do ofcourse!'' he asked, and you nodded, not wanting to embarrass yourself even more.

You did the boys' makeup and they were incredibly grateful, they asked all kinds of questions like where you are from, if you have siblings, stuff like that. ''W-w-well, I'm from a small t-t-town in Florida, w-where I lived with my ex b-b-boyfriend for a few years, and now I l-live here in New Y-York City, by myself. I s-s-sadly don't have siblings, but I h-h-have a three year old son n-named J-J-James.'' you said with a big smile on your face, thinking about your little boy. You don't see his dad anymore because he left after he found out you're pregnant, and he didn't want any of the responsibility.

''Want to know a little secret?'' Sebastian asked you, and you nodded. ''My character in these movies is also called James. I have a feeling this is completely meant to be!'' he said with a smirk and he let out a chuckle, you laughed as well. You have a feeling you would get really get along well with Sebastian, as well as Chris, because they both make you laugh and feel good, so you don't have to worry about your stutter. ''A-A-Allright guys, you're both ready. Have a good d-d-day on set today!'' you said and you started cleaning up your makeup kit for now, so you would have a clean space to work off of if they needed to be touched up.

The next few weeks were great, and you got to know both Chris and Sebastian pretty well, but there was this undeniable friendship between you and Sebastian. He never said anything about your stutter, but always carefully listened to what you had to say. He never interrupted or finished your sentences, which is something you absolutely hated, and it felt like a relief that he didn't do it. ''S-Seb? I want to say thank y-y-you for being so patient w-with me and my s-s-stutter. It is a r-r-relief that you don't interrupt me or fill in w-what I want to s-say.'' you say with a little flush on your cheeks. ''Ofcourse doll, I know how much it bothers you that people do that, but it doesn't take much effort to just be patient. Besides, I love hearing what you have to say!''

You were so grateful to hear him say that, it felt great to have someone in your life who didn't fill everything in for you, you can think and talk for yourself thank you very much. By the time the end of filming rolled around, you really got close with Sebastian, and you often ended up talking in his trailer for a little while before going home, where you talked about everything and nothing, the good and the bad. James was usually at daycare, but when he got very sick during the day, you had to go there in a hurry. By the time you got to your car you found it had a flat tire, and you didn't know what to do. ''Want me to drive you? I'm done shooting for today anyway!'' Sebastian offered and you happily agreed.

''Oh b-b-baby, what's going on? Are y-you okay?'' you asked James when you saw him. He was very pale and warm, definitely spiking a fever. ''He ate his lunch, but sadly he didn't keep it down and he got sick. He has been spiking a fever for a little bit, but it doesn't seem to go down. We're so sorry we had to call you out of your work!'' the lady at the daycare said, but you said it's fine. ''Hey buddy, are you feeling sick?'' Sebastian asked, looking worried at your son. He nodded slightly and he started crying, so you really had to go to the pharmacy and pick something up in order to bring down his fever. ''I'm s-s-sorry, but we really need t-t-to go now. H-Have a good day!'' you said. ''Yeah, you too and again, I'm so sorry!'' the lady said.

Both you and Sebastian hurried back to his car, you sat in the backseat this time, with James on your lap trying to comfort him a little bit. ''It's o-okay buddy, we'll get you s-something for your fever, and you'll f-f-feel better in no time!'' you said to him, softly stroking his cheek while giving soft kisses on his head. ''Sebastian w-w-will drive to the pharmacy and get you s-something to feel better, okay?'' you said, with tears welling up in your own eyes, because you hated to see him in this much distress, you absolutely despised seeing how bad he was feeling. Most of all, you hated the fact that you had to go through this alone, since your ex left you during the pregnancy.

Sebastian arrived at the pharmacy and went in after you told him what to get for James, so you could stay with him in the car. ''Here you go, James!'' he said when he came back, and he brought some of your favorite snacks as well, to make you feel a little better. He drove all three of you to your apartment, and you invited Sebastian in. ''Oh no, it's okay, really! I should really go, if I come with you I'll only be in the way of you taking care of this little guy.'' he said when he softly stroked James on his back with his big hand. ''It's okay S-Seb, really. I could use t-t-the company!'' and he agreed.

After a few hours you finally managed to get his fever down, and Sebastian was making dinner for the both of you so he was able to help. James didn't feel like eating yet, so you could always make him something simple later. ''Allright doll, dinners ready.'' he said, and he put down a delicious looking pasta salad, and your mouth started watering at the sight of it. ''Wow, i-it looks delicious!'' you say and you immediately put some on your plate. You realized you hadn't ate anything since breakfast, because it was hectic at work and when you got the call from the daycare, you completely forgot about lunch.

A few days later, you suddenly notice a lot of notifications on Twitter and Instagram, but you don't understand what it is all about. When you open Twitter, the first thing you see is '' Does Sebastian Stan have a new girlfriend? '' and you click on it. There are a couple of paparazzi photos of you, Sebastian and James from when he was sick, and Sebastian was there to help you both out. You get really nervous because of this, and decide to call Sebastian. ''Y/N? Is everything okay doll?'' he asked when he picked up after the second ring. ''S-S-Seb, have you seen the p-p-photos yet?'' you say and tears start to prick in your eyes. You were afraid that if he saw all the things they said, he didn't want to be friends anymore, you knew he didn't want a relationship for a while. Even though you were definitely not together, those thoughts still crossed your mind.

''Ah, you mean the ones where they say you're my girlfriend?'' he says with a sigh, he was hoping you wouldn't find out what the paparazzi said, since he knew how you felt about those people. ''It's okay doll, I have already put out a statement that I'm not in a relationship, but that we're just really great friends, that's all.'' he said, and you felt a bit relieved when he said that. You thank him and he asks how James is doing, since you had a few days off to take care of him. ''He's really d-d-doing great, and he has b-been asking about you! H-H-He wants to know where m-mommy's friend is, and asked i-i-if you wanted to come and p-play with him.'' you said with a smile, thinking about when James asked for Sebastian. ''Oh, I would absolutely love to come by later today. Is that okay? Maybe we can all go out to dinner together if he's feeling better!'' Sebastian suggested and you accepted his offer.

The three of you were on your way to dinner, and Sebastian got recognized by some fans who wanted to take a photo with him. He looked at you apologetically and asked if it was okay with you. ''Yeah, o-o-ofcourse!'' you said to him and stepped to the side with James, so you could give them space for a few photos. When the fans walked away you could hear them saying something about you stuttering, and you started to feel very self conscious again. ''Seb, m-m-maybe we should just reschedule. I'm s-sorry.'' you said, and James noticed the tears falling down your face. ''No mommy, no cyring! Mommy can't be sad!'' he said while wiping the tears away, which made you smile through the tears. ''Doll, it's okay. There's nothing to worry about, they don't know anything about you. If you want to go home that is okay and I will come with you, but if you still want to go to dinner I would love to go with the both of you.'' he said, holding your face in his hands. He gave you a kiss on the cheek to make you feel better, and you decided to go to dinner.

When it was time for the premier for Captain America: The First Avenger, Sebastian invited you to come along as his plus one. You gladly accepted, you could really use a night out for a change. The babysitter was more than happy to take care of your little bundle of joy, and you got to spend some quality time with Sebastian and the rest of the cast, who you've grown to love during the shooting of the movie. ''Hey Chris! H-how are you?'' you ask when you see Chris, you haven't seen him since the last day of shooting. ''I'm doing really great. I'm kind of nervous ofcourse, but I'll be fine! How are you and James doing?'' and you tell them about how we was sick a little while ago, but he is back to his old happy self now, and really growing up way too fast.

When it was time for the red carpet, Sebastian gently guided you there, and you both posed for some photos. ''Sebastian, how does it feel to have a girlfriend now?'' some people ask, and you are finally done with it. ''He's n-n-not my boyfriend! We're j-j-just really good friends!'' you say and you get angry, but instead of them stopping, they just started laughing and making fun of your stutter. ''Oh please, why would anyone listen to you? You can't even talk like a normal person!'' someone said, and this is what drove Sebastian over the edge this time. ''Dude, what the fuck is wrong with you? There's nothing wrong with her stutter! She can't do anything about it, and it makes her special! It's too bad assholes like you can't seem to get that into that small brain of yours!'' he yells at the guy, and he storms off the red carpet with you closely behind.

''S-S-SEB, WAIT!'' you say, only earning more laughs behind you. You start walking slower and tears are streaming down your face, Sebastian then stops when he hears you sobbing. ''Oh god doll, I'm so sorry for what just happened. I know how you feel right now, and I am so sorry that happened to you.'' he said, and he wrapped his big arms around you to comfort you. ''I-I-It's okay, I'm used to it.'' you say in between your sobs, but it still hurts that they make fun of your stutter. ''No doll, it's not okay, and someone had to set the record straight. I think you're absolutely perfect, and you didn't deserve that. No one deserves to be treated like that.'' he said in your hair whilst he kept holding and soothing you.

''I-I-I'm sorry. I should just go h-home...'' you say and you let go of Sebastian, but he doesn't want to hear any of it. ''Doll, how about we get you cleaned up in the bathroom real quick, and we will just enjoy the rest of the evening with our friends? You really deserve a night out, and those assholes can just fuck right off to where they came from!'' he said, earning a light chuckle from you. ''Okay, b-b-but you can't c-come into the bathroom w-with me!'' you say and the two of you make your way over there. Whilst you walk into the bathroom Sebastian goes to get you a glass of champagne and hands it to you when you walk out of the bathroom. ''T-t-thank you again, Seb. This m-means the world to m-m-me.'' you say and you give him another hug, and this time you give him a light kiss on his cheek, making him blush a little where your kiss just touched him. ''I love you, doll.'' he said. ''I l-l-love you too, S-Seb.''

[elwolfen]

Alfred Molinathon Day 1:

Species (1995)

Dr. Stephen Arden

His Role: His character doesn't have too much to do until near the end of the movie. During the containment lab scene, I just thought that he reminded me of some kid in the back of a classroom who sometimes chimes into the conversation or scene of the main characters. I don't know why.

Also, when the cast is waiting for Sil to arrive back to the club, him thinking it's a waste of time and decides to just opt out and sleep in the van is very relatable to me. That's what I do half the time at boring events.

When it is his time to shine, we get to see some of his personality, which is that he can be quite fun! Him hanging out with the other guys was really fun to see, I really enjoyed when him and Dan shared time together, I really wish we got more of the two! Although iffy on the whole letting Dan think long island iced tea was just tea and him not feeling good afterwards.

(This is a funny picture)

Arden shooting his shot with those two ladies was hilarious. He tried, but he didn't even properly ask if they had dates or not.

And the final scene with him... he really just bought what Sil (not knowing it's her) said? Like even if I was very horny and lonely, I would still be really freaked out if someone broke into my room because they were interested in me. Just saying. I was also really afraid I was gonna finally see someone's dick in those movie and it was gonna be his, but thankfully not (I don't like see anyone's penis, no thank)... but there is dick, we'll get back to that.

So he successfully knocks up Sil (not intentionally on his part) and gets killed. Which I already knew was gonna happen, I haven't watched this movie before, but I knew the general plot and that he died. I didn't enjoy the fact that his death only gets brought up once by Laura asking "Did you see him?" Like that's it. Nothing from Dan, I want to see him devastated! He's an empath!!!

I also thought it would have been more interesting if he was alive (not just because I wanna see more of Molina), just him grappling with the fact that he unintentionally help Sil with her goal and the other fact that he has a alien/human hybrid son! It would have been funny if someone said, "Your son tried to kill me, Arden!" Maybe him having mixed feelings that his son had to be killed or maybe this made-up version the son wouldn't be dead. I don't know!

Anyways, this character had more potential, but I enjoyed his last few scenes. Especially his bromance time with Dan.

Last thing: I was very envious of his hair. Give it to me, please.

~~~

The Rest of the Movie: I didn't expect to really enjoy this movie, but I did and I'm glad. I heavily judged it solely on Sil's alien form... yes really.

I was really surprised that I liked both plots of the movie (Sil on the prowl and the team hunting her down), and the romance between Press and Laura? I actually love it. It was kinda cute, I don't always like romances happening quickly but this was good.

Laura: You want to dance?

Press: Who, me?

Laura: Yeah, you.

God, I love how she delivers that line! Gently mocking his voice. And her saying "cute socks" when they're about to have sex was adorable.

~~~

I really liked Dan the empath but I don't fully know if he was supposed to be kind of a joke? Like him stating his empathic yet obvious observations and how everyone reacts to that. He kind of reminded me of Padparadscha Sapphire form SU, just a bit.

Like I said earlier, since we saw plenty of scenes of Press and Laura, I wish we saw more of Arden and Dan.

~~~

Sil's journey and mission throughout the movie was interesting, but her alien design really bothered me. Like, were the tenta-tits really needed? I really got the Xenomorph and H.R. Giger vibes from the design, which I'm sure it was a huge inspiration. Actually, I looked it up, he did design her...

It was nice to see so many people being kind to who they thought was a foreign woman, even the motel guy! But that poor woman she uses to fake her death... her acting was incredible and heartbreaking.

~~~

Xavier... I didn't like anything about this character and the actor, I'm sorry, but I don't understand the direction he was given. Not his fault, but man I was happy when he died. I was also confused with the scene after Sil faked her death and she was in the other car if Sil just knew what he was gonna say or she was mind controlling him? Which doesn't show up anywhere else.

~~~

The horror aspect of this horror movie was not really there, which I didn't mind. It wasn't scary or anything, but I enjoyed the chase between the team and Sil and all the people Sil meets.

~~~

The last thing I want to add is the fact that I laughed way too hard at one scene. In the beginning, Xavier was talking about how Sil came to be and says:

"We decided to make it female so that it would be more docile and controllable."

And I hope that it would cut back to the only woman on the team, and yes, it did. I howled with laughter, probably wasn't that funny but it was to me.

Oh yeah the penis I mentioned? It was Sil and Adren's sons'... I didn't really wanna see a kids genitals. No thank you.

[generic-anime-boy-bracket]

Round 2, Group A: Matchup 2

Hibino Shintarou vs Yoichi Isagi

Reasons for being generic + Propaganda below

Hibino Shintarou

Reasons:

He has black (dark blue) hair and black (dark blue) eyes :3 Also he’s a Japanese prince in the world he’s in so

Propaganda:

He was once a joyous character full of whimsy who had a good relationship with his brother when he was forced to go study abroad because it would be ‘good for him’. So of course he already didn’t have a greaaaat relationship with his father since he was young. So off he went to Italy, where he was excluded and bullied because he didn’t know the language, plus he was a minority there so yknow. Then some guy named Mr Honda Konichi just conviniently waltzes into his life and becomes his tutor and companion, and they quickly made fast friends (son/father esque friendship). Mr Honda was the only real friend Shintarou ever had in Italy. They talked with each other, played with each other. Mr Honda cared for Shintarou and formed a bond Shintarou would treasure like nothing ever before. Shintarou was happy, so happy. He thought he’d be friends with this kind older man forever. But he thought wrong. Some days before, Shintarou had invited Mr Honda to go to the beach with his family. The young prince was elated and went off, but overheard Mr Honda saying he was going to rob their house because of their wealth. So Mr Honda knocked him out and buried him alive. In a dark, cramped box. Several feet under. With nothing but a hole and a pipe for air. And there he remained, for god knows how many days, until the Italian prince and his aide just so happened to pass by and rescued him. When he got out, he was so scared he couldn’t even go near anyone without going berserk. Then, he remembered he had to go to the beach with Mr Honda on Saturday, and ran, ran to see if Mr Honda was still there. He saw an ambulance, he saw police and EMTs. He saw a stretcher with a bloody hand hanging languid from it. He saw Mr Honda’s bloody, lifeless face, having been just shot to death after he tried to resist arrest. And that’s when he snapped. (but don’t worry mr honda is actually a kinda morally grey guy in the end we find that out later but it’s not relevant rn :() And now he’s scared to touch people or go into dark cramped places on his own and only trusts his robots because he thinks humans are incarnations of evil and there is no such thing as friendship, only mutual relationships where both parties benefit and nothing else. Ah yes, the good old (and still good) classic tragic past full of unresolved trauma which led to who you are today. The incident also hecked up his relationship with Junta, his brother (remember i told you he actually had a good relationship with him before) and they grew distant and hate each other now but not really. Dai Dai Dai Kirai. Ja Nai Ja Nai Ja Nai… He’s also a dick but cares when he is able to He likes omurice and nigiri sushi. Also he’s very smart and super duper good at playing chess and he secretly likes cats

Yoichi Isagi

Reasons:

Blue Lock has so many visually cool characters, like Chigiri or Kunigami or Bachira or Reo or Nagi who all look so unique and cool, and then you have Isagi, the MAIN CHARACTER, who just looks like A Guy 💀💀 like he looks so basic with the haircut and everything it’s so funny 😭

Propaganda:

None but you can refer to his previous entry in last year's tournament