#and it needs to be a subplot ofc

[musclesandhammering]

Idk I feel like they could’ve made a really interesting plotline out of the fact that angels are mostly bound by bloodline when it comes to vessels, Jimmy Novak’s body keeps failing Cas, and the next vessel in line for him would’ve been Claire. It feels like there’s something unexplored there.

[befuddled-calico-whump]

So what if Ander had kept a journal when he first got to the place. And what if it were in the library. And Joy had found it, and read it. It has no mention of him being Sahota, but it does have “Ander” written at the front. What if Joy came up to Sahota and asked “Who is Ander?” What then?

as the resident Brooding Guy he'd probably answer with "Ander is dead."

...which isn't entirely a lie, symbolically speaking. He'd try to redirect further questions, but if she pushed him enough, he might give some more vague details that only make Joy more curious.

She might theorize with the rest of the crew, and talk about the possibility of a third teammate who was mysteriously killed, probably by Vic, possibly on purpose. Of course this would drive everyone up the wall if they ever found out that Ander is Sahota.

[twstjam]

First Years Shenanigans at a Malleyuu Wedding

As much as I have Malleyuu Thoughts I'm also constantly thinking about First Years Gang so there's frequent overlap between the two, so have some Typical Wedding Goes Wrong Trope thoughts I had featuring the beloved First Years and many shenanigans.

Malleyuu wedding centered around the First Years making sure the wedding is going to go smoothly. So much shit is going wrong and they're trying desperately to fix them all without Malleus or Yuu finding out.

Sebek is freaking out the whole time, Ace and Deuce are mixing up each other's jobs, Jack is the only sane one, and Epel who is helping Yuu get ready is trying his best to focus on distracting them instead of running out there (he's still a tough farm boy through and through but a lot of things have gotta stuck after all those years at Pomefiore and under Vil's tutelage). Ortho is the only one who is even marginally helpful (as long as his gear somehow doesn't break that is)

I've got this image of Malleus summoning Sebek in the middle of all the chaos to have a bit of a heart-to-heart with him, thanking him for his years of service and friendship with Yuu, but meanwhile, Sebek is trying desperately to keep his composure because the entire time Malleus is speaking all kinds of nonsense and shenanigans is happening behind him.

I can also see Epel working with the other hairdressers, makeup artists, etc. (Maybe Crewel is there too because heck yeah father figure!Crewel helping Yuu get dressed for their wedding) on Yuu and Ace suddenly smacking into the window.

Yuu: Did you hear something? Epel: *making sure Yuu doesn't turn around and see Ortho trying to unstick Ace from the window* Prob'ly just the wind.

There's also a subplot going on that makes keeping everything a secret exponentially harder where Malleus keeps trying to run off to go see Yuu because his Dragon Clinginess is acting up and Lilia if he's still alive along with Silver and other servants are doing their best to keep him in his room and also make sure he gets ready in time for the wedding (and also bcs of the bad luck abt seeing each other before the wedding thing)

Sort of like the Tangled wedding short, by the time all the problems are solved Yuu and Malleus look at their friends and are shocked by their various disheveled states.

I also think it'd be funny if Maleficia is also there and she's completely Aware of all the nonsense going on and is mildly amused by it. Though she's not exactly working together with the boys she's calmly helping them fix certain things with a wave of her hand behind her back and also helping distract Malleus.

None of them knew she was in on it until the end of the actual wedding where she casually mentions to the newlyweds about the "issues" with the preparations and the two of them exchange confused looks while Yuu's friends freeze and break out into a sweat.

Ngl I kind of forgot about Grim agshdgdj. I imagine that he's getting ready WITH Yuu, getting his coat all groomed and stuff, but it takes less time and he walks in on the others and the messes they're trying to fix and he's like "MYAH!! If Yuu and Tusnotarou find out about this they're gonna FREAK!!" "We KNOW! Instead of standing there and complaining why don't you help us out instead?!" (-Ace, probably)

Helps distract Malleus and Yuu by clinging to them, making demands, lying about things like his outfit feeling uncomfortable or his coat needing a better brushing. I've got this image of Ace picking him up and rubbing him all over the betrotheds' wedding outfits to get cat hair all over them.

Grim: UNHAND ME!!! Sebek: TRAPPOLA?! Wh-What are you doing?! Ace: Trust me, this is gonna buy us tons of time!

In the end, the wedding goes smoothly. Sebek cries ofc, so does Deuce, Jack denies getting emotional, Epel too but less insistently, Ortho is being all sweet and soft and mushy about it, and Ace is making fun of them all but very lightheartedly :)

[orangepopsicles444]

i think bridgerton should add a few more episodes into the next seasons after s3 because it’s getting a little confusing with all these plots:

- benedict and lady tilley arnold

- kate and anthony (who we saw for like 10 minutes)

- francessca and john

- colin and pen ofc

- violet and lady danbury’s brother

- lady danbury and her brother

- eloise, cressida and penelope

- featherington’s traditional money problem schemes

- the mondrichs

im only pointing this out because they won’t be able to fit all of these and more (as more siblings come out) into 8 episodes. i think they might need to extend it to 12 to fully explore the subplots they try to put in the storyline.

buuuuut i’ll still be watching anyways 🫡🫶

maybe i just want more bridgerton and im just sad they only gave us four episodes i need more

[catboylister]

GNC/nonbinary lister is so powerful I love it. do you have any thoughts on his Awakening or how he expresses his gender beyond raiding rowan’s closet lol

YESS HI thanks for asking :]

so lister genderfluid hc came abt so i could project when i was still kinda questioning gender stuff lols, love him for that. it also got added as a little subplot to a frowan fic i drafted way back 2022 (and ive lwk forgotten most of it atp mb ledgend)

but the main thing was the ark working on the soundtrack for a universe city adaption, like a movie or something like that. and ofc, they meet aled and frances and i just thought it would be fun to see aled and lister interact since they're such opposites. scottish and welsh duos are peak and i am not biased at all.

anyways in terms of listers realisation in this, it happens when he keeps rambling to aled about how he thinks the mc (do they have a name? i can't remember at all, its been a while since i read rs) is really relatable to him and its nice to see something like that, and aled thinks that lister means in terms of gender so aled is just being polite and says he didnt know lister was nonbinary and asks what his pronouns are 😭

so lister just kind of sits there and has to think for a few minuets because no one has ever asked him that and hes never thought about it too much. like he understands a fair bit about being trans and gender expression, but obviously not everything. like he's never considered the idea hes not cus because he doesnt have gender dysphoria so bad he can never look at himself, and he doesnt hate being a guy. he hasnt really considered the idea that he was allowed to experiment with all that since hes always been a bit apathetic to it.

so like after that conversation i can imagine he gives it a deeper thought and tries to drop a few hints to jimmy that he wants to talk about it with him. except jimmy does not pick up on hints at all so that goes no where, and instead he turns to aled for advice and yeah :)

as for gender expression i think a lot of it is small subtle changes for a while. like using make up for fun rather than just because he has to for shows, and ofc his sense of style changes a bit too. in terms of coming out i think he jusy adds any pronouns to the twt bio one day and waits until fans take notice lols.

one of the things i felt a lot back then was that i didnt really "look" or "seem" like i was "actually" trans. so i kinda projected that a bit, in my head he doesnt feel the need to transition physically, he finds a lot of confidence in himself after figuring it all out and he doesnt care abt what other people think.

[animalsalvationassociation]

I’ve caved & now the ASA Au is pivoting!!! 😅😘

(Please read to the end and vote on the poll!)

So I mentioned before that I wanted to go a more scientific route with my Octonauts Au, just because my writing usually delves into the fantasy/magic genres (I mean I write other things like Sci-Fi & Murder Mysteries, but there’s usually still a supernatural element to it).

However, this morning I found a lot of amazing inspiration that derives STRAIGHT from not only mythology but cryptozoology. I’ve talked it over with a moot and I believe I have a good idea of how I want to go about it.

So the story is going to be changing slightly. Ofc we’re gonna have our silly goofy Octonauts with their science fun, but I believe a criptid/monster subplot is just what we need!

Imagine a world where certain species have been believed to have gone extinct, only to find that most of those species exist and they’ve evolved. This will delve deeper into the scary/suspense aspect I’ve been looking for, allowing us to see if Kwazii’s monster tales might be telling some truths after all . . .

(Poll below)

PG-13: Mentions of Blood/Injuries, Violence, Use of weapons, Skipped Death Scenes (as in they’re mentioned but not included in the actual story), Scary/Suspenseful but not horribly traumatizing. (Think Superhero movies)

PG-14: Vivid Death Scenes (Most often they will be based off of memories), Heavy Weaponry, Horror Aspect (as in certain scenes are a little bit scarier than what they would be in a regular story, there’s more suspense and stakes), Lingering on the “edgier” side (idk how to explain it, it’s PG-14 for crying out loud) — (Think . . . Idk—Netflix has PG-14 which is on the cusp of being “Mature”, so go off that I guess)

Note:

Unfortunately in order to create the story I want to tell (even if it is a kids show) it has to feature at least some of these. However these two rating are literally based on violence only.

I don’t usually have swearing in my stories (it makes me uncomfortable to write unless it’s literally the only way the sentence flows/or it makes sense for the character, I only have a few exceptions however like Hell/Damn even then I still don’t use them often)

However keep in mind, we can have certain aspects of both. If you want a scarier story in the eyes of PG-13, we can do that. I’ll just be careful how I approach the subject.

(This is the only way I can actually explain how the story will play out by literally rating it. By giving it a rating most people are going to understand what it means and will judge based on their interests/age. Please be responsible and respectful. I am not responsible for your choices, especially if you are under the age of 13.)

[soymilkdoom]

i cant sleep so im going thru th free youtube movies n at first i watched marie antoinette (again) but now im watching this DUMBASS 80s movie thats basically the OG “shes the man” HELP MEEEEE NOT THE SOCK 😭😭😭 n this mf is always wearing button downs a vest n a tie … bro is like super ultra passing too with the fake deep voice .. LIKE TH GIRLS WANT HER .. BUT ALL TH GUYS IN THE GYM CLASS CALL HER “TULIP” … but ofc this shit has th romance subplot there has to be so is this lik mulan shit where its like gay-but-not-really-we’re-not-going-to-elaborate-on-that …. ALSO HOW DID THIS BITCH ENROLL IN A TOTALLY NEW SCHOOL BY HERSELF FAKING HER IDENTITY LIKE??? WHILE HER PARENTS R AWAY?? HOW TF DO U JUST DO THAT?????? its so late but i need to see this stupid shit thru

[angelsdean]

you probably noticed this but: right after dean finishes telling the CBGB story, he says “john friggin winchester” and takes a shot, and the jacting joices in that moment are… god. i mean the jacting joices are there the entire time ofc but they kinda give *overemphasizing this as a ‘cool john’ story* to me at first, but in that final moment—dean purses his lips, he shifts in his seat, he stares into the distance… he looks bitter. it’s like dean allows himself to feel bitter about this story for just a second, when sam and cas are no longer looking at him ://

(the exact moment i’m talking about is in a gifset you reposted recently)

Yea there's definitely a vibe throughout the whole thing that he's like, telling it as this "funny anecdote" but underneath there's more feelings brewing about this story. Like the story itself comes up because Sam prompts him to tell it, so it's not even Dean's first thought.

Even Cas asking them "You loved your father?" and Dean's response, "With all I had" is like, on the surface you can take that as a positive statement but it's also pretty vague when you really poke at it. It's like, okay and how much love for your father DID you have? It's not the same as a resounding "Yes, of course!" It's more, "I loved him as much as I personally could, given everything." And I do think Dean loved his father. Dean is full of love and he cares even when people might not deserve it. But, we also know he's no stranger to criticizing his father (as he literally says in the next breath that John was not winning any Dad of the year awards) and acknowledging that he was put through shit he did not deserve at way too young of an age.

Even him saying "damn if he wasn't there when we needed him" it's, I mean, he's literally criticized John for being a deadbeat and leaving them and not answering the phone and putting them in danger before so this line immediately rings hollow. And in the context of the scene it makes sense that he'd say this to Cas because Cas is specifically asking them about John as a way of understanding what a father is supposed to do. He prefaces his questions about John with the fact that HE never knew his father and thus has little experience with this whole Claire situation. He's looking for guidance, so it makes sense that Dean would over-embellish a little and want to paint John in a better light for the sake of telling Cas that "yea a good dad is there for their kids." Which we Know John wasn't always there for them. (Side note but all of this ALSO ties into Rowena and Crowley's subplot this episode, how she abandoned HER kid, wasn't there for him, left him vulnerable but is trying to be there now etc etc. Thematically it's an episode abt imperfect parents and their children). And the fact that Sam prompts the story to me says that Dean was probably just going to leave it at that, simply giving his advice to Cas that good dads are always there for their kids.

But anyways, all this to say, I can definitely see Dean feeling bitter about the story at the end there. Especially as the happy little mood drops and he's no longer trying to "give advice" and is reminded of the case, Claire, and how his own experiences actually relate to hers. It's like he finishes telling the story Sam prompted him to tell in the first place and he remembers, "yeah and that was fucked up. and dad might've been there THEN but what about all the other times he left us vulnerable and open to be preyed on. and now Claire is in the hands of this pseudo-guardian who is also putting her in dangerous and vulnerable situations, and and and."

[jellyfish-grave]

GUYS!!!!!!!!!!!! I created GGG OCs ofc I did. Whatever. They're self inserts who wouldve thought. But i liked them sm i made them into actual lil guys independent of me and my bf. Ok look ::)

That's them together at least. Concept art!!!

The idea of them is that they have directly conflicting themes!!!! Lilian, the God of Misteries, enjoys making people forget connections between events, creating confusion and misunderstandings. But it's never really out of ill will! Usually, the intention behind it is to get Snipdoodle, the God of Collage, to stitch things back together and create beautiful endings!

At first, they were rivals and such, but eventually they found solace and purpose in each other's presence. ::]

But unfortunately...in their letter to Snipdoodle, King implies that Lilian truly prefers ignorance and confusion over everything, and that Snipdoodle is simply annoying them by solving every little issue they create! So Snipdoodle decides to leave his needle away and let Lilian create a bigger mess. But from Lilian's side...she becomes convinced that Snipdoodle doesn't want anything to do with her anymore!!!

It's your job, Godpoke, to solve this misunderstanding...and clear out the paths that Snipdoodle and Lilian have destroyed or blocked in between the multiple locations of their town! The civilians are unable to talk with them, and they need your help!

(YES there is a subplot about aromanticism that fits into the subplot of the entire game. NO I don't know if I'll ever actually put it into words. Goodbye and ty for reading my word vomit. Also feel free to ask about them.)

[pluckyredhead]

It's time for more Fourth World thoughts! Previously I've covered the comics of the 70s, 80s, and 90s. Now let's talk about the 2000s.

Orion (2000): AHHHHHHH. If you read no other Fourth World book (besides Kirby ofc), please read this one. It is so good and it is so epic and Orion makes so many well intentioned bad decisions and suffers so much. I devoured all 25 issues in 2 days and immediately wanted to reread it. Writing and art are both Walt Simonson and he gives this book such tragic grandeur. He also does my favorite thing which is multiple slow-burning subplots, some of which lasted so long that I was afraid they wouldn't be resolved, but no, every loose end is wrapped up in a satisfying (ish) way by the last issue and I love everyone in this bar. And the art! THE ART!!!

So basically, Orion kills Darkseid (again lol) and becomes the new ruler of Apokolips, and decides he is going to drag this planet over to the side of good kicking and screaming, which...doesn't work out so well for him. Ultimately he winds up semi-accidentally in possession of the Anti-Life Equation, which allows him to completely control people, so he uses it to force people to be good, which...baby, no. This series is like 40% Orion whump, 35% Orion being a badass, 5% Lightray and Orion being blatantly in love, 5% Scott and Orion making dramatic gestures of brotherly devotion, and 5% Orion wearing a stupid hat that I unironically wish I could buy and wear.

It looks like his helmet! I NEED IT.

Also, during his Stupid Hat Era, Orion briefly acquires an orphan girl sidekick, and like...look at my icon. This is my GREATEST WEAKNESS. Simonson, why did you come for me like that???

I have only two quibbles with this series:

1. It's the early 2000s so the only female characters of any significance (besides the aforementioned orphan girl sidekick) are femme fatales who are drawn in ludicrously skimpy outfits and sex inch heels. Now to be fair, Darkseid wears a miniskirt, but the degree of cheesecake of these two characters was ridiculous.

2. The last issue reveals that Scott possesses the Anti-Life Equation naturally, and he once accidentally killed dozens of people with it, and he's tormented by both of these things. Which...the actual issue this story is told in is really good, and I think it's a really interesting idea to have Scott possess the Equation, but I don't love the idea of weighing down this optimistic character who values freedom above all with such a traumatic history of, uh, accidental mass murder. He already grew up in a torture orphanage! Hasn't he suffered enough?!

But honestly, the overall series is so good that I'll let it slide. PLEASE READ ORION (2000). THANK YOU.

Seven Soldiers: Mister Miracle (2005): This is part of a set of miniseries Grant Morrison did: there was Seven Soldiers #0, and then 7 4-issue minis, one for each of the Soldiers, and then the whole story concluded in Seven Soldiers #1. I only read Seven Soldiers and the Mister Miracle miniseries because I'm a ridiculous person when it comes to reading comics, but I'm not going to read 24 issues that have nothing to do with the Fourth World.

Anyway, the Mister Miracle mini is actually about Shilo Norman, not Scott, and it's pretty good, even if Shilo should know perfectly well who Darkseid and his entourage are. The surrounding issues were incomprehensible, but maybe they would have made more sense if I had read all the other minis. On the other hand, maybe not...this is Morrison we're talking about, after all. Anyway talk about making comics as inaccessible as possible. Great job, everyone.

Death of the New Gods (2007): I knew right away this comic was going to be dogshit because of a) the title and b) the fact that it's a tie-in to the worst event DC has ever published, Countdown to Final Crisis, but hoo boy, it is DOGSHIT.

Basically, some mysterious being starts murdering New Gods, starting with Lightray and Barda, the latter of whom is murdered in the kitchen - you know, where women belong. Scott then dons a truly idiotic goth version of his costume and the rest of the book is mainly Scott, Orion, and Superman flailing around aimlessly and failing to figure out who the killer is while everyone from New Genesis and Apokolips is slaughtered. It's a truly godawful murder mystery in which implausible suspects are accused at absolute random (the Forever People, the pacifist hippies! Orion, the least sneaky being in existence!) even though Superman deduces the killer (sort of) in #5 and tells the other characters, so there's no reason for them to still be trying to solve it.

Anyway at the risk of ruining this comic for you (impossible, it comes pre-ruined), the killer turns out to be the Infinity Man, but he's actually being piloted by the Source, which is eradicating the New Gods and harvesting their energy in order to create a Fifth World. In #7, a horrified Scott is like "But I've worshiped you all my life! Don't you care about any of us?" and the Source is like, "Eh." The most spiritual and reverent aspect of the Fourth World, and Jim Starlin came along and just dropped a little turd right on top of it (after, of course, blatantly copying Darkseid when he created Thanos).

The art (also by Starlin) is hideous, and the plotting is atrocious, as he desperately tries to stretch six issues of story at best into eight, plus dragging each issue out over 30 pages instead of the normal 22. Everyone is wildly out of character. The only vaguely good thing about the book is that Scott and Orion finally get to spend a significant amount of time together, but given the context, I really don't think it's worth it.

In conclusion: "rocks fall, everyone dies" turns out to not be a good idea for a story! Who knew!

Final Crisis (2008): Well, after 16 years of successfully avoiding this story, I finally read it. You win this one, Morrison.

I have avoided Final Crisis since it came out because it felt so emblematic to me of the worst of late 2000s DC: literally constant crossovers with histrionic stakes, characters being slaughtered left and right, whatever the fuck they did to Mary Marvel in this story. I know it has a good reputation, and if I'm being honest, I do think the first 5 1/2 issues of it are pretty good. On the other hand, if I wasn't very familiar with 2000s DC, I think this would be a very confusing book to read, the final 1 1/2 issues dissolve into incomprehensible, self-indulgent nonsense full of obscure characters and OCs randomly dropped in just to make it all harder for the reader. I'm sorry, I know many people consider Morrison's habit of writing comics that you need a companion volume, twenty Wikipedia tabs, and a Reddit forum to understand to be a feature, not a bug, but it infuriates me. It's like the structure of the Seven Soldiers series(es) up above. Aren't comics impenetrable enough? Must we gatekeep with every page?

Anyway the New Gods stuff: they're all dead, but all the evil ones managed to land on Earth as disembodied souls, and are possessing various humans. The only good one is Orion, who dies at the very beginning when he is shot by Darkseid in the future shooting him with a bullet that travels back in time. I love goofy comics shit but for some reason this one strikes me as real dumb. Also Orion literally died twice in the comic that was about all the New Gods dying, so...hm.

Anyway the evil New Gods take over the planet with the Anti-Life Equation, and again, the pacing and storytelling are actually really good for most of this. But there's also all the worst the late 2000s had to offer, like Mary Marvel in the WORST costume of all time and Supergirl flashing panty shots at the reader while they beat each other up and call each other sluts, or Tawky Tawny being beaten to a pulp before ripping out Kalibak's entrails. Tawky fucking Tawny. SIGH. Also they keep miscoloring Shilo as white. NOT GREAT.

Honestly at this point I'm like begging for the New 52 to happen and put me out of my misery, so...good job, DC? I want to go back to Orion (2000), that was great.

Next up: the 2010s! Which is all the New Gods books, they haven't had a series yet this decade. We're almost done, gang.

[getouyuri]

subjecting u guys to my nausea-fueled ramblings so if this doesn’t make sense it’s cos im trying not to hurl 🤍

but basically I was really torn up over the bridgerton au with geto…

(everything here in parentheses is irrelevant to the rest of this post cos im just talking about my struggling. Anyways if I made him king of england I’d have to wasian-ify this man. ofc I could just go the edo period route for simplicity’s sake and make him the emperor of japan to make things more accurate considering he’s japanese but I reaaaaally wanted to stick with the whole england high society nonsense with the gossip and the ton and the dresses and whatnot. so again I was like omfg I. Have to wasian-ify him???&4 but then rmbred that I Don’t need to follow the exact footsteps of the george/charlotte bridgerton subplot duh. so now he’s a duke from a family that moved to london cos that makes more sense WHATEVER)

… until I figured it out and now im going the duke!geto route. i’m mostly intertwining his lore with george’s cos i want him and reader to be somewhat like george and charlotte but not like. an exact copy ofc cos i don’t just wanna copy scenes and call it a day LMAO

for those that are not in the know (read: haven’t watched the queen charlotte spinoff), basically geto’s situation will be this: he’s nobility. was born prematurely and wasn’t expected to live, but ofc he clearly pulled through. due to the time period it isn’t exactly possible for him to get a diagnosis (plus mental illness was. Well. frowned upon and whatnot) but he has some sort of illness where he often has extreme fits of mania, inexplicable terror that ‘the heavens are watching him,’ convulsions & seizures, bouts of depression & ‘insanity,’ incoherent ramblings, and more. since this illness of his would be frowned upon by the general public, geto is often kept out of the public eye to protect his family’s image and not allow anyone to discover his mental illness. he craves a simple life so he often farms in his free time and dresses down to mingle unrecognized with the public.

with that all put out there I can talk about the x reader aspect… you essentially take the place of charlotte in this situation. you’re dragged from your hometown simply due to the fact that you have an ‘even temperament’ (not really lmfao) and no interest in politics. in reality you’re very fiery but that’s not my focus point in this post. on paper you’re the perfect match for the duke, geto, so they’re thrown into an arranged marriage. geto is the more unwilling of the two because he hates the confines of his title and doesn’t want to accidentally reveal his illness to anyone

in bridgerton george and charlotte meet on their wedding day when she tried to run away but immm thinking that you run away on the day that you’re supposed to meet him before the two of you are forced into a courting stage Before the marriage in a few months…

you and your family arrive at the geto estate to speak with geto’s mother, geto himself nowhere to be seen, and you run off. you stumble into geto who’s atop his horse and he questions why you’re running, you rave on and on about how you’re convinced that your betrothed must be a beast/troll since no one will tell you anything about him. he just chuckles, dismounts and helps you up since you’re battered from running from the undergrowth in a dress and falling into a stream, and tells you that he’s not a beast. cue your embarrassment cos omfg you just dragged him. to his face

and then the fic goes on from there

[lafcadiosadventures]

Gladiator ii thoughts

i feel for Paul Mescal, alone in a green screen, fighting imaginary 3d monkeys

we get the fallacy of the good emperor vs the power abusers that ruin the imperial experience for everyone :(

the scrpt’s need of a white protag as a victim of imperialism (paul mescal is good, just pointing out a trope)

denzel is loads of fun

the gladiator riding a rhino carrying ancient rome boleadoras?!?!! 🥴 (not to mention the newspaper guy, but everyone saw that)

some scenes dealing with the transformation of submission and conquer into spectacle Rome (and others less ancient) had going on are actually good, (i liked hanno and macrinus’s exchanges, and the scene that ends with hanno reciting virgil) but sadly there’s a lot of effort to make the fights actually fun and engaging to the audience of the movie which, undermines that stance

scene borrowed from Spartacus (when Hanno attacks the emperors’s box from the arena! the walls of the spectacle blur and reach the untouchables!)(kubrick did it better. better editing, faster, less predictable)

Symbolic lavander sniffing (I actually like that, makes Lucilla look kiinda hypocritical)

i support Denzel Washington, giving it his all living his own shakespearean subplot (and for what)

(actual good scene between him and lucilla where he reveals he was Aurelius’s slave, apparently dismantling the myth of the good tyrant for a second)(but for what, it doesn’t last)

Hanno forgetting his anti imperialism and consequent hatred of his own lineage bc he learns the lesson you can be a Good Imperialist™️

all of hanno’s virtues being explained in hindsight bc of his noble lineage (oh ofc he was a natural leader, it was in his blood, he inherited all of that from marcus aurelius, lucilla and maximus)

finally, hanno’s final speech to the gladiators is very annoying, masses of pocs portrayed as followers of a charismatic member of the imperial power

[twinge-of-cosmicangst]

I have a half a Detty story arc for the reunion mini series that will never happen.

I do think Daniel and Betty would’ve married and had kids 100% but as they were only ever hinted at and not fully canonised, seeing them happily married would be anti climatic, but we can’t see them get together, because it’s been too long, so I think they’d be getting back together…

So I think it should start with Daniel in New York because as his mom is older, he has come back to lead Meade corporation. Wilhelmina is still editor and chief of Mode, and Marc with Willy’s old job, which was creative director I think. Tyler runs Player, he’s married to Amanda and they have a daughter (called Faye ofc) Amanda is now a full time fashion influencer on TikTok and Instagram. DJ has moved to New York and Daniel got him a job at mode as Mode app manager or something, he sleeps around a lot like Daniel did when he was younger (except he’s bi, because I say so) Wilhelmina but especially Marc are annoyed by DJ’s presence, and Marc sneerily refers to him as Mini Meade. Justin has been in quite a few broadway shows, but that doesn’t pay enough for New York rent these days, so he also works as a seamster at Mode and helps maintain the Mode’s closet. DJ and Justin are friends, even though Justin finds DJ to be entitled and slightly immature, they are also friends with the Mode’s current donut girl, as well as Daniel’s assistant, and there could be subplots with these guys, to appeal to the younger audience or whatever. At one point DJ will want a favour from Justin, and DJ will be like “Please we’re practically cousins” and Justin will be like “No we’re not” and then DJ will say “We’re cousins by marriage, cousins in-law?” and then Justin sighs and says “Even if that does count, we wont be for much longer, Daniel and AB are on the verge of divorce” and DJ insists that they won’t go through with it, and is actually weirdly defensive about it, Justin notices, and DJ confides that he spent a lot of time in London with Daniel and Betty, and they seemed liked the perfect couple, when he was a kid “If they can’t make it” he says “Who can?”

Daniel and Betty decided to go long distance but by the time the show starts, Betty said that they should separate, she didn’t really want to, but she was upset and angry, she did not want Daniel to go in the first place, Daniel can can see her and the kids quite a lot though because of use of a private jet (At some point in the season Betty will call Daniel out for his private jet usage because of the environment and they will have an argument about it, because that’s so them)

Betty takes a trip to New York with the kids to see everyone but it’s also a business trip, because as the publishing industry is failing, she needs investment, one of the investors she meets up with is Matt, who has taken over from his dad, which annoys Daniel, Daniel and Matt see more of each other these days then either of them would like, as they share a brother: Tyler, Tyler wants both of his brothers to get on, so he occasionally invites them both to football matches or to dinner, but they do not get along. Matt is married and there is no longer romantic feelings between him and Betty, even Daniel can see that, the real romantic rival is of course… Henry.

Betty bumps into Henry, because of course she does, and they agree to hang out as friends, somehow both Matt and Daniel hear about this, and Matt makes Daniel even more anxious then he already is, reminding him that Henry was Betty’s first love, that she always had a soft spot for him, and that she kissed him while she was dating Matt leading them to break up. This leads to Daniel confronting Betty, and Betty says it wasn’t a date (she is telling the truth, she actually talked to Henry about wanting to patch things up with Daniel) but his accusations anger her and she reminds him, he’s the one who left and moved out so she can date if she wants to. After their fight Daniel starts dating again out of spite, Betty hears about this probably via Marc.

Betty hears “I got you babe” on the radio, while working at home, she gets this look on her face and gets a taxi into the city centre”

Daniel is on a date with a model when he gets a call from Betty, he excuses himself then answers.

The fact that the last time they spoke they had a massive fight doesn’t seem to faze her and she says to him “Do you remember that time you fell for Sofia Reyes and then she publicly humiliated you on national television telling the whole of America, your whole relationship had been a farce, in aid of an article for her magazine”

Sounding confused and put out Daniel replies “I’m hardly likely to forget that”

“God, we hadn’t even known each other a year back then, I was miserable as well, I had fallen for Henry but I saw him kiss a model at the Christmas party”

“Did you call me up just to pine over Henry?” Daniel says sulkily.

Betty sighs “I’m not talking about Henry, I’m talking about us, Henry is just context, as is Sofia, she really did a number on you. Luckily for you, you had a wonderful assistant who booked you a date with Gisele, to cheer you up”

“No you didn’t” Daniel laughed.“I think I would remember if I had dated Gisele”

“Don’t you remember? She stood you up”

“Well if she stood me up I’m hardly going to remem-“ but then he pauses recalling “Wait, is that the night the paps were outside and you had dinner with me instead?”

“Mmhmm, except the restaurant was only selling that awful micro food that was popular at high end restaurants at the time, so we went to a place that I knew”

“And then you got me to sing for half off our dinner”

“Yep” Betty replies and then they both say ‘I’ve got you babe’ at the same time, then are both silent for a couple of seconds.

Daniel breaks the silence “Then we got drunk and got chips and went to Brooklyn bridge” he sighs “God how long ago was that?”

“Almost 18 years, a lifetime”

“It feels like yesterday”

“You said something to me that night”

“That you were better than any model”

“Yes, but you said something else, you said if I ever needed anyone to talk to, to come back to the bridge and call you, and you’d meet me here”

“Hey, you never took me up on that offer”

“It’s not too late is it?”

Daniel makes a shoddy excuse and abandons his date to meet Betty.

When he gets their Betty offers him some chips, he takes some “Someone’s feeling nostalgic tonight” he smiles.

“They’re stone cold” Betty says apologetically

“Still good though”

…………………………………………………………………………….

Sorry I’m getting a little carried away with that scene, Daniel and Betty make up at the bridge but don’t get back together because it’s not practical right now, throughout the mini series they both are dealing with various career issues, I don’t know about all that, I’m just here for the romance bit, they are both stressed out but especially Daniel as he struggles to run a major media empire which is struggling to adapt to modern times but then…

Betty gets a call from Daniel Junior towards the end of the season, he’s in tears “It’s Uncle Daniel he collapsed, they’re saying he’s had a heart attack”

If you think that sounds too dramatic, rewatch the show this is ugly Betty we’re talking about, someone needs to almost die, and Daniel in his 50s, whose father died from cardiac arrest is the perfect candidate.

So Betty rushes to the hospital, Daniel is in a induced coma, Betty is in tears, thinking he might die, she talks to him while he is in the coma “Shortly after your dad died you asked me his last words, I told you he asked for you mother and then his last sentence was asking me to get him some water, that was true but there was something else he said between asking for Claire and asking for water, he talked about you, us, I’m so sorry I didn’t tell you, but I was just your assistant back then, well friend too, but I was embarrassed, because he said I had to stick by you, that you needed me, that you’d be lost without me, it took us both a while to realise it, but he was right, he realised before us, but one thing Bradford didn’t know, what it took me even longer to realise, is that I’d be lost without you too” she takes Daniel’s hand and he wakes up.

………………………………………………………………………….

So happy ending they have a the kiss we’ve all been waiting for when Daniel recovers, both their career issues are sorted out etc…

Obviously the ‘Ugly’ in Ugly Betty was taken out in the series 4 finale but ‘Betty’ is bit boring so I was thinking the mini series would be called ‘Betty: Back in New York” or something.

[beaulesbian]

absolutely love this weird luck or instinct that zoro has, that even if he gets completely lost, or is going in the wrong direction, he ends up where he needs to be (*cough*and usually close to luffy)

in the sabaody archipelago arc, this was really my favorite subplot, of just zoro being lost (enjoying his walk in a completely new place where he can't attack anyone who hurts him or others, and can't draw too much attention to him) but ending up at the place they all were moving towards:

they docked the ship at grove 41 and decide to meet there after finding what they needed to find.

zoro decides to go for a walk

and all he has to remember is the grove's number. easy enough, right? well...

because something in their universe really wants him to end up at a different place, so he sees only #1 instead #41.

later when camie gets kidnapped and then after some time the rest of the strawhats, who are scattered around the island, know the information that she would be at grove #1, zoro still doesn't know that - he just knows he needs to get to grove #1 bc he thinks that's where their ship is.

they're all just separately hurrying to the location, while zoro's asking for directions and then searching for the wrong (right) grove.

and ofc the person that he meets first from their crew is luffy, flying on the fish, about to wreck into the building

(i saw the anime version too, but i really like the fast pace of this part in the manga)

it's just so funny that luffy and zoro met before this building, the grove #1, and luffy yelled at zoro to hold on and they both crashed inside.

zoro still not knowing why he isn't at the place where the sunny should be, but at a completely different location - but still a location that he needed to be at, at the right time right place with this whole crew (and just before things get much worse).

[nortism]

doctor who liveblog pt 39

s7 ep13 nightmare in silver

- classic heads poking out the door one by one

- i’ve not seen classic who but that guy looks the amalgamation of all their doctors

- always the fucking cybermen

- hello warwick davis

- obviously they’re gonna wander off

- uh oh cyberman

- uh oh cyberbugs

- uh oh the cyberman got the little kid

- no blowing up this planet is good advice tbh

- uh oh half cybermen.

- uh oh he got cybered

- they really need a new companion handbook so clara can get how serious cybermen are

- oh that is quite a few cybermen

- oh no the most thing didn’t work

- porridge is the emperor?!

- i think i would have taken him on up on the marriage proposal

s7 ep14 the name of the doctor

- ayyy gallifrey

- oh the first doctor hello

- omg all the classic doctors

- impossible girl lets go

- MADAME VASTRA!!

- RIVER!! i’ve been wondering where she got to

- trenzalore sounds like an anti depressant

- JENNY?!!?!::)/£ NOOOOOO

- oh i don’t like these guys

- what do u mean an ex, u guys just got married??

- uh oh he’s crying, this is unsettling

- oh shit we’re going to the doctor’s grave

- the tardis always the most sensible person around

- oh giant tardis

- hello river

- RIVER’S GRAVE?!

- yay jenny

- oh this fucking guy again

- this is not good

- JENNY NOOOO

- strax omg

- omg clara no

- oh she said the line

- goodbye river

- ohhh the leaf

- this whole name business feels very much like a trans allegory

- hello john hurt as the doctor

mini episode - the night of the doctor

- i’ve been told there’s other mini episodes but this is the one that’s on iplayer

- not sure i got that but crazy stuff

the day of the doctor

- ooh the old intro

- she’s a teacher now??

- WITH BILLIE PIPER???

- also hello david tennant or whatever

- hello billie piper??

- is this meant to be rose?!

- wait she’s the conscience??

- ohhhhhh

- i forgot he married elizabeth i

- oh hello painted david tennant

- david what has happen to your hair?!?

- this is so silly

- uh oh zygons

- jack harkness mention!!

- NO CLARA!!

- yes then clara !!

- that’s a lot of dead children

- ofc the door was unlocked

- ALLLL THIRTEENNNNNN

- oh this is hype as hell

- ohhh the war doctor turning into nine

- i think i supposed to know who the curator is but i don’t

- that was a crazy crossover, i loved it. i just wish eccelston didn’t hate being the doctor bc i would have liked it if all three of them showed up

the time of the doctor

- oh yes fake dating subplot

- ohhh gallifrey

- oh great the silence

- the tardis should work by remote

- oh great the wall crack

- shitttt trenzalore

- oh he pulled a the parting of ways on clara

- how has he aged??

- oh he’s only got a finite number of lives, like a cat

- not again, poor clara

- oh he’s old old

- oh bonus regeneration power

- that’s not peter capaldi??

- oh he’s still cooking

- aww amelia

- AMY 😭😭

- oh the bow tie

- PETER CAPALDI!! i hope he treats clara better bc my girl has been through the wars

- tragic we didn’t get to see him looking awkward in the bow tie, that’s always my favourite part of each regeneration

[genericpuff]

Hii hope im not bothering you but i saw that post you made about rs never intending for the rape subplot because she initially didn't put a trigger warning. I don't really agree with that reasoning tho because i don't think it's really a proof for that, authors often times forget to put triggers but that doesn't mean they don't recognize it for what it was. There's a horror webtoon i read where in one chapter someone gets assaulted and it's clearly shown like assault but the first version also never had a tw until people complained about it. Years ago when LO began there was less awareness for the necessity of tws so i think it was just rs not realizing she needed to put one? ofc it could rlly be retcon but i don't think her not initially putting a tw is proof of that..

Oh okay, so here's the thing, if it were just Rachel forgetting to put the trigger warning, then no, I wouldn't be so hard on her about it. I mean, I'd still be hard on her because that's a pretty bad thing to forget to do, but I wouldn't be assuming it was because she didn't know it was assault.

But it wasn't her just "forgetting" to put the trigger warning. Granted, I wasn't there personally, but according to the readers who were there at the time, she literally had her Discord explain to her why there needed to be a trigger warning for the assault episode. Not "there needs to be a trigger warning for the sake of your audience's comfort and safety" type explanation, I mean full on "there needs to be a trigger warning because that scene is assault, not just bad sex" explanation.

And honestly, the narrative that follows that scene tends to support this. From Persephone inviting Apollo into her room to try and reason with him, to the fact that she still hasn't personally addressed the assault outside of that initial Eros conversation and the one therapy episode despite that scene happening 5 years ago (but god knows we get plenty of takes from her friends who feel affected by what Apollo did, not the actual victim though) to Apollo flip-flopping between being a genuinely abusive and manipulative narcissist who does it intentionally and a flat out airheaded idiot who just doesn't have a clue. It really just feels like despite Rachel confirming it as an SA in the Eros episode back in S1, she's still treating it as a "one night stand gone sour" situation.

And we've seen her apply this same type of flippant "haha they just don't get along!" mindset to other characters who have been abusive to each other, such as Hades and Demeter (I'm still looking for the screenshot but there IS one out there of a fan in the FB group who theorized that Hades and Demeter had a romantic past only for Rachel to respond that they're "like coworkers at the staff party who can't get along", and yes, this was recent enough for us to be aware of what Hades actually did to Demeter) and also Hades and Minthe who we DO have a screenshot for:

(that top one aged like milk, oof)

Rachel has a bad habit of not putting trigger warnings even today, and it doesn't seem to be out of simple "forgetting", she legit just doesn't seem to understand why people ask for the trigger warnings that they do in the first place. She can't seem to conceptualize these types of topics outside of her own extremely limited perceptions. Sometimes she fixes it like with the Demeter "intervention" episode (Episode 230) other times she just leaves it as is despite it DESPERATELY needing a trigger warning like the Hera and Kronos flashback sequence in Episode 233.

This is the same person who didn't think sexism was "that bad" until she saw how her audience treated characters like Demeter... but she's literally the one instigating that behavior by constantly making her female characters the butt of abuse and mockery.

"I feel like female characters in general, people will be a little harsher on them and sometimes way harsher on them, and I used to be like.. before I started writing the story and like making a story I was like yeah, sexism is not that bad, and [now] I was like oh it's bad. It's quite bad [laughs], so like, I don't know, I feel like the female characters in the story don't get so much of a pass. But this isn't consistent across the board, it's not all the time"

It wouldn't be right of me to outright say that Rachel hasn't experienced any hardship in her life, but the fact that she seems this blind to violence towards women in any capacity definitely says a lot.

Anyways, that got really off topic so I'm hoping that answered your question. My belief in Rachel not knowing it was assault goes a lot further than just a forgotten trigger warning amounting to a brief "oopsie". And while I get the point of what you're saying about awareness around trigger warnings, I disagree that the awareness wasn't there, this was 2018 and trigger warnings aren't a new concept in media, they just went by another name until recently - viewer discretion is advised.

That said, if anyone who was there wants to speak up on the trigger warning incident, please, I'd welcome it. Bring me all the deets.