#and it's weird. like. He doesn't have to be there for every episode/have a prominent role in every episode.

[fruitybowl]

Okay okay so I'm gonna be talking about something I don't normally talk about but I just need to ramble.

The way the She Ra fandom treats the show (specifically the part that's obsessed with the horde kids) is really weird. Like look...would I have liked to see more of the horde kids? Yes absolutely. I think their relationship with each other and Adora could have been interesting to explore but I'm okay they didn't. Because guess what? The show isn't about them. The way people talk about the horde kids makes it seem like they were integral parts of the story that weren't utilized effectively, but they weren't at all??? Like they're barely in the show apart from a few few minute cameos in some episodes or just in the background, and that one episode in season 4 where they had a B plot. That's about it. They are not nearly as important to the story as Adora, Catra, Bow and Glimmer, and even Hordak. The reason the show doesn't focus on Adora's relationship with the horde kids is because her relationship with Catra is the focus! And arguably the most important relationship in the show. And onto the treatment of Kyle in the show and by the creators. Yes I think Kyle deserves better and a break, but I think people are being a little dramatic when talking about him. Now again, Kyle is not exploring as in-depth as the other characters so I don't think it's fair to give his treatment by the show and writers the same weight as said characters. I truly don't believe that the treatment of Kyle reflects on how the writers are as people I just don't 😂. Yes he's a punching bag...but almost every show has one. Now if he was as prominent in the story as Adora or Catra and was still treated the same then I would be concerned. But that's if they poked fun at parts of his character that were formed from abuse, and I don't believe they would do that. If Kyle was part of the cast they would have written him with the same amount of care that they did with the other characters. I have a hard time believing the same people that wrote Catra, one of the most complex and interesting characters in the show, would treat Kyle's story with any less care because he's a scrawny white guy (and yes I have seen people make the argument that Kyle is treated so harshly by the writers because he's white which is...quite ridiculous in my opinion.)

People also seem to forget how BIG the main cast is. There are already so many characters to explore that it would have been very hard for them to explore the horde kids more than just surface level. It would have made the show too busy in my opinion. And ONCE AGAIN the horde kids are not the main characters, so we shouldn't expect them to be treated like it. If you want the horde kids to be explored.more, then read fanfiction...or write it yourself.

Anyway I'm done rambling now. If you have anything else to add to this then feel free to. I'd be happy to discuss this more

[bonzos-number-1-fan]

TMAGP 17 Thoughts: Hyde and Seek

Another really great episode. Of all the episodes thus far I think this one is the grandest in scope in terms of the series as a whole. It's opened up some very large topics.

Spoilers for episode 17, and light spoilers for TMA, below the cut.

First things first, Celia is blacking out and waking up in strange places again. A lot of reasons why this could be but as I believe I mentioned for TMAGP 11 Thoughts I thought the side-effects of dimension-hopping was a possibility. Given what this episode is about I think it's at least trying to imply a connection if not outright stating one.

Celia missed the date because blackouts but interestingly enough she didn't lie during this exchange. At least assumption I didn't miss any distortions, and those distortions are for lies. Anyway this was all very sweet and mushy but does have a pertinent detail. Celia was on her way to Oxford, a location prominently featured in the incident. Whether that's related of just some nice narrative symmetry remains to be seen, but we do see it's at least intentional.

The incident itself is our second Magnus statement. It's a really really good statement too. One of my favourites of the series so far, if not my favourite. It opens with a similar format to the last one and again mentions subject/agent/catalyst viability. All low. Then we get a mention of Welling Mutare Materia and "Mutare Materia" is something like "Changing Matter" and it's hard not to see the alchemic allusion in that. The set up is a, as yet unnamed, patient receiving therapy for anger issues. But that's probably the least interesting thing about this entire scene.

The most interesting thing is the thing everyone is collectively screaming about.

Anyway, there was a new receptionist behind the old front desk, some big, soft looking guy who stumbled over every word... ...There was another patient too, some bookish-looking guy with serious city miles. I used to play the game “what are you in for” where I would pass the time guessing… well, you know. In my head he was definitely some kind of weird pervert, really into stroking orchids or something.

I'm not going to get too into why those descriptions are important. If you know you know and I don't need to tell you. If you don't I'd rather not. Although I will say that it's very obvious that second one is who we all think it is. Or it's at least what we're meant to think. Alex wrote this episode and "some kind of weird pervert, really into stroking orchids" is the kind of insult you know he's revel in writing for a character like this. It also implies a lot, or absolutely nothing. Because it could be coincidence. It could be that they are responsible for the whole thing. It could just be setting the stage for what's to come. Which is what I think this is. It's an episode about interdimensional travel and it's just prepping the audience to know that's a thing that can happen. Reminding us who it could happen to. As if we've forgotten.

The patient meditates and then a lot of time seems to pass. A lot a lot. Interdimensional travel always involves time fuckery. What's interesting about it is that it doesn't ever seem to work the same way twice. Anya was a week or so, Celia was years, and this guy seemingly just sat there for weeks instead of moving in time like the others have appeared to. The methodology of this is also new where there wasn't any gap between walks to slip through, he stayed still the whole time and then woke up somewhere different. However when he meets this universe's version of himself there doesn't seem to be any significant time slip to mention. Dates in their lives don't line up quite right, which is expected, but he doesn't appeared to have travelled in time in any major way.

This does all take place in Oxford. Which is where Hilltop Road is but it doesn't appear as if the patient was at Hilltop Road for this. As we've seen previously with Hilltop it doesn't look like it works as it does in TMA here. It does seem like the Magnus Institute is monitoring Oxford for these types of events though, even if they're not happening in quite the same place. If that is the case it could also be the case that they're sending things back too. Hell, Dr. Dumfries could be in on it and sending the Institute lab rats.

I'm going to skip over most of the meat of this statement. It was really well done but really quite explicit and as such there isn't a lot for me to dig into. I don't want to explain to you what you just listened to when it's all pretty plain. But it was really great and I do want to mention that.

We do learn that his name is Darrien. The other Darrien is also Darrien. And that makes this episode the introduction of our second and third Darrien. Futures also had a Darrien who was also kind of a twat. Which is interesting. Firstly because TMA has a habit of naming characters similar names and it never meant anything. People just had similar names because people have similar names sometimes. However, our beloved Norris used to be called Neil in the pilot. But Neil is now Norris because there was another Neil. Which means one of two things to me, either Darrien, Darrien, and Darrien, are all Darrien because it's vitally important. Or Alex is fucking with up. Because it's Alex it could as likely be either.

Last thing to mention I do love how this one ends. Darrien is so sure of himself and how protected he is but we know he's locked up in a research prison from the jump. The Institute is also clearly larger than it was in TMA. More resources, more pull, more power. Love getting to see all those details bit by bit.

Interesting note here: Harcourt House isn't the Harcourt House that I think most people will have looked up on Google. This isn't in London, it's in Oxford. This is Stanton Harcourt. Which has some reputation for hauntings and cursed romances. Totally not relevant for anything going on in this episode. No sir.

Celia thanking Freddy/Chester is also interesting. She's obviously more aware of everything than the rest of the team is, and she's got history with those voices, but she's also the first to really acknowledge how pointed these incidents are. There is a very consistent theme of incidents connecting to the teams current situation or desires. I hope we get to see more of this from her where she's more aware that there a personality at play rather than just a voice.

We cap off with a lovely bit of banter between Alice and Gwen where they almost don't try to kill each other. It was very sweet. And obviously an episode with all this going on couldn't leave out a good ol' .jmj error to really hammer it home.

Also, Colin's not dead. Maybe.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Incident/CAT#R#DPHW Master Sheet and Terminology Sheet

Klaus Watch: We're back with a very exciting Klaus Watch. Row 20 has CAT2RC1147 and no date, location, or notes. I lied about it being exciting.

DPHW Theory: 1147 is interesting. Because crosslinks do seem to impact DPHWs based on the two Bonzo episodes but Mascot (Kids) -/- Murder was at 2275. Which implies that Mascot (Kids) has 2 in Death and Pain as default and that Murder doesn't increase those values. It does seem to increase Helplessness though which is something that makes a good deal of sense at least.

CAT# Theory: CAT2 is very CAT2. While it fits with the most popular theory, well enough at least, I just wrote an essay entitled Putting the CAT# Back in the Bag: The Flaws With Person/Place/Object if anyone is interested.

R# Theory: C is inline with my ideas. Very easy to discount this as entirely fiction.

Header talk: Doppleganger (Interdimensional) -/- Murder is a very interesting one. These are all existing categories so interdimensional doubles are things the OIAR have dealt with in the past. So dimension hoppers aren't anything new and with everything that's happened this episode I think we're going to see a lot more of it, and characters that are a lot more knowledgeable about it than our protagonists.

[deeply-unserious-fellow]

Something I don't like about a lot of Vox takes I see is that they tend to portray Vox as someone who's unpleasant to work with and has weird ideas about what partnership means when really... he's not? He's not and he doesn't. It's just that two of the most prominent interactions we've seen him have are with Valentino(who is a fucking NIGHTMARE to work with) and Alastor(a man he has undisclosed, deeply emotional history with). But everyone seems to discount his OTHER important relationship: Velvette. Which by all accounts, is INCREDIBLY normal.

Like, yeah, their first interaction opens with her yelling at him, but that's less about Vox himself and more about Valentino. As they keep talking throughout the first bit of the episode, she starts calming down, and they just seem to genuinely get along? She has every right to look upset during Stayed Gone because Vox is being really weird and she's nOT THE ONE WHO ACTIVELY ENCOURAGED HIM TO DO THIS SHIT(staring directly at Val rn), but even then during the meeting after Stayed Gone she does actually. Participate. Unlike s o m e people. Despite being on her phone the whole time(which is literally her job-), she actually pays attention and contributes real ideas! Which tbh she didn't have to do at ALL like she did not have to put up w/ Vox's bs in RKtVS the way she did. There's also their phone call during the overlord meeting which, while I definitely think Vel was playing it up to annoy Carmilla, still sounded like a conversation between two ppl who genuinely like and respect eachother!

No matter what you think their relationship is(romantic, platonic, etc...), Vox and Velvette seem to get along REALLY well(outside of Alastor-related incidents). Like, better than either of them do with literally anybody else in the show. Vox & Val do LIKE eachother, but I find whatever the fuck is going on beneath the after the battles & masterless cattles to be DEEPLY upsetting to think about for too long(ex; any of my other posts abt their relationship), and the only other interactions we've seen either Vox or Vel have are Stayed Gone & Respectless, which are literally just song battles. Both of their only interactions outside of the Vees have been song battles. Aw fuck I'm getting off topic... BACK TO THEIR RELATIONSHIP AS COLLEAGUES- okay uh basically, I don't think they would get along this well if Vox was a terrible person to work with(note I said WORK WITH. Hate that I need to specify this but I don't think Vox is a good person overall, just a good business partner). I think Velvette is generally a good bench mark for both Vox & Valentino's relationships with other characters because she's their equal, their friend, and isn't in a weird toxic relationship with either of them. Their interactions with her provide a window into how they just generally interact with people. And based off of their interactions, Vox seems to be actually pretty decent to work with when he isn't being Actively Provoked for shits and giggles or trying to sooth the tantrum of a man child. Also when he views you as an equal and doesn't own your soul that helps too.

Edit: Hiiiiiiii just here to say that now, in the light of day, I don't really agree with everything I've said in this post? I wrote it at midnight while like half asleep so my ability to consider the fact that. We barely know anything about either Vox or Velvette at this point in time. Was kind of impaired I think. Cuz we really don't. I do stand by everything I said about their relationship to EACHOTHER, and I stand by the idea that we should take that dynamic into consideration for character analysis more often, but everything else I'm a little iffy on and I just woke up like an hour ago so my brains still a little fuzzy & I can't explain exactly WHY I'm iffy on it, but just know that I think the conclusion I drew is a bit of a leap in logic at the very least and I recognize that now lol

[buddiebeginz]

the way lou hasn't interacted with anything bt related and yet he continuously interacts with SWAT stuff is certainly interesting, also the way Oliver refuses to follow him or discuss BT ever lol. Lou seems like he's less enthused as well about BT. I think even he knows they're bones.

I've been wondering if Lou got the info he isn't coming back already or that if he is coming back it will be for like one episode. It's just his weird behavior online doesn't make sense for an actor hoping to stick around long term on successful primetime show.

People had been calling out his old racist/misogynistic insta posts for a while and he hadn't said anything but for some reason he chose that particular day to respond to that one with a very creepy screenshot about spitting on blind children. Then he blocked Buddie shippers. Deletes some of those old insta posts. Then apart from liking one of the posts where people made him out to be the victim:

he has basically stopped even engaging with his minions now. He's even stopped making cameos. And I don't know if that's because he was told to or just because those fans served their purpose for him and he's moving on to other things.

Buddie or not I've always gotten the impression that Lou doesn't seem too invested in playing T*mmy and even less in playing one half of a queer relationship long term. I think he thought he was signing on to play T*mmy for a few eps and he'd be done by the end of s7. Which I think was originally the plan.

Look at these older cameos from Lou and how he talked about T*mmy and Buddie. Not saying I believe every thing he's said in any of his videos but these were some of the early ones he put out and I think initially he was going more off of where the script was going vs his own headcanons.

https://buddiebeginz.tumblr.com/post/748524266454138880/im-sorry-but-anyone-who-doesnt-see-this-as-tommy

https://buddiebeginz.tumblr.com/post/748034351773646848

But basically he makes it seem like T*mmy is just there to stir things up a bit until Buck and Eddie figure things out. Only they decided to push Eddie coming out and Buddie feelings realization back until s8 (I wrote a post about my thoughts on that here). So they kept Lou in for a few more eps than he was initially signed on for. This also explains why after ep6 we don't see or even hear about T*mmy again until ep9.

But back to Lou based on the rumors floating around my feeling is that he's getting more of prominent role on SWAT which if he's still being asked back for s8 of 911 and the two shows conflict with one another I 100% believe he'd chose SWAT anyday over 911. Not just because SWAT seems much more his style but also like I said I don't think he's invested in playing T*mmy. He's also just not a good dramatic actor especially not for the soft, intimate, emotional moments. Plus why would he take being Buck's bf who only features on the show occasionally and doesn't really get to do the action scenes that the 118 get to do when he could be a main on SWAT and get to do so much more.

No matter what even if the rumours aren't true about SWAT and even if T*mmy comes back for s8 and even Buddie doesn't happen I don't see B/T making it past s8 at all. I'll be shocked if that ship lasts beyond one ep in s8 so there is no way it's lasting longer than Buck and Taylor.

Apart from whatever is going on with Lou Oliver doesn't seem to like him and I think more than anything that will be what ends B/T. Oliver is a talented professional but he's also one of the biggest reasons people even watch 911 and I'm sure ABC knows that. They're not going to force him to work with a scene partner he's uncomfortable with. Plus I fully expect if we see B/T in s8 the lackluster chemistry with them will be even more apparent than it was in s7. So why continue a relationship if the actors don't have the romantic chemistry together to carry it?

Sorry for my long ramble anon. Had a lot of thoughts. Thanks for the message :)

[daisy-daze17]

An aspect of totk that I've come to realise really bothers me is its tendancy to take bits and pieces of elements from lots of places and slap them into a game. Don't get me wrong- im aware the zelda games constantly include Easter eggs and call backs to reference older titles, and Totk is jam-packed with it. You search the depths to find a bunch of classic armours and shit from like every single game, the paragliding fabrics, and so much more.

But this game ALSO has a lot of story related or basic game structure that is tied to other zelda games.

1. Wind temple for example is practically oozing with reminants of wind waker-- you're climbing up to this MAGIC BOAT with the RITO (a prominent species in ww) by controlling and managing your wind powers all to make it to a boss with a name and theme song screaming out the most iconic parts of ww (God bless colgeras theme music we will never forget the music).

2. Lots of people found that the main aesthetics and storyline of this game was similar to skyward sword: you wake up on an ancient sky island that is the biggest one in hyrule before finding your way to the surface and descending down to start a search for zelda. I remember it was so similar some even started questioning if totk takes place before ss?? (I do not have the brain capacity to discuss that rn lol). Ganondorf looks extremely reminant of demise with his hair, main sacrifice of the game centres zelda giving up her body for a long long time so she can fight the evil that will come in a long long time, etc,etc.

3. As we all know, this game is a sequel to botw (omg rlly?? Who would have guessed) and it definaltly shows by the amount of game structure taken from botw to put in here. The four tutorial area shrines, the memories, the four main dilemmas for each reason, and ya know, the whole entire map. Totk makes changes to this map but essentially, it is a better version of the map we got in botw. Now it's obvious that nintendo would do this, but sometimes it feels like... they didn't have to?? The main one for this is the memories. The thing is, breath centred around our hero losing his memories and exploring unknown lands to receive bits and pieces that tell him what life could have been like pre-disaster. Totk, however, centres around zelda being in the past and showing link episodes of heavy plot driven cutscenes with every geoglyph he finds. Botw are little fragments of info that you can pieces together in any order to imagine what the main story was. Totk shoves a bunch of plot down your throat in any order because they don't give a shit if your spoil the story for yourself. Both games are non-linear. See where I'm getting at? One set of memories strengthen the nonlinearity of the game and rewards you for finding them. One... doesn't. There have been countless arguments made about this glaring issue that discuss it further, but my main point here is that maybe we didn't have to follow botw's structure to a tea if it doesn't work out for us sometimes.

Zelda games constantly reinvent themselves. Notice how no matter what nintendo does, some people always complaining about a new addition to the series while others love it? Wind wakers cartoonish artsyle, skywards motion controls, major's masks 3 day cycle, botw's open world gameplay? It seems like tears of the kingdom doesn't do that. I'd argue that its main purpose is taking breath of the wild and fixing major complaints made about the game, most of them usually about how untraditional to zelda botw was. That's why this game feels like a weird combination of the two. Nintendo tried to marry open world zelda with elements of older zelda games. It tries to have an episodic plot with major twists and emotion... but forgets that I'm allowed to watch each episode in any order I want and can end up screwing myself over. It tries to have traditional looking dungeons... but doesn't have any linearity to it and gets rid of the mechanics these used in botw, so it ends up being short aesthetically pleasing 4-part puzzles. It tries to have a LINEAR STORY in a NON-LINEAR GAME by making us constantly on our toes about finding zelda and understanding why she's trying to scare the locals shitless by commiting felonies like attacking the zora king, telling the gorons to do drugs, and appearing and disappearing every 5 seconds... but again, it forgets that I can spoil myself and know what the fuck is going on WAY before I'm supposed to.

This is turning into a little hater rant but. What I'm saying is, totk is trying to mix little parts of every game to make all of us happy, but it ends up becoming a confusing soup of unoriginality and "what the fuck in going on with this story". Its trying to make a traditional zelda game in an open world format. The most insulting part is that it tries to honour past games with taking all of their ideas,but totk's main purpose clashes with what those games are about (especially wind waker and botw) which is reinventing yourself to fit with the new generation and not holding onto the past/not obsessing over games that you got really big for (cough cough ocarina of time cough cough).

Anyway it's late and this is literally my first time trying to write out a critique about something on tumblr, so if this makes no sense pls tell me haha :)

[lovecolibri]

And yet if it was all questions related to Tommy they wouldn’t have a concern in the world. They like to say stop making it about buddie, and that it should be about just Buck, but then they turn right around and make it all about Tommy and his perfection. But like you said, asking about buddie is asking about bi Buck. And not to mention buddie is 6 years worth of history at this point. And we’ve learned enough the last few days to know a big portion of bucks bi sexuality was in tandom with Eddie. There is next to nothing to go off of in terms of things related to Buck Tommy. They have had a single kiss and a bad date. That’s it. Interviews would get like one question out of that and then end of topic.

Yeah, I just don't get the hype 🤷🏻‍♀️ Which is normal, I'm a chronic mono-shipper so I just avoid ships that aren't for me and block tags and such. But it's hard because right now there is a LOT of mis/cross tagging so I'm trying to just stay in my bubble.

But yeah, it's weird that people are both saying this should ONLY be about Buck but are also mad that it's not more about Tommy. He's a side character whose job is to move the plot forward, and there are lots of other storylines going on that are going to get the focus in upcoming weeks, and they haven't shot the last couple episodes yet so what is Oliver supposed to say? If there are only a couple more scenes with him and Lou coming up while the storyline focuses on Madney, Bobby, and Henren, he won't want to spoil them. If they already have maped out where the relationship reaches its natural end, he's not going to spoil that either but also won't want to super hype up a relationship he knows isn't going to last. He HAS made a point to say he hopes Tommy can stick around as a friend which to me says that the cast enjoys working with Lou and the audience has been mostly receptive so it's a good character for the show to keep in their back pocket as a recurring guest.

But Buddie??? Oliver has YEARS of pent up Buddie stuff he didn't feel like he could talk about, especially after FOX shut down the storyline, and that he's talking about it now tells me conversations have been had with him, Ryan, Tim, and the network about what possibilities are open to them and likely a broad timeline/plan. Which is of course, subject to change as we saw with this originally being planned for Eddie but due to actress availability, got shuffled around but I don't think they would be clearing these questions and Oliver especially would be answering so freely if he didn't feel like it's where things are eventually heading. 🤷🏻‍♀️

Also, I think it's important to remember it's a STORY and so of COURSE people are pulling in threads from previous seasons and connecting the dots because that's what you do with stories. And from the first moment Buck sees Eddie and doesn't quite know what that feeling is that he's getting, it's all been tied up in Eddie, with the show reinforcing that relationship at every turn. Why WOULDN'T people make it about Buddie when the story itself tells us it always has been? I just don't always get the "these stories have to be entirely separate from each other" because beyond all else Buck and Eddie are best friends. Of course their stories are going to include each other and be intertwined! And if Buck is looking at his life with new eyes or Eddie is examining what he actually wants in a partner for himself, why WOULDN'T they examine their relationship with each other since it's the most prominent one they have?

ANYWAY

*i just have a lot of feelings.gif*

[givehimthemedicine]

can I talk about the 001 tattoo?

so we can agree the 001 is darker, thicker, and WAY bigger on Vecna, right? also it's got a vein running prominently right under it, which doesn't seem to match the anatomy of his wrist in the broom closet tat reveal. (idk if that's an original vein or some kind of vine nonsense tbf)

"oh that shot is dark and spooky and cluttered, maybe they just exaggerated it so you can see it" maybe but.. they can do literally anything with cg - zoom into his skin cells or whatever they gotta do to make sure we see that tattoo without having to make it cartoonishly large.

can I also talk about how Nancy sees the tattooing scene twice, and the tattoos look different?

I know em and/or james (sorry much like henward I forget which of you has said what lmao) have discussed the differences in lighting, etc. in the tattoo scenes and the fact that one is unfinished and so might be 000 instead of 001, but I wanted to touch on the Nancy aspect of it too.

just for clarity, the tattoo scenes go like this:

in 4x7 - "when Papa realized he could not control me, he tried to recreate me" we, and Nancy, see the boy getting tattooed 00(unfinished). this is the last time we see Nancy in 4x7.

4x8 picks up with Nancy watching the tattooing, Brenner wiping off a finished 001, and then turning to her with creepy eyes. she tries to run, pries some boards off the doorway, and arrives back in the tattoo scene again.

so although it's broken across two different episodes, this is all one continuous vision for Nancy (one thing split in two - isn't that fitting for a secret Henward reveal)

it's super weird that after Nancy runs from the tattoo scene, Vecna tells her "Now you've seen where I've been; I would like very much to show you where I am going" and then... sends her back into the tattoo scene?

why say that and then immediately show her more redundant "where he's been"? why not just have her bust through that doorway straight into the apocalypse vision, like Victor in wartime France?

"it's like El arriving in the Rainbow Room over and over" yes. it is! but that was El getting clockwork orange'd with HNL footage and her brain struggling to reject it. whereas this is Vecna. and Vecna, as far as we saw, doesn't usually force his victims into loops like that, right?

Max, Chrissy, Fred ran inside their visions. unsuccessfully, yes, but when they ran, they actually travelled. like, when Max ran in the graveyard, she didn't keep arriving at Billy's grave over and over. Chrissy didn't keep finding her mom in every room. so it's curious to me that the only loops are Nancy and El, both in the lab (or I should say, "in the lab" given that neither of them are actually in the lab). so Vecna deviated from his usual method because he reallllly wanted Nancy to see that tattoo some more.. it's just odd to me, IF those tattooings are truly supposed to be the same event.

why else are WE the audience shown this scene multiple times than because they need to have shown us two events, but made sure we conflated them as one? to assume that that was the same boy getting the same tattoo?

anyway, the actual tattoo:

the 00 in 4x7 seems a lot lighter in comparison to the very dark 001 we see being finished up in 4x8.

people with tattoos: do they start it light and then go over it darker? is that a thing? is the 4x7 a realistic depiction of the 4x8 tattoo in progress? because if not I have more thoughts.

btw if I wanted to get real crazy, I would point out that El's tattoo also seems to vary slightly - it seemed bigger when she was little (maybe that part makes sense. how do tattoos behave on growing children?) but also it keeps sneaking closer to her wrist. look how in s1 it's four tattoo-lengths from the crease of her wrist, and by s4 it's more like two. (does anyone know when MBB got that for real?)

anyway I'll leave you with the thought of: remember those two extremely similar and redundant El-dragged-off-to-solitary scenes they showed us in s1?

[toujokaname]

Card shuffle / Episode 12

Author: Akira

Characters: Hiiro, Aira, Tatsumi, Mayoi, HiMERU, Kohaku, Rinne, Niki

"One may not feel too flattered to be likened to an existence he thinks so little of."

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[ Read on my site for a better viewing experience using Ois~su ♪ ]

Season: Winter

Location: Café Cinnamon

That night. At the venue for the post-Matrix match gathering, Cafe Cinnamon in the ES building.

Hiiro: Great job today, everyone!

It feels nice to start off the first match with a victory!

Aira: ...How can you smile like that, Hiro-kun?

Using a despicable trick to ensnare your old home, ALKALOID, and being so proud of your victory... In the end, a scumbag's little brother must also be a scumbag...

Hiiro: Please don't call me a scumbag. I can try to accept abuse in stride, but it hurts when people I love call me names.

Aira: If you don't wanna be called names, fight fair. What even was that stunt at noon? I feel like I'm gonna be mildly traumatized.

Tatsumi: Indeed. I fear I'm losing trust in humanity...

Aira: From now on, if Hiro-kun gets all smiley and chatty, let's doubt it and say, "This might be a lie. We could be deceived again."

Mayoi: Uuuu, even though it pained me to be deceived by a smiling Hiiro-san, I also felt a strange thrill out of iiit!

Mayoi: Aah, please toy with me even moreee...!

Aira: You left Mayo-san delirious with shock...

HiMERU: —Fufu. Please don't blame Hiiro-san too much.

Kohaku: That's right. Hiiro-han gave it his all to help us win. And he willingly took on the role of a villain.

There's no such thing as cowardice in this kinda competition.

So instead of bein' defiant and tryna laugh it off, he's goin' out of his way to explain the truth, even treatin' y'all to dinner as an apology.

He's an admirable guy. I wish a certain scoundrel who tramples on others, never says sorry, and just laughs at 'em could take a page from his book.

Rinne: You mean Niki~? You gotta reflect now, huh?

Niki: Eh?! The bullet that was fired at Rinne-kun somehow hit me directly?!

Rinne: Heheh... I'm not saying this just 'cause I'm his big bro, but you should do better than just blaming him.

On the first day, in the first match, Otouto-kun completely took charge of the "vocal ability" showdown. As the leader, he brought victory to himself and his unit.

That's something that should be appreciated up front. It's a good thing for an idol to show off his presence in a program like this—to play a prominent role.

It's amazin'. Onii-chan's impressed. You sure have grown, Otouto-kun.

Hiiro: I-I feel weird when Nii-san honestly praises me. Usually, he doesn't appreciate what I do at all...

Rinne: Really? Ain't I always calling you "good boy, good boy"?

Hiiro: Nii-san's "good boy" has a sort of... connotation behind it...

Tatsumi: Fufu. In reality, Rinne-san doesn't seem to find much value in being a good kid.

One may not feel too flattered to be likened to an existence he thinks so little of.

HiMERU: You speak as if you understand him, Tatsumi.

Tatsumi: Fufu. Although our relationship is still shallow and brief, we are comrades who have spent the same amount of time together—at least, we are now.

Rinne: Well, actually... ♪

Tatsumi: ...?

Rinne: Here, I've got some disappointing news for y'all.

Kohaku: What's this about...? You fixin' to start spoutin' nonsense again?

Rinne: Well, for ALKALOID, that is. Don't worry, you guys won't be harmed. Might even work out in your favor, Kohaku-chan ♪

Kohaku: ...?

Rinne: Today, our Otouto-kun told a bold lie that didn't suit his character.

But he's always been an earnest good boy... He's not used to lying. Not as good as me, a real liar.

Hiiro: ? What do you mean by that, Nii-san...?

Rinne: Remember, Otouto-kun. There's a saying that goes, "To fool your enemies, you must first fool your friends."

This time, you only fooled the enemy.

Usually, Crazy:B's always finding fault with every little thing, buzzing around with their complaints, yet they didn't say a thing—

This means that Otouto-kun explained this ruse to his Crazy:B buddies and got their consent.

Niki: Yeah... Otouto-san proposed this strategy, and we agreed 'cause it seemed like we could win with it.

HiMERU: The truth is, it was ambiguous whether we could win in a real fight or not. ALKALOID and Crazy:B have about the same number of fans and popularity.

The number of respective fans gathered at the venue for this match was also almost the same.

Kohaku: Yeah. So, if we'd used the same tactics as ALKALOID, that is, if we'd stuck to bein' just the real Crazy:B members without mixin' in the odd one out—

We can't rightly say who'd have come out on top in today's match.

HiMERU: Indeed. But by adopting Hiiro-san's strategy, while the same strategy won't work twice, it would certainly win the day.

Moreover, by saving three players, the subsequent match will have an overwhelming advantage. It was an impeccable and wonderful plan.

Kohaku: Yeah. That's why we got on board with it. I gotta say, it was hard not to laugh when I saw Rabu-han and the others gettin' duped on stage ♪

Aira: T-That's so cruel, Kohakucchi.

Kohaku: Sorry. But I ain't as innocent as you expect me to be, either, Rabu-han.

Rinne: —Right. Otouto-kun's strategy this time was perfect.

But it won't cut it. Nah, compared to his Onii-chan, it's still too tame.

You've always been a serious, good kid who listened to his parents. Never pulled any pranks, always quietly did as you were told in your studies, your training, your work.

Even if that honor roll student suddenly tries to play the delinquent, it ain't fooling anyone ♪

Hiiro: Just what are you trying to say, Nii-san?

Rinne: Alright. You'll know sooner or later, so I'll spill the beans now.

This time, Crazy:B and ALKALOID swapped their leaders.

Thanks to that, it seems like you're being coerced into wearing unfamiliar clothes, and struggling through it, buuut.

—Actually, that's a lie.

Aira: H-Huuuh? What do you mean it's a lie?

Rinne: You heard me. There was never a leadership swap.

Aira: Um... Whaa...?

[ ☆ ]

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[let-us-cultivate-our-garden]

What did you think about the choice to have Hunter not encounter Belos in the finale? I know I personally found it anticlimactic, what with Hunter telling Luz "let's fight back" in TTT and spending all of FTF obsessing over finding him, along with the fact that Belos doesn't know Hunter is alive and Hunter currently looks a whole lot more like Caleb than he ever has, so I was excited for that encounter for the sake of Belos's character too. But I know a large part of the fandom thinks that Hunter's arc was complete and that it would've been pointless and traumatic for him to see Belos again. So I'm interested to hear your thoughts.

I can see a case for both sides; Hunter has been through a lot (understatement of the year) and it could be triggering for him to see Belos again and he's already had his final conflict with him. Hunter seeing his former guardian die (again) would still be traumatic for him. However, they did set up how dead set Hunter was on finding Belos and he kept his hair noodle, even post time skip so it seems like they were also setting up another conflict in which Belos sees that not only Hunter is alive but that he's basically Caleb now.

I think you could have had Hunter play a role in dealing the final blow against Belos by just having him be there, not saying anything as Belos has a total meltdown that his "brother" is now standing right before him. Hunter wouldn't even need to fight him, he can just stare accusingly just like the Caleb apparition in FtF, demonstrating that Belos no longer has any power or influence over him.

It's honestly a crime that Hunter does nothing in the finale, none of the Hexsquad kids do. Normally, the whole team bands together to fight the Evil Villain but every character except for Eda, Raine, King, Luz, and the Collector are benched because...honestly, I don't know why. It's a weird writing choice because they don't do anything outside of giving Luz some pep talks and guarding the puppets in the Archives (which is important but do they all need to be there?)

Basically, the kids needed to have more prominent roles in the finale. Hunter should either have some kind of final confrontation with Belos or ditch his attitude about finding Belos in the previous episode and have him be in a supporting role.

[bcbdrums]

I like Ron, I get why some people want to see his character become more self assured and competent (we get one episode every now and then) but the way a lot of very prominent stories does it by projecting wish-fulfillment and an hyper masculine image (and some weird incel thinking) onto his character has always been weird.

Because how does that happen? at least in the show he was always been the damsel in distress, the moral support, this may be because that was seen as “funny” or “odd” back then, but his character has always been very non-conforming on gender roles, with his skills, role and expression of gender leaning more towards being feminine.

If that’s how his character is. Why is it that a great part of the fandom likes to project an hyper masculine image onto his character, when Ron’s character was the complete opposite of that? I’ve also seen people call his character a self-insert, but is he? He just seemed as a relatable character for both boys and girls.

i had to google the term "incel" and i definitely don't see Ron fitting the definition that popped up. Ron shows himself to overall be very confident in terms of going after the ladies, especially in S1 and parts of S2. i'd suggest it drops off as the series progresses because the writers wanted to steer more toward a Kim/Ron endgame. but yeah in S1 we see Ron often hitting on girls, including upperclassmen, and then there's the elephant in the room of Golden Years where he's trying to get with any lady at spring break, and.... just my observation, but nothing about him seems to say he thinks he's unattractive.

now, did he respond to Barkin's criticism in Ron the Man? yeah he did. he looks up to Barkin so that impacted him. but by the end of the episode, like in many of our Ron-focused episodes, he'd learned his lesson. in fact, a majority of the series, imo, becomes focused on Ron's character development overall, much more than Kim's. we DO see him becoming more self-assured, confident...culminating with his victory in Graduation. that's...that's the show.

he is Kim's moral support yes, that's one of his roles in the show. his motto is "never be normal" and i can easily see some of that being a defense against a life-time of bullying because he doesn't conform to a stereotype. but...does he seem unhappy? not in the slightest. he's very happy with Kim his bestie, with Rufus, he hangs with other friends, enjoys videogames and comic books... we see him good at basketball, eventually passable at football (lol), great at movie-makeup... he explores other interests generally... Ron is, in a word, awesome. easily a fun character to identify with for so many POSITIVE reasons...

now.... is it fun to interpret characters in ways that...mmm....strike at different feels? oh yes. i personally don't enjoy that IF it seems to depart too much from the canonical view. a writer would have to be extremely convincing, for me. and it's extremely common in fandom to project onto a character. i've done it therapeutically from time to time, but i think it's more common for someone to just want to identify with a character.... not sure.

i find nothing wrong with healthy masculinity, in fact i encourage it. but if you mean some of the overwhelming....Ron is the universe's punching bag, stories... or the even more overwhelming, Ron has a harem, stories.... since i'm not too familiar with the term "incel" and only have the google definition, i'll speculate more.... this is the projecting, thing. maybe from dudes who are frustrated being in the friendzone? maybe from dudes who identify with Ron in the way Bonnie views him, for example, or maybe from people who just want to write smut with the babes and don't wanna use other male characters... i feel like that these specific fandom portrayals are less....done out of love of the fandom, and more for that writer's personal preferences?

i don't wanna assume too much into their motives, but i don't personally see those portrayals as canonical and i don't read them. people can write whatever they want, and yeah an overwhelming lot of portrayals of Ron don't float my boat.... (i won't reply to your second ask since it was just clarifying this one, and i got the idea. 😊)

[charlesdesvoeux]

top five tertiary characters from amc's the terror

WARNING: we're about to enter my mind palace aka The Terror That Exists In My Head bc some of these guys get like. 3 lines tops so a lot of my thoughts on them are informed by fics and whatnot but here it goes

1. Charles Des Voeux: my namesake, my sewer gremlin, my beloved. he doesn't get a whole lot of screen time but when he does it is DAMNING. he's bitchy, he's racist, he's weird he's a weirdo he doesn't fit in have you ever seen him without his stupid hat on. the dezza that exists in my head is indeed a very weird guy whose mind astounds me; he thinks he's doing a very good job at coming off as Normal but he is NOT everybody knows he's weird and they're either kind of scared or think he's pathetic. extremely classist (son of a baronet, after all) but also he was shipped off to the navy bc his own family found him a little unsettling so he resents them too. of course he also has a psychosexual fixation on Dr. Stanley and the stuff he is into sex-wise more generally would probably freak an average 21st century person out so you can imagine how his 19th century peers saw him.

2. Tommy Armitage: my darling tortured boy. i am SO fascinated by hickey's assessment of him just before carnivale (while he is delusional in many aspects he is great at reading people imo); why is he so fixated on the marines, why does he "long for it" in hickey's words? does he feel degraded by his work as a steward, essentially a servant? does he feel like he's a coward and wearing that red coat would give him courage, would mean that he's amounted to something in his life? he also feeds Heather at carnivale and I think that speaks volumes to the extent that tozer probably trusted him. his devotion to Sol- AND IT IS THERE IN CANON IMO, YOU HAVE TO LOOK FOR IT A LITTLE BIT BUT IT IS THERE- is also so interesting to me. He followed that man into mutiny, into ruin, saw him become a shadow of himself but continued to love him.

3. Henry Le Vesconte: yeah, I'm gonna call him tertiary. he doesn't have a lot of lines or screentime; I think he tends to be more prominent in fics due to his station as lieutenant (and bc from episode 3 onwards he was the only surviving lieutenant of erebus) and also because HE IS A CHARACTER WITH POTENTIAL. dandy-ish and charming, with just a touch of the rake. to see him broken and desperate and ultimately mutinous, abandoning crozier to the mutineers and the ill to their fate in a desperate attempt to prolong their survival when he started off sooooo different is very intriguing to me. also post-abandoning-captain-quiet-mutiny-starvation-march nedconte makes me feral.

4. William Pilkington: he went down but he went down swinging (he's the one who dies with a wilhelm scream). did you know he interacts with Armitage at least 3 times in the show??? considering how little time they get this is HUGE trust me #tommypilks is real. I see him as a guy who was probably pretty convivial and fun to be around before... everything that went down, maybe even a little cocky but in an endearing kind of way. to see the desperation in his face as him and Tommy try to talk tozer into going back to the ships and as they face tuunbaq for the final time and thinking about what he used to be.... Jesus Christ. There's also this image:

which I think about every day. "he has that sadness in his eyes" etc. and his expression as crozier is brought to mutineer camp. also interesting!!!!

5. Edmund Hoar: considering that he has like. 2 lines I think about him a lot. The fact that he rose to the post of captain's steward in his early 20s is really impressive imo but what really made me go "hey WHO is this guy" was the carnivale soup moment:

that's him on the left, Samuel Crispe from Terror on the right. like wait a minute what is going on here. a steward kind of has to maintain a level of "propriety" and "respectability" bc they work closely with command but fuck it- its carnivale, our id is showing, and hoar's id told him to get into the soup with this other guy nearly naked. two bros chilling in a big pot less than 5 feet apart cuz they are gay. also in my mind he's like the bratty teenage daughter to bridgens' impossibly patient dad and that dynamic is very dear to me.

bonus: my "canon OCs" (people that existed historically but were not mentioned in the show) William Elphinstone Malcolm (jirv's best friend who in my show!version is in love with him and jirv is also in love with him but won't admit it) and Eleanor Franklin (Franklin's daughter by his first wife who in my show!version is essentially "what if cornelius hickey was a Poor Little Rich Girl lesbian")

[robotlesbianjavert]

i’ve been following you for a while and i love your blog! got a question however: i see you blogging moral orel and i’ve never seen it but from what i’ve read on wikipedia, how would you compare the bad dad to bnha’s bad dads. is he fit to join the club. looking at him gives me afo vibes somehow.

eyyyyy thanks for following and keeping up !! you're a trooper. anyways clay puppington is way way worse than the bnha bad dads. like easy clear. one of the best characters! but definitely the worst dad.

moral orel primer

The thing about Moral Orel is that it's an edgy-ish mid 2000s satire about hypocritical fundamentalist Protestant environments and how badly one eager and god-loving kid can be lead to misinterpret the bible. It's got that irreverent humour. Skip the episode "God's Xhef" if you ever watch it. To set up my point, one of the running gags for the series is that at the result of Orel's shenanigans is Clay taking Orel to his study to belt him. And then his pants fall down! haha.

The series then takes a swerve, starting from the first season Christmas episode and leading into the third season, for a darker, more character-driven narrative. It delves more into the citizens of Moralton, the impact that their Christian environment has on them and their relationships with each other, and bits of history to understand how they turned out the way they did, etc

One of the characters most impacted here is Clay. While he's always been the second-most prominent character after Orel himself, and their relationship is central to the story, it's with this new take on the story that Clay really becomes the deuteragonist of the series. He becomes that much more fascinating a character, and his treatment of Orel and his family becomes that much more vile. Sadly the third season is cut short, reportedly after execs saw a particularly dark episode (not Orel or Clay related!) and thought. hm. that wasn't funny.

I lay that all out to explain that while Moral Orel starts off as a pretty silly, shock-value cartoon about how weird Christians are, it also depicts a lot of serious subject matters, and the treatment of that is much more frank and realistic and difficult as the series progresses.

So while he becomes a much more developed character that the audience can understand, Clay's abusive behaviour loses a lot of that wink-wink satirical irony. He's also CRAZY pathetic.

also it's got the mountain goats! that's how i first found moral orel!

how comparable is it to bnha?

First things first, I do think there are largely interesting things to say about how BNHA depicts abuse, despite the downhill trend of writing in the third act that I complain about all the time. I don't think every aspect is perfect, but it's like. I do think there's more positive to say there than how other stories depict abuse. There's actually lots that I love about what the series does, or think that it could do were it not hobbled by things and stuff.

Ultimately, there isn't really a bulletproof way of comparing fictional abusive situations to another, because respective to real life you can't compare one abusive situation against the other.

But one can compare things like the genre and structure of a story, who the intended audience is, what the production of the story is like, how much time and focus can be devoted to certain subjects and what the actual focus is meant to be, etc etc.

Moral Orel can pull together different elements of abuse, like the suffocating environment of Christian fundamentalism, the abuse of a self-destructive alcoholic, the neglect that comes from mutually disaffected and inept parents, the generational nature of abuse, so on and so forth in a sincere way. Meanwhile BNHA, as a weekly serialized shonen battle manga whose creator has become increasingly rundown, has Things To Say, but doesn't necessarily have the same capacity to devote its power to those things. Abuse is vital to the themes of BNHA, but it's not the center of it the way it is for Moral Orel.

So when Clay does his thing, stripped of the fantastical couching of BNHA's bad dads, it just feels more real and it feels worse as a result.

anyways.

clay SMASH bnha's bad dad club

Never a question that Clay is a worse dad than Enji lmao. However one feels about Endeavour's arc, or how well-written or 'deserved' it is, or how successful and genuine Enji is in his efforts, at the very least he's realised that he's done wrong and wants to atone for it, while also grappling with the fact that there may be no way for him to do that. spoilers but clay shan't do this. you get flickers that he has regrets, but he'll NEVER change baby.

I guess Clay gets a one-up where his marriage with Bloberta is mutually destructive, harmful, and toxic in comparison to Enji unambiguously abusing Rei though. so failmarriage win.

Kotarou is actually similar to Clay though! Lots to say, to compare and contrast. I'm actually kind of obsessed, especially because what I said about Clay being more realistic also applies to Kotarou - Kotarou just gets less screentime. They're both deeply affected by their childhood and relationships with their own parents in ways they take it out on their children (the "explained but not excused" idea behind fictional depictions of generational abuse). They also project an image of the upper(?)-middle class family man and Patriarch of the household, either to make up for the failings of their childhood or because it's what expected of them as a man in their world. (Wee bit of conjecture on Kotarou's part but I think it has solid grounding.)

But there's also significant differences. Physical abuse is normalized as corporal between Clay and Orel, on top of the emotional abuse, manipulation, and neglect. Kotarou's abuse of Tenko is largely emotional, with the big slap implied to be the first time that abuse manifested as physical and a line crossed for the rest of the family. And while I'm sure some people would debate this, the idea that Kotarou promised Nao a home full of joy feels genuine. He did want that, the happy family full of smiles he lost as a kid, only for his own resentment to poison everything when Tenko can't obey the rules Kotarou created and enforced to achieve it. Clay, on the other hand, like. There's bits of him implying he loves his family but doesn't have the means to show or act on it, but when he has a whole speech about the sacrifices he makes for his family, family never rings as more than an obligation that he has to put up with for the appearance of manhood.

And Shigaraki can have xyz feelings about his dad forever, but he accepts and espouses the one true lesson Kotarou taught him, that heroes can't do shit all. His father was always a scary and domineering figure, but it feels like while he will never forgive him, Shigaraki does understand him more as an adult. Meanwhile, Orel tries as hard as he can to honour thy father until he can't anymore.

Again, I think that Clay and Kotarou are probably most comparable in terms of being the Bad Dad with some similar hang-ups and relationships to their kids, but part of what makes Kotarou interesting is that we don't know what he would have done had Tenko's quirk not triggered how and when it did. With his family finally willing to push back against him and himself feeling regret for hitting Tenko, could he have changed? We don't know! But much like I said when talking about Enji, Clay's never going to change.

All For One has become more of a cartoon villain that I am determined to turn into a dress up doll for my own amusement than a bad dad and is more evil guardian or whatever. BUT there's one thing that I almost forgot about when I was first writing this up, but realised is actually soooo interesting.

There's a lot to say about AFO and Clay being the primary "teacher" to Shigaraki and Orel! I that while AFO does influence Shigaraki's villainous ideals, he also lets society and Shigaraki's experiences speak for themselves. And frankly, Shigaraki has a lot of leeway and agency in evolving his ideals through his own experiences, particularly after AFO's incarceration. He sees AFO for what he is, probably has for a long time, and is determined to establish his own identity outside of AFO regardless of what Shigaraki has learned from him. Clay is much more strict and obvious about imposing his worldview on his son, but while Orel is desperate for his dad's approval and love and can be led to do things that feel wrong for that love, Orel never absorbs those lessons the way that Clay wants him to, and separating himself from his father and come to terms with what Clay has done is a much more difficult process.

but mostly i just think that clay could do this

and afo could do this

beautiful world.

[deeply-unserious-fellow]

Okay... this is gonna sound like blasphemy, but istg if I dont get this out into the world for people who care to read about Im literally going to go insane, so here it goes. I think Felonyglob is kind of boring. Don't get me wrong they're still a really cute couple! I just. Don't find their relationship all that interesting. Like there isn't all that much to explore in their dynamic.

I think most of the problem lies in Felony Carl not really being all that interesting on his own? Like, he isn't meant to be his own character. He has no depth. Which is okay! Not every character needs to be fully thought out or layered, but typically, the better thought out a character is, the more interesting their relationships are. Felony Carl, right down to his NAME, is really just a joke character. The joke being the juxtaposition between his appearance as a big strong criminal biker guy vs his emotional maturity and comfortability in who he is. He's kind of a cardboard cutout of a man. And instead of his relationship with Globby adding anything to his character, he ends up falling victim to the age old trope of "token love interest to motivate the main character". Like, the Princess Peach to Globby's Mario(it was the first example that came to mind don't @ me andnfnsmsm), minus the damsel in destress stuff. Granted Mario isn't all that interesting of a character either but yOU GET THE POINT RIGHT- Felony Carl just kind of falls flat. I was initially gonna drive this point home even further by comparing him to a really similar, and much more interesting, character, Brock from the Unikitty show, but this paragraph is getting long so I'm just gonna leave it at that. He's also really hard to ADD depth to because we just don't get that much info on his backstory outside of how he used to be named Misdemeanor Carl and that he has a good enough relationship with his father to willingly attend his birthday, which really isn't much! There's nothing interesting about this man to latch onto and expand upon without teetering dangerously close to OC territory!

Now, like I said before, having flat characters is fine. It's kind of a necessity, actually. If every single character in every single show got their backstories fully explained to us then there would never be time for any kind of. Plot. Ever. And, for normal viewers of BH6tS, Felony Carl being flat is perfectly okay, because he really had nothing to do with the main cast. But for ME, a weird little freak who likes to pretend BH6tS is actually The Globby Show(the amount of times I've rewatched literally only the episodes with him in them is evidence enough), Felony Carl is a lot more prominent because, to my eyes, he's technically the main love interest of the show. And he's just. So boring. Funny, but SO BORING.

Now, I am ABSOLUTELY not saying you can't still enjoy this pairing. Literally doesn't fuckin matter. I get the appeal, hell I've made stuff for the ship and have plans to make more! I just think it would be fun to explore Globby's potential dynamics with less one-note characters, y'know? Like, there's an ABUNDANCE of interesting adult characters in BH6tS and the only other Globby-related pairing(bcuz remember I only ever pay attentioj to Globby related stuff) I ever see is Globby x Honey Lemon. Which is a fine pairing, and they do have an interesting dynamic(and before you say that pairing is problematic it fucking isn't Honey Lemon is 21 and when your a consenting adult a 20 year age gap is literally fine omfg), but I think we should get more CREATIVE with it!!! And by we I mean people who. Like to think about Globby and put him in Situations. Actually maybe I'm the only person who really cares about this there's only like one other person on here that posts about him regularly... downsides of having super obscure interests, I guess.

But yeah if anybody wants to like... build up some fun cool ship dynamics between Globby and other characters my dms are always open hehe. This post was actually just a really longwinded and dressed up way for me to ask if anybody wants to talk about Globby ships with me. Sorry not sorry I just want more excuses to talk about this man-

[novelmonger]

Moments That Bring Me Joy: Star Wars Episode I - The Phantom Menace

On a whim, I've decided to go through some of my favorite childhood movies and just list all the moments in them that bring me joy. I'm fully aware that many of the stories I loved as a kid are deeply flawed, but I just want to take some time to appreciate what they did well. Just because I'm focusing on the positive doesn't mean I'm unaware of the negative.

Note: I chose the word "joy" deliberately. Not all of the moments that bring me joy bring me (or the characters) happiness. Scenes involving death or pain might not be very fun or cheerful, but I find joy in a good story well told.

I wanted to start with Star Wars, because that was my life when I was 8/9/10. And what better time of year to begin a nostalgic look back on Star Wars? Don't look now, but this is going to be long, because Episode I is my favorite of the main six. I used to watch this on average once a week, and still have the majority of it memorized ^^'

I love that Obi-Wan's first line in the movie is the famous, "I have a bad feeling about this." (Also, don't ask me how many times I've found reason to quote him: "it's something...elsewhere...elusive.")

"My lord, is that...legal?" "I will make it legal." That's basically Sidious' modus operandi, isn't it?

I love the battle droids' voices. "Roger, roger."

"They are still coming through!" *Force theme swells* I suppose, in the grand scheme of things, Qui-Gon breaking through blast doors with a lightsaber isn't the most impressive or heroic of feats, but that music works on me every time. I always want to cheer ^_^

"You were right about one thing, Master. The negotiations were short."

"You assume too much." - A very useful quote that I use frequently, mimicking Nute Gunray's accent for maximum effect.

Padme's royal gown and headdress are kinda weird, but so pretty. I also love her official makeup. I had a doll of her in this outfit, and I thought it was the prettiest thing.

John Williams has made a lot of amazing music for this series, but I think my second-favorite is actually the Trade Federation theme. Weird, right? There's just something about it that gets me so excited - probably because it's most prominent in this movie.

"You almost got us killed. Are you brainless?" "I spake." "The ability to speak does not make you intelligent. Now get out of here." - I love Jar-Jar Binks. I know I'm in the tiny minority about that, but I do. He's adorable and I love him.

"That is the sound of a thousand terrible things heading this way." "If they find us, they will crush us, grind us into tiny pieces, and blast us into oblivion!" - I love this line, and I love Obi-Wan's little smirk to Qui-Gon about it XD

When they go through the bubble membrane into Ota Gunga! So satisfying ^_^

Say what you will about Big Boss Nass, but I love him. The clicking, the jowl-jiggling. "De Naboo tink dey so smarty. Dey tink dey brains so big!"

"Master, what's a bongo?" "A transport, I hope."

Jar-Jar's snail-like eyes bugging out at the gooberfish XD

"There's always a bigger fish."

"You didn't tell him about the missing Jedi." "No need to report that to him until we have something to report." Excellent quoting potential.

That sound the battle droids make when Qui-Gon Force-pushes them away!

The handmaidens' outfits are also gorgeous. Oh, what I would have given at the age of 8 to have a dress with a red-to-yellow gradient like that! <3 (If we'd been a Halloween-celebrating family, I totally would have gone as Padme or Leia three years in a row.)

"Where are you taking them?" "To Coruscant." "Coruscant...uh, that doesn't compute. Uh, wait, uh...you're under arrest!"

R2-D2's moment of heroism, fixing the ship's shields! <3

"Mesa day startin' pitty okey-day wit a brisky mornin' munchin', den boom! Gettin' berry scared, and grabbin' dat Jedi, den pah! Mesa here. Mesa gettin' berry, berry scared!"

You're going to get tired of hearing this, but: Padme's look on Tatooine is so pretty! Especially her hair. Oh, I love her hair!

Jar-Jar vs. the pit droids is always fun.

"Ey, ey! Ya wanna wanga?" Or however it's spelled; do I look like I speak Huttese? XD

I love that Anakin just invites these weird offworlders he's never met before to stay at his home during the sandstorm - and that Shmi doesn't put up any sort of protest, but welcomes them in and feeds them. True hospitality and generosity. Later on, Anakin says to Shmi, "You say the biggest problem in this universe is nobody helps each other." They are the exception to that for sure.

C3-PO and R2D2's meeting is so funny and sweet. And just think of how many years they end up spending together and how many adventures they'll go on!

"You must have Jedi reflexes if you race pods." *snatches Jar-Jar's tongue in the middle of swiping a fruit* "Don't do that again."

"No one can kill a Jedi." "I wish that were so." - FORESHADOWING!!!!! D:

Jar-Jar getting his tongue stuck in the energy binders and going, "My tongue is fat" with his long tongue hanging out of his mouth XD

"IT'S WORKING!!!! IT'S WORKING!!!!"

Just...all of the CG and sound effects of the podrace. It's all so good!!! I'm especially fond of the CHUNK-CHUNK-CHUNK sound of Sebulba's engines.

That one racer who goes, "Rarrr!" right before blowing up XD

DARTH MAUL DARTH MAUL DARTH MAUL!!!! 8D Definitely the coolest and most intimidating Sith. It definitely helps that he has, like, two lines in the whole movie.

That bemused smile when Obi-Wan and Anakin meet for the first time. They have no idea.... :')

Nute Gunray saying, "Take him away," which sounds more like, "Tuck him away," like the battle droids are going to tuck Sio Bibble in for the night XD

Sunsets on Coruscant are always so gorgeous <3

"You've been a good apprentice, Obi-Wan. And you're a much wiser man than I am. I foresee you will become a great Jedi Knight."

The handmaidens' outfits in the final battle of Naboo are really cool, and I love the hair! I remember trying to figure out how to put my hair up like that when I was a kid.

That secret little smile between Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan that means they suspected all along that Padme was the real queen.

"Yousa no tinkin' yousa greater dan da Gungans? Meeeeesa lika dis! Maybe wesa...bein' friends!" And the Gungans throw themselves into the defense of their planet! I just love how the two peoples work together.

"Wipe them out. All of them." - Yet another favorite line to quote.

The whole sequence of the battle droids unloading and then marching on the Gungans is so satisfying. Also, I love the sound effect of the lasers pinging against the shield.

"Red group, blue group! Everybody this way!" - Why was this also a favorite line for my brother and me???

DUEL OF THE FATES YEEEEEEAAAAAAHHHHH!!!!!!! 8D Absolutely the best lightsaber fight in the entire franchise. All three of them look so cool, the whole fight is interesting and keeps you on the edge of your seat, you never feel like any of them are just hanging back and waiting for their turn, and that music! That's my favorite track across all the soundtracks for sure.

Jar-Jar getting his foot caught in the wiring of a battle droid and accidentally shooting a whole bunch that way is the best thing ever XD

I couldn't say why, but I've always found it really satisfying to watch Padme's team use their ascension guns to rappel up the side of the palace.

Jar-Jar's overall clumsiness on the battlefield just decimating the battle droid troops is so vindicating for his character ^_^

The way Obi-Wan and Darth Maul's fighting is just so fast after Qui-Gon gets cut down o_o

Qui-Gon's final moments. The way he makes Obi-Wan promise to train Anakin, his final legacy. The way he reaches up one finger to brush against Obi-Wan's cheek. The way Obi-Wan clutches him and presses their foreheads together.... T^T

Qui-Gon's funeral. I don't know, I just really like that the Jedi Council is there, as well as Big Boss Nass, Padme, and even the Chancellor. Qui-Gon deserves that amount of respect.

The final celebration is so full of joy! And of course, Padme looks absolutely gorgeous ^_^

[primeministerofantarctica]

If you don't mind me asking (and if you do plz ignore <3) but is there any autistic rep that you personally would like to see in media?

ohh good question! hmm... personally I'd like to see more explicit rep in children's and family media that's not "word of god" or "character that shows up for one episode to teach the main character about autism" (I don't mind the former but your average ten-year-old disney liker doesn't have twitter so it'd be lost on them.)

for example, one of my favorite canon autistic characters is aj gadgets from the pbs kids show hero elementary. while they don't outright say it until season 2, it's pretty obvious if you know what you're looking for? he flaps his hands when stressed out, he hates the feeling of wet clothes, he has a clear special interest in other superheros, he doesn't get sarcasm, he has noise-canceling headphones as part of his costume and he's shown putting them on when things get too loud. and MOST importantly, he's one of the main characters! appearing in almost every single episode!

on that note, I don't care how realistic it is, more stuff where the autistic character is actually liked by the other characters. I like entrapta and the guy from the good doctor well enough, but the way the other characters treated them was sooo :(. "oh noo how can he be a surgeon are you sure it's safe" bro i'm not an expert but i don't think it's within the realm of physical impossibility that autistic surgeons exist irl.

more characters in genres that aren't realistic coming-of-age stories. more fantasy/ sci fi/ mysteries/ etc. and yes, make the speculative fiction characters explicit too. you don't have to use the same word if it's a non-earth setting and you don't want to break the illusion, but plenty of other languages have descriptions you can pull from! like in japanese, the kanji for 自閉症 is "oneself, closed, illness". or in te reo māori, the word they use means "in their own time and space". make up your own name if you want, get creative!

other stuff, in general - more nonverbal/ aac using characters in prominent roles. more characters who are intellectually disabled or even just have average intelligence, less "savants". more characters with "useless" special interests instead of maths or science disciplines (more autistics that can't do math, please im dying here /lh). characters that are love interests, or best friends, or main characters. characters that have personalities outside of being a walking DSM manual.

this is already long af but some other characters I like-

renee from pixar's loop.

woo young-woo from extraordinary attorney woo. (i've only seen a few episodes so far but i like what i saw.)

matilda from everything's gonna be okay.

hikaru azuma from the manga with the light: raising an autistic child. yes it's from the point of view of the neurotypical mother but if you manage to get past the first volume and it's "oh no my child is autistic how can this be :(" it's...pretty sweet? the mom isn't portrayed as a saint for "putting up" with her kid, she does love him but the narrative isn't afraid to call her out when she makes a mistake.

ester from daughter of the deep. am i biased since this is a rick riordan book? well yes but still i'll be the first in line to watch the movie adaptation.

also more characters that are definitely autistic but the writers are either cowards or somehow, inexplicably, didn't put two and two together until someone else told them and understandably were pretty nervous about messing up to actually make it canon (they're just undiagnosed /j)

nonny from bubble guppies. stop saying he's depressed reddit edgebros it's just flat affect ToT

huey duck from ducktales. you had two episodes focused on how "being weird isn't bad" and "it's okay if you're wired differently". did the...did the writers just not pick up on the implications. i refuse to believe they did.

twilight sparkle from mlp:fim. pretty obvious to headcanon but i read somewhere (albeit through secondhand sources) that it was initially supposed to be canon and if that is true, that's cool af.

[newhumantype]

this is weird but i saw your tags on an old post abt darryl and white josh from cxg "#their breakup leaves a bad fucking taste in my mouth#i could go off about cxg's lazy self-righteous and hypocritical treatment of romantic narratives#but i won't :)" and listen i would LOVE to hear

not weird at all! hope you like essay-length responses lmao.

the tl;dr is that i feel like the anti-narrative ethos driving the latter half of craxy ex-girlfriend was extremely unsuccessful and made the show kind of eat its own arm off.

"life doesn't make narrative sense" is a great message, and I do see where they were going with it and how it applies to rebecca's life. however, the problem is that, no matter how much the show switched up traditional storytelling methods, cxg began as and remained a fictional serialized television show with its own defined narrative.

take darryl and white josh's breakup. i fully believe that if people had felt as neutral about darryl x whiJo as they did about, say, heather x hector, they would've been endgame lol. but since fans shipped them and wanted them to stay together, the writers had them break up to make sure that they knew that "life doesn't make narrative sense." A really well-written and beloved romantic couple was unrealistic, but couples like heather and hector (i don't mean to pick on them because i like them fine!) and, far worse, darryl and the woman he met at the end of the show, ARE realistic specifically because they aren't fun or narratively well-developed?

the last season is even worse. they spent 17 EPISODES (some of my favorite shows barely have 17 episodes total) actively trying their hardest to entice the audience to take a "side" regarding rebecca's romantic life with the clear intention of going "psych" at the end. I can't help but feel that they must have wanted 1) people to genuinely pick a side so they could sucker punch them with their message at the end, AND/OR 2) make people feel silly for ever having picked a side previously.

that all just feels so disingenuous to me because, over the years, the show really made the connections between rebecca and each of her boyfriends seem (to varying degrees) genuine at certain times, so for them to then be like "lol isn't this whole tv show romance thing a ridiculous notion?" feels like a bit of a reductive take, you know? I really liked rebecca's boyfriends as characters, i became invested in them and their journeys. i was never invested in shipping her with any of them, but would it really be so bad if someone was? after all, they literally wrote them as genuine love interests.

plus there were just sooo many missed opportunities in that last season. I didn't particularly enjoy seeing the guys manipulated into rebecca-obsessed robots who would do anything to earn her love to serve the season arc. instead, imagine if the writers had pulled a bojack horseman and started focusing on josh and nathaniel (and other characters) moving on from her and having their own stories. what if we'd seen Josh meet/fall for his girlfriend or seen nathaniel starting out at the zoo?

Why make everything in a season be about romance when the ultimate message is that romance isn't everything? why tell us using this really silly love quadrangle plot when they could have just shown us?

and don't even get me started on greg. i want to preface this next statement with the caveat that i admittedly watched cxg years after it finished airing. by myself. and didn't discuss it with anyone. so maybe it's just me. however, from the first second greg came back in s4, i got extremely strong vibes that the writers felt he was the best romantic fit for rebecca. every scene he was in just seemed to have more weight to it, and he was the one who'd done the most to work on himself of the three guys. and there's just something so hypocritical about making such a strong point about her not picking someone only to - in my opinion - quite prominently hint at her best/most likely choice while also refusing to definitively make that choice. like if you're going to say that it was never about the individual guys but about rebecca choosing herself, don't show a preference for one of them! and if you have a preference for one because he's bettered himself/matured more than the others, be brave enough to come out and say so directly!

this comes back to the narrative thing. i believe they didn't want to take a side on her romantic life not only because they wanted to end with her choosing herself (which is a really nice message that fits well with the show overall) but also because no matter which one they picked, some fans would be happy. some group of people would have a cute, idyllic romantic story with the happy ending they'd always wanted. and that would directly go against the "life doesn't make narrative sense" ethos. because they felt that anything with a clean narrative - like a fan favorite couple being endgame - would defy this notion, they simply couldn't do it.

this is why i say they ate their own arm off. they created interesting characters and stories only to eventually unceremoniously snuff them out out or take a bizarre left turn with them rather than take them to an interesting and organic place. it really felt like the writers came to interpret "life doesn't make narrative sense" as "only the least developed and worst written narratives make sense", which made for a frustrating and ultimately unsatisfying viewing experience.