#and the last one was roy lol this show just does something to me i guess

[jacnaylor]

fave guys

It's called empathy, you dusty old fart!

[celaenaeiln]

something i’d love to see more of is angsty rebellious teenage dick grayson. i don’t know why i enjoy the trope but the image of dick “golden boy” grayson getting plastered with roy as he slowly sinks into depression before somewhat getting his shit together is an interesting picture

also he just seems like the guy to get impulsive piercings. dunno why

oooh yeah that fantasy's a guilty a pleasure of mine.

I am 1000000000% an enforcer of Dick was not an angry robin. And he wasn't because the comics show just how happy his demeanor was and how fun he is. But angsty teen Dick? 16/17 year old Dick?

I LOVE IT.

Again throwing a little bit of canon in

"When we started this you were open and encouraging. You were my father...but these last few years...all you've been doing is trying to control me even more."

This is so loaded.

The anger Dick feels when Bruce is trying control him, trying to lock him in a cage in the batcave because of worry, has so much ao3 potential.

Like angsty teen dick is so complicated to think about because Bruce acts a bit like an alcoholic father and Dick's compartmentalization issues come from his parents' death. So what would this result in?

I have no fcking clue.

Because Dick would totally get wasted with Roy, hazy blue eyes staring emptily into space, watching with a flushed cheeks as his short black hair fans out on the back of a beaten blue couch at Roy's place, just breaking down quietly as Roy rants and screams about life's injustices in the background, slinging an arm around Dick and jostling him.

Or maybe he and Roy would also go bar hopping, both of them sloppy drunk, laughing and crying at the same time while they max out their daddies' credit cards and then crash somewhere in someone's pool. Maybe they end up inadvertently on Katy Perry's Friday Night music video.

Or maybe Dick would be a hurricane of disaster, lashing out with knives of sharpened words stabbing the deepest, sorest spots of pain in people, his anger alighting a fire in all. He would be magnificent, ferocious, and catastrophic.

He could be any of these three and all three at once.

He would feel the need to act out if Bruce was becoming more controlling.

BUT AT THE SAME TIME, Dick raised Bruce and that perpetually sense of responsibility he's instilled into himself from a young age as well as his self-sufficiency is never erased so one night he would be blacked out from the excessive alcohol but next morning 6'o clock his body's walking up and he's going through his morning routine like a machine and out the door to work. He just keeps going like this day and day until he collapses and the titans intervene or Bruce drags him back to the manor, screaming in love and fear and Dick screams back and the cycle begins.

Nightwing (1996) Issue #135

Like canonically Dick ran away from home at 16, got a job, got caught up in a major anarchist group, and did a whole freaking investigation while Bruce sulked in the cave because Dick ran away.

There's so much angsty dick potential that could go in so many ways because he's such a complex character that all of them apply.

LOL!!! I totally think he would get impulsive piercings too. Maybe when he's drunk and pissed and then the next day he would wake up be like wtf. He'd sit in turmoil and a little regret for a while and then be like whatever because these piercing are freaking cool.

Bonus: no one (except the og titans and Alfred bc Dick never keeps anything from Alfred and the titans are family) ever find out about the piercings and it's kept a tightly guarded secret until a decade later when he does something in the batcave and one of the batkids notice and they're like, "DICK YOU HAVE A PIERCING?!" The rest of them just about break their neck whipping their head around to look at him. Dick just shrugs nonchalantly because time has tempered him and goes, "oh yeah. I guess. I forgot." Bruce passes out and wakes up on the floor to Dick hovering worriedly over him while the rest of the family watches in amusement at his predicament and also half brokenly because their golden boy big brother has piercings. Plural.

Bruce gasped out a pained breath, "Piercings?"

Dick stared at him silently, gemstone eyes holding his gaze as the quiet of the cave melted the seconds into hours. His eyes slowly slid from Bruce's to where the rest of the family was standing, watching them with bated breath for his answer, before they met Bruce's hopeful ones again.

"No." Bruce, with all the strength left in his body after recovering, raised a questioning eyebrow as Dick continued, "I don't have any piercings and never did."

"Hmn." But he swore he could've seen-

The kids erupted in protests.

"Dick, come on!" Jason hollered, pushing forward. "We clearly saw it there-"

"Where?" Dick asked, spreading his arms wide and invitingly, offering them to see for themselves.

The piercing they had all gotten the barest glimpse of was gone from where they had seen it on Dick.

"But you said you! You said, 'yeah. I guess so. I forgot.'" Stephanie put her hands on her hips, "Admit it Boy Piercing!"

"Boy Piercing?!"

"Fess up, pretty boy!"

"Steph," Dick visibly bit his lip to keep from laughing, "I was joking. You guys should've see your reactions - they were so funny!! Dick has a piercing. OMG. You people were hilarious."

Damian clicked his tongue. "Enough Richard! Did you implement metal into you skin like a heathen? Richard, how could you?! Who dare touch-"

"No Dami!" Dick quickly interfered to prevent a possible murder on his behalf, "I was just kidding, okay? Besides, did you guys even really see it? Like full on?"

Harper crossed her arms. "Close enough."

Dick quirked his eyebrow at that. "But you didn't actually see it right? You thought you saw something shining and turned to look. C'mon you guys know what it is - peripheral vision hallucinations. Things you see in your peripheral vision that aren't real because you are tired," He pinned a look at each other, emphasizing the words, "and stressed."

Dick pressed his lips together and folded his arms. "Time for bed. Now. I know you all haven't been sleeping for the past few days so you all are going to bed. At the manor." Dick finished, shooting Jason a look when he tried secretly shuffling toward his bike.

The rest of them were unmoved for a moment but quickly caved under Dick's patented "I'm mom-ing you."™ stare as Jason liked to call it.

They trudged upstairs while Bruce and Dick watched in companionable silence.

Bruce turned to look at Dick as the sounds of their bickering and footsteps faded away.

"How did you do it?"

Dick hummed distractedly and tilted his head to look down at Bruce still sitting on the floor. "Do what?"

Bruce growled, impatience, annoyance, and apprehension swimming in his voice, "Don't lie. To me. How did you hide it? Now. And for so long?"

Bruce watched tensed as the tip of Dick's tongue ran over the ridges of his top row of teeth, the first sign of anger he had seen from him in weeks. The pink flesh of his tongue barely avoiding cutting itself on the slightly too sharp canines that Dick loved to call his vampire teeth since he was little. He had even threw a veteran-dentist-scaring-tantrum in the dentist's office when the man suggested shaving them down once.

Bruce watched warily as Dick crouched down, balancing on his balls of his feet like a cat on a fence, and forcefully tamped down the sudden urge to pull out a hidden batarang when the boy grinned, eyes lighting with the wild fire of joy and madness from his robin days that still had Bruce on edge for decades.

"How did you it?" He asked again, not sure if he really wanted to know anymore but the principle remained. There was no way Dick's activities could be hidden for so long. He didn't invest in his detective following skills for something like this to escape his observation. But at the same time Dick had evaded his tracking skills when he was seventeen and ran away from him. But something so obvious as a piercing would never escape his notice. But a whole 17 year old boy also shouldn't have escaped his notice. However, Bruce had improved. He had gotten better at his job and his skills. Right? Right, of course, he was the best in the world. Dick definitely did have a piercing. But...on the off chance...what if he really had just seen a flash of light? Sweat on a body? The edge of a birdarang? Peripheral vision hallucinations? "Do you?"

"Do I what?"

You already know what I'm asking. Bruce thought, frustrated with Dick for lying. Frustrated with himself for not knowing if Dick was lying.

"Do you have piercings?" Bruce ground out.

Dick laughed, his voice echoing like choir bells in the spacious cave and bouncing off the stalactites to create a ringing, haunting melody as he leaned in closer to Bruce.

"C'mon, B! You know every showman's got his own tricks," Dick grinned brightly.

And you're the whole damn circus. Bruce hissed viciously in his mind.

Dick's eyes twinkled back at him.

[undermycoat]

inspired by @izzyspussy’s prompt. hope u dont mind?? lol also tw for mention of james tartt. yknow how it is — also im thinking this takes place around the start of the season after the show ends 💚 but also (thanks nonny!) just pretend eras tour came out 2021 and barbie came out 2022 and not. now LOL

It starts as less than a handful of Tweets. Honestly, Jamie laughs at the first one, then scrolls by and completely misses the rest. And then he sees a group of lads donning West Ham merch pointing at him while on his morning run (sans Roy, who had to bow out due to a cold, the dick . . . Jamie's planning on picking him up breakfast) and whispering — but not quiet enough — that the Barbie has escaped his box. The Tweets (and comments and replies and DMs) appear more frequently after that.

The pictures of him in his pink tracksuit, tied to Roy’s bike, are passed around again. This time not by his loyal fans who begged for proper HD pics from him and thought he looked good as hell, but by the ones who call him Barbie and think his hair is blond and dumb and that he is just a dumb blond who isn’t even that good at football. At least that last bit could be easily refuted by his stats. He’s damn good at his job, and he knows it.

He doesn’t say anything about it, however, until they’re in the locker room after training, and Isaac huffs at something while looking at his phone. Jamie glances over to see him angling the screen toward him. “They’re callin’ you Barbie, bruv.”

Isaac is a really good friend, like, the best a guy could ask for. But Jamie kind of doesn’t want to think about this. “Yeah, I saw. It’s a compliment, innit? And kind of fittin’. I’m perfect, I’m everything. I am Barbie, ain’t I?”

At his easy dismissal, Isaac brightens up, grinning, and Jamie grins back. He finds the Tweet he was shown and posts a good selfie he took a few days ago, captioning it, I am everything. You wanna be Ken? It’s a bit stupid, but the insult is stupid too, so he thinks he’s allowed it.

The thing is — he wants to be unbothered by the nickname. The Barbie movie was fucking awesome, and though he’s still on thin ice with Keeley, even after their strictly-business trip to Brazil, they put aside their differences . . . that is, they put aside Jamie’s fuck-up to go and watch one of the screenings together. Yeah. It was fucking awesome. And he loves women. Like, major respect.

But the condemnations of the word are a knife’s edge away from a whiskey-tinged voice hissing soft and little bitch in his ear, and Jamie really can’t fucking deal with that right now. And he had gone and seen James in rehab, just for a couple hours, and he doesn’t regret going and seeing him, and he actually thinks it’s fucking mint the man’s getting help. He even enjoyed going through the old photos of his grandparents and James as a baby and even some of his own photos, when his mum looked a little less tired and he wasn’t afraid to smile too brightly. And in rehab, James is given limited Internet time, so the chances of him seeing the insults, seeing Jamie being called a girls’ toy, something pretty and pink, are small, and even if he does see, what can he do? They won’t just let him leave while obviously on some rampage.

It’s not like Jamie plans on going back to the man any time soon anyway. He’s not James Tartt’s anything. They just share a name. So what?

Jamie jumps at the touch of a hand on his shoulder. He pockets his phone (his Quote Tweet is now at twenty thousand likes and counting), and when he turns, it’s Roy, staring at him with those impossibly dark eyes and wild brows that make them even darker.

“Hi, coach,” he says with a grin.

Roy grunts back.

Jamie stays still for another second before blinking. “Got any wisdom for me?”

The other guys have begun to clear out, and now it’s just them and Beard still in the coaches’ office. And Will, who seems to be some metaphor for God, the way he’s always around, not even lurking, just . . . around.

Finally, Roy says, “Good pass. Don’t be late tomorrow.”

It’s so unbearably Roy that it makes Jamie sick. It also suggests there’s more he’s not saying, but Jamie isn’t sure what. He doesn’t push, however, just salutes him. “‘Course, coach,” he leans back on his heels, “dark and early, yeah?”

Roy nods, then pivots and mechanically goes back to the office. Jamie watches him go before turning and gathering his things. As he packs, he can practically feel Roy’s eyes on his back, but he knows when he turns, both him and Beard will be staring down at things on their desks. Whatever.

Jamie doesn’t run into anyone on his way out, and he’s grateful, taking a breath when he gets in his car then speeding off. He feels itchy under his skin, like when his foot falls asleep but the sensation is all over his body, and he kind of regrets leaving Nelson Road because he thinks running a few extra laps up and down the pitch would soothe him, if only a little bit. Despite this, when he gets home, he just gets out of his car and goes inside. It’s not that he’s worried about a repeat of his solo jog that one morning. It’s just really hot outside, what with it being late July and all, and he just showered, like, thirty minutes ago.

Every time a notification goes off on his phone, his stomach flips in a really awful way. Jamie turns off his phone.

Maybe now that he’s said something, it’ll die down. Since he’s made it clear he’s not bothered by it, that he can take whatever they give, they’ll stop.

And then, the first match of the season, Jamie walks onto the pitch, and a familiar song starts up. It’s not his song — but it’s certainly for him.

“Are they singing . . . ‘Barbie Girl’?” Colin asks from behind him.

“And changing the pronoun to ‘he’,” Jan adds, helpful as ever.

Jamie catches sight of one of the cameras recording the match, grins and sticks out his tongue, and when he looks to the opposing fans’ side, he even gives a little bow. Just for them. He thinks about something Lasso said to him once about bullying, after he stopped being a dick to Nate and asked why Ted never stepped in. Acknowledging it almost always makes it worse. Sorry that Jamie had believed in the ‘almost’.

;

After getting booted from Keeley’s and after a dinner at a kebab place that Jamie knows is good because Roy didn��t actually make him sit and watch — he picked bits of lamb from the skewer and placed them on the napkin i​​n front of Jamie without a word — it’s not unusual for him and Roy to get dinner together. Sometimes it’s just them at Roy’s, who’s a better cook than his mum but not better than Simon, and sometimes it’ll be at a pub, and sometimes they’ll go to a restaurant. It was with ruddy cheeks that Roy admitted the kebab shop was like his church, but Jamie wasn’t judging. He thinks he understood the ecstasy of St Theresa after a bite of that lamb.

Tonight, however, Roy drops Jamie off at his place, and then parks the car and follows him in.

“Uh,” Jamie says when Roy stands in the entryway, a hand behind his back, posture stiff, “can I help you?”

“Go to your room,” Roy replies, and Jamie’s eyes go wide, and he says, “O-kay, Daddy,” before he backtracks, but Roy is backtracking too. “I mean, go somewhere that isn’t behind me or the kitchen.”

Jamie’s mouth drops into an ‘o’. “Right. Okay. I’ll just go to the living room, then.”

Roy nods, and Jamie walks slowly to the couch, backwards so he can watch Roy watching him.

He manages to sit still on his couch for a good two minutes, listening to Roy clattering about his kitchen, before he hops up and goes to sit at his dining table instead. It’s there that he sees a paper bag, and it takes everything in him not to peek into it. At the sound of the chair scraping against the floor, Roy leans back from where he’d had his head stuck in Jamie’s fridge, and he turns to look back at Jamie, who smiles innocently at him. He even waggles his fingers in a wave for good measure.

Roy rolls his eyes, but he’s smiling, so Jamie thinks it’s fine, and he doesn’t think about how good it feels to be the one behind Roy Kent’s smile. Roy goes back to rummaging through the fridge.

Eventually, Jamie gets roped into helping out, but all his complaints are customary, and he thinks if he had allowed himself — if he had been allowed — to dream about domesticity, this is exactly how it would’ve been. Right down to the celebrity footballer. It’s kind of perfect.

Then, Jamie’s phone goes off.

It’s his news app, which he keeps forgetting to turn off the notifications for, and it irritates him every time, but especially when he actually clicks the notification ‘cause the story looks interesting, only to find out he’s somehow already used up his articles for the month, and would he please be willing to spare a few pounds every month for more? In theory, yes, he is willing. In practice . . . he has other places to put his money.

That being said, the irritation he feels then is nothing compared to the humiliation he feels now, reading the headline: This Barbie is a Footballer: AFC Richmond Jamie Tartt’s new song.

Roy is turned the other way, so luckily, he can’t see the way Jamie’s smile immediately drops from his face. This shit isn’t even important! It’s just some stupid fan war mess, the opponents’ fans trying to get in his head, and it’s not fucking working, alright? He doesn’t care. He’s just embarrassed that it’s apparently made the news. It’s really not a big deal.

When he looks up from his phone, Roy is looking at him. Jamie swallows.

“It’s nothin’,” he tells him. “Just some politician, saying some stupid thing. Sam sent it to me to rant.”

Roy nods, but he looks like he doesn’t believe him. Jamie’s voice had wavered in the middle, so he doesn’t believe himself either. But he still doesn’t budge, just leans back against the counter and waits for Roy to either turn away or say something in return. Roy turns away. Over his shoulder, he says, “I have something for you after we eat.”

“Whatever’s in the bag?” Jamie asks. Roy grunts. “Is it concert tickets? Am I goin’ to see Taylor fucking Swift? The bag’s just to throw me off, obviously.”

“Fuck no,” Roy’s response is, pun intended, swift and immediate. Jamie grins. “You’ll see later. Just . . . wait.”

Jamie groans. “Fine. But it better be good, since you got me all excited for the concert.”

Roy gives him a stern glare. Jamie puts his hands up, then gets back to washing the dishes they’re done using.

All throughout their meal, Jamie struggles to sit still, and his eyes, without fail, return to the bag. It becomes enough of a problem that Roy takes the bag and hides it in his lap, but Jamie’s no coward, so his gaze still wanders to — well.

“The quicker you finish eating, the sooner you get to see it,” Roy growls out around his own mouthful of salmon and quinoa (Jamie was surprised he had those things in his freezer and cupboard too, but it made a damn good meal, so he’s not complaining).

Jamie grows a lot more focussed after that, and he’s done within minutes — nay, seconds. Roy raises his eyebrows in approval. Jamie licks the leftover glaze for the salmon off his fork for good measure. Roy looks down at his plate.

Once Roy finishes eating, the paper bag makes its triumphant return, Roy setting it between them. He nods his head at it, and Jamie takes it quickly, before the other can change his mind and take it back.

He doesn’t expect what he pulls out, but he feels like he should. He looks between the Barbie and Roy, who’s staring at Jamie with a gaze so intense Jamie worries he might burn up from it. If this had been bestowed to him any time the year before, especially from Roy, he’d think it a continuation of the insult. But all he feels right now is laughter, the weight in his stomach turning into something bubbly and light that works its way up his throat and past his lips. Slowly — because he’s out of practice, the old fart — Roy begins to smile back.

The stupid fucking made-to-move soccer Barbie is even wearing an England kit, and when Jamie turns her around, he grins at the number and name on the back.

“You fucking dick,” he says, the words coming out as a hiss through his teeth, that’s how hard he’s grinning.

“You’re Jamie fucking Tartt,” Roy replies, and Jamie wishes he had a word to describe the look the other was sending him, but the best he can do is say how it makes him feel — really fucking good; like nothing could ever hurt him; like there is no one else in the world but the two of them; like he could go win the World Cup, the FA Cup, all the Leagues, every award in the football world, and not break a single sweat. It makes him feel a lot like he’s in love.

Roy’s not done: “You are everything. Who gives a shit if some pricks call you Barbie? You fucking own it, Jamie. You are every-fucking-thing, and they’re not even Ken.”

And Jamie will make fun of him for it later, that he’s more than aware of the movie’s tagline, but at the moment, he’s clutching the Barbie to his chest like a lifeline, and he feels a sting behind his eyes, like tears are threatening to spill, and his cheeks hurt with how hard he’s smiling.

Roy clears his throat. “Phoebe said there are ways you can change the hair, but . . . don’t use heat. It’s plastic. You can cut it or dye it fucking . . . walnut haze or whatever.”

Jamie doesn’t even correct him that it’s walnut mist. He’s close enough.

He gives the doll one last squeeze. “Thanks, Roy, I mean it.”

Roy doesn’t reply, just gives a grunt and nods his head. That’s alright too. Jamie looks down at the doll again, then leans back in his seat. He holds it up to his face, angles her head so they’re cheek-to-cheek more or less.

“Like twins, ain’t we?”

And Jamie wonders if maybe there were something in the food, or maybe in their drinks, because it seems like Roy can’t stop smiling either.

;

The opposing fans are at it again. Jamie sees Roy glance back at him and grins. He considers mouthing all good, coach, but he’s more interested in using one arm to wave and the other to hold his Barbie up the same way he had when it was just him and Roy, teeth bared all the while. The crowd goes wild, of course.

He’s Jamie fucking Tartt. He’s everything. Of course no one is going to think of him as just Ken — that’s just ridiculous.

in case you can’t tell “condemnations” is supposed to be “connotations”. ily jamieisms 💚 also i wrote this rly fast on my phone so sorry & now on ao3 if u'd prefer to read it there ✌️

[cakebatteronabrickwall]

How about Succession Game Motif? I’m glad you ask!

Playing games is obviosuly a heavy handed metaphor to use, but it is after all how these characters treat a lot of their in-fighting about the company and the whole world, really. But, more interestingly, the show depicts (and mentions) literal games as an intergral recurring theme. I have compiled a list, but it is important to note that those games are essentially split into “games that exist in the real world” and “games that the Roys made up”.

First Category: Games That Exist in The Real World

Baseball- The first game ever played on the show; very normal thing to do. But it does end up distorted when the element of money is introduced + it really showcases the detachment between the family and the people working for them. Roman sees the bet as a playful thing while, for the kid, it could have been everything.

I Went to Market- This game also gets distorted by a) some weird items the players have to remember and b) Logan resorting to violence when faced with his own shortcomings and loss.

Monopoly- There’s not that much to say here, other than maybe it is a game famous for cheating and the season 3 finale ends in a betrayal, so maybe read it as an average family game becoming distorted and more sinister in restrospect.

Second Category: Games That The Roys Made Up

When the family isn’t busy molding pre-existing games into more fucked up versions, they also make up their own.

Dog Cage- I’m torn on whether this is a game or just a humiliation tactic, but that is the case for most of the Roy games lol. This one is also tricky, because the brothers can’t remember who exactly “asked” to play it and why and what the rules were. But something tells me Logan might remember.

Nanny Game- Cut from the show but interesting to include. It relies on making up a believable enough lie to get a nanny fired; this game can only be played by children. Showcases detachment once again; somebody losing their job means nothing.

Bitey- Incredible game, because it is literally just an excuse to inflict violence for violence’s sake; both players have to be either kids or a little unhinged to agree to it. Go figure.

Boar on the Floor- Very fascinating, because this is a game Logan comes up with for adults, also it seems to have no prior history which freaks everybody out; it’s a game designed for humilitation and loyalty (?) only, and the moment you are forced to play it, you have already lost. There might be a parallel to Dog Cage here, considering the hierarchial implications.

Dinner for Winners- Another cut from the show situation, it plays into the whole ED theme the show has going on and more directly Kendall and Logan’s relationship to food. It’s not even a game, more of a punishment-reward thing, but most “games” on the list only barely follow the definition.

Meal Fit for A King- The last game ever played on the show, it nicely mirrors Baseball, because in this instance we don’t have cruelty disguised as playfulness but simply a ritual, again barely a game, which only exists to be disgusting (and humiliating, really), no pretense this time around. Interestingly, this is also a game originated by children but instead of showcasing regression and cruelty, it serves as a bonding moment for adults; all of them consent to “playing” which overwrites the humiliation part of the game.

[loveshotzz]

I havent seen the episode yet, but im seeing a ton of people angry and upset with Gator for being a terrible human

I...I honestly don't know what people expected? Even in the first episode you can tell what Roy's views were, obv Gator's would be the same? He's going to be a bad person- like I remember Joe said one of the reasons he chose to try for the character is its so far opposite of Steve he wanted to do something like that

I just dont understand why people are shocked? *granted I do not fully know what happened as I hadn't seen the episode* (also like Joe isnt Gator nor is he Steve and I've seen a few posts saying we should cancel Joe for agreeing to play this character which....)

I wasn’t surprised to find out he was a piece of shit, I definitely was going to write him as one. I never got the vibe he was just a dumb idiot who was misunderstood. He idolizes his piece of shit basically boarder line cult leading father. After that scene in last nights episode, I probably won’t be writing him like I was planning to but to cancel an actor who chose a role that is going to show his range and get him out of being type casted is ridiculous lol. GIVE HIM BETTET ROLES THAN 19 YEAR OLD HIMBOS! He literally made me squirm in my seat with how delivered some of his lines, his acting was seriously top tier.

that’s all I’m going to say on the matter. the show is so well acted and good, I can’t wait to see what Dot does to these idiots the next episode.

[coolshadowtwins]

Sometimes I think about the fact that, in the Yugioh anime, Marik was close enough to the Dulist Kingdom Island to pick up Bandit Keith when he got thrown into the ocean. I assume he was there for the god cards or something, or maybe just to threaten Pegasus, or maybe he heard about Yugi being there. Who knows.

But that does leave the door open to a fun (to me at least lol) au. What if Marik chose to sneak into that tournament instead? He gets the island mid tournament, steals a glove, and just goes for it. Of course, Pegasus probably knows this, but either he’s just fine with letting it happen, or he’s actually just too busy stalking Yugi and co.

I would imagine that Marik wasn’t actually meaning to meet Yugi there. He, in this au, was coming to threaten Pegasus for info on the god cards, and felt this was the best way to get inside the castle freely. But of course, he gets drawn into the protagonist ring, and runs into the gang at the worst time- right before Bakura joins them.

It’s late in the day, Yugi and co just got done with their last duel (Rex I think? I honestly don’t remember what was right before Bakura lol) and then they run into this weird guy. But it’s ok! He seems really nice, and a pretty strong duelist. He’s just shy!

Marik, for his part, panicked and gave a fake name. He didn’t want to meet the Pharaoh yet! Did he know about Yami specifically at this point, or did he just think the pharaoh had gotten reincarnated? I’m going to go with the last one for now. He just thinks Yugi is the pharaoh reincarnation. Anyway, his stomach growls at the worst time, which means that Yugi and co invite him to camp with them tonight! The bigger the group, the less likely anyone would ambush them for a midnight duel!

Marik has no choice but to say yes, because he’s now even more undercover and has decided to use this to his advantage. He gets close to Yugi and steals the puzzle, that’s what he will do!

So they go and camp, and everything is normal, and then Bakura shows up.

Joey: Bakura?! What are you doing here?

Bakura: I snuck on board the ship, just like you!

Yugi: Nomu (that was Marik’s fake name right?) this is our school friend, Roy Bakura!

Marik:…. He just followed you guys to the island, without talking to anyone? Is he apart of your friend group? He’s not in the tournament- he has no glove! Isn’t this weird to anyone else?

Bakura: I don’t know, I think this is fine.

Triston: Yeah man! Bakura is our friend! It sure is glad to see him!

Bakura: Hey, here’s a fun idea! Let’s play a game of Duel monsters, but first let’s each pick our favorite cards to put in the deck, for no reason! Me vs Yugi!

Marik, suddenly sensing shadow magic:…. Oh my god. This is such a bad idea.

Marik, later, in the body of a fiend type monster: Why did no one listen to me?!

Joey: Oh like you knew that our old pal here would get possessed by a dark spirit and try to kill us!

Marik: …. I will admit, this was not how I thought my night would go.

Of course, this would be where he would realize that Yami existed. He probably glared really hatefully at him once he was summoned, confusing everyone. Marik was then forced to put a very confused act to make it look like he actually had no idea what was happening.

Bakura would also be able to tell Marik had magic, probably. But he would also probably focus on Yugi first, since he definitely didn’t know about Yami before that duel. Bakura probably thought that Yugi would be an easier mark, and then he could deal with this new guy in the corner.

Marik would probably leave the next morning, after the duel with Panik, but before Ryo and Yugi have the conversation about the Ring. Mostly because, otherwise, the Ring would immediately point to the Rod that Marik definitely did not leave with Odion on the boat, and we can’t have that!

Marik goes off and gets the rest of his star chips- he probably takes the place of Bandit Keith somehow? He can’t take Mai or Joey’s place, because they now know Marik and he couldn’t just take his. But he could take Keith’s! And he’s not afraid to stab someone to get what he wants, when Keith threats him with a gun afterwards, probably.

Keith might be dead in this au. Sorry to all the Bandit Keith friends.

Marik would meet back up the the group up on the top of the stairs, right before the duel with Kaiba.

I don’t think he would honestly change more of the DK plot. He would be on the sidelines for the major duels, and then duel Joey in the semi-finals. He would sneak out alone that first night in the castle o go and threaten Pegasus, only to one) be caught by Tea, Triston, and Joey, two) be confronted by Bakura, where Marik has to act dumb to not be caught with magic, and C) get sucked into that weird ritual thing Pegasus was doing that the gang find that is never mentioned again.

Marik, afterwards: ….what in the name of Ra was that????

I don’t know if he would forfit to Joey, or just fake lose, but he would throw the match. He isn’t there to win, and he honestly doesn’t want Pegasus’s attention on him more than he needs too, outside of Marik’s own choosing.

He gets suckered into “Friendship is the real power, guys! That’s how we save Yugi!” And he is shocked that it works. Like, this is something that he rants about for days to Odion once he’s back on the boat. (Odion just wants Marik to make friends.)

I like to think Marik also gets involved with the whole Triston and Bakura side plot with Mokuba’s body, because he would just be making snarky comments the whole time.

Bakura: Go, Maneater bug!

Triston: What is that?!

Marik: Maneater bug, Triston. Keep up.

And

Bakura: I want a host with no soul, so it won’t fight against me.

Marik: Are you two compatible??

Bakura: …huh?

Marik: Every soul can go into every body? Probably not.

Bakura: Well-

Marik: Also, what happens when Yugi gets Mokuba’s soul back?

Bakura: We don’t know that yet!

Marik, giving him a look: Don’t we? Really? And anyway, you want to be running around as a ten year old? A child? Do you think anyone will take you seriously? Really?

Bakura, sputtering: Well, you- more seriously than you and your lavender crop top!

Marik: I’m hurt. Really. Triston, I have given you so many chances to punch him and you have taken none of them.

Triston: Oh. Right. (And then he punches him) you know, you are taking this magic thing really well.

Marik:…. I’m just an easy going kind of guy.

Triston: Yeah, it’s amazing how nothing really bothers you.

Marik: Yep. Nothing.

And then the rest of DK would probably be normal. Marik is too late to threaten Pegasus after the dueling, because Bakura gets to him first. So Marik just has to leave empty handed.

But now he has an in with the pharaoh! Maybe if he keeps being friends with him, he could learn his dueling strategies and defeat him that much more easily!

So he enrolls himself at Domino High. Odion really hopes that he makes some friends.

There will probably be a part two of this later lol

[disasterbijamietartt]

Loved Dani and Jamie this ep! And Beard affectionately calling Jamie a beautiful dum dum and the friendly teasing about the reality show and Jamie proving his tactical smarts! And that Jamie gets permission from the whole team to go into prick mode and even then he isnt really he actually does know this better that them. Although Roy, some consistency with Jamie plz for the love of god. The whole string thing was very funny though

Dani and Jamie were real gems this week and I liked the callback to “Lust conquers all” and the playful way Jamie reacted to Beards teasing.

The whole “I don’t want people to think I’m a prick if I say it” part, that Jamie seems to be so wary to express his opinions that he needs to get permission first, is something I’m thinking about a lot last week. So sorry in advance for this very long bit of rambling lol

And to bring this other ask in, since it fits in so well:

Jamie trying to be a good boy and waiting to get permission from the whole team, hes come on so much and its giving me... ideas. The boy just wants to please and apparently now that means doing exactly what hes told even when he is literally vibrating wanting to do something

That made me think of Roy’s comment in “The Signal”, when he said that Ted fucked Jamie up. And even though I don’t agree with Roy’s assessment, since Jamie isn’t a prick at his core and it now shows how much more valuable he is as a team player, but I think Jamie’s caution to speak up could relate to Ted.

Specifically to how Jamie was sent away (or: how Jamie thinks that went down) and how he came back.

We know Jamie reacts well to positive reinforcement, so negative reinforcement probably is just as effective (or not "probably" since all his "dad" did was negative reinforcement that clearly left a mark).

And Jamie still doesn’t know why he was sent away so there might be that underlying anxiety of being rejected again when he is too open and honest with his opinions, which makes him wary to voice any opinion that could make him look like he is not a team player or not trying enough to be good (even if he may not be consciously aware of this)

Ted initially rejected Jamie when he asked to return to Richmond.

We don’t know what Ted told him, when he actually gave him a second chance, but we know he told Jamie in their initial conversation that Jamie burnt bridges, which I always figured was odd, since … that wasn’t the reason he got sent away. And what Jamie said in the interview the team watched in 1x10 wasn’t all that mean if you compare it to stuff he said before and the mean stuff was mostly about Ted and Roy specifically, like he even said that the team are all good lads. That never felt like burning bridges to me either.

Add to this that the last thing Jamie did before getting send away was trying to mend things and be a better teammate. He started the whole “Richmond till we die”-chant, ffs, so from Jamie's perspective he had just started to try being better when "Ted dumped him" :'(

That is not burning bridges, Ted!

And Jamie was very vulnerable with Ted when he asked if he could come back, talking about being depressed, bringing up his dad, and still got rejected.

So Jamie would probably think that his behaviour was the reason he got sent away in the first place, so now he tries hard not to give others reasons to reject him again.

And since Jamie always appears to be super confident and self assured, the others may not really be aware of his struggles and that he needs reassurance once in a while. :'(

So,

onto Roy …

I think Roy is still stuck with a lot of assumptions about Jamie based on Jamie’s behaviour in season 1 (like, Jamie being a prick at his core, calling him a fragile little bitch, primadonna etc.), and has a tough time reconciling his assumptions of Jamie with who Jamie actually is at his core. He is slowly making progress in changing his perception, but it feels a lot like he makes one step forward, two steps back, as if he is actively trying to keep a distance lest he catches a feeling.

(To be fair, it took Keeley until the bantr-ad to acknowledge how much Jamie has changed, and the coaches dismissing Jamie’s valid warning about Zava also showed, that they are stuck with at least some of their assumptions.)

But it is super frustrating for me, since we’re over the halfway mark and Roy still hasn’t really made much progress regarding his character development, since every moment of vulnerability or him having some sort of revelation about himself gets immediately followed by him regressing and doing or saying something batshit crazy …

Which is why I’m so torn on the whole string thing — at first it was kinda funny as a practical joke, but it also made me feel uncomfortable since that borderlines on sexual harrasment. And it is really not a good look on Roy rejoicing like some psychopath on the idea that Jamie got accidentally castrated — Roy seemed to be regressing all season, but that was a bit too much for me.

Like, not to get too dark here, but what was Roy thinking? “Ah, Jamie told me like two weeks ago about being raped at fourteen, so I should be absolutely delighted by the possibility of him getting genitally mutilated after I came up with something sadistic for practice” ???

[lunar-years]

I think it’s hard for me with defending Keeley because like on one hand don’t talk bad about her you losers… but also like her season 3 sucked and the shows insistence that she’s flawless and she’s a successful girlboss with no back up evidence makes me sort of meh about her

You’re very valid for this. There’s no defending her season 3 plot, like I will never, ever be forgiving them for that 😭😭😭

I’ve been trying to do more self-reflecting lately before shouting “bad writing” because of the whole “was this actually bad writing or are you just upset that what you wanted to happen didn’t happen” thing. A problem which is admittedly. Ahem. Somewhat rampant in this fandom. Butttt I’m gonna be honest I still chalk so much of Keeley in season 3 up to genuinely terribly writing. like??? Separating her for the majority of the time from all the other characters we’ve cared about for two seasons, making her inexplicably bad at her job (if it was meant to be imposter syndrome they needed to like. Actually dive into that? What.), making Shandy a(n extremely long-winded) gag character instead of someone actually meaningful to Keeley’s growth, giving her no voice in the ending with Roy and Jamie (having whatever she said to them happen offscreen sure was a choice), having Rebecca’s money swoop in and easily solve her work issues, like…WHAT was the reason??? They even ruined her sense of style like they didn’t give my girl a break my GOD 😭😭

I also totally get the flawless girl boss complaint because I fucking hate when shows do that women. Like ughhh?? But something interesting to me about Ted Lasso is that many of the things they set many things up REALLY well and compellingly and then lost their own plot in the last half, lol. I’m thinking, for example, of how they clearly knew how many people would view beard/jane, because they had their other characters recognize and call out their problems ONSCREEN! The diamond dogs have a full ass conversation about how none of them actually like or support this relationship but don’t think it’s their place to say anything, and then Higgins is like actually no I think that’s stupid and I’m going to talk to my friend about how I think this relationship is harming him! And then he does! Even beard ignoring the advice is like. Okay, that’s realistic. The setup is equal parts messy and compelling!! But then it’s never addressed or brought up again and suddenly they’re getting married?!

Similarly, I think a lot of the ~flawless girlboss~ thing going on with Keeley is a perception other characters have of her that I actually think makes sense for those characters (such as Roy and Jamie) but isn’t actually reflective of Keeley herself even in what we do get to see onscreen. And the writers weirdly seem at least somewhat cognizant of this at the same time as they give her girlboss immunity in weird places? Like, she DOES have flaws, she falls into the same patterns of bad behavior across all three seasons, the writers are actually extremely consistent in having her make the same pitfalls. Rebecca literally calls her out on her actions multiple times (in headspace, and in season 3…). This all would have been perfect setup for a season 3 plot where Keeley finally runs her problems into the ground and is forced to confront them, while the characters who put her on a pedestal realize she isn’t perfect but that they love her anyway. The threads for this are THERE but never go anywhere!!! Keeley just ignores Rebecca’s advice, continues to make the same mistakes with no accountability or reckoning and then her problems are magically solved at closure. EURGH.

This leaves viewers to fill in all kinds of gaps and make up their own backstories and reasons, which I’m more than willing to do as someone who was a huge fan of Keeley to begin, but I can totally understand why many fans don’t care to go through the trouble to fix-it. Like if you were not super invested in her to begin with of course you’re going to see her as meh after s3. Her plot was undoubtedly shit.

I only get pissed when people complain about the wrong things and/or are just being misogynistic or biphobic or both. Like, calling her bisexuality unnecessary or out of nowhere, only caring that she didn’t get back together with Roy…on the opposite side a new one I’ve been seeing is going on about how she was actually terrible for Roy and he deserves better than her?? HELLO?! I’m the first to say she wasn’t perfect in that relationship but good god neither was Roy? Calling out just Keeley is crazy crazy and also why do these people hate women.

[foxingpeculiar]

More Disco Elysium (definitely spoilers):

I have, at this point, completed one in-game day.

So, some interesting shit, both on its own and when considered in combination: 1) talking to the dead body. Did not expect that. I read this more of an abstraction—Harry (apparently) talking to himself, or whatever it is that’s in his head. 2) Only got to the title card when I opened the ledger. I honestly thought I’d died for a second and the game had restarted---we went back to that “reptilian brain/limbic system” conversation space from the opening, what happens when Harry passes out, I guess. But like, okay. What that basically confirms for me is something I already sort of suspected; the murder is, to at least some degree, incidental to whatever the actual story is here. The real story is whatever’s going on with Harry.

Which, okay, hold on. Given the sort of ambiguous ontology re: the real world that I was talking about last time, makes me wonder…This is a dream, isn’t it? Or something like that. Something not quite “real,” in the traditional sense. So the two stories are kind of one story—all the shit going on in this world re: racism/labor/disco somehow reflects the more personal story. Harry did make an explicit connection between himself and the body (or the body did, I’m not sure, but like… that’s what I mean). I dunno. I’m spitballing here, maybe they aren’t going that far with it, but this line of thinking is encouraging me to try and find parallels/connections in a way I wasn’t before, so I’m rollin’ it around in the ol’ noggin’ for the moment (you might say I have it equipped to one of my thought slots…)

(I have some more “what if, though” ideas that spin out from that, but they’re wild speculation still at this point.)

But more in-world mystery stuff.. the fuck was Call Me Mañana talking about when he said “Thank him [Cuno] for showing me the *way.*” What way? What does that mean? It’s an odd thing to say. It didn’t let me ask about that, but like…  There is a part of me that thinks maybe Cuno is just building himself up, just messing with me. But then this comes along. It reenforces the feeling that that kid has some SHIT up his sleeve. Also, what’s CMM’s deal? Why did Joyce hear about the lynching from HIM? He says he doesn’t work in a gatekeeping capacity, but like… what capacity DOES he work in?

Got into the apartments, tracking down the smoking fellow. Apparently I have to come back tomorrow? (Still on the first day.) But who is his “friend?” Also, the dead guy has stars tattooed all over him and now there’s an astrologer with a padlocked door? Hm. Also Either 1) the cleaning lady is lying about Apt 10, or… something else is happening. Something, perhaps not dissimilar from Harry speaking to voices? Or it’s squatters, I guess. Either way, not sure what to do with that information yet, but noted.

Cindy’s pretty rad. At least, based on that first interaction. Also lol @ “the subject’s evident hostility to her interviewer” in the profile of C.S. in the communist magazine, cos yeah, I can see that. So she’s not a fan of pigs or communists… and she talks about bringing a little chaos to town… hm. The more I think about that, the more I’m getting like the Spock-eyebrow about it.

Did Cuonoesse just quote Snoop Dogg at me?

Bird’s Nest Roy said something about “The Man from Hjelmdall” being “an ontological necessity.” The story has made it so that he exists. Like, I feel like he’s telling me something about the nature of this world, you know?

OH MY GOD I FINALLY MADE THE STUPID JUMP DOWN TO THE COAT. Just had to take 2 points in Savoir Faire, find new pants and a sweaty tanktop, and take off my shoes. Yeesh. Good, though. I didn’t wanna have to deal with Measurehead anymore. But, of course, by the time I got there, it was after 22:00.

So I’m talking to the Bloated Corpse of a Drunk, and ask him what Elysium is, because… I would like to know that. I’m trying to make sense of his answer. But he also says “You were just talking to yourself. That’s all you ever do. Even in your dreams. And the act is wearing thin, the spots of the disco ball fade around you.” Which like, comes back to the whole “this whole thing is a dream, or maybe a dying mind unraveling its trauma, Mulholland Drive style, or something” hypothesis. (Why did the car tell me it’s “at the bottom of the sea?”) But what does it mean that “four point six billion people—and you failed every one of them?” Is that hyperbole or…?

Annnnd I wound up my play session by accidentally agreeing to find some speed, but… I mean, who hasn’t accidentally agreed to find and ingest some powerful drugs, amirite?

[roughroadhaley]

If you're still doing the letter meme (I'm backreading and saw it): O, T, Z

O - Choose a song at random. Which ship or character does it remind you of?

hit shuffle in my likes and got Seventeen by Sharon Van Etten. That song plays during the reclaiming-the-bus scene in Sex Education with Aimee and Maeve. Two of my favorite girls and a great scene ❤️‍🩹

T - Do you have any hard and fast headcanons that you will die defending? 

Jamie has dyslexia, Keeley’s parents are divorced, Jamie and his mom reconnected post Wembley, & Jamie sends a new signed kit to Henry each update. I see people talk about Jamie as a girl dad a lot but I want him to have a son if he ever has a child because of the added angst potential (slightly evil of me oops).

Z - Just ramble about something fan-related, go go go! (Prompts optional but encouraged.)

had a hard time thinking of one you haven’t heard in discord or I haven’t already posted about lol.

So when it comes to needle drops in the show obviously Rainbow gets the most attention, as it should, and I have a lot of thoughts on the others. I think the Roy-Jamie hug in Wembley should not have had any background music. I think dead silence would have done that scene better. Otherwise there are a lot of music choices I really enjoyed in the show but there are some I would change. I think Roy having Leader Of The Landslide in 1.9 was PHENOMENAL. Him being the first domino and accepting his place on the reserves to that song. Favorite. I think Strange was a great choice in 1.7, especially since RoyKeeley wasn’t endgame. I did not like Somewhere Only We Know as a Sambecca song and think that should have been used in a found family scene, maybe even the final song instead of Father and Son. That may be a little too predictable as a final song though. I really didn’t like Father and Son and go back and forth on what I feel should have replaced it. Scott Street by Phoebe Bridgers is another I think could go there. Ends of the Earth by Lord Huron works but that was the last song in the show Community. I loved that Fat Bottom Girls became the teams song in 3.11 and I wish we got a big scene with that instead of just them all drunk getting off the bus. Harmony Hall was a great bittersweet choice for the teams new unity but Jamie’s unfortunate loan return in 1.6. Another favorite is Diamond Dogs right after Keeley confronts Rebecca. Perfection. Same with Tear it Up with Jamie’s return. I actually like almost all of Jamie’s music moments outside of Wembley.

[27emailsicantsend]

Hello I was the one saying they may be exaggerating the almost kiss I hate to be right lol but I get it watching the episode I get it would be just not right. I sort of agree with your anon about Elton confessing, from a 'drama factor' stand point. But where does that leaves us? A whole season of Gina trying to choose between both (when one of them is probably WORKING AT SCHOOL)? REALLY? that sounds awful I'm sorry is GMW all over again. Hope they don't go there

Yeah I can’t go through what I went through with GMW. I need a firm conclusion. I’ve seen a lot of rumors flying around that this might be the last season. I am not going to take a stance one way or the other right now, but if it were, it would feel like wasted space to keep the p*w storyline through s4. I said this before, but every season has a beginning, middle, and end that makes up a bigger whole to a show. So while characters and storylines remain relatively the same, a good show is going to give every season ✨some✨ firm conclusion. This is a GOOD show. There. I said it. I genuinely believe the people who see the parallels, ins and outs, and progressive storylines to the show can see how much love, time, and attention has been calculated into it. Which gives me faith that the p*w breakup was the natural conclusion to this season.

To hopefully clarify what I mean, let me explain it a different way. Ricky and Gina are the troyella of the show. Their arc from season to season literally revolves around the other. This means that each season is a different lesson or side to them we’re seeing. I’ve been rewatching The Office (something we can easily see hsmtmts draw from) and Jim and Pam are the same way. As you watch the show, their arcs and growth constantly revolve around each other.

1: Pam dates Roy, Jim pines (I don’t count this season so much though because there were drastic changes to the characters and how storylines were written that make the show basically start at S2)

2: Pam sets a wedding date while dating Roy, Jim leaves, Pam breaks up with Roy

3: Jim dates Karen while Pam pines

4: Jim and Pam date

5: Jim and Pam get engaged

6: Jim and Pam get married and have a baby

7-9: (condensed because they start to feel the same): Jim and Pam have another child, we watch Jim take on a dream job, and the ups and downs of them being married.

Rina is doing the same thing:

1: Ricky and Gina meet and become friends

2: Ricky relationship and gina pining

3: gina relationship and ricky pining

4: (hopefully) overcoming any personal anamolies that keep themselves from dating each other/finally getting together

With Jim and Pam, I really appreciate that we got a good amount of story for them through the whole show. We saw them build, get together, and their life in a relationship. I really hope we can get a season 5, so we can see rina in a relationship, full fledged for an entire season and what that might look like. It’s just to give us a better idea of how much these two characters really needed each other. With Jim and Pam, we can see their growth and how happy they truly are once they’re together because we get to experience that. I think the pay off for a slow burn ship like this is getting to see them date, not just the build up and finally seeing them kiss or decide to be together.

I feel like watching the natural progression of things in comparison to the other shows, p*w won’t have an ily. The MOST I could see them do is Elton tries to confess but gina rejects him because she’s much happier with ricky or realizes she will be happier with him. I feel like the only episode this would make sense in is episode 8, so if we don’t see it then, I don’t know that we will see it s4.

[creechurfoundincheckerboardvoid]

I only started following you because of my salad fingers phase and you had a crossover comic featuring him, but now the lore of dhmis is enticing and I have no clue where to start. Can you- can you pwease explain it to me?

-dysrix anon

ok got it!!! no problem!!!!!

(before i start rambling excessively i just gotta say that's different to hear lol, i think the majority are around for the puppets and just tolerate mr sally's presence)

OK SO. dhmis is a webseries that started in 2011 as a short film made by a couple of college kids who wanted to say something about not imposing rules on how creativity should be expressed, because art school is kinda just Like That. that video was put on youtube and went really super viral and all the Reaction Video People were a "so scawy 😥" whiny baby about it. the creators wanted to make a series but left the idea alone because it was a lot of work and also expensive (puppetry). then in 2014 they were commisioned to make 2, they did, and then tony the talking clock (emphasis on those last three words) became a tumblr sexyman and a bunch of everyone started shipping him with sketchbook (who they called paige) and humanizing them and it was just this whole thing. anyway thanks to them the creators made a kickstarter to fund the rest of the series and it actually worked out, too. so i'd like to thank the clockfuckers we would not be here without you. i hope you fucked your clock. anyway then over the next two years the last four episodes came out and they were epic and gamer and increasingly Kinda Horrifying (three still messes me up a bit but none of the others ever scared me, it's just more weird than anything. in a very good way) and the last one, six, came out june 19th 2016 (which was father's day, and it hasn't been father's day june 19th since yesterday, and it won't be again until 2033), and it was awesome. then september 13th 2018 wakey wakey (thirteen second long trailer) happened and everyone lost their shit and then sundance film festival in january 2019 where they pitched that pilot they made around (and seeing as the pilot as we know it is almost certainly a lost media now, those very low-quality cam leaks on youtube are possibly all that remains). then in july 2020 they started making the show and well you know Plague Was A Thing That Happened so it was pretty quiet for a while and then august 30th 2021 they announced they finished filming and then february 25th there was a clip continuing the pirate joke and saying they were finishing lines and then late may wakey wakey disappeared aND THEN YESTERDAY FLY HAPPENED AND

and the reason i'm finishing that particular tangent very quickly is that i am now realising you were likely asking about the lore of the story itself. and not its process of existence

well

SO NO ONE KNOWS WHAT IT'S ABOUT.

there sure are a lot of ideas out there!! and i have definitely got my own ideas which i don't really talk about ever because they're honestly a bit too rude to the media theory (which i hate - a lot - but also which a lot a lot a lot of other people really like. so it'd be mean)

ANYWAY THE BASIC SUMMARY OF THE WEBSERIES is there are three puppets and they're yellow guy and red guy and duck and they all live in a house together and every episode some object in their house comes alive and sings to them a lesson about an abstract, basic concept like yknow creativity and time. so it's sort of meant to resemble something like sesame street at first. but these sentient objects (who are usually called "teachers") are kinda Really Fucked Up and the lessons go wrong really fast and usually end in uhhhh murder. also their life is a lie and it's like puppet matrix and roy, yellow guy's dad, really does seem to be the guy pulling the strings behind it all. man it's like thirty minutes total on youtube i don't want to spoil it TOO much in case you ever decide to check it out lol. oh wait. oh wait you asked where to start

well you start there!!!!!!

ALSO there's a bunch of lost videos and that one puppet interview and a collection of little things around miss becky's instagram or mr joe's twitter that all just weaves together with the main thing to make A Web of Story and it's awesome. i'd be glad to tell you all about that too if you ask!!!! i'm very normal about all this that's why i have lists and notes and a handful of rambly word document essays about this everywhere

ok i'm done thanks for coming to autism hour with creech

[deangirlnotagirl]

Season 1 Episode 2: W*ndigo

Let’s do this.

- I love this recap remember when if you missed the first episode you just didn’t watch it until the reruns or dvs anyways those dramatic screen titles “what they witnessed sent two brothers on a quest for answers 22 years later”

- Oh there it is there’s the SUPERNATURAL noise with the title page ok it was just the pilot that didn’t have it

- Ok we’ve traveled from California to Colorado

- Love the flip phone and game boy in this cold open what a throwback

- Once again genuinely pretty creepy good job supernatural

- Oh that transition out of Sam’s dream made me jump I think my volume is a little too loud

- Aw Dean offers to let Sam drive that’s cute I love watching their relationship emerge

- I love their maps makes me miss maps

- Love watching Dean improvise and figure out who he needs to be to get the information he wants (and figure out what information he wants)

- Her brother looks like a high schooler so like once again I’m asking how old is Haley

- On this rewatch I’m really enjoying watching Sam’s arc of going from almost getting a full ride to the top school in the county to returning to hunting. The way he actually kind of loves it sometimes in a way Dean maybe doesn’t. It’s so tragic because it’s not what he would have chosen and he worked so hard to get away and all of that was taken away because he couldn’t escape his family forever. But at the same time we see from the pilot that he really has fun once he gets into it and hates that he has fun but starts to lean into it and find his niche as the show goes on.

- Ok so Dean introduced them as Sam and Dean and his fake ID says “Samuel Cole” which I looked up and don’t see an obvious origin (like a musician or something) so does that mean this is just a random name Dean picked and that he’s using Sam’s name sometimes when he hunts? Because that hurts.

- Every 23 years nice I love a recurring monster who hibernates

- Noticing that they pretty much never have to work very hard to get information bc they so clearly actually believe the person when nobody else ever has and even if maybe Sam and Dean are full of shit maybe they’re not and this is proof the person they’re interviewing is not crazy. Anyway if that’s not a metaphor idk what is

- “Corporeal”

- I forgot how angry Sam is this season (and a lot of seasons) and honestly he deserves to be angry right now

- Dean’s fragile masculinity lol but also Roy’s fragile masculinity the fragile masculinity of it all

- Ok I’m pretty sure they save the lost brother right like I hope so?

- This is a lot like the x files episode detour where they go into the woods and are hunted my an invisible humanoid but that doesn’t make it less good I loved that episode

- Once again I’m genuinely getting creeped out

- I really don’t like Roy

- Sam and Dean realizing John isn’t here and he wasn’t leaving a clue for them to find him. Realizing he put them on this case to keep them off his trail and set them up to doing his job while he goes on hunting his obsession.

- The fact that Dean sees Sam getting obsessed too and it scares him.

- “Saving people, hunting things, the family business” 😭😭😭

- Dean saying all that anger is going to kill you to Sam and he knows because he’s seen it happening to their dad ugh.

- Friendly reminder as they explain the lore that use of w*ndigos is major cultural appropriation and racist please read link on the title of this post to learn more

- How many do not enter signs can one entrance have

- They really do a good job of making this scary by not showing the scary thing good use of budget there sometimes you don’t need a giant cgi monster for good horror (no hate to giant cgi monsters I just love practical effects).

- The way that neither Sam or Dean are particularly freaked out by almost dying many times in this episode (or last episode if I recall). Sam even after taking a break from hunting presumably for most of the past four years - like that kid left home at 18 why has he had enough near death experiences at this point to be so cool headed in a crisis. Wtf John (I say over and over again throughout this show)

- Ok phew they do save the brother

- The way Dean uses the swagger to cover up everything else

- Again I just feel like this girl is too young but I guess if she’s old enough to be taking care of her younger brothers maybe she isn’t? Whatever what do we expect from supernatural

- Sam’s driving the impala!!!

- This last shot reminds me of my cousin Vinny

I’m doing this watch through as an escapism/nostalgia fueled way to remember a specific time in my life and let myself enjoy a very flawed show. So like as a monster episode this was scary and fun to watch and there was good character development and a good intro to the monster of the week episode format. And at the same time it’s a reminder of rampant casual racism to the point that it was basically thoughtless - I’m sure it just never occurred to the writers that there was anything wrong with using a being from another culture as a monster for Sam and Dean to fight and I’m sure this won’t be the last time they do this.

[cakebatteronabrickwall]

this is random and very late, but ngl i still feel like s4 was such a good roman season like right until the finale, his ending and kendall and shiv’s were unsatisfactory in different ways, as in, no one won (obviously) but roman’s conclusion in comparison feels a bit? less impactful? i felt like there had been a build up to something bigger (character-wise, not like an in-universe win) and then ? and i dont think it was just me bc throughout the release i saw this expressed a lot, by casual viewers as well

and sure one can say “he’s just not as important” and leave it at that, but i never felt that to be the case, and still dont but then jesse’s vision on the character only made it all more confusing lol

Don't worry, it's not random! But I hope, by asking me, you know you're in for a worryingly long answer.

First of all, Jesse Armstrong's vision and interpretation are his own and I don't think it matters very much in the grand scheme of things. I'm not saying this in a resentful way (really not!), but he seems to see these characters through the lense of season 1 and, I would argue, there is a very significant shift in the second half of the first season in how they are written and the path they are intended to go down. Problem is, Armstrong is the only one they kept asking after the last episode aired, and I can't fault him for a) being stuck with the original read of the characters and b) having comperatively less complex views on Shiv and Roman, because it kinda makes sense to me that he would have more to say on Ken. For example, Georgia Pritchett has talked about queerness in these character before, I don't think I've ever heard anyone else mention that. And so on. Essentially, there are other writers and actors who made the characters who they are, more so than him.

With that out of the way--yes. I do agree that season 4 gave Roman (and Shiv) so much more to do, all in all a great season for everyone not named Kendall Roy, lol. For Roman especially, I think it did what had been an ongoing theme since season 2; which is to really break him down and disassemble him as a character. I think it's really interesting to look at Roman's overarching arc in the show which, to me, is about sort of finding back to his actual personhood. He is told he isn't real (and fair enough, a lot of him is a performance act), he is told his past and memories aren't real or not important, and so on.

Season 4 is the first time the disjointment of Roman is made much clearer to even more casual viewers and I think, once you see it, you can't really unsee it. You want there to be resolution. And I understand that it might be disappointing to not fully get it, but I do think it's there. Here is the thing- If you accept "finding back to his actual personhood" as Roman's series arc (and you do not have to), then how does it conclude? At the funeral, right? We, as observers, have understood that it was never about the firm for him, but his father. His father is gone, and while he holds onto him in form of the firm, he finally comes to this breaking point of letting grief in.

Like, everyone saw him break down, there is no going back. More importantly, he doesn't really seem to want to go back. The final episode for Roman plays a little like a mixture of epilogue/prologue, if that makes sense? Epilogue: the end of an era (waystar), a shift in the sibling relationship (maybe not for long though). Prologue: someone who has genuinely begun the grieving process, finally in a position to let go, who knows what lies ahead.

The last episode isn't really an ending anyways, it's just where we leave the characters be. Do I think Shiv and Roman could have carried another season? Yeah, honestly. Shiv, because there is a lot of narrative plot possibilities (and hey, I do so want Shiv and Tom to reenact The Great), and Roman because he would have found himself in a completely new position. I'm tempted to say a sort of progress/healing moment would be inevitable in the future. But maybe that's the problem; Succession isn't the kind of show to portray that. They would have found a way, surely, but it would have been a very different direction.

[rqgnarok]

The thing about nates redemption is that I expected it to be a big focal point of this season and i was looking forward to it given how well they tackled rebecca’s and jamie’s but….ive been disappointed in the way its played out. There are things ive liked, like the way they show nate gradually becoming more self-confident and hating himself less, and how this causes him to treat other people more kindly, too. And maybe if this wasnt the last season then that would be enough. But i think the fact that nate hasn’t actually taken any strides to make amends (with ted, at least) is what’s making the whole arc feel a little incomplete. And i know it’s coming, i know he’ll obviously apologize to ted and maybe even beard. and I think the apology he gave to will was great. But it just doesn’t feel like enough. Idk for me maybe its less of a Nate specific problem and more of a ‘this season a whole has felt directionless.’ They wasted so much time on zava and shandy and didn’t spend nearly enough time actually like. Really focusing on Nate and Ted and the specific pain of that betrayal and their relationship as a whole. And I guess I also dont like how jade plays into it all either. Idk sorry for rambling on in your inbox but i guess my point is its ridiculous for people to be upset that nate is getting a redemption arc, something that was always going to happen given the kind of story this is. But I understand people’s frustrations with how the show has actually gone about it.

i do agree they wasted a lot of time in the zava/shandy storylines- zava i understand his purpose, making the team come to terms about their bond and getting to play the way they are now- shandy i do think was completely useless lol.

every time one of the main characters breaks from the group, in this case, nate, i'm always afraid that the show won't do them justice when trying to divide the time between the main characters now that they aren't in one same place or environment. most of what we've seen of nate has been pretty meh, him being an asshole and having small and rare moments of "huh, maybe i'm being an asshole" but him saying no to rupert and then suddenly quitting with no explanation did feel like going from a 0 to a 100. i would've liked seeing abetter build up to that and not waste time with shandy like we did (literally, what was the point of her at all?).

also, the roykeeley break up not being brought up until this week's episode and seeing roy getting "unstuck" from whatever was bothering him when we hardly talked about it (other than the speech he did about enjoying himself instead of leaving chelsea) didn't sit right with me. the lack of sharon also makes me a little sad tbh, i feel like she could've been of great help around ted and michelle's storyline (like, she was there but not really? and suddenly hanging up on ted like she does feels a little out of character tbh), along with colin and isaac's, sam's, roy's...... we have what, two episodes left? i hope they tie all these loose ends and have many many important conversations we haven't had yet.

i completely understand not liking how they're doing nate's redemption arc, but people who are mad he's getting one is like ???? you do know what show we're watching, right?

and don't worry about rambling! it's always nice to talk ted lasso with someone who understands!

[sungbeam]

XNONIE PRESENT (FINALLY) !!!

hi beam! college has been kicking my butt recently ☹️ idk how ppl do it but i'm dragging myself through the week right now LMAO

i don't see anything 😀 when i search up my asks 😀 so i unfortunately 😀 have a very vague 😀 idea of our last convo 😀

but i DO remember that you asked about dc!! i'm glad u asked b/c i'm actually trying to get into dc right now! i'm watching titans season 1 on hbo max, recently watched black adam, saw ww84, & saw the new batman movie a while ago! beast boy is kinda 😍💖💕💗💞 in titans HEHEHE- my favorite dc characters rn are him & starfire but i really wanna delve into the franchise more!! who are ur dc biases so far 🙏 (yes we'll be using kpop terminology for non-kpop fandoms from now on)

also i have NOT listened to 28 reasons by seulgi yet b/c of my schedule i feel like such a fake reveluv but i'm looking into that 😭 AND YES GIVE CRAVITY SOME LOVE ON PARTY ROCK <3 i'm taeyoung biased ever since i saw his tiktoks (all their tiktoks are iconic tbh they keep up w/ trends LOL)

HOW HAVE U BEEN BTW?? and are u excited for wakanda forever? i can't believe its coming so soon alreadyyyy 😟❗️

XNONIE !!! BFF !!! I'M SO SORRY FOR MY LATE REPLY I'VE JUST LACKED SO MUCH ENERGY TO EVEN REPLY TO ASKS THIS WEEK (´Д⊂ヽ but i was so excited to see u active and alive akcnekfnek idk how people do it either tbh :') like i felt that so hard when u said ur practically dragging urself thru the week like me too dude, me too 😔 LMAO SOMETHING IS UP W TUMBLR TAGS 🗿🗿🗿 as there always is tbh, but i went thru and found my latest response so i'll link it here BAHHAHA

AHHHH DC YESYES !!! i actually haven't watched the live action titans series yet :0 but i follow ryan potter on instagram so i've def seen some stuff for it !! he's so hot tho so true 😩😩😩 i kinda wish he was casted as nightwing/dick grayson cuz he would've made a really good one, but the current one i think fits as well :') ahh yes i actually am not the greatest fan of dc movies lmao just cuz their animated tv shows r just top notch and so much better imo but i did enjoy the first wonder woman and robert pattinson's the batman !! ooh my dc biases? it's prob the bat boys AHAHAHHA i'm writing an au inspired by them actually rn hehe so basically nightwing/dick grayson, red hood/jason todd, and red robin/tim drake, but i am also particularly fond of roy harper/speedy and robin/damian wayne @_@ they all make my mind go brrrr (wbu tho 👀👀)

AHHHHH WAKANDA FOREVER I HAVENT WATCHED IT YET I FEEL SO SAD ☹️☹️☹️ it's cuz college has also been kicking my ass and watching marvel movies is a thing my family does together and it's just not the same going to see it in theaters w anyone else :( so i've been holding back skcnekfn have u seen it tho :0 i'm also so very excited for quantumania !!! (ﾉ´∀｀*) IT LOOKS SO SO SO GOOD SKFNKENFKD I LOVE PAUL RUDD PLS GIVE THAT MAN AN OSCAR RN

okok i think i also was gonna bring up the fact that i wanted to write another mcu au for svt?? like ik we were talking abt the xmen au, but i was thinking abt making minghao scarlet witch and basically yn is like the one person who truly saw him and when he lost u, all hell broke loose (like in wandavision), and so it's like him recreating a life w u while his friends on the outside r trying to break him out of it before the stinky government folks do skcnwidn