#and we are extremely petty

[dreadfuldevotee]

I'd like to discuss the elephant in the room. Why did we get zero Loumand sex scenes? We got hints and implications, but season 1 was pretty explicit. Do we think that that's a creative choice or something else is happening?

I'm glad I ended up ruminating on this for about a week because episode 7 & 8 really solidified my opinion on it.

I do wanna start by saying that it's very clear to me that there was supposed to be more explicit scenes between them. There has been some thoughts tossed around that censorship happened with the 9 pm timeslot (as opposed to the 10 pm timeslot of S1). I believed this hearing Assad and Jacob talk about the BDSM dynamic between Louis and Armand, but what really sold me on this was Production Designer Mara LePere-Schloop talking about the bedroom set and more specifically about their beautifully carved custom headboard. (If you're a production nerd like me or just want to know more about the design philosophy of IWTV I recommend giving the entire thing a listen!).

I think there are several reasons I think as to why they decided to leave any more explicit scenes on the cutting room floor but above them all is: you cannot separate Armand's sexuality from his abuse. I am really against pulling a "well if you read the books" card but reading just the first couple chapters of "The Vampire Armand" makes me understand so much about not only Armand as a character, but the care being taken to his adaptation. It's clear to me that alongside Rolin & Co.'s commitment to not watering him down to a one-dimensional villain they are also trying to not fall into Anne Rice's tendency to romanticize his trauma.

Sex and sexuality is not the same pillar of Louis and Armand's relationship it was in Louis and Lestat's and so I don't believe their story suffers from the lack of on-screen sex. But I also firmly believe that maybe we don't need to be slutting out the character who we literally just watched talk about how he doesn't remember his life before being sex trafficked. And even when he was "freed" he was still being repeatedly assaulted at the hands of, and under the eye Marius de Romanus. Like it is extremely important to remember that Armand's craving for dominion in his relationships is a manifestation of trauma that deserves the same level of care and depth given to every other trauma portrayed in this show.

I think people have gotten too comfortable calling IWTV a romance when it has always been Gothic Horror. Romance and sex are pivotal to the story but I have found the demands for sex scenes this season a bit absurd and also? unfounded? Loustat share more kisses on screen but there are two sex scenes and both are very plot relevant. I truly figured we were all in agreement that the eroticism of this show is found in the various displays of power, and the dynamics it creates and not the actual clapping of ass-cheeks...which also wasn't happening in S1 either. S2 does not suffer because of the lack of sex-scenes, but the likelihood if it suffering trying to make one work is

[phoenixcatch7]

Reading loz/lu fics and it's just so interesting how wide the spectrum is of their personalities.

Sometimes it's got an in universe reason (different past (usually gender or species change), recent or ongoing traumatic events, a spectacularly bad first meeting), but sometimes (often) the characters are just... Weirdly angsty or peppy, there's no in between!

And I'm beginning to think less people have played more than one game than I thought XD.

Not that it's anyone's fault! One game is more than enough to be part of it all, and loz is exclusive to Nintendo consoles - and all the older stuff is frustratingly hard to get hold of. Heck, I'm still looking for wind waker, and that was really popular! And then you have to play it! They're not small games!!

But could people writing wild please ease off just a tiiiiiny bit so he can be a semi functional member of society pretty please XD? He's just as much a polite boy as any other member of the chain! He won't even run in shops! He can't attack npcs! He talks to every single person he's ever seen and remembers every single name. Yes, he's three quarters woodland creature with a hefty amount of trauma but he's also a fashionista who managed to avoid accidentally taking sides in a mayoral election and that's not easy!

[classicslesbianopinions]

[image description: a tag that reads, "like i'm sorry how do you lose [caps] that bad [end caps] to a lego at first that you gotta be toxic about it .. like no offense but [caps] srsly [end caps] ..." end image description.]

fellas is it toxic to get a lot of people to vote on a poll in a tumblr event where you win by getting a lot of people to vote on a poll

[butchysterics]

people are so quick to laugh at other people for taking extremely loaded and upsetting representation in media ~too seriously~, but also conflate the words of some of the most powerless marginalized people with censorship by the FUCKING US GOVERNMENT. it’s so disingenuous it’s so silencing it’s so fucking shitty

it also very much feels like the cultural moment we’re in right now, where bringing up issues rooted in deep irl power structures is automatically written off as oversensitive and reactionary. it’s just media, until it’s an example from real life—then it’s just not that serious, or it’s childish to draw those connections, or it’s censorship to bring it up in the first place. allusions to irl violence are chump change but irl violence is always an isolated incident. and no one cares that this attitude magically seems to exclusively benefit the extremely conservative worldview that holds power

like lmfao no i don’t think it’s your right or anyone’s right to cover your eyes to obviously shitty offensive media writing laden with cultural baggage…. so that you can ~just enjoy it~! does this say nothing about you when you jump to silence the critiques of folks who noticed the harmful shit that went over your head? hot take… media is actually made and consumed by human beings who live in a society

[steviespanties]

#alpha billy fucking omega steve during his heat in the Harrington residence while his parents are away#thinking about getting stevie knocked up and the expression on his shitty dad's face when he realizes who got his son pregnant

excellent

Look, he knows it's going to happen one day anyways. He knows Steve has been hanging off his knot every chance he gets and making googly eyes at Billy every time he teases him about knocking him up. Steve will happily moan as Billy knots him and pumps him full of come. And sure, Steve's parents can give Billy the stink eye every time he picks Steve up, gritting their teeth over someone as lowly as Billy sweeping their precious omega son off his feet, but they're just posturing. They wouldn't leave Billy with all these opportunities to take and take, to make Steve reek of him and claim him over and over again. For Steve to come to Billy and invite him into his bed and home that smells more of Steve than his own parents.

They already have to watch as Steve becomes more radiant with happiness every day. Because despite how much they dislike Steve's choice in alpha and how much Steve's dad loves to look at him like he's a piece of trash, they do care in their own way and want to see Steve happy. It's just that just as much as Billy can't wait to see Steve knocked up? He also can't wait to see the realization settle in Mr. Harrington's face that it's Billy's child Steve will be carrying.

That Billy will be a better dad than him. And that he's not gonna keep it at one kid. Oh no. He and Steve have plans.

[un-pearable]

why are 99% of crochet animal patterns just vague blobs. cmon. i know we can do better as a community. have you seen the shit the national parks service put out? yeah, the NPS. there are grandmas on the frontlines of the most formally accurate critters this side of a 3D printer. we can do better than orb with two triangles sewn on. we can make a more accurate cat. that is NOT what a turtle looks like. step AWAY from the axolotl

[unopenablebox]

have enraged my brother by revealing that this is in fact my natural hair color

[nohkalikai]

i truly can't articulate just how much strong, supportive friendships have changed me from being a very un-chill, suspicious, angry, scared, mistrustful person to someone who is secure, calm, trustful, and very willing to take risks. i want to be that sort of presence in other people's lives too. and the best part about having healthy friendships is that i know that i am a good presence in my friends' lives.

[justablanketreally]

vat of acid episode is one of the most perfectest episodes as a whole but i think my favorite part on this rewatch was rick and morty just being silently stuck in the acid for two minutes. like they animated such good characterization there. rick showing again that he can think extremely quickly but still makes mistakes and winces when he does, rick and morty fumbling over the rat until rick’s about to shoot it and morty pulls it out of rick’s hands and gives it his oxygen instead. it’s so good!! put those two in more situations where they have to silently communicate and improvise and fight!!

[huntershowl]

what the actual fuck y'all

[astro-b-o-y-d]

"There should be a season three of Gravity Falls-"

[leviachansbaka]

I know this is super toxic but if it turns out we can't go back to the original timeline because *someone* planned this, I'm gonna make them fall even more in love with my mc and then kill mc in the most tragic way possible just to destroy their heart and traumatize them deeply.

[altoskh]

Imso tired man. I'm so tired. Why do I work this hard I am so FUCKING over this shit

[lethimsoak]

january 1st, 2024 @ rose bowl in california

alabama’s LB dallas turner gives michigan’s QB jj mccarthy a mini concussion during this trick play but alabama ends up losing to michigan (and unfollows jj on instagram)

april 25th, 2024 @ nfl draft in detroit

they get drafted to the minnesota vikings in the first round together

enemies to friends 💯

[shadythetortie]

Coworkers 'dont steal the one thing I took a 5 week course for and was super excited to do but havent had a single opportunity because you keep taking all of the patients' challenge

[thesmokinpossum]

my ex best friend always openly admired my capacity to move on from a show the minute it got shitty or otherwise annoying and looking back it should have been foreshadowing LMAO