#anyways thank you for coming to my shitty ted talk

[mossghosst]

we need to stop characterizing misako as a terrible mom and instead hate dr julien for deadbeat and leaving echo in that damn lighthouse

[adamsappl]

fun that adam is apparently the FIRST human soul to get into heaven btw. fun that abel and cain both died before him. fun that there has been absolutely no mention of eve since ep 1, and that adam has apparently moved on entirely from her. love the implications there.

[fakemagicjaye]

I HAVE FIVE PAGES. LEFT. TO DRAW.

[selenealwayscries]

Red (Tayngo's Version)

also my commissions are open haha

[clumsyexpression]

Headcanon: Borsalino probably has a cabinet full of Old Spice and douses himself with (1) bottle a day

[beesfixations]

LET'S TALK ABOUT THE PERCY JACKSON SHOW

FIRST!:

rick (WRITER OF THE BOOKS AND THE SHOW) said that the show was BETTER! in all aspects, and if you're mad that it's not EXACTLY like the book— then go read the damn book idk. y'all always got something to bitch and moan about but the series was amazing! the actors, the cgi, the writing— it was top notch. money well spent, EASILY. a little rushed? maybe but considering the first book wasn't that eventful it doesn't matter. plus you can't necessarily put out 40-60 min eps for a show meant for KIDS and it's only the first season 💀 not only that but you can't expect the kids on set to work for that long for hours AND months on end, there are laws about this, people!!

NEXT!:

"the actors blond, they expect me to like it?". IT?! THATS A FUCKING CHILD. and get over yourself bruh💀💀 literally WHO are you and who do you think you are to be having this much fucking audacity talking about a CHILD (walker who was like 12 at the time and he's now 15, mind you) get over it???? it's truly not that deep. y'all cry about silly little book inaccuracies like this but completely forget your ass is reading about a 12 year old who's half-god and half-mortal and hes fighting monsters, titans and gods and he has a saytr best friend while the entry way to olympus is in NEW YORK instead of Greece.

dear lord y'all need to please stop embarrassing yourselves. and YES the "they're kids!" excuse can be used! bc they were— and STILL are. you can't expect kids to be perfect all the damn time and if you got off your high horse, you'd see that they did REALLY well. especially when this was one of the most serious jobs they've EVER had. not only that, the cast is perfect. practically fell out of the book. y'all just mad Beth isn't some blonde white girl and grover has little to no growth or personality.

Furthermore!:

of course everyone is allowed to like and dislike what they want, but let's not sit here and act like your shitty grievences are not petty, annoying, stupid and racist.

Get over it— disrespectfully, anyways, in conclusion, the show is amazing— the movies were bad, if you're mad, read the fucking book and walker, leah and aryan did SO well! hope their careers flourish<3

thanks for coming to my ted talk!!!

[paigegonerogue]

With Kaitlyn Dever cast as Abby, I’m really hating how many ‘she should’ve been cast as Ellie’ or ‘they should cast her as older Ellie after the timeskip’ comments I’m seeing, especially because a lot of them are more focused on how the character looks. I’m sure she’ll do awesome as Abby, and I’m sure she’d have been good as Ellie, but c’mon! Bella Ramsey gave such a wonderful, heartfelt, haunting performance as Ellie that I genuinely believe is one of the best performances I’ve ever seen. They’ve proven that they can pull off the violence, the sadness, the humor that’s integral to Ellie’s character ten times over. Not to mention how much they’ve bonded with Pedro! Are you seriously saying that you want to replace an amazing actor with amazing chemistry with all of their costars who’s not even just nailed, but somehow even added to, the source material? Just because they don’t look like how the character does in an entirely different medium?! I’m (not) sorry, but if the thing you care about most in tlou is if you find Ellie (one of the only non-sexualized female video game characters, especially in narrative driven games like that) hot, then maybe you should seriously consider your thought process for that.

Anyway, thanks for coming to my TED Talk. We love Bella on this blog. We also love basic respect and human decency, so don’t criticize people’s appearances and say a bunch of rude, generally just pretty shitty things about people.

[its-time-to-write]

in love with an idea

This is a very, very, v e r y minor study in the way that Jamie handles his sexuality, and the fact that sometimes it seems he thinks his only value comes from being sexy and playing football. And the fact that sometimes, one night stands are crap even if they feel good. It happens. Especially if you go home with someone wishing they were someone else. Anyway, I have another fic in the works, should be posted soon. I’ve been absent because I’m writing a long one that will never ever see the light of day because it is way too self indulgent. As if this next one isn’t going to be long and self indulgent as well. Thanks to all y’all who support my writing!! Those of you who leave comments/tags have my whole entire heart, and there is no such thing as too many comments. Special shoutout to @whimsical-roasting and @qquell bc you’re probably my biggest/most vocal supporters and I love you🥺🥺 Ok that’s enough words, enjoy the fic!

in love with an idea

Jamie feels like shit which is weird, because he doesn’t usually feel this way after hookups. He can tell you don’t notice because you just plop down on the locker room bench next to him and ask, “Did ya call your mum yet?” while grinning far too brightly. 

Jamie is going to throw up. You’re smiling at him and he’s going to throw up so he gets up and rushes out of the room without a word. He pretends that he left so fast that he didn’t see your grin fade. 

He’s headed to the pitch because that’s where he’s supposed to be anyway, but all he can think about is the fact that it should have been you in his bed last night. After all, it was your name that had been on the tip of his tongue all night. It was your face he kept thinking of, and your body he was imagining. 

The girl had left satisfied, knowing exactly what she had signed up for, but he still feels like he used her. It’s not her fault that he’s in love with you but took her home, and yet it feels bad anyway. He wonders why no one ever talks about the shitty side of one-night stands. He has a vague recollection of Roy saying something to that effect one time, but other than that, he’s in completely unfamiliar territory.

He throws himself into training with more vigor than usual, purposely running himself ragged. 

Meanwhile, you’re still on the bench looking stupefied. Isaac slides next to you in the spot Jamie vacated. 

He says, “You should probably check on him,” with his usual solemn gravitas so you nod and decide to do just that.

—

You don’t have time check on Jamie until after training. Ted has you running all around Nelson Road so you just barely catch Jamie in the parking lot. 

“Hey!” you call. “You alright?”

Jamie spins around, icon hat atop damp hair. “Yeah, sure, good, yeah!” he says, and now you’re absolutely positive that something’s wrong. You raise an eyebrow. 

“That totally sounds like something a completely alright person would say, but for some reason I don’t believe you. Is something wrong with your mum? Is that why you got all weird when I asked?”

“What?” Jamie says. “Oh. No. She’s good, yeah. She’s good. I did call her. Talked for a while, which was nice. Talked about this girl I like, actually.” 

The words are barely out of his mouth when Jamie wishes he could sink into the ground. Fuck his stupid rambling. 

“Oh?” you say, eyebrow still quirked. “That’s new.”

Jamie shrugs. “Yeah, it is,” he says and then his mouth betrays him once again as he continues, “I’m actually really nervous about talking to her.”

You laugh. That is utterly ridiculous, and you tell him so. “You’re Jamie fucking Tartt, Premier League footballer. People throw themselves at you every day and you eat all that attention up. Why is she so different? Hold on, are you blushing?” 

You laugh. He totally is, but he denies it. 

“Look,” he says. “She ain’t like a lot of people. She’s fucking…smart or some shit. Not that other people aren’t!” he continues, “But she’s just… different, like. She’s one of fucking… four people who are immune to my natural sexy glow.” 

The way Jamie says the word sexy is always interesting because he never used it comedically. It’s always inserted in some serious declaration of himself, as if that and football are the only points of value he believes he has. You wrinkle your nose. “How is that possible? No one is immune. Except maybe Roy. I heard he got his anti-Tartt vaccine boosted last week. Maybe it worked a little too well,” you say worriedly. 

“I dunno,” Jamie says. “She said she’s looking for someone smart and I don’t really think I fall in that category. All brawn on me, innit?”

He quirks a smile to mask this strange discomfort he has. You’re not used to seeing him anything less than confident. 

“Well Jaim,” you say after a beat, “as someone who is also looking for someone ‘smart,’ it really isn’t about IQ. It’s like… it’s like someone who actually talks to you and has interesting things to say. And is interested in learning, not just from me but from whoever and whatever. And someone who doesn’t talk down. Because, god,” you laugh, “I’ve been on so many dates that are just exhausting because all these smart people want to flex their knowledge instead of sharing it. It’s like a fucked-up power struggle. I never feel that way with you, y’know?”

Jamie tilts his head in a cocky go on type of way. 

There he is. 

You roll your eyes. “What I mean is, you actually listen to what I say and ask questions, and aren’t rude when I don’t understand something that comes easy to you. My corner kicks are getting better, by the way,” you interject. “Sunday evening practice is paying off.” Jamie comes over every Sunday evening to kick a ball around with you on the Richmond Green.

“Of course they are,” he grins. “Learning from the best, aren’t you?” You flip his hat off his head and catch it, returning his smile. 

“Just ask her out, Jaim. I’m sure it’ll be fine. And,” you add, “bring her round! Not enough footballer girlfriends around here.”

Jamie looks at you a moment, taking in the picture of you in Nelson Road’s parking lot, his cap on you head and a smile on your face that he made. 

“Right,” he says, then turns to walk to his car. He’s at the door when he turns and walks back. 

“Forgot something,” he says to your bemused expression. You point to his hat still on your head. 

“Nope,” he shakes his head. “That ain’t it. It’s you. You’re the girl. I talked to me mum about you because I think you’re fucking great. If I’m not your type, that’s alright, but fuck it, I just really fucking like you.”

He takes a step closer. “I’m going to kiss you, so now’s your chance to walk away.”

You don’t. 

You let him flip the icon hat backwards and cup your face in his hands, far more gently than you thought him capable of as he tips your head up to his. 

His lips are soft on yours, and you’re vaguely aware of the fact that Trent Crimm is walking by you, shooting furtive looks your way but you don’t care. 

“I think you’re fucking great too,” you reply when you finally come up for air. 

Jamie grins. “Wanna go on a proper date tonight? Been thinking about where I’d take you for ages. I can pick you up in an hour thirty.”

You smile. 

That sounds great. 

[noctqrnxl]

can we just. take a moment. to appreciate enzo's instagram. everything from his posts to his captions to his song choices to his stories—they're all pErFECT.

like have you SEEN the pics he posts?? i literally love photography and he is SO TALENTED. i can only DREAM of clicking pictures like his someday.

AND DON'T EVEN GET ME STARTED ON THE POETIC SHIT HE POSTS SOMETIMES. seriously, i always look forward to reading those (well reading the shitty insta translation anyways). he neeeeeds to publish a poetry book. i'd devour it in a day!!!

anyways that's it, i just needed to appreciate how cool and aesthetic this man's account is. he knows what he's doing and he knows he's good at it. i love that. may he keep blessing us with his posts.

thank you for coming to my ted talk.

[lapelduide]

Listen y'all. I love Simon&Daphne, Kate&Anthony, Charlotte&George and Penelope&Colin. I love all of them and I can WITHOUT HUMILIATING ANY OF THEM FOR FLATTERING ANOTHER. They all are good in their own ways. You can love s1, s2 and QC -i do too- and I respect that but I have no respect for those who are bringing down upcoming s3 for praising QC. Saying it can never be as good as QC. Fr why can't it be? It surely can. Colin and Penelope are complex characters playing by wonderful actors.

You may not like Penelope and Colin but as it has been said before s1 Anthony was unlikeable too and it literally takes 2 episodes for people to fall in love with him. So why can't you love Polin too?

I sometimes wonder are we actually watching the same series with those who are saying Pen is evil and Colin is selfish.

Well the reason I felt the need to write my thoughts down was a comment I saw. A fans comment basically saying she/he and most of the fans -you are a single person talk for YOURSELF wtf- will not watch s3 if there will not be Kate and Anthony as much as s2. That Penelope has so much screen time and that's why "most of the fans" don't like her.

First of all I think toxic Kathony fans need to understand that their season was season 2. They can't have the whole series and can't be the main focus all of the upcoming seasons. GET OVER IT. IF YOU WANT TO WATCH THEM AS MAIN COUPLE GO AND REWATCH SEASON 2. If you are going to watch s3 just for them then simply don't watch.

And Penelope having so much screen time? I don't think so but even if she does, it is understandable. Because guess what?- She is Lady Whistledown! SHE IS IMPORTANT. If you are disliking a character because of this shitty reason then don't blame the character. I personally don't think there is something wrong about her screen time, in fact we are understanding Pen's pov. -I mean I hope WE are. At least I do.-

I can't understand why some people can't assimilate s3's main couple? One way or another the explanations I read was nothing more than excuses.

-Pen should have character development through season 3 and Polin season should come after that? She will have this in s3.

-There is so much to solve? Well that is one of the reasons why it will be exciting.

I am not even going to talk about the ones who are saying Penelope should BEG Colin, Eloise and Marina; the ones who are saying Colin doesn't deserve Pen, the ones who are saying Pen doesn't deserve Colin; defending Colin loves Marina, that Polin shouldn't be the endgame etc. Huh, I have seen enough.

Anyways. Nobody can change my opinion about how good s3 will be but I was furious after reading that comment. So thank y'all for reading my little verdantly TED Talk.

Since I am so nervous... here are some gifs for some relaxation. (I wish i could create gifs too...)

[royallygray]

JUST WATCHED EP3 TO THE END OF THE LIGHTNING THIEF AND OH BOY

I enjoyed that. Significantly. SOME OF MY FAVORITE THINGS (spoilers):

Hades is so fucking based? And for what? Like he's so chill he's chill in the books but Hades is cool as a cucumber

Pausing the show to rant to my friend about stuff that was inaccurate or just how cool stuff is. I love the show.

The funniest fucking thing was when Cerberus fucking broke through the clouds after Percy squeaked the ball and that was a literal jump scare and I screamed. It was fucking amazing.

I was so mad after Annabeth hugged Percy at the Arch and Grover didn't get a hug. LET MY FUCKING BOYS HUG OH MY GODS IDK IF THEY HUG IN THE BOOKS BUT GROVER LOOKED SO LONELY

Speaking of: GROVER IS THE MOST FUCKING AMAZING CHARACTER. HE GASLIT ARES. I LOVE HIM.

Speaking of, I also enjoyed Annabeth gaslighting Hermes.

I also liked screaming "LIN-MANUEL MIRANDA" when he was going up the elevator.

Also Medusa was kind of like... nice? And I got weirdly attached to her? Also where was the diner I wanted them to eat their hamburgers in the diner

grovers conflict resolution skills are. peak

the scene where he snaps at them after Medusa is dead is fucking amazing.

My friend and I were so upset that Percy and Annabeth didn't have the double stuf Oreo scene in the shitty animal trafficking truck

although when they got out of the truck and let the animals escape, I fucking adored Grover being like "the animals are safe" and Percy being like "I meant the humans" and Grover going "oh. them. well, the animals are safe!"

Fucking hated Echidna. Bitch. I enjoyed hating her. She looks like if a school counselor got sent to an insane asylum and broke out. I don't know how, but it works in my brain.

I was screaming the entire time they were at the Arch. I went summer o' 2023 and LIKE. IT WAS SO COOL. Also Thomas Jefferson? Legend. I went to Monticello and the UVA on the same trip. I fucking love architecture. Really hate that he had slaves. The architecture was really cool though. Not a good person, but he does like his fucking brick roads. Seriously. So many brick roads. He's a hypocrite politician who had slaves, he is, but also designed some pretty fucking cool architecture.

Anyways back to the Arch, I WALKED ON THAT GROUND THAT THEY WALKED ON YIPPEE :D

Also I was a little disappointed that Percy slipped off of the Arch rather than jumping but whatever

OMG THE HEPHAESTUS SCENE ANNABETH I LOVE YOU. I fucking loved that scene she fucking solved it.

Also Sally wanting Percy to be different from the gods because their family is shitty AF? sad. AND him actually being different and Annabeth believing in him? sad.

AND LUKE. SOMEHOW I LIKED LUKE AT THE END. AND MY FRIEND AND I HAD AN ENTIRE DISCUSSION.

LUKE'S REASONS WERE SO FUCKING JUSTIFIED AND IT MAKES ME SAD. Sure, he shouldn't've fucking SOLD HIS SOUL to Kronos, but gods. Luke. You were right. You are right. The gods should fucking carry their slack, and while I don't think Percy believed him at first, at least not completely, I think by Last Olympian Percy understands completely where he's coming from, because Percy has a lot of pent up emotions at the gods too and I think Luke got part of what he wanted. I think

ANYWAYS HERE ARE SOME PHOTOS I TOOK WHEN WE PAUSED THE SHOW TO TALK:

the second one of Ares (the contemplation face) is a meme. I guarantee it. I can't remember which meme, I just remember that I've seen that facial expression before.

the angles of Ares and Grover for the 1st Grover one (the weird above angle) were strange. like a detective scene. a strange detective scene. it was fucking hilarious.

Grover having his head out of the roof was such an amazing moment for me. I loved it. It's such a good picture.

also here's a meme I made

Thank you for coming to my ted talk and have a nice rotation of Earth's axis :)

[nyoomfruits]

Can someone, ANYONE, write a Lestappen and Landoscar fic where Max, as Lando’s best friend, notices right away how different Lando acts around Oscar and is immediately like “look Charles LOOK he’s in LOVE.” And Charles is like no?? Bc our poor Monegasque disaster is oblivious as always, and Max has to point out how Charles never noticed that Max was in love with him and Charles is like “yeah ok fair point but also that’s because you constantly looked like you were going to murder me.”

But anyway, Max KNOWS Lando, and he knows Lando is never usually shy around anyone, especially his teammates, and he’s never usually protective of those he cares about (usually people are protective of him). But with Oscar he is so clearly smitten and awkward bc he LIKES HIM, and Max can see all the little ways Lando goes out of his way to try to impress him.

So Charles continues to insist that Lando is merely being friendly with Oscar, until one day — maybe an Alpine team member makes a shitty comment about Oscar (let’s pretend there’s still bad blood there), and Lando goes FERAL. Or one day Logan flirts with Oscar as childhood best friends can sometimes do, and Lando’s just in the corner seething. And Charles and Max witness this and finally Charles is like yeah ok the boy is SO GONE.

And Max is like I TOLD YOU SO and proceeds to be very smug about being right. And obviously Oscar is equally smitten with Lando but Lando is just as oblivious as Charles.

Thanks for coming to my TED talk this FLEW out of me. You and that other anon had me thinking of every precious dynamic between these two and just… I’m obsessed with them. Anyway we need more Landoscar fics thanks bye.

OH MY GOD ANON I'M SO !!!! THANK YOU FOR THIS

charles being both oblivious to max's feelings towards him and also to lando having the BIGGEST MOST MASSIVE CRUSH EVER on oscar is. very in character actually. it's giving 'charles not realizing alex changed his hair even though is was PLATINUM BLOND before'.

also!!!!!!! the lando being super protective yes!!!!!! this is literally the reason i have 'smithereens' by twenty one pilots in my landoscar playlist like these boys are so soft for each other but they will FIGHT anyone that threatens the other lmao (for you, i know, i would get messed up, weigh 153. LISTEN. LISTEN TO ME)

also oscar just quietly pining in the background while all this is going on what a mood. dude has no idea what's going on he's just in love with lando and that's okay. like. lando realizes he's in love with oscar and has a three day panic about it where he calls max at like four in the morning yelling "WAIT SHIT DO YOU THINK HE KNOWS" meanwhile oscar realizes he's in love with lando and he's like. "oh. yeah. makes sense" and just goes on with his day. doesn't really expect anything to come of it. god these two i'm SO-

also also max and charles just coming up with these increasingly elaborate plans to just get lando and oscar to TALK because if they just TALK AOBUT THEIR FEELINGS everything will be FINE but they underestimate lando's absolute RELUCTANCE to talk about his feelings ever and oscar just being like "yeah this is a thing i'm dealing with but i'm not bothering lando with it are you kidding me???"

eventually max and charles just give up and that's when oscar and lando FINALLY have A Moment lmao

OH ALSO!!!! regarding your wish for more landoscar fics: i am actually posting one tonight!!!!

[eff-plays]

from what i understand, if you're playing as astarion, he very much remembers the kidnappings, and has narration describing his memories of the event when he meets gandrel. and also, if you talk to gandrel peacefully without astarion in the party, gandrel mentions the missing children, and then... you still have no option to really ask astarion about it. it is a very "the writers were all white and didn't think this through" type of moment, imo.

he also gets super sad about sebastian when you find him, but his response to the imprisoned gur children is to make a shitty joke like "well, at least i just jumped them in an alley and kidnapped them!! i wasn't luring them with candy or anything :)" which comes off to me like he is quite deeply racist.

i think in early access astarion had a more overtly racist tone to his character, in that his whole thing was that he was human trafficking gur people to cazador as a severely corrupt magistrate, the gur beat him to death as revenge, and then cazador turned him. which is interesting, but i am glad they didn't go with that for final release... having the discourse of "excuse me, that is my poor meow meow's emotional support racism, he did that because he was sad 🥺" would have killed me irl. particularly with the way that the gur are clearly paralleled with romani people, and astarion is notably the palest elf with the poshest accent...

anyway i don't mean to harsh your fic writing vibes or anything! it's just my unsolicited ted talk. i do like astarion, but i feel like people skim over this aspect of his writing because it's very un-sexy and not charming at all, just banally evil.

Yeah I agree, even if the writing is good for the most part, it's deeply inconsistent in others. It really is a question of "Did you overlook this? Or did you decide not to look into it at all because it would say something about your fave that you didn't want to be said?"

In terms of Avatar Astarion vs Companion Astarion, I think they're also slightly different characters just because of the player being a new factor introduced in the story. Like, Player!Astarion could happily rescue the grove and the Nightsong and be a hero and that'd be canonically what Player!Astarion does, while Companion!Astarion would hate that shit.

So Companion!Astarion being aware of the Gur kids would make him deeply unlikable, so it makes sense that he doesn't, so the player doesn't despise his ass instantly. Him suspecting Gandrel was sent by Cazador also gives the player a decent enough reason to agree to killing Gandrel. However, Player!Astarion needs to have this background information in order to make a more informed decision and understand the character they're playing as. Having the context of who Gandrel is and why he's actually there helps the player decide their next course of action, be it sparing Gandrel because he's a good guy, or killing him to protect themselves.

Obviously this might just be a major cope on my part, but that's how I see it, at least. Honestly, I do wish Larian left kids alone in general. It seems they include them mostly for shock value and to raise the stakes for the player. Like they thought maybe too many players would willingly sacrifice 7000 adults for Astarion, so better put some kids in there to make sure they know it's the bad choice. How does it tie back to Astarion? Um. He kidnapped them. And they also specifically belong to a group of people he's racist against. Because that means ... Something?

Cool. Thanks.

[sapphirebluebird]

Y'know.. after some growth.. on my rewatch of BCS I have decided that Chuck is not a villain, he is the mentally ill precursor to the beaten down shell of a person that Jimmy turns Howard into.

I have decided that Jimmy is more of a villain than I originally perceived him as, (lot's of his sabotage behind Chuck go in hand with this thought as well) though that doesn't make me love his character any less. If anything, my love for these characters, especially the ones who I found obnoxious (mostly Chuck and Howard), grew exponentially. There's a lot of stuff I've missed on rewatch but I have certainly noticed how many more shitty things Jimmy and Kim did to Howard just to get the sandpiper case sacked while humiliating Howard. Howard has them completely clocked man, just like Chuck had Jimmy clocked! Honestly my rewatch of s6 e7 has me rooting for Howard and the end result of Lalo's execution has to be a symbol of Jimmy and Kim's relentlessness towards Howard. A symbol of the consequences of their need to play people. Howard wouldn't leave because he was too caught up in his rage at them, his honest to god understandable rage, and everybody paid the price for it. Howard's monologue was so good though. What's interesting to me is that maybe Howard does deserve a bit of guff in his life, what with the silver spoon. But his monologue is endearing to me, along with his homages to Chuck from previous scenes, and truly the growth of Howard's character is tremendous following Chuck's death. Like idk man. A lot of the things that Howard says end up being very sweet overall. Although, when Howard calls Jimmy and Kim "soulless" (SUPER funny to me btw) it is interesting to me that Lalo meets Howard after he comes out and says that. Like no, you haven't met soulless. (i believe that Jimmy isn't necessarily evil, but he is a maligned character for sure.) That being said, they did so well with building the suspense of Lalo's character and revealing just how low he will go to achieve his goals. The axe scene?? Him stalking Werner's wife?? HIM IN THE SEWERS WITH A PAIR OF BINOCULARS?? Like we all knew he was batshit but damn. When Kim went to go see him while he was being held in jail, and he compared Jimmy to la cucaracha, that was projection. He literally died in the papers but he didn't die actually. Oh also, he's crawling across the globe now in hiding and literally nobody has found him. Speaking of nobody has found him, Nacho's story was so heartbreaking truly he didn't need to be in the game.. guy was too sweet. I <3 u Nacho. When he hid in that oil tank or whatever the hell that cylinder was that shit was so smart but so nastay. Anyways I'm done talking now thank you for coming to my ted talk

[justagalwhowrites]

It’s interesting how people see things so differently. Like with Tommy, to me their wedge isn’t because Joel wanted control to protect Tommy. To me it was because Tommy had a bit of a hero complex and thought joining the fireflies would make him feel like the hero again. (He was a soldier which can say a lot, also the reason he was in jail that night was bc he punched a guy to help a waitress and it also wasn’t his first time in jail either. Joel had to bail him out multiple times.)

Tommy did hate what they had to do to survive and they did have a big fight but he left because he wanted more than “just” survival and Marlene made the fireflies look good, like the good guys. so he joined them. But then he just ended up killing people with the fireflies and once he realised that he left again lol

Seeing as Joel had to bail Tommy out multiple times, it definitely gives you the feeling that Joel had to take care of Tommy a lot. Plus Tommy works for/with him so he took care of him in that way too. Obviously nobody knows because nothing was ever shown but i can imagine Joel did shitty things to make sure his little brother is okay, just like he did for Ellie. Joel does anything for the people he cares about.

Obviously having that thrown in his face and Tommy running off to join a terrorist group is gonna cause a wedge between them.

And then Tommy dropping off the face of the earth, not contacting him again and Joel later finding out he’s been safe and perfectly fine in Jackson? Yeah that’s a slap to the face. There’s definitely ways Tommy could’ve let Joel know that he’s safe and in Jackson but he just didn’t. And then obviously bad talking Joel to Maria while Tommy himself has done terrible things? Tommy didn’t want Joel to be in his life anymore and definitely not in Jackson.

Anyway this is my long Tommy is actually an asshole rant lmao

Also, with Tess. I honestly don’t think Joel wanted to love her. In the game the only indication was that they had some tiny flirty dialogue and that’s it. I know everyone now takes the show as canon but in the game, tess doesn’t even say that “I never asked you to feel like that” or whatever. They survived together, they trusted each other, they were partners and friends. It doesn’t always have to mean or be more than that. obviously the show tried to do some dramatic romance and feelings shit but it just wasn’t there lol

Plus we know Joel didn’t really date much before the world ended either, he was a single dad for Sarahs entire life and heavily focused on work and his daughter. Clearly romance wasn’t a huge part of his life, so why would it be after the end of the world and losing his entire family?

Thanks for coming to my ted talk about unpopular the last of us opinions lmao

Hi Bestie!

I love this interpretation! It's actually not really off from what I think of Tommy, too, actually! I just think his hero complex really clashes with Joel's drive to protect him. I don't think Joel CONSCIOUSLY wants to control Tommy, I just think he feels safest when he has control and/or has a good lock on someone's motivations. Tommy wanting to play hero puts him at risk and I imagine Joel pushed back on that really, really hard quite a bit. But yeah, Tommy just fucking off to Wyoming made me so mad lol (which is part of the reason for the Tommy arc in Lavender) But I think can also be at least partially explained by Tommy and Joel clashing more and more as years went by in the QZ, with Tommy getting more and more pissed off by FEDRA and wanting to lean into his hero instincts and Joel not able to shake the fear of his brother getting himself killed.

I will say, my Joels are definitely a lot more based on show Joel than game Joel! I have watched game playthroughs (I am... very bad at video games lol) but HBO Joel is definitely my man. Though yeah, his relationship with Tess in the game was definitely more ambiguously flirty than an unambiguously romantic relationship of any kind. But I don't think his lack of a romantic life immediately pre-outbreak is a fair indication of what he wants in general. Single fatherhood and working a ton of hours means you're going to limit your social life. He was clearly interested in romantic - or at least sexual - attachment at one time because Sarah exists.

That being said, I certainly don't think he'd show up to the QZ and be like "priority one: find a girlfriend." But I do think it's reasonable that he'd stumble into it eventually, either through a smuggling contact he got closer to than he intended or just a woman he was sleeping with because hey, sex!, that became something more.

This has been so fun! I hope this has shed some light on how I write Joel because I've thought a lot about this stuff over the last year. I love hearing your thoughts, thank you so much for sharing!!

Love you!

[rath-writes]

i’m gonna post a small theory i have for s4 regarding the time jump to keep me somewhat sane. i did not like it. not one bit.

for starters, i’m sure we’re all bummed that jiara wasn’t very present in the finale. i know i am. like a lot. we see them talking at the ceremony a bit, but that’s all we see. and sitting next to each other, yeah, all the couples were sitting next to each other. cool. the thing about this time jump, like, we missed all if not most of jiara’s first as being “established.” i think that’s urking most of us right now. but, i am trying my hardest to look at the positives:

jiara CANON

nine great episodes building up to canon

the kiss. amazing. it was perfect for them. ignoring the shitty lighting and the screaming girls

anyways, what i’m thinking is that episode nine was the jiara “conclusion” or finale. then episode ten was more of a gold/jarahb/cleope finale. it sure as hell seemed like it, anyway. now saying this does not mean that i think jiara is concluded, or have broken up during the time jump.

now that we have a confirmed season four and a plot for season four, i’m hoping that the three couples are happy with no drama. but it’s the outer banks, they need drama. so i’m not holding onto that with high expectations. as far as jiara goes, i believe that during the time jump, they have continued as just being as they are, with no labels. best friends in love. maybe that’s why they aren’t as open in the ceremony. and in season four, maybe their main story is exploring jj’s trauma, causing tension, working through it together, and figuring out what being together means. this is my best case scenario. and it’s the only theory keeping me off the ledge from that stupid finale ending. i’m open to other theories as well. i like the one where maybe jiara are “hiding” their relationship in front of everyone, mostly her parents, since we don’t know anything about the aftermath of them coming back, and i can’t imagine it was good. it’s all good, as long as our endgame stays endgame. thank you for coming to my ted talk.

(gif creds to @lydiaas)