#bittersweet plots

[egophiliac]

Silver is finally here...he just took the title for the most beautiful card in TWST's history...

me five years ago: wow I really hope we get to see dragon Malleus someday! that'll be so nice and wonderful. I bet he's a big silly! :)

twst: :)

GOD. it occurred to me literally three hours before the anniversary stream that they might've been saving the reveal for then to just explode us all at once. this timing was EXTREMELY deliberate. thank you Twst. I can't even focus on all the Blazing Jewel stuff because Silver wielding the physical manifestation of his Complicated Dad Issues is busy eating my entire brain. and -- oh what's that? he duos with Lilia? I'M RUINED THANK YOU ᕕ( ᐕ )ᕗ

this is your warning that I'm going to be the most annoying person on the planet come Monday morning, thank you everybody and goodniiiiiiight

[juniper-clan]

Moon 14: Birth of Venus

(AKA the twins!)

PREVIOUS l NEXT

[alarwynnwhispers]

✒️ ᴡʜᴇʀᴇ ᴛʜᴇ ꜱɪʟᴇɴᴄᴇ ᴛᴏᴏᴋ ʜᴇʀ - ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ 2: ᴀ Qᴜɪᴇᴛ ᴘᴏᴡᴇʀ ✒️

(ꜰ1 x ʀᴇᴀᴅᴇʀ | ʟᴀɴᴅᴏ ɴᴏʀʀɪꜱ ᴀᴜ | ᴀɴɢꜱᴛ + ᴅʀᴀᴍᴀ + ʀᴇᴅᴇᴍᴘᴛɪᴏɴ)

⚠️ ᴄᴏɴᴛᴇɴᴛ ᴡᴀʀɴɪɴɢꜱ:

ᴇᴍᴏᴛɪᴏɴᴀʟ ᴄᴏɴꜰʟɪᴄᴛ ᴀɴᴅ ꜱᴜʙᴛʟᴇ ᴛᴇɴꜱɪᴏɴ ɪɴ ʀᴏᴍᴀɴᴛɪᴄ ʀᴇʟᴀᴛɪᴏɴꜱʜɪᴘꜱ

ᴍᴇɴᴛɪᴏɴꜱ ᴏꜰ ᴘᴀꜱᴛ ɪɴꜰɪᴅᴇʟɪᴛʏ (ɴᴏɴ-ᴇxᴘʟɪᴄɪᴛ)

ᴅᴇᴘɪᴄᴛɪᴏɴ ᴏꜰ ᴅᴏᴍᴇꜱᴛɪᴄ ʟɪꜰᴇ ᴡɪᴛʜ ᴇᴍᴏᴛɪᴏɴᴀʟ ᴜɴᴅᴇʀᴄᴜʀʀᴇɴᴛꜱ

ᴛʜᴇᴍᴇꜱ ᴏꜰ ꜱᴇᴄʀᴇᴄʏ, ᴇᴍᴏᴛɪᴏɴᴀʟ ᴄᴏᴍᴘᴀʀᴛᴍᴇɴᴛᴀʟɪᴢᴀᴛɪᴏɴ, ᴀɴᴅ ɪᴅᴇɴᴛɪᴛʏ ᴍᴀꜱᴋɪɴɢ

ʀᴇꜰᴇʀᴇɴᴄᴇꜱ ᴛᴏ ᴅᴜᴀʟ ʟɪᴠᴇꜱ ᴀɴᴅ ʜɪᴅᴅᴇɴ ᴛʀᴜᴛʜꜱ

ʟɪɢʜᴛ ᴀᴅᴜʟᴛ ʟᴀɴɢᴜᴀɢᴇ ᴀɴᴅ ꜱᴜɢɢᴇꜱᴛɪᴠᴇ ʜᴜᴍᴏʀ

ꜱʟᴏᴡ-ʙᴜʀɴ ᴇᴍᴏᴛɪᴏɴᴀʟ ᴜɴʀᴀᴠᴇʟɪɴɢ

The sunlight spilled lazily through gauzy curtains, casting golden streaks across the hardwood floor of their Monaco apartment. Outside, the gentle hum of the city stirred, a muffled rhythm of engines, bicycle bells, and espresso machines firing to life. But inside, everything was slow. Peaceful. Familiar.

The kettle whistled just as the toaster clicked, a perfect morning symphony timed to muscle memory. (Y/n) moved through the kitchen like choreography, barefoot and serene, her silk robe tied neatly around her waist. Her fingers were delicate but swift, one hand stirring Lando’s coffee, the other flipping open his planner to slide a small note between the pages: You’ve got this today. I love you—Y.

She placed his favorite travel mug beside his protein shake, both within reach on the marble counter. His keys were already aligned next to them, his watch freshly polished, the strap adjusted. The quiet ritual of taking care of him had become a kind of love language, one he never asked for, yet she gave freely.

She heard footsteps behind her, soft and dragging with sleep. A moment later, Lando appeared, shirtless, a pair of black joggers riding low on his hips. His hair was tousled in every direction, and his eyes still held the weight of sleep. Despite herself, she smiled.

“You’re up earlier than I expected,” he murmured, voice gravelly as he wrapped his arms around her from behind.

“I always wake up before you,” she said, teasing gently, her head tilting to the side as he pressed a kiss just below her ear. “Someone has to make sure you don’t leave without breakfast.”

“I wouldn’t forget.” He lied with a tired grin.

She looked over her shoulder with a playful glare. “You forgot three days ago.”

“Okay, but that was one time.”

“It was three.”

Lando chuckled, releasing her to reach for the protein shake first. He took a long sip, his jaw working lazily. “You’re too good to me.”

“Someone has to be,” she said, only half-joking, turning to place his team jacket on the back of the chair. “You’ll freeze in that paddock if you don’t take this.”

“You sound like a mum,” he teased.

“Then stop acting like a boy,” she returned smoothly.

He raised an eyebrow, amused, then glanced at his planner and saw the note. He didn’t comment, only tucked it deeper between the pages with a tight-lipped nod. If she noticed how his expression shifted for half a second, how the guilt crept back into his posture, she said nothing.

He excused himself and took a bath not long after, silence trailing in his wake like a second skin.

When he returned, hair damp and sleeves rolled up, she reached for a bowl of fresh berries and slid it in front of him. “Have you decided yet?”

“Decided?”

“About the next Grand Prix. If you want me to come.”

Lando blinked. “Oh. Right.”

She watched him, her fingers folding into one another gently.

“I mean, it’s in Zandvoort,” he said finally. “You know how chaotic the Netherlands gets. I thought maybe you’d prefer staying here, less travel, less media stress.”

A soft pause lingered.

“Is that what you prefer?” she asked carefully.

He looked up at her, caught off guard. “It’s not about me. I just want you comfortable.”

(Y/n) smiled, but it didn’t quite reach her eyes. “I’m always comfortable around you.”

A beat of silence stretched too long between them.

Lando stood then, brushing the crumbs from his fingers and grabbing his keys. “We’ll talk about it more later, yeah? I’ve got that strategy briefing this morning.”

She nodded. “Of course. You’ll be late if you don’t leave soon.”

He leaned in to kiss her cheek, his lips lingering half a second longer than usual. “Thanks for everything.”

“Go win,” she said, brushing a wrinkle from his sleeve.

And then he was gone, the door clicking shut behind him with the same gentle finality he always left with. She stood in the quiet for a long moment, fingers tightening around her coffee cup. Something in her chest shifted, but she swallowed it back.

After all, she had her own work to do.

By the time the apartment had emptied of Lando’s presence, (Y/n) had already shed her soft robe and replaced it with an outfit sharp enough to cut: tailored black trousers, a beige blouse with pearl buttons, and pointed heels that echoed against the marble floors as she walked. Her face was soft, barely touched with makeup, but her eyes burned with focus as she opened the sleek laptop at the corner of their study.

Her fingers hovered over the keys briefly, then began to move with precision.

The login screen blinked open, followed by a clean interface covered in drafts, editorial schedules, encrypted correspondence, and publishing contracts. Her pen name stared back at her from the top of the dashboard:

Verity Blackthorne.

A ghost to the public. A storm to the literary world.

Her books were bestsellers across Europe, translated in 19 languages, with three adapted for the screen. She was one of The Times’ highest-grossing contributors, her editorials devoured and dissected in political panels and book clubs alike. No one knew the face behind the name. And she preferred it that way.

The pseudonym had started as a game. Then it became an armor. Now, it was freedom.

She clicked open a message from her publisher, another offer for a televised interview, this time with an international literary festival in Florence.

She declined.

Verity Blackthorne did not do press.

(Y/n) began typing her next article, an exploration of the ethics of performance culture in high-risk professions, subtly inspired by watching the paddock from the sidelines for years. Every paragraph was tight, evocative, layered. When she wrote, she bled truth, but she always made it beautiful.

Time passed. She barely noticed.

It wasn’t until her phone buzzed that she blinked out of her trance.

Lily: Heard a rumor the mysterious wife of Monaco’s Golden Boy is finally free today. Coffee? Girl date? Spill secrets?

A soft chuckle escaped her lips.

(Y/n): Only if you promise not to ask me about Lando’s skincare routine again.

Lily: No promises. Picking you up in 20.

The café Lily chose was tucked into a side street just off Boulevard des Moulins, a small, sun-dappled spot with ivy crawling up the windows and lemon slices floating in every glass of water. The kind of place that smelled like vanilla and espresso, with antique chairs that invited long conversations and unfiltered laughter.

(Y/n) arrived first, sunglasses low on her nose, a book tucked beneath her arm that no one knew she wrote.

Lily swept in like a breeze, oversized sunglasses, flowy trousers, and an aura of confidence most people spent their whole lives faking. She spotted (Y/n) immediately and beamed.

“You look gorgeous, you evil introvert,” Lily said, pulling her into a tight hug.

“And you look like you walked out of a Vogue spread.”

“That’s because I did,” Lily deadpanned. “Oscar made me pose for some sponsor shoot this morning. Said I looked too pretty to waste on Zoom calls.”

They both laughed as they slid into the booth.

“Now,” Lily said, resting her chin on her hand. “Tell me everything.”

“There’s nothing to tell.”

Lily raised an eyebrow. “Please. I see you two in the paddock all the time. Still disgustingly cute. What’s your secret? Lavender oil? Blood sacrifices?”

(Y/n) smiled gently, stirring her coffee. “Routine. Trust. And good coffee.”

“And sex, surely.”

She nearly choked on her cappuccino.

“Kidding,” Lily said, grinning. “Sort of.”

(Y/n) shook her head with a laugh. “You’re insane.”

“Guilty. So, what have you been up to? Any writing lately?”

(Y/n)’s fingers twitched around her spoon. “A little. Nothing serious.”

Lily tilted her head, smile knowing. “Verity Blackthorne doesn’t write ‘nothing serious.’”

(Y/n) looked down, the edges of her mouth barely lifting. “She hasn’t been around much lately.”

“And when she is?”

“She keeps quiet. These days, she only writes when it hurts too much not to.”

“Liar. You always say that and then publish something that makes every woman in Europe cry.”

She tilted her head, amused. “You read them?”

“Of course I do. She makes me believe in words again.”

(Y/n)’s heart fluttered, but she kept her expression still. “She’s… special.”

“She’s a genius,” Lily said, waving a hand. “And I still think you two would be best friends if you ever met.”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” she said, smiling into her cup.

They spent the rest of the afternoon hopping between boutiques and laughing like they were seventeen again. It felt good to exist outside of the apartment, outside of the role of The Supportive Wife. To be seen as a person, not an accessory to someone else’s glory.

And yet, even with the warmth, even with the joy, something tugged at her ribs. A small ache, barely noticeable. Like a thread pulled just slightly out of place.

She didn’t know that just a few days ago, another woman had clawed at her husband’s back while he lost himself in someone who would never know the weight of his truth.

But that truth was coming.

And it would unravel everything.

To be continued...🧡

✒️ ᴡʜᴇʀᴇ ᴛʜᴇ ꜱɪʟᴇɴᴄᴇ ᴛᴏᴏᴋ ʜᴇʀ - ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ 3: ᴛʜᴇ ꜱʜᴀᴛᴛᴇʀɪɴɢ ✒️

📝Note from the Author: It’s my 14th day back on Tumblr—two full weeks of chaos, catharsis, and caffeine. It keeps getting better and better... nah, I’m just joking. I’m still the same author, my dear Alarwynnites—still spilling heartbreak and honey one chapter at a time.

This one’s soft in a different way. Not the kind of softness that soothes, but the kind that creeps in during quiet mornings—through sunlit kitchens, familiar footsteps, and a love wrapped in routine. The kind of softness that feels like safety until it starts to feel like silence. I hope you feel it too.

With love, me 🧡 (your author, still crying tbh 😭)

[jesncin]

it's absolutely my southeast asian bias but for all the fantastic artsy covers Hellblazer had over the years, this one is my favorite:

[Hellblazer 2019-2020, issue #8]

fish,,,shrimp,,,white man,,, nature's 3 undersea creatures

[sandwichsapphic]

the letterboxd top fours of select jeeves and wooster characters

these are just my choices for laughs!!

bertie:

Clue (1985), Charade (1963), The Birdcage (1996), and My Man Godfrey (1936)

jeeves:

Portrait of a Lady on Fire (2019), La Belle et La Bête (1946), Roman Holiday (1953), and The Lion in Winter (1968)

dahlia:

The Death of Stalin (2017), Knives Out (2019), Adam’s Rib (1949), and His Girl Friday (1940)

bingo little:

The Ex-Mrs Bradford (1938), Ocean’s Eleven (2001), Pretty Woman (1990), and National Velvet (1944)

stiffy byng:

Paper Moon (1973), Gone Girl (2014), Pearl (2022), and How To Steal a Million (1966)

madeline bassett:

La La Land (2016), Enchanted (2007), Howl’s Moving Castle (2004), and Sabrina (1954)

[fujii-draws]

Thinking about a future arc pipeline with these two.

[sosadraws]

So, I was trying to visualize how many signalis ocs I've created and

...well, that's a lot... 😅

The characters in bold are the most developed and the arrows mean that the character leaves the social circle/group they're in.

It's a shame that Sasha and Luchs are from different planets (and potentially different timelines as well), they wold have been besties...

[pollyna]

5 times Mav chooses the sky because that's his home and he's free up there + 5 times he chooses the ground and he doesn't regret it.

[sskybooks]

#120 What will your characters do if they have to choose which of their loved ones to save ?

Prompt by: @sheild-4615

I know you all have amazing creative juices in you and some amazing characters. This prompt is just for you to have fun and to help you explore your Character in a different setting. I would LOVE to hear what your Characters would do.

Have at it as you will!

(Also some of you ask how to submit prompts, you can just drop them in my ask box. )

[wacky-nameless-inventor-24]

I'm realizing that I do this thing where I introduce an AU or a story and I just. don't explain most of it because I want to write it and then I never write it so no one knows like. what's going on.

Anyway! ummmm witch au plot anyone-

1690s-ish salem witch trials knockoff! Story starts off with a sheltered Huey getting lost in the woods looking for blackberries, where he gets caught in a storm after dark. He's only recently moved to this little middle-of-nowhere village that is quite isolated, so he really doesn't know his way around. While lost in the storm he finds a cottage out in the woods miles from the town, and, needing shelter, he goes inside. There he finds Gyro and Fenton, who are living out there on their own for some reason. They let him stay the night to keep him out of the bad weather, and are planning on walking him back in the morning. It's early spring and still rather cold out at night. However! When he wakes up in the morning he discovers they are witches, something he's been taught to fear and hate since he was young. He's heard of these two- they used to live in the town before they were forced out for. being witches. He tries to escape, but they make him promise not to tell anyone about them before they let him leave. Once he agrees, Fenton walks him back to the path.

Back home, Huey tells his family he took refuge under a bush before finding his way back that morning. He doesn't tell anyone about the witches- mostly out of fear of what they'll possibly do to him if he does- and as the weeks go on he slowly becomes less afraid of the thought of them and more fascinated. One day he finds himself trying to find their cottage again, wanting to learn more. Fenton and especially Gyro don't much like the idea of this kid who keeps coming out to visit them, he'll possibly give away their existence to the townspeople who want them dead. Still, Fenton at least is nice to him, and they start off a strange relationship of allowing Huey to come out and see them every now and then over the summer. Huey gets to know them better, and learns that they're not really anything to be scared of.

Over the summer and at the beginning of fall, strange things start happening around the village. Animals go missing, and the ones they find aren't... in great shape. Fences are destroyed, clothing lines burned, and pretty soon people start to go missing as well. The villagers immediately blame the witches they weren't able to kill years ago, and are really on the lookout for them. Huey, however, knows these witches, and knows its not them doing it. He relays all of this to them, and the three of them start working together to figure out what is going on and what sort of evil spirit is doing all of this. As time goes on and the fall starts Huey learns more about them, discovering that they were never a threat to the town and that the townspeople forced them out without provocation, and during that process they lost their kid, Boyd. This revelation helps Huey get closer to Gyro in particular, who never really liked talking with him. Huey learns that Boyd would've been about his age.

Somehow, sometime in October, Gyro and Fenton are discovered by the townspeople (someone possibly followed Huey when he went to go visit them) and are captured and sentenced to death. Yet, even though they're in the village's prison, the disappearances/attacks keep getting worse, and Huey, Fenton, and Gyro realize that it's because Halloween is getting closer. They know this evil spirit will likely stage some final attack then, and that's also the day that Gyro and Fenton are meant to be hanged. I don't have the ending much figured out but! they have some big giant fight against this monster, where it's revealed to be some sort of spirit that the mayor summoned to help control the villagers with fear. However as time went on it slowly started to overtake him, and soon it's fully possessed him and they have to take it down. With the help of the spirits in the cemetery where Boyd is buried they're able to defeat the spirit and the mayor (who was behind making the villagers fear and force out Gyro and Fenton as well), right before dawn on Halloween. As all of the spirits that helped them settle Gyro and Fenton are able to see Boyd one last time.

In the end Gyro and Fenton still live out in their cottage, but are allowed to exist out there and can visit the town regularly without fear. Huey kinda helps everyone get used to them, and they get a new better mayor <3333 also thinking of it being revealed that Della was a witch as well that Gyro and Fenton knew, and that part of the reason Donald moved them to this town was to leave their family's reputation for that behind. The boys didn't know any of this, and they could maybe be reunited at the end as a final happy ending or it could be used as a way to lead into a bigger story and adventure idk!!

[skania]

OnK Chapter 149

I know it doesn’t mean much coming from me because I’m always complaining about Aka’s writing, but…

And I mean it when I say that I expect nothing 😭 This was literally my first ever OnK-related reblog and its tags are more relevant than ever lmao

These, too:

#honestly I didn’t think too hard about any of this during my first read #because the romantic endgame seems so obvious that it kind of discourages guessing lmao #but re-reading these chapters has made me appreciate Aqua’s side of his bond with Akane a lot more

Back when I first got into OnK, I mentioned that Akane was the entire reason I kept reading the manga. I didn’t care about the romantic subplot, found Aqua/Kana extremely obvious and predictable, and Aqua plain boring.

It’s only during my second read that I paid close attention to Akane’s interactions with Aqua and I ended up playing myself into both, caring about Aqua and shipping him with Akane lol

This chapter has made me realize that despite everything, I'm not emotionally invested in whether they end up together or not. I’d prefer it, obviously, because Aqua truly is at his most interesting whenever he’s around Akane, and their dynamic has the best development in the manga (so far).

But it’s just like I said before: If they don’t end up together, that’s just Aka’s loss, not mine. I’m just here for Akane 😂

And as an Akane fan, I feel like the best thing for me to do right now is to just take a step back and watch things unfold, because Aka will do whatever he wants regardless of how any of us interpret his manga lol

So instead of posting the long post I originally wrote about this chapter when the leaks came out, I'll just share a a clown gif because in hindsight it was silly of me to expect Kana out of all people to have any sort of meaningful insight into Aqua 🤡

And a couple of things that caught my eye because I can't help myself:

Kana didn't even see Aqua and Akane have any sort of meaningful moment, just those two standing in each other's vicinity was enough to make her throw herself a pity party. How many more times is she going to pity herself and give up? How has Aka not tired of writing her this way? Where did her development from the Scandal arc go? 🤡

So Chapter 147 featured Kamiki thinking Ai doesn't love him and Kana thinking Aqua likes her. It even had a helpful "Cut 139: Misunderstanding" panel and everything. Will this mean something? Who knows!

Kana used guilt-trip! It was super effective!

Oh the irony! Poor Akane looks like she's been hard at work convincing herself that she's over Aqua. And you know what? I cheer for her and respect her energy 100%. I'd rather see her doing her mightiest to help him without any ulterior motives than to have her crying for him and hoping to get back with him every other chapter lol

Akane calling Kana out for her pity-party and for being cowardly was so cathartic that if I didn't already stan her, I'd have become a fan right now 😭 It also means that Aka is 100% aware of the way he writes Kana, so when will she finally be allowed to grow?

Kana's praise to Akane made me so sad though because yes, Akane is pretty and she's talented and she's kind. That's sweet of her to say. But that's not what made Akane someone special to Aqua: it was the way she understood him. The worst part is that Kana ends her praise by saying that Akane is a "goody-two-shoes" but... that's the opposite of how Akane views herself. She sees herself as someone who's not decent and not normal. So it's no wonder that while she gets flustered (it's her dear kana-chan praising her), she seems to get a bit sad/frustrated afterward. After all, for Akane it's probably the opposite. Men would prefer a decent, normal, bright girl like Kana - Aqua included.

I wish someone would tell Akane that she is too ignorant of her own charms and that she doesn't have to act like an adult all the time. Truly the pot calling the kettle black! Sadly, unlike Kana, Akane seems to have no one in her corner in this manga. Aqua was the only one there and the poor guy is barely even a character anymore lol

Overprotective mother or controlling ex-girlfriend? Take your pick!

The English translation left something pretty important out in these panels. Akane doesn't just say "if you have a girlfriend", she says "if you have a precious/important girlfriend". This distinction is very important because it goes to show that... as expected, Akane doesn't think she was an important girlfriend to Aqua. It's like she didn't count and Kana would be the real deal. Oh, Akane...

Which takes me to her very silly, very convoluted yet very predictable plan (in true Aka fashion).

When Akane thinks “I know exactly what you hate”, I imagine she means that Aqua hates hurting and endangering those he cares for. So I'm guessing Akane thinks that if she plays matchmaker and quite literally throws Kana at him, someone he has a soft spot, then Aqua won't be able to go through with his revenge because that would mean breaking Kana's very fragile heart.

In other words, it looks like Akane is going to try and use Aqua's guilt-complex against him and her weapon of choice is love. But not her love, obviously, because as far as she's concerned, her romantic love already failed to save him.

Granted, using Kana's romantic feelings to her advantage is kind of... well, wrong. To quote Akane herself, [Kana] is neither her pet nor her property, but a person. But I'm guessing that Akane may be falling victim to the same loophole she got caught in in Chapters 96 - 98. She thinks she knows what's best, so she's putting her own beliefs aside for the time being.

Kind of like Aqua, actually.

And, ironically, it's Aqua himself who first realized how easy Kana is to use.

So! All in all, I'm here for Mastermind!Akane but I hope that Aka will actually make it worth our while. Will Kana realize that she's about to be used as a chess piece in this Proxy War? Who knows, characters in this manga seem to walk in circles, only being allowed to grow when it fits the plot 😂

Last week we wondered whether Aka would subvert expectations or go the predictable route, and down the predictable route he went. His way of making it less predictable is by including a twist in the form of Akane's ulterior motives, but will this be enough to allow this ol' used trope to lead us someplace new? I guess we'll have to keep reading to find out, but given the quality of the writing lately, I'm not expecting much lol

[retroautomaton]

crazy casual

(comic previews! 💎💼)

[3416]

@nhleurope: Tiny mic…BIG questions! | 12.26.23

[miraculouslbcnreactions]

Hello. I've been binge reading your meta post an I loves all of it. I have one question, though I don't know if you had the same question or not. If you had I'm sorry feel free to ignore this but if you hadn't, this is my question. Many people said Adrien as sentimonster is a good plot and the other said it's also good metaphor for abuse children. But what do you think about the senti plot? Is it necessary? And what do you think the writer is trying to achieve with the plot if Adrien doesn't even allowed to know about what he is?

Thank you! I'm glad that you've been enjoying my rambles! I don't think I've touched on those aspects of the sentiplot, so here goes!

Is it Necessary/What's The Goal?

I don't think that the sentiplot is even remotely necessary. My two cents is that it reads like something that was added relatively last-minute in order to add some cheap drama to draw the plot out because they didn't have enough content to organically fill seven seasons. Part of the reason that I'm comfortable saying that is because we've seen the writers do this type of move many times before. I don't wanna get too into the weeds on this, but a good example is the love triangles with Luka and Kagami.

Luka and Kagami are never treated as real alternate love interests. They're just road blocks on the love square highway that allow for seasons three to end on a cliff hanger. The fact that season four opens on two episodes meant to reassure the audience that Lukanette and Adrigami are doomed to fail is proof of this. No one is actually supposed to ship those ships. There's no Team Luka vs Team Adrien. It's just cheap drama.

The other reason that I feel comfortable calling the sentiplot cheap shoehorned drama is because the sentiplot has no teeth. A big reason why I refused to believe that it was going to be a thing was because it's an extremely serious plot that has no place in a Y-7 show. The wielder of raw destruction can have his free will overwritten at any time! The show has made jewelry theft a common teenage past time! This is bad!

And yet, once it's introduced, it goes nowhere. Gabe gives the most lackluster commands humanly possible and Nathalie undoes every one of them before they have a chance to meaningfully impact the plot. The biggest fallout of the sentiplot was that the Adrienette kiss got delayed a bit. How terrifying.

If the sentiplot had the weight it deserved, then it would have destroyed Adrientte in a big, dramatic fashion. Gabriel would have commanded Adrien to date Kagami and Tomoe would have done the same for Kagami re Adrien. But that's too serious, so we don't even get Gabe telling Adrien to break up with Marinette. He just tells Adrien to not see her and Marinette never has any clue that something went wrong there because Nathalie undoes the command two minutes later.

The Sentiplot's and Emilie

You may have read the previous section and thought, "But wait, doesn't the sentiplot give an explanation for why Emilie used the peacock? Didn't we need that?"

No, we didn't. Felix's little play and Gabe's memory of the night they used the peacock both heavily imply that no one knew that the peacock would kill you. It's why Felix exists! His father did not willingly give his life to have a kid and neither did Emilie. It was an unknown side effect.

Imo, it would have actually been better if Emilie hadn't used the peacock for such obviously selfish reasons. I mean, is anyone really saying, "Oh no, the rich lady used forbidden magic (and possibly killed some people?) to get a designer baby, then faced unexpected consequences! How awful for her! She didn't deserve that!"

Wouldn't it have been a far more interesting and complex story if Emilie used the peacock because she wanted to help someone else? If she was an unambiguously good person who suffered for doing the right thing or even just a morally gray thing? Wouldn't that make Gabriel's quest feel more righteous and less like a temper tantrum by a rich, entitled white guy who used his wealth in a morally dubious manner and paid for it?

The Sentiplot as an Abuse Metephor

I don't think that the writers meant for the sentiplot to be an abuse metaphor. In fact, I sincerely hope they didn't because it's a terrible one! Or, at least, a depressing one.

Abuse - especially childhood abuse - is something that sticks with us. A lot of victims will be forever scared by what they went through. But just because they bare scares doesn't mean that they're trapped by their abuse and can never break free. This is true even if the abuse caused mental health issues like PTSD or CPTSD, conditions that can never be cured because you know what they can be? Controlled and mitigated to the point where the victim is no longer ruled by their condition.

There's also the fact that abuse victims - especially child abuse victims - can and often do reach a point where their abusers no longer have any power over them. I have personally seen a child abuse victim go thought the process of realizing that their parent is just another adult now. All the power that the parent once held is gone. The child doesn't depend on them for food and shelter anymore. If the abuse starts up again, then the child can just get up and walk away.

That's not true for a sentimonster. Sentimonsters don't grow up and get more agency/power. At any point, their abuser can get ahold of their amok and override their free will, taking away the sentimonster's freedom even if the sentimonster is on another continent! There is no means of true escape.

No abuse victim will ever be that powerless. Abuse victims can escape abuse and they do have true free will. Sentimonsters will always be sentimonsters.

Is the Sentiplot Good?

No. It's too serious for a kids show. In fact, now that it's canon, here's my two cents: all of the sentikids are massive liabilities to the team who need to give up their miraculouses immediately because they can never be truly trusted. Felix has shown us time and time again how easy it is to steal an amok and replace it with a fake, so we must always assume that the sentikids are compromised because to assume otherwise is to invite the miraculouses to fall into the wrong hands. It's just not worth the risk to trust a senti.

Along the same lines, the love square should never be canon unless Marinette gives up Guardianship because Adrien is a liability to the safety of the miraculouses even if he didn't wield on himself. The only way to get around this issue is to use the wish to make the sentikids human, but Gabe failed to even do that one kindness for his son, so here we are. Season six will either drive this point home by having Lila use the amoks to mess with Adrien or it will drop the sentiplot forever, proving just how cheap and poorly thought out it was.

Other issues I think I've already addressed in other posts, but that are still a problem that make the plot bad:

a sentimonster's creator defines the sentimonster's worth, thus there being no issue with Felix making sentimonsters and then killing them or the heroes destroying them, but it would somehow be wrong if we did the same thing to any of the sentikids

any command you give a sentimonster can be overwritten and sentimonsters can't resist even if they know they're being controlled, so there's truly no hope to free them

giving your leading lady anxiety issues and a boyfriend whose free will is constantly in jeopardy is cruel and unusual punishment

an insane number of lore issues like why is it impossible to destroy other sentimonsters, but Adrien can be destroyed in akuma fights? Cataclysms are pure destruction! It makes no sense that akumas can do what a cataclysm can't. And is Adrien able to die a natural death? What happens to his amok when he does? Will his children be able to be controlled by his amok too since they're part of him?

the lore around Gabe & Emilie finding the miraculous makes no sense and should not be possible. That's another rant, though.

[thrwne]

So not the point but I’m obsessed with how small Mathias’s hoodie was on Erik. The sleeves didn’t even reach his hands 😭 oh I love me some height difference

Whaaat I thought the exact opposite! Erik was drowning in that hoodie and especially in those jeans

[aplatypusshapedkite]

Actively shaking the Octopod like a child discovering a snow globe