#but that doesn't make for very interesting meta...

[fairestbeard]

Sydney's scrunchie

What's this whole deal about Syd and the scrunchie and where it appears or doesn't appear? What was the purpose of it's appearance and disappearance? Is it just a piece of clothing or does it have some symbolism attached to it? What game is being played here? What magic trick? And why Syd?

I'm looking at this, as usual, with the theory that Carmy's mind in part at least influences the visuals of the storytelling, including and particularly the way some of the characters present. (Link to Carmy dressing meta). Why did the scrunchie have an era? Was it just a time marker or does it mean something more?

The scrunchie makes it's first appearance in "Braciole". Before that, Syd either wore her hair loose in a scarf or tied it up with her own braids. "Braciole" was also the episode where we really see that Carmy had a sentimental and emotional attachment to Syd and that they were more than just co-workers who got along. It was the episode with this;

And this;

The scrunchie was made such a part of Sydney in season 2, it's almost a character of its own. You could not not notice them on her- The colors, the patterns, the way she wore them was really beautiful and interesting.

There's also a little disappearing act magic with the scrunchie in "Bolognese" where a second different scrunchie appears on her wrist (so she's wearing two scrunchies at the same time) in her first interaction with Carmy that disappears for the rest of the episode.

This scene is very deliberate because they made sure she rolled her sleeves down so you didn't notice the second one too easily.

So why did the scrunchie era come to an abrupt stop? Well, Carmy giveth and Carmy taketh away.

The scrunchie makes its last appearance in "Tomorrow" in Carmy's flashback of friends and family, which means technically it makes an exit in "The Bear" episode. She also technically reverts to the old method of wearing her hair in "Next" which is coincidentally where the cracks in her relationship with Carmy start to show and their emotional withdrawal from each other starts to happen. This episode that starts the save it for later era of the show- the stuckness. We never see the scrunchie again. Well, until "Apologies".

In apologies the scrunchie suddenly makes an appearance in the most unusual of places– Carmy's dresser. And the way the scene is shot is so interesting. He discovers Michael's prayer card in his suit pocket (which seems to have magically appeared as well, because he didn't attend the funeral) after studying the card he stares at a spot on his dresser for a while before placing the prayer card down. The camera pans to where he lays the card- next to a strange scrunchie. The shot also mirrors a shot from a scene of Syd's in next. Interesting that they made this exact visual callback.

The first time we see a strange hair accessory at Carmy's is in "Tomorrow"– a hair claw. Because he was just in a relationship it is very easily assumed that it belonged to his girlfriend, Claire. Except we never saw Claire wearing a hair claw– not in his moments with her, not in the flashbacks. We do, however, see Nat wear a hair claw through seasons 2 and 3. Nat also wears her hair mostly loose in S1 and in flashbacks.

Why Carmy is holding on to a claw and a scrunchie will remain a mystery for the time being but we can infer from the way the story is playing out that these objects hold some meaning to him the story. Apart from the literal logistics of how they got there and why, what is the symbolism? Nat also keeps wearing her claws in S3 unlike Syd. Maybe because Nat is a constant in his life? Because the nature of their relationship can never change. Nat also makes an appearance with the scrunchie in the trailer but she's in bed with Pete and their baby and the romantic implication of that scene is as clear as day.

So, in "Apologies", we see the scrunchie again. This is the episode were Carmy contemplates trying to make things right. He tries to repair his friendship and get closer to Syd by inviting her to the ever funeral but he gets stuck trying to have an honest talk with her. He also contemplates apologizing to Claire but is unable to.

So, scrunchie on his dresser must be pointing to the person he is thinking about and feels a really intimate and sentimental, therefore it must belong to Claire, his girlfriend right?

Wrong!

Claire has never been seen with a scrunchie. The scrunchie material looks in the exact style Syd would wear them. The show has made a point of making the scrunchie Sydney's thing and also Syd has been to Carmy's apartment a few times, so it must belong to Syd, right?

Well, Wrong!

Because, again , that's too easy. So, we have this:

This is from tomorrow a scene in Claire's nightstand. Notice what's beside the alarm clock? Looks like a floral pattern very similar to the scrunchie. But it doesn't look like a scrunchie. It looks like a handkerchief or something else. So what does this mean? What window is this supposed to open? Who really has the scrunchie? Is it Sydney's or it it still Carmy doing the transference thing? If Syd was wearing the scrunchie by the power of his mind, does it mean Sydney was but is no longer the object of his affection? Or is he saving it for later?

But the real question is why, of course. Why is it constantly looking like Carmy is torn between the both of them? Why are they (Storer and team) trying so hard to link and conflate these two women in Carmy's mind as much as possible if there's no romantic connotation to sydcarmy? Even if what's on the dresser isn't a scrunchie, great care was made to make it look like one. So it's a deliberate effort to keep us, at least, thinking of Sydcarmy. This isn't an accident. It's a carefully crafted plan. They want us to wait for it and watch for it for better or worse. Any other explanation is an absolute lie.

PS : I want to hear your theories. Mine is that the scrunchie is Sydney's and whatever doppelganger thing is on Claire's nightstand belongs to her cuddle mate, Kelly.

[aliarien]

YES, "Ma Vida Loca" is about Ivan: (a really bad amateur lyric analysis):

translation by @ WhataFruit on twt

"I feel so pathetic

Whenever I stand in front of you"

This can be interpreted as Till feeling pathetic around Mizi, because she doesn't return his feelings and he isn't confident enough to interact with her. This could also be interpreted as Till feeling pathetic around Ivan, who, intentionally or not, repeatedly pushes his buttons in ways that make him feel incredibly insecure.

These lines, along with many others, can be interpreted as being about either Ivan or Mizi without any stretch of the imagination. As someone who started reading the lyrics with the preconceived notion that it was going to be about Ivan, I immediately thought that the first lines were an obvious confirmation of this. On the flipside, I've seen lots of people who were worried and/or convinced that this would be another "love song" for Mizi having the opposite reaction. I think that this was a very intentional effect that comes from the vagueness of most of the lyrics. Lots of people have strong feelings, one way or the other, but I am of the opinion that most of these lines, including this one, seem to be about both as opposed to one or the other.

"Scenario: CRUSH"

This line is also a double entendre; with crush being left ambiguous to whether it means that he feels "crushed" or is "crushing" on someone. Once again, he could be talking about Mizi or Ivan, depending on your interpretation, but on a meta level he is (most likely) talking about both of them.

"I can't say a word, I turn back around every day"

This is where he starts getting more specific and overt with the references to his relationship with Ivan. On the surface, it seems like he's expressing his frustration about being unable to work up the courage to approach Mizi, but this line is also referring to his lack of communication with Ivan.

Interestingly, this line also calls back to the meteor shower scene, when Till was unable to say anything to Ivan before literally turning around, to run back to Anakt and Mizi; away from the unknown of the outside world and Ivan.

"(No) My stimulating love explodes

(Rock) Open up your ears, please understand me"

These lines are, once again, pretty vague, and could relate to either of his "love interests". Outside of the habitual proclamations of love included in all Till songs (what a loser/pos), his pleading to be understood and heard seems more likely directed towards Ivan, due to their crippling communication issues and Ivan's inability to accept any of Till's affection as genuine.

Of course, it seems like it could refer to a multitude of things, including his feelings for Mizi, but I doubt that. It doesn't make sense that he'd be asking Mizi to understand his love for her in the first place, because during the 'True Face' comic we get confirmation that she already knows that he has a crush on her. During "Unknown (Till the End)" he tells Mizi that he finally wants to make an effort to understand and form a more intimate and genuine connection with her, so what new information would he be trying to express to her with these lines? That he has a crush on her? That he wants to communicate with her? She already knows both of those things.

Furthermore, if he was trying to confess his feeling again, what would he be trying to accomplish? It's been established that he doesn't want to actually pursue a relationship with her, and he's aware of her feelings towards Sua. Even when he did confess to her, it was only because Mizi approached him first and asked him about it. He made no effort to convince her of the validity of his feelings, to abandon Sua, go out with him, let him prove himself to her, or anything else of that sort, because that's never been his intention.

Additionally, the way that it's phrased implies that he's been being misunderstood in a context outside of this song. To "open up your ears", confirms that the ears in question have been closed before. This wouldn't make sense if he was talking about Mizi, because he hasn't been making any (remotely successful) effort to communicate or be understood by her, apart from "Unknown (Till the End)". He wouldn't ask her to stop ignoring his efforts, because there was nothing to ignore in the first place.

The word "explode" also makes me think of the meteor shower scene, since meteor showers are caused by meteors that enter a high-pressure atmosphere and explode.

"Do you love me?

I do

Don't you leave me

I'll probably get it across to you for sure

Close the distance between us

To be inside your heart..."

The phrasing here is weird, but, when Till says "I do", he's expressing his love for whoever he's singing to, not himself. This line is unmistakably about Ivan, because, once again, if he were singing to Mizi, there would be no reason to tell and ask these things. Mizi already knows that he "loves" her, and Till already knows that she doesn't return the sentiment. They've interacted as little as it is possible to interact with someone that you're living with, and she's hopelessly in love with a woman (which is something that she's told Till in the same breath that she REJECTED him in) (not that he didn't already know). To ask her if she "loved" him would be a level of delusional that not even Till has reached.

The lines afterwards seem to be nothing more than additional pleading to properly communicate with Ivan and to be understood by him. They don't really say anything new, but they confirm my thoughts about some of the earlier lines, by doubling down on the lack-of-prior-communication aspect of it all.

He's also clearly trying to convince himself that this pleading is going to successfully get through to Ivan, even though he's doubtful (note the wavering "probably" followed by the confident "for sure").

He continues to make more confident assertions in the following lines. He knows that, if he follows through and communicates his feelings, it will close the distance between them, so that he can "be inside of his/her heart". These lines are ambiguous again, and, at first, seem to lead towards Mizi, who doesn't have Till "in her heart" and is distant from Till, but, from Till's perspective, these things are true for Ivan too.

The line, "to be inside your heart", is also an obvious parallel to Ivan's more sinister "my wish to live in you like parasite".

"Do you love me?

I do

Don't you hate me?

I get scared again like an idiot

Widen the distance between us

Mi Vida Loca..."

The doubtfulness that he expressed in the last line is expanded upon in these lines. He replaces the more confident lines that he had previously used to answer the repeated, "Do you love me? I do", with a more pessimistic "Don't you hate me?". This is yet another line that wouldn't make sense with Mizi, a girl that has never openly expressed any negativity towards Till. Ivan on the other hand, has done all kinds of things that Till has, understandably, misinterpreted as proof of some kind of negative sentiment against him.

Till finishes the chorus off with a resigned admission of his lack of development and follow-through. Even though he repeatedly swears he'll communicate with Ivan instead of shying away from confrontation, he can't help but fall back into old patterns. He knows that this will widen the distance between them but still doesn't have the courage to do anything about it.

I don't know anything about Spanish, so I'm not sure whether or not the title has any of the double meanings that I've heard some users claim it has. Using its direct definition, I think that Till is calling his life crazy, because of the instability between what he wants to do and what he actually ends up doing.

"(Ooh!) They say this is a beautiful song

and they open their arms wide for me

But more than the countless spotlights I want you

My light is born from you"

This verse sheds light on the frustration that he experiences over the way the general public receives his music. Till writes music that has real meaning, even if just to himself, but the aliens don't care about the message he's trying to get across. They buy his records and give him attention, but he doesn't write or preform for profit, so their praise means nothing to him. On the flipside, the people that he's actually writing to (Ivan and Mizi), don't seem to listen or understand to what he's so desperately trying to get across. There's, once again, a gap between the intent and effect of his actions; a gap that makes his life "crazy".

The last line is a call back to when Till says "The edelweiss of my feelings that blossomed because of you" in "Unknown (Till the End)", as well as the numerous times during "Paratise" when Ivan uses light and darkness as a metaphor for their relationship. Ivan refers to himself as shadow and acknowledges that shadow cannot exist without light (light represents Mizi in this case). This means that the line, "My light is born from you", might be referring to the juxtaposition of his feelings for Ivan and his feelings for Mizi (how they balance each other out), since that would fit with the metaphor in Paratise. If that's true, then it would confirm the theory that Till projects the best parts of Ivan onto Mizi. In another interpretation, the metaphorical light could symbolize himself. This would mean that the light born inside of him was either created from Mizi's light that was reflected onto him, or Ivan's darkness that exists in contrast to light and functionally allows light to exist.

The "countless spotlights" that Till mentions, might also represent the glowing meteors that were falling from the sky while he was running away with Ivan. Meteor showers are stunning events that would normally capture your attention, but, as he was running with Ivan, he seemed too wrapped up in the moment that they were having together to care.

"(Oh) Your smile that doesn't love me

(Even so) I'll also smile at me who doesn't love myself"

If we're going down the Mizi route, Till is talking about how Mizi's smiles are never inspired by him and certainly not by any kind of love for him. The most genuine of her smiles (that he's observed) were born from her love for Sua, but that doesn't make a difference to him. Till isn't possessive or jealous over Mizi, and so when he sees her smile, even though it isn't caused by him, it inspires him to smile as well. Since Till self admittedly doesn't love himself, this imitation of Mizi, someone that brings him so much solace, is probably something that he does to comfort himself.

If we're going down the Ivan route, Till is talking about the fake smile that Ivan has been trained to put on. Till has been shown to subconsciously notice and dislike Ivan's facade, even though he probably isn't aware of what it really is. Till has seen Ivan's true, unhinged smile during the fights they had in their earlier years at Anakt, and I'm sure that he can tell the difference between Ivan's unbridled expressions of passion towards Till and his restrained and secretive calculations. In this case, Ivan's smiles being empty of love represents the bigger picture of Ivan not communicating honestly with Till; something that Till has been complaining about throughout the entire song. The last line represents how Till is mirroring this lack of communication, by feeding into and trying to ignore the clear issues in their relationship, even though he wants to make a change. It's also important to note that Till clarifies that it's Ivan's smile that doesn't love him, while Till doesn't love himself; point blank.

Even though I separated this into two separate routes, I still believe that these lines are all double entendres, meant to draw parallels between Till's feelings for Mizi and his feelings for Ivan. This song is, at its core, about the contradictions and complications between Till's inside and outer worlds, that confuse him and leave him unable to do anything.

I know I speak in absolutes a lot throughout this, but I understand that in most cases this is just my personal interpretation. I wrote this on and off from 12:00 to 4:00 a.m in retaliation against the fandom's general response (to the lyrics specifically). I might talk more about the other stuff, like the cover art and the instrumental, but I'm tired rn... I'm definitely gonna do a similar thing with UTTE, cuz the general consensus about that song pmo too! It's funny how misunderstood Till is, even though his whole thing is that he's an open book. Feel free to criticize or disagree with this, I like to argue (sometimes). Please, correct me if you notice any errors or inconsistencies.

[returntosunder]

HELLO!!! Morally Blue person here - back again with a lil update :D

So far, the document is now looking more like this LMAO (this is the culmination of the prelude and the first arc (out of ... several)).

SO we're moving!!! To answer some of your previous questions tho!

Yeah, Blot is Ink's corrupted form! Technically, he exists for about 10 minutes before Ink becomes "Ink" again ... but it doesn't really go away. You can't just unbecome a glitch, so it's kind of a looming threat (and the trigger for it is very meta because I LOVE metatextual writing). The idea is that Ink is a vessel for the Creators - for us! He is a soulless, emotionless being that we can puppeteer to make our own ideas a reality because he has to be empty to create; people that are capable of feeling that can also create don't tend to turn out well (i mean, just look at XGaster). As such, Ink is made that way but he doesn't know it. He's not allowed to know about the Creators, he's not allowed to know that what he creates is (for the most part) just our will, and all of this stuff comes at the cost of his memory (which is why his memory is so terrible in Morally Blue)! But when Blot comes around, he's now capable of creating his own ideas from nothing, and he doesn't have to listen to the Creators anymore. Not just that, but he's allowed to learn of and comprehend our existance. That's all well and good... except that if it kept going, eventually he'd deviate from a path that keeps the Multiverse running and everything would crash and burn (not to mention he's absolutely insane (and very rightfully mad now that he knows what he is) and as such, very very dangerous).

NIGHTMARE!!! He's such an interesting character imo and I hate him (/only mildly affectionate). I read one of your interps of Nightmare was that cold, calculating, manipulative kind of guy and that is absolutely this kind of Nightmare. He doesn't know anything other than misery or hate (in that he was literally born from it), and he makes others miserable and hate in kind. HOWEVER, we over at Morally Blue HQ (/silly) also subscribe to the idea that Nightmare (the one that hates) and NIGHT (the boy that bit the apple) are two seperate people and sort of work as a parasite/host type of deal. There's a lot going on with him, but I am happy to report that we do kick Nightmare down the stairs /lh

We also have. Way Too Many Swaps. Please feel free to peruse our collection because as many as there are, they're background characters that we could reasonably write a spinoff about (ESPECIALLY COBALT. I LOVE COBALT SM)

ANYWAY!! That's us for our monthly check-in (/lh); enjoy Deltarune and happy pride month!!

once again that lovely art is by my friend sketch!!

Hi! Apologies for the late response ^^'

Ooo thats cool! I love that Blot is like a self aware Ink, him being a kind of danger after that glitch is really interesting and im very interested to see where this go's in the story (side note: I adore the doodle of him and blue! Shout out to your friend @sketch--booked they have such beautiful art ^^)

YES! I always like (Goopy) Nightmare and Night being seen as separate characters and them having a parasitic dynamic! (Also lmao poor Nightmare, but also he deserves getting pushed down some stairs)

I have taken a look at all your Swaps and i adore them! I got notified a while ago by the post of one of the Swaps who was inspired by how i draw him (He's very cute btw, and i love the fact that he adopted the little ones ^^)

I had to revisit the blog so that i can see the rest of their info that i missed. And omg I also really like Cobalt! His design is really cool!! I also liked Topaz, Grape, and Ambrosia. They are all so Cool/Cute to me ^^ (Im absolutely eating up Ambrosia's design, his fit is really pretty)

[ashes-goin-down]

I think Cartman hates jewish people and -Kyle- too much to be vulnerable like you've depicted. No matter what level of physical attraction he might feel.

Hi there, thanks for your comment. Unfortunately I wrote a whole-ass novel in response so here's the TL;DR so you don't actually have to read all that: I agree that the comic is OOC but I don't think it's because of Cartman's hatred of Kyle or Jewish people.

Sorry for misusing your message to go on a somewhat loosely related rant but I've been meaning to write this for a while and it came as a convenient excuse lmao _

I agree with you regarding the vulnerability. I don't think Cartman would voice his feelings like that unless (he could claim that) it's a farce (e.g., Jenny Simons, "Cartman Finds Love") or the other person shows interest in him first so he feels safe from rejection (Heidi, initially - not opening that whole can of worms rn lol). For example, he treated his attraction to Patty Nelson as a big secret, apparently not even considering ever confessing to her, and that's most likely because he was expecting the reaction she did end up giving him since, beneath his self-deceit, he's excruciatingly aware of the fact that he's actually not exactly highly regarded by his peers.

It's a lot of work upholding the façade he's build for himself of being this cool, esteemed person and it cracks easily even without direct outside influence (for example when Clyde Frog or Cupid Me insult him) so he really, really doesn't deal with rejection very well. Him being this vulnerable to Kyle specifically and then getting rejected would be absolutely catastrophic for him, so I agree that he wouldn't put himself in that position. However, it's my opinion that the most OOC thing about the comic is the fact that he simply acknowledges that Kyle hates him. I don't actually think he'd just accept that but would instead convince himself that it isn't true ("Kyle has internalized homophobia" or better yet "Kyle doesn't think he's worthy of someone as cool and awesome as me") and then do some crazy shit to try and win him over.

So yeah, you're right: He Would Not Fucking Say That. I don't think his hatred of Kyle and/or Jewish people is the reason he wouldn't, though, as I believe Cartman's feelings towards Kyle and Judaism are a lot more complicated than that. It's not without reason that his relationships with both are such a big part of the show and that people smarter than me have written whole essays on the topic lmao

I feel the need to clarify that I am in no way trying to excuse any of Cartman's antisemitism! I'd just like to voice a few thoughts on its origin and evolution.

Cartman is clearly weirdly obsessed with both Kyle and his religion and obviously they are linked. While I suppose initially it might have been a bit of a chicken-egg situation ("He hates Kyle because he hates Jews" vs. "He hates Jews because he hates Kyle"), I believe originally his antisemitism may have simply been a byproduct of his fascination with the third reich, which itself I think was mostly a result of his enjoyment of envisioning himself as a dictator (i.e. the ultimate authority figure) and as such was actually pretty surface-level - as is evident from the fact that for a long time he didn't seem to fully grasp what exactly Judaism even IS (as shown when he apologizes to Kyle for calling him a Jew or when he uses the term as an insult towards Stan and Kenny). Still, I very much dislike it when people try to downplay his bigotry as naivety. That really doesn't hold any water after very early on in the show, if it ever even did in the first place, since he definitely acts from a place of malice and over time his fixation on the religion seems to have developed into something bigger. He's learnt more about it and it became much more synonymous with Kyle for him (the order of which is also debatable but I of course lean a certain way). At this point in the show I believe it's safe to say that he wouldn't be nearly as obsessed with Judaism if Kyle wasn't Jewish. While Cartman is obviously a bigoted asshole in many ways, he's not nearly as preoccupied with other minority groups as he is with Jews and he has even shown himself to be surprisingly tolerant of homosexuals and disabled people (who, of course, were also heavily persecuted under Nazism).

I really do think that "Jewpacabra" did leave a lasting impact on his character. It's pretty obvious that he was being genuine at the end of of the episode and actually did intent on self-identifying as Jewish from then on (and iirc M&T confirmed as much in the commentary to that episode and explained that they just sort of… forgot about that lol) and then in "Shots" he does claim to be Jewish and while that may have been in an attempt to get a vaccination exemption, the aforementioned commentary makes me believe it may not exclusively be that.

Notably, he specifically calls himself an "Orthodox Jew", which Kyle obviously doesn't seem to be and that ties in nicely with him becoming a rabbi in PC and making the religion his entire personality - because it's not enough to become Jewish: He needs to beat Kyle at being Jewish.

Of course, Cartman never actually stops being antisemitic before the time skip but then "Cupid Ye" implies that that isn't even a fully conscious decision that he can completely control but instead at least partially caused by whatever he has going on mentally. He even actively attempts to counteract it when he decides that it has gone too far. That's my take on the episode, at least. Obviously the whole thing with Cupid Me is kind of messy. No matter what exactly is actually happening there, I do think the his actions here prove that his feelings regarding the matter are more complex than they may initially appear to be.

Though I know it's still a point of contention for many, to me personally it seems pretty clear that him being a rabbi and a family man in PC was authentic and that he wasn't simply messing with Kyle the entire time. However, I find it extremely interesting that Cartman converted BEFORE meeting Yentl so I actually don't see any way in which Kyle didn't have any part in that and as such I don't think he would have ever become a rabbi if Kyle didn't happen to be Jewish. So my personal headcanon is that while Cartman's conversion was indeed directly influenced by Kyle, he actually did end up finding fulfillment in the faith and it ironically helped him let go of his obsession with him (which I think fits the show's style of humor).

To summarize: As a shipper I may be biased but I think that Cartman is a disturbed little boy who grows up to be a disturbed little man who fails to fully understand his feelings towards Kyle and - as an extension of that - the Jewish faith and thus lashes out into extremes regarding it.

[thesummerestsolstice]

There's this implication in Tolkien's writing that half-elves are kind-of immortal by default, and that they stop aging unless they choose mortality (though arguably they don't even really age then). See Arwen in the Lord of the Rings, who is several thousand years old and has clearly been living life as an elf, despite never having made the Peredhel choice.

I always wondered why Arwen was given that choice, actually. It seems like the Peredhel choice is mostly given to people who have a mortal parent and an immortal parent (Earendil, since Tuor was definitely mortal when he was born, and arguably Elwing depending on how you see Dior), or at least parents who are undecided (Elrond and Elros are born before Elwing and Earendil make their choices). Arwen is a fair bit more than half-elven, and has two immortal parents. And there's not really any evidence Elros's children got the choice. Why does she get to choose whether she wants to be mortal or immortal?

Now, this could just be some minor world building weirdness, but it raises another very interesting possibility. That Elrond, by the time his children were born, had not committed to being immortal, and was instead undecided. I feel like there's so much to explore in that idea. Maybe Elrond truly wasn't sure about his choice to stay immortal forever until much, much later in his life. Maybe he held off choosing specifically so his children would be able to. Maybe he didn't choose because he didn't want to have to pick between being an elf or a man, and just wanted to be a half-elf in peace.

There's also something very compelling to me about the idea of an Elrond who could have, at any point during the Second or Third Ages, decided to be mortal. Who could have left the grief and struggle of Middle-Earth behind forever, and who, nonetheless, always chose to stay; picking immortality, not once, but a thousand times over the course of his long life, no matter what difficulties he was faced with.

It would also be interesting to explore the idea that most of the people in Elrond's life assume he decided to be fully elven long ago, only to realize that that isn't actually true. I imagine it could be disconcerting, maybe even really anxiety-provoking to realize that someone you were certain would be around forever might not be. I also think it would be really hard for a lot of elves to understand why Elrond might not want to make that choice.

[lgbtlunaverse]

The women Jin Guangyao uses to kill Jin Guangshan are NOT from the brothel he grew up in

Except for Sisi, obviously.

But, crucially, Sisi MOVED brothels after her face got slashed.

That's why Jin Guangyao only recognized her after Jin Guangshan was already dead. If he had sourced the women from the brothel he grew up in, you think he wouldn't have made sure beforehand that they wouldn't include the one woman who was explicitly nice to him and his mother? He couldn't bear to kill her even after she was already a witness, but that meant he had to imprison her instead. Not exactly an ideal scenario! You think he wouldn't have thought to avoid that?

Well, that's all hypothetical anyway, because he couldn't have sourced anyone from the brothel he grew up in anyway, because that brothel had already been burnt down. By Jin Guangyao! This is the order he gives Xue Yang at the end of the villainous friends extra, which also contains Xue Yang meeting Xiao Xingchen and Song Lan. Which means this is way before Xue Yang kills the Chang clan, Xiao Xingchen eventually catches him, and Nie Mingjue kicks Jin Guangyao down the stairs which leads to his death 2 months later. And Jin Guangshan doesn't die until after Nie Mingjue is already dead, so while this is definitely where Jin Guangyao starts planning to kill his father, it's well before he actually executed that plan. By the time he does, that brothel is ash.

I say this because there's been several time now where I've seen people attribute Jin Guangyao using sex workers to kill his father, and killing them aferwards, to some kind of revenge scheme? A way to get back at the other women in the brothel who mistreated his mom at the same time as he gets back at his father. But all those women died when it burned to the ground. We see their ghosts in guangyin temple! Every single woman Jin Guangyao uses to kill his father and then later executes was a complete stranger to him. It has nothing to do with who they are and everything to do with what they are (older 'ugly' sex workers) Whether you think that makes his actions worse or better or generally has no moral impact i'll leave up to you. But it's important to remember that while the violence he enacts on his father is deeply personal, what he does to the sex workers is not.

[elvisqueso]

>mfw i realize the investors of the royal trading company i hired myself out to as land-marine security have bet their entire livelihoods and dreams for the future on a doomed project and i just could not care less about any of them.

Pocahontas (1995)

[airenyah]

Hard agree on your and anon's take on JoongDunk's platonic dudebros vibe and that is actually the reason I like JD. Have you seen the vid of Joong introducing Dunk as "small and easy to carry" and Dunk one-upped him by calling Joong "big and easy to ride" and Joong reacts like "Oh dude, you got game!?". It's obvious it's performative fanservice aimed to entertain audience, but at the same time it's playful banter, seeing if they could match or one-up each other's jokes and that dynamic of being able to have fun while keeping it playful and unserious is probably the one I'd want if I were a bl actor. I cannot enjoy fanservice when actors act like they're in a real relationship, too cringe and toxic *cough* mg *cough* and if it's real, I'd feel like a creep intruding on personal lives. I can freely enjoy JoongDunk for their neonsign "platonic friends being playful", along with their sheer force of social media marketing. Joong obviously a pro with his longtime experience in the industry and even majoring in university, while Dunk somehow maintaing that level of engagement when he doesn't even dance or sing is a mystery to me (tho I think he found his niche in cooking vids which had good views that Joong actually imitated him), but I think both working hard on social media promotion also makes them a good match for maintaining the same level of engagement. And I heard that's how they built their popularity even though SIMM was lackluster? Kudos to them.

yep, i saw that clip at the time!

i said this before in another ask, but i do think their "flirting" and fanservice does very much come from a genuine place. i think they just play it up for fun and not necessarily even as a "service" for the fans but also for their own enjoyment, either because they enjoy the other's reaction to whatever cheesy thing they say or do or because they enjoy one-upping each other (as you mention in your ask) or also because they simply just enjoy the fan's reaction as well. i think they're as entertained by us as we are entertained by them (mostly, at least kjkjsdfgdkg) (maybe not when joong is asked "WhErE iS dUnK" for the 43943945th time that day)

like, they are clearly also getting something out of their flirty banter, not just us. they're clearly having a blast with it while at the same time it's so obvious that it really only is a joke and that they really are just friends, nothing more, and that makes it so enjoyable to me to watch them and to follow them. they're clowns and i'm right here riding their clown car with them

and i agree with you, i can't enjoy it either when it seems like a cp is trying too hard to seem "real". it's like. why? why are you trying to sell me a lie? and if they are dating, then i'd feel even weirder for the exact same reason you mention, like... i don't know them. i'd very much feel like i'd be intruding

i much prefer knowing exactly where i'm at and so i very much enjoy the "we are strictly bros who just happen to say the flirtiest shit for fun" energy that joong and dunk bring. i'm super seated for that

and i just find it extremely fascinating how that bro-energy that they have in private just completely disappears when they're on camera playing characters. when i watch joong and dunk in private i'm always like "ain't no way these two are in love" (like delulu stans would like to believe) whereas when i watch any of their bls i'm like "ain't no way these two are NOT in love". love it when actors do actor things <3

and yeah, i wasn't really following them back during simm era (though i watched the series live after ep2) but i do remember that a lot of people said that they didn't enjoy simm but they very much enjoyed joongdunk "in private"! idk how active they were on social media bc yeah, i only really started following them more closely outside their series at the end of 2023, but i wouldn't be surprised if their social media activity helped them become popular

[mad-hunts]

hey, y'all — so i know how random this is, but a while ago... i was thinking about how barton might react to dying because this man has been in a LOT more situations than the average person where he was near death. and the first thing that came to mind was that he would actually probably come to peace with it rather quickly — even though i know that'd likely be more a little unexpected coming from him. but IDK, i think i might've been onto something with it, though.

so UHHH like this post if you'd like for me to post an essay about why i think that / j (LMAO nooo, it wouldn't be a whole essay, but it would likely be a long meta... so like. if you do want more details and/or would be interested in seeing something like that, then i humbly invite y'all to like this post if you want to so that i know you are 👉👈 though there's no pressure OFC)

[psalmsofpsychosis]

Reginald Payne × Alfred Pennyworth VS. Jeremiah Valeska × Bruce Wayne: A Saga.

Hello and good evening, in tonight's episode of "Gotham TV is an insane show for insane people" we're talking about Regional Pain. I mean, Reginald Payne. He is Alfred Pennyworth's "best friend", which in the context of the show's wordplays can fall anywhere on the spectrum of "actual dear friend" to "starcrossed lover", but perhaps most importantly he is a Jeremiah Valeska mirror used to establish a dynamic with Alfred that portrays exactly where does Bruce Wayne get his uhh, interesting habits in regards to his "best friends". you see;

Reggie is introduced as a raging alcoholic and mean druggie, and through him Alfred is revealed as a post-raging alcoholic with drug problems who's barely hanging on and trying not to relapse, kept afloat almost strictly by his immense love for Bruce.

In season 4, Jeremiah Valeska is introduced as a raging alcoholic and most likely a druggie, and Bruce has only slightly started to recover from his fun alcoholism, barely keeping his head above water with an iron grip on his love for Alfred.

When Reggie shows up at the Wayne Manor's door, he lies to Alfred, he is there to ruin his and bruce's lives, uses Alfred for his soft heart, capitalises on their friendship for sympathy and offers a false story, "lost a loved one and i went insane, couldn't do it".

Post-InsanityGas Jeremiah lies to Bruce, he is there to ruin his life, uses Bruce for his soft heart and capitalises on their friendship, keeping face with a false story, "lost the other half of me and i'm not dealing with it well, i can't do this," and Bruce holds his hand through it.

Reggie provokes Bruce so thoroughly, he is willing to go through with their make-believe combat practice too, "You hit me, you draw all the blood you can, i'm giving you a pass and you'll take it, violence is true and real, it's effective." Only Alfred puts a stop to it.

in the "Ace Chemicals" episode, Jeremiah provokes Bruce to hit him, to draw blood, he wants everything Bruce has in him. The only thing keeping Bruce from packing his punches is the knowledge that he has someone to come back to; he has Alfred, and he has Selina.

Reginald and Alfred get drunk together and Reginald tells Bruce about the night the SAS team cought a snake and put the goddamn thing in Alfred's bag. He tells Bruce about how Alfred cooked and made them all eat the snake.

Jeremiah's mother was a snake dancer, he grew up around snakes, he intimately knows how to handle one. He's viper colored and he's basically a snake sleeping in Bruce's bag throughtout season 4.

Reggie is a harsh truth caller, "Why dont you tell Bruce the truth, why are you afraid of him knowing the real you?" Reggie tells Alfred two wine bottles in. "You're a dog Alfred, a vicious well trained dog is what you are."

Jeremiah Valeska sees right through Bruce and becomes his truth caller, "You're so mean Bruce, there's darkness in you, so dark, we're so alike," he tells him.

Alfred tells Reggie that he's "willing to be better than he actually is because he has loved ones to care for, he will not give in to his own violence,"

Bruce tells Jeremiah that he "wants to be better than he actually is because he has loved ones to care for, he will not give in to his own darkness."

Reggie almost kills Alfred, someone very dear to Bruce, and then stays in town, knowing full well Alfred would know where to find him and have his revenge if he survived.

Jeremiah shoots Selina, someone very dear to Bruce, and then allows himself to get cought very easily, staying near and in reachable distance.

5 years later and Jeremiah leaves Bruce half insane and completely shattered, clawing into Alfred's arms in an abandoned warehouse outside Gotham, and noone has ever loved Bruce as much as Jeremiah loves him.

Reggie tears up after Bruce finally corners him, "I didn't mean any harm. Is he okay? He is okay, isn't he?" he trembles as he asks Bruce. Bruce's voice is venom as he reminds him, "You stabbed him; why do you care?" to which Reggie answers, screaming "I care! I damn care!!" because people love each other even in the ways they hurt each other.

Bruce is the one who hunts down both Reginald and Jeremiah for a chance at explanations; Selina is the one who kills Reggie.

Selina is also the one who kills Jeremiah.

And still, throughout all this Alfred is so posessive of Reggie— he actively dissuades detective Gordon from finding out about Reggie and shoos Gordon away. When Bruce asks him why he wont tell the truth about who stabbed him, Alfred says "Believe it or not, Reggie is a mate, and you do not set coppers on your mate now, do you?"

"But he almost killed you."

"we were a team together, he's my friend, if anyone can figure him out it's going to be me, noone else can do it; it wouldn't be right."

Alfred is immediately so protective of his connection to Reggie, "noone else can catch him, i know him, only i can do it right, we know each other like the backs of our hands," he intimately personalises his connection to him.

Jeremiah Valeska hurts Bruce more than perhaps anyone had ever hurt him, but when he calls to him, Bruce determinedly goes alone; Jeremiah is his fight and his only, he's the only person who knows him, the only person who can leash him in, noone else; it wouldn't be right.

Every bit of possessiveness Bruce has Over Jeremiah is a blueprint copy of how Alfred frames his friendships and his love for the people closest to him; ALFRED is where Bruce learnt the ways and whys of human connection and friendship. Really, in the Wayne Manor everyone is just 55 strings of generational patterns in a trenchcoat.

[dollypopup]

colin should 'suffer' for penelope

aka: 5 short reasons why wanting colin to 'suffer' or 'grovel' or whatever other bullshit this fandom keeps pulling is stupid and makes no sense and should have been buried ages ago, how is this still a thing?

1: it sets a terrible and unhealthy dynamic between an endgame couple

especially considering Polin's motif is that of a mirror, if Colin is expected to grovel or suffer for Penelope's affection and forgiveness, it only stands to reason that Penelope then, too, would have to reciprocate. how Penelope treats Colin's ills is setting the precedent for how he's expected to handle her own against him, of which there are many. giving him the cold shoulder, holding what he said over his head and rubbing it in his face, potentially not even explaining why she's upset at him: these are not signs of a mature woman ready for a marriage to ANYONE

2: Colin's slights against Penelope are considerably less harmful than Penelope's against Colin's and it makes no narrative sense for her to be on her high horse about it

'he ruined her prospects' 'he talked about her behind her back' 'he laughed at her' (we don't even know if that one's true, frankly speaking)

but Penelope did the exact same to him and she did so first. Please remember that Penelope is the reason Colin and Marina broke up, and it was her express goal the entire time. Penelope humiliated Colin and Marina both by exposing them publicly (not to mention rubbed the salt into the wound for days afterward). Penelope didn't even think about Colin's feelings because she tried to confess her crush on him immediately after his engagement went poof. Penelope holding Colin accountable for what he said without herself recognizing the ways in which she's hurt him, too, makes her out to be a hella hypocrite

3: it's weirdly catholic on main?

love isn't about suffering points or penance or guilt and i'm tired of Christianity pervading every damn thing. sorry not sorry, some of us want an actually fulfilling love story

4: y'all are just mad Colin didn't love Penelope back from jump and it's a revenge fantasy

which, fine, that's what fanfic is for, but it's OOC, y'all are aware of that, right? because if he DID want her from the start, we all know that it wouldn't be Polin? why are you shipping a friends to lovers ship if you INSIST that the friends to lovers dynamic is less than? guess what? unreciprocated love is kind of part of the deal. you don't hold a grudge against your friend for not loving you back immediately. Colin shows he cares about Penelope in SO MANY WAYS that somehow are completely invalidated because it isn't meant to be romantic? imma say it: fuck you if you think that way. friendships are important and beautiful and deep and fulfilling with or without romance. Colin sticking his neck out for Penelope to help her family from Jack's scheme? an act of love. Colin sending Penelope letters after her father passed? act of love. Colin telling Penelope she's 'really very good' and holding her hand in appreciation of her coming to talk to him? act of love. if you think those acts of love mean nothing just because he isn't fucking her seven ways to sunday, maybe analyze your own viewpoint of relationships and ship Pen w/ some random stranger who makes heart eyes at her tits from jump

5: it makes Penelope an asshole to her own long term partner

dude, if a friend of mine insisted I crawl on hands and knees to determine whether they want me back in their lives, i don't want to be around that person? so many of these narratives make Penelope a straight up terrible person. if you want your partner to suffer? you probably don't actually like them very much, but Polin is narratively MEANT to be the couple that likes AND loves one another. be real, if your friend ghosted you for months, gave you the cold shoulder when you tried to talk again, treated you like shit (you can't argue that him 'suffering' isn't treating him like shit in some way shape or form) as you tried to apologize, and then you find out that she was the reason you and your ex broke up and she wrote straight up nasty things about your family for YEARS, you would want absolutely nothing to do with that friend. why should Colin be expected to be any different? do these two not deserve a lovely love story built on love and affection and trust and honesty? a healthy happy relationship in which they see one another and appreciate one another for all they are? no? so why do you ship them?

+1: it's oversaturated in this fandom

polin is a fantastic ship. how is THIS their main trope?

find a new fucking idea, PLEASE

[todayisafridaynight]

sorry if you've already been asked this but what did you think about eiji in iw? like idk i feel like they were trying to recreate a masato and ichi moment without actually having any of the elements that made their relationship narratively compelling.

as a whole, i thought eiji was at least a nice 'how he wished things couldve been' for ichi in regards to masato, but still being independent enough from the masato comparison to stand on his own as a character (or at least as an antagonist. his actions wasn't what was reminding me he was a masato parallel, but more so ichi's insistence he help him). i think thats why ichi and eiji's relationship don't have the same 'elements' that make their relationship interesting like masato and ichi's

[damselneedssaving]

BATBOYS BUT THEY WITNESS A STRANGER PULL F!READER INTO A HUG AND CLAIM TO BE HER BOYFRIEND. FT. MARK GRAYSON! P.T.2

★ TAGS: older!damian wayne, older!duke thomas, everyone is 18+, mention of death, romance, mark is utterly devoted to you, jealousy, lots and lots of jealousy, little bit of dark!batboys, kind of dark!mark too

★ A/N: tim didn't get to speak much last chapter so i'm hoping this one makes up for it!! also also, you guys have acc overwhelmed me with all the support, thank you all so much 😭💞💞💞

★ 𝐏𝐑𝐄𝐕 ★ | ★ 𝐌𝐀𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐋𝐈𝐒𝐓 ! ★ | ★ 𝐍𝐄𝐗𝐓 ★

MARK DID, IN FACT, SAY 'DIFFERENT DIMENSION'—

—and now, he's sat on your bullet-hole-covered couch, head moving from side-to-side as he watches you pace the room behind your broken table, one hand holding your elbow, the other situated beneath your chin.

You're half paying attention to him, half stuck in your own thoughts, his earlier words repeating in your mind like a mantra, a broken record player you can't seem to fix no matter how much you move its lever.

"Okay," you whisper, maybe to him, maybe to yourself, "let's... let's run this back. You said you're my... boyfriend, right?"

Mark nods in time with a few growls in the background.

"But... from a different dimension?"

He nods again.

"Right, okay." You echo his action, nodding to yourself like any of this makes sense, like you don't have a million thoughts running through your mind right now.

"This is ridiculous," Damian voices one of them with a scoff. "How do we know this isn't another one of Darkseid's schemes? Something to lower your guard with so that he can capture you as leverage against us?"

You breathe in through your nose, pinching it again. "C'mon, Dami, would you really let him follow you to me?"

He purses his lips, not another word falling from his mouth.

That settles that.

"Sorry about that, Mark. Can you elaborate?"

You turn back to the otherworldly meta human, only to find his eyes already on you (still on you), wide, and with his face a little stuck out, like he's actively trying to get closer to you, like he can't bring himself to be too far away.

The thought turns your insides to mush.

You clear your throat, ignoring the tingle in your stomach. "Um, Mark?"

He blinks. "Huh?"

"I, uh, asked if you could, y'know, explain a bit more?"

He blinks again, slower this time. Then, with a shake of his head, he lifts a hand behind his neck, rubbing it in a habit so boyishly awkward, you have to fight back the smile threatening to climb onto your face. "Right." He clears his throat. "I was sent here by this guy in my dimension—Angstrom Levy?"

He peers up at you, as though expecting some sort of reaction to that name, but when you frown back at him with a quirk of your brow, he continues his explanation slowly.

"He can, uh, open these portals at will."

"Right..." you trail off, turning your head down as your eyes glaze over, "and in your world, I'm your girlfriend?"

"Were," he corrects, and it's so quiet, you almost don't catch it.

In fact, you're sure you heard him wrong.

"Sorry?"

"You were my girlfriend," he speaks again, firmer, but in a tone no less far, no less clouded. 

"We broke up?" You furrow your brows—no, that doesn't make sense. If you did break up, why would he come to your door claiming to be your boyfriend and not your ex?

The answer to your question lies in the man seated on your couch, but unlike before, he suddenly can't seem to bring himself to look at you, gaze instead trained to your wooden floorboards like they're the most interesting things to grace the planet. What? Does he not have wood in his dimension?

A beat passes without Mark saying a word.

The silence sits heavy, like the humid air of a rainforest swallowing you whole and threatening your very ability to breathe.

You find yourself awaiting escape from it, his words, however long they may take to come, like a promise of salvation from your woes.

But it isn't him that saves you.

"You died," a voice cuts through the silence, sharp and through gritted teeth. "He let you die in his world."

Instantly, Mark's head shoots up, and he narrows his eyes into sharp, lethal daggers at Damian.

"I didn't let her." He snarls, clenching his fists and gritting his teeth. "I just..."

And then, just like that, he loses all the fight, fingers loosening their tight grip around nothing as his form all but falls, folding over like a wet noodle with no will to keep going.

"Fuck me..." you breathe out, hand already up and pinching your nose again.

To think, another version of you, a different version of you—with a different life and a boyfriend and maybe even no wood in her world—died.

Fucking hell.

"I need a drink," you find yourself muttering, shaking your head lightly before peering up at Mark. "Do you, uh, also need something?"

He's back to looking at you, gaze wide and brows knitted and lips parted by just the slightest hair as he whispers with all the sincerity of a samaritan, "Just you." Then, a little louder, "All I need... is just you."

You think the world stops when you catch air in your throat, that it drowns out until it's just the two of you when those words leave his tongue.

All of a sudden, you seem to be floating on a cloud, drowning in his gaze of pure intensity as your own heartbeat thunders in your ears and you forget how to even breathe or blink or see anyone that's not him for a brief second.

But then that second passes, and you find yourself on land once again.

You quickly excuse yourself, ignoring the holes that bore through you as you leave the room to enter your kitchen instead, the cold of it like a breath of fresh air against your warm skin.

God, fuck, that moment was so intense, you don't know if you can even think about what was revealed before it, his gaze lingering on your skin like rain after a hurricane.

So vivid. So loving. So utterly devoted that you could see nothing but yourself reflected back in those eyes.

The cup in your hands almost slips from the cabinet above your head at the memory.

In fact, it does slip. But it's quickly caught. Though not by you.

A warmth radiates against your back, and you turn, just to have it radiate against your front instead.

"Tim..."

His head is tilted to yours, eyes glazed over as one hand places the cup down on the counter to your left, and the other situates itself firm on the counter to your right.

For a beat, he just stands there, trapping you to the corner of your kitchen with a gaze as clouded as the Gotham night sky.

Then, just as you part your lips to ask why he's here, he speaks.

"Tell me I was seeing things."

His voice comes quiet, whispered and pleading as his brows knead up with a shaky sort of pull.

"What?" you can only ask, his breath hot against your face, close and feeling like it won't be moving anytime soon.

"Tell me..." he starts again, repeating without hesitation, "that I was just seeing things."

When you furrow your brows back at him, he continues, almost desperately.

"That you weren't... that you weren't looking at him for a second like..."—his face scrunches up, expression pained, like you've just gone and hit him with an axe—"like you believed him."

"Tim, I—"

You don't know what to say, not when he looks at you like that, like you've just shattered his whole entire world right in front of him.

"Like..." Tim continues, and the next words he has to really push out, wincing like it hurts just to say, "like he's actually your boyfriend."

Your stomach drops, insides churning as Tim's fingers curl against your counter with an audible scratch.

"You know he's not, right..?" he whispers, like not even he's sure. "That he's just a stranger?"

You furrow your brows, gulping down saliva and steeling yourself. "Of course I know."

But it's like Tim doesn't even hear you.

"He doesn't love you. He doesn't even know you."

You narrow your eyes, going to respond when he beats you to it again.

"Not like I do," he continues, and your words die on your tongue, eyes going a tad wider as he leans in just a bit closer. "Not like I've done for years."

Whether he's talking about knowing you or loving you, you're not sure.

And you continue to be unsure as he softly reaches for your dominant hand, gripping the back of it like he's afraid that if he lets go, you'll slip from him entirely.

The next thing you know, your hand is cradling his cheek, and he's holding it there, allowing your warmth to bleed into his skin as he looks at you with those wide, shaking eyes you seem to be on the receiving end of quite often these days.

"Tell me," he begs—lips wobbling, brows knitting, expression pleading.

And you don't think you can even if you wanted to, mouth too dry and head too empty to even voice a clear thought as he moves to slip his free hand around your waist and pull you closer.

"Please."

You think you're only able to snap out of it when you're just a breath away from his lips, just a hair from touching them with your own as he drills into you with those wide, shaking, desperate blue eyes of his.

And once you do snap out of it, once everything becomes just a little too much, you place a hand firm against his chest, whispering his name with a small, light push.

His grip around you tightens for a second, eyes glazing over, but before they can stay that way, before he can do something without a lick of sense or reason, they clear up again, and he slips his hands from your waist, letting you part from him as his arms fall to hang limply by his sides.

And when you move to further part from him and the room, you pretend not to hear the loud bang against your kitchen counter.

So much for a drink.

TAGLIST: @silas-222, @bloofairyfox, @wiseavenuelove, @inkycapps, @velovicy, @mmentallyelsewhere, @verysynical, @1abi, @bluepartywobblernickel, @krys0210, @patatasolitaria, @mazixxss, @nova916, @federalprison78-4, @crissy09yesso, @minhyrin, @nutella-hitler, @kvzutora, @starslightzz, @alishii, @crybabyghostie, @jsprien213, @cupid73, @doggyteam2028, @invinciblewaffles, @love-theangel, @butterbiscuit444, @thecrazyone2007, @reaperxdeath, @mexxs-xs, @gaychaosgremlin, @pookiei-bookie

[lover-of-mine]

Okay, welcome to Anna writes a framing meta for the first time in who knows how long. This got long as hell, so strap in.

Okay, first up, first buddie scene of the episode, the locker room, at no point you can see both of their faces clearly at the same time, either one of the faces is out of focus or they have their backs to the camera (tiny images for me to stay within the image limit, but you should be able to zoom in).

And if we get a wide shot, they have something separating them in the frame.

The not allowing the camera to focus on both of them really works to highlight how they're not seeing eye to eye, and helps the scene feel awkward because they are obscuring their real feelings, Buck doesn't Eddie to move and Eddie doesn't want to move, but they are both trying to act excited about it. And the physical divider between them highlights the way the move is getting between them. Literally. The show did this the other 2 times they fought. If something really is getting between them, we end up getting a physical display of it.

And before you get all "oh but the show is not that deep" on me.

Okay, moving on, something very interesting that I've seem a bunch of people point out is this shot specifically, they are very close, some would say within kissing distance *wink*, but the glass is between them, but the lafd logo is only obscuring Buck's face.

Since the logo is backward when we look at if from inside the locker room, it almost makes it seem like the only thing stopping them is Eddie not being in LA with Buck.

At the house showing, there's always a few steps between them, at least, but the way Buck starts the sabotage by peaking over Eddie's shoulder, to fully stepping in front of him to the point that the camera stops focusing on Eddie is the fun part here for me.

Because that's when Buck fully takes over, the meth lab story is the most intentional part of the sabotage, at least in my opinion, and the way Buck takes over when he sees someone he thought would actually go for it, the little "man, I thought we had her" before Eddie calls him out gives that impression, it really shows the way Buck escalates inside his own feelings. It also highlights the way the scene is in Buck's pov. It's pretty obvious when we consider the way we see Buck talking to the potential renters alone, but we only hear Eddie talking to them alone.

Not really relevant here but love that Buck is the only person we ever saw in that back door. New angle of the Diaz kitchen too.

Love that painting of waves behind Buck, both for the symbolism of the way this is about to crash into him and his relationship with water and life-changing stuff, the tsunami, the well, the lightning, y'all know what I mean.

Okay, before I move on I need to take a detour to fully explain why these next two scenes had me going fucking insane.

Oliver is a pretty big guy, right? He's the tallest main, he is built like a fridge, he is a person who will usually be the biggest person in the room. That ends up giving Buck the power. So when Buck is emotionally distressed, they usually exaggerate that. Like when he is yelling at his parents and everyone is sitting down but him, or when he's standing up when telling everyone about Daniel, when he's sitting on the stairs talking to Maddie about being the one who's always left behind, or how they gave Buck the literal high ground when he's waiting for Taylor so they can breakup.

There's also the way that Buck likes to sit on top of stuff that will make him taller, the counter, the top the firetruck.

They play with that a lot, Maddie conversations when she's actually getting through to him tend to have both of them sitting down, since Jennifer is that much smaller, or talks with Bobby have them both standing up since Peter is the closest in height to Oliver.

But since Oliver is really tall, Buck doesn't look up at people a lot. It usually happens with love interests in emotionally heavy scenes that, like the breakup with Ali, when he tells Taylor he cheated, the breakup with Tommy. There are a few scenes with Bobby and Maddie.

And then there's Eddie.

The gym scene and the 204 scene, well, 201 Buck is about to get up and puff out his chest, try to look as big as possible, so it doesn't count in this, and 204 is being there for Eddie, but the rest he's looking for guidance. Something I used to talk about a lot is that Buck's admiration of Eddie clouds his judgment, it forces him to this space of following Eddie's lead, it put him in a position where he was literally looking up at Eddie when he needs reassurance or validation. Which is not really good for healthy relationship, it would make Buck bend to what Eddie thinks it's best and that's not good in the long run in a romantic relationship. The conversations they had about Buck's feelings, they were on different levels in the frame, and Eddie was always higher, and Buck is putting Eddie in a space where he needs reassure him. Funny enough, if they are talking about Eddie's feelings, they are usually both sitting down, so they are equalized there.

They broke that pattern with the coming out scene. In fact they broke it so hard they have Eddie looking up at Buck while wanting Buck to reassure him that hes not being unreasonable and he can hide in the loft.

But they are both sitting down for the part of the conversation that is about Buck, and Buck needs reassurance from Eddie there, but he is not looking at Eddie for guidance, he’s looking at Eddie for acceptance. And he would only get that if they were on the same level. So monumental moment. (read more about my freakout about the coming out scene here)

Now that we are all caught up, the station scenes, they're unleveled again.

In fact, Buck is so low he's on the fucking floor. But he's not looking up because he needs guidance or reassurance or because he thinks Eddie has the answers, he's on the floor because he's about to throw a low blow. He's being unfair and he knows it.

It is about Eddie having power over Buck, but it is also about how at that moment Buck doesn't want to accept that, he wants to land a punch that's gonna put Eddie on the floor with him.

He doesn't start the first scene on the floor, but he is on the floor once he tells everyone about the move.

And he is sitting on the floor when he says the "I don't need you either" so he is physically as low as he can be as he goes for the hit that's gonna hurt Eddie as much as he's hurting.

That had me SALIVATING. Buddie will never work if they keep assuming they can read each other's minds, it is why I was so adamant about the need of another divorce era, why that's the core of half the fics I write, they need to talk when they are hurting. And this was messy, they're being intentionally hurtfull but it all ends up equalizing in the biggest show of how they have the it's you and me vs the problem not you vs me down to an art if you just let them talk.

But moving on, at the end, when he realizes that he is succeeding in hurting Eddie but it's not gonna make feel any better, they're on the same level.

Side note, they tend to be on the same level when they are talking about them. (Yes, I'm counting the cemetery scene, this convoluted breakup that went nowhere is about their relationship, I don't care).

And that obviously leads up to the final buddie scene of the episode.

Just to get this out of the way, they are positioned the same way they were when Eddie tells Buck to leave the showing, but from the other side, because now we're on Eddie's pov.

The giveaways from that for me is the fact that the house is back to the usual warm lighting, and we are learning the information with Eddie, in contrast to the cold lighting and the way we learn the information with Buck in 808.

So our running joke to put a light on Buck if we ever got a scene from Eddie's pov? Yeah.

The 2 lamps almost give Buck a glowy aura.

Anyway, the thing with this scene is the way there's a lot of space between them at first, at some point Eddie is even holding onto the door and Buck even starts adding more space, the couch between them is a nice touch too.

And Eddie keeps his distance while they're fighting, up until when the crew arives and he steps back closer to Buck. It's not really necessary, they could walk around him the same way Buck did to get in the house.

Through the whole thing, Buck is in the same place he in the center of the room.

And then Eddie is the one to close the space, because even when Eddie is going in for the hug, Buck is not moving. Eddie has full control of the movement with them even though he was the only one who didn't have the full information.

And it's fun because there are 2 other scenes like that, where one of them is stationary and the other is doing all the movement, but while here Buck is letting Eddie make the choice to come to him, the other one Buck is forcing Eddie to let him in. Coincidentally (read absolutely intentionally), it's the other times they are clearing the air, 306 talk at the station and 309 kitchen talk. In both scenes Eddie is in a spot and Buck is doing all the moving closer.

And I think that indicates a lot of the way their relationship grew since s3, it's almost exemplifying the way Buck knows he doesn't need to force his way in anymore, that that door is already open and he can let Eddie come to him.

Well, I guess he already did in season 5 breaking the door down, but like Eddie says, Buck doesn't to break the door down, he wants to let Eddie open it. If he lets Eddie know he's there, Eddie will make the choice to let him in. And it is what happened. Eddie was upset because he thought he couldn't count on Buck and not being able to count on him always get Eddie off balance, it's why Buck fully disarms him telling him about renting the house, he was ready for anger but Buck just reminded him that he's got him. And I think that's beautiful.

This adds nothing to nothing but I need to say that "if you need to be pissed off at me to make it easier for you then be pissed off" most romantic thing I've ever seen. "Be mad at me if you have to, but stop faking it", you don't need to pretend with me on crack, had me screaming crying throwing up.

Some random things to point out, with the 2 fist bumps and the hug this is the episode they touched intentionally and without of them being mortal danger the most.

Also, the last scene has the same color pallete of the coming out scene.

In the still, the blue of Buck's jacket looked a bit too light, but when I put them side by side, that's Buck's blue. But the fit is a bit too big and the black shirt and the black color offset that. There's also the way that in 809 both of them are in the warm background. The yellow elements aren't that intense, but Buck mismatching is making me 👀 because while Buck is pulling the ultimate grand gesture as a clinger can do by doing that thing that will allow Eddie to leave him, I don't think living in that house alone is going to be easy for Buck. And Eddie stays in the warm background with a black shirt. So yeah, that's fun. Buck is in his color but in the wrong fit, Eddie is just no color at all yet but it keeps looming behind him.

This is long as fuck already and I just hit the image limit so I will shut up now, but I'll be back at some point about colors. As always, if you read this I love you.

[angstandhappiness]

DUDE

(comic references under cut)

a personal and fav hc of mine is that following jason's death, yes, batman shuts down, yes, he becomes colder and destructive — going out every night and staying out for as long as he can because hurting is better than trying and failing to sleep. i don't think he would have done the same as bruce wayne, though.

bruce wayne pulls away from the public. galas and events are either cancelled by the wayne foundations or go ahead without the man in attendance. no one can really blame him, after the death of his sheltered and beloved second son. there are no comments issued by anyone in the family besides what is strictly necessary and after one unavoidable yet invasive investigation¹ to sedate public obsession, bruce wayne does not speak on the matter at all.

he does however say a lot through action.

within a couple months, a long standing project finally gets unveiled with no big event or publicity. the Jason Todd-Wayne Homeless Shelter, right in the centre of Crime Alley. the Jason Todd-Wayne Children's Fund, offering free lunch meals to school children from struggling families. The Jason Project, focusing on reading programmes in prisons and rehabilitation support. donations under the name Jason Todd are publicly given to a multitude of charities.

the public opinion on these actions are split. some find it wonderful if heartbreaking, how a child can be so loved that their parent will do anything to make their legacy leave a mark in time. gotham hasn't seen such abrupt change in — well, ever. bruce wayne is known for charity, of course, but this is different. this is for one person. this is the most expensive form of mourning.

others are a bit unsettled. if all of this could have been done, why not do it before? why use a dead boy's name to do good that will only benefit the living waynes reputations? is this some sort of ego thing? to make himself feel better? to make everyone else feel bad?

bruce doesn't quite know himself.

part of it feels useless, pouring money and time not spent breaking bones (his own and others) into fulfilling dreams jason had once had. the boy had always wanted to help in a way that was more than batman, more than bruce. is it invasive, to assume jason would have been grateful for this, that jason would have agreed? does he have any right to be so presumptuous?

part of it feels necessary. to implicitly tell the world that even before jason todd had publicly died, the city had lost a hero². that losing him is more than just an article for the front page of the daily newsletter. that gotham has lost someone intrinsically important. to make it clear that bruce wayne is only as good as what his children let him be. that they are the ones who can make change, at the end of the day.

most of it is selfish. the Wayne Botanical Gardens opens a new exhibit for the first time in decades named My Son. the Gotham Library dedicates an entire self to Jason Todd-Wayne. the third door in the living quarters of the Wayne Manor is always locked, except for monthly dustings. there is a lesson, locked in a glass case down in a Cave, labeled A Good Soldier.

¹ : Batman: Gotham Knights #45

² : Batman #125

[ladyloveandjustice]

Okay, so ZENSHU is a new anime that FINALLY does something actually cool and meta with the isekai concept, following an animator named Natsuko who get's isekai'd into her favorite flop anime movie, which is destined to end in total tragedy for all the characters. She discovers she can do a magical girl sequence and animate something that will save the day (like the God Warrior from Nausicaa) in exchange for having to sleep however long it would have taken her to animate IRL (three days, usually). She starts saving the characters and and starts changing the narrative that way

This leads to possibly the best character arc of all time, where she meets the hero's love interest and the movie's quintessential damsel in distress, who is destined to get in trouble all the time and fridged at the end of the movie. (Her name is Destiny that's how destined she is).

...Only then Natsuko animates a cerval cat pro-wrestler to save the day, and Destiny is SO ENAMORED by it all she decides to get INCREDIBLY RIPPED and become a prowrestler herself, leaving her destiny as a love interest behind, her skimpy fanservice outfit transforming into a skimpy cerval cat pro wrestler outfit. She and Natsuko become friends, and she breaks off from this hero to forge her own path.

The story also kind of playfully interrogates how Destiny was underdeveloped and granted no agency by the narrative. She mentions having no friends and being lonely. She's notably awestruck when Natsuko says she's going to live and dress however she wants (in response to her baggy sweatshirt and cousin It hair being mocked):

And when she chooses to embrace her pro wrestling love, she echoes these words.

Destiny has this whole thing going where she's nobly forcing herself to marry this gross guy to open this orphanage, and Natsuko points out to her that this subplot makes no sense because she could just open the orphanage herself:

The narrative always framed it like Destiny couldn't do anything on her own, so it doesn't even occur to anyone until Natsuko brings it up. But once she realizes it, Destiny does decide to live how she wants and open that damn orphanage herself.

The show could have just had Natsuko hate Destiny (since she clearly also likes the Hero) or made fun of her and treated her as useless and awful, but instead it's made clear she IS a very sweet person, she makes friends with Natsuko, the show treats it as a thought experiment on "what if the classic Damsel in Distress fated to be Fridged learned she had agency and developed her own interests with the help of another woman?" It's a really light hearted take on the subject, but that's what makes it so fun.

Anyway ZENSHU is really good stuff so far, one of the few modern isekai that has rights, and finally one that plays with classic tropes in an actually interesting way. The director and screenwriter, Mitsue Yamazaki and Kimiko Ueno, are some cool ladies who've previously worked together on one of my faves, the Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun anime, and their talent really shows here.