#ew is this meta - idk

[mwagneto]

we knew this but Kate confirming that even UNIT recognises a lot of events as supernatural rather than alien AND that it's a whole new thing they aren't very equipped for yet is really cool

[merwynsartblog]

Idk what got into me

So have poorly made shit post based off this

[consulaaris]

zori aviriq ✧ il mheg

picked up sage and gave zori a cute glam to go with it <3 also i just think she deserves some time to stop and chill with the flowers

bonus:

[catsconflictscopicsandchamomile]

I was just watching a video on men playing women in Shakespeare performances and it said "remember, Ophelia was written to be played by a man" and my IMMEDIATE FIRST THOUGHT WAS

"Oh, so like, Dean Winchester"

[ghostboyhood]

TELL ME YOUR COMMUNITY THOUGHTS

oh lord okay.. im gonna give my thoughts on the last season ish because i just finished it so its what i mainly remember and its 1 am..

the anniejeff made me SO uncomfortable i dont understand why they kept pushing that when they also pushed the dad-daughter relationship throughout the show.... and the second to last episode being centered around incest was odd, not a huge fan of that..

now okay my MAIN thoughts are about abed, so here i go

i feel like in the last two seasons (maybe 4 too? i dont remember atm) abeds autistic" traits were completely stripped from him. yes they included all his "fourth wall breaking meta tv show lines" but it wasnt right.

and i understand people will eventually change/grown up but also.. you cant "fix" autistic traits so it just felt like they were trying to make his autism seem more "normal" also by making him more emotionless i realized? abed cant express himself well, which he mainly copes with by dissociating. but he just.. in the last seasons it seemed more like he DIDNT have emotions (i believe he says something like this to buzz when talking about his duck comics, along the lines of the emotions he cant feel or wtv) but this isnt right, abed is emotional, hes actually really emotional we just dont see it directly like we do with people like annie or troy..

speaking of emotions im glad they really explained that jeff was scared of change and everyone leaving at the end though, its always been known that he is, but i liked that they really Showed it

annies ending was nice i guess? she was basically just a prop for jeff though in the weird fucking fantasy he wants though??? again idk why theyre pushing that it felt so out of place and weird and ew. jeff was also uncomfortably violent in season 6, like i dont think he would ever choke abed out that made me feel so gross...

alright back to abed because hes the main one i noticed in the last seasons.

in the end where abed was talking to jeff in the bar and said like.. "ik ur comforted by this meta lens but this is reality!!" just felt wrong.. yeah abed was still meta w the whole tv show thing but that was it.. and then him saying that to jeff? its like they tried to make him this big mentor guy to jeff (idk if thats necessarily it but its all i can think of to describe it at the moment) but not in a friend way but an uncomfortable "im grown up now and ur not" way if that makes sense,, which again goes with stripping him of his autistic traits by making it seem like its completely necessary to Grow up in order to move forward in life which isnt.. its true in some ways but not in the way they portrayed it at all.. they make it seem like abed had to grow up completely in order for him to "be okay"..

i related a LOT to abed in the early seasons for Many reasons, i think they handled the abed centered episodes especially about his mental health EXTREMELY Well. (ie, abeds uncontrollable christmas) its one of the first times ive seen experiences like that in media that i can almost directly relate to yk? but after geothermal escapism its all gone, never mentioned again besides in call backs where they try to laugh it off/dismiss it..

oh my god and abeds 'girlfriend' was just sooo out of place she was mentioned like twice and then that was it.. they didnt need to do that it felt really forced

also in like season one abed sits in that fucking room for hoursss without so much as making a peep but then he looses his cool and yells at buzz in season five?? again troy just left which makes a big impact but its still smt i noticed

everyone just felt very bland in the last seasons after troy left at least… half the cast was gone, then replaced

idk im not like, ruined the show pissed at the end, but im also not a fan of s5/6 (besides like.. sum scenes, and like i mentioned earlier maybe s4 as well)

i have to binge tv shows so i dont always immediately retain all the information and i have to rewatch episodes a lot, but thats my thoughts immediately after finishing the show at 12 am, sleep deprived, and in a really bad mental health episode so theyre not well put together n shit and i wish i could remember more to go over but alas

theres my immediate thoughts,, im gonna probably sleep or restart community.. i was planning on starting interview with the vampire now but im thinking of starting black mirror so we'll see...

[vex03]

so many cobwebs in my brain it makes me physically fucking livid trying to dust them out.

i hate the feeling of self acknowledgement— i am at peace with the understanding that i have some (painfully) burning desire to create, but it annoys me that it is forever intertwined with the desire to be seen and heard. its insane, all i want is to sort out the tumbling words in my head, but i’m already caged in by the horror of the prospect of “taking myself too seriously” or worse, being perceived that way. like i’m some self absorbed pseudo-artist.

i’ve been having some constant internal meta-struggle with the concept of being viewed, as it feels like such a vital chunk of self expression these days. who’s cool? who’s not? who’s doing things that matter? who’s actually expressing themself rather than creating for the sake of acknowledgment? is what you make important? is it possible to want to express yourself if there isn’t an audience to talk to? is it even fulfilling? does anyone even do anything for themselves anymore?

just trying to get these thoughts out and sorted i worry someone will read them and be like. “ew why is she writing like she’s some sort of poet. who does that. stop trying to look cool when you’re not.”

or maybe that’s my own perception of what i’m doing. is it for the sake of self security? to vocalize the words i don’t want to hear from others? so that i can brace myself for them? or change what i do to avoid that? or is that truly what i think about myself.

i’m just trying to pull myself out of the fog of this past year’s sickness and process it- i miss being creative. i know it’s still in me. but will i ever have the power to do what i want when it feels like i need to dull things down for them to be successful? does everything need to be for a profit?

idk

e

[dulcewrites]

regarding aemond and aegon as brothers i fell into the trap because of all these fics where aemond kills aegon and becomes king and schemes with his wife to kill aegon and helaena children so aemond could be king that at some point i started to see it could happen in the show. in rook rest aemond could wait long period of time to make sure aegon will be hurt and aid him help after a long while because he is so obsessed with the idea of sitting on the iron throne. very few fics portray aegon and aemond as supportive brothers. do i need to mention all these fics where aegon's wife is lusted upon by aemond? or all these fics aegonxocxaemond?

Well… that’s in fics. I don’t care for the ‘aemma velaryon’ or whoever who is actually just a strong fics so I just don’t interact with them. I don’t care for fics where the kids switch sides bc Alicent is apparently the worst mother to ever mother so I don’t interact with them.

Though I understand the point you’re making, I’m of the belief that fics don’t always equal meta. It can but it also cannot. It takes on a lot of different lives. Some of it well done, some of it not.

Just because it is in fics doesn’t mean it plays in the show that way. I don’t think fics, even if it is by someone you like, should dictate how you see what is plainly in front of you. Not that much at least. It can be an interesting fandom tool. People can work through stuff through it, I know I do. But despite what some may think - but a lot of people aren’t doing that. They are writing for more… idk a word for it other than frivolous reasons. For example, l*cemond (ew) is one of the most popular ships to come from the show, and we know how that actually is in the show/book. If those people see it that way, that is their prerogative. Just like it’s yours not to read their (Aemond and Aegon) relationship that way.

[whitetrashjj]

i think it’s so fucking funny that even when you have similar setups (as seen in your recent gifset) bellamy/clarke look so much more like an actual couple who love each other than b/cho

That’s the whole ass point though isn’t it? I’m certain that if you showed that gifset to someone who knew nothing about The 100 and asked them which were the couple and which were the friends, they would at the very least hesitate before answering, if not answer Bellarke. It would not be possible to answer bec/ho without doubting it. 

And the fact is that it appearing that way is a conscious choice. Those scenes put the couples in very similar situations and show how they interact with each other and the truth is bec/ho do not stand up. Each choice; the timing, the framing, the focus, everything. was designed, written, shot and edited to be like that, it went though multiple channels, starting with Jason, then going though the writers, the directors, the actors, the editors and back to Jason, and that was all approved because that was what they wanted the audience to see. 

I know you didn’t ask for it but I’m gonna analyse those scene for a bit because I’ve been wanting to do it so here is the perfect opportunity. (this gif set if no one knows what I’m talking about)

So here we have the first one. Originally, this gifset was going to just be comparisons of how far apart bellarke stood in comparison to bec/ho so this was my starting point. These scenes were from the same episode - happened on the same day I believe. And first up we have bec/ho:

Not obnoxiously close but not far apart either, nothing worth calling out as a problem until you observe bellarke a couple scenes later:

These idiots are standing so close that Bellamy is actually on an angle so his arm/shoulder can go behind Clarke’s. Because simply standing arm to arm isn’t enough they actually have to over lap. Now to be fair - because I believe in trying to be objectively fair when making comparisons and not taking things out of context to prove your point - Bellarke had just hugged and bec/ho are simply standing in a crowd watching a speech. Now, I don’t know about you but after I hug my friends I usually step back at least one step if not a couple, I do not linger in their personal space the way I would if I was interested in someone. 

Compare this to bec/ho, who of course aren’t engaged in a one-on-one, but are in unfamiliar surroundings,  surrounded by unfamiliar and possibly hostile people and there is nothing, they aren’t lingering close, have a protective hand out to reassure the other, not even a look to check up on each other. Just looking at these two gifs side by side, it seems off... A little odd but not damning evidence? Let’s move on then. 

Comparison #2 looks at the comforting shoulder touch. Bellamy has just left behind his sister, the one person he has shouldered the burden of it being his responsibility to keep safe, and it’s more than likely that she will die. Clarke has just written a list on 100 people to save from praimfaya, damning 300 of her people, and thousands of other people, to death. In these scenes Clarke and Bellamy are in very similar emotional states, riddled with guilt, weighed down with an impossible burden, and emotionally distraught and exhausted.  So the person witnessing this does what they can to try and comfort them, place a hand on their shoulder to show their support, that they don’t have to do this alone and they are there for them.

We can see here that Bellamy barley responds to the touch, does not lean into is at all. He does look at E/cho briefly acknowledging the support and her attempt to comfort him, but he does not linger on her, quickly looking away and continuing to look dejected. This shows that while he appreciated the gesture it does very little to actually help him feel better. 

Compare this to Bellamy and Clarke:

Bellamy place’s his hand on Clarke shoulder to support her. Instantly we see the relief this creates for Clarke, her tense shoulders slump, her eyes flutter closed, not only does she then bring her own hand up to cover his but she leans her head on him. This shows how much his simple touch helped how, how it helped ground her and how he helped shoulder that burden without having to say the words. She not only leans into his touch but leans on it, she needs it, needs him and can’t get close enough to it. Not buying it yet? More comfort to come...

Once again we have comfort for similar situations. Bellamy found out that Clarke, one of his closest friends is dead. Clarke finds out that she can not say goodbye to her mother who she won’t see for 5 years, with a possibility of never seeing her again. So when Bellamy tell’s E/cho this he is searching for someone, something to make him feel better:

There are so many things to unpack here - for fairness some frames have been removed to remain under the size limit - but let’s start with Bellamy initiates the hug. Bellamy has continuously shown that physical contact, particularly hugs, is a big thing for him in terms of comfort. What he needed in that moment was a hug but E/cho makes no move for it - this is not shock related because she already knew that Clarke was dead - this proves that she doesn’t know what Bellamy wants or needs. And then the hug last for a grand total 5 seconds (with very generous start and finish times) before Bellamy pulls away again showing that it didn’t help ease his pain or make him feel better otherwise he would cling onto her as long as possible.

Let’s compare shall we:

There is a reason this is my favourite bellarke hug (we don’t have time to unpack it all right now). Compared to the hug above, however, it get so much better. First we have Bellamy instantly going to Clarke his arms open wide welcoming her in, knowing exactly what she needed in that moment without Clarke needing to say anything. Then we have the camera zoom in on Clarkes arms circling around Bellamy, clinging to him, signifying how much she needed him in the moment and how comforting it was for her. Clarke sobs into his shoulder being completely venerable with him and Bellamy closes his eyes grabs onto her and gently rocks them back a forth, showing how comfortable and how immersed in the embrace he is. This hug last’s for 15 seconds, and they only break apart because they were interrupted, otherwise there was no end in sight, even after that they linger clinging to one another for a further 4-5 seconds (times vary as it’s hard to say when hugging starts, and then finishes and lingering begins). Ultimately there is no comparison in these scenes, and the fact that they were shot this way with the much time taken for them is so telling, remember nothing you see on scene is an accident, everything has been designed that way.

Lastly let’s ring in the post with little reunion run and hug. In fairness Clarke thought Bellamy was dead, and Bellamy only thought Echo had been in enemy territory with no contact for a day or so - interpret that how you will. 

But here we have bec/ho:

They run to each other, they get to each other as part of a wide shot incorporating many other elements, they stop short of each other and say a quick hi, and finally they hug and kiss as out of focus shapes in the corner of the scene. A truly heartfelt, iconic and important reunion. 

The we have Bellarke:

We have Clarke sprinting at Bellamy, jumping on him, wrapping her arms around him, the only thing stopping her from getting to him was his body, we have Bellamy wrapping his arms tight around Clarke, and then multiple back and forth shorts of their smiles, them tucking their heads into each others necks, and closing their eyes in relief.

I don’t know what else I can say for this one other than, the emphasis put on the impactful reunion of two characters and what this means for their relationship, vs the emphasis put on the reactions of other characters (other character who simply hate having sun in their eyes) - speaks volumes.

I mean - if I wanted to I could find countless other similar comparisons, if I needed to but  I don’t think I need to. The 100 is a show with a high casual viewer ratings, this means you should be able to know the relationships by watching one episode and well, there is proof right there, Jason said himself someone would be able to start this show at s6 and know who loves who. Do you think anyone with has only watched Season 6 could reasonably put Bellamy’s feelings for E/cho above Clarke from only what they have seen on screen? I doubt it. 

[tachiisms]

sometimes I remember how in the Changing of the Guard while Siri was undercover and dressed in slinky skimpy dresses so tiny that she had to have Obi-Wan hold her lightsaber for her because she literally could not hide it anywhere, at no point does Obi-Wan, Anakin, or Ferus ( even in Obi-Wan’s or Anakin’s POV narrations ) comment on how hot Siri looks while dressed up all femininely and revealingly, and in fact the only comments that any of them make are on how her behavior at fitting into the role is jaw-dropping. Obi-Wan, for example, almost chokes on his tea when she flounces over to go flirt with a guard. Anakin and Ferus, for example, have a discussion being in awe of the fact that Siri is flirting and has gathered the attention of an entire group of men she’s got wrapped around her little finger and how she’s giggling and smiling and gushing at them. at no point do any of them sexualize her, or even have a “wow Siri looks really good all dressed up” moment.

and then on the other hand, you’ve got Jenna Zan Arbor looking judgmentally at the short length of her skirts every time Siri’s around, and planetary dictator Teda eyeing her like a piece of meat every time she’s around, outright ignoring the three men to attach himself to her side and link arms with her at every opportunity, repeatedly comments about how beautiful she is, tells her how he wants to have a “long, lengthy” lunch alone with her in his private rooms, and how he wants to show her the “pleasurable pleasures” of his planet. 

and it’s damn clear that Jude Watson did this on purpose to code how sexualizing women no matter what they’re dressed like is bad, and that friends and good people don’t do that. ‘cause only the two Big Bads of the book do it. ( so do a couple of their henchmen, but the point remains: none of the good or neutral characters in the book do it at all. ever. )

[boleynns]

i feel like some of you have never suffered through multiple seasons of your OTP having full-on romantically-framed relationships with other people, with no sign of the OTP getting back together and the only hope is in your imagination, and it really shows 😅

like, they are the main romantic pairing in this show, even when they aren't on screen together have had countless parallels between their individual scenes, have already made out on screen, and are guaranteed to get married and have children within the next 16 days. Them not being together for one episode, or caring about the other parent of their children who they've spent years with, is just so not any kind of reason to be worried or all sad about.

and to be a LOT more verbose in order to show you how easily the show could have framed Daemon and Rhaenyra's dynamic completely differently, if they really had wanted to go the "political" route or make Harwin and Laena more central romantic figures, please find 3k words of meta beneath the cut that I wrote while drinking cosmos at 1AM last night:

the writers SO EASILY could have adjusted the characters/storyline to be a million times less romantic -- and it would have been the more palatable and acceptable option for the locals too, so it would have been easier in so many ways. They so easily could have had Daemon be much more self-interested from the beginning, much more predatory and power hungry, and painted him as a person who was only interested in Rhaenyra for power -- but they didn't, even though that would absolutely have been a very easy decision to make given the General Audience's "ew incest, age difference, etc. etc." default settings. But they didn't!

That first scene in the throne room? Hell, maybe Rhaenyra has already been the heir for YEARS like she is in the book, so Daemon has a "reason" to be nice to her. When Harrold Westerling is shocked at Daemon sitting on the throne, have Rhaenyra look nervous instead of amused. Have their banter not be banter, but rather Rhaenyra being more uncertain and Daemon being more intimidating. Change the line-reading of "I brought you something" from genuine affection to a more cold, calculating vibe. Change Rhaenyra's reaction to him in general to be more nervous. Tada, the dynamic is now negative and predatory instead of romantic!

The funeral scene? Do not have Daemon comforting her, or trying to bridge the gap between her and her father, or even speaking to her in Valyrian. Honestly, don't have them interact here at all.

Dragonstone Bridge Scene? Have Rhaenyra be wrong about his motivations. Daemon is in love with Mysaria, they are getting married, she is pregnant, and that is why he wants the egg - and Viserys is the one who confronts him instead of Rhaenyra. Tada, no romantic "You know you could never actually hurt me, so where is this temper tantrum actually leading?" moment between him and Rhaenyra.

Episode 3 and its bloody and violent parallels between Daemon and Rhaenyra? Idk maybe that still exists because even in a scenario where the writers are trying to make their dynamic unromantic, they can't help but accidentally write romantic parallels without even realizing it.

Episode 4? Would need to be different in every single way. No way are they starting the episode with Rhaenyra listening to shitty suitors while playing with her necklace, or romantically gazing at Caraxes and Daemon flying after knocking her over. Maybe she is more focused on Crispin in this version -- during the suitor scene she's not wearing the necklace, but keeps looking at Crispin. On the boat when she's injured, she is flattered by Crispin's assistance. Post-family-barbeque conversation is more focused on her inexperience, and maybe even mentions her resistance towards getting married specifically to segue into her wanting Crispin. So then the Flea Bottom Date is really about showing her a Brothel so she doesn't feel intimidated to try and seduce Crispin. And The Brothel Scene itself? Well, no cutting between that and the Viserys/Alicent Sex Scene - because in the actual show, they were contrasting the lack of lust and choice between Viserys/Alicent with the major lust and consent of Daemon/Rhaenyra.

So in this non-romantic version, Rhaenyra isn't having that much fun. Daemon verbally convinces her to go to Flea Bottom with him, instead of just leaving her the disguise and a personal note/map for her to decide on her own. They watch the play, but he doesn't give her genuine good advice. No running and laughing through the streets.

Perhaps Harwin is even framed as an opportunity for rescue that she mistakenly doesn't accept, in order to set up that romance as the "real" love, where he has a little time to be like "I don't think you should be here, let me help you" rather than "LOL targaryens, have fun I won't tell anyone!". Definitely no smiling and holding hands.

And The Brothel? Do you know how easy that scene could have been framed so badly???

Like I said, no flattering contrast between that scene and Viserys/Alicent. Don't have Rhaenyra smiling or willingly following Daemon, but instead have her looking freaked out and uncomfortable and stuttering like "I don't--no, where are we going…" And once they are in the Sexy Times Room? Daemon's excuse in this version is to teach her to be more confident for Crispin, so instead of "I hate marriage, you hate marriage, but who cares because we want each other and we can do whatever we want" he would be like "Crispin would probably like if you did this to him".

And their first kiss(es)??? No, Rhaenyra will not be looking at Daemon's lips multiple times to indicate her interest, he will instead turn her around and surprise her with it. No cutting to Rhaenyra's hand clutching his neck, or Daemon caressing her lip while staring into her eyes - just Daemon moving her and her looking shocked. And obviously Rhaenyra is the one pulling away, not Daemon. In this version she is just an opportunity for power, and Rhaenyra is uncomfortable because she really wants Crispin -- so once they're against the wall she panics and runs away, and sleeps with Crispin in order to be comforted after the terrible evening Daemon put her through.

Episode 5: Daemon is a power hungry maniac who kills his wife, and shows up at the wedding to drive everyone insane. Rhaenyra is pining for Crispin, but turned him down with actual tears and sadness and is upset at marrying Leanor because of her conflict between wanting to do the right thing by her station and ruling, and her love for Crispin. There will be zero puppy-dog-eyed cuts between Viserys' speech and Daemon looking at Rhaenyra, but instead he will be glaring at Viserys. And when Rhaenyra's dancing? No heart eyes and clapping, just anger at Viserys for denying him more power.

And then, because even one-dimensional villains like Daemon need character growth, he ends up dancing with Laena. He looks genuinely taken by her, and there is direction/editing to indicate his attention being drawn away from "power" (a.k.a. Rhaenyra) to real emotion (a.k.a. Laena). Daemon and Laena have more than one five-sentence exchange, and Daemon is distracted by her even when he has his talk with Rhaenyra.

And his talk with Rhaenyra? He looks at Laena when Rhaenyra says "Marriage is only a political arrangement, I hear" to indicate that maybe his mind is changing about his previous words, because he's just met Laena. And Rhaenyra? Doesn't confront him on the impossibility of his romantic, if extremely unrealistic at this point, plan - but instead confronts him to say that he's ruining things with her and Crispin, and that his advice that she could have a side-piece when she's married backfired because Crispin doesn't want to be her whore.

All of this kind of framing could have led into a post-Laena-funeral world where Daemon is much more power-hungry and bitter from losing his One True Love, and a world where his and Rhaenyra's union is based in politics, like "Hey, I loved Laena more than anything, but you are the heir and I want power and you want power -- lets get married in the Faith of the Seven with the explicit permission of the crown and only have sex one time once we're married to produce an heir, and then we can just leave each other alone and the audience can be comfortable and grossed out by our union because we also don't like it".

I don't know if you've noticed, but that has not been the story so far.

Their scene's in episode 1? Immediate comfort with each other, to the point that Rhaenyra is making fun of Daemon to his face and he is happy about it, Daemon is literally walking down to her level and softly and affectionately bringing her a gift (WHEN SHE IS NOT THE HEIR BTW, HE HAS NOTHING TO GAIN FROM THIS), and connecting with her on their Valeryian heritage. He speaks with her at the funeral with absolutely no agenda other than comforting and trying to help her. Not to mention that they are the two main characters of this episode and are the first two dragonriders we see and…

…by Episode 2 the locals are expecting, and are completely correct to expect, that the main conflict will be Daemon vs. Rhaenyra. Because why would they not be the main rivals??? But they absolutely are not made to be the main rivals by the narrative. Rhaenyra is wearing that fucking necklace all the time, she immediately clocks that he has lied about getting married and having a kid, knows he won't hurt her, and confronts him about all of it AND gets back the egg -- because Daemon is a complete simp for Rhaenyra, even back then.

And Episode 3, the episode that they do not interact, somehow still pairs them up in romantic parallels!! Obviously the stabbing of the boar and the bloody walk through camps, paralleled with Daemon's beating up the guard/killing Crabfeeder and the blood-covered closing shot, but also Rhaenyra's whole conflict this episode is being unappreciated and uncared for because "no one is there for [her]" (and literally Daemon is not there) -- and Viserys, during a conversation in which he is like "Ok, fine, choose your own husband" also says how alike Daemon and Rhaenyra are.

AND EPISODE 4, ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME???

The episode starts with Rhaenyra playing with The Necklace while listening to suitors, a.k.a thinking about Daemon while being proposed to. You guys, this one scene would have fed me for an entire 22 Episode Season in shows-past. Like, FOR REAL?! SHE IS THINKING OF HIM WHILE ON HER "FIND A HUSBAND" TOUR OF THE COUNTRY. I am going to need you all to soak in that and appreciate it way more than you are currently appreciating it.

AND THEN THE BOAT. Daemon's nearest romantic "rival" in the narrative at this point is Crispin, and Rhaeyra is like "Fuck off with your concussion protocol, I want to stare romantically into the distance at my hot uncle riding his dragon."

AND THE THRONE ROOM. You guys, the blocking of Rhaenyra walking through the crowd and keeping pace with Daemon as he walked down the center aisle? I HAVE WATCHED IT 40 TIMES, and back in the days of network TV 24 episode seasons that would have ruined like 3 months of my life from the romantic tension.

and then Rhaenyra is like looking at him at the garden party? And he is staring at her as she wanders off being lonely?? And then he's soaking in the sun and she's ASKING HIM "WHAT DO YOU WANT?" AND HE TOUCHES THE NECKLACE HE GAVE HER AND SAYS "HOME, I WANT HOME, AND YOU, BASICALLY"???? and then gives her genuinely beautiful life advice that yes, her mother's death was a tragedy, but don't let that stop you from experiencing the best that life has to offer.

And then, with no pressure, gives her the option to meet him, takes her to a play that shows her what the common folk think (AND stares at her romantically without her noticing, AND gives her real Girl Power advice about people thinking Aegon II should rule just because he's a boy, AND tries to communicate to her that what the common folk think does matter).

Ok, and then The Brothel. Daemon obviously wanted them to be seen, hence the removal of the beanie because it would be (in his estimation) a surefire way to regain a position of respect by maybe marrying Rhaenyra. I think Daemon is good at planning exactly (1) step ahead, so I really do think he took Rhaenyra out initially after the Garden Party Convo in order to show her a good time, and then at the Brothel was like "…but what if someone saw her here with me and WE got married…". So all to say, he is impulsive based on how he's feeling: and he absolutely wanted Rhaenyra. But then it was ~INTENSE~~

Like, tell me, how often before has Deamon EVER been on equal footing with a sexual/romantic partner? We never even saw him and Mysaria kiss! We know now he and Rhea never slept together. So he has literally maybe ONLY slept with people who have been paid to sleep with him. And now he is here with the closest person to him, who actually cares about him and knows him better than anyone and who he actually cares about and knows better than anyone, and he's about to kind of use her to piss someone else off AND maybe to trick her father into marrying her to him AND because he wants to show her that she can have whatever she wants AND he wants her -- and that is all too much, because this is easily the most emotionally-involved sexual moment of his life.

So Deamon leaves, get absolutely hammered afterwards (because he clearly wasn't exuding "I am super drunk" energy when he and Rhaenyra were having their almost-sexy-times scene). And Rhaenyra is left horny and unfulfilled and sleeps with the first guy she sees.

And Daemon is beyond hungover, and yet is like "Rhaenyra is a grown woman, she can do whatever a man can do, out of anything in the world I want you to let me marry her". A more calculated and power-hungry Daemon would have not pissed Viserys off so much, maybe would have just manipulated Viserys to annul his marriage to Rhea Royce and made Rhaenyra "choose" him. A more calculated Daemon would have actually slept with Rhaenyra. A more calculated Daemon wouldn't have even taken Rhaenyra out on the town, but would have instead pretended to be nice to Viserys and just asked for Rhaenyra's hand without her involvement at all.

And Episode 5? Daemon, again thinking only one step ahead, heard Viserys' main objection to him marrying Rhaenyra: that he already has a wife. Great, lets just get rid of her! So he does that, but then is again confronted by reality through Rhaenyra's words: is he really going to ruin Rhaenyra's claim to the throne, make enemies of the Velaryons, end his relationship with his brother for good, kill a bunch of people, and exile them together in order to get what he wants right now? He acts off of emotion and instinct, but not in the face of Rhaenyra being like "Are you really willing to go as far as this will require?"

And that brings us to Episode 6, and beyond, which I haven't seen: the writers have done everything in their power to set up Daemon and Rhaenyra as THE main romance. There is no other romance in sight as far as the narrative is concerned, and both his and Rhaenyra's long-term partners are only going to be around for 1 episode as their long-term partners, even though they absolutely could have adjusted the timeline/writing prior to this point to make it like Laena and Harwin were THE main loves, and that Daemon and Rhaenyra were each other's consolation prize after the people that they really wanted died. But they didn't do that.

We are literally going to see Daemon and Rhaenyra getting it on right after his wife's funeral in like 8 days, and then by the end of the episode they are going to get Valyrian Blood-Mixing Hardcore Married right in front of our faces. They could have had the same boring-ass wedding ceremony with the same boring-ass vows as every other couple in this world, but they are going to do some insane "our souls and blood are bound for the rest of eternity" kind of shit!

The first 5 episodes of this show have ONLY framed them in a romantic light, even though they could have easily chosen not to. So I beg you, stop falling victim to your pessimism and just enjoy what is happening right in front of your eyes!

ASoIaF is a tragic world, and this pairing is basically as "OTP Written in the Stars Insanely Romantic and Meant to Be" as a relationship could ever be framed, so just enjoy the ride and stop handwringing about any little hint that they had comfort from other people, that were the other parents of their children, for a single episode. They are allowed to care about other people, especially when they've been apart for so long! If anything, knowing what its like to love other people only makes what they have together even more special. Because they did have good relationships when they were apart, so they know what that is like -- and yet still they yearned for each other, and take the literal first possible moment to get together so they don't waste any more time.

tl;dr: this is a buffet of romance they are serving, stop ruining your own enjoyment of this awesomeness by falling victim to paranoia

[lannisterdaddyissues]

W - A trope which you are virtually certain to hate in any fandom.

And

X - A trope which you are almost certain to love in any fandom.

For the ask meme <333

omg aww @lauwrite1225 @fleurdufeu ty all for the asks!!! also @faeratil bold of you to assume you can retract your challenge just like that, watch me do all of them anyway

A: Ships/platonic pairings that you currently like a lot ok so thanks to @potatoesforsamoo i am simping on main for steven stone and flannery from pokemon which is such an obscure ship but she writes amazing fic for them!! i also love twiyor from spy x family rn! as for platonic pairings i'm obsessed with literally everyone in major. the father-son relationships in that show are EVERYTHING and i love the friendship dynamics so much. in my head i've written over 1 million words of meta about them

B: A pairing that you initially didn't consider, but someone changed your mind franky/nightfall from spy x family... i was a yuri/nightfall shipper for a while bc i thought it would be comedic and hilarious but i saw some art of franky and fiona and honestly it would be the FUNNIEST thing if he had a crush on her. they would be like fix-it felix and sergeant calhoun from wreck-it ralph if they were a couple i think. and i love it

C: A ship you have never liked and probably never will sheith i guess?? i'm trying to think of ships from fandoms im actively in but not sure. anyway yeah whenever i see sheith i'm like ew. not even bc of their familial dynamic, like i don't care who ppl ship or anything go ahead and ship them all you like i just cant see them together. it makes my blood boil for no reason at all. it might be bc i ship klance or smth idk i'm gross

D: A pairing you wish you liked but just can't i guess all the thomas ships in downton abbey but i just don't Like thomas that much and im not very interested in his subplots sorry... it seems like everyone who stans thomas is having a genuinely good time tho and i wish i could be one of them bc im starved for good fic in the dabbey fandom :(

E: Have you added anything cracky/hilarious to your fandom? If so, what? how easily you forget all the memes i made for tlk lmao... as for my current fandom i made this thread summarizing the entire plot of major through memes bc watching the anime made me so mentally ill. if u actually click on the second link tho don't read the tags i beg you... i thirstposted in there and it was bad

F: What's the longest you've ever been in a fandom? i've been in the fullmetal alchemist fandom for going on 8 years now and it's been pretty good. after that i was in the man from uncle fandom for 3 years or so

G: Have you ever had an OTP? If so, do you remember your first one? gee it was so long ago but i believe the first ships i ever actually shipped were like kimron and drakkgo from kim possible. the first ship i actually consumed content for was either shirogane and ichigo from tokyo mew mew or yullen from d-gray man i think. if we're talking actual brainrot otps tho then it was stony jdkfsjskfds

H: What is your favorite source text for fandom stuff? oh anime 100%! i watch so much anime its a wonder i haven't magically turned into an anime character already

I: Has Tumblr caused you to stop liking any fandoms, if so, which and why? h*zbin h*tel bc the fandom was toxic as fuck and the show is actually so, so evil...

J: Name a fandom you didn’t think about until you saw it all over Tumblr duh it's the gay pirate show and the vampire book club... i'm not in them but they ARE all over tumblr so i have to think about them obviously

K: What character has your favorite development arc/the best development arc? JOE GIBSON MAJOR JOE GIBSON MAJOR JOE GIBSON MAJOR!!!!!! I CANNOT EMPHASIZE ENOUGH WHAT AN INCREDIBLE CHARACTER HE IS!!! MY BRAIN IS SO ROTTED FROM THINKING ABOUT HIM ALL THE TIME OK YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHAT HE MEANS TO ME NONE OF YOU KNOW HIM LIKE I DO

L: Say something genuinely nice about a character who isn’t one of your faves ugh... ok aethelwold WAS admittedly really funny sometimes. i hated him but he made me laugh and sometimes i miss the levity he brought to a scene with just his overall existence

M: Name a character that you’d like to have for a friend alice from major!!! she's just so cute and i think we would get along super well i love her <3

N: Name three things you wish you saw more or in your main fandom content, content, and more content. the major fandom is a barren wasteland i hate it here

O: Choose a song at random. Which ship or character does it remind you of? the first song to come on was if u seek amy by britney spears... idk why but it reminds me of junior from major bc i think he would have the trashiest white girl taste in music i just know he would be belting out an impeccable falsetto in his fancy jag while bumping his hand on the steering wheel. i know it

P: Invent a random AU for any fandom (we always need more ideas) courtesy of ro i am still thinking about a major au where gibson adopts goro and raises him and junior together with momoko after shigeharu's death to atone for his mistakes. i just want gibson to be a father figure is that so wrong

Q: A fandom you’ve abandoned and why there are a lot of them so i can't really give one answer but like i said, the h*zbin h*tel fandom is so toxic i will never go back

R: Which friendship/platonic relationship is your favorite in fandom? GIBSON AND GORO ARE SO IMPORTANT TO ME!!!! despite their history there was never any lingering hostility or anything between them. they respected each other so much and took so much inspiration from one another and grew as people because of it. like gibson had been so arrogant and almost selfish in his debut eps but he transformed thanks to goro's influence and became such a humble and selfless person like even when he was dying he never put himself first. it was all about keeping his promise to goro, and making up for lost time with junior, and upholding the pride of his country, even if it meant putting his life on the line to do so. and in the last arc of season 5 we saw how he touched the hearts of fans all around the world with his resolve and i think it's so so beautiful

S: Show us an example of your personal headcanon (prompts optional but encouraged) major au where no one dies and everyone is happy that's my personal headcanon right there. bc if shigeharu had lived i actually think he and gibson had such potential for a rivals to besties dynamic like it was all there. in my heart shigeharu lived and he and gibson became reluctant carpool buddies during the little league arc. i just really wish they had been friends that's it. nothing else to see here

T: Do you have any hard and fast headcanons that you will die defending? toshi is so in love with goro it's not even up for debate he is in LOVE with goro!!!! also i think goro and alice dated for a little bit. i just need it to be true

U: Three favorite characters from three different fandoms, and why they’re your favorites roy mustang from fma/b, jaime lannister from game of thrones, and joe gibson from major. they're all war criminals (only emotionally in gibson's case) who are traumatized by the sins of their pasts but later redeemed themselves through their actions thanks to an excellently-written character development arc (in the case of jaime, this was all erased at the last minute. thank you d&d for your service)

V: Which character do you relate to most? KAORU MY BELOVED!!! i too am a spaz who loves sports but can't be normal if her life depended on it and i for one would LOVE to be goro's girlfriend so if she would just hand him over please <3

W: A trope which you are virtually certain to hate in any fandom i hate breakup+makeup/divorce+get back together aus i just can't stand the relationship drama smh

X: A trope which you are almost certain to love in any fandom slow burn mutual pining gets me every time its so basic. but if we are being oddly specific here then it's when a character who's the last person you would imagine to be competent in this type of situation is actually terrifyingly competent and you are So Confused and a little turned on right now like who is this and what have they done with [insert character here]

Y: What are your secondhand fandoms? succession, yuri on ice, she-ra reboot, attack on titan, mdzs and tgcf, and riverdale

Z: Just ramble about something fan-related, go go go! uhhhhhh i guess with the new pjo adaptation i'm a bit concerned with alleged racism in fandom spaces now?? so many people are up in arms about annabeth's casting like "you're racist if you don't support this casting!!" like it's not that we don't support it? i love that annabeth will be black in the show! it's great! but... in the books and the movie... she is still... a white character... and maybe... it's not so bad... if people PREFER the books and the movie... so they continue to think of annabeth as a white character as a result... like, it's not erasing black annabeth at all! it's just they will continue to think of annabeth as white bc it's the annabeth they know and love! either way, the character is still annabeth! same source material and everything! anyway that's it, people will probably come after me for this but i just wanted to say it :/

[leonum-matrem-blog]

.

[mermaidsirennikita]

Idk I thought the Bridgerton EW article was really lovely. Definitely the best one of the bunch so far. JQ’s books definitely do have a theme of family throughout, and the article alludes to Anthony and Kate’s specifically connecting over their mutual grief and wanting to evade love because of it.

Sure but why is it suddenly about family when Simone has had zero of the promo centered on her. Why was it a hot love story when RJP, who is lightskinned, was one of the leads against a white love interest? Why is it now a family tale with "allusions" to a love story when a darkskinned woman is one of the leads?

Like... I gave them a bit of the benefit of the doubt but it's getting ridiculous and impossible to ignore. She's being downplayed, and there's only one reason why I can think that she would be. I've seen her get asked more about the dog than about her character and the importance of her role on a story level and a meta level.

[shijas]

touched-starved megumi slowly being acclimatised to touch really lives rent free in my head.

like, his childhood was pretty all over the place, and he clearly spent middle school getting into fights and straight up brooding, so it’s make sense for touch in megumi’s mind to be associated with strength and violence and pain and vulnerability, the latter two things would especially be hard for megumi to live with i think???? i don’t really know how to explain??? but like we see that uncontrolled vulinerabilty, and leaving yourself vulnerable is like putting yourself on a wanted list for shamans. and so touch, in megumi’s eyes, should only occur with a few specific purposes and those purposes usually weren’t the most pleasant experiences in his mind. i assume people only touched him for: training/sparring, which is literally allocated time when someone can just straight up, inflict harm; someone deciding to fight him out of jealousy or revenge or fear or some sort of negative emotion; and in the worst case scenario people are touching him to heal him because in some capacity he’s weak, he was not strong enough to do whatever he needed to do without injury. i think healing touches, when the touch has to be gentle because fundamentally megumi is already vulunerable and already hurting would sting the most, like emotionally and physically because sometimes touch, even gentle touch, do he hurting tho... (this got long, but for how nobara/yuji break this pattern keep reading!)

and then nobara and yuji arrive and it’s like a hurricane of positive touching. yuji is affectionate!! physical touch is definitely a part of his love languages and so yuji just enjoys giving hugs!! yuji likes high fives!! and fist bumps!! and holding hangs while swinging them in the space between eachother while walking, even though it’s kind of childish. and megumi doesn’t know how to say no to these things, to the boundless enthusiasm that is yuji!! and he also feels a little guilty because he kinda dragged yuji into this world, away from his friends and the familiar comfort/touch he was used too. so megumi doesn’t like, consciously, try to stop any of the touch despite his general aversion. instead he indulges yuji to the best of his ability, because he comes to find that it’s not always bad and he doesn’t really mind; it takes a while to fully like not have a defensive, fight or flight response to the touches and he defo judo flips and sucker punches yuji over and over, because yuji is 1000000% a sneak affection attacker. the closest touch has ever been to ‘nice’ for megumi is probably healing for his stupid amount of serious wounds, and as both an apology and his first steps in reciprocation, megumi applies the gentleness of healing touches he remembers to the injuries he (accidentally??) gives yuji, because all he really about touch that isn’t supposed to hurt is how to rub softly against a spot that will probably bruise, and how to wrap or plaster a cut from a judo flip that led to some scrapes, he’s very good at icing bumps and twists and strains; and so they put themselves back together like that, and yuji keeps up his ‘surprise back hug events’ like they don’t straight up lead to a bruised sternum.

nobara breaks down the ‘touch is violence, touch is pain and pain is bad’-thing even faster than yuji, because she’s lived by her philolosphy as an affectionate puncher, a sweet kicker; she’s defo the type to bite your fingers and pinch your arm, but it’s well and truly out of all the love she cannot contain in her heart (which frustrates her a little bit so she will give you a sharp jab in retribution for feelings). what helps uncross the wires of megumi’s learnt behaviour (or maybe cross them idk) that ‘touch and violence and therefore bad’, is that her teasing and, honestly barely painful, ribbing is always interspersed by the softest of touches that aren’t tinged by the smell of antiseptic, blood or pity. this type of touch gets more frequent the more comfortable they get with eachother (think learning to lean on eachother post yuji death), like nobara will say ‘ew’ while forcing megumi to lay his head in her lap when they’re tryna catch their breath during training, and if his towel is nearby she’ll pat the sweat off his forehead and then complain about said sweat just because she knows he likes listening to her complain about mundane stuff; and she’ll make a million and one spiky sea urchins puns (did you know the japanese word for urchin is uni and linguistically meguni is a hilarious pun that i can see happening in canon) but is the first to rake her fingers through the mess of megumi’s hair, if she noticed he’s tried and hasn’t been taking care of himself. like yeah she throws her pens at him when he tries to help her with their maths homework, but her aim is so scary good it’s funny, and he can always throw them back and she won’t really get any more angry, and so they throw pens at eachother and laugh about it and nobara sketches random patters on to megumi’s skin with the pen she almost used to impale his eye.

anyway the point i’m getting at (probably incomprehensible into this mess of hc and meta) is: yuji and nobara come along, and suddenly, touch isn’t something that burns a little, isn’t something that spooks, isn’t something that requires the tightening of megumi’s jaw and his ribs and his spirit, and of course, sometimes it gets a little overwhelming (WHICH IS OKAY!! TOUCH AS STIMULATION IS OVERHWELMING SOMETIMES AND THATS OKAY AND VALID, EVEN IF YOURE AN AFFECTIONATE OR TOUCHY PERSON!!) and megumi needs to like take a couple of steps back. and they talk about it, because communication is key, and boundaries are healthy things to put in place, and by god the first years will try and build as safe and healthy a relationship between the three of them as they possibly can! and yeah they talk about it, and some days touch is too much for of them and that’s okay, affection, fondness, compassion can be shown in other ways, through other actions and they’ll utilise those a bit more as easily as they utilise touch a bit less, and slowly but surely, megumi becomes a lot less touch-starved and starts to seek it out on his own and initiate it in ways that are comfortable to him, like learning to braid hair so he can play with nobara’s or grabbing yuji’s hand first while their walking or just pressing his thigh into whoever he’s sitting next to in class and that’s fine and that’s good!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! and i’m very much attached to this idea.

bonus gojo (as per usual): when megumi became his ward, for obvious, bitter, reasons he wasn’t really tryna like touch. this kid. riling megumi up was easy enough with just words and i feel like firstly, teasing is a part of gojo’s love language in a mirror of how it’s a part of nobara’s (mmmmmmm gojo and nobara parallels are another brain worm that EATS me) and secondly, gojo goes through his own thing with touch, and like affection. as someone whose essentially raised on an absolutely, ridiculous, pedestal and then successfully surpasses even the heights of that pedestal to basically become a living legend AND the whole physical, literal thing with infinity or limitless (or whatever his cursed technique is i’m sorry i didn’t pay attention to the cursed energy explanation any of the times it came up) ANYWAY, so gojo and megumi probably both touch-starved idiots. but, like gojo does care for megumi, like as his student and as this kid he watched grow up, like ofc he does because he’s not a completely useless person. and so he definitely encourages nobara and yuji’s plan to positively reinforce touch in megumi’s brain and slowly, for fear of being straight up bitten, endeavours to extend the casual affection he easily applies to the other two, to megumi too. idrk the logistics of it, but i think it’d be cute for one day gojo putting his hand out to ruffle megumi’s hair, but like not imposing his hand, like it’s just out and about really, and usually megumi nopes or hisses or whatever other gremlin mood he’s decided to incorporate to the finite number of facial expressions he’s willing to make, but today he’s feeling charitable and lets gojo ruffle his hair, kinda like a cat ya know, like leans into it a bit in a very clear you have permission to pet!!!! and gojo’s just jojo sobbing through his blindfold like “oh my god my son loves me” and megumi is regretting not biting him.

[yexie]

as i read faraway wanderers i’m already trying to work out what bits and pieces of novel!canon i prefer to show!canon and vice versa, and i’m reading through @verycharismaticdragon‘s excellent meta posts to build my own opinions upon.

i haven’t finished the novel yet so i haven’t finished my thoughts yet, but as people who saw my post about “soulmates by choice” wenzhou can imagine, i greatly prefer the novel’s complete coincidental meeting of two random people to the show’s “and they were sect-mates” (bad joke ik). i did however read a meta post about wuxia romance tropes in word of honor, and this is one of them, so perhaps it was either a way to make tyk a more traditional wuxia story or one of (many) ways to hint at wenzhou’s romantic relationship despite the censors.

on the other hand, seeing as how i love women... luo fumeng and liu qianqiao own my heart and i love them as characters in the show. luo fumeng is also peak character design with the long nails.

and the third hand that just has “obsessed with xiejie liubo” written on it is gently holding show!xie wang very close to my heart. i’m not far enough in the novel to have met his novel counterpart yet, but i know that his and zh** ji**’s relationship (censored bcs ew) is very very different in the novel and he himself is just a completely different guy.

idk i don’t really have a point i’m making here i just needed to kind of air these thoughts out. this is in part due to the aforementioned wonderful blogger having tags on one of their meta posts that mentioned giving yby a lovely boyfriend and some newfound will to live, and seeing as my url is what it is, it sent me down a spiral of “i think i prefer novel!canon in general but you can pry show!xie wang from my cold dead third hand”

[dyketubbo]

(c! unless said otherwise) not to be a ranboo enjoyer but if ur weird about the discussion of "is ranboo working with dream while enderwalking" so you can protect ur blob boy i genuinely cannot understand you. its so weird that ppl still act like ew!ranboo and awake ranboo are Two Separate People and not the same person but awake ranboo is still effected by his amnesia + is relearning enderman culture and enderwalking ranboo has all of his memories including everything abt enderman culture and acts more like an enderman. we have it confirmed that he understands english while enderwalking, can even speak it, that he knows to keep secrets, that hes visited dream in prison often (until awake him tried to and banned himself from it), that he was there for the disc war finale, that he had tnt in the panic room, that he hid a disc (note: awake ranboo was the one to find it, we dont know if ew!ranboo wanted it to be found or not, if he wanted dream to have it or if he was even asked by dream to hide it), that he still wants to help, that he knows about the red banquet, and that the state can be activated by *fear*, not just sleep

and with all of that.. yeah its, more likely that he still really doesnt like dream? like im sorry dream enjoyers but no its not very likely for ranboo to actually like dream or to want to willingly comply even while enderwalking. itd be kind of a shitty secret (from a viewers pov) if ranboo was working willingly with dream while enderwalking even to present day, no manipulation involved, because we have "evidence" of him working with dream in the early days.... all uncovered by ranboo himself, while awake, and being known by the viewers to heavily assume the worse about himself and spirals very easily into unpleasant conclusions.

and not to bring meta into it, but from a meta standpoint- with a story created by cc!ranboo, who has continuously asserted ic and ooc that he doesnt want his character to be taken as being more than one person and has expressed a want to be respectful towards nd people- itd leave a very bad taste in my mouth if his character ended up being right about himself. his character has spiraled constantly under the assumption that hes a bad person, his character begs to be locked up for terrible crimes (that havent been truly confirmed by anyone but himself while spiralling. dreams traitor statement doesnt count, that was about him helping technoblade, and thats not what ranboo wants to be locked up for), his character experiments on himself after having previous intense discomfort, his character grieved tommy (who he knows suffered because of dream), his character married tubbo (who he knows suffered because of dream), his character has shown time and time again that even if hes often an irrational asshole he still *cares* so so much and just wants to enjoy his life, his character hates himself for uncomfirmed assumptions, his character has suffered because of his own mental health due to being unable to reconcile with the idea that he could have helped the person he hates the most

and people want him to be right? people want him to be right to hate himself? and they want it in a way where hes been *willing* to help the man who has severly harmed those that ranboo loves? thats.. gross. im sorry, but it feels so much better as someone who suffers from memory loss and heavy dissociation to have a character not be secretly a terrible person while dissociating and not remembering any of it. i dont think ranboo and dream have no relationship at all, but i dont think theyre allies, even while ranboo is enderwalking. not only would it not make sense for mr. "i pushed away all my allies because attachments make people weak, now tommy watch as i kill your biggest attachment and eventually kill you so i can revive you and become immortal gods with you this is totally not creepy" to consider ranboo a genuine ally, but after everything thats happened in the dream smp itd.. feel bad if ranboo was actually an ally to one of his best friends abuser. even when he has all of his memories of his interactions with dream, even when he has all of his memories of his interactions with tommy, even when he has memories of writing to tommy, promising him hed be there for him, helping him over and over and regretting that he didnt do enough when tommy died to dream, even when he remembers considering tommy to be his family, even when he remembers wanting tommy to move into his and tubbos mansion. even with all of that, he still wants to be an ally to dream? i truly dont think thats the case

at most, yes, possible that enderwalk ranboo helped him in the early days, and i think the tnt set off at the prison and the stolen nuke was him (though not to help dream, i think he didnt expect for the tnt to help dream nor do i think the stolen nuke was even about dream), but. i dont think he helped dream willingly, and i dont think he still considers dream to be good or an ally. i truly do think that ranboos story will end up with him realizing hes a good person, even if he did make shitty decisions in the past, even if hes not the best in the present. that he wont be seen as dangerous or see himself as dangerous. and i really do not think his story will paint dream in a good or even neutral light

like. idk. maybe its just me, but i think id enjoy a story where the severely mentally ill character is told/find out that theyre *not* secretly awful and an abuser apologist. ell oh ell