#i don't actually think these are spoilers anymore because the eps have been out for a while but still lol

[an-honest-puck]

a collection of highlights and viewing notes from 'Fools' because I don't have the time to liveblog while watching but I do have thoughts

HUMPHREY CAUSING MISCHIEF?!?!!?! WE LOVE TO SEE IT!!!!! <333

~and other bbc ghosts s5 ep1 spoilers ahoy!~

I love that Larry is the lone writer of this ep and Humphrey therefore gets to have the spotlight XD

fr tho, watching Humphrey giving Alison ideas was so deliciously cheeky and fun to watch!!!

that one camera movement where Humphrey plays the angel and devil on Alison's shoulders was *chef's kiss* brilliantly well played!!!

when the Captain realises that Alison's picking them off one by one and then immediately falls for her prank lmao

look! they let Ben run in the woods again! huzzah! he must have been so pleased they let him lol

we love a Ben Willbond take on the classic "clever girl" line 👌🏼

Thomas's prank was absolutely ruthless but the little shit (mostly affectionate) deserves it LMAO

actually as a sidenote, with any other characters (or perhaps in another show lol) this is potentially a rather romantic scene lol

but yeah nah the little shit deserved it XD

I love when the Captain describes Alison's 'next victim' as being "guileless, gullible, open-hearted to a fault" (patcaps stans were fed with this line alone lol) and cutting to Pat, as if Cap isn't sitting in the room with the most gullible ghosts of the crew- i.e., himself, Thomas, and Kitty XD

I'm sorry but Pat reacting to Alison's first attempt at pranking him by pulling out the word 'veracity' and how he describes how to cross-check your facts????? king shit XD

but also, that was lowkey the most intimidating thing I've ever seen Pat do wtf?! like the way he says "I'd hate for you to have the wool pulled over your eyes." and then the "ok?" freakyyyy lol

oh Julian you nincompoop lol I love all the time Alison's invested in these pranks btw- like making that video and somehow rigging something up on a laptop so that when Julian clicks the specific button, the video starts playing? is there an app for that or is that just Alison flexing some coding skills??? XD (I am personally fully on board the 'Alison flexes her coding skills' train lol)

0/2, Cap is not making any good calls in this ep XD

my fam and I like to play the game 'how many takes?' and that scene where Alison tries the finger-chop gag and Pat gives her a talking to is prime fodder for that game XD

ayo, gotta give a shoutout to the B-plot of Mike with the insurance investigator for recapping the end of season 4 because I was rusty tbh lmaooo

Fanny's two-part-prank was so good but also gotta love the permanency of permanent marker XD

OMG Humphrey's idea for Robin's prank - i.e. Larry just talking to himself LMAO but the way Humphrey showed Alison his plan was so deliciously devious XD

"DAMN YOU, COOPER!"

yo the way the A-plot and B-plot crash into each other is hysterical XDD

Alison, caught red-handed lighting a fire: *in the most level voice I've ever heard come out of Charlotte Ritchie's mouth* Hi, I'm Alison-

"Sorry. Sick in a bush..."

good onya, Joy Kielty! you da real one! and props to the soundtrack composers for that beautiful little piano interjection :')

ah man almost got all of them...

BUT OH MY DAYS SHE PREG-AN-NANT!?!!?!?! I can't believe the fandom was right on that one!!!!!! I'm anxious for her!!!!! pregnancies are scary!!!!! (I mean, I'm probably projecting because a friend of mine is pregnant and currently dealing with all the appointments, equipment, and physical symptoms of pregnancy, but still!!! growing new life is hard!!!!)

very very interested to see where them there are going with this...

but anyways this is a Larry episode and so of course the last word comes from Humphrey:

"did we get him?"

(my poor boi, someone pls pick him up :') )

[vegaseatsass]

My Stand-In Episode 10

Just a few scattered notes of things I have on my mind.

I have been very very very obsessed with the moment where Joe breaks up with Ming after Ming's mom went in on them. See, originally I took Joe at his word: He's tired. He's tired of the constant melodrama, the neverending battle just to exist. Ming and his family already killed Joe once, he just wants some quiet contentment and to not feel like he's fighting for his life every time he holds his boyfriend's hand. Honestly, I really loved that, that their breakup this episode wasn't a contrived fight full of blame and accusation, but was simply Joe realizing he's too exhausted and walking away.

But then it hit me like a load of bricks, that no, actually. Joe didn't end things in that moment because he wants peace and quiet. He left before Ming could hurt him again. He left because he didn't believe Ming would stand up to his mother or his family - or more like, he didn't want to let himself start hoping he could, and get disappointed. Since the funeral, Ming has been giving Joe everything he ever wanted Ming to give him and more (I mean if you don't count "respecting his boundaries" as something Joe wants but 1. Ming is kiiiinda starting to get there by the end of this ep lmao? 2. I'm talking about everything Joe wants to feel from Ming on a visceral level, more than what would make his relationship safe and sane). Ming has been telling Joe over and over again that he loves him, showing Joe over and over that he chooses him, showing Joe at every turn that Tong is nothing to him. No matter how much Joe or Ing push Ming or test Ming, Ming just keeps coming back and reaffirming his commitment to Joe, adapting to who Joe is now and offering him anything and everything he can give, sincerely, determinedly vowing to put him first. Joe has been trying so hard not to let himself want it or believe in it, but by the time they're in that meeting room with Ming's mom, he is back in honeymoon mode with Ming, truly starting to believe he gets to have the kind of relationship (two-sided. equal. where Joe is taken care of and spoiled and chased, not just the caretaker and spoiler and chaser) it used to feel too greedy to dare hope for.

And then Ming's mom reminds him of how easy (Joe thinks) it will be for Ming to pull the rug out from under him again, and send it all crashing down. Just like in his first life in honeymoon mode, when he realized Ming was here for Tong and not him, that this relationship that was making him feel so whole and safe was all a lie.

Like with something as big as breaking with a family that will never accept his sexuality, Joe has no instinct to "test" Ming or give him an ultimatum. I don't actually think it's with real disappointment in Ming himself that Joe gives up on Ming choosing him before Ming even gets the chance to try. I think Joe is probably completely sympathetic to the choice he expects Ming to make, and intellectually, doesn't begrudge it of him, the way he would (or should) begrudge so many of the actual terrible things Ming has done to him. But it still hurts so much to have reality force its way into their bubble, and remind Joe that even Ming trying his absolute hardest can't protect Joe from feeling that crushing loss again. So he takes himself away from the situation before it has the opportunity to hurt him again.

Idk if I'm getting at why I'm so obsessed with this, but there's just something to me about how happy Joe must have been feeling at Ming's side, to need to proactively remove himself from the situation to avoid getting his heart shattered like those mugs. Like "I'm tired" means "I can't do these high-lows anymore. I can't feel this good and have it taken away again." This is exactly why he's been trying so so so hard to freeze his heart around Ming: So he's not vulnerable to the particular kind of hurt he never recovered from in his first life.

And I just find it very moving that the source of that hurt this time isn't Ming making disastrous choices. It's something neither Ming nor Joe has control over. And Joe knows that! But it still hurts too much to hope and want things.

Meanwhile, Ming is like: Hope and want whatever you want, beloved. I am now Mr. Makes Shit Happen. I can do anything as long as you're alive in this world.

Which is another thing I've been thinking a lot about. Sol and Ming both trying to make themselves into these superperson supershields so things will be Different This Time, and smacking up against some natural end limits to their abilities. For Sol, no matter how hard he turns himself upside down trying to make himself into someone Joe can pick instead of Ming, the attraction will never be there, and Ming always WILL be there, reminding Joe of his feelings for him. For Ming, the limit on his absolutely determined devotion to Joe is his family. And Sol and Ming, both trying so hard to be bigger and more than they are, when they come face to face with their limit still refuse to back down. No matter how laughably futile it is.

To me, Ming standing there looking all tiny at the bottom of the stairs with his dad looming at the top is the equivalent of how manically out of his element trying to do the impossible Sol was in episode 9. But just like Sol, Ming can't stop now. No matter what happens in episode 11, Ming has to try to fight this impossible fight. Neither of them is willing to leave anything on the table after losing Joe once before.

Idk I wonder if they will have to work together before the end hahaha... we'll see.

I had more thoughts but this is once again a monster post so I will end by simply reiterating how amazing and hilarious I think it is that Tong tried to get Ming to pay him HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS OF BAHT for the privilege of removing the only source of happiness from his life. Like come to the meeting room, Ming! Let's make a deal where you go back to being depressed and alone, and give me all the money I want! Surely this will work out in a way where we can both walk out satisfied! The lion the witch and the audacity of this bitch <3 <3 <3 <3

[moii3]

My Candy Love New Gen Ep.7 Review!

Spoiler Ahead, Obviously

Another day, another short episode. I think off the bat, im dissapointed with how short the episodes are. I really think they need to get it together with the amount of content. It's just not enough and it doesn't help that we have to wait for almost a month every single time for a new ep.

I just had to point this out because since i've been replaying the Eldarya TO, i just started to appriciate how beemov games used to have longer, more filling, structured episodes and stories compared to now. Maybe this is too early for me to say since we are only 7 episodes in. Who knows? Maybe Beemov will actually start to have an enemies to lovers arc between the writers and the new gen game. Anyways..

The ep starts out with Candy complaining to my love Elenda (and soon the whole office) about how difficult it is to live with her annoying mom and sister. Seriously, we see from the flashback that Candy's mother basically insinuates that she didn't think she would have to live with her adult ass daughter in her house. Both Tasha and the Mother(i forget her name) were pretty rude abt it in my opinion. Instead of talking with Candy about house rules they just go on like nothing happened, and make it clear that she is just a guest. Not a part of the household.

Mentioning of TikTok was thrown in one scene for good mesure lmao

As they all hear the story, Devon decides everyone in the office should help Candy look for an apartment. They apperantly don't have anything else to do the whole day.

It almost feels like a little bit Mary Sue-ish. Everyone taking turns wasting their free work hour trying to find Candy an apartment, making it a competition seems comical and unrealistic. (not everything has to be so realistic but it's just ridicilous atp). They are literally racing to find this rich adult woman a place to live...

When it comes to the actual apartment hunting, Thomas's route was a roller coaster 😭. Since apperantly no one rents apartment to stinky stinky singles, LI s jump in to save the day, pretending to be our partners during the apartment showing.

Thomas had both me and the realtor gagged the whole time.

(sorry for the whack screenshots)

I was cringing big time

ma'am please be quiet...

A bit awkward? You're telling me..

Just as we think we are over with this, leaving the apartment, he kisses Candy.

I saw some people saying they didn't like how this kiss came about and i have to agree. He calls it "our little ritiual" , apperantly to convince the realtor. We know that's bullshit and it was kind of an excuse to kiss her. I don't like that Candy is in a cornered position to accept the kiss and it felt kind of unneccesary, no matter how hyped everyone was about it.

Like if this is the dude we will eventually gonna fall in love with& date, it's kind of a bummer that their first kiss had to be "fake". I know they thought of it like a little romantic game Candy had to play to get close to Thomas but i really think even for this it was kinda underwhelming.

I also saw other illustrations from different routes and Roy's has to be my favourite. I wish it was more romantic like that and actually made sense. Anyway..

Anyways, after they leave the house, Thomas gets back to the nonchalant attitude again (obviously) which, gagges Candy again.

Like i said, i don't really like how this kiss happened and i think even for Thomas this was kind of crazy.

If i was the realtor, i would honestly block their numbers and hope that Thomas wouldn't show up at my house to wear my skin the very same night. He deserves some kind of compensation.

I'm gonna keep doing these reviews no matter who reads them, this is for me and my ranting. But i hope you like it! Oh, I also will rate these episodes out of 10.

For my first rating on this series, I'm givinf this episode an underwhelming 5/10

Best part is that this ain't even about the house anymore, even realtor knows he fucked up and they are not gonna choose this house.

Until next time, xx

[thedecadenceofwar]

i've just watched the ep. 7 conversation with ben for the second time (spoilers)

it's a lot, and it's really fucking heavy, and this time just like the last i had to pause and walk away, especially because of the moment after charlie leaves.

ben hope in this season, somehow more than last, is extremely punchable. he smirked a lot, notably. but in this moment you want him –

to just take a step forward.

the thing about ben in that apology was that he really believed that he was being so sincere, that he had figured something out, and that once he apologized, it was all gonna be okay. but he still wasn't able to comprehend that what he did wasn't just bad, it was wrong, and it severely affected charlie (see the charlie spring spectacular for more). and he was so pitiful! "I just wanted something good. You were something good."

he says to charlie: "If I just had more time." he tells nick: "charlie didn't even give me a chance to figure myself out." his whole argument hinges on the idea that he WOULD have been better, that he COULD have been better, if only they understood that none of it was his fault, never his fault – charlie was the one who didn't give him enough time, or nick was the one who stole charlie. he's dead set on being the victim. the victim of his parent's disapproval, of charlie's impatience, of nick "messing up [his] life." he refuses, even in the apology, to acknowledge what was actually wrong, acknowledge his actions. he says, "I was a dick back then." "I'm a messed-up person, Charlie." why, ben? why? what did you do, exactly, that makes you such a messed-up person? he doesn't know. he knows what he wanted: "something good," and he knows that he fucked it up, because he doesn't have it anymore, so he must be a bad person.

and it's – in a moment, for a second, you feel really bad for him, because he's smiling a little, and he's so sorry, and he really liked you, charlie, you know that, don't you. but then charlie speaks, and you watch his face fall, and fall, and fall. because he wasn't expecting charlie to call him on his actions. you can call yourself a bad person and get away with it until you face your actions head-on, and charlie is a collision.

here's the thing: ben says, "I want to be like you two, but my parents would never accept who I really am." but then when he's alone, with no one to see him but himself, faced with a safe space, one that is literally, narratively, welcoming him, he walks away from it. the waves lap at his feet. he could take the first step towards being better right there. redemption, right there. and goddammit, you're supposed to WANT HIM TO! because without knowing it he's hit on the theme of the season: be who you are on your own terms. being honest with yourself, by yourself, is the first step. and ben can't.

if ben wanted to apologize, he would have taken charlie's explanation, and he would have walked into those waves, and taken a chance on being honest with himself. but he just wanted liberation. he just wanted forgiveness. he just wanted to stop feeling bad about himself for long enough to feel good about being the victim.

ben hope is a tragedy. alice oseman and the writers know that most of heartstopper's audience is queer, that most of heartstopper's audience knows exactly what it's like to take one step forward into a queer space for the first time, and the terror and bravery that accompany that. you've been there, faced with a choice, walk forward into freedom and light – or walk backwards into secrecy and darkness.

And Ben makes his choice.

I think sometimes that becoming a better person means walking forward even when you know you don't deserve it.

[lookismaddict]

Lookism Chapter 437 Memes/Thoughts I Have:

(SPOILERS !!! I don’t own any of the Lookism panels and the translations. Only the memes that I made.)

Sorry guys, late once again because I had a test today. But damn… Jihan ambitious? 👀

DAAAAAAAAAMN, THAT’S RIGHT. GET BITCH SLAPPED!!!

TELL ME WHY THAT PANEL REMINDED ME OF THIS??? HAHAHAHAHAHA THEY HAD A WILL SMITH AND CHRIS ROCK MOMENT. 💀💀💀💀💀 I BET PTJ USED THIS SCENE AS A MODEL. BUT IF HE REALLY DID, THEN IMMA BE CRYING TEARS.

Damn. So, my question is... are they all brothers or something? And how are they even family related? Is he their uncle? Am I missing something here? 😭😭 Can one of y'all let me know who this Jichang mf is to them? *am confusion* (Update: I forgot "Hyungnim" is a term for older brother. My dumbass... ignore me. I haven't been watching k-dramas anymore so I forgot. My bad.)

OK MAN, LISTEN. LISTEN, LISTEN, LISTEN... I DO ADMIT. YOU ARE ATTRACTIVE. BUT IF YOU DO THAT TO JAY ONE MORE TIME, I SWEAR. IMMA-

This dude is thriving now, but when Jay pummels him... WHEEEEWWWWWWWWWW I CAN'T WAIT TO SIP OUTTA MY FANCY ASS WINE GLASS JUST TO SEE HIM ON THE GROUND.

YEEEESSSSSS JAYYYYY!!! ATTACK HIMMMM!!! BEAT HIM WITH SYSTEMA!!! 😤👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽 Omg, I can't wait to see him use Kali Arnis. represent 🇵🇭

Oh, sorry. Those were my boobs, my bad. It caught you off guard tho, right? 👁👁

Um... B O I. Your picture would appear under the word "ignorant" because you have no idea who you're messing with. 💀💀💀 YOU'RE LITERALLY, FIGHTING WITH H GROUP CHAIRMAN'S SON. WDYM? You have no idea how much power this kid has, let alone his own PROWESS. 🤡 Also, if this boy Jihan doesn't stop wrecking Jay...

Get it? Since, Jay is already HARMED... then Jihan is about to catch these MF HANDS EITHER WAYYYYY!!!! 👊🏽👊🏽👊🏽👊🏽👊🏽👊🏽👊🏽👊🏽👊🏽

BRUH, I'LL END YOU! TF???

Oh great, it's the smartass twink again...

Has anyone noticed how big Mandeok's hair is? That it's even protruding out of the panel? PTJ you comedic genius...

Oh, wouldn't you like to know? Eugene...

Damon Goh's rubber duck must know some secrets. I bet it even knows the secret to the two bodies AND stuff about Charles Choi. You never know where it might have gone off to. Ooooouuu, it said, "I'm a detective." 😎 And I love how goofy Mandeok can be, even when he's unintentionally funny. Like, man's got the humor and all without him even knowing. (For instance, there's a panel in Ep. 373, which was the chapter when Daniel moves into the Workers' Casino and both Eugene & Mandeok welcome him. Then all of a sudden, Mandeok just grabs onto Daniel then physically shakes him upside-down because Eugene said it's for security purposes. 😂)

SO YOU'RE SAYING THAT THIS DILF IS ACTUALLY A FRIEND OF ALEXANDER SOPHIA'S???? OMGGGGG BRUH. YOU HAD NO IDEA HOW I SCREAMED WHEN EUGENE MENTIONED PARK JINCHEOL. HONESTLY, I LOVE THE PTJ UNIVERSE SM. CONNECTING ALL WORLDS INTO ONE LIKE THEY IN SOME MARVEL UNIVERSE. 😭😭😭

DON'T MIND ME SKIPPING THE PARTS WHEN JAY WAS GETTING BEATEN, BUT YEEEEEEEEEEEE BOIIIIIIIII. TIME TO GET WACKED!!!!! 😆😆😆

"To think you'd look for a woman late at night, Jay Hong." ... hmmm. That line really stuck with me. I've been rereading that over and over again to the point that I lost count. So... does Alexander Sophia know or had a feeling that Jay is...? 😳

AWWWWWW HELL YEAH, THERE'S AN UPGRADED VERSION OF ALEXANDER'S KALI ARNIS!!! THAT'S SO COOOOOOL!!! 🤩🤩🤩

YEEEEEEESSSSSSSS JAYYYYYYY!!! YOU DID ITTTT!!!! I love how Jay has such a big heart. Even though Jihan is an enemy, he still considers his health. He even knows his own POWER TOO AND WHAT HE'S CAPABLE OF. ALSO, HE ISN'T AS WEAK AS HE WAS BACK THEN. LIKE DAAAAAAAAMN JAY, YOU GOT SO STRONG!!! AM PROUD. 😩😩💖💖💖💖💖

GOD PTJ, DON'T MAKE ME CRY HERE. YK I AIN'T READY FOR A SOB FEST. 😭😭😭😭

I TOLD Y'ALL, IMMA BE SIPPIN ON MY WINE GLASS. GOT THAT ROSÉ IN HAND, EXTRA FRUITYYYY. 🤪

Yeah bro, it's some sexy pervy illiterate demonic Enemy of the State Japanese Yakuza mf named Jong Gun Park.

OH LOOK, THERE HE IS! HI BAE, I MISS YOUR PSYCHOTIC ASS!!! 😩😩🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤 DON'T MIND YOUR SON GETTING YEETED BY A 1ST GEN KING. HE'LL BE FIIIIINE... hopefully.

AHHHHHHH SHIIIIII. NOW IT'S DANIEL'S TURN FOR THE SPOTLIGHT. What if Hudson and Jay come to the rescue when Daniel is at his lowest while fighting Jichang? Well, that's one of my guesses on what'll happen in the future. But, I have faith in Daniel. I hope he'll knock Jichang down a peg, next chapter. Well, until next week! 👋🏽

God, I hate how I'm busy on Thursdays now. Almost every week, I be posting my reviews super late now. Smh me. Sorry guys. 😓

[bluginkgo]

Welcome to another Ginkgo rants show. I am your host, and today I'm talking about:

What the f*ck is thiiiiiis!!!?

Spoilers, duh

Many people have talked about this specific scene- and given that I only came to murder drones when Amazing Digital Circus released, I'm quite late, whoops. But I still wanna take a shot at what the hell that thing is.

Of course, Cabin Fever episode is followed by Home, which answers the question as to who it is... sorta.

It's one of these guys. I can see why people could think that the shadowy figure is Cyn. She has the same bow and hairstyle Tessa has. But I will have to side with that was Tessa. Cyn's hair is slightly longer, reaching further down than Tessa's.

Then next question would be: wtf is she doing there? When Uzi first shines her light at the shadowy figure, you can just barely see how the image glitches/rolls just ever so slightly. And the next frame is soon followed by the classic absolute solver hand.

Why do I believe it's a solver hand for sure? Later on Tessa herself said:

"Too tall, handsome, and air is toxic." I am still very skeptical about this black dot/head/⚫️ Tessa being the real Tessa. But her comment stands. Air is toxic on Copper-9 now. Which does make one question as to how the trees are still around then, but I can't get that sciency without hurting my own brain.

So the hand we see, has to be Absolute Solver seeing as it was the only thing capable of creating biological matter in this toxic environment. Further backed up by the fact that the image that was supposedly projected was Tessa, must be also Absolute Solver's doing.

Another question then arises, why did Absolute Solver show Tessa to Uzi? And where did this Absolute Solver come from?

Goodie! Look at that, Doll is here along with them! Although it does make some sense now, it raises even more questions. We did see Doll is very good at using Absolute Solver to the fullest- seen with her fight against the trio in The Promening. But that doesn't quite answer how she was able to project a whole Tessa? It has been seen that Absolute Solver has a hive mind/cloud based system with the comment it made:

"More like you are our cute puppets. It hurts our feelings when you don't remember us."

Absolute Solver knows that Uzi is a potential host. And it knows that Nori was her mother and also an Absolute Solver host- and easily probably knows Doll is also a potential host. So it does make sense that it can create an image of Tessa, but does not quite explain as to why Doll would be able to do this too. Doll might actually have the ability to create holograms of people she's seen, that could be a great possibility and a tactic she might use in eps 7 and 8.

Perhaps, she might be slowly getting posessed by Absolute Solver? Yes, possible. But then why is she still trying to get to the labs? Doll believes that down in the labs she might find something to help her with the Absolute Solver and perhaps help Uzi too. But wait, how the frick is THIS:

HELPING?! Give me a sec. Let's say, yes Doll was the one that created the mirage of Tessa (because we honestly have no other leads, or ones that I can think/see of right now). That might have been her attempt at luring Uzi in to work together.

Doll has strong vengeance against disassembly drones, so she wants nothing to do with them. But she appears to not mind helping Uzi... but Uzi hangs out with disassembly drones all the time. So best way to lure her in would have been using Tessa- a figure she's never seen, and an absolute solver hand- which she has seen. But she fails to lure Uzi in because V distracts her.

Then why did Doll partner up with Tessa? Tessa had J at her side, a disassembly drone. How about we narrow it down even further. Doll only teamed up with Tessa and J because a certain someone wasn't there. And once she appeared, Doll booked it. Yup, it was V. When Doll saw that all three knew each other, she wanted nothing to do with the gang anymore. Even further, the moment Doll released all the sentinels, she was still trying to get V back for murdering her family. And ouch, uh, Doll why. That moment had me sobbing, excuse you.

So in Doll's eyes, she's helping Uzi. In our eyes, she's antagonizing the group and not letting them get to the labs.

Wow, I veered off course real quick. But my point stands. As much as I'd like to think that the image of Tessa was created by Doll, it's a 50/50 shot. But you know who we still haven't seen? That miiiiight have made the image of Tessa?

Oooop, hello, howdy, hey. I know a stretch, but I've got nothing else honestly. Doll might be pulling a Nori moment, where she was briefly posessed by Absolute Solver enough to cause a hologram of Tessa, or just tapped into the Absolute Solver's hive mind to see what it knows thus far.

As per usual, feel free to gut my theory... or rant? Idk what this turned into.

[whyawonderwhatudo]

Okay so I HAVE to talk about the newest ep of Helluva boss, Full Moon.

Spoilers for anyone who hasn't seen it yet.

I really loved the episode but damn did that last scene hurt! Going into the ep I kinda had the idea that the whole episode would feature around stolas and blitzø, so you can imagine my surprise when we saw the Cherubs!

Ngl, they always seemed holier than thou (pun intended) but its so interesting to me to see how 2 of the cherubs would justify their 'sins' and want for revenge, when angels are all supposed to be about love and forgiveness. Kinda hope Colin has some kind of redemption, the other 2 cherubs treated him awfully.

Loved how badass Luna was this episode tho! Was so worried they'd actually attack Blitzø only for Luna and M&M's to beat them back to the human world.

Also we love Fizz and Blitz' friendship!!

Okay but that whole conversation between Blitzø and Stolas was heartbreaking. It was so clear how apprehensive Stolas was while waiting, twiddling his thumbs and sitting on the bed, and he's been prepping himself for this talk all day.

And so has Blitzø, but he's come with the expectation of their transaction, and added with the addition of what Luna had said about him getting bored and no longer wanting to continue, of course he's scared when Stolas asks for the book back.

Stolas was so determined to make sure Blitzø understood how he felt, no longer wanting to make Blitzø feel obligated to sleep with him to get something out of it when he said 'Please don't say it like that.' Stolas probably felt this was the right choice more than ever when Blitzø said he'd do anything. And then look how sweet stolas looked when he was giving him the crystal.

This made me so sad because Stolas was so clear, in his feelings and intentions. Even with the crystal, Blitzø asked whether he wasn't good enough anymore or not, showing he does care. He was looking forward to his night with stolas, having preparing for it and doing a whole shopping trip. They both care, but because Blitzø could never believe Stolas actually loved him, he thought Stolas was joking.

It was so hard to watch when Blitzø started to mess around, thinking it was some kind of role play saying 'I love you' and all that, you could see the hurt on Stolas' face.

To be fair to Blitzø, he did need a moment to comprehend it was an actual confession, to truly see Stolas' feelings because it was such a contradiction to what he thought, but Stolas was so clear, of course he would take the joking as rejection, as Blitzø couldn't understand what he was really saying, until it was too late.

We can understand why Blitzø may have lashed out, thinking the way he does, but his words, his name calling of Stolas was so heartbreaking, you could hear Stolas' Heart and hope shatter when he said 'I think so highly of you Blitzø. I had no idea you thought so low of me.'

The miscommunication....

It's only after he can hear Stolas crying does Blitzø really get the memmo, he sees how he's messed up, but of course Stolas was so hurt, he wouldn't want to see Blitzø after that.

This was just so in character for them, to me at least. Stolas said everything right, but Blitzø took too long to understand his emotions, he lashed out and only after he lashed out did he understand what he did. By that point it was too late and Stolas sent him away....

I knew this breakup was coming, but I did NOT think it would hurt this much. Poor stolas..

Thanks for reading my ramblings lol, feel free to add to this with your own thoughts and opinions!

[alicenightingale]

Percy Jackson Review/My Thoughts

SPOILERS FOR THE PERCY JACKSON SHOW AND BOOK SERIES!!!!! READ WITH YOUR OWN CAUTION!!!

I Accidentally Vaporized My Pre-Algebra Teacher

The opening scene is absolutely perfect. 10/10 Uncle Rick.

Please, please, please, pleeaaassseee tell me the Pegasus on the rooftop was Blackjack. I am begging.

Sally told Percy, "Not everyone who looks like a hero is a hero. And not everyone who looks like a monster is a monster," foreshadowing to Medusa.

Gabe is more of comic relief and I'm not sure how I feel about it.

Sally Jackson listening to Logical by Olivia Rodrigo is the best because 1. I love that song and 2. she's listening to it in the rain.

d'Angelos sandwich shoppe?? Like Nico di Angelo? Please, please, please, please, please.

"You fell in love with God? Like Jesus??!" crying laughing. "A God..." followed by Sally sloppily trying to tell Percy he's a half-blood

No, mom, I'm not a God's kid there's something wrong with my brain. OMG I didn't know whether to laugh or cry in this scene.

"Grover, why is there half a goat in your PANTS?!?!" "So the important thing is not to panic."

"Is that the (voice crack) Minotaur??" Oh my, Walker you are perfect.

"I'm actually 24.." This had me rooollling.

Sally is already badass and I can't wait for The Last Olympian when Mama Jackson is shooting monsters with a GUN.

Grover swearing to Sally that Percy would be safe made me sad but it would have been 100000x worse if he swore on Styx.

"You are not broken, you are a miracle, and you are my son. Hold fast Percy."

Sally evaporating into dust hurt watching a lot more than reading, and

OMG OMG OMG baby Percy holding riptide and it glowing and my heart is crying I can't tell if it's tears of pain of joy but my heart and my eyes are crying.

"He's the one." "Hush, Annabeth." I was hoping to see her but we don't see her yet lmao

The end credits scene looks a lot like the same illustration for the covers of the paperback books.

When I saw this ep was only a half hour I was genuinely disappointed.

Dior's acting in this and her emotion when Clarisse's spear broke is perfection.

Never picked up on Annabeth calling Percy Sunshine

2. I Become Supreme Lord of the Bathroom

My first thought: scary lightning and delirious Percy.

My second thought: "You drool in your sleep," Annabeth said, arms crossed and glaring at Percy while Percy is confused.

My third thought: this is the scene in the books where Percy notices Annabeth looks like an actual Princess lmao.

Camp Half-Blood t-shirt!!! I want one and it looks soooo cooollll

PETER JOHNSON !!!

Dionysus and Percy already getting into it lmao

Dionysus is funny.

"Actually, I think I can, son." "Dad?!?!"

Chiron is sooo tall I never realized how tall a centaur is.

Chiron telling Percy he isn't his son is the funniest thing.

But imagine Mr. D doing that to all the kids lmfao

I love the waterfall that is shown

I want to see the strawberry fields...

Never surrender riptide, Percy. Never

12 cabins for 12 Olympians (for now; the Gods banished Zues and he doesn't have a cabin which is completely unfair. And only a few would be occupied. Zeus, Hera, Poseidon, and Artemis are empty).

OMG Luke I hate that you're going to betray Percy like thatttt

Who tf is the wood nymph Grover talks to? And will she be the one to introduce us to Juniper?

Introduced to the Cloven Council early and we find out about Sally Jackson really early.

"I don't want to lie to him anymore," and we love you for it Grover. You are a schmol bean too pure for this world.

Luke comforting Percy

Percy already wanting to Gods to pay their child support is the best thing in the world.

Clarisse is so pretty and I love her.

Percy not being able to be good at archery is a great detail from the books.

I can't tell if I'm more in love with Luke, with his morally greyb self, or Chris Rordiguez because Damn he's fine.

Percy praying to his mom :'(

"He can ignore me but he doesn't get to ignore you."

The Ares kids are so mean and then they got their butts kicked by Karma lol

Clarisse def knew that he was a Poseidon kid or that she was gonna kill him.

I love Annabeth and how Luke is always on her side.

The Yankees cap !!!!

Literal war between red and blue lmao

Luke saying "When it's time, he's gonna be ready. I know it," immediately followed by Percy flossing, peeing, petting a lizard, and laying doing nothing is the absolute best.

Percy being naturally good at sword-fighting is the best.

Dior's acting when Percy breaks Clarisse's spear is great and Walker said in an interview that when the camera pans back to him he was actually scared.

Annabeth: Offers Percy her hand. "Listen, Percy... I'm sorry." And then him immediately being claimed

This is a change from the books because she didn't know who his father was and wanted him to be a Zeus kids.

Everyone else: OMG you're Poseidon's kids.

Percy: I'm Sally Jackson's kid, actually mf

"I am Sally Jackson's son!"

Percy immediately going from "good luck finding three idiots to complete this quest" to "When do we leave."

3. We Visit the Garden Gnome Emporium

Walker's voice cracks are so adorable.

Am I the only one who was confused when Gabe showed up as the Oracle???

I love that Percy immediately chose Annabeth bcuz "I don't see us ever being friends"

Grover talking to a Pegasus is the best thing ever.

Why does Poseidon's cabin have a pool in the middle of the floor? Seems like a hazard in the middle of the night.

Yayy, Golden Drachmas.

And the shoes, curse those converses.

We actually get to see Luke's scar in this ep and i feel like in the books it seems a lot more... seen rather than just a thin line.

Thalia's treee

I hate that Grover often talks about himself in third person when he's not proud of something.

"Does she think she's in charge?" "Who else would be in charge?" Smart answer, Grover. Smart answer.

And we all already hate zeus

CONSENSUS SONG!!!!!!

"I really hate to be the tie breaker" lmao

Annabeth getting all the snacks.

And then immediately noticing a fury is how we all knew she was Athena's kid before we were even told.

Yayy, Alecto is back. And she went after Annabeth? Not Annabeth, Luke, and Thalia?

Annabeth's knife hits another Fury in the chest and dies.

I love Jessica Parker Kennedy's Medusa. she's both flawed and the victim and I couldn't decide whether to hate her or root for her. Like I love her outfit.

I would eat the hell out of the cupcakes lmao.

"Do you think it's safe to eat?" "Percy, I'm not gonna lie to you I'm really hungry and I'm willing to take that chance." Grover, I stan you.

I absolutely worship Medusa's story. It's so sad. And while she is telling the story, if you focus on her hair, you can see the snakes moving on her head.

Oh, Percy, my sweet, sweet boy. Of course you would help. Future wifie is like "Uhm, no. We need to leave."

I love the color of Medusa's eyes

Ohhh, these pre-pubescent kids fighting and making up is adorable <3

"They will see this as impertinent." "I am impertinent," another quote from the book.

Percy singing consensus is everything.

Min Manuel-Miranda is Hermes!!!! I love that man. "You guys are not gonna believe this."

4. I Plunge to My Death

This episode caused the most of my tears

Baby Percy is sooo cute I swear he is my life. I love the flashbacks. Except when they turn bad like this

Annabeth's story is identical to the books from what I remember

We find out Grover's interest in Pan a lot earlier than in the books. We don't see that until at least book 3.

We get to see the echidna. I really wanted it to be the Chimera to look like a poodle.

I hate Athena because she sent the echinda into her temple because annabeth "embarassed" her. Like really? Worst mother of the year.

Percy looking deathly ill breaks my heart.

Grover is literally me when I don't get enough sleep LMAO

The start of Percabeth's bickering and joking!!!

"It's like you need me to make fun of you."

The Policeman looks familiar.

Annabeth looking legit offended when she was called a little girl

The male police officer is played by Alessandro Juliani who plays Sinclair in the 100 on the Cw, another great show 9/10, highly reccommend

Percy and Annabeth bonding over Grover and their parents is adorable.

"careful I think you were about to call me a friend." more bickering and joking

Percy pulling a reverse uno card lmao

The fight with the chimera was terrifying but so worth it. Also why do you out my bby boi through this torture Uncle Rick???

Also the naiad?? what was with that? Why can't Posei-don't-wanna-pay-my-child-support just face Percy himself. That's gonna be a fucking emotional scene.

5. A God Buys Us Cheeseburgers

Percy climbed over the rail and was like : Hi :D

Thought Annabeth was gonna punch him not hug him but my percabeth heart was a puddle of fluff.

OOH. What's in Santa Monica?

Our baby is a fugitive.

Our three babies hiding behind the cement block from Ares: No we're good, thanks :D

Percy freaking out bc he thought Annabeth was freaking out she hugged him.

In the books Grover was always on Percy's side, but I love seeing him not choosing.

Ares is not as terrifying as I thought he was in the books lmao

"That's my cousin?" Percy said it with such disgust in his voice lmao.

Ares and his Twitter fights lol

Annabeth is fearless. I love it

Ares and Percy immediately having beef is the funniest thing because (in bellatrix voice) I KNOW WHATS GONNA HAPPEN! I KNOW WHATS GONNA HAPPEN! I KNO-

First use of Celestial Bronze!!

Annie geeking out over the mechanisms after trying to make a joke lol

WHAT IS LOVE? BABY DON'T HURT ME, DON'T HURT ME. nO MORE!!

Hephaestus was not at all ugly like Rick made him in the books. Or like Greek mythology made him.

The whole Tunnel scene was beautiful and sad and I love it

Grover and his psychological gaslighting is my world

"Percy stand up, I mean it!" and then him repeatedly saying he was ok broke my fragile heart.

Annabeth "I'm not leaving for my friend" is my favorite Annabeth.

Annabeth just likes to tell off Gods. Go off Queen!!

Percy likes to fight Gods lmao

"So thank you for the emotional abuse and the cheeseburgers."

6. We Take a Zebra to Vegas

Have seen TikToks where Nico and Bianca's names are called out and I will keep an eye and an ear out for it.

Why did they have to make Hermes an obstacle? He wasn't at the Lotus in the books!

Kronos is kinda creepy ngl

Iris message to Luke! In Chiron's office??

"Toss it, Seaweed Brain!" EEEKK

"How do you know" Luke had a Panic attack.

"When did you turn into an old married couple?"' Luke is the best and the worst.

Grover is the empathetic one, poor animals.

I wish we got the scene where Percy talked to the Zebra like in the book.

WISE GIRL !!!!!!!!

The satyr Agustus was not in the books. I actually think he was in the Cloven of Elders in the 4th book.

12:37 we hear Nico calling Bianca's name, faintly in the background so the tv has to be on full or almost full blast.

Lotus nectar in the air??

Hermes playing Blackjack?

"Hey, demigods! Welcome!"

Hermes eyebrows arch makes Lin Manuel look so evil.

"We're friends of Luke's!" and it looked like Hermes was gonna help but nooooooo!

Percy is so proud of his wifey for pick-pocketing Hermes

"Man, Grover got really old. How long have we been here?" hahahaha

"To the Dumb Kids" Damn, Hermes that hurts.

I love that since Grover is 24 they think he's qualified to dribve.

Percy driving is the best thing. I don't know anything about driving or New York or driving in New York but I do know about road rage and Percy hitting the horn after almost getting t-boned.

Percy finding out that they were actually late for the summer solstice was sad. Like he was freaking out.

"save the world. And then save your mother."

7. We Find Out the Truth, Sort of.

Underworld time!!!

Okay, but what the hell happened between the ending of the last ep and the beginning of this one??

Crusty is dead.

"You've got dad's eyes," reminds me of "You look exactly like James. Except your eyes. You've got your mother's eyes."

"It's either the realm of the dead or someone left a carton of milk in there in the 1990s.' LMAO

I wish the demigods' ADHD and dyslexia was more openly discussed.

I love Cerberus

Poor Grover. Loosing his pearl

I want to see Annabeth flashbacks

Seeing the flashbacks are so, so sad.

I will forever be in awe of Hades's Palace.

What were the regrets that Annabeth had to get her bound to Asphodel? I think it has something to do with her dad and step mom. Or Thalia.

"I trust your dad" says a lot coming from Annabeth because in the books, she hated Poseidon at first.

Why is there sand by Tartarus?

(Sarcastic gasp) Percy had the bolt? No way.

"Is this--?" "NO!" "This looks" "It absolutely is NoT!!" Grover my precious angel.

Another flashback. Poor Percy doesn't understand the situation and poor Sally can't tell him.

I love Hades. He's perfect and fruity and I can't wait to see him interact with Nico.

Poor Hades just wants his helm!

And Percy had decided to think without the wifey and decided to get Hades helm after figuring out Kronos was behind everything. And Grover is so insulted at being called a goat lmao

POSEIDON!!!

I want to know the science/mythology behind how Sally conjured Poseidon and why she put a match in an empty milkshake to do it.

We actually see how much Poseidon loved and cared about Sally.

What happened between when he was 7/8 to 12 that made Sally not want to drop him off at camp like she had discussed with Poseidon?? She wanted to, to keep him safe but then it seems like Poseidon talked her out of it?

Sally believes in Percy so much even from such a young age.

Ares with the sword and the final scene.

8. The Prophecy Comes True.

Dramatic instrumental music and Luke talking in the intro?? Yes pleaSe!

And then flashback to Luke training Percy.

Ares laughing at Percy when he offers to spar with him is the funniest thing because he's about to get his ass kicked!!

Did Ares work with Kronos in the book? I can't remember.

"when you die, say goodbye to your mommy for me" Low blow Ares!!!

Go Percy!! Fight with water! And Ares is pissed. Even more!

Riptide and Percy in one corner, Ares and another celestial bronze sword in another. And Percy wins!! By a mudslide! LMAO

I thought Alecto died? When she was turned to stone??

Alecto saying "Good luck on Olympus," is scary. Like hella scary.

Percy calling Zeus a monster is so, so, so fucking fitting like I swear.

We get to see Annabeth's dad's college ring!!! On her camp necklace! That she gave to Percy.

"I'm here to see Zeus. I don't have an appointment."

My roommate is watching this ep with me and when Luke said "You don't want to be small and scary" she said "like spiders! :D" he said "cus things that are small and scary get squished" we both laughed out loud.

RIP Lance Reddick but Zeus is an absolute DICK

and scary (said in meek voice)

Poseidon fighting Zeus is amazing!!!!!

Zeus: "He's a forbidden child"

Poseidon: "So was Thalia"

Me: "What about your Roman form Jupiter with JASON GRACE!!!!"

I squealed and clapped my hands

I wanted to see who they cast as Athena

Like will she be white or black?

Percy and daddy bonding over Sally has my hearts in pieces.

"Do you ever dream about mom?"

Percy run away from Luke! He will hurt you!

Why is Luke crying???

We get to see Backbiter!!!!

ANNABETH WAS THERE?????!!!!

"I heard everything!"

OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG

Percy got his first bead!!!

The third seaweed brain!

Percy calling Kronos grandpa is freaky

And Sally saying no absolutely fucking not

And Sally seeing right through Percy's bullshit lies

Sally is divorcing Gabe!! He is turned to stone LMAO

How long until season 2????

[rulanarinrush]

drdt ch2 ep 14 spoilers. just general thoughts. also, i express a bit more opinions in here than normal, but I don't mean it as criticism. It's just personal preference, so please don't feel offended if you disagree.

So Ace vs. Eden huh... if I hadddd to bet on those two and not a third option it would be Ace? Just purely from an evidence standpoint. David is kind of right that this "bda" rule is incredibly flimsy not just for the scenario he pointed out, but because Eden could have closed her eyes and flinched right at the moment of Arei's drop, because even if she could do something if the mechanism went wrong i severely doubt Eden is faster than gravity. Not much to be done there even if something doesn't go according to plan. Like with the "all murderers must be punished" rule im sure that will be used in a murder plan at some point.

There is one thing I think that wasn't discussed in Nico's attempted murder plan, and that's how did they get Ace in the gym? I don't mean "how did they knock him out." I mean that the plan is very specific, and the playground and relaxation room don't exactly have things that are easy to hang someone from(without a rope, obviously.) I can't measure the length of the wire but considering that the playground is two-storeys tall if Nico's plan could've also worked in the playground, does that thing even count as a wire anymore or is that just a sharp whip that was condemned by god.

Back to the main point, how did Nico just happen to get Ace on the right floor? I don't think they had to knock him out in the gym specifically, but it is WILD to me that anyone would take the risk of knocking Ace out on the first floor and dragging him to the elevators like at that point just stab the guy and be done with it. So it makes more sense to me that Ace went to the second floor of his own volition, and Nico followed him. But this is where I think Teruko and Nico might become pivotal in defending Eden. I can't remember the episode she says this in anymore, but right before they hear the fan break, Eden says "I know you've been following me!" She could of course just be paranoid that someone watching her prepare for a murder,(starchy ball of clothing, esp with teruko's clothes right there and teruko) but it could mean that she sensed someone following her right after the Arei-Arturo thing. Ace can of course easily defend this as saying he went to the gym to work out(makes sense tbh) but if Nico says they caught him off guard with the chlo-- turpentine because Ace was hiding and watching something, that may definitively prove that he is at least more suspicious than Eden. After all, this guy is no stranger to eavesdropping on people's conversations, and it is an ... interesting coincidence to be both where the victim was right before she was lured out and the person the killer intended to frame. Also for this to work, he was probably the one eavesdropping on at least the first half of the infirmary conversation(this part still gets me confused, but im going to assume he ran into the cafeteria after hearing arei coming) and that he saw Arturo leave, but guessed the part about "Arei promising to do anything." Then it makes a bit of sense for him to stalk eden that day, stalk arei the next day, then commit his murder in the morning after gathering all the information he needs. It also makes sense for him to be waiting for the right time to get the fish. He and Eden are also the only ones that could've grabbed the tape before the gym closed, because apparently it closed right after they left and I missed this detail. so Levi couldn't have investigated it immediately after.

As for Hu and Nico I do like the themes of infantilization and self-worth and helplessness. Levi is taking being judged with very neurotypical condemning language pretty well actually, but I assume he's probably heard worse in his life. And also knows there's more on the line now than his feelings, or Eden's. I never really assumed Hu was the killer because so much of her alibis would need to be waved off for this plan to work, and that feels kind of sloppy to me. I believe that any talented writer can make any twist work but it would be very hard to do I think, and perhaps more effort than it is worth.

I don't hang around here much(I say this too often but it is true. Social media does not make me feel particularly great.) so I don't know everyone's big theories and all but from what I do see the main rebuttals to Ace being the killer is that his intelligence is too low and that he doesn't fit the theme of the chapter. The first point is somewhat fair to make I think, but I do think that "someone is too dumb to commit murder" is a poor argument to make when it applies to people like the ultimates. All talents require a level of strategy, sports are no exception. And lets not forget he did have a model murder to use(Eden too).

As for the second point, after doing some thinking, I think he does actually fit the theme of this chapter very well, especially as a foil to the victim, Arei. Maybe at first glance it doesn't make sense for someone who hasn't tried very hard to be a good person at all to be the murderer, but he and Arei have both had someone they deemed to be a "good person" watching over them, always willing to extend a hand despite the poor treatment. These are of course Levi and Eden, in that order. It turned out that Levi isn't exactly Ace's perfect idea of a friend(I mean at this point who is, no one can replace Taylor that's not how people work...), but he still, like Eden, was willing to overlook Ace's faults time and time again. Ace has a right to be upset, but he is cruel without trying to perform kindness like Arei was. Arei died trying to change herself into a better person. Ace never tried. By killing someone willing to put themself at risk for others, who ironically enough is like Levi in that way, he affirms his own worldview. Eden is also implied to be not exactly perfect as well, but the theme of this whole chapter challenges the idea of inherent good and evil. But you can always try to better yourself.

Eden being the killer also fits the theme of the story well and I think that it's not really a bad writing decision for her to be the killer, even if the parallels tug at your heart(they don't really for me truthfully, but if I wasn't moved by Min's I guess I won't be moved now either). It would be hard but not impossible for Teruko to trust again even if Eden is the killer after that performance. But that still doesn't change the fact that imo, no one has a motive to be her accomplice. How could she have gotten the fish then?

There is one more thing I'm thinking about with regards to the "intelligence problem" in that I still believe this case feels a bit sloppy, not narratively, but for the killer. 7:30 is a really tight time to pick, especially when you know that everyone is meeting up 30 minutes later, whether they want to or not. If it were me, I'd at least pick 7:00, not an unreasonable hour, but more time for the water to dry. Also, what if it turns out Arei is chronically late for things lmao? There is also the note. There is no way the killer could have predicted David's um. Fun exercises of one's patience, so trying to make an alibi for yourself by banking on the "in the evening" time of death is so very risky. Not to mention what if someone had gone to the playground at night with a group of people? Then it has to be in the morning. This leads to the note. I've talked about this before, but I wonder why it was discarded that way at all. The obvious choice is that they didn't want to risk the note being found shoved down the killer's skirt or pants when they had to meet up in like five minutes, but you can eat the note. That is just something you can do. But that might not occur to someone with an eating disorder.

(Thoughts on the episode are done, next part is just me kind of promoting.)

For my friend who knows who you are: i cannot believe the day i have to draw horseace draws closer. I can't even draw normal horses, how am i supposed to do this. born to write forced to draw.

For everyone else: I am doing drabbletober this year, and am open to requests. My ao3 has the same name as my tumblr if you want examples. Feel free to shoot me an ask here if you want me to write something. I don't take nsfw requests from anyone who isn't 18+ tho. Also, I'll try to write it when I can, which may be before October, but I will place my trust in you- please do not claim my writing as your own before I post it to ao3. pretty please okay.

[mysticcollectionbee]

Loki S2 Ep.2 (Breaking Brad): Pros & Cons

(SPOILERS!)

First the Bad to get it out of the way:

• Biggest thing I got a problem with: NOT a fan of the TVA brutality thing and really hope the TVA isn't seen as a 'flawed' system but just a system built to be awful. Only thing I agree with Sylvie is that the overall system is bad. And the protags shouldn't be chill using these tactics. Gonna hope this was just a one time thing because of X-5 just being a massive dick and pissing them to an extreme extent (Doesn't make it right, but if someone blamed me for a loved ones death...I might loose my morals a bit too).

• Sylvie being a bitch to Loki FOR NO REASON. Like everything else going on with her I love, but, why is she being horrible to Loki? He didn't betray or stop her. SHE BETRAYED HIM AND SCREWED EVERYTHING OVER, BUT SHE'S THE PISSED ONE?

Now that we got all the bad out of the way, onto the good stuff:

•Badass Loki, with MAGIC, with a bit of intimidation? YES. Sure, I don't like him and Mobius torturing X-5 BUT I'm all for Loki weaponizing his villainous history. And surprisingly keeping his temper under control. Nice.

• Unlike Mobius...My dude ya good? I love what this could be hinting and going for. And also showing that he isn't pure good, but as Loki said, Not all good which is why they get along.

• Loki being the one that kept a cool head and is the one trying to comfort is so interesting! He's never tried doing that for anyone besides Thor in a few small scenes. And that's his brother! He just wants to be there for Mobius and let him have some pie while they chill and talk stuff out, even trying to relate to mobius (albeit a funny ridiculous comparison).

•Both of the time duos being horrible with tech makes a bit too much sense. They are great at manipulating and reading people, but they probably can't build a single IKEA chair.

•CASEY! I love Casey actually becoming more of an important/useful character. And apparently a fan of O.B. So maybe our tech guy won't have to wait hundreds of years for a visitor anymore!

•B-15 being the heart of the team and the TVA, she should be in charge. Please. Also I need an offical name for her and D-90 because I really want to call them by actual names.

•X-5 is an asshole but a well written and neat asshole. I do kinda want him to get back to his movie life, that way he won't be such a dick to the characters I like and he gets to keep having his dream life. Win-win.

• Sylvie gets a fun retirement life please! I don't think her being on the team is good for her or for the team. I think she should only join when her life is endangered and when it's all over get back to it. I used to think she might join Loki and Mobius on maybe continuing fighting Kang after the season is over but like...That's not her fight? Leaver her be. And bad for the team cause well...The morale is already kinda shit and she's gonna be miserable and make everyone else miserable too.

• Just realized this: Is everyone keeping secrets??? Loki seemed to not have been planning to tell the others about the Ravonna and HWR convo until it was needed to mention (Mobius literally was asking, "When were you gonna-" then was caught off), Mobius seems to already know or have a serious fear that he's hiding, B-15 has yet to mention what she saw of her past life despite it obviously leaving an impact, etc.

[arshem]

thank u @archonfurina for the tag + questions! this was a v fun way for me to secretly pass time at work <3

‧₊˚ ˚ ༘♡ ⋆｡˚ soft ask game ‧₊˚ ˚ ༘♡ ⋆｡˚

01. a character you love.

Lee Gyu-Hyuk. i think about him every day. i listen to songs that make me think of him and make lil music videos in my head. he is... what can i even say ㅠㅠ very vague general non-spoiler spoilers, but everyone in Buried Stars Game ™ has their issues and Gyu-Hyuk is no exception, but he works so hard to take care of others and he's so kind and caring IT DRIVES ME CRAZY ACTUALLY hahahaha i am SO normal about him...

02. your favourite food from your culture.

i have been pondering this for days and i just dont know TT i dont want to act like because i'm from the US i have no culture but also it's hard for me to figure out what our cultural foods are. umm i guess i really like pumpkin pie? also pizza my beloved. i know pizza is not exactly an american thing but also. the way we do it is, so. i shall count it. pizza my beloved

03. what your dream apartment / room / house is like.

ooh okay. it's definitely gotten a bit smaller as i've gotten older, but it'd be nice to have more room than i've got now. not to go toooo wild but i'd love a 3 bed 2 bath single level house with a garage/shed and a porch?? with enough room for both me + my partner to have nice pc setups. also barely related but... i want a nice desk so bad 😭 my dad had one that's sitting unused in my mom's house and i dont have room for it at my apartment but it's so nice and sturdy and i journal a ton and would fucking LOVE to have an actually nice space to do it

04. your personal style or aesthetic.

tried thinking about this on my own and could NOT come up with an answer, so i asked my sisters for their input and i got "stinking cute" and "turbo punk with pop overtones" so take those how you will

05. a happy memory.

when i was a teenager, most thursdays i would go to a roller skating rink with a few friends. we'd skate for hours and pester the dj to play marina and the diamonds songs. then afterwards we'd go to the huge 24-hour grocery store across the street and buy ice cream and/or doughnuts and we'd sit in the car eating and talking for hours.

06. your favourite way(s) to spend time.

i am. such a homebody. i like doing all sorts of things but i honestly love just being at home with my partner and playing video games. oh. also i love eating. it is a hobby <3

07. story behind your url / title / quote / description / icon.

cryborgs i believe kinda came from VIXX's "Error" mv, not any type of direct reference, but just the vibe. my blog title is a slightly weirdly translated line from We Best Love, a bl drama that infected my brain for a while in 2021 (i still love it ok im not over it). i never know what to put in my description so i usually just put the media i'm currently watching/playing but also i dont update it so it's almost always wrong 💀 annnnd my icon is my beloved Han Do-Yoon from Buried Stars Game ™...... i love him.....

08. something that comforts you or brings you joy.

i dont watch it regularly anymore, but Running Man. regardless of what bad things are going on, i know i can turn on an old ep and be happy for 1.3 hours. it's gotten me through so much school stress, family issues, and general mental unwellness, it'll always have a place in my heart.

09. what you're looking forward to.

i started writing this a week ago and the thing i was looking forward to already passed soo um,. i really don't have anything too notable right now? i am looking forward to being done with my 6pm meeting -_-

10. something else that's important to you.

hmmmmmm i have this brain problem where sometimes i get pedantic about the meaning of words so right now i am like, "important" ?? what is it,,,, for somethign to be "important" .... anyways i think journaling is something that probably fits the bill? it's something i enjoy doing and i really like having a written record of things to look back on, and being able to see how i felt about things in the moment they were happening. i also journal about video games a lot and it's so fun to look back at the times Before big twists and reveals... ah my innocence...

[the-backup-protocol]

tmagp 22 ep thoughts. again putting these down for myself but you guys get to read it too haha

spoilers under the cut!

Lena definitely cares for Gwen. It's pretty obvious that she's doing this to forcefully keep her safe. I think her assessment is also like..pretty fair from her pov since Gwen really is not doing great with the horrors (love u gwen you're doing your best with a scary dangerous situation) and she'd really just get herself hurt further.

Gwen could grow and get rlly good at surviving still ofc (you need Experience for that after all) but Lena wants the excuse to not have her be IN that position anymore.

The statement itself was really interesting, and I'm thinking that dark ocean of secret knowledge is an interesting visual (side note, while i dont think the Deep is supposed to be knowledge related... it's reminiscent in my head for some reason and made me think of it. probably the imagery tho) and possible nice comparison to Jon's "it's like there's a door in my mind" ocean of Eye Knowledge tm. Just interesting.

I do wonder who wanted out of a) the guys head or b) the wires/the equipment. Is it a general entity Of wires technology current etc that we have tamed with the advent of electricity? Is it the consciousness of the guy, or even the subconscious? Is it other people who have been ushanka'd and thus can be across anything electric, like an amalgamation of souls? The silver in the wires is obviously important as well as the split consciousness, but...

I know the obvious narrative that, im my opinion, freddie is trying to paint is that they (jmj, supposedly) need out and they're using the transcript to speak that fact. As they have been, in theory, using the casements to speak to tbe team from the start. But in the actual situation, mr. Schmidt's case still resulted in those words, so who?

Side note, I still don't think JMJ are actually in the puters. I think Freddie is puppeting their voices still. But then again... there is some consciousness there. Sam did get an email from Jon. And then you have to wonder, when does a puppet mimicking consciousness actually gain it, if so?

I think they might be taking us on a very interesting route about identity and such. The "some of him" from episode one seems to hint at, well, at least some of jmj still being in there if it isn't only a red herring. On the other hand... I still don't think Jonny and Alex lied to us that their fate stays ambiguous either? It'd make no sense to.

I also don't think Celia knows what's going on fully. I think she is tma Celia but the reason she brings up their names is _She_ might think they're in there regardless of it being the case, because she recognizes their voices immediately.

But maybe I will be proven wrong in a few weeks and it was never a red herring after all, and what Jonny and Alex meant is that it could he a different universe version jmart and jonah.

Who knows! We have the multiverse fully established.

Also Alice and Sam's argument :( The beloveds are fighting. I guess it makes sense why they didn't work out. I wonder what Alice was supposedly controlling about before, and what truly happened. I can't wait until we know.

That's my thoughts, though. If anyone does have a good theory about who was wanting out innthe casement put it below??? I scour the tags but they're exploding right now ahahaha.

Can't wait til next week. Thanks for reading!

[hms-no-fun]

i both really wish (and dont wish) cohost had a similar ask system to tumblr because im 300% more comfortable on that website than this one but ive had this particular burning question since i binge read godfeels during a covid ridden fugue

The more general version of this question is: how has optiministDuelist been involved in the writing of godfeels 3.1? (or even the future parts you're working on, if you can do so without spoilers)

The more specific version that makes this a question better suited towards you rather than shooting the question towards optimisticDuelist, and is rather a series of questions extrapolating on the first one is: why did you involve them? are they helping you write dirk or jake? are they providing input/advice? and that goes towards other people you've had help with the project too, if they're comfortable with being spoken about - i was just a fan of od's analyses and was surprised to see his name attached to godfeels! in fact im so curious about the nature/process of collaboration in godfeels it seems reductive to even try to condense it into questions that would be easier/faster to answer, in that i fear that what i put in will be what i get out, and that logically it's silly of me to bank on the fact that you might go more in depth than how these questions may imply on first glance. i fear my words make no sense and rather instill anxiety into the reader. anyway these are more like guidelines for something i was hoping you could talk about

oooooo this is a good one! i've written a fair amount about my collaborations in the past. here's a post where i talk about working with taz on chapter 8.2. here's a post where i talk about working with janet girlpillz on chapter 8.6. and here's a post where i talk about working with julia on the nsfw interlude 'stomach'! and then for bonus points, here's a piece my gf zoe wrote about working with me on the first official godfeels art in chapter 7.

but you want more, so here's more.

to start with, taz and i have been friends for some years now! back in early 2019 i was on the hbomberguy donkey kong 64 stream where i (briefly) tried to defend homestuck, which i guess gained me some form of notoriety/infamy. i can't remember if it was taz or kate who reached out to me first but i know taz liked my stuff (and i liked his!). then kate had me on pgen, i joined the pgen server, we all started gaming together and talking about homestuck in group chats. this period, pretty much through the entirety of 2019, is when i went from feeling like i had zero grasp on homestuck to becoming cohost of an at-the-time popular homestuck theory podcast! it's funny going back to my first appearance on pgen because you can tell i was so in over my head. i couldn't remember the names of the hiveswap trolls and still didn't even really know all the homestuck trolls by name. AND I OPTED OUT OF TALKING ABOUT VRISREZI LMAO. oh how turned the tables did the tables did turn

[[[oh god i just realized the pgen website expired and i'm not sure if the eps are still up anywhere... i should talk to kate about that lmao]]]

anyway, i actually talked to taz a bunch when i was first writing godfeels 1!

shortly after this we all did a stream for the launch of the epilogues with folks from the pgen server as well as hiveswap writer/director aysha u farah. i played gamzee lmao i still have the clown horn app on my phone from that

i guess i don't really know to what extent any of this is common knowledge anymore now that i think about it! this feels sort of superfluous to me but i guess this was FOUR YEARS AGO lmao

early godfeels straight up would not have existed without all these people. i cannot stress enough that literary obsession is a social contagion. i was not born a homestuck, i was made. and i think maybe some of the extremities of gf2 especially feel a little weird or dated these days, because on top of everything else godfeels was responding to it was also responding to the particularly toxic 2019-era vriscourse. so a big part of june's confrontational nature came from me being fucking sick of the baby's-first-conservatism that took root in the wider fandom when us cancelable queers had the audacity to like problematic womens and not apologize for it. i won't say anymore about that because like, whatever, it's all dead and buried now even if the ghost lingers. that ghost will have its day eventually! but not anytime soon.

ANYWAY, so, going back to the beginning even though i wrote godfeels alone, it came about in a context of lengthy conversations with other homestuck theorists. so when gf3 started to blow up in scale and become less about my trauma specifically, it made a lot of sense to broaden my horizons and get some new blood into the mix. the posts i linked at the start will fill in a bunch of gaps for you there, i think. it’s worth noting that a bunch of us already had a history of at least attempting to collaborate. we had a thing building for a while like a visual novel with one choice that was basically, what if we wrote every possible version of “transgender john” and just had them all together as branching paths. this was before some of the broader fandom really dug their heels in on the reactionary transphobia, after which point i at least lost some of my taste for that project. maybe we could come back to it someday, we wrote some cool stuff for that...

as far as my collaborative philosophy goes, idk. i first started writing fiction on the zeldapower forums in the early 2000s and developed a thick skin for critique pretty fast as a result. i wrote and rewrote constantly, shared what i could with friends and talked about plot/story/character ideas with them. when i realized in year two that writing school had nothing to offer me, i transferred to film. but i did so explicitly not wanting to be a director or writer or anyone above the line, really, because i didn't know what i wanted to make or even if i wanted to make something of my own. what i wanted was to help other people realize their own visions and see how they did it. so that's how i ended up working grip/electric in the oklahoma film industry, because it turns out all it really takes to get your foot in the door is to lose the ego and make yourself useful. it helps that i am cursed with constant psychological awareness of absolutely everything in my vicinity at all times, so i gained a reputation for being practically psychic the way i could know exactly what my bosses wanted lighting-wise before they even said anything.

i miss that job tbh. i loved the people, i felt more physically and psychologically fulfilled than at any job i've ever had. oklahoma has a relatively small film scene so it wasn't long before i was on a first name basis with most everyone working on my side of the state. when a crew is all on the same page, man, there's nothing like it. not every set can or should be like this, but some of my favorite experiences were on sets where it felt like everyone was the director. the director had their own vision but they knew how to adapt it to the location, to the ideas of technicians and craftspeople who had their own insights. a good director knows how to let their collaborators take ownership of the work, even when they reject their suggestions! i loved film work and i think about getting back to it sometimes. problem is it's extraordinarily physically demanding work and it leaves no time for anything else. 12 hour days five days a week minimum. i quit because i wanted to focus on video essays, one thing led to another, now we're here and homestuck changed my life lmao

so that's where i come from as writer. i have very strong opinions about my work and what it means and what it needs to do, but i try very hard not to have an ego about it.

the way we work together is pretty simple. when i finish the first draft of a chapter i’ll post it to the work server, and then folks will leave comments. but also, every member of the team has their own little corner of godfeels that they’ve adopted. taz is the dirkjake whisperer, julia is the queen of dana and the upsilons, etc. so when i write these characters i’ll ask for their insight, and invite them to modify or add to the scene as they see fit. sometimes this means prose, sometimes this means dialogue. our understanding is that nothing goes in the final published work without my approval, but that also that nothing is entirely off the table until we’ve had a conversation about it.

i get a lot of my storytelling philosophy from the tv show LOST, where every question was introduced with an explanation in mind but with the caveat that those explanations only remained true until the writers came up with something better. this gets back to something i said yesterday about needing a story to be dynamic and not planning things out too much in advance. for more detailed explanations, here’s a post i wrote about my hooks & hats philosophy, and then here’s another post about my process in general. but basically, i have this massive web of interconnected plotpoints going out very far into the future right? so when someone makes a suggestion i know exactly how possible it is to fit within that framework. i know how much information about any given hook has been introduced, so i know whether one explanation has been seeded too thoroughly to be changed.

but the flipside of that is that now my collaborators are inventing OCs! taz created a fantastic character named xifus that i can’t wait to write more of in 3.2A. we talk about this setting all the time, we talk about what makes sense for it, what would be cool, what mistakes would absolutely RUIN IT, how we can avoid the mistakes of our predecessors, all that fun stuff.

collaboration is all about honesty. godfeels has become what it is because we’re all fans both of homestuck, of anime, of broader culture... and of godfeels. my dirty secret is that i love writing godfeels because i’m its biggest fan. it frequently does not FEEL like i am composing this story, but rather that it is just happening to me. always i am wrangling cats in this petting zoo. i don’t want to be making this thing for the rest of my life but also this story is SO COOL and we are all chomping at the fucking bit to get to the upsilons and so much other shit besides. is that egomaniacal? idk. i think the idea that you’re supposed to be neutral leaning negative on your own work is kinda bullshit. but also, i don’t see the creation of art as bound to suffering or even being a process that requires much expertise. writing isn’t magic, even if it can feel that way sometimes.

i talk a lot about my work and how i write because i want to help demystify the process and try to show that it’s a learnable craft same as anything else. imo the preponderance of mediocre-to-great artists is not proof of Exceptional People but rather that it’s actually dirt simple to become a mediocre-to-great artist. all you need is time and money and access to the right tools! which is why so many mediocre artists are the rich failsons of killfactory millionaires. which is why every artist should be pro student debt relief, pro public transit, pro affordable housing, pro welfare, pro socialized medicine, pro deprivatizing mass media, and pro wide-ranging government arts funding. our nightmare neoliberal media landscape is the result of decades of making the creation of art & culture economically inaccessible to the working class, hence everything being set in rich suburbs with giant houses, hence the inescapability of pro-capitalist pro-nationalist messaging, hence the refusal of all national media to talk to trans people about trans issues, because only the middle and upper classes get to touch the levers of public perception and they have a direct economic incentive to convince the working class that they are middle class.

the notion that this stuff is at all mysterious or naturally the purview of those who can afford expensive degrees is just the narrative they sell to working people to cover up the fact that once you ascend past a certain income bracket, absolutely everything is just nepotism. it’s all just rich guys giving their rich friends and their rich friends’ stupid fucking libertarian manchildren high paying jobs forever. that’s why they never go away, that’s why they always fail up, that’s why trans women and queer people can get bullied off the face of the internet for half-joking that a fictional woman who did a murder was blameless in her crimes while grifters who moonlight at raytheon can weather blow after blow and stir the pot and solicit donations they don’t need and never disappear no matter how hated they are, because they HAVE money and they HAVE security so none of this shit is a real threat to anything besides their shallow fucking egos. which, you know, to be fair, threatening a rich person’s ego is basically the same thing as killing a man in cold blood, so who can say what is wrong or right?

there’s obviously a lot of complicating factors to the anticapitalist yarn i’ve spun here, but that’s how i see it. the rich want to own culture, they commodify it through copyright and box it up and insist that we are trespassers if we try to reflect those “““properties”““ through ourselves. that is, in part, a big reason why i haven’t given up on godfeels or tried to “file the serial numbers off.” i love this story and i am treating it with as much care as i would something original, because i believe this is art that stands up even with its imperfections and it’s insulting to me that “fanwork” is considered naturally lesser than “original” work when literally everything around us that is owned by disney et al was stolen from what was once an open culture. i reject the enclosure of the commons of our imagination, and andrew hussie themself quite famously said that postcanon homestuck belongs to the most conscientious and invested members of the fandom.

and frankly, even as i wish i COULD make a living off of godfeels alone, i like that my art isn’t particularly monetizable. i like that it is considered low art. i like that many people see it as shameful or a waste of time. i do not want to create a commodity. i do not want to run a business. i do not want to be famous. i want to make art that is freely available that maybe, just maybe, can help a handful of queer people deal with the shit going on in their life and have a good time in the process.

in short: we have no choice but to revolutionize the world.

UHHHH wow that got off the rails at the end there didn’t it? i love giving writing advice hahaha!

[coinshotmisting]

I SWEAR TO GOD EMILY AXFORD I CANT

(Fantasy High Junior Year ep 6 spoilers)

watching fantasy high and writing this before I even continue watching cause it makes me so mad nothing after will make up for it

I get it. Emily plays low empathy characters who always act before thinking, and that's certainly a choice. it annoys me, especially how those characters constantly skirt by with comedy justifying their treatment of others, but whatever.

Honestly, part of the reason I put off watching Junior Year was Fig. I can't articulate what it is, but the way she interacts with the world forces me to have to pick between either entirely losing immersion, or feeling so deeply sick at the way she acts that I have to stop and collect myself.

I kept trying to convince myself I was overreacting but. I can't even bring myself to click back on the episode.

Context: it's the party at Fabian's house. they've decided to hate the 'Rat Grinders' because??? (it's genuinely unclear to me if this was an order the cast got off camera from Brennan/writers or what cause it seems excessive)

they find out the party got a new member over the summer. IMMEDIATE chance to recollect how you feel about them. it opens up questions that a sane person might ask with empathy or whatever.

Kristen and Fig do the creepy but understandable thing, and look up to see if the party had a previous cleric. they did. ok.

So, at this point, the pieces are all laid out, right? party had a cleric, they don't anymore. they got a new cleric over the summer.

And then, if you actually thought about it for 5 seconds: their identity is centered around low risk jobs, and we know they started with a cheerful, positive party name instead. one of the party members we *just met* got physically much stronger stronger over the summer (when the new cleric was recruited)

it's obvious right? like, I'm not insane, the implication is clear as day?

SO TELL ME

WHY

Emily's first thought is "Oh, let me disguise myself as the 'missing' party member and lurk in their peripheral vision."

I cannot articulate the reaction I had. theres no way Brennan can spin this where it's ok?!?!? like. genuinely, either you have to fundamentally hate other people or completely lack any curiosity and empathy to act that way.

just imagining this, I get so fucking pissed.

I dont care if they didn't actually die, this behavior from a PC based on what they know right now is unacceptable. im

I can't. I try to imagine someone pulling this in a game i ran, showing so little investment in the world that they what I'm doing simply doesn't matter to them, save the stat blocs I put inhetween them and 'winning'. ugh

I can't. I really can't. sorry for the long post ig but. this has always been a problem and it feels like it's the one thing from Fantasy High being a comfort piece of media for me. instead I have to wrestle with this stupid fucking character, and the ethical implications of her behavior.

[tuiyla]

NATLA Ep. 1 "Aang" thoughts

It might not be the Avatar but it's still an Avatar show which means I'm giving it the respect of not doing anything else while watching, so I'm not gonna liveblog, as such. BUT, I do have many many thoughts after just episode 1 so before I proceed I'm gonna digest a bit and do a word vomit of those thoughts. Maybe I'll get around to a more in-depth and critical examination later after watching the whole thing but for now, a few thoughts here and there. Spoilers inbound.

The opening

The first huge difference is of course how the whole thing kicks off. Trust me, despite having been a huge ATLA fan for over 15 years I'm not trying to approach this in a way where I automatically shit on everything the new show changes. It's a different era, different medium, different audience. Well, in a way. So some changes are outright necessary and, in some cases, even good! Therefore I don't automatically roll my eyes because we don't open with Katara's narration and the Southern Water Tribe. Modern audiences, Netflix audiences are more fantasy savvy than Nick's target audience in 2005 so it makes sense to open with the war's beginning. I'll even take the Sozin scene, though it feels a bit wrong, in a way, to introduce a character like him so early on. I wanted to say, without much sense of threat, too, but it's not live action movie Ozai levels bad and we do get our arguably most brutal scene when Sozin straight up burns an earthbender from pretty much inside out. This level of violence is something I'll perhaps get into more in another post but long story short, I think it's the right amount. This ain't a Nick cartoon anymore but it's also not gratuitous. What it is, is war.

Part of the opening is the intro, of sorts, a twist on the beloved opening sequence as narrated by Katara. The twist itself, I'm okay with, but I have Feelings on Kyoshi being our narrator that are again for a more in-depth look. In short, it makes no thematic sense for it to be the Avatar from before the last to narrate this. I know Kyoshi is the fan favourite, pun intended, but that's all the justification they have. If anyone other than Katara, who is done dirty by taking her narration away btw, it should be Roku. You know, the actual last Avatar? Having it be Kyoshi is fan service as much fans are symbolic of her. Bad pun, I know. I haven't seen ep 2 yet but do tell me we're shifting to Katara, pls pls pls. Another gripe I have is the title, "Aang", since the OG show has such beautiful symmetry with its first and last ep titles but this is a nitpick. Also, nothing to indicate that this is the season of water? Titling the seasons after the elements matters very much.

And then, just when I think we're jumping to 100 years later, we meet Aang. I'm already going into more detail with thoughts here than I intended but I just do not like how we drag this on and on. Show Aang's backstory and the details of the attack later, mid-season. Yes, like the original did it, because the original did it for a reason and that's to not info dump in the very first episode and have sloppy exposition that would have felt more natural had it been delayed for later. We don't need to know everything about the world and the role of the Avatar right away. I do like how the Aang and Gyatso relationship was established but we didn't need All That, and we could have had the vast majority if not all of this as a flashback later on. Random idea, but maybe even in the episode where Zuko's backstory is covered. I'm really innovating here, I know. I'll explain why this was too much in another post, maybe, but for now I'll say the positive that I do think these scenes are done well, I just don't like their placement. And I don't like what we're doing to Aang's ch in terms of his responsibility and role so far, such as him not actually wanting to Run Away run away, but I'll wait and see where they take him for the rest of the season.

Wolf Cove

Omg what, the Southern Water Tribe? Finally. The ch who started off the whole thing in the OG appears 21 minutes into this episode, almost the length of an entire ATLA ep. So far, the sibling dynamic is Fine. Again a bit too heavy on the exposition but what can you do when you cut Katara's opening narration about their family and tribe. Some things I take issue with include the way Katara breaks the iceberg open, i.e. lack of feminist rage and in general her lack of strong presence in this first installment. It feels like they're trying to give Sokka more but you can showcase Sokka without making it feel like Katara is less of a presence, less of a driving force, and frankly more of a kid than she is in the OG. I do like her and the actress, her interactions with Aang and role in the story just feel lacking so far. And then they actually include her intro word for word, just said by Gran Gran! Like yeah we know Katara tells the story like Gran Gran told her but damn, straight up theft.

I'm also not satisfied with Kanna's place in the story. Her breaking the news to Aang feels flat and devoid of the tension that was present in the OG where Aang and Katara put two and two together on their own. Also no goodbye to Gran Gran? No big sendoff to her grandkids? No speech about destiny? Disappointing. What is done well is the sense of dread when the Fire Nation ship arrives at the village and Zuko's whole entrance, that's good. But again, he and Iroh give away way too much way too early about his mission and banishment and such. You guys, you have a whole season to get into it, why rush. I have a fear as to why they're rushing but we'll see. It just feels like a rookie mistake to try and shove so much into the first ep. We get it, the world is so much bigger and these chs so much richer than they first seem but that's the point, the audience will watch and learn as the season goes on. Just because Avatar has all this lore way beyond the first installment doesn't mean we have to go back to Wan and explain everything before we can head to the North Pole. I joke and exaggerate, but there were times I rolled my eyes at the dialogue. Again, not Shymalan levels bad but that is not where the bar should be.

Overall

I have less to say about the Southern Air Temple as it is quite brief, all things considered and because we already got so much of it before even making it to the present. I do think it's funny people thought the live action would let the story breathe more just because the eps are longer because look, here we are, three 23 minutes eps shoved into less than an hour with expanded stuff from the very beginning. This is not it breathing more because there aren't 20 eps to work with. They have a lot of content to get through and as a viewer you can feel it, which doesn't bode well. The whole script does have this first/second draft smell which is sus, when this thing has been in development since at least the end of 2018 and the OG eps it's based on just turned 19. Yeah, that's right, nineteen.

As for things like the visuals, the costumes, the acting, the score, bending, I think it'll make more sense to pass a judgement at the end of the season. Besides, what I'm most interested in is the script and I don't pretend to know much about things like costuming. First impression, it looks good. CG is a bit stifled at times but I like how oversaturated it often is, especially with the nations' colours. It's probably the closest we'll ever get to Avatar in live action and I'm okay with that, since I still believe they should stick to animation anyway. But yeah, good. Nothing mindblowing and bending so far but I'd also rather it didn't try to razzle dazzle with just flashy CGI and no substance. As is, there's not too much substance so far anyway so I'm waiting for subsequent eps to be more confident in what they're doing, whether that's building on or steering from the source material.

[pulchrasilva]

Greetings fellow felipe fan. I'm not fully up to date with Riptide, but do you think Felipe is going to actually come back into relevance at some point?

Oh my god a fellow felipe fan!! I didnt know they existed lmao hii!!!

God I hope he comes back into relevance, there were a good few episodes where gillion seemed almost feral with the need to save him and just. Not any more. And that's really sad to me.

(Spoilers for ep 92 and the arc that follows) it's kinda the same thing they did with alphonze, where they said they'd get him a new body, that was priority number 1, but then they just sorta forgot. And now he's just their ship, and he hardly talks anymore </3

(Spoilers end here) Felipe was very much a lesson in that their actions have consequences. I mean they got people killed with those cards, not to mention Gill's whole arc in the trauma orb. But felipe was the first time they had to look a friend in the face and see what they'd done. He was so fucking distraught and terrified, and he was so desperate to fix it and it got him stolen by?? A fucking demon??? They held the power of a god in their hands except there was no way to direct or control it, and thats not the kind of thing you do improv with lmfao

Have they learned their lesson? Not really. Bizly was real close to using the cards again recently but tbh I would expect nothing less from these silly guys <3

I think felipe coming up again - whether in a rescue arc or them just finding some hint of what's happened to him since he disappeared - could be another reminder that they have a responsibility to protect their crew and also to not. Use the stupid cards

Also as much as I love felipe I kinda hope something horrible has happened to him. I mean you don't make enemies with a demon without suffering. And that scene where they first find out hes been stabbing gill and he starts drawing all the cards? Yeah that fucked me up frr and I wanna see something that tragic with him again. Also he said his species only live a few weeks i think, so if he's lived out his whole life in hell because he wanted to adventure with the chosen one, uhh yeah </3 he could have fully died by now and we'd not know </33

Ooh and the demon is magically compelled to hate felipe just as felipe was magically compelled to hate gill and those are some potentially very interesting narrative parallels

Also I just miss him. What a silly guy!! An icon!! He was like 3 days old!! He had poisonous elbows!!!! He flirted with like all of the pcs in his own weird ways!!! Grizzly bring him back 😭