#i know there's a meta somewhere and I'm gonna find it

[moongothic]

Crocodile having such an explosive debut in his early 20s and such deep trust issues could also point to him having an even EARLIER start a la Shanks as an apprentice or something to an older pirate and their crew as a child/teenager — doubling down on the humiliation factor from facing off whitebeard as also a failure to “come of age” and broader sense of betrayal in watching eager encouragement fickly turn to “what did you THINK would happen”s like the kid who gets egged on by their peers into doing something dangerous and then immediately abandoned when they hurt themselves

Can't say if he did have like an early start for sure, since we really don't know anything about Crocodile's early childhood

But simply considdering how Oda typically layers backstories, I absolutely agree, I do think it's more than likely he has somekind of pre-Whitebeard trauma, be it either unrelated childhood trauma or early-pirating-life trauma (or something else)

Like the way Oda structures backstories, although we always remember like The Big Life-Changing Tragedy that happens at the end of the flashback, more often than not the flashback already begins with something horrible to indicate the character's already had a rough life

Robin was already alone, abused and rejected by most of Ohara even before the Buster Call Incident (followed by a life of running in fear for decades)

Franky had already been abandoned by his family before he lost Tom and got ran over by a train

Law had already lost his entire family before Doffy killed Rosi

Etc etc. Like not all the flashbacks are entirely like this, especially the East Blue-saga ones, but the backstories have been growing in complexity and structure, adding layers to the tragedies (like 🧅 onions 🧅) as the story has gone on

And with Kuma, his backstory doesn't end at two layers of tragedy. Like there's the early childhood tragedy of slavery, then there's the tragedy of losing his loved one in the most cruel, inhumane way possible, and we know there's at least one more gut-punch of a tragedy coming in the next two chapters to finish it all off

So with Crocodile especially I feel like... Like yes, possibly getting betrayed once in his life and having his dreams crushed by Whitebeard could break the man's psyche. But considdering just how seemingly broken his psyche might be, I do absolutely believe there's more layers here. Like his trust must've been broken more than once for him to end up the way he has.

Which alone gives Crocodad a bit more plausibility in my mind, because being rejected by the person you loved and trusted the most would most certainly break your heart (even if it was understandable why). And that really would make for a fine Final Nail on the Coffin for Crocodile's ability to have faith in others

But to really get that broken trust to be an on-going theme in his life that just happens again and again.... yeah it needs to start earlier

Personally, I think some kind of early childhood trauma would make the most sense, at least to me, not just because it could help Crocodile get started "on the wrong foot", but also because Rough Childhoods is just. A General Theme in One Piece lmao. Of course, it wouldn't be The Key Life-Changing Tragedy (I think Dragon would be that), just a "bad start"

[queenofthequillandink]

Steph's new roommate's little brother was absolutely a meta.

The two of them weren't really trying particularly hard to hide it, but they weren't mentioning it either, so Steph just... followed their lead. Especially because Jazz, while a little neurotic, was a pretty good roommate and new some truly innovative things to make in the microwave with whatever was in their dorm fridge.

But anyway, back to the meta thing. Steph could totally back it up.

Jazz was from the Midwest somewhere, one of the "I" states. (Indiana? Illinois? Iowa? Steph could never keep them straight.) From the way Jazz talked about her parents and the things she said to Danny, Steph could tell that the Fentons still lived there and Danny with them. Yet at least four nights out of seven, without fail, Steph would come home from a long night studying or vigilante-ing to find Danny in their dorm room, usually passed out on the futon. As though Gotham wasn't halfway across the country from Indiana or Illinois or Iowa.

"Our parents are pretty loud," Jazz explained with a quiet grimace, the first time it happened. "Like 'keep you awake at all hours of the night' loud. I told Danny he could sleep here when he needs to, is that okay? Tucker's parents are great, but they'll kick him out eventually."

"As a sleep-deprived college kid, I wholeheartedly support sleeping wherever you can get it," Steph whispered back. "As long as he doesn't eat my half of the food, I'm not gonna tattle to the RA."

"Thank you thank you thank you!" Jazz squealed, flapping her hands. Steph darted a glance at the teenager passed out on their futon, but he didn't even twitch. "Oh, don't worry, you have to be loud enough to wake the dead to get Danny up," Jazz said with a smirk.

"Alright. Makes things easier, I suppose," Steph said with a shrug, moving to sling her backpack onto her bunk. "He gonna be here in the morning?"

Jazz narrowed her eyes as though Elder Sister Glare could penetrate dreams. Hell, maybe it could. "He'll be at school before you wake up, if he knows what's good for him."

School. Which should be halfway across the country. Sure. Well, Steph could recognize a topic that Simply Wasn't Spoken About and unlike the rest of the Bats, she actually respected her roommate's personal privacy. "Cool."

So. Definitely a meta. Teleportation, maybe? Or superspeed or flying, she supposed. Whatever it was, the kid was clearly only using it to get a good night's rest in a safe space, so it wasn't really Steph's business.

At least neither of them had noticed she was a vigilante. It was an impressive secret to keep in such close quarters, if Steph did say so herself.

~*~

Jazz had clocked that Stephanie was Spoiler in a week and a half. And it only took her that long because she was distracted by orientation. The girl wasn't exactly subtle. Especially not with her injuries. Jazz had three years of experience watching someone come home injured and try to hide it, and while she was better than Danny, it still wasn't good enough.

Still, Steph wasn't making a big deal of Danny portalling into their dorm half of every week. And, like she had with Danny, Jazz wanted Steph to trust her enough to tell her herself.

And if this meant that Jazz spent a good portion of her first semester figuring out the rest of the Bats' identities based on Steph's friends and acquaintances, well. That was between her and Steph's scary-but-sweet girlfriend who read her like a book as soon as their eyes met.

[laxxarian]

Dani grew up and became a mother

Danny finally lifted the ecto-laws with the help of Jazz, Sam and Tucker a few years back just so Dani could live and explore freely without hiding. And the law that is being added now is about meta protecting thing and Dani is considered as one.

Now, Dani's life became peaceful, finds a man and ends up marrying and gave birth to a son named Bruce.

Last name? Wayne.

When Danny found out that Dani was killed, he mourned for her death and wanted to care for her child that was left alone in the world but couldn't because he was finally fully dead and also a king so all he could do was ask CW for a favor.

Clockwork knew that this would happen and that's why Alfred exists in the Wayne Manor.

Danny was planning a way to get to the living realm since there's no longer a portal that his family made.

So when he did manage to find one, a side effect got him de-aged and turned back to his 13 years old self when he should be around 30-40's already. He theorized that it may be because that's when he became a halfa.

But anyways, Danny tries to visit by knocking on the door. That's what he remembers.

Danny vividly remembers knocking on the door first only to be swiped fast by multiple hands of kids by the oldest to youngest.

Apparently, they all saw him walking up to the gate and saw his features, noting that he may be the next child of the manor.

Dick: Hey, B. You gonna adopt the guy?

Bruce: *stares at the oddly, eerily, familiar boy* do I know you from somewhere?

Danny: Baby B, it's me, your grandma's brother, Danny.

Tim: *Drinking his fifth coffee* Excuse me, what?

Danny: These must be my great-grandnephews/nieces! It's nice to know you're doing well then.

Bruce: You're alive?!?

Danny: No. But I came back to see if you're good. I'm sorry it took me long to get here.

Jason: Hold it. What do you mean by that?

[arliedraws]

I find it many things weird in Harry Potter, in general the plot holes are everywhere and things when you think about them just don't make much sense, even in storytelling perspective, and consistency.

One thing that I find appalling is how Sirius didn't notice the scarring on Harry's hand, from Umbridges lines. It's established canonically they're lasting scars. Sirius already had to watch from the literal shadows how Harry was enrolled in that tournament, already fearing for his godsons life bc he suspected Voldemort was involved. How couldn't any responsible guardian, not notice Harry was physically abused, again, under Dumbledores nose, but away from Sirius direct influence to be able to do anything. Then on top of that, Snape is gonna to do the occlumensy lessons, and while Sirius knew that was necessary, I mean, he was outraged when he heared Snape stopped it, but ok, he let it all slide? If I were Sirius I would have pulled Harry out myself for that year, enough is enough. If Dumbledores presence didn't prevent Harry's suffering, in fact his choices add to Harry's real physical abuse (Dursleys, certain teachers). Sirius could educate Harry theoretical until Umbridge was gone. Harrry was save enough in Grimmauld during christmas and the summer so why not.

Its like those I mustn't tell lies scars only are there when needed and then forgotten during times of the plot supporting characters might have reacted to them, like Sirius or whomever. Sirius is a genius wizard but can't turn into an unassuming anonymous figure to go outside, like Hermione did to Ron's features with just her wand and spells in b7, negating need for polyjuice, it's his dog form or permanent housearrest (which leads to disintegration of his mind /character and then he dies)

At some point I'm really suspect this is character driven anymore and just JKs incompetence to consistently implement Sirius's character. Like you already said somewhere here, he is a miracle character. Too clever, too bright, too loyal to continue in the story JK wanted to tell like you said somewhere before. I have a feeling JK didn't know what to do with Sirius, denigrated him and his character and then killed him off. His best role at the end to fulfill is to reinforce Harry's suffering and loneliness it seems, while Sirius actually was the main hope of Harry in the heart of the series. So meaningless!

While I love character metas, I think JK is a meanspirited woman, I always had that notion bc she reacted in some ways, even before the whole modern eh, shenanigans. And that meanness, pettiness and inconclusive attitude reflect in hps worldbuilding.

I agree with several points here!

If Sirius had been in a better mental space, I agree that he would have noticed the scars from the blood quill. However, we could also interpret this as Sirius being exceptionally depressed. Now, I’m not defending JKR here, but one thing we do have to remember is that Sirius was a convicted murderer and Harry’s legal guardians were the Dursleys. Sirius literally has no say in what Harry does. Sirius is not a person with rights—in the eyes of the law, he is due to have his soul sucked out. Anytime Sirius makes a decision on Harry’s behalf, it’s a courtesy thing, not a legal guardian thing. Unfortunately. It’s gross to say, but legally, Molly has the same rights as Sirius to tell Harry what to do—which is, gross.

Also, sure, Sirius could go out of number 12 in disguise but he’s in hiding because he knows he can’t risk his own safety for Harry’s sake. Dumbledore has made it very clear that Sirius is not to leave, and frankly, by the way Harry believed he had to rescue Sirius, this was actually probably the right call. Sirius is the most important person to Harry (and likewise), and if Sirius were taken captive by either the Ministry or Voldemort, Harry would done something unwise (which…he did). I’m not arguing that this is how it should have gone down, but theoretically (if you ignore the importance of mental health and stability lol), this should have been the right call.

But the point is, Voldemort’s ability to manipulate people and destroy friendships is what killed Sirius. Voldemort manipulated Dumbledore who thought he was smarter than Voldemort; Dumbledore prioritized keeping Harry alive but sacrificed Sirius in the end. I do think JKR punishes Sirius for being smart and attractive (lol), calling him rash when he’s really…not, but I think it’s important to recognize that even the smartest, most caring people can make mistakes and overlook the pain of the people they love most.

I think Sirius is partially in denial about some of Harry’s struggles. As a man of action, Sirius’s inclination is to fix things, and when he cannot fix in the way he believes is necessary, he shuts down. He comes alive at the end of OotP when he is able to help in the way he wants—and then JKR kills him for it lol.

Anyway, just some thoughts. I don’t actually think Sirius was behaving out-of-character, but I think JKR was unmerciful in putting this fictional character into situations that brought out the worst in him because it served the plot. Just my two cents though!

[threetrenchcoatsinatrenchcoat]

How to win Dirty Laundry.

I'm no expert on lying or deduction, I just take this show pretty serious when I watch it, and I think the patterns to notice in this game offer a cool lens into interpersonal communication.

I. How to not catch liars. Liars largely aren't that spottable. Buckle in for this one: it's usually easier to eliminate ~3 honest people than to find one liar. Liars tend to be hyperaware of everything they do and end up doing nothing. Everyone's all too aware of the concept of tells, so here are some anti-tells that actually work.

The first to talk after hearing the secret read is a truth teller. Seriously. I can maybe count on one hand the number of times the liar spoke first, but everyone alllllllways ends up suspecting the first talker.

If someone unnecessarily implicates themself, they're likely a truth teller. For instance, giving a related anecdote is a strong anti-tell.

Truth tellers will dig deeper into the wording and theorizing cause they're actually trying to find a liar.

Less solidly, the biggest, flashiest accusers tend to be truth tellers. Liars try to fade into the background, so if someone is going ham on a theory--and not simply after they've been targeted--it's often someone unworried about the attention.

II. How to catch liars. There are somewhat tells. Sometimes. There are more in this list than the previous, but this is all less sure. The rest of your natural suspicions will help. The state I'm in when I get more things right is aware of my instincts but not reliant on them.

If everyone thinks someone's the liar, they're right.

Don't let anyone off the hook. Accuse for whatever reason, then see how they react.

Because liars usually act the same each time they lie--going quiet, going loud, accusing, double bluffing, whatever. My theory is people have a strong pre-built idea of what looks suspicious, so they won't be worried about lying the same way as last time as much as being suspicious at all.

Liars sometimes act ignorant and way overdo it. Like folks who say they're unaware of basic relevant world knowledge or fully skipped relevant life experience or just forgot the question. It's possible but it's suspicious.

There are some contestants who are just good liars. There usually aren't multiple in one episode (besides Lily and Grant, but it's safe to ignore them as a baseline). If someone fully outwits me on their first lie, especially by breaking any of the above patterns, and I have no suspects later, I'll just have to suspect them. Aabria Iyengar and Anna Garcia could sell me sand in a desert.

Not sure how the show's edited and how much of this is actually applicable to people in the game, but there's always some meta information for us to use. Everyone will get at least two secrets in the episode somewhere, usually no one will repeat until three distinct people have had a turn, often exactly three, they tend to space out each guest's secrets, and Lily and Grant will rarely appear early or be the episode's title. If someone's been on a previous season, they're probably not gonna bring anything crazier than then.

III. How to lie. Mostly chill out a little bit. Unless you're a trash liar.

Don't talk first. As stated above, you won't fool me, but there's less of me than people with the opposite belief.

Be the second to accuse someone. Everyone remembers the accused and the first accuser, but the quiet "oh yeah I could see X doing that" gives the theory a ton of validity while flying fully under the radar.

Don't say "I know it sounds like me, but this one's not me." (Even though truth-tellers and liars both say this all the time.) The best way to lose heat is to confidently say this couldn't ever have been me.

While you're doing so, make the justification very, very concise. Simple nonsense is more compelling than convoluted truth.

You do have to have good secrets. This is an entertainment product more than a competition, so the show will probably want the craziest story, but an uncharacteristic, mild secret will always fool more people than a buckwild but on-brand one.

[fuckyeahgoodomens]

Hi :) I'm new here, I accidentally chose the best time to finally watch GO, some 2 weeks ago, not knowing there's gonna be S2 in 2 months lol. I've watched the show a couple of times and I'm in the middle of reading the book but I still don't quite get Aziraphale's thought process after he figured out where to find Adam. Why didn't he tell Crowley at first and why did he break up with him? Did he have any ideas what to do when he did eventually try to tell him? I'm sure the fandom has worked it out and I could find it somewhere but the search function is hopeless and wading through 4 yrs worth of meta would take a lot of time lol. So could you explain please or point me in right direction? Thanks and also greetings from a fellow ace 😁

Hiya! :) Welcome to the fandom! :) The breakup is in the show, in the book not so much :). I do feel the book and the show a bit different - the book more witty and the show with more emotions, both absolutely brilliant. The break up in the show is there because it is more focused on the love story of Aziraphale and Crowley :), the angel not telling him is part of what I believe is Aziraphale's story and growth and realization of what Heaven is truly like.

In the book Aziraphale it is I think nicely described by this part:

Aziraphale was dithering. He'd been dithering for some twelve hours. His nerves, he would have said, were all over the place. He walked around the shop, picking up bits of paper and dropping them again, fiddling with pens.

He ought to tell Crowley.

No, he didn't. He wanted to tell Crowley. He ought to tell Heaven. He was an angel, after all. You had to do the right thing. It was built-in. You see a wile, you thwart. Crowley had put his finger on it, right enough. He ought to have told Heaven right from the start.

But he'd known him for thousands of years. They got along. They nearly understood one another. He sometimes suspected they had far more in common with one another than with their respective superiors. They both liked the world, for one thing, rather than viewing it simply as the board on which the cosmic game of chess was being played.

Well, of course, that was it. That was the answer, staring him in the face. It'd be true to the spirit of his pact with Crowley if he tipped Heaven the wink, and then they could quietly do something about the child, although nothing too bad of course because we were all God's creatures when you got down to it, even people like Crowley and the Antichrist, and the world would be saved and there wouldn't have to be all that Armageddon business, which would do nobody any good anyway, because everyone knew Heaven would win in the end, and Crowley would be bound to understand.

Yes. And then everything would be all right.

Here we can see that Aziraphale really wants to tell Crowley, but feels his angelic duty to tell Heaven and then convinces himself that if he tells Heaven everything will be fine - Heaven will dispose of the Antichrist and everything will be tickety boo - Crowley will surely understand that.

And then when Metatron talks to him and Aziraphale understands what Heaven is like and then they don't want to avoid the War and don't care about destroying Earth, he calls Crowley :).

[fellthemarvelous]

The Jedi got their own Doctor as well.

I haven't written fanfic in years but I might actually write this.

The unhinged, slightly incoherent Doctor Who/Star Wars crossover meta-ish long post no one asked for

Ahsoka season 2 needs to give me the backstory between Ahsoka and Huyang. How did they find each other? Was it after Ezra rescued her on Malachor? Was it before that? We have no idea what she was doing leading up to those events because she only showed up on Rebels for a handful of episodes.

And the last time we saw Huyang, he and Ahsoka and the younglings were having to deal with space pirates (HONDOOOOOO) and then General Grievous. Ahsoka was much younger in that time and we never saw Huyang again after that.

At what point in canon did they run into each other again? I think he's the only one who knows that Anakin = Vader based on a cryptic reply he gave to Hera when she asked him what Ahsoka's master was like. All he said was intense.

He's so used to Ahsoka's chaotic nature that every time she's like "I'm gonna do the thing" he's just like yeah okay because he's been dealing with the Jedi for 25,000 years and they are going to yeet themselves into the unknown whether he thinks it's a good idea or not. He remembers what Anakin Skywalker was like, after all.

This is one of my favorite things about Huyang's "history" though.

The idea that even the Jedi have their own version of the 10th Doctor is hilarious to me, and that rumor started somewhere.

But I also love what another droid says about Huyang in this passage.

Huyang is 25,000 years old so he's had plenty of time to become the one the Jedi go to when it comes to lightsaber construction. He helps the Jedi build weapons that are meant to be used as tools of self-defense because lightsabers are, in fact, extremely dangerous. This sounds like something the Doctor would do because the Jedi were peacekeepers and not soldiers, and it makes you sad when you realize that Huyang had to watch as the order he had devoted himself to for 25,000 years to were killed in a genocide that turned the Jedi's closest allies against them by removing their free will and forcing them to kill their Jedi generals, and it was all planned over centuries by the Sith who intentionally kept their numbers small.

When he ran into Ahsoka again, what was it like for him? She was one of the few survivors of the Jedi Purge. He remembers her as a child and now she's in her 40s. She was one of the few who was able to grow up because she survived.

What was going on in his head when he handed Ezra the emitter he was looking for because he somehow knew Ezra was looking for one like Kanan's? Huyang somehow knew it would be important to keep a second identical part around when he watched Caleb Dume (Kanan Jarrus) construct his very first lightsaber.

How much does Kanan's death weigh on him? Kanan was another child who survived the Purge. He met Kanan as Caleb not many years before the war ended and the Jedi were wiped out. Caleb had to change his name because he watched the clones gun down his master and he ran away exactly like she told him to before she died. Running away is what lead him to sacrificing his life so the rebellion would survive. Kanan fell in love with Hera, fathered a child he never got to meet, and now Huyang is getting to know Kanan's son (and will absolutely not be teaching Jacen how to construct a lightsaber "thank you very much your mom already said no" and the Tenth Doctor is used to angry moms slapping him in the face.)

Huyang spent 25,000 years living in one galaxy and teaching generation after generation of Jedi how to construct lightsabers. He was given the title of Professor because of the wealth of knowledge he carries around inside of him, and he only uses it for good, and he shares insightful wisdom and knowledge with the Jedi Order century after century after century.

And because he followed Ahsoka into the mouth of a space whale so they could travel to a completely different galaxy altogether, he is now stuck in another galaxy far, far away with Ahsoka (present), Sabine (future), Baylon Skoll (past), Shin Hati (new), a bunch of pacifist turtles, the force ghost of Anakin Skywalker, and the images of the Father, Daughter and Son that are carved into the mountains somewhere (and for some reason the Daughter's head is missing).

Now he can pass the tale of the Jedi across the universe. On the same planet where the Mortis gods are worshipped. It's going to link directly to the fact that Ahsoka is connected to the Daughter, both of whom were killed by the Son on Mortis, but Daughter allowed Anakin to use her remaining life force to bring Ahsoka back to life.

Is this going to turn into the story of how Huyang has to say goodbye to Ahsoka Tano, former Jedi and survivor who became a dear friend and travel buddy?

Is Seatos calling her back home? She possesses a gift that comes from an actual god. It's the only reason she's alive. And why Ezra had to reach into the past and save her from dying on Malachor at the hands of Vader. It would have tied the light side of the Force to a Sith temple.

There is only one other person Ahsoka shares such a strong bond with, and that's Captain Rex (is he alive, is he dead, if he died offscreen I am going to fucking sue Disney). Yeah I know he's old now, but he deserves a proper send-off. The Clone Wars was, as Dave Filoni has said, a story about Ahsoka Tano and Captain Rex. Captain Rex is her best friend and the one who was standing by her side when the Clone Wars ended. Neither of them would have survived without the other.

Ahsoka knew there was no way she would be able to save the other clones, but she refused to be the one who killed them. She couldn't do it. They might have all shared a face but all of them were unique and important to her, and she could never ask Rex to save her life by killing them. It made getting out a lot more difficult because the clones were able to just get back up again and start fighting a few minutes later since Rex was only stunning them. (Interesting how that happened on Seatos too but this time because the troopers were zombies.)

Ezra was able to escape Seatos in Thrawn's ship but Ahsoka, Sabine and Huyang got left behind.

Did Rex even find out Ahsoka was alive after she came back from Malachor? If so, this means he's losing her yet again. For the fourth time in their lives. If not, then he's still on his third time (which was Malachor).

Also interesting how he was found on a planet in the Seelos system, and it was just a barren wasteland like Tatooine. Seatos and Seelos sound alike. Satine and Sabine sound alike and were both Mandalorian. How Sabine built a deadly weapon called The Duchess when she was being trained by the Empire that was able to disintegrate soldiers wearing Mandalorian armor, and it was named after Satine, the pacifist who turned Mandalore into a peaceful planet. And ironically now it's at peace because the Mandalorians were wiped out after the fall of the Empire. And think about how the clones all came from the DNA of Jango Fett, a Mandalorian bounty hunter with blue and silver armor (and described as genetically perfect specimen by the Kaminoans).

Huyang is watching all of this unfold, but he's so old that it's just one of countless adventures he's been on, only this time he bonded with a former Jedi after a war that devastated their order completely. He might be a droid, but he's also more than that. He's ancient and wise and found a friend in Ahsoka Tano, the one who is imbued with the life force of a god and comes from a lineage that stands out above the others because it's the lineage of the Sith as well.

And as Huyang has now famously said...

How is it all going to end? If he is the Doctor, how did he become a droid too?

One day I might write a long ass fic about this if I ever have the energy to do so.

[drawingducktalesducks]

@ducktales-and-ducks bc it looks funny! look at this dork

otherwise though, there's some ideas

option 1: Emotional constipation.

whiplash from "my evil aunt only puts up with me bc she has to aaaaand yep she banished me to the shadow realm again, whee"

plus "every other adult in my life (from my perspective, thanks to Magica) has only been nice to me after or if I promised to do something for them re: Beakley liking her after Lena was helpful in the subway tunnels re: Scrooge offering Lena a place in his family if she helped him save them"

to "these two dudes and my new little sister kinda just like having me around? Without even wanting stuff from me???? the heck"

with a touch of "I'm scared I'm secretly bad and selfish and ruin everything around me"

and "this is way too good to last..."

= the headcanon of Lena trying not to make an impact on the Sabrewing's home, joking about freeloading meals but also calling to let them know if she's gonna be late for helping make dinner, 'house watching' for them during the day (this is Duckburg after all, someone should guard the house against invading dandelion lions or whatever), having several months worth of 'sleep overs' in Violet's room, Ty and Indie taking turns going in later and at least tossing a throw over their snoring teen, Lena always talking about how she's gonna fix up her basement room real soon and move back in there even as Violet helps her store some of her skulls and plants in their room for now (Violet makes a point of calling it 'their' room, Lena makes a point of not noticing).

One day Mr. and Mr. Sabrewing go to wake their kids, only to find Lena actually tucked under the bedcovers, stealing most of them from a very tightly curled up Violet. They take a very embarrassing photo of it. Families, am I right?

option 2: meta text and visual shorthand

the teen character sleeping all messy and sprawled out on top of the bedcovers is, i'm pretty sure, a Thing in media. that awkward age between too old to tuck into bed and not old enough to appreciate being snuggled safely under the covers

Extra points if they're an older sibling. which now, Lena is :D

option 3: She's not used to sleeping somewhere warm

there's a hat and a hoodie sweater, one thin blanket and no other sheets, on her bed in the basement hideout. hat + hoodie makes for good warm sleep gear, very useful if the basement you're living in doesn't have much if any heating

compared to that, a warm bedroom is probably nice and toasty all on it's own. adding blankets might be overkill for her

[frodo-with-glasses]

Been thinking about a particular LOTR what-if scenario (because my D&D campaign took a turn into collaborative LOTR fanfiction), and I'm interested in your perspective on it if you have time . . .

Supposing Boromir somehow survived protecting Merry and Pippin, what effect would that have on Denethor?

Denethor's being fed despair by Sauron either way. But I have always read him as the news of Boromir's death being the thing that breaks him and makes him start to believe it. His grief is certainly a large part of what's informing his treatment of Faramir (though certainly not the only thing, as I think there's textual evidence that Denethor favored Boromir all along).

If Boromir didn't die . . . would Denethor still give into despair? Would he still send Faramir on a suicide mission — and if he did, and Faramir still suffered the same wounds, would Denethor still end up in his whole "all is lost; better to die on our own terms" spiral? Or would he have the presence of mind to see to the defense of the city?

How would he react to Aragorn, a man who has all the qualities Denethor disdains in Faramir but even more so, and who people are now saying is the rightful king (who even his own sons, even favored Boromir, are saying is Gondor's king returned)?

(He almost certainly wouldn't be a fan of Aragorn's plan to draw Sauron's eye away from Frodo. He probably would be greatly displeased that the Ring had been allowed to go across the River to Mordor at all, and even Boromir would have trouble convincing him otherwise.)

Thank you for letting me ramble in your askbox, haha. Don't feel pressured to answer if you don't want to or don't find the question as much as I do. (But if you do answer, I will be delighted.)

As much as the Gondor Dudes aren’t my personal hyperfixation in LotR, I am nonetheless a big fan of overthinking hypothetical situations, so this is right up my alley. :-D (Also, it’s really cool that you’re running an LotR-themed D&D campaign!! Sounds like a blast.)

To be honest, you hit pretty much every point I was going to touch on; Denethor’s despair and consequent insanity were certainly motivated, at least in part, by grief, so if you take the grief out of the equation then naturally the results are going to be at least slightly different. But we still have lots of other factors at play here: fighting a hopeless war, the looming specter of deposition, knowing that your allies just sent a nuke into the territory of the Enemy in the hands of a garden gnome so small you could punt him, and Prolonged Exposure to Cursed Artifact are still going to take their toll on Denethor’s mind. He will doubtless be more motivated to hold on to life while his favorite son is still alive, but even if he doesn't turn paranoid and filicidal, he’s still going to be Deeply Messed Up regardless.

So since I'm not getting any new ideas by looking at things from a Watsonian (in-universe) perspective, I'm gonna steer this in a Doylist (meta) direction and talk about implementation instead. The question I always ask myself with these sorts of "canon but a bit to the left" fanfictions is this:

What do you want out of the story? Do you want to:

A) Return to canon as quickly as possible? B) Change just one thing and see how far it butterfly-effects out? C) Find something somewhere in the middle?

Because the thing with "canon but a bit to the left" AUs that you can make pretty much anything work. It's a hypothetical situation. The question is how far away from canon you're willing to deviate. If I'm writing a "Boromir Lives" AU, I might go a couple of different directions, and the one I ultimately choose depends on personal preference and what I want out of the story.

Putting this under a read-more 'cause it's about to get long.

Option A: Canon, but like .5 degrees to the left

Ever since the battle at the Falls, Boromir has been following Aragorn and doing everything the Three Hunters (well, Four Hunters) do. When Pippin looks into the Palantir, Gandalf decides to take him to Minas Tirith right away, and Boromir, who's eager to get home and feels some responsibility for Pippin, volunteers to go with them.

(Yes I know that Shadowfax travels at ungodly fast speeds to get from Rohan to Gondor, but it's implied that lesser horses can keep up with their lord when they need to, so even if Boromir took a different horse they might still have been able to make it to Minas Tirith in a similar time.)

Denethor gives an enthusiastic welcome to Boromir and a far less enthusiastic welcome to Gandalf and Pippin. That welcome becomes less enthusiastic still in the ensuing conversation/interrogation, when he learns that they totally had the Ring but they sent it into Mordor instead of bringing it here. Boromir tries to reason with his father. Denethor is very disappointed with him. He blames Gandalf for corrupting his other son with all this foolishness, and treats Pippin with suspicion because of the whole prophecy with the Halfling, and the convo ends with hurt feelings all around.

I might need the War Nerds on this blog to correct me if I'm wrong, but as I understand it, the attempt to take back Osgiliath wasn't a completely useless suicide mission, at least in concept. It is a major river crossing, and controlling transportation routes is like War 101. If you make it hard for your enemy to cross the River, you make it hard for your enemy to get to your stronghold, and that's good. Not a bad idea on paper. The only problem was that Minas Tirith didn't have the manpower to pull it off.

(And also there were Nazgul.)

Anyway, the point is, it's almost logical enough that you might be able to get away with Denethor ordering the Osgiliath offensive even without the grief-induced paranoia. Besides, there's still other paranoia in play: so far as Denethor is concerned, the Ring is walking into enemy hands, his son and most trusted captain has turned against him, and Gandalf is already planning a coup.

So here's what I'm thinking. Keep the Osgiliath battle, but send Boromir out there as well. Boromir and brother bravely bear the baleful battle, before their butts are badly beat and they get bit by the Black Breath. Dad feels bad, his boasts bashed as his boys' bodies burn with fever. Battle bears down on the beleaguered bourgeoisie, but their bereaved bigwig is barely bothered, too busy building bier bonfires.

…Sorry, I don't know where that came from.

Anyway, the point is, this puts us squarely back where we'd be at this point in canon: Denethor thinks he’s about to lose his family, his city, and his kingdom, and consumed by despair he decides that it's better to die on his own terms than in the hands of the Enemy. You can pretty much just follow canon from here and copy-paste Boromir with whatever is happening to Faramir.

(Except, of course, for the whole "falling in love with Eowyn" thing. But hey! Boromir was in Rohan! He and Eowyn probably know each other already! So they might have some fun conversations in the Houses of Healing.)

This is the route I would take if you want to stick as close to canon as possible and still keep Boromir alive. If adherence to the narrative is not your biggest concern, however:

Option B: Go stupid, go crazy

Boromir doesn't die. What does that change?

Well, everything, if you let it.

Let's say Boromir does return to Minas Tirith with Gandalf and Pippin like I suggested above. Let's say he's able to talk his father into begrudgingly going along with their unorthodox plan to save the world. Let's say Denethor doesn't call for the almost-but-not-quite-entirely-completely-a-suicide-mission to Osgiliath and instead puts Boromir and Faramir to work strengthening the defenses of the Minas Tirith. By time the Battle of Pelennor Fields rolls around, Denethor—now no longer occupied by the family barbecue—is available to direct defense of the city, with both sons acting as his captains.

Awesome! All this is great stuff, right?

Well, yes. So far.

The problem is that we lose so many great moments with other characters in the process. Pippin's pell mell run to find Gandalf. Beregond abandoning his post to protect Faramir. Eowyn and Merry, who slayed the Witch King together because Gandalf was too busy putting out fires (literally!) to get down there and do it himself. Aragorn, proving that "the hands of a king are the hands of a healer"! And if Faramir and Eowyn hadn't both suffered the Black Breath, they wouldn't both have been forced to stay behind as everyone else went to fight at the Black Gate, and they wouldn't have fallen in love in the same way.

This is not a statement meant to push your decision one way or another, but it's just a fact of the decision: If you dispense with Denethor's paranoia, and the insanity, and the murder arson, then you dispense with a lot of the other cool moments in this book. The question you've got to ask yourself is if that's a price you're willing to pay, and if not, how you can work around it.

Anyway, back to Pelennor Fields. I want you to imagine that Denethor is standing at the wall, watching the battle raging below him. It's not going well. The reinforcements from Rohan arrived, but they're barely hanging on. And to his dismay, he sees a fleet of black dots which could only be Corsair ships sailing up the river.

The foremost ship unfurls a banner, with the Tree of Gondor glittering on it.

And the army that pours out of them absolutely wrecks shop with Sauron's forces.

Is Denethor feeling relief? Yes. But is he feeling dread and apprehension and anger too? Also yes. He knows what this is. It's a challenge to his power waiting to happen. All his suspicions about Gandalf's ulterior motives are coming true: he has found someone to supplant him, and whether or not this kid is the true Heir of Isildur, the darn upstart's already gone all dramatic and made a war hero out of himself. Whoop-de-frickin'-do.

And then, he sees Aragorn's face.

And he's livid.

Fun fact: Appendix A tells us that Aragorn actually worked for Denethor’s dad, Ecthelion, for a long time. Aragorn went by a different name, of course, but he was so competent and so well-liked that he became Ecthelion's most trusted and honored captain, to the point that the Steward liked Aragorn more than he liked Denethor. We don't just have history here. We have beef. It's a little bit of a Tony Stark, Howard Stark, Steve Rogers situation where it’s like “Dad liked you more than he liked me and I’m his own son”.

You’d better bet your bottom dollar that when Denethor’s childhood rival rocks up to Minas Tirith, flying a banner made by an elven princess and carrying the Sword that Was Broken on his belt like he's somebody important, it doesn’t matter if Boromir and Faramir and Imrahil and everybody else in Minas Tirith likes him and happily falls in line behind him; Denethor is still gonna take one look at his face and go, “oh. it’s YOU. I freakin' HATE you.”

Whether this colors their ongoing relationship "coolly polite" or "passive-aggressive" or "outright hostile" depends on how vindictive you want to write Denethor. Because let's be honest, bro could totally order Aragorn to leave Minas Tirith and he would; Aragorn knows he's not the king yet, and he's humble enough to accept orders while the Steward is still in charge (as bass-ackwards as that is). But the thing is that Aragorn has the support of the people, and banishing him isn't gonna change that; if anything, it will probably garner sympathy for him, cause the people of Minas Tirith to distrust their leader, and maybe result in fracturing the loyalties of the populous.

So here's what you've got, okay.

You now have a David and Saul situation.

Think about it. Charismatic, upright war hero, beloved by everyone he meets, serving under the suspicious and deeply disturbed incumbent ruler who knows the newcomer is gonna boot him off the throne. You can't live with him: 'cause he's gonna boot you off the throne. But you can't live without him: 'cause you're in desperate need of his particular set of skills, and you'd be incredibly unwise to do away with him and earn the ire of the public. So you put up with him. And put on a show of liking him. And maybe chuck a spear at his head while he's playing the harp to calm down your possibly demonic fits.

But that's just Saul, so let's get back to Denethor.

The next step, in the book, is obviously the Battle of the Black Gate. And, obviously, Denethor is gonna think this military equivalent of knocking on the door of an axe murderer and threatening him with a pea shooter is a terrible idea, because it is. But the whole point—Aragorn and Gandalf and Boromir and Faramir and Imrahil and everyone else insists—is to distract Sauron long enough that the Ring-bearer can succeed in his mission. The plan isn't to win, it's to be bait.

Now you have a few options.

Denethor can, once again, begrudgingly go along with it, showing that he's slowly changing in heart. Perhaps Aragorn's humility is winning him over. Perhaps Boromir's impassioned pleas are getting through. In any case, you have a pretty good set-up for a redemption arc here, which could be interesting if you want to go down that road.

Alternatively, this could be the moment that Denethor entirely gives in to despair and basically says "fine, if you guys wanna go kill yourselves, I'll just be over here doing the exact same thing", and he tries to make Steward a la flambé. (Whether or not he succeeds is up to you, but I will say that this would be a pretty easy way to settle the succession crisis.)

Alternatively still, Denethor could publicly denounce the whole idea as stupid and order the people of Minas Tirith to stay put and defend the city, at the same time that Aragorn and the rest are urging those same people to come with them for one last stand. Now every eligible fighter in the city has to make a choice. Who will they follow? Lord Denethor, or Lord Elfstone? The people are divided. Factions are made. (This might be the moment that a certain member of the Guard sees Faramir standing with Lord Elfstone and decides, for the first time in his life, to break the rules.) In any case, the force that travels to the Black Gate is far smaller than it would have been if not for Denethor's interference.

If you go with the first option, it's a quicker road to a happy ending. Aragorn returns victorious, he and Denethor reconcile, and Aragorn honors the Steward and puts him in a place of high esteem. Everyone in Minas Tirith likes this, including Boromir and Faramir, and everyone lives happily ever after.

If you go with the second option, Denethor has either successfully or unsuccessfully attempted sudoku, which should probably disqualify him from public leadership either way. If he succeeded in barbecuing himself, it's the tragedy of a man who never got to see the upcoming victory; if he failed, it's the tragedy of a man whose mind was so utterly broken by the Enemy that he couldn't enjoy it.

If you go with the third option, congratulations; after Aragorn gets back, you still have to deal with the succession crisis. But I've waffled on for long enough and have basically no ideas how you'd handle this post-story, so I'm not gonna go down that road any further.

Option C: Pitch straight down the middle

Now what I've just presented are the two most extreme possibilities of a "Boromir Lives" AU that exist in my brain, but they're far from the only options. This thing is a spectrum. There are a potentially infinite number of possible storylines, some closer to canon, some further away.

If you like parts of one but not the other, you can mix and match. Take an exit ramp from the AU and get back on canon wherever you want, or just don't and see where it takes you. All I've done is present the furthest extremes I could think of to help shake up the ol' creative juices.

(I would have explored the possibility of Boromir arriving on the corsair ships with Aragorn instead of a few days earlier with Gandalf and Pippin, but that didn't change much except for Boromir having less opportunities to talk his dad down from bad decisions. So do with that what you will.)

Conclusion

I have no idea if this was the kind of answer you were looking for, but I guess I'm just returning rambling for rambling, LOL! In any case, I hope this helped, and if not, I hope it was a fun read.

But there is one more thing I can do for you, before I wish you good luck in your D&D endeavors, and that's turn it over to everyone else who reads this blog and see what they think!

HEY YOU GUYS! If Boromir lived, how would that effect Denethor's psyche?? Reblog with your thoughts!

[lurkingteapot]

bad buddy fandom getting-to-know-you meme!

tagged by @mahuhumaling and @galauvant, meme created by @fiercynn

note: i consider "fanworks" to pretty much everything people create related to a fandom, including but not limited to meta/analysis/discussion, gifs, fanvids/edits/fancams, filk, fanart, fanfic, fan food, fan crafts, etc. please include this note with the meme unless you have a different definition!

name and whatever you want to share about yourself I'm tpt! 30s, queer, brainweird, language nerd, been reading BL and slash and other queer lit since before the turn of the millennium and probably (hopefully) never gonna stop.

when did you watch bad buddy/join the fandom? I watched the first episode the day after it aired. Went in knowing nothing about it except the English title, which I thought was thoroughly unappealing, and the promo image. Came out of ep 1 convinced Paa was the only person with any sense on the entire show, but sufficiently intrigued (ointment sharing! Line ID shenanigans!) to keep watching. So I watched as it aired from ep 2, and when the bus stop scene rolled around, I blocked the airing time slot out in my calendar so I could watch live (which didn't work out for ALL eps, but … close enough). I did find a regular group to squee with after ep 5, but didn't really interact with fandom beyond that little bit of squeeing with friends and looking at fan art until after ep 9, I think. This was the first Thai BL show I watched week to week, and that also made it special to me.

favorite ship(s) Pat/Pran.

favorite character(s) Used to be Pran no contest, but Pat worked his way into my heart in the later episodes. couldn't choose now. they're all favourites.

favorite episode(s) I really love episodes 3-5 and 10/11. but honestly I love the show as a whole, and the episodes in the context they exist in. Except for the gun subplot.

favorite scene(s)  the opening sequence of ep 2! also episode 3 bus stop scene (and Pat's way of accomodating Pran in it), ep 4 sleepover scene, ep 5 Pat's realisation/the fight, ep 6 gate convo scene, ep 8 fight/apology scene, ep 9 hand-holding scene, ep 10 Our Song teaser scene and confrontation scenes, ep 11 affirmation/we got to go back scene and wishful thinking sequence, ep 12 bar scene.

one thing you would change about the show if you could I'd adjust the pacing of ep 12 so the fake-out is a smaller part of the whole thing proportionally.

what are your some of your favorite fanworks made by other people? It's really hard to pick. I love SO MANY. Even just the authors whose fic I list here have written more than one of my faves each. but let's see:

fic (missing scene): keeps me warm by unsungyellowraincoat (@isaksbestpillow). direct ep 8 aftermath exploration that made me ache.

fic (canon divergence): fight or flight (worth the wait) by jabber_moose (@galauvant). Ep 2 canon divergence wherein Pran is discovered under Pat's bed.

fic (AU): Pinocchio by aworkingprinter (@miscellar). In which Pran has an obvious, unsuppressable tell when he lies.

fan animation: international love song by @architectxengineer

fan art: this pic by @ thatgothsamurai was one of the first things I saw in this fandom in the way of art and it's stuck with me

(if you create fanworks) what are your favorite fanworks that you’ve made?

fic: the only truth that sticks (<5k, G) is my take on Pran's mother's backstory, told as vignettes from her school years. There's a lot I'd do differently if I wrote it now – not give her a nickname, for one – but it's nevertheless my baby; when I started it, I hadn't finished and posted any fic in over 20 years.

I had a collection of random language- and storytelling related observations about the show on twitter that I should probably copy over somewhere else at some point for preservation purposes.

there's an epic canon divergence that lives only in my friend's and my DMs and a back-up doc that I'm starting to think will never take full shape, but I love it anyway. There's also an escalating intimacy thing set vaguely pre-canon plus ep 7 to time skip that I've not added to in a year and probably won't finish, either, but again: love what I've got there.

a song that makes you think of bbs (the ones in the show don’t count lol) If it's a bittersweet love song I'm PatPraning it. But specifically: Tilly Birds' เพื่อนเล่น ไม่เล่นเพื่อน (Just Being Friendly) and pretty much the entire tracklist from the ON Thailand fanmeet, especially แดงกับเขียว (Red and Green) by TaitosmitH, แน่ใจไหม (Are You Sure) by Nont Tanont, อย่าใกล้กันเลย (We shouldn't be close) in Aof Pongsak's version, and ดวงเดือน (Moon) by Joey Phuwasit.

idk anything else you want us to know? I love this show. I love the hopeful ending. I love all the recurring characters (yes, that includes Wai and the parents), with all their flaws. I love how gently P'Aof tells this story – the way he approaches entrenched BL clichés, picks them up, examines them, and puts them back down: does it have to go this way? not for us, not for this story, let's look at how else this could go. He said he wanted to make a typical, an ordinary BL, and he did, and he didn't.

I love that I met so many nice people through our mutual love of this show. I love that we're still on the rooftop nearly two years later.

I love that there's so many sides of this fandom – analytical, transformative, curative, and everything in between.

I have completely lost track of who has and hasn't done this yet, but IF you see this and think, hey, this seems fun! and decide to do it, please tag?

[rubykgrant]

On the subject of what kinds of tattoos RVB characters might have (or if they wouldn't have tattoos at all)...

Grif; we know he's got a Blade tattoo on his neck (I'm imagining it on the back). He'd probably get a few more, but avoid ones that seem too "typical" (he's mentioned several he would DEFINITELY not care for). He might get some on the Simmons-sides of his arm/leg, for the fun of it. I think on the back of his shoulder, he'd get something that matches with Kai, and when they sit side-by-side, it fits together. You just know he'd get a pizza tattoo somewhere (possible even a pizza with a slice missing on one arm, and then the slice over on the other). If he wanted to be all extra romantic about it, he'd find something with Simmons' signature on it, and get it tattooed on his chest, over where the heart is (this is a game, and he's winning). He also might get a traffic cone~

Simmons; he'd be all afraid to do it, but also REALLY wants to seem cool... if he finally goes for it, he'd get something like Pi or the infinity symbol. He might get a nerdy tattoo on his neck to match Grif (the Robin R, since his name matches Dick Grayson, or the Starfleet insignia, or the little up-link patterns from Ghost in the Shell)

Tucker; listen, he's a pain-baby. In a serious situation, when he has to fight or save somebody, Tucker can handle anything, he'll keep going and push through the pain... but in regular situations? Ow, no hurty! However, he'd get something for Junior (like the shape of his handprint when Junior was still tiny), perhaps on one shoulder blade, and on the other he'd get the Alpha and Epsilon symbols (almost left those unfinished, because HURTY, which would have been ironic, since Church keeps dying... but he finally got it done)

Caboose; had to be talked out of getting a HUGE tattoo that just says "I LOVE CHURCH" on his chest. Instead, he got a pale-blue helmet tattoo on his forearm on one side, and a deeper blue helmet tattoo on the other forearm (his and Church's original one), and when he hugs Church, the helmets overlap~

Sarge; never gave himself any down-time for decades, so no tattoos for a long time... when he finally chills, he would get a few for ODST, the Red Team symbol, and a shotgun slapped on him somewhere... maybe something pretty like a sunset scene on his back (he has a sentimental side for things like that). He'd also get a series of lines, in a stripe pattern, of red-brown-maroon-orange-pink-purple, one his bicep (people who see it ask "what Pride Flag is that?")

Doc; not super interested in tattoos... but he might get something like a moon and sun overlapping, like an eclipse, to be all symbolic for him and O'Malley. If O'Malley convinced him to get more, there would be like, a skull next the peace-sign. Doc's also one of those guys who'd get a motivational quote printed on him somewhere (everybody teases him that it's gonna be "Live Laugh Love", but he's not THAT much of a dork)

Donut; an elaborate tattoo illustration of a ribbon and several flowers, maybe on his thigh above his knee, and curves up around his hip, all very PINK~ Also, something that says "God Can't Kill Me" on his arm

Wash; not especially into tattoos, but he might get something on his neck (not over the scars, but around them), like a couple flowers to represent still being alive/growth. On a dare, he might get like, a small road tattoo (black winding stripe over an arm or leg, with the yellow lines down the middle. because it's his armor... and hahaha, car joke). Although he'd like to get something for all his friends he's lost, it feels weird getting a Project Freelancer tattoo (because the program itself SUCKED), or multiple AI Fragment symbol tattoos (it feels in poor taste, after what happened to Maine and the Meta). He would finally pick something like an intricate kaleidoscope pattern full of multiple colors (for the armor of all the friends he's lost, and all the friends he still has) on a shoulder

Carolina; just don't want any tattoos

Church; same. He doesn't care, he'll be the token plain-vanilla one with no ink

Tex; finally got herself that star on her back~

Kai; she's got a matching one with her bro... and also a lipstick kissy-mark on the little dip under her belly, something like cherries/hearts on her chest, small stylized symbols of different drinks on one arm, a crown and the word "PRINCESS" written in fancy font at the small of her back (it was gonna say "Princess Slut", but she decided to be at least mildly considerate to her bro's sanity, since he'd see it any time she had a swimsuit on. prude), "Fuck The Police" on her arm somewhere, and a rainbow that is a gradient- half colorful, half grayscale

[spacemonkeysalsa]

Idk trying to be measured or something?

Debates on bg3fandomcritical got me thinking about wanting to write more meta on queerness, also I have an opinion, it seems.

Ages ago I made a short silly post that was the beginning of a word document that I've not added much to since about reading BG3 as a queer text.

The post was about how I have been playing too much BG3 to write about BG3, but that I really wanted there to be more meta on it. I wanted this so that I could selfishly read it, without having to do any of the writing myself.

Specifically, I wanted more about queer themes in the story, and the way characters express queerness. And I wrote that after the very first time I saw someone else complaining about BG3 not being queer enough. How it just hadn't done enough or gone far enough and actually wasn't even gay at all, now that they thought about it.

I was confused, but not as confused as they were because it turns out they hadn't played the game, and didn't really know anything about it besides what they'd seen in some memes. They thought the extent of the queerness in the game came down to being able to customize your character, and romance whoever you want.

And I don't want to dismiss that, because I actually do think that's worth exploring as a queer element itself, and not just because of the medium; the plot of the game is all about struggling against an autonomous collective that just assigned you this procreative role against your will. So, with that in mind, I actually do think having some say in your gender, gender expression, and sexuality isn't thematically insignificant, in that doing anything else would be contradictory (and super ironically serve as a counterpoint) to the overall message and theme of the game.

Ultimately, the story presents a kind of library of babel (tldr on the library of babel is that it's a library where every book possible exists, somewhere, and most of them are unreadable nonsense you can literally waste your whole life going through the shelves trying to find a book that makes sense but you probably won't because the statics are against you, so you just get to go mad knowing that all your favorite books and a perfect autobiography of you exist here somewhere, along with a perfect autobiography of you in which you are replaced with a bag of marbles etc.), albeit very scaled down which I hate saying because the whole point of the library of babel is that it's both infinite and finite (its an analogy for the universe and the pointless search for meaning within, maybe I should have included that with the tldr) scaling it down messes that up, but it is by necessity because we can't conceive of infinity and we certainly can't program it, though the modders are sure gonna try it.

We can imagine hundreds, thousands of new scenarios every day, and that can keep going until we're dead. And so far, that's kind of been my relationship with the game. I'm constantly starting new playthroughs with new characters with new backstories and taking everything I've learned to create a slightly different scenario, and the game really plays into that by accommodating my imagination to a pretty broad extent. But, like, I could easily slip into a tangent never to return, so I'm just going to shift back over to what I'm really trying to say before I get lost: Being vague about character sexuality for each of the romanceable companions, is actually really important and purposeful writing in this context. Most of what we do get from them is very vague, blink and you miss it moments, flirting with another NPC, or casually referring to a past partner with certain pronouns, or euphemisms. If they were too firm about their preferences, that would influences the "most likely scenario" in this library of babel context. At a minimum making each of the characters open to any scenario with any partner (under the right conditions) is something that they would have had to consider and I think they narrowed the possibilities as much as they ever should have. Death, choice and moral alignment acts as a hard litmus test, and a point of no return threshold for certain characters, but apart from that, you're free to romance who you want, and you're free to headcanon whatever sexuality you want onto whoever you want, and you're free to change your mind next playthrough.

There are some characters who are explicitly pansexual. Halsin is the very best example of this, because he's very direct, talking to the player character about past romantic and sexual relationships. But past romantic and sexual relationships aren't definitive, so even then, his explicit pansexuality is also negotiable, because everything is written to be negotiable. For my own part, I think having a headcanon sexuality for certain characters that you prefer (or even that you can't mentally/emotionally separate from them) besides pansexual is totally fine. I'm bisexual, and that could easily influence how I feel about it personally, which is that I can imagine any of these characters with partners of any gender. It does not feel weird to me in any context to imagine any one blurbo getting hot for anyone else. But if you've got a headcanon sexuality for them that's different, more exclusive, then cool.

At this point I've romanced every character in the game, most of them a few times, and each time I'm in character creator planning the run and thinking about who I'm going to romance this time, I have to take a minute to consider whether I'm playing M/F/N this time around, and every possibility is always on the table for whoever I'm romancing.

But, I wouldn't call this playersexual, because I think we should have retired that term before it had the chance to come into popular use again. I've complained about this before, but as I remember it, this was the word that Bioware invented to make excuses about why certain characters (the one that was really egregious was Jack, a canonically pansexual woman) just weren't available to romance unless you played as the opposite sex.

And don't cite the deep magic to me. I remember. I grew up in a house that always had fox news going, it's one of the reasons I'm so angry all the time now, and I don't care about Bioware's shareholders. I do think it was cowardice you aren't going to convince me otherwise.

The counterpoint is that the utility of "playersexual" is as a writing criticism. The idea is that characters in a video game should feel like real people, and that being able to (functionally/effectively) project something onto them (like sexuality) isn't something you can do with a real person, so it shouldn't be something you can do with a well written character.

First of all, I don't think that well written characters necessarily need to feel like real people. Orin doesn't feel like a real person and I love it, I love the way she's written, I think its great. And to feel like a real person, a character doesn't need to be like a real person. No one is like Karlach, at least on a physical level, but she feels very real because clever analogues.

But, I don't really want to go all the way back to the assumptions that a lot of these opinions rest on, and how they don't hold up. Let's skip to the part where a lot of people think these characters should have a fixed canon sexuality that's evident and unchangeable in their gameplay and mechanics, if not in the actual writing around them. Meaning you can only romance certain characters if you chose a gender they canonically prefer in character creator, all the way at the beginning of the game, or that to romance certain characters as another gender, you have to get a cute little Abigail "realizing something about myself" inclusion.

And that's one way to go about it, but I don't think its automatically worse writing to simply not do that. I don't think purposefully allowing for any scenario in this context is bad writing, I think it's playing into the above themes. I think if you want to only ever romance a character as one gender or another, because of how you perceive them, you should do that. I romanced Minthara as a man the first time around, and didn't think it felt weird at all, but now that I've romanced her as a woman, I'm probably just going to stick with that going forward because I liked it more. That happens. Having headcanon that a certain character is a certain sexuality or has specific preferences, isn't wrong, and isn't contrary to how the game was written and programmed.

But for sobbing out loud can we please just use the term pansexual instead of playersexual? It's accurate and gets the point across and doesn't have all that baggage attached to it.

[shallowseeker]

You said one of your early metas sparked discourse. Can I ask what that is?

I rarely even know when Discourse is happening now. Through some miracle, I got adopted by the coolest mutuals, so. I usually only see the amazing stuff.

One day last year, I kept getting weird rando tags that said stuff like #wait is this the post that sparked all the discourse? #it can't be because this is so sensible and #I don't think the op is saying cas DESERVES to be homeless???? I didn't even know what "'Discourse" was at the time.

Anyway, Someone somewhere apparently called me a Republican. And some others said I blamed ppl for their own homelessness. Some accused me of hating the poor etc etc. And stuff. Anyway, someone was NOT having a good time on Tumblr! I can only imagine that I must have been a stand-in for something someone was Going Through in Real Life.

As for the post...

///

I can't actually find the post (it was on my vent blog, and I'm real bad at tagging, esp back then), but the gist of it was that Castiel is a stubborn asshole, but he's got keen emotional intuition, despite his "lost in translation" shtick.

After he knew the full scope of Sam's terminal illness and the Gadreel-hostile-hostage situation, he pretty immediately and intimately understood the bunker-kick-out situation. (He'd just been tricked by Metatron, too. I mean, hello? He gets it.)

I also mentioned that Castiel has, as far back as season 6 at least, had a tendency to want to be self-sufficient to the point of detrimental self-reliance. (I mean, dude hid key battle tactics from the rebel angels willing to go up against an archangel with him. *cough* Hello, Rachal. Balthazar.) And some ppl hated that. They wanted the root of all of his issues to be solely Sam and Dean.

Anyway, I don't think it's completely out of character for him to get a stiff upper lip about being seen as weak. Plus, he has a history of going radio silent and being cagey about situations, especially when his feelings and pride are hurt, so I simply mused that it's not outside the realm of possibility for him to stuff a bag with whatever cash and cards he's given and jump on a bus ASAP without telling them where he's going.

And Hell, it's not like Sam was never gonna get better. In 9x09, Dean refers to their separation as temporary. "Now, if that means that we keep our distance from you for a little while, then..."

Regardless, when Cas found out the deets of the situation, it all clicked for him.

///

I even pointed out that it seems like Cas walks away from the human experience...*gasp* proud of himself rather than weepy n' traumatized. After he fights the RitZien, he stares down death and says, "I want to LIVE." After that, he gets himself a lil' suit and a car and starts actively going out on cases.

I'll leave you with a thought by one of my fave little dudes: Rob Buckman. He wrote the incredibly famous Breaking Bad News and writes a LOT about weakness and resilience in the face of it. (I found out about him on 99% Invisible podcast btw.)

“The great thing about being ill from my point of view was that I found out that I could tolerate … a fair amount of pain and handicap … total ostracization from my friends and family ... and I didn’t collapse, and I didn’t turn into a different person. I didn't fold like a wet blanket. People can withstand a lot ... isn't that wonderful?"

That's Cas, on the other side of things, after dealing with the struggle of humanity. Sometimes getting to your lowest makes you feel weirdly secure. We get real hung up on, "Well, if it was ME, I'd have been traumatized and melted into a puddle of goo and held a grudge and had intense trust issues over it. " But it's not always a one-to-one-this-trauma-means-you-get-that-type-of-hang-up. Sometimes, we make good meaning from shitty situations, too.

[aprillikesthings]

moar rewatch

s1! ep2 and 3!

Bow's voice actor's work here is so good lolol

Nice work establishing that only Adora can do the transformation thing with the magic sword

Man someone on youtube has to have done one of those therapist deep-dives on their relationship. So much of their interactions are just painfully accurate for the way a kid reacts to an abusive parent--that combination of fear and resentment and still wishing you could make them happy, just once.

My family didn't have a golden child vs. scapegoat thing going on, though. I wonder if this is based on the writers' own experiences or if one of them read about that dynamic or had a therapist consulted or what

oof too real 😬

anyway Free Palestine

even cartoons know that murdering civilians and/or destroying their homes makes you the bad guy

There's some parallels here with kids who grew up in conservative/evangelical families realizing their family's politics and faith weren't based around Jesus at all but were based around bigotry and small-minded cruelty and knowing they have to leave, and knowing ND Stevenson's background I assume it's intentional

"You've known these people for, what, a couple of hours? and you're going to throw everything away for them?"

:( and to Catra, this just feels like a betrayal. There's a meta post somewhere way back in my tags that was like, from Catra's POV, Adora knew how shitty Shadow Weaver treated Catra and that wasn't enough to rebel and leave, but knowing Glimmer and Bow for a handful of hours was, and how much that had to hurt like hell, considering Catra put up with Shadow Weaver's abuse for so long in part to protect Adora and in part because it meant her and Adora were still together

Ugh this is why I love this show, Catra's actions are sometimes just awful but they make sense given what we know about her life, and right now she's just panicking and trying to hide it

And meanwhile Bow and Glimmer are like "actually we've decided we trust you :) can you be fancy sword lady again thanks!"

Like of course Adora is going to pick Bow and Glimmer and not Catra in that moment!!

"Is that....Adora?" "It's She-ra!"

Yeah that's not gonna be the source of weird "who the fuck even AM I" feelings later ha ha ha amiright

Also along with all the other weirdness of suddenly being bigger/different outfit etc, like, She-Ra is not only WAY stronger, but also knows how to fight in that body and with that sword. Like having muscle memory you didn't know you had. That's gotta be WEIRD. (I mean, there's also memories that clearly aren't hers, too)

Poor bb is scared, mad, and kinda turned on (shhhh I can headcanon whatever I want)

I called Yellow Diamond a clod, right to her face!!

("You made that joke the first time you saw this ep April" It's just a good joke okay!!)

OKAY EPISODE OVER

EP 3

Glimmer: everyone hates Horde soldiers but I think people will love you as She-Ra YOU JUST HAVE TO BE SHE-RA HA HA IT'LL BE FINE

Adora, internally: I'm only valuable/acceptable/lovable as long as I can be She-Ra, a person who isn't entirely me and that I don't know how to control and feel extremely weird about, got it

LOL I FORGOT HOW THEY GOT SWIFT WIND

whether the sword's edges are sharp or not is entirely dependent on whether someone needs it to be or not pffft

ouch

lol this would be such a wild cosplay to do

(a quick image google says the original is far more popular for cosplay; only a couple of people have done this version)

"Adora's gone, she's defected. And I'm starting to think she had the right idea!"

...okay how tempted do we think Catra actually was to just fucking leave.

Once again: intentional parallels to high-control religious groups

But the reference to Lord Hordak specifically also has shades of "Just wait until your father finds out what you did!" which is, uh, a little uncomfortably close to home ngl

DEEP SIGH

boy do I hate how familiar this is

I used to get so scared it would make my stomach hurt, and I'd shake the same way Catra does here, which sometimes made him angrier

jesus christ

okay how much of my love of Catra as a character is bc I can empathize with her in moments like this one (I was never as openly rebellious or back-talking as she is though; any disagreement got me screamed at)

I mean on the other hand Hordak is like "bitch, I know you've been doing this whole Golden Child/Scapegoat bullshit, so if your Golden Child fucked off and the Scapegoat is all you've got left then congrats that's on you, dumbass."

Catra thought she was gonna be murdered and instead she got a promotion

OKAY BUT ahahah oh god

IF Hordak had actually punished Catra or even threatened her in any way, I feel like Catra would, in fact, have left. There would be nothing left for her in the Horde, right? So why not leave?

But Hordak didn't promote Catra because he personally believes in her abilities, he did it to piss off Shadow Weaver. Then again maybe he knows that promoting Catra means she'll stay loyal.

Because it works, doesn't it. Oof. Catra wants to prove herself, dammit; and she's been given a shot at doing it, so she's staying.

Aaaugh.

OKAY that's 3 episodes out of 52. I think I'm done for today. No guarantees, though. Also there's no way I can do this for every single episode. >_<

[flip-flop-lover-will-byers]

I said I'll give prompts and I'm giving prompts. This is how I cope I'm just throwing out ideas, feel free to do whatever with them-

1) Heartstopper AU with artist-jock Will (aka letterman jacket!Will) who is neither in the closet nor out of it. One day paired up in a class with Mike Wheeler, the loser drama kid. The only cool thing about Mike is his leather jacket. He is also the straightest kid to ever straight. Or is he?

2) Divorce lawyer!Will as a meta homewrecker joke. Bonus points if you come up with an absolutely buckwild story of how he came to be a freaking divorce lawyer. Mike Wheeler, reluctant client.

3) Mermaid AU. Sorry, but I am coming out as an absolute sucker for mermaid AUs. Those things slap. Did you know the Byler tag already has like 3-4 mermaid AUs? Which is a lot. But I'm greedy. Mermaid AUs are where you go WILD. Write some totally sick shit with evolution, biology, magic, culture, worldbuilding, philosophy, DRAMA.....

Mermaid+soulmates AU. Will is sceptical of this human who claims to be his soulmate. Mermaids don't have soulmates, nor does Will want one. Mike knows Will is his soulmate- it's not unheard of for humans to have monsters as soulmates. A man though...he's never heard of men being soulmates. Dive deep into that question of what makes a monster. Who gets to decide where humanity begins and where it ends? What makes a soulmate? Can fate and free will coexist?

4) Amateur detective!Mike detecting a little too hard and finding the missing man-of-mystery!Will. Was Will running from the UD? The Lab? Lonnie? Mike is then pulled into shit he did not sign up for.

5) Millenial!Mike Wheeler has heard many stories about the kid who disappeared from the woods nearby 15 years ago. He's also heard his new house is haunted. He doesn't think much of it, until one day a man comes out of his walls.

6) Famous artist!Will and fanboy!Mike. Will doesn't know Mike's a fanboy. Mike is both a tumblrina and a Y/N fanfic writer.

7) Famous Author!Mike and fanfic author!Will. Mike comments on Will's every fic and they start chatting. Mike writes a romance novel (heterosexual!) for the first time, and the main characters are saying some suspiciously familiar stuff. Will messages coolpaladinboi69 "hey...did you read Wheeler's new book" and pulls out the receipts from their previous chats. A very on the nose joke on Mike's projection.

8) 12 year old Mike Wheeler discovers a very friendly ghost lurking inside his new house. Nobody else can see him, maybe because they don't want to. Will is so nice though, and so helpful. But wait- is he really dead? Or is his body trapped? Somewhere dark and cold...

9) Will is the guy hired to remodel Mlvn's white picket fence home. Mike is having ThoughtsTM. ANOTHER one for those meta homewrecker jokes. We got a literal homewrecker on our hands, but wait- oh that looks much better, thank you.

10) Mike Wheeler knows that something is wrong with quiet classmate Will Byers. He shows up with bruises, holding his pencil oddly while drawing. They've never had a single conversation, but one day after witnessing a terrifying scene between him and his father, Mike begs Will to let him help. Will refuses, he only has to get through a few more months, and then he's 18, and free. Two weeks later, Lonnie's car goes up in flames, taking Lonnie with it. Will is miraculously unharmed. The police names it a freak accident, but Mike suspects otherwise. He's not gonna sell Will out tho. The Chief is going to call services to take Will to his closest relatives, but before he can Will has blurted out another name. It's just a few months, surely he can spend them at his best friend Mike Wheeler's place? Somebody's gotta explore Will's Lonnie trauma pls

Bonus points if-

- Mike is as pathetic as possible. He needs to be a complete loser. Not a single cool thing about him. Not. One. He is miles below Will's league and everyone is aware of it, except Will himself.

- Lucas-Will bromeos.

- Unwitting chick magnet!Will.

- Mike and Max and their mutual disdain.

- El making at least one fruit joke. El cheering Will on as he homewrecks.

- Dustin being StraightTM and all the queerness going straight over his head. Poor kid has no clue.

[lightning-witch-jenny]

So (almost) one year ago, I made a gag Morbius review on twitter that took me hours to make. Today, I post it all here.

I know the joke is dead but since it took me hours to make and got 11 likes, I wanted to repost it on a site where it might actually gain traction. Also just for fun since tumblr lets you color text I color highlighted key elements. Click read more at your own risk

Hey there everyone, today I'm gonna be writing up an entire review for the greatest movie of all time, peak fiction, the one and only, #Morbius, as part of the #MorbiusSweep. I'm gonna be going through the whole plot from start to end, so get ready for the ride, #morbheads. So the movie starts with narration from Morbius' perspective, as he explains he is from a great lineage of vampires, and became a world famous celebrity hero after he stopped his arch nemesis (who we learn more about later) from taking over the world. Now he lives in the Morb Mansion somewhere on Long Island, and now spends most of his days chilling an eating McDonald's fries (this movie is sponsored) So like, he's just chilling in the Morb Mansion, he walks down to the mail room (he gets so much fan mail he needs an entire room dedicated to it) with his gargoyle sidekicks Minimorb and Megamorb. When Morbius walks into the mail room he sees it is filled to the brim with fan mail. He gets pissed off that the mail room is already full again when he had just cleared it all out yesterday and commands Minimorb and Megamorb to take all the fan mail to the Morbincinerator since he doesn't need any of it.

To calm his nerves he decides to head out to the local mcdonalds to #getthemfries. So he soars through the skies to the local mcdonalds except, the mcdonalds was gone, destroyed. Suddenly his phone starts going off and he ckecks it to find out mcdonalds all across the world are being destroyed by some mysterious figure. He goes back to the Morb Mansion and has some banter with Minimorb and Megamorb about what to do and eventually they decide this must be the work of none other than Morbius' nemesis, Suibune Romulus, better known as Suib Rom. So Morbius and his sidekicks fly off to Suib Rom's lair inside an extinct volcano somewhere in asia. It's standard fare, they bust down the door, Morbius totally morbs on Suib Rom's minions, you know the drill. When Morbius reaches the throne room and is about to totally morb on Suib Rom, something punches Morbius to the ground. When he looks up, he is met with a shiny robot version of himself, which Suib Rom introduces as Metal Morbius. Side note, on one of the walls of the throne room there is a big picture of Suib Rom and Thanos giving thumbs up, showing that they are in fact best friends Morbius says his catchphrase, #ItsMorbinTime, and begins to battle Metal Morbius, only to be outclassed by Metal Morbius in every way. It looks like he might actually lose, until something busts through the ceiling and knocks Metal Morbius to the wall. The dust clears and it is revealed Morbius' savior is none other than Parallel Meta Knight, and his accent is THICK spanish. Like, nigh incomprehensibly spanish, although at random point he speaks in perfect english for no reason. He tells Morbius that they have to get out of there, as he has laid Parallel Meta Bombs all over the volcano, which has set it to blow. Morbius and Parallel Meta Knight quickly fly out the hole PMK made in the roof, with Minimorb and Megamorb following behind. Once they're far enough away they turn to look at the volcano and watch it explode and collapse. Morbius laughs and says "Wow, a lot of people must have died in that explosion, I guess you could say that's really MORBid" and looks to Parallel Meta Knight for a laugh, who simply scowls instead. Morbius whispers to Minimorb and Megamorb that no one ever should dislike his jokes and he should totally morb on PMK. Before he gets the chance though, PMK points to the crumbling volcano and Morbius is able to see with his expert vision that Metal Morbius flew out of the rubble and carried Suib Rom away. Then Morbius gets all sad that he wasn't strong enough to beat Metal Morbius, his sidekicks give him some encouragement and PMK says he has a flawless and "based and redpilled" plan. They can split into teams, and while Morbius can search for a way to beat Metal Morbius, PMK will find out where Metal Morbius and Suib Rom went, and in a week's time they can meet back up at the Morb Mansion and team up to defeat them. Morbius agrees to this plan and explains he'll go to train under his great great grandfather, Count Dracula himself. PMK flies into the direction Metal Morbius went and Morbius and his sidekicks fly off to Translvania

Morbius gets to the castle, and as it turns out, as you can tell from the castle, this is the Dracula from Castlevania. Pausing the plot synopsis for a bit, I just gotta say, I love all the references in this movie and they all make total sense. Bravo for the writers. Honestly, EVERY movie should be full of crossovers and pop culture references like this. I can't ever see that getting tiring. Dracula ends up scolding Morbius and telling him he isn't as epic as he thinks he is and he's letting all the fame go to his head and Morbius just dismisses this and acts all disrespectful to Dracula and Dracula has a bit of a "my wife died and I'm sad" moment but eventually he does agree to train Morbius Now let it be known that this movie is a cinematic masterpiece and perfect in every way, but I am skipping the training segment. It's not bad or boring, nothing in this amazing movie is, it's just slow, so all you need to know is Morbius trains hard, and at the end of it all Dracula gives Morbius one of the seven Chaos Emeralds. There is ONE part of the training segment that is key though, a cutaway bit that is plot crucial. During the training segment one scene cuts away to an abandoned subway station which Suib Rom has made his new lair. He's talking over the phone to two people who are "growing impatient" and Suib Rom apologizes that he allowed Morbius to destroy his main lair and the portal he was working on, but he still has the blueprints and can rebuild it here. Suib Rom then fantasizes about how it'll be so awesome and be so cool when Morbius is finally defeated forever, and that he'll be able to start in his own superhero movie with Morbius out of the way. He then activates Metal Morbius and gives it orders to continue destroying more mcdonalds, and in a few days time they'll move on to the mcdonalds headquarters. After this the camera pans up to reveal Parallel Meta Knight looking down on the whole scene hanging upside down from the ceiling.

Eventually they meet up back at the Morb Mansion and Morbius is confident he can beat Metal Morbius now that he has a Chaos Emerald, and PMK explains he had gotten help from Phoenix Wright and located Suib Rom's new hideout in an abandoned subway station in California near the mcdonalds headquarters and that they have to stop them before they attack the mcdonalds headquarters. So the two of them fly over to California and head down into the subway tunnels. PMK tells Morbius they should be stealthy, until Morbius cuts him off and says "I smell FRIES in the vicinity" and soon discovers Metal Morbius in the subway tunnels, and chases him down in one of the most iconic scenes in the movie you might have seen on twitter, and says one of my favorite lines "There's only one Morbius, there isn't room for any morb of me. You're about to get morbed, faker." Morbius chases Metal Morbius to the surface, and Metal Morbius leads Morbius to the roof of the mcdonalds headquarters, where Suib Rom was waiting. Morbius boasts about how he has a secret weapon, to which Suib Rom replies "you mean the chaos emerald?" and pulls out his own chaos emerald which he gives to Metal Morbius. Morbius is shocked as hell but shakes it off since he still has the training from Dracula he got, he readies himself for the fight and says "alright, no More B.S." Soon, drones fly all around the roof of the mcdonalds headquarters, and Suib Rom reveals he plans to broadcast the fight to the whole world so everyone can watch him lose. Just as before, Metal Morbius has a total upper hand in the fight and eventually slams Morbius into the ground who is now too weak to really fight back. Suib Rom then turns to one of the drones, and through it, tells the whole world he has come to make an announcement, and explains he hates Morbius so much because in the second grade he and Morbius went to the same school and he tried to be friends with Morbius, but Morbius thought he was too cool for Suib Rom and morbed on him instead. Ever since then he swore revenge. He told the whole world Mobius didn't care about them and was in truth nothing but a selfish asshole who just wanted their fame and adoration. Morbius thinks back to previous events. How he always tossed his fan mail. How he wanted to morb PMK just for not liking his joke. How he was a disrespectful ass to Dracula. And how he rudley told Minimorb and Megamorb they couldn't go to california with him to fight Metal Morbius. He then told the world Suib Rom was right about him, and he had let the fame go to his head, and was truley sorry. He then asked if anyone was still a morbhead after discovering this, that they could lend him their power. Suib Rom laughed at this and said no one would care about Morbius after finding out his true nature, but then was shocked as the wishes of people across the world gathered into Morbius' hand as he used it to create a spirit bomb, which he launched at Metal Morbius, destroying it. Realizing he had lost, Suib Rom retreated away on the Thanoscopter which he had borrowed from his best friend Thanos. Parallel Meta Knight finally caught up with Morbius and said it was a good thing the two of them beat Metal Morbius. When Morbius points out he didn't even help in the final battle, PMK shoots away with his Dimensional Cape.

And that's pretty much the movie. All that's left is the after the credits scene, which many fake morbheads missed. Suib Rom returned to his subway lair, and activated the portal machine he had mentioned earlier. You can see on the wall in the background there are blueprints for a Metal Morbius Mk II. That aside, out from the portal step the two figures Suib Rom had been talking to before, Syn Shenron and Dame Da Ne Guy. Syn Shenron says "FINALLY, I just couldn't wait no more!" and Dame Da Ne Guy says "It's time for Morbius to Dame Da Die! And that's it. My thoughts? 10/10 story, characters, a meaningful arc for Morbius, and I loved the part where he totally morbed on those guys. Was so happy to see Morbius return in Multiverse of Madness and cannot wait for Morbius 2 to finally come out. That's all for now Morbheads, I will return to review Morbius 2 when it comes out.

God I hope against all odds those dumbasses make a Morbius 2 so I can do another one of these.