Downfall has only just started, but already I'm deeply curious what Bells Hells reaction will be to seeing it play out. I've mentioned before that I suspect the dislike or outright disdain some of the party feels for the gods - most notably Ashton and Laudna, but also Imogen at times - is in part a product of the gods being so distant as to not feel like real people to them, and therefore being easy scapegoats.
It’s easy to see the mortal victims of Ludinus and the Vanguard as just that: victims. The Hells have met them, have been them. They have not seen or felt the gods suffer in the same way. Laudna even went so far as to blame the gods for mortal deaths and suffering after the solstice, even as the gods are the ones under attack. They feel uniquely abandoned by the world, and it's easy to blame these distant, powerful figures for their hardship. Certainly much easier than to see the mortal systems that enabled their harm, or to actively seek improvement on their own.
But to see the gods now, not just as people but as mortals, with all the flaws and vulnerabilities and fears of any of the Hells, with loved ones of their own and the same desperate sense of self-preservation as any living thing, will they be able to hold onto the disdain that they’ve clung to for so long?
Yes, Ren genuinely thinks cramming his wolf ears under that hat will distract people from his sharp canines, his tendency to tell Zedaph what to do, and his bad habit of barking at moving objects.
Yes, Doc genuinely thinks hanging an old rag over his face and wearing those ancient spectacles with no lenses will help distract people from... well, everything.
Okay so. Not so long ago I've seen this gif and show it to my friend, saying: LOOK ITS LAZYTOWN's CHOREOGRAPHY
And she basically replied: No, you moron, it's from Addams Family
And since it's Wesker... Yeeeeeaaaaah, it's most likely he trained Jill with Addams Family films than with series for kids about healthy lifestyle, BUT I STILL THINK ITS KINDA FUNNY THOUGHT
Am I the only one that can't stop thinking about how Tianlang-Jun says about Luo Binghe that he pretends to be cold-hearted like his mother. The hint of fondness there, the heartache in that utterance.
Like it drives me absolutely insane. Imagining her putting on a front of strength, cold and driven and unrelenting. Why does TLJ say that about her. Did she secretly look for solutions that meant reconciling with demons instead of hurting them when her sect wasn't looking? (I wonder this because I feel like his weird fondness for SQQ would lowkey track if it's connected to the woman he once loved.) Did he mean that she was tasked with basically assassinating him and she fell in love with him instead (re: failed step one)? Did he mean that she was fond and doting in her own way (e.g. conceding he was attractive, paying for his exploits and humoring him)? Did he mean that, like LBH, she thought that power would be the thing to protect her--and that it was disguising a person who was deeply and privately wounded? All four????? I don't need sleep I need a n s w e r s
Did she know about the Huanhua Palace Master's skeevy ass intentions before she met TLJ? Or did those only come to significant light after she fell in love with TLJ? Is that why she never anticipated that level of betrayal, because initially she had no intention of being with anyone romantically? And HHPM just assumed she would be under his thumb forever?? Was she furious at her own indiscretion or did she try to use the pregnancy as a bargaining chip, a way to try to stop the immortals of Cang Qiong Mountain from attacking TLJ (plus the bonus of marriage entrapment no takesies backsies this is where LBH gets it from)? Did she try to use that claim on her to dissuade HHPM from his covetous advances, framing herself as tainted so that she could finally escape? Did she dream of a life by TLJ's side, far away from Cang Qiong Mountain?
Like. Literally every single permutation of what this could mean guts me to hell. Do you ever just cry about tianxi because I--[loud bawling noises]
The fact that Main-verse Ooo is as good and as kind as it is (relative to the other universes shown so far, at least, it's obviously not perfect) all because of the same character that starts off as the OG series' antagonist, the person we were made to see as the bad guy (albeit an often ineffectual one) for several seasons, is making me lose my mind.
Imagine finding out the guy you spent your childhood beating up and saving princesses from is in fact a driving catalyst behind you being able to exist, and not only exist but also live in a world that knows what kindness is. All because that man, the same man who you've witnessed do terrible things, once met a little girl and taught her how to be good.
Simon's story really shows us that even if you lose your way and forget how it is to be good yourself, the world keeps the memory for you. That act of love Simon showed Marcy by protecting her and seeing her as more than the monster she thought herself to be created ripples upon ripples, small at first but eventually enough to help give their wreckage of a world—a world that easily could have been forsaken, its goodness overlooked because of its inhospitable remains—a chance to grow into something beautiful. Because of those very same ripples Simon created, the people of Ooo grew up in a world where they know enough about kindness that they were able and willing to spare the 'bad guy' some, to see beyond the wreckage and allow him to grow too.
In saving Marceline, Simon helped to not only to save the world, but also himself.
I could wax on for many, many posts about The Case for Crystal Palace and the amazing chemistry we see between Edwin (George) and Charles (Jayden).
But for now, allow me to wax on about this scene.
They are having an emergency meeting in their non-soundproof closet (Guys. Crystal can hear every word.). We know how much Edwin cherishes the agency, cherishes Charles. We just saw an entire montage showing how well they work together, a synchronization formed over decades of working side by side. They're a well oiled machine. Partners. Best mates.
And, *insert record break scratch*, change is afoot. There's a live human girl in their office. Edwin's sharp eyes have clocked the way Charles looks at her, and his fists clench at the suggestion that a *human girl* could join their Dead Boys Detective Agency. It threatens EVERYTHING they have painstakingly built over the last thirty years.
There's not even a client! And certainly, they wouldn't allow a kidnapped human child to be their client. That is, to put it simply, not how they work, despite how insistent Crystal is acting as she flings open the closet door and barrages him with opinions that most assuredly do not matter.
But then, Charles gives him *that look*. The one where earnestness sparkles in his chestnut colored eyes.
And he says, "Oh, come on, Edwin! Wouldn't it be good to get out of town for a bit?"
And he adds, voice dropping an octave, "...what with Death being in our office so recently."
And the proverbial nail in the coffin, "...and besides. You're really going to let a little American girl die?"
Ah, checkmate.
Edwin sighs, eyes closed in defeat. Charles grins like the Cheshire Cat that he is.
BEYOND EVIL dir. Shim Na Yeon (2021)
↳ episode 1: Appear (나타나다)
You should’ve ducked down. Why would you just stand in front of a gust of wind? Gosh. Do you need to get slapped in the face to get your act together? What did you say? Why are you hesitating? We should go find the old man.
Lae'zel is like a play on the "I'm not other girls" thing, except she's trying SO hard to be like other Gith girls. She's trying to steel her heart and be a perfect soldier in the collective army serving beneath Vlaakith. No will of her own. Just blind servitude alongside the other Gith who are also denying their own individualism.
Rather than gutting the companions right then and there - as any other Githyanki would do - she joins them AND promises them a cure. A cure that was meant to be ONLY for Githyanki warriors. And she doesn't know about the lies or the fact that he cure is a death sentence, but she still extends that olive branch to the group. She'll speak up when she's grouchy and try to project a hard exterior, but she's SO secretly soft.
When you approach Rosymorn, she'll stay on that part of the map if you try to leave. Upon returning, you can make her admit she missed you.
You can make the strong Gith who was raised to pillage, kill, and conquer admit that she missed the player character.
Lae'zel isn't like other Gith Girls.
Her act two scene is trying to progress the romance as though it were between two Gith raised within that culture. It's a fight to prove your worth through your battle prowess, which makes only the best *warriors* worthy of companionship. However, it becomes clear that isn't want Lae'zel wants. If the player loses, and Bae'zel beats the fuck out of them, she becomes distraught because she doesn't WANT to fight her romantic partner.
She wants to mutually protect one another. She wants companionship with her partner. She wants to enjoy the sunrise with them, feel the tickle of the night breeze, see the Tears of Selune chase after the moon across the night sky, she wants to live and she wants to share those experiences with her love. She doesn't WANT to be the stone cold Gith that she was raised to be.
Lae'zel wasn't given any role to do with the eggs, but once the egg is in the party's possession, she's instantly drawn to it. When Xan hatches, she gives him a name to represent that he'll be raised to be free to be himself. He'll have the freedom to choose his own path, whatever that maybe. Xan DOESN'T have to be like the other Gith. He could be a scholar, an artist, a warrior, anything he wishes to be. It's his life and Lae'zel is just happy to see her little Xan be raised with the freedom she didn't realize she craved until she arrived on that silly little planet.
Lae'zel isn't like other Gith girls because no two people are the same, even if raised in the same circumstances and culture. Everyone is an individual, even when they serve a collective or are fighting alongside Allies with the same main goal.
Lae'zel isn't just a nameless, faceless soldier. She isn't interchangeable with other Gith. She isn't like the other Gith girlies.
What's the deal with Grace Chastity? No, seriously, what's her deal? Because there are a handful of repeating characters in the hatchetfield trilogy and Nightmaretime. The main offenders of repetition are of course Paul and Emma, but that's a given since they're pretty much the main characters of the trilogy.
While there are several others who are also contributing to this, Grace is the main one with a mention in TGWDLM and BF, a major role in NPMD, a major role in one Nightmaretime(abstinence camp), a minor role in another(perky's buds), and another appearance in Workin Boys.
So, I raise the question: What the fuck is up with Grace Chastity? I know there's probably already bounties of lore vids on youtube dissecting her, but still. Are the Lords In Black just playing favorites? "Ah yes, this deranged maniac, let's make her especially deranged in every universe cause why not?"
I've actually lost sleep over this.
Is it because of her getting the black book at the end of NPMD? Does she do some crazy ritual with all the souls of the dirty dudes to become supreme destroyer of everything ever? Is she secretly a Lord in Black?