#idk but this one is the second parallel i'm finding out with the two of them

[denvilleneuve]

#same energy

YELLOWSTONE (2018– ) 5.06 // DUNE: PART 1 (2021)

[running-with-the-feels]

okay, just had a thought but like

nothing Kuai Liang has ever done has actually been his choice prior to like, maybe, the second half of MKX.

I mean, think about it, he's kidnapped by assassins as a child and tortured and brainwashed into becoming a weapon. He's told that he can't leave or he'll be killed and even if he could he has no one to turn to in the outside world bc they killed everyone else and his knowledge of it is limited by the fact that he's not been in it since he was a child and is only allowed out for missions. If he doesn't do what he's told, they will kill either him or his brother, that is the very definition of Under Duress.

And then he's cyberized and Literally has his autonomy taken away, along with his body which is Horrifying, and when he gets his autonomy back, he's in the middle of a war and has no real choice but to fight for his life no matter what he wants.

Then he dies, and becomes a revenant and while its unclear exactly how much control Quan Chi had over them, it's pretty heavily implied that it was a lot, kinda like a semi-autonomous puppet situation, and is again made to fight and kill for someone else.

Then he's resurrected, and almost immediately possessed by Havik who canonically took full control of Kuai Liang and made him kill a bunch more people.

Even once he's freed, going after the cyber initiative might count as his first choice, but they are also hunting him and constantly trying to kill him so idk if that counts and then he's just sitting in his temple, minding his own business, when Raiden sends him a bunch of people to train and we have no indication that Kuai Liang intended to reform his clan at all until this happened, Raiden made that choice for him.

the man has never had any true freedom to choose in his life.

Meanwhile,

Everything Hanzo has ever done has been fully his decision.

We know that Quan Chi lied to him about who killed his family, and I will give him a pass bc nobody would be thinking rationally in that situation, but also, why on Earth would you trust the fucking necromancer? why would you not try to ask literally anyone else if he's telling the truth EVERYONE KNOWS THAT QUAN CHI IS A LIAR. but hey, maybe Hanzo doesn't know that, so we'll give him a pass.

But then, he still choses to serve Quan Chi rather than seek Bi-Han out on his own, he still kills Bi-Han even when he has a Massive incentive (the elder gods bringing his family and clan back) to leave him alive, and he chooses to keep serving Quan Chi after getting his revenge.

He even admits in the MKX comics that he was never controlled, though we know he was manipulated and he's probs not taking that into account, so at the very least the majority of the blame for his choices is on his own shoulders.

He also chooses to try and kill Kuai Liang in those same comics even as the cryomancer is kinda begging for his life and pleading his innocence. And he kills Quan Chi even knowing that it will damn the rest of the revenants to staying in hell forever.

Like, I'm not saying Hanzo is evil, I find all of his choices Very easy to understand even if they're the wrong ones, its clear why he does what he does, but he still makes a lot of bad choices that hurt the people around him.

And it's just like, do you think they ever talk about that? Does that affect the way they see and understand each other? Do they bring it up in fights and then regret it immediately?

Idk, I just think it's a really interesting parallel between their two characters.

[lavernius]

Use this ask as a prompt to talk abt Restoration :3 I always like reading your posts w/ your thoughts

Thank you! Heads up for the usual "I'm super RVB critical" disclaimer but here are my assorted thoughts.

RVB: RESTORATION SPOILERS under cut, very rambly, TLDR at the end.

The premise was interesting! I think I (personally) would've appreciated it way more if it had actually followed RVB13 directly, but that's beyond anyone's control. Tucker becoming the Meta is great, it would've been nice to see a real-time progression into it. Kinda sucked that Tucker himself didn't get as much focus as a character, but they probably didn't have time to squeeze in anything past Sigma mentally torturing him and Tucker's passing comments about not wanting to help him.

The animation was okay. I won't flame it because they were probably on a time crunch/low on crew, but some parts of it looked worse than others. Action sequences looked pretty good though.

They were trying to do a "final encore" thing by bringing back some old characters (even as cameos), which is, like. Fun? But I feel like focusing so much on Freelancer seasons (with Niner, Wash's hallucinations, Tex, the Meta) snubbed Chorus, which is fine, but a little sad to have the final season reflect on people from the past but not show any Chorusan past Grey. It's RVB, though, so the cast is way too huge for that shit to work out smoothly anyway.

Sarge's death sucked. I think I laughed through the whole thing because I was so baffled. It was expected, and while the comedy of it all fit him well, I just don't think it was good as like. His last ride, you know? He didn't die a valiant death, the comedy lead up was an "oh god don't do it like THIS please" moment for me. Subversion is fun but falls flatter in the very last installment of a show that's been going on for two decades. I kinda? liked that Grif was mourning it, but because his death was so lackluster the entire "This is the end for me" speech didn't grab me.

Seeing as she's my favorite Blue, I'm very happy they brought Sheila back, but bringing characters back randomly without…much explanation (did they explain that? Maybe I missed it) felt weird to me. I loooved Sheila's bits in the season but it felt like a forced cameo. Niner was similar, even if people wanted her back, but at least she had Sheila to explain her presence. Making FLISS and Sheila the same person was a crazy move I need to write a dissertation on though.

Speaking of feeling forced, half of Grif and Simmons's conversations felt so ingenuine. Like they were shoehorned in to MAKE them bicker and not natural. I knew (the second the season was announced) that they weren't going to do shit for Grimmons, but for ONCE I didn't really find…ANY of their interactions especially riveting. Simmons letting Grif leave was HILARIOUS from a meta standpoint. Physically splitting them up at the end as one last fuck you to the gay people.

Caboose felt better than he does most seasons. Still an ableist mess in some places but I loved his IDGAF attitude. The big Meta fight was just fun for him. He just wanted to win. He was fucking with Lopez on purpose, speaking Spanish and misunderstanding him. He should've been more of a little shit earlier on. His voice acting sounded good! Inflection is always annoying but it felt less…egregious this time?

Donut got fucking robbed?! Kai too?! What was the point of giving them development. There were so many places where Donut would've been great to have in! Throwing the memory unit at Tex as a parallel to their BGC rivalry, helping Wash through his problems, IDK. Sucks.

When the fuck did Doc die. Why him. (< Rhetorical questions.) Wash mental health stuff is awesome, though, I love psychotic Wash, even if the portrayal was a little predictable (to someone who was paying attention. I was thinking about Lopez) and imperfect. I'm kinda glad his issues were focused on without him being a major character. PISSED Carolina only showed up on his behalf and stuck around for his sake, can't a girl live for herself sometimes…

Ummm. Lopez was there. I want to wring him like a wet towel. He's medicated as fuck and got to talk to someone who speaks Spanish…and his WIFE was there…I'm so glad he was having as best a time he could and SOOOO glad they wrote him out early like I anticipated (just personally because I love-hate him, but it was cheap). Go on an adventure with Sheila gayboy. Run away from all of this.

TLDR: Overall, solid 7/10. I went into it expecting a 5-6, but was pleasantly surprised by it overall. It felt VERY forced in a lot of places, the pacing felt bizarre sometimes, I still don't even know where exactly this is placed in the overall timeline (and I don't care), but they did some fun things. I'm so glad it's over I hope I never have to see official RVB content again.

[bluewinnerangel]

While I'm still mentally screaming about the My Policeman red carpet look I also wanna point out a possible intentional difference between the Don't Worry Darling and MP looks for both the press conference and red carpet.

DWD press conference (left) vs MP press conference (right), basically here the why i think he might be comparing the two if you will through outfits: the jackets are the same but in another color. And the same goes for the red carpet looks. It's pretty simple lol, but lemme explain... Remember he (and Lambert) have done so before, at the 2021 Grammy's for instance, where Lambert explained they went for "polar opposite" looks while keeping the same silhouette, and here I think something similar has been done again. (that's also what got me started on that fking color negatives bs but this isn't about that but it's part of the post so there's that) Pretty much the story is in the difference between the two, the one helps puts emphasis on the significance of the other.

Details:

DWD:

white jacket

blue nails

blue bandana scarf covering bananadicknecklace

bird ring

MP:

same jacket but black

green nails

pearls yes absolutely and dicklace on full display

peace ring

shoe model he wears at his shows

hair more his regular style

It very well could be they just didn't have much time for the MP look but basically I'm seeing details added that are much more him, much more comfortable, more harry for MP in many ways.

BUT NOW THE IMPORTANT ONE THE RED CARPET LOOKS

DWD (left) and MP (right):

Again The Same Jacket But One Is Blue And One Is Green.

DWD:

again blue nails

again bird ring

blue suit

it's all blue just like the press conference outfit

accessories: sunglasses, and I guess a shirt with pointy ends we count as an accessory bc the green goblin didnt need one.

the details make the suit look more stiff if that's the word

My Policeman

again green nails

again peace ring

same! jacket! green suit

no shirt. he naked. he bare. he babey. he all out. he-

BIGASS FKIN GREEN ASS LILY FLOWER BLAAP GREEN FUCKING-

accessories: purse, GREEN. CARNATION. APPRECAITION BIGASS FLOWER I THINK YOU SHOULD WEAR BIG GREEN FLOWERS

and here the accessoires, everything about it, brings down the squareness of the jacket? again. words idk fashion. But it's having opposite effects is the point. one makes you relaxed the other not so much

So I mean find symbolism in this the way you want to, I'm seeing a look for DWD that looks like a policeman. It looks to me like he's found a way (for himself) to put on display how he's both. DWD = work, like Tom is the policeman, and THEN there's MP, something he's passionate about, and we see the second, the green outfit, as displayed pretty much embodying a green carnation (symbolizing queerness, esp mlm), paralleling Tom who loves a man. Basically, the green carnation look is appropriate and related to the MP premiere, to his character in the movie, but by taking the look of a policeman out of that situation, and into the DWD premiere, he's added that layer of him. And not just that, also incorporating those classic (peace ring, blue+green) details we we've grown to understand symbolise his relationship with some lad dude yk.

IN SHORT: LOVE THIS GENIUS:

[spoofymcgee]

Rating Various Companion Exits in Terms of How Objectively Sad They Are

because if we do my personal opinions it'll just be donna donna donna bill rose jack everyone else

Least: Martha

i don't think it's an unpopular opinion that martha's exit was the least sad. like, she retires to take care of her mental health and for her family's sake, gets her doctorate, continues being an absolute badass who is also in touch with her emotions and super nice. she finds a partner who sees her for how incredible she really is and appreciates her.

personally i do believe that she and the doctor clear the air at some point–though i don't think martha holds anything against him still–and she'll just call up the TARDIS when she's having a bad day and one of various doctors will come do a girls night with her and paint their nails and talk about the wild shit they've each been up to lately.

(i don't think martha ever stops being in love with the doctor a little bit. but it's not a tragic kind of love–it's a comfortable one, the kind of love you can have once you understand that love will never be perfectly symmetrical and it can be nice without being reciprocated. in the same way that the doctor loves their companions in a way that they can never fully return for how vast and unending and universe-ending it is, martha can love the doctor in a small and quiet and steady way that never fully goes away even when she does hate them.)

(and if you keep to canon with mickey as her husband you get some fun angst about that! okay, martha digression over.)

Second-Least: Rose

look. i know this is an unpopular opinion. i know the doctor is haunted by rose leaving and the narrative is haunted by rose leaving and everyone and their grandma is haunted by rose leaving.

but. girl got sucked into a parallel universe. she got to say goodbye to the doctor, even if he had a stick high enough up his ass that it kept him from saying he loved her. she moves to a different world to retire in a mansion with her mom and her dream guy and has a baby and spends the rest of her life being awesome and cool and saving the world.

yes it is sad that she left. but her method of leaving itself is not sad. she gets a happy ending and the doctor knows about it and no one dies! so i think maybe that's my hot take. first of a few.

Third-Least: Clara

idk how unpopular this is but i'm not entirely certain it's correct because.

look. clara does technically die. the doctor watches her die and spends four billion years smashing diamonds with his fists to save her. as pissed i am that those two episodes basically made her retroactively superfluous before getting rid of her, i can admit that that's a pretty epically tragic way to go out.

but the thing is, she spends the rest of time running around the galaxy with me in a TARDIS, and the doctor only forgets her for, like, seventy years and then he's fine with it again.

so her exit is sad but it's undercut by the fact that she gets at least a bittersweet ending and also that she should have left a season before she did and also the episode after she dies establishes that the doctor hasn't needed her for a while.

so worse than martha and rose who have a happy end and don't die, but better than everyone else.

Third-Most: Amy and Rory

this is why i wasn't sure where to put clara, and i'm sure this is not a popular opinion but. i don't think amy and rory's exit was so sad.

like, i can acknowledge that the course their story was going to take was amy having to choose rory over the doctor. i get that now. i understand that.

and their exit is sad! it is! it is mathematically engineered to be sad. but. and i don't want to go cinema sins about this. is there a really the doctor couldn't have picked them up and brought them home a year later? like, the year is the problem, yes?

and maybe if i didn't have spoilers and also had no media literally or ability to understand foreshadowing i might have been more affected by the real death right after the fake-out death, and the doctor running across the bridge to the book is a nice scene and the bit with river is excellent but.

i just think it's missing something. i think it feels like it's designed to put them in an impenetrable plot prison in a way that was totally unnecessary because they want to leave anyway. it feels like it wants me to be sad–and then move on right away.

Second-Most: Bill

first off! bill dies! because if you really think about it. nearly none of the nuwho companions do? and bill technically becomes space oil yes but

a) the entire downslope of world enough and time and the doctor falls is so fucking sad. she dies and she wakes back up and she has to live in a body that is clunky and awkward and painful and doesn't fully feel like hers and is slowly failing her and that everyone treats as not having a chance despite the fact that its doing its best. and eventually even that gets taken away from her and she is being slowly deconstructed, everything that makes her who she is sawed off piece by piece until she can't even get angry because it's too dangerous, and everyone is scared of her, and she is clinging to the edge of herself because the only thing worse than being a walking rotting weapon is hurting her friends.

b) the doctor only like, 50% knows that she survives as space oil. the glass people don't fully know, so he might not trust them and from his perspective she's dead and he got her killed.

c) no other companion's death affects the doctor's next regeneration so deeply. thirteen throws herself between people and guns, she drops the monologues and the arrogance because her overconfidence is the reason why bill died. what the fuck is that. insane.

anyway bill is so high up and it's been weeks since i watched world enough and time and i'm not over it. bill potts my beloved you made me so happy and then crushed my heart to bits.

Most: Donna

i mean this is just canon. what can i say here that has not already been said.

the doctor has to take donna in his arms, donna who is finally seeing how brilliant she is, who saved his life and her life and the universe, who is brilliant and ruthless and burning.

her takes her in his arms and he kills her while she's begging him not to, begging him to let her go because she'd rather die as herself than die knowing that (from her perspective) the shallows cruel, self-hating voice in her head will replace her and talk like her and look like her only she'll be dead and that will be all that's left.

donna knows who and what she is without the doctor, without her memories, and it is her worst nightmare. and the doctor sends her back to that because he can't bear to lose her, because she is donna even if she doesn't show it, because he thinks that she will figure out how to do so again–and it's so easy for him to make excuses for the fact that he cannot stand by and let her die in his arms when he can do something about it.

god.

[raayllum]

idk how much we actually know about avizandum and zubeia’s relationship but do they have any explicit parallels with the other couples in the show, specifically with harrow and sarai?

I mean, there's the general "monarchs were one spouse dies" parallel, but there's not too much framing/parallels (simply because Zubeia and Avizandum have like, one scene). However, given the emphasis the season and arc 2 puts on change/corruption/dark magic and subsequently losing yourself ("I know you love magic, but I hope you're careful, cause it can change people." / "The Sunfire kingdom is lost in darkness. They're waiting for the light to return." / "The corruption of the Sun Orb infected innocent creatures and changed them." / "But the second you see that elf girl in pain, you completely lost yourself.") Zubeia's scene with Avizandum actually seemed like a potential, heartbreaking mirror to both what Callum and Rayla have been through and what they may go through in the future.

After all, Callum's dark path is just going to continue, likely with paranoia, fear, and further corruption, culminating in either possession or playing into Aaravos' hands or both and, depending on how the narrative frames the latter, losing himself/his mind as a result:

Z: A scratch. A mere nothing. But it festers. Infected. Corrupted.

A: And my favourite, the human mage already tainted by darkness.

while also decidedly reflecting some of what Callum and Rayla must've felt, after a similar period of two years apart (with Zubeia having lost Avizandum just 5-ish months before the series' start, so the timelines match up pretty well too).

Z: I miss you! I need you.

Death magic, death, darkness are all pretty synonymous with each other in their associations/framing being continually overlapping (the aforementioned tainted with darkness; "I smell Death"; "The glowing rune was dark magic. It represented death"; "What if I'm on a path of darkness?" / "I find myself at these horrifying crossroads because I have followed a dark path") as well now, in particular, with weakness ("In their weakness, humans allowed evil to flourish" / "All that talk about how love makes you stronger..." with Callum ultimately doing dark magic, again, to save Rayla vs "We are stronger together" and Rayla's light associations). So Avizandum stating

+ the heart of light (which, please god) feels very apt, y'know?

There are of course bound to be some Ruthari parallels (another couple with one half still decidedly alive, the other taken out of the equation by Viren - just like Avizandum - with the remaining partner needing to keep it as best they can for their child) but yeah, they probably do remind me of Rayllum the most. For this scene at least

[oh-my-may]

LET'S TALK GENSHIN AND REMURIA AND ARLECCHINO BEFORE I FORGET AND WE'RE ALREADY IN SECOND HALF OF THE PATCH WHY DOES TIME FLY WHEN YOU'RE AN ADULT

I'm gonna start the post with a few paragraphs I wrote just a few days after the patch went live:

So I finished the first Remuria world quest - it was beautiful. And really not as long as I first expected it to be. I probably could have finished it on the first day if I wouldn't have been as tired as I was

First of all the new map is beautiful. You'd think after 3? patches of map expansions where we already got underwater stuff it would feel repetetive but somehow it looks and feels different and refreshing. Maybe because majority of the map are caves where you can walk normally or they're ruins... idk.

I couldn't help but draw parallels between Remuria and HSR's Penacony tho, especially look-wise, the talk of a dreamscape and the theme of music. Especially now after finishing Penacony 2.2 I can't help but feel the two are very similar in certain aspects... the motive of Harmony and Song and Peace and saving a people and Gods? Also the way Remuria looks is so similar to certain things in Penacony? I already said rhis in my post on HSR, this is absolutely no hate whatsoever. I reckon there's only so much you can do with these motives? It's interesting how differently it looks in both games tho.

So yeah, Remuria is beautiful. The music is an out of body experience and encapsulates the whole thing perfectly. I haven't explored all of the map yet, but I like the new mechanisms a lot. The floating books look so cool and just generally the significance of music through it all... *sigh* it's so enjoyable.

So far for Remuria... i definitely missed a few things I wanted to say but it's been like 2 weeks since I played this and I definitely forgot something haha

AS FOR ARLECCHINO THO

First of all she's broken omg. It is kind lf annoying that it'll take weeks to max out her talents, rn for me she's sitting at crowned NA and skill and burst are level 7 each. But she still hits for like over 50k with each normal attack when she has a bond of life. Don't even get me started on her with Yelan MY GOD.

Okay with that out of the way let me talk about her story quest. First of all I find it very intriguing that hyv gave up on the usual pattern of having the second weekly boss for a nation be tied to the Archon and their respective second story quest (besides Mond ig)... i mean yeah Fontaine's archon situatipn is very peculiar but technically Neuvilette has taken over the role for now, right? Neither him nor Furina getting a second story quest makes me think Neuvi's probably gonna get his way later because it'll be HUGE. Again I wanna say that lore wise Neuvi is my fav character... HES JUST SO FNDNDBDN. And Furina is probably gonna get a pretty "random" one at one point kinda like Yoimiya did or Cyno... like its gonna be a good quest but it'a gonna be random. ANYWAY

I wonder how much different I would habe perceived the quest if I hadn't watched the Animated Short about Arlecchino that they put on Youtube... like it's her whole backstory? I could see where the quest was going right from the beginning because of it... that doesn't mean I didn't enjoy it, tho

Childe's little surprise cameo made me so happy c: MY BOY. He's alive snd well AND IN FONTAINE. Let me remind ypu we last officially saw him in the last Atchon quest gwtting yeeted into a black hole by Skirk. Then it was mentioned at the end that he was being treated and sent gome to Snezhnaya. Well...

The whole cryptic talk between Arle and Childe was quite interesting... so this project by the Fatui, right? (Forgot the name rn bc it's been a few days since I played the quest) Is it fonna be significant for Natlans story? What does it entail?? THE TEASE NNNNGNNGHH

I wonder if at some point in the game we're actually gonna see Lyney become the new head of House of the Hearth. Like... it's mentioned quite a lot in his story as well as in everything that has tp do with the House and Sröecchino herself... I wonder 🤔

Throughout the story I was reminded that one of the first things we heard about her (Childes voiceline that came out in like??? 3.0 or so???). It was that she would turn her back on and betray the Harbingers (AND THE TSARISTA) without second thought. She even says this herself in her voicelines. I just wonder what her ultimate goal is? To free herself from the curse? Which btw they tell us nothing about in the story. Story is all about the House and its inner workings and Arle's feelings about it and plans for the future (which I love btw but still not quite understand)... we also casually get told that Arle is not even that old??? Like the whole thing with Crucabena is so recent that Freminet remembers her???? Amd Arle was maybe a Teenager when she killed her so like??? She's only around 10 years older than the kids????

So how come she's a descendant from Khaenri'ah? I don't know if I read somewhere abput it or if its a rumor but not confirmed or if its said in her personal story which I haven't read yet but... she'a from the crimson moon dynasty? Or has some ties to it? And her curse is definitely related to it BUT WHAT IS HER CURSE EXACTLY. WHY DOES SHE HAVE IT. If she's only in maybe her late 20s she couldn't have been an actual Khaenriahn citizen (same as Kaeya and he still gives me the same headache thinking about this) so how does it all tie together in the end?? Does it have to do with the God of time maybe??? (Nevermind if this is talked about in her personal story in her profile I haven't read that yet)

So yeah... the fight woth her was so cool. The animation??? I saw people get upset about the fact that Traveler couldn't beat her but I actually love that?? Like... She'a #4 of the Harbingers and has some curse probably tied to Khaenriah and she KILLED A HARBINGER WHEN SHE WAS A TEENAGER??? Traveler nlt being this almighty MC makes them so much mlre likeable like yeah... they are obv far from having their actual power back? It took us ... how many times to fight Shuki No Kami before we could defeat it in the final try to learn all the patterns? The game wants to tell us that there's much more powerful enemies in Teyvat and rhis is only the beginning. Let me tell you yeah we beat Signora but it was Raiden who killed her... it was Zhongli who subdued Azhdaha. We only healed Apep with Nahidas help. Traveler has never been able to easily defeat these big enemies, they always had help. Yeah they have been getting stronger, they've been getting access to more elements but the bis enemies are just getting stronger and bigger too... I wonder where that will lead. Maybe the twins are only gonna get their true power bavk once they're united... ANYWAY

Her weekly boss fight is cool too. Using different mechanisms again, with the whole Bond of Life thing and all. She does this one attack in her second phase that I just... can't get behind tho. Someone always has to be the victim, THE SACRIFICE, to get me through haha. Idk how to dodge or avoid that attack. The one where she floats above the arena and then these bombs? Idk? Come down and basically crash down on the whole arena and I haven't found a spot where you can aboid getting hit and therefore killed immediately idk.

So yeah that's all for now. Very excited to play Cyno's second story quest. Heard only good things so far about it, which is good because I really didn't like his first one 💀 probably gonna get around to play it one of these days. Same as with the rest of Remuria exploration, gonna need mlre Clorinde funds :3

(Gonna add screenshots later, it's been so long that the ones I took aren't saved in the PS App anymore 💀)

[greghatecrimes]

Easter Eggs - In the Dirt Chapter 3

Okay. I have so many of these that I threw in for funsies. I had to have something to keep myself entertained while PVP-ing writer's block for six months xD I'll post my favorites first, just since the list is kind of ridiculously long, lol.

First: the entire funeral section of the chapter is written with the same structure as the first chunk of chapter one. >:) ("Sticky counters under fingertips. The sharp tang of sweat and alcohol..." -> "The stifling scent of artificially perfumed flowers. A dusty Princeton funeral home...")

Now for narration and dialogue. Unless stated otherwise these are just meant to be parallels/nods that we the readers see, not that the characters are explicitly referring to within the story.

"I'm going to die. What difference does it make if it's when I'm still young and healthy, or if it's five years from now when I've lost the ability to walk? To talk?”: This one is meant to be a tonal parallel to Thirteen and House's argument in You Don't Want to Know. ("I might die. So could you, you could get hit by a bus tomorrow. The only difference is you don't have to know about it today, so why should I?")

"Oh, grow up.” House snarls, so sharply that Thirteen feels herself flinch. “It's the same for all of us. Everybody dies. You know damn well that none of us get to do it with any dignity.”: HNNNNFHFSDF this is my favorite one. On my part, it's a reference to both Pilot ("You can live with dignity; we can't die with it") and House's angry, grieving outburst to Thirteen in Dying Changes Everything. ("People die! You, Amber, everyone. Don't act like you just figured that out.") Within the story, House only intended it to be a callback to the latter.

"You'd rather die than let anyone see the real you, because you think you're weak. You think you're pathetic.”: OOSHGSDF THIS IS MY OTHER FAVORITE. Okay. This was meant to be a parallel to my 7x18/5x08 web weave. Specifically House's dialogue with Sophia in Emancipation ("You need people to see how independent you are, how well you're coping. So they won't see the lost, hurt little girl.") (The other parallel to the web weave that I threw in there was Thirteen's later thought of House... what did you do?)

Before you start yelling at me– They're heading down a two-lane road, passing field after field under a dizzyingly wide blue sky, and Thirteen's vision fills with green-green-green– I'm doing this because I care about you.: When I first set up this connection when I was outlining the chapter, I almost fuckin' screamed. BIRTHMARKS. BIRTHMARKS!!!!!!!!! ("I am not doing this because I care.") I drove myself fucking insane with this one. I could write a whole ass post about the parallels between this chapter and parts of Birthmarks, but I think a lot of it will probably end up getting sprinkled into House's POV. (Edit to add: and the drugs. that was ALSO an intentional birthmarks reference. Idk how I forgor the drugs😭)

The rest are under the cut if anyone is curious!

Thirteen asking Foreman "Are you... okay?" at the beginning of their phone call: This was meant to parallel the moment in The Dig when Thirteen asks House the same thing, immediately after finding out that he and Cuddy had been dating but broke up.

“You had me worried for a second there. I thought you were about to show up at my apartment with a dead body or a stab wound.”: A nod to Darrien going to Thirteen for help in After Hours.

"I'm sorry." "Hey, no, don't do that.": Parallel to Remorse, when Foreman apologizes for firing Thirteen in the middle of their argument, and Thirteen snaps, "Don't do that! That's not what this is about!"

"What, did he finally break parole and get arrested or something?": Parallel to an exchange between House and Thirteen in The Dig about Lucas ("You could have at least hired Cuddy's weird boyfriend." "Lucas?" "Mmm-hmm." "You don't know?" "What, is he dead or something?"). Except with the horrible irony of: this time, someone actually is dead. Or something.

“I’m trying... to say that he’s gone. House is gone.” “Excuse me?”: Meant to be a thematic mirror image of a moment between Foreman and Thirteen in The Softer Side ("Do you miss sleeping with women?" "Excuse me?"). Tone-wise and context wise, they are complete opposites. But both times Thirteen reacts to the shock by asking for clarification (because clearly, to her, what she just heard can't possibly be what Foreman intended to say.)

"We've gotta be realistic. He's attempted before.” “Yeah, four years ago!": Reference to House quite literally killing himself (for less than two minutes) via electrocution in 97 Seconds.

"Why the hell did you just give up? What happened to 'killing yourself is never the answer?'”: House is referencing what Thirteen tells their patient in The Softer Side ("No matter how bad things get, killing yourself is never the answer"). He didn't mean it as a reference to Kutner, but it triggers memories for Thirteen of Kutner's suicide.

His words hit her like a sucker punch as memories of a different person– a different time and place, blood coated over her hands and face, cold and thick and copper-crisp– flash before her mind's eye.: Thirteen remembering the moment they discovered Kutner in Simple Explanation. (Also occurs at the end of the chapter when she feels "someone else's blood that drips from her face")

House's jaw drops.  “Charity case?” he demands, incredulous. “After everything I've done, you think that's what this is? A charity case?": lol this was just a nod to the title of the 'House fires Thirteen so she can be happy' episode being Charity Case. Something something House has never seen Thirteen as a charity case something something Thirteen tries to say he does so she can deny emotional involvement/connection.

She'd written out a little speech. Something about spud guns and lesbian bars and the number thirteen...: In-story reference to the events of The Dig and The Choice

Chase's easy grin, Eric's warm hand around her own: Thirteen remembering Last Temptation (Chase grinning and hugging Thirteen when he sees her again for the first time) and Simple Explanation (Thirteen and Foreman holding hands as they watch Kutner's funeral procession)

The cool metal of a spud gun beneath her fingers and House's hand over hers, steadying: That one screen cap from The Dig where Thirteen's aiming the spud gun and House looks like he's supporting her/guiding her through it. Thirteen is remembering that moment.

[raunchybanana69]

KH1-KH2 parallels to FF7 (Pt.3)

If you haven't looked at the first two parts please check them out

Riku + Ansem SoD + Sora parallels to Cloud + Sephiroth + Tifa (feat. small Kairi and Aerith parallel)

KH2 and Advent Children Parallels

So If you haven't gathered already from reading the first post, Tetsuya Nomura was working on Advent Children at the same time of the CoM and KH2 production. And by now if you haven't already saw the parallels in KH1 and CoM, Nomura basically all but shows you that Riku parallels Cloud, Sora parallels Tifa, and Ansem SoD parallels Sephiroth by this game.

Here we have a very obvious in your face parallel of Sora looking for Riku and Tifa looking for Cloud. If you haven't already seen the Sora and Tifa parallels, then...

Interesting thing to note is that Advent Children only came out a couple months in Japanese theaters before the release date of KH2. Nomura choosing the Advent Children outfits for specifically Cloud and Tifa (and Yuffie) while leaving Aerith and Sephiroth unique outfits was definitely a choice. Whether it's a matter of wanting to promote Advent Children for $$ or wanting people to looking into Advent Children because the parallels are interwoven into the KH writing (we can only speculate).

This one is more of a visual parallel with how Cloud and Riku look away. But also Aerith asks Cloud "you mean you don't want me there when you go away again?" and Cloud replies with "I just--- Listen even if I go far away, I'll come back". Aerith asks "Do you mean it?"

Cloud is unsure of whether he will come back or not which parallels Riku who was originally just going to leave once he was sure Sora and Kairi were safe.

Another note is how Aerith's KH2 outfit is something unique and incorporates white in her pink color palette which makes me wonder...

If you haven't gathered already that Sora was looking everywhere for Riku then idk...

When you look into the actual Advent Children movie, you'll start to see similar dialogue to KH2. In Advent Children, Cloud has Geostigma (a disease described as "the Sephiroth gene") and he camps out in the abandoned church for a couple weeks in seclusion while trying to find a cure. We see Tifa and Marlene stumbling upon Cloud's stuff. Marlene asks "Is Cloud Sick?" which Tifa replies with "He should have told me" ("Why didn't he say something?" in localization) a couple seconds later she says "I think he wants to fight alone" then pauses "I don't think that he will"

Sora in KH2 when finally reuniting with Riku is like "Why didn't you let me know you were okay?" and Riku replies with "I didn't want to be found... not like this."

Lmao funny dialogue but also

If you have not picked up on Riku paralleling Cloud and Ansem SoD paralleling Sephiroth then idk what to tell you...

Fun visual of driving a vehicle to the boss fight.

During the Bahamut boss fight, Cloud is being lifted by his team, and as Tifa lifts Cloud, in the Japanese version she says something like "まだんだ" (not over yet!) which got localized to "No giving up"

When Sora helps Riku up he says "まだ 終われないんだ" (it's not over yet) which got localized to "Don't say another word. It's not over, it's just not"

Anyways that's the end of the long post, keep winning Soriku

[moulinblanc0800]

why wandering clown is wataru singing to eichi

or, wataru's second solo from the fine trip album lyric analysis as seen through a wataei lens (honestly though this song is so incredibly specific to his and Eichi's story 😭)

Thank you to lucidstars on youtube, whose translation I based this off. Let's begin!

Verse 1: A wandering clown crosses the sea of stars while taking light steps, as if kicking beads

'Sea of stars' makes me think of outer space, how Wataru views himself as an alien or monster, something otherworldly.

A few other things come to mind: stars are very Eichi symbolism, like in his first solo Shining Star; and Jingle Bells, when the Angel flies through the sky with Eichi. The beads are immediately reminiscent of Eichi's solo Crystal Pleasure. (There's actually an insane number of parallels between the two solos as we'll see.)

The applause is for you, my whole soul that goes into a whirlpool of emotion And to be able to lock eyes with you in the garden of joy would be such a wonderful thing (showtime)

This is a stretch but walk with me. The first line is daydream. "A resounding applause (kassai ga hibiki wataru)" is the first line. The applause was for Eichi alone, while Wataru was enmeshed by all his conflicting feelings at the time.

In Wataru's words to Eichi in Blackbird, which directly follows daydream: "It’s as though something I cannot quite comprehend is stirring inside me", "as though he were a child who had just tripped for the very first time in his life."

I tried looking up garden of joy (歓喜の園 kanki no sono) to see if it was a reference but couldn't find anything. But I did think of the garden of Eden and the idea of exfine being holy angels, divination...idk.

Chorus: Let’s sew countless sparkles into this dream Sing as the wings of love flap Tonight at the end of the world, the clown you invited Will deliver a surprising song you’ve never heard before

This part screams Blackbird, where Eichi and Wataru write the next part of their story. In fact this is pretty much blatantly repeated by Eichi in Crystal Pleasure: "I want to connect all the sparkling moments" and "let me give you happy dreams". (I really have to do a separate analysis for Crystal).

Wings of love --> can be Wataru's bird imagery, callback to Jingle Bells' Angel, or the continued bird imagery in Blackbird

"At the end of the world"- In Neo Sanctuary, fine sings "And that is the Neo Sanctuary, the blooming new world I offer this victory to". In the same sense, they were at the end of the old world, about to embark on a new one, with the clown that Eichi invited... to fine :) [Oh this is ALSO mentioned in Crystal Pleasure's second chorus: "I’ll invite you into the brilliance, towards the tomorrow that you wish for"] This is one of the most blatant Wataei parts of the two solos.

Verse 2: Tied together with mischief, the melody of the constellations echo so close to each other every time you resonate your wish I want to speak to those eyes of yours, on this stage coloured by enthusiasm

The star imagery continues... Suspiciously in alignment with Crystal Pleasure. I will note that the same word for wish 望む is used here as in Crystal's second chorus. Both Wandering and Crystal sing about eyes countless times, I'll let you play with that yourselves.

But maybe I’m the only one who wants that When the curtain rises, the boundaries fade away I can almost feel your breath, you beautiful person

This part. Ough. Again, walk with me, this is like a reverse, or parallel of daydream. "Maybe I'm the only one who wants that"--when Wataru, unlike the other Eccentrics, was always fascinated by Eichi and even went to join fine, to the befuddlement of the rest.

In daydream, Wataru catches Eichi as the curtain falls, telling him that the audience is still watching, and commenting that it's unsightly (jury's out on whether he was talking about Eichi or himself, but anyway). Meanwhile, Eichi thinks Wataru "beautiful". They are so close that Eichi coughs up blood on Wataru's face.

These last lines of the second verse aren't daydream, but they're the present. Instead of a falling curtain, it's a rising curtain. And they're close as ever, so close he can feel his breath. And in this implied performance, they're standing on the same stage. In Wataru's words in Diner Live: "I wanted to stand on the same stage as you, Tenshouin Eichi [...] Unlike the confrontation of the past, a “what-if” that shows a past where we are standing shoulder-to-shoulder, or maybe even in the present. That’s the kind of dream I wanted to see."

Yeah. I'm. I'm normal

The second chorus ends with two different lines:

Tonight at the end of the world, the clown you're dancing with Will deliver an incredible dream just as you wish for

At this point

they're just not hiding anything are they.

Now that I'm done destroying myself here, I have to do Crystal Pleasure god i have to do crystal pleasure. I hope u enjoyed this post! Thank you for listening to me bend my back over for them. Feel free to add on if you noticed anything else.

[silviakundera]

Me : Hasn't watched a single drama from 2024 because I was too busy

Me: Goes to mydramalist to find something romantic to watch and starts reading comments on all the stuff that seems interesting sees that for almost every one of these fall into one of two camps the first one which houses the majority of shows the comments are exclusively about the guy and how much of a simp or green flag he is (their words not mine) the second category is people are criticizing the show for portraying an uneven dynamic where the fl treats the ml like shit

Me: backs away slowly and goes back to my binge watch of star trek deep space nine

Idk what it is if it's the writing or the different type of fans or a combination of both all I know I'm very confused 🤔 have we fallen into a different timeline ? Parallel universe? Have screens cooked our brains completely?

my friend, your first mistake was raw dogging the comments section on MDL 🙈😂😭 gotta proceed with caution these days 🚧🚧🚧🚧

but I got you. If you want to dip your toes back into 2024 cdramas romances,

* Legend of Shen Li is almost universally liked. I don't know that I encountered a real hater. Don't turn that into sky high expectations that can't be met, though. It's simply a solid xanxia romance with a very strong landing - 1 full length episode dedicated to the happy ending, instead of the xanxia standard 1 minute. The most high god in the universe x demon general who is engaged to heaven's notorious playboy that's terrified of her. and who is temporarily a chicken. (just go with it) The main couple have chemistry & are very capable actors. Rarely do I make it thru a xanxia without ever being consumed with rage at some awful thing the plot has one of the main couple perpetrate on the other... but this one passed! The main actress is convincing as an immortal warrior.

* Blossoms in Adversity is NOT universally liked, tbh it got almost no traction on tumblr. But despite all its flaws I found myself watching it eagerly. I am a sucker for historical costume dramas with feminist themes - if you enjoyed Dream of Splendor, this one might appeal. After all the men in the family are exiled and they are stripped of their noble status, the main wives, concubines, children, and servants of a large official's household have to figure out a way to survive on their own. Without the guidance (and yoke) of men. The strength of the drama is that it isn't easy - these women are not all kind & smart & selfless. They're complicated people and a product of their environment. But watching them slowly come together was so satisfying, and how all the women begin to explore an identity beyond the strict roles they held in that manor. It's so direct about how much power men had over their wives in that era and what that means for these women. The main otp will appeal if you like ships of 2 mature adults who have their own goals and respect each other as equals, who are supportive but don't step on each other's independence. The FL's practicality was so pleasing to me. It just dropped it's final episodes via Express.

* The Spirealm available legally now on Viki, if your tastes run to censored gay romance. And if you like mystery/ horror and like fiction that asks, what is reality (and does the definition of 'real' matter). Like in korean bl Love for Love's Sake, the protagonist enters a game world and ends up caring about that world. (unlike LFLS, a distinct lack of kissing with tongue)

* In Blossom - Chinese het web novel vibes just exploding onto the screen. Childhood sweathearts torn apart years ago, now he's a rich noble while she's poor but he still wants to marry her as promised. (She is less sure about this.... then she gets her body swapped by this crazy chick who really REALLY wants to marry the ML. who, ooops gets murdered on their wedding night.) So now FL is in crazy chick's body and the #1 suspect for her gruesome murder is ML, that childhood sweetheart who showed up out of the blue to propose. and happens to be the top candidate in running to marry the crown princess 🤔🤔🤔 . She thinks he (tried to) kill her. He thinks she's dead and hates the lady she's stuck impersonating. Spoiler: they fall in love.

* Amidst a Snowstorm of Love - Slice of life soft cdrama, if you like that kind of thing. Developing relationship for like 30 episodes about 2 professional snooker players. Relaxing vibes, sweet romance. They're both kind, talented, and capable. They're good for each other and really humanly awkward about starting a relationship. You don't watch this kinda drama for dramatic tension, you just chill with it and wind down after a hard day. It's baked-in that they'll get married at the end.

[dreamstatesims]

hey girlie, hope you're doing well; having a good day/night:

i wanted to ask if you could give any advice with building and landscaping? i've always been a huge fan of your sim style, and i'm currently looking to get into building myself.

was there any videos you watched or accounts that were able to help you jump wholeheartedly into the wonderful world of build/buy mode?

thank you soooo much in advance <3

hi! i could go on and on about this topic so thanks for asking. last year i wrote about building here, if you recall. since that one was more about "vibe" maybe this one should be a little more technical? idk, i'm a dreamy creative so i'm sure this'll get emotional anyway lol.

i suggest picking a world or architectural style and let one inform the other. then research that style, look at floor plans and dive into pinterest for a while before you start building. if you don't already have one, get one and go collecting inspiration that you can reference later. here's mine, if you wanna check it out.

when landscaping i think about two key things: what style of gardening goes with this build (manicured, overgrown, minimal, etc) and i consider the trees and/or flowers i see in the world around my lot. i'll incorporate some to blend on and off-lot gardening. and i can't emphasize enough how important terrain painting is! in my opinion it really anchors everything down. for example, i paint all around and under landscaped areas, trees, the entire perimeter of the house/buildings, and anything else like pools, decks, driveways. it creates depth and makes it look like these things are really sprouting out of the ground. also paths! even if you don't have stones laid down, think about the routes sims will take to get from one place to another, like from the back porch to the pool, the marks little sneakers leave under the swing set when simmies play, from the mudroom to the trash bins by the garage. grass thins out and you'll see some dirt showing through regularly trodden routes, so paint those on to make the area look lived in.

the simpler the floor plan, the better. even if you pick a floor plan that's complicated, simplify it. you don't need a garage? remove it or convert it into something else. too many little rooms and hallways? open up those spaces or take them out entirely and push the necessary rooms you want to keep into that area. you'll find your builds will be much easier to play in this way and it won't take sims hours to get to the kitchen or up the stairs.

i have general dimensions for rooms that really work for me: kitchen 5x6, 6x6, 6x7 dining 4x5, 5x5, 5x6 living 5x6, 6x6, 6x7 half bath 2x2, 2x3 full bath 3x4, 4x4 owner's suite 5x6, 6x6 bedrooms 4x5, 5x5 hallways 2 spaces wide

maybe a bit tricky, but think about adding rooms in the roof. a play room, guest room, second living room, or office space. hell, even just an attic you can convert later as your family grows. when building attics, i'll lay out the roof design first and then see where i can build rooms inside. for easier gameplay you'll want to then break down the roof into sections so when you lower the walls you can see inside and the camera won't bounce around.

twistedmexi's TOOL mod is an absolute gamechanger and i highly recommend using it to expand your lot outside the lines. EA has decorated the world outside of your lot with fences and other features that suggest you can absolutely push things further. i'll setup whatever i want outside the lot inside my grid first and then move it all out together. i do this for play areas, picnic tables and umbrellas, firepits and seating. i'll put cars parallel parked on the road or in the driveway EA has provided. and don't forget about debug items like electrical poles, post boxes, bus stops, fire hydrants and other stuff you'd see around a neighborhood.

i'm subscribed to a handful builders on youtube that i'll watch from time to time. it's great to see what other folks are doing because this community is so creative and you'd be surprised the little tricks you'll pick up. these are some of my favorite builders: simproved, simsphony, plumbob kingdom, simcubeez, bojana sims.

if you have any more questions on specifics or want an actual tutorial on something, don't hesitate to ask! and that goes for anyone reading this very long-winded post. kudos if you made it this far!

[quoganenthusiast]

okay I’m gonna do my best to explain all my thoughts on the “Quinn running away” theories without rambling- I’ve been hyperfixated on this specific topic for a few days because I have SO many thoughts and there’s SO many theories floating around there- like seriously so many… The main two I keep seeing though are “Quinn is having second thoughts/cold feet about marrying Logan” and “Quinn is overwhelmed by how over the top/perfect the wedding is and wants something more relaxed so she runs away”

I want to preface this by saying these are all my personal opinions and thoughts and obviously I have no idea what's actually going to happen in the movie and I could be completely wrong in absolutely everything I'm saying. This is just based off my years of analyzing these characters and having my own theories and thoughts about them and from the last week of analyzing the trailer.

First theory: Quinn is scared to marry Logan. I don’t believe it for a second and I never have. There’s just no evidence to support that at all. In every single shot we see of Quinn and Logan together in the trailer, they look disgustingly in love and happy and they’re hanging all over each other. And why after 15 years, probably months of planning, multiple wedding related events, etc would Quinn suddenly change her mind at the altar. I’m not saying that hasn’t happened and that it can’t, I just don’t think it would make much sense. I don’t believe she’s running out on Logan.

Second theory: Quinn is overwhelmed by how over the top and extravagant the wedding is and feels like it’s not right for them so she runs away from the wedding, not from Logan specifically.

I’ll admit, this theory has merit and it’s one that I could be interested in seeing play out and I entertained it for like half a day but the more I thought about it, the less it started to make sense to me. I’m really about to show how unhinged I am and have been towards this trailer 💀 I don’t really buy into this theory because I don’t see Quinn being the kind of girl that would just stay quiet and not voice her opinions and state what she wanted, especially about something as important as her wedding day. And Logan would also know her well enough to know what she would and wouldn’t want. Like off the bat this theory, to me, insinuates that Quinn and Logan are the kind of couple that don’t really communicate and we know that’s not the case. Also, even if the wedding plans did start to become too much for Quinn during the midst of it all, I don’t see her waiting until the day of the wedding to be like “nah this is too much”. Because it does look like she’s in the official wedding dress when she’s running. We see two dresses in the trailer, the one she’s running in and the strapless one that the statue/cake/whatever it is is based on. She’s wearing that dress in the same scene we see the statue in. So if the theory is Quinn is overwhelmed, runs out, Logan proposes again, then a second more toned down wedding, then I feel like the dresses should be switched?? And again, in all the shots we see of them, Quinn looks incredibly happy. Idk this theory just unravels for me the more I think about it.

I’m actually kind of thinking that that scene really isn’t even anything major and it was included in the trailer as a red herring to get us talking lmao

Also, I think it would make sense narrative wise to have Quinn and Logan be stable and comfortable AND still maddeningly in love to like offset/parallel how much of a mess Zoey’s life is and help push her into deciding what she really wants.

Does any of this make any sense?? 💀 anyways that’s my where my thoughts have been regarding this topic. I can’t wait to find out what’s actually happening though omg

[catsconflictscopicsandchamomile]

Yall I Managed To Make Coffee Theory Work

I'm four months late but found something

(apologies in advance for the coherence, or lack there of, in this post. stressful week, brain is now ground meat patty)

DANTE'S PURGATORIO

After ascending every level of Purgatory, Dante ends up in the Garden of Eden (which stands between Purgatory and Paradise/Heaven). A lot of crazy stuff goes down there, and there are some hot girls, but none of that is relevant.

What is relevant are the two rivers that Dante finds there.

One of them, Lethe, is taken directly from Greco-Roman myth. In the myths, the river Lethe flows through the underworld, and cleanses the dead's memory of their lives before their passage into the underworld and/or reincarnation. It is unclear whether Dante keeps to the original myths here, or if the Lethe in Purgatorio only cleanses memories of sin.

(quote from Purgatorio re: Lethe's power to erase specifically memories of unhappiness and sin)

The second river is the Eunoe (translation: new mind/good memory???), which either:

-(if the Lethe wipes ALL memories) restores the dead's memory of their life on earth, but only memories of good & godly actions

-(if the Lethe only removes memories of sin) strengthens "good" memories.

(Full-ish description of both rivers)

Once the dead person/soul/(oh I give up, idk) drinks from first the Lethe, and then the Eunoe, THEN they are ready to go to Heaven.

if The Metatron put ANYthing in the coffee, its this. Water from these rivers. Both of them.

no it did not have anything, aside from the spiritual/religious symbolism that people have already pointed out, to do with the almonds.

and lastly,

could I interest you in some

~*~*~Agonizing Thematic Parallels~*~*~

...anyway uh yeah tldr I don't like the Coffee Theory, I don't believe it, but the angst potential was so good and also I will really just lore-deep-dive ANYTHING.

also thanks to Prof Graham, my Medieval Studies prof this year, for FINALLY pointing out to me that Eunoe and Mnemosyne (the river, not the Goddess) are NOT THE SAME THING.

[ladyfromaspookyforest]

Stranger Things & The Fly

I was looking at the ST4 DNA board, which I haven't personally spent time closely examining, and I saw The Fly on there. I'm assuming they meant the 1986 version and not the 1958 one because...you know...the 80s. So my immediate thought was "oh. NINA."

But I decided to do a rewatch of The Fly to see what else paralleled, and it isn't just the NINA elements. Rather, there are two separate parts of the Stranger Things 4 story that echo The Fly. Someone has probably already talked about this, but I'm crap at searching for things, so I couldn't find it. SO I'LL TALK ABOUT IT ANYWAY. This will contain spoilers for The Fly (1986).

The purpose of the pods in The Fly is teleportation via disintegration. You put something in one pod, it disintegrates, then reassembles itself in the other pod. Sounds familiar, you say?

This is the second storyline I'll be talking about.

In The Fly, our scientist protagonist, Seth Brundle, has figured out how to teleport inanimate objects, but when he tries to teleport anything living, it goes wrong. I was going to post a screenshot of him attempting to teleport a baboon, but it's maybe too icky for tumblr? Basically, in Seth's own words, "It turned the baboon inside out." Hmm. Reminds me of...upside down? Seth says "Something was lost in translation." So when the baboon was transported by disintegrating and reassembling, it didn't come back right. This is because he says "Computers are dumb. They only know what you tell them." So he teaches the computers to understand flesh (yeah, idk how he did that either). And the next baboon lives! Huzzah!

What does that mean? Maybe that 001's transportation to this other world (which may or may not be the Upside Down...could even be, dare I say, the Inside Out?), something went wrong. We see how mutilated he became and while he lived and Baboon #1 did not, he still ends up looking like a grody sack of meat, just like Baboon #1. Seth apologizes to Baboon #2 about killing his brother in an aside, but the brother comment is interesting. Perhaps meaningless. But with all the weirdness surrounding Henry that we still don't have answers to (like who tf is Edward Creel?) and the time wonkiness we can expect from season 5, it seems possible that there's a different version of Henry (or Edward) that DIDN'T come out as a grody sack of meat.

After the baboon success, Seth decides to teleport himself (dumbass) and it's VERY IMPORTANT that there is nothing else in the pods or else the molecules could reassemble wrong. And a fly gets into the pod with him, causing his DNA to merge with the fly's DNA when he comes out the other pod. Which brings me back to the NINA Project.

The purpose of the NINA project is to do exactly what the pods do accidentally. The NINA project is intended to influence the person in the pod by putting them in there with an external source. So like Seth's DNA changes with the presence of the fly (accidentally), El's memory changes with the presence of the video tapes.

The fact that Seth comes out wrong could indicate that El does too. The video tapes could, in fact, be influencing her to remember events incorrectly rather than truly giving back her genuine memories of events. There are other people on here who have written some really incredible, comprehensive posts compiling evidence of all the discrepancies between what we see in flashbacks and throughout NINA, so I'm not going to try. But at the end of the day, we still don't know why. Evidence seems to support that Vecna is a different version of Henry/Edward than the one El is being told to remember in NINA, and what she's seeing may in fact be a combination of what she's being told to and what she truly experienced. If you were to look at this through the lens of The Fly, El and the videotapes being in a pod together would make sense as a merging of two things rather than as a recovery of her own memories. (How relevant The Fly is, who's to say, it's all speculation for fun)

Of course, Seth comes out monstrous and El does not (*cough* probably). This brings Seth back to paralleling Vecna, as his disintegration and reconstruction in a horrific way alters not just his appearance, but who he is fundamentally. I imagine something similar happened to turn 001 into Vecna.

There's a super weird quote in the movie after Seth merges with the fly but before he realizes what's happened. He's trying to get his love interest to go through the pods and she refuses.

"You're afraid to dive into the plasma pool, aren't you? You're afraid to be destroyed and recreated, aren't you? ...You can't penetrate beyond society's sick grey fear of the flesh. Drink deep or taste not the plasma spring...I'm talking about penetration beyond the veil of the flesh, a deep penetrating dive into the plasma pool." So...WTF amirite? It's sort of a bunch of raving nonsense, but there are key words and phrases in there that really stick out to me. Being destroyed and recreated. The multiple references to the pool. (There is no pool in The Fly. This is a metaphor but there IS one in Stranger Things) The veil beyond the flesh, which could be the veil of...shadows? And of course, it's all about fear.

Brenner tells El "If you go too fast, I'm afraid you could become lost in the darkness. And if you are lost, so are we all." As evidenced by The Fly, going too fast very much did get Seth lost in the darkness. Brenner was even at least partially right about El. He tells her she isn't ready but she leaves anyway and she doesn't save the day. The apocalypse comes to Hawkins. (And Max is lost in the darkness)

I think the clearest parallels with this movie are the pods and the disintegration method of travel. Everything else is me blabbing. But after this rewatch, I am intrigued by the idea of the other Henry/Edward being the "successful" version of a teleportation.

Here are a couple of other quotes I found interesting that I'll just be leaving here for funzies:

"The sheer process of being taken apart atom by atom and put back together again...why, it's like coffee being put through a filter."

"Human teleportation, molecular decimation, breakdown and reformation, is inherently purging. It makes a man a king."

[messrsbyler]

nic oh my god you wrote me a book and i swear on my life i will go back and respond to it because you are so big brained i am obsessed with you please let’s never shut up about this because stranger things/avatar is everything i ever needed

but but but i am dropping in before i go to bed to say

mike not knowing how to master lightning. first of all. ouch. why would you hurt me with that. second of all. god PLEASE JUST IMAGINE a scene like zuko has where he’s standing in the pouring rain and screaming at the sky. lightning is crashing. mike is just sobbing and having a breakdown.

idk i am so so sleepy right now brain is slowly shutting down but something. something about all the rain imagery (pouring rain the night mike lost will/found el, pouring rain in byler fight + pouring rain breakdown now and eventually pouring rain byler kiss). something something water is his opposite element (water also being el’s native element? interesting there’s something there). something about all these moments representing a culmination of mike’s insecurities and how he feels like he’s not good enough and his inability to firebend well also being so deeply tied to his guilt over like everything happening with will. the rain. the lightning. the storm. the heaviness of all mike’s emotions!

IM SORRY I REALLY WENT ALL OUT ON YOU (though you are the one to blame for that one) and omg no it's okay! take your time there's no rush that post isn't going anywhere!

big brained, obsessed with me- ASJDAHSDJA damn it andi you can't just drop bombs like that and flee?

you DARE to ask for explanations, ask how i dare to hurt you like that, to then proceed to hurt me LIKE THAT AS WELL BY PUTTING MIKE SCREAMING WITH LIGHTING IN THE BACKGROUND IN MY MIND?

something something all the rain imaginary you mention. something something rain being water (ugh i'm so smart, did you see me putting those two dots together? harvard potential) something something waterbending being used to heal, something something at the final scene with the rain, the rain representing mike healing from his insecurities and self-loathing, something something el's native element being water, something something el being the one who brought will back to mike and healed that wound, something something fire and water being opposites and not being able to coexist that easily something something but lighting and water (rain) coexisting together, something something what if mike is mediocre at firebending because of all the pressure put on him as he tries to follow nancy's path but he can't never reach her because he's not using his bending to grow and strengthen himself, he is doing it to fit someone else's (his parents') expectations and the too big gap left for him to fill in his last name. something something when mike discovers lighting it's something that connects so well with his outbursts of emotions, something that can be dangerous and scary, something others might shy away from (this being a parallel of loud mike, of rebellious mike, of that mike that thrashes and is crying for help and to be seen), but how lighting is also beautiful at the same time and powerful and just so in sync with mike. something something what if mike's bending call is to lighting instead of purely fire, because it coexists with water meaning it coexists with mike healing and finding himself and how he is worth it because he is mike and being mike is enough.

SOMETHING SOMETHING (i had to google this) TO FORM LIGHTING YOU NEED BOTH AIR AND WATER according to the NASA (and you would think those guys must know one thing or two about lighting, right?)

You need cold air and warm air. When they meet, the warm air goes up. It makes thunderstorm clouds! The cold air has ice crystals. The warm air has water droplets. During the storm, the droplets and crystals bump together and move apart in the air. This rubbing makes static electrical charges in the clouds.

something something both will and el being important in mike's journey to discover himself and his worth and his lightningbending. something something water healing him and air giving him the strength he needs

something something i wrote too much again SORRY!

OKAY THAT'S ALL! sweet dreams andi!!!