#now I want a dynamic like them but only if it's sci-fi and has the same aesthetic as Voltron only better overall story

[dbblovesklance]

This has been bouncing in my head ever since Voltron ended years ago, and I'm sure several people have ranted about the same thing, but I really need to get this off my chest. My mind is full and I need to write it out.

It's time to Screech about Klance!

First thing's first, I stan Klance and I'll die on that hill!

I'm still upset wasn't Klance wasn't canon.

Not necessarily Klance in particular, but the idea of them.

Where two 'rivals' butt heads and annoy one another constantly yet, grow closer and become a better team through eventual respect and appreciation. One moody loner and one goofball against the world. It shouldn't work, yet no matter how many times I see fanfiction written about these two, countless times over am I reminded just how well it would have worked.

And that's the part that gets me the most, it works! Their relationship works!

Whether or not it would've been properly given a chance, that I do not know.

And I can't help but think after all this time why we haven't a sci-fi story depicting a mlm relationship (specifically like a Klance version though I'll take any at this point)?

I know why it doesn't happen. I know.

But I can't help my yearning for more. For a relationship that is the main part of the sci-fi story, a necessary and impactful section for the story. Or maybe a sub-plot that we see on the underbelly and it bleeds into the main plot. One that you would miss the tiny details for along the way and slowly builds into a bigger section of the story.

It is not ostracized or frowned upon, rather, their story doesn't focus on their struggle in being LGBTQIA+. They are simply allowed to exist, and love. Love so deeply even the stars would rattle from their heartbeats.

They end up becoming a couple and they are important to the story, but it's not this whole thing. In so many shows, it's always a thing, and yes, for a moment it should be addressed that significance on them being together because 'the world wouldn't approve blah blah blah,' except only in passing. As they are in space, laws and beliefs hold no candle under the oceanic, starlit sky.

I want a sci-fi story with a mlm relationship where both are important to the story, and neither of them die at the end! Let the straights die for once if you're so desperate for death. Let's be more creative, there a far more interesting plotlines that don't include killing off a character.

While it might sound contradicting, half of me is glad it wasn't canon. Or at least grateful that a good portion of the fandom, if not the majority, saw the significance between these two, and how much potential they had? The amount of countless fanfictions (over 33k!! at this point) that have them fall in love. Over and over again, we see it work. It works!

I don't if it would have held up as well if it had become canon. The what if's are filled. We've seen them be together, the build, their lives, their passion, their tender care. I'm not sure if it would have had more or less, and I have a feeling I know the answer. For all the world has given me, one thing I'll forever be grateful for is people's unending will to find love in the more unwilling places. Every nook and cranny, a small blush against the ears and a slight hidden dimple at the corner of a slow smile.

It only continues to grow more and more, continuously pulling countless people towards a wonderful beginning and holds them close as they drown their thirst in all the many what if's that were never answered.

I know the fanfictions help ease my soul in the what if's for what could have been, and I'll never ask for more, really I won't...yet, I still yearn.

Despite it all, I still yearn.

[im-totally-not-an-alien-2]

@gilbirda Ok, so you made a snippet of on of your AUs a while back (braindead rejected! soulmate i think) and I haven't been able to think of much else since. So my brain made a little thingy for you!

------------

1. Tim takes a risk one day by writing back to whoever was doodling on his body, with a glittery purple gel pen, asking them to stop trying to contacting him.

All the person asked was, "Why?"

Tim never answers.

2. Danny faces constant rejection from his peers, authority figures, his parents and sister neglect him and now his own soulmate doesn't want him. They hadn't even met before he was rejected. Jazz finds out about Dannys powers and tries to reach out but Danny rejects her pretty violently due to his own pain. Then the episode where Sam and Tucker ditch him for Gregor happens and he gives up.

The two people in his life that has had pretty much complete control over his life and trajectory just abandoned him and he does not take it well. He ripped the symbol off his chest, disappeared and never came back.

3. Danny zooms into a new dimension/universe/whatever to avoid his former friends and family from being able to track him only to land in a place called Central City and immediately getting roped into helping Captain Cold who gives him a normal domino mask and they end up working together for a while.

4. Danny somehow overhears one of the speedster talking on the phone about his friends brothers soulmate issue at some point and they perfectly describe the interaction that happened between Danny and his soulmate all those years ago, down to the glittery purple gel pen and the types of doodles Danny had made as a kid and the things he said.

Danny learned one of his soulmates belonged to a group of detective vigilantes in a place called Gotham. Unfortunately he was spotted by the speedster and Danny had to bounce.

5. The Flash made reports to the Justice League about a meta teen who hes been having trouble with for a while and can't seem to pin down. He only asked for tips though as he "could handle it himself."

6. Danny leaves for Gotham and learned about Catwoman and Batmans weird Master Thief and Greatest Detective dynamic and decided that's what he wants to do. He was going to make his soulmate chase after him one way or another. Someone was going to want him even if they were wanting him behind bars.

He begins robbing bank vaults and museums, leaving no trace or clue as to what happened until he starts leaving a calling card of sorts.

7. Jason, who's been on the outs with his family lately meets this spunky white haired meta kid running around with a sci-fi mask/visor thing and giving supplies to homeless encampments and keeping the less fortunate alive and befriends him. He learns that this is the guy everyone has been searching for and just...tells no one. Jason is all for a Robin Hood vigilante, and really, its kinda funny to see his family squirm.

8. Phantom and Catwoman rob the same museum at the same time but for different things. They stare at eachother from where they're both still crouched from thier respective landings until Danny breaks the tension with "I didn't see you if you didn't see me?"

Catwoman laughs, amused. "Sure."

9. Danny finally narrowed down which of the batfam is his soulmate and introduced himself to them as Phantom.

The first thing Danny did was hit on Tim. Tim is flustered but otherwise doesn't really respond to it and tries to fight Phantom into submission, so of course Danny ghosts him by disappearing through a roof mid fight. Danny made a big show of his intangibility in that fight and made it seem like it was the only power he had but he was very skilled with it and he wanted to impress him.

10. Phantom becomes well known to the underbelly of Gotham. Mostly the homeless and nightworkers. But Danny was open and friendly. Never judging and always ready to lend a helping hand. Even better. He never came to collect on favors.

Over time, they became loyal to him.

11. Danny gets framed for a series of murders and the whole gang (minus Hood) are trying to capture him, thus, motorcycle chase scene. They use the white of his tires to tell when he's gone intangible due to all the dirt falling off the wheels. Nightwing jumps onto the bike and shocks Danny with his encrizma sticks right before Danny grits out "bye bye birdy~" and makes a big show of taking in a deep breath and holding it.

Nightwing is forced to jump off the bike as Danny runs through the concrete abutment of the overpass and coming out the other side

12. Danny meets Tim and Duke in his civilian form while he was at a Wayne tech conference. Danny had been asked about one of his inventions and was trying to show off the blueprints and explain things and thats why he was there in the first place. Duke of course, was internally screaming because that's the guy thats the guy they've been hunting for nearly a year but can find nothing on.

Red Robin confronts Phantom that night on a rooftop and Phantom laughs at him, "Thats why I was avoiding Signal for so long. He'd see my magical girl form and know instantly."

RR holds out a pair of handcuffs and says "Its over Danny." Phantom smirks and says, "I don't think it is, Tim" before jumping off onto a different roof and disappearing into the night. Tim is shook.

13. Danny over hears Robin berating RR at an old clocktower and intervenes, "Little Wayne, you do realize you were the first person I figured out, right?"

Damian proceeds to lose his mind.

14. Tim accidentally finds a material that Phantom can't phase through and quickly gets to work making things he can use against Danny. What he doesn't know is that Danny can phase through it he just pretended he couldn't because he wanted to see what would happen/what Tim would do.

Danny can sense the material and it feels really wierd to him, but doesn't harm him at all.

15. RR manages to knock Phantoms visor off his face and realizing it was made of tech he swipes it and brings it back to the cave for study.

He wasn't ready for all the information on the computer. Not only was his nemesis(?) from another plain of reality (he thinks Danny is from the ghost zone) but he was once a superhero with his own Rogues Gallery and human city to protect. Which begs the question, why did he become a Phantom thief?

16. The Joker hears about Phantom giving the bats the run around and comes to a misunderstanding about which bat he's been messing with which ultimately ends with Joker saying that he is Batmans ultimate nemesis and Phantom asking what that had to do with him? The misunderstanding is cleared up when Phantom complained about Joker even thinking that he was flirting with Batman because "Ew! He's an old man!"

Joker still got a few shots in for the heck of it but so did our ghost boy but they were no longer enemies.

17. The whole batfam had been freaking out about finally capturing Phantom and celebrating and plotting on how they were gonna get him to keep his mouth shut about thier identities until Jason came in,

Jason: Need help?

Phantom: Please?

Jason: *escapes with Danny*

Batfam: What?! No!!! Why?!

18. The batfam have only a vague idea of the Robin Hood thing going on. They know he's doing it just not to the extent its gone to. They find out later on that Phantom had been working with RH and his gang to sell off the items and most of the profits go to helping people. Other times he strait up gives jewelry and whatnot to children and working girls because "Everyone deserves something pretty, and even if its not your style you can keep it for a rainy day"

Phantom quickly gains a following and Danny doesn't even know about it. Clueless indeed.

19. Dannys main motivation in this is essentially just playing Cops and Robbers with Red Robin. Nothing else really matters to him. Not the robberies, not the fact he's working with a crime lord, not even his own safety matters much to him anymore. Hes readily zooming down the path of self destruction and Hood starts telling his family stuff, but only because he was genuinely worried about "Casper" crashing and burning.

20. No one knows why Phantom is fixated on Red Robin. He refuses to tell them. Red thinks its just because he's the smartest of the bats and he's not entirely wrong.

21. Danny legit started scheduling his heists with Tim to ensure they're both free after one couldn't make it too many times which blew the birds mind. Phantom must have been just that confident that he would always win. The bats eventually think Danny will stop stealing if RR isn't in the city for a long period of time. Danny more or less followed him and stole stuff from whatever city Tim was in. If there wasn't any museums or banks then Danny would steal a local landmark. Tim still wasn't sure how Phantom stole an entire building that one time but it had never been seen since.

22. Hood grows to be very protective of our favorite ghost boy. They bond and are actually really close. Danny admits he always wanted an older brother.

23. Tim goes off world for a while to see how Danny would react and Danny just...drops off the radar. No one knows where he is and after a week or two they start getting worried.

Tim returns after three months and Danny reappears two weeks after him with a tan and keepsakes from the places he visited on his vacation. Tim later screams into his pillow.

24. Tim has made it his personal mission to figure out who Danny really is, why he's fixated on him, where he came from, ect. Hes trying so hard but can't find anything. Its almost like he didn't exist before. Tim suddenly got an idea after Phantom accidentally got hit in the face and got a nosebleed. Tim saw green blood and immediately realized Danny might not even be human. Fortunately for our little ghost, he thinks he's an alien. A Martian specifically. Tim manages to snag a good sample from treating Phantoms wounds. Ghostboy was so focus on his core thrumming and mentally comparing it to his heart racing that he didn't even notice.

25. Tim later freaks out because the meta is freaking made out of Lazarus water.

The entire batfam was not happy to discover this and decided to work together to pressure Phantom into telling them what he was and what exactly he wanted.

[psychedelic-ink]

𝐂𝐎𝐃𝐄𝐁𝐎𝐑𝐍.

DAY FOUR OF HAUNTED HOEDOWN

prompt: artificial intelligence au + "here, you are. you tiny thing."

pairing: ai-enhanced!miguel o’hara x f!reader

genre: explicit smut, minors dni, sci-fi, enemies to lovers

summary: there are codeborns and codebreakers. In this world ruled by ai and the people who want to keep it that way, codebreakers fight for freedom while the feared codeborns (ai-enchanced humans) do everything to keep the so-called 'peace'. You are one of the codebreakers, hunted by one of the most menacing codeborn yet, miguel o'hara.

word count: 3k

warnings: hunter/prey, chase kink, size kink, power imbalance, fear kink, dancing on the line of dubcon due to the power imbalance, but reader very much wants miguel, hate sex, piv, possessive!miguel, biting (it has a slight aphrodisiac effect because why not), some blood, dystopian, bondage with mechanical arms, double penetration thanks to said mechanical arms, dirty talk, degradation kink if you squint,

a/n: i don't know with this is, it kinda sorta happened and, honestly, i don't hate it.

In a city perpetually cloaked in gray, oppression is an unrelenting weight. Surveillance cameras leer from every corner, tracking your steps and every muttered word.

This city used to thrive, alive with energy. Now, it's stifled by a regime that rules with an iron fist. Holographic banners hang in the air, projecting sanitized slogans that mask the truth. Rain splashes onto pixelated cobblestones, the wet ground echoing the neon lights into your eyes. 

Heart pounding, you dart through the alleyways, every step echoing. You hear them chasing you, the CodeBorns, they were the AI-enhanced sentinels of this world. Their purpose; bring order to the intricate dark web of the city. You scoff as you run, what a load of bullshit. The sentinels are nothing more than mindless robots that have a barely working human heart—and brain—for that matter. 

Very fittingly, you’re part of a group called CodeBreakers, a group of dedicated people trying to dismantle the regime and censorship. You just recently hacked into the cinema, which might seem not like a big deal, but you just had to save those poor people from watching the same damn thing over and over again. 

Making people watch something else that wasn’t handpicked by the goverment might’ve not been a big deal, but breaking into the system certainly was, and something not everyone could do. 

“Shit,” you hiss, accidentally tripping over a loose cobblestone. “Shit shit shit—” 

The worst thing about the CodeBorns is the fact that they can do a lot that regular folk like you can’t. For example, they’re all ridiculously fast, they can see in the dark, they can hear exceptionally well, they have superhuman strength—

You hear a wall shattering behind you and heavy steps grow closer, you’re relieved when you realize it’s only one set of steps, but as you realize who those steps probably belong to, your chest caves. 

Fucking, Miguel O’Hara. 

You hear the familiar creak of mechanical limbs and the familiar sound of your name falling from his lips. Another thing about the AI-enhanced sentinels, they have body upgrades they can take off whenever they want to. 

“You can’t unrun me!” he roars. “You know you can’t!”

He’s right, you can’t run a beast of a man like him. 

You need to be smarter. 

Ducking into another alleyway, you thank whatever god is left in this world overrun by technology for the web of light the neon signs provide. You quickly spot a string of utility boxes, It’s dangerous, but you manage to squeeze yourself between them and the hard stone wall. Heat radiates from the boxes. If Miguel doesn’t lose track of you soon, the damn thing might heat up enough to burn you. 

The clatter of mechanical limbs echoes closer.

And then you see him. 

The neon light reflects off his holographic suit, its dynamic red details reminiscent of flickering pixels. He's a towering figure. Spider-like limbs protrude from his back, their gleaming metal glistening with the moisture of the rain-soaked air. They move slightly as if looking around, trying to sense her. With panic, you hold your breath, the small hairs on the back of your neck standing with attention. 

His brow is slightly furrowed, something you recognize he does when he’s either angry or annoyed—or both.  His lips, however, curve into a faint, almost menacing smile, revealing a glimmer of satisfaction in this pursuit.

The alleyway seems to shrink around you as his steps grow nearer. Your pulse quickens, synchronized with the flickering lights around you. This isn’t your first run-in with Miguel, and you doubt it will be the last. 

You squeeze your eyes shut. The fear you feel poisons you, making your stomach churn and your mouth taste of death. He’s captured you before but never actually handed you in. 

Arousal rears its head among the fear, coating you in a sheer sweat. You can’t help it. It’s a Pavlovian response at this point, you see him and your body starts leaking like a damn faucet. Miguel had captured you twice, and in both of them, you ended up with his cock deep between your legs. 

You just never know with him. He never contacted you outside of this, never acted in a way that would indicate that something had happened between you two. 

All he gave you is this, the chase, the fear, the wondering if this might be the time he throws you in a needlessly futuristic cell—

"Here, you are. You tiny thing."

Shit. 

It’s comical really; the way you look up with wide eyes as his red ones peer down at you. His smirk is non-existent, yet you can still feel his satisfaction in finding you. Your chest heaves painfully, you can move, struck with uncharacteristic fear. He might not be an animal you get the sense that he smells the horror sticking to your skin. 

You’re about to make a run for it when the mechanical arm’s sinewy grace coils around your ankles. Miguel pulls you out of your hiding place. All the blood rushes to your face as you hang upside down. 

“Dammit, Miguel!” you hiss. “Put me down!” 

He raises a sole brow elegantly, his eyes moving up and down your body, his gaze almost predatory. “Rather bold for a criminal,” he answers, voice nonchalant. The limbs tighten around your ankles, just a shy away from being painful. The arm draws you nearer, your breath mingling with his in the dewy air. “I’m starting to think you enjoy getting caught.” 

“Does it look like I have a death wish?” you ask. His lips twitch and you quickly add. “You know what, never mind, don’t answer that.” 

“What if it was one of the others who found you first? Were you going to spread your legs for them too? ” he snarls. “Is that how you’ve been getting away from hacking our systems for this long?” 

This time when the limb squeezes harder around your flesh and bone, you scream. The sound is drowned by the constant buzz of the world. “I should just take you in,” he murmurs. “Be less trouble.” 

Due to the blood gathering in your skull, you might be imagining things but you swear you saw a hint of actual worry instead of anger in those crimson eyes. But that shouldn’t be possible. Codeborns didn’t feel; sure they felt anger, but they were programmed sentinels made not to care about anyone who went into their criminal system. 

“Careful, your emotion is showing.” 

Maybe you do have a death wish, after all. 

“Bitch.” 

His sudden anger chokes the air from out of your lungs. You’re suffocated. The limb around you suddenly scorching hot, his eyes redder than normal, bright enough to match the neon raining from above. He bares his teeth at you, sharp and venomous, when he wants them to be. Miguel leans further into your personal space, his scowl deep—you begin to shake all over, your heart begging for your body to move away but you can’t. All you fear and think is fear. 

Arousal sneaks between the sinews of emotions. You taste it on your tongue, the scent of it searing as you take quick, sharp breaths. 

Miguel’s nose brushes the tender skin right under your ear, the sound of his inhale deafening “Afraid?” he rolls his tongue, his voice nothing but gravel. Before you can answer, a chuckle halts your tongue. His breath dans over your damp skin, goosebumps rising across your skin. “Or aroused? Or perhaps both?” 

You say nothing and it’s not for a lack of trying. You’re stunned into it, your tongue feeling limp and big in your mouth. The sharp edges of his teeth nip at your upside-down cheek, and despite yourself, a whimper escapes. 

“No seas tímida ahora. Where’s all that bite from before? Cat got your tongue?” you joly at the sudden feel of his warm tongue, your nipples hardening under the fabric of your shirt. “Beg for it.” again, a darkness curls around each and every word. 

This situation shouldn’t be getting you this hot and bothered. The want between your legs pulses so bad that it hurts. 

“P—Please, Miguel,” you say barely above a whisper. “I. . . I want it.” 

“Want what?” 

Fucking asshole. “Your cock. I want. . . you to fuck me.” 

His smile does nothing to quell the fear, “Good girl,” he rasps, the words echoing in your ear. 

The rest happens in a blur. 

Suddenly you’re not hovering upside down anymore, instead, you’re shoved up against the hard, cold surface of a wall, your pants being lowered for you. Now it’s your wrists that are bound and pinned above your head, your legs spread from the ankles thanks to the mechanical arms. Miguel’s large presence looms right behind you, his clothed cock flush between the crevice of your ass. 

“Let’s see how wet you are,” he coos, ripping your panties into two. You make a strangled sound of disapproval, but all he does is click his tongue. “Be grateful I didn’t shred your pants.” 

Grateful is the last thing you’re feeling as two fingers spread your folds, the middle one dipping between. Your body speaks for itself. Swiping his fingers up and down, he gatherers your slick around the digit and traces your entrance, pushing in. Your body jumps at the beach, pleasure licking the base of your spine. “So responsive,” he murmurs and you hear the familiar glitching sound of his suit. 

Then you feel the heft of his cock laying right above the curve of your ass, both his hands cradling your asscheeks. The limb around your wrists coils tighter. 

Miguel parts your cheeks, getting a better look. Your cheeks burn in response. The cool air hits your other hole and you hate the way your body clenches at the cold. His thumb traces the rim and a loud exhale of air rips from your lungs. Your legs start to shake, slick dripping down the insides of the tender flesh. 

“Gonna fuck this pretty asshole one day soon,” Miguel gloats. Experimentally,  he pushes his thumb forward, nearly knuckle deep until you start squirming. You’re dripping for him, your asshole fluttering around the digit. The mild pain only makes your pulse race. “Unfortunately for you, I can’t today.” 

You hear his smile in his voice. The smugness that is laced into his every sentence. Your breath hitches when he pulls out, a moment later the warmth of his finger is replaced with something cold and metal. 

You tense as you hear the machine whirring, the hardness of it is replaced with something rounder and softer. “M—Miguel. . . ?” 

His lips touch your ear, “Shhh, don’t worry about it, princesa, just a little something to keep you satisfied while I fuck your pretty little cunt.” 

The arm merely moves over your hole, a feather-like touch that warms your skin. When it gently prods at you, you arch your back instinctively, your ass moving up into the air. 

Miguel only chuckles, the sound dark and low, a faint slap is delivered to your ass. You yelp but he doesn’t say another word. 

He’s big. 

You have no idea if it’s just lucky genetics or due to the ai-enhancement but whatever it is; he’s well-endowed. 

He makes you feel every tantalizing inch as he pushes himself further into your cunt, your walls throbbing while adjusting to his width. Your jaw drops, mouth gaping. He presses deeper and deeper, every centimeter of your cunt claimed by him. Your knees buckle and for the first time, you’re grateful for the robotic tendrils holding you up. He growls into your neck, those same venomous fangs skimming the tenderness of your neck. You feel the sharp bite of his nails digging further into your hip. 

Towards the base, his cock thickens and your eyes roll back as he shoves the last of it deep inside you. Your breasts feel heavy, tingling with pleasure despite being untouched.

Miguel doesn’t wait, he pulls back his hips and snaps them forward. Your stomach clenches with a delightful shiver. While slamming into you, the arm that holds your wrists together starts to pull you back until your back forms the perfect art, a mild discomfort steaming at the base of your spine. The way he’s angling you above his cock coaxes sweet, load moans from you. If possible, he’s even deeper now, hitting that devastating spot you can’t seem to reach when you’re on your own. 

“You like being my little plaything?” he groans, kissing the sweaty skin between your neck and shoulder. You moan again when the rounded tip of the mechanical limb starts pushing into the tight ring. A fresh pulse of wetness soaks you and trickles down his length, leaving your body trembling. “Fuck,” thrust. “So,” thrust. “goddamn,”  thrust. “wet—” 

You attempt to say his name but all you manage is the pathetic repeat of the letter “m”. His lips curl cruelly and the tip of the arm forces itself deeper, fucking you with shallow thrusts. “Pathetic,” he spits. “You’re so fucked out that you can’t even say my name? You can’t help drooling around my cock, can’t you? This is why I think you enjoy getting caught, you tiny thing,” the hard edge of his voice softens as he drags his nose down your neck. “So pathetic.” 

When he nips at your neck for the nth time tonight, you bare yourself to him by tilting your head. You want it. Want him. You need to feel him tear into your flesh, you want to feel the sting of his bite for weeks. 

His movements slow on both ends. “It’ll hurt,” he warns. 

“I don’t care,” you choke out. “P-Please— I–I can’t—” 

You really can’t talk. Your cunt squeezes around him, begging for the hard pound of his hips. Miguel doesn’t make you say it twice. He sinks his teeth into the same pace he kissed not a moment ago, the pain is instant, the trickle of warm blood making you squeamish. He doesn’t suck, only bites, not that you ever thought he would be sucking your blood. You imagine it’s just something he enjoys doing, like a primal need. You feel the soft webs of psychedelic venom seep into your veins. Your body grows limp, your lids growing heavy, he resumes his thrust and the pleasure you feel is tenfold. 

“Oh god,” you gasp, slack-jawed. “Oh my fucking god—Miguel—” 

He pulls out his teeth, kissing the marks he made that were shiny with blood, “I know, I know,” he grinds his hips, the pleasure shooting up your spine like electricity. “The effects won’t last long.” 

His words go through one ear and out the other. However. Your body singing with pleasure and nothing else, the word around you fading into reds and pinks. 

Miguel snapped his hips hard into you, meanwhile, the limb resumed its thrusts, stretching you further with every stroke. Some part of you is reminding you that Miguel, as of right now, can see every part of you, your most intimate parts completely bare. But the soothing venom lurking in your veins whispers words of encouragement. You focus on being stretched further, your hips move in need to meet his thrusts, but having nothing to brace yourself against, you surrender and allow him to take you apart wholly. 

His grunts became louder, Miguel pushed deeper and deeper, both cocks thrusting into you at the same time. Spit dribbles from the corners of your lips. Your mind empties with slack-jawed bliss as both lengths repeatedly strike your sensitive spots, pounding you with pleasure. 

You let out a loud gasp when the limb pulls out of you suddenly and you’re left empty, Miguel’s arms wrap around you, hands sliding under your shirt to cup the heavy weight of your breasts. He presses flush against you, striking your ass, he fucks into you with short, deep thrusts. 

His fingers pinch at your hard nipples, slightly turning them, “Gonna fill you up,” he groans. “Gonna fuck myself deep inside of you so no one will dare touch you.” 

The possessive tone, the brutal pace of his thrusts, the large hands on your tits—all of it pushes you down the edge, your body going rigid before relaxing entirely. You gush around him, wet sounds echoing in the narrow alleyway as he fucks you through it, not slowing down in the slightest. 

However, you do feel the hold around your wrists recoiling along with the ones holding your ankles apart. Miguel holds you close as you fall loosely like a ragdoll, animalistic sounds are grunted into your ear, another burst of arousal awakening on your tongue. 

The tip of his tongue dances along the bite marks when he spills into you, his cock deep, just like he promised. 

There’s so much, you feel the heat of it spreading inside of you, some of it spilling around from where his cock stretches you wide. His hips twitch, his arms forcing down the grind of your hips. You let out a whimper, your head falling over his shoulder. 

The two of you remain like that until his cock begins to soften inside of you, Miguel slowly pulls out and lowers you to the ground so you can sit. He finds your pants and throws it towards your lap. 

Sadly for you, your brain registers none of that. The dumb muscle only starts working again when he stands tall in front of you, that same menacing stance returning. 

“Don’t let me catch you again,” he says, voice stern. He looks down at you as he stuffs his cock back in his pants. “If I do, I’ll have to lock you up. This was your last warning.” 

And with that, he leaves. 

A bitter laughter bubbles in your throat as the back of your head hits the hard surface of the wall. Rain begins to drizzle, the first tiny drops landing on your cheeks and sliding down to your neck. 

Among all the people you could’ve fallen for, why did it have to be him?

[picnokinesis]

plottier / character focused thirteenth doctor fic recs

Ipseity by WalkerLister (43k, 10 chapters, gen) summary: Eight months since the Doctor sacrificed herself on Gallifrey, and Yasmin Khan is still struggling to move on. However, when she comes across a familiar face who is not acting like herself, Yaz may finally get the answers she has been looking for surrounding the Doctor. However, those answers will be revealed in a way a bit more dangerous than she had been anticipating. //Okay, so no one is surprised that I like the amnesiac!divisioned!13 fic, but in my defence, it's absolutely fabulous. This one was written waaaaay back in mid-2020, so we all knew that 13 was in prison and everyone was pretty sure that Jack was coming back due to some bts detective work, but that was about it - so, for obvious reasons, it doesn't align with ROTD, but it's such a fun one, guys, I love it a lot. Also, y'know, thirteen in a leather jacket and snarling at people? What more could you want?

don't have to make it to the moon by Ymae (28k, 7 chapters, gen/thoschei) summary: After New Year's, Ryan decides to stay traveling in the TARDIS for another little while. Only, the Doctor's rarely alright, and between experiencing the wonders of the universe, Ryan wants to figure out what's happening to his friend, too. //I love Ryan so much. He's such a wonderful character and I always love it when fics focus on him, or have him as the pov character. Unfortunately, fics like that are a bit few and far between, but this is one of them, and it's absolutely fantastic. It really delves into his character, but also his dynamic with the Doctor (especially after he talks to her in ROTD and she admits that she's scared and angry), and it's just auuuuuuugh so good!! And, it's also go some great whump and psychic content, with the Master showing up to cause trouble, alongside some gorgeous world-building, so I enjoy it very very much.

Ghost War by riptheh (25k, 1 chapter, gen) summary: All the Doctor wants to do is pass the time, and help a friendly face. So when a young man with a strange tattoo and a psychic wound shows up, she dives right into the mystery - and finds herself flung far into the future, mindwiped and alone, fighting a war that by all rights, shouldn't exist at all. A war she could help end, if only she could figure out who she is. //Oof, this one. It's absolutely stunning. This author really has a way of taking some absolutely fascinating and mind-bending concepts and just running with it, and just nails it each time. I feel like the less I say about the plot of this one, the better, because it sort of unfolds as you go, but please just trust me when I say that it's absolutely fantastic.

Lifelines by Sue_Denham (40k, 11 chapters, gen, wip) summary: Lifeline: a thing on which someone or something depends, or which provides a means of escape from a difficult situation. Set just after the events of Spyfall, the Doctor has a few things to work through. //Okay this fic is one of my favourites that's been posting over the last year or so - it's a brilliant exploration of Graham and Thirteen, and how different races deal with loss, guilt and death. I honestly think the best kind of sci fi takes concepts that we sort of take for granted, and then shows them in a completely new light. That's what this fic does. Also, Graham is just wonderful for the entire thing - though, as a note, Yaz and Ryan do end up somewhat side-lined, so bear that in mind if you're particularly looking for fics about those two, but I forgive it because it's such a great look at Graham and the Doctor. It feels like a character focused tie-in novel, y'know? Also it's pretty angsty in places, naturally, but that's what I'm here for haha.

Disordered by Echo (44k, 7 chapters, jack/13) summary: Messing with memories is always a risky business. Messing with your own memories, now that's just asking for trouble. The Doctor is very good at asking for trouble. And Jack is very good at finding it. //Ohhhhh okay so. This has been one of my absolute favourite Doctor Who fics for a long while. Definitely the shippiest of this list, but it's so lovely and such an excellent look at the Doctor facing the consequences of trying to get back her Division memories in the aftermath of s12, as well as the relationship between the Doctor and Jack across multiple regenerations. It's just so so good, flowing smoothly from very angsty to very soft, and the Doctor and Jack's voices are just spot on (especially considering that we see different versions of the Doctor, this is a particularly impressive note). Highly recommend!

The Trial of the Doctor by wreckageofstars (20k, 5 chapters, gen/thasmin, wip) summary: Haven is a planet at the edge of time, on the brink of destruction. Ravaged by the Time Lords and a war that time forgot, its people are desperate for justice before it’s too late, and the Doctor might be the only being left in the universe who can provide it — because she was the one who started it. So why can't she remember doing it? //Okay okay so, this one has only recently started posting but I've known about it since about 2020 and ohhhhhhhhhhh my goodness, GUYS. If you're not following this one, you need to be. It's a mix between Doctor Who at it's finest, Kafka at it's most unsettling, and Douglas Adams at it's most absurd, and it's delightful. There's so much in this one, and as always this author is just spot on with all the characterisation - especially Thirteen, who suddenly finds herself being prosecuted for a crime that she can't remember, and is forced into a situation where she's physically incapable of telling a lie. It. Is. Marvellous. Also there's a cockroach lawyer, whom I adore HAHA

lighthouse keeper by BlueLillyBlue (57k, 12 chapters, gen) summary: The Doctor is missing, and the fam is concerned. Featuring Yaz being a badass, Ryan being a cutie, Graham being a granddad, Jack being Jack, and the Doctor's complicated moral code. Also: space prisons, galactic war, the Doctor's time war trauma, the Doctor caring about people in her own weird and repressive way, and, most importantly, Thirteen wearing Jack's coat. //Oh, this one is such a favourite of mine. It's very angsty, so if that's not your schtick then - well, then you're kinda scuppered for all of my recs, to be honest, but this one is a bit on the dark side. Oh, but it's fantastic. Again, this one feels like a tie-in novel, and this author (as I think I've said before) is just incredible at crafting these very vivid worlds and really hard-hitting stories. The situation is pretty dire and desperate, and the Doctor is often faced with the fact that not every plan works out, and sometimes the only choices are bad ones. It's just really excellent guys (also! Thirteen in Jack's coat!!)

angel ellipsis by SleepyMaddy (36k, 8 chapters, gen/thoschei) summary: When the Doctor and Yaz find a planet in ruins, they’re only half surprised to discover the Master is responsible. But when his plan backfires, suddenly they have no choice but to work with him to stop his former allies from tearing the universe apart. It goes about as well as one might expect. //OKAY SO. This one is SO much fun and SO great - in particular, if you like the Master being a tricky bastard, but also getting screwed over by his own plans? You'll love this one. Everything about it is so vibrant and brilliant, and aaaaaahh man it all comes together in such a satisfying way. As with many of the authors on this list, this author just really gets these characters and how they tick, with some absolutely beautiful prose, and it's just such a joy to read.

nothing in the dark that isn't there in the light by river_of_words (6k, 1 chapter, thasmin) summary: Two weeks since Yaz got the most confusing rejection she ever hopes to get and the Doctor seems to have decided to blame Yaz for every single one of her furiously conflicting emotions. At this point she’s sort of asking to get hit. And at this point Yaz is sort of curious to find out what the Doctor is going to say that’s going to make her meet that request. //These next two fics are a lot shorter compared to the others, but I really wanted to include both of them because they're great and SO interesting to me. With this one, it digs into the Doctor and Yaz's relationship in the aftermath of LOTSD, and the ways that the Doctor does not actually talk about anything but does also tell Yaz more than anyone else. It's about the frustration that builds between them and the way that they're still finding more comfort in each other than anyone else. It's also a little feral, which as a thoschei shipper, definitely had a lot to do with why I liked this one haha. Anyway, it's really fantastic - really quick paced and emotional, and packing a LOT of punches with mostly dialogue in a very effective way. Go read it!

we'll do it right by daring_elm (3k, 1 chapter, gen) summary: She's never really noticed Yaz's perfume before. Shoulders relaxing, nausea subsiding, the Doctor inhales again, filling her lungs with jasmine and sandalwood, steel and glowing crystals and her box out of time. She can be back with Yaz within minutes of her leaving. She can save the child, change the foundation of Gallifrey and still return to have a picnic on Soria T4.  //Okay so I loooove love love this one because I just adore it any time someone explores the Doctor's reaction to the Timeless Child stuff after the fact, and this one is just so wonderful. The characterisation is just fantastic, and then just the progressive spiral of the plot as we follow the Doctor on a mission that is doomed to fail by the nature of her own timeline. It's about how by trying to change the past, all you do is mess up your present and your future, and I love that a lot. Augh, it's a gut punch and a half - highly recommended!

[rascalentertainments]

My Official Wish AU Title: 🌟🌟🌟

Not sure if this will be an entire full length story or just bits of ideas to accumulate yet. It'll depend how much people actually like the idea here. And I need some pics of Valentino's concept so I can come up with a better redesign idea for him, I just keep losing the post that had it. 😅 But, as for the story plot, I can give ya a synopsis: *clears throat*

In the beautiful kingdom of Rosas, the citizens happily live their lives without a care in the world. Thanks to their wonderful and magical rulers; King Magnifico and Queen Amaya, together they created a place where everyone's wishes can come true..... Or so they thought.

Behind the castle doors, the two rulers (and their proud lynx, ) have been taking control of people's wishes, choosing who really deserves happiness or misery. They feed on the hopes and dreams of their citizens, quietly gaining power that will soon become insufficient. Magnifico's true goal is to harness infinite power. To rule with such cosmic force that no one would dare defy him. To catch a Star.

Not all the citizens had the wool over their eyes, as a small group of them quietly fled from Rosas into what was nicknamed "The Enchanted Forest". There the people made their own lives away from Magnifico and his dangerous magic, but they know they could only hide for so long.

Asha, a young woman of 17 who grows restless in the village and wants to venture back out into the world, but still has fear of Magnifico finding her family. Especially with her saba, Sabino growing weaker everyday as a result of losing his wish.

So in an act of desperation, she wishes upon a star for a miracle, for her family and people to restore what was taken from them. Her wish is granted, but not in the way she ever imagined: A Star comes down to Earth, taking the form of an excited, shape shifting, glowing, teenage boy. Together, the duo (along with Asha's loveable and loyal pet goat, Valentino) travel to Rosas to restore the wishes to their rightful places. Only Star has no idea what he's doing....but he'll try. 😅

Its A bit long, and its inspired by the bits of the original movie we did get to see. I thought the hidden village idea was an intriguing idea, really. So if I did do a full on rewrite, I'd include those deleted scenes as sort of bridges to other scenes I write and add interactive fun.

My last addition for now is that Star and Asha's dynamic would be A little more akin to Hercules and Meg, since he's heard stories about Greek heroes and such that humans have recorded in books. Asha is a little more down to earth and Star helps her see the good and magic still in the world despite the looming threat.

That's all I got for now, and I hope its good. Fantasy is not my strongest thing to write, I'm really into Sci-fi/Superhero, p. But I'm willing to try new things. Its no "Kingdom of Wishes" level of excellence, but if this grows some more, I'd be happy about that and appreciate it.

Thanks so much for reading this!

[theladyrebecca2]

Stranger Things: The First Shadow (My spoiler-filled review and thoughts)

“Nerds, do you copy?”

Buckle up, because this is a long one! I've tried to remember as much as I can from when I saw the play on Dec 5th.

Disclaimer: This is in no way a complete recollection of things that happened. They really packed a LOT into it. This is just what I can personally recall, helped along by other reviews and recollections I’ve found online that sparked my memory. 

If you don't want to be spoiled, don't read any further!

Act 1.

After an epic intro scene, where soldiers on a ship at sea get dragged off by demogorgons (more on this later), we’re shown the Stranger Things intro exactly as though we’re watching an episode.

Chapter One: The Girl from Nowhere.

Hawkins, 1959. 

It opens with a young Bob Newby on air, talking on his radio show (the founder of Hawkins AV club! <3). We learn that he actually has an adopted sister, Patty Newby. She’s black, so she feels like an outsider (bear in mind it’s the 1950s/60s, so… yeah.) Principle Newby, their father and only remaining parent, is also very religious. 

He’s also the pastor (?) at the local church, and often makes Patty go to the church with him. She admits to Bob that she only likes to go to listen in on people’s confessions (some of which are really juicy). She also enjoys the choir there (?) as she likes to sing.  

Principal Newby doesn’t like that Bob and Patty read comic books. There’s talk about how some things are discouraged or outright forbidden because they involve sex (gasp!) and morally ambiguous behaviour. Patty in particular is looked down on by her father for acting rebellious. He disapproves of her answering him back. 

Instead of praying to God, Patty prays to Wonder Woman.

One of the first sections in the show’s programme is dedicated to the impact of comic books and science fiction on kids in the 1950s:

[This has always been the way with fiction. Whether you are talking about adventure, fantasy or sci-fi, stories set in faraway places reflect the anxieties of the here and now. Just as the children in Stranger Things turn to a fantasy game to help them make imaginative sense of a dangerous world, so we escape to alien landscapes to think about ourselves. As South Africa novelist Lauren Beukes once said, “By imagining the unimaginable, it’s possible to make reality more bearable.”]

[As Patty in Stranger Things: The First Shadow is aware, however, whether male or female, superheroes were almost exclusively white. Unless you happened to get hold of a copy of All-Negro Comics, published in 1947 by Black journalist Orrin Cromwell Evans, Black children would not see themselves represented in popular culture.]

[... in this age of technological advance and political uncertainty, [comic books] provided the thrills, the escapism and the imaginative fuel that audiences, young and old, needed more than ever.”] - Mark Fisher

Next, we’re introduced to Joyce. She’s Joyce Maldonado at this point. She’s half undressed and trying to find her clothes, obviously fooling around with Lonnie Byers, who is already talking down to her in a very casual way, telling her she’ll never amount to anything and that she’ll never leave Hawkins like she dreams of. It was another example of only physical attraction existing between two characters - there’s little to no emotional compatibility there. I sort of had the vibe that the scene was effectively introducing Joyce and Lonnie’s unequal power dynamics as they are in the show moving forwards. Lonnie sits with his legs encasing Joyce as they both sit on a mattress, and she’s visibly vulnerable in her bra, listening to him say these casually demeaning things to her. 

Joyce wants to direct the school play, although she’s pretending to Principal Newby that they’re doing Oklahoma. Oklahoma will serve as a smokescreen for the real play she wants to direct: The Dark of the Moon. This has its own page in the programme too: 

[From the depths of Scottish folklore to the Broadway stage, the journey of The Dark of the Moon is as shrouded in mystery and intrigue as the contents of the piece itself. Over the course of several hundred years, the story evolved from humble beginnings (The Ballad of Barbara Allen) into something rather darker and more brooding than its simpler folktale roots.] [In its original versions, it seems to have been an innocent, if tragic, ballad about a young man who dies of unrequited love, only for the grief-stricken object of his affection to follow him to the grave. There, they become a rose and a briar respectively, destined to be intertwined for all eternity.] - The Creel House front door, anyone?

[In 1939, it had somehow become part of the Appalachian mountain lore of the north-eastern USA… [sometimes] with a central theme of divorce rather than death. But perhaps its oddest reincarnation is as a regular feature in the annual school play catalogue across the United States… retitled The Dark of the Moon, the play recasts Barbara Allen as a young maiden desired by a witch boy whose request to be made human is granted on the condition that she is faithful to him for a year. When that condition is tested to destruction, tragedy naturally (or unnaturally) ensues. The play is rich with allegory, including themes as knotty as religious fanaticism, demonic possession and mob psychology, and with its plot of star-crossed lovers meeting across the divide between this world and a mystical parallel one, it’s a kind of Gothic Romeo and Juliet.]  -Michael Davies

In the next few scenes we’re introduced to a whole host of characters as they come into the high school, and eventually gather around for the casting of Joyce’s play:

Ted Wheeler, school jock, Mr Popular. Very much a ‘peaked in high school’ vibe. 🙈

Karen Childress, Ted’s popular cheerleader girlfriend. Ted and Karen are depicted as two teens who can barely keep their hands off each other. They constantly make out. It’s suggested that Karen is only dating him because he’s popular and um… well-endowed. 

Walter Henderson (who must be Dustin’s dad) is a total dick. He’s openly racist towards Patty at one point, earning him glares and snappy remarks from both of the Sinclairs who are present at the time. Patty has a horrible nickname at school, “mystery meat”, because of her unknown origins. But it’s clear with Walter's comments that her race also plays a factor in her general ostracisation. 

Claudia Yount (Dustin’s Mom). She has a cat called Prancer, and is dating Walter. I thought it was very fan-servicey to include Dustin’s parents at all, because we know canonically that Dustin and his mom only moved to Hawkins when he was 4th Grade. So I guess Claudia and Walter moved away, had Dustin elsewhere, then Claudia came back to Hawkins again with Dustin after Walter had left/divorced her?? 

Sue and Charles Sinclair. Again, it was a cute Easter Egg to include them, but all the parents of the OG boys being there felt very fan-servicey - especially with them all already being coupled up in high school. It felt too unrealistic and a bit jarring. I’m choosing to take this as they were literally intended as cute little Easter Eggs, and as prime opportunity for comedic relief (e.g. seeing Ted Wheeler as a total player, in total opposition to the Ted we know). 

Alan Munson. He’s a little strange and quirky, a lot like Eddie. He has a rock and roll vibe, and sticks out his tongue and does devil horns with his fingers, lol. The others don’t seem to know what to make of him, but there’s no animosity or anything. He’s really funny in all his scenes.

And of course, Jim Hopper Junior. To me, Young Hopper was like… a weird mixture of old Hopper from the show, and Steve! The actor did a great job, but yeah, it was giving Steve more than Hopper in some places (to me, at least). I don't know if this was intentional.

Hopper has some dad issues - his father is the chief of police, and they don’t get on. There’s a whole scene later on in the show where they even have a physical fight in the police station (although this isn’t depicted super seriously, and is actually part of a larger comedic section that involves some of the other cops in the station getting involved for laughs. At the end, Hopper and his dad sort of come to an agreement.) It’s kind of slapstick. They’re all falling over each other, and there’s even a part where one male cop falls against another face forward onto a desk, and it’s pretty suggestive (one is sort of mounted behind the other). Idk if this was supposed to be a standard ‘gay joke’ just for lols, or if it was more that the cops had an unexpected ‘moment’ together (they take a while to part from each other, and then they avoid each other’s eyes, so… idk). Just something I noticed happening off to the side.

Anyway, back to Act 1. We’re taken away from Hawkins High to outside the Creel house, and introduced to the Creels moving into Hawkins, just like they appear in the show’s flashbacks. They’ve moved from Nevada, and the reason they’ve moved is because something had happened with Henry, and this is meant to be a new start - it’s left ambiguous as to what exactly happened, but there’s mention of a kid that had been ‘left in a wheelchair’. 

At first, Virginia Creel seems somewhat loving towards her son, hugging and kissing him and trying to act ‘normal’, but she’s clearly unsettled by him. Henry is unpredictable, and almost seems to switch between different personalities: one that’s familiar, shy but friendly, and one that quickly rages and turns violent. 

Whilst it’s not explained WHY yet, we clearly see that Henry is somehow ALREADY under the influence of the Mind Flayer - and that he has powers.

Virginia becomes more and more openly terrified of Henry as the play goes on. Meanwhile, Victor Creel is generally absent the whole time as he’s dealing with his own ‘demons’ (severe PTSD from the war). People in Hawkins think he’s odd and weird. Remember that nobody understands PTSD at this point in time. 

Again, we get a spread in the programme about this: “These are the tranquilized fifties… the legacy of trauma in post-war America”:

[It is very likely that Corporal Victor Creel, 9th Airforce, missed the birth of his son Henry in 1945… Getting their bodies back to the US would be a huge undertaking… getting their minds home would be another problem, and one which no-one had thought to predict.] [Victor Creel is a familiar figure to us now: shellshocked, prone to outbursts, turning to alcohol to numb his trauma… what to do with the man who has seen atrocities - who is in himself a living testament to the fact that they exist, that they happen - who, in Victor’s case, may even have committed them himself? The answer was to bury him. Though shellshock was first given its name in the aftermath of the First World War… there was no widespread study of PTSD until after the Vietnam War, even though more than double the amount of American soldiers showed symptoms of PTSD during WW2 than WW1… Those suffering on the front were sedated and told they were exhausted… once they made it home, they were told not to talk about it: that they were lucky to be alive.]

[One response in particular would have been familiar to the Creels - the child who becomes aloof from their father, and who disengages from the emotional life of the family… Much like Jim Hopper and his father, there was often immense love between these children and their fathers, but they had no way to talk about the pain they were feeling.] -Beth Kelly

Henry is clearly lonely and feels misunderstood when he first moves to Hawkins. It’s like he’s aware that there’s a darker side of him that’s dangerous, but he can’t fully explain why he does certain things (e.g whatever he did to the kid left in a wheelchair). There’s a scene where he sees the smoke of the Mindflayer swirling around him in the void, and he yells, "What are you??"

He’s the new kid at Hawkins High. People at school think he’s strange. They’re not necessarily cruel to him, but they’re not really sure how to take him either. Joyce is pleasant to him. But the only person he really connects with is Patty Newby - who we know is also a bit of an outsider at the school because of her peculiar origins and skin colour.

It’s clear there is an instant connection between Henry and Patty. Henry in particular is obviously crushing on Patty, and acts awkward around her. They bond over their love of comic books, and decide to be friends. 

Anyway - back to Joyce’s play. So the reason she wants to direct the play in the first place is to impress some visitors from a university, so she can achieve a scholarship to study theatre outside of Hawkins. 

It involves “witches, satanism, religious allegory”. Lots of things that Principal Newby would definitely disapprove of (hence why she pretends that they’re doing Oklahoma). 

Joyce talks about the overarching message: “That’s what it’s all about in the end, isn’t it? Whether love can conquer fear.” (paraphrased). I think that was perhaps a really meta moment, and applies to THIS play and even Stranger Things as a whole.

Also there was something like, “they’re witches, not lesbians!”/ “They were witches as well as lesbians”… “Does it matter?” (again, paraphrasing, I can’t recall the actual lines, and I think this was either said at this point by Joyce and someone else, or a conversation that happened earlier between Bob and Patty when they were talking about a comic or story they had read. I’m sorry, I can’t remember!) But I thought it could be a reference to the Fear Street trilogy, maybe. I was on the lookout for any kind of LGBTQ+ imagery or dialogue, and yet my brain still managed to forget details by the end of it all (Act 1 needed to be 20 minutes longer, seriously. They went through so much dialogue so quickly, it was difficult to keep up. I feel like I need to see the whole thing again to properly take it all in).

Maybe I was tripping, or maybe I misheard, but I thought there was also a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it line about “the ending is happy and gay”. I wish my brain would have held onto those lines, but it happened so quickly. Something like, “the ending will be happy and gay”… “isn’t that what everyone wants?” Now, I’m certain they meant ‘gay’ as in ‘happy’ in the context, but I couldn’t help but side-eye that moment a little because it’s an outdated term in today’s language. It was, I believe, a quick exchange between Joyce and… I want to say Bob? Or possibly Walter? I honestly cannot remember. I'm begging people not to run away with this because it’s also totally possible that it was said in a derivative sense, like, “this story is dark, gothic and tragic... not happy and gay”, you know? "That's what everyone wants, right?" "Maybe, but this ends in tragedy." I really hope someone, ANYONE else caught these lines, and can give me their own two cents on it. (Curse my shit memory and also just how FAST those lines were coming at us during those scenes in Act 1… like guys, please slow down so I can actually take in what you’re saying!) 

Anyway. Joyce is having trouble casting the main leads, John and Barbara Allen, as the two are lovers and will need to kiss, and nobody seems to have the right chemistry or is taking it seriously enough. 

At one point, Karen (acting as the female lead) confidently and passionately kisses Bob (acting the male lead), who’s awkward and flustered afterwards (this is done for the audience lols). 

After hearing her beautiful singing voice (encouraged by Henry), Joyce decides to cast Patty as her female lead. Meanwhile Henry has unwittingly found himself in this room along with everyone, and accidentally gets involved in the casting process. Joyce sees that Patty and Henry have chemistry together, so she decides to cast Henry as her male lead too. 

Henry and Patty grow closer. Henry tells Patty that he’s bad, and she should stay away from him. She doesn’t listen, and says just because someone has done some bad things, it doesn’t make them a bad person.

At one point they sit side by side by the confessional at church. Henry admits to her that he has powers. He tells Patty that he can hear what people are thinking - all the time. It drives him crazy (and says people are always ‘pretending’ to be normal. The vibe is very much in tune with his speech in Season 4 about how everyone is just in a silly little play, all playing pretend with each other, all trapped in these notions of living their lives in a way that society thinks is acceptable or desirable).

As an example later on in a separate scene, he points to Karen and Ted and tells Patty, “she thinks he’s an idiot, and he’s scared of her.” He points to more characters in this scene and says more about them (like Claudia and Walter, Sue and Charles, maybe even Joyce and Hopper?) but unfortunately I can only remember Ted and Karen’s. 

Patty convinces Henry that his powers are not evil, and that he should be able to control them and use them for good. Henry then creates a "vision" for Patty, where she can freely sing with people listening, and everyone around her joins in and appreciates her talent (I think she sings "Dream a Little Dream of Me"? Unless this happens later on. There’s definitely a moment where she sings a bit of that song. Henry associates it with Patty.)

In this vision, even Patty's father is supportive of her and her singing, and it’s quite a funny moment how she imagines him dressed in a saucy red cape, dancing in a way that he *definitely* wouldn’t approve of in real life.

So it seems Henry is actually able to show people their dreams as well as their nightmares. It suggests his powers are his own at this point (at least to an extent), and not necessarily always controlled by the Mind Flayer. 

Victor sees Henry talking to Patty at school, and mentions this to Virginia. He describes it as “harmless, just Puppy Love”, a first crush. 

Virginia is still worried, and tells Henry to stay away from Patty (for her protection). Henry gets angry. We keep hearing his voice change when he changes, like a deep, monstrous voice. It’s creepy, like it’s not really him in those moments - it’s like the Mindflayer using Henry’s body, speaking through him. 

While in the attic (his new favourite spot), Henry keeps becoming influenced by the Mind Flayer. He travels to the void frequently, from where he proceeds to start killing animals - the first of which is Dustin’s mom’s cat. It’s just like the Vecna attacks in Season 4, snapping their bones and blinding them. 

Henry seems to be aware that he’s the one responsible for these killings, and he keeps on going back to the attic, and the void, to keep doing it - but it’s unclear just how aware or remorseful he is about all this, or whether it’s 100% possessed!Henry during those moments. It certainly seems like it’s the Mindflayer making him want to do those things. When he first approaches Prancer, he’s friendly, calm and softly-spoken. The attack happens very suddenly and afterwards, I think Henry sort of ‘comes to’ and cries out in distress/remorse? 

Either way, Henry is definitely under the Mind Flayer's control at that point, and you can see the Mind Flayer smoke flying around in the void next to him. 

After Claudia’s cat turns up dead, Hopper is immediately on the case, wanting to find the culprit. He starts questioning people, and ends up approaching Henry at school.

I want to clear Hopper’s name in something here! I saw someone say that, in the play, it’s stated that Hopper says he hates cats. Whilst this *is* something Hopper tells Henry at this point, it was clear to me that Hopper was only playing mind games in the way an investigator will try to get a suspected criminal to confess: ‘The truth is, I hate cats. So I actually just want to shake the hand of the person who did it - they’re a hero in my book!’ He’s totally bluffing, and it’s just meant to show that he’s already thinking and working like a detective. Regardless, the tactic doesn’t work, and Henry brushes him off. Hopper remains none the wiser. 

When more animals start being killed in the same way, Hopper is the one who figures out that they’re all pets of Hawkins High School students who are taking part in Joyce’s play. He goes to her to request her help, and she and Bob both end up going out to look for clues with him (complete with torches, this gave major Season 1 vibes). 

Joyce and Hopper’s relationship is mostly antagonistic, but it’s clear they like each other and they flirt a bit. Meanwhile Bob admires Joyce from afar, wanting only to impress her and to find the courage to tell her how he really feels. There's some love triangle imagery throughout with where they stand. (Note: Bob does eventually admit to Joyce how he feels at the end, but she casually rebuffs him. I'm so glad they eventually ended up together because Bob was just too pure.)

Henry continues to be haunted by images of a monster reflected back at him in a mirror. I think we’re meant to take that as a representation of Mind Flayer!possessed Henry. He’s clearly afraid of himself, and what he’s capable of. 

The Mind Flayer appears to him as Patty, and taunts him by saying cruel things, like saying that he will end up killing her. In the vision, Patty starts pulling off her own hair until we see her brain. We hear a deep monstrous voice taunting Henry, saying he “will kill many, many more” - that they have seen it happen, and it is his destiny. (Time travel hints? The Mind Flayer can apparently see into his future, unless this was just an empty taunt that unfortunately came true, or a self-fulfilling prophecy). 

[Evidently, there’s something deeply disturbing at the heart of the human psyche about the possibility of uncovering the horrific within itself. When that horror is externalised… it creates a symbolic representation of our own nightmares, perhaps allowing us to tackle them more objectively and overcome those dark, disturbing impulses within us all.] 

[By investing fictional creations with the qualities we most fear - the horrifying, animalistic sides of our nature - we can, perhaps, face them more objectively and convince ourselves that we do, ultimately, have control over them… and ourselves.]

[... Perhaps the monster we fear most is the one we see reflected in the mirror. As Professor Mulrooney puts it: “The monsters in these tales are not necessarily the people we would call the monsters - Frankenstein’s creature or Dracula. The scariest part of these books is the humans.”] -Michael Davies 

The real Patty then interrupts the vision, and asks Henry if he can help her find her mother using his powers. He’s wary of doing so, but agrees to help her. He says she will have to come with him to his attic. 

Once inside, Patty tells him that it’s cold in there. Henry says he likes it cold. 

When Henry enters the void, he successfully locates Patty’s mom. She’s a singer, a show girl, working on a stage in Vegas. Patty asks him what she looks like. Henry says she looks like Patty. That she’s beautiful.

Suddenly, he loses control, and is once again visited by the Mind Flayer. Patty’s mom morphs into a terrifying figure who chases Henry through the void… and eventually catches him. 

We see the Mindflayer going into Henry inside the void, very similar to Will in Season 2 on the school field. (This happens either at this moment, or in a flashback at another point of the play. But it’s at some point!!) I think this was showing us that whoever Henry was, he’s fast disappearing into the darkness of the Mind Flayer, and vice versa - it’s like a fusion. 

Meanwhile, Mr Newby learns that Patty and Henry have been hanging out together a lot. He’s greatly displeased by this, and decides to go to the Creel House to fetch Patty and put an end to the budding romance. Romeo and Juliet vibes be vibing hard.

Downstairs, he speaks to Victor Creel, who is having a PTSD related episode and acting strangely. He says his wife believes the house is haunted by an ancient demon, and with everything that’s happened (and by how the lights keep flashing), he’s beginning to believe her. He feels like his demons have followed him from the war. 

Mr Newby then overhears the commotion from upstairs, and goes up to investigate. In the attic, Henry is holding Patty’s hand very tightly. He’s twitching and yelling as he fights against the Mind Flayer’s possession, and this frightens Patty. When her father walks in, he demands that Patty lets go of Henry’s hand. She tries, but he’s holding on too tightly. “I can’t!” Patty cries out.

Mr Newby is then attacked by Henry, controlled by the Mind Flayer. His body starts to rise up. Patty encourages Henry to fight back by telling him that she believes he is good, and that she loves him.

“Say it back!” she pleads to him. “Say it back!”

Henry responds and says he loves her too. Because of the love exchange, he manages to momentarily break out of the Mind Flayer’s control: Mr Newby drops to the floor, alive but badly injured. 

Joyce, Hopper and Bob were downstairs at this point, having followed radio anomalies to the Creel House (which they did via a machine that Bob built for them). They freak out and run away, and all come to the conclusion that creepy, crazy Victor Creel is the one responsible for Mr Newby’s injuries, as well as the string of violent animal deaths. 

[Joyce has some basis for believing Victor capable of violent crime, based as this may be in her own father’s war experience… When Joyce opens her copy of the DSM, first published in 1952, she will find no entry for PTSD… Instead, the symptoms she might recognise from her father were incorporated into depression or schizophrenia, rather than their own diagnosis. Short of a name for what they were suffering, traumatised veterans were left to find their own way through nightmares - through violence, alcohol or isolation.]  -Beth Kelly (from the Stranger Things: The First Shadow programme)

After the commotion, Henry removes his blindfold. Patty's father has broken through the attic floor, and he’s seriously injured. Patty is very afraid and upset. After a brief time skip (to the next day or two I think), we learn that Patty is staying away from Henry, who is worried that he’s ruined everything. The Mind Flayer starts to creep back in. We see a possessed Henry back in the attic, and Virginia comes up to him and says that she wants to help him, but she doesn’t know how. She reminds him that he needs to stay away from people to protect them. She talks about Patty, telling Henry that he shouldn’t see her anymore.

Possessed!Henry smirks and asks her if she’s jealous. There’s something insidious and disturbing in the way he asks it. Virginia recoils from her son and her “everything-is-going-to-be-okay” facade crumbles. We see she’s absolutely terrified of who Henry has become.

Henry creates a vision, so that it appears as though his pet spiders escape from their jars, and they run all over Virginia as she screams. She flees from the attic as Henry’s dark taunts follow her.

Henry’s sister Alice comes to the mouth of the attic. "Where is Henry?" She asks.

Henry: "He’s right here."

Alice: "You’re not him."

At this point, it was like the Mindflayer had almost completely merged with Henry. The lines had become more and more blurred as the play went on, and now it’s becoming hard to separate them - the ‘real’ Henry is finding it hard to come through and fight the possession. The Mind Flayer is winning. 

This really reminded me of Will and his own possession with the Mindflayer in Season 2. How they described it like a virus taking over, and how Will could have continued ‘disappearing’ until there was no more Will left. 

After the incident with Mr Newby, and her terror with Henry in the attic, Virginia has finally had enough. She willingly hands her son over to an “interested party” who describes himself as a doctor (who we know is Dr Brenner). He vows to take Henry to Hawkins Lab, where he’ll be safe, and contained. 

When he wakes up in the hospital, Mr Newby reveals to Patty that he actually stole her as a baby (?) in an effort to revive his relationship with his wife by having another child to care for - but it didn’t work, and his wife left him. He feels guilty about it, and wants to confess this to her after he almost died.

He tells her that he was attacked by a monster who made him relive his worst nightmares, and that “the boy”, Henry, actually fought back and saved him from death. He then draws the Mind Flayer on a piece of paper, hands it to his daughter, and tells her that this is what he saw.

After learning that Henry actually saved her father, Patty returns to his house to search for him, but it’s too late - Dr. Brenner has already taken him to the lab. However, she is able to communicate by calling out to him.

Henry contacts Patty through the void, where she is able to both speak and see him, despite him being at the lab. She tells him that she knows he is still a good person, and that he should return home.

———

Act 2.

On screen:

Chapter Two: Captain Midnight

So here’s the thing - the play paints us a totally different picture than Season 4 did in regards to Henry/Vecna. 

Henry was not inherently evil, like S4 suggested to many people - he was actually just a regular boy until ‘an incident’ occurred when he was younger, which is what gave him powers and started his possession in the first place. The end of S4 makes us think that El sent Henry to the Upside Down, which is where he meets the shadow monster and morphs it into the Mind Flayer with his powers.

But that wasn’t Henry’s first time there, nor was it the first time he saw the Mind Flayer. That was all just a REUNION.

It’s revealed that Henry actually disappeared into another dimension (Dimension X/ Upside Down) for a period of 12 hours when he was just a kid. He got lost near some caves in the Nevada desert, and when he returned, he had "completely changed in personality". 

He came back odd, ‘not normal’, and couldn’t socialise well. He also returned with dangerous powers, which he violently inflicts on animals. The Mind Flayer had clearly started possessing him from that early point, way before he even came to Hawkins. 

Let’s go back to the very beginning of the play - to the soldiers on the ship. It was Brenner’s father and his crew that were aboard this ship, the USS Eldridge, which had accidentally travelled into Dimension X/The Upside Down as a result of electromagnetic activity. 

This is based on The Philadelphia Experiment, or Project Rainbow, said to have taken place in the Second World War. The programme had a double spread on this: 

[Allegedly, wartime experiments caused the supernatural disappearance of a US naval ship… Project Rainbow was based on Einstein’s research into unified field theory through which [he] hoped to create a single theoretical framework to encompass all fundamental forces, including electromagnetism and gravity.] 

[Carl Allen claimed to have witnessed a strange event in October 1943 involving the naval destroyer escort USS Eldridge and scientists who were working on highly confidential technology which would make ships invisible to the enemy by using powerful electromagnetic fields to ‘bend’ light around them. According to Allen, they succeeded in doing just that. In fact, Allen said the ship was also briefly teleported 275 miles away to Norfolk, Virginia, before reappearing in Philadelphia. …It’s been suggested that the Eldridge’s official logs could have been deliberately altered… with the whole of Project Rainbow moving beyond top secret clarification.]  -Catherine Jones

Brenner’s father is the only survivor of this terrifying event. After returning from Dimension X and taken to a hospital, injured and dying, we learn that his blood type is now “unique” from any other human being. He won't survive a blood transfusion. His ravings about Dimension X before his death haunted and inspired Brenner for the rest of his life. Brenner started an experiment focused on finding and travelling back to Dimension X; his ultimate goal was to "create a gate" to reach it again.

Brenner enacted these experiments in the Nevada desert, where one day, one of his agents ran away with some of Brenner’s equipment near some desert caves. The agent was never found, but a Captain Midnight spyglass was - which was the exact spot where Henry went missing in Dimension X as a little boy for 12 hours. Brenner therefore began searching for the mysterious Captain Midnight comic-book fan who went to Dimension X and returned, watching him and keeping an eye on him. This is what led him to Hawkins: following Henry. 

Brenner tells us that Henry’s powers emerged after he visited Dimension X, and just like his father, his blood type is “unique”. He collects several samples from him. He also tells Henry that his powers become stronger each time he kills, and that’s why he gets so much satisfaction out of it. Brenner also tells Henry that he would get even stronger if he kills human beings, rather than animals.

During one scene, Brenner uses special equipment to see into and hear Henry's mind. He pushes Henry to the limit so he can hear and catch a glimpse of Dimension X. We hear noises similar to the Mind Flayer in Season 2 when Will goes into the Upside Down on Halloween night. The shape of the Mind Flayer appears on the screen (or was it the head of a Demogorgon? It was definitely something Upside-Downy), while Henry convulses. After this incident, Henry asks Brenner, “Can you take me back there?" 

Brenner also introduces the idea of anger to fuel Henry's power. On several instances he riles Henry up to get him angry, insulting him - and the result is always violence. He succeeds in getting Henry to kill a mouse/rat, which explodes into a bloody mess inside its cage, and then tries to convince him to kill a criminal who has been transferred to the lab with an agreement to be killed (he has a date with the electric chair later that week regardless). 

Henry refuses. He’s been speaking to Patty in the void, who has convinced him that he’s good and that he should return home. Brenner is frustrated with this, and becomes sure that Henry has someone that is "holding him back". He vows to find and remove this obstacle. But after Henry leaves the lab, Brenner tells his agents to let him go. He cannot force Henry to kill. “It has to be his choice."

Brenner is shown to have significant influence over Virginia. He’s been providing her with medication/tranquilisers, and tells her that her son desperately needs his help. He encourages Virginia to tell him who the person Henry is attached to. She does. Brenner promises her that he will take Henry back into the lab and that he won’t leave again. 

After Henry returns home, he reads his family's minds and learns that they are all afraid of him and unhappy with his return. He goes into his mother's memories and learns of the last interaction she had with Brenner, including that she wonders if he “may never have been good”, and whether "this was who he was the whole time." He knows that she was willing to give him up to Brenner forever. 

This is when the Creel murders happen, just like they’re shown in Season 4. Virginia Creel and Alice Creel are both murdered at the dinner table - and we know Victor is going to be blamed for it.

Is this Henry’s own mind now, turned to darkness and hate, or is it the Mind Flayer intent on eliminating all of Henry’s attachments? A monster who’s made a monster. I think it’s all left open to interpretation on purpose. 

After the death of his mother and sister, Henry goes straight to Hawkins High to find Patty, hoping to reach her before Brenner does. While at the school, he runs into Joyce, who voices to him her suspicions surrounding the animal killings, and what happened to Mr Newby at the Creel House.

At first, Henry thinks Joyce has worked it out, and that she knows it was him all along. “I wish you hadn’t done that…” he says, stepping closer. But Joyce clarifies just in time that she believes Henry’s father is the one who is dangerous, and that she believes he’s responsible for the terrible things that've happened in Hawkins recently. Maybe this is what gives Henry the idea to frame his father. Either way, he leaves Joyce alive. 

Both Brenner and Henry find Patty on the stage rafters, up on a high catwalk, ready to perform her part in the play. She’s initially wearing a set of wings as a prop, which are attached to the rafter to be lowered. Henry unties her from these wings, pleading with her to run away with him. An argument ensues with Brenner, where he attempts to convince Henry that Patty is his weakness, and that he needs to kill her to let her go. Patty tells Henry not to listen to him. 

During this argument, Henry loses control once more, and the Mind Flayer takes over. This results in Patty slow-motion falling from the rafters as the shape of the Mind Flayer overwhelms the stage. She hits the floor on her back, presumed dead. 

(The stage effects for this particular scene were absolutely incredible, by the way.)

Henry is later seen back at the lab. He’s fully subdued, confined to a straitjacket, mouth gagged, and sat in a wheelchair. Brenner says the implant (Soteria) is in, about to take effect.

If we believe what Season 4 showed us, the play skipped the part where Henry appeared dead alongside his mother and sister (just before Victor is then blamed and incarcerated at Pennhurst Asylum). So assuming that Brenner played a part in covering up Henry’s involvement in the Creel murders, Henry is presumed dead by the town at this point too. Unfortunately the play doesn’t address this, as instead we see Henry run immediately from the dinner table murder scene, straight to Hawkins High to find Patty. It’s a big inconsistency which I guess they want us to explain away with Henry being an “unreliable narrator” in the show. I guess he gave Nancy the abridged version of what happened!

Anyway, it appears that Henry later finds Patty in the void, despite Brenner telling him that he killed her. It seems she has successfully left Hawkins and found her mother in Las Vegas, just as she always dreamed of doing. She uses a walking stick, but otherwise appears alive and well. 

We hear and see static as Henry watches the scene unfold, and Patty glances over her shoulder, like she senses him. But then she turns her back and walks into the distance with her mother. 

An alternative take that I heard from someone, was that perhaps Patty is truthfully still seriously injured and is actually in a coma (similar to Max). They thought that maybe the final scene of Patty with her mother was actually just something that Henry was creating for her in her mind, as a sort of last semblance of goodness and love. I don’t think that’s what was intended, but it was an interesting take that I wanted to include! 

As the show nears its end, we’re presented with a series of newspaper articles relaying the tragic Creel Murders in Hawkins (possibly the same ones that Nancy and Robin find in Season 4). The Creel family all dead, Victor is blamed and sent to the asylum. The empty Creel House remains, a reminder of the horrors. It then shifts back to Hawkins lab, who are now recruiting pregnant women for experimentation. 

Brenner introduces a pregnant woman to Henry (who is still bound to a chair and fully subdued) and explains to him that the "blood transfusion" finally worked on a subject. He points to the woman's belly and remarks, “One, meet Two!" “You are as much a father to them as I am,” Brenner says at one point. Then, “Come… meet your brothers and sisters.” Even though we know Henry is not in any way related to the lab kids, they definitely played into the father/guardian/creator metaphor in the play. If not family by blood, then by circumstance. 

We see photos of the babies created in the lab, with their numbers underneath. We can recognise Eight as young Kali. Eventually we get to Ten, at which point the stage focuses on a now older Henry, wearing his recognisable Season 4 orderly outfit. He kneels beside a child with buzzed hair. 

"Hello, Eleven. Come with me.” He takes her by the hand, and they walk into the distance together. 

———

Some final thoughts:

Because of the incident with Patty during Joyce's play, we can infer that's why she is unsuccessful in her goal to impress the university, and remains stuck in Hawkins - just like Lonnie said she would.

Lonnie is awful, and I’m in two minds about how he’s handled in the play. They did a good job to show he’s always been a douchebag, and unlike what I’ve seen some people say, I actually think it was horribly believable that Joyce (who they establish likes 'bad boys') ends up going back to him and having kids with him. We know from Season 1 that there’s emotional abuse with Joyce and Lonnie, and to me, it makes horrible, horrible sense that it all ends up the way it does. I’m just not sure how I feel about Lonnie being used as any kind of comedic effect in the play (he makes a brief reappearance at the police station, where he’s been lying drunkenly handcuffed on some chairs the whole time during a scene... “It wasn’t me! I didn’t do it!" he says, or something to that effect). I feel like using him in that way diminishes how truly awful he is as a character. Maybe I’m just being too sensitive, but I’d much rather they had kept all the laughs and jokes for the other characters, and treated Lonnie completely seriously the whole way through. I don’t want to see him in any way ‘likeable’ or ‘relatable’ or ‘funny’, you know? Not even for cheap audience laughs. This is a guy who called his own kid son a f*g. Let's treat that with the gravity and solemnity it deserves, please.

Louis McCartney and Ella Karuna Williams as Henry Creel and Patty were great, and Isabella Pappas as Joyce was amazing. Dr Brenner was nicely emulated by Patrick Vaill (I personally think he was one of the most believable characters from stage to show). The best performance of all though was Christopher Buckley as Bob. Like, damn, give that kid all the awards! He was so believable as a young Bob, I actually forgot it wasn’t somehow a young Sean Astin on stage. *chef’s kiss*

As previously mentioned, all the parents of the kids are present in the play (and already coupled up). None of these characters are particularly fleshed out, and I think they’re mainly just there as fun ‘Easter Eggs’ to connect it with the show. E.g having Claudia own another cat that gets killed, seeing Ted Wheeler ironically as some kind of jock god who gets all the ladies (and cheats on Karen with, by the way!), Joyce holding an axe prop near the end mid-rant (“Why am I holding this??”) and Hopper making a remark about breaking his own foot (which he does in Season 4). 

They definitely seemed to be going back on the whole ‘it was Henry/Vecna the whole time’ thing from Season 4: the Mind Flayer has been pulling the strings from way before El sent Henry to Dimension X/Upside Down. We even see the Mind Flayer in the shape of a giant eldritch spider during the play, way before Henry appears to ‘shape’ it in Season 4. However, I think it’s also possible that Henry DID actually manage to take control of the Mind Flayer the second time he arrived in Dimension X (as we see at the end of S4). At that point, he’s killed all the lab kids and staff at Hawkins Lab, so he will be much more powerful now compared to the Henry from the play. By now he’s completely embraced the Mind Flayer’s philosophy, and is acting in its stead entirely on his own volition. Honestly? I think they’re going to leave it ambiguous on purpose. I think that’s why the play is technically canon, but totally not necessary before seeing Season 5. I think Henry and the Mindflayer are 'one' (lol) at this point - I think that’s what Vecna technically is. He’s like an amalgamation of this terrifying eldritch being that we can never begin to understand, but at the same time also something that is still deeply, deeply human.

The Henry side of him seems to be lost, but in a way Brenner was right - his feelings for Patty, whether ‘Puppy Love’ or real - was his one redeeming weakness in his early teen years. Judging from the play, I think it’s possible we might see a tragic sort of redemption moment in S5 (which I personally have mixed feelings about). But I do believe the play is supposed to be entirely separate, and that it’s possible Patty will continue not to be mentioned or relevant in the show (I hope I’m wrong). I just can’t help but be cautious in assuming the Mind Flayer is still the one in control after what they set up at the end of Season 4 (especially with Will saying, “it’s weird to know who it was this whole time” re: his own kidnapping and possession). I think Henry has become his darkest self as Vecna.

Speaking of Will… there were noticeably a LOT of parallels with him in Henry. Henry wears pretty much exactly Will’s outfit from Season 4, yellow tones with beige and brown. Meanwhile Patty wears a blue cardigan and a blue dress - at least in Act 1. I’m not hugely into the blue-and-yellow thing in a serious way, but even I noticed there were blue and yellow motifs for Henry and Patty. She wears a bright yellow top with her blue cardigan at one point too. I think there was definitely a mixture of both Will and El in Henry’s character.

Meanwhile Patty had noticeable similarities to Mike. She’s rebellious, outspoken, loves comic books, and worships superheroes.

Seeing the play hasn’t impacted my beliefs or hopes for Byler in any way. I think there are potentially good things to be taken from the writing, and potentially bad things too. My current confidence has neither been raised nor lowered, but what I will say is that it’s undeniable that the Henry x Patty relationship mirrors both Mileven and Byler, but especially Mileven. Hentty is obviously a star-crossed tragedy, deliberately set up like Romeo and Juliet, which we know is NEVER a good thing. I do find it interesting that their love confessions were an exchange, unlike Mike’s monologue. Patty is the one ‘present’, whilst Henry is the one trapped in the void with his eyes closed/blindfold on. It’s a high stakes moment. Patty tells Henry in desperation that she loves him, but she follows this up by pleading with him to say it back. I didn’t see anyone else talking about this, but it really stood out to me.

The play’s themes and messages still reflected what I believe the show to be about: rejecting forced conformity (it dealt with people’s ideas about what it means to be “normal” to fit in, about sex not being taboo, harmful black and white morality, and the damage that can occur from enforcing religious dogma)... and of course, like Joyce said, that love will ultimately conquer fear. Over and out!

[This kind of introspection throws up unsettling and complex ideas about the nature of human morality. What does it mean to be human? Who gets to decide who is “other”? How do we treat those who are different from us? These are huge issues, and far too esoteric for most of us to deal with in abstract. So the way we choose to explore them is in stories.] - Michael Davies

[physalian]

On Writing Characters That Don't Or Can't Speak English

This such a fun dynamic, honestly and more fantasy and sci-fi should implement it. You don’t even have to design a fantasy language, although writing that character’s un-written dialogue constantly as narration might get old.

I haven’t done this with any real-world languages or cultures but a tiny advisory: Take care in how you describe the cadence, tonality, and gesticulations of characters meant to represent real world cultures speaking in their languages. You can get unintentionally discriminatory very quickly, so do your research and hire sensitivity readers.

With that said!

There’s a few points I want to cover here.

1. How your characters communicate without dialogue

This also concerns characters that cannot learn the dominant language, whether they’re a fantasy character that just can’t make those sounds, or they’re deaf or mute or have another disability that makes verbal communication difficult.

You have so many options and you can have so much fun with it. You can make your own version of a sign language or a code language that only your core characters or a group they belong to can communicate in. Create your own pidgin or medium of communication, like a soundboard of different tonalities or a thought-to-speech translator like a Speak n’ Spell, or an Etch A Sketch, or have a magic hologram subtitle display before them. Or like the Q*Bert dialogue bubbles in Wreck it Wralph where the translation is never given, only the detailed response so you can fill in the blanks.

One of my favorite cartoons is Transformers Prime. It’s based off the character designs from the Bay live action movies, not the original cartoons, so the machines they transform into are modern and updated and there’s a few references to the Bay movies’ lore sprinkled about, but not a required watch for appreciating the show.

In it, Bumblebee carries over his inability to speak due to a damaged voice box. I imagine he now communicates in a series of beeps and bleeps because the cartoon didn’t want to pay the licensing fees for Movie Bee’s jukebox dialogue, but it works way better here. Why? Because, I think, and I do not suffer from any speech impediments, that it better conveys the struggles of a disability.

Bee never speaks and his dialogue is never subtitled. The audience is only clued into what he’s saying when other characters respond to him in an unambiguous way so, like Q*Bert, you can fill in the blanks. He isn’t universally understood, either, only one human and the other transformers can understand him, so when he’s with other humans in a dangerous situation, their inability to bridge the language gap becomes a very real problem (that no one ever blames Bee for).

Also, Bee is never once insulted, belittled, demeaned, or mocked for his speech impediment and he’s a badass character in his own right. He’s not “the robot with the speech impediment” he’s “the badass sportscar scout with a heart of gold, and who also has a speech impediment”. The only time it’s talked about negatively is by the main villain, who’s trying to be an asshole about it, but even then, Megatron never thinks Bee is less capable for it, he just thinks everyone is lesser than himself across the board (Megatron is also responsible for his disability ‘cause Bee was captured and his interrogation went poorly, if you needed another exhibit of the Big M’s sadism).

Bee’s damaged voice box is almost never central to his arc, either. He gets one two-parter where he loses his ability to transform and takes it super hard, since he’s already damaged and sees himself as less useful than the rest of the team without this critical ability.

Again, I don’t have this disability so I can’t comment on how respectful it actually is to those who do, but from an outsider’s perspective, I think Bee is a fantastic example of empowering disabled characters and giving them substance beyond their disability—cannot comment on how they ended his arc and resolved the impediment, or that it was resolved at all.

2. How you describe those unwritten words

Doubling down here: Do your research so you aren’t stereotypical and insensitive, please.

Still going off the assumption that you aren’t just writing this dialogue in the other language for now, like a character who only speaks in Spanish and you have the dialogue there in Spanish that I may have to translate separately, like in Spiderverse, or the Gaelic in Outlander, neither of which were subtitled for non-native speakers.

Since you don’t have the dialogue there, you are relying entirely on tone of voice, gesture, volume, and facial expressions, so dial your descriptions of those up to eleven—especially if this is a character who over-gesticulates to better get their point across.

You can also have the characters they’re closest to pick up on a few of their common or significant phrases to convey the connection and friendship they share.

In Outlander, at least the first season when they’re actually in Scotland (easily the best season), there’s entire scenes in Gaelic and all you have as an audience member is their tone of voice and gesticulations, and sometimes you just have to presume the gist of the scene because an English speaker isn’t present and they only give the gist a few scenes later. One in particular comes at the end of the season after an extremely traumatic event that happened to Character A, arguing over why he wants to end his life to Character B. One would think that this gut wrenching dialogue would be critical to understanding the scene but the two actors go above and beyond conveying the critical emotions behind what they’re saying, so the words don’t even matter. If you were deaf, you’d understand the scene as effectively as someone who doesn’t speak Gaelic.

Can’t confirm but I think they did this very much on purpose because Gaelic isn’t getting any more commonly spoken and you’re meant to feel a little alienated by it and only those who know Gaelic can get the full scene, like it's just for them. Can’t confirm the accuracy of the dictation or translation of the language, either, but the ‘alienating’ effect always leaves me utterly fascinated by the language. You cannot ignore the Gaelic to just drone through the subtitles, you have to pay attention.

3. How that character bumbles through the dominant language

This one is for non-disabled bi or multilingual characters or those who could learn the dominant language but haven’t had the time or opportunity. Depending on the character’s skill with the language, they can Spanglish their way through with awkward parsing still using their native languages grammar rules.

I can’t speak to this, I only know very clunky Spanish. I can say my efforts to speak in Spanish are always done in excitement as I get the chance to practice this language, and then the pressure to translate on the spot has me forgetting words I definitely know how. I get by, even if my conjugations are botched, and me, looking as I do, definitely catch people off guard when I respond to them in Spanish, generally followed by smiles at my attempts.

Just recently I had to perform tech support for a family in my apartment complex. They needed to print a thing and the printer wasn’t connecting. We gestured and pointed our way through getting their files onto my USB drive and plugging that direct into the printer, and doing one copy at a time, it was a whole thing with me bumbling through printer tech support in basic Spanish because they didn’t know a single word of English. But by god, we did it.

4. The conflicts that arise from mismatched dialogue

On a more big picture level, miscommunication through to a mistranslation can range from comedic to critically life-threatening, and it can be a recurring hurdle for the character or team to consider and plan for.

Comedy wise, mistranslations can be hilarious. Characters blanking on the word they need and being entertainingly frustrated, or taking a roundabout way to get to the word they need by piecing it together. Characters who don’t get a joke that only native speakers would know, or translating a joke in their language that isn’t as funny in another language without the other parlance.

Or just two characters who have to cooperate to survive and who don't have a common language to make that cooperation easier. I *love* gratuitously violent action movies and just the action genre in general, even if the story is cheesy or dumb. One of those movies is Alien vs Predator. In it, eventually, Protagonist 'enemy of my enemy's her way into an alliance with one of the Predators, against the much larger Xenomorph threat.

He doesn't speak anything other than growls and she only speaks English and though the movie overexplains many things (probably because the producers didn't trust the audience like the writers did), they have several moments together where he has to give her critical survival information, like "I have a failsafe bomb with a very short delay we need to run right now" and "Use this meat shield to protect yourself against their acid blood" and "You're an honorary Predator warrior now I must do this ritual for you" and can only mime his way through it, and through the power of gesture and charades, they make it work.

Drama wise, I live for big problems coming unexpectedly from small, human mistakes. One translation error can snowball into some horrible consequences.

—

Big picture, though, you do your fantasy or sci-fi world a disservice by not considering multiple languages, even if you don’t write them, or multilingual characters and the problems and world biases that arise from these different groups. Dead languages, rare languages, languages associated with the villain group or minorities. Languages that only one character is fighting to keep alive, or a language that, when spoken, comes with some sinister side effects (like Parseltongue or the Black Speech, the language of Mordor).

It really adds to the immersion when you have an expansive story that doesn’t just assume English/Common is the law of the land, or that all your fantasy/alien species can or want to speak it.

[lotus-tower]

the most important factor when shipping things that aren’t outlined or implied in canon or where the characters don’t have much canonical dynamic going on is how much it strengthens and adds to an existing situation. everyone and their mom knows joui 4 is real in a way few other anime Main Character Group polycules are real. and I genuinely am invested in sakamoto/takasugi even if they’ve only interacted 1.5 times. and that’s because of the following mathematical premises:

1. takagin is (obviously) real

2. takazura funny never married divorcees

3. everyone falls for sakamoto because of his SS rank charisma stat

what we end up here with is the following situations, all of them funny and therefore good:

- sakamoto threw up in gintoki’s face upon their first meeting and gintoki developed a crush on him anyway and ditched his childhood friends to hang out with the handsome new guy who’s really annoying and talks too loud. and who also threw up on you (takasugi)

- despite this takasugi doesn’t hold it against sakamoto because no one holds it against sakamoto. sakamoto’s allowed to do that

- zura also doesn’t hold it against sakamoto. however he Does hold it against takasugi and develops numerous fascinating complexes about takagin’s existence (and probably his ntr kink in the process)

- sakamoto and zura get along just fine but zura isn’t sakamoto’s type even though sakamoto likes dark haired women who would work as hostesses because zura out-bokkes him

- however this makes him gift him elizabeth. he was never even mad at takasugi and he made a tender flashback shounen promise with gintoki and just never got them anything. and after he met up with them again he continued to not get them anything. except pickled daikon. after he knows gintoki probably got heavily traumatized by the events of the plot he still doesn’t get him anything or text him.

- takasugi has no opinions about ginzura. I don’t think he thinks zura is capable of having a genuine relationship (funny thing for him to think of another human being). and I think ginzura is mainly concentrated in the present where takasugi has used the highest grade exorcism talismans to seal off his panels from any encroaching “gintoki having unspoken feelings and tender tension with old friend from his past” aura

- gintoki is a character born to get into funny situations where he’s in cartoon boxers and interacting with implied femdom gags. he’s a guy we see on a leash and with underwear on his face. he’s a guy who claims to be a virile shounen jump hero but needs to bottom for genre health and also his own health. but he’s stuck with takasugi and zura who both want/need him to top them in different ways. gintoki doesn’t want to deal with it. he wishes sakamoto would elope with him and they could go to sci fi vegas where he’ll drink a lot and forget everything. however sakamoto leaves him on read

- both zura and sakamoto think they were the guy who had to clean up after gintoki and takasugi’s messes and mediate between them. zura felt like it as a conflation of how he felt like a third wheel. sakamoto was genuinely mediating because both parties actually liked him.

- the only guy everyone likes as a blanket rule is never around and doesn’t talk to anyone except zura, because zura knows everyone’s contact information. but he also won’t share

- you know that infamous scene where gintoki and takasugi both picked the same woman at the brothel. and where takasugi (gay boy) spent the whole night unmoving in the corner. okay forget those two have you thought about how zura felt that night. and probably many other nights. he would Never engage in such a morally crass activity. going to the brothel would pollute his samurai soul—sakamoto is also there of course. sakamoto loves brothels. it’s just zura. alone. at home. all his men gone out. leaving just him. in his tent. well it’s fine. it’s his principles vs their degenerate tendencies. they’re all out having sex without him right now…………… even… takasugi………………….

- (takasugi is not having sex)

[uraniawrites]

𝐰𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐞𝐛𝐥𝐫 𝐫𝐞-𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐨

Hi there, I'm Ale (she/her) and I'm making my re intro again because I was struggling so bad with uni and I couldn't be here so much. Now I'm trying to be active again to post my writing and repost other people's writings. I'll try to explain my wips and update regularly. Please interact with this post if you'd like to be mutuals and reblog our writings as well!

𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐦𝐲 𝐰𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠

I'll try to explain them because they're a mess, but stick with me. It'll be worth it. I promise. My native tongue is Spanish, so, sorry in advance if there's any mistake, lol. Also, I'll create/post tags, pages in these days because I had to remake everything from scratch.

𝐦𝐲 𝐰𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠

-Science fiction, fantasy (urban, paranormal, high, epic), historical fiction.

-Found family. Because I'm a sucker for this trope. Also, I have siblings dynamics, trauma, death, action, etc.

-Both, character and plot development.

-Morally grey, ambiguous characters who don't think of themselves of heroes for all the bad things they've done, but still, they try.

𝐜𝐮𝐫𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐰𝐢𝐩𝐬.

𝐇𝐢𝐝𝐝𝐞𝐧 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐨𝐞𝐬 (𝐒𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐝 𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧).

Sci-fi NA series (6 books) about superhumans (people with superpowers). Due to an accident, hundreds of super end up in jail. The altered are human creations that are getting out of control and threat to break the order. A group of superhumans are selected for their powers to try to stop the altered and the experiments that humans are making with them and creating new drugs. The only problem? These kids are in prison for being super. Will they succeed or will they kill each other before the fun begins? (This is my main wip)

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐂𝐡𝐨𝐬𝐞𝐧 𝐎𝐧𝐞 (𝐅𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭 𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧).

This is a prequel trilogy of Hidden Heroes. Sci-fi NA. Set during The Cold War (with some historical changes, just because, lol), a group of superhumans discover that humans are experimenting with them to create a super soldier, someone who can fight their wars and stop them before they even begin. They will have to risk their lives and hearts trying to stop something that seems impossible. First generation.

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐒𝐩𝐲.

Standalone sequel after the events of the Second Generation. Sci-fi NA. Vasilisa Azarova (orphan since 7 years-old) has been trained since she was young to become a lethal spy, trained to kill and torture, and to blend to get information, by a Russian organization that specializes in training humans and superhumans to create the best European spies. During a mission, Vasilisa discovers that the things she's been told all her life, may be lies. Vasilisa and her team will try to scape and destroy the organization that once raised them and trained them. Will she succed, or will she lose everything again?

𝐋𝐚𝐝𝐲 𝐨𝐟 𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐃𝐚𝐫𝐤𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬.

Paranormal urban fantasy YA trilogy. Isabelle Jones is a witch that wants nothing but greatness and to become the greatest witch the world has ever seen. But first, she must understand that the world doesn't revolve around her and that some alliances and friends from her new paranormal school, Ashckerton Academy, are important to defeat the evil that is looming on them.

Thanks for reading! Please interact, I'll try to follow back. If you're interested on being in the taglist, please let me know! <3

[iamafanofcartoons]

100+ REASONS TO WATCH AND ENJOY RWBY

Let’s put this as simply as we can.

Now, I understand you’ll need further reasons to look into the show that was created by Monty Oum, Miles Luna, and Kerry Shawcross.

SO! Here is 100+ Reasons to give RWBY a shot, plus a resource list link at the end. ENJOY!

1) Sci-fi/fantasy show that balances the two aspects very well 2) Endearing characters 3) Deep underlying messages about the importance of human connection 4) Constantly improves on itself 5) Writers actually try to listen to what the fandom wants 6) Creative setting 7) Actually handles difficult topics, like communication, privilege, and the cycle of abuse in a way that is sensitive to the audience 8) Ending is already set, meaning the show is not at risk of selling out to corporate overlords 9) God-tier foreshadowing 10) Top notch fight choreography 11) EVERYTHING IS A GUN 12) RWBY unambiguously avoids Depraved Homosexual tropes - no evil LGBT characters

13) No surprise plot twists for the sake of shock value 14) The soundtrack Not only does it slap, bits of lore and characterization can be found in the series music 15) Character design 16) Symbolism and metaphors and hidden meanings abound Can make for an enriching experience if you have knowledge about color theory and fairy tales and historical/mythological figures 17) Nuanced portrayal of morality between heroes, villains, and those who are neither 18) Layered writing where not everything, especially conflict, is clear-cut and easily resolved 19) Portrays trauma without over-dramatization 20) Production values improve with each volume 21) Hopepunk 22) Female-Centric main cast All the “Fix-it” fanfics and “Rewrites” involve Male-Centric Casts and/or taking time away from female main casts to focus on male characters, especially male side characters. 23) No surprise plot twists for the sake of shock value meets Thanos snap. 24) Good bits of humor sprinkled throughout without being overbearing 25) A few villians that while irredeemable, are interesting to watch in how they act. 26) Masterpiece of a comedy spinoff 27) You can legally watch the show for free 28) Subverts narrative tropes common to both "western" hero stories and anime 29) Gender dynamics and expectations are well-balanced Gender  tropes subverted, and addressed directly at times 30) Comfortably addresses class warfare, alcoholism, and other "mature" topics in approachable ways 31) Corgi 32) Combat Skirt 33) Women get to have pockets and pouches... 34) Women not requiring a man to save them 35) Large number of POC portrayed positively 36) LGBT are neither creeps nor villains, instead the straight people are. 37) POC are neither creeps nor villains as a majority...instead the white people are. 38) The “White Male Savior” with the mask, trenchcoat, and katana is the villain, while the underdog protector of the lower-income is a POC woman who may or may not be lesbian. 39) Meaningful facial expressions (that is, the animators spend time creating mood and reaction to elevate the storytelling) 40) Main antagonist is a woman, as are several of the other antagonists and they are NOT ditzes or idiots, nor are they fanservice. 41) The women are as intelligent as the men, where most anime try to have men be superior than women for the sake of shounen, the women are equal to men in screentime, plot relevance, intelligence, strength, personality, etc....though RWBY tries to have the women take precedence. 42) Men are support characters with their powers, while Women have more protagonist superpowers. 43) Positive half-sibling and stepmother representation 44) Positive honorary family member representation 45) Gay shipping and Lesbian shipping is encouraged by the writers and voice actors/actresses 46) The Main female protagonist's blood-based superpower is not broken or OP and has limits. 47) Well-executed humor (usually, ha). Basically trying NOT to make it fanservice or toilet humor or cringe. 48) Creators at least try to fix its less than stellar/problematic parts, which is more that I can say than the majority of entertainment. 49) Female characters are complex and interesting, also for the most part don’t woobified female villains. 50) Terrifying Villains and Monsters There is a difference. V1-V3 involved Monsters , V4-V8 involved Villains. 51) Every Character is based on a fairy tale/myth/legend/story and looking for those breadcrumbs just adds to the show 52) Already said, but emphasizing the fight choreography and the soundtrack. If you love over-the-top video game style fights this is for you. If you love epic metal playing over those fights this is for you. 53) Plays with tropes and story telling norms to subvert expectations in the best way 54) Not afraid to have tonal shifts to tell the story they want to tell 55) Not afraid to have the heroes lose sometimes 56) And plot points have consequences!!! None of this "bad thing happens and 1 episode later the status quo is restored" 57) Emphasizing foreshadowing again. Things that happened in season 8 were foreshadowed as far back as season 2. 58) The main characters are proactive. None of this waiting around for them to get up the courage to do something about the bad guys. Don't give me the “manor tea” stuff, they were trying to recover, Ironwood had it out for them and would have shot them for helping while refusing to obey him. 59) The Main characters are smart. They notice things (and come up with really cool strategies) 60) At least one villain does NOT underestimate the main characters 61) Everyone doesn't let characters use false justification for their actions regardless who it is! Everyone gets a consequence that fits! 62) Soundtrack is LIT 63) Gay Gay Homosexual Gay 64) Because I'm still on this, two autistic-coded main characters whose traits aid in their heroism! Ruby and Penny...possibly Marrow Amin 65) Kdin Jenzen, a Transgender VA, plays May Marigold, a transgender heroic side character who does not get killed off. 66) Chaotic teens saving the world with the power of stubborn optimism 67) Opposites Attract Tropes 68) Goth Uncle 69) Goth Milf 70) Himbo Dad 71) Non-sexualized Catgirl 72) Cat Cougar Milf with Tea Tray defeats Bat Assassin 73) Panther Dilf 74) Blonde Brawler Female who is also smart and can work mechanics 75) Female protag uses scythe and cape/cloak 76) It Portrays several different types of abuse ranging from romantic relationships to familial abuse along with accurately portraying them 77) Shows how harmful Alcoholism is 78) When/If a a character dies, it’s for a reason and isn’t for shock value Penny cheated death once...she would not cheat death again. Ozpin's immortality is a curse, and he is truly dead, a ghost. 79) One of the the main-main characters is disabled and isn’t treated as/seen as lesser 80) Male/Female friendships are a thing and abundant Normally if a man and a woman engage, its shipping, not friendships. But with Naruto and Sakura we have friendship. With Ichigo and Rukia its friendship....now that is abundant friendship in RWBY. 81) LGBT Voice Actresses Voice LGBT Characters. Kdin Jenzen is Transgender, Arryn Zech is Bisexual, and so are their characters. 82) All Romantic relationships, heterosexual or not, are given attention and emphasis on their interpersonal relationships 83) Balances tragedy and comedy, there are SEVERAL episodes where you both end up laughing your ass off and crying 84) Never goes all out depressing, the message is clear, it takes it to heart, and it shouts it for all to hear. Sometimes bad things happen. But you have to keep moving forward. 85) Has a variety of characters, each with their own themes/allusions (e.g. Ruby = Red Riding Hood, Team RWBY = Fairy Tale Characters, Team JNPR = Crossdressing Historic Heroes) 86) Amazing Music that builds on the characters' motives 87) You won't suffer vision problems after watching an entire cast that's blindingly white (shounen anime in general) 88) Gay doesn't suddenly die to leave heartbroken love interest Straight and angstily going back to the white guy who killed Gay out of possessive jealousy, which is super romantic. 89) Partners of dead Gays, should a Gay die, will not obligatorily be paired with someone str8   90) Character designs reference various fairy tales and stories, so you can get things like Mulan and Thor being a childhood friends romance, Beast and Beauty being one and the same and in love with Goldilocks, and Red Riding Hood maiming Cinderella, who is evil. 91) Everyone; good, bad, and the minor characters...are all hot. 92) You WILL get attached both to the good and bad characters. 93) All characters have very unique designs that fit their personalities and fighting styles. 94) Emotional/Physical Abusers get killed AFTER being humiliated 95) The Entire Show is full of metaphors and symbolism. The backgrounds, character clothing, the weapons they use... it's fun to analyze! 96) Stresses the importance of just being a nice person above all other stereotypical morally gray anime tropes 97) The people who work the the show. Seriously not just the main people; I'm talking about all the unsung heroes who do amazing background and scenery to sound design, etc. RWBY has some of the nicest, most hard working, and supportive crews I've seen. And considering the amount of harassment the anti-fandom can throw at them, they take and handle it so remarkably well. 98) Every character looks amazing from main to one-off. How their outfits convey who they are so well and sometimes subtlety. Also how the creators and character designers make it so cosplayers can have pockets on their outfits. 99) No  stupid twists for shock value, the twists that do happen are foreseeable but executed in a way that is still shocking. 100) Enjoyable Comedic Spin-off far better written than Teen Titans Go. 101) Awesome weapon concepts 102) Awesome growth of story, plot, and transition of it. 103) People hate it when you have fun watching RWBY....is that not enough?

Need to come up with a list of good youtube channels next.

[boneinator]

Hope this doesn’t bother you a lot, but can we get some headcanons of the teachers? I was curios about ur vision for them

Dw it doesn't bother me !! I love getting asks ^^

Anyway it's going under read more bc this feels like a long one

Sketch

• she/they enby, omnisexual (<- me when I'm projecting)

• mentor figure for the newer teachers

• gives drawings and crafts as gifts, might or might not have various voodoo dolls

• uses Colin as a monitor for digital art

Tony

• he/him, bisexual

• you CANNOT tell me he doesn't drink tea 24/7. Most British mf I have ever seen

• weird hearing, very sensitive to loud sounds but can barely hear normal talking tones. Applies to his own voice too so that's why he screams a lot

• kind of an inferiority complex for the decaying use of clocks over technology lol

Shrignold

• gay and homophobic idgaf

• aware of the harm he's doing but genuinely loves his cult- "family" a lot

• likes telenovelas, granny type of beat

Colin

• he/it Libramasc, pansexual (here I am, projecting once again)

• has haphephobia but is working on it (this one might as well be canon idk)

• everyone has a computer day, so even if you see him every day you only get screentime once a year

• autism 🫵

• his tail is retractable

• has SO MANY viruses, that's why he glitches and talks slow

Healthy band

• doing them all together bc how can you think of them alone :[ don't separate them

• common fanon of them being a family ykn the drill

• their "birthday" (or date of release lol) is actually fridge and steaks anniversary

• depending on the day they either make the most rancid bizarre food or a 5 stars, Gordon Ramsay approved meal

• running on the same luck, fridge can either be filled with normal groceries, nothing (you have to buy groceries) or gore. Like those are his guts leave him alone

• everyone hiding inside fridge is apparently a normal bonding experience

• bread boy is transfem !! (Should we start calling her something different?)

• spinach is also a she/they enby, nobody in here isn't lgbtq

Lamp

• he/him but doesn't really care, pansexual

• has been trying to be sober but he's already very fucked up, that's why he's like That™ in the TV show

• the other teachers we see in his episode are his party friends

• absolutely watches the others dreams, likes to bother them about what they mean

★ ok now the TV show ones

Briefcase

• has an absurd amount of skills, barbie kind of ridiculous

• lives with his brother and sustains them both

• workaholic

• was mr.petersons before red guy

• actually not that bad he's just really fast paced, genuinely just lost the trio on the fabric

Coffin

• he/him goth gf <3

• doesn't like music AT ALL. And is very mean about it

• besties with the tissue box !!

• originally only used his hush tone for work but it slowly morphed into his normal voice

• pretty bad PTSD

• very kind with kids and people in general tbh, it might be something useful for his job but it's just how he is really

Lily and Todney

• I don't think about them a lot sorry

• they know what they are doing and that their whole family dynamic is pretty fucked but they genuinely just really want a mom tho ,,,

Warren the wo-Eagle

• genuinely just hate him so I don't think about him a lot either lol

• had no power over the trio because he was fired and not technically a teacher anymore

• his whole Thing (ykn) comes from bullying and a feeling of inferiority. He still sucks tho

Mr.Transport

• well. I guess I just don't think a lot about the newer teachers

• was actually a really nice teacher before still going to work at 120 years old

• nobody really liked him but he was the other's only way of going outside the house so they endured him

• there was a fight over his will. People died

Electracey

• she/they enby n°3, lesbian

• really scared to touch her batteries now, has caused her to get cranky but still refuse to change them until forced

• puts up light shows for her friends

• huge sci-fi and videogames in general fan

• Colin's cousin. Actually all electronics are related

• wanted to be a music teacher but her biology said no

★ this is more of a general one but all of them are somewhere in the aroace spectrum !! I think it comes with the object nature. I have not defined where all of them fall tho

That's it I think. This is so long I am so sorry I just enjoy them a lot so I have a lot of thoughts

[kideternity]

Okay now i've finished Adventure let me write up my full thoughts about the season. This will be less structured than the Tamers review and I apologise for that, I just kind of had a different watching experience with Adventure and thus sort of format my feelings about it in a different way idk. Whatever the case, here’s my full review of Adventure under the cut, and if you don’t care about that, then here’s the TLDR;

I liked adventure! I had a lot of fun watching it. It’s not a perfect season, but nothing is, and whilst I am going to take a break for now, I'm excited to start Digimon Adventure 02 in the foreseeable future.

-First, I do want to highlight things I really enjoyed. I really loved the animation and art style- I know its seen as very cheesy and dated and not the best animated (Most notable example that comes to mind is reusing the animation for special moves) but IDC, I love the cartoony style and I've always been very endeared to older styles of animation and how they make use of the medium.

-I liked the kids! I liked the kids a lot! They’re good kids! The cast of adventure is absolutely a highlight, and I can see why Bandai always goes back to them for use in future projects, whether or not that’s ultimately a good thing.

-Whilst I personally prefer the more Urban Sci-fi / Fantasy settings of Tamers and Savers, The Isekai approach lends itself to be a good way to immediately show off the digital world and the creatures within it, and to start exploring the worldbuilding within. I like the worldbuilding of Adventure! It felt kind of more purposely vague then Tamers and Savers, but it’s an interesting world they set up, and I'd like to see more of it explored

-I missed the global aspect of Tamers and even Savers. Though I can’t really fault Adventure, being as it was literally THE first season ever, for staying strictly in Japan. I just personally enjoyed how large and expansive things got in Tamers, and how people from all over the world were involved. I will say, I did appreciate Adventure also having more unorthodox or complicated family dynamics- such as Yamato and Takeru being the kids of divorce who aren’t able to 24/7 be around each other, or how Koushiro is adopted. It’s always a breath of fresh air to see media, especially for kids, tackle these sorts of things with nuance and grace.

-The soundtrack was absolutely gorgeous. Probably my favourite out of all of the soundtracks so far- there was just so much passion and emotion packed into each musical piece.

-Tone and themes were fairly consistent throughout, mostly due to the fact that Adventure doesn’t really have any sort of grand overarching messaging like Tamers or Savers did. I would assume, due to being again, the first season of anime, it cared more about plot and characters than trying to Say anything too radical. Hence, the themes follow pretty standard “good versus evil” tropes, as well as the power of compassion and community and optimism and hope that digimon usually utilises in each of its different stories across mediums, instead of anything more complex, like Tamers attempts at dissecting morality and violence, and Savers discussing the inherent value of lives that aren’t humans and trying to understand those not like you. Adventure plays it safe, and doesn’t get burned because of it, which I can’t fault.

-The villains are. Eh. They’re entertaining but none of them are necessarily very well written. The most well written villain was Pinochimon, and ignoring that i'm a biased party, most people seem to agree with me on this. Vamdemon was definitely the most intimidating and well built up antagonist. Apocalymon has a really cool and sympathetic concept, and I wish he had been focused on more. Generally, due to the nature of Adventure's “good versus evil” tropes, a lot of the villains aren’t really allowed any sort of nuance or are portrayed in a “They're Inherently Damnable Let's Kill Em” sort of way, which is unfortunate. Only Ogremon top of my head really gets any sort of minor redemption at the end without dying for it, ala Wizarmon, Gottsumon and Pumpkinmon.

-Like Tamers, Adventure is much more open to the idea of making horny jokes and talking about romance, which I do not enjoy, and it was by far the worst one when it came to that in my opinion. Why were there so many jokes about masc digimon hitting on Mimi. Stop that right this instant.

-Generally, I would say plot and character writing is a mixed bag. None of it is necessarily godawful, but you can tell that Adventure was very haphazardly and sloppily written. There’s a lot of inconsistencies in the writing- a lot of new characters or story elements are sort of abruptly added out of nowhere with no real build up and which sometimes ultimately don’t really matter all that much. It has definitely the worst pacing out of the seasons I've seen so far- Again, Building up momentum to then just suddenly stop and spill exposition on you. Savers and Tamers had issues too, but their handling of the plot was usually much tighter and the writing much more concise. Whilst I love the kids, and they do definitely get their own character arcs, none of them are written equally in that regard and often times it leads to situations where some characters get their arcs finished early and then stay stagnant for the rest of the season (Sora and Koushiro) whilst others only get major character writing near the very end (Yamato). It also definitely played favourites with some of them lol. Random things will interject in pivotal moments and the arcs for each different villain all have entirely different vibes to one another. Truthfully, it does come across as a much of mini stories hazily slapped together in an attempt to create a Larger Grander Narrative. Which, again, it was their first attempt ever creating an anime for Digimon, so I suppose I can’t blame them too much for this. It’s a miracle this took off so well in the first place.

Again, there’s definitely stuff I'm missing that i'd have wanted to say, but as a whole, again, I like Adventure! It’s not my favourite season of the digimon anime, and I can definitely understand the frustration for Bandai constantly milking it as a cash cow for the nostalgia points. But, I do think as a whole it holds up for the most part, at least for a kids anime from the late 90s, and Again, I don’t regret having watched it.

[respectthepetty]

Please share your favorite gmmtv actor ships - they do not need to be a fixed couple, if you have those (because i do). Also, this is not meant to be an ask for real people shipping, if you are uncomfortable with that. Just your favorites maybe in terms of on-screen dynamics or any other criteria. Sorry if this is so vague 😭

Anon, serious questions before I begin - Can First and Water be a favorite pair because the amount he cries in each series, I need my babygirl to stay hydrated?

Or can one of my favorite pairs be Sing & a suit/necklace combo with the shirt unbuttoned and his man bitties out?

No? Not what you are looking for? Well, then, let me redirect to my favorite people ships rather than shipping people with inanimate objects.

So . . . before I jump in, just remember that all of these HAVE happened, so I'm not crazy:

Gun x Gun?

Hold on before you think I'm not taking this seriously! I already stated I think Gun is one of the best actors on GMMTV's roster (if not the best), so understand that if GMMTV won't let him make out with Sing when both of them were giving us sexual tension as ToddBlack, or give Tor a little kissy kissy in Midnight Museum because they were brothers or whatever, at least let the man play against himself more. It could be like the Barbie movie, but with Gun being everything. It'd be fun to see, and if GMMTV wanted to go dark sci-fi, he could answer that age-old question: Would you have sex with your clone?

Neo x Phuwin

We had this. They were paired together in Cause You're My Boy. Then they were hinted at in Dark Blue Kiss. But then, they were made into brothers in Fish Upon the Sky, so Phuwin now has Pond, and Neo got Louis. But why though? Why were we denied another adventure of these two being paired up together?! I had them down on my hopes for a 2023 offering, and I'll have them down every year from now on. I want them back! NOW!

Earth x Papang

Aof was crazy for pulling this off in Moonlight Chicken, but now that I've seen it, I can't unsee it. And even more, I WANT IT! I have never seen Earth kiss like that, and he has had several partners. Did Aof strike a goldmine with this pairing? Papang has always done his job, but these scenes, which lasted no more than eight minutes, gave me an alternate timeline that I must see play out on my screen. Immediately.

Pond x Nanon

If Aof was crazy for Earth x Papang then Jojo was batshit insane for Pond x Nanon in Dirty Laundry. These two had a strip-off pole dance in a club called Boys Next Door, Nanon twisted Pond's nipples for information, then Pond's character had sex with a client with Nanon and Film's character in the car. This shit was wild, but that was only 15% of the hijinks between these two. I need them to recreate this creepy magic, and I need it to be twelve episodes long with at least 52 minutes runtime per episode.

Gigie x Fah

Since I mentioned Jojo, The Warp Effect is queer. QUEER! It gave use Fluke with Thor, Jan with Silvy (oh, my God that magical being could choke me!), and Mark with Best, yet, it toyed with us by suggesting the possibility of Gigie with Fah. Be brave about it, GMMTV! More than one wlw couple can exist in a show. Give me a redo, and this time, give me these two picking each other again, and again, and again regardless of what Alex (New) does with those Polaroids.

New x Sing x Fluke

Mentioning The Warp Effect reminded me that these three could out beat any historical trio including Destiny's Child, The Jonas Brothers, AND Charlie's Angels! Sing and New have been around for a bit, so I'm surprised they haven't acted in more together, but throw Fluke in there, and they had the perfect dynamic: Gay pretty boy and former bully with kinky puppy and space enthusiast trying to help out their bi idiot friend (it's canon to me). Sing and New will be in the Thai remake of Cherry Magic, so I'm sure Fluke could fit in there somewhere somehow. Make it happen, GMMTV!

First x Khaotung x Sea

And on the topic of throuples, this one hasn't happened, but by golly do I want it! Whoever paired First and Khaotung together deserves a Noble Peace Prize, but whoever thought of interviewing them with Sea deserves the Library of Congress Living Legend award and to be the Grand Marshall at the NYC Pride Parade. That person gets it. I'm not shipping them as actual people together. I want whatever chemistry they had in that interview to be transferred onto the screen and brought to me in 2024 because only a Year of the Dragon can handle the fire they would deliver.

Pawin x Satang

GMMTV, you know what you did in that Star in My Mind x Our Skyy 2 episode was effed up. I don't care how many times you pair Pawin up with other boys. You know what you did, and I'm taking this grudge to the grave.

Ohm x Perth

The fact that Double Savage cast them as brothers instead of a one-sided love affair was in the words of the most beautiful Raye a "DUMB DECISION!" Then to have them color coded?! THE AUDACITY! And no, I will not be writing about the colors because unless these two get paired again, as LOVERS, I will rewire this story in my head of what it should have been to deserve these two amazing actors partnered up with each other rather than the poop pile I got. I wrote what I wrote.

Joong x Dunk

If you know anything about me, know that I'm a JoongDunk fan first, and a human second. It has absolutely nothing to do with their acting even though that's what you asked for. It has everything to do with them. Much like the interview with First, Khaotung, and Sea, Joong and Dunk in their interviews are ridiculous. They resort to tomfoolery and instead of answering the questions, they start arguing about the most trivial details. ForceBook and GeminiFourth do this, but add in JoongDunk's live streams and Safe House footage, and I don't know how they get anything done when filming because they are either arguing, dancing, napping, or giggling. Hidden Agenda yesterday, please!

Bonus: Since this was exclusive to GMMTV, I couldn't include who my ultimate acting pair is, but if you know me, then you already know, so without further ado

MAXTUL DOMINATION!

[my-spookybunnies]

With the X Files 30th Anniversary coming up I thought I'd just share this very long rambling thank you.

I only joined the fandom two years ago, when I was flicking through Prime and saw a show called 'The X Files' in the category labeled 'TV CLASSICS. Good ol' Mulder and Scully where on the thumbnail and while I had no idea who they were, by a stroke of fate I had seen a gif set earlier that day on tumblr of the two of them that had caught my eye. Maybe this is what made me click on that thumbnail or maybe the stars had simply aligned BUT whatever it was I was hooked. From the moment Scully drops her robe in that motel room with Mulder standing there like a confused lemon, I knew I was in deep.

As any sensible person does I then immediately binged the series while simultaneously routing through tumblr, looking for more X Files content. And boy did I find it.

I was so happy to find not only people where still making new content about the show, but there are amazing stories out there nearly 30 years old that can still be enjoyed and shared due to the efforts of The X File librarian's out there who have made sure that no ones hard work has been lost. It still baffles me sometimes that people had written 50+ thouasnd word fics (that are better than some books I've read) for free! Just because they love The X Files so much.

I've met some amazing online friends due to TXF and even started writing fanfic, something that I used to be ashamed of, but now I tell people with pride.

It's amazing to be part of a fandom that has such longevity, passion and genuine warmth. I want to say thank you to every single person who writes fanfic that makes me laugh and cry till my heart hurts, everyone who creates amazing fanart for our dynamic duo, every gif maker, gif reblogger, prompt maker and episode analysis sharer.

The fact that we are all here now 30 years on from when Mulder and Scully first graced our screens- whether you are an OG fan or a newbie like me, proves that there is something infinite about The X Files, it represents something bigger that the TV screens it was shown on. What was supposed to be an edgy sci-fi cop show, accidently turned into one of the best love stories of all time. Mulder and Scully took us along on their hair-brained adventures and even though their story is no longer televised, they now live on through us.

So once again a big thank you to everyone past and present in The X Files fandom for making me feel right at home and not alone when I worry I'm a little too obsessed with a red headed medical doctor and her spooky partner.

Here's to another 30 spooky years 👽🥳

[veliseraptor]

October Reading Recap

The Husky and His White Cat Shizun: vol. 3 by Rou Bao Bu Chi Rou. Still in the territory of a part of this book I remember fairly well, and while the whole underworld arc is good it's not my favorite part of the book and mostly I come away from it going "Rong Jiu has rights." which is true! and I do think Meatbun knows it actually but it still hurts how his arc goes here. Me: continually getting too wound up in the fates of side characters and distracted from what's going on with the mains.

Anyway, I'm looking forward to moving into the next parts of the book, which I don't remember as well. Though I know it's a while before it gets really painful, aka what I'm most excited to reread.

Dark Carnivals: Modern Horrors and the Origins of American Empire by W. Scott Poole. I was so frustrated by this book. I wanted it to be an analysis of horror films and their relationship to American imperialism; what I got was a lot of overwrought prose and repetition of the titular metaphor that was very light on the analysis of the actual texts and heavy on the scathing opinions about what is "good" (politically) horror and what is "bad" (politically) horror. Which, fine, my politics are technically the same as his politics, but it was annoying to read in a book that I thought was going to be more analytical. I had high hopes for this book and it failed them; makes me more hesitant to read his other book about horror and World War I, which I have had on my list for a while. But I liked his book on Lovecraft, funnily enough, so not totally sure what went wrong here.

Paradise-1 by David Wellington. I did not realize that this book was first in a series and I'm a little bit annoyed about it. It was decent horror but it doesn't need to be a series and the lack of resolution bugs me, because now if I want resolution I have to read the next book and I don't think I really want to read the next book. Space horror seems like it would be such a rich land full of possibility and yet I keep being disappointed by space horror. (If, in this case, less disappointed than I was by Dead Silence.)

Remnants of Filth: vol. 1 by Rou Bao Bu Chi Rou. She's done it again! It's a differently fucked up relationship, to be sure, but boy am I already here for it, despite feeling like I know very little about what's going on. Gu Mang is my jam as far as character type, and I really like the dynamic as its laid out as having been previously between him and Mo Xi, and also how it is now. Dedicated friends/lovers turned to bitter enemies turned to one of them fractured to a shadow of himself leaving the other bereft of resolution...mm, good stuff. Can't wait to find out more about what's going on under Gu Mang's surface. Looking forward to reading more of this one and glad that I already have the second volume to go to. (And the rest, technically, but I do like reading cnovels in print when I can more than reading on a computer.)

I, Robot by Isaac Asimov. Look at me! Reading classic sci-fi knowing only the bare minimum about it. I liked it more than I expected to, and was less bothered by the way the women were written than I expected to. I didn't realize that it was more a string of short stories tied together by a frame narrative than a novel, but it was really fine that I didn't know that going in - didn't affect my enjoyment, I don't think. And I did enjoy it! I might not have read it on my own, but I read it for a sci-fi book club and ended up liking both it and the book club. Not sure I'd give it, like, a strong recommendation, but I'm glad I finally read it. It'll be interesting seeing what echoes/traces of it I can now pick up in other robot/AI-related writing.

Monstress: vol. 5-7 by Marjorie Liu and Sana Takeda. This comic is so good you guys. So. Good. I don't really know what else to say here, except that she continues to step up her game even more with every volume, and I don't know how she's keeping all the balls in the air that she is with this story as deftly as she is. I have no idea where this story is going, either, and I can't wait to find out. I don't know. Themes of monstrosity and agency and lack of agency and how to be a good person (or try) in a terrible world. With a whole lot more than that. Also there's gay betrayal, if you're into that.

Ariadne by Jennifer Saint. Why do I continue to read Greek Mythology retellings when at best they end up making me go "eh, it was okay I guess"? Not sure. But this was okay, I guess. I liked the same author's Electra better.

Pathogenesis: A History of the World in Eight Plagues by Jonathan Kennedy. More of a "history of the western world categorized by periods of time in which there were various diseases" which...was not quite what I was hoping for, but it was still a good, solid book about epidemiology and the impact of disease on history. A lot of it was familiar to me (how disease enabled the Spanish conquest of the Aztecs and Incas, for instance, but also British colonization in North America), but I did learn some new things, particularly in the sections about Paleolithic/Neolithic diseases. All in all a book I read because I'm particularly interested in the subject but not probably one I'd recommend as the one book that they'd have to read about it.

The Hollow Kind by Andy Davidson. I made it a goal in October to read some spooky books and ended up only reading three, but this was easily my favorite of those - and my favorite non-Darcy Coates horror I've read in a while, too. I wasn't totally sure what to expect from this one, and the slow reveal in the first two thirds particularly was very well done. I found myself slightly more compelled by the portions set in the past than by the present storyline, but not so much as to ding the whole book for it. And I liked that the monster was left pretty vague and undefined, too; that's always my preference. Some very gross descriptions and body horror, as a caveat for those who might be interested but are sensitive about such things.

Die: vol. 1-3 by Kieron Gillen and Stephanie Hans. I'm finally rereading (and finishing) this series and...I forgot how much I like it. Not only because the art is gorgeous (and the art is gorgeous) but Kieron Gillen's writing remains as sharp as ever, and the way he is playing with fantasy as a genre is very fun for me as a fantasy nerd. My favorite issue remains the one about The Lord of the Rings, though. I don't know that this one is quite as good as The Wicked and the Divine as a whole, but I'll have to reread that one taken as a whole, too, before making that determination.

And the art really is gorgeous. Stephanie Hans remains a fave.

Homegrown: Timothy McVeigh and the Rise of Right-Wing Extremism by Jeffrey Toobin. A decent narrative about the Oklahoma City bombing, certainly competently written, but he interrupted himself a little too often drawing parallels to January 6th, in my opinion, and I don't feel like I took anything particularly new or fresh away from this. Which is maybe an artifact of the fact that I've read a number of better books about the rise of right-wing extremism in the 90s, and this one wasn't one of them, but I'm going to go ahead and damn with faint praise when I say "it was fine."

currently I'm rereading Banewreaker by Jacqueline Carey which is a fascinating text in ways that I'm going to need to chew on for a bit, so that I can finally read the sequel. but then a bunch of stuff came in for me at the library, so I'm next probably going to be reading Silver Nitrate by Sylvia Moreno-Garcia, and then Godslayer by Jacqueline Carey, and then The Art of Prophecy by Wesley Chu, and then Children of Memory by Adrian Tchaikovsky, and then Our Share of Night by Mariana Enriquez. or that's the plan, anyway. we'll see how fast it gets derailed.

also somewhere in there planning on reading more Female General and Eldest Princess and most likely the second volume of Remnants of Filth. I'm trying to spend less time on the internet in general (you absolutely could not tell I am sure) so let's make it a busy reading month instead.

[cosmic-chelonian]

Thoughts on the new Who episodes

The Good

Ncuti. So charismatic and watchable, captures that zany Doctor energy. His episodes so far have been very light-hearted but in the moments where it's been required so far it seems he can do serious and lonely well too. I love how the character seems to be trying to be upbeat but when he goes quiet and serious you get a glimpse of the burdens he is carrying inside. Amazing

Millie. Ruby's character is very likeable and her dynamic with the doctor is a joy to watch.

The mystery!!! Ruby, the Toymaker family, Susan Twist... I love theorising and speculating and am excited to see how the puzzle fits together.

Jinkx Monsoon. Was initially afraid she was going to be annoying (the Toymaker started to grate on my nerves a bit) but i soon found myself loving her deliciously over the top evil. And she actually felt scary, unlike most of the classic who overacting villains.

The Bad

Plot? What plot? These episodes just sadly felt like a lot of whiz-bang spectacle plus exposition supported by just enough story bones to keep then standing. I am here for the interesting stories. Thankfully the next episode looks like it has a bit more room for a story.

No meaningful side characters. I liked Nan-E so much because much of the joy of Doctor Who is him interacting with side characters. We meet this week's relevant people, get to know their motivations and see them decide whether to trust the doctor. These people are flawed and self-interested but the doctor has to win them over and make them do the right thing. Unfortunately these stories have so far been Doctor- and Ruby-centred. It feels like the settings they travel to are just backdrops for their shenanigans because they don't interact with the setting's characters in a meaningful way. They don't encounter any difficulty in blending in to the new environments they enter. The conflict between the Doctor's interests and the problems posed by the physical or social environment of the time/place they are in is what makes the setting relevant and interesting. The Devil's Chord could just as easily been set in the present day without much change.

Changing rules. I know Doctor Who is hardly hard sci-fi, but now we're bringing gods and laws beyond the universe into it, it feels like it changes the way we see the threats. If suddenly we rely too much on solutions like 'the power of song' or fairytale logic to defeat our big bads, the villain actually seems less scary because we have no rules within which to quantify the threat posed. If a big space monster is coming to eat your ship, you know exactly what is required to defeat it: enough fuel, piloting tactics etc. And thus by making those things fail, the writers can effectively give a sense of the desperation of the situation. With the kind of threats presented in these new episodes, however, the key to defeating them is just working out the narrative meaning of the threats. The doctor has to work out what the point of the story he is in actually is. (Children need stories? The love of sharing music is the greatest power?) And because the viewer is aware that this is a story, having the resolution of the conflict hinge on the fact that stories have a point and an ending makes the defeat of the big bad feel like an inevitability. It makes it hard for us to have the same suspension of disbelief that we entertain when the resolution of conflict is rooted firmly within the reality of that episode's setting.

That dance number. Ohhh no. I can appreciate goofiness in my silly show, as long as the writers at least give some kind of in-universe explanation for why loads of randos suddenly joined in for an impromptu Strictly session. I need at least some sense of logic to the show's universe. My only explanation is that this season is so deliberately meta and 4th-wall-trampling because the fabric of the show's universe is being torn apart by the Toymaker's lot? I just want some recognition by the characters that this is all a bit weird, to confirm that this is a choice rather than a very unfortunate new direction for the show. If you make your characters somewhat self-aware you have to acknowledge that this will affect the way they act. I want the Doctor to notice and be worried by these developments.

I love that RTD is trying to explore social issues like abortion and the refugee crisis, I think sci-fi is perfect for that kind of thing, but it feels like he is slipping them in haphazardly without really making a point. "People still care more about the idea of life than the people born" "people don't care about refugees until they're their problem" we know these things are bad! But why not be brave enough to have a story that more directly deals with people's reasons for acting this way, that shows the trauma this treatment can cause, that shows what leads people to treat others this way. This is all still possible to do delicately and kid-appropriately. Sci-fi doesn't need to be intelligent all the time but it shouldn't pretend to be just because a character says 'abandoning babies bad'.