#one of my characters has literally made a life vow to someone else's. and im suppsoed to be. normal about it | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

raveneira · 10 months

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Hola amiga. Me alegra mucho saludarte y escribirte.

Cómo ya sabrás me gustan muchísimo tus análisis, me siento muy contenta cada vez que los leo, por eso estoy aquí pidiendo que nos hables sobre lo que piensas que pasará con sarada cuando descubra que sasuke está mal. Y también que nos hables de lo que piensas de la última interacción que tuvo kawasara, que te pareció?

Espero no ser inoportuna. Te mando un abrazo. Gracias por tus escritos.

No no its ok you didnt do anything wrong, I dont mind answering questions lol and Im glad you like my analysis, I appreciate your positive feedback so thank you.

As for what I think Sarada might do when she discovers Sasuke is wrong [thats what google translated it as] I think you mean when she discovers he's been turned into a tree? if so then I think she'll be pretty worried but she wont blame Boruto or have any anger towards him because this writing ALWAYS has to make her just so understanding and forgiving towards him about EVERYTHING but NOT others because this manga forgot that her idol was Naruto and she literally said she wanted to be like him, someone people can rely on who she'll reach out to and save the way Naruto saved her, but again this manga done forgot that character trait unfortunately.

So what do I think is gonna happen? she'll be shocked and upset but wont blame Boruto and instead blame herself for sending her dad off with him which got him into this situation because of her selfish request, which may open the door FINALLY for some big character development because this is NOT the first time her selfishness and recklessness has resulted in somebody else getting hurt.

So maybe this might be the time for Sarada to get some long overdue character development as she finally realizes her actions, or more correctly, LACK of action has consequences, and that when she jumps in or makes requests without thinking long term about the consequences or even if its a good idea to begin with, she's gotta deal with the consequences of it which more often than not will be negative.

Boruto no longer has his eye because of her, Sasuke has been turned into a tree unconscious while a 10 tails tree clone of him is eventually gonna try and kill them all because of her, HER CHOICES caused this outcome, the only positive that came out of something she did so far was saving Boruto's life, but at what cost? she saved Boruto at the cost of her father, she 'protected' Boruto at the cost of his eye because he ended up protecting her instead, do you see the pattern here? so hopefully seeing her father as a tree finally gives her a wake up call that she NEEDS to do better going forward and actually THINK before she does things instead of just acting in the moment without any thought of how things could go wrong.

Naruto was headstrong and reckless too, but he never caused THIS type of bad shit to happen as a result of his recklessness because even HE used his brain somewhat before he acted. The worst hes done was willingly let Kurama take over to attack Orochimaru for taking Sasuke which resulted in him attacking Sakura and giving her a really bad wound, which when told he caused this what do you think he did? he never let Kurama take over like that again and vowed to rely on his own strength so he would NEVER cause harm to anyone else like that ever again.

Sarada unfortunately has not learned that lesson yet which she should've when she made Boruto lose his eye but I digress...maybe this development was saved for the timeskip so lets see if she finally gets it after seeing what happened to her dad, only time will tell.

Now onto how I feel about the KawaSara interaction this chapter...well Im gonna be brutally honest, I dont HATE it but I dont love it either and its not even because the interaction itself was bad nah I actually like their little rivalry they have right now, it adds spice and an obstacle Kawaki has to deal with but also the one person [besides Sumire] he doesnt have to watch his words with and can just be himself with. But let me get my gripes out of the way first and then I'll go into the positives.

My gripe with the interaction is Sarada's attitude and dialogue because it just makes her look both stupid and petty for no danm reason

First off shes telling them to confirm with Ada about what happened, why is she let alone ANYONE treating Ada as a reliable source when she didnt even warn them about Code's ambush? when she didnt even send Daemon out to fight him which is LITERALLY the whole reason their all even letting them stay there? lets not forget that Ada can easily just LIE about anything she wants like she did about Boruto killing Naruto, they literally have specialized ninja that they KNOW are trustworthy who actually DO work for them that they could ask to verify Sarada's story by peeking into her brain but no she chooses to reccomend asking Ada for confirmation, thats dumbass moment number 1.

Her remark about Kawaki being Otsutsuki too was just plain PETTY for no danm reason, and stupid as hell in this context because Boruto has Momo inside of him [pause] actively trying to take him over so he can kill Kawaki, make a divine tree, destroy all life on the planet to make a chakra fruit so he can eat it and become a god, SHE KNOWS THIS

Yet shes comparing that to Kawaki who doesnt have Isshiki looming over him threatening to take over at any time, he simply has his powers, and with his powers he wants to wipe out ALL OTHER OTSUTSUKI WHO ARE ACTUAL THREATS TO THE WORLD and that INCLUDES Boruto since he DOESNT HAVE CONTROL OVER MOMOSHIKI AND HE IS SHOWN SEVERAL TIMES ABLE TO TAKE OVER BORUTO WHENEVER HE WANTS UNDER THE RIGHT CONDITIONS, so her comment here was just petty, which made Kawaki's response all the more depressing.

He explains to her that he's an Otsutsuki that kills Otsutsuki and that his power only exists to do that, and once he wipes them all out he'll gladly die, but until then he will do whatever it takes, and she has ZERO reaction to this and just says she wont let him do what he wants as a shinobi who aims to be Hokage 🤦‍♀️ like everything he said literally went in one ear and out the other GIRL BYE.

He's literally calling her out on her stupidity and she doesnt even catch it, she was petty pretty much saying well if all Otsutsuki are enemies are enemies that should be killed doesnt that include you, and his response is yea it does and I fully intend to die with all the rest of em but not till I get them first, and she just...she just doesnt even hear that.

You'd think there'd atleast be a pause like 'danm I didnt mean for you to actually agree to that' but nah she just moved past that like he didnt even say it and is just like 'I wont let you do what you want' when thats literally what hes been doing for 3 years straight while she's been getting nothin but ignored 😭 seriously this writing hates her so much because who tf really thought this was good dialogue for her? this only works if she was actually DOING something to hinder Kawaki in some way, which she hasnt, so she just looks goofy and unserious.

But thats it for my gripes, now for my positives.

For starters I like how this confrontation resembles their one back in chapter 28 when they first really interacted and they became friends

I love how even though the subject their arguing about is different, the paneling is still the same, Sarada appearing behind Kawaki and calling him out for doing something wrong despite not knowing all the details, Kawaki turning around and getting in her face to tell her off, and the Hokage stopping it from before it gets ugly and they both settle down as their told.

What I like about this is that when you look at these scenes side by side you can see the development between then and now, back then Kawaki had ZERO respect for Sarada, called her an asshole and basically told her to mind her business while yelling in her face.

Now Kawaki doesnt snap at her at all, the roles are actually reversed now to where Sarada is the one being more hostile than he is. Kawaki, unlike before, doesnt just shut her down and tell her to mind her business, but he actually takes time to explain to her when he really doesnt have to. See here.

Kawaki says does he really have to say this again? meaning they have had this conversation before more than once, so he has no reason to repeat himself anymore than he already has and could easily have brushed her off without saying a thing or just simply told her to shut up and butt out but he didnt.

Instead he takes time to not only repeat himself, but breaks down in detail EXACTLY what his motivations are, why hes doing this, and that he fully intends to die for all he's done by the end of this. Just like before, he gets in her face, but its nowhere near as aggressive as in 28 where he was actually being intimidating, but here he's relaxed, talking calm, and looking her in the eye, and responding to what she said, rather than ignoring it completely and just yelling at her to shut up.

Why is that significant? because his last line really hits home when you realize the subtext and see how meaningful it is.

Think about this for a second, for 3 years now everyone has been brainwashed into thinking he's Boruto, have been treating him like Boruto, have remembered him as Boruto, have been looking at him, talking to him, loving/respecting him AS BORUTO.

Sarada is the ONLY person [lets leave Sumire out of this cuz we havent seen them interact yet] who treats Kawaki AS Kawaki, the only one who when she's talking to him she's talking to KAWAKI, when shes thinking of him shes thinking of KAWAKI, when she looks at him she sees KAWAKI, anyway she treats him she is treating him as KAWAKI.

This may not seem significant on the surface but lemme put it into a little more perspective.

This is what Kawaki has had to deal with every, single, day, for 3 years straight since Omnipotence happened. Kawaki never WANTED or ASKED for ANY of this, but no matter how hard he tried everything just kept going more and more to shit because of him, but atleast back then he still had his own identity, but now? everyday is a whole new kind of hell he has to endure that wont go away no matter how much he rejects it.

Just before Omnipotence Kawaki said what he really felt about himself, what he saw himself as, and thats what makes this situation he's in now so hellish, because to Kawaki he's a nobody, an outsider that nobody would mourn if he died, he tells Ada to use her all seeing eye to look at him and see him for the powerless piece of garbage that he is.

This is what he thinks of himself, now lets see what he thinks of Boruto and then it'll all make sense.

Kawaki puts Boruto on a pedastal similar to Naruto but not nearly as strong obviously, but the point is, Kawaki sees Boruto as someone who NOBODY WILL BE WILLING TO KILL, as someone nobody would even CONSIDER killing regardless of the threat he poses, as the HOKAGES SON literally NOBODY would EVER turn against him, and NOBODY would ever even think of killing him knowing the consequences of nobody ever forgiving them for it.

Keywords to pay attention to here

He's the Hokage's son! Lord 7ths son!

Who in Konoha could kill him? the Hokages son?

An act that would turn all your friends into foes! who'd ever agree to take on such a task?

Why'd it have to be him!?

Kawaki emphasizes Boruto being 'The Hokage's son' several times, but I want you to pay attention to how he says 'Lord 7ths son' as well, remember chapter 60? Naruto officially claims Kawaki as his son, even if not on paper, Kawaki was just as much his son as Boruto now.

But look at how Kawaki percieves it, HE doesnt see himself as Naruto's son at all and sadly Naruto didnt do a good job convincing him, because when he mercy killed Boruto BY HIS REQUEST Naruto did NOT stand by him and kept his distance, acting awkward around him, and even sounding forced when he tried to give the 'everyone is family to the Hokage' speech which alone right there showed the distance between them now, because in chapter 60 Kawaki was his son, in 69 he's the same as any other villager and believe me, Kawaki felt that and thats why none of his attempts at reassuring him worked because he knew it wasnt entirely genuine and that he indeed held some resentment towards Kawaki for what he did, that Kawaki clearly was nowhere near the same importance as Boruto and that in the end Naruto would turn his back on Kawaki before he ever would Boruto no matter WHAT hes done or will do.

Am I dragging Naruto? no, obviously his bond with his biological son will be stronger than the one with his adopted one hes only known less than a year. But I will say when has that ever stopped Naruto before? he only really bonded with Iruka for a year before the timeskip and he viewed him like a father, he only interacted and bonded with Sasuke for a year and he considered him a brother he was willing to go to hell and back for, he knew Gaara for less than a year and he was IN TEARS when he heard the Akatsuki had attacked and killed him and nearly beat Deidara to death so bad Kakashi had to use the seal to calm him down before he went full Kurama mode.

So keep in mind while I do understand where Naruto is coming from as a parent, I still have to point out the inconsistency with his character because blood ties have NEVER mattered to him but it was always the BONDS he felt with the people themselves, whether short lived or long, Naruto always clung to those bonds WITH HIS LIFE and he instills this very message into Sarada in Gaiden, yes, the same Naruto in the sequel now, not past young Naruto like people try to argue saying 'he grew up' cuz no, this is grown parent of two kids Naruto preaching the EXACT SAME MINDSET.

So yeah, Im calling out the inconsistency with his character in the sequel because THIS IS HOW KISHIMOTO WROTE HIM EVEN IN THE PRESENT ERA its literally what the entire plotline of Gaiden was about, learning to value and treasure your bonds regardless of blood ties. Naruto literally grew up without NO family do he literally had to FIND and MAKE one for himself, and hes never done any more or less for his blood fam than he did for his found family.

But unfortunately thats no longer the case in Boruto so lets get back to that.

So you see the point? Naruto, atleast in the sequel is a total liar, he promised to keep Kawaki safe, he made him feel like this was his home, told him that they all see him as family now, he called him his son, everybody was telling him that this is his home now no matter what anyone says his place is in Konoha and Kawaki was almost starting to believe it.

But when Naruto's biological son was killed by Kawaki at his request everything changed, nobody was on his side, nobody visited him even though they didnt even know the truth of what happened yet, Naruto wasnt looking at him with sincerity anymore and his words were scripted word for word just what he always says to everybody, but not anything personal from the heart like he usually does. Yes their conversation was interupted, but he never made any attempt to continue it either and simply left Kawaki to sit with his half hearted 'forgiveness' anyone who knows Naruto knew it wasnt sincere.

So where am I going with this? that was the turning point, that is when Kawaki realized and accepted that he was completely and utterly alone and felt isolated from everyone else.

This is why he says what he does to Ada and why his words hit so hard because they let you see just how utterly ALONE and REJECTED he actually feels. He doesnt feel like hes a part of Konoha, he doesnt feel like Narutos son, he doesnt feel like anyone would care if he died, its literally PROVEN right then and there how easy it was for them to put a kill order out on him without hesitation just for THINKING he did something to Naruto and ATTEMPTING to kill Boruto but none of these people gave a DANM when Boruto stabbed Sasuke's eye out, tried to kill Kawaki twice, tried to kill Naruto, oh and ironically tried to get Shikamaru killed too, the same guy who put a kill order out on Kawaki didnt push for any kind of punishment on Boruto.

'But that was Momoshiki' so what? who's body is he in? who's body did he use to commit all those horrible acts? when Gaara kept failing to be able to control the one tails his dad tried to have him killed before he'd end up destroying the village [no I am not defending Rasa fk that guy Im just pointing out the principle] if somebody is a danger to the village, even if its of no fault of their own, IF THEY ARE A THREAT TO THE VILLAGE then they have to be eliminated, so the it was Momoshiki excuse doesnt fly because regardless they have NO way of controling Momoshiki and preventing him from coming out, nor do they have a concrete way of forcing him back once hes taken over unless under very specific circumstances which even then if he feels like thats gonna happen he can dip to another dimension through his karma and they'll have a hell of a hard time finding him if he does.

Bottom line? Kawaki saw that for him he was disposable, he was a nobody, someone they didnt care if he died and would kill easily without hesitation and NOBODY would complain, but Boruto? let me repeat Kawaki's words.

He's the Hokage's son! Lord 7ths son!

Who in Konoha could kill him? the Hokages son?

An act that would turn all your friends into foes! who'd ever agree to take on such a task?

Why'd it have to be him!?

Do I need to say more? Boruto is the Hokage's son, Naruto's son, NOBODY in Konoha would ever dream of killing him, because killing Boruto would turn literally everyone against them regardless of what harm he's caused and what threat he poses for the future, they will be hated for it BECAUSE HE IS THE HOKAGE'S SON.

And because Kawaki is the only one strong enough to do it and accept all the consequences that comes with it, he's the one suffering that exact fate, but whats saddest about all this...is that everything he thought about himself was proven right, every awful thing he thought about himself was proven 100% right.

So what does that have to do with his and Sarada's convo there? well I needed to break down all of what happened beforehand so I could say how much it probably means to Kawaki that Sarada isnt affected.

The reason I needed to point all that out was to make sense of why being treated like Boruto by everyone is so hellish, because he KNOWS how they really feel about him, they say it to him constantly.

Mitsuki is always following Kawaki around full of bloodlust that Kawaki says is suffocating and Mitsuki keeps saying how he wont forgive and definitely will kill Boruto for what he did

You have 2 random Jonin he's working with protecting the village just casually talking about how good it would be if Boruto and Code took eachother out

Then you have Hima calling him big brother the way she would Boruto which only irritates him more because he knows that affection isnt for him which is why he rejects it so harshly

So imagine how relieving it must be for Kawaki to have someone that he doesnt have to listen wish him dead to his face without even knowing it, someone not full of bloodlust wanting his head on a stake, someone not calling out to him affectionately because they think he's someone he isnt, and most of all...someone that he knows without a doubt that whatever she says or does for him, is for HIM.

So quite frankly her hostility contrary to popular belief actually doesnt even bother him, he welcomes it because he feels its what he deserves and more than that because its the only genuine thoughts and feelings aimed at him, unfortunately we dont have enough chapters yet to see the full scope of how this has gotten to him but I imagine 3 years of being seen as someone your not has to be EXHAUSTING, so even if Sarada is being hostile towards him, it probably means the world to him that shes one person who sees him for who he really is, Kawaki, not Boruto.

His words to her in that last panel is what made it clear to me that he actually doesnt mind her opposing him, he tells her point blank that he plans to die once he has wiped out all the Otsutsuki threats there are, why thats significant is because he'd never have to say this to anyone else, why? cuz they think he's Boruto so why does he need to tell them his goals as Kawaki? even if he did why would he tell them he's gonna off himself at the end of it? there'd be no reason to.

Not only that but he's said this more than once to her, implying they've bumped heads about this exact subject more than once, which again if Kawaki was annoyed by her and wanted to be left alone he would've never got into this conversation in the first place and just ignored her or told her to shut up. The fact that they've talked about this more than once says alot, because Kawaki has no reason to, once was enough, but if Kawaki is taking time out to explain the same thing over and over to her then thats more than enough proof that shes different from everyone else.

Everyone else he drowns out, ignores, or tells to stop acting or speaking to him a certain way, but Sarada? no matter how many times she confronts him about this same subject, he always takes time to explain it. You could say that was just exposition for the readers but in that case why have him say he was repeating himself? he could've just said 'Do I really have to spell it out for you?' which leads to the same exposition witn NO implications of them ever having this convo before, but the fact that they specified that he was repeating this, means they wanted the audience to know this was NOT the first time they've had this talk.

Personally, like I said we need to get more insight into Kawaki's thoughts now before I can make a accurate analysis, but personally and this is me being unbiased and basing it solely on Kawaki's character up till this point, but I feel like in his own subconscious way he enjoys Sarada's company and hostility towards him because its the one thing he knows is for him, it probably puts him at ease whenever Sarada confronts him about anything because its the only time where he can be himself now without being looked at as weird or OOC because hes not acting like Boruto, he was probably relieved when it was revealed she wasnt affected because it meant he wasnt totally alone with only Ada who he cant stand knowing the truth, but his former friend/teammate.

I imagine he felt indifference towards Sumire because she made it clear she was scared of him ever since she found out he killed Boruto, but until we get some actual interaction or thoughts from either of them we wont know for sure.

Anyway, I personally feel like Kawaki keeps repeating himself when he doesnt have to because she's the only one he can to. Unless injured or getting a check up Kawaki doesnt interact with Sumire at all, and Sumire from what we've seen so far has been keeping a low profile since she sees the situation is hopeless trying to convince people at this point, but Sarada is the complete opposite and is persistent no matter how many times she fails she is very loudly and vocally opposing Kawaki and Konoha. She says herself that she wont repeat herself too, meaning she's also said this to Kawaki more than once as well, and thats that she wont let him do what he wants as a ninja who aims to be Hokage.

These words are crucial because she's said this to Kawaki more than once about her Hokage dream, usually something that gets repeated alot in the Narutoverse by someone, especially to someone in particular, usually ends up having a really big significance in their relationship down the line. See Sasuke's 'your annoying' for example or him calling Naruto Usuratonkachi, or of course the 'because your my friend'. It doesnt matter what it is, if its something thats repeated consistently, its gonna have some big significance be it romantic or platonic, either way its gonna mean something big for those characters.

Anyway going back to Sarada, the fact that Sarada has been repeating herself too on this same issue just goes to show how adament and consistent she's been in opposing him, unlike in chapter 28 where she backed down and felt nervous when Kawaki got in her face, now she stands firm and looks him straight in the eye the same way he does her. He's not trying to intimidate her, but make her understand the situation and his perspective, and Sarada isnt trying to intimidate or threaten him either, but make him understand that she wont go along with doing things this way and wont back down no matter what, because the way Kawaki and Shikamaru is running things isnt how Naruto would've wanted, which is why she is their biggest opposers because she looked up to Naruto and wanted to do things the Naruto way.

Its no coincidence that in the very first chapter Sarada tells Shikamaru off about disagreeing with her opposition, its no coincidence that she snapped back using Naruto as her example of going against everyone to fight for what and who she believes in and tells him that the Hokage she looks up to is Naruto not him.

Then in chapter 4 she's now telling Kawaki something similar, that she wont let him do things his way as a ninja who aims to be Hokage, but not just any Hokage, but Naruto.

I dont want this to get too long so I'll sum up my final thoughts.

I believe Kawaki is relieved and subconsciously enjoys Sarada opposing him and is probably lowkey happy to not be alone in this situation with nobody he could talk to as just himself, to look at someone and be looked at and know that their looking at him, being around Sarada is probably the only time he can actually breathe without being subjected to brainwashed people treating him like someone hes not, or hearing this and that person wishing him dead, but with Sarada he can actually just speak and act as himself.

But most importantly anything she does or says to him will mean so much more to him than anyone else because from lets say Hima or Shikadai or even Inojin, if one of them were to get badly hurt or even die for him Kawaki will know its only because they thought he was Boruto and that they never would've done that if they knew it was him. But if Sarada does that, it'll have so much more weight now due to omnipotence because not only is she unaffected by it which means she did this KNOWING its for Kawaki, but the fact that even after everything hes done and how mad she is at him for it, she still put her life on the line for him or any other big gesture she'd do that'd show she cares. So when that moment happens its definitely gonna be an interesting scene, assuming Ikemoto doesnt botch it somehow...we shall see.

As for Sarada I believe in her own roundabout way she's trying to make Kawaki see that this isnt what Naruto would want, that in her own way she's trying to make him see the flaws in his logic, when she said he's and Otsutsuki too she wasnt saying that he should just off himself now or that she wanted him to die but that if all Otsutsuki are the enemy no matter what their motives are then doesnt that make him an enemy as well? regardless of his motives? and if all Otsutsuki must die simply for being Otsutsuki then shouldnt she just kill him right now? not that she could but she could try, she could say 'I will kill you someday' or some other death threat if she were actually saying he should die 100% and thats what she wanted but she doesnt.

Overall Sarada is just trying to make Kawaki see the holes in his logic, to make him see that this isnt what Naruto would've wanted, that trying to carry the weight of it all by himself isnt gonna be effective long term, especially now when something FAR BIGGER is going on that only Boruto knows about, so regardless of how he feels they are gonna have to set aside their differences and work together to deal with a far bigger threat and resolve a way bigger problem. Kawaki doesnt even argue with her about that, he listens to her and hears her out and most likely will agree to it since that will be the most efficient course of action.

Hopefully this will start to make him see that the solo route isnt the way, which if the FF isnt retconned we know it wont be, but maybe for a moment he'll see sometimes teamwork is nessecary and that he really CANT do it all alone. I believe thats the message Sarada is trying to send to him, the same one Naruto sent Sasuke, whether or not she'll be successful remains to be seen but for now I look forwards to seeing how they both develop from here and hear even more about whats been going on between them over these 3 years.

Antis think them being at odds and rivals with eachother now is somehow a negative that kills the ship when thats literally how many endgame ships interacted for a while before eventually coming together lol like ppl fr just gonna act like Jerza, Zervis, VegeBul, Taiga x Ryu, Tonari no kaibatsu-kun, Suzuka, Reimei no Arcana, and so on don't exist.

So like...I dunno, maybe ppl just aint seen alot of manga/anime or hell even media in general but regardless this really aint the ship killer antis think it is, its honestly just the beginning lol but Im never one to count chickens too early so I wont get too cocky, but antis need to start bein humble too cuz they are WAY too confident about KawaSara's downfall when things are just gettin good lol but hey more material for us to laugh at later when their once again wrong about everything they say about the ship and what'll happen etc.

I apologize for the lost post but I wanted to properly express my thoughts as best and clearly as I could but I might've over explained 😭 my apologies...but I hope you enjoyed my little breakdown regardless.

#rave responds #boruto manga #pro kawasara #anti-bsa #anti-ksu #manga spoilers

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sirenemale · 4 months

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WARRIOR CATSSSSSSSSS LETS GOOOOOOOOO ❓️💢

I was hoping someone would ask for theseee YAY

❓️ : fav total background character (im not talking minor characters like say. whitewing or moonlight, i mean cats with like...3 lines tops)

This is sooo hard actually. I think most of mine still fall into minor adjacent cause they get some focus and lines. But I've always really liked Ashfoot, literally one of the only wc map parts I've made was about her. I always thought the windclan family dynamic of her being related to onestar was really fun. She just seems very together and competent and idk, I like that she and her husband were both deputies with a foot suffix.

I also always really liked breezepelt's kids, idk what they ever really got up to in canon but Smokehaze, brindlewing, appleshine and woodsong are such cute names. There's probably a lot to explore with how he'd approach parenting with how he grew up. I also think it's really cute that the older sisters ended up mentoring their younger siblings.

Also not super minor, but I guess semi-minor in terms of how often I see fan stuff for them. Pretty much every side or minor character in Graystripe's vow i really liked. Gremlin, Fury, all of warriorclan. Petunia especially, I think all of them you can draw some really fun parallels with first arc characters, I almost wish we'd gotten some kinda soft reset where we start following them instead of the kinda giant extended never ending conflict we have in the main clans. Fury is the antagonist obviously but I don't think she made any kinda impact on the fandom really, I just think she's fun. At the end when she's mostly defeated and bleeding out she crawls to the top of the high rocks in thunderclan camp and I was hoping soooo fucking bad she'd be deranged enough to just stand up there boasting until she died. Not what happened but it's what happened in my heart, not deep at all as a character I just liked that she got to be kinda crazy.

OTHER than thattt. I can only think of Red from Skyclan's destiny. There was a rogue camp and she had drama with her dad bc she had a boyfriend, then her dad Stick tries to kill that guy and she jumps in front first and dies and everyone regrets it lmao.

💢 : what scene made you the most irrationally angry upon first reading

The entirety of Squirrelflight's hope for 1. It was such a viscerally deeply upsetting book to me.

The scenes of Bramblestar demoting squirrelflight to children's tasks, not letting her leave the camp without telling him because she Challenged him, taking her autonomy away, guilt tripping her, telling her she's selfish for not wanting to kill pregnant woman who is going to leave in Less than a MONTH anyway. The whole book just made me feel crazy. It's crazy how uncharacteristically sadistic every character becomes JUST so squirrelflight can be made to look inconsiderate for Embarrassing her husband in public by telling him they can just Wait for them to leave. And it's worse because it does completely break her down, Bramblestar completely shatters her sense of confidence, her sense of safety and personality ALL for the book to treat it like it was two-sided, all for her to apologize to him for speaking up and then the book ends. I don't think warrior cats has ever written anything more vile than this genuinely.

I remember that scene where she brought one of the sisters, who was dying, into camp for Leafpool to treat. and bramblestar threatened leafpool, his sister-in law and their DOCTOR not to heal an outsider. when squirrelflight argues and protects leafpool, fights for sunrise, bramblestar asks Why are you doing this to me. Guilting her and forcing her to choose between saving a woman's life, protecting her sister, AND listening to him beyond all reason. Choosing anything else except him is Hurting him. That's the framing. And it's crazy bc this isn't normal for warrior cats either, again it's uncharacteristically sadistic, it goes against the code, and it's all so they could write this scene, so bramble could say that, So it would Hurt squirrelflight, and punish her narratively.

You'd think it's intentional writing but then you remember this is the last book he's meant to be Good, because the next arc he's possessed by ashfur and is meant to actually be abusive and possessive and terrifying, which he is. But it's just fucking mortifying that the writer's idea of Bramblestar at his best, at the point where everyone missed him, is this. That they consistently do believe their relationship is healthiest and most equal when she is completely submitting to him.

ANYWAY that;s not even the actual last scene that broke me irt actually reading warrior cats myself LMAO.

it was similar though it was the way they handled shadowsight in the broken code. Similar thing of a character who is being so outrageously abused, other characters around him are suddenly far more sadistic and cruel than they've been before just to further beat him down While also having it be narratively justified.

Anyway it's the scene where Shadowsight, mothwing (i think), lionblaze and willowshine are trying to access the dark forest or starclan to get bramble's spirit back. No one trusts shadowsight, they all literally hate him, especially Lionblaze. Shadowsight offers to go to the dark forest, knowing there's a good chance he'll die there. He does this because he's basically suicidal at this point, so wracked with guilt over unknowingly creating this situation and having everyone Blame him for it that he's like Let me make it right. Lionblaze refuses because he doesn't trust him, so Willowshine offers instead. Willow lies down and closes her eyes so she can dream herself into the dark forest and in one of the fucking rawest scenes they've had in a MINUTE she dies on the spot. Ashfur killed her spirit in the darkforest so fast that barely a minute after she closes her eyes her physical body DIES. Lionblaze immediatelyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy blames shadowsight for this and is like it should have been you why did you let this happen. And at that point i was really like. if i keep reading this series I am Actually going to smash my head into a walllllllllll. I think I did finish the book a while later and idk.

It's hard knowing so much of this could be really hard hitting writing about abuse and complex situations. I think the meta of warriors is really interesting, the way the authors misogyny and absurd hate for abuse victims literally warps the world and character morals book by book. The way it literally gets worse as the books continue. I can't stomach reading it myself anymore LMAO. But I also have permanent brain worms for warriors so I still keep up with the character drama in the new books, there's stuff that's really interesting to me. Looking at curlfeather, frostpaw and splashtail's stuff. But yeah

#warrior cats

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weeping-gospels · 2 years

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aight im gonna just pop off about one of my favorite things about betty that makes her such an interesting concept — the very fact she 100% believes she’s doing what’s best and would even consider herself good in nature when in actuality she’s incredibly flawed and an actual evil character

It really dates back to when she made that vow to protect all rodent kind from harm’s way after losing her dearest friend, who was also a rat humanoid. Granted, she was already going off the deep end after gaining immortality and becoming a Dhampir, but this loss fucked her up so badly it made her permanently spiral into madness. To pour salt into the metaphorical wound, people who die in Leathe tend to resurrect anyway since Negoro is a kind God ( Betty makes them out to be horrid with the rest of the Gods but this is due to Negoro successfully reaping his soul and turning their back on her once she became a hell creature. ) , always judging the soul then playing a card game to test their luck in returning to the living. Shamrock did not return. In fact, Betty had waited days for his body to disappear and reappear, but his corpse remained. It drove her slowly mad, cursed at all the Gods, then headed off to give life to her vow.

At the time, should she have found a ratfolk area with just ratfolk, yes, she would have been a heroic character as she always wanted to be. But she found The Fated Place instead and stubbornly stuck to her vow with the Skaven instead. Horrible rodents that influenced and encouraged her grotesque abilities and madness. She eventually adopted a “mother dearest” persona, claiming she’s doing the right thing by nurturing and keeping the Skaven alive when no one else will. Betty protects any Skaven by tooth and nail — even if they’re both in the wrong. It doesn’t matter if they slaughtered an entire orphanage, she would still protect the Skaven and save their skin over the bludgeoned, innocent lives. She claims that because of their short life spans and daft nature toward danger, someone has to be an overseer, and she took that role herself despite the fact most Skaven do not see it that way at all and in turn abuse her more.

Then we have her experimentation. On other Skaven. The exact kind she vowed to protect and shelter. She experiments on with Throt, records all sorts of data, and obsesses over knowledge all recorded in a multitude of journals stuffed into her castle. So much that she could create her own mini library of information. All of that obsession toward her vow and madness in general had been projected into scientific research that started as first experimenting on herself to test her Dhampiric abilities and immortality — then when she was satisfied, that evolved into using Skaven as test subjects instead to quell the insatiable deserve to entertain herself in an immortal life. However, Betty never has killed a Skaven during her experimentation, which is her claim of being “merciful” . But after so much damn torture from both Throt and Betty, one would indefinitely argue that death would be the merciful option and keeping them alive is an even worse fate.

Then there’s the fact she actually has slaves given to her by Rasknitt. Over willingly betraying Moulder. Basically manipulating everyone there. On the lighter side, she doesn’t treat her henchmen as slaves and is rather kind — but still refers to them as her slaves anyway.

All in all, she clings to that mother dearest persona with her lives and refuses to see wrong in her actions because she’s been saving Skaven lives. Most of the time Betty does have the right idea and heart out for them — but ends up making the wrong decisions that ultimately costs more of her innocence and good will. She wants to do good. She just literally fucking can’t.

#out of the keep #character: bethanne drozdov 🦇

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well-its-not-human-anymore · 3 years

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TMNT Headcanons

Ah shit, I'm at it again because this is my only current hobby

Y'all I can and will take requests on these if you want me to, I'm just doing these to give my brain the happy juice .

That being said, here you have it:

the boys realizing that you care and actually want to be their friend

Raphael

You wouldn't admit that you'd stalked him to the roof

Absolutely not, you wouldn't stoop that low

at least not that you'd tell him

From the looks of it he was pissed, Raph got a certain face that you eventually picked up as his 'my brothers were being dicks and now I'm not gonna have emotions but I'm gonna be angry about it' face

His shoulders would get all hunched and you could hear his dejected sighing from about seven miles away

So you opted to clamber to the rooftop, gear and all and drop into a crouch next to the temperamental terrapin

"you look like someone lit your favorite book on fire and forced you to eat cauliflower, what gives?"

"well hello to you too huh?"

"I'll take that as a yes then, you get in another fight with what's his name?"

He refused to look at you, letting out an angry huff

"somethin' like that"

You only let him sit in silence for another minute or so before opening your mouth again

"well you being pissed doesn't help me any. There's a gang meeting just up the street, drugs and illegal shit. Wanna tag along?"

Raph had the decency to look appalled. You were offering to hang out with him? Willingly?

Error 404: system has stopped working, plz try again later

He doesn't look at you now, not that he can see your face through the mask, a light blush creeps up his neck

"yeah. Yeah I'd like that. Lets go shorty."

"you got it princess"

Leonardo

He wasn't expecting you to care

The last fight you two had before he had to leave hadn't been resolved yet

But after his slip up during patrol he needed someplace to go so he wouldn't take his anger out on his family

And that's how he showed on your balcony at whatever ungodly hour of the morning

You'd barely pulled the window open before you saw his expression, you couldn't help but sigh

"leo what the actual fuck?"

"I'm really sorry about this, I just didn't know where else to go"

You really didn't want to feel bad but you did, and your feet were really fucking cold

"get your ass in here. You're letting the cold air in."

He settled easily on your couch, seemingly awkward and avoiding any eye contact with you.

You returned to the room with a bathrobe on, an extra pillow and an armful of blankets

"you can crash here for the night, im off tomorrow but don't wake me up before nine or I will stab you. Let me know if you need anything, I'm just down the hall. And we'll talk everything over in the morning, okay?"

He nodded with a sigh of relief

"thank you y/n. And I'm sorry"

You just shook your head with a smile

"I don't even remember what we were arguing about leo. And you hanging here isnt a big deal. I need friends anyway."

Your voice carried through the apartment as you retreated to your own room, letting him settle in

"now go the fuck to sleep, dumbass"

Michaelangelo

Mikey had no idea why you wanted to see him

Especially not with the urgency in your text

Technically speaking he wasn't even supposed to be out right now and he tried to ignore that as he sprinted further away from the lair

He was out of breath by the time he reached your window, the sun nearly gone and the street lights flickering to life

The turtle knocked twice on your window before coming in and yelling for you

"you good angelcakes?! Where're you at?"

There was a startling amount of crashing from your storage room, causing him to jolt slightly when you exploded out of the room with a huge smile on your face

"good you're here, sorry I used the emergency line but I knew you started patrol soon and I didn't want to forget to give you this"

And then you pulled out a tiny binder that reminded him of a scrapbook, however that definitely wasn't what it was because when he opened it multiple organized, clipped magazine recipes stared back at him

Mikey was confused™

At his expression you seemed to explode with a bubble of excitement you didn't know you were capable of

"I remember you telling me that you liked cooking but sucked ass at organizing so when I accidentally ended up getting bored this week I made that for you so you wouldn't have to organize it."

Definitely shorting out his brain

"dude I love it, don't get me wrong here, it's amazing. But uh- why?"

You raised an eyebrow at him, now also confused™

"oh uh- I figured you're kinda risking your ass coming out of your way to visit me so I thought I'd do something to thank you and that was the first thing that came to mind."

The boy is touched and has mentally vowed to die for you, you are too precious for this world

Donatello

Donnie never seemed to understand how you managed to read him in such a short time of knowing him

You swore it was all the reading, spending your childhood analyzing characters because you had no friends made you quite the people reader

So the second the turtle showed up to read with you that night your book became an afterthought

"you're upset. Does someone need to go into permanent night night?"

he'd literally been there for nine seconds and you were already calling him out

"uh no? I'm fine"

You rolled your eyes and resisted a great urge to clonk yourself on the head with your book

"okay that's a fucking lie. Dude you didn't even say 'whats up stranger' when you got here and you expect me to believe you're just fine? Yeah right. Did something happen? Do you need to talk about it?"

The poor guy didn't even get the chance to open his mouth

"say I'm fine one more time and Im adding the moon to my list of favorite planets"

He didn't know what he was expecting you to say but it definitely wasn't that and now he was fighting the urge to laugh

"are you really making fun of my planet knowledge right now? Not very cool of you man. I know at least 2 constellations. There's ursa major and ursa not as major right over-"

"you mean ursa minor?"

"THE MOON IS MY FAVORITE PLANET"

It might've started as a normal chuckle but in under half a minute it had dissolved into that ridiculously adorable snorting laugh he did that usually left him breathless, you laughed along with him, hanging your head and giggling as you did so

"thanks"

You shook your head, slightly dizzy from laughing so hard

"don't mention it. I don't like seeing you upset. Besides, you love it when I get all astrological, right?"

"uhhhhh..."

"this is the part where you lie to spare my feelings Donnie."

"yep. Love the astrological stuff. The best." *Plz insert awkward thumbs up here*

#tmnt x reader #tmnt leonardo #tmnt raphael #tmnt donatello #tmnt michelangelo #tmnt 2k16 #tmnt 2014 #tmnt headcanons

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yarrowleef · 4 years

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Read Darkness Within all in one sitting last night and then passed out so here are my scattered thoughts i wrote down as i read, (afterthoughts in parenthesis)

Darkness Within Spoilers, obv

UGH GOD THE SECOND HAND EMBARRESMENT FROM SQUIRREL FAKE FLIRTING WITH ASHFUR IT HURTS

Just remembered Sandynose died and got a small boost of happiness (will Hawkwing and Plumwillow ever be allowed to talk again now? I mean probly not b/c they aren’t protags and non-protags don’t rly have friends but I can hope. Sorry, Hawkwhing and Plumwillow’s short-lived friendship in Hawkwings Journey was one of the last times I felt something)

Ghost fleas lol

Mothwing: i’m rude now. (but more importantly, Fuck Tigerheartstar for forcing his son to be around the cat that hurt him so badly, like he HAS to know how upset everyone is regarding Shadowsight and his accidentally helping the imposter, and he’s making him be the sole one to tend to him??? There is NO REASON Puddleshine couldn’t have done it. You think Puddleshine is going to try and murder someone?? )

Oh no don't make this a traveling book, and a ROOTBRISTLE traveling book this is going to be insufferable

BACON AND EGGS

Lightleap Is Good (Hey didn’t Shadowsight have another sister? lets be real we all knew Pouncekit was going to end up as the forgettable 3rd one)

Bristlefrost’s crush continues to feel unnatural to me. It’s like she’s grasping at straws romanticizing the most generic things.....wow....I love how ur just so...bare minimum competent....being polite to the loner we came all this way to ask for help like any somewhat reasonable person would....How admirable...I love the way you just *clenches fist* exhibit some basic traits of loyalty and skill that literally every warrior has (I s2g I’m this close to head canon-ing Bristle as a clueless aromantic who doesn't understand what romance is actually suppose to feel like so she just looks at feelings of low-bar admiration and assumes “oh I guess this is that “romantic attraction” everyone’s always talking about? guess I must be in love???” because both her crushes have felt out of nowhere and like. Idk fake/forced sounding like she’s just telling me that that she’s In Love Now while I continue to not actually feel it at all from her end. I know it’s just that I hate the way Erin’s write female characters in love but this head-canon makes me laugh)

Got scared because I thought they were going to villainize Spotfur for not wanting kits for a minute, but also excited at the concept of maybe exploring a female character that doesn’t want to be a mother, but it turns out she was just pulling a Sparkpelt and actually DID want the kits all along and was only hesitant because she’s sad. Shrug oh well. (the only female character in warriors that was distinctly upset about pregnancy and motherhood was Lizardstripe and as we all know she was eeeeeevil and abusive and “overly ambitious” because why else would you not come around to being happy about motherhood?? YES I’M STILL SALTY ABOUT YELLOWFANG’S SECRET, BAD BOOK) Whatever it’s fine so long as Spot doesn’t lose her rebel leader spirit forever and default to “soft mom” personality for the rest of her life, I gotta have hope because I actually like Bristle and Spot’s current relationship. Also I am actually very grateful they never made Bristle resentful at Spot for getting with her crush, as lots of middle grade/YA media has a very bad habit of demonizing female romantic “competition” and its super gross, so I rly do like that Bristlefrost is so protective and caring towards her instead. )

This series is trying to tell me that Rootspring is actually Big but I refuse to accept that. he has dumb scrawny bitch energy and we all know it

Sunrise: “Thunderclan may be better with a new leader” lol go off (i mean........they right tho...It’s unfortunate that the tension in this whole plot is a bit dampened by the fact that i DO in fact want bramble to die v badly. I don’t even have special hatred for him, I’m just bored of him.)

Yes Lionblaze beat the shit out of Ashfur

*HOLY SHIT THAT’S FUCKED!!!! (I wrote this in reference to the ghost summoning scene, this was all I could manage at the time, that scene was WILD and I am VIBING WITH THE HORROR OF IT ALL)

* Brashfur: Oh yeah? Could Ashfur fake THIS? *stands up with slightly better posture* Shadowsight: oh damn you got me there...... (asdfhhfhhgh im sorry that was really funny, how did that prove anything?? ONLY A ~REAL~ WARRIOR COULD STAND UP STRAIGHT WE ALL KNOW ASHFUR IS INCAPABLE OF GOOD POSTURE!)

End of the book: *LAUGHING NERVOUSLY* WHAT THE FUCK??? (I thought he was just gonna kill Squirrelflight right there holy shit can you imagine the RIOTS that would ensue in the wake of all this Squirrel/Bramble discourse I was so scared for a second.

But it’s fine, she just....went to super hell instead......Warriors has come so far lmao WHAT IS HAPPENING

Final Notes:

*On Mothwing, I don’t think her behavior struck me as “CHARACTER BUTCHERING” as much as it did for other people? I mean.....Warriors fans will say that literally any time a character does ANYTHING less then perfectly nice I think her actions just seemed that much harsher because we are reading from Shadowsight’s POV, and Shadowsight is taking everything 10x more personally right now (understandably so, but Mothwing isn’t inside his head) she wasn’t trying to hurt him. Also... like... Shadowsight DID get his name too early. It’s not Mothwing’s job to put his feelings above everything else, she’s not even his mentor, Puddleshine on the other hand, as his main mentor, I don’t understand what his deal is ignoring Shadowsight, that’s not how you help an apprentice but I suppose I chalk many of his mistakes up to also not being the most experienced medicine cat (he barely even had his own mentor.) Maybe he’s distant because he feels guilty and actually blames himself for not guiding Shadowsight better?? the two of them haven’t communicated about it yet so idk

any way I give Mothwing a pass to be a little short tempered right now as a cat who has had her abilities periodically questioned all her life no matter how hard she works or how much experience she has, just because she doesn’t vibe with the spiritual cult side of the clans, I can understand why she’s a bit defensive of being questioned and frustrated watching so much hurt happen Yet Again due to reliance on StarClan visions over common sense, and I for one still stan her for slandering StarClan and refusing to accept Mistystar’s bullshit banishing like everyone else. Sometimes a character is at the end of their rope and can’t manage to be 100% nice 24/7 and that’s maybe not inherently bad writing? idk just my hot take. At a certain point we all gotta reckon with the fact that our perception of most popular supporting characters in heavily colored by fanon and we can’t always get mad at the authors for not adhering to it

*The sisters magic shit is my fav worldbuilding warriors has had in AGES, I love the way it’s described and it actually feels like it adds something to this world. I love this horror imagery with the ghosts, very excited for that.

*still won’t be thrilled if Ashfur is working alone, because his motive doesn’t make sense right now. I mean the trying to get Squilf thing, sure, whatever, but the “I will make everyone pay for what they did to me”???? cause like?? Who??? they didn’t do anything to him?? Ashfur’s grievance was very specifically JUST Squilf. He has no other cause for revenge, he had no other beef or complaints about the clans to my knowledge? The cat that killed him is dead, and she’s like, the only other one that I could see as having “wronged” him?? I guess he also didn’t like Firestar much according to Graystripe’s Vow (and on account of how willing he was to kill him w/ Hawkfrost) but Firestar is ALSO dead. I don’t understand his angle. Will have to see last 2 books to judge i suppose.

*All in all I am interested to see where this is going!! but also the pacing as I feared is becoming a major issue. It’s better then ending the main conflict on book 3 like Vision of Shadows did, but omg. Hardly anything happened in all these pages. I realized I was over half way through and nothing about the situation had actually CHANGED or advanced at all in all that time. Similar to the past 2 books which I believe could have been combined, this plot felt like it should have been the first half of a book. Discussing whether or not to kill the imposter isn’t much of a standalone plot, it’s just the set up to a plot. Finding the sisters didn’t need to be a whole long thing, the debates about the Imposters fate didn’t need to be repeated 10 times, all those chapters illustrating that “Shadowsight is sad” were also drawn out, repetitive, and interchangeable, we probably only needed 2 or so chapters showing his struggles to get the necessary information across. It felt like a lot of padding, it was really slow and I did a lot of skimming. I am still very interested in the overarching plot and mystery behind the ghosts so that kept me reading but man this “will they won’t they kill him” plot did not justify it’s own whole book. Alas this is a persisting issue that will never be resolved while they continue to force 6 books into 1 series that doesn’t need 6 books. I’m sure the writers are doing the best they can with these unfortunate constraints but still, it’s a wonder this slow padding isn’t more of a detriment to their younger readers that the books are supposed to be marketed to.

#warrior cats #the broken code #darkness within #the darkness within #darkness within spoilers #wc tbc #tbc #is that enough tags #yarrow speaks #wc criticism #long post #the broken code spoilers #warrior cats spoilers

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gizkasparadise · 4 years

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cdrama rec: goodbye, my princess

Master drama rec list.

Series: goodbye, my princess / the eastern palace Episodes: 52 (regular) 55 (director’s cut--this is the version i watched) Genres: tragedy, romance, train wreck, historical, political, costume porn, scenery porn Spoilers in the Rec: for the set-up If You Like, You’ll Like: “what are you going to do, stab me?” says man stabbed, moon lovers but make it worse, empress ki, a show where literally every love confession ends with someone using a knife, a v fucked up deconstruction of the “runaway princess” trope

Rank: 9.5/10

^ yes this looks v. healthy, soak those clothes in the cold water of the river styx it’ll be fine

PREMISE

xiaofeng is a very bubbly and naive princess from western liang state, where she’s grown up happy and sheltered. her father is pro-peace with the li empire, and makes an arranged marriage for her to their crown prince. being a Precocious Naive Young Royal with a certified Thing for her teacher, gu jian (who seems Stoic but is actually a Softie), she eventually convinces him to run away with her so she can avoid the marriage.

little does she know that gu jian is actually a sleeper agent for a disgraced family of the li empire who are willing to do anything to get power VENGEANCE honor again.

wow, this will be fun she said. this will be good, she said.

meanwhile...

prince li chengyin, the 5th prince, is accompanying his elder brother, the crown prince, to western liang in order to broker a marriage with their princess. on the way they are ambushed by what look like members of the danchi--a nomadic, warrior state. the crown prince is killed, and the 5th prince is left for dead. eventually, chengyin makes his way to western liang, where he learns about the history of his mother’s family, the gus, and meets his cousin gu jian. together, they vow for power VENGEANCE honor as well as a way to uncover the truth about the murder of the crown prince

one way to do that is to figure out a way to infiltrate the danchi

conveniently, gu jian knows a runaway princess whose grandfather is their leader.

ope. i came out here to have a good time

gu jian and chengyin conspire to have chengyin pose as gu jian’s Totally Normal Cousin Who is Definitely Not An Enemy Royal as they help the princess “run away” from an unwanted marriage to the “safety” of her grandfather’s people.

ah. ha haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa. hah.

MAIN CHARACTERS

xiaofeng

our titular princess!!! omg does she have a wild fucking ride of character development. happy and sheltered! oh no. oh no. oh, god. happy again! oh god. no. oh fuck.

she’s awesome. growing up in the desert (her father’s people) and the steppe (her mother’s people), xiaofeng’s lived a pretty great life of mischief and riding horses. incredibly kind and extroverted, she makes friends everywhere and a lot of them are women and that is Awesome. not a mean bone in her body. wine-child who likes to cross dress. cdrama’s best dressed.

prince li chengyin / gu xiaowu

the 5th prince of the li empire and wants power VENGEANCE honor for his momma. he infiltrates xiaofeng’s Runaway Marriage Camping Trip in the hopes of uncovering military secrets of the danchi, to get vengeance for his brother and also some military merit so he can get more vengeance. 2 vengeances for one betrayal--sweet deal. however, on the way to the danchi, he hardcore falls for xiaofeng even though he’s lowkey trying to bring about devastation for her family. ruh oh.

falls in love with the Mark, betrays people constantly and then wonders why they’re mad at him. the show/narrative never, at any point, tries to hide the fact that he is making some Severely Fucked Up Decisions and it’s amazing. genuinely loves xiaofeng very, very much. epitome of “you made your bed now lie in it.”

gu jian

xiaofeng’s teacher and also her first love. he has feelings for her back, but he’s Bound by Duty to the gu family and subsequentially the li empire. he chooses duty, and orchestrates the meeting between xiaofeng and chengyin “xiaowu” in order to get chengyin in the door to the danchi tribe. he then watches them fall in love, fully knowing the fucked up shit that’s about to go down and how much pain it will cause xiaofeng.

wears oversized scarves because a dude’s gotta accessorize. dramatically observes people from tall places like a sailor moon villain. whistle baby whistle baby let him know

SOME SUPPORT CHARACTERS SELECTED BY HOW MUCH THEY ARE MY FAVORITES

a’du

Q U E E N. a member of the danchi tribe, and xiaofeng’s best friend and bodyguard and girlfriend. xiaofeng says punch and a’du says how hard. the two of them are ride or die together, and a’du would do anything for xiaofeng. does not approve of any of her boyfriends in any capacity because LMAO she has eyes.

general pei

the Strong, Silent type and a general who is loyal to the li empire and serves chengyin. he befriends xiaofeng and genuinely cares about her. she teaches him the flute and he plays it for her whenever she’s sad and it’s precious :(. unclear whether or not his feelings for her are platonic or romantic, but it’s all v Pure and Well-Meaning. the ladies love him

he shi

(far right) a’du’s brother and the danchi’s best warrior. look he’s barely in this but i have a thing for friendly giants and this one plays the flute

mi luo

spy-turned-bar owner from western liang, who becomes one of xiaofeng’s best friends. she’s just a really cool lady and she keeps everyone absolutely hammered throughout the story, which they all need. to cope.

OTHER SUPPORT CHARACTERS THAT ARE NOT MY FAVORITES BUT ARE IMPORTANT TO THE PLOT AND/OR I WAS TOO LAZY TO MAKE A SCREENCAP OF

zhao se se. a noblewoman in the li empire who has been in love with chenglin forever

the empress. basically every cdrama empress you’ve ever encountered. moving on.

khan tömür. ACTUALLY one of my favorites but i was too lazy to get a screencap. xiaofeng’s grandpa and leader of the danchi. loves his grand daughter so, so much. does not approve of any of her boyfriends either because he also has eyes.

ming yue. a famous courtesan in the li empire who xiaofeng later befriends. she’s a perfectly fine character i was just bored w/ her subplot.

gao yuming. every Evil Minister you’ve seen in a cdrama, although he gets extra points for having one of the most annoying, blatantly evil voices of all time

second prince, li chengye. i actually liked him a lot too. the crown prince after the first crown prince dies, chengyin’s brother. anything else is spoilers

Drawbacks

there were a couple of subplots that i had 0 interest in, which is what kept this from being a perfect 10 for me. i didn’t care about anything related to minister gao + the empress, but that’s admittedly because im not all that into palace politics. the ming yue stuff was also not that interesting to me because i’ve seen that subplot a billion times.

nothing else enjoy the fucking ride.

Reasons to Watch.

this show makes no secret that it’s not going to be a good time. you jump in fully aware that it’s a tragedy and knowing that ahead of time makes it so much better. you see chengyin start to gradually lose his shit and it’s amazing. it’s so good.

character development! almost every character grows (or destructs) based on what’s happening around them and i was really impressed with it. xiaofeng’s in particular.

ACTING. omg both the leads killed it. you can see the switches flip and it p much defines the show-not-tell i love it

music! it’s really pretty ;;

FEMALE FRIENDSHIPS. FEMALE FRIENDSHIPS EVERYWHERE. xiaofeng makes so many friends and it warms my heart

if you’re into fucked up romances that also have moments of genuine cuteness/softness this is 100% your thing

The Aesthetic. costumes and scenery are on point, behold a parade of images:

(the Red Dress is iconic but this ^ is actually my favorite costume of hers)

Final Thoughts

#goodbye my princess #the eastern palace #chen xing xu #peng xiaoran #shawn wei #cdrama #gizka does kdrama #gizkarec #i should change that tag lmao i watch way more cdrama than i used to #!my post #enjoy hell everyone

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sydxo · 4 years

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my latest obsession: chrollo lucilfer

listen so,,,, im not really crazy about loving characters and i dont really jump around with my faves, they're pretty consistent for the most part but lately i've been overly fond of a man named chrollo.

If you know me you would know of my love for hunter x hunter

so when i really got back into the series i began looking at chrollo a lot more. when i watched it during the summer of 2017 i loved chrollo but he was never someone i obsessed over. yea he was a hot, strong villain so of course i would like him. but rewatching it recently i started looking at him much more.

to begin with, from the surface you would look at chrollo as a cold psychopath (thats extremely good-looking) but theres not much to go off of. he doesnt really have much of a personality. hes not kind, nor is he mean.. hes kind of emotionless. he doesnt not harbor anger or resentment shown in the manga and anime.

only when ~~uvo dies~~ does he really begin to show us his vulnerabilities. many can argue that him showing sadness is a mask only to show the troupe members that he cares. but the thing is,,, he doesnt cry infront of any of them? so what would be the point?

he truly cares for the troupe with his heart. each one of the members he holds close to him although it may not seem like it, he really does mourn for the loss of his loved ones (a.k.a. the troupe members).

he was brought up in meteor city, meaning his past most likely is not a very pretty one. my theory being that he was probably abused as a child. he mostly likely ran away and lead a life of having to steal and kill to survive at a young age. the abuse affected him to where he was so traumatized that he completely left his past identity behind and became **CHROLLO LUCILFER**, most likely he created that name for himself.

he lost his identity so he searches for validity of himself within the troupe, using each member as a defining part of himself.

loosing a troupe member is like loosing a part of himself. that is why he mourns so deeply for the loss of ~~uvo, kortopi and shalnark~~ and vows to kill hisoka ~~for the second time~~ after he learns of ~~kortopi and shalnarks deaths~~

chrollo really is such a misunderstood character and im so so so upset that we dont get a look into his past. that literally physically pains me that i dont know more about this man! i would kill for just a little insight of him and how thinks, how he loves, his days off, what he likes to do for fun, his hobbies, things he enjoys, his favorite foods.... i really would just want to know more about him.

i cannot possibly put into words how fucking much i love this man, yes hes quite terrible, and yes hes killed thousands of people, and yes i love him to death even knowing this. hes such an interesting chracter although we dont know much about him and his inner workings. the mystery that surrounds chrollo is what attracts me the most. i have the freedom to make all these headcanons and obsess over him, everything is up to my imagination and im okay with that.

the little details we are provided about him i cherish, his little quirks and kinks i cherish.

when he looks like steve carell i still love him.

hes the sexiest man alive? theres absolutely no doubt about that. hisoka tried it, yea killuas pretty but is he as pretty as chrollo? nah fam...

chrollo deserves the best and i really with hes able to find himself and his own identity one day. just like everyone else, chrollo deserves happiness, in large sums... he might deserve it more than anyone else to be quite honest.

hes worked his way up from the very very bottom of the chain to the top. now hes the boss. if you have watched hxh and know about meteor city, its a city of nobodies, its a dump where people send all their crap and unwanted items too, even children. chrollo growing up there had to have an extremely hardtime and due to those circumstances he became a specialist. meaning hes extremely strong and has his own unique abilities. not to mention his power?? Bandit's Secret is badass?? like imagine stealing other people's nen and being able to perfect it like chrollo? i ... im just completely stunned by the skill, power and talent this beautiful sexy man possesses. hes had to work his ass off day and night to get where his is now and i i ... im just completely stunned by the skill, power and talent this beautiful sexy man possesses. hes had to work his ass off day and night to get where his is now and i am so beyond proud of him for not being more fucked in the head considering his past.

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH I LOVE CHROLLO SO SOSOSOSOSOSO MUCH SO MUCH! HES SO PERFECT AND STRONG AND POWERFUL AND TALENTED AND SEXY AND WOW IVE NEVER SEEN SUCH A FLAWLESS MAN!!

i love him to death and wish for his eternal happiness and i would do anything for him to have it what the actual fuck..

losing a troupe member is like losing a part of himself. that is why he mourns so deeply for the loss of ~~uvo, kortopi and shalnark~~ and vows to kill hisoka ~~for the second time~~ after he learns of ~~kortopi and shalnarks deaths~~.

the little details we are provided about him i cherish, his little quirks and kinks i cherish.

when he looks like steve carell i still love him.

hes the sexiest man alive? theres absolutely no doubt about that. hisoka tried it, yea killuas pretty but is he as pretty as chrollo? nah fam...

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH I LOVE CHROLLO SO SOSOSOSOSOSO MUCH SO MUCH! HES SO PERFECT AND STRONG AND POWERFUL AND TALENTED AND SEXY AND WOW IVE NEVER SEEN SUCH A FLAWLESS MAN!!

i love him to death and wish for his eternal happiness and i would do anything for him to have it what the actual fuck..

—————

ok so there’s are so many reasons why i really really love chrollos character and just admire him honestly. so i’ll space them out:

1) his character design!!!

-kuroro obviously is... a very attractive looking character!! and usually i’m not ?? idk i don’t really like characters /like/ him with the slicked back hair and crazy ass abs and weird fur coats but it honestly just started growing on me??

-HES SO CLEAN CUT!!! this man owns suits, fur coats and versace sweaters. ... he constantly gets HATED ON and made fun of ppl bc think his hair is fuckin greasy?? GREASY?? AREYOU KIDDING ME?? ur gonna tell me a man who wears belts and fur coats doesn’t shower?? bjtch his hair is gelled and he is KILLING IT!!!!

-throughout the series his style changes a lot!! he looks so good?? mans is so very fashionable (i’ll send examples)

-his mobage cards!!! BITCH HE LOOKS SO FUCKING GOOD IN HIS MOBAGE CARDS!!

(mobage cards are from a hxh game that you can collect, they come out with official art of the characters in different situations and daily life, so just like characters dressed normally i guess)

he has this one mobage card of him in a casual outfit and OH MY GOD BITCH HE LOOKS SOOO GOOD!!! he’s wearing a white tank top and has this blue button down over it that’s not buttoned up with these jeans and his hair looks so good!!!!! also can’t forget his cross necklace.. we love a religious faithful man!

-SPEAKING of hair chrollos hair is constantly changing?? just like killua with the outfits, chrollo is the only other character that normal changes his clothes while the rest of them stay the same?? he’s so clean and gorgeous it makes me cry!!! from when he’s first introduced his hair is gelled back, to when he meets neon his hair is down nd .. bitch oh my god chrollo has semi long hair and it makes me deadass sob it looks SO GOOD. and right now in the recent manga chapters he has this messy down bedhead style it’s so sexy!!!

ok that was just part 1 about his character design let me start with part 2/3 what attracts me

2)HIS MYSTERY!!

-so chrollo is kinda i guess from the surface he’s a boring dude. there’s nothing noteworthy about his character. he isn’t funny nor is he kind. he’s kinda like... an empty shell of where /something/ should be. and it seriously ..... just adds to his character. his personality might not “shine” and he’s only really popular because he’s a hot antagonist but there’s SO MUCH MORE!! that people don’t look into revolving him.

-he gives off sooo many hints and foreshadows his identity loss so many times while he’s given screentjme and its sad??

sad that this amazing man that has worked so hard and become so very strong still cannot i guess identify himself within a crowd. he’s just ~there~ giving orders for the troupe.

-he truly believes that no one cares for him or relies on him. that everyone would be absolutely 100% unaffected should he die. and that?? i literally wanna smack him.-

(continuing i wanted to give a little background on the phantom troupe given chrollo is the leader)

-PHANTOM TROUPE-

so the phantom troupe is a group of 12 people all given numbers

ok so head = chrollo and legs = the rest of the members because the phantom troupe are also known as the spiders.

they’re thieves with chrollo as the leader and they come from meteor city which is basically a dump where nobodies live a.k.a. they lived a harsh life growing up.

ok so continuing with chrollo thinks he’s replaceable to the troupe. couldn’t be more false and it makes me upset that he thanks that? the troupe really really cares about him a whole lot given he’s literally the leader and he created the phantom troupe!! basically the only place these “thieves” feel like they belong. they’re all family. they fight like brothers and sisters and care so much for one another.

ok that brings this section to a close. this is getting extremely long so let me write my very last part. jeez i could go on for ages.

3.HIS STRENGTH.

-chrollo fights very uniquely and i know it’s kind of a weird thing i guess to bring up his fighting style and powers when discussing why i like him as a character but i really cannot help it.

-out of all the characters in hunter x hunter, chrollos powers have to be my favorite coming from an unbiased standpoint. it’s not even because he’s my favorite character, do i love his power, it’s just so fucking unique and interesting.

•when you watch hxh you’ll learn about powers and such (they call them nen) and the different types you can have, manipulator, conjuror, transmuter, etc.

there’s one power class that stands out from all the rest. while the normal powerclasses have built in powers you know things that are already predetermined, there’s one class called “specialist” and this is the rarest class.

-you guessed it, chrollo is a specialist. being a specialist gives you crazy overpowered abilities for short amounts of time like super regeneration, speed, etc. things like that. chrollos power is called “Bandits Secret” him being a thief and all its so fkn badass. he can literally steal other people’s power from them and use it for himself!! his power is lowkey complicated and has a lot of conditions that need to be met before he can use it but let me just say, the fact that chrollo can steal powers that aren’t even his and use them even better than the original user is so amazing. he’s BEYOND talented when it comes to combat skills hence why hisoka got obliterated in there fight. not only that but he’s an extremely graceful and careful fighter. he’s crazy good at planning strategies against his opponent and extremely smart.

——

ok so that’s all for my chrollo rant... uhh this was longer than intended i’m so sorry but yes i love chrollo with my entire heart he truly is my favorite character of all time and nothing will change that. thank u for coming to my ted talk.

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lordxgrinnyxboy · 4 years

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rewatching tgm for the umpteenth time: wifi's not working edition 1/?

ngl i've Never, In My LIFE, done any singing or acting outside of puppet shows when i was in like the 3rd grade but every time i watch TGM i'm more and more like "GOD i wanna be cast as Barkilphedro" and i don't even know why? like why would i want to be the greasy clown nasty? He has No Rights? I Don't Like Him Or Sympathize With Him At All? And Yet???? It must be a calling.

there's like. two barrels on the stage.

uggggggh i love Ensemble!Maskell and Ensemble!Obianyo they're both so pretty

FEEL SO LOW YOUR PULSE NEEDS CHECKING

ngl Barkilphedro has No Rights and he gets No Sympathy from me but i do feel sorry for him when he talks about his mother. also sucks for him that he wasted so much time hoping his loyalty to Clarence would pay off, only to get nothing but mockery in return. also also as 'comical' as the Erotic Breakfast Dance scene is played it's still...really gross and Not Okay. This dude's 100% culpable for his actions and he made his own choices and is absolutely slimy but it's like those bits in LotR when they talk about Bilbo pitying Gollum. idk i just kinda hate that ol' Barky let himself be twisted into such a wretched creature. He crossed the No Rights line the night he decided to carve up a kid's face tho and just kept right on going.

ensemble!maskell is so cute send help

it's the eye makeup and the lighting it's just. a really good look

ms. obianyo pls

just noticed Bark's little pose on "obsessed with the pursuit of beauty"

okay so i've seen some comments around about Clarence's "How do you keep your pecker up" remark and just thought i'd- dude's fingernails. wow they're so shiny. ahem -mention here that i've looked into this expression before and it's actually a term that i guess is mainly used in England or something and it's like nose = beak = 'pecker' as in birds which ‘peck’ things with their beaks. It's basically the same as "keep your chin up". Snufkin says it to Moomin. I mean with Clarence i wouldn't put it past him to mean it another way but also given where the show is set it makes sense he would use such a term.

ngl i want to Know about Angelica tho like. why is she Brutalized. why did Clarence send her awaey. i actually want to know about the whole family. I feel like it's a three separate moms situation but even if it's only two separate moms Where Are The Moms. did Clarence send Them awaey too? Did one or more of them Die? Were they Killed? oh god what if it's like in Light Princess and he actually Had (one of/)Them Executed. I think it's interesting that Clarence Lorded Dirry-Moir. we don't get to know about how he treated Josiana, but none of his kids even turn up to his funeral and the only one who talks about him at all only does so to denounce him.

also thinking about the differences yet similarities between the Green Box Family and the Royal Family but i can't articulate worth anything rn so i'll just *pins for later*

love Ensemble!Brisson

also ngl even if the whole Royal Introduction/Lords on Palace Hill bit isn't 100% literal it still paints a pretty clear picture of the kind of toxic and vapid society that's encouraged under Clarence's reign.

does 'bonnie prince' mean anything specific or

ugh i love Osric

wait i just noticed the stripies on dirry--moir's shirt. nice. i'd wear that.

not as much as i'd wear the heck out of Osric's coat though. actually his whole outfit. add Osric/Lord Trelaw to Roles I Wanna Be Cast For In The Timeline Where I Sing And Act

the face Dirry-Moir makes while Osric's getting started introducing the fair tho. he looks like a kid trying to fit in with a cool new friend group.

the way Mr Maskell sings "we have a huge collection of the crippled and the dabbed" tho it sounds like he's got a cold

i'm gonna need somebody to meet me irl just to do that lil dance that Dirry-Moir and Osric do after "If you've got the money/I've got the misery" it looks fun!

au where Mr. Maskell stays on stage through the end of Laughter is the Beast Medicine. i need to See him do the choreo for this part.

had a real cursed idea right here but no it's Too cursed

the look on Osric's face when Bark grabs his bad arm tho

this whole "imagine laughing without any cruelty at all" is such a weird bit tbh

have i already said that i love the whole look of the "the poor soul who stands before you" part like idk if it's the pose or what but Gwyn Looks Really Good In This Scene

okay but the way puppet!Gwyn holds out his hand toward his mom and then she goes to- hangon i can’t describe lemme see if separate post separate post

okay

ngl im real curious as to whether this bit on the pirate ship (idk why i’ve always defaulted to ‘pirates’ for these cats) actually happened or if Ursus fully made it up like we really Don’t get to Know how much of this has any basis in what really happened that night do we u-u

kay but the fact that Dea’s mom’s lying there with her eyes open and the way they emphasize her frozen-ness by having her arm stay up like. wow.

wait a minute is that Born Broken playing for lil baby Dea? i think it is.

yeah sing it hazlit

interesting how Ursus has little!Gwyn sing “they put blood in my nightmares” but also vow to find the man who cut him. which i mean singular ‘they’ is obviously a thing but as i doubt the intention was for Gwyn to have decided that whoever cut him must be a they/them man i just think it’s interesting that even the wording in the puppet show points to the fact that there was Someone Else There, even if it does then swerve back to a single perpetrator. But also it’s still accurate because while it was only one man who cut Gwyn’s face, it was both Barkilphedro and Ursus who contributed to putting blood in his nightmares.

honest question why is Mr. Maskell’s voice Like That like who gave him the right

love how puppet!Gwyn and puppeteer!Gwyn and later real!Gwyn all do that same little motion with their head on the word “disgrace”

OH HEY we’re at the part where Lon Don picks up NICE

add Mojo Puppeteer to my list of dream roles

wait ohmygod there’s this thing kind of hanging off the cart and i was squinting at it like “what is that” and then the cart turned around and i realize that’s the body that goes to the head-on-a-shelf ursus what the hell

wait so Dirry-Moir genuinely thinks Dea went blind from looking at Gwyn’s face but he also wants to see it? although granted Ursus said she went blind from “gazing too long” so maybe Dirry-Moir assumes he’ll be safe if it’s only a quick look. still. Concept: Post-Show Dirry-Moir having this tendency to Not Look At Gwyn very much until eventually either he explains why and somebody has to Tell Him, or maybe at some point he’s like “wait a minute. that was made up wasn’t it” and everyone has a bit of a laff

ngl i love the inside of the cart and how there’s like four, maybe five puppets, counting Beauty and Beast, and also some of the shadow puppets...all kinds of vials and bottles and what looks like painting supplies...what looks suspiciously like crimson lethe on the stove...looks like some cabinets and extra storage up very top. im curious about the layout since we only get to see one part of the cart at a time.

wait why’s the song called stars in the sky when does he say th- why isn’t it called “New World” or “dreams” or something why stars in the sky he doesn’t even say- does he say it in the reprise??? *skips ahead* NO?

does the Disney Chorus Say It??

THEY DON’T

WHY IS THE SONG CALLED STARS IN THE SKY? WHY HAVE I BEEN UNQUESTIONINGLY CALLING IT STARS IN THE- WHEN ARE STARS MENTIONED??

IS THE TITLE A REFERENCE TO THE FACT THAT URSUS IS ONE OF THE ONES WHO ASSISTED IN STRIPPING STARS FROM THE SKY? IDK BOSS IT FEELS KINDA WEAK TO ME

ugh i love ms obianyo

“to help them forget themselves” yeah that’s what you want him to do huh Ursus

“not now, Grinpayne”‘s a p curious line to include and only the fact that Gwyn’s still using his puppet!Gwyn voice while complaining is keeping me from being like “lol Gwyn’s lil rant was actually him breaking character and then Ursus just went with it like it was part of the show lol lol”

cutting here for length uwu Dea finishes the word ‘skies’ at exactly 30 minutes in which is nice bc i didn’t even have to interrupt her mid-word in order to pause for post-length.

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shooks-stupid-stuff · 4 years

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i have the text dump, it has lots of lore and will probably break the text limit-

SO BASICALLY JACIAN AND TAIANA SHIZ BASICALLY ALL I HAVE COME UP WITH FOR THEIR RELATIONSHIP AND PLOT STUFF AND YES-

so basically they first meet in act 1 of the main plot (tm) which is really just adventure to go stop odd thing thats happening (idk exactly what atm but thats not really important). Jarcian is basically a knight whos working for an unknown(at the time, we'll get to it later) person, and he has been tasked with impeding the progress of the main group. how does he plan to do this? well, despite literally having troops at his disposal (who all adore him and are 100% loyal to him, they love their goofy captain), of course he challenges the main character group to a one on one duel, because he is just a goofy villain who fights fair and lives by his honor. Of course Taiana accepts his challenge, being a knight herself, and they proceed to have a draw. Out of respect, and because he's lowkey thrilled that someone has taken him seriously for once, Jacian concedes and retreats for the time being, but not before he and Taiana declare each other to be rivals (with like 75% of the main group just being so done with both of them and wanting to leave). They have a few more encounters after this, with taiana always insisting that they take up his challenge fairly rather than just like have everyone defeat his forces because she feels he's not a bad guy and actually at this point considers him a friend, and after a while Jacian begins to think that he might be developing feelings for Taiana, which he really doesnt know how to feel about so he consults his second in command, Anton (short for Anthony; this man is just a side character but he is like the best side character ever and im 100% giving him a unique design bc he's just like the most supportive dude ever-). i plan on making a short comic based off the conversation they have but basically Jacian has his suspicions confirmed, and goes full panic attack and sad mode bc oops literal forbidden love this is so sad : pensive : . There are like 2 more encounters between the main group and Jacian's group, both of which Jacian is just like being very obvious on accident but taiana has no idea what a social cue is so she just doesnt pick up on any of it, and then major plot shit happens and we're onto part 2.

in part 2, things get kinda angsty and really can split off in 2 different directions, with one being significantly less angsty than the other. basically, shit goes down, and all 3 of the main kingdoms are all just kinda in conflict now. Taiana ends up becoming the queen of her kingdom (called Serenia) and, despite her appearingly newfound confidence and leadership skills, she is internally in turmoil due to previous plot events (and this only gets worse with future ones) and is beginning to fall into a state of self doubt due to the pressure she puts on herself to protect everyone coupled with the fact that she cant, and failed to protect her own father and brother. After a bit of rebuilding and strategizing, Taiana decides to lead a counterattack against the neighboring kingdom of Grysia who's king, Natalio, has basically backstabbed every other kingdom and had invaded Serenia while the main group was out doing other stuff (his son is also part of the main group, and some real shit happens there but thats another tale for another ramble-). It turns out that Jacian serves him, and is having one hell of a moral struggle right now. His knights honor forbids him from betraying his lord, but he's unsure if he's truely doing the right thing as he's been complacent to so many inhumane atrocities that Natalio has preformed. But in the end he decides that he must stick to his duty to the very end, no matter what (and let me just say, once natalio shows his true colors he does some bad shit, like really damn bad. but again, another disscussion for another day). Eventually, the main group is pretty much on the castle's doorstep, and so Natalio makes the decision to send Jacian to put a stop to them. More specifically, to their leader, who at this point is Taiana. Jacian of course, really doesnt want to (but as he later figures out, Natalio knows of his crush and plans on having the two destroy each other, with the result of one being killed and the other being emotionally destroyed. as I said, natalio is a very bad man), but his duty commands that he must, and so he tells Anton to make sure his troops escape the conflict together, and heads off to his final duel, where he intends to head to his grave and take his secret with him. When he confronts the main group, he is much more solemn than he normally is, and he challenges Taiana to one final duel. and despite every other duel they had resulting in a draw, this one results in a loss from Jacian. As a final wish, Jacian begs Taiana to take his life, as he'd rather die at her hands than at Natalios.

now, since im thinking about the plot in terms of it being a game, there actually is a branch in the plot based on a choice made at this point (mainly bc the angsty one is more interesting character development wise but the not angsty one makes me happy and i want to see these 2 be happy together-). so the two choices are basically to take Jacian's life, or to spare him. ill go over what each choice leads to in order.

choose to take his life: Taiana tries to take Jacian's life, but she just can't bring herself to. She already internally feels as if she's lost or come close to losing many of the peopleshe holds dear, and she could never bring herself to kill someone she considers a friend. Seeing this, Jacian smiles before apologizing to her for everything, and thanking her for the joy she's brought him, before telling her he loves her and taking his own life via stabbing his sword through his chest. His intent is to save her the pain of taking his life by ding it for him, but this ends up pushing her over the edge, as she blames herself and sees it as yet another failure to protect someone she cared about. The main group ends up defeating natalio and liberating Grysia, but Taiana is left with menatl and emotional wounds that would leave her unstable for much of the remaining plot. it doesnt help that she eventually realizes that she loved him too. His former troops, which had deserted the war just as he asked, end up joining the Serenian military, with Anton becoming the captain of the knights. This mainly leads to alot of character development for taiana, and how she learns to cope with and accept the fact that she cant protect everyone, no matter how much she wants to. (there also is another really angsty part later bc main villian has some bs powers but uhh we've had enough sad i thinkand this is getting really long-)

choose to spare him: Taiana refuses to take Jacian's life, to which Jacian retorts that she had to if she wanted to get past. Of course, she once again refuses as she wont harm someone she cares about, especially when she's already lost people she cares about and is really close to just losing it. She then states that if one of them had to die, the he should take he life, much to his dismay. She stands firm on this, and he attempts, but his feelings finally overpower his sense of duty, and he just cant. but at the same time, his honor won't let him betray his lord, and if he goes back he will just be killed. He and taiana argue a bit, with taiana trying to convince him to join her before finally breaking down and just letting out everything she's had pent up inside since the the end of part 1 of the plot (different story for a different day) Jacian lets out some emotional baggage of his own, including confessing his feelings for taiana,which she is completely surprised about. They talk and mildly argue for a bit more, with Jacian eventually surrendering to his feelings, and vowing to right the wrongs made by his complacency before thanking Taiana for helping him to remember why he became a knight in the first place, and abandoning his old sense of honor to take up arms with the main group and find a new sense of honor, fighting for the people as taiana does rather than just for one corrupt man. Natalio really isnt suprised by this, and simply says that he'll send them both to the grave by his own hands, before being defeated by the main group with the help of Jacian's troops because yknow, theyre loyal to Jacaian before theyre loyal to the king. During the 6-year skip between part 2 and 3, Taiana and Jacian end up getting married, and similarly to the other option Anton is appointed captaianof the Serentian Knights, and remains a close friend to Jacian (along with the rest of his troops, theyre his bois). This mainly leads to more development of Jacian and how he interacts with the other charcaters in the main group, as well as him helping taiana to cope with many of her insecurities and issues, and offering support in a way that none of the other characters in the main group can (i meant to not this earlier as well, she may be very close to other characters as well, such as xayvion, but they just dont understand certain aspects of her personality deep down as well as Jacian does. The two are just a pair of overly excessive goofy knights, and though they may be slightly different they understand each other in a way no one else does).

and uhh thats basically it, this was way more than i meant to write and i really need to go to sleep now so uh yeet- anyways i love these 2, thank you for coming to my ted talk-

#OC shiz #shook rambles #Taiana (OC)#Jacian (OC)#this took an hour and a half please take it #also its probbaly non-comprehensive gibberish im sorry #im just very tired and brain is going brr and aaaaaaa i love these 2 #the angst makes me sad but like it makes for good character development #i have become what i swore to destroy noooo #time to make aus for my own oc stuff y e e t

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makiema · 5 years

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I was just reading Snk 123 again and somehow I’m just so sad that Isayama literally flipped Levi out of Eren’s life just like that. I mean this has been hard to accept for a long time now but with all the miscommunication between AM and Eren in this chapter, it is even harder to take in. Levi has played such a big role in Eren’s development and has always understood Eren better than anybody. His pov is extremely important at this point. And I’m just a lot frustrated at how Isayama keeps pushing him out of the whole conundrum. So basically I wanted to write a meta but I was just too sad to write a meta so below the cut is just a whole rant about Levi and Eren and why we need Levi back in Eren’s life. Eh, it’s like really long but I just had to get this off my chest.

I just want Levi to talk with Eren once more before the manga concludes. His POV is extremely important rn, more than ever, given that he was the only one who acknowledged Eren for his whole self ( yes both his darker side and the baby side). Additionally he was the only one who talked to Eren in his language (like freedom and choice) something that would later influence Eren’s outlook and consequently his speeches too. I don’t have anything against AM (in fact I love both of them a lot) but really the fact that they CHOSE to see only one side of Eren is something that’s undesirable and unfortunate. I mean, every living person has a darker twist associated with them. Nobody is flawless and it’s important for us as well as people around us to acknowledge the flaws, to accept a person for who he is. Choosing to ignore the darker aspects and accepting only the idealised version of someone is rather naive and immature behaviour.

And here I just wanna point out how Levi was always aware about the darkness that Eren possesses inside him. He has always spoken in terms of duality when it came to Eren like to him, Eren was both a “tameless monster” that might be dangerous and also his “source of all miracles” ,i.e., his hope. Levi is someone who never had a Romantic perception of Eren. But for AM, it was just the opposite. Could it be because AM were somewhat afraid that if they chose to see Eren’s darkness it might make them love him less and also shatter the idealism they associate with him? And am I blaming AM for having this outlook? Hell no. It’s a personal take but tbh as teenagers that’s not uncommon. I mean we do like to think that the people closest to us are absolutely perfect. We like to believe that they can never be in the wrong, specially when it comes to family and childhood friends who’ve been there for us since forever. It’s hard to accept that they might have a darker side to them. AM love Eren so much that it makes them turn a blind eye to reality and they “did not want to see” the slow transformation in Eren because that could lead them to confront Eren’s demons.

However, coming back to Levi, he really foreshadowed Eren’s whole character arc in his understanding of Eren’s nature. Yes, Eren does have a darker psychological side: he is essentially a monster that cannot be hold in check by anybody. Mikasa and Armin tried in 112, but sadly they couldn’t get through to him. And also, let’s talk about the difference in approaching Eren when it comes to AM and Levi. Armin, in all the instances he managed to talk Eren out of his delirious state, has always made references to the outside world and elaborated on the beauty and variety that lies there. It was kind of like projecting his own dreams onto Eren and not realizing that Eren doesn’t care about oceans or mountains or deserts or anything. For Eren, it is not about the beauty of the world or the variety in it, it is the FREEDOM and the FREEDOM OF CHOICE that a person who’s not oppressed has when it comes to seeing and experiencing the world. In contrast to Armin’s way, we have Levi’s way of approaching Eren where he talks about the different taste in air outside the walls because the outside has what BOTH OF THEM value: FREEDOM. Levi also talked about how hellish the outside is, in contrast to Armin always associating beauty with it. And when Eren later talks to Falco he tells that what awaits him might just be another hell, but it could be hope too- the hope of finally being free. Levi has a superior understanding of Eren, of what he needs to hear, etc.- something that can’t be just thrown out of the window. (Isayama did just that by denying any involvement from Levi when it comes to Eren’s recent actions/attitude. He denied us the talk that was much needed)

Now the VN isn’t exactly canon given that it wasn’t written by Isayama but we can consider it semi-canon as it required Isayama’s approval. So, the whole thing highlighted the message that “Humanity’s strongest understands Eren Jaeger very well” and yeah, even going by the manga we know Levi is integral in Eren’s development and is the only one who saw through the duality in Eren, understood his drive and his will. So why all the focus on Levi’s understanding of Eren if it is supposed to amount to nothing in the end? I get that Isayama wanted to set it up like Levi’s role in Eren’s life is over but it is just so abrupt?? I mean, okay I accept that when Levi said “He’s fifteen. Everyone has a phase like that”, it was an indirect reference to the fact that Eren is in the teenage phase™️ where he wants to be left alone with only his friends and therefore, Hange shouldn’t be so inquisitive (and maybe Levi too should not concern himself with Eren as much as he used to before??) Like, if we look at this way, it justifies Levi’s distance from Eren post the basement revelation. Since then, we got no other moment of conversation between them while before that, there’d be plenty. I get Isayama’s motif of taking Levi out of Eren’s life to add fuel to Eren’s gradual isolation from everybody but then why did he bother to put so much emphasis on Levi’s understanding of Eren in the beginning? It should have some ulterior purpose right? If the Rumbling does happen and the world is really destroyed (i’m not ruling out the possibility of the world destruction not happening im just considering the situation if it really does comes to the worst), there has to be someone who reproaches Eren, someone who berates him in a way that he understands and reflects on what he has done; someone who brings up the topic of if this is really what freedom demands and actually gives us the answer to the pertinent question: if this was the only way? And I cant think about anyone else really suited for this other than Levi- someone who realized the potential for danger that Eren holds? someone who always realized his desire for freedom? (Also, Levi and Hange are the only senior officers left right now so it ideally should be either of them but because Levi played a greater role in Eren’s life compared to Hange, I side more for him being the one to deal with Eren.)

Also, Armin pointed out how he always thought he understood Eren even more than Mikasa but it turned out that he actually didn’t; the same went for Mikasa in 123 when she accepted that she’s been seeing only one side of Eren. Both of them could never accept the plausibility of Eren doing something so monstrous. But, Levi could. From the very beginning. Not that it made him love Eren any less I mean, he did say that he’d willingly go to war again to protect Eren. Besides the vow he made to Erwin, the fact that Zeke could be controlling Eren and it’s Zeke’s fault that the higher-ups don’t trust Eren, also became a crucial factor for Levi to decide going against authority and killing Zeke. That’s how much Levi still loves Eren, even after Liberio. So all I am saying is that Levi should be let in Eren’s life once this all is over and the manga concludes because imo there is no one better qualified to address Eren and talk to him as he is now. Only someone who had a vague idea about Eren’s darkness can and also should talk him down. If the Rumbling really happens, and all hell is really let loose, then is this really the freedom that Eren wanted? Is this a price worth paying? Given that Levi is the only one who has spoken explicitly about freedom to Eren, his take on this becomes extremely important and that’s why we need a Levi-Eren talk or at least Levi’s pov on Eren and the Rumbling.

The manga has established that Levi understands Eren’s drive for freedom and his monstrous essence better than anybody else. In fact, it is an undeniably important aspect of his character arc and unless he gets to have a final conversation with Eren then his arc will never really get a proper closure. At least, this is how I feel and I’m also sad that Isa made him so non-inclusive in Eren’s life just like that and in his place, AM couldn’t understand Eren at all. I mean let’s face it he is Eren’s mentor and his influence on Eren is so visible that this cutting away of Levi from Eren’s life just doesn’t sit well with me. Maybe it’s because I’m biased idk but I strongly feel like Levi should get a final say on Eren and his behaviour, because right now, as it stands, he is the only one who got the closest to understanding Eren, all of him.

#idk im just rambling #and im sad #it just hurts that Levi would become so unimportant #like idk why all the focus if it means nothing in the end #im bleh #snk #ereri #sorry for the rant #levi ackerman #eren jaeger #levieren #snk 123

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darkzorua100 · 6 years

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Well safe to say, episode 89 didn’t play out the way I hoped it would. Soulburner ended up pulling out the win, to no one surprise, and Windy ends up burning to death. Yeah...have fun with that one dub. Now I stated that if this was going to be the end result, I was not going to be a happy camper because Windy NEEDED this win far more then Soulburner did, for his own credit and for the plot. However, because of one simple detail at the end of this episode, what could have been me just going on the rant has instead now me viewing this episode as what I like to call Pandora’s Box and a time bomb.

Currently we’re going through a bit of a despair at the moment in terms of the writing in my eyes. One of the main reasons why I thought Windy should have won this duel was because currently Team Playmaker has the numbers advantage. We need more causalities from his group to even out the playing field. To have Spectre be the only loss from this group because of Ignis plot armor and Revolver being freaking Revolver would just be stupid in my eyes. Windy also needed this win because they have been building up a Revolver vs Windy rematch. To not have that be delivered after all that talk of revenge from Windy seemed like just a waste. To have him beat someone like Soulburner would not only give him some MAJOR credit as a duelist, but it would also make him a threat if he actually went to challenge Revolver right afterwards.

Then there is Soulburner’s sides of things. He needed to lose this duel because one, he just needs a lose at this point, but the main reason why I wanted him to lose this duel was because what are they going to do with him if he was going to win this duel? Lightning is already short on members. He already lost Haru and now Windy, leaving only himself and Bohman. He even had to bring in Kusanagi to duel Playmaker and Revolver still hasn’t even dueled yet. Keeping Soulburner in the mix just didn’t make sense to me because if Windy won, he would have went to challenge Revolver and lets be real here, he would have lost that rematch and would have been killed there. Blue Maiden is more then likely going to lose to Bohman, leaving only Playmaker and Revolver left to challenge Lightning and Bohman in what I would guess a tag duel. Clearly there is a problem if Soulburner is still around. But like I said, one simple comment and action changed everything and is what I like to call the hope that is remaining inside of Pandora’s Box. Well maybe not hope for the characters in the show but hope for me as a viewer.

Are we actually going to get a Soulburner vs Revolver rematch?

At the end of this episode, when Windy was being burnt to death, Flame absorbed what was left of Windy’s data. However, before that, Windy made a vow that he won’t let go of his hated, and he was cursing Soulburner and Flame. Now this could have been empty words, as Flame stated that AIs don’t have curses, but I seen and read enough fiction to know what this amount of lingering hated always leads to. Nothing ever good. Windy’s death doesn’t just make the anger disappear. Death only intensifies it and it is going to leave a mark on something. I’m willing to bet that Windy’s data is going to end up having some kind of effect on Flame, a virus that is going to run wild and corrupt his whole system. Now who knows what kind of effect that in turn could have on Soulburner. As seen with Spectre and Earth, the Ignis and their Origin are connected. If one is affected by his virus, the other will probably be as well if only from just the fact that Windy cursed Soulburner as well as Flame. And if Soulburner isn’t affected by their connection, whose to say that Flame won’t corrupt Soulburner’s program himself? Soulburner is just a digital avatar that Takeru’s using afterall. If Windy really wants to break these two of their bond, that’s truly one way he could do it. And if Windy can get into Soulburner’s system, it wouldn’t be like he would be brainwashing him into doing something he doesn’t want to do. I feel like Windy would be attaching himself to Takeru’s own anger and intensifying it. Takeru’s rage has been such as focus point as of late when it comes to his character. He has so much build up anger inside of him that’s just waiting to be taking advantage of and unleashed.

This is why I can very well see us getting a Soulburner vs Revolver rematch. Takeru hates Ryoken. He blames him for everything that has gone wrong in his life. Even after what Yusaku told him about him being the one to save them from the Hanoi Project, the hated isn’t just going to instantly disappear. Add to the fact that this will be Windy corrupting him. Another being who hates hates Revolver. Windy wanted nothing more but to take revenge on Revolver for almost destroying him but was made to duel Soulburner instead. A part of me is starting to wonder if Lightning deliberately made Windy duel Soulburner, knowing that something like this could end up happening. If the hated alone isn’t going to cause some kind of virus to form inside of Flame, keep in mind that Lightning was the one to heal up Windy after he was almost destroyed by the Hanoi’s virus. Who knows what else he might have put into his data while doing so. Like a Trojan Horse almost. If Windy won, that’s one less threat to worry about and if he lost, Lightning ended up with a stronger pawn to take his place. And like I said, it wouldn’t be like brainwashing him into doing something he doesn’t want to do. Soulburner wants to beat Revolver and Windy would only be pushing that desire to the top of his prioritizes list. In a way, we would be killing two birds with one stone, getting a Soulburner and Windy rematch against Revolver.

Of course this is all speculation at the time being but I honestly don’t see why else they would be keeping Soulburner around if something like this doesn’t happen. Sure we could end up with a Soulburner vs Blood Shepherd rematch or Soulburner vs Spectre match up, since we know Lightning still has their data somewhere, but I honestly don’t see Soulburner losing to either of those two and I don’t see us getting a Disaster Trio team up against Lightning and/or Bohman as the final battle of the season, regardless of how awesome that could end up being. Lightning needs all the Ignis to complete his master plan, meaning that Flame is going to have to be killed off at some point, meaning Soulburner has to lose, and what better way to have him go out then by losing to Revolver, which is the most realistic lose this guy can end up getting at this point.

But yeah as for the episode itself, it was okay. Besides that ending foreshadowing a LOT, the duel was just meh. I still hate the fact that Lightning’s group can use Skills during Masters Duels, it is such bullsh*t on so many levels, but the Xyz Summon, which came out of literally nowhere and has no explanation for, was freaking awesome. That animation was incredible. And that was just for a Rank 3! I want to see Soulburner Xyz Summon something with a higher rank now or Pendulum Summon. Oh my god, him Pendulum Summoning with that fire theme of this is going to be glorious if it actually happens. Still think Revolver is going to be the first to Pendulum, maybe during their duel if again it happens.

As for the preview, Blue Maiden vs Bohman. Regardless of Soulburner’s win, I still don’t see Blue Maiden winning this duel. I haven’t heard or seen anything of the cast list yet for this episode so I don’t know what to expect going forward into this duel but hopefully it will be a good one.

#vrains #vrains spoilers #Thoughts #theories

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the-connection · 6 years

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A new documentary reworks the memoir of Bowers, who boasts he paired Cary Grant with Rock Hudson and Katharine Hepburn with 150 brunettes and slept with so many actors he didnt have time to see their films

Scotty Bowers was a 23-year-old petrol station attendant on Hollywood Boulevard when the actor Walter Pidgeon pulled up to the pump and asked the dimpled blond to jump in his Lincoln. It would be the ride of his life. Pidgeon was gay, claims Bowers in his autobiography Full Service: My Adventures in Hollywood and the Secret Sex Lives of the Stars, and that afternoon they became lovers. Bowers himself transcended labels. Years later, he startled sexologist Dr Alfred Kinsey by checking off every sex act on his list (and took him to orgies to prove it). Guys, girls, spouses, kings, consorts and a three-way with Ava Gardner and Lana Turner. Bowers had done it all.

[Kinsey] came looking for me, says Bowers, now 95, on a hot afternoon in a Hollywood courtyard apartment. Things he thought impossible, I came up with. With his devilish blue eyes and thick white hair, it is easy to picture why he was popular. He burns with energy, as though he spent his retirement stoking gossip he vowed he wouldnt spill while his lovers were alive. J Edgar Hoover? A drag. Vivien Leigh? A hot, hot lady. Wallis Simpson? A real ballsy chick.

Bowers (second from left, back row) with friends. Photograph: Courtesy of Greenwich Entertainment

Bowers used to turn tricks in this same building. Today, the vintage-style pad belongs to the director Matt Tyrnauer, a former Vanity Fair journalist who recently reworked Bowers memoir into the eyebrow-raising documentary Scotty and the Secret History of Hollywood. Tyrnauer, sitting next to Bowers and gently nudging his digressions on track, confirms that he called the Kinsey Institute to check Bowers tale. They knew exactly who he was.

Everyone knew Bowers. George Cukor, Gore Vidal, Merv Griffin; Tyrone Power referred to him in letters, interviews and biographies, calling him Scotty, Sonny, or just the gas station on Hollywood Boulevard. Tennessee Williams hand-wrote a 40-page story about him, which Bowers found embarrassingly over the top.

I said: Tennessee, forget that bullshit, says Bowers. I should have kept it. Instead, for decades, people pushed him to write down his own memories. I kept putting it off and putting it off, and all of a sudden, almost everyone they wanted me to write about was dead.

Lana Turner and Ava Gardner, with whom Bowers claims to have had a threesome. Photograph: Keystone/Getty Images

In 1946, the year he met Pidgeon, Bowers was competing with millions of other returning second world war veterans for work. Canoodling with a celebrity for $20 made more sense than digging a ditch for $10. After Pidgeon spread the word about his new friend, more luxury cars began to cruise by. Soon, Bowers side-hustle had expanded to a parked trailer with two king beds, glory holes in the bathroom and a battalion of good-looking men and women to fix up with some of the biggest names in Hollywood. Bowers boasts that he paired Cary Grant with Rock Hudson back when the Pillow Talk star was still named Roy, and introduced Katharine Hepburn to 150 lovely brunettes. As for Hepburns rumored paramour Spencer Tracy, Bowers says he slept with him, too.

Hepburn and Tracys complex relationship is a fascinating example of Hollywoods hypocritical and literal moral code. Publicists decided it was better to pretend the friends were having an affair than explain the real reason why Tracy wasnt living with his wife Louise, to whom he stayed married until his death. A heterosexual affair was forgivable even romantic and it wouldnt get either actor fired. After Fatty Arbuckle was put on trial for the rape and murder of Virginia Rappe, the studios began to add a clause in their contracts forbidding actors from committing any offence that risked public hatred, contempt or ridicule. While the courts found Arbuckle innocent twice the Hollywood moguls believed just a whiff of indecency could destroy the entire industry. The swinging days of the early silent era ended overnight. Performers became studio property: they were told how to dress, how to behave, and who to date, or at least pretend to.

Bowers in uniform in the 1940s. Photograph: Greenwich Entertainment

It was a lucrative lie. Roy Harold Scherer got his teeth capped and became Rock Hudson. When the tabloids began to nag Hudson to get married, the executives betrothed him to his lesbian secretary Phyllis. Archibald Leach was rechristened Cary Grant and wed to the great beauty Barbara Hutton, although the love of his life was screen cowboy Randolph Scott, with whom he lived for 12 years as a roommate. Bowers says in his book: The three of us got into a lot of sexual mischief together.

Living double lives took a toll. Eventually, Hudson began drinking a bottle of scotch a day and recklessly sleeping with strangers. Grant tried psychedelic therapy and spoke in quips that hinted at his unfulfillment. I played at being someone I wanted to be until I became that person, or he became me, he told his biographer. Even his most famous quote Everyone wants to be Cary Grant. Even I want to be Cary Grant sounds like a whispered confession, or maybe a misdirection. What if he just wanted to be as free as Archibald Leach?

Bowers bedded so many movie stars that he didnt have time to see their movies. A movie takes a couple hours. I was busy every minute. When his daughter, Donna, died, he went back to work that day. He shared a home with her mother, his longtime partner Betty, but slept there only a few times a year. In the documentary, he teeters towards admitting regret for spending most nights in someone elses bed. But he candidly admits his only true passion was money. He grew up hungry during the Depression era, and, as a young teenager, he turned tricks for two dozen Chicago priests who paid him in quarters. That would be abuse in everyones eyes but his. In the documentary, Tyrnauer repeatedly presses Bowers about his childhood, and does so again today.

Youre very intent on the fact that you dont perceive yourself as a victim, says Tyrnauer.

I did what I wanted to do, maintains Bowers.

That is not the conventional perspective at all, but it is his perspective and I dont judge him for that, says Tyrnauer. I think people get to define who they are and tell their story and express their beliefs.

Executives married off Rock Hudson to his lesbian secretary, Phyllis Gates. Photograph: Kobal/Rex/Shutterstock

I do think that different people are different, thats very true, replies Bowers. Im speaking for myself only.

As an adult at the petrol station, Bowers never took a cut of other peoples cash. To him, that meant he wasnt a pimp; he was a purveyor of joy. The most important thing was company, says Bowers. The LGBTQ community didnt have many safe places to connect at that time. Homosexuality was illegal in California until the 1970s. When the Los Angeles Police Department vice squad the sexual Gestapo, says Tyrnauer barged into a gay bar, patrons risked being arrested, shaken down for cash, shipped to a mental institution, and possibly lobotomised. The LAPD targeted the Hollywood glitterati because they had careers to protect and money to spare.

When the petrol station became too famous, Bowers became a for-rent party bartender, which gave celebrities an even better excuse to invite him into their homes. Even that was risky. One cop memorised Bowers car registration plate and would pull him over, scare him a bit, and then undo Bowers pants while complaining about his miserable marriage. I hope he found happiness, writes Bowers, charitably.

The vice squad is responsible for Bowers impressive memory. Midway through one aside, he recites the address of a silent movie star who has been dead for 45 years. Terrified of a raid, he rarely wrote down his friends information. It was all in my head, says Bowers. I never kept anything. If I wrote down a number, I had it in my hand until I tore it up. Even then, he would swap the first and last digits to ensure the persons identity couldnt be cracked, a trick inspired by the Navajo code talkers.

Now, Bowers has no secrets. Critics have slammed the book and the documentary for outing celebrities without consent. In the film, Tyrnauer includes a film fan arguing that legendary stars deserve more respect. Bowers counters: Whats wrong with being gay? Others have thanked him for sticking up for the real person underneath the studio gloss for revealing their truth the way they might have if they were alive today. It is impossible to know how Hudson and Grant would have chosen to live in a country that legalised gay marriage. Perhaps their lives would have been happier. Although, Bowers notes, even in 2018: Everythings not going to be out in the open. More actors are out, but now must prove they can play both gay and straight characters. Neil Patrick Harris has succeeded; Matt Bomer is trying. Some have decided that it is still easier to hide.

Asked if he is biting his tongue about anyone alive, Bowers blurts out the name of a beloved actor and her 169% gay husband. He is dead; she isnt. So, Bowers will wait. Let me tell you something: when youre dead youre dead, he insists. Later, when the conversation turns to Kevin Spacey Bowers claims to know one of his exes Tyrnauer steadily repeats that Bowers information about the alleged perpetrator is merely secondhand. The director is clearly, and correctly, aware of the complexities of talking sensitively about sex in the era of #MeToo. But after eight decades of secrecy Bowers sighs: Poor Kevin Spacey, he was right in the middle of a picture and they dumped him and everything. Thanks to #MeToo, morality clauses are making a comeback. This time, one hopes they will only be wielded for good.

Cary Grant (right) with his room mate Randolph Scott. Photograph: Snap/Rex Features

Hollywood journalist Liz Smith once quipped: All this crap about coming out! Honey, I dont think I have ever really been in! Before she died last November, she affirmed that Hepburn was a lesbian.

I was pleased that she went on the record about Hepburn because I dont think shed ever done it before, says Tyrnauer. It really provides a great assist to Scottys narrative about Hepburn and Tracy, because people are in willful suspension of belief about this supposed golden couple.

Even more startling are Bowers lusty tales about Wallis Simpson and Edward VIII. Wally and Eddie, corrects Bowers, waving away their formal names. It was very easy to see how she talked him out of being king of England because she had complete control over him, says Bowers. She told him if you want to fool around and do this and that, you cant do it if youre king.

Scotty Bowers at home in LA. Photograph: Courtesy of Greenwich Entertainment

A lot of people dont believe that particular story, says Tyrnauer. But he places them at the Beverly Hills Hotel in the 50s. We found a picture of them in the Beverly Hills Hotel in that period its in the movie. Four former clients knew Edward, and the couples close friend, photographer Cecil Beaton, titled an entire chapter of his diary: Scotty.

There were many, many factors that connected them, says Tyrnauer. I cross-referenced everything I could. When Bowers described a mansions winding pathway to the pool house, or a gate in a backyard, Tyrnauer would pull up an aerial view of Google Maps and there it was, as though the nonagenarian had visited yesterday.

In Los Angeles, notes the director: You can wipe the dust off something that has been obscured and find the truth. Scottys a living example of that. Here he was in Laurel Canyon for decades minding his business. And yet hes Scotty Bowers, the infamous male madame to the stars, and either you knew it or you didnt.

He has tried to ensure Scotty and the Secret History of Hollywood tells the truth instead of peddling innuendo like tabloids, TMZ, or even acclaimed smut such as Kenneth Angers Hollywood Babylon.

Am I in that, too? asks Bowers.

Tyrnauer chuckles: Maybe between the lines.

There always will be secret life happening, beams Bowers. People should do what pleases them and the other person some people just please more than a few.

Scotty and the Secret History of Hollywood is out now in the US and awaiting a UK release date

Read more: http://www.theguardian.com/us

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