#someone give will nuclear weapons

[honkygay]

TASTE THE RAINBOW MOTHER FUCKER‼️‼️🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️

SHOVING MY RESURGED PJO SPECIAL INTEREST DOWN EVERYONES THROATS‼️‼️‼️

[lizzie-queenofmeigas]

If TG wanna hate Targaryens and Daenerys, fine! Just stay consistent in your hatred. Stop stanning the Greens, they’re Targaryens and never once refer to themselves as Hightowers. Stop comparing your favs to Targaryens. Say goodbye to “my ship is just like Jaehaerys and Alysanne or Aemon and Naerys” and “my faves are like Aegon, Rhaenys and Visenya.” Stop wanting your faves to have dragons, I thought they’re weapons of mass destruction and nuclear bombs ? Stop giving them elements of Daenerys’ storyline, her quotes, titles and traits. No more “I’m no ordinary woman, my dreams come true” for Helaena, no “mother of dragons” titles for Alicent and Elia, no more “my fave will ride one of Daenerys’ dragons!” Stop stanning House Tully, Baratheon and Tyrell, they owe their relevance to Aegon the Colonizer, they are literally collaborators with a colonial government per your own arguments! Stop wanting Jon to be the son of Rhaegar, he was a colonizer who cheated on his Italianx wife, stop basing your arguments on Jon being Azor Ahai on the basis of being Rhaegar’s son, stop fantasizing about him riding a dragon or wielding Dark Sister. Stop wanting your favs to sit on the Iron Throne, that’s a Targaryen creation, and by the way they should not rule the Seven Kingdom’s either, this state was created by House Targaryen, let Westeros decolonize and go back to being seven backwards regions going to war under the smallest pretext! Stop stanning Young Griff, he’s a Targaryen and canonically doesn’t mention his Martell mother. Stop whining about the deaths of Jaehaera and Helaena, they’re Targaryens, shouldn’t you be happy that there’s two less ? Stop watching HOTD and don’t watch any future Targaryen centric prequels. Stop shipping Rhaenicent, one part of this ship is literally someone you consider a nazi colonizer whose ancestors genocided Westerosi, why would you want her anywhere near your pure Andal favorite ?

The truth is that the Targaryens are the coolest house in ASoIaF with some of the best characters and Targ antis know it.

"This ask is lifted from ozymalek/phoenixashes".

[bagdaddyb]

We Should of Been Alt Ending

Pairing: Omega fem!reader x Alpha! Natasha

Warnings: 18+ MINORS DNI NSFW Angst. No happy ending for Natasha. Implied black reader but no characteristics ever described.

AN: This is what I originally envisioned for the previous request.

Original request

You were so beautiful. That's all Natasha could think everytime she saw you. Previous to your pressence she'd never even given an omega a second glance the desire to mate assumed to be trained out of her by the red room. But when Sam brought you to the compound one day everything changed. The visit was harmless you were an upcoming nuclear scientist with the dream of one day meeting and working with Bruce Banner and Sam was a cocky man out to claim the title of best cousin ever. You hadn't wasted time being star struck by the compound or the Avengers within walking through the building as if it was any other office. You didn't stop to greet the team only pausing a moment to hypothesize about Jarvis. Natasha's sure if she hadn't needed to deliver a paper to the lab she'd never even laid eyes on you, and what a crime that'd of been. Crossing the threshold she froze momentarily, your pressence not only a surprise but a distraction. Her eyes stuck on you taking in your features, your voice, your smile. Natasha couldn't remember the last time she felt heat in her cheeks or a nervous turn in her stomach. After she approached interrupting your conversation as politely as she could you merely smiled and said hello before turning back to the matter at hand. The warmth in her cheeks turned into a burn and her usually steady hands became clamy. Not long after you left that day Natasha couldn't hide her curiosity finding her way back down to the lab to ask Bruce just who you were exactly. It was a week before Natasha saw you again. You'd returned for Banner's opinions on your project having changed things according to his previous suggestions. You walked out of the elevator like you owned the building passing by the Alpha without even a second glance. Her eyes were glued to you warmth coming on in her cheeks as she watched you pass.

"Nat... Natasha!"

Clint yelled as Natasha's water began to overflowed onto the table in front of her. Snapping out of her trance she cursed under her breath moving to quickly clean up the area. She wants to meet you, needs too. Pacing the common room she the next day she contemplated how to approach you. Wondered what she should and would say in your presence. Would you even want to talk to her? Even give her the time?

"Excuse me."

Your familiar voice made Natasha freeze in her tracks. Her eyes glanced around the empty room before turning towards the noise. You stood there with a soft smile on your lips papers in hand and purse still on your shoulder. Warmth covered her face as she took you in and suddenly she was a nervous wreck.

"Y-yes *ehm* Yes ma'am, how can I help you?"

You smiled a little wider at her.

"No need for the ma'am, my name's (Y/N) I was wondering if I could get your help with something. I need not only a fresh perspective but also a guinea pig of sorts and Dr. Banner referred me to you."

She could kiss Bruce.

"Yes of course, what's the project?"

You laughed lightly visibly surprised by her answer.

"Wow I've never seen someone so eager to help another they don't even know. I honestly expected resistance considering the stories I've heard from my cousin but I'll chock that up to him being the head strong handful he is."

Natasha's blush deepened at how deep her crush is being thrown blatantly in her face.

"I am developing an anti-radiation suit that will absorb natural radiation in the air or body filter out the good and infuse the bad into a sort of blaster for the wearer. Dr. Banner mentioned that the design was something close to your widow bites so I was wondering if you'd take a look?"

While the question was more or less out of her grasp with Bruce and Tony having taken on the majority of her suit and weapon production Natasha still agreed unable to give up this opportunity to get to know you.

"Sure."

Over the next few months Natasha's first time crush grew to pure adoration. You were everything to the Alpha and the only person who didn't seem to know it was you. It was a simple Wednesday morning after lab runs on the suit. Natasha tried out the blaster and pretended to help with the calibration. Gripping her coat tightly due to nerves she turned back to you on her way out.

"Hey (Y/N) I know a great coffee place down the street, would you like to grab a cup with me?"

You looked up from your computer meeting soft eyes.

"I'd hate to take up more of your day than I already have. You go have a great time I promise the suit is almost done then you'll be free of my pestering."

Natasha fought back a grimace at your rejection. Again. Was she doing it wrong? She was sure she'd paid close attention to all of Clints advice.

"Have a great rest of your day then."

With that the red head turned and left retreating to the compound. Once there she immediately sought out Clint not knowing what else to do.

"I just don't get it. Am I asking wrong?"

The older alpha couldn't help the smile and soft chuckle as he watched the younger one pace. Thinking back to his younger days.

"No, a girl like (Y/N) is so caught up in her work she can miss the simple things right in front of her."

"Its true."

Sam tuned in from the kitchen, even he was feeling bad for the alpha.

"I bet (Y/N) doesn't even realize you're into her."

The red head let out a frustrated huff hands gripping her hair. Forget all this advice and subtly. Next week she was going to be blunt with you. While the red head was determined to make your next interaction work your cousin was not inclined to wait as long. The next day Sam strolled into your office unannounced not even knocking on the large door before entering despite the risk.

"And to what do I owe the pleasure?"

You said clearly displeazed with his abrupt entrance.

"I'm here to point out the obvious to the smartest girl I know."

That made you giggle turning to give him your full attention you cross your arms.

"And what might that be?"

"That a certain alpha who works with you once a week as your lab assistant is crushing on you something aweful."

You laughed audibly this time.

"Natasha? You're kidding. She only sees me as a colleague."

"She has asked you out; and I mean this literally, eight times. She asked you out yesterday for crying out loud. How can someone so smart be so oblivious?"

"No she...."

You pause truly thinking back on the moments Natasha'd invited you places. Remembering her nervous posture. Her let down face at your same response. Remembering how everytime your fingers brushed she blushed or how everytime you smiled at her she stared. She'd always been eager to help you with your project even from the beginning. Thinking on it even then she'd been a blushing mess right in front of you. Your eyes widen in sudden realization.

"Finally."

Sam announces as you raise your hand to cover your dropped jaw.

"Oh my gosh."

"Exactly."

Sam said and suddenly you felt a wave of anxiety wash over you.

"I never thought..... How could I of been...... And she always asked......"

You let go of a sigh rubbing your temples before standing abruptly.

"I have to go see her. She's such a sweetheart and I've been unknowingly rejecting her time and time again. I'm such a dope."

"You said it cousin."

You frown punching him in the arm causing him to flinch.

"Hey what the-"

"Just because I said it doesn't mean you agree dumbass."

The two of you continue to bicker like the siblings you basically were the entire ride to the compound. Your walk to the common room is quick asking Jarvis to summon Natasha to the area politely you think of what you should say. You feel heat in your cheeks due to pure embarrassment shaking your head at yourself.

"Hey (Y/N)."

Natasha's surprised voice rings in your ear and you turn and smile at her.

"Hey Natasha. Listen I want to start off by apologizing. For all my knowledge in science I can't seem to match it in social skills. Believe it or not I've been completely oblivious to your advances until just now I truly thought you only saw me as a co-worker but.... if that offer for coffee is still up in the air, I'd love to go out with you."

Natasha's whole face was on fire after your little speech. Unable to form words she quickly nodded before clearing her throat.

"Of course let me grab my coat."

It's only your sixth date when you go into heat. Natasha was the best. Caring, attentive, patient maybe that's what made you go into your heat a week early or maybe it was the ways her muscles flexed as she pulled herself out of the pool infront of you bending over your body to grab a towel from your shared stack causing your eyes to roam while you locked your bottom lip between your teeth but either way telltale signs of your heat began to flood your body. By the following day you'd fully succumbed keeping it to yourself in an attempt not to rush your new alpha you locked youself in your apartment letting your boss know before tossing and turning in your own bed. Natasha was happy no she was extatic, elated, floating. Words couldn't descibe how happy she's been this past month with you. She'd always imagined what it'd be like to have you as her partner but the reality of it was so much better. Pulling up to your lab with a budle of red roses riding the euphoria she's been feeling for days she couldn't believe how excited she was to see you. Smiling softly to herself as she made her way into the building she wasn't allowed to get far stopped quickly by the kind beta at the front desk.

"Ms. Romonoff! I'm sorry Dr. (Y/L/N) isn't in today."

An eyebrow rose on the Alpha but she nodded thanking the beta all the same. You hadn't mentioned you wouldn't be in, you were always in your lab. Beginning to worry she quickly dialed Bruce who luckily answered after only two rings.

"Hello?"

"Do you have a meeting today with (Y/N)?"

"No our meetings are usually Thursday but she actually just called this morning and cancelled this week."

"Thanks."

Now Natasha was panicking. If she'd been using her logical brain she probably would of been able to piece together why you suddenly weren't at work and cancelled on Bruce only this week. But she wasn't, the first person she's cared for on a deeper level since the red room suddenly disappearing only caused huge red flags to pop up in Natasha's mind. Rushing to your apartment that she shouldn't even know the location of she couldn't help the way her leg jumped nervously and how her hands uncomfortablly gripped the steering wheel.

Please be ok. Please be ok.

Natasha wasn't going to let anything happen to you, she couldn't. When she arrived at your apartment she didn't even bother with the flowers ignoring the elevator to take the steps two at a time. She made it to the fourth floor in record time heart bumping and short breaths coming out of her quickly. Drawing her weapon she knocked on the door three times before beginning a count down in her mind.

5....4....3....2....

You cracked open your door slowly, not expecting visitors and honestly not in a state for small talk. Your eyes doubled in size when you saw the red head on the other side while Natasha let go the loudest sigh of relief you've ever heard. Pushing past your door with ease she invites herself in wrapping you in a tight hug that clouded your thoughts entirely.

"I'm so glad your okay. I wanted to surprise you at work but you weren't there and Bruce told me you cancelled this week I thought the worst."

You weren't exactly sure what she meant by that but you didn't care your alpha was here. You took a deep breath in of her scent eyes dialating at the smell. Arms coming up to hold her close hand slipping into her hair. You wanted her, needed her.

"For someone so smart it's hard to believe you couldn't come up with a logical solution as to why me. An omega. Cancelled her plans for a week."

Suddenly Natasha noticed your strong scent in the apartment, your near naked appreance, the whimpers you kept letting go in her ear.

"I didn't say anything because I didn't want to rush this but you came to me anyway alpha."

Red flushed Natasha's cheeks as she began to strain against her pants. For a moment she felt stupid so easily pushed into a state of panic but that moment faded as your nails lightly scratched at her scalp pulling her attention back to you.

"My alpha."

Its was a whisper one you let go into her neck but a trigger for Natasha all the same. She needed you, wanted you, had to have you. You were hers and hers alone.

"My omega."

Natasha whispered back placing her nose against your scent gland as she kickes the door shut behind her. Something primal inside Natasha ached for you, she needed you closer. Her roaming hands gripped at you as yours did the same.

"Alpha. Alpha. Alpha."

You whisper taking in her pressence her feel. You've never had an alpha this close during your heat. Honestly you hadn't even considered this a moment that would happen to you. Never thought you'd find a mate like all your friends and family had.

"Mine."

Was all Natasha could respond. She backed you into your couch not romantic but in your collective states neither of you cared. You aren't sure how either of you stripped but you were aware of the drug like euphoria Natasha's skin on yours was giving you. Your hands couldn't stop moving rubbing, touching, and squeezing at every piece of Natasha you could reach. Natasha returned your touches in kind her soft lips pressing against every part of your body before pressing into your own. The kiss was feverish, needy. The contact was enough to make you moan into her mouth causing her length to harden painfully. Your body began to lift against Natasha's in search of friction.

"More."

You weren't sure what you wanted, what you needed more of. You just knew there was something missing.

"My beautiful little omega."

Natasha whispered against your lips moaning out as she began to run her member through your slick.

"Gonna make you my gorgeous mate, gonna fill you with my pup."

You nodded in eager response, nothing had ever seemed more right than this moment.

"Please."

Natasha begins to enter you slowly. Stretching you out in a way none of your dildos ever have. You moan loudly tightly grabbing the back of the red heads neck and pulling her into a seering kiss one she returns eagerly. The moment is all heat and skin. Natasha's hips pound into you on their own accord. Your eyes roll back signalling your first release but it isn't enough for Natasha. She continues her pace like a woman possessed and before you can comprehend your cumming again almost violently.

"Yes omega just like that."

Natasha takes you in, your gorgeous face, stomach full of her. She's going to make you a mother fill you with her pup. Her mate all hers. You feel the heat before you see her face. Natasha's release pushes you into a third of your own.

"My alpha."

You whisper again.

.......

The days that follow as Natasha falls out of her ruts haze she begins to doubt. Sitting on the quinjet on the way to Siberia she can't help but wonder if she's actually ready for this, even deserves it. She has red in her ledger, alot of it and a few months ago she wouldn't of even considered mating. With anyone. How could she be a mother? How could she be a mate? How could she be what you deserved? The week in the cold did nothing but push her further away from you taking her back to her days in the red room which then took her back to her dark past. She couldn't do this. Not with you, you would never live a full life, constantly on the move never safe never happy. You deserve more, more than Natasha can give you. Three weeks later upon her return you await with others on the landing pad. So excited you can't help but bounce the positive pregnancy test burning a whole in your pocket. You were nervous this was the first time you'd see your alpha since your heat and with big news as well but you shouldn't be she was your alpha. Yours. As the quinjet landed your heartbeat quickened to an alarming pace. You bounced on your toes eyes eagerly searching for the soft ones you'd come to dream of. Instead you were greeted by a different alpha though physically the same her body language was different she looked cut off, not meeting your eye. Her exterior seemed hardened. You approached her cautiously, you'd never been here after a mission not even for Sam but you were sure the emotional tole had to be high.

"Welcome back."

Your soft voice sent pain through Natasha. You being here meant what she was about to do was truly about to happen.

"I..."

"(Y/N) listen....."

In an instant you shut down. You should of known better.

"What happened the other night was a mistake. I was distracted by my rut and..."

You grip the pregnancy test in your pocket so tight you're surprised it doesn't break.

"No need to finish. I get it, I should of known better."

You say before walking off. You kept your head held high refusing to let Natasha see the tears you so badly wanted to let go. Your words only cut Natasha depper than her own already were. What had she just done?

.........

Four Years Later

Natasha tied her long red hair back in a loose ponytail as she walked out of her trailer saying a passing goodbye to her cat. The drive into town was long her dark thoughts able to creep up as the time passed on. Exiting her car she entered the grocery store. The trip being a necessity otherwise she wouldn't of bothered leaving her safe house. She went up and down the isles grabbing canned foods for both her and her cat. Items that were long lasting so that another trip like this wouldn't have to happen for months. As her eyes scanned the cans of beans the excited ramblings of a small girl another isle over caught her attention.

"Mommy mommy, can we get this?"

"Mmmh I don't know baby does this match?"

Natasha's ears perked as she heard the one voice she lost hope of ever hearing again. Quickly pushing her cart foreward she moved to the end of the isle to peek around. Could it really be you? Sure enough there you were a small girl in the cart in front of you as you looked at baby items. You glowed as you spoke to the child your familiar gorgeous smile overtaking your face.

"I think I like this one better."

You say to the girl as you hold up a blue cup.

"But dis ones pink."

You giggle at the girl as she pleads her case.

"Don't you think Isaiah would like blue to match his pacifier?"

"No."

You laugh audibly at that and Natasha feels her heart skip a beat.

"Okay baby, we'll get him the pink one."

As Natasha goes to push her cart foreward if only to talk to you one more time another alpha comes around the corner behind you approaching you with an infant.

"Alright I've brought back my clean baby for my pregnant baby."

You smile at the alpha behind you turning to greet them in a kiss before taking the small boy from the alphas arms.

"Mommy I want to see Isaiah!"

You hum as you come around the cart allowing Natasha to take note of your pregnant belly as you bend to let your toddler see your infant.

"He's so pretty mommy."

You kiss the girls head before nodding in agreement.

"Yes he is."

"What about me Avery am I pretty?"

You laugh at your partners antics as the toddler turns her attention to the alpha.

"No."

You visibly hold back your laugh as you come back around the cart to your alphas side rubbing their back lovingly.

"You're pretty to me love."

Your alphas displeased face quickly morphs into one of content as they meet your lips in a soft kiss.

"Thank you baby."

With that Natasha watches as you turn to leave with the family she could of had and the happiness she wishes she could feel. Wiping tears she didn't deserve to let fall she returns to her own shopping the question of what could of been haunting her today just as it'd done the last four years.

[literary-illuminati]

2024 Book Review #6 – Exordia by Seth Dickinson

This is a book I have been looking forward to for quite literally years, from someone who is easily one of my favourite working authors. I also read the short story the book was expanded out from before I even knew it was going to be a book, and so went in spoiled on the broad strokes of what turned out to be the climax of the whole thing. All to say my opinion on this is unlikely to match that of the typical reader, I guess.

Anyway, Exordia is a glorious spectacular mess that has no right to cohere anywhere near as well as it does. It’s target audience is small, but I’m certainly somewhere in it. Please ignore all the marketing it’s so bad you have to wonder if someone at Tor just has it out for the author.

Exordia is a, well, a profoundly difficult book to give any sort of plot summary for. The first act involves Anna, a 30-something survivor of the Anfal Genocide now living a rather unimpressive life in New York City, until one day in the early 2010s she sees an alien eating the turtles in Central Park. Then there’s a cat-and-mouse hunt between terrifying alien snake-centaurs for the future of free will in the galaxy, and the plot jumping to kurdistan, and six more POV characters from as many different nations, and nuclear weapons, and oh so many people dying messily. The first act is an oddly domestic and endearing piece of table setting, the second is (to borrow the idiom of the book’s own marketing) Tom Clancy meets Jeff Vandermeer or Roadside Picnic, and the third is basically impossible to describe without a multipage synopsis, but mostly concerned with ethical dilemmas and moral injuries. It’s to the book’s credit that it never bats an eye at shifting focus and scale, but it does make coming to grips with it difficult.

This is, as they say, a thematically dense book, but it’s especially interested in the fallout of imperialism. The Obama-era ‘don’t do stupid shit’ precise and sterile form of it in particular – the book’s a period piece for a reason, after all. The ethics of complicity – of being offered the choice of murdering and betraying those around you or having an alien power with vastly superior destructive powers inflict an order of magnitude more misery to you, them, and everyone in the same general vicinity to punish you for the inconvenience – is one that gets a lot of wordcount. It is not an accident that the man most willing and able to collaborate with the overwhelming powerful alien empire in hopes of bargaining some future for humanity is the National Security Council ghoul who came out of organizing surveillance information for the drone wars. It’s also not a coincidence that the main (if only by a hair) protagonist is someone with a lot of bitter memories over how the US encouraged Iraq’s kurdish population to rebel in the ‘90s and then just washed their hands and let them be massacred (the book couldn’t actually ship with a historical primer on modern kurdish history, so it’s woven into the story in chunks with varying amount of grace. But it is in fact pretty thematically key here).

Speaking of complicity, the book’s other overriding preoccupation in (in the broadest sense) Trolley Problems. Is it better to directly kill a small number of people or, through your inaction, allow a larger number to die? Does it matter is the small number is your countrymen and the larger foreigners, or vice versa? What about humans and aliens? Does it matter whether the choice is submitting to subjugation or killing innocents as a means to resist it? What about letting people around you die to learn the fundamental truth of the cosmos? Does the calculus change when you learn that immortal souls (and hell) are real? This is the bone the story is really built around chewing on.

All that probably makes the text seem incredibly didactic, or at least like a philosophical dialogue disguised as a novel. Which really isn’t the case! The book definitely has opinions, but none of the characters are clear author-avatars, and all perspectives are given enough time and weight to come across as seriously considered and not just as cardboard cutouts to jeer at. Okay, with the exception of one of the two aliens who you get the very strong sense is hamming it up as a cartoon villain just for the of it (he spends much of the book speaking entirely in all caps). There definitely are a couple points where it feels like the books turning and lecturing directly at the reader, but they’re both few and fairly short.

The characters themselves are interesting. They’re all very flawed, but more than that they’re all very...embodied, I guess? Distracted with how hot someone is, concerned with what they ate that morning or the smell of something disgusting, still not over an ex from years ago. Several of them are also sincerely religious in a way that’s very true to life to actual people but you rarely see in books. The result is that basically comes as being far more like actual humans than I’m at all used to in most fiction (of course, a lot of those very human qualities get annoying or eye-roll inducing fairly quickly. But hey, that’s life). Though that’s all mostly the case at the start of the book – the fact that the main cast are slowly turning into caricatures of themselves as they’re exposed to the alien soul manipulation technology is actually a major plot point, which I’m like fifty/fifty on being commentary on what happens to the image and legacy of people as they’re caught up in grand narratives versus just being extended setup for a joke about male leads in technothrillers being fanfic shipbait.

Part of the characters seeming very human is that some (though by no means all) of the POVs are just incredibly funny, in that objectively fucked up and tasteless way that people get when coping with overwhelming shock or trauma. It’s specifically because the jokes are so in-your-face awful that they fit, I think? It manages to avoid the usual bathetic trap a lot of works mixing in humour with drama fall into, anyway.

Speaking of alien soul manipulation technology – okay, you know how above I said that the points where the book directly lectured the reader were few and far between. This is true for lectures about politics or morality. All the freed up space in this 530 page tome is instead used for technobabble about theoretical math. Also cellular biology, cryptography, entropics, the organization of the American security state, how black holes work, and a few dozen other things. This book was edited for accuracy by either a doctoral student from every physical science and an award winning mathematician, or else just by one spectacularly confident bullshitter with several hundred hours on wikipedia. Probably both, really. I did very much enjoy this book, but that is absolutely predicated on the fact that when I knew when to let my eyes glaze over and start skimming past the proper nouns.

The book has a fairly complete narrative arc in its own right, but the ending also screams out for a sequel, and quite a lot of the weight and meaning of the book’s climax does depend on followthrough and resolution in some future sequel. Problematically, the end of the book also includes a massive increase in scale, and any sequel would require a whole new setting and most of a new cast of characters, so I’m mildly worried how long it will be before we get it (if ever).

The book is also just very...I’m not sure flabby is the right word, but it is doing many many different things, and I found some of them far more interesting than others. I’m not sure whether Dickinson just isn’t great at extended action scenes or if I am just universally bored by drawn out Tom Clancy fantasies, but either way there were several dozen pages too many of them. The extended cultural digressions about the upbringing and backstories of each of the seven POVs were meanwhile very interesting! (Mostly, I got bored of the whole Erik-Clayton-Rosamaria love triangle Madonna complex thing about a tenth of the way into the book but it just kept going.) It did however leave the book very full of extended tangents and digressions, even beyond what the technobabble did. Anna herself, ostensibly the main protagonist, is both utterly thematically loadbearing but very often feels entirely vestigial to the actual, like, plot, brought along for the ride because she’s an alien terrorist’s favourite of our whole species of incest-monkeys. The end result is, if not necessarily unfocused, then at least incredibly messy, flitting back and forth across a dozen topics that on occasion mostly just seem unified by having caught the author’s interest as they wrote.

It’s interesting to compare the book to Anna Saves It All, the short story it was based on – quite a lot changed! But that’s beyond the scope of this already overlong review. So I guess I’ll just say make sure to read the book first, if you’re going to.

[ganondoodle]

dont want to make two posts so im putting them both in one (totk thoughts ... uh oh i cannot shut up)

anyone else find raurus arm .. WEIRD? like, judging how the rings on the fingers are literally MADE for absorbing someones elses ability just adds to rauru and the lot of the sonau feeling .. off- what do you mean you wear a bracelet made for incorporating swears of fealty from others and gaining their abilities while they gain nothing?? and then rauru doesnt even seem to make use of that (which i guess is in line with .. the ghost copies links gets going away if the actual sage is there- SO WHATS THE POINT THEN???) though thats a bit more unclear since ..... we dont get to see ANYTHING from the last battle, all standing around with dirt tm texture on them 5 times and then they throw their weapons (weird.... use your damn ability) so zelda can use her new important time power .... once .... to make them fly backwards again and rauru does one thing :/

another thing, funny how the enigma stones are supposedly enhancing whatever powers someone already had, bc other than ganondorf none really gain anything, they act like they achieved some new power level (and suddendly know how to do it as soon as they have the stone) but then its just a silent ghost copy of themselves and they gain ... nothing but some jewelry, i find that a little .. underwhelming? and strange bc why does gan get a nuclear power upgrade and they print a bad copy of themselves and its treated like the same thing (i know its gan and he kinda deserves to get more out of it but do you know what i mean?)

cant help but also feel like its not even .. related to their own ability, like at all, istn it supped to enhance THEIR power, what does a ghost copy have to do with water magic? (wouldnt that more be sth of the shiekah/yiga .. creating copies of yourself?) if anything its something for link to gain .. i guess? or raurus arm i suppose? wouldnt it have been great if they all had a weaker version of the ability at the start and AFTER they gain the stone it gets upgraded, or its like it now is and after the they get their stone its stronger, like maybe rijus is as normal but then when she has the stone it charges faster and doesnt get canceled if she gets knocked over (assuming the way to control the ability stays the same ... which i wouldnt want bc that is so bad to control even if you change it like this) and giving link access to it is just PART of the stones power and not literally all it is

AND THEN ... you cant even argue that it doubles their fighting power bc now theres two of each bc .... the copies ... go away when the actual sage is there .......................................... so its really just a hamfisted way to give you their power ... and its not really giving you their power its giving you a copy of them which is just clunky and unnecessary, you want the theme to be connection (lol where) so you give the player soulless silent ghosts to accompany you ...? not even the real deal? (i know that would be harder to do bc they are all important ppl in their own region and turning them off would be be strange- but them having to teleport around isnt an argument bc they also do that in their dungeon- hello yuno i didnt know you can fall from the sky at will- and all that wouldnt be a problem with my next suggestion

wouldnt it be even MORE of a connection if it worked more like in botw? giving YOU a literal part of their ability, their soul even, and their abilities are now so much a part of you that you cant sever them, its integrated into your moveset, no silent ghosts to run after, your friends are part of you, ACTUAL YOU and not part of an ancient kings arm bracelet rings

[mhsdatgo]

I've recently seen a lot of discourse sprouting on the fact that in the original writing of the Dance of the Dragons, Rhaenyra is wed to Harwin and she still gets usurped, thus somehow "confirming" that the greens were nothing but misogynists after all, and that she was usurped on nothing but accounts of her gender.

While misogyny is one of the main reasons why Alicent and Otto pushed most lords to agree and pledge loyalty to the Greens, saying it was just because of that is not understanding the position Alicent was in, and what brought her to think that what she was doing was in fact necessary for the sake of her ambitions and children.

Alicent, both in book and show, was a victim and the perfect example of what women in a quasi-medieval setting are promised in exchange for all the pain and sacrifice they go through. In Fire and Blood, she is the daughter of the Hand of the King, the second most important man of the realm. She probably accepted to marry Viserys because she had been promised all the delight that would come with being a Queen, much more if she would've been able to give the King sons, which was what he lacked and what he was remarrying for. Anyone would be happy with that idea. Especially an 18 year old girl who, although described as smart for her age, was surely not a mastermind that wanted to rule the world, please, she just wanted to be happy despite the horrors of the world she was born into.

It's that when she does her duty and gives Viserys not one, not two, but THREE sons and he still doesn't do shit about the succession crisis that is actively waiting to happen then what is she supposed to feel? All her life has been a lie, she's stuck in a position she would've never chosen for herself if only she knew better. To top it all off, the princess that is actually named heir does whatever she pleases and trusts her father to clean up her mess, which somehow ALWAYS WORKS, and is proving herself to be a major risk to the lives of her children if she doesn't react as soon as she gets the chance.

She's had multiple reasons to believe Rhaenyra could and would have killed her brothers the moment they stood in her way, and they kept piling up one after the other, but of course dowright admitting she was doing it to preserve her own safety would draw little to no support, duh, lords don't care about anyone's children unless it's theirs, of course they had to argue it was because Rhaenyra was a woman and she had bastards. That was the only way someone might've been interested to join their cause, because to the eyes of other nobles it turned into a matter of keeping up a certain model of society that gave them various advantages.

And let's not act like the Lords on Rhaenyra's side were that much different either. The Velaryons were Team Black solely because of Baela and Rhaena's betrothal, and other houses simply did the math between the side that had 11 dragons and the side that had 4, and chose the one with more flying nuclear weapons. At that point the ulterior motive was choosing teams because you genuinely wholeheartedly supported Aegon or Rhaenyra, not because you had something to gain lol.

So yes, Rhaenyra is still getting usurped even if she marries Harwin Strong, because she's still a risk to Alicent's children and because siring bastards is probably the least bad thing she's done up until that point. Rhaenyra's genitals and her kids are not the only arguments the Greens can use against her, I promise.

[dangerouslypassiveaggressive]

A Terribly Organized Almost-Essay About Suzanne Collins and Why I Think She Writes

Lukewarm take because it's been years, but here it goes: if there's anything I've learned over the years, it's that Suzanne Collins is not a people pleaser. (The author, at least. I don't know her personally lol). And she be pleasing the people, that's not what I mean! I just kept hearing the same question being asked over and over again. "Why Snow? Why him?? Why not anybody else? Really?? A prequel about HIM??" It really made me think.

And don't get me wrong! I'd slash someone's tires for a Finnick prequel just like the next person (Suzanne please!), but that has never been the point of her writing. The Hunger Games novels, and by extension, the prequel book The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, aren't just fun fiction reads. Yeah, they're gripping. The world-building is superb. Young people are at the center of it. And all these characteristics are great, but the thing that draws us in, that keeps us consuming her media like hungry little caterpillars, is that they are, time and time again, a captivating and accurate criticism, analysis, and deconstruction of the broken systems society experiences in the real world. I can only speak from my own experience as a Mexican American woman in the United States, so take all of this with a grain of salt.

The Capitol is colorful and fun and interesting and horrible and sadistic. And it is all those things because it is a symbol of our own real-world 1%, except our own glittering Capitol members here in the real world feed us the hope that we may reach their status if we only work hard enough for long enough. The Hunger Games system never makes that claim. In fact, they are fed the narrative that the system only works because they're stuck where they are. Suzanne Collins is taking everything one step further in her writing because it is a type of satire, a critique of the things we already know. So as an author, she blows it out of proportion so that her reader will say "look at this! How ridiculous! How would someone let the system treat them this way!" And it is ridiculous, it's downright laughable that an entire society, an entire country, would let itself be oppressed in such a cruel way by just a few people in charge instead of rising up and- oh wow, yeah, I see it. She wrote about us.

Suzanne Collins just organized everything neatly into boxes- well, districts. Because every district comes with some form of product that they manufacture, but much more importantly: a class. We go in order from 1-13. District 1 manufactures luxury items and District 2 makes weapons (but mostly trains Peacekeepers), so they have the most privilege and wealth. On the other end, Districts 11 and 12 are the agricultural and coal mining districts, respectively. That's back-breaking work. Not to mention District 11 puts kids as young as 12 to work, and District 12 is poverty-stricken and starving. "But what about District 13?" You may ask, "They make nuclear weapons! Why aren't they up there with 2?" Fantastic question. If we know, and the people of Panem know, that the hierarchy is very clearly set by literal number order, why would one of the most powerful and competent districts be given more power and be put at the top? Placing them at the end lets them believe that they aren't powerful or competent. I mean, jeez, look at 12 and they're before 13? I wouldn't believe I could make it on my own either. (We know now that's not how things go down, but it's a clever power move regardless.)

But after all this, would it hurt Suzanne to give us a single book just for fun?

Yes, I believe it would, that's the whole point. We're not meant to fall for the Peeta/Katniss/Gale love triangle. We're not meant to be interested in Finnick's secrets and early life. We're not meant to want to know the morbid details of how Haymitch won his Games (with double the contestants! Ooh. Aah.) We're meant to be horrified at every turn, at every story. We're meant to ask ourselves how things got so bad, how anyone let this happen. Suzanne Collins has written wonderfully fleshed out characters that grip us and make us want to know more, but the point has never been them or even their loved ones. It was never about Katniss or Prim or Peeta or Finnick or Annie. It's always been about the systems that let this story happen, and where Suzanne got her inspiration: the very real lives we lead. The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes shows us the same thing.

So why Coriolanus Snow? Because he is the catalyst to a broken system that only serves the powerful. If Suzanne were to write a novel about any of our much more beloved characters, then she would be writing the exact same book over and over about the same oppression happening in the same system. She does not write for the sake of bringing her very well-written characters to life, but to flesh out the poverty, the starvation, the power struggles, the horrors they experience. We know this because she writes a lot of her characters as symbols. (Coin, for instance, as the symbol for a power-hungry figurehead, or Prim as the innocent during war.)

Snow is living in a slightly different biome than what we know from The Hunger Games series. He has to make sacrifices and decisions for him and his family, but it's different. It is a view and critique from the inside looking in. This is not Katniss getting to experience the Capitol for the first time and understanding just how terribly unfair everything is. This is someone who is very aware of the way things work and playing the game to stay in power and keep their privilege. Not only that, but it's someone who feels entitled to all of it. In this novel, Suzanne plays around with power and people's position in it. What if a mad scientist was in charge? What if the creator of the thing that brought a semblance of peace was just as horrified as the reader? How far is one person willing to go for power? What if we saw the dawn of a world we're already familiar with?

So I hope she keeps writing, because I love seeing our world through her eyes and the parallels she writes from our world to hers of the injustices happening every day. Even though we'll probably never get the stories we crave, but that's okay. Keep putting those kids through hell, Suzanne.

[ammg-old2]

Imagine that someone—perhaps a man from Florida, or maybe even a governor of Florida—criticized American support for Ukraine. Imagine that this person dismissed the war between Russia and Ukraine as a purely local matter, of no broader significance. Imagine that this person even told a far-right television personality that “while the U.S. has many vital national interests ... becoming further entangled in a territorial dispute between Ukraine and Russia is not one of them.” How would a Ukrainian respond? More to the point, how would the leader of Ukraine respond?

As it happens, an opportunity to ask that hypothetical question recently availed itself. The chair of the board of directors of The Atlantic, Laurene Powell Jobs; The Atlantic’s editor in chief, Jeffrey Goldberg; and I interviewed President Volodymyr Zelensky several days ago in the presidential palace in Kyiv. In the course of an hour-long conversation, Goldberg asked Zelensky what he would say to someone, perhaps a governor of Florida, who wonders why Americans should help Ukraine.

Zelensky, answering in English, told us that he would respond pragmatically. He didn’t want to appeal to the hearts of Americans, in other words, but to their heads. Were Americans to cut off Ukraine from ammunition and weapons, after all, there would be clear consequences in the real world, first for Ukraine’s neighbors but then for others:

If we will not have enough weapons, that means we will be weak. If we will be weak, they will occupy us. If they occupy us, they will be on the borders of Moldova and they will occupy Moldova. When they have occupied Moldova, they will [travel through] Belarus and they will occupy Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia. That’s three Baltic countries which are members of NATO. They will occupy them. Of course, [the Balts] are brave people, and they will fight. But they are small. And they don’t have nuclear weapons. So they will be attacked by Russians because that is the policy of Russia, to take back all the countries which have been previously part of the Soviet Union.

And after that, if there were still no further response? Then, he explained, the struggle would continue:

When they will occupy NATO countries, and also be on the borders of Poland and maybe fight with Poland, the question is: Will you send all your soldiers with weapons, all your pilots, all your ships? Will you send tanks and armored vehicles with your young people? Will you do it? Because if you will not do it, you will have no NATO.

At that point, he said, Americans will face a different choice: not politicians deciding whether “to give weapons or not to give weapons” to Ukrainians, but instead, “fathers and mothers” deciding whether to send their children to fight to keep a large part of the planet, filled with America’s allies and most important trading partners, from Russian occupation.

But there would be other consequences too. One of the most horrifying weapons that Russia has used against Ukraine is the Iranian-manufactured Shahed drone, which has no purpose other than to kill civilians. After these drones are used to subdue Ukraine, Zelensky asked, how long would it be before they are used against Israel? If Russia can attack a smaller neighbor with impunity, regimes such as Iran’s are sure to take note. So then the question arises again: “When they will try to occupy Israel, will the United States help Israel? That is the question. Very pragmatic.”

Finally, Zelensky posed a third question. During the war, Ukraine has been attacked by rockets, cruise missiles, ballistic missiles—“not hundreds, but thousands”:

So what will you do when Russia will use rockets to attack your allies, to [attack] civilian people? And what will you do when Russia, after that, if they do not see [opposition] from big countries like the United States? What will you do if they will use rockets on your territory?

And this was his answer: Help us fight them here, help us defeat them here, and you won’t have to fight them anywhere else. Help us preserve some kind of open, normal society, using our soldiers and not your soldiers. That will help you preserve your open, normal society, and that of others too. Help Ukraine fight Russia now so that no one else has to fight Russia later, and so that harder and more painful choices don’t have to be made down the line.

“It’s about nature. It’s about life,” he said. “That’s it.”

[commajade]

finally watched watched my brothers and sisters in the north when it's been in my to-watch list for years and it was so touching and so beautiful.

the people interviewed were of course handpicked and have better conditions than other people because of the impact of U.S. sanctions and such, but it genuinely inspired me how hard-earned their good living conditions are. the farmers had to work really hard to re-establish agriculture after the war and now they get so much food a year they donate most of it to the state because they simply don't need it. the girl at the sewing factory loves her job and gets paid with 14 kilos of food a month on top of her wages. the water park worker is proud of his job because 20,000 of his people can come and enjoy themselves every day, and Kim Jong-un himself took part in designing it and came by at 2am during construction to make sure everything was going smoothly. his grandmother's father was a revolutionary who was executed and buried in a mass grave in seoul but in the dprk he has a memorial bust in a place of honor and his family gets a nice apartment in pyongyang for free.

imperialist propaganda always points to the kim family as a dictatorship and a cult of personality but from this docu it's so obvious that it's genuine gratitude for real work for the people, and simple korean respect. if my president came to my work and tried his best to make my working conditions better and to make my life better, i would call him a dear leader too. if my president invented machines and designed amusement parks and went to farms all over the country to improve conditions for the people, i would respect him.

the spirit of juche is in self-reliance, unity of the people, and creative adaptations to circumstances. the docu rly exemplified the ideology in things like the human and animal waste methane systems powering farmers' houses along with solar panels, how they figured out how to build tractors instead of accepting unstable foreign import relationships, and how the water park uses a geothermal heating system.

it rly made me cry at the end when the grandma and her grandson were talking about reunification. the people of the dprk live every day of their lives dreaming of reunification and working for reunification, and it's an intergenerational goal that they inherited from their parents and grandparents. the man said he was so happy to see someone from the south, and that even though reunification would have its own obstacles that we have the same blood the same language the same interests so no matter what if we have the same heart it would be okay.

and the grandma said "when reunification happens, come see me." and it's so upsetting that not even 10 years later, the state has been pushed into somewhat giving up on this hope. the dprk closed down the reunification department of the government last year and it broke my heart.

a really good pairing with the 2016 film is this 2013 interview with ambassador Thae Youngho to clarify political realities in the dprk and the ongoing U.S. hostility that has shaped the country's global image. the interviewer Carlos Martinez asks a lot of excellent questions and the interview goes into their military policy, nuclear weapons, U.S. violence and sanctions, and the dprk's historical solidarity with middle eastern countries like syria and palestine and central/south american countries like nicaragua, bolivia, and cuba.

[motherfeyre-archeron]

SPOILERS FOR HOFAS

Ember I love that you're a girls girl, but the double standard on your part is irking.

She's mad at Rhys for being mad at Nesta for the same reason She's mad at Bryce.

He's a father , husband, and , ruler.

Like Bryce survived ik that but if she did not ,Nesta took a risk and that risk would've damned the people of Prythian. Velaris more since Bryce said the asteri had a vendetta against them.

Nesta unknowingly put all of them in danger. And she knows it ,it was just her pride that said " i don't answer to you or my sister " you're living in their court Miss.

And ember is biased in this scene. To those of you who are saying "Notice how an outsider is not hating on nesta or blah blah"

Since y'all love to compare ACOTAR to a modernized era. Nesta would've been imprisoned for giving a weapon to a stranger as it's considered a treason.

It doesn't mean it's hers because she's the only one who can wield it. If a scientist created a nuclear weapon, does it mean it's his/hers to do as he/she wish???

I actually like nesta's character here , and I initially didn't blame her for giving the Mask to Bryce .

But say what you want , in the ACOTAR perspective Nesta was in the wrong here. She gave a weapon to someone who can open a portal.

[no-psi-nan]

Why Tousuke (Akechi x Kusuke)?

Akechi can beat Kusuo, and by extension, Kusuke, at many games, which gives Kusuke a new rival to focus on

Similar intelligence levels but in very different areas, so they can respect, admire, and actually learn from each other

Roughly same age (~2 years difference)

Kusuke can't lie to Akechi and Akechi doesn't lie, so they'd actually be able to communicate lol

Akechi has a strong moral compass so he'll #influence Kusuke towards fewer weapons of mass destruction

But also Akechi is a lunatic so he would think it perfectly cool and awesome that Kusuke made a cat with a hypodermic needle eye (such efficient packaging, you've managed to fit an enormous quantity of equipment into the compact and adorable body of this robotic feline– a sharp gaze indeed!)

Akechi & Kusuke collab on making assistive devices for Kusuo (without any built-in traps 🙄)

Kusuo, Kusuke, and Akechi all now get TWO playmates. What sorts of insane games will they play??

Akechi & Kusuke doing research on psychics together and helping the other characters discover/develop their powers

Akechi could probably get Kusuke to sleep more than 17 minutes a day or w/e lol.

Kusuke finally gets a real friend and cuddle buddy and maybe more...

They're both somewhere in the aromantic + asexual spectrums and Akechi would totally know how to figure out and navigate those feelings.

Akechi wouldn't be freaked out by Kusuke's bizarre fascinations and kinks or by his occasional need to lock himself in the lab and make something insane

Parallel play in the laboratory or Akechi helping Kusuke with experiments & builds <3 Akechi cooking real meals for Kusuke on occasion and often preparing fancy little desserts to share.

Completely insane date nights. Visits to advanced nuclear reactors. Jet pack excursions. Giant mech battles. Billionaire yacht party where someone gets coincidentally murdered and Akechi gets do a "whodunnit" for realsies. Stealing something out of a museum together. Kidnapping politicians who are making very bad decisions. Eating at both Michelin 3-star restaurants and holes-in-the-wall. Cheating casinos. Debating the morality of cannibalism until 4am. Tour of Europe. Fully immersive virtual reality games.

They PVP psychoanalyze each other for fun.

Most intimidating aura combo of all time. Local blond menaces.

They steal each other's clothes all the time and it becomes an increasingly elaborate game to add security measures to their closets. Until they accidentally end up obliterating each other's closets at the same and laugh and have to go shop for new clothes together.

[ Succumb to my propaganda... ]

[mcflymemes]

SPY / ESPIONAGE PROMPTS *  assorted lines from popular spy & action films

how many times has the government betrayed you?

what the hell are you doing?

you were shot.

you're going to ruin this mission.

where'd you get a suit?

you're my bodyguard, not my business partner. just focus on guarding my body.

thanks for the ride.

tell me where the bomb is.

you're the person who caught him, aren't you?

please don't make me go through you.

the blood is on your hands.

if you were in your office right now, we'd be having this conversation face to face.

i don't trust anybody outside of this room.

hold on! how did you get in the helicopter?

i'm gonna get the detonator!

if you ever feel like you've been poisoned, chew one of these.

jesus, you're intense.

they'll kill you for giving me this.

people do all kinds of weird and amazing stuff when they are scared.

what's your source?

who paid you off?

everything you need is in there.

we prefer to keep a low profile.

did you ever choose not to?

how close are we?

my argument is not with you.

you're really good at staying alive.

stay put and secure the premises.

i told you to send me in there instead.

this is a bad idea.

why don't you come with me?

so now you're going to kill me.

how long do i have?

that is how you survive.

by the way, i can see your gun.

i pulled up my file.

i need you to untie me now.

you have no idea what you're into here.

i don't want to do this anymore.

this is where it started for me. this is where it ends.

do you know what? you play it too safe.

they found a body.

you really think you're ready for the field?

it's just a job. no hard feelings.

ten seconds or you're dead.

i think one day you will understand.

how do you like my english accent?

why won't you just die?

i'll figure it out.

he drove off the roof.

he killed our man.

we're in the middle of an operation.

i sent you to be invisible.

these people will kill you if they have to.

i'm a motherfucking spy.

thanks for your weapon.

look at this. look at what they make you give.

so what's the plan? who are we meeting?

we have to stop the sale of a nuclear bomb.

sorry, the other wire.

i told you to come alone.

you haven't slept for a long time now.

there's a body in the streets.

i'm working on it!

all of the systems are state of the art.

this whole operation was a mole hunt.

nobody does the right thing.

oh, stop screaming. you loved it.

i'm jumping out a window!

you do not have the authority.

we have to find the other bomb.

why are you helping me?

everything i found out, i want to forget.

how could i forget about you?

kill everyone? that's your plan?

you start down this path, where does it end?

how long was i out?

the only person allowed in that room has to pass through a series of security checks.

i got enough trouble, okay?

put the gun down.

i knew it was going to end this way.

they knew we were coming.

if i ever feel somebody behind me, there is no measure to how fast and how hard i will bring this fight to your doorstep.

what's going on at the CIA?

i think we lost enough agents for one night.

you're a total goddamn catastrophe.

someone started this, and i'm going to find them.

you're only alive today because he didn't have the guts to kill you.

you don't understand what you're involved in.

every now and then, send up a signal. let me know you're safe.

the greater the suffering, the greater the peace.

we have to evacuate these people!

you move, you die.

i saved your ass again.

my team! my team is dead!

i tried to protect you.

perhaps we can arrange a meet.

he went out the window. why would someone do that?

i work alone, like you.

i don't think that's a decision you can make.

accept it. you've lost this one.

i heard you talking.

why do you have to make things so fucking complicated?

[perfectfangirl]

notes after rewatching fallout s1 ep6

• this episode begins with cooper doing some masterful propaganda commercial work for vault tec • it's shown in black and white, cooper looks smooth and suave in a 50s way, he's smoking a cigarette and it's giving rod serling, he's in a suit and tie as he strolls the halls of vault 4 [the very vault lucy and maximus ended up at in the last episode] • so vault 4 has three foot thick lead casings, at least the vaults are annihilation proof • "strong enough to keep out the rads and the reds" cannot wait to see what kind of mind laundering barb did to cooper to persuade him to do content like this because • whew ok so i am going to make an attempt to explain the music choice here for the scene [because by looking it up, it feels like a choice made with express purpose]

• the instrumental playing here is titled "improvisation of "tchaikovsky's pathetique (andante)" by django reinhart. ok so what is tchaikovsky's "pathetique symphony"? well it's tchaikovsky's last symphony before his passing. what this got to do with anything? well it wasn't clear what this symphony meant [he never truly explained and he died suddenly] but some motifs with it that fans and studiers have explored something called tchaikovsky's "cross motif", parts of his own songs that he associated with the crucifixion, himself, and tristan [of tristan and isolde]. this motif is about star crossed lovers, y'all. i'll let y'all connect tour dots of your choosing for that one • pieces of this specific tchaikovsky symphony also have motifs of [catholic] requiems, some specialists in his work say this song deals with the power of fate in life and death--- all on wikipedia, there's so much more overtones just for this song and it's actually incredible in relation to this episode, i did not expect this

• cooper in the ad from two hundred years ago passing down the hallway with unit 428, the same exact street and unit lucy and maximus end up at • "meet the hawthornes" wait like the hawthorne institute right • "now this isn't just your average all american family, no lloyd and cassandra here are both scientists" and it's table of nothing but poc ✨ • when i first saw this ad filming scene, i thought they read their lines kinda funny but it really was because they were scientists and not actors lol • "wait a second, did you say "living down here?" well there hasn't been a nuclear incident, has there?" spine chilling--- played as a joke, in a commercial, the seriousness and direness being dismissed by vault tex • cooper doing a good ass take then giving that thumbs up [and to those actual ghouls in suits behind the vault windows looking in at the commercial set] • cooper thanking the scientists and kid actos for coming to do the scene 🥲 • you can tell cooper use to be background and stunt work because has so little ego and pomp when they yell "cut". he thanks the other performers, they're equals in his eyes

• cooper coming for bud's neck first meeting upon hearing that this mf is from west tek, love seeing him be mean to this guy • bud overseeing the rollout of the t45 power armour and talking about how bad the design flaws were without a hint of remorse for how many lives were lost to such a poorly produced piece of technology. "they looked great", if cooper would've punched him right then and there, i would've cheered • "product management was never my bag" what this mean for vault 31? • this conversation was crazy for two reasons, first, cooper is doing that thing again where someone is having a conversation with him but that man is not fucking listening--- barb is in the room and nobody and nothing else matters, he's done this like three times in the show and second, bud is talking to cooper like he's trying to pitch a product, all his conversations with cooper felt like that but the sinister thing about it is • "because what is the ultimate weapon to destroy your competition? it's not outselling them. it's not outsmarting them. it's time. time is the ultimate weapon." and we're told the entire thing, the play's the thing • time being the ultimate weapon means so much for this universe • "... when we almost lost the great state of alaska to the reds" you think they'll show the battle of anchorage or cooper fighting before the bombs fell? • bud is so devious. it's so satirical to me that i find him to be one of the most repulsive characters in this show. and they showed people eating people in this thing. and what do you know? he's like a manager or something. in the hr department. he might as well be as evil as mr. house lmao • i wonder if in the last two hundred years has cooper reflected on this conversation, it was abrupt but dull, almost like a business meeting, devoid of any long term meaning, one of the many inane conversations he's had with suits and yet... bud is telling cooper the exact vault 31 plans, a villain • cooper "i ain't reading all that. i'm happy for you though. or sorry that happened" bud's conversation to go be a wife guy with barb • the whole time, cooper and barb have been eying each other

• listen--- the way cooper slides right behind barb's back and starts kissing her shoulder, in front of like everybody, to the point of a staff barb was talking to leaves, i want to scream inside a pillow • you know? seeing cooper this type of romance and passion in the same episode he sews on that finger, i--- • "i'm at work." and cooper do not care, barb! y'all the only people in the room, baby. according to cooper--- "oh, how 'bout we clock out" he wants her so bad, i'm sick • "but what do you say you and me knock back a couple of pina coladas by the pool, listen to hifi..." the smile once present on barb's face slowly slides off as cooper says this. [cooper is such an introvert, swear] cooper just wanted to get out of there, be at home with his wifey ☹️

• going to be honest here and i say i don't like her throwing a party at their house without checking with or even telling cooper, it's kind of a pretty big red flag for her behaviour on out and i wonder if this is around the time she starts making the decisions that would lead to her and cooper's divorce • no a wrap party for an ad is crazy, vault tec was so in her pockets 😭 • lmao ok but when he thought the wrap party was elsewhere, the way he was like "ok so we go there for a little minute and talk then leave" like it was a game plan, he wanted to be home so bad lmaooo • "the things i'm willing to do for you never cease to amaze me" he would've gone to the ends of the earth for her, i think • i wonder, like the conversation with bud prior, does he reflect on this sentiment towards her. he kinda did and went along with whatever she said. until he couldn't • cooper and barb's house is beautiful btw • little easter egg is the paper cooper is reading at the wrap party in his bedroom says "nuka cola walks back new nuka" referencing coke's new coke fiasco 🤭 • cooper is looking at the vault tec ad of him for the vaults in the newspaper and i bet he's asking himself what he's doing • i don't like the parallel of cooper telling roosevelt he can't come down to the party to barb telling cooper dogs can't come into the vaults 😭 • "i'm heading into enemy territory" cooper is such an introvert 😞 but i also am curious if he's referring to the suits, the corporation and has always not liked this type of ideology and crowds anyways • didn't notice the second paper on the bedroom bench, it says "reds losing territory! troops deployed to far east" so things are clearly escalating [and apparently in the us' favour] • black is walton goggins' colour btw • this scene where cooper walks onto the stairs in front of his own movie poster for "a man and his dog" is one of my favourite scenes because like--- he oozes confidence, coolness, a man. it's a grand entrance, he's a star • this scene where cooper walks onto the stairs in front of his own movie poster for "a man and his dog" is one of my favourite scenes because like--- he oozes confidence, coolness, a man. it's a grand entrance, he's a star • "yeah, i love that one, too. it was my real dog." cooper says with such pride and warmth. it's one of the sweetest scenes in this whole show 🥲 • i really like this scene because fuck i don't love a big ass party at a big ass house • tbh cooper is smoking and drinking to take the edge off because barb really sprung this shit on him • cooper passes by some suits discussing what i can only assume is power armour but looking closely, it's a little weird. what do they mean "negotiations in anchorage are having a serious impact on presales."? are they fucking talking about peace negotiations, ceasefire? "we'll have to circle up with d.c. about that" nah wait what the hell that mean? what the fuck they talkin' bout??

• cooper is thrilled barb invited that freak bud askins to that house party lmao • ay lmaooo sebastian doing the codsworth impression for the pretty servers at cooper and barb's house party and him taking that as interest from them in him and him asking if when after their shift if they wanted to party in the hot tub and them telling him no 😭 • "you might be the only one of my invites who actually showed up" two things--- this makes my statement about cooper only really getting to hear the voice of sebastian in the mr. handy post war even sadder but this also suggests he's losing friends now because of this • this by me meaning vault tec and the whole vault system [and experiments]. i did not catch his career was already being effected by this. he was really willing to risk it all and well... for barb • "i think our hollywood actor friends don't want to be seen celebrating with the pitchman for the end of the world" you don't know the half of it. you hear i lost a movie over these ads? yeah, i showed up to set, the actors wouldn't come out of their trailers. bonnie lewis said it was on moral grounds." no but ok the fact that cooper was already being boycotted by his peers for this. he's already compromising his principles but it's still so inline with his principles. cooper can't yet see they're compromising his principles oof • he got boycotted by his peers then blacklisted by that corporation, oh this would be my villain origin story too--- did anybody who wasn't janey have cooper's back after the divorce? like • wonder what the actors thought about "the man from deadhorse"? • "... radicalism is sweeping through hollywood like a bad case of the clap." lmao jesus • "even got your friend, charlie whiteknife." "are you kidding me? charlie? i served with that guy." and his third eye has simply opened, blackballing machine go crazy in the "fallout" world • "but you my friend, you know which way the wild ins blowing. and it's that--- a world run by people who wear pocket protectors to a pool party." they also show someone with a pip boy. sebastian wasn't actually even joking • here's where the show gets so on the nose, why it might as well be a tissue--- sebastian admits he sold his vocal rights for mr. handy. cooper and sebastian discuss how much sebastian got paid for that. cooper says 10 million. sebastian is taken aback and says 186 pre tax. i'm not good with math so on first watch i assumed 186,000. which is the lowest ball for this. come to find out the wiki says this is the case. cooper asks if he could've asked for more. and sebastian basically implies all his agent could get him was his own mr. handy robot. bonkers. • "i thought the studio owned that character?" "they did. and then robco bought the studio." it's really hard to conceptualize in this episode but this is a fine indictment on the sinister underpinnings of capitalistic evil in this series • sebastian then goes on to say something very prescient. "hollywood is in the past. forget hollywood. the future, my friend, is products. you're a product. i'm a product. the end of the world is a product." i don't know about y'all but i think this is one of the scariest and most bone chilling things said and presented in this show. and this is a show with deathclaws and cannibals. my question is... does amazon know they're talking about them? they're about you too, honey • the fact this show is set in the post apocalyptic wasteland but still intrigues us with dystopian, late stage capitalistic doom both horrifies and fascinates me

• anyhow! the scenes ends and then segues into cooper lying down on the super duper mart floor. having somehow survived the chem binge of the century. i bet he was knocked out for twenty hours • the mr. handy repeating the exact line sebastian did in the scene before ☹️ • every time cooper open his mouth, i almost have tears in my eyes because why when the president [sorrel's] sheriff henchmen walked in on him to survey the situation and cooper says "now y'all here for the ice cream social, i'm afraid i got some bad news for you" lmao why the fuck he be talkin' to people like this, it ki lls me • could not immediately find anything about using teeth as bullets so for fallout i absolutely think it's mad to do lmao "using teeth for ammunition. always finding new ways to kill each other up there, aren't they?" ain't never lied • at first, i thought them asking lucy and maximus to stay for a few days was weird and that they were evil but as the next episode shows, they genuinely wanted to show hospitality 😭 • which makes maximus coming in thinking he's saving lucy with the power suit all the more hilarious and awful dkgdkfgdk • "you had a rotten human tooth lodged in your shoulder" it would take me weeks to go back outside lmao • maximus never experiencing a vault [i.e. real] doctor before • vault 4 got surface foragers

• don't blame lucy one bit for enjoying being in a vault again, the surface is a goddamn shitshow • birdie essentially being a survivor of shady sands, like maximus. so it makes this even more wild as hank's daughter, lucy, would to that vault [and shake things up and throw acid in a guy's face fldgldg] • birdie saying the shady sands blast was so big, they could feel it a three day's walk away. not good at math and cars are in the pasty so roughtly i'd say that's about or a little over a hundred miles away. that's diabolical hank could do that again after experiencing that for the first time on a larger scale before • lucy hearing about the devastation of shady sands. not a single clue it was her own father, oof--- • while in quarantine [as to not make the rest of the vault sick or precaution] lucy is staring at and flexing her hand with the new grey finger on it. wonder what's going through her head there

• maximus to lucy "you smell good" me: "huh?? the fuck he talkin' bout? 😭 • lucy looks down, just as fuckign confused as me. and then it dawned on here. he's a man • lucy is so casual, i love that in this vault 33 or like society or whatever that she hasn't been shamed with purity politics because she asks maximus if he wanted to have sex [vaultknight, this one's for you] • i feel like the very next thing maximus says after this made lucy reconsider the offer because why this man say "you mean use my cock?" man her eyes 😭 why he say thisss • the face maximus makes when lucy asks though, rental free ksfkdg • maximus calling getting an erection "that weird thing could happen" and ejaculation "it gets all big and hard like a big pimple and then it pops" has got to be one of maximus' hands down funniest and most disgusting lines in the show like what you mean pimpleee like what is the brotherhood of steel teaching these guys 😭 • lucy... is so sweet and sensitive, she doesn't laugh or get second hand embarrassment, she simply explains it's all natural and normal bodily phenomena--- remember she's a teacher 🥲

• on one hand yes i think he came back down from the cloud and remembered he's a knight and they take vows [lore doesn't seem to say of celibacy but i think show depiction of the brotherhood of steel might] • but on the other, i think he realises he might be out of his depth and inexperienced for someone like lucy anyways atm so he bows out [hilarious he does ask again later after a shower and some food though 😭] • lucy says her signature "okie dokey", lays out on the gurney and waits out the rest of the quarantine, maximus barely containing himself as he stares at lucy • a cute and downright hysterical scene but isn't it so 🤭 that maximus' pick up line was to tell lucy she smelled good? idk i just think it's oddly sweet • crazy how this scene is basically him rejecting her offer whew

• something about the way fallout weaves false narratives as an unreliable narrator--- i'd sure like a video essay on this because they do it with lucy's memories, they od it with moldaver's storyline, they do it with vault 4. i could name some more put i really enjoy this kind of twist, our presumptions and suppositions do not always service us in this narrative and what is expected often is not what is received • the song that played in this scene sounded so familiar to me so i looked it up and it's "theme from a summer place" by percy faith. "summer place" is a film. you know what the film is about? teenage lovers who broke it off but they reunite years later and find out the children from their individual marriages are they themselves teenage lovers. it's hard for me to articulate but something about this premise will come up again or be relative to the story, just something about this song choice feels important • the quarantine facility is labelled "test subjects" [but it's a red herring gldflgdl] • is lucy eating sugar bombs in the picnic table breakfast scene? • also--- ms. lucy getting that hair done and then it look good for all the rest of the episodes until the finale • you know in this scene, both lucy and maximus are not entirely wrong despite opposing views on vault 4--- maximus thinks the residents are trying to trap them [they aren't] "this is a cult. same as any." [lmao correct] "titus, this is a safe place, where people take care of each other." [correct, also forgot maximus is still donning the ruse here] • lucy and maximus are both in cults but only one of them recognizes a cult when they see it 😭 • maximus asking why? the vault is a safe place where people take care of each other ☹️ • lucy touching maximus hand. then attempting to feed him 😭 • i said this a few episodes back about maximus and thaddeus in the deception reveal scene they had and [besides dane's relationship with maximus] that situation was probably the closest either of them had to friendship. i am saying the same thing again for maximus but this time with lucy.

• maximus and lucy discriminating against this one eyed overseer like that upon meeting him 😭 • the music cue is so startling like please, just a one eye guy 😭 • i think if the overseer would explain why people shouldn't go to level 12, they wouldn't? maybe he operates on the assumption people know vault 4's experiment but i think talking about it would've avoided the situation it caused in this episode tbh • lucy starts discriminating again and observes people exhibiting unusual bodily abnormalities and/or differences. if you think about it, it's kinda fucked up how they act in this vault when a lot of them are surface dwelling shady sands survivors or vault experiment survivors hell or both 😭 • "lots of people have one eye" and lucy saw a two headed cow, what's her deal suddenly lgdgldl • i think it felt "normal" to see a brahmin because the wasteland is tainted, poisoned, unsafe. having that in a vault and appearing in people form is messing with her idealism and programming again. seeing such "imperfection" in vault dwellers is leading her to question the people and not the circumstances. everyone in vaults 31, 32, 33 are bred to perfection. she's seeing nonstandard humans and thinking something's wrong. when the truth is vault tec was conducting much more sinister experiments someone with one eye. the one thing she thought was "normal" shattered again

• somewhere in the wasteland, cooper is being lead by force by these fake sheriffs, the scene transitions to cooper and barb chilling in the hot tub • ok so the song in both scenes is "lonely hours" by gene armstrong, it's fairly clear what this song expresses but i know of wonder for whom • "doesn't get any better than this" you damn right, barb! cooper howard is fine as fuck, there i said it • somebody on here found the exact vintage martini glasses they used for this scene btw • cooper is at the peak of luxury and fulfillment but then asks barb "you ever... think about working somewhere else?" has barb always worked at vault tec? if i finf out their entire relationship was a conspiracy, i will cry myself to sleep • barb says she use to but with cooper doing vault tec ads now, it's like the family business. haha. what

• janey and roosevelt in the same scene ☹️ • "i think about it. quitting showbiz. buying us a ranch up in bakersfield. get back to being a real cowboy again." once more with that introvert bit inside of cooper. wonder which thing inspired him telling her this. you know what's crazy? that in a twisted, cursed way, cooper really did get back to being a "real cowboy" again after the war in the wasteland. i feel so incredibly sad for cooper. he really was just some cowhand who fell into acting • barb asking what she would do and cooper telling her raise chickens 😭 not @ the chicken scene in the first episode! cooper wanted to raise chickens 😭 • barb asking cooper what's gotten into him and this man says "a gin martini" ooo i love everything he ever says like

• the conversation was light but cooper goes on to confess "maybe i've been reading too much news lately. got me second guessing the whole city life." cooper is really and truly questioning his involvement in this vault tc shit and himself • this is the closest walton gets to abs in the series as aaron and ella both have their skin time, can definitely see that tight chest under all that water tho bless • barb has gotten out of the hot tub and starts fiddling with the pip boy, cooper sexily glares at her about it • cooper seems surprised she has one "bud askins... he licensed them from robco. we're integrating them with the vault tec admission systems." barb informs. here go this bud askins mf again • cooper is quite literally gritting his teeth hearing that man's name •"trust me, i know. the company's filled with guys like him. but vault tec exists with or without me." this goes for like any business but it's something about how telling of her individual motives are about this

• didn't realize barb told cooper "doesn't do anyone any good to complain from the sidelines." this is so funnily passive aggressive of her idk. because all cooper was trying to do was attempt to understand why she would put up with all this stuff and she just gets defensive--- he wasn't even demanding she do anything, he just doesn't get being around all these soulless corporate people • "all i'm saying is we have this one life. do you really want to spend your nine to five working with these assholes?" this statement might have basically caused a fight [also, it personally victimizes me because cooper has essentially lived five lifetimes after the bombs fell] • barb exasperatedly says "i need this job, coop. it guarantees us a spot in the vaults." cooper thinks they can just buy a spot in the vaults. then barb says "one of the good vaults." "what's that supposed to mean?" and i'm still with cooper, what the hell does this mean, barb? • i would've questioned my entire marriage after this conversation because

• this implies the entire vault system got something messed up going on with them and that going into a vault was inevitable, spooky • not at one of "the good ones" being vault 4 after the residents successfully were able to take it over and flourish 🥲 • "just.. trust me. please." in some ways, i wonder could she still have been trusted? i have a love/hate relationship with barb, i understand her motivations but not the implementation • anyways, barb was so pretty in this scene, like an evil barbie doll • on the tv in the bar cooper is in, the anchor says "as all nations race to secure uranium and control the future of energy, a shortage has emerged, turning even allies into potential competitors" remember how this entire first season is about different factions fighting over harnessing cold fusion? because i do

• starting to theorize nobody trusted each other and everybody dropped their bombs • ok so, i do not know why cooper met up with charlie whiteknife but i like it lol • seems cooper isn't afraid to be seen talking to charlie though, kinda ballsy • cooper reveals his disbelief at charlie apparently attending communist meetings. maybe he met up with him because he was a close friend and comrade • "we watched people die together up north fighting against all that horseshit." it's not like the hugest plot point or super prominent in flashbacks of his life but cooper is an [ex] military man. and this means i kinda forgot he's basically already [implied] to have killed people. [obviously for a cause but kill nonetheless]. he's been fighting and killing technically for over two hundred years. he's a veteran. that extra layer to his character when you rewatch the bait scene and his speech about torture and his confinement of being buried in a coffin by dom pedro to be dug up every year got a whole new meaning too

• charlie then says "yeah and for what?" cooper next "what do you mean, for what? for the american dream. we're actors. we make movies, charlie." "yeah the american dream has me getting shot in the ass by you all day." don't even know if i have enough space to cover what i think of this conversation--- i mean the topics range from the treatment of veterans when they come back home to the conditions and typecasting minority actors have faced in hollywood • cooper replies "you got five acres in tarzana. i think you're doing alright" cooper has some ignorance here but i digress. charlie tells him don't none of that matter, that vault tec is evil • cooper interjects "my wife works there. you really think barb's the devil?" you know this scene and line hurts like hell for several reasons, chief amongst them being that by calling vault tec evil, cooper takes this to mean barb is evil. walton has gone on record to say after spying revealed her true nature, cooper thinks she's the devil incarnate ☹️ that yeah, i guess barb is evil, that cooper thinks she is too and that cooper probably remembers this conversation. coope probably thinks of how naive and foolish he was to defend her or think highly of her in the first place 😞 • charlie sound like a conspiracy theorist but he told not a single lie. "do you know what "fiduciary responsibility" means?" cooper, ever our cowboy himbo responds "no, i have no fucking idea. i play a cowboy for a living" "ok, so the government has outsourced the survival of the human race to vault tec. vault tec is a private corporation that has a fiduciary responsibility to make money for its investors. and how does it make money? by selling vaults. but they can't sell vaults if the peace negotiations go through. so vault tec has a fiduciary responsibility to make sure that it don't work out.". cooper asks how they could do that and charlie simply reveals he doesn't know • ain't seen nobody talk about this but charlie starts explaining what vault tec is doing to cooper like cooper asked him "explain it to me like i'm a cowboy" 😭 • "you remember that movie we did with johnny morton? you were the sheriff and i was some generic indian?" "cooper, thoughtfully i suppose says "come on, man. don't say that. tallhand mudlake could talk to horses. you played him with grace and with dignity." i don't know but cooper really is a down to earth, sweet guy. and that's why maybe he met up with charlie, they seem fairly close • can i say how refreshing it is to see a show like this be so meta in different ways, having the indigenous character be the one to essentially be the canary in the coal mine about a company trying to bring about the ruin of the united states. i got chills. • "vault tec is a trillion dollar company that owns half of everything" sound familiar? • "i guess everything's a conspiracy, right? come on, man, you sound like you're in a cult" "and you're sitting here defending a system that's ready to set the world on fire, cooper. maybe you're the one in a cult." cooper has no rebuttal for this

• cooper questions his cog in all this again. that statement really had him silent. he had nothing to say for himself. if i thought he was having second thoughts about his involvement with vault tec before, this scene sure solidifies it now • charlie offers him a card of where to meet. at the hollywood forever cemetery [a real place!] then relays "you should learn the truth about where your wife works. for her sake." • the talk about cults in this episode is so ironic • the call cooper denies which was for barb was from hank, only knew this time because i read it, didn't even pick up on it • in the dinner scene [where cooper and barb have a pretty decent fight] there's a couple things about it but one of them i wanted to do was colour analysis. like i mentioned before, i saw a post on it and for various scenes, but for this scene in particular, i too find it curious barb is no longer in her red tone outfits. quite literally every outfit hers up until now has been peachy, pinks ,reds, earth tones, skin tones. but here. in this scene she's blue. a completely different tone and colour. cooper is wearing blue and yellow again [these are basically his signature colours] but barb in blue? very different for her

• not only is barb in blue but she also has on a pip boy. she even starts talking and acting different hence the fight • as an aside, janey reading "little house on the prairie" [a book about a young girl's life in the old west] to roosevelt is very cute • cooper thinks it's cute janey is reading to roosevelt so he goes "ah, does he like it?" with the cutest smile. mans loves his dog 🥲 • barbs lets out a sign and cooper asks her what is it. "it's going to be hard on her. that's all." "what is?" "you know, no dogs in the vaults." cooper stops mid chew. what the hell is barb talking about? • cooper's whole demeanor changes, he's not even chewing his food the same, he goes for a swig of wine but not before asking "says who?" • "no dogs is the vault says who?" "well... there's just. the um... that's the policy." dogs eating meat is an "unavoidable inefficiency". cooper is rightfully unsatisfied with this answer. "that's not really the question, is it? all i'm asking is who decided that there were no dogs in the vault?"

• barb decides to take offense again to cooper's probing of the machinations that be at this company. "well, i think that is a relatively trivial concern given the prerequisite conditions of living in a nuclear fallout shelter" it's something so disturbing about this conversation. and i believe this is predicated exclusively on the notion of displaying vault tec's lake of compassion and humanity. also, is this not a brainwashed barb? who is this woman and what have they done with barb? • cooper simply asks: who makes the rules? and that "no dogs allowed" must be new because it sounds like some shit that didn't get ran by anybody 😭 • "i mean, what else do you have in store for us? are the blue jumpsuits, are those mandatory? what i don't want to wear a blue jumpsuit? what if i want to wear a green one?" lol • barb is like "so the bomb falls and you want to know about your wardrobe?" "no, i want to know about my freedom." i want her to be serious • cooper explains to her that he didn't go to war defending that freedom so that he could live in a cellar under the boot of upper management. i really feel like barb is failing to consider what she is asking of cooper. roosevelt isn't a house plant or a car. roosevelt is cooper's dog. a dog he loved and so much, it was in one of his films. how is cooper inquiring about the policy implementation trivial at all? she's just awfully cruel to me about flippant here and the secrets she's keeping from cooper were already causing their marriage problems • i do not like barb's retort being like, a lecture to cooper about how sad and worried she was waiting for him to return from war. and he immediately yields to her statements--- like is sorry for making her worry about him. when was the one out in the field both watching people die and probably also killing some too. all for wildly misguided people like her. her experience is just not comparable to his so i just hate the way barb is in this scene. she's changed • "so, you do not need to tell me how bad war is, coop." i'm sorry, but what the fuck would she know? lmao

• when barb says "everyday i go into work and think about how humanity can survive a nuclear event that will wipe out 90% of life on earth and i come home and you're talking about hiding out at a ranch up in baskersfield" whoa whoa whoa--- where is this coming from? obviously i don't know the day to day conversations these two have but it's like she's minimizing his desire to step away from hollywood and then frame it into some kind of fantasy she thinks he was having. there's nothing wrong with his desire to do that and her making it seem like it was stupid and unreasonable don't sit right with me either because • barb says "you know, i don't even know what planet you're on sometimes, coop" and it's like? planet earth. why is she talking to him as if he's not a veteran or spokesperson for nuclear fallout shelters? why is she also talking to him like he go to work with her everyday? how could she imply a veteran has his head essentially in the sand?

• barb continues her harangue "and no, none of it is ideal. but if billions of people are going to lose their lives, i will do whatever it takes to make sure the people i love, that is you and that is janey, aren't among them. i have worked hard to make sure we go into a special vault for management, where we will oversee all of the other vaults. you don't get it. this is the best we can possibly hope for. for janey." well. barb's speech is a whole revelation. an unsettling and terrifying one. why, she almost sounds as if she's in a [doomsday] cult. why in the hell is barb talking like she knows the bombs will drop? also, how spooky is her saying she'll do whatever it takes to make sure the people she loves don't get blasted and i just. to what lengths will barb go through to do that? • cooper's face this whole time is a mix between a hurt puppy dog and a man questioning who he married, his principles, and the world around him • how insane is the best someone like barb can hope for in a vault is a management vault [vault 31]. how disturbing that vault tec ran so many experiments, "good" vaults were few • barb appears to have lost her appetite by now so she gets up. ever the sweetheart, cooper gets up to apologize to barb for their fight. and what he says next is so soul crushing and also ironic. • "i know you always try to do the right thing. that's what i love about you." oh, they're breaking my heart • love that the next scene is overseer benjamin explaining how a toilet works to lucy gdgkdfkd • overseer benjamin somehow for whatever reason thinking lucy's name is "goosey" maclean, is not an accident ☝️ they know that sounds like a certain other word associated when two characters in this show 💀 • lmao can someone explain why overseer benjamin put on bifocals to read a paper when he only got one eyes • overseen benjamin is a fifth generation vault dweller and lucy [being prejudice again 😭] is surprised to learn this. she almost tells him she thinks this because of his eyes but doesn't 😭 • fucking hysterical when lucy realises this one eyed overseer is prejudice himself against wastelanders when it's like? you think like him and also don't think vault dwellers look like him either 😭 • lmao why overseer benjamin got moldy drinks on his desk?

• overseer benjamin says he's open minded but then complains about the wastelanders smelly food and weird ideas. lucy asks him why he keeps accepting wastelanders if he himself doesn't even like them. then he reveals it's a vault policy lol • overseer benjamin is weird and not at all because he has one eyes [he's a bit of an insensitive jerk] 😭 • i don't get why overseer benjamin just didn't tell her in simple terms what level 12 is, being aggressive to lucy about it made her want to investigate it • lucy being told to skedaddle 🤭 • watching the scene where birdie comes across maximus trying to steal vault 4's fusion core is so different on second watch when you realize birdie was being nothing but truthful and warm to him • they're playing all the string music cues and everyone is regarded with suspicion but it's literally just maximus discovering comfort, community, and altruism for what feels like the first time 😭 • birdie even wrote him a welcome note in the gift basket 😢 • everything is played so darkly and then the camera pans to a beautiful scene of a waterfall on one of the tvs in his unit. then its a montage of maximus experiencing running water, television, and soap for after so long • we are then treated to a shot of maximus' shirtless torso. i have normal thoughts about this • lmao maximus tastes caviar for the first time in his life then exists his unit in a bathrobe and slippers, walks up to someone in the hallway and asks in the most boyish, innocent voice "excuse me. what is this? 🥺 " • they gave this mf three (3) bottles of champagne. take me to vault 4 like • lucy entering a vault classroom and stops smiling after confronting the magnitude of shady sands as displayed as history in said classroom • if lucy didn't think the ncr [new california republic] was real before, i'm sure seeing the flag in the classroom assured her

• not the place cooper is being dragged to called "the governmint" 😭 • there's wanted posters in this place and what do you know one of them is moldaver and one of them looks like cooper • we have finally arrived at the symbolic finger sewing on hand scene--- i mentioned that in relation to the finger biting off scene, it had a lot of meaning and i was going to wait until cooper did the thing to express it so here goes • i'll go ahead and put this out there now that yes, the argument could be made that cooper was simply attaching a finger as he needed a trigger finger to shoot and that's it. but. we see who cooper is. there's more to it than that and i'm going to explain further • sorrel talks for a minutes "i heard it was a ghoul that fucked up that super duper mart. nobody told me it was the ghoul. you boys know who you just brought in? this sumbitch right here used to be the best bounty hunter to ever shoot a man in the ass." you know the next thing that comes out of cooper's mouth? asking for a needle and thread • firstly, i find it all too interesting after being regaled about his past chaotic neutral exploits, he asks for a needle and thread. why does it feel like he's about to sew on a new lease on life, a new clean slate onto his hand? • secondly... well i have to bring up the string of fate, don't i? lucy may not have cooper's finger [too on the nose] but cooper has hers [just right] and by sewing hers onto his, they are connected forever • i find him directly asking for the needle and thread [to blow these guys away with a firearm] after shrugging off being called the best bounty hunter in the wasteland really somethin' • [because if he would've had his trigger finger back at the super duper mart, i imagine there would be no captivity of cooper] • one of sorrel's dummy henchmen says "sorry, we don't do a lot of kntting 'round here" and cooper hits back "it's called sewing", love he corrected this man lmao idk why • sorrel's first mistake was bringing cooper in there, his second mistake was letting him open his bag, and his third mistake was letting that man sew a trigger finger back onto his hand lmaooo • while the henchmen gets cooper's needle and thread, cooper is fiddling with his trigger fingerless glove, it's so subtle • the finger unfurls from cooper's pack to sorrel's visible disgust whilst cooper asks "do you mind?" to having his bound hands unbound [you can really see walton's hazel eyes in this scene btw] • sorrel scared as hell of this two hundred year old war veteran bounty hunter ghoul, hesitates and naturally. "aw, come on now, sorrel, we old friends, ain't we?" are they? he saw what happened at the super duper mart and he's shaking in his boots lol • sorrel cuts cooper's ropes and then quaintly says "look at you. 200 years. i don't know what keeps you going... or maybe you're still looking for her." cooper has already began sewing on lucy's finger. it is shown in a closeup. however, as soon as sorrel says "her", cooper cuts sorrel a glance. when i first watched this scene, i think i thought he meant moldaver. but i think it's obvious it's janey

• cooper slyly hits back with "well, sorrel... i can confidentially cross one reason off that list for you. i sure as hell ain't still alive so that i can have unintelligent conversations with dipshits like you." one of sorrel's henchmen does not like this back talk and hits cooper in the head with the butt of his gun, knocking cooper's hat off. i see why king knocked his block off • "mind your fucking mouth. that's the president of the government you're talking to" cooper's brow is furrowed but he humourously complies "you a president now?" • and then he says "well then you might want to hire a publicist" do the people even know what that is 😭 • cooper saying conversations with someone like sorrel are "unintelligent" after discussing studies on torture with lucy in the bait scene is so • cooper asks sorrel about moldaver. "they call her the flame mother. now that bitch is dangerous." cooper ironically replies "well, when it comes to leadership these days, dangerous is what they call a prerequisite" cooper really reads it, huh

• as sorrel starts to ask cooper if he knew why he was dragged into his outpost, the camera once again pans to cooper sewing lucy's finger to his hand • it's so subtle it's almost plausible it wasn't on purpose but as cooper puts some of the final loops to connect lucy's finger to his hand, the thread forms a heart. in the same moment, cooper takes full responsibility for what lucy did at the super duper mart • i mean, we could be here all day arguing about why he did this. like there's so little reason when he could just implicate her and make her the target of a new bounty. more caps and vials for him. in any other instant, perhaps he would have. but not like this and not over lucy • you know, in the finger biting off scene when cooper says to lucy "now that right there is the closest thing we’ve had to an honest exchange so far"? well i think he also wanted to get honest feelings out of her by messing with her, too. and this indeed was the most honest reaction they both had and with each other. because she spent most of her time preaching her vault propaganda to him and he was nothing but forthcoming with her about everything tbh. now why he needed honesty hour to be gloveless and with losing fingers, that's anyone's guess. she surprised him with that bite, i suppose. but she also surprised him with her principles.

• cooper is a deeply romantic, protective, and once upon a time, a good man. i think after his encounter with lucy, all those qualities are manifesting themselves inside him again. and because of lucy. and him sewing lucy's finger to his hand symbolizes that • i know this is bizarre but this is indeed the "fallout" universe. this ism't the most disturbing intertwinement. a post here said that lucy biting off cooper's finger was a proposal and cooper sewing her finger onto his hand was him accepting and that was a wasteland promise ring, still laughing about this and while i don't exactly ascribe to the literal theory, i do think some type of promise was made, whether cooper to himself or cooper to others • going back to the finger biting off scene, i couldn't help but ponder why a. cooper was gloveless and b. how he managed to keep all ten of his fingers this long after two hundred years • i can't quite gather why cooper was even gloveless but the closest theories i've seen an agree with is display of vulnerability. whether by accident or not, i do think cooper was attracted to lucy's goodness, saw [both himself and] barb inside her and wanted to poke and prod such an outlook. he's seen where it can go. goodness and morality in the wasteland is horseshit. but lucy proved him so wrong. • fingers are a semi important motif and particularly to cooper. in episode three, we see him go out of his way to touch barb's fingers when she gives him the lavender taffy. it is an intimate exchange. so too is the finger biting and finger cutting off scene. a gothic depiction of intimacy.

• lucy and her finger symbolizes something cooper has that's not so obvious to the viewer and that's hope. sure, it's demented he cut her finger off and sewed it onto his hand but she did bite his finger off first, tooth for a tooth, fair is fair slgdgldl [at least she got another one herself] • every time he looks at that finger and every time he uses it to play judge, jury, or executioner, cooper will carry the spirit of lucy's moral compass with him. that's some crazy symbolism, i think • it really seemed that by trying to "help" lucy by teaching her hard lessons of the wasteland, cooper opened himself up to harm and vulnerability with his gloveless hands. every scene with his gloveless hands has something to do with lucy. • two hundred years and kept all ten fingers until this random girl bit one off? he saw something inside her it clouded his self preservation • 'cause i fucked up a poor, defenseless gang affiliated organ dealership" lmaooo he's in love so bad, he ain't do nothin' but go on a drug bender in that ho 😭 • for probably the first time in decades, he's taken the fall for someone else. a selfless act. quite literally altruism. he doesn't have to do this and yet • this is devoted cooper in action. lucy is a ray of sunshine and goodness in this awful world, no wonder he wanted a bit of her on him. so when he tells her "nothing stays clean up here, vaulty." he was kinda wrong. because now he has something "clean" and and good. and it's lucy's finger

• anyways so sorrel's like "but that super duper mart you gutted was under our protection. so if i wanted to let you go scot free, folks might lose faith about what we're trying to do here. and then what?" "anarchy in the streets" everything this man says is funny af, i'm howling • another thing! dom predro has been digging cooper up every year for thirty years to cut pieces of him off [to do who knows what]. when lucy bites cooper's finger off, she ends up having his blood in her mouth. a part of him is also in her too. this is gothic. also! is him cutting off her finger not a trauma response 😭 he's been cut off of before so he's just acting out of his captivity atp like my goodness, they messed him up so bad • lucy fucked up that organ trafficking ring up so bad, sorrel was really trying to feed cooper to his pigs lmao • it's so nutty lucy has caused so much chaos than cooper has--- he shot siggi's leg off and had a shoot out in filly but damn he did not take out a gang affiliated organ trafficking ring ran in a grocery store. he was actually helping them keep it open like 😭

• there's something so special about sorrel asking cooper if he has anything to say in his defense and as cooper says "guilty as charged" and sorrel asking "just like that?" and cooper flexing lucy's newly sewed on finger on his hand as he goes "just like that" ❤️ • you can't tell me he's not about to go to the ends of the earth for her fkdgdkd • this was his opportunity to turn her in and possibly get a bounty from her or just tell the truth but cooper did. not. do. it. • there was something about the way he sewed lucy's finger on, too [i don't care if i'm reaching] but it reminded me of his and barb's scenes, where if she was in the room, nothing else really mattered. made no difference if it was conversation he was having or what. his attention was on barb the whole time. this scene reminds me of that because he focused on sewing lucy's finger on his hand for the majority of his and sorrel's conversation

• cooper is so?? because why he implicate himself in the actual thing he did with the shootout in filly? "now, if you need anymore evidence, i can tell you about this town i just shot up, filly. oh i must have killed nine or ten people" all in self defense, your honour, please 😭 • y'all don't understand. he's going the extra mile now. he's providing evidence for something he didn't do. he's implicating himself even more by diverting all suspicion to him to cover for lucy. there's no reason for him to do this. • cooper, somehow knowing sorrel got stupid henchmen, starts baiting one of them through the old "you're a coward" "no i'm not" technique • sorrel "don't take the bait, son" then cooper, "well i ain't fishing". nah he did that earlier gldgdlfgld • well anyways, cooper gets out of this pickle pretty quick and gets the upper hand and shoots sorrel's henchmen sheriffs dead and multiple times • didn't realize cooper threw the guns at their bodies after • cooper doesn't recognize moldaver's mugshot

• back in the past, cooper takes up charlie's offer for a meeting and drives up to hollywood forever cemetery • the car cooper is in is a 1954 kaiser darrin • i don't know why cults is sort of an underpinning of the theme of this episode [which is about traps of various kinds] but the comparison and contrast between cooper's and lucy's "cult" meetings and them both being about moldaver is such a plot twist • cooper and lucy both going to these meetings thinking they won't fit in but end up learning something anyways • admittedly the vault 4 cult ritual or whatever was a little weird but it's pretty much how the survivors are coping so i get it tbh • maximus asking lucy "you want to make my cock explode now?" "what?" "sorry, intercourse?" screaminggg, what a gentleman 💀❤️

• "these people are insane." "yeah, they're like you. a little weird but nice." 🥲 • lucy trying to talk maximus out of leaving vault 4 because they were scaring her and she thought it was dangerous ☹️ • lucy goes to level 12 to snoop around in these people's house • turns out level 12 is a horror show but not because of the residents, but because of vault tec • it's wild the stuff lucy saw of level 12 was just shit her father hank signed off on and agreed with • the scientist whose face lucy threw acid in was the same man who nodded at her during the breakfast scene 😭 • them trying to restrain her makes so much sense after this • lucy tells them they're crazy but birdie says "i'm sure if we came to your home, we would say the same thing", first viewing i thought birdie was ridiculous for saying this but second viewing is knowing she is right • they show maximus again eating popcorn, getting the taste of safety and comfort again after years 🥲 • this episode was about traps of all kinds--- the situations people find themselves in, the situations people put others in, the trappings of fame, fortune, power, money. literal traps, figurative traps. traps of the mind and traps of the soul. the worst part about being caught in a trap is not knowing you're in one.

[ludwigplayingthetrombone]

After seeing your beautiful new piece with the cute vignettes of team 7+team kakashi, i was wondering — how do you feel about Naruto (the boy)?

o thankyou! ;u; my feelings on narts the boy are so torn tbh so im gonna throw my ramblings under a cut bc idk if i can articulate this correctly

og naruto narts? love him. adore him. i miss that dumb little punk kid i loved him challenging the system and wanting to change it and help people. i /wanted/ him to inspire people like kakashi and gai's gen to do the same and realize how fucked up their childhoods were being weapons of the state at like 6 and 7

shippuden narts? He just rubs me the wrong way. started out good with gaara rescue arc, but then all his pizzaz left and let his obsession of sasuke be the only priority. (This isnt his fault, but kishi writing it so ONLY naruto could kill or defeat most of the enemies with his new op move was so boring to me. none of the secondary cast got to do shit) He also didnt take one second to question if his endgoal is still the same since he turned out to be exactly the opposite of "anyone can be hokage" bc he turns out to have the specialist blood of all and got revealed as a nepo baby and chosen one. He licherally became complicit and changed next to nothing as hokage in the end. the status quo remained the fucking same. Naruto rejecting the hokage position bc he recognizes neji was right is so much more interesting to me

Naruto is at his best when sasuke isnt involved imho. I adore his interactions with everyone else bc he truly loves his friends and family, but him and sakura were so delusional over sasuke but didnt actually Know him and his trauma they just loved the Idea of him. the way they talk about it, they act like sasuke was kidnapped and didnt CHOOSE to leave and even tried to kill them multiple times. shikamaru stronger than me, it'd slap the shit out of both of them

I wish they'd head on addressed the whole "sasuke's whole family was slaughtered in front of him" together and not "you have to come back so we can be a team and things can be normal again like nothing ever happened and fight me!" naruto would be the first one to offer to pull up on itachi with him lets be real lmaoo. I wanted him to offer sasuke support to BOTH tackle the injustices of the leaf. it's kinda like hiruzens passiveness with orochimaru and danzo. never holding certain loved ones accountable he was the same way with obito and even hiruzen himself. (is he even aware of hiruzen's part in the uchiha massacre or obito killing his parents?? then pardoning orochimaru?? HELLO???)

There were moments where i did see our boy shine thru, but then the god powers bullshit hit. in short, bring back my punk little man. his pure intentions were ruined by bad writing

my naruto endgame for him is not stuck at a deskjob he hates with a nuclear family he neglects and more he chooses to give up the hokage job to someone who actually can enact change and who isnt from a prestigious family. travels around helping people hands on and finally gets the peaceful life with found family he never had. advocating better for the next gen.

part one naruto, my baby boy

[prideprejudce]

I love your take on Oppenheimer!! I completely agree! The whole time I was watching it I got this very strong sense that I was supposed to feel sorry for Oppenheimer cause he dID sO mUcH FoR hIs CoUnTrY and then they were mean to him :’( but it’s like he spent countless hours and billions of government money researching how to kill as many people as possible with minimal effort under the guise that it was all about the science when it is impossible for such an undertaking to be purely about the science. It was frankly naive of him to believe that the us government wouldn’t use the bomb the second it was available to them whether they needed to or not. And him feeling badly about it after the fact and regretting what he did does not excuse his actions or his naivety. The movie could’ve delved more deeply into this it could’ve shown the devastating effects of the bombs after they were dropped and could’ve demonstrated the long lasting effects it had on society as a whole in the decades that followed. Instead in the movie after the bomb is dropped we get to see the effects it had on Oppenheimer only. And to be honest I do not care that he felt bad I do not care that he lost his security clearance and I do not care that he was at long last “forgiven” by the government. He facilitated the murder of hundreds of thousands of innocent people and that in my opinion cannot be forgiven.

you summed it up perfectly - I was really hoping that we were going to get a good character dive into this man and how torn he was about the entire project- because on one hand it’s the pinnacle of everything that he’s ever worked towards and would solidify his name in history forever but…..on the other hand……he is still building a weapon of mass destruction

I just personally think this movie took a more shallow approach with it by giving him the “hallucinations” of the bomb all the sudden after trinity was a successful and then he FINALLY starts to feel torn about it. Whereas before he was just like “well whatever 🤷 someone’s gotta do it”. Now all the sudden he’s realizing that he built a nuclear BOMB? Idk i just feel like by the end Oppenheimer was just as much of a mystery as he was at the start and just….didn’t feel like a real character to me. what motivated him or drove his moral values seemed to change on every two minute scene

and personally I think so much time was wasted on the Strauss vs Oppenheimer plot. Like the big “twist” in the middle of the movie was revealing that Strauss was the “bad guy” the whole time who wants to boot Oppie out of the government but…..why should we care? We’ve only had a few scenes with the guy beforehand and never built much connection with him to begin with? All the sudden he’s the one to look out for? Ok….whatever? lol

what I will say though was that RDJ and Cillian Murphy acted their asses off and made the story as palpable as they could. And of course all the visuals of the trinity bomb were fantastic. I’m not knocking anyone who loved the movie. I just had such big hopes for this project since the beginning and it personally just missed the mark for me

[lunasdestiny]

Hiya 👋 I was wondering do you have any theories about the new pota movie :)?

Potential spoilers??

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It looks like a raid will happen to Eagle clan (according to an article earlier) because they wanna basically kidnap apes to do work at Proximus's kingdom. Among the ones who get captured are Soona and Anaya. Noa will also get captured eventually and that's when they reunite and embrace.

Mae secretly has a plan to have humans rule again but then starts to reconsider after getting to know Noa and co.

The big "OH SHIT" moment is them finding a nuclear weapon. Perhaps someone is risking to activate it and put everyone in danger.

Noa getting a scar (maybe one similar to Ceaser's birthmark?)

The dreams Noa has talked about are similar to the ones Ray in Revelations had about the world.

I wouldn't mind if Noa was a descendent to Ceaser but I also wouldn't mind if he isn't.

If he dies, Proximus will not be killed by anyone. He will end up getting himself killed.

Oh god if Noa's bird gets killed...it would be so sad. 😭

We will convince an ape to switch sides from Proximus to the main gang.

Emotional moment with Noa. Either crying or raging.

Now these next ones aren't theories. Just headcanons lol

Noa raised his eagle since it was a hatchling.

Noa doesn't have any other friends in his clan besides Anaya and Soona. They are THE trio. ❤️

Anaya and Soona are giving prep and goth vibes respectively