#speculating and theorising

[monstrousmuse]

‘Misses home and can’t return.’

…

“How? By what?”

“…by a monster.”

…

The self-hatred, the self-fulfilling prophecy, the embracing of Freaks and ‘Monsters’. Ford’s Paranormal Investigator instincts kicking in, Ford wanting to play the hero FOR Bill. Bill’s humourless laugh and ‘distant expression’, his uncharacteristic seriousness, the angsty, self-deprecating words and tone which Bill uses to describe himself. Ford being blissfully unaware of any of it. Bill sardonically, mockingly, bitterly protecting Ford from himself….

This is too much.

…

It also casts this moment in an entirely new light:

Fallen Angel Angle. Beyond salvation. Don’t even try.

…

‘Too annoying for Hell’.

…All right, that last part isn’t really relevant. I just thought it was funny.

[monstrousmuse]

Words— Sentences not—

BILL-

Why would you do this to us.

…

After reading through the extract, the following descriptions also stood out to me:

‘enormous yellow spectacles’? ‘eternal blindness’?

Hmm, sounds familiar…

Link to the Google Doc

…

‘a small block of yellow brick’?

That also sounds…familiar.

…

I need to refresh my Gatsby knowledge to better understand the moments in their original context, but Bill chose to include this very specific extract in TBOB for a reason. As we know, ‘T. J. Eckleburg’ is also the password used to access ThisIsNotAWebsiteDotCom. We’ll have to wait for the countdown to end before we come to any definite conclusions.

A few things to note:

• Eckleburg’s eyes are “often associated with symbolising spirituality, particularly the eyes of God looking down on society in judgment.” source

• Eckleburg is an Occultist.

• The ‘Eyes of Eckleburg’ appear on a billboard, which overlooks the Valley of Ashes.

A billboard.

• “The eyes of Doctor T. J. Eckleburg and the diagnostic gaze as moral authority in The Great Gatsby”, an article

am i the only one that read the full gatsby part of the bill book. did the "dust-covered wreck of a Ford" sentence stick out to anybody else. can anyone hear me

[midnightsdarkangel]

I don't think Ive seen anyone breakdown this scene, but hi I really wanted to talk about Grian's characterization so far in volume 2 starting with his scene with HG in the latest chapter and where I think they're going with his character in DDVAU.

To star this off I want to talk about how Grian views HG (save for Valentines) Its always met with disdain or irritation, and I think its because of how HG presents himself to Grian, a cop, a threat. This means there's always a level of caution met with him and mild irritation.

So when Grian wakes up to HG in his room in ch18 its cold. There's this wall already up between the two because of how HG treated him in chapter 15. He was threatened. So already the second he's awake he's on the defense, he wont let HG get to him, hes in control of his emotions.

Or well, this WOULD'VE worked until he realizes HotGuy has interrupted the one thing Grian could distract himself with. Grian went for the DS to avoid dealing with Hotguy and i'm going to assume Grian's done this before when he visited. So being cut off is something Grian wasn't expecting, being forced to confront Hotguy in his space-

Hes genuinely mad.

(the fact that Grian has this red hue over him, the expression turns from this casual oh you annoy me to oh you have actually genuinely pissed me off is so clear in the way Doody draws Grian that I wanted to point out because LORD THE CHILLS I HAD)

But Grian lashes out, his reaction is explosive because he was thrown off, its such a quick moment also, something as simple as his DS being covered and being forced to deal with Hotguy was the breaking point and LORD WAS HIS REACTION INTENSE.

He's genuinely upset.

He's frozen, hes curled up faced down with fists punching the bed because that man has been pushed too far. Hotguy has repeatedly since the incident, been in Grian's space whether he's wanted it or not and its not letting Grian breathe. They do note a few times Grian didn't ask Hotguy before this to leave but I think that this was brewing over time and again its an impulsive reaction- the DS being obstructed isnt the issue here and it seems random for him to be so angry over it but I think this was built up over time from the stress Grian's been experiencing. Hotguy reminds Grian of the school, of Mother Spore and the trauma that he was left with. Its no wonder he just wants a break from it.

And I think Hotguy in that moment realized he went too far.

( I want to note as well that Grian doesnt actually move until Hotguy speaks, he's braced and tense. He's waiting for a bad reaction for his lash out)

But Hotguy calmly agrees and offers to leave leaving Grian stunned because he was listened to. Hotguy understood him.

Now here's where i'm going to pull up a comparison I realized about Grian in chapter 14. This is not the first time he has impulsively pushed someone away, because don't forget he's done this to Jimmy.

He cuts the conversation off before it can get anywhere, its abrupt.

Something I've noticed with Grian is when he pushes both of them away theres this moment of pause, where he wont look at them. He doesnt want to see what their reaction is. Between the two scenes I find it interesting that with Jimmy, Grian manages to gather the strength to carry on his point, he looks to Jimmy after a moment of composing himself and is firm if not emotionally tired. He's scared of Jimmy's reaction but he needed to put that line down. With Hotguy like i've said, his reaction was unexpected, its abrupt and its scary for him. He's just yelled at an emerald solider (heck, the HEAD of the emerald soliders) to leave him alone quite aggressively, I think Grian kept his head down because he was waiting for the aftermath.

Its so interesting to me because in both these scenes, Jimmy and Hotguy were unintentionally pushing themselves into Grian's space, both were made from good intentions, but it wasn't what Grian wanted and the fallout afterwards leaves them at a loss for words before composing themselves and trying to make the situation light once more.

Now, Im about to throw you all a curveball and say that I genuinely think that DDVAU is trying to hint to us that Grian has BPD (borderline personality disorder)

Why do I think this? We're only a couple chapters in Volume 2 you must be asking me.

And well, I think already there are some foundations being put down in front of us starting with: Attachment Issues.

Have you all wondered WHY Grian pushed Jimmy away in chapter 14 when we have seen time and time again how protective Grian is over Jimmy? He snapped at Hotguy at the mear mention of Jimmy being accused, He freaks out when he sees Jimmy got hurt in the hospital. Both are very visiral and panicked reactions:

And yet, when he sees Jimmy was hurt and Jimmy offers to be beside Grain to preen his wings, he outright refuses, and lord you can TELL Grian wasn't happy doing that.

When he gets what he wants and Jimmy backs off? He's devastated.

I think Grian is afraid of letting Jimmy be that close to him. For what reason? Im not too sure yet but this seemed very much a spur of the moment reaction- a moment of fear from Grian.

I believe that Grian is a very emotive person and at rapid paces, its quite subtle but in chapter 17 theres a moment where Grian pulls away for just a page, the second Jimmy offers again to take care of him Grian is back to that defensive wall, but its not for too long either because Grian is instantly back to being relaxed.

Grian isnt as subtle with his emotions like Scar is, he is very much an open book and while hes better at withholding them when he feels in control of a situation it shows more when he isnt:

And I think its so important to stress why this is a thing in volume 2 and not in volume 1. Because Grian seemed to be perfectly fine right?There was no issues.

This is because Grian has been majorly thrown back.

He got possessed by the spore creature, trapped Jimmy and the school and tried to kill Hotguy which he doesn't even remember, he just has brief moments of paranoia over not remembering what he did but hearing about it from everyone else. His wings are out, Hotguy KNOWS he's an avian, he's seen Jimmy hurt by what he thinks is his actions and has had Hotguy accuse Jimmy infront of him.

He's being pressured to comply with Hotguy lest he wants everyone to know hes a mutant or worse a witch which can change everything.

This man is STRESSED. Majorly so, both being pushed to his limits body wise since he was shot at and also thrown against walls numerous of times and had the spores literally eat away his insides causing his wings to be in a state of distress. But also he is under intense emotional stress seen from the feathers on Grian's face in chapter 14, he doesnt like not knowing what happened to him and Hotguy again has pushed him past his brink.

again why do I think its BPD? I just said that Grians under a lot of stress, its understandable that hes going to lash out. But i heavily think its within the context of him pushing away Jimmy and the newest scene of chapter 1 8 thats really making me lean towards something is going on. That reaction was intense and I think we're going to be getting more insight into Grian as the chapter comes.

Because, he's successfully pushed away Hotguy.

I wonder where thats going to lead us.

[adarkermiserablecrow]

Honestly my second favourite theory about buck's spiraling in 8x06 is that Tommy admits he initially tried to date Eddie, and Buck kind of spirals over being second choice, and he ends up at Dispatch and tells Maddie something along the lines of 'and I get it, I know Eddie's great' blah blah blah and maybe Maddie draws attention to that line somewhat and we see the moment it clicks in Buck's head. And of course, Eddie's allegedly straight and cue the pining. To me it would be really neat and potentially full of parallels to 7x04&5, the beginning of the relationship, where Eddie already was little miss haunting the narrative. It just makes sense in my head for buck and tommy to end because of eddie, when they got together because of him, too.

My favourite theory of course, is that Tommy is Abby's ex Tommy.

[necromancers-incorporated]

We are so close to some real Bouchard lore I can feel it. Which family member are you going to run to, Gwen? Is one of them called Elias?? Did he have a weird experience that drove him to drugs that you flippantly dismissed and now he's you're only support??? HM!?

[incoherantgaymagnusposting-old]

Seen people talk about JMJ and the master/slave parts of this screen from the trailer but i had some thoughts about some of the other parts

Fr3d1 is V2.0 which seems weird for specifically bespoke, old and weird software to have been entirely revised into as second edition

As far as im aware, rusty quill wasn't around in the 1989 (it was registered as a company in 2015), this is the hear (according to an arg document) that Connor (theorised to be Alices deadname) Dyer was born according to some loose googling he graduated in.

(this could however just be Alex J Newall's birth year too as from a quick google he graduated in 2010 and 2010 subtract 21 gives us 1989 but that would also seem kinda weird honestly)

Next is the processor which given these are supposed to be old whirring computers a 6 core processor from 2019 seems out of place .

Finally there is a code at the bottom left which is in a loosely simelar format to the case numbers having a date, CAT (although followed by a digit not a letter) and then 2 letters and 4 numbers which is identical to case numbers (ignoring dashes).

could this all be attributed to coincidence, a not fully formed case numbering system and generic computer words? maybe, but i thought it might be interesting

[paintsinthewaterofcreation]

dan and phil really said yes we know the rumours and the theories and we’re gonna be disgustingly in love anyway and i think that’s beautiful ❤️

[chocochipjewel]

Okay yall Bad Batch finale aires in just under 12 hours and I have some finale theories to talk about! Hopefully I'll be able to post at least some rough art after the finale where I talk about the show some more but for now final theories!

I think CX-2 is Cody, it's too late for it to be Tech and it would be delightfully tragic if Rex or someone (who I think is definitely showing up for the finale) kills CX-2 and unmasks him after the fact or something

I think Hemlock did retrieve Tech's body and I think he's one of the experimental CX units who have not been released yet. But I don't think it worked. I want his sacrifice to mean something, so I want him to stay dead (even if my heart wants otherwise 😭) maybe his body is found, maybe he's never seen again, but I don't think he's coming back

I'm pretty sure Rex and his group of renegade clones will make an appearance, and I hope Phee gets a final moment to be badass as well. Apart from that, I'm hoping for no more extra characters cluttering the episode cause we already have so many loose ends up tie up here

I wouldn't put it past Disney to end the clone rebellion storyline on a cliffhanger tbh but I so badlyyy wish it won't be that way. Let their story end here. It will be sad but you know what that's better than the finale just being a tease for a future show. Let all the Tantiss prisoners break out and branch out to live new lives and die naturally as they deserve.

Now... for the actual Bad Batch itself

I'm certain someone is going to die. No one they're all making it out, not after all the teases and death flags. This isn't going to be like Mando S3 where the characters retire on some field for the rest of their lives (that's just for my fix it headcanons ❤️)

As for who, I've gone back and forth on this but I'm not sure. Every remaining member of the 4 troopers we have here have enough death flags on them and I've read compelling theories for all possibilities, including ones where they get Rogue One'd and everyone dies 😭

So I guess I don't really have a theory for this. I'm certain someone is going to die and I'm honestly scared for who it will be but I don't have a specific person yet. I'm leaning towards Hunter or Crosshair cause their conflict and relationships with Omega make the heart of the show itself, but I wouldn't be surprised if Wrecker or Echo died instead, or any other combination of the team members

Only thing I'm mildly certain about is Omega surviving. Disney Star Wars doesn't like to kill kids much. She's not 100% clear but least likely from my perspective. Plus it would end the show on too sad a note if the character driving the entire plot so far dies 😭 I can see a possibility in which she dies to delay Project Necromancer indefinitely, and it would honestly be sad as hell, but that's just it, it would be way too sad. I don't think the show likes being that dark, especially for its finale. And frankly, Omega's arc deserves to end with her finally getting to stop running and just live her life on her own terms.

Hemlock is definitely getting eaten by the Zillo beast while it destroys Tantiss and Rampart is almost surely making it out and turning a new leaf in my eyes. He's not any less of an asshole but he might just go live somewhere away from the Empire and away from the Bad Batch too.

Emerie is an interesting case cause I can't tell if she'll get the redemption = death thing or she'll make it out too. I honestly have 0 predictions for her. I can see her dying to save the force sensitive kids, but I can also see her making it out.

The force sensitive kids, clone cadets, Batcher, and Phee are probably gonna make it out and you know what good for them. They'll probably be the emotional support for the remaining members of the Batch (if there are any) to move on after this.

I am hoping and praying for no Boba Fett or Ventress or Vader or Palpatine cameo cause this is the last episode of the Bad Batch show and it should ideally focus on. The Bad Batch. The show already has too many loose threads. No more cameos please.

As for whoever survives in the Batch, my ideal wish would just be for them to retire to Pabu under a new identity or something and live out their lives. After Tantiss is destroyed, there would be no clones left in captivity. They can finally rest then. It would be bittersweet to see the end of their adventures as they knew it, but it's at least a peaceful end.

Anyways, that's all for my theories I think! Whether I end up being right or not, I hope the finale is actually good 😭 and I hope whoever dies doesn't make me TOO sad, just that sweet spot of devastated but in a good way 😭😭😭

I'll be reblogging this after I watch the finale with updates on whether my predictions were true or not, probably with a thank you post to the show, so I suppose this is it.

See you all on the other side, TBB nation!

[jackabbot]

if you see me being more sporadic around here and only reblogging edits and tags, just know it's because I can't deal with the endless specs from people who will cry about queerbait and bad writing when (and it's a when not an if) their theories get disproven and act like the show is about two characters only

I just can't deal with it guys, it's annoying as hell

[nierielfaegir]

Spoilers!

So Isis approved Hathor’s engagement to Horus without Horus' permission and fully knowing he's in love with someone else... Here I thought she might have changed after her "sleep". Guess not! Horus is still just a tool for her.

I hope this does't get out of hand (it will) and Seth hears about the marriage and thinks Horus was just mocking him or using him and that he's like Osiris. I hate that trope so much.

Imo, the moment Horus hears about it he'll finally stand up to his mother, tell her he's not into women and fly away back to Seth, hoping he didn't hear the news (he'll have) and Horus will have to regain Seth's trust.

[found--family]

Helluva name for an ep! I'm thinking it's a trifecta: 

Steph dealing with her father - again, though hopefully less heartbreaking than last time; maybe something happens and he comes around to her way of thinking ie. her mom needs professional help. (I hope Steph gets someone on her side) 

Duela's mom visits her for her birthday - she got out of prison, maybe escaped? Or maybe Duela goes to visit her for her birthday. Either way, Duela's mom reveals The Joker is not her father. (I'm still on the Duela Dent train but I don't know if they'll reveal that as well; if Duela's father is fugue!Dent, her mom might leave clues for her to figure it out for herself which would mean a second reveal maybe at the end of the season, maybe just before or after Harvey's Two-Face incident leaving a cliffhanger for season 2.) 

Harvey encounters his father. The way it's worded - 'collision course' - is intriguing. Will he encounter fugue!father? Will fugue!Harvey encounter his father? Did he think his father was dead? We've only had scraps of his past and whatever the comics say, GK is doing it's own thing so who knows what could happen. If his father is alive and it's a surprise maybe fugue!Harvey will kill him? But there's still the possibility that fugue!father is in league with the owls somehow (how else would they know about the piano trigger? Unless fugue!Harvey himself gave it to them..) 

I love the crew's passion for creating this story! They care about good storytelling, they care about the details, they want to entertain and surprise us! They're taking the best bits of the DCU and giving us something new! I'm very excited for the possibilites of this ep. This story continues to keep me guessing, has me caring about the characters, and keeps me invested in how things will unfold. 

[monstrousmuse]

Interesting details from the Day 6 promo:

‘WILL MEAT A GAIN’ is of course a reference to ‘We’ll Meet Again’.

(Not so sure about ‘Good Tom’s Meg’ lol…)

…

Is this a reference to ‘William’, Ford’s favourite constellation?:

Or could it also be a reference to the AMA, and how Bill would respond to every variation of his name under the sun.

…

The Saga continues…These promos do appear to be incredibly Ford-centric. I mean, on Day 6, we got The Song again, and an arrow pointing specifically at the number ‘six’…It’s both a reference to the countdown and…Sixer. (Bill Tries To Be Subtle For Once Challenge)

…

The clouds surrounding the moon also look vaguely triangular in shape.

[free-luigi-mangione]

also whoever sent the last ask (it contained one single question) please remember that i have never and will never be talking about his or anybody else's personal life so do with that what you will

[vivalasthedas]

Matt mercer voiced Fairbanks in that DA cartoon. You know. The character who is secretly a noble and hiding it to protect his people.

And now. Well.... wellllll....

[generalmacnamara]

ALL the named anons? I’d be dead curious to see your theories on the twins tbh

---

[avataroftheglowcloud]

I am having THOUGHTS about the new BBC Ghosts trailer.