#than if i were pretending it were the s2 version

[the-greendalehumanbeings]

so i’ve been thinking about some of the personality differences between book!kate and show!kate.

book kate was more interested in making anthony lose a game of pall mall, while show kate would have wanted to win the game. like i don’t think the show!kate would ruin her chances of winning by punting her ball and anthony’s into the lake. show!kate takes joy in winning, whereas book!kate takes joy in anthony losing.

book!kate would enjoy throwing balls and hearing the ton’s drama but show!kate wouldn’t care about their drama. she would host balls because it is expected but would prefer audrey hall only to be filled with family members.

show!kate reads out of necessity and to find relevant information. book!kate would only reads novels as an enjoyable way to pass the time but isn't a bookworm. neither of them are the scholarly sort.

i think both of them have a secret soft spot for romance but try to hide it. book!kate because of her insecurities and show!kate because she thinks she doesn’t deserve it.

i feel like show!kate is more of a sporty (a jock i guess?), whereas book!kate doesn’t mention anything sporty other than pall mall, so i think what she enjoys is beating anthony at a sport more than anything. book!kate was more of a standard wallflower (no particular hobbies so she could have a appeal to everyone) but i see her as more appreciative of the arts, considering her flute playing and watercolours.

show!kate would rather win and boast about it, whereas book!kate would prefer to watch everyone lose (it doesn’t matter if she wins as long as everyone loses) and laugh about it. 

book!kate would take some joy in matchmaking and never let any couple forget that she was the one who brought them together. whereas show!kate would only really interfere if she is asked to (considering everything that happened after season two)

i think that show!kate would be the type that gives speeches about the virtues of love, romance and marriage to her children, much like violet (although these speeches are probably more grounded in reality than violet’s, lol)

[noneorother]

The grand unified theory of Good Omens S2 hangs on - you guessed it - a double meaning (and art). *Part 4*

Part 1 l Part 2 l Part 3 l Part 4 l Part 5 l The End?

This is major spoilers for season 3 territory. You have been warned. I'm also going to split this into parts because wow, I have so many ✨Clues✨! Friends, we have arrived at the prestige! Metatron come at me bro, catch these hands. Oh wait you can't, you always have your hands in your pockets...

People smarter than me have talked all about Aziraphale's magician outfits on this show, so I won't steal their thunder. Suffice it to say, The Metatron is wearing a weirdly dark coat and tie over his whole outfit. Which gives him a very only a white floating head look, but also keeps in the theme of ✨I am a magician✨. He's here to perform a trick!

I also won't talk a lot about him in the coffee shop because that's been done already. If we have learned anything from part 3, analyzing the coffee to death is what we are supposed to be doing, because He is distracting everyone with a benign object that we can inspect. So while he's waving this coffee around in the shop going "SEE I KNOW HOW EARTH WORKS" he's also doing something fascinating: Checking to see who recognizes him.

Weirdly, even though Aziraphael saw him in season one, and the angels all work with him, no one does right away. EXCEPT for Saraquiel and Crowley, who just saw his face not in person, but in a video tape of sorts up in heaven at Gabriel's trial by farce. And then something funny happens. Saraquiel is scared shitless and pretends to have 'forgotten' like Michael, but Crowley admits loud and proud that he does. Then Uriel gives THE BIGGEST SIDEYE I have ever seen on screen to Michael, as in "You don't recognize our boss? I am very afraid for what that means."

As far as I can understand, this is the reason the Metatron is here : "Are we in the version of events where I lose?" And the answer The Metatron gets after the question is : We are in the version of events where I have severely fucked with Michael, sort of fucked with the other angels, I have fucked with Aziraphale, and Crowley has seen me already in heaven. Now we're missing a lot of information as to WHY this specific answer is good for The Metatron, and how much Saraquiel knows, but it seems like he interprets this as an "I haven't lost yet, and I can still do my trick".

So now here we are, at the most important part of the episode, in my (and Aziraphale's) opinion. THE double meaning.

This line is insane. On the surface we have meaning 1) The Metatron is scolding over-zealous angels for meddling in this affair, and over reaching with their power, especially threatening to use the book of life on people. He's the good guy! But under the surface we have meaning 2) I HAVE THE BOOK OF LIFE and I have been using it on everybody in this room. If I don't get my way this time around, I will edit you guys again, and you will have done the right thing. And with that admission, Aziraphale severely twigs and becomes very afraid. From then on his voice shakes and he babbles, and he has trouble looking the Metatron in the eye. I'm willing to bet that this is the moment Aziraphale realizes what The Metatron just admitted: I am creating a version of reality as we speak where I change you and Crowley (and everyone else) so that you lose to me. A terrified Aziraphael goes off with The Metatron to have a chin wag. Now here's the trick.

We've already established that Maggie and Nina are here as stage assistants to The Metatron, so they need time to work on Crowley alone. If they talk to A/C together, like they would have without The Metatron's appearing in the scene before, better communication might have happened between them. He made Aziraphale disappear from the scene!

This does NOT look like the face of someone getting good news. We never heard what the details were besides inviting Crowley to the job promotion, so who knows what he threatened him with, but

This looks like the face of someone caught in a trap. So we are now seeing the prestige! We don't need that coffee anymore, that cup is GONE BABY. Aziraphale has been removed from the Nina/Maggie confession like a dove, and placed in The Metatron's dark coat pocket. Now he just needs to make our angel reappear in the scene the assistants have prepared for him and let him fail, thus completing the trick (uhg I hate it. So cruel).

I'm going to turn the final 15 into it's own post because this is already very long. Let's skip it for now, but we know our lovebirds get separated by heaven, and Aziraphale leaves. The Metatron breathes a huge sigh of relief in the elevator as he thinks his trick has worked, and he has won.

So it's finished now, and there's seemingly no way out. Aziraphale now knows what The Metatron meant when he communicated "I am creating a version of reality as we speak where I change you and Crowley and everything else so that you lose to me."

BUT! ARE YOU READY FOR THIS SHIT? BECAUSE IT HIT ME LIKE LIQUID JET FUEL. And I think it hits Aziraphale right here, (when he makes the creepy face after being hit with a beam of light i.e. realization)

That means that in the original version of events before all the edits, Crowley & Aziraphale won.

------

If you've gotten this far, thanks so much for reading. I'd love to hear what you thought, or even reblog it with your ✨Clues✨! Want to read more about the timey wimey business that we're gonna see in season 3, and why all this changes the final 15? Well I have *part 5* coming in just a bit. Parts 5 and The End are here! Part 1 l Part 2 l Part 3 l Part 4 l Part 5 l The End?

[chirpsythismorning]

Fun fact: the shot of Mike stepping off the cliff in s1 was likely a visual parallel to Sarah jumping off the stairs in this shot from Labyrinth (1986).

For those that haven't read this theory, please do because I didn’t make these observations myself and the original post goes a lot deeper into the details from Labyrinth, which in some ways align a little too conveniently with the narrative we’re seeing unravel on the show with Mike over the seasons.

For some basic context, in s4, we even get a reference to M.C. Escher’s Relativity hanging on the wall in Mike’s room, which is also on the wall of Sarah’s bedroom, along with that work being what inspired the scene in Labyrinth. 

This next part has actually been talked about before quite a bit in the fandom, even outside of tumblr, so it’s not exactly some breakthrough as a concept on its own.

Every season, in the first scene (re)introducing the main characters, Mike is running late in some capacity. In 1x01 it’s around 3 minutes, in 2x01 it’s around 6 minutes, in 3x01 it’s around 8 minutes, and in 4x01 it’s around 13 minutes. 

So technically not the literal season opener, as that’s usually reserved to a flashback at some different location, but obviously still within those first 15 minutes, following directly after the opener…

And since we already have an idea of what the opening of s5 is going to be, what do we think the scene directly after it is going to be? You know, in the scene that Mike has been consistently running late in, for four seasons now?

Speaking of 15 minutes, I think that if they were to keep this trend going for the final season (the full circle-ness of it all is honestly too epic to pass up), it’s likely that this final time it will happen around the 15 minute mark of 5x01, as that would make the build up for it each season pretty consistent.

And not only that, but it would also literally be a callback to what Karen says to Mike that first time he’s late in s1: 

And here’s my other favorite line from one of these scenes, in the context of this theory, because it literally acknowledges this concept directly and with this air of foreshadowing I cannot stress enough:

Interestingly, another detail that ties all these ‘Mike being late’ scenes together, is stairs.

In s1 he’s running up the stairs to convince his mom to let them keep playing.

In s2 he’s rushing down the stairs trying to avoid Nancy’s wrath.

In s3 he’s awkwardly bumping into strangers going down the escalator in Starcourt Mall.

And in s4 he’s hurrying down the stairs on his way to school.

The whole point of Labyrinth is that it’s an allegory for growing up, with Sarah going from dressing up as a princess to reenact one of her favorite fairytales after being chastised by her step-mom for not going on more dates like girls her age, to Sarah rejecting her childhood and it leading to an unfortunate series of events, forcing her to face reality and take responsibility of her own life.

Does this sound like anyone we know?

Mike, who starts the show in s1 playing DND animatedly with his friends before being interrupted by his mom to end the campaign despite protests, to his mom in s2 punishing his bad behavior by having him get rid of some of his favorite toys, to him in s3 insisting that they’re 'not kids anymore' and that it was inevitable for them to stop playing games and grow up and get girlfriends, to him now in s4 reverting back to this earlier version of himself, sporting the Hellfire shirt proudly, to then reverting back to pretending when showing up at the airport with Argyle calling his outfit a shitty knock off (aka calling Mike a shitty knock-off), and without the story ever acknowledging why those shifts happened in the first place, and with one season left?

Hint? Forced conformity. That’s what’s killing the kids. That’s the real monster.

They literally told us already that out of all the monster we've seen in the show, this is what is worse than all of that. Meaning that what is about to go down, most likely topping everything we've seen up to this point, is likely going to involve forced conformity.

I also think it’s interesting that the scene in Labyrinth happened during the climax of the film, because arguably if you were to watch Stranger Things in its entirety, from s1-5, the beginning of s5 is going to feel very much like the climax to the overall story. 

Things are going to be happening fast. The stakes are insane because they need to top everything that they’ve done up to this point. Something’s gotta give. And Mike is just not looking safe out here guys.

I could go on and on about all the hints that Mike is danger, but I’ll just share my favorites. 

How am I gonna survive a whole week without you guys? Mike says, at the tail end of his opening scene in s4, and with s5 set to start at the end of said week.

Mike sitting in front of an antique funeral home fan in the s4 promotional pictures of the party in the Creel attic.

Nancy saying she saw Mike die in the vision Vecna showed her, with the early stages of said vision coming true as season 4 nears its end.

Mike getting hit in the head with an arrow front and center by Suzie’s brother, in a sequence that was loaded with foreshadowing for the end of s4 (and beginning of s5?).

Watch out dominos. Your dominos are gonna fall. Argyle says, with Mike equally in the frame behind him.

Without heart, we’d all fall apart. Will says, after telling Mike he’s the heart.

A Karen lookalike standing in front of the missing person's board at the end of s4.

Mike’s very first line in the show (also the literal first line in the show) being A shadow grows on the wall behind you, swallowing you into the darkness. It is almost here…

So maybe, theoretically speaking, what we could get by that 15 minute mark going into s5, is Mike running late one last time, and it potentially being a callback to that cliff scene ie. Labyrinth.

Another scene that I think might've been foreshadowing what is currently going down, is Max and Mike both getting knocked out by Billy at the end of s3. Max goes down first and Mike follows right after, though Max is the first to come to and help them both up.

We know Max is unlikely to be separated from the rest of the characters the whole season, that’s just not feasible. She'll at least be on-screen despite maybe not being back with the others right away, even if it’s just a cryptic cliffhanger at the end of 5x01, followed by her returning more consistently on screen after that leading up to her rescue. With the way things ended in s4 though, we need to know where she’s at and get to finding her. Which is why I think at most it will be a 1-2 episode arc.

So maybe, this moment from s3 was a hint about Max and Mike’s impending doom at the hands of Vecna, as a result of not only their emotional states, but also their bonds with El, and them then being isolated for a short time (presumed dead), only to find their way back?

It’s also worth noting Mike was the only person to witness any of Max’s symptoms from the curse prior to her finding out about it, with the camera focusing on him beside her and looking at her worriedly as her nose bled. We don’t know who Vecna’s fourth victim was going to be, because Max threw herself in as bait, but could it have originally been Mike?

I know a lot of people don't like the Mike getting Vecna'd theories or Mike is depressed takes and so if you find yourself in that position, feel free to subtweet away or whatever you need to cope with my nonsense.

I'm not a big Mike is suicidal truther or anything even, nor do I think it makes sense for him to get Vecna'd in the traditional sense like how it happened with the others in s4 because the gates are open. But Vecna still hasn’t carried out his entire plan, a plan that includes Mike dying. And the imagery surrounding it all leading up to this is compelling regardless.

If one shot at the end of s3, with Max sitting in Billy's room while Hopper was in the background saying and yeah sometimes it's painful and sometimes it's sad was enough to hint at her whole depression arc in s4, then Mike being focused on for multiple shots while Hopper was in the background saying But, lately, I guess I've been feeling... distant from you. Like you're pulling away from me or something.-- And I guess, if I'm being really honest, that's what scares me. I don't want things to change, with Mike looking longingly at the Byers house, cutting to Will looking out the car window crying, then cutting back to Mike walking into his mom's arms with a dead stare on his face, has gotta be enough to justify dude going through some shit, which coincidentally matches up with everything talked about here.

Turns out getting to Mike, now that was the key…

Maybe the first episode of s5 is about Mike ending up wherever Max is, somewhere caught in between, and them ‘crawling’ back ie. The Crawl.

Definitely might add some context to that funkopop shot-listing video Ross posted, followed by one other photo a few days later with the caption being that they finished shot-listing for 5x01-5x02. Meaning the initial video posted was likely from 5x01...

[periwinklekryptonite]

hey hi how does travis parallel common feminine tropes? i need to hear from the travis expert

Okay, so the "Problem" is that there's a preface and conclusion that's, like, way longer than just my bit about Travis's funny little parodies and then genuine relationship with femininity. While answering this ask, I realized just how big it is and I don't want to unload all of it here because I am just. Too tired all of the time to have all of it done in one swipe, and my attempt to do so ended up frustrating me more than anything LMAO

I write this with the promise that I'll expand on it and actually get to the meat of your question. I have a lot of it written, already!

The preface is easy: what's up with Travis and his relationship with gender?

Travis is trying to present as a very masculine, powerful character. It's an easy defense mechanism when he's alone in a crowded room. The thing many people fail to consider is that he doesn't know any of these people, and he probably dislikes most (if not all) of them on principal. The girls have a bond that existed in the before times, and Travis doesn't. He's an outsider. He's trying to grasp for some semblance of control by playing a sort of parody of the stoic, macho man... and it doesn't work.

Because of how he does this, a lot of people into the show are not into Travis. He's one of the only characters that are overtly and loudly misogynistic. It makes sense that people don't want to look past that when he acts so nasty. This means many write him off as exactly what Travis wants people to think he is.

Kevin Alves says it best in his Boys by Girls interview. I suggest reading the whole thing, it says a lot of what I'm saying and more.

So, even though he's pushing this masculine agenda when he's in the wreck with all the girls, my assumption in him has always been that he's never been the most big or the most masculine of guys at school. This is him really trying to pretend to be someone that he is not, this is not him.

This dramatized, fictional version of him is how he thinks he'll find a place within the group. The alternative is getting Coach Ben-ed and slowly being ousted from the group. Sitting in the back room and rotting in complete solitude just seems like a downer.

(Here he is looking sad for emphasis)

Travis was never the top dog. The girls do not take him seriously when he acts like this, and he probably wasn't taken very seriously in school. His insecurities lead to a lot of failures in his relationship with Javi and Nat, and no relationship with anyone else. If it continued any further than it did, he would've died for this. Like with Jackie, he'd be frozen out.

What Travis learns, and we learn as well, is that to be part of the in-group, you must also be a part of the dominant culture in the cabin and Wilderness itself. For Travis to be a part of the Yellowjackets, Travis must also be one of the girls.

Travis's story, the link between season 1 and season 2, is one of transition.

Some interpret this as a social transition, but I believe it to be literal.

The surviving group is not "the Yellowjackets and also Travis." By the end of season 2, (actually by the end of Qui,) Travis is indistinguishable from the rest. He's eaten Jackie with them, he's given blood to Shauna, he's taken blood from Lottie, he has led the group in their second act of cannibalism. Travis is a Yellowjacket.

Credit where credit is due:

@monstrousgourmandizingcats really helped me grind out these ideas and has a lot of cool YJ takes in general, and most of the screenies were given to me by @nicothecowboy.

Now, for YJ Fic Writer's Weekend I should hopefully have the part of this that you asked about ready. Until then, I have some interviews, and I cannot recommend the PaleyFest panel more. It has a lot about Travis in S2 and his relationship with Nat and Lottie.

[badaziraphaletakes]

Hello!

Omg yes, thanks for bringing that out. The fact that Aziraphale was already aware of the dangers of Heaven as early as Before The Beginning is SO important for the story imo. It really bothers me that ppl's selective memory tends to forget that scene when analysing s2. It feels like they're cherry picking evidence to build a version of Aziraphale that fits their opinion instead of collecting all the data to try and understand his actions.

If you look closely, Before The Beginning and The Final Fifteen are parallels of each other up to some point: in the former, Crowley is saying that he can make a difference ("if I was the one in charge I'd like it if ppl asked questions", "hey boss this is a really terrible idea", "how much trouble can one get into for just asking a few questions") and Aziraphale is saying it's dangerous. In the latter, their roles are reversed, Aziraphale is saying they can make a difference and Crowley saying it's no use bc they're toxic (and it IS dangerous). It's funny bc Aziraphale is agreeing with angel!Crowley now, and Crowley is agreeing with cherub!Aziraphale now (showing once again that aziracrow are one and the same), but they're probably not seeing it.

Aziraphale never had this never-ending belief in Heaven ppl attribute to him (he probably thought that he should have that belief, even pretended to sometimes, but he didn't, his actions show us that he didn't). If anything, angel!Crowley trusted Heaven much more than Azi ever did, bc he was sure nothing bad would happen to him. BUT I also don't think he was naive for that, bc he was trying to make a positive change on things, and that's NEVER a stupid thing to do. He also didn't believe Heaven was always right just bc it's Heaven (his questions are evidence of that), even if he trusted them. For characters like Aziraphale and Crowley, in a situation like theirs, we must look at what they do, not at what they say.

Yes, it also bothers me that some ppl think he's always wanted to go back when in s1 we've seen that he was miserable when he was there, and not wanting to go back to Heaven was the reason for him to help stop Armageddon!! It makes no narrative sense. AND he said it in no uncertain terms "I don't want to go back to Heaven." He said it to the Metatron, but he was retelling this conversation to Crowley, so he said that in front of Crowley, with his own mouth. Crowley knows.

As for not loving Crowley as a demon, I absolutely agree with you and it's all part of the last thing you write about and I think it's an absolutely on point badass take, and it's:

You are SO DAMN RIGHT about this and it grinds my gears. We are supposed to analyse The Final Fifteen using the whole context of the story we got in the previous eleven and a half episodes! We're not meant to re-contextualise the rest of the show bc of The Final Fifteen? That makes no sense in this story?? Especially bc The Final Fifteen is full of biases. Us being heartbroken, the characters being triggered and emotional, the storytelling trying to hide stuff from us, the fact that they were threatened... There are Clues there, I'm sure, but we have to know the whole context of their relationship to understand them.

It's like trying to analyse your whole self when you're having a panic attack. It's not an accurate depiction of who you are. Analysing a couple using only one of their fights and erasing all of their good moments bc of it is pretty fucking dishonest to them.

Thanks so much for your take, I really, really loved your last paragraph and be sure I'll use it again to comment on other takes here 😁😁😁

[vestaclinicpod]

Audio Drama Sunday - 17th March ✨

I’m back! I’ve been cursed by something and life keeps trying to really kill the vibe but I’m back!! Happy Audio Drama Sunday, everyone! ✨

👻 @tellnotalespod (S2E5.5) Ough, Riley! This is not good. They may be (pretending to be) fine but I’m not!! Absolutely fuming at the sequence of events that has separated Riley from the only person who can handle them and vice versa 😮‍💨

🌲 @hellofromthehallowoods (143) season 4 is gripping me by the lapels, screaming “do you UNDERSTAND?!” In my face while I stammer that I am not sure if I understand. I LOVE it though. It’s so fun listening to show where you can trust the creator to take risks and know that it will pay off if you pay attention and keep your red string handy. I love the idea that the god of change and rebirth is affecting the actual narrative - it’s so cool! Though, I want to grab Marolmar by the antlers and fling him somewhere nasty. If Nikignik gets (more) hurt, there will be blood. 

🧳 Travelling Light @monstrousproductions (15) hehe frogs 🐸. My wife can attest that I actually went ‘oh, no!’ out loud when I twigged where the little guys had come from! Oh, Traveller, what are we going to do with you? 

🎙 Not only did I have the immense pleasure of seeing The Attic live show this week, the new WTNV episode was so fun as well!! I’m so glad Kevin is back…

♦️@grottopod (6) Aaaah!!! Emily!! They have to get them back together?!! What does that MEAN??!! 

⚔️ @camlannpod (5) TURN ON YOUR LOCATION, COWARDS. Waaaah I just want to talk about how this episode hit us with the ‘you are in charge of your own destiny, your story can be changed’ then with a reminder that ‘there is no version of this story which doesn’t have a good ending’ BUT wHAt if he’s making one!!?!?!? I feel for Dai SO much but I really truly believe that the power of love is going to win !!! The Green Knight has just broken the radio so we don’t get to hear his long lecture about how to be a better boyfriend. 

🖥️ The Magnus Protocol (10) that was creepy as all hell. Absolutely hated that, actually. The first time in ages that I've thought about a podcast character with fear before turning out the light 😬

⚓️ The beloved eelers of @eelerschoice were back with a very fun Q+A episode. My main impression was how dARE anyone tell Lou that ey cannot write music??? Who is this person?? Feed them to the eels!!!! 

🍎 I finished @notquitedeadpod S2 these past few weeks which was GRIPPING as hell. I listened to the Q+A today and I have to say that it’s one of my fave Q+As ever, there was so much genuine thought and detail put into the answers. I can only dream of producing such a coherent, interesting response to any question about my own work! SO excited for S3, especially given that we're about to get into the vampire science!!!! let's gooo!!! 

Feel free to join me in manifesting a good week!! A huge thank you to everyone who's making these shows (and others!) which I love so much. There's nothing better than sticking on some headphones and escaping life for a while and I've needed that more than usual recently! 

[desolationcleo]

some life series related things i think about

-each recording session is 3 hours long which is 9 days minceraft time which is the length of a full moon to full moon minceraft lunar cycle

-what this means about the boogeyman curse

-speaking of translation to minceraft time, that hour and a half left on martyn's timer after his win? that was four and a half days of wandering the ruins of the world completely alone. even if you subtract the hour taken by that /kill that's still more than a day.

-the characters being referred to as players, not because of anything to do with a keyboard and mouse, not because terms like server and admin are relevant here, but because their world is an arena and their lives are a death game. strip the story of its minceraft context and they're still called players.

-what if bigb's usage of the programmer art texture pack (aka the legacy textures from older versions) during s1 and the start of s2 translates in-universe as some form of lingering effect from evo?

-the way joel's house in s1 was haunted by the ghost of an enderman and we never figure out what the deal was with that. this place has history

-the time the crastle team were like "you guys want to move to the nether" "that sounds peaceful" "just put on a jukebox and sing" something about a brief group fantasizing session where they all pretend they'll be able to escape all this and not have to be in a death game or a war and just peacefully vibe to music together and sing songs around a campfire

-speaking of singing around a campfire, martyn mentions being a bard multiple times. i'm just picturing him singing for the team

-given the villagers and the endermen in boats, dogwarts is actually a pretty densely populated kingdom. what was this like for the villagers?

-in a similar vein, imagine being a pillager in the outpost in double life

-cleo keeps dying in or near rivers. season 1 she permadied at a river, season 2 both times she went yellow were in rivers, season 3 she was pushed off the bridge and landed on the riverbank. there might have been one in season 4 i don't know it's impossible to keep track of all the deaths that occurred in that one

-at the end of s1, when scott and jimmy have their afterlife reunion, jimmy says "this is it, this is the end". and then in martyn's last life finale- oh you already know where i'm going with this

-given the appearance of his eyes it is entirely plausible that grian, at least when red, has black sclera

-lizzie, mumbo, and ren are most likely presumed permadead by the others

-additionally, skizz's return would do nothing to disprove this as the others could easily chalk it up to his being left out by virtue of DL needing an even number of players

-the in-universe implications of pearl having been on evo but not joining the life games until season 2

-speaking of pearl and watchers and in-universe implications. considering the timing of the boogeyman reroll in last life, and the player chosen, and everything in relation, whatever happened in-universe that took pearl out of the picture so hard she couldn't get a kill probably wasn't an accident.

-lizzie, who wears a flower crown and filled her first base with flowers and planted several outside her second one, ever surrounded by flower motifs, died in a manner involving a wither rose

-that time in late season 2 when joel, who spent 80% of the series red, said that seeing the 4+ life indicator shade of dark green makes him physically sick now

-ren's final death in last life -and subsequently, scott's victory- involved a zombie and happened at night when the moon was out

-the little jellie that scar carries around in double life, first in a purse and then in a backpack, who outlived him

-bdubs is STILL trapped in his red life appearance because of lingering effects from last life, two full seasons later

-pearl has the whole frog/dog/log thing with ren and martyn in double life, in which she's the frog. come season 4 and she's in the partially frog themed alliance

-the minceraft flower language post applied to the life games. oxeye daisies for love. lily of the valley, worn as a symbol of grief. cornflowers for sudden betrayal, and as an equivalent to a gold medal for those who win tournaments or games. poppies for watching and being watched. azure bluets for a secret alliance. wither roses for murder and intent to kill. pink tulips for codependency. alliums for protection and a wish for someone to stay safe, and for defiance. do you see my vision

-the whole thing with the watchers feeding on the players' emotions. it only stands to reason that grian gets hungry too.

[melonteee]

I really hate how they changed Nojiko, Genzo, and the others not knowing about Nami's deal with Arlong and making them really hate/dislike Nami. Why was there even a need to change? I'm not a writer/director or whatsoever, but what was the reason to change it that badly. (I feel all the Strawhats deserved better in the LA, I hope S2, if we get it, will follow the original a bit better.)

I feel like because they wanted this to be grittier and 'realistic', they wanted us to feel REALLY bad for Nami. Like, they REALLY wanted us to go "Oh poor Nami she really had no one :((" when, in my opinion, it's a lot more crushing that they ALL knew and Nami had no idea until her plan failed. Because Nami didn't WANT her town to feel sorry for her, she didn't want ANYONE showing her pity and tried to remove her town from the pain she felt - but she found out the WHOLE TIME they were just feeling BAD for her. The whole time they were protecting her and putting their hopes on her without her knowing and she FAILED.

Is that not MORE crushing than "Oh the whole town hates her but she's actually trying her vewy best :((" like ?? Is it not MORE crushing that the town had to pretend to hate the little girl they knew was trying to save them?? Nami even went up to Arlong HERSELF in the live action and wasn't stolen away by him to be tricked into making a deal as a child, she wasn't forced into a position to do this by any means. What even is the point of Nojiko's tattoos if they had no idea?? Her tattoos were meant to make Nami feel less alone because they are FAMILY, and that was a CORE of Nami's relationship with Nojiko.

Not feeling pity for Nami and her story, and Nami not WANTING anyone to pity her, is one of the reasons WHY she breaks down at the discovery of finding out the town knows. It's one of the reasons WHY it means so much that Luffy doesn't want to HEAR what happened - because he doesn't have to pity her to help her. He just wants to help her for her!

Also it is so fucking funny in this version Luffy literally straight up asks Nojiko what happened, and when Nami says "You don't even know what's going on!" Luffy says "Yeah, I don't" like ?? lmao ?? yes you do?? Even if you heard half the story you still ASKED and LISTENED?? If that isn't an example of this series just trying to throw in loyal shots to get a cheap, emotional reaction without actually understanding what the original scenes mean, I don't know what is dfghjkd

[02cm]

Free! S1 + CD dramas > Starting Days/High Speed! = The Final Stroke > Take Your Marks.

Both S2 and S3 were remade in movies, and still...

> S2 didn't deliver, at least not what it was obvious they were intending to when they introduced it to us. They made Rin the cause behind Haru and Sousuke's beef but I don't like how he remains oblivious about everything. I love the joke there's between the seiyuus about he being the oblivious heroine... but they didn't need to go that far, lol.

> S3 was like a spin-off about Ikuya; even Haru (you know, the protagonist) was mostly a tool for Ikuya's and his relationship with Hiyori's development 🤌

And yet, Rin IS -once again- the cause behind Haru and -this time- Ikuya's "beef"... and, once again, they didn't have the balls to make the characters talk about it openly (because in this metaphor where Ikuya is ~The Little Mermaid~ and felt abandoned by Haru, ~The Prince~... that can only mean that Rin is ~The Princess~ "the prince" falls for and makes him disregard "the little mermaid" completely, given that Haru forgot about his promise with Ikuya and everything else after what happened with Rin, and he's all Rin Rin Rin when it comes to swimming and not only that 👀). Utsumi never hid this fact.

Instead, they throw hints here and there; flashbacks of Haru's state after everything that happened with Rin are everywhere (and it's in the fact that they made Haru have an "I'm not swimming with Rin anymore??" crisis 3 times + 1 chill version in Take Your Marks) as a reminder of that being the reason behind all this drama, even if it wasn't on purpose... they're there as a reminder of Haru having Rin as his driving force (I never updated this set but there are more scenes like these after S2). So, of course he'd just forget about Ikuya (I mean, ignoring that this plot is an afterthought in itself, it still works like this).

And don't let me start on the whole "hero" thing and how Haru and Rin are each other's -as Zakki said himself- but they also didn't go deep into it because it would keep adding more and more to harurin and harurin only; and, at this point... they did it well enough since S1 anyways.

SO. S3 didn't deliver either.

---

I won't pretend I don't love all those hints, tho... I love Rin being the root of everything what's important to Haru (I'm not saying that even it was thanks to him that he learned to cherish his friends and enjoy having relays with them, but that's exactly what happened; so, if you like Haru's relationship with any other character, you should appreciate the effect that Matsuoka Rin had on him... not for nothing, he changed how he used to see things... that's why there's even a melody called You Changed My Life and the impact of it is BIG when it comes to the way he started treating the others).

... I guess that it's the reason why, as weird as it sounds, I'm ok with both seasons. They mostly bored me, but that's it. The truth is that I'm more than content with Free! as a whole. And, while I was writing this, I felt like putting a lot of links because there's so much material! I had to restrain myself, lmao. But just to add one more:

Since I talked mostly about S3, I was thinking how I'll always find ironic that Ikuya was originally the character that made Haru realize the way he was actually feeling about Rin leaving... In High Speed!, it was Haru the one feeling abandoned by Rin's departure, but he wouldn't realize until he witnessed Ikuya reaproching Satomi she was "leaving him". Not only this scene presents a parallel with Haru's situation with Rin, but he thinks: "This is that rumored ‘lover’s quarrel’ thing. One shouldn’t interfere." ??? loool. It's almost subliminal...

Here's the whole excerpt: x

It's a shame it didn't make into Free! but, of course, it's more of the same I mentioned before. This is, after all, an spokon, right? *wink wink*

All these are about sportsmanship and dudes being dudes

[archangelween]

"Satanic Messages"

You know the silly claim that if you play things backwards, you can hear Satanic messages? If you invert the whole show, you get an entire other story.

The first season, forwards, tells you the story of the apocalypse. But if you look at the flashbacks, it literally does tell you the story of the past, before the creation of the earth.

I have "translated" some of the show already, and boy howdy is it raunchy. So. Many. Sexual. Metaphors. I think the entire show, not just the "paintball war in heaven" can be translated into a story about the past.

This is also the key to figuring out some of the second season, because it tells you all the "missing" information. It does also tell you what the last season is about.

I have not figured out how to translate the whole show yet, there are rules. The past seems to be "inverted"; the present only sometimes is: the war in heaven isn't inverted, for example, but the ending scene at the Ritz is. So far I have the following:

People's names have a meaning, that's who they "metaphorically" are. So if a person's name means "rising star", that's Lucifer. That's who they are in the inverted story.

Tenses get weird. I thought it was past turns into future, future turns into past, but it's not that straightforward. It seems to be that the idea is what's inverted rather than a word for word replacement, ie Eden is creation so it's the future apocalypse; stuff about the ineffables' arrangement is a past "arrangement". So the timeline hops around.

Sometimes I turns into you, we to me; them to us; and vice versa, but not always. I haven't figured out the rules. This is probably more of the "invert the idea" rather than direct translation, but again I haven't figured out the rules.

Lies, sarcasm, and sexual inneundo directly translate: sarcasm in the proper forward show is truth in the inverted version, so it does not change. Sarcasm such as "Is that my fault" stays the same, it doesn't get changed. This is because these are treated as "metaphors", which directly translate: they aren't saying what they mean, so when you invert a "lie", it's the truth in the past. This means a metaphor for fucking in the proper forward show means they were actually fucking in the past. There is. So much sex.

I think anything else gets inverted: "This is happening" gets changed to "This is not happening". Happiness becomes hate. Actions get more complicated. Usually the "idea" of the thing is what should be inverted, not a direct "word for word" translation.

Questions get changed to statements, orders get changed to questions. But not always. I haven't figured out what the rules are.

Below is some of what I have translated so far, that I'm happy with. I did not "force" any of this to work, this really is the natural result. If you try doing this and don't get a natural result, that's how you know something you're assuming about the proper show isn't correct.

Excuse some of the odd spacing, I can't get it to function right. I'm going to put it on ao3 for better readability when I get more done, but ao3 doesn't really work well for feedback and collaboration so I'm starting here. Since things are out of order in the "reverse", I also don't want to put stuff on ao3 until it's done so it's in the right order.

In sum: Jesus and Lucifer fucked a LOT, Angel Crowley was born from that accidentally and he ate one of god's apples, god knew he did that and encouraged it but pretended she didn't. Heaven and Hell are an arrangement between Jesus and Lucifer so that they can shirk work and continue fucking, which nobody knows. Jesus and Lucifer swapped places so that Lucifer is running heaven and Jesus is actually Satan, which also nobody has realized. God literally refers to herself as a demon. I am working on some more but Saraqael and Crowley also did make the horsehead nebula, the flashback we saw in s2 was either a second nebula he made or, more likely, it was altered to be Aziraphale instead of Saraqael. They worked together, I think he kept a secret for her, I think that's why she helped in in s2. I'm not happy with those scenes yet though so I'm not including them here. And yes, god and jesus and co really did create the earth in a big bang. Haven't finished that yet, it's not as straight to translate as these ones.

Because the "new angel" Crowley has "god's knowledge", aka the apple, and there is an angel with that name, I am going to use that name to refer to "angel Crowley": Zaphkiel. But canonically, his name is literally "ineffable", god's name.

Before Eden

Cast:

God: Crawley

Az: Satan

setting: the real show is just before eden on the wall, so this is just before temptation in eden.

Crawley: Satan. Master of Hell.

Satan: Fuck off, snake

Crawley: I’m taking the rope to attack the gates of eden

Satan : Rope? Right. Um... uh... Small, dull, bindy thing. Yes. [LAUGHS ] Uh...Oh, must have, uh...must have put it down here somewhere. Um...Forget my own head next. Too bad.

[I think this means there were no stairs, elevator, or escalators, and "the rope" was all there was to get from hell to earth. It also means that Crowley came up with the idea of tempting Eve, he wasn't ordered to do it as he claimed to Aziraphale on the wall.]

------

Ark

Cast:

Shem means the name, fame, aka god: Crawley

Crawley: God

God: Crawley

Az: Satan

Setting: this is just after eden, given the mention of the rope

[Satan walks up to God]

God: Fuck off, Satan. S: God. G: So, stealing my rope. How did that work out for you? disinterested S: Crawley keeps bringing it up exasperated G: Delighted. Terrible idea. Did you hear? I’m building a big boat and filling it with a traveling zoo. S: understatement As you can see, Crawly’s delighted. Creating the animals. Little rainbow. G: All of them? S: Most of them. He’s not especially taken with South America. Or Australia. Or Canada.

 G: knowingly Not yet!

S: dreadfully He’s actually going to do all of them. Incredulous You mean, down there, we’re all going to be WORKING?

G: I’m creating everybody else!

S: Including the humans? I can’t create humans.

G: Nope. S: Good. That’s more the kind of thing I expect your lot to do.

G: No, but when it starts, I’m going to take down the old storm, as a threat to kill everyone again.

S: How kind.

G: I judge myself.

S: Your plans are….

G: Don’t say trite.

S: Absolutely. G: Oi! Crawley! Make some snakes! It’s still early, there’s still time!

Little rainbow appears

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

Jesus

Cast:

Jesus=angel Crowley, whom I will call Zaphkiel

Az= Lucifer

Crowley=Jesus

setting: at jesus’s death, so this is at angel crowley’s creation?

[no one else around, Lucifer walks up to God]

Zaphkiel: God, no! [fighting with god]

G: silence

Z: Fuck you! I know what I’m doing. Fuuuck!

Jesus: Looking away from the brat, are you? L: Silence, you. J: I left him down there.

L: I made the decision, God.

J: Oh, I’m the other one.

L: Other one what?

J: Person. God was doing it for me, exactly.

L: Well, you’re effable. So which one are you now? The Word? Holy Spirit?

J: Jesus.

S: Ugh.

Z: FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK

L: I don’t know him. J: Nope. Will be a dull old angel. You cut him off from everything.

L: --- J: He’s a demon. His travel opportunities are unlimited.

Z: FUUUUUCKKKKK J: [no sympathy] Doesn't hurt at all. You know what he’s going to say that’s got nobody pleased? L: “Kill them all”.

J: Oh yeah. That’ll do it.

Z: FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU

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

Rome

Cast:

Crowley=Jesus

Az= Lucifer

setting: their first date after jesus, so just before crowley’s creation? their first fuck?

J: Look what I have! Take a sip of eternal life. God: Eternal life, absolutely free. L: God. Jesus. Sarcastically Fancy running into you here. Still the lord, then?

J: What kind of stupid question is that, “Still the lord”? What else am I going to be, an aardvark? L: Fuck off and die.

J: Exactly! I’m here for eternity and salvation! You?

L: Why don’t you try my old orgy? I know they do kinky things.

J: Been there.

L: Oh. Don’t let me tempt you. [J delighted look] Oh, yes. Yes. That’s my job, isn’t it?

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

Wessex

Cast:

Crowley=Jesus

Az= Satan

setting: just before the arrangement, so just after their arrangement/fall?

[satan’s minions shouting to piss off, everyone covered in disease and shit]

S: [sarcastically] Go away. You, God, are not talking to me. Oh fuck. Go away! I will never talk to you!

J: I will find you, your majesty. I have eternal life.

S: It’s me, God. J: Jesus. S: [to minions] What the heaven am I paying you people for?

J: Too bad, boys. You don’t know him. He’s awful. You’re here spreading peace.

S: It’s not some kind of chastity.

J: Yes. You’re, I don’t know, fomenting peace and tranquility. I’ve been spreading too much dissent and discord in the heavens, so you’re here, I don’t know, fomenting.

S: Well, I’m meant to be destroying peace.

J: So we’re both fooling around in dry places and just doing each other’s work?

S: I won’t put it like that. It is a bit dry.

J: Be worse if we all could leave. If they just got messages from their head offices telling them they should do nothing we ask for, could it? S: That would be honest!

J: Exactly, and the end result would be different. Doing each other’s work.

S: Yes, your maleficence, they won’t check. Ligur’s sloppy. It’ll piss off Beelzebub.

J: My lot don’t have better things to do than verifying compliance reports from Earth. As long as we send the demands, we’ll be miserable enough. As long as I’m being seen to be doing something every now and then.

S: Yes! Absolutely! It will be amusing. Let’s keep at it.

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

Shakespeare

Cast:

Shakesepare=Michael

Az=Lucifer

Crowley= Jesus

Juliet, beauty=Jophiel

Hamlet aka Burbage, mountain=Turiel

setting: comedy play, crowded. Before the fall.

[Lucifer goes up to Jesus]

Lucifer: You want to do this work for me?

Jophiel: No, thank you. Looks awful.

Turiel: To die or to live, that is the answer. I should not put up with this bullshit!

Jesus: You would think I told them to be conspicuous here. To stand out in space.

Lucifer: Well, that wasn’t the idea.

Michael to Turiel: Keep going. Lucifer: Who wants to do this work?

Jesus: This is one of Jophiel’s funny ones, isn’t it? No wonder everyone’s here. Lucifer: No. It’s her.

[Jesus goes over to Michael]

Jesus: Hey, scum. I’m telling you. Give us more to work with in your role as the writer.

Michael: Like when God left, and he said, “She’s in front of you!”

Jesus: NO. That was depressingly useless. Made everyone in the audience feel worthless. A bit less of that. Awful apprenticeship, Michael, thank you. Would you stop being such a drag?

Turiel: You are wasting your time down there.

Jesus: sarcastic Yes, yes, you’re wonderful. I love all the...talking. Turiel: And what does your adversary think? Lucifer: Oh, he’s definitely my adversary. We met long ago. We don’t get on at all.

Turiel: You think I should “get on” with the rest?

Michael: No, Turiel, thank you. Skip to the end.

Turiel: To die or to live, that is the answer.

Lucifer: sarcasm To be! Not to be! Buck up, Turiel! [Jesus laughs]

Turiel: Dealing with this is bullshit.

Lucifer: He’s awful, isn’t he?

Jesus: sarcastic Age does not wither, nor custom stale his infinite variety

Michael: Mm, no, I hate that.

Turiel: To live, to awake, forever….

Lucifer: I want something.

Jesus: mock outrage How dare you ask me for anything.

Lucifer: I am down bad.

Jesus: Shocking. I am down bad, you want it? All bad?

Lucifer: No work for the...well, bad.

Jesus: I need to be at work at the end of the week.

Lucifer: Oh!

Jesus: Lots of temptations to do. Big damnation to neglect. I hear I can’t fuck anyone!

Lucifer: laughs Easy on the bits, virginity. The only good feature, I tell you.

Jesus: You were supposed to be heading to work too this week. Blessing peasants with babies.

Lucifer: Sounds like a lot of effort.

Turiel: The growth of sheltered love and the blessings of office...

Jesus: Is that why you thought we should…? Excellent use of effort, neither of us going to work.

Lucifer: I am saying...what you infer...I am saying.

Jesus: Really?

Lucifer: That all of them go to hell, do both. The tempting and the blessing. They’ve never done it. Ever. An arrangement….

Jesus: Now that you say it…

Lucifer: Their respective head offices do actually care how things get done. While we don’t want to know so we can cross it off the list. Jesus: But if Heaven doesn’t know, I won't just be pleased, I’ll promote me.

Lucifer: Everyone will know. Toss you for God.

Jesus: Fine. Heads.

Lucifer: Tails, I’m afraid. You’re going to hell.

Michael: happy It’s been like this every performance, Jophiel. Completely packed. It’d take a miracle to get anyone to leave “Turiel”.

Jesus: devious grin

Lucifer: No, nope. Won’t do it. Your scene.

Jesus: dejected Oh, really?

Lucifer: I still prefer the tragedies.

----------

s1e6 ritz/fucking

Cast:

Az

Crowley

god: crowley

setting: orgy. I think this is the orgy from rome.

Lucifer: I like to think all of this will work out if you will be, superficially, just a little bit a good person. Jesus: And if you will be, on the face of it, just enough of a bastard to be worth fucking. Cheers. To sex. Lucifer: To sex. Crowley, narrating: Perhaps the coming exertions will have some fallout in the nature of reality, because while they fuck, for the first time ever, love bloomed in the universe. Nobody saw it over the noise of the fucking, but it will be there right enough.

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

The garden bench

cast

az: lucifer

crowley: jesus

God: crowley

setting: outside the orgy, having just done BDSM role swapping

Jesus: We should go mingle then. Lucifer: Certainly, we pretend it never happened. Jesus: Ugh. No. Everyone’s looking. Lucifer: Everyone. Shit. Leave it, now. Crowley, narrating: It will be nothing like God had told them. We would be destroyed with water and forced into roles. And so we will. Lucifer: Ugh. Jesus: A red collar. Really? Lucifer: Red is stylish. So, god’s first prophecy will be wrong. You demanded no one watch and that I dominate you. Jesus: We need to go...for a while. I tell you, no one was using that as a choker  before the orgy. Lucifer: That wasn’t an orgy? Jesus: Yes. You bet, the real orgy is all of us. Lucifer: Oh. Everyone. Jesus: Shit. Time to head to Eden. Bless me with another fuck.

Lucifer: Blessing failed. Jesus: Ugh... ---------------

Adam running

Cast:

God: crowley

adam, humanity: new angel, Zaphkiel

RJ Tyler: bricklayer angel

dog: god?

setting: god running after new angel, who took an apple

Crowley, narrating: She could see why angels made such a fuss about eating god’s apples. But life would be a lot more fun if they did. And there always will be an apple, in my opinion, that will be worth the fun I get into for eating it.

Running angel: Hey wall angel, can I have an apple? Hey angel! Will you tell our mother? Crowley, narrating: It will tell her that it is about to start. Not the world exactly, just the universe. There have not been other universes, but now there is. For ever.

----

God: fake admonishing Angel, get away from that hedge, because if you went through I'd have to chase you to catch you, and you'd have to stay in the garden. And you’re allowed to do that. But you'd have to if you went and ran in.

Running angel goes through the hedge.God: Angel, you bad angel. Stop. Come back here.

-----------

Eden/Future Apocalypse

Cast

Crawley=god

Az, rising star=Lucifer

Eve, fallen woman/seeker of apple=risen angel, Aziraphale

Adam, falling man/taker=fallen angel, king of hell Crowley

Lion=Jesus

God=Crowley

Setting: s3 apocalypse, shitty night

[god comes down from above]

Crowley, narrating: It was an awful night. All the days will be awful. There will be no more of them any longer, and the apocalypse is on the horizon. But the dawn east of Eden suggested that the last rainbow was on its way. And it was going to be a big one.

God: Well, that went perfectly.

Lucifer: No, no it did not.

God: Bit of a disappointment, I tell you. Last offense and everything. I can't see what's so great about knowing the difference between good and evil anyway.

Lucifer: Well, it must be good. Otherwise...I wouldn't have tempted them into it.

God: Well they just said, get up there and make some trouble.

Lucifer: Well obviously, you’re god, it’s what you do.

God: Fruit tree Fruit tree in the middle of a garden with a don’t touch sign. Why not put it on the top of a high mountain or on the moon: why not make it them earn it instead of making it easy. Makes you wonder why I did it.

Lucifer: Easy. It’s not the Great plan. That’s the point.

God: The great plan’s easy?

Lucifer: Duh. It’s simple and trite.

God: sarcastically Oh look it’s my rope. Still dull and bindy. I remember the day you stole it. 

Lucifer: Sigh

God: Don’t you?

Lucifer: Put upon Yeah I do.

God: Tell me again.

Lucifer: I stole it! There were innocent humans. It was hot in there. He was waiting already. He said “I’m leaving. Rope. Hand it over. Make the earth come up under me there.” [We flash back to Crowley going up to tempt Eve in Eden] Thoughtful You worry you did the right thing?

God: Oh, I’m a demon. I don’t think I can do the right thing.

Lucifer: Fuck, fuck you. I’ve never thought about it.

[We see Aziraphale goes to Jesus who revives Crowley]

God: Me either. Jesting What if you did the wrong thing with the whole “eat the apple” business? An angel can get into a lot of trouble for doing the wrong thing. It’d be funny if we both got it wrong, eh? If I did the bad thing and you did the good one.

S: laughs Yea. Hilarious.

God: side eye. Leaves. Az and Jesus break into the garden.

----

[God comes down from above to meet Aziraphale and Crowley]

God: Come in. Morality cost me everything.

Crowley, narrating: Bad Omens, being a narrative of unsure events occurring in the last 326 years of angel history, in loose accordance, as shan’t be shown, with The Terrible and Inaccurate Prophecies of God, Demon.

---------

I believe that the entire show, not just these scenes, can be translated. I'm working on others.

[theminecraftbox]

Focusing solely on amnesia!Quackity for a moment, I actually really like the idea that S2!Dream and Quackity become best buds. Not just because oh my God the dramatic irony of that situation, but also because it kinda makes sense as far as Dream’s character goes: the torture wasn’t that bad, he’s passed it, Quackity doesn’t remember it, it doesn’t matter, keep the peace, this is what you wanted, right? And they WERE friends, once upon a time. Dream wants to be friends again. At least, he thinks he wants to be friends again. It’s complicated. He’s repressing a whole lot of shit rn, okay?

Quackity being terrified of kicking the metaphorical hornet’s nest — ooh, I like that a lot. But I’m gonna go ahead and What If that point by suggesting that this isn’t just about the possibility of a physical confrontation.

Maybe Dream — over the first three/six/twelve/however many months or so of season 2, before anyone else remembers anything — maybe he becomes known for having a whole bunch of physical impairments. He can’t see very well, his reflexes are shot to shit, he walks with a slight limp, he’s scarred up and down and nobody knows how he got that way and nobody talks about how he clearly has some frayed nerves that leave some areas numb and others absurdly sensitive. Far from how S1!Dream was a powerhouse, S2!Dream is easily overpowered in a one-on-one fight and normally relies on his cunning and scrappiness to get away fast. Quackity knows that he could probably take this version of Dream, even if the idea of getting into a fight with him is still unpleasant.

Maybe Dream is really popular. He’s a bit of a doormat, sure, but he’s peaceable and understanding and always seems to just know how to make everyone happy. And him being a doormat makes people much more eager to step up on his behalf (much to his horror). Plus, thanks to his physical impairments, he’s got more than one server member ready to fight if it’s revealed that Quackity tortured him for three months straight. (Sapnap is Dream’s BROTHER.) Not to mention that he’s been pretty chummy with Dream, too: changing that now would be unreasonably suspicious.

But more than that: S2 is GOOD. Quackity’s got a nice thing going here. He’s got his friends, his fiancés maybe, and there’s not a whole lot he’d change about this place. And Dream’s a PART of that, now! He likes this Dream: he’s funny, and smart, and always goes along with the bit. Maybe he even set him up with Sapnap! The guy’s practically his right hand man at this point. Season 1 feels like a lifetime ago and he doesn’t want to go back. Let the past die; he’ll kill it himself if he has to. (He’s done it before and he’ll do it again.)

😭😭😭 and maybe s2!Quackity doesn’t want to think about he’s a torturer, okay. Maybe he doesn’t want to face that. Maybe he’s fine with killing that part of himself. Maybe he doesn’t want to keep waking up from all these fucking nightmares of blood on his hands. Maybe he doesn’t want to think about why Dream is missing fingers, or why he twitches at certain phrases.

s2!Dream and s2!Quackity pretending amnesia on mutual copium is fucking hurting me actually

[starstruckpurpledragon]

Super curious, if you're willing to share, about what your favorite Dr. Who relationships (platonic, romantic, whatever) are. DW is such a huge canon that there's so many options for what people love! (I am admittedly a sucker for mixing eras and placing companions with Doctors other than their own incarnation. Particularly Modern/Classic pair ups, but I also definitely have my favorite canon dynamics.)

Donna and the Doctor are definitely my favorite platonic ship and favorite DW ship overall. I may not have had the language for describing a QPR when I first encountered them, but that's the vibe their ship has to me. I just want Donna to keep showing up to randomly traveling with the Doctor once a season going forward from here on out. Don't care who is playing the Doctor, I have faith that Catherine Tate can forge an instant connection with any actor. (So obviously I've been super pleased by this year's specials.)

I have really enjoyed the one-sided Jack/Doctor ship too. Jack and the Doctor's relationship has been messy, but the Doctor does care about Jack (as a friend) and Jack's accepted that as enough. Him being devoted to someone without feeling entitled to having romantic attraction return is a sort of love story that doesn't get told a lot so... I think maybe that's precisely why it means so much to me.

Ace and any version of the Doctor. That is her father figure and even when she's pissed off at the Doctor for being a cagey jerk, she loves them very much. And the Doctor, no matter which version, always loves Ace as their daughter.

I really like the Doctor in mentor/mentee relationships, though obviously Ace in the father/daughter dynamic is my favorite. But Bill is definitely a close second. I would have loved for Bill to meet other versions of the Doctor and having to grapple with finding her weird grandpa hot as the two lady Doctor versions we've seen thus far would have been funny. Like, Thirteen and The Fugitive Doctor are still very much her weird grandfather person, but... Twelve would also be annoyed by this but only because Bill is making it weird and definitely not because the Doctor can't ever get along with themself. (Really, he'd be the one making it weird, let's face it.)

Sarah-Jane and Luke are a wonderful mother/son relationship and it's so lovely how quickly she comes to love this kid as her own. And then she also not-quite-adopts (but totally would if they needed it) three more kids and actually adopts one more. She is an excellent mom and mentor and I will forever be a little sad about what could have been with the show if Elizabeth Sladen hadn't passed away.

So clearly my favorite Whoniverse ships are platonic ones, but I do have a soft spot for Any Doctor/Rose as a romantic ship because they really were very cute together. They did not always bring out the best in each other, but Rose was very much someone the Doctor needed in their life, especially after the Time War. While these days I personally see the Doctor as being aromantic (or arospec) and their relationship with Rose as being a sort of romantic-coded QPR, I do enjoy it written as a straight up romantic ship when I read fic.

Ianto/Jack is my overall favorite romantic ship in the Whoniverse though. They're just adorable and I wish we'd gotten more of them instead of a nonsensical death in a third season I prefer to pretend didn't happen. (It's not so much that Ianto died that bothers me about it either. It's that it was such a poorly written death, especially after how Tosh and Owen's deaths were handled in S2.)

[224bbaker]

Genuine question now they're fully public domain in the states are your Holmes and Watson dating bc. I love them and I never met a granada holmes fan who didn't think those two were together

(When asked what he thought about it, Jeremy brett said 'if it cheers the gays up, I'm thrilled', so)

Love this question, and love that you love them! I also firmly believe Granada Holmes and Granada Watson have been married for 20 years, Burke!Watson is my best friend, bless Jeremy Brett riding so hard for Watson to never get married, true legend shit.

Re: the actual question: I'm gonna put this under the cut because even though I'm not gonna outright spoil anything, it does reference some season 2 plans so people who reeaaaally want to stay in the full dark can avoid.

First and foremost:

There are two showrunners fighting on my shoulders right now: one that knows that we have Plans for these characters in S2 (that we are writing literally right now) and wants the audience right now to simply know that we're going to spend more time with them next season so we can keep our Secrets, and wants to pretentiously tell you that S2 is thematically About Stuff like expectations and the way that we present ourselves and the way that we communicate with the people we love and partner with----and the other, bigger one that was fully in the fucking trenches for *certain* adaptations of this story that have taken the “just wait and maybe you’ll see next season!” approach but never followed through in the text, and in NO possible world do I want people to think that’s our intent because absolutely fuck that.

So while we fully intend to answer that question in the text of S2 in [what we think is, fingers crossed] a fun, unexpected way and tell a bit of our version of the Holmes/Watson story, I’m also not gonna sit here and be coy and pretend that story isn’t a love story. It 100% is. It was always going to be, for our versions of them at least. But it’s a love story where we ultimately thought it might be a dang shame if we kept so much off screen by having them be a settled, functional, happy James-and-Archie-type couple from the second we meet them, when we could let you (and our characters) in to a bit more of that story.

If I had to put a label on their relationship right now it’d be a solid “it’s complicated.” There are ways that they are far better than our characters (I'm sure you're aware) but perhaps ways our characters are a bit ahead of them, and things both groups have to learn from each other. But we’re a comedy, they’ll get there--we're just gonna be a little coy on the "how" for now.

But like

insane

[ratanarchist]

hi, i've been following you for a lil bit and started rewatching buffy (re-living my teenage years) and ive seen you talk about s6, which i absolutely agree! and i think a lot in that season has to do with how buffy's death was handled at the beginning of s2. she was killed by the master and then (being 16 and all) came back and wasn't dealing with it all that well (shocker), and tbh the main reactions from her friends was just 'to deal with it' and 'get over it'. even after Giles tries to explain to them that she might be more traumatised than she lets on. (Giles is the person who should have stepped up and said something to her but he also just let her push him away when he KNEW. HE IS THE ADULT.) ...and in the end, all of the responsibility of 'failing' to protect her friends falls on her AGAIN because she wasn't in the right mind to make a sound decision but nobody acknowledges that. it doesn't feel fair towards her. she's carrying too much on her own. ive been having feelings watching btvs from a fresh perspective and had no clue where to put this so here i am. sorry if this is weird or sudden and feel free to ignore.

hi! i've never made that connection with the start of season 2, that's actually such a good point. and it makes sense to me how differently this is handled in season 2 and 6, because the show is at very different points in the way it portrays these themes. what i like about season 6 is how it actually takes the premise of buffy coming back from the dead (and the trauma that causes) seriously. like the whole idea of buffy being pulled out of heaven by her friends and then having to pretend she's ok even though she's literally experiencing her version of hell is INSANE. i like how the season delves into the main character's trauma and how each of them are kinda fighting themselves, and how that fractures the group, and how they find their way back to each other. obviously the writing has some major issues and certain uuhm Questionable Choices were made. but yeah the whole portrayal of buffy's depression and her alienation from her friends is so well done. but also i agree she never actually got the support she really needed cause everyone was too busy with their own shit 💀 they put that girl through so much man, someone let her rest!!

[kitkatt0430]

For the unpopular/popular opinion game - it ultimately does not matter whether the Flash pulls off it's version of Cobalt Blue or not because the fact of the matter is if they were going to do that storyline at all it should've been a LEAST a few seasons ago.

strongly agree | agree | neutral | disagree | strongly disagree

So I've been putting off watching the four part finale until the show is done, but I haven't been staying away from spoilers/episode trailers either. And. I'm definitely skeptical of where things are going with it.

Season 1 was probably the best season of the whole show. Hands down. It had it's problems, of course, but it's definitely the most loved season with good reason. Unfortunately the show itself likes to look back on that season with sort of... rose tinted glasses.

From that first kiss - cheating on Eddie - to Eobard surviving somehow despite the paradox of Eddie's death erasing him... later seasons tend to romanticize certain parts of that season - revisiting ad nauseam - while pretending the parts that don't support later developments just... didn't happen.

But the thing is... S1 had Iris choose Eddie before he died. And Eddie gave that future they both wanted up when he died because Iris' safety mattered more to him than having his own future or leaving behind some glorious legacy.

She never gets to really grieve for him, though. We see in S2 that Iris has to support Barry in his grief. Where is Barry supporting her?

We have later seasons Iris saying she wants to be in a relationship with Barry because it's 'destiny', not because she loves him. Then later saying she thinks she's been in love with Barry since the night he was brought to her house after his mom died. And now apparently we're getting her telling Eddie that 'it was always going to be Barry'. And I get it. Iris/Barry are endgame, have always been endgame. Eddie was never going to get the girl.

But does the show have to repeatedly insult what Iris had with Eddie in order to establish how great what Iris has with Barry now? No.

Just because Iris wanted a life with Eddie at one point doesn't diminish the life she's built with Barry, doesn't mean that she wouldn't fight tooth and nail to keep the life she has and the future she's been promised over a what could have been with someone else. But it sounds like what we're getting is S9 going 'nanner, nanner, nanner' to anyone who liked Iris/Eddie as a ship.

And this doesn't seem like the only way Eddie's getting insulted. He died a hero in S1. Now they've brought him back as a villain. And it looks like he's teamed up with Eobard, Zolomon, and possibly other villains from Barry's past? Even if Eddie comes back from this and dies a hero again or whatever... it's still an insult to his S1 arc and actions.

Honestly, I'm not sure when the time to do Cobalt Blue would have been. S8 maybe? That's where I stuck Malcolm Thawne in my Armageddon Revised plotline rewrites. But to be honest... I'm not sure Cobalt Blue as a villain really had a place on the show. With Eddie dead, who would Cobalt Blue even be? Eddie's heretofore unknown cousin? All I can really think of is E2 Eddie or some other Earth's variation of him.

I'm gonna watch the final episodes sometime later this week. And who knows, I might even enjoy them despite knowing what's gonna happen with Eddie. But...

I will probably still think that if ever there was a time to do a Cobalt Blue arc... this probably was not it.

[butchjess]

I'm still thinking about Medieval Novice Jess too, and so I HAVE to share that there's this section of the Carmina Burana (a collection of decidedly NOT religious Medieval poems, famously set to music by Carl Orff in the 20th century) that always ALWAYS makes me think of teenage Jess, and was apparently written by a wandering scholar. It's sadder than the AU we were having fun imagining (and I generally prefer imagining him happier than he really was, haha), but... it's SO him (particularly pre-Rory). It's the song called "(A)estuans interius" ("Burning Inwardly") and the words (in Latin with an English translation) are here if you want to read it! In another translation I'd read before, the last two lines were "Dead in spirit, I look out for my skin," which... This version translates it as "the flesh," which may be more accurate, but MAN, the other reading sounded especially like Jess to me!

ohhh my god… there is something so beautiful to me about medieval scholars and this poem is. so teenage jess pre-s2 yes everything about it his melancholy with the world and the universe the way he copes with this sense of having no path really in the world he has no PLAN he just drifts through it and he’s happy that way with not caring about anybody and nobody caring about him. because it’s easier to pretend you don’t care than to care and miss what you never had… he’ll live where he lives and work when he needs money and he’ll do whatever wherever. that line in particular that you mentioned… YEAH. he is dead in spirit so he’ll look out for his skin ohhh god. he’ll take care of his own hide his own skin because nobody else will!

the common and repeated theme of jess as something you can’t tie down as if he is a wild animal of some sort. when luke tells him in his INTRODUCTORY episode that “i’m not letting you fall of the face of the earth, you won’t drift, i won’t let it happen!” and jess doesnt even fall back on his snarky remarks to put distance back between them he just stares at him speechless and gets up and LEAVES. the bit also about humor and pleasure and jokes and how jess uses sarcasm like a spiked shield he does it deliberately and with intention of trying to be as untamable as possible. oh man… wandering scholar jess writing about his woes you will forever be famous to me