#that being said i have Many thoughts about some decisions in that episode but overall

[boltgunkiller-archive]

some may complain but i actually think alfie was one of the best decisions for santana to sing in 6x6. it’s a little funny that they cut out the “without true love we just exist, alfie” but the rest of the song fits soo well and makes me so emotional

[stardustbuck]

I feel like atp even if there were plans to make bvddie canon theyre gone now. if tim minear is even half as petty as I am he would see that reaction and go u know what fuck you u actually don't get what you want now cause ur acting so goddamn entitled. like when tarlos fans got mad about the deleted scenes instead of appreciating them being released and his reaction was to say "okay fine then I just won't release deleted scenes anymore" (like I'm sure it was mostly a marketing decision but part of me thinks they intentionally released a scene about bucktommy just to prove a point.) idk man it's just really upsetting as a bi man to see the absolutely vile shit bvddie stans are saying and even tho I love the ship I now never want it to go canon cause they've fuckin ruined it

hey anon, at first let me agree with the fact that i do in fact also love bvddie a lot and i still love reading fics for them, the edits of them are fantastic and the fanart is S tier. it’s a great pairing with a lot of potential there IF the writers decided to ever go there but…

huge answer below

yeah, i agree. i honestly think before tommy was introduced again in 7x03 and the kiss in 7x04 that in my brain, bvddie was the most logical endgame for buck until it wasn’t.

i came into the show shipping bvddie much like a lot of new fans to the show but instead of hopping onto the tommy anti express hate train i found myself falling in love with buck and tommy together. at first i was still on board with bvddie still being endgame but as each episode aired after 7x04 i became faced with the reality of the situation (at least the way i see it) that bvddie might always be fanon and that’s ok because fandom keeps ships alive whether they’re canon or not. some of the biggest ships EVER are non-canon (i mean, cmon spirk? one of the OG MM ships?) so it didn’t really deter me from enjoying bvddie to this day. what HAS deterred me from interacting with bvddie content is toxic bvddies. i don’t like using the lil nicknames, idc if other ppl do, whatever, but i prefer just referring to certain kinds as just toxic plain and simple.

toxic shippers have made it difficult for anyone who multiships to interact with bvddie content. while there are incredibly nice & welcoming bvddie endgamers out there, it doesn’t overshadow the hateful ones in my online experience at least. i’ve blocked so many ppl over this ship discourse, which ive never had to do with any other fandom before the extent i have with 911. everyday i still find new ppl to block, you go under almost any comment section on the 911 insta and its filled with nasty comments abt tommy and only caring abt whether bvddie will be canon in s8. people projecting their hatred of tommy/lou onto the cast/crew of the show when it’s be said and proven time and time again that it’s quite the opposite. now im certain there’s bad apples in the bucktommy side as well, but from what ive seen online so far it is not nearly to the caliber of the bvddie side. ive blocked maybe a handful of bucktommy’s for being hateful towards eddie or being toxic overall, but ive probably blocked over 100+ toxic bvddies. i can only imagine it’d be worse if i was active on 911 twt which i’m not (thank god) but i have ventured into the tags before on there and let me tell you, it’s fucking horrifying how gross ppl are over there. twt is a cesspool for fandom anyways tho, the fucking asshole of fandom, it’s a septic tank really.

now im my own opinion which could be completely untrue of course, but just basing my thoughts on what i’ve seen online and interviews and such, tim seems to be really happy about bucktommy and idk how ppl believe otherwise. tim has expressed he loves LFJ and wanted him back on the show. tim showed up on set for the kiss scene. tim posting an entire youtube vibe abt bucktommy being soulmates that touches on the invisible string theory and explains how they accidentally found buck’s perfect match. tim sharing the deleted tommy scene is also huge but im waiting to see if he releases more (because i remember seen somewhere that he said there’d be more?) and if he does then great but it’s also still pretty telling to me after the whole karaoke fiasco.

oliver has said nothing but praises towards buck’s queer storyline. he quite literally said if you dont like it then watch something else. despite ppl saying he’s never interacted with bucktommy content online, that’s a lie because he has liked fanart of them.

aisha, kenneth & tracie have all expressed how they like tommy/lou and love working with him.

jlh said she loved bvddie before but is excited to see where buck and tommy go and then on an insta live said she doesn’t think bvddie is happening and was bombarded by toxic fans to the point of ending the live early.

ppl think it’s all some ruse to make it seem like bvddie is never happening so when it does happen it’s a “surprise” ……..

the nasty hate comments are doing nothing but exposing these types of ppl for who they are and that honestly to them, 911 is just the bvddie show to them. the people who run these social media accs for 911 are looking at these comments and cringing, they aren’t running to tim and abc being like “we must give these crazies what they want!” they’re mostly likely being ignored or honestly, as you said, being looked at and just reinforcing their decision to most likely make tommy buck’s endgame so as long as his schedule is open for filming.

what gets me the most about the hate these types of shippers spew online is how they aren’t embarrassed because they are so sooo convinced they will be right one day and therefore their insane, nasty behavior online will be justified. oliver stark literally left twt because of fans like this, people act like he was joking around, that he was shooting the shit probably because “he’s british and british people just have that kind of humor” which yes to a certain extent but let me just add these posts to set an example to why if oliver were still on twt he absolutely would not be happy with the way toxic bvddies are acting right now.

oliver (and ryan&other cast too) being positive abt bvddie never meant it was going to be canon of become canon one day. they do not decide these things, whether they believe it should or not. a lot of bvddie shippers come from previous fandoms where queerbaiting was there, where they were made fun of by actors of their ships, by the creators of the show! so i understand the frustration but oliver is not queerbaiting and buck is not a queerbait character when he quite literally is now confirmed bisexual and in a relationship with a man.

he’s just not the “correct” queer to these people. despite headcanons (hell even i hc eddie as queer!!) eddie so far, in canon, is not queer. by the end s7 he is still shown to not be over shannon and ruins his relationship with his son over this. ryan has stated in interviews he sees eddie as heterosexual, possibly pushing this because of the influx of ship discourse, and he’s glad to see a vulnerable and deep friendship that buck and eddie can have as a straight man and a queer man and how important he thinks it is.

every single thing that points to bvddie never going canon is like they’re being shot point blank in the chest. i get it, your ship not becoming canon sucks, but again, that is what fandom is for! shipping has never been about how canon smth is, there is 20k fics out there for bvddie and they aren’t canon. they can turn that into 40k, 100k, 1M if they really wanted to! instead they use their time and energy posting death threats, wishing death upon a gay character, bullying ppl online for enjoying a ship.

meanwhile from what ive seen bucktommys are rolling with goofy ass spy tommy theories created by antis and making jokes for our own fun.

so yes, i agree overall. they truly don’t deserve what they think they do. we didn’t whine and scream for a deleted scene. they did. we got ours without even expecting it and are having fun.

maybe if they behaved better i wouldn’t be so petty abt it. it’s a shame because of how much potential it has, unfortunately it is just not going that way atm. and even if it does one day, it is not because they paraded online with hate, it is because that’s the story tim and the others wanted to write and abc approved it.

🫳🎤

[darksvster]

Hi, I usually only send asks to people on anon, but I really wanted to say that I am so sorry this fandom has been so awful to you and made what should have been a fun and cool thing such a negative experience. I will be sad not to see the rest of the scripts, but I hope stopping the posts gives you some peace 💙

thanks for the kind words, honestly i need them right now. after some consideration, i've come to make a decision on how i want to operate moving forward.

as of now i've permanently deleted my scheduled posts on twitter, i won't be posting anything there anymore.

for tumblr, i removed everything from my queue and they're sitting in my drafts, but i may just post the excerpts i like this weekend.

on the whole, i'm taking a big step back from this fandom. i've met a lot of nice people here and made friends, but the loud voices of some of the worst people here just make this an overall unenjoyable experience. for my own mental health, i think it's important to simply cut off the opportunity for people to engage with me directly.

to give some clarity, this is not just about people doubting my posts. i find those to be funny since i have never made it a secret where i get my scripts from, people just seem to be unwilling to read or do research. i actually do have one single image of a script on my phone that the librarian okayed me to photograph. but i forgot about it while making edits and now i simply don't want to post it. (i thought i didn't copy down daemon asking for rhaenyra's hand in episode 4, apparently, i was wrong and just forgot about the picture.)

this is about people calling me awful names, accusing me of pedophilia, because that's everyone's favorite word to use in this fandom, and insulting my friends when i won't respond to them.

it's about people who seem to think i deserve harassment because i put myself out there. it's about people who think i'm just too engaged and need to be more "zen" about fandom and the insults being hurled my way. it's about people who feel entitled to my posts and regularly demand greedily that i post about their favorite character already.

it's also about people cozying up to me one minute and then calling me names the next. it makes it really hard to trust anyone in this fandom, much less want to befriend them. i shouldn't have to get used to people suddenly popping up in my dms trying to befriend me after finding out that i could be a "source" for them, but i did and that's on me.

i said before that if i stopped this project i would expose everyone who was an asshole to me. the hilarious fact is that it would literally be too many screenshots of people acting like the worst type of people. all the things i listed above are from multiple people across multiple platforms. it's not just twitter, or tumblr, or discord, or reddit. it's the fact that these people exist literally in every corner of this fandom that makes me want to pull back completely.

i'll keep contributing in the areas where i enjoy contributing, but i'm done engaging with people who seem to view me as entertainment or a punching bag.

to people who have defended me without knowing me, or have simply just been polite, thanks so much. it really does help even if i don't reply to every kind word.

[the-power-of-stuff]

The Live-Action Sukka Manifesto that I Just Couldn't Keep in My Head

So I've been marinating in my live-action Sukka thoughts for the past three days, and when someone sent me an anon asking if I had any thoughts about the changes, at first I went, "DO I EVER?!" and proceeded to dump my entire brain on the page.

But then I worried maybe the anon wouldn't want to see my entire brain and figured I'd make my own post with my Many, Many Thoughts, and reel it in a bit when I answer the ask. And then link here if they're interested in the dissertation.

I'll put all the excessive details and spoilery stuff under a cut, but I'll start by saying, I didn't hate it! And I was afraid that I would.

There were things that I was bummed or had mixed feelings about, but there was also a lot that I genuinely enjoyed. All the Sukka interactions were cute and still had some decent character development, and I had fun with the episode overall (I've watched it thrice mind you, and definitely have not given the rest of the series that kind of attention). And I didn't necessarily dislike the differences from the original; I think I've just taken more of a "that was an interesting interpretation" approach.

But I better start that cut now, because I'm about to go on and on about this. I'd love to know what others think, though!! Even if the opinions aren't the same as mine! Please feel free to comment, reblog, shoot me an ask. If nothing else, I'm excited that the LA has gotten people talking about ATLA again.

So, I want to start with Suki’s characterization, which overall I found to be delightful, even if it was a bit of a watered-down version of her animated self.

In the original show, Suki is confident, sassy, and doesn’t take shit from anybody. She’s proud to the point of almost being arrogant, and even a little mean. What we get in the LA is someone who’s still confident in terms of her status and her skills, and still proud of her heritage and her role in her community, but with significantly less sass. And while LA Suki still seems like someone who wouldn’t take anyone’s shit, we don’t actually see LA Suki deal with that much shit from anyone (because Sokka isn’t really giving her any). 

There is one moment in the show where her interaction with Sokka is a little contentious, which is when he tries to relate to her as a fellow guardian of his people. I think Suki’s question to Sokka about how is he protecting his village if he’s not there is meant to be a challenge to his swagger. However, the line is delivered with a softness that makes it seem as though Suki is, at least in part, genuinely curious. (This curiosity makes even more sense when we consider the fact that Suki’s eventually going to leave Kyoshi Island so she and her Warriors can take part in the war effort, and that she will have to contend with the question of “how do you do that without abandoning your people?” when coming to that decision. The LA lays a lot more of this groundwork than the animated show did: Suki outwardly expressing her desire to see the world, her mother’s secretive looks every time Suki gazes longingly at Sokka the possibilities…)

Compare these two moments, for example. These are both scenes where Suki expresses disbelief at Sokka's claims about his warrior-hood. But in the LA, Suki speaks rather quietly and mildly, in contrast to the brash sarcasm of her animated counterpart. LA Suki is also tilting her head down and away, looking at Sokka indirectly. OG Suki is leaning in close, getting in his face, smirking derisively with her hands on her hips.  

I think there’s something to be said about the LA in general smoothing away certain personality traits that could be seen as negatives but that are actually strengths that are so narratively well-developed they occasionally show up as flaws (for instance, Katara’s fury, or lack thereof). Animated Suki is prideful and stubborn; she berates Sokka until he gives her sad puppy-dog eyes and has zero hesitation about making an example of him in front of her whole class. It’s a little ruthless, but these traits are also 1) what gets through Sokka’s thick skull (he, too, is prideful and stubborn), and 2) what makes her such a dedicated ambassador of Kyoshi and such a strong leader of the island’s Warriors at such a young age. I feel like the LA writers were afraid of making any of the protagonists seem too abrasive—everyone in the LA has had their edges sanded down, including Zuko, including Aang—and in general this tends to lead to less realistic representations of humanity and conflict, less satisfying character development arcs, and fewer opportunities for reflection and learning. 

That being said! I went into watching the LA with negative expectations about what we would see in terms of character development, and thus was pleasantly surprised. 

The LA removed the need for Suki to be as ruthlessly stubborn as she is in the animated show because LA Sokka’s skull is not so thick (and I'll get into that a bit more later). So what we get instead is a sheltered Suki with a helicopter mom who is so hilariously awkward that she has no idea how to interact with other humans. And, to be honest, I enjoyed this version of her so much that I even thought to myself, “I wish I’d thought of that!”

Suki is a straight-up weirdo in the LA and I love that for her. The way she puts Sokka in a chokehold and then looks at him after she sets him free like, “That was good flirting, yes? Would you like to be my boyfriend now?” And then her disappointment when Sokka walks away as if she’s thinking, “Why didn’t that go well, I thought boys loved getting put in chokeholds?” She is so precious, I just want to put her in my pocket. And this characterization might even be more broadly relatable than a super-confident Suki brimming with sass. Who among us hasn’t made a complete fool of ourselves in front of a crush by coming on way too strong and having no idea how to flirt? I mean…real. 

And because Sokka is also mostly just making a fool of himself trying to impress a pretty and talented peer (instead of covering up his insecurities by wrapping himself in misogyny) this leaves room for the two of them to be attracted to each other right off the bat and for their interactions to be more overtly romantic throughout the entire episode. Which, avid shipper that I am, I have to admit I have been gobbling up for the past three days straight. This episode was an IV drip of romantic tropes hooked straight to every Sukka shipper’s veins. 

Shy glances from across the room? Check.

Walking in on the other person half-naked? Check. (Y’all, Suki looks Sokka up and down for a FULL TWENTY SECONDS yes I timed it from the moment she appears in the background, yes you should count it to see how long that really is. Talk about awkward.) 

Tripping so they end up falling into each other’s arms? Check.

Wide-eyed shock that turns into surprise thirst after being pinned to the ground? Check.

Shooting each other satisfied smirks as they kick ass side-by-side? Check.

Jumping in front of literal fire for each other? Check and check!

Like, I could live off this for the rest of the year. 

But look, there’s a lot that I love about the way Sokka and Suki’s relationship is portrayed in this episode besides those romantically indulgent tension-creating moments, and it has to do with Suki’s admiration and validation of Sokka. 

Suki really looked at this boy with his mouth stuffed half-full of steamed bun and went, “Must have.”

With the removal of overt sexism from this episode (for better or worse), the story focused much more heavily on Sokka’s development as a leader. He still has that sort of posturing display of self-confidence that comes from inexperience and trying too hard to prove oneself (“Ferociously…deadly tiger whales…”), and while at first Suki seems put off by this and his attempts to liken himself to her (“I’m not just a warrior, I’m a Kyoshi warrior”) it doesn’t take her long to decide (*cough*after seeing him shirtless*cough*) that she doesn’t actually mind this behavior (and in fact maybe she kind of likes it because maybe it means he likes her and maybe it means she can show him how much she likes him by slicing the tops off all those melons with her fan). She seems genuinely interested in his boomerang and impressed that he hunts, and then later, she immediately takes interest in training him in the Kyoshi Warrior style. 

After they spar, she casually refers back to the fact that he’s his village’s protector, and this time, she does it without the disbelief and defensiveness. Because he’s finally stopped posturing. He opened himself up and gave himself over to Suki’s expertise, and in that way he proved that he has the will and desire—the heart—of a warrior. And Suki tells him so while touching him gently and gazing at him longingly in the soft golden glow of the late-afternoon sun. And as a die-hard Sokka stan, I love seeing him loved and appreciated like this. Adamantly. Ardently. The Sokka cheerleader in my head is going wild. “YEESSSS!! Our boy deserves this!!” Because we know that, in the animated show, he goes through a lot more struggle and self-doubt before he receives this kind of external validation. And while we also know that this makes for an incredibly satisfying growth arc, I gotta admit that it’s a fun bit of indulgence to watch Suki talk Sokka up directly to his face and then want to kiss him really bad. Y’know. As a treat.

That said, I'm very attached to and appreciative of the way their relationship is framed in the animated series. I love that their respect and affection for each other grows even after the disaster that is their first few interactions. In the LA, they are drawn to each other immediately, and the only barrier seems to be a bit of awkward stepping-in-it-ness. In the original, they have legitimate conflict, and they both have to give a little—Sokka becomes more humble, Suki becomes more tender—before they get to that point of potential romantic interest. And I think it says a lot about Sokka’s character and his desire to learn and grow that he is willing to humble himself in front of someone who, as far as he’s seen, has very little regard for him (slash has a good deal of animosity towards him). Giving himself over to Suki’s expertise costs him more in the animated show. But once he does, he and Suki learn and grow together. He shows Suki who he really is, shows her how dedicated and determined (and fun and a quick learner) he is, to the point that, by the end of the episode, she can allow herself to be vulnerable with him. And she does validate him in the original Kyoshi Warriors episode, just less directly than the LA. Her kiss on his cheek and “...but I’m a girl, too” is about forgiveness and acceptance and acknowledgement and respect, as much as or even more than it is about affection. There’s a little bit of romance, too, but it’s just little baby seeds of it, and it feels very natural to let those seeds germinate over time until we see Suki again later in the series. 

Which brings me to the live-action kiss. 

I’ll be honest, I was a little on the fence about the kiss. I want Sokka and Suki to kiss as much as possible in every conceivable universe. So there’s a part of me that was banging on the table and whistling with obscene joy. But the other part of me thought it was too much too soon. However, my hesitance pre-supposes some things about the second season (not least of which that there will be one), namely that it will handle the reunion with Suki and crossing the Serpent’s Pass anything like how it was done in the original. (Of course, one thing we now know for certain can't happen in a hypothetical LA season 2 is Suki pranking Sokka at the ferry station because he doesn't recognize her without her makeup. Do I love the expression on LA Sokka's face the first time he sees Suki's? Yes. Am I sad that this completely ruins their whole "You don't remember me? Maybe you'll remember this!" game? Also yes. But truthfully, I don't know if LA Suki would've been up to the prank, anyway. Not sassy enough. ;))

The Serpent’s Pass is one of my favorite episodes of all time, and that moment on the bluffs when Sokka and Suki are talking around Sokka’s loss, with the moon shining down on them all the while, and they almost kiss with the moon hanging between them in the background, and then Sokka pulls away without any other explanation besides, “I can’t”? That scene is so absurdly powerful and beautiful and an amazing moment of character development for them both, and I feel like it loses a lot of impact if they’ve already made out once. The fact that they kiss for the first time after that moonlit moment, when Sokka realizes that Suki doesn’t need protecting the way he thought she did, and in fact she was there to protect him, and he can finally just let go of this burden that he’s been carrying with him since Suki first mentioned she was joining them (slash since his dad put him in charge of an entire village at 13), and then and only then can he open his heart to what he feels for Suki, and in fact opens it so wide that he just cannot help but jam his mouth onto hers before she’s even finished talking…? I mean. C’mon. That’s poetry. But, again…loses impact if they’ve already had a first kiss.

But who knows what, if anything, they’ll actually do with that storyline. So for now, I’ll just enjoy my live-action Sukka kiss because, honestly, dream come true.    

Or almost a dream come true. Because there's a huge camelephant in the room that I haven't addressed yet, isn't there? The lack of Sokka in the Kyoshi Warrior uniform...

And I don’t think we can talk about the omission of Sokka’s Kyoshi Warrior uniform without talking about the omission of Sokka’s sexism. Because if Sokka isn’t sexist, then why do you have to put him in the dress and makeup of traditionally female warriors to make a point about how women are strong and capable, too? So here’s what I’ll say about that (and I know there’s a lot that people have said already, so I’ll try not to belabor the point.) I don’t think leaving out Sokka’s sexism was necessarily a detriment to his character arc. I do think, however, that leaving out Sokka’s sexism was a detriment to the message the show was trying to convey about sexism. 

Now, in the Northern Water Tribe episodes, the LA still gives us a message about fighting against the kind of systemic, institutionalized sexism that you might not be surprised to encounter within a very old-fashioned society or from a very old-fashioned gray-haired man. But what about the off-the-cuff, everyday kind of sexism that you might experience from an otherwise good person who is close to you? A person who loves you and would do anything for you but who gets carried away teasing you about “girly” things because of intrinsically-held biases that they’re not even that conscious of having? 

I think it’s important and meaningful for male and female audiences alike, and everyone in between, to see these different forms of sexism and misogyny—to see them, to recognize those behaviors in others and in ourselves, to be able to name them, and to have examples of fighting against them. We see the former kind—institutionalized, systemic—in Pakku. And we did see the latter kind—familiar, personal—in Sokka. And now that’s lost.

Not only that, but there’s the form of sexism that says boys aren’t allowed to do feminine things lest they relinquish their maleness. And in the animated show, we got to see Sokka combating this form of sexism, too. Not only does Suki show him that girls can be fierce warriors as well as boys, but he learns that wearing makeup and a dress does not make him any less of a young man.  

So, yes, I think the lack of Sokka in Kyoshi Warrior garb was a missed opportunity. And not just because Sokka looked really good in uniform and we all should have had the chance to see that, including and especially Suki. 

Alright, this is more than long enough, so I'll leave off with a moment from the LA that gave me great pleasure.

I needed this moment, y'all. And I was so afraid it wouldn't happen. I needed Sokka being protective, I needed him using his newfound Kyoshi Warrior skills to fight, and I needed him jumping in front of fire for the girl who'd taught him. If we couldn't have Sokka in the Kyoshi Warrior uniform, at least we had this.

[crowscauldron]

Okay so I’ve finally got my thoughts together. I’ve been watching the show the day each episode came out, within the hour and I am a very very big fan of the books. HOWEVER, there are many aspects of the show I loved, but I’m going to focus on my main critiques. 1. In all of the marketing campaigns, everyone had said that this was an absolutely faithful adaptation. That though there were a few changes, they were minimal. That was not true at all. Every single episode had some minor or major change, and I enjoyed some of them, and was pissed about others.

2. The shows pacing and decision making in the writer’s room made my teeth itch. They are talking and talking and talking to explain everything, and I want to be SHOWN, which is like the main point of TV. The talking also leads into my next point:

3. These characters were not allowed to have “flaws”. They knew everything going into it, and there was no sense of wonder, no build up, and no sense of discovery because these are kids. I was so disappointed every time Annabeth was deprived of being soft (like crying over Cerberus) or naive, at Aunty Em’s. They just didn’t seem natural enough. And this critique has nothing to do with the acting. I think the acting was phenomenal, but the writing left things to be desired. And I’m sort of wondering if they were worried about displaying characters of color in a “negative” manner.

4. There were many many changes that made absolutely no sense to me. I think it has to do with the fact that this show takes its self so seriously. One of the reasons PJO was so popular is because of how funny and engaging it was. And the show, apart from a couple jokes here and there, just lacked it. There were some scenes where I honestly thought the movie had done better.

5. Episode 7. They changed so much, and the characters were made to be so flat. I know that the kids are meant to have all this background knowledge, but god do I wish they were allowed to be dumb. This was my cracking point.

Overall, I am very very very much hoping for a season two. The actors and the books deserve it. I loved so many parts of this show, but I truly am begging they fix at least a couple of these things. That is all I need.

(Also Disney, you’re absolute cowards for not making the Charon scene fun. I don’t care how much you want good publicity for not paying your workers well but this was cheap and so horribly hidden).

[filmmarvel]

PJO Series Overall Thoughts + Pros and Cons

Disclaimer! First of all, there are a lot more cons than pros here, and if you loved the show and don’t want to hear my criticism just keep scrolling. Second, I’m not someone to complain just because it isn’t exactly how it was in the book! I have quite a range of feelings about story changes. In regard to the ones I’ve listed as cons, i’m just irritated that they haven’t been able to match the book in frankly any capacity. I believe that if you’re making changes, it should be a) out of necessity, b) to improve upon the material, or c) taking positive creative license to try a new spin on an element from the source material. But the changes I’m complaining about, for the most part, haven’t met any of those requirements.

Pros:

Sets and Visuals

It was so magical seeing camp come to life!

The Underworld looks fantastic, the visuals are super cool, especially the Fields of Asphodel. That was a really cool spin on the books- the CGI was pretty good, and the concept there was really interesting.

Olympus was very cool looking too! It reminded me of Asgard.

Overall I Just Think There’s Lots of Potential!

Since the leads are fairly inexperienced (and kids), you can’t expect them to be incredible. They’re doing just fine, but I think they have a lot of potential, and I’m excited to see them grow over the course of the series!

Generally I still really like the casting and have high hopes for these actors, I just wish (for our sake and theirs) that they had better material to work with.

Plot Changes

This ones kind of a pro AND a con: Generally, I really like the flashbacks! They add a lot more depth to Sally, and her relationships with Percy and Poseidon. That being said, the episodes typically feel far too short to be adding material that wasn’t in the books. I thought it was fantastic in episode 7, but in other episodes it didn’t quite work when so much else was cut, or there were opportunities left untaken as a result.

I also liked that they included a few flashbacks with Luke in the finale- there was so much training and time at camp that didn’t fit into the first two episodes.

They got rid of the “names have power” stuff which is great (never made sense in the books).

They did a really nice job humanizing Medusa, but still creating conflict with her, and simultaneously setting up further issues with the gods.

I also agreed with their decision to move the fight from Santa Monica to Montauk, to save time.

Cons:

Dialogue and Writing

The dialogue is definitely less charming than in the books. It’s a huge part of what makes them fun, and the dialogue here is honestly pretty bland. The characters don’t totally feel like themselves, but it isn’t only the acting. Forcing the characters to be explaining stuff to each other nearly every time they have a conversation makes them a lot less personable.

Honestly, this series feels kind of elementary in comparison to the middle grade books. I’d imagine that, like the books, they were aiming to create something that could be enjoyed by young kids and adults alike. But I didn’t find it as successful as the book in this regard.

And the dialogue is consistently so surface level! Stiff, boring, and above all, CONSTANTLY telling over showing. This affects the likability of the characters, and the ability of the actors. Both parties are deterred by the info dumping, as they aren’t really given as many genuine lines or interactions as they should have.

Honestly, it kind of feels a bit like they gave some of Percy’s personality to Annabeth in parts of the show? I saw someone else point out that they’re kind of giving Annabeth the Hermione treatment (ie giving her some of the other characters good moments), which I kind of agree with. However, a lot of that was towards the beginning and middle of the season and has somewhat improved since.

I posted a whole rant earlier about the Lotus Casino episode, which I’ll just summarize: theres a consistent pattern in the show of having the characters figure out what’s going on immediately, removing the danger, and more importantly, not allowing the characters to make mistakes, which weakens both them and the plot. In addition, I didn’t like that they brought up May Castellan already, primarily because it was just another info dump, which (in my mind) gets lost amongst all the other info dumps and removes the poignancy from the reveal. Now, there’s absolutely time to fix the May Castellan situation and ensure that it still packs a punch later on, but for this season it wasn’t great. Go check out my last post if you’d like to hear the rest of my argument on that episode!

Some additional examples of the ‘not letting the characters experience danger’ thing: Procrustes (obviously), and Kronos- forget whether or not Percy should know who Kronos is, the biggest issue is that there’s very little evidence or buildup, so (again) there’s no tension or shock at the reveal. And finally, with Luke. I was so annoyed when Percy figured it out! I could’ve believe that they were doing it AGAIN. I still enjoyed that scene because Walker and Charlie were great, but that was disappointing for sure.

The thing with the pearls honestly amounted to nothing, and there was no reason for Annabeth to not be present in the underworld: that was just a tearjerker for the sake of being a tearjerker (manufactured drama).

Lowering the Stakes

I just wish they’d made it SLIGHTLY more mature- don’t get me wrong, it’s a kids show! I’m very well aware of that! But this feels a lot tamer than a lot of kids (PG) movies involving monsters and stuff.

Gabe was a real piece of shit in the books, but in the show they just kinda made him look lazy and turned him into comic relief. And I don’t believe in the argument that they had to make this change to benefit a younger audience- they didn’t really need to change anything there.

Throughout the majority of the season, I felt like they weren’t allowing the gods to be truly intimidating, or powerful. First with Ares, who wasn’t BAD but generally didn’t have that kind of dramatic presence that he had in the books. Again with Hades, who wasn’t shown as being REMOTELY intimidating, and perhaps the biggest offense of all- Zeus. Having the deadline pass with seemingly zero consequence or threat of consequence does absolutely nothing (and certainly doesn’t increase tension like I’m pretty sure Rick Riordan said was their reason for changing it). Up until the finale, viewers had very few reasons to fear the Gods. Even Dionysus and Hephaestus! In the books there’s a clear line- you can interact with them, but you DONT want to offend them. There’s a clear threat of power, and that just wasn’t remotely present for a while.

And again, I just want to clarify- this is an overall writing problem! It’s not that Ares, or any other one of the gods I just mentioned has a different personality than in the books, it’s that a show like this (KIDS OR NOT) should still be compelling, and part of that includes having real danger and clear stakes.

I would add that they did a much better job with this in the finale! Lance Reddick gave such an amazing performance, and truly made Zeus an intimidating figure. The fight on the beach with Ares was great as well. So I’m optimistic about this criticism moving into season 2, but I stand by the idea that this was an issue for the majority of the series.

Overall, it felt like they weren’t taking the serious parts seriously, AND they didn’t take the comedy as seriously either? So it isn’t as lighthearted OR as impactful as the books. It feels so much more bland and watered down by comparison.

Episodes Were Too Short

Everything just flowed really well in the books, here the pacing is off and the dialogue isn’t as natural (again, they’re forced to rely on a lot of telling instead of showing which takes away from genuine moments). Many character details and personality traits were cut for the sake of additional verbal explanation

As many others have pointed out, the fight scenes also feel pretty rushed, and haven’t quite conveyed the sense of urgency that they should. It all just lowers the stakes.

This Ones Kind of a Joke, but the Casting for Hephaestus

It’s mostly my book bias. This guy was NOT giving Hephaestus. Mainly because Hephaestus is the god of the forge, and I can’t picture this guy anywhere near one of those. He kind of looked like one of Santa’s elves, he’s giving tinkerer not GOD of the FORGE. This is also something they can absolutely fix/win me over in time lmao

Changes

I already mentioned most of the changes (good and bad) already, but there’s one more. I kind of wish they had kept Percy’s dream about Tartarus, especially given that they decided to have Percy figure out Kronos is behind it all earlier- it just would’ve clicked a little easier.

Finishing Thoughts

I don’t want to totally sound like a hater! I’m still enjoying the series, and I really hope it gets renewed for season 2! I was just disappointed in the weak writing. I hope that the writers will be able to recognize these flaws and improve for season 2.

Alright, I don’t really expect anyone to read this whole thing, but if you made it: thanks for reading! I’m curious to hear your thoughts, so I’d really appreciate comments, just keep it civil!

[bassguitarinablackt-shirt]

THOUGHTS ON THE PJO TV SHOW??

OKAY OKAY OKAY!!!! overall my thoughts are. pretty mixed. so lets go over the things i think they did well and the things i think they did bad

did well:

the casting. i cant emphasize enough how fucking perfect the casting is holy shit

sallys character. i feel like they did a good job at portraying the struggles that might come with being a young mom raising a neurodivergent child who happens to be the son of a god

percys character. walker scobell does the role of percy amazingly and overall i think the writers did him justice

annabeths character. see what i said above and apply it to annabeth

grovers character. show!grover is alot different than book!grover but i like them both and overall think they did a good job writing show!grover (it helps that aryan portrays him like perfectly)

early luke. i do have a few problems with how they did lukes character in the later episodes of season one which we'll get to later but i think they did him pretty well in the first few episodes. charlie portrays him amazingly and i like how much emphasis they put on him thalia and annabeth having been a family and how much we got to see of him being an older brother figure to percy.

the "not everyone who looks like a monster is a monster, not everyone who looks like a hero is a hero" theme

the "to the gods power and glory and nothing else matters but percy isnt like that and annabeth doesnt want to be like that anymore" theme (this also ties into my percys character point and annabeths character point)

percy and poseidons relationship

sally and poseidons relationship

athena and annabeths relationship

medusas character and how they changed her from the books

did bad:

humor. the main draw of the pjo books was how funny they were. the show has its funny moments but its nowhere near as funny as the books and thats a problem when adopting something that so many people love for its humor.

show dont tell. the show often tells us things when it should be showing us and alot of scenes end up feeling expositiony.

LUKES CHARACTER AS A WHOLE. like i said i do like how they portrayed him in the first few episodes but holy shit they really fucked up with him later on. not to be a book purist but in the books the betrayal scene was so different. he went on a whole speech about how the gods precious western civilization was a disease and he was right and that was the whole point of the books. in the show he just says "they're bad parents, percy" and his hatred towards the gods is portrayed as a mix of a misunderstanding of their well meaning intentions, him being manipulated by kronos, and him just being a kid sad that he didnt have good parents. the betrayal scene completely misses the whole point of lukes character and by extension the whole point of percy jackson and the olympians as a whole. if im being honest im rather scared for how they're gonna end up doing with the other titan army kids.

may castellan. this ties into my luke point a little but i dont like how early and casually we learn about her in the show. percy and nico meeting may was such a good scene in the books because it gave us more insight into the main antagonists childhood, and thus why he ended up the way he did. annabeth just casually telling percy about her in the lotus casino doesn't have the same effect. prometheus showing percy luke and hermes's fight, percy seeing a fourteen year old luke yell at his dad "if you loved me youd tell me!" is such a huge scene in the books because it makes percy go maybe luke was right about the gods. and annabeth saying to hermes "i saw you and luke arguing, i saw him say what happened to his mom was your fault, that it was all your fault" just doesnt have the same effect

gabe being turned to stone. i dont like how it was his own stupidity that was his downfall and not sally making a concious decision to turn her and her sons abuser to stone.

overall there are some things i really like about the show and some things i hate with a burning passion, and im. hesitantly excited for season 2. i do genuinely want to see where the show goes and if it improves, if its previous mistakes become worse, if it finds new ways to fuck up, etc. (honestly there are alot of pjo characters i dont really trust disney with that im just kinda expecting them to fuck up on. mainly thalia tyson and nico but also like all the titan army kids)

i also do find something deeply fascinating about the way season 1 talks about thalia in comparison to book 1 but thats a discussion for another time 😭

[swallowtailed]

palisade 50 / finalisade pt. 5

structure thoughts

okay, i have a lot of thoughts re structure this week. i had these last ep too, but i wanted to give it another episode to see how a few things shook out, because fatt tends to move quite slowly in that way. (also i had just gotten cursed with dawn work and had no brainroom for real thoughts.) i do still think there's room for some of these things to develop, and fatt tends to hang together much better in retrospect. but this is my read right now.

the reintroduction of cas'alear & co: i am content to wait a bit for some interaction with them or some explanation of why they're here, because palisade is currently being forced through seven separate funnels and a brand new problem won't fit somewhere instantly. that said. bro we better find out what's up. they're physically on the blue channel, that can't just get handwaved

and re material circumstances of blue channel & crew--to my eye the dice valuation of relationships is causing some real siloing off of characters and storylines. which is really unfortunate because the bonds between the crew were a huge strength of palisade and it just feels like an oversight to miss that in the finalisade. (this is also a factor of not doing a ton of rp in this game. one thing i'm really missing is bringing the misfortune options into the result of a scene.)

and on a similar note, i really liked august's scene with righteousness, but it could've been even better if palisade had engaged more with delegate characters and what it means to be a delegate throughout the season. instead this & a bunch of other thematic threads are being advanced way more actively than before now that it's the finalisade, which feels kind of hollow.

i also really wish eclectic was still around. having had a leap scene, i've solidly come down that it was a bad narrative decision to kill eclectic. introducing a new (to the season) character in the middle of the finalisade, on top of a bunch of other new/er pcs, was always gonna be awkward, and leap doesn't work here. his goal, to take kesh for every last cent, has a very similar problem to clem's--kesh isn't there. which is less of a direct issue when the end goal is just "steal", but it's still a goal from a partizan paradigm, not a palisade one. you know? like, leap's fixated on kesh and kesh is a shrinking speck on a planet with new and different problems.

also ideally leap's reintroduction would create contrast for the ways brnine and thisbe have changed since partizan. maybe we will get to that later.

hey i actually think talking about a justice system would be extremely relevant given how many characters have goals in that direction?

i think overall my sense is that finalisade feels disconnected from the rest of the season due to all the character changes and some rushed thematic work.

anyway obv this is fatt so there's every chance all of the above will be resolved by the end of finalisade but from here i'm feeling a little doubtful

various other notes

jesset's gun arm! i stopped to wonder which it was back when that happened, but since it wasn't addressed i figured it was intended to be his prosthetic arm. wild.

the autonomy reveal... love when a reveal is so well seeded and rings so true that you have to be like "hang on was that not already canon". very cool. very perennial. miserable, also.

taking a minute though to sit and think about perennial and loneliness. also taking a minute to think the phrase "did perennial effectively utilize girl power in creating autonomy itself".

re cori's scene: the suggestion that perennial's consecration might change the flora and fauna really caught my ear. not beating the "millennium break is also colonizing palisade" allegations. it seems like they went another direction (just the sky changing?) but that rang really weird to me, especially when the colonial angle of gardens wrt the bilats had just been raised a few episodes ago.

very much appreciated janine taking the time to explicitly bring up the framing of unction's fate as something that would, in-universe, be a question and a conversation

[seggsynugget]

With tender light finally ending, I thought I would put my thought together in a little rant. It's a bit long and all over the place so bear with me. (Might contain spoilers, possibly. Proceed at your own risk)

As someone who loves murder mysteries (Surprise surprise my favorite author is Agatha Christie), Tender Light definitely kept me on my toes. I loved the whole did they, didn't they thing they had going on. I'm not gonna lie for at least the first half of the show I truly thought Zhou luo and Nan ya killed Xu yi together, but I think the point where I became convinced that he was telling the truth about not killing Xu yi was when the teacher he was involved in the scandal with said Zhou luo was a very truthful person who basically would not co sign his name to anything he actually didn't do. Besides the professor many other people also vouched for his character, which further convinced me.

There's a saying that my mom always told me as a kid. "Be more scared of people than ghosts, because people are out to get you". This show further proved her point. Those villagers would be the first to tell Zhou Luo to keep his nose out of other peoples business, especially a married couples business. However this did not stop these hypocritical people from taking part in the train station incident and humiliate Nan ya. Even Zhou luo was complicit in the humiliation of Nan ya in the beginning until she made him realize how shameful all this gossiping and dog piling was. This makes you think if you were in the shoes of the villagers would you do better or be like sheep and just conform with everyone else.

Nan ya. I don't think I've ever stood by a character like I did Nan ya. Even if she killed Xu yi in a premeditated fashion I would have stood by her regardless. She has got the short end of the stick her whole life and suffered at the hands of stranger and family alike, due to no fault of hers. She is one of the strongest characters I know. It definitely came across as Zhou luo being the one that loved the most in that relationship but I think Nan ya loved him equally, if not more. I personally don't think I could've held back my feeling for the only person that treated me with a shred of dignity in that village. while that ending was satisfactory, Im just gonna pretend Nan ya and Zhou luo end up walking into the sunset living their best lives with wan wan.

I felt like Qingli and Zhou luo were pretty similar in the way that they were very gungho about their crushes, but I think what set the two of them apart for me, was the fact that Zhou luo knew when to back down (and we are talking about Zhou luo, one of the most impulsive men there ever was). He tries not to do anything that may implicate Nan Ya or be detrimental to her. While he is crazy about Nan ya he doesn't let that love cloud all his judgment and his decision making. The same cannot be said for Qingli, who is a bit more selfish with her love. We see this with the whole sex scandal she almost caused when the detective was questioning the four friends. But I get it, she's a teenager,, of course she's not thinking 10 steps ahead, or worrying about repercussions. This is why I feel like Zhou luo is so much more mature for his age.

The ending really infuriated me ngl. Let's be real, in reality aint no way those fuckass cops are able to crack the case open the way they did, but you know it's a Drama, propaganda and what not. Overall, tender light gave me a lot to think about and reflect on as a human being. The writers really did a great job in portraying human nature. It's a 10/10 for me.

If you read this far, thank you lol. I'm gonna leave these treats here for you. I love how they used the opening titles to give us a gist of what the episode was going to be about. These are some of my favorites.

Lastly, I will always be grateful for tender light, if not for anything, then for the beautiful and devastating poems that it gave to me 🤍

[avelera]

Giving Sanctuary Behind-the-Scenes: Destiny

Who is Destiny in Giving Sanctuary, how does he differ from his canon counterpart, and what lesson was he trying to teach his siblings in Ch. 18 of Giving Sanctuary?

So I've answered this in a few places, but I thought I'd post somewhere more publicly about what lessons Destiny had for his siblings during the events of Ch. 18 of Giving Sanctuary.

First of all I will note, readers are not expected to agree with Destiny's methods. He is an eldritch being and I try to do him justice at such. It was an interesting thought exercise to try to operate as someone with absolute knowledge but who lacks absolute power. Which is to say, Destiny can see all the choices his siblings have made and and branching paths of varying probability of choices they will make, but he can't compel their actions, he can only guide them by inserting himself into the process, which he does sparingly.

Below the cut, I will go into an exploration of Destiny's personality, goals, and lessons as I wrote them in "Giving Sanctuary", which is a deliberate canon divergence AU that originates from a choice Destiny made long before the events of the story begin.

There will be spoilers up to Ch. 18 of the fic, so be warned if you're not caught up:

To begin, a quick disclaimer: the Destiny of Giving Sanctuary is not meant to be 1-to-1 exactly the Destiny of the comic canon, though I do my best to cleave to his overall vibe while also engaging in the Butterfly Effect - one choice made long ago has impacted all of the Endless, which I use as blanket cover in the fic for why some actions by characters in the story might be mildly OOC or not agree perfectly with comic canon. However, it is a privilege I claim as a transformative works author. That said, having characters be in-character is very important to me, so by and large, points of divergence are carefully considered when they occur.

The Background - where Giving Sanctuary diverges from canon

The original point of divergence in this story began at least around the time of Orpheus's death (though its first stirrings may have been earlier) when Destiny made the calculated decision to save Dream's life 2,500+ years into the future by advising Death not to grant Orpheus's request for "super immortality".

(Side note: Orpheus in Giving Sanctuary is already "immortal" in the same way Calliope and Dream are, ie, immortal but they can be killed if extreme measures are taken to destroy them by beings of equal or greater power, because I find the comic canon idea of him being purely mortal when having an Endless father and a Muse as a mother to be completely baffling, and I believe it's more emotionally resonant if Dream expected his son to live for many thousands of years. It also better and more sympathetically explains why Dream was so cruel and detached at his son's wedding in the comic: he saw the entire Eurydice episode as a phase, a spat of youthful rebellion that would fade as his then 18 year old (of potentially thousands) son matured and lived beyond a single mortal lifetime to see just how painful it would be to love a mortal woman.)

To get back to Destiny: the Giving Sanctuary Destiny saw that Orpheus's fate was inevitable, that he was doomed from the moment he fell in love with Eurydice because as a child of the Endless, he too was bound by the restriction that loving mortals only brought doom, and Destiny did his best to make sure Dream would not be destroyed by his son's desire to die and that Orpheus would be granted the mercy of a quick death that returned his soul to the cycle of living and dying without spending 2,500+ years in a fate worse than death as a living severed head, largely abandoned by his friends and family, until Dream is forced to kill him in Brief Lives, and thus seals his own fate due to the restriction against the Endless spilling family blood.

Dream learned from Death after that Destiny had advised her against granting Orpheus his wish (the wish she, by the way, granted to Hob). While Dream eventually forgave Death because she is his favorite sibling (currently) and because she too was grief-stricken and apologized to him after she saw the results of following that advice, ie, Orpheus's death, however there are still some traces of bitterness and lost trust by Dream towards Death, Destruction, and Destiny, because Destruction sent Orpheus to Death for help (just as he did in the comic), she denied it based on Destiny's advice, and Destiny gave the advice, and none of them warned Dream that his son was taking on a suicide mission to save Eurydice.

Now, the mission itself did not kill Orpheus, but when he failed, according to the myth and canon, he played a song so sorrowful that the maenads (divine servants of Dionysus) descended upon him to tear him limb from limb, and his dismembered body washed up upon the shores of Naxos and was collected by Calliope and Dream (once found) and buried there. Unlike in canon, his severed head did not live on. Is Dream hypocritical to blame his siblings? Yes, absolutely, he missed the signs that Orpheus was in danger because he was deliberately giving Orpheus the silent treatment and had stopped listening to his dreams or checking in on him. He is also grieving and looking for others to blame, irrationally if realistically.

Ultimately, Destiny's choice set us upon a timeline where Dream fully lost his son that day, there is no lingering sense of guilt because the severed head of Orpheus is still dubiously alive somewhere. However, this on the one hand deepened a rift between Dream and his siblings but on the other, allowed him to fully open up to Hob in 1689 in this 'verse because Orpheus was fully dead and he could without reservation open up about his grief to Hob, as he could not/did not in canon, which allowed both of them to find healing with each other.

Who is Destiny in Giving Sanctuary?

All of this is to say: we are starting from a 'verse where Destiny is A-OK with allowing short-term grief in order to allow long-term healing and more importantly, the survival of Dream and his other siblings.

Destiny's siblings are stubborn, competitive, and infinitely powerful beings. This means in order to guide their actions, Destiny when he does intervene in this 'verse, often relies on reverse psychology and "spite as motivation". He also has his own personality, so while other methods might work, like being a nicer person, Destiny is his own entity and operates through that lens. He is not, as I view and write him, a very touchy-feely person.

Destiny's task requires him to keep a certain emotional distance, one might say he loves his siblings but he does not necessarily like them or feel particularly bothered if he sees less of them from day to day. He is an introvert and a workaholic, think Dream but on steroids. He is also the eldest and therefore the most powerful of the seven.

Given the emotional absence and cruelty of their father, Time, and their mother, Night, Destiny has taken on some of what he sees to be the responsibility to look after his siblings as a second father. However, like his siblings, he too is the victim of Time and Night's cruelty and neglect, so his vision of what a good father would do is limited by his experiences. Unlike Death, who interacts regularly with mortals and therefore has developed a more sophisticated view of what a caring relationship looks like, Destiny is emotionally underdeveloped and direct. As he sees it, simply being less cruel than Time is an improvement. He sees himself as a protector on the macro level of his siblings, but not responsible or overly concerned with their short term happiness. Keeping them alive is his priority, though that does include making sure they're not suicidally miserable.

Destiny's Lessons for His Siblings

Destruction: As I mentioned, Destiny's goal is to keep his siblings alive and if the point of divergence was his awareness of how Orpheus's death would lead to Dream's self-destruction one day. As such, "Why didn't he stop Destruction from leaving?" is a question that has arisen and it's a good place to clarify: letting Destruction go was saving him, and so Destiny "allowed it" or rather, did not prevent it by intervening sooner. With 6 strong personalities to balance, he does not have the omnipotence of simply aiming for a universe where all the siblings are mentally stable, happy, and industriously working at their designated roles. There's no universe where all of those are possible at once. While Destiny personally disapproves of Destruction leaving, he prefers that his brother is alive. When Destiny said reality would be wounded by the loss of an Endless, he was in his own, indirect way, talking about his own heart. That's about as close as Destiny ever gets to saying, "I would be sad if any of you died." Yeah, he's that repressed.

Dream: Many readers were struck by how Destiny's actions seemed designed to drive Dream away from the family, to which I answered: yeah, isn't that interesting?

Destiny is, as mentioned, by necessity a master of reverse psychology and spite-as-motivation, because of how stubborn his siblings are, particularly Dream. So let's walk through the takeaway from this dinner arc, starting from Ch. 15, and what Dream has learned, because we are dealing with Destiny having complete knowledge of how to nudge branching paths, which means everything that has happened since Jessamy showed up, including Jessamy showing up, is guided by his choices of when and how to intervene for maximum benefit.

1 ) If Destiny had called a conclave, Dream would have gone immediately, resentfully, and returned to the status quo in which he and Hob were dancing around each other, refusing to use their words, for who knows how long.

2 ) Sending Jessamy instead means a messenger Dream will listen to, it also inserts Jessamy's 3rd person perspective into the relationship between Dream and Hob, breaking the logjam of miscommunication. Dream learned that Jessamy approves of Hob, Hob learned that Dream isn't keeping him a secret from the other people in his life and indeed, values him. Hob was slowly introduced to the how the Dreaming works, even if he didn't totally get it right away, the fact he doesn't get it was introduced to Dream and to Jessamy. (Ch. 15)

3 ) Jessamy was there to interrupt the morning of panic following Dream and Hob's first, *ahem*, "tryst* shall we say. Without a friendly 3rd party to interrupt the panic they were both experiencing, Dream would have done anything to make Hob happy, including answering Hob's request to use the boon to "go back to the way things were". Dream interpreted that as, "Go back to being friends" which would have effectively mind-wiped Hob as badly as Dream did Ric Madoc years later. Dream having a healing relationship like the one that was blooming between him and Hob end after a week because he permanently lobotomized his lover by trying to return them to a state of "friendship" that never existed because Hob never saw Dream as just a friend, totally uncolored by romantic or sexual interest, would have broken Dream, undone all the healing he'd done and worse, confirming all his worst views of himself as incapable of being loved or loving others without destroying them. I cannot express just how dark Dream would have gotten if that had happened. This was averted by the dinner.

4 ) Dream (thanks to his interactions with Hob) learned how to stand up for himself without blowing up at the Endless family dinner, so it was important he attend. He learned through his siblings that Hob does desire him, and always will, that Hob has been literally haunted by Despair these past 80 years and more, and he had a valuable heart-to-heart with Death, who added her voice to the loved ones in his life like Jessamy who pointed out that the misunderstanding might not be what it appears and Hob doesn't really understand the Dreaming yet. Dream was able to calm down and was in a good place to gain perspective. He is now armed with this knowledge and resolved to do better, communicate better, and has been talked out of some of his worst instincts (such as abandoning Hob out of guilt) and learned the truth about why he and Hob were introduced at the time he needed it most: after that first disastrous tryst nearly ended the relationship before it started.

5 ) Dream made an overture of peace to Desire. Granted, it was framed as something he should do not something he would when he said he should ask for mercy and for them to knock it off with the grudge match, but it was a step in the right direction of voicing his weariness with the fight, even if Desire wasn't ready to hear it in the moment.

6 ) Dream saw Destruction's note, something that never would have happened if Destiny did not collect it for him, because Dream was never going to go to Destruction's realm before the note dissolved. Thus, the idea was introduced to him before the Brief Lives canonical arc that he could retire instead of destroying himself, something that in this universe he also would never learn because it took talking to Orpheus's severed oracular head for Dream and Delirium to find Destruction, which is no longer possible now because he's dead.

7 ) Dream swore off his family, or at least, all family except Death and possibly Delirium. This is not necessarily counter to Destiny's intentions. Every interaction Dream was having with Desire was only driving their feud deeper, and Destiny is at peace with not seeing his siblings as often. He sees them all the time anyway since he Knows All and he's an introvert who thinks in terms of eons. If anything, it's a relief. But more importantly, Dream finally makes the break from his sense of family duty that he must subject his mental health to the battering it takes mostly from Desire. He is now more purposeful in who he chooses to interact with, his found family of loved ones like Hob, Jessamy, and Lucienne, and his favorite sister Death (with an exception made for Delirium).

8 ) Dream is now returning to Hob, restored with hope that the relationship between them is possible and indeed, desired, with the revelation that he has not told Hob enough about his existence, and most importantly, resolved to do better and make his feelings known clearly rather than dancing around them forever. He returns to seeing just how badly a month without him left Hob, unequivocal proof of Hob's love and devotion towards him, his fidelity that he stayed during that absence (just like being at the New Inn in 2022), and without any possibility of lingering illusions that he means anything less than the world to Hob.

Whew, that was a long one, I'm amazed if you're still reading but, ONWARD!

Death:

Death began the dinner by saying she was nervous about leaving her job for four (4) hours after presumably not taking any other break. I know "Sound of Her Wings" doesn't make this point explicitly, but that is deeply messed up and unhealthy. Destiny made the point that as Endless, they are shaped by their forms in return and thus certain allowances must be made for the fact that they are not emotionally impervious concepts. They are people-shaped so they have people-shaped needs. Including the need for rest and some sort of work/life balance. (Destiny is being a hypocrite in this respect, but he is trying to get his siblings to have work/life balance even if he does not.)

The assumption from most readers was that a month away from her task was meant to show Death she can't take a break but as Desire pointed out, Destruction's realm is still there years later. If Death delegated more, perhaps to other psychopomps of other religions, the personal touch would be maintained and she could take a break on occasion.

This might be the most obscure of the lessons taught by Destiny, since canon doesn't show us Death breaking down, per se, when her duties get to be too much. But this is something that could/would happen in a few eons, and Destiny is taking steps to avert it now by showing her that hey, actually, a month away wasn't as catastrophic as you feared! Life (and death) goes on without you! You need to reevaluate how you approach your task before you break and then existence is super screwed because you leaving or self-destructing totally is catastrophically worse than you learning to take occasional breaks before that.

Desire:

Desire's is a bit more of a slow-roll, but as mentioned above, Dream finally used his words to say he's tired of this fight with Desire, setting into motion the possibility of it drawing to a close at some point in the distant future, or at least reaching a mutually agreed cease-fire.

Also worth noting that Desire was introduced to the idea that maybe some of the things they blamed Dream for were not entirely his fault like Destiny slowing time to punish Dream but punishing all the rest of them too is Destiny's fault, not Dream's and Destiny is A-OK with Desire blaming him if it stops the destructive bickering with Dream, because Desire would never dare take him on.

This will have a long-term impact of not necessarily stopping but perhaps reducing the severity of some of Desire's later plans for revenge against Dream.

Despair:

Despair had an absolutely fabulous time throughout the dinner and did not need convincing to be there. Family time on its own, dinner and a show, was more than enough. ;)

Delirium:

Delirium also got family time with Death and received the message she would have received at the end of Brief Lives from Destruction that he loves her, but he will not return.

[wizard-loving-wizard]

okay so far i really love amnesty and it's so different than i expected. let me dump my thoughts

first off. beforehand, the title "monster of the week" completely misled me because i really thought that meant there would be a new monster every single episode, when really it's just a bunch of mini-arcs exactly like every other taz story lmfao. and now that im in it, im really enjoying the MotW game because it lends itself so well to the narrative and i feels so easy to interpret and understand.

the pcs are fantastic... i adore duck so much, what a guy!! beacon is the coolest 😭 and there's something about the way travis plays aubrey that feels so genuine and lived-in and very endearing. that highly impulsive bisexual 20-something stage magician just leaps off the waveform

ned is fun but i think he's my least favorite clint pc because i often get annoyed by the terrible lies clint comes up with that are so extreme just to be funny it ends up being not funny at all... and so far ned's class has hardly been used at all, his backstory as a criminal serves the story well but it feels like the class itself isn't very useful. though some of his decisions have been very very interesting and compelling to me, like sacrificing his car, and taking the hit to stop the goatmen from escaping. also if he kept his loot from the night he robbed aubrey's house, does that mean he still has the flamebright pendant?!? bitch give it back

but anyways i love the worldbuilding so much and the setting and the town. very cozy fun good vibes

the NPCs. oh my god the Npcs i love them so much. i would die for momma and barclay. minerva has my heart. im so thirsty for more dani scenes. heathcliff is a fantastic char. i've only had indrid for like 3 episodes now but if anything happens to him or he leaves town, i will explode. and billy??? my sweet billy??? i am extremely invested in billy's wellbeing, what a darling.

one random thing. the boys never asked about how the sylfs get their magical disguises. and after they met indrid, they lied to barclay about going to meet him, as if indrid is some secret stranger. none of the boys said anything about how it seems very obvious that indrid is the one who gives all the sylfs at amnesty lodge their disguise accessories so im not sure if they've realized... maybe it's just too obvious to point out lmfao but like why did they lie about where they were going? anyways whatever

i have a lot of thoughts about the story that are kind of jumbled. there's just a LOT going on. it's increasingly sus to me, all of the similarities between the abominations and the sylvan world. somehow the abominations DON'T come from there, even though they have the exact same goat people and the exact same black slime as the corrupt sylvan forest (i can't remember what it's called).

overall, very fun campaign. so many good goofs. im having a great time

[hollowphobia-casual]

Your Our of Touch, Why is no one talking about Lucky Star?

Warning, this is a long discussion about a 19 year old Manga, it’s current possible relevance in 2023. As well as the thoughts on how shippers from back in the year 2000 could possibly influence an upcoming manga.

I assume many of you by now are familiar with the Out of touch Thursday meme, for the few of you who are confused by what I mean exactly, it is this.

The song, is Out of Touch by Hall & Oates, released October 4th 1984, the animation however is from the opening of anime called Lucky Star. The song playing in that opening being “Motteke Sailor Fuku“ with what I can seem to find being tied to multiple artists, most likely the song was created specifically for the anime.

And it’s Lucky Star I wanted to talk about more than anything, because I’ve had thoughts running through my head that I simply, could not get out and needed to talk about them somewhere, so you all shall be my victims. But some context for the generations of people who people who were born long after this anime reached it’s peak. Luck Star was a Slice of Life, Comedy manga written and illustrated by Kagami Yoshimizu. The manga focused on four High School girls, Konata Izumi (Blue Hair) a short pervy Otaku girl who likes teasing people, especially her friend Kagami. Said Kagami Hiiragi, (Purple hair twin tails)  a I’m not a tsundere intellectual girl, who is prone to anger and violence. Tsukasa Hiiragi, (purple hair with bow) Kagami’s younger twin sister, who is naive, sweet and just an overall ball of sunshine and finally the well endowed Miyuki Takara (Pink hair), who is the incredibly smart girl who makes poor and dumb decisions. With a larger cast built up of friends, relatives and other characters, who all do day to day life in comedic ways or funny observations. In 2007 the manga would be adapted to an anime that would last for 24 episodes and two OVAs. And it along with the Anime adaptation of Azumanga Diaoh would basically become the meme farm for many anime and Manga enjoyers on the internet

But more important than the memes were the ships, or in this case THE ship. Like the case with most all girl anime shows there were lesbian ships, but none to the extent of Konata and Kagami. Like if you were in the lesbian anime scene when you were young, this ship was everywhere.

Official Anime promotional Art, Merchandise, Fan-fiction, Doujinshi, offical art by the Mangaka and much more, heck this ship was so well known about by the creators that this happened in one of the OVAs.

But now I imagine most everyone is probably wondering, what is the point? Why bring up an old manga and anime just to talk about a super old ship from the early 2000′s with characters that despite being 18 years of age are drawn like they are still 15 or so. Well, Luck Star the anime ended before the Manga did. Finishing roughly around Volume 4-5 with certain details omitted either for time or cost cutting methods, ended the series with a meta fourth wall breaking episode. While the manga continued with 3-4 more volumes, ending at Volume eight. And the series creator would go on a hiatus. An Eight year Hiatus, because, Lucky Star, is back, Volumes 9 and 10 have very recently released...(In Japan), but more interestingly than that, was what was announced in 2022, in the third volume of Mitaina! magazine. There is going to be a Lucky Star Spin off series, Called Konata 31. From the details that have been released Konata 31 is going to be a series that takes place 15 years after the events of the main Lucky Star series, following a now 31 year old Konata. We have no information on who any of the supporting cast is for this series, we don’t know if any of the original cast outside of Konata will even return or if they all fell out of some time after High School. And, sadly, anything I say from this point on is going to be nothing more than mere speculation, but it’s curious to focus on the age of 31. Why? Well, that’s the age of the people who started reading Lucky Star are probably now, when I started Lucky Star, I was the same age as the girls, I was roughly in my teens and early adult hood and now I’m beginning my 30′s. yes not all the fans will be the same age, but most of them will be. Most of these fan will either be experiencing their 30′s or have experienced their 30′s and can look back. And what are people living with in their 30′s, what do people tend to focus on, where can these possible new stories take us? Job security, Home Security, making an identity for ourselves, physically and mentally and, for many of us (Sorry Ace/Aero crowd) Romance. A large part of Lucky Star fans growing up were Konata and Kagami shippers, they supported the idea of a gay relationship between these character, before openly gay relationships between characters were as common as they are now. We didn’t have shows like Witch from Mercury, Yuru Yuri, Steven Universe, owl House, RWBY and many more where characters could have open gay relationship. It was all theorizing, subtext and taking whatever people could give us, even if it was mostly there to make us buy merchandise. Now am I saying that with 100% certainty, that Konata 31 is going to have a story where Kagami and Konata finally tie the knot and all 13-18 year old hearts become validated. No, it’s quite possible, like many slice of life comedies they doesn’t even focus on the romantic side of the characters and instead focus more on their day to day lives instead. But, there is all that history. I don’t know what I’m saying really, I made this post mostly to get thoughts out of my head and here I am getting thoughts out of my head. But what I will say is I will defiantly be picking up the first volume of Konata 31 when it becomes available.

[itsdappleagain]

Get toasty for The African Ice Caper!

Late again. Whoops. I swear I have good reasons. Anyway, super excited for this!!!

Lets-a go! Notes under the cut as always :)

First off, since I forgot the title last week, let's take a stab at it! I super love this title. It's a play on words in some ways; it refers to the literal "ice" meaning the diamonds they find in Botswana. But using "ice" also refers to the aftermath of Stockholm and how Carmen is dealing with the consequences! Cool shit!

Overall beginning thoughts- I LOVE this caper. It extends that whump/angst from Stockholm ever so much and ACTUALLY DEALS WITH CONSEQUENCES!!! I love when shows carry over serious events!!! Even with S1 finale -> S2 opener there wasn't much aftermath of Carmen's fight against Brunt (two weeks? really? she healed from that in two weeks?) but they DELIVERED here

This caper is just all aftermath, consequence, and effect. Carmen makes the decisions she does in Botswana to call in ACME because of their rescue in Sweden. They've proven themselves to be trustworthy (for now) and as Chief said a valuable ally. However, without Carmen calling in the cops, Roundy would never have been alerted and the mines would never have been blown up. It's all so delicate and interesting, and opens, for the briefest of moments, so many pathways for options- good and bad. I'll get to more stuff later but let me actually start commenting on the episode now

it's a terrifying moment but I can't help but laugh about Zack and Ivy's cover story being that Carmen is a shitty driver and they are right

while I also understand that it's the fastest way to convey information why did the nurses just let them seize the gurney and start sprinting back into the hospital with her without even knowing what happened

but okay. man. carmen's eyes just barely being able to open and see what's happening before she slips into unconsciousness again is so damn good

why does she have an oxygen mask on btw she was freezing not suffocating can anyone inform me on that

he's family 😭 happy day after father's day yall he's dadowsan official now

AUGH. her face kills me every time she just looks so vulnerable. but like she's trying to tell him that she's okay

i love found family but the nurse must have been confused when this 20 year old argentinian lady's family turned out to be two white american teenagers and a forty year old japanese man

not to mention that 16 year old canadian kid on the phone

poor carmen has an iv and a heart monitor she was not doing so hot

actually cannot tell if they stole an ambulance or painted their van to look like one i think they painted the van??

wait no it has lights on top DID YOU STEAL AN AMBULANCE???

that quick shot of ivy ducking down and checking carmen kills me every time augh

i love this quick, rough but getting smoother dynamic player and shadow-san get with taking the capers while red is down. i also LOVE that they took this opportunity to move into and decorate the warehouse further. it becomes home while carmen recovers

also the way carmen is barely ever awake is just so. augh

OOOH CARMEN'S DREAM i love this scene. there are so many little tiny things to pick up on before the brunt reveal that it's not real: ivy's voice waking her but ivy being nowhere in sight, chief not having a pen to beam from, chief not being able to activate pens from her end, etc. the first time i saw this, though, I was totally fooled. i was like ohhhh shit chief??????

btw have i ever talked about the sound design on chief's voice? her real voice intertwined with mechanical/digital noises that sometimes even blot out parts of words that just sell the illusion that she's coming from a speaker

god the way carmen jumps as soon as she hears brunt's voice ugah

the dutch angle on brunt to sell the fact that this is WRONGWRONGWRONGWRONG MM its so good

and carmen's pupils contracting when she wakes up mm

LOOK HOW HARD DEVINEAUX HAS BEEN WORKING GO SIR DO THAT PAPERWORK

that little side glance devineaux gives to see if he sold it thats so funny

and the sad sick face dropping off his face for an evil little grin he's literally so funny

"roll of red yarn" has become another one of the phrases I just repeat over and over it lives rent free in my brain for some reason

he's crocheting a little carmen hat and coat for his pet cat

the music going really sinister and lowkey a little concerned as soon as it reveals that devineaux's got this crazy ass conspiracy board

the callback to the very first capers devineaux/julia reeled off in the pilot!!! (plus boston tea party of course)

the shot of devineaux tacking up papers on the "camera" is one of my favorites, so fun

carmen has so many kettlebells what the fuck

man i love how you can see the wave of exhaustion hit her like a truck. she's not even close to a hundred percent still, but she's "relaxing makes me fidgety" carmen sandiego so of course she's up using the punching bag

oh hey also one thing about this episode is i dont think i've ever realized but it spans over a TON of time. like, maybe a month?? more?? girlie doesn't trip and slam her face on death's door and then get up and go work out in a week

ALSO WAS THIS THE FIRST APPEARANCE OF CARMEN'S WORKOUT OUTFIT?? SO GAY ABOUT IT THANK GOD THEY BROUGHT IT BACK MORE TIMES

augh also you can hear the frustration in carmen's...not exactly voice because she's just kind of panting but she does this little scoff/growl/ugh that just shows how annoyed she is that she can't do this like she used to and that it still hurts

carmen say thank you challenge CARMEN SAY THANK YOU CHALLENGE CARMEN IM GOING TO MURDER YOU even when "chief" showed up the closest carmen got to "thanks for saving my life" was "you look better" "thanks to you" girl its okay you can say thank you

the way carmen bounces down on the couch itches my brain

also obsessed with how carmen's first workout session was pummeling that boxing bag because like if player was surprised she was up and still calling her the patient THAT WAS HER FIRST SESSION UP. CARMEN INSISTS ON GOING ON A CAPER THE INSTANT SHE CAN THROW A PUNCH AGAIN HJDSGJSD

the way ivy lays on that damn couch im in love with her

ZACK'S FACE

boys got trauma from last time and it shows hard this episode

i love how everyone is just like

because she is fighting tooth and claw to get out of that warehouse who's going to tell her no when dadowsan isn't around

guess you caught me lion

also. i guess carmen did have to watch out for tigers who slam her into chainlink fences

team red got the safari of all time damn they were just driving and they saw all that??

also HEY zack is driving on the correct side for their location that's really cool

ivy's trying to help you girl you do not need to make her feel bad about trying to give you water in the middle of a gigantic. well the kalahari isn't a desert but "semi-arid sandy savannah" doesn't quite roll off the tongue in the same way i guess

"he is a rockstar" i miss you elvis episode with shadowsan that could have been

everyone: gains complete trust in shadowsan brunt: im about to end this mans whole career

shadowsan just standing on the other side of the gondolas is so funny he must have gone the entire rode around up to the top of the mountain for that dramatic ass shot

he's so funny honestly

also the gondola shaking as they fight is a great detail

top ten anime moments before disaster. number 1: le chevre and fraulein blushcheeks

shadowsan just SNATCHES that case

also I love how fraulein (i know thats a term like miss but i dont have anything else to go on) is just sitting there mad about it

the friction burns on shadowsan's hand and that belt are going to be nasty

the sound design on le chevre going down the line on the belt sounds like a horse screaming in minecraft

HE'S SO EFFICENT ABOUT IT ITS HILARIOUS he's like alright damn if you say so

carmen making jokes about the situation she almost died in is a trait fanfiction writers have been gnawing on for years

player guilt tripping her is so funny like girl please don't die again

red drone <3

its roundedbitch hello sir

he pronounces the "r" in "le chevre"

carmen's decision to call in the police/ACME here directly results in roundabout becoming faculty which is cool

i remember when this season dropped and everyone was making theories about roundy. long live the "he's julia's dad theory" i loved ye while i knew ye

coach brunt is EN ROUTE? she got there FAST DAMN?? canary islands to botswana is like an 8 hour flight

the siblings being overprotective i love it so much

ungh you can see the fear at just SEEING brunt she's got so much trauma about it

player continuing to try to get carm out of there and her continuing to shut him down carmen please girl

add another fursona for carmen to have. panther sheep wolf

man you can just SEE how out of it carmen is. tigress takes her down EASY

also that slam into the fence and how she just. collapses. she can't get up from it for a solid few seconds it hurts that bad and player desperately trying to know what's happening because last time he didn't check in she ended up in a ravine

tigress just waits for her to come and then takes her out with one really really effective uppercut to the jaw

she really is off her game she didn't protect the face

i adore how expressive they let her be here. it DOES hurt. it hurts BAD. and she can't do anything to prevent what tigress is about to do

the way all three of them go "OUGH" when they hit the floor

zack just sitting on tigress

carmen looks really unimpressed about that cat in the bag pun

also idk if its just carmen never expressing anything in her life or if she's just processing what the fuck just happened (and how she couldn't really do anything without collapsing in pain from something she would have bounced back from in a second at any other time and how that almost lead to what she believes would be her death at the hands of brunt) but the way she just stares at them

they CHAINED her up

tigress has gotten a cat joke from every single person she's told her codename to

i also love how tigress always corrects people on tiger vs. tigress when she responds to them. big trans energy dont fucking misgender her fursona

LITERALLY CRYING LAUGHING ITS SO FUNNY SHE JUST DOES IT TO BE AN ASSHOLE JHFSGHFKSAD

dont you know im still standing better than i ever did lookin like a true survivor feelin like a little kid

but anyway another place cs suffers from its rating. chief is the reason she's not DEAD and the script having to skirt around that with flowery language lessens the impact

oh wait a minute my bad. i take it back. he does get to say that she nearly froze to death thank god yes player go off king

looking at lettuce? the ancient greek sex symbol? julia you are so scandalous devineaux's having a dream about conspiracy theories and he accidently walked into julia's wet dream about carmen

thats a joke sjhdgjs okay getting back to what the dream is actually about i love that devineaux's perception of julia in his head is that she just shushes him and reminds him about the rules all the time

"a hat? in a corner grocery?" sir you're buying YARN in a corner grocery

look at that gay little julia devineaux's subconscious knows julia as only rule following and down bad for carmen

yeah chase is actually kind of. breaking the fourth wall a little in this dream? he's calling back to the lucky cat caper, which he was there for. but he's referencing the cat with the stamp in it, which had a coin slot in its head while the others didnt. he never saw those cats- he's heralding back to something CARMEN did. this is for the audience to connect and emulate how chase's thought process is working!

arent the canary islands on...the other side of africa?

i love how red drone flinches at the same time player does she's like a little guy she's part of the team she's real to me

we both know thats not why player

isnt the pen supposed to be the most secure method of communication ever or something

also can you imagine being shadowsan right then and realizing that. fuck. the person who carmen now owes somewhat of a debt to for saving her life and who is now an ally is the person who MURDERED CARMEN'S FATHER

"i'll be the one wearing red" okay how about directions

roundy using the birtish government liking to have control in africa as an excuse is the most realistic thing in this show

HAHA I JUST REALIZED THE QUEEN IS DEAD S3 FINALE IS GOING TO BE SOOO AWKWARD

i love how his glasses reflect green to show the change of sides its top tier classic cs color theory

chase should be able to get some sick days he does like 10 times the work of the poor old farts in there

DID I JUST HEAR A SEAGULL

CHASE'S SEAGULL SNEEZE IS SO FUNNY

he's literally so funny he could have done this call from anywhere else but im willing to bet that he completely forgot about work until he'd already rented the thing and was in it (and also had flown?? from france to the coast of africa???)

loving the smooth transition from the boat motor to the car motor

maam we have a car door for a reason you dont need to vault over the windshield

HAHAHA THE BACKUP IS FOUR COPS

the zoom on the timer as it counts down is fantastic

thats the second time zack has been knocked off the bed dskjfshfdsw

autistic zack agenda

brunt doesn't fit in the car lmfaooo

OH FUCK I FORGOT brunt didn't fly from the canary islands that's why she could get there so fast. my bad

chase is doing SO well just. a lITTLE too late

studies show that carmen will be attacked on trains 100% of the time

autistic zack agenda

what is chief sitting on im curious does she have a chair in her. hologram room or whatever

chief how scandy (im aware thats not what is usually means i think its funny though)

yeah you could see jules evvvvery dayyyyyyy

au where she enlists in acme and then gets shunted onto a treasures of knowledge timeline

man i love this part. she gets JUMPED

also how her eyes snap open as soon as she realizes brunt is there with her. she's ready to fight her, but as soon as brunt gets anywhere near her she is TERRIFIED

she flinches back, she stops struggling, all she can probably think about is last time. she doesn't go back to angry once brunt backs off a little. she's still fucking terrified. she knows she's not in the right state to fight TIGRESS- much less brunt. and brunt nearly killed her easily last time. if she decided to hurt her now, tied up and with like ten broken ribs, she'd be done for.

HERE WE GO SHITS GOING DOWN

who? its such a fucking. good question it takes her a second to realize. she's been told all her life by this woman that she's never had any family but vile, that she was abandoned. now brunt tells her that not only did she have a father but vile sent her new dad to kill him? and then he apparently stole her and brought her back and everyone lied to her for twenty years?? thats literally so fucked up she's so justified in going absolutely feral for the rest of the season

the anger in her voice as she starts to confront brunt about it and then the return of fear when brunt gets close to her again to gag her

"NO. DON'T LEAVE. NOT YET"

oh my god and then the episode closing on her writhing and screaming on the floor with her world turned upside down its so fucking good

the music btw also helps a TON its so sinister it gets your heart pumping ungh

okay i love this episode im so excited for the finale of the season!!!! how are we there already???

i cant believe zack and ivy didnt put carmen on lockdown after they checked on her and found her tied up and gagged screaming in the dark that had to suck

i wonder if there are any missing scene fics of that. them taking out the gag and the first words out of carmen's mouth are "shadowsan killed my father" can you fucking imagine what the fuck that sounds like a great read. give me fic recs if there are any like that out there

alright anyway what a top tier episode. in spirit stockholm, african ice, and deep dive are a three parter and the next episode is just the payoff to EVERYTHING im so excited. they seriously went so hard on s1 and s2 and by producing them basically together they are so fucking solid man i love it

alright- until (probably late) next week. bye yall!

[totmatsu]

Because I just finished watching the full dub (Before, I'd only ever seen clips) here are my thoughts:

It's pretty good for a dub, all things considered. I do have some little qualms, but its highs are high and its really funny from time to time.

-Maybe its the lack of titles (Niisan, -chan applied to self for some sextuplets or to Ichimatsu by Osomatsu) or just the fact that I've been mentally ill about the show since 2016 and that is heavily influenced (obviously) by the original voices, but the sextuplets feel less close in the dub. This isn't something I can point out that many specific examples of, it's just an overall feeling.

-This is a problem that I think a lot of dubs probably have, but the dub doesn't like to let serious moments be. They often toss a joke in during moments that were previously solemn, either pre-punchline solemn moments or just normal ones where there's some amount of build up to it. Because I like the original, this feels bad from an artistic intent standpoint.

-Characters say things they did not or would not say in the original audio, which is something that also would naturally happen in a dub and I understand this, but at times it felt like low-hanging fruit (easiest example I can think of is when Ichimatsu says he's going to go jerk off to cat porn or something. I don't remember the specific dialogue, it was in the Ichimatsu and Choromatsu skit)

-While at times slang is used well, at other times it just seems strange and is like. No one talks like this. Like the amount of times they say "for reals" out loud is insane.

-Jyushimatsu is played as sillier and stupider than he originally was. This was kind of the biggest bummer for me since as a Venture Bros fan when they had announced the dub casting I was SO hype at Jyushimatsu's voice being the voice of Dean Venture, and he does a really good job, but I don't like the way the character's been written all that much...

Basically each voice actor/actress did a fantastic job but some of the localization decisions (that often feel typical of dubs) were just not the right call for me personally.

Some of the dub's best moments are these really simple things where a character just goes "Okay" or "Alright" instead of tsukkomi'ing, I actually liked that a lot (easy examples: In the car in the second episode, Choromatsu just goes "Okay" instead of "Who are you?" and the delivery is fantastic; When walking Jyushimatsu (in "Tell Us, Hatabou"), Ichimatsu is like "...and you're alright with this?" and Jyushimatsu is immediately like "OH YEAH" so quickly its really funny, and then theres a pause and Ichimatsu just goes "...alright.")

Anyway Totty fan moment, they changed his middle school essay to be more queer and I like it lol

"I want to be a cheerleader, by Todomatsu" Todomatsu: NO, WAIT! THIS IS WAY TOO HELLISH! STOP IT! "Cheerleaders are pretty. Cheerleaders are popular. Cheerleaders get to wear skirts and carry pom-poms around." Todomatsu: I WAS JUST A KID! EVERY KID SAYS THAT! HEHEH RIGHT? HEH? "I want to talk about boys with the other girls" Todomatsu: IT WAS JUST A HYPOTHETICAL SITUATION!!! "And then in the evenings, we could sing campfire songs together" Todomatsu: OH COME ON THATS ENOUGH! "And, best of all, I'd look forward to shaving my legs-" Todomatsu: Oh this can't be happening "and feeling the breeze going up my skirt." Todomatsu: So I got a little curious! So what! All kids do! Nothing weird about THAT!

All this said, while I think it'd be cool to see the movie(s) or season 3 dubbed, I'm not sure what they'd do about Osomatsu's voice (Rest in peace, Billy Kametz). I'm cynical and I think if they thought enough money was in it, they'd probably recast, but I don't know.

[ilikethequiet]

Bridgerton Talk

Okay, we're actually gonna talk about it today. This post will be marked spoilers! We're gonna talk about my overall thoughts and then some nitpicks and then some fandom discourse.

Book people need to realise what an adaptation is - Yes I know it's from a book, but it doesn't mean everything has to be the same; Julia Quinn was on hand while making the show, so she approved the changes. I mean in the book, The Featheringtons have a whole other sister and they just cut her out of the tv version.

Fandom toxicity is high, and higher this season because of a decision the showrunners made about Franchesa (Supposedly changing her future love interest to a woman) so many book types I have seen complain about this because they all really liked Michael and now he's being played by a woman oooo which I don't know, if they can make it work, good for them.

Eight episodes is a joke - I get that streaming services might have less money (They don't) but eight episodes every two years? That's kind of a joke. Even Doctor Who, which has up until its partnership with Disney has had at most 12 episodes. You can make a season off of 12 episodes, you can't off of eight.

Overall thoughts - I liked this season, not at first because I'm not the biggest fan of Colin's but he's dorky and he grew on me. I've seen so many people complaining about how he didn't grovel to Pen enough or how his flirting with the girls at the Ton was wildly out of character, was it though?

My favourite Eloise was kind of made out the be the villain this season, even though she had done nothing wrong. She even tried to go outside of her comfort zone a bit by befriending Cressida and well...I don't hate Cressida she's just sort of there. Speaking of, the costume people really hated her this season.

If I have a complaint, it's the fact that Lord Debling just sort of disappeared? I know he said he was going to be travelling but he was pleasant enough and Cressida could have gotten that bag. It just seemed odd that he left and that was it.

Kathony remained a highlight of the season, they weren't in it much but they were being lovey dovey (I saw some people say cringey, but never) they're just nice to have around.

I also like the fact that the Featheringtons softened this season, it was kind of nice to see Mama Featherington soften up. And the daughters are dorks too, I love them.

Waiting two years for Benedict's season sounds like a grind though, geez.

Discourse - Okay, I've seen people complain about this season on Tiktok, let's go through some of the interesting bits: Not enough sex - There weren't enough sex scenes, these scenes weren't spicy enough. There is a petition right now on change.org that has about 24,000 signatures to release the deleted scenes (I've seen this list, they all just look like sex scenes. You're really that hard up for smut, huh?)

Too much sex - I legitimately saw someone complain that the sex scenes went on for too long. Uh..okay? you can skip those bits if you want, you know.

Eloise is annoying - She's a sweet baby angel and you're all just mean to her. Also, everyone seemed fine with her hooking up with Cressida because I get the feeling they all hate Phillip in the books, but the moment Franchesa shows some interest in a girl, noo, it's woke nonsense now.

Benedict is too much of a hoe - Benedict was apparently hoeing around too much and people don't like that. From season 1 when I was trying to get the characters straight, I saw Benedict and thought 'well he's the bisexual' and look at that, I was right. Good for him. Will this interfere with his story, I doubt it, it's more of a character building thing.

Not enough Pen/Colin in their season - I kind of see where they are coming from with this, they seemed to have a lot of side stories going on that maybe didn't need to be included. In the books, they don't have these world-building moments; it seems pretty focused on just the main characters.

Kate's fashion is too 'modern for the time' - Please, this isn't a show about historical accuracy. You're just upset Kate is a fashionista.

The PR Tour - This one is a big one. So I've seen the PR tour, and yeah Nicola and Luke were being all lovey-dovey promoting the show and now the fans are rabid to learn he has a girlfriend. Umm they are actors? Promoting a show? You really need to be able to separate the two. I've even see some say knowing they aren't together in real life sours the show. Are you guys new to fandom? This is not what people should be doing.

[solarballs-confessions]

I think someone's already mentioned it but I'm gonna mention it again just cause

I hated how a lot of people absolutely hated on Saturn's moons after that one episode where they go through each of their names.

But at the same point I hated how I saw people making Saturn out to be absolutely horrible for not memorizing all the moons' names in one go around.

In my opinion, The moons should've given him a little bit more time for him to memorize their names. Saturn has 146 moons, going through all of them once and expecting perfection is like expecting you to remember all your classmates names on the first day of school, your not going to.

On the other side, I hate how after I saw that episode I saw people sort of babying saturn. He's over billions of years old I promise everyone he is the last type of person (planet?) You need to baby. I hate how they acted like he couldn't memorize at least his 7 largest moons' names in the time they were formed and the time he's been around. Obviously with how he's gained so many moons, it alright to not have everyone memorized at least within the first few (hundred? Idk how fast time is for them in space LOL) years of them memorizing, he's a large planet and it's likely he's gained some moons without even realizing. But at the same point, Saturn would notice eventually.

I think we also forget he had favoritism, but I'll open that can of worms when I feel like it I'm too tired rn LMAO

Overall do i think the moons are horrible? No

Do I think Saturn is horrible? No

Do I think it's stupid how we're choosing to be extreme about how we depict those 2 sides of things? Yes

I shouldn't say I support the moons decision to sort of give up and be frustrated and have people believe that I'm saying I hate Saturn and that the moons are compeletly (how do you spell that word 💔) justified, because truly? They aren't.

Sorry if this is long and ranty, on the bright side I've seen more people level out and consider both sides which I'm glad people are doing! I think thats the beauty of this show. As you look more into the characters you realize they're not as black and white as you may have once thought. It captures you because you can find motives in characters actions. Despite it being a silly planet show, it can still tell you important things. One person I think here on Tumblr said that the episode of Saturn's moons returning was to show that change cannot be rushed. Change will come with time, and for some reason that stuck with me.

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