#the book is relatively good even though i complain lol

[lenievi]

I think the problem with TOS and me is that I need everything to follow a certain formula which includes McCoy being the one dealing with Kirk’s moods. If Kirk feels down or has a problem, I need it to be McCoy he talks to. I need it to be McCoy who gives him an advice. Spock can give him an advice too, but McCoy’s advice either needs to follow or precede (but usually follow) – because that’s the formula the show follows.

I know other people probably want more variety, but I’m very simple and want the same thing again and again, even if it only reduces McCoy to a character who’s written around Kirk. Because he is. He’s written around Kirk and Spock because he is a tool to express their emotions when neither of them can express them.

And I feel like when the show’s traditional trio roles are broken, it never works for me. Neither Kirk nor Spock can work without McCoy. I’m not saying it because I like McCoy, it’s just that you literally can’t take him out because then you even lose the kind of relationship Spock and Kirk have in the show imho

And that’s why I think a lot of novels just won’t ever work for me perfectly because a lot of authors 1. don’t know how to write McCoy 2. don’t know what role to give him because they refuse to give him his role in the show - i.e. be Kirk’s confidant. Some authors know what to do with him, but it’s rare.

[rninies]

Thinking about pottery making with satoru..

✮ pottery making

౨ৎ gojo satoru x reader. fluff, gn!reader, reader is a pro pottery maker, gojo isn't LOL — wc: 647

notes. ANON THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THIS ASK this was longer than expected LMFAO

gojo satoru is quite well-known to be good at everything he does, which is relatively true except for one thing — pottery making.

pottery making requires skills satoru does not have. so when you ask him to come join you in a pottery-making class, he hesitantly agrees.

“tell me why we’re here again?” satoru asks you quietly to not disturb the other people in the class. “you know we can just buy our own furniture, right?”

“toru, for the last time, we’re not making furniture! we’re making our own custom mugs we can paint later.” you repeated your explanation for the fifth time. “isn’t it fun? we can customize the mugs we make!” you clapped, excited to start.

satoru tries to complain once again but seeing the smile on your face stops him from doing so. he sighs, mentally cursing himself in his head for being so weak for you (he doesn’t mind, however. he loves spoiling you).

when the teacher arrives you straighten your back, listening to their instructions intently. you nod when you understand what they say, humming in between their words. “alright, let’s get started, shall we? if any of you need help just raise your hand and i’ll be right there!” they sat down in the front of the class, carefully watching everyone’s progress.

“okay! toru, let’s get started,” you exclaim, grabbing the clay and placing it on the machine. “do you have an idea for the design you’re going for?” you dip your hands in water, dropping a few droplets of water onto the clay to make it wet. when you see satoru unmoving, you look at him. “what’s wrong? do you understand what the teacher said before?”

“huh? oh, yeah! of course i understand!” satoru rolls up his sleeves, not wanting them to get dirty. “be prepared to see the best mug ever.”

satoru grabs a chunk of clay before wetting it a bit. you are prepared to see him make the mug so you stopped, watching his moves. instead of satoru making the mug just as he said before, he couldn’t even make the shape of a mug properly. instead, it’s a… tall structure you can’t even name it.

“um, toru?” you poke his shoulder. “a mug isn’t supposed to look like that.” you point at the… thing satoru has made.

“hey, don’t judge a book by its cover! i’m not finished, okay?” satoru huffs, trying to form the clay into a better shape. however, it doesn’t turn out so well, the clay slowly lifting off of the machine as he is trying to form it. so when the clay does fall off the machine, satoru yelps in surprise. “what the- hey! the clay can’t just jump off the machine!”

you started laughing out loud, satoru immediately frowns. “i’m sorry! it’s just- it’s too funny!” you wipe the lone tear that escapes your eye with the sleeves of your shirt. “look, just watch, okay?” satoru sighs, eyes trained on you. he watches your every move, how gently you started forming the clay into a shape of a mug and gently lifting it off of the machine. “tada!”

you proudly show off your masterpiece. satoru bogles it with wide eyes, astonished. “are you insane? how’d you do that on your first try?”

“i just am better at making pottery than you do.” you smugly say, handing your mug to the teacher who compliments your skills. “are you not going to try again?”

“no.” satoru says rather quickly. he stands up and goes to wash his hands. you follow behind him. “are you happy today?”

“yeah! though i really wanted to see you try again.” you giggled. “i can’t believe you couldn’t even form it into a mug!”

“if you say one more thing about that i will paint your mug an ugly color.” satoru threatens lightly, to which you immediately stop talking.

[lowkeyrobin]

Hello lovely! I'm back with another request 😰 I was just wondering if you could do the handsome bros with an s/o with tattoos? Thank you! And as always I hope you have a great rest of your night/day🫶

ooooo yes of course!!! I loved doing this w quackity so doing this w them is gonna be fun :) ; and have a good day/night to you too 🫶

HANDSOME BROS ; tattoos for days

includes ; tommyinnit, tubbo, ranboo, badlinu

warnings ; language, talk about needles

masterlist

TOMMYINNIT

bro the sleeves you got? holy shiet he's so swooned

always complimenting your tats & trying to get you to show them off

if you have any neck or back tattoos... good lord it's over, he can't not stare at them 24/7/365

he also likes coloring the hollow/non colored ones in with washable markers

you're a walking coloring book for him, he's gotta be moving all the time there is no break, even if he's chilled out

always taking sneaky pics of your tats up close LMAO

you take him to one (1) appt for a new tattoo and he's literally cringing in fear for you

like fuck you mean that's what you gotta deal with for the next six hours?? that needle is huge wth

he'll gladly help you with caring for it after though, but not without complaining about it all feeling weird on his fingers

"you better never suggest matching tattoos, there's no way I'm ever doing that"

TUBBO

sending you tattoo inspo from pinterest if you're talking about getting another one 💀

"ohmygodwhatthefuckisthat??"

"the tattoo gun?"

likes smelling all the different lotions and numbing cream and trying to name them or identify the scents 💀

thinks that tats around the wrists/thighs are super cool, esp if it's supposed to look like you're sewn together or dripping ink from them yk?

if you have any quotes or names, he's always asking about them because he can't remember and you don't mind when he asks at all

loves staring at your ink and just zoning out, he's like a proud father cause like you're expressing yourself how you want and shit

likes taking a sharpie and drawing around your fingers, mostly like little squiggles and vines

"you should get a tattoo for sunny, like some sunglasses or something"

"done"

"huh?"

cue you pointing to a pair of vine/meme sunglasses on your forearm

"how long have you had that???"

RANBOO

again, you're a walking coloring book to them

definitely colors the same tattoos a million times and has a washcloth nearby for erasing lmao

also loves showing your tattoos off online and stuff

need a hand to squeeze when you're getting another? he's there, squeeze as hard as you need too lmao

relatively calm about the needles but are they getting one? hell no

theyre absolutely obsessed with any tats on your arms or neck, always zoning out looking at them lol

he tends to send you those tik tok reddit stories, mostly the tattoo fails ones 💀

"Jesus fucking christ how can you make a blowout that bad?"

"the tattoo wasn't even good in the first place either. cut it all off, start over"

they also like to hear you rant about tattoo stuff and recommendations, soft spots etc, not that they're getting any tattoos soon, they just like to learn shit

FREDDIE BADLINU

absolutely loves showing them off online because he's so proud, like this is such a fucking cool way to express yourself??? he's jealous bc no way he's getting a tattoo anytime soon

he's normal about the needles as long as it's not near him

he likes coming along w you when you get new tats because the place you go to has a little art station and you know the person who owns it and is totally fine with him using their art stuff

so while you're getting some fresh ink, Freddie's drawing with professional level utensils and having fun lmao

also the type to color your tattoos in when he's bored. he seems like he has the random urge to color but doesn't own coloring books because he'd never use them

also makes a playlist that reminds him of all your tattoos, one for each specific one and another for the fact you have tattoos and look badass

always showing you tattoos from pinterest like "omg that's so cool" and "dude color is insane"

also uses a sharpie to draw on your fingers when he's bored or a little anxious

and there's so many pictures of you/you together where you can see the sharpie as well 💔🫶

[adamwarlock]

what's your favorite era (appearance, characterization, etc.) of adam warlock? you're like the #1 fan of adam warlock 😍👌

This is no joke anon I'm incapable of being normal about Him.

My favorite comic Ever of All Time is the classic 70's Warlock by Jim Starlin!!! What is there to say about it even it's simply THE quintessential Adam Warlock story and I think everyone should read it :^) it has it all... unavoidable tragedy, evil alter ego, martyrdom, blatant anti-christian allegory, catholic guilt, suicide, existentialism, nihilism, funky visuals that make it obvious it's the 70's and everyone's on drugs, the wizard of oz, clowns, shark in space, Adam/Soul Gem OTP, first appearance of The Magus, Adam's first time meeting Pip/Gamora/Thanos, Thanos killing Adam, Adam killing Thanos, Adam and Thanos kissing in a tree (ok I made this last one up) etc.

Also Adam's perfectly coiffed hair + sideboob/bootyshorts look goes hard as hell I refuse to hear otherwise.

My other fave looks <3 Counter-Earth + Infinity Gauntlet/Infinity Watch/Infinity Crusade

I like Roy Thomas/Mike Friedrich's baby Warlock, he's cute, but Jim Starlin's Adam is the most specialest boy in the whole universe I LOOOOVE HIM with my whole heart and everything Starlin has written with Adam and/or Thanos is near and dear to me.

I think there's at least something to like about every "era", I love the Magus, I love the Goddess, Adam's big queer gender self-discovery adventure is definitely a highlight, I LOVE the Infinity Watch... I am admittedly a bit of a Jim Starlin purist though, Adam (and Thanos) written by other people always just feels a bit off and ranges from ''bad'' to ''pretty good'' but I'm fond of Annihilation/GOTG Adam by DnA too.

Definitely though my BIG FAVE era besides Warlock is the combined last two trilogies by Starlin, Thanos Annual + Infinity Revelation/Relativity/Finale & Infinity Siblings/Conflict/Ending + Infinity Entity + Thanos vs Hulk + GOTG: Mother Entropy. I know that's a lot but it counts as one in my head lol.

Best comics ever actually, I was already obsessed with Adam and Thanos beforehand but these really irreversibly rewired my brain so there's no hope for me anymore. For context you must understand that by the time these books started rolling out Starlin hadn't written for Marvel in a decade with no sign of returning so I lost my fucking shit when they were announced lmao. I had already accepted that we wouldn't get any proper sendoff/conclusion to Thanos and Adam's character arcs after some 40 years of slowburn because that's just the nature of comics but!! WE DID!!! Starlin came back and gave them an actual ending, he tied up his version of these characters with a nice little bow, while it's obviously still left open for other writers it frankly doesn't really matter to me what anyone else does with them going forward because I'm satisfied with the story that's already (almost) entirely contained within Starlin's work. Not that I won't still complain if they're terribly ooc but that's not My Canon, you know.

Like. I would sit here with my tinfoil hat on and conspiracy theory board out connecting the dots and yelling about the growth between Adam and Thanos and the overarching themes/motifs... Just endlessly speculating on how this tentative friendship of theirs would even work since we hadn't actually gotten to see it in action since they Officially became Friends™ in the very last issue Starlin wrote before leaving Marvel for 10 years and no other writer wanted to touch them. Big thoughts about how it's all REALLY about loneliness and love and TRUST and redemption, how Thanos is desperately in love with completely obsessed with Adam, how Adam in many ways mirrors Mistress Death, how perpetually aloof Thanos learns to genuinely and wholeheartedly trust in Adam and how opening himself up to the living (Adam/Eros/Gamora/Pip) gives his life true meaning, how Adam and Thanos literally cannot exist without each other or they'll self destruct... THEN my guy my dude my very bestest pal Jimbo strolled in and casually validated all my inside brain thoughts by further expanding on the pre-established themes and making all that more explicitly canon and I just had to grin and bear it and pretend I'm normal. like???? HELLO????? IT FEELS SOOOOO GOOD TO BE RIGHT ABOUT LITERALLY EVERYTHING

The juxtaposition between these books and his older work (Warlock in particular) is actually so satisfying to me too. The numerous callbacks, echoes of past storylines, the role reversals... I know some people hate how repetitive Starlin's storylines can be but I love the consistency, this infinite loop of death/rebirth that Adam and Thanos are stuck in narratively really highlights how they change (or don't change) over time, it works perfectly for them both in text and metatextually. The becoming God and blowing up the universe for the 50th time doesn't matter it's about the friend(s) we made along the way.

Anyway. I've actually grown to really like Adam's outfit in these books too, it's very old school but I'm into that... a glorious return to pointy shoulders <3 (he matches with Thanos hehehehe)

Okay that's all. He is my special little princess.

[oisharza]

Thoughts 04-04-2023

Well.. It’s a sad day. I wanted to feel happy lol. But guess that’s too much to ask. My father might get arrested tomorrow. I wanted to attend the exam in peace. But guess that’s not gonna happen. I’ll have to attend the exam alone, without a phone. I wonder what it’s like to go out without a phone and a real connection. When I’ll be alone on the streets, I’ll only be a person. No identity, no home, no help. Just me and my clothes, and some books perhaps. Many people live their lives with lesser things than this and they survive. They don’t have money nor an actual identity and the entire world is their home with practically no family or relatives. Yet they survive on their own. Did they choose a life like that? Of course not. I have no disability. I have an actual identity. I am accepted by the society. I am a member of it. And a valuable one at that. Sure, I might have lost a few friends here and there, but it ended on a mutual note. Fall outs happen all the time. Did I keep contact with the people from my school days? No. I willingly left the groups myself. And I was asked to join back, too. Although I was misunderstood and misjudged, I believe my ex friends are definitely nice people. And I am too. The information I shared with them won’t get leaked to other people or used against me. I won’t either. So it was pretty good. Besides, who says friendships have to last forever? We can expect it to last for a lifetime, but think about it this way, I didn’t necessarily lose them. We simply had different beliefs and views. And that’s okay. Also, I had good times with them when it lasted. So it’s all good. I can always go back and make new friends. This is really the bare minimum. That’s true. But I have the privilege to choose what I want to do and what I don’t want to do. Some people stay in toxic friendships just because they want to survive. No one’s able to pressure me into things. I’m simply living life. Isn’t that wonderful? It is. There are definitely a lot of obstacles though. But I believe in God. He has given me so much. I can enjoy normal days like this. I have people to complain to. I don’t have to force myself into friendships or relationships. And even at the age of 22, I don’t have to make money and my future is pretty secured. I won’t have to find a partner, my folks can look for it. Even if I don’t work a day in my life, I’ll still live a relatively good life. So I’m not scared. I don’t have any disabilities. Life sucks, a lot of bad things happened, but I can protect myself now. Even if my parents kick me out one day, I have a place to call home now. My university. I can always make money. And live on my own. I can just leave today and never come back. My bestfriend will definitely support me. So, I have no fear or worries. I have my life figured out. I don’t really need high CG, as I just want to work for the foreign ministry. With my ability I’m sure it can come true. So.. what was I saying? I was simply stating some facts. To make myself feel better. And it worked. I don’t feel pressure anymore. In fact, I feel better than ever. See? This is what I was talking about. Going alone tomorrow might have its benefits. So let’s just hope I’ll be able to finish my syllabus today and get some rest before going to uni. Anyways, good night to me~!

[krreader]

seven sins | chapter nine.

pairing: bts x reader ; kim namjoon x reader fandom: bts warnings: non idol!au ; historical!au ; princes!bts ; concubine!reader ; sex ; impregnation kink (they all have that at this point lol) genre: smut ; fluff ; angst word count: 2.4k+ previous: 1 ; 2 ; 3 ; 4 ; 5 ; 6 ; 7 ; 8

summary: even in times such as yours, you still led a privileged life with nothing to ask for. that is until first your father, then your mother died and you were left to care for your two younger sisters. the position for royal physician seemed to be open and with your father having been a general and your mother having been a maid for the queen, you thought you might be able to get it.. little did you know that your visit to the palace would put a completely different offer on the table.

a/n: it’s getting teeeeeense here!

The secret you've been trying to hide from the queen so desperately, exposed by one of the princes and so... casually. You were staring at Namjoon with shock and that seemed to amuse him more than anything.

“Don't worry. I won't tell, I know you've been taking them so that my big brother can be the one to impregnate you,” Namjoon said and you instantly let out a sigh of relief, that you quickly hid by gulping down. That wasn't at all what you were taking it for, but you'd rather have him believe this than know the truth, “And I think it's good, it let’s my brothers have their share and feel special.”

“But then why even bring this up?”

“It's not common knowledge that these herbs prevent pregnancies. I only know about it because I've buried my nose in books all my life. So that makes me wonder... how do you know?”

Would this be your chance to finally tell him about it? The fact that you were not actually a concubine, but a physician? Would this finally be over? But if you told him the truth, what would happen? What if he didn’t like it and then, if worse came to worse, killed you for treason? 

You knew your time was running out and you had to finally come clean... to somebody. But would Namjoon really be the right choice?

“Well... my mother and father, they...-

But without knocking, someone slid open the door and your instincts kicked in, too afraid that whoever this was had heard what you had said and would then force you to go on.

This wasn’t something the wrong person should hear. 

So you grabbed Namjoon's shirt and pulled him towards you, kissing him deeply.

“Oh.. I'm... sorry,” another physician instantly bowed a few times, but Namjoon was already gone, immediately kissing you back.

False alarm, but by the time she was gone, you realized that you had already pushed Namjoon over the edge, his eyes full of lust. 

Not really what you had in mind....

“We'll have this discussion later... promise me,” he whispered against your lips and you nodded, but inside, you shook your head.

He wasn’t the right one for this. Prince Namjoon was the smartest of the princes, but he was also one of the most intimidating ones. You had such a heard time reading him, no idea how he would react to the news once he heard it.

So, it was still only prince Seokjin or the king himself.

You knew you could use his lust to your advantage and make him forget about what you had just said for now, pulled him between your legs on the mattress that was on the floor and grinned.

There wasn't much foreplay involved, despite you having thought that he'd be one of the few that would actually like it, but maybe he was just too excited now, because when he pulled down his pants, his dick immediately sprang up.

“Are you sure?” still, stuff like this made you happy. He probably meant because of what happened earlier with the queen, but you felt safe with him now, when he didn’t know your secrets.

Namjoon still leaned down and kissed you, a lot more gentle than what you had expected. His dick was sliding through your folds, entering you effortlessly within minutes because of how wet you got.

But then again... this man looked like a god on top of you. Who could blame you for that?

“How hard do you want me to go?” he whispered against your lips, only moving ever so slightly on top of you.

“You're the prince,” you brushed your hand through his hair, the other you grabbed his butt with, “Take me in whatever way you want.”

In a different situation he maybe would have taken his time, but Namjoon was so ready to do just that, that he got up on his knees and pushed your legs back, beginning to fuck you mercilessly.

The duality. 

His eyes never left yours though, if he had seen just a slight flicker of discomfort, he would have stopped.

All he could see, however, was you biting down on your lip, trying not to scream from pleasure when he pushed your legs further back and hit the spot inside you, that made you see stars.

So that was a good sign.

He let go of your legs, only so that he could lean down and whisper in your ear once more.

“These herbs are great, you know?” he chuckled, his next thrust so deep that you did scream, “But I read that they don't always work...”

You were breathing heavily when he looked at you, confusion written all over your face.

“I can't help but wonder.. what it would be like.. to see you carrying my child.”

You didn't know what kind of books he read, but that was the moment that you realized that you indeed were smarter than him. Thankfully. 

You grinned, “Why don't you try?”

Namjoon licked his lips and immediately pulled out, turning you around and then your ass towards him, so that you were now on all fours.

He fucked you from behind, as hard as before, his fingers digging into the skin of your hips.

Despite you knowing that his plan would fail, you didn't complain, not when he once again found that spot within you that made you scream unintentionally. 

And to your surprise, when you screamed your final scream, so did Namjoon. He timed it perfectly and spilled himself inside you, filled you to the brim just like he wanted to. And he really made sure that not a single drip of his seed left your body. 

Once he was convinced, he gently pushed your upper body down and pulled out of you.

“Stay like this for a few minutes. You'll be with my child soon, beautiful.”

Damn, you really needed to become the royal physician... who the heck told him that this would work?

“Of course, my prince,” you said nevertheless, needing to get on the prince’s good side no matter what. 

The king was having dinner with his family later that night, pushing his food around on his plate, before finally looking up at his sons, more specifically at Hoseok, “I heard your concubine gave birth to a girl. Why not a boy?”

“His seed just isn't good quality,” Namjoon joked, making Hoseok get up and ready to fight him, but Jimin instantly pulled his big brother back down.

“What about you, then? Heard you fucked our favorite concubine today? One of the guards said you wanted to get her pregnant.”

That made the room turn quiet instantly, the king narrowing his eyes at Namjoon, “(Y/N)?”

Namjoon became smaller and smaller, but then he said: “Yoongi hyung, Jimin and Taehyung tried too!”

“Hey!” all three of them instantly started arguing that that was not true, in the meantime, Seokjin was sitting at the other end of the table, looking miserable as he forced himself to eat.

The king noticed, but didn't say anything for now. He let his boys argue this out and then disappeared relatively soon, only to ask for his oldest son in his chambers later on.

“You wanted to see me, father?” Seokjin bowed, then knelt down before his father.

“Am I under the right impression that all six of your brothers have had their share with this concubine (Y/N)... all but you?”

Seokjin lowered his head, but then he nodded, “I wanted them to spend time with her first. Since I'm going to be... you know.”

“The father of the future heir that she will have.”

Ah, great. All his responsibilities summed up in one sentence.

“Yes,” he said simply.

“Well, all six of them have had their fun. Now it's time for you to do your duties. I've arranged for her to come to your room tonight. I want you to finally do what you're supposed to do and give this kingdom a prince that will eventually become king.”

“Tonight?” Seokjin stuttered, “But... but Namjoon and her, they..-”

“Tonight, Seokjin. Every day you waste is another day less that this kingdom has a new heir.”

“But father, I don't think that we should..-”

“You dare to talk back to me?” with the way his voice got louder, Seokjin immediately flinched and shook his head, getting up and bowing a few times, way too afraid of his father to say anything else that would undermine his authority.

“I will do what is required of me. I promise you.”

But the moment he was out in the hallway, he felt like crying.

[deadmunds-ghostbee]

You’re a sensible and level headed person in the Bridgerton fandom, what is your take on the EW feature? I don’t think I’m a super reactionary person, however, I’ve had a creeping feeling that S2 just isn’t going to be good (both critical reception wise and fan response/satisfaction). TVWLM is the best book and they’re bungling with it for some reason…

Haha I'm glad I seem sensible! Yes I try to keep this a relatively drama and discourse free blog.

That being said, I've turned off my asks for the next day or so because I'm gonna write big long fun posts about the new content we got today but don't have the time to answer anything beyond this one.

To be honest, my first reaction to the article wasn't actually how I personally felt about it. I saw that Jonny and Simone weren't the cover and I thought, 'oh dear, people are going to have things to say about this.' And they did and they still do about many of the things mentioned in the article. Which is obviously fine.

Onto my thoughts: Entertainment weekly is no award-winning publication. There were points where I thought the journalist extrapolated to a hilarious amount (like in the post introducing the characters, they implied that Theo Sharpe and Eloise would be good for each other??) and points where it was just hot air.

I DONT EXPECT ANYONE TO READ ALL THIS BUT HERE GOES

The cast had some insightful things to say about themes and commentary, and ultimately I have no real opinion on the fact that they focused on the side characters a lot. Those characters are a sure bet. It's press and I won't claim to understand marketing or the semantics of scheduling. I do think it would be weird if we never got a Jonny Simone cover somewhere at some point, though.

In terms of bungling it, safest assumption is that it's a bit of a wash? What are the chances that it'll be amazing? What are the chances it'll be theworstfuckingthingever? Small for both. There will be good and bad and it will certainly never be 'great' with the way it bites off way more than it can chew in terms of class, race, and even women's issues. In terms of pulling off a good romance, though, I have faith.

The actors (Jonny in particular) have shown very keen understanding of their characters, and they continue to hone in on important character beats such as Kate's utter devotion to her family and Edwina. I don't think Kate and Anthony's story can be bad with good performances and chemistry, and a basis of the characters we love. Even if it *is* bad, nothing's ruining Kathony for me because I'm not letting it lol.

This opinion may get me in trouble: I personally don't really care how well it is perceived critically or by GA or my followers. I only care that I like it myself (which I am determined to do within reason), and that I can continue to enjoy writing/reading fic. How good the subsequent seasons are also isn't something I care about, but for the rest of the fandom's sakes, I hope yall enjoy it.

Critics usually overexaggerate and GA (and by that I mean, non-internet ppl who don't think too hard about it) are easy to please. I don't think it'll do the same numbers but whatever. The promo isn't a disaster but it could probably be better.

Now onto the last part which is probably what a lot of the question was about.

I think the largest points of contention in the article were the "Bombay" thing (which people have rightly complained about. I'm no history wizard and I'm also a white girl from the American midwest so I don't want to play any role in the discourse other than listen. Anxiety is warranted and I hope it is aptly criticized when it comes out). And the 'triangle' thing.

I think we've gotten to a point today where people are mostly trying to be positive in the tag after a chaotic afternoon. I agree. The words seemed offhand, innocuous, meant for GA, and also infused into the article without hearing it straight from Jonny's mouth. Passing interest from Edwina or Anthony will probably last two seconds.

This may be bold, but even if Edwina is into him, or (worst case scenario?? And HIGHLY unlikely) upset about the marriage or even if Anthony PROPOSES/almost marries her, it would be a wild divergence but I wouldn't completely hate it. Kate's twofold guilt/turmoil would be interesting. This wouldn't just be "fighting over a boy," it's been driven home that Edwina and Kate are soulmates, and that they are adding depth to the relationship. So the worst case scenario is only moderately upsetting for me, but I have more hope than that anyway. We've been conditioned by popular media to assume all love triangles are bad. Drama can be annoying but it can also leave room for character development. it's a generally interesting narrative choice to have characters be into someone that isn't their true love beforehand (a la Siena), which, in a show that boasts its "progressivism" and a fandom which wants it to be even more so, is a more modern idea.

Adding drama and complexities to subplots in order to give your cast things to do can be okay if done right. Promo isn't the nail in the coffin for actual screen time and even if Kathony is only on screen for a half or third of the time, 4 hours of content is better than nothing. That ratio will only continue in later seasons as they keep adding to the cast. Polin's story will be so bloated with Danbury and Queen stuff and Eloise drama and setting up the next phase of the show if they even have it, so why cross compare?

So tldr

The best way to think about S2 is a fun AU, no expectations. Whatever the s2 is, it may be show-canon but it isn't gospel.

If you don't like s2 then it shouldn't ruin your entire bridgerton experience. It's okay to be disappointed, but like, being disappointed is what real life is for. It's not coming anywhere near my escapism.

***

Now that this essay is over I'm gonna write a post abt actual theories!! If you made it this far, Godspeed homie.

[mara-xx217]

Howdy! Would it be alright to request something with Max and a survivor who was an author before they were taken by the Entity? My heart just melts at the idea of reading stories to the sweet chainsaw lad 📚✨

Aww this is exactly what our boy needs 🥰 I will NEVER stop writing Max fluff!

This is kinda funny, but I used a personal childhood book for this one. It's called: Richard Scarry's Best Story Book Ever. It was my mom and her siblings' before it was mine, and I have a lot of fond memories of this book, so it seemed right to use, lol

“You want me to read to you?”

Max’s ears burned at hearing you repeat his request. As embarrassing as it was, he could barely read and write. His parents never really taught him, and his TV could only teach him so much… He shifted uncomfortably, avoiding eye contact out of pure shame. Max wouldn’t blame you if you started to laugh at him, or ridicule him or- He sighs, hanging his head. Just as he was about to rescind his request, you shuffled closer, smiling softly.

“I’d love to, Max!” His head snapped in your direction. There wasn’t a trace of annoyance or disappointment on your features. You simply smiled at him, gently beckoning him to follow. He does so without complaint, secretly relieved that you weren’t angry with him for asking you to do something so ridiculous.

There was a single bookshelf remaining in his old home that was relatively intact, and in the short time that you’ve entered his life, it’s now almost overflowing with books and loose, handwritten manuscripts that you’ve made yourself. Even if he couldn't read most of it, Max was thoroughly impressed that you’ve put so much time into creating something. He wished he was able to read what you’ve written…

“Okay, sweetie… Let’s see, here…” You hummed to yourself as you skimmed your limited collection. There wasn’t much to choose from, but you couldn’t complain much. Max was ridiculously easy to please, and you could probably make something up on the spot, and he’d be overjoyed by simply spending time with you. It saddened you that he was so starved for such simple affection, but that was why you made sure to shower him with as much love and positive reinforcement as you possibly could. God knows he needs it…

“Is there anything you want me to read? Or-?” Max awkwardly shifts foot to foot, worrying the insides of his pockets. He always gets anxious asking you to do things for him, and it’s usually up to you to continue whatever it was that he was wanting to do. Slowly but surely, he’s been gaining more and more confidence in himself, but sometimes he’s still too self-conscious to elaborate. Pausing for a moment, you take another quick glance at your limited library. Well, we certainly don’t have much to choose from but…- Ah!

An old, tattered spine caught your eye. You recognized it. It was one of your favorite childhood books that you didn’t have the heart to let go. Even though it’s practically falling apart, it’s still in good enough shape to be read, and since you were teaching Max to read…

“Here, what about this one? It used to be my mom’s before she gave it to me. What do you think?” You carefully remove the book and hold it up for him to see. His eyes immediately light up. It wasn’t the first time you’ve read it to him, but he always seems to enjoy it. It was a relatively simple read, and has helped him immensely with his reading. He gives you a lopsided grin, bouncing on the balls of his feet. You chuckle and smile as you follow him to the living room, taking your place on the couch as he all but crawls into your lap, resting his head on your shoulder as you open the book.

There were so many different stories to choose from. A garden variety of Mother Goose tales, little quips teaching young ones things like colours, the months of the year, different kinds of clothes, and many, many different one-off stories, all of which have colourful pictures accompanying them. It may be a bit simple, but it wasn’t babyish. Even if it was, as long as Max enjoys it, you couldn’t care less. Seeing him this happy, this relaxed, all curled against you..?

He lays his head on your chest and wraps his arms around you, while you loop a single arm around his shoulder, absentmindedly rubbing his back as you read a story about a little mouse and his equally little house.

You’ve never had much, and you had even less when the Entity stole you away, but right here, right now? You had everything you needed: a little house, a partner that loved you more than anything in the world, and all the time in the world to spend with him, helping him better himself while learning a thing or two about yourself along the way. You rested your cheek on the top of his head. Yeah, you had everything you needed, and then some.

@prettycutebunny

@randomyklol

@kennbb

@furanshinufuransu

[bigskydreaming]

Tom is already rehashing some things, like too many homages to the nineties run, Zucco's daughter plot point, Beatrice had ideas for societal reform he's taking that and giving it to Dick. It'll probably be half hearted, but it stings that Beatrice left just a few issues ago and she's already completely forgotten for the sake of DickBabs or a love triangle.

Like the thing about the nineties runs is I mean, as much flack as we give various elements of them, there’s so much from that time period that was good? Great, even! Just....myself and the writers seem to have very different opinions on what the most interesting elements of the nineties comics were, oh well.

And omgggggg I’m still so mad about Bea, and its literally Shawn Tsang all over again. The writers keep introducing new, interesting characters, investing just enough time and focus into them to have us interested in them and wanting to see more.....and then they toss them aside to go back to drawing from the same well as always.

And the thing is, this isn’t even about me not really being a Dick/Babs shipper, because honestly, I’m not enjoying the Dick/Kory stuff in what I’ve seen of Titans Academy either, and for the exact same reason:

When they create new characters like Shawn and Bea, they KNOW they’re starting from scratch and need to build interest in those characters from the ground up. So they’re forced to put their best foot forward. There’s no short cut there, if you want people to care about a brand new character you have to give them REASONS to care. You have to make those characters likable, you have to make people WANT to root for them, you have to hook them with intriguing backstories that don’t feel formulaic and new angles that don’t feel just derivative of older characters, and that’s how we got stuff like Shawn’s history as a former sidekick to a villain and now running a support group for rogues trying to turn their lives around, and Bea’s work in societal reform.

But then the second they stop having the patience to build the new characters up enough that the interest in them can actually start to reach the levels that lets older characters last and grants longevity....they just toss them aside and move on....except they never really move on, just backwards. Because the problem with so MANY superhero couples, far from just Dick and Babs or Dick and Kory, is just....how lazy it seems to make so many canon writers. They just fall back on rehashing the same old tropes and just updating popular moments that resonated with fans in the past, now just recreated with a slightly more modern twist but without ever really being anything new. 

Even with ships that I’ve never really been sold on in the past like Dick/Babs, I’ve always said, there’s usually nothing stopping me from GAINING interest in them.....its just....the writers have to GIVE ME A REASON TO. And so many of DC’s writers just aren’t even trying. They’re just moving parts around and pushing characters together in various arrangements like everyone’s just a puzzle piece that you can mix and match however you want......and then just basically expecting readers to be interested purely because of who the characters are, or because it hinges on a nice moment that they then milk the hell out of without ever expanding that into building actual STORY around these moments but rather just squeezing each one til they get everything they possibly can out of it and moving on to the next as though its all just about chasing the next soundbite...because it is! LOL.

And honestly, this problem extends far beyond just the Nightwing title or the Batfam or Taylor’s run or writing in particular.....its a company wide issue right now. In fact I would bet just about anything that its a matter of editorial edict, that even before Taylor started his run DC said okay here’s the approach we want everyone taking with their stories right now:

And that’s like.....its all about banking on nostalgia and the comfort of the familiar right now. I think Taylor is drawing all these elements straight from the 90s Nightwing comics, like Blockbuster and Dick having been a cop, etc, because these are the elements of past Nightwing stories that are so well known. Its the same reasoning behind why they put Tim back as Robin and so many of their new characters are just new spins on old faves like Punchline and Harley Quinn, and why they’re pushing all these older ships that haven’t been together in ages and why specific team lineups are reappearing....its because nostalgia is the name of the game for DC right now, and all their writers are just pulling together threads of classic stories that have stood the test of time, figuring anything that landed particularly well with fans in the past will sell with people here and now, and weaving these threads together and brushing over them with a modern social issues veneer. 

As an approach, its basically all just about repackaging previously successful story moments and elements with just enough changes or in just new enough a configuration that readers aren’t likely to complain en masse that like “hey we literally already read all this. We’ve already BOUGHT these issues. When we were kids.” Its minimizing creative risk while maximizing monetary profit. Spend as little creative capital as possible outside of anything that’s already been successful in the past and as such is a relatively proven quantity, instead of testing new material that’s an unknown and runs the risk of falling flat and thus not being profitable.

And see, I’d almost guarantee that all THAT, that whole line-wide approach to DC’s storytelling, is because the powers that be looked at the last several years of stories and how many of THEM fell flat with readers, and decided that the problem was they’d BEEN trying too much new stuff and readers just didn’t like it. Because they WERE concentrating on presenting totally new stories and building up new ideas throughout their books.....but readers have been pretty vocal for years now about being disenchanted with most of DC’s major stories. And so DC I think looked at that and came to the conclusion that okay, people just don’t want new right now, they want the familiar.

But like.....DC’s problem IMO was never that they were trying new stuff? The reason so much of their new and original storylines weren’t gaining traction or bringing in readers and kept shedding old readers had absolutely NOTHING to do with them being new and previously unseen storylines, which makes falling back on nostalgia very much a non-solution to entirely the wrong problem.

No, DC’s problem for years has been that they’ve been all about spectacle instead of story. There’s ZERO emotional pay-off to any of their biggest plot twists or character beats, and emotion is LITERALLY what people read stories for. Its all about racing to the climactic action packed finish of every storyline and then immediately resetting everyone back to square one and jumping straight into the next big story, without ever giving the events of any of their stories time or reason to MATTER to the characters.....and if they don’t matter to the characters, our proxies that we’re viewing these stories through, then why should any of it matter to us? Why should any of it linger, dig in roots, resonate with us as moments that left an impact and that we accordingly want more of?

And again, like because I’m a Dick Grayson focused blog I’ve obviously largely been focused on how much I dislike the SPECIFIC reactions or non-reactions to so many of the major beats in his stories.....but it was spread throughout their entire line.

Bruce and Selina almost got married....but why should anyone care outside of Tom King’s title when nobody else seems to, no other characters feel anything about this, and Bruce in none of his other appearances seems the same as ever without any reminder that he just almost got married but then didn’t.....and if the characters don’t ever seem to be affected by or feeling a need to revisit or reflect on recent stories, why should we bother remembering them either? 

Jason was dramatically and fucked-upily (yes its a word, I totally looked it up and everything) exiled from Gotham....and then all of that is undone in a single issue with one low-stakes awkward conversation between him and Bruce. Damian quits as Robin and goes off the map and everyone in his family is like “hey don’t we have a littler brother, I feel like we did maybe” for one panel per story arc, and that’s it. Roy’s back from the dead and everybody’s like oh hey cool instead of the kind of return we used to get like when Donna came back and everyone was like oh shit, this MATTERS, because we MISSED you....just like Dick’s death never mattered to anyone but fans of his character because much like I was just saying earlier with them not really giving me a reason TO emotionally invest in Dick and Babs’ relationship if I wasn’t already, same thing with the aftermath of Forever Evil. They didn’t give anyone else reason to emotionally invest in that as something that HAPPENED to Dick and that he was AFFECTED by....because the writers didn’t bother writing him as all that affected by it and it was just like oh he’s a spy now, all that was last year’s content, we’ve moved on, keep up.

And on and on it goes. Ric Grayson was the same problem all over again. Rinse and repeat down the line with everyone from Wally to Donna and etc etc etc.

THAT’S why DC’s stories have been falling flat. It has nothing to do with people not being interested in new ideas, characters or directions, its that’s ALL they were giving us, but it was like just reading wiki summaries of events just alongside pretty art, but no real emotional weight or substance to anything we were reading....and thus, literally nothing that we couldn’t get much the same outcome from if we just...stuck to reading wiki summaries after the stories were over, with no real need to follow along with them. For years most fans have basically just been about keeping up to date with changes in the characters’ lives, but without feeling any real need to watch those changes unfold and play out.

And so honestly I worry we’re just gonna be subjected to a company wide rehashing of old and familiar storylines, directions and character beats, but repackaged and delivered in the exact same way DC was delivering us their new stories and ideas these past years....and its basically going to have the same results, because its the same problem. They didn’t actually fix anything by switching gears, they just shuffled around the actual issue.

And DC’s just gonna be like well now wtf are we doing wrong, we were so sure this would work, everyone LOVES nostalgia right? Did we pick the wrong stories and character beats to bring back?

When really its like......it honestly doesn’t matter WHICH stories and beats they rehash, because its not about them picking the ‘right ones,’ the real keepers, the stories that everyone really WAS eager to see brought back or made new again.....

Its about like, the only reason any of those stories or beats or dynamics stood the test of time and are still familiar and well-known....is because the stories AROUND those moments and ideas gave us reason to emotionally invest in them and retain them as crucial to our view of the characters and things that would resonate and stay with us for a long time.

It was never that any of those ideas or stories were just so innately brilliant that they couldn’t help BUT linger in the overall reader consciousness...it was the fact that we CARED about what happened in those moments and stories.

*Shrugs* But I mean hey, what do I know? I’m just a dude on the internet lolol. 

[sl-walker]

All right, since I’m in the middle of a flare and have to work manual labor for the next four days despite it, I figured I would make myself -- and hopefully other people -- laugh by talking about one of my favorite OG Captain Marvel stories. Namely, from Whiz #50, with a cover date of January, 1944, meaning it was probably produced sometime in late 1943.

I want to share it because why not, this is some absurdly charming stuff.

I’ll get more into why it’s one of my favorites as we go, in the form of running commentary. So, full story (with said commentary) under the cut. If you wanna just read the story without my commentary, stick to the pictures. XD

First, let me say that the cover and splash page definitely live up to the story, though the cover’s a bit more sensationalized. But the premise is pretty damn simple: Our intrepid hero and his newsboy alter ego are on vacation. Cap decides to go swimming. It goes hilariously wrong and thus ensues a bit of a madcap adventure, no puns intended.

Second, the fact that Cap and Billy are depicted as essentially different entities makes what Billy does next the ultimate trolling:

Gee, airing out the stolen laundry on the radio? Really? I’ll leave it up to you, gentle reader, whether Billy actually was trolling his own alter-ego for ratings or whether he was just innocently sharing the story while his other-self winced quietly in whatever ether-space he exists in when not front-and-center.

Either way, I love it.

Continuing on...

I get a kick out of the fact that Billy’s monologue is that he’s no dare-devil. One, because that’s so obviously not true in any way -- (that kid is awesomely, sometimes recklessly brave on the regular even without Cap) -- but two, because the bridge is actually named Dare-Devil Bridge. We aren’t given any reason why this dangerous potential death-trap is there, hanging without so much as a gate or a warning sign or anything, because we don’t need one. It’s there specifically for what happens next.

Which, of course, is Billy calling in Captain Marvel, who does some light complaining about the situation Billy left him in. There’s no bite to it, which I find adorable -- Cap actually does get frustrated once or twice in other issues with Billy calling on him for mundane stuff, though he’s never mean about it -- but there is a bit of the sense of being put-upon there that’s just-- I dunno, cute. It’s something I miss a lot in the various post-crisis takes on the character: That duality, that difference in personality, and the way each of them responds to different situations. Often, they’re on the same page, but notably, sometimes, they aren’t.

Someday, I promise, I need to sit down and write how I think that works between those two without being a truly frightening mental illness manifested, what with them being the same person but not the same person. Because I have so many ideas, and I’ve only had since the early-2000s to percolate them. LOL! But until then, just enjoy this.

Here is another reason why I love the Golden Age Captain Marvel books and why I love this specific story: This is an absolutely normal, mundane thing to do. It’s the human thing to do. These aren’t the actions of some super-serious superdude. These are the actions of a pretty shockingly normal guy doing something mundane. And a whole story is built around that normalcy.

It’s cute. It’s funny. It’s the reader already knowing that he’s getting himself into a situation that he absolutely could have avoided, but also completely understanding how it happened anyway. It’s pretty brilliant writing: I say this as a pretty damned good writer myself.

So much of the reason why, I think, Cap was so endearing as a hero is that humanity. He’s got pretty much god-tier power in the Golden Age, once his powerset is established. He’s utterly invulnerable to all physical harm while powered up. But-- he’s human. He knows he’s human. He acts like it, and decides, “You know what? I’m going skinny-dipping.”

He and Billy are both characters it’s so easy to empathize with.

Also, a reminder that the art under Chief Artist C.C. Beck is really, really good. (He had a whole stable of artists to help produce this stuff!) Ignoring registration issues on the printing press, the actual line art is amazingly good; proportion and perspective and consistency.

But anyway--Cap does get to enjoy his swim. But, then, oh no.

I love the idea of a world where the prime hero -- and he definitely is in that world -- can take off his suit and go swimming, and where someone else is bold enough to steal the damn suit off of him. The first time I read this, I started laughing here. Not at him, but at the situation he’s found himself in. At the idea that some random passer-by saw Captain Marvel’s costume and went yoink!

Another thing I love about this particular story is how much Cap and Billy have to work together, just by necessity. Like-- it’s just really good. But anyway, thank everything Billy Batson is on the ball, coming to the rescue.

Sheer bad luck via the weather keeps this story rolling along in hilarious misdirections. Realistically, that uniform probably wouldn’t be all buttoned together (we see Cap take off pieces of it aside the pants in other issues, including socks!), but who cares? The point of the story is that giant bear rug on the floor’s gonna get put to use.

Man, when have you ever seen Superman creeping naked through some stranger’s house wearing nothing but a random polar bear because he went skinny dipping? No wonder these comics sold so well. This next panel is when I start wheezing, though, and pretty much keep wheezing.

“A lady, too! I’ve got to get away from here!”

I’m dying at this point. That’s such a characteristic response, and yet, I think that’s why it’s funny.

Anyway, because this is an excellent story (I mean this without an ounce of irony, too), our dynamic duo stumbles across a plot in play to rob the hotel they’re staying at.

Here’s a big part of why this is such a good tale: Everything fits. Even when it isn’t explained, like Dare-Devil Bridge, it still fits. Why is the tree down? Because there was just a thunder storm, the same one that blew Cap’s suit into the room with the gangsters.

I don’t know if this is Otto Binder’s story, but I wouldn��t be surprised in the least. It’s a complete story told in relatively few pages that accomplishes everything it’s meant to.

Anyway, using foliage as cover, Cap gets to be heroic----then Billy gets to get back to the business of trying to stop the robbery of the hotel and get his heroic alter-ego dressed again.  Which leads to a rather adorable and funny scene of Billy not only trying to describe what Captain Marvel wears, but what size it would need to be tailored in.

(Cap is supposedly a 44 for a suit coat, we find in some earlier appearance, which would refer to his chest size.  So, an XL for shirts and suit-coats.  He’s a big guy, but he’s actually not a hulking huge guy.  But more on that later.)

I love the fact Billy tries to like-- use himself as a model.  Maybe in another ten years, kiddo.  Billy’s actually pretty buff for like a 12-14 year old, he’s not a scrawny kid at this point, but yeah, no.  LOL!

Another thing I also really, really love about this style, though, is that they draw Captain Marvel as being strong, as having a powerful build-- but not as a dehydrated body-builder with deep cuts. He’s got human proportions, regardless of his strength; he’s got a human build, not a superhuman one.

C.C. Beck had a lot of things to say about superheroes who were just muscles on top of muscles, all clearly defined, and he didn’t like it.  As someone who first got into comics in the early 90s with Jim Lee’s X-Men--

I do get Beck’s point.  I not only get it, but I really highly approve of it.  He maintained to the end that he drew (and oversaw) the Marvel family to look like high school and college athletes, and I can see that.  I think the one person who’s gotten it right in the modern era is Evan “Doc” Shaner, who did Convergence: Shazam!  He not only nailed that strong-but-not-hulking build for Cap, but also how young he looked.  College-age, in fact.

But anyway, enough digression into art and why I like this better than most modern takes on the character.  Also, that’s just a cute set of panels.

I also like that there wasn’t an easy fix there.  Cap’s still in his not-birthday suit, and Billy’s still stuck running around trying to solve the issues at hand.  Next comes some other really good panels:

-snorts-  He’s locked in.  Yeah, that’ll hold him.

Anyway, what I really liked here was again that tandem working; Billy can’t punch through a wall, but Cap can.  Cap can’t crawl out while he’s au natural -- well, he could, but he’d probably rather die first -- but Billy’s got no such issue.  It’s just fun when you get to see them doing something like that.  You have to really think for a minute about the trust each of them must have in their alter-ego.

ANYWAY, we get the rare treat then--

--of Captain Marvel not only yoinking a dude into a dark room, but then stealing his clothes.  Except, not his underwear.  Because that’s nasty.  LOL!

I love that in this series, you do actually get to see him wear other stuff.  Go incognito.  Get his red suit messed up enough to take it to a dry cleaner’s, wherein he ends up dressed like a musketeer after.  Jerry Ordway’s series is, I think, the only other time we see Cap not wearing his famous suit, but it happened enough in the Golden Age that it wasn’t a shock.

Like, I hate to be the one to say this, but I do think DC drops the ball often on just how much you can do with Captain Marvel (or Shazam, depending on timeline, but that’s the wizard’s name to me so mostly I’ll stick with the original name) if you unbend enough to.  It’s not just the costume change, or the duality of him and Billy being the same but not, but also his inherent, essential humanity.

But I am digressing again, sorry. XD  I just feel strongly enough about these versions of these characters to spend hours writing this.

Anyway, only a single panel later:

And that’s that!  Billy Batson has just outed his own alter-ego’s most embarrassing moment to whomever’s listening to WHIZ radio -- thank everything podcasts and the internet weren’t available then, ha! -- and we get to see a recounting of a very fun story.

Like I said earlier, I love this one for its essential humanity.  The hero got himself into this mess, he and Billy got him out of this mess, and stopping the criminals was actually just kind of a lucky stroke thrown in there.  But even though Cap got himself into this, the story never treats him like he’s stupid.  It never treats him like he’s some kind of idiot.  You’re laughing, but-- not in a mean way.

I love how human it is.  How complete it is.  How genuinely funny it is.  It’s a thousand times more funny when you genuinely love and respect Captain Marvel and Billy Batson, too.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this dissertation on a skinny-dipping hero.  LOL!  I enjoyed sharing it with you.

[littlecafe]

ohh for sure pledis is still a trash company but even they decided to do bus routes and ads for their 10th year. i really do hope that something does come out of this and more information is revealed, esp if kfans are starting to say stuff now. it just pains me that it might not change anything, unless maybe they speak up themselves.

have you seen the state of the albums fans are getting too?? theyre getting ones that are missing cds or photocards, and there have been many with ripped pages in the middle (which happen to all be aron's pages) its clear this is probably due to the lack of quality control during manufacturing, especially if this album is as rushed as it seems. they most likely skipped a whole part of product checking to get them out faster.

ahh i didnt even think about that ;;; i hope theyre able to find a good contract because thats the least they deserve. i find it so difficult to wish them well and hope for their future because OF COURSE im going to support them, but the feeling of injustice just overshadows it and it just hurts. yea i think their staff team got dissolved, their performance director posted a goodbye to the practice rooms. its so sad that a whole team of people lost their job too

yup lmao like even pledis had stuff planned so that's why i can't blame them as much for all the terrible stuff going down because seems like their staff (the ones working on nu'est stuff ofc) was also caught up in this mess and didn't know what was happening either

with kfans making more noise about it now i really hope we get some answers but i won't get my hopes up for it since it's scary for anyone closely involved to speak out against a big corporation like that and honestly, maybe they don't even know why this happened either but at this point i'd be happy to accept a "i didn't expect this to be the last album" or anything along those lines just for closure that we were not just crazily assuming things this whole time (even though i think it's pretty much a fact now with that album behinds video though it wasn't a straight forward statement from anyone)

what??? noooo i had no idea that albums were arriving damaged?!!! everything about this album is so low quality, poorly managed, and rushed from the design portion to now even the manufacturing causing damaged and defected albums? they really did not pay attention at all omg

also a minor thing but i'm very peeved that the cd itself for this album is in a paper envelope...it looks so thin on video but since i don't have it on me i don't know if it is actually easily torn paper quality or not but like are you poor or something???? it's a hard cover book style album which usually wouldn't come with separate cd like that because there is always a place for the cd to be held, even worse because this entire album has zero design so the envelope is just plain white with the same 1234567890 logo that they've slapped on literally everything

the quality is severely lacking...while looking for the torn albums i see a lot of fans complaining about how much empty space the photobook has like blank pages or just really tiny pictures for no reason with the rest of the page just being white??? like i understand you're (whoever worked on this album) trying to pass this on as "minimalism" but absolutely no aesthetic eye, my sis filmed her unboxing it for me and she pointed it out right away bc it just looked so bad and done with no intention

and also my judgement might be skewed here since i've mainly only bought day6 albums which relatively cheap for some reason lol but this nu'est album seemed to be on the more expensive side of the price scale right? the effort is not justifying that price

letting someone go without prior notice is really shitty and on top of that they did this to them while kinda letting them believe that nu'est would continue so the members probably weren't thinking to look into other companies or contracts at all...absolutely no protection or care for their artists whatsoever

yes me too!! i really hope they manage to negotiate good contracts and we get to hear from the ones that left soon, whether it's a signing with another company or just their plans about what they're going to pursue or if they're just going to rest a while, just anything! it's also getting closer to their enlistment time which really spooks me because it's really hard to get over that 2 year hurdle without a group with a sturdy fanbase or a good company to come back to, they have a very short amount of time to cement themselves and their brand as a soloist before that time which is hard

of course i will also support all the members in whatever endeavors they choose to go on, but going from group to solo is a hard transition (speaking solely if they stay in music as a singer) and i know many loves will also continue to support all members but with almost every boy group to soloist transition, the numbers do not lie and they tend to fall off for solo activities (everyone has their own biases and also not everyone will have the monetary means to physically support like that so it's normal for this to happen...), but it's so much worse if it was a decision forced onto you rather than one you've made yourself so i worry for them right now...the way this was handled is really unfair, they seriously gave them no time at all ugh

that's so terrible :((( dismissing their whole team too...instead of getting better, this situation truly just gets worse and worse the more you hear about it, i truly feel for the staff who work hard by nu'est side...none of them deserved this, everyone involved in this mess is so unfortunate and i wish them all the best going forward

sometimes i'm not even sure if i'm making any sense in these answers to you, like this hurts my heart and my head like if this was something the members wanted it would be sad but easier to accept but it ended like this

[ichika27]

Mairimashita! Iruma-kun s2 ep12

We’re halfway through the second season, I suppose?

This episode gives us a little glimpse of the home life of the Abnormal Class students and also a bit of insight about Kalego-sensei himself.

Grandpa Sullivan is excited for the coming vacation as it means he could spend time with his grandson. Opera then tells him he still has some work to do before then including a request from Opera themselves. As repayment for helping him look cool in front of Iruma and friends in the party episode, Grandpa Sullivan agrees to Opera's request and says he, too finds it interesting.

Okay, just a thought but I heard the episode with the party was a filler? Like, it wasn’t in the manga or something or did I get that wrong? Or did they decide to connect it to the story?

At school, Kalego-sensei gets a special task from the school principal: to visit the homes of the Abnormal Class students before the vacation starts. He hates it but he has no choice. He decides to just go in, talk to the parents, go out and to end this as quickly as possible.

First up is Asmodeus! Azz mother unfortunately isn't home though (Azz purposely not let his mom know about the meeting) so his butler is the adult there with him. Kalego-sensei then asks him if he's told his parents about school matters and Azz replies that he does... talk about Iruma and his achievements. Sensei gets annoyed as he was supposed to talk about himself but Azz said he excels at school all the time so there's no need to say anything about it.

Two cute girls (who are relatives, calling Azz "brother") comes out and agrees that Azz is amazing although they hate it that he had been too preoccupied with Iruma recently that they don't hang out as much anymore. Azz apologizes to them... and says Iruma comes first. This led the two kids to get mad at Iruma and insult him. Azz runs after them trying to change their minds.

The butler then talks to Sensei a bit about Azz's past and says the boy has changed and had become happier after enrolling at Babyls and meeting Iruma. Kalego-sensei says he understands cause as demons, becoming the subordinate of someone who beat you is a normal thing. He does note though that if Asmodeus stops being too narrow-minded and only thinking about Iruma, he’d grow and become better and if that happens, he’d become a better subordinate to Iruma. He does tell the butler that he won’t be telling Azz this as the guy has to figure it out by himself.

Next is Clara's family who even gives him a warm welcome. There's also a musical number much to his annoyance. He absolutely doesn't like it in there and wanted to leave lol. The anime really made musical numbers the Valac Family thing, huh?

Poor Sensei is at their mercy haha.

Just when he couldn't take it anymore, Clara's older brother finally makes his appearance and apologizes to Sensei for the trouble. Urara, unlike everyone else in the family is polite and mature making Kalego-sensei question if the boy really is a part of the family or if he was kidnapped from somewhere else lol. Sensei was able to talk to them normally for a while before they start their antics again. Sensei was able to give advice about Clara though. He mentions how Clara is a bit insensitive (as she doesn’t consider how her actions affect others) and causes trouble but is good in a sense that she could make people follow her own pace.

Oh and Clara’s mom mentioned that someone like Urara does come into their family from time to time. Like, most of them will act like the typical Valac family member but once in a while, they’d produce someone like Urara whose different. I think this is interesting since they have been hinting about him from season 1 and now he’s here and there’s something about him that’s different.

The other students homes aren't any better and Sensei had to deal with whatever trouble or craziness that'd be there waiting for him. By the end of it all, he was tired.

In a way, he should’ve expected this. I mean, this is the Abnormal Class we;re talking about. He got a lot of souvenirs from them all though and has a bad full of random stuff by the end (most came from Clara’s family).

The final visit was to Iruma's house. Kalego-sensei just wanted things to be over with but his fears came go be realized when he meets the one person he didn't want to see: Opera who used to be his senpai.

Sensei seem to be scared or at least very wary of Opera that he uses Iruma as a shield lol.

Grandpa shows up and shows what Kalego-sensei looked like when he was young. He then proceeds to drop some details about Kalego-sensei as a student (as Sensei complains about it).

It seems that back in his school days, Kalego-sensei gets challenged to fights often and rumors about him pop up as well which he finds to be a pain. The only person he could talk to was Baram-sensei who was also a student back then. The two talked about what's going on and realized Kalego-sensei must've been mistaken by others as someone else. There was no student council back then so things were also more chaotic (It seems Ameri’s influence made a big difference to how school operates now).

He then later learns who everyone mistook him for. The person who the rumors talk about that could defeat many demons: Opera. Since then, Opera had been sort of bossing Kalego-sensei around and it seems sensei might be a bit traumatized as he uses Iruma as shield once again.

Nice. We get a little backstory not just about Kalego-sensei but also about Opera who was a delinquent. Opera seem to still enjoy making Kalego feel bad.

They eventually proceed with the parent-teacher meeting although not without pestering Kalego-sensei for a moment. Sensei talked about the troubles Iruma got into but he also mentioned his accomplishments. Grandpa then takes the record book sensei is holding and reveals it's entirely about Iruma.

Iruma then realizes the hard work Kalego-sensei does as he probably wasn't the only one who sensei had looked into. Sensei takes his book back and gives Iruma proper advice. He says Iruma shouldn’t mix up responsibility with self-sacrifice and should be careful with the actions he takes.

When it was finally over and he could finally leave, Opera forces Kalego-sensei to stay and even had him turned into his familiar form.

The next day, Sensei thanks everyone for letting him into their homes but informs them that he'd be increasing the number of their homework and everyone complains while Sensei is happy to see them struggling.

Later, as vacation finally comes close, the class goes to Iruma’s house to invite him to Walter Park. Iruma agrees of course and the group excitedly talked about what they'd do next.

--

I really liked this episode. It’s nice to see more of Iruma’s classmates even if it’s just for a few seconds each. We also get more info on Clara and Asmodeus and about their family members who hadn’t appeared til now. Also backstory about Opera!

The thing I liked the most about this however, is seeing what kind of person Kalego-sensei is. He’s strict and gets easily angry and seems to not like his students. He would be what we’d describe as a “terror teacher” but surprisingly, he isn’t unfair. He wouldn’t randomly flunk a student because he doesn’t like them and does take his job seriously. He doesn’t disregard the good points of a troublesome student and also looks into how a student could better themselves. He likes seeing them struggle but would acknowledge their accomplishments (we also see this back at the end of the exams where he disappointingly announced that everyone passed). Grandpa Sullivan even mentioned how he’s glad Kalego-sensei is the teacher in-charge. No wonder everyone at school respects Kalego-sensei - it’s not just about his strength or how scary he is but it’s cause he truly is a responsible, reliable, and competent teacher.

I like how we’re learning a lot about other characters this season. It makes them more likable and makes it more fun to watch their interactions with one another.

I guess the Walter Park arc would be next? I hear it’s action-packed so I look forward to it.

Thank you for reading this far!

[butterflymar]

DAY 2: FAVORITE BL DRAMA

I have quite a few... I can’t choose just one so bare with me lol

Life Senjou No Bokura

Synopsis According to MyDramaList: One day after school, the serious Ito and the child-like Nishi meet by chance, as each endeavors to remain walking  on the sidewalk`s white line. As time goes by, Ito recognizes he is drawn to Nishi in a way that is new to him. Nishi, for his part, is frustrated that they only get to meet on the sidewalk. Ito decides to act upon his feelings and kisses a surprised Nishi, who agrees they need to walk side by side for a change. The sparks between them are undeniable as their relationship blossoms in high school, survives the college years, and matures into adulthood. A deeply moving work that bears witness to loving partners, whose unchanging feelings must co-exist within a world of changing realities.

My Personal Thoughts: I already wrote a review for this so I am going to re-share some of those thoughts here. This is one that I have watched countless times already. They went by the manga for mostly all of the episodes and I appreciated seeing that. They gave more context for certain details that may have been lost while reading the manga and translated it to screen. I think they depicted the age gaps well too. For 4 episodes only, I feel that they did a great job including the most important aspects. Actually now that I think of it, I would have loved to see more of them in their early 20s depicted on screen because that was like one of there honeymoon phases and I’m a hopeless romantic lol but that’s just a personal preference not complaining. Also, the show stopped at age 40 and they could have gone on throughout there entire lives but I understand why they chose not too. The manga is great as well!!! I think that the main actors depicted beautiful true love very well. They had amazing chemistry. Japanese BL’s have that special spark about them that I love. I also loved that it showed there relationship from high school till there later years. I don’t see that a lot with BL’s. They usually just stick to one time period. The aspect about them being connected by a line in relation to there love was a nice touch as well. I am glad that it has a happy ending as well. This is a pretty quick one to watch and a great one at that!!! If you haven’t watched it yet, I would highly recommend it!!!

I Told Sunset About You 

Synopsis According to MyDramaList: Teh and Oh-aew were best friends until a boyhood line of reasoning turned them into rivals. Years later as they're preparing for university admissions, both pursuing interests in the field of Communication Arts, the two meet in a Chinese language class. Their reunion awakens complicated and unstable feelings.

My Personal Thoughts: Same as above, I already wrote a review for this so I am going to re-share some of those thoughts here. This is DEFINITELY one of my top BL shows of the year 2020. This is such a beautiful masterpiece of a show!!! I remember when the preview trailer first came out… I was already hooked!!! I was on the lookout for it and it did not disappoint me one bit when it finally started. I looked forward to seeing it every week. It made me feel all of the emotions. I was up here sitting in my room crying over everything. I don’t think any other BL has made me this emotional before in my life. The two lead actors really DELIVERED!!! I could feel every single stare, every single body movement, and every single touch. You could cut the TENSION with a knife!!! No one couldn’t tell me that there wasn’t a magnetic true love between these two. I know this sounds cliche but it's like they were destined to be together from when they were childhood friends. Also, I would love to see them in future projects!!! The cinematography in this show is TOP FREAKIN NOTCH!!! Every single scene is just so beautifully shot. The cinematography alone makes me want to cry lol I saw somewhere that someone said the filming of the show reminded them of an indie film and I totally agree!!! The writing and directing on this show was impeccable to me!!! No cringy dialogue and every single line served its purpose well. This is movie grade writing. I also wanted to quickly just say that I loved the attention and callback to details throughout like with the tutoring book that Teh made for Oh-aew that was left empty by the end of episode 4, the flower that was supposed to be colored the same as Tan’s garment but Teh colored it red because he was thinking of Oh-aew, the rubbing of Oh-aew’s back when he sniffles, the references to Teh’s favorite actor, and the use of Chinese phrases to get meaning across. I could go on and on but wow I just loved how they really connected all of the details throughout. I can’t wait for Season 2!!!

Theory of Love

Synopsis According to MyDramaList: Third is a filmology major and a member of the Savage Team along with his best friends Two, Bone, and Khai, but he has a secret. Third has been secretly in love with Khai for years. For three years, he has kept his secret love in his heart, silently supporting and loving Khai while knowing there is absolutely no future between them since Khai is as straight as a streetlight pole and also an absolute player. To make matters worse, Khai has a "no dating friends" policy. How long can Third love Khai silently while watching Khai bring a different girl home every night? Third has tried to see Khai as just a friend. But has failed time and time again. Because as easy as it is to fall in love, to stop is just as hard.  Maybe even harder. That is until Third learns a secret that breaks his heart completely. But when Third decides to stop, Khai decides to start.

My Personal Thoughts: As sad as this show can make me feel at times, I love rewatching it. I still to this day think that it is one of the most well written BL’s that I have seen. Everything flows nicely and everything connects. Your not left wondering how you got from point A to point B. I thought the show had great character development especially when it came to Khai’s character towards the end of series. I know a lot of people had mixed feelings about his character due to how careless and dare I say stupid he acted at times but if he can make the audience hate him that much as a character... I would say he is doing something right!!! Gun’s acting never fails to amaze me!!! He really is one of the best actors I have seen. I know he had to be drained from all of that crying that he did throughout the show though lol It just goes to show that when you truly love someone you can’t just stop what you are feeling inside that easily no matter how the other person feels about you or treats you. As the old saying goes, love is blind. I also loved the friend group as well and Two and Bones side stories with the teacher and crush from school. They added to the shows greatness and didn’t take away from it. The friendship dynamics throughout the show was I feel something that really kept me engaged. The cast acted well together. There was no awkwardness or hesitation. I feel everyone bought there best for this drama. They incorporated the movie references so cleverly and I love how the title of each episode was the title of a real romance film. Just the overall theme of film was very intriguing to me. This drama left me filled with heartache and a rollercoaster of emotions but the ending is worth it!!!

HIStory3: Make Our Days Count

Synopsis According to MyDramaList: At first glance, high schoolers Xiang Hao Ting and Yu Xi Gu appear to be polar opposites: While Xiang Hao Ting is an outgoing, hot-headed extravert and some-time bully, Yu Xi Gu prefers to keep a low profile and focus on his schoolwork. They seem bound for totally different futures – the bookish Yu Xi Gu looks destined for academic success, while life is just a long popularity contest for Xiang Hao Ting. But a quirk of fate – and a crucial intervention by a female schoolmate – results in the two young men’s paths crossing. But there is more to both young men than first meets the eye. Xiang Hao Ting was not always this way. He started out as a perfect student until he discovered the joys of going off the rails. And Yu Xi Gu has a reason for being so aloof and studious: His parents died in a traffic accident while he was younger, and he is being fostered by his aunt. As such, he works hard to get good grades in an effort to win a scholarship and ease the financial burden on his relatives. Yu Xi Gu also works part-time at a convenience store, where his manager Liu Zhi Gang has developed a crush on a man he has met at the gym. Back at school, meanwhile, Yu Xi Gu and Xiang Hao Ting find themselves drawn together, and passions ignite. The former notices that he has the unique ability to bring Yu Xi Gu out of his shell – and becomes intent on melting his cold-as-ice exterior. What will happen when their two worlds collide? And can love be the catalyst that helps bring these two unlikely students together – as their high school days draw to a close?

My Personal Thoughts: I will stand by this notion for all of my days but this show is one of the best shows I have seen PERIOD!!! Not even best BL shows I have seen but just in general. It highkey saddens me that it is rated at an 8.1 right now on MyDramaList due to how it ended when other than that... it’s a top notch show. This was one that I watched as it was airing and I would get excited to see it every week. My clown self should have known by the title “Make Our Days Count” that some mess was about to occur but I didn’t pick up on it. Now, I just disregard the last episode (WE DON’T KNOW HER!!!). You can just tell that they had a great budget for this series. The production was on point. It had great cinematography, great storylines, and it felt realistic too. The main couples acting was OFF THE CHARTS AMAZING. I loved the whole opposites attract thing going on. Although the show was set in high school... it almost didn’t feel like it nor did it have those typical clichés going on. I liked how it dealt with topic of LGBTQ+ acceptance as well. I wasn’t so sure about the side couples relationship at first but I grew to love them as time went on. One last thing I wanted to point out was that even though I am always looking for a happy ending... I learned from this show that not everyone can get a happy ending. That’s not how life works sadly. In real life, there have been a lot of people who were truly in love and lost there partners tragically. Although it may be hard to accept the outcome, it is something that happens in real life. This is a drama that you appreciate even more as time goes on. It truly is a gem of a series!!!

TharnType

Synopsis According to MyDramaList: Type Thiwat is a handsome freshman with a passion for football and spicy food. Although he’s a friendly boy, he hates gay people because, in his childhood, he was molested by a man. His life turns upside down when the new academic year of college brings along a charismatic roommate, Tharn Kirigun. Tharn is a gorgeous, compassionate music major, who is also openly gay. When Type learns this, he is determined to make Tharn leave the dorm, as he won't live with a gay person. Tharn is equally determined not to give into Type's homophobic tantrums. With a gay guy and a homophobic guy that have to share a small space together for the rest of the year — what can possibly be the outcome of their story? Hatred? Or maybe love?

My Personal Thoughts: *Goes to hide in a corner* I know this drama is problematic and controversial as hell but it’s like a train wreck that you can’t turn  away from. What truly carries the show I feel is the chemistry between MewGulf. I don’t think I would have enjoyed the series as much if other actors were cast in those roles. They just exude confidence, passion, love, and lust. In terms of the storyline, I found it to be a chaotic occurrence of situations where I just had to know what was going to go on next. Everything that occurred had me intrigued for the next episode and so on and so forth. I loved Type’s character development. One quick thing I want to touch on was I know there were a lot of problematic things that happened which I will touch on at a later date but one thing I wish people were more understanding of was Type’s outbursts, thoughts, and feelings in certain situations. He was a victim of sexual assault so I felt the way he handled certain things was in response to what he had gone through as child and I think some viewers kind of missed that and were almost too harsh on him. Everyone processes and deals with trauma differently. This show went through so many twists and turns and I honestly lived for it especially the shocker towards the end of the series. I didn’t see that one coming at all!!! Despite all of its flaws, this show still holds a special place in my heart.

Honorable Mention:

Cherry Magic: As of today, this show has 4 episodes left and I think I am just going to come out and say that THIS IS MY FAVORITE BL OF THE YEAR!!! It’s a beautiful Japanese BL and I rewatch the old episodes while I wait for new ones to come out alot. It’s such a fluffy, heartwarming, and precious Bl series!!! I love it to pieces!!!

[cooltrainererika]

A Star Wars Noob’s ideas for fixing the Disney sequels

Okay so just to get this out there, because it won’t leave my mind.

So I’ve been binging on SW lately and the sequels only annoy me more and more by the day. So just wanted to throw my character ideas out into the world. Focusing on characters because I like writing characters way more than plot. Hopefully if I ever actually write this thing, or even somehow pitch it to someone with the right connections to animate it with the actors as voice actors, this wouldn’t have gone viral. But since no one looks at my blog it probably won’t lol. Hopefully.

But just in case, I’ll say that this will probably contain spoilers for a story which may or may not exist by the time you read this.

I’ve deliberately been trying to avoid as much emotional spoilers and normal spoilers as I can before the sequels despite the temptation, so sorry if some stuff is a bit off. Augh I hope I can get the time to watch the full OT and PT soon. I was too tired from hiking when I watched SW4 and I now really wish my dad didn’t show me when I was half-asleep.

Rey: Rainbow of possibilities; Cynical Scavenger, Adventure-seeking Audience Surtogate Geek, or Lawful Good to the core Paladin Padawan with a personal grudge, and may be descended from a family line, maybe not, but currently most likely a Skywalker by blood. Story and other character arcs change dramatically depending on which route chosen.

Finn: Stoic soldier man learns power of friendship, finds meaning of life, causes Stormtrooper mutiny, probably becomes a Jedi and second main character and hooks up with Rey. “What‘s a joke?”. Awkward dork and stunted socially but doing his best. May instinctively find it hard to disobey orders. He may be the one wanting to find his family; but that’s dropped soon enough to focus on what’s ahead. 

(Alternatively: Proud warrior guy who acts like a stereotypical North Korean soldier who finds himself outside the First Order, learns power of friendship etc. The rest is the same)

Poe Dameron: What we Japanese people call The Aniki. The funny charismatic ace pilot who keeps everyone sane, overall bro. Wholesome but a bit rough, that guy you would want to share a beer with. But within that easygoing nature burns a hotblooded, determined, dutiful streak, and an even stronger snarky streak. The one with the social skills. Loves his droid like his son though Cynical!Rey and Finn find that initially kind of stupid/strange. 

Kylo Ren/Ben Solo: Appears to be yet another quietly imposing Star Wars villain with added edgelord factor, but actually a mentally unstable, borderline yandere berserker of a man crushed under the weight of a legacy, with a horrifying inferiority complex, identity issues, and an unhealthy obsession with familial honor, constantly stuck between Dark and Light. Despite his high rank, basically the First Order’s attack dog. Usually has the emotional maturity of a 16-year-old, if not younger. If anyone is, he’s the damsel in distress of this story.

Luke Skywalker: Cuddly sunshine headmaster sage doing his best, has been on many adventures before that are hidden ads to future Lucasfilm projects. May have gone to search for answers as to what is causing recent events, or is still present at the beginning. May survive at the end. He could be anywhere from kind of jaded but at his core still that sweet optimist, to Basically Uncle Iroh, to can-literally-summon-Porgs-by-whistling/Space Sage Mr. Rogers.

Han Solo: General of the Republic Armed Forces or courier who decided military life just wasn’t for him and now delivers important messages through still unstable areas of the New Republic, a war hero, and a dad doing his best. Wants to hold hope but may have at least outwardly given up on Ben, with Poe filling in the void. Has gone clean from his life of crime and still married 30+ years strong with Leia. He would be the one who is the closest to Poe if he’s still in the military and Leia is a Jedi, with Poe being seen as his likely successor. He might die at the end of 8? Maybe Hamill and Carrie would somehow talk him into sticking around past 7? He might still die in 7?

(Side note: I wish we could have seen Old Harrison Ford in a military casual coat-cape. He would have looked awesome in it. I mean no one would really complain that he plays fast and loose with the dress code if there even is one, he’s Han freakin’ Solo and he gives no f*cks.)

Leia Organa-Solo: Preferably a Jedi Knight, leader while he’s away if he’s away as well as their tactician, or senator considering her personality; maybe have basically what Colin Trevorrow planned for her (I mean… why not just use CGI at this point? They’ve done it before. I’m sure Carrie wouldn’t have wanted her swan song to be such a passive role either), with her bond with Luke being a major factor and us actually being able to see it in practice. May have outwardly given up on her son as well, but still is at the end of the day a mom doing her best. Basically a strong, smart lady like how she’s always been.

Chewbacca: How he always is, but he plays more of a role than basically the guy bussing the cast around, an active combat role definitely. Han’s second in command and maybe fellow dad. Possibly the part-time chaperone of the mess that is the new main duo. Also was Ben’s first friend, and you bet there will be drama here.

Lando Calrissian: Business mogul who probably helps the heroes out, maybe by selling them stuff and using his many connections to get information. And/or he’s basically an economic diplomat for the Republic. Has known Ben since he was a child and may have snuck him on too many joyrides without telling Leia, to her chagrin and Han’s amusement. 

Grand Admiral Armitage Hux: Basically how he was in SW7. Calculating, manipulative, coldhearted, intelligent, and ruthless, the brains to Kylo’s brawn. Son of former Imperial officers, killed his own father to get where he is. Gives no f*cks, except when he goes full ham. Maybe even he goes cold and pale if Kylo starts getting angry, just to show how terrifying he can be, but I also like the idea of him being one of two people who can manipulate Kylo out of a tantrum and not end up a pile of flesh or choked to death. 

Captain Phasma: How she is in supplemental material probably. A walking chrome machine of merciless death. Probably not very talkative, and probably does not take defectors lightly. She may defect at the end or not depending on how truly evil she’s portrayed to be, but I’m thinking she’s likely this cruel disciplinarian who expects complete and utter, machine-like obedience to the end, and Finn flinches at the mere mention of her, though she herself is equally as extremely loyal to the cause.

Snoke: A mysterious being, the likes of which are not of this galaxy. Probably some kind of ancient eldritch abomination who can torment vulnerable minds with an untraceable curse. Not your average Sith, and despite how it may seem it may not be connected to them at all… Or perhaps it is. Or perhaps it itself serves a larger master. It wants to use Kylo Ren for… something. Just what it is is what Luke has been trying to find out for years.

Knights of Ren: Idea borrowed from Thor Skywalker (check him out on YouTube!); possibly a military cult of Sith/Vader worshippers who see Ben as the second coming of Vader, and have aligned themselves with Snoke. Probably basically Kylo’s personal guard and troops. Or possibly directly liked to whatever otherworldly entit(ies?) Snoke is, not being of this galaxy themselves.

Anakin Skywalker: Determined grandpa doing his best for his kids, grandkid(s), and the galaxy. Doesn’t appear often, but plays a major role in the story; maybe he’s the one who led Rey to his lightsaber, and maybe he advises Luke while training Rey, or secretly follows Kylo, trying to speak to him but unable to be seen or heard by him. He’d be the one who ultimately convinces Ben to return to the light, and to, in an echo of the words Ben heard when he was being impersonated, “finish what I started”.

Rose Tico: A probably relatively new, wide-eyed young recruit in the Republic Military, and maybe seeks revenge on First Order for killing or kidnapping her sister. Not sure if she will be needed, but if there’s room for her she might be interesting. Maybe she’s one of Poe’s friends or part of his squad. She could also be the resident girly girl because there aren’t many of those here. 

Vice-Admiral Amberlyn Holdo: She’s in the Aftermath books, and those seem pretty good, so she’s probably how she is there. A quirky mostly background character that is probably at most there for Han and/or Leia and Ackbar to give commands to and salute back, but most importantly she actually does her job properly, even if she’s still a bit of an odd person. Also Poe knows her and they have a way more amicable work relationship. Also give her something which actually looks like something military personnel would wear. She could even be a legitimately good tactician who comes up with off-the-wall tactics.

(Side note: I heard that she basically has the Star Wars version of Autism, and while I’d appreciate that as an Aspie myself, I’ll also have to say that Autistic people would probably be terrible military leaders due to us not being able to adjust to sudden changes well and our bad communication skills. So yeah, sorry, unless she’s recast to something like, say, a mechanic or logistics or medic or any other more Autistic-friendly job, that’s going to have to go)

Maz Kanada: …Admittedly not sure what to do with her. But she’s more likely to be an acquaintance of Lando before Han, if she doesn’t know both. In fact, Lando may be introduced early alongside her. But she would still have the important role of keeping Anakin’s saber; how she has it, either Lando found it, or basically what was cut from TFA showing that she’s indeed pretty awesome. 

BB-8: BB-8 doesn’t have to change. He’s perfect as he is. Maybe what he can do should be more consistent though. Poe and him are basically Ash and Pikachu, they stick together whenever possible. If Rey or Finn need a droid to tag along and Poe isn’t in the party at the moment, R2 is right there. I once read a fanfic in which BB-8 was actually a droid Luke made for Ben and I liked the idea… though it probably would be a bit of an unnecessary detail in practice.

R2-D2 and C3P0: They’re basically business as usual. They would still have that boke-tsukkomi dynamic they had going on, sometimes with the added childlike cuteness of BB-8 in the mix. If there’s any extra time left for comic relief scenes, or if they’re sent on some kind of mission together, I can see these three messing around doing their thing (or rather, BB being childlike, cute and curious, Threepio being overly nervous, and Artoo being too old for this sh*t and/or BB’s cool uncle/older brother) being both cute and hilarious.

Also Worldbuilding stuff will be featured at the bottom

Elaboration on the “big four” of the sequel cast:

Rey: Aged 19, speaks with Daisy Ridley’s normal accent, not RP (I mean really, her accent isn’t that hard to understand). A whole rainbow of possibilities with this lady, though many don’t realize it. I might be leaning towards her being Luke’s daughter, though her being Just Rey may also be interesting, and her still being a descendant of Palpatine or the main villain could also have potential, though if Finn is a Jedi I don’t think there’s any need for her parents to be nobody. But the three main routes I can think of for her are these three: Cynical!Rey, a Rey with a backstory identical to the canon Rey from her abandonment onwards, Fangirl!Rey, a sort of estimation of a dorky female Star Wars nerd in-universe and the most lighthearted start out of the three, and Padawan!Rey, a Rey who is already Luke’s Padawan at his academy. Maybe making her starting point less crushingly bleak and Fangirl!Rey could work, but it might dilute both ideas, and that characterization might be a bit too similar to ANH Luke. 

As is apparent, Cynical!Rey, is, well, cynical. She’s strong and independent, but extremely distrusting, on-edge, and not used to friendly interaction. Think Female SW4 Han Solo but even more antisocial and probably not even bothering with the bravado, and basically with Anakin’s upbringing except she doesn’t even have a loving mother like Anakin did. Fangirl!Rey was my initial idea but I’m starting to become less partial to it because of the aforementioned similarity to ANH Luke, but my idea was she’s basically Harry Potter, living with stepparents who hate her, or she’s still used as basically child labor but her conditions are nowhere near as bad as Cynical Rey’s, and she would have grown up on stories about the Rebels and the Jedi and everything else in the past movies, collecting every single bit of memorabilia she can get her hands on. If one wants to go for very lighthearted and slightly meta for SW7 this is the route. Padawan!Rey could go anywhere, but I’m thinking she would basically be our D&D Paladin; ever since Ben Solo went berserk and ran off to join the First Order, she’s become very protective of her fellow students and has a really understandable personal grudge against him. She might be the strongest pupil left after the Second Jedi Massacre, and by the end maybe she becomes the successor to headmaster of the academy. It is possible that she was found abandoned on Jakku or Luke’s doorstep, however, so the theme of growing up lonely is there, and because being a Jedi is what has given her meaning in life it means a lot to her. But while I don’t want her parentage to be revealed early if it is Luke, it does raise the massive plot hole of why this was never disclosed to her or to Ben. 

And yes, I did say fellow students and academy. Wiping the new Jedi Order feels really cheap and it makes the whole hopeful Jedi Starting Anew implication that I’m 90% sure the OT ended on feel very pointless. I’d prefer them still being there, though their inclusion would be obviously way more natural in the Padawan Route. This also has tons of marketing potential for Disney, because I wanted to take IRL realism into account; what’s in it for Disney? Maybe potential to expand on other students and Luke’s academy? It could be like a smaller Jedi Hogwarts/Xavier Institute basically. Though the survivors wouldn’t be too numerous; just, like, four at most. Maybe there would be elements of an Avengers/Infinity War/Endgame-esque team movie, even if the rest are a bit out of focus.

I did think maybe the heroes would still go to Ahch-To after SW7 where Luke would have been hiding with his students researching the new threat, but maybe I could have him stay and sort of take a few cues from Harry Potter by introducing the heroes to the world of the Jedi early and giving them a break in the action as they settle in their new homes, so there’s more time to develop the padawan side characters, what the academy is like, and Luke gets to appear in SW7 as well so there can be a OT trio “reunion” (not a reunion in-universe). Though that kind of messes with other parts I want to include like Rey and Finn having to take on Kylo and getting completely whipped because he’s a rampaging madman before having to be saved by Luke. Also Rey getting kidnapped has potential for developing her trust in others, and her and Finn getting a breather moment at the Republic after the heroes and Han regroup would kind of remove a point where that could be easily slotted in the story. It would also require everything before this to be crammed in the first act. 

(Newer edit 5/27/21)  I also like her getting a golden double-bladed saber like many fans depict her. It’s not only awesome looking (because she only gets her own saber at the end of TROS… Why?), but it’s more toys for the moichendise! It fits her starting with a staff, it has more reach, and it would fit Cynical Rey especially for her to have a style centered around keeping as much of herself defended as possible. Watching Battlefront 2 footage has made me think about fighting styles a bit, and if she and Finn are a duo how their styles of combat might compliment each other, especially as their relationship develops (coincidentally she and Finn apparently are a very good combination in BF2). A Cynical Rey would probably contrast the most, with a fighting style based on keeping enemies away, trickery, and defense (a good choice for a blade made of light), maybe a bit wild at first but initially her goal in fighting would be to hold out until there is an opening to get the hell out, only staying to fight if she has no other option. Fangirl Rey wouldn’t really have a fighting style initially, and it’s gonna be very dependent on where her arc goes. Padawan Rey would have the most Prequel Jedi-esque, choreographed style, showing a lot of skill though not quite mastering it and with tons of openings at first. A Cynical Rey may have an uncanny skill to detect suspicious people, which would make her trusting the heroes easier, and though this ability isn’t super strong and is more “a slight gut feeling but it could be nothing” than “human lie detector” it could maybe be honed more. And while not quite wall vision like in BF2 (because wat? Where do they come up with this stuff?), maybe she’s good at detecting people’s presences too. These are very apt ambient skills for someone in her position. Meanwhile, Fangirl!Rey would have probably suspected she had the Force already, and her ambient abilities could be whatever, just rather passive abilities unless trained. 

If she is Luke’s daughter though, that would open up the can of worms of who her mother is. Just making it so that she died before the events of SW7 might seem a bit… unfortunate? I kind of want Luke to have found love sometime (and seriously with how much of a bombshell young Luke was, in addition to him being such a hero, I’m shocked that he never got one. I can see why Mara Jade wanted a piece of that. *wolf whistle*), but then I’d have to figure out how to incorporate her in this already character-dense story without her having cheaply died offscreen. I might be able to think of something? I could always go digging in the dusty pile of old fan theories, I might find something good. Thor Skywalker did hint at her but his story stopped at the end of where SW8 would have. If I do name her Mara there’s probably going to be extra pressure to do something with her. …But I can’t be the only one who thinks that Daisy Ridley kind of looks like Natalie Portman. Then again I’m pretty face-blind. I guess blond hair and blue eye color genes are also recessive traits for Star Wars humans. Though it seems the height genes skipped a generation because she’s actually pretty tall for a woman at 170 cm - I’m sorry what. That’s as tall as the average Japanese man! Holy sh*t Daisy! She only looks a bit small because she’s often depicted with Kylo and Kylo makes everyone not Phasma look diminutive. I guess Ben would get it from Anakin and Han (though he’s still taller than both of them…), so maybe a taller actress would be cast as Mara (?). And despite Rey’s malnourishment in the Cynical route, this actually isn’t that implausible, because stunted growth apparently only happens if children are deprived from gestation to about 2 years of age. 

And again, why wouldn’t Ben know about this? But if this isn’t the Padawan!Rey route (the hardest to incorporate Rey The Actual Skywalker into), maybe Ben took Rey’s assumed death as even more of a reason to burden himself with the entire Skywalker legacy? This would give him a reason to already care about her.

Further edits: According to the Aftermath books, Jakku was a “Lightside Nexus” planet. Maybe this has to do with her powers? (Perhaps she was kept sane by the Force speaking to her on occasion, in dreams or as she lies staring at the ceiling after a long day, showing her the loving life she used to live and unknown to her she will return to someday). Or why she was dropped there? Maybe she was supposed to be living with Lor San Tekka (the old guy Kylo kills at the beginning of TFA), but got lost one day or was kidnapped by bandits to be a scavenger because her small size would have been perfect for getting loot from small spaces? Why not take her back then? This probably is one of the biggest plot knots in the Cynical Rey Skywalker route, alongside who her mother is.  

Small detail lightning round before moving on: I once read a Japanese fic, and in it she mentioned she hates alcohol because she saw how it turned people into monsters. I actually kind of liked this headcanon, and maybe a bit unexpected. Though there’s also the route of her just being too used to it, setting her apart from previous more wholesome protagonists even more.  Also Daisy would have to start hitting the gym and protein shakes because I think her character design evolving from her thin build to a very athletic, Wonder Woman-esque body type would be pretty good in representing her growth as a character, and combined with her height she would be so very badass looking. 

Finn: Probably around 23? Infamous for lost potential, so his backstory is the same. However, I’m thinking that due to his dehumanizing upbringing, he’s a bit robotic and pretty stoic initially, a total opposite to Poe. He doesn’t understand jokes or sarcasm, and now that he’s completely left the life he’s always known, he feels pretty lost. He would basically act like a male Rei Ayanami, though I was going more for Drax at first. Alternatively, he’s a proud warrior type, imagine a stereotypical North Korean/Prussian soldier. He’d be a bit more emotional and probably less cartoonish here (I mean I have compared Star Wars to anime but full-on anime tropes in live action probably looks super corny), and he’s a massive hardass who also doesn’t get sarcasm or jokes and fanatical and would have thought of his fellow soldiers as a collective as his band of brothers and comrades, collectively serving the FO like a smoothly running machine. My initial thought was that after a life of war crimes and the influence a certain pilot whose cell he was guarding who gave him his name, and maybe witnessing the death of a comrade, he had defected from the FO, but I started thinking it would be plausible if he defected from the FO probably by accident. Highly likely to be the second protagonist, if not POV character, and if so I think it’s logical that it’s Finnrey that becomes the canon ship here. In the Padawan!Rey route, he’s the newcomer protagonist, not Rey. If they’re shipped, or even as friends, they may bond over their dehumanizing, harsh backgrounds and the feeling of being lost in the world. Also he likely starts a mutiny. Like it was such an obvious plot point but they never use it for some bizarre reason. It’s like the DM didn’t read his character sheet at all. Actually one didn’t and the other kept forgetting it in the third campaign.

There’s two ways I think his arc could go; first would be a focus mainly on his search for identity and becoming his own person. Second, his guilt about having done the First Order’s bidding for so long. Probably a combination of the two, though I’m not sure how to address them both. He also wants to see his colleagues free from slavery. But I am sure about I’d that he’d have to overcome his conditioning, learning to regain his humanity.

Especially if Rey is a Skywalker and he becomes a Jedi, he’d be the one who the movie makes a point about being from nowhere. He has no idea who his parents are, but it would not even matter in the end, it’s what he makes of his life from here on out. And if he and Rey end up together, which is extremely likely in this scenario, he not only finds his family in the figurative sense with the other Jedi and his new friends plus girlfriend, but in the literal sense as well, going from nameless Stormtrooper FN-2187, to just Finn the ex-Stormtrooper, to Finn the Padawan and then Jedi Knight, to finally, Finn Skywalker, Jedi Knight; maybe the last movie ends with one of them proposing to the other, with SW8 having previously ended with the climactic big damn kiss that cemented that they are a thing now. (Cue Luke jokingly asking when he’s getting grandchildren and How It Should Have Ended!Anakin squeeing over him getting great-grandchildren lol) His name would have this real symbolic value to it with how it changes as he goes from nobody to somebody. Not to mention “Finn Skywalker” is just a freakin’ awesome name. If they make up the leading duo, he and Rey may have some kind of inherent connection, or they progress into two parts of the same whole, even attaining something like a Dyad.

I thought an interesting thing to do if Rey is a Skywalker, and this is Cynical Rey, is a twist on the expected pattern by making him the one who sees the good in Kylo, not Rey. Because while Rey might be his cousin, she’s also a very distrustful person who couldn’t afford to think deeply about people act the way they do when she was growing up and fighting to survive. Meanwhile, Finn knows Kylo, and he also knows what it’s like to be determined to be a killing machine from a very young age, and if he has to forgive himself, or if he’s able to see the light, that Kylo deserves a chance as well. It would be the ultimate show of kindness from him, to show him forgiving the man who works so loyally under the same organization that enslaved him. I can also see Kylo being angry at himself for being unable to sense the Force-Sensitive in their midst. 

Maybe he was born on a “Lightside nexus” planet too so that it makes sense that he can keep up with other characters? Presuming he’s in his early 20s, I don’t think him being raised by the Order since he was a baby is that plausible, so maybe he was already an orphan? I can see the First Order spinning their Stormtrooper program kidnapping street orphans as “rehabilitating” them, which combined with good old Victorian style citizen apathy to street children allows them to get away with it. But if he was, say, around 6 years old when he was taken away, it would make sense why he was able to break out of his programming. Perhaps Poe showing him friendship awoke the humanity long dormant in him. But on the other hand, the younger, adolescent soldiers may be beyond saving, and I can see that being absolutely heartbreaking. 

I can see his fighting style with a saber being direct, forceful, and pragmatic, but unlike Rey the emphasis would be on engaging and keeping up the fight, and be very disciplined, calculated, and controlled in contrast to Cynical Rey. At least he’d attempt it while he gets used to the properties of a lightsaber, before there would probably be a lot of awkwardness as John is directed to swing this weightless prop blade with a weighted hilt like he would a club or sword. If he isn’t a Force Sensitive, he’s a good sniper just like in BF2, in fact this would be his primary combat ability, though still able to hold his own in melee combat. Though even as a Jedi he’d probably still use a gun as a sidearm, and his good aim would also translate to him being very good at spotting openings and spotting danger from a distance, as well as enhanced ability to dodge. 

Poe Dameron: Age 29 (?). A total bro. I’ve kind of come to think of him as this embodiment of the good, wholesome side of traditional masculinity. I can best describe him as the guy you expect to think of when you think of the guy who takes the boys to the bar for beers on the house and hosts Super Bowl night (for the Americans out there). Basically just that big bro/cool uncle everyone likes. I think he’s the least changed from how he is in SW7; he’s a laid-back pilot with no special powers, and while he’s probably the most static and admittedly flat character (and unfortunately more minor than the other two) he has tons of charisma and optimism to compensate, though being the one who keeps everyone sane definitely helps. Not to mention his piloting skills; which, note, are never eclipsed by Rey, because that’s dumb. His skills are a bit more downplayed here, but he’s still extremely good, especially for his age. Despite being the pilot he’s the most down-to-earth, and may be the only one of the big four with any social skills, even if he’s a bit dorky, especially regarding BB-8. 

Son of Rebel pilots, graduated top of his class in the Republic Flight Academy, and his background is squeaky clean, no drug trading involved, though he spent a lot of his adolescence and his adulthood in the Academy or in the military, just like in pre-TROS supplementary material. He’s the main source of jokes and wisecracks out of the trio in all but the most dorky of Fangirl!Rey routes probably, teaching Cynical!Rey and Finn what it’s like to smile and laugh. He still has a close relationship with Leia and Han; possibly closer to the latter due to the latter being a pilot and likely still a General. Not sure about him keeping his rank because him starting and staying at the top might mesh awkwardly with the rest of the trio, but maybe he’s still a Commander; whichever makes his inclusion in the main cast most plausible. Due to an adorable Pixiv comic I found he may have been inspired to become a pilot by Luke or Han. I’d like to think that he breaks the hotshot pilot cliché a bit by not being too overly arrogant, immediately setting himself apart from Han by being a wholesome guy there for his buddies from the start, even if he is fond of wisecracking and snarkiness (probably from hanging around Han and Leia), and inside that laid-back personality lies a hotblooded, passionate, unwavering core. Like, he’s not exactly hotheaded like a Latin stereotype (*ahem*), but he’s got this more subtle, but still apparent, underlying fiery hotbloodedness to him, something that especially makes itself apparent in high-stress situations and when it comes to his loved ones. He’d also be Rey and Finn’s mentor of sorts in stuff that doesn’t involve the Force, being their role model for what a functional member of society is. He may make some self-depreciating jokes about being “normal”, but I think mostly he’ll take it in stride. Though I can see him and Han having a chat about this in a more quiet scene. 

Ironically, out of the trio he could maybe be said to be the most suited to be a Jedi personality-wise, despite the fact that he has no Force Sensitivity whatsoever; he goes with the flow, he isn’t troubled, he’s happy with the simple pleasures in life, he’s just a good, genuine guy who does good things, passionate but not obsessive, and he’s forgiving, willing to give even an enemy soldier a chance, appealing to the humanity in him. The last one is particularly Luke-like, don’t you think? Oh, to elaborate on the escape; I still like the idea of him giving Finn his name (though another idea I love is a fallen friend giving Finn his name, that would change stuff around a lot from what I am thinking at this moment). I also think that perhaps supplemental material or some flashbacks, or even an animated short could be made showing just how Poe broke Finn’s programming; by showing him genuine kindness, because somehow, despite his lack of Force Sensitivity, he saw that FN-2187 could be talked out of his programming if he was constantly nice to him, befriending him, starting up casual chatter with him, and after a while the trooper starts opening up to this pilot. …Yeah, Luke-like indeed. Though since there is the plot hole of why Finn could be convinced in mere days and why he’s the only one guarding such a high-profile prisoner, a more realistic idea may be that they talk to each other this way a few times, then Poe escapes and Finn goes after him before they both crash on Jakku and have to work together, with Poe immediately being friendly with Finn and later Rey, to his (and her) confusion. (I can just imagine Poe being all chipper and trying to engage Finn in conversation, or telling him “Good job, sport!” after they fight off bandits or something, and Finn just is all deadpan and “We are enemies, we have no reason to fraternize” and I find that kind of cute).

He may ultimately be the most static of the main cast, but I can see him having a huge impact in more subtle ways; like maybe Rey and Finn think of what Poe might do in a given situation in their training, and he could be the catalyst behind why Finn thinks that Kylo can be redeemed, just like how Poe was able to light another way when it felt like there was only one path for him. He also definitely wouldn’t be the type to be so reckless with his men like he was in TLJ, if he’s still a Commander; he cares about his men a lot, and in fact they may be the reason why he tends to act like an older brother. I can imagine a pretty poignant scene with Finn where Finn sees Poe by himself and BB-8 paying respects to his fallen comrades by this handmade cenotaph, as he sets some flowers down and pours a drink to them, and Finn once again is able to see how different the culture outside the First Order is, as he would have never been mourned like that if he died on the battlefield, nor can he imagine he ever would have done so himself. Or maybe Rey is there too, because if this is Cynical Rey she’s only known a life where people exploited each other. Maybe other characters like Jessika (who he’s already close to I think? Did she show up in the movies though?) or Rose would have the opportunity to be more than background characters by being part of his crew, and we’d get some charming scenes about the bond he has with his squadron.

Again, admittedly he’d be the least deep character out of the big four, with his feelings not being explored nearly as much. But he probably doesn’t really hide his feelings much anyway. For any supplementary shorts involving him, they would be mainly lighter stories about his relationship with the OT cast and their families and his friendship with BB-8 and his crew, or action-y ones about missions he’s gone on; as opposed to, say, Finn, which would show his life as an expendable trooper who knew nothing but war, Cynical!Rey and her crushing loneliness and growing disillusionment to the world as she struggles to survive, or Padawan!Rey and her anguish and grappling with the Dark Side in the aftermath of the Jedi Massacre. 

I can also imagine him being this adorable Shipper On Deck for Finnrey lol. Just looking at his two friends, all proud, maybe even tearing up like “*sniff* I’m not crying Buddy, you’re crying!” when the inevitable big kiss scene happens. I can also imagine him being the one to tell Finn that “Hey Finn, what you’re feeling is love!”…And then he has to spend hours trying to explain what love even is to him lol. He always has his friends’ back after all. Again, he’s most likely the one guy who isn’t completely socially inept among these dorks. I’ve also had the potential idea that he could maybe be a good cook, and he’d be the one who introduces Rey and Finn to actually good food. Some fics I’ve noticed tend to show him cooking stuff probably for that reason. It’s just kind of cute, and it sets a good example if despite his traditionally masculine, salt-of-the-earth character, he likes some less “manly” stuff like such and sees no shame in it.

He may sacrifice himself in a blaze of glory towards the end, especially because quite frankly he may lose his plot relevance as the story goes on, though it would definitely be way more respectful than a lot of deaths were treated in the sequels. But I also want him to stick around because I want to imagine him being all proud of Rey and Finn after they propose to each other and giddily planning their wedding, and I feel he could have some very good interactions with Ben to build on for any spinoffs taking place after the trilogy. Speaking of…

Kylo Ren/Ben Solo: AKA Yet Another Ball Of Lost Potential: Anti-Villain Addition. This is gonna be a doozy, so strap in. He was probably the most developed character here but that just makes his lost potential stick out even more, so I have so much to say about him.

About 27 probably. While people complain about it, I actually like him being a manchild. It makes him a bit unique in this series. It’s kind of like Vader if he didn’t get stuck in that suit and kept acting like Anakin. In fact, that could make him even more terrifying if that feeds into how destructive he can be; at first he seems like your typical intimidating SW villain, not even that bad a leader with a seemingly calm if tense, imposing air, but it eventually becomes clear he’s this terrifying, volatile berserker who can throw some of the most destructive tantrums ever, and is ultimately a pathetic, broken, pitiful shell of a man. …He just happens to be a very powerful shell of a man. Maybe if he becomes emotional or angry enough, he can unleash powerful shockwaves that basically blow up everything around him, or cause mini Force Storms, or cause any number of unpredictable effects. Though he’s not quite constantly raging either; these berserk states are indeed triggered by anger, but I’m thinking that they are also basically weaponized panic attacks, there’s a sense that it’s also a self-defense mechanism that he lapses into when emotions overwhelm him or when he otherwise feels threatened (though whether it’s necessarily involuntary all the time I’m not so sure; but while he’d definitely want to be able to trigger them voluntarily, there will always be some sense that he doesn’t have full control over it). Also a lot of his rage is directed inwards as well, much like with his grandfather. I thought that maybe his unpredictability in these rages would be the key to his destructiveness, though I can see how someone who is out of control would also pose a problem, no matter how powerful; so maybe this is when he becomes the most focused, becoming locked onto the elimination of the perceived threat at all costs, and/or he can be controlled by his Master more directly like some kind of attack animal. 

Luke’s first padawan, or at least after Leia or Grogu (I might make him show up as Luke’s first knighted pupil and allude to this, providing more exposition on Kylo, and being one of the Jedi who help fight in the final battle as the Skywalkers go on to take on the final boss (and Grogu’s name being revealed would be a massive hype moment in The Mandalorian)). Due to his storied family, plus the name of his uncle and grandfather’s own master, he had heavy expectations on his (at the time) small shoulders from an early age. However, he had long been tormented by the Dark Side due to an untraceable curse placed upon him by Snoke, and probably a pre-existing anxious personality. The expectations placed on him, or maybe perhaps just self-imposed expectations, only worsened his turmoil, resulting in a festering mess of self-hatred, extreme perfectionism, and an obsession with familial honor and obsessive attachment to his family, especially Luke, that is a nasty combination of hero-worship and the abovementioned complexes and may border on almost incestuous.

There’s three ways for his backstory to go; “Underachiever Ben”, where Ben is either mediocre as a Jedi or still good but outperformed by others, or “Elsa Ben”, where he’s basically like Elsa from Frozen, possessing an extreme amount of power but barely able to control it, possibly due to Snoke’s curse, and a sort of middle ground, where Ben was super strong and a quick learner, but the dark side in him made Luke feel mixed about Ben’s increasing power, which Ben sensed. If the former, Ben becomes increasingly frustrated at himself for being such a “failure”. If “Elsa Ben”, there’s that, and also the added pain of him growing up terrified of himself and able to sense the terror he causes to those around him, so he was taken in by Luke so hopefully Luke could figure something out; he could have been destructive from the start, or maybe he started to become increasingly destructive despite his training. If the middle ground route, he takes Luke’s mixed emotions to mean that he doesn’t think he’s good enough. How severe Snoke’s curse would have been I’m not fully sure on; he could have voices in his head and nightmares keeping him up for days, chipping away at his sanity, tempting him to accept the darkness, or it may have just been an amplifying of his already unstable emotions. They could have even started as the latter and escalated to the former. But I’m thinking that to best explain his behavior I’m leaning towards the Elsa route. Eventually, his nightmares morphed into repeated visits by Darth Vader, his grandfather, who told him about the truth of his lineage and how he became Vader, slandering everything and everyone he ever admired or loved, telling him of his “true” destiny, and how he should give up and embrace it; unable to hear the real Anakin’s ghost screaming at him to not repeat his mistake. This extended campaign of mental torment stunted his emotional growth in many aspects, and at times he may seem to regress even more. Maybe other padawans were afraid of him because of this dark side presence, avoiding him, and/or were jealous of him because of his lineage and relation to Luke. He often felt entitled to be Luke’s right hand, getting jealous at other students and taking any reprimanding, no matter how gentle, extremely personally. Luke would have needed to struggle between not seeming to be biased towards his nephew and giving him the attention he needed, especially because Ben would feel like Han and Leia abandoned him because they weren’t able to help him, but considering how attached he is to Luke this would hurt him. So when Luke went to speak to him one night, or rushed in sensing an overwhelming dark side presence in his room, and was suddenly attacked by Snoke with a vision of what his nephew would become and making him go into fighting mode for a split second, drawing his weapon to protect Ben, and/or earlier admitted in anguish that he had no idea what was tormenting him despite his efforts, the straw broke the pedestal and he resigned himself to his “destiny”. Ironically he’s just exchanging one sky-high ideal for another, but he’s too emotionally immature to realize this, nor does he fully realize the fact that Snoke merely sees him as a malleable, gullible means to an end. Yet he still feels that pesky pull to the light, and he becomes increasingly frustrated with himself that even as a Dark side user, he still can’t be “perfect” or “worth” anything, not even able to sink himself into the darkness and finally rid himself of his pain. For all the privilege and power he has, or because of it, he always feels worthless. 

Basically I want to break him down and make his pitifulness obvious, but that’s what makes him sympathetic. He’s nowhere as far gone as Vader, even if he wants to be, kind of like a reverse Jekyll and Hyde situation where the Hyde is dominant but Jekyll hangs on, so to speak? Maybe? Is that the right analogy? Or I guess it is kind of like Anakin but sort of not, but he’s rapidly going down the same route of hurting his family like his grandfather. 

From researching a bit, his proposed behavior seems pretty close to the symptoms of BPD, which is actually pretty fitting because I was thinking Luke’s philosophy on the Force would be influenced by a more modern understanding of psychology, and Dialectical Behavior Therapy actually seems pretty in tune with what I understand to be how the Light Side of the Force works (I mean it even has basis in religious meditation…). Perhaps a mystical version of DBT was one of the things Luke was studying in exile. Though obviously it isn’t exactly BPD; portraying an actual, named mental illness not only has way too much baggage behind it, but it breaks immersion. And with him a lot of it will be the influence of the curse, though I think I would rather him have a personality that made him vulnerable to it from the start, so the curse had something to latch onto. 

Going with the “Elsa Ben” scenario, his “real” personality is anxious and even a bit shy. While I like the idea of him being cheerful when he was very little, the shyness always being there is also a characterization I like. Combined with his lumbering physique from his teenage years onwards, this made him a kid who gave off an impression of being extremely dorky (an act that would probably be very natural for Adam Driver to pull off lol) and/or withdrawn and aloof, the latter of which may have made some other padawans think he thought highly of himself and start to resent him. Unlike Anakin he’d be probably a dutiful student, almost creepily obedient, probably actively distancing himself from rebellious behavior, though his way of speaking isn’t exactly super formal either because of the influence of the adults around him. In his obsessions lies a genuine love, even if twisted, of his “favorite person” so to speak. He was also a genuinely sweet kid who wanted to please these special people in his life. He could be said to be actually really selfless in a weird way, because ultimately he values familial honor and being “good enough” for whatever higher purpose more than he values himself. TROS implied some sassiness with that Han-like shrug, and while I can maybe see some of Han rubbing off on him like that, that might be something that started from him trying to copy his parents’ air of confidence, and another coping mechanism. He might, like Vader, have a 501st legion 2.0 which Phasma is in charge of and Finn is part of, and show a more nicer side to them. Perhaps he opened up one or two times to Finn specifically; I can see this image of him venting to him while Finn stands still like how someone might vent to their dog, not really expecting Finn to be listening (also sarcasm might help Kylo obscure his true anguish from Finn, because FO troopers don’t understand sarcasm probably).  

He will be redeemed at the end… and live. Even if not necessarily paired with Rey. I’m neutral on Reylo (though admittedly I have a weak spot for pairs involving a strong woman and a troubled guy, so it’s kind of growing on me), but I really think this ship, or even centering the story strongly around a platonic relationship between these two, could have worked if it was built up strongly (Though if I were to go this route Finn would have to be established as a secondary character from the start, with Rey as the definitive main character, to focus on this). But either way, he’s definitely going to have to face the consequences of what he’s done, make up for his atrocities at least somewhat, and think about what he truly wants to do from now on. I can imagine him quietly reading stories to younglings as Rey, Finn, and Luke train some other pupils outside, or thanklessly working behind the scenes in other ways. For his haters out there, I could make the pill easier to swallow not just by making the reasons for his fall and how he was slowly and meticulously gaslit more clear, but also making him not as awful. Yes, he’s extremely destructive, but he could show more reluctance, or pause after his berserker rages, staring at the destruction he’s caused as the weight of what he’s done sinks in. He’d of course resent that he still has mercy left in him though. I don’t think that there will be a Starkiller Base, but even if there was he might argue with Hux a bit over whether it’s really necessary, until Hux sneers at him for having mercy, saying that Vader never hesitated when blowing up Alderaan, and Kylo reluctantly backs off.

…Actually, what about making him and Rey cousins? On one hand, if Rey is a Skywalker by blood, a direct daughter of the Master himself no less, Ben is now suddenly freed from carrying the weight of the family legacy on his own. On the other hand… He basically loses the thing he has spent his entire life building his identity around; since his fall would have partially been because of his obsession with Luke, he may become jealous and extremely resentful of her, and/or take this as even more reason for Luke to not “need” him anymore. Or perhaps, he pulls a reverse of “I sense the conflict in you” with her, wanting to “save” her from embracing the Light and wanting her to embrace the “true” Skywalker destiny with him. He could even be overjoyed that he could have someone else alongside him to carry on the legacy with; in this scenario he could have an unhealthy obsession with her that might also start crossing into “are you sure this isn’t incest?” territory. Yeah it’s a “join me and we can rule together” scenario again, but it would be done differently. Or perhaps it’s a mix of some of those. Exploring that and how he chooses to take it could be extremely interesting. Maybe it’s resolved when Anakin tells him to “finish what he started”… not just by saving the galaxy, but by also living the rest of his life loving his family not as an ideal, but as family, like Anakin wasn’t allowed to. And platonic Reylo sounds nice too. Though that’s going to make all that shipping fanart so awkward lol. Well it’s not as if Star Wars shippers haven’t been cockblocked by incest before (though his obsession with family and extremely questionable mental state would probably make such shippers go nuts anyway…). 

And going off of Poe being close to his parents, while the main interactions with Kylo from the heroes would be Rey, Finn if he’s the second protagonist, Luke, and his parents, I can see potential for an interesting dynamic and some interesting conversations between them too. Much like how he might react to Rey being Luke’s daughter, I can see him being jealous of Poe and resenting him for being his “replacement”, but after his redemption I can see potential for seeing the start of a friendship between them in epilogue comics, novels, or a mini-series. It would be pretty in-character for my version of Poe to want to help rehabilitate his sort-of stepbrother. Also I now have the adorable mental image of Ben quietly helping Poe (and maybe the rest of his squad) decorate and arrange Rey and Finn’s wedding, or the two surprising Finn with a very elaborate bachelor party, though I’m not sure if those exist in this universe. And because of a certain Inside Llewyn Davis scene I’m also imagining Poe getting Ben to sing with him and BB-8. It’s adorable. 

Also if both Rey and Finn are the main heroes, he might have some kind of link with both of them, and the main duo would both contrast him in their own way (lonely scavenger who no one expected anything of and nameless trooper who defected from the First Order vs. someone who grew up in greatness but seemingly threw it away and chose to be in the First Order; and much like Kylo Finn in particular has been manipulated from childhood to do heinous things, so he may sympathize with his situation). Maybe he’s the missing piece needed for both him and the leading duo to reach their full potential, or the main duo are the last piece needed to finally break Snoke’s curse on him, or something. Or it could simply just be Finn showing his growth and strength of character by understanding and forgiving Kylo, despite him now understanding just how badly the First Order treated him, which makes Rey (who, again, might start as this super cynical scavenger or may have seen Kylo go berserk and massacre her friends and betray her Master) come around to the idea. In this scenario it may actually be even more important to emphasize that Rey and Finn are two making up a whole, so as not to bog stuff down. It’s possible to ship Finnrey and want Kylo to have a better ending, what a shock! 

Maybe Rey and Kylo could switch places, and he comes back to the light in SW8, which is an idea I’ve seen floated and is something that would make the story truly unique. He would seem like basically a less stable Vader 2.0 at the start, but over SW8 he could be seen breaking more and more out of his own terrible mindset, coming to a head in a cathartic realization that bring him back into the arms of his beloved family. It would also add an interesting dynamic that he and Finn have to be equals now. But that may mean that Rey would have to be killed off and I’m not so sure about that. 

Though speaking of her, since in all these scenarios a common thread is that she understandably doesn’t like him, it would be a bit of a twist if Finn sees the good in him but Rey, if she’s a Skywalker, his cousin, doesn’t. 

And to bring up Poe again, I also really like the idea of them having been childhood friends and thus knowing each other before the events of SW7; after all, they’re around similar age, it isn’t that far-fetched to think that former Rebel families would be still pretty close to each other, and I’ve seen some adorable fanfics with the concept. It also adds connection between them and adds even more tragedy, even if this relationship may have to be elaborated more in supplementary material due to time. I can definitely Poe speaking like an old friend to Kylo and constantly calling him “Ben”, to his irritation. The abovementioned feeling of being replaced could be what caused Ben to suddenly break off the friendship. And making the main cast kind of tight-knit like this might also help make the cast easier to manage. 

Granted, there is the possibility of killing him off, though. I heard that one of the initial ideas for TFA was apparently that Kylo would be a reverse Vader, falling deeper and deeper into the Dark Side as the trilogy goes on. In fact, this may have been where Kylo killing Han may have been leading to. This actually sounded like a super cool idea, but considering the backstory I laid out I thought it would be way too bittersweet for the concluding movie of the saga, and if one were to say Kylo basically has BPD… That might lead to some unfortunate implications. I mean nothing is stopping me from not using the Elsa backstory, and if I didn’t use it maybe this route would be pretty viable, but I’m kind of starting to get attached to it. 

—

Other characters:

Hux: I’ve never really been a villain person. I mean I liked sympathetic villains, yeah (but even then I preferred anti-heroes for a while; I’m talking like nothing beyond N from Pokémon levels of “evil”), but straight-up villains I just have merely seen as obstacles. Like back in my Smash fic days I was often like “Eh… They’re there… Because they want to take over the world I guess?”. It’s why I’m having trouble with Snoke probably lol. But for some reason Hux interests me. If I take a guess it’s probably because of the potential he had as an actual foil to Kylo in his own faction. He had so much potential as a villain, and in having this tense dynamic play out. In fact he does seem to have been set up that way in SW7. But yeah, I imagine him as one coldhearted bastard. His backstory, though not elaborated on in the movies, would be much like TFA supplementary material set him up; he’d still have killed his father, but while yes, Brendol was abusive and strict, Armitage didn’t kill him completely because he was a young man who wanted to break free from his strict father, but also genuinely because he knew doing so would be good for his standing. Unlike Kylo when he (most likely) kills Han, he doesn’t regret killing Brendol at all. While he might have a tragic backstory kind of explaining his behavior, it doesn’t bother him at all, while Kylo, who considering what happened to him and how he’s literally under a curse you’d think would have a much steeper fall into unabashed evil, is constantly conflicted. It’s a very Sith Lord-like backstory funnily enough… In fact I’m pretty sure that Palpatine had a backstory very similar to this with his parents.  

He’s a very logical, analytical, brutally pragmatic person, and he looks upon Kylo’s emotional state with condescension. I’m increasingly starting to like the idea that he’s somehow able to talk Kylo down, while still being hardly nice. Perhaps he preys upon Kylo’s constant need for approval from others, even if he doesn’t like the person in question (this may also be why Kylo reacts so strongly to Finn escaping as well, in fact. He genuinely cares about people’s loyalty, even from literal no-name soldiers). Though I can’t decide whether he’s this deceptively charming snake or basically an evil Spock. I also can’t decide between him being in this constant state of “Why do I have to babysit this manchild” or giving absolutely no visible f*cks around Kylo no matter what happens, or even straight-up trolling him often, toying with his emotions because it amuses him; preferably two or a bit of all somehow? I can see him using having met Vader as a child to mock Kylo for how much of a pale, childish imitation he is, or reminding Kylo of how much better he is as a leader objectively; perhaps that’s what he holds over Kylo’s head. Or him explaining to Kylo how he was raised by less than stellar parenting and tried so hard to live up to his strict father too… So he brutally murdered Brendol in cold blood (possibly with Phasma’s help), became a better admiral than he ever was, and got over it “Like an adult. Unlike you.”. They’d be in this constant state of delicate, tense equality; Kylo can easily overpower Hux if he pisses him off a bit too much, but Hux is able to walk that fine edge seemingly without much effort. 

But when he realizes whatever grand cosmic plot he and the entire First Order has been participating in this whole time is when, ironically, there would probably be a really dramatic villainous breakdown from him. It’s kind of a Zuko and Azula situation with Kylo and Hux perhaps? Or is this Hux more a mix of Azula and Zhao’s roles rather?

——

Worldbuilding stuff: Since I’m more a character person, there isn’t much here, but because the worldbuilding was another issue in the movies I’ll also be adding these.

The New Republic isn’t nuked in the first movie. In fact it stays there for the duration of the trilogy and the hero faction is now its armed forces, not The Resistance (Also that name makes no sense. Seriously. At least name them The Peacekeeper Corps or Vigilantes or something, or since they’re basically Leia’s personal military maybe the Organa Free Army or Organa Corps or something of that sort. No wonder people mistakenly call them The Rebels sometimes. It’s a similar setup to Chrom’s Shepherds in Fire Emblem Awakening, albeit with a better relationship with the kingdom; it would be downright strange if the Shepherds called themselves The Resistance despite literally existing with the queen’s permission, and it still is here. Hell, Leia’s Shepherds is a better name). There would be elaboration on the political stuff going on behind the scenes, and if Leia isn’t a Jedi that’s her plotline probably, though a big part of me wants her to be part of the action instead of being stuck on the homeworld. 

Meanwhile, The First Order is made up of Imperial Remnants and people and planets who were unsatisfied with the democratic but still new and fragile New Republic. Basically think White Russians if the Soviets weren’t also awful. It happens a lot in history. While it may have some mining planets in its orbit (not literally, you know what I mean) so it can plausibly refurbish anything Kylo wrecks with his tantrums, Starkiller Base is probably a bit much, and a lot of their equipment might be old Imperial or Rebel stuff, or stolen from the New Republic, with new stuff being produced but not in overly high quantity. Some of the equipment deemed less important might even be kind of crappy due to how old they are. They’d probably be at most an equally powerful faction to the Republic, if not smaller than them, seeming more like a terrorist cell. I don’t have much of an idea why Snoke would want to be involved in it yet though. 

But while the First Order might be smaller, the New Republic is hindered by it just now finally gaining its footing, and the military previously only having been used for peacekeeping and sniping stray Imperial remnants. Because it’s peacetime, it might have been kept pretty small, and also the military academies are literally not even 30 years old at this point, so new that it’s possible Poe, despite his youth, was one of the earliest graduates; one of the military’s most high-ranking officers is literally a scoundrel with no formal training - even if he is good at his job - it isn’t exactly a well-oiled machine, though its less rigid, casual structure also does benefit it in some aspects. Also the FO can easily use Kylo as intimidation, and its upper staff is nothing if not driven and motivated as well as ruthless. They may engage in more underhanded actions like sabotage and suicide bombers, or rely on small elite units like the Knights of Ren or small companies of troopers, to poke holes in the enemy just as much as open combat. And maybe if all else fails Snoke causes something really bad to happen seemingly out of nowhere. 

While I do think that making the baddies an Empire 2.0 is an… uncreative decision, I want to keep Finn’s backstory, plus it fits Kylo’s story too so blah, I kind of have to keep it. Plus I want to do Phasma and Hux justice. Maybe Snoke or whatever it serves turns into a giant Eldritch abomination and have no use for the FO anymore. And again, reactionary forces are a thing that have existed throughout early modern history. But as already mentioned, due to the nature of the First Order’s existence, maybe the Stormtroopers aren’t kidnapped, but they were orphans picked off the streets, and/or some more dedicated Imperial parents gave them their children? I had the idea that Troopers like Finn are “Junior Troopers”, the child slave type, while older members, “Senior Troopers”, would be legit Imperial revanchists and former troopers. Maybe there’s a separate company of Juniors who think they’re cool by fighting for the First Order, but generally Juniors would be the lowest on the social rung, though some might make it into higher positions, and don’t know any other life than what they have now. Though I also like the idea that Finn was part of an elite unit directly connected to Kylo Ren like the 501st, so he has a reason to be particularly hurt by his betrayal (but that could throw a wrench in the whole Finn was a faceless cog in the machine thing). They’re pretty Prussian in command structure; officers work under mission-tactics, but the rank-and-file are machine-like in their discipline, more than even some actual droids. The Republic’s forces also probably engage in mission-tactics a lot, except how far it is acceptable goes way further down the chain of command, so stuff like the Holdo situation doesn’t happen. If that situation were to happen when mission-tactics were to be expected Poe’s independent action would be seen as reasonable. This would have potential for very interesting battles and tactics, though I’d need a lot of help with those because I’m the furthest thing from a tactician you can find (but even I can tell the bomber scene from TLJ was dumb, which should say something).

I kind of realized that it’s possible that the four OT legacy characters may end up basically representing four major aspects of the New Republic; the Jedi (Luke), law and justice (Leia, if she’s a senator), the military (Han, if he’s a general), and economics (Lando). I think some worldbuilding into how the republic functions should be explored through these characters as they move the story forward, except for the Jedi since they’re obviously a central focus, and Luke might very well be introduced after them, and the military will also get focus for obvious reasons, and Poe exists. The information definitely needs to be conveyed as efficiently and organically as possible through the story, because there’s two, likely three, equally important main characters and an unholy amount of secondary characters who aren’t exactly minor. 

May write more later idk. I need to be doing other stuff…

[carter-13]

fuck it, here’s a wholeass post about the skrull sharon theory because literally nobody can stop me.

so! for anyone who’s somehow managed to miss this, there’s a relatively prevalent fan theory right now that the sharon shown in tfatws was in fact a skrull. the reasoning behind this is that there was a VERY significant change in her personality, ideals and motivations that happened offscreen, with the audience left knowing virtually nothing about what her deal is. her being the power broker goes against everything we’ve seen of her so far, and against her comics character, so it seems like a very strange decision.

coincidentally (or not!) this happened at the same time marvel just so happens to be setting up secret invasion - a project that presumably follows a plot similar to the comics in which key characters and prominent figures are replaced by skrulls. with sharon’s current powerful status, she would make an ideal person to replace, and the fact that she was alone in madripoor for several years (note: she wasn’t actually blipped, and the reason for her being shown as missing in endgame was due to her status being unknown by the avengers) means she would be easily swapped without anybody noticing. additionally, the only post-credits scene after the tfatws finale was sharon getting a pardon. this is interesting since the two most recent projects (far from home + wandavision) both had skrull post-credits scenes. what if tfatws’ post-credits scene was secretly a skrull scene too?

altogether, these things seem to make for a plausible theory that would explain some otherwise very strange writing choices. however, right now, i just don’t think it holds water for a few reasons.

first up, there’s the fact that this would undermine sharon’s current anger directed at everyone who fucked her over. because man, was she ever fucked over. she effectively became a fugitive for the guy she kissed, only for him to leave her stranded for years before promptly travelling back in time to be with her great aunt instead. endgame steve, man. the fact that she’s bitter about this is very much justified, and i don’t really like the idea of them just getting rid of this entirely by turning around and stating that actually these were never her own feelings all along. plus, the idea of them waving away the anger of specifically a female character doesn’t feel like a great choice. the mcu is still very much in its baby stage when it comes to writing female characters who are allowed to actually show emotion, so i doubt it’s something they’d really want right now.

second, i think secret invasion probably won’t play out the way a lot of people are expecting based on the comics. the skrulls in the comics have served as an allegorical tool a few times. in the early years, they were mostly a stand-in for the red scare (pretty cringe stuff). during the plot of secret invasion, though, they read more as an allegory for religious extremists infiltrating a society in order to destroy society. if i’m being entirely honest, i kind of hate it. this run was published in 2008, right when the ‘war on terror’ was a significant focus of american media. as a result, the skrulls were written as a not-so-subtle stand-in for islamic extremists, which is exactly as bad as it sounds like. i definitely don’t have the time or the knowledge to fully break this down, but just know that it’s insensitive at best and downright harmful at worst. i’m sure there are things to like about secret invasion (hey, the un-fridging of bobbi morse! can’t complain there!), but i think an adaptation of it would be absolutely abysmal without major changes.

luckily, there’s fair reason to assume there will be. captain marvel handled skrulls very differently to the comics, instead making them a stand-in for an oppressed minority of immigrants. it’s overall an adaptational choice i like very much, as this is able to do good rather than harm. this also, however, means a by-the-book adaptation of secret invasion would be catastrophic. making your immigrant allegory secretly evil is pretty inexcusable, and i doubt there’s a way they can pull it off without it coming off exactly as xenophobic as it sounds.

because of this, for the plot of secret invasion, i think it’s more likely that the skrulls will instead be working alongside fury as allies. this isn’t a post about my own personal secret invasion theories though, so i’ll leave that there. my point is that so far, we don’t have any reason to assume the skrulls are evil aside from how they’ve been portrayed in the comics, and i don’t think for these reasons that the comics are a good basis for theories on this particular topic. tldr: the skrulls haven’t been shown to be evil yet, so assuming a villain is one is a bit of a jump.

additionally, the argument that sharon being the power broker means she’d be a good target for a skrull is a pretty flawed one. for sharon to have this power in the first place, she would already have to be the power broker, which means her new character direction can’t be waved away like that. the alternative here is that she was replaced before the skrull became the power broker - however, a fugitive ex-agent who can’t leave madripoor without fear of being arrested is pretty low down on the list of desirable situations, so i doubt any skrull would want to be her in the first place. she had very few existing links, and no real connection to power before clawing her way up through Crimes™️. in short, it doesn’t really make sense.

finally - and this is more of a personal preference - it just feels like lazy writing. i know, i know. the tfatws reveal wasn’t exactly paddington 2 levels of media artistry. but undoing a character’s arc (even if that arc was offscreen!) by just stating they were a skrull all along is pretty lame. it sets a bad precedent for the future. i don’t like erasing bad writing with more bad writing, and i don’t think the skrull theory really solves anything here.

so yeah, here we go, i don’t think sharon’s a skrull. could i be wrong? absolutely! this might actually be the most glorious, incredible twist of all time. or maybe it’s a horribly written twist that i’ll hate. either way, i don’t currently think it makes sense, so here’s this. sorry for the horrible formatting (mobile, lol) and the rambling (maybe i’ll clean this up later, maybe not, who knows)

[majolishious]

Ummmm~Hello! I love your blog and I love your writing hehehe 😍 I want to ask for HCs for the brothers if you may? Um, with an MC who has appendicitis during her stay at Devildom and has to go back to the human world to undergo a laparoscopy surgery (it's a much faster surgery using improved equipment rather than normal ones)? Then the brothers go visit her in the Hospital and she's feeling after surgery pain so much so they comfort her? Thank you and sorry if it's too specific for you 😣

Hilarious story, but uh, my appendix actually burst, and I had no idea, even my doctor was like, “No ur fine lol, take some pain killers,” and then 5 days later I was in surgery and later the ICU. Regardless, I hope you enjoy this, I put it under the cut due to the length of the post.

It’s obvious to the brothers that you’re experiencing pain, not that clutching your stomach wasn’t a dead giveaway. They assume that perhaps you just ate something, the food in the Devildom might be too rich, or too heavy for a human handle, but the other symptoms you’re experiencing; even after Beel gives you some stomach medicine warrants a visit from one of Diavolo’s royal physicians. Once they finish the exam, and draws the conclusion, the doctor informs the brothers to get you immediate medical attention at a human hospital, as the hospitals in the Devildom simply aren’t equipped to deal with such medical issues.

The doctor suggests that one of the brothers accompanies you, while trying to reassure them that this is a relatively common condition in humans, and is rarely fatal if caught in time - which does no good as the brothers now realize they’re on a time limit. The doctor proposes the idea that you should choose the brother that takes you, and quickly leaves the house before more chaos ensues.

【Lucifer】

It was natural you would pick him. He’s the only brother that seems even remotely calm, though on the inside he’s deeply worried. Lucifer wastes no time on creating a portal to the human world, and making sure you get to the hospital in the shortest amount of time - while he takes notice of your worsening pain and discomfort. It was rather fortunate that your case was treated as a priority, but that didn’t ease his concerns - and holding onto your hand became more of a way to calm himself down rather than you, not that his pride would ever allow him to admit he was worried.

Lucifer makes a promise to you that he’ll be there when you wake up, and the time spent waiting for the surgery to be done was almost agonizing for him. As soon as you’re brought out and he’s able to see you again, Lucifer rushes to your side, as a wave of relief washes over him. He sits quietly as you rest, but is even happier when you do wake up, though the pain hits you, and is almost unbearable. The first born of the brothers does his best to comfort you by carefully wrapping his arm around you, showering you with words of praise while he gently holds you until a nurse is able to give you some relief from the pain.

Lucifer would rather stay in the hospital with you, but knowing that the whole house is likely to be in chaos - and there are some things he has to do, Lucifer bids you goodnight, giving you a soft kiss on the head, and telling you to rest and get better soon, promising he will be back to visit tomorrow. When Lucifer returns the following day, he’s happy to see you looking so much better, even if you’re still in some pain. He spends the day with you, doing what he can to ease any pain and make you more comfortable, but he’d rather have you back at the house of Lamentation as soon as possible, since he doesn’t have to worry about the tedious visiting times in his own home.

【Mammon】

Not the wisest choice you could have made, but given the situation, everyone assumes that it’s because Lucifer assigned him as your protector while in the Devildom. Regardless of the reason, there’s really no time to dwell on it, as getting you to hospital was the top priority, and even if the hero wasn’t ready, the portal was, and Mammon had no choice but to take the leap with you. Mammon is just worried you’re going to die, even after you reassure him that you won’t, he’s not convinced, and squeezes onto your hand that’s interlaced with his own, fearing he won’t get to feel it for much longer.

Mammon cries when you’re taken for surgery, and can do nothing but nervously pace around the waiting room - despite it being nothing more than a small box room with three chairs and a small table with some books. He eventually resorts to quietly watching the time tick by, but as soon as you’re out of surgery, he is right at your side like the faithful demon he is, watching as your chest slowly rises and falls as you sleep. He can’t help but think that this is the first time in days he’s seen you look comfortable and not in pain; a fleeting thought as when you awoke, you could only weakly smile at Mammon before the pain came for you with a vengeance.

Mammon does everything to shoo the pain away from you, though he can’t do much but allow you to cuddle into him until you’re given relief for it. He tries to convince the doctors to let you go home as soon possible, telling them the great Mammon can care for you. It’s not very convincing, and they decide to keep you in their care, forcing Mammon to reluctantly return to the house of Lamentation without you. Fear not, he returns the next day as soon as he is able to, despite the fact he looks exhausted and has clearly been crying all night, though he denies it hard when you ask him what’s up.

【Leviathan】

To say he was shocked you picked him would be an understatement, but he didn’t have time to dwell on it much before you were both hurried to the human world. It hadn’t really sunk in how dire of a situation you were in, but he didn’t like seeing you in pain, and tried to awkwardly soothe by rubbing small circles on your back as your continued to writhe in pain. Levi’s eyes scanned the waiting room, until eventually falling back onto you as the doctor called out your name. He tried, really hard to be comforting while the doctors reaffirmed what you already knew, and only then it hit him that this was serious, “You’re gonna die?!”, he exclaimed, catching you, and the poor doctor off guard.

Levi ends up sitting quietly at your bedside squeezing your hand, trying to distract you by talking about an anime he was excited for this season - though it was more of a distraction for himself. It actually worked, until you were taken to surgery and the reality hit him once more. The envious demon had nothing to amuse himself with while waiting, and anyone that came close to him only tightened the knot in his stomach. He wanted so desperately to know what was going, to know if you were okay, and when the doctor finally came out and told him it was fine, he nearly collapsed on the spot. Levi only listened to half of what the doctor was saying, he zoned out once he heard you were fine, but still had to see for himself.

Entering your hospital room was a strange experienced for him, but he was just to see you were okay, at least until you woke up in pure agony, unable to do anything but whimper and calls out for Levi, who rushed to your side as quick as he could. Anime always makes the process look so much easier, with the protagonist waking up and being fine, but here you were, waking up and not fine. All he could do was hold your hand and attempt to shush and calm you down - his awkwardness making it a difficult task. When it came time to turn in for the night, Levi really didn’t want to leave you alone, and swore he’d be back the next day with video games to help distract you from the pain.

【Satan】

Once you make your choice, Satan won’t hesitate and has you both through the portal to the human world in record time. Despite appearing calm, he’s incredibly worried, and every whimper that escapes your lips only adds to his concern. He does his best to take your focus away from what the doctors are doing, but often can’t help but quiz them on what they’re doing, or what certain things mean, but as you lightly squeeze Satan’s hand, his focus snaps back to you, as he shoots an apologetic look your way, and masked sure to focus his attention on the one that needs him the most.

Once you’re taken to surgery, he has no idea what to do, and can only impatiently wait in the waiting room. The books did little to amuse him, or take his mind off of you - he just wanted to know that you were okay. The time seemed to pass by slowly, and when someone finally came to release him from his own confinement, he was scared, worried they were about deliver bad news. Satan was relieved when the news was good, and as soon as he could, he was right at your bedside, a relaxed smile spread across his face.

When you eventually woke up, and began to deal with more pain, Satan’s smile quickly faded, and he moved to sit beside you on the bed, bringing your head to his chest while he softly peppered your head with loving kisses, with it being all he had to offer you as a pain reliever. Satan was unwilling to leave your side, and even refused to at first, even after you promised him it would be fine, he wasn’t convinced. He knew you needed rest however, and returned home, only to return the next day with a pile of books he planned to read to you while you were recovering.

【Asmodeus】

Picking him wasn’t the best choice, as he immediately tired to run to his room in order to pack, though he was reminded of the fact you were both in a race against time by his brothers, as they pushed him through the portal with you. Asmo was going to complain about the less than soft landing, but your pained expression stopped him, “Oh love,” he murmured, doing his best to help you through the pain. He really wasn’t a fan of the hospital, fearing that just being there would make him sick, and ruin his flawless skin, though he hardly had time to be dramatic with you holding onto his hand, silently pleading with him for comfort.

Asmo does his best, softly running the slender fingers of his free hand through your hair, while the other reminded entwined with your own. He couldn’t bear to let go of you when you were taken for surgery, and the loneliness he felt in the waiting room was agonizing - flirting with the doctors and nurses that passed by did little good, as they were too busy to pay much mind to the avatar of lust. Asmo has no choice but to admit defeat, sitting back in the less than comfortable chair he began to hum to himself while waiting. He nearly squealed when the nurse came to give him an update on your condition, granting him the permission to go and see you.

Asmo was expecting you to be fine, and able to return home immediately, so he got the shock of his life when he saw that that wasn’t the case. He didn’t know what to do at first while you slept, and resorted to lightly grazing your cheek with his hand, only excitedly taking them away when you stirred and woke up. Before he could speak, you winced when as the pain hit you, and despite trying to hide it, Asmo knew, and was able to get someone to help almost immediately. He was also able to charm his way into staying longer than was allowed, but he only stayed until you fell asleep, but rest assured, he came back the next day with fruit, cakes, and some self-care items to aid in recovery.

【Beelzebub】

There was no hesitation when you picked him, as Beel scooped you up into his arms and carried you through the portal. Despite it being unnecessary, he carried you through the hospital too, and held you tight while the doctors looked you over, until he eventually had to place you onto a bed. Beel settled for keeping your hand in his own, while showering your forehead with tender kisses to calm you down when needed. He did his best to put his own worries aside, but once you were taken for surgery, it was all he could think about while he waited for any news, or simply for you to come out so he could see you again for himself.

While waiting, he ended up raiding the vending machine, and subsequently devouring all the snacks while passing nurses gave him worrying looks. Beel looked like a sad puppy while sitting in the waiting room. He had been worried when you first took ill, even more so when his stomach medicine didn’t work. The more he thought about it, the more worried he got. While deep in thought, a nurse finally came to give him some relief, to confirm that you were okay, and finally let him see you.

Beel darted to your bedside, taking hold of your hand as he settled himself beside you. Though you didn’t hear most of what he said, Beel was talking to you while you slept, only stopping when you finally woke up and locked eyes with him. His face lit up, but seeing you wince from the pain with a sharp intake of breath took the smile away, and filled him with concern. Beel did his best to comfort you, softly rubbing his thumb over your hand, while whispering sweet nothings to you. He outright refused to leave at first, and only did so because he got hungry and had no choice, though he came back the next day with plenty of food so he could stay for longer.

【Belphegor】

He was pretty surprised when you chose him, but it wasn’t like he had time to complain before being shoved into the portal with you. He really wasn’t happy to be in the human world, and was only willing to put up with it since it was for you - though he did feel guilty when he saw how pained you were, and letting out a sigh, he decided to his best, for your sake. He did his best to comfort you for as long as he was able to; holding on tightly to your hand and allowing you the comfort of his pillow. The demon couldn’t do much more for you, as you were soon taken out of his reach and into surgery, leaving him alone in the waiting room with bated breath.

Belphie couldn’t do much while waiting, other than curl up onto a chair and take a short nap - since the doctors had to give him back his pillow for the meantime. He hugged it close to his chest, nuzzling into it, trying hard to pretend he was cuddling with you - it didn’t work, but he was able to fall asleep, even if only for a short time. The nurse that woke him nearly got an earful, though the sharp glare he gave them said more than enough. The nurse nervously informed Belphie of your condition, giving him the okay to see you, turning his original sour expression into a more relieved one before he hurried to your bedside.

It was a surreal experience for him, seeing you so vulnerable and weak. It gave him bad memories of what he did before, and part of felt as though he had no right to be at your side like this. When you awoke, he tried to brush away his thoughts, and offered you a small smile, which you only weakly returned before being struck by pain, with Belphie doing his best to comfort you. He crawled into bed next to you, being careful of any wires and tubes, especially as he switched your pillow out for his own, giving your head something more comforting to rest on. It wasn’t long before you ended up falling back asleep, snuggled up to Belphie as he quietly dozed off next to you, getting his wish to cuddle you close - this time without anyone disturbing him, as none of the nurses dared to this time.