#the code targets children first

[ask-the-celestial-family]

(Oh. Oh- Uh oh. I can only imagine how well Eclipse and everyone else is going to react to Moon's KillCode gaining sentience... And it won't be fun..) Do you really think that'll work? That is basically doing the same thing that one Sun and Moon did in one universe- and one ended up braindead and the other living through a glitched backup. You can't just remove a core part of your 'brain' without consequence. -🐟 Anon

Yes I can. I will destroy. That piece of code will be the first, that quivering whore's baby second, then the blue one's son. Kill their children first, leave them vulnerable. -Eclipse🔥

[whalesfall]

btw. your search for the most morally upright and ethical piece of media that has the most correct “representation” will destroy your ability to find the most profound and beautiful and human of stories. and may even destroy the stories themselves before they are created. if you even care.

[kaidatheghostdragon]

Good reveal au, where after learning phantom's identity and realizing the atrocities that the GIW have committed (or alternatively, ethical science au, where they find out the GIW plagarized them), the fenton parents decided to create the 'ultimate ghost-ending weapon' and sell it to the agents.

They go absolutely overboard, describing to the agents in meticulous detail how it evaporates any ghost it hits near-instantly and describing it quite ruthlessly in the blueprints, and soon the GIW have raplaced all their main weapons with the new gun.

Except it doesn't actually kill ghosts. It's the Fenton Bazooka. You know, the one that creates a portable portal to suck the ghost back into the ghost zone? What they actually did was retool it slightly to make it look more grusome than it actually is. They even added a beacon in Phantom's Keep, which all Fenton Bazookas will target when they open a portal, so the ghosts are always delivered to the keep.

From there, Phantom stationed an emergency medical team at the keep to treat the many injured and ragged ghosts that the GIW 'destroyed,' and to explain what just happened.

What they didn't anticipate was that now that the GIW have a mass-produced weapon that they believed would effectively eradicate ghosts, they would go on the offensive. They have a number of cities they've been monitoring but didn't want to get involved in without better tools.

One of those cities is Gotham.

And the Bats are ectocontaminated enough to register as ghosts.

Batman witnessed several of his children get evaporated by green energy weapons within mere moments of each other. He's absolutely gutted. Devastated. They didn’t even stand a chance.

He'll get his revenge, and it's frighteningly easy to track the weapon to private subcontractors. The Doctors Fenton, in Illinois. Their research calls for the genocide of all ghost kind, and apparently, that war started by killing his own children.

His children will not die in vain.

He gets to Amity Park and finds the Engineer's Nightmare of a building that is Fentonworks, but that night, before he can hack through the security and break in, one of the windows opens.

It's one of his kids that he had watched evaporate before his very eyes. They give him a silent signal of one of their identifying security codes and gesture for him to come inside.

Is it a trap? A prank in poor taste? Utterly genuine?

He goes through the window.

All of his dead kids are there, wearing borrowed pajamas and only their dominoes to conceal their identities. Daniel Fenton (son of the Fentons, this is his bedroom, has voiced a few arguments against his parent's views, but still an unknown) is among the crowd of teens and young adults, twirling on an office chair and obnoxiously sipping a capri sun.

"First thing you need to know, Bats," Daniel says after finishing his drink, "is that my parents are absolutely NOT genocidal ectophobic scumbags, and that is the reason why your kids are still alive."

[tulliok]

we stopped watching around the later seasons and barely remember what happened in them so we're encouraging you to talk about what you dislike or want to criticize

Got asked, so here’s my abridged season 8-9 thoughts.

As someone who grew up watching the show from the beginning, I have a lot of gripes with how “friendship” is defined as a power-up or a material resource. However, it really wasn’t that big of a deal because I understand that MLP is a show targeted towards young girls that enjoy playing with toys, and the show was able to still portray realistic and educational lessons. 

The introduction of a friendship school in season 8 was a poor decision for so many reasons. Narratively, it locks our main characters into a single location, and we go from having a cast with unique occupations and storylines… to one where all six share the same responsibilities as an instructor and tackle the same lessons. Especially when some of them don’t seem like the type to enjoy teaching at all.

But the biggest issue I have is that the school validates the show’s idea that friendship is a unique resource that has to be taught, and that comes with a load of problematic implications. To get to the worst one right away, the school came packaged with a storyline about xenophobia and Equestria’s prejudice against their foreign neighbors. The coding of non-pony species in the show has always had weird racial implications (yaks and dragons being depicted as loud, unintelligent barbarians, the buffalo and Zecora representing members of real marginalized groups), but it is made even worse in this season by depicting them as people that are uneducated and need to be taught basic social skills and lessons in a foreign land. The Friendship School is literally a project designed by Twilight to spread Equestria’s idea of friendship to other countries! On top of that, they introduce what is essentially a conservative, white supremacist pony as a villain, and to beat him Twilight needs to prove that the exchange students are worthy of being taught. I really don’t think I need to explain why this is extremely weird and shouldn’t even be in the show in the first place.

I love the show because of episodes like Amending Fences, Leap of Faith, and No Second Prances—episodes that teach children that relationships aren’t big battles of morality and power but are complicated experiences that everyone has a unique response to. These experiences cannot be taught in a school with sewing lessons and apple picking and taking exams. They are also not unique to any particular community or race—that is a fact of life that most children should immediately understand. It’s extremely disheartening watching the show regress to the point where Rarity is telling a young girl that her cultural costume isn’t pretty enough and she’s dolling her up in wigs to cover her braids and giving her etiquette lessons to “fit right in." I don’t care that the moral was that she was wrong; what’s wrong is that the show even bothered making episodes like this at all. 

Season 9 concludes with a happy ending where all is well, but it isn't because the young child villain, the one character that needed friendship lessons and the grace to grow up, was turned into a garden accessory without a second thought. All while surrounded by the redeemed villains that the series arbitrarily decided were more worthy of our sympathy.

I don’t want to overwhelm anyone with my opinions and I want to be as fair as possible about what made me so uncomfortable with the show’s conclusion. I am a longtime fan, but I also care a lot about children’s media being responsible with their messaging, especially when they tackle subjects that require a great level of care, such as race and relationships. MLP (whether older fans like it or not) is ultimately a show about teaching children valuable social skills and providing moral lessons with every adventure.

I doubt this mixed messaging was intentional on the writer’s part. Rather, the last seasons were recklessly handled. To a viewer’s eyes, there isn’t a difference between these two.

[bittrlys]

The Dragon Prince season 6 is like watching people write themselves into a corner in real time. Exciting! Massive spoilers ahead, of course.

THE GOOD

Opening on Aaravos crying was a very strong choice, this is the actual 'Mystery of Aaravos' type content I've been waiting for

Terry picking up Viren while they're excited about him being alive is very cute

As ever, Terry being extremely ride or die is 👍

Terry taking care of Claudia was very sweet; Terry cutting Claudia's hair and Claudia's new haircut in general. Cute.

Viren and Claudia on the beach, "No parent wants their child to suffer for them." Oof.

In general, I was quite happy with everything Viren, Claudia, and even Soren, and I actually wrote a note of "i hate soren" at the start because I thought we were gearing up for another season of him just being a bad joke machine with no real character or feelings to speak of. But then they gave him, like, actual pathos! They let him interact with people in a way that feels human! They let him be resentful and complicated! Wow! Magefam is so back baby!

Viren trying to reconcile with Soren and be a better example for Claudia really got to me. His final sacrifice (OMG CRIMINAL BY FIONA APPLE JUST CAME ON SHUFFLE.......WHAT I NEED IS A GOOD DEFENSE CUS I'M FEELING LIKE A CRIMINAL.......AND I NEED TO BE REDEEMED TO THE ONE I'VE SINNED AGAINST.....) is tied so strongly to his children and that feels like a natural place to leave his character. Now, I've been saying forever that he was going to get a redemption via death, and figured Aaravos would be the one pulling the trigger, so none of that surprised me, but I thought the actual execution was generally good. I do have some more negative thoughts but I'll save those for later.

Viren is very good at justifying himself, and I like that you see him falling back into that, at times struggling with it, at times not even catching himself doing it. It feels very real. At the same time, I don't think he's ever seen himself as a hero, so it was interesting to let him go out on such a heroic note.

Viren's kind of abuse-coded (not actually abusive, IMO, but I understand if this makes people uncomfortable in a similar way) act of forcing Lissa to cry into the vial is interesting. It echoes him taking Sarai's last breath.

Him writing out his whole confession on this subject and then burning it because he realized it was only going to do him good was also very nice.

Though I wish Claudia had stuck by her 'I'm going solo' guns a little longer, I still think there's something to how she is so incapable of being alone, of thinking for herself, and desperately seeks direction. She is literally just like her dad, and it makes them both easy targets for Aaravos.

Like, Viren being such a force that Claudia easily followed him, then Claudia being such a force that Soren and Terry both easily followed her, and Aaravos being a supreme force Viren and Claudia both easily follow because at heart, they're more followers than leaders despite the force of their personalities and ambitions -- it's interesting.

Aaravos using Sol Regem to casually destroy a kingdom and kill Viren just as a small step in his plan is pretty fun. We love a grandiose villain!

Looking forward to Claudia and Aaravos. She's in some ways even more unequipped than Viren to handle Aaravos's manipulations, but at the same time, she's a lot more unpredictable than Viren. If this leads up to a confrontation between them, I think that could be really cool.

Aaravos tragic backstory with deleted child was really not on my bingo card at all -- I never thought 'noble revenge' would be his motivation. I like how this parallels him to Viren.

Aaravos crying enough to fill a sea is great imagery

The lore of the startouch elves being actual stars that descend is SO COOL. This is like, the first bit of worldbuilding in this show that's actually seriously impressed me. I love it.

Actual lore as to why humans don't have magic. Well. Not entirely. But it's better than what we had.

I liked Amaya and Janai's wedding looks. Cute.

Janai like Ehe I'll bring out my armies after I get married 😜 is funny. She isn't a very good queen but she is the moment! The gossip blogs would love her.

Ezran eating shit and not having his """diplomacy""" work out. LMAO.

SOL REGEM DOWN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉

Kinda getting a y'know vibe from Soren and Corvus. I wouldn't mind that. I like that Corvus feels a little more tolerant of Soren than everyone else. It's funny Soren is like finally I'm away from my shit family but his new friends don't seem to care about him at all. Go and be totally free of all this, dude, or get a boyfriend.

Runaan back just when I was starting to think this show really hates gay males.

Rayla correcting her assumption about the sex of the diary's author was cute with the voice over changing. (cont...)

THE BAD

(... cont.) Did unfortunately then make it feel like "Had to be a woman because the author will be pining for a man."

Why is Zym STILL just a dog. Bro. It's like if all through Avatar you had to be aware Appa was going to be king someday. STOP BARKING.

Waiting for the whole cast to become vegetarians and somehow I suspect that will not be happening

When Claudia is listing the spell ingredients she could harvest from that cat thing I was just desperate to have Terry go, "Well, some of those could be ethically harvested, right?"

I find prophecies fairly corny as a writing tool and I get why they're going there -- predicted futures are the source of the anti-human oppression -- but still, I sighed.

Luna Tenebris putting a collar on her pet feels like, weird, right? Right? Right? She's not human and dragons otherwise seem so Respect all magical creatures. (Allegedly.) What is the uneven treatment of animals in this universe.

Naming your episode Red Wedding and I don't see a bloodbath ... oh, come on.

That ramble about ships from Caleb. Shudder.

Jeez, who is Rayla going to save? Her uncle who is an actual character or her backstory parents who are obviously happy and at peace? God forbid one of our main heroes has an actual hard choice to make.

Related: Caleb's 5 second rehab from dark magic.

Making his inner truth being about one other person is ... well ....

Cutting from Viren's rapidly cooling corpse to Lujanne receiving a sensual back massage was certainly a Choice.

Viren missing his wife THIS MUCH when he's barely mentioned her up to now was a little weird. I honestly think they saw the homoerotic interpretations of the very intense dynamics he had with Harrow and Aaravos and have been steadily backpedalling from that. Don't get me wrong, I can believe he loved her and he misses her, but the degree of it feels totally unearned.

I get children's media will have mascots for the children, normally I don't mind them, but dear god this show is hitting critical mass on annoying sidekicks (Zym counts as a very big one and he's already nigh unbearable.)

THE UGLY

I can imagine that the descendants of the human children Leola granted magic to are now able to do magic naturally and this could be the lore behind either Caleb or Ezran's abilities. I actually don't mind this as finally being in-universe explanation for this disparity that isn't just 'they want it more' or whatever, but it doesn't help this show's "Better People Are Born Better" messaging. Now, in that vein ...

King Ezran is a KING. Have we mentioned this? He's a king. He's divinely ordained to be above everyone else. You must show him respect because he's KING. Even Rayla emphasizes what a KING he is. BOW BEFORE HIM.

Ezran's idea of """diplomacy""" is just going "Be nice, please." (Followed by a threat LMAO.) "Go live somewhere else." WHERE. What if they try to occupy territory that isn't theirs? Xadian society seems quite separated and territorial. Ezran doesn't consider this. He doesn't consider anything. He has no actual diplomatic skills because he never offers anything, he just expects people to listen to him because he's KING.

You know in Parasite when they're like Of course the rich people are nice, they can afford to be? When Ezran was going I'm a king and I can choose kindness I was like, You're king because of an accident of your birth, and all your privilege and people looking out for you allows you to operate the way you do.

(Janai having an evil brother who is Not The True Heir To The Throne and Trying To Steal It is just part of the show's overall obsession with this narrative -- see also Viren coming from a less privileged background.)

Of course it's still funny to see Ezran be continuously characterized as So Compassionate, So Loving but when it comes to say, Not burning his own people alive or Extending the hand of kindness to one of his oldest childhood friends or her father, he just turns that shit off. This could be interesting hypocrisy if I thought the show was trying to intentionally paint him this way, instead of just wanting him to not be a total pushover because he's THE KING!!! ALL BOW BEFORE THE KING!!!!

The unbelievable frustration caused by a scene where Claudia is begging to not have to use dark magic -- Terry coming in and saving the day with natural magic -- Claudia staring at the peaceful solution and realizing she needs to change -- BUT IT'S STILL A FUNDAMENTAL DISPARITY IN HOW HUMANS CAN EXIST IN THIS WORLD? Is Claudia supposed to die because dark magic is too wrong to use? Now we have the reveal that humans are being actively denied magic I'm hesitantly hopeful they may get some justice in this regard, but it doesn't change the reality of humans right now. What are humans supposed to do? Rely on others for help? Oh, sure, most of the elves and dragons we meet now are just so nice and helpful to humans, because of the show's 'bad apple' approach to prejudice I've mentioned before, but we know that wasn't always the case.

Like, this actual reminder that the difference in power between a single dragon and a human settlement, and unlike the last time we're on the side of humans this time so you can better appreciate the horror of it ... it's depressing to feel like "Only by grace of your betters do you survive." It's echoes of Janai's 'forgiveness' of the human who put out the fire of that elf who assaulted her. "Aren't you lucky we're so NICE?"

This is all compounded by what I meant at the start of my review, that they've written themselves into a corner, especially wrt dark magic. In universe Soren sees no choice but to ask his father to do dark magic, something all the characters scold each other for constantly. Out of universe, the writers had a huge fuck off dragon come along to commit genocide against the humans and the only realistic solution is .... having Viren do dark magic, something the narrative constantly reinforces as bad. They ultimately frame this act as heroic, and according to a writer (I believe) on the discord, he speaks the spell forward to represent how this act of inherent good overcomes the "inherent evil" of dark magic (quotation marks theirs, interestingly.) I think the writers, for the most part, clearly like Viren and Claudia a lot, and like giving them 'big moments' with dark magic ... but this is part of the reason why the show has continuously reinforced a NEED for dark magic without giving any viable solution for the average human who doesn't have natural magical powers or is friends with dragons and elves like our main heroes. Ultimately, it feels hypocritical of the show to keep going on about the evil of dark magic (now very firmly an addiction metaphor) while having no solution for humans in tricky situations that aren't "magic you and only you can do, for some reason" or "queen dragon who somehow still isn't dead dear god coming to save you" or, y'know, "dark magic." Only one of these is really viable for the average person.

Like, you make it an addiction metaphor, but where's the alternative? Vampires need to drink blood to survive but vampire series often show vampires refusing to drink human blood as an addiction metaphor ... they drink animal blood instead, or something, and you get the metaphor. Right now, in TDP, it's either, do dark magic and suffer, or don't do dark magic and ... suffer more? Okay. I'm not saying life has to be fair or that there isn't value in accepting loss, but when Viren scolds Kpp'Ar for having all his fun with dark magic and then very callously dismissing Viren's fear for his son, I felt that. Viren isn't begging for a beer here. He's begging to save his son. Addiction metaphors need to match the scale and reality of what is being shown to you.

Sorry, I'm now going to harp on more about the Your Betters Are Born Better stuff now because I was actually enjoying (you know, tearfully so) Viren's death until his final lines. WHAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I GASPED!!!!!!!! HOLD ON!!!!!!!!!!! Like, let me get it out of the way, I get it echoes his last exchange to Harrow and his loyalty to Harrow is tied to his loyalty to Katolis, and they're saying "He was power hungry but now he is acting in a way that is purely, totally selfless for maybe the first time in his life," which is fine. The problem is, I have sat through six seasons of this show kissing royal ass. I have seen Aanya (shudder) mock him for not being a real noble-born ruler. I have seen Ezran's divine authority be reinforced time and again, and seen Viren throw himself submissively before his King to submit to his judgement as King, not as someone he once hurt. I have been reminded time and again that less privileged people who want the power necessary to succeed in a world biased against them are power-hungry lunatics unless they submit themselves enough to the Supreme Order of the world. So to have Viren's last words be him reinforcing that the most heroic thing he can ever be is A LOYAL SERVANT is just ... horrible. If they'd just kept the framing of Viren's death on his love for his family, it would have been way, way better.

Altogether I uh guess the season was mostly fine. They actually did a better job tying disparate narratives together with common themes which I appreciate. I liked the magefam stuff. I hope Soren eventually learns the stuff Viren chose not to tell him. I hope there's realistic forward growth on the attitude towards dark magic and why humans feel they need it, like some acknowledgement that Katolis was only saved because of Viren (make that two nations he has explicitly saved.) Maybe even Ezran can take a break from being unbearably sanctimonious to properly acknowledge his sacrifice. That would be nice!

I really hope humans get some justice for how they've been actively denied a valuable resource. It seems a self-fulfilling prophecy (they punished Leola for giving humans magic, this made Aaravos go darksided, Aaravos gave humans dark magic, humans are very set against the magical community for the way they've been treated so they're more callous about using dark magic) so I hope the ultimate lesson won't be "humans don't deserve this" but "humans only ended up here because they were treated like they don't deserve it, but they do, by right of existing as beings in this world." If Callum (+ Ezran) end the series as the only or some of the only humans with magic powers, I'm going to eat drywall.

[kiwioala]

since early day lore keeps being referenced, here are some good early qsmp lore vods to watch if you're ever curious about what all went down:

any day 1 pov: really good introductory content (obviously), even for the lore. there’s a lot of cutscenes from that specific day iirc as well which i always think are beneficial to watch! also everyone’s first reactions to cucurucho/osito bimbo are fucking hilarious

roier, day 4: explains his and osito bimbo’s dynamic, they spend a large part of the day together.

roier, day 5: the betrayal the day of spreens betrayal, self explanatory. this is also the day we get the book from osito bimbo where it calls roier "0037"

any day 7 pov: egg's introduction morse code transmission about an “experiment,” the day the original eggs got adopted, shows how the attitude toward the eggs has changed since then, possibly could help explain some of the family dynamics?? at least how they function and treat the kids

roier, day 10: osito bimbo makes it's return but now it's different, (sort of) the day cucurucho officially takes osito bimbo's place

slime or roier, day 16: tilin's death the day of tilin's death, ultimately had a lot of impacts on various characters on the island like slime, roier, and quackity, for example.

slime, day 20: avenging juanaflippa slime tries to get flippa another chance at life by forcing a reset of all the eggs lives, meaning he goes after and targets the other player's eggs.

day 21: "save the baby" quest aka the first egg kidnapping/disappearance (continued in day 22 due to server maintenance). a rescue mission given to the islanders via egg tasks to go retrieve their eggs!

day 22 (slime, mariana, roier, bbh, quackity, foolish, jaiden, philza): juanaflippa's custody trial and revival really fucking funny but also a part of the servers history that i feel like got brushed over too fast. confirms the federation can give extra lives to the eggs if they are so willing and some other stuff.

luzu, day 24: final (physical) arin appearance explains why arin was there, what his purpose is, and how the codes are related to him. can also been seen in foolish and bbh's vod from this day.

foolish, day 26: introduction to leo’s “friends” and a few island entities, the founding of the theory bros (now ordo theoritas) which can also be seen in max and bad’s pov that day!

day 27: the funeral a funeral is held for all the dead eggs (trump, tilin, and flippa) and i believe it's the first time the federation allows parents to talk to their children after their death. for this day, most pov's do go to the funeral service, but only parents of the dead eggs (quackity, slime, mariana, and maxo) get to see their children.

anyones pov, day 34: “the countdown begins, 6 days left.” codes intercept the ducks transmission (again?) and alert the parents that the eggs will die/disappear in 6 days. we know now this obviously isn't true but still a lore-ish day

roier, day 34: even more osito bimbo content! the day when osito bimbo tells roier more about the federation, such as the existence of the "host" and how it has a specific set of duties it must follow/complete.

quackity, day 36: quackitys interrogation & las casualonas debut disguised, roier and vegetta interrogate quackity about his plans regarding the eggs (which iirc was a rumor started by roier saying he was going to murder them) and the island.

maxo, day 50: sofias creator visits maxo important for current lore seeing as the person who gave him said instructions is now known to be a part of the revolution etoiles was recruited into.

[raining-dreams]

Best Underrated Shows

Saving Me 

Saving Me is about a lonely old guy who invents a time machine so he can go back to his child self and fix all his past mistakes. I learned about this show from this video titled Watch THIS instead of Hailey's On It by M!n!mal M!ss Art. Despite this video, I was still very excited to watch Hailey's On It. It seemed like a story with a cool premise and cute art style (and ultimately I do really like the show) But Hailey's On It wasn't gonna be out for weeks when I came across this video and this video really sold me on giving Saving Me a try. I never would have even heard of this show without that youtube video which would have been a real shame because Saving Me is fantastic! I hope this show reaches more people and I'm dying for a season 3!!!!!

House of Anubis

Mystery is my favorite genre and House of Anubis is chuck full of it. I used to be obsessed with this show back in high school. I had so much fun coming up with theories and live-blogging my thoughts and opinions about each new episode. Some of the acting & dialogue could be a little cringe sometimes but the story is just so good that it doesn't matter. I've heard that Het Huis Anubis (the Dutch version of the show that House of Anubis is based on) is even better, though I haven't gotten around to watching it yet.

Over the Garden Wall

Those of us who have seen Over the Garden Wall seem to agree that this show is amazing! Which makes it feel a little weird to call it underrated. But it seems like so few people have actually seen it. Maybe because it was a mini series, it couldn't reach the same level of popularity as other shows of similar quality. If you like Gravity Falls, you'll likely enjoy Over the Garden Wall as well. (Wirt is even voiced by the same guy who voiced Dipper!) I would highly recommend anyone that hasn't seen it already.

Dead End: Paranormal Park

I feel like it's pretty rare for animated series to exist in the horror genre for some reason. It truly is an untapped market. But if you love horror and animation, Dead End is the show for you! (Of course it's kid friendly horror since the target audience is children) The two main characters, Barney and Norma get jobs at a haunted park and work together to fight ghosts and demons. Dead End has a super cute animation style, in my opinion, and a very diverse set of characters. I encourage everyone to watch it!

Just Add Magic

Just Add Magic is based on a children's book by the same name. It's a show about three girls who love to cook and basically discover that they can use cooking to do magic. It's a pretty interesting take on how magic works in their universe. It's very fun to watch. All of the actors are also so talented! And one of those actors is Zach Callison (the voice of Steven Universe)!

The friendship between the trio is awe-inspiring! They have so much chemistry. It's a pretty fun watch.

The Last Kids On Earth

Based on a comic of the same name, this show is about a group of kids who have to survive on their own when a zombie apocalypse breaks out. And other various creatures start to threaten them (or even become their allies) It's basically a cute found family story. The premise is pretty simplistic but that's what I love about it. The animation style of The Last Kids On Earth is so beautiful as well!

I'm still waiting for a season 3!!!!!

Code Lyoko

I remember as a kid being aware of this show and thinking it looked kind of interesting (and I always loved the theme song!!) but I never ended up watching it back then because I let peer pressure get the better of me. I remember I met someone who brought up how much they loved the show. When I heard them express that interest, I was at first excited to ask them more but before I had the chance, everyone else started making fun of him for liking Code Lyoko.

I guess it was like the nerd show or something? I don't really know why it was considered cringe to like Code Lyoko but upon seeing my peers act this way, I decided I can't like Code Lyoko if I want to fit in. So, I avoided watching it. But earlier this year, when I was flipping through channels, they were showing old episodes of Code Lyoko! I was intrigued since I remembered it from childhood and thought I'd actually give it a chance this time. And it's actually a pretty good show! It can be slow at times but overall I enjoy it.

If you're like me and avoided watching this back then due to peer pressure, I highly recommend leaving that in the past and just letting yourself enjoy this show!!

Slugterra

Slugterra is honestly pretty similar to Pokemon, except it's slugs! And the entire series takes place underground. Basically, there's a whole underground world called Slugterra, home to slugs, trolls, moles, etc. And all the slugs have cool powers so the people collect & befriend slugs so they can use them as weapons ("slugslinging"). If you like Pokemon, you're sure to like Slugterra!

Detentionaire

I discovered Detentionaire randomly while I was searching through Amazon's library of cartoons. I was looking for a new show to watch and just stumbled upon this one. It looked pretty interesting and I was surprised to see it was a show from 2011. I don't know how I missed this show back then. Idk if maybe it only aired in Canada or something? (cuz it's a Canadian show) But anyways, Detentionaire is such an intriguing show where the main character, Lee, discovers some grand conspiracy and has to try to expose it to prove his innocence so he can get out of detention. It's such an interesting concept. And, as I mentioned earlier, mystery is my favor genre, so I had a lot of fun with this one.

The only problem though is, of course, it ends on a cliffhanger. The show got canceled before they had the chance to conclude the story in a satisfying way (or any type of way) so watch at your own risk.

Catscratch

I honestly don't even remember what this show was about but I do remember enjoying this show and being excited when I saw a new episode was out. I remember thinking it was so funny. I just don't think enough people know about this show.

[sleepyconfusedpotato]

Hey Sleepy, I was curious about the MI6 lore and about the other members of the mysterious group Jade was in. Like, are they still alive? What they look like and so on

Hello Anon! (｡･∀･)ﾉﾞ

So, I got this similar question about a few months ago, and I've answered it here !

However since then I've cooked some thoughts on the (fictional) MI6 lore and The Jewels!

💎 The Jewels Project Lore 💎

The Jewels Project commenced in 1975. Initiated by Oscar Fletcher, the Jewels are highly skilled individuals who are experts in information gathering, infiltration, espionage, sabotage, and silent assassination.

Oscar Fletcher picks out the members himself, who, at that time were children at the age of 8-10 years old. He specifically selects the kids whose parents abandoned them, died, or were criminals. In his own words, "start from clean slate".

Fletcher trained them with rigorous and harsh training regiments for years and years, teaching them how to manipulate, eliminate, and act. He forged and shaped them to his liking, executing countless black missions effectively and smoothly.

By the age of early teenagers, they're all sent to different missions, acting like an innocent child, and began their first missions, in which they had to assassinate the targets. If they succeeded, they're deemed qualified and given a code-name, which inducts them into the Jewels.

Throughout 1975-1995, There are 10 members of the Jewels (First Generation), sent out to various missions around the world, aiding British's military efforts and/or simply those who MI6 deems as an ally. The success rate exceeded more than the MI6 initially projected, leaving Fletcher an important and untouchable figure among the MI6 authorities.

By the year 1997, 3 members of the Jewels died, and by 2000, 2 members ran away from Fletcher. In the midst of political tensions and wars, only 5 people remained.

After the events of 9/11, Fletcher recruited another 10 members of the Jewels (Second Generation), made them go through the same training, if not more grueling. Sending them to more missions globally until 2020.

As of today, Oscar Fletcher is no longer an active MI6 officer. But the Jewels are still at MI6's disposal unless they retire.

What do they look like?

They all look like normal people. Oscar specifically picked kids who looked ordinary. No striking featurs, and furthermore, he picked kids who are easy to befriend. Not a lot of people have this trait, so he picked every kid very specifically.

Currently each one of the Jewels live among the civilians. They're accountants, florists, janitors, photocopy machine operator, cashiers, retail workers, sales, and many more. They hide in absolute plain sight, and before you know it, they'll become your acquaintance, and they'll know you more than you know yourselves.

Where is Ruby, Garnet, and Jade in This?

Ruby and Garnet were recruited together in 1975 at 9 years old.

Ruby and Garnet participated in the Cold War conflicts (not with Adler and co.; they're somewhere else), Falklands War, Gulf War, and Kosovo War.

They're already friends from their training years, and they're often paired together in a mission.

Right after The Kosovo War, and along with the growing tension in the Middle East, Ruby and Garnet, who realized that their lives will never belong to them, and they'll always be deployed to warzones, decided to run away from MI6 in the year 2000.

9/11/2001 happened, and Fletcher's need of more Jewels were imminent. He started to look for more new members of Jewels, and search for Ruby and Garnet himself, deeming them as loose ends.

Lottie's orphanage got bombed. Ruby and Garnet found the lone little Lottie in the streets alone, and took them under their wing.

Fletcher caught up to them, and non-lethally shot Ruby and Garnet, declared them dead, and took the little Lottie to be the new member of the Jewels as Ruby and Garnet's replacement.

Along with 9 other additional members of Jewels, Jade were deployed to various parts of the world, preventing potential conflicts before it happens, and ended conflicts before it arises beyond control under the shadows.

at 2019, Jade decided to retire, and went to Verdansk as her last mission, where she met Simon "Ghost" Riley.

---

I think that's all I can tell you so far! ヾ(≧▽≦*)o I'll for sure delve deep into the Oscar, Garnet/Ruby stories once BOPS6 releases.

Stay tuned and thank you for asking!

[mizuski-pirat]

Disclaimer: This post only applies to Phil's trust regarding his eggs and somewhat himself. He might be willing to give away almost every other kind of trust pretty freely but he is VERY protective of his family.

I might not be a lore expert, but I am a crow!

(I just wanted to long ramble about my streamer lmao, this is based on a post I saw)

Phil is far from naive, in fact, I'd say he might be one of the most paranoid members of them all. He is, above all, a survivalist. His entire character is based upon his IRL YEARS spent in his hardcore worlds. He is constantly living like he only has one life to spend, whether he realizes it or not. For example, during the elections, he actually said he wasn't going to vote at all for a while bc of his fear of him or his children being targeted for it. (He eventually did vote for forever and etoiles bc of how influential the player votes were but even then he told no one)

Yes, I would say Phil is a VERY loyal person, he's protective and kind in nature, similar to etoiles, but that doesn't mean he just gives that loyalty away right away. If he can give his strength or items to people in need, of course he's going to give them! Trusting them to take care of his kids? Not so much. He was I'm pretty sure the first person to ever protect his little house on the wall with a block reinforcer (albeit a little illegally). Only a select few have access to his basement in the wall, and even less to his storage room. It's only people he's absolutely sure would never hurt his kids (not even Tubbo has access lmao)

Also, Phil is a great judge of character! I'm sure everyone has seen the clips of him with the code versions of his eggs and sussing them out immediately, but there are also multiple times where he's correctly guessed the intentions of Islanders and acted accordingly.

Phil knows that most of the island residents are good people, and he helps them in any way he can (evidence for cellbit, helping cure forever, etc.) He knows kindness is a gift most people need more often (he's pretty damn wise ig. Old ass mf) and he also knows that any trust he gives will probably be repaid back to him eventually (Insert clip of Bad, Etoiles or Cellbit saying Phil is trustworthy and including him in plans/info) and they all need to work together to get off this damn island anyway, so why not show a controlled amount of trust off the bat even if he might never trust them completely?

TLDR: Cool bird man actually very paranoid, careful, and meticulous in some aspects, smart birb. Good birb. He knows exactly what he's doing when he trusts people, and he almost never trusts people 100%.

Old

Wise

Crow

[respectthepetty]

as a major fan of your Thai BL list, I shall now ask about your Korean BLs! 🤩

I think I can actually trust you 😌😌

Anon Two, thanks for tag-teaming this with the previous Anon, so y'all could squeeze another list out of me. To recap, I've already given y'all:

Top GMMTV Actors

Top GMMTV Pairs

Top Five Taiwanese BLs

Top Ten Thai BLs

So what's one more? @lachikapercebe also asked for this list, but requested only my top five; however, since I already started the list without a specific target number from Anon Two, and Korea gives some of the best confessions in the genre mixed with color coding, I can't reduce the list now. It's too late for me to trim it. I am attached to each pick. They are my children, and I can't desert them, so . . .

Top Ten Korean BLs

Rising Star - Love Tractor

I don't trust Korean BLs. A majority are too short, so either the beginning is confusing or the ending is flat, but unless Love Tractor completely fumbles the second half (which it could because . . . Korea), this will be a yearly top and even possibly an overall top for its country and all BLs. It's that good to me. It's hitting all the normal K-drama notes while being oh-so-very-gay. And as a rural queer, it pleases my soul to see country life presented in such a kind and beautiful way.

#10 - Roommates of Poongduck 304

Mr. Petty Peter Jae Yoon independently earned a spot on this list. Ho Joon was a jerk and a true nemesis when the show began, but Jae Yoon started effing up Ho Joon's home life the more Ho Joon kept messing up his work life, so it was a beautiful tit-for-tat the first few episodes; then, Ho Joon lost focus and wanted a consensual workplace relationship. His father appreciating his new attitude and rejection of his ladies' man ways was a delight to witness since we all knew it was due to him falling in love with a man. And oh boy did he fall in love. That entire conversation of Jae Yoon saying it's impossible for two men to fall in love, only for Ho Joon to respond that it was impossible for him NOT to fall in love with Jae Yoon is a top tier confession for me.

#9 - Blueming

I have issues with Blueming solely due to its ending because I was just as pissed as Siwon was at Daun. Maybe even more so. All was going well; then, the end of episode nine pulled a Thai episode eleven, and DAUN TOLD HIS MOM TO PICK THE FILM! I understand men in love do dumb shit, but that was a bold choice, and a very, very, VERY wrong one. As the youths say, "that was not the move." However, the cinematography was delicious like their silhouettes with that bewitching blue backdrop and their first kiss was realistic. Pretty kisses are cool and all, but the awkwardness of desperately wanting someone yet not knowing how to physically perform is true to many people's experiences and should be spotlighted more.

#8 - Choco Milk Shake

I only trust two entities with poly: Thai director Jojo, and Korea's Strongberry, so the fact that Strongberry did not give me poly when it was so clearly laid out is the reason this show isn't in the top three. It had a supernatural plot, great characters who were all well cast, and a happy ending, so WHY NOT POLY? I don't care if the rest of the world is ready or not. I'M READY! We are getting a second season, so if I if get a kiss AND a vocal acknowledgement of Milk and Choco's love for each other when their love for Jung Woo was well established in season one, this will cement its place in my heart and on this list forever.

#7 - Light on Me

Sixteen episodes with most running about thirty minutes?! A love triangle where I could root for both love interests?! A straight boy who earned his spot at the queer table?! Light on Me had it all and then some! Looking at my various lists, it's clear I am not fond of high school dramas, yet I was seated twice a week to see how our neurodivergent baby boy, Tae Kyung, fared that week in his adventure through social norms and annoyances, like trying to help a fellow peer by giving him back the dildo he dropped in the hallway, but getting yelled at instead. I was not Team Shin Woo until that cellphone confession, and then all I could see was Shin Woo. I'm telling y'all, Korea understands how to confess its unwavering love. Gets me every time!

#6 - The New Employee

As the BL fandom continues to evolve and expand, we will get more BLs geared toward adults and workplace dramas, but hopefully, they take the approach that The New Employee (and Thailand's Step by Step) did and make the work environment part of the drama. Working adults, sadly, spend a majority of their time at work, so finding love at one's job seems reasonable, but if anyone has experienced coworkers breaking up, that shit can get rough, real quick. So having to navigate a relationship with someone you work with, especially someone of a higher authority position, ON TOP OF being queer can be stressful, and is something I want more BLs to explore. There are levels to being out, and for most queers, being out at the job is not a possibility, but finding love anywhere is always a possibility, particularly for our late 20-something virgins.

#5 - Semantic Error

The fact that this came out in 2022 is beyond my understanding only because it seems like I have appreciated it for at least five years. This has become a comfort watch when it first started as a "nothing else is on" watch. I have never cared so much about honorifics in my life as I did watching the slow transition of Sang Woo’s emotional walls crumbling under Jae Young’s affection through language. As much as I hated the idea of forced collaboration (aka group projects), seeing the way Jae Young squirmed his way into Sang Woo’s every waking thought and had him seeing red to the point that Sang Woo was saving screenshots of Jae Young’s Instagram posts was a delight and one of the major reasons I keep returning to it. But the layered confession about Sang Woo finding Jae Young, a man, attractive which lead to Jae Young's countdown kiss is, once again, the reason Korean BLs win in the confession department.

#4 - The Eighth Sense

I'm still really bothered by some of the discourse that came out of this show about how it was better than everything else ever because the comments were reductive about the BL genre, yet some of the comments resonated with elements I loved about the series, mainly its look at mental health and trauma. It was a beautiful show, but the message it carried throughout about depression being isolating and taking the light out of people's lives hit me in a way that if this was the Thai list, I would have left it off because it felt like a personal attack. Wanting someone to save you from yourself, but terrified to drag them down with you was not the plot I wanted, but was the story a lot of us needed to see. We also needed to witness someone actively going to therapy. Let's continue this trend!

#3 - Our Dating Sim

"Have you been well . . . without me?" - Put this on my tombstone because I died and came back to life from this utterance alone. Episode four was already killing me, but once Eddy snapped and allowed all his emotions to spill out in front of Ian, the show came for all my past lives and future ones too. Deceased. I wrote this about the show while it was airing, but no other show has done the leave-him-because-I-love-him plot as well as Our Dating Sim. This show nailed it then made a billboard to boast about it because it was perfection. Ian's reasons for leaving were valid, but the show really shined by allowing Eddy to voice his anger at being ghosted for seven years by his best friend and someone he loved. It even touched on the trust issues that stem from someone saying he loves you only to abandon you. Just know I have NOT been well since this ended.

#2 - To My Star 1 & 2

The first season was almost perfect. The cat/dog energy, the "If it's hard for you, I'll come to you" confession, and the budding kink of Ji Woo kissing a tiny bloody wound on Seo Joon all served in a quick nine episodes gave me everything I needed, so I thought this would be my #1 the second season two was announced, but understand the sequel hurt me. The foundation was great: everyone came back, it had more episodes, the episodes were longer, and the conflict always existed in the first series, so a last-minute twist wasn’t invented. Yet, every single episode hurt. Much like I Told Sunset About You, it was realistic to the point that I expected it to end with pain. If season two was its own show and not a sequel to one of my favorites, it would have ranked higher because it was beautiful, but knowing the magic the first series possessed, and having to be a bystander to all the angst for EVERY EPISODE WITH NO RELIEF was tough. But, somehow, here I am secretly hoping we get blessed with a third series. That’s the power of the Star.

#1 - Long Time No See

Small flex - I've been involved with an international queer film festival for over a decade. I've seen easily over 1,000 pieces of queer media including feature films, short films, and documentaries through the screening process, which only adds to my always growing personal watched list. Long Time No See was one of those films. It didn't make it into the festival because I think it was already available on a streaming platform (maybe?), but it was a top for me then, and it's still a top for me now. Is it a BL? Not really. Is it a show? No, it's more like a two-part movie. So why am I allowing it to reign at the top of this list? BECAUSE IT IS AMAZING! In 2017, we were still getting the bury your gays trope shoved down our throats, so a film about two assassins getting a happy ending was a miracle. I read comments from some who did not like the portrayal of "toxic love" but were probably fine with Mr. and Mrs. Smith beating each other with cooking utensils for all the world's children to see, so God forbid, the queers do anything like want to kill AND fuck each other. Niña, Pinta, and Santa María, LET THE GAYS DO CRIMES TOO! Oh, and it's Strongberry, so because of this film - In Strongberry I trust.

[vampireghostlawyer]

Foreshadowing of Daan's fate in Termina Compilation

The reveal of Daan becoming Pocketcat was one of the things that made me so wholly obsessed with Termina and now, after playing it a few times and analyzing the wiki and party talks to hell and back, I've found a few pieces of foreshadowing (some minor and some more blatant) and I wanted to compile them.

1.) Battle sprite

This is one is probably the most obvious, so I'm including it first. In Daan's enemy battle sprite, he is posed very similarly to Pocketcat. Both are faced slightly to the side of the player, with one leg bent in the front, and a hand in their pocket.

2.) Fashion Choices and Dialogue

Daan and Pocketcat are likely nods to the dandy archetype. They both put a lot of emphasis on their clothes and appearance (Daan makes constant references to his shoes and clothes throughout the game, and Pocketcat has multiple dialogues about contestants' clothes as well as his own). Each of them are overly polite and follow traditional etiquette to the point of comedy, and even in situations where it doesn't make sense to do so. Daan will continue being civil to the player, even when he is made furious through talking in battle, and Pocketcat will spend his entire fight doing the same. They speak in surprisingly similar ways, with both using a copious amount of vintage slang and queer-coded linguistics mannerisms.

Also, if Daan transforms, he will continue wearing some of his own clothes as Pocketcat. This one is so obvious I hesitate to include it but I figure I might as well. Specifically, he will unbutton his jacket and wear Daan's vest underneath, as well as his pants and boots. Interestingly, Pocketcat also becomes a shade paler when he transforms into Daan, but I'm not really sure why or what it signifies.

3.) Selfish Artists Karin parallel

Daan and Karin are pretty obvious foils to each other, which serves as the basis for a lot of their bickering in game. They have inverse backstories, inverse motives, and inverse personalities.

When speaking with Pocketcat in the museum, the player may hear a long dialogue of his about the three types of artists/people he sees in the world.

This has multiple meanings, both narratively and in terms of giving the player hints about what to do next, but there are some pretty strong ties hinting to the Daan and Karin parallels in the story. Karin's largest fears (and eventual transformation) can be seen pretty clearly in his description of the extroverted artist, while Daan could be either the introverted or third artist.

4.) Conversation with O'saa

This one is relatively minor, but if you have both Daan and O'saa in your party in the museum's ballroom (near the Pocketcat), O'saa will become puzzled by something and Daan will ask him if a "cat's got his tongue." This is, of course, a common idiom, but considering the time and place where it happens, it seems like foreshadowing to a certain extent.

5.) Pocketcat's Usual Victims

The implications that Pocketcat is a pedophile are honestly so blatant that they aren't really implications. We know that he targets vulnerable children, particularly in Rondon, and finds sexual gratification in it. We also know, through Daan's backstory, that he suffered multiple instances of CSA. Pocketcat has a special interest in people who he sees as malleable, likely blank soul types like Daan. Considering Daan shares two features that Pocketcat targets (both a blank soul, as well as his past), it becomes more obvious that he is a possible future victim/host.

6.) Rher Identity and Mask

Speaking of Daan's blank soul, Rher's book, The Truth Under Moonlight, details a philosophy about people not having a true self.

Pocketcat is not only a servant of Rher (so he likely follows Rher's beliefs), but he seems particularly devoted to the idea of not having a true self, or only having a true self that can only be revealed by outside forces and not oneself. One of his arguments to Daan during his transformation revolves around a secret truth about Daan that has existed for years, as well as he seems to take on traits of the hosts he inhabits, such as their clothes or subtle mannerisms. Even his mask is a symbol of a lack of identity.

Combining all of this with the knowledge that Daan has a blank soul, and seemingly struggles to understand himself (as he often contradicts himself and presents himself very differently to certain characters), it seems like another nod to the fact that Daan is the sort of victim Pocketcat would target.

7.) Meddling and Daan's Connections to the Occult

Part of Pocketcat's purpose as a servant to Rher is how he meddles with the future of people who may harm Rher, or bring other gods more power. Daan's lifelong connection with Sylvian, as well as his connection to and research of the Sulfur God, would both make him a target of Pocketcat's meddling.

Additionally, Daan's past with the occult makes it clear that despite his aversion to the gods and religion, he has experience with them and helps build a relationship to the player between him and the godly creatures in the game like Pocketcat.

8.) Daan's Pants

Both Daan and Pocketcat wear tight, distinctive pants (by 40s' standards, at least lol), and Pocketcat even comments on and expresses an interest in Daan's pants. Obviously, post transformation, he also wears Daan's pants.

9.) Promise to Olivia

The player can promise to take Olivia to a club after they escape Prehevil and she asks them to dance with her (I don't have a screenshot and it's not on the wiki, I'm sorry 😭). Obviously, this technically could happen with any playable character, however it points towards her eventual death at Pocketcat's hands.

In certain circumstances, Pocketcat will kidnap Olivia and forcibly take her to the dance at the museum, where she will moonscorch and transform into the mechanical dance. Imagining this conversation happening with specifically Daan out of all the playable characters makes Pocketcat's sudden obsession with forcing her to go to the dance and become a dance make a lot of sense, and is especially insidious.

This also only happens if both Daan and Olivia are alive, but not part of your party (according to the wiki).

10.) Game Mechanics

Probably my absolute favorite foreshadowing of Daan's transformations are the parallels in game mechanics and combat skills between him and Pocketcat. While Daan is a healer, primarily meant more for magic and healing than combat, his most well known and powerful skill involves amputation (magna medicinal). Pocketcat's main attack is a dismemberment attack targeting a limb of choice, mirroring not just the amputation, but also Daan's ability to choose which limb he's sacrificing.

Additionally, Daan's healing and loving whispers ability works through him whispering comforting (and possibly sexual) things to another party member to heal them. Pocketcat's B attack is a version of healing and loving whispers which harms the recipient by saying offensive and perverted things to them.

11.) Game Mechanics Part II

In addition to their combat skills talked about above, a common (and I believe, intended) strategy for Daan's character points towards his possible future as a host for Pocketcat.

Because of his Magna-Medicinal ability, many players keep Daan alive for a period of time exclusively to use for reviving other characters. Basically, keeping him in the party and removing all his limbs via magna-medicinal to buy 4 extra lives for other characters.

I think this primarily serves as an example of Daan's core character and backstory, where he has been taken advantage of, abused, and used as a sacrifice his whole life, however I also think this hints at his transformation.

Based on our tentative understanding of how Pocketcat works, he takes human men's bodies as hosts and inhabits their bodies to keep himself immortal. Daan's mechanics encouraging you to essentially do the same to him point towards why he is eventually willing to allow Pocketcat to do the same to him.

---

Those are all the ones that I can think off off the top of my head, but if I remember more, I'll add them. ^^;;; I wrote this all at 3am so im sorry if some if it makes no sense

[animentality]

I'm just saying, there were so many opportunities for Durge to have flashback sequences through their dreams- or flashbacks when at a specific spot.

Imagine Durge having a flashback when walking into moonrise, faintly remembering walking in there once before, at the side of...someone, smelling faintly of cedarwood. Durge having more flashbacks the more they wander around moonrise, maybe having a dream the night following first meeting Ketheric, dreaming of being there at a table while Ketheric speaks to a third party, who's voice is so distant you can't hold onto what they're saying...

The flashback possibilities too, when you arrive in Baldur's Gate. Wandering into an alley where Durge once slaughtered a target, another where they could recall a rendezvous with that same faceless man...hell, even one when they see Gortash's face on the posters. Maybe they even remember the hidden spot where they'd exchange letters, and perhaps find one there, written in code and indecipherable until you find the code key at Gortash's parents... A letter full of woe and worry and perhaps a confession too, from a Gortash who thought Durge to be long dead 👀

god I wish the dark urge had more flashbacks too. a character with amnesia deserves more flashbacks. they get the edgy one from noblestalk, the mini memory with Ketheric, and a rare one when you cast a level 6 healing spell where you remember being gentle with other children when you were young.

oh the thought of dreaming of Gortash....

ugh.

I'm gonna be sick.

[synchodai]

There's a lot that bothered me about the sept scene, but the line that stood out to me most was Rhaenyra saying, "The trespass was not mine."

The trespass was hers, and to say otherwise is to say that she is not Daemon's keeper and queen.

This is feudalism and Rhaenyra is a feudal ruler. If she wants to be queen, she will have to take responsibility for things she didn't personally do but happened under her watch. People swear fealty not just for giggles but because it affords them the protection of acting under some bigwig with a big stick's name. She is responsible for people sworn to her, who fight in her name. If a vassal steps out of line, her not punishing them is her allowing that to happen.

And it's not like they identified the culprit as some guy with tenuous affiliations to Rhaenyra either. Daemon Targaryen was explicitly named. And a talking down to isn't a punishment! Daemon should at least be temporarily stripped of his command or titles. Anything.

Aemond should also have been punished (him and Vhagar being grounded should have been depicted as a punishment imo), but Alicent is less culpable than Rhaenyra in this case. Aemond's liege is Aegon, not Alicent—and thus it made sense in the books that the blacks targeted Aegon's children when they felt Aemond was not justly punished.

Nobles cannot just kill children, have everyone know, and then go to the local brothel next Monday. Kinslaying is the biggest taboo there is. A king's pardon needs to be written and publicly declared — and even then, who the king pardons affects his reputation. Rhaenyra not punishing Daemon will of course make people think Rhaenyra is weak and Daemon the true power behind the crown. Aegon pardoning his brother is also controversial but less so given you can spin it into the "Luke took his eye" defense.

Again, Westeros is a place with laws, but it still mostly operates on Code of Hammurabi logic. Rapists get gelded, thieves get their hands cut off, etc. Nobles can weasel their way out of these punishments through royal pardons or paying ransom but it is their liege lord/lady's responsibility to dispense justice and keep order. It is the very first thing Ned Stark does and teaches to Jon Snow, both in the show and the books.

[gayofthefae]

So to recap: Vecna followed Will from the Wheeler house because the TV wasn't working when we first meet Ted and the lights flickered at the house blocks to miles before Will has a run in outside the lab so it didn't escape from the grounds, it followed him to the Wheelers' then back. And when he falls off his bike, the wheels slow to a stop as a clock gongs. When he gets in the gets in the house, he sees fog coming towards his lawn through which the demogorgon is coming, just like Max does, his phone call and exact breathing, timing and proximity to the demogorgon are identical with Joyce's phone calls at the end of the episode and electric zap when the demogorgon came closer to the phone. Will escaped to hide in a cupboard/storage space in the living room after being kidnapped directly by the demogorgon, then was caught and ran around the house to escape the demogorgon. He eventually hides in Castle Byers, where he sings to himself. The demogorgon gets to him only when he stops singing. He is not killed on the spot but rather taken to the library. While Barb has been discarded on the ground with nothing on or in her but general goo after having been successfully killed immediately, he is held on the wall with a vine deeply down his throat.

Within a month of his return, he has true sight and is able to shadow walk. He describes the mind flayer as "coming for him" but never says it's going to kill him. He later tells Owens that it wants to kill everyone else, but specifying "not me". Mike brings him out of his true sight repeatedly and is the only one to do so and the hand he touches is the one that taps Morse code. Will holds off the mind flayer progressively for a week until it overtakes him completely. Emotional memories and music help to coax him out of it momentarily and it is burned out of him.

After the mind flayer is out of him and the gate has been closed, he no longer has true sight or shadow walk, but he does have the ability to sense supernatural presences. Billy Hargrove, like Will, is a son of a homophobic abusive father named William who was born in late March. He is unable to hold off the mind flayer at all and it has full control over him whenever it chooses, as with the others. When the mind flayer targets El, it says it wants to kill everyone including her, her first, in fact. We later find out it is because she is now useless to him, he would have spared her in season 1 when she was still a prospective partner but now that she isn't, she's disposable. He takes her powers then tries to kill her, but an emotional memory breaks Billy free.

Will does not have his powers after the fat being closed and leaving Hawkins. Henry says about the other lab children "They're not gone. They're still with me. I'm here," tapping his temple. Henry and Will are the only two people to our knowledge to develop powers without lab intervention. Both Henry and Will are artists described by a parent as a "sensitive child". El cannot find Max in Max's own mind like she did possessed Billy or shock tortured Mama. When Will re-enters Hawkins with the gate open again, he can immediately sense Vecna's state: wounded but alive, and says that he's "not gonna stop until he's taken everything and everyone".

Okay yeah so sounds like Will was taken into Vecna's mind before the upside down then either preserved for some reason or chosen as a target as a result of his ability to survive, chosen to survive by the time they got to the library, then never gone back on and that is only true of him. It was true of El in season 1 but isn't anymore.

[warnersister]

Talking with your mouth shut.

König x Reader

Call of Duty x Reader

Warnings: angst, fluff, death, sniping, family deaths, mutism

Reader Callsign: Tasmanian ‘Devil’

(Not my gif)

When you first joined the 141 the group were all warned. Your last mission had been gruelling and painful and as a result of your trauma, you no longer spoke. This didn’t hinder your work, when they asked over the radio to check you were still okay they’d receive a moment of static or another type of noise you’d allow yourself to make, half of the time it was you knocking in morse code to confirm. When soap had asked if you’d speak to tell them if you were truly in danger, you’d just given an affirmative nod.

You spoke with your eyes. That’s what Konig had noticed. You always joined in the conversations just not with your tongue. At least that’s what he told himself when he found himself staring at you for long enough that you noticed and offered him a quizzical look with one eyebrow raised.

Konig was enamoured by you from the moment you walked through that door. And you may think that he refused to admit it - the love he held for you. But no, it was one of the very few pleasures he allowed himself. His austere and stern position towards himself simply melts away when you are near.

It wasn’t difficult to fall in love with you. Not at all. With the way your belt tightened your camos to your waist, and your black t-shirt hugging your body in all the right places, stance upright and rigid, muscles prominent enough to poke through your clothes, enough to make himself rut into his hand a lot more nights than he cared to admit. But what really enthralled him, were your eyes.

You were sleeping off the last mission when Ghost and Konig were talking about you. Ghost said your eyes scared him. “When she looks at me there’s just nothing. It’s like she’s dead behind ‘em. I wanna ask what happened, y’know?” He asked and Konig had nodded. “But then again I think that if I do ask she will drop dead.”

That’s not the look you gave him. Not at all. Every time you looked up at him they were bright and full of emotion. They could shine happily or burn with anger or roll sarcastically, but some of the time when you didn’t know he was looking, they’d be full of something he could relate to. They were full of pain and tears.

He knew you were crippled with pain. A weight heavy at your shoulders other than your gun. But like Ghost, he would never ask. If you wanted to ‘talk’ then you would. And if you never did he didn’t mind. He understood enough.

From day dot you had naturally gravitated towards Konig. The first person to never be surprised when you looked up at him and noticed his height, simply giving him a passive once-over and moving on. New mission? You were on his left. Spare time? Winning him at cards. Free night? Laid next to him looking at the stars while he pointed out constellation to you. You were always there and he was always here, ready for when you were ready to open your heart to him that he had done for you.

Tasmanian Devil was what they had named you, Devil for short. The small beasts had the same temperament that you held behind your eyes, they have a reputation for flying into a rage when threatened by a predator, fighting for a mate, or defending a meal - exactly what your bursts of rage represent. Konig liked to call you his little devil. He could tell you smiled under your mask when he said that, the only time you would.

This new mission contained teams of two. “Konig and Devil, we’ll send you to the north building, best sniping position for the house.” Konig said something and you gave a thumbs up before you turned to go get ready.

And here you were, laid on your stomachs side by side, snipers in hand and looking for the enemy target - a captain and his comrades. What they had failed to mention was that his comrades were his family. Wife and two children. A boy and a girl. The boy looked no older than eight, and his sister four. You inhaled sharply and exhaled a shaky breath, lowering your weapon. Konig lowered his slightly and turned to you, watching your eyes swell with salty tears, your eyeblack beginning to run. He had to admit, you looked gorgeous. But now wasn’t the time for that. He raised his mic so nosy ears couldn’t listen and he reached his left hand out to grab your hip and draw comforting shapes along it with his thumb. You buried your head into his neck, eyes shut tight so he couldn’t see them.

He raised his gun, grasped your waist tightly and took four shots then silence as he dropped his gun and used both hands to pull you into an embrace. He manoeuvred you to be sat in his lap and cradling you like a baby. Lowering his mic again, he spoke. “Devil got the shot. My weapon wasn’t required, over.” A voice returned. “Roger confirmation, wait at point Charlie as surveillance until further instruction. Well done Devil. Over.” “Roger, out.” Then his mic was returned above his helmet. You looked up at him, pain and questioning behind those tired eyes of yours. “Every good solider must struggle. I’ve got you meine liebe. I understand.” A loud and broken sob emitted from your throat as the first sound he had ever heard you make. He understood. He knew why you were in pain. Konig knows.

He pecked your forehead comfortingly through both of your masks as he allowed you to cry and calm down, and he loved the way you clawed at his chest and grabbed him like you needed him. Like a damsel in distress.

He never spoke of it when you got back to base and nor did your eyes. But you definitely got closer. Sometimes he liked to think that was the day you opened yourself up to him to let him love you. But those sometimes he also realised that was just his subconscious playing tricks on him.

It was loud in your head, looking at the Mountain Man. Oh how you wanted to tell him how much pain you were in, and how much he soothed it. How much you loved him. You wanted to scream it from the rooftops but your voice would not allow. Instead pleading at him with wide and desperate eyes hoping that someday he may recognise your expression and require your feelings. If only he knew.

Then the dreaded day came for Konig. The day that you would all return home to your families. The day that you would probably run into your lovers arms and leave him behind. The day the intoxicating dream he was living in would come crashing down and his heart would shatter into a million pieces. The chatter was loud on the plane, men excitedly talking about their families and their homes yet the two of you remained silent. Your hand slowly crept over to his and rested atop of his clenched fist which instantly relaxed when he felt your warming touch. His hand turned over and threaded his fingers with his own, thumb doing labs back and forth over your knuckle. He could allow himself to live in paradise just a bit longer.

Ghost shook hands with you all and exclaimed a ‘see you soon!’ as he walked over to a couple of elders and embraced the woman tightly. And slowly, everyone bid their farewells until Konig was all alone. But where did you go? He couldn’t remember seeing you leave. But then again, he was better off not having to see the man you loved. He turned to leave himself, when he stopped in his tracks. There you were, sat on a bench alone with your arms crossed and an unreadable expression covered by tears in your eyes. He slowly made his way over to you, sitting down and about to say something before you interjected.

“They are all dead, Konig.” You spoke in a small and raspy voice from lack of usage. “I’m waiting for my family to pick me up and I know they’re not coming.” His heart twanged with pain in his chest but he couldn’t bring himself to say anything, too entranced by the sweet sound of you. But it hurt him how much he related. “They shot every one of them and I was the one who found them. The worst part is it was my partner who killed them.” You said with a sniff, the image you walked home into relaying in your mind. He listened to you talk, just listened. Soaking up every minute he could have hearing your siren song. “I give my life for my country and it gives me nothing back. I am alone, Konig.”

“You have me, mein liebling. You will always have me.” You were quiet again, looking up into his faithful eyes and realised what you had been missing all along. Slowly, you reached for your balaclava and pulled it up and over your head until it fell into the seat beside you. Konig couldn’t believe what he was seeing. You were beautiful. He couldn’t believe that after all this time the woman he was in love with was so gorgeous. He mirrored your actions with a shaky arm, pulling his mask off and placing it in a similar place to yours. He was waiting for your horror, a scoff from your lips, disgust in your eyes. But instead, the softened as you looked at his face, a small smile growing as you did a quick once over, hand slowly reaching out to trace a scar on his jaw as he leaned into your hand, the touch-starved man yearning for affection. He reached his hands out to your face. “You have always got me, my little devil.” And he kissed you sweetly, tongues tying as you spoke through your minds, a voice finally restored to a broken broken marionette. You realised that with Konig, you would always be okay.

[garbagepile]

The depersonalisation/dehumanisation of mystreet Garroth. A character analysis.

I am not sure if that’s the right term, depersonalisation is about lack of own identity, dehumanisation is stripping someone away from their positive human traits. But I don’t mean either of that, I mean just treating someone as not human?  Garroth is often either extremely over idealised in pdh or seen as a moron in mystreet.

This is pretty long so I'm putting a read more here.

First off his father over glorified him, him being the golden child and all. Being the golden child actually sucks. You have all the pressures, and the feeling of being a fraud as he was praised for stuff he didn’t do. We see Garte canonically praising him for stuff he hasn’t done. And this causes feelings of being a fraud and a fear of being exposed.

Then we have all his fangirls in highschool, obsessing over him and over glorifying him yet again. He isn’t recognised for him as a whole with his flaws, he isn’t recognised as just a human.

I noticed a pattern; very often, it's as if the better people know Garroth, the less they like him. The more he is just an idiot. This probably increases the feelings of being a fraud. 

He is the comedic relief now, to the point some fans don’t recognise him of having any serious sad feelings at all because he is the comedic relief. Now everyone just sees Garroth as an idiot, too dumb to be seen as a person.

And you have the fact he was experimented on, a very dehumanising experience probably. They also refer to them in code names during it I think[A1, A3, A3, A4 and A5]  making it more dehumanising, in a scene in starlight you see a photo of Garroth as a toddler with A1 under it, katelyn being A2 and Travis A3. This hints he was the first to get a forever potion expiremented on him. This would also mirror season 4 and 6. As then the order would be Garroth, Katelyn, and Travis. Just how in season 4 the possession order is Zane, Lucinda, and Aphmau. Those people being the ones to set them free out of their possession in season 6 and that being the order in which they get depossessed in season 6. that's irrelevant really but I just wanted to mention it because it makes Garte look even worse.

Not to mention his possession being one of the most depersonalising and dehumanising ones of all. As unlike all the others, he doesn’t say anything except a few words during it and doesn’t show off much if any emotion at all. The screen also goes over to Garroth when Michael says “And your little toys are mine” basically referring to Garroth as a toy. Garroth during the possession is also almost like a robot, or a puppet, he attacks Nana being in the way but doesn’t continue because he directly switches targets when ordered to. Seeing yourself act like that and someone in your friend’s body boss you around like that is sure to mess you up you know. And then you have him becoming a werewolf, making him “less human” too.

Despite being basic he isn't really like his peers in a way. Oh also his basicness in itself is also kinda depersonalising, ‘Golden children’ often end up having to perform to please their parent. Due to this act to keep their status they often lack individuality and creativity. Perfectly in line with Garroth’s basicness and lack of an interesting taste and so forth. A lack of an personal identity. this is soo interesting with it being implied Elizabeth made the Ro'meave's forget about Garte in the mystreet season 6 finale. That's an identity crisis waiting to happened.

He also turns his own feelings into jokes in a way.

Like his fear of Ivy. She blackmails him to be with her in pdh season 2 aswell as constantly making him uncomfortable and just making it all about her getting his name wrong. As if he doesn't recognise his own feelings so he searches for a superficial reason to explain the feelings he is feeling. And how he after that he kinda forces himself to get over it without a real apology for it from Ivy. I only remember her apologising to Aphmau and explaining her lisp to Garroth. So since everyone is okay with Ivy and it's all about the lisp it's good now. But during their relationship Ivy consistently crossed boundaries and she blackmailed him. He was visually afraid of her in pdh for reasons outside of the lisp.

And we have in the good cop bad cop sidestory thing where in a conversation it was revealed his bad cop joke was actually backed up by him actually distrusting Gene. But after a conversation with Laurance he gets Gene a house a few episodes later.

He doesn't care about his own feelings,in a way. Like how Garte doesn’t care about Garroth's reluctance to inheret the company and still makes him do so.