#the one about sylvie just presenting as female and keeping it that way

[crowsnqueens]

Bibliophile; Pt. i

Kaz Brekker x Bibliophile!wife!reader

Summary: Kaz returns from a meeting to find his wife (that was meant to attend) with a book in her hand and a drink at her side. Unfortunately, a fellow crow sees their interaction and is itching to find out more.

an: i had so much fun writing this bro y’all don’t even KNOW

Warnings: Kaz can tolerate reader’s touch, alcohol and drinking it, little bit of irritated Kaz, fluff for DAYS, reader uses she/her pronouns and is described as female, marriage??, the book “The Language of Thorns” is presumed in canon, the crows are about 22 in this (which is what i imagine to be in the show), OOC Kaz (i tried y’all) I may have missed some 💁🏻‍♀️but enjoy!!

Kaz sighed as he scanned the room for his wife, finding that she was in fact, not present.

“Have any of you seen Y/n?” he tooka large breath,”Never mind, let’s continue.”

“But boss, doesn’t she have a big chunk of the job?” Jesper swirled a pistol around his fingers then re-holstered the weapon with ease and precision.

“I can inform her later.” His teeth slightly grit, his hands working in the beginnings of a loose fist.

“As we were…”

~

Once the meeting was finished, Kaz gathered up the papers to re-place them back with his files, and shrugged his coat off. Descending the stairs of the slat, he noticed some of the books on the shelf had slanted in their places, as if a support had been pulled from under them.

Curious, he smirked.

he decended the stairs further to the crow club’s nightly regulars either gambling or drinking, conversing or laughing, scheming or wishing. But among them all, he found a familiar face in a quiet secluded corner, with a book and a glass of Kvas.

Continuing his way across the floor of his club, he stopped to ask one of the other Dregs about the upcoming job.

Slowly from her corner, Y/n heard a certain man’s voice and found him in discussion with the woman who tended the bar named Sylvi. They were presumably discussing a new job or a previous one, but nothing other than work. She knew that, but she still couldn’t help but keep an eye on the interaction.

Eventually she grew tired of surveying her husband’s every move, and returned to her book. “The Language of Thorns” is a collection of six fairytales and myths she had been read as a child, and when she found it on the shelf she just had to reread it.

“You look invested.” Kaz’s voice softened from his previous tone with the other woman.

“Oh I am, this book is very good. I used to read it quite a lot when I was young.” She smiled over the top of the book, knowing exactly what he would bring up next.

“Was there anything else you needed to do or, attend possibly, this evening? That you perhaps weren’t there for?”

“Oh there was this meeting, yes, my dear husband told my to meet him at 9 bells and it must have slipped my mind.” She smirked in the taller boy’s direction over her book.

“I’ll make sure to tell him about your predicament.” Kaz sat beside his wife, grabbing her hand that was laying on the couch.

“She is forgiven.” He placed a kiss to her knuckles and smiled lightly at her.

“Thank you, Mijn liefje.” She leaned her head on his shoulder and Kaz kissed her head.

“Of course, schatje.”

Little did the two know, a sharpshooter watched and observed their interaction, slowly piecing together that their relationship entailed more than expected.

[usergreenpixel]

JACOBIN FICTION CONVENTION MEETING 33: MADEMOISELLE REVOLUTION (2022)

1. The Introduction

Well, hello there, my dearest Citizens! Welcome back to Jacobin Fiction Convention! I missed you but, unfortunately, real life ™️ was a bit complicated yet again.

Either way, I’m back at it again, roasting analyzing historical fiction. Today’s “masterpiece” was graciously sent to me by @suburbanbeatnik in PDF form as a future review subject. And boy is it one hell of a ride.

Now, on paper, I was intrigued by a story of a Haitian biracial bisexual female protagonist, as there are many possibilities for that kind of story to unfold in a Frev setting.

Besides, it was written by an author who is promoting the #OwnVoices stories, which is a good intention in my opinion. Let’s see if the execution matches though.

(Spoiler alert: IT DOES NOT!)

Unfortunately, it looks like the book is only available in English at the moment and has to be purchased, mainly through Amazon. But maybe both of those things are for the best, since, upon finishing the book, I will be happy if it stays as contained and inaccessible to the wide audience as humanly possible.

Why? Well, more on that later.

This review will be longer than the ones I usually post, so please keep that in mind and grab some popcorn.

Also, it’s a very explicit book with scenes of sexual assault and gore. Goya’s “Disasters of War” and even “Innocent Rouge” levels of gore. So yeah, please be warned.

Anyway, this review is dedicated to @suburbanbeatnik , @jefflion , @lanterne , @on-holidays-by-mistake and @amypihcs . Love you, guys!

Now, let’s tear this sucker apart!!!

2. The Summary

The book follows the story of Sylvie de Rosiers, an aristocratic young woman born to a slave but raised by her plantation owner father as a free member of local nobility. Although not enslaved, Sylvie never felt truly accepted by the elites of Sainte Domingue.

However, following the outbreak of the Haitian Revolution, Sylvie and one of her half-brothers manage to escape to France, where another revolution is unfolding.

Intrigued by the ideas of Liberty, Equality and Fraternity, Sylvie must fight to find acceptance in this new context and carve out a place for herself.

Sounds interesting so far, right? Let’s see if the story lives up to expectations or not.

3. The Story

I have to admit that the first few chapters, the ones taking place on Haiti, were actually pretty good, or at least not bad. The pacing was good, the storyline building up to the uprising made sense and the introductions of the characters and the world building were fine.

Too bad that this lasted only for about four beginning chapters. The French chapters making up the bulk of the book were awful.

The characters suffer from assassination like they’re mafia snitches, the pacing turns into a speed run, the historical context isn’t explained well at all and the story rapidly stops making sense:

First Sylvie arrives and quickly meets Robespierre and the Duplay family, then becomes an ardent revolutionary, then flip flops between loving Eleonore Duplay and pining for Robespierre, then just so happens to meet Danton and Marat, then becomes a spy, then murders Marat… No, I’m not joking.

All of this is in the book with very little justification that makes sense. The worst part? The book isn’t stated as alternative history, so the author is very dishonest and presents everything in the book as actual history that is accurate to reality when it’s definitely not.

Oh, and flashbacks. The fucking flashbacks breaking immersion like a cat breaking a vase don’t help at all.

There’s also a ton of Thermidorian propaganda as well, so yeah… Fail.

4. The Original Characters

Let’s tackle the OCs first because the historical peeps deserve a separate category here.

First and foremost, I don’t like Sylvie as a character. She starts out as a vain spoiled brat growing up surrounded by privilege and luxury and openly looking down on slaves, especially on women.

Then she witnesses the execution of a rebel and very suddenly goes: “Fuck, slavery is awful!”, renounces her old ways, disowns her father and does a 180. It’s not written well though and is more like a teenage tantrum than character development.

Sylvie keeps flip flopping like this throughout the entire story too. Yay…

Oh, and she’s a Mary Sue. Everyone adores her except the villains, she’s able to charm her way through anything and obviously plays an important role in almost all of Frev! Robespierre even calls her The Mother of the Revolution at several points, even though she did nothing to earn that title.

She also pines for Robespierre for no reason at all, except for “he’s cool and charming I guess”, but in order to get closer to him, Sylvie Sue ™️ starts an intimate relationship with Eleonore Duplay.

So yeah, our protagonist manipulates another person (which is abuse) and plays Eleonore like a fiddle, but she also flip flops between only using Eleonore and actually loving her. Is Sylvie ever called out for that? Technically yes, but it gets resolved too quickly so it doesn’t count.

Also, Sylvie is INCREDIBLY selfish. She’s fine with manipulating Eleonore, fine with Charlotte Corday being executed for killing Marat (in the book Sylvie did it) and taking the blame… Again, everything revolves around Sylvie and she never gets called out on that either and never gets better.

She lacks consistent personality aside from those traits, however. She claims to want safety yet always takes the risky option and refuses to emigrate when it would help her obtain actual safety, for instance.

Gaspard, one of her half-brothers, is a much better character in my opinion, but still underdeveloped. But at least his journey from privileged fop to a revolutionary is less clunky. Too bad he dies with the Montagnards in the end.

Sylvie also has another half-brother, Edmond, who is cartoonishly evil and tries to murder Sylvie at one point.

Sylvie also has a standard issue evil stepmother who is eager to marry her off and thus get rid of her but at least has enough decency to not be actively malicious.

Her dad is loving, but painfully ignorant.

Sylvie’s aunt Euphemie de Rohmer is a good character, always looking out for Gaspard and Sylvie. She does emigrate to London during the reign of terror though.

Okay, now let’s discuss the historical figures.

5. The Historical Characters

I know that I usually don’t discuss accuracy, but an exception must be made here.

Maximilien Robespierre seems to undergo a typical “character arc” of “actual revolutionary turned ruthless dictator”. He is also one again coded as asexual and thus shown as not giving two shits about his lover, Eleonore Duplay. He tries to marry Sylvie for political reasons only later in the book and it’s all but stated that he condones all the violence going on and is called a hypocrite multiple times. Oh, and he also kisses Sylvie without her consent… Err… DID SIVAK CONFUSE HIM FOR DANTON?!!! Okay, one sec…

(Shows up with a bloody face) Okay, let’s continue…

Eleonore Duplay is a promising artist who is fiercely loyal to Robespierre but cheats on him with Sylvie and later turns out to be a member of a women’s secret society that is trying to curb the terror. She’s on board with murdering Marat and is also friends with Olympe de Gouges and Charlotte Corday. Wtf?!

(Checks that the antidepressants didn’t cause a hallucination)

Elisabeth Duplay falls in love with Gaspard and her marriage to Le Bas is portrayed as arranged by Robespierre to “reward” Le Bas for being a loyal Jacobin, but at least she is relatively happy in said marriage. Uhm, okay…

Olympe de Gouges and Charlotte Corday are portrayed as basically saints and also part of the secret society.

Corday in particular is willing to sacrifice herself for the sake of France and Sylvie is fine with that because, apparently, Corday has nothing to live for anyway but Sylvie does.

It’s not like in reality Corday actually had a family and Girondist friends or anything so yeah, TOTALLY OKAY to throw her under the bus amirite?!

Danton, luckily, is portrayed fairly accurately as a crass womanizing brute so at least that’s correct.

Marat is a stereotypical bloodthirsty monster who is supposed to be very smart yet acts like an idiot in the presence of our dear Sylvie Sue.

Charlotte Robespierre makes exactly one cameo and acts like a total ass to both Duplay sisters and to Sylvie (who she just met). Don’t get me wrong, Charlotte was at odds with the Duplay family but not all of them and certainly she wasn’t a bitch to every single fucking stranger.

Augustin Robespierre is merry, a gentleman, loyal to his ideas but also a part of that secret society and also supports the idea of offing Marat. Nice…

Surprisingly, Henriette Robespierre makes a cameo alongside Charlotte and also acts like an ass but at least less so than Charlotte. Except she shouldn’t even be in the book because the cameo happens in 1792, yet Henriette died in 1780. So it’s either a ghost or the author doesn’t care. I’m kind of inclined to believe the latter.

Where are Camille Desmoulins and Saint-Just, you may act? ABSENT, believe it or not! No, I’m not kidding! They’re nowhere to be seen for some reason!!! I have no idea why. They’re not even fucking mentioned!!!

Anyway, let’s move on before I lose my sanity.

6. The Setting

Again, the first chapters are much better than the rest. In the majority of the book the descriptions are not that great and the world building is laughably inaccurate, to the point that, if I were told that it’s a joke fanfic, I’d have believed it instantly!!!

7. The Writing

Thankfully, there’s no “First Person Present Tense” bullshit, but the writing is still full of problems. The aforementioned flashbacks are just one problem, but there are others.

For example, extremely clunky use of French. I’m the beginning of every chapter we get a date and the months are in French. This would’ve been fine but gets ridiculous in cases like “early avril 1793”. What’s wrong with writing “early APRIL”?!

Oh, and in another instance, the houses of families are called “Chez + Family name”, like Chez Rohmer and Chez Marat. It gets weird when the text has phrases like “went at Chez Marat”. Chez already means “at” in this context, so it’s extremely redundant and a damn eyesore. Wouldn’t it be better to say “Went to Marat’s apartment”? Apparently, not for Zoe Sivak!

Also, the author describes all the brutal and gory scenes of executions and torture at an alarming length and with a concerning amount of details, to the point that I got very uncomfortable despite not being squeamish most of the time.

8. The Conclusion

Phew, it’s finally over. As you may have guessed, I don’t recommend wasting your time and money on this pile of trash.

A 13-year old here on tumblr can write a better novel than whatever the fuck this author published.

It’s poorly researched with inaccuracies that even a quick Wikipedia search could fix, the protagonist is an awful Mary Sue, the historical characters get constantly fucked over… so yeah, please skip this shit.

Anyway, on that note, let’s conclude today’s meeting. I think I might need time to recover from reading this book…

Stay tuned for updates!

Love,

Citizen Green Pixel.

[gender-says-no]

Okay, so I'm just going to talk about some stuff about gender fluidity and the new Loki series. Be warned, I will be mentioning a negative view/comment about Loki being genderfluid that was said to me, and personally it upset me. So please be cautious if things like that trigger you easily. Also, please don't take offence to anything I say, some of my views on this subject might be influenced by my environment, and idek if anyone agrees with me. Also, this has spoilers if you haven't seen all 4 episodes!!!

Okay, so the Loki series finally addresses Loki being genderfluid. Yay! As a genderfluid individual, I was very happy and excited about that, as well as them confirming his sexuality. However, I see some problems with how it was addressed. I'll be using he/him pronouns for Loki, and she/her for Sylvie, as they do in the show. This is all over the place, and I apologize if any part of this offends anyone.

So, we know that in the comics, as well as Norse mythology, Loki is a shapeshifter. He can and does turn into other things, being an animal of sort, a female, etc. But instead of showing Loki altering himself to appear female, we were given a whole new Loki, aka Sylvie. Now, in the MCU, we're aware that there is a multiverse, however, in Loki, it seems that the TVA are only focused on protecting a single timeline, which they call The Sacred Timeline. The problem here is that if it's a single timeline, why is Sylvie only ever shown as a girl? Even as a child. It could be because this Loki variant primarily feels like a woman, prefers being a woman, or is just a cis woman. To me, it seems like they wanted to show Loki's genderfluidity without actually showing it. They basically gave us a gender bent Loki. Loki is male, Sylvie is female. That's that. And with the fact that the multiverse exists, it seems like shes a variant from another universe, even though the TVA doesnt seem concerned about other universes.

When we were shown Sylvie being taken by the TVA when she was a little girl, she doesnt appear to be doing anything wrong. It kinda just looks like she's playing?? And with what I've seen about the TVA, as soon as a variant causes a branch in the timeline, a team is sent out to fix it right away. So what did she do that messed up the timeline? When I told my family that I wondered what she had done to be considered a variant at such a young age, my father said, "Probably because she was born a goddess instead of a god." Theoretically, this could be true. In the timeline that they're protecting, Loki is only ever seen as being male, so Sylvie being female could technically be the cause. However, why would they wait? If the timeline was messed up by Sylvie being a goddess, a branch would have formed immediately and the timeless would have dealt with that right away. So that can't be the problem. So, naturally, I had to defend Sylvie, because Loki is genderfluid, so a female Loki shouldn't ruin a timeline. This lead him to say that Loki isn't genderfluid. To quote, "He's only genderfluid in the way that Thor's genderfluid. And the way that Steve is. He's only a girl when the writers decided to make him one."

First of all, obviously??? Marvel isn't real life, everything that happens in either the MCU or the comics is because the writers decided to do that. That's how fictional characters work!!

Second, what the fuck? He had mentioned right before that a female Loki is reasonable since Thor is also becoming a woman. Which? What?? He explained that Thor's passing the hammer onto a woman, so Thor is becoming a woman now. Which is so wrong. Thor is his name, not the title held by whoever has his hammer. It's not even a superhero name like Iron man or Spiderman. It's the name he was given at birth?? Hes just passing on the hammer to a woman, he's still Thor. And when has Steve ever been a woman?? I dont remember hearing about that, but I think that he might be referring to gemderbends, where in another universe, some characters are the opposite gender. In this case, they're two different people. In Loki, theres only one timeline, which I assume contains multiple universes, so it can be seen as logical to assume that Syvlie is just a gender bent Loki from another universe. And who knows, maybe she is, we can't actually know for sure right now. Seeing the other Lokis basically proves that the way they present themselves doesn't matter, even if it's not directly said. We're given the old comic version, a kid, a black man, and an alligator, as well as many more who show up later. The main 6 Lokis that the series has shown us have told their nexus events, besides Sylvie, and given what they are and how old most Lokis are, it's very safe to assume that how they appear doesn't matter. So this confirms that there are multiple universes that the TVA watch over. Because of all this, I would say that it's safe to just go ahead and assume that Syvlie is in fact just a gender bent Loki, which doesn't actually do anything about Loki being genderfluid. However, Syvlie could of just been presenting as female at the time of her nexus event, and had just chosen to stay that way after the TVA took her life away from her. That's all I have to say, feel free to lmk your opinions or ideas. Also feel free to tag me in posts about this (for about whatever, idc) if you want

Thanks for reading. And I hope you have a great day!! 🧡🧡🧡🧡

[musclesandhammering]

Every Single Issue I Have With S*lki (It’s Not Just The Selfcest)

Here goes. I threatened to post this a few days ago and never did, but I just saw a s*lki stan Twitter account claim that Loki caring about Sylvie more than the whole multiverse was a Good And Romantic thing and it pushed me over the fucking edge, so now you all have to read this. I’ve divided it into categories cause there’s just THAT much.

OOC Bullshit

• First and foremost, no amount of mental gymnastics you do will ever make me believe that this specific Loki- the one that just invaded New York, that just came off a year of Thanos Torture, that just got done being influenced by the sceptre, that was literally in the middle of a crisis already, and then on top of that went through all the trauma of Ep 1- would even be worried about a romantic relationship. That would be the furthest thing from his mind. Go back and watch how he acted in Avengers- you think that guy would abandon his previous mission to become a snivelling simp for a girl he’d just met 3 days prior? Yeah, there’s no universe in which that makes sense.

• “It’s very in character for Loki to fall in love with himself lololol-“ NO, it’s literally not. Out of all the characters in the mcu, I don’t think I can think of anyone that genuinely hates themselves more than Loki. He even referred to all his other male variants as “monsters” and said meeting them was “a nightmare” in this series. He’s got so much self-loathing, plus the fact that he genuinely thinks himself to be an evil backstabbing scourge- so there’s no evidence at all suggesting that he would ever develop a fondness for, or even be inclined to trust, another version of himself, after only knowing them for 3 days.

• Building on that, the whole concept of Loki falling in love with a version of himself just feeds into the annoying ass misconception that he’s a narcissist. No matter which way you stack it, he’s not. If you’re referring to NPD, he doesn’t fit the criteria, and if you’re saying “narcissist” just as a slang term meaning “selfish and arrogant”, that still doesn’t accurately describe him. But when creators like Waldron and Herron do things like having him fall in love with himself, it makes it so much easier for casual viewers to think that he is.

Shitty LGBT Rep

• It’s kinda sus that Loki’s are allegedly genderfluid and yet the only female-presenting variant we see (and apparently the only female-presenting variant there is, cause the male Loki’s all seemed unfamiliar with the concept) is treated as some kind of mind-bogglingly special paradox. Also very sus that, out of all the Loki variants, the one our Loki falls in love with just so happens to be the only female one. What a coincidence.

• The fact that the creators of the show went around bragging about Loki’s bisexuality and Marvel purposefully (lbr) allowed stories about Loki possibly having a male love interest to circulate, specifically enticing queer viewers to watch the show (you know, the definition of queerbaiting), and then instead of having a male love interest (Loki was the first queer main character, so it was the perfect opportunity) they gave us *gestures to this dumpster fire* this… it’s just a middle finger to LGBT fans. The fact that they would rather have this relationship with all its myriad of problems than have a gay relationship is just……. Very telling.

• While him being with a woman obviously doesn’t refute his bisexuality, the fact that they showed/talked about him being interested in 3 different women (flight attendant, Sylvie, Sif) and never even hinted at him being attracted to a man, definitely makes it seem like they were trying to cover up his bisexuality to smooth things over with the more homophobic viewers. You know? It’s like “I know you’re pissed that we sorta confirmed Loki as bi, so we promise we’ll never mention it again! Or even hint at it! As a matter of fact, we’ll give him lots of female lovies and make him seem as straight as possible! That’ll take your mind off of that horrible crumb of queer rep, right? Please please please keep giving us your money!!!”

• Aside from all the other issues, at its core, the biggest reason why I think I’m so irritated with s*lki is that it took one of the most interesting, complex, and diverse characters in cinema atm and squished him into a tired ass unnecessary heteronormative subplot…. Like literally every. single. other. protagonist. ever. Loki is such a unique character, and it’s so so so incredibly disappointing that they stuck him into that same boring cookie cutter romance that happens to every other character in every other movie I’ve ever seen. It’s a disservice, and it’s honestly just not compelling or entertaining at all.

Thematic Issues Galore

• His arc didn’t need a romance. With anyone. It was unnecessary and it didn’t make sense plot-wise. In fact, one of the reasons he was my fav prior to this was because he was the only big-name mcu character whose story wasn’t muddied-up by a romance that didn’t need to be there. So much for that.

• He wasn’t emotionally ready for a romantic relationship with anyone. Hell, just a genuine friendship would’ve been pushing it for him at this point. He was in such a bad state that any relationship he got into would’ve been toxic and unhealthy for both him and the other person, and it doesn’t make sense why the writers would want to put him in one when there were so many cons and essentially no pros (other than “Uwu aren’t they cute together”).

• Sylvie’s character in general was unnecessary and Loki’s character was robbed just by her being there. The whole show became about her post-Ep 2. They spent most of the time giving her backstory, building her up, telling us how awesome she is, trying to convince us to like her, etc when what they really needed to be doing was building Loki up- cause I gotta say, if I had to describe TVA!Loki in a few words, they would be Flat, Boring, and Weak.

• The romance overtakes the plot. They spend time portraying their supposed connection that could’ve been spent adding depth and complexity to literally any of the characters. They make the big Nexus Event them giving each other googly eyes on Lamentis when it could’ve been so many other way more profound things that speak to the fundamental nature of Loki’s. They have the climax of the finale be “oh no she betrayed him to kill He Who Remains” when it could’ve been something way more compelling (Loki having a moral crisis over whether or not to kill HWR, Loki contemplating the state of the multiverse and weighing the pros and cons of freedom vs order, Loki looking into some What If situations and getting emotional about what could’ve been regarding his family, Loki realising the gravity of HWR’s offer and finally coming to terms with how important he is to the universal cycle, etc etc). The entire plot suffered in favour of a romance that half of us didn’t even want.

• It essentially reduced all of Loki’s potential character growth down to “He did it for his crush.” He seemed to at least have some motivations of his own in Ep 1-2 (feeble as they were) but after Sylvie showed up in Ep 3, literally every action he took was just him being a simp for her. Why did he lie in the interrogation? To try to protect Sylvie. Why did he fight the minutemen and Timekeepers? To survive kinda, but mostly cause it was important to Sylvie. Why did he get pruned? Cause he got distracted trying to confess his crush to Sylvie. Why did he try to get out of The Void? Cause he thought Sylvie needed him. Why did he stay in The Void? Cause Sylvie was staying. Why did he try to enchant Alioth? Cause Sylvie told him to. Why did the multiverse get cracked open, leading to an infinite number of Kangs waging war on all of existence? Cause Loki didn’t wanna hurt Sylvie in their fight at the Citadel and then get distracted by her kissing him. It’s uninteresting and honestly pretty embarrassing.

• Throughout their “relationship arc” the writers do their absolute damndest to convince us that we should like Sylvie more than Loki. And you know what? It’s the most hypocritical shit I’ve ever seen. They preach and preach about how Sylvie’s life has been so difficult/we should feel bad for her/she had it so bad/poor poor sylvie/she had it SO much worse than pampered prince Loki…. But then they never even touch on any of Loki’s trauma of hardships (the ones that have been ignored for literally 3 movies now). They frame Sylvie as a good person and a Freedom Fighter after she spent literal decades/centuries mass-murdering brainwashed TVA agents and showing exactly zero remorse for it….. but then they make it their mission to constantly remind us that Loki is a terrible person and constantly put him in situations where he’s forced to acknowledge his wrongdoings/show remorse/admit to how “evil” he is for being a mass murderer for like 2 years. They show him on-screen having a wider range of powers than her, and perpetuate his whole shtick of being a “master manipulator” or whatever….. But then they make Sylvie “the brawn” more competent, intelligent, and physically capable than him. Tell me how it’s a good thing for a ship to be so narratively biased toward one character.

Missed Opportunities

• If they absolutely had to have a romance subplot, then they could’ve paired Loki with one of the characters that have already been established OR one of the characters that were a big part of the whole TVA storyline anyway. It would’ve been so interesting if they’d revealed that Loki had a history with some of the players from previous films (Sif and Fandral both come to mind). It also would’ve been really interesting if they’d given Loki a love interest that actually had some allegiance to the TVA as a whole (Mobius maybe, but not necessarily. It also could’ve been Renslayer or B-15). Hell, imo it would’ve been cool if they’d followed through with that “See you again someday” line that he said to the flight attendant in Ep 1. ALL of these characters have way more chemistry with him than Sylvie, and they were also already relevant to the plot without wasting half the show to give background info on them.

• If they absolutely had to have a hetero-presenting love story involving an enchantress-type figure, then there’s a whole Enchantress (Amora) that was actually Loki’s love interest in the comics. Plus, fans have been screaming for Amora to appear in the mcu for years. Plus, Tom literally pitched an Amora/Loki storyline way back in 2012-13. Also, Lorelei (another enchantress) is also one of Loki’s love interests in the comics, and she already exists in the mcu (she was on Agents of SHIELD). There were several different established characters for them to choose from. Creating a whole knew amalgamation of a character and going with the “she’s a Loki variant” storyline was just completely unnecessary and made no sense.

• They completely robbed us of a Chaos Twins dynamic. Had they handled Sylvie better and not forced her and Loki to smooch, the two of them could’ve had a really really complex and interesting sibling relationship. Loki could’ve stepped into Thor’s shoes and sort of used that new role to gain some self importance, and Sylvie could’ve finally had somebody to look out for her/teach her magic/be there for her. It would’ve been very aesthetically pleasing, the vibes would’ve been out of this world, it would’ve been way more profound than this bs, and frankly it would’ve been much more entertaining to watch.

• Loki’s relationship (read: obsession) with Sylvie completely overshadows all Loki’s other relationships in the show. Loki and Mobius were literally the focal point of the series in Ep 1-2, but after Sylvie showed up in Ep 3, they barely had any interactions with each other, and Mobius pretty much faded to the background entirely. Loki had the beginnings of a pretty interesting antagonistic relationship with Renslayer (with her wanting him pruned, then arguing with Mobius that he couldn’t be trusted), but after Sylvie showed up the dynamic shifted to focus on the history between her and Ravonna. Loki and B-15 started off very badly and openly disliked each other throughout Ep 1-2, and then in the end of Ep 2, Loki showed a little bit of concern for her when she was possessed, hinting that they might be inching toward a reconciliation- especially considering how obvious it was that Loki was gonna uncover the TVA’s sins eventually. There was so much potential for him to be the one to give her her memories back and convince her to change sides, but no, of course that honor went to Sylvie. In fact, after Sylvie showed up, Loki and B-15 never even spoke to each other again.

Various S*lki Fails

• If they were trying to convince us that this affection was mutual, they completely failed. There’s nothing I’ve seen that even hints at Sylvie feeling the same way about Loki that he does about her. At most, I’d say she has a slight endearment to him. She finds him likeable and she’s grudgingly fond of him, but she definitely isn’t in love with the guy. Maybe she thinks he’s cute and hopes that he gets out of this mess alright, but her mission obviously comes before him- whereas, it’s been confirmed multiple times that Loki cares about her above anything else. She doesn’t trust him, she looks at him like he’s an incompetent fool half the time, she shows little to no reaction during most of his confession moments, and she kissed him as a means to distract him so that she could get him out of her way. Look, all I’m saying is, when you get into a relationship where one of you is way more invested than the other, it never ends well.

• This goes without saying for a lot of us, but the selfcest is just straight up odd and cringey. If you’re cool with that sort of thing, fine! People can ship what they want! But don’t pretend it’s not at least a little bit uncomfortable. Yes, I know they’re not technically siblings so it’s not technically incest, and they’re also not technically the exact same person, but they’re similar enough that it makes things weird. And yes I know selfcest can’t happen in real life, so there’s no way to judge it morally, but neither can most of the other stuff that happens in these shows/movies (the Snap, Loki destroying jotunheim, superhero with powers being held accountable, mind control) and yet we still find ways to judge their morality, because they all mirror real-world events. (The snap= genocide; Loki destroying Jotunheim= bombing other countries; superhero accountability= weapons accountability; mind control= grooming and coercion). And lbr the closest real-world mirror to two versions of the same person (who may or may not share DNA, family, backgrounds, physical and emotion characteristics) being romantically involved with one another is incest. And you can be ok with that if you want- that’s your prerogative- but don’t get pissy just cause a lot of us are squicked out by it.

• The whole mirror metaphor (learning self love via each other) thing just fell completely flat. First of all, having Loki learn to love himself by looking at someone who mirrors him did not, in any way shape or form, require them to be romantically involved. But they were. Of course. Secondly, the creators have contradicted themselves so many times on whether Loki and Sylvie are the same or not, that it doesn’t even really register to the viewer that the mirroring thing was what they were going for. Finally, Loki and Sylvie are shown to have so little in common- and to have only the most bare minimum of similarities personality-wise- that it doesn’t even make sense that Loki would “learn to love himself through loving her”. Like? They’re nothing alike. So how would he make the connection that he himself is actually pretty cool, based on her alone? There’s virtually nothing in her that reflects him.

• I know the objective of the entire show was to convince us of how awesome and unique Sylvie is, but honestly her relationship with Loki just did the opposite. A hallmark of a Mary Sue is having her constantly upstage the male lead, and then having him instantly fall madly in love with her anyway. And that’s.. exactly what happened here. Everything they’re doing to try to force her character to be more stan-able is really just forcing her to look more like their self-insert OC. Which is exactly what she is. It would’ve been so much more satisfying if she didn’t have to try so hard to look cool, if they didn’t have to try so hard to make her backstory tear-inducing, if they didn’t have to turn our protagonist into a snivelling simp just to prove how incredible she supposedly is. Very much #GirlBoss energy and we all know how performative and cheap that is.

• The entire thing was too rushed, there was too little build-up, and it was nowhere near believable. As stated above, it’s ridiculously unlikely that Loki would canonically even be interested in Sylvie, and this show did nothing to explain why he was. He just suddenly was. There was nothing they showed us as viewers that would justify a guy as closed-off and preoccupied as Loki falling head-over-heels for a girl he just met. Their was no explanation, no big revelation, no reasoning, it just… kinda happened. And I’m also severely skeptical of any love story that has the characters go in this deep after only 3 45-minute episodes of exposition.

I’m sure there’s other stuff, so if anyone thinks of anything, let me know and I’ll be more than happy to add it. Tagging @janetsnakehole02 @raifenlf @natures-marvel and @brightredsunset800 for expressing interest. This is all your faults.

[loki-is-my-kink-awakening]

Regarding the bts Loki event, I believe a fair few of the so called fandom keep confusing self love with selfcest. The interviewer was therefore included in that respect. I see the dynamic between the two of them as Loki being genuinely vested in the wellbeing of his female self from another universe so vastly different from his.

I took quite a while to answer this, apologies for that.

Firstly, if you didn't know, I am in love with Lokius and that's where my opinion will come from.

I agree that when most people are talking about self love between Loki and Sylvie they often equate it to selfcest. I think that is what they saw in the show. I admit, I saw that too but coming from the other side where it upset me, and there are many reasons for this. Sure, I wanted Lokius but I also saw the damaging aspects of Loki and Sylvie's relationship and don't think any of it was healthy. I just want healthy relationships.

I also agree that the show was trying to (and definitely failing based on people's understanding) that their relationship was one of self-love. I wrote a little something about how the Loki variants represent aspects of Loki previously, if I find it I'll add the link, but I don't think I went into how I saw Loki and Sylvie's relationship as being part of that healing journey of accepting self. To me, Sylvie's character represented that negative inner critic, the part of us that tries to keep us safe by saying horrible things to us. It's trying to keep us safe by telling us that we aren't good enough or remember all the shameful things we have done in our lives, but it is maladaptive.

In terms of healing, I agree that learning to accept self is part of that, but I don't know that the show's ending helped that. Sylvie fights back with Loki, much like that inner critical voice, and then effectively shuts him down by sending him away. In terms of healing, that's pretty damaging but we all know healing in not linear. It's a long and difficult road.

Ultimately, I think that trying to show these inner archetypes created more confusion for people. People didn't see the self-love aspect, they saw selfcest. I can't even fault them for that because of the way the show presented it, but I can clearly say it wasn't something I wanted to see.

Anyway, Loki did try to show a destructive aspect of himself some care in the end, but the issue for me is that they did that with a kiss. They could have done it a different way. The confusion of romance with self love is the core issue and why I think people confuse it with self love. It was also a kiss initiated by said destructive side of himself and I think that is confusing as well. As I said above, that side is just trying to keep us safe, so I get it, it just isn't easy to understand the psychology behind it for most people. Most people understand selfcest. They don't understand these complex psychology theories. The only reason I do is because a) I am interested in that, and b) I went to therapy.

Anyway, not sure if that answers any of your ask, and I totally understand if you disagree with what I've said. That's totally cool. Before I end completely, I will say that I like Sylvie as a character. How could I not? Sylvie is literally where Loki has been. Sylvie is hurting and that makes me sad. I want her to be okay. I just don't want their romance.

[taaroko]

Loki phenotypes headcanon

I love the Loki show but it’s very weird to me that the Loki variants don’t all look like Tom Hiddleston (or as close to Tom Hiddleston as possible while being older or younger or a woman). I mean the big monstrous-looking Loki and the weird gnome-like one in that initial set of images we saw in episode 2 could have been the result of Loki doing weird experiments on himself I guess, but the same cannot be said of Sylvie, Boastful Loki, or all of the goons who (temporarily) work for President Loki. That the only recurring Loki appearance we see is the Tom Hiddleston one, and ESPECIALLY because the Tom variants include the brief glimpse we get of Jotun Loki, is very interesting though, and I’ve come up with a theory about it. 

The Tom appearance is reflective of Loki’s actual non-shapeshifted appearance. Tom is just what that Jotun baby would grow up looking like if all he did was make himself look Aesir but didn’t get fancy. So I think the variable that determines what Loki looks like as an adult is who picks him up in the temple on Jotunheim. In most timelines, it’s Odin, but not always.

Sylvie is what that Jotun baby would look like if found by a woman like a Valkyrie or Lady Eir before Odin. However sex and gender work for Frost Giants at large, this one’s a shapeshifter and might not have a preference one way or the other (especially as a baby) except for instinctively matching the person who found them and prevented death by starvation. Like...gender presentation imprinting or something. That would also explain why Sylvie is the only Loki we’ve seen so far who presents female as her default; it was simply far more likely for baby Loki to get found by a male Aesir because there weren’t a lot of ladies involved in that war.

Similar for skin color. Boastful Loki looks the way he does because a dark-skinned Einheri or maybe even Heimdall found him before Odin. And all the other Lokis who were in President Loki’s gang might’ve been found by random other Einherjar. (I’m assuming that no matter who found him, if they were Aesir, he ended up raised by Odin and Frigga.)

Whatever you believe Odin’s reasons were for picking up baby Loki, I think he was much more likely to actually keep him and give him the food and comfort he’d been lacking than most Asgardian soldiers would be, so maybe baby Loki felt less desperate to change everything about his appearance in order to ensure he got rescued and cared for in the timelines when it was Odin who got to him first.

What I haven’t made up my mind about is what would happen to non-Tom Lokis the first time they reverted to Frost Giant form. Would they end up looking like blue Toms no matter what, or would they keep everything else about the appearances they grew up with except species? Was the existential crisis on discovering their true species, like, WAY worse for non-Tom Lokis because there was no longer anything familiar about their appearance at all?

I’m sticking to my guns on Lokigator: he either had a bad shapeshift and got stuck or had a good shapeshift and is too stubborn to change back (likely because of trauma).

This theory might not be worth as much if we get to Spider-Man: No Way Home and have three different Peters Parker not played by the same actor and from wildly different timelines all onscreen together, and I’m eager enough to see that not to care too much about the baffling implications it would have about genetics, but I still like it for now. It could be that the different Peters are from different universes, not merely different timelines, and then the theory would remain intact.

[twh-news]

'Loki' Star Sophia Di Martino on the Season 1 Finale, Working With Jonathan Majors and What She Knows About Season 2

[Editor's note: The following contains spoilers through the Season 1 finale of Loki, "For All Time. Always."]

Since her introduction at the end of Episode 2, Sophia Di Martino's depiction of Sylvie, the female variant of Loki introduced midway through her campaign of vengeance against the TVA, has been a defining aspect of Disney+'s Loki. And, as we learned in the season finale, the story of Loki isn't over yet — though what's in store is pretty nebulous, following Sylvie's betrayal of Loki (Tom Hiddleston) after what was their first and what might be their last kiss.

In a one-on-one conversation with Di Martino via Zoom, Collider asked about working with Jonathan Majors in his MCU debut, what it was like having both fight scenes and more romantic scenes with Hiddleston, and of course what the conversations around Season 2 have been like.

Collider: To start off, when did you have a sense that there would be a second season of Loki?

DI MARTINO: I mean, there'd been rumors for a while, but I still haven't heard officially if it's happening, like officially, officially. I only know what I know through reading the news. And I know, because you guys know, because of the tag at the end of Episode 6.

I was going to say, that feels like a pretty official thing, but it doesn't sound like anyone has shown up at your doorstep with paperwork.

DI MARTINO: No, nothing. Nothing like that.

Now, does that mean that when you watched it, were you given a full script of the sixth episode?

DI MARTINO: Yes. We got one episode at a time. So I wasn't given Episode 6 until like midway through shooting Episode 5.

So in that situation, what was your initial reaction to reading, especially like the last, say, 10 pages or so.

DI MARTINO: Just like, holy crap. This is massive. How exciting. Woof. And then also, "who's going to play He Who Remains, I need to know because it's such an amazing part and such incredible speeches he has. I wanted to imagine who would play him, but I couldn't have ever imagined the way Jonathan would have done it. So brilliant.

In terms of working with Jonathon Majors, what was that experience like? Just because I feel like he brought such a different energy to the role than I think anyone would have ever expected.

DI MARTINO: Yeah. He just exploded onto that set with so much energy and nothing like we could ever have imagined. It was a lot of fun and he was brilliant. You know, people were saying this is going to be something really special, whispering behind the camera. He was so eccentric and fun and kind of terrifying. Very easy for Tom and I to just sit and listen to him for a few days. Very entertaining.

Yeah. In rewatching the episode, it's still so striking to me the way that, after Sylvie stabs him, he makes barely any noise.

DI MARTINO: Because he knows that it's a possibility, I think. So maybe he's had a long time to sort of imagine every scenario. Yeah. It's kind of creepy, isn't it? The way he does that.

When you were breaking down the script for Episode 6, were you talking about Kang the Conqueror? Were you talking about the comic book backstory there?

DI MARTINO: I don't remember talking about the comic book backstory of Episode 6. But you know, to be honest, it was all very quick. Especially with Episode 6, we got the script pretty late in the day. So there wasn't that much mining to be done, to be honest. I'm not sure about Jonathan's experience, but for me, it was sort of pretty late in the day, just in the case of learning my lines and trying to make sure I didn't mess that up.

Of course — and it makes sense in terms of where your character is coming from.

DI MARTINO: Exactly. So I just need to know at that point, I just need to know what's going on for Sylvie.

In that case, in your head, what was going on for Sylvie in those scenes?

DI MARTINO: Oh my goodness. So much. I mean, so much happens in like 30 seconds. Doesn't it?

Definitely. But even before the final sequences, it's very dialogue-heavy and there's a lot of listening. In playing that, what was important for you?

DI MARTINO: To really listen and to really take on board what he was saying to us at that point, and then to choose not to believe him. For Sylvie, she's just on a revenge mission from the minute she walks into that building, she knows that she wants to kill someone. When they're in the elevator with him, she's already taking swipes at him. She just wants to get him with her machete. And I think she's just so laser-focused on that goal, that he could have said anything to her and her priority wouldn't have changed.

So you don't think there was ever a moment in that whole sequence where Sylvie was tempted, not tempted by the possibilities presented, but tempted to believe him?

DI MARTINO: I think there's a moment that he really pushes Sylvie's buttons when he's talking about you have been on a long journey and it's been really tough for you, hasn't it? And you can't trust anyone. You think you can trust him. And he starts playing mind games with them, playing them off against each other. And I think at that point, he plants a seed of doubt in her mind about Loki, but I think her mission to want to kill him doesn't change. She's absolutely married to that idea. And that feeling is so strong that she chooses it over Loki in the end.

From your perspective, where does that come from?

DI MARTINO: Just revenge. Like having her life taken away from her, her life ruined, spending her whole life on the run, this sort of anger. And if you want to think of it in these terms, her "glorious purpose." I went there.

I don't think you got to say those words during the show, so I'm glad you got this moment now.

DI MARTINO: Yeah. I'm saying it as much as I can now.

Later in the episode, this wasn't the first time you had a fight sequence with Tom Hiddleston, but did it feel different from the episodes you shot earlier?

DI MARTINO: Yeah, it did. This scene was far more emotive. There was a lot more going on for both of them. It was the breakup scene. It was the fight that you have when you are leaving someone. And it's so painful because you care about this person, but you just can't be with them for whatever reason. And that's how that felt.

Which is so interesting because of course what happens at the end of it is that there's a kiss and it's given the whole big Hollywood romantic music treatment.

DI MARTINO: Yeah. I mean, but that often happens when you're splitting up with someone, doesn't it? Just one last time, a sweet goodbye. It's kind of like a goodbye kiss in a way.

Of course. But it was also, unless I'm missing something, the first kiss.

DI MARTINO: Yeah. It was. And it had been building up for a long, long time. I think it was ultimately a goodbye kiss and a clap away for Sylvie to physically turn him around so she could get hold of that TemPad and zap him back to the TVA.

Yeah, of course. In terms of that, in general, I feel like there's a temptation to just kind of look at the Loki and Sylvie relationship as a straightforward romance, which of course it is very much not. From your perspective, what was it about that you worked hard to lean into.

DI MARTINO: I think it's about sort of self-love and acceptance as well as being a romance story. And for Sylvie, she's sort of shedding everything she doesn't need before she gets to He Who Remains so she can kill him. She gets rid of her cape, she gets rid of her horns. She ultimately gets rid of Loki. It's just not serving her in that moment. And it's so cold to think of it that way. But I think that's what was happening. That and the fact that she wanted him to be safe. So, she's kind of saving him by pushing him through that time door as well.

And if you're going to think of it as like an exploration of self-acceptance and self-love, that's also interesting because she showed sort-of, I don't know, getting rid of a part of herself that isn't serving her anymore at the same time as keeping it safe.

It's really interesting to hear you talk about it that way, because it makes me think about how the one thing that came out, especially I think in Episode 5, is the idea that knowing Sylvie made Loki a better person in some fundamental ways. And I'm wondering about the opposite of that. What did knowing Loki mean for Sylvie?

DI MARTINO: I think it's slightly different for Sylvie. I don't know if he's made her a better person. I don't know if she's allowed herself to change yet. Loki's been quite brave and he's changed. He's a changed person by the end of that series. Sylvie is still hell-bent on her mission and she still chooses it over caring about someone else. So maybe she's yet to make that change.

So in talking about the scene like it's a breakup... Season 1 ends with the characters being very separated and of course, Season 2 is very much a nebulous thing at the moment, but people break up all the time and get back together. In your head, do you see there being still some sort of future for the characters as a couple?

DI MARTINO: It would definitely be fun to see them in the same room together again, wouldn't it? I'm fascinated. Yeah. After that, I'm fascinated to see what Loki has to say to Sylvie after doing that to him. Who knows? Never say never. I'm really excited to see what they come up with because it could go in so many different directions, but surely they have to come face to face again at some point.

It's like that awkward party after you've broken up with someone and you see them again. And that first conversation, whether it's in public or not, it's sorts of awful, but such a relief once it's been done.

Something that's been kind of a topic of discussion when it comes to talking about romance on screen is a quality that a lot of leading men have — for lack of a better term, the ability to give their love interest a Look. I've consulted with others and we feel like Tom Hiddleston has the look or has the ability to deliver the look. And I'm curious what it's like to be on the other side of it.

DI MARTINO: Tom's a very charming man and he could definitely make people go weak at the knees by just giving them a look. My reaction to that is always to sort of make a joke and run away. So there was probably a lot of that on set, breaking the tension by being a goofball.

I just had to react as Sylvie. And Sylvie's got these walls up. She doesn't let anyone in and that includes Loki. So sure there's a sort of, oh, this person is not as I thought they were. I'm warming to them. But Sylvie's not an easy nut to crack.

Is it fun getting to play that kind of strength?

DI MARTINO: Yeah. It's awesome because when her defenses do come down and she's vulnerable, it's really interesting. And you start to see all of the stuff that's buried underneath and that's what makes her a great character to play.

So, how do you feel about there being a second season? Do you feel like if there hadn't been a second season, you would have gotten the closure you wanted to from the story?

DI MARTINO: Probably not. I want to know what happens just like everyone else. I'm super excited and I just can't wait to see which direction they're going because it could be infinite directions.

Do you have a sense that there might've been different aspects to it, had COVID not been an issue?

DI MARTINO: I think COVID actually probably made it a lot better. We had a five months hiatus and Kate and the producers and writers worked a lot on episodes five and six during that time. And as far as I've heard, a lot changed for the better. They could rewatch what we'd already shot and just carry on working on the scripts and developing them. So I think it was great to have that time actually, as awful in most ways it was, that was the silver lining of it.

Very. Yeah. So looking forward, I imagine if there's a second season, you're on board if you get asked.

DI MARTINO: Hopefully. Hope so.

By the way, I was really excited to see the story about how your costume was designed to allow you to breastfeed during shooting. That seems like it was a really special detail.

DI MARTINO: Yeah, really, really. I'm just so grateful that that happened. It made my life so much easier and it was important to me that I carried on doing that. So it was just the little things and it's just saved a lot of time. Practically, it was a godsend.

Of course. So looking forward, what's next for you?

DI MARTINO: Lots of interviews. Lots of being able to talk about episode six finally, and then, who knows? An infinite possibility. So yeah, I'm excited to see what happens and to see people's reactions to the series because people are still catching up. People are still watching and rewatching it and probably go on.

Yeah. I mean, I imagine that you're going to be cosplayed at various conventions over the next several decades probably.

DI MARTINO: Do you think? That blows my mind.

I mean, cosplaying has a long legacy to it.

DI MARTINO: It's so cool. The way that people are already making Sylvie horns and crafting them from scratch and spraying them. And there's one woman that's just sewn a whole suit together and it looks exactly like my costume. It's so impressive, the love and attention people put into it.

Are you getting an action figure?

DI MARTINO: I don't know. Hopefully. What would I do with it? Maybe I could use it as a cake topper. Who knows? But that would be a very cool thing to have, wouldn't it?

[lokislittlesigyn]

// loki spoilers

This is basically a huge infodump on my thoughts about the first episode, because I doubt y’all want to sift through my trauma-ridden ramblings. I’ll make another post for the rest. This is just everything not related to the IW stuff/my reaction to that. It’s general thoughts, theories, musings.

1. When Loki gets first taken into the TVA. Is that Peggy Carter in the background? Others have suggested it might be. What would that mean??? Will we see the TVA fix the mess the Russos made with Steve/Peggy (not likely) or is it just a lookalike? Who knows..

2. A skrull at the main intake desk! Idk not super relevant just interesting!

3. I’m kind of glad they changed the... uncomfortable scene... with the robot burning his clothes off. He gets more time to react to seeing the machine itself, and he seems more shocked (”Now.. H-hang on just a minute.”) than angry (”Now hang on just a minute!”) i still feel.. horrible for him, i’m glad nobody Saw him and that the machine didn’t grab the clothes off, but still. Ehhh.. uncomfortable.

He is beautiful though, don’t get me wrong - I’d just prefer a shirtless Loki scene where he wants to be shirtless? let him do what he wants with his body?? he’s probably felt so out of control of his body, from being jotun to falling through space that any invasion of privacy like that hits extra deep...

That being said, I recognize the utility of the scene for the narrative - his lack of control, his literally being stripped of what he was before.

4. WHO IS THE MAN WITH THE CAT. What is his name. I love that he has a mug with his cat on it. But I want to know more. Who is he?

4.1 WHY DIDNT YOU LET LOKI PET THE CAT Please,,, I am begging you,,, let loki pet the cat and have something react kindly to him and purr all happily at his scratching behind their ears plea s e

5. The info sheet. Now this is just a little nitpicky tidbit, but in a previous promo they listed Loki’s height as 6′4 ft and weight as 525 lbs. This is taken directly from the comics if I’m not mistaken. However, in the actual show he’s listed as  6′2 (Tom’s height and Loki’s presumed height) but I don’t remember if his weight is the same. Is Loki 6′2? 6′4? please let me know i want to know how smol i am in comparison

6. His little aggressive shaking of the ticket at the guard makes me giggle each time.

7. The fact the turnstile hits so low on him reminds me,, I am short compared to him. Those things hit my stomach/waist. That one hit his legs. I am once again asking Loki to pick me up.

8. The cartoon with Miss Minutes introducing the TVA is wonderful, I love the art style especially. But it raises questions about Variants... I guess Variants can just, pop out of nowhere? Any action could be the wrong one? And then once you commit the wrong action you either get returned or pruned? Yikes??? And THIS ties into another thing later!

9. The trial scene. I have a hunch - a feeling, a suspicion. That one of three things may be true.

A. The Time-Keepers never actually existed. They’re fabricated, and now whoever runs the TVA is actually using the excuse of “The Time-Keepers decree it so!!!” to carry out whatever They think is right. The fact we haven’t seen the Time-Keepers makes me.. suspicious...

B. The Time-Keepers existed, but they have since passed on, however that may have happened. Now someone is doing the same as above, using the excuse of the Time-Keepers apparent dictations to run things.

C. The Time-Keepers do exist, and do run the timeline/TVA, but maybe they’re not infallible? Maybe the TVA info video is lying or incomplete in some way? Idk I just feel like, something about the TVA and how they run things has to be wrong. It has to? Something is off. Again, this will tie into another thought later...

I have no idea if any of these are actually true! But Loki’s questions of “Who’s in charge here? What do they do? What do you do?” punctuated by laughter leads me to believe he’s suspecting something too, or perhaps just trying to figure this mess out.

10. Seiðr/Magic. We see in this scene, Loki’s magic (”powers”) don’t work in the TVA. (and a quick side note, did he have to Flex like that? do you have to make me see Loki’s bare arms Flex like that? be still my heart. anyway please get that collar off of him and let him rest for five minutes) This makes me wonder.. Why isn’t Loki in his Jotun form? His pale skin and blue eyes are decided by magic, are they not? I suppose this is 2012, so perhaps Odin’s magic is keeping Loki looking like that. But if magic doesn’t work in the TVA, why would his spell reach so far? Clearly Loki’s magic isn’t what’s doing it. How is Loki not appearing as a Jotun? Is his Jotun form repressed - is pale skin his default now, rather than something hidden by magic? I need answers!

11. he sounds so scared about being “reset” please dont hurt him,,

12. cALLING LOKI A PUSSYCAT? (lokitty confirmed) I think Mobius was goading him (Mobius strikes me.. As extremely clever. He’s trying to push Loki’s buttons to see who he’s dealing with. At least, I hope so. Because if he really meant that “You were born to cause pain and suffering and death... All so that others can achieve the best versions of themselves.” and that line about killing Frigga??? No no no he is not guilty. He had no way of knowing what would happen. It wasn’t right to send Algrim up to Asgard (i think algrim wouldve found the way up anyway) but there was no intent to hurt Frigga. I really hope you’re trying to goad him, Mobius, because if you believe that I trust you much less. anyway i digress) but wow is he pushing Loki’s buttons a lot. I can’t... Blame him entirely, I understand he’s trying to make sure Loki’s on his side, maybe I’m just too soft for Loki idk. But some of that was very cruel to say. /:

12.1 AND ANOTHER THING ABOUT MOBIUS. That scene with the girl in the church?? Did that little girl kill the men? Is that young Sylvie? Or is she using an illusion to make herself look young and innocent? What’s going on!!!!

13. LOKI SNATCHING THE LITTLE TIME-TWISTER DEVICE AND STOWING IT IN HIS POCKET.... POCKET....... sorry sometimes i get so caught up about loki that i just say random words in between little noises and squeals,,, i am a silly thing

14. CASEY. CASEY??? That whole exchange is funny. Poor Loki, just trying to intimidate this guy so he can escape but - Casey doesn’t know what a fish is. to be fair.... thor doesn’t seem to know what a raccoon is... right?

15. That bit with the infinity stones is kind of funny until you realize

A. Natasha died for a paperweight

B. Tony died from paperweights

C. Loki was tortured for paperweights

D. Oh, and Gamora died for a paperweight too. And Vision. Need I go on?

Then it becomes less of exclusively “haha funny” and now it’s a mix of funny and pain and gosh, is that a good way to sum up being a Marvel/Loki fan sometimes...

16. Loki gazing at the timeline all “Is this the most powerful thing in the universe?” or something, i’m sorry i don’t remember exactly... made me think of a meme and i shall make it presently.

17. I love that Loki got to see examples of how his family loves him but the fact he’s all “I can’t go back.” really just breaks me. It’s like he can finally see they love him after all of this mess, and now he doesn’t have the chance. Please, please let him be happy. Give him some relief. This is the Loki that just came off finding out about being Jotun, falling from the Bifrost, encountering Thanos, attacking Earth, facing defeat, and now he’s being thrashed around in this wild place and has just found out he inadvertently caused Frigga’s death (he did not kill her: his actions, by mistake, lead to her murder, let me be very clear) AND Odin will die AND all the rest... And he wants to be with them.

18. Loki’s reaction to Thor suggesting the hug makes me soft. Please I want to hug this little mischief man so so so bad-

19. Skipping over the iw parts! That’s for another post because this one will be grossly long anyway.

20. “I don’t enjoy hurting people.” and “It's part of the illusion. It's the cruel, elaborate trick conjured by the weak to inspire fear. A desperate play for control.” was all so, so validating. I’ve been trying to argue on Loki’s behalf for almost a solid decade. Seeing the show recognize that Loki’s not all just violence and hurting for “fun”, that he’s not unhinged and bloodthirsty.. Is so nice. It’s just so, so comforting. and it gives me hope for future episodes that they won’t go the route of “oh haha loki bullied and mistreated and stabbed thor for years!!! :)” loki cries during basically every fight with Thor and you want me to believe he stabs Thor for fun? absolutely not.

21. Theory.. Just another hunch.. So we know a fugitive variant, aka Loki, is running amok. Refer back to 8 and 9.C. What if the Time-Keepers never actually fixed the timeline into a single timeline? What if there are other timelines, and these different Loki variants have hopped over to the current one? Or, maybe the Time-Keepers did fix the timeline into a single one, and these Lokis are remnants from that huge time-war at the beginning? Time runs differently in relative spaces, they may have Just Left that war from their perspective!

I say Lokis and not Loki because we’re pretty sure there’s Female/Lady Loki, Old Man/King Loki, and possibly Young/Kid Loki. That’s at least three. From the peeks of Asgard and NYC we’ve seen from the trailers, I think we’re also getting an Asgardian King!Loki and Midgardian King/Vote!Loki. (unless our dearest variant is hopping into timelines and situating into them, but I doubt Mobius would let that happen..?) That’s five.

To further support this, keep in mind, I believe recently six (i think 6 regular and 6 rare...) different funko pops were announced for the series? I’m not sure if they’re in addition to the Loki and Mobius already released. If they are, there’s enough room for each Loki and maybe a TVA agent. One of the pops is supposed to have a buddy/companion I think? Maybe they’re making the cat guy into one, or maybe there’s something else (Throg, anyone?).

22. That is totally Lady Loki/Sylvie at the end by the way. Has to be. But why does she want the reset devices? Why did she snatch that TVA Hunter? Again, WHAT’S GOING ON

ANYWAY this was a very long post if you made it this far, I commend you.

[of-house-atreides]

This article is breaking my brain

Have you read this article ?

TW: mentions of suicide and also I’m an angry petty bitch

Yes I know this article is from like three weeks ago but I just found it... and I have things to say.

I swear I can’t handle this anymore...

“But today, Loki steps out of his brother’s shadow”... to step in another one. It be the TVA or Sylvie, just... take your pick.

“resuming his role as the God of Mischief” um where? when?

The comedy part is debatable but fine, whatever... I must have missed the noir crime-thriller bit maybe it was between two scenes of Loki getting his ass kicked by literally everyone in this show.

Yeah you forgot that end-credit scene showing Loki alive and well in IW/Endgame.

And no, alternate/variant Loki doesn’t count, he’s not the same person/character.

Because of course when you think of Loki you instantly think his story should take place in a “bureaucratic nightmare” -

And why not hire competent experienced people for Multiverse of Madness and Loki? Is this Marvel’s way of telling us they don’t really care about these projects?

Kevin really said “no experienced writers on this project, let’s just hire whoever” - or maybe it’s a budget thing? Less experience means less zeros on the pay checks?

Wow, ok.

So not a fan of the movies nor a fan of the character, just a fan of the genre, that explains a lot...

“what was really important to me was stripping away all the fantastical elements” ... ?? I’m sorry?? What?? So removing all the fantastical elements from a show titled after who is supposed to be the main character who is a GOD and a prince from another realm/planet was what was important?? The Trickster God of Mischief, magic wielder, master of illusions NEEDED to be stripped from his FANTASTICAL ELEMENTS???

ffs

“find the heart of this story” - is the heart of this story Loki becoming best friends with his (mental and physical) torturer after what? 2 days? Was it falling in love with the ‘superior’ version of himself after only 13 hours together? I’m still looking for the heart of this story.

“what is the relatable message at the center?” - well apparently it’s ‘you can be a God and a warrior with magical powers but still get your ass kicked by literally everyone all the time and never use your strength and skills to fight back’. Or it’s the power of love, idk -

Oh wait, is it falling in love with the female version of himself? For a weird ‘love yourself’ metaphor? That must be it.

Or maybe it’s jet skis.

Ah yes, the ‘you can be good, actually’ message of this series that is so subtly presented to us...

They really missed the whole fucking point of Loki.

They missed it so bad they made him call himself a narcissist (which he isn’t btw).

For the record, Loki is a prince of Asgard who learnt one day he was adopted and in fact taken from one of Asgard’s worst enemies, the King of the Jotuns, aka Frost Giants “the monsters parents tell their children about at night”. He found out he was not only adopted but also abducted and not out of love. He feels not only betrayed but he thinks he understands now why Odin always favoured Thor and why he’d never have the same love from Odin that Thor has had his whole life. He thinks of himself as a monster and wants to be worthy of Odin’s love. So he tries to get it. And sure, he doesn’t do it in the best way, and yes, he is the villain of that story. But Loki isn’t a villain. He doesn’t like to make people suffer, he did it out of pain, out of hurt. The events in Avengers was after he was thoroughly tortured and coerced by Thanos to invade Earth. There is even a moment in the end when Thor asks him if he thinks this ‘madness would stop under his rule’ (or something along those lines) and he looks unsure and regretful. But due to the fear of Thanos and insecurity about himself (love is weakness or whatever) he keeps going. He redeems himself in Dark World, again in Ragnarok and yet again in IW and he was thrown in the trash for it.

Yes, Loki’s story is complex, but it really isn’t that complex... So maybe Loki is a “scared little boy” but his way of acting out makes sense and there’s a legitimate reason for it that was not explored in the show. And his backstory is probably what she called the “bells and the whistles”... 

“we literally delete his universe” - and apparently you deleted his personality too

“it’s a story of reinvention ... can Loki find goodness in himself?” - again, you’re missing the point. Loki is insecure, but not about his ability to do what’s right, but about whether or not he is worthy of love! Finding goodness within himself comes AFTER!

“Loki’s journey, to me, is really about acceptance of himself” - several questions here, um, first, what about himself does he need to accept? That he’s a Jotun? The show never mentions it. That he’s done bad shit and should forgive himself for it? Give him a reason to. Self-love doesn’t come after being mentally and physically tortured by some guy who acts like he’s your best friend after 2 days of working together and being yelled out that “he can be anyone he wants, even something good”.

Show, don’t tell, isn’t that the point of your job?? The job you begged for??

Loki’s journey should have been about self-love and no, falling in love with the female version of yourself (who keeps saying they have nothing in common (because they don’t!)) doesn’t count!

“a more mature and darker path” ...

well this is interesting... was making Loki a clown and the butt of every joke part of making the show mature and dark? Were the terrible attempts at humour? Him being beaten up every two seconds? Having him say lines he’d never say in a million years just to be funny but since it’s out of character for him it fails completely? Was making him incompetent and a complete idiot part of that attempt of making the show mature and dark?

Is that why there’s no magic? You cut off the magician so your show would be more “mature and dark”?

Having him cry every episode doesn’t make your show mature and dark.

Loki from Thor, Avengers, the Dark World and even IW is mature and dark. Your Loki from your series is just a pathetic clown.

“don’t give viewers the story they are expecting” - I personally wasn’t expecting any story, I just wanted Loki, you know, in this Loki series, supposedly all about Loki, and you guys couldn’t even do that.

So this is the author of the article speaking here, I’m guessing, and I think they’re giving a summary of the show so far, so let’s break this down:

“This is Loki as we’ve never seen him before” - I 100% agree -

“Stripped of his self-proclaimed majesty” - ok, first of all, Loki is a prince, that’s a fact, he didn’t make that up, and for the few years he was King of Asgard disguised as Odin, he seemingly did a great job, so...

“but with his ego still intact” - ah, yes, his ego, you know, because he’s such a narcissist... oh wait -

yes he has an ego, but he has a regal one, not misplaced entirely either - his ego in the show is basically him underestimating the TVA and Mobius (as well as the Time Keepers) - his ego is him getting offended by the variant: the ‘superior Loki’ - his ego in the show is used as a weapon to humiliate and belittle him.

“he faces consequences he never thought could happen to such a supreme being as himself” - he literally tried to k*ll himself in the first Thor - literally a result of his own actions - when he returned to Asgard in Dark World, he didn’t try to pretend he hadn’t fucked up. He didn’t try to hide what he had done (he tries to deny to Mobius in episode 2 that he was manipulating them at the fair) - he sacrifices himself in IW... but sure, Loki from the series is indeed surprised that he is powerless (even when he doesn’t need to/shouldn’t be)

“there is a lot of humour ... he is taken down a few pegs by the TVA” ... he is humiliated by the TVA - definitely not what we were expecting, I’ll give you that.

“sentenced to a lifetime of bureaucracy” - definitely did not expect that either

and here comes my favorite quote: “it’s a sad Loki without any mischief”

yes - yes - yes

that is a good summary of this goddamn show, a sad, pathetic, powerless Loki without any personality 

“fallen God” - yeah that’s definitely not what I was expecting either from the Loki series so good job on subverting expectations I guess...

“who is going to win out in this match between them?”

there is no match - Loki is powerless - he’s been turned into a pathetic docile harmless wet dog - Mobius literally mentally (episode 1 and 4) and physically (episode 4) tortures him, both time in an attempt to have Loki do his bidding - Loki is the dog and Mobius is the master - even when Loki ‘tries’ to manipulate him it fails because he’s underestimating them (by overestimating himself) - he uses obvious techniques to manipulate the TVA (episode 2) and nobody buys it because it’s not subtle at all! Loki is smarter than that, he is a TRICKSTER GOD FFS!

“there is an interesting dynamic between them that maybe you haven’t seen with Loki in the Marvel movies” - yeah, maybe there’s a reason for that... like... he wouldn’t... submit so easily... he’d be wary, cautious, cunning... he’d be... himself...

Sans déconner ?

It’s like whoever wrote the series didn’t actually know shit about Loki... like that wasn’t fucking obvious...

And those lectures were apparently done after the script was written so... again, no surprise there... we can see that

Well...

“we wanted the show to be imbued with mischief” vs “sad Loki without any mischief” choose your fighter

“Loki has this very sensitive, damaged, broken heart with an enormous capacity to feel emotion on the biggest scale.”

Are surprised that only Tom so far has portrayed and talked about Loki accurately?

“loneliness, sadness, anger and grief and loss”

I love this man.

I do wonder what Mr. Branagh thinks of the show...

I’m of the people who see a vulnerability beneath those layers of charm and playfulness. I love Loki because he’s smart and cunning and regal, and elegant and sophisticated. I love him cause at the end of the day, he just wants to be loved, and he deserves to be loved.

And in the end, the only Loki I can’t stand is the one from the series.

[zoufantastical]

What do you think of how much more bad ass they have made Sylvie over Loki in terms of action? (I'm not complaining big fan of it) Do you feel as if the show runner herself is giving Sylvie as much screen time and moments that often eclipse Loki bc she may be a character who's main purpose was to uplift and expand Loki's character, and that was her only original purpose? As if maybe she wasn't intended to last in the Marvel universe, at least in this incarnation? Seeing how most of this show is ran by the point of view of some women, that what we have with Sylvie is what we get bc of this reason? Do u feel it would have been different had it been otherwise? Or do you feel differently then my observation? Would love any point of view.

Why First Impressions Matter

Let me just say I was ecstatic over this ask. Finally something different (not that I don’t enjoy the previous asks) that forces me to talk about something that has been lingering in the back of my mind since the show started.

If you guys could be patient with me, I would appreciate it. I’m going to deviate a lil bit and talk about a point that relates to this ask and basically explains this user’s concern.

So, my mother says that she gives a show around ten minutes or so to grab her interest. At first I thought it was a bit ridiculous, since that means she’s missing out on a lot of great potentials because of this rule. I respected her opinion of course. Now, ever since the Loki show started though, I understand why she believes in it.

Marvel is very lucky they have loyal fans like us who will eat up whatever they spoon fed us. Even amongst heavy criticism. Despite people hating on the character Loki in his show by calling him “Larry” , the writers “clowns” or calling him OOC and a sidekick on his own show (please if you have the time, read the short post I linked), I finally understand their sentiment, which in a way is misplaced because of what I’m going to mention:

The first ten minutes of the first episode of Loki could should have been better.

What do I mean by this? Two things actually.

Imagine that you are a new MCU fan and you want to catch up on the movies or someone wanting to binge watch the entire saga again. You finish the first avengers movie but you decide to deviate and watch Loki, which is based on 2012 Avengers Loki. What’s one thing that’s going to throw them off immediately? Guess.

If you did congrats.

It’s the hair.

As a loyal fan, this will ALWAYS confuse me. There’s also the fact that they shot new scenes with the overly long spiky ends wig. So…why the sudden change in appearance? I started headcanoning that traveling through space and dimensions fucks up your evil blowout just for my sanity.

Already we are on the wrong path.

Now you may think this is minor and shouldn’t matter but appearances DO matter and sometimes we don’t pick up on inconsistencies right away, however, they do stay in our minds and form this domino effect later on which is what is happening with a lot of displeased fans.

The second is this joke of a scene.

If there was any time that Loki needed to display some of his abilities we were introduced at the end of episode two and throughout episode three, this would have been the perfect moment. Loki may be cocky, petty and boastful, but he is not stupid.

He just barely escaped with the tesseract. He would not approach ignorantly and all cocky mighty, a group of people who seem to look very dangerous. This is 2012 Loki. You know the dangerous god that a group of talented individuals joined forces to stop because it would have been the end of their world as they know it? A Loki who will be on high alert because not only will SHIELD and the Avengers be looking for him but eventually the Other and Thanos as well.

What I would have done to rewrite the strength and seriousness of the TVA without outright humiliating Loki in the process, this scene instead should have been a fight scene. Loki would have been full of adrenaline, displaying all his feats only to be caught off guard by B-15 and THEN you could make this infamous scene.

We already know that the TVA agents are trash fighters and easily beaten grunts based on later scenes. A scene like what I recommended would have prepared us for that. Otherwise now we are calling the rest of the fight scenes in this show also inconsistent with what we were presented in their first appearance.

Another rewrite I would have done is NOT start off the show using the Endgame Loki escaping scene. A great majority of people watching the show are because they already KNOW this Loki escaped with the space stone. Starting off with a recap, a recap all the way to the elevator scene no less, is not only way too long but unnecessary.

To peek the audiences’ interest, one should have started with a short scene of TVA hunting The hooded mysterious Variant and the latter killing them. It could be anywhere in time. Not only would that peek ones interest and wonder who this figure is, they’ll assume they are trouble and that they might cause an issue with Loki if they were to cross each other’s path etc basically you’ll have the audience’s mind scrambled and excited. THEN after the marvel logo you can put the recap scene.

[If you made it this far, congrats, because I’m finally going to start answering this user’s question]

What do you think of how much more bad ass they made Sylvie over Loki in terms of action?

And this is why I made a big deal of explaining what I’ve said above. Is not that Sylvie is more badass. In fact, Sylvie should have more scenes than the ones we are given. It’s the fact that the Loki actions scenes started off misplaced and were not started strong enough to make an impactful expression. It’s why they are calling him all sorts of things like weak, clown, OOC, stupid, inconsistent etc even though later on he is shown to be intelligent and strong.

Unfortunately (but not surprisingly) Sylvie’s character has been bound by her male counterpart’s. The majority of her scenes are with Loki, whether they were fighting or developing her character. This…is not the best writing choice but given this is only 6 episodes and time is short, they are pitting these two together as early as episode two in order to establish their partnership/relationship.

This choice sacrifices character screen time so the plot can move forward. Sylvie so far has only three meaningful scenes ever since being introduced (without Loki) and personally I feel that’s not enough.

Being paired with Loki 95% of the time is why you and many believe that she is taking Loki’s shine. We hadn’t had time, as a viewer, to fully appreciate Sylvie despite her not wanting to be called or relate to the name Loki. We haven’t had time to BREATHE and actually enjoy this new character especially since the majority of her scenes she is bounded by the hip to Loki! You are also right to believe that her character seem to have been created to “uplift and expand” Loki’s character-because SHE IS! And the latest episode basically confirms that!

I wouldn’t be surprised if Sylvie is a character exclusively used for the Loki show. So far there are no plans of using her beyond the series. Which is unfortunate because it means that even with female writers behind the script, decisions were made and accepted to have the Sylvie character move and react to the plot along side a male character. It’s fine for that to happen but when it’s the majority of their screen time, then it’s an issue. So your observation is correct.

Don’t get me wrong, I have been enjoying the show so far. Not loving it but it’s been entertaining despite some of it’s…creative choices. One thing that has been in common so far in MCU series is that they aim too high with a big budget only for them to not put the same time and care on a story they want to tell.

It really is unfortunate because there are moments in the show that has been done great! But again many choices has to do with the fact that Marvel and Disney are obsessed with keeping up this schedule and milking a show as much as they can. Because that’s their brand.

I can’t tell you additionally what I would have done differently. I guess we would have to wait till the Finale for me to properly answer that question.

[blackgirlsuperherorants]

With more articulation, I'm ready to talk about why the push for Lokius simply bothers me, and this can be said for other m/m or w/w ships that fans push to be canon so hard just because they ship it.

It's the framing. The framing that if Marvel doesn't do it (or whatever the brand is), it's because homophobia, and if other fans don't like it/ship it, it's because homophobia (even if they ship other queer ships and are queer themselves.) And the biggest problem with that is that it overshadows the REAL issue of lack of queer representation on screen in mainstream nerd media, especially from big things under the Disney umbrella (Marvel and Lucasfilm/Star Wars, especially.)

It makes it bad that your ship isn't canon instead of bad that there haven't been any queer romances on screen in the MCU.

And like, as a writer myself, I find myself dissecting the stories of other media all the time. I can watch an MCU movie or series and pretty much assess what direction the story is going in by the narrative points they're hitting. I knew Sylki was basically gonna happen (even if just a kiss) because narratively, that's what the show was doing as soon as they had that "what is love" conversation on Lamentis-1. It didn't mean I liked it. But I knew it was happening.

Similarly, there's no romantic undertones to Loki and Mobius. None. For Marvel to make them a couple, it would mean they'd be doing it simply because the two present as men and it would make stans happy. And while there's something to be said for fan service, it would be annoying to watch them cram two guys together who aren't romantic in the slightest. I'd much rather see Loki meet some guy and have the same type of undertones they were giving to Sylvie and form a real bond to where the kiss feels earned and warranted. Not just put him with the nearest man because "he gay lol."

And how you guys are claiming it's being queer that makes you want this is beyond me. It's not being queer that makes you want this. I don't want queer characters that fuck everyone of whatever gender(s) they're attracted to even when it doesn't make sense for them to. I want real love stories. I mean, yeah, sometimes we can have a slut character, because that's fun, too, but that's not even what y'all think Lokius is. You seem to want them to be in love. But why? Because he's the first friend Loki made that isn't through Thor?

I hate that, too, because I hate this idea that queer people cannot have friends of their same gender without wanting to fuck them. IDK how y'all are, maybe y'all are like that, but I almost never have wanted to fuck any of my friends. The only few exceptions have been when I tried to befriend someone I had a crush on (in which case, usually the friendship can't work, really, because I have a crush on them.) I also think it's okay if you can have casual sex with friends, or if you have a friendship that develops into romance, but Jesus, do you people not have friends that you don't want to fuck? I am bi, maybe more pan (gender kind of doesn't matter to me, I guess) and I'm friends with people of all kinds of gender identities and like... I love them as people, which is why they're my friends, but I DO NOT want to fuck them. Especially my closest friend. I talked about her, before, here, but she's like my sister. The thought of fucking her is gross, to me. Not because she's gross, but because it feels incestuous.

Loki shouldn't want to fuck Mobius just because they developed a friendship. And that's very much how it's written on the series. They almost dislike each other (or Mobius is at least indifferent to Loki) and then they become friends.

That's not to mention the power dynamic that exists, there. And I know some of y'all are subs, but yeah, it's a bit gross to imply a sexual relationship with Loki's captor.

But on to Sylki. It sucks that I feel like most of y'all hate Sylki because Sylvie is a girl, and not just because it's bad in other ways. Like, the reasons Sylki is bad have less to do with "it should have been Mobius" and more to do with it being a lazy 1980s action movie plot that should have never happened. I'm not as creeped out by the selfcest (as many of you wouldn't have been if she was a he, I'm almost positive), but what's bad about it is that they couldn't have a strong female lead character without her being the love interest of the main guy. She didn't need to be, especially because she was a Loki variant, anyway. There was no need for it to have romantic undertones, and there was no need for them to kiss. It was sexist more than it was homophobic (and I can't help feeling like y'all are kind of being biphobic in this case. Maybe I'll talk about that, later, but yeah.) It was sexist bullshit. And there's valid criticism that Sylvie is underdeveloped. She's just angry and something for Loki to project affection onto.

I was also hoping they'd do a "found family" type of thing with Sylvie and Loki and let her be like the sister he never knew he needed, but no, they had to go trope and make her the love interest. It was lazy and bad and basically went "If Loki girl, main Loki want bone!"

Basically, having the main character fall for a character just because of their proximity and gender is bad and I hate it (and it would have been bad with Mobius, too, but yeah.)

Both the Mobius and the Sylvie thing also feel kind of racist, to me, because the show has prominent Black women who aren't even presented as desirable to Loki. And y'all, of course, ship him with anyone but the Women of Color. Y'all can pull true love with Mobius out of your ass, but he couldn't possibly fall for the Black women. lol.

Anyway. Not every show needs ships, and this show shouldn't have had any. I hate it. It's bad.

I guess on the biphobia front, I have heard some takes that it's not biphobic because Loki being queer in the MCU which hasn't shown any queer relationships, and Loki being the first openly queer character means they shouldn't have shown him with a woman presenting character. Which, I guess I get where you're coming from... but I have also been in fandoms for a long time and I see mostly girls saying this shit, which is what leads me to feel like it's simply jealousy. It happens all the time when a long-beloved single male character/celebrity suddenly starts dating a woman. Everyone hates it. And like, we haven't seen Loki be with ANYONE in the MCU, because mostly he's been doing villainy and his dating life hasn't been relevant. If the demigod says he's bi, he can kiss a woman. Especially a woman version of himself. Like I said, I hate it for other reasons, but pretending it's because he should have kissed Mobius is utterly delusional. He probably shouldn't have kissed anyone. Not in this series. There was no reason for any canon romance, especially because the show has a season 2 and we'll have time to see Loki develop earned, deserved romance with someone.

I'd much rather see them create a character just to be his boyfriend than have y'all push Marvel into making Lokius canon, which is a nonsense ship that only happened because Mobius is the only prominent male-presenting character before we meet the other Lokis.

My sincere wish is for people to remember that their ships are just ships and to enjoy them without getting all self-righteous about it. I TOLD y'all that Lokius wasn't gonna be canon like 4 episodes back, and here y'all are acting shocked and like Marvel took something from you. NOBODY expected y'all to ship Lokius. It's not even queerbait.

You can make clear arguments as to why Sambucky was queerbait. It's there in undertones in the actual series.

You cannot watch Loki and tell me you thought it was queerbait, unless you think men can't have conversations or hug goodbye without being romantically involved. Which means, in my opinion, that you need to learn about healthy masculinity.

Again, this is not a defense of Marvel. They DO need to let characters be queer, for real, and not just by saying " A bit of both". Like, let Loki be queer. Let Deadpool be queer. Let these queer characters be queer on screen. Yes.

But please stop making it about your ship. I'd rather see a flashback of Loki dating a guy and see him kiss someone he loved back on Asgard than watch y'all force Lokius. Because my queer rep is not about your crackship. It really isn't. And the fact that y'all keep calling us homophobic for not liking your ship REALLY needs to be addressed.

Like, when will y'all stop? I got on Stucky shippers about this shit in the past. All of us gay as hell, too, we just don't like YOUR ship. A lot of us like other queer ships. A lot of us like queer ships in other fandoms, too, and even have queer OCs. YOUR ship just ain't it. Stop forcing it. Literally, most of the ship wars between MCU fans have been queer ship vs queer ship, not really queer ship vs straight ship. Like, the number one Stucky rival ship was Stony. Not Steggy. People are not homophobic for not wanting your ship.

Sometimes it's because they ship something else.

And sometimes, like me, it's because they want something to make sense narratively and not happen for the sake of it happening. It's always better writing to have a character meetcute a new love interest than to magically turn a platonic friendship into a romantic relationship. Like, even when the characters are straight. Like, when Moesha dated Hakeem. It was just weird, even if he was kind of a great boyfriend. He was just supposed to be her friend, and people didn't really like it because it didn't fit narratively.

And that's why ships for the most part should be left to fanfiction, with the exception of a few where fans are right to call out the writers for not making it canon because it's clearly bait (like what happened to Destiel shippers. To see Lokius shippers compare themselves to THAT was so ridiculous. Destiel shippers had a decade of evidence only to be let down by a criminally unfair ending. Lokius shippers saw two men have a deep conversation once and lost their minds.)

Anyway, I'm not saying don't ship Lokius. I don't even hate it, really. I just think it obviously shouldn't be canon, and fans pretending like they were robbed of it is ridiculous. Literally, Ao3 exists for this reason. I will never see Steve fuck Sam Wilson, so I wrote it into my fanfic. I am not mad that they didn't actually date in the main MCU storyline.

[oceankisscd]

alexa play you should see me in a crown by billie eilish

[ LINDSEY MORGAN, CIS FEMALE, SHE/HER. ]    introducing nesta montalvo, VICTOR of the 65th hunger games, representing district 5. my sources say that they are twenty seven years old, & that they’re pretty handy with knowledge of electricity & power. wonder if that did them any good in the arena ? anyways, caesar says you can’t miss them, because they remind everyone of the ever present hum of white noise, sun kissed skin littered with scars, harsh words leaving silver tongues, shattered mirrors, & bloody shards of glass.

CHARA INSPO   :   mikasa ackerman  (  aot  ),   johanna mason  (  the hunger games  ),   kirishima touka  (  tokyo ghoul  ),   amren  (  acotar  ),   raven reyes  (  the 100  )

PINTEREST  :   click here !

she   wears    𝖘𝖙𝖗𝖊𝖓𝖌𝖙𝖍   &    𝖉𝖆𝖗𝖐𝖓𝖊𝖘𝖘   equally   well   /   the   girl   has   always   been   𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐟 - 𝐠𝐨𝐝𝐝𝐞𝐬𝐬  ,  𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐟 - 𝐡𝐞𝐥𝐥 .

name   :   nesta montalvo

age  :   twenty seven

gender & pronouns   :   cisfemale & she / her

district   :   five

occupation   :   victor of the 65th hunger games.

moral alignment   :   true neutral.

any wanted connections i have are at the end of this !!

greetings , and welcome to the first intro i’ve written in .... a year ? maybe ?? this should be fun !

you were born on the night of the worst storm district five had seen in who knows how long , and during the loudest roll of thunder , you made your appearance. the sounds of your shrieks defended the howling winds , as if you were challenging zeus himself at mere infancy. your parents knew then that you were a force to be reckoned with  --  a storm given skin. they gave you the name nesta ;  a name meaning sacred , and pure. if only they’d seen your fate ahead of time.

you grew up in and out of the powerplants , had hiding spots in the hydrodam , learned the way power was the main source of ... well , everything. you were always good in school , but it wasn’t anything you were interested in. your desires lay towards maintenance work , wanting more than anything to get your hands on those wires. even as a child , the way that the simple connection could cause such a big reaction was one that so deeply mesmerized you. the way electricity and power worked was incredible , and you wanted any and everything to do with it. 

you lived in a bubble of possibility , until you lost your sister to the games. you were fourteen years old , and sylvie was everything to you. your rock , your best friend , your person. and she was reaped , and she was killed three days into the games by the female career from district 2. it completely destroyed you  --  you lost interest in everything , everyone. life became a routine , moving day by day. you had your wires to tinker with , and your parents to have measly conversation with , but nothing was ever the same.

you were eighteen years old when you were reaped. eighteen years old , no longer in school , three weeks away from starting your new job at the plant , and suddenly you had no future. 

you went through the motions , the parade , the interviews , having to deal with the uppity stylists , and suddenly you were in the arena , fighting for your life. it wasn’t until after you’d survived the bloodbath with nothing but a coil of wire and a small backpack that you decided you weren’t going to let your parents lose another daughter. so you fought  -- you fought and you fought and you fought until you’d managed to get your hold on a sword. with your wires , and your new weapon , you were able to figure out a way to win.

and win is exactly what you did.

now , you’re perpetually stuck going through the motions of the capitol , and you hate it. you hate it more than you’ve ever hated anything , and yet you can’t seem to find a way out of this godforsaken loop and you’re just so ready for it to be over , over , over , over. 

it was purposeful , the words you’d prattled during your second time mentoring. announcing that you despised the capitol loud enough that people of importance could hear. it wasn’t two days later that you’d received word from home that your parents both perished in an accident in the power plant. accidents happen all the time , they’d said. we’re very sorry , they’d said. but you knew -- you knew it wasn’t an accident , but it was still enough to numb your system and zip your lips tightly. but that anger ,  that fire , still burned inside.

you want the capitol gone , you want to watch it burn to the ground. for eight years , you’ve had to send people you knew to the slaughter. for eight years , you’ve been stuck in this game that never seems to have an end. for eight long years , you have been nothing but a pawn and you are so , so tired and so , so angry.

and now come the wanted connections ,,,

give her some victor friends. people who understand just how exhausting it is to have to constantly go through the motions , to feel like they are nothing more than just pawns in this never ending game. 

i am a sucker ,,, an absolute SUCKER ,,, for will they / won’t they’s. do with that what you will.

a half sibling mayhaps ???  someone for her 2 actually still care about and keep her mouth shut so the capitol doesn’t go banana balls on her

REBELLION CONTACTSSSSSSSSSSSSSS GIVE HER INFO LET HER FIGHT !!!

i know i mentioned will they / won’t they’s already but truly ,,, this girl is terrified to let herself love anyone because she is worried that anyone she loves will die the way her parents did. give me this please i love the angst of it all.

[riseandfxll]

Retribution, Chapter One

Summary - Hailey gets shot while off-duty in a seemingly random attack, but what the intelligence unit uncovers while she's in the hospital fighting for her life will change everything.

[Prompt by @thenameismaynard - I made some alterations to it, but I hope it was what you were looking for!]

The force of the bullet threw her to the ground, her body smashing into the sidewalk as if it was nothing more than a rag doll.

The first thing she registered after the impact was the pain in her chest. The incredible pain that was unlike anything she had ever felt before. She could feel herself drifting out, the world turning blurry and her eyes getting heavier and heavier, but something was stopping her from drifting completely, no, not something, someone. She could only just make out a voice next to her, calling her name.

"Hailey! Hailey, stay with me. Look at me." She would've known that voice even if the bullet had hit her square in the head. It was Jay Halstead, the man she fended off bullets with at work on a daily basis.

But they weren't at work. No, she remembered now, they were going out for drinks at Molly's with Ruzek and Atwater after an extremely long, busy week in the intelligence department. She had had enough of guns and violence for a lifetime, she just wanted two days without seeing someone on the floor in a pool of their own blood.

But this time it was her, she was the one lying in an ever-growing pool of her own blood.

The bullet had entered her just below her right clavicle, it was so small, the edges were ragged and torn; but the blood that was coming out, there was so much. How can something so tiny cause so much damage?

Within a second of Hailey's body hitting the ground, Jay was on his knees next to her, his gun drawn, searching for the source, but he couldn't see anything between the chaos of civilians running for their lives and his best friend, his partner, lying on the cold concrete of the sidewalk, a bullet in her chest.

He placed his hands on the source, putting all his weight against the tiny, deadly hole.

He tried to ignore the blood leaking out between his fingers, soaking her once white blouse. "Someone call 911!" he screamed out; he couldn't risk taking the pressure off of Hailey's chest to do it himself.

He noticed Hailey's eyelids drooping as she struggled to hold onto consciousness, "hey, stay with me, look at me Hailey. Keep looking at me. You're going to be okay."

A young man, no older than 25, got Jay's attention as he cautiously strode towards the two, "I called 911, they're sending an ambulance. It should be here in no time." His voice shaking as he relayed the dispatchers words to the detective.

"Thank you." Jay responded, turning his eyes towards the bloodstained blonde in front of him.

The man nodded, fear evident in his eyes. "What can I do?"

Jay was silent for a second, trying to organise the abundance of thoughts haphazardly flying around his head. "Just stand next to the road, flag the Ambulance down when you see it coming."

The man nodded again, turning and jogging towards the road.

She struggled to comprehend what was happening around her through the groggy haze that had enveloped her. The excruciating pain had subsided by what she could only assume was the shock of the situation unfolding around her, but she could still feel Jay, his hands pressing against the hole the bullet that had torn into her had created.

Her skin was damp with sweat, but she was cold. So, so cold. She needed to pull herself back into the present, to keep herself from falling through the inevitable black hole that she had seen so many people disappear into before.

She tried to concentrate on Jay's echoing voice that was lingering in the back of her consciousness, but her body was fighting her mind, trying to get her to rest, to not put any more strain on her already mutilated body.

Jay could see her fighting to keep her eyes open as she wrestled with the exhaustion that came from such significant blood loss, but he knew he needed to keep her awake, alert, otherwise her odds of becoming responsive again were significantly decreased. He was going to fight with her through this, hell he was going to fight for her if he needed to. She had been there for him when he needed her most, and he'd be damned if he wasn't going to do the same for her.

He sucked in a breath, willing the shakiness out of his voice, "hey, you're doing good, you just need to keep your eyes open for a little while longer. Just until the ambulance gets here."

As if on cue, the sound of sirens filled the air around them, growing in volume as the rig got closer. The still nameless man did what Jay asked and got the crews attention, drawing them to a halt by the curb.

Jay kept one hundred percent of his attention on Hailey and trying to stop her from losing any more blood, he hadn't even looked up at the two EMTs who had exited the rig, "Female, 30, one GSW to the right chest" he told them, not even needing to think about it.

The horrified voice of Sylvie Brett broke through his daze "Hailey! Oh my god. What happened?" she asked him, taking her place next to Jay and pressing gauze to the wound.

The detective removed his now blood-stained hands from his partner, letting the paramedics do their job. "I… I don't know. One minute we were walking to Molly's, the next she was on the ground." He told them, tripping over his words.

"Foster, backboard and gauze, now!" Brett called to her partner as the blood continued to soak through each new layer of gauze she applied.

The world around her had gotten foggier, but she knew the ambulance had pulled up, she had heard the sirens and new voices joining Jays. She could feel hands on her, moving her body up onto her side and back down onto a spinal board.

Her head spun at the jolt of being lifted up and onto the stretcher, it was getting too difficult to keep conscious and aware of her surroundings. She was tired. So, so tired. A little nap couldn't hurt, right?

Jay was helpless as the two EMTs loaded his friend into the back of the ambulance, only moving again after Brett told him he could ride to Med with them in the Ambo.

His head was spinning, everything had happened so fast. It felt like only seconds ago they were walking and joking on their way to Molly's. He was ripped back into the present by the sounds of machines beeping, no, screaming at the Paramedics that something wasn't right, that Hailey wasn't okay.

Before he could even register what was happening, the blonde EMT was yelling to her partner in the driver's seat, "Foster step on it! We're losing her!"

To be continued…

[also posted on my ff.net & Ao3]

[leos-regression-cove]

Nothing in the Parenting Books Prepared Me For This

45. Sleepless Nights

Synopsis: Loki wakes up to find Sylvie unable to sleep. Unfortunately, Mobius isn't there on caregiving duties, so Loki needs to step up and try to get her to stop crying.

Word count: 993

Stand Alone?: 3/7

Warnings: breastfeeding, injury/whump/hurt/comfort elements,

Notes: Loki's gender isn't like a warning but I find that I put the gender fluctuation in notes whenever it happens. This is simply an observation. Anyway there's a brief moment of Loki being female presenting.

Read it on AO3!

Loki awoke to the baby monitor from the nursery absolutely howling with noise. In fact, he probably didn’t even need the baby monitor, Sylvie was so loud she was easily heard through the walls, wailing and bawling. 

It was her first night out of the hospital, that was only to be expected, but what wasn’t expected, was that Mobius had gotten an emergency call earlier in the night and had to rush into work, leaving Loki to sleep in his large, plush bed, entirely alone and take care of Sylvie in case she needed it. Which as of now, 2 AM, she did.

Loki stretched, he was slow, and lazy, and showed no urgency to get to her. But he did get up, and looked over the side of the crib. 

Her face was red as she cried and screamed. 

Loki sighed as he watched her, resting his arms on the rails for a moment. He finally gained the energy to take the bars down, and took her to the changing table, assuming that was the issue. 

Although her diaper was wet, she had no rash, nor was it cold and saggy, as if she had wet after she had started crying. 

He changed her anyway, just in case, and proceeded to wrap her in a blanket so he could carry her easier and not need to worry so much about accidentally dropping her if she wiggled too much. 

Food! thought Loki, yes, that must be it! When was the last time Sylvie had eaten? He opened the fridge with magic while cradling the baby girl in both arms, considering if she would eat solid foods. 

No, he decided after not finding anything microwavable, and trying to give her cereal, which she refused. 

“Alright,” he said aloud as he sat down on the couch with her. 

She stared at him for a moment, still letting out sad gurgles and wiggling in her blankets, but quieting down to listen to him. 

He sighed; it wasn’t the first time he had done this. Propping Sylvie up, he lifted his shirt and changed genders. 

When Loki didn’t have any more things to say, the little girl went back to fussing. 

Loki noticed this change, and started to talk again, speaking quietly and gently. 

Eventually, the baby latched and drank a little bit, but the discomfort of her position with her injuries was enough to make her keep taking breaks to lie down, not liking the way she was propped up. She told Loki of her discomfort the same way she had been, with whines and whimpers at best, and wailing and bawls at worst. 

Loki set her shirt down and switched back to his more neutral-to-masculine form, the one which he generally preferred. “You probably hurt, don’t you?” he realized, “is that why you’re crying?” 

He tried to get Sylvie to swallow her liquified medication, which he was eventually able to shove down her throat. 

The bitter taste made her pucker her face and mewl further. 

“What do you want me to do?” he asked annoyedly, as she went back to shrieking. “Look, I know I’m magic, but I can’t heal you. Just tell me what I need to do and I’ll do it. Just… child, let me go back to sleep.”

He looked into her mind, looking for anything, but she was blank. He was no empath like she was, he couldn’t feel her feelings or enchant her, but he could read her thoughts like a book, and all the book said was pretty much “upset”. 

He bounced her up and down very gently as he thought about what would solve this problem. It had felt like an eternity, running around trying to fix the world for her.

“Hm… Okay, I’ve got it. Let’s try this,” Loki spoke to himself. 

The sudden change in temperature shocked Sylvie, and she looked up at her baba with big eyes as they stepped out into the cool night air. 

“Nice, isn’t it?” Loki asked with a smile, noticing Sylvie go silent, he used the second to set a pacifier in her mouth, but it wasn’t long until the new stimulus stopped distracting her from being a loud little baby.

Thor heard a knock on his door and sleepily got up. “What could you possibly want at this hour?!” he yelled. Which made Sylvie cry harder, her pacifier falling out of her mouth.

Loki hardly caught it and hung it by the handle from his lean fingers.  “Hush, will you?” he hissed barging into the home the second Thor opened the door. “I’ve been up for an hour and a half trying to get her to sleep. I need you.” His hair was in a mess of a bun and his clothes were horribly wrinkled by now. 

“For what? To take over for you? Go get Mobius, I’m not a caregiver.”

“Just… sing the song.”

“The song? The lullaby song?! You don’t know it?!” 

“No. I tried- but the words aren’t coming to me, can you just sing it to her, please?” 

Thor sighed and motioned, inviting Loki to hand the little over. He gently set the green pacifier back into Sylvie’s mouth as he started to sing the song to her. 

Immediate silence, aside from snuffles and the occasional weepy gurgle.  

“Thank you,” Loki whispered, taking the sleepy baby back into his arms. 

Sylvie yawned and closed her heavy eyelids as Loki picked her back up, carrying her back to the crib. 

He would’ve snuggled with her in the big bed, but Mobius had hastily scrawled a warning to Loki that Sylvie could get hurt if not set in her crib while this small, and this hurt. 

The god kissed her on the forehead. “Please sleep well,” he jokingly begged her before leaving her to go back to his cold, empty, bed, praying to wake up in the arms of his fiancé. 

[leradny]

Emerald City has its shortcomings, but one thing I absolutely love about it is that women are given the complete freedom to fail, to succeed, to do nice things, to do really terrible things. Every single one of them.

A brief explanation about why I won’t include Tip: Tip is a very important character, but he is a boy. He was born in a female body, but due to lack of resources, he cannot return to his preferred gender, nor can he pass for it. That is the only reason he presents as feminine. He was raised as a boy, and identifies as one exclusively. So, he’s not here. Although I love him.

Anyway, back to the women and girls.

For one thing, there are a lot, both in the background, and with speaking roles. There are young girls and old women. There are women who stay chaste. There are women who work at a brothel.

Even the minor female characters are given lives, backstories, and relationships. You don’t know the whole story and sometimes they don’t speak, but you get the sense that there is a whole story.

One of the most unorthodox ways Emerald City gets its plot rolling that I’ve never seen to the same extent in any other work of fiction is how significant events happen off-screen. This is generally eschewed in fiction for a very good good reason most of the time. But here it is handled, for the most part, in an ABSOLUTELY WONDERFUL way to give agency to all of its characters.

For example: My favorite character Mistress East, the most Merciful and Stern (AND BEAUTIFUL). The very fact that they juxtapose two seemingly contradictory things alludes to this convention of not showing the full picture, and allowing women to have fully rounded characters. We only see the Stern part of Mistress East for the short time she’s on screen. She tortures the main character. And yet, people are so very genuinely affected by her death! The Munja’kin exalt her, and torture Dorothy because they want to bring a murderer to justice. West runs out crying into the street. Her most loyal servant continues to guard the temple after her death. So, that merciful part of her personality must be there. We simply didn’t get to see it.

This juxtaposition is also evident in East’s costume design. She has Florence Kasumba’s shaved head, which is genuinely coded as a masculine trait. See: Furiosa, which works very well for that particular show. But this is not Mad Max. Emerald City threw masculine and feminine coding out the window for East! She has a shaved head, but pairs it with the most impractical, haute couture dress of any character in the show. It’s red and silky with a black feathered collar and beautiful intricate golden gauntlets, and there is not only one twenty-foot train, there are several. Keep in mind that Florence Kasumba could have very easily worn a wig for this role to look more feminine according to “traditional” gender roles, and yet was allowed to keep her hairstyle.

Another way is how they allow all of their characters the potential to do very good things, very bad things, and things the viewer doesn’t quite feel comfortable with. Not to say these characters don’t have defined personalities. But you can’t really guess what a character’s going to do.

Dorothy Gale is mostly a really good person. She is the hero, a woman of color, and by profession a nurse. She fits into that profession quite naturally. She takes care of dogs and children and she loves her adoptive family. But she also steals medicine if her family needs it and cannot get it, for whatever reason. She doesn’t default to hurting or killing people, but she totally will if it means her or them.

Sylvie is mostly a really sweet little girl who very rarely speaks and is mostly carried around by Lucas or looked after by Dorothy or playing with Toto. But after being established as such and getting abducted, Dorothy spends a lot of time trying to rescue her from a couple who tries to abduct her. Our heroine storms into the house, only to find that Sylvie has turned her abductors into stone off-screen.

Mistress West is mostly defined by being a sex and drug addict. She’s not very nice. She shouts at her servants. She ruthlessly discards people once she’s not interested in them anymore. She outright lies to someone. But, well, she still genuinely values honesty outside of it. She’s witty. She is genuinely traumatized by the death of her sisters.

Princess Langwidere, is mostly the strange girl who always wears masks and just buys Jack because she likes him. And then she goes from spoiled, eccentric princess to a terrifyingly shrewd politician when it’s revealed she’s been ruling the kingdom instead of her father for a long time. She busts out that AMAZING speech where she point-blank refuses to help the Wizard because he ignored her kingdom, and she will gladly see Oz burn to the ground. I love floaty eccentric girls. I love hyper-capable women. Princess Langwidere is literally two of my favorite character types IN ONE PERSON.

One character who haunts me is Mombi. As actors, women run into a lot of limitations with their craft because generally, nobody looks pretty when they emote with intensity. And women run into far less opportunities as they age because they also tend to look less pretty. But here is an older woman who is not only given screen-time, but artistic freedom. Spit FLIES OUT OF HER MOUTH when she rages at Dorothy! She is given the power to tackle, strangle, and overpower the younger heroine. And we completely believe that Dorothy will die! Lucas, a fucking 6′3″ soldier, has to stab Mombi in the heart, drag her off, and bash her in the skull before getting Dorothy away to safety. And he still doesn’t kill her! Nope!

Women in Emerald City are just as flawed and detailed and individual and self-serving and selfless and hypocritical as any of the men. I could write an essay about literally every female character, because all of them have done something that directly affects the plot. I may not like all of the characters, and they might not all have the same amount of screen time, but every single one of them has agency and relevance, and that is the level of equality this industry needs.

[gramilano]

Dancing Times has opened up the last 20 years of its archives to all until 7 April.

The monthly magazine has its think pieces, reviews, articles about technique, dance’s past and present, but I always head first to the interviews. Here are some tidbits I’ve come across, and I’ve only just scratched the surface. Read while you can via this link.

When interviewing Monica Mason in 2006, Gerald Dowler asked her in what ways the company had changed:

We have some dancers throughout the ranks who are capable of great virtuosity, who excel at the flashy stuff and this company was never famous for that. Ashton liked certain things: Wayne Sleep was a virtuoso and Fred choreographed for him; Dowell had a real ability to dazzle with his speed, but never at the expense of line or musicality. They were never as “flash” as some today; we have several people who can do multiple fouettés, which we would only have dreamt of doing; when Rudolf arrived, although he was never virtuosic in that way, he did things we couldn’t do and influenced us; Sylvie arriving and putting her legs in extraordinary places meant that others said “I can do that and maybe I’ll be allowed to”. You can’t keep the doors locked and the curtains drawn – if people said that everything was exactly as it was in 1952 it would be terrible!

Dancing Times May 2006

Dancing Times July 2007

Dancing Times January 2008

Dancing Times September 2009

In 2007, Roberto Bolle talked about rehearsing with Darcey Bussell for the last time:

I am very sad that she is retiring – as we rehearse now I am thinking that it will be the last time, and I am very sad. We have a beautiful relationship both as dancers and as people. That has helped because the atmosphere between us is great and we know each other very well. I will miss her, and it’s a shame because she is in such good shape – I have never seen a ballerina retire in such good shape! I have tried to persuade her but there is nothing we can do.

The same year, Nadine Meisner interviewed Alexei Ratmansky in Milan when the Bolshoi was performing in the city:

Out of the 20 ballets created on the company during his directorship so far, only three are by him… “I don’t think the Bolshoi should be the company of one choreographer. Also, as a choreographer I have a group of dancers I like to use, but as a director I have to find ballets that use the rest of the company.”

That means nurturing in-house choreographers. “It’s a difficult task because for decades only one star [Yuri Grigorovich] dominated the repertoire and this really affected other choreographers’ minds. But now that the Maryinsky and the Bolshoi and other theatres are widening their repertoires, sooner or later new choreographic talents will appear and flourish. A choreographer finds stimulation from his experience as a dancer and a spectator, I think. And from this he can evolve his own style. So the more he sees and experiences, the more interesting his style will be.”

There is a revealing interview with Tamara Rojo by Gerald Dowler in the January 2008 issue:

It is a mark of Tamara Rojo’s unstoppable drive that when interviewed after a long day’s rehearsals, she is as engaged and emphatic as she would be if fully rested. There is a clear dynamism about the woman, which first led her to leave her native Spain…

…Rojo gives the impression that she will be at The Royal Ballet for just as long as she feels she needs to be – she is in far too much of a hurry to achieve her goals. What could they be? “Maybe to direct a company; I have ideas and opinions which I think I have with good reason”.

Four years later, she took over at English National Ballet. Dowler interviewed Alina Cojocaru in 2009, the following year. He asked,

You have been with The Royal Ballet for ten years and are in demand all over the world. Why have you stayed?

AC: It is a good home, although guesting with many different companies in the world means coming back enriched by the experience: through working with different dancers, teachers, productions one can learn and develop as an artist. This place is special because of the people I stand next to at the barre every morning; they are the soul of this place.

And in 2013, she joined Rojo at ENB.

Dancing Times December 2009

Dancing Times October 2010

Dancing Times April 2014

Dancing Times December 2018

Also in 2009, Dowler asked Federico Bonelli about his affinity with the repertoire at The Royal Ballet:

The repertoire here is one of the greatest plus points about the company – Ashton, MacMillan, the classics and new work; it works! The company has taught me the importance of telling a story on stage, which has added another dimension; theatre in the UK is very much about narrative. My brother back in Italy is an actor, and it has been great for me to develop that side, and to evolve as an artist.

The cover for Dancing Times’ 100th Anniversary Edition in 2010 featured The Royal Ballet’s Lauren Cuthbertson as Sylvia, her comeback role after many months away after undiagnosed glandular fever. Zoë Anderson – who had just become the magazine’s Assistant Editor – asked her if there was pressure in being the company’s only British female principal (Francesca Hayward and Yasmine Naghdi have since joined her):

It’s a mixture of things. I think it’s treasured, in some ways. To be honest, it feels like it doesn’t matter. You have to accept that it’s a very international company, it always has been. It is lovely to highlight that there’s somebody who’s been through our system – that you can get to this level, it can be achieved. Otherwise, what’s it all for? I’m really proud to say I’ve gone all the way through. But I don’t think it’s seen to be a great thing to be a British principal. I don’t know whether those days have gone – everything is so international now.

The following year, Anderson interviewed Dame Beryl Grey:

Characteristically, [Ninette] De Valois soon decided that her new dancer’s original name, Beryl Groom, wouldn’t do. “The first week, I was doing class, and she walked in and said ‘Groom! I’m changing your name to Grey, unless you can think of a better name. Right, it’s Grey.’ You can imagine, little me, with all these older dancers, going puce. I didn’t dare say anything. Later, she had this bee in her bonnet, she wanted me to be called Iris. I hate the name Iris! Fortunately Evelyn Leith, the press officer, didn’t like it either. I said, ‘Miss Leith, please, I don’t want to be called Iris Grey! ‘So she battled it out, and I remained Beryl Grey.”

In 2011, Gerald Dowler asked Mara Galeazzi, former principal at The Royal Ballet, about the young Italian teenager arriving in rainy London:

I wasn’t bothered by the cold and the rain, because I was so excited to be here. Because I had lived in a boarding school since the age of ten, I knew I had the independence, even if I ended up crying every morning – I was a mummy’s girl too! But I wasn’t scared – I took a vocabulary book and learned words every day, and the people in the company all helped me out; they were amazing. I learned English in three months living with a lovely English lady who was very particular about my language. It was a shock, but I loved the experience, and the fighting to succeed.

When Akram Khan turned 40 in 2014, Paul Arrowsmith talked to him about how he discussed his ideas with the cast:

They need to understand the impulses of a piece so they have an emotional engagement. Dancers need to understand the psychology of what they are embodying. That influences how they move. If dancers feel it, then audiences feel it. Everybody can believe – any of those figures could be me.

Zoë Anderson interviewed Marianela Nuñez in 2016 and asked her whether she watched videos of her performances:

I do. I look at it and – ” she groans – “but I look at it to perfect myself. I face it, and I can take it. It’s like medicine: it doesn’t taste good, but you know it’s good for you! Obviously, we have people looking at us, advising us, you take that and you process it, but when you really see it, you think, ‘Oh, OK, I get it now.’ It’s an extra help.”

Dowler talked to Matthew Ball in 2018, asking him if it was liberating to ‘carry’ a show:

In a way, very much so. Some may feel constrained, but I feel that having the responsibility allows me to set the tone and gives me the freedom to play with the part. In the corps, you have to be in time with everyone else, but as the lead, it is very different. As Rudolf, you know you have a number of counts to crawl over to the chair and inject yourself with morphine, but how you do that is left to you – if you need to be told, maybe you are not in the right job! That freedom is what makes the whole thing live, just like the synergy between you and your partner, as well as the connection with the audience. Being the lead allows you to be responsive and spontaneous.

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