#the writing acting and literally everything on this show is FUCKING BRILLIANT

[anthurak]

Okay, but just the contrast in writing/performance between Jaune and Ruby in their different breakdowns.

Miles is giving Jaune this very up-front, very overt, very traditionally dramatic ‘man losing his mind out of isolation and guilt’ performance. He shouts, he screams, he makes big, attention-getting monologues and outbursts where he lays out all his pains and torments for the audience to hear. Again, all in what we’d call a very ‘traditionally’ dramatic fashion.

Meanwhile, Lindsay is giving Ruby this very restrained, grounded, visceral, far more raw and ugly performance. Ruby is generally quiet and restrained until something sets her off. She doesn’t shout or scream but instead lashes out with things she’s been holding in all this time seemingly at random. She’s not ‘explaining’ what or how her problems are, she’s just VENTING. Because that’s all she CAN do right now.

And it all works brilliantly with both the characters AND what the scene needs to accomplish.

I think from a character perspective, Jaune is making these big, overt dramatic breakdowns in a subconscious attempt to GET attention, as an unconscious cry for help. Specifically, because Jaune is deep down DESPERATE for absolution. He’s become so consumed by guilt over what he did to Penny that it’s now taken over everything he does, and deep down he’s desperate for someone or something to absolve him of that guilt.

But whereas Jaune is dealing with something recent, relatively speaking, what we’re seeing with Ruby is simply the result of coping mechanism she’s been using to compartmentalize, manage and repress her trauma likely her entire life, which has LONG since been pushed past it’s limits, FINALLY breaking down. What we’re seeing start to come out is likely a LIFETIME of repressed pain and trauma. Which ironically she CAN’T let out nearly as obviously as Jaune is doing because she’s still trying to keep it in. Because she doesn’t know HOW to be open with her pain.

And putting Jaune opposite Ruby in this episode only serves to exacerbate Ruby’s problems. Because Jaune’s far more overt and obvious breakdowns just end up drawing the attention of Weiss, Blake, Yang and even the audience AWAY from Ruby’s already subtle and restrained breakdown.

Until it’s too late and Ruby simply checks out entirely.

[waitmyturtles]

Love For Love's Sake: unorganized musings on an utterly brilliant show

TW: suicide, suicide attempts and ideation among LGBTQ+ youth

I love that @lurkingshan clocked early on, before my heated two-day binge of Love For Love's Sake, that I would NOT be able to write meta on this show right after I watched it. It's been five days, and all I have are just loose mental strings. Everyone has had such amazing input and theories and thoughts into this incredible show. What I said to @bengiyo while I was watching it was: I'm not entirely sure I'm following everything, but this show is still hitting every high point of my dopamine cycle, which means it's GOOD, and maybe making sense, somehow.

In any case, I don't think I can write meta on this show, in part because I don't know if there are any concrete conclusions I can come to about this show -- which I think is an inherent part of its brilliance. I'm just in awe that we, as BL fans, got this show in the genre we love, complete with stellar acting, gorgeous cinematography, phenomenal writing, all of it. (I'm back a lot on iQIYI right now, ready for my KinnPorsche OGMMTVC rewatch, and I'm noticing that LFLS is just eating by way of numbers. Fucking WELL DESERVED.)

All I want to do is just share some instinctual feelings about where my mind was landing a couple days after I finished watching LFLS. This is the scene I've been thinking about the most right now.

I don't have a theory as to the "reality" of the ending of the show -- if Myungha is alive in "reality," is alive in an alternate universe, is reincarnated, or if what's shown at the end of the series is a kind of heaven. I love that there's no real way we can interpret that.

What I love about this scene that I've screencapped -- and thinking about the elusive and inconclusive meanings of the ending -- is that, truly, theories about fate and destiny ARE indeed theories. Myungha's grandmother believes one thing, and Myungha believes something else. Sunbae is able to play around with.... something, with time, with fate, with our dependence on technology, something, to make something happen to Myungha that gives him a happy ending with Yeowoon somewhere, sometime, in some wrinkle of time.

Going back for a second (I told you these thoughts were unorganized), something that hit me deeply about this show were the great number of themes it touched upon. This show touched upon:

Suicide Homophobia Bullying Self-acceptance Self-love Familial abandonment Familial abuse Substance abuse Intergenerational trauma Elder hierarchy and respect (both in families and in society) Pre-destination Christianity (stay with me for a sec) Buddhism (same)

and probably many more that I'm missing.

I couldn't help but think of Lee Sun-Kyun's recent suicide in South Korea -- even though this show was likely produced well before that incident. Nonetheless, it had me thinking about what suicide means in South Korea, considering the ever-growing presence of Christianity in that country, with 23% of South Koreans identifying as some kind of Christian. The show also had me thinking in general of sins, and of fate, in Christianity.

Just thinking out loud. Korea produces fewer BLs than we'd expect from that national entertainment powerhouse. Efforts to cancel Seoul Pride last year were made in earnest by pro-Christian forces -- but Pride won out.

As same-sex orientation so often is, suicide is also discouraged in Christian circles. We can see, literally, how homosexuality is discouraged in South Korea vis à vis Pride. I'll assume the same for suicide in South Korea, despite the many celebrities in the recent past that have met that fate publicly.

What does South Korea feel about the suicides of young people who might be queer? The percentages of suicidal ideation and suicide attempts among South Korean LGBTQ+ youth are high.

We can see and feel the palpable message from LFLS that self-love, despite how oneself, and society, might feel about an individual's sexual orientation, is well worth fighting for and celebrating. But Myungha, in some reality, is still dead. And death will be his eventual fate anyway, as will be the fate for all of us.

If Myungha found self-love, AND love through Yeowoon, and found a happy ending in happiness, somewhere, somehow, then -- any Christian judgements about same-sex orientations and suicide are moot, regarding Myungha's fate.

But Myungha also reveals, vis à vis his grandmother, the Buddhist spin on fate. He mentions that she believes in reincarnation. He mentions that she believes in doing good in this life, so as to have a happy life after reincarnation.

And he refutes that. He says -- no. Predestination of any kind is not right. I believe that one can change their lives NOW, in the present, for a happier fate and future, NOW. Otherwise, why even bother trying?

And Sunbae hears that, and constructs a world in which Myungha COULD find a path to a happier ending, simply by working on finding love for himself and unto himself -- in part, though a partner that Myungha relates to deeply at the start of the series. (That Yeowoon might very well be the EMBODIMENT of self-love that Myungha discovers -- yes, that may also be "true" of the show's ending. Whew.)

You know what I love about this show? I love that this show just absolutely CHEWED UP those predestination theories that we get from our generations past, from the spiritual practices that we may have grown up with -- from the indirect, unspoken, unconscious ASSUMPTIONS we may have about life and death. This show iterated that being either in "the" or "a" now, a present, and being willing to change oneself (which I've often written about as being THE hardest thing you can you in your life) can have great, long-lasting -- even eternal benefits and consequences.

I love that this show says: you don't have to rely on all the structures and expectations that lead one to behave the way that they do. We might always expect to be a group of schoolboys who'll bully another for being gay. But -- did we expect one of those bullies to BE gay? The show said, we can also very much turn that on its head, even though it might cost someone some bruises.

Within the absolute truth that all humans will die one day -- what other absolute truths do we have? Man. I need a vacation, some..... stuff, you know what I mean, I need TIME to contemplate that.

This show said, no absolute truths today. Everything is up for grabs by way of how we'll love and accept people, and this show examined ALL THE WAYS, good AND bad, that people are loved and accepted, from total rejection by a parent, to unconditional love from a partner, with a slipper-bearing and loving grandma in-between.

It's been... what, five days since I finished this show, and I CANNOT stop thinking about it. It's just brilliant. These thoughts were messy, but it's meant to be, because I just -- this show, I just can't with how brilliant this show was about all of the inconclusiveness of it that still told such an amazing story.

[cdragons]

Truce Part 1

Part 1, Part 2, Part 3 Pairing(s): Ikaris x Persephone!Reader ft. Druig x Hecate!Reader Word Count: 2.7k Prompt/Summary: Ikaris and Druig have a discussion about the women in their lives (AKA: Ikaris is an idiot who thinks your best friend is a demon, and Druig is super in love with said demon). Warning: Slight mentions of death (no major characters tho), neurodivergent reader is neurodivergent, Hecate!Reader bestie is her own warning Note: Thank you to everyone who takes the times to read my writing even through it is likely way too self-indulgent to be considered in-character! Special thank you to the most amazing and incredible beta editor in the world, @valeskafics! If you have not, please go check her works! She mostly does HOTD, GOT, anything Ewan Mitchell, and literally EVERYTHING she writes is incredible!

It was safe to say that Ikaris was a confident individual.

This was a fact that applied to many aspects of his life.

He was confident in his abilities as an Eternal. He was confident in his faith in both his leader Ajak, and the Celestial that created him and his team members, Arishem. He was especially confident in his capability as a leader. This included carrying out missions, eliminating Deviants, and saving and “caring” about the fragile humans’ lives.

No matter what Druig implied.

But the one thing he could not say he was completely 100% confident about… was… understanding how he placed amongst the rest of the Eternals.

That wasn’t to say he wasn’t well-liked or even appreciated… but… he didn’t exactly know how some members “felt” about him.

He was more than well-received by certain members – Kingo and Sprite are the first Eternals that come to mind. He had earned the respect and trust of most of the group – as was shown by the trust Ajak put on him, along with the close bond he shared with Sersi. Thena and Gilgamesh certainly respected him as a fighter – but they never idolized him. In their eyes, he was more of a younger brother that they could share a drink and trade banter. He was on amicable terms with Makkari. Phastos and him never particularly bonded with each other, but the latter still trusted Ikaris’ judgement.

With Druig and Katelyn, both outright dismissing him most of the time –

No…that was putting it lightly…

Take the words “outright dismissed him,” and replaced them with “liked to act like bratty little shits and make him look like a fucking idiot;” along with the words “most of the time,” and replace them with “since they all left the goddamn Domo.”

…But he had no idea where he stood with you.

Sephia, the Eternal blessed by Arishem with the ability of absolute control of plants and the Earth. While Sersi made efforts to connect with the humans, you almost did everything in your power to avoid them. But no matter how you tried to avoid them, humans always adored you. They longed to catch a quick glimpse of the beautiful being that brought them aid whenever their crops were unable to bear fruit.

It was not only your powers that attracted them to you, but also the image you presented yourself to them. You were…heaven-sent – is how the humans saw you. Although fairly quiet, it was obvious to him that you were brilliant. Not only that, but you were fairly regimented in your diligence to your duties- something Ikaris greatly appreciated in a team member. You and Sersi worked together to only present them with their new crops, explain the various uses that would fit their lifestyle, show them how to properly harvest the crops and take a section of the seeds to replant, and then demonstrate how to properly plant them in a way that would yield the best results.

…It also helped how the sun would bring out that lovely flush to your skin in your demonstrations.

To them, your kindness and shy demeanor… along with your overwhelming beauty that was only further brought out from your flowing pink tunic with green twining and brass patterns… presented the very image of a Springtime Maiden.

You carried out your duties flawlessly, and always with so much efficiency that you always managed to have more than enough free time to go off on your little adventures to study the wildlife you had not created. You were curious as to how certain natural environments resulted in different lifestyle choices. You insisted that in studying the world around them, you would be able to better understand the humans’ lifestyle. A thought that was supported by Ajak whole-heartedly.

And it wasn’t only your duties to the humans that you carried out well – you even used your ability to control the plants that surrounded you to attack Deviants in desperate times. Sprite would spin tales of how the Sweet Spring Maiden Sephia could turn a little flower into a giant vine that could pierce through the skull of any deviant that came your way.

You were…different. That wasn’t to say you were strange…if anything…your differences made you…charming. Admittedly, he hadn’t paid much attention towards you at the beginning as he was initially attracted to Sersi’s kind demeanor. But he would always see you with her, and she would always insist on the two of you bonding. Your encounters with one another were awkward to say the least. But soon, he genuinely bonded with you…

Now, you were just the most fucking adorable being in the universe; which brought up the dire need to know where he stood in your life.

He just hoped that your “guardian angel” wasn’t with you at the moment.

“Well,” thought Ikaris, “demon would be a more accurate term in describing her.”

Kaetlyn was a different topic of conversation to say the least. Simply put, her abilities allow her to manipulate shadows and darkness. In battle, she would first scope out any areas that had Deviants to gain any information that would be an advantage. She would do this by either sending her shadows out, or just traveling through any shadows herself. Ikaris loathed to admit it, but her affinity for intelligence-gathering was far superior than the rest of them. Not only that, but she was a more than capable fighter. She would aim her dark arrows to the Deviant’s weakest point, and let the shadows embedded in it sink into their bodies to tear them from the inside out.

After its confirmed death, she would use her shadow portals to transport them to her personal laboratory at the Domo to “study” their anatomy and physiology. And if that wasn’t enough, Ajak just- just- ALLOWS IT! Even going so far as to ask for your assistance at certain times!

Ajak was one matter – after all, the Prime Eternal served as a maternal figure to everyone, including him – but he was more shocked at your eager involvement in the dark assassin’s hobbies. He could never forget how brightly you smiled when you ran towards him in excitement at your realization that encasing the decaying specimens in a mixture of various alcohol solutions and formaldehyde created a much more effective embalming methods than encasing it in an alcohol solution with herbs and spices.

You went on for hours about how you discovered the gas during one of the fires that nearly destroyed the village a few months back. Luckily very few of the villagers died, but you noticed how the victims who only died through exposure to the smoke decomposed much slower than normal. You then ended up trying to explain the process of precipitating the gas into a liquid solution, along with how to properly categorize it so that it wouldn’t be accidentally ingested. You and he ended up talking for so long that you ended up completely missing the feast held in celebration of the harvest that year. Ajak was quite cross with the both of you – Ikaris especially since he is usually so punctual with social engagements – but how could he be upset after having hours of your sole attention? You too were not put off by your leader’s slight scolding. On the contrary, you were more than relieved considering how much you hated these events.

You were kind and thoughtful; she was argumentative and crass. You were radiant brilliance; she was unhinged madness. You brought light and its hopeful beginnings; she oozed out darkness and all its mad chaos. You were life; she was death. So why did you latch onto her as if she was your only tether to the ground?

…You were being controlled by her- that had to have been it. Ikaris refused to believe that someone as wonderful and kind as yourself would willingly subject themselves to that-that-that- hell spawn!

“Y’know,” an annoyed voice broke his thoughts, “I’d really appreciate it if you’d didn’t call the love of my life a ‘hell spawn’.”

“For the love of Arishem,” thought Ikaris, “anyone but him.”

Taking a deep breath, he turned to find Druig.

“And I’m more than certain that our sweet Sephia wouldn’t exactly be ecstatic in knowing how you referred her very favorite person in the world that particular term either.” The mind controlling Eternal finished off with that damned trademark smirk of his.

Gods, Ikaris wanted nothing more than to shove that face a thousand feet in the ground right now. But he didn’t want to afford to lose his temper now. Not when he still hoped to find you.

“Pretty sure Ajak made it a rule for you not to use your powers on your fellow Eternals,” he snapped, “considering your habit of using it on the humans already.”

“Please,” he quipped back, “you’re the one pacing and muttering like a mad man in the middle of the courtyard.” He slightly cocked his head to the side in a facetious manner, “Anything I could help with?”

Ikaris didn’t want to tell Druig his plans…he wanted less for Druig to know about his plans with you. But Druig was close to you…even only through mutual association by Kaetlyn.

“Why are Sephia and Kaetlyn friends?” He blurted out.

“…Seriously?” Druig asked, “that’s what making act so crazy?”

“Just answer the damn question Druig.”

“…Why do you want to know?” The mind controller asked, very sure he wasn’t going to like Golden Boy’s response, but felt it necessary for his own peace of mind.

“…It doesn’t make any sense to me.”

“Excuse me?” His tone was growing colder with each passing second.

“Druig, I understand that you are incapable of being objective towards your… lover,” Ikaris started, “but even you have to admit you found their friendship to be unusual?”

“I can’t say that I have,” Druig answered, “I happen to think my angel as a lovely individual. A sentiment also agreed on by most members of the team- even your biggest fan Kingo adores her. Unconventional views? Maybe. Relentless tenacity? Absolutely. But that is exactly the foundation my beautiful Kaet’s adoration of Sephia, and vice versa.”

“I don’t- wait- I don’t understand?” Ikaris interrogated the besotted Eternal, “All she does is question Ajak’s authority, and commit senseless acts of childish rebellion! How does that lead to her being close with someone -”

Druig’s blank stare was almost terrifying.

“What Ikaris?” he asked, “Someone like Sephia? And how do you see our Sephia? Someone dutiful? Beautiful? Kind? Sweet? Perfect? How wretchedly mundane and so very one-dimensional- even for you.”

“That’s not it,” Ikaris was getting angry, “stop putting words in my mouth-”

“It’s not exactly a hard thing to do with you, my friend. But you and Sephia aren’t particularly close. She may be cordial with you, but she’s like that with everyone. So why the interest?”

“…I know that…Sephia is considered…different,” Ikaris began, “from a behavioral standpoint – but- tha- that’s not- I don’t think of her any less because of it.” This was much harder than he expected.

Druig lifted one of his eyebrows, signaling for the taller Eternal to continue.

“I like her ‘quirks’ – I can’t say I understand what they are, but – I know that-that they are a part of her, and not in a way that her powers are hers. But I also know that, that they don’t make up who she is as a whole.” Why was his throat closing up? “And…I like that she sees me.”

“…Yeah, no shit genius, it’s not like you can turn invisible. Believe me, not seeing your face would be a great improvement to my life.”

Ikaris scowled while turning so he could fly far from the black-clad armored telepath, “Forget it, I don’t know why I thought to share this with you of all people-”

“You don’t feel judged around her, is that it?”

Ikaris stopped, and once more faced Druig. The shock on his face was almost hilarious…if only Druig wasn’t about to completely expose himself at the moment, then he could at least properly enjoy the dumbfounded look on Ikaris’ face.

“Do you feel like you can talk to her about anything? That you could trust someone with something so humiliating? And then you’re angry because once you actually said those, you’ve realized that you’ve given someone full ammunition of yourself for them to use against you?”

The silence between the two powerful immortals was stifling.

“But then time passes,” Druig continues on, “and even after you pushed them away, they still accept you. Because they saw you, not an image other people projected on to you. And despite all reason, they decided to stand beside you.”

Ikaris’ eyes were bulging out of his head, “How- how did you know-?”

“I know, because I’ve been there,” Druig’s eyes softened just a tad, “with Kaety.”

…What?

“…Well, if you’re so curious about their companionship, I suppose the best way would be to ask directly from the source.” Druig reasoned as he pointed his head to two figures walking towards them.

You, in a soft white tunic with a long pink skirt with some brass jewelry. Today, you decided to let your hair loose with a few braids. Ikaris thought it was a bit curious on how you detested the humans’ worship of you, yet you still preferred their clothing options as opposed to your armor that showed your Olympian origins. However, armor or not, you still glowed a soft and heavenly aura unique only to you. You were in deep conversation with Kaetlyn, who wore a simple white linen dress with a patterned dark blue border skirt and a silver chained belt, and styled her hair in a loose braid.

Noticing the figures in front of them, Kaetlyn immediately pulled a look of just absolute disgust at the realization that Ikaris of all people was interrupting her peaceful day. Curious to your friend’s strange reaction, you turned your head and let out a warm smile and waved enthusiastically to the two men. You were well-aware of your friend’s distaste of the taller Eternal, but he was always kind with you. Besides, if you could occasionally put up with Kingo’s hubris, Kaety could certainly tolerate Ikaris’ company for a few moments.

Druig stepped in view, and Ikaris saw how quickly your feral companion’s expression changed at the sight of her lover. She lightly jogged to meet him in the middle as she threw her arms around his neck. Looking the strange sight, Ikaris noted that when she genuinely smiled, she looked almost…approachable? Druig took Kaetlyn in his arms, and the two pressed their lips together in a tender kiss. And just like that, the spell was broken and Ikaris was inwardly cringing from disgust as he turned his head away from the sight.

As a result, he was unable to see Druig lean forward and softly whisper to her ear of the plight that their mutual grey-streaked hair irritation was experiencing. Wanting to dismiss it immediately, Kaetlyn recalls all the times your cheeks lightly flushed in Ikaris’ company. And despite her obvious distaste for the man, she could tell that he at least wanted to genuinely understand her best friend. And she was more than positive that you were feeling “something” for him; however unaware you were of it yourself. Taking pity on the man, she walked over to you and explained how Druig wanted to explore the area for hidden caves. As a result, you and her would have to continue your discussions of how to properly develop the Punica granatum and its nutritional benefits for expectant mothers at another time. But luckily, Ikaris would be more than happy to escort you back to the Domo.

Before walking away, Ikaris felt a sharp pinch to his side, and looked down to find Kaetlyn’s shadow pinching his? Annoyed, he looked up to reprimand her, but his blood ran cold meeting the shadow Eternal’s gaze.

“Do anything that causes her discomfort,” her eyes seemed to shout, “and I will make your own shadow tear you apart bit by bit.” Quickly turning her head, the dark wisps quickly reattached themselves to their mistress. And the two Eternals were left alone with only themselves for company.

Looking back at you as you basked in the daylight, its golden light only enhancing the glow from your softness. Ikaris had only one thought in his head as he tries his damnedest to not reach out and press your suppleness against his hard frame.

“Fuck.”

Tagging: @its-actually-minicika, @spacetalbot, @siempre-bucky, @beananacake, @ethereal-athalia

[incarnateirony]

I remember you talking about Jensen becoming Hollywood darling or him becoming the first if not the only A-lister of J2M.

What now? Jared is thriving both acting and producing, a well-respected family man with stable growing career, highly appreciated in the industry.

I can't actually call Misha's career a stable one but he's always been chaotic. At least the man is trying different things being brilliant at everything, from poetry to foundation work, let alone acting. What about Jensen Oscar Material Ackles? His production company is dead, his producing debut failed, his The Boys cameo leads nowhere. 'His' band he has no creative contribution in (I feel really bad for Steve tbh) is a flop nobody listens to. His brewery is dying. His drinking problems affect his look more and more.

AAs try so hard spreading rumors about possibility of him getting any significant role like Batman or something in MCU or Soldier Boy spin-off of something totally new(Oscar Material my ass!). But even they're starting to understand nothing of this is happening. So are you going to acknowledge that Jensen Ackles flopped harder than anyone in the fandom could even imagine?

You know, when I get anons like this after a stream of frothing hate anons fail to clock me, all I see is a person trying very hard to write like a balanced and sane individual, and like, you really think these points somehow sound salient to you, because your personal social bubble keeps you so divorced from reality that you have to spend an entire page of your anon building a theory you hope. Let's put this in realism:

Jensen has been clocking top 100-200 actors for 3 years now.

Jared has still never broken the top thousand in the last decade. A few times he hit top 500 or so during big Supernatural premieres for a week but then fell in the abyss.

Jared's "thriving" is him managing a show about to be on its final season with no potential hires available beyond falling back on Supernatural

Jensen is in fact in the running for major positions, and you can be as mad about it as you fucking want. The man is literally Batman in several pieces while you keep imagining a hero people will try to hire Jared as, while Jensen is several.

His production company is alive, well, and in progress of making things, right fucking now, you absolute delusional? What are you smoking? Can I have some?

Stay mad at Radio Co's success.

The contractual ass kissing for pleasing the boss at walker has even broken and people admit he's miserable to work with on Walker all over Reddit now. He's infamous for this. For damaging equipment. For PR incidents. For low yield. That's not gonna change. It's just gonna get more known.

[cheetee]

⭐

I reblogged this ask meme then passed out immediately. Whoops! Anyway, you had the misfortune to send me this just as I finished my entire series. I'm about to hit you with literally every thought I've ever had.

EncantoTV: A Retrospective

My goal in Encanto fanfic is always, as best I can, to re-create the tone and style of the original movie. I called the series "Encanto TV Episodes From Another Timeline" because that's the level of canon compliance I wanted, not just from the plot but also from everything else, with the tone and the humour and the themes and the characters we focus on - I wanted to write something that felt like Disney had greenlit it.

(It's entirely PG except this part, which I removed briefly in early 2022 and then remorsefully put back because I literally couldn't replace the line "de-bitched their grandmother".)

Fun fact: I literally did not care for Camilo one iota the first time I watched Encanto. I don't mean I didn't like him; I mean I straight-up forgot one of the characters could shapeshift a couple of different times during the movie and had to google who the hell he was afterwards.

I put Camilo in When the Cat's Away because I thought he would be a funny narrator to a story that was primarily about Mirabel and Bruno, and then by necessity of being the narrator he got his own character arc, and that character arc spiralled into being the main emotional hook of the fic. Whoops.

The character who did get plenty of screentime from me, though: Bruno!

Here's the thing about fanfiction. Most people watched Encanto (2021), a Family-Adventure-Comedy, saw Bruno, thought he was hot, and then proceeded to write fiction about him that was also hot, such as porn, angst, porn/angst, and the great many variations of those things that exist on AO3. I watched that movie and went: "Great! I want more of this attractive, compelling character. He is a side character used primarily for comic relief, with a tragic backstory that is only ever minimally explored. Therefore, that is exclusively what I am going to write."

Hence: Bruno only appears as a major supporting character, and his main roles are to act as foil to Mirabel and comic relief, much the way he does in the original movie. I don't know what it is about that that I enjoy writing when, as far as I can tell, every other Bruno stan on the internet went down the logical route of writing fic that was about... well, him. Maybe a bit of narrative irrelevancy is just something I find attractive in a man?

Whatever about Camilo and Bruno, though. I thought Mirabel was a great character when I first watched Encanto, and now, having written 100,461 (fuck!) words about her, my feelings have only deepened. Mirabel, my daughter, life of my life!!! I adore you!!!

Seriously: I love this girl. I wound up spiralling into a whole series because there's just not enough I could say about her. I love the way the world feels when you're at a certain point in your teens, and you're smart and empathetic enough to understand the injustices of it, and you've got this whole life ahead of you to fix them and all these things to do around you and suddenly, for the briefest period of time, you have nothing but big ideas and burning passion to see them through. I wanted to capture that type of kid, somebody who's clearly very passionate and brilliant and inspired, despite the crushing lonliness and insecurity that sometimes comes with being fifteen.

Mirabel and Bruno's relationship is very dear to me. Mirabel is a teen who's pushing away her parents and the other adults in her life, feeling misunderstood. Bruno knows how to interact with the teens in a way that makes them feel treated and seen as adults, that validates their adult feelings and actions, while never actually crossing the boundary into being a friend. Bruno is a mentor, good at showing vulnerability when he needs to get through to someone and holding it back when they need strength instead. Mirabel desperately wants someone who makes her feel seen, and she needs an adult in her life she can trust. They go together like that.

The thing I'm proudest of about EncantoTV, though, is the plots. Because deciding that something is meant to be a cartoon TV episode, not a movie, not a novel, is just... a different type of story. TV plots can be bad. There are holes, there are wildly unrealistic natural disasters and uses of weapons, people run on and off the screen, and the whole thing needs to get wrapped up in a way that you can theoretically miss this episode and it still makes sense.

My finest achievement? I have gotten SO good at writing plots that are STUPID AS ALL FUCK. I'll write fucking anything in there. I put a ghost in the Encanto. I destroyed a whole fucking mountain then NEVER referenced it again. I brought back Bubo. Antonio went to JAIL. The places the characters go in Birds of Paradise? That shit makes NO SENSE WHATSOEVER when you look at the timeline, because they could only have been walking for a few hours AT BEST but they still hike an entire watershed AND drive the same distance within AT MOST a couple of hours.

And you know what? AIN'T NOBODY IN THE COMMENTS TELLING ME IT WAS STUPID, CAUSE THEY CHECKED OUT BEFORE THEY GOT THAT FAR. Belissimo.

Anyway, it's 4am, and I'm definitely rambling. Here's my last point, which is about having readers!!!

My webcomic used to get a comment every 2-3 months. My fiction has been rejected from a couple of litmags. Something that has been mind-blowing, life-changing, awe-inspiring? Readers! People who read what I wrote and they liked it, and not only that they told me they liked it!!! I have written lots and lots of things, and I have never, in my life, had people go out of their way to contact me and tell me what they enjoyed and why, the way that people have done for these fics, and it's... damn!!! It's world-ending!!!

This was a long-ass post, I guess being my goodbye to the series... I want to thank you, @youmaycallmeyourhighness, for sending it, and for the various comments and messages, that shit means the WORLD to me. I am a humble college student, my grades are bad, and it is surreal that my writing is something that interests you.

To @bitchykuromi, @malewifebruno, @pinwheelwhirl, @greenvillainredemption, @originalavenuefox, @ramblesanddragons, and several others who either aren't on tumblr or I just can't find rn because it's 4am: I hope you all know how much it means to me that you liked my fics enough to read them over all this time, and find the time to tell me about it, and you are all such cool people it brings me such delight to think that I actually might have made you laugh irl.

THANK YOU WORLD FOR THE EXPERIENCE OF MAKING ENCANTOTV: IT'S BEEN REAL. Goodnight!!!!!

[awheelywheelygoodtime]

I spent two days writing this and I would like some recognition because I have no one else to share it with.

I would like to preface this by saying that the original film is my absolute favourite of all time. Surprisingly, I actually really liked the remake! It is not without it’s flaws, and I hope to rectify them because no one can fucking stop me and I have to do something to relax after my exam.

I always considered the franchise to be the closest thing that Disney has to true epic fantasy and the genre will serve as a source of inspiration for my amendments.

1. The Animation and Character Design:

I actually thought that the animation and character designs were brilliant. Lions are my favourite animal and I have been watching nature documentaries religiously since I was a child. The remake hit a perfect spot between realism and the aesthetics of the original characters. The landscape and such is a different matter, but I will get into that eventually.

My biggest gripe is one that is commonly shared by pretty much everyone that saw the film, the expressions or lack thereof. Real lions can squint, curl their lips, crease their brow and basically move their faces. You would be surprised by how expressive they can be.

Some people may say that it would anthropomorphise them too much and be unrealistic but we have a monarchy of talking lions, so who gives a fuck?

This is also a minor thing that only nature nuts would notice but the lions move wrong. They have this weird loping gait when they should run in what’s called a “rotary gallop” like real lions. The original film literally showed this in slow motion when Simba runs through the desert.

2. The Pridelands and Beyond:

The Pridelands need a lot of work. Everything is too beige and boring. It was as if they couldn’t decide between a golden arid savannah or a lush green one and just meshed the two into one boring mess.

Minas Tirith, Mordor and The Shire are all incredibly iconic and instantly recognisable. The same should be true for the Pridelands and the rest of the world.

Pride Rock should be an absolute monolith. A giant that looms in the background of every scene in the Pridelands and a believable capital for a kingdom (I’ll get more into this later). Not just tall but broad, a sprawling wild metropolis.

The Graveyard is an inhospitable hellhole. Always shrouded in shadow born from the ashes and noxious clouds spewed from geothermal activity. Thick clouds of mist and fog blanket the landscape, leaving bones and carcasses to loom out of the smog like giant teeth and claws.

The Gorge is a massive scar in the landscape. A Grand Canyon-esque pit that swallows light and just screams doom. The jungle that Simba winds up in needs to be more colourful and lively, a real paradise in the desert.

I think that a lot of the issues with the setting comes down to the fact that they acted as if they were on an actual set and not an animated world.

3. Ecology and Society

We need more wildlife.

More animals should have been at the presentation of Simba. Leopards and African Wild Dogs, Hippos and Crocodiles, even Gorillas and other jungle creatures should have been part of the montage of animals at the beginning. Migratory birds should have been present to bring the news back to their respective homelands (if Buckingham Palace can make international news then so can Pride Rock). Hyenas would also be part of the procession (this ties into something later).

Mufasa explaining the circle of life would include some scenes of various animals asking their king for counsel.

I would expand on the pride itself. It’s rare but some exceptionally large prides have subordinate males that can mate with the lionesses. This would avoid a lot of incestous connotations and make the pride more like a royal court (I have plans for Nala).

I would also change the wildebeest herd to a Cape buffalo herd. Cape buffalo are notorious lion killers and can live in herds up to a thousand strong. Shenzi and the gang send the calves first into the gorge and the rest of the herd would follow.

I would also pepper in references that Shenzi and her clan are mostly comprised of vagabonds, outcasts and exiles from other clans. The hyenas from the opening sequence would be some more positive examples. This may seem like “not all hyenas (tm)” but it’s better than them just being the Orcs of the savannah.

4. Characters and Characterisation

I’m not going to do everyone, just the characters that I have a firm grasp on what I would have done.

Scar: a vicious aristocrat. Really play up the gentlemanly aspects of his personality to contrast with an absolutely black heart. Like Palpatine his sole reason to live is the pursuit of power. All the brutality of Tywin Lannister with the underhanded slyness of Petyr Baelish. This makes him ambitious as hell but doesn’t translate to being a good ruler.

Shenzi: a calculated ruler that cares only for the betterment of her subjects. Queen of the Graveyard and willing to do anything to feed her clan of the lost and exiled. She and Scar were once genuine friends but now they are only using each other for their own gain.

Rafiki: kooky and mystic. They are basically Gandalf on mushrooms. Wielding a very subtle and ambiguous form of magic. I use gender neutral pronouns because I wouldn’t be opposed to making them female like in the broadway show.

Nala: a fierce huntress and the only hope for the pride during the reign of Scar. I would also make her a princess from another pride that has been betrothed to Simba. This gets rid of the incest questions and helps lay the groundwork for a sequel.

The Pride and the Subjects: I would place greater emphasis on the pride itself and the citizens of the Pridelands. Show the growing discord between the pride and the clan. The other animals are getting sick of Scar’s misrule and are either leaving or are in quiet revolt.

Mtumishi: a cape cobra and a new character. Zazu was major-domo for Mufasa, Shenzi serves the same role for Scar and Mtumishi serves his own royal. Mtumishi repeatedly visits the Pridelands under the orders of his queen, Zira. Zira rules Nala’s original pride and is a great figure of fear and conquest. She’s basically a family friendly lioness version of Vlad the Impaler.

I don’t really have anything of significance to say about everyone else. I would like to see more Sarabi but I’m happy with the other characters.

5. Plot and Story

I have already mentioned some additions that I would make in the previous sections but I’ll list a few more here. I would keep the same overall plot but with just some stuff added in.

We need to include the Hunt of the Lionesses from the broadway show. We don’t need to be too gory but I still think that it would be a brilliant addition to the film. It would give a greater emphasis to the lionesses and a short prayer after the hunt would reiterate the message of the Circle of Life.

I would expand on the meeting between Scar and the hyenas. Shenzi and her clan have just been humiliated by Mufasa. They have pushed their luck and now fear retaliation from the entire kingdom. Enter Scar with promises of food and security. He plays most of the clan like fiddles. Shenzi is wise to his schemes but doesn’t really have a choice. They have no idea no other allies and she is out options.

Scar would stop Zazu and the pride just before they got to the gorge. He would spin a few lies about no one needing to see the state of Mufasa and Simba. He would take care of everything and strongly encourage a heartbroken Sarabi to abdicate.

I would contrast Simba growing up in the jungle with Nala growing up in the Pridelands. Simba having fun with Timon and Pumbaa vs Nala cowering from a passing battalion of hyenas, Simba being desperately lonely as the only lion in the jungle vs Nala growing up in a tight knit community of older lionesses and other cubs, Simba battling leopards and other jungle hunters to protect Timon and Pumbaa vs Nala becoming a great huntress and protecting the smaller carnivores from competitive hyenas. Eventually, Sarabi and the rest of the pride scheme to send Nala to find help. The nearest pride belongs to Zira and that is a no-go. She must go further afield and eventually winds up in the jungle.

The conversation between Simba and Mufasa’s spirit is much more mystical. Rafiki leads Simba to the puddle in the thorns and his staring into the ripples of his reflection sucks him into an endless clearing beneath the night sky. He Lives in You starts crying as the stars come to land and form different animals. Not just African animals, but pretty much all of them. Bears, whales, jaguars, kangaroos, komodo Dragons, penguins and many more. This riot of life and light eventually leads to Mufasa himself. The vision ends with Simba back with Rafiki.

Mtumishi would be a reoccurring character relaying between the Pridelands and Zira. Scar’s growing madness and the disappearance of Nala bring his role to a climax when Scar sends him packing just before Simba returns. This is to help set up a possible sequel.

Everything else I would leave as-is or I need more time to figure it out.

What do you guys think?

[superectojazzmage]

Okay, so review for Across The Spider-Verse

In short, it was exactly as amazing as hoped, arguably more so.

Absolutely brilliant writing, direction, animation, acting, everything. Takes everything the first movie did right and improves on it while pruning out its tiny few flaws. Continues to truly capture the spirit and feel of the comics and staying as faithful to them as possible while still doing it’s own thing. Demonstrates a remarkable understanding of the character of Spider-Man and his mythos. Genuine and earnest in all the right ways, never demeans or sneers at the source material but rather lavishes it with the love and respect it deserves. Just incredible work from everyone involved.

Some specific notes:

The acting is great. Oscar Isaac and Jason Schwartzman in particular are PERFECT and steal the show as Miguel O’Hara and the Spot. The returning actors like Shameik Moore, Jake Johnson, and Hailee Steinfeld get to really show off their chops.

The humor and drama are balanced even better in this film than in the first one. The down moments hit harder, the jokes get even bigger laughs, and they never step on one another’s toes.

The action scenes are fantastic just like in the first film. Incredible and very creative fights all around.

Animators REALLY like to show off. The first film’s experimenting with different art styles gets taken up to eleven here. Lots of crazy visuals and elaborate changes in look and feel from world to world while still keeping the same broad “vibe”, and they even delve into some Roger Rabbit-esque territory. It’s really impressive. That said, just like the first film, there are some scenes that can get really literally flashy and strobing, so be aware of that if you’re especially sensitive to flashing lights. I don’t think there’s anything that’d cause issues, but just a head’s up.

The writing for the Spot was great; they closely follow his arc from the comics of starting out as a dorky, incompetent joke villain and then evolving into a terrifyingly ruthless and vindictive monster with absolutely broken powers and it’s really well done, like a bizarro inversion of an anime “hero trains to get stronger” storyline. He’s definitely one of the big highlights and was a great pick for villain.

Peter B. is everything Spider-Man should be and his relationship with Mary Jane and baby Mayday are another major highlight. Marvel editors on life support.

Miles and Gwen both get really great character arcs themselves. Poor Miles really gets put through the wringer.

Miguel is spectacularly well-done, just the right balance of sympathetic, charismatic hero and total grouchy asshole, just like he was in the comics.

Spider-Punk is a Giga-Chad.

Jessica Drew is a weird outlier in that she’s not very faithful to the comics version and the points where she IS accurate are based off one of her worst runs, in total contrast to everyone else. I feel like she was maybe meant to be a different character and got reworked into Jessica for some reason mid-production, or maybe that they had to completely alter her to use her. That being said, as a functionally new character, she’s pretty cool. Issa Rae does a good job and her design totally fucks.

The overall plot is partly a really brilliant meta commentary on Marvel’s treatment of Spider-Man Post-OMD with middle fingers fully extended at Spider-Editorial and I’m living for it. There’s also some clear commentary on the nature of adaptations and what Spider-Man as a character stands for, amongst many other things. Some very dense and heavy themes underpinning the narrative, but none of it is intrusive and you don’t need any prior knowledge aside from watching the first film.

You can REALLY tell that this and Beyond The Spider-Verse were one giant script split into two movies, because the ending is honestly pretty abrupt feeling, though it’s made pretty clear that this is just Part 1 and Part 2 will pick up from right there, so as long as you’re aware of that it’s okay. It’s a massive cliffhanger.

All in all, we walked out of the theater EXTREMELY impressed and very hyped for the next film. This was a wonderful movie that really captured the essence of not just Spider-Man but Marvel Comics as a whole. 10/10 would recommend.

[weatherman667]

How a Realist Hero Rebuilt the Kingdom

A good idea for a story with a mediocre implementation.

Everything that happens before he takes over the kingdom is completely pointless. All of the other characters are completely incompetent, and at best act as sounding boards. You might have them asking a question simply so the writer can dismiss it.

They want us to believe the hero is a brilliant strategist, and they do that by having him holding The Prince by Machiavelli. When he got Isekaied. The book didn't, so he can't even brush up on it. And because they genuinely don't understand what good strategy is.

The princess is a non-warrior warrior princess who went to the military academy in a feudal country that wouldn't have a military academy. I might have a grammar school.

They give no reason for why the warrior princess CAN be a warrior princess. We did have female knights, they were dames, literally, and they tended to use a higher flexibility for duelling. Heavy combat relies more on raw, which women have 1/2 a man's upper body strength.

They could have made her a warrior princess by giving her a rapier, and have her actually be a military commander, taking a place that normally would have been taken by a royal prince. Instead we're told she's a soldier. If they weren't going to put the slightest effort into making her a warrior princess, they could have just made her a princess-classic. That said, they still would have had to give her a fucking personality.

The king announces her betrothal to the hero. Which is not how it works. He would offer him her hand in marriage. The king then abdicates, making any attempt to force the marry completely moot. And so it only exists so they can pretend the princess has a personality as she comes to protest it.

These points might seem pedantic, but the main reason you would watch a show with a process like this is to see him using strategy to give a medieval kingdom an economic upgrade. Without an understand of how a medieval kingdom works on a strategic level is essential for writing a story about an isekai that uses strategy to help a medieval kingdom.

Making it even worse, Ainz Ooal Gown is the fucking narrator, dramatically raising my expectations.

[negrowhat]

Top 22 KPop idols?

HEY FRIENDS CELEBRATE ME REACHING 2500 FOLLOWERS BY SENDING ME ASKS:

Nothing’s off the table for these asks. You can ask me anything. Top 3′s, Top 5′s, Top 10′s, even Top 22′s (lord). They can be BL related, KPOP related, food, movies, people. Or you can just drop in the ask box to show your love and congratulate ya sis on 2500. 

TOP 22 IDOLS??? I think I can do that. I have a lot of loves in my life.

J-Hope from BTS. It's no secret Hobi is my ult. He's been my ult since like 2016.

2. Jay B from GOT7. My King, my Capricorn twin flame. Also a dilf.

3. Hanse from VICTON. Next to Hobi, Hanse is perfection in my eyes. I adore everything about him and I would love to share a closet with him.

4. Johnny from NCT 127. He is my boyfriend and if I could I would climb him like a tree.

5. Jun from A.C.E. IDK ever since Tinted With You, leader has been coming for my neck! Not only is he gorgeous, but he's so funny!

6. MoMo from TWICE. She's literally so fucking beautiful and so talented.

7. Yeosang from ATEEZ. There's something so spectacular about Kang Yeo. He's such a good boy but also so rude.

8. Wonho. The only thing bigger than his muscles is his heart. This man could swat a fly and feel so distraught afterwards. He's got nothing but love to give and is honestly one of the sweetest idols in the game.

9. I.M from Monsta X. My lil boyfriend. He just be out the vibing, writing good music, and minding his own business.

10. Ailee. Fucking queen and she's so motherfucking SEXY.

11. Chungha. Short queen. I just enjoy her energy and she's so talented.

12. Hyolyn. I only stan queens. I'mma be honest. I'd let her step on me.

13. Mino from WINNER. MY FUCKING DOM! He's so fucking amazing. Such a talented rapper and painter and song writer. Nothing but love for that man.

14. Kai from EXO. Ever since his solo debut I've been looking at him with fresh eyes.

15. Onew from Shinee. Onew is an underrated king and he's so perfect. Also I'll never forget him chanting "Shinee, Pinee."

16. Beomgyu from TXT. My fave lil trickster. I love how he makes it his mission to get on every single one of Yeonjun's nerves. Peak baby brother behavior.

17. Sungjin from DAY6. HOW I MISS LEADER! He should be coming home soon. He acts so much like 62 year old dad and I love that. And his voice is unique.

18. Mingyu from Seventeen. He's new for my list but he's oh so pretty and his rap flow is very sexy.

19. YangYang from WAYV. My fave German boy. He's just such a good bean and he enjoys annoying Ten which makes me laugh.

20. Suga from BTS. He's always been an absolute fave, but LATELY. MY NECK? HE'S BEEN COMING FOR IT. He's literally just so stunning and brilliant.

21. Yuta from NCT 127. Osaka Prince with the healing smile, tattoos, and belly ring. He's another underrated vocal king and I won't rest until he gets a solo album.

22. Chenle from NCT Dream. My goodest boy.

HEY FRIENDS CELEBRATE ME REACHING 2500 FOLLOWERS BY SENDING ME ASKS:

Nothing’s off the table for these asks. You can ask me anything. Top 3′s, Top 5′s, Top 10′s, even Top 22′s (lord). They can be BL related, KPOP related, food, movies, people. Or you can just drop in the ask box to show your love and congratulate ya sis on 2500. 

[thewertsearch]

Asks compilation: 09/05

God ok that actually sounds like it would work really well. John would be a huge McElroy fan, wouldn’t he?

I just looked up the Washington accent to compare it to Griffin’s, and wow, my mental voice for John is completely different. I probably have all the wrong accents for these characters in my head, since I don’t have a clue which accent maps to which state. 

At least we’re all in the same boat about not knowing Jade’s accent - unless we learn where Grandpa grew up later on, since she’d probably have picked up his.

Brilliant! Yeah, no, I’ve been trying to nail down that font for ages.

Dammit, I just realized I could have inspected homestuck.com’s source >:(

It narrowly edges out Gen 4, for me. D/P/Pt were great, but Black and White were the games which really perfected the formula. I honestly don’t think they should have gone 3D, but whatcha gonna do?

Oh my god, of course there are. I’m going to rewatch that show some day and lose my mind, aren’t I?

Hey, thanks for the ask! 

I thought about this back when I was first starting the blog. I dunno, though. You’re really not missing much - my live reactions aren’t nearly as coherent as the writeups - mostly just a lot of ‘oh my god, what?’ moments. I write more articulately than I speak. Trust me on this. 

I’m honestly impressed you came up with something more headache inducing than the bogo algorithm, which for the uninitiated literally means ‘randomly shuffle a list until it’s sorted’. 

aw fuck we’re getting a bogo modus aren’t we

I like Bogleech’s writing, especially his creature design reviews, but I could never get more than a handful of pages into Awful Hospital. I respect his commitment to the stereotypically ‘gross’ organic aesthetic, but it kind of just squicks me out. Plus, I dunno. The premise is really dark, but the comic seems to be a full-on comedy. The dissonance just doesn’t really work for me. 

Still, though. Pokéween is some of my favorite writing on the web. Check out his stuff. 

I’ve never been super into horror. Mind you, I like having something to listen to when I’m out on a walk, and I’ve heard good things about the Magnus Archives, so maybe this is my opportunity to give it another chance?

No, yeah, we have a winner. Step aside, Broderick.

I have come to accept that Hussie is just really prone to making unintentional references. When Dave Strider is one of your primary characters, you probably can’t avoid constantly referencing pop culture - even, it seems, accidentality!

The Queen is dead! everything has gone to shit! Long live Jack the Ascended!  

Haha, I never considered that tumblr’s format does kind of resemble John and CG’s inverted conversations, in a way. When you reblog a connected pair of joke posts, you even have to make sure to reblog them backwards, or you’ll invert them! 

Ah, indie devs. Heads, they’re legends, tails, they’re assholes. 

I’ve never played it, but it’s been sitting in my steam library for months! If it’s anything like Celeste, I should have started playing it yesterday. Lore is pretty much the only thing Celeste is missing - not that it needs it. 

Those giant Underlings are nothing compared to what you see in Pipecorp. This is just another day in the office for Harold P. Egbert. 

Awesome! Yeah, I already see why the comic’s music is so popular. And considering we’ve got Toby ‘Leitmotifs’ Fox on the music team, these are all sure to return. 

So what, it’s like, Act 6: Act 1? We’re going to start recursing?

Don’t lie to me, guys. This comic is a fractal, isn’t it? It goes on forever, the sub-acts shrinking into the infinitesimal. 

I know not what awaits me. 

Six, right? Based on the above ask, there can’t be room for any more, unless they shrink dramatically after Act 6. 

I have no idea how many sub-acts there could be, though. Once you pop open that can of worms, you can’t easily close it. 

Done! From now on, all theoryposts will be tagged #theories!

Yeah, noted! I didn’t expect Homestuck to require the equivalent of waiting for the post-credits scene, but here we are?

In what sense? The Trollslum showed up pretty soon after Jade’s intro, and CG chimed in up not long after. The sense I always got was that Hussie improvised a lot of the comic, but maybe the trolls were a particularly spontaneous addition?

Liveblogging a liveblog! I can get behind that. Yeah, like I’ve alluded to before, I’d be having a very different experience with this comic if I wasn’t reading it in bite-sized chunks. 

Thank you!! I’m really trying to convey the same feelings that I’m getting while I’m reading this comic. I’m glad it’s working!

Honestly, my guessing technique is essentially just throwing theories at the wall to see what sticks. 

I usually have like, two or three explanations for a a given event in the comic, which means I can be eerily correct and ironically wrong about the same thing -  or ironically wrong twice over, as is probably more likely.

[suzteel]

top 5 tankhun scenes! and top 5 kinnporsche episodes

Sorry this took so long. This was actually a challenge! Whew.

Let's start with episodes cause that's easier:

Episode 7 - perfect episode. no notes. other than vegas and pete should have fucked that is.

Episode 11 - the episode that got me. i can blame this whole mess on this episode. saw the gifs coming from this episode and went "aw fuck. i'm gonna watch this, aren't it?" then proceeded to binge watch this episode on repeat that whole first week so it's like permanently imprinted on my brain.

Episode 4 - episodes 4 and 5 are when this show really started to it it's stride for me and they remain some of my favorites. episode 4 wins out over 5 because it has my favorite scene of the entire show plus some peak aesthetic choices, but the two episodes are extremely close for me.

Episode 5 - porsche bathroom break down scene. one my fave (and most loathed) pete shots. motorcycle scene. some of the best kp angst and tension of the season. solid episode.

Episode 14 - this was a hard pick but i think i'll go with the finale here because it was such a good finale! it literally gave me everything i wanted but also managed to shock me. it's got great action and ends on a really chewy, open-ended "oh fuck" note that is delightfully harrowing, especially in it's implications for the show's over themes. it both gives both hope for the future while also making one question whether anyone is truly going to escape these cycles of abuse and trauma. the good stuff.

Oh man. Favorite Tankhun scenes. This was so hard!

Episode 4: Tankhun hitting Vegas on the head - First of all, this is just my favorite scene, period. Secondly, it's like the perfect blend of all the things I love about Khun. It's comedic, audacious, unexpected, demonstrates his protectiveness for his younger brothers, and hints at his multilayeredness. Love this scene.

Episode 14: Khun grieving his father - Give Tong all the goddamn awards okay. A brilliant piece of acting from him. It also gives me lots of thoughts compared to his episode 6 extra scene and one of these days I will actually finish writing that meta.

Episode 10: Ken's severed head scene - Another give Tong all the goddamn awards scene. This is another scene that really highlights Tong's acting ability. I also have a great many thoughts about this scene in regard to Khun's character as I think it's the best example of what he might have looked like as the heir while also demonstrating why he absolutely cannot be the heir. (This is also the next episode to gif for my Khun series and I'm very excited about it.)

Episode 3: Khun and the bodyguards watching porn - Far less serious a scene than the above but it's soooo goddamn funny. Never fails to crack me the fuck up.

Episode 2: Tankhun asking Kinn to make Porsche his bodyguard - Tankhun is actually the first character I completely fell in love with and this scene was the first kind of moment I was like, ok, he's...spoiled, melodramatic, audacious and eccentric as hell...and I like him a lot.

Thanks so much for the ask!

put “top 5” anything in my ask and i will answer ok go

[good-realtor-bad-realtor-dynamic]

I finally caught up with Succession over the course of this week. In fact, I literally finished S3E9 a few hours ago and I'm still completely thunderstruck.

I actually started season one a few weeks ago but struggled getting past the first few episodes. I reckon it took the writers a few episodes to settle on the tone of the show, to hone in on the correct balance between comedy and drama, and to identify the strengths of their cast so they could write them into the characters.

Once I made it to S1E6 though, I was hooked, and by season two, I was laughing, sobbing, seething and getting my heart broken, all in equal measure, because somehow showrunner Jesse Armstrong had managed to elevate the stories, the dialogue and the characters, and somehow Jeremy Strong had found new and interesting ways to complicate his portrayal of Ken, the only financebro sonofabillionaire loser on tv to have ever broken me, before his brother Rome joined the club, by reaching heretofore undiscovered depths in Pathetic Failure acting...

I was so ready for season three to fall short of the standards set by its predecessor, but it didn't. It may have been slow going in the middle for a bit there, but by the end, all I can think is what a ride. I don't know how it matched them, perhaps even exceeded them, but it did. At the beginning of this season, "Relevant Donuts" planted the idea that what we really want is to see the siblings together on the same side, taking down their father. So when the season finale finally pays that off, and we start to feel hopeful even a little proud of our trio for overcoming their father's machinations, only to have the rug pulled out from under us all in that Godfather betrayal — I'm still reeling. It was not shocking that Tom would do that, given everything he'd been put through, but I'm still shocked. And that is some brilliant writing.

I fully understand now why Charlie and Glenn were so in awe of Matthew Macfadyen's acting range and his seemless transitions from the most ridiculous comedy to most affecting drama (in a conversation from one of those early video episodes of the Sunny podcast). I've only known him from his fantastic performance as Mr Darcy in the 2005 Pride and Prejudice film, and Tom Wambsgans couldn't be further away from that role.

I have so many thoughts about how charming yet sneaky and two-faced Greg the Egg was all along, how that social climbing nature was developed, and how fascinating his dynamic with Tom is, especially as a parallel to the Tom/Shiv marriage. I despise everything that people like Shiv and Roman stand for and yet I can't help feeling so sorry for them as they stand before their father, looking for his love and approval, only to be ruthlessly dismissed, used and humiliated. I don't remember the last time I hated a character more than I do Logan Roy for his manipulative behaviour and the cruel ways he makes his children compete for his affection while claiming to act from a place of paternal benevolence. I can't say enough about Kendall, Siobhan, Roman, Tom, Greg, Logan, Gerri, Frank, Marcia, Hugo and just the whole bloody cast of characters and actors on this show.

As always, the "Jesse Armstrong and Armando Iannucci Uncomfortable Satirical Comedy Universe" of shows and films about fucked-up people, usually in positions of power, does not miss. I'm going to try not to be very annoying about this on my Sunny blog, but hey, it's my blog, so I might actually, at least in the near future since season four is nearly upon us. But I'm also a lazy bastard who hates hitting Post on their drafts. So who knows.

Anyway, I'm likely going to be the obnoxious friend who quotes this show like I do with Sunny and The Sopranos with my mates all the time now. It's already begun irl and I don't think I'll be able to stop anytime soon.

Excuse me while I go down a rabbit-hole of videos featuring the writers and cast of this show now. Maybe Jesse Armstrong will somewhere explain his brain to me.

[starburstgalexies]

Alhaitham rant - no spo but you must have gone through the sumeru archon quests, or at least the first half. (Also the character is good, I have nothing against him, it's the writing that drives me nuts.)

With his story quest, I think I have figured out why I can't get myself too involved with Alhaitham even though, on paper, I should be obsessed with him. It's because whenever Alhaitham has a major role in the story, other characters are doing absolutely nothing to affect what's going on, making it near impossible to immerse myself in the story.

With Alhaitham, to make way for oh how amazing a genius he is, most others sharing a scene with him are pushed to the side - we saw it with not just The Traveler but also with Cyno, Candace, and Dehya in Aaru Village. He's not even there for the scenes those other characters do shine through. He has to be removed from the premises for them to. If Alhaitham is on the scene, he has to be leading it, because of course he secretly knows everything and there are no plot twists and for some reason the other characters just go "oh he's thinking. im just not gonna use my brain until he's done." Even the goddamn Mahamatra. Which is ABSOLUTELY out of character. And not even "uncharacteristic" kind of out of character, just people's souls leaving their bodies and going to outer space until Alhaitham is done shining.

(With people acting like that around him, of course Alhaitham would, at least at a subconscious level, would think everyone else is an idiot because THAT'S ALL HE SEES. (Emphasis on subconscious because we know he doesn't see things that way, or at least thinks he doesn't, what with how he regards and respects human complexity - but certain actions speak volumes. See, that would be an interesting flaw.))

And how the fuck am I supposed to be impressed when he swoops in, reveals that he had the case solved from the start with information that was not presented to the audience. Great, you are very cool. Can I have Yelan actually following some tracks or Heizou deducing the case through the hints we find together now?

The thing that drove this conclusion home was, ironically, The Traveler. You know, the passive MC archetype who is basically a pair of eyes for the audience to watch the story. And even they were TOO DAMN PASSIVE. Hear me out. Despite the "a distinct personality shines through occassionally but this is gonna be a mostly empty MC for players to be able to immerse themselves into" model The Traveler has going on, not to mention they are mostly strung along for things people want them to do, - in every story, they still think and/or do things in a way that would progress the story. They may have their own judgement, and a keen eye, having them latch onto hints and arrive at the truth. They may have a creative idea to execute something in a particular way. Hell, maybe I'm being too generous - but even if all they do is doing as they are told, it's a task only they can do, so it's crucial to the story. Whatever it is, the stories would clearly progress differently if The Traveler wasn't there. But all I thought through the story quest was "why are we even here?". Because The Traveler isn't even going "hmm =-=" against the odd things they face, to which Alhaitham keeps going "you still don't get it? tch. well, you'll see (at the end of the story with a long exposition about how smart and badass I am)".

This is NOT a criticism on the character. The character, on paper, is well-constructed and interesting. Again, he should have been one of my favorites. This is a criticism on the writing. It is trying too hard to tell and show and show and tell how brilliant Alhaitham is that the story (or his part in the larger stories like the archon quest) inevitably becomes "literally nothing would change if the MC and the PCs were entirely removed from this affair". And that does not make a good story. Like who in the writing team made him their Mary Sue I just wanna talk.

[ehsan-tera-hoga-mujhpe]

I just want to say how fucking BRILLIANT the Moon Knight series was. Asidd from the pacing, everything about it is just perfect. For once, they managed to write an empowering female character without making it feel like it's being beaten on the head like a drum and without making the show about her. I LOVED LAYLA. Wow. I want to be her. And, the acting of course. So fucking good. I loved that Layla had her whole arc, aside from Marc and had her reasons for doing everything she did. Loved the character development.

Coming to Oscar Isaac. Wow. Just. Wow. I literally have no words. But. Wow.

[ferusaurelius]

The Tragedy of Israel Hands

A play in three Acts. 

Remember how I said I’d write up some Izzy meta? Well here’s the short version. I have a google doc full of 10+ pages of notes and individual scene breakdowns for each episode, but I don’t know if I want to pull all that out and unpack everything with that level of detail just yet.

As a tribute to Con O’Neill, I’m going to stick to the top-level summaries of what I’ve noticed. His acting is brilliant! Go and rewatch OFMD and appreciate his performance, please.

The pure tragedy of Izzy Hands adds an extraordinary level of depth, contrast, and context to the romance between Edward Teach and Stede Bonnet -- beyond mere antagonism! -- that I’m still a bit overcome with inexpressible awe and admiration. I’ll do my best to stick to the outline to encourage you to go back and rewatch the show with a focus on Izzy’s perspective. :)

I also submit to you David’s tweet (pictured here) about the complexities of the relationship between Izzy and Edward and David’s polygon interview (skip to the end) as further motivation to do that rewatch. 

I made myself unbearably sad about Izzy as a character while also accepting (and acknowledging) the sheer damage he’s doing to himself and his relationships -- and now you can join me in a hell of Izzy’s own making, too! :D

Warning this is so fucking long you probably should be sitting down.

Act I - Trouble in Izzy’s Pirate Paradise

Basically, Izzy fails to understand that he has never gotten to know Edward as a person beyond what they’ve done to construct the Blackbeard legend together. His assumption that he knows what’s best for Edward and that he has to protect the “legendary Blackbeard” become the seeds of his own undoing. Izzy’s actions directly instigate the series of events that will lead to Edward meeting and falling in love with Stede.

If you look at that process of understanding each other while falling in love as inevitable between Edward and Stede, then Izzy’s attempts to thwart that relationship, as well as his crushing ignorance about the inner life of probably the only person he thinks of as a friend(!), are really devastating. 

Con O’Neill plays this really well in scene. I’ll hit the highlights.

01- Pilot (Stede Bonnet & Crew vs. The English Navy)

Izzy doesn’t appear in this episode, so consider the English officers (Wellington and Hornberry) as a kind of stand-in foreshadowing the consequences of hubris. Remember, it’s one of the officers looking through a telescope and calling Stede a “fat woman in a dressing gown” that touches off the series of events that leads to the crew of The Revenge killing Nigel Badminton and taking hostages. As a point of interesting trivia, it’d be the role of a first officer like Izzy to track a ship’s course and prevent it from running aground, as occurs in the very next episode.

02- A Damned Man (...It’s Izzy. Izzy is the Damned Man.)

In a brilliant bit of staging and writing, we ‘meet’ Blackbeard-the-legend before Edward-the-man. Izzy and Edward created Blackbeard together as a practical way of taking prizes with as little resistance as possible because everyone sees the flag and gets terrified. Hint: the motive is fear. 

David Jenkins does all of this out in the open because he’s a mad genius like that and we salute him.

Recall also that Izzy’s motivations for approaching The Revenge are purely self-interested. He wants to take advantage of Stede’s misfortune and take those valuable hostages for himself, if possible. I also love the metaphorical implications of Izzy’s undoing being through hostages/damned/condemned men, too! It’s so literal and on-the-nose it’s beautiful.

Anyway, Izzy wastes a perfectly good opportunity to kill Stede Bonnet because as a god-tier duelist he’s too busy playing with his food. He takes so long to put Stede out of his misery that the rest of the crew manages to pull off even an idiotic plan.

Izzy ends up humiliated by Stede in part because he underestimates the Gentleman Pirate and his merry band of imbeciles. Even the best pirates have bad days when they get arrogant. Izzy is totally unprepared to suffer an actual defeat and in even worse news for his dignity, Fang and Ivan were both there and witnessed this and they’re 100% aware of his bullshit. 

The end of this episode also gives us a great shot of Izzy, Fang, and Ivan on Blackbeard’s ship. I love the atmosphere with spikes, black rigging, and muted colors. We’ll meet Edward in person -- and so will Stede! -- next episode.

03-  A Gentleman Pirate (… who will shortly invade Izzy’s life, while Izzy is the one capturing The Revenge, a study in irony.)

Did you forget that the opening shot of this episode was from Izzy’s perspective while he looks through a telescope at The Revenge? Because I did. Ed appears! Well, kinda. Ed is facing away from the camera and sitting in a chair in the candle-lit darkness, smoking a pipe.

We also get this exchange:

EDWARD: Wait till they make landfall then invite ‘em aboard the ship. And, Izzy, I want you to handle this personally.

IZZY: Oh, Edward, can’t I just send the boys?

EDWARD: Mm-mm. No, I want this done right. After all, he is a gentleman. We want to make a good impression.

IZZY: Stupid fuckin’ Stede Bonnet.

That last line there is the tragic refrain of Izzy Hands. He’s going to think and repeat this so much both internally and out loud, even he doesn’t even realize at this point that it’s the real beginning of the end. He’ll get the picture soon enough, but by then it will be far too late. 

And we’ll get to watch him delude himself into believing he ever had a chance at success while further ensuring his own failure. No one sabotages themselves quite like Izzy (thanks Con O’Neill!). Every attempt for Izzy to turn the ship around and restore order through his actions has both immediate and long-term consequences leading to his humiliation, isolation, and defeat.

In this episode, Izzy has done everything in his considerable power to keep this introduction from happening and, in fairness, reveals in the next episode that he’s the one that tracked Stede to the Spanish warship and attacked because Edward directed him to do so. 

“Our Prayer” by the Beach Boys plays when Stede and Edward meet. WHAT. This is amazing! Sorry, Izzy, I regret to inform you that Edward and Stede are having a religious experience known only to themselves.

Izzy probably expected Blackbeard to carry on with violence-as-usual after they invade both the Spanish warship and The Revenge as a sort of two-for-one prize. And if Stede weren’t so good at subverting expectations and charming Edward, that’s exactly what would have happened! 

Izzy did everything right as a professional and a first mate who is obeying his Captain and still the world is conspiring to thwart him. 

David also mentions in his Polygon interview that this episode is the end of the first act. So we’re going to treat it like that. 

Act II is where both the love story between Edward and Stede and the contrasting tragedy between Edward and Izzy are both going to play out on-screen and really hit their relative stride (often in the same crucial frames!).

Act II - Izzy Suspects the Obvious Truth About Edward and Stede

No one denies like Izzy Hands, no one lies like Izzy Hands, no one duels and loses and gets thoroughly sidelined like Izzy Hands!

No, I’m not sorry. He brought it on himself in so many ways, partly because he can’t see how much he doesn’t understand about Edward even when Edward explains everything in front of him in very plain language. Izzy isn’t capable of asking the right questions because he already assumes he’s right and has all the right answers. If only Edward could see it, too!

04- Discomfort in A Married State (It’s Stede and Mary but, wait, it’s also … Izzy and Edward.)

Do I even need to tell you how much I adore the scene where Izzy goes along with Edward’s dumb plan of treating Stede like Blackbeard while Stede is wearing Blackbeard’s clothes? 

Izzy plays this totally seriously and shoves Stede down in the hold and tries to get him to give orders. Then Edward, dressed like Stede, waits for Lucius to finish counting down and then lays out the situation of what it’s like to be Blackbeard in excruciatingly clear emotional detail.

If you watch Izzy’s face in this scene you’ll realize that Edward has never expressed any of these doubts in front of Izzy.

Izzy is just as taken by surprise as Stede is. It’s BRILLIANT. Then up on deck in the next scene it’s Izzy in the fog at first. He doesn’t believe that Edward has managed to do this. Edward knows Izzy doubted him! 

They share a look I still can’t decipher while everyone takes in the thick fog ( @thescreechowl​ sussed it for me). Izzy is also the one who has to tell Edward that it’s not September 2nd, it’s September the 1st. Izzy is forced to play the harbinger of doom because he’s the only one on the ship who can keep up with Edward’s reasoning.

Is it Izzy’s fault that he has to be the one to tell Edward they’re doomed? No, it’s just what a good first mate does. You’ll notice that Izzy also isn’t around for the lighthouse scene. Everyone else is at the rail celebrating without Izzy.

In the morning, after Edward makes his deal to teach Stede about being a pirate if Stede will teach him about the ways of aristocrats and fine things? Edward has to hide that from Izzy.

Izzy, in a moment of clarity, already knows the game is up and has already packed his bags to leave the ship. He knows that his open doubts from the day before have crossed a line with Edward in a way that even he can understand. And Edward, knowing that he still needs Izzy around if he’s going to follow through on his deal with Stede, tells Izzy what he needs to hear in order to keep him on The Revenge.

Izzy takes this made-up plan of Edward’s as something serious and then admits he was wrong about Ed being a deranged, unstable, erratic “twat.” This could almost count as a reconciliation between the two, except it isn’t because Edward chose to lie to him rather than tell the truth.

At the end, after Izzy tells Ed that “you’ve still got it”? Edward, wearing the clothes of a gentleman and the famous Black Cravat that used to belong to Stede, smiles, says “I know,” and then turns away from Izzy.

When Ed turns around he stops smiling. We the audience can see the change in Ed’s expression, but Izzy is still smiling behind him! Izzy doesn’t see that change from smiling to serious. The contrast between those two expressions? It devastates and chills me because Edward isn’t being honest and neither of them are pursuing a true understanding of the other. 

Ed has never been fully himself with Izzy, but Izzy is the one who doesn’t really understand that Ed hasn’t trusted Izzy with everything and has never let his first mate really know who he is past Blackbeard and brilliant sailor.

Izzy, tragic and arrogant fool that he is, truly believes that he understands Edward’s plan and is taking this suggestion to kill Stede and steal his identity at face value. 

Ed chooses to lie to Izzy in the hope that he can get what he wants and hedge his bets with that support, even if it means changing the terms of the agreement. Ed baits Izzy with the promise of becoming captain once he’s retired by stealing Stede Bonnet’s identity. Izzy, who probably can’t even imagine Edward not telling him the truth, eats this sham idea up hook, line, and sinker. 

It’s the beginning of the end of Blackbeard. It’s also the beginning of Edward starting to figure out who Ed is for real, and Izzy missing or willfully denying those changes.

05- The Best Revenge is Dressing Well (Izzy puts bows in Edward’s beard and skips the party to babysit, except all he does is embarrass himself and sacrifice his dignity and authority by being a dick.)

David Jenkins has confirmed that it’s not Stede who puts those bows in Edward’s beard, it’s Izzy, but that scene got cut for time. Tragic!

Anyway, Izzy is only present to assist Edward or discipline the crew into doing ship chores and to be honest this episode features him losing his grip on reality and authority. 

Izzy catches Black Pete and Lucius having sex and confronts them in possibly the weirdest way imaginable. Everyone thinks he’s unhinged. They see nothing wrong with a bit of casual sex and Izzy tries to play that off as a weakness, realizes he’s not getting the shame reaction he expected and has unintentionally revealed himself (Izzy, what the fuck?), and then retaliates by making Lucius remove barnacles from the side of the Revenge.

Fang, Izzy’s long-time subordinate, is also the one who spills the beans about Izzy’s unfortunate nickname as Izzy the Spewer/Dizzy Izzy. I don’t think I have to explain why Izzy wouldn’t appreciate anyone knowing about that one time when Blackbeard left him in charge of the ship during rough seas and he didn’t measure up to the challenge.

When Izzy confronts Lucius with more tasks to do that night and assumes he’ll be able to use his sexual history against him? Yeah, sorry Izzy. That’s not gonna work on this ship.

I’ve never seen a degeneration arc so swift and so complete as what happens to Izzy in this episode. His entire foundation of self-belief and identity is shaken. Who is Izzy without his authority as Blackbeard’s first mate, when everyone knows his weaknesses and no one fears or even respects him? 

I don’t know and neither does he. Damn, Izzy, this is a sad pickle you’ve got yourself into.

Also your boss is in love with fuckin’ Stede Bonnet. 

(Yes, I’m aware of the innuendo. It started out accidental but now it’s on purpose, because I sent myself into orbit and we’re all in this suffering together.)

06- The Art of Fuckery (Izzy fucks up everything so much worse than Stede.)

Izzy you tragic son of a bitch. 

Honestly this is the episode we really begin to watch The Tragedy Of Israel Hands unfold, since Izzy starts to admit to himself what he should have realized from the beginning. He’s the narrator for the opening shot!

Izzy, the most oblivious man alive, deadpanning in the background: “We’ve been almost a fortnight aboard The Revenge, and I’m beginning to suspect that Edward has no intention of ending Stede Bonnet’s life.”

Really, Izzy? It’s been almost a fortnight and you only just now came to that conclusion? I swear if irony could kill, this man would be stone dead. He makes it worse by claiming that “if he didn’t know better” he’d think Edward had been seduced by Stede!

And then we have the whole “run me through” scene with Izzy listening and making all his (for once, correct, but not in the way he thinks) assumptions. It’s funny as fuck that both Fang and Ivan know they’re not killing Stede, despite whatever promises Izzy may think Edward has made to him.

What’s funny about this is that Izzy is simultaneously in denial about the possibility of this relationship and also willing to use it in order to get rid of Stede! Izzy will allow that this seduction may possibly have occurred if acknowledging the attachment will accomplish his goal of ridding himself of fuckin’ Stede Bonnet. The absolute mindfuckery of this strategy is killing me.

This man who knows better? This is the same man who tells Stede, “I know Edward adores you.” That’s so far beyond fucked up as a manipulation tactic that in fairness I don’t have a way to fully unpack it beyond Izzy being simultaneously unable to deny the evidence and also incapable of accepting the probable outcome.

Later, after Stede &. Crew complete their fuckery, Izzy presumably doesn’t understand Edward’s history, what the Kraken represents for him, or that (ouch!) Edward doesn’t consider him a friend. 

So when Izzy challenges Stede in order to spare Edward from having to kill the man himself (this would be their usual routine), Izzy won’t be aware that Edward would now rather have worked things out rather than seeing either of them duel. Izzy is carrying out what he sees as his duty.

What really fucks me up here is both that Izzy is trying to spare Edward the pain of killing Stede and that Edward is also letting him go through with it! There’s no world in which Edward successfully puts a stop to this duel or can justify asking Izzy to stand down. They respect(?!) each other too much for that.

When Stede wins the duel on a technicality, further recall and keep in mind that Izzy was the one who doomed himself by suggesting banishment as part of the terms to make it interesting. 

The ominous music playing in the background while Izzy rows away from the Revenge is first heard in the “Blackbeard” theme back at the end of Episode 2. Did I mention I really love this show?

I’ve decided to treat this first break between Izzy and Edward as the end of Act II, because ... brace yourself, it’s about to get even worse! :D

Act III - Izzy Betrays Edward’s Trust While Trying to Save Him

Izzy fails to take responsibility for his actions and decides to compound that error by doing increasingly terrible things, including possibly selling out the only friend(?) he thinks he’s ever had ... by rationalizing that it’s for his own good. 

Izzy you sick tragic fuck. Edward is never going to forgive you, and you’re going to end up in hell dealing with The Kraken instead of the Blackbeard you knew.

07- This Is Happening (Izzy betrays Edward because Ed betrays Blackbeard, at least in Izzy’s mind.)

Izzy completely fails to admit that Edward likes Stede because Stede wants to get to know him as a person and Izzy can only conceptualize this as insanity. Edward was half-insane before he met Stede and Izzy probably would accept him being half-insane again rather than admit whatever the fuck is going on might be both permanent and, if you’re Ed, preferable to returning to the usual.

We don’t see Izzy until the last minutes of the episode, wherein he is doing his level best to end fuckin’ Stede Bonnet once again because he’s “done something to my boss’s brain.”

Izzy, we regret to inform you that’s called love. We know they’re both idiots, but give them a break, they’ve never been in love before!

08- We Gull Way Back (Izzy fucks up even worse, which is impressive when you consider he doesn’t physically appear in this episode.)

Calico Jack reveals he was sent by Izzy Hands, who he calls a sentimental bastard for wanting to get Edward out before the English showed up.

For Ed, he and Stede are now a “we,” so Ed responds that: “Izzy sold me out.”

Yeah, Izzy, Ed will not be forgiving or forgetting that you only meant to catch Stede in your trap and is definitely taking this personally. 

09- Act of Grace (Izzy gets decked by Ed and deserves it.)

Did you catch the part where Chauncey refers to “Captain” Hands? Who has already agreed to commit himself to the King’s service in exchange for Edward’s life? Izzy what has been going on in your head.

IZZY: Edward, I know you’re upset, but it was the only-- [Edward punches him.]

IZZY: Okay ... that’s fair.

Izzy cannot even begin to understand the circumstances of Edward’s fury, but he knows what it looks like when it’s directed at him and he for damn sure accepts Edward’s right to pass judgment on his actions.

Pay really close attention to that speech Izzy makes when he’s trying to convince Edward that Stede’s death is the right thing and the only humane way to end it and then Edward’s reaction to that speech.

Izzy makes every practical argument about how firing squad is the right way for this situation to end and it’s in part his words that push Ed into shouting “Act of Grace.”

Fuck me but the realization in Izzy’s voice when it’s Ed saying the words? Izzy you started this! Yet he still doesn’t realize even when it’s happening that Ed is committed to doing whatever it takes to save Stede Bonnet’s life.

Izzy’s even there when Ed signs the Act of Grace! Of the pirates, it’s just Izzy and Stede there to witness this choice. As it has been since the beginning. Stede sees more of Ed than anyone else ever has, without realizing what it all means. Izzy doesn’t understand what’s changed but probably realizes better than Stede does why it’s happening.

The point is Ed chooses to sign the Act of Grace even when Stede tries to let him off the hook and Izzy has prepared an alternative path. Ed is so thoroughly committed to this path that he’ll accept no substitutes.

Can we talk about how Izzy as Captain Hands portrays himself as “tough and fair” while also eating dinner on the deck of the ship in front of the crew while they’re working? Self-deluded guy thinks Fang and Ivan will back him up and puts himself in the same position as Stede when the crew wanted to mutiny in Episode 1.

Edward told you back in Episode 6 to be careful what you asked your god for, because she might just answer! Coincidence? Haven’t met her.

Can we talk about how surprised Izzy is to see Ed turn up without the beard? How Ed just ignores that the crew is in the middle of a mutiny and is the one who allows Izzy to go right back to his role as first mate? Ed just interrupted Izzy getting the comeuppance for his arrogance.

Let’s move on because thinking about it too much is going to destroy me, and we’ve still got one episode left.

10- Wherever You Go, There You Are (Ed turns into the Kraken and Izzy, because he’s monumentally fucked up, thinks that’s a good thing... for now.)

Izzy has presumably been the only one Ed spoke to until asking for Lucius, because whether Edward likes it or not, he’s used to relying on Izzy to play the role of first mate. Izzy looks so rattled not only by the change in Edward here but also by not knowing what to do beyond ... go back to doing what he’s always done and praying that works out, somehow.

Izzy is sitting up amongst the rest of the crew while Edward is singing and at the end, when he tries to correct them and enforce Captain or Blackbeard as a form of address, it’s Ed who corrects him and says he’d rather be known as Edward from now on. 

Izzy’s look of utter shock and surprise gets me every time. Remember, he serves Blackbeard!

Up next: Izzy why are you like this?

Izzy, in speaking plainly, confesses that he should’ve let the English kill Edward and uses what should be a gesture of physical affection as a taunt. Izzy knows Edward well enough to know what will make him doubt himself and his choices to try a different life. Izzy wants Edward to go back to being Blackbeard but he has no fucking idea what he’s just unleashed, instead.

And then we’ve got Leonard Cohen’s “Avalanche” playing while Edward makes his transformation. 

Other people have discussed how fucked up the toe scene is (does this show go hard or does it go hard?) and, I’m going to go a bit out on a limb here, and say that Izzy thinks this brutality is what he wants because it’s who Blackbeard should be. Above all else, loyalty to his Captain, no matter who that is or what he has to endure.

And I’m going to stand by the reading that “it’s complicated” because the lyrics overlaying that?

The crumbs of love you offer me / are the crumbs I’ve left behind

The most fucked up reading possible is that these lines are referring to Izzy and Edward’s fucked up relationship. So that’s where I’m going with this.

Fucking Izzy Hands doesn’t fully realize what’s about to hit all of them and is still prepared to be loyal and accept whatever fucked up justice Edward distributes as what he deserves for betraying him in the first place. Did you notice that it’s Izzy who uses Stede’s first name, now? 

Or that Izzy has adopted Stede’s language in front of the other crewmembers while he and Ivan are marooning them. That when the crew ask where Jim is, Izzy replies that, “Edward probably wanted to discuss feelings or something?”

That it’s Izzy who sends everyone down into the Kraken’s lair to decide whether or not they’ll be part of his new crew?

That it’s Edward who calls the crew Bonnet’s playthings and no longer uses Stede’s first name?

Izzy’s the one standing next to Edward, holding a gun on Frenchie as he hoists the new flag. No longer is it enough to be loud and a jerk, or to stick to verbal threats until violence is the practical alternative! Think back to the beginning when Izzy just bought Stede’s hostages without getting violent.

Violence is now the rule rather than the exception.

How the fuck far is Izzy going to go when he’s just glad to be serving Blackbeard? How the fuck much is he going to be willing to suffer when violence is the new normal rather than one of many tools to get what they want? 

Con O’Neill is a magnificent bastard who managed to act out Izzy Hands’s entire operatic fucked up tragedy in full view of Edward Teach’s love story while in the same frames as Stede Bonnet.

WHAT THE FUCK WHAT THE FUCK WHAT THE FUCK.

[tarobytez]

disability in the Six Of Crows Duology; an analysis of Kaz Brekker, Wylan Van Eck, and the fandom’s treatment of them.

****Note: I originally wrote this for a tiktok series, which im still going to do, but i wanted to post here as well bc tumblr is major contributor to what im going to talk about

CW: ableism, filicide, abuse

In the Six of Crows duology, Leigh Bardugo delicately subverts and melds harmful disability tropes into her narrative, unpacking them in a way that I, as a disabled person, found immensely refreshing and…. just brilliant. 

But what did you all do with that? Well, you fucked it up. Instead of critically looking at the characters, y’all just chose to be ableist. 

For the next few videos paragraphs im going to unpack disability theory (largely the stuff surrounding media, for obvious reasons) and how it relates to Six Of Crows and the characterization of Kaz Brekker and Wylan Van Eck, then how, despite their brilliant writing, y’all completely overlooked the actual text and continuously revert them to ableist cariactures.

Disclaimer: 1. Shocker - i am disabled. I have also extensively researched disability theory and am very active in the disabled community. Basically, I know my shit. 2. im going to be mad in these videos this analysis. Because the way y’all have been acting has been going on for a long ass time and im fuckin sick of it. I don’t give a shit about non-disabled feelings, die mad

Firstly, I’m going to discuss Kaz, his play on the stereotypical “mean cripple” trope and how Bardugo subverts it, his cane, and disabled rage. Then, I am going to discuss Wylan, the “inspiration porn” stereotype, caregivers / parents, and the social model of disability. Finally, I will then explain the problems in the fandom from my perspective as a disabled person, largely when it comes to wylan, bc yall cant leave that boy tf alone.

Kaz Brekker

Think of a character who uses a cane (obviously not Kaz). Now, are they evil, dubiously moral, or just an asshole in general? Because nearly example I can think of is: whether it be Lots’O from Toy Story, Lucius Malfoy, or even Scrooge and Mr.Gold from Once Upon A Time all have canes (the last two even having their canes appear less and less as they become better people)

The mean/evil cripple trope is far more common than you would think. Villains with different bodies are confined to the role of “evil”. To quote TV Tropes, who I think did a brilliant job on explaining it “The first is rooted in eugenics-based ideas linking disability or other physical deformities with a "natural" predisposition towards madness, criminality, vice, etc. The Rule of Symbolism is often at work here, since a "crippled" body can be used to represent a "crippled" soul — and indeed, a disabled villain is usually put in contrast to a morally upright and physically "perfect" hero. Whether consciously on the part of the writer or not, this can reinforce cultural ideas of disability making a person inherently inferior or negative, much in the same way the Sissy Villain or Depraved Homosexual trope associate sexual and gender nonconformity with evil. ”

Our introduction to Kaz affirms this notion of him being bad or morally bankrupt, with “Kaz Brekker didn’t need a reason”, etc. This mythologized version of himself, the “bastard of the barrel” actively fed into this misconception. But, as we the audience are privy to his inner thoughts, know that he is just a teenager like every other Crow. He is complex, his disability isn’t this tragic backstory, he just fell off a roof. It’s not his main motivation, nor does he curse revenge for making him a cripple - it is just another part of who he is. 

His cane (though the shows version fills me with rage but-) is an extension of Kaz - he fights with it, but it has a purpose. Another common thing in media is for canes to be simply accessories, but while Kaz’ cane is fashionable, it has purpose.

The quote “There was no part of him that was not broken, that had not healed wrong and there was no part of him that was not stronger for having been broken.” is so fucking powerful. Kaz does not want nor need a cure - its said in Crooked Kingdom that his leg could most likely be healed, but he chooses not to. Abled-bodied people tend to dismiss this thought as Kaz being stubborn but it shows a reality of acceptance of his disability that is just, so refreshing.

In chapter 22 of SOC, we see disabled rage done right - when he is called a cripple by the Fjerdan inmate, Kaz is pissed - the important detail being that he is pissed at the Fjerdan, at society for ableism, not blaming it on being disabled or wishing he could be normal. He takes action, dislocating the asshole’s shoulder and proving to him, and to a lesser extent, himself, that he is just as capable as anyone else, not in spite of, but because he is disabled. And that is the point of Kaz, harking back to the line that “there was no part of him that was not stronger for having been broken”. 

I cried on numerous occasions while reading the SOC duology, but the parts I highlighted in this section especially so. I, as many other disabled people do, have had a long and tumultuous relationship with our disability/es, and for many still struggle. But Kaz Brekker gave me an empowered disabled character who accepts themselves, and that means the world to me. 

Keeping that in mind, I hope you can understand why it hurts so much to disabled people when you either erase Kaz’s disability (whether through cosplay or fanfiction), or portray him as a “broken boy uwu”, especially implying that he would want a cure. That flies in the face of canon and is inherently fucking ableist. (if u think im mad wait until the next section)

Next, we have Wylan.  

Oh fucking boy. 

I love Wylan so fucking much, and y’all just do not seem to understand his character? Like at all? Since this is disability-centric, I’m not going to discuss how the intersection of his queerness also contributes to these issues, but trust me when I say it’s a contributing factor to what i'm going to say.

Wylan, motherfucking Van Eck. If you ableist pricks don’t take ur fucking hands off him right now im going to fight you. I see Wylan as a subversion another, and in my opinion more insidious stereotype pf disabled people - inspiration porn.

Cara Liebowitz in a 2015 article on the blog The Body Is Not An Apology explains in greater detail how inspiration porn is impactful in real life, but media is a major contributing factor to this reality. The technical definition is “the portrayal of people with disabilities as inspirational solely or in part on the basis of their disability” - but that does not cover it fully. 

Inspiration porn does lasting damage on the disabled community as it implies that disability is a negative that you need to “overcome” or “triumph” instead of something one can feel proud of. It exploits disabled people for the development of non-disabled people, and in media often the white male protagonist. Framing disability as inherently negative perpetuates ideals of eugenics and cures - see Autism $peaks’ “I Am Autism” ad. Inspiration porn is also incredibly patronizing as it implies that we cannot take care of ourselves, or do things like non-disabled people do. Because i stg some of you tend to think that we just sit around all day wishing we weren’t disabled. 

Another important theory ideal that is necessary when thinking about Wylan is the experience of feeling like a burden simply for needing help or accommodations. This is especially true when it comes to familial relationships, and internalized ableism.

The rhetoric that Wylan’s father drilled into his head, that he is “defective”, “a mistake”, and “needs to be corrected”, that he (Jan) was “cursed with a moron for a child” is a long held belief that disabled people hear relentlessly. And while many see Van Eck’s attempted murder of Wylan as “preposturous” and overall something that you would never think happens today - filicide (a parent murdering their child) is more common than you would like to believe. Without even mentioning the countless and often unreported deaths of disabled people due to lack of / insufficient / neglectful medical care, in a study on children who died from the result of household abuse, 40 of 42 of them (95%) were diagnosed with disabilities. Van Eck is not some caricature of ableist ideals - he is a real reflection on how many people and family members view disability. 

Circling back to how Wylan unpacks the inspiration porn trope - he is 3 dimensional, he is not only used to develop the other characters, he is just *chefs kiss* Leigh, imo, put so much love and care into the creation of Wylan and his story and character growth that is representative of a larger feeling in the disabled community. 

That being said, what you non-disabled motherfuckers have done to him.

The “haha Wylan can’t read” jokes aren’t and were not funny. Y’all literally boiled down everything Wylan is to him being dyslexic. And it’s like,,,, the only thing you can say about him. You ignore every other part of him other than his disability, and then mock him for it. There’s so much you can say about Wylan - simping for Jesper, being band kid and playing the fuckin flute, literally anything else. But no, you just chose to mock his disability, excellent fucking job!

Next up on “ableds stfu” - infantilization! y’all are so fucking condescending to Wylan, and treat him like a fucking toddler. And while partly it is due to his sexuality i think a larger portion is him being disabled. Its in the same vein of people who think that Wylan and Jesper are romantically one sided, and that Jesper only kind of liked Wylan, despite the canon evidence of him loving Wylan just as much. You all view him as a “smol bean”, who needs protecting, and care, when Wylan is the opposite of that. He is a fucking demolitions expert who suggested waking up sleeping men to kill them - what about that says “uwu”. You are treating Wylan as a burden to Jesper and the other Crows when he is an immensely valuable, fully autonomous disabled person - you all just view him as damaged. 

And before I get a comment saying that “uhhh Wylan isn’t real why do you care” while Wylan may not be real, how you all view him and treat him has real fucking impacts and informs how you treat people like me. If someone called me an “uwu baby boy” they’d get a fist square in the fucking jaw. Fiction informs how we perceive the world and y’all are making it super fucking clear how you see disabled people. 

Finally, I wanted to talk about how the social model of disability is portrayed through Wylan. For those who are unaware, the social model of disability contrasts the medical model, that views the disability itself as the problem, that needs to be cured, whereas the social model essentially boils down to creating an accommodating society, where disability acceptance and pride is the goal. And we see this with Wylan - he is able to manage his father’s estate, with Jesper’s assistance to help him read documents. And this is not out of pity or charity, but an act of love. It is not portrayed as this almighty act for Jesper to play saviour, just a given, which is incredibly important to show, especially for someone who has been abused by family for his disability like Wylan, that he is accepted. 

Yet, I still see people hold up Jesper on a pedestal for “putting up with” Wylan, as if loving a disabled person deserves a fucking pat on the back. It’s genuinely exhausting trying to engage with a work I love so much with a fandom that thinks so little of me and my community. It fucking shows. 

Overall, Leigh Bardugo as a disabled person wrote two incredibly meticulous and empowered disabled characters, and due to either lack of reading comprehension, ableism, or a quirky mix of both, the fandom has ignored canon and the experiences of disabled people for…. shits and giggles i guess. And yes, there are issues with the Grishaverse and disability representation - while I haven’t finished them yet so I do not have an opinion on it, people have been discussing issues in the KOS duology with ableist ideals. This mini series was no way indicative of the entire disabled experience, nor does it represent my entire view on the representation as a whole. These things need to be met critically in our community, and talked about with disabled voices at the forefront. For example, the limited perspective we get of Wylan and Kaz being both white men, does not account for a large portion of the disabled community and the intersection of multiple identities.

All-in-all, Critique media, but do not forget to also critique fandom spaces. Alternatively, just shut the fuck up :)

happy fucking disability pride month, ig