#what would we do without this series

[todayisyourturntolose]

idk what possessed jim to be extra chaotic and odd as pat during this season, but i'm all here for it.

[1doesnotsimplyhavejust1fandam]

Had a very real, very scary thought about possibilities. If this is real, if Bobby really is dead canonically and Peter isn’t coming back as anything more than an executive producer, more of the cast than Angela is probably going to consider leaving before or during next season, even if the show gets renewed for a tenth season (which. *sigh* about that for right now). All of their posts calling him their leader, a dear friend, the rock of the cast essentially, and how they or Tim have spoken up about arguing against killing Bobby off because they don’t want him to leave. And the fact that Peter didn’t want to leave in the first place. If it were me, I would feel like fair game for an MCD as well, because if they can kill off the literal rock of the show and one of the executive producers’ character, they can pull the rug out from under any of the cast at this point. And idk about behind the scenes, but the schedule of filming going much later due to rescheduling tells me that the cast doesn’t get much warning. Angela apparently found out that Bobby was going to die from a SCRIPT. This has been poorly handled on so many levels, and if the cast values their peace of mind over trusting Tim to make better decisions for the rest of the characters, it would be totally possible that some of them would be prepared to leave of their own accord instead of being told they’re leaving with little warning or care paid to either their character or themselves as part of the cast family.

[coldbrewww]

From the way he treats you, there's a high chance he feels the same way.

[bairdthereader]

Heartstopper Elders: Mr. Ajayi

No adult in Heartstopper steps into the gap as well as Nathan Ajayi.

Charlie

I don't think it's coincidence that Mr. Ajayi is the first adult we see interacting with Charlie on a meaningful, personal level. In the comics Mr. Ajayi is not introduced until he chaperones the Paris trip, but in the show Alice has made him a keeper of Charlie's past, a rare empathetic witness to his trauma, and the only adult to whom Charlie feels comfortable opening up. We learn almost as much about Charlie from his interactions with Mr. Ajayi as we do from his conversations with friends; in some ways, more.

When he asks Charlie if everything is okay because it's been a while since Charlie has hidden at lunchtime, Charlie replies he isn't hiding, he's eating (though he clearly is not). There's a moment where Mr. Ajayi has a small smile on his face, but his eyes are sad. He knows Charlie is deflecting; he knows Charlie is worried about something, he knows he's not eating. He also knows there's a chance he might not get a straight answer out of Charlie if he pushes too hard. So he starts by checking in on the bullying, which is a problem he and Charlie have dealt with together in the past, effectively reminding Charlie of the preexisting trust between them.

Reminded of the depth of Mr. Ajayi's caring and support, Charlie ventures to talk a bit about the new problem, which we all know is Ben. Joe's performance here is amazing--the hesitancy, the almost stream of consciousness verbal working out of his perception of the situation in real time, the intense frustration of not understanding why Ben behaves the way he does. As Charlie talks, Mr. Ajayi's expression is one of dismayed understanding. There is a high likelihood that he or someone he is close to has experienced a similar situation, and he can recognize what's happening in Charlie's "relationship" better than Charlie can at this point (though Charlie definitely figures it out in the end).

Mr. Ajayi knows from past experiences with Charlie that he often keeps his problems to himself. His repeated suggestion that Charlie talk, both to Ben and to his friends, is Mr. Ajayi's attempt to counteract what he sees as one of Charlie's more harmful self-defense mechanisms--silence. This is a bit of foreshadowing, since it takes many hard conversations throughout the entirety of season 2 for Charlie to really talk to Nick about some of his problems.

It's also telling that when Mr. Ajayi asks Charlie why he hasn't talked to his friends about Ben, his answer is "they wouldn't get it . . . because they're not gay." You can see Mr. Ajayi's visible frustration with this statement because not only is it Charlie's excuse to avoid sharing this important part of his life with his friends, but it also fails to give his friends the chance to prove that they could understand. Mr. Ajayi doesn't push, though, which is one of his strong suits. He knows Charlie needs to figure some of this out on his own ("I can't solve your problems for you").

Of course, we all know and love this scene in S1E8 where Mr. Ajayi encourages Charlie not to hide. He knows instantly exactly why Charlie is there, and he knows that this time Charlie doesn't need protection, he needs a push, he needs real talk. So that's what Mr. Ajayi does. At first, Charlie avoids eye contact, denying it when Nathan points out that Charlie is returning to harmful and isolating behaviors, but Mr. Ajayi knows this is the moment to double down and really get under Charlie's armor. He pursues eye contact with Charlie, making sure he's listening.

Nathan tells Charlie that hiding can be safer and easier, but not always worth the loneliness that results. It's an absolutely beautiful moment because Mr. Ajayi is not only acknowledging Charlie's fears, but his strengths as well. Charlie has so many moments of bravery, has overcome so much, and Mr. Ajayi knows this better than almost anyone else. He knows that Charlie doesn't really want to hide, and he's telling Charlie to turn back to that part of himself that he knows is strong enough to keep going.

On the surface, it seems that Mr. Ajayi is telling Charlie not to let bullies make him disappear, but he says anyone. That includes Nick, who Charlie is trying so hard to protect that he's hurting himself in the process; Tao, who at this point is blaming Charlie for some of his own internal struggles (we all do this sometimes, so Tao is not horrible, just human); as well as Charlie himself, as he has a tendency to apologize for and regret his own existence. This is where Charlie returns Nathan's eye contact, really absorbing what he has to say. The fact that Charlie takes this advice and forges ahead shows that Mr. Ajayi's words carry a lot of weight with Charlie and that he has deployed them in a way that Charlie can accept, two things that are only possible where there is trust, respect, and a strong bond.

Though we don't see as many one-on-one interactions between Mr. Ajayi and Charlie in S2, Nathan's presence on the Paris trip is especially important at a few critical points. When we see his reaction to Imogen's very public breakup with Ben, we're seeing him not only feel teacherly concern for this antagonistic moment between the couple, but he's also putting some pieces together about Charlie. Mr. Ajayi is, at this point I think, the only person aside from Nick who now knows (or at least suspects) that the "secret boyfriend" was Ben. He’s getting a more complete picture of what’s been happening with Charlie and the deeply negative effects of that relationship, especially now that Imogen is exposing what kind of person Ben is to people who may not have seen that side of him before.

Likewise, when Charlie passes out at the Louvre and tells a very concerned Mr. Ajayi that he just hasn't eaten enough that day, Nathan has to be connecting the dots with all the times Charlie came to his room at lunchtime but didn't actually eat, or ate very little, and coming to the realization that there’s a deeper and more problematic cause for this pattern.

Though we don't see any onscreen discussions between Charlie and Mr. Ajayi about these revelations, we know that Nathan is in tune enough with Charlie to understand that bigger currents are moving in Charlie's life than show on the surface, and I imagine this will come into play in some way in S3. There is at least one adult in Charlie's life who has some understanding of what might really be going on with him, and who better than Nathan Ajayi.

Honorable mention goes to the way Mr. Ajayi quietly supports the Narlie relationship:

Elle

We have to assume that Mr. Ajayi certainly played a similar, possibly even more protective, role in Elle's life. When she's at Truham for sports day, despite calling the school a hellhole she hoped she'd never be back in, she's clearly comfortable in Mr. Ajayi's art room. She says she spent "every" lunchtime in his art room working on her landscape piece, so we know Mr. Ajayi allowed Elle to not only complete her coursework but also seek refuge.

Elle also used the art room as the setting for her piece for Lambert, showing that not only are her friends her safe place, but so is the actual physical space of Mr. Ajayi's classroom. This room, and this teacher, were a place where she could be her true self and heal from the wounds inflicted by the cruelty of other students and teachers. And, so importantly, Mr. Ajayi's room with its intrinsic safety allowed Charlie and Elle to relax and let down their guards, fostering an environment where this core friend group was able to grow even more tight-knit.

I dearly wish Mr. Ajayi had been there to see the reveal and celebration of Elle's piece, which was in large part possible because of him. Mr. Ajayi makes himself and his space into a sanctuary for the students who need him, and what is more heroic than that?

[Side Note: Nathan stands in the gap for Youssef too, without a doubt. That's it's own post.]

Bonus: Mr. Ajayi's sarcasm is perfection.

[sunshine-and-her-ikevil-stuff]

*thinking about the villains' tragic fates*

You know, their routes never really talk too much about their fates and how it effects them mentally. Or how the MC feels about it, and dealing with the fear and angst of it with the slight exception of William's route

*eyes widen*

... I think I know what the sequels are gonna be about

[khaoala]

Joong, probably under the effect of painkillers due to his wisdom tooth removal, said that The Heart Killers will start filming next week! (source in the link)

[minty-bunni]

Okay, but Antoine getting sick or injured and being nursed back to health by Evka would be adorable.

Antoine doing the same for Evka would be cute as well, but I'm specifically picking on Antoine because he has gotten hurt or has greatly concerned his wife in 3/4 of the pair's appearances.

[goemon-fan]

This was easily one of the best Lupin episodes

[spacedlexi]

the way the ericson group were at the outbreak just a bunch of troubled kids who made various mistakes or committed crimes and were judged by a system that punished and abandoned them instead of giving them the support and love they needed, are then nearly a decade later put into a situation where now they must judge a troubled child for the mistakes and crimes hes committed against them. and 5 to 3 vote them out 😭

[tiny-smallest]

Sonic Movie Universe prediction: Robotnik is an orphan because of GUN

I think what was supposed to be, tonally, a silly throwaway line is actually winding up to punch us in the face later.

Bear with me.

I barely remember the first movie since it was so long since I watched it, but aside from one, maybe two, of the comic universes, this line is the first time we have ever gotten anything at all about Ivo Robotnik's personal backstory. And it's that he's an orphan. In a story series that explicitly sets him up with a human identity- none of that Eggman stuff as his identity, not even a whisper of the name until it's a silly insult Sonic throws out later- this movie bothers to give him a Normal Human Society Firstname Lastname and a job.

(Okay, so Robotnik isn't exactly a normal human surname. But it's established canon that is the family name so. Suspension of disbelief.)

A series that we know will later delve, at least a little, into the story of Professor Gerald Robotnik WHO IVO APPARENTLY, ACTUALLY, DEFINITELY KNEW IN THIS CONTINUITY, AS HE HAS A SPECIFIC GRANDPA NAME FOR HIM AND NEARLY CRIES.

The original line was a ridiculous rebuttal to Tom during the fight in the house during the first movie. "Rub that in my orphan face," he says in response to Tom sharing a detail of his childhood during Silly Action Scene Banter. While there is a sort of tension there since the movie universe makes no bones about Sonic being an actual child and he is confirmed to be an alien, thus making the danger present of government capture and experimentation very real and kind of horrific, the scene as it plays out isn't overly out of character for something you'd expect in a Sonic movie. And although Robotnik is the threat here, he plays a large part in also keeping the scene lighthearted because of how utterly he fails to respond like a normal human being to literally anything. The comment about being an orphan at least makes sense based on what Tom said, but it's still weirdly personal and, therefore, kind of inappropriate to say. Like dude back up you're trying to kill a child why are you sharing your trauma with me that's uncomfortable.

Which brings me to the obvious point of that line- it's not just to make the scene funny, it's to show us how set apart from other humans Robotnik is. This is a man who has no idea how to interact with anyone, like, absolutely nobody, and every single scene he's in reminds us of this, including this one.

Now that the third movie has explicitly drawn a line between Shadow's backstory and themes of pain and loss, and we see Gerald Robotnik weeping over what I think is Maria's body in the aftermath of the murder (jesus that's dark) I have to connect a few dots of my own.

The first movie had another piece of foreshadowing they threw at us, this one way more obvious: at the end of the first movie, a government agent is sent to speak with the Wachowski couple. He tells them that Ivo Robotnik has been thoroughly erased from existence. As far as any documentation of him ever existing on Planet Earth, there is none. He hasn't merely disappeared- it's like he never was.

If they did this to Ivo after this catastrophe it's not a stretch to think they did the same with Professor Gerald. Hell, I thought that after movie number one. "That has to come up later- we have a character the government explicitly turns on in this series. Like, as a major plot point. The defining moment in several characters' stories. No way does their ability to erase someone not come up later."

But now I think they went a step further.

They've already murdered a little girl and broken an old man in their efforts to contain the genius they were frightened of.

Personally, I don't think it's a stretch to think that Ivo Robotnik, very young himself at the time most likely, is an orphan because GUN decided to eradicate the entire family line in an effort to prevent anyone like Gerald Robotnik from ever existing again.

Except. The son survived. Well shit. Uh. Stick him in an orphanage and keep an eye on him, I guess.

And where does he end up as a adult? A branch of the government. Where they can keep an eye on him.

(More than that, if they did erase Gerald, Ivo clearly remembers him... so Ivo may have joined them specifically to look for traces of the grandfather he knows existed and who doesn't seem to have any records proving that whatsoever. But that's Ivo's motivations and we're talking about GUN's, so, moving on.)

It's likely based on his sheer intellect, assuming Ivo wasn't embellishing too heavily, that he didn't have to grow for very long before that brilliance was obvious. Though the government's decision to let him live was strategic, weighing the gamble of assassination with the gamble of him inheriting the genius and deciding that risking him having the same genius as his grandfather was better than trying to kill him at this point, the gambit ultimately failed. Even though he was more than likely still only a child, they'd let him live too long. In just a few short years he quickly became a very real threat to the government- as in, if given a reason, he could be a very real threat. And nothing Ivo does is ever subtle or quiet, so his genius was probably very loud, and there was likely lots of attention, making an assassination impossible, because if there would be too many questions before, there would be an insurmountable amount if he died or disappeared now.

So, since they couldn't kill him, they continued to keep an eye on him and took him on at the government when he was old enough with the intention of keeping their enemies closer. Except all of their caution still wasn't enough and he went rogue the first time he was presented with the opportunity to grab at power they didn't already have, power capable of things beyond their wildest imaginations- a monster of their own making.

Ivo, who never asked for what happened to him, very likely a victim of circumstances he had no hope of ever controlling, who responded to this trauma by making his choice that power mattered more than anything- more than morals, more than hurting people who are just like he was once. That shaping his own world after all the horrors he planned to do in pursuit of that may finally, finally "be enough."

(Be enough for what, exactly, Ivo. You never did explain that. "Who knows? Maybe that will be enough." Elaborate.)

Whether he knew the truth about why he had suffered or not, Robotnik made his choices. He stood at that crossroads that demanded he make a choice about what kind of person he was going to be in the face of all the pain and loss, and he made his choice. This movie is about Shadow making his.

If this movie really wants to beat us all to death it won't just draw comparisons between Sonic and Shadow, but Shadow and Ivo Robotnik.

(If this movie wants to exorcize our souls after we're dead, if it intends to be a trilogy and not make more movies in following the original vision for Sonic Adventure 2, it'll place Ivo at a new crossroads, and this time, he'll make a different choice.)

(Especially since Professor Gerald, in a much worse state of madness and malice than Ivo, who the movie is setting up specifically as someone Ivo loves, admires, and almost certainly misses, probably won't.)

[daydreamerdrew]

The Power Fantasy (2024) #6 and #2

[purgaytorysupremacy]

friend who is watching Supernatural because I won't shut up about it: I dunno, the episode "It's a Terrible Life" feels kind of empty and doesn't really make a lot of sense. Like, the message is just "ghost hunting is mad fun, bro"

me, buzzing with murder board energy: no, no, but you see... *writes hundreds of words about how this is one of THEE Dean Studies episodes, especially when paired with the season two djinn episode and endverse, and builds important parts of the angel's lore and plans, and is a meta example of the show's creators misunderstanding their own characters and stories*

[musicalmoritz]

Genuinely do not understand how ppl can prefer Aoi’s popular girl persona to her actual character. Like I’ve seen so many ppl say they hated her once her real personality was revealed and I just don’t get it. Do you want her character to be one-dimensional and boring?? Do you want her to be nothing but Nene’s best friend and Akane’s love interest?? Well maybe just Nene’s best friend since these same people are very set on keeping her away from the one person who truly understands her and encourages her to grow.

I know a lot of these people don’t understand her character (someone once explained their hatred of her to me by saying verbatim “boohoo she’s popular”) so I shouldn’t care that much but it’s part of a trend I’ve noticed lately of ppl wanting all media to be as simplistic and morally pure as possible. They don’t want conflict, nor complex characters with actual faults. Aoi isn’t even that bad, and she has character development, but that’s too much for some people to handle. They hate her for rejecting Akane without asking WHY she pushes him away, they hate her for lying to Nene without asking WHY she feels the need to do that. You don’t have to dig that deep to find the answers, the text spells it out for us.

Idk it just baffles me that some ppl would rather give Aoi the personality of a cardboard box rather than let her be her own flawed character. Not everybody has to like her ofc but the reasons ppl give for hating her make me think they’re just boring😭. At least with Teru haters I can kinda get it, you can understand his reasons for acting the way he does while still disliking him. But it’s so rare that I find an Aoi hater who understands her character. And when they do they, once again, want the story to be as boring as possible. Throw away all of Aoi’s complexities and everything that makes her unique to make her Nene’s supportive best friend. They want her to essentially be a Disney Channel side character. I’d come for Akane haters too but Ik they can’t read more than three words so I’ll let them keep their peace for now

[sydney-carton-of-sour-milk]

The Many Illustrators of A Tale of Two Cities 15: Charles Keeping

Keeping This One Brief

Our second in the spooky subseries is a set by Charles Keeping, a famed English illustrator, children's book author, and lithographer who, among his many other accomplishments, illustrated the entirety of Dickens's work for the Folio Society.

This set is unique among all those we've seen so far, both for its recentness (call its publication date a Bowling for Soup song the way it's "1985"🤪) and for its source:

Rather than being from a large public resource like the Internet Archive or from my own personal scans, these are all coming from the personal blog of Derrick J. Knight, a fellow netizen who just so happens to have scanned the illustrations of the book he was reading and uploaded them to the Internet for all to see.

Out of gratitude and respect for giving these precious rarities of illustrations to the public, I'm going to keep this post simple and straightforward, with no post-notes.

Here they are (fair warning, a couple of these are pretty gory):

That's it! Thank you, Charles Keeping and Derrick J. Knight!

& the standard endnote for all posts in this series:

This post is intended to act as the start of a forum on the given illustrator, so if anyone has anything to add - requests to see certain drawings in higher definition (since Tumblr compresses images), corrections to factual errors, sources for better-quality versions of the illustrations, further reading, fun facts, any questions, or just general commentary - simply do so on this post, be it in a comment/tags or the replies!💫

[iguessitsjustme]

Ter stop talking over and making decisions for Dee challenge 2k24. Y'all ain't even friends at this point you're just the annoying coworker go away

[idleindy]

Would it be blasphemy to say that I actually don't want another Dragon Age game?