#which is why they are constantly paralleled throughout the series

[what-do-1000-swords-look-like]

14x20 Ending = Two Main Protagonists Confirmed

Was rewatching 14x20 for reasons and this scene stuck out to me again like it always does:

Here, we see Dean taking the Equalizer gun (still a stupid name, sorry not sorry) to kill Jack after Chuck presents the suggestion as only he can. In the end, Dean doesn't shoot Jack, he and Sam confront Chuck, they learn he's the ultimate bad guy, and he basically sets them up for the ultimate apocalypse. One last ride.

And here's where we see the setup for the two main protagonists/heroes...because they have been the main two protagonists/heroes for a while. Dean and Sam = yin and yang.

Dean is the one taking the shot at Jack/willing to sacrifice himself; Sam is the one Chuck mostly interacts with & he figures out what Chuck is really doing

Chuck mentions the whole "father and son" thing when it comes to Dean and Jack; Sam calls Chuck out on what he's really doing

Dean tells Chuck to go to Hell & Chuck kills Jack; Sam shoots Chuck & Chuck starts the apocalypse

Dean makes the choice not to shoot Jack; Sam makes the choice to shoot Chuck

Dean was willing to sacrifice himself to shoot Jack who they think is the villain and save the world from him; Sam was willing to sacrifice himself to shoot Chuck who is the real villain to save Jack

Yin and yang.

If there was only one main protagonist, that one brother would have been the one to choose to shoot Jack & sacrifice himself, Chuck would have had his focus on & the most interactions with, would've been the sole father in that dynamic with Jack (minus Cas), would have been the catalyst for Chuck killing Jack and starting the apocalypse, and would have been the one to choose to shoot Chuck & sacrifice himself. The other brother would have just been a bystander if that was the case.

Another way you can tell that there are two main protagonists is that they knocked Cas out (literally and both times) of these important scenes with the two Gods (Chuck and Jack who will replace him) and the brothers despite his being an angel, despite his relationship with Jack, even despite his relationship with both brothers and the family they've all settled into. He has some lines, sure, but notice how he is not able to be involved in the decision making or really active in the standoff with Chuck. Not to diminish Cas and his importance to the story or to Jack or even Sam and Dean, but here we see that he is clearly not the main protagonist of the story. Same with Jack even though he becomes the new God in the next season, and they pulled the ol' switcheroo in this episode between him and Chuck. They literally played the shell game with the audience by having Chuck show up the way he did so it could all lead up to this moment: the Winchester brothers telling Chuck to eff off and the resulting final conflict (they're not only fighting for their freedom and to reclaim their narrative/lives but also the final boss) that will eventually reach the climax and final standoff. So of course there would be no Mary, no Bobby, no John, no Jody, no Donna, no Claire, etc in this scene and Cas would be sidelined.

It was always about Sam and Dean.

The two main protagonists.

[infiniteetcetera]

I serve the ACOTAR fandom with a defense of Feysand, just not the one you’d expect…

One of the weirdest takes I’ve seen recently is the “Tamlin is actually the better guy so Feyre was better off with him.” Now listen, i’m not a Tamlin hater. Im also not a “Rhys has never done anything wrong and is perfect” type of fan. But this stance is simply so so wrong to me. Despite the flaws of all these characters I think one thing that is very consistent and just factually real in this series is that Tamlin and Feyre were wrong together and her and Rhys (even if you don’t like them together) make much more sense.

Tamlin and Rhys are foils of each other in a lot of ways and both go through a similar journey where their narratives flips in our protagonists view. The reality is, Tamlin has always had red flags and anger issues and been very paranoid and self righteous and Rhys has always been very secretive, manipulative, and controlling. He and all his friends tell Feyre this themselves. There’s textual evidence for both these takes in all the books of the series and despite claims that “Tamlin wasn’t himself in ACOMAF” or “Rhys wasn’t himself in ACOSF” I think if you’re actually paying close attention these two are written very consistently the whole series, flaws and all. They have many similar qualities that make sense from their similar backgrounds and positions in society. But there are differences too, and those differences are key in why Feyre chooses Rhys.

The first big thing is loyalty. Tamlin is loyal to his sense of morality and what he believes is right. Rhys is loyal to the people he considers his family, even above what is right. The two perfect examples of this are their separate paths in ACOTAR and their relationship with friends. Amarantha sexually pursues both Tamlin and Rhysand. They both have terrible histories with her that would make being in her presence awful, but Tamlin refuses to engage with her at all and his people suffer the consequences of it. IM NOT SAYING TAMLIN SHOULD HAVE EVER HAD TO DO ANYTHING WITH AMARANTHA miss ma’am is an irredeemable creep and we all know this, but this is the reality of Tamlin’s circumstances and choices, which directly parallel how Rhysand gave up his bodily autonomy and suffers for decades all because the extra bit of magic Amarantha lets him have is enough to keep his family hidden and safe. Even after all that, when Rhys has nightmares about UTM it’s not about what she did to him, it’s about Amarantha getting her hands on Cassian or Azriel. That’s what Rhys fears more than his lands being taken over or him literally being a sex slave, he doesn’t want his family hurt.

Regarding the second point, Feyre meets Tamlins Spring Court friends and simply doesn’t get along with any of them except Lucien. And Lucien, the one close friend Tamlin has, is constantly mistreated by him and canonically afraid of him. This is not just something new in ACOMAF, it’s sprinkled throughout ACOTAR too that Lucien is willing to contradict and argue with Tamlin because he’s Lucien but when Tamlin says what’s done is done it’s done. Meanwhile, we get snippets throughout the series of Cassian, Azriel, and Mor all directly laughing in the face of Rhys’ orders and straight up arguing with him as an equal. Even when Rhys does pull rank (happens maybe twice the whole series?) none of his friends are ever shown to be even slightly scared of him. It’s usually a combination of respect and guilt that keeps them in line.

I know that sounded like a Rhys defense blurb but it’s really not. If you value loyalty (which Feyre does) then yes, Rhys sounds better than Tamlin. But it should be noted Rhys is willing to do terrible awful gross things and cross villainous lines that Tamlin just won’t, and there’s value and honor in that too. I think this is best exemplified by a conversation Feyre has with Tamlin in ACOTAR about the war. Tamlin mentions he was so young he had to side with his family, but if he were old/powerful enough he would have fought for the humans no matter what because it’s just the right thing. Feyre our human narrator thinks it’s noble but says she wouldn’t do the same. Feyre’s first priority would be her family, even if keeping them safe meant not doing the right thing or doing something terrible like not fighting against slavery. THIS IS WHO FEYRE IS AND ITS ALSO WHO RHYS IS. It’s laid out for us so early it’s still a shock to me everytime someone claims something was suddenly changed in ACOMAF.

The next big thing for me here is going to sound simple but it’s personality. The few times Feyre sympathizes most with Tamlin and relates to him is when he’s discussing his flaws. When he mentions being called a wild beast she recalls how Nesta called her the same. She relates to Tamlin in being loved “thorns and all” and overall the thing these two bond over is this idea of being wild, untamed, and unrefined but that’s not who Feyre is, it’s who’s she had to be to survive. Feyre did not enjoy hunting, her dream was always to stop hunting and just paint and live an easy quiet life. Tamlin does have other interests, but overall the wild/hunter/violent part of him is predominant enough that he still clings onto it even though it does not benefit him. While on the surface these two seem to have things in common, Feyre’s shared traits with Tamlin are things she was forced into and doesn’t always like about herself.

Rhys on the other hand, these two are actually so incredibly alike. They have the exact same sense of humor (there are literally dozens of examples of this). They both value loyalty and protecting their family above all, even if it means being controlling, overbearing, and morally wrong. They both value being able to fight and take care of themselves because it’s necessary, but even this feeds into an I’ll do it myself mentality.

I’m going to get controversial here in saying this but I would argue even Rhys keeping the pregnancy thing from Feyre is something Feyre would 100% do in his position. That’s why she forgives him. Not because he’s got her manipulated or mind controlled to hell, but because it’s WHAT SHE’D DO TOO. Rhys wasn’t hiding it from her to force her to give birth or anything, he didn’t want her to worry and take on any burden. He wanted to control the situation and take care of her himself. That doesn’t make it right, but for someone who sees the world as he does (Feyre) it makes sense. There’s literally countless times throughout the story Feyre lies, sneaks off, and just generally hides thing from Tamlin, Rhys, and others. She goes to see the Suriel in secret during the war despite knowing Rhys would have let her go if she told him because she doesn’t want him involved and putting himself at risk. Her decisions are on a lesser scale than Rhys’ decisions, but that’s because she’s had less power than Rhys for most of the series. At her core though, Feyre’s morality and instincts are a lot like his. They are mates for a reason and honestly out of all of SJMs series, the pair of mates that make the most sense to the core of the term (except maybe Rowaelin)

Overall, I understand people have issues with this couple and with Rhysand that are valid (I can and will fight the Feyre haters though) but anyone who argues Feyre was better with Tamlin is just factually wrong and I think it’s a misunderstanding of her character and a weirdly infantilizing/patronizing take to make it seem like Rhys is manipulating Feyre all the time and she’s just too silly goofy to see it. We know for sure he is not manipulating her with his powers all the time (despite what the evil Rhys truthers think). Feyre might be younger and less experienced than Rhys but I promise you all she is not stupid. She knows what she’s doing with this man and has a lot more culpability in their relationship than people think. If that means you don’t like Feyre then I guess so be it (be wrong🙄) but I would say despite Rhys’ many flaws (and I do think there are a lot and a lot of people are valid in not liking him) him not loving Feyre and manipulating her is not one of them. He may still lie and keep secrets from her from time to time but this is something he confesses to her he struggled with in the past and would continue to struggle with in their relationship. Feyre knows this. She knows who Rhys is at his core even if some readers don’t and she loves him not because she thinks he’s flawless but because she understands his flaws and values his virtues over them. They’re still learning to work as a couple and pushing past the obstacles together, they’re both still healing from immense trauma the haunts them . Again they are not perfect, but they are definitely the most functional ACOTAR pairing we’ve seen so far and work not because they’re both heroes/good guys but because they’re both willing to be bad or good when the need calls for it.

[lol-jackles]

Hi, how are you?

This post is more of a vent and some comparison between supernatural and Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

I was just listening to the "sacrifice" melody from the episode "The Gift" and I started to ramble a little.

If we put both series together I can see that Sam is the reflection of everything that Buffy is. That is to say, he would have basically become the character of Buffy if he did not have Dean in his life, if he were an only child, he would have a legacy to fulfill despite wanting the opposite but fulfilling exactly the destiny of the.

Now that I'm analyzing the series I see a lot of Buffy in the character of Sam, as if they were inspired by her to create him, which is great and maybe that's why he became my favorite character.

The entire journey that both characters take throughout their lives leads them to the same point, the sacrifice for their brother/sister. Both make the maximum expression of love they can, not for the world, but for the person they love, one has heaven as a reward and the other hell.

When you say that if the character was just Sam in the show, I firmly believe that the show would have been a success just the same.

Sorry for my English.

No worries your English is good. Like you I've always saw a strong parallel between Buffy Summers and Sam Winchester, and even though I've said that Supernatural with just Sam would work with some tweaking (X), it may not lasted 15 years without Dean. But nonetheless the show still could have been a success for five to seven seasons, like Buffy.

Even though Buffy has her Scooby gang, I’ve complained on my blog that they don’t actually listen to her when she needs emotional support.  The one who does give is her polarizing sister.  Buffy’s disgust and disappointment that her closest friends were unable to distinguish between her and Buffybot the sex robot was both hilarious and terribly sad. Fans have even called Buffy "whiny" for having opinions, occasionally being vulnerable, frightened and sad. It couldn’t possibly be because her friends repeatedly fuck her over, she was yanked out of heaven without her consent, she’s been burdened with huge responsibility, and she’s constantly taken for granted, right? She couldn’t possibly have any reason to be angry and to speak up about it.   Just like Sam.

After 22 years, Buffy the Vampire Slayer still holds up. Besides flipping the trope of a small blonde girl chasing after monsters instead of being chased by them, the show helped solidify the formula of season-long story arcs (X) along with stand-alone episodes.  Buffy was basically the precursor to the Golden Age of television; it was ahead of its time.

Buffy Summers and Sam Winchester...

After

[itsjustbyler]

If the byler actually happens, it will be rushed. The GA won't understand, they should have done this before. They've been building Mileven for so long that they couldn't change everything last season.

Sorry, but it's the truth.

Well hi there... (this is going to be a big one, sorry)

See, I'll never understand this argument that it's going to be rushed and that the last season doesn't have time to build Byler or whatever. You've never seen films or series with a single season in which a couple meets, falls in love and ends up together?

I can give you the example of Eyewitness. Several people in the fandom like to talk about this series and I have to thank the bylers for presenting it to me.

The show has 9 episodes, at the beginning we meet Lukas and Phillip. Lucas suffers from internalized homophobia. This series managed to introduce us to the characters, make us understand them, make us understand the reason for each one's actions with just 9 episodes and still in the middle of a murder plot, with several horrible things happening and other characters developing.

And the series is simply wonderful. I highly recommend it, so that people can learn about internalized homophobia (which we theorize Mike has) and how far it can go. Maybe you even recognize some parallels with Byler. Remembering that eyewitness was on the inspiration board for one of the seasons, i think it was season 4.

"They have been building up mlvn for 4 seasons", well... they also did that with byler. The advantage of Stranger Things over eyewitness is that we already know the characters, we already know the dynamics between them, we know the problems in each relationship, there will be no need to waste time on that. The building up for byler its at its peak by the end of season 4!

The season ended with:

Mike and El not talking to each other after the monologue that was supposed to save the relationship

The truth about Will's painting yet to be revealed

Will confirmed to be in love with Mike

Mike is still oblivious to Will's feelings

Eleven didn't say anything about the monologue and what she thought of it all

Will is already sure that Mike doesn't like him and he tried to help Mike and El's relationship, which didn't work.

Mike doesn't know that Eleven doesn't actually feel what Will said she feels and that those were his words

As I said, we already know these characters. We know Will lied, we know El doesn't feel that way. We know that Mike feels inferior in the relationship because El doesn't seem to like anything he likes and ignores his interests, which is why he thinks he's just a random nerd. Mike only knows how to praise El by associating her with her powers, something El doesn't feel comfortable with. We know about the ambiguous relationship between Mike and Will and that Mike seems to separate Will from all the other members of the party, including El. We know that Will is in love with Mike. Everything is waiting for it's conclusion.

Also, we still have some questions hanging in the air like: Why write Will in love with Mike if he already has a girlfriend? Why not give him a boyfriend in Lenora, which seems to be a freer place with mlm and wlw couples going on public dates in the middle of Rink o Mania? Why not have Mike reject Will in season 3 so Will can move on, like they did with Dustin and Max? Why the painting and the meaning behind it? Why constantly separate Mike and El throughout the seasons while strengthening Mike and Will's bond? Why, instead of having Mike the whole season saying that he needs to find El and telling her that he loves her and that she's amazing, they decided to have Mike complaining about his relationship and how bad he feels about it? Why did this love triangle reach season 5 still without a clear solution?

They just need to pick up the pieces. If you think they can't do that in a single season, remember that St*ncy ended the first season together but we clearly knew something was wrong and in the second season they perfectly managed to end St*ncy's relationship and start J*ncy's even with Jonathan dealing with everything that was happening with his brother and everything else.

And hey... give the GA some credit. I clocked byler without even knowing it was a thing and I had never been in a fandom before. They are not stupid. They just don't engage with fandom disclosure but that doesn't mean they are oblivious to everything that it's happening. They just don't care or have heterormativity blinding them.

Now could the writers just ignore everything they had been building up and send it to trash? Damn right they could. However, we will have to wait and see...

ty for the ask, sorry for the big one <3

[pluckyredhead]

Red Hood and the Outlaws #1 (2011)

It's been a while since I've read RHATO, so I figured I'd reread it - and if I'm doing that, why not make you all suffer with me? I will probably get tired of this before I finish all the various series, but let's see how far we get.

Roy, that would probably work better if your bow had a string.

The issue begins with Roy in a prison in Qurac for trying to overthrow a dictator. He's rescued by Jason, in disguise as a pastor in a fat suit (sigh). There's so much wrong with these opening pages: the fat suit, the writing off an entire Middle Eastern nation as evil and corrupt, the fact that there's no way even a collapsed bow would fit inside a hollowed-out bible, the lazy way the panel layouts waste space...and yet. And yet.

These pages. THESE FUCKING PAGES. "His name is Roy Harper. He's an idiot. Nice guy, but an idiot." "His name is Jason Todd. A lot of people say he's crazy...Let's just say the Red Hood is my kind of crazy!"

This kind of parallel narration always makes me think of the 2003 Superman/Batman comic, which used it extensively, to extremely (and likely unintentionally?) homoerotic effect. After I read this issue, I told a friend that I got it now: Red Hood and the Outlaws was Superman/Batman for edgelords.

Which is to say, I'm pretty sure I started shipping these assholes just from these first terrible pages.

(But seriously, there are three pages up there and only five panels. Five panels! Plus some pointless maroon boxes that don't do anything! I want my money back.)

This panel is super misleading, because it implies that Roy and Jason know each other well enough for Jason to tease Roy about being a chatterbox, but later issues will show that barely know each other at this point. But then, trying to keep the backstories straight in this or any Lobdell book is like watching sand run out between your fingers.

And again here, it implies that they were already friends, a team, partners...something. But later we'll learn that they only met once, and it was years ago, when they were kids, so...what gives?

(This page is actually interesting, because Jason is constantly saying playfully mean things to Roy and Roy never seems to mind, but here he clearly hurts Roy, and he knows it.)

Siiiiigh.

To add insult to injury, Jason immediately announces that he's fucked Kori. You'll notice I aggressively ignore this in every fic I've ever written. Part of that is because I love Secret Virgin Jason, but also it just doesn't mesh with his and Kori's relationship throughout the rest of the series or his hilarious lack of game in general, and it's also so inextricably part of Amnesiac Sex Doll Kori that I just want nothing to do with it.

HATE. HAAAAAATE. The devious smile on Jason's face in the bottom row and Roy's calculating expression are so deeply disgusting to me. "This woman can't meaningly consent! She's like a cave fish with a vagina! Sweet!" Scott Lobdell is a vile human being and so is everyone who signed off on this piece of shit. (Fun fact: this was a HUGE controversy when the New 52 launched and the outcry was so loud they walked it back in a later issue when Kori tells Roy she...just lied about all of that for no reason? Okay.)

Also, "ask her about the gang you used to hang with." Uh...what gang is that, Jason? Because Donna didn't exist at this point, Wally was 12, Garth was a literal baby, Vic joined the League immediately upon getting his powers, and Gar was a child being tortured in a lab somewhere. So was it just Roy, Dick, and Raven? And they certainly weren't the Titans, because Tim's team was the founders in this continuity...which Lobdell should have known, since he was also writing that book.

The person asking to speak to Jason is Essence, his ex, who tells him something cryptic about murder victims with missing organs.

YOU DON'T KNOW MOST OF THOSE PEOPLE EITHER, ROY!!! "Remember Garth? The baby?" (Literally, he is a baby who shows up for one panel. In Atlantis.) And who the fuck is Dustin?

Anyway, Kori propositions Roy and he's like "Sure, why not." Did the target audience actually think this was hot? It's so depressing.

Essence tells Jason that something called the Untitled has attacked something called the All Caste, and Jason makes a surprised Pikachu face.

Elsewhere, a guy in a basement looks at a picture of Kori online.

I will admit to liking two things about this page: the fact that Jason's helmet is in the nightstand implies that Roy and Kori fucked in Jason's bed, which is either hilariously rude or an invitation that sailed right over Jason's head, and the red hand print on Roy's chest. It's the first glimpse of a recognizable Roy in this book; he did always like getting manhandled by scarily powerful women, pre-Flashpoint.

Jason goes...somewhere, to a temple of sorts with a lot of vague cultural appropriation going on, and kneels over the corpse of an old lady. "I'm sorry I wasn't here for you, Ducra," he says, before a bunch of people attack him. END OF ISSUE!

And that's Red Hood and the Outlaws #1! It's confusing, misogynistic, lazily drawn, and not very funny, and there's no reason to be invested in whatever the fuck happened at the end because I know nothing about Ducra, Essence, the All Caste, or frankly, this version of Jason. And yet I am absolutely going to read nine more years' worth of this shit. See you in issue #2!

[stagefoureddiediaz]

Costume meta 6x18

Wow I can’t believe I actually managed to write one of these (with all the additional mini metas) for every episode this season!!! if you’ve read, liked or reblogged and any all of my metas throughout this series then I just want to take a moment to say a massive thank you - it really means so much to me that you do take the time to read the epics I post, that you interact with them and that you ask me questions and seem to learn from what I say - sorry to everyone who now sees check pattern clothing out in the wild and gets worried 😬 it happens to me too - its good to have your company!

I’m so sorry that this has taken me far longer to get out that I had intended - my internet died on Thursday night and still hasn’t come back up (it has not been fun - who knew how internet dependant I’d become11!0 so I’ve had to find a cafe on my day of to actually get this posted (I live in a 4g dead spot too just to add to the fun!) Not going to lie - I am in need of a little break because these posts are a lot of work (you don’t want to know some of the side quests some of these posts have taken me on!!), but I love writing them so I plan to continue in season 7. I do have some fun stuff planned for the extended hiatus so while I might not post as much, I will still be around - making art and providing some costume related (and non costume related) things for you to enjoy - I have breakdowns for each character which includes spreadsheets and graphs (don’t get too excited - but they are actually interesting I promise!) in the pipeline as well as sorting out my pinned post as I’ve hit the link limit!!!.

Back to the costumes for this episode - it sure was an interesting one (when are they not tbh) with plenty going on for me to talk about! Apologies for the photos - it was really hard to get decent stills this week - everyone and the camera constantly moving!! As always the rest is  below the cut to save your dash!

Athena 

Athena has just the one costume this week - heading off on the cruise! I very much enjoyed her being in yellow and saying that she might not tell anyone about them actually being on said cruise! There are a couple of reasons why - firstly its yellow - the colour of communication - which means that her character is telling us something which is important. So Athena suggesting that they don’t tell anyone they are off on this cruise is the key point we need to take away from this scene - what that could mean - well its a throw back to when they attempted to go on the cruise the first time - they were communicating their departure then by being on the phone with Beatrice as they were leaving the Grant-Nash house so by not communicating they’ve gone on their cruise they are preventing another interruption from occurring. The other thing its communicating is that the lack of communication between Bobby and Athena and their family and friends could actually be a bad thing - its a bit of preempting costume design - if the show does indeed choose to go with some form of cruise ship disaster to open season 7 (less likely now that they have delayed the show until midseason, but it depends on how they choose to play the time jump!) then this line comes back into play - the 118 being sent to help with the disaster not knowing Bobby and Athena are on board would make for some very interesting storytelling and potentially parallel with the tsunami very nicely!

The other thing about this costume is the fact that we have bold block colour wearing Athena in a pattern - and a floral pattern at that. Athena doesn’t wear patterns - we saw her in a patterned shirt in 6x10 - when she was undercover and therefore it doesn’t count as actually being something Athena would wear

Bobby

Again the only costume we see Bobby wearing outside of uniform is when he is leaving for the cruise, this is the same costume he was wearing when they made the first attempt at their honeymoon cruise . From a personal perspective this was done to provide continuity between the two scenes as Bobby shirt is the loudest and most obvious thing to carry that thread through for a general audience.

Denny

Denny continues to wear muted tones post reconnecting with his biological father and we also have check on this outfit. The fact that the check is only worn down the sides could indicate either approaching trouble or trouble passing, for me it’s more likely that it is a sense of foreshadowing and will be connected to the Wilsons season 7 storyline revolving around the new baby that they will be bringing home as Denny will become a full blown big brother rather than the role he currently fills with the foster kids – that hovers somewhere between brother and friend. This costume is a bit blink and you’ll miss it and so it’s hard to get more of a read on it than the very basics.

Karen

Karen is wearing her typical large print florals for both her costumes this week and we have the contrast of red - a colour of anger, passion and love with t he yellow of communication, happiness and optimism. the use of the two colours to bookend the episode perfectly play into Karens mini arc for this episode - from the love tinged with disappointment and anger (broken hearted rather than fury) over fostering - the constantly having to hand children back, to the happiness and optimism surrounding the baby girl they may very likely get to adopt. the colours rather than the prints are the things conveying messages for Karen in this episode. they also contrast her very well with Hen in her black and white and then orange.

Hen

It’s really interesting that we have hen in this black-and-white check cardigan which is a parallel to the one she wore in 6×10 that one was red with larger neutral face emoji is and foreshadowed her anger over Denny contacting his biological father. This new one is more confused and the smaller design with the variety of boxes lines and neutral face emoji is creates a sense of confusion and also feels like it is chaotic in an organised manner it plays into both check theory and striped theory to a certain extent/theory foreshadowing the news of the baby they may potentially get to adopt and the cheque foreshadowing the upcoming disaster we see in the episode. the black and white also plays into the idea of Hen being settled into the black and white nature of fostering children - accepting the reality and highlighting the difference between now and when they had Nia - this is deliberate as it shows emotional progress, but it is also about emphasising the joy they experience later in the episode when told they will be getting a baby girl - its more impactful because we’ve seen Hens acceptance of their situation.

Hen’s other costume for the episode is this orangey red shirt which both contrasts and matches Karen’s yellow floral print shirt it also fits nicely with the oranges and lemons we see on the kitchen countertop next to her. Orange is an optimistic and energetic colour, it provides emotional strength and joy in its positive outlooks however is -ones are connected with superficiality in patients and domination. I think in this scene we can take the positive traits of the colour as opposed to the negative as we get to see Hen and Karen achieve something they’d given up on – the possible permanent expansion of their family – and brings them both full-circle after their disappointment surrounding Nia.

Chimney

Chimney is wearing a brown shirt with a black check pattern, brown is a colour of stability and reliability, it’s a grounding colour and chimney wearing it here indicates that where he is in his life is grounded in stable, his relationship and impending nuptials with Maddie are built on solid ground and overall this colour bodes well for their marriage. We do need to consider the cheque pattern as being foreshadowing for the potential exploration of Chimney storyline next season, whether that involves Madney actually making it down the aisle without problems arising, or if the show will explore some of chimney’s trauma in more detail remains to be seen however it does appear season 7 May begin a little bumpy for Chimney.

Kameron

Kameron wearing both the light and Navy blues that we’ve seen Buck wearing throughout this season whilst struggling to open a jar of pickles was a direct reference to Bucks struggles with who he is and who he wants to be. The props and costume work together to hint at Buck getting himself in a pickle and struggling to successfully deal with his issues, the fact that Kameron needed someone else to open the jar is a reference to Buck needing somebody else to help him with his struggles whilst the pickles in both this episode and the previous episode are a reference to Buck dealing with one issue but not his others. The use of blue costume in this scenario tells us the viewer should associate that struggle with buck specifically as the show has taken great pains to show us buck in a huge amount of blue costuming this season. The blue costuming also refers to water and water finding its level this has dual meaning in that it is foreshadowing Kameron’s water breaking later in the episode as well as continuing water theme surrounding buck story arc. The costume (and props) parallel Kameron and Buck and tell us to relate their stories to one another - Kameron being in a pickle with her life - her relationship with Connor - paralleled with Bucks own romantic storyline - both of them looking for support in the wrong place - from the wrong person, instead of with their respective partners - Kameron seeking help from Buck instead of Connor and and Buck seeking answers to being seen from Natalia instead of Eddie.

Cameron second costume one she’s wearing when she goes into labour continues the blue theme but also plays into the grey black-and-white theme increase seen in the scenes that appear to be re-shoots. The choice of daisies as appropriate for this dress as they symbolise innocence new beginnings and purity, they are also the symbol of fertility and childbirth.

Maddie

Ok so unusually I am going to talk about Maddie in connection with both Marisol and Natalia because their costumes are all connected by stars!

Maddie is wearing black with a lot of stars in white, while Marisol and Natalia have sparkly stars in fewer numbers on their costumes. the difference is the sparkly nature of said stars whilst the stars make perfect sense on all three of them for their respective scenes, they have different meanings attached to them - both Marisol and Natalia’s stars are a play on the concept of fantasy and dreaming and reaching for the unattainable, there are fewer stars and the glitteriness is a play on the idea of all that glitters is not gold - that the seemingly attractive external appearance is not a reliable indication of its true nature - that it is superficial. That meaning does not work for Maddie, her stars are not glittery or sparkly, they are matt and there are lots of them - there is more substance to her and Chimneys relationship and it is a direct and deliberate contradiction to the relationships of Eddie and Marisol and Buck and Natalia - we are meant to see the contrast - the building of something which has had to be fought for versus the untested and insubstantial nature of both of the other relationships - it all comes back to what bobby told Eddie - Maddie and Chim have sat with each other, taken a moment and stepped into the mess - they are fully aware of the reality where as Marisol and Natalia are both untested and fit much more into the fantasy concept the show has explored this season and the fantasy rarely holds up when exposed to reality.  

Natalia

Aside from the stars that I’ve spoken about above, it was an interesting choice to remove nearly all colour from Natalia’s costume for scenes where she is present when life is brought into the world. When not in her ‘work’ role, we’ve seen her wearing a fair amount of colour, even if black is nearly always present - lots or red and oranges and whites and greens, however she was all in black for the living funeral and here again we have her in predominately black, with a little bit of navy thrown into the mix the choice to use very dark colours is intentional and these dark colours play into her role as harbinger of death - she is representing death as life is brought into the world. I wrote a post about that scene and her presence in it and how it plays into the fact that death has haunted Buck since he was brought into the world. Natalia’s presence was necessary precisely because of what she represents and because death is still hovering in Bucks life - the fact that Natalia and Buck get together while she is still dressed in this way is very telling about her position in Bucks world - he is still focused on death and its being a part of who he is rather than seeing/ focusing on other things. It all plays back into the ‘she really sees me’ of it all - Buck wants to be seen beyond his death/ beyond the death that has shadowed his life, but he is still falling back into the safety of being seen for death rather than the life he is living. Natalia is a representation of Buck falling back on these safe behaviours and thoughts because he is fundamentally scared of being seen for who he really is and Natalia’s transition from the orange of their ‘first’ date to increasing levels of black in her subsequent outfits shows that representation in Bucks life perfectly.

Interestingly though we get a direct contrast to all that black in the ‘morning after’ scene with Natalia in white shirt which is meant to be one of Bucks. Honestly - fascinated by this choice! Putting her in a shirt that is meant to be one of Bucks makes total sense, but they could’ve chosen any colour they wanted - Buck wears a lot of colour, but they chose a white shirt. A. White. Shirt. a white shirt that is supposed to be one of Bucks. We all know how things go for Buck when it comes to white shirts - it doesn’t end well - it leads to bad things! Natalia isn’t going to end well for Buck - the white shirt has spoken!. 

The other thing with the white shirt is its contrast to Buck being in blue/grey because it puts her in opposition to Eddie who wore black when on the balcony. The balcony is a place that puts her on the outside of things, she isn’t inside with the mess (the couch) and the colour white is considered both a colour of innocence and purity, whilst at the same tie being seen as cold, uncaring and bland. When placed in contrast to Eddies black- a colour of power, strength security and protection, things don’t look great for Natalia’s future, or her ability to understand and support Buck.

We have to have a quick talk about Jo and Mallory for the simple reason that they are dressed in Buck and Eddies colours, despite essentially being representations of Christopher and Buck, the implication being that Christopher would retain a lot of the traits etc he has gained from Eddie, even if Eddie were no longer a physical presence in his life, and that Buck would’ve nurtured those aspects of who he is.

Chris

Christopher in grey as a neutral tone is an interesting choice. The green, specifically khaki green hidden underneath is a nod towards Eddie and, the fact it’s hidden under the grey to me is a reference to Christopher accepting things because he thinks they’re what his father does. But also towards Eddie once again, doing things that he thinks is right for Christopher.

Eddie

We can’t not talk about the St. Christopher being brought out at this moment! We haven’t seen this necklace since 4x14 when Eddie got home and its use here is so very intentional in a camper van that is essentially a microcosm of the will arc - all of the elements of Buck, Eddie and Christopher’s relationship is shown here in the camper - the will, the fridge, the couch, the coffee , the risk of explosion, and the earth mover van crashing into it, we even get similar camera angles and injuries. the entire thing is supposed to direct us to what that St. Christopher means, what it already represents and it is setting up next season - there is no other reason to include it otherwise.

Eddie in blue and in check – blue being connected to Eddie and his family suggests that the check is foreshadowing rocky times for that family dynamic and hints that this new relationship will end poorly whether that’s by fizzling out or in some other way remains to be seen. The other thing about this blue plaid check shirt is that it also ties in with a couple of other things - Eddie rarely wears plaid check - only 4 times before now and generally these are tied with when he’s been having family issues - we see it in the flashback scene in Eddie begins that show family conflict, conversely he doesn’t wear check in flashback scenes where is mind and intention is clear (such as when he argues with his parents and stands up for himself before going outside and asking Chris if he wants to move to LA.) The only other times we see him wearing check and not in a flashback is very much connected with his struggles with Christopher - and being able to support him - feeling like a failure as a father (which he isn’t) such as when he is at Bucks taking about Christopher’s skateboard accident and wanting his kid to feel normal. The only other time we see him in plaid is when he helps Buck move Maddie’s sofa into her new apartment - this is the only scene we have Eddie in non uniform before he goes to visit Durrand and is told he’ll need to get back in touch with Shannon - its kind of foreshadowing the conflict of the school visit when they couldn’t very easily put him in plaid.

I therefore really intrigued by this choice to have him in plaid for this scene when we don’t see any family conflict - so its either foreshadowing upcoming family conflict, or its playing on the idea that he’s internally conflicted - doing what his family wants (dating a woman) rathe than what he actually wants, or if the conflict is going to arise from him including Chris in this new venture into dating (we all saw how well that went last time!)

The other thing this plaid shirt is comparable with is Eddies Poker suit. Which has me all kinds of intrigued because it really does actually imply that the poker game was in fact going to be played as a ‘date’ (which would’ve likely played into the family conflict theme and thus been in keeping with all the other times Eddie has worn plaid) before they changed tack due to getting renewal and therefore didn’t follow through on whatever direction they had intended to take the Buck and Eddie storyline they had planned when they thought this might be the final season of the show. 

Buck

Buck in brown with a vertical stripe, the brown suggests solid ground or in a stable place - so Buck is being presented as having made peace with the sperm donation, as well as being a stable place from which to try and help Connor and Kameron sort out their problems. The vertical stripes also play into the theme of vertical stripes we’ve see non him this season. Interestingly, we haven’t seen Buck wearing these vertical stripes around Natalia, which I would expect to see if their relationship was meant to last as the vertical stripes are very much connected with Bucks search for himself, in particular, connected to couch theory (this is the second time we’ve seen vertical stripes in connection with couches/ armchairs) - Bucks version of couch theory, not the second couch theory that he as a character isn’t aware of.

We have this grey marl tee, which is green tinted - perfect choice for Buck delivering the baby he helped create in a scene that heavily played into Bucks own birth. The grey and green tones have been associated with Bucks arcs this season - either in relation to the sperm donation (the green tones) or the family he has been searching for and is on his way to finding/ fully comprehending (why he wears grey around Bobby and Christopher in their one on one scenes - its the father son relationships being more deeply established). so for him to have both on when he gets to be the one who delivers the child he helped to create is a great choice and plays into both themes - especially when he tells Connor to love that child at the hospital.

The addition of the check shirt is solely about Buck starting a relationship with Natalia, and them getting together in a moment not that dissimilar to how Buck and Taylor got together - at a moment of Buck reckoning with something important - the trauma of nearly loosing Eddie with Taylor and now with Natalia his reckoning with the sperm donation and having delivered the baby he helped to create. This is a deliberate choice by the show to parallel the two moments, but the use of check is highlighting it further and telling me that this relationship with Natalia isn’t going to be as ling and drawn out as his relationship with Taylor was. Buck doesn’t actually wear check patterns all that often considering the amount of danger and trouble he gets himself into and we’ve seen him wear it in most cases in relation to mental health struggles (the Equestrian centre is a prime example - Buck trying to raise the shooting with Eddie and being unsuccessful because Eddie wasn’t ready - and its parrallel with the grave scene from this season when Buck isn’t ready in return) so for him to be wearing it a second time is short succession and both connected with Natalia (and thinking he’s finally being seen) doesn’t bode well for anything related to their new relationship.

Buck wearing his watch for the balcony scene is very telling because the scene is meant to imply buck and Natalia spent the night together and this is the following morning when they address down and comfortable and she is wearing one of his shirts, however him wearing his watch suggests that there is already a countdown/ that there is a time limit on their relationship. 

Buck grey blue tee parallel with hoodie from the Eddie balcony scene - buck not understanding or seeing things clearly. The new one is darker and less blue, which not only plays into the previously stated concept of not understanding, but also suggests that Buck is currently in a less receptive state than during his previous times wearing the blue/grey colourway. The other thing to bear in mind is that Buck wearing a dark grey plays back into his costuming around Taylor in last season - he wore a lot of grey, but there was a distinct difference between the lighter shades we saw him wearing around Eddie and Christopher (which was the building blocks his grey wearing this season was built off of) and the darker greys we saw him wear around Taylor.

And there we have it - one very late but finished costume meta! I’m off to pray to the internet gods that my home internet will be fixed very soon (current date I’m being given is the 5 June) as I can’t survive much longer without being able to do the things I need and want to! if you want to send up a prayer for me then please feel free to help a girl out 😁

Thank you to all of you that have read one, several or all of my metas for this season. I hope this one was worth the read and I look forward to getting to write metas for whatever they throw at us in seasonn 7!!

As always and for the final time this season, tag list below! 💜💜💜

@mistmarauder @theladyyavilee @leothil @girldadbuddie @kitkatpancakestack  @buckscurls @lemotmo @trashendence @elishareads  @clipboardsandstethoscopes @comfortbuddie @fiona-fififi   @callanee @calyssmarviss @pbandjeremiah @batgrldes @spotsandsocks  @livingwherethesidewalkends  @idontshitpostbuttheolympicpark @diazboysbuckley @sweettsubaki @shortsighted-owl @sherlocking-out-loud @wh0rebehavi0r @favouritealias @hearteyesdiaz  @ktinastrikesback  @princesschez75 @bucksbuddie @oneawkwardcookie  @leatherati @moniquekatie @wanderingwomanwondering   @asharadaine @ajunerose  @talespinner230 @pop-kam @swiftiebuckleys @xxfiction-is-my-realityxx​ @butchjerry @mandzuking17 @yelenasbuddie @copyninjabuckley @name-code-black-widow @rogerzsteven @bi-moonlight @usercowboy​ @inthecarwithaboy @inandoutoffocus-blog​ @toboldlynerd​ @shammers86

[madwheelerz]

Manifestation Theory

Overview

So, essentially, I think a lot of the events in Stranger Things are DnD manifestations, specifically Mike’s manifestations. There are a lot of small things throughout the series that indicate Mike is in some way connected to the upside-down and my conclusion is that Mike is basically creating a story. I think we’re essentially watching Mike’s campaign come to life with the main characters being Will and the party.

Why Mike?

Why Mike? Throughout the series a lot of the supernatural elements tent to steer clear of Mike. If Will and El are the main targets, then why leave Mike behind? Mike is constantly figuring out what the upside-down plans thus showing a firm understanding of the way that the upside-down works. How does he understand the upside-down so well? He’s almost always reaching the right conclusions both about the upside-down and El’s powers.

Mike is also the Dungeon Master, and his basement is where a lot of foreshadowing happens. Throughout Stranger Things the roles that the characters have in DnD carry a lot of importance throughout the show. Lucas is a ranger and as such we see him using long range weapons a lot. Dustin is a barb and saves everyone with a song in season three. Even El and Max who don’t technically have roles fit into what they are assigned.

Max deems herself a zoomer and then proceeds to hijack a car to get herself and the party where they need to go. El is deemed a mage because of her telepathic abilities, but it also serves as a nice hint towards El’s struggle with being defined as a monster. From what I know a mage is a npc character, however, which also interesting.

Mike and Will are tricky. Will is either a cleric or wizard and it seems like he might fill both roles in the show considering that he is heavily implied to have powers and as of season four we do see him offering a lot of emotional support to Mike. Mike, on the other hand, has been described as both a paladin and the DM, but has also been stated to be a cleric in outside source materials. This indicates that Mike has three roles in the show.

Currently we’ve only really seen Mike offering support to El and Will throughout the show and thus fulfilling the role of the cleric. There do seem to be hints that we will see Mike being a paladin in season five. Mike’s role of DM is a constant in the show. Mike is the leader and he’s the one that normally makes campaigns. Mike is apart of every DnD game and there are only four in the show. Mike has been the DM for two of those four campaigns and three of the campaigns took place in his basement.

Will is the only one who doesn’t take on the persona of the villain while doing his campaign, but instead just acts as a narrator. I do also want to point out that both Mike and Eddie do attempt to embody the persona of the villains in their campaigns. This might be one huge ‘sadistic’ campaign that Mike is running without realizing it. Mike has also been contacted to frogs via insults and Dustin mistaking Dart for a Pollywog is important enough to be the episode title.

There is also this interesting parallel.

Joyce is told multiple times that it could all be in her head.

El

El in this scenario is a character within the game. She isn’t real. There are a few suspicious lines throughout the series that allude to people potentially not being real. El is associated with Mike’s toys despite her lack of interest in them and it’s interesting because it’s not like Mike isn’t aware of El’s disinterest, but it does recontextualize Max saying that Mike didn’t “own” El. It does also beg the question of Mike being the one to refer to El as “Eleven” the most often and others only doing so in his presence. When El appears it’s also with the exact powers needed to accomplish Mike’s goal of ‘finding Will’. She’s able to locate people and open gates.

Eleven is treated almost as El’s full name, but very rarely do people call her by her number. Mike is the one who does so the most. Mike also gives El his watch in episode three and she doesn’t return it until episode seven. If the watches are representing time, then Mike essentially gave El ‘time’.  During the argument where Max says that Mike doesn’t own El there is an emphasis placed on El being her own person and capable of making her own decisions.

This also brings into question the whole “she was born special and maybe I was the first to realize” thing because this statement doesn’t make sense unless something else is going on there. There is also El’s independence bringing her farther away from Mike as she tries to settle into having a real family of her own. Mike leads the boys to look for Will, but instead they find El. El begins to substitute in Will’s role until Will is recovered. This is why she disappears.

El completes her duty, she defeats the Demogorgon and has successfully helped the boys find Will. Will is in good hands and alive so El disappears, but Mike is still clinging to the idea of her because El is now one of the most important people to him. We also have Mike fully believing that the El he sees in s2 up until Punk! El era is all in his head, but what if she was. What if Mike was so sure that El wasn’t there because she is a product of his mind.

Max’s claim that Mike doesn’t own El. Dustin looks at Mike and El while saying Mental. Lucas implies that El escaped from pennhurst.

Also, while the image is here, I will point out that big black shape in the background that looks like a bunch of tentacles wrapped together. I’ve seen it behind Mike’s head a few times so do with that what you will.

Holly’s Role

So, what role does Holly play in this? Holly from what I gathered is her family’s observer. She watches as her family interacts and takes note of any tension that happens. If Mike is doing this even subconsciously it’s possible that Holly will be one of the first people to notice. Holly is also going to be old enough to be able to participate in the plot next season so she’ll be in a position to create that link between what is happening and what it might mean for her family.

Karen

What could Karen have to do with this? Well, if Mike is capable of creating monsters, creatures, and potentially people Karen most likely knows unless it’s an entirely new ordeal. Imagine if sending El to see his mom would’ve solved everything way back then. In the same season that Karen is trying to get closer to Mike she is finally taking notice of the things happening due to the upside-down.

Another thing is the more prominent the supernatural elements become the less we are allowed to access what Mike is really thinking and how he feels. Obviously, every season the threat is becoming more dangerous, but we are also watching Mike become more closed off every season.

Mike & Chrissy

Mike and Chrissy share a lot of parallels, but what I wanted to talk about is Chrissy’s death and how it’s tied to Mike. Before episode one of season 4 really kicks off Mike is giving a curfew of nine. When Chrissy dies, she is with Eddie and its night implying that the Hellfire campaign had already ended. What does Mike going home mean? It means California.

When Mike gets off the plane to go in Lenora we know that he is acting weird. He’s acting this way because he’s conforming. In the video store when the news anchor announces Chrissy’s death there is a sign next the TV that says, ‘due date’ and ‘9pm’. The news channel is also channel 9.

So, what does all this mean? Forced conformity is killing the kids, but specifically Mike’s forced conformity. The episode two summary of season four also links these events. “A plane brings Mike to California – and a dead body brings Hawkins to a halt.”

Focus Shifting

Every season, except for season four, Mike is always focused on the main victim. In seasons one and two Will is the main victim and for the most part who Mike is focused on. In season three he is focused on El and pushing Will to the background. El becomes the main target whereas the supernatural elements seem to almost skate by Will, or maybe there are some moments here and there, but nothing prominent.

In season four everything is a lot more condensed. Mike conforms = someone dies. His monologue is linked to Max’s death. His trip to California is linked to Chrissy’s death. His fight with the wonder twins happens in the same episode as Fred’s death. Him making up with Will happens in the same episode that Max escapes Vecna. Then we have Patrick. Who is targeted suddenly and seemingly at random. About as sudden as a random, but necessary trip to some Mormons?

Mike & Max s2x09 vs s4x04

Now for more regarding Max’s escape in “Dear Billy” and Mike in “The Gate”. We all know this

infamous parallel. Something to consider here is that Mike and Max were grouped with the same people, Dustin, Lucas, and Steve except in the case of “Dear Billy” Mike is in California and as such not there, unless of course he is in a sense either by having manifested Vecna or through the angelic imagery. Here are some things from Mike that might be suspicious. There’s also a better look at the spiral that I was talking about earlier. 

Vale of Shadows

Then we have the vale of shadows which is the original name for the upside-down.

As Dustin continues to describe the place it slowly pans away from Lucas in the shot leaving Dustin, who is narrating, and Mike. Mike also has a song called “The Vale of Shadows” in his playlist which is interesting considering as far as we know he’s never been to the upside-down or to the vale of shadows.

Conclusion

So, what exactly do I think is happening? I thinking we’re watching Mike essentially have emotional breakdowns via supernatural forces. His fears are being reflected back via monsters. This might be why Mike’s POV is so hidden from the viewer because the supernatural forces are now acting as that perspective. As I’ve mentioned before as these forces become stronger Mike’s perspective becomes more hidden.

This also leans into the lack of Mike being targeted and interacting with the upside-down creatures until the final season because unless there was some sort of tie there it’s weird. This also does beg the question of the Demogorgon lifecycle sheet, if true, though because it would imply that every Demogorgon originated from Mike in a sense. This would also explain Mike being so heavily associated with blue despite that being a bad color.

tagging: @booksandpaperss, @boysdontcryboycry, @heroesbyler​, @brionysea​

[raayllum]

So for some reason this ask isn’t showing up in my tumblr inbox but I was luckily alerted to it through my email soo

@nothingmorethanageminiboar 

Behold, you have stumbled upon what is probably my favourite Rayllum dynamic pattern and definitely one of my favourite parallels / arcs in the series. Which is to say: Callum and Rayla are defined by the choice to leave or stay, specifically in their relationship with each other, more than arguably any other characters in the series. While Ezran’s choice to leave and go home to be king is noble, and Claudia’s choice to stay is tragic, for most of the characters (with the exception of Soren and Claudia’s splintering) their choice to either physically stay or go doesn’t affect their relationships, and doesn’t continually affect them. Soren chose to leave once in 3x07, thus being one big ‘leaving’. When Claudia and Soren go their separate ways again in S4 after a brief reunion (although him chasing her down definitely does factor in) there’s not a lot of focus. 

Rayllum gets this focus constantly.

From their first episode

to their last

In fact, one of the first Rayllum metas I ever wrote was about the trend of Callum running after Rayla throughout season one, and how each scene reveals a new facet of their dynamic, as well as progresses their bond. 

Which, their pattern of chasing, leaving, or staying typically goes like this. Rayla, for various reasons, leaves first. Callum either watches her go, chases after her, or both. Rarely, if Rayla leaves, does she approach him after the fact; normally it’s a full on ‘pursuit’ if you will. (Which makes sense, as Rayla usually leaves out of nobility or shame or both, and Callum usually leaves out of anger. This is why her coming back at all of her own fruition, although we don’t know why, is a massive step forward.)

Or, if Callum is leaving first, Rayla chases then watches him go, and then typically waits for him to come back to her. 

This also tends to very much entangled with their reaching motif, as well. It’s present in their dialogue too, with lines such as “It’s okay, Callum, I’m not asking you to come with me” and “But I’m not going with you” (3x08) and “Callum, please, come back! You’ve got to stay with me, I can’t lose you like this!” Rayla is more verbally connected to the theme, while Callum tends to be more action oriented (hence him regularly chasing after her, perhaps), flipping how they usually express love (but not need, which one of my favourite meta followups here). The Book 2 novelization has also commented on this, with a quote from when Callum watches Rayla leave for patrol in early 2x01 (something the show didn’t give the same weight to, I suppose) with: “Callum stared after her. He wished she didn’t have to keep risking her life for them like this” even perhaps paralleling Rayla’s own sentiment in Dear Callum: “I wish I could stay and eat fake cake and sing songs with you. I wish I could show you the Moonshadow Birthday Dance, and kiss you one more time.” 

Season four, as with many things, takes this facet of their dynamic from the first three arcs (mostly Callum running after her / choosing to stay, but plenty of Rayla seeking him out as well) and giving it even more overt dialogue, bringing it to the forefront, albeit in accordingly modified ways. For Rayla, once again, it’s more verbal. 

Soren: You can’t just go off alone. Rayla: Alright, fine. Callum and I can go look for the entrance. Callum: No, I’ll stay with Ezran. Soren, you go with Rayla. 

Dear Callum: But I can’t let you stop me, Callum. No matter how much I want to.I have to be strong. No matter what. And if you said even one word to me, I wouldn’t be—couldn’t be. If I stay even until your eyes open and you yawn your silly morning yawn, I’ll break. I’ll still be here when the sun rises today, and the next day, and the next…I should go. I have to go.

Dear Callum: Oh, Callum… I have to go. I have to. I want to give you one last kiss, but I can’t risk your waking up. I have to go.

But let’s back track and break this down a bit.

Rayla returns in 4x03 (”She was still gone, and Callum didn’t know if she’d ever come back” —Inheritance). Callum, almost immediately, tries to leave. Rayla chases and asks him not to. Callum cannot bring himself to leave the way she did; he stays, even if he’s angry, unable to bring himself to disappoint her or to bring himself to go. When he shuts her out again, Rayla asks if she can stay. (Callum, at this point, has never asked to stay, only if he can come with.) Callum agrees. She leaves silently the next morning and is unsure about sticking around to go with them to Xadia precisely because of Callum, but luckily Ezran insists.

Then in the Uncharted Forest, Rayla tries to go off on her own (again) and tries to bring Callum along with her. He refuses and she leaves, and for the first time, Callum does not (or cannot / will not) watch her leave. 

We get a smaller inversion of this in 4x07 when he at least partially watches her go back into the air sphere and when he runs to her in 4x08 

but we get a proper fulfilment in 4x09, at least in terms of watching her leave and letting her leave, but also in running after her. (If you want the “looking away” motif version of this pattern across the series, and particularly in S4, check out this post here.) Specifically, in the way that Callum is the first to say/identify that they need to leave Umber Tor, but he’s actually the last to leave, staying behind to watch Rayla go until a boulder nearly crushes him, and then running after her (once again) to pull her from the rubble and to embrace her afterwards, walking up to her sword beforehand, etc.

“And it was the night I met—” It was impossible to say her name out loud. Rayla. It still hurt. She was still gone, and Callum had no idea if she’d ever come back.

Each time Runaan leaves, it is with the weight of knowing he may not come back. That to fulfil his duty, he may have to sacrifice everything. Himself, and all that we have here. 

Remember how I said that usually when Rayla leaves, she doesn’t come back on her own? S4 gives as a repeated turning point, in that Rayla is starting to make choices (although we don’t entirely know why) to prioritize coming back rather than finishing things to the brutal end. We don’t know why she came back in 4x03 (but given that Callum asks three times and the show doesn’t let it go into detail on purpose, I’m sure we will) and in 4x09, we can possibly read it as her deciding to get out with the coins > following Viren further over prioritizing her family (over a notion of prioritizing herself) but we shall have to wait and see.

So they have their cycle. So what? Well...

Breaking The Cycle

For example, Dear Callum and then S4 in show is the first time that Rayla expresses that she wishes she could stay. That she wants to stay, deep down. Compare and contrast to Ezran in 2x09 (“I wish I could go with you, but I can’t”), Rayla has stayed far more silent on the matter: “But I’m not going with you [...] You and Ezran should take Zym, but I can’t leave. I have to stay and defend the dragon queen” (3x08) in which Callum rightly points out that this is mostly out of guilt and not a mistake that she should have to pay the price for. 

And we also know that learning to take things together is where both of them are headed. Not only because it’s crucial for a relationship to operate as a team, and that Callum needs to learn how to express himself again and that Rayla needs to learn she deserves help, but also because we see this be evident with both sets of parents she’s emulating. Lain and Tiadrin both left to fulfil their duty together, and Runaan and Ethari know that they work as a team, fundamentally, too: “Ethari-” “I’m coming with you.” “As I assumed you would.” 

So we’re making progress, but Rayla is still prone to go off on her own (and Callum currently hasn’t given her an incentive to change, given that he listened to her and therefore kept himself safe, and can now accept this is a part of her that hasn’t changed, even if it hurts and breaks his heart). Thus, I expect S5 to give them enjoying the fact that they’re sharing space again, but fracturing due to these unresolved issues. He still missed and mourned her for two years, and she’s still completely liable to put him through that again, even if she really doesn’t want to. 

This is where more plot stuff comes in. I think Rayla guiding Callum out of the possession from Aaravos, if/when it happens again, and asking him to stay with her (call backs to 2x09) and promising to stay with him and not leave would do the trick in terms of reaffirming a lot of what they need. But as noted above, Rayla has asked Callum to stay before. 

He’s never asked her. I’ve written a larger meta about this (which you can read here) but Callum tends to express his devotion through verbal admiration and deep seated “I’m here for you what do you need” in action and in emotional support. “We’re in this together” / “I don’t care if you’re crying, I’m here with you” / “You know I’m always here for you, right?” Running after her, checking up on her, trying to get her to open up, accepting whatever she says whenever she does, etc. He’s just as devoted, but he expresses it differently in speech, and mostly through action. 

But think of how Rayla’s big speeches and statements almost always revolve around wanting to keep him safe/with her:

You’ve got to stay with me. Callum, please come back. I can’t lose you like this, you mean too much to me. 

He’s smart and kind and brave and he’s… My friend. My best friend. So please, allow him to pass into Xadia and help me take the Dragon Prince home. Because I don’t think I can do it without him.

But I became so obsessed with revenge, that I risked losing the best thing I ever had: you.

Callum. I’m glad we can be here together, looking at the stars. 

Beyond his heartbreaking “I couldn’t lose you” and “I let you go into the Nexus alone and I knew right away I made the biggest mistake of my life - I could have lost you” Callum doesn’t express in the same way, and not so consistently. He’s only ever asked to come with her, not for her to stay with him. We come close, very close, in S4 when he says that he needs her (to kill him) and Rayla is very surprised at first. 

[Rayla jerks back a bit, surprised]

But I am leaning more and more towards one of their turning points being Callum making it clear just how much he needs her, just how much he wants her to stay, just how much she’s important to him, and this actually getting through to her in her thick skull for once, being a significant jump forward in terms of her “I sacrifice and protect for you, but I can’t let you do the same for me” hurdle. 

Which is also why they have a pattern of Rayla putting herself on the line first (with the smoke wolves, saving Bait, the dragon, Sol Regem, saving Zym) and Callum putting himself on the line to save her in turn. She saves everyone - she saves him - and he saves her, and that’s the way it is. Callum giving her unconditional love and acceptance with this pattern is important, especially since Rayla has faced a lot more conditional feeling love in her life, and it allows her to grow and change not based on a relationship ultimatum, but because she wants to, for herself. However, her realizing that she really is just as important - and just as worthy of love and protection and being saved - to her friends as they are to her is also something that Callum can absolutely help with and affect. 

So yeah I’m fully banking on a “I lost her once, I can’t lose her again” from Callum in S5 and even more sentiments of staying and leaving and chasing in S5, possibly even to fruition. After all going into the Moon Nexus is the watershed that split them apart, so going back down into the water would be very full circle. 

[paleio]

okay you've tagged bpd!percy and Puerto Rican/Filipino!percy on my different posts now and they have made my day twice so I have to ask you to elaborate on one or both pls and thx po naman 🤲🤲

(-helyeahmangocheese)

okay honestly i suck SOOO bad at headcanons because the characters i tend to develop them for are also the characters that are so deeply attached to my own brain that we end up kinda bleeding into each other. there are two different percy jacksons to me—the one i play with in his natural environment and view as a really compelling and interesting individual, and the one that has been inside my head so long he's molded into the shape of my skull. sometimes the line is blurry which is why a lot of my headcanons aren't actually backed up by anything in the canon. i do really like PR/Filipino!percy as is, but bpd!percy doesn't actually make sense (in my opinion) for the way he narrates in the first series. you could argue for it in heroes of olympus but i honestly like your bipolar!percy better and think it makes way more sense.

THAT BEING SAID. i refuse to believe that annabeth chase doesn't have bpd. the attachment issues, the constant fear of abandonment, the sudden mood shifts. it makes her bitterness toward rachel make more sense—percy is clearly her fp (favorite person) so of course she's scared of being ignored or replaced. she was probably panicking constantly throughout the last two books, thinking percy would completely cut contact with her if he got with rachel. it would also better explain her struggles with luke, and with morality as a whole. she seems to have trouble seeing situations and people as anything other as completely evil or completely good (in the first few books at least, she does get to work through this to some extent). her mother? perfect, a genius, always right about everything. her father? horrible, irredeemable, worst parent in the world. of course, this is a struggle for a lot of kids and teens (morality is hard and complicated!), but combined with everything else—and from personal experience—i think bpd works extremely well for annabeth.

as for PR/Filipino!percy, i just think it's neat :3 it could be either or both, but the idea of sally jackson being an immigrant or a child of immigrants makes for some really interesting ideas and goes well with the themes already present in the books. her being a first gen college student would be so cool and so sally, and her financial/familial success would feel even more vindicating. plus it's so tough for neurodivergent kids who are also poc. it would add another layer of bitterness to percy, and possibly another parallel to luke. i personally don't think the luke/percy dynamic is as good or interesting if luke is white and percy is poc, especially because to an extent, luke is RIGHT, and it's kind of uncomfortable to have the only white guy be the most revolutionary character (even if he goes about that revolution in the worst way possible). i was really excited when pjotv cast charlie bushnell as luke and i desperately hope they actually acknowledge that he isn't white (i'm not super optimistic but there's still plenty of time). because that's fucking important. he grew up in a place where he already felt unloved and betrayed by his father and ashamed of his mother, but it would make such a huge impact on his psyche and perspective if his community also alienated him. for context, the town luke canonically grew up in is like 97% white in real life. luke probably felt like he had to be better than everyone around him just to get the same amount of understanding and recognition and love as them. imagine how much harder his anger at the gods—at the world!—would hit. and then imagine if he had that in common with percy. imagine if they bonded over that anger when percy first got to camp (TLT musical, anyone?). and imagine, after luke has gone to kronos's side, percy looking at him and seeing the exhaustion and fear and resentment in his eyes and recognizing it. because that's what percy sees when he looks in the mirror.

AUGHHH. anyway.

those are some of the feelings i have about these headcanons. not sure if any of it makes sense but i'm not going to edit this massive block of text because just looking at it makes my head hurt 👍

also i love your blog. you are so right about everything all the time

[ankh-morporkianpostalworker]

Harry Dresden - The Urban Fantasy Spider-Man

"With great power comes great responsibility" is one of the most famous phrases in the English language, and the philosophy by which Spider-Man lives and dies.

They're also the words by which Harry Dresden, the eponymous hero of Jim Butcher's fantastic Dresden Files lives. Indeed, there are a lot of parallels between the original web-head and the wizard who was pitched to publishers as "Dirty Harry Potter".

Because I'm probably gonna tag this as Spider-Man, some explanation is in order. Harry Dresden is a powerful wizard who lives in Chicago, Illinois, and makes his living as a private investigator. He's constantly broke and constantly fighting for his life. An orphan who lost his parents under mysterious circumstances, he eventually found a parental figure in a character who's kind of like an uncle to him (after some horrific trauma). He goes through several love interests throughout the series, some of whom die horribly and cause him severe emotional crises. He's got a group of allies he can call on when the going gets tough, and he loves to quip.

But the similarities are more than that - at their core, they're driven by the same philosophy, the one I used to open this essay-thing. The fifth book is the first time it's hinted at - Harry is asked, point-blank, why he does what he does, and the answer he gives is that if he doesn't do it, no one will, and that he owes it to the world to use his power to help others. In the same book, he sarcastically remarks that he's a disciple of the Tao of Peter Parker. In book eight, in a conversation with a priest who serves as a supporting character, Harry remarks that "with great power comes great responsibility". In book 15, he paraphrases Luke 12:48 as the reason he holds himself to the standard he does, which is essentially the same thing.

Both characters also struggle with temptation by hostile, parasitic powers that increase their strength - Spider-Man with the Symbiote and Harry with... well, that's a spoiler, but you'll know it when you see it. While yes, Harry seeks out that power, he doesn't mean to keep it and he actively resists the urges it instills in him, ones of violence. Book 14 has him wear a t-shirt with the Symbiote logo on it to lampshade this (and given who bought him the shirt, it's kinda fucked-up).

If you're looking for a new take on Peter Parker (and can look past the male gaze/misogyny stuff in the early books which I swear goes away after he gets his ass kicked by a few women), steeped in mythologies from around the world and with plenty of pop-culture references to look out for (though not obnoxious amounts), I'd recommend The Dresden Files wholeheartedly. Also, do it with the audiobooks - the guy who played Spike on Buffy the Vampire Slayer narrates them.

[deusvervewrites]

So, I've been thinking about Bakugou (again) and I realized that one thing that irritates me is how much it feels like Horikoshi is/was trying to have his Cake and eat it too with Bakugous arc.

He wants him to have a redemption arc, which is good, Bakugou is nowhere near the irredeemable villain zone, but he also wants him to be a Measuring Stick for Izuku and others, a goal for them to work towards and more of a Rival instead of a villain, and that BEFORE he's had his redemption arc. And as a result he REALLY doesn't want to put him through the wringer or have him fall in the way that the best redemption arcs need.

For example, Zukos redemption arc worked so well BECAUSE he didn't switch sides in Ba Sing Se in season 2, he had to get everything he wanted back at the cost of everything that actually mattered and then had to realize how empty he now felt and that the had made the wrong choice. That's why his redemption works so well. The same can be said for Catra from the 2018 version of She-Ra: She could have switched sides in season 3, but instead she doubled down and rose higher in power while falling even deeper as a character, only to end up all alone and powerless and lost. And that's why her redemption works.

But Bakugou... He isn't allowed to ever really fall, to fuck up one time too much and look back and see the trail of errors in his wake. We get close to that several times, but he is always pulled back up, because "he is just the rival and their classmate, he isn't really an antagonist, this would be bad, right?". Which not only sabotages his potential redemption, it also has the unfortunate side-effect that some of his worst behaviors are implicitly enabled and/or normalized.

The worst part?

There was a perfect opportunity in the Ground Beta fight after the Provisional Licensing Exams. Had Bakugou, after Kamino and failing the Exams and everything else that happened at UA, lost that fight against Izuku, it could have been the perfect catalyst for him to finally reexamine his biases and opinions.

But no. Bakugou magically has zero issues keeping up with 8% Full Cowl Shoot Style Izuku and actually wins that fight AND is then essentially encouraged in his opinions by the teachers.

God damn it.

I think Zuko and Catra are both interesting comparisons

Zuko doesn't realize that he's doing the wrong thing until late Season 2, and he still backslides when given the opportunity for his father's approval. It's not until he has it that he realizes that he doesn't actually like having it.

Catra starts the series well aware that she is the bad guy, and she doesn't care because all she cares about is Adora. She hits her rock bottom somewhere either during the finale of Season 3 or throughout Season 4 depending on your interpretation. Overly Sarcastic Productions has an entire 40 minute breakdown of her arc in Season 4 and how it parallels a protagonist, leaving them both at their lowest and trapped together for the start of Season 5.

(OSP has also discussed redemption arcs on multiple occasions, and specifically cite Zuko's arc by noting how we are constantly introduced to him in sympathetic circumstances, such as interacting with Zhao and humanized through Iroh.)

Both of them get what they think they want and come to realize that what it's not what they actually wanted at all. I've heard it said that Bakugou only wins when it's not important but that's really... not true. I've mentioned before in passing that the school format means that the student characters have limited agency in the narrative. Saying that the Battle Trials wasn't winning in a way that matters is not quite true because the school year will continue regardless of who wins or loses or how. The closest thing we ever really see to Bakugou deciding he doesn't like the way he's succeeding is his internship with Best Jeanist.

There is never really a moment where Bakugou gets what he wants and decides that he really doesn't want it. The only way he could have a moment like that is reaching the Number One Hero spot or something to that effect.

But that's not the only way to do an arc like this. I go on and on about it, but Infinity Train Season 3 really is that good about showing off Redemption Arcs.

Bakugou's whole thing is that he recognizes the flaws in his own behavior without outside input, which is interesting, especially in a shonen, which generally has the kid characters do all the work since that's the target age demographic. Yeah it makes UA come across as a worse institution but that's par for the course in Magical School Young Adult Fiction.

The real issue is that we don't get to see a lot of that reflection. He gives a speech about why he had to be the one to end All Might... while dragging Midoriya out past curfew to beat him up. His final Hero Name is worse and gaudier than the joke names he gave at the start. He nearly failed the Final Exam because he wanted to just attack All Might over and over, and he is currently getting field heart surgery because he... attacked Shigaraki. Over and over.

The closest we get to him showing indications of responsibility is when we get a fucking flashback in the War Arc* to him telling All Might that he used to bully Midoriya, and when he identifies that Midoriya will always put other people before himself without ever mentioning why exactly, the person who he personally called Useless for eleven years might not have great self-esteem, but also I can recognize that Horikoshi does not want to tell a story with themes of mental health, and to complain that the story lacks those elements is not a valid reading of the text.

I feel like Bakugou has a lot of narrative potential in a lot of different aspects of My Hero Academia, but he's not really being used as effectively as he could be. I maintain that him losing his Quirk during this arc but becoming a Hero anyway would be fucking rad

*The sins of the War Arc are incalculable, but the most prominent one is that they skipped over four fucking months to get there and then had to keep flashing back to all the important things that happened

[oldmanpazzi]

Okay I’m sorry I gotta talk about the parallels between these two…

And these two…

Plus…

There are so many visual and narrative parallels between Cosimo and Rinaldo, and Lorenzo and Francesco. They’re both two sides of the same coin.

But the fundamental difference in their relationship arcs is that where Rinaldo blames Cosimo for his past deeds, Francesco believes that all events were out of their control, that it is fundamentally impossible for any reconciliation to occur, that a friendship between them is impossible.

Albizzi's grudge is fair and one he holds onto despite Cosimo's attempts to apologise and regain his friendship. Their relationship is very much defined by agency and conscious choices that are made at various points in their lives which lead to things unfolding the way they do. It is Albizzi's belief that Cosimo chose to betray him all those years ago. He even says that Cosimo was the one to sacrifice their friendship and that is ultimately why they remain in opposition — it is Rinaldo's choice to hold onto that grudge.

Even Cosimo sees it that way as he talks about how he made his choice many years ago at various points in the series. He knows that by choosing to obey his father (regardless of whether he could have actually done otherwise — see Giovanni’s death threat on his wedding day) meant he could not live the life he wanted. Their fallout is a key moment in understanding their dynamic throughout the series.

Francesco, however, has been constantly told throughout his life that the Medici are the enemy. When he tries to see beyond that, he is swiftly snatched back into these ingrained views. For him, fate keeps him and Lorenzo apart. They can't be together because Medici and Pazzi don't mix. It's all beyond their control.

They have no agency.

Lorenzo doesn’t even seem to see himself as playing any part in the breakdown of their relationship as he happily pins the entirety of the blame on Jacopo (who isn’t blameless by any stretch of the imagination). But Lorenzo still could have done more to show him that he wasn’t simply a pawn to him. He could’ve admitted that he originally invited Novella himself and thus removing anything to be used by Jacopo.

These two dynamics mirror one another so well, but their attitudes towards how that dynamic came to be couldn’t be more different. I love how this show explores these kinds of relationships in the show and how cleverly it crafts such interesting and complex dynamics.

[lokislytherin]

the angel (jay), the witch (daniel), and the audacity of this bitch (gun)

Lookism (2014-) is a South Korean webtoon written and illustrated by Park Taejoon (PTJ). It revolves around Park Hyung Seok / Daniel Park, who was bullied and “an unattractive loner who wakes up in a different body” which is “tall, handsome, and cooler than ever” (Naver Webtoon) when he transfers to J High. Daniel desires to find the secret behind why he now has two bodies, and in the process of doing so, he gets involved with two key characters: Hong Jae Yeol / Jay Hong, who eventually becomes one of his closest friends; and Park Jong Gun / Gun Park, who is a major antagonist of the series. This essay will explore the extent to which Jay and Gun can be seen as character parallels of each other through investigating their similarities and differences.

First and foremost, Jay and Gun have various similarities. Most of these are explicitly shown throughout the webtoon - for example, they are both smokers, as well as trained fighters, with Jay shown using Systema and Kali Arnis, and Gun with a multitude of martial arts including Aikido, Kyokushin Karate, and Capoeira. They are also both affiliated with wealthy families and corporations, as Jay is the second son of chaebol organisation H Group’s CEO Hong Kyeong Yeong / Steve Hong and younger brother of H Group’s future heir Hong Kitae, while Gun is one of the Ten Geniuses raised by Choi Dongsoo / Charles Choi, who is the CEO of H Group’s competitor HNH Company and the hired bodyguard of Charles Choi’s daughter Crystal Choi. But this is not the extent of their similarities.

Moreover, Jay and Gun are both closely linked with Lookism’s main character, Daniel. However, their relationships with Daniel also mark the biggest difference between them: their treatment of Daniel.

In the first chapter of Daniel’s arrival at J High, Jay is shown to have some kind of interest in him compared to the rest of their class: 

The isolated panel of Jay’s parted lips proceeded by a bust-up panel of Jay (Chapter 4) juxtaposes the grouped reactions of the rest of the class. Although Jay never speaks, he is almost always one of the first individuals to come running to Daniel’s aid whenever he is in trouble in future chapters, eventually solidifying his place in Daniel’s friend circle. Daniel is also one of the only characters in the series capable of perfectly interpreting Jay’s silences. Whatever Jay’s exact interest in Daniel is has never explicitly been stated, but PTJ has implied that Jay is homosexual and harbors a crush on Daniel, claiming "큰형석을 짝사랑(?) 한다” (@/ptj.comics on instagram), which roughly translates to “I have a onesided love(?) for Big Hyung Seok”, referring to Daniel’s second body. Time and time again, Jay has shown himself to be willing to sacrifice anything and everything for Daniel, including himself.

Similar to Jay, Gun shows an interest in Daniel almost immediately after meeting him on his own, yet the way he treats Daniel is wildly different. He constantly fights Daniel or the boys in Daniel’s friend group, causing Daniel no small amount of stress and worry. Yet, after Big Daniel is kidnapped by Park Jinyoung, the original Daniel goes to Gun and asks for Gun to train him into becoming a better fighter so he doesn’t “have to solve his own problems” (Chapter 397), this is what Gun says after beating Daniel up:

In the earlier panel, Jay is drawn in bright lighting as he looks at Daniel, suggesting that Daniel brings light to Jay’s life. However, in this panel (Chapter 397: The Kidnapping of Daniel Park - 4) Gun is shown walking into the darkness while dragging Daniel’s bloodied and unconscious body behind him. This suggests that Gun is willing to destroy Daniel - both in mind and body - for his own goals, and ‘for Daniel’s sake’, providing a contrast to Jay.

In conclusion, Jay and Gun have many similarities regarding their backgrounds, but meeting Daniel brings out the self-destructive side of Jay while bringing out the destructive side of Gun at the same time. Thus, Jay and Gun can be interpreted as character parallels through careful analysis of their probably-toxic relationships with Daniel Park. 

This semi-bullshit essay was not proof-read but is dedicated to @lookismaddict​ all the same for enabling this humble writer.

[tater-pudding]

Gem Girls and Cyberpunks

I rewatched Houseki no Kuni and Cyberpunk Edgerunners this past week. Why do I force myself to suffer like this? And I've been thinking a lot about the parallels between the series. I don't have nay conclusions, just some ramblings. If someone were to ask me for anime similar to Houseki, Edgerunners would never even enter my mind, but watching them in quick succession really made the similar themes stand out to me.

I find it interesting that both series explore similar themes in different ways. Houseki, with its strong buddhist themes, has a very strong theme of cycles and breaking free from them. The cycle of the lunarians coming down to steal our main characters, the cycle of Rutile constantly repairing the body of their loved one just to share a few minutes, the cycle of me experiencing this story over and over, and obviously the cycle of Samsara. All of these which would go on seemingly forever without the intervention of our main character. Throughout the entire Cyberpunk universe, the cycle of suffering under a capitalist society is a constant underlying theme. Unfortunately in this world our main characters never seem to have the ability to truly break this cycle, and are doomed to die trying

The more prominent theme in Edgerunners is the idea of dreams, and chasing dreams. Lucy's dream of the moon, Gloria's dream for David, our dream for the characters to attain happiness, David's dream to make people's dreams come true. All dreams that realistically can't be attained without breaking the cycle of oppression that exists in a capitalist society. Paralleled to the theme of dreams in Houseki, where every gem has a dream that seems unattainable without the cycle of their own world being broken. Rutile's dream of fixing padpa forever, Cinnabar's dream to leave the night watch and be close with everyone, Phos' dream to be wanted.

But possibly the most obvious similarity to me, the one that stuck out to me the most, the idea of breaking yourself, in seemingly every possible way, in order to change. Truly breaking yourself down, over, and over, and over again, in some futile attempt to break the cycle we are involuntarily thrust into. The idea that such drastic change, even if it makes every step we take agonizing, is the only way to break free and reach our goals. And that even with such drastic change, things are unlikely to end the way we want.

I've been thinking a lot about how both Phos and David slowly replace their bodies with stronger parts, how both of their journeys of becoming the ship of Theseus starts with a tragedy of some sort, how every time they replace a piece of themselves, they lose a piece of themselves. I've been thinking a lot about how every time Phos uses their alloy arms, tiny fractures travel throughout their body, and every time David uses his implants he creeps closer and closer to the edge that is cyberpsychosis, how neither of them can stop the journey they've started.

And what is the conclusion of all this? What's the great epiphany I had thinking about all this?

I'm sad.

[hello-nichya-here]

is it just me or does the majority of atla's fandom care about mostly about FN esp zuko and azula while completely discarding the other characters and themes of the series

It's not just you, and it's not just the fandom either. Bryke, and some of the other writers, clearly have a preference for the Fire Nation stories, Zuko's in particular. 

It was a combo of “Give the people what they want” and “The people want what they are given” and that came to be because of a few things:

Good planning and the quality of the writting

The writers changed MANY things from their original idea for the story, and Fire Nation, while still affected by it, seemed to never lose it's main focus: Zuko rebelling against Ozai and joining team Avatar.

The Gaang meanwhile went through plenty of changes. Toph was originally a super tough guy, not blind, and would be in a love triangle with Katara and Aang. Suki was meant to be a one-off character. Katara went from struggling with waterbending to suddenly being able to do some serious damage while fighting Pakku. The episode that would be based on Aang's parents was completely scrapped.

So many changes, many of them at least minute, led to some storylines of the Gaang being more truncaded, rushed, botched, or just not living up to their potential. Again, that applies to the Fire Nation and Zuko's arc as well, but not to the same degree as the rest (at least not until the comics and Korra, when any quality was long gone from any storyline of any character and nation).

Aang's connection to Zuko and to the Fire Nation

There were plenty of parallels between Aang and Zuko throughout the seasons, and we later even found out that Aang is the reincarnation of Zuko's great-grandfather. Naturally, that gives Zuko A LOT more screentime - he is basically a villain protagonist from the start of the show. And since people tend to think of the more complicated, or sometimes straight up evil, character is the most interesting one, it led to most of the audience thinking the Zuko side of the dynamic was the better written one by default.

We can also not forget that Aang's most recent past life, Roku, is the one he interacts with the most, and he was not only part of the Fire Nation and of Zuko's family, but he was directly involved in the start of the war - which is the main plot of the show.

And on top of all that, Aang also genuinely LOVES the Fire Nation and is one of the few people alive who remembers a time when the war was not a thing and the Fire Nation was radically different. The comparisson is important for the story and it's protagonist, and thus it draws even MORE attention to that part of the story.

Villain bias

The Fire Nation are the bad guys in the story, but we know that’s something that can get people’s attention and spark their curiosity. Why did the Fire Nation attack everybody else? How big is the list of horrible shit they did? How powerful are they really? Is there even a way for Aang to stop them? What’s gonna happen to them once/if they are defeated? Can they really dominate the world? Can they really live peacefully with the other nations once the war is over?

It’s natural for the audience to be intrigued by the bad guys, even without agreeing with or liking them. The fact that Fire Nation is also invading other places and chasing the hero means they’re part of the conflict of nearly every episode, and views are constantly waiting to see what they do next - regardless of them being excited for it or dreading it and wishing the fuckers would go away. 

Antagonists usually get a lot of screentime, and the very plot of Avatar requires the Fire Nation to constantly be either shown or talked about for the level of threat to the heroes to be made as clear as possible.

The lack of development of the other nations

That one is pretty self-explanatory. The Water Tribes and the Air-Nomads weren’t given much screentime, which kind of makes sense considering, ya know, the freaking genocide. However, the writers could have used some “flashback episodes”, simmilar to The Storm, to help the audience be more invested in them and care about what is at stake. The conflict is more centered around the Fire Nation attacking the Earth Kingdom - to the point that the war is pretty much considered won once Azula and Zuko conquer Ba Sing Se.

Familiarity

This is likely the most important one.

1 - While writing about an abusive, dysfunctional family and about a war isn't exactly easy (read the comics to witness how badly that can be screwed up), it is still easier than writting about how the last survivors of two genocides get by and deal with their trauma. The villain seeing the error of his ways and changing sides, and the brave hero rebelling against the injust system are popular tropes and did NOT start with Zuko's redemption arc, no matter how much the fandom tries to convince itself that it did. Brian, Myke and the other writers likely grew up with that kind of story, as did most of us, so naturally they'd be better at writting it, and most people could understand it, since we saw it a million times before.

2 - The Fire Nation is heavily inspired by Japan, and Japanese culture is more "mainstream" than Inuit or Tibetan culture, thus the writers were more familiar with it - to the point that Avatar had WAY more simmilarities to anime than most western cartoons. And once again, what was the non-fire nation arc people seemed most invested in? Ba Sing Se. Which is famous for it's great walls, having the most people and a culture that is fucking ancient, and when Iroh took a knife from a general during his siege and gave to Zuko, said knife had a "Made in earth kingdom" joke. Doesn't it sound some other asian country that most people have at least some surface knowledge of?

3 - The writers are americans, and the Fire Nation has some american inspiration. While it was not at the level of "Let's make Not!New York a thing in this pan-asian world!" yet, the writers said they based many things about the Fire Nation off of the US - most notoriously the military shit, and the habit of "We know what's best for everyone, the rest of the world should be like us." Once again, being familiar with what you're writting makes it more likely that you'll do a better job at it than at writing about something you don't really know much about.

Conclusion

Zuko and the Fire Nation became as popular as they did because of a perfect storm of very especific factors - some that were inevitable due to the narrative itself, and some that were caused by flaws in the writting.

[lavender-ronance]

New Girl x Byler

disclaimer: nick and jess as a ship are referred to as “moby” throughout this. i was part of the new girl fandom before they were given a ship name and that is the name we gave them ok? ok. most of the parallel is done under s4 byler. enjoy.

Season 2 Byler

So season 2 Byler is very much Moby before and throughout them dating. We have Mike who cares about Will more than anything but also misses Eleven. And we have Nick who cares about Jess more than anything but also misses Caroline. We also have the snowball where Mike watches Will and actually encourages him to dance with the girl. Similarly, we have Nick who encourages Jess with Paul and Russel and then Sam. All parties involved constantly put the other’s needs before their own.

Season 3 Byler

This is very much post Moby breakup. Nick dates other girls and Jess is honestly happy for him, she even tries to move on with Ryan and then later with Sam. Meanwhile Nick dates a few different girls, he’s not really happy like he was with Jess. Until we meet: Reagan.

Season 4 Byler

While I think El can be aligned with a few different girls Nick dates throughout the series, I do think she most closely parallels Reagan here. They are both emotionally incompetent, quiet, and distant. They haven’t had experience maintaining relationships, and that includes romantic and platonic. Mike and Nick both doubt themselves, see themselves as the problem, and have difficulty sharing their feelings (also hc Mike as a writer). Will and Jess are both artsy/crafty, more emotionally competent and show the most love and care for everyone around them. 

Leading up to NG s6e19, where Jess leaves for Portland, we have Jess watching Nick and Reagan be in love. But even more than that, Jess is the sole reason Nick and Reagan are together. She helps them communicate with each other. She tells Reagan word for word what to say to Nick when he’s having his breakdown during the book reading. It is even explicitly stated that Jess is responsible for her own worst nightmare which is Nick being happy and in love with someone who isn’t her. But instead of telling Nick how she feels and potentially ruining this happiness for him, she leaves. She puts his feelings before her own.

Similarly, we have William Byers, my sweet child. He has not only been witness to the overwhelming love fest the summer of 1985, but has also listened to El talk about Mike while they were in California. Then Mike comes to California and the two ignore him the whole time. Will is watching Mike and El be in love. He is watching two people he cares about (just as Jess cares about Nick and Reagan) be happy and in love, while he stands to the side, in love with Mike. And the only reason these two are still together is because of him. And that is very obviously him pushing Mike to talk to El in the Surfer Boy scene as well as him practically giving Mike the words during the van scene. But it is also the fact that El and Mike likely would have never met had it not been for Will going missing. Similarly, Reagan and Nick likely would have never met had Jess not done jury duty. 

The van scene also more directly parallels the Moby scene where Nick is saying he doesn’t understand why Reagan would ever like him and Jess yells at him for being the only one who doesn’t see how amazing he is.