#And also. I never settle on one. I can make an entire arc for someone and then we'll their design needs to change now

[linkspooky]

Hot take of the morning: Should superheroes kill?

Every time I see a superhero kill a villain, I always see people respond with "Finally. A hero just kills a guy. No "If we kill them we're not better than them handwringing."

Which like okay, there settle down bro.

People always talk about this in moral absolutes though, like heroes shouldn't kill the bad guys because they always have to be better, or heroes should kill the bad guys because retaliating against violence against someone who's trying to kill you doesn't make you as bad as they are.

However, my answer to Should Superheroes kill is - it depends on the hero.

Batman's an entire character is written around how he wants to redeem Gotham and save the city, most of his villains aren't even sent to prison they're sent to Arkham a facility that's supposed to rehabilitee the mentally ill so they can rejoin society. Batman has decided it's his place to stop crime, not his place to decide whether or not people have the right to live or redeem themselves.

Batman is also at risk for being just like his villains, that's why he's foils with Harvey Dent, someone who tried to prosecute people under the law who then snapped and went full violent mobster vigilante. Batman actually is at risk for walking the same path as Harvey if he decides murder is an option.

What inspired this post was Rogue dropping Trask to his death from several stories up, which like you go girl. A lot of people on the internet cheered her on for not showing mercy.

However, in this case killing makes sense for Rogue's character. Rogue didn't start out as a hero, she was raised by Mystique and Destiny, she was a violent terrorist in support of mutant's rights as a member of the brotherhood of evil mutants. She eventually found redemption with the X-men and became a hero insstead.

It makes sense for Rogue's character to take a darker turn and start killing because she's been there before, and now her attempts to walk the high road only to watch people continue exterminating mutants has left her bitter and falling back to her old ways.

In one sense killing a man who made a machine that led to the massacre of mutants on Genosha isn't making you as bad as him, he's the violent instigator here. On the other hand, considering Rogue's past it's a sign of her mental regression though completely understandable because honestly who wouldn't get sick of trying to walk the high road when the result is remy's death and so many other mutants buried.

It's a part of a character arc.

If Peter Parker were to drop a man from several stories up intentionally, that would be a betrayal of his character. Peter never wants to kill his villains, he's interacted with the Punisher before and been disgusted with the guy, he thinks the Punisher is a bully that's barely any better than the people he hates. But it makes total sense for Rogue here.

#Spooky Speaks #xmen97

[this-acuteneurosis]

One thing I will never understand is your other readers obsession with people finding out Leia is from the future and/or related to Padmé/Anakin. As far as I'm conerned, the entire story could progress with that secret never coming out and I would be perfectly happy. Enough of my rambling. Keep up the good work! Angst Gremlin Leia lives rent free in my mind...

I've thought about this a lot as questions about the reveal have come and gone at various points in the story. I'm getting a fewer of them these days, but at this point, I think I understand the impulse. My guess is the motive is generally one of two things, one more conscious than the other.

Firstly, I think people are just excited by the idea of the emotions and the drama. Even a vague reveal gives an opportunity for people to be heartbroken on Leia's behalf, patting her on the back or hugging her and consoling her. A specific reveal of things like who she's related to, how and when people died: there's just so much juicy drama in there, so many agonizing feelings to enjoy. And as a writer who pretty good an dragging out the angst in general, I think people get excited with the idea that I would really dip into the pit of misery, that I would draw deeply from that well of agony and make all the characters chug that bitter water. I can see the appeal of this kind of emotionality, but I've also obviously managed to find plenty of misery to slosh around without going that far. Still, I can understand the craving.

Partly because I think the first matter flows into part two, which is catharsis. Some of that is just emotional. Yes, everyone wants the agony of Anakin (let's be real, it's mostly Anakin) realizing the depths of darkness that Leia experienced with Vader. But there's also the payoff on the other side of that. The closeness that could come on the other side. And I think it's assumed that's what would happen because that's sort of the nature of Leia's arc that I've set up. The story begins not with politics, but with Leia's grief. It's not just a background motif. It's a persistent theme, and a character arc that is deeply important to the story. If Don't Look Back ends without clearly showing Leia moving past some stage of her grief, into a happier future, I'll basically have failed as an author. Since Leia's relationship with Anakin is so fraught because of her history with Vader, and since her grief means she aggressively keeps secrets to maintain control, it's pretty reasonable that there are people that assume a plot resolution of this arc will include her revealing the truth to someone. Maybe even many someones. It would be one pretty tangible way to show that growth.

All of their speculation aside, I've got a much better idea at this point of how much Leia is eventually going to reveal, to whom, and when. She may yet surprise me, but I'm much more settled in the beats of the arc of her grief specifically. And I've known pretty much since the beginning how this story was going to end. So everyone will just have to wait and see where we land.

#Don't Look Back #people are so kind #writing #trauma

[traincat]

Ms. Cat, Ms. Cat! You've talked about how great the Waid and Hickman runs are before, so I wanted to ask: what are some things about these runs that you didn't like? Is there anything you would've added, dropped, and/or rewritten, if you were magically granted the ability to do so?

Ooh okay NEGATIVITY. my actual favorite. and I can do it off the top of my head! (I found the 2018 copy of my refs folder, but not the hard drive I know has a 2022 copy.)

So I have talked a lot about what those runs do right, and I think Waid especially is a really good beginner run, like, if you want to start reading Fantastic Four comics, his run is as close to a perfect modern starting point as we have. (I was talking to someone recently and the conversation segued at one point into how, for a lot of comics, there's no such thing as The Place Where You Start Reading, you kind of just have to hop in.) Hickman... is not an ideal starting point, but if you want to read an interesting, coherent Fantastic Four story that's plot heavy, the first half of his run is excellent for that. (Note I said first half. I'll come back to that.) As opposed to, say, Claremont's run, which is completely incoherent in terms of plot but has the best character work in probably any Fantastic Four run ever. Just don't pick it up if you want the story to, you know. Make sense.

Waid's run -- I would never say Waid's run is perfect, although I do think it's good, which is sort of all you can ask for a lot of the time. The beginning of it definitely falls victim to what I kind of privately call the Johnny Effect: I think a lot of writers have trouble writing Johnny at the start, whether because they don't entirely understand his character or because they're less interested in him than the other three. I literally have a rule where I'll give a new Fantastic Four run like, seven or so issues for the writer to settle into writing Johnny, because a lot of people will fall back on these very shallow perceptions of him, namely that he's irresponsible. (I also think Hickman fell victim to this a little bit at the start of his run, although like with most Johnny Effect cases I'll let it go because both Waid and Hickman wrote incredible Johnny-focused stories that absolutely nailed everything about the character. Whatever Happened to Johnny Storm? and Storm Rising are two of my top Johnny story picks, so they do both get him. It just takes some time sometimes.) Waid's not that bad about it, and he did attempt to spin what I think are traits Johnny doesn't really possess (the playboy nature, the emotional immaturity) into a character arc that does have some good payoff, but if you compare Johnny at the beginning of his run to Johnny in, say, Claremont's run, there's a big difference in terms of characterization. I also don't think Waid is anywhere near the top ten Doom writers -- he goes too hard into utterly cartoon villainy. (Waid's run is, after all, the origin of the Childhood Love Skin Armor of infamy.) His Doom lacks the nuance of Hickman's take, or even the iron willed commitment of Miller's. (I will say whatever I want about the rest of that run but Doom getting eaten by a prehistoric shark and then pulling himself back together atom by atom out of sheer spite is just so fundamentally Doom.) So his characterization can be shaky. He can also pull out really strong moments! I think his depiction of Johnny and Reed's respective grief over Ben is really powerful stuff, although I don't like, love the "journey to heaven" arc. (God is Jack Kirby is pretty funny, though.) If anything, I think it's the juxtaposition of the really strong moments that make the weaker characterization more obvious. I think the Doom characterization is probably my biggest criticism of Waid's run, overall. (I also didn't like his recent Invisible Woman miniseries like, at all. I thought it was boring! Sorry! I wanted to like it!)

Now Hickman, I'm going to complain about. So Hickman's run comes immediately after Mark Miller's run, which I never recommend for the simple reason that it's not good. It's not a good run. Miller deserves his general reputation as one of those overly bro-y comic writers who mistakes sprinkling in sexism for hard hitting realism. Do I kind of want to reread the run right now? Yeah, sort of. Despite it being Not Good, I think there's genuinely interesting stuff in it. Hickman spends the first few issues of his run utterly trampling on Miller's run, like, Godzilla on a miniature city style. It's a little amazing to watch, honestly, like I admire the spirit of spite -- that's what I want to do to both Spencer and Wells' ASM runs -- but it has some intensely negative side effects, namely when it comes to Alyssa Moy.

Alyssa Moy is a character Claremont created back in his run -- she's Reed's old college friend/sometimes flame depending on what writer you ask (they kiss in greeting in Claremont's run, but it could be viewed as a friend thing -- and she's pretty blatantly romantically interested in Ben in Claremont's run), a super genius adventurer who can intellectually hold her own against Reed. In short, she's SUPER fun. Every other writer since Claremont, save for Peter David in Before the Fantastic Four: Reed Richards, has been really fucking weird about her. Whether it's making Sue jealous of her because she's so Intellectually Compatible with Reed (this is nowhere in Claremont's introductory run, where Sue and Alyssa get along really well -- Alyssa was LIVING with the F4 for a while) or having her comment on how she and Reed would have intellectually superior kids while she's married to The Most Boring Man Ever Created, Ted Castle (Miller's run). Hickman is NOT immune to being weird about Alyssa. Where Miller's run leaves Alyssa with her Boring Fucking Husband on Planet Future or whatever (it's dumb, it's a dumb plot), Hickman's opens by saying Alyssa is now... a brain in a jar. A talking brain in a jar on robot spider legs. And then she gets murdered like five pages later. But don't worry, because her Boring Fucking Husband creates a robot version of her, and everyone is fine with this and it's cool actually and we don't have to look too closely about the problematic elements of replacing an Asian woman with a robot version of her built by her freak tech guy husband. And then they blast off to space and have not been seen again. I would SO BADLY love to retcon everything that happened with Alyssa post-Claremont because she's such a fun character and the way she's been treated since in the main book is disgraceful. That's my top pick for what I would fix if I had unlimited editorial power: Alyssa Moy solo.

(Is Hickman great about the depiction of women within the sole context of his Fantastic Four run? I think his greatest triumph with any one female character is Valeria, where he took Miller's depiction -- of a super smart toddler -- and honed that characterization into what's now very solidly Val, with all of Reed's intelligence and a lack of his emotional comprehension, with her strong emotional bond with Doom, with her pragmatism. Can I say he did equally for any other female character, again, solely with the context of his F4 run? Not really.)

I'm not gonna address the renumbering/retitling issue with Hickman's run because I don't think it's fair to put that on the writer, but I do think it's detrimental to the run overall, considering how you need a GUIDE to figure out how to read it. I will say that I think Hickman's run falls off HARD after he wraps up the Negative Zone plotline. And I LOVE the Negative Zone plotline, I think it's really a crowning moment in Fantastic Four canon, but Hickman doesn't seem to know what to do with his run after that point. And I love the roommate issue, it's given the Spideytorch community so much, but I genuinely do think we would have been better served exploring Johnny's emotional state after his two year long death and resurrection cycle, and that was mostly left for other writers to deal with after the fact. Which is kind of the flipside of Hickman's greatest strength -- Hickman is just, like, utterly great at blowing stuff the fuck up. You cannot hand that man a fictional universe he wouldn't gleefully explode and it's great, I love that, I love watching him blow stuff up. I think he really gets into the destruction of fictional realities in a wonderful way that gives you lots to think about. But in the case of his F4 run, there's this weird period between wrapping up the Negative Zone plotline in his first Fantastic Four run and his other Fantastic Four comics (his New Avengers run and Secret Wars (2015) are Fantastic Four comics) where he doesn't quite seem to know what to do, emotionally, with the fallout of everything he set up. Which is disappointing! His depiction of grief in the wake of Johnny's death is so powerful, and I love the message about LOVE (what saves the Fantastic Four and by proxy the world? LOVE) in his FF runs, but he doesn't seem to know what to do with it in the in between issues. That being said, I think the last issue of his FF run, the one with Franklin, is just a triumph. It's hard to be overly negative about the pacing problems in the wake of that, but they are there and I do think they should be addressed.

#*replies #traincat talks comics

[the-bad-batch-baroness]

Hello, beautiful anon 💚

Small reminder to my followers to please send all asks to this blog and not my main!

The Bad Batch Happily Ever After Headcanons

Hunter:

His happily ever after consists of his entire squad being together and being safe. It's all he's ever wanted, and it will make him the most content. He doesn't care where, as long as they're together. Family is the most important thing to him. Ideally, they'll settle down somewhere quiet and peaceful, like Pabu. He'll raise Omega into a beautiful, well-rounded young woman who can also murder people. Then he'll watch the rest of his squad go about their new lives and smile like an idiot.

Echo:

His happily ever after is all about his brothers. Echo can never rest easy if other clones can't. Ideally, he wants to save them all and shuttle them back to Pabu for safe keeping, where they can build new lives and live how they want to. Once his mission is complete, he and Rex are going to retire themselves to Pabu and live out the rest of their days in the peace and quiet they deserve. They'll continue to work on helping other clones adjust, but their armor will sit neatly in the closet collecting dust.

Wrecker:

His happily ever after doesn't include blowing things up. In fact, Wrecker finds complete and total satisfaction in helping others. He puts his incredible strength to use in acts of service to the community around him. Someone needs something heavy moved? Wreckers got it. Someone needs something repaired? Wreckers got it. Wrecker probably has the smoothest transition from soldier life to civilian life, and he embraces it to its fullest. In his downtime, he fishes off the docks with his feet dangling in the water.

Tech:

His happily ever after revolves around his growing relationship with Phee. I am 100% on the Tech/Phee bandwagon, but I prefer the slow burn approach. They'll spend hours and even days just talking with each other, trading stories from the different places they've been, things they've seen, and experiences they've had. Enjoying each other's presence. Tech will always be Tech, and I know he'll still be working hard and finding away to improve everyone's lives on Pabu.

Crosshair:

His happily ever after involves the most painful redemption arc ever. Once reunited with his family, he has to work to gain everyone's trust again, and it's hard. Broken trust is the most difficult thing to mend. His first breakthrough is with Omega. Omega and Crosshair bonded on Mount Tantiss, and she's the one who convinced him that the Batch would take him back. So, he's very much a part of her life now, and with that, eventually, he gains Hunter's trust and respect again. But his brotherly love? Well, that was never lost to begin with.

Omega:

Her happily ever after is all about family time on Pabu. Once settled, she can finally be a kid. She makes friends, explores new places, learns new things, makes mistakes, crushes on boys, and all the other great things that kids her age get to do. She doesn't need to be protected anymore, not when she's safe on Pabu, but she does learn to protect herself and how to protect others. She loves working with the refugee clones and helping them transition to civilian life.

Send Me Anonymous Asks

#tbbb converses #tbb hunter #tbb echo #tbb wrecker #tbb tech #tbb crosshair #tbb omega #the bad batch #bad batch #tbb #the bad batch headcanons #bad batch headcanons #tbb headcanons #star wars

[chirpsythismorning]

I feel like a big part of the reason Anti Bylers are so aggressive is because this is the first time in mainstream media where there's a chance that the main couple of the show may end up being mlm.

Not only is there a likelihood that the main couple will be gay, it will come after years of these fans assuming that the cliche, safe straight ship was going to sail from start to finish.

If you look at the "predictions" these individuals have for season 5, which honestly have less to do with narrative direction and more to do with what they want, you'll always catch a certain undertone to what they're saying:

"The heterosexual, white male audience is the default for media. We will allow the wlw ship, so long as it has limited screen time. We will accept Will surviving, and even allow him to have an acceptance arc. But you will not receive queer rep at the expense of a ship that we are nostalgic for. The straight male audience is the one that matters, and we will be represented by the main couple in the show."

My favorite is when they’re asked what they hope for Mike and El in s5, only to list off qualities of Mike and Will’s dynamic. I legit saw someone say that they hoped they finally took the time to talk through their problems (oh so you’re admitting they never do..) and that we’ll actually get to see them be a team…

Like, do you hear yourselves?

I would actually like to read off their play by play of how they imagine s5 going down. Not just their wishes but like what they literally imagine happening over the course of the season, episode by episode.

And I’m talking the confident milkvans ones that are like super hostile about it. I wanna see what they hypothesize will happen in early s5 related to Mike and El… I don’t think I could keep it together if it is anything along the lines of them instantly making up and being happy for the rest of the season… 😳🤣

They just don’t realize how dumb that sounds.

S4 created conflict and hasn’t settled it. It was considered the beginning of the end, meaning those parts are going to fit perfectly together. If Mike and El were lacking romantically more than ever before in s4, don’t expect that to change much…

And gentle reminder that rewatch value is everything. If milkvans have to skip 3 eps in s1 bc they’re not together or fighting, skip all of s2 bc they’re separated, skip most of s3 bc they broke up in the second episode, skip most of s4 bc they separated in the third episode…. What does that fucking tell you?? They are not being prioritized for rewatch value, that’s what. Whereas byler is. (Bylers also are capable of watching milkvan scenes religiously… I can’t say the same about milkvans being capable of handling more than one second of rewatching a byler scene. And it’s bc they know if they watch it the mental gymnastics they gotta go through to convince themselves nothing romantic is going on is near impossible…)

Byler endgame is going to make the rewatch for the entire series hit, while milkvans, even with a hypothetical endgame would probably watch s1 and s5 and say the rest doesn’t matter. Do they think that’s how the show is supposed to be watched?

With one season left, they should have been hoping that monologue wasn’t in s4, but instead s5. Bc now how can those two one up that? They simply can’t. It was put there to show that they’ll never progress beyond this point. Nothing will ever top it. This is as good as it gets and yet, they still lost. What should that tell you?

What are they gonna just repeat that monologue in s5, but have mike say it 20x and THIS TIME it works?? Yay? Like there’s literally nothing satisfying about that in the least.

Can’t say I wish bad for ppl that simply like Mike and El and are bummed that they’re starting to lose hope. That as a basic idea is like whatever. I don’t like seeing ppl sad. Even if I told off a milkvan directly, seeing them like feeling depressed afterwards, does make me feel bad.

But when it comes to the hostile ones, people literally resorting to harassing directly with complete strangers unprompted and threatening to dox, over people merely theorizing? Like?? Was it ever that serious?

If we’re so delusional and we’re just setting ourselves up for disappointment, why not wait to say I told you so when it’s all said and done, if you’re so sure? Why dedicate so much of your time trying to discourage people on the other side? Unless it somehow qualms doubts you have?…

What makes this whole situation such bullshit, is that if this were a queerbait situation, you still shouldn’t be out here being hurtful like literally spouting off how you can’t wait for people to experience getting queerbaited? Like it’s fucking weird? The prominence of queerbaiting is literally referring to show runners taking advantage of fans, making them think it’ll happen, even encouraging it, and then ripping it away, usually ending in a bury your gays situation. That is the norm in the industry and it’s only now within the last few years starting to change in mainstream.

The hypocrisy of it all, is that they think we should just accept what they believe is the only possibility, queer-bait. But you know if the roles were reversed, which they inevitably will be when s5 drops, they’re going to be playing the victim, saying nonsense like if queerbaiting is bad then so is straightbating!! and it’s just going to be so out of touch and pathetic.

It’s not the same. Whatsoever. And the fact that they can’t see that, that one result is lazy writing and one is epic subversion, and are literally making a mockery out of the situation, convinced they’re right bc they have history on their side and gays should just be used to never getting their way and THATS okay to them?

Like it’s almost painful to watch. Especially knowing the 180 they’re gonna pull when they end up in the situation they convinced themselves we were gonna be in.

#byler #ask #anti milkvan #reddit rambles

[cldhrbour]

important portrayal notes

below are just some canon divergencies or nuances that i want to make explicitly clear are important to my development of serana. these are all pieces i've built over the years that, if we're writing together, and especially if it's in any high fantasy verse where serana's backstory is a bit more in play, that i'd appreciate you know and accept. hell, these matter more to me over you knowing her general plot to begin with since that's easy for me to summarize to you. there's just stuff in the game i've gotten sick of as far as how it was handled and i want to make sure we're on the same wavelength when it comes to writing and plotting together.

most importantly: your character (mainly if you're an ldb or tav or inquisitor - esque character) does not get to kill harkon. i'm glad we're all finally at a point where we want characters to have agency in their story rather than playing 'side-piece' to main player characters and this is something i've harped on for literal years. this is serana's story, this is her trauma that she has to come to terms with and make the final decision that her father can't live any longer. you don't get to take that away from her. it's a perfect character arc for her to go through and thus, all other characters will play a side-role in the final battle at castle volkihar. you don't have the history with him. you don't have the memories she has and the emotions she's had to go through to get to this point. do you understand how much it takes to get to a place where you know you have to kill your parent and not only just that but actually do it to begin with? it's stupid to think that serana has all this rich backstory with her clan and parents just to have someone she met maybe a couple months ago come in and sweep it all away. give her agency, my fucking god. you got your hero moment defeating alduin, the absolute, corypheus, etc. let serana have hers.

in my canon harkon does kill serana in kind. their final moments together are supposed to represent not only serana finally needing to accept her father's megalomania will never be cured and that he isn't the same man who raised her, but also she needs to see that in his final moment of taking the plunge and killing her. it's one thing to battle with him and try to continue to reason with him, it's another to stand there seeing he actually staked you through the heart at a final grasp of power. this happens within seconds of each other, there's nothing anyone can do about it. granted, it's a cop-out for me that her mother is a notorious necromancer and can bring her daughter back over a couple of days, so her story can and will continue, but for all intents and purposes, these two kill each other.

this blog is castle volkihar favorable. i'm staunchly against the dawnguard, but more importantly against the extermination of serana's entire family leaving her with no one once the dust has settled. it's fine if your character is a part of the dawnguard, but understand that if there's no compromise between the dawnguard and serana to keep the rest of the coven alive if the vampires agree to follow her instead, then you abandon any further 'friendly interaction' with her once the battle at the castle is over. you don't get to have your cake and eat it too because 'vampires = evil' in this godforsaken, lack of nuance game. as long as the coven continues to live, serana will then take over her parent's role and lead the volkihars.

serana will canonically have two sets of scars. and only two, considering her ability to heal. one is a pair of burn marks at her hips from when she became a daughter of coldharbour and was assaulted by molag bal. this is something, in my own canon, every vampire with the title of daughter of coldharbour has. it's a mark the prince of domination wants to have on his property. the second will appear after being resurrected by feran and valerica, a pitted scar at her sternum where harkon attempted to kill her. both of them bleak reminders of her deaths.

as she continues to develop, and metas i have become more solidified, i will be adding to this list and i'll make sure to make a post/update everyone when it's been adjusted to reflect my current canon.

#i've been wanting to rewrite this forever #and i feel like i didn't go into detail enough but if i ever edit it i'll let y'all know #please please take a quick peek #most importantly if we're writing in fantasy verses #✝︎ . ⌜ meta ⌟ . 𝐝𝐲𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐬 𝐚𝐧 𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐢 𝐝𝐨 𝐢𝐭 𝐞𝐱𝐜𝐞𝐩𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐰𝐞𝐥𝐥.

[paperstorm]

WIP WEDNESDAY

I was tagged by my girls @rmd-writes and @welcometololaland. This is a little something from the Missing Moment for 2x8

“Gettin’ a little sick of seeing you in a hospital bed,” Carlos tells him.

“I don’t do it on purpose.” TK grins and tugs at his hand, and Carlos sits carefully next to his hip, occupying the spot that TK’s mother had just vacated.

“I know.” Carlos brings TK’s hand to his mouth and kisses the heel of his palm. “I love you.”

“Love you,” TK repeats. For a moment they just look at each other, Carlos wanting to drink in the sight of everything he could have lost tonight, and TK seeming content to let him. Then TK frowns a little, and asks, “How did you figure out where we were?”

Carlos shakes his head. “That’s a really long story. I’ll tell you when you don’t have a concussion.”

“Okay.”

Slowly, Carlos licks his lips and considers whether he should speak the words that seem caught in his throat. It all worked out, in the end. His suspension has been lifted. His instincts were correct. His father – the man Carlos has spent his entire life intimidated by and whose approval Carlos has been desperate for since before he can remember – said he was proud. Told Carlos that he’s capable, that he’s a good cop. Told Carlos he knew TK was his boyfriend and smiled at him about it like he wasn’t uncomfortable, like he wasn’t putting on a mask of tolerance but truly accepted who Carlos is. Everything is okay, now, but it very much wasn’t okay earlier, and TK doesn’t know that. Carlos wonders if he should leave it that way.

“Hey.”

Carlos blinks his eyes back into focus and TK is frowning at him.

“What’s going on? Where did you just go?”

“I got suspended today,” Carlos tells him, making a snap decision. He’s trying, lately, to be better at this. He’s trying to let TK in, to let TK see all his flaws and his soft parts, because that’s what he wants from TK. Carlos wants every single bit of him, the amazing parts, the difficult parts, the parts he doesn’t like about himself, and he knows it isn’t fair to expect that and not be willing to give it in return.

“Why?” TK asks. “What happened?”

“That …” Carlos shakes his head. “Is also a long story. Sorry, I will tell you. It just doesn’t entirely matter at the moment.”

TK doesn’t look like he understands, but he tugs gently at Carlos’s hand. Carlos stands and crawls gingerly over top of him, making sure his knees are carefully placed to land on the mattress and not on TK. He settles beside him, curled into him with his arm across TK’s chest and his head sharing the one pillow. TK rubs his arm, thumb moving in a slow, comforting arc along Carlos’s skin.

“The point is, my dad … he was involved in it and he was so … disappointed in me.”

“Baby,” TK murmurs.

Carlos closes his eyes and presses his forehead against the side of TK’s face. He wishes TK weren’t injured right now for so many reasons, but in this exactly moment at the top of his list is because he wishes he could fully burrow into him without risking hurting him.

“It’s okay, it’s fixed now. And he knows about you, actually. They both do.”

TK pauses. He turns his head a degree so that his lips touch Carlos’s nose as he breathlessly asks, “You told them?”

“No,” Carlos admits. He wishes he had. He would love to be able to tell TK that he was brave enough to do that, but it wouldn’t be the truth. “They figured it out, when they saw us together.”

“Oh.” TK jostles him lightly when Carlos doesn’t continue. “Okay, and?”

“He’s okay with it,” Carlos says, still hardly daring to believe it. It sounds like a story from someone else’s life, or a daydream he’s had a million times but never believed would come true. “Said he can’t wait to meet you.”

“Carlos,” TK breathes. He squeezes Carlos’s arm. “That’s amazing, I’m so happy for you.”

“Me too. You wanna meet them, right? I mean, as my boyfriend?”

“Yes, of course I do.” TK kisses his nose. “Of course I do.”

“They’re gonna love you,” Carlos tells him, feeling glad to be in a hospital suddenly because it feels like his heart might burst.

“Duh, I’m very loveable,” TK jokes, but Carlos slides his hand up to curl around the side of TK’s neck and press his lips into TK’s cheek.

“Yeah, you are,” he agrees.

I will tag @reyesstrand and @strandnreyes (unless you've already done it in which case ignore me)

#tarlos #tag game #wip wednesday #911 lone star #paperstorm writes #911ls: missing moments

[goldeneyedgirl]

this is probably a dumb question but: how do you think the saga would have gone had victoria turned mike instead of riley? what do you think would have happened if it was revealed that bree or fred was/were related to jessica or something like that?

(or if angela really did turn out to be a witch?)

and also, how would you go about involving the humans of forks into all the supernatural stuff if you could rewrite the saga / have free rein?

and also also (i'm done now, i promise, this ask is all over the place, i am so sorry): tara x jacob? i ship it. please tell me more :-D

Ooof, Anon, great questions. Settle in, I've never been known for short answers.

mike.

So if Mike were changed instead of Riley, that's someone that Bella knows and theoretically cares about. That's a disappearance that affects her entire community - Bella works for Mike's family, she spends time with him, her other friends have known Mike for years. I can see Bella being concerned, but not overall worried or invested in Mike's fate too much. Bella comes across as very self-centered and I think that only Jessica or Angela could inspire her to really worry in this scenario. I can see some jokes being made about Edward not worrying about Mike anymore, and having that look very dark during the reveal.

I also think that Victoria would keep Mike a secret, and not let him roam as much as Riley, to have the maximum impact. Victoria got so close to Bella, she killed one of Bella's friends as part of her army. That's extremely scary and messed up.

There's a huge emotional arc of Mike disappearing without a trace, and then Bella coming face to face with him in the battle. And Mike is so confused - he's believed the whole time that he's saving Bella (because Victoria would use Mike's affection for Bella to her benefit) from the terrible, dangerous Cullens, and that he's met his soulmate in Victoria. That Victoria is really a good person who is looking out for Bella and only changed Mike because she loved him at first sight.

I like to think that Mike would have his moment, and turn on Victoria - maybe even help Edward and Jacob destroy Victoria. A nice little framing of the three boys who loved her protecting her. And Mike backing the fuck up away from Bella because he knows he's going to want to eat her if he gets too close.

As much as I think it would be cute and fun if Mike and Bree were allowed to live, and go off together as nomads with kind of a sibling dynamic (and great potential for their return in Breaking Dawn as witnesses; Mike has the advantage of testifying that no one suspects the Cullens of being anything except too rich and fucking weird), I think Jane would have executed both of them, and that Bella and Edward's choices would finally have a human price and a face to them - especially if Mike realized he was on death row and tells Bella to make sure his mom knows that he loved her.

I don't believe that Bella was written to reflect on this kind of thing much, but I do like the idea of Mike's death weighing on her and making her question everything that has happened since she moved to Forks, and Eclipse ending with Bella 'needing to think' rather than accepting Edward's proposal. She's the reason that Mike never graduated high school, why his family will never stop looking for him, why he never got to go to college or get married or have any of the things that Bella can still have.

And then you lead into Breaking Dawn with Bella finally accepting the proposal but asking to put off her change until after college (obviously Renesmee ruins that plan, but the sentiment is enough.) I would also hope that Bella chooses a boy's name of Edward Michael, to honour her friend.

It would be amazing fun, though, to have Mike and Bree return in Breaking Dawn to help Bella, considering each other family, and Mike meets Tanya and is just in awe of this gorgeous woman who actually seems interested in him? It might not be forever, but Mike kind of gets to make lemonade out of the lemons of Victoria changing him. Plus after all his time as a punchline, Mike actually makes friends with the Cullens? He and Emmett are both super enthusiastic about Cullen baseball and video games, he's stunned by how much Rose knows about cars, he gets to part ways with Edward as friends. Feels more fun, but it does lose a lot of the lessons his execution would have for Bella.

bree & fred.

To be frank, I don't think Bella would have cared if Bree or Fred were related to Jessica. I think she would have noticed Jessica's worried and unhappiness, and *maybe* made the connection when faced with them on the battlefield, but she wouldn't have been emotionally invested in them as people. Their execution would be sad, but I don't think it would fundamentally change Bella or her story.

angela.

I've never played with this headcanon much, but I am intrigued. I think that if Angela were a witch, it would be hinted at from Twilight - maybe James' hunt with Bella broke some kind of protective circle she and her family established around Forks. One that the Cullens didn't break because they genuinely mean no harm to the people, and because Carlisle arrived with the intentions of healing and helping.

I feel like Angela's relationship with the Pack could go either way - as an ally who provides healing and protection, as well insight, or as an enemy, someone tapping into powers and knowledge they have no business accessing.

She would definitely have some kind of rune to make sure that Edward doesn't hear anything she doesn't want heard. I think it would be SUPER fun if it were Angela who rocked up to the Cullens house to let them know there was an army being formed, and they needed to do something. Maybe spilling the beans that she's done a good amount of research and worked out exactly who Carlisle, Rose, Jasper, and Edward were, but she's never been able to pinpoint which era Esme, Alice, and Emmett were from, just to really stop the Cullens in their tracks.

During the Eclipse battle, Angela would be with Bella the entire time, creating any kind of protective circle and warding charms she could manage, and be zero-tolerance with Edward and Jacob's competitive nonsense - "Bella's a person, not an object to be fought over." She'd be sent back to the Res after the battle so that she didn't run into the Volturi.

Angela wouldn't end up imprinting on the Pack or anything; she'd go to college, maybe coming back for Breaking Dawn's confrontation during Winter Break (though she would definitely be facetiming during Bella's pregnancy with ideas, tips, and generally trying to convince Bella that the risk was insane and there was only so much that could be done). I think in that scenario, Angela would be the one entrusted with Renesmee, and that Jacob would be responsible for getting both of them away from the battle. Angela becomes a friend and ally to the whole family, and gets to live out her life with a foot in each world because she deserves good things.

humans in twilight.

If I had free reign over Twilight, Bella and Edward would be the B-plot, and Alice would be the protagonist learning about where she came from, and realising Aro wants her as a weapon. Or just a super self-indulgent human Alice/vampire Jasper moment. Or just ret-con a lot of it.

But I digress.

To integrate the classmates into Twilight more, I would let the Cullens have friends. No necessarily bffs, but maybe the Cullens sit at the same lunch table as Jessica and co, maybe Alice joins them sometimes and other times Edward summons her back to the family. Or maybe Rosalie is part of a study group for STEM, or Emmett had a part-time job down at Newtons (a GREAT opportunity for him and Bella to interact in the later books - I maintain that Emmett deserved a much larger role, and that New Moon needs a total overhaul to balance out Eclipse and Breaking Dawn. But that's a full TED talk on its own.)

Just something to integrate them more with their classmates. "The Cullens are kind of weird, but they're okay - Jasper Hale can fix any electronic, it's freaky, but he makes you pay. If you need any tutoring in the sciences, Rosalie Hale is terrifying but so good at it. Alice Cullen is so cute, every year she does the school musical's costumes by herself, and she teaches kiddie ballet classes at the rec center on Saturdays." Give these people some hobbies, some way of still being apart of human life beyond freakin' high school. Give them a reason for them to be accepted on the fringes of their classmates lives.

Have Bella be a little more pleasantly surprised how easily these people accept and want to make friends with her - maybe Tara's dad used to go fishing with Charlie, and she remembers playing with Tara when she was a kid. Maybe DJ Garret's older sister baby-sat Bella once or twice. Maybe Rachel and Rebecca Black text Bella welcoming her back to 'hell' and Bella spends four books trying to conceal what's going on because she doesn't think Rachel or Rebecca know anything.

Then start using them - specifically Jessica. She's a good foil to Bella because she's so outgoing, and Jessica is so fundamentally human that she can represent all the things that Bella is willing to give up. No gift, no trauma, just an ordinary girl in high school from a content family.

It's not Renee that James pretends to kidnap, he grabs Jessica when she shows up at the Swans to study with Bella; It's not Bella that's bitten, it's Jessica. Bella has to witness all this, and the Cullens are more invested because Jessica is fundamentally a nice person to them. Bella sees the horror of vampirism, but Jessica is convinced she just had a head injury.

Then New Moon happens and Emmett attacks Bella instead of Jasper and the Cullens leave. They let themselves get too close in Forks, it's become too much. They got too attached, and this is what happened. Maybe it's not realistic to live like humans anymore. Maybe they have to isolate themselves because of what they are. Make this a family choice, make everyone be leaving something behind - Carlisle, his work; Esme's social circle and maybe a business; friends, jobs, hobbies, just little human things they really wanted but can no longer justify.

Bella's depressed, but Jessica is getting more memories back, and her hand feels kind of weird and that scar looks like a human bite mark? The story isn't fitting together right. Why didn't anyone call the police over James? Why is Bella so depressed?

Jessica has a strong personality, and she definitely isn't going to let all this go... which results in her tracking Bella down at the Res to get some answers just in time to see Jacob transform. And OF COURSE Jessica tells her friends, who don't believe her until Jessica goes digging JUST in time to confront Bella with a full binder of evidence including the fact the Cullens owned the property back in the 1920s and Hoquaim Hospital happened to have a Doctor Carlisle Cullen working for them.

"I saw a guy turn into a giant wolf, Bella, nothing is off the table. Did you know a Rosalie Hale disappeared in New York State during the 1930s? She just vanished, and then her fiance was murdered in a locked room. The photos are blurry but I have copies."

By the time we get to Eclipse, Bella's trying SO HARD to protect her human friends from the Volturi by keeping them away from where Edward might hear their thoughts. Meeting Aro terrified and traumatized her; she's having nightmares. But Jessica has her friends convinced. She has Angela and Eric helping her comb records to find out where the other Cullens came from. It's pretty futile, since she only has two surnames to work from, but she does find a marriage certificate for an Esme Platt to a Carlisle Cullen from the 60s that she's certain is useful.

Eventually, Jessica decides she wants the full story. What do the Cullens want? What happened to her when that guy abducted her? So she gets her friends and goes to the Cullens for a confrontation. And Alice insists they tell them everything because that's how it has to go. There's no way around telling the truth now.

I'd mess with the timeline a lot to so that Bella has more time to develop her relationship with Edward, and so that the actual battle in Eclipse is the night of graduation - Alice's 'party' is just a cover. And Jessica and co want to help; the wolves and Cullens might be fighting and dismembering the newborns, but Mike has a whole camping store of weapons, there's a good likelihood of some of them having shooting skills, get them in the mix - first aid for wounded wolves, starting the pyres, holding some kind of line to warn the Cullens if any get past a certain point towards town. And then someone gets hurt - maybe Eric or Ben get attacked, maybe Nicole gets hurt bad enough she ends up paralyzed. Raise the stakes some more.

Then Breaking Dawn. Jessica hears that Bella is recovering from near-death after the wedding, and she and Angela go to visit Bella pregnant, wasting away. Jessica just rolls her eyes and is like "you really are gunning for Queen of Fucking Terrible Decisions, Swan. Move over, lets watch a movie." Jessica and Angela - maybe even Tara and Nicole - immediately start coming over to hang out with Bella, and help with the research into hybrids. I really find it bizarre that dhampir legends never came up in canon because vampire hybrids are based in actual mythology.

Then they all leave for college. Jessica definitely texts Bella 'Renesmee? What are you, Mormon?' when Ness is born, but it's friendly ribbing. The Cullens defend the presence of the humans to the Volturi by offering them this choice: either you have a dozen kids protecting their home, helping uphold the secrecy laws, and knowing that walking around at night is fucking dangerous in a new way, or you have an entire town slaughtered by newborns in the age of Facebook. Alice's visions of no one spilling the beans helps, but it solidifies to Aro that Carlisle cannot be trusted, that his compassion is also his biggest flaw. That if anyone should die for these humans, it should be the Cullens.

And then the last scene is spring break; Cullens vs the Pack baseball match, and the humans are back to watch and heckle. And Bella gets this one moment that if she has to leave it all behind, she's glad these are the memories and the people she gets to carry with her. The Cullens know that things have to change, that they cannot integrate themselves like this again, so that Forks will always be special to them. The end of an era.

Fade to black.

tara/jacob.

I think most of the rest of that verse is really from Alice's POV, so you don't get much from seeing Tara interacting with Jacob, but you get a lot of Tara having the biggest crush and freaking out that she's made a fool of herself in front of him. A lot of joking, a lot of girl-talk, a lot of "Bella. Look at me. Tell Jacob you are not interested and give him my number, you are a terrible wing-man. I will make a very convincing argument."

I do know that once Tara gets her guy, she gets to spend more time around at the Cullens asking all the questions she can think of (at least half of them are inappropriate), and she and Rose... they aren't friends, but they get along. Jacob is definitely frustrated that Tara likes the Cullens, and wishes she'd 'stay safe'. At that point, though, Alice has friends like a Real Girl (the document is actually called nofriendsforalice.pages) and Tara is laughing at Jacob, that he thinks manicures and pop music and gossip is dangerous.

The reveal is pretty fun, and the whole fic is really about female friendships and autonomy, and Jacob getting a girlfriend that isn't mystically ordained and just likes him for being him.

#asks #long ask #the twilight saga #mike newton #angela weber #jacob black

[thedanceronthestreets]

Ok so, the new episode has evoked multiple trains of thought in my head and although they all are related to the buck/tommy/eddie situation, i think it makes sense to put them down in several categories here:

Overall feel of the show at abc: i'm gonna say that the show definitely feels a bit unsettled after the network change, they seem to have a hard time balancing personal relationship plots and actual firefighter stuff. I know a lot of the cases in previous seasons were silly but they were still believable. The whole cruise disaster thing was just so over the top and now in the last 2 episodes there has been next to no action. The promo for next week's episode looks kinda like absolute mayhem. I do believe the abc team will figure this out and that they just need a little time to get comfortable but it's defo noticeable.

Buck's character: completely removed from his new romantic relationship, i am soooo loving his coming out arc. They've shown 2 amazing coming out scenes and one (and a half) dates and yet the word bisexual didn't even need to be said!!! It just makes sense as a story on its own!! It feels so natural and buck seems so so happy and in love and settled and has gobsmacking chemistry with tommy. I love that we get to watch him make mistakes and get things right while figuring himself out, it just feels so close to real life and i think the writers (and actors) are doing a fantastic job here.

Tommy's character: OBSESSED WITH HIM. HE'S SO FUNNY. And i think he's an excellent first male love interest for buck because he doesn't beat around the bush. He's comfortable in his own skin and is very aware that he doesn't have to give that up for buck despite crushing on him hardcore. I love that he gives buck the space to make mistakes and come to terms with his bi-ness, but not at the expense of himself. He is a great mature influence on buck and i think will eventually help him to become confident in his sexuality in a way buck may have taken way longer to do on his own. Which leads me to ...

The buck/tommy relationship: this is where things start to get complicated. My head says "let's microanalyse every scene in regards to buddie" but my heart says "enjoy how fucking cute buck and tommy are being on screen right now". I DON'T WANT THEM TO BREAK UP. AT ALL. THEY ARE CRAZY ABOUT EACH OTHER. WHIPPED, IN FACT!!! I do think buck/tommy isn't "endgame" per se but i do think they fit so well together, they should be given the opportunity to last a little while at least. Buck needs someone like tommy now who will hold him accountable while being entirely sympathetic. It's a great dynamic that i would be very sad to see go (and so would buck i think because i have never seen heart eyes that intense on that man before....)

Buck/eddie: look. I can't unsee it, just like everybody else. Doesn't matter how cute tommy and buck are, i hold my breath whenever buck and eddie share a scene now. There's some weird shit happening there. I think the writers have been very clever with the latest episode because it leaves buck and eddie on good terms without insinuating what exactly comes next. Buck is completely focused on tommy right now (which is good!) and eddie has his own stuff going on, so a rushed buddie arc would make zero sense right now. As a lot of people have already said, buddie is very much a long-haul game and while we can start to see seeds at this point, i'd hate to rush into it. Cause the slow burn is part of the fun right :D right ????

Eddie: eddie. My silly goose. I love what they're doing with him this season. He seems so much more able to let loose and enjoy himself. He's getting sillier and i love that for him. He also seems to have headspace for new things now.... such as recognising that he's limited by catholic guilt..... which is the number one symptom of being into hot godly women.... right ... right..... I'd probably kill a man to quiz the writers on how they came up with the concept of eddie/tommy. Because that means they've thought about how gay eddie would make sense. They will have discussed his motivations and experiences over the last few seasons and recontextualised them. And mould them into the life of a closeted gay man. Gnawing. Clawing, even.

Conclusion: buck/tommy slay. Hate to see them go. Would love to see eddie be gay and get his own independent coming out arc just like buck did. Want them to be gay buddies for a while. And then see what that makes of the situation.....

#911

[dnangelic]

Sorry I'll ask a more serious one. Are there any hopes that dark and daisuke have for each other? or develop for each other?

this has the potential to turn into an entire convoluted essay so i'll just try to keep things short to start off with. tldr they do absolutely have hopes for each other that they canonically develop, though i usually write them as having reached both of their end development points more or less already. it's about them becoming each other; daisuke more confident and mature, dark loving and tender; fulfilled and human.

dark: dark seeking coexistence has been a thing even before daisuke was his host, so there's that. when it came to his other hosts (daisuke is specifically niwa-host number 19, actually,) what dark mostly wanted out of them was his own body. he's veered into dangerous, creepy-manipulative territories with the whole 'hey hey merge with me, stay as me forever!' bit but it isn't long before he drops that with daisuke. this drama CD track that he narrates basically says it all. there's a part of him that legitimately wants to support and protect daisuke, even if it's usually in a mean, prideful, tough-love, backhanded tsundere way. there's a lot of implication that daisuke ever failing to believe in himself is also something that collaterally wounds dark. quickest and most blatant example i can think of is this:

vol 1 vs vol 4. for context, that's still daisuke (just in dark's form) speaking in the v first panel, and in the rest, daisuke's transported into dark's (but really his own) dream where he and dark's roles are essentially reversed. dark exists as "daisuke" while daisuke's the "one who doesn't exist anymore" in the world, and every single one of daisuke's thoughts and dialogue lines ends up practically a complete parallel to what would normally be dark's thoughts, one after another. i can't publish a whole manga arc in an ask, but the gist is that what dark wants out of daisuke is pretty simple, actually. beneath even the destiny of phantom thievery dark's existence pretty much forces upon the niwa, beneath the imbalance of dark's arrogant pride and daisuke's insecurities is the fact that no matter what, even if he never gets to 'live' with his own life or his own body, dark, as just dark, still wants to be accepted and remembered.

it hurts him to be rejected, even if it's something like daisuke's own lack of self confidence unintentionally rejecting him. 'i'm not, i can't be dark/i am you + you ARE me.' it hurts dark to be abandoned and separated from, ("that is... even if you say it like that, i'm already used to it. sorrow is just the one thing i can't get used to.") it hurts dark to be a half-existent "curse" imbued into a bloodline that his hosts only ever want to cut off and avoid without any sympathy so they can get back to their own lives, a life dark constantly longs for but can never obtain. it's bittersweet to be the one always left behind, over and over, to have been born of the niwa's love, thereby knowing and desiring love, yet being forever doomed to exist (also seemingly forever!) without it. dark even specifically mentions the 'pain of separation' that he feels, knowing he's the one who's always destined to disappear, be forgotten, then reappear in the end. that's also why he can ultimately settle for someone to be able to say with absolute confidence that he existed as his own individual just as much as he was a part of his host(s). in the very end, he can only rely on daisuke anymore for that, which is simultaneously what also makes dai the christine to his erik.

'i've always been inside you. don't you know that? if not for you, i wouldn't be here either. that's what i am.'

'because you're here, i'm able to live.'

when they're in a healthy unison, it doesn't matter whether dark is his own 'live' entity or just a persona for daisuke to wear and act out on his own. dark's 'eternity' is believed in; he and his memory is preserved as more than just a miserable, pathetic haunt and forced destiny. his empty, vacant, hollow and immortal existence is given human meaning; daisuke's love and acceptance fulfills him. if i shall be saved, it will be because your love redeems me! (also this post.)...and this is really all the hope dark could ever have, not just for himself, but for daisuke as well. to meet his faith and belief that daisuke can not just match but make his steps, and accept 'him', the one and only 'great phantom thief dark,' as himself.

daisuke: setting aside the things i've said for dark's portion already, daisuke's always personally wanted to change. sugisaki's even said that change was what the series about! it kicks off with daisuke trying to make the first attempt at it: giving his initial crush his love letter and getting rejected, then transforming into dark for the first time. daisuke doesn't want to be a loser. he hates himself for being 'incapable' and 'clumsy' and 'useless,' and if he has any hopes, then it's for that to change through dark- through being, becoming dark. that being said, daisuke did also absolutely only want to get rid of dark at first, but there are implications that he had also been lying to himself here and there. when it comes to phantom thievery, daisuke has grow into it. he has to realize that it's not solely theft and criminal behavior for the sake of it, (it's very important that while he's absolutely committing 'human' crimes, his thefts are simultaneously a form of protection for the arts themselves,) and that even as a phantom thief, he can still create wonder and awe and inspire dreams, and the same mercy applies to learning about dark.

it takes daisuke around 20 volumes to get to a place where he can essentially, confidently say that he and dark are on equal footings, but just a little before that, is the way daisuke goes from someone who would have done anything to get rid of dark to becoming someone who felt he could only do things BECAUSE dark was there. daisuke is always the one far more openly admiring and looking up to dark, the nervous one blatantly relying on dark's encouragement and presence to keep him from curling up into his knees and staying that way forever. to that extent, dai's now at the point where he doesn't want to let dark go. in canon he essentially has no choice. cue the loop back to 'because you're here, i'm able to live' and everything after it, but within rp, if he isn't set back at square one (a la 'i'm just here because i want to get rid of dark!!!) then the sorts of hopes he has are to simply continue improving and changing himself to be a good fit for the title of a legendary phantom thief. dai is, ultimately, the protagonist, so between him and dark, he controls the entirety of the outcome of the narrative between them. dark's hopes are entirely reliant on his, so it's good that dai's entire chara basis is compassion and attempting to meet, fulfill, and accomplish the hopes and happiness of others through his own.

between him and dark, their hopes really ultimately end up the same: they want to be with each other! they want to be each other! do not separate them or else they'll Both freak out.

#*･ﾟ⊰ 𝐎𝐔𝐓 𝐎𝐅 𝐂𝐀𝐑𝐃𝐒. ⊱ ✦ › OUT. #*･ﾟ⊰ ANSWERED. ⊱ #this is probably sooooo messy n goes all over the place/says shit ive been saying 28483958 times already #BUT. #its rlly what it is. JFDKGKJGJK #THANK U LITAAAA my friend....

[alphinias]

TSITP is already laying down the ground for bellyconrad endgame and jeremiah cheating situation. they’re only “winning this season” but the foreshadowing is already there:

1. Belly talking to Conrad and saying “if my dad had cheated on my mom, she probably wouldn’t even care” and Conrad being like “why wouldn’t Laurel have a reaction?” And Belly being “nothing about my dad really excited her”. This goes back to Season 1 and Laurel saying she loved John but it was safe like a “cozy campfire” that would keep her warm at night but never really gave her fireworks. Then she says someone did gave her fireworks once but it would have burned them alive (as Belly and Conrad right now that are dealing with too much and their love is to strong for this). This is Jer = campire Con = fireworks. Belly then asks if it didn’t work out with either, then how does she knows when it’s the right person to which Laurel responds that she’ll know when she wants to be with someone because nothing would matter and it would just feel right.

2. During that phone conversation with Conrad, Belly says “I just can’t imagine marrying some that didn’t give me fireworks. like electric jolts every time i saw them” to which Conrad agrees. That he wouldn’t marry someone that didn’t make him feel electric. Again, referencing Laurel’s conversation with Belly on Season 1.

There’s not reason why that conversation was even in there if it’s not to foreshadow the future. Every line in TV matters. I feel like Belly will be paralleling a lot from her parents relationship with Jeremiah by settling for a sense of blind safety mostly as a cover from Susannah’s death which is why she’s so in denial and holding onto their relationship on book 3. She will be getting into a relationship that doesn’t fully excite her and from Belly’s pov, you can tell her relationship with Jeremiah fully lost it’s spark long before the cheating occurred. One of the reasons I feel like Laurel didn’t want Belly to marry him is because she knew she was going to end up like her. Belly and Jeremiah would’ve ended up divorced for the same reasons Laurel and John did. But not even like 17 years in but way sooner then them.

Also how that Laurel speech is the same episode Jeremiah launches fireworks at Belly and Conrad to stop them from kissing out of spite to just seal the metaphor that Conrad is Belly’s fireworks.

3. After that conversation, Belly tells Conrad about her discovery. She tells him “Did you know Venus is an evening star for 263 days out of the year and then it disappears from the sky for 50 days before returning as a morning star for another 263 days out of the year. And right now it’s an evening star and it’s very bright next to the moon, actually I’m looking at it right now (…) i wish we were looking at it together”. This parallels the quote “For Belly, Conrad is the sun and when the sun comes out, all the stars disappear”. Venus was named after the goddess of love and beauty. And just the whole thing foreshadows that their love might go for a while but will never disappear because it will always return to them.

4. No one mentioned this but when Belly and Jeremiah were in that store picking up the cupcakes on 202, as Jeremiah walks away there’s a frame in front of just Belly in which you can see them selling peaches and pie – and we all know that book 3 bellyconrad scene involving a market and peaches.

5. Just the parallels, the references of their relationship, the song choices for both couples, the infinite necklace, the shirt, the change about Belly losing her virginity to Conrad.

6. Jeremiah referring to BellyConrad as having some “invisible string”. Also, let’s point out how Nikes by Frank Ocean played during a Belly and Jere scene last episode and it basically says “I’m not him but I’ll meant something too”.

7. And just since last season, when Belly and Conrad kissed, the song choice spelled their entire arc and I know it was intentional because it was cut in a way that you could hear: “This love is good this love is bad. This love is alive and back from the death. This hands had to let it go free and this love came back to me.” And “when you're young, you just run. but you come back to what you need”. The original song doesn’t follow that same line but bellyconrad songs are always cut in a way that foreshadows their arc. Just like how the lines used for The Way I Loved You foreshadows Season 2.

8. Conrad saying last episode that he seems himself in Cousins and the beach house in 10 years. That same house being the one he finally confesses to Belly, the one he lives in when they reconnect and the one they end up together and married at.

9. BellyConrad and StevenTaylor are Jenny’s endgames for sure and they’re paralleling each others arcs right now. With Taylor and Belly going onto that journey of wanting to “let go” of their first love only to realize they’re just settling for that type of love that it’s just easier because they are not that invested in it emotionally. It won’t hurt as much if you’re not truly in it. Jenny basically called Steven as “Taylor’s Conrad” so it makes sense why Taylors low key projecting on Belly right now.

Like, it’s not question bellyconrad is endgame. They are being written as the love story of the show and Jeremiah as the person getting in the way of that. “And unnecessary detour” as some reviewer called it. Everyone can see it except jellys that keep making their relationship deeper than it actually is. Jeremiah is clinging to belly as a way to cope with his mother’s death and so is she. And it will come back to bite them.

Couldn’t have said it better myself anon 😂 I don’t have much to add because… yeah. I think you nailed it all.

#I like to think most jelly shippers know they aren’t endgame and just like Jeremiah but some definitely don’t #bellyconrad #ask

[duhragonball]

Dragon Ball Super 063

It almost... almost feels like a proper Dragon Ball arc.  Too bad they didn’t start to get their shit together until there were only four episodes to go.

Last time, Vegeta went to train in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber while he waited for the Time Machine to refuel.  Apparently now Vegeta can just blow up the entire building where the HTC entrance is located, so I guess that settles the question of how he manages to avoid getting trapped inside. 

Also, Goku spent the last night learning the Mafuba, a technique which should be able to contain Zamasu, even if they can’t find a way to kill him.

As for Trunks, he stayed behind in his own world to hold off Zamasu and Black so the others could escape.  And now we find him... waking up in the resistance base?  Okay, this is starting to really piss me off. 

First of all, this saga has featured no fewer than three round trips in the Time Machine, and each time, characters make the point that they can literally arrive a few moments after they left.  And yet, when it actually comes time for them to go back to Trunks’ world, it seems like hours have passed for no good reason. 

The first time Trunks left, Mai was lying on the ground, presumed dead.  By the time he returned, she had not only recovered, but had engaged in two more fights with Black in the meantime. 

The second time, Mai programmed the time machine to go back on automatic pilot, and Trunks was worried about her staying behind.  By they time they return, she had gotten into another battle with Black, and was lying unconscious in a resistance base, barely hanging on to life. 

This is the third time, and Goku, Vegeta, and Bulma left while Trunks was in the middle of a losing battle with Black and Zamasu. They still haven’t returned yet, and somehow Trunks has not only finished that battle, survived somehow, but he was also taken to the base and he’s been recuperating ever since.  Oh, and Mai left the base to take on Black by herself again. 

Apparently some scouts located the bad guys’ cabin in the middle of nowhere, and Mai’s gonna try to take out Goku Black with a special bullet that Bulma designed before Black killed her.  I feel like that weapon could be put to better use while Trunks is on the field to provide a diversion.  But the point I’m making here is that this must have taken a few hours to arrange. 

I’m getting the impression that someone involved with the scriptwriting believes that you can’t set the time machine to return to a few seconds after the moment you left.  Like, it’s permanently fixed on seventeen years forward or backward.  Essentially, when a day passes on Goku’s world, a day passes on Trunks’ world.    Which would be fine.  The time machine didn’t used to work that way, but you could easily say Bulma had to make some modifications to compensate for her lack of familiarity with the technology.  But they never spell that out in the dialogue.  Instead, they keep acting like they can return to the same minute they left, but they just don’t do it for some reason. 

Second, it’s really, really cheap to leave Trunks in the middle of a desperate battle, and then just skip ahead to the part where he escaped by the skin of his teeth.  This is the same show that insists on showing us minute after minute of Beerus and Whis eating, or Emperor Pilaf’s matchmaking nonsense, or Gowasu slurping down gallons of tea one cup at a time.  But now we’re gonna leave things up to the viewer’s imagination?  Fuck this saga, fuck this saga, fuck this saga.

So guess how this plays out?   She misses the shot, and Trunks shows up in the nick of time to save her.  Then he makes a second heroic last stand...

And Black stabs him in  the torso.  I’d ask why it’s taken a full year for Black to do this to Trunks, but that’s a silly question.  Black probably has done this to Trunks before.  He’s probably done it a dozen times.  It’s just that it doesn’t actually hurt anybody for very long. 

Then Goku and Vegeta show up before they can finish Trunks off. They square off, and Black zaps the time machine to cut off their escape route this time.  Finally.  They make another speech, but the boys don’t bother listening.  Instead, Vegeta asks where Goku put that jar he was going to use, and it turns out he left it on the time machine. Whoops. 

Also, Gowasu and Shin are here.  They have Time Rings of their own, and since Beerus couldn’t intervene, they’re the next best thing.  Black tries to kill Gowasu a third time, but Goku and Vegeta block the shot.  They warn the Kais to leave, but Gowasu is adamant about trying to resolve this situation.  This guy is even dumber than I thought.  What the fuck is he going do about this?  Does he think he can appeal to Zamasu’s better nature?  Zamasu hates Gowasu.  He’s the second guy he ever murdered, and he liked it so much he went to a different reality do he could do it again!

Oh, in this scene, Goku asks why the Whis of this universe isn’t getting involved, since Black killed all the gods in this reality.  Shin explains that if you kill a Destroyer, the Angel who serves as his attendant sort of deactivates, and doesn’t return until a new Destroyer is set up for him to serve.  So Whis, Vados, and the others are Angels.   Also the real question is why the Grand Zeno of this timeline hasn’t noticed all the people getting Zamasu’d to death.

Anyway, they finally start fighting, and lo and behold, things go a lot smoother now that they have a game plan.  Vegeta now overwhelms Goku Black, while Goku keeps Zamasu busy so they can’t get a double-team going.

As for Bulma, she’s here too, and she was expecting the time machine to get wrecked, so she came prepared.  She brought a capsule containing a repair bay, and some super-glue for fixing the broken pot for Goku’s Mafuba.  Trunks is tasked with putting it together.  I... think he could put his talents to better use.

Anyway, Vegeta gives Black a whole speech about why he’s getting his ass kicked right now, which would probably sound more convincing if this weren’t the third attempt to defeat him.  Vegeta says that Black is nothing but a cheap copy.  He viewed Goku’s body as a weapon, but it was forged in battle, and a non-Saiyan like Zamasu can never operate it to its fullest.  This rings hollow to me, since Goku Black is stronger than just about every Saiyan who has ever lived.  I mean, sure Goku and Vegeta might be on top at the moment, but Vegeta talks like Nappa or Tarble could take this guy out, which, no, that’s bullshit. 

But at least the good guys are ending the episode on a high note.  This is something the arc has been missing for a while now.  Most of it has just been characters asking stupid questions and griping about their own mistakes.  Now they’re finally taking things seriously and thinking ahead, and it’s a lot more satisfying to see.  It won’t last.

#dragon ball #dragon ball super #2023dbapocryphaliveblog #goku #vegeta #bulma #trunks #goku black #zamasu #mai #gowasu #supreme kai #master roshi #turtle #fuck the zamasu saga forever

[ben-talks-art]

Why I like Jaden

"As long as I'm here... As long as we duelists are here, we can continue to believe in our possibility!

Your turn will never come."

One trope in storytelling that I tend to really enjoy is the "reaching your lowest point" trope. I know, shocking, the guy that loves stories about struggles, relationships with misery, and fighting back to earn your victories... Who would have imagined it!!

Things like" The Empire Strikes Back" from Star Wars, "The crossroads of Destiny" from Avatar, the fight against Scar from Fullmetal Alchemist, the season 2 finale of Reboot, basically every episode of Arcane, the entire final arc of Cahinsawman part 1...

I just love when the heroes get their asses kicked super hard, take some time to lick their wounds, and then return even stronger than ever after going through some spiritual or emotional journey so they can get back to the fight, except this time you, the audience, is even more pumped than ever to root for them because now we have a score to settle!

And I feel like the character that left the first big impact on me with this trope was Jaden, from Yu-Gi-Oh! GX.

What's funny is that, even before his "fall from grace" moment, Jaden was already a character that I liked a lot.

I was super into his cheerful and upbeat attitude while playing the duels. This was a small thing that kinda bothered me about characters like Yami or Yusei, they never seemed like they were having fun while playing. I like that Jaden would look like he was having a blast even when the opponent was winning because just enjoyed their cool boss monsters or weird strategies that much.

Even when he lost he would just be like "Man... That was still awesome, though! Let's do it again sometime!" He was just such a chill dude, the kind you want to hang out and play with.

I also was a huge fan of his deck. "Elemental Heroes" was an archetype that mixed a ton of things that appealed to me in particular. The use of superheroes reminded me of Marvel and DC movies, the use of the elements reminded me of Avatar and Xiaolin Showdown, and the use of fusion reminded me of Dragon Ball Z, Digimon Adventure 02, and Megaman: Battle Network.

A big part of why I liked the duels in GX was that it always felt exciting to see what fusion he was going to use next, which heroes would he combine, and what they would look like. It was like in Ben 10 where part of the fun was finding out what new alien would be used next. It just brings a very kid-like joy.

Although I really wasn't a fan of the whole animal alien thing they tried to do later... To me it felt like fixing what wasn't broken.

But yeah, the real thing that made Jaden stand out so much was his journey back from hell.

I think this was probably a common thing at the time, have a character fall so they can rise back again, but this was my first time seeing it done in such a way. It wasn't just that he took a hit, it was that the hit itself was his own fault.

Jaden often receives negative comments from the fanbase that he is too cheerful, too upbeat, and that he doesn't take things seriously enough (because God forbid we have someone actually enjoying playing card games... ), so it was interesting to see him going through an experience that makes him completely question his life choices and wonder if he needs to change before progressing.

Like I mentioned in my Zuko post, I love when characters look back at their own actions and try to wonder if someone's getting hurt because of the way they live their lives, and this is exactly what Jaden goes through.

His arc isn't just a "reaching my lowest point" moment (they did that in season 2 already), it's also a "reality check" combined with a "redemption arc" where he needs to look at his own flaws and grow from it so he can make up for his mistakes.

And what I really appreciate is that his mistakes aren't just boiled down to "don't have fun playing." His mistake was that he didn't take into consideration that there is a time and place for everything.

It's not that he should be always serious or always cheerful, it's that he needs to know not to live under extremes and realize when to be serious, when to be cheerful, and especially, when to consider the situation of those around him and their own struggles as well.

This is one of the few series that actually feel like they make use of the "power of friendship," because a big problem Jaden was also having was that he was starting to get too strong for his own good and ended up relying on his friends less and less, and it was that reconsideration that caused his downfall and only when he realized that someone was suffering more than he was that he started his journey to truly maturing.

Whether it is kid-like Jaden or adult-like Jaden, there is always something about him that brings a smile to my face.

I feel like Jaden is one of those characters where you can analyze and take away tons of interesting themes and messages. Loss, growth, friendship, learning to enjoy life, knowing how to enjoy life, sympathy, support, sacrifice...

Favorite character list>>

#jaden yuki #supreme king judai #yugioh gx #judai yuki #yuki judai #yugioh

[unchataparis]

A 'DO I SHIP IT?' template made by XStephTheHedgehogX on DeviantArt.

Before I get immortalised as that one Liladrien person who writes a lot of stories about them and seems to genuinely ship them: yes, I do ship them. I think they're both interesting and aesthetic people, underutilised by the plot with a lot of dynamite potential together.

BUT, I also do not think Lila and Adrien should not end up together in the permanent, romantic sense because their psyche just cannot aligned. Even in a future where Lila is redeemed and a morally good person, their outlook on life and general stance regarding hobbies and careers are simply too mismatching. I can see the two of them dating, having fun and respecting each other, but settling down for the long term? Adrien is the 'white picket fence' and 'two-and-a-half children' person. Lila is the 'growing old elegantly in a private mansion surrounded by fourteen cats' kind of gal.

NOTP: So, although Lila and Adrien is my favourite Miraculous pairing, it's purely because they're my favourite Miraculous characters. I want to see them in a relationship together, but I don't think they'll work out quite so well in the long-term.

I SHIP IT: One hundred percent. I feel like Adrien and Lila's arc went tremendously unexplored. I wonder how their meeting would've gone if Marinette never interrupted them in Volpina, if Adrien and Lila could've formed an actual friendship, and how Adrien would've reacted to Lila's lies from there. I feel like Adrien needs someone like Lila in his life, someone like Félix, whose appears to care about him but is also willing to feed him the facts bluntly.

underrated/why not?: Again, stemming from the points above, there is so much potential for how a relationship between Lila and Adrien could've went. I really don't like how in Season 5, Adrien started standing up to/exposing Lila for Marinette. I felt like he could've done it for a more independent reason.

would read a fic about it/reads fics about it: Absolutely! In fact, I take it one step further and writes fics about it.

the sexiest pair: I should mention at this point that when I write about Lila and Adrien, they're either late teenagers or early adults. I'm not fond of writing about adolescents getting it on. From an aesthetic standpoint, Adrien and Lila mesh together perfectly. Old money and high luxury, glittery baddie and designer purses. Think about yacht parties and mansion photoshoot scenes, red carpet dates and clandestine late-night rendezvous. I made a post way earlier about what Adrien and Lila's aesthetic would be, and you can see what I'm envisioning, right?

i'm curious, can i know more?: We don't know anything about Lila. In fact, we don't even know her real name. Is she Cerise? Or some other vixen in the hiding? I'm not entirely sold on this Lila/Cerise/Iris mash-up yet, because it seems to come out of nowhere to me. Lila already has a massive 'plot-twist' in that she's actually a liar and a huge arc of Miraculous had been devoted to her exposé and the class' subsequent reaction. The next step in the narrative would be how Lila moves on/takes revenge. Instead, we, the audience, learn that Lila has another trick up her sleeve, she forged her whole identity! I'm very excited to watch Season 6, because, new powers, new outfits, and new Butterfly villain aside, I also really want to find out what's up with Lila.

Fun fact: It was pretty hard to find sources on this, but did you know that some ship names develop based on who the dominant partner is? I couldn't find who originally coined the term Liladrien, but if they're not making a perfect combination of both of their names, then they believe that in a romantic relationship between Lila and Adrien, Lila would be topping. Sounds about right.

#miraculous #adrien agreste #lila rossi #liladrien

[maya-matlin]

Love Haley James Scott and would love to hear what you think her main flaws are! I'm asking because I've seen people say she's too generic a character but I do think she has clearly defined strengths and weaknesses?

I'm so glad you do! Honestly, I can't understand that thought process at all. Every character on OTH could fall into a cliche archetype, but that doesn't make any of them generic.

The biggest flaw that stands out to me is that Haley can be judgmental at times and expect others to adhere to her personal moral standards. But at the same time, I don't really blame her and agree with her nine times out of ten? Like, Lucas, Nathan, Peyton and Brooke usually deserve to be called out by Haley because they're being self destructive or selfish in some way. Regardless, it's still a flaw because Haley will never be that friend or partner you go to when you want zero judgment. Haley also puts a lot of pressure on herself particularly during the early seasons to be perfect. I feel like a lot of that stems from her upbringing. Haley's parents were free spirits and kind of let their children do whatever they wanted, meaning Haley probably had to create her own structure. So to overcompensate for some of her more rebellious siblings like Taylor, Haley kind of shaped herself into the perfect student, good girl, literally waiting until marriage to have sex. A lot of that seemed to be because it's what she herself believed in and felt was right, but at the same time the subtext is there that a lot of the reasons Haley holds back from putting herself out there is out of fear and insecurity. Living an entire life trying to be perfect, never taking chances, is what led to her arc in season 2, aka her biggest "mistake" of the series. Nathan is a good husband to Haley and someone who supports her dreams, encouraging her to believe in herself. So as a result of his unwavering support, Haley gains more confidence in her talents and allows herself to want the life of a musician. The problem is, that dream will take her away from Nathan. When everything becomes complicated and the possibility of Chris causes tension, rather than being honest Haley keeps it all a secret. Ultimately, she was a confused teenager that rushed into marriage and hadn't had the opportunity to become her own person prior to settling down. While Nathan is the right person, the timing is questionable and so Haley wrestles with that. From there, who's to say? Her arc ends when she leaves for the tour and only starts back up after she's decided the music will never be enough without Nathan. Just when Haley is starting to let herself love performing again and Nathan is able to overcome his insecurities regarding their season 2 problems coming up again, she gets pregnant. This leads to years of Haley putting herself last, defining herself as a wife and mother. So weirdly, one of her biggest strengths could also be considered a flaw. Haley is far too selfless. Putting herself last sometimes manifests itself in almost resenting her current life, feeling stifled by it. But through therapy and open and honest communication, Haley seems to overcome that and becomes much more open about her desires from the end of season 5 until the end of the series.

Anyways, I have no idea if this answered your question, but I love Haley so much.

#Anonymous #Not my gif

[neoyi]

I was going to finish up the rest of Aqua's journey in my current post of her, but I ended up working my way through the Final Episode, and I have a lot more to say. So new blog post. God, the Terranort battle was a pain in the ASS; there's a reason I tend to avoid the superboss fights in these games - I just can't handle 'em!

By the time I found out there was a Secret Episode afterward and the lengthy requirement needed to achieve it (defeat 9,999 Unversed? No, thank you!), I just about raised my hands and settled for a Youtube video to get the full context. Same for Blank Points, the obligatory KH Secret Movie. Regardless, let's go over some talking points I have - mostly positive! I thoroughly enjoyed Birth By Sleep, found the Wayfinder Trio's individual stories compelling, and came out crying for these doomed souls to get a happy ending (which I know they will because I've spoiled myself with some of KH3's plot, but hey.)

It makes the most sense that Aqua lasted the longest out of the Wayfinder Trio. Not to downplay Terra and Ventus' concerns about their ailing friendship (the latter's entire second half is about him trying to find new friends after worrying about his own), but they're also saddled with their own burdens to bear. Aqua's dilemma has always been about her friendship, right down to her rank as Master, which got mixed reception from her friends (Ventus thinks it went to her head while Terra was none too pleased to be spied on under Eraqus' order.)

But because this is HER specific arc, Aqua's the one who managed to, at the least, slap a band-aid to the big, giant boo-boo Xehanort shitted out. Anything else and the literal apocalypse would have happened then and there. And even she could not escape a doomed fate, such is the nature of prequels. Can she get a pat on the back for having to endure a realm of Eternal Darkness for a WHOLE decade with nothing but a keyblade and especially, her inner strength?

BBS really does a great job demonstrating Aqua's talents. It's understandable why she's a Master. And in a way, she ends up being the default protagonist of the game as a whole. I can see why people like her so much; at the time of this game's release, she was desperately needed after a sea of female leads who were... well, less than optimally used (Namine I'm kind of torn about, in that while she is physically passive, she does have a character arc fully told, one I genuinely liked.)

Until I finished the Final Episode, I was disappointed Aqua never learned a lesson about the balance between Light and Dark, but BBS unfortunately, never practiced what they preached. For all that they pontificate of a cosmic balance between the two, it boils down to Xehanort, champion of Dark, being The Evil One. Yeah, we do see specks of it throughout the series (I cite Riku again, who walks the path in-between) and Eraqus' pro-light ended up screwing over WAY more than he wanted, but the latter's fears is also justified. Xehanort's entire scheme boils down to "yeah, but what if?" If he had a sympathetic reason, than we'd see someone who uses Darkness to achieve it because there would be no other way to bring about his dreams. But no, he's just curious and that just doesn't gel with what BBS was trying to tell us. It is strictly and always defined by Light = Good, Dark = Bad.

I suppose if anything, it's consistent with the rest of the games. Mickey can say they don't hate the Darkness all they want, but as long as the game keeps going with this particular binary structure, BBS' core message ends up poorer for it.

At the least, it makes sense why Aqua didn't take in any of the Light/Dark Are Balanced speeches by the end, because she's seen firsthand that Darkness has been nothing but trouble. Why would she believe a balance between the two were remotely possible?

Some other observations...

It's appropriate Aqua is the only one in Lilo and Stitch World to officially (albeit briefly) work under the Galactic Council, she who is most likely to obey authoritative figures and all. However, Aqua does question their intent once she realizes Stitch is capable of love, something the council does not see. It's a small step, but Aqua did come out of it at least questioning her commanding officers instead of the near blind obedience she'd usually possess through and through.

It's a shame Aqua's gender means she gets moments where people flirt with her, even though she's visibly uncomfortable at one point. I'm aware it's in-character for Phil to be a pervert (and really, accurate to Greek Myth), but my GOD, Aqua was incredibly patient with this guy. I'd have told him to take his little horndog ass outta here. And then Zack hits on her. Like he's actually really sweet as a whole, but she definitely did not want to, yet he keeps relenting until she just...basically puts up with it and says, "I mean, maybe. IF you become a hero." Which we all know is an excuse she had to make to get the fuck out of here and leave this dude. I'm not opposed to flirts and romance (Sora and Kairi's relationship is legitimately cute as fuck to me), but these scene are clearly one-sided and should have stopped after a certain point. Zack, you're a good kid, but read the room.

Okay, so way back in my Terra Talks, I assumed the ten years ago timeline meant ALL the Worlds follow that consistency, Hercules being a junior hero-in-training being the primary example. But the further I played, the more the game contradicted my thoughts. Snow White is the same age here as she was in the first KH game. Same for Aurora who's awaken by her prince by the end of BBS instead of what I thought her suffering eternal sleep all the way to the end of KH1. And none of Mickey's pals have aged lickety-split between BBS and the first KH (though given the unique nature of their... being, who the fuck knows how their biology works?) I think I just have to conclude that each World operates on its own internal logic and time. Which is totally fine, I think that's the best and simplest explanation. If anything, BBS answered a question I had in that I wasn't sure if the Lanes Between was like "space" or "inter-dimensional void that links Worlds." It's the latter, it's totally the latter, as evident when you jump from the Lanes Between TO space in the Lilo and Stitch World. So yeah, I appreciate the clarification.

Ahh, I was wondering if they were going to show Sora's connection with Ventus. I'm still not sure how this explains why Roxas looks like him, even if the guy hung around Sora's... metaphysical... inner light (???) instead of just Sora, But A Nobody. Maybe the Nobody decided this dormant blond boy brooding inside this kid was a better pick, fuck if I know. What is this, two souls Sora has hosted now? Ventus, than Kairi? Proooooobably Namine who's essentially Kairi's Nobody, but she existed because Sora held Kairi's heart? Man, I'm giving myself a headache trying to figure this out. *slaps Sora's head* This boy can pack so much souls in him, is all I'm saying. Christ, no wonder Aqua did not burden Sora with the passing of the Keyblade, it's a lot on anyone's plate. Course, she had no way of knowing this kid's going to take EVERY SINGLE BULLSHIT that's happened so far and beat the everliving crap out of it with the biggest and most sincerest smile on his face.

So, was Kairi's grandmother the only living relative she had? And is she dead? Kairi has no desire to return to Radiant Garden and I just assumed it's because she has no real ties to it anymore. Like, it makes sense. She ended up on Destiny Islands when she was four and has spent more time living in that world than her own. Why would she go back? But does she not have family back in Radiant Garden that thinks about her and vice versa? Was it just her grandma? Is grandma dead?

Motherfucking the Land of Departure ends up being Motherfucking Castle Oblivion?!

Oh, Lord, Ansem the Wise is still alive? I still maintain this character is the most useless addition to the entire lore, especially because I prefer the story of a King corrupted by his Heartless experiments and mucking up the multiverse because of it. I mean, too late now, Xehanort is his own thing and Ansem... exists, I guess.

...Wait, Leonard Nimoy voiced Xehanort while Mark Hammill voiced Eraqus. They're meant to be complimentary equals to each other with opposing beliefs. Star Trek vs. Star Wars. Nomura, was this intentional?

Birth By Sleep ruled, I liked it a lot, and it might be one of my favorite in the series. I don't really like prequels because it either boils down to origin stories that never really establishes anything we didn't already know or care to know about the central protagonist, or doomed to inevitability that was already established in the first material that didn't need repeating/expanding.

BBS, however, taps into the greater KH lore that were merely footnotes (literal journal entries, in fact) in previous games. The story of Xehanort and his many incarnations were only vaguely defined other than this guy did some shady shit back in the days.

Elaborating on his true goals by bringing in a slew of new characters that nonetheless are pivotal to the overall series ended up working marvelously for the series as a whole. Because now we have a much greater, crystal clear vision of what this jerk wants to do that genuinely sets the stage for future games.

Like, KHII could have ended Sora's quest then and there. The Big Bad was defeated, his organization is down, and the heroes reunite and returned home safely. But we knew this was gonna be a money-maker for however long they can punch out games for it, hence BBS.

It's not just a prequel, it is legitimately a stepping stone that paves the way to KHIII.

Yeah, I'm starting Dream Drop Distance like right now.

#birth by sleep #neoyi plays kingdom hearts #kingdom hearts #neoyi plays birth by sleep #neoyi talks