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itsclydebitches · 10 months

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Just finished Good Omens 2 and I'm honestly boggling at the Aziraphale hate because yes, his decision led to the angsty cliffhanger, but it makes SO much sense for his character. Not just in a "Religious brainwashing and sunk-cost fallacy" kinda way but also a "Aziraphale has no reason to believe this isn't the perfect solution" way. That scene among the nebula is crucial because it establishes that Crowley loved being an angel—reveled in his ability to create and allow his creations to grow kinda like plants—and the only problem was that someone else was calling the shots, someone who wouldn't listen to his criticism. Aziraphale has also spent 6,000+ years watching Crowley do good, all the while forced to deny the fact that he's "nice" lest embracing his original nature get him into trouble with hell. Now, Metatron comes along with an offer that fixes everything in one fell swoop. Crowley can be an angel again, be nice without censure, his ideas and criticisms will hold weight because he'll be answering to Aziraphale, and they'll be together.

It strikes me that Aziraphale isn't there when Crowley sees Gabriel's trial, ergo he likewise doesn't see the (non)acknowledgement that there's an institutional problem up in Heaven. There just happen to have been two archangels who called it quits. Same when Gabriel blurts that phrase out to Crowley. Aziraphale has always been more blind to the ways in which Heaven is "toxic" (for very understandable reasons) and this season he's continually sheltered from new evidence of its structural problems. The plot just preaches to the choir: Crowley. He likewise wouldn't see the conflict Gabriel and Beelzebub have caused as evidence of an underlying problem because that's a problem he and Crowley will no longer share. Why would they be worried about Heaven still being unable to accept partnerships between angels and demons when Crowley will no longer be a demon? And that's something he presumably wants based on Aziraphale's memories of him and the ongoing admission that he's lonely.

The way I see it, they got what they thought they wanted at the start of Season 2. Heaven and Hell are keeping an eye on them, but functionally they're left alone. Crowley can spend all the time he wants with Aziraphale and nothing comes of that except that they're both continually named traitors and the higher-ups grumble about it. If Gabriel had never shown up, things should have been perfect based on Crowley's "Let's just run away and have each other's company" standards. Better, even, considering that they get to be together on their beloved Earth, rather than being bored out in Alpha Centauri without any sushi, plants, books, or Bentleys. And yet... Crowley doesn't strike me as particularly happy. Because, you know, based on that kiss he wants to be with Aziraphale, not just literally be with him, but the point of this post is that his "Let's run away and be an 'us'" falls totally flat when he doesn't explain that specific desire to Aziraphale; the desire to change what an 'us' means. From Aziraphale's perspective they're already an 'us.' That was the entire point of "our side" in Season 1 and now they can continue to be 'us' up in Heaven. Plus, Aziraphale likely sees this as a sacrifice on his part. He will give up his bookshop, his Earthly indulgences, take on the responsibilities of leadership (which I don't think he actually wants for a variety of reasons), and spend the rest of eternity in a place where he's felt so small because he thinks that's what Crowley wants. Crowley was happy as an angel. Crowley wanted them to be together without risk of permanent discorporation. They were able to achieve that after not-Armageddon and he still wasn't happy... so surely those two things together will do the trick. Crowley never actually articulates how he wants their relationship to change and the kiss comes much too late, when he's already rejected what Aziraphale must see as a perfect, selfless solution he's secured for them. Even if Crowley wasn't always moving too fast for him, an overture of romance isn't going to go well after that.

Is this crushing and angsty and devastating as a hiatus? Damn straight, my heart it breaking. But it's a good setup. More importantly, it makes perfect sense for their characters, particularly when they're still talking past one another. Aziraphale is someone who has always moved more slowly as a matter of course, as an angel he has remained immersed in the rhetoric of Heaven, his main avenue of breaking free of that (Crowley) has a huge communication problem (to say nothing of his own denial. He only made headway with the help of Nina and Maggie, seconds before Aziraphale shows up), and Metatron (in a no doubt incredibly manipulative manner) has just offered Aziraphale a job that presumably makes him happy AND Crowley happy AND allows him to maintain the moral this-is-how-the-universe-works perspective he's had since he was literally created. Of course he's going to say yes to all that!! And sure, there are problems in Heaven, Aziraphale isn't completely blind, but he can fix them now that he's in charge. How? Well... he'll figure that out later! Kinda like how he's been making plans on the fly this entire season. That seems logical from his perspective, right? It's not like he's gotten a crash-course in the concept of the master's tools never being able to dismantle the master's house...

#Good Omens #Good Omens spoilers #Good Omens 2 #Good Omens 2 spoilers #GO2 #GO2 spoilers #mymetas #this is so rough and I'll probably write better metas later #but I just have FEELINGS RIGHT NOW OKAY

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raayllum · 9 months

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Off the back of your post regarding Callum being happy to kill Aaravos and how this differs to Rayla-

What if the key for him to unlock the moon arcanum is not just his love for Rayla but also realisation that all life is precious? Not to say that Callum doesn’t already believe this (he hates using dark magic after all) but that to take a life is not something done lightly (referring back to the scene in episode 1/2 with the moon shadow elves talking about assassination and how life isn’t taken carelessly) and it’s this realisation/ acceptance in a similar manner to how the moon shadow elves view life/death and taking of life that enables him to connect to the moon..?

Yeah, Rayla sees killing as like - a duty or revenge, and something to be fierce in maybe (she wanted presumptive-Viren to know it was her in Chasing Shadows) but not something to... revel in or enjoy per se. Not that Callum does either, logistically (most of the time, with 3x09 as the exception) as he treats the matter of finding a way to kill Aaravos pretty seriously, but he's definitely more... light hearted and eager about in comparison to Ezran and Rayla

I don't think for him it comes from treating life/death lightly, it's just that he's operating on a different set of internal morals. He doesn't like death and violence and dark magic, but he'll still engage in all of those things readily to protect his loved ones on a measure that Ez and Rayla don't have the same... attitude/narrow-ness towards? I'm trying to think of how to articulate it, but it's like... Ezran (hypothetically) and Rayla (in early s1) will try to carry out doing things they know/think of as Wrong (as Callum calls out Rayla on in 1x02) but not typically succeed in going through with it (the exception being a lack of action on Rayla's part, arguably, in 4x05)? Or will loop around and frame it as this is the Right Thing to do or genuinely believe that it's the Right Thing to do (which is far more like Claudia, but I've talked about between how Ezran-Claudia and Rayla-Claudia frame things similarly before / that's a meta for another day)

To me Callum is more like Viren than Claudia in terms of justification (whereas Callum is more like Claudia in terms of his motivations) which I've also talked about elsewhere. He'll know and fully participate in something he believes is Wrong (like dark magic) if the ends (saving his loved ones) justify the means without trying to warp it into being something right - just something necessary

Like I don't think Callum losing his protective / loving nature for his friends is the answer, per se. (I don't know what Viren would've done in 5x09, for example, if killing Sir Sparklepuff had been required to save Claudia's life rather than his own, y'know?) I've said it before and I've said it again but there's nothing Wrong with that kind of love / it is absolutely understandable and where I think most people would fall, even if people might have more limits or lines they wouldn't/won't cross.

On of the things with Callum's tunnel vision / obsessive nature is that he can get fixated on certain things and miss the other side of an equation, i.e. Rayla isn't telling them everything in 1x06, so it takes until the end of the ep for him to settle on prioritizing what she has told him; the resource of magic comes from the primal stone (even though as Ellis points out, it also needs someone to channel it to actually be useful) and so therefore without it he's "nothing"; he put himself and Zym at risk in 2x04 "for nothing" because he didn't even connect anyone, missing the point (as Rayla reminds him) that the important thing is that he and Zym came out of it okay, and that his life is way more important (and is already valuable) regardless of any magical ability, etc etc.

In Callum's worries over Aaravos in S4 ("What if I'm on a path of darkness?") he's losing sight of the potential choices he does have. And obviously S6 is going to be very Greek Tragedy of him playing into Aaravos' hands somehow no matter what or precisely because of the lengths he's gone to in attempting to Not do that, but we're thinking S7 endgame, y'know? In focusing on the darkness, Callum ignores the possibility of light. In focusing on a light or dark dichotomy (as the light, evidenced by the key glowing in the pawn intro, isn't always Good either, just as dark isn't always bad), it's ignoring the fact the can and should and probably will throw the binary away. Just as "powerless human OR dark mage" as a dichotomy has been reconciling to a "a powerless human IS / equals being a dark mage" over the course of arc 2 so far, I expect that to collide with the sentiment of "No matter where you are on the path, every step you take is a choice" as also "No matter where you are on the path [of fate] you can always change the game, create a new destiny, take control back into your own hands, etc" y'know? Not just winning or losing the game, but upending the board in the first place. Breaking the cycle; breaking the system

Basically: if Callum does connect to the moon arcanum (and it is adjacent to the brainwashing and/or fully re-connecting with Rayla in S6), I think it'll come from him being able to remember and reconcile his "inner darkness," yes, but also with light, that these are all parts of him and the sum of them is greater than and that he is not singularly marked by any particular part. That much like the prison and the broken mirror, he is a puzzle in his own right, and the only people that can solve him are himself and the people he loves, and certainly not Aaravos.

#tdp callum #callum #tdp #the dragon prince #pawns #light and darkness motif #analysis series #characterization #moon arcanum theory #thanks for asking #mini meta #i hope this was coherent but if anyone wants expansion on any of this please lemme know <3 #analysis #anonymous #predictions #s6 #s7 #s6 speculation #this was the angsty meta btw

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kimageddon · 1 year

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Hey I wanted to thank you for your comments on the long thread about Phee/Tech and neurodivergence, etc. You managed to put into words what I couldn't about posts of that nature and why they were bothering me; I've mostly just blocked them rather than try to articulate what didn't sit right. Neurodivergence is a large spectrum and I think it's easy for everyone to assume a given ND character's experiences must align with theirs, rather than acknowledging it's going to work for some of us and not others, and that's all part of being a large, diverse group of people whose life experience at the hands of neurotypical society is going to be radically variant.

Hello Anon!

Thank you kindly for such a lovely message! I am very glad that I was able to say something. You may regret sending this, because I am jumping back on my soapbox.

I'm gonna talk about Autism, ND, mental health as it relates to Tech and the Bad Batch.

This is gonna be another long one:

For clarification, if anyone needs it, my message in the aforementioned thread was to offer a different perspective as the arguments did not make sense to me. I wanted to talk about the show and not about the people having the opinions.

I wanna clarify that my comments in regard to Autism being different was not to dismiss the experiences of anyone ND but to specify that while perhaps you(anyone reading this) would find the comment "it's called a conversation" upsetting (I know I would if it were said to me!).

However I do not think Tech would.

My reasoning is this:

Autism is treated differently in men and women and men (generally speaking) are not pressured to mask as much. (They still are, but not to the level of women from everything my research tells me.)

That being said, Tech has not really had to do that from the evidence I have seen. He Info dumps, interjects, and pretty much acts with confidence throughout the time we see him. Why would he need to mask? He was created to be a well of information and his brothers more or less accept him as he is.

To the argument that Phee somehow controls or manipulates or otherwise pushes her self on Tech in any manner.

I think that is ridiculous.

Firstly, she is gentle and kind when she speaks to him, if a little sassy. Nothing Tech hasn't encountered before from his brothers, or even dished out himself.

Hunter's introduction to us of Tech is: "He can fill your head with useless info for hours."

Which is probably the most dismissive thing said to him in the time we get to know him, but that just doesn't bother him.

In relation to this, people saying things like this are at risk of infantalising him. Which is a major problem within the Autistic and ND community.

Secondly. Tech is a grown ass man (weird clone aging aside). If he didn't like Phee or something she says, he can walk away, and I believe he would. He doesn't appear to feel the societal pressures, he's a soldier and doesn't get civilian etiquette so why would he follow it and stand around her just to be polite?

"Since when have we ever followed orders?"

We aren't children.

We might think differently and process differently, but we are people. We're not poor widdle babies that don't understand our feelings. We don't need protecting from the world and people that wanna treat Tech that way are doing he and the Autistic people that identify with him a massive disservice.

Finally, I wanted to clarify the part of my message that seemed to be the most controversial.

If something is so deeply upsetting that it affects your mental health detrimentally perhaps you need to look at your life and disengage from said thing.

From what I gather, some people have interpreted this to mean : just don't watch the Bad Batch. or "it's just a stupid show why do you care?"

This is not what I mean.

Of course care about it, get engaged with the characters and the story and let it make you feel things.

What this message means is:

If something -- whether it be a piece of media, a person/relationship, a social platform --

Is so deeply upsetting that it effects your mental health detrimentally -- if you have trouble sleeping or thinking about anything else or fall into depressive states (not depression generally speaking but because of the something specifically) and you cannot function at your usual level --

Perhaps you need to look at your life -- true happiness comes from within (i'll get to this in a sec) --

And disengage with said thing -- take a break, take a breath, drink water, have a snack. Let your emotions process and let yourself relax, then you can go back to it (provided of course it's not a toxic situation.) --

I realise this is far easier said than done, and it would take a significant amount of introspection, but I use this in multiple situations, not just here.

The TL:DR version; go touch grass, you'll feel better.

Alright, we've strayed a little from the point

Finally: Ship and let ship.

If you don't like Phee because you prefer to write Tech as not liking anyone but y/n or your OC -- go for it! That's totally valid! (They did it with Anakin so why not?) Besides, there were only a few interactions and it was a budding closeness, it's not like Tech was getting married to her!

But if you wanna make excuses that you only like the actress when she's not a direct romantic threat to your blorbo or do some mental gymnastics to try and portray her interactions as toxic, and he "deserves better" my dude, that reeks of something else entirely.

I decided to cut it here as it's getting a little longer than intended and I wanted to keep this to Tech/Bad Batch related stuff. I will make a post explaining the more controversial takes that apparently upset some people.

That should be interesting.

Again, thank you anon for the kind message, and giving me an opportunity to further clarify my thoughts.

If anyone has any questions or counterpoints, I would be interested to hear them.

#kima answers #hot take #the bad batch #tech #phee genoa #clarification #autism #neurodivergent

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sparklycardigan · 3 years

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Your tags on the "Jess and Lorelai are alike" post reminds me of something that occurred to me a while back, and that is: Jess is a combination of all the people Rory loves most, in one person. He's like Lorelai, but he's also like Luke. And she can share music with him the way she does with Lane, and argue with him like Paris, and share her love of literature with him like Richard... I mean, I know I'm biased, but clearly that means he's her perfect person! 😉 (Once they're both mature and ready, of course. Which is the thing, isn't it?)

Believe it or not, this actually crossed my mind a couple of times too, I'm just incapable of articulating my thoughts sometimes, mind gets overcrowded with ideas and the ideas obviously like hanging out together, but they also fight and I'm pretty sure there's some popcorn involved too (woah, previous sentence, Lorelai much?). Okay, hear me out (for the 2627627372 time, how do people still put up with me, where's the Lorelai quote???

yeah, that's the one!!!!!😌)

Anyhow, here are the 🎇thoughts🎇 (heads up: the following text is messy and probably makes zero sense, sorry in advance):

It's already been established that Jess is kind of an anomaly to the Gilmore Girls universe given how he has storylines that are entirely separated from the lives of the girls. If any of the characters was going to be shown as (shown as, it's all about perception) a collection of different personalities, it was him (besides the Gilmores, but they are the protagonists, it makes sense that they are the ones with the most layer). And people tend to be contradictory personality-wise in real life, but for writing, choosing to put the main focus on particular character(s) and showing the story from their point of view implies that you have to approach everybody else's story with a rather subjective lens. And that means how every person in the life of the main character gets a set of traits that resonate with said main character the most. Those are the traits that are going to be highlighted. Example (everything turns into a science experiment with me apparently): if Paris were to be the main character, the show would have naturally explored more of her journey and given us more information about her experiences (note how we already have more than enough material to analyse when it comes to her, but the things we have are heavily intertwined with the way Rory perceives her), but would have cut a bunch of Rory-related storylines. Maybe Paris wouldn't be as beloved because there would be more of her to see and Rory would have been a very different character from the Rory that we know (in what way different, I don't know, but it's not that relevant to my point). What I'm trying to put an accent on here is that Jess obviously has a lot of traits that resonate with Rory considering the manner in which his story is handled. It all links directly to that conversation we had a while back, the "they see each other with absolutely no filter" one. Rory understands and knows Jess (and vice versa, but the important puzzle piece here is that the show is told through Rory's pov) to that great of an extent to make him worth the risk of challenging the way this entire creative universe works (this can be applied to Luke in relation to Lorelai too). Even with Lane, the aspects of her life we are allowed to witness are the aspects of her life that Rory's been introduced to in detail (and if Rory knows about it, it's automatically a part of her universe). On the other hand, there's a bunch of stuff that Jess goes through that Rory has absolutely no knowledge of (and doesn't get to discover in the eternity of the show either, the swan incident for example), but still, the creators chose to show us that regardless. I think it says a lot about the importance of Jess in Rory's life. I totally followed the train of thought too far into the forest here, I'm a big time geek when it comes to the writing process and the way that things work😅. I just think it's not a coincidence that Jess is shown to share/shares that many personality traits with people important to Rory. And yes, I'm referring to him and Rory as life mates (let's just hope I get the copyright from Anne Shirley in court) from now on, I think it fits perfectly. They're each other's person, you know? And I am in no way dissatisfied with their ending in AYTL (open endings my beloved <3). Literati just give me that "best friends first, soul connection" vibe (and I kind of have a reputation for being a platonic soulmates queen around here so I suppose my take is somewhat valid, friendship is the solid ground of their dynamic, that's why they keep coming back to each other, there's no magical destiny stuff involved, I need to write a detailed post on that). I do believe Jess is Rory's 🎇perfectly imperfect geek🎇. And now I shall add Grey's Anatomy quotes because that's from where I get the my person obsession:

I think I might be a Gilmore myself, I managed to talk about a thousand things in one post and who knows what will happen in the tags...

#to further my friendship is the centre of their dynamic theory #the quotes i shared are meant platonically + literati and the relationship from the gifs are my main obsession in both shows #so yeah #look at me all objective and evidence at the ready #none of this makes sense #literati #otp: it's just you #otp: you wrote a book #gg meta #gilmore girls #jo rambles #but seriously im rarely big on romantic stuff and im obviously obsessed with literati #im taking that as proof that they aren't just bad boy good girl trope physical attraction is all there is to it #that's definitely not the case #sparkly answers

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frannyzooey · 3 years

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So I was attacked with kindness today, UNPROMPTED might I add, but that's okay because I can give as good as I get. There are so many people I could shout out to, so here are just a few people that make my life richer and fuller by being in it:

@radiowallet - Poorly Wired Circuit owns me. I think about Marc & Techie at least once an hour, and I love what a rich world Cat has created from a shoddily slapped together children's movie. Honestly, she should be the one to write the sequel - it's a shame she's not. (Netflix, she's available, I'm jus' sayin'.) As if that weren't enough, Cat is just an all-around amazing human - a cheerleader on all ideas big & small, an enabler of the best kind, and her reblogs are one of the many highlights of every time I post.

@loversandantiheroes - I think about Hotel Hobbies... I don't know if I ever stop thinking about Medsie's Jack, if I'm being honest. Honestly, she's gotta be sick of me talking about how much I love it and is gonna block me soon, but that's the risk I'm willing to take to spread the good word of the Yeehonk Gospel. More than that, Medsie is a true talent, and you can always see how much hard work goes into her fics - she really spends time with a character and has one of the best handles on Jack I've ever seen.

@asta-lily - Can we talk about Lils? Let's talk about Lils. The kindest soul ever - Lils was the first person who ever reached out to me when I first started posting and just immediately made me feel welcome when I felt very much like an outsider. To have someone like her, whose amazing fics I already adored (side note: Prince of Dorne, anyone?) reach out to me and immediately extend friendship? I firmly believe it's the reason I didn't panic-delete my tumblr and slink back into lurk-ville. She's truly an angel.

@astroboots - CiCi, or my fellow connoissewhore as I like to call her, destroyed my puthy with Homecoming, and for some reason, I keep coming back for more? So much more than filthing-out in the DMs, Cici is great for bouncing plotline ideas off of, or helping you get unstuck in a narrative. She's always willing to let you ramble, and then often will just go "what if... [insert brilliance here]" and it blows my mind. She's also so supportive, when you're feeling kind of low, she knows exactly how to encourage you to keep on keepin' on.

@yespolkadotkitty - How could I not talk about Kitty? She's genuinely so kind and lovely. Fighting Blind is one of the only fics that's ever made me cry - like genuine, snotty ugly cry kind of cry. I still think - damn, how'd she do that? fairly regularly. Her ability to create these OC's who are so layered, who feel so incredibly human astounds me, and I'm just generally in awe of her at any given moment in time.

Oh god - this is turning into a dissertation - so I'll end it here, but this is by no means a comprehensive list - just a few people who I wanted to shout out to. <3

I can’t even add anything to this because you’ve already said everything so articulately 😍😍 and I agree with every 👏🏻single 👏🏻one 👏🏻

@radiowallet @loversandantiheroes @asta-lily @astroboots @yespolkadotkitty come get showered in love! ❤️❤️

#fic rec game #spread the love ❤️

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honeyyoni · 4 years

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Lately I got some requests about my figures and I know that some of you are collectors of action figures/ dolls or Star Trek fans or both. So I thought a little review is perhaps interesting for you.

Qmx launched their line of Star Trek figures in 2016 to the 50th anniversary of TOS, starting with Kirk and Spock. And this year they released a reissue of both.

Both versions are sold out at QMX but some retailers may still have a few or you can always look for a pre-owned one via eBay or similar platforms.

However one crazy person (me) who already owns the first released Spock could not help herself to get the reissue Spock figure too and realized that there are noticeable differences between the two. So if you consider to get yourself one of the two and are in doubt if you should look for the first release or the second one, I will compare them for you.

Here are the two gentlemen in front of their boxes, which are also different from each other. On the left, first issue Spock I will call Spock 1 and on the right re-issue Spock, I will call Spock 2.

At first or maybe second glaze you may notice that Spock 2's body is leaner than Spock 1's.

If you think about Spock's famous role model, the gorgeous Leonard Nimoy, the leaner body is probably more accurate.

Regarding the level of articulation and quality, both bodies are quite equal to each other. They are solid and the joints work well. As you can see below and maybe in some of my posts, the many points of articulation make it easy to pose both gentlemen very lifelike.

But before we take a closer look at them, let's have a look at their boxes.

Spock 1's box opens very easily like a book and closes with two magnets very nice and neat. It is not only a nice design IMO but also very friendly if you don't want to damage the box when you unbox the figure.

Spock 2's box slides open and close. As far as I heard, this is the standard for the most action figures, however the risk of damaging the box is higher and the other design is more fancy.

Let's have a look at their uniforms :

I could not find any difference in the material and color, but I noticed some differences in the tayloring and the insignia.

The shirt of Spock 2 on the right side is more fitted than Spock 1's shirt on the left. Additionally to the actually slightly leaner body of Spock 2, the more loose fitted shirt of Spock 1 is also a reason why he looks from certain angles a bit bulkier than Spock 2.

It seems to me that they really took an effort to improve the sewing pattern of the shirt. The shirt of Spock 2 is not only better fitted, also the sleeves are longer.

That's an advantage for me because I personally like it when my figures joints are covered. If you have a look at Spock 2's sleeves you can see that they are long enough to cover Spock's hand joints even when his arms are reaching out. The sleeves of Spock 1's shirt are shorter and only cover the hand joints when his arms are relaxed.

But apart from the better fit, there are also some important details, the 1st issue version can claim to their advantage. If you look at Spock 1's cuff on the left it looks way more dimensional, detailed and accurate than Spock 2's who looks more like simply painted.

The insignia on the chest of Spock 2 is bigger than Spock 1's insignia and seems a bit out of scale to me. The smaller insignia looks better scaled.

Ok let's go to the bottoms.

The pants are pretty identical. Coming to the boots, I can't see any significant difference too. I heard that some people say the boots of the re-issued version (right) are glossier. To me, they look almost the same.

Let's have a look at the hands and accessories.

The relaxed hands are quite different.

Spock 1's hands on the left seem to me a bit more in scale and naturally shaped while Spock 2's hands seem to be a bit too large, especially the pointing finger seems quite fleshy, compared to the whole figure as well as to the other fingers. Even though, through the camera I noticed that the paint of Spock 2's hands looks more lifelike. This means actually the shape of Spock 1's hands combined with the paint of Spock 2's hands would make the perfect hands.

All the other hands are identically shaped in both versions. The difference is the slightly darker skin tone of Spock 1's hands and the more lifelike coloring of Spock 2's hands.

But another difference that I noticed is that the material composition of Spock 2's hands is slightly softer. I would neither say that this is an advantage nor a disadvantage, it is just different. However, it's maybe a bit more easier to put accessories in Spock 2's hands.

The accessories they come with (Phaser, Tricorder and Communicator) are identical both in their looks and functions.

The Communicator can open and close, the Phaser can be separated very easily from a type 1 to a type 2 Phaser and snaps back nice and neat with a magnet that holds everything securely in place. And Spock's Tricorder opens and closes also very nice.

After all the accessories look amazingly realistic, just like in the series and the several hands fit very well with them.

The only thing is that 1st issue Spock was also available as an exclusive version with his famous Vulcan lute. Unfortunately I was too late to get the exclusive version and I'm a bit disappointed that the re-issue is only available without lute.

Now let us finally have a closer look at the skin tone and head sculpts.

The first picture shows Spock 1 in front and profile, the second Spock 2.

In fact both are adorable because it's impossible to be not adorable when you are a resemblance of Leonard Nimoy.

However when the first issue Spock came out, most of the people who reviewed him remarked that the skin tone is unusually dark for Spock. And some of them also remarked this kind of glossy finish that can be visible mainly through camera, depending on the light and angle.

Spock 2 has a lighter skin tone and his painting is matt. Of course the lighter skin tone is more accurate.

So at first glance you could say that the painting of the re-issue version is better than the painting of the first one because the skin tone is more accurate and no glossy finish. I heard from several people that they prefer the second version.

After all, they are both very close together and the painting of both is terrific. For example the eyes of both look so lifelike, or this dark shading around their chin and cheek area is fantastic and just looks like their facial hair is shining through on the end of a long day of duty at Star Fleet.

But there is one thing why I personally don't agree that Spock 2's painting is better.

This glossy finish of Spock 1 is more visible through camera than in hand. In fact if you compare both in hand, they are very close. But if you'd ask me who of them looks more lifelike and not like a doll, it's Spock 1. I can't exactly explain why, maybe because of this finish that let's him look a bit shiny sometimes. He simply looks more vivid.

But this is my personal perception and other people may have their own opinions.

Honestly I can't say that one is better than the other. It also depends on what is important for you because both have their advantages.

The box of the 1st issue is fancier, more stable and easier to handle.

When it comes to the appearance of both figures:

Spock 1's face looks more vivid, his relaxed hands are more in scale while Spock 2's leaner body and lighter skin tone is more accurate to the role model and the painting of his hands is more lifelike.

When it comes to the clothing:

Spock 1's insignia both on the chest and cuffs looks way better in quality and scale while Spock 2's shirt is better fitted, especially in the sleeves to cover his joints.

And the accessories are identical, except you could get 1st issue exclusive Spock with his vulcan lute.

After all, I love them both. And there is only one thing better than having a little Spock, having two little Spocks...

#1/6 scale #Spock #QMX Spock #quantum mechanix #Star Trek #star trek tos #Action figures #Qmx Star Trek

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yarrowleef-babbles · 3 years

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anyway I'm at the end of my impulsive grishaverse binge. The King of Scars duology was fun to read and I enjoyed it.. It was also dumb as hell. But honestly I am here for a good time not a...idk, sensible time. Look I’ve been reading almost nothing but warrior cats for over a decade, clearly my standards are low and I can handle a lot of nonsense and still enjoy the ride

(but rly I still don’t know why the Darkling returning is a thing at all. He’s just a less intimidating shadow of his former self. He went out in a blaze of glory and however he goes out the second time is going to be underwhelming in comparison. I literally KEPT FORGETTING HE WAS AROUND during Rule of Wolves until his POV chapters came up because everything else felt like a more pressing threat, meanwhile he was just. There. Dicking around. I forgot. the *DARKLING* was around. That’s almost impressive. He just came across as so pathetic compared to the constantly looming threatening force he used to be. There were so many enemies and problems to face with the Fjerdans and everything else, why even add him? I feel like I would have rather the main problem just being fixing the mess he left behind, and have Nikolai figure out some other way to solve the fold and his demon problem, considering Lantsov kings being dumb is part of what enabled the Darkling for so long to begin with. He could fix the remaining scars of their biggest mistake before retiring the Lantsov line. Idk, that would require a rewrite since apparently whatever is happening with the Darkling is going to motivate the next plot, but all that junk about the magic tree just felt. Tacked on rather then woven in? if that makes sense? considering how often I kept forgetting about him I feel like it would have been better to just....Let Nikolai have the focus in fixing this issue, no Darkling meddling needed. Darkling stays dead while we struggle with the ghosts and damage he left behind, and he left A LOT behind, he doesn’t need to literally be here as well. I Do NOT want him to get any sort of redemption arc. he Does Not Need One. Can’t we just let him go I’ve had enough of this dude)

Next point, I am surprisingly fine with Queen Zoya, I think the duology did a good job setting both of them up for this when I look back on it, although it did catch me by surprise at first. Her turning into a LITERAL DRAGON???

lissen, I Do Not understand the fantasy rules of this world at all sometimes, sometimes it feels like crazy things Just Happen when plot needs it, and its felt that way ever since Shadow and Bone (like last book with the Saint Sand Castle. JESUS CHRIST what was ANY OF THAT I feel like I got transported into a different series I kept putting down the book to whisper-yell ‘what the fuck is happening right now’ to myself, I STILL do not really understand how those people were alive, how their magic worked, or where they were, their explanation didn’t make sense)

but look. Look, sometimes I also Do Not Care, dragon Zoya was SICK AS HELL. You can be as dumb as you want if you’re also sick and hell while doing it, thems the rules!!!

Neutral on the Nikolai/Zoya relationship. It’s fine, w/e. That’s my stance on most MC romances so shrug.

ANYWAY if I’m honest with myself the Crows are my main true emotional investment in this universe so everything else that happens with other characters is kind of a “yeah ok I guess this is happening now, whatever” one way or another. But my crows. I adore their banter. I loved their appearance, even if it was mostly unnecessary fanservice. I miss them all so much.

I have no interest in investing myself in book fandom culture (it seems like its just...not my scene) I’m vaguely aware that Hanne and Nina’s relationship is controversial. (i’m vaguely aware a lot about this duology is controversial but I don’t know everyone elses reasons as to why, though I have some guesses). And Listen, I can totally 100% sympathize if you are someone who was at all emotionally invested in the helnik ship, even though its been over a year in book time, from the reader perspective Matthias like, just died. And to have Nina immediately thrust into a new meet-cute so quickly while she’s literally standing over his fresh grave?? Yeah I get why that might sting a bit.

I, however, am not rly a helnik stan, in fact the handling of Matthias and Nina’s relationship was by far my LEAST favorite part of the SoC duology, an awkward frustrating stain on books I otherwise adored so much. Their relationship started off making me wildly uncomfortable (I have a lot of complicated and frustrated feelings about Matthias in general, I think i’ll probably end up making an overly long post complaining about him later on) and though it got a bit better in Crooked Kingdom, it still only reached “I guess I will tolerate this” levels, and then he died before i could finish reconciling with it so. I'm just left frustrated by the whole thing.

For me, her relationship with Hanne felt way more natural and less uncomfortable, yes even if its less ~dramatic~ then almost dying together in the arctic.. (I always felt like she and Matthias were attracted to each other in SPITE of who they are rather then BECAUSE of who they are you know? i just don't love that as a basis for a relationship It’s...ugh look again Matthias is a whole can of worms for me, I can’t get into it right now. It just doesn’t do it for me. I never understood Nina’s attraction to Matthias, so being better then that is a low bar for me. ) I’m not head-over heels with Nina/Hanne or anything, but I like it just fine and I think Hanne is a neat character.

I didn’t think Nina could carry a storyline on her own, but I was surprisingly often more invested in her then Zoya and Nikolai? I was only neutral to her in six of crows, I liked her, but less then the others....... mainly again because she was So Wrapped Up In Matthias Whomst I Do Not Exactly Love that it was hard to appreciate her on her own. I’m glad I got the chance to focus on her and grow to like her as an individual.

Maybe her crow status gives her my bias, or honestly maybe I just like high risk spy stuff that felt like it had more immediate danger and stakes every moment to her rather then the more big-but-impersonal concern for a whole country and the exhausting political complications of ruling Ravka, which is what Zoya and Nikolai were often grappling with. I still liked that storyline, but my personal preference is with Nina’s type of stakes (thats probably just another reason why I liked the SoC duology most in the grishaverse)

Which aaaaaaaaaaah, leads me to what is for ME causing the most emotionally charged Issues with the end of this book!!!! It’s probably not the biggest issue objectively, but I am not feeling objective right now, I am feeling emotional! While I think the Darkling returning is dumb, I have less emotional investment in him and the characters surrounding him so that, even though I dont exactly like it, I don’t really mind that much what happens to him, I’m willing to follow the story down whatever nonsensical rabbit hole it wants to go

but WOW I am I NOT a fan of Nina suddenly being the queen of fjerda??????HUGELY MASSIVLEY NOT A FAN OF THAT MY DUDES. And not just beause it came out of left field (which is most certainly did).

i mean people more articulate then me have already probably talked about why this is a miserable future for her, so. that bites.

idk, no end to this post, just lots of words

#soc #kos #row #grishaverse

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raayllum · 1 year

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I don't know how I could cope between-seasons without your tdp analyses; Raay, thank you so much! I was (re)reading your meta section, specifically Articulation of Need. It hit me that, 4x07, Callum finally says "I need you" to Rayla... and it's just devastating. I guess I don't have a question, I just want to reiterate how grateful I am that you've shared your analyses as I've gained so much insight into and appreciation for this show because of you. Thank you.

🥺

Re-reading aAAH gonna pretend I know how to deal with all those compliments eloquently but I'm so glad you're enjoying it still!! Inspiring and spreading appreciation is all I wanna do (as well as emptying my lil meat cage brain so I can think other things) when it comes to posting meta so like!!

Aah thank you so much, that meta was one of my favourites to write (and I actually cried a little at my job at the time over it, constructing it in my head while doing other tasks, lol! Still gets me a little teary now) and like, S4 was Insane for it as an add-on??

TLDR for anyone who doesn't feel like reading the full (2k-3k??) meta but: Rayla's big loving Callum speeches are always about how much she needs him and can't lose him. Callum's big loving Rayla speeches are always about how much he admires/adores her, not expressing that he needs her in the same manner. Rayla always places herself in between him and the threat as much as possible, reinforcing that she doesn't want to lose him. Callum almost always just asks to go with her, indicating that the threat is worth the risk of both of them.

Case in point: Callum has never asked Rayla to stay. In S4, we see this begin to shift in Rayla's direction. She's gone from asking if he'll stay to asking if she can stay.

Even her little mini speech while he's sleeping is all about how special he / they were (are) to her, how much she doesn't want to lose him, how he's the best thing she ever had. Alternatively, Callum is so much more confused; it takes to the end of the season to be able to move past just all the anger and admit that he's "so glad" she's back. But just like in every season prior, Callum shows that he needs her - to not emotionally repress, to not go down a path of darkness - in action rather than in word. And just like every season before, he's surprised that she doesn't know this, because he's surprised that she's leaving (again). To him, how can she not know that he needs her?

But we know that she doesn't, because S4 gets so close - closer than they've ever been before, while ironically simultaneously understanding each more and less than ever before - and then pulls the rug out from under us.

Because in her mind, her parents all left because they didn't need her; Runaan was only taken ('killed') because she was a detriment to the mission: "Five of us won't be enough. We need all six" "We'll be stronger as five." And in Callum's mind (for most of S4, but not by the end, I think) how much could Rayla need him, when she left him behind?

But this is what is most beautiful about their S5 / possession plot line set up. Rayla will be asking for him to stay with her, because she needs him, all over again. And in coming back to her, he'll prove in action (yet again) that he needs her, and maybe even in word, And, through many different options of circumstances that may extend past S5 or past this plot line (although again, I lean toward it being resolved in S5) Callum will reiterate that he needs her - not to kill him, but in order for him to truly feel like he's living.

He will finally ask her to stay, to realize that it needs to be asked and to be willing / brave enough, after everything, to ask it. To ask her to stay. And Rayla will have finally had the development she needs, too, in order to say Yes.

#its-leethee #rayllum #tdp meta #tdp #thanks for asking #LIKE OMG THANK Y O U this is so sweet <33 #the dragon prince #mini meta #analysis series #personal fave #constantly chasing after you #adjacently #and i will Bawl my eyes out thank u #analysis #they are so <33 #wishlist #s5 speculation #s6 speculation

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