#i mean its revealed at the end of episode 2 but to be safe

[nemmaemma]

If I had a nickle for every time Byeon Woo-seok's character has rented an explicit VHS from his crush's video rental store, I'd have 2 nickles. Which isn't a lot, but it's weird that it's happened twice.

#20th Century girl #lovely runner #kdrama #byeon wooseok #at least his characters are consistent lol even down to the fact that they all die🥴 #lovely runner spoilers #i mean its revealed at the end of episode 2 but to be safe

[mr-grizzed]

I LOVE HOW THE NOWHERE KING IS WRITTEN.

the title says it all!

but lemme go more in depth. centaurworld spoilers under the cut.

OK. so let me get started. basically where it starts is only being mentioned by name maybe TWICE before the season finale? and you forget all about it by the time you get there, due to the shows Wacky Antics and what not… but hes never truly elaborated upon? which i really like? its just a really vague lullaby that sounds really nice and then you hear the lyrics and ur like "Oh Yeah Ok i guess." and then you get to the rift, horse and rider meet up and for like 2 seconds ur like "HOORAY!" and then the GOOP starts dripping and ur like "oh nah." and then one of the hardest villain designs in fiction just APPEARS? and hes IMMEDIATELY on their ass about the key. standard villain affair after that, but he gets WAY more interesting later. trust. something that rlly sticks out to me abt the rift pt 1 and 2 is the line of "i intended to spare you all." which IM PRETTY SURE I DIDNT HALLUCINATE BUT STILL. thats just so????? What did he mean by that. also i like how when the woman appears, he IMMEDIATELY kneels and says "i never stopped thinking about you." we LOVE foreshadowing.

and then she DOES end up stabbing him, just not fatally. he escapes to the human world after they "smash his skull" and "kill him", while they all head to centaurworld. so far Yeah I Guess It ain't much but it does set up something later.

after this, in season 2, we're introduced to the general (He will be important.)

hes not rn but he will be. anywho, the nowhere king goes back to the human world, and starts amassing more of his army. he begins doing some Crazy Ass Shit fusing animals together to make super minotaurs, and just. villain affair yeah.

his story doesnt really pick up until the last episode, where horse uses her backstory magic to see whats inside of him. and as much as she sees, its just a black void.. til she does something and.

WHAT THE FUCK. normal ass elk in his brain ig?

so he introduces himself, and comments on how similar him and horse really are. horse asks wheres the nowhere king and hes like "oh. thats me. im a part of him." and then he gets hit with the "nowhere king is nothing but evil and you seem really nice!!! what do you mean youre a part of him?"

and then HERE WE FUCKING GO.

im doing this chronologically in order of timeframe when it all happened, not in timeframe of the show.

so its revealed that he USED TO BE A CENTAUR. particularly an elktaur, who was a mechanic who worked on the rift.

^ look at him.

and he kind of HATES it. he wishes he wasnt a centaur because as humans travel in and out of centaurworld, they always have to make some passing remark about how centaurs are seen as lesser than humans, to the point where he Literally Just Shoves someone through the portal to get them to stfu which. That was so fucking real of him. not to mention he literally just fixed an interdimensional portal from bugging out which ungrateful??????????? wtf u couldve died?????

then he meets this human princess.

standard love at first sight affair. he IMMEDIATELY becomes flustered as soon as shes like "we'll tell him the reason we were able to get back at all." while smiling at him.

(hi elktaur.)

ANYWHO she then leaves centaurworld, and throws a party for him at the human world for. Securing the safe travels of everyone between dimensions.

this booboo ass cake.

she then points out how hes missing his antlers, and rather has a hat on. to which he replies, "they fell off!" Oh we'll get to that

do they know how to eat a fucking cake. Sorry im getting too offtopic anyways

he then presents her with 2/6 key pieces, to which she fuses them together and makes one whole. she comments on how shes learned a lot about magic from being in centaurworld, and how you need to respect "both sides" which is going to be a MAJOR theme for these two.

he does feel, that the love isn't real though, or that it wouldnt work, due to the way he was. which was, a centaur. And we will get to what he did dont you worry

this is where we find out what happened to those antlers of his.

HE FUCKING SAWED THEM OFF. to appear more human.

he then tests the magic of the key by taking a turnip to the rift, and firing some sort of blast at it. and what hes resulted with is

it being separated into 2 things. Naturally you can see where this is going so ill cut to the chase. he blasts it at himself, hoping hell lose the side of him thats a beast, and hell be fully human, but then..

THATS RIGHT. THE FUCKING GENERAL IS THE "HUMAN HALF" OF HIM. when i saw this shit for the first time i YELLED.

the elk then proceeded to have a perfectly understandable panic attack. to which horse tries to comfort him, only going to another memory.

the elk and general confront eachother, with the elk saying "we made a mistake." and the general just absentmindedly going "yeah i shouldve invited you to the wedding lol" because he DID in fact marry the princess.

he tries to convince the other half of himself to undo the mistake theyve made, saying "we didnt even try. she couldve loved us how we were." only to be followed with, "no, she loves ME." and he straight up STARTS DROWNING THE ELK????

fortunately, it doesnt end up working.

theyre still connected. whatever affects one, affects the other. meaning that he dies if he kills the elk. so what does he do instead? well, captures him of course.

and its never shown on screen, but its stated he put him in the castles deepest dungeon, a windowless cell, which he couldnt even STAND in, for a decade.

by the time he escapes he. is a LITTLE screwed in the head. understandably. so he thinks to make his own family, by fusing humans and beasts.

he's made the first minotaur.

and this scene is especially rough because you can just SEE his slow decline into the nowhere king.

this is accentuated with him telling himself "i don't belong anywhere."

the self hatred fucking GOT him.

and he just starts to look worse and worse every time he spins that key.

Oh hey look at that hes starting to look kinda familiar

THERE WE AREEEEEEE!!!!!!

then we're brought to a scene where the princess takes the key out. to which she reality checks the FUCK out of the general.

"whatre you doing? put that thing down! havent you seen what it's done to him?"

"you locked him away in the dungeons. did you think there would be no effect?"

the princess then shatters the key, being thrown into centaurworld, with the general being thrown into the human world, and the elk -- now, nowhere king, being locked in the rift, as both doors close.

then stuff happens w rider and horse ig but this aint abt them sorry whats important is that the general tries to kill rider for shooting at the nowhere king

the princess, then appears and the general tries to counsel with her. "i had to do it! i had to do it so i could stay with you!

(images stop here bc i put too many above)

the princess then SNAPS and has her horse kick general off a cliff, to which the nowhere king follows him down.

the princess also follows them down, and uses the key, saying "let me see you how you were. one last time."

she tells him she would have loved him the way he was, after all.

and then.. she brings back the key scepter, and starts SINGING A REPRISE OF THE LULLABY FROM ALL THE WAY BACK IN THE BEGINNING, AS SHE WINDS UP AND..

ending the tale of the elk and the general, for good.

in conclusion, i am REALLY obsessed with the character and how they handled the nowhere king. the feeling of being a hopeless romantic, but having that feeling that youd NEVER be accepted, so fundamentally changing yourself and ripping yourself in half, ending up in fucking up both you, and the one you just wanted to be with, for good. not to mention the allegories for internalized racism, self-hatred, and dissociation, and GOD man hes just so fucking well written. this entire story is so well written and heartfelt, and its just. so surprising for a joke with such. Ehhh humor at points that theres this story thats so. heartfelt and dealt with so much care in the final episode thats been built on over the course of the series.

tl;dr hopeless romantic who gets racially profiled splits himself in half. shocked to learn he hurt his lover as well and gets killed for it.

tl;dr tl;dr elktaur rolls "Worst Idea Ever". asked to leave mortal plane.

#centaurworld #nowhere king #elktaur #elk #general #god hes SO fucking cool. #i needed a way to speak abt him #ill add the other images later im tired #i just spent an hour writing this #spoilers

[ladyandherbooks]

So this week I got a sudden urge to rewatch some of Voltron (only the Lotor scenes and episodes minus the Lotura break up, Romelle's Lotor backstory and Lotor's break down, I'll never be in the mood to rewatch them) and here are some of my thoughts since its been 5 years since this shows cataclysmic end.

The Lotor vs Zarkon fight is still great 5 years on. The best fight in the show by far.

Lotor's escape from Zarkon in season 4 is also great and one of the best examples of his skills as a pilot.

Lotor really was one of the most powerful characters on this show. He went up against so many foes who had a huge advantage against him and still managed to come out on top.

The Galra civil war with Lotor and Sendak as the leaders on either side with Honerva/Haggar plotting and manipulating from the shadows should have been of the main storyline post Lotor's ascension to the throne. They could have done so much with it.

For example, the reasons why certain Galran controlled planets and Galrans would choose either Lotor or Sendak. Perhaps some half or part Galra choose to follow Sendak and the paladins try to find out why. And some Galrans may only choose Lotor because they want to be on the winning side and believe that they will be rewarded for doing so. You could see a range of reasons as why certain Galrans chose a specific side and why.

There needed to be more focus on the prejudices faced by half and part Galra and what Lotor and his generals being in power would mean for the future of the empire.

Speaking of the generals, there really should have been 2 episodes dedicated to Team Sincline's backstory. We should have seen how they all met and how they became so close. And only 1 break up between them, when they reunited in season 6 they should have stayed together.

Speaking of staying I'm now imagining a better version of Lotor's break down. Allura defeats Lotor in space, not in the quintessence field. But when they (Voltron) approach Lotor to retrieve him Lotor, injured and still in the midst of a breakdown gets one more burst of energy and he tries to take them down only to be stopped at the last second by his generals who, knowing that Lotor wasn't truly himself quickly snuck back into the Sincline mech. They subdue him, take control of Sincline and flee before the paladins can react. They then take Lotor somewhere safe to hide out and help him. You could even include the 2 year timeskip and have Lotor be in such a bad way physically, emotionally and mentally that it takes him 2 years to heal and recover. Can you imagine how great that would have been? The angst, the emotions, the friendship, the fact that Axca, Ezor and Zethrid refuse to give up on him no matter how bad he gets in those 2 years. Add in Dayak at some point and it would be great.

Also Axca, Zethrid and Ezor should have learnt about what Haggar did to Narti in season 4 and Lotor should have also provided them with an explanation as well.

We should have also have seen Team Sincline fight in their mech at least once per season.

The show really did suffer from the split seasons from seasons 3 - 5. I know that LM and JDS had a set number of episodes but these seasons would have been better if they had all been 13 eps each. That way they could have explored all their storylines without the rush.

Too many cool and interesting concepts introduced but never explained or explored e.g. Lotor using the black bayard and being able to create 2 different weapons with it.

The moment that Honerva/Haggar remembered that Lotor is her son is still a great emotional moment.

The colony was a good idea that was executed with very little planning or care. It could have been a really good plot point to create a temporary rift between Lotor and the paladins e.g. have the reveal happen at the beginning of season 6, have a season or possibly 2 of angst and then have them work together again after Lotor has atoned in some way. Lotor could provide his actual explanation of what happened to the other Altaeans, the alliance would have remained intact just with the added rift between the paladins and Lotor where the paladins would still help Lotor stop the civil war but they would keep their distance and would only meet with him in public. Then once they had all truly reunited Allura and Lotor finally become a couple.

Also have their relationship be used against them by Sendak and his supporters who believe that this is evidence that they will soon be ruled by non-Galra and the hypocrisy in this belief considering how many planets and people the Galra rule.

#Lotor #vld #Voltron #just some rewatch feelings

[turnaboutwriter]

what is the order of regions we will see Dawn and Paul travel through together in safe travels? SO HAPPY TO SEE YOU UPLOAD AFTER SO LONG GDSALKJGFG

Hi!!! I'm so, so, SO happy to be back, too!!

I can reveal the first three regions to you. I am hesitant to mention the order of the other regions, but I will list all regions that will be featured in no particular order in the story: Kanto, Johto, Hoenn, Sinnoh, Unova, Kalos, Alola, and Galar, with two regions being grouped together in one of the parts. Yes, I mentioned at the start that Safe Travels will be 6 parts, but it actually became 7 i lied sorry i just love these two too much.

As you know, we start off with Part 1: In Abundant Relations - the title comes from the meaning of the word Hoenn, "abundant relations." That is going to be 12 13 chapters long, which is actually the longest part in the series. The second longest will be Kalos.

Without spoiling much, Part 2 will be set in Unova (so based on what you know about Part 1's title, try to guess Part 2's title), and will be only 1-3 chapters long. Unova as the next destination lines up with the timeline of the Pokémon anime, when Dawn is in Unova for the Junior Cup. This also should indicate to you that the timeline of Safe Travels follow the anime canon except for the fact that they're all like 10-13 years old and that the anime spans over only like a year or two I don't believe in that cus these characters are too damn mature to be kids traveling unsupervised.

Now, Part 3. If you recall, in the anime, after the Junior Cup, Dawn leaves the BW gang to participate in Johto contests, as she mentions the Wallace Cup. So, that brings us to Johto. I'll tell you straight up, the Johto part is only one chapter long.

That's 3/7 regions you now know the order of.

Now, you mentioned Paul and Dawn travelling through regions "together," but Paul is not with Dawn for the Junior Cup in the anime, nor is he with her when she leaves for Johto . . . so, where is he? You'll have to wait and find out in Part 2 and 3 when we get there.

Originally, Galar was not going to be part of the Safe Travels Saga, at all. I took so long to craft and outline the story on a part-by-part, chapter-by-chapter, basis, and now I had to figure out how to add Pokemon Journeys into the story with both Dawn and Paul making cameos? How was I going to make this work? I was stubborn that I would not take into account the story of Pokémon Journeys, but in the end, I decided to bite and watch Journeys. After seeing Paul's episodes, the inspiration struck so ridiculously, that I outlined the addition of Journeys plot into the story in the following hour.

I promise, I'm working hard to crank out the Hoenn chapters. I plan to upload Chapter 9 of In Abundant Relations around the holidays - it's a big one as we get into the Rubello Town Contest and its aftermath - and then, Chapter 10 after the New Year.

I love hearing from the readers! It makes me so happy! Thanks for the ask and for reading my fanfic!! :)

#safe travels #pokemon #dawn #paul #ikarishipping fanfiction #fanfiction #ikarishipping #pokemon fanfiction #ask #answered

[maleficent-cannoli]

Timelining KP (part 2)

Now that we know VegasPete gets to happen over the last 4 episodes and there will be discussion of Vegas’ trauma I am on CLOUD FUCKING NINE because this means I get to stretch this out as much as I want to.

Approximately 10 minutes after I wrote that and I am once again anxious about pacing, but for other reasons. Anyway, here we go.

CAUTION: NOVEL SPOILERS AHEAD

General Outline-ish:

Episode 11 - VP episode, “fuck where’s Pete,” Porsche’s birthday (34 - 36)

Episode 12 - more VP, Kittisawasd family angst, funeral/Return of the Pete (36 - 40)

Episode 13 - post-VP, KimChay is a disaster, karaoke scene (yay!), parental issues, conversation re: Vegas  (42 - 44)

Episode 14 - more drama, boss battle, party (44 - end)

Episode 11:

So I’ve been talking with the lovely @secondtime20, and we’re hoping for a solid 50% VegasPete next episode

In terms of the preview, I definitely think we’ll get to see a VegasPete scene BEFORE Vegas makes the decision not to kill Pete and to hide him in his room instead, or at least a later flashback to it, just to allow us to understand why he would make that conscious effort to keep Pete when we’ve already seen how easily he’d shoot pretty much anyone point-blank

We could potentially start to see more of Vegas’ vulnerability outside of the highly controlled lens of its usage in manipulating others, more of the ugly truth, this could be the episode where we’ll see more of the inner workings of the minor family

I’m also hoping they get more into the REAL family dynamics between Vegas and Gun, as well as MAYBE with Macau, but I’m not sure yet

This is also probably the episode where PETE gets to see Gun for the abusive homophobe that he is

Unhinged time!

I want to see Vegas on his fucking KNEES

I think I speak for many of us when I say simp!Vegas PLEASE 

Also Pete’s hip tattoo… I don’t think I need to say more about it than that

Also maybe the shaving scene?

In any case, this is (hopefully) where we’ll see Vegas start to fall, and I want to see him fall HARD (I could literally spend hours talking about just this, but a lot of people already have and that would have to be a completely separate post)

Probably cut in with some main family drama 

KimChay reveal, mayhap?

I want to see our baby boy show his FANGS

But yeah I was a little put off by the fact that they so easily glossed over the fact that Chay is pissed and gave Porsche a whole-ass ultimatum at the end of episode 10

Maybe also trying to get Chay moved in with the main family for safety reasons because clearly the house is not safe anymore (they’ve literally had 2 kidnappings happen there, no more chances should be taken)

Obviously some Tankhun commentary would be amazing

Place your bets here as to whether or not Chay remembers Kim’s involvement in his rescue!

Yeah I think it’s going to be a total trainwreck and I am so here for it

But like I said probably mostly VegasPete and the development of their relationship

I could see the phone calls happening and the much anticipated “are you hungry?” happening here.

Depending on how they want to do it, we could maybe see some more romantic implications, but I don’t think Coco just yet

I am also wondering about Nop and whether or not he’ll exist in the show, although I think some people spotted him in the background of a number of scenes

And of course I have to say the obligatory “maybe this time we’ll get the pool scene” but like…

Anyways, I think I could see this being a slightly chiller episode, at least on the KinnPorsche front since they’re already been dealing with shit and yeah

Is angsty filler a thing? Because if it’s pretty much all VegasPete, that’s what people will call it. Idk man I’m barely coherent at this point.

Episode 12:

Wrapping up the main VegasPete arc + Pete escaping and, as much as I keep, for whatever reason, thinking of this as a VegasPete episode, probably other things will also happen

Honestly at this point I’d be inclined to call episode 12 our big VegasPete episode, but like I said there are other parts of the plot that I have to remind myself not to forget about now that we know we have more time 

(Probably) lots more VegasPete in this episode, *happy noises*

More phone calls

Maybe the shaving scene if it hasn’t already happened

Basically they’re falling in love and we’re all going to spontaneously combust

We’ll probably get the funeral scene and the Return of the Pete (because I will take any and all opportunities to make a LotR reference, even where it clearly does not belong), which will be absolutely hilarious, maybe at the end of the episode?

Bonus points if we get to see Tankhun dump a soup tureen on Vegas for finding the funeral funny

This is probably the episode where we’ll get to see the infamous love scene that was apparently intense enough for Bible to need an inhaler

I am REALLY hoping we get the Coco scene, or at least something like it

Aside from just VegasPete, we also might get some really fun KimChay stuff, and by fun I mean lots of crying and dramatic stuff

There was that scene from the trailer where he was crying so (could also be in episode 11)

Methinks Chay will be moved in with the main family by the end of episode 12 because reasons

Also this is kinda unrelated but I am struggling with the fact that I want Chay to be friends with Tankhun and the bodyguard trio but at the same time I also want him to have secretly been besties with Macau the entire time…

ANYWAY, I am also anticipating a whole boatload more angst on the Porsche front

As I was recently reminded, “you shag him for what” still hasn’t happened yet and it was in the trailer and sounds important so maybe it’ll happen here (I do apologize again for my general lack of brain cells)

But yeah the uncle needs to be back to stir up shit and just generally be a dick

A lot of the post-VegasPete drama will happen more in episode 13 because the show is just spicy like that

Episode 13:

A lot of post-VegasPete stuff, probably, because what else could we possibly need other than even more emotional damage?

The very enjoyable dumpster fire that is Pete trying to process the whole VegasPete arc while Vegas and Porsche do some sleuthing into Porsche’s dramatic Batman backstory

Or, as I like to call it, everyone is a hot mess (again) but this time they’re actually doing an okay job at figuring out what the fuck is going on

The karaoke scene, also known as the gathering of mafia wives (Tae’s words, not mine) which many may know is the scene I am most anticipating, will probably be in this episode

Chay is hilarious– WAIT. THOUGHTS HAVE ARISEN. What if the reason he’s pissed at Kim here isn’t because he thought he was cheating on him but because of the fact that he lied to him and used him for information??? (not going to edit this out later because who cares)

I love Tae, and Pete is doing not great

I especially want to see the part where Vegas ambushes Porsche in the bathroom to talk about Pete because “I love him and I can’t live without him” and yes, that is a direct quote

But yeah a lot of this is just digging into what happened to the Kittisawasd parents

I think we might need to start coming up with detective name puns for Porsche and Vegas in anticipation of this episode

And Vegas has both mommy AND daddy issues, the whole package

Also Vegas being all worried and asking Porsche about Pete to make sure he’s ok

Plus increasing tension between the major and minor families in the run-up to what I’ve been referring to as the boss battle

Episode 14:

The boss battle, the final showdown, the big dramatic fight scene, whatever you want to call it, that’s this episode

I don’t think there’s much else to say about that part

Basically wrapping everything up

The party from the end of the novel

I’d love if they did some of the stuff from the VegasPete special chapters, and by that I mean I want to see baby Venice Theerapanyakul

Probably ending on everyone’s favorite chess aficionado doing some ominous foreshadowing via some complicated metaphor that may or may not actually make sense (apple/knife metaphor who?)

So yeah. That’s what I’ve got. It has taken me WAY too long to make this, and I’m pretty sure some sections of it don’t even make that much sense, but whatever. Let me know your thoughts

#kinnporsche #kimchay #vegaspete #kpts #kinnporsche the series #vel tries to timeline #i kinda feel like i forgot to say something but whatever

[nalyra-dreaming]

Sorry to be party pooper when you were theorising and having fun, but I think I need to vent.

Anyway, we all can agree that this fandom has recently gotten a very toxic discours/discussion environment which just sucks. I mostly blame the writers for this, mostly because of ep 5. Not only did this add to obvious power imbalance between loustat, but also did make POC and especially black audiences understandable very uncomfortable. Not only possibly by the relationship (that is supposed to be endgame!) but also of Lestat (a future “hero” of the story).

As a white person I obviously cannot comprehend what it must have felt to see that from a racial standpoint, but it was very upsetting to see from my point of view alone.

Now, there are of course debates on if that scene were “out of character” for Lesta or not…I am still debating over that. (I mean, show!Lestat is a bit different from book!Lestat after all?)

What I find most frustrating about ep 5 is just “did they not think?!”. No but really, what did they think that was going to look like? How people would react and feel? Like??? How??? They didn’t at least have to make the DV so severe and brutal, especially when they have such powerful dynamics to portray. Right?

Idk. Maybe I am just salty because I really just recently joins this fandom (for real) that I thought would be chill and a safe place for many people and meanings discussions…and then there is this black cloud that didn’t have to be here in the first place. I feel frustrated for everyone😕

... I'm sorry you're feeling frustrated by all of it. *hugs*

Still - welcome to the fandom?! 💕

*sighs* So this is difficult. I can understand the frustration, I knew when I watched this would hit the fan, so to speak.

BUT. I have talked about it, too, several times, how this episode served other purposes (imho). In this post there's two articles linked by Linda Codega, which I recommend reading. I can link more posts by @showmey0urfangs and others on this, too, if you're interested.

The show... puts its finger into wounds, and worries them. Lestat does abuse. Lestat does rape. Lestat does force-feed. Lestat chops off digits. Canonically. He doesn't do that to Louis, canonically. Which is, imho, exactly the point.

By making it happen to Louis, and in this way, it forces us to look. By using certain imagery it gets waaaaaay beyond our comfort zone. On purpose.

However, in the context of the story(!) and here's the catch to it all - we do not know if it happened. It's a tale, and one deliberately torn apart in the end. Throwaway lines of episode 1 come back, to suddenly make sense and hint at the truth. Continuity errors and the very way people are held build parallels. I'm saying it again, this show does details, and it does not serve to conflate the issues imho.

And one thing re the writers and what they say: Imagine you're doing those big arcs, with full knowledge of the Chronicles, and the way you want to shake the narrative up... and then the season gets split. And you get asked why you did episode 5 the way you did. And you cannot say anything re the reveal in episode 7. You cannot say anything re what's to come in season 2, what you've been planning for (now) episode 12. You cannot say anything in regards to the parallels you've set up, or what Armand did (or not). Your viewership is mostly unaware of what's in the books (there was a poll the other day, like only 20%? have read a few books?!), as the reactions to Louis / Armand have plainly shown imho.

So what do you say?

This is not to defend them btw. I do think some of the answers especially by Rolin were... well. (And the missing content warning is its own fuck up.) But I also think that this is something that has to be factored in as well. Because of course they do not wish to give their game away.

Imagine if people (I am included here) are correct with episode 5, that the latter half of that "fight" was a modified memory, because something like this happened between Armand and Lestat, but not Lestat and Louis. As a writer, getting asked re the cloud gift... what could you say? You couldn't say "well, we're building a parallel for the big showdown in season 2, when Armand throws Lestat off a tower and later Armand is thrown off a roof by Lestat". And you cannot say "well, there's this scene in TVL, which will be in season 3, where Armand force-feeds on Lestat, and Lestat then beats him to a pulp and drags him by the throat". You just cannot say that, because it would the give the game away, at least to those who do not know the books?

And yes, I am aware that this is (book-canon based) speculation, and that we'll see.

But given the setup of the interview in Dubai you cannot even trust that part of the tale :)) Much less what is narrated. Which makes the OOC discussion void imho. We haven't seen the real Lestat, the real Louis, or the real Armand yet.

We haven't seen anything objectively true yet. Except maybe Daniel's apartment in the beginning^^.

So.

Feel free to come in and rant at anytime :)) But... personally... I think there is much, much more to it than the DV discussion alone, or the OOC discussion alone. And if that is actually true... then we're watching the show of the decade unfold. A true piece of art. And art... can be challenging.

Still. Said that before, too - I could do with less toxicity in the fandom, too. Especially on these so important and difficult subjects. I would prefer we could discuss them in a productive manner. But maybe that will only need ... time and perspective, (right, Louis)^^.

#asks #iwtv #interview with the vampire #fandom #I guess #future season speculation #ask nalyra

[vole-mon-amour]

IWTV, 1x06, part 2.

Now you're just torturing yourself, Lestat. :( Get some respect and leave.

When will you stop bullshitting him with this spectacle? He's more than 500 old. Stop it.

They both deserve better but somehow don't see it? Will this misery ever end?

APPLAUDING. POETIC CINEMA!

I still think "There's life in the old lady yet!" is better, but this is a masterpiece of its own kind. Just a little silly conductor hat added, but what a change. <3

Two babies. To think an actual dog was nervous and Sam tried to comfort it, ahh.

I adore him. He's everything. I low key want to grab Sam and never let go. What a performance.

Magnificent. Iconic. Breathtaking.

Perfect in every way.

Crying and listening to the dog licking his fingers. Crying some more. I love him, your honor. Friendship ended with Louis and Claudia completely, friendship started with Lestat.

I don't care about ANYTHING else from now on. Lestat and the doggo. ;_____; Lestat petting the doggo with both hands ;_____; Sam, thank you for your service.

The dog enjoys itself and LIVES after the petting session (it would never if Louis was there), with Lestat being so gentle and loving towards it, "Back in your cage, sweetheart." Sam gives the performance of the century while having the time of his life, his hand shining from the dog's saliva.

The train scene is e v e r y t h i n g. Consider me lost in him, completely.

On another note, did he seriously just threatened Claudia with finding Bruce, telling him where Claudia is, and letting him rape her again? DID HE or is it just my mind? Cause, after all, he did say it was "very poor taste".

You should have, then. This is all very mean and toxic but I can't help but love him and be biased towards him. He sees right through her & still allows her to go with her plan to kill him. And I hate every second of it. I hate the idea of it. I hate even thinking of it.

Everything about him.

an au in which Lestat doesn't let Claudia continue with her plan. an AU in which he's safe and well and never injured and— ;__; i want him to snap her neck and turn her to dust, i am losing it here. her inner monologue and Louis' reaction is straight out of the book, I can give them that. how Louis holds onto Lestat still being alive and trying to convince Claudia to stop, but also not being able to resist to the full extend.

The entire moment when Lestat frowns as Claudia outplays him in chess. "No, that can be." STOP IT. STOP IT. S T O P _ I T, i am going to lose my mind over him getting his throat cut. It's been a while since I felt this sick about a piece of media and let it get to me.

I just want to hug him. Or protect, even. Hello, darkness, my old friend.

Crying. I think it's time for bed for me, too. Sam is... truly something else, playing that outburst. And I hate how Claudia speaks for Louis, tries to convince him, "You want to kill him too. And you'll enjoy doing it." Thinking about the book and how miserable Louis was about the idea of killing him and when Lestat was choking on the poison and his own blood as Claudia was stabbing him. This is nauseating.

"Rashid, are you awake?"

"I can be."

I'm so curious about the nature of their relationship. What lies in the core of it & what they want eventually from it. If Armand has another plan for Louis.

Young Daniel is basically Jeff Goldblum.

The reveal is perfect. This was, for once, a good episode.

P.S.:

Contrary to me crying at a chess scene, at least I've been blessed with a hand and nails. I need an entire gifset with his hands.

#natiswatching #this one is very special and i need it with no cut #long post #iwtv 2022

[dragontamer05]

Hypothetical scenario of if for some reason Square Enix decided to go into their files delve back into FFU/Final Fantasy Unlimited and it's characters,

a thought I had on how one could make it work;

First drop the Final Fantasy part, just call it Unlimited / The Unlimited or something.

Not saying they have to totally detach it from being a FF properity / connected to that universe but at the same time I think at least partially distancing itself from that name and in away I guess the expectations that come with that brand name.

Which gives a bit more wiggle room not worrying about doing a thing and fans not liking it cause it's not 'Final Fantasy' or doesn't feel like something that fits FF or whatever - as well as negates a potential factor that could keep away potential viewers who are uncertain about getting into it not knowing if one would need to be familiar with the FF series to watch.

In a way pull a Bravely Default that started as a FF game but ended up its own thing.

It's basically in it's own other world anyway with their own characters and separate story so- that said because Wonderland is this place made up of many many worlds they could still take advantage of that to implement things from various parts of the FF universe - like Chocobo/ other creatures , go full meta and throw in references to some of their other owned series/ properties to from time to time

Just as like a visual thing in the back ground or some comment by someone and of course space them out so it's just occasional fun Easter eggs.

I guess basically kinda like treating it like a spin off in away.

From there I'd say while I'd wouldn't want to totally ignore the what has been written and made at the same time because it's currently more of an unknown I think doing it as a reboot more then just trying to continue on would benefit it.

Keeping of course many of the general beats and characters.

Ai and Yuu, let those kids be more expressive / show more reaction to just all this weird stuff happening / creatures they meet ect. After all their in a whole new place with nothing they've seen.

Of course I'm not saying every little thing needs to be commented on or drawn attention to

One change/addition could be interesting; What if they got yeeted to Wonderland at the same time as their parents - just dropped in vastly different places. Thus leading for not only the motivation of of course want to find their folks but also they want to get home - maybe via remembering a rumour or something seen in their parents research? get the idea of hey if they can find this weird train maybe not only could they use it to find their parents but get home or something

I mean they aren't dumb but they are kids no one says they thought the plan completely through,

Which by giving a tiny ray of hope could make for a big bomb of the later reveal that, yeah this place their in is actually a patch work of many destroyed/ consumed worlds so there's no guarentee they can return home (But without confirmation on Earth's status leaves it a bit open to wonder was Earth consumed and destroyed by Chaos too or is it still safe- for now)

Let episodes breathe and feel free to flow without always needing to have the kids in it or a focus on them- Espcially during the times when Kaze has split from the group and basically in general once we meet both Kaze and Kumo consistently show and use them more

Sure the kids maybe the catalyst to introduce us to Wonderland as well as have someone that can kinda be used to help explain certain things to the audience about this world but of course the main or at least more important story is clearly going on Between these 2 guys

(And let's be real I'd say vast majority are probably gonna watch for these guys with magic weapons and summoning beasts)

Of course as the series goes on finally be able to delve into learning more about them- not just as Unlimited but in general

idk have an episode where something happens and somehow now one of the kids is now stuck with Kumo for a little while (got separated from the others and ran into them? separated during a fight? idk) which maybe brings a chance to show another side to a character that up until that point seems to be one of the bad guys but maybe there's something more

Minor detail that while not needed perse but is useful in world building at least maybe throw in a line somewhere of Ai or Yuu asking how they can talk with each other if their not from the same place,

and either go a bit playful have the other character just kinda be like "You know I'm not actually sure," Not exactly an answer but also clear that no one really know how or why just another mystery of Wonderland

or offer their thoughts that they think it's because 'the world auto translates to whatever someone needs to here. Not saying there has to be a concrete explanation but I think acknowledging that fact could be fun

--

And that's about it I think the main thing would be letting it grow and stand on it's own as yes it's an offshoot of /connected to the greater Final Fantasy universe (and probably somewhere on the any products released and what have might be the final fantasy logo/copy right but also that it is it's own thing and can be enjoyed as such

cause I won't lie that was one thing that had me iffy at first on checking it out cause outside of a handful of characters and various tidbits here and there I know heck all about FF, so is there the potential to miss out on something going in not knowing.

Thankfully not really- and even any little connections to it like musical bits or the Chocobo, character named Cid, ngl could easily get explained away as well it is another Square Enix property so their allowed to have fun and reference their other stuff in it to. If there are any deeper/big references that someone with more knowledge might pick up. I can say from experience nothing is ruined or confusing by not knowing.

So get rid of that barrier and bam opens up to an even bigger audience..

While chance are slim to none it's also never completely 0 , weird things happen.

I mean Tokyo Mew Mew got a reboot series

#ffu #thoughts

[crastl3]

Scar's 5th Last Life Episode: A Shakespearean Tragedy?

I've been thinking about this since my last post so here's a proper analysis

Structure:

Act 1: This is the exposition, and wow does the opening of Scar's episode work well. He's alone, on his mountain, explaining his plan to get allies.

He literally says "we're gonna be way less lonely here on magical mountain" and kills and enderman for its pearl - announcing his hope for friendship while simultaneously putting his pet goat at risk for his own gain. Nothing much happens as he wanders and interacts very little with others until Scar burns the tree.

It doesn't burn down, and then he does it again. Etho says "[he's] gonna remember that tree business" - we can really see Scar's character here, his reckless actions and casual confidence as he walks right away from the problems he's caused, free of consequences.

Act 2: I would say that the scene in the Southlands marks the beginning of the rising action. Crucially, Scar walks right into a life threatening situation, and survives, even appearing entirely unphased at first. He attributes his survival to the crystals and sells them, immediately getting essentially scammed and earning only an incredibly low durability pickaxe in return (he doesn't get all the value he expected from a deal - could this happen again later?)

It's only in the YouTube equivalent of a soliloquy Scar reveals to the audience that his confidence is faked: a rare moment of honesty and vulnerability not often shown for the rest of the episode. When he tells others about this he only uses it to profess the wonders of his magic, sort of sneakily complimenting himself while simultaneously portraying himself as incompetent.

Act 3: The climax of the play begins as Scar starts to see the consequences of his actions, losing a life in a deal and then to the boogeyman, beautifully illustrating that no deal will prevent the consequences of his actions. Scar realises this - "oh my gosh my actions really come back to bite me don't they - but it is too late for him. Another soliloquy after the final signing of the contract, as things are going smoothly, but are they? He's made a deal but lost a life too, and he's stressed.

More deals follow: first to Cleo, then to Joel and Grian. Scar has friends! There are no longer any reds, he has gotten many contracts, he has an abundance of allies. Success?

Act 4: The falling action takes place as everyone disperses, leaving Scar alone on his mountain again. Do the contracts really mean anything? Scott points out that him and Pearl were the only ones who were friends with him without a contract, but that doesn't stop them from leaving too.

He discovers his final loss - the enchanting table. Left alone and with nothing to sell, he could stay safely on his mountain safe in the knowledge he has many contracted allies. Instead, he searches for it.

Act 5: The final act of the play - the denouement or, since this is a tragedy, the catastrophe. He blunders straight into the death he avoided earlier. Scar's last words are "I got this, it's magic", but this time, there is no magic to save him, no lucky luck crystal - he traded it away earlier without hesitation. Grian, his ally, can't help him out of the situation he's gotten into.

Scar dies, everything he gained that episode burning with him.

Scar's hamartia, his fatal flaw, is his greed, lack of connection with others, and hubris. He is the tragic hero - by the time the tragedy was in motion his end was inevitable. He drives everyone away even as he strives to gain allies. No innocents are harmed like in a usual Shakespeare tragedy, but you could say that his actions allowed grace and lack of consequences to those that also deserved them (specifically the red lives).

In conclusion, Scar's episode five of last life fits incredibly well into the structure and tropes of a Shakespearean tragedy, and Mr Goodtimes is an absolute genius.

#last life smp #last life spoilers #last life #Goodtimeswithscar #last life goodtimeswithscar #i spent longer on this than like any English lit homework ever please give me clout #although scar is very much at fault he also did nothing wrong #secondary conclusion: tragic hero can be a synonym to poor little meow meow #if you saw this before i fixed the mistake #no you didn't

[violettelueur]

— JUJUTSU KAISEN EPISODE FIVE || CURSE WOMB MUST DIE II 

↳ featuring : itadori yuji + fushiguro megumi + kugisaki nobara + gojo satoru + ryomen sukuna + zenin maki + inumaki toge + panda from jujutsu kaisen

↳ warnings : swearing + violence + mention of blood + mention of organ + mention of death + EXTREME grammar issues

↳ form : story

↳ published : 24 february

↳ pronouns : she/her

↳ word count : 4.8k

↳ synopsis : within the jujutsu world, there were three famous clans to be aware of, the Kamo clan, Zenin clan and the Gojo clan. However, unknown to many sorcerers there was one last family that was known to be apart of the three, only for them to disappear after the golden era leading some to speculate that they had died in battle after the sealing of ryomen sukuna, but....

↳ previous episode : curse womb must die I

↳ next episode : after rain

↳ barista’s notes : back again with another episode of jujutsu kaisen everyone ╲ʕ·ᴥ·　╲ʔ and we have ended the detention centre arc and now will be moving on to the training arc! isn’t that crazy, you have finished episode five ʕ ᵒ ᴥ ᵒʔ i’m not really good with fight scenes, so if you care confused, don’t hesitant to ask me anything to clarify! WE ALSO FINALLY MEET THE SECOND-YEARS!

BEFORE READING, I NEED YOU TO BE AWARE OF THIS:

1. the whole story belongs to Gege Akutami and the credits go to them and them only

2. the spell curses used belong to Tite Kubo due to them being the ‘Kidos’ being used on the manga and anime ‘Bleach’ - but none is mentioned in this chapter

2.5 for the ‘cursed spells’/kidos (bleach) i will link this video here and tell you the time stamp to check out what i am intending to show - remember i add a few twist here and there by adding the katana to link with Y/N’s cursed technique 

Destructive Curse Spell number four: Byakurai : 3:35-3:40

Sentan Hakuja : Wiki Page

‘Cursed Energy Web Technique’ : video (4:23-5:27)

3. if you are confused on anything, please don’t hesitate to message me since i know this whole thing is so confusing

“If you can, please send a grade one sorcerer or higher but that won’t be necessary if I don't die,” you sternly commented, leading both Fushiguro and Ijichi to shiver at the statement you just announced.

Still shaken at what you had just said, Ijichi sent himself off before closing the window to prevent any cold raindrops from coming at him as he drove away from the area you and Fushiguro were standing in right now.

“If you don’t want to listen to me, I ain’t going to listen to you at all then Fushiguro,” you stated with a frown painted on your face before looking back at the building behind his body.

Taking your katana, you looked at the bottom of the handle to find a metal loop at the bottom with a red charm tied before it was simply slowly unwinded by you as you prepared for the worst that was about to come.

“What are you doing L/N?” Fushiguro asked in a worried tone, causing you to turn to look at him with a deadpan expression.

“Just preparing for the worst Fushiguro”

                                               ꕥ

The rain was still unsettled as you stared at the building of the detention centre that was in front of you with a nonchalant look present on your face. Carefully, you hook your katana on the side of your left hip rather than the usual spot of your back since you knew you were going to need extremely quick access to your weapon if your prediction of what was going to happen was going to become a reality.

Suddenly, there was a swift but noticeable change in the air causing you to grab Fushiguro’s sleeve to pull him closer to you in case of any attacks that would happen since he was standing behind you, out of your central view.

“The Innate Domain’s closed off, the special-grade is dead!” Fushiguro stated to you in a shocked but quiet tone, causing the grip you had on his sleeve to tighten since the feeling in the pit of your stomach was becoming agonising to the point where you wanted to vomit it out.

Yet, you weren’t fearful for yourself but rather the wellbeing of the shikigami user behind you and the classmate, who was still inside the building at this current moment in time.

“We just need Itadori to return safely now,” Fushiguro hopefully whispered, yet you had given no response since you knew that the chance of the mentioned classmate coming back with himself out rather than Sukuna was extremely low.

“That’s almost impossible, from what I can recall, him and Sukuna haven’t even agreed to a bi-” you began to explain, only for a sudden aggressive presence to stop you in your tracks to which Fushiguro also felt as you both froze on the stop you both were standing in right now.

“Sorry, but he’s not coming back”

A familiar voice from behind you spoke leading to both of you and Fushiguro to freeze on the stop before you came to the sense that what you had predicted was proven right. However, you didn’t foresee that he was coming straight to the both of you, even when he had threatened it clearly before Fushiguro dragged you away to search for Kugisaki.

“Don’t be so frightened, I’m in a good mood right now, let’s chat for a bit,” Sukuna calmly mentioned as he processed to make his appearance in front of you both since you refused to look in the opposite direction.

“This is what he gets for trying to use me without any kind of pact, feels like he’s having some trouble switching back,” Sukuna pronounced as he turned to the side.

‘To be honest, it was surprising for him to switch back after eating the finger without the pact’ you thought before letting out of Fushiguro’s sleeve once you was comfortable that he was out of harm's way, ‘besides that should be enough cursed energy for now,’ you internally spoke before taking a quick glance on the same area where you hand was as you processed to place the same hand on the handle of your katana.

“Still, though it’s only a matter of time,” Sukuna stated, as he gripped onto Itadori’s school jacket before unexpectantly ripping into shreds to showcase his muscular upper body, revealing the strange back marking he adorned on his chest.

“So, I thought about what I can do right now,” the King of Curses uttered before raising his hand to suddenly puncture a hole within the middle of his check, shocking both you and Fushiguro from his gruesome action as hints of blood started to pour from the corner of his lips.

‘Shit! I haven’t finished preparing,’ you pondered in a panic manner, as your hand was still on your weapon’s handle, transferring some of your cursed energy to your katana, making sure it had reached to the tip of the blade within the wooden casing for what you were planning to execute.

“Wh-what are you..” Fushiguro stuttered as he looked at the scene in complete horror, only for a massive pool of blood to pour in the middle between Sukuna’s legs before forcibly ripping out the most vital organ needed for Itadori to come back alive.

“I’m taking this brat hostage,” Sukuna declared, as he proudly and sadistically presented the heart he had taken out to you and Fushiguro, causing you to internally become repulsed at the scene since you still needed to concentrate shifting a tiny amount of cursed energy needed to your katana.

“Hostage?!” Fushiguro snarled as he shifted back slightly.

“Yeah, I can live without this, but that ain’t true for the brat,” Sukuna informed you and Fushiguro, as he then tossed the heart to the side like it was a piece of trash he needed to get rid of quickly.

“Switching out with me means he dies. Also, for good measure,” Sukuna mentioned before revealing a finger in his hand causing you to look at the cursed object he had just now swallowed with widened eyes.

‘I thought it wasn’t his finger that the special-grade curse consumed! Fuck!’

“With that, I'm free as a bird, you can be frightened now, I’ll kill you both for no particular reason,” Sukuna declared as he flexed his hand leading you to rapidly unleash your blade from its black wooden casing for the first time since the unfortunate day as you were now prepared to fight against the King of Curses.

“Our positions are reversed now,” Fushiguro muttered under his breath (to which you heard) before he determinedly looked at the curse right in front of him as he positioned himself in a fighting stance causing a wave of anxiety to consume you.

‘One of his divine dogs are already down, if he risks another shikigami, that possibly will also get destroyed in the process’

“You just don’t get it, he’s..Itadori’s coming back even if that means he’ll die, that’s just who he is,” Fushiguro determinedly stated while staring down at Sukuna.

“You give him too much credit, this guy’s just a little tougher and denser than other humans” Sukuna countered back with a smirk on his face before processing to wipe off the blood staining his lip with the back of his hand. 

“Just a moment ago, he was scared out of his mind, on the verge of death and prattling on about his regrets and all that nonsense, I know for a fact he doesn’t have the guts to kill himself,” Sukuna taunted as he smiles smugly at both of you.

‘A special-grade has the ability to used Reserve Cursed Techniques, so it wouldn’t be hard for him to use it on his heart, I just need to slide down somewhere around his chest area to force him to do that’

Shifting your eyes to the side, you noticed Fushiguro’s hands were shaking leading you to internally sigh since you knew he was thinking the same idea as you, while probably debating the fact on how he could make Sukuna revive his heart before Itadori switches back as well as how he was going to battle against a special-grade.

“Should I make the first move then?” you rhetorically asked, before swiftly throwing your katana towards Sukuna like it was a spear, only for him to dough the weapon even at its immense speed.

“You think that was going to hit me?! Maybe you ain’t the fighting type as I suggested!” Sukuna roared in amusement, not noticing how you seemingly suddenly grabbed onto thin air (like you were holding onto a hanging support handle on a bus) before pulling your arm back in a fast motion, resulting in the attacking blade unexpectedly return back to you as quick as it was thrown, for it to then slash a massive slit on Sukuna’s cheek causing the curse to look at you in complete surprised before you swiftly moved forwards towards him, grabbing the handle of the travelling blade to attempt to slash down on your targeted area, only for Sukuna to dodge as quickly as he could.

‘Damn, but that should be fine for now’

However, before you could even attempt to get another chance of getting a slit around his check area, you heard incoming footsteps from your side leading you to deck down as you suddenly saw a leg swing above your head, indicating to you that Fushiguro had made a move to attack the cursed vessel, yet once again Sukuna managed to dodge against as well as the incoming punches that came along with Fushiguro’s attempts.

“Interesting, not only the girl managed to injure me but you use shikigami, but you’ll still come at me yourself?” Sukuna questioned, as he seemed amused at both of you and Fushiguro.

However, before he could mention another word there was a light pressure placed on his right shoulder causing him to turn back, only to find you in a lower stance with your index and middle finger to be pressed upon his shoulder blade.

“Destructive Curse Spell number four: Byakurai,” you chanted, before a high-density of cursed energy was discharged from the tip of your index finger to form a concentrated bolt of lighting leading it to pierce a noticeable hole on Sukuna’s shoulder surprising him as well as Fushiguro, since you angled it well away from him getting hit before you once again attempted to swing your katana down upon his back to execute your plan only for him to dodge it come again.

‘Fuck sake! You make it so easy to hit you the first time but when I want to slice you down, you suddenly dodge it!’

However, before you could use another cursed spell, a shikigami made its way to attack Sukuna leading you to discover it was Nue only for Sukuna to once again avoid the strike of its sharp talons before Fushiguro aims to get a hit at Sukuna, only for the King of Curses to block them with his arms. Yet you couldn’t help but internally smile the second you saw the wrist that you were holding onto earlier had made contact with Sukuan’s arms.

‘If plan A doesn’t work out, B will do just fine for now’

However, your hint of internal happiness quickly ended once you saw Fushiguro take a hit from Sukuna’s fist causing hints of blood to escape from his mouth leading you to quickly stand up straight as you rushed over to the scene. Yet, before you could even attempt to attack the curse again, you felt a presence underneath you causing your body to instinctively move again before a large snake appeared from the ground catching Sukuna within its mouth lifting him in the air as he was stunned with surprise at the fact of his sneak attack.

“Gang up on him!” Fushiguro yelled out to his shikigami, leading Nue’s wings to surround itself with purple lightning as it attempted to land a hit on Sukuna, only for him to duck at the right moment before it tried again, only for it to have the same result.

“Fushiguro, deactivate the snake now before it’s destroyed!” you screamed at your fighting partner. However, before he even got the message you suddenly saw fragments of what seemed to be the snake’s skin falling down in front of you before noticing Sukuna was already behind Fushiguro, tightly gripping onto the back of his dark blue sorcerer jacket.

“Hey, what did I just say? Let’s use the open space!” Sukuna shouted, before aggressively flinging Fushiguro up in the air before following the sorcerer himself, leaving you behind to witness his inhuman strength.

‘Shit, they’re going to get to the edge of the evacuation area!’

Reaching into the depths of your skirt pocket, you quickly pulled out a long, white cloth before letting it spin around you at a large radius as it slowly began to enclose the gaps that were making you visible to the world.

‘Sentan Hakuja,’ you internally chanted before the cloth coiled you complete before speedily teleporting you in front to what seemed to be like a construction site or an abandoning building, you weren’t quite sure. However, what you were sure of was that Fushiguro and Sukuna hadn’t noticed that you had arrived despite the vast entrance you had made from your cursed technique - but what you were most afraid of was the fact the Nue was gone, causing you to worry at the fact that now that shikigami was destroyed.

“What a waste of talent, but the girl back at that place, she knows how to use her technique extremely well,” Sukuna announced, causing Fushiguro to look at the King of Curses in both confusion as well as frustration at the fact he had mentioned you, worried if he was about to get killed, Sukuna would hunt you down next.

“Whatever, either way, that won’t be enough to fix this, you’re risking your life over stupid shit,” Sukuna stated as he pointed the hole on his chest. However, it seemed like you had enough of the conversation.

“Activate!” you yelled out before stabbing your katana to the ground, causing both males to turn around to finally notice you. However, it was too late for Sukuna to have the opportunity to counter what you were doing as he felt something restraining his arm’s movement before noticing what seemed to be a blue web-like strand attached to both his shoulders, yet when he turned to you, you seemed to be in the same situation but with one arm free.

“L/N!” Fushiguro yelled out in a panic before noticing that you were not at all afraid but rather calm despite the situation that you both were in now.

“What is this?” Sukuna questioned, as he observed the web-like structure you had created only for you to glance at him with a deadpan expression on your face.

“It’s just a simple web I created from pure cursed energy that is retaining the both of us right now,” you answered as you continued to peer at the confused King of Curses, who was trying to rip away from the strand-like he had with the shikigami snake, only to no avail as he struggled to move his whole upper body in general.

“How come? You didn’t touch me except for the cursed technique you used?!” Sukuna roared as he glared at you only for you to then let out a sigh of frustration.

‘It’s such a drag to explain…’

“I transferred some of my cursed energy to Fushiguro’s wrist as well as to my katana, so when they made contact with you, it allowed me to connect the strands of the web to those areas where you had been hit, also the protective spell I placed on the back of Itadori’s neck before we went in the detention centre was surprisingly still intact, allowing me to track you and the chain at the end of my katana to restain you further,” you thoroughly explained, before clicking your fingers causing the sudden but slow reveal of the long black chain (attached at the end of your handle - on the metal loop where the red charm was) that you had concealed with your cursed energy to appear surrounding you and Sukuna at a large radius while the extra length was tightly wrapped around his upper body.

“That was how I pulled my katana back at the beginning of the fight if that’s what you were also wondering,” you commented, leading Sukuna to look at you with a larger smirk than what you thought his reaction would have been.

“You possess such intellect, such skill, such power and such talent and yet you refuse to go against me with your full potential, are you mocking me?” Sukuna asked, before laughing causing you to look at him suspiciously, yet you couldn’t let that bother you at all, right now all you needed was for Itadori to switch back even if he was going to die.

“Even though I technically didn’t save you, Fushiguro did but I would like to give my answer I guess,” you commented before running your hands through your wet hair trying to push away the strands that were concealing your vision slightly. 

“I should have exorcised you back then, in fact it’s my duty as part of the L/N Clan to, but I know you’re a good person at heart Itadori, I knew that since the day I saw you back at school and probably Fushiguro saw that as well when he decided to save you,” you explained with a smile, as you began to notice the markings gradually disappear from his face and body causing you to slowly deactivate the cursed energy web that was immobilising you and Itadori while the chain that was coiled around him slowly began to loosen its grip on him.

“It was for selfish and emotional reasons but that’s fine though,” Fushiguro stated as his posture relaxed once he noticed that you were slowly lowering your guard, “I’m not a hero, I’m a jujutsu sorcerer, so I’ve never once regretted saving you,” he then announced with a smile on his face.

Suddenly, itadori looked at you with a smile on his face before turning to look at Fushiguro, who was behind him. “I see, you really are smart, Fushiguro, Gojo,  you’ve put more thought into this than I have,” Itadori mentioned with a smile, as he pushed his hair back, “I think your conviction’s a proper one, but I don’t think mine is wrong, either,”.

Suddenly, more blood started to drip down from his wound causing you to move forwards to make sure that Itadori didn’t fall down completely. “Oh, sorry, I’m almost done for, guess I won’t have to worry you guys, Kugisaki, or Gojo-sensei, live a long life,” Itadori faintly stated to you both before falling straight into your arms causing you to fall to your knees due to his heavyweight causing your skirt and high-knee socks to become soaked in the rain that already bathed your hair and face.

The rain only grew heavily as seconds went by, only reflecting on the disappointment and devastation that was coming from both you and Fushiguro, as you both stayed silent letting the rain consume you both for the time being.

Maybe after the rain, he might come back.

‘Please come back’

                                               ꕥ

“So you had your suspicions?” you questioned your adopted father, as you leaned against the railing of the balcony, while he stood next to you leaning against the same railing.

“There was a special grade there, sending the first-years to rescue five who may or may not be alive is out of order, even if you are capable of exorcising it Y/N,” Gojo explained causing you to realise where this was going.

“So what you are saying is, since you indefinitely suspended Itadori’s execution, that got some higher-ups upset, leading us to go do that mission, in order for Itadori to be killed?” you suggested, leading Gojo to turn silent at your comment, leading you to get the answer you were expecting even if no words were exchanged.

“You’re strong though Y/N, you effortlessly fought like Sukuna was just a normal curse,” Gojo complimented you, only for you to give him no response since it was not a good time for you to be praised.

You failed at saving Itadori.

“As a special grade like your father, I need you to look out for Megumi and Nobara for a while, train them to the best of your abilities since we got an event coming up!” Gojo cheered, leading you to present him with a glare.

‘What a drag...I really can’t be bothered to be in an event’

“I’m going to check on the others Gojo-sensei, I’ll see you later,” you stated before standing on the feet as you than processed to walk away with your hand up, as a way to wave him ‘goodbye’.

“Call me dad for once Y/N~” Gojo shouted, leading you to groan in annoyance before making your way to the entrance, where you knew Fushiguro and Kugisaki were since Gojo did take you away from them when he found you sitting with them on the stone steps near the entrance of the school.

After some time, you finally managed to reach your destination as you found yourself standing at the top of the extra steps above your classmates, before noticing a few new faces further below, leading you to become perplexed since you weren’t expecting any other sorcerers to come by today - well...that’s what Gojo said.

“Don’t tell me the other student died as well?” the female sorcerer question, leading you to look in her direction in confusion since she seemed a little familiar to you for some reason.

‘Ah, she was the person I saw when I moved into the dorm, but she didn’t really see me’

“I’m right here,” you commented, leading to everyone that was in your view to look up at your direction to find you standing with your arms crossed before you steadily made your way down the steps as you processed to stand a step above between Fushiguro and Kugisaki, who were still seated on the same spot they were in when you had left them for a few minutes.

“You don’t even have a scratch on you,” the female sorcerer commented, as she noticed you didn’t have any patches or bandages like the other two first-years had once you observed you.

“She’s a strong sorcerer,” Fushiguro commented, leading you to kick his back before commenting that he was a strong sorcerer as well.

“Ah! Are you the special grade, Gojo was mentioning about?” the large Panda asked, causing you to give him a glance before answering, “I don’t believe I’m a special-grade sorcerer but if that what my drag ass of an adoptive dad ranked me, then I guess I am,”.

“Who are you guys?” you then asked since it seemed like they had already done their introductions for Kugisaki. Although, it seemed like your female classmate was in the same sort of confusion as you since she noted to you that she had no idea who the fellow sorcerers were.

“Our second-year upperclassmen,” Fushiguro nonchalantly answered before he continued by introducing them to you and Kugisaki.

“Zenin-senpai is the best of all the students at wielding cursed tools, that’s the Cursed Speech user, Inumaki-senpai, he can only speak in ingredients of onigiri and that’s panda senpai,” Fushiguro introduced everyone causing some questions to manifest in your head.

‘Zenin ha?..she doesn’t seem like the one that my mum was talking about, so I don’t have to suspect her but is there anything else to add for Panda-senpai?’

“There’s one more, Okkotsu-senpai, who is the only one I can openly respect, but he’s overseas right now,” Fushiguro added, before slowly standing on his two feet.

“You’re not adding more about the panda named Panda?” Kugisaki asked as she looked up at the shikigami user to gain some information, only to be ignored.

“Man, sorry about this and when you’re in mourning...please forgive us for that,” Panda apologised before placing his hands together as a sign to be forgiven, even though that sign reminded you about something else.

‘Ah...that’s the same hand gesture for one of my cursed spells’

“The truth is, we’d like you to participate in the Kyoto Sister School Exchange Event,” Panda explained, causing you to recall about an ‘event’ Gojo had mentioned to you.

“Oh, that’s what he meant,” you whispered before Kugisaki interrupted you by repeating the event’s name in confusion.

“What’s that?” Kugisaki asked as she turned to Fushiguro looking for the answer.

“It’s a get-together with the other Tech school in Kyoto, though isn’t that event mainly second and third-years?” the erratic-haired sorcerer answered your classmate before questioning the invitation since all of you were first-years.

“And those stupid third-years are suspended right now, so you need to participate,” Zenin explained, causing you to look to the side with an annoyed expression on your face since you realised that this meant you had to cover up your tracks more than you were bothered to do.

“What do you do at this event? Smash Bros? I won’t lose if it’s the Wii version, I’ll Meteor Smash so you can’t come back” Kugisaki randomly mentioned with a determined look on her face as she formed a fist, causing you to look in her direction with a confused face since you didn’t know how she came to that conclusion in the first place.

“Then let’s make a 3-man team, the exchange event has the principals of the Tokyo and Kyoto schools each propose a form of competition to be held for an entire day over the course of two days, though that’s how it is on paper,” Panda informed you and Kugasaki, who were oblivious to what this event was in general.

“Every year, the first day is a team battle, and the second day is individual battles,” Panda explained, leading Inumaki to agree with him by saying ‘salmon’ as his confirmation to his classmates' explanation.

“Individual and team battles? We fight?! Against other jujutsu sorcerers?!” Kugisaki shouted after realising what the event really entailed, causing you to look at her before lightly smacking the back of her head.

“You just realised that?” you asked in a dumbfounded tone.

“Yeah, it’s a jujutsu battle where anything but killing goes,” Zenin confirmed with a huge grin causing you internal sigh at the fact that you had to hide the use of your cursed technique since that would blow your cover entirely.

“We’ll train you up well so you won’t get killed. Yeah, yeah, yeah!” Panda declared before he started to throw some air punched after every ‘yeah’ he said.

“Wait, do you have time for that? I thought we were short on jujutsu sorcerers,” Kugisaki asked since she concluded that there were only six of you right now.

“That’s a good question, For now, we are. The glim emotions people harbour from late winter through spring cause an outburst of curses in the early summer, so that’s our busy season,” Panda explained as Zenin then explained that some sorcerers are busy all year long, but since things are settling down soon, it should be fine.

“So, you’ll do it, right? You just had a partner die on you, after all,” Zenin asked, as she was waiting for all your responses.

“We’re in!” Fushiguro and Kugisaki simultaneously answered with determined looks on their faces before turning back to look at you, waiting for your answer.

Letting out a sigh of frustration, you knew that you had no way out of this since they looked so motivated for you to join, even if you disagreed with them.

“This is such a drag, but fine, I’ll join in too,” you replied with a small smile on your face leading them to nod at you before turning back to your seniors.

“But if I decided this training and exchange event is pointless, I’m quitting instantly,” Kugisaki mentioned.

“Same here,” Fushiguro commented, causing you to kick both of them on the back much to their surprise.

“So you drags make me do this event, only for you to dip when it’s pointless for you, besides I heard there are some interesting sorcerers in the Kyoto side, so prepare yourselves,” you stated before stepping down the few steps you were in front of before standing between them.

“Well, people this cocky are all more worthwhile to train,” Panda mentioned with his arms folded with a determined look on his face.

“Bonito flakes,” Inumaki said in a softer tone.

Looking up to the sky, you couldn’t help but brisk in the sunlight that was shining lightly down upon you, leading you to raise your hand over your face in order to not be blinded.

‘I wonder how I’m going to hide from this one now?’

© violettelueur 2021 : written and published by violettelueur - do not steal or repost

#jujutsu kaisen #jjk #jujutsu kaisen imagines #jujutsu kaisen imagine #jjk imagines #jjk imagine #jujutsu kaisen x reader #jjk x reader #itadori yuji #fushiguro megumi #kugisaki nobara #gojo satoru #ryomen sukuna #zenin maki #inumaki to/ge #jujutsu kaisen panda #itadori yuji x reader #fushiguro megumi x reader #kugisaki nobara x reader #gojo satoru x reader #ryomen sukuna x reader #zenin maki x reader #inumaki to/ge x reader #itadori yuji imagines #fushiguro megumi imagines #kugisaki nobara imagines #gojo satoru imagines #ryomen sukuna imagines #zenin maki imagines #inumaki to/ge imagines

[coolgenie]

Interesting to see what their friend groups are supportive of and where they draw the line.

In the episode 2, we see Pran's friends openly supportive of Pran even after he suggests that his secret admirer may be a man. What's more, they encourage him to pursue it and delight in teasing him. Note, this teasing doesn't come across as hostile or mean in its nature. It's easy to imagine them teasing any friend about their crush, regardless of gender, in the same way.

In direct contrast, we have Pat's friends. While the group is initially elated over the developments of Pat's love life, that excitement abruptly fades when Pat reveals that the "girl across the hall" turned out to be a guy. There's no room for further discussion. No encouragement or assurances of acceptance. The thought of Pat pursuing a man isn't even something his friends conceptualize. They drop it and act like it never happened. End of story.

While Pran's friends were supportive of him pursuing a man, there's clearly an exception to that acceptance. Given their conflict with the guys from Engineering throughout the entire series, it's easy to see that Pran's friends would consider THOSE guys off limits. This restriction is so obvious to everyone in the friend group, it needs no saying. If Pran wants to pursue a man, that's fine. Pursuing a guy from engineering, however, would be the ultimate betrayal. For Pran's friends, it all comes down to this ridiculous feud between the 2 faculties. As we see in episode 6, if Pran isn't WITH the group then he's AGAINST the group. Just imploring his friends not to fight with Pat while at camp is already an offense which throws his loyalty into doubt. It's clear that even pursuing a friendship with someone from Engineering is off the table.

In episode 8, Pat's friends finally figure out that he's hitting on someone in Architecture. Given their behavior in episode 2, it's not surprising that they assume this person is a girl. & in spite of expectations, they're ecstatic and encouraging! Perhaps it's just me, but there also seemed to be an edge to their excitement. They seemed TOO delighted by the idea of Pat "scoring" a girl from Architecture. It's almost like they view this as a win against the Architecture guys they usually compete with? Of course, given their previous actions, it wouldn't surprise me if they had this possessive view of women but those are thoughts for another post. Their reactions here make it clear that while Pat being with a man makes them uncomfortable, they're okay with crossing faculty lines as long as the person Pat is crossing the divide for is NOT a guy.

While we've yet to see everyone's full reactions to the relationship reveal at the end of episode 8, it's safe to say that the fallout will be ugly. In sum, I expect that Pat's friend group will have a tougher time reconciling the idea of Pat being with a guy whereas Pran's friend group will struggle more to accept that Pran has crossed faculty lines to date someone from Engineering.

#end of my rambling #bad buddy #bad buddy the series #bad buddy series #bad buddy ep8 #bad buddy meta #bad buddy: meta #my posts

[likealittleheartbeat]

I deeply appreciate how ATLA depicts all the main characters responses to trauma. Aang’s, for me, however, stands out for its rareness in media. And we are not hammered over the head with the idea that Aang (or any other characters) repeatedly act certain ways because of a single traumatic event. Sure, there are key moments in our lives when a certain event comes to the forefront, but no one experiences the world as constant flashbacks. Rather, we see only in retrospect the way our sarcastic sense of humor or our heightened friendliness were protective responses to a deep emotional injury. Being able to understand Aang’s approach to loss is essential for the show. The structure of the series is founded on his arc (despite an incredible foil provided by Zuko). Our little air nomad initially confronts the loss of his people with a full-on meltdown in the episode “The Southern Air Temple,” where Katara’s offering of familial belonging soothes him. But this kind of outburst is not Aang’s primary response (and actually the literally out-of-character apocalyptic tantrums align with Aang’s overall process of grieving). Instead of constantly brooding (hey Zuko!), Aang leans heavily toward the monk’s pacifist teachings and toward his assumed destiny “to save the world.” He becomes overtly accommodating and joyful, constantly trying to see “the good” in everything with a perfectionist’s zeal. This is not to ascribe his bubbliness only to his trauma. Rather, he comes to emphasize this part of his personality for reasons related to the negative emotions he struggles to face.  Book 1: Water

In the first season, Aang is simply rediscovering his place in the world. “Water is the element of change. The people of the water tribe are capable of adapting to many things. They have a sense of community and love that holds them together.” This is vital to Aang as he initially faces his experience. He won’t get through this if he is not prepared for his life to change. Even if he hadn’t been frozen for 100 years, his world would never be the same. This fact involves eventually finding new people that he feels safe with. After such a massive loss, he’s learning who to trust, and also often making mistakes; not only does he find Sokka and Katara (and I’d argue he’s actually slow to truly open up to them), this is the season where he helps save a fire nation citizen who betrays him to soldiers, befriends the rebel extremist Jet, and attempts to befriend an actively belligerent Zuko (his moral complexity had only JUST! been revealed to the kid!). He’s constantly offering trust to others and seeking their approval in opposition to the deep well of shame and guilt he carries as a survivor of violence. This is also the season where Aang swears off firebending after burning Katara in an overeager attempt to master the element (one will note how fire throughout the series is aligned with, above all else, assertiveness and yang). Aang is so eager to be seen as morally good to others that he refuses to risk any possible harm to them.  And asserting himself carries a danger, in one sense, that he might make a mistake and lose someone’s positive regard, and, in another sense, that he is replicating the anger and violence he’s witnessed. He has no relationship to his anger at this stage of his grief, so it comes out uncontrollably, both in firebending and the Avatar State. It’s through the patience of his new family that he can begin to feel unashamed about his past and about the ways his shame is finding (sometimes violent) expression in the present. Book 2: Earth In the second season he begins to trust himself and stand his ground. Earth, after all, is the element of substance, persistence, and endurance. The “Bitter Work” episode encapsulates how Aang must come to a more sturdy sense of his values. First, there is the transition of pedagogical style. While Katara emphasized support and kindness, Toph insists on blunt and threatening instruction, not for a lack of care towards Aang. Instead, it’s so Aang learns how to stop placing the desires of others above his own--to stop accommodating everyone else above his own needs. Toph taunts Aang by stealing one of the few keepsakes from the monastery that he holds onto. This attachment to the lost airbending culture is echoed in the larger arc with Appa. And, by the end of this episode, it is Aang’s attachment to Sokka that allows him to stand firm. This foreshadows the capital T Tragic downfall in the “Crossroads of Destiny.” Aang gives up his attachment to the other member of his new found family, Katara, despite his moral qualms. Although he has access to all the power of the Avatar state, his sacrifice is not rewarded. Season 2 illustrates Aang coming to terms with his values. He is learning about what he stands for, what holds meaning to him. Understanding himself also includes integrating his grief, and there’s a lonely and dangerous aspect to that exploration. We see Aang’s anger and hopelessness over longer stretches rather than outbursts in this season. It’s hard to watch and hard to root for him. That depressive state leads to actions that counter his previous sense of morality, as he decisively kills an animal, treats his friends unkindly, and blames others for his loss. Letting these harsher feelings emerge is an experiment, and most people discover their boundaries by crossing them. Finding ways to hold compassion for himself, even the harm he causes others, is the other side of this process. Our past and our challenging emotions are a part of us, but they are only a part. Since Aang now has a strong sense of community and is learning to be himself rather than simply seeking validation, we also see him having more healthy boundaries with new people. He’s no longer befriending villains in the second season! He’s respectful and trusting enough, but he’s not putting himself in vulnerable situations nor blindly trusting everyone. Instead, he’s more likely to listen to his friends’ opinions or think about how the monks might’ve been critical towards something (they’re complaints about Ba Sing Se, for example). By knowing what he cares for, he can know himself, the powerful, loving, grief-struck monk. And he can trust that, though he might not be everyone’s favorite person, he does not need to feel ashamed or guilty for who he is or what he’s been through. Book 3: Fire However, despite a sense of self and a sense of belonging, Aang and the group still find themselves constantly asking for permission throughout their time in Ba Sing Se. It’s in the third season, Fire, that initiative and assertiveness become the focus. And who better to provide guidance in this than the official prince of “you never think these things through,” Zuko. It’s no longer a time for avoidance or sturdy defensiveness. It is the season of action. Fire is the element of power, desire, and will, all of which require us to impact others.  We see the motif of initiative throughout the season: the rebels attempt to storm the Firelord on the Day of the Black Sun; Aang attempts to share his feelings and kiss Katara; Katara bends Hama and a couple of fire nation soldiers to her will. In each of these examples, the initiators face disgrace. Positive intent does not bring forth success, by any means, only more consequences to be dealt with. This is perhaps Aang’s biggest challenge. He is afraid that his actions will fail, or worse, they will succeed but he will be wrong in what he has chosen. The sequencing in the series, here, is important. We have already seen how Aang has worked to care for (and appreciate) the well-being of others and how he has learned to care for his own needs. With this in mind, he should be able to trust that his actions will derive from these wells of compassion. But easier said than done. Compassion can also trap him into indecision, hearkening back to his avoidant mistake in the storm, in which the whole mess began. Aang’s internal conflict, here, becomes more pronounced as the finale draws nearer. I think it’s especially significant that we witness Aang disagreeing with his mentors and friends. He must act in a way that will contradict and even threaten his sources of support if he is to trust his own desires. Even the fandom disagrees about the choice Aang makes, which further highlights the fact that making a decisive choice is contentious. There is no point in believing it will grant you love or admiration or success. For someone who began (and spent much of) the series regularly sacrificing himself just to bring others peace, Aang’s decision to prioritize his own interests despite the very explicit possibility of failure is the ultimate growth his character can have and the ultimate representation of him processing his trauma. (This arc was echoed and made even more explicit in many ways with Adora in the She-ra finale.) The last significant time Aang followed his desire, in his mind, was when he escaped the Air Temple in the storm. To want something, to trust his desire and act on it, is an act of incredible courage for him, and whether it succeeded or failed, whether anyone agrees or disagrees with it, it offered Aang a sense of peace and resolution. Now I appreciate and love Zuko’s iconic redemption arc, but Aang’s subtler arc, which subverts the “chosen one” narrative and broke ground to represent a prevalent emotional experience, stands out to me as the foundation for the show I love so much.

#aang #avatar the last airbender #trauma #ptsd #cptsd #atla #atla meta #zuko #redemption arc #adora #spop #catradora #catra #also no one will read this far in the tags but this is phoebe buffay's arc on friends

[gunterfan1992]

Episode Review: ‘Wizard City’ (Distant Lands, Ep. 4)

Airdate: September 2, 2021

Story by: Adam Muto, Jack Pendarvis, Kate Tsang, Hanna K. Nyström, & Charley Feldman

Storyboarded by: Maya Petersen, Hanna K. Nyström, Anna Syvertsson, & Aleks Sennwald, & Haewon Lee

Directed by: Miki Brewster & Jeff Liu (supervising), Sandra Lee (art)

An episode focusing on Peppermint Butler’s dark side is something that the fandom has craved ever since the little guy demanded Finn and Jake’s flesh in season two’s “Death in Bloom.” While installments like season five’s “The Suitor” and season six’s “Nemesis” did much to scratch that itch, the story of the Dark One remained mostly unknown…

And after “Wizard City,” it still remains largely unknown. But that’s OK, because instead of focusing on the character’s history, this special focuses on Peps’ quest to relearn magic at a magic school. Put most simply, this special is largely a fun excuse for the show to riff on Harry Potter and The Owl House-style “magic school hijinks,” and it mostly all works.

The special follows Peps quest to go to WizArts (a definite play on CalArts, the school that Pen Ward and Adam Muto, among many others, went to) so that he can relearn magic and once again become one of the greatest dark wizards of his time. Initially, Peps tries to make friends with cool kid Spader and his posse, but once they learn that Peps is not as talented at magic as they had initially thought, they kick him to the curb. It is at this point that Cadebra, Abracadaniel’s adorkable niece who is fascinated with stage magic, enters the picture. Cadebra tries everything in her power to befriend Peps, but Peps pushes back, since she’s not “cool.” It does not matter, though, because both Peps and Cadebra are sorted into the same “house”—the “Skink House—and are forced to work together.

While Peps and his cohort begin learning more and more complex magic, a secret cult of school professors, led by the otherwise caring Dr. Caledonius, are scheming to resurrect Coconteppi, a powerful dark wizard whose putrid heart has been discovered underneath the school excreting a very powerful ichor. The school cult kidnaps Spader and gives him some of the ichor to drink; they hope that because of his talent, he will be able to house the spirit of Coconteppi. This does not go as planned, and Spader is graphically killed (albeit off screen). (In a more humorous moment, Bufo, the scam wizard from season one’s “Wizard,” also ingests some of the ichor, believing himself powerful enough to handle it, but it kills him.)

Eventually Peps and Cadebra learn what is going on. Dr. Caledonius welcomes Peps, believing that he is strong enough to handle the ichor. When Cadebra’s life is put in danger, Peps reluctantly gives the putrid fluid a swig, which infuses him with the power of Coconteppi. Coconteppi-Peps then kills all the cult members before Cadebra manages to remove the ichor from Peps body. For uncovering a heinous plot, Peps is promoted to the highest house, “Salamander,” but he decides to remain a Skink and learn magic “the hard way” with Cadebra as his friend.

As I mentioned near the start of this review, “Wizard City” spends most of its time riffing on the “magic boarding school” trope, with much of the episode feeling like a light-hearted parody of Harry Potter: The characters, after all, are “sorted” into “houses,” they learn various types of magic from skilled “professors,” and they bunk in different parts of a large castle-like campus. Of course, Harry Potter didn’t invent the idea of a boarding school, but when setting your story in a school for magic, it is very hard not to lean at least somewhat into the Hogwarts relation. And this really is a double-edged sword, for while Harry Potter references can be fun here and there, they can also make the overall story feel like a fanfic parody. This special does a good job focusing more so on the characters rather than the setting, but I won’t lie, at times it did feel as if they show was really trying to make you realize it was making a Harry Potter joke.

Of all the characters introduced in the special, the breakout star is easily Cadebra, voiced by Chloe Coleman. Radiating a sort of Mabel Pines energy, Cadebra is the beam of optimism who shines brightly in an otherwise macabre special. There is something about her plucky personality and sense of wacky individualism that charms the viewer. I appreciate how the show compared and contrasted her with her uncle, the one and only Abracadaniel: like her uncle, Cadebra is a good person who wants to help others, but unlike Abracadaniel, she has a sense of courage and fortitude that results in her taking on a Coconteppi-possessed Peps at the episode’s climax. (Say what you will, Abracadaniel stans, but our favorite custodian would never have done that!) Thanks to her bravery and dedication to Peps, Cadebra is easily the heart of the special.

The episode throws an interesting little curveball into the mix by having the ‘ghost’ of Past Peppermint Butler constantly haunt Peps in the here-and-now. Past Peppermint, it seems, was so determined to become a great wizard, he cursed himself, so that if anything were to go awry, his Past self could materialize and set him straight. It’s confusing, but I do think that mixing the “overbearing parent” trope with a curse is a clever idea; it gives the whole special some dramatic heft. The whole setup is made even funnier by the special’s conclusion: After Future Peppermint Butler is ‘defeated’ and the day is saved, Peps reveals to Cadebra that he still wants to be a great and powerful dark wizard… but he wants to earn that power through hard work and determination. (Peppermint Butler might commune with demons, but he would never sell his soul to one for power; Glob helps those who help themselves, ya know?)

One of the special’s strongest points is its background art. Adventure Time always had some beautiful set pieces, and this special goes above and beyond to give WizArts an ancient sense of grandeur and mystery. Ghostshrimp, a freelance artist who was the show’s lead background designer during seasons 1-4, return for this special as a “visual developer”—basically, he mocked up a bunch of rough designs for the locales, and then the episode’s background artists worked up the final pieces in his style. On his podcast, Ghostshrimp mentioned how hectic he found Adventure Time to be, because he was used to taking his time on pieces. As such, the decision to bring him on for just development was smart, as it allowed him to still come up with iconic background designs while also playing fast and loose with everything. Hopefully the show will continue this approach with the Fionna and Cake miniseries that is coming up. After all, Ghosthsrimp’s style is the look of Adventure Time.

Another strong point for the episode is its voice acting. For one thing, you have your regulars like Tom Kenny and Dana Snyder, and Duncan Trussell, who all give a solid performance. But to voice many of the special’s new characters, the show brought on a bevy of fun actors: Saturday Night Live’s Bill Hader, for instance, is now voicing Bufo, and he does a solid job hamming up his role as the old fogey. And then there’s Toks Olagundoye, whose British accent gives Dr. Caledonius a sense of knowledge and expertise. To my delight and surprise, SungWon Cho, an internet personality and voice actor perhaps better known as ProZD, was tapped to voice Brain Wizard, and he does an excellent job. And finally, Anthony Stewart Head, a very talented actor who I know best as Giles from Buffy the Vampire Slayer, voices Con Wizard, and is even given a fun little ditty to sing. I can safely say that the voice acting in this special is likely the best of the bunch, and it’s obvious that the actors were all having a great time playing their parts.

What drags the whole thing down, in my opinion is the excessive murder. (I joked on Twitter that during the climax of “Wizard City,” it felt like I was watching an Adventure Time-ified version of Invincible!) Infused with the power of Coconteppi, Peps goes on a brutal killing spree, boiling Potable Wizard into steam, zapping Dimension Wizard into another plane of existence, smashing Berdzerd, and—perhaps most graphically—excerebrates (had to look that word up!) Brain Wiz. On Twitter, @sometipsygnostalgic​ argued that while, yes, the scene is startling, it does wonders to transmute “a poor Summer Camp Island knockoff [into] Adventure Time chaos.” The more I think about it, the more I think that’s a fair point; after all, this is hardly the first dark thing that has happened in Adventure Time. But the part that I cannot really stomach is the fact that Spader was murdered for no real reason, and the special ends without anyone really expressing their horror at the situation. Sure, Spader was a schoolyard bully, but he was also a child. And killing a child—either for the drama or the lulz—feels decidedly out of place in an Adventure Time episode. It’s hard to express, but it just felt unnecessarily nihilistic and mean-spirited.

All things considered, I think this was a fun episode, but it was somewhat underwhelming for a ‘finale.’ Much of this is because it had to air after the perfection that was the back-to-back “Obsidian”/”Together Again” wombo combo. But I can’t help but feel like this special just felt a little... off. A little too meanspirited, and it leaned a bit too much on standard tropes. Still, it was a fun spin, and I know that I’ll rewatch it.

Mushroom War Evidence: As Peps rides the bus to school, he passes a bunch of abandoned houses, some of which are buried in the ground. There is an unexploded bomb above the fossilized elephant in the school. Cadebra has a dream that takes place in the ruins of a city.

Final Grade: B+

#adventure time #atimers #atdl #distant lands #adventure time distant lands #wizard city #peps #peppermint butler #abracadaniel #Cadebra #Ghostshrimp #Adam Muto #Hanna K #ProZD

[impalementation]

spike, angel, buffy & romanticism: part 1

I said a long ways back that I thought the switch from Angel to Spike as Buffy’s primary love interest represented an interesting evolution in the show’s attitude towards—and interrogation of—romanticism, and I finally felt like expanding on what I meant by that. This is very long, very meandering, and not terribly academic or well-edited, but I hope there’s something of interest in it nonetheless. It is about 20,000 words in total, and will discuss, in more or less chronological order, the arc of the show’s attitude towards romanticism as it is embodied in Spike, Angel, Buffy and Buffy’s relationships with both of them. I was going to release it as one long post, but because it’s so long, I figured a series of posts might be more readable. Here’s the first one.

* 

“When you kiss me I want to die”: Angel and the high school seasons

Both Spike and Angel are at once capital-R Romantic figures, and lower-case romantic interests, and in both cases that Romantic/romantic duality is what makes them such effective avatars for ideas around romanticism. In the case of Angel, the show is aware from the beginning that he is very much a Romantic idea of something. In “Welcome to the Hellmouth” Buffy describes him as “dark” and “gorgeous”, evoking the “tall, dark and handsome” cliche. He’s mysterious. He gives her a necklace and his coat, gestures out of high school romance fiction.* In “Out of Mind, Out of Sight” Giles lampshades the romance of him: “A vampire in love with a Slayer. It’s rather poetic, in a maudlin sort of way.” Initially, Angel is basically designed to be a teenage girl fantasy, and it’s no coincidence that his successors like Edward Cullen or Stefan Salvatore conform to similar tropes.

*(Think of how five seasons later, a vampire will give Dawn his letterman jacket in “All the Way”. It’s hard not to read as a deliberate echo of Angel’s gift in season one. Once again, a vampire makes romantic gestures towards a high school version of “Buffy”, and later turns on her. But more on this much later in the series.)

The difference between Angel and those other, more typical Supernatural Romance love interests however, is that the show ultimately attempts to subvert the romance of him. As part of its commentary on Gothic themes, season two makes Angel more Romantic than ever (the Claddagh, the tormented past), and makes the romance between him and Buffy central to the story in a way it wasn’t in season one. And then, of course, the season tears it all apart. The first time we learn what Angel did to Drusilla it’s horrifying, but still somehow abstract. Something that seems more like it’s meant to contribute to Angel’s dangerous, Byronic image. As in, something to make him more Romantic. And then suddenly it becomes real. Suddenly, it’s something that Angel could do to Buffy, or the people Buffy cares about. It turns out that his darkly romantic aura was not just an aura, but genuinely dark all along.

In turn, Angel’s devastating transformation is a metaphor for broader disillusionment about romantic ideas. It’s less to me about a “guy going bad after sex”, and more about what it means and feels like to have the scales fall from one’s eyes in that sort of situation. As Buffy copes with the fallout of Angel’s transformation, and later is forced to kill him, I see it as being about the tragedy of having to see the world in ways that are less simple, easy, or pretty as one gets older. As Buffy and Giles say in “Lie To Me”:

BUFFY: Nothing's ever simple anymore. I'm constantly trying to work it out. Who to love or hate. Who to trust. It's just, like, the more I know, the more confused I get. 

GILES: I believe that's called growing up. 

For more on this, I recommend this livejournal post on “Lie To Me”, which goes into great depth on the way season two frames stories as pretty lies that one needs to look beneath, and how Buffy’s romanticization of Angel symbolizes that.

The whole arc of the season is Buffy’s failure to see the danger presented by Angel. In this opening scene that danger is foreshadowed. More to the point for this essay, Angel goes on to lie to Buffy about having encountered Drusilla. He doesn’t want Buffy to know about the nature of Angelus – which means that his first inclination is to mask the danger he presents to Buffy. This is one episode after Halloween, where Buffy’s romantic fantasies about what Angel wants (a damsel) nearly get her killed. Nor is she completely over those fantasies, as she notes that the mystery woman talking to Angel had a pretty old-fashioned dress. So against the backdrop of Buffy’s fantasies about her dark and mysterious boyfriend we have the truth about what he is, which is quite horrifying.

Season three then takes this to another level, by not just pointing out the darkness of the romance of Angel, but in fact puncturing his romantic image. Instead of emphasizing his dangerousness, as season two did, season three emphasizes his adulthood. It emphasizes the way that Angel is someone Buffy sees in secret, or away from her friends. He’s not integrated with her teenage, high school life, and doesn’t fit with the peppy, high school movie aesthetic that characterizes a lot of season three. By doing this, the writing indicates that at this point in their lives, Buffy and Angel are ultimately incompatible and holding each other back. Regardless of however much they might care for each other, Angel can’t fully appreciate her teenage longings like dances, and college, and having a boyfriend. And Buffy can’t fully appreciate his adult need to find himself on his own terms. By the end of season three, Angel is less of a shadowy, tragic figure, and more just an adult man who needs to finally grow up a bit.

Season three also starts making jokes where the punchline is that Angel isn’t living up to the romantic aesthetic he embodied in seasons one and two. In “Helpless”, for example, he and Buffy have an exchange where he waxes sincerely about wanting to “keep [her heart] safe, to warm it with [his own]” and although Buffy says the sentiment is beautiful, a second later she deadpans: “Or taken literally, incredibly gross.” To which Angel replies, “I was just thinking that, too.” Or in “Graduation Day, Part 1”, Angel trips on a doorway instead of making a silent entrance and Buffy again deadpans: “Stealthy.” Angel’s romance slips at moments when Buffy herself is feeling weak, either because she has lost her Slayer powers, or she’s investigating the scene of her sister Slayer’s crime. Her Romantic Slayer half is betraying her, and her romantic girlish half is feeling insecure. This is echoed by the reminder that Angel is no longer a straightforward fantasy man--or a terrifying, larger-than-life villain--but a guy who is sometimes both verbally and physically inelegant. 

(Notice how one of the few times season two makes similar jokes about Angel it’s in “Lie to Me”, the very same episode that begins to peel off the layers of deceptions and unknowns about him. Angel slumps around Willow’s bedroom and jokes about “honing [his] brooding skills”, he insists that the vampire wannabes know nothing about vampires right before a guy walks by wearing his exact outfit, and Xander runs color commentary, saying “you’re not wrong” after each of Ford’s observations. In “Lie to Me” one of Angel’s hidden faces is his dangerousness, yes. But another hidden face is simply his human awkwardness.)

There’s an interesting Slayage piece by Elizabeth Gilliland that discusses the idea of Angel as a Gothic double for Buffy, specifically connecting him to the story of Jekyll and Hyde. It argues that Angel’s split identities represent Buffy’s fears that her human and Slayer halves are irreconcilable, and she cannot fully control either half. In season three, the fact that Buffy and Angel must continuously resist a loss of control with each other, and are treated as romantically incompatible, reflects this fear. 

In Season Three, replete with various factors in Buffy’s life that threaten to put her role as Slayer and girl into imbalance once more [...] Angel once again returns [...]. The season culminates in an attempted attack on Buffy’s classmates during graduation, which essentially forces her to “out” herself to her community and combine her roles as Slayer and daughter, classmate, and friend for the first time publicly (“Graduation Day: Part 2” 3.22). The worst has happened: her secret has been revealed, the entire school knows about both of her personas, and she has not only survived, but emerged with a stronger sense of self [...] Buffy has conquered her first Gothic fear, and proven to herself that she can not only exercise control over both dualities of her persona, but allow them to peacefully co-exist. Thus, Angel’s continuing struggle with Angelus can no longer act as her shadow, and he literally and metaphorically leaves her to continue the rest of her journey.

It’s an interpretation I mostly agree with, and see a lot of evidence for. But in keeping with the focus of this series, I think you could also read Angel as embodying a duality between the romantic and the unromantic. In this view, Buffy’s struggle between her human and her Slayer halves is not just a struggle between personas, but a struggle to see the world correctly. In season one, it’s not Angel that revives Buffy in “Prophecy Girl”, because Angel is a vampire trope just like the Master. He cannot help her, because he is exactly the kind of traditional romantic concept--like a candle-lit cavern, an ancient Nosferatu-looking vampire, or a Chosen Hero duty--that Buffy is trying to escape. In season two, loss of control is specifically associated with passion, romance, and romanticism. Buffy’s human half longs for the romantic, but her Slayer half, and Angel’s vampire half, prove that sometimes the romantic is something dangerous and violent. The fact that Buffy’s Slayer identity and Angel’s Angelus identity both end up being outed by the end of the season (especially to Joyce, a figure of Buffy’s human home life), echoes Buffy’s loss of innocence. Season three then continues this suspicion of passion. Buffy fears that like Faith, enjoying the violence and power and desire of being a Slayer, means that she will go down a dark path. She also fears that indulging in her sexual and romantic desire for Angel will unleash Angelus. To some extent, these fears are even borne out, given that her love for Angel results in her attempted murder of Faith, and near death at Angel’s hands. But to some extent they also aren’t, given that she, Faith and Angel all live. 

To me, what really gets resolved at the end of season three is not quite the issue of Buffy’s human and Slayer halves, given that Buffy will continue to struggle with that duality until the end of the show. Rather, what gets resolved is the need for binaries. Binaries are romantic things. When Giles gives his speech to Buffy at the end of “Lie To Me”, it is the language of binaries that he uses:

GILES: Yes, it's terribly simple. The good guys are always stalwart and true, the bad guys are easily distinguished by their pointy horns or black hats, and, uh, we always defeat them and save the day. No one ever dies, and everybody lives happily ever after. 

BUFFY: Liar.

In season three, Buffy thinks she must resist both Faith and Angel. She thinks she can only be either a human girl or a Slayer leader. Many plots in season three have to do with the danger of binaries, whether that’s the witch-hunting parents in “Gingerbread”, Willow dealing with her vampire self in “Doppelgangland”, the various alter-egos in “Beauty and the Beasts”, or Cordy choosing a Buffy-less world in “The Wish”. And no character in the Buffyverse embodies the concept of binaries so starkly as Angel does. Thus by the end of season three, Buffy collapses the binaries within herself by merging the human and Slayer parts of her life, as Gilliland observes, and taking on Faith’s traits. She acknowledges her shadow by kissing her tenderly on the forehead, and bids farewell to the illusions and binaries that Angel embodies. Buffy is leaving that part of her life behind, and starting a new chapter where she can no longer split either the world, or herself, into any one thing or another.

part 2: “Love isn’t brains, children”: Enter Spike as the id

#romanticism series #buffy #angel #s1 #s2 #s3 #s6 #gen #spike #btvs

[bunnyinthestars]

A Theory about Akumas (and Princess Justice)

So I noticed something about akumas, specifically their powers and their intended targets vs. affected targets.

I’ve compiled every instance I can remember of an akuma infecting someone other than its intended target:

1. Chameleon

2. Zombizou

3. Startrain

4. Miraculer

Let’s break down what happened to see what these instances have in common.

1. Chameleon:

In this episode, Lila convinces everyone in the class to switch their seats around so she can sit with Adrien in the very front, while Marinette is kicked to the very back. After Lila threatens her, and turns her classmates and friends against her, Hawk Moth sends out an akuma to evilize Marinette. The akuma comes close to infecting her in the classroom, but when Marinette becomes distracted by classwork, the akuma hover around, waiting for her emotions to come back. Once Lila threatens her in the bathroom, the akuma comes back to once again try to akumatize her, but she fights it off. The akuma ends up crossing the path of Lila, who uses it to her advantage and has it akumatize her through her earring. Her powers in this episode gave her the ability to steal someone’s physical form transitively through kissing them.

2. Zombizou:

In this episode, it is Ms. Bustier’s birthday. The whole class has brought gifts for her except for Chloe, who is implied to have forgotten. Chloe ends up sabotaging part of Marinette’s gift for Ms. Bustier— a make-up bag. Ms. Bustier opens Marinette’s gift in front of the class to reveal the sabotaged gift, and Marinette becomes upset, which leads Ms. Bustier to bring Marinette out into the hallway to talk about how being a good example for kids like Chloe is key, which calms her down. However, the akuma was already sent out, and so it lingers over Marinette and Ms. Bustier until Ms. Bustier is afraid enough for it to infect her. She then becomes Zombizou, and her powers are that she can make people into zombies by kissing them, likewise those zombies can infect other people the same way.

3. Startrain

In this episode, the class is taking a field trip to London on the new Startrain train that is operated by none other than Max’s mom. Roger is driving Sabrina— who is constantly being spammed by Chloe with remarks to hurry up— to the trains station, but he keeps encountering people breaking laws whom are getting away with it because he is off-duty. An akuma is sent out to evilize him, but the akuma becomes trapped in Sabrina’s luggage full of items Chloe may need, and Roger successfully drops off Sabrina and gets back to giving people tickets. The akuma remains in the luggage on the Startrain until Sabrina opens the bag and the akuma infects Max’s mom. Her power as Startrain is to control the train— meaning she can control its location and its interior capabilities— and to use the train to whatever she sees fit.

4. Miraculer -

In this episode, Chloe is standing by for Ladybug to give her the bee miraculous once more so she can fight villains again, and becomes disappointed when she doesn’t turn up. Sabrina, meanwhile, is trying to make Chloe feel better, and asks her if she wants to play “heroes”. Chloe flips out on Sabrina, scaring her away. Now alone, an akuma is sent to Chloe to evilize her and infects a photo of her and Ladybug, but Chloe effectively resists the akuma and it reroutes to successfully infect Sabrina. Sabrina’s powers as Miraculer are that she can steal the powers of any miraculous she can obtain and she can switch between them as she pleases.

Now for what they have in common. Note how in the first two examples, Chameleon and Zombizou, both of their powers are transmitted through kissing. The common factor is that they were both intended for Marinette.

For Miraculer, the miraculous power-stealing ability could have made sense for Chloe, too, because of how desperate she was to have a miraculous once again. For Startrain, the ability to punish people through the controlling of a mode of transportation could have easily been applied to Roger, who desired to punish the ill-doers he saw and who was within his own police car at the time.

The conclusion I reached here was this: An akuma is sent out with powers based on the emotions of the intended target, not whoever ended up as the recipient. Most of the time, the intended target ends up being the recipient of the akuma. But in those episodes mentioned, the two were different.

The assumption that an akuma can be sent out with specific powers in mind (based on the specific emotions/desires of the intended target) can also be seen in Catalyst, when Hawk Moth effortlessly gives Nathalie the specific powers he needs in order to become Scarlet Moth, just as they had planned. Knowledge that an akuma can have specific powers assigned to it based on its intended recipient was what made that plan work. If Hawk Moth had not known what kind of powers the akuma would give Nathalie, then that plan would not have been able to work. Her powers were to give Hawk Moth the ability to become Scarlet Moth because that was her strongest desire, and that’s why the plan worked.

(The akuma’s powers have been shown to be directly related to the desires of its intended recipient before, too. This is because, firstly, this can be seen in every akuma. In Timebreaker, Alix wished for her pocketwatch to be fixed, and so her powers granted her the ability to do that. In Malediktator, Andre Bourgeois wanted to be seen as powerful and worthy to Chloe, so his powers made him an all-powerful dicatator. In Mr. Pigeon, Mr. Ramier wanted justice for the pigeons, and his powers allowed him to make pigeons essentially rule the world. Each power the villain ended up with not only could’ve been applied to its original target, but the powers could be seen in what the targets wanted. )

To summarize:

Chloe wanted her miraculous, but more specifically, the powers her miraculous gave her. She was desperate enough to get her miraculous back that she tried the stupid dance and chant that Lila (who she didn’t even know) had told her would summon Ladybug. This is why Miraculer’s powers being to steal the powers of the miraculous and use them for herself makes total sense for if Chloe were to have been akumatized isntead.

Roger wanted to have control again, to be able to punish the people he saw breaking the law, but was confined by his duty to Sabrina. The fact that he was in his police car made it even worse, because it was almost a taunting of the power he had but the inability to carry out any of that power due to obligation. Therefore, his power being to control and punish, especially through his vehicle, makes sense.

And, finally, the most interesting one, since she has yet to be akumatized. In both Chameleon and Zombizou, Marinette wanted to remain in the safe, loving space of her classroom friend group but was attacked and made to feel hated instead of loved, so it makes sense that her power would’ve been spreading evil or growing her own power transitively through a kiss. This is why I believe when Marinette gets akumatized at some point (likely, as teased, into Princess Justice), her power will affect people through kissing them, just like Chameleon and Zombizou.

this might be a stretch but??? I feel like it makes sense????? I think I’m onto something here

#a draft i have have saved #to get us through the latest ml hiatus #still waiting for the gabriel agreste episode…… #mine #ml meta #ml analysis #ml theory #miraculous theory #miraculous ladybug theory #miraculous ladybug analysis #miraculous ladybug meta #ml akuma #akumas #ml chameleon #zombizou #startrain #ml miraculer #miraculer #chloe bourgeois #roger raincomprix #lila rossi #caline bustier #marinette dupain cheng #princess justice

[insanityclause]

SPOILER ALERT: This article contains details of the first five episodes of Disney+’s Loki, & maybe the finale. Maybe.

EXCLUSIVE: “I have learned, at this point, having said goodbye to the character more than twice, two and a half times maybe, to make no assumptions,” says Loki’s Tom Hiddleston as the hours tick away to the finale of the Disney+ series drops early on Wednesday morning. “We’ll see where the ride goes now,” the Marvel alum adds.

As always with almost any project from the Kevin Feige run studio, that ride could continue, at least in some form or another. Certainly, the June 9 ‘Glorious Purpose’ premiere of the Michael Waldron penned and Kate Herron directed Loki proved to be the Disney+ and the MCU’s biggest small screen success so far. Also with any Marvel project, past Emmy winner Hiddleston was elusive on what could be coming next, be it in the Loki finale, another season or another appearance in the movies as the MCU shifts into its next phrase.

One thing is clear, after a decade playing the God of Mischief, Hiddleston still has a lot of Loki on the brain, in the best way.Leading towards the finale, I chatted with a UK-based Hiddleston about returning to play Loki and the search for who or what controls the seemingly all knowing, all powerful Time Variance Authority. The Night Manager star also spoke about filming during the coronavirus pandemic, working with Owen Wilson, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Wunmi Mosaku, Richard E. Grant, and Sophia Di Martino, who portrays variant and soulmate Sylvie, and his upcoming AppleTV+ series The Essex Serpent with Claire Danes.

DEADLINE: There’s a great line in this season’s penultimate episode where your Loki and Sylvie are stunned at watch Richard E. Grant’s Classic Loki recreate Asgard to distract Alioth and you say “I think we’re stronger than we realize.” There seems to be a great resonance in the line that there’s a whole lot of Loki coming in the finale and probably more …

HIDDLESTON: I suppose it resonates with the theme that we all wanted to highlight about purpose and about meaning. Loki’s someone who’s probably been deluded by the idea that he’s burdened with glorious purpose, and that perhaps that purpose has been revealed to be fraudulent or meaningless, and maybe his self-image or the role that he has condemned himself to play is redundant.

His experiences through this story have shown him that there are actually more opportunities available to him, and you know, it speaks to this idea, like, can we change? Can we evolve, and in that evolution, is there room to grow? You know, so, I think the stronger than we realize I think is Loki finally understanding that, really, by caring for other people, that maybe there’s power in that, and I found that very touching, and the whole thing is an extraordinary dream.

DEADLINE: Speaking of an extraordinary dream, you have been playing Loki for a decade now, since the first Thor movie, We know you are going to do some voice work in the animated What If…? series, but how has it been having this series directly centering on him, in all his variants, so to speak?

HIDDLESTON: You know Dominic, I have enjoyed it so much, because I felt it was a gift and a privilege to be invited to come and sit at the table and think about what the show might be. Also, I suppose so many of the things that I’ve discovered about Loki as a character in the comics and a character in the Norse myths, in the canon, aspects that I’ve always thought were interesting, and understandably, there hasn’t been time or space in the movies to explore them.

DEADLINE: In terms of who he is?

HIDDLESTON: Those aspects of him have been externalized and embedded into this new story about identity itself and about integrating the disparate fragment of the many selves that he is or perhaps the many selves that we are. You know, we contain multitudes. Loki certainly contains multitudes. We have met many of those multitudes, including Alligator Loki (laughs).

DEADLINE: Sounds like you’re not done with those multitudes yet. From your POV, from conversations with Kevin (Feige) is there more that you see for the character as the MCU heads into its next stages?

HIDDLESTON: Well, I certainly don’t have Kevin’s brain or encyclopedic knowledge or capacity for invention. I’ve been on the ride for a while, and it’s been the most extraordinary journey, and to have lived through different iterations, different phases of the MCU, and I’m so grateful that I’m still here, and it’s been amazing to watch. I feel that the MCU is even more expansive, is even braver, more inclusive than it’s ever been.

DEADLINE: How so?

HIDDLESTON: I think the stories are getting really exciting. Not that they weren’t before, but I think they understand that the investment of the audience is very deep, and they don’t take it for granted for a second. So, yeah, I suppose the perspective I have on how Loki might affect the ongoing course of the MCU is this idea of the multiverse. People have already understood it when Miss Minutes is introducing Loki to the TVA. She talks about the multiverse and the war and that the sacred timeline, which is reality as we know it.

DEADLINE: It opens up the aperture certainly for new stories from all opportunities, doesn’t it?

HIDDLESTON: It raises questions of, well, maybe there are other parallel or alternate universes. Maybe there are other realities, and the possibilities there are endless. I feel that at the end of episode five, Loki and Sylvie are close to discovering the answers to the questions that they have of who is behind the TVA and that, somehow, this will provoke even more curiosity about…

DEADLINE: …Because in the Marvel Universe, answering one set of questions always leads to another set of questions, in many ways.

HIDDLESTON: Right. Yeah. Yeah, and I know that there are lots of, you know, interesting titles of movies that’ve been announced, which kind of hint at where it might be going.

DEADLINE: One of those that hasn’t been officially announced, but is rumored is a Season 2 for Loki, in gear under the temporary title of Architect on call sheets and the like …

HIDDLESTON: Well, yes, maybe, as I say, all the kind of multiple alternate realities are …it’s taken me 10 years to get a handle on this sort of mono timeline. The idea that this might be a multiverse is actually beyond my knowledge of physics.

DEADLINE: Well, I doubt that, but let me ask, and no spoilers for the finale or further, but if Kevin, Marvel, Disney asked you to do more Loki, are you game?

HIDDLESTON: (laughs) I have learned, at this point, having said goodbye to the character more than twice, two and a half times maybe, to make no assumptions. So, I’m also aware that I’m only playing him because of the audience, really. So, it’s not up to me. But I do love playing him, and every time, I seem to find new, interesting things about him. So, yeah, I’m a temporary passenger on Loki’s journey, but we’ll see. We’ll see where the ride goes now.

DEADLINE: On the ride, as the finale looms, there’s a ton of fan speculation out there and so much that people have hooked on to from the show. So, as the man at the center of it, what was your favorite part of Loki the series?

HIDDLESTON: That there was meaning in the making of it.That we crossed the finish line in the middle of a global pandemic and could create something, and more than ever, I felt really grateful for being able to do this job. I think in this there are some of those questions that we were all asking ourselves in the last 18 months in the show, you know, what do our lives mean?📷I love taking Loki in new directions. I love the contributions of my fellow actors, of Owen Wilson and Sophia Di Martino and Richard E. Grant and Gugu Mbatha-Raw, and Wunmi Masaku, they all brought so much to the table, and I’ll always remember that. You know, I’ll always remember just being in Atlanta with all of them and making our bonkers show. Yeah.

DEADLINE: Making your bonkers show in Atlanta as the world, as America was still in the heat of the pandemic. What was that like, because you were in production and then everything stopped and then you came back, right?

HIDDLESTON: I mean, people have used this word a lot, but it really was unprecedented. I think we did six weeks of filming before the hiatus, and then the production was suspended for four or five months, and we came back. At first, it was unfamiliar because we had to make adjustments, but the thing I remember most of all, quite honestly, is the diligence and resilience and spirit of our cast and crew.

DEADLINE: Really?

HIDDLESTON: Yes, and it remains extremely special for me, this project, for that reason.For me, it just demonstrated the character of these amazing people. It took a huge amount of planning and care and looking after each other. By that, I mean, being in the bubble. So, for many of us, the only other human beings we saw, really, were each other. So, we came to work, and we became a team, and the circumstances fostered this extraordinary team spirit, and so the memory of making it is really my incredible and deep respect and affection for my fellow filmmakers. People like Trish Stanard, our line producer. Richard Graves, our first AD. Kristina Peterson, our second AD. Autumn Durald, DP. Kevin Wright, our supervising producer, and so many others making sure everyone could stay safe and look after each other.It’s really…I find it…it’s very moving, and it’s remarkable, and I just want to salute them all because I couldn’t have done any of it without them.

DEADLINE: In that vein, you have just come off filming The Essex Serpent with Claire Danes for AppleTV+. Very different from Loki, and yet also a tale of what is real and who we are. Is that what attracted you to it on some level?

HIDDLESTON: I read it and immediately connected to it. Read the screenplay, the adaptation. It’s based on a novel by Sarah Perry, which was published in 2016 and is set at the end of the 19th century. It’s an extraordinary story about uncertainty and about our deepest fears and how sometimes our fears can distort our imaginings and how our minds can lie to us. About how we have to guard against that, and Perry sets it in this extraordinary time with a beautiful leading character of Cora Seaborne, played by Claire. Anna Symon adopted it.

There’s this community on the east coast of England who believe that an ancient beast has been awakened by an earthquake and that it’s dislodged all these fossils. But perhaps, it has also dislodged this ancient underwater monster, which has been used to explain certain unusual phenomena. This was in the era when Darwin had just been published a few decades before and people are starting to think, this Charles Darwin, he’s onto something. Still, fear spreads very quickly, and it’s a very fascinating time where science and faith are in conflict.

DEADLINE: When you describe it like that it sounds very Loki indeed.

HIDDLESTON: Maybe the themes are very Loki. Maybe that’s where they join up, but I’m playing a 19th century vicar who is trying to contain his community. You feel very destabilized by all these rumors. So, yeah, to go from Loki to a vicar was definitely new, a new territory.

DEADLINE: Literally and figuratively?

HIDDLESTON: Well, it’s my first significant time in Essex, where we filmed, which I feel embarrassed about. I’ve been to Essex before, but I’ve never been to the very, very eastern, most eastern coast of Essex. It’s the Blackwater Estuary, which then feeds into the River Thames, and it’s a very ancient part of England. It’s so marshy, it’s where in Great Expectations, that’s where Pip meets Magwitch for the first time. It’s all foggy and muddy and marshy and quite atmospheric and a perfect place to set a story about of uncertainty and fear and gothic romance. Clio Barnard directed it, and working with her has been amazing.

DEADLINE: You know, it occurs to me that of all the main Marvel characters, Loki has been such a constant, yet so ethereal in so many ways too. Is it jarring for you to jump back into the role with all the uncertainty it brings?

HIDDLESTON: You know, I’ve always seen it as sort of an extraordinary and surprising constant in my life for a decade. But, I don’t take it for granted because I don’t often…you know, it may end. It has actually ended, and those endings have been conclusive. I really thought a couple of years ago, after I made Avengers: Infinity War, you know, we all know what happens in that scene, and I thought, that’s it.I thought it’s over, and I was really proud to have been part of it. I was grateful for my time, but I thought that, my work would go off in a different direction. So, the idea that I got to come back and have another go was a complete delight, it truly was.

#Tom Hiddleston #Interview #Loki #The Essex Serpent