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anxi-writes · 10 months

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Had an urge to write something angsty awhile ago. And thought that maybe tumblr would enjoy this depressing piece of work because, y’know, transformers. Anyways, here’s your food 😋

• ANGST •

It was like a blow to the gut. The glassy windows to outside serving as anything but protection from the sudden emotional pain. The dark space swirls with yellows, oranges and reds, a violent yet beautiful landscape.

A sob escapes from the back of your throat. You didn’t even realise you were crying until now. Your face is drenched in tears, it’s as if you went for dive in an endless abyss of tears. It takes all of your strength to prey yourself from the disastrous scene out in the distance.

A hand clasps your shoulder. Your emotions change like wildfire as you whip around and slap the metal hand away.

“I’m sorry.”

Sorry…? Sorry?? He’s sorry. Where was that apology, that kindness, when he drove his blood stained fist into your planet? Where was his sympathy when he continued to push his own race into near extinction? It’s too fucking late.

“You’re sorry? Well sorry doesn’t bring back my home now, does it?” You hiss with anger. The pit in your stomach boils with rage and you can’t help but release it. Anyone would think you had a death wish with how close you were standing to the ex-warlord. Then again, maybe you did have a death wise. The one thing you were looking forward to and yearned had been incinerated. Dying is the least of your concerns.

“I thought the war was over! I and many others were told that Earth would be safe, that we wouldn’t have to fear a fate such as this!” You’re practically screaming now, your anger burned into your face like the scorched planet of what you once called home. Your crewmates, the aliens you’re now stuck with, look at you with pity. A pettiness that makes you want to just hurl yourself off into the coldness of space. Their pity is the last thing you need. If anything, it just makes matters worse.

“I had a family down there you know? I had a life down there outside of this whole human liaison bullshit!” Tears trickle down your face as you continue to express your anger whilst Megatron stands there. It’s only now that you realise that you might be the last human alive. And that scares you to no end. It’s that thought alone that stops you in your tracks. It stops you from adding onto your continuing verbal assault towards a certain mech, who knows If that’s a good thing or not.

The realisation that you might be the last of your species makes your knees wobble. The sense of dread fills your tiny being to the brim as you find yourself now on your knees. You can’t do this. Fuck this. Your body shakes uncontrollably as you fail to ground yourself. This all seems so bloody dramatic, maybe you would’ve ended up doing great in that one school drama play your teacher begged you to join.

Your vision blurs as you try to pull yourself up from the floor. It’s no use. Maybe it would be better if you just sank into the floor. Sinking into the floor and becoming one with the ship didn’t seem so bad. At this point you would do anything to not be here in this present time.

#I should really be doing requests rn #instead of like- this #mtmte #megatron #transformers x reader #but it’s not really an x reader #lost light #transformers #maccadam #anxicast #anxi writes #angst

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thedeadthree · 1 year

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multiples of five for viktor and an oc of your choice please! 💕

ROSIIEEE hii! i hope your doing well dear! <3 THATS MY DEAR BOY. ive had him for EONS he means the world to me AHH. hmm and for the second one in honor of tlou releasing today on hbo! i'll introduce alaia! <3

OC ASK GAME

5. WHAT WAS AN OCS FIRST SLOW DANCE SONG?

i would say MODUS by joji would be a cute first slow dance song for him! i would say first slow dance parter would go to the lucky dear ness (or nessie as he likes to call her <3 shes aj @jendoe's girlie!)! for a goood chunk of his life slow dances wigged him out u know? it's what his parents did at galas, and furthermore, its what people in committed relationships do u know? so it would take a "love of their life" sort to sway prince skittish of long term relationships <3

10. WHICH OC IS THE BIGGEST ROMANTIC?

to be honest i think until nessie he didn't think himself as much of a romantic? and after they become an item (nessie will likely have to go "LISTENN BUB I THINK UR NEAT" or something like that jksankjn bc for all of his banter and etc etc dear boy was like UHH when it came to the art of courting ahjsabjx). but he'll try his best! its like watching a baby dear learn how to walk which is precious but also PRIME opportunity for teasing (affectionate). wanted to be in love but didn't think it was for him u know?

15. WHICH OC HAS THE MOST FRIENDS?

he's a social butterfly my dear boy sure is! of course soap and willa and Garrick and ghost begrudgingly are the besties and price and isi are like parental figures to him <3. radolfo and alejandro (dad wars between him and price kajnsj their time together in that cell was all the convincing ale needed that vik was to be his son jjhsjh) became instant besties of his <3. he has a number of close friends and fringe acquaintances as well! though the one who will hold the candle as his friend of all friends for him would be his late brother aldric <3

20. WHICH OC GETS CRUSHES THE EASIEST?

vik gets crushes like his dogs track mud in his house... ALL THE TIME. the essence of the "falls in love with a new person everyday." hehe <3 he took the cake for that until he met *COUGH*!

25. WHICH OC IS THE MOST PRACTICAL?

hES TrYinG hIS BeST his upbringing he's a nepo baby and his tendency towards the dramatic (stubs his toe? shakespearean tragedy.) he makes an effort for practicality but like his mannerisms in the romantic department its like watching a deer learn how to walk <3 viktor "how much does a banana cost? $50?" mason <3

30. WHICH OC DRESSES THE BEST? THE WORST?

no greater slight he could make to his mother if he didn't put thought into his sense of style bjsbjd and thank the heavens for aldric and his IMMACULATE TASTE bc i am confident dear boy would have considered joggers and a t-shirt as a suitable formal wear jankxdk. he learned all he knows from him! <3

35. WHICH OC PRONOUNCES IT MEH-MEH INSTEAD OF MEME?

his grandma on his moms side in france pronounced it as meh-meh and as a like seven he used to say it that way until aldric told him its MEME not meh-meh habjsbj (after waiting EONS until vik was fifteen to tell him DARN OLDER SIBLINGS). now, its just around graves to get on his nerves <3. he's a twerp!

40. IF ALL YOUR OCS WERE TO GET INTO A GIANT, MCU STYLE FIGHT WHO WOULD WIN?

he survives only bc select clowns would find his "hot mess with a heart of gold" nature endearing <3 he's beelining for roman, ayrenn, vindamea and enya the moment he sees them! strong badass ladies who can break his neck like a twig? AND upon them knowing him for five minutes if anyone touched a hair on his head they'd zero everyone on the scene hehe <3 he's drinking mead with baelor afterwards and running for the HILLS shrieking and tears in his eyes seeing una on the back of the cannibal <3 its fun!

5. WHAT WAS AN OCS FIRST SLOW DANCE SONG?

i think maybe not a first slow dance song but something for a first emotional moment where the bleakness of the post apocalyptic landscape of the world (which members of her family may or may not have been responsible for the outbreak) and its really getting to her.. i think of DEAL ME by MeLoveMeAlot ft KÅIKÅI? the "you can't kill me I'm alive / you gotta deal me i'm alive ... we all know no paradise." i think would be lovely for her in that moment u know? like a hold her while she sways a bit sort of post panic attack moment?

10. WHICH OC IS THE BIGGEST ROMANTIC?

she was the child of seattle socialites and so the notion of romantics came from her admirers verses from her u know? but! she is for sure with the love language of gifting as that was the way she saw her parents expressing their affections and what people around her would do for her. so sort of a romantic but? not really?

15. WHICH OC HAS THE MOST FRIENDS?

i think between her and viktor she would have more friends but none of them she would consider close, acquaintances at best u know? a lot of her friendships in seattle were superficial. a lot of them were more so to have a connection to her name? to say they knew the family? she was little when the outbreak hit the friends she had and their parents it was like that? she needs friends i am PLEADING. these days its easier for her to have dalliances and acquaintances <3

20. WHICH OC GETS CRUSHES THE EASIEST?

crushes? in the year of our lord 2023 post outbreak? not on her life <3 she does have more than a few admirers though in higher circles and in leaving the comforts of home traversing the landscape <3.

25. WHICH OC IS THE MOST PRACTICAL?

alaia actually would have that over dear boy vik! i am still working things out (im doing lore diving as im watching the show rn <3) her step father before the outbreak was a neurosurgeon and he was looking into understanding the outbreak. on her defying her dads wishes and finding survivors outside of FEDRA the things she learned from him and the people around her she took to things rather well!

30. WHICH OC DRESSES THE BEST? THE WORST?

the outbreak broke out in 2003 i believe right? y2k in the post apocalyptic pnw/us fashion icon besties! luxury clothing from the 2000s and 90s inherited from her family! it may be the end times but that didn't mean she had to stop dressing cute!

35. WHICH OC PRONOUNCES IT MEH-MEH INSTEAD OF MEME?

sending memes? in the year of our lord 2023 in a post apocalyptic era? shes asking "huh?" habjwbdjbj in a no-outbreak au, dear girl was pronounces it as memes! <3 or nuisances <3 (rich people u know?)

40. IF ALL YOUR OCS WERE TO GET INTO A GIANT, MCU STYLE FIGHT WHO WOULD WIN?

oh shes not fighting jkanknw <3 fighting? in these chanel boots? she wouldn't dare! she and narcissa and sybille are sipping champagne as the fighting rages!! she would likely if she must use ye olde charm and request damiano to protect her (AND HE OBLIGES *cough* clown <3 but also love that for her! and he's valid for it!) and that's how she walks out of the conflict without a scratch <3

#🌹: rosie #rosebarsoap #oc: viktor mason #oc: alaia alcántara #leg.asks #leg.ocs #leg.txt #TY TY ROSIEE FOR THE ASK <3 i hope ur doing well dear!! this was the cutest to do and to develop them with!#i don't have much on her at the moment but i did do some reading and i may have her bio dad be the head of fedra?#so on her learning he made it VERRY clear they weren't to provide aid any further survivors she was like YEEA no bud <3 #they fully expected to learn she was dead within the week.. i would almost also say they sent out parties to look for her?#but she knew how to thwart them <3 she had been doing it for years so it was no challenge!#(at a point she also meets tommy right and learning she came from a well off upbringing he was like?? how are u not dead?)#(shes a smart cookie bestie! i don't think she informs who she is for a WHILE but <3 yea <3)#theyll either be besties or something more i haven’t decided sksjjxjx 🤍😵‍💫#totally not for the giggles after the final question thinking of a crossover thing jasnknkw it would be inch resting!#ocs from the fantasy verses interacting? with the modern clowns? funsies! neat!#vik is being held together with star wars duct tape and glue but he's doing his darnedest and I love him <3 #he was easily spooked by relationships prior to nessie <3 congrats dear! u did it!#the new banners and how they look for them both turned out so pretty GAHH im emotional <3 #i had to make new ones as the old banners are on my old m*acbook and i love love how they turned out <3 and the babies deserve it <3

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thebreakfastgenie · 2 years

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You’ve probably already talked about this, but your opinion on how Josh and Donna finally happened?

I have but I'm always happy to talk about it!

I'm like... 50% satisfied with it. I am very glad it happened and I'd be upset if it didn't happen at all.

I don't like the whole season 6 arc at all and I do feel like the main purpose of it was to keep them apart because the show had written itself into a corner where it made no sense for them not to get together. I think the natural time to do it was season 4 and if not then definitely the beginning of season 6. Ultimately I think it was a casualty of the conventional wisdom at the time being that the main couple had to stay will they/won't they as long as possible. I much prefer organic storytelling and there's more room for that in today's television landscape.

As it stands, it feels like the moment passes, and when they do finally get together Donna is such a dramatically different character it doesn't really feel like the culmination I've been waiting for since season 1. I absolutely hate that awkward period where they're sleeping together but it's not defined. That doesn't feel like them to me. I think they'd know right away. You could maybe get a storyline out of them both knowing but having trouble actually saying it officially, but that's not what we get. I also feel like they kept flip-flopping the situation to prioritize taking Josh down a peg over anything that actually made sense.

First, Donna is the sexual aggressor. Okay, slay! Along with that, Josh immediately recognizes the significance and is anxious about being romantic enough, while Donna is cool as a cucumber and worried about winning the election. That does make her his ideal woman, but I don't think the scene entirely plays that way as written, that's just me reading into it to try to make it work. It's cute to see him pining for a change though. Then, Josh is the one who can't commit. That just makes no sense with what we just saw two episodes ago. Josh basically tried to start a relationship on election day, he's the one who kept saying they should talk and wanted to do it when he was able to concentrate because it's important to him, while Donna kept setting up booty calls, and then he says he doesn't know what he wants from her? Of course he knows.

All of this makes sense if you think he's anxious about balancing a relationship and his work and doesn't want to mess it up because she means so much to him and she's vulnerable and trying to protect herself, hence the boundaries, but that does not really come across in the show at all. It's just oh he's not sure he can commit, she give a deadline, he learns a lesson about being a workaholic. I think it's just a casualty of the show at this point having way too many characters and extant storylines to wrap up in very few episodes, but they spend so much time on Santos and Vinick, who, while interesting, are really plot devices as much as characters. The final arc should have spent more time on the characters we've been following since the beginning and the relationship that's been such a huge part of the show. It's just rushed.

That's what I don't like. Here's what I do.

I love their first kiss. I think it's perfect. I love the polling data thing. The awkwardness at that point makes sense! It's just very them and I love it. I love that they have sex on election eve and watch coverage in bed and I wish they had let it be less awkward and more mutual! I love it being incredibly obvious to Will. I love Matt Santos being the only person who doesn't realize they're sleeping together. I love their vacation, actually! Josh taking Donna with him on the vacation he's forced to go on is a really nice bit of growth for him AND them. Just take the four week deadline out of it. I love the scene where they wake up together on inauguration day. It's a nice parallel to the times we've seen him wake up before, only now Donna is there! He's not alone! He's grown so much and he's going to be healthier and happier because they're in it together.

So in the end, it works well enough. I'm just glad it happened. And I can gloss over the bumps for my Santos admin headcanons that have a bit more of a season 4 Josh/Donna flavor.

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spoilertv · 2 months

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#SpoilerTV

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araminakilla · 2 years

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Analysing the recent Tad 3 trailer in less words than I usually do (or at least I tried)

The setting for Tad and Mummy's reunion looks like a horror movie at first, then turns to comedy. Also rude Tad, you don't interrupt someone else's bath.

I don't know if they are in Tad's home or in another place because the room looks different and for the luchador mask, either they are in Mexico or Mummy used it to "disguise" himself to enter the apartment.

As always Mummy is eager and happy to see his buddy. Tad... not so much.

One sequence of Tad in a dark place, then we have Mummy wieldering a red lightsaber like a boss, maybe he knows how to use a sword too. Hope we get more clips of Mummy looking serious and awesome. Is just me or maybe this is foreshadowing a future "Darth Vader in the hall corridor" scene from Rogue One in the climax against his enemies? Hope that's the case.

Also Mummy is covering his mouth with one hand and I could think of many possibilities:

1. He only does it because of dramatics for the "Dark Side" stuff.

2. Same as the 1 but it ends in the revelation that his teeth are now pointy.

3. He intentionaly covers his mouth until Tad finds out what happened.

4. This scene happens after they meet the mummy girl and he's trying to protect his friends (with little to no sucess)

Sara kissing Tad. Jeff and Belzoni being in the same camp as them, perhaps this is their reunion before meeting with Mummy again.

Then we have this woman who I don't really know who she is. She can be the new villain "Karen" or just a woman who works at the mexican museum (it looks like a museum) OR Karen pretending to be someone from the museum.

Mummy playing with some rubber chickens. He's at Tad's apartment so I'm confused as if their reunion happens in Chicago or in Mexico.

Tad facepalming in Egypt (probably directed at Mummy, maybe relating to the egyptian mummy) or maybe he messed up big time and he's realizing his mistake.

Tad playing Indiana Jones and doing adventure stuff with the sarcophagus. Also it's strange that many synopsis say that he broke the coffin but it seems that he opened it just fine (disrespectfuly but still intact) also something very curious is that this is a woman's sarcophagus but it has the face of a man. Could it be her father? her husband? Or maybe she did a Hatshepsut, as that queen declared herself pharaoh, ruling as a man would for over 20 years and portraying herself in statues and paintings with a male body and false beard.

Which now that I think of that, it would contrast well with Mummy dressing up as a female sometimes. Maybe they could bond over how their respective societies made them follow the rules of their respective gender while they were more than that in life and death. That would be a neat thing to see, one can dream.

Then we have the jeep that appeared in a concept art, making its way through Egypt in the night, while the landscape looks mysterious and empty. We have Paris that also looks nice, maybe better than a certain popular anime series. Miraculous Ladybug x Tadeo Jones crossover when?

The sequence of action with Tad, Jeff and the mummies looks like a fun ride (well... not for them) and it concludes breaking a wall and falling into la Seine(?) in Paris. Hope queeny isn't mad about getting water in her bandages and dress.

Speaking of queeny, we finally hear her voice and she sounds... cute. And young, she probably died young in her early 20s (poor woman). She's dramatic, which would make sense if she was a high priest in life. Truly, I can't wait to see how those two mummies will interact. We saw Mummy interact a lot with Tad, a little with Sara, so it would be nice if he interacts with someone who may have a similar background as him (dramatic mummy coming from royalty from a culture that is long gone) and I wouldn't mind if they have a thing going on BUT not the romance disaster that happened in movie 2. Just... no. Friends or friendly rivals is fine, thank you very much.

She says "Ra, Amon" and another name I can't understand but that maybe begins with "A" so then it leads to Mummy believing she introduced herself as "Ramona", which makes me wonder... does he know about Egyptian culture? He didn't know the gods' names unless it's only for the "Ramona" joke.

Speaking of that name, I'm tired to write "Egyptian mummy/girl/woman" all the time in posts so until we get her real name I'm calling her "Ramona". Sorry girl, that's your name from now on, with ONE nameless mummy is enough.

I'm still surprised some (or all) people didn't caught the final joke as there are many saying that Ramona is the former wife, girlfriend or friend of Mummy, or her ex. Then there are those who don't understand how an Incan mummy happens to know an egyptian one given the time periods. It's a fun thing to read.

Youtuber/comment: Is she the Mummy's (ex)girlfriend?

Ramona & Mummy: NO!

#poor mummies #they are going to be shipped like there's no tomorrow #crossing fingers they can be characters first #they just met #tadeo jones #tadeo jones 3 #tad the lost explorer #tad the lost explorer 3 #tadeo jones analysis #tadeo jones theory #tad stones #sara lavrof #mummy (tadeo jones)#tadeo jones egyptian mummy #tadeo jones ramona #ramona (tadeo jones)#it's good to have a name #She: THAT'S NOT MY NAME #me: Get used to it queeny

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chalkrevelations · 3 years

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SO. Back to the beginning, Episode 1 of Word of Honor. This is likely to be a little bit different experience than the prior posts, when I was watching the eps as they aired, compared to now approaching the show as whole and complete. May be rummaging around for things I missed the first time through, stuff that takes on new meaning set in additional context – we’ll see how it goes.

With that in mind, spoilers for not just this ep but possibly for the entire series. Get out of the car now and come back later, if you haven’t seen all 36.5 eps and want to watch it unspoiled.

First thing to strike me, right up front: You know, I think we tend to lose sight in later parts of the show – when we’re getting Laopo!Zhou Zishu pouting so he doesn’t have to cook dinner - how terrifying ZZS is in his own right (and by “we,” I actually mean the show, too). One of the things the first few episodes gets right, I think, is the sense of eerie inevitability and dread created by both the falling lanterns of Tian Chuang and the blowing paper figures of the Ghost Valley, and how similar they are. I think it’s easy to lose that - when the lanterns and the paper figures are gone and our charming and adorable couple are busy being charming and adorable at each other, in between varying rounds of being wracked by guilt and PTSD – easy to lose that this is there too, part of them – both of them - under the skin. I think it’s particularly easy to lose that for ZZS, when he’s already done a lot of work, off-screen, pre-Episode 1, during the 18 months he was putting in those first six Nails, to come to some kind of equilibrium, and meanwhile we watch Wen Kexing’s entire torturous process play out on-screen. Wen Kexing’s story is one of reaching an equilibrium, but Zhou Zishu’s story is one of maintaining it, which I think may be less showy, but is equally valuable, just as I value the Four Seasons Manor arc, especially, for giving us a vibe of two adults comfortable in an already intimate relationship, as opposed to the veritable sea of will-they-won’t-they tug-of-war coming-together-for-the-first-time-as-emotional-AND-plot climax relationships that we’re usually awash in.

Anyway, straight up we’re introduced to an assassin who, we discover, doesn’t like to get blood on himself. It looks like metaphorical blood is fine, just not actual blood, but then we discover, well, maybe he’s not as OK with metaphorical blood as he schools himself to look. Also that conversation with Li Jingan about her dad having to die because he’s a traitor to the country – I now wonder how much of that particular conversation Zhou Zishu mentally brings to the table in later conversations about his own father being executed for the same reason. Also, wait wait wait. Zhou Zishu tells Jingan that he took Jiuxiao’s body back to Four Seasons Manor and buried him next to their shifu, but I don’t remember seeing another grave there, other than Qin Huaizhang’s and his wife’s. Script inconsistency, or are you supposed to be lying, ZZS? I mean, would you be so downcast at the state of Four Seasons Manor when you arrive with your husband and son for your honeymoon, if you’d actually been there only a couple of years before? It didn’t fall to pieces overnight. Also, HAIRPIN FORESHADOWING ALERT. Our first sign of how important the hairpin is, the way ZZS’s impassive face cracks wide open when he sees the hairpin that Jiuxiao made and realizes he must have given it to Jingan. Clearly important!

Mmm. Here’s a point for the “Prince Jin is a f’kn asshole” list – Prince Jin wants ZZS to deal with Bi Changfeng personally when Bi Changfeng requests to leave Tian Chuang. And OK, ZZS is the leader of Tian Chuang. But you’re never going to convince me Prince Jin wants ZZS to deal with it personally because Prince Jin is actually so very furious that Bi Changfeng made a mistake. You will never convince me this isn’t a … it’s not even a test of loyalty, at this point, because Prince Jin has no reason to think yet that ZZS is anything other than the faithful hunting dog on a leash that he’s been, lo, these many years. Putting ZZS in a position where not only is he losing the last of the direct disciples of Four Seasons Manor, but he’s being asked to (as good as) kill him with his own hands - it’s just cruelty for the proof of your power and influence over someone. Also, given Prince Jin’s later diatribe about how everyone leaves him OMG (have you considered it’s your personality?) (But also Beiyuan! I know who you are now, and yeah, I would have let Wu Xi bride-kidnap me away from this jerk, too), I have to wonder if Prince Jin isn’t trying to make ZZS feel exactly as isolated as he, himself, feels, as part of his overall desire to make sure that ZZS has no one other than Prince Jin so that their positions are parallel – only having each other in the whole world. I also have to wonder if he’s not hoping for precisely the reaction ZZS has to Bi Changfeng – you’d rather be dead than be with me? Because that hurts, you can see it on ZZS’s face (thanks already, Zhang Zhehan), and I rather suspect Prince Jin wants it to hurt. I notice we get an echo of this later in the ep, with Prince Jin saying pretty much the same thing when ZZS asks for the final Nail. GOOD. I hope it hurts you just as much. I wonder if ZZS realizes this while he’s kneeling there in the throne room. It’s probably too late for him to get any satisfaction out of it.

OH, HEY. That’s HAN YING already, one of the two people accompanying ZZS to put down Bi Changfeng, looking super-pained like he knows what this is all costing his beloved. Han Ying, I really hope you got to tap that at least a few times before ZZS made his break for it. Is that one of the reasons Prince Jin seems to have such antipathy for you, or is it really just that he can’t stand the idea of someone whose loyalty to ZZS is greater than their loyalty to Prince Jin, himself? (Seriously, y’all, why is there not much much more Han Ying/ZZS fic?) Meanwhile Duan Pengju, omg, this asshole, is already looking smug and punchable. Really, he’s kind of enjoying the Seven Nails placement a little too much. Showing your hand pretty fast on the petty evil thing, show.

So, one thing I didn’t catch the first time around, is that ZZS isn’t just self-injuring to punish himself when he takes the knife to his chest – he re-opens wounds on all the places where the first six Nails have already been placed, so it will look like the placement is fresh. If you can’t tell he hasn’t just put them in, there’s no reason for anyone else (read: Prince Jin) to suspect he’s bought himself some time before he loses his senses. As far as anyone knows, he’s going to fall over with locked-in syndrome any day now. Which just makes the implications of Prince Jin vowing that he’s only letting him go for now EVEN ICKIER. For all Prince Jin knows, what he’s going to get back is a flesh doll that will just lie there, although I guess on the plus side, ZZS would never leave him again. Thanks, show, I need a shower, now.

ZZS says all the right things to argue his case to Prince Jin – he’s only good as a weapon, he has no skills nor utility for building and governing the country – and I think partly this is because he just knows the right things to say. I mean, you don’t become the Number Two guy in the country, with thousands under you and only one above you, if you can’t play imperial politics. But I also wonder if deep down he doesn’t actually believe it – he was successful at building Tian Chuang, but he couldn’t maintain Four Seasons Manor and even drove it to ruin. So, I’ll just be over here, clutching my chest, over my heart. Fortunately, Zhang Zhehan provides quick distraction from this pain, and I … Y’all. I can’t. I just. I CANNOT. When ZZS drops to his knees and starts stripping in the throne room. Just. Mmmmmrgh. THIS VISUAL. Although, you want to know what one of the hottest parts actually is? That pair of leather bracers hitting the floor on top of his belt, and ZZS isn’t even in the shot at that point. OK, fine, I am willing to read some dirtybadwrong fic with this whole scene premise at its heart, even if it does include Prince Jin. Zhang Zhehan, you are KILLING ME. I might have rewound this part. More than once. You can’t prove anything.

Aaaand then we get that gorgeous, painful shot of ZZS riding out into the snow that I know I’ve talked about before (including the way I get an odd echo of Lan Xichen off of it). There are several places in this ep where the cinematography is to die for, and this is one of them, the bleakness of the landscape and Zhang Zhehan (and his FACE) deep in that shadowing cloak against the stark snow as he rides out into freedom and the unknown. Then cut to somewhere green and forested. Interesting that the show starts with snow and ends with snow. That parallel with the imperial cage says some things about immortality that could stand to be unpacked – but later. Because ZZS is putting his face on – literally – and I am once again in pain, only it’s not the good kind of pain. It’s caused by that dreadful fake facial hair. There are some things that could be unpacked here, as well, about the fact that making ZZS supposedly unattractive involves a clearly fake goatee, a single aesthetically placed scar, and darkening his skin. I’m going to try to step carefully here, because this is kind of out of my lane, but it is … a noticeable thing. That probably ought to be noted.

So, ZZS takes just a moment to turn his (fake) face up to the sun and feel the warmth on it … and then with 10 minutes left, we’re on our way to Ghost Valley, where there’s some chaos and then Hanging Ghost gets got by a Mysterious Stranger To Be Revealed Later, who chokes him out (remember this). The Mysterious Master of Ghost Valley appears dramatically on his High Ledge to Make Some Pronouncements while playing with some walnuts omg (rolling two of them in one hand – remember this), and we see his eyes, which are partially obscured by chunky sidebangs, which are farther forward on his forehead than we’re going to see later, not only hiding some of his face but making it look more angular. The troops get berated, shit rolls downhill, and another dude gets choked (remember this) as Ghost Valley Master’s hair continues to artfully hide most of his face and he worries about his manicure post-kill (remember this). War is declared on Hanging Ghost for stealing the Glazed Armor, and more chaos is set into motion.

All of that takes literally two minutes, and then we cut to three months later, and no one realizes it yet, but the fam is getting together. ZZS is tits out in the gutter - only beginning his career of being a minx who flashes his collarbones an awful lot for someone who has Very Secret Scars He’s Hiding On His Chest - happily drinking himself to death in the sun (we really need to talk about this correlation of snow and immortality vs. sun and happiness …). Meanwhile, slo-mo shot of Wen Kexing looking precious and perfect, with delicate pink lips and dove-grey robes, as he checks out the rough trade in the gutter. Oh, the expectations this show is getting ready to smash. We cut from a shot of pristine precious WKX to ZZS holding up his hand, and we get a shot of the sun through ZZS’s fingers looking an awful lot like some shots of characters halo’d in light that we’ll get back to much much later in the show. Chengling appears out of nowhere to be Best Boy. A-Xiang is purple and smol and ready to brawl, and I already love her. I already love them all! So much! Here are my delicate and precious feelings, show, go ahead and stomp all over them!

#zhou zishu #prince jin #han ying #wen kexing #gu xiang #zhang chengling #word of honor #word of honor episode reax

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beautifulterriblequeen · 3 years

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B2:S - Chapter 3

Much of this series will be about the differences and additions in the novel version, and how they contribute to my understanding of story canon. But there will be character appreciation, the odd theory and headcanon, and suchlike as well.

Here be Lujanne, Callum, Rayla, Ezran, Bait, and Soren goodness!

Spoilers for Book Two: Sky below.

Lujanne having excellent fitness for all her walking around the Moon Nexus, and she's so energetic that Callum has trouble keeping up with her! She seems like those active grandmas who almost never stop moving, who have a lifelong supply of endless stamina. It makes me wonder if Lujanne will need that level of fitness for some upcoming conflict.

Callum feeling really hungry over not eating grubs and then still deciding he'd rather be hungry. It makes me wonder all over again how Lujanne got to the point where she eats grubs, considering that other Moonshadow elves we know of back in the Silvergrove don't. I still love my hc that the giant leech ate all of Lujanne's moonberry bushes and she's taking her revenge. Whatever's going on there, Callum is definitely not at that point yet.

When Lujanne asks Callum how he knows she's real, he thinks to himself that he'd put up with just about anything from someone who was going to teach him magic. That's a great parallel and foreshadowing for Viren's student/master relationship with Aaravos! And it's telling that neither student gets exactly what they hoped to get. Lujanne doesn't actively teach Callum any spells, because she believes he can't learn Moon magic at all. Aaravos does offer Viren power, but it takes him to some very dark places - literally and figuratively - and the cost is terribly high.

Callum sees a moon shape among the ruins, and Lujanne explains that the Moonhenge layout is an intricate rune that uses the structures themselves as part of its symbols and power. That's apparently a thing even with ordinary Moonshadow villages like Hollow Wood in the east, which is the coolest idea I've seen in a while: city planning as magic runes!

Yes, that's the same shape as the pendants Ethari made for himself and Runaan. Protection? Home? Feelsiness? A sense of safety and belongnig for all cycles and seasons?

Wonder what this Moonhenge rune stands for, then, and how much of this landscape is included in that rune. I bet it's more than we think!

But it makes sense now, how toppling the stone pillars would disable the spell the druids would cast to connect with the Moon Nexus lake. Breaking the infrastructure of the Moonhenge breaks the rune.

There's a physical sensation involved with the visuals that Historia Viventem brings up! When that one ghostly druid walked through Callum, he felt icy cold. Like in ghost stories. I really wonder about what exactly Historia Viventem is doing when it activates. It shows truth, "what really happened here?", so it must have some kind of time-related element, maybe tied to how the moon always repeats the same cycles or something. But it also seems to draw on the spirits of any living people involved in the flashback, because Callum could physically feel that wispy shape passing through him. So very interesting!

Orrr... is that all wrong, and there's something else at work with this spell than time? Maybe the world beyond life and death can act as an imprint of the things that have happened in the living world, and the spell that Lujanne (and later Callum) casts taps into that place, with perfect recall. I'm looking really hard at the sentence that says "dozens of translucent elf ghosts" and "phantom Moonhenge" and "lost in their own world" here.

Lujanne says more here than in the show about the world beyond life and death, being her mysterious Moonshadow-mage self. She says that "beyond" and "between" might both apply to where this other plane of existence is, and she doesn't much care which. With all the relativity swirling around this place, and not much in the way of empiricism, it's sounding like perhaps multiple conflicting ideas might actually coexist in such a place, allowing more ideas to fit there than we might normally believe is possible. Which is a fascinating bit of worldbuilding. Basically, every headcanon anyone has ever had about the Moon Nexus could all be true at the same time, for all we know.

Oh oh oh, Callum coming in soft with a secret wish! He takes one look at the Moonhenge and immediately thinks of finding a way to see his mom again! Poor boy, my heart! I'd say that could be another interesting parallel with Viren, but then, who wouldn't hold that sentiment?

Oh my, is this another breath of life into Ye Olde Ley Lines headcanon? Lujanne mentioning the Nexuses again, so soon after talking about the runic design of the entire Moonhenge, makes me wonder if the six nexuses are in fact giant runes. On Earth, the places where ley lines cross are called nexuses, and there are those who believe those points got marked with ancient structures, like Stonehenge and many many others. If Xadia were crossed with magical lines which naturally formed nexus points where they met, and if powerful magical runes were built across those entire areas, well. That would be cool beans, fams. Can I smack a map of Xadia and release a spell like Luz Noceda does? Because ngl that is my first instinct here.

Lujanne has got to be missing some grandkids to spoil, right? The way she's always whipping out cake and ice cream for Callum, and she's so grandma-ish about it. Headcanon about her being Runaan's mom aside, she is canonically lonely and she's very sweet to Allen and Ellis and I think she's missing whatever family she once had in the past. She may never get to have that family back, so she's finding a new one among the humans who live nearby, and I think that's sweet. Found family isn't just for the young.

But Ellis is straight up gonna be her fave, I bet, because she didn't turn up her nose at Lujanne's illusion food!

Ezran and Bait have a lot more to their relationship than was visible in the show, and I'm so excited by it! Ez can tell by looking at Bait's colors that he's not truly jealous of Zym, even if he's really grumpy about the dragonling taking up his favorite human's time.

And Ez thinking a lot about his dad and the things he's taught him. They're soft leadership material, and I love that so much! "Pick your battles" and the importance of encouragement. Ahh, my heart. Ezran, you're going to be such a good king.

But wait a second: both times that Bait gets extra grumpy in Zym's first training session, Ezran has just mentioned something about flying. Guys, I think Bait wishes he could fly, really badly. And that's his biggest problem with Zym, and with Ezran teaching Zym to fly, instead of Bait who doesn't have wings so. Bait is so old that his secrets have secrets, and I'm really curious how flying fits into them now!

Rayla, Dramatic Assassin: "I need to patrol for dark forces." That's what Lujanne called the source of the purple wisps that found them. I wonder if that's an official term all Moonshadows know, or if Rayla is just taking her cue from a veteran Moon mage. And I wonder how far Rayla is falling into the apparent pattern of "one mage, one assassin", since she does spend a lot of her time patrolling without being asked.

When Callum tells Lujanne that he was bad at prince stuff, and she asks if he didn't give up and got good at those things anyway, it's an opportunity for Callum to embrace subverting his parents' expectations in favor of seeking his own path, which is a primary theme of the show. But Lujanne is a couple generations older than Callum, at the very least, and I have to wonder what her upbringing was like. Is her version of success the one she took? Was she bad at magic once too, but she persisted? She is very soft and doesn't want to kill anyone.

Maybe Lujanne had dreams of doing something else with her life, but she felt she had to pursue the destiny that others handed to her, so she studied magic as hard as she could, and she did get good at it, but using it to defend Xadia from humans is not what she wanted to do with her life. Whether there's a parallel between her and Ethari on that point, there's one between Callum and Ethari, I think. How much of your life are you willing to let others direct for you?

LISTEN I WAS DYING AT THE EAR BREAD SCENE OKAY

This is my new favorite Soren and Claudia moment ever. Soren loves him his bread, okay. Even as earplugs for Claudia's sleep ocarina tune. The fact that it's "super effective" makes me think of a Pokemon defense. The fact that he learned it at camp, where he also learned about Moonshadow Madness, is hilarious. Later on, Corvus doesn't know Soren by name, but I still love the idea of Corvus being a kind of Strider-esque camp instructor, filling the ears of his young charges with all kinds of useful tactics like ear bread for magic spell songs (which actually seemed to work as intended), and warnings about the enemy elves' blood-themed tactics (which may or may not come back around in BH)

I thought they were gonna go in a kind of deep direction when Soren still wanted his ear bread back, but then he just. Eats them. Just noms them. I love this kid. Give Soren all the bread!

#book two: sky spoilers #book two: sky #b2:s #tdp spoilers #ToX spoilers #gloaming glade spoilers #lujanne #callum #rayla #ezran #tdp zym #soren #tdp claudia #tdp bait

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alcalexandria · 3 years

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Hi, me again.

So I’m watching that Chinese cut alongside the western cut, there’s a lot of very small things I’m beginning to notice…

Like, if you look very carefully, the lighting in Grace’s arrival scene, the factory fight, and the dam fight, and potentially more (included a few pics for reference) is just ever so slightly different. Not sure why it is like this. It’s very perplexing.

And maybe something you wanna think about during your “Weirdo Cut”, if you were thinking of meshing scenes from the Chinese and western cuts back to back

That's really interesting. No, I actually hadn't copped that, but it's very noticeable in the comparison photos.

(Also, my GOD, Mackenzie Davis's back, it's like a pristine North Alaskan landscape seen from the air)

I'm not sure if it's possibly an effect of different video formats/encodings etc, or possibly just that the blue tones make it easier to hide gore etc?

It's funny though, because the bluer look does put it much more closely in tune with the looks of T1 and T2, T2 in particular being famous for its use of stylised blue tones in the night scenes -

T2's blue colour grading was important enough to James Cameron that apparently he had a particular home media run halted because it inadvertently used a print that didn't have it, and the difference is dramatic -

Source: https://twitter.com/ghoulbasement/status/418364734992162817

I was a little surprised DF didn't have that stylisation at all, tbh, given how overtly the marketing drew on its T2 DNA.

So it's not inconceivable it was intentional, and maybe even intended at some point for the movie overall. But somebody more familiar with file formats and coloration effects might know more about how likely this is to just be a format quirk?

Interesting though. Hmm.

#AsksNChat #Terminator Dark Fate

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the-ghost-of-jason-todd · 3 years

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aight SO

i finished ep 12 and i've talked about it with a friend, and now i've also taken a look into the tarlos tag to get a sense of what people are saying. i think i'm ready to break this down.

so there are a few big questions about That Scene and the following tarlos interactions. i'll just work through them one at a time. buckle in, this is gonna get long. now without further ado...

1) Was TK lashing out at Carlos at the firehouse in character?

Short answer: yes and no.

Long answer: we've seen TK get physical and even violent before. He literally sought out a bar fight in s1. He nearly got into a fist fight with Judd, too. And did you see the way he was hurling darts after that, when he and Carlos were on their date? This boy is not a stranger to getting physical. There are, however, a few major differences between those scenes and this one with Carlos.

One. The bar fight was premeditated, while his fight with Carlos was not. Why is this important? Because it means that TK has shown some measure of restraint in the past. He managed to stay present during what I would call the 'trigger' of the bar fight episode, and saved his physical response for a later time.

Two. His altercation with Judd, on the other hand, was not premeditated. The difference, then, is that Judd was also ready to get physical at the time. With the scene with Carlos, Carlos was trying to remain calm and impartial for most of it, and attempted to de-escalate when TK got violent. The whole thing was driven by TK.

Three. In none of the scenes we've seen before of TK getting violent has his dad's health or safety been threatened. TK's dad is a HUGE part of his life, and he has a LOT of emotional trauma surrounding his relationship with his dad. He's TERRIFIED of losing Owen, because he's nearly lost him so many times before. TK has some MAJOR anxiety about losing people, to the point where he refused to let Carlos into his heart at the beginning of s1. There's also the fact that TK has gone through a lot of trauma in not a lot of time. Even if the show wants us to believe the kidnapping is over, I'm willing to bet that the after-effects are still hitting. For both TK AND Carlos, honestly.

There are also two other lines to consider when we're talking TK's characterization: first, in the episode when Gwyn moves out, and we see her and TK talking, she then calls Owen who asks if TK 'flew off the handle' (i believe that was the wording, correct me if I'm wrong). This is important because we have two people who are VERY close to TK talking about how he reacts to things, the crux of which is that TK gets reactionary. He has high emotional responses and says (or does) things that he doesn't necessarily mean.

Then there's another line that I think is important. This is the one in the crossover episode, when TK tells Buck that he's 'done a lot worse than steal a fire truck'. This one is important because it's TK talking about HIMSELF. We don't have any context for this or what it means, necessarily, but I'm willing to bet from context that he wasn't just talking about ODing.

So with all this in mind... do I think TK was in character? Do I really think TK would do this? Well... it makes sense in the context of TK's story and his arcs and all the scenes we've seen him in so far. But, at the same time, I would definitely have done it differently. It's a thing like... it's not a WRONG answer, but then again, was it really right, either?

2) Was Carlos's reaction to TK lashing out in character?

Short answer: yeah, I think so*.

*though if they don't expand on it I'm gonna have a problem.

Long answer: Carlos, at this point in the story, is dealing with two things that I think impact his emotional landscape a HELL of a lot.

One. His past and his family. He grew up with a man who seems emotionally distant, and it has only VERY RECENTLY started to get better. He felt INCREDIBLY alienated after he came out, and then when he became a cop and he was dealing with his father's silent disapproval. He is always searching for approval and, most likely, affection as well. What this means is that he feels like he constantly needs to prove himself, and bases his self worth on how OTHER people react. If someone reacts badly, that's a mark against himself.

"But Kay," you say, "What about the scene where he made dinner for TK and TK walked out? Carlos didn't blame himself then!"

Which is an interesting point! Carlos didn't put the onus on himself in that scene, he turned it back on TK, calling him 'crazy'. I think that was a secondary coping mechanism, to be honest. He knew he couldn't deal with feeling like he was the one who was wrong AGAIN so he twisted the situation around in his head until it was TK who was 'being crazy'. I've talked about that scene in depth before so I won't do it again, but Carlos's reaction is, I think, indicative of having felt rejection before and trying to protect himself.

Which brings me to number two. The fact that he's nearly lost TK several times already. This plays a HUGE role in how Carlos acts, especially with TK. Carlos has wanted TK LITERALLY from day 1, and since then he's nearly lost him how many times??? Enough, at least, that I'm fairly certain he's now holding on too tight, even when it comes back and hurts him. He just... he seems to have this mentality that if he's in he's ALL in, and he's not allowed to back away or put any distance between them, or else he'll lose TK for real.

Because we've seen TK pull back and get some distance before. We saw TK take a night away after their fight about the farmer's market. Maybe not with the best communication, but TK was angry and he needed space, so he left. When he did that, however, Carlos was convinced that they were breaking up. Like, CONVINCED. You cannot tell me that Carlos didn't think the worst in that moment.

Now why is THIS important? Easy. Because Carlos and TK may be moving forward in their relationship, but they are at a point right now where they react to things in fundamentally different ways. TK kind of bounces between becoming reactionary and going distant (again, we saw this in s2ep8 very clearly), while Carlos has reached a point where he kind of doubles down on holding tightly to TK even when he maybe shouldn't.

Basically, when you boil all this down, Carlos is DESPERATELY trying not to rock the boat, with his parents OR with TK, because he's scared of everything coming apart. And I think that makes sense with this episode.

The problem, then, is that this is a coping mechanism. The narrative has set it up as such. Which means that he's going to have to address it at some point. If he doesn't, I will be FUCKING PISSED, believe you me.

3) Did the narrative address that scene with respect, dignity, and nuance?

Short answer: I DON'T THINK SO.

Long answer: TK is human. He's a recovering addict. He's had problems with feeling numb in the past (that line about how everything is gray), which, I think, makes his feelings just THAT MUCH BIGGER when he does have them. So clearly, he's going to make mistakes. The question then is, was this particular mistake something he's learned from, or was it just used for the drama?

I have two reasons to believe it was the latter rather than the former.

One. Judd's reaction. Judd telling Carlos to get out of the firehouse after TK hit him, as if Carlos was the bad guy in that situation, was dramatic as hell. TK and Carlos are pitted against each other in that moment, and instead of mediating, Judd picked a side. Which is, ironically enough, the first thing that I think was NOT in character in that scene.

Judd, we know, is a bit of a hot-head, but he's also very empathetic. Judd was shown trying to mediate between Billy and Owen the last time the two of them had an episode together, because he understood both sides of the story and he cared for both of them. Why do I think it should have been the same this time? Well, because he loves TK and Carlos BOTH. They were both in the group hug at the hospital after the Ryder's car crash. It wasn't like Carlos stayed back, okay--JUDD CARES FOR BOTH OF THEM. And I think, at that point, that Judd would have seen the fact that TK was spinning out and Carlos was trying to stay objective and known that he needed to de-escalate. It would have been SO EASY to have that line be "Okay, okay, both of you step back and take a breather." He could EASILY have mediated. But he didn't. And that was a specific choice that leans more toward drama than anything else.

Which brings me to number two. The fact that they don't talk about it on screen. We had a hand-wavey 'we agreed no apologies' and a hot and heavy make-out scene instead. The writers wanted the drama of the two of them being in bed together while the fire started, and in order to do that they sacrificed the screen time it would have taken to actually have them have a conversation. Because, again, it would have been SO EASY to write them actually talking about it. They've done it before! After their fight about the farmer's market and Carlos's parents, the two of them have a WONDERFUL conversation. Why then and not now? Well, to make the fire more dramatic, to up the stakes one more time.

So no. I don't think there was any respect. I don't think there was any nuance. TK made a mistake, because he's human and he has some problems with emotional regulation, but there were little to no repercussions for it where there really should have been. There was no respect coming from the firefam for Carlos, either. There were no apologies, or further comments, or anything. And honestly... this season has done a lot toward making me feel like they don't give a shit about violence. Judd hitting that kid in the bear trap in the wild fire episode, Judd hitting the drunk driver who drove him off the road, Judd punching Billy when he thought he was framing Owen, and now TK hitting Carlos... all with no repercussions or apologies or even discussions about them... it's not a good look.

And there you have it. The writing makes sense. It does. But it's also really clear that the writers' priorities have changed. I really, honestly feel like the show has lost something since season 1. There's been a massive tonal shift, and I don't like it. The fact that we keep having Event after Event with no reprieve, have sacrificed conversations and interpersonal relationships for Drama, and have started killing and maiming characters with wild abandon, sometimes with seemingly no reason... it's all just a Lot. I have enjoyed watching season 2, but it's not sticking the same way as season 1 did. I'm not letting myself get attached to characters at this point because clearly we're not in a found family show anymore. I don't care about them the same way I did before. I can’t bring myself to do it when it’s becoming clear that we’re not going to slow down and actually process anything anytime soon.

#liveblogging 911 lone star #911 lone star #tarlos #meta #i'm salty give me a minute #my tab crashed and i lost the last of the edits i did on this post plus all the formatting rip #if you think something should be italisized just do it in your head

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crow-in-a-teapot · 3 years

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tower of nero spoilers

i have just finished the tower of nero. and before i go searching for other people’s thoughts and art and more of the characters i love so much, i want to write down some of my own thoughts because i know as soon as i delve into that ‘ton spoilers’ hashtag there are going to be complaints and criticisms and so much that i don’t want to hear, or essays that’ll make me upset, or things that’ll change my perception on the book (because on this website people really love to hate the trials of apollo).

i want to start with: i loved it. it didn’t feel earth-shattering or huge and momentous like some of my favourite riordanverse books (house of hades, the blood of olympus, the last olympian and maybe some of the magnus chase books take those pedestals for me) but it was satisfying. and i think it was satisfying because it in no way felt like an ending. whether because eventually rick will write that will-and-nico-go-through-tartarus-and-save-bob novella, or because we (or at least i) will continue writing and imagining and creating for this world i don’t know. he didn’t wrap up the story in a perfect little bow like ‘nineteen years later’, he simply put it on pause. gave us a glimpse of where every character was at at the end.

the only thing that makes me so angry and upset is that i did manage to get some spoilers for moments that i know would have been so good to experience for the first time if i hadn’t been spoiled for them. the moment where rachel mentions penguins in a mansion near her house, nico getting mental health advice from mr d, the fact that will and nico were going to be in the book for so much of the story, but the big thing was literally spoiled for me two days ago, it was the reason i sat down to read it as fast as possible because i was terrified of getting more spoiled and not being able to experience the moments for myself, was that piper had a girlfriend. i know that reading that for the first time would have been so cool and surprising, and the fact that when it came up for a moment in the last couple pages all i felt was disappointment because it was spoiled for me and because it was now tinged with whatever that person was saying about her having a girlfriend.

but i still had some warm fuzzy moments, the two parts where apollo thinks he’s going to die but nico comes up behind him - so good. impeccable.

Leader Guy spat. ‘Now, I kill you.’

He raised his sword... and froze. His face turned pale. His skin began to shrivel. His beard fell out whisker by whisker like dead pine needles. Finally, his skin crumbled away, along with his clothes and flesh, until Leader Guy was nothing but a bleached-white skeleton, holding a sword in his bony hands.

Standing behind him, his hand on the skeleton’s shoulder, was Nico di Angelo.

and

Nero raised his hand, ready to give the kill command, when behind me a mighty BOOM! shook the chamber. Half our enemies were thrown off their feet. Cracks sprouted in the windowsand the marble columns. Ceiling tiles broke, raining dust like split bags of flour.

I turned to see the impenetrable blast doors lying twisted and broken, a strangely emaciated red bull standing in the breach. Behind it stood Nico di Angelo.

gods. poetic brilliance. i can’t believe i’m still a nico di angelo stannie in the year 2021. in five years i have not changed (ever since the tv show announcement last summer i have managed to morph into myself from 2017)

from here i’m not sure where to go next i kind of want to go through everything, except it’ll be more difficult than my tyrant’s tomb reaction because i wasn’t reading on a kindle and thus can’t just do funny little reactions to screenshots of quotes, so i’ll just skim through the book page by page and see what i can comment on (i’m not planning on doing analysis today, no thank you, just enjoying the end of my childhood and trying to squeeze as much out of it as possible)

i have an emotional attachment to mr. snake from the very first chapter, and am very upset that he’ll never get off on his baltimore stop and get to see his wife, lu had no reason to shoot and kill him like that.

that brings me to lu, i liked her, it was interesting to see how rick kind of brought in not only the overarching theme of abuse, but also people who let the abuse happen, i have more i could say on this i’m too lazy to right now, and i promised no analysis - or the fact that Lu had conspired to make the show non-lethal to spare Meg’s feelings rather than - oh, I don’t know - refusing to do Nero’s dirty work in the first place and getting Meg out of that house of horrors.

And are you any better? taunted a small voice in my brain. How many times have you stood up to Zeus?

Okay, small voice. Fair point. Tyrants are not easy to opppose or walk away from, especially when you depend on them for everything.

the parallels to meg and lester heading to percy’s apartment, and then to camp half blood to the hidden oracle was so cool to read, every callback to the hidden oracle just there to remind us readers exactly how far apollo has come and how he’s changed; the entire chapter with sally, paul and estelle just felt sickly sweet, it just didn’t seem real how wholesome and good that family is, like i get why apollo broke down and just sobbed in that shower.

also rick really saying acab again in toa, i thought he was done after that elf cop chapter in magnus chase (the magnus chase series is a masterpiece) but apparently not, with A ‘good cop’ is still a cop... still a part of the mind game.

the grey sisters, i forgot about them completely but this threw me back into was it the sea of monsters when annabeth summoned them? i’m not sure, it could have been the lightning thief either, they really remind me of the disney hercules movie. the whole ganymede paragraph was gold, i love gods being canonically confirmed lgbt in the riordanverse. i also love the whole eye-tossing part -

‘He will crush our eye,’ Anger cried, ‘if we don’t recite our verses!’

‘I will not!’

‘We will all die!’ Wasp said. ‘He is crazy!’

‘I AM NOT!’

‘Fine, you win!’ Tempest howled.

also, the explanation for why dionysus chooses to look the way he does was perfect, because it was something i often wondered about and wasn’t expecting to get an explanation for, and i imagine the whole mythological dionysus to look like.. well like a more feminine apollo i guess, beautiful in a gender non-comforming way.

Other Olympians could never comprehend why Dionysus chose this form when he could look like anything he wanted. In ancient times, he’d been famous for his youthful beauty that defied gender.

...

In retaliation, Dionysus had decided to look and act as ungodly as possible. He was like a child refusing to tuck in his shirt, comb his hair or brush his teeth, just to show his parents how little he cared.

every scene with nico at camp just BREAKS ME, i would throw in screenshots of every damn quote but unfortunately, as said above, cannot and would rather not type every one; we’ll start with, obviously apollo confirming to him that jason is dead.

He didn’t look angry exactly. He looked as if he’d been hit in the gut not just once but so many times over the course of so many years that he was beginning to lose perspective on what it meant to be in pain. He swayed on his feet. He blinked. Then he flinched, jerking his hands away from Meg’s as if he’d just remembered his own touch was poison.

ugh then will talking about how nico’s doing, confirming that he’s suffering with ptsd, mr d giving him advice, helping him sort though what voices in his head are real and which ones aren’t, then the paragraph that just recounts every horrific thing poor nico has been through, how will has to reassure him that he’s okay and ‘with friends’ when he wakes up after shadow travel

will’s kindness to apollo, buying him clothes, and apollo finding seymour the leopard’s head in his bed, put there by mr d aaaa AAAA A A A A A THE ORDINARY, EVERYDAY CAMP HALF BLOOD THINGS..

i could go on for years and years about how much i appreciate rachel having a big role in this book, and the visit to her apartment, everything, her art, the fact that she got what she wanted, she’s going to PARIS to study ART, she isn’t forced to be someone she’s not by her dad, and gets to be a big part of a demigod mission and not stand on the sidelines for once.

i love that her landscapes are still visions, that she still paints the quests demigods go on - the burning maze, jason’s funeral pyre, caligula’s ships; and how nico ~appreciates art~

‘And, hey, di Angelo -’ she pushed him playfully away from the canvas he’d been ogling - ‘don’t brush against the art! I don’t care about the paintings, but if you get any colour on you, you’ll ruin that whole black-and-white aesthetic you’ve got going.’

i. love. rachel.

WILL GLOWS!! THE HEADCANONS FROM LIKE FIVE YEARS AGO THAT YOU’D SEE FLOATING AROUND ABOUT HIM MANIPULATING LIGHT!! CONFIRMED!! CANON!! AMAZING

I AM OBSESSED WITH THE TROGS, I LOVE THEM, THEY ARE GREAT, not gonna lie, i was expecting something more dramatic and spooky with how worried will was and how dionysus was going.. visiting the cavern-runners isn’t ♫ good for your mental health ♫ but the little hat frog gremlins were a good addition. i like them very much and their funky little soup shenanigans. quoting the ghost king himself: trogs good. nice hats. (IM SORRY I KEEP MENTIONING HIM BUT I JUST) also how apollo starts wishing for breadsticks a s ajoke and theY STRAIGHT UP HAVE BREADSTICKS? HUH? WHERE DID THEY GET THE BREADSTICKS FROM??

yeah, i’m also still very much upset by every mention of jason grace, it’s funny how ever since his death in the burning maze i have grown to love him more and more and that’s not fun for me, for that boy to become one of my main comfort character’s and have his death and sacrifice and nobility mentioned every few chapters. i’m pretty sure i cried when he appeared to talk in apollo’s dreams, and this time the tears weren’t from the effort of keeping my eyes open and working for hours straight reading this book (i remember staying up until 2am to finish the sequel to beautiful, broken things, it was very much worth it)

‘All right, Jason. We miss you, though.’

ALSO. THE FACT THAT THIS KID. THIS CHILD. HAD TO THINK ‘BUT IF A HERO ISN’T READY TO LOSE EVERYTHING FOR A GREATER CAUSE, IS THAT PERSON REALLY A HERO?’ A KID ISN’T SUPPOSED TO THINK ABOUT THAT AND BE READY TO SACRIFICE THEMSELVES FOR THE GREATER GOOD,, i,, ugh,, he’s supposed to be finishing school and designing temples not being the perfect hero and soldier,, spain without the s,,

as @couldnt-think-of-a-funny-name said: ‘thinking about how ghost! Jason didn’t seem to understand why Apollo was so upset about his death because he’s been raised to believe a hero’s sacrifice is noble and his life doesn’t matter in the grand scheme and also if he doesn’t understand why the person who watched him get horrifically killed is so torn up over his death he probably doesn’t even realize his other friends are grieving him..’

IM SO UPSET THE ARROW OF DODONA IS DEAD D: IT WAS ONE OF MY FAVOURITE CHARACTERS ALL THE FUNNIEST MOMENTS WERE BECAUSE OF THAT ARROW AND IT'S DEATH WAS SO SAD WTH LIKE WE FIND OUT HOW USELESS THE ARROW FELT AND HOW THE GROVE OF DODONA ALL THOUGHT IT WOULD BE CRAP AND WOULD FAIL APOLLO AND THEN ONCE WE FEEL BAD FOR IT, IT DIES??

the entire python battle was pretty grim, there is a part of me that's like because this is the last book series i would have loved say the magnus chase and kane chronicles gang in a giant battle with everyone like the battle of manhattan but even more dramatic, but even so, i did appreciate that python battle and the whole almost-falling-into-the-depths-of-tartarus thing.

him talking to artemis was cool, but JESUS: 'I turned and strode out of my room, trying to recall how the god Apollo walked.' like that HURTS. it was such a huge culture shock for apollo to go throught this huge character arc and be so human and understand the pain of others, to be around gods again who are so.. apathetic. also, zeus. 'Interesting how he put that: I had done him proud. I had been useful in making him look good. My heart did not melt. I did not feel that this was a warm-and-fuzzy reconciliation with my father. Let's be honest: some fathers don't deserve that. Some aren't capable of it.'

OKAY OKAY SO THE END?? CHIRON TALKING TO A CAT (BAST) AND A SEVERED HEAD (MIMIR) ABOUT SHARED PROBLEMS WITHIN THE PANTHEONS!! WILL AND NICO RECEIVING A PROPHECY FROM RACHEL TO GO TO TARTARUS AND SAVE BOB!! THE HUNTERS OF ARTEMIS, INCLUDING THALIA AND REYNA BEING BEST FRIENDS (qpr.. qpr..) HUNTING THE TEUMESSIAN FOX!! PERCY, ANNABETH AND GROVER, THE ORIGINAL TRIO, GOING ON A CHAOTIC ROAD TRIP TOGETHER!! - SO MANY STAND-ALONE SET -UPS PFSJSJSJ

okay quick word on the reunions at the end: funny little elephant visitation program with livia and hannibal. love that for them. calypso and leo's relationship seems rocky and complicated, but that's to be expected, i think even if they do get properly back together again it might not last long, because it does pretty much feel like a teenage relationship where the two aren't very compatible, but we'll see. hazel and frank are so funny with their gold plated necklaces. lavinia - tap-dance icon. almost cried at the mention of jason's temple-extension plan again. percy not being sure about what he wants to do in college is accurate and i like that that's left to be up-for-interpretation (rick does THE MOST for the fanfic writers pfsjsj). i am OBSESSED with aeithales, like i hate deserts so the burning maze setting is not my favourite but GOD that HOUSE, the vibes are off-the-charts. i'd love a house made of living trees that's also a greenhouse filled with dryads. meg gets a unicorn. that is so great.

i kind of wish the book hadn't ended with 'Call on me. I will be there for you.' because every time I imagine the friends theme song and i don't think that's the vibe he was going for, BUT i do love him talking to meg, that was genuinely emotional - 'You'll come back?' she asked. 'Always,' I promised. 'The sun always comes back.' ; i really wish it had ended with that, but i guess apollo does tend to break fourth walls and talk to the readers, like a lot of the protagonists of riordanverse books.

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hiimsociallyawkward · 3 years

Text

the darkest hour pt 2

i'm back with my bs. this is for my bestie @lady-ofmagic-andstars. basically, all of my dumb thoughts while i watched 'darkest hour pt 2', 04.02 of merlin. in case you weren't aware.. ✨spoilers✨

right off the bat i'm sad

ok when i first watched this i was really confused. i mean, you see others when they interact with the dorocha have that perpetual frost on their face right? all of them, every single one. so imagine my surprise when merlin has no frost on his face, and he's miserable yea- but he's not dead??

like tbh, watching this again, ik why but when i first watched this, i was SO confused.

arthur looks so worried slkdjfalskfsd

him being willing to abandon the mission to get merlin back to camelot to be treated ��🤪😎🤤🤩 lots of emotions

LANCELOT. of course it's lancelot. santiago is perfect. actually.

merlin looks so SICKLY. it physically pains me to see him like that

okok hahaa. the scene where percival is carrying merlin. i have several notes on that.

1) ik it's supposed to be all 'noble' looking. yk? them walking in slow mo, percival carrying merlin like he's been slained in battle. knights looking knightly

ALL I CAN FOCUS ON IS THE LACK OF PROPER NECK SUPPORT FOR MERLIN. PLS TELL ME I'M NOT THE ONLY ONE.

like pls

second note, idk why this remind me of hagrid carrying harry back

idk maybe that's just me but it feels oddly reminiscent

colin is SO pale my heart is actually hurting for him what the heck

asf;lsdjfa;lsdfj 'take me with you' stop.

dude they ACTUALLY care about each other. i just love them. arthur is so worried rn and while i'm like 'alsjfalsdj i don't want arthur to be sad and worried' we can see just how MUCH arthur cares about merlin.

like yea, we KNOW that they care about each other. but arthur is the prince and merlin's a servant so arthur can't have friends, but they're friends, and they care, and it makes me happy

ok it's sad and everything that merlin's basically dying but is it bad of me that i chuckle at merlin SLUMPED over on his horse?? probably.

but i mean, merlin is already raising himself up so he can sit more comfortably on the horse. ik that doesn't mean that he's in the clear yet, but he's doing a LOT better than the other people who ran into the dorocha. idk where i'm going with this

to quote the destiny and chicken podcast (who i love btw, if you want an awesome merlin podcast, check them out), they stay on arthur's face for SO long after merlin and lancelot leave.

i feel EVERYTHING that arthur is feeling in this moment. he's so pretty

there's another beautiful landscape. i'm not even sorry i'm gonna attach them ALL.

tell me that's not gorgeous

LMAO WHAT IS GWAINE DOING IN THAT TREE.

gwaine is the EMBODIMENT of 'boys will be boys' when he sticks his hand into that tree and gets swarmed by bees.

he's adorable and i love him

ok but also, someone tell me why capes are so hot. someone TELL me.

separate from the episode but on the note of capes being hot, i want a cloak SO BADLY. like the whole gist. floor length, big hooded cloak. why?? it's not like i'm sneaking anywhere but still. ✨cloak✨

ok the line where leon goes 'if anyone can get merlin back to camelot, it's lancelot' and arthur's face?? idk what to make of it. someone help me pls.

ok actually this probably isn't the best reaction shot but someone please help

the only thing i can think of is that arthur momentarily forgot and was reminded that merlin was in danger bc of him?

another thought is that he thinks he should take merlin back instead of lancelot?

ik for a fact you guys are better at analysising this stuff than i am so pls, thoughts?

i love lancelot so much. first time i watched this, i was CRUSHED

him carrying merlin to the lake(?) pond(?) area and then covering him with his cape? i love it

ok idk why but i love the idea of merlin instinctively going towards the water

it makes me think back to how he's made of magic and basically everywhere, espeically nature, has magic and instinctively- he wants to connect with nature as much as he can so his body just puts his hand in the water

a dumber thought i had, his hand is ✨sparkly✨in the water HAHAH

omg when the water called lancelot i deadass thought it was freya. i'm actually dumb i have WATCHED this before and i STILL thought it was freya

'a future that has been written since the dawn of time' makes me so proud but also so sad at the same time

it's like, yes, merlin is going to 'save the world' but it's like he's there just to do that. anyways, i just want him to be happy

MORE SPARKLY

these water spirts are op but also MORE SPARKLY. hehe i thin kthat's so funny

also, i'm literally only like 7 mins in. buckle yourself in

l;askdjflskdjf arthur going into the tunnels with the wilderons?? i miss merlin ouch. AND THE GAJA BERRIES. arthur misses merlin.

ok percival tackling gwaine?? cuties ;))

heheheeh gwaine kicking a skull and then running directly behind arthur for protection?? pls stop. i already love you

HAHA OK. THEM WEARING THE GAJA BERRIES ON THEIR FACE REMINDS ME OF THIS FACE MASK . THAT'S LITERALLY HOW I LOOK WITH THAT THIS FACE MASK ON HAHAA

yes im dumb, but the 5 of them slowly peeking over the rock and then ducking back down?? i love that so much they're so cute

omg what's wrong with me. not these knights literally FEARING their lives and me going 'they're so cute'

ANYWAYS

gwaine you absolute dumbass. smh merlin just took it but you just HAD to stab it. #cancelled

FRICK. YOU. AGRAVAINE.

YES. i have a love hate relationship with gaius, but BUST into the council room. king energy right there

smh gaius you pUSH over.

I LOVE GWEN RIGHT HERE

YES

FIGHT FOR WHAT IS RIGHT

DON'T LET ALL THOSE SMELLY OLD COUNCILMEN PUSH YOU AROUND

THIS IS ACTUALLY QUEEN SH!T RIGHT HERE EVERYONE ELSE CAN LEAVE

stfu agravaine 'gueniviere'. ST F UP

ok gwen. pop OFF

you KNOW that arthur would've fought agravaine on this. GO GWEN for speaking her mind

oh look at me with anotehr fic rec. sort of, not really. ok but this scene with gwen talking about all the villagers remind of this fic called To Love, Honor, and Piss Off by @thenerdyindividual .

ok so it's basically a fic where basically merlin and arthur have this 'arranged marriage' type thing for 3 years, and merlin is arthur's 'common consort'. what that means is that arthur marries merlin as a show of good faith and to learn more about what it means to be a commoner- merlin giving arthur the tea about commoner life

anywAYS. check that our if you want, but i loved it

stfu 'i feel the pain as much as you' agravaine. hop off my dick

YES. GWEN. PLANT THAT SEED OF DOUBT THAT AGRAVAINE MIGHT NOT BE ALL THAT HE SEEMS. i love gwen :,)

wow when she's intellegent with her speaking so everyone HAS to side with her but also respectful so NO ONE can get mad at her?? i stan. i ACTUALLY stan

santiago is so pretty

the PANIC in his voice. i stan.

HAHA AND MERLIN'S SNARKY 'SHH'

merlin is ready to GO. he's like, sorry for almost dying. that was ill advised of me.

i'm actually soft for any displays of friendship ever. what does that mean about me 💀 KIDDING. anyways..

i love the *swing* *duck* 'yea, not as quick as arthur

sa;kfs;akdfj lancelot insisting that merlin go back to camelot and merlin just nOt

LADS

stop rn. lancelot's face when merlin turns away. i am in pAin. I AM SO SAD OVER LANCELOT. PLS LANCELOT.

this isn't exactly, but morgana's paleness from here on out reminded me of merlin when he was literally DYING.

anyways, that's my note on that

like, yes- i get it- morgana is evil now. but idk should i feel bad for her? she looks so pale and ghasty and just :(

aksfhaskdjfas;ldf morgana

HAHA MORGANA IS SO EDGY IN THIS MOMENT. 'I'D RATHER DROWN IN MY OWN BLOOD THAN SEE THAT DAY' SO DRAMATIC. WHY IS SHE SO EMO/GOTH. LIKE IK I SHOULD BE SCARED FOR WHAT THAT MEANS BUT I CAN'T STOP LAUGHING

stfu don't kill gwen i'll KiLl you

agravaine literally needs to die

stop. i am literally SCREAMING when agravaine is asking gwen to meet him in his chambers. PLS. STOP. STOP STOP STOP. I NEED A WHISLTE. I BITE MY THUMB AT AGRAVAINE. HE NEEDS TO SACK THE HATEFUL MANSION. BETTER YET I'LL BURN HIS MANSION

again, someone tell me why capes are so hot. especially these red ones?? i'm in love with them.

ok see this guy?? he just died with the forst on his face. not merlin?? he started getting better. surly that should've tipped them off that merlin was different

merlin's little head quirk when he does magic. ALSFJASLDFJAS MERLIN. NO ONE SAID YOU WERE USELESS. AND IF THEY DID I WOULD BEAT. THEM. UP. GIVE ME ADDRESS RN.

wow. seriously. i'm gonna attach all the pretty landscape pictures

morgana's like 'i'll cut a b!tch'. ok ik morgana's evil and everything, but morgana flinging that guard against the wall is bad ass

oh this is weird but gwen telling agravaine to 'show courage' but the whole room tinted green? ik this isn't harry potter or anything but idk i thought that was interesting. i'm not abt to go into if i think agravaine is a slytherin or what but still

STOP. GET. YOUR. HANDS. AWAY. FROM. HER. I ACTULALY HATE HIM. SHE'S SO UNCOMFORTABLE. BACK THE FRICK UP AGARAVINE.

morgana :( smh you can't deny that morgana and gwen carried for each other and morgana flinging gwen away is making me sad. don't touch me

asldjfasldasd 'you're never alone' elyan i love you

lancelot and merlins being lads. omg no them talking about gwen

lancelot is SO noble. stop this reminds me of Die for you in secret by @emrysofmagic so much right now. not gonna lie. your fic LITERALLY lives in my head rent free and sometimes i think of it and my heart just HURTS in those last few chapeters. PHYSICALLy. i am in pain. anyways.

stop the trope where it's like "i love them, but i just want them to be happy. it doesn't matter if they're with me or not. i just want them to be happy"

I WAS LITERALLY SCREECHING AS MERLIN WAS CALLING KILGHARRAH i'm not even capping

ok so it's been like a month ish since i've watched merlin bc i was waiting for @//f-f-podcast 's destiny and chicken podcast, so i don't exactly what terms kilgharrah and merlin are at right now

still i think it's very sweet of merlin to bow slightly when kilgharrah looks at him

'the bravest and most noble of them all' 🥺

aw. merlin is really saying good bye right now

ok this scene is weird bc like i said, i don't rlly remember how merlin and kilgharrah are right now but it still makes me sad

asldjfslakdjfasd merlin and kilgharrah are old friends now. that makes me happy but sad at the same time

ok the 'it will be an empty world without you, young warlock' kills me.

obviously, we know that even though they butt heads, kilgharrah and merlin both care about each other

not only is kilgharrah being forced to let merlin go right now, but he's making peace with the fact that he'll be alone

the last dragonlord is planning to die. and kilgharrah is going to be alone again, like he was in that cave.

another thing is that if merlin died rn then we would never have aithusia. i'm kinda going on a tangent now but idk this scene is sad

this forest is so pretty

literally just lancelot's face and lancelot in this whole episode.

that's my note

HAHA GWAINE BURNING IS SOCKS

LADS BEING LADS

I LOVE THEM

omg i always see posts about this.

like merlin and lancelot planned that lancelot was going to walk in first and trick them and THEN merlin walked in

that's so funny to me. they're SO dramatic HAHAH

merlin looks so happy

BRO

ARTHUR

JUST HUG

HIM

PLS

STO

JUST HUG HIM WHAT'S YOUR PROBLEM

Tell me why they actually look MARRIED here. PLS

🥲🥲 SELF SACRIFICING IDIOTS I LOVE YOU BOTH YOURE BREAKING MY HEART

LADS I LOVE THEM

🤠🤠 arthur wanting Gwen to be happy is KILLING ME. He loves her so much

This is so pretty. Honestly like how

Who let merlin have this many pretty landscapes

HOENSTLY

Lajs;dlkfajd buds in a boat together.

This reminds me of going to amusement parks and there’s always that boat ride

They’re the cutest

Ok so they also have this picture. It’s actually 3 pictures spliced together because the episode pans down and it’s really badly spliced (sorry) but LOOk how pretty that is.

WTF

Omg not me literally copying merlin with his slow mo head flick at the wyverns to make them go away

;sldkfjasdlkjasd leon percival and elyan and my heart.

Ok i’m not even gonna try to lie. They all have my heart

Frick you cailleah

Omg i was like ‘gwaine you dumbass’ jK i love him. Pls don’t come for my neck

Asldjfasldjfka ‘i’m prepared to pay whatever price is necessary’

HAHA CAN YOU NOT. WHAT IS WITH THIS CREEPY ‘COME HITHER’ HAND MOTION MS CAILLEAH

Stopp rn. ‘It’s my density

STOP. I AM HOWLING. LANCELOT

WHY

COME BACK

NO NONO PLS. YOU CAN’T DO THIS TO ME.

stop rn merlin is all alone.

PAN TO ARTHUR WHO IS LITERALLY SURROUNDED BY EVERYONE.

Stop they all look so sad. I’m so sad.

merlin looks like he’s cried

I’m not sure abt arthur with his ‘no man is worth your tears’ type business but still

I am ✨sad✨

I screamed at this picture. I am depressed

Anyways

Gwen’s face is killing me

I’m so sad i don’t even want to write commentaries

Arthur realizing that lancelot only died because he loved gwen

Gwen standing in front of the fire

Aslkdfjasldjfa im so sad

HER STANDING IN FRONT OF THE FIRE ALL ALONE.

I. AM. SO. SAD.

STFU THAT THRONE IS NOT “RIGHTFULLY” YOURS MORGANA

STOP PLS GET AWAY

WHAT IS WITH THIS WEIRD TENSION

PLS DO NOT STAND WITHIN KISSING DISTANCE

IK YOU’RE NOT TECHNICALLY BLOOD RELATED BUT STILL.

PLEASE.

STOP.

I HATE AGRAVAINE

✨we hate agravaine in this house✨

😭😭 not merlin having ANOTHER secret. I’m so sorry bby

Anyways! I’ll be back next week to rant more about the wicked day so I’ll see you then! thanks I love you bye

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voluptuarian · 3 years

Text

Some thoughts on The Green Knight (spoilers ahead...)

Pros

The visuals were as beautiful as I expected-- rugged landscapes, beautifully worn set pieces, dramatic costumes which were just on the side of experimental/fantasy that I liked. Also casting got a selection of really interesting faces to carry a medieval aesthetic; Dev Patel in particular really suited the exaggerated kind of gothic aesthetic of rich colors and long vertical lines.

The soundtrack was a very pleasant surprise-- I had been expecting something sparse, maybe even ambient and was absolutely bowled over by the beautiful choral pieces and medieval carols. It’s a soundtrack I will definitely be checking out!

The acting is generally impeccable. I loved seeing Arthur and Guinevere as old, matured, and in Arthur’s case, clearly tired and weighed down by his experiences. Gawain’s character begins his story as spoiled and selfish, and yet (to Dev Patel’s credit) is still likable, and keeps the audience’s good will even after it becomes clear he could easily become, if not a villain, then at least a sad failure of a man far from his full potential.

Cons

Dialogue was hard to follow. I already reblogged a post about the title cards being hard to read-- all the actor’s have accents and the dialogue is antiquated and frequently riddle-like; on top of that delivery wanders into that A24 emotionally/physically-strained-mumble/whisper, so I was regularly working very hard understand dialogue while aware that it could be Very Important. (I had the same issues when I saw The VVitch so). I found myself regularly wishing for subtitles.

Also, like so many arty-natural-lighting-films, interiors and night scenes are often too dark. The worst was a point where Gawain is carousing in town and like. I was straining in the theater to make shit out. It was bad. Thankfully most of the time things are decently lit.

It wasn’t a fast paced film, but the slowness didn’t bother me? It wasn’t too drawn out (and this is coming from someone who couldn’t finish Bright Star because I was bored). It’s not heavy on action, or on romance (I saw some people expecting like full-on romance arcs and like, sorry, that’s not what this flick is about). It mostly focuses on just the experience of his journey and the internal and external challenges and temptations he encounters, and a lot of that journey is solitary. Even when he does encounter other characters, those encounters are usually brief.

The story (like the original) exists on some level as allegorical, and is somewhat surreal-- exacerbated by Gawain’s stumbling on mushrooms about halfway through-- but it’s not indecipherable. (I’ve seen people comparing it to the The Lighthouse, or saying it’s “completely bonkers” and that’s a huge exaggeration, and frankly makes me question what their exposure to weird film is if they think Green Knight was “bonkers”. Frankly same with people who thought it was super horny--like, there’s a sexual element but like, have you never watched anything truly horny before?). But the plot, and the way it’s told, is not linear, and there’s also a whole secondary level of small details and significant moments that will need multiple viewings to really take in. But the basic story isn’t hard to follow; my suggestion is to go in without real expectations regarding where the story’s going to go or how it’s going to get there, and just be open to where it takes you.

I enjoyed it; I think it will take time for me to determine how much-- and probably multiple viewings as well. I’m sure as hell still thinking about it though, and it’s been days since I saw it. Certainly, worth the price of a ticket at least.

#the green knight #david lowery

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goatbi · 3 years

Note

Idea! Gordon's boss form is built up around his human body using excess biomass from Xen creatures and maybe the landscape itself. His real body is suspended inside. If Xen is driving him to attack his friends, it becomes a matter of cracking through the monstrous avatar and reaching the human within. *imagine a dramatic scene where Gordon snaps out of it and starts fighting his way free of the Xen generated body, bursting out like a xenomorph*

I LIKE THE WAY YOU THINK BUDDY

I love that idea, that like, when they start to break through to him, he starts like, cracking, and breaking, and like, tears his way out of his own fuckin chest, which they begin to realize, as he does, is just slightly off, formed by the stuff made form Xen, since Gordon should not have been able to physically change like that, and he claws his way out, and just. Collapses. He’s exhausted, and he wants, so desperately, to trust them.

#final boss gordon freeman #Anonymous

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twilightofthe · 3 years

Text

Chapter Thirteen liveblog of The Mandalorian Season 2! Let’s go!!!

AAAAAAAAA THIS IS THE EPISODE

Thirteen sure is that lucky/unlucky number...

Ok so caveat that I read an online article with a bunch of “leaks” about this ep and if true I’m gonna dislike a LOT of this ep lmaoooooo

Aight so THIS IS VERY DARK BAD FOR MY EYESIGHT

Guessing this is the Ahsoka planet?

Sounds like a warning bell, let’s hope it’s not another Alaskan bull worm/Krayt

Oh nope just shooting people

oh SHOOT THERE SHE IS

Daaaaaamn they didn’t take five seconds

Ok but why’s she fighting them

Dammit Star Wars let me see the ful Ahsoka makeup and outfit!!! Turn on the lights!!!! Let me IN

ALDSFLKJSK WAIT THAT MAKES AHSOKA THE KRAYT THE WARNING BELLS WERE FOR HER AHAHAHA

CHAOS BABE

ok but i love that she calls herself a Jedi

alksdjLKSDJFK WAIT WHAT THE FUCK HAPPENED TO HER MONTRAILS THEY SHRUNK

Ok fine the makeup looks p good

Aaaaaand the theme to make me Emotional

Lady she doesn’t need to learn anything from you she’s had too many teachers already

Lady you Vastly underestimate how willingly Ahsoka will kill YOUR ass

This ain’t her first siege and you ain’t Mandalore bub don’t try her

Yeppppp it’s called The Jedi

The leaks have been right so far let’s hope the rest aren’tttttt

Oho so it looks like this is a lava planet too? Dang Ahsoka following family tradition

“HEY WHAT DID I TELL YOU” god Din is a DAD

AND BABY LISTENED TO HIIIIIIIIM HE’S SUCH A GOOD BABY YODITO DID YOU KNOW I WOULD DIE FOR YOU

this little shit seriously using the Force improperly again bruhhhh you def need SOMEONE to teach you control

Damn Ahsoka you live like this? Needs more decorations

BABY I WOULD DIE FOR YOU MY DARLING SON

MAYBE you should get him some ACTUAL TOYS huh Din?

Is there deadass anyone who’s not trying to steal Din’s armor?

Ok I adore his little side satchel for Yodito

Bruh since when is walking right in and immediately asking suspicious questions gonna do anything for you

Ooop he got caught by the Dai Li

Oh yay public torture fun!

Hmmm more Asian influence in this episode I see

“A Jedi plagues me” PFFF aka the motto of the prequels

OK SO HOW FUCKING MANY PEOPLE IN THIS GALAXY KNOW ABOUT THE JEDI/MANDO BEE AND WHAT DO YOU KNOW ABOUT IT

Uhhhh that’s a big pointy stick lady

Ohhhhh beskar big pointy stick

Ooop we got conflict, Din’s heritage vs. Baby Yoda’s, what will he pick.....

DON’T QUESTION THE BABY DUDE

FOR FUCK’S SAKE DIN PLEASE ACKNOWLEDGE YOUR SON PROPERLY

Bruh she’s gonna jump you

Her Gandalf cloak fits right in with the landscape

For fuck’s sake pleASE STOP JUST RANDOMLY PUTTING DOWN AND IGNORING YOUR SON

Yeppppp and here comes the sneak attack

draMATIC ASS ROBE DROP LIKE HER LINEAGE BEFORE HER

pleasecallhimaBabyYodaAhsokaPLEASE

ALKSDFJSDLKFK I’D DIE FOR HIM LOOK HOW CUTE

OK WHAT? WE DEADASS MISSED HER FIRST REACTION TO HIM????????

FUCKING COWARDS

Lol staring contest at your old frog grandpa but babified, must be weird

Awwww she still likes kids

Sidenote that yeah they really did just fucking shrink her montrails AND lekku she looks like she did at 14 again

NONONONONONO

THAT’S DEADASS THE WORST NAME YOU COULD HAVE COME UP WITH Y A L L

I am NOT calling him that. Y’all can’t make me

OK BUT LITERALLY NONE OF THIS MAKES SENSE

HOW WAS HE TAKEN?

It surrounds us binds us blah blah blah

UH YEAH BUT LUKE’S EXISTS NOW, RIGHT? COME ON, AHSOKA

Ahsoka your idea of testing is making blind teenagers look for crystals while you swing a lightsaber at their face maybe not yet

Every time they call him Gr*gu it makes me die a little more inside

OK HE LITTLE DAD HEAD QUIRK I LOVE THAT

NO DON’T MAKE HIM CALL HIM THAT

Ok also but I would die for leetle baby’s grunting noises

OMG THINKING OUTSIDE THE BOX, HIS TOY HE LIKES

HE’S SO PROUD OF HIS SON I’M GONNA CRYYYYY ;_;

Ahsoka he is a baby tho? Like uhhhhhh this ain’t the same as Anakin

Uh, Din, Ahsoka doesn’t have to worry about that kinda shit, she’s faced waaaaaay worse

Ok so this Elspeth is another ex-Imp

Ok FINE this is gonna be a cool-ass teamup

Ahsoka u drama queen

DRAMA QUEEN AND YOUR DRAMATIC ENTRANCES

Ahhhh I see she’s the flashy Jedi distraction while Din frees the prisoners

Ok but where is Yodito during this

MORGAN’S master? So Gideon, right? Or does Ahsoka know Palps is back

Awwww that first man was gonna help the prisoners too! He IS brave!!!!

LOTH KITTYYYYY!

Oooop we having an old western shootout?

DRAMATIC ROBE DROP PART 2

Oh fuck no we aren’t recanonizing beskar being lightsaber-proof, are we?

Dammit I thought that was how we ended up with the Darksaber in the first place! Because Lucas did NOT want to do that-- for fuck’s sake of course they are

This boi really tried that fake-ass negotiation, he should know better

OH FOR FUCK’S SAKE

T H R A W N

REALLY?

you BETTER STILL BE LOOKING FOR EZRA. THAT BETTER BE WHY. I’M NOT EVEN FUCKING JOKING.

Oh yay they saved the Earth Kingdom

OH NO THE TRACKER

OH NO HE LEFT THE BABY WITH THE SHIP

THE TRACKER FROM LAST EPISODE OH NO

NONONONONONONOOOOOOO

I HAVEN’T EVEN SEEN IT YET BUT I KNOW THE IMPS TOOK HIM

DIN DJARIN YOU FUCKING JACKASS THIS IS WHY YOU DON’T JUST LEAVE YOUR FUCKING SON AFUCKING-LONE-- oh ok he’s fine nvm lol

WAIT BUT THE TRACKER’S STILL THERE????

The Imps are DEF gonna find him soon this is the 6th ep of the season and there’s only 2 more

THANK YOU AHSOKA TELL HIM THAT IS HIS SON

Ok I’ll say it again Din Djarin you fucking dumbass

Ohhhh we recanonizing Tython now

LADY LUKE IS REBUILDING. I GET THEY CAN’T EXACTLY BRING IN YOUNG MARK HAMILL BUT FOR FUCK’S SAKE AT LEAST ACKNOWLEDGE MY BOY LUKE THANKS

Aaaaaand scene.

OK BUT THESE BITCHES CAN NOT JUST ACKNOWLEDGE FUCKING THRAWN AND NOT EZRA. DAVE FILONI YOU CREATED HIM. YOUR OWN CHILD. YOU CAN’T JUST IGNORE EZRA LIKE THIS FOR FUCK’S SAAAAAAKE

Ok so deadass everything in the leaked article was true and I’m gahhhhh over a Lot of things

Hmph

#liveblogging the mando show #sw the mando show #mando man of mystery #the mandalorian #the mandalorian spoilers #the mandalorian season 2 spoilers #star wars #star wars spoilers #sw #sw spoilers

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wesleyhill · 3 years

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The God of the Transfiguration

A homily on Mark 9:2-9, preached at Trinity Cathedral, Pittsburgh, on the last Sunday after the the Epiphany 2021

This week, starting on Wednesday (“Ash Wednesday”), we will be entering the liturgical season of Lent.

How do you think about Lent?

Many of us may understand it as a season to try to break free from some bad habits — you know, by giving up sweets or gossip or “doomscrolling.” Or we may think of it more in the mundane terms of the regular rhythms of the seasons. Lent, after all, gets its name from the lengthening of the days that will lead us out of dark winter and into lighter spring. Maybe you think of Lent as a time to start planning a landscaping project or cleaning out a forbidding closet.

But, if we’re Christians, we shouldn’t think of Lent as being primarily about self-improvement or warmer weather. Instead, Lent is a time for us to try, with concerted intentionality, to “keep company” with Jesus as He moves toward His death in Jerusalem. (That’s the best way I know to think about what the Prayer Book means when it calls us to observe a “holy Lent”: we’re meant to try to watch and pray and “be with” Jesus during His journey towards the end — the goal — of His life.)

Lent lasts for forty days, which correspond to the forty days that Jesus spent in the wilderness being tested after His baptism. Many Christians find it helpful during Lent to slowly read through the Gospels and ponder each of their scenes slowly and think about how they speak to us today. Our goal during Lent is to walk along with, watch with, observe, and accompany Jesus, to try to relive His earthly life with Him, to put ourselves in the shoes of those who were closest to Him, to see what they saw and hear what they heard, to get as close to the life Jesus lived with us and for us as we can.

So here we are on the last Sunday before Lent begins, and the folks who decided on our Bible readings for today knew exactly what they were doing. We heard just a few moments ago the story of Jesus’s transfiguration from the Gospel according to St. Mark. If you read the entire Gospel of Mark, you’ll see that shortly following that episode, Jesus sits on a donkey and rides into Jerusalem as the King, the anointed One, of Israel. So it’s especially appropriate that we would read about His transfiguration just before we enter the season when we recall His journey to Jerusalem and His suffering and death, which is what Lent and Holy Week are all about.

The story of Jesus’s transfiguration is a strange and mysterious one. Jesus takes His three closest followers, Peter, James, and John, with Him up a mountain, and there, on the mountaintop, His appearance is completely changed. Mark tells us that “His clothes became dazzling white, such as no one on earth could bleach them.” And two of the greatest figures from the Old Testament — Moses who led God’s people Israel out of their slavery in Egypt and gave the people God’s law and Elijah who spoke the word of God to God’s people and who was taken up to be with God in a supernatural fiery chariot — appear with Jesus and talk with Him (as St. Luke’s Gospel tells us) about His impending death in Jerusalem, His redeeming work that He is about to accomplish for the world. This is a miraculous epiphany, a tearing back of the curtain of ordinary life to show us a glimpse of a reality that would be otherwise hidden.

After Peter makes a bumbling attempt to domesticate the whole scene, a cloud appears and envelops these figures on the mountain top and then “from the cloud there came a voice, ‘This is my Son, the Beloved; listen to him!’” God the Father declares that this man Jesus is His Son, the One whom He loves and whom He has sent into the world. And He exhorts Jesus’ disciples to heed His words, to pay attention to Jesus and believe what He says and do what He enjoins.

It is a dramatic, wondrous, awe-inspiring scene. And what it shows, at its heart, is the radiant deity of Jesus — His equality with God the Father, the fact that Jesus, “true God from true God,” as the Creed says, lives a life that uniquely discloses the nearness and tenderness, the purposes and judgment of God. We see that especially in St. Luke’s version of the story, where we read that Jesus’s “face shone like the sun.” The sun shines from its own white-hot light. The moon merely reflects the sun’s light, shining with borrowed radiance. But the sun emits light from itself. And that, says Luke, is how Jesus shone on the mount of transfiguration: His face and clothing flashes like lightning not simply because someone else is lending Him brightness but because He is radiant in and of Himself. He is the LORD of Israel in human flesh, the eternal God clothed with our own humanity but, in this moment, no less glorious despite His state of humiliation. The human life He lives displays and communicates the depths of the life of God Himself.

Now, after this episode, if you were to keep reading in the Gospel of Mark — and I encourage you to consider making Mark part of your daily reading and meditation during this Lent — you would find that, almost immediately, Jesus predicts His suffering and death and resurrection: “The Son of Man is to be betrayed into human hands, and they will kill him, and three days after being killed, he will rise again.” Maybe if we heard those words in another context, we wouldn’t find them all that remarkable. After all, we know the story of Holy Week, the story of Jesus’s shameful execution, the story of the Passion. But let’s ponder this morning the fact that Jesus’s prediction of His death comes right after one of the clearest, most brilliant stories that shows that Jesus is divine — that He is one with the LORD of Israel. What does that mean for our understanding of Jesus and our relationship to Him?

What the transfiguration shows us is that Jesus is one with the Creator, He is the source of all life and light — He is not other than, not external to, the one and only God who is the wellspring of all that we know as nature and history and experience.

And what comes afterwards — what we are about to pay special attention to during Lent — shows us that this very One, this Jesus, who is true God, undergoes and bears up under and endures to the end all the extremity of our human condition. He, the radiant, resplendent One, suffers unjust imprisonment, unfair interrogation, false accusations, and brutal, shameful execution. He endures the most emasculating, horrifying punishment the might of empire could devise. And He does this as God. It is the One who shines with a light purer and stronger than the light of the sun who will give up and give away His life for our sake in a few short weeks.

As we move toward Good Friday, friends, when we will keep watch with Jesus as He is condemned and fastened to a cross and hoisted into the air for mockery and derision and death (and, at the same time, as St. John tells us, for exaltation and coronation), we are reminded today, at the outset of our long Lenten journey, that the One who will undergo all this suffering and loss and humiliation on our behalf is none other than God Himself, who is “Light from Light,” the shining, holy One of Israel.

The One whose suffering and death we will shortly commemorate is not a mere human being, not just a man, not simply a creature. Rather, the One whom we will watch with and weep with as He is condemned and executed in Jerusalem is God. It is God who will yield His life for us on Good Friday. It is the Creator and Redeemer of Israel, the true Lord of the whole world, who will give up His very own flesh for the life of the world — for you and for me.

Let this shining vision of Jesus’s glory that we heard read today be a measure to us of just how far God will go to make us His own forever.

To God be the glory, for ever and ever. Amen.

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