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ennas-aesthetic · 6 months

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What the fuck is Jesus up to in Good Omens season 3?

This is a question I've been thinking long and hard these past couple of days and I have some THOUGHTS SO. Buckle up.

Aziraphale and Crowley watching the Crucifixion (Good Omens, 2019)

First off. The answer to the question posited is relatively simple. What is Jesus up to in GO3? With s2's ending in mind and with the hints we've gotten for 668: Neighbor of the Beast over the years, we know he's descending to Earth to initiate the Second Coming. And that Aziraphale would probably make that happen - or do everything that he can as Supreme Archangel to sabotage it.

But I wanted to examine on how Jesus might fit into Good Omens' overall narratives and established themes - about morality and humanism and free will, and. I'm just saying, there are A LOT of fascinating routes they could do for his character.

(Disclaimer as usual: this is a theory that I obsessed over when I was stuck at the cemetery during All Souls' Day and must be treated as such. In no way am I insisting this should be how canon events must happen. I am just doing this for the funsies.)

The THING about Jesus if you situate him in the world of Good Omens (with the assumption that most of the pop culture Christology mythos associated with him remain intact) is that in this context he very quickly becomes: 1. Adam Young's narrative foil; and 2. an Aziraphale parallel.

Now, the first one is obvious. Of COURSE he is Adam Young's foil, duh. Adam isn't called the ANTICHRIST for nothing. Brought into the world just for the sole purpose of ending it. However, when the time comes for him to fulfill the Will of his Satanic Father, Adam flat out REFUSES.

Both the book and the show attribute this to Adam's human upbringing. He was raised as a human, and because of that he has the trait that the book uses to DEFINE human beings: free will. At the end, Adam had the AGENCY to reject the destiny planned out for him.

'Adam stood smiling at the two of them, a small figure perfectly poised exactly between Heaven and Hell.

Crowley grabbed Aziraphale's arm. "You know what happened?" he hissed excitedly. "He was left alone! He grew up human! He's not Evil Incarnate or Good Incarnate, he's just… a human incarnate—"'

- (Good Omens, 1990)

That is NOT what happened to Jesus.

Adam Bond as Jesus in Good Omens (2019)

Like Adam, he was raised as a human -- being a human incarnate was his WHOLE DEAL in Christology. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us... yada yada yada.

UNLIKE, Adam, though, Jesus wasn't able to REJECT his Destiny of Dying Really Horribly and Painfully on the Cross. Narratives in the Bible also made it clear that the Crucifixion was NOT his Will, but that of God's. Like... him begging to be spared from torment but ultimately following God's Will is such an important event entire devotional practices are made out of it.

"39 And he went a little farther, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt."

- (Matthew 26: 39, KJV)

We get a glimpse of that in s1ep3 of Good Omens, too:

"JESUS

(muttering through the pain)

Father, please . . . you have to forgive them . . . they don’t know what they are doing . . .

Crowley, in black, comes up next to Aziraphale.

CROWLEY

You’ve come to smirk at the poor bugger, have you?

AZIRAPHALE

Smirk? Me?

CROWLEY

Well, your lot put him on there.

AZIRAPHALE

I am not consulted on policy decisions, Crawley."

- (The Quite Nice and Fairly Accurate Good Omens Script Book, 2018)

SO. Here we have the character of the Christ whose free will and agency had been STRIPPED from him in the guise of a "noble sacrifice." He comes back again on this Earth to fulfill another "inescapable destiny."

Aziraphale and Crowley need to stop him. The solution the Good Omens narrative offers to "inescapable destinies and systems" (both in s1 and s2) is for the character to realize they have the freedom to choose their own fates. It happened with Adam, and it happened with Gabriel, and perhaps it will happen to Jesus.

(At this point my sister frowned and said: "Are you telling me you think Aziraphale and Crowley are going to help Jesus realize he has agency and that him Dying on the Cross for the 'Great Plan' was kinda fucked up actually?" which sounds crazy when you put it like that BUT NEVER SAY NEVER BABIE.)

Because that brings me to my second point: if this all happens, Jesus becomes an AZIRAPHALE parallel.

In the same way Anathema is an Aziraphale parallel and Sergeant Shadwell is an Aziraphale parallel. Here is a character stuck in a suffocating status quo. To save the world, he needs to know he can escape that status quo and decide for himself. In the same way Anathema has to learn how to stop being a descendant or Shadwell to stop being a Witchfinder, or Gabriel to stop being an Archangel, and Adam to stop being an Antichrist, perhaps Jesus has to learn he can stop being... Well, the Christ, as well.

And this, of course, supplements Aziraphale's journey of letting go of the idea of being an idealized vessel of God, so he could finally enjoy the freedom of personhood and choice on Earth, with Crowley.

Or they could turn Jesus into a cackling villain who Aziraphale and Crowley need to kill in season 3, and I'd probably eat that up, too.

#good omens #good omens meta #good omens 2 #good omens season 2 #good omens spoilers #ineffable husbands #aziracrow #this was such an insane meta post to make but i had to do it #putting my religious trauma to good use iktr #enna rambles

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meanbossart · 5 months

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do you have any thoughts on cazador as a character? personally i really loved the parallels between him and astarion & the way that the master/spawn relationship is used as an allegory for cyclical abuse. the scene with cazador’s master’s skull where you find out that he was once victimized in the exact same way that he later victimized astarion was really a lightbulb moment for me re: what vampirism represents in this game.

BOY DO I, i don't think much of it hasn't already been said, though. He's a tragic character in his own right of course, not that that takes away from the awful man he is.

Me and my boyfriend make fun of him a lot, we call him "the best BG3 character" as a little inside joke between us and come up with ridiculous scenarios of things that might have occurred throughout those 200 miserable years the spawn had under his command lol. Maybe he had a month where he was really specific about the shoes everyone wore, maybe once every other decade he had a weird week where he tried to be "nice" only to become frustrated when his efforts weren't immediately met in kind by the rightfully-terrified spawn, maybe between all the torture and horrific-ness he just did some plain weird shit like making someone crouch by in his fainting couch and wait by open-handed for grapes that he dramatically chewed on and then spat right out since he can't actually eat them lmao

And that's hysterical but I think we also started doing that because when you meet Cazador, when you first hear his voice and see his demeanor in person your immediate reaction is probably somewhere along the lines of "THIS is the clown you were so scared of, Astarion?"

And the answer is, of course, yes. This embarrassing little man stuck in a cage of his making instills fear beyond comprehension in Astarion and all his siblings. This man who undoubtedly showed all these spawn, inadvertently, the strangest, most arguably "human" aspects of himself at some point or another during these two centuries they had together is also an absolute monster. And i really like that! I think its far more effective and fitting for his story than if he was, lets say, a Ketheric type.

(this got very long so, more under the cut)

Look at Ascended Astarion in the epilogue now, for example. Everyone agrees that he's an absolute fucking dork - and I think we all also agree that he will go on to destroy the lives of many people beyond repair, especially his own, until the day he is killed.

In the topic of vampirism as an allegory for abuse, I both agree and also don't, at least not exactly - i just think it's deeper than that. I've spoken about this in another post but i find it incredibly refreshing how, to me, it seems like Baldur's Gate 3 has no interest in painting vampirism as sexy or fun past a surface level. It's a curse that nobody asks for unless put in a situation where they feel as if they have no other way out, and it shapes and haunts you for the rest of your undead existence.

Even if you enjoy its benefits at first, that has a time limit. You will see your family and loved ones die, you will see culture evolve while you stay perpetually the same. You will experience so much hurt and pain because the only thing that makes life truly sweet is knowing that it is finite, and eventually it will wear down all of your humanity. And since you can't die unless you are scorched by the sun, staked, or dismembered, you must live with the knowledge that you will never have a peaceful death - and since you won't have a peaceful death, you better not die - and if you don't want to die, you better not be weak - and if you don't want to be weak, you must seek out power at all cost and slash things like love and friendship out of your life.

And what is funny, is that in his attempt to be more like a mortal - to eat, drink, walk the sun, such incredibly simple desires - Cazador (and Astarion, if he ascends) is accidentally only drawing further away from the person he supposedly once was, because that fear of weakness has already utterly corrupted his soul.

That's quite a grim way to look at it, of course. But I genuinely think that it is the natural conclusion of something like immortality.

That's why I quite like that, even after Astarion has found happiness, even after he finds his peace, he still doesn't exactly embrace being a vampire - because It's not something he should be expected to embrace. I think it's a very unique take on the trope.

I also want to leave here this message written by his character writer, which really got me thinking about him on a deeper level since i saw it months ago. It is specifically about the sexual aspect, but I think it branches beyond it too, when you think about it.

#bg3 #baldurs gate 3 #astarion #text #ask #cazador szarr

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ewingstan · 3 months

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I've been coming back to this once-friend that Taylor brings up when she's revealing how she triggered in 4.3. Its strange; this one girl is never brought up again, doesn't even get named. She's not involved in the locker incident, play's no actual role in the triggering event itself, is supremely incidental in terms of what actually happens. But in her explanation, Taylor spends more time talking about her then she does about the Trio.

The first time I read this, I was expecting another shoe to drop: the friend would be the one who pushes her into the locker, she'd reveal that she'd only been pretending to be her friend the whole time, something like that. But we don't get that at all. We get Taylor being suspicious, we get her becoming comfortable opening up to this person, and then we get her humiliating incident severing the connection. The way Taylor brings it up, its clear that forming that one friendship and then having it taken away, revealed as always conditional and brittle, fucked her up almost as much as the bullying itself did.

I think you can get some fascinating readings of her behavior and worldview throughout the rest of Worm with this in mind. Its especially exciting to have in mind when looking at her early interactions with the Undersiders: her skittishness towards Brian and Lisa, who both seem friendly towards her but who she has good reason to believe will drop her in the future. Her own desire to sever the relationship by turning them in (it wouldn't last anyway), her absurd desire to not burn bridges with them while doing so (it would be nice if they could still look each other in the eye after everything). I think it explains why she's so eager to share the most traumatic and humiliating thing that happened to her so quickly in their relationship; if people break away once it becomes clear how much of a victim she is, how much she's a loser, she should make it clear to them just how much of a loser and a victim she is from the jump. Better for the break to happen before they get too attached. The dread she feels telling it, the surprise that they meet her with sympathy instead of jeering her or pulling away, makes a lot more sense from that angle.

It also contextualizes her leaving the Undersiders to turn herself in. I've argued before that Taylor largely processes things through the dichotomy of bully/victim. A running theme in Worm is Taylor adopting the behaviors and strategies of people she labels as bullies, such as Sophia and Bakuda. Attempts to bring control to her life by not being someone to fuck with, even if its for different ends than those she emulates. If a lot of her behavior as a Warlord parallels the trio, then her cutting ties when the Undersiders are closest to her parallels the ex-friend.

#leo says #leo reads worm #taylor hebert #wildbow #parahumans #wormblr

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saltpepperbeard · 6 months

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Poison into Positivity: A List of What I Liked in OFMD S2

Hello hello everyone! Things have been a little rough around here. Even away from the more heated takes, I've still seen a few "down in the dumps" murmurs. To which, I'm giving y'all big hugs, but also offering up some little bits of warmth! I wanted to share quite a few bullets of the things I enjoyed about this season. Maybe it'll serve as a reminder, or maybe it'll just serve as a chaotic, silly little read as per usual PFFF.

But I invite you to read along, and even add some of your own points should you feel inclined! Also, this might not even be my full list; these are just the ones that came to me quickly/off the top of my head. Still, let's dive on down like a fantastical, dazzling goldfish, shall we?

All the callbacks/parallels. My goodness. When I tell you I'm a SLUT for metaphors/parallels/callbacks/etc etc. Seeing so many things and being able to just *Leonardo Dicaprio pointing meme.* I know people might not share that same opinion because some might view it to be excessive, but I personally LOVED being able to point at my screen and be like "oH EYYYYYYY!!!" Maybe because it makes for such immaculate gifset/meta material <3 SJKJDLHSK

The costuming and makeup. WHEN THEY TALKED AT ECCC ABOUT EVERYONE GETTING HOTTER, THEY WERE NOT KIDDING LMAO. EVERYONE LOOKED SO, SO GOOD. and listen, i am on my knees begging for them to give ed with his hair up back to us. i need Her back,,,ALSO, SOMETHING SOMETHING COMPLICATED EMOTIONS TOWARDS STEDE'S LATTER HALF LOOK, BUT ALSO...GOD DAMN, MR. DARBY,,,,,,

Speaking of Mr. Darby, the acting in this season. The ACTTTINNNGG. Everyone acted their ASSES off. Everyone put their entire piratussies into this season. Though, I'm PARTICULARLY impressed with Taika and Rhys, because again with their "oh we're comedians lol so idk drama can be Difficult Difficult Lemon Difficult." MMMM I THINK THE FUCK NOT, MY GUYS LMAO??? They both did SO well with all the drama and painful moments. The acting in episodes 2, 3, 6, and 7 in particular like...God. GOD!!!

I loved so many characters in this season, and I'll of course have to give two individual shoutouts to my two favorite new ladies, but man. LET'S GO FRENCHIE!!! ALWAYS A DELIGHT!!! FANG/KEVIN MY ABSOLUTE SWEETHEART. JIM SERVING ABSOLUTE FUCKING GENDER THIS SEASON. OLU OLU DARLING OLU. PETE NEVER MISSING WITH HIS ONELINERS. LUCIUS BEING SO THEATRICAL AHDJKSDK LIKE NATHAN PLEASE YOU KILL ME. ROACH MAKING ME LAUGH OUT LOUD NUMEROUS TIMES AS HE DOES. WEE JOHN AND HIS KNITTING AND DRAG!!! AND THEN OF COURSE MY DEARLY BELOVEDS, ED AND STEDE. I JUST LOVE THEMMMMM!!! But okay okay okay-

Zheng my beloved. I just love this badass pirate queen with her sweet little pigtails and her IMMACULATE LINE DELIVERIES SDHJKSKL. A lot of my favorite deliveries from the entire season came from her quite honestly. Please see: "Girl, how ARE you?" and "Hiiiiiii. I KNOWWW it's been a day" and "I've killed mediocre men. I've killed exceptional men. But you're the worst kind: a mediocre man who thinks he's exceptional."

AND ARCHIE MY BELOVED. She kills me because I remember seeing like, those ~*~audition tape whispers~*~ WAY back in the day, and subsequently thinking she was going to be quite a different character. Only for this silly goofy bubbly energetic darling to pop up and snag my heart. HER deliveries kill me also, like when she goes "Like...STEDE Stede?" and the whole "I was IN the fuckin' snake!" also hhngngngngnershkfhslkds tattooed ladies Hot :(

Speaking of which, the comedy. THE DELIVERIES. THE WAY I LAUGHED OUT LOUD NUMEROUS TIMES THROUGHOUT, EVEN WITH THE DEEP UNDERCURRENT OF DRAMA/ANGST. The whole bit where Stede is in hysterics over his cursed coat is just hsjkdhsklds; it will NEVER not make me wheeze. And then, like I said, almost EVERYTHING Pete says this season kills me; another thing that will never not make me laugh is "a doggie...?" weird little pirate show with weird little humor my beloved

The ROMANCE??? I genuinely was going into the season with the expectation of getting maybe like, one or two Gentlebeard kisses. Imagine my shock and utter delight when we ended up with FOUR, AS WELL AS AN INTIMATE SCENE, THE LETTER SCENES, AND THE LOVE PROFESSIONS. Like, one of them dropping a legitimate "I love you" felt like an unrealistic expectation--the HIGHEST dream tier really. And then wouldn't you know it. And that doesn't even account for all the rest of the couples either! The murder wives having their chaotic little moments of fucked up affection??? LUCIUS AND PETE GETTING ENGAGED AND THEN MARRIED??? HELLO??????

The sets! I know people have pointed out that the world felt a bit simplified this time around, due to budget restraints and what have you. But I still loved what they did with the world even with the various constraints. The market in episode 6 is a PARTICULAR favorite of mine; it's just so lush and colorful. I also love what they did with The Revenge during episode 6 too!

Also, this might be an unpopular opinion, but I really actually liked that they filmed on location. First of all, love that the Kiwis got to be right at home in Aotearoa. Love that they have an even more special connection to the show now. But second of all, I just like when scenery is...actually THERE? It feels way more TANGIBLE. Don't get me wrong; that hugeass wraparound screen that they use to film a lot of sets is a technological marvel. But I'm a sucker for practical.

The deeper and more complex dives into character motivations/trauma. Like, homie lol...When I tell you episodes 6 and 7 utterly set my brain alight in the best way possible. I was CHUGGING through thoughts. You know those gifs where someone is walking around and ranting/passionately talking,,, yeah. Yeah. Maybe because a lot of it "struck a chord" with me indeed, but I love love LOVE getting brain food like that.

Speaking of brain food, in PARTICULAR, the deeper dives into Ed's self-loathing and into Stede's troubles with confidence and masculinity. A lot of Stede's choices were fueled by those two things, and it was SO friggin fun to catch all of them, put them in a jar, and shake them around. I've seen a lot of people fearing his actions in the latter half were out of character, but to me, I don't see it that way. I just see a man who has been so spurned, so left behind, and SO deprived, a man who is stuck thinking he has to be someone else to mean something. And I think that plays a lot into even the EARLIEST developments we saw in season 1, so it was just so intriguing to watch everything messily play out.

THE INNKEEPER. THE INNKEEPER MY BELOVED. SO much about that episode absolutely has my heart. All the different developments, the stakes, the pacing, and the payoff at the end. Not to mention that I had a FEELING that mysterious figure in the trailers was Hornigold, so it was so SO validating to see him pop up PFFF. And also, all those dream/gravy basket sequences were so so good too. I don't know if it's the chemistry between Taika and Mark, or the deeper symbolism, or the lines that have become vocal stims for me SJKDLS (please see: ooOOoooO eddie eddie eddie...you're laying some heavy shit on me, bro), but man. MAN.

And this one gets its own bullet because of course it does: the fucking mermaid scene. Like, are we kidding. ARE WE KIDDING. THE ROMANCE OF IT ALL? THE FANTASTICAL-NESS INDEED?? THE WAY IT WAS ALL FUCKING PRACTICAL AND RHYS SWAM DOWN TO TAIKA AS A BEAUTIFUL LITTLE GOLDFISH AND THEY HAD TO THROW HEART EYES AT EACH OTHER UNDERWATER??? WHAT THE FUCK!!! And don't even get me started on Kate Bush lol. This Woman's Work might easily be one of my favorite songs, if not my FAVORITE song from the season. And man. Man. The whole meaning behind Ed seeing Stede as this beautiful, sparkly being, and not some hypermasculine/extraordinary thing. He fell in love with Stede for who Stede really is. And so I ADORE that acknowledgement.

Speaking of songs, the MUSIC!!! Absolute bangers all throughout. And I loved how there seemed to be even more intermixed within the episodes. Like God... "These are the kids..." 🗣️ HELLO MY LOVE I HEARD A KISS FROM YOU 🦗🦟🦗🦟🦗🦟 . And all the beautiful classic piano pieces and NINA SIMONE AND JUST HSJKDHSFJKLHSKD????

Okay, I've always had and STILL have complicated thoughts and opinions on Izzy, but man, seeing him interact with the Revenge Crew was really something. Seeing Stede's influence come over the lot of them like a warm blanket, extending its welcoming and familial hands...It was just lovely. I love seeing our little sea family care for each other so much. They've probably all hurt so so much in different ways, so to see them all being a collective heart is just so nice.

Speaking of which, the queerness of it all, the queer celebration of it all. The way the whole crew is just...a representation of queer people finding each other, and subsequently finding love and family in each other. Like, when the whole world wants to cast you out, you pull each other in. When no one else wants you, you take refuge in each other. And just...the joy, beauty, and wonder that can be found in that.

And speaking of which x2, the overall care that was put into the entire thing, the effort that was put into the entire thing. I know Max fucked us over with the budget, which subsequently fucked things like the intricacy, the amount of characters, and especially the pacing. But, I don't know; I personally could still tell everyone involved was trying so so hard to deliver for us. Based on the little details, the little callbacks, and the little moments that felt so catered to us, it just seemed so...gifted to us. Not to mention of course, the way they so deliberately chose to end on a hopeful note in case we never get a third season. They care about us. They've always cherished our excitement and passion, so it just...idk; it feels so special to have a bit more of an intimate connection like that. I've never been involved with a piece of media that so avidly SEES its audience, and celebrates along with us. So, despite everything, despite any sort of troubles, despite any sort of lows, that's a big part of what has me clutching all of this so closely to my chest. And I really hope they can still see that love, because I want nothing more than for them to see this beautiful story through.

Also, getting to enjoy this with everyone. Getting to ride the wave from the beginning of filming, all the way through the finale. Getting to see all the excitement, all the theories, all the art, all the fanfiction, all the gif sets, all the meta, and everything in between. It has carried me through some nastiness in my personal life, and has subsequently served as a very welcomed distraction. It's been such a pleasure getting to delight in this new content with you all, and I hope we get to do so into the future. <3

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canonicallyobserving911 · 30 days

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Buck & Eddie: T.K. and T.K. possible and potential parallels

Taylor Kelly vs. Tommy Kinard

I've been thinking about the "possible and potential parallels" between Taylor Kelly and Tommy Kinard all day and I believe their similarities go far beyond their initials.

Since the new stills for 7x4 are now available, I think I may know where one of the "You don't know me"'s from the title of episode 7x5 may come from.

I did a post about Buck saying "You don't even know me" in 2x8 (linked here) and I think there's going to be several people saying it to someone in 7x5 and one of them might be Eddie saying it to Tommy. At first I didn't think it sounded like something he would say but now I do think he would especially if it's about Buck.

Back to the regularly scheduled program...

Last week I rewatched the begins episodes for Chimney, Hen and Bobby (post linked here) and I was reminded of how horribly Tommy treated Chimney and Hen when they first arrived at the 118. He wasn't really rude to Bobby (his best friend Sal DeLuca was) but Tommy transferred to the 217 not long after Bobby transferred in.

Reminder, Tommy and Chimney are "supposed" to be friends and Chimney called him in 2x14 to help the 118 with the neighborhood fire in Doheny Park. But it's interesting because in 7x4, Eddie's the one who will be hanging out with Tommy but Chimney will be the one who invites Buck to play basketball with them 👀.

Before I continue, I have to include something Hen said in 3x16 while the 118 was playing pool in the firehouse.

Buck had just met Red and he was freaking out about how the firefighters from Red's former firehouse left him behind (Actually, he was really freaking out about himself but reminder, Eddie had already taken care of that when he changed his will after 3x15). He went on to explain how Red was living in a one bedroom apartment that he paid for with his pension. Sound familiar? It should because Buck lives in a one bedroom apartment and he's single 👀.

After some discussion about them keeping in touch with each other if someone left, transferred or if Bobby retires, Eddie asked Chimney and Hen, "Like you two. You still keep in touch with the guys who used to be here, right?" but Hen responded, "Um... I don't know if we'd call some of them friends". Then Chimney said he called Tommy for a favor the year before but he never called him back.

In 7x3, Hen still side eyed Tommy and she didn't trust him but she went along with it to save Bobby and Athena. Also, Chimney wasn't shown calling Tommy to ask him for help, they were already there when she arrived.

Why is this important?

Well, what if Tommy DIDN'T really change and he's still the same person he was years ago just like Taylor DIDN'T change? Reminder, the show made it seem like she was redeemed but she really wasn't.

In 5x18, she told Buck "You knew who I was when you started dating me" and the truth is, he did.

So what if...

Tommy shows his true colors to Eddie and says something about Buck and Tommy ends up being the same jerk he was towards Hen and Chimney years earlier? If so and Eddie realizes Tommy is not the cool new friend he thought he was, then he just might tell him "You don't know me or Buck". Reminder, Eddie hasn't had a lot of friends and I said it before that him and Marisol might just be friends and they aren't seriously dating (post linked here).

I just think it's interesting that Tommy and Taylor BOTH HAD TROUBLED PASTS with the 118 during season 2 and they're both being paralleled with Buck and Eddie and they are/were supposedly their friends.

Another reminder, Taylor always wanted to throw the 118 under the bus and she finally did in 5x17 with the Jonah story so maybe Tommy hasn't changed at all. Or maybe he has but he's still holding onto some frustrations or animosities towards Hen, Chimney and Bobby, especially if he's still cool with Sal.

The point of this post is, I don't think it's a coincidence that Taylor and Tommy have the same initials, troubled pasts with the 118 and they're both connected to Buck and Eddie.

Eddie loves Buck to his CORE and they're in love with each other! Therefore he won't hesitate to tell Tommy to get the hell on if he says something negative about Buck.

Will Tommy Kinard show his true colors before the end of 7x5? Only the showrunner, writers and producers know the answer to that question.

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appendectomy · 5 months

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the house/cuddy relationship is also so interesting because a big part of the essence of 'doom' that the writers give their relationship is also based in direct comparison to the not-doomed-ness of house/wilson. there are so many moments where it feels to me that the writers are grabbing me by the shoulders, shaking me and going 'look!!! look at them and compare them look at how different these two dynamics are'.

one of the most obvious examples of this is in 7x09 when house is trying to get out of hanging out with wilson and going to cuddy's birthday dinner at the same time. cuddy outright asks 'you have to choose one of us,' and house replies 'i choose wilson'. apart from making me giggle, these lines also serve the very obvious purpose of not just being about where house would prefer to spend a thursday evening. it's quite blatant foreshadowing about the fact that, at the end of everything, house always prefers to choose wilson and is more capable of being there for him than he is for anyone else, including romantic partners and especially including cuddy.

the next big example of this that struck me is in 7x15 when cuddy is in surgery. this is an almost word-for-word recreation of the scenario in 6x10 where wilson went into surgery. they both want house to be there, and house struggles to show up both times. we even get this wonderful visual parallel between the two, which is something i've noticed has been talked about a little by other people on here, and so is definitely something I imagine the writers thought about too. with 6x10:

and 7x15:

the key difference between these two situations is house being sober in one, and on drugs in the other. house can be there for wilson and emotionally support him while also being sober, but he cannot do the same for cuddy. this comparison i think is such a clear communication that not only is house's relationship with wilson easier for house to maintain than his relationship with cuddy, but that it is also better for him mentally. with wilson, there isn't an anxiety that he isn't good enough for him the way there is with cuddy, and this just fundamentally fosters a better environment for him as an addict.

this says a lot about house/wilson, but it also says a lot about house's approach to romance versus friendship in general. he places so much more importance on the emotional challenges of a romantic relationship than he does platonic. he spends the whole episode of 7x15 practically agonising over wether cuddy will be ok or not, whereas he spends most of 6x10 telling wilson he's an idiot. he seems to doom himself in romantic relationships by creating so much of his own anxiety: he worries about getting it right, being the man cuddy needs him to be, doing what a good partner should, and it causes him to be unable to actually perform any of these actions without the crutch of being high. this in turn underminines the genuineness of any attempt to be better that he makes in cuddy's eyes. i don't think any of the emotional demands cuddy makes of house are unreasonable at all, but because house is such an emotionally stunted and volatile person he can't approach the very normal expectations of a romantic relationship in any sort of healthy way. the only relationships he can maintain are unconventional ones that don't have these expectations, like his friendship with wilson.

the next example, and the one that is most likely a little bit of a reach, is also in 7x15, specifically in the few dream sequences cuddy has that feature wilson. in the first, she imagines house and wilson as rachel's adoptive fathers (which i've already written a little bit about here if you're interested). then she has another dream set in a black-and-white 50s sitcom where she is the breadwinner, house is the housewife, and wilson is the mailman/milkman (not completely sure which of these he is, but he's definitely one of them). in both of these situations, wilson is the proverbial 'other woman': he takes the place of house's domestic partner in one of the dreams, and in the other he's the mailman/milkman to house's housewife, which traditionally in media is a comedic character pairing that involves the housewife cheating on her working husband with the mailman/milkman. i doubt this symbolism is really that intentional, and i don't think that it's meant to imply any sort of genuine romantic coding between house and wilson, it's probably just a couple of early 2000s gay jokes. but if you critically look at these instances, you can begin to extrapolate a sense that in house's romantic relationships, wilson is always hovering in the background. wilson is always the proverbial 'other woman', someone who's relationship with house is just as important and very likely also easier to maintain for house, just as the inverse is true for wilson as established by testimony from his ex-wife bonnie. i mainly think this inclusion of wilson in these dreams and the deliberate role he plays just serves to remind the viewer that while house and cuddy's relationship is rocky and uncertain, house and wilson's is pretty much constant and inevitable.

the last comment i have on this is about the scene in 7x23 where house crashes his car into cuddy's home. i think you can pretty easily compare wilson and cuddy situationally in this scene: house is putting cuddy in immense danger (though not actually intending on hurting her), whereas in comparison he yells at wilson to get out of the car before he does it. to me, there's an obvious difference there - a deliberate effort to endanger a person vs a deliberate effort to remove a person from danger. and in both instances, house is intentionally causing the danger. it very strikingly reminded me of the scene in 3x07 where house tells wilson to get out of their hotel room before he does something that could incriminate wilson. he specifically tells wilson 'maybe i don't wanna push this til it breaks' in regard to their friendship. house is very cognizant of not pushing wilson away completey, not squandering their relationship once and for all with his dangerous behaviour. but with cuddy, he gets to a point where he actively burns the bridge. the difference to me is sad and clear: house is willing and able to maintain his relationship with wilson. he is not willing and able to maintain his relationship with cuddy. and by comparing the two, each dynamic becomes clearer.

#house md #um.. hiii :)

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bonefall · 3 months

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I like both ideas, bc it provides an opportunity for the Dark Forest to evolve in some way; I really like the idea of Curl taking lead and trying to make the Dark Forest cats united (not for any real GOAL, but bc they're still clan cats dammit, and separated in little pockets they'll never be able to grow).

The camp one is kinda obvious- it was a place of horror, but they need a place to stay. She never came too close to the place until she realized that if she wanted to unite the cats into a group, they needed a camp. And Starclan (she hisses at the irony) knows she'll never do it on her own. She enters, and it terrifies her- before she knows it shes backing away and fleeing. Over time though, she makes it further in, stays a bit longer. She finds the dens are still pretty decent, and that her heart feels a lot lighter as she rips down and destroys the cage. She's elated to find hierloom tools in the camp eventually- some are broken, but can be fixed. She purrs as she thinks how happy Darkstripe would be to have some proper cooking tools. This was a place of fear and death, yes, but it doesn't always have to be that way, does it?

The dogs less so but hear me out. At first she is haunted by the dogs, downright terrified- the gnashing of teeth, the frenzied barks. It's not even anything she can think or dwell on; as soon as she hears the howling and barking, she's immediately running away, fleeing as far as her paws take her. She knows she'll never actually die here, but she's still so, so scared. Maybe she comes to the conclusion on her own, or maybe someone else points it out, but eventually she realizes what you mentioned. She saved her CHILD- she should be PROUD, not scared. This is her greatest moment- her death an irrelevant footnote compared to her baby's life. Idk *exactly* how it should go, but she confronts her fear, and manages to 'tame' it. She is no longer afraid, this illusion holds no power over her. Either they fade away and just stop existing without Curl's fear to feed it, maybe they turn docile and harmless, idk. No matter what though, i have a feeling that something like THAT will catch the eye of some DF cats, sorta like a Tiny to Scourge deal. "She got rid of her land mar" into "She destroyed the land mar" to "She KILLED her land mar"- even the first one has to gain her some respect frok the others, and gives her a solid footing to try and get cats together and united.

Ask was sent a while ago, and I've been looking at it since then. It's a really good pitch, and I had things to do, so I just passively chewed it for a while. Both ideas are really good; so I was trying to think of some way to get them together.

I think I've got a good thought now;

I'll make Curlfeather's Land Mar dog related.

But they're not the same dogs that actually attacked her (which, depending on how the arc goes, might ACTUALLY be apparitions from the Dark Forest which Ashfur dragged out for his schemes. Specifically they'd be Brightheart's nightmares.)

Curlfeather's Hounds are blind. They hunt completely through "smell," and they smell her fear

I can keep her Land Mar being quite unique by actually having it follow her. Instead of it being a place she's trapped in, she's haunted by random dog events which will inevitably interrupt any plans she makes.

So she's perpetually close to making the group that she wants, uniting these demons just because it's what she deserves, but she is forced to flee when her hounds find her.

The camp she ends up using doesn't have to be her OWN Land Mar; I have another cat who actually has a 1:1 camp as theirs.

Morningstar, the deposed leader of ThunderClan who refused to allow his cats to fight. His is simply his camp, on the day where Pearstar invented the Right to Challenge and killed him for his position.

Morningstar's also HATED in the Dark Forest, because of his pacifism. Thinking about it, it's actually a great parallel for what I'm planning with Curlfeather!

She has disdain for her father because she sees him as weak. Reedwhisker swearing loyalty to The Kin after being tortured was her catalyst for believing he needed to die; that RiverClan would have a sniveling, careless leader.

So if it's Morningstar she ends up developing a bond with, they can help each other.

Morningstar can make her realize that her terrifying death by the dogs is something she can be proud of. That it isn't something to fear and revile, but a sign that when she was forced to choose between love and ambition, she chose love.

And Curlfeather can see that maybe people like Morningstar, who she'd always seen as weak, have wisdom she'd never considered. Uniting these cats isn't about power or recognition; it's just about helping to make everyone's lives better.

I can even keep the "empty camp" idea. Stepping into Morningstar's gloomy Land Mar, setting a little fire just to help with the mist, and realizing it's not all that bad. There's old tools laying strewn about, the dens are all in working order. We can make a proper home here, if we let it be.

There's probably a cage there because of Ashfur, maybe it's the one that he made the demons toss Rootspring into. Maybe I'll have the demons eventually trick Curlfeather's Sighthounds into Deadfrost's Labyrinth, if Shredtail's still around. He double-died in canon but I wouldn't be too opposed to killing someone else in his stead.

She'll also have to prove herself to the other demons. Most of them are pretty wary of "leader-types" after what happened with Tigerstar. Ironically the closest thing they have to a "leader" is Darkstripe because his soups are so good. If he doesn't like your vibe, you're cut off from the "Social Circle."

I need to make some sort of pun out of Rings of Hell and Social Circle. Social Ring of Hell.

#As opposed to the ''Alpha Baboons'' which I can't stop calling them in my head #the Alpha Baboons were the Tigerstar-supporters who made life in the DF unpleasant with their schemes and desire to haunt and attack--#the living so they could dethrone or threaten starclan #I call them the Alpha Baboons because. Just like the case study of the alpha baboons who were bullies and ate poison trash and died.--#--life got better in Hell after their double-deaths in the BOTTE.#There's a few Alpha Baboons still around but their number is smaller than Darkstripe's Social Ring.#So the gentler demons will be wary of Curlfeather until her intentions and personality is better known #BB!Dark Forest #Better Bones AU #BB!ASC #BB!Curlfeather #BB!Morningstar

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general-cyno · 5 months

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I've been musing about it for a while, thanks to some posts I've read recently too, and honestly... one of the (many) fascinating aspects of zolu to me is the way they share parallels/connections and or similarities to important figures in OP's world. spoilers for the most recent arcs and reveals ahead!

perhaps the most blatant and one of my personal favorites, are luffy and zoro's similarities to roger and rayleigh. as OP's mc and someone who's on the road to become the pirate king, luffy's own similarities to roger have come up a lot throughout the story and they've been acknowledged or pointed out by other characters like shanks, rayleigh himself and yamato, for example. from the goofy parts of their personalities, to the strength of their wills, and their dreams, luffy and roger's parallels are consistent in OP,

and as seen in rayleigh's brief memory of their first meeting, the straw hat luffy received from shanks was originally worn by roger back when he was young.

albeit the circumstances are a little different - with them stumbling upon each other by chance vs luffy going out of his way to meet zoro after learning of his name and reputation - this first meeting is still reminiscent of zoro and luffy's, with both ray and zoro initially rejecting roger and luffy's invitations to join them in their journey.

as for rayleigh and zoro, there's also a bunch of parallels between the two!

due to his previous time as a bounty hunter in the east blue, zoro made quite a name for himself and as OP progresses, his renown as the pirate hunter and the straw hats' swordsman is only second to luffy's. he was also the 2nd straw hat to get a bounty, and he's usually right behind luffy whenever their bounties go up. similarly, rayleigh was (and still is) considered a legend second to roger himself, strong enough that garp still views him as a powerful foe the marines can't easily defeat and managed to scare blackbeard away from amazon lily without an actual fight, despite the latter's strength.

there's other stuff too: the eye scars, both zoro and ray being greatly skilled swordsmen, their love for booze, being users of all three types of haki and even their epithets! from what I've read from other OP fans in discussion threads and through some internet search, rayleigh's title of "dark king" in jp is actually the name or word for pluto (the god of the underworld, roman mythology's equivalent to hades) in said language. in comparison, "enma", the name of zoro's most recently acquired sword and the "king of hell" title that he claimed after defeating king in wano, are a direct reference to the buddhist deity of the same name in jp mythology, also known as yama - a god of the underworld in charge of judging souls.

from the most recent flashbacks of the god valley incident, too, you can see the physical resemblance between these duos:

(as a bit of a side note, I think it was nice that rayleigh not only took it upon himself to mentor luffy, he was also the one who protected zoro from kizaru in sabaody and after the timeskip, during the straw hats' reunion in the archipelago and as they bid their farewells, zoro went out of his way to thank him for everything too.)

all in all, considering how close roger and rayleigh were (to the point roger called him "partner"), their strength, reputation and their overall journey with the roger pirates crew - the fact that luffy and zoro share more than a few clear similarities/parallels to them is really good imo, and it speaks both of the importance of their relationship and of the kind of figures they're bound to become, or are already becoming, in OP's world and ongoing history.

although it'd be sweet to have zoro and luffy directly refer to each other as partners as well (which kid and killer, another captain/first mate duo, have done too) I'm not sure it'll happen, if only for the sake of keeping the relationships between luffy and the crew balanced, so to say. still, like I said, knowing how close luffy and zoro are and that they share parallels with other captains/first mates, I think that says a lot about them regardless and the importance they hold for each other and the story as a whole.

another interesting resemblance between zolu and characters who are connected to one another involves, of course, shanks and mihawk - both of which are not only acquainted with each other, as rivals and friends of sorts, but also served as luffy and zoro's mentors/guides at different points of their lives and presently stand as their eventual foes to face in order to reach their goals of becoming the pirate king and world's greatest swordsman.

aaand last but not least, because it's yet another favorite of mine: joy boy/nika and shimotsuki ryuma. I sort of talked about it in another post, and I find it pretty cool. nika and ryuma come from different eras and don't exactly have much to do with one another but luffy's DF awakening and defeating kaido led to "joy boy" (since luffy refused to take credit for it directly by name) being hailed as a hero to wano that's comparable and only rivaled by ryuma, who in the past defended the country and was considered a legendary swordsman, whose sword shusui (that zoro wielded for a while) is a national treasure even.

since the hito hito no mi: model nika is a mythical zoan and vegapunk's speculated that devil fruits come into existence as manifestations of hope and wishes (or a potential for human evolution someone's desired), among other things, nika's existence as an actual god is kind of a subject of current debate in the fandom BUT. the fact remains that whether real or myth, he's still mentioned in old texts and his story has been shared among those enslaved by the WG, as a call for hope and freedom. in addition, even though he was human, ryuma also became revered as a savior figure and a sword god by the folks of wano.

so when you have luffy embodying the sun god of joy and liberation,

and it turns out zoro is none other than a descendant of the shimotsuki (frost moon) family, who resembles the former daimyo of ringo and the god of the blade ryuma,

well. those are some crazy parallels luffy and zoro share outside of their equally kinda crazy and meaningful relationship, as individuals and crew.

#zolu #tp #long post #idk what oda was/is cooking with these two but it's insane lmao #as if the braincell sharing; nearly telepathic communication and almost ridiculous levels of loyalty and faith in e/o weren't enough #the manga is like. here. have all these narrative and thematic reasons as to why zoro and luffy are pretty much soulmates #love to see it #I also have Thoughts about how ray lost his home and lived on a ship when roger found him #while zoro got lost and couldn't return to his home village; which he tells luffy about after joining him #smth smth true north soulmates fate #jay reads op

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skitskatdacat63 · 5 months

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Vettonso x Similar Helmets

SV Germany 2012 x FA Monaco 2013: Gold & Dark Red

I think a lot about Vettonso and their mutual relationship witn gold. They're both golden boys, they're both seen lit gold by the sunshine on many podiums throughout the years, both have worn golden boots, and as you can see here: both have worn golden helmets. The parallels in these particular helmets makes me feel insane. Both are: gold with dark red accents, both have their birthplace's coat of arms(Bergstraße and Asturias), both have team animal motifs, and both have symbols to represent their two championships(You by now know the signifigance of the ones on Fernando's helmet, but I think the ones on Seb's are actually a callback to his Formula BMW days when he used to put the smiley stickers on his car for every win.)

And did you know both of these helmets were designed by the same helmet design company? Yep, both of these are JMD helmets. I know JMD helmets are/were pretty popular, but still, there's something to me about Fernando commissioning the same designer that Seb has been using since he was a literal child. Parallels, am I right?

SV Japan 2010 x FA Japan 2023: White with Black & Red

Haha I remember @protocolseben and I discussing this a bit back in September when Fernando's helmet dropped. I honestly think Seb is such an innovator and trailblazer in terms of helmet design, and you can see his influence in helmet design as recently as this past season. I'm not sure if he was the first ever driver to don a matte white helmet with red accents as a representation of the Japanese flag, but it certainly envoked him in my mind when I saw Fernando's!!

I think Fernando's is pretty similar to all of Seb's 2010-2012 Japan helmets but I like this one the most so! I think if Seb wasn't restrained by the Red Bull logo, he def wouldv'e put the red circle where Nando put his so I think Fernando did a really good job, even if unintentionally, at emulating Seb's sense of design.

SV Singapore 2012 x FA Singapore 2012: Sparkly!

Like I said in the one above, it's crazy how much Seb influenced helmet design. He was pretty much the pioneer of sparkly helmets for Singapore, right? It drives me absolutely insane that there's actually pictures of them together in such similar designed helmets. It's kinda funny actually that even though they're pretty deep in the championship fight at this point, and Seb just got one up on Fernando; Fernando is wearing a helmet that is a direct influence from Seb!!! Is that not insane???

Also, Fernando trying to be camp with trying the now in vogue sparkly Singapore helmet, and Seb accidentally completely blew him out of the water with his outrageous light up LED constellation helmet. But god yeah....to have pics of them in matching helmets from this era particuarly makes me emotional ;;;

SV Hungary 2021 x FA 2022: Pink with Dark Blue

I really could've picked any of Seb's 2021 helmets, but I thought this one matched the best with Fernando's main 2021 helmet(with the color pallet.) Also one thing, it's crazy how much control BWT has as a sponsor, I don't think I've ever seen another sponsor go so hard at having a chokehold on individuality. I like that we got pink liveries and pink helmets, but I don't think they should have that much control.

I'm almost kinda sad there wasn't any Miami GP in 2021, because I think that was the only unique helmet Fernando had in 2022. But these match pretty well! Pretty in pink!! It's crazy that their parallels in the 2020s are ongoing even before Fernando actually takes over Seb's seat. Thanks BWT I guess?

SV Abu Dhabi 2022 x FA Abu Dhabi 2022: Fernando's Seb Tribute Helmet

AND HERE WE HAVE THE PIÈCE DE RÉSISTANCE!!! The ultimate conclusion, it literally couldn't get better than this!! This is still unbelievable, like how is this an actual thing that happened!? Fernando intentionally branding his helmet, the only symbol of individuality in F1, with his rival's flag colors, HIS FLAG!!!!! Not to mention the literal "Vettono Best Moments" collage he posted alongside it....and the hand-holding....and everything that happened with them at Abu Dhabi 2022....

But god, after years of incidentally making parallel helmet designs, Fernando decided to officially tie the knot of the red string of fate, and make a helmet directly referencing Seb's. I think it's funny because as I said with two of the previously mentioned ones, those Fernando designs are pretty much inspired by Seb's, and here he is openly making one directly inspired by Seb. I don't really have words for how this actually makes me feel because it's just. Yeah. The most open and clear declaration of love and respect and admiration one could ever make. TO ME.

#all of my posts subheading should be: 'its probably not that deep BUT-'#i can't believe ive made two deeply researched and beloved posts in a row one day after the other #posts sponsored by: 12 am red bull consumption. my all-consuming devotion and love for vettonso. and my unwillingness to do schoolwork #i mean i felt a lot of emotions and had fun making it but like. hey. could you put this effort into school?#anyways feeling deeply emotionally affected about helmets and their symbolism #i think in the entirety of f1 seb and fernando are two of the most dedicated and passionate about helmet designs and symbolism?#so this post is very special to me :] helmet fuckers unite <3 #again: they say they aren't friends and don't share any hobbies and im just staring at them like YOU IDIOTS!!!#its just that spongebob meme of him pointing out the trashcans. like guys. be fr rn. you totally share hobbies #both like helmet design. paddel and pingpong. sustainability. cars. racing. european football. THE LIST GOES ON AND ON #well im glad they swapped helmets at some point(i think nando gave seb two pretty old ones as well. now thats dedication!)#if they werent cowards i bet they couldve also had a 5+ hour long discussion about helmet design ;;;;;;#thinking also about how fernando has one of seb's in his museum >:) but if only it were one of the ones on this list. sigh.#normal posts that catie normally makes in a normal fashion #well lmk if theres any other vettonso helmets you think are similar!!! im pretty blind to seb helmets that arent rbr era tbh #sebastian vettel #fernando alonso #f1 #formula 1 #vettonso #we do a little bit of f1

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iamnmbr3 · 1 month

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I LOVE your meta! <3 can you tell me your opinion about the development of draco's and harry's feelings for each other as it was accidentally written into the story (even tho JKR clearly didn't intend for a romance)? when did you think it started for both boys? i'd be very interested to know what you think. :)

Thank you!!!! <3 What a great question. I've gotten so many good asks lately.

I don't think there was one definable moment. I think it grew between them. They were both drawn to each other in some ways right from day 1 and spent seven years paralleling and orbiting each other.

Draco tries to befriend Harry before he even knows who he is (even though Harry looks rather scruffy and surely Draco must already know the children of all the "important" Pureblood families). And then he tries again once he knows who Harry is and spends years smarting at Harry's rejection, seemingly unable to move on from it or from Harry.

He's determined to be a part of Harry's life, if not as a friend then as a rival. He can't cope with Harry's disregard and constantly seeks attention from him. Even Lucius can't stop him from openly antagonizing Harry despite cautioning Draco in book 2 that it's unwise to be so openly hostile to Harry at this point.

Meanwhile Harry constantly watches what Draco does and even dreams about him his very first night at Hogwarts. After being nearly murdered by Voldemort at the end of book 1, during the summer before his second year Harry thinks of Draco as his arch nemesis and also thinks about how he kinda misses him.

For the first 5 years they know each other, Draco's entire life revolves around Harry whereas Harry has other things that he's dealing with though he's always extremely aware of and attuned to Draco. In some ways this might lead one to think that Draco is aware of his feelings a lot earlier. But honestly I think they're both in deep denial, though I do think perhaps Draco has more of an inkling since he is the one seeking Harry out.

Still, given the sharpening lines of the war, especially from book 4 on, I think Draco knows this is something that he should not and cannot feel or pursue and he tries to tell himself it's just dislike. Especially since mortifyingly Harry despises everything he thinks he believes in.

I think Draco would be the first to admit it to himself though. Probably during 7th year, once he's started to realize how wrong he's been about so many things and once he's been forced to confront the fact that he is not and will never be the person he's supposed to be, that he hates and fears Voldemort and the Death Eater cause, and that he hopes somehow, somewhere Harry is alive and that all the whispers about him being the Chosen One are true and that he really can end this.

And maybe in that context he also starts to admit to himself that maybe he never really hated Harry after all, that maybe the whispered remarks his friends made when they were younger were true and maybe he does feel something for Harry other than disdain. And that maybe it's not just that he finds Harry's stupid messy hair and green eyes aesthetically pleasing. Maybe he actually likes him. As a person. Maybe he loves him.

By the time the war is over I think he's come come to terms with it. Harry is just another thing he's lost, his feelings for him another thing he realized far too late.

Meanwhile we know that from the end of book 6 on Harry stops thinking about Draco with rancor and instead pities and worries about him, doesn't blame him for anything, and tries to save him at every opportunity. However, Harry also has a job to do and he and Draco are on the opposite sides of a war. The reality is that nothing can come of any feelings Harry might have and 1 or both of them may very well not survive the war.

Harry compartmentalizes and shuts down all feelings he might have and all thoughts of what might have been. Especially after the Manor, when he realizes that Draco may well be tortured to death because of him, he blocks him from his mind. He can't afford to examine his feelings or he won't be able to go on. Plus, if Voldemort reads his mind it will put Draco in even more danger.

Besides, he has Ginny. Someone who is so much more acceptable to care about. Someone who symbolizes all the intangible things Harry imagines he will want after the war. I think post Manor is the closest Harry comes to really acknowledging and verbalizing to himself what he feels, but he doesn't quite get there. (Though you could also read it as Harry realizing his feelings after the Manor scene and then realizing how impossible it all is and shutting Draco out of his mind completely).

But then the war's over. Harry gets to have his relationship with Ginny. He gets to realize that somehow in the peace they don't quite click anymore. Maybe they drifted apart. Or maybe what they had wasn't that strong to begin with. He's not sure, though sometimes he remembers the way at the end of sixth year she thought he was going off to fight Voldemort because it was what would make him "happy" rather than because he felt he had to, and wonders if maybe they were never going to work out, no matter what.

And meanwhile Draco's cleaning up his life. Harry speaks for him at his trial. And somehow they find each other again in the postwar world. Because they always do. Because they haven't been able to do anything but orbit each other since they were 11. And when Harry looks at Draco he feels something. And maybe he's never really put it into words before, even to himself, but somehow it doesn't feel new at all. It feels inevitable.

#send me asks anytime. i love them #interesting to hear others' opinions on this too #asks #drarry #Harry Potter #hpdm #meta #Harry Potter meta #drarry meta #my meta #harry/draco #Draco Malfoy

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beanghostprincess · 4 months

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Sometimes I feel like Shuggy is a sort of Lusopp gone wrong, especially with the w7 fight hilighting Usopp's insecurities and how Buggy may have felt some insecurities as well towards Shanks..

I am not gonna write a long text about this because I am busy however, I have so many thoughts about this. I've been having this exact same thought for a long time, because I was like "wow Luffy doesn't usually explain what happened to people. In general. He doesn't stay in the past. But if Shanks asked about their journey and his rough times, maybe he'd end up telling him about Usopp and Water 7. And Shanks would relate to it to a personal level so damn hard- At least he'd be proud Luffy was able to deal with it". And after this thought, I just can't unsee it.

Buggy and Usopp are really similar. They both have those "fake it til you make it" type of "coward" personalities and they wish to be more than what they're seen as, because they feel like everyone shines brighter than them. I think the main difference here is that Usopp has a crew that supports him and his environment is wayyy healthier than Buggy's. He can grow as a person with them and learn to be braver and stronger and not compare himself to others. Be his own person and grow to the point of accepting himself. The whole thing about Usopp's journey is a personal thing, because his crew already knows what he's capable of, he just wants to prove it to himself. Buggy, on the other hand, doesn't have the luck to be surrounded by people that genuinely believe in him. Like, okay, he has followers and subordinates that always keep treating him like a king, but they don't make him feel like one because he just keeps on pretending instead of trying to grow as a pirate accept himself. Which is understandable because why the hell would he do that if there's no point to do it? He gave up on his dream and now he's just doing the "fake it til you make it" to survive. With chapter 1082 (Y'all really should tell me to shut up about that chapter. It's just... I just miss Buggy and Cross Guild I really need another chapter about them) I think we could have a lot of character development for Buggy because he now has decided to follow his dream after all these years. It's basically the same story as Usopp's, except that it has taken him years to do this because his insecurities are tied to a relationship that doesn't have any closure.

Shuggy really is a Lusopp gone wrong, and it makes me so sad but it's just another great way of showing parallelisms between Shanks and Luffy and how the new generation is doing things differently (and better).

Usopp left the crew using the death of Merry as an excuse to cover the real reason (feeling completely insecure as he's surrounded by people stronger than him and he doesn't feel like he belongs with them) and Buggy left Shanks using the excuse of having been tricked into eating a Devil Fruit and losing the map to cover the fact that he did it because... Not exactly because he felt insecure being in Shanks' shadow. See? This is the main difference between the two. Buggy didn't leave Shanks because of feeling insecure (although, yes, it's a really important point of the story and it's pretty much crucial to their relationship and his decision to leave Shanks), he left because he trusted him to follow Roger's steps but he didn't. He gave up on his dream to trust Shanks instead and that's what Shanks does? Throw their dream away?

Lusopp's thing is more about Usopp's personal growth, but the whole deal with Shuggy's relationship is a bit more messed up because it's full of miscommunication, mourning and insecurities and it's a thing they have to deal with together.

But yeah, what I'm trying to say is that their relationships are pretty similar and I really, really want Shuggy to have closure because otherwise I will forever be sad.

#i said i wasn't going to write a lot-#i mean this is shorter than my usual posts #anyway i love shuggy shuggy my beloved i hope they get closure #and lusopp my beloved too but they're fine and healthy together i'm not worried #one piece #buggy the clown #usopp #usopp and buggy easily being two of my favorite characters #red haired shanks #monkey d. luffy #shuggy #lusopp

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destinysbounty · 1 year

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Just noticed a parallel thats eating my brain alive. Here you go

You ever think about how Morro gets. Uh. Melted. A lot.

Like both his corpse and his ghost got their bodies dissolved by fire and water respectively and y'know, if yall will allow me to go on a tangent about how this relates to Morro paralleling both Kai and Nya, and how both his body and soul are melted by Kai and Nya's respective elements due to his inability to learn the lesson that saved their lives.

Kai is obvious. They both wanted to be the Green Ninja, and their journeys led both of them into an active volcano. Kai realized he wasn't the Green Ninja, and it was this realization that allowed him to unlock his True Potential and escape. Morro, on the other hand, was unable to make this realization, and died in the process.

Nya is a bit trickier, but the similarities are there when you know where to look. Both characters are perfectionists and over-achievers with wicked gifted child syndrome, who hate feeling weak and have a critical difficulty with relying on and opening up to others, and despise being told what to do/how to live their lives. They're also some of the only characters who have explicitly stated a displeasure with destiny deciding their path for them, and a desire to choose for themselves. When Morro realized he wasn't the Green Ninja, what did he say? "I'll train more, learn more lessons." Rationalizing his rejection as a result of personal failure.

And in the end, when Wu begs Morro to take his hand "so we can be stronger together", Morro ultimately lets go. "You can only save those who want to be saved." Was this because of regret? Perhaps because even in his final moments, Morro couldn't bring himself to accept help, still couldn't let himself be weak or vulnerable in front of another, still insisted on being strong? Maybe he didn't want to let down his old master one last time by seeming weak? Bottom line is, he didn't want to be saved. But Nya, she learned. She learned that it was okay to fail, that if you care too much about something, you'll trip over your own feet trying to get it. She learned that no man is an island, and that it's okay to rely on others for help and to be weak sometimes. She took the hand Morro refused, and it was through accepting this that she conjured the tide that destroyed Morro.

I hope that made sense. It's very late and I've been up since 5AM.

#sometimes you just gotta listen to 'jenny' by nothing more and think really hard about emo wind ghosts #seriously tho. the line 'a thousand arms to hold you but you wont reach for any hand' was practically made for him #and 'self-destruct spiral-down / till you want becomes your need'#'please get up like i know you can or forever love the fall'#if i had art skills i would make a morro animatic with that song but alas 😔art machine broke #morro ninjago #ninjago morro #ns5 #ninjago possession #destiny post

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brigdh · 6 months

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I was thinking more about how Stede doesn't really have an arc this season (see my previous criticism here), and I've decided that what I would have loved to see was Stede actively attempting to court Ed.

Now, we did get a little of this in the first few episodes: Stede's letters in 2x01 are great, I love his attempting to track Ed down via a crime-map in 2x02, and of course the "I'll never leave you. I'll never leave again" speech at the end of 2x03 is fantastic. But once Stede and Ed are both in the same location and conscious, there's really nothing. Stede just hangs around, waiting for Ed to figure himself out, or take the lead, or something, I don't know, but Stede's certainly doesn't take any action to progress their relationship himself. He's such a static character in the second half of S2.

But! Imagine instead the arc where Stede is actively trying to romance Ed! I don't need him to be good at it; it's probably a better character arc if he isn't, in fact. Maybe he comes on way too strong at first and this is why Ed asks him to slow down, until Ed can figure out what he's doing about his own guilt/violence/identity/daddy issues (maybe Ed can actually figure out something about his guilt/violence/identity/daddy issues). Maybe Stede's entire conception of romance comes from poetry and novels and it hits a hard skid when he tries it out in reality. Maybe there are cultural clashes between how pirates approach one another and how the landed upper class does it. The exact way Stede fails doesn't really matter, because the point is that Stede is trying something, and fucking it up, and trying again, and growing as he does so, learning more about what the relationship between him and Ed needs and who they are as people.

This also could have been a really interesting arc for Stede internally. Throw in a couple of flashbacks to Stede courting Mary, to make a parallel between how he acted then and how he's acting now with Ed. If it's beyond the budget to fly Claudia O'Doherty to New Zealand or she's busy or something, give Stede a random other lady or two he approached as a young man – ones who obviously refused to accept his hand. Excellent! Now there's even more weight to him getting it right this time with Ed, when he's never managed to get someone to like him before! Or give young Stede an intense friendship with another young man that went wrong, and back then he didn't understand, but now he can look back and be like, 'oh I guess that wasn't as platonic as I thought'. (Personally, this would be my favorite option, but I know Jenkins & co said they didn't want to write a coming-out story, so maybe they'd have been less interested in this one. Fine, but I want it! 🥳 ) I think you could do this without taking up a lot of screentime – I doubt all the scenes we got of Ed's childhood add up to five minutes in total, but we got plenty of information from those three glimpses.

It would also make sense for Stede to discuss the issue with the crew, which gives the show a chance to flesh out their role a little more, another thing the season could have used. If he asks Lucius, what Lucius responds and how he reacts could help to develop the Lucius/Pete relationship. Similarly, if Stede turned to Olu or Jim, we could have heard more about Jim/Archie or Olu/Zheng or any combination of the four. Or any of the crew! What kind of relationship advice does Frenchie give? Roach? This also could have intersected with Ed's redemption arc nicely: which are the crew are willing to put aside their anger at Ed to help Stede (and them doing so would give more credence to Izzy's speech about them being family and loving Ed at the end)? Who isn't willing, and tries to deliberately sabotage their relationship for revenge, and how do Stede and/or Ed react to that?

Overall, I think such an arc could have fit the show's themes of masculinity and toxicity really well. There's so much about dating and pick-up lines and romance that reflects on gender – there are expectations of who should be aggressive vs receptive, flowery vs crude, prudish vs too fast, gifts as a sign of love vs gifts as obligation... it's endless. Obviously the season wouldn't have time to explore all these angles, but I list them as a sign of how many directions they could have taken this topic in. Ultimately it all comes down to: Who does Stede want to be as a partner? And who does Ed want him to be? And that would be so strong as a direction to go in, even if we didn't get final answers to the questions! At least they would be asking them.

But instead we got a vision of a mermaid and never explored who Stede is in reality. :(

#ofmd meta #our flag means death #stede bonnet #gentlebeard #blackbonnet #ofmd season 2 #ofmd critical #(for real this time unlike my last post)

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pinkeoni · 1 year

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Peter Pan Parallels: Is The Upside Down Neverland?

Lately I've been thinking about Petergate and I came up with what possibly could be another angle to the already complicated Peter situation— what if the name Peter is a reference to Peter Pan?

I don't think this is the only reason that the name Peter becomes prominent, although the show itself does seem to contain other references to Peter Pan, and even creates a correlation between the Upside Down and Neverland.

Peter Pan as a character has origins in early works from author J.M. Barrie, and the Peter Pan story as known today originated in a play written by Barrie before being adapted into a book and subsequently several film adaptations. The story of course being about a young boy named Peter who brings some kids to a magical land where they can never grow old.

It's written very small, but Peter Pan is on the season 4 DNA board!

There are a few instances about never growing old in the show, and they usually come from Will or involve Will.

The first instance is from season 3 during the rain fight, where Mike exclaims that they "aren't kids anymore" and they can't "play games for the rest of their lives." This is then brought up again by Will in season 4, but in a much more hopeful lens.

And then we have the Upside Down, a magical land that appears to be somewhat stuck in time.

I say "somewhat" because I'm honestly unsure if the UD actually frozen in time, or if there is just an impression of Hawkins the night that Will was taken. However, the emphasis this season on clocks as well as Nancy's mention of being in the past does at least allude to the idea of being frozen in time.

Does the UD actually function like Neverland and keep someone from aging? Will was only trapped in there for a week, not enough time to see if there was any anti-aging going on. Henry was in there for a few years, however since he changed so much physically it's hard to tell if he aged at all (and given that he was in his 30s, any aging wouldn't have been very apparent)

ALTHOUGH there could be a point to be made about the fact that Will and Henry were both able to survive in the Upside Down for as long as they did in the first place, maybe it has to do with both of their powers, but perhaps the UD was preventing them from dying?

Starting with Will, we know that he was in the UD for a week without any food or water. The body can survive that long without food, but water is another thing. The show makes a point to have Erica say this in season 3:

—which leads me to believe that they want to draw attention to the fact that Will was miraculously able to survive for so long in a place without any water. Perhaps the UD was able to keep him alive?

Something similar happens with Henry, too. It seems like his body was adapting to the new environment overtime, but still the details of his survival are vague and his ability to stay alive after all that time is still rather anomalous to say the least.

There's an indirect reference to the UD as Neverland in season one, when Troy states that "Will is in fairyland now with all the other little fairies." and while YES he means this in a derogatory way, the dialogue is still a way to point at the fact that Will really is in a magical land, and possibly even a hint at his powers.

Notice as well how Will's light magic bares a resemblance to pixie dust from the Disney movie.

Between Henry and Will, we can see both of them as being Peter Pan-like. Henry as Peter as in the one who lures children into his magical fantasy land, or Will as Peter the boy who doesn't want to/has trouble growing up.

Another aspect of Peter Pan is his shadow, which is detachable and seems to have a mind of its own. Which reminds me a lot of this:

Barrie's intentions behind what the shadow represents is pretty vague, although it has been tied to the idea of wholeness, Peter's attachment to the human world as well as duality, wholeness, and lightness within dark and darkness within light. (more to come later)

#this will likely be a multi-part theory post #this part is mostly my initial thoughts observations #will have to do more research as im only familiar with the disney movie #although that could be their main mode of inspiration #feel free to take these elements and place them in your own interpretations theories how you like #stranger things #stranger things theory #stranger things analysis #my analysis #my theory #will byers #one stranger things #vecna stranger things #henry creel #will byers has powers #byler #<- target audience #not byler related

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deripmaver · 5 months

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one overarching trend ive noticed in this fandom (though i'm sure it happens in others) that i find very frustrating is that when folks present evidence against gutsca as their notp, it almost exclusively winds up devaluing casca's place in the narrative well beyond the issues inherent to berserk.

recently the posts i've seen about the latest chapters by mori and studio gaga present the idea that guts doesn't at all care that casca has been kidnapped by griffith, and that his current breakdown is ONLY because he wasn't able to beat griffith. the thing with this that you'll notice is that it isn't evidence that guts doesn't feel romantic feelings towards casca, it's that casca simply doesn't matter.

i wound up finding this set of screenshots from chapter 371(?) and chapter 372 because to me it seems so obvious theyre supposed to be parallels of each other, and that they're supposed to communicate to the reader the pain both guts and casca are feeling at their unwitting separation, again.

if we were JUST shown this panel, i think it'd be possible to argue this is reaching out to griffith, but in chapter 372 we get its twin:

i really think this is almost so in your face that ignoring it is missing the forest for the trees - either that or they simply don't pay attention to any chapter with casca as the main focus lol.

i wanna be clear, the argument i'm making here isn't that gutsca canon kings (though i do ship it LOL)!!!! them reaching out to each other doesn't even necessarily imply romantic intent, which is part of the issue i have. it's simply that the clues that casca does actually matter to guts (and the story) are pretty obvious, so obvious that it feels willful to argue that she really is totally unimportant.

that being said, i wound up getting a lot more interested in the second part of the page from chapter 372 when i found it earlier and decided to make this post. in casca's mind, she sees guts walking away from her. this to me seems to be obviously calling back to when guts left on his revenge quest post-eclipse, abandoning her rather than face their shared trauma, something for which the narrative has THOROUGHLY raked guts across the coals.

the reason for the separation this time is because when casca screams at seeing griffith again, guts immediately regresses and becomes filled with rage and violence. he attacks griffith, leaving casca behind with farnese and schierke, and then when griffith overpowers him casca is essentially undefended for griffith to spirit back to falconia.

so i'm wondering if what casca is thinking of as she's taken away is that it's just like before, when guts left her all alone, and she's feeling that abandonment again. she doesn't see guts reaching out to her or trying to save her in these panels, she just sees guts walking away.

there's also a section later in the chapter when casca thinks to herself "if i don't get back then guts will-" and it cuts off there. guts will what? i think it definitely would make sense if she's thinking that guts will hurt himself to come rescue her, because he's done that in the past, but i'm also wondering if she's thinking that if she doesn't get back to guts then he'll move on from her just like he did before. ugh!!!!! tragedy

i've said this before but i think their separation really is a very promising setup for guts and casca to really think about what THEY want, and how best to move forward with all the baggage of the time where casca was regressed. now if only we could get another casca chapter.........

#gutsca #casca #casca berserk #berserk meta #debated over some of these tags bc this post does get a little spicy #but whatevs

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