#also is this episode actually called 'in need of a generator' where you live?

[piratecaptainscaptainpirates]

Need more positivity on my dash, so I wanna talk a bit more about how fucking amazing OFMD's writing for its characters of color is!

Now, I'm a professional historian (phd student 😔🤘🏾) and I read and watch a lot of historical fiction because I love it, right? And I have literally never seen a piece of historical fiction that is so respectful to its characters of color.

Usually, in works of historical fiction that actually bother to include characters of color, they fall into two big camps. The most common one is trauma porn, where poc only exist so White characters can save them, feel sorry about them, or so White audiences can pat themselves on the back for feeling sorry about them. Also popular are works that include characters of color but don't bother thinking about how race impacts their experiences in historical settings (shows like Bridgerton come to mind; they want to include poc but handwave racism). And in general I prefer the latter but it still takes me out of the story.

But OFMD hits just this amazing balance. There are many characters of color, and the racism of the world they live in impacts their experiences and perspectives in realistic ways. Ed remembering how his mom told him that fine things weren't meant for people like him has me by the fucking throat, it's so tied up in race and class and it's the root of so many of Ed's self-image issues into adulthood. But the real kicker for me - poc always get the last laugh in OFMD. Yes, the racism in this show is often very realistic, but this isn't a realistic show at its core and it is so, so comforting to know a character who starts acting like a racist dickhead is a dead man walking.

It's so carefully written, and for me it's such a huge comfort: race in OFMD is never hand-waved away, and it's thought-provoking and realistic and relatable. But the show always feels so safe because we know racism in the show is never excused. They tell us in the pilot that if you start being a racist asshole, someone's gonna stab you. Even Stede, our main character - when he makes a racist assumption in the second episode of the show, the narrative encourages us to call him out for it and has a character directly call him a fuckin' racist! He's held accountable and he fucking grows, because unlearning racist biases is important and he doesn't get a pass because he's the main character!

It's not just that OFMD has a lot of characters of color. It's not just that one of our main romantic leads is an indigenous Jewish man. It's not just that characters of color are consistently depicted as smart, clean, competent, and respected. It's that the show respects them enough to think about how racism realistically shapes the world of OFMD, while at the same time providing viewers with a wonderful fantasy of racists getting what they deserve. In the genre of historical fiction, it stands out because it completely avoids the trauma porn and hand-wavey angles, and I can't articulate strongly enough how much I appreciate that.

#ofmd #our flag means death

[thevalleyisjolly]

There’s a weird recurring take in D20 fan circles that Zac doesn’t play “complex” characters and that people are just waiting for the day when he “finally” plays an asshole, which kind of baffles me.  Quite apart from the idea that only morally grey characters are complex or compelling, are you sure we’re watching the same show?

In Fantasy High, we have Gorgug, an adopted biracial teenager whose journey includes realizing his self-worth, coming to terms with his rage (literally), seeking out and navigating new relationships with others (his birth parents, the Bad Kids, Zelda), and discovering what he’s capable of. 

From The Unsleeping City we have Ricky, a second-generation Japanese-American, who has a very personal struggle across two seasons between doing the dutiful/sacrificial thing for other people’s benefit and expressing his own needs, wants, thoughts, and feelings; it’s a very particular exploration of immigrant generations and the relationship between the sacrificial model of your ancestors and the culture you grew up surrounded by which emphasizes the self.

There’s A Crown of Candy and Lapin, whose snark and one-liners are honestly less interesting than the way he engaged with and sought to understand religion and faith; the different yet similar ways in which both the Sugar Plum Fairy and the Church exerted control over their followers, and the search for spiritual meaning beyond these figures/institutions.

Then there’s Cumulous, whose every character aspect navigates a space of tension - the ultimate war guy who made himself hardened (literally) and pragmatic to get the job done but who also remains soft and caring and empathetic at the same time; wielding the power of death without glorifying or giving into it; the cousin who both is a member of the family and yet who remains at somewhat of a distance from the centre; a literal warrior-philosopher who is single-minded in battle and quietly thoughtful about the mysteries of life and death outside of it.

As for actual assholes, we have Norman Takamori in A Starstruck Odyssey, a bitter man who is the living embodiment of both the Superior Orders excuse as well as scapegoating.  On a side note, the amount of absolute vitriol and double standards which people threw at Norman during ASO for being an unapologetic asshole -and he had less than two full episodes of screen time- kind of underscores the calls for Zac to play a “real” asshole.  Zac can and will play whatever type of character he wants, but is fandom really ready for him to play an asshole if that asshole doesn’t have a secret heart of gold?

From the same season, we have Valdrinor/Skip, who starts as the “prince running from his destiny” archetype with a dash of brain slug possession, has a humorous yet oddly profound exploration of what humanity is and what it means to be human, and springboards from there into “wait, who am I really and actually, why are we doing things (brain slug possession) this way when there are other ways to engage with the universe.” 

Most recently in Neverafter, we have Pib, who apart from the fascinating meta element of being a literal character archetype, constantly straddles the line between self-absorbed self-interest and putting himself on the line to help others; his repeated demonstration of both at various points throughout the season is a subtle yet intriguing manifestation of free will and choice-making in a story all about lacking free will and agency.

So, I mean, lack of complexity where?  Does a character need to be an asshole in order to be deep or compelling?  And because I’ve heard this specific rebuttal quite a few times now, does a character need to vocalize their innermost thoughts loudly and frequently in order to prove their complexity?  If a character is “less vocal” compared to other characters, does that mean they lack interiority? 

Also, other people have brought this up before, but I am once again asking that people remember the difference between fictional characters and real life people.  Zac playing one (1) himbo on the show does not make him a himbo in real life, nor does it make him incapable of creating or playing complex characters (especially as said himbo is himself an extremely complex character), nor does it make him a lesser player than other cast members.  You don’t have to find all or any of his characters interesting or complex, but can we stop conflating character with player?

#dimension 20 #dimension 20 discourse #dimension 20 spoilers #(in case you haven't seen one of the mentioned seasons) #i haven't listened to naddpod so i can't speak to mavrus and squing is not included but the point still stands generally #1) asshole/morally grey characters are not the only type of characters who are complex or compelling #2) at the same time; zac has actually played both non-asshole and asshole characters who are complex and compelling #3) you don't have to find all his characters deep or interesting but please stop using them to make assumptions about the real life actor

[junnieverse]

IT GIRL L♡VER ➳ ENHYPEN

➙ what it's like for enhypen to be dating their s/o who is also an idol

pairing: enhypen x afab!reader

genre: fluff, a tiny bit suggestive under heeseung's

request: " Cutie patotiiiiii. What do we think about enhypen dating an idol s/o? Maybe even the it girl of the generation? Sending you lots of love <3 ~ sunshine ☀️"

a/n: here it is anon, thank you for the request sweetie and sending you even more love right back, hope you like it!

a/n (2): it has also been brought to my attention that @/rlcswo on tiktok has stolen this word for word so please do go and report this user everyone

a/n (3): shameless self promo, I have a new enha series (still ongoing) so please do check it out, thank you <3

🖇️ — 양정원 ; JUNGWON !

he is constantly doing covers of your group's dances

he is a bit more lowkey and 'professional' about your relationship

more 'private but not secret' because he knows how you both need to keep your work separated to your private life

but he will be posting his selcas with you to show fans how smitten he is

jungwon is already incredibly active on weverse always replying to fans but now talking about you is all he ever does

'Jungwon how was your day?' a fan would ask

'Just had lunch with my sweet (y/n) and now I'm going to practice!'

biggest simp ever actually

sees you on the big screen during an award show and he's all smiles now, it's adorable :(

but ofcourse you would be displaying the biggest grin ever seeing jungwon shining on stage too

🖇️ — 이희승 ; HEESEUNG !

this man would risk it all for your relationship

whenever you were both together in public he would always be overly affectionate (giving dispatch a field day with the amount of content)

he knows you want to keep things a bit more private despite being in a confirmed public relationship because engene are a little... yeah

but ofcourse majority of them were very supportive and found you and hee to be such a cute couple

the amount of edits of him giving you 'the look' and fans constantly commenting how they wished they were you even for just a second

you'd usually try to stay composed around heeseung but your boyfriend was a tease and he wanted to see you become a flustered mess even on camera

k-netz knew this too because during an enhypen performance, when heeseung's part would come up the camera workers would always try to get the camera on you to get your reaction

let's just say there are many YouTube compilation videos of you simping for your boyfriend

'(Y/n) folding for Heeseung for 8 minutes straight'

🖇️ — 박종성 ; JAY !

jay usually keeps your relationship with him private unless it is brought up or he has something to say about you relating to something he was talking about

"Speaking of actually, (Y/n) showed me how to play this new song on my guitar." jay says during the live as he played a few chords

and during the en o clock episode where he was making muscles for the boys, he wasn’t sure on how to make them and so he called you to help him

fans found it endearing how he causally stayed on the call with you throughout him cooking and his phone would pass around the boys whilst they all said hi and made small talk with you

it soon became a normal thing where during lives if you were to call you would say hi to engene and during your lives he would say hi to your fans

he's always buying you gifts

during your lives there is atleast one item you have on that you'll mention saying you got it as a gift from jay

jay is very much into his rock music and that's pretty much 95% of his Spotify and then the other 5% is your group's songs

🖇️ — 심재윤 ; JAKE !

the most supportive boyfriend ever

best believe he is cheering the loudest during your performances and when your group wins an award

if it's one thing jake was gonna do, it was shamelessly promote you and your group's music

he plays atleast one song from your group during his solo lives and he talks about which songs he likes more and how hard you worked on it

during interviews, just from hearing your name he becomes like a happy pup wagging it's tail like it's time for his walk

the members always tease him for how much of a simp he is but fans find it so cute and wish for a jake of their own

'10 minutes of Jake being (Y/n)'s biggest fan'

you both have matching couple rings that you never take off even during performances

overall just super proud to call himself your boyfriend :(

🖇️ — 박성훈 ; SUNGHOON !

when ni-ki mentioned how sunghoon has high standards he wasnt lying, but then again you are the standard :p

a complete show off unlike jungwon

"Oh you know (y/n)? Yeah they're my girlfriend, isn't she pretty." he would say during a live

despite your protests telling him to stop he just wants everyone to know that your his

now he's all boastful when you aren't there but the minute you're both in one room, it's like he doesn't know how to act

hoon becomes almost robotic and can't even maintain eye contact with you

gets all shy in front of everyone and can't show you any pda

you both had to mc together once and hoon kept stumbling over his words and would blush everytime you looked over to him and smiled

the 4th gen it couple everyone loves and wants to be or be like

🖇️ — 김선우 ; SUNOO !

being called the 'sunshinez' as your couple nickname

loves spending time with you

he passed the friend check too and your members absolutely adore him (just as much as the enha members adore you)

you didn't know this until he mentioned it on a live but he collects your pcs

your no. 1 fanboy that's for sure

fans even noticed how you'd both started picking up small habits from each other

the couple that has all the juiciest tea on people in the industry

fans soon found out you'd actually been supporting him since his i-land days and found it so special

he posts atleast one photo he has with you atleast once a week and it's always the cutest thing

🖇️ — 西村 力 ; NI-KI !

he loves seeing you wearing his clothes during lives or part of your airport fashion

similarly to jake, you and riki have matching couple necklaces that you always have on

now riki usually keeps to himself but when it comes to you he suddenly comes out from his cave

he could disappear without posting for weeks to a month but when your group has a comeback he is the first to post it on his weverse to promote it and fans will tease him about it

'Ni-ki coming out of the trenches to hype up his girl' fans would say

'You'll know Riki's alive when he makes a post about or with (y/n)'

ofcourse netizens are quick to notice that too calling it couple goals

if he's not out with jake then he's either at home or with you, no in between

he's always sharing inside jokes he has with you to fans and they love how happy you make him

if ni-ki isn't updating fans, they come to you begging you to tell your boyfriend and miraculously he updates on social media

#junnieverse.zip #sunshine☀️.anon #enhypen #enha #enhypen jungwon #enhypen heeseung #enhypen jay #enhypen jake #enhypen sunghoon #enhypen sunoo #enhypen niki #enhypen ot7 #enhypen x reader #enha x reader #enhypen fluff #enhypen headcanons #enhypen scenarios #enhypen reactions #yang jungwon #lee heeseung #park jongseong #sim jaeyun #park sunghoon #kim sunoo #nishimura riki #kpop #kpop scenarios #kpop fluff #kpop headcanons #kpop reactions

[fortuna-et-cataclysmos]

S5 finale: wrapping up the "running out of time" theme

So I have been mentioning frequently that there is a theme of "running out of time" in season 5, but I wasn't able to make out the meaning of it, until now.

We can say that there are three situations where the theme explicitely manifests:

Gabriel: After receiving a cataclysm wound in Destruction, we often hear Gabriel repeat that he is running out of time. The entire Intuition episode is based on that premise.

Ladynoir: This is the most obvious manifestation of this theme. In Jubilation, Ladybug and Chat Noir live a dream just to be constantly reminded that their perfect life together will end when they wake up to reality. I call it Ladynoir, but actually it is Maribug's love and romantic relationship with Chat in general.

Adrinette: This is the most subtle one, but it is there. Notice how Marinette needs to ease into a relationship with Adrien, and Adrien is doing his best to cut her slack, so much so that he says in Derision, and I quote: "We've got time." Soon after, Adrien is sent to London.

If you think I have forgotten other strings of running out of time, feel free to let me know!

Now let's look at these three strings individually:

Gabriel running out of time

This one is the simplest one as it starts very early on in the season, with the episode Destruction where he gets the cataclym wound, and ends in Recreation with his "sacrifice." Also worthy noting the names of the episodes. What starts as Gabriel running out of time in Destruction is concluded in Recreation with him making his wish, accomplishing his wish, and dying. We can consider this thread concluded.

2. Ladynoir running out of time

Of course, the first episode that comes to mind is Jubilation. In Jubilation we (and the blorbos) learn that they actually desire to be together, romantically. And indeed they get to live a perfect little life in their dream, ignoring the increasingly bigger alarm clocks that are trying to wake them up. Except that at the end Ladybug realises that they must wake up (duty calls!), and she abandons Chat Noir in the dream universe, broken.

From here on, nearly every episode is a warning for Marinette against being romantically together with Chat Noir:

Determination: Marinette accepts that she has feelings for Chat Noir, her reaction to that is crying

Passion: Ladybug's crush on Chat Noir leads to her being distracted and making many critical mistakes in their fight

Reunion: is a cautionary tale about Ladybug and Cat Miraculous holders falling in love

Illusion: (I haven't watched this in a while but I think nothing relevant happens here)

Elation: Marinette is nearly akumatised because of her love to and rejection by Chat Noir

The overarching message from Jubilation to Elation is that: if Maribug ends up with Chat Noir, it'll be a disaster.

So Marinette decides to close up her heart to anyone, and after a brief depression, Adrien finally convinces her to be with him and they become an official couple. From this point onwards, the key ship becomes Adrinette.

Does that mean that Ladynoir has run out of time? Not necessarily. They just decided to love each other in a different way. I should remind here that even though we tend to polarise the sides of the square as fandom, the creators have repeatedly told that the love square is one, there is one love.

The Ladynoir relationship has a direct connection to the Adrinette dynamics because after all, they're the same two people.

3. Adrinette running out of time

Now that Adrinette is finally together, they should have all the time in the world, right? Right? It's what Adrien says, after all.

But I couldn't shake this sense of urgency throughout this season. Every time they said that they had time, it made me feel like they actually don't and they don't know it. And it was exactly what they wanted to make us feel: with Adrien's move to London, it turns out they didn't have time. Worse is that, Adrien actually knew that he'd need to move to London but he couldn't tell it to Marinette, he kept it a secret all the way till he was shipped off to London.

And there is a parallel between Jubilation and Revolution here: in both episodes, their dream is shattered, they share one last dramatic kiss, and they are torn apart from one and other (@asukiess had a big brain time and pointed this out back when Revolution aired).

But now, in Recreation, Gabriel is gone. Everything is fixed? Everyone will be happy, right?

Well... No.

As I pointed out in a previous post, the world that Gabriel creates is a bit too bright, too perfect. The show is notorious for associating the sun with fake happiness at this point, while the "real" moments are rainy and/or dark. And let's see the colour palette in the end:

Another detail that makes me put on my tinfoil hat:

They're not very visible on the static image, but there are white butterflies flying over the flower arch. Those could be symbolising the end, as a reference to how Ladybug releases the purified akuma at the end of each episode. But it might also have a second meaning, a reference to how this world was in fact created upon the ideals of Gabriel.

And that can't be good for anyone. I explain more the consequences and aftermath of this episode in the post I mention above, but basically this world is Gabriel's ideal, and it is far from being a good place for neither Marinette, nor Adrien.

One main reason why: Gabriel has left Marinette with the truth about the Monarch, and she agreed to keep it a secret from Adrien. But we know that it will eventually come out. Either she tells it to Chat Noir, or maybe Lila plots something, but it won't remain a secret forever. And when it does... it will have tremendous impact on not only Adrinette, but also Ladynoir.

This world is a fantasy world where Marinette and Adrien have ended up together, just like in: Chat Blanc, Ephemeral, Oblivio, Jubilation. And at one point the alarm clock will ring, the hammer will drop, and both Ladynoir and Adrinette will run out of time. Except that this time, we may not be able to revert back to the status quo.

Gabriel has left them with a tickling time bomb.

#miraculous ladybug #ml spoilers #ml season 5 #from fortuna #ml analysis #ml speculation #ml recreation #ml jubilation #ladynoir #adrinette

[shares-a-vest]

Steve is a complete nightmare when he is sick. Mainly because he insists that he isn't. At first, he can hide it. He'll keep driving everyone around despite the worsening headaches, he lies to Robin about how sick he is when he's at work and he tells Dustin to not let his mom make him extra food because he knows the kid tells her anything and everything. It’s all that toughen-up attitude instilled in him by his parents, who always sent him off to school sick in order to maintain perfect attendance (which always felt pointless considering he sucked at the actual academics part). That, combined with his stubborn need to show up for everyone, always.

After a couple of days, he is most definitely worse and everyone gets angry with him for hanging around them when he's grossly sick. They even go as far as to not ask for rides or favours of any kind where they would be anywhere in his general proximity. Robin even takes the bus to school, not wanting to catch what she calls 'Dingus-itus' (an offshoot of her typical diagnosis of ‘Lovesick Dingus’). She also takes it upon herself to dob him into Keith who calls and berates him not to come in spreading his "super-virus-contagion to all our hot chick customers".

A whole 24hrs go by after that and no one has seen or heard from Steve. No calls to say he's all better and can run carpool, no pop-ins to Family Video falsely announcing a miraculous recovery to get his lost shifts back.

"Steve? Where are you? Dustin thinks you're dead or something, man."

Eddie stops in his tracks at the sight of Steve laying in bed, blankets piled up, curtains drawn and surrounded by tissues. A trail of clothes litters the floor to the bed, including pyjamas, sweaters and Steve’s work clothes. An assortment of empty coffee cups and cold medicines crowd his nightstand.

"I'm fine," he mumbles, raising his head from a mountain of pillows, his hair greasy and flattened on one side.

"I... um, came to see how you were," Eddie lies, sitting on the edge of the bed and looking over the scene before him with a grimace.

Well, it was only half a lie. Dustin demanded he come over to check on him (he was always ready to send out a search party if he hadn’t heard from Steve in more than a day). And Eddie really wanted him better. One day of driving everyone around was enough. He didn't possess Steve's organisational skills - expertly knowing who needed to be where and when and how logically work it so he wasn't zing-zagging all over Hawkins. Eddie also needed Steve's signature Mom Authority to actually tell the kids 'no' from time to time (which is how Eddie ended up out of pocket after a single day of gremlin wrangling).

"Alright, man. Up."

"No!"

"Look, I know I'm going to sound like a total Nurse Ratched, but I'm getting you up. I'm going to make you some food and park you in front of the TV while I clean up in here."

Steve whines but sits up anyway.

"You're going to get sick," he says as Eddie helps him change into fresh clothes.

"Ha! So you admit it!" he grins, failing to resist the urge to tickle him as Steve pulls a new sweater down over his torso.

Steve only makes a face as he gathers up his pillow to take downstairs.

Eddie shuffles him down to the living room and turns the TV onto a rerun of The Brady Bunch and notices Steve smile despite his glazed half-concentrating expression when he realises it's an episode about Greg's lame guitar playing. He decides he's content enough to leave and go into the kitchen to make a sandwich. The kitchen is a mess, suggesting Steve has been sicker for longer than the gang's initial diagnosis. There are dishes stacked up on the sink and Eddie assumes what's left on the kitchen island (tea, bread, half-eaten leftovers from Dustin’s mom) are some basics Steve has been surviving on for a few days. It's far from the regular tidy order he keeps the kitchen in.

He finds a half-crumpled note in Mrs Harrington's handwriting saying Steve's parents were away for a fortnight and Eddie starts making a mental note of things to pack to come and stay over, pushing away his annoyance at two people he still hasn't met.

"Eat this, Stevie," he says, trying not to sound too commanding as he holds the plate in front of him.

Steve hums as Eddie runs his fingers through his hair while he eats. He devours the sandwich, breathing through his mouth between ravenous chewing. He should find it disgusting, but Eddie thinks this might be the closest Steve's ever come to being an actual puppy dog.

"Eds..." Steve begins as he is maneuvered to lie down on the couch. But Eddie cuts him off, shushing him and kissing his warm forehead.

"I'll just clean up your room a little."

Steve hums in reply and gathers the crochet blanket from the couch up to his neck with a shiver.

"Alrighty Patient Harrington, my cure is a steady course of kisses and cuddles at least four times a day until otherwise prescribed,” Eddie says as he leads Steve back up to his newly cleaned room with fresh non-checked pattern sheets on the bed.

"You're such a dork," Steve says somewhere in between a laughing cough.

Two days later, Eddie is sick. Unlike Steve toughing it out, Eddie is an absolute baby. He milks every crumb of attention he can get and calls out to Steve (in a whining “Steeeeeve”) any time he leaves him alone, even if it's just for a moment. 

"But I'm sick," he complains when Steve says he doesn't want to watch the terrible black and white midday horror movie Eddie finds on TV. And he most definitely continues to say he's still sick so that he can get an extra day or two with Steve to himself at his house with no one else coming around for fear of catching the dreaded Dingus-itus. It really only ends when Steve starts to worry he'll totally get fired if he doesn't start showing up to work again.

#steddie #steve harrington #eddie munson #steddie hcs #steddie headcanon #this became waaaay too long #don't mind me - just writing about eddie babygirling steve while actually looking after him #lilys ficlets #sick fic 🤧

[ineffably-human]

It honest to God took me a month to rewatch the last two episodes of this season of Shadows, because I'm still so mad about how they handled Guillermo's decision. And I'm probably going to always be mad. I think this season wasted a lot of time that could have been spent laying better groundwork, for both Guillermo's decision and for Nadja and the Guide's subplot.

But something did click into place for me in that very last scene, where Derek's being ushered down by Topher to meet the other zombies. Season Three was unofficially about power and protection. Season Four was officially about change. I thought this season was going to be about secrets. But it's actually about belonging to a community.

The vampires were out in the world a lot more this season. Colin runs for public office (passing among humans as he can), which drags him into the interests of the community of energy vampires. Nadja connects to a community from her homeland, and winds up caring about them more than she ever expected. Laszlo's mostly focused on the experiments, but his natural ease with Sean (and humans in general) is on display a few times - and when the vampires think he's in distress, they throw a whole party to rally him. The Guide, of course, struggles the whole season with feeling like an outsider who can't be part of the group she cares for.

Sean links the vampires to the pride parade, not just celebrating the queer community, but making the vampires the face of queerness, of immigration, of Staten Island itself. (And Guillermo gets his first taste of Pride, and of a community he'd never been able to claim until recently.) At the same time, it's shown that vampires always feel like they're a step away from being found out by humans, of their surrounding community turning on them and forcing them out.

Nandor struggles throughout the season with social awkwardness, communicating, being misunderstood; he fails to connect with strangers without hypnosis guiding the conversation the way he wants it to go. But the other vampires have become his home, in a way that's evolved past their relationship during Season Three. He rallies them successfully during Local News. He and Colin Robinson look out for each other. Keeping Guillermo's secret is just as much about protecting Nandor as it is protecting Guillermo.

(It's still Guillermo he's always calling out for, though. With the certainty of someone who already knows where home is, he just hasn't named it yet.)

And as always, Guillermo is stuck in between two worlds. He can't connect fully with his bio family, but can't truly step away from them. He wants to be a vampire, but his transformation fights him and he can't see humans as prey. He wants to come when Nandor calls, but can't tell him about the biggest thing that's happening to him.

By the finale he feels more isolated from the vampires than ever, to the point that he can't see what's actually happening: by the time they all know his secret, the others have rallied around him, and are seeing him as another member of the family in need of protecting.

And once Nandor realizes that he cares more about losing Guillermo than his own pride, he deliberately brings that community to Guillermo: he introduces Guillermo as the fifth of their household, and throws him a birthday party to bookend the one at the start of the season. He makes Guillermo a ceremony, invites everyone they know, and asks if he's willing to become one of them forever.

And it's not that Guillermo doesn't want to be a vampire. He does, desperately. It's that he can't stop also being a human.

So instead it's Derek (a vampire basically living as a human, and deeply lonely for it) who is ushered into a new community ready to welcome him, something Guillermo has always been hoping for.

("Do you like eating human flesh? Heh, you will!")

Guillermo still doesn't have The Thing he wants, not really. He still has to name exactly what it is. But Nandor helped guide him towards where home is. And Laszlo helped him pick up the pieces. The vampires don't love Guillermo like a fellow vampire, but they love him like Guillermo, and like with Colin last year that doesn't just reset. It can't. The roots are in too deep, it's already bound everyone stronger.

We'll just have to wait to see what it turns into.

#fandom: wwdits #wwdits #what we do in the shadows #i am a meta gremlin #otp: nandermo #nandermo

[lilyginnyblackv2]

Hmm, this is interesting to think about:

In Episode 7, we see how Yuzuko and Kazuki first met. 

She found him in a field of hydrangeas during the rainy season, holding an umbrella. He was at a low point here, in the sense of being very badly wounded and in need of physical help, which I am going to assume Yuzuko provided for him.

 We also get the full picture of her death in this week’s episode as well.

It is, once again, the rainy season and she is holding the same umbrella. So Kazuki met her and lost her around the same time of year. This adds even more depth and emotion to Karin’s words to Kazuki:

“So the thought that you only remember her looking sad...”

Since it is highlighting her later sentiment that “memories aren’t prisons.” Kazuki was locking himself in the memory of her death during this time of the year, rather than the memory of his meeting her. 

Now, when it comes to Rei, we don’t know when exactly it was that the two of them met. But it was likely a good bit before the events of Episode 1, since there was a familiarity between the two of them already. The interesting thing here though is that Rei didn’t find Kazuki like Yuzuko did, it seems more like Kazuki found him. This is based off of the February Animedia interview where the producer, Toba says:

Kazuki is very family-oriented; he's the so-called maternal type. The reason why he started living together with Rei is that he saw the complete shambles of Rei's lifestyle, went, 'This won't do!' and started fussing over him.

And we know from Rei’s general personality and the dynamic they have going on that Rei follows Kazuki, not the other way around. So, at his lowest he sought out someone to care for. But when it was just him and Rei, they were still at their lowest, diving deep into their bad habits and styles of living. 

They were both just in survival mode. They weren’t really living though. 

The one who finds Kazuki this time though is Miri. 

She finds him when he is at his lowest, and her existence in his life gives him the motivation to start changing and to start actually living again. This was in the middle of the winter, when everything is dead. And then this little ball of energy and sunshine entered his life. She provided him the same chance at a family that Yuzuko did, though obviously in a very different way than her (through being a daughter as opposed to a romantic partner and wife like Yuzuko).

And he jumped at the chance. We see him accepting her into his life slowly, bit by bit and through various different aspects and areas. But he still has boundaries set up, he still has a part of himself that is holding back, and he still sees Miri as something that was given to him in a way, then something he actively sought out.  At the end of Episode 7, though we see him “find” Miri. 

He chooses to go back to her. 

He also chooses to go back to Rei too. When he looks softly at the end of Episode 7, it is a look directed at both Miri and Rei. He’s proud and happy to see that Rei actually stepped up and took care of Miri. His warm smile is at the thought of him having a true second chance at a family again, without past memories blocking emotional bonds and connections.

And the thing is, this all happens, again, during the rainy season. Kazuki was, imo, seriously contemplating not returning at various points in this episode. But, he decided to go back to this unexpected family instead of losing the chance again, during the rainy season.

Episode 7 was a great leap in Kazuki’s character development. He’s finally starting to allow himself to properly heal, and like how Yuzuko found him when he was at a low point and in bad shape during the rainy season 5 years ago, Kazuki is here now, in the rainy season, actively returning to Rei when Rei is at his lowest point (in terms of caring for Miri). 

It almost feels like Kazuki is being to Rei what Yuzuko was for him, like taking on that same kind of role, though maybe not with the same kind of dynamic, more so just being the helping hand needed when in a bad place. 

That’s lovely in a way, but it does keep Kazuki in a sort of perpetual “giving” position in the relationship that he has with Rei. Since Rei grew up without love, we haven’t really seen him reaching out for it. Not in the same way it seems Yuzuko may have done with Kazuki or in the way that Kazuki seems to instinctually do with Miri or in the way Kazuki has done with Rei now. The gasp at realizing Miri was sick, then the confused stare for a moment, and finally the soft stare when he realized Rei stepped up and everything was fine.. That’s us seeing him making an emotional connection with the both of them at that moment, even if they were both asleep.

Something clicked there and we can see that a proper shift has happened, and that while Kazuki has always been more of an animated personality type than Rei, there is something much more true and genuine about this smile than the ones he has given in the past:

I think it’s because Kazuki has finally found himself and the obvious weight that he was carrying around has lifted. I feel like Kazuki maybe doesn’t feel like he needs to be found anymore and needs to reach out to Rei and Miri like he was doing in the past - to survive and deal with his trauma, but now he just wants to be with them and reach out to them and connect with them (we can see this through him saying he’ll teach them what good French toast actually is).

With Rei, we see that he has literally reached out to Miri in this episode:

And he is reaching out to Kazuki too. Usually Rei just goes with Kazuki’s flow, but he doesn’t actively seek anything out from Kazuki. At the end of this week’s episode though, he is actively seeking some kind of approval from Kazuki in regards to his French toast.

Kazuki may no longer need to be found or reached out to, but I hope we see Rei still try and do that, not so he can continue to take, but so that he can start to give back.

#KazuRei #Kazuki Kurusu #Rei Suwa #Miri Unasaka #Buddy Daddies #BD #Karin Izumi #Yuzuko Kurusu #bd spoilers #Buddy Daddies Spoilers #long post #meta post #image heavy post #speculation post #analysis post

[elvensorceress]

So there is a "leaked" script that claims Eddie asked Marisol to move in, and is it just me, or is that completely out of character for Eddie? He dated Ana for longer, and they weren't living together. we are really supposed to believe that he would ask Marisol to move in after a few months of dating? Unless Eddie is unable to process anything after learning his Buck. Is dating a man that is not him, and instead of breaking up with her like he planned, he pulls a Buck and asks her to move in with him.

Eddie does not deserve to be stuck with someone like Marisol.

According to 7x04, he apparently needs a live-in babysitter so he can go out with his shiny new boyfriend. So… 🤣  And it took a whole relationship and a blackout before Ana was his babysitter! Just from that much I’m still going, yikes. Like, girl, do you not have friends? Do you not have someone who will tell you this relationship is red flags all over the place? Can we not call up your Folger brother and have him talk some sense into you? 

You’re very right though. Eddie deserves so much better. 

I have heard about the supposed leaked scripts and I’ll talk some about that under a cut below in case anyone wants to read my thoughts on it. 

But what I’ll say in general is that in some of the interviews we’ve been seeing recently especially with canon bi!Buck, Mr. Showrunner had scathing things to say about love interests who are just there to be love interests. He didn’t like that they couldn’t interact with any of the other characters and that they weren’t part of the overall story. 

Given we’ve had what, two? offhand comments and maybe five whole seconds of screen time this season with her, if they wanted to actually develop that relationship for the audience, they could have done that. And should have done that a long, long time ago. (For example, see Eddie and Tommy’s relationship. In one whole episode they did more to build that up than they have done for Eddie/allegedgirlfriendconfirmedterf in all of season 6 or 7.)

Instead, they showcased the bond between Buck and the Diazes and the trauma that Eddie and Chris still have over Shannon leaving and them losing her. And also Eddie’s new friendship with Tommy that sounded like they were both spending every day, every moment together. 

So far for Miss Homophobe, we have—

hey mari it me eddie from the hardware store

the phone call where they set up a date

it's not MY date it's CHRIS' date (r u sure, dude? why is she there then 🤣)

her chaperoning Chris’ date with Eddie

her babysitting twice off screen

Obviously, she’s in the next episode and they have a pizza date while Eddie has to stare at his bestest friends while they’re on a date. But at this point, if you want the audience to root for the relationship or enjoy it at the very least, it’s a little late in the game for that? We have nothing to go on and it doesn’t make sense if we’re taking it at face value. 

All this to say, if he does ask her to move in with him, there is no way for the audience to buy that it’s genuine, reasonable, or a smart move. It reads like Buck asking Taylor to move in with him because he cheated and he’s desperate and clinging. Even if Eddie and the terf show up and are all happy and handsy and lovey, it’s not convincing. There’s been no development. It would come across like Buck and Ali apartment hunting and being touchy and giggly, and then her dumping him at the end of the episode. It sets up a contrast between what we think is happening and what is really happening. Perceived happiness vs the reality of not knowing each other and their relationship crumbling.

I don’t remember who said it or when it was said, maybe it was Kristen? But I know someone talked about how Eddie rushed things with Ana and they were wanting to do the opposite when continuing his story. Dating someone for (how long has it even been? 2-3 months? Idek? Does Eddie even know?) Mere months and asking them to move in reeks of, “something is going wrong and I have to fix it by doing something rash and ill-advised to keep us together.” 

Remind me to do a post about Eddie also being someone who clings and stays because it’s convenient and he doesn’t want to be alone. 

It would be completely out of character if it is a sincere, legit thing. However, as a panic response? I buy it. But that also doesn’t bode well for their future. Darn. Hold on, I’ll get the champagne. That relationship is just waiting to be bones. And in an episode called, “You Don’t Know Me,” is where they’re putting their relationship under a microscope? Hildy, cue up the ominous music. 

I doubt the glorious day we are free of her will be this week. I think they are just starting whatever they have planned. Unfortunately. I would hope they kept her around and brought her back for a reason like what they did with Eddie/Ana. I want there to be something satisfying about the end and the fact that we have to suffer through this. It just needs to happen quickly because I am so over homophobic terfs who know what fucking show they’re on and what the story is and still persist in their assholish bigotry.  

Now? My thoughts on the leaks?

IF we are to believe they are legit, and who knows if they are. But if we are saying they are legit, then Buck comes out to Eddie at the very end and Eddie is surprised. So, Eddie likely wouldn’t be jealous or weird about Buck and Tommy dating if he didn’t even know they are dating. Plus, they just had a whole episode dedicated to jealous!Buck and it would be redundant to immediately take that into, now EDDIE is the JEALOUS ONE. I think they’d have to take the story further for Eddie to really consider how he feels about Buck and Tommy dating. 

Maybe it will come down to him being displeased by it (for some unknown reason he just can't put his finger on) and grappling with how he genuinely likes Tommy a lot and that’s a new thing for him and one of Buck’s love interests? But it wouldn’t happen this week. In theory, this week is about Buck feeling like he’s hiding because he just realized he’s bi and hasn’t told anyone yet. Hence, more of the “you don’t know me.” 

Obviously, I am rooting for Buddie. All the way. All the time. I like Buck/Tommy just fine but they’re not BuckandEddie. But I think it will take a while before we see anything that might really develop the Buck & Eddie storyline. They’re working on Buck’s bisexual awakening and his first time dating a man. WHERE OH WHERE ARE MY EDDIE STORYLINES.  I just want them to do some justice for my boy. Give him something interesting! And for the terf to gtf away from him. :D

And apologies, I rambled a lot at you. Love and hugs!

#911 spoilers #911 s7 spoilers #911 season 7 #jenwyn gets mail #and talks way too much sorry #leaked scripts #?? supposedly? idk how to tag THAT #oh sorry this is so long 🫣 #long post

[ponytailzuko]

writing down my overall thoughts on the live action

first of all, i walked into my step dad watching it of his own free will - and then me and my entire family sat down to watch it. both my step dad and mom had never seen the cartoon in their life, so this was a first time viewing for them. they enjoyed it. my mom even asked where season 2 was. so i think the live action served its main purpose - get new people who haven't watched or wouldn't have watched the cartoon into the franchise. they did it! yippee.

anyways, my own thoughts have an inherent bias due to having seen and loved the cartoon. i believe my parents when they say that from their perspective, it holds up on its own. obviously, i don't think it was ever going to be better than the cartoon, but wanted to write my opinions what i liked, changes i enjoyed and changes i didn't, etc.

putting it under a read more because this sucker is long:

i don't know anything about film making - set design, props, fashion, cgi, etc. nothing particularly stood out to me in a way that ruined the show, and i only really pay attention to it when it serves the story. so i'm just not going to comment on it for the most part. most of this is about writing choices i liked or disliked. anyways here we go.

the good:

aang was a highlight for me. i know some people have problems with moving his backstory to the very beginning of the story, but i liked it. it immediately made me get in aang's shoes and feel his connection with his people, his home, and gyatso - and made it very easy to connect with his grief when he woke up from the iceberg. live action really emphasizes the last airbender part of the title throughout, and how aang feels isolated in his duty as the avatar, as the last airbender preserving his culture, and by being from another world - lost in time.

i liked how he sought out his past lives so often. really makes him feel like a child who doesn't know what he's doing and had the rug pulled out from under him by losing gyatso too soon. he's looking for adult guidance, and kyoshi, roku, and kuruk are all there telling aang THEIR version of how to be the avatar. feels like good set up for later when aang gets to define HIS version of the avatar, and how he wants to bring peace to the world. we already see it with their versions of the avatar feeding into aang's feelings of guilt and self-isolation - that he needs to do things on his own. it gets concluded with katara and sokka declaring him family, and they won't leave no matter what.

in that nature: adding more emphasis on katara's grief as well, since it was APPARENTLY not enough for people watching the cartoon and called her whiny for mentioning it. in general, it feels weird that katara's flashback to her backstory happened in season 3 of the cartoon when there was a whole episode dedicated to aang and zuko's backstory all the way in season 1, another one for zuko's backstory in season 2, and then bato of the water tribe elaborated on sokka being left by hakoda. glad to get katara backstory earlier. love you katara <3

and from that: sokka and katara's conflict being about if she should waterbend. feels very natural and something they would fight over. it is a vital aspect to their culture, but also if word gets out there is a waterbender in the village, there could be another raid.

aang stealing zuko's notebook is another highlight. it is both such a petty kid thing to steal and be upset about someone reading your diary, but also it actually serves a purpose in giving aang a guide for his avatar journey. the show sacrificed paralleling aang and zuko's backstories like the storm, but they still intertwine aang and zuko's story through this notebook and the connection aang makes with zuko through it. very sweet.

in that note: the set design adding little things such as those little statues in zuko's room. feels like it really was lived in by someone obsessed with finding the avatar for 3 years. i really liked details like that they put throughout the show

suki extrapolation with her mother and her conflict of being duty-bound to her village but wanting to see the world, and how this relates to sokka. made me genuinely invested in their relationship in a way i wasn't from the cartoon. i also loved the actress' portrayal of suki, she's so awkward and i love it. need to see more of her.

iroh in season 1 of the cartoon feels less like his own fleshed out character and more of a comedic relief expansion of zuko's b plot. he's made to make zuko's slice of the show more fit for a fun kids show by giving him someone to talk to and be funny with. he's a fun tea-loving uncle, but it's hard to parse what he really feels until later. live action iroh keeps that fun tea-loving aspect, but he has his own baggage and its GREAT. i think i genuinely enjoyed live action iroh more than the cartoon. he has so much more growing to do. could talk about this version of iroh (and his relationship with zuko) forever. i need season 2 just for him.

iroh and aang's prison arc together.

making zuko's crew have issues with him earlier and making them 41st division was nice. i really liked that change.

secret tunnel with familial love between katara and sokka was so cute. enjoyed it.

the ???:

azula and ozai's addition is a 50/50 to me. i think the sick power plays ozai is doing between his two children are genuinely interesting. the change in how ozai doles out praise and the dynamics between azula and zuko is also interesting and i enjoyed it. but i also find their screen time unnecessary. could be used to further the dynamic between the main protagonists, or they could be saved for season 2 or 3. did like how azula used zhao to thwart zuko and it fucked zuko up immensely in the head. very nice. also not sure how i feel about azula being good at archery, feels like getting good at a nonbending discipline isn't something that meshes well with her character for me, but that's a nitpick.

combining plotlines such as jet and the mechanist in omashu + the change with bumi was... fine? it served its purpose. liked some aspects and didn't like others.

the spirit world stuff was really cool and i enjoyed how koh preys on people lost in the fog. very interesting concepts that got us to be able to experience katara and sokka's backstory first hand. felt immersive to me. but also wtf, wan shi tong? katara and sokka being gone from the plot for so long? come backkkkkk! COME BACK! DO WE HAVE TIME FOR YOU TO BE IN SPIRIT JAIL WHEN I HAVEN"T SEEN YOU GUYS INTERACT ENOUGH? i did like yue being in the spirit world and interacting with sokka. that was cute as hell.

northern water tribe and yuekka had parts i liked and parts i didn't. they kept the sexism and arranged marriage but also yue opted out? feels detrimental to yue and sokka's relationship and how they connect to each other out of their sense of duty. did really like hahn being nice, it would have been really interesting to see how yue felt stifled with an arranged marriage even if hahn was perfect. also liked yue being able to waterbend and the little scene with yue and sokka making dessert, so cute. yue freezing sokka to the ground before sacrificing herself.... didn't like that. wish they let sokka let her go, understanding it was her choice.

katara in the nwt as well. katara fighting master pakku and losing, but everyone watching thought she was SO COOL. loved the guy asking how she did the ice disks and she has to teach him. but confused on the fact that pakku doesn't take her as a student, and we don't see her being taught but people still refer to her as a master. i'm going to assume she learned waterbending by learning from her fanclub and also teaching them her moves.

why did they almost kill momo?

the bad:

everyone and their mother has said the exposition is bad so i won't hammer it home too much. this isn't actually much of a problem for me because it was actually necessary to get the point home to my mom who was watching it for the first time. i was also told that screen test audiences asked for the exposition to be added in the first episode after production, so i don't have much to say there.

aang's decision to leave home not being running away but due to the fact that he was stepping out to get a breather. this felt like a weird change to me, since the rest of the show hammers in about aang running away from his problems and his duties in a way the cartoon doesn't. would have felt WAY more heartwrenching to see the temples under attack while aang runs away from being the avatar and it would have hit harder when gyatso tells aang to let go of that guilt and pain... that it wasn't his fault. it was harder to feel the root of aang's guilt when i know that he didn't even plan to leave for very long. alas!

continuing from that point about aang's attribute of 'running away': lack of episodic plotlines. everyone and their mother has also hammered home about the lack of them from cartoon. i don't actually hate the change, but i do think it does some disservice to aang's character that they didn't adjust for. i'm being told that aang runs away, but i haven't been shown aang doing so. i've been seeing aang do his duty as the avatar and research it every episode. give me a reason to believe why this is a character flaw that aang needs to face.

similarly, i think this does a detriment to katara's role in book 1. since aang is more focused on what he needs to do as the avatar, katara becomes more his partner in finding out more about what it means to be the avatar instead of pushing him to be more motivated into doing so. (ex: 'we need to continue on our journey and not stay on kyoshi island' or 'we need to help haru in this village')

aang, katara, and sokka get separate plotlines so much that they don't feel like a solid dynamic. again, detriment of the lack of the smaller episodic plots. does make more sense that katara says aang is family at the end of season 1 instead of the beginning for this reason, though.

katara feels like one of the weakest aspects of the show to me. katara doesn't get the narration. katara isn't the first thing when aang gets out of the ice. and katara's rage just feels lost. i think a simple script or direction change in ep 1-2 to make katara's actress play her with more of that rage during her arguments with sokka would've worked wonders. katara has this feeling of anger at injustice that motivates her throughout the cartoon and i don't feel it here. also miss some of her sass - katara should've hit aang in the head with an acorn.

sokka's weird engineer arc? he's a warrior. why are you saying it's okay to not be a warrior when he is - what is up with setting up sokka as a disappointment to hakoda? HELLO? DOES ANYONE HEAR ME? i'm confused where they're going with this, please tell me that sokka has misinterpreted and created that memory due to insecurity. this is where my bias is totally coming in. this worked fine for my parents who hadn't ever seen it. BUT WHERE ARE THEY HEADING WITH THIS?

kinda wish information about zuko's situation was dropped more subtly throughout instead of zuko being like "my father banished me and i need the avatar to get back" like episode 1. like ok give me a moment to just be like "ugh this zuko kid is a fucking BITCH" before i have to feel for him, damn.

also zuko going straight to barbecuing feels weird to his character when they're also trying to tell us that zuko's capable of kindness and also has a strict honor code? zuko is against using bounty hunters in a way he's not in the cartoon. he talks down on the terrorism in omashu since its not 'honorable', but he also was about to burn katara who was down on the ground. of course, realistically if you're throwing fire around, you are going to burn people. but there was a suspension of disbelief in the animated version that isn't in the live action. zuko does things such as immediately resorting to fire instead of hand to hand in his fight with sokka. in the live action, i'd expect zuko to use MORE hand to hand in comparison to fire, not less. plus the fact they took out moments such as zuko not burning zhao in the agni kai or holding his hand out to save him during the north. weird dissonance at points with his character for me.

#cal.ibrations #i wrote an essay but . yeah. #might add or change my mind about some of this idk but for the most part these are what stuck out. YIPPEE! #i love hearing other ppls thoughts and reading what people say so i thought id put mine out there heehee

[majorbaby]

some early and candid thoughts on MASH: The Comedy that Changed Television

I thought Gary Burghoff had the most illuminating commentary to offer. he was specific, technical and detailed when recounting how the show was constructed, a style of media commentary that caters to my preferences. he has one comment that really stuck with me as a strong descriptor of the Radar character (paraphrase from memory): they needed a character who was experiencing the concept of war for the first time, for whom you could see the

after Burghoff, I thought Jamie Farr had some interesting things to say re: Margaret - 'she contains multitudes' being one of them, and a recurring theme when everyone was speaking about the character

i have to talk about mike farrell's comment on anti-war vs. anti-military: i've talked about how I feel that the post-reynolds/gelbart years have heavily watered-down messaging re: war before, and i've pointed to several episodes where i feel this is obvious, but mike farrell saying (quite strongly) that he felt the show was anti-war but never anti-military is pretty damning evidence.

i mean, i think this is good characterization for BJ, to take a more, let's call it 'broadly', anti-war stance, rather than be opposed specifically to military, particularly to the US military. it fits with his aspirations to live a quiet, middle-class life, with his insistence that he's always done 'the right thing' and imo, a good motivation for him to butt heads with the more radical Hawkeye, who opposes authority figures in general (per Alan Alda himself in this same special) - which actually goes beyond the military...

so i love it for BJ but i hate it for a show that never framed him as being wrong about that idea specifically. i can't say for sure whether BJ always held Farrell's beliefs of course, or vice versa, but if BJ ever did oppose the military as a system, Farrell doesn't know it. this knowledge makes episodes like Preventative Medicine and Back Pay land even worse with me.

'some of us were IN the military' he added, as a justification for his point that the show could not have been anti-establishment which i would speak on even more candidly if i was going to make this unrebloggable lol. but truly it's not that serious except in terms of how i think about the themes of this show - he seems like a perfectly lovely person who really loved making MASH and i think his fans will enjoy watching him speak about that.

Mclean Stevenson makes a point about how what Radar anticipates about a character tells us something about that character beyond what we would receive if we just heard the character say it themselves (which they usually do, at the same time as Radar) - I need to think about this some more when re-watching those scenes...

dlfkjaljfk I've never heard David Ogden Stiers' natural voice I thought someone was giving commentary over footage of him and then i realized he was actually giving the commentary - I feel like everyone knows this, but he was immensely talented, a master of voice and speech

1 hour and 10 minutes (including ads, or 'commercial breaks' as we used to call them back in my day) spent on seasons 1-3. tbf there's character-specific commentary in the first half that is for characters that were with us for the whole run, but, there's also a lot of time devoted to talking about how the show was initially constructed, the pilot being good (correct), and something that made me smirk - Larry Gelbart's commentary on how people were incensed and outraged at Henry's death and felt they had been misled, lied to, about their funny haha, wholesome weeknight comedy (set in the Korean War???) is almost indistinguishable from how people talk about plots they don't like in media nowadays

it was good! i had fun!

#re: mash #idk about uploading the whole thing because tbh the audio is pretty bad but i'll try to do a few gifs

[theonewhosbritishunironically]

Welcome to my post that sums up all of the insanity that I've been experiencing over the similarities of Philza's lore from both Hardcore and QSMP and the lore of Grian from various places, with EVOSMP, Hermitcraft, and Life series being the main ones. I need to no longer be going insane about this alone.

This piece mainly talks about Watchers from EVO and the Enderking from Phil's hardcore lore and QSMP, but the two characters also have links to eachother. It is not just Fishing-Obsessed British Bird Men.

So firstly, we have the obvious link, of the villains color scheme and depictions in lore.

Watchers are generally depicted as purple, thanks to the color of the Evolution SMP Logo, and the fact that they reside in the end. We know that Listeners can be purple colored thanks to Martyns final limited life episode where they are shown for the first (and so far only) time.

The Enderking is shown as purple as well, definitively canon in lore, as shown in the QSMP Stream "Break past the Void". Also, the Enderking obviously has connections to the End, just like the Watchers.

Both reside in the End initially, before ending up affecting the overworld.

Secondly, we have the link of depictions in lore for the two main characters.

Phil is canonically a bird in QSMP, and although I'm not sure if it's canon to hardcore lore, he certainly flies around a lot, and I'm pretty sure he's been called a bird by the hardcore gods. (Rose, Blaze Empress, and Ocean Himbo man.) He's also known as the angel of death.

Now, Grian is, in EVO canon, a Watcher. Now, Watchers are depicted as angels in lore and in fanart, more traditional statues on the actual server, but then became more eldritch with biblical angel looks after the fans got to them. This helped contribute to his bird hybrid headcanons from the fandom, along with living in the jungle and liking parrots.

(You can probably see the similarities here with Grian's lore being slightly more vague)

Third, we have the abilities of the Watchers vs the Enderking.

Both can canonically possess people, with the Enderking going for Phil, and succeeding with what happened in QSMP from the Stream "Greed comes with a price..." , and the Watchers controlling Martyn in his Limited Life Finale, potentially tipping the balance to him winning.

The placing of obsidian. In EVO, when Grian steals from the Watchers, they chastise him, call him greedy, and place obsidian over every single one of their chests. Alternatively, the Enderking puts Obsidian in all of Q! Phil's special places, specifically crying obsidian.

Also, as a side note, I would just like to say that in Hermitcraft 9, Grian had a large rift underneath his base that leaked magic into the surrounding area. It was bright magenta, and turned into a huge nether portal when it was activated by Grian thanks to his pressing a button. When the portal starts to close it gained both crying obsidian and normal obsidian. --- It ended up closed until the end of the season, where it reopened with a ring of crying obsidian that let him transport realms to the next season of hermitcraft.

Both of these are caused by the god-like entity judging the person as greedy.

So. Thank you for coming to my essay. Probably the first of many.

#grian #watchers #evosmp #hermitcraft #life series #the rift #philza #philza hardcore #qsmp #enderking

[theghostbunnie]

How do you see Max and Neil relationship? I mean I know you ship it but why specifically? I’d love to hear your thoughts on it!

I see them my personal fannon wise as having a really deep connection and dynamic where the lines of platonic and romantic love get blurred (when they're older) and even though they're both really terrible at communicating that verbally, and their emotions in general as people, they both just know they can be way more comfortable, honest, and vulnerable around each other than other people bc they really are each other's person. Even when I'm shipping them with other people their friendship is still greatly important in their lives.

Just a silly little HC I have but: Max is shown to be impressed with Neil's capabilities and Neil is shown to be attention and ego-driven. Even though Neil knows not to take Max's opinion too overly highly bc, c'mon it's Max, I HC Neil secretly really likes the way it feels to be "Max's exception." The asshole with few friends and is hard to impress or understand.™

I think I've said it before but I'll say it again too much of maxneil is just ""max and his boyfriend"" rather than Max AND Neil. Max being a huge fan favorite and some fans wanting to give him a romantic partner and Neil being the closest dude in arms reach. Often just focusing on what Max can receive, how Neil feels about Max, what he can do for him, ect.

I love Neil as a character, he's my silly skrimbly and deserves his own life with intricate issues, and affection, and his own needs and flaws.

Neither one of them has endless patience!! They're both very morally grey just in different ways! I love using those aspects about them to come up with angst.

More Cannon-wise though I mentioned how Max is BIG on first impressions not only that, he's goal oriented and specifically wasn't looking for friends in the first episode. When meeting Neil for the first time this kid was: A: very openly unhappy with the situation, and B: smart. Max saw Neil as useful and felt a sensation of kinship. It wasn't until he cussed and yelled out Campbell did he also find him interesting and someone to give more respect towards, due to that sensation of kinship multiplying at the display of taking no shit and yelling at authority about it.

Max still wasn't looking for friends but Neil had showed him a side of his personality that paved a good way towards that anyways. Max trusted him pretty quickly to escape with him.

We know Neil and Nikki had both been victims of bullying, (Neil mentioning being the outcasted kid himself in the Jermy Fartz episode) so they developed a heavy clingyness to their first friend. (In the episode foreign exchange campers they're incredibly distraught he didn't want to be on their team. They're watching him and getting angry/sad about it. I honestly think this same problem they have socially comes back in the recent finale. Neil and Nikki need people to like them more than Max does, he's actively seen trying to calm them down about it.)

So where Max has a "push everybody away" method Neil and Nikki have a "hold on and never let go" to an unhealthy amount. Nikki moves past this partially, Neil doesn't.

Neil had a robot he made JUST to be his friend turn on him FOR being clingy and needy. He blinked away a TEAR when Max called him temporary. Max may have saw him as a friend first but Neil more openly held it closer to his heart.

They both have way more in common than people notice, Neil isn't really the voice of reason to Max's chaos. It depends on the day. Max can loose control of a situation he created for his own gain, Neil looses control when trying to gain attention or gain lack of it actually.

When Max thought he lost Dolph to bears Neil said hope you find him! And outed, But in camp cool kidz when Max starts an uprising after Neil gives him the idea, he's the only person to willingly stay on his side.

When Neil's AI got out of hand Max was impressed, but Neil had to drag him to help. Where as when Neil was lying about the story of Hanukkah, Max tried to give him advice and help him out.

Max both simultaneously uses Neil like a henchman sometimes, but Is impressed by his actions and capabilities. Neil is VERY attention and ego-driven. Max saying he's too dumb to find something just so Neil will happily fetch it for him is him playing on that, although it's a mean move it really shows how well he knows Neil. And even openly admits Neil knows him well too.

Max was the only person who knew/Neil trusted with his bathroom issues. (I hc Neil asks Max to whistle outside the outhouse for him and Max is like "do you know how many superstitions tell you not to whistle outside at night/j" and Neil is like neither one of us is superstitions just start that remix already istg!!!)

Both of their personalities hold so many similarities as well as alot of negative traits so they do bump heads alot, unlike Nikki's behind your back type shit talk, Neil insinuates once to his face he was smarter than Max and got a foul reaction from it.

This post is a lot more messy than the Nikki one as I can probably easily break down a timeline where Max warmed up to Nikki, but with Neil he seemed to connect with him pretty quickly, in reigny day where I mentioned he was quick to shut nikki down, in the same episode he's very driven to figure out where Neil is. Their dynamic is more complicated I think bc when Max and Neil aren't getting along it's more clear and direct and often due to their similar things. Pettiness, selfishness, egotisticalness. On the other side of the same coin they act silently attached to the hip and almost above other people together.

So I guess I ship it BC I like interpreting them with that very big understanding they have of one another, that deep rooted camaraderie, balanced out with that banter of being sassy little shits but in different ways. The potential angst of when they've already become THAT close but their problems of different moral greyness get too big.

The idea of them spending nearly every day together, and deeply loving each other but never actually saying it or expressing their affection in traditional ways, yet still feeling and knowing that love is there.

#maxneil #fictional characters #camp campbell #campcamp #camp camp #max camp camp #camp camp max #neil camp camp #camp camp neil #neil cc #cc neil #max cc #cc max #character analysis #character headcanons #fandom headcanons #headcannons #head canon #camp camp hcs #my hcs

[wolfscarr]

Helluva Boss: Crimson is a pretty terrible ‘antagonist’.

Sorry but I just gotta say, that EP 3 of S2 really did a piss poor job of trying to make Crimson an antagonist.

Yeah fine, he killed his wife and was hitting/threatening Moxxie and forcing him to marry someone when he was already in a marriage.

Ok that’s fine....but when you go through the episode, the whole ‘plot’(I use that term really loosely) completely falls apart when you think about it for two seconds and thus it makes Crimson make look like a 

TOTAL MORON!

Ok so he calls I.M.P. to have the whole crew in Greed, so that Moxxie would show up, so he can marry him off to Chaz because he wants to induct him into the Family because he’s in financial trouble.

Already there’s an issue here.

1. There’s no point in marriage, like Crimson my guy....you’re head of this Mafia Organization right? Just induct Chaz into it, the whole marriage thing is completely pointless. If the writers were going with this Mafia thing and did some research, they would know that marriage isn’t something that’s needed to be inducted into the Organization to get finances. 

2. Crimson...you’re running a Mafia Organization out of the GREED RING and the first thing that you DON’T DO IS FIRST CHECK into Chaz’ finances? You’re just going to take him at this word that he’s loaded, rather than doing research first? This is what makes Crimson a total moron and where this whole episode falls apart. Chaz isn’t even hiding it well, it’s in his fucking car. The marriage even if successful, wouldn’t have done anything and Crimson would have more than likely found out about the debt anyway! 

This isn’t even a Mafia thing, this is just a common sense thing to do.

3. Again...he’s in the Greed Ring, he’s head of this organization, he can clearly seem to reach throughout all of Hell and doesn’t try to find other ways to get money? We don’t even get a passing line that he tried anything else as far as I recall, he just says that he’s in debt and needs Moxxie to marry Chaz.

What kind of head boss of an entire Mafia Organization doesn’t have multiple fingers into multiple pockets for financial revenue? Like jeez Crimson, you can afford all these men, a helicopter and a giant house...among other things probably. So you should be fine money wise if you know what you’re doing, but apparently from the episode your brain is heavier than a bag of hammers.

Moxxie is suppose to be afraid of this guy and yet he doesn’t do this simple thing and comes across as an incompetent Mafia boss, who were suppose to feel is threatening...but he’s not. Made worse by that STUPID DILDO JOKE....

Also they seem to be setting him up to be a recurring antagonist because of Moxxie? But...why? 

Moxxie isn’t the one who lied to you, Moxxie isn’t the one who was broke as fuck. That was all Chaz, so Crimson you being pissed at Moxxie makes no sense and gives no motivation to come back to try and kill him.

Oh but you might be thinking it’s because he “left the Family.”

Yeah see except Crimson stated that Moxxie had been gone ‘a long time’. If Crimson wanted Moxxie killed, he would have had plenty of time in order to do so BEFORE he was in any sort of financial trouble. So what, Crimson just let him go, letting him live his life because.....he somehow knew that he was going to go in financial debt in the future and thus would need his son to marry Chaz?

From what we know, Moxxie has been married to Millie for a year(apparently), that would have been more than enough time to kill his son if he wanted, especially seeing as he knows where he works and from dialogue he could reach Moxxie at any point. 

This only in factoring in his marriage of a year, because who knows how long Moxxie was away from the Family even before meeting and dating Millie.

So clearly Crimson doesn’t even care enough to kill his son.

In fact Crimson is actually being very generous because one doesn’t just leave the Mafia, when you’re in it...you’re in it and if you try to leave? You better be in hiding off out in some nowhere place....or you’re dead. But clearly Moxxie doesn’t do that and he’s an assassin.

So if we’re suppose to take that ending scene of Crimson throwing the knife at the portrait to Moxxie’s head as him returning as an antagonist, there isn’t any point. I mean him being an antagonist in this episode was a real stretch in all honesty because the plot falls apart if you think about it.

===

I didn’t mean to go on this long ranting thing, but I sort of have this low fascination with Mafia types(more specifically like early 20th Century, even more specific from the 20s/30s n 40s) and so to see Crimson being written like this...just really annoys me. 

The only way I could see it as logical of him returning as an antagonist to Moxxie, is to blame his own son for killing his wife. Like Crimson blames Moxxie in a way of

“YOU MADE ME KILL HER MOXXIE!”

To which Moxxie could reply

“I DIDN’T! IT WAS ALL YOU! YOU AND YOUR SELFISH GREED KILLED HER!”

Which would be a little interesting, that Crimson did love his wife, but in the end he couldn’t hold onto his marriage(unlike his son who can) after Moxxie was born and so blames him for it...but the reality of it is, it’s all on him.

But I doubt that’s where the writing is going to go, if indeed Crimson does return.

#Helluva Boss #Helluva Boss Critical #Helluva Boss Crimson #Helluva Boss Moxxie #Helluva Crimson #Helluva Moxxie #Helluva Boss Chaz #Helluva Chaz

[allthingswhumpyandangsty]

one whumpy thing i absolutely cannot get enough of is immortal/hyper-regenerating whump. like when a character is some sort of vampire or demigod or something where they can still get seriously injured and still feel the pain, but they can regenerate from it. The depths of the injuries can be much more serious without killing the character. Smashed skulls, getting impaled, limbs removed, it's great

i once read a book where a character like this had her head literally ripped from her body and it described in excruciating detail everything she felt as her brain slowly shut down, while she was trying to telepathically pull her body closer so she could regenerate. the whumperflies were unmatched. I think I was like, maybe around twelve, maybe younger when I read it and it's still stuck with me to this day.

most recently i've been reading The Locked Tomb books, which have a lot of this sort of whump thanks to all the necromancy, but also a lot of great whump in general.

the only downside with this type of whump is that it lacks the whumpy whumpy goodness of leaving scars, depending on how the regeneration works.

sorry for the rambling lol, what are your thoughts on this?

you’re not rambling. there’s no need to apologize! ♡

I talked a bit about immortal whumpee a little while ago here, but basically, my thoughts on immortality when it comes to whumpee are that I will always have a soft spot for whumpee who literally, physically cannot die. (and by soft spot, I mean ‘yesssss give the little guy all the torture, put them in ✨situations✨’)

I couldn’t agree more when you said the whumperflies are when whumpee feels all the pain but literally cannot escape that pain via death. so they’re left struggling, suffering, absolutely in the state where they’re miserable endlessly. it gives me whumperflies too.

p.s. I actually do have a blorbo who is immortal (he does die, but every time he dies, he will always immediately come back, thus his deaths are never permanent), and seeing him die a gruesome, horrible death in every episode of his show has been such a great source of whumperflies for me. the show’s called Forever, and its main protagonist, Henry Morgan, is cursed to live forever. also Henry Morgan’s a medical examiner so, apart from his constant death (this guy is never good at staying alive for long), we also get other whump via each murder Henry solves in each episode. although… while Henry’s many, many deaths are mostly rather quick (not that quick — don’t worry, the audience can still clearly see him in pain — but the show never lets him suffer for too long), the whump is actually very good. and overall it’s such a great show. it unfortunately got canceled after the first season, but a part of me will forever hope that it will maybe one day get a second season somehow 🥺

#admin answers #immortal whumpee #whump #writing #whumpblr #writer #writeblr #save forever #henry morgan #ioan gruffudd #forever tv #forever series #abc forever #angst #writing inspo #writing inspiration #writing tropes #whump tropes #whump prompt #whump prompts #writing prompts #whump trope #writing trope #writing prompt #tropes #trope #prompt #promote #whump community #whump blog

[inbarfink]

Before the final episodes of “Fionna and Cake,” there was a theory that Simon would move to Fionna’s world, since that world is normal, and non-magical and Fionna and Cake would live in Simon’s world, that is, in OOO, since that world is magical and full of adventures. Do you think this ending would have been better? Like, Fionna's world is legal, she and Simon can call each other, but they swapped worlds

Hmmmmm... okay, so there's two Things that I think about Re:Endings

Endings can't just get swapped in and out of a story, because Endings are built up to during the course of the entire narrative. To hypothetically change the ending of F&C, you don't just need to change the last few scenes of the show, or even just the last two episodes - you're gonna have to rewrite a lot of the series from the ground-up because it's been building up for that specific ending that we've got.

Fionna and Cake is a series whose core conflicts are not exactly... directly applicable to the real world. All of it's lessons and themes have to be understood via the lens of Metaphor. As such, with Endings in general, but with endings of something like F&C especially - it matters less What Happens on paper and more what does it Mean. The question of which alternative universe Simon or Fionna needed to end up on is dependent on the thematic implications of that plot point.

So, like, the show has already spent a lot of time subtly establishing it's themes of acceptance and self-growth - and the way they relate to Fionna and Simon's issues within Fionnaworld and Mainworld. An ending where they just swap places would probably feel unsatisfying because it wouldn't gel with the thematic and emotional concepts we've set up so far.

Fionna thought the problem with her World was that it lacked fantasy and magic, but her real problem was that she felt stuck, helpless and unable to affect meaningful change in her life and world. So when she learned to think things through and accept that her actions have consequences

She realized that she didn't need the Magical Adventures to make her life meaningful. She can make changes in her world in all kind of wonderful normal ways.

And honestly, if she ended up in Ooo without learning this lesson... she wouldn't have actually being much better off than she was in her old World before the series started.

If anything, she would've been worse off because she was cutting herself away from her entire support network and, as a result of her not thinking about her actions and initially viewing Ooo as just a manifestation of her escapist fantasies and not as a real world with real people... as far as Ooo is concerned she and Cake are violent criminals.

So, like, the only way she could've ended up even remotely happy in Ooo is by learning the lesson that meant that she didn't need to go to Ooo to be happy.

Simon would've been in a very similar position. There's also the problem of him living all of his loved ones behind with just Fionna as a point of contact. And... his depression and trauma would not be cured by just a change of scenery. And sure, maybe he would feel less isolated in a world where he's not the only 'normal guy'...

....or his problems will just end up inverting themselves. Because the experiences of living in Ooo have changed Simon, most notably in the character beat in Episode 3 where he's surprised by the presence of a non-talking cat.

Cause, yeah, Simon is 'just a normal guy' - but he's a normal guy whose been living in a world of Wacky Magic for years now and he survived an apocalypse and he used to be Cursed Wizard and his adopted daughter is a Vampire half-demon and he's technically over a 1000 years old... In an actual Normal World, he might start feeling like a Weirdo.

Which is what he was before the Mushroom War.

Simon never truly 'fit-in' into any 'world' he lived in. So he's better off not searching for the One Perfect Place where he belongs - whatever it's a Normal World, or like a Normal World (with a little bit of magic sprinkled in) like what Fionnaworld ended up being - it's to accept the fact that he doesn't need to perfectly fit-in to be happy and feel like he belong and relate to people.

And the ability to accept change and to stop romanticizing the past is a huge part of the Betty part of Simon's arc. So it just fits in better if Simon also has to accept that the world he exists in and the life he leads have changed, rather than being able to go back to a recreation of the Pre-War World he remembers.

... but I am saying all of this because this is what F&C chose to build up to and what F&C chose as it's themes and metaphors. A version of F&C where Simon ends up in Fionnaworld and Fionna ends up in the Mainworld can absolutely exist and work... it's just that you need to rewrite at least like half of the series to build up to it in a way that feels like a satisfying and appropriate conclusion. But also, like, I'm happy enough with the ending we've got that I don't feel the need to do all of this lol

#adventure time #atimers #fionna and cake #fionna & cake #at #fac #f&c #adventure time fionna and cake #adventure time simon #fionna and cake finale #fionna and cake simon #fionna and cake show #fionna and cake series #simon petrikov #simon adventure time #fionna campbell #fionna the human #adventure time fionna

[cafesanscreme]

A Rei Refined.

I might be in the minority, but I found episode 8 rather refreshing. It was good to revisit some of my earlier musings around ‘affection’ and ‘love’ and ‘permanence’ with Rei as the guide. It was even better to see them settling into this period of ‘acceptance’ not just with themselves, but with what they have. What they have built together. 

I think a lot of the perception from some fans was that they weren’t close — if you’ve read either of my previous thesis statements on this, you might get the sense that I didn’t believe that to be the case, and I’m glad this episode acts as a bit of vindication and helps to do away with that rhetoric. In this era of oversharing, relationships like ‘KazuRei’ where both parties don’t know ‘all your business’ (as my mom would say) are interpreted as being ‘distant’. I even saw someone say ‘they are just acquaintances as far as I’m concerned’ — which sure, we’re all allowed our own interpretation, but for me that has never checked out. Even as someone who is not generally a “shipper” per se,  I’ve always thought to myself: 

‘Kazuki’s room…that’s a bit involved to simply be ‘crashing’ but ok….’  

And I think it all goes back to the concept of happiness and permanence and affection and love.  

Kazuki was forcing himself to remember the negatives which, in turn, forced him to ignore or repress the positives. He didn’t want to be happy in his new life and used an illogical matrix of guilt as punishment. Kazuki actively sabotaged himself and forced Yuzuko into the negative role of ‘happiness gatekeeper,’ he made it so that he was unable to be happy because of her. I noticed early on that a large part of Kazuki’s method for creating distance was telling himself (and Miri) that he was simply crashing at Rei’s. He couldn’t allow himself the happiness of calling it his home, despite the fact that he furnished it, he supplies it, he cares for it …that he’s been living there for at least two years… 

Rei is a bit different. My personal opinion is that Rei has always been the most comfortable of the two in acknowledgement of their ‘permanence’ — not to say that he readily accepted it, because he didn’t, but I personally believe that Rei, internally, folded a lot quicker than Kazuki did. I think his lack of expressiveness came from the fact that he simply never wanted to seem needy, which was fostered by his upbringing. 

At the same time, Rei  also uses his upbringing, his mechanical and emotionless delivery, and his closed off nature as a shield and an excuse. His behavior is often easily explained away by Kazuki, us as the audience, and even himself, as merely being a consequence of his upbringing. And while it is, Rei does have agency. He chooses to let Kazuki ‘take control’ of his daily care, cut his hair, feed him… and he liked it…likes it. He likes it to the point where Kazuki has been living with him nearly 3 years now… 

The logic might sound weird, but based on how Rei was raised, I think he’d actively chose to seem unappreciative rather than dependent. He isn’t supposed to live for his own higher purpose or his own pleasure. He’s supposed to live for, breathe for, sacrifice for, the organization. Taking pleasure and happiness in something else — seeming to need something else — is not acceptable. And so you get a Rei who is actually wholly appreciative of Kazuki, but at the same time, does not, and in some ways, feels like he can not express his appreciation verbally or outwardly because it would be acknowledging a vulnerability or weakness. 

But it’s very obvious especially after episode 7 that Rei has cared for quite some time now.  To quote Hannibal:  Abandonment requires expectation.  Rei immediately jumping to abandonment speaks loudly to his attachment to Kazuki. And it’s not just because Kazuki cooks and cleans. We see from episode 8 that Rei was fine to live off take-out and in filth. Rei was just missing him. Kazuki not being there, being gone for some reason that wasn’t an assignment, was not something Rei was able to comprehend or to accept in a mature manner. 

We see Kazuki also fears Rei leaving and going back home. A solemn curiosity about what would be a major disruption for Miri yes, but also for Kazuki.

Beyond that though, mutual respect and affection and yes, even love, come with respecting boundaries — accepting that people will share in their own time. But also understanding that a lack of sharing isn’t an indictment on how that person feels about you or how they see you.  Kazuki says he won’t ask and Rei says, he wouldn’t tell and they leave it at that. Kazuki doesn’t push and Rei doesn’t push and neither get offended by the lack of ‘interest’ the other has in their trauma. 

Love and affection are also knowing when it’s OK to ignore some of the more harmful self imposed boundaries like Kazuki did in episode 8 when Rei said he wanted to blow of some steam. Rei likely wouldn’t have gained anything from being alone and stewing in his own self-resentment. Kazuki showing he cares enough to bring Rei back home so they can celebrate his birthday before midnight was helpful in that while sure, it’s ‘overbearing’, it also proved to Rei once again, why he made the choices he made in the conversations with his dad to protect Kazuki. 

If no one, not even his own father cares…Kazuki does. Kazuki will. Rei needed that, in the moment. 

And maybe I am merely overthinking it, but I thought there was something very nice and almost sensual about Kazuki and Rei continuing the birthday celebration despite Miri falling asleep. Rei blowing out the candles with Kazuki as the sole audience and celebrating his 26th birthday with the person who has cared most about him (barring Miri) in his entire life after such an intense day. The whole thing felt..dare I say...romantic.

#buddy daddies #rei suwa #suwa rei #buddy daddies spoilers #kurusu kazuki #kazuki kurusu #i want to write about miri too #kazurei #also want to write more about ep. 8