#also the change of dynamic they had from one ep to the other was huge

[supemaeve]

You enjoying this?

#queen maeve #homelander #the boys #there are many reasons i love this scene i wanted it on this blog #the main one being that it confirms homelander took maeve's silence the previous scene as confirmation #i know it was kinda obvious but i love that he's spelling it out since she won't lol #also the change of dynamic they had from one ep to the other was huge #i love the contrast #i love him here he's being so petty #he's a coward though for fucking with with her this way instead of going after elena #i mean it worked but #i wanted a little threatening #as a treat #my gifs

[frogboy0]

LUCIFER AND LILITH!!!! Here are my designs for them (⁠ ⁠ꈍ⁠ᴗ⁠ꈍ⁠)

So there's a LOT of changes I made for them, both in their designs AND their story/personalities that I won't go TOO into detail about here bc my next post is gonna be dedicated to their dynamic and their backstory and whatnot :)

BUT I WILL tell you that they actually MADE Charlie (like they literally molded a doll/child out of the elements of Hell and brought it to life with Satanic magic- she's like Pinocchio hahaha) so she was never a baby.

But that's also why her horns are crooked, one of her horns drooped when Lucifer was molding them (it was his fault LOL, he's sloppy)

Also Lilith -and by extension Adam and Eve- are Persian and African bc there are a lot of implications in the bible that the Garden of Eden was located in the middle east. AND also humans first evolved in Africa so I basically just combined real life evolution with Christianity to determine their races when they were human/alive

(I'll elaborate more in this in another post but those Hunting Trips you see w Lucifer and Charlie is especially just when Charlie was younger her and Lucifer would go out and torture/kill Sinners, a nice bonding time. I imagine that as Charlie got older, she realized that that was SUPER WRONG and stopped going out w him to do it- it caused a huge rift between them 🤐🤐)

AND CHARLIE DOES NOOOOOT HATE LUCIFER I PROMISE!!! THEY BOTH LOVE EACH OTHER BUT THEIR RELATIONSHIP IS JUST REALLY STRAINED........

AND ALSO in this rewrite, Lucifer is not in season 1 at ALL!!! Like, he'll be mentioned here and there but we do NOT see him in the first season. I just think that the writers relied on him way too much when it came to conflict (like his first appearance was in ep 5 and then he shows up to save the day in ep 8......... (and i DONT like how he was basically the only reason they won the war and how Charlie was able to get the meeting w Heaven in the first place, it feels like they took a lot of power away from Charlie, it was her problem, she shouldnt have had to call dAdDy to help her ykwim????)

#my art #hazbin hotel #lucifer morningstar #lilith morningstar #charlie morningstar #tw hazbin hotel #hazbin hotel redesign #lucilith

[absolutebl]

Began Beginning - Myanmar's first BL 

Not So Quick Pitch (or is it a pitch?)

Cause I got a lot of thoughts

8 eps 25 min ea YouTube

Began Beginning feels very much like a first timers BL. Which it pretty much is. There’s a lot of explaining and info dumping and information that we really don’t need about the characters (or the family) especially in the first couple of episodes.

Here's your hlepful breakdown:

Mani = main boy workaholic, probably gay, acts ace 

Hlyan = cute flirty bestie, smoker, closeted gay (for good reason) in love with Mani (becomes main character about 3/4 way through) 

Walar = openly gay visitor recovering from a breakup who enters their codependent dynamic and things happen as a result

Thae = Mani & Hlyan’s other bestie, trans 

I was tempted to say this reminded me of early Vietnamese BL, but in actuality what it reminded me of most was the stuff we got from way back in the early 2000's out of Hong Kong, or more recently from the Philippines (I'm thinking about something like The Boy Foretold by the Stars).

There is a grungy sticky authenticity to these works, of which Began Beginning is now a part. They have their own tarnished charm. For all their hiccups in storytelling and absurdities, there is an almost documentary feel to them, partly as a result of the inferior quality of production and filming (which is entirely economic). But that itself also somehow adds to the appeal.

This kind of BL is entirely the opposite of something out of Korea or GMMTV. And if you like that BL best, you aren't gonna like this product. But as much as KBL wins top ranks from me pretty consistently these days, sometimes I enjoy this kind of BL too.

The range itself keeps the genre vibrant and healthy.

So what is Began Beginning about?

Childhood best friends must come to terms with their own identities and true feelings for each other when a new boy comes to town, putting them into conflict with their families and ultimately, each other.

For the first half of this show there’s a lot of sitting across from each other and talking about life choices over yummy food and then going to tourist spots (mildly boring and not particularly important to the plot). 

It changed tone about 2/3 in to be way more of a coming out family drama about forced marriages and homophobia.

And then at the very end it changed again, becoming a full on soap opera with kidnapping, crazy characterization shifts, and rescue missions.

All in all? It was a wild raw creature to consume as a binge. No kisses since this is Myanmar, but a very romantic end, so I think maybe actually worth your time? I'm certainly glad I watched it.

Recommended with lots of reservations but great respect. I’m going with a 7/10.

There is a particularly important part at the end when Hlyan talks about asking Thae to dress him as a girl to see if he was third gender because he had these feels for another boy. And how unpleasant that made him feel. I thought it was hugely impactful as a window into the boxes same sex loves in modern society forces upon us. No matter what options our culture provides for us, if the boxes are limited we feel limited too. Also, drawing a distinction between gender identity and sexual identity. Lovely bit of storytelling.

(see comments, turns out this is not the first one)

(source)

#it's wild and grungy but I enjoyed it #no kisses tho #Burmese BL #there's a tag I never thought I'd use #BL from Myanmar #Began Beginning

[marvel-starwarsfangirl]

Ep. 13 "Into the Breach" Review

This was another fantastic episode that packs so much into its 25 minute runtime. Seriously, the finale better be like an hour. I feel like there's so much we have to address, yet so little time. My faith in you doesn't waver Jennifer; you've guided us through thick and thin. I will say that Rampart is surprisingly a really fun character to revisit and I enjoy watching him interact with the Batch. This man doesn't learn, but he's funny now so I give him kudos for entertainment purposes. I loved the dark atmosphere as the finale draws nearer and near. This is the end of the Bad Batch. We know it and they know it.

As usual, spoilers below:

MAMA ECHO RETURNS!!! After so long, he graces us with his appearance and he serves. I loved everything from his action sequences to his sass. Watching him sneak around the Imperial ship, rolling off of crates and working his magic was awesome to watch. That's why he's the Arc Trooper. And boy was he funny too. If it were possible, Rampart would've definitely be set on fire. Between being told he was being demoted to being denied the title of "sir," Rampart was demolished by Echo. It's just so good to see Echo again. I love him so much for his kind heart, quips, and awesome action sequences. The writers delivered!

Rampart, Rampart, Rampart... what will we do with you? He certainly hasn't changed and probably never will. But honestly, I kinda hope he doesn't. Sometimes, people are just aholes who do the right things for the wrong reasons. Rampart provides an interesting moral perspective. And he's still hot. Seeing him cleaned up in the uniform didn't help either. I'm a simple woman guys. He's also hilarious and I love it. Rampart's ego is so big that he unintentionally comes across as whiny and comical. Going forward, I seriously wonder what they'll do with him because he's going to Tantiss. Will he get dropped off? Sell the Batch out? Die in the battle that is to come? Next week will tell. I'm glad he was brought back though. He did his job as a villain well. Now, we get to see him in different situations and it's fun.

Omega, my sweet bean, hang in there. This episode does so well in establishing just how much she's grown over the past few seasons. Omega's always been resourceful and clever. Seeing her scheme to escape the Vault was exciting. You can also see the influence her brothers, particularly Hunter, have had on her. Omega's become more confident and mature. She's a leader in every sense of the word. The other kids look to her for guidance as she plans an escape. I also want to give the other kids a huge hug; I can't imagine what it must be like for them. It's one of the darkest things we've ever seen in Star Wars. Also, Emerie and Scalder rivalry definitely is gonna end with Emerie's true motivations being discovered. Scalder's not gonna let her allow Omega to slip away.

And seeing the boys strip their armor of all their color... that was legitimately heartbreaking to watch. I see it as a symbol of finality. There is no going back once they get to Tantiss. Hunter's "negative" just cements that. The last 5 minutes of the episode were so tense as the boys hitched a ride. As a my discord friend put it, "all roads lead to Tantiss."

There were a lot of smaller moments I enjoyed too. Wrecker was pretty funny this episode. Crosshair and Hunter voicing their trust in Echo was sweet. It furthers just how much the Batch truly trust and know each other. It's that implicit trust that makes me love their dynamic so much.

Anyways, that's all for now. We're truly in the endgame guys. After so long, we've finally made it to Tantiss. All that's left is to get Omega, the children, and escape which is so much easier said than done. I'm so scared yet excited for what's to come. See y'all next week!

#star wars #the bad batch #tbb crosshair #tbb hunter #tbb echo #tbb wrecker #tbb omega #tbb rampart #tbb season 3 #tbb spoilers

[kimtaegis]

{Kimtaegis’ GFX Breakdowns, Ep. 1:

↳ SARANG/SARAM; a namgi web weave}

better late than never – I’ve mentioned that this year, I will start writing my thought process behind my graphics down in actual posts instead of hiding them in the tags of a self-reblog, both for myself and those who are interested in that, so here we go!

the first more graphic-y post of the year was a little birthday present for @outroindigo, who told me that namgi’s dynamic as well as their solo music are extremely important to her, so that was the starting point basically! I initially wanted to use a web-weave-like layout for yoongi's birthday post this year, but thought that it just fit too well for this project, since including lyrics and website screenshots made it so convenient to explain the topic. the main source of inspiration but also material source was doolsetbangtan, an incredible blog that not only translates bts' lyrics, but also gives extra insights and explanations of their word plays, references to reoccuring lyrical themes and even links to other media that are connected to the songs' content. they were a huge help, most elements that ended up in the post had been already pointed out under their sites for trivia: love, people, and people pt. 2 respectively, I pretty much only had to follow the mentions and use them!

my post starts with the first half of a quote from namjoon from his november 2016 vlive and ends with it as well (in the caption) to tie the whole set together. I tried to organize the elements in a way that even someone who has never heard of the whole live/love/sarang/saram thing can easily follow and understand it, while also maintaining a pleasant overall layout and colour change (planning that took quite some time, I tell you). the trivia: love lyrics panel is a screenshot I took from spotify, I just changed the background colour to fit. underneath the people performance gif is an excerpt of yoongi's billboard interview from july 2023. the rest are screenshots directly from doolset, gifs from yoongi's iu's palette interview and selfmade visualisations of lyrics, etc. I decided against listing all the content elements in the caption - as usually done for an actual web weave - because some media was used multiple times and it would've felt weird to repeat it in the listing.

regarding more stylistic choices, I decided on a blue and warm yellow-orangy colour scheme, both because kari's current blog layout is this beautiful blue, but also because I associate blue with both namjoon (especially after indigo, obvs) and yoongi (his painting from 2020 instantly comes to mind). since 'love' on the other side is often portrayed as something warm and cosy, red/orange/yellow became the contrasting colours. I tried very hard to make all the colours look as consistent as possible and to match the shades of blues to kari's blog colours. funnily enough, there always seemed to be either something blue or warm-toned in the actual content, which was pretty convenient. besides the pseudo-screenshots for some of the lyrics (typed out in fonts that are typically used in books), I created three graphic elements as well, simply because I know sweet kari appreciates them and I wanted to have a personal kimtaegi touch in it. the first one is a visual representation of people pt. 2's lyrics. I always thought of faceless silhouettes when thinking of people, and combined that with yoongi's painting style (you see that painting means a whole lot to me lmao). since I can't really draw, I used paintings I found on pinterest (you can find the whole board in the source of the og post), masked the person and the heart out and changed their colour (which is not as easy as it sounds!). the fading effect was achieved by carefully going over both until I liked how it looked (which again, took embarrassingly long). the second graphic element is again a direct visualisation of the lyrics used in the panel: I digitally cut up a picture of namgi, in multiple rectangles that are supposed to represent the letter ㅁin saram. I actually printed the picture out first and cut it up with scissors, but I couldn't find a good way to scan it back in :( so digital cutting it was; please note that the edges of every snippet are rough, I always try my best to make it look as realistic and tangible as possible which is time-consuming but adds a nice touch in my opinion.

the collage effect of this graphic is inspired by works of anthony garace. his artworks are stunning, and I do love a good mixed media effect! also it just fits perfectly with the lyrics... among all these straight lines (-> the rectangles), [I find/ is] my love, my love, my love (-> little snippets of a picture of the two). the flowers in the last graphic both represent yoongi (the lotus flower cutout, referencing his amygdala lyrics about blooming like a lotus flower, which is also achieved by love, y'know :( ) and namjoon (the wildflower; yes it's an actual blue wildflower, I researched! it's a wild blue flax; referencing his same-named song). I used an actual photograph of it and made it look like a painting with photoshop magic. it also was supposed to look just a litte like a cynotype as used in his album design.

again, look at all those nice rough edges in that panel, this is all added intentionally. I hope everyone who saw the post also caught the teeny tiny animation of the hangul letter ㅁ to ㅇin the text on the left side; quite literally eroding edges <3

the last gif of ot7 was perfect to round it all up, referencing the lyrics above quite emotionally, starting off with the two of them, then them being joined by the rest....sigh. I will be honest, there have been a few tears falling onto the keyboard. I hope this set can convey namgi's beautiful lyricism in an interesting, artistic way. it's easy to get inspired by their art, it definitely makes you appreciate everything they do even more.

#*gfx breakdown #oh that's gotten long oops but it was fun to write it all down!

[cubbyyyy]

Hi! I read that post about Ohm/Nanon and the uneasiness you are feeling about the Pat/Pran episodes. Could you fill me in? What happened between them? I am also a huge bad buddy fan. I also have high hopes for the bb episodes of Our Skyy 2. Reading your post made me a tiny bit worried. Thanks!

First up; I'm sorry for making you worry! Nothing is official and it's best to just wait till the episodes come out and be happy or angry then. The worrying before is always such a pain..

But to answer your question:

Idk how much you know about Ohmnanon but they were really good friends even before bbs and also after bbs you could often see them hanging out (it was even a meme that they see each other literally everyday) and it was all nice and fun. When you had the bbs boxset or watched P'Aofs reaction videos you could hear/ see how many scenes they actually improvised since they just knew Patpran perfectly (for example the whole phone call scene, the breakfast in bed scene, the scene where Pat stood behind Pran to play the instrument, the kisses when they officially got together, Ohms tear during the Ep 5 kiss; the way Ohm played Pat in general - Pat wasn't supposed to be in love with Pran right from the start subconsciously, it was Ohm who said he couldn't play Pat NOT in love with Pran, which is why you can see Pat being so flirty and staring at Pran so much even before they got together [the best example is the bus stop scene for that.] The list could go on but I'm gonna stop it here). During the bts you could also see how comfortable Ohmnanon were with each other, they were always kissing or hugging or playing with one another; so it got clear how they managed to get their characters dynamic so good.

And now.. well. Our Skyy 2 is supposed to be filmed now. And Ohmnanon are, let's say, not well. In the beginning of this year Ohm had a scandal (which I won't explain further right now) and it changed a lot of stuff. The fandom changed, picked sides. Many didn't want to support Ohm any longer and also didn't want Nanon to still be associated with Ohm. I would say this was the time everything changed.. The fandom turned into the ones who stayed with Ohm and the ones who stayed with Nanon and somehow every 2 business days they argue. It's a lot about protection I think and everyone feeling like their bias doesn't get as much love as the other (very kpop like). An example would be during Hi-Touch: both Ohm and Nanon had a fan ignore them during a hi-touch. And both times the stans accused the other of being at fault, threw hate towards the one who didn't get ignored or said stuff like "if it were the other way around.." which was bs, since both happened and fans reacted the same way but yeah; that's kinda how the fandom got.

And to top it all off; Ohmnanon stopped interacting. They grew very distant towards one another. Atp they don't even look at each other. They definitely don't interact. During lives they only talk to the interviewer or ppl behind the camera, never even towards one another. They don't whisper or hug or whatever else like they did before. You never see them together anymore, if they are at the same location they won't be with one another; instead they'll be with others or alone even. I think the biggest "official" indicator that everything DEFINITELY changed and isn't just paranoia was Nanons birthday wish to Ohm in march. The last 4 years (? I'm not quite sure if its 3 or 4 yrs) Ohm always got a feed post with hbd wishes and all that. This year Nanon was the only one from all GMMTV colleagues who just reposted the official GMMTV birthday wish in his story to congratulate Ohm. Everyone else posted a private pic from Ohm, a pic with Ohm or at least a pic Ohm himself made and posted; So Nanon really stood out with the official GMMTV wish, especially since he never did that with others either. And we all know how many pics ON have together bc of the whole cp thing.. so it was weird. Aka after that, many fans got the message that ON definitely are not like before; you could already see it but that was one of the things that officially kinda sealed the deal? Since it was such a drastic change to before.

Why everything changed; nobody knows. It just gets clearer that the ON cp is definitely breaking up. Maybe they had a fight. Maybe it has to do with the scandal. Maybe it's fake. Some people say it's gmmtvs stragegy to break up cps who don't wanna do another bl together and to do that they shouldn't interact publicly. But they're all just theories. What actually happened is between ON but it's still heartbreaking to see.

And with everything changing so drastically I get a little scared about the OurSkyy 2 Episodes haha.

PLUS; It seems like they want to do a mash up with ATOTS which is quite devastating.

NOW I TALKED A LOT OOPS

#Ohmnanon #badbuddytheseries #our skyy 2 #ohm and nanon #bbs #nanon korapat #ohm pawat #patpran #bad buddy

[starplusfourletters]

Anakin is not overprotective or controlling of Ahsoka

this is me vagueing Filoni about an interview from three years ago apologies in advance

Like, I totally would have bought that dynamic if it had happened. And I’m willing to entertain any and all unreliable narrator arguments. But that’s just not what was on the screen Dave

In the movie Anakin trusts Ahsoka to deliver the Hutt kid alone. I don’t think she’s on his “people I can’t afford to lose” list until late s1 / early s2 but still 

He does act erratically in “Blue Shadow Virus” but crucially Padme is involved there too

In “Storm Over Ryloth” he puts Ahsoka in command of a space dogfight, a situation that is famously easy to control

"Weapons Factory” - he’s clearly not HAPPY about her going on the infiltration mission with Barriss but he doesn’t get in the way of it, which is kind of the point

By S3 Ahsoka is going on missions totally independent from Anakin (“The Academy,” “Assassin,” etc.) assumedly because he judges them to be a level of risk she can handle

Then she ACTUALLY DIES AND COMES BACK on Mortis and that somehow doesn’t make him Worse. Okay sure he does fall to the Dark Side but that’s pretty unrelated to her dying

And the Mortis arc goes straight into the Citadel arc, so this would be the time to show Anakin being overprotective if they were gonna show it. And the beginning of the ep does appear to be going that way, with Anakin banning her from the mission and Ahsoka saying he’s “just being protective again”. BUT BUT BUT when she shows up anyway, Anakin just rolls with it. He doesn’t compromise the mission because he’s worried about her; he uses her talents to further the mission. All of which makes me think that Ahsoka calling Anakin “overly protective” says more about her than it does about him.

And then S3 ends with the “Padawan Lost” arc, where we very explicitly see Anakin struggle with his worry for her AND OVERCOME IT. He’s right to worry - she’s literally being hunted for sport - but he’s also right to recognize that his worry isn’t helping anyone and to trust that she can get herself out of it. This character beat is HUGE too bad it can’t change the outcome of rots...

S4-S7 continue these trends - sometimes they do very dangerous things, and sometimes Ahsoka goes off on her own, and Anakin allows these things to happen and supports her when she needs it. In “Tipping Points” he finds a way to get her the weapons she needs without going against the Council AND without storming in and solving the problem for her. In “Deal No Deal” he senses her and chooses to quietly get out of her way. 

And, ya know, then we have the “Wrong Jedi” arc. Anakin doesn’t want Ahsoka going rogue to prove her innocence, but it’s because he thinks they should fix this through the official channels, AND he says he trusts her even though he disagrees with her.

Then we have THAT scene. You know the one. He “asks her back” exactly once and says she’s making a mistake, and then says he understands and lEtS hEr gO. You know, the thing the other Jedi have been saying for years that he wouldn’t be able to do. But Ahsoka leaving is dominated for me by all the things Anakin doesn’t say - he doesn’t make a particularly personal appeal (It’s I’m asking you back, not I want you back or I need you back). He doesn’t bribe or cajole or manipulate her; he accepts that “this isn’t about [him].” That is the opposite of what being controlling is. I get that it’s a little mind blowing coming from Anakin Hecking Skywalker and possibly he burned through his lifetime’s allotment of letting-people-go juice there, that’s too bad but like, that’s what you put down in this defining moment of this relationship, Dave.

It’s obvious that Anakin WORRIES about Ahsoka, but he manages - miraculously, some might say - to not make it her problem. If anything, we’re seeing him recognize those overprotective tendencies in himself and reshape them. His Whole Thing is doing everything he can to make sure she can survive on her own; to me, that reads more as Anakin having a sneaking suspicion that he’s not going to survive the war. His methods are questionable (cough “Practice Makes Perfect” cough), but that’s not him being paralyzed by the thought of Ahsoka getting into something she can’t get out of, that’s him giving her the tools he thinks she needs (and being right about it). A Jedi master is supposed to give a padawan experience without getting them killed, and he balances that remarkably well.

TLDR Anakin is the right amount of protective by the standards of the Jedi and just LUDICROUSLY underprotective by the standards of the audience

#i do generally pick up what filoni puts down #but he's wrong about this one #long post #tcw #Ahsoka Tano #Anakin #ahsoka and anakin

[portraitofadumbassonfire]

Rambling about how much the Succession series finale fucked me up.

Kendall realizing that the people who once supported him (Rava, Jess, and his kids) truly are gone, except his one true friend whom has already admitted that he can't trust him and that he'll "follow the money" told me how this whole shown will end early on. He got all of the weapons he needed for battle, just to stab himself in the foot.

Ep 9 he said he hoped part of his father was in him.

He got his wish.

He tried to get a vote of no confidence against his father in 1x06, yet it backfired, and it made sense why it did due to how poorly he handled it.

The finale was no different.

He also resembles Logan in the worst way by resorting to physically abusing Roman in private and public, and how he intimidated him during the voting. Now both of his siblings rightfully separated themselves from him.

Shiv's arc is the most tragic to me due to the fact that in S1 she wanted nothing to do with Waystar and worked with Gil against Logan, just to be ridiculed by him and called a coward for not competing.

In S2, Gil drops her and then she moves back into her father's "good" graces and fights to be CEO.

Logan promised that it's her, yet still sidelined her at any opportunity to the point where she embarrassed herself in front of the Pierce family.

It's funny how so many lines that I originally saw as petty insults like "Kendall is screwy, Shiv's not as smart as she thinks she is, Roman you're a moron" were accurate descriptions of the characters. Shiv swore she thought she would overturn her father, the man who runs a conservative media conglomerate, would appoint her as the CEO, as if these old ass yt men would take her seriously under any circumstances. She even had an odd dynamic with her own husband where she was the one with affairs and threw him under the bus at any time it was possible for her to.

In the end, she ended up exactly where she didn't want to be, the same position as her mother, a woman stuck in a hapless marriage with a child and a man whom she has a fraught relationship with. She had so much ambition, just for it to backfire horribly.

"A fucking waste of time" as Peter said.

To be fair, they did nothing but argue in front of them, cut family dinner short, or eat his prized cheese, so I get the annoyance. But you were part of why they are at odds against each other.

So boo hoo.

If any of the sibling resemble each other than being blood related, it's Shiv and Kendall. Both of them wanted to be the CEO of Waystar for their own personal reasons.

Kendall's reasons were very specific.

As he said, he was promised the role since he was seven years old. It's obvious that idea has followed him for years and years till he became an adult, like we all do, and it became bigger. It's how the show is started. He's ALWAYS wanted to succeed his own father.

He fought so hard to succeed his father since the first season and never stopped, he did have some pause during S3, but in that finale after confessing to his crime to Shiv and Roman and them comforting him In a way that hasn't been seen in the series almost ever was a huge change to their relationship as a whole, to see him lie about him speaking his truth just because he was scared that they'd rightfully use that information against him was hard to watch.

All of that fighting to overturn Logan, he became him in the process, using his intimidation against Roman to make him make a decision. I wouldn't be shocked if Shiv noticed that and decided to vote against Ken.

Speaking of Romulus, he's ironically the one sibling that escaped the waystar circle, but he was more kicked out of it.

After Gerri being the only person on his side, then dropping him after he impulsively fired her and had the nerve to act as of he didn't, after Mencken the neo nazi saw how he acted at the funeral (as a person who lost a loved one) and dropped him like a bad habit, and he burned bridges with Mattson, it's clear to say he doesn't have anyone else on his side.

He's not like Shiv or Kendall where they have intentions to be CEO, are the opposite sides of one coin, and the obvious fact that he ultimately doesn't care about almost anything.

He got out of the loop more than Kendall or Shiv did and yet he's still lonely, or at least that's what I interpret from that smile to a frown in his last scene.

After dealing with the physical harm from the protests, he ran back to his mother. (and let's be real, he's Caroline's favorite child). Shiv and Kendall would fight over who would be CEO, but he never cared that much.

For Roman to be the sibling that escapes Waystar, I truly didn't see that coming, but should have. Why would he subject himself to that kind of torture after he endured it for his entire childhood?

And this is the Roy sibling that I find the most annoying, but I will admit, he was fully aware of the bullshit his family was on 24/7.

So his ending makes sense, he smirks, but then frowns about the people waystar, employed or not, whom had his back and he screwed up the relationship with, but that whole place felt like a cage to him, so what loss is there anyways?

Connor, Connor, Connor. The eldest son, ready for what a long distance relationship with his own newlywed wife. He and Shiv and a similarity to their father when it comes to romantic relationships. His father dies and he gets married, Shiv suggests an open marriage to Tom on their wedding night. BANG!

Logan was with Sue-Ann when he was married to Caroline and with Kerry when he was married to Marcia. Oh how history repeats itself. Connor is the eldest son and only escapes half of the abuse just because he's the most neglected.

Connor and Roman have a similarity due to how uninterested they are in the battle to be the next CEO, Roman saw it as a cage and Connor saw it as a competition to see who could be loved by their broken father. (which at this point he knew was pointless)

It's sad to see Connor and Willa soon to be separated because, Out of all four siblings, Connor has Willa, one can say he bought a person, but she has had many opportunities to leave, but still stayed and had his best interest in mind, even reminding him to stay true to his original ambition. Can anyone else related to him say that?

Personally, I don't think so.

This finale felt right in the most tragic way for me because, the series had shown so many signs of how it would all end from S1-3

Kendall losing the vote of no confidence, Shiv being shanked by Tom, Roman losing his personal support, Connor being outcasted, etc.

Tom has been aware of how Shiv treated him for a while, there was no way he wouldn't get his lick back in the end, especially knowing the environment he's in. Yes as effeminate as he can be, he'll use what he can to get what he wants, just like the Roys do.

He used Greg as his own Shiv stand-in because he knew he couldn't overstep his boundaries with her while Logan was alive, when he died he did feel so much empathy for not only Shiv, but her brothers as well because he is still human and finding out your parent died in an airplane bathroom and you have a few seconds to say goodbye is a lot for a person.

Nonetheless, Tom and everyone persisted in their pursuit for power, meanwhile Connor took ownership of his father's residence, because I'm sure Marcia would love to let go of a home she shared with an unfaithful husband.

With the eldest son's rules of claiming what they want in a full mansion and then being pulled together by the old footage of their father, it's easy to still think they'll have some solidarity even after anointing Kendall as the best choice..

Choosing items with a simple sticker was a warning. Tom choosing Greg as his second is a win, but a loss. Mattson can just easily choose another U.S. CEO if he feels lole getting rid of Tom, but he is the current decision.

Tom 'the people pleaser' Wambsgans being CEO is a shock, but not as much as a shock for me as opposed to most of which saw this finale.

Logan called out his own children, them playing toy soldiers, being unserious people, and full-fledged morons.

He was unfortunately correct.

For Kendall to try so hard to be Logan 2.0, to the point where he lied to them, where Shiv said she can't stomach him, where he resorted to ignoring Connor and barely taking Ewan seriously when he was one of the only ones being honest with them,

Connor inheriting the delusion that Logan had with how he honestly believed his life will go on to be, Roman with his "I win" mentality his father has, or Kendall & Shiv having the cutthroat, "I'll demolish anyone who might oppose me" sense that their father had for years.

But the tragedy is that none of his children truly present that state of mind.

It's not surprise that the biggest people pleaser of all characters, Tom, would be the one to impress Mattson.

Tom has been a pick-me since episode one, but he showed how much he will and has worked in his own favor.

Greg was someone I thought would overthrow and fire Tom, but Tom being the one who was chosen as CEO feels so unexpected, but appropriate. He managed to reverse the dynamic of his relationship with Shiv, but maintain it with Greg, even though both relationships involve emotional manipulation, they still come back to each other, unfortunately.

Shiv and Tom have said some truly horrific things toward each other for a married couple under a few months and yet they never left each other officially, Greg has tried to throw Tom under the bus as well since he is a blood relative meanwhile Tom projected his own personal issues with Shiv onto her own cousin, whom she stole $20 from, and yet, Tom refuses to leave Greg alone.

Tom now being able to control Greg & overpower Shiv at this moment is shocking, yet hauntingly expected.

It haunts me how when shiv and Roman chose Kendall as the leader, they just casually mocked his way of speaking, when in reality, he used the same disturbing methods as their deceased father, Tom still having Gerri, but especially having Greg's back in the end. Shiv noticed how her brother was turning into Logan and his much her own husband outsmarted her in the end, Roman just ordered the same drink Gerri did just to feel some sort of accomplishment, and Kendall came to the conclusion that no one else was completely in his corner.

Shiv as CEO was never gonna happen, Roman was too silly to take seriously,  Roman had a whole speech prepared for his father's funeral and couldn't deliver it, Kendall spoke his and now in retrospect, it feels more like wishful thinking, Connor never got to say his own eulogy, and Shiv delivered one that was poignant, yet still unchanging to the environment around her.

Anyone who tells me or might tell me this series finale made no sense should keep it to themselves, because the writing was on the wall.

#succession #kendall roy #shiv roy #roman roy #connor roy #succession spoilers #succession hbo

[searchingforatrail]

I agree on wishing they hadn't brought the abusive dynamic to Earthspark because, while it's nuanced, this is a kids show. It's rated TV-Y7. "Abusers can change" is an incredibly complex and sensitive topic of discussion and I don't feel like this show has the capacity to handle that. Im not saying kids shows CANT address difficult subjects, but this particular one doesn't feel like it will be addressed well, and as a victim myself I'm almost scared to watch it play out.

Warning--criticism of the writing for ep. 21. If that's not your cup of tea, please skip. You are absolutely allowed to have loved that episode as many people did. I just think it could have been done differently, and that's my opinion. You don't have to read this or like this if you disagree with that.

Yes! And let me just say I think it's something that's definitely always needed to be brought up in a serious manner, especially where Starscream is able to seriously process what he's been through and have it addressed. But on a kids show, split over two seasons?

I think that's irresponsible. Because what is the message being communicated to seven year olds? Especially kids that liked Megatron but might be dealing with abuse in their own households.

And I second your belief that kids shows can portray it. There's been kids shows that have handled abuse, I mean even with bullying they've portrayed bullies as sympathetic characters who've got a shit ton going on at home, but they didn't really do that?

I just don't understand the point of spanning something so sensitive over two seasons. Maybe if Megatron wasn't the main character who's nuance and redemption has made him seem like a 'safe' person, than I could understand. But he is, and the rode that's been chosen with him is that he's a good person trying to do better. And while I don't think he attacked Starscream due to regression or out of malice (It was most likely his fear for Hashtag), it happened. He learned from it, and offered Starscream space and grace at the end, but there was such little attention given to it that many people gloss over it, at least for Megatron.

You're left with a bad taste in your mouth over a character who's supposed to be a good person because the writing didn't flesh it out, at all. And yes, he has slip ups. But again, think of the audience. Think of what little we're left with. They should have dedicated way more time to Starscream and Megatron's storyline.

And even then, what's the message for Starscream? It's okay to kick women if you've been abused because you're not in control of your actions? You don't have to apologize for it, that's just comic relief? You can hurt innocent humans and that's not your fault because bad things happened to you?

That pissed me off lol.

Had they allowed more time for dialogue, an actual apology from Megatron acknowledging what he did, but also insight into his own character and actions, I would have appreciated that. If it fleshed out the implications for Megatron going forward, I would have appreciated that. If it had some refelctions that let the audience know, "Oh he's still changing, and just because he did this doesn't mean he's bad" i would have liked that.

I think the same should have been done to Starscream. As opposed to all of the other Decepticons that escaped, they painted him as the most sympathetic, when in reality he's most likely one of the most dangerous. That's what freaked out Megatron. And I feel like that was a huge cop out, because it glosses over the redemption he actually needs to go through.

The message has always been bad people do bad things, but can be good in ES. I feel like that was a missed opportunity to expand on that for both Megatron and Starscream.

Also, you're totally valid in how you feel. I felt the same way. like i'm not upset with it, but I think it should have been done much better with more care and grace to both the characters and the audience.

#earthspark spoilers #megatron earthspark #starscream earthspark #transformers earthspark q

[revvethasmythh]

Veeeethany

beloved Revvetha. Babygirl. Loml

First impression

An early favorite! Tbh I knew she was just my type right from the start of the campaign, but I will cop that at various times she was eclipsed by either Beau (in the early days) or Fjord (in the later days) as my second favorite m9 character. Literally thought she was fantastic from the start, no notes, hilarious, heartfelt, unhinged, and fully lovable babygirl

Impression now

Currently my favorite of the m9! Which I'm sure is very obvious. Beyond what makes her a fun and funny character, over time I've just come to appreciate her depth so much, and all of her internal conflicts. I find her conflicts so relatable, particularly in the end game of the campaign, where she's caught between her home life and adventure, stuck trying to be two people at once and make everyone happy. Her arc can be quiet, but so impactful, and I love to pick it apart and sit with it.

Favorite moment

It's cruel and unusual punishment to make me pick a favorite Veth moment. There are so many I could choose. I'll say my number on pick is her swimming in the pond and the Blooming Grove. What a HUGE character moment that was for her, facing her biggest fear in the dark of night, alone, and comfortable for one of the first times ever. Stunning choice, absolutely hits me in the gut

Also have to shout out her ep 121 one-on-one watch conversation with Caleb, because that might be one of my favorite one-on-ones in the whole campaign.

In terms of funny moment, her bit of trying to interfere with Beau and Yasha's date and her conversation with Beau telling her about the date she's going to have with Yasha is a fucking highlight of my life. I've watched that clip so many times and I'm never not dying by the end of it

Idea for a story

WELL ANON, let me just unpack my fucking BIBLE of things I'd like to write for Veth. We've kind of returned to the "too many to pick" territory here.

I want to (and am actually working on currently) something about Veth talking to a grown-up Luc about the adventuring life. Really anything with Veth and grown-up Luc, I am interested in writing because I'd love to explore what that dynamic would look like, especially since I'd imagine Luc would be very keen on the adventuring life, where Veth had a lot of mixed feeling initially (the fear and anxiety of trying to look after people and be brave that drove her to drink vs the life-changing love and confidence she learned in the process). I just think their contrasting perspectives on the adventuring life would be so interesting to explore!

I am also SUPER interested in doing Veth x Yasha piece at some point. What will the plot be? no idea. but know that I am always thinking about this

Unpopular opinion

She is the most shippable character in the M9. *slaps top of Veth* you can fit so many ships in this halfling, and they're ALL baller

Oh, also I think Revvetha is a hilarious and perfect legal name for her. I am never not laughing abut Revvetha. Additionally, it makes her even more Jewish coded, no I will not elaborate

Favorite relationship

The low-hanging fruit choice here is Caleb because. obviously. I don't feel that I need to explain myself here. Widobrave is my bio. you know.

Secondarily, I love her friendship with Beau! I think they play off each other so well, and I love the way they egg each other to reveal secrets to each other. There's a lot of honestly between them, and they can be very secure that the other is not going to judge them. Also, beau's "you bitch. I know you're fucking down here, you bitch" moment lives in my head rent free always.

Favorite headcanon

Veth learns Sending so that she can talk to Yasha telepathically. I die on the hill that Veth does this one day.

Send me a character!

#character ask meme #veth brenatto #thanks for the ask! #ask games #asks #anon

[davidtennantpussytulpa]

sorry im gonna send you another ask cos im Obsessed with you. now do star trek. um specially ds9 but also tng pls and thank you also i love you . And you can answer for tos too if you want 😋

KICKS MY LITTLE FEETS IN THE AIR FOREVERRRRR 🤭🤭🙈🙈🙈 YAAYAYY MUTUAL OBSESSIONNNN ❣️❣️❣️❣️ILYYYY

Favorite character: tos is spock tng is data ds9 is quark HEEHEEEE 🤭🤭🤭

Second favorite character: tos is jim tng is UHM. IMPOSSIBLE TO CHOOSE. BUT MY SWEET ANGEL WESLEY 🫶🏻🫶🏻🫶🏻 OR MY SILLY ANGEL WORF 🫶🏻🫶🏻🫶🏻 and ds9 i loveeee jadzia… 💙💙💙

Least favorite character: tos i dont dislike anyone on the crew so probably mudd bc even tho i really love his eps hes a good villain hes also a misogynist </3 tng is pulaski like SORRYYY to all the thinkpiece bitches out there saying its not feminist to hate her bc shes basically the same as bones its like. 1. okay so shes kind of badly written bc they just tried to rip off bones and 2. her thing with data isnt the same as his with spock bc spock was bitchy right back but data just didnt get it. so she was just being straight up cruel to him all the time and nobody defended him. YEAH SHE GOT ME HEATED. and ds9 i got distracted by so many other tv shows shes been on hiatus for a bit but kai winn booooo we hate your ass 👎🏻👎🏻👎🏻

The character I’m most like: now. Uhm. literally fighting one million years with myself to determine kirk or spock and i never fully decided so we will leave it at they are two sides of the same coin and that coin is MEEEE ^_^. tng is hard to say bc i love them all but none of them ever grabbed me by the throat and shoved me into a mirror like so many other shows have done. i think either data geordi or picard (minus his leadership skills) would be the closest fit for me. and well as those who were here for biquark url know. 😏🤭

Favorite pairing: tos is obviously spirk 5ever and always like it changed the world. they are the fucking blueprint for everything they invented gay people. tng literally everything is so fun i think everyone has huge chemistry such interesting dynamics with each other. deanna and riker invented t4t bi4bi love but then geordi and data invented my lovely robot wife but then rikorf invented silly boy and autistic boy love and then qcard invented me and my wet crumpled paper bag weirdo boyfriend. HOW COULD I DECIDE… 💔💔 and ds9 quodo is everythang… i love you sillies ❤️

Least favorite pairing: this has less to do with tos and more the crimes of other trek series using tos characters but. spuhura i guess you had some moments but why did they do both your characters the disservice :(( and tos chapel and spock was so nice and hurting like i love her she crucified herself for the right to love a stoic alien (girl i get ittt) and snw fucking slaughtered her. literally feel sick thinking about how horribly they adapted her. evil and sick and twisted. anyways. tng i didnt love geordis weird hologirlfriend and also barclay stay your ass away from any woman on board. ds9 whaaaleeeee i dont really hate anything at the moment ^-^ i guess when i swing back around to it i may have more to say…. 🧐

Favorite moment: OHHHOHHHHOHHH. WELL. tos pretty much anything with spock he is my beautiful angel. but ill say the entirety of city on the edge of forever its so insanely good and has me vomiting up blood. oh also i love kevin riley when he goes crazy and is singing to the ship :•) tng oh god when data is on that planet with the little girl hes pen pals with. ingrained in my brain forever. but there are honestly so many moments i could name like i think they might be my favorite crew ever like i said the chemistry between each and every character is so fucking amazing. and also horny. i love you deanna and riker 🫶🏻 and ds9 frankly im obsessed with quark and the undercover girl ferengi bc hes so bisexual with her in drag well um. who said that

Rating out of 10: 10/10 fucking all around forever theyre my three beautiful weed smoking girlfriends. We Dont Have To Talk About The Movies.

#alsoooo teehee in good omens when she calls crowley a good lad and he says neither actually #it reminded me of when sulu called uhura fair maiden and she said neither #LIKE!!! TEEHEHEE THEY SHOULD BE BEST FRIENDSSS 🤭🤭🤭🤭😁😁😁❤️❤️❤️ #asks #I LOVE YOU FOREVER AND EVAARRRRRRRRR

[crehador]

brother crab’s 2023 seasonals in review: fall

most of the fall shows i'm watching are still an ep or two away from being complete but i'm leaving on a trip tomorrow and wanted to get this finished first so here we go

pretty sure none of this will change at this point (though aots and runner-up did just flip like five days ago lol)

FIRST UP. IN A STARTLING LAST MINUTE UPSET. ANIME OF THE SEASON

MIGI TO DALI!!! although for the past month or so i was convinced overtake! would take it, migi to dali has been coming to such a stellar climax that it's shot into the lead

overtake! is still exceptional and i've talked a lot about it this season, it's just a beautiful thing in its simplicity, with characters that are so Weird yet Real

migi to dali is EVEN WEIRDER in an astonishingly good way, it was intriguing right from the start and continued to build and build to a payoff that really blew me away

i don't think uniqueness is everything, sometimes a show that feels like i've seen it a hundred times before can still be my favorite thing of a season, it would just feel like home. but migi to dali's uniqueness is definitely a huge part in what makes it so alluring to me, the way it balances psychological suspense and comedy is so excellent and fresh

and now the sequels! in addition to spyfam, arknights, and dmdp, bpro and hpmi got sequels and hanako-kun got a little tv short

no comment on hpmi it'll get its own post

best sequel probably should go to dead mount death play, the world building is just fantastic to me, and this season definitely feels even stronger than the first (which was already very strong!)

however. i'm giving sequel of the season to arknights just for the sasha and eno ep, they put me on the fucking floor with that one

bpro s3 was unfortunately not really my thing, i want tsubasa happier and more well-rested :( but spyfam is adorable as usual, and some more hanako-kun was great (though we need more!)

quickfire thoughts on everything else:

onmyouji was unspectacular but surprisingly fun! and gay. gay as hell. asnm u have not led me astray this time

dog signal is not exactly High Quality but it's... fine and sometimes fun? i'm forever amused by the fact that it's billed as an educational series, and it kind of is! there's actual information about dog training in here. but there's also "guy walks other guy on leash in public for 2 hours" in here. and that was just episode one

kawagoe boys sing is a hot mess and i love it to bits, it starts out so silly that i'm sure it's an insta-drop for many people, but the club dynamics really come together throughout the series in a way i'm enjoying very much

bullbuster... talked about this a lot already, it was fine as an office drama/tiny business vs giant corporation type thing, but fell short on the mecha side of things

bokuame's shit. more on this later

atarashii joushi wa dotennen FREAKING ADORABLE. MORE OF THIS FOREVER

yuzuki-san chi no yon kyoudai EVEN MORE ADORABLE. MORE OF THIS FOREVER AND EVER

good night world was pretty decent, i overall... liked it, i think? it was very bingeable, so it was nice of them to drop it all at once lol and i liked the general premise and plot and all. but i think the wrap-up just felt a bit, eh, maybe slapdash to me? not Bad, but fell just short of exceptional

hoshikuzu telepath ADORABLE AS WELL as far as cgdct goes i'd say this is one of the better ones, kind of same tier as diy for me, but it's no yuru camp (the gold standard)

s-rank musume had a premise i really liked, and an overarching plot that was less compelling to me. wish we'd seen more of a focus on the family bond rather than like... magic and politics type stuff

watashi no oshi wa akuyaku reijou was a cute fucking yuri, the romance was a delight but as with s-rank musume, the 'plottier' bits were not as compelling to me

kamonohashi ron no kindan suiri feels like a very solid adaptation! makes me even more keen to read katekyo (which has been on my planning list for... fucking forever)

ragna crimson is pretty fun but not that outstanding, but like. really fun actually

shangri-la frontier is also very fun! not terribly high stakes (not really any stakes at all) but hilarious, action-packed in a good way, and probably especially entertaining for anyone who's played mmos before (because some parts are so so so relatable)

undead unluck is SO GROSS but IN A GOOD WAY idk how to explain this so i won't try

and sousou no frieren is anime of the year. no contest. (personally i disqualify my aots shows from winning aoty as well so i can do this. i can do anything i want forever)

as for the music!

we had a queen bee op this season and i will almost always pick queen bee as op/ed of the season when we have one, this is no exception. undead unluck's 01 takes op, and ed of the season goes to kamonohashi ron's lip-sync! just really like the vocals of that one

blorbo of the season MADOKA-CHAN KOUYA ship of the season surprisingly it's a toss up between like. seimei/hiromasa (WHAT YEAR IS IT) and kinjou/aoyama from atarashii joushi. like. momose/shirosaki VERY GOOD but those side bitches... they are in my head

#crab watches #various things #fall 2023 #brother crab's year in review #this was too many shows lmao #i need to learn to put some back orz #(<- guy who's got 20 shows on winter planning already)

[cassatine]

rewatched ep10 and honestly it is growing on me. enjoyed it a lot more this time. extremely long meta post (almost 4k) spoiling pretty much everything under the cut.

the visenya birth scene is harrowing and rhaenyra rocking her dead girl in her arms... emotional devastation.

i wish we'd had more time with rhaenyra's internal conflict over what to do. i wanted to see her angry and more visibly torn over duty (she is her father's chosen heir and aegon a wanker) vs duty (the 7K united for the future winter). i wanted to see her in full ugly grief mode. but on rewatch it's like... she can't!! no full ugly grief mode for her because she has to hold her shit together, because she has to hold everything else together and daemon is too busy having his own unhinged breakdown to be of any help whatsoever (he's more of a problem lbr). i'm pretty sure she spends most of the ep wishing she could just have her own breakdown over her dead dad, her dead baby, her ex bestie betraying her, and daemon's skyrocketing level of unhingedness, but she simply fucking can't because if she does everything's going to explode in her face.

on monumental miscommunication: the show this week local couple completely fails to understand each other's positions because they are not operating from the same set of variables and unaware of it: she thinks he knows about the aegon prophecy of winter, he has zero idea there even is an aegon prophecy to know until she drops the bomb. on rewatch it is really rewarding to see how much the aegon prophecy informs rhaenyra's position on everything and how much it *doesn't* informs daemon's.

i still kinda wish we'd had more of a follow up on rhaenyra choosing fear with the laenor fake murder to hitch up with her uncle because so sue me i was absolutely there for the unhinged partners in love, politics & war crimes kind of dynamic but then again. the situation in ep10 is not at all what rhaenyra was planning for at the time. she wanted people to be afraid of the shit they could pull, so that no one would be too much of a problem when the time came for her to take the throne, and for that daemon's reputation and overall daemon-ness was an asset. or at least looked like one to her (it wasn't an asset, like ok sure intimidation factor but also it'd have lost her the support of people who weren't fans of the idea of daemon ruling, and people absolutely would have believed daemon was the one who called the shots. also it near lost her the velaryons and the velaryons are the main fleet. the math was bad). instead turns out she has to decide between duty (she is her father's chosen heir and aegon a wanker) vs duty (the 7K united for the future winter). the fact that daemon is the sort to war crime first and think later (on top of the prophecy miscommunication fail) isn't really an asset in this situation it's more of a huge fucking problem.

even if he knew about the prophecy... he'd probably be a bit more understanding of her position, and her his, but i don't think it'd have changed things that much because *if* he'd bought it, he would have fixated on the part about a targ sitting on the throne being necessary, and he would argue alicent's kids aren't targ enough so of course rhaenyra has to go to war to park her ass on the throne. they would then have a huge row because rhaenyra would say oh are you saying my boys with not-laenor aren't targ enough??

idk what to think about rhaenys 'i came to warn you out of loyalty to my husband and to my house' it really bugged me on first watch because she's a targ too ffs buuut she's been ambivalent about rhaenyra for a while (pretty reasonable what with her thinking rhaenyra had her son killed to hitch up with daemon) so... guess it works. and it makes sense that the thing that actually gets her on rhaenyra's side in the end is not being gung-ho about war because that'd have been why she didn't try to push her claim & go to war herself after viserys got chosen by the lords as the new king on the basis of *checks notes* having a dick.

otoh the thing with rhaenys not wanting war probably for the good of all is the same thing with alicent's 'a true queen counts the cost to her people' (alicent you are bad at math and if you *had* done that you would have looked at aegon and gone eeehr. that was a bullshit line) which is that rhaenys also smashed a bunch of peasants just last episode because none of these people ought to actually care about the masses (other than rhaenyra, but only in the sense that she knows about the aegon prophecy -- caring about adverting the end of the world and the death of humanity isn't really the same as caring that people don't die in your war for power) they are medievish rulers, they ought to believe in absolutism AND other than alicent they're all targs, they also ought to have liked subscribed followed on targ exceptionalism.

jace being mean to luce when they're having their bit of training on the beach makes me sad but on top of "send us" being his idea it's just gonna make him even more devastated. like not only was it idea for them to be their mom's envoys but also the last time they had bro time he was a meanie to luce… the sheer amount of angst he's gonna carry around next season!!

kind of funny: the fact that daemon and rhaenyra did not take five to discuss their options / air shit out & have daemon update her on what he's been doing already (ravens sent etc) in private before the war council (part one) around the extremely awesome-looking candlelit painted table. it's giving me ep3 rhaenyra & viserys public fight vibes. same mistake of making dissension a public spectacle, which in this case is pretty bad optics-wise. everyone can see rhaenyra doesn't know what moves daemon already made, and that they are not in agreement at all. most likely it's because they are pissed at each other and also grieving (but mostly pissed). and probably no amount of discussion would have gotten them on the same page, but at least they wouldn't have had a fight in front of everyone five minutes after he crowned her. maybe they could also have avoided the huge miscommunication issue re: the aegon prophecy.

otto scene paralleling ep2 is yummy (kinda wish criston had been there to be a bitch about stuff tbh) but also rhaenyra just miscarried i don't think she should be flying. the terms otto brings are VERY interesting (they are mostly alicent's, otto is a liar and his intentions for the long term are still absolutely to get rhaenyra and her fam killed, because as long as she's alive there will be people to say she was the heir, she should have been queen, either because they believe it, either because aegon is a shithead, either because opportunism etc etc); they're giving rhaenyra dragonstone, ie the most targ place in westeros, the traditional seat of the heir to the throne, and also where there are all the wild dragons and also an island not that far from king's landing on dragonback, so it's kind of like telling her you can keep most of the nukes and stay in our backyard it's fine. the terms also imply that they'll stop calling her kids bastards and make it royal policy that they aren't since jacaerys would inherit dragonstone & lucerys driftmark. the catch is the part about aegon the third and viserys being given 'positions of high honor at the court', which really means they are to be hostages for rhaenyra & daemon's good behavior. also otto said what i've been saying, which is that his faction was never reacting to anything rhaenyra did or didn't do ('she could be jaehaerys returned and it still wouldn't matter') and had been planning to crown aegon ii since he was a baby, because he was born with a dick and otto & hobert are thirsty for power. also lol at 'stale oaths' this shit is the foundation upon which feudalism stands but ok. stale oaths. side of honor and decency, lol.

i'm still meh about the book page moment. i want it to work for me because alicent & rhaenyra are the core of everything and it is a neat callback to ep1, it just... doesn't. it feels so alicent, the appeal to past friendship, but the book page itself feels contrived and i don't really buy that otto wouldn't have thrown it into the sea. also the family dinner from hell was about three days ago so it's not like rhaenyra would have forgotten the temporary rekindling of frienship or alicent saying she'd make a good queen only to put her own wanker son on the throne. idk it's not that she shouldn't be sad and yearning for the good old days but. i guess i think she should be kinda pissed too.

when daemon says 'the enemy declared war already' at the war council (part two)... he is being especially unhinged and bitchy, and him and rhaenyra REALLY should have taken five to air shit out in private after otto left -- but he isn't wrong either. neither of them are wrong, but again: they aren't operating from the same set of variables. rhaenyra is considering the cost of going to war with the aegon prophecy in mind, and daemon doesn't know about it. what daemon is considering is what he knows about how shit works, and what he knows about otto ("a second son that stands to inherit nothing but what he seizes for himself") (and also he is still in unhinged breakdown mode) and he probably realizes otto's terms are bullshit... because otto wasn't exactly wrong about his 'being the challenge' thing. if rhaenyra had been crowned there would always have been people to say, well aegon has a dick so he ought to bethe one sitting on the sword chair, even if he's an incompetent drunken wanker -- and while i very much doubt rhaenyra would have had her half-siblings executed to shore up her claim as soon as she got on said chair, it's very likely aegon ii would have been a problem at some point or another, not especially because of anything he'd do, but because he'd be a rallying point for discontents and opportunists. and now with aegon ii crowned there will also always be people to say that viserys changing his mind at the last minute is hightower bullshit, that his chosen heir was rhaenyra so she should be on the chair, ie she will always be a danger to aegon ii, and it's only when she's dead and her whole family with her that the doubts about aegon ii's legitimacy as king will die -- if only because then there would be no other pseudo-legally viable option than him left. and otto absolutely is the kind of person who'd make it happen, he has been planning on it since aegon was born, he's not gonna change that just because alicent said 'no i don't wanna'. plus the offer to give dragonstone to rhaenyra really is a huge red flag: otto said aegon ii had all the symbols of legitimacy, but dragonstone traditionally is the heir's seat, it is also a symbol of legitimacy and pet nukes island, there's just no way otto would really be fine letting the one threat to aegon ii just live out her days there even if he had two of her kids as hostages. his side of the fam is also missing another targ legitimacy symbol in dark sister. otto plays a long game, and for now he's just humouring alicent.

so yeah from daemon's perspective of prophetic ignorance, otto hatedom and general daemon-ness understanding of the world, if the blacks don't do a war, not only are they gonna have to hand over aegon the third and viserys ii to *otto* as hostages, but they'll also get to spend the rest of their life waiting for a sad regrettable accident to happen to them. he isn't considering the third option, which is get the fuck out of dodge and go back to pentos or wherever because he is in unhinged breakdown mode, and also if not him he wants rhaenyra on his bro's throne.

i'm still fine with the choking. makes sense to me. he's having his unhinged man breakdown over what he thinks is his bro getting murdered, and another breakdown on top over the visenya situation. the fact that his brother (he thinks) got murdered and the news sent rhaenyra straight to miscarriage... it's kill bill siren on repeat in his head and nothing else. dude spends the whole episode wanting to kill someone - wanting to kill a lot of someone. plus he is pissed at rhaenyra for not being gung-ho about war from the start. he is also pissed she didn't let him kill otto, whom he hates probably more than anyone else ever and probably expects will not rest until his and rhaenyra's whole family is dead. and he is pissed rhaenyra isn't listening to him because he's the one with the war experience and whatever, and on that one he 100% thinks he knows better. and he is high on targ exceptionalism as ever. and he is also very upset to learn about the aegon prophecy because viserys never told him, and under the swag and the overperformance of gender he is at his core a pathetic insecure little bitch hungry for big bro's approval, and this to him (and to rhaenyra) would confirm viserys never truly trusted him nor ever saw him as a viable heir. ever. also: poor impulse control is not new.

rhaenys and corlys not being on the same page for most of the season is kinda funny but mostly sad. corlys reconsidering velaryon ambition and support for rhaenyra HAS to happen when rhaenys is like 'actually... i kinda support her now'. she also confirms jace luce and joff their official grandchildren won't be safe as long as aegon ii sits the throne. (it is however meh that she didn't mention baela & rhaena who are their real grandkids, and also at risk because they are now betrothed to jace & luce. very uncool.) reversal of position to the nines, considering she used to be the one to say they weren't really their grandkids and that rhaenyra had laenor killed, which is now corlys' point to make. her position doesn't really make sense tho -- she says she supports rhaenyra because she is demonstrating restraint when everyone around her wants to go to war (which is sort of funny when you consider rhaenyra might have been as gung-ho about war as everyone else if not for the aegon prophecy, once again it's all about who knows what) but at the same time if jace luce & joff (and by extension baela & rhaena) are in danger as long as aegon ii sits the throne then... how is war not inevitable?

'you father's realm was one of justice and honor' is so fucking funny to me coming from corlys, who spent most of the season arguing it was complete injustice that his wife was cheated out of the throne. a+ no notes bitchiest backhanded compliment.

it's also really funny to me that rhaenyra tells the kids to swear on the seven because it's not like she's shown any care for the faith previously, and what with the oldtown link it's pretty unlikely any show of religion would get the faith on her side rather than the hightowers'. it's a weird decision and i don't really get the point. might make more sense later on tho.

another thing i do not really get: what is daemon even doing with vermithor other than looking cool?? on the one hand it's just as well he fucked off because the war council really went more smoothly without him but otoh what is he doing serenading a dragon that isn't caraxes?? is he intending to cheat on the noodle boi?? the whole point of that scene escapes me like ok bunch of dragons to claim on dragonstone... but if he's looking to organize blind dates then why is he alone.

baby lucerys giving me all the feels in this ep, and also making me wish we'd had more time with rhaenyra's kids to make everything more devastating. i get that aegon & aemond would get more screentime this season because they're going to last longer while lucerys dies especially early on, but isn't that reason to give him more time to steal all our hearts!! same with rhaenyra as a mother imo it wouldn't have hurt to get more of that for maximum impact when she learns about lucerys getting eaten. especially since the timeskips already meant we don't really see her go from not wanting kids because of aemma trauma to having like half a soccer team worth of them.

i do wish we'd gotten more time in storm's end too, but the whole fail visit shows rhaenyra fucked up in at least two big ways: 1) she just asked for fealty and while yeah oaths were sworn and all that jazz... like boros said, aegon ii's side at least came with an offer. the thing to do is to offer something when you're asking someone to go to war for you and not that other guy. if not a son's hand then a position on the small council or whatever. 2) her kids weren't prepared -- or at least lucerys wasn't prepared to treat with boros. baby boy doesn't know what the fuck he is doing, and he does the best he can but someone with actual experience would have known not to stop at 'well sorry sir i'm already betrothed' and made some counter-offer or another.

sapphire reveal YES. aemond being so good at being a scary mofo until it turns out he's basically a kid too?? that hit way more on rewatch. on first watch i really didn't like the specifics of how things went down with lucerys -- i went in knowing it would be an accident what with the leak, but not the exact details, and i really expected aemond to fuck up because he was so fixated on revenge he'd take it a step too far and that'd be the accident so on the moment it felt cheap when it turned out to be the dragons. now i think it's not at all a bad change for a show that's trying to show everyone's humanity and amp up the tragedy of it all.

and all in all i do think it did a good job at accounting for f&b canon while doing something different, because while the actual death is sort of an accident and aemond didn't want shit to get quite that far... it was still rather unhinged behavior of him to go all 'an eye for an eye i'll give it to mommy revenge revenge revenge'. he was out there doing the evil anime laugh, living out his dream of being the scariest dude around and finally getting himself some revenge... and it was fun and enjoyable for like five minutes and then it wasn't! probably the first time he actually kills anyone. but also lbr it wasn't that much better an idea than to straight up kill lucerys in light of what it'd do to the negotiation process and all that. and the fact that he called lucerys my lord strong & bastard when his mother's terms to rhaenyra imply the green will finally acknowledge jace luce & joff as legitimate... neat. of course aemond of all people couldn't let it go.

the thing that sold me on the no control over dragons was remembering back in ep1 when viserys said... we don't control the dragons the idea that we do is an illusion. full circle! i guess it is kinda sexy and not actually boring to have the war start like that. daemon is out there spouting his 'dragons will win us the war' spiel and meanwhile. dragons panicking. vhagar eating lucerys. also fits with the "ten thousands ways this could have been avoided (it was always going to be this way)" approach. and it all fits with the fact that show aemond is more of a wannabe edgelord at this stage of the story; his best war crimes era is still ahead of him, and i am curious to see how s2 goes from there. he isn't really the sort to tell people it was an accident imo (maybe to alicent) but even if he was, the thing is he can't actually tell to people it was an accident... because you can't tell your allies and possible allies and more generally your bro's subjects that woopsie! you can't control your pet nuke all that well actually. that's really, really, really bad press, even worse than doing a war crime. like. being led by dudes who do war crimes is one thing because they do the war crimes to the other side, but being led by dudes who don't control their pet nukes all that well means the pet nuke could eat you.

the only reason there could be to tell anyone is convincing rhaenyra it was an accident, but she wouldn't believe it from eamond (he of the toast escalation). and even if she magically learned all about how shit went down... she wouldn't see it as an accident because in the end aemond did pursue lucerys, who was just an envoy under explicit orders not to fight, with the intent to take an eye for an eye to bring back to his mommy and that's the reason there could even be an accident.

also ironic that aemond probably did more to save the daemyra marriage (and maybe even their cause) than anyone else in this ep because if he hadn't accidentally war crimed lucerys, giving them cause to war crime back? they'd be fighting like crazy over how to go about things and they'd be doing it in public, and daemon would be switching from undermining rhaenyra as queen to straight up killing people who don't bow low enough to her at least three times a day and that would not make their side very popular let's be real.

in the end i kinda wish this ep could have been the council of the blacks as a pendant to the council of the greens, things would have had more time to breathe. doesn't make for a killer season finale but maybe an eleventh ep with a longer stom's end passage (awkward diner!!) + blood & cheese idk.

buut then again that final scene... what a way to finish the ep & the season!! everything about it is so!! perfect!! love that we pretty much see only rhaenyra & daemon's backs throughout and yet you just fucking know what she's feeling. her little faltering step!! her hands on her stomach!! she's losing another baby... and when she does turn to the camera... her pissed off face, the way it just screams she's done... for the whole episode she's been trying so, so hard to do that thing alicent thinks she keeps giving the finger to, she's been trying to do her duty, she's been trying not to fall into pieces, she's been trying to hold shit together and do what she thinks viserys would have wanted her to do ie keeping the peace, she's been putting the aegon prophecy above everything else, she's been trying not give in to anger and now. and now that's over. she is gonna do some war crimes of her own.

#house of the dragon #spoilers #meta #messy but meh it's late and i just wanna be done with it #mostly focusing on the good because i did enough grumbling and i wanted to see what does work for me and turns out: a lot #go figure

[booasaur]

Spoilers incoming

Spoilers for The Show:The Company You Keep ABC

Thank you for the gifs cause now I'm hooked on The Company you Keep haha!! It's funny to see the dynamic between Birdie and Daphne though like I know I read your tags but truly was not prepared for how tense their interactions are. Also getting context for that ASL line bro Daphne knows no bounds and i love it. If this show was fun we would be getting 2 types of cat and mouse type of a storyline with the main m/f couple and then these 2 women but alas but they are fun because their hatred is strong but they are also so alike with their bonds to their families. So thank you cause man this show is fun and these actressss are sooo good in their roles and very pretty!!

Ps: spoiler - There was a throwaway from Birdie where she was like she's a sucker for Irish accents even if they are a gangster and 1) no pronouns, no "I love a guy with an Irish accent" and 2) considering Daphne's potential family ties....👀👀👀 minus the accent of course but who knows lol me being silly over this never gonna happen ship the things your gifs do to me !!!

Thank you again !!

Haha, right, I was afraid people would see the gifs and be like, oh, this is a light, fun thing when actually it's quite intense and a little scary.

Even as I KNOW they won't happen, I'm also like, but what if...? Every ep, I'm like, hmm, do these interactions suggest anything? A part of me feels like if they were going to go there, they would be a bit more obvious, but I'm also looking for other potential love interests and they don't have anyone yet.

For Birdie, I guess her ex is still an option, and then Emma's brother, David, and I really hope it's not Connor, who, lol, fits the Irish accent but he seems quite threatening and brutal. I suppose it's possible Daphne might fall in David's circle at some point, especially if he becomes corrupt, and actually, it kind of feels like Emma's assistant has a huge crush on her, lol, but mostly I just hope she doesn't have a thing for Charlie, that'd be so trite and tired for a fun show like this.

In terms of what dynamics are at play, indeed, if you have Charlie and Emma as crook and cop, you would have Birdie and Daphne as crook and...crookeder, lol. Birdie and David would be crook and politician, which, perhaps some people would call that the same, but outwardly, it feels too close to Charlie and Emma, and presumably, whatever one finds out, the other sibling would too so that reduces a lot of the drama and suspense.

Birdie and Connor would be crook and crookedest because so far Daphne seems much more humanized and sympathetic than any other bad guy, so even though she's currently the antagonist, it feels like Connor's even worse, it would have to be a big pivot to make him suddenly good enough to root for him against Daphne, though of course anything's possible.

I'm just curious in general about where the show will go, even with just Emma and Charlie. It's going to become a bit ludicrous if neither finds out about the other the more time passes, especially when both are so heavily involved with Daphne. Like, she literally left the bar a minute before Emma arrived!

In ep 3, we didn't have any Daphne and Birdie moment at all, but just like you spotted that line about the Irish accents, I really zoomed in on that scene early on, when Birdie's ex calls, she changes the subject with THIS segue:

Like okay, okay, okay.

But yeah, it's such a fun show and already, aside from these main ladies, we've had guest spots from Bridget Regan and Jes Macallan, it's been very easy on the eyes. :P

#replies #femslash related stuff #but subtext #sent on 20230308 #Anonymous #5 #the company you keep abc #birdie x daphne #the company you keep 1x03

[elekinetic]

What part of the Star Wars sequels was your LEAST favorite and what is the thing you would change first in a rewrite

r3ylo. they so very very very badly dropped the ball with their relationship and their characters, specifically ben. oh my god. and listen listen listen, you had PERFECTLY GOOD LEGENDS CONTENT TO RECYCLE RIGHT THERE. i mean b3n solo is already a hodge podge of ben skywalker (luke's son) and jacen solo, so lets just fucking give him jacen's name and reskin rey as jaina solo, jacen's twin sister.

we give jaina rey's kindness, headstrong leadership, and reservation. we make her a little more jaded bc hello, her twin brother left their family and destroyed their uncle's temple to go become a sith lord. that would make anyone a little pessimistic.

we'd follow jaina, who works as part of the resistance under her mother, leia. standard child of divorce stuff: feels like she'll never live up to the expectations of her mother, longs for freedom outside of the diplomatic role she's been assigned, holds her mother to a higher standard than her dad (is it really an ella nancysglock idea if there aren't themes of strained daughterhood & motherhood?) jacen showed force sensitivity from a young age and got whisked off to train w uncle luke while jaina stayed with her mom and learned the politics. (imagine one of our opening scenes being jaina in full diplomatic getup on one of the republic planets, slipping out of a meeting and pulling off her robes, wiping off her makeup. she's just about to jump a balcony to sneak out when she hears a very familiar older female voice say, "you might as well walk out the front door if you're gonna be so obvious about sneaking out." leia. of course.) the first act of ep 7 finds jaina discovering her force-sensitivity. when she goes to find luke in ep 8 (a la rey), there's the added dynamic of "you never knew me as well as my brother" and luke seeing so much of his sister (and han to an extent) in jaina.

rey + ben's soul-bondy thing would be a twin sense thing for jacen and jaina (like what is vaguely established between luke and leia in the ot). luke + jacen would have even clearer narrative parallels (male twin luke brought to the light, male twin jacen brought to the dark). jacen would be a more sympathetic villain bc jaina's draw toward him and care for him are pre-established, as well as the reason their relationship is strained. we'd spend time throughout the trilogy unpacking their complicated dynamic via those soul bond vision communication things that started between r&b in tlj.

now im sure ur thinking, "but ella, one of the best themes of the sequels (which was terribly mishandled) was that you didn't have to be born into a special family to be a hero, that you can choose your family and make a difference no matter who you are!" to that i say: yes. 100%. which is why we're giving finn & poe actual storylines. the other big theme of the sequels is legacy, right. what does it mean to be a skywalker, a solo? thats why we see rey, a nobody, rise to heroism and take on the skywalker name while ben, who was born into the family, fall from grace and struggle with morality (in theory). i think we can do this better though. lets have jaina and jacen BOTH be born into the skywalker family (bc hey, it is the skywalker saga) and watch them struggle with light and dark. lets take that "dark rey" shit from tlj and push it further. lets see jacen seduced by the dark and pulled toward the light because he still cares about his sister. lets see jaina raised in the light and tempted by the freedom of the dark side.

lets also see jaina and finn choose each other as chosen siblings. lets see finn develop a real dynamic with jacen. (finn is a real protagonist in this as well, im just not talking about his role in the story as much in this post. but trust, he is a huge part of the story.) lets see more of leia & poe's mother/son dynamic. lets push those ben/poe parallels further.

tldr. replacing rey & ben with jaina & jacen solo so they're twins now. obviously no romance. finn & poe get bigger storylines and there are much deeper themes about family, chosen AND blood.

#star wars #star wars (ella's version) #fuck yeah new tag #thank u for asking me this ratt #is anyone wanted to ask me more abt this id love u forever

[bourbon-ontherocks]

hellooooooo again! well I’d never heard of Good Girls before, but that hasn’t ever stopped me from reading a fic so I’m saving yours for later 🤗 how’d you get into it? as for Grace&Frankie I watched a couple of eps when it first came out, but that’s it! you seem passionate about both tho, so maybe… someday… as for JTV; trust me, pregnancy is the least of poor Jane’s problems 😂 it’s excessive in the best ways, and full of laughs, love&plot twists

(Julia's adventures with the HPI anon)

Oh hey anon!! So good to hear from you again!! ❤️ (please know that while I absolutely love these interactions we have because it gives me a fantastic opportunity to endlessly ramble about HPI on main, I'm also extremely impatient to find out who you are 👀👀)

How come you never heard of Good Girls before? 😱 I feel like everybody I know has at least heard of it just from Netflix suggestions/top ten at the time it was airing! But it's cool to find out that it's actually untrue because this show is a trainwreck lol! It's a cool watch though, I guess you could give it a try, at least for the first two seasons. And that's so sweet and brave of you to read fics with absolutely no context hahaha! 😍

How did I get into it? Wow. Well as far as I remember I just watched the first season casually because Netflix suggested I might like it, then season 2 dropped and broke me. The ship in this show is an absolute dumpster fire that invented sexual tension, with all the angst and toxicity and unhealthiness and murdering attempts that you could expect. No fictional couple does it like Brio lol! 🔥🔥🔥 It wrecked me so hard that it actually got me involved in fandom for the first time in my life (now I realize that I'd been a fangirl for a very long time before that, but I just had no idea there was a name for it, and other people to share it with). I didn't know what words like AO3 or Tumblr meant. I started writing fanfics, posting on Tumblr, interacting with other people, and that has been a huge part of my life for the past three years, so yeah, basically Good Girls changed my life and I'm grateful for that. 💕 It doesn't make it less of a trainwreck though 😂

And I must say I never saw myself as a multifandom person with a new hyperfixation every six months or so, I didn't think I'd ever fall so hard again for another fandom, but then Morgadec showed up, and literally lifted me up from depression, and um... yeah. That's the stuff. 😭😭 Which surprises me a lot because their thing is completely different from Brio's dynamic and what I liked the most about them but I guess one doesn't get to choose what they fall for...

Anyway, enough rambling about Good Girls and my fandom life!! Grace and Frankie is a great show, which truly delves into the lives of elderly people, I definitely recommend it.

And oh, I'll add Jane the Virgin to the list then!! 👀👀

#anon #ask #nbc good girls #fandom #shipping #about me #julia's adventures with the hpi anon #hpi analysis