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crisiscutie · 3 months

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Sephiroth's mental breakdown was nailed perfectly. The raw emotions and him realizing Gast was no better than Hojo... Oh man... Rebirth is gonna be amazing

Game isn't even out and it's already one of my favorite scenes. The music. The buildup to it. THE JENOVA CLOSEUPS. The superb voice acting. (yes, I think Tyler Hoechlin does a fine job)

The only thing that seemed iffy was cutting out some of Sephiroth's monologue about the Cetra and traitor thing.

And you know what, I like Rebirth's slight retcon. In this version, it's much more about Sephiroth, providing a clearer understanding of why he succumbed to darkness. This man and boy (since young Sephiroth is his inner child that's always with him) finally discovered the ugly "truth" about the twisted experiments that made him and the other monsters. He always wondered about his purpose, and this was it. All those years of abuse and exploitation... were done at his expense because he's a monster. The few people that did love and support him? No, no such thing. They're no different from his tormentors. He felt so alone and lost.

The Nibelheim Incident is pretty much his trauma reaching a breaking point. I can see how difficult it was for some to discern for some this nuance in the OG (and even in CC) because they focused more on Sephiroth developing an ego complex from more obviously, outdated information. This retcon is more closer to the truth, the only erroneous thing being that Jenova was an ancient. It's an amazing fix and does a great job in humanizing Sephiroth. I absolutely loved how they used the Jung Shadow. I'm a psychology nerd. You basically watched the death scene of Sephiroth's old identity, especially notice how prominent his shadow is. It's meant to show his inner conflict and then his transformation.

He became exactly what he never wanted to be.

Anyways, another thing to note: what was a bit weird in the original game and the compilation is the strange shift in Sephiroth's beliefs and motivations. At first, he believed himself to be a Cetra and had a divine right to rule over the planet. Then, he transitions to wanting to destroy the planet at the beginning of FF7, seemingly abandoning any claims to Cetra heritage. We know why his motivations changed, but it feels odd not getting more expansion on it after they just suddenly threw that bit of information at us. I believe this retcon should help smooth out that awkward transition. It's a great feeling that one item from my wish/check list might be addressed.

And you know another thing I fucking loved Rebirth's portrayal of the Nibelheim Incident? They didn't back off from Sephiroth's villainy and sadism. I already made a post about it here, but holy fuck. He is out for blood. Everyone and everything in his path had to suffer, just like he did. They don't deserve to continue to live life so happy and normal.

Sephiroth really did not deserve any of the shit he was put through, but that will never not excuse the atrocities he committed in Nibelheim. I was honestly scared to see how the writers would humanize Sephiroth, but so far, they seem to do a great job of it. Hopefully, the full game can keep it up.

The demo still has some issues with Sephiroth and how the gameplay works, though.

#sephiroth #ff7 sephiroth #final fantasy 7 #ff7 #crisis cutie #ffvii #ffvii rebirth #c.c theories #c.c's theories #ffviir #my gifs

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sapphic-agent · 23 days

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Let's Talk About Shigaraki

I've had some time to collect my thoughts, so I think I'm ready to finally talk about Tomura.

Fair warning, this is more of a rant. Mostly because there isn't much to say except that Horikoshi hates this motherfucker, almost as much as he hates Izuku.

Tomura is a character whose autonomy and agency has been stripped by the narrative repeatedly. And that's not really uncommon in MHA (Izuku, Hawks, Shoto, etc.), so why am I pointing it out? Because Horikoshi's assassination of his character didn't need to happen. In fact, it feels like he bent over backwards to make sure it happened.

Anyone who's been around my blog long enough knows that the MLA arc is one of my favorites, I even put it in my top five MHA arcs. It did a great job of having Shigaraki progress as not only a villain but a leader and come into his own power. My one issue with it and what kept it out of top three was that it seemed to immediately undo all the progress Tomura made by making him want AFO (the quirk). Him gaining this quirk didn't tie into his goals at all and it flipped him from wanting to use his destruction to make a world for the LOV to be free in (Eric Vale's delivery of this scene in dub was fire btw, go watch it) to him just wanting more power. It was an extremely weird decision.

The PLA War further perpetuates this and it causes some confusion as to where Horikoshi was going with his character. Instead of a newly established in-control and ambitious villain, he turned Tomura into a puppet for All For One to use for his own benefit.

(Off topic, but that also felt out of character for AFO. Prior to this, he seemed to want Tomura to succeed and carve his own path, even taking the time to gently correct his outbursts and give him actual advice and guidance. You could argue that this was manipulation on his part, but it didn't feel like it at the time. Why would he want Tomura to be level-headed and calm if the plan was to use him as a husk for his own control? It felt way more like Tomura was initially meant to be his successor, not his puppet. This reads more like another Horikoshi retcon)

For some reason, it feels like the intention was to turn him into a victim for Izuku to save. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing... Except he didn't develop Izuku enough for him to be able to do that.

Izuku doesn't understand Tomura, he even admits this himself. He sees Tomura as someone who causes destruction for the hell of it. And you know what? He wasn't wrong going off his few interactions with him. But that's where we hit our problem; Izuku has not interacted enough with Tomura.

And honestly? There's no excuse for this. They're supposed to be our protagonist and antagonist. They're supposed to be parallels with one another. So why in the world do they only really have one intimate scene together?

(I have mentioned this before, but Izuku should have been the one kidnapped, not Bakugou. Bakugou being in this position provides nothing to the plot, especially because All Might would have sacrificed his power for anyone. Bakugou isn't a dynamic or integral enough character for this to benefit the character progression of Tomura or the rest of the LOV, but Izuku is. Him learning why they're villains would have really done so much for their characters, as well as his own)

This leaves their interactions during the Final War completely stagnant and stale. Izuku doesn't understand Tomura, and Tomura knows that. He sees Izuku as a goody-two-shoes with no understanding of how dark the world can be. Except Izuku does understand because he experienced it. But how would Tomura know that? And how would Izuku know how Tomura became a villain? There's no understanding between them which is why Izuku is unable to connect with Tomura like he did Stain and Gentle Criminal. Which is why him trying to save Tomura goes nowhere.

It didn't have to be like this though. Even if it was rushed, Horikoshi could have squeezed it in. He could have made the effort. He chose not to. Partly because he can't be assed to give either of them good development, but also because he avoids the shit Izuku went through like the plague. He hates to acknowledge it and when he does it's sugarcoated (and used for Bakugou's gain, not Izuku's own). Because of he gets into the nitty gritty of it, his favorite blond rat's "development" goes right out the window.

Horikoshi wrote himself into a corner here, which is why the Izuku vs Tomura fight is so lackluster. Their interactions mean nothing, so their fight means nothing. What's his solution to this?

To fucking kill Tomura and retcon his entire backstory to force AFO back into the plot.

The last shreds of agency Tomura had as a villain were ripped away. He can't even have his own tragic backstory at this point. Hell, Kotaro can't even own his own shitty decisions, blame is pinned on Nana even though him abusing his kids was his choice and AFO somehow had a hand in him having kids?? Ok.

(Abusive man not being held accountable without someone else- a woman- taking the shit for it, what else is new in MHA)

Also, WHAT THE HELL DO YOU MEAN AFO GAVE HIM DECAY?

In all fairness, this has been a theory for a while. But again, the entire point of his character in the MLA arc was that he took charge of his "cursed" power and made it his own. So AFO giving him Decay erases another part of his development.

(And to add to this, what exactly was the point of having him take a quirk away from Tomura? Why not make him born quirkless so a parallel can be drawn to Izuku (and even Aoyama)? What is it with Horikoshi and quirkless aversion? There are four characters born quirkless in the narrative even though they're supposed to make up 20% of the population: Izuku, Aoyama, All Might, Melissa. Only Melissa stays quirkless)

AFO just happening upon Tomura- desperate, shunned, and vulnerable- who just happens to be Nana's grandson makes him so much eviler and more despicable. Him seeing an exposed child and deciding to use him to be cruel to Nana's memory and Toshinori drives home his callousness. Making it so that he orchestrated it just takes away from that. Tbh, it just makes him look like a loser. So, both Tomura and AFO just suffered character assassination.

Back to killing Tomura, do you know how awful this comes off? This character claimed his own power and goals, only for that to be stripped by making him a puppet, the attempt to save him is drawn out and goes nowhere, and then he just fucking dies. Like he never mattered at all. Like trying to save him was a complete waste of time and there's nothing about him worth saving.

And people saying he deserved to die for his crimes, THAT ISN'T THE POINT. It isn't about what he did or didn't do. I couldn't care less about that. It's about how Horikoshi stripped him of agency again and again and then discarded him when he didn't serve the shitty narrative he created.

Tomura and Izuku deserved so much better than this

#mha critical #bnha critical #horikoshi critical #tomura shigaraki #shigaraki deserves better #shigaraki tomura critical #izuku deserves better #izuku midoriya critical #anti all for one #anti afo #he was great in the beginning only for horikoshi to do this to him #for what #can't believe mha has come to this #it's actually making me feel gross inside #long post #i kinda went off on a tangent here #i have a lot of feelings #anti bakugou katsuki

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let-us-cultivate-our-garden · 1 year

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I’ve seen people state that Dana Terrace has a tendency to emasculate the characters she doesn’t like, especially villains . Like often making them be defeated incredibly easily or making them do things that go against their established characters. From what you’ve seen do you think this is true?

Honestly, I think you can make the case that she does this to characters she DOES like as well; not the emasculation part, but the out-of-character moments. The most recent offender is The Collector who was previously established as enjoying watching Belos abuse and murder grimwalkers and is looking forward to the Day of Unity, but in For the Future, none of these malicious traits are present, and he seemingly does a 180 in his characterization. They're just a Lonely Kid with superpowers instead of the chaotic god child who apparently delights in misery.

It's one thing to present a character one way and gradually reveal the layers underneath but such a drastic change with seemingly no explanation is not character development, it's a retcon.

The show also has a problem with setting up how some characters change: Darius was initially presented as being contemptuous of Hunter but warms up to him once he stands up to him. Considering his history with the previous Golden Guard, shouldn't Darius know what Hunter goes through instead of assuming Hunter is spoiled? Darius' rebellion against Belos is also muddled; he becomes a fully-fledged CATs member because he cares about people and is suspicious of the Day of Unity. Except, I don't believe we're ever shown why this is the case. Darius is a Coven Head and it's his job to get more recruits and was trained by the previous Golden Guard. Logically, he should be a firm believer, but instead he uses his status to climb the ranks to act as a mole. This is a great starting point but we're missing what triggered this in the first place. The only hint is that the death of his mentor is what started his rebellion against Belos. But this isn't really expanded upon and it raises more questions. How did he find out that it was Belos who killed his mentor? How much did the Golden Guard tell him? If the death of the previous GG is what made him turn on Belos, then why does he treat Hunter poorly? If you're going to have a character act as a mole, then at least explain what their motives are and how they were developed.

This shows how fundamentally flawed the world-building in The Owl House is; characters only follow Belos when it's convenient to the plot. So in the end, you have characters who oppose Belos because they're on Team Good Guy (Darius, Raine, Eberwolf), the ones who support him because they've always been Evil (Kiki and Terra) and the rest of the isles who either celebrate him at a parade or denounce Eda's potential execution because two teenagers said so.

Anyway, onto the villains...

Odalia is essentially a war profiteer who doesn't care that her entire species is about to be wiped out by the DOU, even though logically she should. She cares about her company and a company can't profit if the majority of your customers are dead. She is tyrannical, cruel, and greedy and it's fun to watch her be reduced to a mere servant. I don't mind this development for Odalia, however, it does point to the trend of taking powerful enemies and reducing them to a shadow of themselves for comedic purposes.

Kikimora was presented as a terrifying enforcer of the Emperor's laws but she got progressively more pathetic to the point where she had to impersonate a teenager and serve as the right hand to Boscha, a character we haven't seen properly since Season 1. She is presented as power-hungry, pathologically ambitious, and has an intense desire to earn Belos' favor, but when he turns against her, she helps King find the Collector, effectively helping defeat Belos. But recently, she is back to her Season 2 shenanigans by taking over Hexside and the question is why exactly? We saw her world crumble before her and she reverts back to her previous traits instead of actual characterization. A common interpretation is that she is just THAT obsessed with power that nothing can break it, which isn't...realistic. FtF doesn't show why Kiki does this, she just does. Perhaps because of the psychological damage of Belos betraying her she decides to continue with what she's always done, except that this isn't telegraphed clearly. Instead, she just comes off as a mini-boss before the final showdown.

That leaves Belos as the only real credible threat and while he is terrifying on a personal level, we never see him at his full power; for apparently being the most powerful "witch" in the isles, his magic doesn't really stand out from what was seen before. And in King's Tide, he was just playing with Luz. He is ultimately brought down by his own hubris and misplaced trust, and an over-powered god child. Belos' defeat is thematically appropriate so it's not as egregious as Kiki's but it does fall into the category of "Easily Defeated." Obviously, we'll have to wait for the finale to see if that trend continues.

Belos' defeat by the Collector seemed to set them up as the new threat in town, that Belos, for all of his power, was ultimately nothing and the mysterious Collector is a force to contend with. But no, the Collector is largely kept in check by King. So Belos' defeat doesn't do anything for either character; we don't get any reaction from Belos about his centuries-long plan blowing up in his face and the Collector isn't even bad, just misguided. As for the misunderstanding between King and the Collector and their "new game"? I don't think the Collector will actually do anything that will have lasting damage, not while Belos still breathes.

And that's a common problem the villains in this show have, any attempt at interiority or psychological depth is explicitly rejected by the show (remember Kiki and her family, how she was worried about being disowned? Psyche! She'll drop everything for even a smidge of more power!) and the lesson seems to be "these characters have always been Evil and nothing will change that."

It can be fun watching villains go from intimidating to pathetic, but if that's all you do with them then it becomes boring fast, at least for me. Ultimately, I think the biggest problem with the villains is that you're supposed to take them at face value: Belos, Kiki, Odalia, are Evil for petty reasons and will do anything for power. Not all villains need to be nuanced with complex characterization but if all of your villains are just Evil all the time and the text explicitly does not want you sympathizing with them or even showing a different side to them, then that's just a wasted opportunity to flesh out your world with interesting characters.

#the owl house #toh critical #toh criticism #emperor belos #philip wittebane #kikimora #darius deamonne #odalia blight #toh collector #asks #long post

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toxifoxx · 6 months

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ok serious thoughts on the fnaf movie this time. they're a little scattered but i did just see it so i gotta think on it some more before i give like an actually structured review. but immediate thoughts post-viewing:

i had fun with the movie! i thought it was enjoyable. was hoping for at LEAST a little more blood (i really wanted to see william fucking explode into blood for one) but i knew there wasn't gonna be much since its pg13. it wasn't scary like in the slightest except for 1 jumpscare that almost kind of got me but i wish they set up the atmosphere a little bit more.

MAJOR GRIPE. i hate that vanessa is related to william. please stop retconning the afton family scott pretty please. give that man his dead children back. i seriously seriously love the "man goes fucked up sicko mode because of his grief" trope but alas.

i think that the pacing is NOTTTT very good at all. william needed more screen time 100% and there wasn't that great of a build up to the climax. maybe its more impactful to people who didn't already know that steve is william, but i'd wager that they're probably like HUH WHUH??? at that reveal because its not really. set up that much. and yes im biased because i fucking love william ok.

i think matthew lillard did a great job, BUT... we barely got to see him at all! and, especially with the "i always come back line..." i cringed a little bit man. like what are you coming back from? you haven't died yet man. there's nothing to come back from yet tf are you yappin about. it felt like it was really shoved in there honestly. we DESPERATELY needed to see more of him! in fact, most of the characters needed more set up! like ok... mike lost his brother? why should i care. mike is gonna lose his sister? why should i care tho?? these kids died but they dont really seem like they care too much about being dead either so whats the big deal.

AND WHY DIDN'T THE KIDS HAVE BEEF WITH WILLIAM/THE YELLOW RABBIT. THEY CLEARLY WERE SHOWN TO KNOW HE KILLED THEM, BUT THEY DON'T TURN ON HIM UNTIL ABBY PUTS UP HER SHITTY LIL DRAWING? FOR REAL????? WHY? + THEY DONT EVEN GET NAMED AT ALL. THE MOVIE CARES SO LITTLE ABOUT THE KIDS AND YET THEY DONT EVEN ALLOCATE THAT TIME TO AFTON EITHER. THEY FUMBLED BOTH SIDES!

also a lot of stuff just kind of isn't resolved? like the mike vs his aunt thing. is his aunt dead or...? + what was the fucking freddy saw trap thing that doesn't get explained at all. did the police not see that or does william just lug that thing in and out of the building constantly. what's it even for.

im also curious about some things. whats up with that kid who had a midnight motorist shirt. whats up with the other random springlock animatronic that is never named nor do we get a full look at. Where's Henry. are we just straight up ditching henry this time around?

i came into this knowing it wouldn't be lore accurate nor gory because of the rating but ugh. Ughhhh. can we please settle on one fnaf timeline to be canon its been almost 10 years we don't needa be playing like this anymore bro. i want to see the afton family for REAL show me cc getting his fuckin head chomped off or elizabeth getting snatched. give us literally any of the original missing children give us cassidy or something. like even in the silver eyes at least we got henry ffs! it just makes me a little sad knowing that one of the rejected scripts WAS accurate to the game lore.

shout out to my homie @yellowbutterbear for seeing the movie with me and discussing this stuff with me 🔥

6/10 not enough william afton moaning and whimpering AMEN!!!

#fnaf movie #fnaf movie spoilers #i dont have a text post tag on this blog. ermmmmm #toxi.txt #good enough

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lovemyromance · 1 month

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I recently found this post that the other side of the ship war rejoices over and it kinda soured my mood. https://www.tumblr.com/lullabestie14/745286670873739264/oh-my-god-look-what-i-just-discovered-so-in?source=share

My faith right now is based on the fact that if sjm really wanted lucien and elain to be mates, then she would do a way better job developing them and would not neglect them for three books straight. Because so far that ship is just unbearably uncomfortable on multiple levels. There is also the fact that i can't figure out what book order would be possible with this line up (like, does it really make sense to have az or mor as the last book's mc? Because elain definitely feels like the next mc. To me the logical thing would be to have az/elain book, then mor novella, then feysand book to wrap things up). There is also sjm saying in one of the latest interviews that no matter how much she tries to plan things years ahead, her characters will still take her where they want. Sorry for the rumbling, ig i am just really trying not to get too upset and believe in the narrative. Anyway, what do you think, should we be worried about something she said way way back then?

Honestly, I really don't think that post is a reason to worry. There are so many logical holes in that flow of thought (aka. assuming she said it was an Elucien book, assuming she is telling the truth about not changing her mind, assuming BB wanted to buy the spinoffs exactly as she said or just 3 more books in general, etc.)

I think she was contractually obligated to write 3 more books. Who knows what she pitched them as?

What I can tell you is that in the text, there is no mention of Elucien in a positive sense. If she were sticking to Elucien, why did she write it like that? Why did she bring in all these Elriel moments? Why did she send Lucien off on an off page mission in ACOWAR and he was basically never seen again, except to occasionally guest star at Solstice??

I also want to point out that SJM's writing style is "Pantsing" , not "Plotting" (she said it herself). Which means she just rawdawgs writing, no outline, no plotting. Which is insane to me considering how detailed and layered her plot lines are and how long her books are. I genuinely think because of her writing style of not plotting it all out before writing, she is a little unorganized (take it with a grain of salt, as I am an extremely type A person lol). That's why she's retconned plot points, that's why she has a bunch of fragmented storylines with so indication she will wrap them up.

Which means even if she were telling the truth with that comment on Facebook years ago, it's very likely she changed her mind 🤷🏻‍♀️

I do think she's just hyping up the plot point she laid out in ACOMAF with that Facebook comment though. I think she changed her mind on Elucien after ACOMAF, and decided to go an Elriel route while she was writing scenes for ACOWAR and realized Elucien doesn't click at all.

But it's not like she can say "oh yeah I messed up on making them mates" "or sike they won't end up together lol" when someone comments on making elucien mates. That would reveal a huge twist. For example, if you look at her interviews in ACOTAR about FeyLin, she gushes about how great they are. She wasn't going to reveal a giant twist then and she still isn't now 🤷🏻‍♀️

That coupled with her most recent interviews of wanting to pursue a rejected mates storyline make it more obvious to me that she's going for Elriel. I mean, it's clear in the text.

In order for her to make Elucien endgame, she would have to:

Fix the massive distance she created with them in the last 3 books

Fix the burgeoning feelings between Elain & Azriel (no I don't think the BC was an ending to them in any way)

Have Elucien fall in love

Have Elain train her powers (which I don't think Lucien could help her with whatsoever. If anything it's going to be Amren or Azriel)

Have them play a part in the Koschei conflict

And I just feel like that is way too much to cover in one book. Not to mention, the book is going to be dual POV and it doesn't make sense that Azriel is getting all this screen time only for Lucien to get a POV.

I think the last 2 spinoff books will follow:

1. Elain & Azriel: They will have forbidden romance trope, rejected mates storyline, maybe something to do with Dusk Court, and they will have some small Koschei conflict but will not defeat him.

(Like we really don't get introduced to Koschei much until the end of ACOSF. They don't defeat Koschei, they just temporarily foil his plans. I think we'll get something like that again for Elriel's book. There will be a Koschei showdown but it won't be the end of him)

2. Lucien & Vassa: Lucien, fresh off his rejected bond will, will fall for a new LI in this book to wrap up his happy ending. I feel like it's Vassa because the whole "Bird of Flame & Lord of Fire" thing, but admittedly I don't have much evidence. I think together with the IC, they will finally defeat Koschei in this book and address the Autumn Court power struggle. Lucien will find out his parentage and he and Vassa will live happily ever after. I know he's Helion's son, but I think it's poetic that formerly Human-hating Lucien will fall for the human queen and stay with her over moving into Day Court.

And maybe she'll have a novella after maybe not. Idk. All I know is she was planning on 3 books after ACOWAR. We already got ACOSF, so I can only see a plan for 2 more so far.

I don't think Mor will get a book tbh. I haven't seen SJM write LGBTQ+ romances as her main characters. She kinda just sprinkles them in for diversity (ahem Fury x Juniper). I don't think Amren & Varian will get a book. There's just not much there, like they're already together. I don't know who else would be relevant enough to get a book.

Plot-wise, I don't think SJM will address the Illyria conflict thing either. It was a plot point to show unrest, but that's it. I don't see her writing an entire book about Azriel/Emerie "saving" it. I also don't think she's going to deep dive into Autumn Court power struggle either. I literally think it will just be Beron will die in Lucien's book and Eris will finally take over. I don't think she will write an entire book on healing journeys and she won't write an entire book on Tamlin's court in spring.

That's just my prediction, so we will just have to wait and see what happens!

#elriel #azriel #elain archeron #pro elain #acotar #elain x azriel #elain #antielucien #antigwynriel

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stevie-petey · 3 months

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SPEAKING OF SEASON FOUR

I'm so worried that the duffer brothers are gonna fuck up jancy. That flirting with Steve and Nancy in season four was not cute. Like jancy isn't my favorite ship in the series (because I'm in love with Jonathan but that's not the point) but we've established that Nancy DOESN'T love Steve. Did you see Jonathan's face when Nancy started talking about how Steve's grown up? You could tell it made him insecure, It's foreshadowing the love triangle all over again and there's no point in keeping it. It doesn't add to the story it's just another stupid plot for drama, which we don't really need!

It also takes away from Nancy's character!! She's not the kind of girl to just go from guy to guy. She's also not the kind of girl to flirt with her ex who's clearly still got feelings for her while she has a boyfriend!! Even if it was unintentional, like subconsciously, still she's smarter than that and she cares about Jonathan and Steve's feelings she wouldn't risk hurting the both of them at once.

I mean if we're talking about come home it could work as something for bug and Steve to work through I guess ( I don't wanna talk about it too much because it's so far away and there's a lot more we have to go through to get to that point) but it's so outside of Nancy's character. Maybe she's just confused cause she almost died and saw Steve get seriously hurt? But still Nancy isn't a homewrecker and she's not a super jealous or promiscuous person. Even if she didn't know about how close bug and Steve have grown she wouldn't go after him. But strictly speaking of stranger things now. She hardly interacted with Steve in season four, which is fair she's still in highschool and Steve has a job. They have their own shit going on. It's understandable. I feel like Nancy's character gets misconstrued a lot, partially because she keeps getting reduced to a love interest. I just hope Nancy and Jonathan don't fall apart because of how much they've changed during their time away. I love Steve but he's not right for Nancy and she's not right for Steve. I hope they Don't ruin such a great relationship with so much potential. Like I see the problems in jancy but I can see how well it could work if given the chance.

honestly it just feels like the writers dont KNOW what to do with nancy anymore or even jancy. i adore them and think theyre so sweet together but the writers are just ,,,, pissing me off. bringing back steves feelings for her and nancys weird feelings for him was just ??? unnecessary and NO ONE was asking for it

i will say however i do see the vision for stancy. i think they did have a good shot at being in love and happy, theyre right person wrong time, but if that was the plan since season 1 then ,,,, it shouldve been touched on earlier ?!?!!? we dont see nancys feelings for steve at ALL until season 4 like even WHILE THEY WERE DATING. its stupid. and like u said: nancy isnt like that !! she’d never directly hurt anyone :( shes so kind and loyal and the writers are mean

and jancy ,,, ugh they have sm potential if the writers would just figure them out. they keep having the same argument of jon wanting to care for his family and nancy wanting to uncover and explore shit its just. ugh.

for season 4 i will DEF be retconning some shit because yeah. im not dealing with a repeat love square that will be resolved literally THIS SEASON in season 2. feels so dumb to be so repetitive. i will however bring in some elements in that love triangle back in 4 but not in any definitive or dramatic way. smh

#ask #anon #m speaks #m rants technically #nancy wheeler i will defend u with my life

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dailylogyn · 6 months

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Well I enjoyed the loki show and I always loved loki and I don't get the hate for the show so what ever. It's still great. And yes I hate sylvie tho and would've love to see sigyn and loki in the mcu. No matter what tom hiddleston was perfect as loki

To each their own. I'm at least glad you enjoyed it.

I've actually had to force myself to step back at the end of both Season 1 and Season 2's finales and process what my issues were with the show -- what I liked, and didn't like. And now that I've done the same after Season 2, I think I've figured out why I overall didn't like the Loki Series as a whole...and it's mostly because of expectations I had for the show:

MY THOUGHTS/EXPECTATIONS FOR THE LOKI SERIES:

What I mean by "expectations" is: I thought the Loki Series would take over after where he was left off/escaped from in the Avengers (2012)-- a Loki struggling to accept his identity as a Jotun. The Loki who realized his whole life was a lie and the person he thought he was isn't who he ACTUALLY is.

I really thought the Loki Series writers would go into that and explore it and help Loki come to the point of Self-Acceptance and Self-Love...just not in the way they ended up writing it out with the TVA and everything we ended up getting.

And honestly, I wish they had actually explored more Loki Variants instead of briefly touching upon them (or mentioning them) and that's it. If they are getting into the concept of the Multi-verse, why not freakin explore the other Loki's too?! I want to know more about Kid Loki, Classic Loki, Gator Loki, etc. What was their universe like? How different was their life? What caused them to be pruned (we know Kid Loki's was 'killing' Thor, but what about the others?)

I also feel the Loki Series wasn't exactly focused on Loki himself. It felt more focused on the TVA and the whole Multi-verse storyline itself.

Now granted, we can argue that's because at the end of Season 2, Loki becomes the "God of Stories" and the new "He-Who-Remains", hence it being his story of how he became that all along...but I just feel they could have explored his story in a different way (but I do love & hate how Loki sacrifices himself to protect those he loves. It is what makes him Loki though...)

If I'm being serious though, this ending also feels like they killed him off just to bring him back and do it again...and again...like a cashgrab. Why can't we write a story about Loki being happy for once?

And a girl can still wish we had gotten Sigyn or Amora in the show...but like I said, I wasn't going to hold my breath for that one. ;) We know Marvel.

And yes, while I know some others may love Sylvie (and I honestly did at first), I'm glad they retconned the forced romance between them. However, I still wish we got the real Lady Loki.

Tom Hiddleston will always be our Loki. He's done a wonderful job, but I can understand why he would be done after all this. He needs a break (plus he has his wife and his own kid now.)

#answered messages #loki series criticism #anti sylki #loki series critical

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thestupidhelmet · 9 months

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Hey there! First of all - I can't begin to say how amazing your work on here is. Your metas, fanfic, comics - as a relatively new 70s fan, it's been so great to peruse. I started watching the show in the autumn last year, and grew up in the 2000s so it still feels nostalgic to me.

It might be a bit of a weird question, but basically I've really been interested in researching the original screenplays, especially the 'scrapped' s7 ending (Aka the original finale) before it was renewed for season 8. I've had no luck so far, and I was wondering if you have had any experience looking for these before? If you have, would it be possible to ask for any pointers on where to start on my journey?

Thanks so much for everything you do, honestly it's amazing to read!!

Thank you for the kind words! I'm happy you're enjoying my T7S works. 😊♥️

Unfortunately, unless you got a hold of the T7S writers' own copies of their original drafts (if they -- or the producers -- still have them), they don't exist online anywhere.

The information I have about them is from the That '70s Show message board at Fan Forum. It was active from the time the earliest seasons first aired until my co-mod and I shut it down this year. The archives are still available to read at Fan Forum.

Before I was part of the board, it was a known quantity to people at That '70s Show. For instance, Wilmer Valderrama posted there a few times.

People who ran T7S fansites (which were a thing before social media sites like Facebook and Tumblr existed) often had connections to the show, and they shared insider info with people on the board, including about the S7 rewrites once S8 was greenlit. One specific example is that Jackie and Hyde were not supposed to reconcile until after Jackie's job offer in Chicago / ultimatum -- in other words, the series finale.

Because the series finale turned into a season finale, Jackie and Hyde's happy endgame was scrapped to give a ready-made story-arc to S8. That also led the showrunners to reconcile J/H temporary to give them a little more time together as a couple, allowing for the cliffhanger of the now-season finale.

J/H's reconciliation episode in S7 is badly written. Probably quickly written, and it shows. It contains no depth, no acknowledgement of their two-and-half years of show time as a couple. It defaults to their status in "Going to California" (5x01) and misinterprets and retcons it to boot.

(Reminds me of how T7S writer and T9S showrunner Gregg Mettler admitted he used Wikipedia to remind himself of the T7S characters' basic characterization and storylines instead of actually watching the show again for the most accuracy.)

When I became co-mod of the T7S board, I read through over fifteen years of posts (did my due diligence so I could be as knowledgeable as possible about T7S, behind-the-scenes info, and the fandom. The number of posts I read is staggering (we're talking close to 100,000), not just from my board but every T7S-related boarding on Fan Forum.

I also followed links to the fansites, using the Internet Wayback Machine when necessary. Found interviews with cast members and producers (transcribed, early podcasts, and filmed). Read through the Live Journal fandom and any other T7S message boards I found. I was beyond thorough. I treated my new post like getting a PhD in T7S.

Talk about hyperfixation (but I had my reasons 😅). My memory for this kind of info is scary. I might not remember how the contents of my dresser drawer have been arranged for over a decade, but I'm the person who naturally memorized her most interesting college classes and could recite their entirety to people (who were interested) for years after I graduated.

So it was with the T7S info I learned. Spoilers from taping reports with alternate takes and scenes ultimately cut from the aired episodes. The words I read while in a grocery store checkout line of the S8 showrunners from a TV Guide (I believe) interview and how unhappy I was upon learning they hated J/H's relationship and were reverting it back to their season-1 dynamic (as they [mis]understood it).

By repeating all this info for a decade to people who asked, it remained with me. I shared some of my findings on this blog with links. But to get the full picture, one would have to read all the posts and fansites, etc., which is a ridiculous task. So I do my best to provide what what specifics I can.

When I was a co-mod of the T7S board, we still had people visit who interacted with T7S creators. One person, for instance, had interviewed Mark Brazill (the man who came up with the major concepts of T7S) for his own site and posted the transcript for us.

I'm sorry that I can't help you find the actual original scripts (I'd love to read them myself), but if one watches T7S's latter half, original parts are still evident -- as are where stories were spliced and rewritten.

#that 70s show #that '70s show #Jackie x Hyde #Jackie Burkhart #Steven Hyde #Ask #intizzies #My Meta #My Essay #Essay #Meta #BTS #Behind the Scenes #Personalish

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redd-byrd · 6 months

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AAAAAAAAAAA I LOVED IT SO MUCH

MY DAD WENT WITH ME AND HE ALSO LIKED IT

I’m so glad the theatre was almost empty, I was so excited that I was doing full-on hand-flapping, which I almost never do, and squeaking and giggling like a crazy person, I was stimming like crazy cuz I was so happy to be there

MASSIVE FNAF MOVIE SPOILERS BELOW THE CUT

And friendly reminder that this is my ✨OPINION✨

This will be long and very ramble-y so bear with me

OK SO FIRST OFF THE ANIMATRONICS

- I loved how they acted like kids??? Like you tend to forget the ghosts are actual children when looking at the games since they’re constantly all “murder monster-y” so I love that they got to act so childlike

- Kids’ drawings being a massive plot point was so cute, I actually didn’t mind how sudden Afton’s defeat was since like,,, they were only on his side in the first place bc the drawing showed that he was their friend, so it suddenly switching around made a little more sense. Probably could’ve been executed better but for what it was I think it was fine

- And of course THE DESIGNS!!!! Holy shit I loved how they looked!!! The prop team did an AMAZING job with both the animatronics and the background props!!!

- The interactions with Abby were adorable, I loved the fort scene because of how goofy it was to watch giant machines dressed like animals put that together

- Also I know we were all skeptical when the red glowing eyes were shown, but honestly the scenes where they DID glow would probably have looked good even if they didn’t change it, though I will say that the final look is really nice by itself

NEXT IS THE MAIN CAST

- Matthew Lillard did an INCREDIBLE JOB as William Afton, when my dad and I came out of the theatre he said that he had a feeling that Lillard would be the antagonist (mind you my dad knew nothing about the games or the movie), which really shows how well he does at playing horror villains and playing up that gut instinct

- I loved how creepy he was in the final fight scene, just creeping out of the shadows with those two glowing pinpricks was SO cool

- Also Afton being retconned to not be British anymore is so funny to me askdjhsjjdhdj

- Abby didn’t annoy me at all, I actually thought she was super cute!! Which is surprising bc I usually find kids annoying but I’d die for Abby

- When I say that I got WHIPLASH from the animatronics being nice to her and later Mike after she introduced them, I MEAN IT (in a good way)

- Mike taking Abby seriously and believing her when she said her “imaginary friends” are actually ghosts was a nice change of pace

- The group that broke in honestly didn’t need that much characterization since the main thing the plot needed was Max, so that was fine

- I am confused about why people aren’t more concerned about the murders that took place throughout the movie??? Like a missing poster in the background would’ve been fine, or maybe Mike reacting to Max being missing?? They don’t give much context on their relationship, I have no idea if they’re friends or if she’s just someone he hired and doesn’t have much emotional investment in, so maybe that wouldn’t work

- VANESSA MY BELOVED

- Vanessa was great, I love her character so much, but idk if I love her by herself or it it’s cuz she didn’t get much characterization in the game,,,, doesn’t really matter ig

ABOUT THE STORY

- Story was really fun, I love the unexpectedness of some of the scenes (dance scene, fort building, Freddy blade mask, etc) I thought it was so funky

- Afton using a separate identity to lure people to Freddy’s was cool, though I have no idea why he’d do that to other people. I can understand Mike, he likely knew about his brother through the last name, but why other people???

- I am a bit sad about Henry n Charlie Emily being left out, considering how big of a part they both play in the game lore, but idk if it’s explicitly said whether they exist within the movie universe or not, so we’ll see in the next movie ig

- THE SPRINGLOCK SCENE!!!!!!!! I loved it <3 idk how they didn’t go off after Afton was bouncing around in it earlier but when they did go off it was SO COOL!!!

- “I always come back” YES HE DOES!!!! LETS GOOOOOOOOOOO

- End scene of him bleeding out in the storage room hinting towards the full Springtrap character??? Loved it

- Also HELLO FREDBEAR??? GOLDEN FREDDY?? YELLOW BEAR???? WHAT

Extra info:

- No Markiplier was not in it, he was too busy with his own movie

- WAITER MATPAT?????

- Corey was awesome, I thought he was so funny for his short time on screen, esp the post credits scene

- THE FNAF 1 SONG MADE IT IN OH MY GOOOOOOOOD CONGRATS TO THELIVINGTOMBSTONE

Random plot holes or inconsistencies I found:

- Foxy had a scene where they forgot to switch the red eyes to the new glowing ones

- Despite the animatronics killing the group that broke in, spilling plenty of blood, they’re perfectly clean afterwards

- My dad found it weird that they didn’t show any part of the kids’ bodies in the suits, since it’s apparently known that they were stuffed inside (or maybe only Vanessa knew??). He thought an arm or a leg poking out would’ve worked. I said I think it’s either cuz the bodies were removed, are kinda mangled and pretzel-twisted to only be in the torso, or it’s just bc they didn’t think to do that lmao

- He was also confused on how Afton was able to jump around and move so easily in the springlock suit when the suit in the back snapped off the broom handle after a single jab. I said I think it’s bc it’s meant to be used to move around in and not harshly screwed with, or maybe it’s another plot reason

All in all, 8.5/10 movie. There were a few times when I was confused on why something happened or why someone behaved a certain way, but none of it was outright bad or boring. There also could’ve been more to the gore, definitely could’ve pushed the boundaries of the PG-13 rating, but it was good for what it was. It was fun, cute, and knew when to be serious :P

#fnaf #five nights at freddy's #fnaf movie #five nights at freddy’s movie #five nights at freddys movie #five nights at freddys #fnaf movie spoilers #spoilers #fnaf spoilers #movie spoilers

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paellegere · 15 days

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final thoughts: supernatural season 14

this might be the first one of these posts i've made where i really just have no idea what to say. maybe once i get to writing that'll change, but i'm so neutral on this season that it's hard for me to really formulate anything concrete to write down here. hm.

actually this might be, perhaps, that i'm just getting really dreadfully bored of these last 5 seasons of the show. the novelty of the writers retconning things they find inconvenient, rewriting lore to suit their whims, forgetting plot points and character traits and lore, and generally warping the show beyond recognition has long since worn off at this point. i still had the energy to be annoyed in 11 and 12, i was just rolling my eyes about 13, but now i'm just kinda like. yeah this may as well happen. so maybe that's why i don't feel any particular way??? i'm not sure.

another thing i've come to realize, bitterly so, is that this show just isn't about sam and dean's relationship anymore. which is insane for The Sam And Dean Show. of course i understand why: after season 11, sam and dean are functionally married in their enmeshed psycho relationship, and there's nowhere else to go with this. they reached the pinnacle of their devotion and there's no more the writers can reasonably do with them. they're stable. and this is why season 12 and 13 both introduced new major recurring characters to help shape and develop sam and dean in relation to each other. 12 had mary to generate conflict between them, and 13 had jack. they both revealed new sides to sam and dean and explored forgotten or overlooked or underdeveloped parts of their identities, both as a unit and as individuals. season 14 continues that, because there's nothing else you can really do here.

that doesn't mean i don't find it boring, though, lol. i've had 11 seasons of sam and dean constantly rubbing against each other and finding themselves and choosing brother above all else, and this conflict has been the sole driving force of the series the whole time. everything else was just supporting backdrop to keep them moving, keep them stressed and on-edge so that they have to make those hard choices. but with the conclusion of season 11, they've stabilized. they know who they are and what they mean to each other, and what used to be backdrop is now all that's left. the show needed to introduce more characters to create conflict because sam and dean can't generate enough on their own. and that's great for them as people, but rough for a story. and i think now that i've recognized this and i've gotten through season 12 and season 13 and now season 14... the investment in me is lingering. fortunately i only have one season left, so i'm not too bothered by this all things considered.

as for season 14—i found the "jack is sick and dying" plot really hackneyed and boring and really poorly written. i kept likening him to that whole waifish victorian orphan boy who dies to teach the main characters a valuable life lesson because truly, that's how it played out. it was so boring i'm sorry jack. you didn't deserve that.

the soullessness was interesting, and i think the complete lack of healthy communication skills between all four of our main characters really did a good job of keeping that plot tense and constantly exacerbating in the worst ways. i'm honestly upset that mary died because i was so disappointed with how she was handled in season 13, and in season 14 she really just... didn't do much, so there wasn't much of an opportunity to fix what they broke before killing her off. i guess i'm used to that wasted potential though. just a bit disappointed is all 💔

most of the episodes were pretty good. 14.12 stands out as being one of my favorites because it returns to the core Sam And Dean Show themes, with them desperate to be on the same page and choose each other. that felt really really good, especially after so long without it. and 14.15 was pretty awesome too; i really loved how they handled both sam and jack's respective plots, and cas and dean were perfect supporting characters for them. it couldn't have worked any other way so it felt immensely satisfying. generally i didn't hate any of the episodes, so that's good.

i did REALLY like the final conflict with dean and the god gun and cas and jack and sam. i think the only thing that could have made it better would be to have sam fling himself in between dean and jack—to really make a statement about how he can't lose anyone else. like imagine: he doesn't even necessarily want to stop dean, but if dean's going to die then he's going with him. he can't lose dean, and he can't live with that grief. so he decides to go with them. it would have been soooo satisfying. play on season 13's "if we die, we do that together too" and their general obsession with each other. i wanted that so badly. i can't say i'm not disappointed </3 but otherwise? i really liked the four distinct perspectives on this conflict and how they clashed. cas really felt like a character in these last couple episodes, which is miraculous considering how boring i find him otherwise, and i appreciate that. this finale couldn't have happened without him, and that's awesome! and i like that sam was so conflicted—being so against dean's plans, but being so reluctant to contradict him and fight back. the level of reticence has been born from years of struggle and a true commitment to their enmeshment, and i could really feel it. it was played so well.

dean is obviously the "bad guy" here, taking the antagonistic stance to "do what he has to" and sacrificing himself yet again. it's so him, and i like that in his grief he jumps right back into self-mutilation and violence to an extreme, those horrible conditioned responses and behaviors that he's struggled with his whole life. it felt good to watch him fuck everything up. and it felt even better for jack to agree with him, to kneel down and allow it all to happen, even beg him to do it. to say dean was right, he's a monster. because like i said at the beginning of season 13, dean sees himself reflected in jack, and this is another layer of that. it's a very intimate moment between them, two monsters accepting their mutual destruction. i think the fact that dean can't do it reflects his hard-won desire for change and his compassion, and definitely his love for sam as well. he saves jack, he saves himself, he saves sam. there's a lot of layers and the fact that jack is the amalgamation of them makes this moment so intense and so meaningful.

also just in general dean perpetuating the cycle of violence through his son and yet at the same time being unwilling to kill him parallels with both 2.01 and with ummm 1.22? pretty sure that's the one where john is possessed. dean is unwilling to kill his family. john is unwilling to kill his family. he can kill himself but family is sacred. he loves them and that's evident even through the violence they both propagate. dean is a product of his raise, after all.

anyway all things considered i did actually think the season was pretty good, even though i'm rather bored of this show at this point lol. i just want to go back to kripke era already, which is exactly what i plan to do when i finish watching season 15 :) but for now i'm starting my detox because i have quite a few wincest fics lined up for me. amen and hallelujah 🙏

#liveblogging: supernatural #i didn't realize how much i liked the finale until i started writing about it so that's nice #.txt #spn reviews

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hamliet · 2 years

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Hello, Stranger (Things)

So, Hamliet finally watched Stranger Things, motivated by the promise of a super hot squid villain I mean, 80s nostalgia and a good story.

Overall, I enjoyed it. Eleven and Max are my daughters, and Will is my son. Steve and Eddie are too pure for this world (so were Alexei and Bob). Robin and Erica are amazing. Nancy is my girl. It is a good story.

The writing itself varies wildly, with characterization inconsistency as the story’s main flaw. Seasons 1 and 2 were extremely tightly written and well done. Season 3 is definitely the weakest, with several characters just doing what the plot needed them to do for Reasons, but it ironically has what was, for me, the most satisfying climax. I also found Season 4, while also having some very, very, very obvious flaws in its writing, the most interesting in terms of themes about the past, choices, parents, and more. We’ll see if they continue to explore those in Season 5. If they do, it could be great.

The Part Where I Complain

Y’all know critique’s coming so let’s get it out of the way before I gush about other things and give theories.

Season 1:

The subtext around intercutting shots of Nancy choosing to have sex for the first time with scenes of her BFF literally dying is decidedly Not Great. Yes, I know it is a deliberate flouting of the typical horror movie trope in which the dark-haired girl who has sex gets murdered. But it still relies on this premise that women choosing to have sex for the first time is a negative and results in losing your friends and not knowing who you are anymore.

Season 2:

Season 2 introduces the good victim/bad victim dichotomy between El and Kali, and Max and Billy (which continues into Season 4 with Henry). The writers also don’t seem interested in exploring this deeper.

Also, the writers are addicted to sacrificial death starting this season.

Season 3:

If you thought I was going to complain about Billy’s death, you’re not wrong. But it’s honestly decently done so writing-wise it’s not terrible, and now I’ve complained a bit so let’s go on.

Why did Steve and Billy never interact again? After that fight in Season 2, there was unfinished business. I can only conclude the writers were terrified of the sexual tension. (I kid. Kind of.)

Mostly, here is where the inconsistent characterization emerges. Hopper’s character is the worst victim of this. His arc could have worked, but the execution didn’t. It makes a lot of sense for Hopper to struggle with anxiety and to have all his insecurities stirred up with having a daughter again. But how controlling he was to the point of threatening a child? It wasn’t shown how he got there at all. Hopper deserved a way better arc than acting controlling with El and Joyce without the substance behind that being explored.

Jonathan was also somewhat inconsistent in Season 3, again not because his conflict couldn’t work, but because the writers didn’t put the time or effort into making it work. Jonathan being mad at Nancy for pursuing the rat lead was a bit nonsensical, and then being furious when they lost their jobs--the conversation about their experiences with sexism and classism could be an excellent source of conflict for them. However, it’s brought up just once and then dropped. If you’re gonna bring it up, explore it.

And I know the show isn’t over and these issues could come back, but like. Patience only gets you so far when you’re telling a story in serial format which inevitably affects the experience consuming it.

Season 4:

Why is the Upside Down’s poison air now gone? Do you know how obvious a worldbuilding inconsistency has to be for me to notice and care?

Brenner’s characterization was also a retcon that puts BNHA’s Enji retcon to shame. ~He may have abused and been a monster, but he still really loved them~ The complexity, again, is not inherently bad, but it wasn’t even remotely hinted at earlier and four seasons is a long time to suddenly be like “surprise!” But I am glad El chose not to say she understood at the end.

Ye old "the way the world is is actually a prison and we should change it" is again the ideology of a villain. Like... really, it’s a bit tiring to see revolutionary ideas always framed as dangerous. Not that I’m advocating violence or Vecna’s solution, but. Vecna's making points. Since we can't have that let's show him slaughtering innocents to show us he's wrong even though--well--some of it ain't wrong.

The clear neurodivergent and gay coding of Henry Creel is... here is where I’ll invoke patience. I’m not entirely ready to say I don’t like this yet. It really depends on how the show handles it next season.

The Parts Where I Liked Things

Will’s sexuality (and also, just. Will)

Going into Stranger Things, I only knew a few things. I did know that many people were complaining about Will being a queerbait-y character, and went into the show expecting Will’s sexuality to be a subtextually teased thing that I would complain about.

Not the case.

Even before Season 4 Volume 4, and actor interviews aside, the show is very upfront about Will’s sexuality from like the first 20 minutes of Season 1 Episode 1. If people didn’t get that Will was gay, I’m sorry, but--how? Joyce literally says that he’s “sensitive,” and other kids call him “queer” and other things. Season 3 has Mike directly state that Will does not like girls. Yeah, kids say stupid shit all the time and people develop at different paces, but it’s a story, not real life where we say dumb things that don’t matter. In a story every detail should be important. The writers are trying to set expectations. Something that is repeated multiple times across seasons is obviously intentional. It doesn't need to be spoonfed to the audience be abundantly clear that Will is gay.

The scene in Vol 2 of Season 4 where Jonathan and Will talk--where Jonathan is clearly telling him that he knows Will is gay and he loves him--is beautiful, one of the show’s best scenes.

Give Will a Boyfriend please (Mikhail, anyone?)

But, more on Will later.

Season 4′s Themes

Like I mentioned earlier, I really enjoyed Season 4′s questions about the past, about parents, about the difficulties of growing. Everyone regressed this season: Jonathan being Mr. Mom, Joyce was absent (even w good cause), Max isolated herself, El thought she was the monster again, Steve obsessed over Nancy, etc.

Steve: Too Pure, Too Good For This World

Speaking of Stancy/Jancy... the writers really don’t need to draw out this love triangle. Unless a major retcon is coming (not impossible), Jancy should be endgame as it’s always been set up to be. Steve and Nancy will probably have another moment, but there’s enough weird framing of Steve’s feelings in Season 4 to make me doubt any possible endgame for them. Despite Dustin and Robin insisting it’s true love, Nancy never once said it was love herself, and the problem is that Steve also says--after Dustin has already suggested he get Nancy back--that he would date Robin if she was not a lesbian. Hence, I’m not convinced the story wants us to buy Steve really loves Nancy, or if he just loves an idea of hers.

The thing is, Steve already has what he says he dreams of. He wants six kids. Well, that’s ironic considering he has six kids Robin explicitly identifies as “your kids”: Dustin, Mike, El, Max, Lucas, Will. He also says he dreams Nancy is there with them and the kids--and she is. She already is, even if not romantically. My guess is Steve will realize this at the end of his arc.

Honestly, Steve’s arc is a fantastic deconstruction of toxic masculinity. Which... don’t hurt him Duffers. Don’t. I’m begging you.

Max Will Be Fine

Seriously, I promise. Max will be fine. You don’t leave a character in a coma unless you plan to wake them up, unless you’re the latter two seasons of Angel levels of horrifically bad writing which, for all of my complaints, Stranger Things is not.

Max is heavily foiled with Vecna (and Chrissy): traumatized, isolated child subject to the whims of their unstable mother. Vecna tells Eleven that he wants them to make their own rules, essentially to be gods of the world. Max, way back in Season 3, tells Eleven that “we make our own rules.”

Max’s words are what El remembers when she brings Max back. No, this isn’t negatively framing El bringing Max back. It’s showing that there might in fact be some nuance. Max’s rules are based in love and friendship, in hope, in love of humanity, while Vecna’s are based in hatred of humanity. To uphold Max’s message--which the story needs to do--Max has to live.

Eleven, I am Your Brother!

Okay, now let’s talk Squid.

Henry’s whole story is Star Wars. Actually, Season 4 was just Star Wars (makes sense given the 80s stuff). Brenner was Yoda, telling Eleven that she wasn’t ready to leave just yet, that if she ran out to save her friends she’d fail. I know the prequels weren’t until the late 90s-early 00s, but Anakin killing the younglings is clearly the inspiration of Henry’s rainbow room massacre. And Henry’s “join me, Eleven, to build a better world” speech is essentially Vader’s speech to Luke and Kylo Ren’s speech to Rey braided together.

With that said, I fully expect Henry to get some kind of human ending. Will he atone? Don’t think so. But the foreshadowing is pretty obvious. (More on that later.)

Brenner tells El that she and Henry are not alike: “that’s where your similarities end.” Brenner’s the least reliable narrator about this. (Also, you cannot give the abuser--Brenner--a redemptive death and not give that compassion to his victim.)

El and Compassion

El’s true superpower isn’t her telekinesis. It’s her compassion. It was her compassion, her empathy with the abused child in Billy, that inspired Billy to sacrifice himself. Her compassion saved Will. Yeah, she’s human and lashes out, but she loves deeply. Her compassion freed Henry and then her uncontrolled powers turned him into Vecna (not that she’s at fault; she isn’t). But her compassion should ultimately be what helps save the world.

Vecna himself asks El this. "Why cry for them after everything they did to you?" Well, let's see Vecna. Why does Max cry for Billy? It’;s kind of a theme in Stranger Things. Even without forgiveness (like El not forgiving Brenner), she still acknowledged his humanity. I don’t have to love it to see the theme as it is.

I strongly suspect the main question at the end for Vecna will be "after all I've done to you, why cry for me?" But compassion is what Vecna’s missing, what he lacks in his view of humanity. It’s the true magic of being human.

Henry and Vecna, Unreliable Narrator

Did Vecna choose to become the monster like he proclaimed? Yes. And no.

It’s not a coincidence that an abused child targets other abused, isolated, and traumatized children. Even if Victor loved Henry, his mother was clearly implied to be considering locking him up and lobotomizing him. Like... woof. There’s a lot there subtextually. He’s clearly targeting himself as much as he’s targeting everyone else. I’m not sure the writers will entirely explore this, though. But I do think they will have him experience humanity again. They should.

Honestly, Victor should die trying to save/stop his son. If Victor’s alive, and if he mourns his son--which he does--he should have to consider whether he loves Henry despite everything that Henry has done. If he does, he should try to convey that even if it kills him.

But who will the actual key be to stopping Vecna?

Will as the Key

So, there are two characters--and only two--who have survived the Upside Down for any significant length of time. Vecna, and Will.

I actually think Will is the one who can reach Henry. It can't be Eleven, because Henry sees her as having hurt him. But a “weak” helpless boy who is an outcast, gay (Henry is absolutely coded this way) and has just been suffering his entire life still choosing love (or even choosing corruption for a time and going back to love/friendship even though I doubt the writers have the balls for this particular plotline)?

Vecna thinks he and El are the two most alike, but it’s actually Vecna and Will. And Will is so human, in everything Henry thinks he hates about human beings. He’s not superpowered. He’s a sad boy in unrequited love with his best friend. He just happens to have a mom and brother who love him.

Plus, tbh, structurally Will should be the focus of season 5. Season 1 was Mike (the heart, which Will called out funnily enough in Season 4), Season 2 Lucas (the mind), Season 3 Dustin (the body), Season 4 Eleven and Max.

Obvious Foreshadowing is Obvious

I’m not sure how much clearer the D&D game at the start of Season 4 could be in terms of foreshadowing. 11 couldn’t defeat Vecna.

But 20 did.

How interesting that the three kids still alive are 11, 8, and 1, which totals 20.

Henry--Vecna’s humanity--is probably going to be key to stopping himself. No, I don’t think he’ll get any sort of classic redemption, and he certainly won’t survive it, but I can see him pulling a Zeke Jaeger where he doesn’t exactly repent but still chooses to sacrifice for some bigger goal like destroying the Upside Down or something in a moment of compassion in the end.

#hamliet reviews #they will be fine #max mayfield #eleven #peter ballard #vecna #henry creel #stranger things theory #stranger things meta #stranger things season 4 #victor creel #jonathan byers #steve harrington #nancy wheeler

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lesbianspeedy · 1 year

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If Connor and Mia were reintroduced in GA Rebirth and had gotten a soft-reboot in their origins, what would you have liked to see?

this is a great question but im not very smart so the answer may be bad but lets give it a go. also i barely rememebr rebirth.

im glad you said soft reboot, because i think honestly their origins, especially mia's, should stay relatively the same in this scenario.

so for Connor, this makes ollie a teen dad which is already an in joke i already have with a friend, we kept asking joshua williamson if ollie was now a teen dad when connor first reappeared and he never replied to us, so sad, loser. i think if they were to have kept the retconned origin in this scenario, where-in ollie DID know about connor, it could've worked well for a reason to him abandoning them, in place of the whole "i have a higher purpose with green arrow" bullshit.

HOWEVER. i am team fuck the retcon so. connor can still find out about ollie from finding moonday's scrapbook, but this now makes him born in the 90s which i think is very funny and should therefore lead to him reading as many online forums about ollie as he can at the local library. now in n52/rebirth iirc the ashram doesnt really exist? which is hard bc like obviously buddhism and the monastery is like central to connor's character. so i'd say he still goes to one, but probably wouldn't meet ollie there.

instead for them to meet i'd say he starts to volunteer at one of ollie's many projects? and they meet there a good few number of times when ollie goes to help out. then when ollie is once again presumed dead after the whole ninth circle shado broderick stuff he becomes GA to help people while not-actually-dead ollie and co are doing all the ninth circle stuff. then when they all return theres a whole plot around their actual relation etc etc.

for Mia. completely fuck the n52 shit idc about that boohoo die. honestly i'd keep everything from her pre52 origin the same which ik feels like a cop out for this question but. its so important to her character that changing any part of it feels like a disservice to the story yknow.

however obviously the whole youth centre doesnt exist in the same way as her original story, soooo. it's harder to adjust how mia comes to live with him when he doesnt have a place to give her a job yknow. i guess mia comes in at a later point in rebirth, when ollie has that house outside the city. maybeee heee idk gives her resources that he still trusts to take care of her but also gives her his number/address in case she needs a place to crash, and she ends up there more than not, so they make the whole if u wanna stay you go to school deal again. i cant see her becoming speedy before the end of the run in this scenario.

i hope this answers ur question. i think it does. its kinda a mess tho. i do think it would've been funny for emi to come back from the titans and be like what the fuck did i miss while i was gone. why do you have other kids now.

#had to take a break halfway though this bc trying to remember the rebirth timeline of events was giving me a migraine

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tuiyla · 2 years

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okay, I thought I'd be sick of talking about Santana's outing, but I'm not! specifically, I think it's fascinating how most of the fandom doesn't... actually remember what happened? like, so much of what I see being said that places Santana in the wrong in this situation is just... not true. like, you're literally just wrong. not even in my opinion, either, it's just factually incorrect. canonically, the shit that you're saying happened literally didn't happen.

"Finn just slipped up and mentioned her sexuality a little too loudly in the hallway!" no. he didn't.

"everyone already knew!" no. they didn't.

"nobody cared!" yes. they did.

Every time I think got it all out I realize that I, in fact, have even more to rage about! So I feel you, we're deffo on the same wavelength about the many sins of IKAG.

You are so, so right, and no offense but I wish you weren't because people can be so thick about this and it's appalling how well IKAG's retcon works. They implicitly retcon the actual Outing to the point that you're absolutely correct, people will straight up lie about what happened. Okay, maybe not lie, but misremember to the point that I've had full on arguments with people about this, begging them to just rewatch the goddamm scene. After three or so rounds of back and forths they rewatched the scene, and guess what? Whereas before they argued that it was an impulsive reaction from Finn, something he blurted out and couldn't possibly be blamed for in light of Santana's relentless bullying*, they now admitted they were wrong.

Isn't it insane how many will claim that? How people go into discussions with full confidence about false memories. And I blame this false memory on IKAG itself and how it reframes The Outing. It's so insidious you really wouldn't notice it as a casual viewer who buys the hero!Finn devil!Santana narrative. In its very first scene, IKAG entirely puts the blame on Santana by reshifting the narrative to be about her mistake. Her lashing out, unprovoked (choke on a sombrero, William). We never acknowledge Finn's cruelty. Hell, we never even acknowledge her bullying! Something that could have been really fucking great to address! The greatest disservice IKAG does to the story itself, beyond decentering the actual lesbian in the story of her own coming out, is that it retcons Mash Off. Finn's speech, as you and I have rambled on about before, is cold and calculated and anything but accidentally slipping up, blinded by anger. It's chilling and honestly just stomach-turning how calm he is. He wanted to hurt her and hurt her in the most insidious way he knew how.

But because he suddenly cares about her in IKAG (by blackmailing her????) and because the story paints him as this understanding guy who only wants the best for her, because we actually have a fucking line about how it's Salazar's ad that's forcing Santana to deal with this, not Finn, people forget. And it really is subtle enough that they can alter your view of the previous fucking episode. If you don't care for Santana's story and are willing to buy the Finn hero narrative, that is. Turns out, a frightening number of people are just like that.

You're so right, these are just the facts. There's no interpretation of the hallway scene in which it wasn't a calculated move to attack Santana through her sexuality. I legit believe the writers realized Finn came off a little too badly in Mash Off and did the Glee thing by pretending it never happened that way. They did such a good job people still buy this shit a decade later. Disgusting.

*And on the note of why and how Finn did it, I'd argue that it literally does not matter, so people who were tricked into misremembering The Outing itself still suck for even entertaining the thought that Santana could have possibly deserved that. Under no circumstances would Finn be in any way justified in what he said, how he said it, where he said it. Santana could be the biggest bitch in the universe, she could say every cruel thing ever, she could be so horrendous to him no one could possibly forgive her. And she still wouldn't deserve to be dragged about her sexuality, called a coward for being in the closet in a conservative small town, attacked about her relationship with Brittany. Finn had no right even if I think the insults were way out of line. The retaliation is so incredibly disproportionate and only something someone like him, a privileged ass who never unlearnt his homophobia could do.

AND THEN, IKAG has the fucking audacity to rob Santana of even that. Of being pissed off at Finn for what he did. She can't even have her anger, ffs, in this disgraceful episode of television because the story warps what really happened and paints the guy who outed her as the hero who wants her to be safe. Not because she's a human being deserving of decency, mind, but because he slept with her once and that makes her special. I. Could. Vomit. All over Flopson's stupid face. Sorry that's graphic lol but my rage knows no bounds.

#thomas-the-goat-of-satan #i go insane when i remember people buy ikag's retconning #sickening truly #i am so mad i am actually red in the face lol #i am but a cartoon character with anger levels at critical 100 when it comes to this #ikag continues to be my villain origin story #i hate it so much and i hate that people will try to argue #AGAINST santana 😩😩 as if any bitch could deserve THAT #glee #anti finn hudson #fuckhim fuckhim fuckhim #the outing #anyway thanks for dropping by love at least we're raging together <3

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samobservessonic · 5 months

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Incredibly excited for this issue! The title “Attack on the Death Egg” already promises to be big stakes. Not only that, but we have Nigel Kitching back on writing and Ferran Rodriguez doing a stellar job on the art! I liked the art in this issue so much that I looked ahead to see how much more Rodriguez contributes to the series and sadly he only does a handful of issues here and there, so let’s enjoy him while he’s here

This is also the establishing of a huge plot-point in StC - Sonic's base being the previous headquarters of one Dr. Kintobor and the hologram of the computer there looking like how the kindly doctor used to look, even if its appearance in this issue does get retconned later. This concept continued to exist by the time I started reading the comic in issue 80 and I did always wonder why the Kintobor computer looked like that. Turns out the answer was “just because”. From a real-world perspective, I suppose it is a way to keep the whole concept of Kintobor in the eyes of the readers, who might not be familiar with Robotnik’s backstory from this lore

The Death Egg is also still around and Sonic’s looking rather casual about it being about to crash in the Emerald Hill Zone. Also, yes, they’ve moved on from the Green Hill Zone and locations in Sonic 1 to the Emerald Hill Zone, which remains their base of operations for the rest of the series. Letting my Sonic 2 bias show here and saying I just think the Emerald Hill Zone is cooler anyway, so no complaints there

After the disappointment of the non-Labyrinth Zone in the last issue, it’s great to see Sonic categorically being in Wing Fortress and fighting badniks from the game. I’m not going to post the whole sequence, but we see Tails flying the Tornado, the laser-beam boss from Wing Fortress and lots of easter eggs. It really felt like the team working on this issue cared about the games and that makes all the difference when it comes to making this comic resonate with the target audience

The duo hitch a ride into space, where they board the Death Egg and try to figure out a plan to stop it from crashing. At this point, we also get another big cameo…

…Silver Sonic! Or whatever the franchise is calling Silver Sonic these days! It doesn’t take long for Sonic to beat his robot double, but they do mention that Sonic thought he took him down “the last time he was here”, with a footnote telling readers to check out Sonic 2. For the most part, StC does adapt the later games into comic versions, but it looks like for Sonic 1 & 2, those games just happened prior to the events of the comic and exist to give early StC its setting

As the Death Egg continues to crash, Sonic alters its course away from Emerald Hill and tells Tails to take the only escape pod. We then get this sequence I really like of Tails mourning Sonic, only for Sonic to appear and be like “I’m too cool to die”. Idk I just really like how Sonic’s personality comes across here? He’s cool and arrogant, but he’s still a hero - he just wants the celebration that comes along with his good deeds

Of course, I’m sure I don’t need to point out that, while the Death Egg crashing into the ocean was a creative way to deal with that plot at the time, it will create plot-holes later on, when Sonic 3 shows that it actually crashes on the Floating Island. I honestly don’t know if StC will address this or if they’ll just retcon this story, but regardless, I had fun and I’d say that the art in this issue has been my favourite so far

No clear teaser about what’s coming in the next issue, so that’ll be a nice surprise as well

#sam observes sonic #sonic the comic #stc issue 6 #sonic the hedgehog #miles tails prower #silver sonic

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