#i made this before the promo for the new season dropped

[audiblehush]

Okay, so post-P1 trailer, the thing I’m MOST excited about for is Colin and Penelope’s ACTUAL friendship!

Because while Colin has always viewed Penelope as a genuine a friend, she has always had the added lense of “I’m in love with you,” and that changed the way she interacted with him.

But now, to Penelope, Colin has essentially closed the door on him ever seeing her in a romantic light, both with his end of S2 words AND their “friends” handshake in S3. “Okay,” she probably thinks, “that dream is dead but friends. I can do friends.”

But what this opportunity does is this give us Penelope functioning in this friendship as an ACTUAL friend, and not just “yes sure friends but I can’t get the heart out of eyes enough for it to be truly genuine because I’m wearing a mask so you like me” - That didn’t make her a bad person; it made her a girl with a strong crush worried about his view of her; it’s normal! But it also obviously led to her putting on airs around him, while also having him on a pedestal and not seeing him as a fully realized person.

But these “lessons” allow for them to be around one another without expectation. That scene of them giggling in the ballroom like dorks, as if no one else was around them??

ABSOLUTE PERFECTION!!!!

Colin will begin to see Penelope as a true friend because she’ll LET him; she’ll drop her guard enough to be real instead of trying to impress him all the time. THAT is (hopefully) when Colin starts to realize his feelings: because Penelope will finally be her authentic self… while feeling more confident because of her new wardrobe. He’ll be attracted to her new confidence, and her ACTUAL personality she’s letting him finally see, not just her physical glow-up (the candle symbolism!!!!).

COLIN will now have heart eyes for her, and maybe the one to have her on a slight pedestal… only for the LW reveal to happen and shake his world… letting us see his hurt, his anger, his worry…

Once they work through all that is when these two see each other for who the other REALLY is, flaws and all, fighting to grow individually, as a friendship, as a COUPLE… and choose each other every time.

THAT. IS. MY. JAM.

I still have my concerns about the season. I do NOT want Colin only realizing his feelings once some other guy pays her mind. I NEED him to already be struggling with and analyzing his feelings before Debling get involved. If I had to guess, it will be more than Colin is like “okay, I’m pretty sure I have feelings for Penelope, but how do i know for SURE when I’ve thought that before?” (thanks S1…) … but then Debling comes along looking for a wife, and Colin is suddenly between rock and a hard place because now he has a sort time limit to sort through really complicated feelings.

Violet says “ what more could SHE want?” mostly likely about Penelope and Debling, because Debling is wealthy, titled, and has strong interests and beliefs he is committed to (based on his promo info, anyway). This has already been an insecurity of Colin’s since S1. He’s a third son (with wealth, yes), but he has been searching for “his purpose” for ages now; it’s all over S2 how lost he is and how that frustrates him. His family tends to tolerate him at best and kind of ridicule him at worst, and so he flits by being easy-going and “charming” when he just wants to know who is and be accepted for it. So Violet says all this and Colin says “but you said friendship is the best foundation” and she tells him to follow his heart.

But that’s the problem: Colin struggles to KNOW HIS OWN HEART, and not just romantically! So I just want to know how much of his feelings for Pen has he grappled with at that point? How much exploration outside of his Pen stuff has he done regarding his own person? Because he IS a person outside his relationships, but HE doesn’t feel that way.

EDIT: Also, ALSO Yes, Colin is hyping pen up, but I want her to hype HIM up once she sees that he’s not as confident as he acts. She’s seen glimpses of that in S2, but S3 can let her be like “actually, you are AMAZING…” and without romantic intentions, just her telling her friends he has so much to offer the world.

I’m also scared Penelope will make some awful choices (Nicola hinted at this in interviews) and like, i get it we need conflict, but my poor heart can only take so much…

At the end of the day, it’s all speculation. It’s so hard to say with how trailers are cut, and I know they can’t include it all, and most people are here for the romance so that is what they would lean into… so I’m really trying to avoid doom-theorizing, or even getting attached to things I WANT to happen. We won’t know until it’s out, so I’m just trying to contain both feelings of nervousness AND excitement.

I JUST LOVE THEM SO MUCH, YOUR HONOR!!!!

#polin #bridgerton #penelope featherington #colin bridgerton

[try-set-me-on-fire]

Fic Writing Review 2023

Words and Fics

107,074 words published to ao3

1 fandom (9-1-1)

Most recent: I’m still standing in the same place where you left me standing

Longest fic: not counting the short fic collection it’s where all of the people dancing and clapping would great me with such warmth (15k)

Top 3 by Kudos

pick me, choose me, love me (trapped Buck and Chris)

all my life, there you go (collection of soft prompts)

maybe fall in love (first fic posted for the fandom! It’s a hot night in LA…)

Personal Favorite

I’m actually very fond of a lot of them but I’ll shout out All the work that needs to be done aka Bobby dies fic sorry Bobby I just think I did good work here…

Upcoming Projects for 2024

Oooobh I have so many wips…. I feel like I need to finish season 7 fight fic before the new season comes out and blows it out of the water (possibly literally with that promo…), but nurse Eddie my beloved… quilt shop au… proposal fic my languishing child…. Literally any of the other ones I’ve ever talked about….

That said I was thinking about how it’s weird I’ve never made either a Buddie adopt another kid or Buck obtains a child fic, I love making up children for characters…. Maybe that’ll get added to the slate…

And of course we’ll see what inspiration the new season brings…

Rules and Tags

Rules: Feel free to show whatever stats you have. Only want to show Ao3 stats? Rock on. Want to include some quantitative info instead of stats? Please do this. Want to change how yours is presented? Absolutely do that. Would rather eat glass than do this? Please don’t eat glass but don’t feel like you have to do this either.

Tagged by @daffi-990 and others but it’s so far back in my notifications and hard to find my deepest apologies

Tagging (if you already did this or tagged me I’m sorry) @burins @shortsighted-owl @shitouttabuck @rewritetheending @chronicowboy @homerforsure @eddiebabygirldiaz @malewifediaz @rogerzsteven @butchdiaz @thewolvesof1998 @wildlife4life @buckactuallys @lover-of-mine @jeeyuns @ anyone who’s tagged me in anything all year I have terrible memory for urls but know I’ve appreciated it every time!! You’ve all been so nice when I suddenly dropped from the sky and started yelling about these dumb firefighters alongside you, and I’m grateful for you all!

#tag games #year in review #my writing

[chirpsythismorning]

Has anyone theorized why the Duffers chose to focus on Ten (10) specifically at the start of season 4?

Because looking back, how he was framed at the beginning of s4, compared to the end, makes it obvious he was a red herring.

In 4x01, we get our first (less detailed) recount of the massacre at Hawkins Lab, with the focus singling out Brenner and Ten. While I think there could definitely be important ideas hidden in the subtext during those scenes between them, Ten doesn't seem to hold any importance to the overall story, as his own character, beyond what's given to us in that premiere.

Because in 4x07, when we get a more detailed recount of the massacre, we're now viewing this moment from El's perspective at that same time Brenner and Ten first come into view. But it's at this moment the audience realizes that it was never about Ten.

By the end that same episode, Ten is merely canon fodder. He was given almost all of our focus, and then he was gone. And that was it. But I think that's because it's obvious he was never meant to be important to the overall story in the first place.

Ten was placed at the start of the story, not only as a distraction, but to also act as usable early promo footage.

No, but seriously. It's quite common for shows to post the first 10 or so minutes on YouTube before the actual premiere of a new season. In fact, Stranger Things has done this with the first 8 minutes of s1 & 4.

Planning for marketing and advertising is so fucking essential to Stranger Things roll-out, they would've probably wrote and filmed those scenes, knowing that it could, and very likely would, be used early-on in the promotion circuit (because later scenes in the season are usually filled with spoilers), which meant whatever they focused on couldn't give too much away. If anything it needed to make you think you were getting a lot in the foreground, when in reality the true answers were tiptoeing in the background.

What I think makes the choice to focus on Ten at the start of the season so interesting though, is that he's the number right before Eleven.

Our focus, right from the jump, is specifically on the number that has proximity to Eleven...

And so why do that? Why focus on Ten and then drop him into obscurity?

Maybe to distract us from the fact that the number we should've really been focusing on also has similar proximity to Eleven (literally and figuratively and numerically)... Mayhaps Twelve??

I promise you guys, I was minding my business, doing research for a completely different post, when I noticed a detail that expanded on my curiosity in regards to Ten.

Now, I'm not the kind of byler that tries to add up a bunch of numbers and say that it means something, and that's honestly mostly because I suck at math (and so no hate to the bylers that do that bc that's more of a me problem). And yet despite that, I really don't think this is even reaching. I think they made the choice to focus on the numbers they did and the way that they did, for a reason.

Although Ten didn't give us much of a purpose beyond s4 misleading opener vibes, he still started off the season with a fleeting, but still larger focus than the rest of the numbers besides El.

And so besides Ten and Eleven, which other number played a big role this season?

Two.

Though that's not to say Two operates as a red herring. I would say he actually plays a substantial role the entire season. He has a beginning, middle and end to his arc that stretches the entire season and feels layered in ways that make it clear he was more than just a blip to keep us busy.

And so, for the first episode of s4, these specific numbers were credited first before the rest, as they apparently played the biggest roles. And so, I just find it kind of ironic that:

Do you see it?

Okay, if you're still stuck I'll help you out:

The Duffers have admitted since s4 premiered that a lot of the surprises/answers they're saving for the end of the show, can likely be found within the show itself. This is because, a lot of the choices made, especially in season 4's case, were with the end in mind. And so details that maybe even seemed meaningless or ended up going nowhere, probably had a purpose that went beyond what we assumed when we were first confronted with those ideas. And that was probably the intention. Otherwise the surprise element wouldn't even be there.

Although it might seem like nothing is here, and maybe there isn't. Maybe I am reaching.

I still can't help but feel like these Hawkins lab scenes specifically hold the truth to what is going to play out in season 5.

Because the brothers have also admitted s5 is going to delve into the origins of Hawkins Lab and how Brenner's program went from involving Henry, to evolving and including multiple kids...

Honestly that alone should be enough of an admission that the s4 lab scenes probably hold more answers than we realize. All those choices they made, were made with the truth about Hawkins Lab in the back of their mind.

And so if they're going to make those revelations about the lab in the final season, and s5 is apparently going to also spend a lot of time telling us about Will's disappearance, whatever this all entails has to fit nicely with those scenes of the lab in s4. Because those scenes were extremely recent and also presumably written and talked about beside their outline for s5, meaning that they had every chance to hide the answers in the details... which they've literally admitted to doing by saying the answers to the ending are hidden in the show already... why am I even rambling about this in long form. This isn't a reach if you're actually considering what is in front of us.

That's not to say that we have the full picture yet to comfortably support Twelvegate as a full blown guaranteed theory. Because even though the evidence is astounding, there's still so much missing.

I think the imagery of time/clocks over the seasons being built up, going into the end of the show, and still without really delving into the time/clocks aspect fully, is maybe why I'm so open minded to how they could go about Twelvegate.

What we know about the past regarding Will's childhood along with what happened to Will when he went missing, for all we know might not even be the full truth. And there is some evidence that the facts surrounding Will's disappearance were changed between season 1 and season 2 and so... why was that? Back then fans thought it was just a copy/paste error, but now within the context of twelvegate... it's quite fascinating...

There's also theories Will himself created the upside down? And so, if that were to be the case, in any capacity, I imagine that his role in everything is a lot bigger than we imagine. Like that would make him equally as well known at Hawkins Lab as El.

It's not like we've gotten any imagery like that before, with Will being the center of interest at Hawkins Lab... Oh wait--

It's not like Will has ever been 'the boy who lived' level well known or anything...

But maybe that's because he's literally 'THE BOY WHO CAME BACK TO LIFE' well known!!

WILL BYERS IS THE CHOSEN ONE? WILL BYERS HOLDS THE ANSWERS TO EVERYTHING WE'VE BEEN OVERLOOKING AND MISSING FROM THE BEGINNING???

Then there's the fact that Will himself could play a role in how time is going to impact the last season and presumably our perception of the past itself, specifically in relation to Will and his time at Hawkins Lab (possibly).

Lots of fans predict time travel will be involved in some capacity. Though there is a lot of pushback both in the byler fandom and even in the ga at the possibility of this, because I think a lot of people associate time travel in storytelling with entire story resets and so they're scared that time will just start over and everything that occurred over the seasons would become meaningless. And I guess I could see why that would be disappointing.

However, even if time travel plays a role, and I do think it likely will in some way because the foreshadowing is too extensive to not have been intentional, that doesn't mean I think they'll do it in the most conventional or predictable way possible. I think it would have to be way more complex than what most people expect, and it probably wouldn't erase everything they've been through, assuming what they've been through is even the full truth to begin with...

#stranger things #will byers #twelve #twelvegete #byler

[cartoonbabbles]

I’ve seen a couple posts here lamenting the way the latest batch of episodes ended and I’m here to say…

1) it’s a show aimed at kids with new characters and tackling ideas that Transformers really hasn’t addressed. And dealing with queer topics/racism, you gotta present things as simple and straightforward before getting too complex. That’s why I feel Nightshade’s introduction works. The arc goes from the pronouns he and she not working to feeling different to learning there’s a term to describe that experience. I thought it was really sweet and a nice breather. Same for racism. We see Megatron address the fear of humans, and it’s further built upon outside of Witwicky as we see human society at large being hateful to Transformers, making them fight for food for the entertainment of humans. And with Robbie’s friend, Robbie gave him a lot of chances to drop the topic and he refused, and only changed after he realized he’d hurt Robbie so much that he left.

2) Now that that stuff’s out of the way. On to the good news. SEASON 1 ISN’T OVER. IT WAS A 26 EPISODE ORDER, AND WE’RE ONLY THROUGH THE 18TH EPISODE (IF my math is correct). That means we get plenty of time to see the fallout from the Bot brawl, the payoff to the energon mutation, what the fuck is going on with Optimus, closure as to what went on with Grimlock (I made a reblog earlier speculating we’re not done since there was a recent promo with some footage and lines from Grim not yet put in the show) etc. etc. Also in regards to the bear episode and other stuff that feels out of place. I feel you. That’s totally valid. What I ask of everyone is to be patient. On their own, each episode is pretty strong imo, but we’re yet to see the entire picture in terms of how the story for S1 is going to wrap up. Hold on folks, it might be a long wait but I’m sure we all want to see this season through!

#tfe spoilers #earthspark #transformers earthspark #transformers #tfe #tf earthspark #tfe mandroid #theory #earthspark spoilers #maccadam

[pluckysidekick]

So no trailer this week with two and a half weeks to go, le sigh. We did see ads from local stations (using old promo photos), and we got what appears to be the Nancy Drew 4.01 title and description. Read on for that and a bunch more show and cast bits from the past week.

“The Dilemma of the Lover’s Curse.” They’re hitting the curse head on, which I like. Two different sites posted the title along with an episode description that came right from the season 4 description we got back in January.

Now that we’re so close, the reality of Nancy and Ace having potential love interests is sinking in. We know that Nancy will not risk Ace’s life as long as there’s no solution to the curse. I’m still hopeful for lots of Nace scenes, with plenty of delicious angst. Curious how this squares with Kennedy’s discussion of Nancy and Ace’s emotional openness with each other - I still expect Ace to figure out the curse quickly.

I’m also super hyped about the sins of the town’s past, the multiple supernatural mysteries, and the stories for the entire crew. May 31 is so close I can taste it.

Scott Wolf gave us some insight into S4’s resolution for our beloved characters in a new interview - it was a big deal for them to know it was the final season ahead of time, the season will cover the things that are most important to us, but “not every resolution is going to be satisfying for everyone.”

Glad to hear they planned real resolutions for everyone, terrified about them not all being satisfying. I’m absolutely expecting Nace endgame, but I want good things for all of our family. They’re keeping us on our toes…

We saw lots of our cast this week - Kennedy made a surprise appearance in an Arizona bookstore with her author parents (note this pic is with her mom and the bookseller, not McDad), Maddison was in Paris and England with her Versailles cast and her family, and Riley is appearing in another episode of Station 19 this week.

Alex has been on vacay in Italy and France (Hannah captioned the first photo “Alex doesn’t like PDA. So I fixed it” ☠️). Alex’s new show High Desert premieres this week on Apple TV. There’s a new in depth, spoilery review at AV Club. According to the article (spoiler alert), Peggy (Patricia Arquette) is “no longer speaking to her grown son.” We won’t see Alex until episode 6 - could he play Peggy’s son?

Leah’s show Matlock was picked up for the fall (watch the trailer), and she’s celebrating in Mexico with her bf.

Meanwhile Queen Charlotte is another huge hit with fantastic exposure for Tunji - check out the in depth Tatler profile on our favorite Scotsman, where he draws an interesting parallel between Charlotte & George’s and Harry & Meghan’s experiences - and admits he’s never watched Bridgerton.

In more show news, the Nancy Drew writers’ request for fan input has generated tons of great questions but only chaos from the writers so far - no real answers yet.

Speaking of chaos, Kennedy stepped into the fray to drop four songs from her S4 playlist. “The Winner Takes it All” (no more ace to play), “all my ghosts” (all my ghosts are with me), and “Thinking of You” (cause when I’m with him I am thinking of you) are killing me, the pain. “Big Poppa” has me thinking about Nancy under some kind of spell a la Burning Bride (as she described Episode 2) hitting on everyone in sight - “mackin’ hoes” while “my crew’s behind me.” Now in honor of “Big Poppa”, what if it’s Ryan!?

Finally, two more cast members were added to IMDB - Fred the car towing guy is back for 3 episodes (3, 5, and 13), and there’s a new security guard in Episode 9.

You get a gold star if you made it to the end. Another week, another wish for a trailer and new photos. I’m busy wrapping up The Space Between - expect the thrilling (I hope) conclusion before the season premiere. Also planning a fluffy epilogue, I at least can promise satisfying conclusions for everyone!

#nancy drew #nancy drew cw #ace [redacted] #nace #ndcw #kennedy mcmann #maddison jaizani #tunji kasim #leah lewis #alex saxon #scott wolf #nancy drew season 4 #nancy drew s4 #nacesource #ndcentral

[talkingtea]

I know he can’t do promo now bc of the strike (which he’s probably relieved by), but why not do something before the strike like Lucy did? Even when the trailer first came out, he could barely bring himself to share it on his story, with no sort of enthusiasm whatsoever. (I’m not even convinced he was the one that made that story post.) Meanwhile last year when he finished filming it, he said it was one of the best experiences he’d ever had, so clearly he enjoyed the project. Just like he enjoyed being on The Flash, but for some reason couldn’t promote it past season 6.

So what (or who) is stopping him from doing promo? Like is Robert really that bad of a manager? Is LA that pathetic that she won’t allow her husband to promote any work where he’s with another girl? Because idk, if that’s the case maybe she shouldn’t have married an actor, and maybe Robert should stop getting Grant rom-com roles. Or y’know maybe Grant needs to get over himself a bit. Maybe get a new manager and drop the roommate wife??

It’s honestly so weird. We get not liking the promo part of it but like it or not that’s still a big part of the job so half-assing and letting your female costar do most of the heavy lifting (AGAIN) is not a good look

[goodboypolly]

A long thought about surprise queer representation:

The term ‘“getting ‘EVERY’ed” isn’t something that can just happen in any context.

The thing about the original EVERY is that it was from a completely unrelated multi show promo from Amazon’s Twitter, and no one paid that split second of Good Omens any mind for a good couple of days. Why would there be a Good Omens kiss in a queer kiss compilation for pride month, after all? Then someone actually watched the promo and went ‘wait a fucking second…’

It was out of fucking nowhere. We didn’t see a kiss coming in a million years.

When I first read the book years ago as a teenager, I fell in love with the idea of Aziraphale and Crowley. But it was a book that was finished and we would never get any new content. So I read every fanfiction written.

Then a show was announced. A mini series. A one off. Six episodes to tell the story of the book updated to the modern era. Like most of us who were fans of the book before the show, I was cautious. It could have been a dumpster fire.

And then it just wasn’t. I remember seeing a post way back in 2019 that summed it up perfectly: I knew I was going to like Crowley. I was always going to like Crowley. But I wasn’t expecting to LOVE Aziraphale. (Or something like that).

They were perfect and the extra scenes and watching these amazing actors actually play these characters gave us so much more fuel. The fandom exploded and we were so lucky to have an influx of ridiculously talented writers and artists and cosplayers joining our ranks.

I saw Neil Gaiman give a talk a mere week before the season 2 announcement was made. He is a professional like no other. I was fully fooled by him sadly saying that Good Omens was only going to be one series. He signed my book and was lovely and fully knew the whole time that he was going to change the trajectory of my fucking life the next week.

The announcement came and I lost my shit. This was something that was never going to get any more content. I was happy watching the same episodes over and over again and listening to different versions of the book or flipping through and rereading my favourite bits.

We were getting more content.

I never expected a kiss.

I don’t think any of us did. I thought we were always going to be living in the ‘it’s a love story, we’re just not going to show it or talk about it’ world. I’m used to being told that my existence as a queer person is meant to be kept as subtext.

It was days out from the show that EVERY dropped. Someone I followed on Twitter reposted it so I saw it. And I froze. I genuinely thought it was an edit. I had to tell myself it was an edit or I’d go insane. For the most part we all stayed silent on the subject. We didn’t want to spoil it for people who hadn’t seen it.

But I was going fucking insane. We weren’t getting a kiss there was no way we were getting a kiss.

When the show dropped I was there the first minute to binge the whole series in one go.

EVERY sitting in the back of my mind for the 5 or so hours of episodes.

Episode 6 was happening. I was 10 minutes out from the end. EVERY hadn’t happened. It must have been an edit.

Schrödinger’s EVERY, if you will.

Then it very much wasn’t.

It was real and it still is and I still lose my mind when I remember that it actually happened.

I don’t think anything else will ever feel like this.

—

For those who never saw it, I present:

#good omens #EVERY #aziracrow #A/C #I saw people joking about being EVERYed by HBO and I just thought about how much nothing will ever compare to the original feeling #this isn’t meant to be wanky #I just want to talk about how insane it is that this actually happened

[where-theres-smoak-2]

New Footage Alert!

(Book Spoilers) 

Netflix just dropped a new season 2 promo titled Shadow and Bone: Everything We Can Tell You About Season 2 on youtube, with some new footage and there was a thing or two that definitely caught my eye. 

One scene from the books that I really really want to see in season 2 is the attack on the Palace and the resulting chapel scene between Darklina. The whole sequence was great in the books and I was holding my breath the whole time I was reading it, in truth it was one of the few scenes in the books that actually got a reaction out of me and had me excited. Well it looks like at the very least we are going to be seeing the attack on the Palace so I am holding out hope that we will also see the chapel scene too. The opening shot of the new promo shows Alina looking up at the glass dome ceiling to see shadows gathering: 

Other scenes that I think will be from this attack are these: 

The first one looks like it may possibly be Adrik, Nadia’s little brother, and if it is then I am really nervous about the way that nichevo'ya has hold of his arm because either its that scene or some really on the nose foreshadowing. 

The second one looks like its the darkling versus Alina so maybe this is leading up to the chapel scene. There is another shot of Alina and M*l where Alina is in the same outfit which I think might be the scene where she tells everyone else to run and M*l is reluctant to leave, and she then goes to face Aleks alone which brings about one of the best darklina scenes in the books in my opinion. 

We also get a better full body look at Alina’s first army jacket thing: 

and it is actually a kefta, something I did wonder about, just made to look very very similar to the first army general uniform and yup I still hate it. I get that they are probably trying to send the whole united armies message but I still hate that Alina is wearing the colours and uniform of the King and army that has oppressed her people for hundreds of years. But hey that’s just my opinion. 

We also get a closer look at the propaganda poster from the previous trailer and it is definitely of Aleks and Alina from right before they entered the fold in the season 1 finale:

 So if you couple that with Nikolai saying that Alina and Aleks were co-conspirators I am assuming this is like an anti piece warning of the shadow and sun summoners. What is interesting is Aleks’ reaction to it as he kind of hesitates over the picture before angrily pushing it away. It seems like he is feeling pretty conflicted about Alina, the voice over also talks about him yearning to re-join forces with Alina so I am expecting to see him really struggle with that throughout the season.   

Speaking of Aleksander though, the shot that intrigued me the most is this one: 

He is very clearly really distraught here, like dude is having a full on meltdown. But he’s crying over something in his hand which looks like a piece of red silk or satin, its definitely a piece of fabric. But I wonder why this piece of fabric has caused such a visceral reaction from him. It does look like its the same room as this shot of him and genya:

But I don’t think its the same scene as in the one with genya it looks like there is sunlight coming through the window behind them and the one with Aleks crying its much darker. Also in the one with only Aleks and his mystery piece of fabric the candles on the fireplace are lit but aren’t in the one with genya which makes me think that genya’s scene happens during the day and Aleks’ happens at night. The darklina in me can’t help but assume that the piece of fabric has something to do with Alina maybe? This costume of hers does have red fabric that looks similar to the piece Aleks is holding:

and there is a shot of alina using her powers to protect a group of villagers whilst wearing it in this promo:

So maybe Aleks and Alina get into some altercation and a piece of her dress rips and he keeps it as like a souvenir/token and later cries over it, you know as you do after a bitter breakup where you are still in love with your ex but are stubbornly refusing to admit it. That’s my best theory anyway. 

We get this shot of Baghra and M*l:

I am 100% sure that this will be when Alina and M*l discover that non sensical plot twist about M*l’s heritage and link to the firebird as Baghra can be heard saying “that’s why you are here” and it looks like they are in Morozova’s workshop. I know it sounds harsh but I don’t really care as the plot twist didn’t particularly interest me in the books so I very much doubt that it will in the show, I’m sorry but I am just not invested enough in M*l or M*lina’s relationship to care all that much. Who knows though maybe the show will write it in a way that will make me care, guess we’ll have to see. 

Ok just some other little bits of interest. We get another shot of the sea whip and yup it still looks really amazing I would post a pic but I couldn’t get one that gave it enough justice but I would recommend watching the promo yourself so you can see the Sea Whip in all its glory. 

This promo reminded me of why I love Jesper so much in season 1, I am ashamed to admit I did forget in the time between the two seasons. But he’s just so entertaining to watch I loved every second of him that we saw in the trailer. 

Looks like we are getting the scene of Alina punching Nikolai in the face, is it wrong that I laughed? I can understand her reaction though first Aleks lies about who he is and then Nikolai does, I wouldn’t be surprised if she was half picturing Aleks and half Nikolai in that moment to be perfectly honest with you. 

#darklina #shadow and bone #s&b season 2 spoilers #anti malina #anti mal #the darkling #aleksander morozova

[kingsofgaytham]

i made those after my last rewatch in may, posting them here before the season drops so i'm not tempted to add anything new (i still might fill out a third one because i'm very normal about this show)

can't believe some of them already came true, based on the promo's

if anyone wants to make one the template is from kinosfroggy!

i'm so excited for this season, ten days to go 💜

#this post is mainly for myself but if any of you want to share your bingo cards then i'll be very happy to see them!! #if i get like half of these right then david jenkins you have to legally hire me #ofmd #our flag means death #ofmd s2 #ofmd s2 speculations #TEN DAYS TO GO #they are literally coming back NEXT WEEK #my post

[mariacallous]

Sombreros, serapes and maracas, horrible pronunciations, jokes about Mexican stand-offs, and really strange-looking tacos — did the “Mexican Week” episode of “The Great British Baking Show” leave any stereotypical stone unturned? After a similar debacle with Season 11’s “Japanese Week,” the internationally beloved competition series — which streams on Netflix in the U.S. — apparently decided not to learn from its mistakes, and dove headlong into Mexican food. And since the competition is largely to determine who can create the best baked goods, many observers wondered, why were they attempting tacos, anyway?

Even before the episode dropped on Oct. 7, the promos featuring sombrero-wearing hosts Noel Fielding and Matt Lucas came under fire from social media commenters — largely from the U.S., where finding a good taco is not as difficult as in the U.K. — who were quick to weigh in on the show’s utter failure to try to understand more than the most obvious characteristics of Mexican food and culture. Even the English-language plural of the word cactus eluded one of the contestants — not to mention the woman whose absolutely wretched try at guacamole sounded more like “glakeemolo.”

“It’s not hard to learn to pronounce words correctly, even for a living muppet of a host,” wrote José Ralat, the Taco Editor of Texas Monthly magazine.

“Tacos, new one on me,” says one contestant, as they are given the assignment for the technical challenge of making tortillas from canned “yellow field corn” and adding steak, spicy refried beans, guacamole and pico de gallo to make some sort of gloppy pile of taco topped with rare meat. The difference between tacos and “torteellas” perplexes one chef while the other predictably worries, “I just hope my chili is not too hot!”

But Austin, Texas-based journalist Kate Sánchez tried to put the furor into perspective, noting “Don’t get me wrong it’s definitely racist but also DACA was deemed illegal and my community is being actively harmed by forces not on my TV so glocklymolo and ominous maraca shaking is at least the stuff I can laugh at.” However, she did admit that peeling an avocado like a potato constituted “an act of physical violence against my people.”

“Absolutely haunted by this week’s #GBBO, I will never get the image of Carole peeling an avocado like a potato out of my head,” agreed Twitter user @IWillLeaveNow.

“Bracing ourselves for a whole lot of cringe,” wrote German-based historian and teacher Daniel Salina Córdova, who also shared a bingo card featuring all the stereotypically Mexican tropes used on the show.

“Mexican week on the #GBBO is so cringingly racially and culturally insensitive I have to ask how it was approved,” wrote @kcrusher on Twitter.

Did the show decide it might be better to apologize for stereotypes that have created harmful images of Mexican people for years? No, it did not, it made a silly taco joke. Netflix did not respond to a request for comment.

[tomwambsmilk]

Which rumours about the set leaks?

**potential s4 spoilers below cut**

Assuming this is in reference to my tag about the set leaks that made me suspect s4 might be the last season before the official announcement. And there were two.

One was an alleged video someone had taken of that scene Kendall and Rava shot in the street, the one all those promo photos dropped for. In the video, allegedly, Kendall is heard saying "You won't let the kids go to their grandfather's funeral? That's fucked up."

Now, I say allegedly because around the time this was shot, someone from HBO (legal? marketing?) had started trying to crack down on set leaks. There were unconfirmed reports of people who had posted photos and videos being contacted by HBO representatives who asked them to take it down. I think there was some implication of legal action, although I'm not sure what legal action they could have brought. Regardless, some bystander photos and videos did disappear around this time bc the owners took them down. Because of this, the person who took the Kendall/Rava video didn't post it publicly, but did share it privately with the SuccessionTV Reddit mods who publicly verified that the video did exist.

At the same time, other people have alleged to have see them filming and not heard that line, or heard a different variation which didn't implicate Logan's death, which seems to indicate that they'd started shooting decoy takes for key scenes in public locations. Which... complicates things.

The second leak had to do with the funeral they shot over the course of a week. Obviously, rumours immediately emerged that it was Logan's funeral. Brian Cox was on set, but a few people claimed to have spotted him and said that it didn't look like he was shooting; instead, it seemed like HBO had flown him in to avert the funeral rumours. The church they shot at is also in a very public location. Some bystanders claimed that at one point a funeral portrait of Ewan was placed very visibly outside the church, and that Nicholas Braun (and just Nicholas Braun) had come outside to do one or two takes of Greg watching the hearse leave - but there was a lot of speculation that these were decoy takes, both because of how little attempt was made to hide the Ewan portrait, and also because two takes is not a lot of takes. Additionally, other people reported a scene being shot where the hearse was covered with an American flag, which doesn't make sense for Ewan's funeral.

So, it really does seem like Logan dies around episode 7 or 8 - and for me, it's always seemed obvious that Logan is going to die in the last season. At that point I started emotionally preparing myself for this to be the last season (although clearly not enough, because the news was still devastating)

#asks #anon #season 4 spoilers

[smokeybrandreviews]

Metal Hurlant

Anime this year has been surprisingly excellent. From the likes of Skeleton Knight, to the shockingly endearing Spy x Family, and the absolutely hilarious My Dress Up Darling, i have had a remarkably great time with the content releasing as of late. Darling, for example, ended up being one of my favorites of the past decade. Dragon Ball Super: Superhero finally dropped, a little treat for all the Gohan stans out there but it ain’t really for me. I am excited about the fact that the DB team can get back to work on that promised Super continuation though. Interestingly enough, the rest of the year looks to be even more promising. You have the continuation of BLEACH in the fall, one of my all time anime, as well as second seasons for Tanya the Evil, IN/Spectre, and BOFURI. Hell, even Danmachi and Overlord are getting releases this year, each their fourth. Plus, we get proper adaptions for Song of the Night Walkers, Vermeil in Gold, The Eminence in Shadow, Isekai Ojisan, and Slave Harem. The latter is going to be very interesting watch. Those promo shots of Roxanne are f*cking amazing. However, the most intriguing title I've come across is Bastard!!

Now, I'm an old man. I was born in the mid-Eighties, right smack in the middle of what has come to be known as, “The Golden Age of Anime.” Indeed, this era was chock full of amazing titles that were beautifully animated and absolutely inundated with content that can only be described as anti-PC. I’m talking blood, gore, ultra-violence, sexual depravity, and whatever else a Zoomer would claim is “problematic.” This sh*t was real. I’m talking about films like Wicked City and Vampire Hunter D. Even the tamer stuff was still ridiculously violent. Think Dragon Ball, Legend of the Galactic Heroes, and Akira. Classics, all of them, but distinctly not of this era, which is why i find Bastard getting an adaption such an odd choice. The misadventures of the evil wizard Dark Schneider are every bit Eighties excess and i can’t imagine anyone under the age of thirty-five giving this show a chance. Bastard!! is basically Heavy Metal meets Fist of the Northstar. If you know anything about those shows, you know if they had a baby, it’d be the definition of problematic. Kids these days get upset if you even insinuate someone was kissed without consent. How the f*ck are they going to deal with the fact that, in order for the underage main character to even use his abilities, he has to be forcibly kissed?

Beyond that, holy sh*t is this series terrible to women! Like, i don’t mind it because, you know, i grew up in a time where this sh*t was normalized. I’m use to the cruelty. Again, Wicked City is a thing i watched before i made it to middle school. Belladonna of Sadness is one of the most beautiful films I've ever seen but it’s a whole ass rape bonanza. All of the time. Like, the main character is just forced into sexual acts every three minutes. It’s f*cking intense and unnerving to those who aren’t accustomed to that level of brutality. The assaults are effectively a trope in that sh*t. Bastard doesn’t go that far but it is not kind to female autonomy or consent. A cursory glance at the costumes these women wear are proof enough of that. Again, i think the sh*t it’s dope and welcome the occasional return to hyper violent, overtly misogynistic, testosterone saturated, brutality, but that’s the stuff i grew up with. That level of overindulgence was my normal. My anime was not as kind as, say, Pokemon. Bastard!! feels like home to me. I can definitely do without all of the rampant sexual assault everywhere, though. Alas, it’s a necessary evil when telling these old school stories. To a degree. I’ve noticed a few edits and the covering up of certain tawdry bits in terms of the costuming but, overall, this new adaption appears to be a pretty faithful interpretation of the story i remember. Still, I'm super curious what Porno will look like in this version of the show, considering all the change to the character designs. That’s if we even get to that point. Porno Dianno is a ways off and, by then, there’s a whole different issue at hand. Here’s to adding blasphemy to all the other controversial sh*t in this show!

#Bastard!! #Bastard!!: Heavy Metal Dark Fantasy #Dark Schneider #Tia Noto Yoko #Netflix #anime

[pop-punklouis]

This may be an unpopular opinion but louis shouldn’t sing songs from lt2 live before releasing them officially, it’s never good

mmmm i dunno about that. i think singing a deeper cut from the album would be cool right before the drop of a lead single bc then it drums up excitement in the fanbase about the new song being performed while also not having already heard the lead single when it releases. but even if he wanted to perform the lead single, it wouldn’t change the dynamic that much. i don’t particularly believe singing songs from upcoming unreleased records is a bad thing for an artist especially if promo season is about to begin yk?

what i DONT like is when artists put out like five songs of the album as singles before the album drops meaning you’ve already heard almost half of the record before it’s official release. Walls fell victim to that and i think with LT2 dropping in november, they’ve made sure not to make that mistake again as two singles would probably be the max and the best plan going forward.

#grey

[myshadesofwrong]

Thank you for your last post about the gay times mag story. It is irritating reading some of these comments/post from people who don’t understand how promo works or what building hype for a project entails. This article is meant to build buzz for the new season. Get people talking and excited to watch. People are literally boycotting the article because they think it’s disrespectful to the series, crew and actors. This is PROMO. They want you to talk about this. If this was some kind of mistake as you said, this article would be taken down and a statement issued quickly. This misplaced respect for “art” makes the job of the marketing team that much harder. People have to be more savvy and understand a true leak/spoilers vs planned promo/hype. It’s ok if you don’t want to know anything going into the season, but to shame others and presume to know how the creators and actors feel is what’s disrespectful. Also, unpopular opinion, but it feels like this fandom is made up of younger fans who have unrealistic expectations of this series being all fairytales and rainbows and b/c it might be angsty and “dark” as per the article, it is therefore a problem it was written about. It seems like for a lot of these fans this is their first series and they can’t comprehend nuanced characters/topics.

This!! 100% percent this!

If you’ve ever liked a show and followed it, you’ve seen this before. And you are absolutely right about it being the younger fans not understanding marketing and pr and simply wanting to protect the actors which drives me crazy. There’s a difference between being respectful of them and babying them. I’ve seen fans baby actors in their forties! But this was approved promo. Simple. There was only one ask that got edited out and I would have disagreed with that decision because it’s nothing we did already know. But they knew this was being released because they did the photoshoot and sat for the interview. It wasn’t some random person dropping all the leaks. This was promo to hype the series.

I also agree about fans wanting it to be happy and sunshine and Wilhelm and Simon in love in all through the series and that’s just not what the premise is. Omar said it best in the article. Give us the drama! You want to root for these very human characters who like all of us say and do problematic things. They WILL make mistakes and they will learn and grow. I have to admit, I agree with Omar. Give me the drama and the angst. Otherwise it would be a very boring series.

Thank you for your ask! You said a lot as well that I was feeling last night reading everything! And you hit the nail on the head very well.

#young royals #answered ask

[27emailsicantsend]

When do you think we might get season 4? Or a trailer? I just got into hsmtm recently so I don’t know how the announcement of premier date/trailer/promo timeline went. All I know is I fell in love with Rina pretty much the first time I saw them interacting and then the cheek kiss after homecoming had me a total goner! The rest is history! I can’t wait to have these two back on my screen and I hope we get to see them sickeningly in love because that’s what they (and we) deserve!

Ok first of all, welcome to the rina cult!!! We love you so much and I am so happy you're here :)

But also, since you're somewhat new to the fandom, I am so sorry you're having to go through this absolute drought with us. We were in the TRENCHES season two, so season three was absolutely a breath of fresh air.

And like, the absolute taste you have??? To know at homecoming they were going to be endgame? :') so happy to have you here!! <33

As far as when we're going to get season four... I'm nervous for sure. One of the show writers posted a photo to insta saying season 4 was coming "this summer", but quickly backtracked and rewrote it to say "coming soon". A lot of us got concerned, but also thought it might have been a fluke? So, we held our breath.

Then Frankie and Joe (Carlos and Seb respectively) performed a song from Season 4, right after Frankie excitedly mentioned the season coming this summer. Basically confirming what we hoped was a lie lol.

Unfortunately, the other seasons release dates set up a pattern that made most of us believe it was going to be spring, but it's looking like summertime. However, summer for some people technically starts in May and June 21st is the official first day of summer. I have no idea what is happening in production that would make us need to wait until after June (literally an entire YEAR from season 3's premiere), so I am going to aim high and say late May/early June. We're going right for the middle of the two dates.

As for the trailer, if my guess is late May for the show, the official trailer typically drops (not the short 10 second teaser, but actual trailer) about a month before. So I'm going to say late April/early May for the s4 trailer.

And while I know it feels like a long time (because... it is), I'm really hoping this means that Tim is trying to capitalize the production time to make season 4 the absolute best season the show has ever had.

Do I think we could use at least a few stills or a little more movement from the HSMTMTS promo team? Sure.

But do I think the show is going to surprise us in the best way possible from such a long wait with radio silence? Absolutely. (It's literally how we got the rina confession scene!)

#rina #ricky bowen #gina porter #ricky x gina #hsmtmts #high school musical the musical the series #asks #send me asks #anon #season 4

[fakeoutbf]

okay this is a quick thought about you are home pls bear with me

actually i wrote a whole damn essay about it read below i guess

you are home was always supposed to be advertising directed to fans right? it was something that ppl in the fandom looked into very deeply before we had any real confirmation that it was associated to harry and his new album.

the first post of the you are home ig account is from march 19, before it’s even tied to harry in any way. fans immediately started searching for the image in the door and it all became a fun game of clues until harry eventually followed the account, confirming it was him/his team all along.

however, because the album is still not out and we only had a single, for the next few weeks the doors are also clues to what will be on the album right?

then the leak drops. a month (and a day) after that first post. and all of a sudden we’re in his house, listening to his innermost thoughts and feelings while the rest of the world is still turning a blind eye to this particular promo. new doors come while still waiting for the album to drop.

and now, on may 19, a day before the album release, the door closes.

idk why to me it feels like a nod to all that fans have been through for this promo season. we were sharing a secret with harry through cryptic home printed ads on newspapers and magazines and then playing a game of hide and seek with the images behind the doors. he trusted us with little glimpses of what was to come and even let us in early to get a full experience before everyone else did. he made it so we had an intimate close up of his house, revealing things to us ahead of time. now, as the world gets ready to head into harry’s house, he closes the door, no one else allowed in.

you are home was made for the true fans, the ones that look into all the details, all the creases, all the little bits that harry didn’t wanna share with everyone. it was just for us. it was our secret. and harry has been hinting at it these past few days too. he sees us and our efforts and shared something with us, just for us.

#idk why i’m so emotional over that closed door but you know what? this made me feel better #it’s the best secret i’ve keep in my entire life #harry’s house #you are home #hs3 spoilers #but not really idk #also the facts here are not entirely checked ajdnjejs but i didn’t wanna go too deep into them anyway #back to work now JANDNSKAK