I really had to read with my own two eyes multiple times since this post had multiple people add on to it, bringing it back to my dash again and again, that the drama from Tharn and Phaya's past life did not feel dramatic at all. And somehow that detracts from taking the drama of the present as seriously as the show is taking it.
This story is based on Thai folklore? The Naga and Garuda are eternal enemies. The love between a Naga and a Garuda is an insult to the literal cosmic order. Chalothon who was only trying to preserve the natural order has been wronged by their love. The natural order is also referenced several times but especially when the priest was like keep Phaya and Chalothon away from each other, they're destined to be enemies.
Not meeting the show halfway to accepting this as part of your lens as an audience is frankly...an interesting choice to make.
The next bit is pure conjecture on account of me not being Thai but I'm trying to relate to what The Sign is likely trying to do from my own understanding of Asian folklore and the way we use those stories to build new stories.
What is there to get out of this show other than the big fuck you to 'natural order' of things that must be because of the way that they are. Why can't a Naga and Garuda be in love? This must be a concept that people explore under the general lens of forbidden love in Thailand (pure conjecture but also like I don't know how it can't be true).
We all have our poorly explained versions of Forbidden Love gone bad; Romeo and Juliet, Ram Leela, Devdas would be some heterosexual stories of Forbidden Love that kind of hand waves around the forbidden part a little bit that I'm familiar with. Devdas (the story I'm most familiar with of the one's stated) and its myriad adaptations is a story about the absolute ways we hold on to class even as it brings about our own downfall.
It's a great pick for a queer adaptation because the reasons why the lovers couldn't be together was so made up and really came down to ONE person (Devdas' mother) who just couldn't let go of class even though everyone else was literally begging for the two to just be together because let me tell you none of you have met a poor little meow meow on the scale of Devdas.
The Sign is bringing the forbidden love between a Naga and Garuda as a parallel of the forbidden love between two men. Homosexuality outside of the legal sphere really does come down to an ideological difference as to what is natural vs not. Homosexuality goes against a natural order of reproduction. And this is true. Two men cannot reproduce, two women cannot reproduce with each other.
The challenge isn't to prove that they can, it's to prove that reproduction isn't the centerpoint of human life, that we have transcended the need for our life to be dictated by this 'natural' order because on principal our societies just aren't built along the paradigm of 'survival of the fittest' where the benchmark of species fitness is its ability to reproduce.
Thai shows including things that have come out of Idol Factory (that produces The Sign) are often socially engaged with LGBT rights within Thailand. Now that gay marriage is legal or on its way to be, I assume a move in the direction of bringing same sex relationships up to the same societal respect as straight relationships would be a natural direction that future screenwriters will go.
The Sign is trying very hard to take the question of homosexuality right to the heart of Thai culture and tradition and talk about it from that lens [this is less conjecture and more paraphrasing what Saint has said about the show in interviews]
And I know that you all are capable of meeting a story halfway in respecting its desire to set up the stakes through references of allegorical story telling since y'all have been doing it with Last Twilight and Le Petit Prince. So I don't know even know why I had to make this post but:
tl;dr: The stakes of the love between Tharn and Phaya and the forbidden nature of it is set before you even see much of the show just from the fact that Tharn is a Naga and Phaya is a Garuda and as a member of the audience you have to accept that the love between Naga and Garuda is a deviant form of love in Thai culture.
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I feel bad for Starlo.
Star has a point, idk what the four were ticked off about, there is like 99% chance everyone willingly participated in the trolley problem, based on what we've seen of his behavior thus far it's not like Starlo to be that big of a jerk/drag them by force/yell at them to do it. Ed's words:
he does it because Star asks NICELY
clearly jealous
It genuinely seemed like a fun time/fun roleplay, especially since every day is the same. Like, the five are supposed to be a rowdy and adventures bunch, what exactly did Starlo do wrong, I'm genuinely confused and curious. Except taking a big liking in Clover (his posse should know that this is a big moment for him, according to Blackjack they've known each other since high school and had the same liking for westerns. So they were basically a nerd gang.) Starlo was kind, patient and considerate towards Clover the whole time, even warned Mooch about them not being bandits, taught Clover gun safety, wanted to bring his posse along for a fun time, thanked Ace for telling him about getting Clover a new hat...
Sure, at first he only liked Clover for being a human, but as Ceroba says, that changed and he grew to genuinely care about them, plus I can't help but think Star saw himself in Clover and that's part of the reason he was so proud of them all the time even when they messed up (I'll talk more about this at some point)
What exactly made Ace want to leave the gang? He even said how he doesn't mind "getting run over by the fake train"
he's so nice. says sorry for forgetting the safety goggles even when he was scatterbrained due to his excitement. I love him so much
The only real "faults" (I'll call them temporary faults) I saw in Star during the Wild East section was that he was even more enthusiastic and more proud than usual. But how couldn't he be when he met a member of the species that he has admired for so long because they have real cowboys and sheriffs on the surface (who are seen as brave heroes who deliver justice, while Star canonically feels like a nobody farmer). His posse should have realized Clover wouldn't be there forever and just let their boss enjoy himself with his "deputy who'd have to leave sooner or later anyway"(or be more patient with him/ask him why he feels this strongly towards Clover/if there's a deeper reason for that). His friends including Ceroba just turn their back on him so quickly instead. The moment he's gotten the chance to feel valued for once and put himself first and not have to take care of this whole town and everyone in it and live his dream of meeting a real human, suddenly "his personality is damaged?"
Star's literally built this whole town, organised everything, he worries about everyone, Ceroba (plus was the one to give her emotional strength before and after Clover's sacrifice), Kanako, the monsters, his family, struggles with feelings of worthlessness yet never wipes that smile off his face, always does his best to be hopeful and optimistic and make others laugh, gave his posse a nap time so they don't become exhausted, gave Ceroba a free home, didn't act upon his feelings towards her and was a 110% supportive, caring friend instead. THAT'S who he is. He's the papa bear of this friend group, the glue holding everyone together.
He was just *really* excited. Y'all know he's insecure and just wishes to escape who he is and yet y'all blame him for liking Clover so much. Yeah, the four are very clearly jealous. But why won't the four of you control your feelings for a while? As mentioned, Clover WILL HAVE TO LEAVE EVENTUALLY. They won't be Star's "deputy" forever (the kid who's just as into westerns as he is, who values justice just as much, who also values doing the right thing. Someone he clearly felt understood in the presence of, whom he loved; just look at the way he talks about Clove during Showdown). Star seems genuinely confused of what he did wrong poor guy just wanted to live his fantasy for once and feel important:
Even at the beginning Moray's like "oh no Martlet is upset" Mooch replies "don't be a buzzkill nothing exciting ever happens around here" and Ray's like "Yeah you've got a point"
If you all agreed to have a little fun with a human who will very soon leave forever why is Starlo's enthusiasm such a big problem? If the posse weren't into this after all (unless they were simply too jealous which could have been solved with a honest talk and a little patience) why are you doing this "rowdy" job with Star in the first place? Do you want your boring routine day to day life so much back? Or just for Clover to leave (which they will soon enough)? You, western enthusiasts, literally met a real human, A HUMAN FROM WESTERNS YOU ARE SUPPOSED TO BE PASSIONATELY INTO (clearly not as passionate as Star but passionate ENOUGH to understand where he's coming from).
... okay.
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Want some OC lore nobody asked for? I gotchu!!
Sam Blyth ~ More about their species, powers etc.
Introduction / General info ;
Sam Blyth is a Non-binary half angel (they go by They/Them). They are the youngest sibling in the Blyth family (Andrew Blyth being the oldest). Sam has always been known for being quite shy, struggling to communicate with most people and being overly emotional with crying over the most minor inconveniences. However, Sam has grown up to be "the angel of nature", with their willingness to help the nature around them, especially animals! Sam has a soft spot for animals, and always has had it. They can approach and take care of animals with ease, and believes all creatures should have a life and be protected, even the ones who have a tendency to be more harmful!
Sam has always lived in the "shade" as such, with their older brother Andrew taking up most of the spotlight most of the time with his charisma and general extroverted behaviour. However, Sam doesn't mind as much not being in the spotlight, as it allows them to do their own thing. Though it can spark some form of jealousy with Andrew always being the favourite, even having the chance to be famous as a human. Sam lives with their older sibling Andrew from when they were 6 years old, and always has done ever since Andrew and Sam's mother gave Sam to Andrew. They both have the same mother and different father.
Their main hobby is fashion design - making funky outfits and clothing items. They hope to make this their job one day, hopefully gaining traction over it. They usually dress in their own styles, like cottagecore, fairycore, ethereal, and more! Their favourite colour is pink, so they dress mostly in that colour! However, they also like to dress in lighter blues, purples, white, and perhaps even yellows (basically more muted/lighter colours)! They have an obsession with strawberries in general, so expect to see strawberry patterns on their clothing/accessories, strawberry themed decor, and more! Despite their love for all animals, cats are their favourite.
Sam's face under the hair at the side of their face ;
Sam is canonically half angel, half shadow creature. A shadow creature is a species I made up years ago - around age 12/13.
A shadow creature is a creature that has shadow-like skin and unique powers and/or other attributes that are special to them. They also mostly survive off of their souls being in gems (in which souls are a huge part of my OC lore), which can be located anywhere. They can have any amount of gems, but they mostly have 1-2 gems. Shadow creatures' existence are mostly frowned upon due to Discord being the king of them, so they are mostly believed to be evil. However, in contrary to popular belief, they aren't actually all that evil - not all of them anyways. In contrast to angels meaning to be good, or demons meaning to be bad, shadow creatures are meant to have a mixture, some good, some bad. They are mostly creatures who haven't been located in heaven or hell (purgatory if you will). (Discord used to be a shadow creature before turning into a demon)
The first photo is to showcase that Sam is actually half; with their genes being mixed up as their mother is an angel and father is a shadow creature. Technically they were only meant to take one and be fully angel or shadow creature - as thats how things usually work in my universe - but somehow, Sam managed to take both and become half and half! Their gems are located; two behind their tears (hidden) and one in the cape they wear in their full shadow creature form (which will be visible in a later photo) ◇
Phase 1 / 2 (minor phases) ;
These doodles look poorly drawn but you get the memo
Phase 1: Normal Sam. Their symptoms of being a shadow creature mostly are not visible (only beneath the hair that covers the side of their face). This is when they are in a positive/normal mood. However, being simply sad or angry does not provoke their symptoms to work up to phase 2. It has to be extreme emotions.
They dont have a tail during phase 1; only a halo, wings, and shadow creature like features under their hair that covers side of their face; so they mostly look like an angel and unless you peek under their hair (which Sam will hardly allow), they will look like your average angel.
Phase 2: the shadow creature symptoms are a lot more visible. These can include growing a feather like tail as shown above, shadowy skin spreading, seen experiencing stronger emotions like seething anger or distraught emotions for example, and usually seen to always have tears in their eyes (especially the shadowy side of their face).
Phase 3 (The final phase - uncontrollable) ;
Finally, last but not least...
Phase 3: The final phase. Now, Sam hardly ever reaches phase 3, once in their life I reckon. This is when Sam is at their strongest (strongest in my universe in that case). Their powers become out of control, and their shadowy skin takes over them fully, turning them into this "abomination". They grow out of control with their powers, having the ability to create large natural disasters (for example) unprovoked. Like I said however, theres no need to worry as theres only one instance where Sam has gotten so furious that this has happened. It's usually quite difficult to calm Sam down from this much emotion (it has to be extreme EXTREME emotion for Sam to get this far), but it is possible.
Their symptoms include;
☆ Shadowy skin taking over their whole body, turning them into this shadow-like abomination where their skin begins to melt.
☆ Their hair grows to a long length, usually braided.
☆ Turquoise horns grow (I know the horns above look more green but shhhh).
☆ They have a mini cape now. As well as the gems covered by their tears, they now have one attached to the middle of tje cape as shown.
☆ Their feathery tail grows longer than phase 2.
Extras ;
♡ Now, as already mentioned, Sam has their own weapon they can make appear for however long they wish (as all supernatural creatures like Sam can in my universe), in which Sam can make appear from as little as phase 1. Phase 3 gives a clue, but its a lavender bow - thats their weapon.
♡ Sam has been told by their big brother Andrew since they were younger that they were to keep their magic in check from a young age, so they weren't allowed to use their magic (mostly, it was more lighter ones that could easily be controlled that Sam could use) and they were shielded from the outside world from a young age, thus, they were homeschooled by Andy. This is where Sam realised they had the ability to communicate with animals, and when they learned that they were the angel of nature.
♡ Sam always defends and looks after animals, even animals like tarantulas, snakes, tigers, rats, all of them!! However, they also defend all sorts of creatures too, even the more frowned upon ones like demons.
♡ WILL cry if you yell at them. Please do not yell at them.
♡ They have tiny wings and a small halo to signify how important theyre viewed by the public(folk in my universe) in terms of the tale, in contract to Andrew having a huge halo and huge wings to signify his importance.
♡ They LOVE flowers (honestly, same)
♡ They are always the best dressed at the event. Like 99.5% of the time
♡ Completely unrelated, but the outfit in the first photo was an absolute NIGHTMARE to draw. Had to repeat "trust the process" to myself so many times before I actually continued.
Anyways!! Thats Sam for you!! In conclusion; Sam is best lil fella.
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i just had this thought, like —
you and bakugou are in public somewhere, at a friendly gathering or group dinner, and everyone is kind of poking fun at each other. remember when you— and i can't believe so-and-so did— type of chatter, just good ol' days stuff. and of course everyone has a lot to say about katsuki LOL everyone has something to say about a time when he was fifteen, everyone has a story to tell about how he scared the wits out of them or threatened to put them six feet under or how they lost count of all the times he told someone to die !!!
no, he doesn't think it's funny, isn't laughing. not at all. but all the memories still make you crack up, and when he pouts, you just pat his thigh or squeeze his hand a little tighter, try to keep your smile contained as he narrows his eyes at you. izuku is the one who has the most to say — but is somehow the person who says the least, as if he knows how much bakugou hates this topic — and the few things he does bring up are all stories from a long time ago, when they were just little tikes.
and at one point, off-handedly, you say, "oh god, i bet our kids will be just like him," and you smile wide and poke at his ribs until he grumbles and slaps your hand away.
the two of you have been dating for a few years now, past the point of losing it all to an ill-tempered break up, deep and far into a relationship neither of you would give up without a fight.
katsuki already plans to spend the rest of his life with you, doesn't see any other way. doesn't want to. only reason he hasn't married you yet is because — it's been a learning curve. this, you, all of it. throughout his teenage years, he never pictured himself as someone that would ever need anyone, and he sure didn't think he'd want to get shacked up. meeting you: there have been a lot of feelings he never planned for, never got to explore until just now. good feelings, happy feelings. love.
but with that has come the deep and growing fear of also losing you. to have had to hold and to have lost. he's far from perfect and still learning how to do all this, and he's — on the edge, because this is one thing he can't control. just because he puts a ring on your finger, it doesn't mean he'll have you forever; it just means it will hurt all the more, if you ever leave.
and kids — jesus christ.
he doesn't bring it up until the car is parked, inside dimly lit from the low lights in the garage. when he turns the key, he just sits. and stares. out the window, down at the leather of the steering wheel, picking at a stray thread of his jeans.
"katsuki?" you murmur, slowly drawing your hand from the door handle to set back in your lap. "y'okay?"
bakugou is learning that in moments like these, he just has to get the words out. if he ruminates on them too long, he'll never voice them and you'll just be waiting with bated breath for him to say something and he'll just sit there like an asshole.
"the hell would i do with a kid?"
and you're learning, too, that just because it comes out one way, doesn't mean that's really how he feels. that that's the only way he feels.
you shuffle around in the seat to face him better, watching the line of his jaw sharpen as he grits his teeth. "i don't know, raise it, i guess." you mean to be funny — lighthearted, at the very least — but he just shakes his head and shrugs, like he doesn't even know what that means. "i'm sorry, i know we've never really, like, discussed that, but the idea of grouchy baby katsuki was too cute at the time."
that makes his stomach lurch, but he can't decipher the reason yet; a childish offense flares within him at thought of being called a grouchy baby, but then he imagines you, holding some little shit that looks too much like him.
coming home to a brat that likes to chew on the tags of his blankets and reaches with chubby fingers for katsuki's keys, because he likes the sound they make when he shakes them. a snot-nosed thing that will run when he's supposed to walk and will whine about getting water instead of juice after six in the evening.
some kid that will look like you, too. that will grab katsuki's fingers and tug on his hair and look at him — at his dad — like he carries the world on his back, hung the fucking sun in the sky.
putting a ring on your finger won't stop you from leaving one day, if that's what you want, and sharing a child won't, either. but it will be a lifetime commitment, whatever little thing you two manage to create — and you want that.
the realization that you want that with him is —
"we can talk about it later, if you're tired," you whisper, as if you're afraid of your voice further spooking him, "or not at all, not right now."
he blows out a long sigh and shakes his head, chest light and warm and happy and — "we'll be so fuckin' lucky, for the little brats to turn out like me."
you can't help but to agree.
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