#really just everything about the symbolism around like. taking part vs staying apart

[neuxue]

山河剑心 EPISODE 6 | moments I will present as evidence when suing this episode for emotional damages

#thousand autumns #山河剑心 #shen qiao #yu ai #yan wushi #well this episode is absolutely devastating #brothers to enemies! betrayals! #seemingly irreconcilable worldviews! #that long lingering look over the cliff's edge #the SUNSET COLOURS in a TIME OF CHANGE or FAREWELL #really just everything about the symbolism around like. taking part vs staying apart #neuxue makes gifs

[greenhappyseed]

Things are getting dark in the BNHA manga, so I wanted to return to brighter times and do a post on Inko Midoriya and her many parallels with All Might. Their interactions are some of my favorites in BNHA, not as a ship (although I am multi-ship friendly) but as two adult humans with little in common and no overlapping life experiences that nonetheless become co-parents because of deep empathy and one determined kid with a knack for bringing people together. The canon Inko-All Might interactions are short, but they occur at critical points in the story and touch on almost all major themes of the series.

The main chapter where All Might and Inko meet starts with them depicted as adversaries, facing off for a fight. #1 hero vs mama bear! Except...they don’t actually fight. They talk through what they each want for Izuku and come to a mutual understanding. These characters really see and trust each other in a way that contrasts with the Todoroki “watch me” story. Before I dive deep, check out the difference between the beginning and the end of Chapter 97, because this art is everything:

Ok, now for the good stuff.

1. In a story about succession and what we owe future generations, Inko is All Might’s predecessor with respect to Izuku. If Nana Shimura gave him OFA and made him a hero, Inko gives him a second life and unofficially-but-actually-officially makes him a “dad.”

2. Much like how All Might can’t be the sole pillar supporting society, Inko can’t be the sole pillar supporting Izuku. The difference is that we watch Inko arrive at this conclusion in the span of one chapter while All Might and, uh, society, aren’t there yet. When Inko truly sees how much Izuku is driven to become a hero, and how much he NEEDS something she can’t give, she starts to back down. Unlike Endeavor, she knows her son’s future is not about her.

Izuku wants this so much he won’t stay with Inko and will “go wherever”.... and it’s almost like All Might will follow to help Izuku be that hero...

3. Speaking of, allowing Izuku to move out at 15 and having All Might “raise” him is an incredible sacrifice on Inko’s part. She’s unexpectedly “retiring” as an active day-to-day parent and letting go of the one thing she spent her life building and protecting. Trusting your life’s work in someone else’s hands is really, really hard, but she does it. (Can All Might?)

After the Overhaul arc, we see Inko acknowledging the progress Izuku has made, which includes All Might by extension (because she’s clearly thinking about him too). Seeing how Izuku can grow without her, Inko is slowly getting comfortable with her decision to “retire.” (Can All Might?)

4. Inko’s weight gain parallels All Might’s weight loss in that both characters neglect themselves to help others (parenting and hero-ing) and they PARTICULARLY ignore themselves when worrying about Izuku.

5. Izuku, Inko, and All Might all seem to know when people need a little saving. Starting with Inko...when All Might flexes into his iconic muscle form and performs dogeza (and then poofs down to his true form), he’s not merely apologizing — he’s showing deference to Inko. She has power over All Might AND she’s not sold on the bloody reality of her son becoming a hero, even if she supports his dream. From here, she could block the next symbol of peace. She could take away the child All Might loves. She could extract whatever she wanted from the longtime #1 hero. Just think about what some other, less charitable characters might do.

But Inko doesn’t take anything from All Might. Instead, Inko sees how much Izuku and All Might need each other (I mean, LOOK AT THEIR FACES when they think she’s saying no!!!). She moves to reassure All Might that Izuku needs him, that she doesn’t hate UA (even though she railed against the school minutes earlier), and that she doesn’t want an big, heroic sacrifice. Inko trusts he will help Izuku “walk a path” different from his bloody one. She just wants a happy child, and All Might is integral to that because these 2 boys are a bonded pair. Izuku lives for All Might and All Might lives for Izuku. All for one and one for all, united we stand divided we fall. Inko sees how deeply All Might respects and cares for Izuku, to the point that the next symbol of peace is secondary (unlike Endeavor, who is invested in Shoto carrying on his legacy above all else).

Oh hey, 200 chapters later, it turns out All Might IS willing to follow Izuku anywhere, because he just can’t be apart from his boy. And, after Inko and All Might built mutual respect in Chapter 97, we see in Chapter 309 that All Might is not afraid to cry in front of Inko and show his real concern about Izuku. (He doesn’t cry in Chapter 97, but he readily lets the waterworks flow in Chapter 309.)

Now, we don’t see Inko’s reaction to All Might beyond the second panel below, but we know she previously decided to trust the boys despite her own fears. It’s not out of character for her to trust them again. In fact, it’s kinda sweet to see them both reassure her [while still clinging to their dumb plans, sigh]. Izuku makes clear he’s not intending to sacrifice his life, and All Might won’t let Izuku go alone. Of course, both of these promises will be...challenged...in chapters 310+, but the intent is there and that’s all Inko can ask for (I mean, that was all she originally asked of All Might in exchange for her consent — no sacrifice + “look after” Izuku.)

Finally, note how All Might stands throughout the scene, projecting a large, protective presence because it’s his turn to give back. Izuku extends his hand to his mother; All Might extends his height above them both. For all of 309 he’s high above Inko and Izuku; in 97, he’s shown equal to or below Inko except the brief moment he looms over them just before kneeling to the floor.

6. Inko and All Might only interact twice in the manga, but both times are critical turning points between acts AND both times are shortly after encounters with villains — Shigaraki/AFO in particular. The first is in the immediate aftermath of Kamino and All Might’s retirement (literally, All Might retires at the beginning of Chapter 96 and he meets Inko at the end). The second Inko-All Might interaction is in the immediate aftermath of the war and jailbreak (Chapter 309). At a meta-level, Inko’s character page is at the end of Chapter 94, right after we see Izuku & Shigaraki with AFO saying “it’s your turn.”

Interestingly there are TWO earlier near-interactions in canon. The first is in the School Briefs light novel, taking place just after the internships/Stain arc and before final exams. TL;DR: There’s a Parents Day at UA that involves a villain kidnapping 1A’s parents (spoiler: it’s really a rational deception by Aizawa and the parents are in on it). But things go awry and Inko nearly falls into a fire pit for real. A playing-the-villain-but-actually-in-his-true-form All Might swoops in to save her, of course! Afterwards, Inko runs over to thank him, thinking she’s talking to a local theater actor. :)

Lastly, in Chapter 70, right after Izuku runs into Shigaraki at the mall, Inko and All Might are both near Izuku at the police station. However, neither one speaks to or acknowledges the other, and the art doesn’t even show them together. The closest we get is the bottom right panel:

Despite both All Might and Izuku knowing about these two near-meetings, neither one tells Inko. My head canon is that they do this to avoid embarrassing her — she’s obviously terrified when All Might visits her home, so All Might saying, “we’ve met but you didn’t know” would be impolite. Likewise, if she at all remembered All Might from the police station, she doesn’t say so. Kindness all around!

I don’t know if it’s likely, but I’m really hopeful that a “found family” with most (all?) of these characters will happen in the end (maybe with Shigaraki too??)....I enjoy them way too much!!

#bhna #mha #my hero academia #bnha spoilers #mha spoilers #all might #mha all might #mha inko #bnha inko #bnha all might #bnha meta #inko midoriya #midoriya inko #yagi toshinori #mha toshinori #toshinori yagi

[lucemferto]

Hey girl, don’t mind me, I just quickly went and rewrote Dream SMP Season 2.

I’m focusing on the big plot stuff from Season 2, which makes it really easy for me to make it good, because I don’t have to contend with all the hard parts like dialogue and scene pacing and stuff. As an additional challenge to myself, I try to change as little as possible. If I don’t mention stuff (like the Egg-Arc) then that means I’m fine with them the way they are.

I wrote this in an hour, so don't expect it to be good, pls.

Whether you agree or think this is trash, I'd be so interested to hear your thoughts!

ACT I

Fundy’s early arc with Ghostbur, Eret and Phil is great and should stay the way it is. It sets up the character relationships and potential for conflict that we can explore in the future.

Similarly, I wouldn’t change too much about the conflict during Exile with one exception: Both Tommy and Quackity don’t want to include Technoblade. Instead, they believe that they can take one Dream by themselves – this is important for Techno’s, Tommy’s and Quackity’s personal journey later on. In this rewrite, Quackity also didn’t found El Rapids, but instead recruited George & Sapnap to L’Manburg – because his stated goal is to make L’Manburg the strongest nation on the server, so why would he make a rival nation with a plotline that goes nowhere?

What’s also important is that it’s revealed that Dream has a spy in L’Manburg around here. Maybe Tommy confessed his burning of George’s house during a cabinet meeting and word still got out to Dream. Who knows, but it’s important for later.

Something big that I would change about this Act I is that I would give Techno an actual B-plot. As it stands, Techno’s early plotline was just “Grrr, I’m angry that Tommy would use me like that! Someone killed my cows and robbed me! L’Manburg will know my wrath”

3 weeks later

“Nevermind, I’m a pacifist now and live in the arctic”

Instead, we pick up where S1 left off. Techno is intent on destroying L’Manburg and instituting anarchy. During that time, he comes into conflict with Quackity’s henchmen (Fundy, George, Sapnap, etc.) to establish that L’Manburg could be an actual threat to him.

We also have some conflict with Phil. They’re old war buddies, but Phil’s son built L’Manburg and Phil himself is unofficially Tubbo’s advisor. I think them reconstituting their friendship will take up this early part until Tommy’s exile – it makes for a nice foil to Tommy’s and Tubbo’s friendship falling apart.

Technoblade also tries to recruit people like HBomb and Niki to his cause, but they’re hesitant, because, you know, he sent Withers to destroy their home. Not the best first impression. Techno is hurt, but convinced it’s because of L’Manburg propaganda and they don’t want to work with him, because they don’t see him as useful.

ACT II Part 1

Exile-Arc basically stays exactly the same – with one notable difference. When Technoblade comes to visit Tommy it’s not to mock him – it’s as a final attempt to convince Tommy to join him. It’s a first culmination of Techno’s character journey so far: His previous interactions with the citizenry of L’Manburg has left him shaken, but not shaken enough.

Tommy truly does need “The Blade” right now and he has no reason to further believe L’Manburg’s propaganda. So, by Technoblade’s inner logic, Tommy should accept.

But he doesn’t. Tommy viciously rips into Technoblade and gets very personal (he’s in a bad space, understandably) – Techno can play it off nonchalantly, but either the cinematography or some later moment shows us that he was hurt by this.

Nevertheless, he gives Tommy a compass that points to his HQ, showing us that he cares about Tommy, like he did during their early days in Pogtopia.

This is where we implement some big changes. The story of Technoblade and the Butcher Army becomes the A-plot, while the Exile becomes the B-plot.

It makes perfect sense. The Exile-Arc is a very inward-focused, almost a character study of Tommy and Dream. It doesn’t have a lot of big narrative movement – so the perfect time to execute on that narrative movement in the storyline that has a lot of moving pieces.

So, after Tommy chewed him out, Techno is hurt and meets with Philza. Techno then explains that for him anarchy always was the natural order of things – to fight for a world where only the strongest survive – but pursuing anarchy like that has left him empty. Philza then explains that anarchy should be more about helping people and building an equal community.

We’re all but stating a major thematic conflict of this storyline: Fighting those who wronged you vs. Helping those in need. All this while also exploring the philosophy of anarchy with Techno and Philza serving as symbolic stand-ins for some different thoughts on the matter.

So, while Tommy’s Exile is going on, Techno refines his approach. This goes hand in hand with Quackity using his henchman to turn L’Manburg into a totalitarian police state in order to root out Dream’s traitor (told you it would become important later).

This will be the main conflict here in the first half of Act 2. Quackity and Philza will play shoulder-devil and shoulder-angel respectively for Tubbo and Fundy, pulling them in different directions. Ghostbur also hangs around L’Manburg – a constant reminder for Tubbo of the most sanitized version of President Wilbur and the lofty ideas he stood for.

This is another big thematic conflict for this storyline – externalized in part through Ghostbur’s presence: When do the ends no longer justify the means? It also feeds into the motif of Tubbo and Tommy becoming like Schlatt and Wilbur respectively (even if that’s still mostly superficial).

During this political turmoil, Niki is getting into Quackity’s crosshairs. She opposes his policing and brutal methods. So Quackity really focuses in on her and she has to live with constant surveillance, searches, etc. Niki tries to talk to Tubbo about this, but he says it’s necessary to keep L’Manburg safe. Slowly, Niki grows disillusioned with L’Manburg.

It is during this time that Niki gets into contact with Techno and the two start to form a bond and helping the citizenry hold out hope during this time (I don’t know who would be the citizenry, probably people that don’t have their own storyline going on such as HBomb, Vikkstar, Lazarbeam, etc.)

And we can have a few lorestreams like that, where the conceit is that Techno’s sneaking into L’Manburg to help people and there’s actual tension.

All this culminates in Hog Hunt. Fundy sees Phil, Niki and Techno team-up. He confronts them after Techno left and Phil begs Fundy to not out them – but their divide has grown too deep (and we’ve actually shown that during Fundy’s streams this time).

Quackity has Phil and Niki incarcerated (L’Manburg has a prison now, it’s not as good as Pandora’s Vualt). Tubbo is deeply disturbed that Philza and Niki would betray him by working with the man that took one of his canon lives and finally gives the Butcher Army his presidential approval. Quackity was already prepared and the events of Hog Hunt play out as we know them.

ACT II Part 2

Again, plays out relatively similarly, except for one major difference: Tommy comes to Techno with the explicit purpose of asking for his help. Exile has left him really hardened, probably more so than we have currently.

This would a.) make Tommy a bit more proactive in his partnership with Techno and b.) actually gives some weight to Techno’s later beef with Tommy, because now it’s based on more than just some flimsy phrasing during S1.

Otherwise, this plays out relatively similarly – Techno and Tommy maybe share a few more character moments, just to drive home that Techno cares about Tommy. Also, none of that dumb keeping it a secret whether or not we destroy L’Manburg – that’s some contrived nonsense and I hate it.

Tommy knows that Techno wants to destroy L’Manburg and while he’s conflicted, he ultimately goes along with. Once he gets his discs back, everything will be over after all. The destruction of L’Manburg will have been worth it.

Part of the rising action will be breaking Phil and Niki out of prison instead of the petty bullshit about Techno’s items that he doesn’t need. This is where we have the initial confrontation between Tommy and Tubbo (and Techno doesn’t ruin the moment by being his worst self).

Other plot points include: Techno receives the Wither Skulls over the course of him and Tommy working together by some mysterious benefactor. This is after he and Tommy confronted Dream. He doesn’t tell Tommy who the benefactor is, even though he knows (spoilers: it’s Dream).

Meanwhile, Tommy, Techno, Niki and Phil are secretly rigging New L’Manburg with TNT a la Wilbur, just to really drive that comparison home. Niki is getting really angry; she has suffered enough and she’s really gonna get revenge.

One of her big moments of terrorism before the Green Festival is burning down the L’Mantree (maybe we can include some character conflict Fundy, so we have these two people who were once really close friends now so warped and torn apart by these two sides at war).

Meanwhile, Quackity has figured out that Ranboo was the traitor and is pushing for Tubbo to execute Ranboo for the greater good of L’Manburg. Tubbo is hesitant, but as there’s no moderate voice in the cabinet anymore, he concedes to the idea.

Finally, the Green Festival is here. This part is really … tough to rewrite, because you have to accommodate so many different character arcs, but I’ll try my best.

In a move not unlike during the Red Festival, Ranboo is revealed as the traitor and put in the execution cage (because those parallels). Tubbo feels really bad about it.

This is when Tommy and Techno start their assault and unleash the whithers. L’Manburg is under attack and we have the big fight between Tubbo and Tommy. We get the big shout-out “The discs were worth more than you ever were” and the ensuing epiphany on Tommy part.

Techno’s calling for him to explode the TNT, but he doesn’t do it.

Quackity is calling for Tubbo to execute Ranboo, but Tubbo has an epiphany himself and refuses. Both their personal conflicts are resolved here. Also, we have some nice parallelism between Quackity and Techno as Tubbo’s and Tommy’s respective bad influences.

Techno – understandably this time – feels betrayed and hurt. He and Tommy have their shouting match. Quackity tries to attack Techno, but during their match they accidentally trigger the TNT. Quackity’s hunger for power has created the grave of his ambitions.

(Niki is also pissed at Tommy and Fundy is fully distraught, because L’Manburg was everything he had left from Wilbur).

Dream steps out of the shadows and reveals that he was Techno’s mysterious benefactor. He gets his hands on the second disc and gloats to Tommy. The scene from Doomsday plays out only that Techno shows some stings of remorse for helping Dream accomplish what he wanted. (Quackity flees the ensuing chaos).

Dream tries to goad Tommy with the discs, but Tommy doesn’t bite, because he has resolved his Want vs. Need now. Dream is frustrated, but retreats for now.

ACT III

In the aftermath of ACT II, I think it’s very important to hammer home that this wasn’t a win for Techno, Niki or Phil. For that to work I think it’s important to make clear that Tommy’s and Techno’s bond was genuine and that they really cared for each other during the Bedrock Bros thing. Neither of them is happy for how this turned.

Niki is plagued by nightmares and sleeps in a prison cell like in the current canon. She stands in symbolic for the emptiness that vengeance brings. Phil is shaken from his talk to Ghostbur and he’s the one who brings up that maybe what they did wasn’t for the best.

Then Techno and Phil have a discussion about the nature of anarchy again, calling back to that earlier conversation at the beginning of Act 2. Techno also feels empty – his vengeance and the destruction he wrought left him no happier.

Meanwhile, Punz and Tommy are actually spending some quality bonding time. Thanks to the medium, they could simulate that pretty well. Punz actually gets attached and when Dream mentions his coup-de-grâce, the cinematography shows that Punz isn’t too happy about it.

Tommy and Tubbo prepare to fight Dream on their own terms. They know, they have to stop him lest he hurts the people they care about (this makes both of them a bit more proactive in the finale). Punz (as per Dream’s orders) tells Tommy where Dream is hiding. Tommy thanks him, oblivious that Punz is a traitor, but Punz feels bad. He has grown attached to Tommy.

During the Final Disc War we actually get two perspectives: One is Tommy’s and Tubbo’s as we know it (only without the constant “Your discs or Tubbo”-stuff) and the other is Punz’s. He has decided to help Tommy even though there’s nothing monetarily in it for him.

First, he goes to Quackity, but Quackity says that Tommy has betrayed him and L’Manburg and that he gets what’s coming to him.

In a last-ditch effort, he goes to Techno. Here’s where we resolve that thematic conflict (Vengeance vs. Charity) for the Techno-Butcher Army storyline: Quackity has chosen to perpetuate the cycle of vengeance (because he will be the villain in S3), but we want some nice character development for Techno.

Niki is against it and stays put, but Techno and Philza ultimately decide to go with Punz and the others to help Tommy.

Finale plays out the same. Stuff’s still awkward between Techno and Tommy/Tubbo; they haven’t resolved all their problems, but it’s a first step. Some good set-up for S3.

And that’s my basic rewrite. It’s long and probably not the best.

#dream smp #dsmpblr #dsmp #dreamsmp #dream smp analysis #dsmp analysis #tommyinnit #dsmp tommy #dsmp tommyinnit #tubbo #dsmp tubbo #technoblade #dsmp technoblade #dsmp techno #bladeblr #dream #dreamwastaken #dsmp dream #dsmp dreamwastaken #quackity #dsmp quackity #niki nihachu #nihachu #dsmp niki #dsmp nihachu #dsmp niki nihachu #dream smp season 2 #philza #dsmp phil #dsmp philza

[opossumanonymous]

How did things get so messed up?

Warnings: Talk of murder, a single swear, Inko just sometimes thinks about murder, uh vigilante Izuku

Black Widow Inko! Part 2 featuring Dad Might vs Dad for One! This is honestly just Crack with a plot...

******************************************************

It seemed like yesterday he was in that hospital room meeting his son for the first time. Inko holding their sons tiny body, tears welling in her eyes as she beckoned him closer.

He walked over with no hesitation fully ready to meet Izuku (The name chosen by Inko who got to pick after winning a bet).

Sitting down next to his tired wife he stared down at the infant in wonder. The tiny human they'd waited 9 months for was finally here. Hizashi almost didn't know how to act for a second, so caught up in looking at the tufts of green hair and freckles covering small cheeks.

Reaching out Hizashi gently caressed Izuku's little face with a single finger causing the baby to let out a coo. He grabbed his father's finger in his little fist nearly bringing the 200 year old man to tears.

If asked that's how that day went to Hizashi of course Inko remembers him nearly flooding the hospital room but Hizashi would never admit that.

Tears or not that day Hizashi knew he would protect them with his life so how....how did things get so messed up?!

How did he end up sitting across from his arch nemesis?!

How did Izuku out of everyone in Japan end up with one for all?!

And most importantly how did All Might end up seducing his goddess Inko?!?!

Seriously Hizashi just couldn't understand how she could be with such a lowlife, she must not know who he is.

Never before had Hizashi felt such a deep burning hatred for anyone.

Currently he was sitting on the couch in his and Inko's apartment while she and All Might sat on the adjacent couch. No one spoke until Inko finally cleared her throat.

"Toshi this is my ex hus-"

"Current Husband."

She looked at him with eyes full of fire and a voice full of venom as she spoke. "You forfeited that title the second you thought not calling for 12 years was a good idea."

"...."

She always knew what to say to shut him up especially when she was angry. One of the things that interested him in Inko at first was how unlike most she got incredibly smart when angry.

She also got more sadistic, he could practically hear the gears turning in her head as she calculated all the ways she could kill him.

In this house he was not the devil no, the cute green haired woman sitting across from him was. In fact the murderous aura around her was very concerning, not that he feared for his life with witnesses around. He knew she'd be angry but he'd hoped him getting on his knees and begging for forgiveness would work like last time.

Meanwhile Toshinori was on the verge of having a mental breakdown. At first when he walked into the apartment after a date night he was shocked to find none other than All for One standing in his living room. He quickly pushed Inko behind him ready to defend her against Japan's greatest villain.

While he no longer held one for all that wouldn't stop him from protecting his wife with all he had. How did All for One break out of tartarus anyway?

And just how did he look like this?

All for one looked the way he did before their battle where he smashed his upper face in. All for one, who last they spoke had no eyes, hair and barely a nose now had all of that back and even looked a few years younger.

Each and every person in this room was plotting how to kill someone. Thankfully this day they'd all walk away unscathed.

Mainly because they all had a secret to hide from eachother.

Inko didn't want Toshinori to know about her past, Toshinori didn't want Inko to know who her ex was, and Hizashi didn't want to anger his wife further by revealing any of her secrets. (He may have been criminally insane but he wasn't stupid)

After all one does not rat out their ex-assassin wife's past to her new husband who is also the ex-symbol of peace. Lest they both team up, beat your ass and throw you back in prison or just straight up murder you.

"Anyway Toshi this is my ex husband Hizashi, Izukus father, he left about 12 years ago with no contact or information."

"Oh come now darling those divorce papers weren't serious. I understand you're mad but I'm back and I promise nothing will keep me away this time."

The utter nerve of this guy he really wants to die today! He's lucky he stopped wearing ties years ago or else Inko would've been choked him to death!

"Tea. I'm going to go make some tea I'll be back soon." She said with a strained smile resisting the urge to rip out Hizashi's teeth.

After she left to the kitchen the atmosphere got even darker the two mortal enemies now left alone.

"So it wasn't enough that you destroyed my face and took my son as your successor, you just had to go and seduce my wife too!"

"Your wife! Did you not just hear her she divorced you?!"

"Yeah all because of you and your meddling if you hadn't destroyed my face putting me in comatose I would've been there for her and Izuku!"

All Might paused for a second realization hitting him like cold bucket of water. Before he got his composer back not wanting the enemy to get the upper hand.

"If you hadn't have been quirk smuggling and stealing classified documents I wouldn't have had to!"

"Oh so it's all entirely my fault?!" Hizashi scoffed "I bet she doesn't even know what you did to me does she?"

Toshinori stayed silent it was true she may have known who he was but she didn't know about his hand in her ex husband's absence.

He had no idea how lucky he was she didn't know or there would be two dead men walking instead of one.

"I take your silence as a yes then?" Hizashi was a little smug now.

"Not like you've told her who you really are." Hizashi frowned at this causing Toshinori to smile "I see I'm right as well."

Well he was only half right he never out right told Inko she figured it out on her own. But All Might didn't need to know that, after all no use making Inko even more upset then she already was.

Meanwhile in the kitchen Inko was trying to figure out how to shoot her ex from the kitchen without Toshinori noticing.

While she knew it was impossible without blowing her secret a woman could dream.

As the tea finally came to a boil she noted the distinct sound of her sons bedroom window opening and closing. Knowing her son was back from his nightly vigilantism only done on weekend nights per their agreement. She briefly considered pouring rat poison in Hizashi's serving but decided against it.

Not that the good for nothing scumbag didn't deserve it. But just scaring him would do for now unless Izuku didn't want him in his life. After all he was Izuku's father and Izuku deserved to choose whether he wanted him in his life or not.

Bringing back a tray with the tea she sat the cups down with an eerie look on her face. "Here you go Hizashi I made yours just how you like it!~" She said sweetly.

Yeah Hizashi isn't drinking that, no way she definitely must have done something to it. He hasn't survived the past 200 years to die like that, thankfully his lovely queen isn't good at holding her emotions in.

"Thankyou darling you're too kind." He said taking a cup but not drinking from it.

Toshinori on the other hand called her buff he knew she wouldn't do anything. As he drunk his own cup he remarked on how good it was, well atleast he didn't have to worry about no real or imaginary poison.

Toshinori really didn't know what to do he was having a mental crisis. Should he tell Inko and young Midoriya the truth about All for one or not say anything? The boy would be devastated and would he really want to fight his own father when the time came? He would never forgive himself if it caused Izuku mental pain.

But if he turned Hizashi in to the hero commission they wouldn't know it was him. But he'd still have to deal with them being distraught and possibly hating him for not telling them sooner. Plus everything might become public and there's no telling how many enemies All for one has made that would be out for blood.

This was bad, both his morals and heart clashed at the thought of hurting Izuku and Inko they both quickly became the family he never got to have.

Izuku even started calling him dad for crying out loud! What would he call him if he found out his idol and mentor was the one who separated him from his biological father?!

"We need to settle this once and for all." Inko finally said still annoyed and just wanting Hizashi out.

"Yes you're right we should Inko darling. I won't make this hard, I promise I only want to see my son. Perhaps he can sleepover at my place on the weekends?"

Toshinori paled at that, if he got young Midoriya alone there's no telling what that monster would do to the boy. He could kidnap him, take one for all, and lock him away forever. Toshinori couldn't let that happen deciding he'd rather tell both Inko and Izuku who 'Hizashi' really was.

"Yeah no I don't think so you can have supervised visits and you can take him somewhere if I'm available to go with."

Yeah Inko wasn't buying what her ex was selling she knew he'd have Izuku quirkless and vaulted if she left them alone.

Not to mention that would force her to try rescuing him leading to her being vaulted as well.

But together they could defeat him after all he couldn't fight them both at once.

Hizashi was about to open his mouth when all of a sudden a voice called from the hall.

"Dad?"

"Yes son?" Both men said in unison before looking at eachother with a glare.

Izuku just stood there frozen in shock as his step dad and biological father glared at eachother. He couldn't believe his eyes, even though he heard his father's voice he just thought his mom finally got him on the phone. But this is unreal he never thought in his wildest dreams his father would be in front of him again.

He gripped his plan shirt that had "shirt" written on it in big white letters. His heart felt like it would beat out of his chest at any moment, a million questions going through his mind.

He was so deep in thought he didn't hear his mom get up from the couch and approach him till he felt her hand on his shoulder.

"Sweetie are you okay?" His mom asked him worried.

The two men stopped glaring at eachother now focused on Izuku concerned for him.

Tears came to the greenettes eyes as his voice shook with joy. "Dad!"

Hizashi was then tackled by the boy, slight bits of green lighting appearing on him showing his small use of one for all. Despite Izukus small stature compared to his father's hulking one, Hizashi nearly doubled over feeling like he was punched.

His son was a strong boy, he lamented the years lost since his little green bean was no longer little.

Wrapping his arms around his son Japan's evilest villain patted Izukus head. Causing the ex-symbol of peace to go into a coughing fit, a waterfall of blood pouring from his mouth.

"Dad are you okay?!"

Pushing away from Hizashi Izuku went to check on Toshinori as Inko offered up a handkerchief. Taking it in gratitude Toshinori thanked his wife before reassuring Izuku he was okay. "Thankyou son I'm alright no need to worry." Giving his signature grin he ignored his enemies death glare.

All for One the demon emperor would never admit he's jealous of anyone especially his arch-nemesis. But seeing his son coddle that blonde theif made his blood boil.

"Well this will be a new experience I never thought you'd call someone else dad..." Hizashi said with a strained smile his mouth lighting up with fire for a second.

He could always burn the blonde homewreaker with his fire breath good thing that was the quirk he with.

"Oh I guess it will get really confusing calling you both dad. But what other alternative names for you both? Or I could just call one dad and the other something else...maybe papa could work?" Izuku muttered suddenly, scratching the back of his head.

Both men looked at eachother realizing this could be the deciding factor. They knew that whoever got papa would win, after all it was the cuter of the two choices.

"Alright it's decided then!" Izuku claped his hands together a wide grin growing on his face. Both men sitting in anticipation at the boys verdict. The two looking like they were on a high stakes game show as sweat trickled down their foreheads.

"I'll call you dad" Izuku pointed at Hizashi "and I'll call you papa!" He then pointed to Toshinori.

Toshinori felt like he could do a cheer, his crops were watered, his stomach was back, his scares gone, everything in the universe was right.

That was until he looked over at All for One who he was sure would definitely kill him now if he wasn't going to before. His aura now darker than before as Toshinori's own aura glowed bright with happiness knowing he was the superior father figure in Izukus life.

Meanwhile Izuku ever oblivious to his father's fued just gave his mom his best smile feeling happier to have them in his life. After all they were his family and he wouldn't change that for nothing in the world.

******************************************************

Sometime later

Yoichi: Leave brother we will not leave this host!

AFO: Oh I don't want your quirk little brother, no not anymore.

Yoichi: Then why are you here what else could you possibly want?!

AFO: WHAT I WANT IS FOR YOU TO MAKE YOUR GOLDEN BOY LEAVE MY WIFE AND SON ALONE! HE'S RUINING EVERYTHING!

Yoichi: I see so that's what this is about...yeah no this is what you get. Consider this karma goodbye brother.

AFO: OH NO DON'T YOU DARE HANG UP ON ME TELL ALL MI-

Yoichi: *disconnects AFO from Izukus conscious*

AFO: *Sitting in Izukus room while his son sleeps* I can't believe it he hung up on me.

******************************************************

AFO: I'll have you know I did alot of good things I'm not a good for nothing scumbag!

Inko: Oh really name one good deed you've done since we got married.

AFO:............Well umm..... Oh! I had Izuku our son!

Inko: Hehe yeah no I had Izuku you just stood there and cried in the corner for 11 hours.

AFO: WELL YOU TRY BEING SUPPORTIVE WHEN YOUR WIFE CALLS YOU A- Wait no actually I adopted a stray child off the streets! That definitely counts as one good deed!

Inko: WHAT!?

AFO: *realizing how bad he messed up* You what happened was....

#bnha dad for one #dad for one #inko midoriya #inko midoriya is a black widow #vigilante deku #dad might #inko midoriya just being a good mom #hizashi midoriya is all for one #battle of the dads

[ordinaryschmuck]

What I Thought About "Echoes of the Past" from The Owl House

Salutations, random people on the internet who most certainly won’t read this. I am an Ordinary Schmuck. I write stories and reviews and draw comics and cartoons.

What probably gets debated the most in the fandom is the legitimacy behind King being the King of Demons. Some believe that there's truth to his statement, while others, like me, like to think that he was just some stray Eda picked up off the streets. Either option seemed likely, especially since Season One never gave an answer that leaned one way or the other.

Then here comes the writers finally answering the question of who King is in episode THREE of Season Two! Because, again, they don't waste time on giving fans exactly what they want.

Fans wanted answers behind King, we got 'em, and analyzing what those answers mean requires going deep into spoilers. So if you haven't checked the episode out yet, I highly recommend that you do. Trust me, it's worth seeing.

Now let's review, shall we?

WHAT I LIKED

Luz Experimenting with Spells: Hey, look! More proof that Luz isn't an idiot like some people flanderize her to be!

But, seriously though, this is a perfect little thread to introduce into the story. Luz collecting knowledge from Lilith's old books and past work she and Eda made adds to Luz's intelligence while also providing a believable explanation for how she gets new spells. It's also nice to see that she has this little notebook (or spellbook) to help see what works and what doesn't. It's a level of experimentation that proves her dedication to becoming a witch while also exemplifying how she isn't stupid. Occasionally reckless, sure, but you can't say that the person who figured out an invisibility spell through showing her work is also an idiot.

Francios with a Knife: How did Francois get a knife? I don't know. But the fact that a random knife plopped out behind him with little to no explanation is funny, and I will not hear otherwise.

I don't make the rules. I just abide by them.

Luz’s Invisibility Spell: I breezed past this, but I honestly love this invisibility spell. More specifically, I love that there's a limiter. It can turn you, objects, and people you're in contact with invisible, but only as long as you can hold your breath. It helps make the spell something the characters can't always rely on, which is appreciated. Because if it works as long as they concentrate, what's stopping them from sneaking into Belos' castle and assassinating him in his sleep? It's a smart way of explaining why they can't always rely on something, despite how insanely useful it is.

Luz: Let's gush about Luz some more, shall we!

"Echoes of the Past" is another episode that has Luz on top form. She is constantly supportive of King, even if Lilith has a point in the dangers of indulging his fantasy as a powerful tyrant. Doing so would cause more harm than good, especially when King finds out Luz doesn't believe him, but her going along with it was all done with the best of intentions. Luz doesn't want to hurt her friend, and even if she did in the long run, she still makes up for it by helping King learn more about his past.

And, as another reminder, Luz isn't stupid. She's the first to say they should leave when it's clear how dangerous the castle is and is quick to figure out there should be more at the top. Luz is a loyal and caring friend who's also guarded and intuitive when the situation calls for it. This episode understood that, so here's hoping other fans will too.

Lilith: Yeah, she's still growing on me.

I feel like this episode shows a better idea of Lilith's place in the group more than the past two. She's a person who's obsessed with knowledge and learning but considers herself above the jovial nature of King, Luz, and definitely Eda. Therefore, she acts as the perfect catalyst for what jumpstarts this week's adventure. It doesn't surprise me in the slightest that she almost instantly dismisses King's claims due to considering herself more knowledgeable than everyone else. Still, I like how she's willing to believe King once she finally sees evidence that seemingly proves he really was the King of Demons, to the point of referring to him as "her lord." Hooty does the same thing, but it comes across as him fearing for his own life and choosing to be friends with someone who could maybe kill him in an instant. For Lilith, her newfound respect comes from the desire to learn more, and it's that desire that makes Lilith an enjoyable character to me. It's adorable to see, and it has some comedic flavor in moments like when she dismisses everyone else and their emotional revelations to take pictures of the carvings around her. I'm sure she'll cause some controversy like other characters with rushed reformations, but for me, I'm more than ok with her addition to the main cast.

More of Lilith’s and Hooty’s Friendship: HOW DOES THIS WORK!?

ON PAPER, IT SEEMS LIKE IT WOULD BE A BAD IDEA, BUT IT F**KING WORKS!

HOW?!

WHAT BLACK MAGIC DID THESE WRITERS USE TO MAKE A RELATIONSHIP SO UNEXPECTED COME ACROSS AS SO ENDEARING AND ADORABLE?!

And where can I get some for my stories...just asking.

But seriously: HOW?!

Hooty Making Himself Portable: Ah, yes. The classic bit where a character does something horrifically grotesque off-screen, and we have nothing but character reactions and sound effects to imagine what happened between shot A and shot B. It's an oldie, but given how hard I was laughing (mostly because of Luz's gagging), it's still a goodie.

Eda’s Portable Bathtub Boat Thing: I mean...I was expecting Eda would use something to catch up with the others, but...that thing...well...I mean, I'm still laughing just by thinking about it. That should tell you how well executed this joke was.

John Luke: ...I'm gonna go ahead and add him to the list because HOLY S**T was this guy disturbing! From his design to his movements to even the sounds he makes when moving, everything about John Luke screams as something that will stay in kids' nightmares for a while. Now, this might seem like a complaint, but to be honest, I'm more than alright with how creepy John Luke is. I highly doubt adult viewers will consider John Luke scary, but I guarantee he'll terrify some of the youngins that this series is aimed for. And that's fine. It's good to creep kids out a little bit with something somewhat scary, as it might introduce them to more good horror stories later in life.

Plus, the reveal that John Luke was only a guard for King is pretty solid narratively speaking. You can see how John never really meant to hurt King aside from one accident when Eda escaped with him. If you want to read into it, I guess it might be questionable to tell kids that something that looks dangerous is secretly nice, but that's really nitpicky, in my opinion. John Luke was a fantastic threat that is designed and animated well, with a solidly executed twist. Some might hate what he presents, most will fear him, but we can all agree on one thing: His theme is awesome (can I get the track for that, please)!

King’s Backstory: Finally, at long last, we know who King is, thus putting an end to a year-long debate. And I fully mean it when I say that the writers gave the best possible answer. Because in a way, everyone was right. Yes, King was just an animal that Eda decided to adopt, like the nature-loving hippie she is inside (She's got the hair for it). However, while he may not be the King of Demons himself, he is still the son of someone who deserves that title. So while he isn't the King, there's a chance he might be the Prince. Once again, there's no direct answer, but given how the writers came up with something that pleases everyone while still providing more questions for debate, it acts as a brilliant move, in my opinion. So whatever answer we get next, I'm sure it will be just as perfect.

Baby King:

My heart was not prepared for that level of cuteness!

King’s Breakdown: NOR WAS IT READY FOR THIS LEVEL OF SADNESS!

But in all seriousness, a HUGE round of applause to Alex Hirsch for his performance in this episode. He expertly captured the raw emotions of shock, anger, betrayal, and sadness that King must have felt when finding out that everything he believed he was is a lie. It's one of those moments where I don't hear a person voicing lines in a booth (or wherever the hell VAs are voicing characters nowadays), but instead hear a living person being emotionally torn apart. It was heartbreaking seeing King so vulnerable as he's so guarded with his emotions. Seeing him like this adds so much more layers to a character that many would mistake him as a cute, comedic animal sidekick. But just like with Luz, there's more to him than people will tell you.

“I don’t even know what’s real or fake anymore!”: I'm just pointing out this line because I believe it's what convinces Luz to help King learn more about who he is. Hell, not knowing what's real or fake is the main reason why Luz got sent away in the first place, so I feel like she can relate to King when he's in a similar predicament.

Hooty and Lilith vs John Luke: This was just a cool scene with some epic moments of dodging John Luke's attacks and some funny ones, like how Hooty said the word "pain." It's a ten out of ten that I would rewind to watch again.

King’s Other Horn: I'd question the logistics of how a horn that got broken off when he was a baby still manages to fit perfectly in the present...but it is neat symbolism of King accepting his past and letting it be a part of him, so who cares?

(The fact that the colors of the broken-off piece don't match the rest of the horn is nice attention to detail as well.)

WHAT I DISLIKED

It's a Little Too Predictable: I pretty much figured almost every little twist the episode offers. But, I'm willing to say that's because I'm in my twenties, and I've seen enough stories similar to this one, so I'm more likely to know what will happen. The little monsters watching this will see it for the first time, so they'll most likely get more surprised than me...And that was my only complaint about the episode...which is more of a personal problem than an actual issue...I guess that means it's perfect.

IN CONCLUSION

"Echoes of the Past" is an easy A+ in my book. It gives lore and backstory that furtherly develops the characters that episodes like this should. It also tells a tragic story about King that still sprinkles in a few good jokes every now and again to lighten up the mood. Sure, there are some nitpicks I could mention (how did King remember his own birth?). But when the good stuff is done so well, what's the point of dwelling on small, insignificant issues? This is still a phenomenal episode that flew past all expectations I had for it, and it continues the winning steak this season is having so far.

(But that's still three home runs in a row. Meaning that a stinker is coming. Ooiee, is it coming!)

#the owl house #the owl house season 2 #king of demons #luz noceda #lilith clawthorne #toh hooty #the owl house reviews #what i thought about

[life-rewritten]

START UP- DREAMS: DISILLUSIONS vs DESTINY

It's starting to get exhausting dealing with the discourse in Start-up, especially when revolving around the love triangle that refused to be ceased. Heads up, whilst I'm on here analysing mostly about the relationship with Dosan and Dalmi.  I didn't have a side for a long time, I also liked Jipyeong because he was based on Cyrano, he was the guy who wrote to her soul or whatever, but the thing is, as much as I've tried to follow where the show leads me, what clues the show leaves, which Fate is supporting (Fate represents the writer's opinion as well) and why a couple deserves to be together, whilst I've tried to be unbiased, I can't help but now shift the other way to Dosan 100%. I will be infuriated and disappointed if Dalmi ends up Han Ji Pyeong, there I said it, irrationally, possessively, and harshly. And I know this won't get a lot of notes and support but who cares. This is my voice and my opinion. I have come to dislike Jipyeong a lot, fear not this is not a Jipyeong hate post, I don't have it in me to make lists of reasons for why I dislike him, but this is about episode 11-12,  our characters breakdowns from their dreams and destiny.

 All of our main characters in start-up have a dream that yes again, Fate is trying to lead them to, but sometimes their goals don't align with what Fate has for them. The characters experiences; have shaped them to see the future in one way, to want things in another, and to also feel stopped cruelly by Fate and Luck each time it's near them, however, like with Destiny and Purpose, these characters are guided by Fate with good intentions, all the plans for Fate for them are to get to them to their most significant potential and success, even if it seems like it's not for them. Everyone is guided and pushed by Fate, almost forced even, if you try to do something that isn't for you Fate harshly stops you, if you try to run away from something that is for your benefit Fate forces you to go there. 

So our 4 main characters have a destined path for them designed by Fate, its to ensure their skills, growth and talents are utilised in every way possible. This episode it seemed like everything was crashing down for our babies but really, although everyone feels defeated this storm was a push in the right direction. Here's why;

DOSAN’S DREAM: TO BE LOVED

Dosan, my Dosan, no words to explain the hurt he went through this episode. The way his dreams came crashing right in front of him, the way that the only way for him to move forward was to be on pause for a while and fulfil what the world wanted for him, to be a genius. I've written so many posts about Dosan being the person who's the most needed, used and wanted in the world of Start-Up. He's the key man remember, he's the person who everyone falls apart without him there. This episode Dosan was forced to go to the next part of his destiny, somewhere where he'd be utilised more and needed. Dosan was born to code, he was born to be a genius, not even metaphorically, or jokingly, the boy was given coding as his strength, it's automatic to him, authentic to him and is the thing that he's the most accurate at. 

Except for so long because of this Dosan resented himself, he found it useless when he couldn't make friendships or connect with people correctly, he found it useless when it came to being loved for who he was, he found it useless when it came to him trying to find meaning for why he was such a loser. For him, coding was his comfort, his tool to help wherever he can (because that's just him helpful) and the only thing he could rely on. But because of this Dosan never saw how vital his coding was, he's humble, modest and just using it to help wherever he can, he didn't notice all that coding has done for other people. 

First, it provided his friends job they were happy in; Their potential was seen (CODA and 2STO. 

It led to an accurate handwriting forgery test to detect forgery other businesses. 

It led to success with Noongil for both Dalmi's grandma and so many other people,

 It led to him also accurately helping Dalmi code for her drug recognition app, which is also crucial for everyone to use. 

Dosan is incredible, and the fact that he didn't understand why Alex would spend billions and billions to just get him is so sad, but it's good because it means he's not going to go bad. I just love him (that's me being biased). Everyone can see (apart from Jipyeong who I'll explain later), how great he is, how important he is but Dosan only wants his dreams, to be loved. 

It's like he views his coding/geniusness like a curse? It makes him awkward and struggles with everything else, and it makes him feel worthless. All he's ever wanted was to be loved for who he really is (even though being a genius is also who he is);

He wanted his dad to love him without the idea of being a genius, 

He wanted his friends to be by his side just for him, 

He wanted Dalmi to love him only as his awkward, weird and stupid Dosan self. 

His dreams from the start felt blocked because everyone tried to push him to see being a genius as his dream. His father interrupted his speech to Park Changho about what he wanted to say the obvious; winning awards etc. Dosan saw it as a  burden, guilt, and just a barrier to actually loving himself for who he is. 

DOSAN’S DESTINY; TO BE A GENIUS AND THE NAM DO SAN OF DALMI’S LETTERS

Thing is yes I get it, I get why he just thinks being loved and being happy is enough for him. But I agree with Fate as we've seen Dosan is so needed by the world for all that he can do, he's automatically the most selfless and inventive person around him, he takes dreams, ideas, and illusions and makes them real. Heck, he's a real-life manifestation of dreams (Dalmi's own dream guy). He's so incredible the way he just is, the symbol for everyone's hopes and dreams to come through; this isn't me being biased! 

 In episode 12 alone we see it; 

He brings hope as a symbol for  Youngsan's dreams; to not be seen as a failure. 

He brings the solution for Dalmi's ideas to come through because he fixes and solves the coding issue for her on the plane.

 He brings proof for Chulsan who always wanted to be seen and noticed for his skills and be recognised by going to 2STO.

He also brought ease for Dalmi's grandmum to still live comfortable although she may not be able to see. Still, he also made her dreams for granddaughter come through because he is a real-life manifestation of the guy she wanted for her. 

 He also made wishes come through for Jipyeong despite him not seeing it: he's the real-life representation which helps repay Jipyeong's debt to the grandma.  

Dosan is so needed by everyone and also the world, so he couldn't stay stuck in the sandbox with Dalmi, he had to be forced to move on for now. So his dreams (to be loved) and her dreams (her dream guy) can come true. 

DOSAN’S STORM: BEING FORCED TO GIVE IN AND SEPERATE FROM DALMI

Fate forces Dosan to become great and self-confident and see he's worthy.

That's where Alex comes through because Alex for everyone is actually the representation of Fate/Purpose, he's here to be the storm that forces them to grow. Like Dalmi said it's Fall; she's falling before she blossoms. Alex is the falling step, he's the hurt, the betrayals, the challenges before the beauty/truth is seen and appreciated. He's the fire/heat used to make the diamonds. And he did it, he pushed everyone by force to their next destinations. And he chose Dosan because he saw what we've seen, he knows how desperately the world needed Dosan's skills, how much his headquarters needed Dosan. He saw it all, and harshly had to cause reality to come so everyone grows up and pushes forward to where they need to go. 

Symbols for Dosan's conflict with his dreams, vs destiny

Follow your dreams baseball: Dosan says he doesn't want the results and the awards Fate intends to bestow on him its led him to feel lonely with no one by his side. Fate doesn't stop his dreams as he thinks but also makes him viable for them without him knowing. Yes Dalmi broke his heart, but actually, it confirmed to us pretty much he's the one she wants, she selflessly chose to let him go because of how much she loves him, and he'll keep being in her heart until he returns. It also made her realise he is the guy of her dreams (despite the fact she said he wasn't) she was lying; everything she said was the opposite, he was the guy from her dreams, but at that moment life was making her think it was an illusion. 

But in a show that is so supportive of dreams it literally is named after a place to prevent dreams from being ruined, Dalmi and Dosan will get back their dreams; its already in motion. 

DALMI'S DREAMS: TO CONTINUE HER FATHER'S LEGACY AND BE SUCCESSFUL WITH HER CHOICES; TO PROVE EVERYONE WRONG/ TO BE CHOSEN

 Dalmi is someone who I absolutely love, she's determined, resilient and she's actually so bright. The thing with her so far is that we see her potential, her ideas are genius, and she also represents dreams becoming a reality that is useful and helpful for people; 

She's the one who poked Dosan in the right direction for the handwriting forgery test,

 she's the one who brought up the idea of the self relying car

 The person who brought up the idea for the drug recognition device. 

She's great. But also she has her own dreams, Dalmi's dream whilst Dosan's is to be loved, is to be chosen/wanted. From a young age, she felt slighted that her sister and her mother did not pick her and her dad, and the fact the world seemed to make fun of her choices made by her heart. She had dreams to prove to everyone that she made the right choice, that she was on the right path, but also she wanted to continue her father's legacy and dreams. She wanted to be successful with her choices. 

Her choices so far are: Her father, Dosan and being CEO of samsan tech. Each time she's been mocked, rejected by the world and hurt for her choices; 

She's mocked by her sister for staying with her dad when he was going to die, and leave her alone, and force her to be behind.

 She was rejected by the world as CEO of Samsan Tech when Alex didn't view her as useful or important, 

and she was hurt because she chose Dosan as her love interest, she was hurt because she had to let him go cruelly to be who he was supposed to be, she was meant to be left alone by him if he was to grow and become prosperous. 

In each of these, something great came out of it; her father inspired sandbox to be created, Samsan Tech was chosen by 2STO and won demo day, and Dosan was her dream guy manifested. 

 But she was the leftover, the discarded and the failure in each one. It's sad to see how much her dreams felt like disillusions, she was not the person winning from those dreams but the person those dreams did not belong to. Dalmi struggled this episode to see her self as worthy or needed. And that hurt. 

DALMI'S DESTINY: TO BE THE GIRL ON THE SWINGS; AN INSPIRATION, A LEADER AND EXCELLENT SOURCE OF HELP TO PEOPLE

Thing is Dalmi is needed. Her destiny is to be the very face of the Sandbox company. She's the original source of the inspiration of this company used to make sure everyone's dream doesn't get hurt or ruined. She's meant to represent, innovation, comfort and success. She's meant to be great, and Fate wants her to be great. She's a leader, a spark of ideas, and a catalyst to winning. She is important. And she's destined to become a great source of help to people. 

Notice the things she thinks of; its all to do with ease and helping people (like Dosan), whilst Dosan is application and manifestation, she's the innovation and inspiration to everything; 

She is the person who makes him find a way to sort out the handwriting test, 

She's the person who makes him realise how to sort out Noongil with VR and the voice activation,

 She's the person who comes up with the self relying car, 

She's the person who comes up with the drug recognition system. 

See she's already the source of creation for helping the world and making life easier for people and companies. We see what she's good at in episode 1 with her father (she comes up with ideas for him, and she stays by his side as a helping hand). In episode 2 before she quits, she was able to get her company the money needed for buying the products she knew what fangirls wanted, and she catalysed sales. She's a catalyst. So why is she being deserted by Fate?

DALMI'S STORM: BEING REJECTED AS A CEO AND FORCED TO GIVE UP ON DOSAN

Fate forces Dalmi to become self-reliant and determined, she's been given the tools, experience, the location, dream, and the people by her side she just needs to see it.

 Also, she was forced to reset, she was forced to go back and learn from her scars, remember she felt discarded by so many people, it wounded her pride and slowed her down, she was petty to her sister, and that always stopped her growth, Fate came in to force her to heal from that, to grow from that and work with her sister. Because they're both meant to fulfil her father's dream. Fate gave her the right people to use, and learn from (Dosan, Injae, Jipyeong, Sandbox owner, her father) to become who she's also meant to be. So it felt like Fall, but actually, it was for her to bloom into who she was meant to be.

If you noticed in episode 13 trailer: she has her own start up named after her father (fulfilling his legacy) she has the prototype for the car named after Dosan’s teachings (Tarzan) and she also works with Injae as well. She’s on her way to fulfilling her destiny, and Dosan needed to go for her to do so.

Symbols

Self relying car: Because those dreams aren't hers, see she's the catalyst in all of I've mentioned before, those scenarios where she's left, she's always helping others, but like her self reliant car, she needs to become self-reliant. Dosan is excellent to her he's her help, her inspiration, her guide, but she needs to grow and rely on her self, she needs to find out what her strengths are and not just rely on fantasies. Instead of dreaming it up, she needs to manifest it her self. She's now been given an opportunity without Dosan and JP input to find her own voice, where she's actually in charge and confident of what she knows.

Dosan's baseball: it was telling her to follow her dreams, not his, not JP, but hers. To do so, she needed to reset, return back to deal with her feelings, and pride and reunite with her scars and learn about her self. Dosan being there wouldn't help her at that moment. But also she returned the ball back to him: because he also needs to follow his path although he doesn't see it as his dreams; in doing what he was forced to, he'd return back to her and actually keep his promise/dream for her in episode 7 (to be wealthy and successful). 

In a way, disappearing is fulfilling both their dreams/ideas Dalmis dream guy comes back to her the way she asked him to in episode 10 (the suit), and He becomes a dream version of himself for her. She still is his dream, and he still is hers. 

It's funny how life works, it makes you face reality, but love brings fulfilment of dreams in a way you never expected it to, it's still going to get there, but you just have to climb up the mountain first before you see the view, a few obstacles to help you get to the top. 

JIPYEONG'S DREAM: TO HAVE SUCCESS AND TO BE WEALTHY; TO BE WANTED

Jipyeong is an interesting case, he starts off alone, all he dreams of when he's young is to be successful and wealthy. But I also think his dreams are similar to Dalmi's; to be chosen/wanted. He's been without anyone for so long, deserted by Fate to be alone; he's an orphan. He doesn't trust anyone because he's never known how to, everything felt difficult, and he had to fight his way out on his own. For him, clinging to logic and controlling the real world is how he survives and is successful. In fact, controlling/investing in numbers is how he got his first success, that brought him here. He's always wanted to be wanted and chosen. But he also sees success as being above others as well, because he's been looked down on so long when he was younger, he wanted a chance to be seen as important. 

In this episode everything comes crashing down for him 

He realises he's not essential; He didn't even know details about someone he claimed he cared about the grandmum and her blindness. He noticed Dosan already helped her with that not him.

He realises he's not wanted; Dalmi already wanted and was in a relationship with Dosan who he looked down on; who just proved to everyone he's wanted and actually destined for greatness and success. 

He realises he's not chosen; he stopped being seen as Samsan's Techs mentor by Yong San and everyone due to how much he belittles them and put them down. Because of this, they refused to listen to him when he tried to warn them and then he didn't try to help. He wasn't chosen by Dalmi although she thanked him for his words of advice. He wasn't chosen either by grandma because she already rejected him as Dalmi's love interest in episode 9. 

So basically everything was falling apart for him, and he also realised he wasn't a good person. Although fangirls will keep on saying the opposite, he's not a good person, he's selfish and always so focused on the surface that he doesn't look deeper or take a chance on things. It makes him an awful mentor; all he does is break people down instead of offering advice on how to move forward—a pessimistic presence. 

JIPYEONG'S DESTINY: FOUND FAMILY, TO BE WANTED DIFFERENTLY AND TO FEEL PEACE AND TRUST WITH PEOPLE. TO BE AN OLDER BROTHER TO ALL THESE CHARACTERS.

But the thing is like Jipyeong's strength has always been to do with Dalmi's grandmum. In fact, I wanted to say with Dalmi as well but not really cause he keeps crossing that line. His destiny has led him to finding someone who will choose and want him. Fate led him to Dalmi's grandmum in episode 1, it's why he was first shown, he also is being pushed by destiny to find the family he never had. It's about found family. Dalmi isn't meant to be his soulmate, she's meant to be family, just like the grandmum is like a mother figure to him. Jipyeong is meant to be loved, chosen and wanted as an older brother figure. I keep saying this, but you'll notice that's what the show has been showing, his advice only works when he's a mentor/ guidance to the group, it's like an older brother, he's meant to show them reality and berate them, but he's not meant to be the hero or the prince charming to Dalmi's rescue. 

His advice works especially for Dalmi, who needs guidance on reality. But it's for a family relationship; he's been like an older brother to Dalmi for a long time, despite the fact that he was her fantasy Dosan on paper (Dosan is the manifestation of that), but as an older brother, he's protective, caring and looks out for her in the right way, he guides her and becomes another male figure in her life that is comfort and advice after her father died. 

Jipyeong is meant to be a family member, that's why in the promo you see him finally getting his found family dream come true. He also said this was his dream/wish for his birthday he wanted a family to play go stop with; with Dalmi in his life, he's gotten a grandma, a mother figure (probably Dalmi's mum) and a sister (Dalmi). The fact that people don't see why this is what he was meant to be aiming for is funny to me. 

It's not just to Dalmi he's meant to be destined for. Its Dosan, Dosan and him are destined to form a brother bond its why Fate pushed him to Dosan from the beginning, he was meant to guide and teach Dosan how to fulfil his destiny, but he let jealousy and pettiness prevent him from being a good mentor to Dosan, he looked down on him and refused Fates call to invest and trust in Dosan. It was a mistake, and he knew it this episode. Also, he had a found family with Samsan tech, he had three people who would have been friends to him if he didn't berate them and put them down in a disrespectful manner, even Yong San is there to teach Jipyeong to humble himself. But also its Dosan and his crew who help him achieve what he wanted the most to repay his debt to grandma; they make noongil, they use his AI to make noongil, for grandma. He was just too prideful to see it. 

So Jipyeong is destined to become a good boy just like Grandma says he is like he's meant to grow to trust, and love and be chosen as a family member/ mentor. Its what he's been starved of for so long and where he's the most useful and needed.

JIPYEONG'S STORM: BEING SECOND LEAD AND FORCED TO SEE THAT HE'S WRONG ALL THE TIME AND SELFISH

Hence why his storm was exactly showing him all the ways, he failed though people didn't notice; it showed he was a horrible mentor because he didn't gain the trust and respect from his group, it showed he was an awful love interest because he was too focused on money and success to realise the girl he loved's grandma was going blind. He was against the source that was helping her, it showed he was always late, he was forced to be a second lead because Dosan has always been by her side helping and thinking of her first and foremost. Did he learn from his lesson? 

Fate forces Jipyeong to become humble, selfless, and reflective. He still isn't even close to doing so, but also to understand the value of money and greed to not look on the surface

From the trailer it seems like he still doesn't get it, he's still trying to cross that line, maybe I'm a fool, but even after three years I'm sure Dalmi brother zoned him, we'll see, but I think he's still prideful and didn't get what Fate was doing when it gave him three years to spend time with his found family. He still has a long way to go, but I'm sure he'll grow, and I'm his final fulfilment for his destiny in being a good boy would be choosing selflessly to bring Dalmi to Dosan. Because I still think that's how Fate has been using him this whole time. 

So these are the ways Fate pushed our characters to achieve their growth and become who they’re meant to be. In Jae also has her own story to tell but this was already too long and not connected to the love triangle. I’ll make her own post a review later on. But yeh I love this show, a lot of people like to call it useless, or failure to show its message, but this has always been an inpirational message about fulfilling your dreams and becoming the person you’re meant to be, how love helps that, but also how reality needs to happen for that as well. Life isn’t a bed of roses but we can always manifest and get our goals if we put enough effort and hard work into it. These characters all do that, and they all help each other grow. The love triangle may seem useless but it’s a learning point for all our character’s its a way for them to learn and change, and so I’m grateful for it. Just hopeful the writer doesn’t change her direction just because fangirls are threatning for her to make someone endgame who doesn’t deserve it. Okay that’s it. that’s the analysis for this week. Bye <3

#start up #tvn start up #start up kdrama #startup #kdrama net #kdrama #nam do san #seo dal mi #han ji pyeong #nam joo hyuk #bae suzy #november #cwg #fvete

[gamergirlshelby]

"Can we talk about the BNHA OC Comeback timeline? I've been dying to talk about my theories for the BNHA OC Comeback timeline all day!"

-Me to anyone willing to listen.

Here are the ramblings of me, someone who has no restraint when it comes to coming up with crazy theories about their interests, rambling about their theories on how the BNHA OC Comeback timeline could work.

Note: this is all speculation, and if the people in charge of the AU deem it to not be canon it is not. This was just something I did for fun because I wanted to do some writing. That is why I said could happen and not should happen, because this is all just fun speculation, and none of the other fandoms I am a part of have been able to scratch that itch for me lately.

Also, I will be talking about spoilers for a majority of the anime, but mostly stuff revealed in seasons 3-5, with a little bit of stuff from seasons 1 and 2, since those are the seasons with a lot of the important details that I will be attempting to write work arounds for. I will also be using the Wiki's names for story arcs (a list of which can be found here) when referring to specific plot events.

My ramblings about my theories are under the read more:

Also, to start this off, this speculation was pretty much brought upon by this post from the official BNHA OC Comeback blog, but what is important here is the tags.

I think the idea of Class 1-A and Class 1-B being third years would be a good starting point for what I want to be diving into.

First point should be a little obvious but in this timeline, Deku still inherits One for All from All Might. This is mainly because if he didn't, if someone where to write or draw an interaction between this version of class 1-A with, lets say class 1-X for this example, Deku would likely not be there, due to not having a quirk, causing the question of "who is the 20th student in class 1-A?" One for All would likely be passed down to someone else (most likely Mirio because Nighteye was going to recommend him to All Might in the first place, and if Deku is not going to inherit it, I doubt there would be anything in the way of Mirio getting One for All)

Second point I want to point out is the battle between All Might and All for One that had happened before the events of the show. I think All Might will still suffer from his injuries from the fight, and continue being the symbol of peace, even if it is killing him. BUT I think it would be best if All for One gets defeated and gets put into hiding, not initiating any of his plans or finding Tomura Shigaraki. Tomura never getting taken in by One for All would also cause the League of Villains to never form (at least not in the way we are familiar with) so we.

Third Point is, although this is speculation, and I do not know where Nomus come from, I do think, even without the league of villains, there would be some sort of lab somewhere where Nomus are being created, likely as one of the last things All for One was able to set into motion before going into hiding in the AU. (I mostly went with this because I think Nomus as a concept are really cool, and I think it would be great to have some sort of generic enemy for the 1-X and 1-Y students to have to face without the need of creating a new organization)

Fourth Point is because All for One is in hiding, so All for One can not force All Might to reveal his "injured form" (I dunno what else to call it), but I do think when All Might and Sato get engaged, he will maybe (and this is a big maybe) reveal it to the public on his own, as more of a "I'm retiring and settling down now" then a "You must keep fighting because I can not" thing, causing crime to not sky rocket, but still rise because there is no more symbol of peace, since there is still the possibility (at least in the publics mind) that All Might could come out of retirement and go back to saving people.

Alright now I begin with some of the actual stuff that actively happened in the show that Class 1-A and Class 1-B had experienced.

Alright so everything at the beginning of the anime is the same, going up until the USJ arc. This is because, as stated previously, there is no League of Villains to attack the USJ. The only thing I can think of that could possibly stay the same is the All Might vs Nomu fight, because I think Nomus as a concept are cool and that was an awesome fight. The only way for the fight to happen though is that the Nomu is let loose somewhere else, like a highly populated area, because it makes no sense for it to be at USJ without the League.

Next is the sports festival, and this would also go the same. But after that is probably the most interesting arc I leave mostly unchanged, being the Hero Killer Arc. This is because, even without a League of Villain's, there would still be people following Stain's ideologies after he is detained, so I think maybe there could be some sort of small unorganized group of people following Stain's beliefs that there are no more "true" heroes. The group of stain followers would likely be the characters that had joined the League of Villains after the Hero Killer Arc (like Dabi, Himiko Toga, and Twice). It is also unchanged in the sense that the students are interning with Pro Heroes, and that Nomus are running around, being a cool concept (can you tell I like Nomus? I just think they are neat.).

Next is the Final exams Arc, which would go unchanged, but the next arc, the Forrest Camp Training arc, would also not have a League attack (because there is no league), and Class 1-A and Class 1-B have a normal experience at the training camp, causing there to be no Hideout Raid arc, because there is no hideout to raid.

Next, the Provisional License Exams are the same results, so no change here, except Camie Utsushimi would be there instead of Toga's impersonation of her, and still ending up to need to take the Remedial Course.

After that is the Shie Hassaikai Arc and then Remedial Course Arc. The Shie Hassaikai Arc would actually largely go unchanged because it is mainly just another internship for the Hero Course students, with the only change to the arc being the League involvement being removed, even though this would leave some plot holes, which I will fill by saying the small unorganized Stain followers would take the place of the league (since Toga and Twice are apart of the Stain followers group, so they would still end up working for them, filling the same rolls they had in the original Arc). Also Overhaul doesn't lose his arms because there would be no reason for him to get them ripped off (because there is no League of Villains). ALSO this means Eri would be canon to the BNHA OC Comeback, which I wanted to mention since from my knowledge she is a fan favorite. After that, the Remedial Course would go unchanged.

I'm also going to say that Mirio will have already gotten his quirk back during the main events of the AU, since Nighteye had predicted that he would get it back before Nighteye had died. How he gets it back will likely go unanswered, since I have not read ahead to the most recent chapter of the manga, only watching the anime, so we should leave the answer to how he got it back to be unclear just in case he gets it back in a spoiler-y way.

Then, lastly as of right now, the rest of the arcs would go unchanged up untill the latest arc where Todoroki, Midoriya, and Bakugo are interning with Endeavor, excluding the parts of the arc going into the Meta Liberation War, which can not properly go through thanks to their being no League of Villains, but especially because there is no Tomura.

Alright now we get to the stuff some of you are here for, being the new info and timeline stuff that occurs during the year Class 1-X and 1-Y are first years. First off, Class 1-A and Class 1-B would now be third years, which was a concept brought up in the original post that cause my brain to go into theory mode.

I would also like to pose the idea of a new "Big Three", replacing Mirio Togata, Tamaki Amajiki, and Nejire Hado (and also the nameless "Big Three" from when 1-A/1-B had been second years in this AU) since 1-A and 1-B are now all third years. This new "Big Three" would be made up of Katsuki Bakugo, Shoto Todoroki, and Izuku Midoriya, seeing as out of Class 1-A and Class 1-B, those three have shown to be the most consistent heavy hitters (and also being the most relevant to the original plot).

Aside from that, Class 1-A and 1-B would not be doing that much in the AU aside from the new "Big Three" occasionally helping out the first year Hero Course students with their studies.

Anyway if you read this far I really appreciate it. I have some more ramblings about stuff in the tags, but its more side stuff that doesn't really effect this AU within another AU.

#bnha oc comeback #skiduffle #long post #hoo boy did i go a little over board here #this is mainly a bunch of head canons on my part of what could possibly happen with the original story since there where some retcons #since not everyone is super familiar with all of the story of My Hero since the AU is just here to let people play around in the setting #But man do I have quite the habit of going crazy with theories #best comparison that i think a lot of the people will get is how deku would get super analytic whenever discussing quirks #thats basically me when i'm in theory crafting mode #but i don't plan on theorizing how to work around other story arcs #not because i don't want to #its more of a time thing #this is pretty much all i've been working on all day tbh #since we don't know the time his fight with All Might took place #so my attempt to fix some lore might have also messed up some of the lore in the au #bonus: the meme at the top of the post is probably my favorite part of the post #i'll probably redesign my sona at some point though #so the meme will not be the most accurate #anyway that's enough speculating for me

[gyokuto]

i’m rewriting yashahime in my head (i’m only half serious, oh also, i’m not a writer)

-i’m not keen on the idea of sessh procreating for some reason it feels ooc lmao (hello aroace king), but i think towa and setsuna are cute. it seemed like there was naraku symbolism & kagura fit nature vs. nurture, so for the sake of keeping the twins, somehow kagura is reborn, and we’re gonna say she is a half-demon. the twins are hers and sessh’s. they’re actually 3 quarter demons which i think is a cool contrast to their cousin moroha

-rin is the best older sister ever, and the apple of her father’s eye! i’m trying to think of what would be a good “profession” for her...but honestly i just want her to be happy and carefree lol. her childhood was very stressful

-i like the twins’ designs, but i haven’t thought about them much since i was never a huge sessh fan. towa is for sure nonbinary. personally, i wish their discomfort with gender norms was explored more in “canon.” setsuna, i have to think about more since they basically wrote her like a 14 yr old, less mean version of sessh, but i would wanna flesh her character out more. i think it would be cool if they were actually hisui’s age (and older than moroha by maybe a year or two?)

-once i had this thought that it would be cool if there was a time period where mixed human/demon ancestry was more common (maybe humans like sango and miroku have distant demon relatives like a great grandparent or something. can we explore this???), and something happened and it became taboo which is why inuyasha went through what he did, etc. so, there’s still discrimination over it, but things are getting better however towa and setsuna struggle because of who their “grandpa” (naraku) was. i think inuyasha (cause half-demon uncle) and rin (human who understands humans can be just as cruel) would play a big role in helping them accept that they’re not to be ashamed of their ancestry (side plot? maybe this is a side story apart from something else i talk about later in the post.)

-kohaku? he has no scar and his freckles are back! that boy has suffered enough. he still adores his sister & he is the best uncle ever! kohaku has very soft vibes lol for some reason i feel like he wouldn’t really want to slay demons after everything he went through. can we just let him rest? maybe he would become a healer of some sort. kohaku maintains a close relationship with sessh, kagura, and rin! lives with miroku and sango. maybe he is closest to his niece gyokuto?

-kingyo are BOTH alive and well. they’re both lesbians. gyokuto is spiritual like her father, and k’inu does her own thing. maybe she inherited his shady/flirty behavior? i feel like i saw a similar hc, and i think that’s cute. she’s off charming girls and that’s why we haven’t seen her

-hisui takes after his mom. he’s a sweet boy but he’s also serious. his mom trained him! he also learned some stuff from his uncle kohaku!

-miroku and sango are bicons. why is this relevant? cause i said so. i feel like it fits their characters idk why. they’re wholesome and happy because sango deserves the world. miroku is still flirty but only w/ sango because he’s matured and loves his fuckin wife. who wouldn’t? she’s amazing. also, we’re done with stupid misogynistic tropes! he never groped ppl. we are retconning that shit. kilala is also alive and well.

-miroku was the stay-at-home dad mostly while the kids were young & sango brought in some $ by doing slaying jobs, but i can see them switching it around and him bringing home $ from doing spiritual jobs. also, she is the head of the demon slayers because why wouldn’t she be? (she is the older sibling and unlike sunrise i’m aware that women can uh do something other than be wives, also kohaku’s done w/ that stuff remember?) 

-they live next to kagome and inuyasha! kagome and inuyasha had their beautiful little babeeyyyy moroha who takes after both of them. inuyasha loves his child very much, and is constantly overwhelmed by a happiness he never thought he would have! she’s pretty much like a mini version of him, and kagome finds their relationship very endearing. she loves them very much! like in the show, moroha’s in touch with her spiritual powers. i think it would be cool if something happened one day while moroha was by the well, and she ended up in the present time. sota, mama higurashi and grandpa higurashi would cry and dote on her properly. maybe the plot is that she is stuck there, and inukag gotta go get her back? cue eventual kagome reunion with her family that is very emotional and makes me cry.

-random, but i think it would be cute if miroku, kagome, and kaede taught the kids who were into spirituality and healing, and sango and inuyasha taught the kids who were more into combat/slaying. i liked the inuyasha and sango friendship and the miroku and kagome friendship, so i think that’s something i would explore more

-moroha and hisui are best buds since they’re basically the cousins closest in age (i mean towa and setsuna too, but i don’t think sesshoumaru + his family would live as close to everyone)

-kingyo are definitely moroha’s older sister figures too

-i think kaede is strong and not kicking the bucket anytime soon, so she would basically be like the go-to babysitter while the kids are young & she is fine with that. when the kids were younger, inu gang still went on little day missions while kaede looked after the kiddies

-little shippo...i don’t know what to do about him. maybe we can age him at the same rate as a human would until he is done with adolescence...? so maybe he would be around rin’s age? i think his role would be like an uncle/older brother to the kids. he lives with everyone in the village, of course! also, his powers and magic have gotten more sophisticated. i need to think more about his character

-my version would be more slice of life instead of everyone being unhappy and there being another big bad that needs to be defeated...

-we can keep kirinmaru cause his design is cool. he can be toga’s spiteful ex because why not?

-maybe there is a prophecy but it came from an oracle (maybe zero can be the oracle instead of his sister) who saw a quarter demon with strong spiritual powers would defeat kirinmaru in like 3 yrs time or something (he has become too powerful and tyrannical?) we can keep the manipulation of space-time as a thing. maybe he somehow triggered the events that led to moroha being trapped in present day? (she’s the MC of my version)

-maybe a chunk of the story follows her life throughout a few years trapped in the present-era, but it explores the ways in which demons are still a part of present day japan (that way she does get raised by her parents, but also is apart from them for a period enough for it to feel like there’s a conflict (mirroring when kagome couldn’t get back to feudal japan)

-maybe we see some of our og gangs descendants (moroha enrolls in school or something)?

-kirinmaru keeps tabs on her through osamu kirin????? she figures it out idfk

-inuyasha finds out his dads ex is scared of his 14 yr old daughter? dude idk someone said toga kirinmaru exes and my brain has been like fixated on this ever since. it’s like not even relevant but i will make it relevant some how

-after tearful higurashi reunion, they all go back to feudal era and kick kirinmaru’s ass. prophecy is fulfilled (maybe well stays functioning and kagome can once again travel back and forth. i have to work out how this wouldn’t screw time up. maybe we can just close our eyes and ignore it? hehe)

-omg i almost forgot koga. idk what would happen w/ him....i feel like he would definitely be like moroha’s uncle! ginta and hakkaku are married.

-OH! kikyo? she is fucking resting in peace. please let her rest. she went through so much lol.

#my posts #but it makes me happy lol #this is all in good fun i don't even wanna pretend like this would actually be good #yashahime

[cannotescape]

Thoughts on The ballad of songbirds and snakes

I was curious to read the latest installment in the hunger games saga and I wasn’t disapointed. I’ll try to stay spoiler free in the review. In any case, the spoilers will be after a read more.

Many successful YA authors has been revisiting their work these past years. I... wasn’t impressed by most of them. The only sequel I’ve read that was worth the original work was La belle sauvage imo (not the entire Book of Dust series, sadly).

After reading The ballad of songbirds and snakes, it seems that the key for writing a sequel is actually to make it a prequel lol, with 0 to 1 character from the original. Add to it foreshadowing and a few hints and you get a winner.

A Snow redemption arc?

Knowing the premise, my first fear was that Snow was going to be the protagonist. I was smelling the redemption / justification arc from miles away. But Collins isn’t Rowling and Snow isn’t Snape (there is a Snape-like character though. he’s pretty interesting). The book can be summarized in one sentence: explaining a behavior isn’t the same as excusing it.

The book put the reader through an interesting experience: should we root for Snow, knowing what he will do in the future, and how long can we excuse his behavior? My reading experience was basically me trying to guess what Collins wanted me to think. I was waiting for the end to make up my mind about the book. There were hints that made me pause and go “huh” but I truly wasn’t sure how all of this was going to end.

I understood really late that Collins just let her readers choose what they wanted to think. You want to excuse Snow? You can, there’s enough material for that, and there’s enough good people around him for you to root for him. Linking his fate to Lucy Gray’s was clever. Making us believe that they were in the same boat (the hunger theme and the attention given to food made sure of that), when they couldn’t be farther apart? Well done. I can’t believe I fell for it.

So yeah, in my mind, Snow definitely isn’t redeemed or even excused in the end. You end up hating him even more. Collins doesn’t do manicheism apparently, so you get to empathize with him. Life and people put him in a difficult situation. But his pride and the importance he has given to his family’s status is what allowed people to blackmail him into doing... things.

Hints that Snow wasn’t being redeemed:

- talking about Lucy Gray like she’s his property - his strategy of differentiating her from the districts and immediately making her a potential Capitol citizen - not visiting Clemmensia in the hospital (it was emphasized enough times to make me pause) - choosing ignorance when faced with a situation he doesn’t want to deal with (refusing to acknowledge what Tigris must have done to survive during the war) - being quick as fuck to justify killing people (self-defense, yeah, but for how long?) - being condescending against Sejanus and district born people.

2. Just another Hunger Games book?

I started reading the story thinking it was going to be a hunger games book. It’s not. First of all, the games are nothing like the future ones. For historical and plot-related reasons (they’re building the games after all). What is striking is the lack of excitement: from the audience in the Capitol, and from the readers. Collins knows how to build suspense, she proved it with the first trilogy. It made the catharsis worked 100%: we were as much the spectators of the games as the Capitol.

Removing the excitement from the games? Making them dull and exposing them as the sheer horror show they are? Bold move. I also noticed that, overall, the tributes showed more empathy than in Katniss’ games. The war ended 10 years before. They had yet to forget “who the real enemy is”.

Just like in the THG, Collins used metaphors of the games in different parts of the book. The mentors have their own games going on (with a “prize” that is often presented as a lifesaver) + what happens in the very end. It didn’t bother me. I like symbolism and the games pervading every aspects of life is a good one.

What doesn’t make this a hunger games book is also the fact that... Katniss isn’t Snow. We’re following his story but he isn’t the real protagonist. Lucy Gray is a much better candidate, but the book is an actual demonstration of what happens when the narrative is taken away from you. The third person narrator was a nice change too. I think it allowed the narrator to present his thoughts as the truth without being immediately seen as biased. Free indirect discourse also makes you forget that the thoughts being expressed are Snow’s. Until the very end, when it becomes impossible to separate him from the narrator.

3. Class analysis

The rise of the bourgeoisie / nouveaux riches vs the fall of an ancient aristocracy grasping at straws to stay in power. Classic.

I don’t remember who theorized it (Gramsci maybe? or Paretto?) but the best way for a system to stay in place is to welcome a few “exceptional” people (and the word is meaningful in the book) from the lower but rising class. The Capitol is actively implementing this policy. The war made them aware of the benefits of having allies in the districts, mainly the richest families. The end of the book emphasizes the link between bourgeoisie and aristocracy - between money and status. And the most succesful citizen will be at the intersection of them.

Bonus: mockingjays and jabberjays being metaphors of the bourgeoisie and aristocracy. Mockingjays are a district evolution of the Capitol-made jabberjays, and they’re slowy but surely taking over.

Meaningful quote: “Give it up,” he muttered to the thing. “You’re no jabberjay.”

Oh, and what happens when the decaying aristocracy doesn’t want to bulge or evolve and the rising bourgeoisie is getting tired of being refused power and privilege?! Yep, a revolution. Not saying a revolution led by the working class can’t happen (it’s basically the hunger games’ plot), but the bourgeoise / aristocracy allyship certainly can slow the process down.

4. The hanging tree

Loved to read about how the song was created. And seeing its meanings change the more the story progresses. At first a remembrance of the Capitol’s cruelty, then a way to communicate a meeting place. Finally, a mourning song about treason. The line “they said who murdered three” only hit me with its full meaning two days after finishing the book lol. The murderer wasn’t hung after all.

Meaningful quote: “Music caused trouble”. I fucking love the simple irony in all those little sentences when you know how all this will end.

Tldr: All in all, I really enjoyed this book. It gives you insight into Panem’s world (and ours let’s be honest, the parallels are blatant) and makes Katniss’ story even more powerful imo.

Also, the only love story worth mentioning was one between two girls lmao so there’s that (it’s a blink and you miss it kind of thing, but it’s there).

Spoilers under the cut (not very spoilery tbh but better be safe).

5. Lucy Gray

Like I said, the real protagonist. Her legacy has literally been erased, which is fucking heartbreaking. There’s a reason why I couldn’t remember if she was even mentioned in the original trilogy.

And yet her legacy lived on. The song she wrote not only was passed down from one generation to the next depite being immediately forbidden, but it also became the symbol of the rebellion. Same symbolism can be seen in the mockingjays, who are deeply associated with her.

I just have a lot of feelings about her and I’m happy that Katniss made everything worth it in the end. And despite being two very different characters, Katniss became her reincarnation designed specifically to haunt Snow. And I just love that Katniss doesn’t know anything of Lucy Gray. But she’s unknowingly reenacting her life. Because her legacy was that powerful. Or because everything that Snow hated in District 12 are very present in these two strong girls. Funny what an environment can do

Meaningful quotes: “Well, I hope old you doesn’t haunt new you. We’ve already got enough ghosts between us.”

“Good-bye Lucy Gray, we hardly knew you.”

“She could fly around District 12 all she liked but she and her mockingjays would never harm him again.”

6. The philosophy behind the book

Freedom vs order and security, the social contract, what an individual can do against a corrupted society, is it possible to change things from the inside? (interesting to have Plutarch’s ancestor mentioned), the elite reproduction (hi Flickerman!), what do cricumstances do to human beings (the Mary Shelley’s quote at the beginning).

Meaningful quote : “People aren’t so bad, really,” she said. “It’s what the world does to them. Like us, in the arena. We did things in there we’d never have considered if they’d just left us alone.”

#the ballad of songbirds and snakes #the hunger games #THG #suzanne collins #I wrote an essay... again #huh someone misses doing english commentaries lol #anyway I would be very curious to know what anybody else though of the book #I really think Collins saw what happened in the last 10 years and thought 'maybe I need to write about tyrany again' lol #long post

[chuckepisodes]

Chuck vs. The Alma Mater Part 2

You were all in Casey's house now. Chuck was pacing back and forth while you were standing by the couch. Casey and Sarah were at Casey's desk looking over stuff. "So you don't know why I'm in the Intersect." Chuck stated. "Well, you didn't appear on the NSA radar until after Bryce sent you the Intersect." Casey said. "Same with the CIA." Sarah added. "Why don't I find that reassuring?" Chuck said staring at them. " The files that you saw were of you in college, right?" Sarah asked. " Yes, yes. Wait, what about Professor Fleming? I was in his class, he was CIA. Could that be it?" Chuck asked. "That's what I think." you said. "If we can find Fleming, maybe he could give us answers." Sarah said. " Okay. Let's do that." Chuck said agreeing to this idea. "It won't be easy." Sarah warned. " Intel suggests the professor's being hunted. The NSA interviewed one witness who ID'd a Magnus Einersson. He's an Icelandic spy." Casey said as you and Chuck walked over to them as Casey showed you the file of the spy on his computer. " I'm sorry, Iceland does espionage?" you asked, a little amazed. " Magnus buys and sells intel to the highest bidder. And Iceland isn't officially aware of his activities. It says here the crossbow is his weapon of choice." Casey explained "Oh, what, slingshot's too ineffective?" Chuck asked sarcastically.

Chuck was at work, chilling at the Nerd Herd desk, when he looked up and saw you coming in, on your break. Chuck smiled and waved you over. "Hey Y/N. What's up?" "Well...after all that I just wanted to check in on you and see how you were doing. I mean we haven't had a chance to talk about all of it yet and you know you’re my best friend and I care about you so...yeah. How are you?" Chuck smiled warmly at you. Things like this are just some of the reasons he falls in love with you more and more everyday. "Well uh...I don't know. Everything with Stanford and my professor being in the CIA this whole time and me being already apart of the Intersect? It's a lot to take in and I don't know how to feel about it honestly." "Fair enough." "What about you?" "What do you mean?" "Well after hearing all that, do you wonder if they may have been looking at you?" "I mean...yeah I guess. I mean I know that email was not meant for me but the fact that we are the same when it comes to that and can handle it as well... They must have known and been looking in on me too." Chuck nodded. "Do you still have your student ID to see if you flash on yourself?" "No... I got rid of it a long time ago. Guess I'll never really know right?" "Yeah..."

Casey then came walking up to the desk. "You didn't offer to kill Harry for Anna, did you?" Chuck asked "What?" you asked Chuck confused. "I'll explain later." "No. Why, you want me to kill him?" Casey asked. "No. No, just curious." "We just got a hit off a traffic camera in Hollywood." Casey said handing Chuck a photo. " That's Fleming." "Thanks intersect. You saved me a lot investigative work there. The DMV told me that." " Wow. Sarcasm, what a surprise." "What did we say about sarcasm Casey?" you said looking at him. "We located car Fleming's driving, local address. We're bringing him in a. s. a. p." " What do you need us for?" Chuck asked. " Yours is a friendly face. Professor sees you Chuck, he'll be more inclined to cooperate. Maybe Y/N's will help too. Copy?" "Yeah, except that I wasn't the professor's star pupil." "And he doesn't know me." "We leave in three." Casey said walking away. You turned back to Chuck and sighed. "What are we going to do?"

FLASHBACK "As you're aware, you scored perfectly on your midterm exam." Professor Fleming said. " Yeah, yeah. Well, I was up all night studying. It was a monster. No offense. " Chuck said. "You even aced the last section. Encoded images." " Yeah, those were just kind of a shot in the dark. " "You may be aware, I keep an answer key to every exam locked inside this office." " No, no, I wasn't aware of that." Chuck said honestly. "Really? Then how do you explain the midterm answer key... being found in your fraternity room? " "I'm sorry. You searched my room?" " We received the tip from a student this morning." " What? You got a tip about my room?" " I need to know how you broke into this office and stole the answers, Chuck." " I didn't steal anything." Chuck said getting defensive." I don't have to, I'm acing your class. " "Exactly. The student also claimed that you're selling copies. " "What?" " I know you're a scholarship student and Stanford is a very expensive school." " Look, whoever gave you your tip was lying. " "Our source was Bryce Larkin. Your roommate." Chuck was stunned.

Present Time

Casey was waving you both over. Chuck sighed. "I don't know. Come on Y/NN." he said softly getting up from his chair, and walking out with his hand on your back as he lead you out.

You were now all in the Nerd Herder, outside Professor Fleming's house, keeping watch. "We'll extract the professor as quickly as possible." Sarah said. " You'll keep watch? " Casey asked. "If we flash on any bad guys, one of us will call." you said. " Everything looks quiet, but..." Sarah started. " We know, we know, stay in the car." Chuck said. "Okay, good. Let's go." Sarah said. You got out of your seat so Sarah and Casey could get out of the car. Once they were both out, you sat back down in the passenger seat. You both watched as Casey and Sarah walked into his house. Not long after though, Chuck noticed the professor walking up. "It's Fleming." Chuck stated. "What?" Chuck pointed at the mirror where you saw the man walking up. "Are you sure?" "Definitely." Chuck looked over one more time then decided to get out of the car. "Professor Fleming! Hey!" Chuck shouted going after him. You got out of the car as well following them. Fleming turned around and saw you both and freaked out and ran. You and Chuck started to run after him too. "No, no, no, wait, professor, it's me, Chuck! Professor, stop! We're here to extract you! Glass Castle!" That made him stop and turn around to look at you both. " I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you. But it's- It's Chuck. I was in your Psychology and Symbolism class at Stanford. I don't know if you remember me." "Chuck Bartowski. Of course I remember you." " Ha, ha. I guess it's not every day you kick a guy out of school, huh? At least, I hope not." The professor then looked over at you. "And this is my best friend, Y/N." "Nice to meet you Y/N." "You too." "So you're, uh, with the Agency now. Why didn't you say so?" " I don't think we're supposed to, really." Chuck said. "Oh you are too miss?" "Yeah I am too." you said, nodding your head. " Well, we have code phrases. Didn't they train you?" looking between the two of you. " We mostly just stay in the car." Chuck admitted. " Next time, if it's a dangerous situation, say, "Are you coming to the toga party? "" " "Are you coming... ? " A real code phrase. I like it. That's awesome." "What are we doing? Who's bringing me in?" Fleming asked. "Oh, right. Yeah. So Sarah and Casey will do that." you said. " But, um, I was wondering if I could ask you something first. Why did the CIA have a file on me at Stanford?" Chuck asked. " I'm sorry." All of a sudden, Fleming just fell forward onto Chuck and he quickly grabbed him, thinking it was a hug. "Oh, hey. Hey. Hey, hey, buddy. Let's not beat ourselves up. You know, the past is the past. Okay. Look, we didn't really know each other that well at college. And this is a little awkward, so..." Chuck said feeling uncomfortable now. As Chuck's hand went down his back though he felt something sticking out of it. "Oh, boy. " "What is it Chuck?" you asked concerned. You looked over and saw the harpoon in Fleming's back. "Oh God." You quickly went to Chuck's side to help him. "Hey, hey, hang in there. Hang in there." Fleming's weight became too much though and Chuck began to fall over bringing you along with them. " I put in- Give this to Bryce Larkin." Fleming said handing Chuck a piece of paper. " Bryce? Bryce Larkin? What-? What did Bryce have to do with this?" All of a sudden the man with the crossbow came over and he harpooned the paper out of Chuck's hand, making you scream a little when you saw how close it came to your head. "Ah. Ah. We are nobody, I swear." Chuck said. The man grabbed the paper and walked away. You then heard Casey and Sarah walk out of the house. " Casey, come on! Over here!" you yelled. "Man down, man down! Help me!"

You and Chuck were back at his place now. You were both in his room, sitting on his bed, trying to process all that happened. You knew this was hitting Chuck more too and you wanted to be there for him and to keep him company. All of a sudden you both heard a whistle and looked up to see Sarah and Casey staring in the window. You decided to get up and let them in. "I'm sorry, guys, but we have to talk." " Okay." you said as you went to sit back down beside Chuck. Sarah took the comfy seat in front of his bed while Casey took the chair by the window. "So how was the hospital? Is the professor gonna be okay?" Chuck asked. " They're putting him into surgery now. " Sarah said. "We can't talk to him, sort this mess out. You sure it was Magnus you saw?" Casey asked. " Gee, I don't know, Casey. How many psycho archers do you know?" Chuck said sarcastically." I asked Fleming about why I was in the Intersect. Should've brought him to you, sorry." " It's not your fault." you said. "I keep thinking about what he said. Why would he want me to bring those numbers to Bryce?" Chuck asked. " Bryce must have been one of his CIA contacts. Fleming was probably never told of his death." "List off the numbers you remember. " Casey said. "There were like 10 of them. A couple of nines." Chuck started. "Five, definitely started with a two." you added. " That's it? You two have a computer for a brain and that's all-?" " It was a very stressful situation, okay? We watched a guy get skewered by a crossbow." Chuck shouted. "Look, Fleming knew something. Before he fell, he said, "I'm sorry. " Why would he say that?" " I don't know, Chuck." Sarah said. "Yeah, well, I think he might know why I'm in the Intersect."

It was later in the day now and you and Chuck were still chilling. You decided to walk over to Ellie's room and see what she was up to. Chuck walked in and you just chilled by the door. Ellie turned her head to look at you both. "You guys okay?" Chuck walked over to Ellie's bed and fell forward on it. You couldn't help but stifle a laugh when you saw that. "It's not late for you to change your mind about revisiting the old alma mater. And to cheer on for yours Y/N" she said as she was packing her suitcase for the weekend." Spending time with me and Devon." "Oh, please." Chuck said looking up at Ellie. "You just don't wanna be stuck in a car alone with Awesome's frat buddies." "Maybe, or maybe I'm your sister and I care about you, and you too Y/N." she said turning to you quickly before turning back to her brother. "And I think that going back to Stanford would help you to move on." "I love you, sis. And I'd take a lot of bullets for you... but five hours in a car with Awesome and his bros, that is asking too much. Besides, if I came, you wouldn't have room for your fun old foam finger." Chuck said grabbing it and pointing it in Ellie's face which made her laugh. "Stop it." "What is this?" " I don't know, but look at what I found." Ellie said holding up a book." See this?" " It was in my old college stuff. "The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. "" "You still have that Chuck?" you asked amazed. "Yeah... Kinda forgot." " You want me to return it to the Stanford Library for you? " Ellie asked. "No. No, I'd kind of like to finish it. See how it ends."

" That book is like four years overdue." "What do you think Stanford's gonna do, huh? Expel me?" Chuck said jokingly. " Come on Y/NN." he said leading you out of Ellie's room. "I'll talk to you later Ellie." you said waving at her as she waved back. As you and Chuck walked down the hall, he looked at the book and stopped in the middle of the hall. You looked at him a little confused. "You okay Chuck?"

FLASHBACK Chuck and Bryce were having an intense game with nerf guns in the library. "You're a dead man, Chuck Bartowski." Bryce shouted, hiding. " All right. Come on, Bryce. Give it up, buddy. I know you're out of ammo, I've been counting." Bryce then appeared behind Chuck, hands in the air. "Buddy. Whoa, whoa, whoa. You wouldn't fire at an unarmed guy." " I might. It's hardly sportsmanlike." Chuck said with his gun pointed at him. "What's this?" Bryce said turning to the books on the shelf. He pulled one book out. "Gynecology for Geeks. You read this?" " No, is it a good read? " Bryce then fired his nerf gun and got Chuck on the forehead. "Got you. Larkin over Bartowski again." Present Time

"Chuck?" He then turned his head and looked at you. "I know what the numbers mean Y/N." "What?" "The paper. I know what they mean."

You and Chuck were now over at Casey's place once again.

"I know what the numbers mean. They're for a book in Stanford Library. Bryce had a place where he would stash stuff. He told Fleming about it. Fleming must have left the intel there for Bryce." Chuck explained. "It's a matter of time before Magnus figures it out and beats us to the book." "Bingo." " Unless we can beat him to it." "Bryce kept his stuff on the third floor. There was a turn..." Chuck was now struggling to remember." There was a turn... I'd have to be there to remember." You looked at Chuck wondering where he was going with this. He looked at you then back at Casey. "I can't believe I'm about to say this, but we have to go  to Stanford." "What?" you asked shocked. "Cool." Casey said.

#Chuck Series Rewrite #Chuck #Chuck TV Series #Chuck x Reader #Chuck Bartowski #Chuck Bartowski x Reader #Zachary Levi

[tarysande]

I can't remember if it was you or another Meta-Writer who touched (ha) on the subject of Lucifer and Physical Touch. I've been re-watching S2 and the stark difference between how he reacts to Mum's touches vs Chloe's vs his romantic partners is evident.

I know I’ve mentioned the subject, though I can’t remember off-hand if I dedicated a post to it (or just said I wanted to!).

I’ve been rewatching S2, too! 

The touch thing with Mum is … such a thing, and it’s established right from the moment he sees her again. She falls; he catches her (and they form a kind of reverse pieta, which is a neat image), but he still looks terrified because he doesn’t know why she’s there (and he’s scared of her, as he’s told Linda). It says something about Lucifer that he can’t just let her fall, though—no matter what’s between them, some part of him can’t reject her outright. 

This is a theme we come back to again and again throughout the season. He doesn’t want to take her back to Hell—so he figures out a loophole. He won’t let her get too close, though; some part of him doesn’t trust her and he doesn’t reach out to her. This is a huge defense mechanism–quite literally not letting her get close enough to hurt him physically, while letting down his guard enough emotionally and mentally—because that small rejected child inside him yearns for parental love and acceptance—that she can manipulate him using his huge emotional blindspot: Chloe.  

Mum’s manipulation—through the emotion and touch that Lucifer is lacking—starts right away, though. At the end of 2x02, she touches his hand; he removes her hand. But when she reveals the “truth” about why he was in Hell (and not killed by God—something we only ever have her word for, by the by, and which I don’t actually believe because of how obviously she’s pleased by her manipulation after Lucifer agrees not to send her back to Hell right away), she touches his arms and appeals to him with her tears and he, who is almost always shown having a soft spot for helping people (especially women) in trouble (Delilah, Chloe, etc.), lets her.

For the first few episodes of the season, Lucifer doesn’t pull away from Mum’s touch, but he doesn’t initiate it, either. He’s also visibly irritated every time she talks about humanity (she’s always dismissive) or Chloe or his job. Mum is really good at manipulating him except she doesn’t realize (or refuses to accept) how important the place and people are to him. If she’d flattered humanity instead of sneering at them, I think she might’ve won Lucifer over. 

In 2x05, there’s an absolutely HUGE, significant touch-moment after Lucifer’s killed Uriel. Mum gathers him in; he lets himself be gathered. More than that, he actually wraps both arms around her and clings (which we’ve basically never seen him do before). It’s a horrifying and gorgeous moment that shows so much without telling. 

But here’s something interesting: though the last image of 2x05 is Lucifer clinging to Mum, we see no interaction between Mum and Lucifer in 2x06. Worse, Lucifer is left to absolutely frigging tailspin into despair and a sniper-induced death wish while Mum turns her efforts to manipulating Amenadiel. All the Mum scenes in Monster focus on this. Her words are carefully chosen to point blame at God while making herself sympathetic. See how Amenadiel falls to her flattery; she tells him what he wants to hear. Essentially, she feels Lucifer is now on her side (with a huge side of guilt) so it’s time to move on to the next step of her plan. The use of juxtaposition in this part of the episode is brilliant. On the one hand, we have Amenadiel and Mum in the sunlit woods, Mum wrapping her two hands around Amenadiel’s one to symbolize their new alliance; on the other, Lucifer, visibly coming apart at the scenes playing sad music, hitting a sour note, and banishing everyone from his club, leaving him fully and entirely alone (as he’s already been banished from the case).

Mum doesn’t appear in 2x07—but we see a lot of Lucifer interacting with Chloe and Trixie, the found family that doesn’t want anything from him but his presence. There’s a really good contrast here, where the episode ends on a hug that is totally different from the one in 2x05. The light is shining bright; it’s daytime and there are no shadows. Chloe is the one who’s crying, but they are tears of gratitude because Lucifer has just said exactly what she needed to hear. Chloe is the one who clings to Lucifer; he hugs her back and there is tenderness and yes, the hint of love and the promise of a future—contrasted with Mum living in an unattainable past, and grief, and guilt. Even Lucifer’s “My apologies, Detective, I didn’t mean to hurt you,” is a direct contrast of how he felt he had no choice but to hurt Uriel (to keep Uriel from hurting her). 

2x08 is where Mum starts to misstep. First, she releases Azrael’s blade into the world, and Lucifer is angry. Then, she reveals her plans to “go home” and disparages Lucifer’s feelings about Earth being his home. In 2x09, though Lucifer doesn’t know it yet, she doubles down on what she wants instead of trying to understand what Lucifer wants: she tries to blow up Lux, she decides to blow up Chloe instead, she tries to get Linda to talk about Lucifer’s secrets. These are all unforgivable from Lucifer’s perspective, and she has no idea. Because she’s ultimately selfish—she wants her home, her sons, her power. She doesn’t actually care about what makes her son happy; she wants to use him as a weapon. (I’ve watched S2 about a dozen times by now; Mum distresses me more each time I watch it.) 

At the sit-in, Mum manipulates him again by feeding him a little truth and then saying exactly what he wants to hear: “I disagree with you whole-heartedly about wanting to stay here (true), but a mother doesn’t have to agree with her son in order to support him. So, what is it exactly I’m supposed to ‘sit-in’ (what he wants to hear).” Lucifer’s whole face changes and he replies, “Mum, you’re actually being a good Mum,” and he offers her his arm. Meanwhile, he has no idea she’s actively trying to destroy everything he loves to get what she wants.

Her actions in 2x10 do a lot of damage to Lucifer’s already reluctant trust. She admits she was going to kill Chloe; she disparages Chloe in the courtroom; she uses his honor about not lying against him. It’s like a How To Turn Lucifer Against You Forever playbook. And this episode gives us another absolutely gorgeous juxtaposition, this time in contrast to the juxtaposition in 2x06. This time, instead of alone and self-loathing in his club, Lucifer is with Chloe—the beginning of something, banter, warm firelight, wine, burgers and fries, truth, a hand-clasp, and near-kissing—contrasted with Mum and Amenadiel in her dark office, full-on scheming, having learned nothing, and again, doubling-down on using Lucifer’s weaknesses to turn him into the weapon she wants (the flaming sword; the rage against God; the rebellious boy).

By 2x11, Lucifer “just wants [Mum] gone.” but, once again, she employs the tactic of telling him what he wants to hear (that Chloe impressed her; that she’s beginning to see what Lucifer sees in her; that he just has to prove his worth to her) and using touch (grabbing his hand in both of hers) to manipulate him. Then, knowing that Lucifer will be listening through the one-way glass, she lays it on even thicker. (How heartbreaking is his smile when he thinks she’s being genuine?)

2x12, of course, is heartbreaking because Mum is using Lucifer’s feelings and her knowledge about Chloe as a miracle to … destroy her son. She wants him heartbroken so he’ll leave his “home” and play his part in her plans. (It always strikes me here that, although Lucifer lives his life paranoid of “playing a role” in his Dad’s plans or being a pawn of his Father’s—it’s Mum who unrepentantly uses him as a pawn in her game of chess.) Maze, when she realizes that Lucifer is happy—truly happy—for maybe the first time ever, immediately wants to protect him because she actually cares about him. Mum, however, pushes on. Lucifer’s reaction to her reaching out to touch him this time, though, is to sweep up his own hand and prevent her, with a sharp, “Don’t.” I think it’s telling here that the only time we’ve seen this kind of sharp, precise, knife-like movement from Lucifer is when he’s fighting someone. It’s a combat motion; it’s a defensive act.

2x13 encapsulates all the facets of their relationship, really. She doesn’t want to help him for the sake of “an insignificant human’s life”—proving that she still doesn’t understand the depth and importance of his feelings. She loves him enough to go to Hell to save him; I believe that’s the truest moment of love she ever shows him. It’s also why I believe he lets her have a universe of her own at the end instead of hating her enough to kill her. He grabs Mum and pulls her from her Hell—they’re both sobbing and both fighting and it’s so real and raw. But then, afterward, when Chloe is safe, he again defends himself from her touch using the short, sharp, cutting movements reminiscent of his fighting style. 

Her admission that she’s been manipulating and using him since the start is heartbreaking; it’s his worst fears come true. At the heart of Lucifer Morningstar is a terror of being lied to (so he doesn’t lie), manipulated (as his father did and may continue to do), used. And here, his Mum, whom he’s been trying not to trust and failing at time and again as she says the right things over and over (because he wants that love, he wants that reassurance, he wants someone to touch him without wanting anything in return, he wants to be good—seen as good—by those who brought him into existence, he wants to be forgiven) is telling him the unvarnished, knife-in-the-back truth: she is everything he fears most. He was right to be afraid when he sat trembling in a chair opposite Amenadiel; he was right to be afraid when he sat trembling on a couch opposite Linda.

It wasn’t a physical attack, though; it wasn’t like being smited and pushed into a Fall, no. It was so much worse. It was his own mother using his weaknesses against him and watching him bleed out because she needed to use the shell that would be left.

#lucifer morningstar #charlotte richards (mum) #lucifer meta #lucifer on netflix #deckerstar #chloe decker #lucifer thoughts #lucifer analysis #lucifer season 2 #Anonymous

[charlieottaway]

Ways of Seeing: New York

Expectations vs Reality 

The expectation of New York was daunting. It is a place that appears so familiar yet it’s so alien. I expected to walk down a street I have already walked down before, through film or a video game. However, I can only experience something by being there. Looking at a building or street in a painting and photo does not compare to the real New York atmosphere - I became accustom to. The promise land, America’s home of art. Reading the Great Gatsby has made me feel like I’ve already experienced the buzz surrounding the iconic city, one quote has always remained clear in my mind from reading two years ago.

“The city seen from the Queensboro Bridge is always the city seen for the first time, in its first wild promise of all the mystery and the beauty in the world.” – The Great Gatsby

The beauty of a city full of promise and opportunity, fuelling the American Dream. Many migrants entered the city in hope of becoming rich, they believed in the city to find themselves and become someone they were not. Perhaps this echoes the way I wanted the city to produce a striking image for my art. I wanted to take 1,000 photos to fill a hole I have always wanted an unlimited bank of material for my artwork. Compared to London, the way I saw New York before even being there was incredible. From reading about it, seeing it in art, films and photos. It presents itself as the place to be Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein and Edward Hopper all made themselves there. 

On arrival, in JFK, what struck me most was the fact I was in America. Considering I have only been to Paris and Spain I found it crazy I was in America; it still doesn’t feel like I’ve been there. On the first night I experienced walking around, night-time, Times Square. Strolling along the illuminated street was surreal, however once I’ve looked at it for a couple of minutes I am just staring at the same screens of advertisement for a long time. The experience was something from an episode of Black Mirror. Advertising consumer products, suffocating the eye. The lights hit every part of the street, forecasting unnatural shadows from the false lights everywhere. Effecting every part of the avenue, when I looked away, I was drawn back like a moth to a flame.

The empire State was incredible, but I somehow felt like I had already experienced it before. As I had already been to the top of the Eiffel Tower – although there was a big difference. New York was much denser; the skyline was claustrophobic and condensed. Whenever I have seen London’s skyline it has always appeared spread out.

Brooklyn was very different and perhaps a regret of mine that I never fully experienced it by walking around the famous New York Borough. Even though, I was staying in the heart of Manhattan. Brooklyn felt as if I was in a living environment – it did make me feel more attached to the people of Brooklyn.

Chinatown was another experience I think I will struggle to achieve again. The cultural difference is colossal, we left one street and entered another country. From the Asian market stalls to buildings – Chinatown is an area of New York I am very glad I experienced. It was busy, compact and densely populated. On the same day I visited Soho. The streets were long, clean and the sky was blue. Incredibly, it felt like I was in an American sitcom. Furthermore, it was comparable to parts of London. It wasn’t until I entered the Nike Store, and everyone spoke in American accent - I remembered where I was.

Walking on 49th street was interesting because it was so lit up at 10 in the morning, it felt very Americanised. If I went at night, I could have easily visualised the nocturnal street as a painting. Walking downtown from the northern side of Times Square was bizarre, as I was so used to seeing it pointing

north. I could see a hint of lights in the long distance on 7th avenue. The moment which has stuck with me the most was visiting the 9/11 memorial museum. Walking around was very eery. It was silent, the museum managed to bring people together in a mutual respect. It was very emotional, listening to the witness’s stories and felt very personal – everyone knew someone who was affected by 9//11 and I felt like an intruder listening to their stories.

The last experience was the ferry to see the statue of liberty and it fell flat. I was excepting an impressive towering statue and the iconic skyline to be situated behind, but everything seemed so small. Perhaps the irony is because everything in America was so big, the burgers, milkshakes, skyscrapers, lorries, trucks, roads and cemeteries. To compare them to such an historical landmark is a weird remark and perhaps an American insult but I found myself more taken aback by the size of the lorries, rather than the size of the Statue of Liberty.

New York museums was one of the biggest attractions to New York for me. Along with the skyscrapers dictating the horizon and streets. The galleries and exemplary museums are renowned for holding such prestigious artwork. The first museum was the Met. However, my experience was cut short and felt very rushed. Luckily, I managed to find 3 of Edward Hopper’s artwork and really study them. ‘From William’s Bridge’ was the first piece brought to my attention. The work of art depicts an unembellished façade of four apartment buildings tiptoeing the glimpse of steel (attached to the bridge which gives the piece a name). By just a small hint he has given the still image noise and life. The bridge connects Brooklyn and Manhattan – the image of the 4 apartments buildings is now manipulated by the constant noise of a train flying through. Rocking the lives of those who are so close to perfection. They appear high in the sky without trouble, but the building looses being the main character when I spotted the small figure in all white. Now the sitting buildings just become a home for the isolated figure and it creates sympathy – empathizing her alienation in urban life. Although just walking past the piece, it could become unnoticed in such a large museum the piece carries so much meaning. The shadows are what interested me and made me focus my photos to capture the effect of light and dark in cityscapes. The other two paintings I saw was ‘The Lighthouse at Two Lights’ and ‘Table for Ladies.’ The later coveys an image which I feel Hopper creates beautifully in his artwork, to capture a moment. The painting is of a waitress leaning forward to adjust the vividly painted foods at the window. In my opinion, the action of the waitress could be pulled from any situation, someone at a grocery shop or supermarket. The lady could be anyone but because Hopper paints her in the waitress uniform, she is immediately given this role. At the time he painted this the importance of where Hopper has situated the three different ladies has showcased a social comment. One a waitress, one a cashier and the third as a couple. Although, they appear weary and detached, these two working women hold jobs newly available for female city dwellers outside the home. Before then, if a woman was seen to be dining by herself in public she would have been classed as a prostitute. The paintings ability to create such a symbolic message indicates Hopper’s brilliance and why he is such an adored American Great.

‘From Williamsburg Bridge,’ Edward Hopper, 1982

‘Table for Ladies,’ Edward Hopper, 1930

Two days after the MET, I visited the MoMA and it is easily the best museum I have ever seen. I couldn’t believe I was standing looking at some of the most famous pieces of art. There was a strong influence of American Pop art, consisting of Andy Warhol’s incredibly famous ‘Soup cans,’ Keith Haring’s mural-esque work ‘untitled,’ Roy Lichtenstein, Jasper Johns and Jackson Pollock. Furthermore, I just casually strolled past the likes of Barbra Kruger, Wolf Vostell, Janet Sobel (an influence in Pollock’s work), a whole section dedicated to Picasso and Henri Matisse. I was amazed at finding Frida Kahlo’s self-portrait, as it’s an image which has been used in popular culture so many times as an image for feminism, it was interesting to witness how small it is. The same could be said for Salvador Dali’s ‘Persistence of Memory.’ Seeing Dali’s work was amazing, having seen the image so many times previously I was shocked to find the piece was so small. 

‘Campbells Soup Cans,’ Andy Warhol, 1962

The last room I properly explored included such symbolic artists it is hard to showcase this through words. Firstly, James Ensor’s piece ‘Masks Confronting Death.’ It is a piece of work I would never have expected to have seen, after I studied the artist in GCSE, I grew fascinated by the way he produced his horrifying artwork and to see it in person was amazing. Next to his work was Seurat, Edvard Munch and lastly Vincent Van Gogh. The two pieces of Van Gogh’s artwork was his ‘Portrait of Joseph Roulin’ and ‘Starry Night.’ To see ‘Starry Night’ in person made me speechless, It was so amazing because it was so famous, I have never been obsessed with Van Gogh’s artwork and would rather visit a piece by an artist I actually adore however to see his art was memorable. Considering people race across Europe when an exhibition of his work opens, it was astonishing to see it in the flesh.

‘Masks Confronting Death,’ James Ensor ,1888

In the MoMA I did see another piece by Edward Hopper, ‘New York Movie.’ The Painting was produced in 1939, the same year the first movie was made in colour. The movies during this period was to become engrossed by the whole experience of a cinema. What become apparent is how sparse the cinema is. Hopper’s style is distinctive, as he has managed to use an area which is associated to an emotionally joyful place. Typically, busy and compact, Hopper has reversed the expectation into a deserted and virtually unpopulated space. No one has any interactions, similar to all of his art. The screen is marginalized and ignores the happy experience but emphasizes the isolation to create a melancholy atmosphere.

Viewing Hopper’s work in the flesh is incredibly important for my FMP. His work isn’t as vast as I expected but rather, they appeared small and very rough textured. The paint work is what surprised me the most. It was thickly painted, there was patches of white in certain points where he hadn’t completely covered the canvas. In response to this piece, I wanted to understand a New York cinema and see the changes from Hopper’s painting. Additionally, seeing the artwork made it obvious of the theme focusing on isolation, detachment and capturing a moment. Visiting New York certainly lived up to my expectations, the longer I was there the more I want to come back. Leaving the apartment become a drug, just to catch a glimpse of the New York lifestyle and experience.

‘Tables for Ladies,’ Edward Hopper, 1931

#newyork #newyorkcity #art #edwardhopper #moma #themet #cityscapes

[wrestlingisfake]

Final Battle preview

Rush vs. PCO - Rush is defending the ROH world title.  As far as I can remember, Rush is undefeated in Ring of Honor.  The only singles loss in ROH that I could find for PCO was his last shot at the world title.  It is probably worth noting that each man’s contract is expiring at the end of the year, and there has been little word on whether either of them plans to re-sign.

Rush is probably the hottest star in wrestling that isn’t signed to WWE, AEW, or New Japan.  You see his entrance and you can tell this guy is a big ass deal, far beyond anything else going on in ROH.  I’m still surprised they managed to sign him.  Pierre Carl Ouellet, meanwhile, is a minor name from the 1990s enjoying a cult resurgence as a monster brawler with a Frankenstein gimmick.  At 51, PCO isn’t a hot prospect bound for the big leagues, but he’s a can’t-miss draw at the super-indy level.  So this is arguably the biggest match ROH could deliver in 2019.  It reminds me of a big match from ROH’s early days, where a WWE fan wouldn’t get the appeal but hardcore indy fans saw it as a dream match.

Even someone like me, who only half pays attention to ROH, can see the appeal of this match.  Rush’s matches are fast and intense, and he quickly destroys guys with big explosive moves.  PCO’s matches are about how he feels no pain and keeps getting back up to do increasingly insane spots.  This is, fundamentally, the irresistible force meeting the immovable object.  I can’t believe we’re getting such a match from “The guy who taught Tetsuya Naito how to be cool” versus “The Mountie’s tag team partner,” but such is wrestling in 2019.

Ring of Honor has really fallen off a cliff this year.  The core of their star power left to found AEW, and their alliance with New Japan seems to be at its lowest ebb.  The whole controversy of CMLL firing Rush and Dragon Lee, who have become key figures here, would also seem to be a bad sign for the ROH/CMLL alliance as well.  So it’s been a rebuilding year for the company, and frankly I haven’t been impressed with what they’ve rebuilt.  Except for this one match.  This is very symbolic of their one shot to turn things around for 2020.  I hope they don’t blow it; I expect that they will somehow.

My gut tells me Rush is moving on to greener pastures, whereas PCO probably can’t do much better than being a big fish in a small pond.  Wild as it sounds, I think we might get a title change tonight.

Jay Briscoe & Mark Briscoe vs. Jay Lethal & Jonathan Gresham - This is for the Briscoes’ ROH tag team title.  The biggest question mark here is that Lethal broke his arm back in October, and although he’s vowed to make it to this match it remains to be seen if he’ll be healed enough to really go.

I haven’t followed the story closely, but Lethal and Gresham were friends until Gresham decided that he needed to cheat to get ahead, and then they fought over that, and then they reconciled, and now they’re both whacking the Briscoes with chairs.  I’m still not sure if the Briscoes ever officially turned babyface this year.  So to me this is a pretty standard 2019 ROH story, where there are no heroes and everyone’s an asshole.

In theory this should be a down-and-dirty brawl between two teams that would prefer to fight than wrestle.  But since it’s not officially billed as a street fight or anything, what we’ll probably end up with is a basic wrestling match where they just sneak a few weapon shots and low blows behind the ref’s back.  That’s fine to build to a bigger, wilder spotfest later, but not so much to be a featured tag match on Final Battle.  I guess Lethal and Gresham will win the belts with shenanigans to set up a rematch.

Shane Taylor vs. Dragon Lee Ryu Lee - Taylor is defending the ROH television title.  Dragon Lee had been a big name in CMLL, and a frequent representative of the company in New Japan, and of late he’s been getting involved in ROH through his brother Rush.  But since CMLL suddenly fired him, and they own the rights to the name, he’s now adopted the name “Ryu Lee,” using the Japanese word for “dragon” to honor his new deal with New Japan.  Lee’s preference among those three companies is to work for New Japan, so now that he’s got that contract I am very curious whether he remains a ROH regular.  I suspect this match will be the first clue.  Taylor has been a dominant champion but Lee has friends in high places, so the one they want to push should be very telling.  I’m kinda thinking Taylor retains.

Matt Taven vs. Vincent - Vincent used to be Vinny Marseglia, a member of The Kingdom stable with Taven and TK O’Ryan.  I’m not sure what happened to O’Ryan after Taven lost the ROH world title, but Vincent turned on Taven and has gone all in on the gimmick of being a horror movie slasher.  This means Taven is doing the “asshole champion you come to respect drops the title and then improbably turns babyface” thing.  I’m not sure I buy that, but I guess ROH kinda has to make the best of what they have to work with.  All I know is when I see Taven plugging his DVD I’m just reminded of when TNA put out that Jeff Jarrett retrospective as if he was Triple H or something.  Anyway, I guess the King of Kings King of the Mountain King of the Kingdom needs to win this match.

Mark Haskins vs. Bully Ray - This is being billed as a street fight, so the match cannot end by count-out or disqualification.  Bully Ray has been playing the bitter veteran bullying young guys for the better part of two years now.  He was mainly feuding with Flip Gordon, but even after they blew that off he just kept doing it, and when Flip turned heel they just sort of switched to Haskins.  They’ve even got Bully going after Mark’s wife like he did with Flip’s wife.  It’s the exact same fucking thing.  Which, I suppose, means Bully has to win this match to generate more heat for more rematches.  I would literally rather be escorted into a room where Bully bitches me out for being a bad fan than watch this crap one more time.

Marty Scurll & Flip Gordon vs. Bandido & Flamita - All right, so months ago Juice Robinson came to ROH to found a stable called Lifeblood, with the goal of elevating some new stars to replenish the roster after the AEW exodus.  Well, in an apt metaphor for ROH’s fortunes in 2019, Lifeblood quickly fell apart with half the team disappearing from ROH, leaving Bandido, Mark Haskins, and Tracy Williams.  They tried to recruit various guys to fill the void, but nobody has stepped up and Flip Gordon even turned heel on them to join Scurll’s Villain Enterprises.  Then Flip blew out his elbow during the heel turn.  Anyway, Haskins has his hands full with Bully Ray, and I don’t even know where Williams is, so now Bandido is starting a new tag team with Flamita and this is the closest we get to blowing off the Lifeblood/Villain Enterprises feud.

Scurll’s contract with ROH actually ended a couple of weeks ago, but he has a handshake deal to work this show and the one on December 15.  The big questions now are which company he’ll sign with and how ROH will write him out of the company.  But presumably those questions won’t be answered until the 15th, so even at this late date we’re still in a holding pattern, and I’m guessing they’ll keep acting like  everything is normal.

Logic would suggest Scurll should do the job so ROH can put over Flamita and Bandido.  Then again, it wouldn’t shock me to learn that Bandido is getting ready to leave, so you never know.

Jeff Cobb vs. Dan Maff - This is basically a battle of two big mean guys.  Cobb is just back from a month-long tour with New Japan.  Maff is a recent acquisition, and notably filled in for Brody King to help Marty Scurll and PCO defend the ROH trios title.  That kinda makes me wonder if Maff could end up playing a role in the final fate of Villain Enterprises, but that probably won’t affect this match.

Cobb is--say it with me this time, folks--expected to have his contract come up soon, and may or may not be getting ready to leave.  If he’s staying, he should probably win this match to build him up for whoever is champion going forward.  If he’s leaving...well, Maff seems to be a budget version of Cobb, so it would make sense to have him be the guy to send Cobb packing.  We’ll just have to see what happens.

Angelina Love vs. Maria Manic - Love won the women’s title at the last ROH show I watched, but it turns out she lost it back to Kelly Klein shortly thereafter.  Then Klein suffered a concussion, which turned into a pretty big story abut ROH not taking care of her and letting her contract expire, and I don’t know what’s going on with the women’s title anymore.  I occasionally wonder if they’ll even continue to have a women’s division after this show.  Manic is clearly their big new project, but apparently they almost let her go to NXT before locking her into a contract.

The story of the match is that Manic is a big mean monster and Love is terrified of her.  Usually in this kind of story the heel gets to demonstrate that they can come up with some clever way to outwit the monster, and the match is about whether that works or not.  But as far as I know they haven’t given Love anything--she seems to just be a lamb led to the slaughter.  It’s possible Love is preparing to leave and this is the blowoff for her character.  If so, I’m not sure who will be left to fight Manic.  There’s only like five other active women in the official roster, and I haven’t seen any of them wrestle in months. 

Dalton Castle & Joe Hendry vs. Silas Young & Josh Woods - This is scheduled for the pre-show.  Young and Woods are apparently calling themselves “2G1T” (“Two Guys, One Tag”), which is possibly the most alarming sign of the creative energy left in this company.  I think Castle and Hendry have been passive-aggressively feuding and teaming for months and I’ve kinda given up trying to figure out where this is headed.  I guess Castle and Hendry win.

Rhett Titus vs. Kenny King - Another match set for the pre-show.  Titus and King were a tag team ages ago, but now King is a wannabe top heel and Titus is a prelim guy.  Well, I guess they’re both in the pre-show so technically they’re both prelim guys.  I assume the point is to give King a win, but if this guy was ever going to be something in ROH, he would already be well beyond the point that beating Titus would mean anything.

#roh #ring of honor #final battle #rush #pco

[lightsandlostbells]

Skam France season 3, episode 7 reaction

hope they called that mural “Jackson Bollocks” as an ode to the method of creation

Episode 7

Clip 1 - Intervention

Lucas is lying on the couch when Mika comes up holding the drawing from Eliott, asking if Lucas is the hedgehog. He says he found it in the trash. Nooooo, so Lucas threw away the drawing? Yikes. Whereas Isak had the courage to reach out to Even after receiving it, the drawing was a symbol of hope (bolstered by Jonas’ comments about Even needing to break up with his girlfriend), to Lucas it means nothing, just another knife to the heart. Because you know, they decided to make Yann walk away from Lucas, so Lucas did not get the reassurance. Not just about Eliott needing to break up with his girlfriend, but about much at all. Like why bother reaching out to anyone and opening your heart when they’re just going to reject you?

Not the main point, but Manon is like, “What have we said about going through the trash?” to Mika which I think is funny, that Mika has such a strong habit of going through the garbage that Manon needed to have a talk with him about it. Who’s really the raccoon in this show, hmmmm?

Lucas jumps up and confronts Mika about it, trying to grab it, but Mika gives it to Manon instead. Mmm, not sure how I feel about Mika making this moment not private and doing it in front of Manon and Lisa. Because yes, obviously Manon suspects/knows Lucas is gay, and Lucas is in need of help. But Mika also knows that Lucas was so defensive about being called gay and being seen as gay, he’s been defensive about what happened with Eliott the other weekend, so IDK why he’s just like, Manon, look at this drawing someone gave to Lucas (which is a love note). Lucas came out to Mika, not Manon, Lucas might not be ready to talk to Manon about it. 

Mika gives the cue to Manon and she mentions an intervention so you know they were talking about this. I don’t mind them doing that since Lucas is so clearly struggling, but again, kinda ehhh on doing this prompted by the drawing. 

Lisa is just sitting there reading a magazine the whole time. Mika says Lucas is just wasting away on the couch and is like a stain that won’t go away, and they already have one stain, with a glance at Lisa (who asks where’s the stain). It’s a funny moment except that I was like YOU MADE HIM STAY ON THE COUCH and then Lucas also says it, the couch is his bed now. THANK YOU. Not that it’s good Lucas is about to cry when he says this, but good that he did call them out for that moment, because it was really thoughtless and did have an emotional effect on him. They better feel the guilt from that and make up for that moment later by having Manon on the couch, or they all take turns, or something that doesn’t give Lucas nowhere to retreat in his own home.

Lucas doesn’t want to talk to them at first, but with some firm prodding by Mika, he says that Yann rejected him when he told him he was gay and that he feels like he’s being made fun of when he goes to school, everyone is whispering about him because of a guy who forced him to deal with it (Eliott, forcing Lucas to confront his sexuality) who went back to his girlfriend and doesn’t give a shit about him. He’s crying as he says this, for obvious reasons; it’d be horrible for anyone, let alone someone who has been hiding and bottling up his emotions from everyone.

I haven’t been the most complimentary toward Axel’s acting in the past; I wasn’t impressed with him in S1 and S2, and there are also some moments in this season where he felt off. But I think he does a really good job here. He sounds like a kid who’s barely holding it together and finally letting it all out.

Mika takes what I think is a good tactic and says to put aside Eliott right now. That’s important, because there are bigger issues underneath, more than one relationship. He says Yann isn’t homophobic. Yann has never had a problem with Mika, so there must be something else. (I agree with him that Yann isn’t homophobic, but I also think it’s possible for someone to have a different reaction to their best friend being gay vs their best friend’s older roommate who probably isn’t more than an acquaintance being gay. For example, the acquaintance probably isn’t encountered in many intimate or close contact situations, whereas a homophobe might start to freak out about sleeping in the same bed as his best friend or changing clothes around him. Again, not that I think this applies to Yann or that Mika should say anything like this to Lucas right now, just an observation.) Mika says it is frustrating when people react like assholes. He also says something really good, which is that Lucas will spend his whole life telling people he’s gay. This part is very good and true to life. Lucas will have to come out over and over, especially in a world that views heterosexuality as a default. And it might get easier but it’s not necessarily ever going to be easy. People will have varying reactions of acceptance. But Yann won’t leave Lucas. Mika is doing most of the talking, which is good because he’s the one with firsthand experience of coming out to many people, while Manon rubs Lucas’ shoulder.

Lucas is really crying and breaking down. He says no, they didn’t see how Yann walked away from Lucas and left him like an idiot. So Lucas feels that both Eliott and Yann have left him. He thinks he never should have told him. Which tbh is one reason I feel it was bad to have Yann react like that, because now we get statements like this, although Mika thinks it’s important to talk rather than keeping everything inside and suffering.

Lucas says Eliott doesn’t care about him. Manon says something really good, too, that Lucas isn’t gay because of Eliott. She mentions seeing the gay websites on his phone last year which … might be embarrassing and not the best thing to bring up in the moment when Lucas is already miserable, like the point is made clearly without that example, Manon. He says he didn’t know back then. Know that she saw the websites or know that he was gay (meaning he was questioning)? I think he meant the latter, so he was just kinda fumbling and figuring everything out in S1 and maybe didn’t consciously understand why he tried to sabotage Yann and Emma’s relationship. Although Lucas seemed like he knew what he was doing more than other Isaks, IMO, because his performance came across as more consciously manipulative to me than Isak, who seemed more haphazardly opportunistic. Which was why S1 Lucas reminded me of a serial killer and I didn’t care for him, lmao.

Anyway, Manon says that is was bound to happens someday, which is true. I don’t know if it totally doesn’t matter that Lucas fell in love with a guy now, because who knows, maybe Lucas would’ve had an easier time with coming out part if he were in university, or if he wasn’t struggling with rent and his family on top of everything else. But he would’ve had to deal with it sooner or later, or else repress himself and be miserable.

Mika says a closet is dark, narrow, and smelly. There’s no benefit to going back in there, so be proud and live your life. Fuck anyone who judges. Good speech, Mika, you’ve leveled up from your earlier appearances.

Lucas seems to be feeling a little better as Mika and Manon cuddle up to him. Lisa is like wait …. you’re gay? God forbid there’s ever a fire in the apartment because Lisa would be toast.

I think on its own, this was a really good scene with several important messages. It’s just that in context we have two white characters supporting a gay guy when the black character failed - and supporting him because the black character failed. And I don’t think Yann or any other black character needs to be put on a pedestal and depicted with no flaws, but with common stereotypes of black people being more homophobic than white people, and with this being a change in the remake rather than an adaptation of an original scene (like if Jonas rejected Isak and Eskild and Noora comforted Isak about it) it’s just a weird choice that they should have thought about from a broader perspective. I get that Yann comes around in a few clips but I don’t know why they needed to take away one of the character’s best moments for the angst. Lucas easily could have been crying over being outed at school by Chloé, for example, and have Manon and Mika comfort him over that.

Clip 2 - The happiest place on Earth?

Lucas goes to school and sees Basile and Arthur. They notice him and jump into action, seeming very chipper and supportive. Including Arthur, who was last seen hitting Lucas in the head. Uh oh. They know, don’t they.

Arthur’s glasses are taped up from the fight, lol. 

Arthur “casually” drops in that oh, he was in a gay bar this weekend! So you know the boys, and probably the whole school, heard the news about Lucas being gay. Arthur is like, we should go sometime! Basile is like, we should go to Gay Pride! All of this is awkward but also, the best thing Basile has ever done, at least. 

There’s no apology between Lucas and Arthur for the fight at Chloé’s party, which I don’t really mind because I can buy that Arthur maybe realized Lucas was struggling due to his sexuality and lashing out, and that he’s over it, and Lucas is just happy that his friends accept him. But I do think the fact that it’s totally glossed over is something that falls way more into Disneyland than not, lol.

Arthur mentions his mom’s friend Catherine, who is a lesbian. Errr, his mom’s friend, or his mom’s friend? Basile and Arthur are like, lesbians, so cool, and one version of the subs includes that they’re like “especially in porn”? I think it’s Arthur who says so. Heavy sigh if that’s the case, like ... of course. I guess that’s teenage boy Magnus-level ignorance on the level of “who’s the girl and who’s the guy” that I will put to the side for now, although I don’t think anyone’s going to roast Arthur for it like Isak roasted Magnus (which is what makes me cool with Magnus’ line, that it’s called out and even the other boys are shaking their heads at him). Anyway, Lucas looks amused or at least not upset by all of this.

Daphne interrupts by literally bursting through them to ask Lucas if he is gay. Basile leans forward to smell Daphne’s hair and she hits him in the face. GOD WHEN WILL THIS END. I mean, I would endorse an episode that’s just Daphne hitting Basile in the face, but even more I would endorse a season where we didn’t have this retrograde, creepy, sexist bullshit excuse for a budding romance. (And I’ve said the same thing about Noorhelm, lmao, but Skam France at least had the excuse of adapting the series closely from existing sexist bullshit. This is whole new sexist bullshit, and in some ways I find it even worse because Noorhelm/Marles are at least from the girl’s POV. Daphne doesn’t even get that dignity here.)

Lucas says it’s true and Daphne screams and launches herself at him. The boys look happy. Arthur says they were afraid of making fools for themselves. Lucas says they did, but that it was funny.

Daphne is happy for him but thinks it’s a waste for the girls. There’s a moment where Lucas is clearly thinking “... straight people ...” but he ends up saying he’ll take it as a compliment. Basile takes the moment to remind Daphne that he is extremely heterosexual, as if she or any of the rest of us could ever forget. We know you’re aggressively heterosexual. That is your one character trait. Daphne thinks he is also extremely annoying. She gives Lucas a vigorous kiss on the cheek before she leaves, and it seems like a presumptive gesture about how Lucas is her Gay Best Friend now but at least it made Basile mad. Basile pouts and Lucas is like, well, it seemed like she was thinking of you. So Lucas has been outed but is chill with it, and the real good news for everyone is that Daphne wanted to kiss Basile for reals? Yay! And by yay I mean WTF.

This is obviously a big moment for Lucas, and a nice scene for him in terms of his friends accepting him considering the talk Mika just gave him about people’s reactions, and of course how bad the first two times he came out went. So from that perspective, sure, I get why it’s enjoyable. But watching it in the larger context, ???????????????????

Skam France: Our version of the coming out scene was realistic. This isn’t Disneyland. Also Skam France: This scene.

Now I don’t think it’s unrealistic for Lucas’ other friends to support him once they learn he’s gay, not at all, but this clip? Total Disney. They might as well be wearing mouse ears. Hell, the boys were giving off such goofy chipmunk vibes that I legit thought of Chip ‘n’ Dale (no, really, look at Arthur’s face in this scene). It’s not just that they’re supportive and chill, it’s that they’re almost about to throw Lucas a coming out party in their enthusiasm, like if they had confetti and noise makers it would not be surprising. And yes, it is sweet of them to try to make Lucas knows they’re fine with him being gay, and the overcompensation from the straight friends is a thing that does happen in real life. But in the context of “this isn’t Disneyland”? Get out of here. You took away what would have been an iconic moment for Yann, but Lucas’ other (white) friends were OTT enthusiastic. All the white kids had a great initial reaction to Lucas coming out, it’s the black best friend who doesn’t. Curiously, in the original show, Mahdi had a great reaction to Isak coming out and was the one to chime in about pansexuality. In fact, in the same scene as Isak coming out to him, it’s shown that people were also stereotyping Mahdi with the gossip, saying he was an angry homophobic Muslim when Mahdi is not homophobic and isn’t even Muslim. Skam certainly wasn’t perfect on racial issues but that moment was actually toying with the expectations of the homophobic black guy and shutting them down. I really don’t think Skam France was trying to present that stereotype on purpose - I think the goal was just dramaaaaaa - but again, they should’ve considered the larger implications. 

And lmao, this isn’t Disneyland but Lucas getting outed at school went swimmingly and he didn’t seem concerned at all? He didn’t come out to Basile, Arthur, or Daphne of his own volition, it was clearly via gossip that they learned. And instead he’s just like ... haha these goofballs? I get that perhaps he values his friends’ reactions and their acceptance more than what random other students might think, but this is perhaps the most jarring part of the scene for me, particularly in terms of supposed realism. Because if that’s your defense ...this material is definitely not more realistic than how it was handled in the original. Isak being outed at school wasn’t the end of the world for him, but it was something that made him uncomfortably visible to other students, with suddenly receiving attention from randos (even if they meant to be nice). When he came out to Mahdi and Magnus, he was nervous about it, and it went well but there were still the insecurities in his delivery and dialogue, Magnus had dumb comments, etc. It was nuanced, realistic and optimistic. This scene was going for happy but it also felt like it smoothed over more complex content. 

However, I might not be as critical over that part of the scene had a) the damn Disneyland comment hadn’t been made just a few days prior b) a certain comment in the later clip with Chloé didn’t make it seem like they’re being dismissive of the effects of being outed. 

Clip 3 - Lucas and Yann hug it out

Later that day, there’s activity in the common room, the boy squad making use of the new table football. Yann approaches the boys, you can see that Lucas gets a little happy when he sees him approach. Arthur gets Basile’s dumb ass to leave so it’s just Yann and Lucas.

Yann apologizes for leaving and says he needed to think about everything. And I have to say, some of what’s frustrating is that the straight character “needed to think about everything.” I get that not everyone reacts perfectly, that’s what Mika said earlier, but frankly, I don’t like that we have to make a gay character’s coming out about a straight character’s soul searching. That’s neither the time nor the place. It was important that Jonas didn’t make Isak’s coming out moment, a time of great vulnerability for Isak, about himself. And Lucas was in even greater distress than Isak, he was telling Yann all about how miserable he was prior to mentioning Eliott.

One way that I feel like they could’ve made Yann’s walk-off more justified for the ~angst - still very disappointing to ruin that iconic moment, but more understandable - would be to have Lucas come out, Yann is cool with that, but then as they’re talking and laughing Lucas lets slip how he ratted out Emma last year and Yann gets upset and walks away. Again, not the best time or place, but at least that would’ve clearly been about something wrong that Lucas did to Yann that Yann is right to get mad at, not cheap fake-out homophobia for the dramaaa.

Yann says he doesn’t have a problem with gay people, especially not Lucas, and it was a little weird to think about Lucas having a thing for him; it’s flattering but he doesn’t want thing to change between them. I mean, Lucas already told you that he fell in love with Eliott so lol, Yann, chill, he’s moved on. 

Yann says Lucas is his best friend and that’s why he reacted badly, because Yann always told Lucas everything and was there for him, tried to give him opportunities to talk, but Lucas couldn’t do it and ended up talking to Mika and the girls, half the school knew because Yann did. Arrrrrrgh. THAT’S NOT WHAT HAPPENED. The only person Lucas actually told was Mika, another gay person (and seriously, if you can’t figure out why Lucas would come out to another gay guy first, get over yourself). But everyone else just guessed or found out by accident! In fact it kind of bothers me that this part is never corrected, like it almost feels like the narrative itself is conflating coming out with being outed. And Lucas told Yann on Friday that people “suspected” or gave him weird looks or whatever, which should’ve already given Yann a clue that Lucas isn’t telling them directly.

Anyway, Lucas says sorry, and thankfully Yann says he doesn’t have to apologize, because if that had slid by as justified I would’ve been pissed. Yann says he’s the one who needs to apologize, that if Lucas was afraid to tell Yann, it was because he was afraid of Yann’s reaction. I think it’s more complex than that, Lucas needed to accept himself as gay before telling anyone else, but Yann makes a thoughtful, empathetic point here. Yann realized he made a lot of gay jokes and homophobic comments, and he’s sorry for that. Lucas is sorry for not talking to Yann earlier. (For real, you have nothing to be sorry for! You don’t owe it to anyone to come out to them at a certain time!)

Yann suggests they hug it out, so they do, and Lucas cries from happiness. Yann says not to keep something like that from him again. At least Lucas should know to come to Yann later in the season when shit gets real.

Yann asks about Eliott, and Lucas says he and Eliott were supposed to pain the mural, and Yann suggests they do it together with Basile and Arthur. Why do I feel like letting Basile near a paintbrush is a bad idea? I just feel like he’s the kind of guy who would paint everything, consciously or subconsciously, to look like boobs.

There are some nice messages in this scene and I like that Yann took responsibility for his prior homophobic jokes, but what frustrates me again is that Yann didn’t actually need to walk away from Lucas in order to get that content? We could’ve had a supportive coming out scene on Friday, and today Yann tells Lucas he was thinking about it over the weekend and he realized all the crap he said in the past, and he wanted to apologize for everything. Therefore getting in the same good message while not resorting to cheap drama. Because yeah, I’m glad this plot thread didn’t go on longer, but the fact that it was so short and easily resolved kinda makes it more apparent how they just wanted a shocking Friday cliffhanger.

Clip 4 - Religion and science

Lucas sits down in class next to Imane. When he takes out his book, there’s a note inside. A drawing from Eliott. It’s his raccoon fursona, looking at his phone in one panel, with a sad face as there is no activity, and the next (the alternate universe) is the raccoon happily looking at the phone because there’s a message from Lucas asking about the drawing, and a response from Eliott (one that’s the same as the exchange from Isak and Even in the equivalent of this drawing). Lucas didn’t send Eliott a text yet, so I dunno how I feel bout this drawing in that light. Like Isak did reach out to Even after the first drawing, and the second was Even’s way of apologizing for not responding to Isak’s text, hinting at his internal conflict. Even was seriously giving mixed signals: let’s break up, actually here’s us in a parallel universe, now I’m not going to respond to you talking to me again, now here’s me responding finally and saying I miss you. But Eliott is sending him another note being like “talk to me” when it’s really not his call. Eliott broke up with Lucas and got back with Lucille, so Lucas has the right to ignore his drawings entirely. Lucas clearly doesn’t want to talk to Eliott and has not given any hints that he’s ready to talk. (But also ... then it gets ridiculous that Lucas is still like HE DOESN’T CARE ABOUT ME when Eliott is begging Lucas to talk to him, like Isak was getting the sense that Even was indecisive by his hot-cold dynamic, couldn’t make up his mind, would send a note and then ignore Isak for days. Eliott is now on fire for Lucas again, clearly. I guess it works if you think Lucas is trying to believe Eliott doesn’t care to avoid getting hurt again, but I don’t know if that’s in line with him crying and being upset about it.)

Anyway, Imane looks at the drawing, too. Lucas puts it away and asks Imane if she did her homework, and she says she thinks she messed up - like she did with Lucas before, about evolution theory and homosexuality. She says that homosexuality did play a role in evolution, and Lucas says she wasn’t wrong about everything, like the way science was used to hurt gay people. Imane says we’re past that now. Errr … “we’re past that” as in Lucas and Imane and their disagreement? Or past that in that science is no longer used to hurt gay people because … that is strongly debatable … even if it’s not as extreme as in prior decades…

Imane and Lucas agree that science and religion evolve, they just take time. Imane says that no religion condones homosexuality, but that none of them say to hurt homosexuals, and like, L M A O. You cannot say with a straight face that no religion is against hurting gay people. Even if the beliefs and practices aren’t like “stone gay people to death” there are plenty of churches that advocate for conversation therapy or other harmful practices. That statement is so bizarre? It assumes an inherent benevolence in religion by default, as if destructive and doomsday cults don’t exist, for an extreme example. And I think it’s also a sweeping statement to say no religion condones homosexuality, either, although it might depend on your definition of “condone.” There are some major faiths where homosexuality isn’t mentioned in the religious texts at all, so not exactly approval, but not explicit condemnation, either. This is just a weird line, and I seriously wish this conversation had been more focused on Islam (as Isak and Sana’s was) as not only are Imane’s lines so broad as to not make sense, but I feel like it’s more powerful talking about her own religion and her own experience and POV on it, rather than encompassing every single religion. Especially when Islam in particular is seen as hostile to gay people, like part of the reason Isak and Sana’s friendship was so important because there’s a belief that Isak’s sexuality and Sana’s religion means they cannot mix and they are incompatible as friends and could never get along. It’s a little odd to me that Islam itself feels downplayed in this conversation.

Lucas is all, so this means you’re asking for forgiveness? Imane tells him not to get cocky. Heh. 

This is a sweet scene but I’m wondering how it’ll fit into the narrative. It happens in episode 8 in the original, and it directly prompts Isak to come out to his mom later that episode. Unless Lucas were to come out to her shortly after this clip, I feel like that purpose of this scene would get lost, unless they connected it to Imane again.

Clip 5 - Lucas and Chloé

Chloé is outside, Lucas sees her and goes up to her, she tries to leave but he tells her to wait. She’s like, here we fucking go again.

Lucas says he’s sorry for everything. He says he thought it could work with a girl like her, who was so beautiful and cool, but it’s not her, it just doesn’t work with girls at all for him. Chloé says that he sucks and that she really believed it. But that she doesn’t get what it’s like to be in his shoes and how she would have reacted, so maybe one day she could forgive him. You know what? It’s not perfect, but I do think this is a nice inclusion. She’s still mad at him but she does show empathy for his position, and acknowledges that she doesn’t understand what it’s like to be gay. At least it’s a sign of character growth. The resolution with Emma is the only thing that I would’ve liked more from with the original S3, and if Emma had said a line like this, I would have been more satisfied.

Lucas is about to go but then Chloé says she’s sorry too, because she might have gotten a little revenge by talking. Again, something that I do appreciate, her apologizing to Lucas for outing him, and if Emma had done this to Isak, I would’ve been pretty fine with the resolution of her character in S3. Lucas says not to worry, if she hadn’t he wouldn’t have had the courage to open up. WHAT. Are you fucking kidding me? You were doing so well with this scene and then you drop that unholy horseshit in there?

If Lucas had been like, “Don’t worry, we’re cool,” in the sense that he had forgiven her, or he was trying to move on and put it past him, then sure, I understand that. He doesn’t want to have a grudge or a standing feud or anything, and he knows he used Chloé and he’s thinking they both hurt each other, time to wipe the slate clean. Fine. But framing Chloé running her mouth in revenge as a good thing? Making the gay character grateful to the straight character for outing him? Fuck off.

If a real human being said this to someone ... I would disagree with the principle that the outing was actually OK but I’m not going to argue with someone’s personal experience and feelings. But Lucas isn’t a real person. He’s a character and the people behind the show put words in his mouth. In this case, he’s basically saying it was a good thing a straight person outed him in vengeance because he wouldn’t have had to courage to do it himself so soon. It is absolutely baffling why anyone thought this line was a good idea. It is again a case of prioritizing or soothing a straight character’s feelings. God forbid Chloé have to live with the guilt of outing someone? Because actually it was a good thing! 

And Lucas did have the courage in him! He came out to Mika first, before Chloé started yelling about he was gay at a party, before he knew he’d been outed. But another thing about this line that bothers me isn’t just that it states the outing was a good thing in the end, it’s the idea that the gay character wasn’t brave enough to come out and he needed a straight person to force him out of the closet. Suggesting that Lucas just didn’t have the guts in him. Fuck off.

The beginning of this scene felt like an improvement over the handling of Emma’s character in S3 - and it’s pretty rare for me to think Skam France actually improves on Skam, tbh. But that one line? Makes the handling of this subplot even worse. It makes me grateful that we didn’t get Isak telling Emma how her outing him was actually for the best. It makes me wish Skam France had just copy-pasted the original scene. I would rather have Chloé not apologize than to have her apologize and get Lucas’ followup line.

The way the outing is treated in this episode bothers me so, so much, and this is perhaps the worst of it. It bothered me that Lucas seemed so unruffled by learning everyone he knows now knows he’s gay; it bothers me even more that Lucas is now alleviating the guilt of the straight girl who outed him because her selfish, vengeful action ended up giving him courage. What the fuck were they thinking.

Chloé says she’s happy for him and Eliott. Lucas says they’re not a couple, and that he believed in it more than Eliott did.  Chloé says she knows what that’s like. They say goodbye. So they wrapped up that storyline wayyyy faster than in Skam. I wonder what’s gonna happen with that? Is this the last we see of Chloé? I feel like there will probably be one more clip with her toward the end, maybe as a send-off, maybe her and Yann hooking up. But her walking off did have a finality about it, so maybe not.

I feel like they’re flying through all these subplots and trying to make Lucas cool with everyone so they can get to the Lucas/Eliott content and drama. The Imane-Lucas conversation was in episode 8 for Sana and Isak, this conversation with Chloé was in episode 10 for Emma ... what are they going to put in place of those clips?

Yann and Emma come out and Emma is talking about her FWB thing with Alex. Yann says now that Lucas is done with Chloé, is it OK if he tries? LMAO. Well, that’s blunt. Lucas says it’s fine, but to do it right because Chloe’s a nice girl. Uhhhh, ok. Because of That Line this Chloé praise is putting a bad taste in my mouth. I don’t want to demonize her or anything but it’s just another sense of Poor Sweet Nice Chloé who didn’t do anything that bad, as opposed to Chloé being a mostly decent person who made a big, thoughtless mistake (like many of the characters on this show) but who apologized and matured. But at least Yann is checking with Lucas about pursuing Chloé, instead of dating her secretly like Jonas did with Emma. 

Some POV-breakage as Emma sees Raptor Alex with a girl and it took me a moment to realize it was Manon due to the distance, despite her distinctive wardrobe. I thought she was just upset about Alex talking to some other girl all of a sudden, lmao. Anyway, Emma realizes that Manon and Alex are probably having a heated Charles-related discussion and that Manon isn’t opening up to her.

Clip 6 - Mural painting time

Boy gang is painting the mural. They bring up Eliott, Lucas explains Eliott’s drawings and the complicated situation. Dude, Lucas, in this case you’re the one not wanting to talk to Eliott. You’re the one making it more complicated. Eliott wants to talk to you. He’s dropping all these hints and yet you don’t buy them. I think it’s fine if you don’t want to talk to him, even if you don’t trust him, but at this point you’re the one holding out. 

Arthur casually drops in that he was dating a 34-year-old with kids at some point … errr ... when did this happen ... how old was Arthur ... I wish I could be assured this was Arthur spinning some fabrication about his love life rather than showing us he has mad game with MILFs. (This is one of those moments where I’m like A Man Probably Wrote This because I cannot see anyone in OG boy squad commenting they were dating a 34-year-old mom as if the viewers were supposed to find this funny or impressive, unless it was Magnus telling an obvious lie to pretend he wasn’t a virgin.)

The boys give Lucas advice, but again, this is so weird because Eliott seems like the one chasing Lucas, and Lucas is the one retreating. They’re all “send him a message, push the matter” when Eliott is the one who has been trying to push the matter for almost two weeks? Skam France has been a lot better about not just copy+pasting the original show this season, but here’s an example where it creeps in, the execution is too borrowed from the original scene, not geared toward the different dynamic in Skam France.

Lucas texts Eliott, Eliott texts back that he wants to see Lucas, Lucas takes advice from the guys on what to send back. They’re like, say I’m busy, but do NOT send a gif. Lol, I like that bit. Emojis were out, now gifs are forbidden, too.

Lucas texts back that he’s busy with the mural and then gets worried when Eliott doesn’t respond. The boys encourage him, and Basile has his most redeeming line ever, that there are billions of Eliotts on the planet, but Lucas is unique. I will pay Basile a genuine compliment, that was a sweet thing to say.

Lucas gets a text that Eliott is arriving, so the boys leave. Basile is upset that they didn’t start the mural. Tbh, totally in character that he was more disappointed by not getting to paint his jizzing flower idea than by not getting to meet Eliott (opposed to Magnus who wanted to meet the famous Even).

Eliott walks into the room. Next to him is a poster that says, “It’s about time.” LMAO, that’s a fun production detail.

Lucas seems like he’s shaking. Eliott offers him a hand with the mural. Or, you know. With something else.

Clip 7 - Lucas uses his ass as a paintbrush

When Yann said earlier this week that the boys would help Lucas paint the mural, I knew Eliott and Lucas were going to get steamy while painting. I just ... did not expect bare asses in broad daylight.

Lucas and Eliott survey the mural and Eliott asks what he was planning on doing, Lucas says he doesn’t know. This conversation is obviously not really about the mural but their relationship status.

Eliott suggests going all Jackson Pollock on the mural. Can I just say ... one of the many things about this scene that bugs me, plausibility-wise, is that no one had any plans for the mural until they showed up? I’m not much of a painter, but ... wouldn’t the first step be to apply a coat of primer? I looked up ways to get rid of a mural and that was the first step on every guide. And wouldn’t the best course of action be to plan what you’re going to paint and draw a sketch of it or something? I realize that these are sloppy teenage boys who DGAF but changes are high the mural will be even uglier than it is now if you just let Basile and company paint whatever the hell they want with no particular vision.

Jackson Pollock was speculated to have bipolar disorder, by the way, so it is a nice detail that he’s Eliott’s go-to inspiration here.

Eliott demonstrates how to go all Jackson Pollock by throwing some paint at the wall. Lucas tries and Eliott teases him, and when Lucas laughs, Eliott says it’s good to see him smile, he missed it. Lucas is all “...” and says Eliott looked happy with Lucille last time. Eliott says he can’t say that. Ever since Eliott met him, Lucas is the only thing that’s mattered.

Tinkly piano music starts so you know shit is about to get real. ELiott throws more paint, Lucas stares at him, then throws paint. Thematically, you could say this is about covering up the old (Lucille and Eliott) to make something new (Lucas and Eliott). Eliott dabs paint on Lucas’ nose, Lucas throws paint back at him, they get into a paint fight. This part is legit cute, although lol, part of me is thinking they will have zero paint left for the mural since it’s all over each other. They’re covered in paint, and then they passionately kiss. Then they take off each other’s shirts. Then they take off their pants as they continue to kiss, pressed against the mural. The camera swoops and swoons. Ass happens. Paint smears on butt cheeks. They are definitely totally naked. Lots of dramatic staring into each other’s eyes. Sex is sure taking place. 

An observation: Paint on human bodies looks striking and pretty at first, but then as it smears together, starts to look like they rolled around in mud and pig shit.

Look … this is not my type of scene. The dramatic cuts and edits, the music, the camera spinning around them. I get for a lot of people this clip was artistic and beautiful, and in another film, maybe it would be for me, too. I mean, I have seen the paint sex clip of J'ai tué ma mère, and it’s really good! Disclaimer, I have not seen that full film, but the editing and music in that scene works well. 

By the way, I totally think this clip was prompted by fans asking for an homage to the film scene. I definitely saw fans asking for it back in S1 and S2. I don’t know if the Skam France crew has confirmed that, though.

@rabidkoalathug sent me a cool bit of trivia about the film scene, by the way: the original paint scene from j'ai tue ma mere, which this paint scene was inspired by, has a song in the background, right? it's called noir desir by vive la fete. the chorus goes like "C'est la manie" which translates to this is mania, or it's mania. i know there's no significance, but just thought it was a cool coincidence. I do, too! I think it actually does add some extra relevance to the scene as an homage, it’s a subtle hint about Eliott’s bipolar disorder if you’re familiar with the original scene and it ties the two scenes together. A fun little Easter egg. 

Overall … this does not feel like Skam. And maybe this lends itself to a larger discussion about what Skam is supposed to feel like, and whether it can diverge from that. But I do expect shows with the Skam label to go for a certain level of realism - that doesn’t mean everything is cynical and gritty, but I do think it should feel fitting toward teenagers’ actual lives. I don’t expect Eliott’s big secret to be that he’s a werewolf, for example. I also don’t expect the characters to be 16-year-olds played by 30-year-olds dressed like they’re posing for the cover of a fashion magazine, or that everyone at the school dance will just happen to know the elaborate choreography for a song that isn’t the Macarena. Skam’s appeal was being grounded in the reality of being a teenager in modern Norwegian society.

This scene is not realistic and grounded. This doesn’t happen with teenagers. Even if two teenage boys started having sex while painting a mural at school after hours, the way this scene is filmed all dramatic and glamorous is not what the reality would be like. I mean … where’s the vulnerability? If they filmed this scene with more awkward fumbling, it would retain a sense of realism. Because this should be awkward! Even apart from the paint, it’s Lucas’ first time with a guy, probably his first time ever. That would be a lot to deal with on its own, and then you add buckets of paint into the scenario, and that would add its own brand of awkwardness even if this was the 1000th time they’d had sex.

Also, L O L forever at Yann having to walk away from Lucas because Realism and yet …. this scene happened.

Fandom went WILD reacting to this scene. While there was a big reaction to the coming out scene, feelings congregated toward anger and disappointment; this scene seemed divided between feelings of genuine enjoyment, bafflement, and hilarity. And in a way, I’m kinda glad this scene came after an episode where the presentation of Lucas being outed pissed me off, because I’m not pissed off at this scene at all. It’s just Too Much. They’re having sex in broad daylight, in front of giant windows, in a seemingly unlocked room. 

If they had just ended on them passionately kissing, covered in paint, it would’ve been fine. I would’ve bought it. I know they want to show their first time having sex, but if they just woke up naked the next day at Eliott’s place, it would’ve made sense. If we saw them stumbling through the door at Eliott’s and stripping off each other’s paint-spattered clothes, it would’ve been fine. I mean, probably take a shower first or hose each other down, but sure. 

I’m not even sure what to say that hasn’t already been said, lol. Just the paint, man, the paint. Like they definitely got paint all over their dicks. Paint drying in the cracks of their asses. Paint is not an acceptable substitute for lube, my dudes. I fucking lost it that the writer had to clarify it was non-toxic paint because everyone was concerned they would get lead poisoning and spend the aftermath of their sexy mural adventure in the hospital. 

It’s still daylight, the sun is shining on them, and they’re right in front of the windows! What! And I know some people pointed out the windows are mirrored on the outside so people outdoors won’t see inside the room. But it’s still ridiculous! The doors aren’t locked! People could walk in!  (And maybe this is just me, but I feel like even if you knew people couldn’t see you through the windows ...it’s just really hard to turn off that instinct that people could see you. Wouldn’t be the same for everyone, of course, but I’d still find it very weird.)

People mentioned that at a French school, typically everyone would be gone by that time and no one would be around to get a glimpse of the Lucas/Eliott technicolor bangfest. While that may be true on average, I would like to respectfully disagree and argue no, the chances that someone could have seen some paint-covered ass and balls are definitely more than slim:

The boys were there painting the mural. They were at the school doing stuff at that time! With that in mind, wouldn’t it be possible that there were other students doing things at the school, too? They have their own “murals” and projects to work on? If no one’s supposed to be there that late, then why are the boys there, anyway? 

Eliott was at the school. He hauled ass to the mural really fast, like less than a minute after he texted Lucas. So “no one at the school” is false because Eliott had to be hanging around the school for whatever reason at that time. It had to be a normal, conceivable thing for him to do. 

This school has an established night security guard who comes in on Fridays. Now, it might be too early for his shift to start. But isn’t it also possible that there are people like this guard, or groundskeepers, or janitors, people who might be checking up on the school after hours?

But errr, the smoking gun, the point that matters most: YOU CAN LITERALLY HEAR PEOPLE TALKING AND MAKING NOISE IN THE HALLWAY. When the boy squad leaves and when Eliott comes in, you can hear some chatter from people outside the room. It sounds like the gym is nearby, actually? That’s what it reminds me of, like maybe there’s sports practice or a game or something going on. And you can hear people talking even when Lucas and Eliott start painting the mural. It’s not even hard to notice? Listen when Eliott is telling Lucas it’s good to see him smile, for instance. You can clearly tell there are people nearby.

I don’t think it was necessary for me to lay that out, however, it makes you wonder ... why did they include the sound of the people talking in the hallway right before Lucas and Eliott start fucking at school? Like was that sound just there naturally because the school was being used for something else besides filming at the time? Because that’s certainly a thing to remove with editing. But lol, I’m just imagining if the Skam France editors put that in on purpose, like hey, wouldn’t it be even hotter if we implied they’re having sex where they could totally get caught by the basketball team or whatever?

There are ass prints on that wall. Just to commemorate Lucas’ deflowering. 

Just a note: My comments and criticisms about this scene are basically coming from an artistic perspective. What I don’t want to do is diminish the effect scenes like this may have for LGBT youth in France, or LGBT people in general, because even if the execution of this clip is too OTT for my taste, I’m sure it also means the world for other people to see Lucas and Eliott happily and passionately have sex on television. In the grand scheme of media, scenes like this are still revolutionary. That’s something I feel about Skam France overall, too; I have a lot of issues with this season, but I’m aware how important it is to people, not just on a level of “I like this show a lot” but “Media like this genuinely improves my life for the better, Lucas’ story gave me the courage to come out, etc.” I don’t think being important means it can’t be criticized on a basic writing/directing/acting level, but I also don’t want to ignore how media like this can touch people’s lives. Anyway. 

I do want to give Skam France credit for this: they sure didn’t shy away from showing gay intimacy. This was way more explicit than anything shown with Yann/Emma or Charles/Manon. And whether you think there’s an element of fan pandering to it, as some do (because the people behind the remakes have to know those Evak fans are a vital resource) it is still important to see gay intimacy normalized on TV and not hidden behind closed doors. In this case ... almost literally, lmao.

Social Media/General Comments:

Mika posts pics with Lucas calling him his protege, and there are more flat pictures after the intervention, so at least Lucas has more warmth coming from that front. He probably feels closer than a distant cousin by now.

For someone who’s apparently not into Raptor Alex other than FWB, Emma makes sure to document their grocery-buying trips in great detail. That’s pretty domestic.

Lucas texts Mika after people at school know that he’s gay, and Mika refers to himself as Lucas’ mentor, which frankly took him long enough? And calls Lucas kitten as Eskild called Isak godkitten. Again, at least Lucas feels more like his home is a home.

But not to harp on this again... Lucas being like, it’s done, everyone at school knows, it wasn’t so bad! Uhhh, it’s not like Lucas walked into school wearing a shirt that said “I’M GAY”or made a public post on his IG or anything that was his choice. He was outed. And I can certainly accept that he realizes it’s not so bad to be out of the closet, but still ... he was outed and him being like “it wasn’t so bad” just seems like such a ridiculous dismissal. Like yay, the matter was taken out of Lucas’ hands, but it’s fine! I’m just confused why the Skam France crew want to make statements about homophobia in France on their SM but then minimize Lucas’ outing to nothing, really. I’m not saying he has to suffer a ton because of it - Isak didn’t - but there was at least some sympathy in how Isak’s outing was depicted, I felt like Julie actually did understand that being outed wasn’t so great (even if we didn’t get an apology from Emma like with Chloé).

And I feel weird making criticisms like that because the Skam France screenwriter is gay? I don’t know how much he’s adapting the story to his personal experience. Maybe this is how it went for him or someone he knows. But I do think you can’t defend choices as “realistic” or have scenes where Mika talks about how people react badly to coming out sometimes, and then present this outing as NBD.

Eliott’s secret account started to follow Lucas on IG during the week. I feel like he just wanted Lucas to pay attention and notice him, lmao, after sending him multiple drawings didn’t do the job. He also “subtly” listens to a song called Toi Et Moi (you and me).

Okay, I’m laughing at the pictures and IG stories with like the boy squad posing in front of the mural with brushes and paint cans when they did not do a SINGLE fucking thing as far as actually painting the goddamn mural. They literally spent more time taking selfies than painting.

But Lucas did make sure to take a picture of the messy paint-covered canvas on the floor after he and Eliott fucked, and Manon says she can’t wait to see the result. Manon … you will see the result of what happens when Lucas and Eliott decide to take their “painting”escapades back to the apartment. You will see it all over the place.

Eliott posted a pic of Jackson Pollock at work on IG and Lucas liked it. So the mystery is no longer a mystery to Lucas, he knows about Eliott’s IG.

I hope in S4 Eliott just continues to post cryptic things on his IG, but because we’re no longer in Lucas’ POV or following their story, they’re just completely random and drive the fans up a wall with trying to figure out what the fuck he means. A mango? Why the fuck did Eliott post a mango?? Alas, we shall never know.

I am not French so please feel free to clarify or correct me on cultural or translation notes.

If you got this far - especially when this wasn’t a very positive recap - thank you for reading!

#skamfr reactions #skam france reactions

[theboywiththedemonblood]

Expectations vs Reality pt. 3

Pairing: Sam Winchester/Dean Winchester, Wincest Rating: Mature (will be Explicit in other parts) Summary:  Looking back, Sam Winchester couldn’t pinpoint the exact moment he had decided that having sex with his older brother was the most logical and healthy thing to do, especially since growing up he had never looked twice at a man. Then again, a little over a year ago he had been excelling at Stanford, living in Palo Alto with a gorgeous girlfriend and now he was washing ghoul blood off his hands in a dingy motel bathroom in bumfuck Kansas, so to say his expectations for the future had not exactly come true would be an understatement. or Sam takes the academic approach to sibling incest. Warnings: Hint of non-con somnophilia if you squint, incest (obviously), co-dependent relationship, slow burn, general fucked up shit inherent to the show, set in s1-2

Part 1

Part 2

The brothers’ experience with Max severely freaked Sam out: the similarities between their origins, him being unable to stop the boy’s suicide and his own momentary bout of telekinesis all painted a disturbing picture. Like it or not, Sam was part of something sinister, something that had shaped his whole life from his infancy and had sent his family onto a path of death and ruin. Following that case he was gloomy and irritable, Dean constantly catching him lost in his thoughts and throwing him worried glances.

In his somewhat distracted state, Sam was ambushed and kidnapped by the Bender family. Dean came for him and they made it out alive, but the experience shook them both to the core and prompted Sam to action. He realized that while he was worrying about his possible destiny they could have been killed and not even by the demon their father was hunting, but by humans, a bunch of sick and twisted cannibals at that! It really put things into perspective.

They didn't linger in Hibbing, but got a motel in a neighboring town. Taking advantage of Dean's exhaustion and him looking bloody and dirty, Sam went in to book their room on his own and made it a king, instead of two queens. Dean froze on the threshold and Sam had to put in all his acting talent to make his words sound nonchalant: “Yeah, sorry, they didn't have any rooms with two queens left, apparently there is a church choir convention in town or something. Figured we can share for one night. I'm beat.” Dean wavered in the doorway, but his own fatigue eventually won out and he dumped his duffel on the floor and stomped to the bathroom.

Dean remained jumpy the rest of the night, throwing furtive glances at Sam and the bed and blushing while Sam pretended not to notice. They eventually called it a night and got into bed: Dean curled up on the very edge, his back to Sam. 

Sam waited patiently until he heard Dean's breath slow and his brother started to snore softly. Tentatively, Sam rolled over and draped himself over his brother’s back. He held his breath and listened for signs that the action had woken Dean, but his brother was dead to the world. He breathed out and relaxed, allowing himself to focus on how it felt to be this close to Dean. 

While his brother’s body was unmistakably masculine: hard lines, lean muscles, broad shoulders, he was still dwarfed by Sam’s larger size. He didn’t know what he had expected, because cuddling up to Dean was really not that different than from being in bed with Jess or another woman. His brother’s body was warm and alive, Sam could feel his steady heartbeat under the hand he had slung over his chest. When he stroked his fingers over Dean’s bare arm, it was soft. 

Sam buried his nose in the nape of Dean’s neck and inhaled deep. His brother smelled of shampoo, gunpowder and the inside of the impala and that familiar scent hit Sam hard. It was home, it was happiness, it was love. For a few moments he just laid there, breathing him in, unaware that he had instinctively wrapped his body around Dean’s. Warmth slowly pooled in his gut and started to spread. 

He mouthed at the salty skin right above Dean’s t-shirt collar. Dean made a little sleepy sound and shifted. Sam’s hips thrust up and rubbed against his brother’s ass. With a start he realized he was hard. Whether it was all because of Dean or partly because his body hadn’t gotten any for a long time, he didn’t know, but it at least clearly answered the question is he was physically able to reciprocate Dean’s sexual feelings. 

He had to force himself to disengage from Dean and roll away. A little innocent touching while sharing a bed wasn’t a big deal, but humping his sleeping brother was crossing the line. 

Sam lay on his back and stared at the ceiling. Suddenly this little experiment of his had gotten very serious. His body was tingling and he found himself longing to breach the distance between them. He wondered if this was how Dean was feeling and if so, how he could stand it. 

It took him a long time to fall asleep and when he woke up the next morning, Dean was already up and in the shower. His brother clearly didn’t want to stay in the room longer than strictly necessary and found them a new case in less than an hour. Admittedly, the case was unmistakably supernatural: two people gruesomely killed in a locked apartment with no signs of breaking and entering. 

While the case started routine enough, it quickly went downhill, starting with the clues not adding up to any monster they were familiar with and the blood spatter showing a weird symbol. Then that night, while investigating a lead, they ran into Meg. Although Sam had liked the woman well enough when he had first met her, even flirted with her a little, her conveniently turning up in another state in a bar where they were investigating and acting all possessive over him, made Sam’s skin crawl and he was immediately suspicious. Dean, on the other hand, masked his obvious jealousy by juvenile teasing.

Sam turned out to be right about Meg and everything pointed in the direction that this case not only had something to do with their family, but might actually lead them to the demon their father had been hunting all their lives. The thought that they were so close to finally finding and killing their mother’s and Jess’ murderer and this life-long vendetta could be over in a few days did something to Sam. He had been settling into this life, getting used to hunting again, getting to terms with Dean’s feelings for him and his own for his brother, assuming he was in for the long haul when suddenly he was presented with the possibility it could all be over just like that. He could go back to Stanford, pick up his broken life, Dean could do something else, find his own way, dad could settle down. He didn’t realize exactly what thoughts he was voicing, until he saw the utter devastation on Dean’s face. He really should have known that despite Dean’s feelings for him making it awkward between them and Dean being obviously upset, his brother still harbored a, perhaps naive, dream that the three of them could go back to the way things had been. For Dean, family would still be number one. Since Sam couldn’t take back his words, he focused on the case instead.

They didn’t kill the demon, they didn’t even get to see the demon. Instead they got caught, tied up and nearly killed. Bruised and battered, they dragged themselves back to the motel where another surprise awaited: John Winchester. Seeing his father safe and sound, made Sam temporarily forget the resentment between them. He was just glad to have him back. However, John’s return didn’t last long and soon after the reunion they were separating again. 

Sam still felt bad about what he had said to Dean, especially since it wasn’t even really true. While he did not want to return to the way things had been, knew he couldn’t really live under his father’s constant disapproving eye, he also didn’t want to live without Dean anymore. He loved him too much to lose him again. 

Dean, of course pretended he wasn’t hurt and hid behind juvenile behavior, pranks, dares, actual itching powder in Sam’s clothes. He decided that the best course of action would be to go along with it and in the end it was. They got it out of their system and the air was cleared between them. Sam felt lighter seeing Dean laugh and joke again. As a matter of fact, he couldn’t stop looking at his brother. 

Now that the blinders had been taken off, he had become really aware of how attractive his brother was and how much he wanted to act on the feeling he now knew they both shared. He knew, however, that if he cornered Dean, he would deny everything and possibly punch him in the face, so he approached the issue cautiously with little physical hints here and there. His eyes lingered on his brother’s body, on his full lips, on his striking eyes. He stood a little too close for comfort even for them. His hands didn’t quite leave once they got to touch Dean, until his brother made the effort to break the contact. Sam stopped any attempt at modesty and brazenly changed in their room instead of the bathroom. Dean did not fail to notice the changes. He kept throwing him surprised and concerned looks and acted twitchy around him, occasionally freezing like a deer in headlights.

Before Sam could even try to call him out or take the seduction further, they received a message from John about a case. As everything having to do with their father, it brought some tension between them, but as soon as they arrived at the coordinates, it was obvious this wasn’t going to be a run of the mill case. Dean was grim and nervous, clearly hiding something. It took Sam a while to get the whole story out of him. How he blamed himself for almost getting Sam killed and for letting the shtriga escape. Dean had been just a kid, he never should have been saddled up with that kind of responsibility in the first place. Sam’s heart went out to him and even if he didn’t agree, he understood a little better why his brother was so willing to follow John’s orders. He backed off and let Dean deal with the aftermath, not pushing his advances onto him, just silently being there for his brother. 

Unfortunately Sam backing off a little prompted Dean to not only throw himself into picking up girls, but also trying hook his brother up aggressively. It was as if he was trying to eliminate the possibility of temptation. Sam was hardly interested in picking up random girls at the bar, but when him taking a girl out on a date became pertinent to a haunted painting case he didn’t have sufficient excuses. 

And going out with Sarah was hardly a chore. At any other point in his life Sam would have been smitten with her from the start, she was beautiful and smart. They had a recent loss, a dead mother and an authorative father in common. But he resented Dean all but physically pushing him on her and finally blew up on him for it. His brother surprised him then. He was worried about Sam’s well-being and about him getting over Jessica. In part he was right. Jess had been on his mind when he had first considered returning Dean’s affections. He was still grieving her and moving on, with his brother of all people, seemed disrespectful to her. “I would think he’d want you to be happy, god forbid have fun once in a while,” Dean had said, and yes, that was true enough, Jess had been kind and mischievous. She had loved him and he was sure she would’ve want him to be happy, even if he himself thought he didn’t deserve it. But it wasn’t some random girl in a bar, or even Sarah, who had made him laugh, who had lifted the burden a little, it had been Dean. Unfortunately when he even hinted at this whole this being only partly about Jess, his brother looked so uncomfortable, scared almost, that he dropped it. They had a case to solve after all and he had a second date to arrange. 

Things didn’t go quite as planned. With the painting sold and another life in danger, soon Sarah was dragged into the whole mess. She proved herself capable and resourceful and he ended up falling for her a little. Talking to her about his loss and his fears helped. It put into perspective why his advances with Dean had been so hesitant: a part of him was scared that deepening their relationship with a sexual aspect might put his brother in more danger. It also helped him realize how silly that idea was. Their lives were already constantly in danger after all. 

He still kissed her on her porch like he is in some high school rom-com, because she is lovely and deserves a proper goodbye and Dean needs to man up and for once talk about his feelings instead of pushing him away. Although as he watched her disappear through the car window he wasn’t sorry about leaving, because he felt Dean breathe a sigh of relief next to him.

#supernatural fanfiction #wincest #wincest fanfiction #spn fanfic #my writing #Expectations vs Reality

[frederator-studios]

Bryan Caselli: The Frederator Interview

Bryan Caselli is a Storyboard Artist, Writer and Renaissance Faire enthusiast. Following tenure on top-notch cartoons including Star vs. the Forces of Evil and Sanjay and Craig, ‘twas our good fortune when he set sail to Costume Quest as co-Executive Producer, with a treasure trove of story skillz in tow. Here, Bryan provides his advice to young artists, fav things about Costume Quest, and remarkably realistic take on a 17th century Swashbuckler and his Mer-Lassy.

When did you know that you wanted a career in animation?

My friends and family were alway super supportive of my drawing when I was little, but I got really focused on art in high school. I had an amazing teacher named Kevin McGovern who encouraged me to apply to the California State Summer School for the Arts. CSSSA was a four week residency arts summer program on CalArts’ campus featuring many different disciplines. I studied in the animation department, and it was like I finally found my people. After those four weeks, I knew I wanted to work in animation, and I wanted to go to school at CalArts. There was no turning back.

(Every day is Halloween for the CQ crew! But this day was actually Halloween.)

Where are you from, and how did you chart your path to CalArts?

I'm originally from Sacramento, California. It's a legitimately sized city, but it still has a small town vibe that's warm and welcoming. I applied to CalArts straight out of high school, but didn't get in on my first try. I actually didn't apply to any other schools. My plan was to just apply again the next year, but my mom secretly applied for me to CSU Sacramento as a somewhat, "What if he doesn't get into CalArts for ten years?" worst case scenario backup plan. After swallowing the tough pill of not getting into my dream school, I took a collection of figure drawing, portrait drawing, painting, and art history classes at both Sac State and Sac City college. I didn't stay long enough to earn a degree. Luckily, I was accepted into CalArts the following year.

How did you decide you wanted to storyboard and write?

I got into animation thinking I wanted to be a character designer. It seemed to be the most glamorous position at the time, but I found out quickly that you have to be an exceptional draftsman to do that job, which I'm not. I fell in love with the story department in my 3rd and 4th years at CalArts. I had some awesome teachers who really set me on the path that I'm on now.

What do you love most about the job?

I can't get enough of stuff like mythic structure, archetypal symbolism, and fable storytelling. I really get excited by just how universal storytelling is. It can connect you with anyone. That's easily my favorite part of my work.

What was your first job in animation or art, and how’d you land it?

I interned on Regular Show. I actually went in to interview for a different show, but on my way out, I ran into Ben Adams, the Regular Show character designer and my former classmate. He told me to blow those other guys off and come work with him. He introduced me to Regular Show's Producer, Janet Dimon, and we really hit it off. She offered me the position soon after that. At the end of my internship, I pitched the storyboards for my student film, Scout Wars. After the pitch, someone from development came up to me and said, "You need to pitch this upstairs." That's how I got my second gig.

The show was never produced, but getting paid to develop my original concept that early in my career really set in stone my desire to run a show of my own some day. I even got to work with our future Costume Quest Art Director, Ricky Cometa, on the development poster.  After that, I did about a year and a half of full-time freelance, which eventually lead me to work with the creators of Sanjay and Craig on some of their punk side projects. I really liked working with those guys, so when they asked me to come on Sanjay, it was an easy choice.

That’s awesome. Was Sanjay the first show you wrote and boarded for? How is it to work on a board driven show?

Yep, Sanjay was the first TV show that I got to write and storyboard on. Both writing and storyboarding is really demanding, but it's also really rewarding. Nick Bachman (Costume Quest's previously interviewed Supervising Producer) was my Storyboard Director on Sanjay, and we really clicked as a team. Sanjay and Craig was a perfect show to be board driven because it was super cartoony and there were very few rules. It was a great opportunity for board teams to have their specific voices heard. When you watch an episode of Sanjay and Craig you can pretty much spot which teams did which episodes from a mile away.

How was writing on Star vs the Forces of Evil - is it board driven too?

Writing on Star was an awesome change of pace coming off of Sanjay. Daron Nefcy was a great leader to work for, and I became really close with my fellow writers. It was board driven, which made the transition from storyboarding to outline writing a lot more of a doable task for me. I was comfortable in that kind of production pipeline and pretty much knew what would be expected of me as a writer. The coolest part about working on Star was that it was a seasonally arcing, somewhat mythic story. It was so cool to get to craft a large story over multiple episodes. I took a lot of lessons learned writing on Star and brought them with me to the writers' room on Costume Quest.

Is it odd being a bit of a ~star~ yourself, considering you have a whole fan page and everything?!

Oh boy, having a fan wiki page is a strange feeling. It's really cool to be apart of a show that has such a passionate fanbase, but honestly I don't want to be a star. Star Butterfly is the star of Star.  

You’re Costume Quest’s co-Executive Producer. What does the job entail? 

Being the co-EP on Costume Quest means I, along with the rest of our leadership team, am responsible to supervise just about every stage of production. From writing to storyboarding, animatics to art, voice acting and voice casting, logo design, score, sound effects, the list goes on and on. I got to script a handful of episodes. Nick and I storyboarded the first episode. Occasionally I do some (very rough) first pass character designs. I also draw story board punch-ups and animation redline revisions on the episodes I direct. I direct the first story of each of Costume Quest's two part episodes, and Nick directs the second story. Beyond that I mainly keep my eye on the larger narrative of the show, making sure everything is tonally consistent and the story threads line up. If every person that works on this show is making one tree, I try to make sure the forest is working as a whole. I do my best not to force any artist to execute their assignments exactly as I would have, but instead, encourage them to showcase their personal artistic voices.

How have you enjoyed working on Costume Quest, and what do you like most about the show?

Working on Costume Quest has been my favorite gig yet. I am really grateful to Will (McRobb), Kevin (Kolde), and Eric (Homan) for bringing me onboard. I'm super proud of how much the show grows across the first season. The scale, the emotional stakes, and the world building just get bigger and bigger with every episode. Beyond that, having the chance to lead a team has been incredibly rewarding. Our whole crew is so talented, and they are all so supportive of the show. It has really meant a lot to me to learn that these people, who I respect tremendously, are happy to come in to work every day and are proud to help tell this story. I can't overstate how good it feels to know I have a creatively and professionally satisfied crew.

Do you have a favorite character on CQ?

I love all four of the main kids, but my favorite character really is Norm. I always say that he's a cross between Fred Flintstone and Santa Clause. He's such an emotionally vulnerable character, and he's got some great reveals attached to his backstory. Fred Tatasciore also does some incredible voice acting as Norm, so if this show only gets one award ever, it should go to Fred's performance.

Since developing Scout Wars, have you gone out pitching other original ideas?

I’ve pitched Scout Wars and a handful of other show ideas around to the big studios, but when Costume Quest came about, I knew it was the perfect opportunity to learn everything I needed to about the responsibilities of a show runner—without the added emotional pressure of having the show be about my childhood, or my relationship with my father, or whatever. I have a handful of ideas in my back pocket that I'm eager to start pitching again whenever Costume Quest comes to a close.

What are your favorite cartoons?

Not including the shows I've worked on: original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Batman the Animated Series, Justice League/Justice League Unlimited, Doug, Hey Arnold!, SpongeBob, Simpsons, Bob's Burgers, Archer, Flintstones, the Peanuts specials, and the original Power Rangers gets a non-cartoon honorable mention because the the influence that show had on me and Costume Quest is pretty undeniable.

What is your advice to people who want to write and/or storyboard for animation? 

Study the craft as hard as you can. It's not about networking, or Internet likes, or whatever. If you get as good as you possibly can at the craft, you'll be golden. Take any job that will hire you. Once you get any position anywhere, if you show everyone you work with just how dedicated you are, people will take notice, and they'll want to help you.

What do you enjoy doing outside of work?

I really love hosting backyard BBQ's and parties at my place. My friends tease me that I'd rather they come to me than I go anywhere else pretty much 100% of the time. You can find me most Sunday mornings at any of the LA flea markets with my girlfriend, Madison, looking for more knick knacks to put up in our place. Also, I take my Renaissance Faire costuming pretty seriously. Yearly upgrades are planned months in advance. My mom always sewed my Halloween costumes growing up, so costumes somehow became a thing I really like to do. I guess it's fitting that Costume Quest came my way.

Have anything to say to future fans of Costume Quest?

Watch it again! We did our best to set up, pay off, and foreshadow as much as possible in the season so it would be fun to rewatch. There are a lot of little easter eggs in there. I hope fans enjoy it. ☆

No doubt, they will. Thank you for the interview Bryan, and for your fantastic work on Costume Quest!  Follow Bryan on Instagram.

- Cooper ☆

#The Frederator Interview #costume quest #star vs #star vs the forces of evil #sanjay and craig #frederator #cartoon #nickelodeon #disney #animation #writer #producer #interview #artist #new cartoon #costume #cosplay