#s5 in general too

[booksandpaperss]

“I’m just a little worried that Mike has to have a whole gay realization arc all in the last season”- YALL. PAY ATTENTION THATS WHAT HES BEEN DOING THIS WHOLE TIME:

Season 2: Mike is unaware of what his feelings mean but knows how much he cares about Will, legit spends the whole season being in love with him. By the end at the showball he realizes that somethings up, he doesn’t rlly understand what but he can tell something feels different and he doesn’t like it. Cue part 1 of his realization arc; subconscious denial

Season 3: Subconscious denial is rapidly turning to conscious denial, and at the start of the season we see Mike is in part 2 of his realization arc; a severe case of internalized homophobia. He cycles through it all the way to his absolute lowest point in part 2 (rain fight) and then he slowly comes back from it just a little bit. Then, at the end of the season, we see Mike shift onscreen from part 2 to part 2.5; conscious realization and fear. At this point Mike is halfway through his internalized homophobia arc. He KNOWS how he feels, but it still terrifies him. He grapples with this in the time period between s3 and 4.

Season 4: Ah yes, the penultimate season. The season that sets up endgame. The season that has an *entire gay road-trip plot line dedicated to byler*. This season is part 3 for Mike; acceptance. At first glance you miss it if you’re not looking, since s4 byler was almost entirely from Will’s lovely but very biased POV as he was also going through his own gayangstTM arc at the same time, but all it takes is a second glance to see that it’s there. At the start of the season Mike is on the very last, very flimsy legs of denial, and reuniting with Will again after not speaking for months is what catapults him into the acceptance chunk of his arc. In almost every cali crew scene, we see Mike slowly get closer and closer to total acceptance. We see him accept that he doesn’t love El the way he’d originally thought, he accepts that he loves Will the way he thought he was supposed to love El, and by the van scene, Mike is soso close to accepting that both of these things are okay.

Close being the key word here. Will accidentally throws him off again in volume 2, so Mike’s realization arc isn’t fully concluded yet, things are still very messy and season 5 has a lottt to address. But that’s the THING; season 5, as far as byler goes, actually only needs (for the most part ofc) to address development and realizations that have already happened. A lot of the fandom is really underestimating how much Mike suspects and has realized, at least about himself, and that’s where I think most of the remaining byler doubt is coming from (not including Twitter, we don’t count byler Twitter they do not know shit abt what’s going on 💀).

But that worry is unnecessary! Some of you guys don’t realize how perfect of a plot device Vecna is. I’m saying this as a writer: He’s like a writers dream bc you can basically tell viewers what’s happening in a character’s psyche while still maintaining “show don’t tell.” Bc now? All the writers rlly have to do to start canonifying Mike’s gay realization that has, once again, already happened, is have vecna target him! And they’ve clearly been planning that if that several billion hints in s4 and 3 and EVEN 2 AND 1 are anything to go by 👀👀

Guys, Mike’s *realization* arc is practically FINISHED. The duffers and writers have just been hiding it this whole time by not giving us any Mike POV in s3 or 4 bc they couldn’t confirm Mike before confirming Will, that would make byler endgame wayy too obvious they had to sneak it in there.

But it’s there, and it’s happened. The only thing WE have to worry about now is preparing ourselves for the sheer level of angst that is going to be Mike’s internalized homophobia plot line getting confirmed… I rlly don’t think we’re ready for that. I know IM not 😭

#s5 byler is gonna hurt no matter which way we rationalize it 😭 #s5 in general too #we gotta prepare ourselves for some SHIT goin down #just not Mike figuring out he’s gay #bro already knows 💀🖐🏻 #it WILL that need to figure out Mike is gay next season rip #byler #byler endgame #byler s5 #byler analysis #mike wheeler analysis #byler proof #byler s2 #byler s3 #byler s4 #mike wheeler #mike wheeler i know what you are #and so do u 👀👀 #mike and will #byler tumblr #text post #elli talks mike wheeler

[guinevereslancelot]

what was with cameron house md she spends 90% of the episode saying she wants their patient to die bc he's a genocidal dictator and her colleague husband says "babe it bothers me for ethical reasons that you want our patient to die :(" and she said "hm maybe you're right :/" but when it comes down to it the genocidal dictator lays a finger on her in an aggressive manner and chase instantly commits medical malpractice to murder the guy and then when he tells her she LEAVES HIM bc boo hoo he's a murderer now like GIRL he killed a man for you!!! he's wracked with catholic guilt!!! he's being crushed beneath the weight of his sins because he chose his devotion to you over his devotion to god!!! he literally could not get any sexier at this moment in time!!!

#girl what are you doing...... #also just in general she did not deserve him honestly he was so good to her and for WHAT #just to be abandoned at peak devotion and guilt and hotness 🙄 #girl get OUT of my way i'm stronger than you #if she cared she could fix him or make him worse but i could love and support him no matter what 😌 #his muder is a part of him and its SEXY #robert chase #house md #malpractice md #i know the actors broke up irl or whatever but wtf..... #i should have ended my rewatch w their happy lil wedding at the end of s5 #s6 everything instantly goes to shit #and stays shitty #chase should be happy fr #he's supposed to turn into house basically but they should have made him the well adjusted version of house #like how nightwing is the well adjusted version of batman #anyway i have no real point here i just lowkey dont like cameron bc of this arc #also her obsession w house is so weird i wish they hadn't made that a thing #this has been a shitpost #anyway she left chase at the absolute peak of his sexiness wtf....... #anyway since this apparently needs to be said its not that deep this is a silly post if you send me hate messages i wont answer #i block and ignore anon hate bc i am too busy touching grass to be rude to strangers over a tv show

[motherfuckingbrad]

say what you will about community s4 but the thanksgiving episode where jeff tells his father how fucked up he is and how he literally harmed himself because he just wanted to feel like someone cared about him will never not make me cry

like we see jeff struggle with isolating himself and caring so much what others think and feeling like he needs to put up walls for most of the show, so for him to have improved so much that he can stand up to the first person that ever made him feel unwanted and admit how much distress it caused him is so good and makes me so happy

#i love u jeff winger #as someone who also has parental issues i think this ep just means a lot to me in general #i get all teary eyed #and the other plot line in that episode is so good too! i love the shawshank ref #also like i know everyone hates on s4 but tbh i don’t even mind it #some of the episodes in that season are so good #and dan harmon is not my fav person esp after what he did to get kicked off community in the first place so :/ #like yeah s4 isn’t as good as the first 3 but it’s not the worst (and personally i think they have worse episodes in s5 and 6) #but that’s just my opinion #community #jeff winger

[daz4i]

the local anime con is looking for people to write and host events.. what if i did a funny and sent in something abt bsd...... haha just kidding. unless? 😳

#.......20 likes and i will try #i actually started writing an essay abt bsd for fun but it doesn't really work if you're not deeply invested in it i think #i'm thinking smth more like how elements from the authors' lives and works are implemented beyond the namesakes #with an emphasis on the jpn ones bc this con focuses on japanese culture in general as well hehe #this way it's accessible even without knowing bsd and can convince ppl to check it out idk #idk if they'll accept smth that's abt just one anime but the literature aspect might help 🤔 #it is a summer con so the s5 timing works nicely too.

[raayllum]

One of the tricky things about speculating from a thematic and symbolic basis is that it gives you a very good gist of what the pieces are and what to derive from, but of course is harder to predict when - and sometimes precisely what - is going to happen. 

For example: Callum has always been a character who has a tendency to get stuck in his head, hence why 2x08 has this happen literally. He also something in his possession related to Aaravos that he got in a situation that had good intentions but ultimately with sideways. From these two facts I deduced, 2-ish months post-S3, that Callum’s tendencies and behaviours would lead to him being more like Viren than he was comfortable with; that he’d have a part to play in Aaravos’ plans; and that his worst fear would be his mind being unsafe / his mind being invaded by Aaravos in some manner (dreams, nightmares, etc). I didn’t think it’d be quite so Literal and total as possession (although I did note Callum’s new S4 outfit with the circles around his wrist were rather like chains), but it was ultimately just a different take on the same thematic basis. I had all the right pieces and the right gist.

With all that said, here are the next set / ongoing set of pieces in approximate order of dissection:

Game Motif

Callum’s Associations with Freedom

Light and Dark Motif

Book 6: Star / Destiny

The Game Motif

The game motif is most interesting to me personally, as many people know. In S1-S3 it’s primarily carried through in Rayla’s comments regarding the Key of Aaravos, found in the game room (and pointed out) by her in 1x04. As of S4,  the game motif has a subset consisting of Ezran’s hide and seek motif (given that the key and Aaravos’ prison was hidden), the literal puzzle it takes to figure out the placement of the prison (S4), and four figures displayed as game pieces: Viren (S4 intro), Callum (S4 intro) with the cube as a bonus, Avizandum (flashbacks in 2x06 and 3x06; also literally turned to stone), and Rayla (elven toy in 1x04). 

The two theories regarding the Key of Aaravos that I’ve had are centred around the assumption that it is something Aaravos wants or needs back (as this could not be the case). The first, most likely if the Key’s use is revealed in S5, is that it’ll relate to his prison. The second, perhaps more likely if it the secret is only revealed post-S5, is that it is a Key related to Aaravos: his chest piece, a memory holder, or something else he needs to seemingly regain his full powers. 

The Game Motif, therefore, on a certain level works quite well with TDP’s tendency to be both more literal than expected (see: possession plot line) and simultaneously less literal than expected. If the Key is related to his prison, then it’s more literal, in which a captured chess piece can be exchanged for a pawn if the latter has reached the end of the board (hi, Aaravos getting out in S5). If it’s related to something else Aaravos adjacent and is involved in S6, then it’s still literal, but involved not in his escape but in his victory, or checkmate, if you will, key squares with pawns and kings and all. It would also make sense that Viren is the primary pawn in S5 and for Callum to be the primary pawn in S6 (as indicated in the Ziard-Viren-Callum game motif art forever ago).

But more on that later.

Callum’s Associations with Freedom

I’ve talked more about Callum’s associations in this meta about how TDP is inherently thematic, so I won’t repeat too much of it here. The core of it is that of course Callum is a Sky mage (“My breath for freedom”) being set both literally and thematically against a being from the Stars (“and destined to play right into my hands”) as the centrepiece of the story’s conflict. Aaravos’ associations and hand in creating/discovering dark magic and Callum being a human primal mage with an arcanum just extends this further.

What this means going into S5 / the coin / possession plot line threads (for future seasons) is that Callum and Aaravos are both seeking freedom, much like Claudia (for Aaravos and her father by extension) and Kim’Dael (for herself). Which is to say: in S5 Aaravos is seeking Callum’s thematic core, and that’s interesting to say the least. The symbolism of a Key and Breaking the Chains of History don’t help either.  

What this means, ultimately, is that there are roughly two main thematic paths (in line with the above) that this can take.

1) Callum is coerced into helping to free Aaravos (cube or otherwise) and that’s how his freedom is trampled upon, quasi-losing his own in exchange for Aaravos’ literal formation (+ possible bonus points if freeing Rayla or her parents’ plays a role as well). 

2) Callum’s role in Aaravos’ plans relates to Aaravos’ checkmate move. This would more away from the more literal manifestations of Callum’s role as like, Freedom, to his more lowkey motif of Breaking Things (Rayla’s binding, the primal stone, the seal of King Harrow’s letter, the chains in 2x07, Rayla’s pendant in 3x08, and probably the boat in S5). This again plays into Aaravos’ talk of shattering: “And when everything they have built lies shattered, I will savor their fall from the sky” (TDP Reflections: Patience).

The key factor to each, I think, is putting Callum’s wrestling of freedom, and by extension narrative control and bodily autonomy, on full display. S5 and S6 are the Tragedy Seasons, and given that all signs point to him losing Aaravos’ game (at least at first). Whether it’s him doing something under possession (although more on that later) or him regaining his freedom by well, breaking free, only to play into Aaravos’ hands anyway... It’s clear the Startouch elf wants him for something, and it can’t be anything good, whether it’s a Path of Darkness or Light.

And, speaking of which...

Light and Dark Motif

Again, I’ve gone over this before (here’s how it manifests with Rayla and Callum, and here is why the ‘light’ isn’t the solidly good thing it can be easy to think of it is, in-show). General light and darkness motif tag here for anyone interested in tracking this motif further / it’s extensiveness going into S5. 

What matters though is that 4x02, 4x04, and 4x07 complicate the Game Motif and Callum’s dynamic with Aaravos further by tethering it explicitly to the Light and Dark motif. It’s not just that the cube is in Callum’s hands before Aaravos picks him up; it’s that the cube flashes a bright white light as well beforehand. It’s “In darkness, gaze upon a Fallen Star” and “the human mage, already tainted by darkness, and destined to play right into my hands” and “what if I’m on a path of darkness?” This duality also ties back into Viren’s statement in 2x06 (“We emerged into darkness and quickly got to work. [Xadia] held both the promise of our salvation and threat of our destruction”) as well as statements regarding Rayla (“So they might kill you or they might save you” from the book 1 novelization, explicitly about Rayla / “Now you’re back. That’s kind of good and kind of bad”). These both tie into the keys themselves being something that can lock and mutually unlock things. 

They’ll either come to fruition in book 5 (which, I could see Rayla breaking Callum out of brainwashing, and/or Callum doing something that leads him into being ‘in darkness’) or will be built upon mildly in order for S6 to deliver the true sucker punch. But it is still likely in the cards that Rayla will save Callum from brainwashing when the Light and Dark Motif finally, fully, comes to call.

And while the full resolution of the plot line would work nicely for Book 5: Ocean (the ocean is about navigation and inherently cyclical; Rayla is accordingly scared of water and of losing him) I do wonder about the well, irresistible temptation perhaps of it being in S6. Callum choosing Rayla over Aaravos’ brainwashing is him choosing agency and love (for however long) over fear and control. A chosen destiny over an enforced destiny. And well, doesn’t that sound like

Book 6: Star

It is known now that in S5 we’re going to get to go to a place that Rayla went to during her time away, meaning she gets to act a bit like a guide. We also know that however Rayla and Stella, and indeed why Stella is connected to the Star arcanum, is important and yet untold. And that Stella is our only non-Aaravos related being/object related to the Star arcanum that is also not a quasar diamond or tied to Aaravos (the key, the staff, Sir Sparklepuff, and the elf himself). 

And that the Key, the star arcanum, Stella, and Rayla’s reappearance into Callum’s life are all tied together with Light in 4x02.

Uncovering secrets and discovering the truth is also often associated with light, both in general and canonically in-universe with the show’s symbolism (i.e. Callum walking towards Rayla in the light out of the darkness once he discovers the truth about King Harrow). 

The fact of the matter is that until the Key comes into play in some way, the according foreshadowing attached to it ( “I hope it was worth it to you, putting everyone’s lives in danger” / “Are you practicing magic or losing to Bait at a game of rolly-cubes?” / “It’s the Key of Aaravos. No good can come of it”) is still floating up in the air. 

And thematically, Stars is all about Destiny, wishes, and vision. Stars are lights in the dark, both a sign of hope (hi Leola’s Wish and the South Star) and a manifestation of our main villain. S6 could also be dark magic, which would take the ‘dark and light’ associations to a new level. If S5 is about getting Callum be in or more inclined to the darkness, then S6 is when he will presumably be in it, whatever that means (possession or hopelessness/rage, probably).

I could see him becoming obsessive to figure out the Key, hoping that it’ll be a weapon or Aaravos’ downfall (as also posited pre-S4) only for it to lead to everything spiralling out of control, leading to possession or putting Ez and Rayla at risk in another manner. And of course, they/she save him, because they always will. But as I’ve said many times, S6 is also the Tragedy Arc. It has to bring everyone to their lowest moment. One of these Tragedy Seasons will also, I think, be the perfect place for Callum to do his Fucked Up Thing and bring his Viren (and Claudia) parallels full circle. “They aren’t games, they’re tests” and “tests of love” and all that. Cause if all those plot threads and parallels and consistent imagery doesn’t go somewhere in S5 (and S5 has already majorly added to it) it has to go somewhere, and S6 is it. 

After all, with Aaravos’ shattering in mind...

And when everything they have built lies shattered, I will savor their fall from the sky.

I laid out here how Rayla and Aaravos represent Callum’s two future paths (similarly to the way Rayla and primal magic vs Claudia and dark magic are Callum’s two paths in S2) and how well, choosing her over Aaravos may not be as mutually exclusive as he thinks.

It’s not a coincidence, either, that S4 ramps up the negative cube associations to a 10: showing Callum toying around with it while Zubeia explicitly states that mages are Aaravos’ favourite prey; the cube being in the 4x04 intro when it did not have to be, and the intro exists entirely for the audience’s benefit; Callum being unable to let it go / give it up in 4x07, even though he’s willing to give up his life to stop Aaravos from using him, etc.

Explaining/exploring Stella’s connection to the Star arcanum in the same season that will finally explain the Key of Aaravos in the same season Callum has to confront ‘his destiny’ in the same season that the kids are destined to lose more than ever? Sounds amazing, don’t you think?

Conclusion

One of the reasons it’s comparatively easy to speculate is because well, like any good tragedy, we know how S5 and S6 have to end: not well. It seems more likely than ever that Aaravos will indeed be released by the end of S5 / very beginning of S6, leading to destruction and upheaval. Either way, it leaves S6 to be Aaravos, in his mind, ending the story. Finishing the book. This is his checkmate, his victory. Callum and the rest of his pawns have lived out their usefulness. But just like how Aaravos outlived the end of his myth/story, so will they, and Callum (and Rayla, and Ezran) at the very least will return to successfully win in S7, come hell or high water.

As such, much of what is highlighted above is taken from these consistent puzzle pieces, if you will, and attempting to figure out the various options we have for their execution. And of course, TDP could always throw us some delightful curveballs, but it seems the gist and playing out of well, the game, has to fall somewhere along these patterns / routes, tethered together by the possession plot line and Callum being coerced to do Aaravos’ bidding. There’s not a lot of ways those things can go happily in a Tragedy.

And that is exactly why I am very happy and excited to see where it all goes, and I hope you are too. 

#tdp #tdp meta #rayllum #predictions #the dragon prince #arc 1 #arc 2 #multi #s5 speculation #s6 speculation #analysis series #finished this while being sleepy but hopefully everything is coherent #also spent too long on this in general i think but i wanted to cover my bases #analysis #light and darkness motif #cube hostage exchange theory #i need you to kill me #the devil and the lovers #game motif #& no s5 spoilers actually #s5 #s6

[lottieurl]

s2 just has issues with pacing imo

#like the general direction i like except for mixed feelings abt pregnancy storyline #but it could all be Phenomenal except for when the pacing SUFFERS and it doesn't hit like it's supposed to #which. again. maybe if it wasnt NINE EPISODES #see it all always comes down to seasons being too short nowadays #its like watching s5 of poi its like i could be on board of All This but you're rushing #and i can Feel it and its off #yellowjackets spoilers #adjacent #yellowjackets blogging

[ohblimeygeorge]

Normally I’m very chill at just scrolling past what I don’t like/enjoy/agree with but I just gotta say..

I don’t like how lately it seems a lot of the time when someone comes up with a theory/hc they treat it as if it’s canon or that they are completely correct and how they’re so smart and everyone else is so dumb if they don’t agree with them.

Like I love reading everyone’s theories!! but it just comes across this way so much lately… and it’s icky.

#like just have fun it’s not that serious at the end of the day… it’s just a show #feels like ppl are getting too bored waiting for s5 #not about anyone specific btw just a general vibe #stranger things #byler

[crowfromfoggyforest]

Wait omg i just realized something: Pan not only owning the Underbrooke version of Rumple's pawnshop, but also wearing a fucking suit that looks identical to the ones Rumple always wears??? (+ The Peter Pan doll and Rumple's teacup on pedestrals?? Yes, it's Rumple's shop, but Pan was responsible for the decor.) You can't tell me otherwise - he was trying to hold onto something from his son. Idk if he regretted what he did in the living world - probably not. In my opinion, he always told Rumple the truth, even back in Neverland: He cared about his son in his own twisted way, and never stopped caring. But he would still always put himself first.

I still hate him for what he did to Rumple - but his character is also kinda tragic. I'm mostly sad for Rumple tho. But also, do you see the parallel? Deeply caring about your loved ones, but still putting your own needs and desires first, while telling yourself you're doing the right thing (but never really believing it.) It took Rumple centuries to break that pattern.

#the generational trauma guys #all rumple wanted was to not become like his father... #another #character analysis #but not of rumple this time #well okay kinda about rumple too #ouat peter pan #ouat rumple #once upon a time #ouat s5 #underworld

[marley-manson]

i want to make gifs but my new laptop only has 256 or w/e GBs of space so my mash eps and my programs are on an external hard drive and my monitor's too small to effectively use editing/photoshop programs anyway so i basically have to move my laptop to a desk and hook it up to a hard drive and a bigger monitor, which is easily doable except that it means i gotta like, say 'okay time to make gifs' instead of impulsively just opening the program, which is a real barrier for me lol

specifically I suddenly want to gif the exchange from Hawk's Nightmare where Sidney asks Hawkeye if he'd be upset if Potter had called him and Hawkeye's like no I'd appreciate his concern <3

I feel like that's a really good moment that illuminates a lot about Hawkeye's attitude towards MI and therapy, and like, I love that the episode directly brings up the possibility or even default assumption of someone being upset that they had a psych called on them only to say 'nah Hawkeye actually thinks it's a thoughtful gesture.'

man Hawk's Nightmare is such a good episode

#i'm re-reading old mash posts i made and feeling feelings #but ykw i think i need to reconvert some mash eps too before i make bigger gifs again bc i'm sick of them looking so low quality #idk i have a berserk vid idea too so mb i can just spend more time at the desk in general and impulsively make gifs there #text post #marley on mash #mash s5

[angelsdean]

probs won't hit post limit bc i spent a good chunk of the day watching smallville

#my currently smallville thoughts as of getting halfway thru s5: #jensen's character is dead and gone rip jason teague #also he turned out to be working with his evil mom and held my girl martha and jonathan hostage. so not too sad to see his character go lol #chloe is still getting on my nerves but a little bit less #she seems to have finally accepted her role as sidekick friend who will never be the Love Interest #lois continues to grow on me<3 the 'i barely (but fondly) tolerate you' friendship she and clark have rn is cute #CLARK AND LANA DATING FOR REALS THIS TIME. my shipper heart soars. soaking it all up bc i knowww it will not last </3 #also them being each other's firsts. cute and also. VINDICATION. it's just simply what's meant to be. that's his first love ok #clark and lex's rapidly deteriorating friendship in s5 breaks my goddamn heart tho. also lex suddenly interested in lana like. no dude stop #like. i can only get one of my two favorite clark relationships to be afloat at a time. i get a clark x lana win this seasons #only to lose clark and lex :( #my girl martha continues to slay. all the awards to annette o'toole. literally every scene she's in just banger #and lionel's glorious hair finally back. we just love lionel in general. a fun bad dad. it's the flair for dramatics that makes him so fun #also just john glover is constantly slaying every scene too #smallville watch

[hunkydorkling]

Actually: yes, I will lament on main, only because it's my humanistic response to. I grieve over the visible decline in the TKKCK hype, clearly upset that there's very little to be done about the way it eventually staggered that I thought it'd make more sense if I churned out even the shittiest sketches I've ever done to somehow salvage the charm that came out pre-S3. And I can't ever be mad at those who came and went, as at those who stayed. Not at all, because they're saviors for keeping the feeling as alive as they keep the Tumblr side fandom afloat, really. This is the only comfortable fandom space I've been in since my countless of hours spent on forums for YEARS and I'm just really, really in full grieving mode, months after Season 5 aired.

#there's no one particular i'm even hinting at #but it's just saddening?? #that's not to say i don't thank everyone who's doing their best #this post is partially a dig at me not doing enough as much as i want to for feel good fanart/fic too #i stayed away from the discord server so i can just focus on creating and highlighting #and generally just trying to sink my limbs in the vat again #text post #not tagging the movie-show #i will however filter this as #ck negativity #this is actually a delayed post-s5 reflection #perhaps not the best post in terms of articulation #but it's here and as much as i adored bits #i can't kid around: s5 was what wrecked me in the weirdest and most baffling way it possibly could

[adammilligan]

michael and adam do fascinate me actually. which pieces of their jigsaw puzzle selves did they throw away so that the other would fit so perfectly in the gaps left behind

#once again thinking about the early years of the cage and how s5 adam and s5 michael would've fucking despised each other #when i first made this blog i should've made a platonic tag for them so i could talk about them and their dynamic in general #but i was too dumb and didn't. so it goes untagged for now #azure rambles #michael #adam milligan #we came to an agreement

[felixfathom]

is it the nostalgia speaking or is S2 agreste lore better than S5 agreste lore

#outside of the ... you know. #i don't like how felix's arc involves so many characters at once when it should have always been exclusive to him and adrien #i have mixed feelings on the tsurugis in general bc of how half-assed the introduction of them was in S2 #although that goes for felix and zoe too . adrien and chloe were there from the start #but idk i wonder what was it about gorizilla that can't be found in S5 now

[unproduciblesmackdown]

truly fitting re: billions to have the lose-lose that if winston is written out i get to be disappointed for obvious reasons and if winston isn't written out i get to be disappointed for being denied ever knowing peace

#winston billions #winston rotation is evidently not contingent on ''is there new & recent canon material'' #taking it back to the original [showing up for season four] days like i got to be mad abt like what; having to wait until may & june??? #having More to wait on at all???? like Win in theory absolutely. in practice like at least once a half yr i have to reckon w/mortality like #or even the [suppose i'm alive though] precarity of like ughhh if i can't Readily know Of new billions material?? gonna be so mad fr.... #think winston's been treated as pretty disposable the whole time so if they just actually do kick him out ever it'd be perfectly in line... #annoying & disappointing too but that also applies re like. The Limits Re Approaching Your Autistic Character That You Could Easily Surpass #i Don't give billions a lot of benefit of the doubt regarding whether its writing sees winston so much more differently than characters do #however it does see him as a funny little guy who adds flair & flavor and will can so readily wrangle & crush even this material thrown out #talking to michael greif about it all again. an edit of him in that one deh video #just substitute in some ''taylor mason''s and ''scintillating dynamic'' and etc like yeah it all still applies so hard #Not Thrilled abt the plausibility they write him off early or sm shit but also just like sigh yeah they would. if i'd be upset abt it more #then i guess that's just something to find out if it happens lol. did some work on being deeply bothered out of the way back w/s5 even.... #anyways i'm half sort of humorous abt all this half sort of serious all [humor isn't Unserious anyways. it's not not a framework that #allows for and is even all the more capacious for completely genuine matters] and the nuance & granularity betwixt them is a secret. #really what it is is simply I'm Having My Very Exact Experiences and the internal philosopher symposium has it all covered #like sighing & invariably facing disappointment from billions? regardless does not mean in general complaining abt billions lol #profound differences in complaining probably. got things covered like i'm Liking & [Smh]ing in my exact & thorough ways thank you #like the completely self contained [winston billions] times.... #anyways it Will be more of a direct disappointment if he's banished in ep two or some shit of course. #just also as usual: it wouldn't be the middle of billions production / anticipating the next season if it didn't seem perfectly possible #at least by this point i'll upgrade expectations to ''yeah i don't think they'd simply write him off offscreen between seasons'' but eh. #that's still a ''Probably not'' scenario....but writing him out at all? giving it a generous 50/50

[daisyachain]

There’s a tough balance between experiencing a serialized story concurrent with release and waiting until it’s fully out of the conversation. Going in real time, you get access to loads of current conversation and get the thrill of not knowing what could change each installation. Part of the entertainment is just watching the watchers. Plus, you’re always open to that mind-melting experience when the story you’re following defies all expectation and goes somewhere you never dreamt it could.

On the other hand, picking up finished and dead or dormant stories lets you avoid the more annoying parts of discussion. You don’t have constant overanalyses colouring your view of each installation, you can just sit back and take it all in as one whole. You can seek out past discussion or content with a bit of luck while avoiding having to listen to people getting their knickers in a twist in real time.

#kelsey rambles #stuff I’m glad I experienced in real time: Ao no Flag; Magnus; JoJo; MP100 #oh and Pandora Hearts #stuff that SUCKED to consume in real time: Magnus s5 (sucked generally); Hobbit movies; Gotham (2014); Person of Interest #it’s about the expectations. if you’re lucky enough to set your expectations low then real-time is a delight #if you make the mistake of expecting too much then it’s bad #the fanbase is the other big part of it. doesn’t matter how good and interesting the story is #if each new chapter is marred by having to deal with the dumbest people on the internet logging tf on #oh man tokyo ghoul was also a hellish experience to read live. that manga is SO bad

[sekatsim]

started binging she-ra again yesterday from s1, never finished s4 when it came out, and I’m now nearly at the end of s5....what am I going to do after this??

#its been a journey #i spent all of s4 screaming GLIMMER STFU #and then most of s5 getting emotional over catadora #the sheer amount of gay pining #has me pining for my own gf #also CATRA IN GENERAL #AND GLIMMERS DAD??? #why didn't i watch this when it came out #oh yeah #bc glimmer enraged me too much originally to finish s4