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professoruber · 4 months

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Thoughts and speculation regarding Meridian before Birds of Prey (2023-) #5 drops!

Spoilers for Birds of Prey (2023-)

Please also keep in mind I am a novice when it comes to comics and their lore. I am also tired and writing this in my iPad, so please let me know if I am misremembering or overlooked any details.

Maps Mizoguchi! Or rather, Meridian! A very surprising addition to the latest Birds of Prey series. As someone who is a fan of Gotham Academy, even sometime before I started really becoming interested in comics like I have been recently, this definitely caught my attention and has led me to following this series in interest.

However… currently I have a number of thoughts of Meridian which I would like to get off my chest now before #5 releases and either gives us more questions or (hopefully) more answers.

I suppose my big question thus far is… why Maps in particular? Especially given the fact that her constant departures due to the apparent limitations of her time travel tech means she subsequently has limited ‘screen time’ to justify her involvement. Why was it a time travelling future Maps who kicked off events and not anything else?

I like Maps, but I still have begin to find her role somewhat odd; perhaps in large part due to a simple question it raises….

Is Meridian Maps’ destined future hero persona (instead of Robin)?

Maps wants to be Robin, it’s been a thing since Gotham Academy, and it’s a goal which has been given both some focus and some credit via both the main Batman run and also the non-canon Batman Black and White.

The goal of becoming Robin is one which she was shown to be still determined towards even after experiencing the dangers which would come with the job.

So with this in mind, it seems kinda odd how they’ve also introduced the Meridian persona for Maps. While I do like the name well enough, the fact that it’s a geography term being a neat nod to her nickname, I can’t also help but notice that Meridian… doesn’t really seem to display any of the typical Robin or Bat-related skillsets?

She teleports around and shoots people with lighting, and I’m pretty sure that’s about it. She doesn’t appear to be notably tactical, nor does she display any martial arts (she just points her fist and shoots), which is honestly a tad disappointing. Maybe that’s just me, but I guess it just feels a bit odd.

Cresting such advanced technology also wasn’t exactly something I’d expect from Maps; but tbh she would’ve had plenty of time to learn science as she grew up so… hm.

Does this mean Maps is not going to become Meridian? Maybe?

Possibilities

A very interesting observation and suggest by @transpanda-1 was that Meridian was not in fact Maps Mizoguchi, but rather Katherine Karlo (the blonde girl picture with Maps in the comic snippet a little higher up); the daughter of Clayface. This is based both on uncharacteristic behaviour from Maps herself as well as her departure being described as looking like she is “made of dirt”, a very specific and odd way of describing what would otherwise be assumed by readers to be her disappearing in a flurry of static or energy.

Of course; any oddities, as well as any differences in the behaviours and skillsets of Maps vs Meridian, could be easily justified by the fact Meridian apparently comes from a post apocalyptic future, plus the general effects of aging.

But even still, I do really like this theory and think it makes a decent amount of sense. Especially given the whole “dirt” descriptor.

Katherine Karlo has displayed the ability to be at multiple places at once in the past, seemingly controlling multiple bodies with the same consciousness. She has also impersonated Maps in the past.

However, Katherine appears to be inspired by Annie, a character from BTAS who iirc was a ‘daughter’ Clayface who was created when part of him got separated from his main body and so developed a distinctive identity seperate from the main consciousness. I don’t think Katherine’s backstory has been delved into (correct me if I’m wrong) but I assume it was something similar. Therefore, if she is Meridian then perhaps the reason Meridian keeps disappearing is because maintaining control of a part of her so far away takes a significant amount of effort? Or maybe it is a time travelling Katherine instead?

Hard to say for sure. And also probably doesn’t exactly explain the lighting powers. But tbh I kinda would also kind of prefer this?

Would give Maps more of an opening/hope to still become Robin one day.

Motivations and Answers

This is the final bit of this rather long-ish post which may or may not get totally disproved by #5 tomorrow. But I’ve gotten this far so might as well cap off my thoughts.

If I remember correctly; Meridian is the reason for the general secrecy of this mission, not only from Diana and the other Amazons, but also from Barbara. I feel that big secrets from close allies, especially given Babs’ importance to the Birds of Prey, require big reasons. But from what I can recall we have yet to get any actual look into her reasons… or how she convinced Dinah for that matter (it’s not as if Maps Mizoguchi is some close confidant of hers, I doubt they’ve met before this).

If Meridian is a time traveler then perhaps she’s already attempted this mission via other methods which have failed, hence the reason for specific exclusions this time around?

Or maybe this is an evil future/alternate self kind of deal. I don’t think Meridian has acted overly suspicious apart from this secrecy but it’s still possible. At the very least, she may not have been entirely upfront with all her plans/motive/knowledge.

For all we know, maybe Barbara is involved and pulling the strings for whatever reason? Maybe not, but still.

I guess the reason I’m thinking on this is I feel excluding Barbara and causing a “hero vs hero” conflict seems like the kinds of things which require a very good reason for. And Dinah presumably found said reasoning quite convincing since she went along with it.

If Meridian isn’t from the future, then that just adds further mystery since it means for some reason Katherine Karlo (or someone pulling her strings) has posed as a future version of Maps to direct the Birds of Prey in a mission to rescue Sin. Why all this deception would be needed is another question (assuming she’s not from the future, anyway).

Conclusions

Let’s start wrapping things up. Despite my confusion/semi-complaints, I’ve generally enjoyed Birds of Prey so far and am looking forward to seeing how the story continues. I also am a fan of Maps and am curious at what kind of role she will have as this fort continues, and I also hope she gets her overall dream of becoming Robin one day.

Maps would make an awesome Robin.

For now I guess we shall see whether #5 provides any answers, and if it does then we’ll see if my random speculation and thoughts were off the mark or not,

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mimibwi · 11 months

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BTS and fanservice

This is a big topic and issue among shippers, so I'll give my opinions on the matter (if anyone cares to read).

BTS members definitely do fan service. There shouldn't be much debate around that but I want to put it out there in the event that someone didn't already know that. All K-pop groups do fan service to some degree and it's fine, in my opinion. It makes things interesting and gets the fans screaming, so who’s complaining?

The conversation about fanservice gets out of control when it comes to shipping. Much of it comes down to what the fans think fan service is. I don't see fan service as completely fake and drawn up by the company's execs. Don't get me wrong, I don’t think the company is completely uninvolved but the theories you present are way too over the top. They come across more like conspiracy theories rather than opinions I can even consider a possibility.

At most, fan service contains acts that build off existing dynamics and sometimes exaggerate them to a certain degree. So while I don't think some of the actions are spur-of-the-moment things (it's evident they talk about/plan some of the moments beforehand) I still don’t think most fan service moments are devoid of any genuine emotions. It’s hard for me to talk about this cause; honestly, I don’t care about the whole calling out fanservice thing. I enjoy all the members’ interactions. Maybe some floor me more than others but I can’t sit here and be mad about two friends interacting.

((A lot more below the cut))

^^All these moments are fanservice in some way or another and they are all cute to me. I don’t get why yall make a big deal out of it so much. Just enjoy it, and smile a little!! Sometimes I wonder how toxic shippers and solos feel when they watch BTS content. You all must be angry as hell when these men (who have known each other for 10+ years, might I add) interact and look happy doing it.

Let me make my points as clear as I can-

some on-stage moments are staged to some degree. I may be wrong but I think I’ve seen a video of Tae saying he wanted to do a moment with Jimin on stage but Jimin was too awkward (lol) so he did it with JK instead. Maybe I hallucinated that cause it's in my memory but I couldn’t tell you where I heard that from. Either way, I am actually convinced this happens often. That or they do something once, see the audience’s reaction, then keep doing it for the other performances.

Fanservice isn’t completely disingenuous. I don’t look at it as a black-and-white conversation. Two members hugging for fans to scream on stage doesn’t take away from their bond. It doesn’t make their entire relationship a fraud. So to me, it’s less of “x ship IS fanservice” and more like “this moment from x ship seems to be fanservice” or “x ship does fanservice sometimes”. I can’t argue with the last two statements for the most part (well I lied, I’m literally countering them with this post in a way) but the first statement makes my skin crawl. It's so dismissive and disrespectful to the boys. — Thinking about it more, I can argue with all the statements even more than I am doing right now because there are moments that are looked into way to deeply. You guys will say “this moment is fanservice” and it’s two members sitting next to each other or talking or looking at each other or *insert any normal interaction that occurs between people who know each other and shouldn’t be seen as a big deal at all*.

*This is me looking for the service (that was so earth-shatteringly obvious and bad that it needed to be called out as such) sometimes.

Please just let people enjoy what they enjoy; it’s not that serious. I know shippers do all of this to fire back at other shippers so it’s just an endless cycle of hate and bitterness but I don’t care tbh you all need to stop it, yall take everything way too far.

Not every on-stage or on-camera moment is fanservice. It's hard for us to distinguish because we never fully know the boy’s intentions at any particular time. This is why I despise this ‘all or nothing,’ ‘black and white’ mindset many shippers have because it can cause you to 1) start digging into moments that aren’t that serious or 2) dismiss real, genuine friendship when it's right in front of you. It’s also frustrating because what one person may think is fs may come across as a genuine moment to someone else then everyone goes to war because of it. The fact of the matter is that none of us know for sure, so we shouldn’t spend time arguing about things when every single one of us could be wrong.

The above points are mainly in reference to on-stage moments. It gets even messier when we discuss the pre-recorded, edited content. This is where you guys lose me even more.

It’s hard to believe that fan service is this huge ordeal and that they plan who will interact with who more. It's also hard for me to think that at this point in their career, BH staff are sitting with these almost thirty-year-old men and telling them how to act. It's absurd to me. While I definitely think there are things they are advised to do or shouldn't do or say, I don't see any of them as the huge conspiracies that fans (shippers) push. So no, the member’s actions are not controlled on the big scale many shippers suggest. I love speculation and theories but there are some things I can't bring myself to speculate about. So the "BH is pushing x ship,” "they edited out all the x ship moments for y ship,” "x member is doing fan service to feed shippers" conversations just bore me for the most part.

Even if they are told to do something, sit somewhere, or get paired together for content, it could simply not be about a ship— at least not in the way people think it is. I mentioned this in my first post but NOT EVERYTHING THESE MEN DO IS ABOUT A SHIP. This is one of the saddest parts of shipping to me. Shippers reduce these beautiful, unique, insanely interesting people to just a ship. “X is sad/hurt/happy because of Y,” NO he could literally just be happy. We’re talking about regular people here, people like you and me, who have so much to offer and shouldn’t be looked at solely through a shipper lens. Whether you think the ship is real shouldn’t matter because this is basic human decency.

The “x ship is being edited out theories”— These, like I mentioned before, bore me and in some instances frustrate me.

How can you say for sure that things you don’t know happened actually happened and were edited out? This kind of shipper logic isn’t for me I fear. I know you could say, “so you’re telling me x and y only interacted once that day?” but it still doesn’t hold up because—

There could be many reasons why a ship moment is cut out. Some possibilities include:

they thought it was boring- lol I don’t know; maybe the editors thought that moment was a snooze fest and they wanted to include things the people would find interesting.

time constraints- with content like ITS or Bon Voyage, where there are days worth of content from seven different perspectives, must be a shitshow to edit. It’s obvious not every interaction will get into the final version. To sit and think the editors intentionally said “We’re out of time? Scrap the x ship parts” is honestly laughable. Let’s be a little serious. Shippers are so funny to me sometimes because I can promise you regular people don’t give af about these ships as much as we do so I doubt they care enough to sabotage them.

it doesn’t fit in the theme of the content- The moment could just not fit in with the overall flow of the content. Maybe there is a particular image they’re trying to draw up with the content and a certain moment throws it off and doesn’t fit the image. With the time constraints I mentioned, it makes sense why they would want to insert some things over others.

something else is happening on screen- I know all shippers get disappointed when it seems like their ship is interacting and the angle changes. BUT that disappointment in that particular moment should not translate into these big conspiracy theories. It’s natural for the camera angle to switch when other things (probably more interesting or things that matter more to the overall content) happen. We’re looking at 7 different people for Christ’s sake.

it’s personal- This should be obvious but I am sure the guys talk about or do things that are just personal. Although I don’t think it’ll be anything crazy considering they’re mic-ed up and are aware they’re on camera, they could just not want certain things out there. They already show us so much (I’m grateful for that 4%) of their lives, I think we should allow them to be able to want things cut out.

*insert other reasons here that definitely does factor in but my brain can’t think of right now*

What irks me the most about these conversations is what they usually always stem from in the first place. They all come from an angle that serves to prove that some ships are better or claim that some ships only interact because they’re forced to. The hypocrisy that comes along with this type of shipping is also quite crazy to me. It’s always the ship you don’t like and that threatens your beliefs that is fanservice/fake/forced when they so much as touch each other but every single interaction between your ship is 100% real. I don’t think you guys hear yourself when you speak sometimes. I will never get why this shipping business needs to be a competition. Like the concept of going to war online over two people’s —who you most likely have never met and don’t know personally— relationship will always be interesting to me. It also doesn't matter whatsoever. No ship’s “realness” should depend on another being fake or worse and if that’s the case then maybe your ship isn’t as real as you think it is. All 21 (I swear I did the math, it’s 21 right??) ships in BTS are unique in their own way and I wouldn’t want any of them to be exactly like another because I love all dearly. Although some dynamics tug on my heart more than others, I will never dismiss any to bring up others because the boys genuinely love each other and I can tell as much.

You know sometimes I blame a lot of shipper logic and theories on the fact that many of us feel like these men’s lives are more interesting than they actually are. It’s so sad because a lot of the drama our brains think up makes the guys victims either to each other or the company. The fanservice argument is just that to me. Why can’t we believe the boys are fine in their current situation, that they enjoy their little fanservice moments to stir up fans but it’s not something they’re being held at gunpoint to do? They’re entertainers after all. Why do you as a fan of these guys, think they’re being completely calculating every time they show up in front of a camera? Why can’t yall believe they’re being as genuine as their situation allows? Maybe this is a naïve way of looking at things but it’s easier and it’s the foundation of my views as an ARMY. Playing the mind fuck olympics whenever a member comes around to spend time with us is exhausting. I don’t even share many of these opinions but simply reading them drains so much out of me. We really do read into certain things way too much and I get that’s the whole point or basis of shipping. Still, it gets really muddy to me when people start victimizing and villainizing parties involved because of the shipper’s (and even solo’s) opinions and perspectives.

In conclusion, I don’t agree with any of the fan service theories nor do I think fan service is a particularly bad thing. Even if I have fleeting thoughts about particular moments, I don’t entertain them too much because I don’t know the whole story. It’s also because I respect the members. I respect their autonomy, their words and their dynamics with each other and entertaining these ideas and theories that obviously (even if it isn’t obvious to you) disregard the things I respect would slowly destroy that. So the two just cannot coexist for me. Plus, this shipper thing just isn’t that serious to me. The only reason I even care to think and even talk about this topic is because of the hate the members get cause of it. It’s unfair:(

Look how cute they all look together while they do their little fan service🥺. #letmybabiesdofanserviceinpeace

ⁱ ʰᵒᵖᵉ ᵗʰᵉ ˢᵃʳᶜᵃˢᵐ ᶜᵒᵐᵉˢ ᵃᶜʳᵒˢˢ ⁱⁿ ᵗʰᵃᵗ ˡᵃˢᵗ ˡⁱⁿᵉ ᶜᵃᵘˢᵉ ⁱ ʳᵉᶠᵘˢᵉ ᵗᵒ ᵉˣᵖˡᵃⁱⁿ ᵐʸˢᵉˡᶠ

~~🐝

#BTS #fan service #shippergate #sope #taekook #vmin #jikook #letmybabiesdofanserviceinpeace #thoughts and analysis #yoongi’s gummy smile is so cute #just be normal idk bro #let my BANG PO i beg

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shannoneichorn · 7 months

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I know no one wants to cross platforms, but I've got some Stargate folks here who might want to know that I'm live tweeting SG-1 episodes on Mastodon.

"Rules of Engagement" starts here.

"Forever in a Day" starts here.

Highlights:

Okay, I really respect that the writers acknowledged that Daniel has completed the goal he set out on. You'd think something that monumentous would get wrapped into the plot of a season finale or mid-season 2-parter, so there's some comfort for fans (assuming you watched it as it aired) that the character isn't leaving the show.

I really would have liked for there to feel like more risk of that, but Daniel is acting so far outside his normal MO, it feels like a mere crisis of the week, and I think that's a disservice to Sha're (as is her character's oversimplification in the episode so far).

Movie Sha're was curious, rebellious, and brave. TV Sha're is kind of flat TV wife with an accent. The flatness could have been used to emphasize the loss of her autonomy and personality when she became a host, but it's especially hard to show that contrast when lively Sha're was on screen about 6 years prior.

It's hard to believe Daniel might actually leave, because we all know there's nothing for him to go toward. What's he going to do, find a dig to join when he could be out face-to-face with alien civilizations? No one has said that, but you know every single person in Cheyenne Mountain understands it.

Except Daniel.

Jack literally says this 5 seconds later. Lol.

"Past and Present" starts here.

"Foothold" starts here.

#stargate sg1 #thoughts and analysis #how to tune out the world #too lazy to finish my blog watch guide #yay tokra

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shadowetienne · 1 year

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I know the teaser was short, but do you have any predictions/ideas about where you what direction you think the storylines of each couple/each character will go or might go in OOO’s Seoul Drift?

Hello! Thank you for asking this Anon!

I'm going to start with my observations:

KB driving, seems to be going to pick Yoojung up, there's a look of fondness not surprise between them, so I suspect planned rendezvous, is KB picking him up for a date? from work? to go do something?

Junji and Rie sitting back to back in the laundromat, leaning on each other and chilling while presumably doing a chore, this is a more domestic do the chores together as a date thing almost, makes me wonder if they are living together?

Nine and Mill are in a diner or convenience store at night, meeting up for food and spending time together, does one of them have a part time job there and the other is keeping him company?

I get the vibe that we may be continuing the sort of age groupings that were implied by their pairs in solo time, but with the idea that each pair and music video set isn't in the same universe exactly, just that there's an overall set of story notes.

I have previously said that I think KB/Yoojung's solos are a story of full adults who met each other with established lives and are figuring out themselves from there. I think that this tracks to what we are seeing here with the car and meeting outside the home.

Junji/Rie then are younger adults who had more space in their lives to settle together instead of fitting around preestablished routines and lives. Doing chores together, and sort of existing quietly together makes sense in that context. Having to do things like go to the laundromat. Also, I always wonder if queer laundromats are a reference at least in part to My Beautiful Laundrette (queer 80s film).

Finally, Nine/Mill were the youngest, teenagers in high school in their MVs, and I wonder if that will hold true here. They are in the position of having nowhere they are allowed/expected to exist safely as themselves, so finding the places they will be ignored, especially if at least one of them is basically on his own/was kicked out. Convenience store at night makes sense here.

I wonder if the pairs will interact, if we will see their connections in this universe of the story arc. Unlike libidO which was set out away from people, like they were on vacation with their queer friend group, this is set in the city, where they will potentially face interaction with others. I'm curious if and how that will play out!

Hopefully my rambling brought something interesting for you! I'd love to hear other people's thoughts.

#OnlyOneOf #seOul drift teaser #thoughts and analysis #my rambling

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artbyblastweave · 5 months

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I'm not the first to mention this, but one bit that I thought was really clever in Steven Universe is the ways in which the show subtly justifies the cartoonism of the principle cast always wearing the same outfit for ease-of-animation purposes. The gems are a gimme in that they're all hardlight-projections, and even before that's solidified as a plot point they're otherworldly and superheroic enough that you don't really think to question it. But Steven canonically just owns hundreds and hundreds of those star shirts, which are leftover merchandise from his father's fizzled-out career as a rock star. Into which you can read a whole bunch of other stuff if you really want to, right? And I do want to. It's reflective of Greg's misplaced optimism that he got hundreds of those made in the first place, and it's a benign but visible example of how Steven's life is shaped by the knock-on effects of decisions his parents made before he was even alive. He's got his mother's superpowers and he's wearing his father's shirts.

#steven universe #steven universe analysis #greg universe #thoughts #meta #su #contrast Connie who actually does have a range of diverse outfits #and tastes in outfits which evolve over the show!#because she's part of Steven's Universe #but she has somewhere to go home to

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keets-writing-corner · 3 months

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Thinking a LOT about Lucifer in the latest Hazbin episode. Idk what I was expecting but not this??

As I was watching my immediate thought was just "huh... Lucifer is kinda of weird..." but as the episode went on I realized the issue

the dude is off the chain depressed, like he says it as a joke but holy cow it is SO BAD

He's manically just creating rubber ducks cuz his daughter really like it that one time but it's empty, it's never good enough but he keeps doing it, maybe cuz he doesn't know how to pass the time otherwise.

like I get the feeling he HAS better things he SHOULD be doing than making rubber duck after rubber duck. At first I was like, "Bruh why isn't the king of hell doing anything?" aaaaand then it became clear...

The dude is disassociating so bad he can barely hold a conversation let alone remember information. He clearly WANTS to, he wants to be involved with his daughter so bad, he wants to care about the things she's doing so bad, but his depression keeps interfering. It's like he can only hear every other word and he grasps onto the ones he does hear semi-out of context. Like you can see every time he catches something that he hadn't before and he just "well shit I didn't catch that part"

and that's why he reacts so weird when people talk to him. He is struggling so bad to engage with the conversation he's only getting 50% of it

does that look like the face of a man who knows what the hell the conversation is even about??? he is STRUGGLING

like Charlie spent so long telling him about the hotel, and he STILL didn't understand what she wanted. Yeah it comes off as ditzy but literally I've been in that position where your brain just "nope, not doing this right now" and nerfs your conversation comprehension. So as someone who's BEEN in that position, to me it feels exactly like what he's dealing with. He's sorta engaged with the conversation, but only as much as his brain will allow

For example, when I'm dealing with this, this is what someone talking to me feels like this where the crossed out parts are what I missed and bold is what I catch, "Hey! You know I was thinking for dinner we could either make some chicken with rice? But if you don't feel like cooking, pasta is super easy and you love that right? What do you want to do?" you can kinda get that someone is trying to talk to you about dinner, and towards the end you get the impression that they asked something that needs your input so you can decently put 2 and 2 together and try and pass off, but crucial bits were left out, I would have no idea that either chicken or pasta is in the conversation only having heard "rice". When someone is just talking at me, I can decently pass off as being engaged but the second I'm required to participate in the conversation I'm screwed. Seem familiar? At which point I have 2 options, try to give a bullshit answer, or admit that I missed what they were saying and ask them to repeat

Lucifer, unfortunately, is trying so damn hard to hide that he's dealing with like 24/7 dissociation, so he can't admit that he's missing entire chunks of the conversation, hence his really weird replies. He does eventually get the full picture and then he and Charlie start having the real conversation

Also, the Alastor/Lucifer rivalry was hilarious but also really indicative of more of what Lucifer is dealing with

Alastor is, unfortunately, really good at picking up people's insecurities, and thanks to Charlie's description earlier and watching Lucifer clearly trying to overcompensate, he immediately picks up on the fact that Lucifer KNOWS he struggles to be a good dad (we know cuz it's cuz of the depression, hard to be engaged when your brain keeps turning off) and decides to rub salt in the wound by pretending he's been acting as a surrogate father to Charlie. Now why Alastor decided to pick a fight with the king of hell is beyond me, I do not understand Alastor (and I LIKE IT) (maybe it's cuz Alastor thinks he's hot shit and was expecting Lucifer to at least have heard of him but Lucifer just treats him like a nobody? who knows)(why would Lucifer listen to radio anyways when he can't even pay attention to a conversation it'd just be white noise)

But yeah I just was expecting someone who oozed either charisma or presence and instead I got a depressed dad who's dissociating so bad he can barely function and be present in his life. The only thing it seems he CAN do is make rubber ducks cuz his daughter really liked it that one time

Idk Lucifer is tragic to me. Whatever the full details of what heavan did to him absolutely broke him and he can't deal with it. He's aware of it, and he doesn't know how to fix it, so he tries to over compensate and sorta makes an ass out of himself but no one says or does anything cuz this guy is supposed to be THE king of hell

Suddenly it's making a lot more sense why he just rolls over and lets heaven do what it wants and even told Charlie to go in his place the start of the show. He's not in any headspace to hold a basic conversation let alone negotiate! He didn't even know who Alastor was, he's been so out of touch

idk I like him, he seems sweet, I hope Charlie brings some light back into his life. He really needs to get out of that rubber duck room

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