#yes all of these are from ep 8 i was gonna make a set of him in the first half but i had 15 timestamps from ep 8

[fictionalmenaremytype]

SEASON FINALE BABY LETS GOOO!!!!!

(Percy jackson ep 8 spoilers)

I'm just gonna start by saying if Disney doesn't renue this for a second season they are stupid and will have missed out on a harry Potter level phenomenon.

- LUKE MONOLOGUE HOLYSHIT ITS GIVING GOOD KID REPRISE

- HE IS KIND OF TERRIFYING IN THAT SWORD SCENE THO

- Ares' cackle. I love him .

- Ares just threw him like hulk did loki

- annabeth having to hold Grover back is so important to me because he's wanting to help percy but Annabeth knows this fight is to the death and any interruption would just get Grover killed.

- Annabeth also knowing he needs to prove himself as the son of poseidon and discover who he is.

- "let's kick the son of poseidon into a puddle right near the sea" I now understand why Athena is battle strategy and Ares is just war.

- THAT TSUNAMI JUST PARTING FOR PERCT US ICONIC AND HE JUST RUNS AND SWOOPS AND CUTS ARES

- my only critique is that Percy never does any movements to show its his power (which ik this is accurate to the books) but it comes off a little like he's just calling on Poseidon to do stuff. I wished they had some sort of indicator that it was Percy like maybe a slight movement or having the water pull back from the puddle he fell in and into the sea.

- I did think the fight was a little quick tbh but it still worked.

- the way I screamed "close your eyes close your eyes close your eyes!" When he was about to show his true form.

- woooh Hades helm

- The cabin looks fuckung terrifying rn

- I haven't seen the end of credit scene yet but I'm predicting it's going to be Sally with Gabe's statue.

- Alecto just wanted to get tho boss his hat back!

- "please" "good luck on Olympus" I thought she was going to be nice but noooo she's still a bitch.

- Annabeth trying to stop Percy from going because they're friends now and she's worried for his safety. I love Leah she is AMAZING.

- "I'm done running from monsters" THAT LINE OMG THE WRITERS ROOM ATEEEE

- THE NECKLACE?? THE MUSIC?? "You're gonna need all the luck you can get." Is so sweet and so patronising she is perfect. Leah is Annabeth Chase she has cyclops powers and just embodies her!

- "how sure are we you couldn't explain everything in an email?" So relatable Grover so relatable.

- "I'm here to see Zeus." Lightning bolt on the table " I don't have an appointment"

- THIS SHOWS ART DEPARTMENT HOLY SHITT OLYMPUS IS STUNNING WTF

- it is so so obvious when you know abt Luke that yes trying to recruit Percy to his side.

- LUKE REALLY JUST SET ANNABETH UP TO BE THE TRAITOR THERE WHAT!

- can someone build this olympus on minecraft please I want to exploreee.

- zeus (rip Lance Reddick we miss you) just waiting on his throne is terrifying.

- The thrown room being in a thunder cloud has so much messaging behind it! It is pathetic fallacy at its finest.

- Zeus is scary. I don't like it. Literal goosebumps rn.

- "your family is a mess" you tell him Percy. Be his therapist

- WHEN HE TRIED TO STRIKE PERCY OH MY GOD POSEIDON SURRENDERING

- "your forbidden son who should've never been born" "the same as your thalia" Poseidon learnt some sass I see.

- THE GREEK IS INGENIOUS.

- "make sure I never see this one again." Well I hate to break it to you sir but you will...a lot

- "obedience doesn't come naturally to you does it?" "No...sir." "the sea does not like to be retrained." CAUSE THE SEA DOESNT LIKE TO BE RESTRAINEDDDDD

- Percy not immediately knowing Greek is such a slept upon lart of the books because they have lessons in it.

- Poseidons smile about Sally.

- "Ares is a moron." The only thing Poseidon and Athena agree on.

- Aww they finally had father son time. Its so emotional and beautiful and its made me emotional.

- the line of applause and I'm just looking for Travis and Connor.

- The hugging is a thing.

- "an accusation against clarisse." "Without proof" annabeth has a feeling!

- honestly adding Clarisse as a traitor and using that to get Percy and Luke alone makes more sense to me given that they know someone at camp stole the bolt.

- I think now is the time to say how Charlie is amazing for Luke he's so sinister when he wants to be l.

- luke making him go through the Prophecy before he reveals and percy slowly realising why Omg chills.

- the red lighting on Luke highlighting his scar.

- luke looking like he's about to cry

- "I didn't think you'd give them to Grover." "I'm here to recruit" AH

- BACKBITER CAN OPEN PORTALS NOW THIS IS A WHOLE NEW LEVEL OF OVER POWERED !!!!!

- LUKE AND PERCY FIGHT LUKE AND OERCY FIGHT.

- Is that a silhouette in the background???

- " I met your dad" THE ANGER OMG

- the fight with Ares being short is made up for by this fight. Under the fireworks? In the woods? It's stunning!!!!

- PERCYS APOLOGY OMG I FELT SO BAD FOR HIM HES SCARED AND CONFUSED AND STILL TRYING TO SEE THE BEST IN LUKE.

- YES ANNABETH. THROWING HER DAGGER AT LUKE?!? I HOPE THAT KNIFE BECAUSE PART OF ANNABETHS CHARACTER BECAUSE THAT WOULD BE SO COOL. I KNEW I SAW A SILHOUTTE

- " Annabeth?" " I heard everything" I KNEW SHE HAD HER SUSPICIONS

- " He can be very very persuasive" "I'm very very stubborn"

- MR D LOVE HIM

- "Percy? That's your name?"

- I was half expecting Dionysus to do an Oprah and say " you get out and you get out"

- Annabeth saying goodbye to Thalia is so sweet

- " and then sone place called Disney World?" She's never seen a movie she's going to be so confused. "Which kind of sounds like water land but with less trying to kill you" Yeah.

- the way he smiles at her is so cute.

- "wait did I read that wrong. What am I walking into. Is there something you're supposed to do there?" "Just be a kid"

- aww Grovers searcher licence is a flower

- "but no ones ever thought to check the seas!" Nice set up Disney I see you.

- "we meet back here next year." Well you will eventually.

- THE GROUP HUG (if we get up to season 5 I expect editors to make edits of them hugging at 16 to them hugging at 12)

- The cabin and Sally <3

- "what happened?" "It's a long story."

- WHAT JUST HAPPNED OMG ANOTHET DREAM OMG KRONOS I DONT LIKE THIS HES TOO CLOSE OMG GO AWAY DONT INVITE HIM IN HES LIKE A VAMPIRE. HES SCARY SCARY SCARY.

- "no kidding kiddo it's time to wake up." So cute.

- "grandpa." "Don't call him that."

- "Don't forget to tell your mom how much you love her today." "Kronos Lord of the titans said that?" The lying and secrets has begun

- NO GABE WOOH

- THE ENDING MONOLOGUE

- HOW MUCH DID WALKER SCOVELL GROW OVER FILMING HES SO TALL NEXT TO SALLY AND THE DOOR FRAME.

- Sally divorcing gabe is much much better than her just turning him to stone because it gives the message that she now recognises her son can look after himself and now she doesn't have to protect him anymore.

- GABE ASKING THE LAWYER HOW TO PICK A LOCK IS SO FUNNY

- I really like how it's his own hate for percy and everything percy has that gets him killed rather than straight up homicide. It really sets the idea that people like that will find their own downfall (which is ironic bc this trope is commonly used in ancient Greek tragedies)

season one of percy jackson is stunning. It's a masterpiece even with the changes and whilst there was definitely some timing issues and the cut to black became annoying, it was very, very good. If it is renewed for another season, it has a lot of potential, and I will be very excited to see how they adapt The Sea of Monsters for screen.

#percy jackson #percy jackon and the olympians #pjo #percy jackson and the olympians #annabeth chase #pjo tv show #pjo series #walker scobell #grover underwood #percy jackson season 1 finale

[bluginkgo]

Just what in the fack did I watch... I'm gonna go watch it again just for funsies and to cry again (Rambles/Thoughts)

This post will mostly contain random rambles and thoughts I had while watching and rewatching the episode. And a lot of this is just going to be me ranting about scenes (the rants will most likely make you wanna go "Ginkgo, that's common sense we can see it smh." XD Just roll with it. Oh and NUzi scenes

Spoilers, duh and lots of words. Oh and gore warning? Kinda?

I mean... that scary *ss mother facking thing towards the end- you know what I'm talking about if you watched the ep 😅

First thing I found interesting, is how the Solver behaves in this scene. It's mere shadows, not even fully manifested. Further proves that the Solver transcends simple time and space, and is on a different plane of existence- a 4th dimension if you will.

The humans did, in fact, learn how to control the Solver. The pentagram like projections act as gravity enforcers and lights that subdue the solver for a period of time. Buuuut it seems that it's not full proof. It seems that this occurance is fairly common, seeing as the workers nearby were not very concerned that an eldrich being was about to break loose.

Alright another slow moment here. But I had to google wtf "MacGuffin" meant (English isn't my first language, so take it easy on me ;w;). And taking this straight from the google search "an object or device in a movie or a book that serves merely as a trigger for the plot." So most likely, the Absolute Solver is referring to the fact that Mitchell the intern set things in motion simply because he was mistaken for the real Dr. Chambers... Classic- CLASSIC human mistake XD

So... Heart/Nori. Something interesting is going on with her. I believe Nori WAS injured by the DDs and had to be finished off by Khan. I'll touch on Khan a bit later. But, just as seen with Eldrich J... I'm not sure why I've never thought of this before! It makes sense for Nori's corrupted core: Heart, to still function properly. Meaning, she could have snuck away when she was killed and returned to the cathedral to search for the crucifix. Uzi gets most of her style from Nori 🥹. Seems like Uzi got her mom's style and Khan's engineering abilities.

I had it all wrong- and I am ALL FOR IT! N wasn't afraid of something he saw ahead. He was upset with what they left BEHIND! V! And THIS ENTIRE SCENE

You cannot believe how surprised I was. This scene was so much better than I could have imagined it. Yes, it was painful to watch, but sweet robo-god this was executed SO DAM WELL TwT It was delicious angst. And Tessa was not in fact drawing her sword on Uzi, but instead protecting her... kinda... with an ulterior motive of course.

The gut wrenching betrayal right there. The animation team did a wonderful job at animating the betrayal and how it manifested in Uzi. Disbelief and then anger.

Not to mention her stumble. I hyper fixated on that stumble a bit too much on my first 2 watches. (Yes, I've rewatched the episode 8 times now, hush I love it XD). Her stumble shows weakness. And in that moment, she wishes to be anything BUT weak. The suspicion of betrayal is settling in, and she needs to be able to fight back. But her body is giving out. The events are taking a toll on her. And makes me appreciate the animation detail that much more.

This scene N is definitely angry. He's trying his best to keep it together and Tessa's pressure to injure and kill Uzi is not helping. So for him to be talking to Uzi, while glaring at Tessa is just him driving the point home. He is NOT going to hurt Uzi, no matter what they might find down in the labs.

But a poor choice of words that was. It gives Uzi a glimpse of what was actually happening and what has been bothering N. The trust vaporizes, and with it, any attempts with communication.

And what I believe, gives a nod back to ep2. As N steps in to try to help Uzi up, she retreats. Same happens in this episode. And the kicker? "Falling... for you" song starts lightly playing in the background.

This is far too comical after he says he deserves to have his limbs cut off. The whiplash I got from that is ridiculous... in a sad and funny way.

What an amazing shot. But it does paint a picture of what the DDs have done. Perhaps the blood also acted as cooling agents, and this is why the trend continued with robots- except this time around as oil. And this is what the Administration CYN most likely blocked out. Not only the manor time, but also the bloodbath that followed as Earth collapsed.

THE DOG MADE IT IN AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

It's interesting on how the solver manifests in the drones. It seems that Uzi's wings and tail, do not make the solver go insane, and she can continue to use it. However, later in the episode the same wings and tail go berserk. So it seems that once the transformation has set in- like with Uzi- it becomes part of the drone rather something that is manifested by the Absolute Solver's control.

SO MUCH TO UNPACK HERE XD Part 2A that Khan refers to is on the bottom left corner, the green core that Uzi got a hold of back in pilot episode- also titled as "I think this is a robot liver or something lol."

Plan B: Uzi could have had a normal gun if railgun didn't work. Bottom right corner

Top left corner under Uzi's railgun title: "30 min recharge time. That'll be fine." Famous last words ever XD

Top right corner: "Other things it can do: Not judge me, force prom dance, I can say I had friends but fricken murdered them with sci fi weaponry."

I love how sassy he is here XD His character development and arc is something that I will never forget. He has definitely come a great ways. Khan also seems adamant about his wife being completely dead. Which proves that he didn't know a single thing about the Absolute Solver and what it can do. He could only reference Nori's insane drawings and deduce that the planet was going to eat them all soon.

Idk if this is just my tired brain, but this comment felt like a joke to me. (Remember, I don't know anything about computers and the language ;w;) But the physical patch to save herself... as in, the same patches that are sent out for games/programs to fix bugs? That's the joke I got out of that one 😅

This entire sequence was something out of my nightmares XD The heel tapping that KEPT GETTING QUICKER definitely had me reeling back from the screen XD

The Nori and Yeva scene was so wholesome 🥹. I loved the way the animators showed their interaction. Despite the hellish events, they were still close.

My only issue with this image is, on what is Doll moving? Not like the floor. The core is gone from her body, what the heck is still driving her forward? Perhaps just on the sheer will to warn Uzi to "fight back." And I suppose I can see how she could still move without her main core. Almost acting like chickens do, when you cut their heads off. One was able to live for 18 months after the head was cut. So I suppose I can get behind the idea that Doll's final wish was to warn Uzi, at the very least, and thus forced the body to move until it did so.

But then, Tessa shows up. Which makes me wonder if she was the one that simply lead Doll's body to come to Uzi. How? Uhhh... Absolute Solver! Let's just go with that sweat face. The con in that theory is a simple: why? Why bother leading Doll to Uzi? To spook her? To give a false reason to attack Uzi? Given that N was still very much behind them all, I don't see why the Absolute Solver would try to make up some odd reason to attack Uzi. It could just simply... go ahead. There was no one there to fool, and could incapacitate Uzi easily. Buuuut I could also be looking too deep into this, as per usual.

Hey guess what.

I found the answer. XD Just as I'm typing this up, a frame popped up.

Yup, the core was still inside and thus running Doll and thus Doll could move, ok carry on. XD

Emotions spike the Absolute Solver, something that I love seeing and appears to be less headcanon and more canon at this point for me. Through the entire episode, the Solver keeps glitching out and forcing Uzi to lose control because in this situation, she's very stressed. A betrayal, a misunderstanding, learning about the past, everything becomes too much. This makes keeping the solver at bay that much harder.

He did NOT give her any chance. Yes or no, Tessa. That suddenness surprised me- in a good way. This shows how much N has grown. He's willing to stand up for his beliefs that much better. If he suspects something, he now acts on it, and does not wait for the other side to perhaps change his mind.

This scene. This scene shall live in my head rent free for a long while... Actually, the entire episode is gonna live rent free for a while. XD Not to mention the "Falling... for you" song plays in the background yet again. Ugh, pulling on heart strings there ;w;

They had us all fooled XD The hand lights were on just to trick us, and in fact were meant to be off this entire time! Oh you sneaky sneaky people. >w<

ALL OF THESE SCENES, they're all so cruel but SO GOOD TwT So cruel in context of how tortured N must be to fight Uzi, but so good in context that this fight sequence and animation is executed SO WELL. All of Nori's slaps were so personal XD Mama Nori educating NUzi

When I saw this scene, I couldn't help but think of ep3 and their dance. This entire episode is so bittersweet ;w;

She's still there TwT And she sees this entire fight. Of what she has become and done to N and omg I'm crying again. Moving on.

OMG YOU SILLY GOOBER BAHAHAHAHAHAHAH XD I love Nori/Heart's reaction, but the Absolute Solver also gets me laughing a bit too hard. "WHAT." That's so simple yet so effective. "What. Why. You are a DD I sent to kill the hosts, why are you hanging out."

The entire scene with NUzi screaming. Just. YES. What better way of gettin rid of stress than screaming! ^_^

Oh you sneaky, sneaky people. Well, all I can say, you got me. You got me good. This is something I didn't think of, but should have. It's simple to get these shots with certain rigs missing. And it was done seamlessly. Well done, well done. I begrudgingly applaud you. XD

HE'S PATTING HER HEAD AAAAHHHHH *proceeds to ascend to another realm*

They did not... omg they did XD Ah, yes, welcome a new horror oh and by the way here- :3 a cute face

Omg they look so cool- KHAN WTF XD

LOL J THE PRIOR HAZARD WARNING AHAHAHAHAHA

The way she shook his hand trying to snap him back to himself and wake up 😭. And the entire sequence following this... I'm just now slowly starting to process it, oh and great I'm sobbing again. Alright, moving on.

Well, I have some thoughts in this. This is personal thoughts, thus this is where you are more than free to yeet this section into the void that Uzi was dragged into... sorry that was a bad joke- anyways. "Die mad." I feel like this is her way of telling N to not give up. To go out there and FIGHT. But if he can't win, then to die like she is. To die in a way that he will be proud of and to go batsh*t crazy. Because by now, Uzi must know that all of their chances of survival are slim. So you might as well go out with a bang and "die mad."

Something I noticed and was further solidified when @bloodywolfwings also mentioned it. Uzi looks at peace here and very accepting of death. And I say, yes, she very much is. I think this was a way of her asking N for forgiveness. For getting mad at him in the beginning of the episode, for failing to be useful/protecting N, and for fighting against him- despite being possessed. And perhaps even, as an incredibly insane and radical thought, for loving him. This entire episode has put the characters and us through the wringer, and that "sacrifice" was just the cherry on top.

Something I have seen already mentioned once at very least (by @/rebecca-babe) and something that also put me on edge was the ending credits... or the lack of. Of course, all the credits roll, but it's not the usual type. Instead of an upbeat music that is either "Uzi the drone killer" or a theme that was seen in the episode... its SILENCE. Being a musician myself, I love how much love has been put into Murder Drones. The sound effects and the main music are always top-notch. But that ending unsettled me the most. The lack of all noise is something that is terrifying and unsettling in that ending. Almost like all the music and sound left with the "sacrifice" of the main character, Uzi. The entire episode was filled with sounds, silence only being present when something incredibly WRONG was happening - like at the beginning when intern Mitchell re-entered the cathedral. And as much as I love how well executed this entire scene was, I hated it. Because that scene does the job that it was set out to do. Put you on edge, and make you feel like all hope is lost. That this is it. This is the end.

This is the end of my rambles and thoughts that I had while watching ep7. I may have more later on as I keep rewatching this episode for the rest of the week ;w;

Want to hear more of my stupid rambles? This has 3 other parts!

#murder drones #murder drones theory #murder drones n #murder drones uzi #murder drones cyn #murder drones nuzi #murder drones nori #murder drones yeva #murder drones absolute solver #murder drones tessa #murder drones sentinels #murder drones episode 7 #murder drones ep 7 #glitch productions #bluginkgo's rambles/theories #murder drones khan #n x uzi #nuzi #md nuzi #murder drones j #murder drones v #murder drones thad #murder drones lizzy

[drawnfamiliarfaces]

You remember that AF episode where Ben pretends to be evil (Above and Beyond)? What would happen if he pulled that with the HoMies?

It lives rent free in my head, anon. It was one of the better episodes in my opinion, because it showcases Ben in a different and much more favorable light!

Ooof, okay, it might not be the light-hearted 'haha ye he probably did and it would be epic/hilarious' answer you expect, but bear with me im trying to think of like in-verse situation here and honestly? I don't think it's gonna go over very well. There is potential that everyone can get very hurt?? And not just physically but emotionally.

You see I'm pretty sure almost all of the HoM-ies (going off my faulty memory here, sorry in advance if its wrong), at some point or another faced off someone who have turned sides from good to bad (or even themselves). So, all of them got kinda burned in that sense.

I'm not saying that they all automatically assume/believe that Ben really went Darkside, but they would certainly not dismiss the possiblity of it happening. I mean, they are those kind of people that would believe in the best of people/fellow heroes/misguided friends until the very end, but prior experience would mean that they also will take those sort of threat seriously.

And you know, to put such a doubt in a friend and teammate is terrible and upsetting imho. Because, you see in A&B ep. it was a controlled training exercise/graduation exam with people Ben sorta knows but is not exactly close with, and that setting kind of doesn't apply to HoMies?? So it would be either an incredibly mean-spirited prank or like a plot point to, I dunno, trick a villain into thinking Ben betrayed HoMies?? Very different end results here depending on a scenario lol.

But either way, if Ben does do something like that, I believe that he could be just as terrifyingly efficient in 'attacking' others, by playing their weaknesses and using his aliens smartly. Because we all know that there is a part of him that is like that, (terrifyingly smart and a bit mean i mean), however small it is and usually buried under his honest desire to be a hero and a good guy.

However if he does that, there is a much bigger chance that others would hit back. And hit hard. Because HoMies are not just plumber rookies in a training exercise, but experienced heroes and they know him just as well as he knows them. And remember that little fact about a lot of them being burned about people going dark side? Yeah, that means that they would feel very motivated to contain a friend who has possibly gone bad, if only to stop try and get him to see sense.

So I can see it escalating to a degree of serious injuries, because, well, Ben is versatile and strong, but going against all 8 of others, some of who match him, would be a very hard fight (certainly not like toying with rookies lol). I mean, he could separate them and fight mano-a-mano but it still would be a lot.

And like, oof, the emotional part of it is what getting to me in my head. Like, there could be a number of different scenarious where a situation like this could happen, but my mind stubbornly goes to 'mean prank' and 'for sake of mission'. In case of second one, others could be in on it from the start and/or they are not but figure out that Ben is doing it for a reason and they would understand, even if it may upset them he didnt trust them to help from the start.

(and in the end of that someone would absolutely joke, how terrifying of a bad guy Ben would make lol)

But, boy, in case of the first, Ben could burn some bridges and hurt others. Because, a prank like that with fellow heroes who experienced that sort of betrayal before??? like OOOF im getting sad just imagining it. ;(

but BUT!!!!! You know this ask gave me a much better happier idea???

Ben asking HoMies to help him do the same sort of training excersice/graduation exam for earth based plumbers, by playing the role of the bad guys with him!!!!!

God just imagine, all the bonding with Ben and others, 'fighting' against poor terrified rookies who are suddenly faced with a previously protector of Earth Robot XJ-9 turned bad, or a ghastly apparition from outer space that kinda looks like that ghost menace from Amity, or some weird robot guy with Big Fucking Sword and a freaking dragon???

All the shennanigans!!! And those poor rookies that graduate will have such weird freaking stories to tell other outer space cadets lol.

#que? #hom au #hom au q&a #im chewing on that last idea like a starved dog on a bone anon

[absolutebl]

hi!! i got into bl in 2020 and watched just abt all of them i could get my hands on back then, but i’ve slowly stopped watching them over the last couple years. i loved the feeling watching them gave me, tho, so i wanna get back into it!

my favorites are to my star, semantic error, 2gether, we best love, and tale of thousand stars! i don’t mind high intensity (like physical stuff) but i definitely don’t need it to enjoy a story! if you don’t mind, can you recommend me some newer bls (or gls!) i might like? i’d appreciate it a ton!!! 💕

my favorites are:

to my star,

semantic error,

2gether,

we best love,

tale of thousand stars

I would call all these pretty classic romance BLs. This mostly jives with my own taste so I'll pull some of my favorites for you.

Did you make it to Old Fashion Cupcake?

If not just GO WATCH THAT.

Otherwise...

2023 High Romance BLs to suck you back into the fold

Our Dating Sim (Korea Viki)

If you haven't watched this, it's a must. I actually handed out a 10/10. I NEVER do that. It's a perfect short form KBL, an office set reunion romance featuring geeks that really suits 8 eps with no fluff and no chaff. Just comforting and yummy. I adored every aspect from the casting to the pristinely simple premise to the quietly smooth execution. Sure it’s low stakes, but that makes it high domesticity and extremely warm and gentle. This is a fuzzy blanket of a story - a cozy BL.

From your list this one is most tonally similar to we best love

Love Tractor (Korea iQIYI)

Most of this country-set BL had me feral for the beautiful broken city boy and his hot young farmer. Hyung romance, puppy/cat pairing, open frankness meets jaded reserve, language play, water hose frolicking, only one bed, just all my favorite tropes. This show was basically a light-weight Restart After Come Back Home and I’m not even slightly mad about that.

From your list this is most tonally similar to semantic error

My School President (Thai YouTube)

GMMTV gave us a classic high school set Thai BL with tropes like messy boys singing their feelings that made this one Love Sick for the modern age with all the gentle sweetness and pining ache, but none of the dated damaging tropes or issues. Yes, we’ve seen it all before, but I still ADORED this. And there is a lot to be said for the classics being re-executed perfectly. This show was fantastic, it’s only flaw was the singing (and that’s my baggage). My favourite GMMTV BL offering to date. And yes, I've watched them ALL.

From your list this is most tonally similar to 2gether.

Our Dining Table AKA Bokura no Shokutaku (Japan Gaga)

Lonely salaryman and talented cook (Inukai Atsuhiro - Absolute BL et al) gets accidentally adopted by a college kid and his little brother. I was always gonna love the show if they stuck to the manga (which is very dear to my heart). And they did, paralleling it almost exactly. It’s a quiet & cozy little parable of found family alleviating loneliness. Possibly too slow for some but definitely high up there for me with the best of what Japan can do. It’s only flaw (if I dare say such a thing) is that it is not really “romantic.” Lovely & sweet but the romance beats are being used to build a family relationship, not couple intimacy, it’s OK with me, but not totally BL.

From your list this on is most tonally similar to ... erm ... none, this is a new creature. Might not work for you.

The New Employee (Korea Viki)

So good, SO QUEER, so soft, a near pitch perfect office BL with conflict derived from that setting. Also found family and a lesbian bestie. Sweet & innocent (and out) Seung Hyun scores the office internship of his dreams. On his first day at work he gets into it with his cool reserved (and also v gay) boss. As you do. Frankly? This is what I wanted from this new crop of office set KBLs ALL ALONG.

From your list this is most tonally similar to we best love

Unintentional Love Story (Korea iQIYI)

A boy who just lost his job due to faked corruption charges accidentally discovers his ex-boss's favorite artist, now a recluse. Evil manager offers him his job back if he can convince the artist to rejoin society. Instead, they fall in love. I found the artist character a bit stiff and reserved but Gongchan (maknae of B1A4) is a fucking GIFT as the harried salaryman - he carried this show (which I do not expect from the idol). He was luminous with extraordinarily expressive eyes, just drown in the emoting abyss. The external conflict, social tension and pressure is complex and beautifully executed, plus Korea gave us legit side dishes (NOT a love triangle, hally-fucking-luya).

From your list this is most tonally similar to tale of thousand stars

The Eighth Sense (Korea Viki)

One of the longest BLs Korea has given us and it feels more atmospheric gay coming of age romance than strictly BL. It’s got a bit of an age gap, country boy/city boy, stellar acting, complex characters, and leads with great chemistry and tension. It’s a bit chewy and sticky and less perfect than most KBLs (do I detect a touch of Taiwan?) This one deployed BL tropes (messy eater, shoulder sleep, protective seme, there’s even some hyung-slinging) but front loaded them with painful backstory and tons angst drives the 2nd half. This isn’t in the KBL bubble, there’s sharp edges and lots of triggers. For a BL the darkness of the content left me feeling unsettled (which is the only reason it didn't get a perfect score) but it does have a glorious ending and is HUGELY romantic, that counts for a lot.

From your list this is most tonally similar to to my star 1 & 2. But it's quite heavy so... make sure you're int the right mood.

#asked and answered #best of 2023 BLs #recommended bls #new bls #bls to get you back into bl #this new crop is pretty darn good #2023 is doing us proud #korean bl #thai bl #japanese bl #Our Dating Sim #Love Tractor #my school president #Bokura no Shokutaku #The New Employee #Unintentional Love Story #The Eighth Sense

[thisloveislikeabattle]

for no reason whatsoever my brain immediately assumed that the halloween party would happen towards the end of episode 8, or at least in the second half

the police arriving at the party and the problem with the drugs, along with all the theories about who called the cops and if anybody's gonna be arrested, feels to me like an end-of-episode moment. classic cliffhanger, right?

and maybe that's really how things are gonna happen but maybe not, because I noticed that some scenes in the preview for next ep can only make sense if we consider them happening after the party

that's way I have a little theory based on that:

1. this specific topmew scene

we can see them in their university clothes (idk how to call them, is there a better term?), in what kinda looks like a bathroom to me but that's not really important, so maybe they meet after class? I'm focusing on this because top's sentence leads me to believe this is after we get to actually see mew's bad state at the party

2. the nick and papang interaction

we don't know yet if nick's scenes with papang are actually related to nick's plan to earn boston's forgiveness, that's what the preview makes me think but the only friends previews have always been pretty deciveing on purpose. what really matters to me anyway is the shirt nick is wearing in that second scene tho, and the assumption that it also takes place after the party

3. sand starts to take some distance from ray

after the raymew dance scene, and the talk with ray outside yolo, we can see that sand is actually starting to walk away from ray– he's finally setting some boundaries, not letting ray walk all over him. those two scenes, both taking place at night, are the only sandray scenes we are shown– sand and ray are the only ones that don't have a daytime scene in the preview

now to my final theory, after considering all the above (and in case you're wondering, yes, the previous ones were points to give my main theory context and recipes) :

that sandray scene from the series' trailer

if the halloween party happens relatively early in the episode, and if the scenes we see of the guys in university are after that, we could finally have this 0:02 seconds scene from the trailer in our hands.

it all makes sense to me: ray showing how selfish and possessive he truly is as soon as he notices sand getting away, not caring at all about how he's been hurting him all this time– and we can see that from sand's expression.

also thinking about sand being like "we cannot be friends we were never friends" / "fuck it I'm gonna kiss this guy just because he's also dressed as freddie mercury" / "i'm not one of your options ray", at which point ray could start to realize sand really means it and be like "you're not going anywhere".

now, I don't know if anyone else had the same initial thought as me or if from the start it was pretty clear to everybody that some scenes are supposed to happen post-party– that wasn't my case tho so i wanted to share it even if in the end I might be totally wrong

#here's my monday theory #only friends the series #only friends series #ofts #only friends #sandray #raysand #topmew #bostonnick #ofts sand #ofts ray #ofts top #ofts mew #ofts nick #only friends spoilers #only friends meta

[gayshrug]

pit babe ep 8 thoughts

(a peteken obsession was born)

first of all: i cannot believe i have to wait another week for the next episode. how am i meant to focus on anything when The Thing might happen but ALSO the other thing. things are happening. i am stressed and horny.

- i am sooooooo in love with kim. i know i say that every week but holy fuck his strength of character is admirable. i have no idea how the kimkenta thing is going to develop when kenta hasn't even started his redemption arc yet. HOWEVER........ that look™ between them when kim was bloodied, beaten and thrown into the elevator............ yeah.

- ALANJEFF. my angels. so much open communication from them both. i can't believe all it took for jeff to open up was one (1) handsome older guy in a tank top with kind eyes and open ears. that boy needs someone to lean on so badly. he's done so much reflecting. him finding a place of comfort in alan, no expectations or ulterior motives, is so important. (also low key worried alan is gonna turn jeff down at first re: the preview but we move.)

(- unrelated but i'm a nose guy and sailub's nose.......... amazing. can't stop staring at him.)

- GIVE ME MORE OF JUNE. those arm garters. holy fuck. are they a staple in his wardrobe or did they shoot both bar scenes the same day

- way in his villain was to be expected but him straight up implying he's gonna carry out an evil plan to his SPONSOR is insane. like, apparently pete knows way more than he should so he isn't surprised in the slightest but way shouldn't know that 😭 like girl are you so set on your revenge and bitterness that you're willing to throw your team's finances to the wolves as well (the answer is yes) (he's gonna do way worse things) (i'm excited)

- i love jeff and charlie's bond. jeff's doomsday thinking (which.... is warrented, lbr) and charlie's optimism should be clashing but i think they ground each other.

(- Not A Fan of how often charlie expressed that he'd do and risk anything for babe in this episode. yeah it's foreshadowing and He Means It but i love him so much. thinking about what might happen, keeping in mind jeff's visions, makes me so anxious. charlie is my puppy.)

- PETE AND KENTA. listen. he called him ken. those looks. the exasperation from kenta and the calmness from pete. there's history there. FUCK. i wish we didn't already know that pete/way will be a thing because the chemistry in that scene..... holy fuck. idk if they're ever gonna address it but in my mind, they're 100% exes who split due to external circumstances (kenta staying with tony because of his low self-esteem, pete needing to leave because of his conscience and need for independence). there's obviously still lingering feelings. i could eat off that tension for a lifetime.

- also pretty sure that garfield could have chemistry with a tree

- i saw someone wondering why there was so much (undried) blood in kim's hotel room and like. yeah. but, because i like to make excuses for the shows i enjoy, to me it was A Trap. they made it easy for them to figure out where kim had been staying. they left the door unlocked. they staged The Crime Scene to be as dramatic as possible in order for whoever would come to investigate to have Lots To Look At. so they could get them, too, while they were distracted. tony was watching a recording of that hotel footage almost in real time, wasn't he?

- tony seems to be stupid as hell, not gonna lie. are the cogs just now starting to turn?????? girl

- charlie starting to get acquainted with babe's senses is so cool. like, yeah, he can't really utilise them well yet but. baby steps. he is our collective baby after all.

- the amount of charliebabe protecting each other and throwing punches at goons in this episode gave me so much serotonin. dream team with maybe a handful of brain cells between them

- i love jeff but him going back to tony's mansion a) after he just told alan he'd never be dragged back there and b) seemingly without telling anybody about it is sooooo frustrating. babygirl this wouldn't have ended well in any universe

- all i could think when kenta was pressing jeff against that wall and deleting his Exposing Way message was "i wish that was me". the arms 🥴🥴🥴

- i need somebody, ANYBODY, (preferably pete or kim) to give kenta a convincing reason to leave. like, he's obviously conflicted but tony's abuse has its grips on him. tightly. like, i KNOW that man cries himself to sleep every night but maybe the tender touch of another man could heal him

- i had to pause the charliebabe doctor scene sooo many times (and then rewatched it for half an hour). i'm too fucking single for this. their little faces and banter and Visible Love-Eyes. have some mercy on me.

- that being said... we've had public sex. breeding kink. mommy/daddy kink. now medical kink. (scenting is a given.) is anyone doing ao3 tag bingo

- alan noticing that jeff's not there and being worried about him even though it hasn't even been a full day is so 🥺

- i felt so bad for andy like. a fucking GPS bracelet? the guy who's bought him seemed creepy as hell. they named him so i hope we're gonna get to see them free him (and hopefully other kids) too.

- good on way for helping out the boys when they were in a pinch but. i can't help but feel like everything he does has an ulterior motive now, despite (or maybe especially?) because of his talk with babe earlier

- charliebabe looked so fucking good in those maroon shirts 🧍🏼‍♂️

- how i'm tryna be:

might make this my new header somewhere.

- NORTH AND SONIC. my little gremlins. i still feel so bad about underappreciating them at the start of the show. their romantic tension is so good and silly and they were out there risking their lives with less than zero of a plan 😭 sweet boys

- winner is such a loser. he wins at losing. over and over again. it's so much fun.

- listen........ i get that they had to get away from the goons (thank u alan) but.... could they not have grabbed kim at the last second 😭 there was a truck between winner/the gun and kim and the goon, was there not? it's self-preservation above all else but........ my baby got a kick to the fucking face 🧍🏼‍♂️

- jeff with the sneaky escape plan 👁️👄👁️

[preview talk]

- JEFF WITH THE LIES TO GET AWAY FROM TONY 👁️👄👁️

- way being the one (1) enigma basically confirms what he's there to do and. uhhhhhh. if we're also getting The Incident in next week's episode or episode 10 then...... he might actually try. [throws up in my mouth]

- ALANJEFF? jeff being the one initiating contact for once? "alan's boy"?????????????????????

- charlie talking in that deep voice, the Mirror Scene Preview, him throwing his head back. uhhhhhh. i rewinded that more times than i'd like to admit. make that scene 5 minutes long please 💓

- didn't jeff have a vision of tony killing someone with a katana. why was he pulling that while in his office. (hopefully not) while talking to jeff lol

idk how they do it but i'm even more excited/ scared for next week's episode than i was for this one. it's about to get bonkers

#is this my longest one yet. i don't even care anymore #give me some petekenta backstory please god #pit babe the series #pit babe #thai bl

[bcbdrums]

Top 10 Soul Eater episodes?

As in, favorite episodes?? Or best episodes??

I'll do...favorites I guess? If that's even possible my gosh... I'm hard-pressed at this point to find any I don't like, and others are like...yes this one and this one and this one and this one.... Like the whole underground battle series of like seven??? Is just one giant episode to me, lol.

ANYWAY.... FAVORITE Top Ten episodes, listed in airing order not a ranking cuz that's impossible, lol.

Now, to absolutely no one's surprise...

These are all Stein and/or Spirit feature episodes. Except maybe two. Here we gooooo!

Episode 4: "Engage the Witch Hunter! A Remedial Lesson in the Graveyard?"

Why a fave? Okay well first of all...we get to see the four main characters fighting together against an enemy. The episode starts with the feeling of...okay, here we go... Like setting the tone of the anime after the concept and chars have been introduced. Gonna be a monster of the week thing, fighting new enemies and collecting souls. Like Digimon but not you know?

So we see awesome techniques from both Maka and Black Star and Sid as a char is super creative, so it's all that stuff to start with. And then...then we start to get that tiny bit of backstory at the end about Spirit and Stein and it's like, wait say what now?? The red-head is more than a comic drunk deadbeat dad? So then...

Episode 5: "Shape of the Soul – Enter the Ultimate Meister, Stein?"

Yeah okay... I mean. Obviously. We see Stein and it's like whoa that design is creepy this guy is creepy and then we hear Spirit blubbering drunkenly about the past and it's like creepy and oh snap I am now sympathetic to Spirit and there is a far deeper backstory going on here with these adults cuz we had the privilege of seeing Sid alive before you know and suddenly he's dead in the prior ep so mystery and...yeah. And then it's very much presented as wow...Stein is...unbeatable. They're doomed. And that twist ending I was just as much huh??? as Soul was and I just. Got captivated by the backstory.

Episode 7: "Black-blooded Terror – There's a Weapon inside Crona?"

More Spirit and Stein stuff. I swear that hospital scene was my favorite scene in the entire show for the longest time. It's hilarious, I still crack up watching it. The toes thing is just... And that way too long dramatic pause and camera pull before he reveals the divorce, and Stein freaking already knows and just...yeah I'm getting giddy thinking about it. But ALSO it's like, okay...now we've departed from the casual anime silliness. We skipped the 30+ eps of growth like Digimon and went straight to the big major character issue. Which you know, makes sense the further into the anime we go for this anime. But...yeah. It gets. Real. Not kids anymore. Crona with Ragnarok are hilarious I love them, and Crona is highkey relatable; Crona is every teenager to exist ever. But yeah then Soul's sacrifice, for Maka... It's just...wow. Yeah it got real.

Episode 8: "The Witch Medusa – Bearer of the Great Terrible Soul?"

Truthfully, probably my favorite episode as things stand right now. My mind may change later. Why? Because obviously...Spirit and Stein get to fight together. We get to see what the future is... It's like seeing the past in Star Wars, the very beginning of Ep. 1 you know where we see Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan fight and it's like...yessss this is how things are supposed to be in a world that isn't broken. Seeing Stein and Spirit fight together like that is just... Yeah my heart is pounding thinking about how insanely awesome that is. Also Stein is hot. Plus more of that...not kids anymore. Maka's pure terror at sensing Medusa's soul, seeing her...seeing what a real witch is. Like yeah kid the little kishin egg monsters and magical cats you've been playing with are nothing. Maka realizes the world of meisters and weapons she's in is quite a bit different than her experience so far. And can we talk about how Maka wasn't going to leave Soul's side??? Was just gonna take the hit and die right beside him, because he died for her??? MY HEART! Also Stein is hot yes I know I said it already it bears repeating and man that...seriousness...the way Stein looks at Medusa, the way the witch knows who they are which in itself shows a greater threat... That utter gravity that falls over that moment at the end there, after Stein blocks her attack and it's like....oh snap. Now what? Not to mention all the new tiny details we get about soul resonance and the possibilities and how a weapon can take on features of their meister in the special attacks! (Spirit takes on stitches here on the witch hunter blade, and in the last episodes he takes on Lord Death's skull face on the kishin hunter blade. That's so cool...) Okay I have to stop. I could go on. Like I said...favorite episode as things stand right now.

Episode 13: "The Man with the Magic Eye – Soul and Maka's Diverging Soul Wavelength?"

This one surprised me because initially I didn't care for it. I don't care for Free's design, shark!wolf just doesn't appeal to me. But over time this really grew on me. The writing is excellent and soooooo many major things happen. We get the first bit of touching on the morality issue, like, is DWMA really the correct moral power? Free says something about it and then it becomes a bigger theme going forward. We get the beginning of the black blood effects and the battle against/with it and the start of what all that means... The start of the "acceptance" theme even if it isn't named. We hear Soul's piano for the first time even though it isn't named as such until Brew. We get to see Soul and Maka both so confused but both so dedicated to each other, and the maturing starting to happen, that needs to still happen... It's a huge ep for their relationship. And also...Eruka. I love Eruka. All things Eruka. Any episode with Eruka is a delight. But yeah this episode is just SO deep and excellent, it needs more love. (Also in the candle room fight if you listen close we hear that Spirit has an outy belly button and I'm just alksjdahkjghsd how silly.)

Episode 14: "The Super Written Exam – Heart-Pounding, Reeling, and Restless. You're Kidding!?"

Ehhh heheheh...heheh... Pure absurdity. Pure comedic awesomeness. Everything about this episode. I love things where many characters are featured in more than a cameo and get real attention. We see more of all their homes, more of what they do and who they are when not in battle... Spirit being an absolute fool... That hilarious buildup timer to the end of the exam... Blair ruining what should have been something GOOD agh silly cat I'm still annoyed, lol. I'm not gonna say much here since I said so much about the last episode but man, yeah. Just pure comedy gold, I never ever tire of this episode. "Giraffe, giraffe~" Heheheh.

Episode 23: "Dead or Alive – In the Rift between Revival and Dazzlement?"

Okay like I said before... The entire underground battle, starting with the anniversary party, I consider one giant episode. I name all of those as favorites. I selected this one for here because it's where we get some of Stein's backstory I think? Flashback to he and Spirit as young teens, and we learn where Stein's mental state really is. We get to see more of his and Spirit's dynamic, how they work together both successfully and less successfully... Many headcanons borne of this battle in this episode. My gosh I just...can't put it into words in any brief way. I could write an epic length post breaking down nearly every line, look, gesture... And is this also the episode where the kishin emerges and my gosh if that isn't the creepiest most suspenseful moment I've ever seen. Also, we see more of Eruka! I adore her. And Free. But yeah whole episode... Fantastic.

Episode 25: "The Death Scythes Convene – Stop Dad's Staff Reassignment!?"

And this episode...also silly and ridiculous, but awesome because we get to see a little more of the "adult" side of the DWMA and how things operate. Comedically yes, cuz Soul Eater is a comedy, but still there's quite a bit of seriousness too. Stein's madness as a plot point... But my gosh... Marie, Azusa... Justin... The dynamic between all the adults. I would give ANYTHING for a prequel anime where we get to see all these complete idiots in the academy and how it all went down between them. And my gosh we've had plenty backstory teased already with Stein's experiments against Spirit, Sid and baby Black Star... Seeing the adults as kids would be the perfect "reboot" series for me. Plus that basketball ending, bringing it all full-circle in terms of...okay, here we are again, and here we go again... Onto the next phase of the show/of our lives. It's a fantastic turning-point episode and I never tire of it.

Episode 31: "Drying Happiness! Whose Tears Sparkle in the Moonlight?"

This one...so much happens here. We get delightful glimpses of normal life, we get the reminder that Soul plays piano which becomes important quite soon... We get the comedy of Spirit having to parrot Lord Death to Justin because they just won't make the kid take out his earbuds! We get a moment of Crona and Ragnarok actually getting along and having a normal conversation and ohhh myyyy gosshhhhhh I wish we'd had more of that in the show. I adore Ragnarok. But then...ugh. The saga of pain that begins. You get everyone reaching out, you get to see Crona happy... Marie after wandering around lost, saying if there's ever anything you need... Later inviting Crona to her home... Only to be betrayed. And the absolute skill and execution of the writing as they make us believe for a moment that Marie is okay in returning the pen...and then it's revealed that Crona put a snake in the coffee. Just. Oh man. Ugh the pain. Whyyyy Crona whyyy when you had the entire academy to back you up, everyone on your side, full protection from friends, from a death scythe who trusted you to invite to her home, from Lord Death who gave you a second chance... But you still betrayed them all. And then of course, that little snake then is the catalyst for SO much of what happens in the next episodes... Big deal. This ep is so huge. So many different feels...

Episode 40: "The Cards Are Cut – Medusa Surrenders to the DWMA?"

Spirit feature, Spirit feature! I like getting to see a little more of Spirit's responsibilities other than hovering at Lord Death's shoulder waiting 800 years bound to Death City what the heck his poor death scythes for battles that will never come. I know logically he has other jobs as the death scythe, but it's nice to see him doing some of it and more of his relationship with Lord Death (those two raised their children side by side I mean come on there's so much comedic opportunity here). Also the sheer TENSION in the episode from the fact it's Medusa, and Maka's reaction, and Stein's reaction, and then the deal at the end... It's like...okay this is a serious tone-shift and no clue now what is coming. It's a lot of weight all at once leaving me feel like I'm in a whirlwind and kicks off the final arcs of the show and...yeah. This is a good one.

Also hey guess what!

Turning this ask into a tag game! So...what are your top ten favorite episodes??

@midnightcaptions @memethebum @chickycherrycola @blackbloodteeth @mellancholy-morose @beeejayy (that's right Sunny start interacting with fandom LOL) @takeyourcyanide @cannibal-nightmares

AND...anybody else who wants to take this on! Have fun!

And BONUS... Any and all episodes with Excalibur are awesome and if you don't love him you are wrong. That's okay you're allowed to be, you do you. 😘

#soul eater #maka albarn #soul evans #soul eater evans #franken stein #spirit albarn #excalibur #crona #marie mjolnir #sid barett #sid barrett #lord death #shinigami #stein #spirit #death scythe #free #eruka #medusa #medusa gorgon #crona gorgon #ragnarok #justin law #azusa yumi #black star #death the kid #dtk #black*star #liz thompson #patty thompson

[thispatternismine]

ATLA live action impressions part 2

Following on from last night's post, here are my impressions of eps 5-8

Still really loved it. Gonna be tarred & feathered for this but I actually like it better than the animated show

Highlights:

Ozai giving Zuko credit for finding the Avatar. There's this weird idea in the fandom that Ozai never intended to take Zuko back. Even though we saw him do exactly that at the beginning of Book 3. Yes he set an impossible task, but when Zuko (apparently) achieved it, he was like 'ok yeah cool - you have met my standards'. Sure, there's no way Zuko would have continued to meet those standards if he'd stuck around, but Ozai did actually keep his word. The fact that he does it to make sure Azula knows she's overstepped & remind her she's replaceable, is an especially nice touch

Getting to see how Azula is treated by her father. I've seen way too many people try to claim Azula was never abused because she wasn't literally set on fire like he was. Never mind that she avoided that fate only because she was able to meet his standards. And having to constantly strive to meet the standards set by someone who thinks 'find a guy who's been missing for a century' is a suitable task to set his kid is abuse.

Another annoying tendency of the fandom is to flanderise Ozai into some diabolical caricature who spends all his time thinking up new ways to torment poor Zuzu, so having that scene of him banishing Zuko was a nice touch. He genuinely believes he is being a good dad & raising his kid to be strong (note: This isn't me saying Ozai is right - I'm saying he thinks he's right.)

The 41st Division 😭

Iroh & Ozai interacting with each other

Gyatso!

I spy some female soldiers! A problem with the animated show was that it's all well & good deciding that the Fire Nation has female soldiers, but bias is a thing & 99.9% of the time if you ask someone to draw a soldier it'll be a man. Yeah sure they all stayed to guard the Fire Nation that's why we didn't see any till Book 3 suuure

"Anything you need." "It has to do with Koh." "Anything but that." DYING

Aang's whole speech to Zuko about how helpful his notebook was (let's be real Iroh probably sighed & told him it was a waste of time so this was the first time he heard 'Hey good job on the Avatar research!') & the way they bonded before he unwittingly set Zuko off

"Quit it before they think there's something wrong with you. More than there already is."

"The Firelord deems your performance... below average." OOF. Pretty sure that's the worst thing you can possibly say to Azula. She'd much rather be told she sucked outright than just 'meh'

Waterbender Yue

Non-arsehole Hahn

Using Kuruk lore from the Kyoshi books!

I like the changes to the NWT siege. Having the spirits' mortality be an occasional, temporary thing to gain an appreciation of life that occurs during a full moon when the powers of those who will protect them in that state are at their peak, makes more sense than permanent vulnerability that relies on nobody finding out. Also never made sense that a naval officer was stationed in a fucking desert & was able to just take time off to go through a spirit library, so having Zhao find his info from the Fire Sages works better IMO. I do hope we'll still get the spirit library though

Ozai's lil eyetwitch when Azula backtalked him like if you agree

Haven't mentioned yet but I love the costumes in this

Also never mentioned Momo, the Real Hero of ATLA

Sokka continues to be awesome

Lowlights:

June calling Iroh cute & fawning over him. Normally I'd think it's unfair for the live action version of a character to be held accountable for what the animated version did, but this leaves a bad taste in my mouth. Like og!Iroh's groping of June being treated like a joke has been called out many times so they fucking had to know what they were doing

Why isn't Azula's fire blue? We got like 1 second of it & that's it. Maybe consistent blue flames are a power up she'll obtain later idk

#atla #zuko #azula #ozai #aang

[invisiblegarters]

Only Friends Character Rankings - Ep 8

Decided to start titling these with the episode but dear god now I have to go back and fix them and apparently I am not consistent with my tagging (shocker), so probably that won't happen. We'll just move forward.

Last week Sand pissed me off, Ray managed to get what he wanted while still kinda looking like a loser (and making Boston either a prophet or just someone who knows Ray way too fucking well), and Mew won the ep by being impressively unhinged in his revenge and making the supremely dumb (and messy) choice to date Ray. I enjoyed the visuals but also couldn't stop laughing because you know Book was bending his knees so he could do the forehead touching and neck nuzzling with Khaotung. It must have looked so awkward.

ANYwho, let's get to it, shall we?

Disclaimer because I'm gonna need it this time: these are my opinions only and do not necessarily reflect what the show is trying to do or the characters' actual motivations. While I try to take a step back as much as possible while doing these my biases and personal experiences are still going to come into play and today I'm more frustrated than usual.

You've been warned.

Characters (Fave to Least Fave atm)

Sand. Look, I was terrified about what he would be doing this episode last week. I worked myself into a whole lather about it. But he was awesome here. He set clear boundaries and stuck to them, he rebuffed Ray at every turn. He tried to move on with his Freddie Mercury soul twin. Or at least hook up which I would love for him, everyone else gets to at least kiss someone else why hasn't Sand, huh? WHY HAVEN'T YOU LET SAND KISS ANYONE BUT RAY, SHOW THIS IS WORKING MY NERVES PLEASE TAKE HIM OUT OF COLD STORAGE. *ahem*. Frankly he exceeded my expectations.

So I want to know what all the people dragging him for not doing enough fucking want. Do you want him to hit Ray over the head with his guitar (me too but we all know he hasn't been pushed that far yet)? Leave the country? Change schools? What?

He's trying. This whole episode was him trying to let Ray and whatever hopes he may have harbored about him go with as much dignity as he could - yes he was softer about it than I would have been, but Sand's just like that. He is taking responsibility for his own damn feelings the way he always does and he's trying to deal with them alone, away from Ray, without causing fuss. Ray's the one hounding the shit out of him right now. If it's about him running to help him with the cops, well, I sort of get it but not really - Sand would have done that for anyone he cares about, and he knows damn good and well if Ray's caught with coke after he just got into trouble for drinking and driving his dad might not even be able to get him out of it. He'd have done the same for Nick guys (not that he'd have to but my point stands). You can't just turn caring off because the person you care about sucks. And he could have stayed and babied him and he chose to leave and baby Nick instead, and to me that feels important.

Although it might be about the preview, which okay, fair. And if it is I can't throw stones because the preview for this ep had me incandescent with rage last week.

Beyond all that, though, I just want to know: has anyone ever taken care of this man? Because it feels like no. Every relationship in his life, form his mom to Ray to Nick, even to Yo in this ep, he winds up playing caretaker. The shoulder. The one people rely on. It bothers me that he seems to have no one to lean on in turn, and I doubt he's gonna get that at all in the run of this show.

Boston. I love Boston I will never stop. He didn't do a lot today but everything he did do was great. Pining over NIck but still shutting him down, genuinely listening to Atom, showing up to a party with all the friends who hate him right now and being like "yeah, my place too, suck it." Hands down my favorite conversation this ep was between him and Top - something about it felt so oddly playful. Well, you know, for Boston. It felt like whatever hang up he had with Top, it's gone now, which makes me think once again that it was less about him than Mew. Also he did this:

and it made me cackle.

He's gonna fuck Atom and piss Cheum off but Atom's a big boy so I'm not really that bothered by it. That said, it was funny to watch him hesitate for once. Like hm, this could go badly. And then Atom was like "so?" and that was that, lol. Oh, Boston.

Mew. Oh, Mew. I was so disappointed when I saw him doing lines with Ray. This is not the way I wanted you to spiral, babe. But I did call it. He wanted Ray to make him forget how he feels about Top, but Ray can't do that because Mew is about as into him as he is the wall. In fact he might be more into the wall, if possible. It was certainly a trip watching his face every time Ray got affectionate. And when Ray isn't working, what does he turn to next? Alcohol. Drugs. Anything to help him pretend he's moving on. "Habits (Stay High)" is Mew's song this episode.

But in the end it won't last, I firmly believe that. Mew will boomerang back to himself, maybe not as gullible as he calls it, maybe a little less uptight, but yeah. He's not going to keep wearing Ray's persona like his own little Halloween costume. He's got too good a foundation for that, has been too firmly rooted by the love of his parents and even his friends (yes, his friends, they might not be good for each other but all of them try to be good to him save perhaps Boston I said what I said).

Although we still have four eps so I doubt it'll happen soon.

Top. I just don't get the need to hate on this guy. It's getting super old. I think he's really trying - he clearly cares about Mew, and he's cared for a while, and he wants him to be happy even if it's not with him. Weird to me how when Ray said the same everyone bought into it, but when Top does it it's sus. Especially when Ray demonstrably couldn't even keep to that claim, lol.

But I digress. Maybe I'll have egg on my face in two episodes or whatever, but I feel for him. And I believe that he actually cares about Mew. You don't just stand there and take all the things that Top took from Mew this ep and then turn around and take care of someone when they're drunk and high and their new boyfriend is nowhere to be found to do the thing they promised they'd do better than anyone else. Maybe he'll do something beyond the pale in the next ep and that will be that, but right now he's putting his money where his mouth is in regards to Mew and I have to commend him for that. I am curious if he will continue doing so if Mew tells him to leave him be and means it - has he done that? Because as far as I can recall he has not, which is telling.

He was stand up this ep, but he does lose a few points for cuddling Mew while he was incapacitated. Because Mew would definitely not want that were he awake and sober (or well he would but he would still say no and that's the point).

Popular theory is that he called the cops. If he did, I basically say *shrug*

The Lesbians. Yes they are an entity leave me be. I am not one who thinks that Cheum was entirely wrong, although I do think that there's a time and place and maybe while someone is being pinned down by the cops isn't it. She is wrong that Ray is dragging Mew down with him. Ray isn't doing that, Mew is happily sliding all on his own. Well, not so happily but the choice is still his. Ray is enabling it, yes, but of course he is. One, it's Mew. Ray has no idea how to tell Mew no. Two, Ray does all these things himself. Of course he's gonna be okay with Mew doing them too, because not only does it reinforce his own shitty habits, it give him one less person telling him they're shitty. I agree with fandom that Cheum is not Ray's friend, not really. But Ray isn't hers either. Both of them care about Mew. The end.

April though was the real MVP of the two of them. Woman speaks sense, both about Mew and about the situation with Ray. I think probably because the only person she really cares about here is Cheum, so it's easier for her to step back and see the others from a more neutral place.

Nick. Still out here trying to earn the gold in the simp category of the messy Olympics. The brass balls he had to go up to Boston like he did, though. Like. Okay. I still think you're insane but I can respect that. HIs hurt face when Boston shut him down didn't get to me this ep, but his Halloween costume was cute.

Daddy Dan is gonna be a problem. I can't wait. Every time that man smiles I'm like danger, will robinson, and yet I'm so ready for Nick to walk right into that thinking that he's moving on and finding that he stepped into something he can't handle.

Ray. This happy motherfucker.

Where do I even start with this one. He has Mew just like he always wanted and he can't even give it fifteen minutes before he's bugging Sand. Like dude. Come on. Give the poor guy a break please. But of course Ray won't - all he's thinking is that he can have Mew for boyfriend and Sand to make him feel better about himself. It's...frustrating to watch.

But also he was so pathetic everywhere this ep that I don't think I've ever liked him more. He's such a loser, I'm sorry but not really. Like it cracks me up that Sand gets shit on for wanting him and Nick gets shit on for wanting Boston but I'm supposed to feel bad for this dude? Nah. At least Sand and Nick haven't stopped quite so low as to be the willing rebound for a dude that clearly doesn't want them yet (I mean, Nick so would. Sand...not so much. More on this later).

Relationships (Fave to Least Fave atm)

TopMew. I actually think these two might be able to make it work. They're the only couple I think this about now.

They love each other guys. Sorry but it's true. Maybe Mew won't be able to get over the Boston of it all, and if he can't he can't. But he wouldn't be spiraling this hard if he didn't still love Top - he certainly wouldn't have looked at him the way he did in the hostel kitchen with his defenses down, high and miserable and sick and hurting so badly and still in love despite his best efforts. And he wouldn't need to hurt him so damn badly, either. And Top loves him back.

Now all the masks are off. Whether or not they work together that way remains to be seen.

YoPlug. Look you leave Yo alone Jojo I am not kidding. I know you were being all clever and showing Sand his closed off future (which again, wouldn't be happening if people didn't hurt him, Ray), but I'm not having her crying on my screen. You stop that.

That said, as short as it was the breakdown of the relationship felt too real. Sometimes loneliness becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy, but what are you supposed to do when every time you put your heart out it comes back a little less whole?

Nick and Sand. Can they please make out. So far Sand is the only one of these six dudes who hasn't so much as kissed anyone other than his OG pair (I'm counting the preview to slide Nick in here, sue me), and I for one am sick of it. You better pay me back for this insult with Sand getting his mouth (and hands) all over everyone soon. Starting with this guy.

Even if they don't kiss on the mouth (RUDE), I do love how they support each other. Sand led Nick out of that hostel like "yes you are crazy friend but we're all a little crazy in love, lean on me and I'll get you home." And I love that for them.

BostonNick. Boston catching feelings? Who would have thought (me, forever ago, lol. I said Nick might sneak in under the radar because Boston was so sure he couldn't possibly, and it looks like I might have been right). The fact that he knows that Nick was the one who told Mew about the sex tape because Nick was the only one he told. Good times. The way he shuts Nick down in spite of the fact that he clearly misses him. Also good times. I genuinely can't wait to see what they do next.

RayMew & RaySand. Putting them together because they're like pb&j for this show. Can't have one without the other rearing it's ugly head. Yes, I said that right.

Ray and Mew were exactly the dumpster fire most of us expected (I'd say all of us but I know there were some people out there who were hoping they wouldn't be - I see you and I appreciate you). Mew is wild out here not even being able to hide how little he enjoys Ray's boyfriendly attentions, and even I had to wince when Ray was waiting for him to say "I love you" back and he just kind a looked at him like "That's...nice." Dude couldn't even kiss him unless he was performing for Top (and okay look, in context the kiss was not great. Out of context? Book and Khao BL when please?).

People seem to think he and Mew are going to be over at some point next ep, but I'm not entirely sure (although after watching the preview again I do think it's more likely than I thought at first, seeing as Mew is flirting with some dude and I don't think he'd do that if he and Ray were still pretending they might actually be able to manage a relationship when only one of them wants one - I could be wrong but I don't think so, even though he does not care for Ray like that I think Mew would be uber sensitive about it considering). That said, if it's Mew who ends it it's gonna feel like we're just doing yet another lap of the same damn track and I wish they'd change the record already. What is it Sand said? Moving on in a circle? Yeah.

Khaotung did say that Ray is selfish and won't stop until he gets what he wants, and I guess we're seeing it this ep. I was so annoyed with him getting up in Sand's space all the time, like dude. You have a whole ass boyfriend (as Sand kept helpfully reminding him). STOP. But he won't stop. Because why should he, right. If he pokes enough Sand'll just give in and then he can have his cake and eat it.

Everything Ray did and said to Sand at that party was awful (although I did get a kick out of him literally running up to pull Sand and the other Freddie apart like the pitter patter of his shoes on the floor combined with just watching him bolt that few feet to prevent lips from touching KILLED me I had to pause the video to cackle with sheer delight this absolute fuckass of a man (surprisingly affectionate)).

He really needs to quit kissing people that don't want him to, please. Like, yesterday. Damn, Ray. Also say what you like, defend it how you want, but trust me Mew would not be happy with any of what he was pulling at the party. Mew IS DATING HIM because Top did something very like, and Ray's big draw was that he would never. And here he is proving Mew spectacularly wrong.

He doesn't want a threesome and he doesn't want polyamory. He wants to play at being Hugh Heffner.

And while I wouldn't buy it of Mew, I totally believe Ray would tell Sand that he and Mew were done to get him back where he wants him. Sand said I won't be your second choice and Ray heard but he didn't listen, he never listens, and I feel like if he's not careful he's gonna push that man into doing something incredibly destructive in the next four episodes. I actually want to be wrong here - I'd like it more if the huge trailer fight wasn't about Mew at all - but the show seems to really want to make glue out of the RayMewSand love triangle horse so I guess we'll have to wait and see.

If I had my druthers since I guess we're doing round three of this, it wouldn't be Ray lying or going back to old reliable when Mew finally admits that he's just not that into him, but a genuine attempt to try to be together with admitted feelings on both sides. And then it would be Sand who does something to fuck it up. If I have to go through this yet again I want Ray to be all in and shattered for once. But let's be real here, this show never gives me what I want (Am I still bitter Top and Sand weren't exes? You bet your ass. I still think Top and Sand should hatefuck or there should be a flashback to a threesome with them and the ex okay it's just what should happen show why do you hate fun) so I'm not holding my breath.

In Conclusion

Things went both better and worse than I expected. Everyone here is a mess and I still have hope for that baseball bat.

Please for the love of all that is good in the world let Sand fuck.

#only friends #only friends the series #rankings

[guiltymepleasures]

[Series Review] Trillion Game (2023)

8/10

Full disclosure. I saw so many clips of this that I decided to watch it. And yes, I decided to watch the live-action of My Happy Marriage because of those clips too.

I already saw it on Netflix and was curious but I didn't really want to add it to my long "to-watch" list. But here we are.

I only know two things when I decided to click on that first ep: one, that it was based on a manga and two, that the two actors from My Happy Marriage were here.

The premise was so preposterous you just know you're setting yourself up for yet another drama with impossible feats - and I wasn't wrong. There is no way their start-up company would rise up that quickly. But hey, I stayed for the cast.

Meguro Ren played one-half of the duo, the mastermind and master manipulator, Tennoji Haru, and he did it splendidly. I haven't read the manga so I couldn't really compare it but he gave off that conman street smarts with skills to the dot. He was awfully smiley here too so that was a bonus.

The other half, Taira Manabu, was played by Sano Hayato and though I enjoyed him being the kindhearted computer genius, I can't really say much more about his acting here. This is my first time seeing him and he was okay. He was painfully awkward as his character demanded him to be so there's that. We never really learned why Haru calls him Gaku. I thought we were gonna get a flashback. (Or maybe it was explained but it flew over my head.)

Completing the unlikely trio (from the OG duo) is the adorably cute Takahashi Rinrin played by Fukumoto Riko. I liked her character so much, especially her Torinrin AI ego. It was my first time seeing her in a drama as well and she kept reminding me of another actress. She was the moral compass the group badly needed (of course since Haru didn't have one and Gaku mostly followed Haru).

My favorite character (and actor) hands down was Kokuryu Kirika, played by Imada Mio. First of all, I never realized how deep (and sultry) her voice is. Or maybe she deliberately made it that way for her character, but I loved it. I love her in her boss bitch era. And her looks! Slay after slay! Okay, enough about her because I would be gushing.

The plot points of the drama were so outrageous (join a competition and blatantly cheat to win; make an AI online app but wait, it's not really AI and we will answer all inquiries real-time anywhere; make a game but not really, just say we're making it to get investors). It was a rollercoaster but it was enjoyable if you just go with the flow.

When I say, I stayed for the cast, I think you know which two I meant. I wanted to know what would happen to their characters but alas, this is not a romance manga and we only get a few sprinkles of interactions in each episode. And guess what, I ate those up. They make up 5 of the 8 points I gave tbh. I also liked the Gaku/Rinrin moments. I don't know if these (and the Haru/Kirika) interactions were in the manga or just additions in the series.

So yeah, they said "See you next game!" so I'm going to wait if that actually happens. I also want to know Haru's actual motivation because he clearly doesn't want a trillion dollars just for the heck of it.

#trillion game #meguro ren #imada mio #sano hayato #fukumoto riko #tennoji haur #gaku #taira manabu #kokuryu kirika #takahashi rinrin

[comradeocean]

I didn't not enjoy the bear s2, but 2 fucked up things that bother me a lot: 1. Ebra, and sort of relatedly, 2. the show's complete inability to take an actual fucking position on the exploitative nature of the service industry.

on 1: the writing sets Ebra up with the beginnings of an arc but doesn't go anywhere with it until ep 8. there are these gestures towards filling in a backstory (Ebra's clumsiness, the roughshod nature of his skill or lack thereof, his inability to recalibrate in this new environment, his initial dread of uniforms after being fine w the new chef blues Syd and Carmy instituted in s1), which are subsequently abandoned and rendered meaningless in favour of his contrite, apologetic reappearance in ep 8, where he is the one narratively required to make amends for not being up to the task.

for his failings (of not being able to handle navigating institutionalised education bc of war trauma? bc of it being in a language he's still struggling to learn? bc of his age? the condition of his body? his background? we don't fucking know. it doesn't actually matter. we just know he bombed and let Tina (everyone) down), he's relegated to the drive through window. the implication: get w the program or get left in the dust. and why not? they gave him all the necessary resources, the opportunities to /better/ himself, so of course it's on him he's no longer qualified for meat prep, in that fancy new kitchen w equipment that actually fucking works.

Tina made it, right? good fortune is for those who are prepared to receive it. not our (Syd/Carmy/Sugar, the viewers at home sitting proxy, as always, in the position of management) problem Ebra couldn't hack it. it is what it is. some ppl can't deal w things changing. sad. they oughta be grateful there's a position left for them. allowances are being made, after all. generosity and sentiment on the strength of shared history.

that's the viewpoint suggested by the writing in the show.

and moving onto point 2, bc this, too - not hacking it, his perpetual self-sabotage, self-victimisation - was gonna be Richie's fate. until he goes on his own journey of self-actualization accomplished via the Cinderella magic of... internalizing the ethos of artisinal servitude.

yes, the form of labour is regimented and punishing and fucking abusive, but messy ppl who need some semblance of order and purpose in their live are predisposed to excuse and even justify the worst of its excesses bc yeah! their lives can be made materially and psychologically better in certain ways, for having taken a sip of the koolaid. they can, for once, be doing work they personally find meaningful. they can even thrive. 

so who's to say if it's actually good or bad! plus don't the middle aged middle classed high school teachers of middle america deserve some luxury? a treat! (as if that's the average clientele of such restaurants bffr!!!!)

is that not the takeaway from these 2 seasons? we are rooting for Syd and Carmy. we are rooting for the survival, nay, success of their fine dining establishment. we want them to beat the odds! we want them to turn this failing shithole filled w sad broken people into a high performing marvel of the American hospitality industry where everyone strives for excellence in all things, bringing only their best selves to work blah blah blah

like, if I were to use the vocabulary reserved for descriptions of enemy states, Richie's turnaround literally reads as the success story of getting shipped out for re-education: a recalcitrant, disruptive element undergoes ideological and thought reform through labour, and returns a model worker fully committed to the leadership and advancement of the cause.

what is the cause? The Bear, obvsly. but more generally, something to do w the virtue of self-mastery, self-perfection, self-improvement, whatever. bc it seems to me so many of the conflicts explored in the show come back to this.

in Richie's arc, compliance within a system where the power a customer or head-chef holds over you might as well be boundless becomes sanctified, as servility is elevated to a kind of craft. even an art form. his initial unhappiness about being put in such a relationship, and to feel demeaned by it, is framed as an attitude problem of insufficient self-regard - if you loved yourself enough, had enough confidence in yourself and yr skills, you wouldn't bristle at this level of labour discipline, or interpret conforming to such standards as harsh.

and the thing is, a big part of the hype the show got last season was for its honest clear-eyed depiction of the restaurant industry. it was praised for being thoughtful about grief, and various kinds of trauma, and how toxic working environments are created and fed by addiction and cycles of abuse. like Truffaut who quipped there are no antiwar movies that don't glamourize war, it's easy for depictions of the brutal pace of modern high-end dining to turn into competence porn.

how the writing, particularly by season 2 and Richie's arc makes me want to interpret the way the show makes sense of this tension is by leaning into psychosocial explanations. ultimately, individuals are the vector by which dysfunction spreads, dysfunction instilled in them by other people. the role the system plays recedes ever more into the background. there's a displacement. in the final analysis, the problem is not the problem, the problem is not being an adequate-to-the-problem problem solver.

the consensus after season 2 is that Carmy needs to work on himself. (and if they're being generous, of course Sydney and the others too) everyone needs sooooo much therapy, goes the common-sense wisdom about almost everything. I mean, yeah, no shit, Carmy is so fucked up. but I don't know what kind of abrafuckingcadabra therapy ppl know about that would make the pressures of keeping your head above water not soul destroying, like, in this economy??

it is almost too funny, that little paean to service that compares hospitality and hospitals. the health industry and precarious service work, two features of the economy that are def not in crisis nor create crises. 

and there's every indication we are meant to read him straight, more or less like honestly, now that I'm thinking about it more, it makes me want to puke.

there's the part about training ppl not to see their exploitation, but even welcome it, finding self-worth in the very adherence to this hierarchy. there's the pure distilled ideology of this whole... upgrade being seen as progress, as unquestioned, inevitable, of course that's what Carmy (and Syd) want and have always wanted.

it's not quite enough to make me stop watching. I'm reserving full judgement until after season 3 (feels like something I said last yr, abt s2)

bc we don't know about the other shoe yet, after ep 10. what happens to Richie? what if he lets the koolaid curdle, what if it grows sour and mouldy. maybe Marcus rejects this non choice! and quits! maybe the restaurant fails! maybe the triumph of their (Syd, Carmy, The Bear) commercial success is shown to be achieved through the thorough and continual destruction of other kinds of value, and no one is actually made richer for it. maybe the contradictions won't be reduced to the faintest shadows of narrative handwringing - but at what cost! oh look where they came out of, how could it have been otherwise!

or maybe we'll get more of this thoughtful plausible deniability chaos that pretends nuance is about showing something tragically ironic [every second counts amirite] absent any possibility of refusal and that somehow the power of interpretation is in the hands of the viewers, who are free to evaluate as they see fit all sorts of claims all given equal weight and reality, but who are still left, at the end of everything, only with ennobled suffering.

#The Bear #EP

[moonstone27ls]

Unicorn Warriors Eternal ep 8...

Not gonna even give a spoiler warning because... its going on an old trope thats annoying the hell out of me... actually two but I’ll get to that in a minute.

So several twists in turns with this. Good fight scenes. I actually applaud them trying to give Edred’s character some depth. By questioning/and even looking scared about their future. Soooo...  obviously we all know the Evil’s not dead. I do believe (probably possessed) Merlin when he said it was Otto. Otto’s character was very suspicious. But I don’t think either one is the evil. I think the “Evil” has agents. Fox was one of them, she’s eliminated or been replaced. Otto couldn’t (or probably wasn’t the main target) do the job and so now its Merlin. But I wonder will they have to kill Merlin? Or can Merlin get set free? Maybe...

Though I’ll be honest the factor that it went after Melinda. STILL makes me think her mother’s in there. She’s either fused or part of the “Evil” because that was always her ultimate goal to remove her magic.  

Soooo... Winston is back.. werewolf not shocked. I have mixed feelings. I know earlier I said he could be of help. But... I think the problem is the execution. There’s just a few problems in general. I don’t know if its the writing, planning, or Tartakovsky.... he never has been the BEST at romances. (Samurai Jack, *coughs the conception of Spear’s daughter* awkwardddd)

But okay gonna say it again... I FREAKIN’ HATE LOVE TRIANGLES. They bring out the worse in every character. Now before some Winston shipper gets on my ass, gonna say shutup.(sorry/not sorry) I love Edred, I GEUNINELY love this character. I want more development. But this doesn’t bring out his good side.

Argument wise as to him getting bit... its a little of all three. Melinda/or Emma?(talk on that later) didn’t have full control/ Edred probably should have at least put him closer/and Winston ... BECAUSE YOU ARE A STUPID IDIOT WHO SHOULD NOT HAVE BEEN FOLLOWING OBVIOUS DANGER/AND THERE IS NO WAY YOU ARE THAT FAST. Guy can’t even beat Alfie/Seng at soccer so no not buying that. Their argument is getting tiresome. And while I get Melinda/Emma? is confused I’m like “GOD GIRL SMACK THEM BOTH AND SAY “I’M NOT PROPERTY”.

As for their fight... uhh both’s to blame. And yes I’m being bias, Winston has been PURPOSELY poking at him. But I also get that Edred doesn’t fully understand, I think he’s trying but he’s not all there. Melinda/Emma are sorta cosharing the helm. So yes naturally he would get pissed to hear a cocky little twit brag that his wife(I’m assuming they married/or would have?) is with another.

And before someone again bites my ass, I’m not ignoring his behavior. Yes but as I said love triangles bring out THE WORSE in a character. Its why I couldn’t enjoy Legend of Korra/or SVTFOE. Plus again, Edred is starting to realize that they are... in very AWKWARD situations. Because again I mentioned he’s realizing the bigger picture. They are suppose to be in those bodies temporarily, they never planned/nor wanted to stay in control and hold those incarnations hostage.

But I’ll restate this, I’m getting SICK AND TIRED OF WINSTON. Winston have some actual character development.HAVE SOME GODDAMN AWARENESS THAT THIS IS BIGGER THAN YOU! ITS NOT A GODDAMN GAME!

But thats why I sorta am not on board with him joining the team. There is no ah-ha moment. There is no real development because the writing is not consistent. Again I dunno if its the writing/or Tartakovsky, but one minute Winston goes from typical “werewolf monster”. To being fully self aware. Now I could have found that episode more enjoyable IF Winston had actually struggled with his ability. But the story flipflops. Heck a part of me is almost convinced he’s faking feralness just to make Emma come back to him.

And why? Okay first scene, he’s eating/scaring people yes. But he stops when he sees Melinda. Heck him shifting back/and forth from the moon. Now I could have gone with that. But he clearly shows control when they’re with Merlin and when he starts a fight with Edred. When Emma/Melinda screams he VOCALLY says her name. (sorry if I’m rambling)

The point is there is NO STRUGGLE. We don’t see it or get it.  I would hope we’ll get some actual development next ep but I dunno considering they only have two eps left. The story can not decide what Winston is. Just makes him look like some hellbent lover determined to get Emma back and remove his competition (yes I’m calling it he would have killed Edred if he got the chance).

I wanted some ACTUAL story with this. Not more of Winston being in the way/love triangle/ she’s MINE FOREVER, SHE LOVES ONLY ME. Its so goddamn annoying.

In my opinion (again dunno the circumstances). I would have liked to see Winston struggle with this. Actually act like he was claiming to be. Struggling to stop himself from even hurting Emma. Emma/or Edred would have to talk. SOME COMPROMISE. Let Winston actually see that Edred does genuinely love Melinda. That this isn’t some love triangle/rectangle? they are just in a loop they had no choice but to say yes to. Now one could argue he sorta had that in his argument with Edred... but I don’t count that.

Cause it was brief. There was no actual worrying. Heck I would have liked it if he looked at Edred and been all “Okay you’re so smart... this had happened to you. Would Melinda still want you? How would you approach this?”. Actually have them do something OTHER than fighting over a girl.

Then there’s Melinda... or Emma? No I’m not complaining about them. More of their situation. There’s also a lack of consistency in their storyline. We can all come to an agreement, that to a degree these reincarnated spirits are not.... “fully baked” (sorry for that analogy I couldn’t think of a better comparison). 

Okay I get that. Thats why Alfie is hippy/sorta going with the flow with his dual partnership. Edred has no full strength. And Emma was in partial control. But again it comes to mind.... how much in control is Melinda in? And why can’t she remember everything? In the beginning I thought it was because Emma was trying to fight for control. Thus we had that whole her literally arguing with Melinda to fight those statues.

But... here’s where the consistency is bothering me. She literally had an argument with Melinda in the spiritual plane or whatever. Thats the Melinda we know. And to a degree she’s still there. I even think she was there when she confronted her dad. What bothers me is that spirit wise when she had to go back to Emma. She SAW EDRED, she recognized him. That is HER LOVER, the same way Emma/Winston see each other.

So if we have this why is Melinda pushing her lover away? Why can’t she remember her life moments with Edred? Some are coming back... but hmmm... is it again she’s not fully baked?/because she shares duality with Emma? 

I just I don’t feel Tartakovsky would be showing all their past and had that last episode with flashbacks of their lovestory IF this wasn’t real. I know Winston was saying it to goad Edred. But I don’t believe Melinda’s “in love with Winston”. I think whe its Winston, thats Emma at the helm. But a part of me wishes I could hear them talk about Edred/talk about how this love rectangle is problematic/ I wanna see MELINDA (not Emma) share her moments again with Edred.

Because again I don’t think  Tartakovsky would be showing us this if he thought Melinda/Edred were a doomed relationship. I feel like this is to cement/ “yeah they’re a thing. Its not puppy love either”.

I dunno, but then again this is all an allergory for him about growing up/adulthood/changing blahblah. Anddddd Tartakovsky’s a great show giver but not the best at romance. Sooo whoooo knows. I just wish this love drama would end XD

#unicorn warriors eternal

[fluffypotatey]

watching Leverage: ep 8

I GOT ME GRAPE FANTA 😎 WE SPLURGING TONIGHT 😚

Pre-game show:

ok so i think i've got it figured out on who i'd be besties with from this show this is of course unrelated to the previous episode. also, let me know which of the crew i'd be besties with! i only know these guys for 7 episodes and y'all have all the 5 seasons, so 1st impressions and after some development?

nathan wouldn't trust me (obvi as i am young and inexperienced with heisting but i am a good strategist! so that should count for something) but eventually, he'd adopt me as one of his heist children

sophie would adopt me on the spot i just know it

alec and i would be besties. maybe i would feel a little intimidated by his hacking skills at first, but he'd be very welcoming and i would laugh at his jokes so yeah

i would be way too intimidated to be near eliot alone just because i feel like he has that aura of "don't talk to me"

unfortunately i don't think parker and i would start off well because i tend to be too polite and not say what i mean and she's a very blunt person

but anyway

it is really weird how they've listed the episodes because the last one being ep7 is super confusing for the continuity. if you watched the horse job before the wedding job like me, it makes no sense for alec to not know who eliot's "girl" was. however, if the wedding job was set before the horse job THAT MAKES SENSE!

SO WHY ARE THE EPISODES LISTED OUT OF ORDER???? WHY DID YOU SCREW WITH THE CONTINUITY LIKE THAT????

also it makes so much more sense that an ep3 nathan would be a little perturbed by heisting the mob and feel a little bitter about marriages because we're just getting to know him!!! it makes no sense for him to be bitter like that at ep7. not after the fucking bank shot job where we see him so soft for sophie???? ugh

this episode, we are watching *checks notes* The Mile High Job, spoilers for the episode will be followed under the cut (obvi 😗)

My Mile High Reaction (not sponsored by grape fanta)

oh dear, this ep is gonna be heavy

they blamed a child's death on her pre-existing conditions???? conditions unrelated to the side effects their fertilizers gives???? oh boy, i am getting pissed and they aren't even real but oh man i wanna hit something

oh they hiding evidence??? that would be important to the case??? corporation sir that's illegale. no that's literally illegal. anything you hold that's important to the case the other side needs to have as well. that's literally *breathes* i will...persevere :)

sophie: not speaking english the security guards: speaking english trying to understand her

to be fair! i am also that dumb

oh so both of them are just gonna hop away from the desk, okay then, keep it together my god lmao

ok i know they're trying to steal the information that the prosecuting team needs (the couple is prosecuting right? i'm assuming bc they have the burden of proof) but i'm worried bc there's a "doctrine of the poisoned apple" that basically means that any info gathered illegally cannot be used in court no matter how integral it is

i am curious to see if they bring up this little doctrine or ignore it (i'd be find with either tbh)

????

what happened with alec???? why does nathan not want them speaking about him???

shit this is a continuity thing huh

ALEC THANK GOODNESS

baby, did you...did you put a whole ass hot pocket in the microwave with no plate??? not even a paper towel??? and you grabbed it??? with your bare hands, dear lord

get a paper towel. sir, i'm embarrassed

*sighs* this was originally episode 4 wasn't it? alec and the crew not being as smooth, alec missing that they had a mission that day and fumbling to help them,

ok so i'm a little annoyed about how the episodes are listed and how janky they are continuity -wise

oh no the crew is about to be caught and this could have been avoided if the guy at the chair was more present in meeting! she says with a straight face. how ever will they get out of this one

yes, mister corporate evil man sir, please tell us everything about how you plan to tank the court case on a phone call where you're not even trying to keep quiet

i love you parker. how did she evade getting caught and exit the room before nathan and eliot? no one knows! but we all fucking love her for it!

"ok i got two for first class" nathan, sweetheart, he didn't even hesitate "ok sophie and i'll take those" yeah, yeah, ok sir, okay

ALEC BRO WITH A STRAIGHT FACE awww newlyweds

eliot....eliot, my dude, where, how???? WHEN? air marshal???? WHOMST???? WHO ARE YOU? WHAT THE FU

omfg alec i love your customer service voice. perfection lmao

awwww she loves fidget so much (that's an adorable name btw the kitty's so cute i wanna nuzzle!)

lmao eliot that flip was so extra, you just needed to stumble my dude

SOPHIE

NATHAN'S SO FLUSTERED HELP

"cuffs are his, wips mind" bro you should be so glad i wasn't drinking right bc i would have choked fr

ELIOT DEARY YOU SOUND LIKE A TEENAGER WHO GOT DRAGGED ALONG THIS TRIP "idiot," he says like sophie's his step mom and he's so embarrassed that he has now learned more info about his dad's sex life than he needed to

alec <3 i love him so much

parker i love you but you almost got punched (not your fault, you didn't know the lady was touchy about the promotion comment)

OH THEY FAKE DATING!! FAKE MARRIAGE

oooooooh nathan you in deep shit

oh man my brother would hate parker as a flight attendant

the pilot does not sound that clear on the intercom, leverage! really you hear more static than the pilot and it's way too loud and everyone just nods like they understood

mood eliot

madam, if parker said there's a system, then there's a system! do not mess with it!!! ma'am it ain't that hard to wait. if you really feel queasy, the bathroom is right behind you

ALEC MY BOY

yeah ok he could speak spanish to me all day. he sounds like a man who's so happy about his job! alec, you making me fall for your persona

lmao for a second i though the guard was going to look at the camera

"hey is there room in [the elevator that alec is making sure to take up every bit of space]" alec: idk bro you tell me

i know i say this so much but....alec i love you

"i bet you think we all look alike" I CAN'T BREATHE HELP I CAN'T I LOVE HIM

NOT THE SENSITIVITY SEMINARS

I CAN'T BREATHE

wait what are the playing on the plane? there's a movie playing. it looks western. eliot what are you watching????

yes eliot, let's just rummage through all the carry on bags. that's not suspicious

i mean.....parker's got a point. dying on a plane is pretty low. more people die in car crashes, but people feel more confident driving than flying

can't tell if that help the lady or not, but parker's delivery was hilarious either way

hands off sir that's a married woman! a fake married woman but still!

oop trouble in paradise

alec <3333333 my tall WoW geek, he's found his people

back the FUCK up nathan 🔪 leave him alone!

his little smile when he said "the meeting's starting!"

oh that better be fake alec!

oh thank goodness

lmao of course the accountant is the one who wanted ginger ale

nathan, sweetie, sweetheart, deary, pumpkin, gumdrop......you are so bad at pretending to be mad at sophie you whipped son of a bitch

OH????? THE ASSET IS THE ACCOUNTANT!!!! HAHAHAHA YOU HAVE TO SAVE HER NOW PARKER LMAO

so sorry but i was distracted (by eliot's voice) for a little bit but we good now

aww parker got her ginger ale to soothe her anxiety (didn't help but it's the thought that counts)

poor steve (derogatory)

i love cheryl. i'd die for her

oh shit he got a knife!

FUCK HIM UP ELIOT

you're gonna leave the knife in there??? with the unconscious hitman??? what if he wakes up what then?

oof you're gonna go that route? after 9/11??? ok then

good, good eliot got the knife

honestly i feel bad for that flight attendant. this must be one her worst days on the job

oh they got a countdown!

oh dear they cutting close on time

just curious: was there a content warning that was placed just before this episode aired? i know this show came out in 2008 but 9/11 was still fresh in people's minds. so to air an episode where a plane gets hijacked to crash, i feel like there was a warning placed for viewer discretion.

NOOOOO ALEC BABY HE SOUNDS SO DEFEATED :( HE THINKS HE'S GONNA LOSE THEM T^T HIS NEW FAMILY NOBODY TOUCH ME

HOW HIS VOICE CRACKS WHEN HE REALIZES HE DOESN'T KNOW WHAT TO DO AND HE IS HELPLESS TO THEM NO

ohhhhh stressedstressedstressedstressedstressedstressedstress

AH OKOKOKOKOKOKOKOKOKOKOOOK

THEY GONNA LAND ON THE HIGHWAY

THEY DID IT

ok but is alec still in the boss's office? or is he back a HQ? how had no one found him? oh dear wait

ok nvm we got comedy all good

fuck off steve

aww we got soft sophie/nathan

haha she still won. love her

General thoughts

ok i have no clue why the episodes are mixed up like that because this episode feels like an ep4. it's just after the wedding job and the team isn't as solid yet. tbh this could even work before the wedding job but i wanna say no bc nathan was too up his ass in that one.

alec, my boy, you shined beautifully in this. i don't care if he wasn't the best team player! this was his episode and i loved it. i love that we got to see him geek out about video games and even about coding stuff that only he understands. i like how he is such a great people person! alec just met cheryl and yet he knows exactly how to work with her and make her believe he has worked at this place since forever. and maybe i'm hoping that he found her on WoW and they became internet besties

anyway, good episode, i enjoyed it. i laughed, almost cried, got stressed toward the end but all turned out well!

#leverage #fluffy reacts #long post #i like to consider myself the funniest bitch alive #why? bc i laugh at myself #i am hoping that one day when alec's playing WoW he finds cheryl and they hit it off so well just them playing together #maybe they build their own guild #also who taught alec spanish??? was it his nana? was it one of his foster sibs? i wanna know! can you show me! #i wanna know about the alec backstory!

[mejomonster]

My question is how is justice in the dark going to indicate/hint the sexual tension though. (Yes suspend disbelief for a second I know it's likely it's just thoroughly cut or minimized to get to air period)

Just like. So far in the 8 eps it's stuck super close to all the elements of their connection besides the part of fei du making sexual jokes/come ons and Luo wenzhou eventually responding. Like, super close, to the point I'm quite satisfied and happy and over the moon they feel so much like they Should feel. Luo Weizhao is literally depicted as Pei Sus light in the abyss (like the title! Which is named after this), Luo Weizhao is literally his Home, his most emotionally intimate connection, that's very clear in the show.

I'm just. Curious how they'll either rework the sexual tension flirting to be Showable OR replace it with something? Because like take Tao Ze for example. Pei Su's flirting from the book is pretty much taken entirely and put on the show, except the one sexual implication joke "inviting me up to your house already isn't that moving a little fast." For all intents you can assume Pei Su IS courting Tao Ze. In retrospect, for a "straight audience" you can say pei su was just worried he'd lose his only stable emotional relationship but like... 1. That is actually true to book canon anyway so it's not necessarily wrong, 2. It's really hard to... not see Pei Su's specific treatment of Tao Ze as romantic pursuit moves, even if the reason is just "I don't want to lose my ge to his changing life leaving me behind." He asks him to get food, he gets Turned Down specifically by Tao Ze, he gets him a coffee machine and Very Pointedly says the girl should like Tao Ze which is him letting go and implying she should date him (and he'll let go of Tao Ze). Like I guess you could read it straight if... you're biphobic and think his flirting with girls rules out him courting Tao Ze?? But like except for cutting a line with sexual implications, so far Pei Sus been about as bi as I expected him to be. (Actually that seems the main thing cut - ALL of Fei Du's more sexual playboy inclinations are absent or only left implied in the show, which again makes me wonder how they'll handle that significant-chunk aspect of his and Luo Wenzhous interactions in the show).

If by luck the show can do as much as Guardian can (oh Zhao Yunlan asking Shen Wei if he's married cause he's such a catch, that did so much to set him up as into men and specifically shen wei framing their relationship interactions as with a flirtatious lean moving forward). Then I'm curious what they'll do? Since every bit of their relationship except a piece of it, so far is being handled fairly faithfully. Like... will they make Pei Su more romantically mushy inclined instead of "you want to try out sleeping with me?" Like is Pei Su gonna ask Luo Weizhao out to dinner, give him flowers, (I imagine bringing him food to station will be somewhere in show cause it's ambiguous enough), tell him he's pretty? Idk. The joke in the show in the car when Luo Weizhao says he's gonna sell Pei Su off and Pei Su says at least let me pretty up lol is the closest to their book sexual-leaning back and forth one ups that I caught so far. But I'm curious how the script writer adapted it more later? Because Tao Ze/Pei Su??? Definitely did get included in the show, but it had less of the sexual jokes in the book. Also just generally a cdrama might choose to tone that down, especially given its already dealing with heavy topics of drugs, prostitution, child abuse, family abuse, Pei Su being him (you almost kill a guy on screen as a cdrama protagonist? Color me surprised), police corruption. Oh and you know being a censored gay romance. I wouldn't be surprised if it wanted to tone down the sexual comments on its main characters.

On a mildly related note. I have a print copy of 默读 and I desperately wonder now if I got the uncensored print copy or the censored one. Because I have 2 copies of 镇魂 one simplified and one traditional, and both are uncensored, the simplified one actually has all the extra stuff too (it's my favorite version), the traditional is like the webnovel version with no Shen San extra. So like wherever I was buying my chinese print novels I got lucky with somehow getting the uncensored simplified edition before. I'm curious if my modu copy I also got lucky with.

Also reading modu in chinese has been a bizarre experience for me lately. I'm mainly reading the English translation right now. But on weibo I'll see fei/Luo excerpts and it'll be fine to read. But when I listen to the audiobook my brain feels fried with a lot of unknown words. And I remember reading it literally 6 months into learning with a machine translation next to the original text and I was absolutely drowning it'd take a week to read 1 chapter. Now I feel moderately drowning when it's description time in modu, but when it's character focused it's a very doable read. It's Harder to read than zhenhun. Also... to be fair, even in the English translation it uses a decent number of English words I don't know like maybe 10 a chapter. Which is pretty surprising as I usually am well read. So I suppose it's not surprising if I am confused by some words in English, I'm definitely confused about a few dozen words in the chinese version.

#silent reading #justice in the dark #lb #im also reading priests Mountains and Rivers book #and like. i am both lost in the setting a bit unsure wtf is going on #and again the character focused paragraphs/sentences are quite easy #also why is Every protagonists of priests a cat person lmao

[stormyoceans]

Now that you've seen Vice Versa in it's entirety (multiple times), what's your favourite PuenTalay moment? Feel free to make a list if you can't choose just one ;)

FDKSGFKDGSFKJ GLAD YOU ALREADY GAVE ME THE OPTION FOR A BULLET POINT LIST BECAUSE THERE’S LITERALLY NO WAY I COULD EVER PICK ONLY ONE MOMENT i can give you a top 10 in cronological order and even that is gonna cost me blood sweat tears and whatever’s left of my sanity…. which admittedly is not a lot so HERE WE GO!!!!!

1. bathroom meeting in episode 1. truly the moment the blueprint the alpha and the omega the beginning and the end the genesis the impetus the single most scene of all time. talay is standing there with pee hands telling this famous actor he just met that he has a big head and puen is just giggling twirling his hair kicking his feet going ‘oh my god stoppp you’re soooo cute!!!!’ IM EMBARRASSED FOR BOTH OF THEM BUT MOST OF ALL FOR MYSELF FOR LOSING MY SANITY OVER THESE CLOWNS

2. NIVEA BATHTUB SCENE IN EPISODE 3 MY BELOVED. somehow this isn’t one of the most replayed parts of the episode and i have beef with people because of it. like yes, it’s a product placement. yes, it’s cheesy as hell. STILL!!!!!!! y’all are really telling me you DON’T need to be forcibly escorted into a padded room every time you hear puen say “if this can be used to wipe away dust, i should use it with your heart. i think your heart hasn’t been used in a long time”???????????? WISH THAT COULD BE ME i see puen using the cotton pad on talay’s chest and suddenly there’s an entire mental health crisis intervention team in my room pulling out the elephant tranquilizers to keep me sedated

3. bed scene at the end of episode 6. this scene knocks me flat on my ass every single time i look at it. it’s about the vulnerability and comfort of it all!!!!!! the way it parallels the scene in episode 4 in tun’s apartment where puen tells talay “one day, if there’s a problem or fear, you can tell me”!!!!!!! and talay does!!!!!!! and puen is there for him no questions asked!!!!!!! and then they’re holding on to each other and spooning and cuddling while my last half functioning braincell is holding on for dear life grip slipping fast and these fuckers haven't even confessed yet!!!!!! ep 6 was really the moment i started breaking apart at the seams and it shows

4. GREYLLERY CONFESSION IN EPISODE 8. LITERALLY NO WORDS JUST SCREAMING SHAKING CRYING THROWING UP SPINNING COUNTERCLOCKWISE ON THE FLOOR WAILING. look i know im biased but if you don't think this is one of the best confession scenes in the history of television you're just lying to yourself. the fact that it happens when the lights are out to emphasize that their feelings aren't about the bodies they inhabit but about who they are????? talay cupping puen's face as if he's holding the most precious thing in the world in his hands????? puen being so overwhelmed with emotions he needs to grab talay's wrist to ground himself????? THE KISS PARALLELING THE ONE IN EP 4????? the tear falling down puen's cheek and the ear graze and the hand at the small of talay's back just enveloping him completely?????? I NEED THE HEAT DEATH OF THE UNIVERSE TO TAKE ME NOW

5. the entire beach reconciliation in episode 9. i feel like this moment is a bit underrated and yet if someone asked me to pick a scene that perfectly sums up the puentalay dynamic i think this is the one i’d go for, because it really shows the one thing that sets them apart from all the other pairings to me, which is the willingness they have to make things better and try to understand each other. any argument they have never lasts too long because they love and need and care about each other so much that they’re always ready to set aside their pride and come together to work things out. im not even kidding when i say they’re the kings of communication!!!!! i also think that we as a fandom should talk more about puen calling talay’s name being enough to stop talay from having a panic attack and puen not knowing that talay drowned but still understanding that something was wrong. THE ROMANCE THE CONNECTION THE LOVE

6. THE HAT SCENE IN EPISODE 9 AKA THE SINGLE MOST THING THAT EVER HAPPENED TO ME. i know i say that a lot but THERE IS LITERALLY NOTHING THAT COULD EVER HAPPEN THAT WOULD BE MORE THAN THIS. like do you get chills every time you rewatch this scene or are you normal!!!!!!! i swear puen's face alone is enough to have me committed to the psych ward, especially the moment right after talay admits he is falling for him. i simply wanna know what the directions for jimmy were here.... look awestruck to the point of reverence?????? look undone overcome and made whole again in the span of 2.8 seconds??????? he is giving adoration tenderness wonderment devotion love and im giving rabid animal frothing at the mouth clawing at the walls of her enclosure

7. NOM NOM SCENE IN EPISODE 10. head in hands about to partake in fits of female hysteria any time i remember this scene was improvised. i honestly don’t know what to do with that knowledge. this is the one scene we were all looking forward to since the trailer dropped, what made me think ‘oh, maybe these two will actually be good together’, my most favorite thing about puentalay (along with how good they are at communication) which is the playful nature of their relationship and the genuine fun they seem to have with each other.... and it’s all because of jimmy and sea. when your lead actors are so comfortable with each other they spontaneously come up with THEE most boyfriend thing i’ve ever seen!!!!!! we do not engage in parasocial relationships in this house but i owe them my life

8. THEE Reunion™ in episode 11. i genuinely can't have more than surface level thoughts about this scene or else i'll actually go insane and not like quirky funny insane, but like isabelle adjani in the tunnel scene from possession insane. there are just not enough words to properly convey the sheer incomprehensible immensity of everything happening here. the heartache the longing the realization the relief the comfort the tenderness the understanding the joy the love. truly changed the trajectory of my life my outlook my values the very foundations of my personhood i will never be the same

9. kitchen scene at the beginning of episode 12. yet another scene i can't think about for too long otherwise i start dying from multiple organ failure. i've never seen two people be more domestic in love and enamored with each other in my entire life like THE BACK HUG????? “WHATEVER COMES FROM YOU IS SO GOOD”????? PUEN’S HANDS ON TALAY’S WAIST????? TALAY CUPPING PUEN’S FACE LIKE HE DID IN THE GREYLLERY CONFESSION????? “I THANK YOU TOO FOR BEING BORN SO THAT I COULD LOVE YOU”????? FOUR KISSES IN A SINGLE SCENE????? this is how the rest of their lives is gonna look like and im honestly too mentally unwell to process any of it

10. ending scene in episode 12. PEOPLE DIED BECAUSE OF THIS SCENE!!!!!!! it’s me. im people. and i swear it’s not just because of horny puen, but because it’s seriously the most perfect ending they could have ever given them. the two of them fixing the RV together parallels the scene in ep 6 where they did the same in the alternate universe, and they actually gave us a visual representation of their journey and of how much their relationship has grown through the pink trumpet tree: what was once a small potted plant is now a 25-meter-tall tree with strong roots that won’t ever be moved, just like their love. they painted each other’s life pink forever and i will be on my death bed surrounded by nurses and my last words will be i would die for puentalay and then i will die for real!!!!!!!!!!!  

[CURRENTLY THROWING UP BLOOD BECAUSE I HAD TO LEAVE OUT SO MANY MOMENTS like the pinky promise and helmet scene in ep 3????? everything in ep 4????? the snow scene in ep 5????? the 12.960 minutes/777.600 seconds scene in ep 6????? the reconciliation in ep 7????? everything else in ep 8????? the “we got to see the same moon” and the river bank scenes in ep 12????? IMAGINE WINNING SO MUCH THAT A TOP 10 ISN’T NEARLY ENOUGH]

#sorry for the late reply but this was really one of the hardest things i had to do in my entire life #also i hope you weren't expecting like. coherency or normalcy #I SWEAR IM SO SORRY #thank you so much for the ask tho!!!!! like i died a couple of times there but i also had lots of fun!!! #hope you're gonna have an amazing day!!! 💜 #sonnyleaf #vice versa #vice versa the series #puentalay #m: ask

[storyspinner91]

Willow + Lancer + The Oh Hellos = Like Constellations

Ok, a long, long time ago I said I might write up a little explanation post about what Like Constellations, A Million Years Away is. Because if there’s one thing I seem to have a talent for, it’s...getting excited about the intersections of two things that combine to make an extremely obscure niche, lol. So this post is meant to answer: what the heck is this? and why the heck is this? Read on for answers in hopefully not too (buuut probably too) much detail. 

What the Heck is your fic?

Like Constellations, A Million Years Away is a long-form fanfiction that adapts elements of the story of Willow (2022) to the setting (more or less, I’ve taken a few liberties) of the tabletop roleplaying game Lancer, created by Tom Parkinson Morgan and Miguel Lopez. This means that instead of a fantasy world, the characters of Willow are in a far-future science-fiction universe where combat sometimes takes place between pilots of huge, mechanized chassis (think of Gundam or Neon Genesis Evangelion). The fic starts out being a fairly “straightforward” adaptation but is, especially recently, rapidly departing from the narrative of the TV show. Because I’m a huge dork who love structure, it is also structured based on the music of the band The Oh Hellos - specifically, the Anemoi Cycle, 4 EPs titled Notos, Eurus, Boreas, and Zephyrus.

Basically, this means that Willow contributes the characters and certain plot beats; Lancer contributes the setting and influences the tone somewhat; and The Oh Hellos provide the emotional structure and thematic resonances for the piece. I’m being relatively strict with the structure; each chapter is based on a song from the Anemoi Cycle, in order, as indicated by the chapter titles (which are lyrics from the relevant song, or the title in the case of instrumental-only tracks). The one exception to this is chapters 7-8, which both correspond to “New River” from Notos - it just got too unwieldy, and I decided it had to be split up for space. (I suspect the same will happen to chapters 15-16, which may both be “Passerine,” but we’ll see.) And the whole work, which is gonna weigh in around 30 chapters, is divided into 4 books, one for each EP. In Like Constellations, Book 1 focuses on Jade, Book 2 on Kit, Book 3 on Graydon, and Book 4 on Elora.  

If that seems obsessive or red-string-cork-boardy, it probably is. But the plus side is that I feel like I have a really strong sense of where I’m going, at least in broad strokes and thematic terms. I know what the beginning and end of each book are, and many of the key moments in between. So I am very confident that this will be finished.

How and Why did this Nonsense Happen?

First off: I love adaptation and find it fascinating. The shift from one setting to another or (even cooler) one medium to another? A delight. My brain thinks laterally, and it likes to make connections. 

But this was really all a sort of accident. I’d seen a lot of memes when Willow was airing (or just “viewable,” RIP) that compared the group to a D&D party, and I was a little salty because they are clearly playing a game of Thirsty Sword Lesbians.

(That’s not a joke, it’s a game and a great one that would legitimately give you Willow vibes in play, you should go buy it.)

ANYWAY! I was taking a look at Lancer, which is a game where (in the mech tradition) mechs are very personal and can be customized, and I got to thinking, “I wonder whether you could make a mech for each of the Willow characters?” I was just idly scrolling through them when I suddenly saw a mech and thought, “Oh hell yes, that’s Kit’s mech.” 

Here’s where I have to give credit to Parkinson-Morgan and Lopez, because the synergy of illustration and game design in Lancer is astounding. You look at the Metalmark and you (at least I) think, “Yeah, that looks like a great fighter who prioritizes speed and really wants to look cool while doing it,” and that’s exactly what it is in terms of game mechanics. So that was fun to create, and I think Kit would be happy with the mech I built her.

But I still thought, “Well, that’s fun but there’s no way you could really pull off the story of Willow in Lancer’s setting...I mean the whole arranged-marriage aspect alone doesn’t really fit the science-ficti--”

In all [worlds controlled by SSC, the corporation that produces Kit’s mech], their populations are tightly controlled through deep cultural manipulation to generate biome-specific lines of colony seed materiel. The people of these worlds are aware of SSC’s mission; they are freely associated members of the corpro-state, most of whom are as invested in its mission – literally – and are generally unconcerned with SSC’s human experimentation projects. Save for regular, culturally-appropriate samplings of genetic material (a few hairs, a drop of blood, a swab from inside the mouth) and an expectation of arranged coupling, life on Constellar Worlds is unremarkable and quiet.

--Lancer core rulebook, p. 399-400

And at that point, the fic just sort of started to fall into my head. Kit could be the child of a major SSC investor, maybe the head of a subsidiary company. A valuable part of SSC’s horrible eugenics-”light” project (no such thing as light eugenics, kids) trapped not by monarchy but by corporate contracts that predate her birth. Jade could be a ward of the “state” (that here being a corporation). Boorman a former space pirate. Graydon a valuable new gene sample. Elora a totally normal girl but with some unusual computer capabilities. Willow a “paracausal” scientist (”paracausality” is Lancer’s in-world term for totally-not-magic). 

I was listening to the Anemoi Cycle at the time suddenly thought, “Wait, this sort of works, too.” Because the Anemoi Cycle is about having a crisis of belief and questioning the community (particularly, the problematic community) you were raised in. It’s about the need for constant growth, compassion, human connection, and an awareness of the value of material human existence. All of these are themes I think are there in Willow too. So I started outlining and writing and...wrote really fast when I started and have since slowed down, lol. Life has gotten busier in the last several weeks, and now that I’m moving beyond Willow’s plot beats I have to tread more carefully to avoid trapping myself or espousing things I want to avoid. 

But I am very excited to keep working on this story, and I can’t wait to look back on it when it’s finished. If you made it to the end of this long, rambly tumblr post - thank you, please get yourself a cookie for me as thanks for listening to my far-too-verbose thoughts.

#willow 2022 #lancer ttrpg #the oh hellos #fanfic #tanthamore fanfiction #willow #thinking in public #far too many words