ian-grimm

[ian-grimm]

giggling and rubbing my hands together like a horrid little raccoon at this week’s Mythic Quest episode. bro it is on. bro they’re doing it. bro. bro it’s happening. are you seeing this? BRO.

[ian-grimm]

okay but i legitimately want to talk about the grimpop love confessions and rejections because—I will reiterate—Ian has been confessing his love for Poppy this season and Poppy has been bending over backwards to Not Hear Him, which is a rejection in its own way. I want to point out, however, that it’s not a rejection because Poppy doesn’t also love Ian. It’s a rejection because Ian has consistently, repeatedly, humiliatingly, publicly rejected Poppy. It’s why Poppy knew that Ian was talking about the shovel and not her in season one. Every little dig and comment about how Ian was definitely, under no circumstances sexually attracted to her because she was abrasive and gross and an all around mess (a mess that he had a hand in creating, but that’s more than Ian is or was willing to admit). He deliberately told her that he didn’t believe in her, to hurt her, to bring her back down into the bucket that Ian created and was happy living in—as long as he was the crab on top.

Ian telling Poppy that he loved her in season 3 was so, so important for him as a character, and it was important that Poppy said it back, but Ian didn’t want to hear her then. Poppy has always loved Ian. I think it’s even reasonable to believe that she had a crush on him even with his terrible ponytail beard, but getting to know Ian, being around him and working with him, took away the shine and veneer of him being Ian Grimm. So Poppy stuffed all of that down, so deep that she can’t really hear him when he says “I’m not in love with you for your body […] I love you for your mind”, so she builds Poppy 2 to give Ian what he wants, her mind, and she doesn’t have to engage further with Ian on a personal level. Keep it professional. She has someone new who is loudly into her and values her not just as a creative but as a person.

Ian has had to go on a Journey about Poppy, and I think that’s part of why he was so stressed out about her blowing off Warrior Within to be with Storm. It’s taken him so long to get to even this barely there level of understanding his feelings for Poppy that he’s already lost her. Add to that the feeling (and framing!) of Poppy “cheating” on him creatively with Storm. He’s afraid of losing Poppy. He’s jealous and envious, and whether he consciously knows it or not, he’s making it everyone else’s problem. Except Poppy, who is the only person he’s been honest with.

I am Unwell

[ian-grimm]

Rob needs to stop putting his characters into relationships* with people they are so horrible with but can’t live without and their lives are so intertwined it couldn’t be anyone else

[ian-grimm]

You’re laughing? Ian Grimm is alone in his house crying to Mitski and you’re laughing?

[ian-grimm]

“I’m not in love with you for your body” and “I love you for your mind” and “I’m not handling the boyfriend thing as well as I’ve been putting on” and “I want you for more than your brain. Less than your body, to be clear. I don’t know, I’m confused” and “I’m afraid I’m losing you” and “I’ve been acting like a child and I’m sorry” and “We don’t really do apologies”

[ian-grimm]

MYTHIC QUEST 4.01 • Boundaries

[ian-grimm]

Wow so the new mythic quest epsiode was really, jo and brad hate who they are and are stuck in jobs they hate, and they’re cold ruthless killers, but they won’t kill a pregnant rat, instead they just give it to David.  and then poppy makes fun of Ian once and they seem so fragile after sarian. It’s like Ian’s only thing is his creativity and he puts his entire being into that, and he values the control so much. But poppy relies on him so much and she’s not the best at people and her coding is so important to her. And these people care so much but they can’t agree on anything else. And Ian really did try his best for poppy but it wasn’t enough. Not when poppy has always been there for him. But he CANT do the same.

[ian-grimm]

Mythic quest 3.7

As standalone/flashbacks episodes go it was more predictable than ADQD and Backstory, but still damn effective and insightful.

Great casting job with the kid actors who both looked their parts and managed to nail some of grown up Poppy’s and Ian’s mannerisms.

Most chilling thing on that front however was Ian Sr doing the exact same hands-to-lips gesture that Ian does. THIS is why Ian doesn’t “do family”. Dammit, he probably genuinely believes that a childhood with a mom but absolutely no trace whatsoever of dad was the best gift he could give his own child. (And I know I should be careful with what I wish for but now I REALLY want Brendan back so he can get an actual non-crappy explanation from Ian and then they can go their separate ways in peace. Or not.)

I have a even harder time believing that Poppy’s parents hate their little freakazoid so much that they don’t even want to visit her during their layover than I did last week. Uh, she canceled so many trips and zoomcalls and whatnot during the past year because of Hera so they kind of gave up for the time being?

Yay for Ian in all-white. I always wanted to see that, even if it’s silly. And Poppy is 100% right about THAT beard.

[ian-grimm]

katie mcelhenney has gotta start paying my therapy bills if she’s gonna keep writing episodes that wreck me this bad 

[ian-grimm]

not enough people talking about the fact that poppy's sister used to call her a freakazoid... no fucking wonder... this show is so well-written

[ian-grimm]

ian feeling like no one ever understood his creativity and the visions he had in his brain (and losing the one person who did, his mom) and deciding to become a video game creator so everyone could finally see, and validate, what happens in his brain. poppy having no one to share her love for games with and being made to feel like a freak for spending all her time playing games and then deciding to go to school for programming so she'd be surrounded by people with the same interests. each of them finding out that, despite their efforts to feel seen, the validation ian received was never enough and poppy never found anyone as passionate as her. until they find each other. now ian has someone who truly, from the beginning, appreciated and loved his work and poppy found someone who loves games as much as she does and didn't see her as a freak (or saw it and still liked her). the fact that even to this day they're still the only people who fully and deeply understand each other because of their similar feelings of loneliness from childhood, even if they don't talk about it. and the fact that despite them butting heads all the time, it's still their partnership that's at the core of mythic quest and should be the core of grimpop if they're smart enough to realize it before everything blows up.

[ian-grimm]

[ian-grimm]

Shoutout to canon bisexual David. Worlds least likeable man, most likely to rip his pants at work like a cartoon character, most likely to unironically fall in love with Brad Bakshi.

[ian-grimm]

1.05 // S3 Teaser

Mythic Quest (2020-)

[ian-grimm]

But you know what the best part of this has been? What? You and me, doing it together.

Rob McElhenny and Charlotte Nicdao as Ian Grimm and Poppy Li in MYTHIC QUEST: RAVEN’S BANQUET (2020-)

[ian-grimm]

Poppy and Ian are like. They’re soulmates, but also they’re horrible for each other. They’re miserable when they’re apart. They can’t stop hurting each other when they’re together. They bring out the best in eachother and also the worst. They love eachother. They are like an old bickering couple. They aren’t romantic. They have linked their lives too tightly to untie themselves. And it probably would be even worse if they did. They both hold a button that allows them to exploit and attack each others most vulnerable core, and they’ve both pressed that button a hundred times each. They believe in each other more than anyone in the world. They’ve been cosmically linked since they were kids. They have faith that the “being together with you” of it all makes anything worth it.

[ian-grimm]