#(that MANY of us have assumed will be in the next episode bc of the Pepa line in the official synopsis)

[dynjay]

I came up with a theory regarding Fionna and Cake.

So the series seems to be based off of the alternate realities created by wishes of others. In episode 6, the creators said that the Baby World universe was created out of BMO's wish, and given how much focus there is about wishes, I thought of something.

What if each world Fionna and Cake go through are wish fulfillment scenarios from various characters?

Here's what I'm thinking so far:

Ep 1: Betty's wish (and I guess Wyatt) (Granted by: Ice Crown and Prismo) This is Adventure Time's main universe. We saw from the ending that Betty wished to Simon safe, sane, and alive, and we're simply seeing the aftermath of the wish here. Wyatt also got a wish that we saw.

Ep 2: Cake's wish (Granted by: Simon) Episode 2 and 3 are a bit strange, but it still makes sense. Both Cake and Fionna craved to be in the land of magic and Cake got her wish first in this episode.

Ep 3: Fionna's wish (Granted by: Simon) This is the episode where Fionna got her wish and managed to reunite with Cake. Honestly, I think 2 and 3's wisher can be swapped because it'd hardly make a difference.

Ep 4: Prismo's wish (Granted by: Prismo and company) I feel like the episode speaks for itself, but Prismo wanted Fionna and Cake to exist and this episode was centered around keeping them and their world alive. And he succeeded! For now, at least.

Ep 5: Finn's wish (Granted by: Prismo) In a early episode of AT, Finn wished that the Lich never existed, creating the Farm World universe. Later in the show, the main Finn actually went back to this world to destroy the crown. We're seeing the aftermath of that here.

Ep 6: Bubblegum's wish (Granted by: Prismo and/or Bubblegum herself) This one's tricky to know for certain. There's a lot of characters missing here since we're focused on the duality of Winter King and Candy Queen, but I think that's a hint to whose wish this could be.

The only person we're shown to have the brains to potentially "fix" Simon's insanity is PB and it's suggested things went the same UNTIL around 100 years ago when Simon was "cured".

However, PB hates magic. She likes solving things with science and it's possible she wanted the most logical, least intrusive solution to cure Simon as naturally as possible, but was stumped on exactly how.

The wish in this case might've been to learn just the knowledge on how to get rid of Ice King's insanity, but it ended up being only that. Just getting rid of his insanity.

It'd line up pretty well with Prismo's monkey paw effect, considering what happened to both of them.

Ep 6 Ending: BMO's wish (Granted by: Prismo) The baby world was said to have been caused by BMO who wished they could watch over everyone in peace and safety. Unfortunately I can't find a direct source to this, but apparently the creator said this.

Ep 7: Marceline's wish (Granted by: Prismo) This one's also tricky. The biggest difference here's that Simon presumably managed to survive the Mushroom War, but had no defense against the vampires, causing him to die too soon to meet Marcy.

I think the implication here might be that Simon never found the crown, but found a bomb shelter to survive through the Mushroom War. Humanity found a way to survive the war, as we saw in Islands, so this would track.

If that's the case, this may imply that someone wished for Simon to never find the crown to become Ice King, but still survive the war with the rest of the humans.

The irony here's that he still died anyway from the vampires due to having little to no defense against them without the crown, which would line up nicely with what Marceline could've potentially wanted.

Ep 8: Lich's wish (Granted by: Prismo) Everything and everyone organic seems to be dead. This was the Lich's original wish before Jake changed it, and we're seeing the aftermath of it here.

Ep 9: Simon's wish (Granted by: Simon) This episode hasn't come out yet, but what was established was that Simon's been wanting to go see GolBetty since the beginning of the series, and the ending of episode 9 suggests that where they went.

Ep 10: ???'s wish If I were to take a guess, I think this would probably be Jake's wish in the sense that life for everyone continues in the original AT's universe; the one that Jake's wish managed to preserve.

What do you guys think?

[sibylsleaves]

[herestomyhaters]

i have remained silent for too long. i forgot to post this so here are my thoughts on 2x06/2x07!! as always brought to you by a bisexual black girl 🫡

i understand it's a teen drama so cheating is bound to happen but lorddd i was really hoping they wouldn't do that w/ noa cause i hate that bi stereotype. atp it's just bad writing bc why would she want to be w/ jen after all the batshit crazy things she's done ???

call me crazy but i Do Not think shawn punched that whole in the wall and even if he did i still don't trust jen (why would anyone 💀)

also were they expecting him not to react after noa's been cheating since JUVIE, all the lying and the stealing ???

hope i won't need to backtrack here (that'd suck) but why are ppl so obsessed w/ christian being evil/related to bloody rose somehow?? like besides being too obvious i really don't think they would do that to tabby again. also it feels jarring that ppl want to assume the black guy is the threat

i want more 1:1 moments between the girls!! the only dynamic that's been explored so far is tabogen (we got faran/imogen crumbs last week). praying for that in s3

is it me or are all of imogen & johnny's scenes just her trauma dumping myyy god. don't get me wrong i like them together but it just sends me, i also wish they'd explored the whole "player" trope a bit more it could've been interesting to see. i just don't know how believable it is to go from THAT to loverboy in the span of an episode but i guess we have the 8-episode season aspect to blame

redemption house was CRAZY. it was giving "is this fucking play about us?" tbh it ate

speaking of crazy kelly has fully lost it. imogen clocking her was one of my fave moments in the episode. looove imogen she's easily become my top 3

there is also no way kelly's dead

"HENRY, you're a dancer. most of your friends are GAY"

faran and greg: where to even start. i saw this ship coming before the season even started and (hear me out) i do not think they'll be endgame. i personally don't hate greg (maybe it's just elias' charisma) but it feels very contradicting to the show's values to pair faran & greg together. still, it is a semi-realistic situation. i just hope they proceed with caution & are smart about whatever happens next. i do not want faran to be babysitting him into becoming a decent human being

just need to bring up the "my cousin kevin, who lives in riverdale" moment cause i was crying w laughter. this show is so unserious sometimes (shoutout kevin keller tho)

speaking of gays i was quite surprised bi noa wasn't canon already?? might be bc maia has spoken about it many times but i always assumed she was already out 😭

besides that, the fact that NONE of them called noa out for cheating??? they were like "yesss queen slay 😍". i can't, feeling so sorry for shawn atp

also imogen bursting out laughing when noa brought up the "throuple" thing even she was weirded tf out

bloody mary playing while they raided redemption house was ICONIC

that bloody rose reveal was INSANE. imogen tearing the mask off??? bailee's emmy worthy scream queen moment (AGAIN)??!

do y'all have any theories for tabby's final girl moment/who br is? how are u liking the season so far? lmk your thoughts and we can kiki 🫶🏽

[renjibozo]

a coherent (probably not) thought dump about the new buddy daddies PV 3 (and additionally, PV 2)

because i'm sitting crying and need people to hear what i'm thinking about this PV i am brocken

edit: we’re making a few edits because i realized PV 2 exists and now i need to revise some parts so i don’t look like an utter clown next week (and please don’t trust me 100% with translations i’m using my very limited knowledge)

ok so starting off with this from PV 3, you can hear miri telling rei something along the lines of "Papa Rei! Get home quick, 'kay? Because today's!" before it just cuts to the next voice line

a birthday mayhaps? it might be miri’s birthday, it might be rei’s birthday, or it might be kazuki’s birthday and they’re preparing a surprise. unless it’s something else then literally please ignore this entire section

in PV 2, you can see her wearing a party hat along with streamers strung up behind her off to the side + another party hat at the corner of the screen

this means there IS a birthday (like i thought earlier before the edit) and it’s rei’s because kazuki is in the same room as miri while they’re talking

“Papa Rei looks lonely sometimes...” - Miri “Isn’t that guy just always grumpy?” - Kazuki

moving on, kazuki saying something along the lines of "I don't like this season/weather..." and a shot of a drawer opened to reveal a polaroid in the middle of many many knickknacks

judging by one of the shots in the opening,

his wife probably died in the rain and we're getting more information about the incident because it's been hinted at in the early episodes before it became parenting focused

and adding onto this because of a nice person in the replies!

the building behind him looks exactly like aozora daycare, just not sure if its the front or back (maybe the front bc of the hint of a blue gate beside him) but there doesn’t seem to be bushes planted anywhere near the spot where you can see the hydrangeas, so maybe it got planted a while later?

considering the clothes he’s wearing, this has to be before the dinner scene and is what leads up to it... the connections are getting stronger

you cannot convince me that this isn't rei's brother and that he isn't the favorite child

even rei (as seen from a flashback) couldn't call his father "dad" and that he should refer to him as "boss", but then there's this guy fighting him that calls rei's father as "father"

and something something about "Didn't Father tell you to return to the organization?" which implies he escaped the organization and got hired by kyutaro somehow

how he managed to get an apartment? i'll probably just say kyutaro did it i have no idea if he can even make forgeries like kazuki does

additionally: in PV2 you can see more of the gunfight between who i assume to be rei’s brother (older or younger? who knows)

and i assume this is set while miri and kazuki are waiting for rei to come back because it’s his birthday and they set up a nice surprise party for him, so, hoping he hurries back home because he can’t just stand them up like that on his own birthday

OK. NOW. THE SCENE THAT SPAWNED THIS ENTIRE POST.

there must've been some kind of falling out between rei + miri and kazuki because he was screaming "I'm... not your housekeeper!" during dinner

i'm suspecting that they finally got on his nerves if they never pick up after themselves properly or just the small stuff piled up onto kazuki and he had enough despite usually not really minding the fact that he has to do most if not all of the house chores

but another theory i have is that the scene with the photograph is connected and because of the stress, it leads up to him taking it out on rei and miri. i'm distraught i don't want to see this episode but i have to. mfs gonna have a sk8 episode 7 situation and i'm powerless to stop it

already saw a post or two about this one and i also hope it's just a red herring but judging by the shirt that rei has on which is different from the shirt he wears inside the house in earlier episodes, this was probably right after kazuki's meltdown

maybe kazuki ran off somewhere? maybe miri tried following him and got sick in the process and rei had to come fetch her? i just wonder how desperate rei must've been to run to kyutaro for help even if he's not as wary about kyutaro like kazuki is

kyutaro's talking about something being a warning because the organization doesn't forgive something (possibly kazurei taking in miri and raising her)

this shot looks like it could've been a flashback from when his wife died because he was wearing a green shirt during the dinner scene

ignoring the crossed out line because it has to be during the birthday surprise episode because if it really was after kazuki’s meltdown, he has to have been wearing a green shirt. but in the scene where he’s standing in the rain looking a little roughed up, he’s wearing the same exact clothes as here

and then a shot of rei's father without the shadows mostly hiding his face from a flashback!

he's gonna be a major player in the second half and i am Not Here for it

bonus: i think karin's a spy tasked to idk infiltrate kazuki and rei's apartment and see what they're up to i just know she's gonna be a pain in the ass for them

that's all folks i just needed to get these out right now

[justablah56]

Relistening to Your Stupid Face on repeat again, and thinking about "Because if you don't hate me, I can't hate myself" in the context of Terry and :(((((( Bestie was literally trying to die for his crimes in canon, imagine the mental breakdown of Nicky telling Terry he still loves him in the middle of an argument that is mostly just Terry blaming himself for everything

I KNOW I LITERALLY GO INSANE EVERY TIME I HEAR THAT PART OFIJEIGIRJJWD sobs he was literally using his guilt about Nicky and how he assumed Nicky must feel about him now as an excuse to hate himself and literally try to not only just kill himself , that already happened , he was trying to *erase* himself . he was , as a demon , trying to be killed in hell . he wanted to be gone forever because he thought Nicky hated him and he just felt *so bad* and whjxiwdjnwkxwkdej I'm so insane about them . I literally still haven't been able to listen to that episode and *not* just think about them . anyways . ok but then the next lines of the song just "but that's why I need you, you shatter my fears and despite my misdeeds you are still right here. though it's stupid to date me, you're willing to try, and if you don't hate me then why should I?" yes I'm just quoting the entire bit after your line because I can and I'm insane about this song <3 but just ,,, Nicky being Terry's sort of voice of reason I guess ? Nicky being the one to calm Terry down when Terry's anxious and just worrying about everything and *Nicky* is the one who tells him not to worry and that it'll be okay ,.,. and then Terry calls him stupid again bcs they are so silly and they are constantly making fun of each other (lovingly) okok anyways I'm done now this answer got way longer than I thought it would benfbjwjxnwkdn suffice it to say I have so many thoughts about this song and terrick 👍

[coffeelovesdramasalatte]

LITA Ep 3 Rewatch Thoughts

Hi friends! Here we are at ep 3, and these posts are getting longer by the episode so grab a lil snack and some water if you want <3 I had to make a part 2 because the number of images got to be too many (linked here and below)

The opening continues to slap (plus I think I've listened to it enough times I think I can sing along with the chorus despite not knowing more than 8 Thai words)

Recap spanks hehe

Opening the episode up strong with this beauty (am I talking about the bike or Phayu in the folded coverall? clearly it's both)

SCHEMING CUTIE ALERT!!! That's the Sky-is-my-new-favorite-person smile <3

I'm dyingggg - Phayu says "I'm still waiting Rain" but bro, it's only been like 10 hours since the declaration of love-war, please calm down

Oops I realized I haven't been mentioning the episode titles - this one is so cute! 'I like Rain, and I'm not talking about the weather" but tbf this should have been episode 1's title

Live footage of me crying over my schedule as a grad student:

Dang, Sky has got a good poker face

Also Rain and I are equally dumb (I'm including myself here bc if I didn't already know Prapai and Sky were going to have a storyline I probably wouldn't have assumed he liked guys right off the bat) - Sky didn't even flinch when Rain writes down his mission to court Phayu (a guy) and immediately writes down the first tactic. WHICH incidentally is "show up in front of him every day". It's pretty full-circle that Prapai uses this same tactic to woo Sky later on, isn't it? (I also didn't notice that until right now so wow these rewatch posts are helping my analysis skills lmao)

Look at my determined son!! He's gonna get his mans!! (Sky's looking a little skeptical tho)

Ah Sig my beloved other son who has a single braincell bouncing around in his head like a DVD player screensaver

The Rain-at-the-garage montage contains so many cute shots but this would get too long if I put every single one in, so let's focus on the first meeting with the brothers-in-law (P'Saifah and Rain). How much must Phayu have described Rain for P'Saifah to instantly know who he is on sight? Also P'Saifah probably reported back to Phayu immediately and I'm kinda sad we don't get to see that convo.

I didn't catch this until now but they also foreshadowed Rain missing a deadline in the next scene. Sky tells Rain to finish his work but as soon as Phayu texts him, Rain runs out of the room without having done anything.

Listen, I love P'Aon and his matchmaking skills ok??

Look at Rain, he's trying so hard to be polite with the P'Phayu and the khrap - what a good boy! It's taking everything in him tho lmaooo

The conversation that comes right after this between P'Saifah and Rain is pretty interesting. I love how the narrative keeps trying to tell us that Phayu is some sort of dangerous fellow when all he's done is be a model student and mechanic and teach college freshmen good manners. Could he maybe learn a little something about physical boundaries? Perhaps, but maybe it's just how kind-looking Boss is, but I never got any sense of danger from Phayu, and esp not towards Rain. Rain's reaction to hearing presumably about Phayu's past relationships is quite on-point, and really cements the stubborn and determined attitude he takes towards getting Phayu to like him. It's how we as the audience know he's gonna be successful.

Next up, Phayu arrives in all his fashionably-late glory. This part has me smirking every time because he walks in all suave and stuff but approximately 7 seconds into Rain's pouting he immediately drops all pretenses and becomes so squishy and soft

I LOVE this exchange between them - again, we are getting a full picture of their early relationship dynamics. Phayu has expectations that Rain's gonna be different, and Rain's telling him he's gonna meet those expectations, and Phayu's satisfied "ah just as I thought" face makes an appearance.

I absolutely adore this expression on Rain/Noeul - it's so subtle but powerful

Yay dinner date!! Phayu is taking so many mental notes right here (also pls note this is the same face Rain is making right above)

Phayu is way too good at pressing Rain's buttons omg - he really got Rain to do this with like a single sentence of teasing (tbf Rain is pretty impulsive tho so I'm not surprised)

The poor serviceperson was like pls let me go

Phayu goes through this episode looking wayyy too satisfied imo

But Rain actually does have nice manners - he gave Phayu the utensils and bowl first and does say thank you

This smile should be illegal actually bc it is stealing my heart and soul

And we get another instance of Phayu being very not immune to Rain's pout (this time he doesn't even get to pout for 3 whole seconds before concerned Phayu is feeding him and patting his mouth with a napkin)

We get some more foreshadowing that Rain is going to miss a deadline

ok THIS. These small gestures that Phayu does for Rain have me swooning just as much as their intimate scenes. Something about that sentence is grammatically incorrect but you get my point, right? They could have easily not included them (and idk if these were even scripted) but they make the relationship that much sweeter and believable.

Slightly off-screen headpat alert!!

AND WE GET IT IN POV SHOT TOO

Live footage of us whenever PhayuRain do anything:

Get you someone who looks at you the way Sig looks at his writing utensil (Have I mentioned I adore him yet?)

Also wait he's not wrong!!!

We get Rain's voice jumping like 10 octaves this time lmao (the increase is proportional to how much he loves Phayu obvs)

Look at our smart boy!! He's won design awards, y'know

Phayu you are not allowed to bully P'Aon like this - he's literally on your side??

Rain: I don't want to see Phayu

Also Rain: ignores Ple, the teachers, his friends, his homework to run to the garage to give Phayu snacks

Part 2 here (y'all we're literally only halfway through the episode omg)

[paigemathews]

if you could give prue kids (in an au where she lives), who would it be with (can be anyone dead or alive) and could you tell us a little bit about them?

Okay, so this might be a bit of a boring answer, but canonically, I think that Prue really only ever would've ended up at a place where she was comfortable having kids with Andy, if he had survived. Obviously, if she hadn't died, I think that they'd have given her another love interest, but looking at her canon love interests for more than an episode: Andy (dead), Bane (jail), Jack (...c'mon), and Justin (literally got dumped for no personality.) And while I'd love to spin up a Prue/Bane kid (not a Jack kid bc quite frankly, @phoebehalliwell has got that on lock already), I think it's gotta be Prue and Andy, assuming that they both survived.

The rest of this kind of have to go under the cut because I finished it, checked how many words it was, and went 'oooh, fuck.' In case you're wondering, the answer is over two thousand, so. I'm gonna get blocked if I just drop that on people's dashes lmao.

So, in this 'verse, I think that Prue would've actually been the first to have a child, for several reasons. Firstly, we actually do see her express a desire to have kids at a few points in the show and she doesn't seem to have as many as the same hang-ups of her sisters. Her issue seems to just be the good dad part. Secondly, she'd be the one with the longest and most stable relationship, since she and Andy have known each other for so long and were pretty much on the verge of committing to each other anyways when Andy, y'know. Got dead.

That said, I don't particularly think that it would have been an intentional pregnancy. This is kind of dependent on where we're at in the show, but I think that it'd probably end up at a point where the danger is ramping up and the Source is becoming more of a threat. I don't think that Prue would be initially willing to a) step back from the front lines of the fight b) bring a child into the consistent danger of the household and c) risk orphaning her child like she was. I can see it as a plotline where demons are constantly attacking and frazzling the sisters and we see her miss her meticulous birth control pill or something and then a few episodes later assume that it's because of stress, only to find out that, surprise! You're pregnant, and probably a bunch of dangerous stuff is happening.

But anyways, I think that Prue and Andy would go with the P tradition, because Andy seems like the type of family guy who'd be all for it and I think that Prue, having seen this kind of different continual line of her family, would be into it. (Also, I don't really see any reason why she'd be against continuing it either, tbh.)

So our firstborn daughter is Perri Christina Halliwell, and I'm now realizing the obvious connotation of that lmao. I'm just trying to look at P names that have not been taken by any of the sisters themselves or my main next gen, and Christina is actually a reference to two different female writers that my brain initially thought was the same person: Christine de Pizan, a medieval feminist writer (responsible for The Book of the City of Ladies), and Christina Rossetti, a Victorian writer whose works were often viewed through a feminist lens (at least in my class). I like the name flip thing though, so now I'm keeping it. As for the first name, I think that Perri has this almost rebellious feel to it, which fits for her.

But anyways, Perri, our firstborn witch! I think that because of the circumstances around Perri's birth, especially with Prue having lost her own mother at such a young age, she's incredibly protective over her. (God forbid if Piper or Phoebe died in this 'verse, because it'd multiple by ten.) Perri is also the first member of the next generation, so she's kind of the test child on "Training Your Magical Child 101." And the thing is, I'd genuinely argue that the sisters not being raised with their powers both endangered them as they tried to figure everything out and kept them from reaching their full potential, and I think that Prue's biggest goal is keeping Perri safe, so she goes. kinda hard on the training witch thing. And Andy kind of sides with Prue on this because he doesn't have the magic to help or protect Perri, so. It's not just Prue, but Piper and Phoebe (and Paige? idk if Paige is in this AU or not yet tbh) are also training her, so it's a little less harsh than it could be.

Perri grows up to be a powerful witch with a pretty thorough background on all of the different aspects of magic (spells, potions, powers, demons, etc.) Like her mother, she's a telekinetic witch. I think that under her mother's tutelage, her powers also actually advance relatively quickly so that she develops advanced telekinesis. Lastly, she also had this combination of levitation/limited flight in that she can lift herself and other things off the floor but can't go Superman-ing around. (Is this half because I want to imagine a scene of Perri mid-air wrecking someone's shit? Yes. I fully admit to my utilization of the Rule of Cool here.)

Beyond powers, however, she's a bit more like Phoebe or Paige than Prue as a teenager. She rebels against her parents a lot, but a lot less of the punk teenage rebel thing and more like the artsy creative checking out the art exhibit at the local rec center or whatever. She loves her parents but chafes at the protectiveness. She's very independent, vivacious, bold, etc. She's actually a lot like Prue in that tbh, very popular in high school but with a less "Student Council president, head cheerleader, straight A-student" type of vibe. She's a lot fun. I've kind of bounced between a few different job ideas for her, but I think that she'd love to work in fashion, probably as a designer. Her vibe is very much just nicely saturated colors and colorful modern art.

After Perri's birth, shit probably hits the fan at some point and we get a dark point where all seems lost, maybe a death from someone close (not Prue or Andy obviously and I hesitate to kill anyone else, so some character that they got close to in this rewrite that wasn't in canon. What do you want from me, this is about the kids not the show.) Or maybe just struggles with the Elders and trying to buck that control, especially since we'd have the Piper/Leo and Phoebe/Cole relationships at some point here. But they persevere, and there's probably been another little Halliwell kid running around this point with Perri, but this ain't about them.

Next up, we have Presley Artemisia Halliwell! Now, if you haven't seen that Tumblr post about Artemisia Gentileschi, it's metal af and I have no clue where it is, but short story: girl got a shit deal for quite awhile, including being raped then tortured to give evidence during her rapist's trial, but she was also an amazing painter that focused on women from myths, allegories, and the Bible. Okay, actually, I really gotta find that Tumblr post to explain it, gimme a second. Here it is, high key recommend reading it but trigger warnings but discussion of the previously mentioned rape and torture. Okay, but the point for the middle name: a) I think that she's a fucking cool ass painter and b) seeing as I've mentioned that something awful has happened, the element of surviving that pain and refusing to bow down, especially to a male-dominated society, for someone like Prue. And Presley is because it has this almost academic vibe about it to me, a little cold in a way. (Idk how to explain this, it's one a.m. and I've been at this for two hours, y'all.)

Now onto our second Prue/Andy daughter: Presley! At this point, they've been raising a daughter in the house, maybe even another of the sisters' kids, so there isn't as much of a strictness on her at all points. Don't get me wrong, there's still a level of protectiveness, but Peri's continuing survival has proven to Prue and Andy that magic isn't an instant death sentence. But I'd say that it's Presley's powers that shape her so fundamentally here.

Presley ends up with molecular immobilization initially, but her powers don't advance to molecular combustion. Instead, her next power is an extension of slowing down molecules to freezing them entirely (molecular inhibition, the freezing power that warlock!Piper temporarily had when the sisters were turned evil in Prue's Dark Wedding to Zile). So she ends up being able to freeze things metaphorically and literally. Over time, the molecular inhibition grows to be a bit more versatile, specifically in regards to hand gestures. I'm trying to decide if there's another logical advancement here, but I think that makes her powerful enough for now at least.

With the ability to temporarily freeze everything around her, Presley utilized it to give her time to think. She's very analytic, observant, and intelligent. Unlike her sisters, she's more quiet and introverted but has no issue interacting with people. She's just more content to observe the people around her than be as social as her sisters but is perfectly fine with other people approaching her. Like her mother, she can be a bit prideful and bossy, and Presley can sometimes assume that she knows best because of her observations and intelligent. She actually works adjacent to her dad as a forensic specialist because I knew I wanted her adjacent but not actually a cop. I'm not sure what her specialty is yet though! Her vibe is a lighter neutral Sherlock Holmes and a park on a nice day. (I know that doesn't make it sense, I am simply trying to translate the vibe in my head.)

I think that the last daughter is probably after the craziness has finally died down for the sisters so maybe after any Ultimate Battles or something. They're finally able to just live their lives how they please, with not so many demon attacks, which is when Prue has her last daughter.

Our youngest witch is Pamela Dorothea Halliwell! Dorothea is a shout-out to Prue's love of photography, specifically to Dorothea Lange. Considered one of the most influential photojournalists of the 20th century, Dorothea Lange is known for her work during the Great Depression. Pamela is actually also a shout-out to Pamela Barnes, a psychic in Supernatural! It can also be considered a shout-out to Pamela Bousquet, a Warren ancestor in one of the spinoff novels, who had telepathy.

Pamela rounds out our trio as the resident psychic. While her primary power is premonitions, she's fascinated by divination as a whole, including her powers expanding to show her the past and future, reading palms and tarot cards, and whatever else you'd count that as. Beyond just seeing the future, she also has astral projection, telepathy, empathy, and dream leaping. Her family is pretty sure that at least some of this is magic that she learned instead of naturally possessed, but neither she nor they could tell you which is her own natural power and which she gained through studying the craft. Technically, Pamela could be a threat if she was interested in fighting demons, but she's much more interested in the study of magic and her specific branch of it to wield her powers offensively. She's a threat despite not because of the way she studies.

Continuing with the psychic vibes, Pamela is best described as somewhat dreamy. She's an absolute sweetheart but can get a bit lost in her own head sometimes, which can be dangerous with her powers. Despite what you may initially think, she is voracious when it comes to learning and wants to know everything about everything. She pursues her passion with relentless abandon, which can sometimes bite her on the ass. Honestly, a lot of her dreaminess and kookiness is because of her powers, which are going to cause her some problems soon if she doesn't figure out how to not get lost in them. So of course she works in a witch shop reading palms and tarot cards, basically a more legit "The Amazing Phoebe!"

In my head, I think that Perri is about 26, Presley is about 24, and Pamela is about 21 maybe. The girls are all still in California but maybe spread out a little. Perri is probably in some more fashion-y city that I'd have to ask my sister to pick (but not tonight bc she'd kill me for waking her up at 2 a.m.) while Presley may still be in San Francisco but Pamela definitely is.

Okay, so this definitely ended up taking and being a lot longer than I thought it would be, but this was so much fun! I'm always a sucker for the next gen, and I love thinking about how it may have turned out differently with different characters, relationships, or plots. It's especially fun because there's so many possibilities in the Charmed 'verse for the kids and I'd love to spin out some of the ones that unfortunately just didn't fit for my "canon" kids. (I used to do Charmed roleplay on Tumblr and actually have a new blog that I'm probably never going to actually use, and it has the entire set up of an alternate next generation stemming from Pandora, Paige's daughter, in the Warren Witches spinoff novel. Pretty much all of Phoebe's kids were designed to utilize some of the interesting power ideas I couldn't make my canon girls get.)

But if you have any other suggestions like this, definitely drop it in my askbox! This was so much fun! (Granted, it's two a.m. and I have to be at work at 8:30 tomorrow but whatever.)

[horizon-verizon]

before ep1 dropped there were some reviews that mentioned how rhaenyra only had one line with 4 words in the episode that would cause something grand to happen.

Lots of people had speculated that it'd be "Lucerys shall be avenged", which would make her an accomplish to b&c.

I personally wouldn't have liked that direction because I think b&c is actually a great reason to create an argument between daemon & rhaenyra. Instead of the show's attempt of putting daemon's feelings in regards of viserys as an excuse for him to be an asshole to his wife.

On the other hand, the actual line "I want Aemond Targaryen" was so bad? Especially with the context of Rhaenyra finally having returned, she walks into her counsil with all people lined up, giving her the latest information and expecting orders. Only for her to just spit out this sentence and immediately walk out, abandoning them once more.

I KNOW she's grieving. I don't expect rhaenyra to go warrior mode (tho it's questionable choice to have depress without showing any rage to the general green party. Did Aegon even throw a feast for Aemond after he returned? I don't think we ever found out about it. But had it happened, dunno, yes, kill aemond but also it'd make sense to kinda want everyone who celebrated your son's death feel some sort of wrath), but it seems as if the show tries to put her in a position where the viewer can't help but feel frustration with her.

it also doesn't help that Daemon is the only own who wants to act (nevermind the idea of just going to king's landing with dragons is stupid). Which brings me to the next concern, in the preview teaser for ep2 rhaenyra is shown arguing with daemon, berating him that his actions (b&c I presume) have "weakened her claim tot he throne" which no? it hasn't? It has made her appear cruel but how does it "weaken" her claim? (which btw should be called birthright. Because viserys chose her himself. Claim implies her and Aegon being on an equal footing)

Also, I assume people know about Luke's murder? So while a cruel act, it could also be seen as an "eye for an eye". Then again, there's no single character referring aemond as a kinslayer - a title that tainted him. So who knows, maybe they'll bring it in future episodes or not at all.

All in all, the writing on rhaenyra is weird again. I know her having a small screentime and only uttering one sentence seem like grand because they finally allowed Emma to show some emotion. But on the long run, there was so much exposition throughout the entire episode, that having rhaenyra having the littlest dialogue she could possibly have comes off more as a way to justify the blacks having few scenes here and there while the focus being in the greens.

A)

There was an ask somewhere where someone berated bk1Rhaenyra for not punishing Daemon and I answered that she'd likely didn't want to prevent her armies from being raised, as Daemon does. I should have also mentioned that she really couldn't when he was already at Harrenhal away from Dragonstone when he & Mysaria or just him, or just Mysaria plotted B&C.

And by the time he comes back, it's to meet up w/her at KL to take the Red Keep and she still had uses for him. that and I think she'd just not think abt that after Jaecaerys died, the attempt on her life, and the possibility of B&C not going according to Daemon's plan to remove Aegon from the greens instead of Aemond, bc reminder: Aegon is the head/Aemond wanted to also be seen as a capable ruler and I doubt he'd forgo the chance of being king which would trouble the greens' paltry condition of unity, etc.

As you refer, still think he genuinely thought to kill one of Helaena's sons and not one of Alicent's because that matches Rhaenyra's and his own grief PLUS Rhaenyra's followers still fought for her after Jaehaerys' beheading, so....whatever Daemon-Mysaria did to enlist as many followers for Rhaenyra + Rhaenyra's own reputation (Realm's Delight, that tour in the riverlands) and maybe a few of them had enough ignorance to STILL follow Rhaenyra instead of stay neutral after Jaehaerys' death more likely than not was announced and told throughout the kingdoms at any level of horror/gore/detail 🤷🏾‍♂️. Says something abt this world, but point is that that within the same world many greens stans argue "Rhaenyra would have to kill her brothers bc there'd be rebellions", all this shows that even if she hadn't already said she wasn't going to kill any of her siblings at the beginning she had more people on her side than not.

rhaenyra is shown arguing with daemon, berating him that his actions (b&c I presume) have "weakened her claim tot he throne" which no? it hasn't? It has made her appear cruel but how does it "weaken" her claim? (which btw should be called birthright. Because viserys chose her himself. Claim implies her and Aegon being on an equal footing)

I agree, he didn't weaken much. You could maybe make the argument that he made her look bad, and she can express that she feared he cost her a few allies' enthusiasm to follow her bc of possible claims of kinslaying...It's not impossible that a small number of lords use this as reason to not follow her or look for ways to bow out during their fighting for her later. But that's very unlikely bc that is siply not how the dominant ethical values they live and grew up under would see this.

It's too easy for people to bring up it was an act to revenge for Lucerys' death and some of them would probably not feel like they could say much with such a blood debt also motivating them to act and "rebalance" the wrong done. Through some similar enough method. As what was that "eye for an eye" feudal-honor precedent that many greens stans flung in defense of Aemond killing Luke but unsuccessfully bc an eye =/- a whole person's life.

AND Aemond only really charged after Luke bc Maris goaded him by saying he was "sissy" for not doing so, so it wasn't necessarily for the eye but bc Luke "dared" to cost him an eye. Him, the "trueborn" male princeling. On top of being born of a woman "stealing" his and his brother's "birthright".

Jaehaerys' life is more "equivalent to the value of Lucerys' life.

Again, none of this is actually ethical, child death is horrendous. I'm saying that one cannot argue that in this world and in its society's feudal ethical system we cannot say that Daemon actually put her claim at jeopardy. Not bc B&C/the youth of the kid in question was so horrific and enough to turn any of them off from Rhaenrya, so Rhaenyra saying as much doesn't really make that much sense.

Not even Manfyrd Maidenpool cited B&C as reason for his later defection of self preservation!

B)

but it seems as if the show tries to put her in a position where the viewer can't help but feel frustration with her. it also doesn't help that Daemon is the only own who wants to act (nevermind the idea of just going to king's landing with dragons is stupid)

But can I tell you something crazy, anon? The original story has Rhaenyra more or less being of similar detachment that others have clocked as GRRM over-pathologizing a mother's grief to make her removed from the actual war efforts so men around her (who could also be grieving different people at different times but somehow also manage to be more involved in the planning themselves) other than delegation.

Don't get me wrong, delegation is obviously necessary. But he made it so that she isn't even a part of the KL takeover plans Jacaerys & Corlys had. He also could have had her recover herself enough to present the Dragonseed plan, similar to how there are many legends/true histories of women enlisting locals in those histiographies written by men.

Admittedly a lot of those stories are women who did so in the name of a male relative instead of in their own name...but GRRM could have done a tweak here the same way he tweaks Matilda's entire life to create Rhaenyra-the-character. He also could have had her and/or her ladies write down their thoughts, reasons, observations...some septa...or some pseudonym-having female historian in companion/contrast to Gyldayn AND/OR extend the timeline for Rhaenyra to recover and actually be more active during the war besides delegating tasks and deciding on compromises. So there have already been frustrations with Rhaenyra's character in terms of the displayed lesser seeming of competence in comparison to the men around her.

("Rhaenyra Triumphant")

Again, let me make myself clear. It's not that Rhaenyra was totally incompetent and that's why she doesn't deserve to rule OR be sympathized with in my eyes, bc:

LINK (Rosby & Stokeworth)

if there were other readily available candidates for the position, she'd likely have chosen someone else and not isolate another of her close-by-proximity allies during a unique and precarious situation; what's similar b/t them is that both Celtigars refused to the tax the surrounding nobles or give up some of his own AND unlike Edwell Celtigar, Bartimos Celtigar's taxes came more from a place of true necessity -- the state of the crown's ability to invest in anything for the entire city was already imbalanced from the greens stealing the royal treasury

she already showed she could rule when nothing terrible or stupid came from her actions to the poor smallfolk (nor any possible rich people) were rumored nor confirmed to have happened out of Dragonstone before the war, when she ruled it as active "Princess of Dragonstone...so even the claim that she's a bad ruler is more than likely false and all the decisions she does make later were under the context and pressures of having no money, rising discontent from the Shepherd, war, kinda being trapped in KL bc of the Hightower-Daeron/Aemond-Criston armies, etc....of which Jaehaerys not even had to deal with...Rogar, Alyssa, and even Rhaena were the ones who actually enabled him to obtain the throne even as Rogar was responsible for Edwell Celtigar's appointment as master of coin!!! Again, all POST-WAR -- Jaehaerys wouldn't have been able to be king at all w/o Alyssa and co. A teenage Jaehaerys delegated the task of re-raising funds to Rego Draz, he didn't do much--bc he was a teen and new but he could afford to bc he didn't have the pressure to immediately/asap raise funds as Rhaenyra did. The cash that Rogar was trying to raise & Rego later redressed was for the Dragonpit, not so much the entire city and not from a lack of treasury funds that were stolen.

there is peacetime rule vs wartime command, and wartime command often gets conflated w/peacetime rule bc yes a lot of war is strategy and prioritization and allocation of resources; however, there are different rules, conditions, pressures in these two separate contexts and people forget that often!!!

this society doesn't care for ability to rule as the end all be all determining who should rule unless it comes down to that person having most/all of the cards over most/everyone else [check out Shiera Blackwood and Argella Durrandon] -> "ability" gets conflated as overall ability to rule bc of this oversight even in Westeros itself and it should have been interrogated by F&B's readers but it hasn't and therefore we get people hating on Rhaenyra for these decisions than than they should...

Like you can be frustrated w/GRRM for giving her another loss without any memorable personal wins in sight, but that she made this decision (taxes, Rosby-Stokeworth vs Ulf-Hugh's rewards) at all shouldn't be seen as black-white-she-did-wrong I'd agree/relate. But I don't this is not the same as the former argument and it's much more complicated than that.

[rainbowmewz]

edward nygma (gotham) and OSDD-1a

hi! welcome to my hellhole!! i’ve been thinking about the topic of this post for a while and i just needed to yell about it here bc yelling about it on twitter under a meme post wasn’t enough for me xD

SO! let’s talk about this. i was highly generalizing in the tweet above because i personally don’t think edward nygma suffers from dissociative identity disorder. instead, i believe he suffers from other specified dissociative disorder, specifically subtype 1a.

below the “keep reading”, i will discuss a general overview of DID and OSDD, why i think this is the case for edward nygma, and a review of the representation of it in gotham. be warned that this post has a general trigger warning for discussions of abuse, self-harm, suicide, and drug abuse. this discussion is not in depth at all, but just as a warning if you wanna avoid this post! this post also has a trigger warning for discussions of negative portrayals of DID/OSDD (such as in films like m. night shyamalan’s split and discussions of tropes such as “evil alters”).

OSDD-1 is a subtype of OSDD that is very similar to DID. to get a general gist of what OSDD is, we first have to define DID. DID (dissociative identity disorder), which used to be referred to as MPD (multiple personality disorder), is a dissociative disorder that forms in early childhood as a reaction to prolonged and/or severe trauma (abuse, for example). this causes a child’s brain to split into multiple parts, called alters, and experience amnesia/dissociation between these parts. in OSDD-1 (other specified dissociative disorder), there’s two subtypes, 1a and 1b. in 1a, there’s dissociation between parts, but their parts aren’t as distinct as someone who has DID. on the other end of the spectrum, in 1b, alters are highly distinct but experience little to no amnesia between them. as stated previously, i believe gotham’s portrayal of edward nygma/the riddler has OSDD-1a.

to avoid confusion, in this post, i’ll be referring to the two as a whole as “edward nygma”, “edward”, or “nygma”; i’ll refer to the alter we’re first introduced to as “ed”; and the alter we’re introduced to next as “the riddler” or “riddler”.

while we don’t know anything about edward’s childhood in gotham, many other portrayals of the character (arkhamverse, general comic lore, etc.) mention an abusive past, specifically at the hands of his father. in general comic lore, this abuse explains where his compulsions for showing his intelligence comes from. if this backstory is true for gotham’s portrayal of nygma, which we will assume for this analysis, this is the trauma element of OSDD.

our first introduction to the idea of edward having a dissociative disorder is in season 2 episode 1. while this is our first introduction to the difference between ed and the riddler, the two seem to have a history of co-existing before this scene (ed tells riddler stuff such as: “i get nervous when you talk to me with other people around like that” and “i know where this is going. i told you, leave ms. kringle alone”).

now that we have those basics down (trauma and evidence of a long-standing dissociative disorder), i’ll be referring to an article written by DID-Research.org titled “DID Versus OSDD-1″. this will hopefully help my thoughts be more concise, since i tend to.. go all over the place with this stuff. i tried to write my thoughts on this topic in a discord server before and it went in 50 different directions x3

DID-Research’s article discusses how the parts in OSDD-1a are different from disorders such as borderline personality disorder, posttraumatic stress disorder, and complex posttraumatic stress disorder. while OSDD-1a’s parts are way less differentiated as ones in DID or OSDD-1b, since individuals “are more likely to present as the same individual”, these parts can have “different skills, emotional reactivity, or ways of interacting with the world”. to me, this sounds exactly like what riddler and ed go through throughout gotham. as early as season 2, riddler is shown as more confident, brash, and witty than his counterpart. ed is more focused on living a normal life, he wants to live out this fantasy with kristen, then isabella, then lee. this is all he craves, to be seen as normal and not a freak. riddler on the other hand, isn’t as concerned. sure, he originally wants to pursue kristen, but in a way to introduce a sense of excitement and power in him and ed’s life.

this mention of ed’s craving for a normal life is something.. very interesting as well. according to the theory of structural dissociation, there’s two types of parts a person with OSDD/DID could have. these are referred to as Apparently Normal Parts (ANPs, these alters take care of daily life, often are avoidant (or unaware) of trauma, and have a need to appear high-functioning (sound like anyone we know?)) and Emotional Parts (EPs, these alters represent dissociation and trauma through memories, internalized beliefs, and learned responses). ed seems much like an ANP, while riddler seems more like an EP. an article discussing the differences of ANPs and EPs states that an ANP “might engage in self harm or use psychogenic substances in attempts to forcefully tether themselves to the present and prevent EP from intruding”. this sounds very familiar, does it not? his abuse of hallucinogens in season 3 to see oswald again, using pills again in season 4 to try and get rid of the riddler, and if i remember correctly, plotting to kill himself in season 4 as well.

as i stated, the article talks about how OSDD-1a is different from an identity disturbance in disorders such as BPD, PTSD, and C-PTSD. the article specifically says that people with these disorders might feel a loss of control, but never “feel that different parts of them are capable of acting independently or that different parts of them have and express their own views or goals”. this exact quote proves that what nygma might be experiencing is OSDD-1a. our introduction to the two psyches of edward nygma show their differing goals and views. as another example, in season 5, riddler is completely unaware of ed’s plan to destroy haven and is shown as extremely distraught when he appears in different places without knowledge of what happened beforehand.

so.. it seems obvious that edward nygma has OSDD-1a, right? so... how would i, as a psychology major, someone who possibly has DID/OSDD, and someone who’s known multiple people with DID/OSDD, review this representation?

i’d say... it’s pretty good for what it’s worth!! gotham as a tv show has always dealt with terrible writing and a lot of things could have been written better, but this topic is surprisingly one they handled pretty okay. there was... a lot of room for more and it’s quite strange to see the dissociative disorder representation go to edward nygma instead of a character such as harvey dent (who’s a whole other can of worms and has been stated to have “MPD” in the past).

it’s really refreshing to see representation of DID/OSDD that doesn’t rely on played out and disgusting tropes such as “evil alters”. while it seems like riddler might play out as an evil alter, both ed and riddler are both messed up in their own ways. there’s no evil alter to stop, they’re both.. villains in their own ways (blowing up a place w/ the most vulnerable members of the city vs hiding your dead gf’s body parts over a police precinct, pick your poison). i also enjoy how cory michael smith portrays the two psyches of edward nygma and portrays the way the two switch in and out!

you’re free to disagree with my opinion as well. i’d love to have a discussion in the comments or reblogs :DD!! i just... really enjoyed writing this up. if i missed anything, just tell me :33

[mooncalfe-art]

i wanted to say that, as a huge venus fan and also a next mutation enjoyer, im really glad u were the writer to introduce her characther to the comics, bc based on some tweets i have seen from u is easly to assume u have actually watched the next mutation, and its very clear that u actually know and understand the characther instead of just having a vague notion of who she is based on wikis or articles like so many people do, even with the fact that u werent legally allowed to use some things from the characther, i still think she does justice to the original nm venus and its a incredible take on the charachter !!! (i hope this doesnt sound weird, like im not bashing any other comic writer and saying that they would make venus bad, its mostly about how some fans seen to not exactly know who she is and just add her into their projects without actually caring about her, and im happy that in idw this doesnt happen and she is actually being written by someone that cares abt her as a characther, anyways just wanted to thank u for how good ur version of her is)

Glad you like what I've done with Venus, thanks! I'd been trying for quite a while to get her into the comic but kept running into legal obstacles and false starts, her introduction almost didn't happen but we got clearance at the last minute. Whew! And yeah I've watched Next Mutation, it gets a bad rap in my opinion, it has a lot of cool ideas (Mikey's show in the IDW comic is based off his pirate radio station in Next Mutation for example, I always thought that was such a great idea). I haven't seen every episode but I have the DVD set of it, I really need to finish the last several episodes.

Anyway, I really wanted IDW Venus to treat the original version with respect as much as I could, like you said there are aspects of the Next Mutation version that we're not allowed to use, it's all very complicated, but I tried to at least homage the things I'm not allowed to use. I'm still trying to have Venus join the Turtles/Splinter Clan but it keeps getting pushed back!

Thanks for reaching out and letting me know your thoughts! I hope I continue to do Venus justice. :)

[beardisable]

been rewatching the teasers for new context

"learn the history. find kill the founder" we didnt really learn much history in generation 1. this is... a call to action for US, for the next parts. to keep watching and figure out the lore. so in the end we can know enough to kill the founder....? SURELY HAHA

(the inaguration has its separate post here)

i dont think Connecting... has much? Its the tape we see in the ending with the showfall chime in the video, now we have confirmation the person recording and showfall are working together(prob the same corp anyways)

now Connected... (copied text from a comment lmao)

"Look into infinity" "One of many" "One of millions" you are not the first or the last to be chosen, you will join a cast

"You are now worthy" you have been chosen to join :)

"One to another One to yours One to another" not really sure about these? maybe "from one to another role"? feel free to rb/reply with ideas

The posters! it seems like we DO have contact with someone from actually the outside? who does know whats going on and tries to warn us? or is it another ploy by showfall/the founder to entice us into the mystery...

we see a figure block the screen for a moment, i find the white square instead of ranboos black box square Very interesting. i dont think its the founder bc it feels way too obvious to give out this easily? but i do think the white box might mean like. this person has been completely brainwashed and under control...

and then the message is taped over by ranboos missing posters, which we know now were made BY showfall media. 2 posters are torn, to show WATCH from the below poster. as it is the only message they agree with. keep watching!

Announcement this is the same guy that flashed by in the previous video

"all around THIS world" is pretty suspicious as i saw someone point out... are there other worlds?

This seperate person(?) is trying to contact us during this

"where is this signal going?" hmm... perhaps the outsider isnt even completely sure what they are doing? just trying to do SOMETHING to stop this, to stop us from watching and enabling the continuing of this

"Found them!" is interesting... its not in red so ill assume its by showfall? maybe sneeg and charlie have tried to escape before, but gotten caught again?

"is this working? i dont have much time. i dont know whats happening." AH so yes they are trying to do Something but not really sure what/how

"i dont know what you are" INTERESTING. this makes me wonder still if the outsider actually is free of showfalls influence, can they even understand we are the audience, or is it about something else...

"it already found him" i wonder if... ok maybe nonsense theory but maybe this video and its interruptions were made after the first stream was done..? the red text outsider got some access as Hetch/H "messed" with the systems, but had to cut it short when they got ranboo after all in the end?

"it got everyone, everyone but me. i have to save them, i have to stop this" OR or... the outsider is another person who managed to escape the... "draft"

also the announcer guys head keeps swiveling and goes featureless in the end like haha nice generation loss the social experiments episode 3 ending reference

The Hero ok so the obvious being the censor bar.. it was the black box all along, he was always doomed like that... i do wonder though if the switch between the pixel and irl is meant to show like... the blinking between control and concious decisions and stuff that we see a lot of with the mask

i cant figure out anything that can be recontextualized in the 2 trailers rn. maybe puzzler saying "your final game begins now" since its the second episode but... also he dies in the end of ep 3 so it was his final run of the show? (but also i dont think theyre dead so lmao idk)

i do find the lack of trailer 3 very interesting too... lulling us into a false sense of security that this 3rd one isnt a show and is real?

ok im. brain empty. if yall have comments on this let em rip id love to talk about this(once my cells regenerate)

[safyresky]

So I've only watched this last week's (this has been in my drafts for WAY too long) episode once (I usually do it twice but have yet to do a second watch and feel a rewatch will be in order at some point) but I have been rotating it around in my head since tscs mutuals first started posting their thoughts and I have SO MANY thoughts because this episode ONCE AGAIN packed soo many things in one go. Why don't they understand how PACING works? My GOD.

Anyway~

My initial thoughts before even watching the episode were "this is whack". Here's why.

This is episode 3.

Of 6.

We are halfway through. And our antagonist (Mad Santa) and Protagonist (Santa Scott) have yet to cross paths. And post watching S2E3, Mad Santa only JUST got his hands on some North Pole magic.

THREE EPISODES IN. HALFWAY THROUGH.

Do you know how much stuff is going to be packed into the next THREE EPISODES? Let me make a list (bc I LOVE lists)

Mad Santa getting back to the Pole

The obligatory "I've failed ):" from Santa Scott when Mad Santa gets to the Pole

Mad Santa GETTING to the Pole

The Council giving Scott 3 months to get Cal shipshape, and episode 3 starting with Olga saying IT'S BEEN THREE MONTHS.

(ALREADY????)

So we still have THAT to look forward to, assuming they even LISTEN to their own boundary, since we know this show's track record with continuity is. Bad.

PLUS we still have a Sandman cameo coming! And a big old snowball to be thrown in Scott's face! (I have my clown shoes on)

Carol is STILL trying to find the missing nutcracker. She has gotten no closer; her trail is so cold she's looking at JACK as a suspect (yes I saw the cameo too, absolutely delightful for us Jack stans on main)

(pun absolutely intended)

Cal and Sandy are only JUST talking to one another about how their magic training is going, and are only JUST like. Diving into the drawbacks of being raised up North AND NEVER GOING ANYWHERE as well as the trauma that must be there from experiencing life in the real world, ENJOYING IT, and being yanked back to the Pole for the "family business"

Befana and Sandy. So THAT is a thing that was lovely then fell apart for no good reason--it was ONE MISTAKE and could've been handled better Befana, come ON girlie!

Easter Bunny being turned back into his EB form (tho tbh we should keep him as a bunny. Sorry not sorry, I have always been an EB hater on main)

Cal dealing with A) first heartbreak over Riley (which was stupid, more on that later) B) not wanting to be/do the Santa thing BECAUSE of a MULTITUDE of reasons he has NOT shared with Scott and C) the fallout when he realizes the vest is gone. He is NOT going to tell his parents at ALL. His whole existence practically rides on "I gotta make Dad proud!" and this deffs won't do it, but HEY! Maybe the writers will surprise me and he'll be OPEN and HONEST with his Dad!

Bc let's be real, ALL OF THEIR PROBLEMS COULD BE SOLVED WITH OPEN COMMUNICATION

I am off topic. Deep breaths. Whew. SO. We have all THAT to focus on.

PLUS Sandy's powers! She's apparently more powerful than Befana thought? Sandy now has to deal with that SANS her mentor and I DOUBT Carol will be helpful with that. She WOULD'VE BEEN in the MOVIES. But SERIES CAROL? APPARENTLY NOT FUCKING LIKELY SINCE ALL OF HER CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT HAS GONE OUT THE DOOR FOR TOKEN FEMINISM THAT IS IMMEDIATELY CHECKED OFF A LIST AND MADE IRRELEVANT WITH THE PLOT OF "One woman is jealous of another woman"

Oh my god off topic again. SORRY. RIGHT. So, we have Sandra's magic to deal with still. Her mentor/mentee relationship with Befana. Cal's own magical struggles and his relationship with his Dad in terms of Mentor/Mentee. These kids need THERAPY, SOMEONE CALL NEIL

SO ALL OF THAT. IS GOING TO BE JAM PACKED INTO THESE LAST THREE EPISODES. AND I JUST KNOW (based on last season) THE RESOLUTIONS WILL NOT PAY OFF.

So yeah, thems the opening thoughts (with some watch thoughts leaking in, admittedly).

AS FOR THE EPISODE ITSELF.

OH BOY.

It's still very mid. It gives a lot of good bits but either A) contradicts them or B) gives them not enough time to flourish (see: Carol and Befana for A, and Cal and Sandra for B). It is also STILL ignoring its own continuity, and not just from the movies, but from literally the first two episodes of the season!

Did Cupid not say. One to two episodes ago. "Hey Santa, we, the Council, aren't really sure about this Cal thing? So uh. You've got three months. and if it's not working out. We're calling it."

And did Olga not say. At the start of this episode. "It's been THREE MONTHS since we escaped and we are NO CLOSER" yadda yadda yadda.

So THREE MONTHS have passed between THIS EPISODE, AND THE LAST ONE?

SO WHERE THE HELL IS THE COUNCIL? HELLO???

I actually thought that that would be like, the big crunch time thing for the series, you know? THE plot motivator. Or at least, one of many. Like I was expecting a montage and for each episode to have a month packed in and for the final episode to involve resetting everything to Scott's ideal status quo and defeating Mad Santa and Olga. Needless to say, I was SHOOK when they opened with THAT.

Olga and Magnus are fucking hilarious, full stop. I kinda want Olga to do a stab ngl!! Their whole dynamic has been interesting lol.

The Judy cameo was a fun Easter egg, but it's a shame they didn't give it a bit more hype, you know? That would've been fun. The Jack cameo (if we can even call it that) was ALSO a fun Easter Egg, tho I am much too mad at Carol's writers rn to be like WOO JACK. But you bet your ASS I saw that lil easter egg, lol. It's kinda frustrating? They keep throwing these lil cameos/easter eggs at us like it's an attempt to placate us or smth. Idk, I am tired and JADED and Don't Trust Like That.

Right so what else. Going in for round two. Wish me luck:

Agree with ALL OF YOU about the poor elves being used as reindeer stand ins 🙄🙄 AWFUL. SOMEONE KNOCK THIS GUY OFF A ROOF FOR GOOD! DAMN! (Santa not Cal)

Sandra and Carol. GOD. So much cringe! SO MUCH! BECAUSE OF BAD PARENTING. HOW DO THEY SUCK SO MUCH AT BEING PARENTS? WE ALREADY HAD 3 MOVIES OF THIS AND CAROL WAS NEVER A W F U L

(RIP spider on Carol's shoulder)

Carol and Scott talking about the kids was just. They are SO OUT OF TOUCH. AND SCOTT HAS A SISTER??? I DO NOT BELIEVE THIS PERIODT. He has only child energy, and wow did he EVER suck at reassuring Carol. Anyone else sick of Old White Men? Anyone?

Sandra reading the transformation spell and then accidentally doing it is deffs foreshadowing. She's gonna transform the SHIT out of Magnus, calling it NOW

EB HAS APPEARED! KIDNAPPED BY OLGA! ICONIC! And they were PALS??? Magnus I am so intrigued. Who Are You

And obligatory "BLERG BLAH CONTINUITY" re: EB being there all the way back then

NTS: There is an Easter Gopher too. I am taking notes.

Scott being an undignified, pathetic name: GET HIS ASS (count: 9)

EB is so wrong about Peeps. He is falling lower and lower on my list of Legendary Figures. Him laying the egg. Cool EB magic, disgusting execution. I am 99% sure bunnies don't even LAY EGGS

Where tf do they get the eggs from???

OKAY CAL AND SANDRA

Love that they're having sibling bonding. "doing it for everyone but yourself" GET HIS ASS, SANDY. (GHA Count for Cal: 1). Hate how short the scene was and how it boiled down to a sort of silly joke (being a crossguard instead of Santa). Like. They could;ve axed the dinner with Noel scene, cut tight to Santa training Buddy (Cal), and after that debacle moved on to sibling scene and having them bond. Like. There is substance and it is there but it is not being well executed. LET THE KIDS HAVE ROOM FOR GROWTH! (but dani! we have 3 more episodes to go! SEE MY FIRST LIST! THEY DON'T HAVE THE TIME!)

Santa asking for a jetpack and Carol being like "don't force your son up there to get over the heights thing" and then telling him to just say "I love you and I'm proud", GET HIS ASS (GHA Count Scott Edition: 10. And we're not even halfway through the episode). GOD. I wish Carol would take her own advice re: Santa and Cal and apply it to Sandra and Herself, come the fuck ON guys. DO BETTER.

DINNER WITH BEFANA (Scott: can't make it Carol: Gonna kill him. GET HIS ASS)

Cool idea, HORRIBLE execution. I am not a fan of how Carol was like "woo! ladies being ladies!" and them immediately we get a plotline of her being jealous of another woman. It's very. Token/preformative feminism. It's like they are checking items off of a list. I dislike how SHALLOW most of these subjects are in the series. Like, if you don't know how to handle something like that, THEN DON'T WRITE IT. GOD.

Like. When Sandy lifts the salt with magic, SUPPORT IT. Don't be like I NEED TO ONE UP IT. Also, interesting that Mrs. Claus. Despite being Legendary by marriage. Doesn't have magic?? I think she should. GIVE CAROL MAGIC 2k23. Carol overreacted and then so did Sandy and I just think that this whole La Befana/Mrs. Claus plotline could've been done better!

Especially Befana inviting Carol over and then Carol promptly asking if she should bring a broom, something something, witch stereotypes being a thinly veiled allusion to magical racism something something

I BET IF BUDDY HAD GONE WITH CHARLIE TO THE "CLUB" HE WOULD'VE GOT IN JUST FINE

"Are you talking to the float or me" I am SO angry for Cal/Buddy. The poor kid thinks his Dad is super not proud of him, his whole existence seems to hinge on his dad's approval and I am so upset about all the implications of this I'm gonna explode things with my MIND

"Hare to the throne" Cal you are so stupid. And my GOD the Hare vs Heir argument being the reason Sandy explodes things like I just. That could've been done better.

This whole SCENE could've been done better! Befana didn't need to be so mean! It was an ACCIDENT. She explains it loud and clear and what do you MEAN something else entirely I'm SCREAMING. Befana being like we're stepping back? Like. UGH. And then the jealousy thing? Oh wow! More pitting ladies against ladies! GOD. I'm so upset about this whole thing it's unreal ):<

OKAY. SO THE SLEIGH STEALING SCENE AND WHERE THAT GOES.

WE LOVE TO SEE BUDDY AND SANDRA BONDING! STEALING THE SLEIGH! (not to get all OCs on main but JACQUELINE APPROVES). I love to see them working together to be delinquents, but my GOD the Riley thing

UGH

Like. I know we're supposed to feel bad for Buddy but like, the whole romance between him and Riley has been so ick and the way their breakup went. It was like. You KNOW. It was written to be poignant with lines like "you're always busy with your dad" and "I want you to dust me so that you never met me" which would have worked if. You know. They weren't FIVE. (16-18). It just didn't work :\. I haven't had time to like, enjoy them and they made Riley very, very. Unlikable tbh.

ALSO. Cal from CALGARY? As a Canadian, THERE ARE A BUNCH OF OTHER PLACES YOU COULD'VE PICKED! VANCOUVER? TORONTO? YOU WENT WITH CAL FROM CALGARY? I can't with y'all. ALSO. THEY DID SCHOOL TOGETHER FOR A YEAR. I FEEL AS THOUGH THE KIDS SHOULD KNOW WHO HE IS. OH YEAH THAT WEIRD EXCHANGE STUDENT WE HAD FOR A YEAR. Y'ALL ARE DOING LONG DISTANCE? SUPER! LIKE. HELLO???

Kudos to Sandra for being the funniest bitch alive with the creeping in the corner like "That was rough af bud." It's giving

ehehehe.

And FINALLY Mad Santa has his magic back. Here's how I'm guessing the next episode is going to work:

Mad Santa practises using his magic to make Santaopolis all fancy smancy

Manages to make it up north by the end of the episode

Cal has a fallout with his Dad over the Santa vest thing

It becomes a bigger deal than expected

Sandy cameo probably bc EB is missing and he was last seen THERE (Man Santa, you're really getting on the Council's radar in all the bad ways, huh? Putting Jack to shame! 273 counts of attempted upstaging of Santa vs how many billion counts of magical exposure? And an EB kidnapping? Bc I bet that'll be a thing posited next episode)

As if La Befana can't undo a spell (I AM ROLLING MY EYES)

They will make ZERO progress on figuring out who Mad Santa is and they will be very confused when he makes it to the North Pole next episode

I also tho wouldn't be surprised if they stretch Mad Santa getting to the Pole to episode 6. That seems on brand for how they treat pacing (as if it does not exist).

tl;dr: too much preformative stuff. very mid. Cal and Sandy are fun but I wish they were given more time to shine! Pour one out for our boy Noel who is having a rough go of it tbh and Kris too who's gonna get back from Costco very, very confused

[drawnaghht]

I saw your tags in my post!!!! AND I'M SO SURE YUI PARENTS ARE DEAD!!! But they died when he was still really young so he doesn't really remember them. I'm so curious on what other people think about his childhood. In my mind he was a chaotic child who performed tricks for his Aunty.

Oh! I'm glad to hear that bc I had a similar thought over the series ^^

The way Auntie says it in the first episode, it really does sound like... she promised his parents a long time ago, and it is something much-mentioned between the two.

I actually have a theory based on Auntie's appearances and what she says, that she decided to make a kind of larger white lie about herself to Usagi, and that she is actually his grandma and for some reason has asked to be called auntie. So many if us assume that she is literally, his aunt, but the way I understand it as a non-native speaker, auntie in english can mean an elderly woman as well, regardless of actual familial connection.

there's also how the japanese dub has translated her as obaa-chan, grandma, which can be used for any older grandma-age lady too. then also how Stan Sakai calls her Usagi's grandma in interviews.

so where I'm getting to with this is that maybe it's a painful topic for her, whether it was her sibling or her own child who died, but it seems she's gone through a lot and maybe omits details about what happened to Yuichi's parents. In any case, she had made a promise to Usagi's parents and we don't know much beyond that. If we go more into headcanon than theory territory, we could expand on what's implied in the show. What if besides looking after the boy, they also asked her to promise to look after him as her own? And so she became Auntie, instead of only Grandma.

Or it could even just be a personal preference! I have an aunt thru marriage who right-off-the-bat requested to be called by name instead of "aunt" or "auntie" because those monikers felt old to her.

Perhaps for Usagi's auntie, it was similar and she felt that because he couldn't experience having parents, at least he could experience having an auntie, and that's what she asked for him to call. Not an older grandma, but an experienced auntie. Altho that's not what those words have to mean, it is just speculation from me based on how she's written. Also, because she seems to be a war veteran (the prosthetics and experienced skill despite her old age), she might have things to hide. so perhaps she prefers something familial and close what a family member would call her, but not her full or real name, as perhaps the boy's parenrs would have called her.

Just some thoughts!

My theories on what actually happened to his parents range depending on what I take as a jumping-off point for the theory. Easiest and most extreme example; Perhaps the wars were recent and they died there? Maybe they even had more kids before Usagi? Because Usagi's name also includes Yuichi tho, with the meaning of "first-born brave son", perhaps not. Another theory I had earlier in s1, is that they went to the city, related to their farm, perhaps they needed investors or were doing business of some kind. What happens next branches off - it could have been a simple mugging or other crime that left them vulnerable or hurt enough that they couldn't get help anymore.

One of the theories I have is that it is related to some gang wars that took place over 10 years before the events of the series and Usagi's 16th birthday in ep 1. I'm going to use this one in my Neo Edo Idol fanstory because it seems to fit the best there ^^ It's implied by how the three main gangs in the series basically exist in a corrupt way where they can both tell the Shogun what to so, but are also sequestered off into their of territories, that probably things weren't so great before, but under the semi-corrupt Lord Kogane, they exist in a standstill. So maybe Usagi's parents found their ends in whatever went on with the gangs 10+ years ago.

If we tie it with the fact that a big criminal was alao going around the city causing problems, mentioned in Gen and Toshiko's flashbacks about their mom's praxis, we can get another interesting connection. Maybe Usagi's parents were victims of this black wolf. There's even the theory that maybe... this could be related to Jei, known from the comics and that this character is a nod to him. Whether a descendant or a random black wolf possessed by Jei, it is an interesting nod. So 2 things could have happened. Or any number of things really! Mainly I am thinking, maybe Usagi's parents got hurt by Okami, and died then and there; Possibly, they could have been hurt by either Okami or anyone or anything else, but then couldn't get help because the city's only working hospital was closed because of him. It's interesting to think about! I hope someone else makes these connections in their Usagi Chronicles fanstories as well :)

Anyway, this became a whole big tangent answrr lol ^^; but thanks for talking about this! lolol I love talking about this sjow and Usagi's parents and what happened to them, any details about them... they are like one of the biggest unknown mysteries to me haha and it would be really cool to get something like a FAQ or some companion piece/comic where we get more fleshed-out lore for them too ^^

Of course, since the series was made inspired by Senso and Space Usagi, it's likely we'll never find out, but it's fun to think that maybe the writers, storyboarders and showrunners all hax some small ideas about his parents, and that these ideas simply weren't used for time reasons...

Thanks and feel free to ask/talk more!

[hartz-penny]

with the 5.13 press release, i want to share a thought i had recently: we're likely never going to get pregnant lucy on the rookie.

i can see us getting a "lucy finds out she's pregnant in the series finale" or a flashforward in the series finale where chenford has a baby, but honestly, unless melissa o'neil gets pregnant in real life in the next 2-4 years (assuming that's how many seasons we have left), they won't write that in.

currently, the only pregnancies they've written in were because both alyssa and mekia were pregnant. luckily, for their characters, they could write those in vs doing the tango of hiding them behind boxes and columns, which tbh i can't imagine would be easy on a procedural like the rookie bc they aren't often carrying boxes at crime scenes and can't just show them at the station.

lucy being pregnant when melissa isn't just wouldn't make sense for the show. if lucy becomes a sergeant or detective, sure it becomes a bit easier to incorporate, but if she's still on patrol, at a certain point, lucy would be put on desk duty and that removes her character from a lot of potential storylines.

the only way we could possibly get pregnant lucy is that we get pregnant lucy for 3-4 months of her pregnancy (where she would still be on patrol and able to take part in action scenes reasonably) and then we get a 6+ month time jump to after the baby is born - or just before and we get a dramatic B99 style episode where its a city wide crisis and lucy has to give birth at the station.

but anyways, as much as i want and would love a complete full circle on-screen chenford romance with marriage and babies, we'll definitely get marriage before the series finale, but i don't see us getting a pregnancy that fully plays out on screen

[steveharrington]

Okay in fairness I do feel like some of the later deaths had better character execution (heh) if that makes any sense. Like I’m super ambivalent to Chrissy as a character but I feel like we got a lot more development for her than Barb. Which might not be an accident bc of how heavy season one is with the character tropes, Barb starts and stays relatively one note bc she doesn’t get a chance to develop/need to do anything else but exist as Nancy’s friend

I will say barb’s death has always kind of rubbed me wrong because the narrative focus on Will makes things kind of uneven like it seems like no one cares about her (except Nancy) in comparison to how much people care about will. Which is obviously necessary for the narrative but then I get to the fact that she died in the upside down even though she was there for a shorter amount of time and I would assume have a better shot as a healthy almost-adult compared to a scrawny child. But it’s also necessary for the horror movie vibes and quite a bit less distressing than will’s death would have been for a lot of the reasons I mentioned

I’m not trying to say the other deaths which were extremely telegraphed were executed better (I still think it’s the best character death*). Stranger things is just really bad at killing off characters

(*honorable mention to Billy bc I love that he died even if I don’t care for how they went about doing it)

see for me it doesn’t particularly bother me that barb didn’t get tons of development beforehand because like ….. she was there for such a short period of time yk? so if we had spent like a good chunk of the first two episodes like delving into who barb is as a person, it would’ve felt weird and not given us as much time with the plot exposition and getting to know our characters who actually live (ooo that sounded brutal sorry barb) and in typical slasher fashion, some people who die for the sake of raising the stakes and establishing danger just aren’t going to get much of a personality before they’re killed.

as for will getting more attention than barb in terms of being missing, i think it’s kinda only natural considering the ties he has to so many of the main characters. he’s joyce’s son, jonathan’s brother, mike lucas and dustin’s best friend. it makes sense that there’s more urgency and attention placed on him because we spend more time with these characters in combination than we do with nancy, who was the only one who really had ties to barb. it is a little weird that hopper doesn’t seem very motivated to find her, i will grant you that. like damn “police chief” we got a missing girl could you like pretend to care pls

it would’ve been nice to maybe explore how will survived for a week in an environment that got barb killed immediately. i guess we’re supposed to extrapolate from the demogorgon being directly behind her at steve’s place that she just….immediately was killed? whereas will had a weapon and some distance idk that’s the best theory i can come up with.

when i say barb’s death is well executed, i mainly mean that it had an obvious impact on nancy. her relationship with barb carried through to the next season, she grieved, it caused conflict between her and steve, and the justice she wanted to get for barb was literally her main plotline in s2 (and jonathan’s!) whereas with other deaths like bob, fred, EDDIE!!!!!, etc the characters they were close to barely react. there’s some sprinkled in mourning for bob, dustin gives his fake ass speech about eddie, fred literally gets nothing from nancy at all, but barb’s death was realistic in the way it affected nancy. i think st’s main problem right now is that the stakes feel so incredibly low. like yeah someone could die but they’ll probably just come back to life, and if they don’t ….. oh well ? our characters won’t be that broken up about it ?? s1 and 2 just did a great job depicting grief and how the absence of a loved one is all consuming and not something that can just be brushed off. s4 is extremely lacking in that area

[llycaons]

Ep1: wuji still fucking slays

I've watched some parts of this show more often than other parts, but I would estimate this is my...fourth or fifth rewatch, it has been a solid two years

god I forgot how long the op is. unlike netflix, viki doesn't have a 'skip intro' option

SECT LEADERS YAO AND OUYANG APPEAR BEFORE ANY OTHER NAMED CHARACTER BESIDES WWX. SCREAM

read in a joke yaoyang fic once that they did attack each other during that fight but I assumed the fic author made it up

editing is really overwrought, especially in this first ep. far too many fast zooms imo. seems clumsy and juvenile, tho I know a lot of editing on this show is really good. sets and music and (eventual) character work more than make up for it

don't really like this first ep tbh.

subtitles are WAY different than netflix's. I can hardly follow what the characters are saying sometimes

wwx's voice is way deeper than I remember, too

this confused me so bad but it's nice to have a reminder that wwx IS in his og body, but mxy always concealed his face so the mos don't actually know what he looks like and so wwx showing up to replace him doesn't seem weird to them. they must have been very similar in height, build, skin tone, etc. lucky coincidence

wwx looks so handsome in those beige robes gotta say

he mentions that peanuts and wine both don't taste as good as they used to, which is a curious addition that I assume is temporary because he doesn't mention it again. and because he's chugging that emperor's smile later like it's the only solace in this cold harsh world

WUJI!!!! the emotions I felt when it started during the first flashback to lwj....GOD what a fucking good song. all the music in this show is good but wuji is just hitting it out of the park. ACHING yearning. HIGH romance. POWERFUL pathos.

oh shit ding and tong were sweethearts in the book but I forgot they were also in the show, tho only briefly

this was also in the book. they have protective sigils sewn into their robes, which is implied here but I guess I missed it when I watched it the first few times. honestly a lot of this is still quite confusing to me

you know I give lsz a lot of crap for being so boring but it was genuinely very nice to see him be like 'please respect disabled people and be kind to them and believe them when they make accusations against people more powerful than them' bc wwx does a similar thing in the next episode and I feel like it's one of those things that gets swept under the rug amidst the louder themes of the story but besides just being a 'good' and polite boy he genuinely does care about and advocate for people who are denigrated and mistreated by the more powerful figures in their society

is it just me or is this shot kind of horny

wwx's reaction to lwj actually does make sense to me because he's still clearly mooning over him but he also can't trust that lwj will be on his side considering that in the past he kind of wasn't and wwx is probably still a bit paranoid and mistrustful so it makes sense? he's very sad about like. being reminded of him + knowing what he can't have and also is kind of freaked out at the idea of seeing him again

I FORGOT THEIR MONEY IS CHUNKS OF SPRAYPAINTED ROCK AND STARTED LAUGHING OUT LOUD. I LOVE THIS SHOW

EYYYY LITTLE APPLE!!!!!!!!!!!! I fucking love little apple bro

THERE HE IS!!!!!!!!!!! RED AND BLACK LEGEND IS BACK!!!!

Personal highlights: ep1

wwx going 'lan zhan' all heartfelt and gutted when playing wuji on the piece of grass

sexy lwj hand shot

the way that money looks