#-human revival lol. but until then)

[sweetnsour-stuff]

I am cringe but I am free

[partyinthemysterymachine]

hi

[cosmicfoole]

literally so me core rn, for day 3 of this stupid af cold:

[duodusk]

seeing so many cwilbur design takes on my dash tonight and nodding and taking notes like a scientist

[mushroomcrepe]

Byakuya is stronger than me because if my baby genius son senku refused any of my loving parent hug or kissie i would literally cry in my bed after pretending to go take a nap

This above was the original post, but actually i decided to make it into a more developped observation of Byakuya and Senku relationship and why they have the best anime father-son bond ever.

I would like to remind that everything that is said is about two characters that have a completely different personality and way of handling things, and so the argument "they both love science" isn't enough to explain why they have a better bond than any other anime father-son, and why Byakuya is best father.

First of all and the one everyone knows, Byakuya always gave his support and sacrified for Senku. He takes his parent responsabilities to heart and never questions his son's path.

He knows Senku likes to make things by himself, that he enjoys learning by tests and errors, and he never tried to stop him. On the contrary, he sold his car to have money to prepare a whole laboratory for Senku. Of course not any family could afford selling their car, or lending freely all money amouts, but it's not a meaningless decision either. A whole laboratory, for his son, because he knew Senku wants to do it himself and Byakuya would rather let go of things he likes than seeing Senku being stopped in his passion.

After the first pretrification, Byakuya first goal was Senku (normal for a parent lol), but then his goal changed to helping Senku in every way possible for when he wakes up. Something that no one could be sure to happen.

He knows he'll die long before it could happens, so he created a village just so Senku could have people to help him. A whole VILLAGE that he made surviving with his stories of knowledge for THOUSANDS of years so Senku wouldn't be alone in his quest of reviving everyone and would get help. Oh and also made the people of the village transmit for generations a message for his son. All this time. That's crazy how he never gave up. He also spent the rest of his life collecting platinium, until he died there. He sacrified his health and life because that's his genius son and that's enough reasons for him. (It's actually crazy if you rewatch the anime you'll see everything he does is for his son)

Next point is the affection showed between them. Senku is Byakuya joy and pride, he never stopped telling it in his way to absolutely everyone. Senku is aware of the love Byakuya has for him, which is very important for a child growing up to know you have your dear ones that care and will care whatever happens.

He doesn't belittle his father emotions at all (Senku isn't the kind to not care about people feelings btw but that's another story). When the Jaxa was looking for astronauts again, he made a swimming costume because he knows his father isn't doing great, but more importantly he did it because he knew how much he was waiting for the opportunity to show up and how much it would mean to him to pass the test.

All this brings me to the next point, the unbreakable trust between them. If he wasted his life with labor work at collecting ore, if he made a village when he just could have waited death, if he made a recording of the last song of humanity, it was all because he trusted Senku to find it. He trusted his capacities, he trusted his hardworking mind, he trusted his cartesian brain to not give up. He based everything of the small chance that he'll wake up, but he knew that if he ever does, he would 100% find the remedy to the petrification.

And on Senku's side, he trusted Byakuya way of helping him. Of course he couldn't guess what he did for him at first. But the second he understood Byakuya came back alive from space and did something for him, he trusted that Byakuya wouldn't give up on him and would try his best.

Neither of them ever put in question their bond, they are father and son, whatever people say, whatever if they aren't blood-related, they are linked by the love and trust they hold for each other. They know and they agree to it completely.

What makes their relationship interesting is that not any of this is said directly/openly, because firstly they doesn't need to (with all that they did for each other) and also because Senku doesn't communicate this way at all. Actually Byakuya and Senku have a completely different love language : Byakuya is very open and outspoken, but Senku is the opposite, using actions as a way to express love. So Byakuya adapted and did things that shows to his son that he cares, like the laboratory or the years of work post petrification for exemple. He almost expressed his love on the song record, but he didn't because he knows Senku knows. They just know, they trust and they believe.

All that explain why they have the best relationship. Also this would explain why everyone seems attracted to Senku's science. There is passion in it. There is the love and care, there is the enjoyement of showing to others how science is cool. No wonder, that's what Byakuya did to Senku his whole life. Byakuya didn't teach him science, he taught him passion and perseverance.

Anyway goodnight and sorry for the grammar mistakes i'm not english and it's past midnight, i hope it makes sense

[deathmetalunicorn1]

Hello!! I finally got to request 😭😭... Its a long one but what if after the Ragnarok Tournament, where after everyone was revived and the Humans won, a trio was formed? Basically,

Thor & Reader & Lubu,

Sasaki & Reader & Poseidon,

Jack & Reader & Heracles,

Hades & Reader & Qin

Nikola & Reader & Beelzebub

Odin & Reader & Simo

The Reader is the Human Fighters Valkyrie, and is extremely beautiful but also have a sassy attitude. Both of the human and heaven fighters are inlove with her but none have made their move until reader start getting hit on by her admirers. She manage to get out of the situation by lying that the human fighter is their boyfriend, but one day the same admirer come again, determine to at least get a date but accidentally screw up and this happen...

How will the Gods and Humans react? I do imagine they actually decided to go into a relationship, all 3 of them though, lol 😂

-The two men you called your lovers didn’t start out that way, you were a Valkyrie, one who as willing to give your own life to become a weapon for humanity against the gods.

-When you fused with (Human), it felt so right for the both of you, it felt so warm, so beautiful, and he almost instantly fell for you.

-(God) had loved you for a long while now, as he was taken by your feisty personality, you always spoke your mind and he had to admire you for that. However, seeing you soul bonding with a human angered him, he felt like (Human) was taking you away from him!!

-As the two men fought, they bonded as well, learning about each other, and by the end of their fight, which left all three of you heavily injured, they had respect for one another, and when they learned of the feelings they both had for you, they had agreed to share you, they just had to somehow convince you, as you were notorious for refusing dates, not wanting to bother with romance.

-That’s what led to this predicament you found yourself in; unlike others who asked you out, usually taking your rejection lightly, there was one, Kand, an earth god, who was persistent and annoying!

-You had been walking around with (God) when he approached, asking you out on a date and he was trying to refuse your rejection this time around, not wanting to take no for an answer.

-It was only when you grabbed (God’s) arm, pulling it to your body, “This is my boyfriend, I’m not interested!”

-Kand was stunned, seeing (God), and while (God) was stunned by your words, he realized that you were using him to get this pushy minor god to back off as he instantly glared, making Kand back off and run.

-When Kand approached you two days later, you were with (Human), and once again, he was being persistent, but as (God) approached, as the three of you were going out for a meal together, you grabbed (Human’s) arm, “This is my boyfriend!”

-Kand paused for a moment before glaring, pointing at (God), “You said he was your boyfriend he other day!” the two men looked down at you, curious as to what you were going to do next.

-They hadn’t expected you to grab (God’s) arm, pulling it to your other side, “He’s my boyfriend too! Got a problem with it?”

-Kand fell to his knees in anguish as (Human and God) were surprised by your words before you kept ahold of them and led them away.

-When you went to pull away, they grabbed your hands, holding on to them, which surprised you as they both smiled down at you, telling you that the three of you were going on a date, and as your boyfriends, they were going to treat you.

-You hadn’t expected them to be okay with this accident, but you weren’t complaining, finally accepting a date as the three of you headed off.

-Thor and Lu Bu- Had been surprised by your bold declaration, but you weren’t bothered by it, so they weren’t either. They had a strong bond between them, being so alike, being strong warriors, and you were their third.

-Poseidon and Kojiro- While Poseidon was elated at you finally accepting his proposal to date, Kojiro was a little shyer, as he wasn’t well versed in dating. Kojiro tried to back out, “You don’t need an old man like me. You two have fun!” this didn’t fly with either you or Poseidon, who each grabbed one of Kojiro’s hands, putting him in the middle, not willing to let him walk away. Kojiro was flattered but it took a bit for him to be comfortable.

-Hercules and Jack- Jack was initially hesitant on being your boyfriend, as he felt like you deserved better, not a killer like him, but both you and Hercules, who thought of Jack as a kindred soul now, refused to let him leave. You were both a bit exasperating, but Jack adored you both as you told him that he wasn’t leaving and that you were a trio, you were all partners. Jack couldn’t help but smile, seeing the kind souls that he found himself blessed with.

-Hades and QSH- Hades had his hands full with the two of you, QSH did what he wanted when he wanted while you had no filter, but he couldn’t imagine a day without both of you driving him crazy. QSH wasn’t bothered by having multiple partners, he was used to it from his time as emperor, when he had several consorts at one time. You definitely had your hands full with the two of them, as they were so different as far as personalities are concerned, but you enjoyed every moment spent with them.

Beelzebub and Nikola- Nikola was such a sweet baby boy, as he had been a lifelong bachelor, as he always saw women as something that needed to be respected and cherished and that he wasn’t worthy. Beelzebub was initially afraid of getting close, not wanting to hurt either of you, but with the three of you working together on each other, the relationship flourished, and you all found happiness you never knew that existed.

-Odin and Simo- Odin was initially hesitant, despite his feelings for you, as he was worried you wouldn’t be happy with an old man like him, and Simo, being a lifelong bachelor, was a bit shy in the dating scene. You definitely had your hands full with them, but you kept them both grounded, reassuring them that you wanted to be with them, and they believed you, because you wouldn’t hesitate to tell them otherwise.

[evenmorefatallyobsessed]

So other than 18 or is going to be in Krillin's harem?

I think I got a nice harem planned out for him Lol. Would love to hear thoughts on it. Of course at the top of said list is 18 (Lapis Lazuli)

AKA Best Girl of DBZ and the one who is really the mastermind behind this happening.

I thought about it and why not go with Age-Gap, Marron has her school friends regularly visit and hang out. Anna Nishikinomiya (Shimoneta) and Marron are classmates regularly study together at Marron's house.

Oh so sexually suppressed Anna has been exposed to the pluky Z-Fighter far too much and seeing Krillin shirtless… A lot, and when he's not shirtless he's small and cute! Logically he can't be cute, sexy, buff and mature and yet he is.

And yes, she gives Krillin the cookies… And Krillin recognizes the taste, but can't quite pin it down Until later that night with 18

Krillin:!!!

18: What's wrong, you never stop eating till I cum?

Krillin:… Anna knows my favorite flavor!

18: What?

Next is Nobara, who looks a lot like 18 and has a similar if not more aggressive and standoffish personality. Krillin can't help but approve of her being friends with his daughter. While Nobara admires 18 and the later see's a lot of herself in the younger girl.

I see Krillin appealing to Nobara the same way he did to 18, his kinder nature, but also obvious attraction to her. Though in Nobara's case he makes it clear with the "If I were single and thought I had a chance" joke… But well Nobara can't help but stare at the muscles that no regular human could possible have and if a woman she so admires likes him, well there has to be a reason right.

And last would be Mai and Maki Zenin, the idea is simply Krillin gets along with the later easily enough, she's a friend and senpai of Nobara and his daughter. And she does spare with him on occasion, though he goes ridiculously easy on her. But one day he hears about what happening to her from her daughter Marron, about how her family is trying to kill her. He rushes to her aid only to find her having murdered her abusive family and her sister Mai dead. Krillin deciding that the Zenin are about as human as the Sayains (Raditz & Nappa) were (Look human but are evil) proceeds to go off seemingly abandoning them, when in reality he gathers the dragon balls (Pleading with Bulma for the radar) and revives her

Haven't thought too deeply about Erasa yet, but hey, she Videl's friend, she have to had many chances to talk to Krillin at this point.

[randomfoggytiger]

React: A Late-Canon Reviler Gives the Revival a Try (My Struggle I), Part I

For David Duchovny’s birthday, I put out a poll asking Tumblr which of his projects I should watch for the first time. 

The Revival won. Welp. 

I then, fool that I am, put up another poll wherein I doomed myself by including an option to watch the whole thing. 

And here we are. 

My Struggle I. 

Oh, boy. 

This post will be long because I'm laying the groundwork for the rest of the series.

MY MODUS OPERANDI

I don’t care how cute or cuddly or happy or heartfelt individual MSR moments are, popcorn will be thrown if those scenes are achieved through incomplete, inane, or nonsensical plot points. Give me 1+1=2 or give me death.

The Revival is part of a whole that includes all of Seasons 1-9 and Fight the Future and I Want to Believe. As much as I prefer to distance this series from canon, the reality that it functions as a direct follow-up remains; and it needs to be judged accordingly.

And, as always, I separate the art from the artist~.

...WELP. It’s time to face my doom. 

Let's go!

MY STRUGGLE IV

The intro’s… fine. Engaging, even. 

I did notice, though: the last series and Fight the Future and I Want to Believe began with the same formula: glimpses from what will be an x-files case, then straight to Scully’s perspective. Usually Mulder’s narration and POV didn’t feature until the tail-end of a two or three parter, i.e. Redux or Amor Fati or… well, even then, it was juxtaposed against Scully’s. 

Scully was the voice of The X-Files-- even Chris Carter noted that her report of each episode’s casefile became a motif of the show. Mulder’s narration was rare, very rare, even in episodes that were written to focus on him. 

A definite and purposed choice, to be sure. Mulder as an active agent in his own story. …OR a story that focuses on Mulder’s voice instead of Scully’s. 

We shall see. 

The intro continues; and it’s still engaging, possibly gripping (too bad I know where this leads)... but the music got a bit LOTR there. Is that just me? Seems… mellow, orchestral, a little more fantasy than sci-fi. Am I nitpicking? Maybe. 

The BIBLE references UFOs?? Lol, no. (Unless you count the objects described in Revelations-- the book, not the episode-- but even then, those are largely considered to be drones, not UFOs.)

Chris Carter, I see you. 

(Note from the future: NOW I see why the Bible bit was included-- lots of heavy-handed "God means this, Scully" in order to get her on-board to join the files. Ugh.)

…They’re really doubling down on the UFO lore, huh. All of which evaporated because of global warming, I guess. 

GUYS, why couldn’t this have been about life on Earth after Colonization?????

It fits with the disaster footage, it fits with Mulder’s voiceover, it fits with the character progression from Season 9 (I GUESS), it fits with a whooooooooooole ton of other factors. 

I’ve never been one for wanting Colonization in canon, but it literally would have worked for this series. There wouldn't need to be a complete wipeout of humanity, maybe just a “disaster happened, but the humans are fighting back” scenario. 

And that would fit with Mulder and Scully’s "breakup", PERHAPS-- they spent so much time working, trying to save the world (she in science, he on the ground or with untainted factions who coalitioned post-Colonization) that their relationship cracks would need to be actively worked through. Not broken up so much as together and repairing.

It would also help CC and co. to avoid the tempest of modern US politics and the more mainstream conspiracies that were taking hold at that time-- a broader reach to all audiences, a "bigger picture" for everyone to unite under.

(Guys, they should have let me write for this show. …I take it back, I’d have quit after three days.) 

Also: The show writers spent all their brain power on this sequence and this sequence alone, didn’t they? 

Obiwan Kenobi and Military Man are going on a bus somewhere.  

...On closer inspection, neither man looks like anything like Obiwan Kenobi, but the nickname is staying.

We’re back to Scully at a hospital-- not unlike I Want to Believe’s opening.

Skinner called? Oh. Didn’t know he was “here” this early. 

WAIT. 

Wait, wait, wait. 

Scully just called up Mulder like nothing’s a big deal? He answered like nothing’s a big deal? She’s smiling over his joke from the get-go?

…And we’re supposed to believe they’re seriously broken up. Which the show will insist is the case. 

David and Gillian really said, “Script? What script?” and did what they wanted. I salute them. 

Also, “What’s happening out there, Scully?” is a great line to point to Mulder’s continued isolation… which the series will IMMEDIATELY toss aside because he’s, apparently, not been as much of a hermit lately? (Granted, this could be a joke at his own expense because he’s no longer claimed by ~the darkness~, but…. I don’t think the writing’s gonna be that clever, I’ll be honest.)  

Siiiiiiiiiiiiiiiigh. 

Fine, I admit it. 

I’m loving this so far. 

And that’s gonna make me even angrier later on. 

“Why doesn’t he [Skinner] just call me?”

“He doesn’t know how to reach you, Mulder. I barely know myself.”

Mulder is baffled and a tinge annoyed, Scully is amused and straight shooting. 

THERE IS NO HINT, BEHAVIOR, OR MANNERISM SUGGESTING THEY’VE BROKEN UP. None. At all. He’s isn’t reluctant to answer her call, isn’t sad or withdrawn, isn’t affected by anything she’s saying other than to be teasy or poky. She isn’t hesitant to call, isn’t sad or depressed, isn’t anything other than a little pleased to dangle a juicy tidbit in front of Mulder’s face. 

This is gonna follow IWTB’s ping-pong writing-- they’re fun and in-character, they’re suddenly out-of-character, they’re fun and in-character, they’re suddenly out-of-character, etc. etc. etc.-- isn’t it?

(Mulder taping over his laptop’s webcam is a great touch and not something at all that I’ve done before. At all.) 

“I thought you were done with UFOs-- the ‘stranglehold they put on your very existence’, I believe you put it.” 

“I’m just the messenger, Mulder.”

That’s GOOD, that’s necessary writing. That’s planting the seeds of what happened between them, what led to a cooldown or a breakup or a whathaveyou. AND STILL neither character acts as if they’ve broken up: no melancholy, no sadness, no nothing. 

Mulder’s timbre became a little sardonic while quoting back her words, but that doesn’t mean they’ve broken up. If anything, that points to a bicker and line-in-the-sand between them-- him bringing up UFOs at the dinner table and her reminding him to talk to someone else about it before turning the topic to how the lettuce is growing or something.

Neither actor is performing like one would if pain and trauma and heartbreak and distance were placed between them; and that really complicates things because the breakup is built on top of the aforementioned list of struggles. 

Would Mulder have dug his heels in post 2012, seeing it as a sign that “the aliens” just changed their plans? Yes. 

Would Scully have seen a pursuit down that rabbit hole as a waste of time? Debatable. The Truth S9 Scully wouldn’t have-- the aliens are still out there; and they cost her months of her life, months of Mulder’s abduction, months of Mulder’s death, months of Mulder’s separation, and the ultimate cost: William’s adoption and their life on the run. Post The Truth Scully would have seen this as her quest, too: she won’t give up, she says in the finale, because he won’t. 

IWTB Scully, however, would- and that's a problem. 

I’ve already discussed, at length, how out-of-character Scully was in I Want to Believe (posts here.) Although Mulder doesn’t escape from the same writing blunders, she is really, really scalped: of her courage, of her will, of her determination. 

Whenever Scully gave up, in canon, it was only because she thought she was holding Mulder back, or when she felt Mulder had lost his faith and trust in her. That held true in Season 9-- despite the appalling writing choices there, too-- but didn’t in IWTB. 

The Revival had the perfect opportunity to factory reset the writers' mistakes: portray a wiser duo who continue to fight the fight according to their strengths, like they always have before Mulder ever met Scully. (When Mulder tells Scully to set up a meeting with Skinner, he adds, “Don’t pretend I’m going alone”-- which reinforces my point.) 

But I know that's not going to happen.  

Scully goes without argument-- THAT’S GOOD, THAT’S GOOD CHARACTER WRITING. At this point in the game, of course she would-- they trust each other, they have for years, they’d have reached even deeper levels after going on the run for [insert math] years. All good things! 

The problem: this will create a huge conflict with her actions later.

(I’m already so disappointed.) 

“Uber?”/”Hitchhiking. Relax, Scully, I’m kidding” was a fun modernization of their humor, I’ll take it. 

This scene is starting to highlight the distance between them, which is all well-and-good, but feels tonally different from the previous scene. As in, their two scenes were definitely filmed on different days, in different moods, and with different intents. 

She’s worried about him, with tears in her eyes; he has his walls up; there’s distance, as previously noted. 

“Good for you to get out of that little house every once in a while”/”Certainly was good for you” is followed up with knowing, indulgent, pleased smiles and you expect me to believe these two are seriously broken up. Nope. I’ve seen Scully sad but amused, I’ve seen Scully too sad to be amused, but these two? This moment? Nah.

Tonally dissonant-- the IWTB problem: at-ease and close one minute, at-odds and distant the next. Hoorayyyyyy....

None of this makes sense for a long-term, permanent (as Scully infers later to someone else) breakup. Nor for a short-term, semi-permanent one. Math doesn’t math. 

“I’m always happy to see you,” she says, implying he's the one who permanently pulled away… which will be contradicted later this very episode. 

“I’m always happy to find a reason [to leave the house],” he says, somberly. 

Both of which are odd lines. 

If he’s happy to leave the house to see her… why hasn’t he? 

If she’s happy to see him, always, but says a relationship between them was "impossible" (which she will later), why is Scully staring at him with heart eyes, hoping he gets better so they can continue their relationship? (And mark my words, this tone underscores her interactions with him the rest of this series.) 

Tad’s here. He’s... fine. He represents the overly cautious very well. At least he hasn’t gone full Alex Jones mockumentary (...yet.) 

I’ve heard criticisms that Mulder and Scully don’t act like themselves in this series, but based off the few minutes I’ve seen here… I don’t agree. 

The essence is the same. Truly. Scully’s got the same face that lights up the same way, Mulder’s got the same expressions and young-at-heart humor. Neither are really melancholic. Neither are David or Gillian esque. 

Perhaps that will change. 

(Note from the future: OH BOY. Which Mulder and Scully are we talking here-- OG Mulder and Scully? Nope. IWTB Mulder and Scully? Yep. David and Gillian? Once or twice.)

But, again, their interactions feel… wasted. Hollow. They’re supposed to be broken up, but their breakup doesn’t contribute to their interactions or the plot. They’re supposed to have suffered and are working back to each other… but they aren’t really separated, haven’t seemed to suffer (note from future: except for one scene which comes outta nowhere), and won’t collapse back together on-screen.

They’re supposed to be wiser and more mature, but they’ll still engage in a silly will-they-won’t-they while Mulder eats up the latest UFO or conspiracy slop he’s either already engaged in or debunked [insert math] years ago and Scully clings to her cowardice like a leech. 

First nagging problem: Scully smiling at Tad, Scully excusing Mulder’s mannerisms when he becomes briefly jealous, Scully making nice with a conspiracy nut. 

…Isn’t that Mulder’s job? Didn't she leave because conspiracies were consuming her life? Does this mean she actually does want this life back but is she playing coy or elusive because...?

Furthermore, when Mulder popped a comment off to a witness or informant in the past, Scully never excused him-- just breezed over it professionally with another question. She’s only saying “excuse him” here because she’s taken a shine to Tad. WHY, on this post-2012 global warming green Earth, WOULD SHE?

Tad says Mulder is the X-Files, Mulder says that “book is closed”... WAIT. Wait, hold up--

Pause. Stop. Rewind. 

Mulder wants to believe. Actual proof is hard to come by. 

Tad thinks Mulder is the X-Files. 

MULDER SAYS… *ahem*... Mulder says, “I’m afraid that book is closed.” …Which means he’s no longer into UFOs or aliens, too. SO. why did Scully LEAVE.

If that’s behind him, why aren’t they together again???? Mulder didn’t know who Tad O’Malley was a minute or so ago, meaning he’s been outta the conspiracy scene for a bit. That MEANS his departure from Conspiracyville's been long enough to patch-up his obsession and ensuing depression, I guess.

But then... what about Scully??

Because Mulder wants her to come back (already subtly established in each scene), and Scully is concerned for his welfare; but Scully thinks he’s still into UFO conspiracy and hasn’t come back because of it? BUT SHE ISN’T SHOCKED WHEN HE SAYS “I’m afraid that book is closed” MEANING SHE KNOWS HE’S PUT THAT BEHIND HIM... BUT STILL HASN’T RETURNED?

And both of them aren’t acting as if they’ve broken up, anyway, except for a pointed line of dialogue here and a brief reaction there before they yeet back to the status quo.

They’ve left that behind them, Scully says, for better or worse. And Mulder latches onto that better or worse, making a pointed barb at their breakup, but…. There’s no writing glue, just suggestion and inference; and the suggestions themselves don’t add up. 

Here come the bullet points. 

Season 10 posits Mulder became depressed after the aliens didn’t invade in 2012-- that’s reasonable and logical, his nature is depressive when his expectations are subverted or smashed or etc. 

Season 10 also posits Scully left because Mulder became too much to deal with. That’s… not logical, since her nature is to rescue and nurture, even when Mulder’s being an actual boil on her sittin’ cheeks (ala Demons, etc., etc.) 

Season 10 posits Mulder’s hard to get a hold of-- despite being in the same house the FBI helicoptered to in IWTB-- and posits it might be hard for Scully to get a hold of him-- despite the fact both characters easily got in contact, knew it was each other, and even joked about the fact it’s hard to get in contact with Mulder… which means it really isn't. (The script doesn’t catch these discrepancies, of course, pretending Mulder is very hidden away at the same ol' house he'd been discovered at in 2008.) 

Season 10 says Scully doesn’t want UFOs to be part of her life anymore, that it was a stranglehold… yet she came along on a conspiracy gig without question to… what? Be around Mulder? But then, why warm up to the conspiracy guy-- an embodiment of what drove her and her partner apart?

Season 10 posits Mulder chased Scully off with his conspiracy spiraling YET ALSO states he’s put that part of his life-- conspiracies, UFOs, the X-Files-- behind him. Which implies: A. Mulder’s aaaaaaall better now and B. he put that all behind him but Scully never came home and C. Scully shouldn’t know he put that all behind him if that’s what’s keeping her away; but she does know because his declaration doesn’t take her by surprise, which means she’s still driven away and concerned for him for no discernable reason.  

Season 11 posits Scully didn’t leave because Mulder became too much to deal with but because she, too, had issues to deal with. This point wasn't mentioned or hinted at in the episode that introduces their breakup, which makes that line of reasoning a complete rewrite. (Whatever. I’ll judge how well that’s executed when I get there.)

It doesn’t add up. 

Are we surprised. 

Five seconds after this, I had to listen to a back-and-forth between Tad O’Malley and Mulder on conspiracies and Conservatives and alien beliefs and the O’Reilly Factor and….

This seems out of touch, I’m not sorry. 

When this show aired, Conservatives already had their miles-long conspiracy theories. For Mulder to be ignorant of that fact while allegedly knowing exactly who and what Tad believes while also alleging….

More bullet points!

Fox “I’m afraid that book is closed” Mulder has, supposedly, been out of the conspiracy scene. 

Fox “I’m afraid that book is closed” Mulder isn’t aware that not only did 2015 Conservatives believe in aliens-- despite the fact Tad is a watered-down copy-paste of Alex Jones-- but that there were also Conservative believers in the 90s (who were a fringe in their own group, but.) This was Mulder’s expertise; and his eidetic memory isn’t likely to have tossed that info because it was no longer relevant to his life. 

Fox “I’m afraid that book is closed” Mulder has supposedly not been out of the conspiracy scene-- despite saying he is-- because he does know who Tad O’Malley is-- despite not knowing who he was two minutes ago. 

Mulder is assuming that Conservatives “of your credentials” don’t believe in UFOs or “9/11 false-flag conspiracies” despite people from the Left, Center, and Right publicly believing those conspiracies in 2015. 

Fox “I’m afraid that book is closed” Mulder is supposed to be dismantling Tad’s grift; but he (and the writers) sound uneducated and incredibly out-of-touch during this dialogue-- as if all Conservatives were still Bush-era believers. Most were suspicious of the government by this time (they helped elect a man who ran on a “drain the swamp” campaign, after all.) Mulder’s bewilderment here is old and tired, even by 2015 standards. 

This writing is flashy-- long sentences, quick back-and-forths-- but poorly constructed and badly executed. 

This is also the first segment where David Duchovny is peeking through Fox Mulder; where Scully is swinging wildly between absolutely-fine-with-Mulder and we’re-no-longer-together; and where we, the audience, are being force-fed that only one side of the political aisle believes in aliens-- or the Bigger Question or whatever-- on a show that wants to poke at unfounded conspiracy beliefs.

Oh, look! Scully made a Scully-face, so everything’s good now! 

(UuuuuuuuUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUGH--)

Sveta. Aww, I like her--

“You don’t remember me.”

“No, I think I’d remember.”

WHAT WAS THAT. 

Show writers, STOP with the romantic triangulation, it’s NOT. GONNA. HAPPEN. David doesn’t even TRY to make that romantic-ish. Yet you angle on Scully’s face as if she’s supposed to be out-of-the-loop and a tinge jealous. 

WAIT, WAIT, WAIT, hoooooooooooooooooooold up. 

Svetta was a dark-haired little girl Mulder interviewed after her first abduction, meaning she’s set up to be another Samantha. 

So…………………. What’s with the murky jealousy issue, CHRIS. You wedged it in solely so Scully would feel jealous over Mulder? Y’know. Like I Want to Believe? 

And I say Chris Carter because he wanted to play the breakup angle:

"We do it in an interesting way," Carter told The Hollywood Reporter. "We put some of the tension back in that was relieved by them being together. It added to the storytelling opportunities. It's something that I came up with; I had been thinking about it. There was always talk of [breaking them up] if we did another movie."

The first shot canon takes right between the eyes:

Scully being “familiar” with the “screen memories” abductees are given was a cool touch… except she’s never been given “screen memories.” The abductees in Jose Chung’s From Outer Space were given screen memories-- she was returned a blank slate. (Even Mulder didn’t have “screen memories” after his abduction.) 

Scully poking Sveta about aliens taking her unborn fetuses seems a tad (heh) strong except all the alien-related pregnancies have been the result of government testing, not alien probes. So. If this scene followed canon's rules, her skepticism would be warranted.

But this skepticism is still odd. 

Two seconds ago, she was making nice to Tad O’Malley in the car, and now she’s leading the questioning for Sveta. The odd icing on top of this odd cake is that Scully left because she didn’t want UFOs to have a stranglehold on her life, yet here she is leading an interview with an abductee.

Sveta: “I have alien DNA, for sure.”

Scully: “Have you had a doctor confirm that?”

Sveta: “No.”

Me, too, Mulder. Me, too. 

Scully doesn’t question the alien DNA bit, so that’s good. 

…I’ll bet everyone forgets she and Mulder have a bit lingering in their systems from the black oil and his brain thingy and residue from when she touched the ship and and and. 

“Something you can test. Dana.” 

What… what was that. 

Honestly, what was that. Whatever mood David was conveying through Mulder, it didn’t match anything from any previous scenes, let alone this one.

Is he poking at Scully? Why? He’s not jealous anymore (if he even was.) The way he says it and her expression in response implies they have a tense back-and-forth going on, but they don’t. THEY DON’T. 

We’re 13 minutes in and I could make another numerical list. But I won’t. Yet.  

Back to not-Obiwan Kenobi and Military Man. 

That alien’s stupid bad-looking. 

Wait. 

That’s not how canon said Roswell unfolded. 

And the first alien shot on Earth was by Deep Throat’s hands-- that was his whole turning-point backstory. 

CURSE YOU, LACK OF A SHOW BIBLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!

(Note from the future: All of that past canon? Fake. Faked. All lies. None of that happened.)

“What have you done??” Not-Obiwan Kenobi yells… and what have they done? 

Back to Scully and Sveta. 

Sveta can move things with her mind-- not all the time-- but at least Scully is listening to her claims without automatically shutting them down. 

But also…

“I can move things. With my mind,” should have IMMEDIATELY had a greater impact on Scully, up-close-and-personal as she was to her son’s abilities. But nope! No reaction! Of course! 

Sveta “You were together but now you’re not” is asking the right questions. I don’t even mind Sveta. I’ll bet this episode’s the last time we see her, though. 

Does she contribute to anything? No. But she’s nice, so. 

WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAIT, WAIT, WAIT. 

Scully diagnosed-- wait, hold up, list time. 

Scully diagnosed Mulder with depression. 

That killed their relationship. 

…THAT killed their relationship? After everything? 

The writers are going to have to explain, in detail, why that killed it. 

Why does canon need to explain? Because we have a history of Scully sticking by Mulder during the worst periods of both their lives-- leaving him would have to require a very, very good reason.

And there is no indication, thus far, that Mulder’s depression drove a humungous wedge between them, forcing her to walk away. In fact, there is no indication a wedge exists between them, AT ALL-- only the odd, inconsistent word or phrase here or there that bears no weight on the plot or their ultimate decisions.

Whenever Scully left in canon, it was because she could no longer help Mulder. Season 11 will rewrite Season 10’s initial explanation but setting that aside: we’re not given any indication that she did try to help him; or that his depression was so deep and so dangerous that it drove her away.

And if it were that deep or that dangerous enough to drive her away, Scully leaving would have been the last and worst possible action she could have taken. If Mulder's mental state was in such a massive nose-dive that she couldn’t handle what he was going through, Scully-- a medical professional-- would have had him hospitalized, even temporarily against his will, because she would know (per Demons or Gethsemane or Amor Fati) that this level of depression always manifested in suicidal tendencies for her partner.

But Mulder, as per the rules laid out in this episode, never went that far in his deterioration. (Note from the future: We'll get to that.)

If he had, Skinner would have been aware of his hospitalization and wouldn’t have asked for his help; Scully would have been aware and wouldn’t have passed on the information; and Scully wouldn’t have called from the hospital with a degree of buoyancy when relaying Skinner's request to Mulder. 

In short: Scully leaving = very big, very drastic measure. Mulder suffering from depression = very big, very bad consequences. Scully's nature and past actions = getting Mulder help, even if he resists at first (i.e. shooting him in the shoulder to save his life.) Mulder and Scully's partnership = unbroken, except through distrust or botched writing.

“And you have a child together.”

Wow, that wasn’t clunky at all. 

SCULLY STICKS SVETA HARD WITH A NEEDLE BECAUSE SVETA MENTIONS WILLIAM, darkly saying "That's enough", SO SVETA WOULD KNOW SHE DID IT ON PURPOSE.

I’m… so disgusted. Like, eck. Urk. Awful. 

Telling Sveta to back off, strongly, would be in-character; USING PAIN TO DO SO is…. So wrong on so many levels. Scully never utilized medicine to inflict pain or injury on her enemies.

Wow, this grossed me out. You know why?

Scully diagnosed Mulder with depression and left. At first glance, that seem like an out-of-character action that the writing can salvage later by this or that means.

BUT THEN, Scully inflicts pain on Sveta for mentioning William, leaving the audience with the impression that she’s vindictive. 

Which then connects the dots between “vindictive” and “left Mulder when he was diagnosed with depression.”

And since we, the audience, haven’t been given a stronger reason for how Mulder’s depression got that bad or why she didn’t help him through it, we’re then left with a sour impression of Scully’s character. 

The writers then try to imply Sveta was spilling out Scully’s personal secrets to prove that her powers were real, but that still doesn’t give Scully the right to abuse her power. Especially because a traumatized woman was trying any method possible to be believed.

And the fact that Sveta is also a victim of the government weaponizing science and medicine makes me even angrier at Scully.

Ohhhhhhhhhhhh, BOY, another helicopter outside the Unremarkable House, my favorite part of IWTB....

Mulder’s never seen… an alien replica vehicle. 

Oh, my mistake: “No. Never. Not like that.” Covering all the bases, I see. Y’know, in case the writers FORGOT MULDER SAW ONE in SEASON 1, EPISODE 2. 

OH, LOOK, he’s got his wonder face back, everything’s aaaaaaaaaaaaall better now!

Running on free energy they’ve had since the 40s, sure Jan. Whatever you say. 

This just feels so old. Like. Tech we haven’t had since the 40S, GUYS, GET IT, BIG MONEY CORPOS KEPT IT FROM US. Yeah, we got it. 

And the flashbacks to Not-Obiwan Kenobi just walking off with an alien corpse because Military Man didn’t… see… value in studying… it. I guess. 

Scully doing “God’s work” giving kids ears because their biology neglected it.

I admit, that’s an intriguing window into her perspective of God vs. science, and how she sees a person’s biology separate from God messing them over or messing them up just because. I dig it.

(Note from the future: This will be used as a plotline club rather than a nuanced discussion of her faith.)

Mulder being the most challenging relationship she’s ever had-- “and the most impossible”-- is a weird line. Because yes, it’s true that their relationship is challenging; but her fervor at impossible is the only time in this episode we see an adversarial tendency, DESPITE My Struggle I trying to drum up moments to prove TENSIONS still LINGER (they don't.) 

It’s IWTB all over again. Siiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiigh. 

“Yeah. I got that impression.” Tad says, and Scully’s hurt because she thinks Mulder gave Tad that impression of her. 

So. So. Wait. 

Scully lied when she stated “It’s impossible” because she didn't like Tad poking into her private affairs?

But she sounded truly convinced their relationship was "impossible" while saying it.

So, she was either angry or still confused about her emotions-- which is fine, Scully's not always in-tune with her inner workings-- when Tad replied, "I got that impression."

Which explains why she was so hurt at Mulder's seeming rejection.

Because she thinks Mulder’s behavior led Tad to that conviction.

Which means CC just wants Mulder and Scully to be caught in a miscommunication fic.

Also, why is Tad so sad about this? Were they his OTP, or is he pretending to sympathize to get in Scully’s pants? Because that’d be crummy, Chris, to have her be overly nice to Tad only for him to try to twist that into an opening as the new conspiracy guy on the block. 

On a lighter note, Chris Carter said Mulder and Scully could still get it in their 50s, so there’s that.

HE DID, HE DID SET SCULLY UP TO BE PURSUED BY TAD--

WHAT. WHAT. WHAT WHAT WHAT--

KNOCK IT OFF, CHRIS. 

Poor Sveta. She’s gonna be butchered in this script, isn’t she?

The series is EATING up vast amounts of time with very little scale or grounding. For all I know, a day or a week could have passed. 

It’s so, so badly paced. 

Mulder’s investigating now, without Scully, because he noticed Sveta had a tell during the interview. 

Um. 

Sure, that’s a Mulder thing to do.

Oh, wait. This is the “work of men” realization.   

The dialogue between Mulder’s questions and Sveta’s answers are really disjointed, as if they’re mildly talking past each other-- another aspect of IWTB I couldn’t stand. 

Welp, at least it’s easy to prove they were both written by the same people. 

The second shot-in-the-head for canon: 

“Sveta, who took your babies?” 

“Men.”

“Men? Humans? You saw their faces.” 

Also, Sveta’s babies are referred to as her babies, but William-Jackson isn’t Scully’s baby despite sharing half her DNA but Emily Sim was Scully’s baby despite also only sharing half her DNA.

It’s a mess. 

Well… Mulder doesn’t seem too surprised here that men were involved in her abductions (I mean, he's long since been aware the government was involved from day one, so.) It’d be really stupid if the writing made him surprised about this later, wouldn’t it?

…Wouldn’t it?

Another poorly constructed set of lines:

“I haven’t worked for them [the government] in years.” 

“But you always wondered… if they were lying to you, too.” 

No, he didn’t wonder-- he believed it.

A wonky way to address his old skepticisms, for sure. 

JUST AFTER I NOTED THAT MULDER DIDN’T LOOK SURPRISED AT SVETA'S REVELATION, HE CALLS UP SCULLY AND MAKES A BIG DEAL ABOUT IT BEING A CONSPIRACY OF MEN. 

I knew this was coming, but maaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaan that was so, so poorly handled.

SCULLY WAS GETTING (sort of) WINED AND DINED BY TAD O’MALLEY??????????????

I HATE IT HERE, WHAT ARE YOU DOING, WHAT IS HAPPENING, WHAT IN THE WORLD AND WHY, HOW COULD YOU BE SO EASILY FLEECED, DANA, THIS ISN’T AN ED JERSE PARALLEL BECAUSE YOU THINK MULDER DOESN’T WANT YOU, THIS IS STUPID, THIS IS THIS IS THIS IS

WHAT. 

I thought Scully had dated Tad O’Malley in the past (sometime after the breakup) but this is worsefarworse. 

SVETA IS THE KEY TO EVERYTHING, I’M SO TIRED. 

“Mulder, where are you going?” sounds exactly like Scully, and now I’m mad Gillian didn’t use that voice for the rest of the show (voice recovery aside....)

I KNEW SKINNER WAS BEHIND GETTING THEM BACK. He just calls up Scully to call Mulder up, then just unlocks the old office when Mulder wants to get back in. 110% Skinner thought this would help his buddy Mulder. And he’s not wrong. 

Wait. 

Did Skinner put in more effort to save Mulder from his mental health struggles (per this My Struggle I episode) than Scully??????

Iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii-- my brain is broken. 

The hold on Skinner’s face while he says “Can you tell me what this is about” was way too long. 

Also, don’t try to play coy with me, Skinman. 

Now the camera’s zooming around and losing its “X-Files” feel by being too… modern. 

Skinner telling Mulder to calm down is the only time in canon where I agree with him. Mulder’s just spouting and demanding and not really making clear sense and this is why you don't let Mulder back into his basement without Scully by his side, Skinner-- don’t you remember that lesson?

Skinner telling Mulder to calm down then saying he doesn’t take orders from him only for Mulder to say “Who do you take orders from?”, ugh.

GUYS, THIS WAS RESOLVED IN SEASON. 2. BECAUSE MULDER KNEW MEN WERE BEHIND THE CONSPIRACY SINCE SEASON 1, EPISODE 2; AND SKINNER SINCE SEASON 2, EPISODE ASCENSION.

BECAUSE SKINNER’S ALREADY HAD HIS LOYALTY TESTED AND THIS IS HURTING MY BRAIN MAKE IT END.

I’m not even 25 minutes into this, help. 

“Why do you think I called you? Because I was looking out for you, because I’ve always looked out for you.” Is… is Skinner the only character who’s progressed? That’s exactly what he would do-- he’s acting sensibly, rationally, and in-character... and more mature, more veteran, than his agents.

I know the Revival is supposed to be “Mulder and Scully all grown-up” but none of their actions have been intelligent, measured, or informed by their age or life experience. It’s a farce that I hope future episodes will rectify. 

“A decade of my life--” Mulder rants and kicks his poster like a toddler AND YOU KNEW ALL THIS INFORMATION FROM SEASON 1, MULDER. NONE OF THIS IS NEW. WWWWWWWWWWWWWWHAT IS THIS. 

I can’t imagine how disappointed philes were when they tuned into this episode. Well... I can because of how I feel; but at least I knew, roughly, how bad it would be going in. 

This is worse. 

Skinner: “You’re blaming me for that?”

Mulder: “No, I’m blaming myself. I’m sure they lied to you, too.” 

This isn’t a revelation, chump. 

At least Skinner confirms my theory: “There hasn’t been a day since you’ve left that I haven’t reached for my phone to call you, Mulder, wishing you were still down here.” 

Feral Mulder is touched. 

“Since 9/11--” OH NO, WHY ARE WE GOING THERE “--this country’s taken a big turn and in a very strange direction.”

Guys. Guys. This isn’t… this… what. 

“Now they police us, spy on us, and tell us that makes it safer--” CAN THE WRITERS GET OFF A SOAP BOX FOR FIVE SECONDS. Of course it isn’t safer to be unnecessarily policed or spied on, but the answer isn't just "boo, the government!" What… why… my brain’s melting, I feel it deteriorating. 

This, again, feels so Bush-era. Like, whoever wrote this didn’t update their mentality. 

Also, the camera shots and cuts are weird. Holding too long, zooming out at “pause and take THAT in” moments, focusing on Mulder’s phone while he silently calls up Skinner to prove a point… it’s supremely unsubtle.

Back to Tad, I don’t care. You did this to yourself, Scully, cozying up only to be used as a name drop on his show. Stupid. 

Is Scully gonna be shocked she has alien DNA? She shouldn’t be. 

But then again, Mulder shouldn’t be shocked this has all been a work of men, so. 

She’s expecting-- no, hoping-- for a call from somebody named Mulder. 

Sure, they’re broken up with hard feelings. Sure. Absolutely. 

Is this old man Not-Obiwan Kenobi?  

Of course.

At least Mulder seems old hat at this informant business. 

But of course, he’s “not even close” to putting it all together. 

Stupid. 

WAIT.

The countdown was WRONG-- Mulder states it began, not ended in 2012, meaning he's believed this theory for some time. Meaning... why was he so depressed after 2012? Why are there still depression concerns in 2015?? Seriously, what's with his depression if the 2012 Colonization was allegedly the cause of it but there is no Colonization and the clock's simply been reset????

WHY WAS HE DEPRESSED IF HE RECONFIGURED THE COUNTDOWN. WHAT.

Mulder: "Not by aliens, not with aliens, but by a conspiracy of men--"

“You’re wasting my time.” Tell him, old man Not-Obiwan Kenobi!

“Ten years ago, you came to me--”

Wait, ten years ago? What, 2005? The guy showed up while Mulder was on the run? And Scully never… knew about this?

There were no aliens lighting each other on fire??????????????????? WAIT, I NEVER HEARD THIS INFORMATION. 

THERE WERE NEVER ALIENS, AT ALL???????????????????? Like, AT ALL????? 

The writers are saying that Scully's experience on Ruskin Dam in Season 5 was not two warring alien factions BUT TWO GROUPS OF MEN LIGHTING EACH OTHER ON FIRE, OR GIVING EVERYONE FALSE MEMORIES OF ALIENS LIGHTING EACH OTHER ON FIRE, OR...??????

hONESTLY. 

Let's be real specific for a second: Chris Carter expects us to believe that the ENTIRE mytharc from the original show was ALL faked; that there were no aliens, ZERO, ZILCH; and that CSM and Deep Throat and all the others created elaborate schemes JUST to manipulate MULDER because the aliens weren't a threat from the start????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? DON’T BELIEVE YOUR LYING EYES. THEY WERE ALL MEN IN SUITS.

Like… do you realize how stupid that is? How actually, unfathomably stupid that is? It’s not just “the aliens didn’t invade because of global warming,” no, it’s “they were never a problem to begin with, we just manipulated Mulder into believing they were because… because he’s so important, I GUESS.”

Roswell’s also a smokescreen, of course. 

Y’know how, during the 90s, DD thought The X-Files was a stupid sci-fi show? If he thought each mytharc plot was as bad as this one, no wonder he wanted to bail. 

Oh, by the way, the global warming explanation is part of a theory: the fascist elites will dominate the world and escape from consequences into space, leading the rest of humanity to die by a globally warmed planet. The aliens weren't chased off by global warming because they were never a factor to begin with.

Wow.

I CAUGHT A CONTINUITY ERROR!

Scully shows up at his place in her uniform from yesterday, panicked, like she’d just run from Tad’s side to see what happened despite her saying over a day has passed.

Going to ignore his “What are you doing here, Scully?” because we’ve ping-ponged back to the out-of-character Mulder that the writers use when it’s time to remind everyone he and Scully are broken up. 

It’s IWTB all over again, I’m so tired. 

They’re talking past each other and he’s touching her shoulders now because he needs her to trust him and yadda yadda yadda. 

It’s soooo, sooooo, soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo highschool, I’m sorry. This is Riverdale. This is [insert whatever teen series you want to watch.] These are teenagers masquerading as adults, for the angst.

None of this holds up, their emotions shift left and right without provocation, things just happen, and there is no strand of continuity stringing anything together.

Scully trying to talk Mulder down from further pursuit doesn’t make sense because, AGAIN, she’s the one who's always gone back to the files even when he walks away; and every time he’s given up, or wanted to, SHE'S called him back and held him accountable and kept him going. 

This is the Scully from IWTB with no gumption of her own, who denies her leaps forward because of plot, plot, plot. 

Guys, I’ve been religiously dosing myself with caffeine (via chocolate), but my body keeps trying to make me go to sleep because it’s so uninvested. I don't even need sleep.

“This is my life, this is, this is everything I believe in--” HOW. MANY. TIMES. Has he said this before. WHEN HAS THAT LINE EVER WORKED ON SCULLY.

But that's beside the point: "this" was no longer his life after Amor Fati, by his own choice. Closure brought him closure, but he was already spittin' walk-away talk by Requiem, chose to leave in Vienen, and insisted Scully stay gone in Alone. In Season 9, it was Scully who had to beg him into hiding to pursue the Truth or whatever; and it was Scully who brought him the case in IWTB and Scully who relayed Skinner's request and tagged along both times until she got uncomfy and decided never mind, too hard.

Y’know? This claim gets to me because it’s a lie. A lie so blatant that 90s Mulder would have thrown hands over it, a lie so baseless that it erases his declaration in the hallway:

“I don’t know if I want to do this alone. I don’t even know if I can.” And every time Mulder yells his “THIS IS MY LIFE”, he erases that part of his past, the part that willingly left the files or the big Truth or the next chase to save Scully’s life or to keep her by his side. 

Chris Carter said Mulder and Scully were The X-Files post The Truth… but I guess he keeps conveniently forgetting that. More accurately, he keeps making MULDER forget that, in spite of all evidence in Mulder’s history and personality to the contrary. 

It infuriates me. 

“Tad O’Malley is a charming man--” get outta here. 

Now Scully’s been played the fool so she’s going to think Mulder’s being toyed around with by a social media sociopath. You’re an idiot, Scully. 

You’re an idiot, Mulder. 

You expect us to be idiots, writers. 

Here’s some ham-fisted “Fate” dialogue for you, *ahem*:

Scully: “How do you know he’s not playing you, he’s a player!” (You would know, Scully.) 

Mulder: “He’s a Godsend!”

Mulder’s not a believer in God, BUT this is also supposed to refer to the God conversation Scully and Tad had in the hospital, which will inadvertently make Scully ~believe~ again.

“What are you talking about?” I’m with ya there, Scully. I’m with ya, there. 

Scully’s trying to insist Mulder's on a verge of a breakdown, which… UGH. 

This scene implies Mulder hasn’t had a breakdown or a break from reality YET-- Scully spends the episode constantly concerned for his health and begging him, here, to watch what where he's stepping because he’s on the verge of spiraling. 

Which means he hasn't spiraled, because she's afraid of what would happen to him IF he did.

MEANING that there wasn’t an inciting factor that made her leave: no alcoholism, no outbursts, no nothing. He just became depressed, probably withdrawn, and wouldn’t change; so, she left. 

Do you realize what that means, per this episode? It means Scully ANTICIPATED a breakdown and left BEFORE it happened. Then hoped he’d get better before it did. 

Which breaks the established morals of her character. If she had been able to help, she would have stayed. If she hadn’t been able to help, she would have found another way to help him, even if it involved calling in a third party against his will. Instead, she withdrew and hoped he would get better BEFORE he reached a breaking point-- essentially, leaving him to an impending breakdown while hoping and praying against it.

This makes her decision to leave a mark of weak character-- not because she was a woman who left her depressed husband, but because Dana Scully, whose character we amply know, left. It checks none of the boxes she'd have to clear first before choosing to take one step out the door.

All the fic I’ve read to justify their breakup-- and make no mistake, CC wrote her to say “as your friend” intentionally--  or time apart or whathaveyou had Scully reach a breaking point. Because, of course! That's logical. But here, in canon-- in black and white-- that didn’t happen. 

We, the audience, have to create a plausible scenario in our minds to justify the steps she took. Because. it. Is. not. In. canon (as per this episode.) 

Now Scully’s gonna get jealous of Sveta, I’m so done. Riverdale, uuuuuuuuugh. 

Mulder just lets Scully walk away because Scully thinks he wants Sveta but “Sveta is the key to everything” and if Scully wants to misunderstand that she should have more trust in him, I guess, and I NEED A RESPIRATOR.

He just says “Scully” once  and lets her huff off.  

TAD’S BACK, GO AWAY. 

WAIT, TAD STOPS HER BEFORE SHE LEAVES. 

Mulder: “I would have invited you, Scully, but I didn’t think you would come.” 

That’s…

That’s….

Let’s break down this stupidity: 

Scully shows up. 

Mulder had Sveta in the house because he was calling her and O'Malley for a group meeting. 

When Scully becomes nearly hysterical over his safety, he doesn’t reason with her, just spouts like a lunatic. 

When she misreads the Sveta situation and stomps off, he lets her go with a weak, “Scully"--

--because he knew Tad was right behind her and was pulling in to stop her from leaving. 

Because Tad and Sveta were invited but Scully was not. 

And Scully was not invited because.  

Because she might not show up. 

I’m just preaching to the choir at this point, continuing on. 

Scully gave in, just like that. Guess she’s not leaving, anymore. 

She’s so, so… spineless. Has been since Season 9, has been a BIT since Season 8 (though that was at least justified and kept to a bare minimum.) 

I’m just. So sick of passive Scully. 

I HATE THOSE STINGER NOISES NOW. 

It’s always, “You can't let this information out because these men work in secrecy”/”What is it?”/”You’ll see”; then stinger; then we, the audience, are immediately shown what it is.

No suspenseful build-up.

Tad: “Then why are you [Scully] here?”/”Scully: “Mulder, what are you up to?”/Mulder: *knowing look*/stinger/next scene.

KNOCK IT OFF ALREADY.

“Implanting of alien embryos”-- so Sveta’s babies weren’t her babies. 

So Scully’s baby wasn’t her baby. 

But Emily was her baby but William isn’t. 

Sure, Jan. 

In spite of this information, the Revival will paint William as their son until it doesn’t; despite, again, stating from day one that the alien babies are implanted embryos and not biological babies.

So, these two boneheads should have suspected that William wasn’t theirs, anyway. 

Even though William is theirs because the CSM timeline doesn’t add up, which they would have mathed in their heads by the time little William was snuggled in their arms. 

It’s all so stupid. 

Why does this feel so fearmongery about the government? And I’m not going to sit here and say the government should be trusted-- it has a VERY bad history, I'm aware. But this is “my first conspiracy” level of worldbuilding.  

Did the writers think it was clever to set O’Malley up as a bad actor then reveal he was a good actor, modeling him after the notorious Alex Jones only to point and jeer, “HAH, you assumed! He’s actually on Mulder’s side!” 

Because that’s not genius, that’s laziness. 

Scully only now decides to inform everyone Sveta has no evidence of alien DNA? So, what, she was never going to tell them unless Mulder kept being, what, crazy? 

“They got to her,” says Mulder about Sveta, but Scully LITERALLY SAID she had no alien DNA, so what was Sveta supposed to believe???????? That Tad O'Malley wasn't using her for as a hoax???

Mulder ran all the way to her house, or ubered then ran, or whatever… and she’s gone, of course. 

Poor Sveta. 

Tad O’Malley’s Truth Site is gone, oh, noooooo. 

Look, I’ll always be against censorship. But this is sending so many odd and mixed signals that it’s creating craaaaaaaaaaaaazy levels of dissonance. 

Mulder wrote “Don’t Give Up” in Scully's car dust…. 

Riverdale. 

Mulder presents the global warming = no aliens theory? 

I’m so tired. 

WAIT, SCULLY BELIEVES MULDER'S THEORY NOW THAT HER BOY TAD’S BEEN PULLED OFF THE NETWORK. 

“We need to find her [Sveta], Mulder,” Scully insists. 

Hold on, prediction time: Scully only changed her mind because this case now involves her-- i.e. only extending empathy to Christian (a boy that reminded her of William) and not to the string of missing, possibly murdered, women in IWTB.

OF COURSE. Her results for Sveta ended up being wrong AND HER OWN GENOME HAS ALIEN DNA IN IT, TOO. 

You selfish, self-centered clone of Dana Scully. 

Scully truly hasn’t recovered since… Season 9, let’s be real, where she told Mulder to leave then spent the whole year crying over his absence. In IWTB, she brought Mulder a case then left him when he wouldn’t stop his pursuit (to SAVE. LIVES.) And in the Revival, she called Mulder and the gang crazy until her own genome showed alien DNA. 

Hate this, hate this, HATE this. 

Also, yeah, she already knew she had alien DNA in the OG series, moving on.

Oh, and now they get a call from Skinner just when Scully says someone has to stop the bad guys. 

OF COURSE. 

Remember the God convo from earlier, guys???? GOD. FATE. SOMETHINGSOMETHINGSOMETHING. 

You had ONE good idea to explore-- how Scully views God vs. the aberrations of biology-- and then just... used it as a convenient club to beat in the “God/Fate means for us to do this” instead. 

“Scully, are you ready for this?”

“I don’t know there’s a choice.” 

Can’t someone PLEASE just explore her faith with nuance? PLEASE? 

Sveta's DEAD???????? I’M SO MAD, I liked her!

YOU FAILED HER, SCULLY. 

YOU FAILED MULDER, SCULLY. 

WHY DOES SCULLY HAVE TO KEEP FAILING PEOPLE???????????? 

Skipping the CSM scene because I don’t care, the END. 

CONCLUSION

How does Scully’s mischaracterization keep reaching new lows? 

How does Mulder become less wise with age? 

How is Skinner the only mentally mature character here?

I’m so tired.

[marcusnotbrutus]

Comments on Falsettos recording describing people's experience with pre-revival casts & being gay in the 80's and 90's

for @holdwinetosky

“I lived in Manhattan in 1981, met my husband that year.  We lived through the AIDS drama of real life on the Upper West Side. This show speaks to me on So many different levels.

Saw this production  on Broadway shortly after it opened. Crazy, Intense, Wonderful .

Just like it was in 1990 as Falsettoland at the Lucille Lortel, and when it first moved to Broadway as Falsettos in 1992. Saw the original casts of each, and each production multiple times (1 time with Mandy Patinkin as Marvin), saw the road companies that came to Philadelphia........etc...lol

Freakin Love this Show."

@ rugby8-Philadelphia 

“Saw a traveling company which came through Phoenix, AZ. I left Manhattan in '81 as numerous friends were getting ill and shortly thereafter died.  This show made me laugh out loud AND cry out loud!”

David Helmstetter (@ davidhelmstetter6661)

“Thank you. You signed my program when I was a kid. I waited by the stage door. My Mom didn't want to see the show at the time. She turned into the most accepting woman and this musical changed my life. xo”

@ castChicagoactors

“An absolute perfect moment in theater... this opened in nyc in 1990!!!!! We all had just lost lovers and friends and it was still raging without any meds.  Vowing to "buy the farm arm in arm" was and still is the most moving loving words to hear so beautifully sung”

Jeff Schecter (@ jeffschecter4543)

“I saw Falsettoland at the Theatre De Lys in the Village shortly after my brother Marty died of AIDS, and I have never cried so hard in my life as during "What More Can I Say" and "Unlikely Lovers."  I cried so hard that in part of my brain I thought someone might escort me out of the theatre, but there was nothing I could do about it, Michael Rupert you gave voice to everything I felt and there was no stopping it.  Thank you thank you thank you.  Of course saw the short multiple times on Broadway and afterwards in various productions and I will just never forget this song and that moment until every brain cell I've got has given up and every memory is erased because this is the such an honest statement of what love is all about.  To all of you in the show and William Finn I am forever grateful.”

David Fleischer (@ davidfleischer455)

“Thanks for posting, Michael.  Today, after 29 years together, my husband and I are legally married in our state of Georgia.”

@ theBestArts

“I have seen many Broadway musicals in my day. Over one hundred original and first run shows since 1980. I can honestly say without heistation that Falsettos in 1992 is the best musical I have ever seen in NY. The ensemble cast, simple set, lyrics, and use of character to tell a story is a perfect example of theatre art. Every theater lover should have seen this one, it is a masterpiece. Chip Zien and Barbara Walsh shine in every performance they give.”

@ muscled57

“I saw March of the Falsettos in 1980 and marvelled at it's musical brilliance and ended up seeing it half a dozen times. Then I saw Falsettoland a decade later which devastated me with it's sensitivity and humanity. Years later I saw a regional production of Falsettos which is the combination of the two shows and was enchanted and remain grateful to Mr Finn for writing such a masterpiece of musical theatre that I could see again and again.”

@ donovan3535

“I was fortunate enough to be reach up and touch Mr. Patinkin at the Golden Theatre in February, 1993, during his run with this amazing show. Those who don't think he made a good Marvin: I have to disagree with you completely. The man is one of the best American talents alive today and gave an amazing performance, in my opinion.”

@ dyabolykyll

“I can't believe I've never seen this before. I've sobbed all the way through the second act. Such strong memories of my dear friend Sammy, who died in 1993. The last time I visited him with my kids, he asked if he could change my daughter's diaper, and afterwards he cried because I wasn't afraid.

 It hits so hard for those of us who were young adults when AIDS came on the scene. People were afraid to be in the same room with someone who had it, much less to touch them. It made hand holding and hugs mean so much more."

@ VeracityLH

[stealingyourbones]

Submitted Prompts #82

So I found out that besides beating the absolute tar out of Jason, Bruce also dragged him back to Ethiopia to relive his traumatic death/revival in hopes of finding a way to bring back a recently dead Damian[???]

Mind you, I absolutely hate thinking about how abusive Bruce is towards his kids and would rather pretend he’s a parent who tries, you know? But fuck if that cursed kernel of knowledge spark an idea:

There’s been a couple of fics that play with the idea that forcing a ghost to relive their death is a major taboo in the Ghost Zone, severely punishable and all that jazz.

Now it’s the aftermath [however that was, Idk], peeps are probably rejoicing over Damian’s revival [right?] and Jason’s most likely somewhere, you know, coping I assume. 

Until Walker is knocking on their door and demanding their presence to the Court of the Dead [Don’t remember if it had a name, this sounded pretty cool lol] stating that Batman’s presence is required to receive his sentence.

As all things are when it comes to Walker, he doesn’t give them a choice.

Jason’s call comes a bit more peacefully, mind you, but given it’s an eyeball, it probably wasn’t much better.

Cue Jason poofing onto some chair in some courtroom, thinking he’s the one in trouble, cue Batman poofing in that giant glass cage [You know, the one Vortex was stuck in upon his intro]

Everyone, predictably, are unarmed.

Jason is unsure what to feel at the sight of them.

Walker in all his weird size shifting glory, steps forward to loom over Bruce, large book in hand and sneering down at the human trapped before him, “Bruce Thomas Wayne, alias Batman, founding member of the Justice League, you’ve been summoned to the Court of the Dead to receive your sentence.”

“On what charges?”

Walker’s sneer deepened, “On what charges?, he says.”

The book in his hands quickly sift through pages, one after the other until it comes to a stop, popping up in a screen for all to see its contents, Death’s Echo, the chapter title says.

“Why, you’ve committed the ultimate taboo, human. Victim of the Echo: Jason Peter Todd, alias Red Hood alias Robin II, date of birth August 16th, 1993, date of death April 11th, 2008, date of awakening October 27th, 2008. Date of the crime d/m/y.

You’ve forced a ghost to relive their death, violated the peace of their core, potentially destabilizing a ghost’s existence. Upon Death’s Sermon, or for the betterment of your puny human understanding: You broke a law, a law punishable by termination.”

“He’s not dead.” Despite what become of their relationship, all the bloody conflicts that have followed, Bruce can’t stand the idea of Jason dying. 

One of the many eyeballs that seem to take up the majority of the court, steps - ahem! floats - forward, and despite lacking any other facial features, gives him what is noticeably a look Alfred would give him when he’s being particularly bull-headed, “That is irrelevant. The boy still carries the mark of death with him, therefor is still a denizen of the Infinite Realms, therefor still falls under our jurisdiction.”

“And all rights to the Court’s defense.” Walker adds, closing the book in his hand with a pointed snap, “You’ve been out ruled, punk.”

The batfam are looking around them as the entire room full of ghost clamor for Bruce’s termination, angry and indignant alike.

Tim - despite all his years of training - panics and doesn’t think twice before standing from his seat and calling the large ghost’s attention, ignoring Dick’s frets, “And where’s your evidence? Where are your witnesses to back up these claims, do you even have any?" 

The sudden silence is almost smothering, and Jason can’t help but watch as all eyes turn to the boy in question.

In all honesty, he doesn’t know how to feel about all this, about Bruce being charged for what basically amounts to torture in these creatures’ eyes, not even over the fact that he still seems to be considered dead. 

"For a genius, for a detective, you don’t seem to know much about death, do you?”

The ghost all seem to straighten at the sound of the voice, almost like they’re a classroom being called to attention. Despite its calm volume, it carries throughout the whole room, demanding everyone’s attention, their respect.

The bats immediately zero in on the source, a large chair big enough to be considered a throne sits in the first floor, enshrouded by shadows, the lighting of the room doesn’t seem to touch it at all, only lit by the green flame of a crown. Showing them measly impressions of a man’s face. 

The man stands, steadily walking forward till he’s standing in the light. He’s tall, broad, looks about Bruce’s age, and is donning black armor. His presence fills the whole room.

He bothers Bruce only a glance as he passes him before he fixes his attention back on the boy. 

“Now I know you’re not naive, Tim Drake. Death is everywhere, no matter how seemingly clean, no matter how peaceful, there’s no place on this planet death hasn’t touched; death is my domain, I see and I hear the voices of those who have passed - do you know what that means?”

“You have eyes everywhere.” Tim concluded, uneasy in what this might mean.

“I do. Now I can show you and your siblings the whole event, but for the sake of Jason’s continued peace of mind, I will not. Point stands: This is not a trial, Timothy, this is a sentence - your father does not get defendants or supposed witnesses to offer evidence of his supposed innocence, there isn’t any.”

Tim doesn’t know what to feel when the man turns his attention towards Jason, who despite the harrowing experience, has remained utterly silent throughout the whole endeavor. Jason despite his mass and his known capabilities, looks meek under the ghost’s attention, bracing for whatever he might say.

It’s off-putting.

“I have eyes and ears everywhere, detectives, that very much includes the victim in question. Now Jason, I want you to answer me honestly, and I promise you that you’re safe here, can you do that?”  

Jason’s eyes swept over the whole room, glancing at his siblings before stopping on Bruce, still silent, still ever brooding and angry, before offering a small shrug in response, “I guess.”

“Did he force you to relive your death and subsequent revival?”

“………He did.”

Jason thought it was a chance to join in on a collaborative mission, all hands on deck and all that jazz, hoping for reconciliation, to mend things.

“Did you give your consent on the matter?”

He just wanted to move on, to leave all that anger and resentment, all that pain, behind him. He thought Bruce wanted the same, but apparently not, Bruce didn’t seem to care about what he was asking of him, he just wanted some chance to get his son back.

Like Jason never mattered.

Jason offers a small shake of head in response, trying to ignore the way everyone stared at him, “No.”

The man gives him a reassuring smile, bowing his head in gratitude and Jason only feels relieved to be rid of the attention as the king looks towards the rest of the family

“Lucky for you, however, Bruce is still very much human. So he won’t be facing termination,”

“Your highness -” A swift hand silence the skull faced ghost

They don’t relax, they can tell there’s more to the offered appeasing.

The family sits in silence as this kings dishes out Bruce’s punishment. 

Any further interaction Batman has will be on Jason’s terms, he will not seek Jason out, he will not make demands, he will certainly not impose his will on him.

Along that, he is no longer permitted to step foot in Crime Alley and anywhere else that might be considered Jason’s territory [haunt, they called it haunt, it felt daunting being showed the ghostly significance in it.] without expressed permission. If there’s a moment in time where Batman’s presence suddenly becomes unwanted, Jason apparently possesses the power to evict him.

Bruce is stripped of any sort of control he might’ve had over his wayward son. The court is in Jason’s favor for once, it seems.

Batman is not allowed to use anyone else in his favor. 

Bruce Wayne certainly isn’t exempt from these demands. The Ghost King seems to know them very well [Eyes. Everywhere] and seemed to be prepared for them to seek out any loopholes.

Any attempts to disregard these demands and he will be guarded. Heavily. By shadows, and by his very own ghosts.

The ghost king derives a lot of pleasure in informing Bruce that his parents never left his side, watched his struggles, watched his successes, his relationships with partners and children alike. 

Jason almost wants to say it seems cruel to throw in Bruce’s face the disappointment his parents feel in Bruce’s…..less stellar parenting methods.

He’s still trying not to think about the fact everyone is apparently being haunted by the souls of the people most important to them.

Bruce remains utterly silent, looking for all the world like the weight on his shoulders has double, troubled as the time pressed on, until he utters.

“And how long will this sentence be?”

“Until you both can completely trust - no wait, scratch that, Jason already trusted you, had faith in you, something of which you had no remorse in taking advantage of. No, until you learn how to trust him.”

The bats try not to wince at that.

[maniacwatchestheworld]

A brief note about the League of Assassins and the Court of Owls

@imjustheretofangirl003 (I'm answering questions and providing information for DPxDC fans.)

So... Uh... Quick question... Have people around these parts been mashing the League of Assassins and the Talons together...? Because like... The League of Assassins wouldn't use Talons...

Okay, so to my knowledge, the Talons have nothing to do with the League of Assassins. The League of Assassins, of course, is the organization that serves Ra's Al Ghul (when he was alive) and that Talia Al Ghul (his daughter and Damien's biological mother) is a very high ranking member of (until she took it over after her father died). Damian was raised in and by the League of Assassins. Obviously, the League of Assassins are all highly trained assassins lol. So... Yeah, Damian was not exactly raised in the best of situations. (Literally raised from birth to be a deadly weapon for the League.)

The Talons, on the other hand, work for the organization known as the Court of Owls. The Court of Owls is a secret cabal of exceedingly rich fucks (consisting of some of the richest families in Gotham) that have been running Gotham from behind the scenes since the city was first founded, or so they say. The Talons are all highly trained assassins, but unlike the League of Assassins, they are pretty much all undead. (Some of the members of the League of Assassins might be long-lived, but they are all decidedly alive. Additionally, Ra's is not the kind of person to like sharing his Lazarus Pits, so beyond his direct family, he's unlikely to let others in the LoA use them. Also, the Lazarus Pits extend your life or fix up and heal your body as you're dying/bring you back to life. Jason Todd may have been brought back to life in one, but he isn't exactly considered to be undead. Ra's and Talia are also not considered to be undead either. The Lazarus Pits generally bring you back to life, not turn you into an undead. You can see Task Force Z to see where that thin line can be drawn.) And some of the Talons might also be fucked up mutant owl-people...? So that's what's wrong with them lol. Some of them can be hundreds of years old and they do decidedly have to be made or at least recruited. (They kinda have to be, given that humans aren't typically undead by nature.)

So yeah. Damian, Talia, and Ra's Al Ghul are from the League of Assassins and Ra's is known to use Lazarus Pits to extend his life. Talons are from the Court of Owls and are undead assassins that work for the Court. They are generally unaffiliated with one another, but they are sometimes portrayed as being enemies.

Now to be entirely transparent, I have yet to read any stories featuring the Court of Owls (though I have been collecting issues of Batman: City of Madness, so I have one story involving them waiting in the wings!) so I may be mistaken, but from what I can tell, the Talons used to be normal people. Typically people who were highly skilled in the art of murder in life, who were then brought back to life (and became undead) through the use of a material known as Electrum. Exposure to electrum can apparently revive the dead. Apparently Electrum is another bullshit magical metal just like Nth metal, but instead of it being used to punch ghosts, it is used to bring back the dead lol. I don't know if the Talons are being manufactured at a large scale, but they may not need to be, given that the Court of Owls has existed for hundreds of years. So the Court may have just been slowly building up a healthy collection of Talons over the decades as they find good candidates and "recruit" them. And since they're undead, unless they're outright destroyed or deprived of Electrum (which they have a definite reliance on), they are pretty damn reusable!

Now it's pretty obvious why both the League of Assassins and the Court of Owls would feature in DPxDC fics, but just keep in mind that while they have some obvious similarities, they are mechanically and thematically very different from each other! In fact you could say that they're opposites! Where the League of Assassins is a group of assassins who have leadership that sparingly use the Lazarus Pits to extend their lives to a supernatural length where the rest of their ranks are largely regular humans, the Court of Owls are run by largely regular humans (though they are rich which is a superpower in of itself) who like to more liberally use Electrum to employ various trained undead assassins to do their bidding while typically not using that material for themselves.

[ballcrusher74]

deacon blast again

also yknow what. info dump about this guy cus he's coming to the cleanup crew very soon

D-17, aka Deacon, was a robot originally created for the Bioscience & Technology team for the Company. This team specialized in studying the biology of the entities, moon environments, and making technological advancements for both their scavengers and to assist their research. (Fun fact ! This team was also responsible for creating the revive technology, resulting in the cycle.) Deacon is a D type model, one of the tank robots, usually used as personal bodyguards for other team members when exploring moons, and hauling back deceased corpses of the moon's wildlife. He is very much programmed to be a work machine, speaks very formally, takes everything literally, and obeys given orders. He was a good mechanical co-worker. However, as the Company started to cut corners, this team was dissolved. God knows what happened with the human members of the team, but as for the robots, they were all stationed on various planets and left to rot. Some time goes by, 18 years roughly, and Deacon's still body stands upright, covered with small patches of foliage and insects crawling through his joints. Deacon is a very lucky case, compared to the others, having been safely stationed on 41-Experimentation inside of a storage room in the facility. The majority of the other robots have been likely ripped apart by the moon's wildlife, weather conditions wearing them down, and just breaking down into scrap pieces.

Soon, he will be found there and charged back up. However, he will not be aware of what happened to his team. He did his job to stand guard, and he did until his power ran dry, like a loyal dog to the company.

Soon, he'll figure it out. (also I think I've posted his ref here before?? I think. yea I did, but I might make him a more polished one. design ain't changed tho lol) (OH FUCK YEA UH. THAT IS CRICK IN THE SECOND IMAGE. THE NERD ASS SCAVENGER. belongs to my dear buddy @blegsbag)

[theofficialpresidentofmars]

have not watched legend of Korra and in deciding whether and when i want to, i have compiled a list of pros and cons of watching it:

pros:

Korra <33

more official Avatar universe content

expansion on lore and worldbuilding mechanics

Varrick and Zhu Li

A cast of new and silly characters to get attached to

The revival of the Air Nomads

The older Gaang and their children

DILF ZUKO

cons:

the concept of the Industrial Revolution and sudden change on a global scale is deeply frightening to me. watching humanity evolve from fighting with clubs and swords to driving cars and listening to the radio within the span of a lifetime gives me chills down the spine, especially when part of the first series’ appeal was the fantasy setting of the past, a time when things were simpler and the ignorance of the world made things appear more magical. but suddenly the old ways of the world being overturned as machines replace magic and machines replace people and individual culture is diluted as borders are broken down and larger societal structures are established and communication improves until everyone is irrevocably connected for better or worse and suddenly this large and fascinating world is small and understood and plain and we can never go back because we’ve opened a box that cannot be closed because ignorance is bliss but wilful ignorance is shameful? the jarring experience of watching characters move further away from the world they knew into a world that only looks more and more familiar to the viewer. the knowledge of where this leads, and the use of fantasy as escapism being invaded by the cold truth of reality. Korra being a natural fighter in a world that needs a diplomat, only one cycle too late for the world that needed a fighter. born too late for her time. every single moment we make decisions that cannot be undone, that will leave a mark on our world and on time forever and ever. it happens whether i start watching it or not, but it doesn’t happen until i begin watching. I’d say that I might be happier living in such a time myself, but the truth is that modernity and convenience has poisoned me and I wouldn’t last a day. The other truth is that we hold onto the good memories of the past and find it easier to discard the others, and as such everything will be tinted in rose coloured glasses forever and the past will always be painted with the pretty certainty that it all ends well, which is more than what we can say for the future, or even the present. Do we really miss the 2000s, the 1980s, any decade as you would have it, or do we miss being small enough to be carried by our parents into our bedroom when we pretended to be asleep, comforted by their embrace and with the knowledge that they were definitive rocks of strength in our lives, before we grew old enough to realise their own fears, weaknesses, and humanity? Was it the way old classrooms were decorated, was it the trends and music of the time that made the past better or was it that we only heard terrible news from the radio or the television and had the privilege to simply turn it off? Was it the bliss of the time or, again, the bliss of ignorance? What are we losing right now that we aren’t even aware of? What won’t we miss until it’s gone? What happened to Suki? What happened to the world?

All in all, I’m currently undecided, although from the various clips and edits I have seen scrolling TikToks, both Korra and older Zuko are making strong cases.

(Don’t take this too seriously lol)

[mlb-a-rewrite]

A Guide to Kwamis and How to Kill Them

(okay I lied it’s not entirely about how to kill them, that part is simple. I go over that as well as expand upon Kwamis and their abilities)

Also warning, there is discussion of death and terminal illness here. It stays very factual but just putting a warning regardless.

Kwamis and their miraculous are completely indestructible… until they aren’t. Like you can’t throw a miraculous at the wall or crush it to break it and you can’t stab or strangle a kwami to kill it. The only way to kill a kwami is to break its miraculous and the only way to break a Miraculous is with another Miraculous.

First ring miraculous can destroy any other miraculous entirely on their own, whether it be a second ring or another first ring. If three second ring Miraculous are used together, they can destroy a first ring or another second ring miraculous. Using three second-ring miraculous together either means one person is wielding 3 miraculous simultaneously or three different users all combine their powers to destroy it. Honestly, I don’t really know what that means atm lol. (Just to be overly clear, it could also be that one person has one miraculous and another person has two, that will also work to destroy it but it feels a bit redundant to say that). You could have 3 second ring Miraculous from 3 different miracle boxes and use them to destroy a first ring Miraculous from a 4th miracle box. The origins of a miraculous do not matter, just their ranking.

When a miraculous is destroyed, it is gone forever and nothing can take its place (i.e. a new miraculous doesn’t form to replace it). The miraculous is destroyed and the kwami dies with it. You cannot repair a broken miraculous or revive a dead kwami. They are gone forever.

If a person is wearing a miraculous when the miraculous is destroyed, they become terminally ill. Their body functions rapidly fail, their bodies begin to decay and their mental processes slow. They could die in a few hours or a few weeks but no one lives past a month. Machines may be able to keep the body alive but they will be brain dead. There is no way to heal a holder who wore a destroyed miraculous either.

There is one unique property of first-ring miraculous that I should point out. To reiterate, each miracle box has a first-ring and this first ring is always comprise of 2 miraculous that represent opposing ideas. This way the powers are balanced. If one miraculous represents life, than the other death. If one represents innovation, the other tradition. They are opposing so they balance one another out.

If a first-ring miraculous is destroyed, than its counterpart becomes unbalanced. What this means is anyone who wears and uses the unbalanced miraculous will experience severe side effects. They may first experience cognitive issues, finding it difficult to remember things, process information, make plans, etc. or they might experience physical problems like unsteady hands, decreased coordination, muscle deterioration, etc. No one person will experience the same side effects, so people may experience severe emotional problems at first but see no real physical side effects, but the longer a person wears an unbalanced miraculous, the more the symptoms increase in both severity and number.

These side effects cannot be cured. A person might be able to work to lessen the severity of the symptoms effect on their life but they will always be there. If a person wears the miraculous too long these ailments will become lethal and result in their death.

Actively using a miraculous (i.e. transforming and using special abilities) will also speed up the rate at which the side effects progress.

Kwamis are also affected by this. If a kwami is tied to an unbalanced miraculous then they will experience psychological distress. They will have similar cognitive and emotional issues to those humans experience. A kwami is also likely to experience different issues than the holder of their miraculous. These symptoms will not kill a Kwami but they cannot recover from it either so they either live slowly getting worse or they die. (That got dark quick oops)

The (Dreaded) Magic System

This is the section where I overly specific about how miraculous work and the different parts of them. I also talk about changes I make to miraculous with specific references to the show.

Kwamis and Miraculous and Holders Oh My!

I believe that the parts of a miraculous and their functions are best explained through this analogy I came up with (that’s pretty amazing if I do say so myself).

The Kwamis are like a huge tank of water. Their power is the water and this power is tied to the concept they embody.But there is so much water they (Kwamis) can’t control it. If they try to pour a little bit of water out of the tank, it is going to overflow and a lot more water will come out than intended.

This is similar to how we see it in the show. Whenever Tikki or Plagg or other kwamis tried to use their powers on their own, there were huge consequences (multiple Eiffel towers forming, portals all over the world, etc.)

The Miraculous are a tap connected to the tank.They are the means of controlling the amount of water that is let out.

Miraculous themselves don’t really do anything. They contain no power themselves and can’t use the power. They just serve as a means to let others use the power.

Users are the person operating the tap. They control how much water is let out of the tank via the tap. At first, they only have two options, no water or yes water, but as they get older, more experienced/in tune with their Miraculous, mentally and physically stronger, they are able to have more variation and more control. As users improve, they are able to let more water out. They can choose how much water is let out and how quickly. They still can’t use all the power, they are still bound to the tap, but they can access more of it. Instead of a trickle, they can use the water like a hose or pressure washer. But they have to be in tune enough with the Miraculous and physically/mentally strong enough to do so

Additionally, a user’s body is like a water balloon and to use power from the Kwami, they need to fill themselves with water from the tap. At first, it is easy to fill the balloon with little issue, but if you fill it too much, the balloon gets easier and easier to pop. Eventually, there is so much water the balloon pops if it's even breathed on.

Users have physical limitations. Because they can only access a certain amount of water at a certain rate, they might overexert themselves and start using their own energy. If, for instance, Chat Noir wants to destroy a building with Cataclysm, he may not realize that he isn’t advanced enough with his miraculous and end up using his own energy. When he detransforms he will be incredibly exhausted, mentally and physically. In extreme cases, he might experience muscle loss and in extreme cases, he could die.

This puts limitations on abilities and thus, there are consequences. Ladybug can’t always magically repair everything.

Detransforming exists as a safety mechanism. When users are still newbies, they don’t understand how much they can take physically and mentally, so they will automatically detransform. As they get older, users can turn this off, but it becomes more dangerous. If someone is mentally stronger before they are physically and they let out too much water, their bodies could literally combust because it is too much. Vise versa, someone might be physically strong enough, but too afraid or too out of touch with their Kwami to let out any more water.

Kwamis and Kwamis and Kwamis and Kwamis and—

So now, with a user having two Miraculouses, they now have two Kwamis, which means they have two tanks. This, is dangerous, as you can assume, because that’s a fuck ton of water. Now the safety mechanism is still in place, but it is not designed for the use of multiple Miraculouses. Using multiple Miraculous at the same time, especially when you use multiple fancy powers at the same time, is detrimental to you. Maybe you can handle it for a little bit, but eventually, it will become too much and you could get severely injured or even die.

Connecting back to the earlier discussion about destroy a miraculous using 3 second-ring miraculous, it is possible that a single person could wear 3 second-ring miraculous and successfully destroy another miraculous, but that person will die pretty soon after.

And the whole Multiple Mouse thing where Marinette can use all the miraculous bc she multiplies wouldn't really work bc it's still her, just spread out. Like all the duplicates are her just inhabiting more space, so she would defo die in this world if she tried that.

Specific Changes

Powerups are dumb as hell. In the eloquent words of my friend, “Get shit on and written out.”

Powerups, like when they go to space or go underwater or ice skate or whatever are so ridiculously stupid and I'm getting rid of it entirely. 99% of the modifications that result from powerups are literally just costume changes, like that's it bro. We already know that the costumes change depending on the user and their “vision” for it, and so like, they could just manifest the costumes with ice skates for shoes or space helmets, they don’t need fancy food for that.

In the show the only actual “power up” I remember happening is during Syren when they can breathe underwater. That’s it. Everything else is a costume change and they are shown being able to use their weapons (the yo-yo and baton) as oxygen tanks which I think is a much more creative choice than powerups. 

So I’m changing it so that if they really want their costume to have swimming fins or jetpacks or whatever they can manifest it before they transform. But, like the third power, it is difficult to do and requires a lot of focus and emotional investment, this way they aren’t willy-nilly changing their costumes all the time. 

Once they transform and the modification is there, it will last without problems until the detransform. If they detransform and then transform, the costume will revert back to normal

I also like the idea of their weapons serving as a snorkel/oxygen tank. I think that’s a really fun use of their weapons and also provides another layer of restraint to battles. Idk I think it’s fun

Unification is whatever. I kinda talk about it earlier with the multiple kwamis stuff. Basically when someone wears multiple miraculous and undergoes unification, it becomes monumentally harder to use your powers and is more draining on your body. To go back to the analogies:

A user’s body is a balloon and to splash others with water (power) they must fill the balloon. With one tank of water, it’s easier to fill the water balloon, but with multiple tanks, it is hard to keep track of which is which. Which tank fills water fast and which slow? The user may accidentally turn on multiple taps at once, filling the balloon too fast and causing the balloon to burst.

The more tanks (miraculous), the more difficult it is to use any of the power without hurting yourself

So unification or whatever. I'm chill with it you know, like, it’s fine, I just think there needs to be more consequences associated with it.

Final tidbits

This is just more bits of clarification on Kwami/Miraculous nuances.

Miraculous concepts/powers can and do repeat across miracle boxes. The concept of creation and luck are not specific to one group of people, so there will be multiple Kwamis that encompass that idea, they just present that idea differently. 

Concepts repeat but the presentation of those ideas differs (like, the genes are the same but they present differently depending on the kwami/origin)

So one box might have a kwami/miraculous that represents death and it’s all about fear and destruction but another box might have a kwami/miraculous that represents death and it’s about remembrance, change, and progress. They are the same concepts, but are thought about differently and thus, will have different powers and what not.

Kwami visibility is also consistent. For some reason this being inconsistent in the show really bothered be so we changing that. 

Sometimes in the show, people without miraculous can see Kwamis no problem (kwamibuster, shang hai special, probably many more) and sometimes they cant (the origins episodes), so like, decide and make it consistent.

I think I’ve settled on all kwamis being visible to people wearing miraculous, so if Marinette is walking around with Tikki on her shoulder and then Adrien sees Tikki that’s an identity reveal right there. Since only people with miraculous can see kwamis, kwamis would have to hide all the time in public in order to protect Adrien and Marinette’s identities from one another. Like,  that's fun but whatever ends up happening KEEP IT CONSISTENT FOR THE LOVE OF GOD PLEASE

Also I just headcanon that the outfits are different. Like Marinette likes fashion and she’s her wearing a polka dot morph suit is dumb because girl, I hate to break to you but you will never be a fashion designer wearing something that ugly. So instead I imagine her as like, one of those TikTok activewear influencers with the fancy skorts and like, a fun half-jacket poncho situation or something. The outfit still covers her fully because combat situations + exposed skin = nothing good. Also, please, why is Adrien in a skin-tight leather suit that's so sus considering they are CHILDREN.

In my head marinette has a tiny little circle cape that goes to her mid back that looks like ladybug wings and it could be part of a jacket or smth idk. I just think the cape would be a fun little touch. NO CAPES.

And Adrien is rocking like basic body armor. Kinda like Captain American kind of padding. He’s still emo and decked out in all black but it’s not all leather and it’s practical for fighting.

[plasticfossil]

THORNTON GREY, 2.5K TRIS & 256x TEX

Worldbuilding and cg autism under the cut

This is Thornton Grey, a character of mine I've had for around 15 years now. He's from a more or less retired worldbuilding universe of mine, waiting to be either recycled or refactored. Thornton is one of the dearest characters from that setting (and in all honesty, one of my dearest characters in general) and I tend to keep him in my current brain palette of little men to doodle in various formats.

I've been doing these early cd-3d (aka psx /ps1 etc) styled models for some of my OCs with hopes of eventually ?? learning godot. I guess. I need to get my worldbuilding out to the world so it become property of the grand creative consciousness, aka to affect people with my art the same way people affected me.

The tri count is higher than many people tend to target for this style and i'll probably improve that over time as I make various kinds of assets related to my worldbuilding, but eh who cares lol. The textures are photobashed stock images with details painted over and posterized in photoshop.

Here's some bonus 'march of progress' of my art of him over time.

Lore? Well, many of my characters start out with me being bored or annoyed by a specific trope in media, and he is no exception. He's a few things, but primarily he's my take on the 'little pinocchio robot boy/man who wishes he was a Real human'. Thornton's character addresses more so the preoccupations we as humans have to classify and categories types of people or non-people.

The universe, with the codename Redverse, is set approximately 1920s/1930s alt-earth america. He was child to a pair of grandmaster clocksmiths in the early 1800s whom could not have children of their own, and spent decades producing an analog AI composed of millions of intricate gears assembled with a small cube which composes his brain. He has a small boiler in his trunk that provides power for the various hydraulic systems within his limbs and keeps his brain's clockwork properly wound.

After caring for his elderly parents until their deaths, he took his father's trenchcoat and gun and traveled the country. (why is his gun a german luger? i don't know, i was like 17. it looks cool.)

Computers, robots, ai, etc, are not really a thing in this universe, granted the targeted vague time period. So he's generally regarded by others as an advanced automaton (he basically is.) and as a curiosity. He however has no qualms about being artificial in nature, as he sees it, he has all the makings of the average man -- has parents, has to eat (hard coal for his boiler), and can love. To view him as nonhuman baffles him, and his matter of fact attitude about the issue tends to win over many people he gets to know. Regarded mostly with respect for his kind and empathetic nature within the communities he spends any amount of time in, he's eventually pulled into the underworld of armed resistance forming against the increasing power of a fascist authoritarian regime that has quickly possessed control of the tumultuous american politics.

A tl;dr of this universe is "but what if AMERICA was the nazis". Very clever 17yo me. I'm sure you had a shock of your life when you grew up and learned about america's rancid role in world politics. Thus the retirement and possible refactoring -- I think it can be a compelling alt history universe if I actually learn more about how do to it properly, if i ever revive it. I'm not the first person to do it but maybe I can offer something interesting if at least for the setting of a noir style vibe game.

Anyway, Thornton becomes very involved. So involved, in fact, he becomes essentially the poster child of the resistance movement. And is targeted for it.

Widely hailed as a martyr for his subsequent demise, the resistance movement gets his hands on his thankfully intact head and revive him the best they can. He is unfortunately damaged, and upon revival, starts channeling visions from beyond.

And that is about as far as I got with his story. Perhaps you will see more of him in the future.

[smonklegonk]

I'm going mildly insane over the concept of my dnd character Willow Whisp as a human... or well, drow, i guess. For reference, they are a kenku rogue, but i've realized in the year that i've played them that I don't really like drawing birds lol

so yeah, they have had a massive design change during the course of the campaign, also like massive personality shift. Its a long story, that i can and will talk about here (info dump incoming,, there's more pictures too)

Pre-campaign, Willow was an assassin that ended up working with an underground organization. They were on a job with a group within said organization called the Ruby Rift, who were like a family, but it quickly went sideways and they fled for their life, their beak being shattered in the escape (which is why they now wear the mask).

They were untrusting and deceitful (classic rogue stuff, I know), though they usually tried to hide behind a 'cute' façade. Rumours of a powerful goddess of death scared Willow into worship due to their constant... uh... liberation of souls from their meat sacks. Anyway, they just wanted to stay neutral with this goddess, or better yet, unnoticed by the goddess. But one thing they knew was intolerable to the goddess was necromancy, so they accepted those ideals as their own. The issue was that they didn't really see the difference between revival and necromancy (both bring someone back from the dead) and believed that any sort of revival meant that the soul was eternally under the possession of whoever resurrected them.

This didn't really pose an issue until maybe a month or two of travelling within the safety of their new group. At this time, they were beginning to let their guard down and really start accepting the party as friends (something somewhat strange to them). Our 'human' bard, Vincent, seemed to constantly partake is risky behaviour while they were travelling together, and Willow called him out on it, saying that he'll never be able to save his kidnapped fiancée if he dies before he gets to her. A short argument about risk and revival lead to another party member, the dragonborn Avoria, revealing that he was revived with no repercussions.

Willow was an assassin, who had killed people for money and survival. They were no stranger to death, and would welcome it when the time came. They were very strong-willed and saw revival as taboo and enslavement. Avoria was a friend, and the only way to free them from the entity that resurrected them was to kill him.

Fortunately, an NPC named Taiv managed to prevent any death that night, but the damage had been done and Taiv knew that Willow would likely continue to pursue Avoria's death. So he made a decision. He confronted Will, challenging them to a fight to the death the following night, and threatened to track Will down and kill them if they fled.

Willow would have fled had they not loved the group they were a part of. They knew that Taiv was stronger than them, and that they would probably die if they truly fought one on one. Honestly, they were on the road to change already but they just needed time. Their whole world-view was being challenged and one does not change that quickly.

The fight was like a test from Taiv. Taiv was looking for signs of change during the fight, but he couldn't find what he was looking for. And in front of the party, Willow was slain.

Their body was taken by the ocean, presumably by the entity that revived Avoria. So, Avoria begged the entity to release Willow, to revive them.

In the chill depths, a giant golden eye with a shattered pupil opened before the kenku. A resonating, thundering voice asked them who they were and who they served. Due to a conversation during their fight, Willow replied that they served themself, rather than serving the death goddess as they would have just a day prior.

Avoria managed to retrieve the kenku, whose feathers were now bleached white. Their eyes opened slowly as they were hauled from the water. The emu aarakocra named Moo hugged the soaking kenku with relief, crying Willow's name and begging for forgiveness for the events that unfolded. But, to everyone's horror, they merely replied in broken, stolen voices "Who's Willow?"

Kenkus are a cursed race, land-bound and silenced. They do not have voices of their own, only mimicking the speech of others or sounds of the surrounding environment. Up to this point, Willow had been using the voice of their beloved, Finnan.

But now, Willow was gone, their mask carried off by the sea. Before the party stood a kenku that had no memory. The face and voice of their beloved was stolen, and they were scared and confused. The party took care of the kenku as they recovered and eventually named themself Whisp (I felt like a fucking genius coming up with that one,, it was totally unplanned that their name would be like Will 'o wisp).

Whisp is reckless, and will put themselves between the party and anything that scares them. They reflect the caring people around them and reach out a hand to everyone and everything, much like how the party reached out to them.

I love them, but for a while its been difficult to rp them. Much like Whisp themself, I'm struggling to find a place for them in the group. I feel like the humanized version of them has really inspired me tho (which is great because I'm probably not going to be able to shove everyone together for another game for a while)

Anyway, thanks for listening to my ted talk, I'll be here forever in the abyss that is the time between D&D games