#And how his beliefs on rules play into being a gremlin

[tombstone-pisa]

I think people assume that Ingo is going to be the hardass of the twins. Newish Depot Agents are usually afraid of disappointing him and brand new ones will try to avoid fuck ups.

Likewise, it's assumed that Emmet is the laidback twin.

The truth is that Emmet cares WAY more about following the rules then Ingo does. Ingo doesn't mind breaking rules in order to do the right thing... Emmet tries to do the right thing within the rules and if that isn't possible, he will CHANGE the rules.

New Depot Agents usually learn this when they break a rule or make a major mistake for the first time. They usually sweat and panic a little bit as Ingo finds out... only for him to pat them on the head and offer to get coffee with them so they can work out how to best fix this situation. He's understanding and tries his best to be empathic of others.

Meanwhile, Emmet isn't MEAN but he is much stricter then Ingo is. Within reason, of course! The law should exist to protect, not to persecute. As such, the rules that he makes for Gear Station are rules for a reason... he doesn't get angry when Depot Agents make a mistake or break a rule but he IS stricter about it then Ingo and expects the Depot Agents under him to do their best to uphold and follow the rules he made. He expects that they fix their mistake and will hold them to that because he knows that he picks quality staff. Once they fix their mistake, he will praise them and let bygones be bygones.

A good way to explain it is that if there's a rule that Ingo doesn't agree with, he will do his best to circumvent that rule in a way that is best for everyone. Meanwhile, Emmet will do everything in his power to change that rule because believes that the rules should exist for everyones safety. There is nothing Emmet hates more than a corrupt law system. And if Emmet believes something should be in the rules and others won't listen to him? Then he will demonstrate WHY it should be a rule in the most malicious compliance way possible.

This is something the two of them sometimes butt heads over!

[possumsarenice]

Daycare Attendant/Reader x Your Turn To Die AU because apparently I’m not alone. Floormaster Sun and Moon AU ft. Participant YN

!!MAJOR YTTD SPOILERS!!

!!CW!!Mentions of death, cult corporations, indoctrination, and all around bad stuff™️

Sun and Moon are Floormasters and YN is someone working for Asu-Naro (or maybe Fazbear’s?) and is involved with the game. YN is very close with the two Floormaster dolls, you can decide if it’s platonic, queerplatonic, or romantic. I’m gonna go with romantic in my ver because I’m a simp. Sun and Moon are very, very loyal to the company. The company is a cult after all. YN on the other hand, isn’t as on board with everything. Especially the death game. Eventually, they run away from the company like Kai. Sun and Moon feel very betrayed by this as, again, they literally worship Asu-naro/Fazbear like a god. Eventually, the death game starts and YN gets dragged in as a participant, but not a candidate. But unlike Kai, YN survives the first main game without getting fully caught. The idea of them having worked with the kidnappers is bought up during the main game, but it’s not confirmed. They go to floor two with the rest of the survivors, where Sun and Moon are (they share the same floor like Ranger and Safalin. Same floor actually, but with a more “kiddie/playground” vibe). Sun, Moon, and YN meet again, but it’s not exactly nice for anyone involved. Sun and Moon obviously have a history with YN which conforms that YN was with the kidnappers, but at the same time strongly implies to the rest of the survivors that they left them. I haven’t really thought past this more but that’s the base idea

The personalities for this AU: Note: all of them are A Little Fucked Up Actually

Sun (fruit punch theme): Sun acts very polite and playful to the participants (besides YN). He calmly explains what they need to do, calls them cute little nicknames, welcomes them warmly, and gives them advice for how to progress the game while doing silly little children’s games and activities in his free time. But, while his silly fun and games persona seems genuine, there are a few things… off about his “kindness”. For one, even when a participant was injured, he didn’t show them the medical office. He didn’t even acknowledge it existed. He doesn’t really do anything for the participants outside of his words, even when it’s supposed to be his job. And his advice is always pointing the participants towards how the game is supposed to be played, as the kidnappers intended. Eventually, (maybe during the final attraction) it’s revealed that his nice behavior was purely Sun’s business professionalism. A customer service face, kinda. In reality, he is very sadistic. Secretly enjoying the participants’ suffering as they die one by one. This was programmed into him by the kidnappers after YN left so he wouldn’t any treacherous ideas of his own, alongside a artificial increase in the belief in the death game’s cause. It’s meant to have the same vibe/sympathy points as Ranger being a dick because all his positive emotions weren’t added in. Before this reprogramming, he was genuinely really nice and probably would’ve gotten close to the participants. While he wouldn’t betray the organization, he’d help the participants as much as he could without breaking any rules. He probably would’ve played non-death games with anyone who wanted to. But now… he’s not the same loving soul. Moon never says it but he misses the old Sun, so, so much. He would go through the whole death game himself if it meant he could get the old Sun back. But back on topic. Basically, Sun looks like the Safalin, but he’s secretly the Rio Ranger/Lizer.

Moon (fruit salad theme): Moon is your typical gremlin and acts very cruel towards the participants verbally. Calling the participants brats, threatening to “punish” them for breaking even the smallest of rules, making jabs constantly, and making them do embarrassing things to get any info out of him. He’s especially cruel to YN. However, like Sun, things are not as they seem. It was Moon who introduced the participants to the medical office. He’s actually the one to treat the participants’ wounds. His jabs are never “too far.” He’d tease someone for doing bad at an attraction, but wouldn’t do something like talk about Joe to Sara. It’s revealed (before Sun’s whole deal is revealed) that Moon, unlike most of the Floormasters, actually has the ability to genuinely care about the participants. And he knows that. And he’s absolutely terrified of it. It’s understandable though, because he’s literally supposed to make sure these innocent(?) people kill each other. They are guaranteed to die. He really, really doesn’t want the hurt of seeing them go. So he does his best to keep a wall of hostility between him and them so he won’t be hurt. He’s especially mean to YN because he still cares about them, and they aren’t a candidate. This isn’t a “bullying you because I have a crush on you” thing, instead it’s basically him trying to force himself to hate YN because “they are a traitor who will die for their actions.”

YN: YN has mastered the art of looking like just some guy when they are actually a very particular guy. They look and act like a relatively normal person, if a bit quirky and extra nervous at times. They don’t stand out from the rest of the cast in any way a first glance. They have a job at a daycare, and tend to put themself into dangerous situations first. If this were an actual game (and not an AU) players just would’ve assumed they did this because of some parental instincts they got from their job and not because they already know what’s planned and the layout of the area. All that is to say YN at first comes off as a typical nervous mother hen (gender neutral). But in reality, they are trained spy for Asu-naro/Fazbear who specializes in psychoanalysis. They’re only nervous at the moment because they know the company is doing everything in its power to kill them. They put themself in danger because they are a little bit responsible for everyone being here, as they watched the candidates for the company before they left. Their true personality is a bit cold, but loyal and determined. However, as loyal as they are to their loved ones, their morals come first. And while they wouldn’t change their decision to leave, it came at a great sacrifice

Also, the Glamrocks are also Floormasters, but things work a little differently then in the game. I haven’t really gotten their personalities yet but here are their themes and roles. YN knew them but was more so acquaintances with them

Gregory is the only human Floormaster, and the only one without a food/drink theme. He’s a type of Floormaster I made up. He plays a very minor role and doesn’t interact with them much, but follows the participants throughout the game from floor to floor. He’s there to make sure the Floormaster of the floor he’s on is doing their job. He can be found pretty much everywhere outside of main games if you look hard enough. He was basically abandoned by every human in his life and as a result hates humanity. Freddy took him in though, and while he doesn’t like the rest of the the Floormasters, he loves his dad (even if he’s has a few moral screws loose) and is really only doing this for his dad. But again, he hates other humans so this isn’t all for his dad.

Freddy is an Ice Cream Sandwich. He’s also a type I made up that only shows up during main games. Like Gregory, he goes from floor to floor but can only be seen due main games along side the floor’s Floormaster(s). He’s treated like the mascot of the death game. He isn’t statistic or anything, but he does believe in the idea behind us so he doesn’t see anything wrong with anything going on

the rest are basically the same as their Afton-virus infected counterparts but more coherent and less feral

Monty is sour/green apple lollipops

Chica is bubble gum

Roxy is some alcoholic drink

DJMM is Caesar Salad

not sure which floor to place them on because, well there aren’t enough for all of them really

I’ll probably go onto this more but this post is long enough as it is

[fantasyinvader]

I'll try to explain anon.

The description for the Crest of Seiros as well as documentation on the Hresvelg family is different from the other families that have a Crest relating to the Saints. It says that the Imperial family claims to be descended directly from Saint Seiros, implying that Rhea is Edelgard's ancestor. The fact that Rhea is upset that a descendant of Wilhelm would turn her axe towards her was meant to show that there was something between Wilhelm and Rhea that Rhea would find the scenario upsetting. Hopes took it a bit further with mention of how after the War of Heroes Rhea left the Empire with Wilhelm, leaving Fodlan to it's own devices (a big mistake in hindsight). If Rhea is deployed aligned with Edelgard in Hopes, Rhea remarks about how much Edelgard looks like Wilhelm (the fact that Edelgard's Emperor armor, that of a Holy Knight, is supposed to be Wilhelm's altered to fit her may play a role in this unless Wilhelm really liked the feel of the wind between his legs in battle).

You could take this a step further take into consideration Edelgard's version of history being full of half-truths. This would mean that yeah, Rhea's family did rule Fodlan after the war except it wasn't done from the shadows. They were on the throne for everyone to see. It also works on what we know about Wilhelm, how he sought unification in order to end the chaos and bloodshed Nemesis had encouraged while crushing clans that abused their power or sought greater power for themselves, and how the image of his actions have been corrupted to the point Edelgard embodies everything he fought against (again, while wearing his armor). The fact the Slithers turned her against her female ancestor, making her believe Wilhelm betrayed humanity by fighting against Nemesis, is just the icing on the cake. The Church was founded around her ancestor, but Edelgard wages war against it to replace it with ideals that are seemingly Agarthan in nature. Edelgard is a descendant of a Child of the Goddess, and now is finishing their genocide.

It can even work in conjunction with how Sitri may have been an amnesiac version of Sothis, much like the gremlin we know from the game, but because the memories didn't return lived her life as a separate incarnation. This would mean that when Sothis sacrifices herself for Byleth, it's done so out of a mother's love. And in joining Flower, the player ends up rejecting her and that love to support Edelgard which leads to, according to the Japanese text, her heart being shattered. And a lot of players do so citing Jeralt, Byleth's father, saying not to trust Rhea while ignoring him realizing he shouldn't have left the monastery in the first place.

You could argue this adds a bit of a gendered element to the Black Eagles route, Flower is based around misconceptions surrounding a father (Jeralt with the added bonus of Leonie and Alois fighting for his killers, or ignoring that Ionius tried to consolidate power and ended up an Agarthan puppet) or male ancestor (Wilhelm). Byleth gives Edelgard their ring like they typically do in S supports where they're a man and the support is woman, and Edelgard's beliefs are a very masculine bootstraps mentality. Snow, on the other hand, is about embracing a mother's love and following in her legacy with Byleth becoming both a ruler and a spiritual leader. Hell, it's actually Rhea reuniting with Sothis that ends up saving her as well, and as such we see a ring exchange in her S support. It's a route that ends up championing altruism instead.

Rhea's related to Edelgard?

Houses teased it, but Hopes made it canon (I think? I honestly almost never pay attention to dragon lore in these games because I find it rather dull) that Rhea and Wilhelm had a fling. Conservation of narrative detail being what it is, that makes Rhea Edelgard's very distant ancestor.

Not that either game ever does anything with this.

[existingispetty]

Hello, if it’s not a bother, may I request a Genshin and bsd matchup?

She/her, heterosexual

Scorpio, INTP 5w6

Personality: I’m responsible, hard-working and rational. I’m quite awkward and very reserved with strangers and people I don’t know well. I heard that some people have been intimidated because I was too formal with them. When I get close to a person though, I get very mischievous, sarcastic and playful. 

In my friend group, I’m the responsible one and I’m the gremlin. Even though I tease my friends a lot, I cherish them as well. It’s not often that I develop a close friendship with someone since I have trouble maintaining it plus I’m very picky. Although I do say I cherish them, I don’t think they know what to extent. There are things that I appreciate about them that I don’t want to admit because it’s embarrassing to say, but it sometimes worries me if I’m not expressing how grateful I am to them enough.

I’m ambitious, a bit prideful, curious and independent. I have many goals for myself but there are lots of times where I’m lazy and I’m usually hard on myself so it results to self-loathing. I was told by people that I was a workaholic and perfectionist, at first I didn’t believe it and thought they were exaggerating but I observed myself and realized that they aren’t wrong. I have a habit of suppressing my emotions, I usually don’t understand them and don’t know how to deal with them since I feel very strongly so I suppress them since that’s the only way I know and I don’t want to act irrationally because of it.

I’m quite harsh on other people as well even though I don’t like to admit it. I think it’s because of the fact I have high expectations for myself so I also place the same expectations for other people. I like to analyze things and that would lead to me having harsh opinions on it, so harsh I would be cancelled if I posted it. I even have questions I want to ask since there are things I don’t understand but I’m not sure if it’s alright to so I keep silent.

I also have a lot of fear and anxiety towards things I can’t control and I don’t know why it scares me so much. I have many insecurities but I cover it up with a self-assured attitude and I barely talk or even mention my insecurities to other people.

Likes: anime, cafes, sweets, psychology, neuroscience, video games (I’m open to any genre as long as it looks interesting to me), quiet places, stationery, fluffy things, travel, milk tea, and cats.

Hobbies: reading, listening to music, researching (about anything as long as it’s interesting), daydreaming, playing video games, drawing, watching anime, painting (rarely)

Dislikes: crowds, insects, being useless, beliefs I find to be unnecessary, the sun, household chores and rules that I find to be too restricted or inefficient.

My love languages are acts of service and quality time. (It can be physical affection as well but that would take a great amount of trust.)

Thank you! :)

Hello! Thanks for the ask! I apologize for the wait, writers block has been rough… I hope you enjoy!

+++++++++++++++++++++++

Your matchups are…insert overly aggressive drumroll*)

Childe/Tartaglia

Childe can be be very intimidating when someone gets in his nerves or when he’s in a serious battle. Of course in the beginning Childe is sociable although he doesn’t expect to become true friends with anyone due to the harsh conditions of his career. Once you’re more teasing and mischievous side shows the child he will be entertained and expecting a lot more of bonding time between you two. 

Childe is mischievous  but, he is not very responsible he can be very reckless at times so he may need someone to look out for him every once in a while and he would most definitely appreciate that favor. I doubt you would need to put up that much effort to stay in a relationship of any kind of childe yes he wouldn’t seek you out. Childe doesn’t show how much he cares for his friends because he doesn’t want people to see him as vulnerable. 

Childe strongly believe that everyone should be at least a little prideful after all  everyone’s accomplished something. Independence is important when knowing Childe because he can’t be around all the time and the world is a dangerous place.  Childe has many goals in life one of the biggest is to protect his family, though he does get sidetracked often on his smaller goals. 

Childe is only truly motivated to complete a task when there’s something in it for him. Childe would praise you quite the amount.  Childe supports your urge to work hard but once you over do it he steps in. Childe is a wonder at reading emotions. It’s unlikely he wouldn’t be able to tell how you feel. Childe is the type to suppress his emotions in order to trick people or be successful on a mission. 

Childe will do anything to see you happy or less insecure whether it be gifts or comforting words. Childe is at work a lot but all the free time he gets is spent with you.

Dazai Osamu

Dazai can often come off as mature at first but anyone that actually gets to hang out with him for more than a few minutes knows how big of a prankster he is. Dazai is quite the mix of both irresponsible and responsible he’s most responsible when people are relying on him but when it’s only his task he is very irresponsible. When someone entertains Dazai he’s big into following them around.  Dazai  Will never admit his appreciation towards anyone close to him unless he’s in a dire situation but of course he shows it in other ways. 

Dazai adores helping people reach their goals. he’s really used to it at this point helping people out that struggle to reach goals. Dazai may be strangely smart but he still has to work hard to complete many of his plans. Self loathing is something Dazai is very familiar with of course. 

He understands why so many people around him tend to dislike themselves yet, he’s grown to comfort and encourage those important to him that struggle with this issue. Harsh is one thing Dazai is common with. Dazai is harsh on people to push them to the best they can be. Ur can go very bad at times but the small change it could work well entices him. I’m like 90% sure that half of the fandom has cancelled Dazai. 

Once you grow close to Dazai he would do anything to please you as long as it doesn’t hurt him. Dazai would skip work just to hangout with you more. 

[twdmusicboxmystery]

TWD 11x03: Hunted - Details

Okay, let's talk details. At the beginning, nearly everyone gets hurt and then gets separated.

 ***As always, spoilers abound below for episode 11x03: Hunted. Don’t read until you’ve watched!***

I noticed that in the opening credits, we now see the two rows of hanging bodies to represent the Reapers.

Maggie:

Elijah tries to help Maggie but is yanked backward and disappears. We don’t see him the rest of the episode. I really hope he’s okay. ☹

When Maggie is walking around alone, we see a car with an open door that's emphasized. It reminds me very much of this shot from 5x09.

@wdway​ also noticed some chevron symbols in the parking lot. (Chevron Theory)

She passes the dumpster before she actually gets into the mall building. That might be called back to Glenn. She also uses glass alcohol bottles as a warning system. I'm sure I don't have to explain the parallels there.

There's definitely a rat thing going on here, which is important because of 10x21, but I can tell you that we see (hear) it in episode 11x04 as well. I just noticed the subtitles tell us that there are rats squeaking quite a lot. After finding Negan and Alden, Negan pushes for Alden to be left behind. He doesn’t like being on the road. He says the plan is bad and unsafe.

Then they hear screaming and run toward Agatha. Duncan is hurt and clearly not going to make it. He says, "We were good. We were lucky." Both Beth lines. Maggie puts him down after promising to get Agatha home.

Now, that’s interesting to me. I said yesterday that we’re seeing a replay of Beth through many of these story lines, and I focused on Alden as a proxy. But I think Agatha is one, too. Just the fact that they talk about getting her “home,” makes her a proxy. Meanwhile, she doesn’t make it “home.” She’s bitten by a walker and left behind…in a mob of walkers. This is also where Negan drags Maggie away while she screams, “no!” Maybe indicative of her emotional response (not to mention her screaming in the parking lot of Grady) over losing Beth?

Jumping back a bit, before Agatha’s death, Maggie’s group travels through the woods. Negan and Maggie have an interesting exchange. Negan says of himself, "people change." Maggie says that no they don't.

So once again, it's called back to Beth dialogue, but Maggie is specifically harboring a belief that was the opposite of Beth's. That people don't and can't change. It's obvious that Maggie is on a very destructive path right now. She doesn’t really have faith in people, or faith that everything will work out okay. We can't be sure where this is going, but it's interesting. As I've said before, I'm sure this attitude of hers will probably end up causing drama down the road.

They happen upon a burnt walker that's tied to a tree with the sign that says Judas over his head. This super interesting. I know I have a lot of asks about this in my inbox. My first reaction is that we can tie it to the burnt walkers from 6x06, which was bursting with Beth symbolism. Since it’s obviously the CRM who was responsible for those burnt walkers, you have to wonder if there's a CRM tie here. 

We might also be able to tie this to the Governor’s episodes in 4a, where he found several decapitated corpses wearing military attire that also had signs near them like ‘murderer’ and ‘rapist.’ If nothing else, this shows that someone in the area is actually burning people for betrayal and labeling them as Judas. Doesn't exactly bode well for our group. But we don't know whether this was the Reapers or somebody else.

***Update: I wrote most of this post before seeing episode 11x04. I still think we can tie this burnt walker thematically to 6x06 and the CRM, but in terms of what is literally happening in this season, let’s just say this burnt walker will make a lot more sense after watching 11x04. I don’t want to give spoilers beyond that.***

Just before Maggie's group reaches the chapel they end up leaving Alden at, they pass green car. I don't think it's a Gremlin, like the one we saw in 7x05, but it's the same shade of green. 

And of course, we see the cross outside the church. Beth was wearing a cross bracelet in the hallway of Grady when she was shot. There are plenty of holes in the roof of the church (Hole in the Roof Theory.) At one point, Alden even says, "I'm dead weight." That was the name of 4x07, the Governor episode where they found the decapitated corpses.

At the chapel, we caught an interesting snippet of dialogue from Negan. He tells Maggie “the sun is going down” and that she’ll have to make a decision. We’ve always thought Beth would return with a dawn theme, which might mean literally that we’ll see her with a sunrise or something. So, it made me wonder if the “night” will be them fighting the conflict with the Reapers and then will return with the new “dawn.” Something like that. It might be literal or just thematic. We’ll just have to wait and see, though.

Maggie finally agrees to leave him behind, but she struggles with it mightily. They even have this really on the nose line where she says, "you better be here when I come back." And he answers, "you better come back." Think about how that would relate to Beth's arc.

Carol:

We see Carol and Kelly returning to Alexandria together. They have this whole thing where Magna thinks Carol is giving Kelly falls hope and wants her stop.

They also seem to be setting up something with Carol and Aaron. I'm not sure what it is. They're kind of at odds in this episode because he wants her to help with the walls and she wants to go track the horses. I thought it was interesting that Angela Kang, during the Inside Look bit, went out of her way to say that Carol and Aaron are not enemies. They're still good friends but they have different ideas about how to deal with the current crisis. I feel like they're setting up an arc with the two of them together.

When Carol was out looking for the horses, she finds Rosita. Rosita is scavenging MUSHROOMS. This part was super interesting because Carol tells her not to pick a certain type of mushroom unless she accidentally wants to make baby cocoa high for about a week. This is meant to be a joke, but it fits into the hallucination theory. I've noticed several mushroom mentions throughout the seasons. It’s an ongoing theme that I think ties into things not being as they seem, or a character to misunderstands or is deceived by something.

As I told my fellow theorists, I sat and thought about this for a minute. It's a little bit odd to me that they included Rosita’s response. When Carol says the mushrooms will make them high, Rosita answers, "yeah, but only for about a week, right?" It's meant to be a funny of course, and it is, but why put in a timeframe for the hallucination?

The only thing I can think of is that maybe it's a hint that the hallucinations or misconceptions people have been laboring under are about to fall away. That includes Daryl and Leah, but we can also extend it to Beth. If she lived, as we think she did, and TF think she died, then their belief in her death fits into the hallucination theory. Just thought that was interesting.

Rosita joins Carol in searching for the horses. At one point, she tells Carol about some dreams she's been having. (Kind of interesting to mention hallucinatory mushrooms and then talk about significant dreams, no?) Apparently, she's been dreaming about Abraham. She says he's trying to tell her something, something she supposed to do, something about Alexandria. But she can't actually hear what he's saying. (Hear no evil.) And just when she gets close enough to hear him in the dream, he gets shot in the head.

This is interesting on so many levels. First of all, dreams. We had the episode 6x12 of FTWD, titles, In Dreams. Abraham is a man Rosita once loved, and has lost. Most obviously, Abraham didn't die of a gunshot to the head. He died when Negan killed him. So, it feels like an excuse to mention someone being shot in the head. And of course Abraham was often a proxy to Beth. I’m definitely side eyeing this.

The other thing about this is that I've been noticing for a while that they have some big arc for Rosita coming up. They’ve done several sequences where she’s searching for weapons but is unable to find them for a time. She usually eventually finds them and uses them to somehow save the day or turn the tide of the conflict. 

We saw this in S7, and the weapon she found was Dwight, who defected and helped them win the war. We saw it during the warehouse sequence in S8 where she and Michonne were trying to stop the singing truck from going to the Sanctuary, and Rosita ended up with the rocket launcher. It’s a pattern that’s been happening for a while. I don't know how this dream of Abraham ties into that, but I’m wondering if this arc they’ve foreshadowed for several seasons is about to start playing out.

I don’t have a whole lot more to say about Carol tracking the horses, as I went over the most important stuff yesterday. I'm assuming that in this episode, that Kelly is equating the dead horses with Connie, and that's what upsets her so much.

After we see the horse run away from them, Kelly says, “fourth time’s the charm,” which means that was the third time they’d attempted it. (Rule of Threes).

When they get back to Alexandria, Carol cuts one of the horse’s throats to slaughter it for food. Aaron comes to help her, and he looks at her very compassionately.

This is also where we get the shot from inside the church with the broken window. We see Kelly come out and hug Magna, but then still go with Carol. Just really interesting symbolism there about her not giving up hope of finding her sister. I can't help but wonder if Kelly will go with Carol to look for Connie and end up finding Beth. That would be super interesting.

It also reminded me of something that happened during S9. There was an episode where Kelly got lost in the woods and Daryl and Connie went to find her. They had this really weird before-the-opening-credits sequence where we saw what was clearly a Whisperer, rather than a normal walker, coming up behind Kelly and reaching out for her, as though she was about to get kidnapped or taken prisoner. But that didn’t actually happen.

When Daryl and Connie find her, she's on her own in the woods and just dehydrated. There's definitely hallucination quality to that sequence, but I’ve always suspected it was a foreshadow of something in the future. Anyway, this is just conjecture and I'm just rambling, but these are some of the thoughts I had while watching the episode.

The kids:

There couple of charming scenes of all the kids playing together. We see them play a card game—Slap Jack, I think—at the kitchen table. Many people have noticed that this kitchen table looks a lot like the one in Alone that we saw in the funeral home. And no, it’s not the same. It doesn’t have a diamond on it, but the material and pattern look similar. Which is kind of interesting.

Actually, to me, the design looks a little reminiscent of the All-Seeing Eye, which is often seen on paper currency. So, it could be part of that theme.

Most of these are just cute scenes and Angela Kang says that part of the reason for them is that they wanted to have Judith and Herschel interact a little bit. People have also pointed out to me that when Herschel asks if any of them have ever been on the road like he was with Maggie, Judith says no, “Not like that.” Actually, she has been, but she was just too little to remember it. But this may have been a subtle reminder of 5x12.

Herschel is clearly worried about his mom and the adults who keep leaving. Judith does her best to console him. Not sure what to make of these conversations in terms of what they foreshadow. Maybe nothing. But I did enjoy watching the scenes.

Father Gabriel:

The man Gabriel kills is named Nichols. (Got that from the subtitles.) We hear him reciting the Lord's prayer as Gabe approaches. I also noticed that his shoes are not on. They are on the ground on the other side of the tree from where he’s sitting. Which might be part of the Lost Shoe/Foot symbolism.

He has an arrow in his stomach (it looks like Daryl’s) and he’s bleeding from the neck. The neck wounds are interesting because Father Gabriel got one too. It's almost as if these two mirror one another.

I mentioned this yesterday, but Gabriel says, "God is not here anymore." Just wanted to mention it again because it will be important to remember for next week when we get into 11x04.

Okay, I think that's all I have in terms of details. Anything I missed?

[bokunoheroanalysisforthefuture]

Merry Christmas! Clearly, the best way to celebrate is to finish up the reread for chapter 8, featuring our favorite gremlin being the gremlin he is. Oh, and I guess Deku is here too.

[No. 8 - Rage, You Damn Nerd!]

...you know, I just realized the nerd being referenced here is Katsuki. Because we all know he’s just as much of a nerd as Izuku (reference: he’s third in the class rankings behind the actual scholastic geniuses Momo and Tenya) and he seems to be the main one raging in this chapter and volume. 

Anyways, where we left off, it was just determined that Team Izuku Ochako (heroes) are facing off against Team Katsuki Tenya (villains). The villain team gets to go in first, and have five minutes before the hero team gets to go in. Everyone else is watching via live feed. All Might tells the two ‘villains’ to adopt a villain mindset, and to go out all, don’t hold back… and then says he’ll stop things if they go too far.

All Might,,, All Might, why did you tell the two most Extra™ kids in the class to go all out and to not hold back? Like, what the fuck did you expect here? Not to mention that means Katsuki was, technically speaking, sticking to the letter of the instructions, if not the spirit of things. 

But yeah, while Tenya is worrying about playing a villain role and the paper mache bomb they’re guarding, Katsuki is still caught up on Izuku actually having a quirk. Tenya’s confused and notes the monstrous strength he had, along with the risk it puts him at, and asks him not to charge right at Izuku. Katsuki’s response:

Gremlin mode activated. Or maybe the Cain Instinct, hard to say with them. At least they aren’t girls - according to discord, if they had both been girls, one or both would probably be dead at this point from trying to maul each other. 

Anyways, we transition outside, with Ochako and Izuku memorizing the blueprints. She mentions being relieved that there’s no punishment for failure, so she’s not worried, and also thinks All Might’s super nice. She also can tell Izuku’s worried, which isn’t hard with how he’s shaking. Izuku mentions that it’s because they’re up against Kacchan… and Tenya as well, and that they should be on guard. And- huh.

Ochako is already well aware of the relationship between the two. Not that Izuku was really trying to hide it, but like. A welcome reminder that she is very observant and good at deducing this kind of thing. She is just. Such a good bean. 

But yeah, we get a brief Izuku flashback to Katsuki’s boasting, and then Izuku mentions how Katsuki is a jerk, but he‘s also amazing, mentioning that his goals, confidence, strength, and his quirk all show how he’s stronger than Izuku at this point… but that that’s also why Izuku doesn’t want to lose to him now. 

So again, a friendly reminder that Izuku has no rose-tinted glasses when it comes to Katsuki, he knows how much of a jerk and a bully Katsuki is, but he still admires a lot of Katsuki’s qualities despite all that. 

But yeah, Ochako determines that he is / wants to be Katsuki’s fated rival; Izuku apologizes for boring her with it, but she says it’s not a bother at all, and that they’re a team. Izuku has a moment of wordless surprise at that, and then we get into the trial proper. 

In the viewing room, All Might tells the other students to watch closely and try to learn something. And we get a fantastically dramatic pose with him holding a pen and clipboard.

I can’t even with this man, what a ham. It’s good to know he’s going to avoid favoritism in grading for the classes, it does show that he’s trying to take this as seriously as he can. 

Back with the duo, they’ve just snuck in through a window, with Izuku noting the number of blind corners they’ll have to avoid. As they make their way into the building, Izuku thinks about how he can’t regulate One For All, thus he can’t use it directly against someone because it would kill them. So he notes that all he can rely on is his natural strength and Ochako’s quirk. 

So his notebooks aren’t just quirks, but all aspects (apparently) of hero fights. Which does make sense, but I think some parts of the fandom play it up a bit too much, either making it like breakdown personality analysis (which is not something we’ve seen as a strength of his) or, like, borderline stalkerish, which just has me roll my eyes every damn time I hear that word in relation to him. Like, get the fuck over yourselves, he’s allowed to have things he’s passionate about.

Anyways, we have one panel of calm before the storm comes blasting in.

...did he really make that leap around every corner just in case Izuku was there?? He’s so damned extra, I can’t even with this gremlin. Also, a nice dodge/save by Izuku, though the side of his face is smoking a bit. We see that the left side of his facemask has been blown away, as it deserves. Izuku checks if Ochako’s okay, and she says she is, and that Katsuki came out of nowhere. Katsuki mocks a bit about the nice dodge, and Izuku replies/tells Ochako that he expected Kacchan to come right at him.

In the viewing room, Kirishima calls out the sneak attack as unmanly; All Might corrects him, saying they’re a valid strategy and that this is practical experience. Ashido, meanwhile, is impressed with Izuku’s dodge. (Also, she calls him ‘Midori’, which validates my belief that she WOULD call him that in my fics, hoorah me!)

Anyways, Katsuki really making it clear how he like to push the limits of the rules:

And then Izuku just. Grabs his arm and fucking yeets him over his shoulder. Ochako calls it a pro move, while Katsuki is like ‘what the fuck, did he just read my moves?’ Honestly, that final slam into the ground is just so intense for a relatively ‘weak’ move in shounen terms. Fantastic, I love it. Katsuki has to take a moment to recover, while the class watches on and Izuku is In The Moment.

As Katsuki picks himself up, Izuku goes into how Katsuki always leads with a right hook, and that he’s seen it enough to know. Izuku mentions that he’s analyzed the heroes he thinks are awesome in his notebook - the one Katsuki blew up and chucked out a window. Katsuki is shown recalling the moment while Izuku continues on - he’s not gonna be a punching bag for Katsuki anymore, he’s gonna be the Deku who always does his best. 

(I love the subtle implications that Katsuki is one of the ‘heroes’ he’s analyzed! Which is one of those first nods to how Izuku views Katsuki as someone to emulate!)

Ochako has her own flashback to where she mentioned Deku just screams ‘do your best’ and how Izuku had been taken with that. Katsuki is even more pissed off that he still spouts that kind of thing while scared (which is true, we do see Izuku shaking while he’s making that declaration). And Tenya… is frustrated that Katsuki ran off on his own, and doesn’t know what his partner for the exercise is thinking.

And with that comes the end of the chapter! Damn, I am almost mad at myself for putting it off, but we got through it now, and we have more battle trials to go! Thanks for all the patience, and next time we’ll get to see how the fight between Izuku and Katsuki goes! :D

[emzymakesbelieve]

not to be fake deep but let's talk about all your old walt babies that you haven't mentioned (because i love the hainline's okay and you and all your kids and i miss you

Send me an old muse and I’ll gush about them.

oKAY SIT DOWN AND BUCKLE UP, KIDDOS.

(I love you, too, sweet pea.  *smooch*)

Frank Hainline

So Frank is a prick, to start off, but he’s my prick and you’re not allowed to trash talk him without my say so (which of course you have because he’s A PRICK).  He was the kind of kid who wore an anarchy symbol on his jacket but never actually did anything to represent or invoke anarchy.  He’s also a gigantic slut and can’t keep his pants zipped for longer than ten minutes.  Fidelity is not this man’s middle name (*CoUgH* illegitimate child he never knew about).  He definitely wasn’t ready to become a father when Victoria got pregnant (and more or less trapped him into marriage), but by the time baby Penelope came, he devoted every ounce of energy he could to making sure she had a good life, and the two of them actually grew very close.  He passed away from cancer when Penelope was about ten.

Norma Hainline

Penelope’s eldest.  The two most important things you need to know about Norma are that she’s a dancer and she’s gay as a maypole.  Her main focuses are tap and ballet.  She loves old Hollywood - she got her start watching Singin’ in the Rain and Fred & Ginger films - but definitely prefers to live in the here and now where she can express herself both as an artist and as a lesbian.  The dance world, much as she loves it, is a crusty old institution that needs to break some pointless rules and get over itself.  She is also Grade A Mom Friend Extraordinaire™.  Her love language is definitely acts of service, particularly making sure you’re eating and sleeping well and taking your medicine on time (though turns out she’s a terrible patient herself).  Much to her frustration, her two closet friends - Noah and Nick - are both more or less bent on self destruction and driving her completely bonkers, but she loves them just the same.

Francis Hainline

Francis, the third eldest, has no business being in this family with how shy he is, but nevertheless.  Definitely the black sheep of the family, but his siblings defend and support him with everything they have.  (Well, Kath usually does it with a lot of sarcasm, but you can tell she loves him.)  He’s a total hipster and has a special love for anything that was built before the year 2000.  His prize possession is an old camcorder that uses real VHS tapes, so naturally he becomes a film student.  I envision him growing up and working as a cinematographer and eventual director of poignant indie films and documentaries - stuff with lots of lingering, fly-on-the-wall shots.  Also, special shoutout to Seraphina, the love of his got dang life.  Those two gave me so many freaking cavities with their cuteness.

Kathleen Hainline

So Kath is a mess, but that’s just par for the course in this family, I suppose.  She’s the baby of the family and has always felt like she’s living in her sister Norma’s shadow.  She’s a bit of a wild child, but certainly not to the extent Victoria was.  It’s all just a cry for attention, trust me.  She wants to feel needed, she wants to feel wanted, she wants to feel special.  And anything that takes the attention of the people she loves off of her needs to die, plain and simple.  She’s best friends with Daisy and is technically endgame with Jonas (though we really didn’t get to write them that far), so here goes a prayer candle for my lovely Becca.

Dory Novak

As you can probably guess by the name, Dory is based on that delightful blue tang we know and love.  In the Walt universe, she developed her short term memory loss after an accident that killed her parents, and was adopted by Marlin.  She loves swimming and her family and especially anything combining the two.  She’s a freaking sweetheart who is actually pretty hard on herself, and it was so heartbreaking to play her in any kind of stressful situation because five minutes later she would still be freaked out by have no idea as to why (looking at you, Scream event).  Also, Scooby liked her a lot and I felt so freaking blessed???  She ends up becoming a social worker and helping kids in the foster system like her.

Charlie Harper & Jenny Harper née Parkington

I never got to properly play Dory’s parents, but here’s the fast and skinny on them.  Jenny was a shy bookworm who never thought boys would be interested in her and (for the most part) had made peace with that theory.  Charlie was a jock who was head over heels for Jenny but never knew how to communicate it without being a sleaze.  Eventually, he manages to ask her out, she says yes, and they pretty much become attached at the hip.  She comes to his basketball games and swim meets decked out in the school colors and cheering like a maniac.  My guess is Dory came a little earlier than they were expecting, but not so early that it would be considered scandalous - probably when they were almost finished with college or something.  Dory became their world and they spoiled that little girl beyond belief.  Unfortunately, both of them were killed in a car wreck when Dory was very little.

Marlene Novak

Dory’s first kid, adopted.  To sum it up nicely, Marlene’s a hot mess because she was never able to come to terms with the fact that her birth mother didn’t want her.  I tried to start this whole plot where she ran into her birth mother just out in the wild and that made her get even messier, but I think I was just throwing crap on the fire to see what blew up at that point.  She also has a…flirtatious arrangement, shall we say, with her friend Viv.

Lyle Novak

Dory’s second kid, also adopted.  *sigh*  Lyle, Lyle, Lyle…  He’s a cutie, don’t get me wrong, but I feel like I didn’t give his character enough punch?  He just seems kind of blah now that I look back at him.  I have a history of being super self conscious about my male characters if they don’t have like a Super Archetype personality for some freaking reason, and Lyle is definitely an example of that.  He’s a little shy, but not so shy that it’s endearing, and he’s also a little courageous, but not so courageous that he actually gets crap done.  He’s a little complacent, looking back on him, which is kind of the opposite of how I wanted to play him...?  I dunno.  Maybe I’m being too harsh on myself.  HE’S CUTE.  LIFE GOES ON.

Cinderella Tremaine

To the surprise of absolutely no one, I’ve actually played a Cinderella counterpart in a few different groups, but let’s just talk about how I portrayed her at Walt.  French transfer student in America (I changed her to straight up American after a point) who loves animals arguably more than life itself and tries her best not to cry over things she can’t control.  She’s also daydreamy as FRICK.  Loves to get lost in her own imagination.  If she’s not engaged in conversation or work of some kind, I can guarantee you her conscience isn’t even on this plane.  Also, can I just shriek about the superhero AU version of her where she was a counterpart to Zatanna and literally became her own fairy godmother?  Because I think about that far more than is probably healthy.

Emmett Tremaine & Johanna Tremaine née Cartier

Same thing as Dory’s parents, just gonna give you a quick lowdown.  Johanna came from a fairly well off family in France (distantly related to those guys, but far enough away that it doesn’t really count), but her parents thought she was an absolute embarrassment.  She was never afraid to speak her mind when it came to things like etiquette and politics, and she had a fabulously wild imagination.  She never stopped believing in fairies, ghosts, gremlins, things like that.  Emmett was that quiet nerd dreamer type, very much obsessed with travel and history.  And like I need to spell it out for you, but they were LUDICROUSLY in love with each other.  Like, nauseatingly so.

Robby Tremaine

Robby is Cindy’s son I whipped up real quick one next gen when I was going crazy and wanted to snatch Nick Robinson’s beautiful face.  He’s a hardcore farm boy who doesn’t mind a little mud behind his ears and super environmentally conscious.  Not just recycling and veganism and all that, but he will go off on you about sustainable farming and animal raising, and how the hydrogen fuel cell is the way of the future.

Taige Bailey

Based on Terk from Tarzan, Taige is a super jock, total butch lesbian, and altogether DUMBNUT.  Like, GOD she’s so stupid sometimes because she just barrels into crap with reckless abandon and doesn’t think things through.  Dear God, she will PUNCH you if you so much as look at her funny, just ‘cause she feels bored.  And she walks around like she’s God’s gift to creation, but she’s just a little twerp.  But she’s my twerp.  (Huh.  I’m just now realizing how similar Taige and Pen are.  In a weird way, Taige is like the tomboy version of Pen.)  Here, you can imagine me lighting a prayer candle because I never got to play her against her two best friends and I’m SAD.  Y’ALL NEVER GOT TO EXPERIENCE THE TOUR DE FORCE THAT IS T CUBED.  Also *cough* she and Vitani may have had a *coUGH* flirtationship.

I would also put Taige’s parents on this list, but they’re so hardly even developed that it’s not really worth mentioning them.  I only know their names: Lamarr and April.

Jared Bailey

Taige’s only child, Jared’s still trying to figure out what masculinity means to him, what with being raised by two women and all.  He can get a little “dudebro alpha male” sometimes, but he’s also that kid you definitely want to have your back when things get rough.  He’ll help you with your homework, teach you how to shoot a three-pointer, and walk you home when it’s dark like the gentleman he is.

[smallgcds-blog]

GOOD MORNING  !  unless ur in a diff time zone, but time is a conception of human perception, so u know......  i’m cora, i'm passable at best at intros, and the haunting of hill house just got done giving me a fear of mirrors  !  which doesn’t make any sense hnstly... there was like one ( 1 ) intimidating mirror on that show so idk why .  a n y w a y  ,  these are my muses ( so far )   jane,  jack,  and  ray   –

*  BELLA HEATHCOTE  &  CISFEMALE  / /  here we’ve got JANE FORSTER,  the  HUNDRED AND TEN  year old GHOST  -  luckily, she  actually looks about TWENTY - EIGHT years old.  with a reputation for being  POLITE, CREATIVE,  SULLEN, and  STUBBORN, it’s surprising we haven’t heard more about them. JANE  has been around faulk hollow for NINETY - ONE YEARS, but they ain’t leaving anytime soon. you hear PENNIES FROM HEAVEN by BING CROSBY? that means you’ll see ‘em soon.

i accidentally named her after bella’s character in pride & prejudice & zombies because my subconscious is a SABOTEUR

jane died in a car accident in 1936, which her husband survived. this is something she’s still a bit angry at him for, though she didn’t actually wish death on him – she was just jealous (but not as jealous as she was when he remarried)

not because she ever wanted him to be unhappy, but it was sort of annoying being dead and not having any say in the matter

she never showed herself to anyone she knew, except accidentally at night from time to time, because she’d died in her own bed and her husband hadn’t the sense to move, but jane sightings were generally over quickly and could be dismissed as the mind playing tricks

she’s very bitter, especially when reminded that there are some immortals who can go wherever they like and not end up back in the same house every fucking night

she’s a really good listener, but tries not to eavesdrop (she’s of the belief that human rules apply to ghosts as well)

NOT trying to be obnoxious with her haunting or get revenge or anything. just sort of the equivalent of a domovoi (tho if someone left her food she’d be insulted)

speaking of russian cryptids, she has quite a few days where she feels like a gremlin and avoids everyone (not that she’s russian??? she isn’t russian)

after her husband died, she helped, as subtly as possible, to raise his daughter, but she and his widow moved away, leaving the house empty for a while

modern music is SO irritating to her unless it’s hozier or noname or anything vaguely calming at which point she is at peace with it

she’s definitely one of those people who never make it obvious when they hate someone

some basic wanted connections i have for jane are...

a distant relative (or maybe they’re not related at all) who does a bit of detective work and is like ‘newsflash, asshole, jane’s been dead the entire goddamn time’

GHOST FRIENDS

someone living in her house who’s technically her roommate but totally doesn’t know it (she’s alright for a deceased roommate but she won’t do the dishes because she doesn’t want to ruin her nails)

something romantic, some more friendships, an enemy or two

i’d say drinking buddies but can ghosts drink? i don’t know how that would work

*  OSCAR ISAAC  &  CISMALE / /  here we’ve got RAY CALDERA,  the  SIXTY  year old WITCH -  luckily, he actually looks about THIRTY - SEVEN years old.  with a reputation for being  LEVEL - HEADED,  EMPATHETIC,  SECRETIVE, and  SANGUINE, it’s surprising we haven’t heard more about them.  RAY has been around faulk hollow for FOUR YEARS, but they ain’t leaving anytime soon. you hear OHIO by CROSBY STILLS AND NASH? that means you’ll see ‘em soon.

dealer in enchanted items, potions, etcetera

absolutely the person to go to if ur ever in trouble; always down to help hide a body

has a law degree, and moved to town to continue practicing (he tends to change his name around so he can continue working despite being a sixty year old who looks a little more than half that age)

used to be VERY involved in activism but now he tends to be more involved in witchcraft (he’s carrying on a tradition)

he’s very much a problem solver for fellow supernaturals, as well as the odd human

his apartment is the sparsest of places  -  rust cohle true detective mood

he REALLY doesn’t get out much

he only listens to music dating from like 1960-1979

originally from yellow springs, ohio

hates stephen king novels with a passion

some wanted connections for ray are...

drinking buddies (because witches, unlike ghosts, CAN drink)

i love a good ex (or maybe their relationship status is just ‘complicated’)

someone he owes a favour

& maybe someone who owes him a favour

coworkers

a mentor (i know he’s like sixty but that’s young for a witch !!!)

*  RICKY WHITTLE  &  CISMALE / /  here we’ve got JACK MOREAU,  the  ONE HUNDRED AND FIVE  year old VAMPIRE -  luckily, he actually looks about THIRTY - FOUR years old.  with a reputation for being  STOIC,  VIGILANT,  AVOIDANT, and  RECALCITRANT, it’s surprising we haven’t heard more about them.  JACK has been around faulk hollow for ONE MONTH, but they ain’t leaving anytime soon. you hear GOD’S GONNA CUT YOU DOWN by ODETTA? that means you’ll see ‘em soon.

he’s originally from nyc, but moves cities every few years to keep up the illusion of mortality

the family he left behind, upon becoming immortal, consisted of his younger sister and wife  -  jack’s parents died when he was sixteen, at which point he began supporting the family. his brother was killed two years later in an accident at the factory where they both worked, which led to jack and his sister growing closer; she’s died now, but jack made a point of visiting her every once in a while. he still has a sneaking suspicion that his sister and his widow got together after he “died” which is really fine by him  -  his fault for going all vampiric

he’s not clueless when it comes to technology but he spends more time reading books than anything else  -  his phone is one of those unbreakable nokias that time forgot, especially because technology makes him nervous for every immortal out there

because he wants to live a quiet life, he’s gotten good at avoiding other supernatural beings (though there are several exceptions to this, probably, because i want plots)

he’s considering settling down in faulk hollow  -  he’s used to very big cities, though, and is a believer in locations that are easy to blend into, so he’s not sure

he’s conscious of the fact that he comes across as a bit standoffish but also like... doesn’t care? he’s really rather not get to know too many people

he’s just gonna drift thru immortal life and not get involved

a firm believer in fate

jack doesn’t tend to trust anyone in power  -  he’s of the belief that absolute power corrupts absolutely

some wanted connections for jack are.......

someone he turned

supernatural friends, acquaintances, enemies

an on again/off again relationship which is maybe complicated by immortality or lack thereof ? i love those

someone he’s staying with while in town

someone he knew a long time ago in the bronx (who he wasn’t expecting to meet again because he assumed they’d be dead by now)

someone trying to get him involved w some drama

like this if u want to plot / are willing to talk to me about the haunting of hill house & i’ll im u !

[travisatria]

Notes from the Daytona 500

I leave my house in Gainesville, Florida, at six a.m. with a pot cookie and a bar of Klonopin and drive toward the coast to cover the Daytona 500 for a trashy celebrity rag. Since the magazine doesn’t care about the actual race as much as what kind of jeans the celebrities in attendance are wearing, I must arrive early before the action starts. After two hours, I hit Richard Petty Road, which leads me to the race grounds and the press parking lot. I meet a man there who will show me around for the rest of the day. He is very nice and very helpful. I have already eaten the cookie.

The nice and helpful man whisks me to a special tent that I’m not technically allowed inside, but he drops the name of my magazine to the doorwoman, and they have a whispered conversation where I hear the name Juan Pablo repeated several times, and they let me in. I surreptitiously Google Juan Pablo and learn that he is the current star of The Bachelor, a television show where a hunk of meat is paraded before a group of women and told to fall in love. As we enter, the nice and helpful man tells me that the tent is reserved for celebrities like Juan Pablo, and also for a buzzing crowd of Fortune 500 CEOs. What he doesn’t say, but what becomes obvious in a little while, is that corporate money drives NASCAR. And these corporate bigwigs really seem to care about the race, since they get to advertise directly on the car and the driver. In return, the Daytona 500 offers them this tent with fake grass on the floor, and white picnic tables, and immaculately clad servers walking around with trays of single waffle sticks resting in cups of maple syrup. A sound system pumps Cee-Lo’s “Fuck You,” and a dance remix of “Call Me Maybe,” and “Girl” by Beck. The whole thing seems so not NASCAR. It’s just a bunch of rich, old white men milling around with gorgeous young paramours who flash hard eyes, and it’s clear that these people belong to an elite echelon, and they know it, and they are not interested in anyone who is not in that echelon. Judging by how they look at me, they can instantly smell one of their own--and more to the point, they can sniff out someone who doesn’t belong.

The very nice and helpful man steers me across the floor to Juan Pablo’s handler, who asks if I’d like to meet him. I tell her a lie and sit across from him with my pen and pad ready. In the nicest possible way, he refuses to talk to me. He produces a cell phone from his pocket and shows me a picture of a celebrity rag, my celebrity rag, with a headline that says, “The Bachelor’s Ex Tells All,” and then he shows me another picture of him sitting next to his ex, who is holding the same headline, both of them looking disgusted. “Do you see?” he asks, and I do see. Juan Pablo apologizes, and he is very nice, and he is very polite, and I don’t know how to explain that I also think it’s terrible the way they treat him, and that I would love to talk to him about what it’s like being a normal guy suddenly thrust into this vicious scene, and about why he’d agree to appear on a show like The Bachelor in the first place, but as far as treating him like an actual star whose opinions are newsworthy, well, I would need stronger drugs.

A similar thing happens with Nina Dobrev. Her handler tells me she isn’t entertaining the press today. I have no problem with that. I’ve struck out twice, but at least I got close enough to both of them to see their outfits, and that’s all I really need to satisfy the celebrity rag. The very nice and helpful man tells me I’ll have other opportunities--50 Cent will show up later, for example--and he begins introducing me around very politely to people he recognizes, corporate types mostly. These people are all very nice and charming in a disarming and genuine way, since they’re all here to get something out of this event. They all say the same thing: “I love your magazine! I read it all the time!” and though I know they’re all working an angle, I truly believe in their sincerity. It’s nice of them to say, honestly, so I don’t tell them that I just freelance for the magazine because it pays pretty well in an industry where good paychecks are like dinosaurs after the meteor. Instead, I watch these expert hucksters work the room, and I begin to understand the power of schmoozing. I also realize that when the schmoozers ask where you’re from, don’t say Gainesville, Florida, because their faces will drop, their eyes will cloud over, and they will check out of the conversation. You aren’t anywhere important. You can’t help them. Or maybe that’s just what I think is happening. I start to tell them that I spend part of the year in New York, which is a lie, but I will be moving there next year, so it’s kind of true. But, the thing is, these people remain very nice even after I think they’ve checked out of the conversation, and I don’t know why I am lying to them, and it makes me feel worse that some innate insecurity makes me need to lie so I can seem important to people who have only been nice to me, and who I need no favors from anyway. I am very confused morally, and the weed is taking hold.

After the introductions, I settle into a  plush leather chair, gobble the Klonopin, and survey the room. The CEOs seem normal, and because no one recognizes them by face, they can hang out unmolested. The celebrities, on the other hand, exist inside bubbles and seem like caged animals. These bubbles are made of handlers, and bodyguards, and hangers on, and I get the sense that they are mirrored on the inside so the celebrities can remain devoted to their brands, their careers, themselves, without having to truly come to terms with how ultimately insignificant human life is. And in their defense, the bubbles offer them protection, which they need, because the press room, where I go next, swarms with a horde of leeches watching their every move, desperate to turn the slightest nothing into a story. And that horde never stops clawing for the latest scoop that will sell magazines. How could you not hide in a bubble? I’d make the same choice. You would too.

After a few minutes on the leather chair, the very nice and helpful man steers me to a press conference, where Chris Evans, Aloe Blacc, Luke Bryan, and Gary Sinise come into the room one by one. They each take a turn sitting alone on a stage facing a crowd of flabby beta males who shout pointless questions at them, and maybe these reporters, these flabby betas, are just normal people trying to pay mortgages and support families, but the way they fawn and grovel like deformed gremlins kneeling before a mighty conquistador is upsetting. And I grovel too, but I think it’s for different reasons. Mostly, I am too polite to say what I really think, so I pretend to grovel, and that might make me more of an asshole, as I gag while participating in the lobbing of mindless questions like so many slow-pitch softballs. Once the questions are over, photographers gather like lampreys to a shark, their shapeless bodies jostling for position while their snapping lenses search for a piece of flesh to capture. It is a gruesome scene, and you can’t help but feel that if the Earth opened and swallowed us all right there, no one’s life would be much worse for it.

Despite the inanity and triviality of it all, however, the celebrity rag wields enormous power. Even though the magazine I’m working for has never provided a single piece of information that anyone needed, I’ve never been treated so well as a reporter. That could be because NASCAR is about as cool as the Republican Party, and it is desperate for Hollywood endorsement in the hopes that some cool might rub off. (That’s a shame, too, because it really is an incredible sport once you get down there near the track and watch the cars scream by like a fleet of bloodthirsty Tyrannosaurs.) But it might also be because the sport still stinks of the Confederacy in a nation that is increasingly non-white. Whatever the reason, I am treated like a king here. As a reporter, I”m used to situations where I have to bother someone until I get what I want. I’m used to people trying to keep me out of important places, while I try to find a way in. I am not used to the way the very nice and helpful man walks me right up to the celebrities, pushes me to the front of every line, and lets me stand on chairs to get a better view. 

And to be honest, there is a sort of twisted thrill that comes from having the power of the celebrity rag behind me. I have a lanyard that lets me walk straight past the fenced-in commoners waiting like cattle, red-faced and sweating in the oppressive Florida heat. I waltz right by the Port-O-Let, where a mob of smelly people waits to defecate into a plastic pit that festers in the sun, and by the terrible food tents where an interminable line waits for Bojangles chicken. With the very nice and helpful man at my side and the lanyard around my neck, I go to the VIP tent, piss in a bathroom that is nicer than my house, and eat slow-cooked beef ribs glazed twice with a cherry-habanera barbecue sauce, and Mexican street corn--grilled, then brushed with a mixture of mayonnaise, yogurt, and lime juice, and rolled in cotija cheese, cumin, and other spices. Then I go to a bar and select from half a dozen flavors of fancy fruit juices served in tiny plastic cups, and I take whatever I want without paying a cent. If this were actual journalism, every bit of it would be unethical. But the celebrity press plays by different rules. All I have to do here is provide a report on what the rich and famous do, say, and wear. Swag from NASCAR cannot possibly sway my work.

There’s a thrill that comes with the swag too, and maybe this thrill is what wealth and celebrity are all about. It is a sense of importance, a belief that because you are given these things, you deserve them. And how could the celebrities and CEOs not feel that way? We treat them like demigods. We give them presents they don’t need--Gary Sinise got a red electric guitar--and ask them leading question about how great they are. And why do we do this? Because they’re good at singing? Because they were okay in a few movies? Because they’re on a TV show that will be forgotten by the end of this sentence? It must do something unhealthy to them, and to us as well, but I can’t help feeling that there’s no reason to blame them. They’re just people who worked hard and got lucky; we are the ones treating them like Augustus Caesar.

The race begins as an afterthought, and a Florida thunderstorm comes immediately. The whole thing gets delayed for six hours, and I leave because I have what I need for my story, even though none of it is worth a damn. I am exhausted, and I can’t shake the feeling while driving home through the storm that we are sick, all of us. The way we treat the rich and famous must come from a deep well of mental illness, lousy priorities, and lizard-brain, god-worshipping instincts, and I have helped this hideous machine churn on. When I get home and begin to write my piece, my limbic system reels, not because I think I’m some great writer and this is below me, but because I know that it profoundly does not matter. It does not matter which celebrity arrived when, and whom they were with, and what they wore, and how close they stood to who, and how many selfies they took. No one needs this information. Ever.

And what’s truly sad is that the Daytona 500 is a freakout beyond belief--imagine the Super Bowl, and a country jamboree, and Woodstock put together. You don’t realize on TV how loud those cars are, how fast they go, how massive the track is. You don’t realize that the turns are pitched at such an angle that you can barely walk up them, and if you’re wearing flat-soled shoes, you will slip and the very nice and helpful man will have to hold onto your elbow like you’re a little old lady crossing the street. You don’t realize that they let the fans walk around the track before the race--thousands of them sitting on the infield, signing their names on the starting line, taking pictures of the cars parked in pit road--and that while the fans walk around, so do the world-famous drivers, just like that, elbowing their way past fat guys with cameras and pasty women with sunburns. What other sport allows that kind of access? Television also omits the carnival-like pageantry--the concerts on little stages dotting the outskirts of the track, the food tents billowing aromatic, oily smoke, the rows of RVs and buses with campers grilling in groups and getting drunk in the sun. There is a truly great story at this race. Hell, there are hundreds of them. And the celebrity press will miss them all.

I later learn that Dale Earnhardt Jr. won the race on the same track where thirteen years ago his father died in a grisly car wreck. Not only that, he did it on the night when another driver handled the legendary #3 car for the first time in competition since Earnhardt’s death. I know that my celebrity rag won’t publish that even if I write it. A man vanquishing the race that killed his father, next to the ghost of his father’s car? That isn’t a story to them.

But maybe, just maybe, Juan Pablo will find true love.

[m0th-punk]

This is something that's been on my mind for a long time. Long ramble under the cut

TL;DR: Grazer-razor has some of the worst black and white mentality I've ever seen and I can tell he has never critically examined his biases a day in his life.

Because I'm a terrible little gremlin who can't leave well enough alone, I've been reading these posts

Ignoring the absolute stupidity of these statements (I'm pretty sure the lack of rainbow logos is because in many middle eastern countries, homosexuality is a crime and these companies just want to make money. But I'mnot going into the nuances and implications of rainbow capitalism today.), something stood out to me.

Does Grazer... genuinely think nobody has ever criticized the Muslim faith? That we all ignore the homophobia present within the religion just because they're a minority? Correct me if I'm wrong, but I've seen even some of the most staunch leftists criticize things like their horrible treatment of homosexuality or the rampant sexism often sanctioned by radicals. Even other Muslims, especially women and lgbt+ Muslims, have been critical of these things.

It wouldn't shock me if Grazer believedthat anyone who supports Muslims believes they can do no wrong. After all, he thinks any criticism of Christianity is hatred, and dismisses any harmful things Christians do as not being "real" Christianity in a classic case of the "No True Scotsman" fallacy.

Note how he didn't even respond to the first asks comments, just accused them of being me (because obviously any time someone sees his blog it's all my fault /s)

So it seems like in Grazer's mind, there are only two options when it comes to religion: Uncritically praise and defend everything a religion does no matter how heinous it is and justify it because it's done in a God's name, or condemn anyone who practices it as hateful terrorists. Because he doesn't see people doing the former for Christians, he automatically assumes that they're doing the latter, and vice versa for Muslims.

Also note how he gets mad when muslim faith is "respected" (again, homosexuality is criminalized in many of these areas) but then demands a secular children's show cater to his religion for the sake of his precious childhood.

(Also, can we just talk about the absolute fucking cruelty in this answer? There are people out there that had their childhoods ruined by abuse, illness, losing loved ones, homelessness, poverty, bullying, near-death experiences, having their countries torn apart by war, a shitty foster care system, teen pregnancies, and so many other things that can absolutely destroy a life.  Grazer's was ruined by…  *checks notes* a cartoon character supporting gay rights and a drag queen singing a cutesy children's song.  So yeah, if that's the worst part of his childhood he's pretty damn lucky, and the fact that he has the gall to still complain absolutely makes him selfish and ignorant. It's disrespectful, plain and simple, and if he were truly a good Christian he'd have some compassion.)

Okay, so Grazer has some weird "rules for me but not for thee" shit when it comes to religion. This isn't news. Where am I going with this?

Well, turns out he has this opinion about more than just religion. Know how I know this? His response to ESRB ratings and trigger warnings.

So it seems like Grazer sees the ESRB as some sort of moral compass, in a way. Something being rated E or E10 means it's pure and good and wholly unproblematic, while anything higher means it's evil and disgusting and he can't even look at it.

This is further confirmed by this post, where he flat-out states he sees the ESRB as deeming what things are and are not morally acceptable.

Now Grazer, I'm gonna explain this as best as I can, because it seems like you don't quite understand this. Read very carefully.

This is not the purpose of the ESRB rating system.

I repeat, this is NOT the purpose of the ESRB rating system.

The ESRB does not decide on what is and is not morally correct. It simply says "This game contains these topics, and as such is most suitable for people in this age group.". That's it. It's a guideline, not a rule.

Let's take cartoon violence, for instance. It's a very common warning the ESRB puts on games. Almost every game from Mario to Sonic to Crash Bandicoot and even Monster Tale has this warning. These games are all rated E for everyone. Does this mean those games are promoting violence to children, or claiming things like Bowser kidnapping Peach or Pinstripe trying to gun down Crash are perfectly okay and morally correct? Of course not. It's simply saying that these games contain mild, non-graphic violence, but most children should be able to handle seeing it.

On the other side of the coin, let's take a look at the warnings for nudity and sexual themes. Most games that contain these topics are rated T at the lowest and AO at the highest. This obviously isn't saying that nudity and sex are inherently bad or evil. All it's saying is that these topics are best handled by adults (And, regardless of morality, it is illegal to distribute sexual content to minors unless it's meant to be educational, like a health class textbook).

A few extra points:

. Games can be rated different things in different countries. Different countries have different regulations. Do you know why the blood in Danganronpa is pink? It's because in Japan, games with excessive amounts of blood and gore are given a Z rating (Japan's equivalent to an AO rating). They got around this by making the blood pink, securing the game its desired M rating. Meanwhile here in America, Mortal Kombat is allowed to show as many graphic, brutal deaths as it wants and still receive an M rating.

. ESRB ratings are not legally enforceable. I was so convinced as a 16 year old that the employees at gamestop would try to card me or something when I was picking up a copy of Bayonetta, and I was surprised when they simply rang me up in two seconds, no questions asked. It doesn't happen. For fuck's sake, one of the first games I ever played, at the tender age of four, was Soul Edge. A T rated game. The only instance ESRB ratings are legally enforced is in the case of AO ratings, as these games often contain incredibly graphic violenceor sexual content. If this outrage is coming from the idea that certain ratings will keep younger people from playing these games from a legal standpoint, don't worry. A nine year old is not gonna get arrested for playing Among Us. Just don't buy them GTA San Andreas or Leisure Suit Larry and everything will be fine.

. No two consumers are exactly alike. While one 13 year old may be perfectly fine with the jumpscares in Amnesia, another may be too scared to even go near the piano in Super Mario 64. That doesn't mean either of these games is rated incorrectly. The ESRB is there, once again, as a recommendation for the average consumer, and doesn't take individual experience into account. An individual experience is not their responsibility. It's also on parents (or you yourself!) To decide what the consumer can or can't handle.

"But Haley," I hear you say, "What if this piece of media DOES contain something morally bad?"

Well it's simple. You are allowed to like things AND still criticize the bad parts of it.

Hold on now, I'm not telling you that it's perfectly alright to enjoy things like Birth of a Nation or anything like that! Contrary to popular belief, there are some pieces of media that are truly too steeped in hatred and morally reprehensible things to be supported, even through a critical lense. The only merit things like that have is to serve as a warning: This is a terrible thing made for terrible reasons, and we should not allow it to happen again.

But outside of those rare circumstances, it's not so cut and dry.

Let's take a piece of media i actually enjoy, for instance, so you know I'm not a hypocrite: Persona 5.

Persona 5 is easily one of my favorite games in the Persona series. It does a lot of interesting stuff, the artstyle and soundtrack are (in my opinion) the best in the series, and overall it's very enjoyable for me.

But, like anything, it's not perfect. I'm incredibly uncomfortable with the hypocrisy the game has in regards to the sexualization of teenagers. While Kamoshida is rightfully condemned for his sexualization of teenage girls and Ann's persona awakening comes from rejecting this objectification, the game and story undermine it by not only putting Ann in a sexually revealing outfit, but also making light of Ryuji's sexual harassment by adult men (Allegedly Persona 5 Royal tries to fix this by making the men drag enthusiasts who think Ryuji would look good in drag and giving them more sympathetic personalities, but it's still really weird and hypocritical of the game to do this.). The teenage protagonist is also allowed the option to date adult women, including his teacher, and the game rarely if ever touches on the problems with this.

The game's homophobia also left a bad taste in my mouth. Aside from the aforementioned men who sexually harass Ryuji, the only other canon LGBT+ character is a bar owner who is either a drag queen or a trans woman (or both?). Sure, she's portrayed as being kind and protective of the protagonist, but there isn't much room to interact with her or learn more about her. On top of that, not only can the protagonist not romantically pursue his male friends (A feature that even the SECOND persona game had), he's not even allowed to give them gifts or platonically show affection towards them without the dialogue mocking him. The game that allows a teenage boy to date his teacher won't allow him to simply give his male friends a present.

And yet, despite those criticisms, I do still enjoy the game. I don't consider the game irredeemable garbage based on those poorly handled topics alone. And I also understand that for some people, those topics make them so uncomfortable that they don't want to play the game at all, and I completely respect that.

Criticizing the things you enjoy is not only normal, it's oftentimes healthy. Being able to step back and say "I like this thing, but I don't like the bad things it's done. This thing would be better if these issues were fixed." Sure, sometimes some people tend to complain a bit too much about the media they supposedly enjoy, but for the most part being able to acknowledge the bad with the good is a good skill to have.

Oh, wait, all of this means nothing because Grazer thinks that critically enjoying things is nothing more than an excuse to consume media he doesn't personally agree with. Okay then.

So if he can't even realize something as simple as "it's okay to criticize some parts of media that you otherwise enjoy", how can he be expected to look critically at a religion that he's been raised in and around all his life?

Soooo yeah, Grazer has some serious problems with black and white thinking that he refuses to acknowledge, further worsened by the fact that he's practically been brainwashed into believing that Christianity is the ultimate moral compass that everyone should follow. I understand that this tends to be an issue for neurodivergent people, but it's not an excuse for the actions he does that are related to these things (sending death threats to the ESRB, antagonizing others, etc.