#And to be clear. I also have gripes with people who go out of their way to push interactions around eggs. Streamers are allowed to not

[woso-dreamzzz]

Carnival II

Mary Earps x Child!Reader

Summary: You're homesick

You take to Paris much better than Mary does.

She isn't quite sure whether it's how smart you are or if all kids take to learning a new language so well.

Immersion is the best choice of action of course and you pick up your French surprisingly quickly, leaps and bounds ahead of her in every way possible.

But it's clear you're suffering with homesickness.

Mary's done this kind of thing before, moving abroad but you've never been away from England this long before. It's clear that you yearn to go back a bit, even if you put on a brave face about it.

You try to show how happy you are to be in Paris but Mary has been your mother for long enough now to know when you're faking it.

You mask well (though even that makes a stab of guilt go through Mary's chest) but not well enough to convince her.

"She could just need a companion," Is what Beth says the first camp since Mary's move to PSG," Something to be around that isn't you. Maybe a dog?"

"She has the horses," Mary says though the excuse sounds weak in her own ears.

"Yeah," Beth scoffs," That she has to have you drive her to and have people available for her lessons. It's not the same."

"I know," Mary huffs," But I don't know how to help. She's had a few outbursts at home and a few meltdowns at training. I got a call from the school about her getting herself so worked up she was sick. She tries so hard but..."

"A dog could help."

"Beth-"

"No, hear me out! Viv was suffering pretty hard with her ACL, we both were but having Myle was great. It got us out of our heads and-"

"I don't know if it'd help having a puppy in the house with Birdie. I mean, they're kind of hyper, right?"

"Not all of them. I mean some are specifically bred to be service dogs."

"Whatever. I'll think of something."

But the thought of getting you a puppy, one that can be trained to suit your needs and support you is almost too tempting to pass up.

Tempting enough that Mary finds herself looking at dog breeders in France. She swears it's just simple curiosity but then Beth is giving her the number for Myle's breeder, who gives her the number of the woman that owns Myle's auntie and just so happens to leave in France. She was only going to be curious. Curious enough to look and only look but Lieke catching her looking at lunch is what spurs the decision onwards.

"Puppies are good for children," She says and Mary rolls her eyes.

"You've not even had your baby yet," She gripes good naturedly.

"But I have a lot of experience with kids," Lieke points out," Are you looking to get one for y/n?"

Mary scratches at the back of her neck, still browsing through the ads on the internet. "Maybe. I'm thinking of getting her a service dog. To help with all her needs. But all the breeds that come up are big ones and it won't fit into our apartment."

"I mean, you could get a spaniel," Lieke says, digging into her meal," They're happy enough dogs. Easy to train. Smart. It could sleep in her bed."

Mary wrinkles her nose up at that but at least it wouldn't be some big beast of a dog that might accidently smother you in your sleep.

"I don't want a Myle in the house."

(It's a lie).

It was meant to be just simple curiosity, just something to waste Mary's time for a bit until training restarts again.

"You know you do."

Mary's been a bit secretive, you think as she leads you out of Lieke's apartment and up the stairs.

You think you like Lieke. She's kind of cool and smiley and she's having a baby.

Mary's assured you she's keeping her baby and that makes you like her a bit more. Your first Mummy and Daddy had you but didn't keep you so it's nice that Lieke's keeping her baby and is going to love it like how Mary loves you.

Lieke can also cook. She made a very nice lunch today and now Mary is taking you up the stairs to meet someone special.

She told you that this morning so you dressed in your best outfit because meeting someone special deserves wearing your best.

"Hello," The old woman that opens the door says.

You wrinkle your brow. The accent is easy to detect.

"You're French," You say bluntly," Why are you speaking English?"

"Birdie," Mary groans.

"What? I'm right! French people speak French."

"Yeah but I don't speak French," Mary says," She's being polite."

"I speak French," You say, turning to the woman," I can translate for Mummy if you want to speak French."

The old woman laughs. "That's very nice of you but I think it would make your mum feel better if we spoke in English."

"I guess so," You say eventually.

The woman lets you in and you wonder briefly if she's the special person you're about to meet.

"They're all in the spare room," The woman says to Mary," With the mama. All are available so take your time. You're the first people I've had come to choose."

You don't like the way she talks when you're not in the loop. Mary knows what she's talking about but you don't. Something bubbles up in your gut at that, twisting and turning until all you can do is twist your fingers around each other and wait.

"Mummy?" You ask, gnawing on the inside of your cheek," What's going on?"

Mary's hand clasps your shoulder. "It's nothing bad, birdie. I promise. You trust me, right?"

"Uh-huh."

"This is a good thing, alright? I promise."

You trust Mary, you really do, so you let her lead you into the spare bedroom and help you over the weird gate that's installed there.

You suck in a breath, eyes wide.

"Puppies!"

Mary laughs, clambering over the gate herself to greet everyone.

"We're getting a puppy?" You ask and Mary nods.

"Any one you want, birdie. Take your time."

Mary watches as you greet all the puppies, each one more wiggly and excitable than the rest.

"Now," Lieke's neighbour says," I've gotten into contact with the people that trained my service dog and they said that they'll do the same for whichever one the little miss chooses. I sent them all the documents you sent me about her autism and her anxiety and they agree that she's eligible for a service dog so they're going to do it all for free for you. They'll arrange classes so you'll just have to take the puppy to them and they'll sort everything."

"Thanks," Mary says," Really, for all your help. It's such a weight off my shoulders."

"It's hard," The woman says," But you're doing right by her. It'll all work out, you'll see."

There are quite a few puppies to play with, you realise as each of them tumbles over their siblings to play but none of them give you that spark.

You've heard from Beth about it before.

When she and Viv went to go look at puppies, they both felt that spark when seeing Myle. They both knew she was meant to be a part of their family.

You don't feel like that at all with any of these puppies and that worries you a bit, your tummy twisting and turning again as you push one of them off of you to stand.

You don't want to disappoint Mary. You don't want to make her angry. She told you to pick a puppy from this litter. The puppies were the special someones you were meeting today.

You don't want this trip to be wasted.

You circle the room a little, watching as a few of the puppies play with a piece of rope.

That's when you see him.

He's over in the corner with a bunch of blankets, blearily blinking open his eyes at the sound of his siblings playing.

You're moving before you can help yourself.

"Bonjour," You say because he's a French dog and probably only understands French.

His tail wags even though he still looks incredibly sleepy.

He stands, rocking back and forth on his paws for a moment before meandering towards you.

You hold the back of your hand out to him to sniff because that's what Beth told you to do when you first met Myle.

He bypasses it immediately though, climbing onto your lap and resting his head on your leg, eyes sliding shut again.

He's perfect, you think as you gently stroke down his spine. He makes your tummy stop going all weird and twisty and he's very cute with his soft golden fur.

"I see you've found the only boy in our litter," The old woman says to you," Bit of a runt but loved all the same. He's very docile and happy."

"He's sleepy."

The woman laughs. "That he is."

You turn to look back at Mary. "Can we keep him, mummy? Please?"

Mary smiles. "He can't come home with us right away. He's got vet appointments and puppy classes and a few more weeks with his mum."

"But we can keep him? After all that?"

Mary nods. "Of course we can. We'll have to think of a name and-"

"He's already got a name, mummy," You say," It's Newton."

"Newton?"

"Yes. Newton Earps. My new best friend."

[noistanaccount]

Ryoko Kui Does Not Believe in Epiphanies (or: why Marcille and Mithrun's endings are great actually)

I have seen a couple of people who are upset about the way that Mithrun and Marcille's stories were resolved so I'm writing this to clear some things up. Ryoko Kui does not believe in epiphanies. An epiphany is a sudden and usually brief realization, an "aha" moment. Epiphanies are emotionally powerful moments. Both Marcille and Mithrun have powerful moments of realization, epiphanies.

Whether or not you like these resolutions, there's something you need to understand, Ryoko Kui does not put that much stock into these moments. Immediately after Marcille has her realization, Tansu responds like this:

While this is mostly his own opinion, what he is pointing out is that epiphanies are brief, they are singular moments that do not define a life. Life is long, and epiphanies do not sustain you. Marcille might feel like this now, but what about tomorrow? what about nex year? ten years, a hundred years, five hundred years from now? How often have you felt a sudden understanding? a burst of inspiration, or perhaps a realization that everything is pointless? It generally passes quickly, and you make dinner, and go to bed.

Think about the best meal you have ever had, it was probably a special occasion, maybe it felt like something magical, in the moment you might have felt like your life was changed. Then, in the morning you were hungry, so you ate breakfast. You cooked, you did the dishes, you went on with your life. What "meaning" did that meal have if you were hungry again the next day? Mithrun has to rebuild everything, every day he has to come up with new desires to do the very basics. None of it comes naturally, he has to find a reason to eat beyond being hungry, a reason to want to do anything when he doesn't want anything. Ryoko Kui tells us outright, that there is no magical solution:

The same thing applies to Ryoko Kui's representation of racism in dungeon meshi. Around when the orcs appeared in the anime I saw people gripeing about the way racism is treated. They seemed to think that Laios's party having dinner with the orcs was presented as them "solving" racism. Once again people misunderstand, they did not solve racism in a single moment. A few people, understood each other a little better, came to an arrangement and then parted. This was merely a moment in their lives. The characters continue to do micro-agressions, hold stereotypes, and have implicit biases. In dungeon meshi, characters don't suddenly stop being racist in the course of an evening. Life is a process, learning about others is a process, it's about the accumulation of experiences through the meat and potatoes of life, the daily activities that we actually fill our lives with, not the sudden realizations. Once you make learning about and living with other people into part of your routine, once it is embodied, then it is part of your life.

This is the real conclusion: life is not lived in a state of epiphany. Life is about chores, cooking, eating, shitting, working, and sleeping, it's everyday. Life is about doing simple things and doing them well. An epiphany is a useful tool for telling the reader that everything is going to be alright, we love to read epiphanies and be swept up in them. They can also be a breaking of a pattern, an escape from a spiral.

This is the other take away, it's about the people you do those things with, the way they rub off on you, the way they help you be human. For Mithrun and Marcille their paths would be impossible without other people pushing them back on the path as they stray. Mithrun literally would starve to death except for the thought that kabru and others don't want him to. Eating is a communal activity, so is living, you can have an epiphany on your own; you can't live on your own.

[shouts-into-the-void]

Just read screenshots of the Aaron extra chapter and I have so many thoughts, so here they are:

It's always so funny to me to be reminded of the fact that the animosity between Aaron and Neil is mostly one-sided. Like, Neil finds Aaron frustrating, but all the antagonistic stuff he does to him is ultimately in service of helping him in some way and while he's angry when Aaron provokes him, he otherwise regards him with disinterest and even expresses the desire to see what he's like when he's relaxed and enjoying himself during the party with the Vixens. Meanwhile Aaron just really hates that man.

I really appreciated Nora using this chapter to clear up some of the gripes a lot of the fandom has had with Aaron's character in the past and confirm that Aaron's comments to Nicky have to do with his cousin making graphic and unwanted sexual advances on their teammates, and his accusations towards Neil were from a place of concern for his brother. I also liked that it was pointed out that of course he would have at least some internalized homophobia due to being raised by religious zealots in a conservative area, but is unlearning it due to Nicky.

On a similar note, I'm glad that we were provided the context that Nicky's inappropriate behavior is a defense mechanism to weed out people who might hurt him rather than legitimate advances, because I think the fandom tends to forget that he is also a character with extreme trauma written outside of the "perfect victim" stereotype. His actions aren't okay, but the entire point is that they are the result of what he's had to endure just like every other member of the team

The implication that Andrew specifically signed with the Foxes so Aaron could go to college

Aaron and Andrew have the same nervous habit of picking at loose thread

It causes me physical pain to see Andrew clearly trying to open up to Aaron about his self-harm, but because his way of communicating is less straightforward (he doesn't lie, but he because he stuggles to confront and be open with his emotions, he presents the truth in flowery, vague language) and because the two dont really know or understand each other, Aaron can't fully grasp the implications of what he's saying

On the subject of things that cause me physical pain: baby Aaron telling his mom that he wanted to be a neurosurgeon like the people on TV and her laughing and saying he'd never make anything of himself. Fuck Tilda Minyard, all my homies hate Tilda.

Andrew is so uncomfortable, someone Get Him Out of There.

Going off that and his nervous habits (that Aaron mentions he did often enough to be noticable as a habit premedication), I am highkey wondering if the reason Sober Andrew doesn't talk to anyone outside Neil is because he's just. Socially Awkward.

We get a little bit of insight into Andrew's "misogyny" (I personally think distrusting certain people as a result of extreme personal trauma is a little bit different than just being sexist, in the same way women distrusting men because they're used to being harassed and belittled isn't misandry, but that's up to your personal opinion) and that his distain for Katelyn comes from the fact that he thinks she's stringing Aaron along and will turn out to be awful like his previous girlfriends (there's also a notable implication that Aaron has the same self-destructive tendencies as Andrew, and may be why he went out of his way to get him into college and on the straight-and-narrow) also see that this extends to Bee as well despite their close relationship, with him being so afraid that she'd reject him for being gay that he can't even look at her while talking about Neil, probably made worse by the fact that she's a maternal figure for him, which is where this trauma response originates.

Aaron is the only person on the team who's aware that Andrew hasn't slept with Neil, and the only one to grasp the significance of the fact that they've gotten close to that point already despite Andrew's trauma, outside of Renee

It was overall really interesting to see inside Aaron's head (I actually wouldn't mind a book from his perspective, he has a similar way of thinking to Neil but much more grounded) and to see Andrew through the lense of someone who just views him as Just A Guy

[tinfoil-jones]

Has Stan ever questioned Jerk Ford the reason why he is the only person he isn't a jerk to, since he's an a-hole even to the other members in their family?

"You don't know him like I do."

- Both Stans at the same time.

On Jerk Ford:

Throughout their lives, Stan insisted that just because Ford’s a jerk, it doesn’t mean he doesn’t care about anyone. He does care! Really! He just has a hard time showing it. No one ever believed him. You could just say that it’s a twin thing when Stan says something along the lines of “You don’t know him like I do” and they’re like well no shit he’s not a jerk to you. But, give Stanley some credit here, he’s more observant than you think he is.

---

Retired tech billionaire "Old Man" Fiddleford Hadron McGucket starts his mornings as he often does; going into his garage/workshop with a cup of coffee so he could re-tune his banjo for a few songs, quietly so as not to wake his wife.

He almost drops his cup of coffee when he see's theres something on his workbench that wasn't there last night.

A multitool.

One he hasn't seen in thirty years, but recognized instantly.

Carefully, he picks it and and inspects it, maybe it's just a replica.

FHM

Engraved in his late fathers handwriting, a loose scrawl that almost looked cursive if it weren't for the letters not being attached.

It's the same multitool. It's in pristine condition.

---

When they were just little boys, they were hiding behind the counter as their Pa was arguing with a customer, who ended up calling Filbrick a word they never heard before. Filbrick kicked the customer out, but it was clear he was more upset than he let off, in fact, he seemed almost sad, something neither twin had ever seen from their Pa. Filbrick then gave them a lecture that they can never repeat the word they just heard the man call him, because it was a very bad word that people used to insult and put down people 'of their faith'. 

A few minutes later, that same customer slipped on a banana peel that ‘came out of nowhere’, and sprained his ankle.

When they were a little older, Caryn was taking the twins out for a walk, when they passed a construction site and the construction workers started whistling at her, and giving her ‘compliments’ that she didn’t seem to like. She ignored it, but her little sons noticed her pace sped up and she almost rushed them away. 

That night, as those workers were double checking the work they’d done for the day, they were baffled to find that the concrete hadn’t set; the concrete had been tampered with, as if someone had poured a bunch of sugar in it while it was mixing. They’d have to redo it all over again, and it’d cost the company extra for the wasted concrete.

When the twins were in high school, Shermie, who had long since moved out but was visiting, was in tears telling their parents that his boss refused to give him the day off on the day his wife was due to give birth to their baby.

A week before the baby was born, his workplace was suddenly so badly infested with termites and roaches, that it would need two weeks to be properly fumigated, so the workers didn’t have to work while the fumigation was going on, and they’d still get paid because they were salary workers. Shermie was there with his wife when she gave birth to their son, and he got to dedicate a few days to just being with his wife and baby.

Their Ma would help out with Shermie's son sometimes, because both parents worked, but she also worked and would have her two younger sons help out with babysitting as well. And although Ford would gripe and complain about 'dealing with a brat all day', Stan had seen more than once that Ford would put the baby to sleep more than once by simply holding him in his arms and lying down with him, and also falling asleep.

In Backupsmore, Fiddleford was being bullied by a professor who looked down on him for being ‘a hick from an inbred, uneducated family’, and he was told to suck it up when he tried reporting her because she was tenured. In the middle of the year, she was unexpectedly replaced by a new, and much nicer, professor, and they were told their original professor was taking ‘an extended leave of absence’. 

She never came back, and it later came to light later on that the dean found a box full of documents and VHS tapes under his desk that hadn’t been there when he left his office the night before. All of which were extensive proof that the professor had been secretly embezzling the schools budget. 

When Ford comes back to their dimension after thirty years in the multiverse, no one who knew him from before is surprised that he’s still a huge indiscriminate jerk, and people who hadn’t personally known him but knew about him because of their yearly holiday that celebrated his disappearance were unpleasantly surprised to find out he was as bad as everyone said he was. And Stan didn’t necessarily disagree, but even after decades apart he could still see right through his twin as if he were made of rude glass.

Dipper's pens are suddenly indestructible to his chewing habit so no more mouthfuls of ink, and Mabel mysteriously never runs out of glitter; lately, it's also been more shimmery and almost... magical?

It doesn't matter where either of them fall asleep, they always end up waking up tucked into their beds, even though they told Grunkle Stan in the beginning of summer that they were too old to be carried and to just leave them wherever they’d crashed. 

Soos had been complaining all summer about his van making weird noises and having really poor mileage. Out of nowhere, Soos’s vehicle starts running like a dream and he’s getting ninety miles to a gallon, when it’s been twenty to the gallon at most as long as he’s had it.

Also, he didn't remember when he'd upgraded the graphics card of his home computer, but he sure is loving the higher FPS when he's playing video games.

Wendy is beside herself distressed and crying to Stan, Soos, and the Mystery Twins that her house had roof leak when a surprise summer rainstorm hit, and her favourite framed photograph of herself with her late mother was water damaged beyond repair, and is nearly unrecognizable.

The next day she asks her father when he’d made a copy of her photograph, and he replies that he has no idea what she’s talking about. She then takes a closer look at the newly framed picture she'd found on her desk that had been placed right next to her damaged one- did someone paint this…?

People assume that Ford only cares about his twin brother and no one else, because he's the only person he's never been a jerk to. But Stanley knows that isn't true; Ford loves just as strongly as he does, he just has a hard time letting people know.

As for Ford not being a jerk to him? Why would Ford bother, when Stan can see right through him? His twin is the only person who can see him, really see him.

---

Hours after Fiddleford had stormed out of the cabin with his bags in tow, Stanley looks over disheartened when he see's Stanford calmly place the multitool onto his own workbench.

"There were other ways to make him leave, Ford."

"I needed to make sure he wouldn't come back. That was too close of a call."

Ford had intended to give it back when the project was over, too bad it was on his belt when he was pushed into the multiverse.

[maritteknewtheenemy]

Lenore Dove's Biggest Flaw is That She's Dumb

There are a lot of reasons I dislike Lenore Dove in SOTR. One is that she's redundant and destroys any chance of character development for Haymitch, another is that she is such a blank slate character she couldnt be more boring, and another is that she's the epitome of a manic pixie dream girl, forever trying to be Lucy Grey without anything that made Lucy Grey an intriguing or likeable character.

But my biggest gripe with Lenore Dove (and sotr Haymitch to some extent) is how pathologically stupid she is. Like, Haymitch can harp on about how smart she is all he wants, he's blinded by infatuation, but this girl is dumb as a post. If I was going to try and stir up rebellion under a fascist regime I sure as hell wouldn't make sure everyone and their mother knew that it was me doing it. Subtlety- especially in the circumstances of District 12- is important when you're committing treason. You don't want to do or say anything that could link you to the crime, and you sure as hell don't want it to be an open secret. You want to seem like the quietest, most beaten down, most assimilated good little district worker if you're going to rebel successfully and stay under the radar. Yeah, Lenore is covey, they're performers by trade but Clerk Carmine and Tam Amber very obviously understand the need to at least pretend to have assimilated to the capitol regime. But no, Lenore Dove has to be different, she has to feel special, she wants to be the one to single handedly save District 12 from the capitol. She commits symbolic acts of protest (burning the flag, graffiti) while twirling around in fancy dresses and singing songs, being so fucking pretentious the whole time- and then she gets jailed for these crimes over and over again, which probably has the complete opposite effect to what she thinks it will. District 12 mothers probably point her out 'dont be like that Lenore girl, you'll get yourself and the rest of us killed'. 'keep your mouth shut, do you wanna end up like Lenore Dove?'. Lenore Dove thinks she's riling up the citizens of twelve, too stupid to realize that her idea of rebellion is so removed from the collective consciousness of the district as to seem alien. The citizens of twelve are at a point where rebellious activities or organising have to be quiet, subtle, easily explained away, and a group effort, and they understand this. Things like sharing food that the capitol doesn't want them sharing, or trying to create solidarity between the seam and merchant class. IF there were actual plans for rebellion in District 12 at the time, the absolute last person anyone would ever tell would be Lenore Dove because she wouldn't be able to keep her mouth shut. She'd blab to anyone and everyone trying to 'get more people to join their cause' until the wrong person overheard and they all got executed. Or she'd be mad their plans were covert, grassroots and focused on community building and gaining quiet social support rather than banding together to burn down the peacekeeeper building (which would ultimately do nothing in the long run but increase the military presence in the district and piss off the capitol, putting an even bigger target on their back). Lenore Dove loves the idea of rebellion, but she's too idealistic, naive, narcissistic, and too much of a know it all to comprehend what real rebellion entails, and understand that she isn't invincible or infallible. It's clear from the book she thinks she's untouchable, even when she's behind bars and very much at the capitol's mercy. She never once seems even slightly concerned about her family or her boyfriend, while every other character- even Haymitch, who also isn't winning brainiac awards in sotr- knows that the capitol never punishes just the individual, and that when you condemn yourself you condemn your loved ones too. Lenore Dove sees rebellion as the pretty, honourable idea in songs and stories rather than the very risky, gritty, unpleasant, and dangerous organising and action it actually is.

Lenore Dove is not a rebel. She's an idiotic girl who thinks she's the smartest person in the room and believes everyone around her is too stupid or cowardly to recognise that the system needs to change, when in reality the citizens of twelve recognise the need for change, and they also recognise that Lenore Dove is stupid to a level that puts them all at risk. Stupid people are dangerous, and Lenore Dove being ostracised as much as possible by the district is clear evidence of them recognising this. Honestly, it probably a good thing she died when she did, before she could drag her family down with her. You can't convince me she wasn't going to die anyway- at some point she would have been executed, probably along with Clerk Carmine and Tam Amber because they enabled her.

Also, who above the age of three eats random candy they found on the ground? Death by gumdrops was an absolutely ridiculous way to kill off a character, but I actually find it fitting because its reflective of Lenore's unfathomable idiocy. She should've listened to her uncles instead of thinking she knew better. She should have learned the district's customs and methods of survival instead of feeling superior to everyone just because she was covey. She should have realized she wasn't invincible. She should have tried to develop a shred of actual empathy for her fellow citizens instead of committing to a holier than thou mindset where anyone who wasn't 'rebelling' the same as her was an enemy or some pitiful, brainwashed swine. Maybe then she could have actually had an impact. Maybe then she could have survived the story, or at least had her death be something other than an incredible relief. Maybe I'd have actually cared about her if she wasn't the worst combination of insufferable and stupid and didn't put everyone around her constantly at risk.

Tldr: Stupid people are dangerous and Lenore Dove is the worst kind of stupid. It was a relief when she died, and I wish she'd died sooner.

[riteliso]

ALRIGHT SO

Here's how we're doing things, right? We're gonna go one episode at a time, and I'm gonna give my thoughts whenever they come up. This is a train of thought type beat, alright? Unlike my usual grandstanding authorial and analytical self, this re-watch is purely for the rant factor. If you don't know me, and you just happened upon this thread because you like reading she-ra rewatches, hello. I'm a writer from Canada who found she-ra in 2025 and is currently on her sixth watch through. From that, hopefully you can discern that I like this show, even if I'm likely gonna criticize parts of it. We good to go? Good. We start with S01 E01.

RIGHT, THE SWORD PART 1! A zoom in, with an angelic singing being drowned out by digital bloopy fright zone vibes, and then Adora being a fuckin dweeb as her leitmotif plays in a decidedly crystiline synth-y tone.

Now, what do we learn from this? This, aside from one gripe I'll have more to speak on later, is an excellent introduction. With the music alone we're essentially taken from the beauty of the planet, the overwhelming dread of the fright zone, and then into a hopeful tune that isn't FREE from these sort of digital themes in the music, but is very defined and separate FROM them.

This isn't gonna be one of those things where I praise literally every single fuckin thing so keep your panties on, I'm not gonna full-on overanalyzing avatar this shit, but the most important parts of a story are the beginning and the ending.

Now, when I say that, I am speaking pragmatically. Every part of every story is important-- but when it comes to what people remember, what they love, what they never shut up about-- it's the start and the end. You need to nail the take-off and the landing, people will forget the turbulence from the rest of the trip.

Now, what does THIS bitch's intro tell us about her? Well, a lot, honestly. Most of what we know about Adora at this point is she plays by the rules, but she is a notably goofy person. She's goofy, but she's unwilling to goof-OFF too much.

And while we get a taste of the rivalry they have instantly, with "That's low, even for you." "You know nothing's too low for me~"

We instantly see that that is not the CORE of their relationship.

I'd like to praise the voice direction in this show for the first of many times here. The voice actors do amazing work in this, and the direction can be felt throughout.

"Come on, you look stupid hanging there" can obviously be a seen as a strange first line to show the warmth these two share, but the inflection from Catra's voice actor, AJ Mikalcha, makes it read as downright sweet.

Also don't get used to me using names of the crew besides ND Stevenson because I'm so awful with names I was still calling Catra Katara half the time on my second re-watch and I was like 90% of the way to realizing I kinned her at that point

Also don't make fun of me for kinning Catra there's no RESPONSE to people making fun of you for kinning Catra THAT DOESN'T MAKE YOU SEEM MORE LIKE FUCKING CATRA OKAY

Anyway, the following scene makes it clear that this is not a one-way dynamic. The two banter, and it's clear Adora knows how to get under Catra's skin and annoy her as well. This is notable in a few places MUCH further on, but it is a difference worth highlighting NOW.

Once Adora leaves, Catra's primary goal is still to get under her skin. She's angry about it, she's mean about it, but she's still just doing what she's always done. The relationship between the two doesn't actually change as much as the context does. I'd say the relationship itself doesn't change much until the final season, at a scene I'm sure I'll have a lot to say about.

On the flip-side, Adora's goal when it comes to Catra is simply to fight her off. But that's not all there is. At points, it's clear that Adora holds some sort of REVERENCE for Catra, and while Catra is very capable of very mean things, don't get me wrong, Adora sees Catra as more of a threat than she realistically is.

At a few moments I'll point out she also relishes in getting under Catra's skin, but admittedly those are few and far between.

People have gone over this introduction billions of times, so I won't BORE you to death with it, but Shadow weaver's introduction does hint at a lot of what we'll learn later. I think it's very notable that while Shadow weaver brings a dark gloom that encompasses both our leads, her vile tendrils only dare to touch Catra. We learn the specifics of the dynamic these three have later, but it is a very unique and terrible situation to be the least favourite of an abusive guardian. Especially if you are repeatedly reminded of that fact.

I'm not gonna go over all the body language shit I've seen other text posts about it there's plenty of them a lot of focus in this show goes into tiny details where characters are constantly reacting to the world around them, and very rarely do we get lame stretches where anyone's face is just frozen and unflinching while they listen to someone else.

with all due respect to the setting at this point in time the bright moon rebellion is so pathetically anemic it's the two teens, some movie night lesbians, an immortal princess queen, and a bunch of fucking trees.

And you'd think the one carrying the team would be THE IMMORTAL PRINCESS QUEEN, BUT NO, ITS THE FUCKING TREES DOING ALL THE GOD DAMNED WORK

This introduction is fine. I don't particularly like it, nor have any strong feelings about it. It establishes the relationship between glimmer and her mother, but besides that it doesn't honestly do much. And don't come at me with "Uh, all it needs to do is establish that relationship?" Yeah, no shit, but we just had a better introduction to our other lead characters. And yes, those are the MAIN leads, the sort of heart of the show, but that doesn't mean that the other characters are unimportant. Glimmer's development later on is truly interesting, and Bow becomes a massively inspiring character. Fun jokey times are fine or whatever to show that they're immature and don't know the first thing about war, in contrast to our full-blown child soldiers raised from birth in the fright zone, but we really don't learn anything particularly INTERESTING about our best friend squad compadres in their intro, nor do we really see any of it until episode 2, to be frank.

This is something we don't actually see much of-- Catra has this ideal of being a conqueror, but it's very clear that she doesn't want that. Her threats are vapid and aimless-- She can enjoy some chaos, sure, but a shit-stirrer isn't gonna use that feces to build brick shithouses that they never intend to fall.

I think this should have been elaborated on more, personally. Catra is comically terrible with authority, and her plan, as stated later, is to wait it out until her and Adora are the ones calling the shots. But we don't really see what she thinks conquering even looks like, and it's not clear whether that's that she hasn't even imagined it and just likes evil words, or if she genuinely wants to rule with Adora as her Queen.

I gravitate towards the first, but that's partially because I wake up and post shit like "I want to destroy the world and rule its dust" and then forget I posted it when someone likes it 5 minutes later. If she do, in fact, as studies point toward, "be just like me fr," then I fully understand. If not, then I'd like to understand.

aw :(

Fuckin dweeb pulling the "my mom doesn't want me hanging out with you anymore" card

HA! Ah, what a bitch. Anyway, she's lashing out, but it's also quite tragic. A lot of people seem to think Adora IS, in some way, a people pleaser, but in reality she just has such an ingrained and violent sense of justice that she wants to right every wrong she has ever and will ever come across. She believes her validity is tied to what she can provide to the world, and she's got a natural sense of charisma, so it's natural for someone who refuses to blend in and naturally tends to put people off like Catra to have this view of her.

In reality, Adora is just-- a good person. And people LIKE good people. She's not a good person with an asterisk-- a good person with terms and conditions-- someone who falls into the definition of a good person while feeling and being treated like something else. Catra is the "a tomato is a fruit" of good people. Adora is just, like, a 1 dollar costco hotdog of a woman. An inarguable good treading water on this earth, no matter how hard it tries to pull her under.

Imagine falling for a brat with mad hops, like a fucking 50 foot vertical, you say you're too tired to play their favourite board game and they go hang out on your neighbour's roof, couldn't be me. Get fucked I guess

Yeah this is sad. Empathy is very much a learned skill, and people who don't learn empathy don't GET happy FOR people. Catra's not a complete person yet. She's not ready to be. That doesn't happen for a really long time, during an exceptionally long manic spiral. We'll get there, calm down, don't think about how far away that is and how much I've already yammered on.

Anyway, if you find yourself getting jealous or annoyed instead of getting happy for people, consider empathy isn't what you thought it was, and that you might still need to work on yourself.

fucking porno framing. Immensely sexual image, really. These bitches violently gay I suppose, I think I'm picking up on that during this sixth re-watch.

Buddy you got no idea how many problems those two already have you literally lose your little tiara at some point I think it ends up in the middle of a tree in space or something it's kinda unclear

Adora elbows her square in the nose during this so to everyone accusing Catra of physical abuse I just want it to be clear that Adora started it :/

Actually I'd like to retract that joke immediately because I know how people get about these two

My feelings are that they are literally child soldiers who were likely raised sparring each-other.

I was raised sparring other children and I ended up fine! Not for war, for Karate. And I didn't end up fine. And neither did they. Anyway, my point isn't even specifically that because this is sci-fi fantasy it's ridiculous to hold real life standards to it, it's more-so that because it's sci-fi fantasy there's extenuating circumstances that are going to affect how these two characters treat each-other. I'll go into hotter takes later, I'm sure, and get people to send me plenty of death-threats, but I'm gonna go into the nuances of exactly what forms Catra's abuse takes, and how it differs given by the separate circumstances we're shown the two in throughout the show.

my girl when I'm tryna live my best life playing as blue toad in mario 3d world

also holy shit we're only like halfway through this I am an AGONIZING yapper jesus fuck

Okay, what to say about lighthope-- well, their first words are "balance must be restored," far before they say Adora's name, so it somewhat lays out their secret priorities for us there. Besides that, I dunno, they got circuits on them? I don't have particularly strong feelings about lighthope, nor their introduction. I think they serve the setting and are written well, I just subjectively am not a sucker for the way they be. Their friendship with Mara is cute tho

I was gonna point out this is cute and how often I do this exact brat tactic but instead we data moshin, nothin wrong with a little data moshin, I'm down

This is the only reason she even wears a ponytail I'd stake my fuckin life on it

Once she leaves the fright zone that thing's fucking vestigial like a tailbone or having "any pronouns" in your bio when it's pretty clear you're very much a "she/they" type of bitch by now

glimmer why don't your windows have glass

or alternatively

how the fuck do you open and close that window

you can absolutely fucking hear her from this distance what on earth are you trying to pull

you a pillow princess tho how many of those arrows are just hitatchi magic wands attatched to a stick with duct-tape after the series ends do you think

The fuck you mean BOTTOM drawer we lookin at left and right here

or is this similar to my pillow princess comment and she's just addressing him and giving him an order

"Bottom; drawer."

It's established later on that he's a tech wiz but at this point in time they don't really give us much to lead us to the fact that he made that fucking thing

she's a freak

yes it's very sweet that she sleeps this way but I don't think it's some bdsm powerplay thing or anything like that, which would honestly be more tolerable, I think she's just like that

like how the way I'd sit in high school was to get two chairs and face them toward each-other then sit cross-legged across both

even if there weren't enough chairs to go around

people would sit on the FLOOR because I wanted to sit criss-cross-applesauce across two chairs, they wouldn't even ask for one of my chairs

also since I was sitting, again, cross-legged, it would have made more sense for ME to sit on the floor

I mean I think I got asked ONCE for one of the chairs and I just said "fine" but besides that people just let me sit on my fuckin throne

She really is kinda dumb, though. Like I ain't complaining, it's a character trait, but like obviously even if just you get in trouble Catra's gonna get blamed, you've seen it like at least once a month for your whole entire life

Mind you, can't really have Catra for the next part, because Catra's reaction to Bow and Glimmer wouldn't be "just let me have the sword" it'd be murder

oh wow we hit the image limit looks like we're doing TWO SEPARATE POSTS FOR THE VERY FIRST EPISODE YEE-HAW!!!!! THIS IS GOING TO TAKE ME FUCKING FOREVER

[delawaredetroit]

I hope you're not missing the metal meltdown of half the fandom right now. The new epilogo is indeed worse than the last one, not that much for the izuocha like there are like a foot page but how bakugou is treated, you can see a lot fans crying.

I've seen it. I wasn't going to comment until there was a translation out because there's no point in reacting to leaks.

And actually, I disagree. I have several bones to pick with this epilogue, but overall it's a better ending than 430 for a number of reasons.

I like the focus on Ochako's quirk counseling program. It shows that the focus became more holistic and tailored to the needs of the individual child. The problem with the prior quirk counseling was that it was all about suppression/fitting into a narrow role society assigns to each person, not the idea of counseling children on quirk usage itself. It looks like Uravity's program is more about meeting the needs of the individual children, which was what their society needed to prevent villains in the first place.

It also clears up that Izuku would have chosen to teach regardless, and that it wasn't a sad consolation prize as initially portrayed in 430. It's a positive development that Izuku was able to put his own needs first: both in being able to tell Bakugou no because Izuku has his own dreams and in reaching out to Ochako at the end of the chapter.

This chapter was a great endpoint for Bakugou's character development, and I don't understand why people are crying about it. Look at where he started. Could 14 or even 16 year old Bakugou accept rejection and acknowledge Izuku's value as a person with that kind of grace? Could he have attended the party of a classmate who ranked much higher than him without making everything about himself? He has genuinely become an adult.

Some of my main gripes with it are the ranking system continuing to exist, the lack of anything on the Shigaraki issue, the unresolved quirk singularity lurking in the background, and the strange portrayal of pursuing a romantic relationship as a "selfish" endeavor.

[risingphoenix24601]

Why (stage) Nessa is Ableist: An Essay

Disclaimer: I am disabled, but not a wheelchair user. I am chronically ill (EDS + all the bs that comes with it) and neurodivergent (ADHD, SPD, awaiting an Autism eval).

I will start with my personal perspective. My gripe with Nessa is that she is spoiled, her father favors her, and she expects everything to be done for her and soaks up everyone's pity. I'm not saying this never happens, but I feel like a lot of people just assume our parents coddle us and that our lives are easier, as if being disabled is some sort of advantage, and I've even seen us represented as going around looking for people entrap into helping us. When I was in high school, some kids found out I had a 504, became jealous (bruh, I'm jealous that you were born with high-speed internet brains) immediately assumed I was an arrogant prick who thought I deserved "special treatment," and took it upon themselves to make sure I felt like a burden. Believe me, being born into a world that doesn't know you exist is NOT an advantage.

Getting into more specific stuff: the movie did a great job correcting this, but since I'm talking about the stage version, I'm just going to list it: Elphaba's going to school just to care for Nessa, but I don't think she's in a position where she would need a full-time care-taker, so there's the trope of us entrapping people to do our bidding and that we're burdens on others (movie made clear that the dad is the asshole here and not Nessa). Second, many characters, some of whom don't know her at all, wheel Nessa around. You NEVER touch a person's mobility aids without their permission. Again, move fixed this. Third, Nessa says to Elphaba "I'm about the first happy night of my life!" Don't get me wrong, having a disability can really suck, but it doesn't mean our only emotion is misery. Plenty of disabled people live meaningful, fulfilling lives. My uncle has commented to me that he'd never guess I'm sick because "those people usually go around with a scowl." My uncle is Vietnam war vet. I'm sure if I knew half of the hell he went through, I would be shocked that he doesn't walk around with a scowl either-- but life goes on.

I'm going to address the controversy of the cure in Act II. Let me make this clear: plenty of disabled people want to be cured, and portraying someone who wants to be cured is not problematic. What is problematic, however, is that this is a very complicated topic and the show presents it in a way that is very simple. I'll use myself as an example: I would cure my EDS in a heartbeat, but neurodivergence, I honestly don't know. I am now at a point where I don't hate myself and actually like the way I am, but there are still days that I wish I was normal. I don't view my neurodivergence as a "gift" or another way of being, it is a disability and my life is harder because of it. And yet, I would be a completely different person without it. And I'm not sure if that's a person who I'd want to be.

We must remember that Nessa has been disabled since birth, this is her normal. And more than that, it's part of who she is. Suddenly being able to walk would be a massive change, and not necessarily a welcome one-- I think she would have the same fears that I have regarding fixing my neurodivergence. I also don't think Nessa is in a significant amount of pain or discomfort. So, ultimately, she is not disabled by her physical condition, she is disabled by the world around her.

This is, is my opinion, the biggest problem with the Wicked Witch of the East scene. Nessa's life is undeniably harder, but the lyrics incorrectly ascribe her suffering to her disability, when her suffering is actually caused by ableism. Also, wheelchairs are tools of accessibility. They are not bad or shameful things.

So yeah. I'm sorry that was long, but I've been seeing a lot of people asking about why it's ableist and there's no way to explain in one or two sentences, because this a complicated topic with complicated feelings. I hope I covered all the bases.

[arom-antix]

Hey, just wanted to reach out to say that I found you pointing out and calling this person was really great and you shouldn't have apologized. It was incredibly true what you said, and to be honest it seems out of touch with the reality of a great deal of the japanese fandom, the nuances and their culture. Also, it was as you pointed out, extreme and may I say rude. I want to mention too that the way it was written, as if entitled of the knowledge and the 'explanation' made it all worse in context of the 'fucked up'. The original poster always gets away by using the 'well-written academic'' statement of their 'metas' as an excuse to do or say and make everyone else agree and if not, uses victim narrative and discourses exactly selecting wording for people to agree on it or feel bad.

I don't know if they tagging you in the way they did made you reblog and apologizing/backing up, but no one thought bad about you pointing it out. On the contrary, a lot of people had been bullied and discriminated by this person when they called them out/disagreed going onto lenghts of sending their friends to harass people, and the other persons can't even defend themselves because they are effectively blocked. To quite a few people in the fandom has been done, even accusing them as 'acephobes' (when they're not) or even Nazis by spreading lies. So yeah, I just wanted to say that. I think you were right to call them out publicly.

Thank you very much for this ask. To be completely honest I agree with everything you said here and don't actually feel bad about pointing anything out. I mainly apologised because I didn't want any potentially poor phrasing from my side to cause unnecessary hostility and because I myself have gripes with this person's behaviour but didn't want to cause a scene.

My honest opinion is that they have a serious issue with taking accountability for their own mistakes and highly overestimate their own intellect. If you're reading this, @thegirlwhorideslikeasamurai, sorry if I seem harsh, but it's true. I saw your post lamenting how you're the only academic meta writer / fan in the fandom and I didn't interact then because I honestly do not care enough to start that drama but with the information Blonndiec has just given me, I think it's necessary that someone calls you out.

You're not an academic. You're not beyond the mental capabilities of other fans. You're actually incredibly childish in your metas and analyses and I am not kidding when I say that I was halfheartedly writing essays more academic than every analysis I've seen from you when I was barely a teenager. I don't know how old you are and I frankly don't care. You're not as clever as you think you are.

Also, don't think I didn't notice that you didn't reblog my correction (link here to my correction and here to their "response" for those who didn't see that exchange) of your post so that you could control what your followers saw of the exchange. You're the opposite of an academic. You control information to tailor the narrative, you don't cite your sources properly if at all, you don't format your posts in anything close to how an academic analysis would be, you make unbased claims, you reference posts and canon material without in any way indicating where that information is from, you reference your own (equally unacademic) metas and your conclusions from them without indicating what post it's from or that it's your own theory this new one is based on and instead present it as a common fact, and I could go on and on and on. Your posts are also riddled with logical fallacies and you talk in absolutes and opinions when there's no canon basis to claim such things. I'm sorry, but that's not academic in the slightest.

To be clear, you don't have to be an academic to post on the Internet. You don't have to be anything at all. You could up front be a genuine idiot with no remorse and that's fine. But when you claim to be an academic and also put down the rest of the fandom for not being on your level, you have to be able to back that up. It'd still make you sound like a prick but at least your arrogance would have a basis. It currently does not.

I haven't personally seen the discussions that Blonndiec is referencing and I'm not going to claim anything definitive (because that would be unacademic of me, take notes) but if what they're saying is true and did happen as described, which I have empirical, if anecdotal, evidence to believe could very well be (a friend of mine has personally been blocked by you after they criticised you without actually mentioning your name which I of course can't prove is the reason for the block but the timing is awfully convenient), you should know that you should be ashamed of yourself.

If there's context missing, feel free to enlighten me and call out any incorrect accusations. You have every right to defend yourself. However, I encourage you to cite your sources since you're such an academic. If you don't, then it's just your word against Blonndiec and anyone else who might comment's word and that doesn't prove anything. Don't misunderstand, acephobia and nazi rhetoric should absolutely be called out but only if it's actually happening. False accusations can ruin lives. I hope you know that.

I'm not a fan of calling people out publicly and, again, thank you for this ask, Blonndiec. But considering many of the issues I've personally seen and those I've been informed of by second hand sources were posted publically, I don't really feel bad about calling this out. I could do a full breakdown of just the insulting "academic" comments alone and how there's no academia to be found in said academic metas and, Samurai, if you give me reason to, I will show exactly what I mean point by point (and academically just to give you an example of even low level academia).

If you respond to this, do it in a reblog. That's what a real academic would do. If I'm wrong and you can prove it, you'd have no reason to not show my post in your rebuttal. If I'm right, you'd have every reason to be upfront about your mistakes and how you intend to rectify them. There's nothing wrong with being wrong but there's a lot wrong with refusing to admit to it in a way that lets others peer review you (academic thing, look it up) and come to their own conclusions about the situation. That's what you did when you just @'ed me instead of reblogging my response. A true academic wouldn't hide a peer review. You'd know that if you were one.

I swing in many academic spaces and yet that doesn't make me any kind of expert and I don't claim to be one because I'm not. But since you want to be one so badly, reblog this with a response and show us all how smart you are. I'm dying to know what your academic take on this is.

[xxgoblin-dumplingxx]

Freebie!!! With good vibes and cookies 🍪🌟

You ordered a spicy chicken wrap and some ice water with lemon, but he wasn't satisfied until you were actually eating. Once he was mollified, he let himself pay attention to his own meal. He had a million questions.

But- he had to tread carefully. It made him feel like he was trying to coax a feral cat. Or disarm a bomb. Two things he'd never been good at. Still, he knew two things now he didn't know before. The kid was healthy and the date of your next appointment.

And you hadn't sent him away. He'd also never seen you eat anything spicy before. Maybe the kid liked spicy food. Or maybe he just never paid attention. "What else are you doing today?" he asked.

"Thought I'd try and get some cleaning done. Try and get some writing done. Take Trigger to the dog park," you answer, pushing a stack of napkins at him when his burger starts to fall apart.

"Thanks- Figured you'd want to go shopping. Get some baby things," he ventured.

You shake your head, "I don't- next week," you tell him. "Had to pay mom's allowance early to keep her over there."

Logan felt himself frown reflexively, "Wade throw in his share?"

You shrug, "You know how it goes. It's not like being Marvel Jesus comes with steady pay. But I have some freelance money coming and- well. It doesn't really matter. It's not-" You break off and shake your head, "I'll figure it out. I always do."

"Y/N," he said, cringing when the growl in his voice made you pull back. "It's not just you that did-"

"You made it pretty clear you didn't want this, Logan," you murmur, looking out the window. "Before I even knew what was happening."

"And if I could, I'd-"

"But you can't," you tell him. "And how am I supposed to know you won't just-" You shake your head and slide out of the booth, leaving your half-finished plate on the table. Stalking back to the ladies room. Hoping he won't follow. Not right now.

Fuck. He scrubbed his hands over his face and gulped down his drink, signaling for another to show he wasn't leaving and followed you. If diplomacy wasn't doing it- if words were going to keep getting him in trouble- it was time to try something else. He was just glad the bar was dead.

_______________

He opened the door carefully and found you leaning on the sink. Griping the counter so hard your knuckles were white. And he spun you around, hefting you up as he reached behind him and locked the door.

"I'm a fucking idiot," he growled, claiming your mouth in a kiss that burned his lips as he pushed your knees apart to stand between your legs. "I panicked like a stupid kid," he said, pulling back and resting his forehead on yours, giving you space to tell him 'no'. "I thought it would be better for you if I walked away from you. And now every time I look at you I can't fuckin' breathe."

He can hear your heart. He can smell tears welling up. But your hands are fisted in his shirt. And he rests his forehead on yours. "Listenin' to you tell people this ain't my kid- that you don't know who their daddy is," he huffed a laugh. "Fuck. I know it doesn't hurt as bad as what I did but- it's a gut punch, Princess."

"I'm so fucking mad at you," you tell him, voice breaking. "And I'm so fucking scared."

"Hey," he breathed, cradling your face in his hands and wiping tears away with his thumbs, "shhh." He kissed you again, more gently this time, "I'm not goin' anywhere, baby. Okay? I'm gonna show you that. I just need you to give me one more chance."

[bettertwin1]

If I may

Why is it bad?

First of all, you can check out the server ratings here since two of the ratings cover all the bads of the server and why joining it just isn't worth the eventual stress BUT my biggest gripe w/ it is just the lack of proper moderation.

The moderators are kind of passive agressive and mean and usually aren't actually doing their jobs. There are tons of moments where someone is antagonistic on purpose, whether it be by being racist, homophobic or sexist and the moderators, on the off chance that they are in the chat during these conversations, do not immediately try to resolve or rectify the situation.

So, you will have a server of mostly minors all getting very genuinely mad at one person who doesn't gaf, and the channel will be filled to the brim with people cussing or asking the antagonistic person if they are crazy or stupid etc etc and the moderator will just slap the timed chat button instead of just kicking the antagonistic person at the first offense? So now ur just sitting looking at a chat where ppl will wait like...5 minutes to talk about how crazy and insane the antagonistic person but i guess thats better than the channel going by at normal speeds! Wow!

Other stuff, they think human x tmnt ships are beastiality <- so ships like april x any of the turtles and such. I don't think they actually understand what beastiality is, but nonetheless, they really hate it, and they make their hate towards it very clear. If you find any of the tmnt attractive, ur into beastiality. That is what they believe, and they will not listen to any information or arguments against it.

Moderators and server members are also known for harrassing ppl that bring up this information despite the fact that these exact criticisms are attached to their literal server rating board, any harrassment that comes from the server for posts that function as a beware are lowkey encouraged and it's like...alright man...

But anyway, yeah, there's likely more, but I never spoke enough or interacted enough to rlly retain any other information. Imo it is the worst tmnt server to join though.

[scarlettoceaneyes]

Hey!! Could I please request a Paul x reader where she just had a baby and he’s being super protective and not letting anyone near her or the baby until she finally tells him to knock it off when we won’t let Emily come see her

Thanks for the request!

Author’s note- I never had a problem with the imprinting on minors AS LONG AS it is understood no romantic feelings can develop till they are an adult, if at all. If mentioned it is in the loving brother or protector way. If you don’t like that Anon, just rewrite that part in your head! 🙂

Protectiveness- Paul x Reader

“The rules are as follows.” You rolled your eyes as Paul set out the conditions of the wolves meeting your newborn little girl. You knew he was being protective, but he wouldn’t even let the pack or imprints come see you in the hospital. Granted you did have a hard, almost disaster of a delivery. You and your new baby girl were both healthy now, but you had to have an emergency c-section. Because of that, Paul claimed it was too dangerous for the pack to come see you both until discharged. He wouldn’t even let Emily in the hospital room to help you learn how to take care of a baby seeing as how this was your first. The lady who half raised you by letting you stay in one of the guest rooms since Paul imprinted on you when you were both teens was not allowed to come in, much to your disapproval. You let it go at the time due to your blood pressure being watched, and you did agree that the wolf pack might be too rowdy after all you had went through over the last three days. The condition for you agreeing to Paul’s condition was that the day you came home you had dinner at Emily’s house with everyone.

You and Paul were staying at her home while yours was being built. Your little girl was such a surprise that there was barely time for planning. Finding out you were already five months pregnant at the time was a shock, not to mention the fact that your very own house was not built and you had not even been married a complete year yet then. Paul’s anxiety about keeping you both safe multiplied due to not being able to watch over everything about you and the baby the first half of your pregnancy. You knew he felt like if something went wrong it would be his fault, although you and Emily tried to explain how sometimes this happens with periods that come randomly. He kept you shielded from everyone, and had been laying out these rules since the day he found out that not only was there a baby, but it was a girl.

“Rules are- no rough housing or yelling around the baby, don’t let Y/N use the stairs by herself until the doctor clears her- or do anything really, when the baby asleep shut up seriously, don’t touch my girls, and don’t even look at my girls, especially not my baby girl. If any one of you idiots imprint on her it will be the last thing any of you do- also no..” you knew now would be the proper time to stop him before he claims that breathing, blinking, and being alive are off limits around you two.

“Paul, I think they have had enough threats. Can you help bring the baby in? I want to sit down.” You saw him glare at several people who tried to stand to help you out.

“Dude how can we help her if we can’t touch her?” Quil looked at Paul with confusion and frustration written in his expression. “You ask Emily to help. Or me.” Paul replied with a duh look as the guys all had a grunt or gripe to say under their breath. “If you’re nice you might get to hold her…one day.” Paul couldn’t help but smirk at the way they looked hopeful for about two seconds.

“Okay lay off Paul and come help me.” You were getting annoyed at him, even though you promised to let him say his new dad speech on the way home from the hospital. He has been planning it for a while, and he only got to have this experience as a brand new and shiny first time dad just once. You were sympathetic to that part.

Emily started coming forward to help after hearing the warning and strain in your voice, also knowing you likely needed pain medication and to get comfortable after walking with your surgery. The baby was a great baby, but she didn’t sleep much at all in the past few day after the scary labor. Actually, she was the most peaceful in the car leaving the hospital.

Emily was trying to give you a break to get a few moments rest without any worries. As she walked to you Paul jumped in front of you and the baby to grab Emily away, further provoking Sam to give him a warning look. With that action you were done. “Paul, either let Emily get this baby so I can sit down or you will be sleeping outside all furry tonight.” He knew he had crossed a line, but decided to apologize to Emily and Sam, while asking her to be careful with his little girl. Emily took the baby and Paul helped you to the reclining chair. He kissed your forehead and saw the look in your eyes. At that look he shuddered and turned around to face the pack. “Alright I’m sorry. It’s been a rough few days but thank you guys for being supportive. Emily thank you for all your help.” Paul sat beside you to grab your hand. You kissed him on the lips, a little longer than you normally would after finding his protectiveness incredibly attractive. “It’s alright I feel very safe now. Boys don’t hurt my baby.” Paul’s snickered at the fact that you still didn’t trust the boys either. After seeing Emily and Sam smiling at your new little bundle of joy, Quil spoke up to claim his turn next.

You looked at him and laughed claiming “Sorry Quil. The new dad in the room gets to decide that one.” The guys groaned together knowing that it would be quite a while before they actually got to hold the baby if ever. Paul pulled you close to him carefully, peppered your face with kisses, and whispered in your ear again about how proud he was of you for all the hard work you put in to give him his little girl. You squeezed his hand and smiled watching Emily with your baby. Finally you felt at home and could rest.

[bigskydreaming]

Something I'm always meaning to talk about more is that my issues with fanon have very little to do with griping about specific characters' fanons, and more just the insidious way fanon....flattens....so much about media interpretation in general.

And the fact that this happens across the board in every aspect of fandoms, in every fandom, and also pervades other modes of thinking.

I'm trying to figure out how to clarify what's so clear in my head but I'm pretty sure doesn't always come across when I'm talking about a lot of this stuff. My issue with the very concept of fanon is that its a misnomer, I think. It inherently calls to mind the idea that this is a fandom specific issue when IMO its an issue with how people interact with pretty much anything that's inherently more nuanced than they wish to engage with, and "fanon" in the sense of specific fandoms is simply where this issue is most easily apparant.

The best starting point I can come up with for what I'm getting at....this tendency to remove dimensionality from conversations in order to render things more formulaic and easily engaged with in a comfortable, familiar pattern that doesn't demand having complex discussions with controversial content.....

Is think about how often in various fandoms, a character with a lot of complicated nuances is stripped of anything controversial, conflicting takes, etc....and flattened to just their most prominent or popular traits. How often in shipping, nuance is lifted out of the character interactions in order to more easily fit the ship into a greater number of tropes, scenarios, or frameworks.

Most anyone who's complained about fanon takes on a fave character gets how frustrating it is to see conversations about them limited or misrepresented by a general fandom tendency to insist on LIMITING characters or ships to just the most popular fanon takes.

Its that LIMITING sense that is the crux of all of this for me.

So often fanon is presented as something that makes a fandom or characters or stories more accessible to a wider audience, more bite-size and easily digested, and part of the appeal of fanon for a lot of people is this by extension guarantees a wider audience for any takes or content that utilizes this fanon than you might be able to garner otherwise.

But there's a cost to that....the reduction in complexity that comes from shaving off all the more intricate edges to a character, ship or source material in order to more easily fit them into assembly line/cookie cutter frames that can be mass distributed.

The exchange for mass audience appeal is there's less depth to how much you can explore a lot of these things before you go beyond the limits of that 'mass popular appeal' framing and get into the complexities that make content come across as too daunting for a newcomer (or casual content-consumer) to see as worth trying to get into.

What I'm trying to get at here is think about how often when getting into something from a fanon-first vantage point, its....eye-opening to realize how much depth was shaved off of a character, storyline or ship in order to "fit it" into that mass audience appeal framework.

How often people who first are exposed to fanon and only get into the fuller canon later express frustration with the realization that so much depth was hidden or outright cast out by fanon. Deliberately so.

Now if you extend this to no longer talking about just fanon in the sense of characters, ships or source material, but fanon in terms of fandom MINDSETS, approaches to different topics in general....

PARTICULARLY any topics deemed controversial or complex....

Its not that different, honestly.

And this is why so much of my frustration with fanon and so much of my frustration with how people talk - or AVOID talking - about controversial fandom elements like racism, various -phobias, rape and abuse topics, etc.....

Its all one and the same to me.

If you can accept that fanon has a blunting effect on how so many characters and ships are talked about, how much they're ABLE or WILLING to be explored by most of their fandom.....

Can it not also, by extension, be considered that fanon - or related mindsets or approaches to engaging with topics in media - SIMILARLY has a blunting effect on how so many controversial topics are talked about, how much THEY'RE able or willing to be explored by various fandoms?

Part of what makes me want to pull out my hair and scream when people just default to confidently dismissing anything I ever have to say about sex-heavy content as skewed or emotionally biased due to me being a survivor who's too consumed by a focus on my own issues with certain things to be able to have sophisticated interactions with "mature, adult topics in fandom spaces" is the entire point of my "I am not remotely in favor of censorship and in fact I'm the one out here begging us all TO talk about all of this more" stance is that I look at so many people confidently talking about their sophisticated understanding of complex expressions of adult sexuality blah blah blah....

And I'm like....where is the complexity. Where is the variation. Where is the spectrum of content.

Just as a for instance....how many people when engaging with dom/sub tropes in fic can say that given how much of this content is out there.....there's a sizable amount of dom/sub content that explores ANY take other than "the appeal of it for characters is any character who is used to having a lot of control outside of the bedroom likes having the chance to explore the flip side of that IN the bedroom" -

like. Is this a valid angle that certainly exists and is worth exploring? Sure! But is it realistically the only angle from which anyone has ever partaken in dom/sub activities or does it not seem plausible that as is the case with a lot of fanon, there has been a mass blunting effect wherein this one particular angle or pattern to this overall topic or trope has been unilaterally applied across SO MUCH content that delves into this trope.....

That a whooooooole lot of other possibilities have just completely fallen by the wayside?

Now apply this to topics like abuse, like incest, like racism, like anything controversial.

And ask the "where are you getting your information" question that so many people have to eventually ask the biggest fanon adherents in pretty much ANY fandom, once they realize how little the most popular fanon takes on major characters and ships actually look like those characters and ships in the canon source material.

If you yourself aren't coming into a particular topic or conversation from a place of lived experience - and yes, with full awareness and admittance that coming into something from a place of personal lived experience still only counts as ONE angle of experience and doesn't mean that there aren't still multiple valid other angles to explore, perhaps even conflicting ones -

Then the question becomes.....how confident can you really be that the "fanon" takes on mass-popularized content that has people going from one fandom to another just in search of more of that specific content rather than to follow specific characters or ships.....

Are any more accurate than most fanon takes on major characters or popular ships?

What nuance is getting dropped and left out of all of these widespread fandom "explorations" of content that quite frankly does not have NEARLY as many actual CONVERSATIONS happening about the actual topics as there logically SHOULD be given how everpresent the topics are in terms of fandom-produced content?

Media exists in part to explore ideas through fiction in ways not possible in real life. Yes, true. I've never and will never say otherwise.

My point has always been and will always be "how much exploration is actually happening if so many of these ideas are flattened to just being the same one or two angles mass-produced for widespread consumption by whatever audience is already primed to receive that content as is, without risk of being put off by exploring these topics down unfamiliar or uncomfortable avenues they aren't prepared or willing to follow a content creator down."

And THIS is why I am so aggro at people constantly derailing my attempts to start conversations by shutting them down from the word "go" with BUT YOU'RE CENSORING ME.

How is the earnest request to TALK ABOUT SHIT MORE - which is literally what actual, genuine criticism IS - an act of censorship? By any stretch of the imagination?

And if you're not actually afraid of censorship - if that's not what these requests for conversation and criticism actually are - then what is it you're actually afraid of?

[thesharktanksdriver]

DMC Netflix rant

K so this isn’t really my usual thing but as someone who recently got into devil may cry and was really looking forwards to the Netflix show I thought I’d air my thoughts on it because I have some opinions. I just wanna say I’m not a longtime fan but a newer one who started playing the games, I started with 5 and finished it and then started getting more into the games from there.

Just wanted to say before it all though this is my opinion and if you disagree that’s completely valid. If you had fun with the show I’m genuinely happy for you! Don’t let my opinion ruin it for you especially if you had a good time!. I don’t want to take something people found legitimate joy in and sully it. If you enjoyed it please move on from this post and enjoy the show. It’s just I have some gripes with it that I want to air out because I have some legitimate issues with it.

With that said spoilers for the show ahead and please do not harass the creators or other people over enjoying this show.

My likes

Animation

I loved the animation. I’d say for the most part it’s smooth and expressive when it needs to. There was some clear love and effort put into this and it shows. After watching the original DMC anime from 2007 and enjoying that but wishing it had a bigger budget, this is what I wanted aesthetic wise at least.

Dante

Personally I love Dante in this! He’s fun and goofy and reminds me of his dmc3 portrayal with him being more younger, cocky and inexperienced. It took a minute to get used to Nero’s voice with him but honestly I think it fits pretty well, like uncle like nephew lol. But genuinely though, Dante was fun and I loved him whenever he was on screen and kept me from dropping the show besides me hate watching it to the end. His ddr section and “who are we shooting at?” Sealed the deal for me.

Enzo

I 100% didn’t expect to love Enzo like I did but i was pleasantly surprised! I haven’t read the dmc novel where he showed up in but I have played bayonetta so I knew him mostly from there. His dynamic with Dante was really interesting, especially since Enzo seemed to genuinely care for Dante in his own way and Dante also cared for him too. He was plain fun and I was actually upset with his death and the callback to how he said he’d take a knife for Dante.

The references

Admittedly I’m a sucker for references but I really found it fun seeing Lucia. The references I didn’t expect but loved even more though were the capcom references! The raccoon city mention, the megaman statue, street fighter arcade machine etc. I wasn’t really expecting references to other capcom materials but I was super happy they got thrown in.

The white rabbit

A genuinely great villain! I was really intrigued he got picked as the main bad guy after seeing he was a throw off baddie from the dmc3 manga. Through the show he was an interesting and captivating through and through. At some points I even rooted for him. I have one grip with him but besides that he was a solid character for me.

The soundtrack

Solid soundtrack, I’m a bit nostalgic for 2000’s and 90’s music like green day, limp bizkit, etc because of my dad playing it when I was younger lol. Solid, and I enjoyed most of the song picks for it.

My dislikes

The cg

Oh god why did they do this???? The animation was great why did they go this route? Listen I get them having a budget and a deadline but it just doesn’t look good. It feels so jarring especially when you have the pretty 2d character beside the ugly cg demon, it also makes fights kinda nauseating to me at least.

Not knowing until now if it was canon or non-canon

This might just be me thing but I’m not sure if anywhere they explicitly said if this was going to be non-canon. This isn’t a big deal but it would’ve been nice to be told beforehand especially since for a month I lowkey thought that this was a canon entry before jumping into the show and realizing it wasn’t, being ok with that and it being a new portrayal and then seeing the rest of the show lol.

The Sparda was wrong thing

Ok so I don’t really get why their doing this especially when their making it seem like his decision was monstrous? Because if Sparda didn’t do that then humanity was gonna be screwed. And like I get what they’re trying to say but making it seem like a selfish decision feels like a big fuck you to sparda’s entire character. He went against mundis and everything he was taught up to that point to do the right thing even at his own expense. He loved humanity and was willing to sacrifice his standing and everything he had to potentially gain with staying at mundis’s side to ensure its survival. Something he’d continue to do when he went to form fortuna and help the protectors. That’s not even mentioning him meeting Eva and having Dante and Vergil, shedding his demonic form to be a father and husband. Though it’s not known in canon as to how exactly he died or when he seemingly disappeared it’s safe to say that with everything known about him he disappeared to save humanity and probably died in the end. So to say his decision is ultimately selfish and that Dante needs to fix the mistakes of his dad is really just…what?? And like I know it’s the rabbit saying this so it’s biased but still. Suddenly framing Sparda as wrong and selfish just feels really weird and kinda shitty.

Dante not knowing he’s part demon

I feel like this takes away from Dante’s character quite a bit. I’d say that a theme through the entire series is Dante’s struggle with his humanity and his in-humanity. I mean the entire song of “devils never cry” that’s in the end credits is about this. It’s also the reason why at least to me in the games seems to try and push people away . So it just feels weird? I think they were trying to explode that revelation in the show but it didn’t really feel like it. And like come on, you’re saying he seriously didn’t know when he was shot point blank in the chest with a shot gun and has superhuman senses and speed? Dante isn’t dumb, and it’s kinda insulting to his characters that they’re trying to make it seem like he genuinely is dumb if he hadn’t clocked that in.

The side characters

Besides Enzo, Dante and the rabbit mom of the other characters besides lady (I’ll get to her later) and maybe the vice president had any impact or interest from me. The minute I saw lady’s crew I immediately knew they were gonna die and I did not care for any of them to remotely feel anything. The only side characters I felt bad for were the demon refugees killed in the apartment complex and flashback scene

How they butchered lady

Quite honestly I don’t give a shit how people are upset lady was able to beat Dante, I couldn’t care less about that when her character was in my opinion butchered to meat clinging to a carcass. She’s so genuinely unlikable it makes me upset because I love dmc3 lady so much. Through the show I couldn’t give a shit about her when she was such an ass in such unredeemable circumstances. Like the fact she was lowkey being racist to Dante. And in some ways I get it, new version of her, and in dmc3 she was antagonistic to Dante there as well. But I think there’s a big difference there and it’s timing and action. In dmc3 she just lost her mom and wants revenge on her dad that nothing else matters, Dante is in her way and a nuisance in that goal that she lashes out until they have their genuine moments. Yes, she hates demons but her mother just died and now this guy who is clearly not human is in her way of killing her father. In the show though her dad turning into a demon and killing her mom happened years ago, and yes that hate hardened as years went on but I’d say her dmc3 portrayal makes her more sympathetic, she’s grieving and she’s a teenager. That brings me back to the show though and her decisions, specifically the fact that she killed a shit Tom of refugees (admittedly the situation was shit but how am I supposed to like her after that) and after learning that demons can be good along with how the government doesn’t value her or their people she decides to stab Dante in the back and hand him in to become a super solider. Honestly it feels like such a disservice to her character especially with her and Dante’s ending conversation of dmc3 of “devils don’t cry” once again cementing Dante’s inner struggle with being part demon and her responding (after disliking him most of the game up until now) saying “ I see. Maybe somewhere out there even a devil may cry when he loses a loved one. Don't you think?” Basically showing how she acknowledges his humanity. They’re probably leading up to a lady redemption arc but honestly I don’t care. They’ve made her almost unredeemable to me and it’s gonna take a lot of heavy lifting for her to ever be likeable in my eyes….and this isn’t even mentioning her constant swearing like the show is trying to remind you it’s a mature show-

The rushed pacing

Yet another thing that I can understand but I can’t help but feel as if nothing and then everything happened all at once. Like all the plot went from was catching Dante - plane scene - apartment complex - flashback episode - finale.

The villain was just some guy

Ok this is a smaller point but like, what do you mean the white rabbit was just some dude. I don’t think we even learned his name which I guess doesn’t matter but still. Couldn’t have had some more build up? Or maybe just made him full demon? If the rabbit head is a mask why is it so expressive?? I guess the blood transfusion stuff explains his abilities but making him full demon could’ve just been the easier option.

Plot holes that could have been fixed

Normally I wouldn’t really care for plot holes but there were some that felt really apparent to me. Like the government and that scientist just learned about demon’s existing but suddenly their already understanding demon magic and figuring out how the Sparda sword works? They could’ve just made it so that they’ve been aware of demons but kept it as a secret to not cause widespread panic. That would’ve made them suddenly understanding demons and the demon world a lot more reasonable. Idk it just feels like such an easy fix that would’ve made the world building a lot more realistic especially considering darkcore or whatever it’s called being a pre-existing entity up till this point. Another thing, I guess this wouldn’t be a plot hole but when is this set??? It has 90/00’s music along with I think a few background characters using old flip/brick phones but they have futuristic weaponry. It’s just a bit jarring in my opinion I guess.

Vergil

Admittedly I’m not the biggest Vergil fan but wtf. You make him a WILLING servant of Mundus??? And that was hill nelo Angelo form?? Huh????? You’re telling me the guy with such astronomically bad mommy issues joins the guy who murdered his beloved mom in cold blood joins him????. This undoes so much of his character, not even to mention it seems like they’re doing the whole jealous twin thing in that flashback sequence which misinterprets a lot of his feelings. He wasn’t upset because she gave Dante an amulet before him be was upset because he thought she chose Dante over him and left him to fucking die. Visions of v pretty much explains everything with “I also wanted to be protected”. That’s not even mentioning how being nelo Angelo mentally fucked with him for years, giving him permanent trauma he purged from himself and woudl lead up to dmc5 and how desperate he is for power. Him being Nelo Angelo unwillingly I’d say is a big plot point for him and making him willing undoes a lot. Just boiling him down to “jealous mom liked Dante more” and willing working with mundus undoes so much of his character. Maybe they’ll explain it, but until then he’s on my dislike list for how they portrayed him so far.

Politics

Firstly as a disclaimer I’m not American, I’m Canadian so maybe take this with a small pinch of salt especially with international relations right now. But uh, I find it a bit weird how the creator Adi Shankar was at the trump inauguration and made the vice president villain look like Biden? And then make a whole thing about government bad, we need to save refugees and bombing hell to colonize for resources when considering what said president he was partying with is doing now??? Idk, I’m not educated enough in American politics to understand everything but personally I find it kinda hypocritical he’s making this commentary while he’s in a certain someone’s pocket.

Overall I’m just disappointed. I’m not really sure what else to say. I was really looking forward to the anime and I’m really let down. I guess that’s my fault for putting faith into something but it just kinda sucks to have your hopes dashed especially after good adaptations like castlevania. If you’ve read this far thanks for reading my rant, feel free to share your opinion as well.

[westenmanor]

BEWARE the new Equiliberty (EQL) Discord

I've decided we're not staying quiet and professional about this afterall

Hello again friends!

I have very important things to touch upon...once again. Sigh.

Now any of you who know me, know that I HATE drama with a burning passion. I have done my best to stay out of anything that has been happening these past couple of years regarding CC creators and the like. I stay in my lane, I upload my stuff, and I keep moving.

HOWEVER, I would like to bring to light some of the things the head admin of the NEW Equiliberty Izel/Rose/Rosentine (not to be confused with Cath/Jocelyn who is in fact innocent in all of the following proceedings) along with Rose's partner HiredIT/Inky/Inscripted have said about the former staff team consisting of myself, Mark and Elsa. For those who need context, please see This Post: Moving Discord Servers.

Firstly, though, I must touch on Rose's general way of running EQL. Rose would often be absent for months at a time, leaving the rest of the team (consisting of myself, Mark, Elsa and Joc) to run the server, make changes, garner activity and the like. We did what we could, but oftentimes were lacking necessary permissions to effectively keep things running smoothly, especially towards the "end". When Rosentine/Izel would come back, things were immediately thrown to chaos for the rest of us. She would implement ideas and things without consulting the rest of the staff team, ultimately leading to the view that she was "above" the rest of us as the server creator/owner.

Occasionally, her partner, HiredIT/Inscripted, would join the server to help with technical issues and bot permissions. Initially, things were fine with that. The bot they had coded was running smoothly, everything was great. Until it wasn't. Over time, the bot started to degrade and cause more issues than not. Being that it was used for every part of the server, from verifying to downloading, this was a major blow. People could not verify they were "human" to access the server, and would message me in great confusion, wondering what the issue was. I would then have to go in and manually change roles to give them access. This was tedious and time consuming. I have many more gripes with how Rosentine chose to run the server, but those are personal and I would like to keep this to things that I have evidence for, rather than just a long winded rant.

BUT THAT'S NOT THE REASON I SAID BEWARE.

The reason I said so is because Rosentine is currently rebuilding the server in light of her/her partner's own views, which are very much Transphobic, hateful, and bigoted.

NOW I KNOW, a lot of you like to say that Cath/Joc is the hateful one, but I urge you to rethink those views and instead focus your anger on someone who has made their stance on the matter of politics and LGBTQIA+ very clear.

This specifically brings focus on one of EQL's former mods, Mark. Now Mark has always been one to challenge what Rose said in a respectful way. He would bring up good points, play devil's advocate where necessary, and challenge the rest of the team to think about different perspectives and aspects of a problem. That doesn't make him wrong. Rosentine and her partner, Inscripted, decided that because they deemed Mark "untrustworthy" for "challenging authority", that it was appropriate to intentionally misgender him, referring to him only as "she" and "female" despite multiple times Joc stood up and told them that Mark was a dude/male.

Honestly, I feel as if these images speak for themselves with no further context needed. The point remains, that if someone tells you who/what they are, you respect that.

I wish that was all, though. Unfortunately Rosentine and Inscripted spread their beliefs on the "mentally ill" and transgender communities far more broadly.

Inscripted called everyone who suffers from mental illness "unsafe" "insane" and "overgrown babies". Stating that "everything they don't like is dangerous."

He also went so far as to call transgender people "retarded", a word I strongly despise for many reasons.

To top all of this off, Inscripted called me, personally, untrustworthy because of a post that I made on BlueSky regarding USA Politics.

Spoiler alert: I'll tell you to get bent, JUST AS I DID PUBLCLY AND WILL DO SO AGAIN AND AGAIN.

Given how inclusive and diverse the sims community is, I doubt any of you actually want to be a part of this server given their new beliefs and alignments.

The only reason I stayed apart of EQL for the past two years was because I was loyal to Joc, Mark, and Elsa, along with the community we all worked so hard to build. Now, that's gone. Completely erased and replaced with new staff members and new morals. Ones that I do not personally agree with.

Come to your own conclusions as you may, but I've provided all the proof I can.

Love your faces as always, please stay safe out there.

-Cat

[gracexthoughts]

Okay, I have a lot of thoughts about the Percy Jackson show and the discourse I have been seeing about it. This is going to be long and possibly all over the place but I just want to share. If you disagree, that’s fine. Just don’t hate because you have a different opinion. Deal?

I want to start this by saying I am a new fan. I did not read the PJO books when I was a kid. I watched the first two episodes when they came out in Dec purely out of curiosity and was just immediately in love with the world. So in true ADHD hyperfixation fashion, I devoured Percy Jackson and the Olympians and Heroes of Olympus books and I am currently on Book 1 of Trials of Apollo. And maybe it's because I am a newer fan but a lot of the gripes I see about PJOTV just don’t make sense to me and I feel like they really are just rooted in nostalgia. Watching the show and all the interviews of the cast and crew, it is clear to me they wrote this season with the intention and hope that they would get to make all 5 seasons, and possibly even further. I can see how all the changes make sense when looking at the narrative as a whole. They are really setting up this world and this story in a way that I think lends more to the future of this narrative better than The Lighting Thief book does.

I also want to say I have yet to find a book to screen adaptation that is beat for beat accurate. So much of what works in novels, especially novels told in first person, just does not translate to third person screen adaptations. Ultimately, literature and film/TV are art forms and what works for one may not work for another and the creators are allowed to make changes, especially when it is for the overall good of the product.

To start, the exposition dumping didn’t really bother me that much although I agree it is there and noticeable. Now, I watched the first two episodes before reading the books but after reading the books, I think the exposition is just as noticeable in the books as it is in the show. Percy walks into this world without knowing or believing in any of it. In the book, he learns about this world through the people around him explaining it in dialogue. It is just condensed a little more in the show which makes it feel a little heavier. Nonetheless, fantasy tends to have a lot of exposition because there are a lot of things you as a reader/ viewer need to know at the start of the story. It is part of the nature of the genre, especially when it is intended for a younger audience. Exposition that seems clunky to an older viewer is probably not going to feel the same way to a younger audience member (which is the target audience).

The biggest complaint I see, and disagree with, is that the kids are “too smart which ruins the suspense.” Annabeth has been at camp since she was 7 and it is clear, both in the books and the show, she is determined to prove that she is strong and capable and intelligent. She has been training to go out on a quest since she was 7 years old. Annabeth would have been studying these monsters and these myths so of course she can figure out the traps. They aren’t that hard to figure out, even for someone who isn’t super knowledgeable about Greek mythology.

Grover’s job is a protector of demigods. It makes sense he knows these myths like the back of his hand. I imagine that after Thalia, Grover would have studied and worked so hard to prove he was ready for another chance. Grover in the books also fell a little flat in The Lighting Thief to me because it seemed like most of his personality was just to be scared and funny until later books. I love what they did with Grover in the show because he feels like an actual character with his own goals, intelligence, trauma and authority.

Now onto Percy… I have so many thoughts about Show Percy so bear with me.

While I was reading the books, I was confused as to why Sally didn’t teach Percy about Greek mythology. Book Sally seemed to just hope Percy being attacked by monsters and going to camp isn’t going to happen or just assumes that when it does happen, Percy will figure it out. Sally always knew what would happen to her son, at least to some extent, so why wouldn’t she do everything in her power to prepare her son for this life she knows is inevitable? I loved the addition of her teaching Percy about Greek Mythology and Ancient Greek because it makes so much sense because I never saw her as a just “sit back and wait” kind of character. Percy is her son, her baby, her miracle. She is terrified for him (which we see in EP 7 in the flashbacks) and, to me, it makes sense she would do everything in her mortal power to prepare him in a way that doesn’t scare him or reveal to him who he actually is. (It is also such a beautiful call back to Rick telling his son these stories as a kid, like I just think that is beautiful).

While on the subject of Ancient Greek, I saw someone complain how Percy doesn’t inherently know Ancient Greek in the Olympus scene in EP 8. “Poseidon and Zeus looked at each other. They had a quick, intense discussion in Ancient Greek. I only caught one word. Father.” - The Lightning Thief, page 343. This moment was literally pulled straight from the book! Percy talks about Annabeth tutoring him in Ancient Greek in the book (The Lighting Thief, page 107) and I loved how the show changed it to be his mom that taught him because of the previous reasons I gave above.

In general, Percy is an unreliable narrator. We see that in The Last Olympian when Rachel painted him defeating Antaeus. Percy is shocked at how he looks. We also see this in Heroes of Olympus where he is constantly talked about as this powerful and sometimes scary person whereas Percy never describes himself as anything other than kind of mediocre. Percy is constantly underestimating his intelligence and power in his POV because at his core he is still an insecure kid who was bullied and uses humor as a defense mechanism. But no matter what he thinks, he is smart and powerful and capable and I love that we get to see that in the show because it isn’t in first person.

In the books I was constantly frustrated that they weren’t seeing the traps. Aunty Em’s is so clearly out of place and weird and creepy but the Book Trio just ignores it? Also the Medusa story change was beautiful and needed and added so much depth to what was a very simple scene in the books. The Crusty’s scene was jarring at first, but in hindsight it didn't bother me either because Hermes told them about the entrance. Why wouldn’t he tell them about the trap too? The way Hermes is portrayed, I get the sense that he really wants Percy to succeed, in the books and show, and that he is holding onto hope that somehow, someway, he can still save his son. Why would he send them somewhere just to lead them into a trap that does not benefit Hermes in any way? (And us not seeing that conversation happen is showing and not telling BTW)

Also, the overall claim that Percy, Annabeth and Grover know everything is just… wrong. (@pareiwheeler made a post about this that really made me realize this so go read their post too: https://www.tumblr.com/pareiwheeler/740600563986808832/theres-know-mystery-or-suspense-they-know) They know the small things but the big things? They didn’t think Luke was the thief, they didn't know it was Kronos, they didn’t know they would lose the fourth pearl, they didn’t know the casino would mess with time, they didn’t know the shoes were a trap, etc etc. They walk into these situations thinking they are prepared, thinking they know everything they need to but they DON’T And that is where the suspense lies, in the overarching storyline that is the driving force of the plot. Not in these moment to moment scenes that are not the main conflict.

Now onto the smaller changes that, in my opinion, benefit the overall narrative of this story.

Missing the solstice deadline: Not only is Percy choosing to continue the quest despite missing the deadline such a great character moment for him but this ups the stakes so much!! Zeus and Poseidon are currently at war for the last two episodes of the show and even if they don’t talk about it much, that knowledge is still there in the characters' heads and in the viewers’. Every moment they take in the Underworld, you are watching with the knowledge that war is raging above. And it's a great way to show the kind of hero Percy is and what he will become. Percy doesn’t care he “failed” because he didn’t come all this way just to run back to camp with his tail tucked between his legs because that is not Percy. Percy sneaks out of camp twice to go on quests he was not invited on because he will not let someone’s rules get in his way while he is protecting people he cares about. Percy doesn’t want war to happen so with even the slightest chance he can stop Zeus and Poseidon, he takes it! Also the addition of Poseidon stepping in and saving Percy from Zeus was beautiful.

I also loved that Poseidon gave them 4 pearls instead of 3 because such a small detail shows how Poseidon cares about Percy and Sally. And, plot wise, it didn’t change anything. Percy still left the Underworld without his mom. But starting with 4 pearls gives them hope that they actually can complete the quest AND save Sally. Percy leaving the Underworld without Sally is so much more impactful in the show than the books because of this tiny detail change.

The fact that the pearls take them to the east coast rather than the west coast works well too. I loved that they returned to the cabin because of how important that cabin is not only to Percy and Sally but also to Poseidon.

Hermes being added to the Lotus Casino and bringing in Luke’s background earlier on was beautiful and Lin Manuel Miranda’s performance was one of the standouts for me. It is such a beautiful moment and you can see the anguish in Hermes at his feeling powerless and I think it sets up Percy learning about Luke’s family in The Last Olympian in a great way. This is one of those moments where you can tell the writers and showrunners are playing the long game with this series.

Last but not least, the change in the betrayal scene. I love it. I do. Not only in the changes in the way it happens but how they characterized Luke. Luke clearly does not want to hurt Percy, he wants Percy to help him and to come with Luke because he cares about him. The prophecy states “You shall be betrayed by one who calls you a friend” and Luke in the book didn’t really seem to care about Percy or view him as a friend at the end of it. But Show Luke? He cares about Percy and he is heartbroken that Percy doesn’t side with him. Also the addition of Annabeth hearing Luke’s betrayal first hand was brilliant, in my opinion. Not only were Walker, Charlie and Leah ACTING but it was so much more impactful that Annabeth sees Luke turn and chooses Percy in that moment. And I don’t think it will change much of Annabeth’s actions in the future because you can see how hurt she is and how desperately she still wants him to come back and be good.

Anyway, I think the show is brilliantly done. That isn’t to say it doesn’t have its faults but nothing is perfect and if you were expecting this show to be 100% perfect then I think you just set your expectations too high because that is not realistic.

If you made it to the end of this, I love you. The Percy Jackson brain rot is real and if we don’t get an S2 announcement soon I’m going to riot