#I believe that this is actually canon and just happens off screen in season 5 when everyone is alive and well

[steddieas-shegoes]

Something wasn’t right with the consistency of the batter.

Eddie had triple checked the recipe on the notecard in front of him and it was still wrong.

He tried not to cry out of frustration, but his eyes were stinging and he felt a lump in his throat anyways.

He was in charge of this one tiny thing for Steve’s surprise birthday party. It’s literally all he was asked to do: bake the cake.

He’d gotten the recipe for Steve’s favorite from Claudia at his own insistence that he could definitely handle it and it couldn’t be that hard.

Apparently he couldn’t and it was.

The batter was extremely water-y, definitely not thick like the recipe said it should be. It also was more of a tan color than a brown color, but that wasn’t even something Eddie could be worried about right now.

He was supposed to be done with it 20 minutes ago. Steve would be home from work in 30, and there was no way this would be baked and hidden and cleaned up in that time.

He’d fucked everything up.

What a surprise.

He poured the batter into the cake pan, resisting the urge to just pour it in the trash.

He had to see this through even if it did end up being the failure he expected it to be.

He’d call Claudia while Steve was in the shower if he had to; She was already prepared to help if needed.

He put the cake in the oven and waited.

He watched the timer slowly click down and the clock slowly approach the time Steve would be walking in the door.

He could always just say he wanted to try a new hobby. Steve always said he needed a hobby just for him to do alone. All his hobbies usually involved the kids or his band.

Baking could be a hobby. Probably not though since he couldn’t even get cake batter right.

He was startled by the front door opening.

Fuck.

“You’re early!” Eddie yelled as he tried to hide the recipe card, as if the rest of the mess wouldn’t give away exactly what he was doing.

“Yeah. Robin didn’t need a ride tonight.”

Steve’s voice was closer to the kitchen with every word he spoke and Eddie was going through either a panic attack or an aneurysm.

Maybe both?

And then Steve was standing in the kitchen, hands on his hips, suspicion written clear across his face.

“Hey, sweetheart.”

Yeah, that’s good. Act normal. Greet him like you always do. There’s definitely nothing baking in the oven. There’s no dirty dishes in the sink and on the counter and…is that a mixing spoon on the floor? God, he’s a mess.

“What’s going on?”

“Nothing.”

Steve snorted, amusement taking over instead of suspicion.

“Okay, but this looks like a big mess for nothing.”

Eddie watched as Steve walked behind the counter and took in the rest of the mess.

Dustin and Robin would be so pissed at him for ruining the surprise.

“Just felt like trying my hand at something new.”

“Uh huh. And that something new involves making every dish in the kitchen dirty?”

“It was a test.”

“A test.”

“Yeah. Just making sure everything works.”

Steve nodded once and then turned to Eddie with a smirk.

“Did you make me a birthday cake for my surprise party?”

Eddie’s jaw dropped. How the fuck did he know about the party?

“What do you mean?”

“The surprise party that I definitely don’t know anything about but is taking place tomorrow at the Henderson home. I’m assuming this is what you’re in charge of.”

“How did you find out? I was so careful. God, Dustin’s gonna kill me. Robin’s gonna kill me a second, bloodier time. I couldn’t make the cake right, I couldn’t keep anything a secret, now the surprise is ruined and-“

Eddie was cut off by soft lips on his.

When Steve pulled away, he was smiling.

“I love you.”

“I love you too?”

“You didn’t ruin the surprise at all. Dustin did three days ago. He doesn’t know he did though, so please don’t tell him.”

“What?! That shithead threatened my LIFE.”

“I figured.”

“Well, the cake isn’t gonna be right anyways. I fucked it up.”

“Did you add flour?”

Eddie looked at the counter where all of his ingredients were still scattered.

“Uh. Is flour one of those?” He pointed at the sugar and powdered sugar containers.

Steve looked at them, then back at Eddie, then at the oven.

“Let’s get that one out and start over.”

“I knew it! I knew it wasn’t gonna be right! I’m so fucking stupid. I swear to you I followed the recipe perfectly!”

“Baby, it’s okay. It’s just a cake. You did kinda miss the most important part, but we can make a new one.”

“You can’t make your own cake! It’s a surprise party!”

Steve chuckled. “It’s not a surprise anymore. And it’ll be fun.”

It would be fun to see Steve in an apron, mixing ingredients together, getting flour on his nose.

Hm.

“Fine. But if anyone asks, I got it right the first time, and Claudia is in charge next year.”

“Deal.”

Steve sealed it with a kiss, and quickly started washing the dishes.

Their cake turned out perfect and Dustin was so impressed that Eddie not only managed to keep the party a secret, but also make a perfect cake, he told him he could be in charge of next year’s party altogether.

Eddie smirked but went along with it.

Steve never had a surprise party again. Eddie got his help making the cake every year.

[lemotmo]

💙💙💙 love love love. Please tell me you were the mutual she asked??

Q. I know we're all excited about 911 finally going there with Eddie and Buck but what do you think are actual realistic ways they can do that? In your opinion what's a believable way the show can give Eddie his oh moment? What's a realistic show way they can have their confession to one another? I cannot seem to settle on what I think are truly realistic expectations.

A. Full disclosure I struggled answering this, lol. Not because I couldn't think of ways the show could accomplish both of these things but because every scenario I came up with felt too fanfic. I mentioned it to my friend and he agreed basically saying I've clearly been reading too much fanfic, haha. But then I mentioned it to a mutual, and she said something that should have been obvious to me but truly didn't even occur to me. She said it's been 7 years in the making there's not really anything they can do at this point that hasn't happened in fanfic already. She's absolutely correct. I don't think 'realistic' expectations are necessary. Personally I like the idea of Eddie's OH moment occurring while he's in Texas with Buck nowhere around. On a momentary side note, I'm stunned by the number of people who truly don't think Eddie will go to Texas because I absolutely believe he's going and I think he'll be there for at least a couple of episodes. There are things Eddie needs to do in Texas. Conversations and forward movement between him and Christopher, that movement cannot happen off screen or over zoom. They have to film it. The audience has to see it. Eddie also needs to confront his parents on some level. At some point the show has to have characters be held accountable and face deserved consequences for their canon behavior. Completely ignoring Gerard's and Tommy's past problematic behavior in favor of quick and easy write-offs cannot be repeated with the Diaz parents. Eddie has earned that confrontation and frankly his character needs it in order for him to fully move forward.

Okay back to your question, my apologies for the sidetracked thought. The show was clearly mirroring season 5 to some degree in 8a. I see that continuing in 8b at least in some capacity. They cannot just do another shooting arc for Eddie so having him return to Texas, which is absolutely a regression for him, is another way to tear him down to the studs emotionally and mentally without physically tearing him apart again. I think most of us believe he's over corrected his Kim mistake by allowing Christopher to run away to Texas and avoid things instead of dealing with things, but it makes character sense for Eddie that he would allow Chris to do that. Most parents would tell their kid that they can be mad at them from home but Eddie didn't do that. He let Christopher decide for himself what he wanted to do. He gave Christopher the voice and choice his parents never gave him. Eddie's parents never asked him what he wanted or how he felt about anything. His opinions, his feelings and his own wishes were never given consideration when he was growing up. He was told what to do, when to do it and how to do it. Eddie doesn't know how to want things for himself. He doesn't know how to ask for them. He really doesn't even know who he fully is as a person. He has spent his entire life reacting to what life threw at him. He's never had many choices for himself. His parents, the church, fatherhood at a young age, military and then the fire academy. Eddie reacts to orders and circumstances. He doesn't make choices. The one choice he made for himself was choosing to move to L.A. Having him 'move' back to Texas means undoing the one choice Eddie has ever made for himself. It's the perfect way to get him to his OH moment. Dealing with his parents and the reminder of how he's never been good enough for them. The conversations he and Chris will need to have in order to mend what Eddie never meant to damage (there is an entire argument to be made that Kim is really the villain here because Eddie never invited her to his home and never asked her to act like Shannon but that's a separate post). Doing all of that without the constant comforting, reassuring presence of Buck will probably be eye opening for Eddie. Buck is the one person in his life who is always on his side. Buck always has his back. I like the idea of Eddie just being emotionally exhausted and realizing he would give anything to just be able to talk Buck in that moment because Buck would make him feel better just by being there. I don't think it would require much else for Eddie to get there at that point. A little montage or moment of Eddie realizing all the times he has actively chosen Buck, without even knowing it, and all the times Buck has been there for Eddie without him even needing to ask him. Eddie's moment coming like that seems fitting for him. I also like the idea of Buck having a little spiral once he realizes the full extent of his feelings but Eddie having a moment of relief when he realizes his feelings. A deep exhale of a breath he didn't even realize he had been holding his entire life. A realization that without even trying they have chosen each other time and time again. A new found clarity that his past relationships never felt fully right not because something was broken in him but because he was missing this piece of information about himself. They made a family and it wasn't hard. It wasn't difficult for them. It happened so effortlessly because it's what's right and meant to be for them and him. Then Eddie having a moment of actively, and purposely choosing Buck and their life and family of 3, and the rest of the 118 by extension, in L.A. That's what I want for Eddie.

The Buck and Eddie love confession is where I'm not sure Tim would be able to resist the big dramatic moment. Eddie and Chris back in L.A. and Eddie back with the 118. Neither he or Buck have told the other how they feel yet though. I can see them being on a call and maybe one of them gets trapped and they can't get to him immediately so he believes he's going to die and maybe just starts talking into his radio needing to say it before he dies. The one on the outside immediately knows what's happening and says 'no not like this and not here. You wait until we get to you and you tell me in person'. That way the audience knows what's coming but it allows Buck and Eddie to have the actual moment and confession between just the two of them at Eddie's house. On the couch or in the kitchen. I just really want their first kiss to be in one of those spots. But the truth is, for me anyway, there's no wrong way for them to do it. There is also no way to do it that will please everyone. Whatever way they choose will be fine with me. I will be sat, I will be giddy, I will be emotional and I will be flying. Just give it to me, please.

Thank you Nonny! Much appreciated! We can all use some Buddie distraction on a truly blue Monday like this one.

First of all... Was I the person she talked to? 😋

Well yeah. 🙂‍↕️

My exact words were:

"The problem is that the slowburn has been slowburning so long now that all of the possible 'confession' and 'first kiss' scenarios have been written over and over again. So no matter what the show comes up with, it will always feel a little fanficcy because of that."

I still stand by that. No matter how they will pull this off, somewhere someone will have already written it down in a fanfic. 🤷‍♀️ Not that I would mind one single bit. This fandom has the best writers.

And I've said it before and I'll say it again: I truly don't care how they'll pull Buddie off. I'll be happy no matter what. I'll scream, cry and go a little insane though, I admit it. 🤣

I like all of Ali's ideas on how they might come to their realisations and what the confession moment might look like. I agree with so much of it.

I'm also 100% sure that Buddie IS happening and that Eddie IS going to El Paso. He'll be there for a few episodes, no doubt about it. It's like Ali said, he needs his moment to shine. And I'll love every second of it, because I truly believe that Eddie deserves his happiness, but as long as he keeps denying himself 'joy', he'll never get that happiness.

He needs to break free from the shackles of other people's expectations and only then will he be able to pursue what he truly wants: happiness and joy, no matter what it looks like. And I believe that, in Eddie's case, it looks like his son at home in LA and embracing his romantic feelings for his best friend Buck.

I can't wait for the show to come back in March. I've missed my dysfunctional found family of firefighters so much. 🤗

Heads up! For anyone who is giving me the shifty eyes for reposting Ali's updates instead of reblogging. Read this.

Remember, no hate in comments, reblogs or inboxes. Let's keep it civil and respectful. Thank you.

If you are interested in more of Ali’s posts, you can find all of her posts so far under the tag: anonymous blog I love.

[coraniaid]

Top five btvs headcannons?

Hmm. Lots of options to choose from, but let's go with:

Of all the deaths we see on the show that the characters are weirdly blase about and never talk about again (which is most of them) the one I feel should matter most is Kendra's. The writers very obviously don't care about Kendra at all (in a way that makes me pretty angry if I think about it for long) but, at the same, the only way I can reconcile my idea of Who Buffy Is As A Person with the events of the post-Becoming seasons is to try to persuade myself that Buffy is thinking about Kendra a lot of the time, and that this meaningfully affects her relationship with Faith in Season 3 (and, for that matter, with Dawn in Season 5 and the Potentials in Season 7 too). Because, yes, Faith represents a lot of Buffy's own supressed thoughts and desires, and yes, there are lots of parallels in Season 3 between Faith and Angel. But the very fact Faith exists as a Slayer at all should be enough to remind Buffy of the Slayer who was called after her and died before her. How could that not bleed into her relationship with Faith as a person? How can Buffy not look at Faith and be constantly thinking of the Slayer she failed to save? (According to the show's writers, the answer is: very, very easily.[1])

Sort of a meta-headcanon (a headcanon schema?), but: as far as possible, I like to believe that the Buffy characters who are meant to be friends might actually talk to each other sometimes. And when we don't see various personal conflicts get resolved on screen, yet everything seems back to normal later (especially between seasons), I tend to assume they just talked things through a bit off-camera. Probably Buffy and Xander had a conversation after Dead Man's Party which involved him offering a grovelling apology, which is why they're still on speaking terms later that season. Probably Joyce and Buffy actually talked a bit about her being the Slayer before Faith, Hope & Trick, so that Joyce's claim to have "tried to march in the Slayer Pride Parade isn't as absurd as it seems to be on the face of it". Probably Giles and Buffy talked about the Cruciamentum a bit after Helpless, which is why she's forgiven him by the time the next episode starts and she never brings his role up in it again. In particular, this is why I kind of hate the reveal in Season 7's Selfless that Xander never admitted to his Lie in Becoming, and that Buffy just spent the last five years thinking Willow decided to try to cast the spell to restore Angel's soul again without asking Buffy's permission or giving her any warning she was about to try it beyond "kick his ass".

There really isn't any evidence for it in canon and I suspect it's ultimately purely the invention of one of the early 2000s Fuffy writers, but I really like the popular fanfiction conceit that there is some sort of mystical connection between Slayers which (in a way that varies a little depending on the writer) gives them some additional awareness of the other Slayer's presence or emotional state. Not just because I'm enough of a sap to think that that's kind of romantic (although I am and I do), but because it's a nice way to explain away some slightly contrived bits of plotting in the show (all three Slayers have a way of finding each other very quickly when the plot requires it). In the same spirit, though with perhaps a little more evidence in canon, I like the idea that Buffy and Faith's shared dreams don't just happen when we see them, but have basically been going on ever since Faith arrived in Sunnydale (or at least since Faith's coma). Also, relatedly, I still like this headcanon I posted last month.

Sort of an anti-headcanon in some ways, but I refuse to accept that Buffy's memory of trying to tell her parents about vampires back in LA -- and being briefly institutionalized as a result -- (which was revealed/retconned in Season 6's Normal Again) is real. I think that (whatever the show claims) it had to have been a false memory implanted by the same demon that was giving her visions of still being there. Say what you like about whether or not the Joyce we see on the show was a good parent, but this is just blatant character assassination of the worst sort. It completely changes how we have to see Buffy's relationship with her mother and makes several scenes and outright plot points absurd (even if Joyce is the sort of monster who could forget about having her doctor locked up, even after learning that actually Buffy was always telling the truth, why would a Buffy who had been through that still keep a diary in the house she shares with her mother where she talked about the supernatural or prominently put up crucifixes in her house or make jokes about 'saving the world from vampires' when her mother asked her what she was thinking? why would she care about her mother's opinion of her at all? why would she wait until Season 2 to run away from home, and why would she ever come back?). Taken seriously, this just totally undermines a major part of Buffy's character and one of the most important relationships in her life. And for what? A stupid "maybe this is all a dream?" ending to the episode that means nothing and never goes anywhere. No, fuck that. Didn't happen and I simply refuse to believe it did. (I also strongly dislike the idea that it's a false memory caused by Dawn's presence; Dawn doesn't deserve to be blamed for that and her existence isn't meant to have had that big of an impact on the world.)

[1] Actually if I'm being totally honest I suspect that if you polled most of the show's writers with this question the answer you'd get back would be "who's Kendra?"

[galaxythreads]

I've seen so many posts talking about all the bad things about s2 of Loki, so things that ARE good about season 2 so far:

The mystery of episode 1 was, once you got into it, really compelling and sucked you into it

the pacing is much better in s2 than it was in s1

We're at the midway point and thus far Sylvie has barely had 5 minutes of screen time. She's not taking over the story. She's barely in the story. And though I do want to see her story come to a satisfying conclusion, it's been nice to not have her overpower the narrative

What wasn't working with Mobius and Loki in s1 IS working in s2. In s1 I couldn't believe they were friends if you forced me to, in S2 it is clear that they actually care about each other

The TVA is a lot more gray than it was in s1. In season 1 they tried really hard to make it Secretly We're the Victims, but in s2 they're adding a lot more nuance to what's going on

The cinematography has been amazing

The soundtrack of s2 is really good as well

Loki has been much more in character of OG loki than he was in s1. He doesn't fidget as much, he's not dismissive of things, he seems a lot more assure of himself in s2 than he did in s1. Like he's not constantly trying to prove something to Mobius. And this is because he and Mobius are actually friends in s2, so Loki feels secure in his presence and it's easy to show

Mobius has respect for Loki's abilties in s2. He lets Loki use magic and actually frequently encourages him to. Mobius doesn't see him as a stupid little "pussy cat" he actually sees Loki as a threat and lets him be a threat

Loki's use of magic feels a lot more like it's something he's been doing his entire life and less like a OH YEAH! HE HAS MAGIC QUICK USE THAT TO SHOW OFF FOR A MOMENT!! :DD like no. Loki braces for fights with magic. It's just really nice to see.

Loki hunting down Brad (?) in the opening of s2 and completely owning him. I have nothing else to say. That scene was THE scene to me.

Mobius and Loki are actually trying to take care of each other

Mobius has a lot more depth in this season because of how dark the TVA is

Ravonna's speech about how the TVA was held together by the skin of her teeth and how the moment she left it all fell apart. It was a really powerful moment that showcased how much depth there is the Ravonna.

Ravonna and Victor's sorta romance. I didn't love it, but it actually worked really well in the context of epi 3, and I love that they subverted your expectations by having it be Miss Minutes who was actually the insane lover

I didn't love most of episode 3, but I did think it was an interesting direction to take the series, adding in Victor. He's more sympathetic than HWR was so we feel more for him.

Loki vs Brad.

Episode 2

Have I mentioned that I love episode 2?

No push toward a sylki agenda. No push toward Lokius. Loki's relationships with everyone is purely platonic and it's clearly written as platonic and it's nice that Loki is just getting support from his friends, not being shoved into a romance box. While they've talked about Sylki, there has been exactly 0 moves to make it canon again. They're kind of ignoring it happened, which is probably for the best.

[verycharismaticdragon]

Do you know why everyone and their mother keeps saying that Sheb Qingqiu's secluded cultivation lasts for a year or 3??? Last I checked, wasn't he only in the cave for several months??

...I haven't seen a fic use that timeframe in quite a while - am I the delusional one??

Having intensively cultivated for several months, he could freely control his spiritual energy and had risen one level above his original cultivation base.

... nope, still as I remembered from the official book, page 85 in my copy. Even my old Exiled Rebels translation puts it as, "several months." Last I checked, 12 (or 36) months is far too many to simply be considered "several", so what am I missing? It just- throws off the timeline so badly and greatly increases the amount of time poor Binghe is stuck in the woodshed, for what?

Okay, so the 3 years thing comes from the donghua, no need to look further. It's one of those things that directly go against canon but have stuck in people's minds, similar to 'the washerwoman was the one to pull baby Binghe out of the river' and 'Shen Qingqiu fainted dramatically several times early on in his transmigration'.

Then, I don't believe I have seen 1 year myself, but if I had to guess, it may come from the fact that Binghe is 14yo prior to SQQ entering seclusion and 15 once he leaves. That said, an entire year makes zero sense considering what we know of the timeline.

Which is where I confess that I tore out some hair over the length of SQQ's seclusion when constructing the timeline for Transmigrator Time Traveler, because for me 'several' months means 3 to 5, but given all the facts, SQQ's seclusion had to last somewhere between 6 and 10 instead. (I went with 9 in the end, for the fic, cause I've read that 9 is a significant number for spiritual practices cultivation is based on? the source was a little vague so i don't know how true that is, but I needed a number.)

Nevermind, to the aforementioned facts. MXTX confirmed the date of the first chapter publication - Sept.21 - to be the date of SQQ's transmigration. (Small note: I'll be using modern months, even though SV's world uses lunar calendar, because it's easier to gauge weather and stuff. For characters in the novel, they might see those as different months/seasons, but that doesn't really affect our purpose here.) Luo Binghe’s 15th birthday - which Shen Qingqiu missed in seclusion - is in winter ('coldest day' which I after some research came to hc as jan6, though that's not particularly relevant, because...) Demon invasion happened on a 'hot day' (SQQ mentions it in relation to how SHL is dressed) - which puts it in May at the earliest, August at the latest. So these are the 'borders' we are working with.

Now, to my actual calculations. We know SQQ spent some time on the Peak after transmigration, before the Skinner mission that led to him going to seclusion. So I'm gonna say that happened in October at the earliest, December if you stretch it (though I feel like his tatas would freeze off if the Skinner left him half-undressed in December...) - but definitely not later, cause Binghe’s birthday has to happen off-screen. So if we take the longest possible time frame, October to August, we get 10 months. The slimmest possible window - December to May - gives us 5 months, but between the aforementioned boob hypothermia issue and the fact that May is a bit of a stretch for the 'hot day', I think that 6 months is the shortest you can go.

Which, again, doesn't align with my understanding of what should be described as 'several' months, but what can you do... tbh, im not sure MXTX thought all that hard about the timeline, which is understandable as a writer - but as a fan, frustrating

So yeah - definitely less than a year (and absolutely not 3, donghua), though the math gets fuzzier after that.

[atopvisenyashill]

Every time I think of Game of Thrones and shipping I go a little bit insane because of the fact that Jon and Dany are supposed to actually love each other according to the script and have ZERO on screen chemistry meanwhile Jon and Sansa have such good on screen chemistry and it amounted to nothing. The thing is that I could get behind either ship under specific circumstances but the show didn’t really offer my preferred circumstances for either and it completely fumbled both in different ways. What do you mean we’re supposed to believe Jon still loved Dany even to the end? What happened here?

okay let’s rant about the show acting.

the thing about kit is he needs a STRONG scene partner to kick it into gear. a lot of the early night’s watch scenes are awkward as shit bc the other guys ARE good but they’re not strong enough (whether that means less confident or less seasoned, take your pick here) to herd him into good acting all the time. when he gets to the wildlings, i think he hits a high point bc he has some strong scene partners - rose leslie, ciaran hinds, Kristofer Hivju, i think they just brought out something a bit deeper in him. i haven’t watched the meli scenes since they aired so i can’t speak to that one yet but i do think this carries into the winterfell story arcs. sophie is just a very good scene partner for him! and tbh, i thinks this even fits with jon’s character a bit - kit is so much better at the Stark Aspects of Jon and of course he is, because imo the overreaching arc of jon snow is him defining himself as a son of house stark in character if not in name. it would have been nice if they cast someone who didn’t need to be herded as much as kit tho aksjdjd

the thing as i see it with emilia is…..i have no fucjing idea how to get a good performance out of that girl aksjdjd like her good moments are even more fleeting & hard to pin down. tbf her writing is also consistently bad from the jump. you know how skai jackson posted her audition tape for gossip girl and she was doing the exact sort of disney channel snarky delivery & it was like well That’s why u didn’t get cast. somehow, emilia got cast (and AIDEN I DONT UNDERSTAND IT HE ISNT GOOD ITS GIVING PREMINGER FROM BARBIE OKAY CONLETH SMOKES HIM IN EVERY SCENE). i think that scene where she puts the egg on the brazier & irri walks in is p solid. the scene where she slaps the fuck out of viserys is solid. the final shot of s6 where she’s on the ships is solid. the battle of the bells scene is excellent. her two big dothraki speeches (i think it’s middle of s6 & the last episode?) are very good. everything else isn’t even like, cringe, it’s straight up bad. i think she had good chemistry with iain jason peter & for those 5 seconds elyes, but there’s also a stark difference in acting there that jars me that doesn’t jar me out of say, the “if we die we die” jonygritte scene. but again, can’t overstate how ass her writing is. they’re relegating her to screeching at people & smirking, they very notoriously use emilia’s body a LOT for sexy tiddy scenes so much that once she blew up as a character she leveraged her new found pull not for more money but to not have to show her boobs anymore. that’s just not an added stressor that kit was dealing with.

anyways so, what happens when you get two actors who aren’t very good at acting on the screen is that you just don’t get a lot of good acting. and when there’s no good writing to speak of, well, that’s how you get the romantic story lines of later game of thrones. the one that actually goes canon is just perplexing in how it’s written and badly acted. the one that stays non canon is well acted but also perplexingly written & it doesn’t even get solid pay off at the end? not even expecting them to kiss, like, there’s no focus on how they’re feeling about the events of the final season they just hug once and dip. not that the canon one gets pay off either skdjd like these are just very stupidly written arcs for these three. the only people that won were jon/tormund truthers and even then they flanderized tormund so bad that it’s like eh.

[lover-of-mine]

I think purposely bad. And made worst. Because Tim didn't expect between episode 4 and 5 that those shippers would create a whole new character that never existed. Or that on the side Lou would financially gain and feed them head canons. So now he's like look... Don't you see he sucks.

I actually truly believe the medal ceremony was supposed to be his last scene of the season, then come back for an Ana style break-up. If you look at it organically, there was no reason for the daddy joke scene, and we know he wasn't supposed to be there. I think it was to create an off-putting scene where if he chooses, he could do an off-screen break up and avoid queer baiting accusations.

Lou has already created too much tension. He could still do a break up within a few episodes, but I'm not sure if Tim wants to have the head aches Lou brings... Closing down his cameo is the only reason I think he could be back for a bit. But if that's the case, then he definitely had a meeting, you know.

Okay, first of all, this may sound mean and not trying to and this isn't targeted to you I just keep seeing queerbaiting allegations and you used the word, but Buck is queer, the queerbaiting ship has sailed, a queer storyline not going the way we expected is not queerbaiting. Whatever they do with Buck's love life, there is no queerbaiting just because it feels unsatisfying to us. They marketed Buck as queer and Buck is bi. Not liking the way it was done doesn't change that.

But on the Lou thing, I agree that they didn't plan on having Lou stick around for the whole season, but the relationship was better accepted than anticipated and they are capitalizing on it. Full conspiracy theory, but I think that with how Oliver refuses to talk about bt, and how Ryan changed his tune after 706, something happened behind the scenes that went against what they were told the beginning of the season, because again, a tv show is a living organism that needs to adapt to the circumstances in which is airing, bt brought audience, keep him around a bit longer. The kink scene was there to remind us of how bad Gerrard is, but we could've had that reminder happen with Chim or Hen, so yeah, he didn't have to be there, but keeping bt alive during the hiatus keeps the numbers up while giving shippers time to cool off. And considering the publicity that came with Buck being bi, if they are planning on eventually getting to buddie, they are probably anticipating a similar level of publicity to come from queer Eddie, so they spaced it out to get the most out of both arcs. Especially because queer Eddie has to mean canon buddie and that would break the internet. I don't blame Lou for trying to capitalize from the ship, it keeps him on the role longer and it is exposure, but obviously, there's controlled chaos brought on by the high of a confirmation that a character is queer and there's *gestures vaguely* whatever is going on. There is a chance T will get the Ali treatment, there's a chance he will get the Ana treatment, but there is also the chance he will get the Taylor treatment and stick around while being a bad match for Buck, we don't know the plan and we don't know if Lou created enough problems for them to want to write him off. T is being shown to us in a very specific way, but they can still turn it around if they chose to, because we don't know enough. He is in the same spot Taylor was during s4 so it will all depend on how he will be handled during s8. Sure fanon T is not the character that exists on the show and Lou's cameos probably were shut down because it was creating a level of expectation they didn't plan on delivering, but at this point it could still go in any direction, we can't say anything for sure.

[nofomogirl]

Headcannon of the month: Aziraphale's food preferences

#2: February 2024. I somehow made it but still not promising I'll do it every month!

Firstly, my favourite headcanon by another author that I read in February: "Maggie actually texted her message to Aziraphale but because he doesn’t have a modern phone it arrived through the mail slot" by @beebopboom & enhanced by @doomedlemur

Now, mine.

I found this little thing sitting in my notes since season 1 and I thought this is as good a moment as any to show it to the world.

It's hard not to notice that popular fanon is that Aziraphale has a sweet tooth. I can understand where it's coming from. Every time Aziraphale and Crowley are together at some culinary establishment in the show, Aziraphale enjoys some dessert (check out this AMAZING post). Aziraphale’s canonical enthusiasm for crepes and cocoa is hard to miss. Also, his overall aesthetics makes it oh so easy to associate him with sweetness of any kind, he’s basically a (non)human cupcake.

I don't agree though.

In my head Aziraphale is a proper gourmet. He loves a good sweet dish or drink as much as any other, but that's the whole point - AS MUCH as any other, not more.

Perhaps I'm projecting my own preferences but, well, it is my headcanon.

Plus, Aziraphale canonically takes tea without sugar. So, you know, he knows there are times for sugar and times for the absence thereof.

Anyway, while I believe he's a total foodie and wouldn't be able to give up any dish, ingredient, cooking style, or cuisine for good IF he has a preference I believe it would be seafood.

Why?

The grand majority of all food we see Aziraphale show interest in for his own enjoyment are seafood items.

1. Sushi

The only time we see Aziraphale in a restaurant on his own, when he's very obviously having some quality me time, it's a fancy sushi place. This is where the angel chooses to go to indulge in earthly pleasures.

2. Oysters

Oysters are only talked about and happen off-screen but it's another example of what Aziraphale excitedly explores for his own carnal pleasure. It's clearly a delicacy he's already hooked on, judging by his reaction to Crowley's statement he's never tried it. And while Crowley's in Rome on business Aziraphale's entire reason for coming there is to check out this new restaurant that does remarkable things to oysters.

3. Gravlax in dill sauce

Last but not least, gravlax, a nordic-style cured salmon, makes it into Crowley's List of Top 5 Things Aziraphale Will Lose And Sorely Miss After The World Ends So Maybe He Might Decide To Stop God's Plan To Keep Them.

Sweets honestly don't play such an important role in angel's hedonistic journey.

Bonus: Crepes

Ok, I said the "grand majority" of food Aziraphale actually chooses is seafood, and by that, I meant 75%. There are the three things I listed and the fourth instances are famous crepes.

Just a thought though - we don't know what kind of crepes, ok?

Crepes can have any filling I don't exactly understand why it became a fanon that we're definitely talking about sweet crepes here.

[bohemian-nights]

one of the things that frustrated me the most about Hotd S1 is how dumbnyra is passed off as "soulmates/one true love" while messing with their other relationships, which I don't know if it's intentional, but it seems to repeat the pattern, and I think that was...lazy. criston and mysaria are the people they have sex with on screen, but "end" in bitter terms (coincidence that criston is a POC and Mysaria played by an asian woman? Hmm) harwin and laena are they long-time lover/wife they flirt in episode 5 and they are together for exactly 10 years (judging by the age of the children, conception probably synchronized🥴) and as if that weren't enough, they both die by fire. the only break in this pattern would be Netty, but now I'm afraid they'll ruin that in dumbnyra's favor by giving netty's agency to rhaenyra and daemon's as well, since he's looking more like Rhaenyra's watchdog than the rogue prince that we know, seriously, his peak in the first season was the fight on stepstones

The show is racist(yeah the way they approached Mysaria and Criston was messed up especially in Mysaria’s case since they took away elements of her story and made her speak in that atrocious accent, but it’s not my culture so I’m not really going to speak on it) and especially anti-Black as hell(which I will speak on especially since they seem to have a problem specifically with Black women; see how they screwed over Laena at every turn by turning her into an unloved unwanted woman the moment they race bent her, and the fandom literally celebrated it because they are anti-Black too), but they passed off Dumbnyra as soulmates?🥴

I have a hard time believing this when Daemon literally choked Rhaenyra out in the finale(which isn’t book canon which means they chose to write this and put it in there when they didn’t have to). Mind you this happened after she just gave birth to lizard and she just lost her father. He also keeps abandoning her every five seconds, and though they screwed over his relationship with Laena they actually wound up cutting down Dumbnyra’s time together(and he was shown to be softer with Laena ironically; yes the bar is in hell, but its something 🤷🏽‍♀️).

Plus older!Rhaenyra and Daemon have exactly 0 chemistry which does matter since a major component of romance is yah know chemistry (which is another reason why their fans are always whining, over-compensating, backtracking after they said Rhaenyra would change Daemon so now they say that they love toxicity, and obsessing over Laena and Nettles even though they are “irrelevant and meant nothing” to Daemon🙃).

If that’s them turning Dumbnyra into soulmates I’d like to see what they would do to show that Daemon doesn’t give a rats a** about Rhaenyra🤣 What have him return from the Battle Above the Gods Eye and un-alive her himself🤣(lol Dumbnyra stans would still find someway to turn it into a win).

With Nettles I’ll remain cautiously optimistic cause if they screw her over it is misogynoir and the second Black love interest they screwed over due to their own biases(and the show would need to be called out and threatened with a boycott for that), but it won’t be because of them making Dumbnyra into soulmates.*

*At least this isn’t the way I’d write soulmates(hell one of my other OTPs, Olitz, had major problems, but even at their most toxic, Fitz never choked out Olivia. Shonda knew not to do that). So if this is the writer's attempt at doing that then they truly are certifiably insane in addition to being racist c*nts.

[piningbuddies]

hiiieeee first and foremost…I love your blog! I just recently found/followed it and I can tell how invested and passionate you are about 9-1-1 and the fandom 🫶🏽 I just wanted to ask about something you answered in regard to your last ask— where you said “bucktommy isn't the intended end-goal” and that that’s pretty widely accepted within the fandom. which I can also see! I see that a lot of the fans are CONVINCED that this all leads to buddie in the end…

I guess I just wanna know…how are you SO confident that all of this is leading to buddie? I’ve read a few answers to asks on other blogs that briefly touch on this, and more than anything I want to believe it wholeheartedly (trust me!) but I feel like…idk part of me can’t help feeling they’re gonna pull the rug from under us and have it NOT lead to buddie. what has you so confident about this (and how can I be this confident lmao bc I really hate the doubt i’m feeling)?

hello!

first of all, i'm not sure if you're new to watching the show alltogether or just the tumblr fandom, but welcome! we're quite tight knit here but i'm sure you'll have a great time! <333

as to your question: there's a lot of reasons i'm confident that this is leading to buddie; honestly, there's been a lot of evidence over the years which tells us what's happening, and it could be an essay in and of itself. i'll try and summarise a few of the key points of evidence that, in my opinion, tell us where things are going (this will contain spoilers for any new fans of the show!!):

in eddie's very first episode (2x01), we see him for the first time on-screen through buck's pov. here, as we see eddie on screen, the son whatta man plays as eddie pulls his shirt on in slow-motion. to a lot of us, this is indicative of instant attraction/interest on buck's part, and gives us a major clue that something is happening here

in buck, actually (2x08), one of the main calls we see on the episode involves a gay couple, thomas and mitchell. when mitchell is pronounced dead, thomas and buck are sat on the ambulance and having a conversation, which goes as follows:

thomas: we only ever wanted to...to go together. that's love. buck: i'm sorry. i really am. i guess i can only hope to find something that good. thomas: you don't find it, son. you make it.

the idea that you don't find your love story, you have to put in the effort and make it becomes a recurring theme between buck and eddie. they manage to construct their own family unit consisting of themselves and chris over the years. the idea that they are a family already feeds into several different plot-lines over the years, perhaps most notably eddie's issues with ana and their eventual break up:

in episode 1 of season 5, eddie has a panic attack over a shop assistant thinking that ana was chris' mom. later, when he's talking to buck about it, he mentions how they became a ready made family...i'm not sure if i'm ready for that. when buck and eddie have been making their family for years now

eddie's entire breakup with ana was very queer-coded. honestly, watch the scene here, but ryan acted his absolute ass off and the entire thing reeks of eddie being a queer man at his core

honestly, one of the biggest bits of evidence we got in the first place was buck being confirmed as bisexual canonically. this allows us to thoroughly go back through and recontextualise a lot of interactions between buck and eddie over the years. two key scenes are the will scene (4x14 survivors) and the well scene (3x15 eddie begins). both of these scenes show buck and eddie in moments of vulnerability with one another, and show that their connection surpasses the connection which they have with anyone else

side note - i watched eddie begins yesterday, and the entire time eddie is drowning at the end of the episode, his life flashes before his eyes. all of this is chris, but a good chunk of the scenes also have buck in them.

again, there's a lot more i could point to, but these are the main things which stick out to me right now! i hope this answers your question!

[caitlynmeow]

for your ask game: my fave little meowmeow Bela

Give me a character and I will answer:

Why I like them:

Honestly, what is there not to like about Bela? She's a literal queen!! For real though, she's smart and capable. I love how she doesn't hesitate to do anything? When she saw Ethan she was already in charge and didn't blink twice before impaling his leg and dragging him all the way to her mother's room. I also love her personality! She is in charge and you can easily tell. She doesn't really say it, but it's all there in her body language and in how her mother and sisters address her. She is ruthless, and very efficient. She's often annoyed with her sisters because they're brats and don't do much aside from having fun and she's just so tired of their bullshit. Love that for her, really.

Why I don’t:

Doesn't apply, I love everything about our queen Bela.

Favorite episode (scene if movie):

I love the part where she chases Ethan down in the cellar. Girlie is just-- Having her fun. She's so chill while listing all the things she'd do to him. So unbothered. I also love the fight because her protective side really jumps out. She's ready to die to keep her family safe and I love how we get to see these different sides of her personality even though we only saw so little of Bela on screen.

Favorite season/movie:

The castle section is my favorite for a reason~

Favorite line:

"I can't believe Cassandra caused all this mess," (because it's the first time we /see/ her and her first line is complaining about her younger sister)

Favorite outfit:

Everything she wears looks really good on her, duh.

Head Canon:

1- Despite her outward complaining, she's very caring and protective over her sisters to the point where they always go to her for advice/when they mess up. 2- She believes she's the better sister, and that her sisters get away with a lot that they shouldn't get away with. One is sloppy as hell while the other wouldn't know how to do anything right. She should be the one getting all the praise, no? 3- She actually does spend time with her sisters. Mostly doing things they all love, which is music in Opera Hall and tending to their flowers in the greenhouse. 4- She doesn't say it out loud, but she nearly bursts in delight when her sisters seek her to learn new things and when her mother praises her for looking after them like that. 5- Having said all of that, she has a praise kink loves getting compliments and getting praised makes her feel very valid.

Unpopular opinion:

Not sure if this counts as unpopular or not but: Bela is entitled and arrogant, even more than her sisters. Alcina being the eldest is always disrespected by Heisenberg (the youngest) and that's the main thing she focused on when it came raising her daughters: the eldest will always be respected. It's why Bela can at times come off as very entitled and she actually expects others (outside of the family) to treat her the same way.

A wish

I wish she lived longer than what the game did to her (in my head they're all alive and living happily in their castle)

An oh-god-please-dont-ever-happen:

Too late capcom already did it and I hate it.

5 words to best describe them:

leader- protector - confidant - sister - daughter

My nickname for them:

Belly-boo

[sevensoulmates]

if the bi buck spec is true then tommy is literally the definition of a plot device meant for bucks development this season, which means he's probably done in the end of the season which makes sense why they've brought back a person who cameo'd in s2 to be a part of a characters arc in s7. i think by the end of the season buck will be confident in who he is thanks to his time with tommy and be open and comfortable with the idea of being with men meanwhile I think Eddie and Marisol will absolutely break up and why is going to be obvious to everyone but Eddie, setting us up for a season 8 that's going to tell the story they wanted to tell in S5 but the FOX network stopped them and that is the journey to Buddie getting together. This is going to be an angst filled season for sure, but by the end of it I fully expect we are fully on the road to Buddie. Hell the second Buck is kissed by a man, that's the moment Buddie is confirmed as the endgame because the only reason you even do this is because you fully intend to tell the story you've wanted to tell for multiple seasons and that is Buddie.

Good morning friend!

I'm really hoping the Buck/Tommy spec is true because you're absolutely right, he would absolutely be a temporary plot device for Buck's queer realization arc, and I'm 100% down for that. The GA (but honestly all viewers, even hardcore shippers) NEED something to happen on-screen that confirms queerness in one or both of Buck and Eddie. This is the very first step to signal to the audience that Buck's endgame person...just might be a man. And who do we know on this show who's a man who's perfect for Buck in literally every way? It will get people thinking, especially if Eddie is somehow peripherally involved in Buck's arc, even just as someone watching them.

I don't know what's gonna happen with that honestly, but if Buck is confirmed queer, I truly don't see how that won't have an effect on Eddie in some way. I don't know how, but if the writers play their cards right it could be a tandem queer realization (though maybe delayed in Eddie like you said cuz he's still gotta get over things with Marisol and on a more unconscious level, Shannon), but they really have set us up to come back full circle to season 5 if that's the case. Both Buck and Eddie need to make active choices about their relationships again.

Maybe this time, Eddie will be able to break up with Marisol knowing full well why his relationship with her won't work out. Maybe this time, Buck will be able to have a short-lived fling with Tommy, and be able to open his eyes to the fact that the love he actually wants is right in front of him (the calling back to Buck, Actually is getting my hopes SO HIGH and I'm trying my damndest not to get too caught up in it.)

I think season 7 could be the perfect transition season, and I don't mean that in a bad way. I mean in terms of setting us up for the story that wants and needs to be told in future seasons.

(again, I know this is all some serious spec built off some leaps of faith the fandom has taken with behind-the-scenes info) BUT if we get any of these things this season, I seriously believe we have a higher chance than ever of seeing canon buddie in season 8:

Queer Buck (whether it involves Tommy or someone else, etc.)

Eddie breaking up with Marisol by the end of the season (bonus points if it has anything to do with Buck/Buck's queerness, or happens prior to the wedding, or even at the wedding)

Queer Buck affecting Eddie in any way (even subtextually)

Any sort of big moment that signals a romantic shift in perspective toward the other one (could happen at literally any time)

It would also be amazing if they have any sort of moment at Chim's bachelor party or wedding (this is another popular spec, right? I've seen it going around) because those are both surrounded by themes of love and future commitment and could also be foreshadowing.

Season 7 honestly has the chance do something great and I'm okay with conflict getting in the way of that (Tommy, Natalia, Marisol, the ghost of Shannon, etc.) if it means they're setting up for buddie to actually happen in s8 or beyond.

[beauspot]

Regarding why people thought the kiss would be a joke or a fake out: long, painful experience. Not, let me be clear, with Neil Gaiman, who has never done a thing to earn my distrust. Not with fierce humanist Sir Terry Pratchett (GNU). Not with anyone who worked on this amazing project, but just with the miserable queerphobic culture we live in. I remember a time not even that long ago where the only IMAGINABLE way for this kiss to make it's way onto our screens would be as a joke or a fake out. I wanted badly to believe in it, but if I'd been wrong, it would have hurt so much. The best I could manage was a kind of agnostic caution where I made no assumptions about whether or not it would even be IN the final cut, let alone what it would mean. I knew in my head that Neil would never disrespect his audience like that, but in my heart I still carried a lot of baggage from being told over and over and over that I was delusional for seeing queer romance as anything other than a joke.

yeah i mean i’ve been queerbaited before with a few ships, so I understand not being totally trusting from a logical standpoint.

i guess for me I just found it strange people thought neil would make aziracrow a joke (?) essentially. like yes people commented on their relationship in a joking matter, but their actual relationship has never been a joke. and to me it just felt different because neil repeatedly referenced the show being a love story in a way the book wasn’t intended to be, along with referencing when they fell in love with one another and he wasn’t kidding he was being entirely serious.

with other writers when they would talk about ships there was always this sort of tone to their voice that made it sound like they were kidding or that they were just placating us and i don’t think neil is really interested in that. like yes writers are influenced by fans somewhat that is inevitable but we couldn’t force him to make them canon if he didn’t want to, especially since that’s not how aziracrow were initially written in the 90s. also yes i’ve seen actors “supportive” of ships that turned out to eventually be queerbait, but michael and david constantly spoke about how their characters loved and were in love with one another. in nearly every interview.

not to mention michael (before season 2 was even a thing that was happening) supported fans shipping them when it wouldn’t have helped him at all because the show was meant to be a one off, just because he liked it.

they always felt different to me than other ships where i was being queerbaited and i never doubted their love was romantic even in the first season just because we didn’t get a kiss because if we’re being honest the kiss wasn’t even top 5 in the list of the most romantic things that happen between them this season alone. but at the end of the day it was still a leap of faith and i’m glad i took it

[takaraphoenix]

Ok so I just finished watching Shadow and Bone for the first time and I knew you had watched it before so I came to see what your opinions on some of it was. Didn't really see anything for what what is probably my favorite ship is but I don't really care about that right now. I think I'm more interested in knowing what you're Top 5 favorite ships are (Top 10 if you feel like you're having a hard time narrowing it down to just 5 but from what I saw, I don't think that would be a problem???). Also, if you feel up to it, any favorite headcanons for the various characters or ships you might want to include. Much love to you Phoe!!! Now I'm off to go consume for content because I need my pretty men... gods, why are there so many pretty men in this show 😭😭😭 a lot of pretty women too, though I'm gay so it's just aesthetically pretty on their part, lol

oooh you watched ot for the first time! I hope you liked it! And well now I'm cirious what your favorite ship was.

Since I only have exactly 10 ships in this fandom, I will give you a top 10! lol Though since these are all the ships, they actually do span the entire spectrum of "I am obsessed with this", "I've written for this" to "it's a nice sidepairing! I liked when they were on screen but don't really think about them when they're not".

Aleksander/Alina

Inej/Alina

Kaz/Jesper

Genya/Alina

Tamar/Inej

Nikolai/Mal

Nikolai/Alina

Tamar/Nadia

Jesper/Wylan

David/Genya

+ bonus: Tolya/poetry

because I definitely came out of this headcanoning Tolya as aroace and I want this softest of boys to find someone who will platonically share his love of poetry with him. Please. He deserves it.

Not a secret that Darklina is my OTP. I'm not exactly quiet about it. They make me feel all shades of unhinged. I gotta get onto writing about them, honestly, can't believe that hasn't happened yet, but I guess that s1 left me too satisfied with canon overall to want to write just yet. Currently nose-deep in fics about them.

Alina and Inej is a solid second. They didn't have much interaction but what they had was gold. The blade protecting her saint. The worship and awe. These two badasses. I love them. And, much like Alinej, both Kaz/Jesper and Genya/Alina were also ships I came out of s1 with and wrote for after that.

Honestly, Tamar/Nadia would rank higher if the show had dedicated more time to them, but they happened so much in the background and I'm genuinely mad about that. I had to sit through so so so much straight drama especially in this season, but the only wlw ship in this entire show and they barely got screentime. They were cute together, visually, but... I didn't get enough of what made them click, or of Nadia's personality in general to be quite honest, to be as invested as I wanted to be (because I did. I knew that Nadia was a wlw and I knew that Tamar would be introduced this season and I was looking forward to this). So, with what the show gave me? I was like "daw, cute" when they were on screen, yeah.

On the other hand, I love both Tamar and Inej, and the potential of Inej now on the ship makes me think of the potential of those two together. Now, I am a lover of poly so I would not be opposed to just mashing these two ships together either. But I'm really intrigued by Tamar/Inej primarily here.

Nikolai and Alina worked surprisingly well. Didn't think I'd end up with another guy for Alina aside from Aleksander. But I really liked their chemistry and the fake marriage plotline absolutely ended me. He could be her trophy husband, I wouldn't mind.

Jesper and Wylan were honestly a positive surprise to me! You know me, you know my track-record with canon mlm ships! I usually do not like them. So that they made the list at all is great. I'm not super invested, but I thought they were adorable.

And Genya and David were cute too. I don't get why they killed David off? From what I gather, they don't in the books, so that was weird. But I thought they were nice.

Headcanons? Mostly sexuality wise.

Ace Kaz. Ace Kaz was the first once I had. I know his touch aversion roots in trauma but I recognize a lot of my own sex-repulsion in his behavior and am projecting hard so ace Kaz. Also definitely dom Kaz, have you seen that man rule his club, or bring Pekka to his knees (not that I want Pekka to sub for him, ew, but the power Kaz radiated in that moment was *chef's kiss*).

Nikolai the pan pirate who definitely should never have been a prince, like, I would love him so much more if he had just been a pirate but thoughts on the monarchy and how that plotline was handled are too much for this post. ANYWAY yeah I think Nikolai should go back onto his ship and pirate away with his boyfriend. Also, just, can you believe the Enemies to Lovers arc Mal and Nikolai had? I mean, they literally went from "I refuse to know your name" to "take my name", like that is explicitly something that happened in canon. Wild.

Lesbian Inej, which I know, not a popular headcanon in the fandom since the fandom seems to unanimously ship her and her endgame romance. I just... don't really get romantic vibes there at all, even after season 2. I like them as friends, a lot. But I'm getting huge lesbian vibes from Inej and will be clinging onto that, even more so after how little wlw love s2 gave me.

Mal as a suppressed gay would be fun. Like, his thing with Alina was annoying. He didn't give a damn about her romantic feelings for him until she had a boyfriend and suddenly he got jealous. I don't like these types of writings. So I'd love to see that more as Mal never having been romantically interested in her at all, just friend!Mal afraid to be abandoned. The cheeky pirate is his gay awakening. All the girls - and apparently book!Mal was kind of a slut - were just him trying really hard to be straight.

Alina is just a bi queen. And queen literal. That's where the "Niko should go sail with his bf" part comes into play, because... the monarchy needs to go down. She should rule, she should have never supported the damn royal family that's been enslaving and oppressing Grisha for centuries, I just. I don't like that part. I really don't. Ship to rule beside her is optional (Aleksander, Genya, okay fine Nikolai but like she rules, he's just her trophy husband), but queen!Alina is a must. Though gotta admit for my Alinej I still love her as a part of the Crows - post s1, I wrote some where Alina and Mal just... stayed with the Crows after they left Ravka and I'm still fond of that. I still think that would be a fun take.

[temporalbystander]

I told myself I wasn't going to ever make this post. Because I had hope. Because I wanted to believe that Miraculous had decent writing and that the sentiadren theory was not the pinnacle of what they could accomplish. Then season 5 happened. The first few episodes were good, it even forced me to make my blog solely Miraculous themed because the interactions I had with everyone were so much fun. Heck youve seen the reaction posts I did both in character and as myself.

(under the cut is a bunch of writing that you can take as me explaining my reasoning or just complaining. Either way, if you're hoping for anymore Miraculous content from me? Stories or screen caps, you best unfollow. Because I'm done.)

But then the leaks came. And, like an ancient being unable to properly use Facebook, I failed to avoid them. I told myself that certain spoilers didn't matter, that I could wait until the actual episodes came out to decide whether or not the salt was justified, that with a terrible memory like mine I'd forget it in no time (just look at some of the other screw ups I've made regarding Miraculous, it's not that far fetched.) However, as the number of Miraculous tags and blogs I followed began to grow the number of consenting opinions grew as well.

There are those who hate Marinette for being obsessed or a stalker when it comes to Adrien (who Id like to point out has had several episodes where we've seen his obsessed stalkers. Now Wayhem is creepy.) Those who love her and believe that all against her should suffer (which I was briefly a part of and still must fight my Alya bias even now.) And the same goes for the rest of the characters. But I still wanted to sit back and form my own opinions as cleanly as possible.

Needless to say, I failed. The more I stepped back and looked at the episodes, the more spoilers I failed to avoid to the episode screenshots I saw despite not having seen said episode yet. It all resulted in one clear opinion in my mind. Season 5 is a letdown. Not only because it's an out of order mess with the release dates but because it seemed more and more like pandering. Sentitheory is confirmed, Adrinette becomes canon, Lila gets revealed, Chloe gets punished and we get some LGBTQ+ recognition in the form of Zoe. (And Miss Bustier if I'm hearing right but I'm not really sure about that one.)

That should have been great, I'm all for writers letting the fans know they're appreciated. I was a brony during the 100th episode. That was like ambrosia for us fans. This? Felt like bad fanfiction and I know bad fanfiction, I've written tons of it. Firstly, why Zoe? If you're going to piss off Disney and other broadcasters, which I believe is why it was never done before, then why not confirm Rose and Juleka? Or Marc and Nathaniel? Why spend an episode saying something the fandom had basically decided the moment Zoe first showed up? And apparently it's just an end of episode confirmation where Marinette says she's flattered? I mean I get it but really? I don't know whether to be proud of her for not making a big deal of it or disappointed that the show doesn't make a bigger deal of it considering just how hard a confession like that can be. But you know what? I haven't watched the episode and I'm not going too so I probably shouldn't judge it.

What I will judge the everloving shit out of is the handling of Luka and Chloe. Luka must leave Paris because he knows who LB and CN are. That makes sense, we've seen in Star train that HawkMoth can't really sense or control his akuma's once they leave Paris so they'd have to leave to hunt Luka down. However Luka found out halfway through last season and, outside Ephemeral (which is its own set of issues) is never brought up. Seriously? I'm all for the Lukagami team up (which didn't actually end in Lukagami) for getting Adrinette together but you couldn't have had him pop up in a few more episodes to have him give excuses for the heroes to get away? Maybe pop up a bit more in support of Adrien? I'd be more upset if I hadn't known about the whole Luka leaving Paris, along with the Zoe confession, since BEFORE THE SEASON STARTED. But again, seperate issues.

And then there's Chloe. Oh Chloe. Now I wouldn't call myself a Chloe Stan. Until I actually started writing out ideas I didn't like her. She's the civilian foil to Marinette who is only put up with because her Daddy's the mayor and Adrien remembers when they had fun as little kids. The terrible airing of episodes didn't help either. Had I not been taking notes on every episode and had they not marathoned them on tv leading up to the release of the movies, I would have never put the pieces of her character together. Her self doubt, her abandonment by her mother, Mr. Cuddles and sucking her thumb? That is not the actions of evil incarnate. And what does the show do? LITERALLY REPLACE HER WITH ZOE!

And I don't mean the salty fans complaining about Mary Zoe as a replacement. No, the show doubles down by having the mayor adopt Zoe and send Chloe off with the mother who refuses to get her name right that Chloe doubts actually loves her. That? Is beyond fucked up. That? Is something I'd have written back when I didn't fully understand how tribulations and pain were parts of character growth. Just a simple "nah, Chloe bad. Zoe better. Just have Zoe." Seriously do you know how long it took me to realise that you can't just get rid of the bad guy if you want to make a good story?

And then, to cap it all off. HawkMoth gets his wish. On the bright side, if you wanted to know why Bunnix didn't show up until Evolution or during Ephemeral? That's why. Apparently Marinette feeling like a complete and utter failure is necessary for the future Alix comes from to happen. In fact, had Ephemeral happened before Wishmaker? Wed basically be watching season 6 right now. How else was Luka supposed to know what the hell Ladybug was talking about? Dudes not that smart I'm sorry. Hell nobody in the show is.

Seriously, who's genius fucking idea was it to have HawkMoth win this far into the show? Need I remind all of you how the wish is meant to work? It's a reset. A complete erasure and rewrite. There should be no "keeping secrets from Adrien" drama because, as far as the entire UNIVERSE is aware Emilie Agreste never vanished and whatever happened to Gabriel always happened. Hell the only one keeping secrets in this new world should be the kwamis since they're apparently the only ones who recognise what a reset looks like meaning they've experienced it before. And apparently they're all with their holders in this new universe? Hell I may watch the last episode just to figure out what crap they pull to try and explain everything. And why we should care about anything that happened in the past 8 YEARS if the "grand plan" of Astruc was just to erase it!

..... Sorry. I got way more frustrated towards the end there than I should have. If you have read this entire thing? Thanks and I'm sorry if I've wasted your time. What started out for me as a wonderful show about magic and love and typical good vs evil has now appears to have devolved into lazy writing, character assassination, retcons and repetition. I don't want to be one of the people who blame ZAG or TA or the writers about the problems of the show. That's more anger and salt then I need in my life. I'm just saying that, if this is the direction they choose to take it, that this was always the end point? Then I'm getting off here.

[anoray]

Ahsoka trailer

I’m late to the table with my two cents on the official Ahsoka trailer, but here are my thoughts:

1. Glad we’re getting Lars Mikkelsen back as Thrawn. I’m very curious to see what has been going on with the grand admiral all these years, how it ties into what we’ve seen on the Mandalorian, plus what happened to Ezra, of course. In a nutshell, why has it taken so long for the search for Ezra to happen when the war ended years ago?

2. Speaking of Ezra, Eman Esfandi seems like perfect casting for his character. Like many others, I think it is likely that Ezra and Thrawn won’t come into active play until later in the season.

3. Live action purrgil, yay! From what I can see, the creatures look awesome! Same goes for the Loth-cats :)

4. Natasha Liu Bordizzo appears to be a perfect choice for Sabine. I’m not quite as content with the look or sound of Hera thus far, but that could totally change once the series begins. After all, Vanessa Marshall’s voice is a very hard act to follow. (But why do the distinctive tattoos on Hera’s lekku seem so muted?)

5. I have no idea yet what to think about the non-Sith/non-Jedi Force user villains and mystery Inquisitor. Gonna just stay neutral on them for now.

6. I am intrigued by what type of Legends material might be interlaced into the series. Not that I’ve actually read much from Legends, but there sure is a wealth of imaginative stuff on Wookieepedia. 

7. I will be very surprised and rather ticked off if they actually give Sabine Force powers. How could Kanan and Ezra not sense that ability in her if it existed all those years, especially when Kanan trained her with the Darksaber? I do recall the Bendu was lurking around during that episode, but I think it had more to do with Kanan and Ezra learning lessons themselves as they taught Sabine, not because she is Force sensitive. Anyway, my bet is that Ahsoka simply trained Sabine on how to use Ezra’s lightsaber like Kanan did with the Darksaber due to all the rising threats.

8. I’m pretty sure we’ll get at least some Zeb, not sure about Kallus.

9. If Hondo is going to show up, they’re keeping a tight lid on it. 

10. We already know Jacen will appear, huzzah, and I’m 100% sure he is Force sensitive like his poppa. Perhaps Huyang is involved with training Jacen as part of his involvement in the story? I’m super curious about how all this will be handled and what, if anything, will be mentioned about Kanan. Regarding the green hair, maybe they couldn’t get it look believable in live action? Or he dyes it to look like his dad? We shall see...

11. Live action Chopper = chaos in a good way. And I would love some AP-5 sass to go along with it, but that’s probably not in the cards.

12. As for Ahsoka herself, I stand by my puzzlement that the quest of finding of Thrawn and Ezra was laid at her feet when she had nothing to do with Thrawn and zero screen time with Sabine in Rebels. Yes, Ezra said “come find me” when they escaped the World Between Worlds, but at that time he had no clue what he was going to have to do to get Thrawn out of the mix, so he was just telling her to meet up with him and the Ghost family again. All the information presented in the SWR epilogue pointed to the search for Ezra starting around 5-6 years after the war ended, so I hope the show gives us some solid reasons for the long delay, plus Ahsoka being front and center instead of the Ghost family members themselves if this is SWR Season 5 per Filoni.

Bottom line, the trailer cements the fact that Ahsoka is 100% different from what I’ve been imagining since SWR ended, but I intend to approach Ahsoka with an open mind and enjoy the new canon as much as possible. Thankfully, there’s always great fanfic on AO3 to soothe my tattered soul ;)