#I guess this is a baby meta?

[thresholdbb]

what's the threshold theory

There was a post about how Tom is the only crew member who isn't really affected by the Borg, and there's a theory that he has so much luck because he saw the past and the future when he crossed the transwarp threshold. He saw the past and the future, all of time and space. There's some subconscious part of him that remembers that experience. In fact, Tom refused to play a part in Chakotay indulging Annorax's temporal incursions, probably because a part of him knew nothing good could come of it.

If we extend that same theory to Janeway, some of her wild luck with time travel and other crack plans starts to make sense. She doesn't verbally hate time travel until after the events of Threshold, since it happens in Time and Again without complaint. Janeway has an uncanny knack for time travel, as evidenced every time she deals with it. She hates time travel, but it might be because part of her knows exactly how to manipulate the timeline. She manages to avoid the "inevitable" temporal explosion in Future's End, saving both Voyager and Braxton. She resets the entire timeline in Year of Hell, and no one else followed her reasoning. She pulled it off flawlessly. In Relativity, she senses the incidents are all related, despite it being just one reading that connects them. By the time she's involved, she has a temporal incursion factor of .0036 and a time travel protocol named after her, even if that may just be Braxton's personal grudge. Then there's Endgame, where she intentionally changes the timeline. Up until this point, she has been dragged into time travel, but for the first time, she jumps in on purpose. How does Admiral Janeway know how to get them home sooner in a way that completely avoids the Temporal Integrity Commission? It's because she has seen all of time, and part of her knows exactly what needs to happen so she can get Voyager home and do it in a way that becomes baked into the prime timeline. Maybe she doesn't consciously remember what happened during her transformation, but the experience lives in her mind somewhere, guiding her decisions.

[rosemaryslullaby]

♡ mob cap gang ♡

mob cap: AatP frill maid cap (2021)

blouse: BtSSB teddy bear pullover (2002)

jsk: BtSSB babydoll jsk (2011 version? maybe??)

pochette: BtSSB usakumya pochette (year?)

bloomers: handmade

socks: meta raschel lace knee socks (that i was sneaky and made look like the early 2000s taller crew sock versions)

shoes: meta enamel strap shoes … of some incarnation

[xf-cases-solved]

i am aware that this is likely not a new take at all, and i'm not like, claiming it as mine, but i never had the chance to have this opinion (or hear other ppl have this opinion) on a public forum before, so i just want to take this opportunity to say to another person, possibly for the first time with the exception of mb my mother, who is no longer here to agree with me, that "existence" came out when i was 8 years old, i watched it live, and literally the day i watched it i remember thinking to myself "why did they have a boy named william? they should have had a girl named samantha. OF COURSE they should have had a girl named samantha," like it felt so obvious to me

and tho i couldn't rly articulate it this clearly at the time, my little muddy 8 year old thought process was that the entire story of the xfiles starts with samantha, right? mulder has his beliefs bc samantha was taken; he says so in the very first episode. the whole reason he even thinks aliens are real to begin with is bc of samantha. the person he spent his whole life searching for was samantha. he MET SCULLY bc of samantha. samantha is the thread that ties the whole story together, so then how beautiful--how narratively perfect--would it have been to tie THEIR story--their love story (bc xfiles is, at the end of the day, a love story, fight me) up with a bow, where the beginning starts with samantha getting lost, and then ends with samantha there in their arms, finally found, just in a different iteration. (instead of naming the baby after mulder's dad who he doesn't even like? or scully's dad. or scully's brother. or mulder's middle name, which is after his father ik, but still, why are there so many fucking williams??)

like, imagine it. rly sit there and take a moment to imagine how the end scene in "existence" would have gone if mulder had said, "what are you going to name her," and scully had said, "samantha"

not only does it get the "ding ding ding, you're the dad!" point across, but how fucking Touched would mulder have been to have the woman he loves--the PERSON he loves--more than anything on earth honor the sister who took up so much of his soul for so long? who always will take up part of his soul, just in a healthier way. it would be scully saying, "we know she's gone from this world now, but she's not gone from our hearts" emphasis on OUR hearts, bc mulder's pain is scully's pain; mulder's quests are scully's quests. she never met her sister-in-law (they're married, fight me), and will never have the chance, but by naming their child after her, she would be saying, "i love her anyway. i love her because you love her, and because anyone you love deserves my love as well, bc we are intertwined at our core. our fundamental values, our suffering, our joy, it is felt in us both concurrently, bc i am your person, and you are mine, and together we made a whole other person who is a literal representation of our combined selves, and we are going to call her SAMANTHA, bc that little girl you watched get stolen from you however many decades ago has been the pillar that has kept us going as a team for the last eight years"

or maybe it would have been even simpler than that. maybe she would just be saying, "your sister is IMPORTANT, mulder, even in death, and her memory isn't held only by you. it is unrelenting, and preserved forever in our child"

i wanted that scene. i wanted to feel the heaviness of mulder's grief mixed with his elation and gratitude and love. i appreciate william for who he was in the scheme of things, but that moment in the bedroom, with their baby between them, shouldn't have been lessened for me bc they chose a name that made me pause and go "his dad was named william? oh yeah! forgot about that guy, it's been a few YEARS since we saw much of him, and what we did see of him wasn't like... awesome. but sure, name your baby that ig, if you must"

that scene should have hit so much harder, and if that baby had been a samantha? it could have hit like nothing ever has, and for all the mishaps that show took after that (and there were MANY), i think the thing i will always have the most resentment for is the fact that i felt robbed of something that would have meant so much to me as a viewer who had followed their journey from the start (or, well, almost start. i was born the year it came out, so i didn't start watching until 1998, when my brain came online, but i'd seen the past stuff at least)

anyway! that's all to say, 8 year old me was salty as hell about that, and ykno what? she was RIGHT and should have been able to say it. but, again, 2001, 8 years old, not old enough to participate in fandom, so that thought has just festered and rotted away in my brain like a piece of old, putrid meat. but! finally i can give my 8 year old self some catharsis by letting her bitch and bitch and bitch to her heart's content about how "existence" should have been the series finale, and how that baby should have been a girl named samantha, and how i climbed onto that hill 23 years ago, and how i will die there with my heels dug down deep

ty, internet, for coming to my extremely overdue tedtalk. somewhere in the past there is a small child (who definitely shouldn't have been allowed to watch xfiles as young as she did, but what can you do?) finally has a weight off of her chest. it's just a tv show, and in the grand scheme of things, it doesn't matter, but also, it's a tv show that i grew up with in my formative and unfortunately very traumatic years, and it genuinely feels like a loved one who has always been there to comfort me, and so yeah, it doesn't "matter," but the truth is, it Matters so incredibly much

that's all

-diz

[gferamos]

Bringing this little concept bacc :)

Maybe I have grown a little attached to the dark matter trio teehee

OH AND if I had to sum their whole dynamic in one comic it would be:

[missingexaltation]

Here's a bit of a meta analysis on Eddie and Steve and the general jock/nerd thing. It's worth pointing out that they're still only 19/20ish so they're slightly entitled to be somewhat selfish idiots, but they're at that time of life where they're starting to grow out of it.

There's so many positive reblogs on my last but one text post (where Eddie gets involved with Steve's hobbies) and I find it so interesting that it's not really explored in fic.

I mean...Steve's trying to 'grow as a person' by embracing nerdy things and that's great! Stereotypical high school 'bully' becoming less of a douche bag.

But Eddie embracing the stereotype and doing 'normal' high school stuff? Sign me up! He's a guy that was probably bullied or harassed by the jocks for at least some part of school before he grew hard skin. He's actively (and loudly) denounced them to their faces and protected younger nerdy/outcast kids.

Of course he's going to think sports are shit. That's what those dumb, bullying morons enjoy more than anything, so it's gotta be bad, right? (Hell, you can even take it further and say that his own dad used to beat the shit out of him as a kid if he made a noise when The Game was on.)

So he's prejudiced against the jocks (for a reason, but that's not the point), all while shouting at the top of his lungs about conformity and the bullshit about being a sheep. Yet all he's doing is conforming to a different stereotype, and not really realising it.

It's not until he meets up and speaks with Chrissy that he realises he's judging her without knowing her, and quickly rectifies it by being nicer. Then she dies and he couldn't save her. She was popular and sporty...but she was sweet and nice, and didn't deserve what happened to her.

Then Steve happens. Former Poster Boy for Jocks, and yet he's not a piece of shit either. But Steve's different, he tells himself. Steve's actually a nerd in wolf's clothing. He comes to D&D even if he doesn't play. He watches Star Wars and hangs out with 'unpopular' kids. He's 'better' now. He's learned his lesson.

It doesn't occur to him that Steve's trying to change himself to fit in, and still enjoys all of his own hobbies. He just does it either in secret, or ashamed when 'caught'. So Eddie doesn't see anything wrong. He's been proven right...THE Jock is in their nerdy little group so he's completely validated.

So maybe one night they're all at the Munson's, playing D&D. Except Steve's nowhere to be seen. During a breakin the campaign, he's found in the other room with Wayne and Hopper, watching the football. And Eddie makes some comment or another about Steve backsliding into sports.

And before Steve can say anything, Wayne tells him to stop bullying Harrington into his interests, and let the poor kid enjoy the football if that's what he wants to do.

And Eddie's mortified.

He finishes the campaign for the night on autopilot, the Game ends, and everyone else goes home, oblivious to what those earlier ten seconds has done to Eddie's psyche. Wayne's sitting there with his last beer of the night, and Eddie joins him, quiet and contemplative.

'I'm not a bully.' He says. 'I'm not like my dad.'

And Wayne just looks at him, smile on his face.

'I know.' He says. 'But you can't force everyone to like only your things, son. Just because you don't like football or basketball doesn't mean your friends have to feel the same.'

And Eddie thinks about it. He thinks about it for days. Steve never really complains. Sure he makes comments now and again, but Eddie's taken that as 'Steve's jock side coming out' instead of 'Steve just being frustrated, bored and lonely'. And Eddie can't ignore the feeling that he's actually the one being a total dick right now.

Steve's learnt his lesson. Eddie hasn't.

Steve 'the former douchebag' Harrington is a great guy, and Eddie is unconsciously taking advantage of it to validate himself. He feels like shit.

So he goes to Steve and apologises. But Steve's confused. He still thinks he needs to make reparations for his high school years, like he's conforming in their group as a penance. And Eddie hates himself a little more, because what the fuck. That's what Steve thinks of himself? And Eddie's partially responsible for enabling that, for letting the kids make him feel like that.

So he apologises again, and tell Steve that he's not gong to let it slide anymore. That if he ever wants to go and do something he enjoys, Eddie's down for it. That Steve doesn't need to be at D&D if he wants to watch the sports instead.

He also stops mocking Steve's taste in music, stops trying to force his own music on everyone else, and steps in whenever any of the kids try to do the same. And pretty damn quickly, Steve starts flourishing.

He and Eddie take the kids to the basketball courts, and Steve tries to teach them how to play, before giving up and going 1v1 with Lucas while the others just bounce the spare ball between them and make up their own game. It's fun, and completely outside Eddie's comfort zone, but it's fun.

Steve gets the confidence to start negotiating Eddie's campaign nights when there's an important game on the TV. Half the kids want to watch it with Wayne, Hopper (and weirdly enough, Mrs Henderson). Eddie usually joins them but either reads his book, sits at the table painting his minis, or falls asleep on Steve's lap. Sports just don't interest him, but that's ok too.

It's compromise.

[shellem15]

Was scrolling through the Ludinus tag because I enjoy seeing critters drag his bony ass, and suddenly had some thoughts about ludi and the gods. Keeping the narrative roles of gods and myths in mind, I want to talk about the gods' role in Exandria on a metatextual level, and how it ties into why Ludinus is a big stupid idiot (to put it in simple terms).

So, some preface: in real life religion and mythologies, gods aren't real people (shocker, I know). But the things they represent are real; gods and myths are just ways of explaining real world phenomena. This is why their characterization can be really whack. Zeus, for example, is a dick because in real life, kings are dicks. Artemis is both a protecter of hunters and their killer because, in ancient greece, when you went out into the woods to hunt, either you came back alive or you didn't. You can't analyze the gods as real people because they're not people-- they're concepts. You always have to keep these narrative roles and the historical context in mind when reading these myths. You can't judge them by our modern morals and values, because for one these myths are from ancient times, and also because the characters in these myths aren't humans that follow human moral codes or ethics.

So, in Exandria, the gods are real. And from what we've seen so far, they exist in a weird sort of space. They are both people, and concepts; mortal-like but also not. When analyzing the gods as concepts and roles in a narrative, it's pretty clear that the gods act in ways that align with their domains. The Everlight is merciful because she represents the concept of redemption; Asmodeus is hateful and cruel because he represents tyranny and domination; the Wildmother is both nurturing and brutal because nature is both of these things. You can't remove their actions from their domains, it is an intrinsic part of themselves.

Additionally, the actions they take represent certain themes. The Changebringer defeated Asmodeus in the calamity because freedom is the only way to beat tyranny. Same with the Everlight and the Dawnfather being the ones to strike down the Crawling King (with help from the Moonweaver and the All-Father), because these two gods represent hope, which defeats despair and suffering (I know despair isn't technically Torog's domain but it fits with the rest of his character so I'm gonna throw it in there.) The Raven Queen's ascension is representative of the Age of Arcanum as a whole, of the dominance of wizards over the world. The actions of the gods cannot be separated from their domains, and they cannot be separated from the general narratives seen in Exandria.

These overarching narratives can also be seen in the actions of mortals, too. The Age of Arcanum fell because of hubris. Because mortals thought they could best the gods and the world itself and it backfired on them. It's those rich guys who tried to go to the Titanic and their submarine got imploded by the water pressure. If you fuck around, you're gonna eventually find out. You can't beat the world you live in.

This detail of besting the gods is one I want to focus on with Ludinus. His whole thing is killing the gods to get revenge and "free" Exandria. But how is killing the gods freeing Exandria? The gods are Exandria. Even if they can't physically manifest avatars, they're still a part of it. The gods, being concepts, are written into the fabric of Exandria itself; you can't separate them from the world because they are the world and the world is them.

This fact is why the complete banishment of the Betrayer Gods didn't work; they are a fundamental part of Exandria and how it functions. Their return was, narratively, inevitable, because you can't remove concepts like violence or tyranny or betrayal from the world; they are here to stay, whether you like them or not. That doesn't mean you can't minimize their impact, just that you can't remove them entirely.

This is also why the Matron's ritual did work. When she killed the god of death, she wasn't destroying the concept of death itself, just putting it under new management. The same with Vecna ascending and becoming the god of secrets-- he took over an already existing domain. No fundamental concepts were created or destroyed, it's just that the faces that represented them changed.

Ludinus, in his denial of the gods, is denying the world itself. Both the good and the bad parts of it. He thinks he can remove the gods but keep Exandria mostly intact, but that's not how that works. He's so caught up in his trauma and revenge that he misses the bigger picture. In forsaking the gods, he forsakes the world. In killing the gods, he would be killing Exandria as we know it. (And that's why he's a big dumb idiot).

[oaksapling]

Nikita 'Nicky' Jackson

Rory's succubus best friend who acts more like their spoiled little sister most of the time. She dabbles in a bit of everything but makes most of her money working at the diner and variety streaming. She's a Widow/Ana main with bad attitude.

[rhiaarrow]

Babies, sweet eggy babies who have woken up and hung out together on the Ghostie Streams, please know that you can do that for Bad as well :')

(once he's not screwed up in the head from reincarnating ofc)

We've seen so many eggs spending time together and interacting that would never usually get to hang out because their parents' stream schedules just do not line up with each other at all.

Once qBad has been thoroughly reincarnated, whether that takes a few weeks or a month, there is no doubt in my mind that he won't go back to being island babysitter.

ccBad loves those eggs too damn much not to hang out with as many of them as he can possibly can and bend to their every whim. They have him wrapped around their pinky fingers and some of them take full advantage of that.

[Thinking back to Dapper's hundreds of 'you love me right :3' signs before asking to do smth ridiculous. Richas trying to act cute to get smth out of Pomme to then go 'damn, that always works on tio, I just act sweet and he folds'. Pepito's 'you know I love you mucho mucho right tio' sign right before asking for Bad to buy him a backpack. Pomme's 'Don't you love me? :3' sign as she forced him to wear another dress. Just for a few examples]

He's the only player who I can confidently say would happily babysit all 11 of them at the same time if he has to with no incentive needed. Other players would watch them if it was a matter of their survival, but Bad? He'd just do it because they're the eggs and he loves them.

So once it fits with his character, I don't doubt that we'll get BabysitterBoyHalo back even if it takes a little while, he can't deny his natural instincts forever!

And I just pray that some of these eggy duos or trios or quads or whatever groups of 5 and 6 are called keep hanging out together once we're no longer Ghosties POV because these interactions have been amazing and I want to see more :3

[justmenoworries]

This is gonna sound beyond weird, and it's gonna be egg on my face if the show doesn't go in the direction that I think it will with Vox but...

Is it just me or are there several paralells between Vox and Angel?

[yujeong]

Hello. I'm back with my Macau bullshit. This time: the difference between his relationship with Pete and his relationship with Porsche (because if I don't scream about Pete and Porsche and the parallels between them, I can't function as a human being apparently.) Ok so, first things first. I am aware that I may be comparing apples and oranges here. Besides the fact that they're both bodyguards of the main family and very close to Kinn, there's not really anything else tying them together in regards to their relationship with Macau. But here's the thing. That's what I care about. What circumstances make Macau act like the devilish little gremlin that he is VS the compliant and polite son of the minor family. And my boys are perfect for the job. (The post will be split into 2 parts because I guess I had a LOT to say about Porsche and Macau so, Pete and Macau will be explored in another one)

Ok. I think I speak for all of us when I say that we did NOT get enough Macau in the show. He had like, what, 5 scenes total? HOWEVER, the scenes we got were spectacular for a gazillion reasons but I'll choose to focus on a specific aspect of them for this post: Most, if not all of his scenes, were either from Porsche's or Pete's POV. And that's giving us a lot. Let's start with Porsche. He - and the audience, remember, most of this show is through Porsche's POV so that's important - meets Macau like he actually is; a typical teenager. He's moody, rude and doesn't want to deal with Porsche's bullshit. (Although, one could argue he was extra antsy because they were at the main family's house, which I choose to believe due to how the minor family is treated by their relatives.) Their first scene, accompanied by the scene in which he goes to Gun and calls Porsche out in front of everyone is Macau being sincere. It actually is him, and it's tragic as well as amazing how he's never himself again in front of Porsche for the rest of the show. Because the next time we see Macau with Porsche, it's in ep 7, when Vegas has his plans with Porsche to execute and Macau has to follow along. BUT, Porsche gets to have a glimpse of the real Macau in this exchange:

(Vegas' smile is KILLING me OMG, he loves his brother SO MUCH, I'M CHEWING GLASS AS WE SPEAK-) Porsche never gets to see Macau's actual face in this (maybe a glimpse from above but with difficulty) but his voice betrays his happiness at seeing his brother and from the answer he gives. Aaaall of that fades away when the bodyguards sit down. Macau turns quiet and polite, keeping appearances because they have guests, and we have him welcoming all of them, and Porsche, like this:

The show knows we the audience - and Porsche - remember what has happened between the two, so Macau saying "Hello" to Porsche carries significance here. GOD, I wish I could make gifs because, after that, after the camera stops focusing on Macau's face, you get him blurred in the background and the boy is SO uncomfortable by what's happening. His eyes dart left and right, mostly at Pete and Arm's direction - he fucking HEARS Arm's comment about "no surprise that the heirs of this family turn out like this" and he SIGHS and looks downward and he STARES at Vegas' direction when he spews his bullshit about how the minor family treats their bodyguards. My boy is PRESENT in the discussion and he hates every second of it. Isn't it spectacular then, how the next scene between him and Porsche, is the one in which Macau apologizes? I love the fact that he calls him Phi. It's so good, because in my eyes Porsche doesn't even deserve it. He never apologized for what he did to Macau. He did, to Vegas, but not to Macau himself. So, the respect Macau shows to him is so fake I could cry from laughter.

He finds him trying to get on Vegas' motorcycle and touches him and urges him to ride it. "I know you like motorcycles," he says, like that's a normal thing to know and not something Vegas told him to say because VEGAS is the one who knows.

I'm dying over here, truly. Macau is amazing and it hurts as much as it's funny, because Macau must be feeling so bad here imo. He's not an idiot, he knows Porsche was in the wrong and Vegas knows as well because LOOK AT HIS FUCKING FACE AS MACAU SAID THE THING:

This isn't a strict face, one that's like "that fucking kid, finally he learned how to apologize". This is a "the things I do for my plans to work" kind of face. Vegas used Macau here. And I'm convinced that he hated every second of witnessing this scene in front of him.

Also, I love how Macau is touchy with Porsche. Macau does show affection through touch, just like his brother does. It's evident by the hospital scene with Pete and the scene above with Vegas when they talked + the scene in ep 2, in which he stretched his arm in Vegas' direction. But, just like Vegas, he uses that in his advantage to get what he wants here. What Vegas wants from him to get, which is, Porsche's trust. And, if any audience member actually believed for even a second that Macau was sincere here, then comes this to show them that NOPE, the boy doesn't believe his words in the slightest:

It's easier to see in motion but Macau's shy grin as he sees Vegas in front of him, shows you everything you need to know about the sincerity of his words. And even if THAT wasn't enough, you have Vegas confirming your suspicions with his words:

Oh, Vegas, you scheming bastard. You wanted your plan to work so badly, you used even Macau for it. I wonder if that kept you up at night. This whole scene was so...Vegas coded? It felt like Macau adapted Vegas' methods of seduction with Porsche here, didn't it? Actual Macau would never do any of that and it's incredible how Porsche only saw that version of Macau after ep 2. It makes you wonder; what did Porsche see and hear from Macau during that one-month period before the show finale, a period of time in which Vegas was fighting for his life + Porsche had just gained Vegas' right as the heir of the minor family? How was Macau's behavior then? I really wish we got to know, because Macau showing his true self to Porsche again due to circumstance is very appealing to me. Porsche&Macau in general is a relationship dynamic I haven't seen people talk about at all, which is strange due to their canonical scenes. Oh well. Another excuse to write essay long posts on Tumblr, I guess.

[greghatecrimes]

sometimes i contemplate throwing kid cameron at House in the baby ducks au, because. there is no way she was a normal child with a normal childhood. i want to observe cameron at every stage of her life under a microscope and just find out how she got to be like this. simultaneously the most put together and broken person you’ll ever see. she can hold it together to delude herself into being okay but she can’t hold it together when other people start looking deeper and picking her apart. she fascinates me. she really is such a parallel to wilson (there is something deeply wrong with them both). with house and thirteen, we have enough backstory for them that we can put together actual canon + inferences based on canon to make a pretty clear picture of Why They Are How They Are. With Wilson and Cameron it’s like. we have the tiniest scraps. Danny. Cameron’s husband. the rest is smoke and mirrors. I want more backstory so bad.

anyways i think two chaos kids is probably enough for house in baby ducks au but it bounces around in my brain space sometimes.

[femmehysteria]

when buddy said you took away something i love so im gonna take something you love, he succeeded, no he didnt manage to kill debora but he did kill baby's hearing, he can no longer listen to music in the same way, there's nothing he can listen to to distract from his tinnitus, he can never hear the tape recording of his mothers voice and those are things that are very important to baby. but baby is not disconnected from everything he loves, he knows sign language because of his foster father, he can lip read, he can still enjoy the sound of his mothers voice through the vibrations of his cars speakers, and most importantly he can still drive

[fouroddapples]

Sometimes I take notes for fanfic in the middle of the night that end up not very coherent, but the vibes kinda slap. And I wanna do something with them, except I’m too tired to WRITE properly today and turn vibes into prose, so fuck it I’m going to yell things into the tumblr void unedited instead!

This is a theme I always come back to—with more than one of them, but especially with Rajan.

Raj is someone who, to me, seems perpetually stuck in the denial and bargaining stages of grief. He spent his whole life essentially trying to turn back time and hit Undo on something he never got to apologise for, and feeling like he can't ever rest until he's earned the forgiveness of someone who isn't even there to forgive him.

His entire character feels like one big metaphor for that all-encompassing guilt—one devastating mistake that left you with something eating you alive that became so central to who you are that it sits at the heart of you, to the point that you get defensive of it because no matter how destructive, this thing has become so fundamentally yours that you can't even imagine a you without it anymore.

I'm not even going to get into how this low-key applies to both him AND Elsie in very different ways and the weird parallels-and-opposites thing their character themes simultaneously have going on because otherwise I will NEVER shut up!!

TLDR I'm fine guys I'm completely fine.

[galaxythreads]

i think the big difference between Loki and Wanda to me personally is that no one tries to excuse Loki's actions in MCU. When Loki attacked new york, he was sent to prison. When Loki attacked Jotunheim, Thor tried to stop him and told him it was insane. No one around Loki was being like "bro, it's fine that you tried to invade a planet!!" or "attacking Jotunheim was fine just this one time because you were sad :( " Like Loki attacking Jotunheim was bad. Loki attacking New York was bad and no one tries to say otherwise. (And the thing about New York is that there were extenuating circumstances. Loki was being threatened by the Other and Thanos. The Other hurts loki on screen. Like we know that there will be consequences for Loki if he stops attacking New York and MCU has confirmed that he was under the influence of the scepter by some degree.)

With Wanda things are just...different, and I miss the way that she used to be. Wanda in AoU was a stupid kid who made a stupid choice to get experimented on with her brother because they were angry. They joined a terrorist organization because they thought it was the best way to get back at Tony for inadvertently killing their parents. They were stupid kids. But the thing that a lot of people overlook when they have the "why did they join hydra" question is that that is the point of their arc in AoU. They wanted mass annihilation, so they join hydra, then Ultron, who says they can promise that. But when Wanda sees what that looks like and she sees what Ultron can do AND what the mass destruction would look like, she AND Pietro realize that isn't what they want. Both of them had ALREADY made the stupid choice and they spent the rest of AoU trying to fix it and do better. When Wanda gets up in that building and walks out those doors, she has decided then protecting life is more important than personal vendettas or revenge. And that's what made her a hero. Not that she had glowy hands, but that Wanda decided then that she wanted to use her gifts to help people. Civil War does a good job of carrying this arc forward, especially when we see how much accidentally killing eleven people affected her. After AoU, Wanda values life.

But then WandaVision happens and...wanda is holding an entire town captive, and everyone in the narrative on the "good side" is trying to excuse what she's doing. "She's upset!" "It's okay that she held this town captive this one time because she was having an emotional breakdown and we can let it go :(" or "they won't understand your pain" and it makes me frustrated because Wanda did a horrible thing and she never has to face the consequences for that. She doesn't try to make amends with the town, she doesn't promise to do better. She doesn't go to prison, or get held accountable.

SHE LITERALLY BRAINWASHES AGATHA AND NO ONE -- NOT ONE -- SAYS HANG ON.

Instead, she takes the dark hold and floats away because everything Wanda did was explained away by grief. And like. Loki is not the same. His actions were never excused by people around him, but he actively tries to do better from TDW on. He helps rescue Jane and protects Thor. He takes care of Asgard, he and Thor move to repair their relationship. Loki puts Asgard's safety first over his own by coming to help Thor with Hela. Loki dies for Thor. He may not verbally accept responsibility for what happened, but his actions show that he did and he's trying to do better.

After the end of WandaVision, Wanda doesn't. She doesn't care about life anymore, it's an inconvenience to her at best. You cannot look me in the eye and say that Wanda in Infinity War would be hunting down a child across the multi-verse to murder her in cold blood.

In MoM, Wanda is actively killing everyone and anyone and she is completely aware of what she's doing. Like people claim corruption by the dark hold, but like...corruption by the darkhold is not explained. If I'm remembering right, Agatha was also corrupted, but she was the only person who was trying to force Wanda to let the town go, even if she did kill the dog. Agatha was trying to help. She didn't really get turned evil, just morally dubious. So arguably the same should be said of Wanda, right? That Wanda's core was still there and these were things she would have done anyway, the dark hold just pushed her over the edge. Wanda is trying to kill a kid.

And i am ALSO aware that this is just poor writing on MoM's part -- because MoM sucks -- but I'm still frustrated because I miss Wanda. I understand that she was grieving, but I still wish that someone would hold her accountable. Killing someone off (even though I still doubt she's dead) is not a redemption arc. You don't get to do one good thing before you die and it erases everything that came before.

And I am still mad that the narrative tried to justify Wanda holding a town hostage for two weeks. Bud. She may be an Avenger, but that doesn't stop her from being capable of doing some really crappy stuff.

Loki was held accountable.

Wanda wasn't.

[basilsleaf]

actually i'm not done strap in.

aside from simon and baz being adorable cohabitating boyfriends (still screaming about the wall kissing) snow for christmas made me sad.

baz doesn't want to be closeted by his family - about his queerness and his vampirism. "everything i am is something no one can mention." everyone is so excited at dinner about him eating with them as a family, but the reason he never ate with them before was because they can't stand to acknowledge what he is. simon never cared about the fangs. baz's family didn't have to care either, but that would require seeing their children as children and not props.

what is malcom really excited about at dinner? he's excited about this part of his child, the part he has always despised, being out of sight at long last. he's so glad he doesn't have to look at this part of his son that he's willing to tolerate the other thing about baz that he hates (queerness). he's pleased with simon because he thinks simon is the one who made the unmentionable thing go away. there's nothing heartwarming in that.

simon loves that baz is a vampire, even the gross parts. baz can kiss him with rat blood on his mouth and simon doesn't blink. simon wants to go hunting and watch baz drink. he thinks it's gorgeous. baz's own family can't bring themselves to love him that much.

this christmas with the grimms doesn't feel like a first step. it feels like a continuation of the same old shitty cycle.

[psalmsofpsychosis]

So long story short but not really, in The Batman (2022) Riddler talks to Brucebro, tells him how they carried all their plans together, that he couldn't have done it without Batman, and he portrays them as equals, connected in idealogy (need for foundational societal change) and in execution (swift, maticulous, subtle and strategic approach), both of them orphans, both intellectuals, both being free and true with their masks. He draws the connections and correlations between them, and here is the thing; it's incredibly easy to fall into projection once you establish enough similarity and points of sameness between yourself and another person. Riddler projects his own affinity on Batman, imagining Batman feels the same sense of resolute alignment and comradeship with him that he does with Batman. Bruce does see the way he quite predictably played into Riddler's schemes and became an unwilling part of his narrative, and he doesn't like it one bit. He immediately tries to separate himself and defy the sense of relatedness he feels with the Riddler; he can't accept that he feels horrible for wearing a mask, that he feels ashamed of letting the persona of Batman free him from his limitations and take his shame and guilt away— so he attacks Riddler with his very own set of surprising projections. Riddler paints for him how alike they are and Batman tells him, "you're out of your goddamn mind. it's all in your head, you're sick, you're twisted. You think you'll be remembered? you're a pathetic psychopath, begging for attention. You're gonna die alone in Arkham. A nobody."

and this— is really everything Bruce feels about himself. Which is to say, auchie. :( prescribing a sleep serotonin seaside vacation serum straight to artery for Bruceboy.