#I haven’t seen this ep in like a year but I’m at the part where they walk around the ship for three seconds after a funny convo with picard

[doublel27]

We Are: Queer Found Family and Romance

Or the meta I didn’t intend to write.

It’s taken 9 eps (of me admittedly watching We Are through gifs and clips on Twitter, because I have yet to pay for iQIYI and I am bad at grey watching) but I think I have figured out the central conflict/plot of We Are and why the mostly linear narrative of Phum and Peem with the in media res relationships of our other three pairings made this impossible to fully tease out until we got all the pieces.

The through line that connects all of these stories about how incredibly hard it can be to be part of a queer friend group when the lines of friendship and romance blur, especially when there’s a real aspect of found family to that group.

Two things really cemented it for me this week: Tan telling the gang (and therefore the audience) the full scope of his background with Fang, as well as the beginning of Phuwin’s IG live where he talks about why he likes Kluen as a character is that he’s very direct with people he likes and isn’t blurring the lines between friends and possibly fucking up the friendship.

Because that’s the central problem that all four main couples of the show grapple with in different ways. I’m gonna get into all of that under the cut.

I’m going to start with Tan and Fang because aou contains multitudes and is my beloved while going for Fang could have always messed up his relationship with Phum, we find out in episode 9 that Tan met Fang first. Unsurprisingly, it’s not a great first meeting between what are seemingly two known fighters of what appear to be rival high schools. But then Tan finds Phum and Fang being jumped by a group from his own high school and saves them and eventually becomes friends with them sometime two years+ before the start of our story. Within this time, Tan falls so far in love with Fang, who can both out bitch and out fight, him that Tan goes full simp instead and cuts out the fighting(love that for him).

And mixing his reveal to his friends of how he met Fang and how Fang eventually consumed his waking thoughts to the point he would wish to order Fang as a pizza topping (my love for Tan is immeasurable).

But take us back to episode 2 (which is now on YouTube for US watchers for how long I don’t know) and Tan has clearly not seen Fang in awhile. He asks Phum to invite Fang out where Tan will happen to be. At the time, it was taken as Tan and Phum are university friends and Tan and been obsessed with Fang ever since and needs Phum to make the connections. But the clues that Tan and Fang were also close were already laid down. Their exchange goes:

Tan: Hey. It’s been awhile. Right?

Fang: I thought you were dead.

Tan: Come on. I haven’t seen you in ages either. (That’s the English translation, but the flow of the conversation connotes that Fang hasn’t sought him out either)

At which point Phum makes the face he always makes when Tan is in Fang hyperfocus mode of looking away and sighing. And Fang pointedly asks why Phum invited him out and what is going on.

Which is a weird exchange when you think Tan is Phum’s friend who is obsessed with Fang. It is a less weird exchange between friends that have been avoiding each other for an unspecified amount of time. And we can assume Tan started avoiding Fang because he was madly in love with him and didn’t know how to handle it and didn’t tell Fang why he was avoiding him.

In the episode 9 speech to his friends, Tan outlines that he didn’t think Fang would ever reciprocate his feelings (that it was impossible) and didn’t want to fuck with the friendship (at which point Pun sends a longing look to Chain but we’ll get back to that later) with Fang and Phum and he buried it. Until he couldn’t live with it any longer and decided to do something about it.

Which with the limited information we have, his feelings were already fucking with his friendship. He already didn’t know how to approach Fang because of his feelings at the start of the show, so is it better to not try and hope the romantic feeling dies while avoiding your friend or shoot your shot and maybe get a boyfriend out of it or maybe continue to fuck up your friendship. Tan chooses to roll the dice and it’s clear from the moment they leave the bar in episode two that Fang likes him back.

They both watch each other when they think the other isn’t looking. Fang is the one who sends Phum and Peem home together and sets himself up with a taxi ride with Tan. It’s particularly interesting to me after episode 9, this exchange, because Fang looks at a passed out Peem, mouths Peem? And proceeds to ask Phum if this is the guy that hit him while Tan snickers and Peem looks like the saddest wet cat. It’s only after the affirmative from Phum that Fang is essentially like “well, you can take him home Phum. Take home your drunk friend who hit you and I will go home with Tan.” Which our besotted Tan jumps at.

And considering the parallel between Tan and Fang meeting and Tan immediately sassing him and Fang throwing a punch leading to a fight, and Phum ruining Peem’s painting which led to mutual sassing and a kick to the nuts and a fight…I don’t know if Fang is a mastermind and connected the dots because these brothers need someone who will occasionally not be afraid talk back if need be and sees the potential for Phum to care as much about Peem as Fang does for Tan. Or if he just wants time alone with Tan and doesn’t see it. Look, I wouldn’t be surprised if Fang is secretly a long game mastermind.

Once they’re alone, Tan and Fang steal glances and flirt in the way that Tan makes very loud attempts at flirting and

Additionally, Fang is reserved like Phum, and seemingly as isolated as his only friends seem to be Phum’s friends. We don’t know if he is just not paying attention to other members of the architecture faculty or knows stuff about Kluen he won’t share. As previous parts of this narrative are folded in later episodes, we may find out. What we do know is he’s either ever only appeared alone or in connection to Tan and Phum and Phum’s friends. Even with the flashbacks, Tan points out that the head of the Fang, head of cheer club, approaches him alone and later it’s just Fang and Phum when Tan finds the group of guys jumping them. We know he and Phum adopt Toey who is bullied in high school. It makes sense why he’s potentially reserved about pushing things with Tan if Tan becomes his first real high school+ friend that he has outside of his brother.

Which is why by the time we get to episode 5, Fang says yes before Tan finishes talking. He’s been waiting but also wasn’t willing to be the first to put himself out there. And considering how much Fang and Phum seem to live in their heads and not in the world with everyone else, I can see why he needed Tan to be the one to commit to it first, especially with Fang’s later comments about not understanding why hanging out with him is a preference of Tan’s. I do hope we cross his “don’t tell tan how gone I am on him” bridge later in the narrative. Cause I think Tan knows, but also it’s nice to hear.

Let’s go back to another long-suffering pair where only one half really knew why they were suffering, and the other got a nasty shock, QToey.

I know the guys are all team if Toey loves Q and Q loves Toey then why is Q so hesitant? And I get it, but let’s talk about the double shock Q suffered and the potential layers of risk Q is facing.

It’s not just that Q is cautious with his heart. That is a factual truth. It’s why he ghosted Milk Frappe Boy, because while he fell in love with Milk Frappe Boy I think there was a deep worry, and a self esteem issue that the reality of Q, instead of Pencil Senior, would not be enough for Milk Frappe boy. So Q bolted and then deeply regretted said bolting enough say so to both Toey, not knowing the truth, and to Peem.

But the fact that he learned that Toey was indeed Milk Frappe boy at the same time he learned all of his best friends, his family for all intents and purposes, also knew and no one told him. And the way the confrontation is staged between Q and Toey, it is Q against Toey and everyone else is behind Toey.

And that, friends, that’s the real third rail for Q.

It’s one thing to know that he loved Milk Frappe Boy and that he loves Toey. And that is scary enough. The fandom loves to joke about how Toey is everyone’s little brother and they’ve all adopted him: and that is a correct assessment. But that means if Q fucks it up with Toey, he stands a chance in his mind of everyone else choosing Toey over him.

That fear doesn’t even feel that unfounded when everyone calmed Toey down mostly before Peem, Q’s true bestest friend, came out to be with him. Like Peem caught Toey before going after Q. The next episode nearly every character but Q (aside from Fai who is at all connected to this group) shows up to plan how to support Toey in getting Q.

And while I know my brain cell-less brain trust fully believe they’re helping Q, no one actually seems to ask what Q wants. Aside from Peem trying to get him to come to some that first night on the curb, no one ever asks. And that night all Q wants is to sleep in a pile with his four best friends, because that’s his family. Losing them is even scarier than losing Toey. In essence he’s lost Milk Frappe Boy once. He could do it again. But if they chose Toey…IDK.

We don’t know anything about their families really, aside from Peem’s lovely aunt and the fact that Phum doesn’t get along with his dad. And I get why when the focus is really on these large groups of found families (that are becoming one large found family) that the audience is really in love with. The bonds between the friends are just as much a part of the romance as the actual romances. Because the friendship is where the complications come from.

And while I can’t speak to mlm spaces, as I have never identified as a man, within queer wlw and non-binary spaces there are jokes about dating yourself out of friend groups. There are people you used to know who you don’t anymore because you dated someone in the friend group and were too new and got bounced. Or you date and the way it ends make everyone choose one side. Or, a person in the friend group has a crush on another person in said group, that is an open secret but when the person who was crushed upon gets a new relationship people get mad at them for not dating the person in the friend group who liked them all along because didn’t everyone know. (None of these are from personal experience I assure you 🙃)

And it doesn’t always happen like that. Sometimes the people figure out a friendship or a queer platonic solution when they’re not attracted to each other anymore. Sometimes they orbit around the friend group like two comets on opposite trajectories, occasionally crossing in awkward moments. Sometimes everyone gets past the weird. Sometimes no one does.

But that’s the risk that we’re playing in this show. I can choose the romance, but if it doesn’t work out, I am gambling this safe zone.

Which is gonna bring me to our last two pieces of this: one has had the most development and one the least but both are struggling.

I’m gonna start with Chain and Pun who are the most unhinged, gay yearning codependent besties that exist in the middle of the week and give Potae and Payos on Only Boo a real run for their money. (Both have lips touching earlobes and I don’t have a platonic answer for either) The thing is, I think both Chain and Pun are very aware of the mutual feelings. They both have moments where you know they’re aware but neither will do anything about it. And they are in the case of the story, the most embedded in one single friend group, and have the potential to explode their core group of five if things go sideways.

Now, they’re also the pair that has been effectively dating this entire time without actually dating. The ear biting and the blowing on things in the other’s mouth and the…I don’t have platonic explanations for their behavior okay? I don’t. Not naming it keeps it from being real though. It’s a collective hallucination or the biggest game of chicken.

Eventually, though, one of them is going to cross the line in a way that can’t be erased or the line redrawn. And it’s gonna have to be big because their friends watched them gaze longingly into each other's eyes for 20+ seconds and thought it was normal. Because this is how they are.

And that brings us to not quite friends not quite lovers and not quite enemies, Phum and Peem. The risk is, as discussed in many other metas, mostly on Phum’s side here and it’s why he spent the episode so hesitant. Yes he started off particularly entitled and rude. His and Peem’s relationship started as a fight (but so did Tan and Fang) and Phum feels incredibly comfortable with Peem. He’s definitely neurodivergent coded my Phum, which doesn’t make his assholery okay, but it explains his hesitancy to try new things and his struggle with making friends and expressing his feelings.

He’s got friends but he doesn’t feel particularly deeply connected to them. Yes, Beer makes time for him and actively seeks him out to give advice. He and Fang have a level of sibling codependency that hints at neglect and Fang protecting Phum at all costs. We see Tan approach Phum most of the time and while some of that is angling to get to Fang, Tan does genuinely care. But Tan is also incredibly loud which seems to be a lot for our neurospicy Phum, and Tan also has his large found family with Peem. Same with Toey, who Phum and Fang adopted long ago, and clearly Phum adores him, but he’s also the little brother of the art faculty.

And Peem is a very loving and giving soul and he makes time and space for Phum even though he’s annoying and high handed and gets Phum out of his ruts and comfort zones. And Phum clearly wants Peem to choose him, because Phum has already chosen even if he hasn’t said “I like you and want to date you.” He’s said other very direct things about how safe he feels with Peem and how connected he feels to other people by hanging out with Peem. And Peem is this safe space for him to go out and connect with the world without it being overwhelming and he even feels more connected to his own friends.

And that’s the danger that Kluen represents and what Phum struggles with. He wants Peem to choose him, but he also doesn’t want to force Peem to make a choice and not choose him, and then lose out on the experiences he’s building with Peem as well as a break in some of the connections he has with the people closest to him as Fang and Toey find love within Peem’s group. And so again, the question comes around, is it better to stay in this limbo where no one says anything and maybe Peem dates Kluen but I get to keep him as a friend, or do I roll the dice like Tan and maybe win.

I think it’s been a hard thread to pull because without the context of Tan & Fang meeting first, and Phum and Peem mending their relationship to become something akin to friends who kiss sometimes and don’t talk about it, and the lingering feelings of betrayal for Q by his friends (where they learned about his largest secret/mystery and NO ONE TOLD HIM) which are later revelations in the course of the show, they feel like different types of love stories without the mess of friendship blurring the lines. The story feels linear, because we start in a school year with the meeting of Phum and Peem, the connections between the other characters are older than this year, leaving some of their stories in media res.

And it’s an interesting core struggle taking a risk when the line between who you’re friends with, who you depend on, and who you’re attracted to blurs and the potential for rifts in your safety net are everywhere. It’s not the first show with this as a central tangle nor is it specific to queer television. But the reality of the deep ties that can exist within queer friendships and how they form deep supportive communities makes the stakes higher. And that’s why the friendships are developed nearly as much if not more than some of the romances. That’s where a lot of the risk lies for these characters.

Anyway, that’s nearly 3K of thoughts I didn’t know I had in me about We Are until today. But here we are.

[heliza24]

Ep 5, rage, and time

This was a FASCINATING episode. We’ve got a lot more questions than answers right now— about exactly the nature of Fig’s curse (we know it hopped to her from Gilear, but how does the armor of pride play into it), the exact nature of what happened to Cassandra, and what kind of big bad god (???) was talking to Kristen after the fight— so I don’t have a snappy thesis about this week’s ep. But I have some themes buzzing around my head like persistent flies. So let’s talk about them.

I saw someone earlier point out that rage and anger seems to be a dominant theme of the season, after Kristen got advantage for leaning into anger at her parents, and I think we know for sure now that that’s true. I refreshed myself on what happened to Lydia— she sealed a dangerous demon inside a soul gem and embedded it in herself to keep the demon from escaping. She was in a permanent rage to keep herself alive, and the impact of that disabled her. As a disabled fan I have always loved this rep, because the gem functions like a chronic illness, and I personally have used anger at the medical system and the ableist world to survive being chronically ill. (She also refused to have the gem removed and risk releasing the demon, which is a great refutation of the magical cure trope). Anger is a dirty fuel though, and if you burn too much of it you’ll end up burning yourself, and compromising your own mental health, in the process.

That reminds me of the kind of things we were circling from the beginning of the season— burnout, exhaustion, being past where you can fight. And if people heap enough stress on you (from schoolwork or otherwise) a kind of natural response to that is to break into rage at some point.

I don’t exactly understand the mechanisms of the star bursts that originated within Cassandra and then made her monstrous. Were parts of her anger embedded in them like the demon was in Lydia’s soul gem, and then when they re-entered her they turned that rage into something uncontrollable? Why did they affect Kalina that way and why did she mention Ragh’s name? I’m really not sure, although I do hope that this means that Lydia will play a larger role this season and we’ll see more of her and her cool wheelchair soon.

The other things that’s bouncing around my head is the theme of time (a recurring Elmville theme; chronomancy is the greatest magic of all after all). I think this season is concerned with time, and what it means to run out of time, even more than freshman and sophomore year. We have Arthur and Ayda traveling through time and the quadrangle situation. Now we have the Synod clock and a verifiable time loop (side note: I did ABSOLUTELY burst out laughing when Brennan exasperatedly said “anyone can roll arcana to understand time loops” when the PCs were confused, like GOD haven’t you all seen this in a million science fiction stories by now??? A deeply relatable moment when the players aren’t picking up the lore you’re putting down). But maybe more importantly, we’re seeing the consequences of not having enough time this season, or maybe what happens when the clock keeps running after the adventure is supposed to be over. No one has enough time to do all the assignments on their plate. Everyone missed out on fun, school planning, and relationship stuff over the summer because they had to be fighting the night yorb and didn’t have enough time to go home. (Also, side note, the night yorb turned everything to night therefore eliminating a way we have to tell time. No more days, just one long bleed of an adventure). And everything we’re doing right now feels like we’ve somehow hit the end of time and then kept going— Cassandra was never supposed to turn back into something akin to the nightmare king again. Kalina was never supposed to come back in the same form and taunt Riz again. The whole thing feels like a lesser, diminished time loop. Even the main high school antagonists, the rat grinders, are like a weird version of the bad kids who are stuck just looping over and over again, grinding out xp and repeating themselves infinitely.

I don’t really know how these two themes are going to hook together yet exactly, but I have a feeling they’re going to. Whoever was on the phone with Kristen feels like a hook for underlying plot, if not an outright big bad, which I honestly wasn’t sure we would get at all this season. So I’m gonna be so interested to see how these themes coalesce as the season goes on.

PS- I think The Seven is also extremely concerned with time (especially that sequence in the penultimate episode, which is my favorite in all of D20 I think. No spoilers if you haven’t seen it, but it is truly transcendent), and especially what it means to grow and change. I love that this theme keeps popping up in Elmville- it’s such a lovely frame for the kind of coming of age stories that get told there.

[chainedupgirlsblog]

✎ Commentary of Ep 7 ~ The Loyal Pin (Thai GL-2024) - Part 2

In life I only aspire to be as forward and well-spoken as Pin. Such a classy lady! Very demure, very lady like of her to reject this man for the nth time being this polite and calm! (Could never be me!) I love her so much, it was so nice to hear and read this, and to witness! You tell him queen!

Anil might be a princess but she bag herself a ✨queen 💅🏼✨

Let’s continue with this episode!

THE AUDACITY OF THIS MAN???

Pin was flabbergasted, gagged, confused is an understatement. And so was I.

Exactly! I made that exact same face Prik! The audacity of this man!

No. She will never love you. Leave 👏🏼 her 👏🏼 alone 👏🏼 Don’t even get me started on the starting a family part. Move! Remove yourself from my sight as well!

“Please kindly remove yourself from my sight and never return”

GODDAMN!! That’s the most polite go fuck yourself I’ve ever seen. That must’ve hurt. Serves him right tho! When is he gonna learn???

Wish I could say he finally understood, but from spoilers of furthers episodes and the trailer itself I guess the fuck not. The man is insufferable!

Not Pin complaining to Anil’s most loyal supporter and calling Anil, Prik’s Princess when she’s mad at her little girlfriend for not writing her more letters hahaha

And Prik getting right back at her with that comment of haven’t she won both your heart and your… and Pin panicking right there and then ahaha please they’re so funny.

As a side note I must add Freen’s deep voice (when Pin snap at Prik) still hunts me at nights 🥴

THE LETTERS!!!

I might die alone and single after this! Cuz what do you mean this level of romance doesn’t exist anymore???? The softness, the yearning, the handwritten poetry???

Why is it always “I like you. You’re good” and never “Please accept the caresses of my lips on your left cheek, right cheek and your forehead” Why????

How am I supposed to settle down for less than this Emily Dickinson level of poetry??? 😭😭😭

She’s fighting destiny, deadass throwing fits at morpheus for not allowing her dream about her amorcito. My little Princess is so cute 😭😭

A year has passed already! We’re moving fast!

THE GIFTS!! Love all the precious gift they gave each other, they were so meaningful! You could see they absolutely love them.

We know how much Pin loves collecting small little souvenirs from her princess so I can only imagine how much she appreciates the gifts Anil so thoughtfully gave her. She had them made! The Princess is not joke!

“All I want is for you to return to my arms” Nevermind! She doesn’t want gift she just wants her girl back in her arms!!! 😭😭😭

We have one more year to go, be strong sweeties. We can do it!

Oh, she goes to her room every day. Every. Single. Day! Oh to be loved like that!

Such a beautiful scene, them laying down in the bed facing each other as the intertwine their fingers. It’s all in Pin’s head but it’s just so lovely!

And then that little hugging scene where Anil imagine Pin warming her up with the scarf she made herself for her. Ahhh it’s all just pure love and romance! Love it so much 🫶🏻

Then we have another sequence where Pin tells Anil about her new job as a translator and isn’t it amazing how much they’ve grown?!

We also have another small time jump and we see Pin complaining to Prik again about the lack of letters from Anil. Prik tries to reassure her it’s probably because the princess is too busy finishing school and she’s not far off the truth.

Pin goes on which I guess is her daily walk visit to the Pine Palace and she misses her princess so bad she starts hallucinating her there. (Pin, sweetie 🥺)

But guess what? Pin hallucinated so strong that she actually brought Anil back!

The Princess is right there behind her and I can’t wait to see Pin lose her lady like marbles! Hahaha

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Another great episode. I love this show so much <3 I’m still catching up (sadly not fast enough) But I’ve watched till ep8, so that commentary should be posted soon. Here’s Part 1

[mickeym4ndy]

I only watched Shamless last year and I never seen any of the hall of shame episodes because everyone said they were terrible so I’ve only seen some of the gallavich clips. but I saw you talk about the 85% love thing which is an insane ooc thing they made ian say but I never see people talk about the thing mickey said about his bipolar? I was shocked it was such an asshole ooc move I can’t believe the writers thought it was ok?

Yea it was very fucked up by Mickey, hall of shame was the worst.

I don’t think it’s that ooc for either of them to lash out at each other when they’re hurt, but to sink that low was really fucked up, and yea very ooc given what they’ve been through. Seeing Mickey try to hit someone where it hurts when he feels cornered/hurt isn’t uncommon (eg: how he spoke to Svetlana at the baptism) but for him to actually make a comment like that to Ian about his bipolar after everything was imo really ooc for Mickey. And just a fucked up thing to say.

Going on a bit of a tangent here but I think one of the worst parts about Hall of Shame is that the writers were so close to getting it right, but they kept fucking it up so badly.

For example, the 87% comment was mean and unfair but not just for Mickey, for Ian also. Because the flashbacks implied Ian wasn’t talking about family & friends etc, he was talking about past “relationships.” Which Caleb and Trevor I can understand to an extent, but to include Kash and Ned and other men that took advantage of him in that “13%” is fucked up by the writers and imo does Ian a massive disservice. It’s like they’re treating these men like ex boyfriends, and not predators who groomed and took advantage of a teenager. It’s like they refuse to acknowledge that Ian was groomed.

And this ep/ Ned’s death, instead of being a way to make Gallavich fight over stupid shit, could’ve been a chance for Ian to actually realize that & come to terms with it. Mickey could’ve brought up how fucked it was too. They could’ve actually talked about and dealt with something real.

Even Mickey’s comment to Ian about leaving being his whole MO had validity based on their past tbh. It’s been talked about a lot recently how Mickey has abandonment issues with Ian because of everything that went down between them, and that could’ve been an opportunity for them to discuss that. Like actually discuss a massive element of their past that’s caused Mickey’s biggest insecurity in their relationship. Not visiting him in prison stuff, Mexico, etc.

But instead the writers made them lash out and say stupid shit to each other and make Mickey make that gross ableist comment.

Half the time in the later seasons it felt like the writers were just choosing things for them to say/do based on the idea like “what would someone say here” but not “what would Ian/Mickey say here.” If that makes sense. It’s like they barely knew the characters so they just wrote their own version of them? Idk

I’m sure there’s other stuff from the ep that could’ve been an opportunity to actually deal with stuff had it been handled differently, but I haven’t watched it in a long time so can’t remember.

I think s11 was flawed but there were things I liked, but hall of shame really was a mess. Only thing that was good were the kisses at the end lol.

[steve0discusses]

Ep 45 Part 2: I, Again, Did Not Expect Ryou

The revolving door of characters wandering into this boss arena continues, and this time it’s Pharaoh who is trying to catch up to the plot with the dead woman on the ground, the giant tablet to the side, and Seto who is cackling to himself in a corner.

And Seto does a big ol laugh and it’s been a while since we got a villainous laugh out of Seto. Been a LONG TIME. Probably felt great for this voice actor to go back to his roots.

(read more under the cut)

Y’all.

It’s been a while I’ve been doing this blog, right? And I take it slow, especially right now with chronic fatigue stuff, but MAN I really thought we’d be dueling SETO. Not Aknadin in a Seto Bean! That’s a different guy!

Yugioh! That’s a completely different guy!

And there’s time for the big showdown between Pharaoh and Seto to actually happen. But trying to write it so we no longer develop this rivalry between Seto and Pharaoh feels like...they had to do that because Seto became a friend maybe kind of unintentionally.

It still works, they haven’t lied to us, I just...I have mixed feelings about it.

Mimicking Blue Eyes in Season 1 and Season Zero, this dragon will not work for you if you are not Seto Kaiba. Or Yugi. She’ll sometimes allow Yugi to play her in his deck. But definately not Seto Imposters. And like that, Aknadin is dead by his own hubris.

Hubris be killing a lot of billionaires lately, amiright? Yugioh just leaning into my love of killing billionaire gentry with hubris.

This romantic moment somewhat ruined by the animation team refusing to draw fingers and always keeping everyone’s hands clenched like they’re gonna furiously poop.

Yami watches as Seto recreates the vision that Kaiba had seen several years prior on the blimp. And Yami I’m sure felt entirely 3rd wheel. But he’s used that. He lives in Yugi’s bean. He probably thinks 3rd wheel is normal and how everyone feels all the time.

And then THIS HAPPENS.

Seto decides he’s had enough of watching behind a pillar, and now that everyone is dead and sobbing he should go out and harass Yugi. Youknow, at this funeral. The funeral of his beloved from like a previous life or whatever. Seto is kind over it and for once he is the one that needs a ride home.

And he’s like “hey so...I noticed that guy looks like me”

And then, when you think “well I guess Seto joins the party?” they just start screaming at eachother, within earshot of Seto, within earshot of the dead dragon card, within the earshot of like the entire world.

Remember that no one can actually see Seto but Pharaoh, which makes it even more funny.

Bakura segue’s us back to Yugi and his cursed friends, where he’s trying his best to explain the logic of cursing your classmates with dark magic so you can go on playdates.

The idea that you go through all the trouble to curse people into liking you, but the puzzle itself is made of dark magic, so it finds the most terrifying people to make your friend, is funny to me although it is completely my headcanon.

Anyway, get ready for the still my computer caught for this next one.

(it’s “surprise” but eh I don’t feel like fixing it at this point.)

It DOES look like Tristan is doing a weird cross punch, he’s actually tossing both of them and his hands over extended to the other side, which is a thing we do in animation, we go past the point you intend to go so it looks more fluid--but it does make the tweens funny.

The floor gives way and creates scales made out of the eyes.

Will Yugi leap from his scale and send his friends to purple doom, or will he find Pharaoh’s name and save the world?

which like, wouldn’t be a good episode of Yugioh unless multiple people were asking to die, and Joey nailed it in the most Brooklyn way this Japanese boy knows how.

And so Bakura was like “never mind.” which I guess was an option in the footnotes that only he could read.

Not shown is a hard to cap animation where Yugi leapt from his edge of the scales and just clung to Joey’s waist and Joey was like “gotta hang on to your friends, right Yuge?” And Yugi was like “Does that mean you forgive me already? Or are you being sarcastic right now?”

Inside of the room is this.

I LOVE the outline tool in photoshop. Good stuff. I LOVE it. and so does this animation team. Outlined the HELL out of those birds.

They leave the name zone room, with no idea at all how to say Pharaoh’s name. Where, they ran straight into Tristan and decided enough was enough, it’s time to have a chat. Because no, they haven’t figured it out.

You may be asking “so where did Tristan go?”

I DON’T KNOW.

He’s probably not fine. But um. No idea where Tristan went.

Also, guess who we haven’t seen in like 20 episodes since Seto stepped over his prone body on the steps?

Ryou! Little Ryou is back!

This guy who we...thought was a good guy? Anyway he’s off to literally kill Yugi, just like he’s want to do.

Straight up...I can’t fully predict Ryou, mostly because we rarely ever see the kid, but damn, he sure did wake up just ready to do a murder today, didn’t he?

And yes, this does mean that Ryou was pretending to be Bakura pretending to be Tristan, just so we the audience could get a fun triple reveal in this episode.

For some damn reason Ryou brought a duel disk to ancient Egypt. So we WILL get actual proper cards. And by proper cards, I mean Yugioh TV show cards, which line up not at all with the actual card game. Can’t wait to spell FINAL and then die.

Anyway, here’s the link to read these in chrono order.

https://steve0discusses.tumblr.com/tagged/yugioh/chrono

We are quickly running out of people in this season to kill, but we still got a few of Pharoah’s ancient friends left, and as for who dies next episode? My bet is on...Isis. Sorry Isis, I know you got a cool hat and you’re the token girl but, she’s super dead next right?

[oswlld]

oswlld's monthly wrap up: may

note: i am trying something a bit different this year, so bear with me as i figure out how i want to format this. i wanted to spend more time sharing what i consume, beyond what i rb, and put my thoughts in one place. these posts are okay to rb

--

Arsenic and Adobo, Mia P. Manansala [started 05/18, finished 06/03] I didn’t dip my toes into the light murder mystery genre until now and to be honest, I’m not sure if it’s working for me. But I have seen recommendations floating around this series with filipino characters and wanted to check it out. The main character, Lila, is eerily specific to my personal experiences and upbringing, but the writing feels severely lacking because I’m actively looking for more character development and depth. My best friend clarified that this genre doesn’t really flesh out the characters in the way I want it to. In the end, it just fell flat for me. I gave it 3.5⭐️ on storygraph (which might be generous) — Crying in H-Mart, Michelle Zauner [started 05/09, finished 06/09] Have you even got a book that you know that you’ll love, so you just end up avoiding it at all costs? This is a memoir that I needed to read this slowly because it just felt incredibly special. And so painful. If you’re a first gen aapi with a difficult relationship with your mother, this is going to be a LOT for you. Sobbing, snotty, the whole works. Take long breaks in between reads if you need it. I luckily saved the heaviest part of the book for when I was taking an impromptu trip to the lake, surrounded by so much sun, mist, and life. The world was comforting me and wiping away my tears. 5.0⭐️ on storygraph!!

23.5 Degrees, GMMTV [started: 03/08, dnf] I only had time to catch episode 9 in May. I thought I would be able to complete the series this month, but alas it might be a DNF. Please tell me that the adorable teachers got together! — Doctor Who, Disney+ [started: 05/10, in prog] It shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone that DW is on here. I am a DW blog first, multifandom blog second. I’m loving the spin RTD is taking with the show for this run, having the genre touch on the supernatural/mythical/fantasy. It still has the same DNA but it’s so fresh. I only caught the first two eps on premiere week and haven’t had the time to keep up with the show weekly, but I am catching up soon. — Murderville, Netflix [started 02/10, finished: 05/23] I forgot to include this in my february wrap up, but I watched eps 1-4 back then and finally got around to seeing the last two eps this month. This show is such a delight! I love the unique twist on the concept of procedural improv, where the guest star actually have to solve the case at the end of the ep. They’re not there to just play off the other actors, they invite themselves to interact with the plot without taking it too seriously. If this sounds right up your alley to turn your brain down to like… 25%, please check this out. — Attack on Titan [started: 05/26, in prog] I have quite a journey ahead of me, but I’m happy to report that I LOVED the first ep. What a strong start to my anime era! This is gonna be my summer obsession, I can just feel it. By the time this posts, I will have seen eps two and maybe three(??). Gimme them right now, in an IV please. — Devil’s Plan, Netflix [started: 04/23, ALMOST complete] Bestie and I are OBSESSED with this competition series and we just learned there will be a s2, YAYY! This isn’t a show where you can turn your brain off. Now that I think about it, I don’t think there’s been a challenge I fully understood until ep 10, but man is it fun watching the contestants figure it out. They’re all SO intelligent and SOOO charming. And the games are so creative and elevated, it makes the stakes so charged! We are a few min into ep 11, out of 12, and we are planning to finish it this week. I don’t want this show to endddd!

Whew! I thought I didn’t watch much this month, but I covered a lot of ground on the TV front huh.

Pedro, Netflix [watched on 05/05] First off, you’ll be delighted to know that the artist and subject matter of the film, Pedro Friedeberg, has two cats named Wikipedia and Netflix. What I find so refreshing about this documentary in particular is Pedro, the unwilling participant during the process. The filmmaker, Liora Spilk Bialostozky, takes great care in sharing her insecurities about it. Liora is not shy about her adoration for her favorite artist and Pedro is very firm with his boundaries when pressed about his personal life. It makes for a very delightful, yet tense friendship between the two. — Polite Society [watched on 05/31] This is still fresh in my mind but what a spectacular film! LOVE how it puts the sister bond in the forefront of this classic action film, as well as all the female friendships. It makes the tonal shift flow seamlessly because the heart of the film beats strong. The best scene was the KHAN vs KHAN fight sequence, Ria vs Lena. The bashing, the biting, and the blood! The choice to make the final blow be self-inflicted, especially when it targets my personal experience, really took this film to new heights. I want to just ‘This movie has EVERYTHING’ meme the hell out of this. It has weird girls, judgmental aunties, college dropouts who have an estranged relationship with making art, torture scenes through the use of leg waxing, reproductive autonomy, FEMALE RAGE! It deserves to be up there when people think of 10 Things I Hate About You and Clueless.

GÉNESIS, Peso Pluma [first time listening] Before Coachella, I knew very little about Peso Pluma but his live performance really shot him to the top of my list of artists to catch up on. When I was little, my dad always had corrido playing in his car radio and to this day, he still occasionally plays it in the garage. What I really admire about GÉNESIS is the modern twists the artist takes in the production and writing, perfectly paying homage to the traditional without it sounding dated. I think it’s largely due to his vocals. He doesn’t shy away from perfecting at the cost of being authentic and it shines in songs such as Rubicon and 77. The latter half of the album really packs a punch, it’s so hard to pick a favorite. Everything from Lady Gaga to the end is just banger after banger after banger. Having this album play in my car… I really do take after my father. — LAS LETRAS YA NO IMPORTAN, Residente [first time listening] I first heard of Residente from the song Immigrants (We Get the Job Done) from the Hamilton Mixtape. Even then, I made a mental note to get back to him, but lost track of time until I started listening to Peso Pluma. This compilation consists of 23 songs and it’s such a sublime experience from beginning to end! It’s cinematic, it’s heavy, it’s a party, AND it’s skipless. He has a level of talent that has me raging!!! HE’S SO GOOOOOOD TF?!?!? The first time I heard 313, I wrote a note on my phone with “hhhhhhhh???!?!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!how dare he” and I stand by that statement. It’s almost six minutes long and not one second was wasted. Where Peso Pluma brings the traditional corrido to the present, Residente brings rap/hip-hop into the future. Whenever I get a chance to jump back into the album in the car, the songs I tend to gravitate towards are Artificial Inteligente, Cerebro, Yo No Sé Pero Sé, Que Fluya, and Las Letras Ya No Importan. This guy doesn’t miss, I hate him (affectionate). — Everything I Know About Love, Laufey [first time listening] This album is magnificent, I am UNWELL. The way I feel about this album is the same way I felt about Five Seconds Flat last summer: a feeling so bone deep, my soul begs for release. Bewitched was such a strong outing for me, so hearing little echos of it in the album before made the listen experience all the more enchanting. I’m so in love with this album. I’m actually convinced that Above the Chinese Restaurant is the most beautiful song I’ve ever heard. Ever. If I talk about this album more, it’s going to dig up so much of my deepest, darkest memories. I can’t… but also please talk to me about this album. — HIT ME HARD AND SOFT, Billie Eilish [first time listening] On gawd, what a stellar month for music, I can’t believe it! What a KNOCKOUT!! Billie and Finneas, I feel, have finally come home. They finally own their craft, refined it, and carved it into this marble masterpiece. Billie is more daring with her vocal range and exploring new avenues in her execution. The entirety of L’amour De Ma Vie was just me going “ARE YOU KIDDING ME????” 30 times over in the car. No but for real, is she joking? This is so ungodly, what am I supposed to do with myself?? HELP???? It’s a no-skip album, there is no top 5, no favorites list. It just is and it’s unbelievable that I can’t experience it for the first time all over again.

[docholligay]

Ep 7: Nat

Hello! This is about up to Episode 7 of Yellowjackets, and ONLY episode 7 of Yellowjackets. I have not seen beyond the seventh episode, at all, and know NOTHING about this show. Please do not spoil it for me.  Things that are spoilery in nature, for me, include: saying things like  “Just wait!!” confirming or denying anything I put forward, outside information about the cast interviews or creator statements, leading questions like “Do you think “blank moment” means anything?” etc. Remember  that Y’ALL HAVE SEEN THE SHOW AND I HAVE NOT. This informs the way you  talk about things relating to the show. Just be really careful is all  I’m asking. Also: If there is LITERALLY any stance I  could take on this show or character that would make you upset, please  just fucking block the tag

If you WOULD like to discuss the show and my takes on it, the Discord is right here! I don’t go there, so it’s a great place to get every emotion out.

Please thank @sailorsunspot and @moonlight-frittata for backing this odd way of doing a liveblog, and remember my tip jar is always open

Oh Nat, what the fuck can I say about you that I haven’t said a thousand times before? Actually, i will say that I love that they are really giving Nat a bit of a heel turn here, because I was so prepared to be like, “Ah yes, the disconnected,cynical alternative girl is the only real one. Groundbreaking.” and I think the show has taken pains to show that, no, Nat doesn’t know jack shit, and she is a codependent asshole who seems to care only about Travis and refuses to let herself stop being hung up on that. But no, even her involvement with the blackmail, trying to shoot a man, suggesting that she is going to be able to figure out who did this and save it all, it’s all about Travis, it’s always about Travis, and as long as nat is fixed to that spot, it doesn’t actually matter what she learns because it will never ever be enough. She cannot let herself see other worlds. 

It’s a great and fun development for me when we show Travis about to go with the other girls, out of a sense of chivalry or whatever, and Nat straight up asks him not to go. Now we can debate all day long and off into the night whether or not it would actually be helpful for Travis to go or stay, but none of that has anything to do with Nat’s calculation here. It has everything to do with the fact that she’s selfish, that she wants him, that she is pinning so much to the two of them. She’s like an extreme opposite of Taissa’s lack of emotional engagement with Van. Travis is the only part of her future she can see, and it’s equal parts compelling and pathetic.I suppose I will grudgingly admit that I like where she tries to generically sexy-talk, and Travis rejects it. He wants Nat to be Nat, even when they’re fucking. 

 I wasn’t sure where I wanted to put this, such things that straddle the girls are always difficult to handle, but when Tai talks about how they got home lives, and Nat got nothing, I want to point out that this was always Nat’s choice. I have my own feelings about Tai and Shauna’s marriages and children and why the exist, maybe for another time, but Nat literally just…opted out of all of that in order to bum around with Travis and get drunk and do drugs togerher, and even after he disappeared on her, perhaps sending a bit of a signal, she kept pursuing the same path. Nat is to blame for at least 75% of Nat’s problems. Ma’am you are in your 40s. 

I don’t disagree with Nat, really, when she says they are just as fucked up as she is, but where I do disagree with her is where she says they’re lying to themselves. I don’t think that being able to figure out how to behave in public and keep from setting yourself on fire for at least 20 years is lying. I think it’s choosing to move on despite it all. Nat is very much not doing that. And, don’t mistake me, I think Shauna does a pretty bad job of it, and Taissa certainly has the wolf coming to get her, but I think both of them have TRIED more than Nat, who it feels like very much decided the nightmare she was gong to live in and then made that her reality. But this is part of convincing herself that she’s ‘real’ while the others are not. That she alone has a clear eye. 

Even the momentary realization that Kevyn is nice to her, and that Kevyn is stable, and that maybe, with him, she could have some semblance a normal, together, reasonable life, does less than nothing for her. He is a means to an end: she found our about Travis, she got to use his gun, it wouldn’t matter how much she got away with, with him, she would always try take more because she doesn’t know how to be happy and she doesn’t trust it. She has be outrightly cruel to Kevyn because she has to fucking convince herself that this is somehow still all her idea, that her isolation is a function of desire, and not a function of something irrevocably broken in her, that she has never made a real effort to fix. 

I’m wondering if it was Natalie who came up with the whole pit idea, as Tai suggests they wouldn’t be here without her, and Shauna even directly references being dragged into her “pit” of guilt. Could this be part of why Nat is so fucked up, is she knows she was directly responsible for murder? Does she ever wish it was her?

[yaoisex]

Ok. Watched Buddy Daddies ep12. 

I’m so glad I stayed away from social media for the last couple of hours. There were spoilers all over, I’d have been pissed seeing them before the ep. 

Anyway, I quite enjoyed the finale. 

I loved all the aibo talk from both of them, all the scenes of them holding to each other for stability (we didn’t get an actual hug but I’ll take what I get), all the family photos, Rei’s ass in the air in the very first scene (that frame is screaming for a manip with Kazuki behind him istg), Ogino’s very graphic yet satisfying death, “The warmth that comes from sleeping three to a bed“ (I haven’t seen anyone talking about that part yet. HOW?), them being Miri’s papas for 10 years and opening a restaurant together.

What I did not like was the need to insert that one sentence in the end, about Kazuki slipping out to go drinking with a girl again. Why. Why was it needed? you built this whole partners and family world but had to insert that one “no homo” bit in the end? I was smiling hard until that one sentence that made me roll my eyes and sigh. Guess I’ll just have to think about it as Kazuki going out to drink with one of the mamas to ask for advice about teenage Miri or something. 

Yeah, I know I said in a previous post that I don’t mind them being either in a platonic or a romantic relationship. But seriously, you’re giving us all of this and then Kazuki goes out with a girl? When he has a partner at home who’s been sharing his work and daughter with? For 10 years?? That kinda rubbed me the wrong way I must say. 

But apart from that one sentence, I think the finale was really great. 

But wait. WHERE’S THE CAT THO?? ;_____; 

I’ll have to go check out AO3 again. Haven’t checked for a long time. Hopefully there are some nice, new works (and hopefully some good smutty ones too).

I’ve had a blast sharing the Buddy Daddies experience with all of you here! Gonna miss it!  

Until next time~ (on whatever anime that’ll be. How about Ice Adolescence maybe???... I should insert the clown emoji for this, huh)

[dmhayle]

I’ve seen so many posts upset about the kiss on last night’s episode. I have some disorganized thoughts.

I haven’t seen the original GoT in many years, but I vaguely remember Khaleesi having a right hand woman that was similar to Mysaria as far as having a heartbeat on the people and how to win them over. She even hooked up with her to learn how to please her husband I thought…or maybe I’m remembering incorrectly.

Anyway, Mysaria reminds me a lot of that woman in that at first I didn’t trust her, but Mysaria has continued to be honest w Rhaenyra and has opened up to her and let her see parts of herself that no one else has. I’m not even sure Daemon knows how she got that scar bc their relationship seemed more about what she could do for him and I think she always felt that dynamic. At least that’s how her relationship w him came across to me.

But she told Rhaenyra that she’d never made her feel less than and I think that has touched Mysaria and she genuinely feels something for Rhaenyra. They have both been on the receiving end of Daemon’s childish run-away-when-I-don’t-get-my-way tactics and have both been underestimated by the men around them and have both been wronged by the Hightower family (mainly Otto).

I would obviously prefer to see Rhaenyra with Alicent, but I’d like to give Mysaria the benefit of the doubt in regards to her intentions with Rhaenyra. I feel she’s far more trustworthy than Valys or whatever his name is that has tried to weasel his way into becoming the hand of the king every chance he gets. Or maybe I’m a big ole sucka!

I agree the music was quite cacophonous and I can definitely see how it would make people feel off about the kiss. Music is never unintentional in tv shows, so it could be Rhaenyra walking into a trap with Mysaria. I’m hoping it was bc of the omg what if they get caught like this type of situation and if they were caught what would happen to them?! I could see that being a disastrous scenario for both of them but especially Rhaenyra.

I have a bad track record of trusting the wrong people, so I am almost certainly wrong to give Mysaria the benefit of the doubt and I haven’t seen the trailer or sneak peek or whatnot where she’s burning a letter so I am probably wrong about her intentions, but truly I hope not bc I want Rhaenyra happy and healthy and no one in her camp has seemingly supported her more in recent eps.

Rhaenyra’s been surrounded by men (other than those working around the castle) for so long and with Rhaenys gone now and Alicent giving her no choice but to forge on w the war in their last interaction, I’m really not surprised she’s become so close with Mysaria.

I think for me it goes back to Mysaria knowing she’s probably on the losing end of this war and she had a chance to get away and out of the reach of all of it, but instead chose to come back and help save Rhaenyra from the twin who’d been sent to assassinate her. She didn’t have to do that and really I don’t see what she had to gain from doing that knowing the green’s had the upper hand in the war. I think (or at least hope) her speech to Rhaenyra was sincere before the kiss.

[nightglider124]

Titans: Season 4 - Ep7 & Ep8 - Thoughts

Okay, now that I have watched the episodes multiple times (actually just the good bits tehe), I have overall thoughts and I thought I would share them!

I’m gonna try and focus on the stuff non dickkory related buuut if you catch me slipping, soz. I have always been very vocal about my priorities in this show and they are in the main three.

Episode 7: Caul’s Folly

The bit at the beginning where they like said bye to Jinx, I found kinda sweet. I still feel like she is going to pop up again. I don’t feel like she is proper dead... Maybe I am wrong but I haven’t seen anything to say the actress wasn’t returning for part 2 or anything. I would personally prefer if they kept her dead moreso cos I don’t feel she has any more of a part to play in the rest of it but yeah. At first, I didn’t think they were even gonna mention her and then Rachel did and I was like lmao okay cool. Glad that was cleared up. XD

Honestly, they’ve done such a good job of getting the vibe of bonkers cult for the Church of Blood like it’s so full of whackos but it all feels so believable tbh. I like Sebastian; he’s an interesting character and villain. I’ve always liked the Brother Blood storyline in all media forms through the years and this is no different.

I AM MISSING GAR TERRIBLY ALREADY. I proper felt his absence and I HATED IT. Like I get it, we’re gonna be getting a whole ep for my boy but like I miss his cute little face. Gar woulda been a mood if he was in the town with them. GOD. I can’t wait to see him again soon.

Conner... my guy. I fucking hate you this season. I get the Lex thing and what they’re going for and Joshua Orpin does phenomonelly as he makes it believable but FUCK ME. I am tired of his superieor bullshit XD. Like when he started blaming Dick for the plan going south, I was like are you for real and then Dick being like well fuckface we had a good plan but it went to shit cos of your dumb ass. I was like FUCK YEAH, TELL HIM DICK! I need Conner to not be a douche for much longer cos it’s grating af.

In addition to that, it was cool to see Mercy again. I was surprised since I don’t think anything had mentioned her making an appearance. Still hate her character but it was a cool little moment.

MY GOD. The whole interaction with Roberta was my absolute favourite. When she like inhaled Kory, I was cracking up and I peeped Dick’s smiling eyes ever so slightly when she did it. Hilarious. I loved it and I loved Roberta. 

I really REALLY love the clothing department for all the outfits but... my baby girl. Every outfit was a slay. OH! AND THE FUCKING JACKET!! IT SAYS WE <3 GAR AND OBVS THATS A NUDGE TO THE ICONIC SHIRT?? I really adored that little easter egg to the comics. Muchos appreciated.

I LOVE TIM AND BERNARD. They’re little idiots trying to figure shit out and I’m a sap for it tbh. AND GUUURL, they gots their own motel scene. I was like Yaaas TIM, go get your boo. I really like their relationship tbf. I was smiling through like all their scenes, especially at the motel.

Dick getting the shit kicked out of him in the police station made me physically wince; the fight-acting was amazeballs but ugh my boy, I was like bro, you’re getting fucked up. I get he obviously does not have the Nightwing suit with him but dang man, you got knocked about like a ragdoll.

I like the pace in this first episode; it brought me straight back into the flow and action of the season rather than acting as filler bs, at least I felt. 

-----

Episode 8: Dick & Carol & Ted & Kory

This episode killed me dead because of the dickkory; I just wanna get that out straight away cos... my god. It was glorious. These thoughts will be including DK cos how can I not; half the episode was them.

That frickin bedroom scene... them freaking and then Kory being like did we sleep together? And Dick is like NO. No? It was so funny; I was cackling. The comedic and the seriousness and the romance as well... it all worked surprisingly very well? Like it felt in the middle of chaos but it works?? I loved this episode more than maybe any other episode in the show. 

THE WEDDING RINGSSS. I just wanna say, they got changed. They didn’t need to keep them on. Maybe yes because they’re keeping up the appearances but PLS they both looked real comfy with wedding rings js. Some of the shots also really felt like they were intentionally showing them off. Maybe I was imagining it but some of the shots felt very pointed. Loved it.

Their outfits. THE OUTFITS. Barbieland could never. I just... they were so opposite to Dick and Kory but they looked so fucking cute. I wanted to die. It was the best thing ever. 

OH! THE MUSIC IN BOTH EPISODES FUCKING SLAPPED. The town knows how to do a playlist, ite? I was vibing for a lot of the time to the point I had to rewind bits cos I wasn’t paying attention. 

The scene with Sebastian cutting Rachel had me raging. Like, bitch lemme cut you and see what you think. Step away from my GURL. 

The scene where Dick has bought the recorders... I found Kory hilarious with her ‘Peak daddy bullshit’ line but aw, omg I felt bad for Dick like his poor face he was like, I’m just trying to save us :( It’s rare Kory proper loses her shit with him so I was like oh, this is not nice. I got her but also like he trying. 

Inhale... guys... them recording their memories... Kory’s had me sad. Anna’s voice was so sad like it was great. 

In addition to that... my poor heart when Dick came downstairs and Kory had turned into Carol like full pelt... I was like noooo. His face is like no.... no no no. Brenton does Dick’s facial expression just so damn well. 

POOR CAROL!KORY. She was so fragile all like oh im sorry, did I do something wrong. And, I really love how Dick went from yelling at her cos boy is frightened and frustrated but then softens and is like no, it’s not your fault, its mine. And yes, I adored the hand holding and promising not to leave her, even if it was her Carol self. But, I agree with others on that; Dick’s face was sad cos he knows its not Kory doing it.

KORY HEARING WHAT DICK SAID ON THE TAPE AHHHHHHHH. Im so mad tho. Like he loved her since season 1 what the actual fuck man. Which, actually makes sense why he backed off in s2 and s3 cos like Kory was the one who put it out there about them figuring themselves out before they attempted anything romantic so maybe Dick took that as she wasn’t into it as well as like the not going to San Fran with them? Which makes me sadder. Like giving her space and time but really being like i luv you Kory. UGH. IM SICK.

The radio room was grim; Dick just walking around in these blood pipes like its nothing like even Rachel was like gross dude. Dick just walks out after like nah its fine; I’m covered in some randos blood but its all good.

TEHE the last bit where Kory says about it not being the painful memories. He 10000% now knows she listened to his tape and knows he loves her. Like pls.

Ugh Conner... what are you doing and why do I feel like you’re gonna fuck shit up again, ya little douche. He best not cause any harm to the other Titans with his stupid ass antics. I swear to Jesus. 

That’s all of my long winded thoughts for both episodes! Can’t wait for next weeks and we get to see baby Gaaar!!

[chuuuvi]

Chuang Asia Thailand Episode 1!

It’s been too long since I got into a survival show lol. I mean my last one was Girls Planet 999 and that was 2 years ago! So anyway I’ll be taking you all with me on this journey by posting the notes I took while watching the episode plus my current top 9. Spoilers ahead!!

•First off before you ask where I’m watching: it’s on the Tencent Video app and it’s free. Ooh and if you’re also watching pls let me know so we can talk about it together!

•I’m happy to see Nene as a mentor! I loved her when I watched Chuang 2020

•This is produced by Jackson Wang? They’ve got TEN??? Okay Chuang Asia I’m interested.

•Looking at the contestant list and of course there are 14 year olds. Don’t vote for the 14 year olds you guys. My personal age minimum for voting is gonna be 17 so I won’t consider anyone younger than that. Contestants that are over 18 get my preference though. The idol industry is bad enough for adults, I’d prefer if we didn’t debut minors as well. I know ironic coming from someone who ults Yeseo lol. (She was the youngest active kpop idol when she debuted in Busters.)

•Also they're really going hard with this being international. This makes Mnet look pathetic for what they did in Girls Planet lol.

•Oh the flirting part with Jasmine was so akwarrrrrrd. 100% secondhand embarrassment.

•I felt bad for Elyn when she was crying and said “No Filming!” But they proceeded to just zoom in on her crying face :( TURN THE CAMERA AWAY FROM HER!

•The trip.com ads are so funny to me because these survival show ads where they pretend to use a product are usually for stuff like snacks or beverages or makeup. But they’ve got these girls pretending to casually book a flight lmao

•The barbie group having only one member thats older than 16 and then proceeding to perform Barbie World where they say stuff like “that pussy so cold” and “he spank me when I get bad” -_- Someone should have made them pick another song.

•OOOH the Avex group’s performance of Left Right was great. Maybe the best of the episode although Mindy was really impressive too.

•Ilene’s little fan moment with Jackson was adorable!

•They announced the first top 9 but I feel like we’re still missing some performances?? Is that an editing thing to get that ranking in the first episode and we ares still going to get more next episode or did they just skip some people? Like I don’t think we saw Ruan and I was waiting for her. I could have sworn there were some CSR members too and I haven’t seen them perform either. I guess we’ll see.

• I watched the theme song on YouTube and it’s so cute!! Weird that it’s all about summer when this is airing in winter though. Is it summer in Thailand?? I thought they were above the equator. Okay yeah they are so idk why they’re singing a song about it being summer. Also I got spoiled for Ruan center! Now I know they wouldn’t just skip her. There’s got to be more intro round performances next episode.

•Okay so my Top 9 picks will be based on who performed in this first episode only so I’m sure it’ll change a lot after ep. 2.

1. R-Jing - She blew me away in the extra performance. Her singing was so pretty! She’s so cute too and apparently trained at SM?? I always latch onto a girl first episode and this is my girl!

2. Akina - Maybe it’s bc of her experience in her past group but she seems really comfortable on stage. I like her vibe and she’s clearly very talented. She seems really nice and down to earth.

3. Rinka - I looked back at her gp999 performances and I can see why I didn’t remember her. She seems to have improved so much though! Her voice stood out positively and she’s got some star power I didn’t see in her old performances. I’m excited to see more of this new Rinka!

4. Lissa - I don’t know how to feel about her strange vibe but I liked her performance. Lots of energy and a nice voice. I’m very intrigued by her at this point.

5. MingMing- such a clear and pretty voice!!! Her and Pangjang together were both the vocal highlights of their team’s performance but MingMing is the only one of the two thats over my voting age limit.

6. Mamcú - Really interesting and beautiful voice. Apparently she competed on the Voice?? We’ll need to wait and see how she does with dancing but she seems really earnest about her desire to he an idol not just a singer so I’ll put my faith in her!

7. Shye - We barely got to see her performance but I was intrigued by what we saw. I don’t know if she can dance yet but I’ll find out soon enough. And lets be real, I have a lil crush on her and thats enough to get you in the top 9 at this point in the game. I mean look at her in her leather jacket!

8. Emma - Her dancing was great and she choreographs her own stuff too! I was really impressed by her dance skills both in her extra performance and the dance battle!

9. Tegan - gorgeous gorgeous deep voice! She’s so pretty too! I really liked her but I have no idea if she can dance. I feel like if she could she would have shown it since she got two performances so I’m hesitant.

Honorable Mentions:

Krista Shim - I’m not voting for Krista because she’s under the age I decided on being my voting limit but honestly I’d put money on her making it to the final group. You can just tell with these shows. It's in the way they edit it.

Mao Xiu Ling & Mao Xiu Ting - Of course we have a pair of twins! I’ve always loved this survival show gimmick. I love their look and their dance together was really cool! 

Kaylen - The other half of the Hawaiian Duo! Kaylen pulling Jackson Wang up to the stage with her was such a power move. I didn’t like her solo performance as much as her partner Tegan’s though

Praew- I liked her energy when she introduced herself and then her dancing was insane! I will not be voting for her because she’s 15. She's just a baby.

[white-weasel]

hello my dear mutual i cannot add it to the tournament now but what was the straightbait couple you would've submitted

Hello beloved mutual! It was Hardwon Surefoot and Moonshine Cybin aka HardShine from Not Another DND Podcast. They are some of the biggest straight bait I have ever seen. I technically haven’t finished the podcast yet (have 5 eps left) but, I know they don’t get together. However!!! There is SO much joking flirting between them and the chemistry is THERE. There are three things that stick out for me though. Two require a bit of context (so please pardon the rambling below lmao)

First, the one that doesn’t need much context, is just how the party’s relationship is structured. It’s Hardwon, Moonshine, and Beverly. Beverly is a 15/16 year old boyscout and pretty early on Moonshine and Hardwon step into parental roles for him as they travel. Not like full on mom and dad, but it’s *enough* and I’m not trying to enforce like a nuclear family view of found family at all (because that’s what they are) but idk just how they act as a tag team in keeping Bev’s goofs and antics under wraps really gets me

Next, there’s a part in the campaign where (due to dnd plane shifting and time dilation stuff) the party reunites with some old friends who have aged, like, 40 years since they last say them. These two have gotten married and have two kids. One is named Beverlin which is putting together the names of Beverly and his canonical boyfriend Erlin. The other is Moonwon, aka smashing together Hardwon and Moonshine (I fully believe this kid’s name would have been Hardshine aka their ship name if Beverly hadn’t already named his sword Hardshine after the two of them). Just, there’s something there with naming the kids after these two ships that makes me go a little crazy

Finally, the characters these guys parallel also have a romantic connection, probably reciprocal but at least canonically one sided. The conceit for this campaign is that the world was already saved by legendary heroes years ago. And as you go on you get to see how each character of our party members parallels one of these heroes. For Hardwon, his counterpart is Ulfgar and Moonshine’s is Alanis. Ulfgar is very clearly in love with Alanis when we see them interact and idk if anything comes of this for them (once again haven’t finished the podcast) but it’s just very reminiscent of Hardwon and Moonshine could be.

This is utter word vomit rn and probably makes NO sense but yeah basically….. HardShine is my non-canon straight ship of choice now lol. Thanks for letting me share, I have been rotating them in my mind with incoherent thoughts for a little bit now

[mischas]

pod thoughts/quotes

I swear this took me least two hours to actually watch fully from start/stopping for quotes and going back for context and then I had to pause for a few minutes while I made dinner. But that was incredibly cathartic, I must say. I feel like I’ll be ready to do a deeper dive on the podcast in the coming days but for now here are my thoughts as I watched.

07:30, re: “Whoever you want me to be” it’s interesting that Mischa says they shot her lines so many different ways to establish tone. As if Marissa really is so into her role as lead deb/social chair/etc when Sandy mentions the fashion show. Rereading the pilot script, I can see where this was changed in the direction once it came to shooting it.

16:42, “The thing about the sports or something” made me LAUGH re: hiatus because of baseball in 2003

@ ferris wheel scene, do they know this show is avail in hd? 🥴👀

24:15, re: 2x01 lawn chair scene “I was so frustrated with some of the character writing and not knowing how to play it at that point” omg “Didn’t know what to do with some of the writing” 

What kind of vapid ppl are listening to this drivel if this scene was their #1

31:57, Mischa didn’t know there was an SNL skit based off Marissa shooting Trey. IF ONLY I WERE SO LUCKY

33:28, I swear to christ 😭 Mischa has no recollection of Marissa’s various traumas (re: almost r*pe). And I don’t blame her for this, I think she had to keep this show out of sight out of mind for so so long for her own sake, but I hope being reminded of these things will help her perception of Marissa as more than a strung out angsty teen with poor decision making. She seemed so shook being reminded by Melinda that Marissa was sexually assaulted.

35:40, MB seems to be saying something else behind her expression about shooting on the Mount St. Mary’s campus for 3x24. What do we think she meant by this? Just that she was uncomfortable being paraded around in that skimpy school uniform? Or something else? This location doubled for Harbor, right? She also acknowledged feeling uncomfortable in the explicit Volchok scenes.

37:54, 3x25 model home pool scene, “Oh my god her tattoo, I can’t” I really thought this was Mischa’s tattoo they wrote into the script! I’m truly surprised they even cared about continuity at this point.

38:33, same pool scene “It’s nice when you have days where you can just, like, do stuff that’s not quite so heavy” and Mischa/Marissa deserved this so much more!!!!

44:25, they’re watching the d**th scene, and I have always thought Mischa’s arms look so weird just dropped back like that. It’s probably more realistic than if they were tucked in, but it’s always taken me out of the scene

I haven’t seen this scene in years. literally

I’m tearing up but only a little. It’s too melodramatic for me this time. I know what I’m supposed to feel but it seems so detached from reality that I can easily act like Marissa survives this. There’s almost 40 min left of this pod ep what are they gonna talk about

ok going back real quick i’m supposed to believe this happened to Ryan RIGHT IN HIS LAP AND HE’S CAREFREE AND DATES SOMEONE ELSE NOT EVEN A FEW MONTHS LATER? LMFAO PLS THIS BOY WOULDN’T BE ABLE TO EVEN SPEAK FOR LIKE A YEAR IF THIS RLY HAPPENED

“This is the culmination of their whole love story, it is” okay wait 🥺

“I don’t wanna see the part where he gets all emotional, I’m done now” real

49:31, Melinda: “Truth be told, there was a huuuuuge part of the audience that tuned in just for Marissa and the ratings did go down in season 4 because you weren’t there. I’m just putting that out there.” *elmo fire gif* 🫡 

55:40, 1x10 Missoni dress “They got the dress and I was obsessed, like ‘she has to wear this dress.’ It’s beautiful, like my dream dress at the time. That’s the way I felt about it. It’s all sparkly in person and just very Missoni. You know, after the fact, I became quite good friends with the family but this was like my first introduction to a Missoni piece and I was like ‘Oh my god I’m obsessed with this dress’ to the point where I begged them. This was like one of the first things they let me wear off set and it was my first date dress with, like, one of my ex-boyfriends. I was so excited I got to wear it out. It was special. So that dress has a special place in my heart, that’s for sure.”

1:01:40, fan question, “What do you think is the biggest misconception about Marissa? What’s the one thing that you just wish people would understand about her?”

“That she’s a caring– a very sensitive person. That’s the main thing about her, she’s just this sensitive and– that she wants to care for people and help them. she has a big heart like that.” 🥹

1:05:36 “Originally, they wanted her to be more like Legally Blonde.” 

Melinda, “Like bubbly?”

Mischa’s fucking face here lmao

1:06:00, to find Marissa’s character “They had me watch Kate Hudson in Almost Famous again and again, certain scenes.” Why is this actually making sense to me ljkhgf

1:07:04, Marissa at the party post-fashion show in the pilot was filmed many different ways drunk, “I remember I was asked to play that every way to Sunday. ��Like now she should be fall down drunk, like she’s stumbling through the party’ and then there were takes where I was, like, completely composed. A little bit slurring my words. That was all find it as you go.”

1:08:10, “A lot of opposing types of direction” re: doug, mcg, josh

1:09:36, “Remember when they started shooting two episodes at a time and they would just hand me pages–I don’t know if you guys had as much of this– But they would be like ‘this is gonna be probably in the next episode and since we’re on this set we’re gonna give this scene a go so here’s a couple pages from what’s probably gonna happen’ and I’d be like ‘this is wild! what have you written for the next episode?’ You'd read it and be like ‘holy shit where are we going with this?’ so I remember a lot of that.” She mentioned this in the E! interview but hearing it again is super interesting.

1:10:27, fan question, “I wanted to ask you if there are any storylines you would’ve wanted to see more of for Marissa or if there’s anything you would’ve liked to have seen of Marissa explored.”

“Yeah, I feel like definitely the Alex storyline is what jumps to mind. I feel like that could’ve been explored more. Also there’s not a lot of her and her sister, really. You know? That could’ve been explored more.”

1:11:39, mentioning that the Alex storyline really was ‘her thing’ ie. something I’ve said in the past. The Alex storyline was the only one that was ever Marissa’s alone.

1:12:26, fan submission “Marissa was my favorite character. One of my favorite moments of her was midway through season 2 when Marissa shows up to the Cohen house with bagels and they take her in and comfort her.” real!!!! theeee sweetest scene of all time

1:17:20, Tacking on that fan question at the end about Marissa and mental health. Mischa has such an eloquent answer and to answer my own question from above I feel like this may change the discourse with which MB speaks about the character. At least I hope so. Love that caller for sending it in and honestly the pod for including it. 

“Obviously she suffers from depression and anxiety and all sorts of things. That’s what I was saying about the overdose scene. I do not remember what we think she’s on or what we really think her biggest problem is. Ultimately it’s rooted in mental wellness, isn’t it? I mean, so much of anything is. Any kind of addiction, it’s not really about just one thing or vice that she has. It’s about being at that age and being so overwhelmed about the world around you and not really feeling like she had the tools to cope.”

MC: “The episode is called ‘The Escape’. So she’s escaping that pain that she’s living through that the parents are oblivious to.”

MB: “Right. There’s nobody. There’s never, like, a counselor there or a teacher there. It does feel like she’s always grasping in different directions. It’s not properly defined and I think, maybe in today’s terms, we would handle that differently. But I definitely think that she’s going through all of it and searching for herself.”

Whew, you guys. I need to decompress. 

[hopeymchope]

The semi-regular “seeking an anime to watch” struggle

I’m in that awkward period where I’m trying to find an anime I haven’t seen before that I can really sink into, and I’m coming up pretty dry.

It’s been a pretty good year overall, I gotta say. Tomadachi Game, Trapped in a Dating Sim and Lycoris Recoil have been my three highlights as far as “new anime in 2022″ have been concerned. And of course season 2 of The Devil is a Part-Timer! was wonderful to have as well! LOVE that series. 

But lately, I’m bouncing off a TON of shows that I’m trying to get invested in. New and old alike. :( I’m just having a bad run.

I did try watching “Spy x Family” earlier for most of season 1, and it’s cute, but... I keep waiting for the relationships to progress and the stakes to go up, and neither one ever happens? It’s just kinda cute, and occasionally something funny happens for a moment, and that’s about it. Then I found out that in the manga, the Forgers are STILL all oblivious to their various identities/powers... and I lost a lot of interest. Fucking seriously, you’re gonna drag it out THAT fucking long??? There is SO MUCH material to be mined from revealing those things both emotionally and in terms of how it would affect the plot and action going forward! It’d be SO heartwarming to see them start to accept each other for who they are! But NOOOPE. Seems we’re gonna just wait until the VERY END to do anything with that and simply run in place endlessly ‘til then! Well, bored now.

So I gave “Saga of Tanya the Evil” a shot. And I guess the title should’ve warned me that there’s a severe “Who am I rooting for here?” problem. I’m only four episodes in, but I’m struggling to figure out who I should be latching onto. I guess I expect Tanya to be more of a “sneering, manipulative, sinister-acting force for good” kind of like the protagonist of Tomadachi Game, right? But nah; the “Evil” label seems entirely sincere thus far. At least I can relate to the characters uncertainty/skepticism about the presence of a higher power (”Being X”), but I also want Tanya to accept the reality of the situation as the evidence piles up. In addition to that, some of the art style is really off-putting to me? Specifically Vishna, who certainly isn’t treated as though she’s a freakish-looking person in the world of the series, but she definitely looks it to me...

I started watching “Neon Genesis Evangelion” for the first time recently, but... I’m halfway through the series (13 eps) now, and it still hasn’t grabbed me. I wonder if this is just one of those “It was revolutionary for the time, but everybody’s copied it so much by now that it’s not that exciting anymore” kind of situations? Like, did you have to be there? The kids obviously have some psychological depth to them, but... I mean It kinda feels like maybe the fact that these characters have any psychological problems at all is entirely what was once the appeal, and we’ve had TONS of that kind of thing for decades now, so I can’t feel impressed. Or maybe all of the interesting stuff is in the back half? Idk. Shinji is boring, Rei is a blank slate, Asuka is irritating, Misato is an alcoholic but is probably the most likable character... oy.

[tfw-no-tennis]

tfes thoughtz

not quite a liveblog as I am wont to do but ruth and I watched tf earthspark so I figured id write down scattered thoughts bc who KNOWS when the next eps are dropping and id love to remember what I think of things whenever that rolls around

so let me start off by saying this show is banger. we rlly like it so far awww

still also gotta say rip cyberverse, that show was SO good and died too soon :( 

but yeah I like this show a lot!!! I rlly dig how it looks, I wasn’t sure about the art style/3d animation at first but it looks really good. better than cyberverse if I'm honest (sorry cybv your budget probably wasn’t as good its not ur fault)

I loooove that we’re starting off at an interesting point in which the autobot-decepticon war is over and has been for a while, and megatron is on the same side as the bots, but there’s still conflict....LOVE IT 

cyberverse was also based for having the war going on but in a different way than shows usually did, and having the sides kind of aware of how fruitless the fighting was, and then eventually w the quintessons the two sides had to unite. anyways I have a whole separate post on cyberverse so I should chill 

the human characters are great. I feel like there's the right amount of focus on them and I really dig the family dynamic we’re getting. the kids are cute and fun and I love their relationships w/the bots...I love that mo calls OP “mr optimus” awww

I love the parents also. alex husband of the year he’s so great. and dorothy is so cool and I LOVE her and megatron. they’re like platonic malewife-girlboss. power bffs. 

LOVE how she doesn’t like OP but like megatron. SO funny. 

I really enjoy that the robots aren’t ‘in disguise’ either - the world seems to be aware of them and their existence and the war that went on. that’s cool! I like that a lot; ik the tagline for tf is ‘robots in disguise’ and all but if u think about it they weren’t really hidden in g1 even

Love that there’s comics about the tfs in canon too

I really like this bumblebee!! his design is so cute and I really appreciate that he isn’t ‘the kid’ in this, and has to assume a more mentor-like role. very cool and entertaining

ok and the terrans are adorable. theyre just babies and I love them. I looove how they were adopted into the malto family its so cute. I’m enjoying them and their antics and I feel like there’s a great mix of cute hijinks w/them learning how to be tfs, and also with other plot stuff 

LOOOOVE the plot implications. JUICY!!!!!!!!!! GHOST is so fucking sketchy I LOVE THAT. I love that OP is working for them, and has a sense of ‘I’m doing this for the greater good/this is a means to an end (the end being peace)’ but OP seems to know that GHOST is sketchy as fuck - with him hiding the terrans’ existence and bumblebee being alive from them...but also he tells megatron to give them a chance, which is very OP of him, so that makes sense, but I’m curious if it’ll blow up in his face ((it totally will))

megatron was RIGHT in that one ep where he was trashing GHOST. them having all those cons locked up is bad news. and ruth pointed out that we haven’t even seen who’s in charge of GHOST which is pretty concerning.

also I can’t believe that one agent guy isn’t voiced by will arnett bc he totally sounds like him 

I super loved the flashbacks of the cybertronian history that were animated in g1 style :’) it reminded me of in tfa where they used clips from g1 as part of the history lesson 

I loooove megatron in this show he’s so cool. he gives me some mtmte megatron vibes - he basically says that he agreed to join GHOST/the autobot side in order to protect the cons from worse consequences. I’m interested to hear more about the war and what went on. I’d love some war flashbacks personally

I like that he clearly doesn’t want to hurt the decepticons or hand them over to GHOST, and also the cons think of him as a traitor, but it seems rough for cons out there. what else are they gonna do?

I think it would be epic if they paralleled OP and megatron - with OP joining up with GHOST bc he think he’s doing the right thing for his species and humans, only to discover that GHOST is fr bad news - and megatron binding himself to service w/GHOST and the autobots in exchange for supposed safety (?or something? Not super clear what the cons/megatron got out of that bargain) for the cons, only to discover (as he basically already did) that the cons aren’t doing great out there and they think of him as a traitor

also mandroid is actually pretty interesting for a human villain. I was expecting not to like him (espec at the beginning, he reminded me of silas from tfp who ended up being a nuisance and didn’t really have a point in the plot imo) bc tf human villains are more often miss than hit but he’s interesting 

I like that he has pretty legit reasons to want to get rid of the “invasive species” (as a biologist I love that phrasing), after he got drafted into the war and then injured in friendly fire

LOVED the part where he talks about this and dot is like ‘yeah I also got injured in the war and that sucks for us but I’m judging you based on your actions and YOU suck’ that was so epic she’s so epic and cool

and he knows alex??? ?? fruity ????? are they exes??? whats the vibe. I bet alex used to work for GHOST and that’s how he and dot met

having a whole ass giant robot arm is wild tho. no way that’s how it works bro 

also what happened to swindle. he was so funny. he sounds like meowth from the 4kidz dub lmfao 

SOUNDWAVE BRO I fucking love him. icon!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am SO happy that his cassettes are here and actually turn into cassettes and not other more modern stuff. I love that anachronism sm 

thank god frenzy is here. I hope rumble shows up too (tho bumblebee talking about how one of the cassettes exploded ???? hi????)

we saw starscream for like 0.2 seconds but I’m ready for him to cause havoc like the annoying bitch he is <333 

super interesting that the world is cut off from cybertron and has been for quite a while. I think OP also mentioned that the cybertronians on earth are likely the last of their kind - I’m curious if that’s true or if there’s a bunch of them on cybertron a la the 1984 movie. I bet there is, no way cybertron is empty. pleaseeee I want hot rod and ultra magnus and all them I’d cry 

also congrats to skywarp and nova storm and frenzy on the transgenderism <3 

oh yeah and I LOVE arcee. she’s like Question Authority Barbie. Bite Chomp Kill Barbie. SO good. I love her design and alt mode and how she taught the kids not to blindly follow the people in charge. ICON. 

the 3 new bots are cute, but ruth and I couldn’t get over the fact that they were born and then IMMEDIATELY thrown into a conflict before even getting alt modes. omg 

ruth: ‘they already have blue hair and pronouns tho!’

LMFAO TRUTH. I LOVEEEE that nightshade goes by they/them :’) we didn’t expect that at all and it was such a good surprise 

also hashtag gay???? #GAY???? 

can’t BELIEVE that bot is named hashtag. immmmmm 

tho ruth and I both agree that the cast is full enough and having 3 new terrans might be too much, so we’ll see how that goes - I kinda feel like they’ll end up more on the periphery and only show up sometimes. we’ll see tho! 

holy SHIT the fight scenes bro. specifically in the last 2 eps, oh my GOD. SOOOO fucking juicy. I’m gonna make a separate post abt that but they were EXCELLENT. one place I think cyberverse was weak in was the fight scenes - in s1 I would say they were actively boring (sorry cybv ily) and they got better but still were a bit clunky and awkward and formulaic. I feel like it was due to animation/budget constrictions more than anything 

but yeah these fights scenes rocked. I especially love the 2d smoke and fire effects 

I just wanna know more about the war too!!! like mandroid got injured, it seems, from friendly fire - did Dot as well? is that why she doesn’t seem to like or trust OP as much? 

also megatron has been working w them for 15 years - what were the previous 15 years like? what was the war like? why were they fighting? what exactly made them stop? how many other tfs are on earth? when did GHOST start being a thing? are there gonna be combiners???? I HAVE SO MANY QUESTIONS. 

biggest Q is when are the next eps coming out. pls not in like 6 mos. 

also w the fight scenes. skywarp’s warping looks SO FUCKING COOOOOL I’m so glad. yesssss 

I feel kinda bad for the cons tbh. they seem scattered and lost, with no real leader, and they’re apparently disappearing (presumably mandroid) or being imprisoned by GHOST, who I'm SURE doesn’t have any ill intentions...I wonder if the show will continue to take a more sympathetic approach to the cons (kinda like mtmte, where they kinda had a point at the beginning before they lost the thread w/all the murdering and whatnot)

also I love everyone’s designs generally but I still think OPs face looks weird hgfajkdfksjndfkj whenever he has the faceplate off I'm like Put That Back On Please. 

I like that the humans are directly involved in the plot in a way that makes sense bc the human world has already been to war with/alongside the tfs, so there are a ton of different relationships that humans can have w/the tfs. this is way more interesting than st like tfp, which I think did a pretty bad job integrating the humans, or tfa, which had Sari w/a macguffin that was plot-important in order to keep her involved 

tbf that’s kinda going on w/the kids having links to the terrans but I like the way it’s played out so far. I love the suggestions of lore we’ve gotten too, w/quintus prime and stuff

also they’ve made a point of showing that symbol in the cave where the terrans were born MORE THAN ONCE, and it totally looks like those spiderbots, so I’m thinking there’s definitely a connection there. something weird is going on 

ok also SUPER fucking funny that wheeljack showed up and found out he kinda has a kid and IMMEDIATELY decides he’s a deadbeat dad hvbkjdsfbjksandfkl. I mean he came around in the end but that was so fucking funny. PLEASE SIR 

when they bonded by shooting at each other (lmao? classic tfs) and then twitch was like aww lets hug and he didn’t even notice lmfao sir plssss 

I wonder if the dinobots will show up and if they’ll still have been created by wheeljack (and ratchet) like in g1 

also kind of hilarious how megatron was like ‘no I don’t wanna hurt the cassettes’ and then when the seekers attacked he was like ‘fuck them kids’ and went all out fighting them lmao 

I’m super curious how the megatron starscream dynamic will be in this show 

oh yeah and ruth pointed out that it’s interesting that the three new terrans are bigger than the original 2 terrans and I feel like it’s bc they were created DURING an active conflict and basically got MTO’d into a fight. Ls 

firstborn vs secondborn vibes lmfao 

ok and quintus prime....r we gonna get quintessons. hello. I would LOVE that the quintessons are like my fav antagonists (especially in cyberverse they were so good. man I should rewatch cyberverse) 

I think the quintessons are perfect villains for cases like this where the autobots and decepticons aren’t fighting each other. I’d love to see the quintessons as the villains after GHOST is dealt with 

maybe the tfs on cybertron are already dealing w/the quintessons? 

omfg and the ep where bumblebee is trying to call OPs comm and megatron and then elita pick up instead ?? hello ??? polycule?????

I wanna see more of elita 1 too! shes so cool 

also I kinda belatedly realized that this megatron doesn’t seem to have the same dislike for organics/earth people as he does in a lot of other media (most notably in idw1). that’s interesting and I like that we’re exploring a different side of his character, and I like seeing humans hanging with him. he and dot are great and I hope we get more of them, including flashbacks

anywaysss that’s all the thoughts I have for now, tune in for more next time byeeee

[mercutiotakethewheel]

hello! this is in regards to the darkling venn diagram. i completely agree with it and find it very amusing i just have a genuine question! am i missing the incesty vibes from aleks and baghra? i mean no disrespect but as someone who does dabble in those ships from time to time i just feel like i’m missing the incest subtext? this could also be because i haven’t read the books in two years!

so yeah, just curious is all :’) thanks!

/gen

I mean no there’s no incest-incest. Its def not something I think I’ve seen be shipped for nor would I want to lowkey lmao. Its a reference to like emotional incest, which is like that thing where, in this case, mothers do the whole “shes taking my son away from me” thing. Basically, its just when parents treat their children like partners or people they’re dating or vice versa. Other examples are like when men want partners who will cook and clean and emotionally support them for nothing in return (like a mommy). Or when Dads do the whole my-daughter-my-property shotgun on the porch shtick they do in country music. I don’t know realizing very quickly how weird it is to explain emotional incest. But yeah.

For Baghra and the Darkling specifically, there’s a lot of room to interpret Baghra telling Alina to run to “save her sons soul” or whatever as a whole getting rid of the gf so the son will just care about you. Which I feel like that reading is especially evident in the books because otherwise her motivation for doing that just doesn’t make sense, seeing as getting Alina out of the picture doesn’t exactly slow down his march towards coocoo bananas territory. In fact, it significantly picks it up.

But even though that part of it is more evident in the books I feel like, I put the emotional incest as more in the show mainly bc of: A) Baghra does the same shit with Luda, telling Aleksander it was a mistake to date him bc she isnt immortal like she and him are. Which really feeds into, for me at least, the idea that Baghra needs to be the only person Aleksander has because if she isn’t then he won’t care about her anymore, and he’s the only person she has. Which makes sense for a couple of immortals who have been thus far the only immortals Baghra knows (I don’t think Aleksander told her about Ulla). So it might be understandable and non-incesty, except that Baghra is specifically doing things that lend itself to that interpretation when she feels threatened by a potential romantic partner. And, b) Aleksander kind of seems to see their relationship the same way when in ep 5 he says “you don’t really matter now either” which kind of implies that he sees his relationship with Alina as a replacement for his with Baghra.

Which, like all the above could definitely be happening in the background for Book Darkling and Baghra, but we don’t really see their POV, so we don’t know. Though their dynamic is also really fucking weird in the book.