#I still need to do a big rewatch tbh

[delivish]

haha your recent tumblr Stutters piece finally let me connect the dots on what was vaguely familiar about the pairing that was bugging me because I couldn’t remember the name for it 💡😮 ❤️❤️ so thank you! ❤️❤️❤️

The phrase was “manic pixie dream girl” 🤔 just cause to me Stan/Butters pairing gives off major MPDG energy or I guess in this specific case boy/girl/bigender?Genderfluid? depending how people write Margarine/Butters. My interpretation of the pairing is a quirky, bubbly sunshine that revitalizes a sad sack by emotionally supporting them and showing them life still has joy and meaning. 😂 Which despite feminist critique is still fun to read 😝. Though this is entirely based off fics I have read where he is a depressed alcoholic all the time, since I have no frame of reference since I don’t follow the show. Though not necessary I think there is potential for trope subversion as well. Curious what your interpretation is on how they fit together?

oooooo!! hmmm, see, while I could certainly see Stutters falling into a lot of the manic pixie dream girl tropes, I don't necessarily see it for them (and I'm not the most, like. eloquent person? so forgive me if this is all word vomit that doesn't make a ton of sense, but I will do my best!!)

namely because in a lot of MPDG tropes, the pixie is meant to be this quirky, lovable character with no real flaws whose only function to is to provide emotional support to their love interest, or to teach him important life lessons, all while receiving very little in return. and, despite the pixie's love interest being objectively the saddest, wettest beast you can imagine, somehow he still gets his girl because. idk, pity I guess?? lmao

but Butters is a significantly flawed person. they BOTH are. Butters is a gossip, he's a follower, he's naive, he's a people-pleaser who can be easily coerced; he's the type of person who won't stand very firmly on his convictions, especially if it means people might like him more or he has a chance to feel powerful and be a part of the in-crowd. BUT. he's also a hard worker, and a bright, selfless and genuinely kind person who loves life and loves making other people happy!!

and Stan is an absolute sweetheart, but i also think he can also be a sad sack who takes himself much too seriously and a cynic and someone who cares a lot about his image but conversely can be very, very insecure. his tenderness and sensitivity are assets, but i also think he's someone whose feelings can be hurt very easily and doesn't always think or even consider the ways in which his own behavior contributes to some of his grief because he kinda romanticizes it in a way! i can see him being the type of person you could come to with very real concerns, and somehow end up comforting anyway even though you did nothing wrong, lmao

(which, as an aside, is why i think Style really, really works as a pairing because Kyle is someone who absolutely refuses to coddle Stan, but we're not talking about them!!!!)

i think they would both get on each other's nerves at first. i think Stan, while genuinely liking Butters, would find him kind of weak and annoying, whereas Butters would think Stan is cool but also an impossible wet blanket at times. and because Butters can be an easy target, and Stan cares a lot about his image, I think the thought of being with Butters seriously would embarrass him a little because seriously?? him??

these two aren't the most obvious match and I love them anyway because I find all the ways they would butt heads and still fall for each other really fun. because i do think they would be good for each other, but they'd have to work at it, and that's just!!!!!!! Idk, so much more interesting to me!!! because they DO see each others' faults, and for all the ways each one annoys the other, I think they are both really, really kind people who would treat the other very tenderly, and be very intentional about it (I also think they'd have the most INSANE unexpected physical chemistry hehee)

anyway ramble over the only other thing I'll say is if you like South Park, you should definitely watch the show, all of it!! not only is it goddamn hilarious, but it is very difficult to build solid fanon interpretations if you don't engage with canon <3

[welcometogrouchland]

well idk about anyone else but i- as the anon who sent u the darius camila ask in the first place, would be elated

I'M WORKIN ON IT FOR U ANON 🫡

[thetriumphantpanda]

mine, all mine | joel miller

Summary | You & Joel have been skirting around whatever this is for years, until he finally breaks and calls it what it is, in the only way he knows how.

Pairing | Joel Miller x F!Reader

Word Count | 1.2K

Warnings | Post-Outbreak, Jackson!Joel, possessive!Joel, rough sex, spit play, unprotected PiV sex, cumshot, cumplay, dirty talk, emotionally unavailable Joel, it's basically just 1.2k of filth tbh, no use of y/n

Authors Note | This one goes out to @undercoverpena who gave me the means to rewatch TLOU. This was the outcome. Enjoy the filth.

Divider by @saradika

Main Masterlist | Ko-Fi

He’s got your wrists caught together in one of his big hands, pressed down into the mattress to keep you still. Your thighs splayed wide, pressed down almost uncomfortably by the width of his hips. His cock is splitting you open and you’re so impossibly wet that you can hear it whenever he pushes himself back into you. He likes it, wild grin on his face whenever that lewd squelch makes itself known, he likes that only he can do this to you, only he can make you this wet, only he can get you to submit so completely like this.

It’s been two years of this. Two years of being pressed into his bed in the dead of night. Two years of dancing around what this is, but enjoying it all the same. You don’t think you need to label it, complicate it, not when it feels this good. You’d happily go the rest of your days not knowing what you and Joel Miller are if it means he’s going to stay like this. It started as stress relief, a lot like how it had been with the other people here in Jackson that had fallen into your bed - him, frustrated from patrol or whatever it was going on with Ellie, you, frustrated with… well, mostly everything these days. When he’s inside you, there are no frustrations, only the low thrum of pleasure across your skin.

Things have changed though, maybe in the past six months. He stands closer to you when you’re at the bar, sometimes puts a hand on the small of your back when someone else tries to talk to you. Subtle messages that say back the fuck off or she’s mine without needing to put real words to it. He doesn’t say it, even here, when he’s deep inside you, doesn’t beg you to tell him who you belong to, but then you suppose he doesn’t have to - you’ve not fucked anyone else since this started, no-one would hold a candle to him, and you know he doesn’t fuck anyone else either.

“You hear that?” His gruff voice asks, pulling you back to the present as his cock drags from your cunt, pushing back in slowly, and you do, that squelch of him pushing back inside you as deep as he can fit, you throw your head back, moan his name, “Yeah you do,” His face buries into your neck, teeth dragging across delicate skin, “Hear how wet I gotcha?”

You let your eyes open, fluttering slowly to reveal how close he is to your face. He’s so fucking beautiful like this - skin covered in sweat, brows pinched together in pleasure, his scars and his wrinkles visible so closely, the grey in his beard and the smattering of hair on his chest pressed against yours, you won’t ever grow tired of this.

“S-so fucking g-good, Joel.” You choke out on another drag of his cock, tip pressed right against the depths of you, dragging deliciously against that spot inside you.

“I know, baby, I know,” He coos, nudging the side of your face with his nose, hot breath so close to your ear as he continues the languid strokes of himself in and out of your spent cunt, “Bein’ so good f’me.”

His praise never fails to make you preen, face rolling to the side, exposing the side of your neck to him that he hasn’t already marked. You feel the tight grip around your wrists loosen, his hand taking hold of your chin instead, pulling you back to look at him, brown eyes glazed almost black with lust as he looks down at you. There’s something different there this time, sure he’s always been intense, but he’s looking at you this time like he wants to devour you whole - to cut you open and eat you from the inside.

“You’re mine, aren’t you?” He whispers, hand around your face moving to shake you so your focus is on him and not on the way his thrusts have started getting harder, “Say it.”

“M’yours,” You manage to get out, but he shakes your head again, “Yours, m’yours Joel.”

“That’s right,” He bends, hand still gripping your chin, and licks into your mouth, sucking your bottom lip into his mouth, teeth nipping gently, “My girl.”

You almost can’t believe it, like this is some kind of dream, your wildest fantasy come true that he does want you, that it’s not just your pussy he covets but everything else you bring.

“Y-you mean it?” You speak, breathless, “I’m yours?”

You bring a hand up to his face now, cradling a cheek, thumb tracing his bottom lip, but he’s shaking your hand away, his own still tight against your face, “Open your mouth,” but you’re confused about why, so it takes you a while for your brain to catch up, “Open your damn mouth baby.”

This time you do, lips parted, tongue out, Joel’s fingers sitting in the hinges of your jaw, dragging your head forward a little, then, he purses his lips, opens his mouth and lets his saliva drip from his own mouth into your, caught on the flat of your tongue. It’s hot, probably the hottest thing he’s even done. You curl your tongue over it, dragging your mouth closed to swallow it down, then, you open your mouth, stick your tongue back out and look him straight in the eye to ask for more.

“Fuckin’ filthy,” He mutters, but there’s a grin on his face, his cock still pounding into you, the feeling of your slick, made more by what he’d just down, gathering at the base of his cock, dripping down onto the sheets below, “Y’like that, huh?”

“Uh-huh.” Is the only thing you can get out before he’s doing it again, letting his own spit drip from his mouth into yours.

This time though, he doesn’t give you the option to swallow it. He lets go of your face, his tongue melding with yours at the precise spot that his spit had just landed on. It’s a filthy, wet, open-mouthed kiss, saliva gathering in your corners of your mouth as you moan into his when he shifts his hips just a little, tip of his cock now bruising into your cervix on every punch forward.

It happens all at once, his lips dragging from yours, his cock dragging out of your pussy as he pushes backwards, cock in his fist for barely a second before the first rope of his spend is spurting across your soaked and aching folds. Joel lets out a growl as the next lands across the soft skin of your tummy, the next between the valley of your tits. He’s dragging a tight fist up and down the length of his cock, squeezing lightly at his tip to empty himself of every drop of cum, painting your skin with it until he’s softening in his fist and you’re trying to catch your breath.

Joel lets his hands grip your hips, dragging his thumbs through the pools of cum across your lower body, rubbing gently through it to spread it as far as he can, “Look nice like this,” He muses, looking down at the mess he’s made of you, from the aching red hue of your spent cunt, to the milky white splashed across your body, “Mine.” He says, with a tone of finality.

“Yours.”

[aangarchy]

Alright. I've rewatched the trailer like 20 times by now and i've been processing it.

First things first: anyone that's gonna talk shit about Gordon Cormier is gonna have to go through me first. I've only had Gordon!Aang for a day and a half and if anything happens to him i'll kill everyone here and then myself got it?

Just look at him! This is the exact big eared cute little kid i wanted them to cast for Aang. He looks adorable and honestly his outfit is growing on me.

The glowing arrow looked cool as hell. I like that the light spread through his tattoo almost like veins. I'm still curious on how the full avatar state is gonna look, how they're gonna get the glowing eye effect. Please don't let it look goofy.

Y'know what does look goofy?

Is it better than the m night shyamalan appa? I guess. Does that mean it looks good? Well.... at least momo sort of looks cute instead of some folklore nightmare like in shyamalan's version. But also you can tell in this shot in particular that it's very green screen-y

Then we go over to the bending, the limited shots we have of it. Mainly firebending was shown (a little airbending too but kinda hard to get a stillframe for that one)

Idk how to feel about it. In screenshots it looks alright but the shots while they were moving looked a bit off, especially the one where zuko's kicking. We only got very limited shots and that's intentional. I feel like the bigger cgi fails are gonna show up once we get the full show. If the bending looked good all the time i feel like they'd be showing it off by now.

What i don't like, is how apparently they're gonna SHOW Zuko getting burned. Like sure in atla they didn't bc kids show and Nickelodeon wouldn't allow it, and netflix can take darker turns if they so please. But i personally always felt that scene made so much impact because we didn't see it. Iroh is telling it from his memory and he didn't look when it happened, so we don't see it either. It's like a courtesy the show extends to both Zuko and the audience. We just hear the harrowing scream, and that's enough to know how devastating it is. I don't need a dramatic overlook so we can see the whole thing in detail, netflix.

Another thing is the hair in some scenes.

Daniel dae kim looked better in that promo photo, bc here you can just see how the bulky goatie was glued on. And then Sokka's hair..... where's the ponytail? It's laying completely flat against his head... why? Is it bc that's Ian's hair and they didn't know what to do with it? Literally get a comb and tease that bitch. This is like the complete opposite of Jackson Rathbone's hair in the shyamalan version, and somehow that full maybelline ponytail makes more sense than this sad excuse of a tail. Either way at least Suki looked dope.

Another thing i found weird about the trailer is the narration. I think it's either Iroh's voice or maybe Gyatso's? (I haven't heard Iroh's actor talk yet so idk, but it felt like it was being said TO either Aang or Zuko) but the lines they gave him... it felt like some weird mumbo jumbo tbh. Something something about the past and present being the same and it's up to us to know the difference and be the difference? It's saying everything and nothing at the same time and it felt kind of out of place. They're probably saving the iconic opening narration done by Katara for the full trailer (i hope???) but still they could have just gone with music, or maybe just a few iconic existing lines?

The music? Fire. Nothing needs to be added there. Was i kind of hoping for a different soundtrack? Maybe a bit. But am i mad? Not at all. They clearly took the nostalgia route with the more epic version of the avatar theme, and i can only respect them for that.

So far, very mixed reviews for me. I'm morbidly curious and very nosy by nature though, so i'm absolutely watching.

[foxgloveinspace]

Gooooood morning Cass!!! My brain is against me and is making me wake up at 10 when I’d much rather be up earlier tbh🥺. Oh well I am awake now!

My family uses truvia as sweetener so I’ve never had it with sugar before, but it definitely needs some sweetness in my opinion haha. I think I use the equivalent of like, 2 tsps?? Maybe 3?? In all my cups of tea lmao, I like my tea extra sweet tho. I haven’t tried it with honey, cause I don’t like it very much in my hot drinks… or by itself😭. I want to like honey, like you look at me irl and your like ‘oh this person loves honey’ but I do not.😔 (I haven’t had coffee yet sorry for the random rambles lmao)

I have not heard of yellow deli? There’s one it seems a few hours from where I’m at tho🤔 weeirdd haha.

Good luck with your interview!!!!!!✨🖤🎉

Teach me your tea magic ✨ oh my god please 😭🙏🏼

Also I love youuuuu

🖤 @a-little-lynx

I drink this one!! One cup a day, at least for one week before your period starts, or you can drink it every day. (Link to Amazon. But I think you can get it in stores at Whole Foods?)

It tastes best iced, in my opinion. It has to steep for like 10 minutes, so it’s a very strong taste. But yeah, this is the one I drink, it works really well for me, but there are other brands out there too, I know yogi has a raspberry leaf tea cause I saw it when I looked for this one lol.

I love you toooo, I hope you can find something that will help, even if this doesn’t end up helping you. Those things that ‘simulate’ period cramps are actually things that can help make them better when cramps are happening I hear?? What is it a tens machine?? I’ve looked into those before but they are pricey.

[louisferrignojr]

i cant watch the tsunami eps 😭 ive only watched it once and then skipped one or both eps on the 2nd rewatch. it was so stressful!!!! i knew christopher was gonna be ok - the joys of watching the whole show years after the air dates - but it was still so fucking stressful!

however in revisiting the source material (3x01):

i literally *just* realised bobby was lying through his teeth telling buck that "chief alonso" and "the department" are concerned about "liability issues" - not that he was wrong to be worried because buck was cleared and recertified and then he coughed up blood and passed out and what he said that the doctors don't know what's causing the clots + buck being on blood thinners = yeah, you shouldn't be putting yourself in risky situations. which. is the whole job.

and i also just realised buck quit because bobby said he would only ever be cleared for light duty. i honestly thought buck was wrong to quit instead of waiting until his health issues got sorted. even if it had already been 5 months since has was on medical leave. see aforementioned coughing up blood and passing out. but bobby wanting to bench him FOREVER? because of *his* own personal issues? real "i made a mistake so im putting my kid under lock and key so they dont make the mistake" energy of overprotective parents.

and you know what you could do if you believe your subordinate and/or "son" is putting too much focus on his job and not enough on outside-of-work life? send him to ✨ counselling ✨ (hey, he has the authority to issue department mandated therapy like he did for eddie in s5, no?) go learn all about work life balance, buck. so. big L for bobby, tbh. maybe he should go to some self-mandated counselling too, huh?

AND THEN. BUCK SURVIVES A WHOLE ASS TSUNAMI. SAVES HIMSELF + KEEPS CHRISTOPHER SAFE (before the second wave hits iirc?) + SAVES A BUNCH OF OTHER PEOPLE. and bobby sees all that and still doesn't budge? like. he's clearly alright.

speaking of people too lost in their own issues to sympathise with buck who's going through a fucking rough period: *side eyes eddie* (even though dragging buck out of bed and sending him off with christopher is one of the most genius moves. need me a freak like that when im in the depression pit 😔) (but then saying "[christopher] never feels sorry for himself" eddie im gonna bonk you on the head with a newspaper)

i don't understand how i missed a lot of these little details. i feel like i definitely sympathise with buck a lot more now. he was basically told that his options are desk duty or nothing? instead of "desk duty until you are cleared by the doctors" which is obviously necessary for new symptoms. and the fact that someone he trusts so much was responsible for the fact that he lost his job. that would have hurt.

[agentoffangirling]

Ranking AoS ships (canon & non-canon) bc I can:

FitzSimmons. If you don't have this as your top, I DON'T TRUST YOU. They are the blueprint, the very epitome of romance. If someone doesn't dive through a space rock to reach me on another planet, I don't want them

Dousy. Ik some people much prefer Sousa and Peggy, and they have a great relationship, but I don't know, I just like Dousy more. Maybe bc I want Daisy to be in a healthy relationship for once? But for only appearing in around half the episodes of s7, they don't feel rushed, and Chloe and Enver have great chemistry. They're so sweet together, I can't say much else other than I love them

Skimmons. Okay okay ik what a lot of people are gonna say, but I just think they're wonderful together. I've drifted a bit from shipping this, I do see the sisters aspect of them (I don't see them as sisters and romantically at the same time, that is WEIRD), but I still have a small soft spot for it. I think it's mostly Chloe and Elizabeth's love for the ship that sells it

Philinda. Tbh this and Skimmons could be switched, they're very close in my brain. While I don't necessarily feel too bad about them splitting up in s7, I like both the platonic and romantic versions of them, I think they were really great. They so obviously love each other, and what more can I say to that?

Huntingbird. 100% compatible 50% of the time, as Hunter puts it. I don't believe this to be the healthiest of AoS relationships, but not everything has to be perfect all the time. One moment they could be making jabs at one another, the next they're making out. Who knows? Their moments are a fun time either way

MackElena. I think what this ship needs is more time. Compared to the other relationships, MackElena doesn't get to share the screen all that much. I do love how they learn from one another, and they've always given me a kind of comforting type of vibe. They're just cute together

Simmorse. This feels like a relatively newer ship in the fandom, and I am all for it. I don't ship it massively, but I 100% see the potential, I think it's very easy to see that Jemma was crushing on Bobbi a couple times

QuakeRider. Just like Simmorse, I do see it, but I've never really been a big fan of it. Not that there's anything wrong with it, it has great vibes, I love the rogue x rogue type ship, I just don't ship it that much. I personally see them closer to older brother, younger sister type of dynamic. But I do see the potential

Staticquake. HEAR ME OUT OKAY? I used to like Staticquake a lot, but on my rewatches I see myself getting farther and farther away from it. It's not that they don't have good chemistry or that I don't think they're really in love, oh no, they have all of it, it's just not the best relationship for Daisy. There are more than a few moments where they're arguing, majority of the time Lincoln being in the wrong, and later Daisy apologizing for it? It always struck me as odd. I also feel like resolved too many issues behind the scenes, relying on exposition to make the audience believe they had gone further in their relationship

DekeDaisy. Idk if they have an actual ship name, so I'm going with this one for now. It's just wayyy too one-sided and doesn't seem like it would work anyway. Daisy was not in the right frame of mind for a relationship, and she seemed relatively blind to Deke's advances. Also considering that Deke sold her to the Kree earlier... yeah, it was never gonna work

Skyeward. It might get up one spot for the Framework version of them, but as it stands, the real life version of them is AWFUL. Ward lied to Skye on almost everything, hurt her, hurt her loved ones, kidnapped her, became obsessed with her, and countless other things I can't remember rn. They're so toxic and if you ship them (not Framework or pre-betrayal), I have genuine concern in your love life

[witch128chick]

under the "Labyrinth Runners" rewatch post i suggested to analyse Amity's name and Willow's role in the friend group and got requested to do it. so, this is what i'm doing now!

first, let's start with Amity's name. i didn't make the connection until i read about it somewhere, that her name means friendship. it's a shame tbh, bc i learnt French at some point and the word "friendship" means l'amitié (f) in French. however, the name's origin is Latin.

Amity; meaning: friendship, harmony.

now that we cleared this, let's talk about Willow's name. surprisingly enough, her name means "willow tree", originated from Old English. one of the websites describe the trees as elegant and having the ability to grow and prosper despite unfavourable conditions.

i can't help but bring up smth i learnt at uni. i think one of the most famous willow trees is Salix alba 'Tristis', commonly called Golden Weeping Willow or White Willow. (but that might just be me. the tree is indigenous in my country.) the word "tristis" means sorrowful, mournful. this will only be a side note, just an idea i had, but i wanted to include it, for further angst potentials.

so the meaning of the names is cleared. now let me write a little summary about Willow and Amity's friendship.

the two started off as friends pretty early. Willow was everyone's first friend in the Hexsquad, but her first friend was Amity. i'd link that to the meaning of her name. then, the two were forced apart, and Willow became a sad part of Amity's life, someone she missed, someone she mourned losing as a best friend. here comes the side note i mentioned in point 4. the two then found each other again, when Luz (Spanish name, meaning light) shone her light on them and the sorrow vanished. at least partly, since the hurt they both felt was still present.

Amity was forced to be friends with kids she didn't like, her true self fading over the years after losing Willow. she made mistakes in this new situation where she most likely felt alone and most importantly; didn't have her best friend by her side. to someone who's name means friendship and who's a genuinely kind and sweet person, this was enough reason to become cold and watch as the harmony within fell apart. without her best friend Amity couldn't be herself with anyone, therefore she had to suppress all her traits that didn't fit in the friend group she was forced into.

Willow cruelly lost her best friend. she was alone, until she met Gus. another thing from uni: big, majestic trees are perfect to stand in the middle of a bigger garden as solitaire trees. and willows are big, majestic trees. so as another side note, i'd say she was alone like those solitaire trees. (tho the White Willow i mentioned earlier is most commonly planted on watersides.)

as my last point, i'd like to talk a little about point 3. especially about the part where i mentioned that willow trees have the ability to grow and prosper despite unfavourable conditions. Willow was definitely in an unfavourable condition, before becoming friends with Gus and even after that, bc of the bullying and the fact that her former best friend was one of her bullies. but she grew. even more, after Luz - the light or the sun, if you will - shone on her. Willow became the strongest she's ever been.

both Willow and Amity needed Luz to become who they were meant to be. actually, Luz had that effect on everyone. literally. my point is that Willow and Amity's friendship is an important lesson about staying true to yourself, losing yourself bc of control and cold circumstances, unhealthy coping mechanisms, second chances to people who deserve it and healing not being linear.

i think that's all i wanted to say. i had these thoughts in my head for quite a while so i'm glad i finally sat down and wrote this :D it was fun! it got me engaged even tho i thought i'd lose interest after 5 minutes. but i finished it in one sitting! anyway, i can totally see myself do more of these kind of posts and i'm open for requests too!

hope you liked my little rambling about Amity and Willow! <3

sources: The Bump, Wikipedia, North Carolina Extension Gardener Plant Toolbox

[zombielovesbrainz]

RAMBLING

first on my list is ben, he's been my favorite ever since i started watching the show

ive recently been rewatching jwcc and came across the monorail scene and i was thinking of how could those possibly be able to handle a human?? i looked at the wiki and they only seem to be 55 pounds and ben is at LEAST double their weight (im just guessing by his official height 5'4 and his thin body at the time) and even then if they were that strong wouldn't they rip through his clothes and scratch him up? he was holding onto darius for quite a bit so with darius and the pterandon pulling he must of gotten some sort of injury since the pterandon is portrayed to have a lot more strength than it actually does. i believe he should have some sort of scarring around his waist/stomach with the amount of force the pterandon had on him.

the monorail event definitely scarred his brain though/j, he ended up lost and away from everyone for about a month, so obviously he had to change to survive on his own. with his ranting on the monorail before getting attacked, he mentions that he's "sick of being scared all the time", "holding everyone back", saying he "can't do this." he has to change so much in order to survive even though the constant change in the season (escaping dinosaurs just to bump into others later, not having proper order, just all the chaos) must've taken a big toll on him. while in season 2, he kind of has a set schedule for every day? it's usually just wake up, eat, drink, sleep, repeat, but each time he seemingly loses more and more of his sanity with bumpy not letting him properly rest. after that whole fight with bumpy he is on his own, this I guess attracts the compys that try to attack him. but now that he is on his own he has to fight his own battles, he finally faces the compys and scares them away, he celebrates, becomes jungle ben, faces off toro. that kind of stuff, i don't really like how it happened that fast, obviously winning his own battle must've felt great, but how could his mindset change so easily? but the new confidence in himself was such a great start to the new ben that he becomes later.

i believe he may have some type of neurological disorder other than the anxiety that was shown specifically in season 4, along with yaz's PSTD. at first when they got on the island, it's like a lot of them clicked with each other, all except for ben, this makes me believe that he may just do things on a different frequency than others (totally not projecting) i believe he may be on the spectrum, with all the phobias, general anxiety even at the beginning of the show, his timidness and reluctance to involve himself with the others, difficulty adjusting to the environment of camp cretaceous. it feels all too real to me tbh, and even though he has a hard time with all of this, the show still did amazing with self discovery, growth, and learning. all without having to completely change a character. but i do think jungle ben isn't just an outfit or mindset, i think this is how he responds to the horrible amount of distress and anxiety of being alone and needing to survive, he's never HAD to do it on his own, so im thinking this is his way to cope with it. ik this isn't enough to say he's autistic, im just referencing instances in the show that led me to that belief.

an extra thing with no proof is that i hc ben to be hard of hearing for the sole fact that i am hard of hearing and there aren't any characters out there that i enjoy and are hard of hearing 😔

i love bens journey with discovering himself and how he can change while still being comfortable in the show, it was shown almost perfectly (only saying almost because i didn't think that the pacing was all that great sometimes) and i love this show with all of my heart, ive watched all 5 seasons maybe 6-7 times by now, been around since it first came out and ive loved it since 😁

i do not know if i said anything that may be taken in another way, it is almost midnight and i just wanted to ramble about a few episodes and how i see ben 😔 (definitely will be writing more tomorrow)

[everythingiloveblog]

Is Only Friends Slut-Shaming Boston?

"Sometimes bad people don't need a back story, they're just born sluts" Jojo Tichakorn

"I can’t (have sex with someone without knowing them), I’m not like Boston" Mew to Top in episode 1

"Whoever has you as their boyfriend is so unlucky. You’re slutty" Cheum to Boston in episode 4

"Serves you right for being slutty" Nick to Boston after learning about Gap’s revenge porn in episode 5

"Even a heartless slut like Boston has a lover" Cheum in episode 6

"Your slutty ass just sleeps with anyone" Ray to Boston in episode 6

"This asshole sleeps with everything that breathes" Mew about Boston in episode 10

"You sleep around too much and things get messy. Don’t you learn" Nick to Boston in episode 11

The whole Atom plot in detail with @chaos0pikachu

This post from @spicyvampire and this answer from @lurkingshan

And this is just what I remember from the show so I would answer...yes? I don't know how much of it is intentional, but it definitely feels like it, yeah.

...I actually have so many things to say I don’t even know where to start. Is anyone gonna read all that? I doubt it, but I still need to let it out.

Warnings: english is not my native language so have mercy & I’m writing this mostly by memory so I will definitely forget things or get things wrong

I really logged back into an old tumblr account just for this because I still can’t believe how people can’t see it. I know people are allowed to have their own opinions and see things differently but...really?

Many people have already written about this on Tumblr & Twitter so I will also add links and quotes from people smarter and more eloquant than me (I hope I’m allowed to do this. If not I will delete it)

First of all, this is not only about the last episode, it’s about what happened in OF since episode 1 + some interviews of Jojo and Ninew. So rewatching the finale only will not give you the full picture.

"Is the narrative is punishing Boston? Is the narrative punishing Boston because he is a slut? And not because he slept with his friend's boyfriend.

First of all, what is a slut? Sorry for the Wikipedia definition but :

‘Slut (archaic: slattern) is an English-language term for a person, usually a woman or girl, who is sexually promiscuous or considered to have loose sexual morals.’

Who is said to have a lot of different sexual partners or sexual relationships? Boston, Top & Sand (kinda).

Who is shown having a lot of different sexual partners or sexual relationships? Only Boston. We see him with Gap, Nick, Top, Atom & Boeing. And you know what? Let’s add all the pictures of the guys we see in his dark room while knowing that they were taken after sexual intercourse. That’s a lot!

Also big difference, Top and Sand are actively shown to want a committed, monogamous relationship. Sand just sleep with different people to avoid getting attached and getting hurt. Top is a newly reformed slut who "exists only to be Mew's True Love" (see chaos0pikachu’s take on Top, very interesting and sad tbh, he could have been so much more).

However, Boston is currently enjoying the slut life, he enjoys the freedom of being promiscuous. I just think this is interesting to note.

Boston may deserve to be 'punished' for sleeping with Top. Yeah, sure. But don’t you think it’s weird that he is the only one getting punished by the narative like this? And does he deserve this amount of punishment ?

Yes, the difference between Top & Boston is that Top feels remorse right away and Boston doesn’t. So while Top spends the 2nd half of the show pathetically trying to get Mew back (coughboringcough, sorry), Boston gets (and I hope I don’t forget anything):

- his car wiretapped by his jealous friend with benefits, which leads to an audio recording of Top and Boston having sex (also, Nick used the information to blackmail Top into staying away from Boston...weirdo)

- that same recording getting shared by Sand (after he stole the recording by lying and manipulating Nick). So now, 4 people (Nick, Sand, Ray, Mew) have been in contact and passing around an illegal, unconsented recording of ‘the sluts’, with little repercussion tbh

- punched by Ray in episode 6

- punched, almost drowned and told he should have never been born by Mew in episode 7

- Boston is also out of the friend group, but is still ‘allowed’ to be involved in the group project (fair enough)

- Nick telling a revenge thirsty Mew that Gap has illegal, unconsented video recordings of Boston having sex to blackmail him for money, aka Revenge Porn material (for what reasons??? Nick just cried to Boston that he would never hurt him on purpose...I’m still lost)

- Mew doing all that seducing Gap thing to get the revenge porn and threaten to show it to Boston’s weirdass, probably homophobic dad

- Nick trying to talk to Boston during the Halloween party in episode 8, without any apology for what he did, and still defending himself with "yeah but you slept with your friend’s boyfriend" deserves a mention imo (just in case we forgot i guess...)

- The whole Atom plot (really vile, I have no words). From Atom being the one insisting on having sex with Boston and Boston reluctantly agreeing, to the accusations, to Mew & Ray’s gross smiles during Cheum & Boston’s confrontation (sirs, Atom has been allegedly assaulted, what is so funny? Unless you don’t actually care about the truth, you just love to see Boston in that situation, actual monsters.) to Nick and Cheum empathy & compassion going towards Atom rather than Boston. Just, gross.

And it also leads him to be 100% out of the group and jeopardizes his graduation

- Not sure if I should add Nick basically saying "deserved" to Boston after he tells him that his friends left him for good, because I have no idea if Nick is saying because of the Atom thing or not

- And finally, the last episode (especially all the groveling, very uncomfortable)

Overkill much?

Especially compared to the other characters and their ‘punishments’ for their actions, we can clearly see a difference, no?

Here is a good post from @thewayuarent comparing Boston’s offenses to the other characters.

Boston (the only active slut) is the only character who ends up with a bad/sad ending

And what makes it a bad ending? It's not BostonNick not being endgame. It's not Boston ending single. It's the framing. The way the information is being presented.

Boston's last appearance in the show is him being rejected, alone, teary eyed on the floor on the side of the road while the other 4 monogamous couples end up with their unrealistic happy ending. It is super weird. It just feels mean, out of place, moralistic (and kinda boring). As if Boston was what was keeping them from being happilly coupled. And after an uncomfortable round of one-sided apologies to his ‘friends’ on top of that. Just, ew.

I recommand reading these posts :

- Look at this happy ending gifset of Boston by @technicallyverycowboy. He’s thriving, no?

- This post from @neuroticbookworm

- This post from @hellolimitless

- This post from @nozunhinged

- This post from @chalkrevelations

- This answer from @lurkingshan

- This good point from @odd-one-advocate and that good point from @no1petesimp (read the tags)

- This interesting point from @porschesbabydaddy, completed by this alternate universe where Boston’s spirit isn’t broken by @keepthetension, 10/10

This is Boston's bad ending, because it's not what he wanted

The ending Boston wanted was to be Nick’s boyfriend (romantic and sexual) for the 3-4 months he had left in Thailand, while being able to also get intimate (only sexual) with other guys. That is what he wants, and definitely not what he gets.

At least, Nick gets to have the last word, because ending the relationship is his decision, backed by Sand.

Non-monogamy could have been considered

It wouldn’t have hurt to see the characters involved have a conversation about non-monogamy, before the whole Boeing thing. Without framing it negatively, of course. But we didn’t get it.

About Nick and what he wants from Boston

He might have wanted a monogamous relationship from Boston from the start. Even though to me, it seemed more like, while jealous, he especially wanted to be loved by Boston and not only being seen as a sex doll.

Something I don’t really like about Nick’s characterization. He’s so wishy-washy.

"I love him, I don’t care about not being his favorite/number 1, I just don’t want him to hate me" to "the word boyfriend should only apply to me"

"I know what I’m dealing with, Boston is nasty but I’m nasty too" to "why are we (Nick and Sand) attracted to bad people" to "you’re not a bad person Boston" and then back to "I’m nasty too, so we suit each other"

"I love you for who you are, you don’t need to change" to basically "actually yeah be who you are, but without me, let’s go our separate ways" like????

I mean yeah, people are allowed to change their mind, but damn.

About Sand having Nick's back (and Cheum having Top's back)

I don’t know if we can count this as slut-shaming as I’m not sure he’s shaming Boston for being a slut. But Sand is definitely shaming Boston (the only slut).

Sand always has a negative things to say about Boston when he talks to Nick. But especially him saying ‘compared to Boston, you’re a saint’ to Ray (I have to laugh), and the ‘don’t lower the bar’ to Nick? Very icky to me.

And I would have been ok if we saw the same energy from Nick. Sand being like "you love him so much that you don’t love yourself". AND WHAT ABOUT YOU, SIR? Dating a man that calls you a whore every time he gets angry and hasn't apologized for it once? A man who pushes you around so much you end up being bruised? Peak of self love, methinks...

And Cheum being on Top’s side forever and ever from day 1 and she barely knows him.

Boston is just treated very differently. Even Nick, the only person shown to side with him sometimes, is only 50% on his side at most.

Boston had to apologize for what he did but never received a proper apology for any of the horrible things that were done to him

BostonNick post time-skip

Boston and Nick are supposedly main characters, and yet, are nowhere to be seen after the time skip. Boston gets a sentence, Nick vanishes. Their last scene (aka, their ending scene) in the show being the breakup. We don’t know how they feel about that months later. Are they happy now? Did they move on ? Are they single? Are they thriving? Are they miserable? We don’t know anything because we don’t see them. How good of an ending is that for the characters?

The narrative is biased towards all the characters and against Boston.

Now, I’m gonna talk about the directors.

From what I know, Nick’s story is inspired from Ninew’s love experience. And just with that information, I know damn well it’s impossible to get an objective point of view about BostonNick’s relationship. Ninew has no way to know what was going on in irl Boston’s life, his thoughts, etc. Which explains why they didn’t bother with his backstory.

+ Mew was supposed to be a good guy, loved by the audience and Boston, the bad guy. Jojo said "Mew is a guy that everyone is going to be in love with". Meanwhile, to the question about Boston’s lack of backstory he said "sometimes bad people don't need a back story, they're just born sluts" which tells me everything I need to know.

+ they did their best to not ruin the image? likeability? of the other characters:

"We knew we had to cast Khaotung because he is a very empathetic guy so even when Ray is bad, people like him"

"F*ck we didn't realize they would hate Top this much, so we tried to edit things to help reduce the hatred."

During the TopBoston elevator scene, Nick was actually there. But they cut that portion because they thought Nick was being too much of a stalker.

They also mention Mew 's violent dream about Top and Boston that was cut and the Ray blow up scene in YOLO having a more dramatic version which was obviously not aired.

You can’t do all that (and probably more), but still say "At the end of the day, after we're done with our part, the show belongs to the viewers. We love good and bad feedback and know it's [the show] not perfect, but we like that viewers can judge the characters for themselves." It doesn’t add up.

So? The answer?

Boston definitely got disproportionately punished for being a slut because it is heavily implied that his biggest crime was to sleep with Top, and that he did that because he is a slut. And all his other problems were related to having sex, while also being blamed to some extent for them.

While especially Mew, Cheum and Ray (and to some degree Nick and Sand) got off scot free while also being awful people (borderline criminals but not sluts I guess).

"If your writing penalizes the only character who remained promiscuous but absolves everyone who only has sex within their monogamous and tbh heteronormative relationship, that's the messaging you will inevitably give." @paciouspolca

(edit: I guess I have to specify that I don't agree with the heteronormative part of the quote, because I see that it understandably made some people angry but i don't think it's fair to negate the rest of the quote and the whole post because of it)

One last thing: this is the novel BostonNick breakup (written after the series script). From I’ve heard, the novel kinda works like a fix-it version of the series. And while I’m still not a 100% on board with it, this version feels definitely less punishing (and sadder actually, I would’ve cried if it was in the show).

[velvet-games]

hmm ok thoughts/questions so far on hazbin hannibal au (feel free to chime in):

okay full disclosure I haven't watched hannibal in like four years but I was obsessed enough with it at the time that I can hopefully still analyze it without forgetting major chunks of plot (emphasis on hopefully)

also full disclosure that a lot of my view of alastor is based on fandom/my own extrapolation; I rewatched some of hazbin recently, and we honestly don't get much! there's a lot of room for different interps and I'm just using mine

the most obvious choice for hannibal is alastor, but the characters are just different enough that I can either a) have someone else be hannibal or b) have the whole point be that alastor is not hannibal (and why that's interesting)

hannibal is a lonely devil (but like, not from the bible): he's the only guy in the world that knows how to play chess, and he'll do anything to keep playing with the one other guy that knows how to play chess; hannibal is legitimately better and cooler than most people, and he is only actually made vulnerable by will.

alastor is like. just a guy tbh. even in hell, he's kind of mediocre; not all of the other overlords respect him, and he's not even as powerful as the goetia, much less anyone in heaven. and that's not even touching on human alastor.

hannibal is born into a lot of wealth, and I think that shapes his sense of "morality;" instead of absorbing actual morals, he absorbs a need for decorum and propriety (the aesthetic of morality basically). he kills because people are "impolite." he fucks with people because it's genuinely just interesting, and he doesn't respect them as people.

I don't really know what to do with hannibal's trauma with later being destitute and having to eat his sister; it wasn't fully explained in the show, and I think it's kind of a relic from the more human version of him in the books. maybe it speaks to a level of having to remove oneself emotionally because being invested means Something Bad Happened to Hannibal, which cannot happen ("nothing happened. I happened." etc etc), and that's why he needs to see everything as a game he can control. that makes will a lot more significant because hannibal could've chosen not to play chess, but now that he does, he needs someone to play with him (or he might have to go back to believing something bad happened). eh.

I don't think alastor was born into wealth at all; I'm good with the general fandom interp of him growing up poor with a shitty father, and I don't really see him as ever becoming wealthy in life. I doubt being a radio show host paid that much, especially since his whole thing is not being a sellout.

alastor's morality is kind of a big question mark that everyone has a different answer to. I don't like the politeness thing because again, I see it as being shaped by hannibal's childhood, and I also do think alastor is Invested. I think he's too invested, actually; there's kind of this desperate edge to him that hannibal would never have. alastor's ego is wounded multiple times and he is, at least to the audience, very obviously ticked off by it. he doesn't like that the other overlords aren't impressed by him, he has a meltdown over husk's minor jab, and tears out his own hair at the idea that other people might've thought he had a heart. he's less of a master chess player and more of a wounded animal that got really good at scaring other animals into not hurting it again. but he's still an animal. and no one has gotten close enough to heal the wound.

so I guess alastor's morality is just whatever feels good/safe. I watched swarm a while back, and I liked the use of murder as a kind of coping mechanism: "this feels bad. I don't feel safe. I don’t know how to deal with this. no one in my life has taught me how to process emotions normally, so I'm literally just gonna do murder." dre's killing is subtextually compared to stress eating; it feels good, there's a dopamine rush, and you stop thinking about the bad things. you can also eat comfort food just because you want to and enjoy it.

something I realized while I watched the show is that I'm pretty sure we don't see alastor actually kill that many people? like he fucked with pentious and tried to kill adam, plus we get a flashback about killing other overlords, but I only remember him actually killing the sharks that were after mimzy. so. lots of extrapolation still.

I think all of those examples can be read using the eating metaphor, but obviously there's some other stuff going on too. killing the overlords was a reputation-building (no one will hurt me if I'm scary enough) moment, but it was also just for the more practical side of gaining power/souls. killing for mimzy helped confirm to charlie that he could defend the hotel, and it also plays into his role as a gentleman that will clean up mimzy's messes. he gets to be a hero in a fucked up way.

there's obviously no redemption arc for hannibal. I don't even know what the fuck that would mean in a thematic sense. but I do think alastor can be softened a lot if he lets someone in to heal the wound. not sure who that would be though.

I have a lot more, but just one little thing to end on and get y'all's thoughts going: what if vox is hannibal? not in the full character sense, but just to fill the role as the rich guy that psychoanalyzes people. he's probably more obviously suited to a freddie lounds-type role, but maybe he does hypnosis "therapy" and realizes it doesn't work on alastor, which sparks his interest. just some food for thought.

[semi-sketchy]

tbh I haven't exactly been hyped for the third Sonic movie, like interested, sure, but not hyped.

This trailer kinda solidified that feeling for me.

Firstly, I am glad that they're not trying to do a 1:1 adaptation of SA2. Everyone kept talking about how "we NEED Amy for movie 3" or "Rouge HAS to show up" but just because it happened that way in the game doesn't mean it'd work in this universe. I talked about this briefly when rewatching X, but the gist is you're much more likely to bastardize the original in an attempt to compete with it rather than create something enjoyable. Adaptations SHOULD be different enough to stand on their own instead of living in the original's shadow.

Heck, if I wanted to see SA2 again, I'd just play SA2. Not like the game's going anywhere.

The SCU already plays fast and loose with the game canon, really just taking names and putting their own spin on it, so I don't really understand why anyone expected a faithful adaptation.

Another risk with trying to make something mostly faithful is any changes are bound to be jarring. I'm already seeing this in the fandom and yes, some parts bother me, too.

We already went through the "why is Shadow working for GUN in '06" and now we have the sequel. Sonic is working for GUN. Top it off, Tom is no longer just a small town cop, but also a GUN agent.

"This movie better have some anti-military message" guys. It's no secret that the US military funds films for media rep. The whole movie industry is filled with pro-military messaging. The Sonic movies have been copaganda since the first, I don't understand why people keep expecting Sonic to hate cops when his dad is a cop.

Do I like Sonic working with GUN? No. I think it's stupid. They've been after his ass for two films and now they're calling him up like "Hi! Please don't hold a grudge for the time we tased and caged you and even catfished your aunt, we want you to beat up our problem!" I can't believe this also apparently worked on Tom like buddy. You were locked up by them too and your wife had to fight through them to save you

I suppose the justification is after two movies, it'd be tiresome to do it a third time, but I think there's better ways to avoid that than simply having Sonic work with the very people who imprisoned him.

Although, I'm intrigued with what they're going to do with Gerald alive. He's now there to further push and manipulate Shadow into revenge instead of just hard-wiring him. It's not just a memory of pain, there's someone there that is still angry and it's someone Shadow cares about. It'll be interesting to see what they do with this!

Also I don't think the Chao Garden being a type of Chuck E. Cheese was on anyone's bingo card

LOOK AT THE HUGE CHAO PLUSH

If anything comes out of this movie, I want it to be a good quality big Chao plush.

[goblins-riddles-or-frocks]

What is your view of Aemond and Daemon?

Aemond is really fun. I love that he’s like such an over-the-top kind of anime character aesthetically but also all of the overlooked second son tropes.

It’s fun how strongly him having been picked on and ignored in childhood informs the false glass jaw ego he’s developed for himself in adulthood. And how he’s become overly cruel as a result. He always wants to get his own, he wants to prove himself. He’s so quick to try to crush anyone else underfoot if given any sort of advantage because he has such a tremendous chip on his shoulder and he needs to feel powerful to make up for his youth/how much no one cares for him now because he’s so annoying lol.

The entire scene where he stole a dragon— because he kept being picked on for not having one– and then immediately attacked the other kids because he finally had the upper hand and then lost an eye and went crying to his mom really exemplifies all of this! He really doesn’t know how to be normal. And in the present he’s still trying to constantly prove himself and to command respect while just being… kind of a fuck up.

I’ve said this before, but I did love him trying to just be kind of an asshole and scare Luke in the season one finale, talking up such a big game and demanding that Luke cut out his own eye. Then Luke leaves (normal reaction!) and then Aemond tries to scare him… upon dragon back and then shdhfhfd accidentally kills him and is like “oh fuck I accidentally started a war fuck fuck fuck.” Like that is such good character writing!

I was worried that season two was going to squander it tbh with the pilot just not doing anything with his feelings about that. But now that we have episode two, I nominally enjoy him pretending that he totes did it on purpose and was just out for blood. And then in episode two he’s crying in the lap of a prostitute in a brothel, while drinking milk, and telling her that he didn’t actually mean to do it 🥺🥺 but at least B&C means that Daemon considers him a threat and wants him dead. Like yayyy he was noticed 🥺🥺

Idk he’s just so embarrassing! It’s great!

As for Daemon, I started re-watching season one recently and it’s really interesting how little anyone respects him! He and Aemond are def similar while being kind of the inverse of each other in terms of what makes them tick. Daemon is similarly a volatile fuck up, but he seems to be more genuine of a wildcard whereas Aemond is consciously trying to look cool all the time. Daemon just kind of… does stuff, hoping to get some attention from his loved ones, and is bewildered when it’s perceived as some sort of big political move. He also just seems more genuinely loyal while always being perceived as a serpent. Like imo Aemond just is happy to overtly betray people. But Daemon is more untrustworthy because he’s fucking insane, rather than deliberate malice.

There is a consistent line in the show of people just fucking up or allowing things to happen and then that being perceived in a more dramatic way they never anticipated. A lot of people have complained about how a lot of the choices in the show are accidental, and I can agree that sometimes it does go a touch too far, but with a lot of these characters I think that’s a compelling choice— like Aemond! I think it works particularly well for Daemon too. On rewatch, it really stood out to me that after Aemma and her newborn die, there’s that point where Daemon’s out drinking and the crowd, somewhat pushed by Mysaria, start cheering that Daemon’s going to be the heir now that the kid’s dead, and he’s going to be the future king etc. Essentially celebrating the deaths.

And Daemon’s just drinking, barely listening and is half heartedly like “yeah, sure. fuck it” because the crowd is cheering. He doesn’t even seem particularly ambitious in that moment. So when Viserys is completely outraged and confronts him he seems kind of surprised that it’s something that comes up at all. I get the sense that he really wasn’t thinking about it!

Frankly, I think the late season one writing, in general, flags a little bit. Once we start getting time skips, there’s a little less continuity in terms of what these characters are doing and where they’re coming from. It’s just harder to follow their day to day priorities. I find Daemon particularly the most interesting early on, because he especially just drops off the map for a bit.

But in general, I think it’s really interesting how Daemon seems mostly motivated by just wanting attention and recognition. He wants the crown as a status symbol, but he doesn’t want to rule necessarily, like I doubt he has any strong policy opinions or any desire for administrative duties lol. But he wants to be treated like he’s someone of consequence, like it wouldn’t be a joke for him to rule.

I’m not really a Daemyra shipper. Shockingly, I guess, they’re just a bit too creepy for me. But the early Daemyra dynamic was the most interesting imo. I see people frequently say that he’s only ever been interested in her for the throne and I think that’s distinctly untrue!

Before they get married, his desire for her is framed as directly at odds with him wanting the crown actually. This is encapsulated by that moment where she shows up at Dragonstone and she’s literally like “I’m the thing that standing between you and the throne” and she’s right! He could literally just punt her off the bridge where they’re having that standoff, and Viserys would no longer have an heir. Would it be smart? No, it would be catastrophic! But he was obviously ready to throw down with Otto, who is literally there representing Viserys. It clearly wasn’t good sense holding him back.

He’s a character without much strategy, he’s just ready to do what the fuck ever, at any given moment, just to get people mad at him. He wants attention. I think it says something about Daemon, that he is so emotionally unregulated, and so immature, that he does have this continued bond with his 15-year-old niece. He’s grooming her for sure, but there’s this element of like shdgd that’s his buddy, you know? He emotionally relates to a 15-year-old, and then suddenly Rhaenyra’s grown up, but he’s the same. I think the last episode highlighted that very well when Rhaenyra says that she used to view him as a challenge as a child, but now she has too many challenges of her own. (If they lean more into their relationship fracturing and her disillusionment with him I might actually give a damn about them lol)

In season two, it’s so shocking he’s somewhat briefly the voice of reason. Frankly, he’s correct to point out that Rhaenyra should not be just randomly looking for her dead son alone and in enemy territory. And, sorry, he’s right, but she is shirking her duties while they’re in a civil war. I’m not really arguing about whether or not he’s like correct about everything now (Blood and Cheese was… a terrible fucking choice) but like it’s interesting that in his old fucking age he’s trying to rise to the occasion and strategize where he can. I honestly think that suggests that, while he has his own entitled feelings about power, and what he views more as his brother’s crown etc, he does love Rhaenyra and is trying to do right by her. But he’s just… such a perverse mess.

I also remember it was extremely controversial that he choked her at the end of season one, but I mean it’s in keeping with him as a person. He’s volatile, he’s awful. He killed his first wife with a rock, he barely mourned his second wife at all, like he was fucking Rhaenyra at the funeral. He’s just a terrible, terrible mess but that’s what makes him compelling.

[polyklok]

Movies I think Dethklok members would really like

No this is not based on anything I’m just in a mood™ rn

Nathan Explosion

Mad God

So, no, I did not have any ounce of an idea of what this movie was about when I originally watched it, and I’m still not 100% sure tbh but an hour and a half of these pure vibes would totally be up Nathan’s alley. The post-apocalyptic setting, all the gore, the details of the various monsters, and I think he would just really appreciate it from an artist’s standpoint as well. This movie would just resonate with him, even if he wouldn’t have a fucking clue what was going on the whole time.

Mary and Max

I’m, personally, a bit on-the-fence about this movie, but it is undeniably sweet and I headcanon Nate to be on the spectrum so 🤷

This would be, like, his guilty pleasure film. The movie he knows is for kids and is totally not brutal but he loves it anyway. The, “I do not feel disabled, defective, or a need to be cured” really hits for him every single time. He rewatches it at least once every few months, especially when he’s in some sort of emotional slump.

Mandy

Another one that just like, like, big Nathan energy, you know? He just seems like a guy to really love loose plots with trippy visuals and strong emotions attached to them. Also, this movie is so completely badass, it is certified metal in his book. He also finds the story incredibly tragic; having the love of your life stripped away from you in such circumstances really tugs at his heartstrings, but in a way that gets him pumped up rather than sad. This is probably his go-to when people ask, “what’s your favorite movie?”

Pickles the Drummer

Son in Law

Okay this is my guilty pleasure movie. I usually don’t like stoner-comedy from the 90s, but this movie hits different. Maybe I just find Crawl hot. Anyway, I’m projecting that onto Pickles. He honestly probably finds a lot of crappy comedies to be peak film, and this is no exception. Pauly Shore pretending to be a country boy for a whole movie? Hells yeah. Pickles would watch while high off his mind, laughing his butt off and going to town on some cheez-its or something. And you know what? He deserves it.

Opal

I’m counting short films because I feel like Opal is the movie for Pickles. He’d watch it on a whim, because these are not usually the types of things he enjoys, and then he’d in tears over the emotional rollercoaster he did not agree to go on. Like, he grew up in a neglective household with authority figures that were overly-selfish and projected their own problems onto the youngest one in the house, to which he had to hide within his own brain more often than not just to properly function. And then he just…watched it happen all again in the hypnotic style of Jack Stauber. The Mom’s song had him in gasping tears for a while, the way you get when a movie somehow perfectly captures your own trauma right in front of you. And the ending??? Ugh. Go watch Opal, guys, it’s on YouTube.

Nathan and Pickles both get very emotional about certain stop-motion films, isn’t that crazy?

House

Thank you to Lucy for this Letterbox review that I think he would write

Anyway-

This movie is actually so insane. It’s not scary in a horror-movie way, like it meant to be, it’s scary as in ‘What the hell is happening and why do I understand it?’ Pickles doesn’t like most traditional horror films, as the long, quiet suspense bores him and the sudden jumpscares freak him the hell out way more than they should. But he loves the campy-wacko-type horror that they were apparently making in 70s Japan. It’s just scary enough to get his heart pumping, but the pure silliness of it all overrides that, getting him in a giddy mood and excited to see what happens next.

(No I am not done but tumblr won’t let me add more pictures)

[speremint]

Good Omens S2 Thoughts

OBVIOUSLY spoilers for GO S2 below, so if you've not seen, and don't wanna be spoiled, don't read!

The tl;dr of this long post is that I loved S2, it was a lot of fun, and I love that it focused more on Az and Crowley, but I also think it was a little out of pocket and a little messy in writing.

Anyway I fuckin.. am still processing all of what I watched, and am currently rewatching with a friend, too, but here's my jumbled thoughts on S2 and especially the final episode because I'm having many emotions and I need to get my thoughts out somewhere.

Listen. I would like to clarify that I loved S2 and I loved S1, and I think S2 was VERY smart to parse down on supporting characters and keep it stuck to Crowley and Aziraphale for the most part.

I'm assuming that S2 was made with S3 in mind though, esp after this post from Neil Gaiman, bc lord I will cry if there's no S3.

The focus on the story of Job I am being super optimistic in hoping that maybe it's Gaiman punching us in the throat with S2 before offering us a nicer S3... regardless though, I loved the season despite my minor criticisms.

I... do not have anything against Beelzebub/Gabriel, but holy shit was that out of left field for the ending... I just feel that, despite Gabriel having memory loss (it doesn't seem to be COMPLETE since it was kinda touch and go during scenes), they should've sprinkled in some sort of foreshadowing the his relationship or fondness of Beelzebub.

Have him at least not try to decimate that fuckin fly with books, or take an interest in books on forbidden romance, or rebellion against authority, or maybe just flat out have him be interested in Crowley and Aziraphale's relationship, or Nina and Maggie's. Just SOMETHING to set it up a little bit...

EDIT:: while rewatching, I suppose they hinged most of their foreshadowing in Beelzebub's passiveness and interest in Gabriel, but it's a little hard to have a comparison given how little they were in S1

It was only after I skimmed the GO tag that I saw people were pissed about Aziraphale's choice in E6 and I'm kinda just like ??? It's not OOC though... He's always been loyal to Heaven, and the times when he's been questioning, the biggest issue, is that Crowley was an enabler. He kept Aziraphale from REALLY facing the consequences of these decisions because he's acted as a safety net in some of the situations they're put in.

I love the added scenes of the past with Crowley and Aziraphale, they're fuckin great and I like that it continues to expand upon their relationship and "temptations", but I do think it was kinda reiterating stuff we knew from S1... even if it was good fan service, for lack of a better word. I just kinda wish they had sprinkled in more reinforcements of Aziraphale's fealty to heaven. Or, perhaps during the scene when Azira is worried he's going to become a demon, he could take that time to ask Crowley on his feelings on being a demon, and perhaps if he regrets it, just to also set up for the finale desire of Aziraphale in turning Crowley back into an angel.

Regardless though, S3, assuming there is one, will be a big wake up call to Aziraphale when he's left on his own and also under a tighter leash by heaven, especially since Crowley is gone. Also, expanding on Crowley being a high rank when he was an angel made my fuckin night, I still stick to the headcanon that he was the Archangel Raphael, don't @ me

I do think that... some of the stuff that happened in S3 did feel a little like a response to fans as well, since I know Gaiman is on tumblr and Ik the fandom has been really vitriolic over the fact that Az and Crowley didn't kiss or anything in S1... tbh I didn't think it was that big of a deal cause love is shown in many different ways, and I admit I do like that they kissed in S2, but it did also feel uhhh kinda spontaneous.

Not a bad thing, just wasn't expecting it. I did replay the scene bc I'm an angsty bitch. But yeah, I'm like ehhh.

Also Nina and Maggie randomly coming at the end to like.. sit Crowley down and be like "erm youre stupid and in love" felt very weird in a way I can't quite describe, but also felt kinda undeserved. Esp cause Crowley was like "eh I guess". I think the more subtle off handed chat he had with Nina about Aziraphale being his partner was a more elegant way of setting that up, and having him reflect on that instead would've been better. But also tbf he and Azira were being bitches and indeed messing with Maggie and Nina.

I don't like the term of describing content as "fanfic"y because a lot of fanfiction is super well written, but I think S2 was very... fan service-y... rather.

Which tbh I don't mind that much, esp given Gaiman really didn't want an S2 to respect Pratchett's passing as his cowriter. So... meh. I did genuinely dislike the ball scene at the end though. Just... it was really weird, and I'm not sure what they were trying to say with it, other than Aziraphale is fucking demented... and tbh he should've known better since the fucker's been on earth for ages, idk. After talkin with a friend, it just was a really weird scene, and if anything was OOC for him, I think it was that bc his removal of free will, speech, and even actions, was fucking insane.

Also I don't think John Hamm is attractive, so I tbh was just confused for a lot of his scenes that had interactions or alluded to him...

I liked S2, I really did. It was campy, it was a lil sloppy, but it was fun, and it gave a lot more Crowley and Aziraphale being a bitchy little married couple before their fuckin messy ass divorce at the end.

ANYWAY... I really can't wait to see what happens, and I am PRAYING that there'll be an S3. Until then, I will happily sit in my puddle of tears

[10hourshift]

Ok so I just remembered I wanted to make this (and also don't want it to be too long) but bear with me

Something something, I think that for a story that sure loves using eyes and the face as narrative devices it's kinda weird that meg ALWAYS keeps her bang covering her eye.

What I mean is that for a big number of characters these things (the eyes and the face) are used as a way to show different faces of the same character. Some examples from the top of my head are loon and his growth shown as him uncovering his eyes (and even if it's not becoming a new person or whatever, it's like him finally gaining courage to face the world or smth) and Cami, who always has her eyes covered, and added to that she gives a mysterious vibe to both the other characters and the audience. Who later, when we get to know her in her song, we can finally see her "true" self, and with that, her eyes. And when her "shadow eyes" appear, we can figure out that she has some struggles too (idk it's been a while since my last rewatch). (There are other minor examples, like the introduction of Fred and owynn, or when Bonnie decides to take his glasses off, but I don't want to drag this too long :p)

Because of this I wonder why it is that the series is too strict about meg's eye. The one time her eye shows up (not counting that one image of her as a kid and the bleeding eye) is in a music video (important bc only the audience sees this). This was kinda funny to me (I think ever since I saw it from the first time but ¯⁠\⁠_⁠(⁠ツ⁠)⁠_⁠/⁠¯) bc in "no más" the song that is really about her overcoming her inner conflicts and whatnot her eye is never visible, (only at the start her bang is lifted but her eyes are closed so it doesn't count). And even after that, she doesn't have any changes in her looks. She keeps the same old hairstyle and keeps covering her eye. Even in zer0, she still has her bang, though the hairdo change is pretty cute imo, but I keep my point, WHY IS THE EYE ALWAYS COVERED???

The reason is never explicitly said, though, it's safe to assume that it has to do with her Big Past Trauma, either in a literal way (eye damaged or draws too much attention, so it's better to keep covered) or a narrative way (something related to shadows??, maybe???). So, this and the already mentioned obsession of the series to keep her eye hidden* is kinda strange to me bc it makes me wonder why it is so damn important to keep her face hidden? And also, what would need to happen for her to show her face??

*the reason I'm so persistent that is "the series" who keeps her eye hidden is bc meg is not often seen actively trying to hide her eye. But her default characteristic is her bang over like half of her face.

Tbh I don't have anything convincing enough to conclude this. As is mostly a ramble about some silly detail that bothers me a little too much. So feel free to add your thoughts if you want to, I just wanted to ramble a bit about this xd

Have an image of genderbent meg I found on the wiki for the trouble