#I wrote this because I haven't seen anyone give a detailed explanation of why they thought this was going to happen

[shoegazingmonad]

Tavvy, Rage and Lord English

There have been a good handful of references to Lord English via Tavvy so far, his outfit is terribly similar to Caliborn's / Doc scratch's, he was raised by Gamzee, he sweats a lot, - his first word was honk, so was LE's. Enough comparisons between the two to rouse suspicion.

And so, I (and quite a few other people) think Tavvy is, or has been, set up in a way that he's going to be a successor to Caliborn or Lord English, and I think it's something Gamzee's being perpetuating since he was born.

Tavvy's character is centered around repression. He's been trapped living in close quarters with a murderer who's shown to leave people fuming in a few seconds, left unable to question why or show his explicit upset with the situation due to fear of punishment, and isn't given any proper emotional support by family members because they either don't care or are too inebriated to help in any way that matters. Tavvy is literally 'home' stuck (lol), and as we see here, he's clearly bottled-up whatever bullshit he's been put through for the first 15 years of his life. It's his Chekhov's gun, because we all know that at some point all of those feelings are going to burst out of him like a parasite bursting out of its host.

Firstly, I think it's important to understand why Gamzee would want to do this in the first place. As this wonderfully detailed post describes: Gamzee hates the Author for making him the butt-of-the-joke, hates them because it means every miserable aspect of his life was not simply coincidence but a carefully plotted shitshow, and he hates the audience too for if it weren't for us, he wouldn't have been given such a joke of an existence in the first place. Ruining and perverting everything he can just so he can spite the Author and disgust the Audience has been his whole shtick since Act 5.

This motivation continues to drive him throughout his life in the epilogues, which feels like a particularly disgusting stain on an already harrowing story as we see him ruin Dirk's funeral, assert himself as a priest whose forgiveness comes in the form of sprinkling breastmilk on people before forcing them to make out, and enter a kismesissitude with Jane, putting even more strain on her as she tries to maneuver an entire planet into her power. In short, he's trying, and succeeding to make a pretty fucked situation into an immensely fucked up situation, and there are no bounds to what he'll do to achieve this.

Now, we know he's had a heavy hand in Tavvy's life, and that there's a method to his madness, but we don't know the exacts of what he's been planning for him. Little has come to fruition so far, and Tavvy almost seems so unaffected that you'd think that maybe his reign of terror really had come to an end with his death, but you'd be wrong. Because, ironically, in the same scene that Tavvy supposedly removes his uncle's influence on him, he just reveals that there are plenty of unseen layers to this. Layers that he can't even recognize due to his unawareness of the bigger picture here.

The thing about continuing Homestuck is that - at the end of the day - you are literally just creating English again. That's what writing is, after all. And who better to kickstart the rebirth of Homestuck's antagonist than y'know, the guy who raised him in the first place?

Anyway, what I'm saying is that Gamzee has been setting up Tavvy to be the next Caliborn / Doc Scratch / Lord English since his birth. And we've seen some of the ways he's been 'training' Tavvy for this, forcing Jake to cure his allergy by forcefully exposing him to them under the guise of pity for him being unable to eat PB&J. An allergy, which seems to function as an allergy to the character's existence within Homestuck itself, as though he's trying to cure Tavvy of his inability to confront their metanarrative reality, and perhaps goading him into a grudge against it in the process. Look at that knowing smile and smug gaze and tell me he doesn't know what he's doing.

As of now, there isn't much to suggest Tavvy has any sort of hatred towards the nature of his existence. But the issue there is that for the most part he isn't aware of why Candy is the way it is, or that there could be anyone purposefully manipulating the timeline into the way it was. Candy's creator is a vague subject; but it's one with an answer within the text.

In Meat 36 Roxy tells Terezi that ever since Jade got possessed Calliope has been painting 'lotsa nasty purple blood' 'nudity' and 'various combos of them all getting married', and in Candy 40, Alt Calliope says 'the sky looks like something painted by a crazy person'. So, if the nature of Candy didn't give it's author away already; yeah, it's Calliope. This actually helps my case quite a bit, because not only is it well known that Lord English fucking hates Calliope, Tavvy's also got a reason to dislike her besides her role in its making, as it's Calliope who decides Gamzee deserves 'redemption' in the first place.

It's not like he'd need to have a direct grudge towards the Author anyway, just his feelings. He's had a whole 15 years of life to experience infuriating bullshit that others didn't after all, I mean why did his mother have him in the first place if she was only going to regret it and neglect him because of it? Why couldn't she have chosen someone who wanted to have a child with her, and how is he supposed to blame his father for anything when he never wanted him - or this - to begin with?

Why did ANY of the adults around him think it was okay to let a MURDERER take care of a child? Why do his friends / close same-age family members (because he doesn't really have any friends) get to have at least one decent parent whilst he gets none? Why did nobody intervene when Jane stopped John from taking him away from there? Why did Jane even punish him for that? John came to him with the idea, he was only going along with it! Gamzee's been putting him through comically stupid '''training''' under the excuse of teaching him about 'combat, philosophy, life, and love' since he was a toddler, and, according to quite a handful of people utterly unaware and inconsiderate of how awful his life is, all and every bit of this is fine and dandy because he's RICH??? BUDDY, YOU'RE ALL RICH?????????

...And now that Gamzee and (presumably) Jane are dead, his dad trying to make his best of what's left of their frayed relationship after nearly two decades of spousal abuse, who is he supposed to blame but the people who have allowed it to get this bad in the first place?

So, if he is sure to burst at some point, when? I think it helps to look at Gamzee's meltdown; the reason he was aware enough to put the pieces together when it came to watching ICP's Miracles was because he hadn't eaten any sopor recently, something akin to a pacifier for him that he later says 'RUSTS YOUR MOTHERFUCKIN THINK PAN'. Gamzee himself is Tavvy's 'sopor', his pacifier in the way Gamzee suppresses other's anger, so following his death we're left to assume Tavvy will slowly, but surely become less inhibited as his influence lessens. It's something we've been seeing steadily unfold for a while now.

I imagine he'll 'snap' whenever he learns the full scope of what's been going on behind the scenes, though that's assuming his change in character will be immediate, and not a slow trickle like we've seen of him so far. I've got my bets on a breakdown though, we know damn well the little cry he has after seeing Gamzee's corpse is nowhere near the full thing, they were in a rush after all, and he thinks so himself.

Though there's other ways it could go down. Maybe it'll be the classic 'mind control but it isn't really mind control so much as it is an excuse to express thoughts and feelings you already had' like we've seen before with two of his guardians. Maybe he'll get exposed to an overload of upsetting information all at once, overwhelming him and causing some grim affliction in the process? Or perhaps he'll accidentally get entangled in the situation regarding John's (likely) Lord English possessed corpse? What about something new and completely unpredictable? The possibilities are endless...

[cherokeegal1975]

Dragoness and Mare Video Game Idea

I know I already posted this, but I thought it would be fun to give a more detailed explanation of my idea. I don't have any hopes of anyone actually taking interest in it as far as actually creating it, but I'd welcome your thoughts on it instead. As for myself, I have a strong interest in video games, but I don't have the knowledge or resources to create one myself. Don't have the money to buy them either. I learn about them from watching play throughs on YouTube. I'm also well aware that game developers do not like outside ideas. It was a fun thing to do at the time. Anyway, here's my concept and the little article I wrote about it on DeviantART below:

   I created a fake game play screen shot.  I can take credit for the horse and the dragon, both the full characters and the heads, but nothing else.  The rest I found online and made use of them like stickers.  I did add the text though.  Call me lazy if you will, but I just wanted to focus on drawing my characters and sharing my concept.  The game itself will never be made, I don't even know how to do such a thing, much less have the funds to buy the programs to make them.   The closest I can come is do a kind of writing game where I say "This thing is happening, if you choose to go left, click the #1 link, if you choose to go right choose the #2 link and keep reading."  I don't see myself doing that anytime soon...if at all.  It's an idea though.     Both the horse and the dragon are based on small plastic toys that I had as a child.  The drawings look a lot better than the original toys I lost so long ago.  Anyway, the basic game idea is that it's a story based, open world, lots of side quests, puzzles, useful collectibles, possibly a bit of a sandbox thing going on in it, with more than one possible ending.  Both animals can talk, both have abilities that compliment the other.  The main focus will be on content and though it doesn't have to be G-rated, it should not be focused mainly on violence or sexual themes.     So what do you think?  I know this isn't the most action packed scene in a game I've ever seen, but use your imagination, this is only one set in a huge world map.  I haven't thought too much on the story plot or anything, only the basic concepts of what I've learned from watching game playthroughs on YouTube.  I gradually learned what kinds of games I like and this one has everything I find fun and appealing in a video game...or so I imagine.     So, tell me what you think of my idea.  I really want to know.

    Update:   (This a journal entry from a few weeks ago, I've already figured out their names and I only added this on to help fill in some detail just in case someone actually wants to take my idea seriously...which I still know is about zero.) I know why a game developer wouldn't want to take my ideas and collaborate with me, they got too many of their own already and want nothing to do with outside help.  It's a shame too, I've got some good ones and just occurred to me that my pink dragon (I can't figure out a name and Rosie won't do because I've got a cat named Rosie here and I don't like to have more than one animal named the same thing even though my dragon isn't real.  Anyone have any suggestions?  Her name was Pink-yellow-blue, but that's the stupid name my child self came up with and I've long since outgrown it.) might make a great avatar for a roll playing game in an open world kind of game.   Her abilities are human speech and intelligence, omnivorous, fire breathing, excellent senses of sight, smell and hearing. Very good at digging, powerful jumps, her tail is as prehensile as a monkey's so she can carry objects with it or help her to hang on to things like tree branches.  Her scales make her tough and fire resistant, excellent climbing capabilities, a really good swimmer and her fore feet work like hands.  She can also stand up and walk for short distances on her hind legs so she can use those hands.  She's the size of a large dog, so that means she can go into smaller places the bigger species of dragons can't.  Her only disadvantage is her lack of wings since her kind never had them in the first place.  Also, males have two small horns on their noses and her kind comes in all colors and patterns, so if they show up in the game, no two would look alike.  Her best friend is a black horse with four white socks, a white mark that starts on her forehead and runs all the way down her nose, a white mane and a white tail and silver eyes, who is just a sweet an intelligent horse in spite of her unusual coloring.  (Haven't drawn the horse yet, but I will.  I had almost forgotten that horse.  It's gone too, lost it long before I lost the dragon).  My character's home environment is an enchanted forest full of giant sentient trees that can change themselves to make hollows in their bases the dragons can use as homes.  The trees can also create mischief for the unwary traveler who disrespects them by shifting positions in such a way that the movement is never seen.  This movement can create false paths and get people hopelessly lost if they aren't careful.  This tendency can also aid my character in finding places if she asks them nicely to help her and most likely they will because their relationship with the tree dragons is a friendly one.   Maybe one of the game goals is to have my dragon go on an adventure to rescue her horse friend?  The game could have puzzles included as well as helpful companions that could come along as the game progresses.  I would like the game to have the best graphics.  I did downplay the details on my dragon a bit because I wanted to hurry up and finish her.  I've been doing a lot of dragons lately and I've gotten tired of drawing more scales than I can count.  So, I just did contours instead and only suggested that she's a scaled dragon.  She's got little lizard like scales except for the ones on her underside and I would love it if that would show up in the game whenever the camera got close enough to see them.   Well, anyway, I am aware that my chances of collaborating a gamer are slim to none, I'm still willing to try to put the suggestion out there just in case someone would take me up on my idea.  This dragon would do great as an avatar.  Not sure of the full plot, but those details could be worked out later by the developer. Also, I think the game controls should have the option to be made to work with a mouse so people on a tight budget don't have to buy a game controller so they can play the game on a laptop.

[buddha-in-disguise]

5.18 So that was a lot!

Posting without editing, so apologies for any errors. I am running on barely any sleep, but really wanted to get this written while I could.

Overall impressions were great episode .... but again there were issues for me. However I will address them as I go through my thoughts on it all, and please don't think I am trying go bring this episode down. I'm not. It really was great! I just still see things that haven't been done that could've easily occurred to appease fans further or are examples of why 5b has been so problematic for me.

The opening was good, in that they actually explained that Leviathan were no longer at the location they'd used in Earth 38 before Crisis. These little pointers are what have been missed a lot this season (a couple of examples later ref Kelly). Too often it's been, we need to find their location; no explanation as to why that is.

Now onto the whiplash with Kara and her anger towards Lena.

Kara is angry over Lena being at the fortress and the reaction over her use of Myriad. Alex is the one actually acknowledging Myriad is a trigger for Lena.

Alex, who suddenly starts defending Lena? Then Kara is convincing herself Lena is involved with Lex. Look, I get that she would feel suspicious, I get she has the right to feel angry. But it is this sudden, seemingly out of nowhere anger, not recognising the good in Lena she has staunchly defended until now. With Alex understanding Lena's position.

As I say, I'm not saying Kara doesn't have a right to be hurt and angry. But to see such a quick role reversal in the Danvers sisters in how they're talking about Lena? That is what I find difficult to get my head around.

I don't expect Kara to be there fully defending Lena as she has done. But this just feels OOC yet again. This really isn't normal for Kara. We've seen her angry and feeling betrayed by those closest to her before, but you could see how it built. Understanding as to why those actions left Kara feeling like she did (Astra and J'onn anyone?)

Did I mention whiplash? Because, whiplash.

But it is good to see Kara once again around a table brainstorming with most of the Superfriends. Using her intelligence and skills to try and figure things out.

Nia is also finally able to be involved properly. I still feel annoyed Nia isn't really in CatCo at all these days, because as much as I love seeing her as Dreamer, I want to see Nia as more than just a Superhero. I want to see her continuing as a journalist, and like Kara, use both skills together when feasible.

The Tower is actually getting used (those computers aren't simply sitting there looking pretty). How many episodes has it taken to see this used properly for more than a brief scene? Too long.

M'gann is back. I love M'gann, and despite still feeling angry that they had J'onn throw her into a DEO cell, with no due process simply for being a White Martian, I've always enjoyed the dynamic between the two characters, and it wasn't a surprise they kissed. Although god damn it, where was our Dansen kiss. Even a hug? But onto Dansen in a bit.

Alex got into some action. That car hood slide?! Phew. It is suddenly very hot in here. We certainly wouldn't complain if they throw a few more of those hood slides in future episodes.

This is the sort of thing a lot of fans love Alex for. Her kick ass, throwing herself around best.

Plus the scene with Kara in the library just before that, also had the Danvers sisters vibe we have just missed a lot this season, especially 5b.

The DEO being destroyed. Of course we knew it was coming, but it was still good to see the whole sequence of action leading up to it. Kara jumping through that window! Day. Made.

The Nia and Brainy scenes though. My poor Brainia heart. Actually the way Nia and Kara turned and walked away outside after the collapse of the DEO .... oof. Understandable but still gut wrenching. The parallels to Lena and Kara, with Brainy and Nia are also there. God damn it, what is with all this pulling apart relationships and friendships on the show this season.

Kelly, while still frustrated she is working with William, in this episode it made more sense, as Nia and Kara were out doing Superhero things. I've said for ages though, William really isn't needed to simply stand over Kelly's shoulder as she does her thing. Okay, so he realised an image inducer was being used, but if Kelly was working this on her own, (with the Superfriends at The Tower), you can't tell me she wouldn't have been giving the footage the same level of detailed going over that William was. Nothing in those scenes couldn't have been done without him. Kelly is far more capable to do this. She is ex-military for gods sake.

Which leads me onto Dansen, but also Alex.

Once again we had them acknowledge that as ex-military Alex was finding it difficult to adjust. I broached this in an earlier piece I wrote when J'onn and Alex were talking about it. I would've far preferred Kelly had that conversation with her girlfriend, at home. That end scene with Dansen was great, but the dialogue with Kelly's ex-army buddy - that should've been Kelly when Alex says her actions led to it happening. That whole segment had Kelly and Alex talking written all over it. Another wasted opportunity of so many this season. It is especially galling as we've had so little meaningful Dansen content. That small change would've made a huge difference. Plus no hug? No kiss? M'gann and J'onn get one, but once again Dansen don't, and they don't even get the intimacy of a hug. It is ridiculous. And people wonder why fans have had increasing issue of the LGBTQ storylines. Or rather lack thereof.

Which brings me to my other bugbear from this season. Does Kelly know Kara is Supergirl? I mean I think she does after last weeks episode, which I've covered at the time. But that is only conjecture on what we saw, not what we know for certain. Where is Alex getting her income from? Is J'onn paying her, and if so, where is he getting the income from? Are Kelly and Alex actually living together? Because Kelly sure as hell looked comfortable in Alex's apartment, and Alex certainly looked as if Kelly not only was expected to be there, but belonged there. I know we can't get every minute detail about their lives, but these aren't small things. Plus it would only take brief dialogue to explain what the situation really is.

As for Alex becoming a vigilante. I will be honest, I've never been overly comfortable with vigilantes in shows, however they are littered throughout The Arrowverse. In fact, without them most Arrowverse shows wouldn't exist. As for the support of Kelly, that was a pleasant change. She understood the difficulties Alex faced, and offered a solution. After all, she has the Guardian shield. Whether she becomes her own version of Guardian I guess we wait and see. But since Alex needs to try and stop both Lex and Leviathan and has no other means to do it effectively, a vigilante is the most logical step. After all, isn't that what they've all been doing since Alex left the DEO? They just haven't placed a name to it until now.

Time to go onto Lex and Lena. Possible trigger warning here.

"You're a monster. But that doesn't mean I have to be one to."

First off. Jon Cryer and Katie McGrath were masterful in the scene where it all came to a head in the prison. Despite my misgivings of the overuse of Lex this season, there is no doubt this is why he is so good! His emotional range just came shining through. Just as Katie McGrath's did.

Him getting up into her face like he did, and her flinching. Here is what I tweeted about it: "Listen, I've been in an IPV relationship. I can't speak for victims of family abuse and if they grow up in the same way, but the way Lena flinched in this scene. That was me when my ex did what Lex did. That was real.

Katie McGrath's shone in tonight's episode."

Katie just completely nailed it. This is when I wish I could just stand there and tell her just how amazing that scene was. The same for Jon.

Those who have denied time and again Lena wasn't a victim of abuse, or it didn't excuse her for her actions in how Lex manipulates her, this is why we spoke about it. This is the victim of abuse. If she wasn't expecting that to escalate into a violent reaction, then that scene wouldn't have happened like it did. She was expecting the blow. That whole scene was visceral. I'm still trying to get to grips with how once again, the acting just brings through a depth so often lacking. So please spare me the excuses of she isn't a victim of abuse. That scene is canon now to the story. Between Lex last season, and this leaves no room for doubt, and if you do - you're not doing it for any other reason than to simply hate on Lena.

That last scene with Kara and Lena. Fucking finally! It's only taken 18 episodes to get there. Again I am still frustrated Kara is being so defensive against Lena, but I also do kind of understand it. She is also feeling hurt and no doubt worried. Is Lena trying to trick her again, like she had earlier in the season. Will she get her heart ripped out if Lena is presenting her with an act. Trust goes both ways, and both of them have found it difficult to reestablish it. I get that. I really do. Again though I just wish it hadn't taken until 5.18 for any kind of resolution between them to begin. Even if it had gone to the 20 episode season as planned, we couldn't get time to really get this sorted. Kara needs to let Lena explain why Lena did what she did with more than that speech. She needs to understand just how abusive the relationship is between Lex and Lena, and why to some degree Lena fell back into old habits like she did. Much like we had Lena and Andrea get that backstory, to really help show why Lena has trust issues, Kara and Lena now need to lay those cards out on the table in a similar way. No more hiding. Sadly I doubt we will get anything of that depth, and we certainly won't this season. But it is a start and that's more than I could've hoped for before the episode began.

Lastly, William getting black bagged by Eve. I wonder if her anger at Lex will make her use William as a pawn to gain revenge? Or will she let William know Lex was the one who has fed William those details, or activated him? Still a weird ass way to describe it by the way. But we will see. Honestly, William as a whole holds absolutely no interest for me. So I didn't even find myself reacting to what happened. It was ... meh.

And that's it for now. I've almost certainly forgotten something, but it was a lot to take in this episode.

Overall, I felt this episode was far better than some of what we've seen so far this season, particularly in 5b. It certainly leaves me looking forward to 5.19 with less dread than of late.